(a Grimm Side Stories) A Test of Power and Fear

[Atom]

I coughed and waved my hand i front of my face to try and get the dust and smoke away. I looked over at Grimm, and felt a small spike of power from him. I noticed the wheel going around him, and saw him manipulate it. "Well, that's different." I noticed Grimm focus on me. "Yeah, we're not down yet. Reversion can take a slightly larger beating than most expect." Leo flew out of the explosion zone. "Also, I felt a small spike of energy from you. You've gotten started, but it's still not yet begun. Push just that little extra! Once you've gotten your connection down, the Attribute Wheel should cement on your hand, like mine.

[Merchant]

Grimm's and Serperios reactions we perfect. They perfectly dodge both the initial attack, and the follow-up. "Whoa the world looks so different. I can see so much stuff."

"I can see what you see Grimm. The world we are looking at is beautiful."

"Atom you said the wheel would place itself on my hand right. But out of curiosity what does that mean if it where to settle else?"

[Atom]

“Well, that’s a good question.” I said. “You see, that’s never happened before. Every shifter mark in history has been placed on the Shifter’s hand. In cases of people with two, like me” I held up both of my hands, showing my Attribute Wheel and Energy Twist Triangle, “one on each hand. So, if it did settle elsewhere, well, that’s uncharted territory. Who knows what could happen?” I took off, following Leo. “So, let’s see what happens!” We flew up, then dive-bombed on Serperios. “Think fast!” We approached 20 feet of striking Serperios.

[Merchant]

"Ability Activate! Viper's Whipping" The Attack got perfectly countered. Leonidas is caught by two of Serperios's heads, and the other 2 are striking at him. "I was able to where you where before you reached there. Wow. Let's switch to haos on the wheel." Serperios is now of the haos attribute and the attacks get faster. "Okay speed. . . . . Okay haos gives me a headache. Literally think miles a second. Back to darkus back to darkus." The speed of the attacks go back to normal.

"Haos only to escape got it Grimm."  "Agreed"

[Atom]

“Uh, did you forget about me?” I asked as I slammed into Serperios. He staggered back a step, and released Leo, who quickly flew away from him. “Remember, Reversion. I’m considered a Bakugan right now. Keep that in mind.” I raised an Ability. “Sorry to do this, but I need you to get a connection strong enough to rival the one me and Leo have. Reversion Ability Activate! Darkness Shiner!” Me and Leo flew up, and began to charge. “Remember that Reversion Abilities can’t be countered by a regular ability.” We fired.

[Merchant]

Grimm get between the blast and Serperios and raises his hands. "Can't be normally countered, but what about reflecting. Chaos Conversion: Magic Mirror" (A Grimm specific ability) A heavly decorated mirror bigger than Grimm appears absorbing the the attack. Then it is fired back at Atom double the size and power, and is now a silver grey colored attack.

[Atom]

"Nice try." I said. The beam approached me and Leo, and we stuck our hands out. The attack struck, but we managed to hold it back until it dispersed. "Keep in mind, you don't have access to Reversion, so when you redirect Reversion Abilities at us, they go back down to regular levels. You need something stronger, a much better bond is the first step."
"For now, just try to hit us." Said Leo. We began flying around erratically, as randomly as possible.

[Merchant]

"Serperios aim there, there and there. Go full power at that last one." (now a peek a what Grimm sees [Ten feet in front of Atom is a phantom version that Grimm can see by using the darkus attribute. It is quite literally predicting Atom's ever future moment but not to far from the current moment. When Grimm decides on something the path changes.])

"Got it." With the three well aim blast the first one knocks Atom off. The second on gets him safely to the ground. The third one knock Leo out of the sky.

"You are considered a bakugan in reversion. So that allows me to fight to. Chaos Conversion: Zephry's Grimiore!" Grimm's cloak now matches the attribute he is using. Green is the current color. Serperios is also green now too. "We are now as fast as the wind." Grimm opens the levitating book, and swipes his hands in the air releasing tornadoes heading in Atom direction.

[Atom]

I thrust one of my hands into the ground, and made sure I was as close to it as possible. The tornados blew over me, and I was barely lifted. I unburied my hand, and stood back up. "Weather isn't going to beat me, Grimm. I've studied every possible angle to survive any natural disaster back home. The best way to not be lifted by a tornado is to hunker as close to the ground as possible, and grab onto the ground as tightly as possible. Serperios, take notes if you want to." I looked Grimm straight in the eye. "Also, Grimm, let's see what happens when I don't think about my route and let it just happen. For lack of a better comparison, reading someone's mind to figure out their next movements doesn't work if they just do and not think." I took off again, and emptied my mind. I focused on every means of movement and attack I could think of, and retracted them all. I took a deep breath, and took off into the air. Leo stood back up, and charged Serperios to keep him distracted. I continued flying around, not even sure where I was, making sure I didn't think about my different possibilities. "It seems that the Chaos Seed is interfering with the regular possibilities of his Gene." I thought. "I remember something similar in another Reality. Come on, what was it?" I began focusing on that, and it helped to keep my mind blank on my moves. I hoped it worked against him.

