[RP Practice II] :: Back from the Grave

[Keto]

Four Silver Knights and two members of Eden have formed a party of six with a mission- to find and capture/eliminate wife of the madman doctor. Fina has been on the run for a long time; since the moment her husband was taken down she had no other option but to run because the world wanted her shut down. Silver Knights and Eden wanted justice and peace while terrorist organizations such as Chrono Elite wanted another threat out of their way. Kyuki made himself an enemy of Chrono Elite not long before he was defeated and now Fina is also their enemy; Chrono Elite will not hesitate to capture her and take everything she and her husband have built over the years. Terrorists have formed an attack party of their own and headed to the same location as the six people mentioned before. The six have arrived in Ohio using a teleportation spell; approximate location of the woman was determined and in a few moments the exact one was confirmed; an abandoned building, a ruin of a sort, just lying in the open. It had that unsightly appearance for a reason.

Six brawlers had to sneak in somehow. Michael Schulz gave Metallius an ability to use; Phantom Aegis- ability that turned everyone into shadows and allowed them to move along and through any surface with ease without being detected. They quietly moved inside the building and began exploring, searching for their target. Judging by the inside layout (suspicious crates, computers etc.) that was not an accident- the building was definitely in Fina's control. While exploring the ruin six heard a sound of crashing on the far end of the building. Phantom Aegis was disrupted and they were confronted by one of Fina's artificially-created guardians, Sphinx. A monster whose name should tell all about its physical traits; a four-legged giant holding the power of light and darkness.

While six brawlers handle the Sphinx terrorists encountered two threats at a time- Raizen and Eichen; twin giants bearing massive axes and powerful armor. Their appearance is akin to that of Gorem kind, but these have been genetically engineered to be much quicker than a Gorem, much sturdier and to pack a mean punch like five Hydranoids. Terrorists were in a much tougher position than those facing Sphinx. Both factions have their plans with Fina; ones to use her for their own evil ideas while others have justice in sight. Which side will reach her first and what they should expect is the question. And one should wonder- if those two are the only factions present inside the building at the time.

[Alex Andersen]

Battle against a powerful Sphinx has begun.

Its powerful body makes it a sturdy tank-class Bakugan on the battlefield while its light and darkness magic makes it a good DPS as well. That appears to be a tough opponent, but it should not take long before the party shaves its health down to nothing. "Watch out!" Alex shouted as Sphinx launched a blast attack at all of them; a blast of dark matter surrounded by multiple rays of lights that could disintegrate opponents in a second. "Ability activate! Guardian's Oath!" Alex put the ability card inside his new and improved 'Atlas' gauntlet that was much easier to use than standard gauntlets. Guardian's Oath is an ability that allows user to put one target under 'Oath' and when they get hit user receives damage instead. Also, damage is halved and user along with target of the 'Oath' begin to periodically restore their own health. Michael's Metallius was one to get hit by that blast and he did get hit, but thanks to Guardian's Oath he did not receive any damage. Dante received it instead.

"Doing okay, Dante?" Alex asked his partner.

"Just a scratch. To offense!" Dante replied.

"Ability activate! Blessed Twin!" With that Alex activated an offensive ability.

Blessed Twin swaps Dante's holy spear for a holy sword. Due to this Dante owns two holy swords he can use much quicker while ability is active. Using his seraph wings he plunged into action and flew right in front of Sphinx's giant face. A dozen of slashes, so quick, appeared to be only two, but according to the number of scars inflicted on the giant's body everyone could see the damage Dante did to Sphinx. Giant scars were made and holy energy was dripping down from them causing a debuff on Sphinx's magical abilities.

[Michael Schulz]

"Thanks for the assist, pal." Michael commended.

He took a card and placed it in his gauntlet. There was no way in hell he and Metallius were missing out on this one. After all, they had not been training and evolving for Metallius to fall to a walking piece of rock that shoots black and white lasers. "Ability activate! Heavy Breaker!" He called for the ability. Card flashed inside the gauntlet and so did Metallius. Giant metal Dragonoid spread his massive wings revealing turbines of some sort inside them; it appeared that with evolution Metallius gained something akin to Hydranoids' saws or mechanical parts. He used immense force produced by turbines to launch himself towards Sphinx and body-slam it without hesitation. Giant monster was pushed back and launched into a wall. Cracks could be seen all over its body, some parts even falling apart and it appeared to be disoriented. No wonder considering it was like a human surviving getting hit by a car; it is not a very pleasant feeling. Heavy Breaker is a type of ability that increases Metallius's weight and sturdiness of his armor before shoving the giant dragon into an enemy who gets to enjoy all of that mass and sturdiness against their skin and bones.

