Episode 49: The Fallen Hero

[Damian Knight]

Damian and Helios were planted in some plain hallway, filled with nothing there to impede their progress. That was no joke. The hallway was completely EMPTY. The only thing the duo could hear was the hallow sounds of the Alternative operating.

"I'm offended, Dasia. We've known each other for this long, so you know how irritated I am now that you left me without anything to destroy," Damian said out loud, as if Dasia could hear him talking. "That's okay though. I'll just come to you then if you want to make things so easy."

Sure enough, that wasn't going to be the case. Damian and Helios took a total of ten steps individually, and then the terrain shifted into a digital arena.

"Now we're talking," Helios celebrated after falling into a trap. "Alright. Who's ready to feel the burn?"

A mechanical spider had digitized itself into the arena to greet the Spartan leader. That could only mean one thing...

"Yessssss!!!!! I'm back, again!!!!! Woooooooo!!!!!!" MAC Spider celebrated, shaking its abdomen back and forth in the process.

"Um...who the fuck are you?" Damian asked, apparently not entertained.

"I'm so glad you asked, faggot. I'm MAC Spider, the greatest mechanical beast ever made!"

"Or so you thought."

"You've thought as much about yourself too, didn't you?"

Damian eyed this creature with the look of, "No it didn't just say that." He got his BakuScanner ready to do some massive damage against this spider.

"Aw yeah! He's mad! Guess what? That's too bad!" MAC Spider laid a figurative egg. Out of it came another mechanical Bakugan: Slipstream.

"You ran like a bitch when you lost," Slipstream clowned before going very high up into the "sky". The battleground changed itself to house Slipstream's presence.

"Helios!" Damian yelled, as he had enough. "Ability activate! General Quasar!" Helios charged a massive fireball in his mouth. He shot it towards MAC Spider who had no chance to counter it due to the massive power the fireball had. When it hit it, a rocking explosion shook the entire arena. Smoke covered the place where MAC Spider was hit, but apparently, a lot more was being masked than the spider's appearance, because it survived the attack and was healing without activating an ability.

"Hahahahahahahaha! Nice try, boy! That's not going to work here! And don't expect for me to be retarded and tell you why either!" MAC Spider celebrated. Slipstream shot a particle beam downwards to strike Helios' position. Helios hopped backwards to dodge the shot, but then MAC Spider declared an attack as well.

"Spider Cannon!" Three cannons protruded from its abdomen that had barrels looking a lot like the ones seen on Hades. Three powerful lasers came out from them to strike Helios. Helios crossed his arms to guard, but was rocked by the cannon fire. He rolled on his back a few times before regaining his balance.

"Oh yeah!" MAC Spider hyped up. "Bet you won't be talking all that shit now! I'm about to blow my load all over your face!"

"..." Damian got very serious now, considering that their opponents were being affected by some unknown source of power. He glared at his two mechanical opponents, for they didn't know what they had just unleashed out of him.

[Deon Irvine]

Deon appeared in an abandoned subway.
He looked around noticing bloodstains near the reception area. He immediately realized what was going on; no people, no sounds, no sound of a single train either and bloodstains. This must have been an artificial area created by Dasia and based of one of Deon's long-forgotten failures. He recalled that moment- he had a target and the attack headed towards the wrong person. That was the bloodstain; only thing left of that person. Was Dasia trying to make him feel bad? That shit was not going to work and she should know that entirely. He realized it was a mistake long ago and that mistakes happen to the most capable people.


"Trying to play with my emotions? Sorry to tell you- I left them in another jacket." Deon commented not giving a shit about Dasia's way of putting that illusion together.

"Do you want to fight or should I tear this whole place down? I'll give you a count of 3." Tyr threatened.


Neither one of these two gave a shit about Dasia's plans and ideas on how to handle them. They had no remorse in what they did; mistakes happen and they yield consequences. He failed and that was his shame to bear, but not something to chain him as a slave.