[Merchant]

Grimm squints a little. "Hey Serperios keep Leo distracted."

"I thought that was what he is doing to me. Keeping me distracted." Grimm then turns to Leonidas. Both he and Serperios start to float off the ground. "Grimm what are you doing!?"

"Only one way to see if this works. I also really hope this works for it would be way funnier." (A peak at what Grimm see's again [the phantom in front of Atom is now way closer. Only a foot away.]) "Let's go! Baku-Melee!" Grimm yells as both Leonidas, and Serperios slam into Atom. With all three falling to the ground with a hard thud. "Ooooooh. I made the name up. All I did was fling them both into you and slammed you all down into the ground. Are you okay Serperios?"

"Go to hell!" Serperios muffled scream can be heard.

"Love you too." Grimm retorts. 

[Atom]

I tried to force my way out of the pile, but I didn't have the strength. "Just because I'm considered a Bakugan and as roughly as tough as one doesn't mean that these guys being on me won't crush me!" I continued trying to get out from under them. "Can barely breath!" Leo tried to lift up enough to let me get out from under him and Serperios, and came crashing back down the moment I got out. "Thanks Leo."
"No problem, you can repay me by helping me out!" Because of Grimm's attack, he and Serperios were tangled up, with Serperios's heads dangerously close to vital parts of Leo's body.
"Don't worry Leo, I've got you!" I focused on the power we shared, and felt something else.
"Atom, you're overexerting yourself." Said a voice in my head.
"Huh?" I wondered. "Who could've said"
"Don't tell me you've forgotten me." Replied the voice. "Look, I may be gone physically, but I'm not truly gone."
"No way." I thought. "Is it really you?"
"Who sacrificed himself to save you? I'm the same guy as I was back then."
"Well, with you being a master of strategy, any ideas to help Leo?"
"There's a few, but with your dwindling energy reserves, only one is viable."
"Which one?"
"Now, don't shoot the messenger, but the abilities you gained from me after I sacrificed myself and before your bracelets awakened." I paled to the point of it being visible on the outside.
"No, I promised myself I would never, ever rely on those powers again."
"I know you did, but look at Grimm. His Gene is reacting to his Chaos Seed in unexpected ways. You need to figure out a way for him to draw out that extra power to cement his Attribute Wheel. I know not where it will cement, but I do know it needs to happen. Your writer has been speaking with Grimm's writer. According to him, Grimm's been facing death for at least half his life, if not longer. His Chaos Seed was the only thing keeping him alive. And with his Gene, he now has another way to survive. But only if you can help him activate it! You need to work dangerously, otherwise you'll never give him the chance to live without chaos." I sighed mentally.
"I hate it when you're right." I fully registered what he said. "Wait, you can talk with Him?"
"Atom, you forget, I'm part of you now. Just like you have your connection to him, so do I. Mine is just stronger because of my lackluster energy needs. Now go, you need to work quickly!" The voice broke my mental plane with him, and I refocused on the battlefield. I sighed.
"You better hope you're right." I said. My hands began to glow, but instead of their usual bright light, it was a darker, almost black glow, similar to a Darkus Bakugan. I looked at Grimm. "Okay Grimm, let's see if you can guess my secret now." I faced back towards Serperios and Leo, and began waving my hands. Serperios got quickly untangled from Leo, and I then lifted my hands as if trying to lift something heavy. Serperios began to rise, slowly getting out of reach of Leo. He looked at me.
"Atom, what are you doing?" He asked. "Why would you use that dark ability?"
"Guess who put me up to it."
"No." Said Leo. "How?"
"I'm still figuring that out myself. But right now, I'll hold him in place. You need to attack!" Leo got up.
"You've got it!" I felt a slight burning sensation in my neck, and hoped it wouldn't show. Leo began charging up a bright beam of energy. I shut my eyes, and focused on keeping my dark ability in check, making sure it didn't spiral out of control. A small light flashed on my neck, barely noticeable.
"Do it now!" I yelled. "I'm not sure how much longer I can hold him!" Leo fired at point-blank range, and I released my control over Serperios. He launched high into the sky, nearly out of sight. I couldn't hold my flight, and fell, drained of energy. I barely managed to land on my feet as our Reversion wore off, returning us to normal. "I'm out of energy. Can barely stand." I was facing away from Grimm, and fell to my knee. Serperios continued falling, his trajectory seeming to be right on Grimm.