"Nice one!" Michael commended.

"Don't bring a rock to fight a metal dragon." Metallius mocked the scenery of Sphinx getting so easily damaged so early in the battle.

[Sydney White]

Michael seemed to be enjoying the fight. Metallius did not seem very bored, too. Those blockheads should not lower their guard at a place like that at any time; Fina is full of uncomfortable surprised 24/7. That Sphinx was more of a threat than it appeared to be and Sydney knew it; it was being pushed around, seemingly powerless against the raid, but it was far from that. That thing was about to pull a move on both Dante and Metallius. "Screeching Torment!" Sphinx roared wildly and a powerful ear-piercing screech was released from its mouth briefly stunning every Bakugan around and allowing it to combo it with another ability. "Grand Boom!" It spoke again in an oddly disturbing tone forming an orb of light and darkness that headed towards where Dante and Metallius where. All it took was for it to explode in between them and get them in a blast disintegrating both of them as a result. Yes, Grand Boom is pretty much a one-shot ability that spreads from the point of explosion. It is super-slow and has narrow radius of effect so it comes with a nice bonus of an instant kill.

"That was a tactical error." Vergilius mocked the monster from back lines.

"Special Ability, activate! Mirror Sword Dance!" Sydney put a card into the gauntlet.

Vergilius's body emitted a powerful glow and, as a result, six swords were spawned in front of the Grand Boom. Swords were positioned so they form a circular formation and they began spinning clockwise forming a light-blue mirror-like matter in the center. Grand Boom hit the mirror center and then dispersed into countless arrow-like projectiles that were deflected back at Sphinx raining on it all over and forming more cracks from all the damage. "Watch out for the stun AoE; don't get in the range!" Sydney advised while keeping tracks of everything going on. Her role here was of 'monitor'; rather than directly going into fight she makes sure others are protected.

[Thomas Silver]

"You call that a fair fight?" Thomas mocked.

To him Sphinx's tactic will not work thanks to his Bakugan's special passive ability. His Bakugan is known as Slash Uriel; an archangel Bakugan with four separate transformations and the highest number of transformations among Silver Knights owned by one and the same person. The transformation he used in battle against Sphinx was 'Raphael Mode'- as a reference to one of God's three archangels, Raphael. In that mode he has capability of ignoring any type of debuff once per debuff every 60 seconds. He used up the 'Stun' protection for next 60 seconds so he escaped the stun. And since Raphael transformation was oriented around extra DPS the upcoming attack was going to be horrible for Sphinx.

"Uriel, end this! Ability activate! Just Blade!" Thomas called for a rare katana ability since Raphael mode wields a long lightning/flame katana.

Uriel charged towards the massive rock enemy and then used his special skill, Blink. With one Blink, Uriel simply moved behind Sphinx without the monster even noticing its presence. Presence remained in the front and was even amplified; now that Uriel was gone from the front Sphinx imagined that presence meant he had gone invisible. "Shadow Pulse!" Monster called for and spread its wings to cover the front area with darkness, but there was nothing to damage- it had been trickery from the beginning. "Go to hell!" Uriel shouted and sliced through the massive monster's belly cutting the monster in half; torso and lower-half. One precise cut was plenty to end the giant and leave it open for another attack. "Pfft, seriously... Just kill it." Thomas ordered having seen how weak Sphinx was.

[Shabelle Carter]

Sydney was not joking a few seconds ago about the stun AoE.

That thing was unpredictable and if Thomas thought he was going to take it out in a few shots then he was in the world of wrong. Shabelle could see that move of his end in a disaster so she tried to stop him before his blind and mad action led him to his death. "Get away from it!" Shabelle warned the young Knight, but it was already too late to move. Sphinx was cut in half, but the thing was not alive to begin with. It has no blood, no organs or anything biological that keeps it alive, but sole spiritual energy and to think it would be an easy kill by severing it in half was a beginner's mistake which was, sadly, done by a so-called pro. Sphinx roared and released a powerful screech. "Screeching Torment!" Since Uriel's buff was not protecting him from Stun anymore he was easily caught off-guard and could not move leaving Sphinx and opportunity to strike. "Boiling Chaos!" Creature roared again and released a chaotic mix of light and darkness that surrounded Uriel and started taking chunks of his health away in seconds. It is an ability that, when combined with a debuff ability, does five times more damage and three times quicker as well while causing the previous debuff to persist for 30 seconds longer and Uriel was not going to last for 30 seconds.

