Episode 2: Road of Sacrifices

[Noland Hardy]

Right when Skystar jetted off, Noland, Markus, and Kendrick arrived on the scene via Hyper Motion. They had just missed Tracy and Nero.

Noland began looking around to see a bunch of unconscious plant people. Knowing that they were man-eaters, Noland was not in the business of trying to wake them up. He was more concerned with a presence he felt to his right. There was someone peaking around a corner. Noland stared in this direction to see what the being was going to do, but they simply walked off.

"You're welcome, 'Redeemer'," was all Noland could hear before whoever it was left. It would seem like he or she has had a hand in Tracy's success here.

Ignoring that, Noland decided to look around, because...

"There's something here..." he said. There was ominous energy showing up all around them. The sound of something being written down was heard, and it was coming from the east wall. Everyone looked at it to read:

I failed to reacquire my soldier, but I'll be seeing him soon. Count on it.

"...It's already starting..."

[Kendrick Hardy]

The entire party returned to where Rafe and Fabia were standing. They were gone in less than a minute, and they already have some disturbing news to share with them.

"So...uh...about those plant people..." Kendrick started. "It turns out someone or something was manipulating them...and they're coming over here right now to 'eat every last one of you'..."

"You told us not to hurt or kill them, so...we didn't..." Krakix assured them.

"We guessed you guys had other ways of dealing with them, so... There you have it," Siege added. "If there's anything we can help with, then let us know."

[Sir Rafe]

"...That might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard..." Rafe had to admit. "Even with me saying that, I believe you, but this is ridiculous. We engineered them to help us continue to preserve the environment and to have a constant monitor on whenever there was something harmful being done to it. They're not even armed with Bakugan or any weaponry that would harm one."

"What if whoever this madman is gave them that power? We never know," Wolfurio added. "We got sent to Gundalia out of nowhere. That was also ridiculous."

"Alright," Rafe sighed. "I will assemble the Rampart Division and take care of them immediately."

[Noland Hardy]

While they were having this conversation, Noland was occupied with what he was seeing in the sky. He briefly looked at everyone else to see if they were noticing anything, but none of them had any reaction to the current events.

From Noland's perspective, there was dark energy coursing through the planet. Drago could see this going on as well, because his eyes were glued to it.

"..." Noland started to think back on what happened to Nero before he returned. His dark power came from being affected by Chaos Ability X, a forbidden ability that was used by Fury. Who else would write the message that they saw considering that the plant people had Nero hostage?

Then again, this 'seal' that was keeping Fury and someone else in the Doom Dimension was running out. Could it be gone faster than they expected?

"Are Drago and I the only ones who can see what's going on here?" Noland asked out loud.

[Fabia Sheen]

"...I thought I was for a second... Not bad..." a Bakugan spoke from Fabia's top. He emerged and assumed monster form to finally show himself.

"My name's Aranaut. I got here from training not too long after you've left. Didn't want you to think I hid from you or anything," Aranaut clarified. "But yes, I can see the energy that's clouding the planet as we speak. This may be what's causing our creation to turn against us."

Aranaut had a visor on his face that allowed him to see what Noland and Drago were seeing. He could also use it to see across long distances, so he could tell where the plants were moving and how they were behaving. "Princess, they've stopped moving. There's also something written on the ground..."

"What does it say?" Fabia requested.

"'Bring the Dragonoid over here ALONE. I want to speak to the Pyrus Legendary Soldier personally.'"

"Legendary Soldier?" Fabia wasn't too concerned about the title even though she said it out loud. Still, the fact that they were asking for Drago was concerning. "Rafe, keep the Rampart Division on standby within the barrier. Await my command. I'll go on ahead."

[Sir Rafe]

"Alright. Suit yourself," Rafe complied without offering any objection. Usually, that will happen whenever someone of Fabia's importance decides to take on something like this herself. It speaks well of her power that Rafe didn't bother saying a word against the decision.

"You be careful out there. It's starting to sound like these rustbuckets could pack a punch," he thought. "And whoever it is that's doing this, give him a beating for me, would ya?"

"Don't do anything stupid, Aranaut," Wolfurio sternly warned him.

[Noland Hardy]

"..." Considering Drago was being called out, it didn't make sense to Noland to allow Neathia's princess to involve herself in something that could potentially put her at risk. Without letting anyone know, Noland and Drago "jumped" to the location of these plant monsters who were seeking them out.

"Yes?" Drago greeted.

(Betadron First Encounter)

"Dragonoid..." one of them said. "Did something happen to Apollonir?"

"Who's asking?"

"One of his old pals, of course."

"...Fury...?"

"Betadron."

"Never heard of you."

"Of course you haven't... Your father failed to tell you that there was another being in the Doom Dimension, didn't he? Well...apparently, that's not all he failed to do, aside from being there for his poor little son."

"..."

"It has come to my attention that there were new Legendary Soldiers, so I've been trying to figure out who they were and why that was. Something bad happened to him, right? If not, then why would his title be passed on to you? You weren't even aware of the seal keeping us in the Doom Dimension..."

