Episode 48: Truth and Tribulation

[Tank Stryker]

Even with the blades circling the room, Tank had a very stoic expression on his face the moment Daniel made those comments. It was like Tank was expecting to get rowdy over someone making light of the fact that John was killed. He bets the enemy was expecting the same thing, but all Tank did was smile. That's when he realized that there was nothing better than showing that they didn't make his emotions move an inch towards sorrow.

"Heh... Ability activate! Weapon Thief!" Tank's activation of this ability was ballsy, but there was no other ability that shows just how much of a hole Daniel has dug himself into. Gladion skillfully intercepted one of the incoming blades by grabbing its hilt. He took control of this weapon and easily knocked the other blades out of their movement just by swiping them in the opposite direction of where they were spinning. The other three blades fell on the floor and ceased to function in a psychotic manner. Gladion then wielded the stolen sword like a rapier, seeing as how the blade's design was ideal for thrusting.

"Is that all you got?" Gladion inquired. "At least make me scared of you if you're going to threaten me like that, asswhipe."

"Sorry, but Katherine would nag me to a second death if I listen to you idiots," Tank asserted. "But don't let that stop you from wanting to take my place though."

[Daniel Andersen]

As fight continues red mist around 'Daniel' continues to thicken.

Whether it is just a decoration or a prelude to something terrible remains unknown. Considering this monster has yet to start warming up it will probably not be the worst thing to be seen from him. "Katherine? That's a nice name... for a tombstone." 'Daniel' says heartlessly as more blades begin to spawn around him and in much greater number; apparently, his last ability is still active. On top of that he begins to activate another one. "But enough about the dead- shame they can't be killed harder than they were. Death needs to move on to the living." With that statement two red horns begin to grow out of 'Daniel's' head and multiple bloody blades revolve around him. Suddenly, two more blades spawn in front, but much different than the ones from previous ability. These appear to be longer, sharper and lighter. "Dragon-Demon Arts: Oni!" He says and then horns reach their maximum length, claws emerge from his fingers and his teeth become sharper. This appears to be some mini-transformation.

With that he leaps towards the enemy with his both swords ready to draw blood and surrounded by a flock of bloody swords that protect him from all sides and attack along with his movements. The way he moves now it appears to be without a single sound produced- almost as if he is a leaf in the wind instead of an insane monster with intent to kill everything that moves. Getting hit by these swords causes automatic loss of health over time as enemy's health is turned into essence and scattered into the air. 

"If they only, somehow... could interrupt Virus's control... even for a second." Kuzuha whispers to herself in the back seeing how Virus is in full control over Daniel. There are ways to break control by force, but being in that state Kuzuha cannot do anything. Knowing Tank uses abilities passed down by gods perhaps he could disrupt Virus.

[Tank Stryker]

It wasn't so simple to just swipe the blades away from Daniel anymore. With his changed formation, a direct attack would be a risky, if not hazardous. Tank had a nice plan of action though, one that would buy him some time to see just how strong Daniel is in that state.

"Ability activate! Weapons Cache - Aegis!" A blue portal opened above Gladion and dropped off the legendary shield once again, the fabled Aegis. With Medusa's head as an accessory, a gaze into her eyes will petrify the unfortunate souls who dare to be so brave. Daniel sounded perfect for that declaration, why not let him take a peak, and to satisfy him before he falls flat on his face?

That's exactly what happened after all. Gladion pointed the shield towards Daniel as his tunnel vision was focused directly on him. This froze Daniel up, progressing to the point of him being turned to stone. This allowed both Tank and Gladion to evade without being concerned about Daniel homing in on them. Daniel and his swords cut through many crates. A hardened wall broke his fall.

"Yeah, enough about the dead. Sounds like a good idea," Tank suggested to Daniel without the need to look back at him completely. "You'll be just that shortly, so you'll know how that feels sooner than later."

[Daniel Andersen]

Seconds after 'Daniel' was turned into stone bloody-red mist began to move on its own. As if it was blown by wind it went for Gladion surrounding him completely. If they thought for a moment that this monster was going to give them any peace they were in a whole world of wrong. Mist absorbed into the ground and formed a giant magic circle; even if Gladion was to dodge circle was just too big to escape completely from it. A sound of cracking stone came up and hundreds of bloody-red blades emerged from the ground and went up in a swift and violent manner impaling Gladion. Several blades mercilessly tore through limbs and bones on both his arms and legs. Because of the position he was kept in none of them, luckily for him, ended up impaling him through the skull or any vital organs. However, that must have been painful.

