Episode 48: Truth and Tribulation

[Prof.Dr.Kyuki]

If one pays attention during fights they can notice Traqdrach's body flash quickly. That always signals that a new ability is coming- with these forbidden things involved those flashes are either quicker or do not appear at all and power-levels appear to be under 'Jamming' effect which prevents those around detect the power-level. A flash that goes for only a millisecond escapes Traqdrach's body and before Frosch he can see where the hell that thing went he can feel a cold breeze right above him. Traqdrach used ability stolen from Elysian Dragonoid's DNA. Originally, it is known as 'Divine Drive' which is shared among the original Elysian Dragonoid (demigod), descendant Elysian Dragonoid (Andrew Andersen former partner, Sylvia Zenovia current) and Iota Epsilon Ares (Asuka Izumo). It allows one to to make a sudden movement in any direction disregarding several effects placed upon them- similar to effect of 'Cloaking'. With Kyuki's modification 'Divine Drive' is far from divine. Now above Frosch this monster has another thing that, this time, does not come from any of the demigods. Ability originally belongs to Lich Hydranoid- one of Necro Hydranoid evolutions that accidentally got into Kyuki's way and suffered a terrible defeat. It is called the Skeletal Chamber.

Traqdrach's two 'wings' (more like two floating spikes) extend and enlarge taking appearance of two massive skeletal hands- both grab Frosch once more, but this time... odd white tissue begins to cover all openings in those skeletal hands sealing every means of escape for the giant frog who would normally just turn its body into a liquid to escape such fate. Once he is caged the party begins. 

Blue and golden lightning bolts hit Traqdrach out of nowhere and then connect to the chamber. Blue lightning shocks Frosch and begins to freeze his body- coating it in hard ice. Golden lightning does what normal lightning would do- stack a lot of damage multiple times. Golden lightning just goes through ice to hurt Frosch who has no easy ways out and is not being very comfortable in the chamber being hit by lightning and frozen like a dinner leftover. The abilities begin to feel very ridiculous since Traqdrach is using things coming from different arsenals. 

[Vince Hardy]

"Dang it. It got me again," Frosch stated about being grabbed AGAIN. "What's it going to be this time?"

But when it happened...

"Owwwww! Why'd you have to go and do that?" Frosch complains about what's currently happening to him. There was no easy way out of this, but that's good for Frosch. He WANTS Traqdrach to do this. It gets his mind right.

"Tsk...you've got some nerve." Now that someone hears, that will think the opposite. Traqdrach was persistent, but in Frosch's eyes, it didn't know when it was outmatched. "Reversal!"

This is Frosch's third ability that's in line with Formless and Amorphous. The ability to alter the density of of a liquid, gas, or solid was an extremely dangerous ability. Molecular manipulation at this level allows one to increase or decrease mass, making one intangible or as hard as a diamond. There's also another capability of density that Frosch was going to use here, much to the disappointment of Traqdrach.

It was simple. P equals m over v. As density changes, either mass and/or volume must be altered. As such, Frosch can make something abnormally huge and powerful by increasing these two values. There was one object that could benefit from it: Frosch's icy prison. It grew up until it slammed into Traqdrach's stomach and carried it all the way to the ceiling where it bashed its head. Its abilities were broken through, leaving Frosch only one way out: making the ice easy to pass through by decreasing its density. The ice was shattered. Frosch was having to endure the effects of the shock he just suffered, and Traqdrach dropped to the floor, critically injured in every sense of the state.

"I really do wonder if you can still entertain me after that," Frosch wondered as he shook off the numbness he felt from being shocked like that. "I'd prefer if you stayed down. You're too much of a nuisance to the rest.

[Andrew Andersen]

Kid already got up from his grievous state.

Would have been disappointing if he had been beaten so quickly.

Andrew takes a look around the room and begins to notice the difference- he is doing his job quite well while Virus is lagging behind. That thing was never good for anything anyways- Kyuki just wanted to grab it and attempt to seize Deathcrown's powers that were way better 'cultivated' than inside Traqdrach. Also, Daniel's connection to Achron will prove valuable if Kyuki is able to do detailed research on his body, which is uncertain if all the trouble that is already ongoing is taken into consideration. Best he can do is give Daniel to Fina and transport Daniel manually to one of several main labs so teleportation could not be sensed. Or jam the trail.