[Merchant]

Meanwhile on Real Reality. The writer for Grimm is is about to choke the writer for Atom.

"NO!. Bad. Very BAD!" He then proceeds to throw him into a trashcan. "It will remain but avoid that all cost. I need more than just super glue to fix that fourth wall."

---

"I feel overwhelming sense of dread." Goes Grimm as Serperios is falling down on top of him. "So on a scale of one through absolutely excruciating. The is the farthest it can go. Ability Activate. Blow Away." The tornado from the card catches Serperios at last moment. But since it is going to blow its target away. Serperios is launched into Leo and they both fall off Devil's Mountain. "Oops."

"GRIIIIIIIIIIIIM!"

"I will pick you up after this." Goes Grimm as the light of a defeated haos bakugan and if landing in front of Atom happens. "Gravity." Grimm shrugs as the wheel segments itself in his left eye.

[Atom]

"Well, what did you expect me to do?" Asked my Writer. "You're not helping him activate his Gene!" He got out of the trash can. "And as for the Fourth Wall breakage, don't worry about that. Reality Shifters are notorious for being able to go past it without damages. Now, can we continue on with the story? I need to get Grimm to activate his Gene."

---

"Leo!" I called. I tried to reach out for him, but I collapsed next to him. "Man, that last move completely wiped me. Maybe I should've exercised that ability more often, just in case."
Leo opened up. "No Atom, you shouldn't have. You know the risks of that ability, it's just as you told me. Using that control of darkness itself is dangerous. You need to let the excess Negative and Chaos energy release themselves naturally. Hopefully it doesn't take months like last time."
"It wasn't months." I said, catching my breath. "Actually, counting the day I defeated the Destruction, all the way to oh. It was months before I could return home, wasn't it?" I managed to roll over. "Well, with how much Chaos was already generated in this Reality because of a certain someone, I doubt my actions are going to change it much. This Reality really is resilient to it." I reached up to my neck, and began rubbing it. I felt a small bump. "No, I thought I had that hidden!" I said. I quickly got back up, not caring about my energy levels. I quickly turned away from Grimm, making sure he didn't see the mark. Reginas looked at me in worry.
"He claimed he would never use that power again." He stated. My other Bakugan looked at him.
"What do you mean?" Asked Pyreon.
"What I mean is that I was there when Atom used that ability. He managed to create enough order by removing darkness to bring you all back, but it was the most dangerous thing I've ever seen. He's a Regular Shifter, with the ability to control the same darkness the Destruction can, along with his Negative Shifters. It's like adding a negative to a positive. They cancel out. But add more negative, and the positive dwindles until it goes negative. That's the risk Atom takes every time he uses that dark ability. The more darkness he moves, the more negative he gets. It's also his reason for his low Chaos Tolerance. He has to keep a large enough reserve for that ability constantly, because he must contain it." He sighed. "I'm going over there. Grimm deserves to know what just happened." Reginas floated towards us. "Grimm, there's something you need to know."

[Merchant]

"Of course we can continue the story." Goes Grimm's writer, and a piece of the fourth wall lands on his head. "IT has been obliterated. You are to fix it by the end of the week or somebody will have our heads. Don't worry I left you the supplies needed." Grimm's writer walks off writing the next post.

---

"Oh hi Reginas." Grimm blinks and the attribute symbol hovering in front of his eye disappears and his cloak back to normal. "Ooooh Serperios is going to be sooooooo mad. Throwing him off the cliff like that has got to hurt." Everybody at the top can hear Serperios yell. "GRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM!" "See. Or well hear."

[Atom]

"Yes, he is." Agreed Reginas. "Listen, there's something I need to tell you, and it pertains to Atom. It's his reason for his low Chaos Tolerance, and why he was able to lift Serperios." He sighed. "Atom might not want me to just tell you, but it needs to be done. Just like you, he holds a dark secret. While you have your Chaos Seed, which gives you your powers, Atom has something else that keeps his Bracelets active. His main problem is that it doesn't allow him to handle as much Chaos Energy as regular Shifters. His ability to contain Chaos Energy is severely limited because of that Dark Ability that just used. Every time he uses it, he generates Chaos and Negative Energy that he has to filter out slowly. He might be a positive Shifter, but add enough Negative and any Positive will become Negative. So, he has an immense storage for Chaos Energy generated by that ability. And that ability allows him to control Darkness. That's why he was able to lift Serperios. Darkus is an embodiment of Darkness. But, there's still a bit more to it. And that's the part Atom doesn't want anybody to say, only for others to figure out. So, can you figure it out?"