In the dimensional space that the Guardians had used to run their tests, the world showed nothing but rocks and dark skies.
But those skies were quickly lit up, as five beams of light shot across the sky. Within those lights, the BakuFighters and their partners were all flying within them. Flash was at the lead, with Soarin, Lyra, Bonnie and Heath around him. He looked around and sure enough, each of their Bakugan looked a bit different from what he knew. That could only mean one thing.
"You have passed the tests!" Salamandra's voice announced to everyone's surprise.
"You have proven yourselves to be worthy sssssoldier," Seadranoid exclaimed.
"The fate of Vestroia is in your hands!" Trojan told them.
"We are counting on you," Zephyria stated. "Don't let us down."
"Each of you now possess what remains of Vestroia's power," Dragonia continued. "This power will hopefully help you defeat Lucifer. And when you have, I hope you will return them so that we can try and rebuild the world we have lost. It's up to you now."
"We'll do our best," Flash told them with a nod from the others. As he said that, the light curved upwards and began to shoot towards the sky.
Down on the ground, the sixth member of the Guardians watched as the lights seemed to unite in th sky and vanish in a flash. "They are indeed a powerful team, but the one who leads them I am not so sure about. I guess only time will tell whether or not they can pass their final trial." He turned to walk away, holding up his hand as the Darkus Attribute Energy appeared. "Meanwhile, I'll need to prepare. When he learns about this, no doubt he will come to try and claim it. I must be ready for when he does." Within the orb, a face appeared. "And I hope you will help me when the time comes." That face was of a young blind girl with a worried look upon her face. Derpy.
Back on earth, Twilight and the rest of the Rainbooms continued to wait on the banks of the river.
Despite having their Bakugan Partners back in full, they were still uneasy about their friends all vanishing in a bright light. And eventually, Rainbow had had enough. "Ahhh!" They turned to her, "I'm sick of waiting around. Soarin and the others better show their faces soon or they're gonna be in trouble."
The others wanted to tell her to calm down and to be patient, but honestly they were all feeling the same way. Some were worried they might never see their friends again, fearing they might have been swept away by some unknown force that was intending to hurt them all badly. All the while the twelve of them were forced to just sit there with no clue about what was going on with them.
"Flash," Twilight whispered as she looked up at the sky, "where are you?"
"Guys!" Their heads shot up and turned to the voice, seeing someone they didn't expect running towards them.
"Derpy?" Rainbow asked as the girl ran along the top of the river bank, only to then trip and cry out as she fell down the hill. "WOW!" Rainbow moved with incredible speed, reaching the bottom and catching the girl before she could roll onto the rocky area and hurt herself. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Derpy nodded, "I'm fine." Rainbow helped her to her feet, "just a little off balance." She panted, looking like she had run a marathon. "I ran here as fast as I could when you guys called." She gave them a pleading look, "any sign of them?" The Rainbooms all frowned and looked away, none of them wanting to tell her they hadn't seen anything since the BakuFighters vanished.
"Sorry," Spike told her, "but no." Derpy sighed, then seemed to realise something.
"Wait, you're talking again. How?" This made the Rainbooms smile, the lot explaining what had happened not long after the others vanished. "That had to have been Flash and the others. But how did they do this?"
"Your guess is as good as ours," Twilight stated. "I just wish we knew where they were right now." As she said that, she looked up at the sky. And as she did, she saw something that made her take a second glance. "What's that?" The others looked up and saw what she had seen.
It appeared to be some kind of star that was glowing in the middle of the day, looking like it was directly above them. "Can't be a star," Applejack stated. "Too bright out for that."
"Maybe it's a firework," Fluttershy guessed.
"I don't think so," Pinkie tilted her head in confusion. In that moment, the light started getting bigger and the lot quickly realised it was actually getting closer.
"Incoming!" Fenroar howled as the light barrelled down like a meteorite.
