Episode 49: The Fallen Hero

[Noland Hardy]

Noland's body twitched when Boriates was about to take the coward's way to victory and kill Allen and Gorem after their ordeal. Some of his bio-electricity leaked out of his body and zapped Drago. After about two seconds, Drago's eyes opened, and he got a good look of what was about to go down. Locking his eyes onto the barrels of Boriates' cannons, Drago precisely fired eye lasers into them using Havoc Ignition.

This act caused a chain reaction where energy dangerously built up within the weapon and forcefully self-destructed. The entire left half of its body was gone from the explosion. Not wanting the Hurranians to somehow reconstruct it, Drago hopped up onto his feet and - while he stumbled on the approach - advanced towards Boriates with a savage look on his face. He shoved his right fist into its frame and began tearing through electrical wires. The electrocution effect from this process greatly affected Drago in his current condition, but he didn't care. He roared in pain, but it only made him stronger, as he was now flickering his Hex Code on-and-off.

Noland started getting up himself, albeit very weakly. He amassed his bio-electricity in his hands and zapped Drago. In doing so, he was able to spread it to Boriates itself. The power surge proved to be too much for Boriates' internal circuits to handle, which caused the insides to burst in flames from an electrical fire. Drago threw Boriates off to the side and let it explode, which it inevitably did after three seconds.

"Alright... You've had enough fun at my expense..." Noland sighed. "So why don't you come down here, your 'Highness'? See what happens..."

[Dasia Turano]

Dasia growled at ANOTHER Boriates getting destroyed. Sounds of beating on a desk were ringing through the intercoms. She was definitely not pleased.

"Why do you keep doing that!?" Dasia loudly complained. "You're supposed to be dead! Dead! Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead! Yes, I know I'm supposed to be too, but that's irrelevant! I'm a Hurranian, not a mortal like you! You're not supposed to keep getting up!"

"Wait...he's not?" The voice of someone else said. This was the head scientist from earlier, the one that is convinced that Dasia loves him too.

"Don't try me today, Chris!"

"I mean, let's just the face the facts here. If I recall correctly, he also should have died over a year ago, so he dodged death twice. You have too. This means that the two of you have established a pattern or practice of bullshitting your way out of things, so if you would kindly kill yourself and NOT come back, not only would that be great, but then he won't come back either when he dies. Am I in the ball park?"

He made a death scream shortly after saying that, followed by the sound of mechanical beings mutilating his body.

"I really should be calm about this since I got at least two beings killed in here, but then someone is going to revive them like always, so what's the point? I guess the Gundalian and his pet Dragonoid were too weak to kill you fuckers off, so I'll just to have to hurry up with my plan."

Having said all of that to herself while everyone heard her, she turned her attention back to the Gundalian who directly threatened her. Without saying a word, crawling sounds could be heard all over the arena Noland and Allen were in. Hurranian organisms were flooding this room with the intent on infected everyone in there aside from Noland and Drago, since they were immune. The logic behind this was that Noland and Drago are very low on stamina from being beaten into submission, and Gorem can barely move. Unless something unfortunate happens, this should work.

[Noland Hardy]

Noland noticed the Hurranians coming at them from all directions. He can't really escape from the room, and neither can Drago. The situation was very clear.

"...That's meant for Alana and I..." Noland concluded. Allen was exempt from this microscopic assault for one specific reason: he was mobile. Alana and Hydranoid were dead, and Noland and Drago were beaten and out of stamina. Noland attempted to gather energy for the Switch Code, but when the rainbow-colored energy showed up on his hand, it involuntarily turned dark. Noland gritted his teeth in frustration, because he knew what it meant for him when it comes to his power and what it meant for what the Hurranians will be able to do to them.

"Allen...do you wanna die and do what she says from now on...?" Noland asked in his darker, evil sounding voice, assuming that his attempted transition into the Switch Code is turning him evil again. "If not, quit standing there looking at me and get the fuck out of here."

Noland swiped a forbidden ability across his BrawlX to put himself out of his misery. "Forbidden ability...activate... Absolute Desolation X!" The usage of this ability in this beaten state will likely have severe consequences, but he was going to do it anyway. This ability at maximum power should do enough damage to disrupt core mechanisms in the surrounding area.

"This ability...is not meant for you, Allen...at least not right now," Noland said, still sounding extremely evil. "Now scram..."

