Episode 49: The Fallen Hero

[Noland Hardy]

To the alliance's fortune, Dasia has chosen to reappear in one of the places where a squad was stationed: Vestal. To their misfortune, she appeared with a weapon of mass destruction: the Alternative. No one on Vestal - not even the Legendary Soldiers that were there together - were a match for this weapon's power. Based on what the Hurranians have talked about in the meeting Markus recorded, Vince knew exactly what was about to happen to Vestal. The sky itself turned red when this behemoth began charging an attack, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it...

[Dasia Turano]

Dasia's presence could be felt by Apollonir, but she was nowhere in sight. One could easily guess where she was if a gigantic battleship was hovering in the sky. It was so gigantic that it dwarfed every Bakugan on the ground by several sizes. Its power seemed to follow that same trend, as no attack that was thrown at it worked. It was to their misfortune that this weapon was more than capable of doing horrible things to them...

"Ability activate!" Dasia's voice echoed throughout the landscape. "Power Ball!"

Electricity flowed throughout the battleship. A massive orb of energy was generated in front of it. The size of this energy ball was something to behold. It was a phenomenon as great in size as the amount of stupid console fanboys campaigning for companies that do not care about them.

(Tragedy)

[Vince Hardy]

Vince was standing on Excedra's back as Dasia unleashed her wrath upon Vestal. The attack looked dreadful, and based on their efforts to damage the ship so far, this attack looked like a game-ender for all of them.

"For the first time in a VERY long time...I'm afraid..." Excedra sadly admitted.

"No kidding... We have to get off this planet..." Vince sympathized and suggested. "Like...NOW!"

Apollonir stared at this ship in shock and awe. Lars Lion and Oberus were beside him as he assessed their current predicament.

"That's enough firepower to blow this planet up fifty times..." Apollonir painfully realized. "...We can't stop that..."

"Then we need to move RIGHT NOW," Lars Lion asserted.

"Stop standing there and watching then! Let's go or I'm leaving you behind!" Oberus told them in a panicky tone.

"Excedra, let's hurry up and round up our squad and get the hell out of here!" Vince sounded very serious, as if he knew they had no chances of escaping if they tried to fight this. There was nothing they could do against it...

[Damian Knight]

Damian was stupefied by what Dasia was doing with that insane amount of energy. He could care less about how strong it was. All he knew was that Dasia was going to use it to destroy the entire planet. For some odd reason, it really got to him that she was going through with this. It bothered him on a very deep level. As for the reason why...well, it could be because of a certain girl that's on the planet right now. Then again, Damian could just be breaking character for absolutely no reason at all.

Which one seems more likely? Anyone with brains might go for the first option...

"No...that's too much, even for the planet..." Damian instantly picked up. Considering Helios could easily blow up the planet by himself, Damian has an idea of what it takes to do so. What Dasia had going on here was overkill.

"No, Dasia! Stop!!!!! Don't do this!!!!!" he pleaded. "They didn't do anything wrong! We're the ones you want! Attack us, not them!!!!"

Helios' body was trembling. It wasn't in fear, but for sorrow. He knew what was breaking Damian upon seeing this attack. It was far more serious than anyone here would think he cares about. He balled his fists up in an attempt to get himself together, but even then, he was still rattled.

Then, a beeping sound came from Damian's BakuMeter. It was automatically answered, a function Damian himself might have put on there in case of an emergency. This situation looked a lot like an emergency.

"Damian! What's going on!? Look at the sky!!" a girl's voice exclaimed.

[Dasia Turano]

The attack was still being charged, no matter what the group down there in the Epsilon Mountains said or did. Surprisingly, Dasia could hear everything coming from Damian and his BakuMeter, even though she was far above him in terms of height.

"Which one is it...? Them, or her?" Dasia wondered with great curiosity. "You, who never gave a single damn about anyone other than yourself, now wants to be a caring bastard in the midst of power that eclipses your own? Please. You have failed, both as a Spartan and a mortal being."

Dasia started laughing at her enemies' hopelessness. It was hilarious to her seeing tiny bugs on the ground cower in fear of her when they were all so big and bad a moment ago.

"Please, go ahead and tell me to stop again and again. It makes me want to blow this planet up even more! Don't worry though. They'll be nothing to miss, because there's not going to be anything left."

[Alana Cortese]

Alana looked at Damian with a shocked expression. She wasn't too surprised by him essentially begging Dasia to have mercy, even though that was totally out of character for him to do. It was the implication of a certain person being on the planet that greatly affected her. It didn't take much to draw a conclusion as to what will end up happening from this. Even if it was Damian, this shouldn't be happening to anyone.