So Andrew's got to beat this kid and Jennifer has to do with her own respective opponent because all three have different form of power coming from same creator.

"These losers ain't doing quite well. Kid, how about we wrap it up so I can go give these insects a hand?" Andrew says sarcastically to Alex.

Vicious power can be felt coming from man's body as he releases a roar in his thunderous voice. "White Nightmare!" He declares with snow-white waves of energy pulsing around him and soaking him in all of the terrifying power. His eyes begin to glow red and soon before him a giant axe is spawned. "Made of hardest materials found in Vestroia and imbued with genetically-engineered reinforcement that is naturally hostile to DNA of a Bakugan- it cuts through hardest of armor like it is butter, so without prolonging this... time for DINNER!" Andrew says and grabs the axe before making a violent leap towards Alex and Dante with intention of cutting through them with the axe. If Dante is hit by this, there is no doubt he will not be rejoining any battle any time soon.

[Alex Andersen]

"I can't and won't let you do that!" Alex replies. Andrew started raising his own power so he could take Alex down quicker. Since that is the case it would not hurt if Alex did the same. That giant axe looks quite similar to the one Andrew was using the last time he fought Alex- back in Washington when Andrew and Jennifer were wrecking down the streets together. Judging by the description, Dante should stay away from it and stick to the ranged battle or, at least, hit when opportunity arises. Alex could arrange a few opportunities there, but it does not guarantee success. He can sense the difference in Andrew's power with this recent charging- it will be ugly if he gets hit by any attack; not to mention that giant axe that could slice him in half with a single swing. 

Energy begins to build up inside Alex's body creating a dark-blue aura all around Alex and freezing air and objects in vicinity under a second. Ground begins to shake displaying the force that was building up inside Alex ever since the Washington massacre and now it is time to show this man what it means to bring Alex to this level of power. "Who the hell do you think I am, old man!?" He shouts with thunderous tone of voice as the icy aura begins to expands. Alex's skin goes gray and his eyes turns blue entirely, his hair takes a more spiky style and blue color with a single line of red on the edge. All over Alex's body are emblems and letters in unknown language and each one of them glows in light-blue color projecting an icy feeling. "I'll send you back to your grave!" He shouts and leaps towards Andrew and his giant axe.

"Purgatory... Force Eruption!" Alex exclaims and stops in his charge allowing Andrew to get closer. He makes a strong clap and his body releases countless quick waves of icy energy that begin to hit Andrew and give him frostbites all over his body and then violently push him back. "Purgatory Kreuz!" With another clap streams of cold energy quickly come together forming an ice beam that looks like a cross. It charges right into Andrew and explodes on impact forming an icy prison and trapping the enemy while giving continuous damage through the force of Purgatory within the layers of ice. Power that brought Alex into this form and allowed him to use powers like these is known as Achron Chaos. 

[Andrew Andersen]

"Gah... stubborn kid..." Andrew says. He flexes his muscles and effortlessly cracks down the ice that shatters into thousands of little pieces.

Tired of Alex's continuous efforts to take him down Andrew readies himself for the next attack. "...if you want to dance so badly then who am I to say 'no'?" He says and prepares his axe for an attack. Axe becomes surrounded with streams of darkness and then powerful gust begins to hit Alex from Andrew's direction. "Gale Movement!" Andrew declares and makes a single step that brings him right in front of Alex and slams him in the belly with the bottom of the axe handle. Once kid losses a bit of air Andrew spin-kicks him back and then goes to swing the axe against the ground. "Atlas Slayer!" He declares and upon impact axe release a blast of darkness that heads straight forward for Alex lifting him up, damaging him critically and then tossing him into the air. Andrew uses Gale Movement as well to get up close to Dante now knowing he is the weak link when it comes to fighting Andrew, who is practically a Bakugan-killer.