After that red circle disappeared and reformed as red mist again. Mist then began to change form once more reforming as 'Daniel'- with his swords already in preparation to cut down wounded Gladion. The one that turned to stone just crumbled and turned into dust after that.

"Awfully quick at proclaiming yourself victor..." 'Daniel' says while watching the wounded warrior. "...that is why it is hard to protect what you care about." He continues.

"Dragon-Demon Arts: Titan!" 'Daniel' calls out. Along with the reformed blades from before new types appear. New blades are actually floating bloody-red daggers; a bit slower than the other type, but deal much more damage and are armor-piercing. They are also known as 'Titan' blades. Now 'Daniel' has over 30 blades at his disposal and not only that... some weird red orbs begin to spawn around the battlefield. Those do not apparently do anything, but are just standing there. Might be mines, but Gladion is not stupid to just step onto those. With one command all of the blades begin to move in different directions, but with the same goal- to stab the hell out of Gladion. Because of diversity in movement it might be difficult to predict AND evade all of them at the same time.

"Spacial Pressure!" Kuzuha's voice is heard from the back. Dome of dark-green energy appears around Gladion, but it does not appear to affect him. However, blades dancing around Gladion are drastically slowed down when they enter it making it impossible for them to hit a moving target. If Gladion recovers from hit quickly he might not be skewered by them. "Annoying wench..." 'Daniel' says under his breath.

[Tank Stryker]

"Tsk...you come up with that on your own...?" Gladion grunted. He barely moved after the impalement, but he definitely felt them. Daniel didn't bother to give him the common decency of having the blades disappear from his body after going through him like that. Ah well. You can't expect decency from someone who celebrates killing someone else like he's doing.

"Ability activate! Warrior's Pride!" Gladion had some minor discomfort when this ability was used. The blades that were lodged in his body was taken out via a form of telekinesis. Their removal did nothing to negatively affect anything within Gladion's body. His bodily injuries were slowly being healed as a result of this ability, so it was nothing to be scared of. More importantly, Gladion's durability became even mightier, so Daniel had no choice but to ramp up the power of his attacks, as anything less will no longer faze the warrior.

"So you stabbed Gladion a bunch of times. Good for you. That has never happened to me before. I don't know how I'll ever recover," Tank sarcastically replied. "Honestly, your whole routine with getting a ruse out of me with your comments makes this fight more hilarious than it actually is. I 'wonder' what's going to be next."

Tank looked back at Kuzuha for a brief moment, knowing she was the caster of this spatial field. Gladion could've done something else with Daniel's attack, but this could work nicely in conserving Gladion's energy. With Daniel's attack speed being slowed down, why not have Gladion's increased?

"Gladion, try this one. Ability activate! Art of Battle - Sleight of Hand!" The basic premise of this ability was to increase Gladion's movement and attack speed. Dryoid, a carbon copy of Gladion, has the ability do this as well. Now they'll all know where it got it from.

Gladion's entire body had an aura going around the figure of his body. Within a snap of a finger, Gladion thew a blade that connected with Daniel's body. The sheer speed of the blade allowed it to pierce all the way through Daniel's body as if it were a piece of paper. It didn't stop there though.

With Kuzuha assisting Gladion with her spell, he no longer had to worry about dodging the blades using this ability. He could simply maneuver around them, catch them, and then give it right back to Daniel just to see if he could catch.

"You ready for more? There's plenty left to go right for you. Can you survive them all? Let's put that to the test!" Tank confidently declared.

[Prof.Dr.Kyuki]

While Tank fights against Virus, Frosch has his own battle to worry about.

And battle against Virus is nothing compared to one Frosch has to go through since this is one of Kyuki's most-vicious creations. By using Forbidden Arts he managed to tie thousands of Bakugans together, extract their essences and embody it into this monster. With both powers of Deathcrown and Elysian Dragonoid this monster has an array of powers that might be too wide to put on the paper- all from heavy-damaging attacks to defensive shells and powerful healing abilities. These people should be thankful it did not get Deathcrown's 'Cutting The Strings' ability. Naturally, being a completely-manipulated monster without its own personality it cannot talk, feel pain or emotions, but it sure as hell can think- with everything else out of the way it's quick thinking as with computer allows it to quickly use abilities without need of selecting through cards like a brawler does.

