Episode 13: Make the Most of It

[Noland Hardy]

"You sure about this? I can go all out?" Krakix asked Noland with some concern in his voice.

"You have to at some point," Noland shrugged. "He'll be a little upset, but it's better we check him now than later. Unlike you, Siege doesn't seem that much different from when he started. As far as they know, you're the same too."

"...You think that's the reason why Ken and Siege work better together than I do with him?"

"Part of the reason, but it's much more complex than that. Don't worry about it. You'll see what I mean in a sec." Noland then raised his voice a little so Kendrick could hear him. "Alright, Ken. A deal's a deal. Whoever wins can ask the other person to do anything they want for three days. You ready?"

[Kendrick Hardy]

"...Alright..." Kendrick nervously accepted.

"Your nervous energy spreads," Siege warned him. "I know it's him, but you gotta relax. We're doing this now, so we have to be ready."

"Well, tell me something. How'd you feel when you fought Krakix or Gorem for the first time? At full power?"

"Motivated. It's daunting to know you're going up against powerful forces. I know. But, when you're about to face it, all you can do is think positive and keep an open mind. You fight like you did on Gundalia, you'll do just fine."

"Really? Alright then. If you think so, I'll do too." Kendrick activated his BrawlX and got ready to battle. "Ready!"

(Casual Battle)

[Noland Hardy]

Noland groaned a little when he heard that Kendrick was a nervous wreck. He seems a lot more confident when he's not the one brawling. He was hoping Siege could reign him in, but they'll see if impedes his way of doing things...

"Just like old times," Noland signaled to Krakix.

"That's the plan," Krakix agreed. He got himself to the battlefield. When he opened up and stood tall, he showed off his new form: Shogun Krakix. He had a Pyrus symbol etched on the top of his helmet. His armor was adorned with gold markings. There was even a golden Chinese dragon around his waste. It was unclear if this was cosmetic or not, but its eyes did flash with a bright red color. The shoulders now had a nice form-fitting look to it to give the shoulders more mobility. In fact, the armor overall was a lot sleeker.

"No hard feelings, pal, but I gotta win this one," Krakix confidently expressed to Siege.

[Kendrick Hardy]

"None taken, pal, and you won't," Siege fired back. He got out on the battlefield himself. He was the same Cavalier Siege as before. The only difference with him was that he was fired up to win unlike the time with the Gundalians; he didn't really care about that battle.

Without warning, Siege summoned one of his black boxes in front of him. A bunch of polearms, lances, and glaives poured out of it. This was to serve as an easy distraction while Siege can set something up.

"Ability activate! Armory Style: Expanse!" Kendrick shouted with some base in his voice. All of the dispersed weapons grew to gigantic proportions. The size and the quantity of them now made for a very powerful offensive move.

[Noland Hardy]

"Woah..." Noland reacted. He had a little surprise of his own though. "Ability activate! Grandmaster's Blessing!"

"Here's when I get into trouble... Kendrick doesn't know I can do this..." Krakix kept to himself. A giant, ethereal arm rose from the ground. It singlehandedly swiped all of the incoming weapons away. Krakix whistled as all of the giant weapons fell around him. The constant tremors from the ordeal was a little unnerving. If he had taken all of that uncontested, that'd probably be it for him.

"Hm...not bad. I didn't expect that at all," Noland remarked. It wasn't clear who he was referring to. He could be talking about both Krakix and Siege for all they knew. "Go."

Krakix pulled out an uchigatana from his waist. This is a great choice for a versatile weapon for now. It doesn't cost any energy or stamina to use, and it warms him up. It can spill blood easily too, but since both combatants are somewhat heavily armored, it was questionable if that should even be considered.

[Kendrick Hardy]

"...Since when?" Siege reacted with a lot of shock. Even he wasn't aware that Krakix could do that. Why do Kendrick and Siege not know about Krakix's capabilities in that form when they're around each other the whole time, and have even battled before? Something's going on here...

Krakix started stomping towards Siege, and all Kendrick could think about was if that ethereal arm was single-use or continuous. He really didn't know, and it was kinda bugging him.