"Ability activate! Safe Heartbeat!" Shabelle placed an ability in her gauntlet.

Her angel Bakugan, Beatrice, rose her staff and charged it with golden energy before releasing an orb of light at Uriel. Orb exploded and showered Uriel in holy energy. Safe Heartbeat is an ability that quickly regenerates health and, once target is close to dying, prevents death for ten seconds keeping the target at one last bit of health. "Stop that thing!" Beatrice called for aid since her Safe Heartbeat could not keep up.

[Alex Andersen]

"Dude..." Alex sighed seeing Thomas's nice fail.

He took a card and then placed it into the gauntlet in intention to get rid of that annoying channeling ability Sphinx was using. "...Asuka better add 2 more zeros for me babysitting Thomas... again..." Alex complained in his head about his reckless teammate who is pretty much unstoppable and sometimes very stupid. That is why no one EVER sends him to a solo mission; he'd just go on a rampage and kill himself. "Double Ability activate! Absolute Armor plus Sacrifice Veil!" Alex called for two abilities this time in order to spare Uriel all the damage he was about to receive thanks to a high concentration of stupidity on one's end. Absolute Armor makes Dante immune to any damage for 15 seconds (aside time-space abilities and some magical ones) with punishment of 90% reduction in offense power. Sacrifice Veil targets another Bakugan (in this case, Uriel) and makes all damage they should have taken be inflicted upon the user (Dante). While user is being hit due to this all their debuffs are instantly removed, even their own. That means- Dante will get hit, but he is immune to damage and thanks to Sacrifice Veil, Absolute Armor's 90% debuff is gone. Damage from Uriel was instantly transferred and it began swarming Dante. Uriel's health began regenerating rapidly thanks to Safe Heartbeat.

"Wasting so much energy already. Don't worry, Thomas. This is definitely not your fault. Thanks." Alex sarcastically commented even though he was not in the mood of laughing; not closely. Thomas had to screw it up. "Ability activate! Breakdown Field!" With this ability Dante released sparkles from his wings. As consequence, a large holy circle formed below Sphinx and then it time suddenly stopped. That was some of Dante's new abilities; it gives him ability to completely stop time of another being for 5 seconds.

[Keto]

Sphinx was frozen and in a perfect position. However, this time it was going to be just one shot that would seal the deal. Last of the six, who did not make a move was Keto. The plan for her in the team was to avoid fighting enemies with over 20% health so she could save her energy for whatever comes in the 'final phase'. Due to Chaosdranoid's enormous DPS he is a precious unit to have in combat and he should save as much energy as possible. Since Sphinx was somewhat on 17% health, according to Keto's tablet, they could go in for the kill. "You suck." Keto commented on Thomas's performance, making sure he learns the facts from a reliable source.

"Ability activate! Dual Killer!" Keto slided her finger over tablet's screen trigger one ability.

Chaosdranoid pointed both of his cannons on the back towards frozen Sphinx. Two massive projectiles were launched towards Sphinx's torso. In a second they made contact with Sphinx shattering its body into pieces. "Merry Christmas!" Chaosdranoid shouted. He then approached the lower-half that was not hit and crushed it with his right claw. "And a Happy New Year." With that the job was done. Keto sighed and headed through the corridor where they are supposed to find Fina. Hopefully, there are no more enemies (doubtful) or, at least, not a 'disabled' teammate.

[Sydney White]

Sydney sighed silently in relief that Sphinx had been defeated.

Chaosdranoid's Dual Killer really did the trick; from what database said, Dual Killer deals 5000% of Bakugan's normal attack and Chaosdranoid's normal attack is already sky-high. With Sphinx gone Boiling Chaos channeling was interrupted and Uriel was freed. That was a bad move on Thomas's side; they were up against a dangerous enemy and they decided to take such pointless risk where they could have died. Perhaps they are a kind who does that, but it is not an excuse for anything; you cannot just do that when there is a team you have to cooperate with. This just proved Sydney on how unreliable Thomas is; she heard lots of rumors about him being among the reckless Knights ever, but at his rank that stunt was absolutely stupid and unbelievable. 