"Don't feel ignored! There's plenty for everybody!" Andrew says and captures Dante in a cage of darkness that prevents the giant Bakugan from moving. His Valiant Strive will not save him from what is going to come up next. Andrew readies his axe to swing it upwards. He begins to charge his ability, Bakugan-Killer, and it is that in the literal meaning of the word. This ability allows Andrew to deal lethal damage to a Bakugan he hits with an axe as the force within the axe will disintegrate Bakugan's cells and melt down its DNA without allowing it to heal itself or be healed by anyone else.

[Alex Andersen]

“Purgatory Conversion!” Alex declares quickly after being thrown around by Andrew. His body and Andrew’s body become soaked in blue light, but there is no apparent damage. Andrew’s axe hits Dante that is pushed back under sheer force of the attack. However, he does not show signs of any damage being done to him. Instead of that, he readies his sword and charges towards Andrew. “Valiant Just Sword!” Dante declares and slashes with the sword soaked in prominent and blinding lights whose sheer holy force can be sensed from afar. Sword meets the axe and unbalances Andrew whose axe ends up flying into a pillar and blinding light burn down Andrew’s health. 

“Radiant Blade!” Dante declares once more as his blade becomes imbued in thunder, lights and flames. He slices Andrew head-on across his chest pushing him back and soaking the sword in Andrew’s burning blood.

“I’ve told you before- I won’t let you hurt anyone else! You should know better than turn your back on me!” Alex says. Purgatory Conversion is Alex’s class of unique conversion abilities. Once it makes contact with enemy it temporarily makes their offensive abilities have opposite effect- instead of dealing lethal damage and debuff of enemy’s offense abilities will heal their target by the amount that was supposed to damage them and place an opposite buff, which is offense buff. It only pushed Dante back while healing him and adding more power to his offense. This allowed Dante to use Valiant Just Sword which instantly deals triple damage then normal and then Radiant Blade which copies previous attack’s power and deals it then. 

[Andrew Andersen]

Andrew barely gets a moment to get some balance after that. He did expect a fight, but nothing on that level where his attack can be used to heal an enemy. It was a bullshit beyond imagination and he was not going to just sit calmly and take it anymore. It was time to teach that stubborn kid a lesson he will never forget. “I gave you a chance to lay down and play dead, kid. Now you’ll be dead for real.” Andrew replies angrily. His giant axe begins to levitate and then goes towards Andrew who grabs it. Shower of blood ceases as Andrew’s body regenerates rapidly. He roars like thunder and a destructive wave follows. His roar alone pushes Alex and Dante back. “Gale Movement!” He declares and moves with a sudden step forward. It takes him right in front of Alex.

“Bleeding Dragon!” He declares and with zero efforts swings that massive axe.

Blade goes through Alex’s shoulder and under immense pressure it continues to carve its path through Alex’s body all towards his heart. Blood splatters all over the axe and floor painting the room of death in red. Echo of Alex’s scream pierces through the room. Axe is lodged deep inside his body and has practically cut him in half. Strength abandons kid’s body as massive amounts of blood keep coming out of his body. At this pace, his death is imminent. There is no way he can heal from that one soon. "How does that feel? Stings a little, doesn't it?" Andrew mocks.

[Alex Andersen]

Blood gushes out of Alex's body violently and rapidly. He begins to struggle to breathe, but it comes with unbearable pain that combines with the present, which prevents Alex from struggling any further. With that much pain all at once his body enters a state of shock washing all of that pain away, but not solving the problem- just like the fact that painkillers do not heal you after you having your bones broken in a car accident. Weakly, Alex attempts to pull out the giant axe with his right hand, but weakness kicks in draining all strength he had left. He falls unconscious in an instant as blood continues to come out.

"Get away from him!!" Dante yells and charges in.

Andrew is pushed away from Alex and smashed into a wall from Dante's violent charge. "You'll pay for that! Dawnbreaker!" Dante calls out and slashes Andrew across his chest, neck and everywhere he could using this super-quick slashing ability. Blood gushes out of Andrew as well and while he thought he could counterattack Dante smashed him with his giant tail sending him into a wall that collapses on top of Andrew.