"Siege, stay away from him," Kendrick advised. "I think you should-"

"On it," Siege interrupted. He brought out his second black box. It shaped itself into a circular platform for Siege to ride on. He then had the first one change into a greatbow. With these two, he got airborne so he could get out of Krakix's way, and also shot a greatarrow towards the ground. The impact site produced a staggering amount of water pressure. It was like a volcano erupted, but instead of lava, there was a bunch of water.

"...Huh...you knew exactly what I was thinking... How...?"

[Noland Hardy]

Krakix made sure to stop before he got hit by the arrow. He was buffeted by the water pressure though. He continuously backflipped back to the starting line. In the process, he channeled some of his energy into his sword. Dark-red energy flowed through it and went beyond the weapon itself. It went far enough to slice cleanly through Siege's platform and through Siege himself. Diablo had used this too when it stole Krakix's powers, so it was a good time to reintroduce it.

"That hurt," Krakix remarked before landing back on his feet. After making a big splash, he decided to declare another attack.

"Ability activate! Nebulous Assault!" The star on Krakix's back lit brightly. Energy strands left it in a continuous interval. They carried the same piercing power of the actual throwing star. With a seemingly infinite amount of projectiles heading Siege's way, there was almost no way out.

[Kendrick Hardy]

Siege glided back down to the ground using the power of his cape, but he was badly injured from the surprise slash. This could be the beginning of the end, but Siege was still hopeful. Even though he was clearly staggered, he looked straight at Krakix. He wish he had eyes behind his head so he could look at Kendrick. Wonder what he has in mind.

"Ability activate! Weapon Art: Universal!" Kendrick put into play. This was a successor to an old transformation-like ability, Universal Element. He can channel one of all six attributes at a time, but he can do so in a lot of creative ways rather than relying on weapons of the past.

The sliced platform transformed into two rock satellites. They revolved around Siege to erect a barrier. This barrier took all of the projectiles and spun them around it. It was waiting for the opportunity to disperse so all of the projectiles could fly at Krakix at blazing speeds.

[Noland Hardy]

With Siege injured, Noland understood that his chance to end the battle was now. Siege has a lot of possibilities with his skillset, but his weakest area is definitely healing factor; he has none of it. Theoretically, Siege could be more powerful than Krakix, but the application of his prowess could still use some work. Namely, his usage of his black boxes needs to improve. Noland will show them what he's thinking about.

"Hmph...ability activate! Dominion and Power!" The nail in the coffin, this ability gives Krakix access to the six realms of reincarnation. The eye holes in his helmet lit up in a light blue color. This was him using the Preta Path. Just by Siege having eye contact with Krakix, the latter made the former's eyes glow in the same color. Then, disaster struck.

Siege found himself being butchered by all of the projectiles going at high speeds and in close quarters. It was like...Siege absorbed the projectiles so that he'd be hit anyway. Siege collapsed on his knees. There were numerous holes in his armor. Even then, Noland didn't relent. He attacked.

"Go ahead. End it," Noland signaled. Krakix's eyes changed to a blood-red color. He initiated the Asura Path. He unleashed a loud war cry. This called on a bright-red star surrounded by a shield of Pyrus aura. It descended upon Siege. The landscape progressively tore apart thanks to its presence. When it landed, everything was wiped out. The simulation immediately ended thanks to Krakix nuking the field.

[Kendrick Hardy]

Kendrick and Siege took a while to take their headsets off. They were still in disbelief that they were defeated like they were. That was way too fast... Where did all of that time go...?

"...I have no words, honestly," Siege finally spoke up. "I get the feeling like we're being played here. I've never seen that ability. Ever. How and when did you acquire such power?"

"...What he said..." Kendrick finally replied. "...We got shit on, dude... It's like we didn't stand a chance...and I thought I was catching up to you..."

[Noland Hardy]

Noland took his headset off, got up, stretched, and placed his hand on the bed him and Kendrick were sitting on. They were still in the house too. They must have been using the technology that Wavern created for Noland from the Genesis Exhibition.

"You're in the next phase of your training. That's all," Noland started explaining. "I've been training with Krakix in secret. He never showed you what he was really capable of up until now. I told him to."

"...Sorry, Siege," Krakix apologized. "To be fair, Vince and Drago did this to us."