"It's done. Michael, we need Phantom Aegis again. Let's move in further!" Sydney ordered requesting Metallius's shadow-movement ability. Fina already knew they were in, but at least they could avoid some uncomfortable guards and move quicker with Phantom Aegis. 

A loud explosion could be heard inside the building all of a sudden. Building shook and walls began to crack. "Huh...?" Sydney muttered. Was that Fina's doing? Why would she create explosions inside her own hideout? That would give her away. Was something else going on? Perhaps Asuka tracked Fina down again and entered to attack her on her own or maybe there was someone else inside instead. "Let's rush!" Sydney ordered. Michael used Phantom Aegis turning entire party into a flock of living shadows that charged through the narrow corridors and past numerous disgusting guards such as zombie monsters, cyborgs and mechanical Bakugans. 

[Cyber]

Raizen and Eichen were keeping Chrono Elite busy.

However, advantage in numbers and strategy was on terrorists' side. With Cyber on their side and illegal enhancements give to their Bakugans there was no way they could lose that breeze of a fight. Cyber's Bakugan is a horrifying presence on the battlefield. While its appearance does not strike as threatening or tough that monster bases its strategies on hacking and not just plain old computer hacking; it can hack living beings as well so it is not limited to machinery. Hacking something allows it to take full control over its functions. Hacking someone allows it to temporarily disable all their abilities if hacking is used through 'normal attack'. With abilities consequences for enemies become far too severe. And here was an example Cyber was going to give to Raizen and Eiche. This Bakugan's body was enhanced using Eden's technology and discoveries; its armor was taken from Eden and originally it was meant to be given to Victoria Nelson's guardian, Tracker. "Data Drain!" Hacker Bakugan declared and teleported to between two giants. A field of distortions appeared in a radius of 30 meters from the monster. Two giants began losing their structure; their abilities' data were being hacked and downloaded to the monster while their maximum health was dropping due to the hack.

"Kill this trash, now!" One of the terrorist commanders ordered.

"Hack complete!" Monster declared. Once that was done it moved away from two giants. A giant club was spawned above one of the giants and it hit the armored one, Raizen stunning him and forcing him to fall down. "I know her location... kill the giants!" Monster declared. With hacking two giants it hacked their brains as well downloading all data; including knowledge on Fina's location and any defenses waiting for them. That was going to be useful in avoiding the defense; Fina was not prepared for the hacker.

[Alex Andersen]

Alex and Michael were grouped up together and going through the western corridors. Sydney and Shabelle were taking central corridor and Keto and Thomas were taking the eastern corridor. Sounds of explosions were not ceasing at any moment as the building began to shake even more. Building did not seem so large from the outside so they must have been close to the center. There were many narrow corridors and pathways so it was a labyrinth; instinctively, party was following the wider ones and with Phantom Aegis there should be no issues exploring wide areas. “We’ve got to be close now.” Alex assumed judging by the amount of time they spent inside the building. “I sense a familiar presence… it is emitting such strong darkness.” Dante informed in a concerned tone. “Fina?” Alex assumed. Dante had contact with Fina years ago so he could have felt her. She was the one who aided Dante in controlling Valiant Strive back in the day and thanks to her Andrew learned how to use its abilities. “No… This one feels like it came from Hell itself; just thinking of it produces a burning sensation.” Dante responded. Having seen such uncomfortable behavior on Dante’s side Alex became concerned as well. 

“I’m beginning to feel it as well… Sydney, Thomas, how's on your end?” Alex spoke using the walkie-talkie. 

[Sydney White]

“No sign of enemies ahead.” Sydney reported. 

“Just a horrible presence before us.” Vergilius added.  

Vergilius could sense it far better than anyone thanks to a passive from Hyper Chaos Takeover that was in use even in base form; it allowed Vergilius to sense danger or darkness from afar and learn about it in more detail before actually facing it. “You will not like this… I know who the person is.” Vergilius reported. He could see their face and the amount of darkness being emitted from their body. “Who?” Sydney inquired curiously. Vergilius hesitated there for a second, seeing how uncomfortable the answer might be for some individuals so he decided not to answer the question. “Would be better to find out for yourself…” Vergilius responded. Sydney concluded it was probably someone they knew- God forbid it is a reborn Kyuki because that would be hideous. 