"I'm too disgusted to be scared of all of that bullshit," Hydranoid commented on what he was seeing. He hissed at the Alternative He was beyond pissed that she was about to have their way and there was nothing they could do to stop it, not even the Legendary Soldiers. "Someone getting killed for absolutely no reason is bad enough, but for it to end like this, I can't think of any other way you could go any lower."

"At least he cares about SOMEONE," Alana retorted, surprisingly coming to Damian's defense. "Don't ever lecture us about our shortcomings when you've resorted to this. You're the last person I'd ever take advice from when it comes to caring about something. You betrayed your own brother just to further your agenda. If anyone has failed, it's YOU."

[Noland Hardy]

After being surprisingly repelled by Seiki's attack, Noland and Drago were witnessing this monstrosity from the valley. Even in his evil state, it greatly disturbed him that Vestal's queen would ever do something like this.

"This is really unsettling..." Noland sighed, exhibiting some concern in his voice. "I knew it was coming, but...I wasn't ready to see it. Still, there's one problem with this. You chose the wrong world to do this to."

Noland was highly insinuating that this weapon should have been used on Earth rather than Vestal, because no one on this planet deserved what was about to go down. Earth - on the other hand - deserved every bit of this right here. It was a shame Dasia didn't use it on Earth, because it would have been far more useful to do it there.

"I doubt the Hurranians can survive planetary destruction. Their forces may have already migrated to Earth," Drago assumed. "That would match with what we saw after all..."

Noland started detecting signs of dimensional manipulation, as if the Alternative was getting ready to make the trek to evacuate from its own devastation. This was the opportunity to get out of there before they're obliterated. "Drago, let's hitch a ride on that thing."

Noland boarded Drago as he flew near the Alternative. He stuck himself on a wing of the Alternative so that when it leaves, they'll be out of here too.

[Dasia Turano]

"On the contrary, Alana. He betrayed ME," Dasia corrected. "He had his chance to work things out peacefully, and he refused. It hurt me, but relationships don't always last. I'm not worried about it now. I don't know about poor little Damian though. Let's see what happens when I do this."

The Alternative released the Power Ball and dropped it. It was descending towards the surface, obliterating anything within a thousand meter radius of it. Once it makes impact, the planet will be blown to smithereens. It was a fitting end to a failed planet.

"Don't stay there too long, Noland and Drago, or I'll have to destroy you. Make your 'friends' pay for me before we meet, okay?" Dasia made sure everyone heard her say this. She also wanted the Master Blaze to know that she was aware of him catching a ride off the planet, but did not see a reason to stop him from doing so when he has shown his desire to dispatch his former friends.

[Vince Hardy]

Apollonir immediately turned to Oberus when the Power Ball was launched. "Open the gate," he commanded.

Oberus zoomed all the way back to the squad and used her power to open a dimensional portal. She started pushing everyone into the portal by flapping her wings to create powerful winds.

"Let's go," Lars Lion suggested. She saw the look in Apollonir's eyes. It was a look of shame that he had allowed Noland and Drago to progress this far to the point of aiding the enemy by what he was doing.

"Okay..." Apollonir went with Lars Lion to the portal where they met with Vince and Excedra. They didn't waste any time jumping into the portal and having it closed the moment they left. The landscape started tearing itself apart as the Power Ball descended even lower. It was only a matter of time now...

[Damian Knight]

If Damian and Helios wanted to, they could've been difficult with the Legendary Soldiers and resisted, even though it wouldn't have been wise. As Oberus came to blow them into the portal, Damian stood there, motionless and emotionless as he looked at the devastation the Alternative brought forward. Helios hung his head down in shame. He couldn't bear to look at his own failure.

"Damian! Help! The planet's falling apart from that blast!" Ebony pleaded with him.

"..." It was hard for Damian to answer that, because there was nothing he could do to prevent it from happening nor could they go to Charlie Town to pick her up. That would look terrible if they did though. He'd only pick her up while everyone else perishes. Even then, it was hard for him to figure out what to say. The thought of saying that he wasn't going to provide help was very disturbing. "I...I can't..."

"What...?"

"I'm...so sorry..."

"You...you're leaving me behind...?"

"..."

"...I understand..." Loud screaming was heard from Damian's BakuMeter as the Power Ball did its work. Eventually, after a prolonged session of people acting in panic, the sound of an explosion could be heard. The signal with Ebony's BakuMeter was abruptly cut off. Damian did not move a muscle until they arrived on Earth. He reached over to his BakuMeter to shut the call down for good.