"Everyone run!" Rarity screamed before they rushed off in different directions. The only one who stayed, apparently frozen in fear, was Derpy. "Darling, move!" But Derpy didn't, instead simply staring at the light as it changed.
Instead of being white, it became a mixture of yellow, red, blue green and orange. The lights continued to fly downwards, then split apart right above Derpy and flew off in multiple different directions.
One by one, they crashed into the ground and exploded with light. The others were blinded by this, but eventually the lights began to fade away. And when they did, they saw somebody was inside each of them. And not just any somebody, but their friends. "Guys!" Derpy cried when she saw Lyra and Bonnie laying on the ground side by side, whilst Soarin and Heath were a little distance away on the top of the bank.
And a good distance from the rest of them was Flash, who had landed just below the bridge.
He and Leonidas moaned as they began to come around, the picking themselves up. "What happened?" Flash asked, only to then notice where they were. "We're back."
"We're home," Leonidas jumped onto his shoulder. "But we still have one more test the pass." Flash frowned as he looked over and saw the rest of his friends, who were also coming around.
"You're okay!" Fluttershy looked ready to cry as she and Rainbow kneeled next to Heath and Soarin.
"What the heck!" Rainbow punched him in the shoulder, "you scared the heck out of us." Flash then turned to see Lyra and Bonnie besides Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack, the teen then remembering what had happened at the end of his test.
"Soarin!?" Indeed, it was Soarin. But this Soarin didn't appear like the one he knew. His eyes were giving off a blank stare and he continued to stay silent as Flash pinned him down. "What's going on?" He got off of Soarin and looked him over, Soarin barely making any facial expressions as he slowly picked himself up.
It was then that he sensed others appearing and turned around, seeing three other knights with either blue, red and orange in place of green. Before he could say anything, the three removed their helmets and Flash was just as shocked to see who they revealed.
"Lyra...Heath...Bonnie?" His eyes went wide as he saw they were all as stoic faced and blank eyed as Soarin was. "What...I don't understand?" Soarin suddenly leapt over him and landed besides them, "what is this?"
"This is your final test," Dragonia announced. "In order to access the Haos Energy and allow Leonidas to evolve into his Supreme form, you must fight and defeat your friends."
Flash frowned, but knew he couldn't let what his feeling stop him. If he wanted to help Leonidas get stronger, he had to battle and beat them. "It's the only way."
"Flash!" They looked over and saw Twilight and Derpy running towards him, "you're back." Twilight frowned as they reached him, "what in the world happened to you guys?" Flash and Leo shared a look, knowing this was gonna take a while.
"It's...a long story."
As this was going on, another big event was happening all the way across town.
In his office at Dark Industries, Sombra was working on some important business files. Lucifer was besides him and as he took a moment rest his fingers, he felt a presence in the office.
"So," Sombra turned towards a dark corner, "you're here." From out of the shadows, Phantom appeared with Ragnaroid on his shoulder. "I wondered when you'd come."
Lucifer opened up, "I sense a great amount of power now residing within you. It will help me grow much more powerful."
"I'm afraid that won't be happening," Ragnaroid told him. "You may have created me, but you never had my loyalty. And now that I've freed Phantom from your control, we will take you both down and prove ourselves superior."
"Is that so," Lucifer chuckled. "I wondered when you were going to drop the act."
"What?" Ragnaroid asked.
"I created Phantom and controlled his mind," Lucifer explained. "Do you really think I didn't sense when you removed that control. Ever since then, we've been expecting you to do something foolish like this."
"Though we had hoped you would come to your senses and realise that opposing us would be a colossal mistake." Phantom glared at him. "This will be your only chance. Give us all the power you and Ragnaroid have collected and we'll let you both go. If not, we'll take the power and trust me in saying you won't enjoy that in the least."
"You think you can scare us?" Phantom asked, "what makes you think you two can take our power from us."
