Episode 50: Last Call

[Vince Hardy]

Apollonir's sacrifice comes with a penalty on the battlefront. Since he is in a deceased state right now, Vince can no longer sense what is going on in that area. That can only mean that there is a being out right now that even a Legendary Soldier cannot defeat through ordinary means.

"This isn't looking good at all..." Vince said with some concern in his voice. They were on track to losing this entire fight. He needed some hope right now, because it's slowly slipping away. The Alternative wasn't going down no matter what they did. He had never seen a superweapon capable of taking on so many high-class Bakugan at once. It was horrifying.

"Akane's bomb isn't going to put a dent on this thing if we don't wear it down enough. Just what the hell is going on in there?" Excedra complained.

"Forget what's going on in there. We'll have to go blind with this one. Apollonir and Diablo 3 are deadlocked right now. If that thing breaks free before the Alternative is down, we've lost."

[Andrew Bullock]

"Calm your nerves, Vince. It's not over until we say it is," Andrew reminded him. "Honestly, you're better at mental stability than this. Keep it together, man."

If communication between the forces inside of the Alternative and those outside of it weren't good, then there was only one other option afforded to the alliance to check on what was going on. There was a certain Resistor that can save the entire solar system, provided he doesn't choke like his friend did so many times in the past.

Since everyone was spread a few ways apart so they all don't get blown to smithereens by the Alternative at the same time, Andrew phoned Tank for a favor. How did Andrew have his contact information? Simple. Tank never changed his number from when he got nabbed over a year ago.

"Tank, Gladion's a fortuneteller now, right? I need him to have a look at what's going on inside and outside of the Alternative. We need to know what's going on ASAP. Can you do that?"

[Tank Stryker]

Tank had a disturbed look on his face when he received the call for very obvious reasons. He looked at Gladion to see what his thoughts were, but Gladion was having none of it. Gladion looked back at him, but quickly turned away. "I'm just glad he left my name out of it," Gladion settled for.

"...I'm almost afraid to ask what else he did to us..." Tank sighed, heavily creeped out now. "Just...do your thing man. I can't even say the ability right now."

Having to look at two separate outcomes for different situations were very taxing on Gladion's reserves, so he'll have to look as hard as he can to get a grasp of what's happening, and then shut it down.

"Hm..." Gladion's eyes started to glow, and so did Tank's by extension. They first looked within the Alternative to see if substantial progress was being made. It took him a while, but he finally saw Noland and crew running through the Alternative with Deon's Tyr plowing through hordes of Fortress. Yita had also taken control of some of the units and used them to fight its brethren.

Seeing that made Tank crack a prideful smile. "Hardy's living and is on the A-team again," he gladly explained. "This thing will be dust and echoes in no time!"

As for what's going on outside...

This was a more difficult venture, so it was saved for last. He had to determine how long it would take for Diablo 3 to reactive itself, assuming that Apollonir had temporarily defeated it and that it can do the act in question. Just to be safe, he also looked around for any signs of the BT System. Tank stood there for a brief moment as he was apparently in awe of what he was seeing.

[Dasia Turano]

Dasia has finally seen it all. These cretins have dodged bullets for the last time. It was bad enough that the people inside have mobilized to cut the Alternative's time in the spotlight short, but now someone on the ground has to go and predict the future. Tank was the major threat right now.

"Hey! You! Yeah, you over there! Quit doing that!" Dasia commanded. "Ability activate! Planet Killing Destruction Mode!"

Thousands of individual energy beams littered the sky across Earth. Anything they touched will suffer serious consequences. The main premise of the ability was to deprive a planet of its resources, killing off the population and the planet itself. This function was devised in case someone - like the Legendary Soldiers here - could stop a Power Ball from doing its intended job.

[Vince Hardy]

"Excedra!" Vince called out in a hurry. "Ability activate! Demon Wizard! Quickly!" It wasn't everyday that he had to see a genocidal attack. Only Excedra had the capabilities of stopping this planet-wide attack.

"Done!" Excedra opened his true mouth, and revealed the eye that would shine its light through the sky. The power from all of those blasts were devoured by Excedra's bottomless reserves. "Tsk...insolence! I'll take her myself. Prepare yourselves to go when the signal is given."

Excedra stepped up to challenge the Alternative on his own while everyone else gets ready to enact their plan. Tank's confirmation of the party moving was enough to get the ball rolling.