[Allen Silva]

Gorem turned his head to Allen who seemed to be able to predict that this was all going to happen. "You just had to say it, didn't you?"

"..." Allen was mostly speechless. There wasn't much to say when he witnessed a mechanical Bakugan pop out out of nowhere and almost blasted them off of existence, and then Noland and Drago suddenly wake up and trash it almost instantly. And now he's about to destroy EVERYTHING.

"Okay. Just give me a second," Allen pretended to comply, but he really wasn't going to. "Hey, Gorem, ready to do something stupid?"

"No," Gorem answered with honesty.

"Awesome." Allen took aim at Drago and threw Gorem at him. The sphere lodged itself right into Drago's neck area. The hard impact caused Drago to accidentally cough up his forbidden power. The pressure from it made the room's systems go haywire. Allen didn't know the specifics of what happened nor did he care. What he did know was that he messed up the checkpoint system and brought Seiki and Yita back into action. At the same time, both Noland and Drago collapsed again, this time for good hopefully.

"Looks like you were right. It wasn't for me," Allen said about Noland's ability. "Now how about you don't get back up so I don't have to keep knocking you down."

Allen then turned to Seiki who would be perfect for dealing with the apparent Hurranian swarm that was about to swallow them. "Hey, Seiki. Perfect timing. Could you do us a solid and blow some air in here so we don't get infected?" He then turned to Yita who was rather defenseless without her Bakugan being here, but maybe she could do something about the Noland situation. From what Damian was doing on Vestal, maybe she could? "Whatever you did on Vestal looked cool and all, but can you do that and maybe chain them up to something? Something's telling me they're still alive."

"And now that you said it, they probably are," Gorem chimed in.

[Noland Hardy]

Indeed, Noland and Drago were not completely out of it yet, but from a certain perspective, they were. They were hidden deep within a cloud of darkness within their consciousness. Only a little bit of light was shining through there, which should explain why Noland actually saved Allen from Boriates. Still, it didn't look like either of them were making the attempt to get rid of this foul energy.

They propped their heads up quickly when they noticed something odd going on, as if a powerful presence was contacting them. When they looked up, they saw Lars Lion appear right in front of them.

"Lars Lion..." Drago called in surprise.

"Mhm," she replied upon hearing her name.

"You Legendary Soldiers really are the strongest... I didn't expect for you to appear in our consciousness like this," Noland thought.

"We didn't expect for you to be here like this either," she said in reference to Noland and Drago turning evil.

"So...what does this mean then? I know I've been captured. Are you here to finish us off for good?"

"Of course I am, and I will."

"...You should..."

"Fear not. Killing is not my job nor is it my preference. I will simply teach you."

"How so?"

"Through discussion. You've realized by now that the hold this darkness had on you has weakened following your defeat. You could've broken free anytime now, but you only chose to have minimal say as to what you did when Dasia's mechanical Bakugan made an attempt on Allen's life. Explain why you are still here."

"Why...? Ms...do you have any idea about what I did...?

"I would think so."

"Then you understand how much guilt I have for doing what I was doing?"

"So you prefer to mope about in here as a way of atoning for your sins?"

"I've struggled this entire time watching what has been going on. Treating Yita like an object and making Seiki feel worthless was bad enough, but... What we did to Alana and Hydranoid...I can't stomach it. How could I look anyone in the eyes and try to convince them that I'm not this monster that this alter ego has made me out to be? Plenty of Earthlings want me dead, and now my closest friends do as well. So yes...I'd rather stay here. I can't access the Switch Code anymore, so what's the use? I'm a liability now. I can tick at any moment, and we'll be right back here."

"You staying here is the reason why you haven't gained control of your dark power. I've watched you ever since Apollonir told you about the Switch Code. You've only accepted the light and ran away from the darkness, so now when the latter confronts you, you can't combat it. THAT is why we're here now."

"..."

"I know you recall when we tested you. You were told by Apollonir that he saw the two of you as leaders and that you would need to overcome obstacles WITH your friends as you went through your own. Remember that?"

"Yes..."

"Apollonir also told you that both sides of your power have to exist simultaneously. Vince followed up with that statement and said that sacrifices must be made for you to achieve the full power of those two forms of yours. You remember that also, don't you?"

"Yeah..."

"Tell me... Did one of them ever tell you that the Hex Code was strictly off-limits, or did you decide that rule for yourself, because you were concerned about another outburst like the one from before?"