[Dasia Turano]

"Three...two...one..." Dasia counted down for Tyr in a mocking way. She doesn't give a crap what this bull decides to do. As long as he's doing whatever he's going to do according to what Dasia plans for him, everything will flow just fine.

"And...switch!" The scenery changed into a digital arena. Nothing was there yet, except for a very charismatic Dasia standing across from Deon. She was smiling the entire time, and looked straight at Deon while she did it. The Spartan's presence was about to be dealt with, which made her even happier.

"I have something to admit to you, Deon. Sometimes, I felt like you were the Spartan I had to worry the most about. The reason why is sorta strange, but somehow, it makes sense to me. Looking back, I assume you always knew of who I really was. Why else would a hitman not carry his own weight out in the open, or who else would not get emotionally invested in an organization that paid him top dollar? I remember that fight against the five of you very clearly. Helios had to tap into his Third Layer's power to get rid of the power your attack combination brought, and that's why I'm so frustrated with you and that damn bull of yours. You hid your strength from me all this time. You sneaky bastard. I should've killed you when I had the chance back in my throne room."

An Aquos Bakugan was being digitized to the digital arena. Judging from the appearance of mechanical Bakugan at Damian's checkpoint, it is reasonable to conclude that a mechanical Bakugan was showing up here as well. Macubass was the only Aquos mechanical to fit the criteria. Because this Bakugan thrives in environments rich with liquid, the outskirts of the arena were flooded with a very toxic pool of green acid.

"Should this attempt fail, I will have to rely on my 'gatekeepers' to keep all of you occupied while I carry on about my business here. Statistically, you should be killed, but statistics aren't always accurate. We'll see how things go. Until next time, if you make it. Ta-ta." Dasia digitized out of the arena, as she had better things to do than to get her hands dirty.

Macubass dropped into the acid pool when it was fully digitized into the arena. In about three seconds, Macubass emerged from the acid and charged straight for Deon and Tyr from their backs, fully intending on roadkilling both of them.

[Deon Irvine]

"Yeah, that's not gonna work..." Deon said. If that hunk of junk thought attacking from behind and trying to run him over was a tactic knowing how much shit he had seen already then it was in a world of delusions. "Ability activate! Quick Wind!" Deon activated an evasive maneuver. Tyr released a green, Ventus, and it affected a radius of 20 meters around him as epicenter. Deon was affected as well and effect lasted for only 5 seconds- plenty of time. Those affected will be able to move swiftly like the wind for 5 seconds and that was exactly what two of those did. Deon moved right and Tyr moved left disappearing in a second and getting far away from the metal monster before moving once more to reposition themselves behind it. Deon took another card and set it inside the gauntlet.

"Ability activate! Madness Winds!" Deon called out.

"Here I come! You better moooooove!" Tyr yelled at the enemy.

He began moving around insanely fast- as if he was teleporting and not moving. That one was made to briefly confuse the enemy and then Tyr right in front of the machine. "Too slow." He said and charged towards the machine to ram it right in the face. With his super-speed now chances of escaping the attack for this machine were minimal. 

[Dasia Turano]

"Too slow," he said, but the statement is actually about him rather than Macubass. A dense light rose from the bottom to cover the entire arena. The speed Tyr was moving at was drastically reduced to normal speed while Macubass got faster. This led to Tyr getting absolutely steamrolled by Macubass, sending him hurtling towards the acid with ease.

Macubass positioned itself on the outskirts after stopping itself from moving at that speed. It turned towards Deon to taunt him, wagging its finger to let him know that such tactics were ineffective in this environment.

"No, no, no," a mechanical voice said, likely coming from Macubass. It then jumped back into the acid to swim towards Deon himself. It was going in for the kill.

[Deon Irvine]

“Hah, we’ve only just begun.” Deon said and took a card. 

He placed the card inside the gauntlet and named it: “Ability activate! Steel-willed!” 