"Duty calls," Vince announced as he was also intent on facing Dasia. "Everyone ready?"

[Damian Knight]

Lars Lion was overseeing Damian and Helios as they got ready to be the saving grace's of Earth and the alliance. A red aura surrounded Damian and Helios as they concentrated their power.

"You don't have to do that right now, do you?" Lars Lion asked. It was an open-ended question in case there was something she didn't quite understand. After all, this was the first Helios in history to have this "Layer" system. If Helios had to do it this early, he'll tell her rather than Lars Lion sounding like she knows what she's talking about.

"If you guys want me to save you, yes," Helios bluntly replied.

"My power will save this planet, but will bring it to hell at the same time. That's why Mrs. Hardy put a mental block in our brains to prevent us from accessing it if our brain waves aren't registering what I'm seeing as an emergency worthy of such extremes. I only agreed to it due to my temper."

"...My perspective of you has changed a lot just by hearing you say that," Lars Lion expressed.

"What do you expect? This is suicide, and it's for a planet I care nothing about. It's ridiculous. You better not die either. I need my way back, and Tracy has already died once from what I heard."

As soon as he said that, sparks could be heard traveling around where they were. Lars Lion quickly hovered over Damian's head and had her body shine a light all around him. The sounds of Hurranian organisms dying could be heard all around him. Helios was burning in a ferocious heat that naturally warded off of the parasites.

"As expected, she is trying to deny us from enacting our plan. I will hold them off for you. Just relax," Lars Lion suggested.

"Pretty easy to stay relaxed when death almost means nothing right now..."

[Alana Cortese]

Hydranoid was flying near the front of the pack. He was the second one in line after Tyr who was charging straight through the enemies for them. He was humming in tune with Hurranians getting trampled by a Ventus-empowered bull.

Alana was not so enthusiastic about the situation. Only having been recently revived, she was taking longer than Hydranoid to regain her senses. She also noticed that Noland and Drago were lagging behind everyone else. Even Allen and Gorem were ahead of them. It was no offense to those two, but Drago is definitely faster than Gorem no matter what is done, so to see that going on only meant that there was inner turmoil within their minds.

She didn't want to turn around and make eye contact with him right now. She turned her head slightly behind her to take a quick peak, but could not see him at that angle. Rather than continue to try, she continued to look straight ahead. She silently growled at the thought of Noland being behind them. For all she knew, he'd shoot them all in the back. She couldn't just voice her concerns or suddenly travel behind the pack, because everyone would know something is wrong, and then arguments would start...again.

[Noland Hardy]

Noland's reasoning for being in the back was not so obvious. One might think that the guilt associated with what he was doing earlier would be a good reason, but it really wasn't. He was struggling with something entirely different, something he was ashamed to come forward with.

Drago's scales kept turned black whenever the duo tried to concentrate their power. He did this a couple of times, which can only mean that what was happening was not the intended result.

"This is really bad...and after all that work too..." Noland thought to himself. "My power is gone... I can't access the Switch Code at all...and that's what we need to stop the BT System should it get used again."

That surely IS a bad situation. He'd have to reacquire the state of mind he had when he first fought Apollonir, but it was easier said than done. Right now, he is far too corrupt to access the power of the Switch Code. If it wasn't for Drago's overwhelming power, he'd be a liability. He arguably is one right now, because he can't stop the BT System at his current state, and if he encounters an opponent that required him to tap into more of his power, it'd be difficult to combat them since he could just turn evil again.

"It's okay..." Drago suddenly told Noland. "That's why they're here."

"But..."

"Yeah...I know we lost it. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. There's nothing we can do now but believe in everyone else. That's just how it goes."

"...Dammit..." Perhaps it would be better for Noland to clear his head, but it is very difficult to do that when he killed someone among them and could end up doing it again if he messes up. Maybe Drago's right on this one. He never sat back before nor is he used to it, but if being on standby is the only way forward, then so be it. He either sucks it up or surrenders, and he hates losing more than anything else. The choice was clear.

[Dasia Turano]

Dasia knew the group was closing in on the reactor core. Her plan was looking like it was falling apart. Apollonir has incapacitated Diablo, Lars Lion was protecting Damian and Helios while they get ready to access the Fourth Layer, and the group outside sounded like they had a plan to bring the Alternative to its knees. Any outsider looking in would say that they have Dasia in a corner; however, they haven't seen everything she has to offer. She'll have to make this quick though, because Tank may have seen what she's about to do to them.