"You're an attributeless white one," Ragnaroid laughed. "Meanwhile I've managed to evolve and have defeated countless powerful Bakugan. What hope do you think you'll have against me."
Sombra sighed, "I tried to give you a chance." He stood up and Lucifer leapt onto his shoulder, the man pulling back the sleeve of his suit to reveal a BakuColar. Phantom raised his gauntlet and the pair unleashed a bright light, transporting them both to the Doom Dimension battlefield.
They glared one another down, looking forward to wiping the floor with their opponent and taking all the power they had for themselves. This would be the ultimate battle, with the winner becoming the true ultimate Bakugan.
Sombra: 100%
Phantom: 100%
"I hope you realise this was the biggest mistake of your life," Sombra smirked whilst Phantom glared at him.
"Don't take me for a fool," he took out a card. "I never would have challenged you if I thought for even a moment I couldn't win. It's time you two were shown the facts of the world. Phantom is the ultimate Brawler. Gate Card...SET!" He threw it towards the ground and as it exploded, Phantom grabbed Ragnaroid and threw him. "Bakugan, BRAWL!" Rangaroid shot through the air and hit the ground. "Bakugan...STAND!" Ragnaroid burst open and exploded into a black mist, which quickly took shape before fading to reveal the mechanical snake-scorpion hybrid. "Darkus Dusk Ragnaroid!"
"RAAAAAAAAAAH!" He roared, swinging his tail around and smashing it through a Mantris statue as he did so. "Come Lucifer. It's time for the creation to defeat the creator."
Ragnaroid: 700Gs
"I really should have made you with less of an ego," Lucifer sighed before turning to Sombra. "Do it." Sombra nodded and grabbed him before leaping into the air.
"Bakugan...BRAWL!" He threw the Bakugan towards the ground and it instantly landed and opened. "Bakugan, STAND!" Lucifer unleashed the brightest light Phantom and Ragnaroid had ever seen, both crying out as they were blinded. As they were, Lucifer took his true form.
The light faded and the two opened their eyes, looking up to see the strangest Bakugan they had ever seen.
Compared to other Bakugan, he was tiny. His appearance was that of a human child of around ten or eleven, and he appeared twice as tall as most humans. His skin was snow white and he was wearing white robes that covered everything except his head, neck, arms, legs and the left side of his chest. Sticking out his back were four pairs of feathery white wings that were three times his height in length. He had short blonde, almost white, hair that had two tiny versions of his wings sticking out the top. His wrists and ankles also had gold metal wrongs around them and parts of his skin were covered in strange purple markings.
The angelic Bakugan spread his wings and took to the air, floating high above his opponents and smiling down at them.
Lucifer: 500Gs
Ragnaroid: 700Gs
"So that's what Lucifer looks like," Phantom frowned as Lucifer smirked.
"Scared yet?"
"Hardly," Phantom pointed at him. "You're a white one with no power of your own. Plus you're even weaker than Leonidas and we were able to beat him.
"That's right," Ragnaroid nodded. "My power far exceeds yours."
"You wanna bet," Lucifer started as he flew as high as he could.
"Ability, Activate!" Phantom held up the card, as Ragnaroid's claw guns folded out of them. "Shadow Blast!" He pointed them into the air and launched a laser at him, the beam flying forwards at incredible speed.
Lucifer: 500Gs
Ragnaroid: 950Gs
But seconds before Lucifer was struck, he literally sidestepped the attack and it shot by him. "What?" Phantom asked, as Lucifer continued walking in the air. "Fire again!"
"Don't have to tell me twice!" He fired again and Lucifer once again dodged the attack, then the next one that came after it. Ragnaroid then fired multiple weaker but faster bullets, hoping to hit Lucifer at least once. But Lucifer spread his wings and actually began to fly around, avoiding all the attacks without even getting a scratch.