Tyr again moved quickly and positioned himself near Deon. Steel-willed is an ability which allows one Bakugan to negate a certain debuff and turn it into a buff at double rate, also he would receive a buff in defense. Speed debuff was turned into a speed buff so Tyr was the quick one again. Deon then took another card to prepare this guy for that bastard. It was not going to be an overly easy fight, but after seeing everything they had seen that thing was not going to stop them. 

“Ability activate! Iron Force!” Deon played. 

Iron Force was a non-attributed ability. It was not affiliated with any attribute and it turned Tyr’s skin into elastic but very sturdy material. With that his defense rose up to a high level and he gained additional resistance buff against other elements and ailments that are to come. “Very cocky for a modern can-opener, aren’t you? Bring it on, Wall-E!” Tyr challenged the monster. With the defense he got and easy way to regain speed and attack power he would eventually overwhelm that bastard without big issue.

[Yita Aileen Nyx]

“And I’m in,” The little female says with a maniacal sounding giggle as she presses the last few keys on her holographic keyboard into the coding system and dramatically taps the enter key. It launched her and Yashu in in a slick and safe manner, granting them access to the maze- Where Noland was of course. Oh, she also managed to hijack the system so that she could walk through the walls of DNA. She may be stalkerish, but she has these massively high skill levels in technology- That she uses for stalking. In her mind, she’d like to think as the action she was doing now with her tech skills are for keeping Noland safe from that old hag. However, she knew that Niko would snort and say otherwize, pinning that stalker label on her yet again.

Yashu blinks slowly, fur rising slightly at the tremors in the room of the DNA wall maze. “Of all males you set your sights on, it’s one that turns into some ticking time bomb." A small huff and a roll of the bakugan's eyes, "Wonderful,” He says with a soft growl, ears pressing against his head as he looks in the general direction of the source of these noises and vibrations.

Yita only shakes her head and pats Yashu’s fur before walking towards the chaos with no regards for what is to happen to her. Besides, it wasn’t only Niko with tricks up their sleeve when it comes to “death” and “revival.” It didn’t take her long to find Noland at all and approach him in a gleeful manner, her optimism and high hopes for everything in life (mainly her future regarding a certain someone) keeping her going. “Found you!~”

[Noland Hardy]

Sensing the entrance of multiple power levels, including a very huge one in the form of Excedra, Noland was on high-alert. He understood that Dasia would start manipulating the paths to lead one of them to him, and it looks like his guess was proven right.

Despite knowing that someone was coming towards him, he opted to sit there and meditate. His power had manifested itself into the very air that he breathed. He was constantly beating against the walls with his power. Drago was seated across from him, doing the same thing. When Yita came into the fray, Noland's back was turned to her, paying her no mind. He slowly opened his eyes at the sound of her voice. He turned his head slightly to his right and saw her out of his peripheral vision.

"Should you really be that excited at a time like this?" Noland asked her as he got up from his seated position and turned to face her. The look on his face did not appear to depict him as being happy to see her.

Drago opened his eyes for a couple of seconds to stare Yashu down. He then closed his eyes and resumed meditating, showing that he had zero interest in attacking Yashu without warning. If he provokes him, that'll be a different story, but for now, the fireworks weren't going to be lit.

"Hm...considering I'm a little optimistic about you...I have a plan for you..." Noland started. One could only wonder what he meant by the first statement. Since Noland is in this state of mind, it could be very telling of what he might actually think of Yita...

"The Alternative's detonation will create a runaway greenhouse effect that will make Earth uninhabitable to virtually all life except for a few Bakugan. If you secure a safe passage through here without me having to trip anymore checkpoints, I'll carry you off into the sunset while everyone else burns, and we can go on to live our lives happily ever after." Noland's glare towards Yita made this next statement a dire ultimatum for her. She had the choice to either betray Noland or betray her entire party. Which would she choose?

"So...'sweetheart.' What's it going to be? Me, or them? You have ten seconds."