[Michael Schulz]

Phantom Aegis was about to run out and party was close to the goal. Michael entered their chat and interrupted it. “Whoever it is you'll see in about fifteen seconds, boys and girls.” He said to the group. Ability disappeared and the party was again visible. They were close so there was no need for it; they were about to reach a giant iron gate. Signals from other members were close, too, so they made it there as well. Metallius slowed down and Michael jumped off his back. That giant dragon was about to give the gate a treatment no one desires to experience. “Choo-choo, here comes death!” Metallius roared in a joking manner and charged into the gate shattering it to pieces and enabling other members to enter the room. Michael stepped in and quickly looked around. “Come here, quick!” Michael said over the walkie-talkie as he saw dozens of terrorists spread across the room in heat of battle against an odd dark figure. Terrorists had already spotted Michael and a few of them headed his way to attack. Metallius was going to make the first move.  

“Ability activate! Gravity Area: Increase!” Michael went for it with an ability. 

“Lay down, guys.” Metallius said. 

His eyes flashed in purple. The moment it happened all enemies coming at him fell on the ground and despite tgeir struggles they could not move. Gravity field Metallius created prevented them from moving forward; all they could do was struggle. Being immobilized like that bought some time for the rest of the party to arrive and take care of the trash. First one to arrive was, of course, Alex. Seconds later Sydney and Shabelle made an appearance. Keto and Thomas were still not there, but numbers were going to suffice anyways… for now. 

[Daniel Andersen]

“Die!” Dark and terrifying tone came from where terrorists were fighting. It was not them but the dark figure they fought against. Figure was moving like a shadow, swiftly and surely with a long and threatening-looking weapon in its grasp. One of the terrorists got unkucky very quickly; a sickle colored in dark purple was painted in red by terrorist's blood when it dived into his neck. Those odd Bakugans fired off, but they all missed the person who split into two shadows and became whole again away from attacks. There was Fina lying on the ground, she was stabbed multiple times judging by the amounts of blood pouring out of her body. Could this have been her bodyguard or something? Or has he stabbed her? Or was it the terrorists? It was too early to jump to conclusions until situation has been solved. Person grabbed one of the enemies by his face and red thread-like flows of energy started coming out of their body and going into a small red gem placed on dark figure's right hand. When figure tossed the terrorist on the ground everyone could notice that all that was left of the terrorist were bones and clothes. And little by little dark figure has turned where everyone could see its face. It was none other than Daniel Andersen. 

“Where’s your holiday spirit?” Daniel jnquired jokingly with his oddly creepy tone.  

“Get away from me!” One of the terrorists screamed once his Bakugan has been decapitated by Daniel's hand. 

One of the Bakugans came to attack Daniel with giant claws. It was a modified Fear Ripper. Its skin was covered in armor that was varying in color all from black to white; randomly shifting every few seconds. “Get out of my way…!” Daniel demanded. Shadows gathered around him spawning multiple sickles that were sent towards the monster hitting and damaging tge armor. Plan was to do lethal damage, but armor appeared very sturdy; probably some new material. This forced Daniel to move back and spawn his dark scythe in his hands. If monsters were going to give him so much trouble with armor then it required some drastic measures. Daniel was not happy that the process was taking so long and now he saw Michael from Silver Knights. That could speed the process up a bit. 

[Alex Andersen]

Alex walked into the room and had quite a sight to witness. Out of all people he could have imagined, Daniel was the familiar source of darkness in the building. Sight shocked Alex who believed Daniel was dead for good, but he was alive again. Was that Fina's doing by any chance? She is the one with technology used to bring dead back to life to fight for her like slaves. It was definitely a possibility considering he was in there fighting Fina's enemies. There was no other reasonable explanation for such turn of events. “Jesus, Mary and Joseph… You’re alive…” Alex muttered in disbelief. He did not know how to properly react to that; should he be happy or upset? What was going on after Daniel had been shot in the head by that Resistor. He could not stay there and be surprised the whole day; he snapped out of it and placed a card inside the gauntlet. “Ability activate! White Edge!” Alex called for another one of Dante's sword techniques. This one requires only one sword in use and is charged with holy energy that has it easy in slicing through anything of the evil sort. Dante headed right towards the immobilized opponents and began slashing in all directions breaking through their tough armor what Daniel did not seem able to do and leaving their bodies wide open for lethal strikes.