"Pathetic!" He told him as he flew in closer, whilst Phantom pointed towards the ground
"Gate Card...OPEN!" The ground exploded into a purple light, "Darkus Reactor!" That light flew into Ragnaroid, powering him up as he let out a mighty roar.
Lucifer: 500Gs
Ragnaroid: 1150Gs
He fired several more Shadow Blasts, but each one Lucifer managed to avoid or fly out of the range of. He chuckled, "you might be stronger but you're all the way down there. Too bad evolving didn't earn you a set of wings."
"Who needs wings!" Ragnaroid roared as he opened his mechanical claws, "I've beaten so many flying Bakugan I've lost count. All I need is my purest power. Phantom!"
"Ability, Activate!" Ragnaroid's tail blade glowed as he swung it around, "Deadly Slash!"
Lucifer: 500Gs
Ragnaroid: 1300Gs
But once again, Lucifer was able to duck under the attack and completely avoid it. "Is that really all you've got?" He asked. At the same time, Sombra took out a card. He stared at is, seeing an empty wheel printed on it that was slowly filling with light.
"Not yet," he stated as Phantom held up another card.
"Ability, Activate!" Ragnaroid swung his tail around and actually managed to coil it around Lucifer, wrapping him up tightly. "Terror Constrictor!" The mechanical parts of his tail clinked as the allowed Ragnaroid to put the squeeze on Lucifer, stealing his power.
Lucifer: 350Gs
Ragnaroid: 1450Gs
Lucifer, however, didn't appear at all pained by the pressure currently surrounding. "Nice try." He spread his wings that weren't being squeezed and beat them, sending out a waft of wind that flew up and hit Ragnaroid in the eye.
"Augh!" He cried, actually feeling pain from this and closing it. He also loosened his grip by mistake, allowing Lucifer to jump out and fly back into the air.
"What?" Phantom asked, "how? Ragnaroid's over a thousand points stronger!" Lucifer just smirked and Phantom glared at him, "enough of this!" He took out a card, "Ability, Activate!" It glowed as Ragnaroid's chest opened up to reveal its hidden optical, "Evil Eye!" The light exploded from the eye and struck Lucifer, who apparently froze in mid-air.
Lucifer: 200Gs
Ragnaroid: 1450Gs
"Now i've got you!" Ragnaroid roared as he held up his blaster, ready to hit Lucifer. "It's time you were finally taken out of the picture."
Lucifer smirked as he suddenly moved, shocking them as he flew out of the light's way. "Poor fool. Do you really think I would give you an Ability I wouldn't be able to counter?" Ragnaroid and Phantom were both shocked by this, as Sombra saw the light wheel fill out in the Ability card. "This isn't the time for me to be taken out of the picture." Sombra held up the card and it glowed, "this is a very different time." With that, he raised his hand and brought his fingers together. "This," he snapped his fingers, "is Heaven's Time!"
In that moment, the world seemed the changed. Instantly, it turned black and white and everything froze. The only thing moving and in colour was Lucifer, who chuckled as he calmly air-walked towards Ragnaroid with his hands behind his back.
"Now you see why so many Bakugan feared me. I have the power to reset time, returning all Bakugan to their Base Level."
Lucifer: 500Gs
Ragnaroid: 700Gs
He flew behind Ragnaroid, who then started glowing with the light flying off him and into Lucifer. "Then, I can increase my power for every Ability you've used." The light completely enveloped Lucifer and he sighed, like a thirsty person getting a drink after ten years.
Lucifer: 900Gs
Ragnaroid: 700Gs
It was in that moment that the world returned to normal and Ragnaroid seemed to be confused. "Where'd he go?"
"Behind you!" Phantom cried, apparently not having heard anything Lucifer had said. He watched as Ragnaroid spun around, seeing Lucifer behind him. But before he could activate an Ability, the angelic Bakugan thrust his open hand forward and unleashed a burst of power.