[Yita Aileen Nyx]

The answer may seem very obvious to some, but Yita wasn’t that cold hearted (at least, she likes to believe so). “One free pass through checkpoints coming right up!~” She hums, pulling up her holographic computer and getting right to work on getting her beloved that free pass right to where he wants to be. It wasn’t that hard. Just copy the code she had given herself to not trip anything and replace her data with Noland’s (it’s times like these where hoarding everything about Noland comes in handy, right down to his DNA code). She had a good feeling that he was just using her, judging by the way he spoke to her. In a sickly sweet tone. It still was nice to have the person you like coming to you for help, even if it was for reasons that weren’t preferred.

While Yita was working her digital magic, Yashu sat beside her with his eyes closed, tail flicking back and forth in that usual expecting manner, as if he was anxiously waiting for his partner to hurry on up and finish whatever she was coding her and all. This was partially true, but Yashu was also anxious about what he was doing. Even if him and Yita bicker a lot (and she placed him through his age of being mind wiped) they still had a connecting with one another. With that natural system integrated into him on finding opponents and living beings, Yashu was able to pinpoint every teammate on their side and sent them a digital message, informing them about that was going to happen, and that it was highly advised for them to leave as soon as possible- Maybe find some barrier to contain the explosion? Regardless, to get out of there asap. Maybe Niko could pull off a barrier like that or something.

He opens his eyes when he was done sending the message to everyone here at this current moment, looking up at Yita to see that she was done was well. "Here you are." She hums, handing Noland a card that would guarantee safe passage through here. Of course, she had control on activation and deactivation of this code, but she wasn't going to say.

[Noland Hardy]

Yashu's act had snapped Drago out of his meditation. He knew the feline was up to something. The flow of energy leaving his body was too obvious for Drago not to detect. If Drago knew specifically what Yashu had done, there would likely be a battle; however...is that really necessary at this point? One would have to ask themselves if Yashu telling everyone that Noland was about to blow up the Alternative - something that they were all probably sent there to do anyway - would work in his favor, as the majority of them will die from the aftermath no matter where they are.

There's a flip side to this as well. What if this spurs some of them into wanting to confront Noland even more? Was having "warm" thoughts of Yita...a grave mistake? By looking at it this way, Yita's allegiance may be going both ways.

What does Noland do in this situation though? Knowing all of this...does he opt to take whatever Dasia throws at him by proactively betraying Yita since she has taken a significant step into doing the same to him? Decisions....decisions....

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..." Noland's 'hmmmmmmmm' was definitely more audible to everyone's ears. He wasn't liking something about the current situation. He took three steps to approach Yita...

Then he suddenly zapped her. The poor girl was face-down on the floor after that display. Her body was locked up in all places, making it very excruciating for her to try to move. Currents of Noland's power was flowing through her body at irregular intervals, causing more discomfort to her.

Before Yashu could react, Drago appeared in front of him in blinding speeds. He shoulder charged him to send him hurtling towards the wall of the interior. Mysteriously, the cat phased right through the wall, making it unknown where Yashu had ended up.

"So I'm an enemy to you too then? That's terrible news. You were doing just fine until your cat started misbehaving," Noland said as he looked down on Yita's body. He snatched the card from her hand.

"...Four power levels have started approaching us faster than they were before..." Drago could sense. "Excedra...Ahio...Gorem...Hydranoid..."

"I'm more worried about Excedra right now. Let's get out of here." Noland turned around to get moving, but...he looked back at Yita with a hint of concern. A silhouette of Noland's human form flashed over his Gundalian body a few times before he could move again. It would seem like Yita's presence was having an effect on his consciousness.

"What?" Drago was surprised by the phenomenon taking place on Noland's body. Out of nowhere, he felt a sharp pain in his head. His reaction to this pain was seen through him wincing. He defiantly resisted this unexplained occurrence a lot better than Noland, because what he was seeing next triggered an automatic response to him attempting to purge the hatred in his heart right now.