[Jennifer Andersen]

Seeing how this little girl becomes progressively annoying with her hit-and-run tricks Jennifer decides to step up her game and get rid of the kid. Woman roars and summons blood-colored streams that surround her body and join it empowering Jennifer with a whole new array of dangerous techniques. “Want to play games with me? I’d be happy to oblige!” Jennifer declares. She begins teleporting all over the place to confuse Lydia who clearly cannot keep up with that pace of quick teleportation. Jennifer appears behind Lydia and grabs the girl by the neck. She then tosses her and grabs her again, but this time by the back of her head and then slams her face against the ground. Using movement spells Jennifer launches herself like a missile and while going forward she holds Lydia’s face against the concrete floor, brutally grinding her face and leaving a trail of blood as she goes. 

“Witch’s Cinder!” Jennifer declares. 

She throws Lydia in the air and then grabs her crushed bloody face. “BURN!” Jennifer yells with a psychotic tone and releases flames from the palm of the hand she uses to hold Lydia. Flames are born out of the palm and incinerate Lydia’s face to the point where it begins to turn ash-black. Lydia fruitlessly attempts to escape the hand, but is not capable to do it on her own. “Not so quick now, are we??” Jennifer sadistically laughs at Lydia who keeps getting burned and is left without any air. 

[Lydia Andersen]

“Get away, bitch!” Devilin threatens and mauls Jennifer across the face with her claw. “She Devil’s Arm!” Devilin declares activating her unique ability. Her claw grows in size and claws on it extend and begin to leak an odd substance. Devilin mauls Jennifer again and forces her to drop wounded Lydia on the ground. With a powerful swing Devilin smashes Jennifer in the belly and sends her flying. To gain some distance Devilin grabs Lydia and flies away from their previous position. Lydia does not look like she is doing too well with her face having had a grind against the hard floor and then nearly burned to cinders- that is some pain no one wants to feel. It only shows how brutal and relentless Jennifer is with the powers she was given. 

“Your face…” Devilin mutters. 

“It’s...fine…uh…” Lydia replies, but slowly begins to lose consciousness. That attack might have been way too much to handle for a tiny girl like Lydia. She might have powers of some sort, but they are clearly of no use in physical resistance. “Snap out of it, kid!” Devilin yells, but Lydia is still quite drowsy and is about to fall down. “I said…I’m… fine…” Lydia says, but her words are not quite convincing considering her head keeps falling down. “Screw it!” Devilin says and opens her mouth wide revealing her sharp vampiric fangs. Without any warning she goes for space between Lydia’s neck and left shoulder, sinking whole length of her teeth into Lydia. “AHHH!” Lydia screams in absolute pain and agony as Devilin pulls out her fangs. Lydia’s eyes widen and she comes back to her consciousness… at least for now. “Don’t… EVER… do that again!” Lydia complains. “And what am I supposed to do!? Let you sleep? Plus, you taste not half bad. I might get used to that.” Devilin says as she licks her lips with obvious signs of Lydia’s blood on her fangs and tongue. “Idiot… we’re going to have a long talk later.” Lydia complains. 

[Jennifer Andersen]

“Oh, not so easy now, is it?” Jennifer mocks the two. She stood up after being hit by Devilin’s ability. It did not remotely impress her considering that Devilin and Angelight, regardless of the form, cannot possibly do anything to Jennifer that would actually be effective. And Lydia, who can, is not in the best shape for combat. One more strong attack like this and the girl should be out of the game. Devilin will not be so easily distracted this time so she should be targeted before Lydia. 

“Tethering!” Jennifer declares. 

Devilin, as if she was a piece of metal pulled by a magnet is pulled towards Jennifer. Jennifer grabs her by the neck and begins to choke her with both hands. The force she has in those hands is too strong and Devilin does not have much time before she is strangled. “That is an intriguing strategy to motivate your brawler. Who could have thought mighty devil like you is such gay shit!” Jennifer mocks as she continues her work of killing Devilin. She is doing quite a job here since no serious damage is being done to her. 

