Episode 39: Usurp or Be Usurped

[Xavier Turano]

Xavier was disarmed of all that he had. There was no way out. Dasia was going to infect him whether he liked it or not. It looked so unfair to him. How in the world did all of his previous efforts not change a single thing? Why were the Hurranians so invincible as far as death is concerned? They don't die...they just keep coming back...over and over again...like a disease...an incurable disease...

"No...how do you keep coming back...?" Xavier knew why she was still alive, but his frustration over still ending up the loser was not sitting well with him. He never had a fair chance. "You lied...you said that if I won, then we'd do things my way..."

[Dasia Turano]

"No, I didn't lie. I meant what I said when I created those terms. You just didn't win," Dasia clarified. "In regards to my staying power, it's relatively simple. The easiest way to explain it is to think of the Hurranian network as the internet. Once something is put out there, it stays there, unless you bring the entire internet down permanently. I suppose you could attempt to do that to us, but there's really only one weapon capable of accomplishing that..."

Dasia was referencing the Bakugan Termination System, something that would wipe them all out without question. The only problem for them was that it came with too many strings. It was a matter of, if the Hurranians can't have them, then no one will.

"Anyway, I let you get away with such a heinous crime to paint an example. I believe I was fair with this one. We got to see things from your perspective, so now we must look at things from mine. We wouldn't want any bias, would we?"

Dryoid drew its blade and was getting ready to slice through Xavier. Dryoid completed this motion; however, the target wasn't Xavier. The actual person affected by this was...

[Xavier Turano]

...Chris...the head scientist...

Xavier was frozen in agony by what happened right in front of him. Dryoid just put the head scientist out of his misery by killing him in cold blood. His body was completely sliced by Dryoid's blade. There was no hope in putting him back together without the involvement of the Hurranians.

"...Chris...no...." Xavier fell to his knees. He hovered over his body. He was constantly shaking his head. He couldn't understand Dasia. He didn't want to understand. This was madness.

"He...was really in love with you...but, you don't need me to say it... You knew...you always knew... I can't believe you have done this..." Xavier turned to look at Dasia for comment. "What more do you have to say to me...? I've seen enough... You're a demon..."

[Dasia Turano]

Dasia conjured a spark in her left hand. She dropped it to the floor. It reformed the head scientist's body so he could be represented as a Hurranian now.

"Hold on... We're not done yet," Dasia slowed him down. "I more or less just did what you did to me. I did not go to your side afterwards, but here Chris is, on my side. Do you see the difference in what our methods bring? I did not simply leave him on the floor to die. I picked him back up. He still has hope, unlike me if I were still an ordinary girl. How's that for peaceful, little brother?"

It was now Xavier's turn. Dryoid positioned it's blade over Xavier's head, almost like he was about to be executed. "Hm...no, wait. I don't want to do that yet. I want one more thing from you first, X." Dasia approached Xavier. She got within three yards of him before stopping. She held her arms out like she wanted a hug.

[Xavier Turano]

Xavier paused. The person who just killed his best friend right in his face wanted to hug him? What a load of bullshit. Xavier didn't care that he was outgunned. He wasn't a bitch. Any attempt at fleeing was pretty much gone. He was getting infected either way.

If he decides to hug her, Dasia could put some Hurranians on him and infect him that way. If he hugs her and shed doesn't choose to infect him right away, Dryoid is just going to kill him so he could be resurrected afterwards. If he chooses to resist Dasia for the last time, he'd still die, but at least he'll retain his honor and dignity.

"After what you just did to him and I, you want me to hug you...?" Xavier completely lost it. He laughed hysterically. He drew his energy sword and pointed it directly at Dasia. "I don't care about your feelings. I'm going to fucking cut you down!"

[Jamal Armstrong]

The Mother Palace violently shook. Mass hysteria flooded the palace as it poured out into Alpha City. The streets became littered with Hurranian vermin crawling all over the place like they didn't have any home training. It was a sickening sight. They weren't scared at all; they were pretending to be normal citizens.

There scurrying around should come to an end soon once Dasia is taken out of commission. Unlike Xavier, there is someone who will make sure that she is unable to revive herself. There are those on Vestal who are trained to deal with this problem: the Spartans.

Choosing one who has boasted about taking on thousands of waves of his own and still surviving was a wise choice. That person was Jamal, and he was very displeased to see that his beloved Dasia had fallen ill of these Hurranians so easily. Tec punching through the throne room's walls - causing debris to fall in between the Turano siblings - made an important statement, one that says that the Spartans are very aware of the situation and will not fail to make things right, not anymore.

[Yita Aileen Nyx]

YITA AILEEN NYX

Hao "Spartan"

Despite all the chaos, the Haos duo still ventured out. It was unavoidable now, after dodging the topic so many times. Now it seemed like she had reached the limit for simply pushing the matter aside.

Neri slows down her pace, reducing her speed to a trot when she neared the destination her partner had assigned. Yita sat on her back, gripping onto the synthetic fur that made the pelt of her dear bakugan. It was a shame that she was unable to keep any of the physical features or attributes of some special bakugan, only what they had spiritually and skill-wise. Such thought never left the Spartan's head, it is a part of the reason why she was out here now with Neri.

The two of them passed under the gates of a cemetery, and eerie atmosphere surrounding them as they ventured in further. Such it was cliche, like something that would be seen in a movie, but this graveyard was known for being the complete opposite.