"Activating Gatekeeper system," a command in Dasia's voice announced. "Di End, activated. Dr. Ray Fugas, activated. Snake Akuryou, activated. Brawler Zero, activated. Captain Atom, activated. Spectra, activated."

The Gatekeeper system was the ultimate security system that Dasia had installed in the Alternative in case anyone was to get this far. Clearly, the command has put six names out there, so it is likely that these six beings were responsible for protecting the reactor core. What these six beings are will have to wait until these idiots trip the final checkpoint, which is guaranteed at this point, because access to the reactor core is within the checkpoint itself. Yita cannot craft another means of bypassing it, and Noland can't escape from it. Once they go in, it's team deathmatch.

[Alana Cortese]

"Hm?" Hydranoid propped his heads up when he was hearing this voice command, which was to be expected when they're all aware that there's a checkpoint at the end. "So what you're saying is...you're telling us who we're facing before we get there?" After forming this logical conclusion, he nodded his heads in agreement with Dasia's thinking. "You might as well tell us how to beat them while you're at it. Your plans are always getting ripped apart, so since this isn't going to be any different, how about we stop wasting everyone's time and get to the final boss already?"

Alana wasn't that cocky about what she heard. Brawler Zero? That name was very intriguing. Di End? What kind of name is that? Anyone with a name that ridiculous must be dangerous. Dasia is clearly not playing around since she brought this battleship out in the first place. These six beings that were called out must be nasty.

"So...Deon...Yita...do any of those names sound familiar to you...?" Alana nervously asked. "Something's telling me these guys are dangerous..."

"Aw, come on. One of their names is Captain Atom. What is there to be scared of?"

[Deon Irvine]

Deon looked at another pack or morons set at them by that hormone-drive ass-wagon who sucked God knows what to get to her position as Queen. Whatever is sent at them is going to suffer a pitiful and painful fate like everything else that had been sent at them. She could as well stop wasting everyone's time and jump down to fight her own wars or find a noose and a chair somewhere in her home so this could all be over as soon as possible. Deon recognized the pack of enemies standing before them and he was not very happy about the encounter. Considering how widely-known they were Deon was slightly surprised humans did not know of it; those people were notorious and very dangerous. "...Hmm... never would have thought we'd ever see these bastards aside from the 'wanted' posters..." Deon thought to himself and then started pointing towards each one of these guys explaining them respectively.

"See that trash? His Bakugan is a computer virus... not 'like'; it is one. If he corrupts your gauntlet or abilities that wouldn't be such fun..." Deon explained one guy he pointed at. The one referred to as Di End. No matter how much cringe it gave to Deon that name was not for nothing. "Dr. Fugas- he is a biologist, but his Bakugan's got some 'unethical' modifications that would not be allowed by law... think of a Kyuki on a smaller scale." Deon said upon pointing at the other one and then pointed as one named as Brawler Zero. "Potentially, the most dangerous one- her specialization are Bakugans with zero G-power, hence 'Zero'. Specialization of hers lies in utility so don't think you're hot stuff because your Bakugan's got more raw power than hers." Deon explained Brawler Zero. He, personally, did not think he'd stand a chance against that thing- perhaps Hydranoid would be a better idea, but even he could suffer if he gets careless. He started underestimating and trash-talking those guys already. Well, it still could be done; they've faced worse things in life than these.

"To beat these guys you all need to do what you do the best... just kill." Deon said and then looked at the remaining two. "And two final fruitcakes are one of the most infamous cheaters we know on our tourneys and, generally, in any official brawls. They have cheated their way to get money, illegally brawled in brutal underground arenas, used unethical methods of wounding other Bakugans to achieve victory. Captain Atom, one of the biggest idiots in the universe who thought he could go Team-Rocket and just avoid being caught by changing outfits. He became an object of comedy shows... Whenever kids on the TV said someone did something stupid they say 'he pulled a Captain Atom'..." Deon explain in quite detail on Captain Atom with such disgust and trying to contain himself from laughter after seeing all posts in media about the dumbest cheater that ever existed on the planet. Even Deon enjoyed watching kids' shows just to see those shows making fun of the guy. "And the cancer cell over there is Spectra- his cheating ranges from attempting to steal others' cards and Bakugans and think no one would notice to using various disguises and illegal activities in combat to achieve victory and even have the guts to return to arenas after being thrown out countless times." Deon explained the guy who looked like he carried a broom up in his ass. "These guys cheating together is going to be a blast now... we either need to cheat ourselves or be quick enough to kill them before they can use any of their gayness on us."

