Episode 44: This is Sparta

[Andrew Bullock]

Andrew was astonished to find out that one of Hades' arms had been disintegrated. To make it even worse, the particular arm was not regenerating how it was supposed to. It was like it had been erased from existence completely. How was this possible?

"Was that good enough for you, Apollonir? You want another arm? Possibly a leg? How about you run into that bitch head-first instead," Andrew highly recommended. He was very pissed now. "So much for 'needing my firepower.' Had I went there the wrong way, all of that firepower would have been cut. I get that we're still enemies in a way, but at least show some ounce of trust. You do that one more time, and I'm leaving this planet. We'll see how good this 'legend' really is when you get your ass erased."

Andrew took a deep breath to calm down over his frustration with Apollonir's blatant trolling. He knew the current circumstances required for him and Vince to reunite, but this was asking for too much. Apollonir doesn't trust easy. That was a fact.

Would the sudden rise of a flame tsunami get them to work together? Who really knows?

"Vince, I can bet she has more attacks like that in store for us. I know there's people here, but..." Andrew was sort-of hinting towards letting those people get swallowed for the sake of them conserving their power, or he didn't want to continue delaying the inevitable if more hazards like that are sent their way.

[Vince Hardy]

Before Apollonir could respond to Andrew's declaration, Vince cut in the middle of the banter with his own take on the situation.

"I agree with him," Vince told Apollonir. "It doesn't matter what the intentions were. We'll need to settle with talk when it comes to these things. We can't afford to act like this anymore, especially if she's capable of mopping your blood off of the field."

Apollonir growled at the both of them. He knew he was wrong to intentionally trick Andrew into doing that, so he emitted a rainbow-colored pulse from his palm that restored Hades' arm back to full functionality. He then extended his wings and blew the fire wave apart with a powerful gust of wind.

"I won't have to do that again. I woke you up. This is the reality of the situation. You're strong, but there's always something stronger. The majority of our allies do not know this, and they will attempt to bring Dasia down thinking that they have all the power they need to cover themselves. They'll get slaughtered. Every last one of them."

"Hm...the Silver Knights..." Vince concluded from Apollonir's inference.

"Exactly..." Appolonir accepted. "Now you're ready to fight alongside me..."

"I don't think Apollonir trusts the mindset of the Silver Knights...and for good reason," Vince thought. "It was the main reason why I never accepted their invitation. I may end up like Amagi if I stayed around them too long."

"Vince, I have a read on Drago's approach. Tell them to hurry up. We lose unless we can combine our power. If he has done his training, we should be strong enough to contest her might."

"Understood." Vince dialed Noland's number so he could contact him via BrawlX. While he did that, he looked at Andrew. He was about to say something on their plan of action, but then several enemies popped up out of nowhere around them. They appeared to be gargantuan versions of Dharak. The Hurranians must have replaced Baalenoid's appearance with that of the original form.

[Noland Hardy]

Drago's eyes lit up with excitement when he sensed his dad's power. It's starting to look brighter now that he's still here. Then he started feeling something more sinister...

"...Dharak..." Drago sighed.

"And lots of them," Noland added on. He could sense them too.

"Don't you dare think about taking them on. They're for us," Clayf made clear. "You have more important things to fight against."

Noland just received Vince's call. Right on time.

"Yes?" Noland inquired. He had been getting called so many times on this BrawlX. Whoever it was must have been there to help. Now he just has to wait to see what else he has to do, as if he hasn't already been through enough.

[Vince Hardy]

Vince cut right to the chase on this one. Time was no one's ally.

"Son, I need you and Drago here. Not now, but RIGHT NOW. You and I are the only ones who can stop this," Vince communicated with him. "I don't care whoever else you bring aside from the ones I can sense you have with you right now. You NEED TO LIVE. That's all that matters."

Apollonir also decided to add his own take on the situation as well.

"Drago, it's time we've fought as a unit," he proudly declared. "Rush your way over here. DO NOT FIGHT unless there's no other option for escape. We have no time for their stalling and camping. They are gunning for the both of us to make sure we do not come into contact, so if you value your lives, you'll do WHATEVER IT TAKES to make it over here."

"Is that understood?"

[Noland Hardy]

"Yes sir," Noland accepted. He then had to deal with the sudden entrance of at least three dozens of gargantuan Dharaknoid running rampant all over the city.