"AUGH!" He cried as the invisible force slammed into him, knowing him flying backwards until he crashed into the ground and reverted back to ball form. He flew towards Phantom, who managed to catch him as his life gauge dropped.
Sombra: 100%
Phantom: 60%
"What just happened?" Phantom asked as Lucifer returned to Sombra, "what was that Ability?"
"The one that will defeat you," Sombra explained before throwing his own Gate Card towards the ground and leaping into the air. "Bakugan...BRAWL!" He threw Lucifer and he struck the ground before opening up. "Bakugan," he glowed once again, "STAND!" Phantom and Ragnaroid were both blinded. "Lucifer, RISE!"
As Lucifer appeared, Phantom rushed over to a Centipoid statue and leapt into the air, seeing some power ups and smirking. "Bakugan...BRAWL!" He threw Ragnaroid towards them and hit a trio of them, then landed on the ground. "Bakugan...STAND!" The black mist exploded off the Bakugan, forming the Darkus beast that roared as he looked up at Lucifer taking to the air.
Lucifer: 500Gs
Ragnaroid: 850Gs
"I don't know how you did that," Ragnaroid told him. "But it won't happen again!"
"Oh?" Lucifer flew down, "is that so?" Ragnaroid roared as he swung his tail around, attempting to cut Lucifer's head off. But the angel dived under it and then soared upwards, swinging into a backflip and slamming his foot into Ragnaroid's chin.
"Augh!" He cried as he slithered backwards, Phantom holding up a card.
"Ability, Activate!" Ragnaroid slashed at Lucifer with his now glowing tail blade, "Deadly Slash!"
Lucifer: 500Gs
Ragnaroid: 1000Gs
Lucifer avoid the first slash and when the blade came down, he raised his hand and caught it without injury. "What?" He asked, unable to believe a Bakugan half as strong as him was able to do such a think. "Impossible."
As this was going on, Sombra continued to watch the Heaven's Time card. But the wheel was filling half as slowly as before. "Lucifer's strong but he can't maintain his true form for long." He looked up as Lucifer swung Ragnaroid around by the tail. "If this battle goes on for too long, he'll run out of energy."
Lucifer released Ragnaroid and the hybrid Bakugan went flying through several statues, then slammed into the ground with a might cry out pain. "Ragnaroid!" Phantom cried, unable to believe how strong he was despite having less power.
"Ahhh," Ragnaroid moaned as he picked himself up, "this shouldn't be possible." But as he said that, he looked up at Lucifer and saw the Bakugan panting. He was tired. "I knew it," he stood tall. "You can't stay in that form for long. All I have to do is keep piling on the pressure and eventually, you'll be too weak to defend yourself!" He threw himself forward, his claws snapping as he moved closer. "Take this!" He swung his claws around and Lucifer began to evade, only for Phantom to hold up two cards.
"Double Ability, Activate!" Ragnaroid suddenly swung his tail around, "Terror Constrictor!" The tail wrapped around Lucifer, Ragnaroid making sure to get his wings this time, then squeezed him with everything he had.
Lucifer: 350Gs
Ragnaroid: 1150Gs
"Plus, Evil Eye!!" Ragnaroid's chest opened to reveal the eye and it launched a powerful light, which struck Lucifer and made him flinch as his power was drained away.
Lucifer: 200Gs
Ragnaroid: 1150Gs
"That's it!" Ragnaroid smirked as he squeezed his creator as tightly as possible, "fall. Give me what little power you have!" Sombra heard this and knew Lucifer couldn't last much longer, but saw that Heaven's Time was only half charged.
"Fine then!" He pointed to the ground, "Gate Card...OPEN!" The ground exploded into light and that light quickly enveloped the two Bakugan, "Heaven's Judgement!"
"Ahhhh!" Ragnaroid cried as he felt his power dropping, "what's happening?"
"The same thing that happened before," Lucifer smirked as Phantom checked his BakuColar.