With one ability known as 'Twin Gale' it moves behind Frosch in under less than a second and wraps him by one of his feet. Then it proceeds to toss him around like a bag making sure he gets knocked into every possible crate or pillar there is and when it runs out of obstacles it finally throws Frosch down on the floor. Next ability is known as 'Liquid Fire'- it is a very rare ability that only several types of Bakugans have- such as Necro Hydranoid. Ice Hydranoid would have its variation 'SubZero Fire'. What Traqdrach fires at Frosch is a blast of thick oil-like black liquid that covers Frosch's skin and sticks on it. And Frosch can feel it sting like fire, but that is not how its name got the origin. Suddenly, all of that liquid explodes creating pitch-black fire that surrounds Frosch and might incinerate him fast. There is a modified variation Kyuki made specifically for Traqdrach- 'Corpse Blast'... which will not be revealed yet. Maybe ever. It's disgusting.

[Vince Hardy]

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Frosch screamed in agony as his body was incinerated by this flame. It looked ferocious. "I'm melting! Melting I tell you!" He was serious. His body looked like it was drooping. He could be a wet corpse in seconds, except...

"Just kidding," Frosch clowned. "Spontaneous Creation!" Frosch opened his mouth to hawk up a giant mass of water that splashed across from him. This mass of water eventually turned into a Frosch. The one that was burning was turned into a liquid and evaporated from the insane heat.

"Sanitize after touching please," Frosch asked of Traqdrach. As everyone should know by now, Frosch's skin glands are poisonous. By throwing Frosch around, Traqdrach has just been subjected to his deadly toxins. With that done, Frosch could inflict massive damage upon Traqdrach in an instant.

"Take this!" Frosch stuck his tongue out and wrapped it around Traqdrach. Warts grew along his tongue until they exploded. "Blight Torrent!" The exploded warts spread a clear, runny substance that spread out across Traqdrach. Explosions occurred all over it, and it started to turn purple due to the level of toxicity within its systems. Frosch then hurled Traqdrach into a wall where it belonged.

Blight Torrent was a very dangerous ability in that the damage it inflicts is amplified two-fold if the enemy already has a defect within their condition, and it also amplifies the said defect to cause even more pain. Considering Frosch's poison was enough to kill Kyuki's other Bakugan in mere seconds via heart failure, an amplified version of this was not something Traqdrach wanted to keep, especially not for longer than ten seconds at the most.

[Prof.Dr.Kyuki]

Creepy monster simply wiggled out of its sticky situation.

It continues to fly around while making creepy wiggly snake movements. That is something you don't want to encounter in the dark alley in the night. Since it does not feel pain there is no point in trying to take him down with that form of measure. As for toxins, Frosch might have missed a tiny fact... that Traqdrach is one giant bone. Like literally. It is just a skeleton head with a long skeletal tail, two floating wing-like skeletal objects and two floating skeletal claws. Poisoning it is like trying to use poison on any undead-type enemy in any rpg game; does not really work as one would expect it. Traqdrach's body glows in dark-purple and suddenly all of the poison is absorbed into its skeletal body. Just like Necro Hydranoids, this monster is able to absorb poison and transform it. Traqdrach opens its mouth and releases poison through it in form of gas; poison begins to spread around the entire room threatening to catch Frosch's team off guard while they're fighting against their respective opponents.

Then it turns towards Frosch and begins to launch light-elemental swords at him from its mouth as if it was using a breath attack. This attack belongs to Siege kind and is known as 'Light Sword Fury'; it is an attack that not only deals damage, but it causes enemy's attacks to progressively become weaker and weaker as the time flows. The thing is- enemy might not even notice they are under the spell until a few minutes pass. Traqdrach, having abilities of thousands of Bakugans, is ready for this kind of thing. Once blades begin to hit Frosch, Traqdrach uses its normal attack for some reason and that is firing a beam of both light and darkness at Frosch pushing him back and into a wall. This undead monster is really like those in movies, but actually dangerous- its creepy movements, silence of its body and responses were enough to even creep Fina out and she appears to be a psychopath as well.

[Vince Hardy]

"Hm...that didn't work..." Since Frosch wasn't the one who directly fought Traqdrach the last time, he didn't know that it would bounce back so easily. That was fine though. There are thousands of other plans Frosch has in store for this little monster.

"Aquos Ripple!" His back shined blue upon activation. The swords faded out of existence in addition to the airborne toxins. He then put his head down to go against Traqdrach's blast. Seeing as how he later hopped right out of his predicament, Frosch must not have been affected by the blasts all that much, especially since it was a normal attack.