[Lydia Andersen]

“Ghhh….Ahh!” Devilin mutters. This monster of a woman is seriously going to strangle her? Of all ways to go this certainly falls under top 10 humiliating ones. Devilin attempts to trigger her shadow movements or turn into bats, which is one of several escape abilities she has. None of the abilities she attempts in that chaotic situation work- it is like Jennifer somehow disabled Devilin from using anything… right here and right now that is not something she wants to experience. And this strength this woman displays will not need much longer than a few more seconds to snap Devilin’s neck or do whatever she was planning to. “Let her go!” Lydia yells and appears on Jennifer’s right. She used her techniques to quickly approach while she still has some consciousness. “Falcon’s Talon!” Lydia says and her right arm becomes a bright green-colored claw. One slash upwards across Jennifer’s face does the trick as the woman screeches in pain of her eye being hit and then backs away to defend herself. She drops Devilin in the process. 

“What did you call me, cow-tits!?” Devilin jumps up, angered by Jennifer’s comment. Normally, she does not care for insults, but… you know what, nevermind. Even though Devilin’s words seem to be much more vulgar.
She does not have boundaries with insults either.

Her claw enlarges and grabs Jennifer by her waist. She proceeds to throw her around and finally pin her against a wall. She then grabs her by the face. “Devil Flame!” Dark-purple fire covers Jennifer’s face, burning it. This was done to Lydia, so Devilin found it appropriate as a comeback towards Jennifer. She should get her face grilled and served to the rest of Kyuki’s monsters. 

[Jennifer Andersen]

Jennifer touches the wall with her left palm creating a magical circle. Circle causes a long blue-colored arm to emerge from it and then punch Devilin in the face. This ability is one of Jennifer’s spirit summons- creates a spirit that can aid her in combat. This gives a plenty of time of distraction. She hits Devilin in the face as well and leaves a scar with those claw-like attachments she put. It works like a tranquilizer that was made by Kyuki himself. Sometimes, victims are more valuable alive than dead, so Kyuki implants strong tranquilizer inside his creations’ bodies. Case where victim might be important is one with Andrew and Jennifer themselves and, of course, Sylvia Zenovia. While they were under Kyuki’s observation he pumped them with tranquilizer so he could calmly do research on them without them attempting to resist or cause any trouble. That tranquilizer is created from various forms of non-lethal or processed venom found in Vestroia; mostly with scorpion or snake Bakugans, but some of it is even Kyuki’s custom creation. 

“Cow-tits? Heh, for someone denying the gay thing you sure where quick to notice them. Either you’re jealous or… interested, hmm?” Jennifer mocks her wounded opponent. Devilin is in a situation where she could attempt to switch to Angelight, but that tranquilizer works despite one being a dual-Bakugan. Healing is only possible on the wound while tranquilizer is still in the body, but eliminating it would take techniques far different than healing or cleansing. If it could just be healed with a simple ability Kyuki would not be wasting time making it in the first place. Devilin will last for another minute, probably not even that long… wasting time on her is not necessary. Jennifer takes off her wizard hat and headbutts Devilin. Devil woman falls on the ground and begins to lose consciousness. 

“And now… for my beloved little girl.” Jennifer sadistically smiles.  

“Blazing Chaos!” Jennifer declares and claps releasing furious dark flames towards Lydia. Girl was too close to avoid them and once she was in there flames prevented any sort of movement she might have made. “Tickles, doesn’t it?” Jennifer asks in mockery as she witnesses Lydia’s body being incinerated by powerful flames. “Witch Dread!” She declares again and teleports right into flames without being damaged. She continues to laugh sadistically as she slashes Lydia multiple times all across her body, tearing her clothes apart and infusing her with loads of tranquilizer. Since Lydia was on the brink of falling unconscious anyway this should not take long to kick in; especially with the amount injected. 

[Markus Hederick]

With the aid of Tracy's healing from earlier, Gargulion had already reformed his body. Markus was also using his hiding tactic that he used earlier, just to make sure the now-buffed Kyuki wouldn't want to attack him personally. Gargulion was casually trading blows with the powered-up Kyuki. Now Gargulion needed to exert a bit of effort, because Kyuki was now within the threatening range of being able to kill him.