It's the very reason why a special certain someone was buried here anyway.

So why was Yita in such an odd place?
Easy.
Her elder sister seems to have gained some insight, and she is demanding answers.
Of course, such answers she seeks won't come all too easily.
Especially from someone like Yita.

The female slides of her bakugan once Neri made a stop in front of a grove, one that she hadn't stepped foot in since Niko had become blind. She kept her blue eyes towards the front, one hand on Neri's side to make sure she wasn't the only one experiencing this place and it's horrors. It was such a suitable place for Niko to have them meet.

Speak of the devil.

Red eyes glowing with life stared at Yita who stepped into the clearing, blue eyes drifting towards the tombstone that stood in the middle of the place. Niko stood beside it, a dark mist surrounding the darkus brawler.

Yits speaks, trying to shrug off the ominous setting as she did so, "You called, Niko?"

"I'l continue to watch over my darling."

► kaigra ◄

[Niko Adrian Nyx]

NIKO ADRIAN NYX

Darkus "Spartan"

Niko was standing in front of the gravestone, a distant look on her face, red eyes looking over at every figure engraved into the memorial. “It’s been quite a while, huh?” She mumbled absentmindedly to the structure. Such sorrow and regret washed over her whenever her eyes made contact with the stone. Niko could have stopped it from happening. Prevented this from all happening. If one she’d-

The sound of crunching leaves and grass snapped the darkus brawler out of her thoughts, her natural red eyes darting over to the direction of the source of the noise. Yita steps into her vision, Niko’s shadow rippling slightly as her sister did so. She spoke, and in that normal haughty tone of voice she has. Though, Niko’s sensitive ears didn’t miss the sliver of fear the was cleverly laced into her voice. A ghost of a smirk appears on the once-blind female’s lips. For once in a while, her sister was scared of her. “Indeed I have.” She says, that smirk fading away as she turns to face her. “I’m glad you were able to make it through everything that has been happening.” Niko says in a voice that seemed to reflect her of the past, the one that was mischievous, the liar she once was and still is. “Bad things would have happened if you didn’t…” Niko hums, her red eyes appearing to have a glow to them in the lightning.

“I suppose you know…” Niko says, keeping her gaze locked on Yita’s, “But if you didn't, I want answers.”

"The black cat of bad luck. The carrion crow of death."

► kaigra ◄

[Noland Hardy]

Yita immediately understood what Niko was confronting her about. With a snap of her fingers, the siblings were transported into a digital arena, which was Yita's own personal brawling simulation. Without delay, Yita and Neri attack Niko and Donovan. Since Niko could finally see, she saw Neri's combat form, and was beyond disgusted at its appearance due to what it meant. Triggered from the response, Yita began manipulating variables within the simulation to give herself the advantage, which...constitutes cheating.

Neri beat Donovan senselessly, and would've killed him if not for the fact that the latter was able to hold onto Neri before the finishing blow could be dealt. Donovan projected his and Niko's dreams onto Yita and Neri. It was here that Yita could live through various events from Niko's perspective, creating the opportunity for Donovan to devastate Neri with a savage strike to his spine to prevent any further movement.

Donovan then materialized Niko and Yita's brother, Xage Ambrose Nyx, who was accidentally killed by their father...well, accidentally would've been a nice word to use if...Yita didn't influence the events. It came to light that Yita was also very aware of how abusive their father was towards Niko and how everything seemed to be her fault. Yita benefited from this by living a life of luxury instead of being a good sister. As expected, Yita eventually messed up by accidentally killing their father's favorite Bakugan through an experiment.

When the dad found out, Yita convinced him to believe that Xage had done it using his Bakugan, Marbi, because Niko has been telling him about the things he had done to her and he wanted their dad to know that they were not going to be abused anymore. She also fabricated taped footage of the incident to make the story more believable. This attempt to avoid trouble led to the dad and his Bakugan, a ravenous Snapzoid, lunging at Xage and Marbi to punish them; unfortunately, due to all of his time abusing Niko, he did not realize that he was not holding back his strength, leading to the deaths of Xage and Marbi. In frustration, he also had Niko's Bakugan killed later on as punishment for getting her brother killed.

All of this culminated into one amalgamation that has been haunting Niko ever since she got her sight back: Neri's combat form. The blue fur Neri had was skinned off of the Bakugan Niko had before it was killed. The exact form of Neri also matched that of Marbi, except she made the model larger. In fact, since Neri was capable of shrinking down to a smaller size, the model looked exactly like Marbi in its smaller form as well.

Niko became increasingly frustrated, as Yita was continuing to use her siblings, even after everything she had put them through. Niko demanded for Yita to get rid of Neri's form so they can finally move forward. Yita was reluctant to do so, having been subjected to these horrors and not knowing how to respond. Niko told her that she was not going to allow her own nightmares to continue walking around by the person who caused them as if nothing happened. If Yita was not going to do it, then Niko was going to do it herself; therefore, Yita surrendered Neri's form and reverted it back to the base model, which was known as Yashu.

Niko took a deep breath after it was finally over. She knelt down at Xage's grave and told him that she did it and hopes that she was finally useful for something other than being abused or being falsely accountable for his death. Niko then gave Yita the opportunity to be her sister again. Yita whispered that she was sorry before walking away.

But then...a rumble was felt throughout Vestal...as if a great battle was taking place.

[Noland Hardy]