"So...about not fighting..." Drago whistled. He was about to disobey that request, because the sight of this Bakugan made him very uncomfortable. It brought back memories that made him want to fight just to wipe that smug look off of his ugly face.

"Remain calm, Drago, for we are above and beyond this form of tactic," Lars Lion calmly stated. "Stay on course, and stay relaxed. Soon, you'll be fighting for the Legendary Soldiers, the Silver Knights..."

"The entire world," Clayf finished. He brandish his axe and held it to his side.

"Got it. I'm counting on all of you. Let them have it!"

(Countdown: Phase 2)

[Andrew Bullock]

Andrew sized his opponents up and knew they'd be in for the long haul. These Dharaknoid were strong, but they lacked one crucial element that gives the good guys the edge. It's not a wise idea to force a behavior out of someone who knows they have everything to lose. If anyone was going to tip the scales, it was going to be Andrew.

"Vince, go to him. You can close the gap faster if you meet earlier than you're supposed to, and then you can put your plan into action," Andrew suggested. "I'd do so before Dasia decides to send heavier artillery to you."

It only made sense from a tactical perspective. If the enemy wanted to keep them separate, then why not move closer together? This wasn't something Andrew was going to let Vince disagree with. This had to be done, whether he felt comfortable with the idea or not.

[Vince Hardy]

Vince thought of this with great curiosity. Why was Andrew doing this? He knows that if Dasia engages him directly, he would be hard-pressed to win against her. The situation was dire, but was this really a smart option? Andrew was a huge threat with his dark power and firepower above nuclear-grade. She'd want him dead too.

"I know we don't have time, but...are you sure you want to do that?" Vince questioned. "Hades and Apollonir are strong enough to beat these Dharaknoid no problem. You're wasting power."

Apollonir was bracing himself for more incoming fire. The Dharak's eyes were set on him. It secretly made him happy that he has never had to deal with a Dharak the same way as this. They were an annoying bunch.

"They'll keep coming until you die," Apollonir warned him. "Is that really a paper you want to sign?"

[Andrew Bullock]

"My power is of little importance now. I can't use the Switch Code without that key," Andrew pointed out. "But...I'm more than capable of making sure you get to where you need to be. We've gone back and forth back in the day over this sort of thing, but now...you need to listen to me. Get going and don't ever dare to look back at me. I've got this covered. I'll take every last one of them bastards."

Hades calibrated its weapons to prepare for the horde battle. It would enjoy eating through those Dharaknoid. It was a delicacy as rare as the possibility of anyone ever killing Andrew.

"I don't fear death as much as it fears me. I'm still alive for a reason," Andrew argued. "And if I were you, I'd make sure the same applies to your comrades. It's time to practice what you preach. You might be Legendary Soldiers, but right now, Dasia's more of a legend than anyone here. You get there to help them, you get to Drago faster, then you can talk about tag-teams."

[Vince Hardy]

Vince knew he was right. There was no time to argue about this. Andrew has made his decision. It was time for Vince to do the same.

"...You better stay alive," Vince told him. He began accumulating power in his body. In his right eye, a rainbow-colored fire lit up at the pupil. In the left eye, a dark-colored fire lit up in the same location. The same happened for Apollonir as well. These two flames were represented on their respective arms. The power of the Switch and Hex Code was flowing through them. This was the ideal state of a descendant of the original Bakugan, a state that is referred to as "Duality."

"You have my thanks and my respect...Andrew," Apollonir admitted, finally addressing him properly. The Dharak each used Thunder Probe, an ability that combined all of their respective foul energies into one unified thunder bolt that drove its way through the ground.

"You're on, Dasia! Let's go!" Vince openly declared. Him and Apollonir crossed their arms briefly. They threw them out to their sides to send a powerful repulsive wave that completely disrupted the destructive beam. All of the giant Dharak were sent on their backs in a humiliating fashion, but by the time they could get up, Vince and Apollonir had already left the scene.

[Andrew Bullock]

When he saw this hidden power that Apollonir had just used, Andrew could only smile. That was typical of Vince to always do something like this.

"Hmph...let's just hope you can keep that up..." Andrew concluded. What Vince and Apollonir were doing could be harmful to them, or even the planet itself without much effort being given on their part. That was probably why Andrew didn't have to deal with that during his battle with Vince. With Hades splitting the dimension, it was probably in Apollonir's best interest to defeat Hades with a much safer option. Vince could have been killed had this "Duality" been used before.