"If there's any tip that Dad gave me that made me into who I am, it's that there's two kinds of brawlers: those who think, and those who go with the flow. It's never a good idea to be one or the other exclusively; you have to find a way to be both. Right now, you're a thinking brawler. You approach everything with a lot of thought, but you're not as good with dealing with things on the fly. That's the main reason why the brawl ended as fast as it did. The last ability you played was you in panic mode. You could've done something better than that. I know you could've."

[Kendrick Hardy]

"Ah...one of those 'tricks' huh? Can't be mad at you for that. You got me all right," Siege conceded. "I guess it's all making sense now."

"...I never even thought things were that way. It makes a lot of sense actually. I could watch all of these brawls on tv and through runbacks and go like, 'I would've done this and that instead of what he did,' after the fact. It's a lot different when you're actually the one battling at the time. I've been so occupied with the routine that I didn't even notice," Kendrick started to realize.

"Not to be nitpicky, but...I gotta ask. Siege, you ever feel like the way you use those black boxes is weird?" Krakix inquired.

"...In a way, yeah," Siege confirmed.

"I'm getting the feeling that you could be a lot more efficient with those."

[Noland Hardy]

"He can, and he will," Noland added on. "The first order of business is this: you're only using one black box until we say otherwise. We need to do some experimenting first to see what works best before we pull the other one out again. I have some ideas in mind, but...we need to see if it's actually possible for you to do first."

"Aww man... This is just like when you and Allen were training me the first time..." Siege groaned. "So wait...why didn't you stop us like a year ago when we were developing these bad habits?"

"You and Kendrick are in a difficult situation. What you have right now is probably one of the most difficult ways to fight. You can do too many things now. Your body and mind are having to adjust to an entirely new system. I'm still trying to understand it even. Plus, Kendrick is a new brawler still. He has to go through the process. If he jumps ahead and misses the basics, he'll struggle to improve."

"Alright... That makes sense."

"So, we're going back in there. We need to run some drills with this black box of yours, and I'll need to see what you're like without access to any of them. Only after that will you fight us on equal terms."

[Kendrick Hardy]

"I'm assuming you're going to be helping me with that, Krakix?" Siege wondered.

"By the time I'm done with you, all you'll need to do is break off a tiny piece of just one of those things to combat me. I can tell you that," Krakix assured him.

"Really?"

"I'm telling you, man. You're a sleeper just like the old days. You can do wayyyy to many things. There's like an infinite number of things you can do even. You're gonna be a monster."

"Okay then. I'm ready if you are, Siege," Kendrick accepted.

"How difficult is this gonna be? Scale of 1-10?"

"Over 9000."

"...Damn..."

[Tank Stryker]

Tank was finally finished with his training for the day. Him and Gladion were bumming around in Legion's locker room. He had just hit the showers. All he had was a towel on his head and some spandex. It looked like he was frozen in thought over something serious. His coach - now realizing that Tank hasn't left yet - came in there to see what was on his mind.

"I've never seen you go that hard in practice. You showed your teammates no mercy," the coach joked about a little bit. He was hoping to make conversation on it, but Tank barely responded. "...Agent Hawes called me today. He said you should come to the DC office as soon as you can."

"..."

"...I can't imagine how you're feeling right now, but if you need to talk about anything, we're here for you. We got your back." The coach left Tank be and went about his business. As for Tank, he huffed and puffed. He really wasn't in the mood today.

The scene transitions to the FBI Field Office in DC. Tank is fully dressed and ready to beat someone's ass. When he goes in there, the person at the front desk immediately recognizes him and calls for Clarence. He got down there in a heartbeat.

"Mr. Stryker, glad you came," Clarence expressed as he shook Tank's hand.

"Why am I here, Agent Hawes?" Tank quickly asked.

"We need to ask you a couple of things about Steve," Clarence admitted. "We're trying to determine how Steve ended up the way he did. We're thinking you have some insight on how he was acting and where he was going."

"Are you going to charge him?"

"Attempted murder, possibly. Doubt he'll do any time since the Maverick virus and some weird parasite are involved."

"Parasite?"

"You don't know? Weird. Come on. I'll show ya." Clarence leads Tank to his office. To Tank's surprise, Markus, Maurice, and Seiki were all sitting there.

"Ah shit... Are we in trouble?" Tank wondered. Seeing Seiki in an FBI office was very unusual.