"...You...you're right...I see where you're going with this. I didn't do what I was supposed to do..."

"And that failure has made this situation a lot more stressful than it should be, and you rightly bear the blame. Surrendering in solitude like this only aggravates this situation though. How could you attempt to get stronger if you won't do what it takes to be stronger? And no, I'm not speaking just from a battle perspective. Your senses and your heart can only be genuine if they separate the good from the bad. They can't run away from it, since our very existence is tied to these two sides. You must not try to change the status quo."

"I...I understand..."

"Do you?"

"Everything you said was true. I detested the Hex Code from the start. I only used it for very specific circumstances. I took the easy way out and spammed the Switch Code whenever I needed a power boost, because I had already gotten the hang of it. I didn't think this far ahead. I didn't think I'd NEED to get a grip on the Hex Code to prevent this from happening. I didn't know it was possible..."

"Until you saw and experienced Duality?"

"Yes...he never told me about that..."

"And for good reason. You weren't ready, and you still aren't. But maybe you will be in time now that you see just how important you two really are."

"So in the end...I failed his test after all..."

"Tests of life continue through generations. It never ends, so do not ever think that it's over for you. All we ever did for you and your friends was to prepare for the tests that you're going through right now. How you respond now will carry over to any future events."

Nodding in acceptance of this, Noland and Drago each approached Lars Lion with a renewed vigor in their eyes. "Please...help us..."

"We want to make this right..."

"You will start by resurrecting the ones you've killed. I've studied the ability you used to take their lives. You should have no problems reversing the process and granting the life energy necessary to lift them up. I will restore your power so you can do this. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good." The darkness around them disappeared. Noland and Drago would soon return back to normal, hopefully as a permanent fixture. This type of situation was something they didn't want to encounter ever again.

[Damian Knight]

The Spartans came charging in the Colosseum after all the fighting was done. After having frequent encounters with the mechanical Bakugan, they can now see how petty Dasia is for making them miss all of the commotion. Helios touched down on the floor and shook his head at the whole thing.

"So...uh...you forgot to kill them," Helios said to poke fun at Noland's capture.

"Hm...funny," Lars Lion casually responded, turning around while hovering over Noland's body.

"I mean, well, no, it's not." Now that Helios was being patronized by a Legendary Soldier, things have changed...

"Really? I was under the impression that you say outlandish things just to get a ruse out of people."

"Wh-what? He was going to kill us. That's not funny."

"Oh? So now you're serious about a deadly situation? What a surprise."

"...Honestly, I expected this type of sarcasm from Alana - oh, wait..."

"Nice observation. While you're at it, here you go." Lars Lion moved away from Noland and gestured for Helios to come forward and strike him down. "Finish the job."

[Noland Hardy]

Noland's eyes were closed when Damian and Helios approached. Due to losing some of his latent power with the Switch Code, he had no idea what was about to happen to him aside from Helios and Lars Lion talking out loud.

He tried to move a little, but he noticed that there was something extremely tight preventing him from moving. There was only one girl who practiced this form of trapping: Yita. Noland opened his eyes, and there she was to his left, staring at him with a look that can only be described as the cross between concerned and angry. Then he saw Allen who was deliberately indifferent to the whole situation, as if his role in the situation had come to an end. It looked like he'd allow Damian and Helios to lunge at him if it came to it. The body language confirmed it. He didn't need to see anything else to confirm just how much he messed up.

Noland chose to survey everyone's facial expressions anyway. They were more in line with everyone else's. Deon was particularly apathetic, as he didn't care one way or another. Seiki was very pissed, which was to be expected. Seeing all of this caused him to accidentally spot Drago who was on the opposite side from him. Someone had gotten creative with tying him up. His wings were strapped to the floor and his arms and legs were lifted up and tied together with their respective body part.

Drago didn't care much about that though. He was more focused on Helios' threatening behavior. He made a death stare towards Helios, which everyone in the room picked up on. Noland followed suit. Whatever Helios thought he was doing was his business, but it was pretty clear that he was really pissing them off. If he turned evil again, it'd be on his hands.

[Damian Knight]

Damian could feel the tension rising in the room; yet, he didn't say a word, which was very unlike him. He'd usually be close behind Helios whenever this type of banter occurs, but he wanted no part of it. Right now, he was paying close attention to what Noland and Drago were up to. There was no way those bindings were enough to hold the two of them IF their power was somewhat restored, which he can only assume due to Lars Lion's presence. Then again, Yita might be dumb enough to heal him since she was the one responsible for getting him all the way up here. Either way, there was a good chance Noland could do something.