Noland had picked Yita up off of the floor and...he actually attempted to kiss her on the lips. Fortunately - unfortunately for her anyways - Drago lightly tapped Noland on the back with his tail. This interruption caused Noland to not go through with that. What he did instead was hoist her over his shoulders and took her hostage. The duo charged straight for the maze's exit in hopes of evading the Legendary Soldier before he comes there for a snack.

[Vince Hardy]

Excedra's path was devoid of any noteworthy enemies, but it wasn't without consequence. The hallways were small in height and width, so he would have to either squeeze through or just travel through the area in a smoky form. Unfortunately, Dasia also had gusty winds blowing through the area, so he couldn't travel that way. He decided to waltz through the area in his robed form as he assessed his situation. A haos orb was floating right alongside him as he walked. Judging by what just happened with Noland and Drago, it should be obvious who this is.

"Doing anything like that in the vicinity of sensors like Drago and Apollonir is a fatal mistake. I didn't think I'd have to warn any of you about that before you made all of our lives more miserable," Excedra criticized. He had a valid point too. Now there's no eyes on Noland and Drago since Yashu chose to do something suspicious right in his face. He also doesn't know if Noland decided to end Yita's life. That was also a problem.

There was some good news though... "We're going to have to make this quick." Excedra closed his eyes to reach within the deeper confines of his consciousness. There, a figure of Lars Lion appeared right in front of him.

"Yes?" Lars Lion answered.

"We have a few problems. Plenty of them can be solved if you keep Frosch and Oberus away from battle until this thing's dusted. There seems to be an apocalyptic event that'll get triggered if the core is detonated."

"Ummmmm...."

"'Ummmm' what?"

"Nothing..."

"They're fighting, aren't they?"

"...No....?"

"Alright. I don't have time for the lies. Switch places with me. I'll take care of it."

"Is something wrong in there?"

"Drago's method of detonating the core may make the result worse. I wouldn't be surprised if the detonation happens automatically from the way they're progressing. They've also shown that they're willing to attack us, so we WILL have to put him down."

"So do it then..."

"The hag is manipulating the interior. It's slowing me down too much. You'd fare better in this environment since you could move this stuff with your magic. While I could easily destroy them if I caught up to them, I will not catch them by the time he gets to the core since Yita gave him the tools necessary to waltz past Dasia's obstacles. It'll be up to the Resistors and Spartans to stall him long enough for Oberus and Frosch to escape combat. I know I might be jinxing this one, but...Noland might kill someone. He probably already has since this hairball is separated from the girl."

"I see.... Very well then. Prepare yourself..."

Excedra stood in a relatively open space to give Lars Lion room to acquaint herself with the surrounding area. In a dust of smoke, his body disappeared and was replaced with Lars Lion.

"Oh...so this is what he meant," Lars Lion analyzed. The area was quite small, but this would be easy for Lars Lion's power to manipulate matter, albeit on a smaller scale. It'll be enough to move these enclosed walls aside to create some space for her.

She gripped Yashu's ball form and threw it, causing him to be summoned near her feat. "Let's hurry, and do have a long talk with that girl about letting her guard down in front of our enemy."

[Noland Hardy]

The closest person to Noland's location other than Yita herself was Seiki. Having been in the vicinity where Yashu flew past, Seiki knew that Noland was close. She understood what it would mean if she were to confront Noland. She would most likely have to fight him. It was normal for her to question if Noland would attack her too since she wasn't there to see what Yashu did to piss him off.

Ahio pressured her to make a decision, something Seiki considered to be out of character for her to make that type of comment. Her only recourse for that was that they were going to die if Noland isn't stopped, because he was planning on killing all of them by detonating the ship's reactor core. If they didn't act now, he might end up getting away with it, because Excedra was nowhere in sight to stop him.

Gulping before making her decision, Seiki had Ahio blow a hole at the spot where Yashu was seen phasing through. She boarded Ahio and followed along the presumed path Noland took. She silently promised Oberus that despite not having the spirit of a fighter as the rest of the Resistors, she would use her will to survive to save Noland from his dark side.