"Get on with it. What are you doing here?"

"Nothing much. Just seeing the universe in what feels like an eternity seeing plain old darkness. Also, I might be gathering energy to accelerate the process of me escaping so I can come see you myself. A part of my revenge against Genesis Dragonoid is to eradicate his descendants who carry the Ultimate Warrior Gene, and YOU, Drago, apparently have it."

"You must not have had anything better to do down there. You should've just asked. Maybe we would've told you to kill yourself. It would've made life a lot better."

"Funny. I tried that, but you see, my power has advanced to the point where I can't even do that. Even after thousands of years, I've retained my youthfulness. You know what that means."

"..."

"I'm also able to affect other beings with my power. These plant entities were ideal to cause discord on the only planet in this universe who doesn't have a sufficient level of hatred for me to benefit from. By allowing Nero to escape, I have developed enough hatred within this society to craft something that'll be worthwhile."

"So the one who wrote the message near their home, that was you?" Noland asked.

"Nice observation. Took you a while."

"Why not wait until you've been released to tell us about this?"

"Because...I'm going to get you started on HATING every inch of my being, and...you can't do anything to stop that."

The plant creatures began to mutate into scaly, dark versions of themselves.

"What the fuck...?"

"Do these look familiar? Do you remember Nero creating the Pack? I'll let you in on a little secret. He didn't do shit."

"..."

(Boss Theme)

[Tracy White]

The comet that Skystar was traveling in came rocketing down towards the area where Drago was confronting Betadron's minions. When Skystar touched the ground, a bright light illuminated through the area. The enemies were blinded instantly and could not see what Skystar was going to do next.

"..." Skystar just looked at the demonic creatures to cast an ability of her own. A whisper in Vestroian language could be faintly heard around the area. Eventually, all of the enemies were suddenly forced into a stiff, upright position and were completely frozen.

"...A Haos Legendary Soldier..." Betadron sighed in disbelief. "Where'd you learn the Forbidden Word? That old book Lars Lion carried around?"

"So you know... You're not an ordinary being then..." Skystar sighed. Clearly, this being was already aware that the ability effectively makes the affected beings considered 'not in battle.' In terms of battle application, they could not act nor could an act be done against them. It was only used for crowd control purposes so that the user can coordinate an effective strategy. This would last for a couple of seconds though.

"Sentience!" Skystar's brain let out a faint pulse that took aim at the demons. By doing this, she could decipher what was affecting them. She didn't see the plants turn, so she had no idea if someone was possessing them or using infectious energy to poison their minds.

"...I don't believe it..." Skystar grieved. "How could one being live with so much hate in their heart?"

"You're about to find out," Betadron responded. "Mist Burn!" Strangely, Betadron's energy took Skystar by surprise from behind her. Tracy hopped back onto Drago to escape the attack; however, even though she dodged the attack, she was affected as well.

"This...burns.." Tracy grunted as she took a knee on Drago's shoulder.

"My energy is too much for these beings to handle; therefore, there is a constant leakage. That's beyond your understanding though, sorceress," Betadron stated. "Now, I noticed that you don't have Nero with you. Dropped him off somewhere? We'll get to that in a second. For now, turn on your friends, would ya?"

"You...won't...get...that..." Tracy defied.

"Watch it happen." As Betadron said that, Tracy and Skystar turned to Noland and Drago in preparation to attack them.

[Noland Hardy]

Noland looked at Tracy and Skystar out of his peripheral vision. At first, his reaction was like, "Really? You're going to get corrupted that easily?" Then, a hint of worry started to show in his eyes. The energy he was feeling from Tracy and Skystar was very concerning...

"...You aren't still mad about what happened during the first couple of months after we met...are you...?" Noland wondered. This was out of ignorance for what Betadron did to them. For all he knew, Betadron made them remember about the whole crush thing, and then they went ballistic.

"Noland...I don't think this is a time to joke around about that..." Drago said, as he was starting to get nervous with Skystar staring into his soul like she was. She never does that with anyone. That's how he knows he's about to get attacked.

"..." Without saying a word, both Noland and Drago "jumped" straight out of there and went right back to the entrance into Neathia's capital.

"Yeah...so...he got Tracy..." Noland sighed. "Markus...do me a solid, and get Nero off of this planet RIGHT NOW. Please. I'll take care of these goons."

[Markus Hederick]

"...How about we just hand him over?" Markus shamelessly asked.

"Oh, that's just wrong, man," Gargulion criticized.

"Alright. In all seriousness, I'm not going anywhere," Markus objected. "That wasn't even a minute of her being over there. If she got 'got' that quick, I'm going out there. There's no way in hell I'm leaving her there. Nero can get out of here himself."

"Actually...he can't... Hades' dimensional transporter was conveniently offline when the 'thing' happened..." Gargulion corrected.

"...Like I said, he can get out of here himself. Where's the bad guy?"