He didn't spend too much time with this stare-down, because there was no point. As weird as it looks, Damian knew what was really going on inside of their minds. "It took you long enough..." He hopped off of Helios, and started to approach Noland. He held out his palm, and then his BakuScanner lit up to activate a certain function. It scanned Damian's body, and then allowed him to conjure a fireball in his hands. He shot it at Noland directly. In doing so, he set Noland free.

Helios shot at each of Drago's bindings by firing beams from his tail. "Hurry up and get out of that position. It's embarrassing," Helios ordered.

[Noland Hardy]

Noland slowly rose to his feet upon Damian freeing him. He quickly surveyed his body to see what form he was in. He already confirmed that his Switch Code power was deactivated. It turns out that he was back in his Gundalian skin. What a shocker, like no one was supposed to see that coming.

Drago got up and stretched since the position he was trapped in left him feeling quite stiff. "Try not to get bitched by another Bakugan. That's even more embarrassing," Drago responded with a smirk on his face, giving everyone a hint that he was back to normal.

At this point, Noland and Drago could rampage again if they wanted to. They had enough power to get away thanks to Lars Lion supplying it, but even she wasn't so trusting. She only supplied them with enough power to do exactly what she told him to do. Whether or not he will comply with that is all up to Noland, provided he is actually on the good side again.

"Way too long..." Noland agreed. "Forbidden Ability activate! Dianos Durance X!" Drago quickly assumed the Hex Code form to gain access to this ability. Two prickly chains emerged from his being. Everyone stepped away from Alana and Hydranoid's bodies for two reasons: 1. Those two were the obvious targets. 2. If anyone else became a target, they'd have a chance to respond.

Since they were out of the way, Drago had his chains swiftly stab Alana and Hydranoid. With that being done, he pumped life energy into their bodies per Lars Lion's instructions. The process took no longer than ten seconds. He withdrew his chains and ended the Hex Code immediately. All that was left for them was to see what happens.

[Alana Cortese]

This revival process was rather unorthodox, especially since it was coming from a dark form like the Hex Code. Still, it worked just as effectively as a resurrection spell. Hydranoid's eyes were wide-open when he awoke, as if he was in serious trouble.

"Oh no..." he said, rising up to his feet. "Please...please tell me Helios isn't..." He turned around and saw Helios standing right before him. He fell out in horror. "No!!!! The humiliation!!!!!" Perfect way to come back to life.

Alana wasn't as loud or obnoxious as Hydranoid was. She almost didn't want to get up, since she felt like her being alive was such a terrible nuisance. If war wasn't going on, she would have told someone to kill her one more time, but now wasn't the time for mental instabilities.

"Hmph..." She nearly cracked a smile at what she was about to say, because Noland had this coming for a very long time. She got up to face her killer, and she wasn't going to hold anything back. "You..." She paused as she tried to come up with something else to say mid-sentence, because she wanted to keep what she says brief. "I've endured all your crap since I came back...and this is what I got given!?"

[Noland Hardy]

"..." What could Noland really say to that? After all...she was right, and he knew it. He had a quick flashback of all of the arguments and whatnot after Alana was saved. She never got a break, and there was always one person at the center of all of that: Noland.

"T-that...is a no-win situation," Drago thought to himself about Noland's dilemma. "Hope I don't get called on to say something... I should probably say something to Gorem and Hydranoid, but her...there's no way I'm getting involved in that. Not again."

Noland thought along the same lines. It doesn't matter how he responds to this situation now. Either way, he's a monster - no, a demon. Say sorry, perhaps? He could do that, and then get the usual, "Sorry doesn't cut it," argument going, which was very warranted. Of course, saying anything else or - the worst thing possible - saying nothing at all would be taking L's too.

Then again, Noland wasn't born yesterday. Since nothing could be said to help calm Alana's nerves, saying nothing seemed to be a good option. He went with that. His lips were sealed.

[Alana Cortese]

Alana was getting VERY heated now. After all of that mess, this boy chose to stay quiet? There was no way in hell that she was going to let that go silently.

"Wow...just wow..." she said. "You were VERY talkative before, but now when it's you being talked to for the things you've done, you have nothing to say? Really? I figured you'd at least tell me how entertaining it was to be looked at as some demon, because - you know - you made the past year miserable for me for treating me like one!?"