[Alana Cortese]

(Inside of the Alternative: Part 2)

A fast, purple creature breezed through an open, circular path into a hollow space. The area wasn't well illuminated either. The lights would flicker on and off as to depict the area as being damaged. Maybe it was, but in a battleship completely controlled by the Hurranians, would they really allow any structural damage inside of the ship to go unnoticed? Doubtful, but possible. It certainly would fit in with Dasia's superiority complex from before. She has a lot of power, so maybe it wouldn't bother her.

"I guess we're going the right way...?" Alana guessed, sounding very unsure of what to think.

"I'm not very good with directions..." Hydranoid admitted. "Judging from how this place looks, you'd think we're close to where we need to be. You know how these villains always have to make the important places look scary. You'd think she'd throw us a curveball and just let us have a straight path there so we can think something's not right."

As he said that, the entire area changed. A bustling factory appeared on the far corners of the area without warning. Hordes of Fortress units were being digitized away in a set formation. There was also a bridge right in the middle of it all where loud stomping noises could be heard. From Hydranoid's current position in the air, the bridge was in a horizontal line, meaning the stomping was coming from either Hydranoid's right or left. Upon taking a closer look, it was clear who was making all of that noise, and it was coming from his right.

"And look who she gives it to. I can't have anything around here. Drago and Gorem gets everything while I get nothing. Now I'm convinced whoever is pulling the strings here doesn't like me." Hydranoid flew towards where Gorem was running, hoping to establish contact with a friendly.

"Hey, buddy! Up here!" Alana shouted as she was getting close to his location. "We must be getting close to the reactor core! I don't want to get too close to you in case I trip something, but I'm going to hurry on ahead and-"

Both Alana and Hydranoid were digitized away without warning before she could finish what she was trying to say.

[Dasia Turano]

"Oops?" Dasia was cackling over the situation as it happened. Allen and Gorem could hear her loud and clear too.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't laugh at you like that. You must have been glad to see that she was okay after I separated all of you. Shame she went 'poof' all of a sudden." Dasia wasn't going to leave Allen guessing to figure out why that happened. She was going to tell him why just to mess with his head. As much as anyone knows about this facility, he could be next.

She was about to do something even better. She was going to tell him in person. A figure of Dasia's body digitized right beside the bridge Gorem was running on. She was flying right beside them as she began to tell them of this great news - well, for her anyway.

"You may want to give her a big hug if you ever see her again. That checkpoint she tripped just now was meant for you. My Boriates and Dryoid were stationed here to specifically take you out. While that took place, your friend was supposed to do exactly what she was about to say and confront your Gundalian chum over who gets to mess with my ship's reactor core. Ah well...guess you're about to do that in her place."

Dasia digitized away from them before they decided to get ballsy and try to hit her with something. No one had time for that.

"I think you're ready to do that now. After all, there's no one to look after like last time...well...unless I'm not counting your introverted friend with that annoying bird... She'll be dead shortly. I suggest you let her die. Once that battle is done, no one important would've died. You should still turn out just fine."

[Allen Silva]

Dasia was getting on his nerves. And that was putting it lightly. The one thing that was holding him together at the moment was the fact that all of the resistors could hold thier own. He now had a mission to do." If you think that your little tinker toys can take us down, id invest what wealth you have left in a good alibi." Allen responded, never breaking stride. He didnt have time to stop and get into a battle of whits with a dissembodied voice. They were sure to battle with her eventually, and thats when Allen would give her a piece of his mind.

" do you have any idea who we are?" Allen posed the question to his attempted tormentor. She wasnt doing a great job if that was her plan." Each one of us has faced our own hell, got through it, and become stronger because of it. Some little wind up toys you want to call bakugan aint anything compared to what we have already gone through."

Allen took this moment to let the calm demeanor fall, and showed Dasia what he thought. He gave her a very special salute that you only need one finger for." If you'll shut up for two seconds, im gonna get my friend back so we can down this tin turkey."