[Tracy White]

Bad 'girl', actually.

It turns out that Betadron's influence caused a 'change' in Tracy's heart. He filled it with his hatred, allowing him to bring out all of her hatred by extension. This resulted in the unnecessary change of Tracy's hair color to black with purple line flowing through it as well as giving her purple lipstick.

"Mmmm, this feels...nice..." Tracy said with a hint of surprise. "Who would've thought I'd have a dark side too."

Skystar took her bident in her right hand and intentionally cut her left arm. This drew blood, which would then be used for a particular spell. This means that Betadron was now forcing Skystar to practice Dark Arts, the complete opposite of what Skystar normally uses.

"Ability activate! Abyss Passage!" Tracy activated. A circular diagram appeared in front of Skystar. It progressively became a hole full of pure darkness. Now, Skystar would have to chant a certain word in Vestroian language to tell the spell what she wants.

Whatever she said in that language caused three of her most hated enemies to rise up: Belphenoid, Dr. Kyuki, and the Hurranian-influenced Dasia Turano. Unfortunately for the Neathians, Dasia didn't come by herself; she was accompanied by the accursed Diablo 3.

"Oh boyyyyyyyyyssss, come heeeeeeerrrrrre," Tracy goaded. "I won't hurt you too much. I promise."

[Noland Hardy]

Noland didn't have to be next to Tracy to know what she just did. He was shaking his head in so much disappointment. He never thought it would come to this. He threw his hands up in the air and thought, "Fuck it. I quit."

"Why does that fucker keep getting resurrected!? I'm tired of it!" Noland shouted, ignoring the presence of the professor doctor and Diablo 3.

"It's feeling like he's a lot stronger than what he used to be," Drago noticed. "Nevermind those three. We need to find out how to get rid of Betadron's power before he gets us too."

"..." Noland silently pulled out a card that he had been hiding ever since he got it. It had a skull on it. It was obvious what it was... "It's distasteful, but...Doom Cards resonate with dark forces such as this, and it has been vibrating ever since Betadron's energy started flaring up all over the planet. I can get him with this; however, with how much energy is flowing around, it can take a while. We'll have to defeat Tracy and her goon squad first so I can do this properly."

"So, with that said, there's Skystar, Belphenoid, Kyuki, and Diablo. You take two, and I'll take the other two. What's your pleasure?"

[Fabia Sheen]

"Leave some for us, please? This is OUR planet," Fabia chimed as she joined the gentlemen. She emerged from the barrier with a pair of brass knuckles on. Rafe joined in as well with a spear and a shield.

"Aranaut and I saw that whole exchange. We're keeping your friend hidden until this enemy is gone," Fabia assured them.

"I also want a piece of this 'Betadron'," Aranaut claimed. "How dare he manipulate someone into casting something as vile as that? He won't be corrupting anyone else, not while I'm still here."

"That goes for all of us," Fabia added in. "So, 'Redeemer', is it okay if we return the favor?"

[Noland Hardy]

"Absolutely," Noland accepted on the spot. If their assistance was going to make this easier, then he was all for it. After all, they're keeping Nero as far away as possible so that there is minimal risk in Betadron getting his claws on him. They didn't have to do all of that...

"Ready or not, here they come," Drago announced, which was another way of saying, "No more talking. Let's fight."

"I call Diablo 3," Noland called. Since that was the most dangerous being on the field aside from Skystar, Noland was going to defeat that bitch one more time. Markus probably wants to save Tracy on his own anyway. He knew he would if it was Petra, Alana, or Allen.

"...Of course you'd say that..." Drago sighed as if he didn't want to waste his time with the mech again. "Fine... I'll keep it busy. Let's try to keep these guys AWAY from whoever is fighting Skystar."

[Markus Hederick]

"Which will be me..." Markus volunteered himself. "Alright... Princess Fabia and Sir Rafe, I know I'm probably being a little annoying by lecturing you on this now, but the ones Tracy and Skystar summoned are very dangerous. They've killed a lot of people... Please don't put yourselves at risk for our sakes if it comes to that..."

Whether or not they would acknowledge that last bit, Markus and Gargulion ventured back to the open field to confront Tracy and her gang. They were waiting there patiently, like they weren't in a hurry to do anything. It was...weird. All of the previous enemies didn't like to waste time like that...

Drago quickly got Diablo 3's attention just by being there. They started going to blows immediately. This shows a degree of self-awareness in these beings, so the definite mechanics behind what they were was ambiguous. Kyuki and Belphenoid stayed near Tracy and Skystar though. That was unlike Belphenoid, but it fits Kyuki TOO WELL. He lets the work get done for him instead of doing it himself.

"Darkus Legendary Soldier...one of them, anyway..." Betadron recognized.

"Spare us the greeting. I like what you've done with Tracy. Different, but...I'm gonna need you to stop before you get hurt, 'kay?" Markus posed.

"Fuck you."

"Alright then. You asked for this."

"Tracy, get him out of my sight!"