Hades opened fire on the Dharaknoid. The blasts burned through their skin easily. Their pain tolerance must have been boosted, because they were still mobile upon being shot. The laughing that was going on made Andrew want to cut his ears off. Hades tried to counter it with its screeching, but one could only do so much against an entire horde that was growing by each passing second. These giant Dharaknoid were surrounding him.

"Looking for revenge?" Andrew wondered. "I can see that look in your eye, the hatred for me boiling over, even though you had been a pet long before you made it to me. You're only here right now because of me, and I can damn well take you out." All of the Dharaknoid opened fire on his position using Thunder Probe again. Chaos completely swallowed Andrew's location. They figured this was the ideal way to deal with Andrew, because he couldn't necessarily dodge the impact of this with his forbidden power.

There was still a counter though...

Some smoke cleared and revealed Andrew just standing there without a care in the world. Hades was containing the conjoint blast the Dharak had just fired at them. "D2 Shield," Andrew activated. Rather than destroy him and Hades, the Dharak had actually fueled Hades with the power needed to wipe them all out without much time being wasted. The energy was being assimilated into Hades for his own use.

"Begone!" Hades unleashed this energy in a wide dispersal of power, coming in the form of an intense beam-like wave traveling in all directions. The dozens of giant Dharak - with each individual on par with the Baalenoid Drago had destroyed last year - were completely, and utterly, destroyed. What's even more sad is that all of them had higher power levels than Hades. That goes to show that they don't mean everything just like Andrew claims...

[Dasia Turano]

Dasia was alarmed when she got word via telepathic communication that Andrew was misbehaving. She wasn't all that concerned about him, because he can't do anything to directly harm her right now. She does recognize that his presence may cause some problems in the very near future.

"Okay...I'm not having any of that right now..." Dasia declared. She moved the BT System towards Andrew and Hades. As she was positioning the weapon, she looked down at Andrew with a less-than-pleased demeanor.

"Here it is... Dasia versus Nero... Which one of us can do the takeover thing better? We're about to find that out right now..." Dasia had Diablo 2 get off of the BT System. It landed right in front of Andrew. It didn't try anything yet, because it already knew it was going to miss thanks to Andrew's use of his power. The presence of a godly figure will do for now. The slaughter was just about to begin.

[Andrew Bullock]

This was precisely what Vince and Apollonir feared. Word spreads through the Hurranians instantly. It was only a matter of time before Dasia came to get rid of Andrew personally. He knew what was about to happen when he saw the BT System moving to cast a shadow over his head.

"I'm already up two to zero," Andrew reminded her, referencing the two times they fought each other when they were running around with their masked personas. "This one isn't going to be any different. You have the power of a god, but the mind of a fifteen-year-old whore. You can never find that sweet spot..."

Hades was about to go though a very difficult test. It was ready though. Calculating Diablo 2's level was something for it to be fearful of, but it stood ready in a combative position, ignoring the calculations altogether. The only objective now was to survive...

"Come on then. Show me just how strong you think you are..." Andrew provokingly challenged.

[Noland Hardy]

The clash between a former villain and a villain was hype, but not as hype as what it was going to take to get Noland to die. The Hurranians and Kyuki were about to bring in the big guns on him.

"Apollonir is moving closer to us," Drago noticed. "We'll be rid of this in no time..."

"Drago, do you feel that!?" Noland alarmingly interrupted. A bunch of energy signatures started popping up all over the place. This was where things were going to get bad. A swarm of ethereal Excedra heads were popping up around them and were getting ready to tear through the party. This must have been done because of Zero Hydranoid's power being assimilated. The Hurranians already used her power to boost the Necro Brawler's power to unbelievable standards. Now...it was getting to be too much.

In fact, the individual heads seemed to exhibit power from both Zero and Necro Hydranoid.

"Finally! I was beginning to think they weren't going to show up. Lars, let's show them up," Clayf suggested.

"As you wish," Lars Lion suggested. "Holy Light Domain!" Lars Lion tagged Drago's back with a special marking. It was sent from her hand like a lightning strike. This was a permanent buff - assuming it doesn't get removed -that boasted great effectiveness as an offensive and defensive maneuver.