[Noland Hardy]

Noland grunted at the characteristics these six enemies had, according to Deon's explanation. These brawlers appeared in front of them as holograms, and then disappeared. This shows that they were definitely activated and are waiting to get a piece of them.

"I don't like the sound of having to face Di End and Brawler Zero at the same time," Noland thought, ignoring the other brawlers. "Well...we asked for it. I'm hoping we can all put aside our differences to work as a team. This is sounding like the most dangerous setup Dasia has ever made..."

After about 100 more meters, they were there...

The Core

It was a rectangular room that was almost pitch-black. The only lighting in there were these lights that traveled along line patterns on the floor and walls. There was no sound in there either. The power must have been so efficient that having them run constantly like this didn't make any noise whatsoever.

Noland was looking around in amazement at this level of technology. At the same time, he was looking for the actual core. He knew that it was in a checkpoint, so the question was....where is it?

"I'm impressed, Dasia. I didn't expect you to be so crafty in that you'd hide the checkpoint this well. You're getting smart," Noland commended.

[Dasia Turano]

Dasia shouldn't be responding to that, but since nothing's hurting her at the moment, why not?

"I was always smart, but you and the others...especially YOU...have gotten lucky every time I would've succeeded," Dasia firmly stated. "After analyzing my failures, I've come to realize that the mechanical Bakugan other than my precious Diablo 3 are no match for you now. You all have gotten considerably stronger in such a short amount of time, and I was not able to meet that demand with their software. As a society, we Hurranians have been playing catch-up ever since the Legendary Soldiers decided to show their faces. Once you get a taste of what's in store for you when you do find the checkpoint, you'll see that we've finally surpassed you."

"The beings that I have in there are Vestal's very own notorious masterminds, especially Di End and Brawler Zero. Speaking of which, here's fun facts for you. Di End is actually the precursor to our entire species, Brawler Zero was so dangerous that she has never been defeated in a direct battle, and Snake is the one responsible for constructing the Bakugan that defeated Drago's daddy. With that in mind, I really do hope you find out where I put the checkpoint, because then your bullshit luck will finally run its course."

[Noland Hardy]

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say," Noland responded. He wasn't all that concerned with the possibility that these "gatekeepers" would be problematic to them. That was almost a given anyway. The fact that someone like Brawler Zero is in here means that something must have done her in. The same goes for Di End as well.

"Enough speculation." Drago lit up the room by lighting himself on fire. No one will have to squint to see what's going on now. "Let's get this over with. I've heard enough pompous jackasses for one year."

Noland immediately thought that Yita would have the solution to their problem due to her advanced tech. Maybe she has something on her BakuScanner that can ping the location of this checkpoint. Yashu could probably do it too.

"Yita, you got anything?" Noland questioned.

[Alana Cortese]

Alana was watching this exchange between Noland and Yita, and she realized something very clearly. Yita was very simple-minded about the kill or be killed situation with Noland. She seemed...comfortable with him? It was an odd conclusion to come to considering what happened, but that's what it looked like to Alana. Either Yita didn't care or she was very forgiving. The latter decision might be likely, because the only major thing Noland did to her while she was conscious was knock her unconscious.

This made Alana sad, because a little part of her still cared for Noland deeply, but - clearly - maybe they just weren't compatible after all. She lightly nodded and looked away, pretending to look for whatever the checkpoint was going to look like.

Hydranoid's heads started twitching a little, something no one expected. He heard static noises coming from where they had just entered. Something was amiss, and he could smell it. "I don't mean to jinx this, but something's telling me that we're going to be attacked in here," he announced.

"Watch our surroundings, Hydranoid," Alana recommended, but really ordered.

"Wait, what, how, why!?"

"You have more eyes than any of us in this room, and Drago's not at 100%, so it has to be you to watch our backs."

"Oh, so I'm important now? Well...when you put it like that, sure!"

"Hydranoid's on to something..." Alana said to herself while Hydranoid took point. "Dasia's supposed to be smart, right? She knows Yita is a techie. Would she really place the checkpoint inside of this small area? I hope she did..."