Lucifer: 500Gs
Ragnaroid: 700Gs
"No," he cried before holding up a card. "Ability, Activate!" Ragnaroid opened his claws, "Shadow Blast!" He pointed them at the floor and fired the laser at the Gate Card, Phantom smirking as he watched this. But to his shock, the Gate Card didn't shatter. "What?"
"Sorry," Sombra smirked, "but Heaven's Judgement can't be negated. And whilst it's activate, your Bakugan's power will remain at its Base Level. But thank you for the extra hundred Gs." Ragnaroid began to glow and the light flew out of him and into Lucifer, making the angel sigh as he felt more power flow into him.
Lucifer: 900Gs
Ragnaroid: 700Gs
"Get out of there!" Phantom yelled as Ragnaroid tried to release Lucifer and escape, but it was too late.
Lucifer pulled a hand free and thrust it forward, unleashing the shockwave that slammed into Ragnaroid's head. "AUGH!" He tried to fight it, but the power was too much and he was reverted back to ball form. Lucifer sighed as the squeezing stopped, allowing him to take to the air whilst Ragnaroid fell to the ground and Phantom's life points dropped.
Sombra: 100%
Phantom: 20%
Lucifer reverted back to ball form and flew over to Sombra, whilst Phantom ran over to where Ragnaroid had fallen. "You okay?" He picked Ragnaroid up and the Bakugan popped open.
"This is humiliating," Ragnaroid growled. "How can a White One be so strong?" Phantom frowned and turned to Sombra, who caught Lucifer and looked him over with worry.
"But you were right with what you said before. Lucifer can't hold his true form much longer. If we can just keep attacking, he'll eventually lose all his power. We just have to finish him off before he does whatever he did in round one." He took out a Gate Card and threw it to the ground. He then leapt up onto the top of a Siege statue's spear before leaping into the air, "Bakugan...BRAWL!" Ragnaroid shot towards the ground, hitting a whole cluster of power-ups before landing on the ground. "Bakugan...STAND!" In a burst of purple mist, Ragnaroid appeared and the power-ups kicked in.
Ragnaroid: 1000Gs
Sombra stared at the Heaven's Time card, which had stopped charging since the battle had ended. He turned to Lucifer, who was still panting. "You can't hold on much longer. You might not last until the card is fully charged."
"I can make it," Lucifer told him. "Just throw me in." Sombra nodded as he curled up.
"Bakugan...BRAWL!" Lucifer shot through the air and hit the ground, "Bakugan...STAND!" He popped open and the blinding light appeared, Lucifer taking his true form and flying towards Ragnaroid.
The Darkus Bakugan tried to slash at him, but the light made it too hard to see and he missed as Lucifer thrust his foot into Ragnaroid's chest. "Augh!" He cried as he fell back, whilst Lucifer flew into the air.
Lucifer: 500Gs
Ragnaroid: 1000Gs
"Hahahaa," Lucifer chuckled as he crossed his arms. "Don't you see? There's nothing you can do to stop me."
"I wouldn't be so sure!" Phantom cried, "you should have tried to get some of those power-ups. Cause now the difference between you is enough for me to win!" He pointed to the ground, "GATE CARD OPEN!" The ground unleashed a dark fog that shot over to Ragnaroid, "JOKER'S WILD!" The fog surrounded Ragnaroid as he picked himself up, Lucifer raising an eyebrow at this. Then, Ragnaroid swung his tail around and sent the mist flying towards him.
"Is that supposed to scare me?" He asked as the mist got closer.
"This Gate Card means the strongest Darkus Bakugan wins without even needing to fight!" Phantom cried, "with it you're time is up!" But instead of being scared, Lucifer raised his hand and the mist touched it. Then, to Phantom's horror, the mist he touched began to spiral into a ball that sucked the rest of the mist inside. "What?"