[Alana Cortese]

The entire squad ended up in FedEx Field when they came out of the dimensional portal. Everyone had a semi-rough landing from the drastic act of it all. Escaping from a planet's destruction could sure do a number on someone's nerves, but it was nothing compared to what they all heard from Damian and his BakuMeter during the final seconds of Vestal's existence.

The fact that Ebony chose to die in silence rather than screaming like the rest of them says to Alana that she had quickly come to terms with their demise, and she did not blame Damian for essentially leaving her there to die. She understood that he had no other choice. It was surprising to hear someone believe in Damian that much, but even assholes care about something, even when they do their best not to show it.

As expected from her previous comment, Alana was the first to come forward to Damian and offer her condolences for what just happened. "Damian...I'm sorry that happened..." she expressed.

Hydranoid started swiping his feet across the field, kicking up turf in the process. He had more than enough of this psychotic lunatic running around blowing everything up.

"She has that AND the BT System," Hydranoid announced in case anyone has forgotten. "Are we going to choose which one we die to, or is there a very small chance we can stop those two things from destroying us all?"

[Vince Hardy]

Vince sighed about their current situation. As if it wasn't bad already, Dasia had to come up with ANOTHER weapon to make things even more difficult. This was getting to be too much, even for him. He had to keep his cool though. He had to carefully analyze the situation so they will all know what comes next.

"I'm going to be very honest with you all. We might have to pick which one puts us away. What she just did went against what they talked about on that recording," Vince admitted. "It doesn't make any sense... They said they would only destroy those who they couldn't take over. Wouldn't it have made sense for them to destroy Earth instead? We have a higher strength rating than Vestal, considering the Spartans were the ones doing all the heavy lifting. She could've conquered Vestal..."

"Our presence there may have convinced her to think otherwise," Lars Lion interjected, predicting that all of them were liable for Vestal being destroyed. "Despite her great power, the Hurranians may have finally understood our powers as well. They do not take us lightly anymore. That's why she did it."

"It's all thanks to that idiot doctor for pissing her off," Excedra growled, pinning the blame on Kyuki. "It should've been me going over there to rip him apart. This is all his fault!"

"That's too bad, because now we're here, and she has that huge battleship. There's no way she's not blowing this planet up too. If it was just us on Vestal that caused her to do it, take a wild guess as to what she's going to do with ALL of us here."

"...We get it..." Apollonir irritably growled at the Soldiers. This took them by surprise. Suddenly, his power started flaring up, possibly due to the sheer amount of frustration over everything that has transpired. "Listen...I have an idea.

Apollonir started looking at everyone present to gauge how effective his plan would be. He eyed Excedra and Hydranoid for curiosity reasons, as their abilities may be a key reason why they have a chance right now. "We will use Virtue Synthesis."

(Apollonir's Deadly Plan)

"Hm...interesting...too bad I don't know what that is."

"It's one of our secret arts...dumbass..."

"Well, excuse me for being normal and not remembering some things."

"That Alternative can't be cracked from its exterior, so we'll just have to break into the battleship, find its reactor core, and make it go critical. First, I will use this ability to collect ability effects from multiple recipients - including myself - then I'll use Dragon Proudia to turn all of that into a weapon that should disable the shielding and its firing mechanisms, and blow a hole somewhere where people can get inside. I can afford ONE strike, and that's probably all we're going to get. I need a carrier." Apollonir pointed to Allen and Gorem after he made that statement. "It's going to be you. Your responsibility will be to carry me to the designated place we're going to strike, and then you're going to throw me at it. Do not worry. If you're holding me while I'm in that form, you will not die if you're attacked, especially with your durable body."

"Where will we strike?"

"I have that covered." Vince knew of a person who could figure out a point of weakness in the Alternative's design that may make Apollonir's plan more deadly than it is. Even though the Hurranians were insanely smart, they were created by imperfect beings, so they themselves are imperfect as well. He started calling someone using his BrawlX. It was only natural to get in contact with one woman who the Legendary Soldiers speaks highly of.

"Hello, Asuka? This is Vince. This is an emergency. A large battleship should be arriving on Earth within the next few seconds. When it appears, can you analyze it to see if there are any structural weaknesses in its design that we can target? Even if you can't, that's fine, but we're about to be blown off the face of the universe if we don't get this right."