She wanted to say more. She really did, but how could she at a time like this? She knew. Noland knew. Allen knew. Everyone else knew as well. If there's a lot of people left after this fight - assuming they can end it - then they'll know as well. The government was not wrong to label Noland as a monster. THEY WERE RIGHT.

"This fight coming up... I'm through after this. No more," she said, turning her back to Noland. She didn't want to look at him anymore. "You wanted to be by yourself so bad, so you're going to get just that. Hope you're happy."

[Noland Hardy]

"..." Again, no comment from Noland. Alana was right and that's all there was to it. If she was done, then so be it. These are the consequences that Noland will have to live with for his failure.

"My failure has affected all of you and everyone outside," Noland cleared up, not wanting to just address Alana and Allen. "No one should've been made to suffer in any way because I screwed up."

"I had a part in it too..." Drago butted in, deeming it inappropriate for Noland himself to take all of the blame. "The simple fact is that we ended up in this position because we misused a power that we didn't understand."

"I'd like to tell you that it was our dark halves doing the dirty work, but...I don't want to act like I'm not taking accountability. It's still us, and we created them," Noland explained. "We apologize for the abuse, threats, and...the killings... And..."

Noland now had to address Allen specifically. "Allen...Gorem..." he started. "...Thanks..."

[Allen Silva]

Noland tried to apologize for his missdoings. Granted this was very ineffective at the moment, but he was at least giving it a shot. They had the Noland that they wanted back, thier Noland had returned." Well first things first...youre one tough bastard. I was fairly sure that we killed you with that last attack." He was actually laughing a little bit while he said that. Something about having his friend back gave him a sense of confidence that he lost." Although, i was supposed to die as well. So i guess that we are way too hard to put down."

" the dream team is back together. Now we can really put the beatdown on the Hurrians." Gorem gave a verbal pat in the back to the trio that now stood together once again.

" alright. Time to cut the shit." Allen lost his laugh after he said this. It was obvious that now he was getting to the toppic that he wanted to skirt passed. Him face grew much more somber before he spoke agaim." You have a ton of ass kissing and redemption to do. You might never really atone for what you've done. But i will be there at each and ever turn. Remember, im the shield and you're the spear. Together, we will protect the place we love, and the people we hold dear. For now though, lets kick this blue haired whore in her mouth and save the friggin world. How about it?"

[Damian Knight]

Damian was about to burst out in laughter when he saw and heard Alana getting VERY triggered. If he were to be honest, this is probably the best thing that has ever happened to her. Now she can stop being such a bitch. Of course, it would be in his best interest to keep his mouth shut, because Lars Lion wasn't in a good mood. Had it been any other day, he'd have said it.

"Good. You kept that short. Thank goodness," Damian celebrated.

"It was making me sick the longer it went on. I should've waited to blow that hole through MAC Spider's abdomen," Helios complained while also revealing how he got out of his checkpoint. "I have half a mind to blow this thing up right now."

"Use the other half of it and don't," Lars Lion interjected.

"The other half is saying we're taking too damn long in here."

"Yeah, we heard about what's going to happen if it explodes. You Legendary Soldiers act all godly and stuff. You can stop it, can't you?"

"Some of us COULD, but the response isn't proactive, hence why we cannot detonate this battleship."

"What is death when we have at least seven people here who can resurrect someone?"

"What is life when we'll lose ours before we get the chance?"

"Alright. This is getting us nowhere. What's the point?"

"If you would stay silent, I can give all of you the full rundown of what our situation is."

"...Go on..."

Lars Lion briefly closed her eyes as she was initiating contact with the one who was most equipped to possibly stop the Alternative's apocalyptic explosion. "Apollonir, I need you."

"What's going on?"

"There will be hell on Earth if the Alternative explodes. If I can't find another solution, can you stop the greenhouse effect?"

"..."

"Apollonir?"

"That's not for me..."

"...?"

"Listen...you need to have Helios take care of that. I won't be there to do it..." Mysteriously, Apollonir cut contact with Lars Lion right then and there. This left Lars Lion with barely anything to say to the group, but she had to come up with something, because their action was demanded RIGHT NOW.

"Okay...so it's going to be like this..." Lars Lion looked around at everyone before beginning what she was going to say. "Listen VERY carefully... I hate to give you this news, but...we ARE going to blow it up..."