"Hm...despite our numbers, the overall fight is relatively even... That's not good," Markus thought. Tank and Kuzuha gave Virus a good ass whooping, and Frosch was making a fool out of Traqdrach from a strategic and literal sense. At the same time, Alex and Lydia were struggling against their parents. That just leaves him against Kyuki to determine a tie breaker if one were to look at it that way.

He didn't want to say it out loud himself, but he was tempted to just withdraw from Kyuki and help out one of the Andersens and let Maria sort it out. It wasn't looking pretty over there at all. Something was telling him that he was about to be next in line if either one of them drops. Judging by how Kyuki was fighting, it was a safe bet that Markus may have to run before he gets bludgeoned in the back by Andrew or subjected to a disastrous concoction of death and misery from Jennifer.

"Gargulion, it's not looking so good over there, man. We might have to up the stakes a little," Markus suggested, referring to the activation of the DNA Stimulus.

"Not yet," Gargulion rejected in between clashes. "Our role is pretty clear. If we deviate from it, then we'll be in shambles. Let's consider that IF the Andersens fail, not before. That can't be the limits of their power. I'm sure they'll pull through somehow."

"...I hope you're right, Gargulion. I really do..." Gargulion and Kyuki were repelled backwards from their respective clash. Gargulion chose to cast an ability as he was going back.

"Ability activate! Tumultuous Gargoyle!" Gargulion's eyes flashed for a brief moment so he could summon a storm composed of darkness. Sporadic tornadoes and lighting strikes were prevalent in this development.

"Photon Spear!" As Gargulion skidded on the floor, he held up his left hand. A myriad of bladed constructs appeared above his head. Gargulion swung his arm forward, and the blades went inside of the storm. They were smothered in dark power and amplified by the torrential power of the storm, so much so that the blades themselves could equal the offensive potential of top-tier offense users in its power alone, not even counting its piercing ability.

"Gargulion, keep your guard up. He can kill us now. Remember that," Markus sternly warned his partner.

[Prof.Dr.Kyuki]

Familiar, but still obscure... red aura surrounds Kyuki's body.

Whatever he did it gave him more power than he ever used to have in his body. It is a significant change and has probably surpassed that of Virus and Jennifer, but definitely not of Andrew or Traqdrach- those two could probably kill Kyuki easily if they wanted... or, more precisely, if they could. Power is quite similar to what Resistors' Bakugans could feel before from Daniel who was manipulated by Virus, but it seems like... something is missing. Power feels like what Daniel or Virus should have, but it is like something that should be there is not there. Who knows if it is a good thing or a bad thing. Knowing Kyuki, it might just be another trick up his sleeve... not like he already has not passed the annoyance test with his tricks.

"Frost..." Kyuki says silently.

Fog begins to form around most of the parts of the lab. It disturbs the eyesight of brawlers and their Bakugans, but that is not the fog's purpose. Everyone can feel temperature dropping quickly in the room as walls, crates, floor and even Kyuki's devices begin freezing. Coat of ice begins developing all over the room, quickly reaching temperatures below -30 Celsius, which is nothing to joke about if you're a human. In that same moment Kyuki disperses right before Markus's eyes. Has he escaped? Not quite. Similar to how Gargulion acts with shadows Kyuki can act here with fog and since fog is pretty much everywhere he can teleport from any part to any part like an annoying prick- it is much quicker teleportation than Kuzuha's and Jennifer's. He appears right before Gargulion, where Gargulion can see Kyuki's eyes up close- he can see odd red triangle marks over Kyuki's pupils... "Reaver..." Kyuki speaks and with one quick movement of his left arm he pushes Gargulion back. At first it did not hurt, but Gargulion notices a giant developing scar on his torso and blood starting to come out. Scar appears to be growing in size and amounts of blood going out increase as well. And not just that... frostbites begin appear across the painful areas causing even more discomfort to Gargulion. And then it is revealed- Kyuki's left arm appeared to have something red on the tip of each finger. Closely inspected, one can see those are laser-based attachments. Kyuki made a slash like a sword giving it a perfect line for creating a giant wound and then used Frost enhancement to add more damage. Triangles in his eyes begin to pulsate for some reason- either signifying his current power or announcing something coming.