[Asuka Izumo]

Two figures were walking through the dim wasteland of bloodshed and conflict. At closer sight one could notice it was the Admiral Izumo and her partner, Ares. Woman was walking slowly and graciously across the debris of what used to be a fancy hotel before the conflict that broke through and flattened it to the ground. Her gracious form and movements would be interrupted from time to time by a wave of unexpected and unbearable pain that crawled through her knees, thighs, back and shoulders- by the sight of it she was has been wounded, not seriously, but notably where she could not maintain her stance. "Uhh..." She mumbled with a long sigh. After the long conflict against Triad she could not help herself but inhale and exhale as if she was kept in a gassy chamber for months- that was one hell of a battle and they emerged victorious... for a hefty price that is... 'Dimensional pillars' have been damaged in that battle and they cannot fix themselves- it will take a long time before Arch Priestess Kuzuha manages to do something about it. If nothing is done about it then a possible catastrophe involving collapse of multiple dimensions might occur. "It will take months... years... to complete the repairs." Ares noticed while following his human partner in a levitating state. He offered his partner a ride, but she declined. "Unfortunately... This chaos is because of me..." Asuka responded to Ares's report. "I am not sure I follow..." Ares replied. "Protocol does not let me just... wander off and kill terrorists on my own. We may have stopped this if I had killed doctor, Crimson and Ka'rah." Asuka confessed humbly disappointed in her own actions and for following the orderly protocols of Silver Knights' rules. The organization might be sovereign, but they still cannot kill without following the protocol- being an Admiral that protocol extends its branches and makes it impossible to leave important paperwork. Maria could have taken the killing role, but her reluctance to use Golden Tyrant made it dangerous for her to take on terrorists alone. Conversation between the two has been interrupted...

"Yes?" Admiral responded upon receiving a call on her tablet. "Fine." She replied and pointed at Ares giving him a signal to go. Ares nodded.

"Ohm..." Ares mumbled and closed his eyes. His body flashed in golden color for a brief second that it could have barely been noticed. He then opened his eyes and looked at the Admiral. "The critical weak point should be the very front of the hull- nose of the battleship. The engine- either pierce through the hull to it or enter the battleship and destroy it- it appears to be on the rear and emits a significant amount of energy- you cannot miss it." Ares explained loudly so Vince and the rest could hear it on the other side. The way ship was designed makes it have only a few weaknesses, but those are critical on their own- ship that combines high firepower, high speed and high defense can lack in so many ways if singled out. If there were multiple ships with firepower and high speed it would have been way more effective than putting all eggs into one basket... even with a destructive weapon it might be carrying. "Got that?" Asuka asked Vince who should have heard Ares's answer.

[Vince Hardy]

Vince gave a nod to Apollonir to start preparing the ability. The Alternative emerged from a portal high in the sky at that time. Its presence greatly disturbed the ground below it, easily causing a torrential disturbance in the form of pressuring winds. The Hurranians were smart not to emerge above their heads though. It appeared at an entirely different location. Geographically, it was positioned right above the Sahara Desert. Ares was a powerful sensor to be able to analyze the Alternative from where he was. Very impressive.

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you very much," Vince acknowledged.

"Um...something's not feeling right..." Excedra commented on just knowing the Alternative has entered the planet and has purposely distanced itself away from everything. All of a sudden, smaller iterations of the Alternative started dotting up the Earth's skies. It turned out that this was more than a one-lady show. This was a full-on invasion.

"Thanks for opening your big, loud mouth," Oberus criticized.

"It won't make a difference... They're going down either way," Excedra promised. "If you're smart - which you're not - you would consider adding Visceral Impact into the formula for this secret art."

"...Did that really just happen?" Lars Lion asked in shock of Excedra actually sounding intelligent.

"Watch it, you! I'm not dumb. The fact that she has that ability is the only reason why I haven't destroyed her yet."

"Apollonir, let's go," Vince urged. There was no time to lollygag.

"I'm getting there..."

[Xavier Turano]

Xavier was still at their home base monitoring everyone's whereabouts on his personal tablet. He heard very disturbing noises, like there were numerous airships in the sky that were ready to rain hell down on everyone below. Due to his curious nature, he decided to look through the cameras they had stationed outside, and he got to lay eyes on this phenomenon...

"Holy Jesus!" Xavier shrieked, jumping out of his seat over what he just witnessed. He then noticed that Vince's squad appeared back on Earth, so he decided to get in contact with him to get a clear understanding of what's going on here.

"What is that!? What the fuck is that!?" he immediately questioned, cutting straight to the point here.