The tagged individual has a glaring light field around them. It is in the shape of a sphere. Being under this field increases their maximum health by a small margin. It also alters their bodies and their attacks to be extra resistant to the forces of darkness. As if that wasn't a big enough advantage against beings like Hydranoid and Gargulion, there was another benefit. Should anything try to get through Lars Lion's light field, they'll be in for a big surprise. The enemy and/or their attacks would be consecutively burned by this light and pushed away from the field at the same time. Due to the weak nature of these Hydranoid heads, they were disintegrated instantaneously.

Noland and Yita were astounded by how powerful Lars Lion truly was. Her gentle nature did a good job at hiding her strength. Now it would be Clayf's turn to defend them as full combat forms of Misfortune 13 jumped out at them from around several corners of the surrounding buildings.

"Grand Slide," Clayf initiated. This is a very specialized Subterra technique that most Subterra warriors back then knew how to perform. With this technique, Clayf can manipulate the structure of the ground to move it in any way he saw fit. First, he struck the ground with his axe. Then, the ground underneath the Misfortune 13 forms began to move. Clayf intentionally did this to prevent any of them from hitting Drago with a technique that could get past Lars Lion's low-level barrier, at least by her standards.

The surprise movement of these slabs of ground pushed all of the Misfortune 13 forms into each other at a very fast speed. This made it so they all knocked each other unconscious, all without Clayf laying a finger on them.

Then...a full-blown Excedra jumped in their way out of nowhere. This wasn't the Legendary Soldier they knew. This was a different one. Manipulation of Zero Hydranoid's DNA has led to the Hurranians reversing some of the changes the subspecies has went through and reverted it back to a pure Hydranoid form, except that it had progressed to where they could force it to mature up to that level. It was truly a sight to behold.

"Oh...that one's a doozie," Clayf remarked, as the strength of this Excedra was something to get concerned about; however, it wasn't anywhere near the level of the Legendary Soldier since forcing maturation meant that the particular Hydranoid lacked the training to be that powerful.

[Tank Stryker]

All of the power in the world doesn't make a difference if the wielder has no idea how to use it. The Hurranians seem to be up to something grander with this ploy. Maturing a Hydranoid into the Excedra state seemed scary, but it wasn't anything to be concerned about from a battle perspective. It was like those brawlers across the high school, NCAA, and national level using the Hurranians as a performance-enhancing drug. They weren't strong; they were weak, always hiding behind a strength factor instead of using the most important element in a fight: strategy.

And what better strategy was there to employ in Noland's situation than to stand from afar and snipe these pitiful existences with abilities that show the difference in overall battle efficiency? None. That was Tank's answer.

In quick succession, an arrow struck the Excedra on its actual forehead, in between the part where the Excedra heads sprout from the top. This spot was struck with multiple blows with only one arrow, a feat that could only be accomplished by one weapon: the Bow of Diana. The Excedra's body froze and fell into a coma.

"Bullseye, bitches," Gladion celebrated. He was running and jumping across multiple buildings in his DNA Catalyst configuration. He was eagerly awaiting who would be next to get hit by this weapon. Tank was in tow on his shoulder. He had a cocky smile on his face, one that only he could make.

"Even the targets back in high school stood longer than you did," Tank spat. He pointed to Noland before making his next comment. "Don't you worry about a thing, Hardy. I got your back. There's no way I'm letting them get away with this, not after what they did..."

[Noland Hardy]

Since Noland never saw Tank fight with the DNA Catalyst up close, he had to turn around to see who shot it. He felt some impressive power coming out of Gladion. Knocking out a low-grade Excedra in one - figuratively several - blow was something to be impressed by.

"That's some impressive power you got there," Clayf recognized. "Just be careful where you aim that thing please. There's enough Bakugan popping up out of nowhere as it is."

"Ready your shot, soldier. There's more," Lars Lion immediately warned, and she was right. More energy signatures were popping up around them. Tank has gotten himself into the middle of the slaughter. Lars Lion was only hoping that he had enough courage to stand firm.

The Hurranians have gotten smarter with their battle strategy. The Misfortune 13 form was not fazing the Legendary Soldiers. The Excedra forms weren't working either. They have stopped sending them towards Noland completely so the Soldiers will not have to laugh at them anymore. They chose to deploy warriors they have saved for this moment. They were among the mightiest forces in the entire universe...

...The Twelve Orders...

Two of them were sent to go after Noland right now. One of them was invisible. The other was a Haos wolf and fox hybrid that jumped into the action with a Gundalian on its back.