Frosch simply stared at Traqdrach as he prepared to land like nothing was going to happen. Suddenly, a concussive blast of water shot up from where Traqdrach was currently residing. It caught the monster off-guard, inflicting decent damage and stunning it. With his powerful hind legs, Frosch stomped on Traqdrach as he landed, forming a denting mark on this pristine flooring.

"Oops. My bad. Kinda hard to be light on my feet," Frosch played off. He jumped off before Traqdrach could have a piece of him. He landed a good distance away from Traqdrack to give himself some room. Frosch was about to spring a trap on it anyway.

[Prof.Dr.Kyuki]

Monster rises once more and it takes its creepy pose again.

Growling sounds can be heard coming from it, but it does not sound like something you would want to hear at night- it sounds like countless different voices are crying at the same time... deep voices, high-pitched voices, all kinds... Some brawlers who survived Traqdrach theorized that it is all the Bakugans whose essences were stolen and put into that monster are screaming in pain whenever Traqdrach prepares for something big to happen. It is like a sign for people to get as far as possible (and do zig-zags while they're at it). 

Its gaze is simply pointed at Frosch, but it does not move or attack. It is just staring creepily almost as if it is waiting for something. Screeches of pain in thousands of voices and tones continue and become louder with time. Kuzuha, being one who can talk to spirits, might know what is going on with this monster's body... could those Bakugans still feel while being trapped inside that monster? If they can then that is a fate that cannot be more unfortunate than it already is. 

Traqdrach simply does not move seemingly allowed Frosch to attack it and deal a lot more damage than it was done with Frosch's last move. That would give him a lot of advantage against Traqdrach if he could score a hit, but why is this monster not attacking? Perhaps it is planning a trap? Doubtful it broke down after a few hits and can't function anymore. There do not appear to be any traps around the room or any activities done that would mean ability was used. It continues to stare at Frosch and produce that awful sound.

[Vince Hardy]

Frosch was giggling at Traqdrach's constant growling. It sounded amusing to him. This may look and sound like a morbid sense of humor coming from the Legendary Soldier. He does tend to make light of a lot of situations since he is a strategist, and since he's basically immortal on the battlefield based on his body composition, he can mostly do whatever he wanted. It wasn't like Traqdrach was forcing him to use anything close to his higher-end power.

"Oh, Legendary Frosch, will you please eat me now? I'm no match for you. How dare I believe that I could compare to such greatness," Frosch erroneously interrupted for giggles. "Well, if you insist." Frosch wrapped his tongue around Traqdrach and swallowed it whole with the intention of killing it through his digestive juices.

As quickly as he ate it, he spat it right back out. "Yuck! That's the most repulsive thing I've ever eaten. What's in there?" Frosch complained. "Screw that...just...here." Frosch donkey kicked Traqdrach with enough power to send it out of the battle for quite some time.

"That one was no fun. I'm hoping it gets back up soon. I didn't hit it hard...I hope."  Frosch was itching for a good fight. If Kyuki is anywhere near as threatening as every organization claims, then Frosch's brain should be picked a little harder for the sake of satisfaction. Mind games are his specialty, and no one loves them more than Frosch. Lars Lion comes in at a close second though.

[Alex Andersen]

While two other groups unleash their wrath at one another Alex is caught in a bloody combat with his mind-controlled father. It has not been long since their last battle where Alex triumphed and learned the truth behind what Kyuki has been doing. This time Andrew has been strengthened so he does not fall to Alex's Achron Chaos like the last time, so if Alex has not been improving any further will be down before you know it. But, luckily, he HAS been improving- not by training and practicing, but by merely existing and feeling. His powers are based on his perception of things, perspectives, emotions and will power where two lasts ones come from two first ones. Aside with that biology/psychology lesson, now moving to the events at hand.

Alex and Dante have taken on Andrew by themselves- since he does not use any Bakugans it is a perfect opportunity to double-team him; even though that might not last too long. Dante has already entered Chaos Takeover because it might be way more effective against opponents than Andrew- despite a lack in power like with Valiant Strive. However, Alex will not have time activating abilities this time, so Dante will be creative.

"Not down yet, old man!!" Alex yells. Using his strength and speed he charges into Andrew and appears right in front of his face. "Ha!" He yells and swings his head towards Andrew's doing a headbutt attack. Alex's forehead strikes into Andrew's nose and pushes the man back.

"Cruel Lance!" Dante declares. His lance becomes surrounded with dark and wicked energy. He points the lance towards where Alex is and charges. Lance hits Alex's shadow and a powerful burst of darkness emerges from Andrew's shadow hitting him in his upper body and pushing him back even more. Dante quickly, but carefully, circles around the target using advantage of Chaos Takeover's speed. 

[Andrew Andersen]

"Hehehehe... not bad, kid. You're learning." Andrew sarcastically commends Alex. "Last time you were beaten to a pulp in the first minute- improvement, to say the least." When someone's body is turned into a weapon of mass-destruction it is quite easy to say such thing to a, clearly, inferior opponent in terms of power. Once Andrew is done with his little mockery he decides to give Alex a taste of true reality and pain he was dodging this whole time. His body becomes surrounded with dark-red and black streams of energy that come together and are absorbed into Andrew's body to make him radiate with hellish and chaotic energy he received in this mental prison. "You ready? HERE I COME!" Andrew yells with his thunderous voice. He leans forward and makes a single step, but instead one step he moves right in front of Alex, avoiding Dante's patrol altogether. "Boo!"

His left fist quickly sinks into Alex's belly leaving the Knight without breath. He proceeds to lift him up like that and then smash his face with the right fist. Alex flies across the room and into a stone pillar that cracks and collapses on top of Alex.

"Didn't forget about you either, buddy." Andrew turns towards Dante, who is already on his way to pierce Andrew with the lance.

"Absolute White!" Andrew yells out. This is his unique ability; he was given that without involvement of any Bakugans' powers. It allows him to create a 'clear' battlefield. Because of its power it has only a 40 meter radius in which it works and once Dante is in there... Bright light flashes and covers that entire radius catching Dante in it and damaging him. Result of Absolute White reveals Dante to be back in his base form- without any power-ups he might have gotten through Chaos Takeover and this should prevent him from using that transformation as well for the rest of their fight. Dante is stopped in his tracks and Andrew approaches him kicking him in the head. "Hole in one!" He says sarcastically and sends Dante flying as well.

[Alex Andersen]

Alex used those ten seconds Andrew took to handle Dante.

"Didn't learn not to turn your back away from the enemy!?" Alex shouts when he appears behind Andrew. With a swift thrust he knee-kicks Andrew in the back making him lose balance for a second, which Alex gladly uses to continue. He does a frontflip to position himself in front of Andrew and then proceeds to unleash multiple kicks and punches against all parts of Andrew's body; especially his head. At that speed it becomes impossible to stop Alex in his fury of strikes. As he prepares to deal one last hit his right fist becomes surrounded with blue fire and once he uppercuts the enemy blue flames burst into enemy's face sending him backwards where he kisses the ground.

"Dante!" Alex calls out, so they could attack before this guy gets up again. "Got it."

Alex quickly takes a white card with a ruby in the center. This process has to be done, unlike with other cards. Since Chaos Takeover was nullified it is safe to use this.

"Valiant Strive!" Alex shouts and Dante's body becomes trapped in an orb of fire, which is a sign of transformation. Only a few seconds later orb explodes revealing a giant dragon with a sword in its left hand. "Ability Unlock! Thunder Blade!" Dante yells and accumulates Haos thunder power on his sword's blade and then slashes releasing waves of thunder that strike Andrew and lift him high up. Dante flies up and smashes Andrew with his giant fist into the ground. "Stay down for once!" 

[Andrew Andersen]

Andrew stands up as if nothing had happened.

Despite the duo's successful combo, any severe damage beyond a scratch here and there are not visible. Appears that Kyuki did a good job buffing Andrew to a point where he is more of a threat than he used to be. Back several months ago, he defeat Mighty 5 and several members of Seven Angels along with Jennifer and caused a lot of material damage. Dante, using Valiant Strive, was one-shot defeated by him in mere seconds, but it appears now that both Alex and Dante are able to endure his powers for way longer than before- this will be an interesting outcome, to say the least. They should not take this many lightly just because progress is different that the last time; considering all power-ups he might as well win this.

"What's with the angry attitude? You need to take a breather." Andrew sarcastically comments on what two enemies have said and done.

"So here- let me help you with that one. Cold Force!" Andrew declares and snaps his finger creating powerful wind-like force that manages to lift up both enemies and begins to freeze their bodies at quick pace. He then jumps in front of Alex and grabs him. He then proceeds to smash him against the ground and to add more damage to it he spawns a frozen metal chain-hook. He grabs Dante with it and tosses him at the same spot as Alex forming a giant crater and probably crushing Alex under him.