"You thought such a weak card could hurt me?" He asked as the last of the mist was sucked into the now soccer-ball-sized orb. "DON'T INSULT ME!" He thrust the orb towards the ground and when it struck, it exploded and shattered the gate card.
"NO WAY!" Phantom cried as Lucifer shot back down, quickly swinging his leg around and slamming it into Ragnaroid's head.
"Augh!" He cried, crashing through a Warius statue before regaining his balance. "He is powerful. However," he stared at Lucifer and it was clear that stopping the Gate Card and using that kick had forced him to use a lot of power. "He can't keep this up for long!"
"Yes!" Phantom agreed as he held up a card, "Ability, Activate!" Ragnaroid pointed his claws at Lucifer and they opened, "Shadow Blast!" The fired the laser and unlike before, Lucifer didn't dodge it.
Lucifer: 500Gs
Ragnaroid: 1250Gs
Instead, he held out his hands and the laser struck them. He was pushed backwards, but managed to keep himself from being completely blown away. "It'll take more than that to beat me!" He swung his arm around and the attack was dispelled, Lucifer diving at him.
"Then how about this!" He fired weaker bullets from both barrels, but Lucifer avoided or deflected whatever came his way. "You can't do this forever!" Lucifer got closer enough and Phantom held up a card.
"Ability, Activate!" Ragnaroid swung his tail around, "Deadly Slash!"
Lucifer: 500Gs
Ragnaroid: 1400Gs
The blade flew straight at Lucifer, but the angel smirked and began to roll in the air. He placed both hands on the flat of the blade and used it to pull him around, the White One shooting forward and spinning like a ball towards Ragnaroid's head.
"Augh!" Ragnaroid screamed when Lucifer extended his foot out and smashed him in the head, knocking him backwards. But he didn't let this stop him and quickly pushed himself back up as Phantom held out a card.
"Ability, Activate!" Ragnaroid's chest opened up, the eye appearing and lighting up before Lucifer could escape. "Evil Eye!"
"Ahhhh!" Lucifer cried as the light struck him, the angelic Bakugan feeling his power drain away.
Lucifer: 350Gs
Ragnaroid: 1400Gs
Phantom had expected Lucifer to fly out of it again, but to his surprise he didn't...or couldn't. "He's used up too much power. He doesn't have enough to escape." Lucifer began to fall towards the ground, Ragnaroid keeping the light upon him as he did so. "Finish him Ragnaroid!"
"With pleasure!" Ragnaroid chuckled as he slithered forward, his claws raised preparing to strike the final blow. As this was happening, Sombra watched the light ring fill more and more. And as Ragnaroid got within striking ranger, the light wheel completely filled.
"Finally!" He cried as Lucifer forced one of his hands out of the light. "Ability, Activate!" As Ragnaroid swung his claws down, Lucifer snapped his fingers. "Heaven's Time!" As soon as he snapped, the world turned black and white. Lucifer sighed as the light from the Evil Eye faded, allowing him to move.
"That was too close." He walked around Ragnaroid, as their powers began to revert back to normal.
Lucifer: 500Gs
Ragnaroid: 700Gs
"I'll admit you've grown powerful," Lucifer nodded. "But all the power in the world can't compare to what I can do." As he said this, the light coming off Ragnaroid flowed into Lucifer.
Lucifer: 800Gs
Ragnaroid: 700Gs
Finally, the world returned to normal and Ragnaroid slammed his claws into nothing. "NO!" He spun around and attempted to stop Lucifer, but the White One thrust his hands forward and unleash the force that slammed into him. "GYAH!" He felt himself being pushed back, as Lucifer flew forward and thrust his hands into Ragnaroid's chest.
"GIVE ME YOUR POWER!" The angel screamed as he started digging into Ragnaroid's body, attempting to grab and drain him off all his power.
"NO!" Phantom yelled as he tried to activate an Ability, but it didn't work. "What?" He then realised Ragnaroid must not have the power to use an Ability. "If Lucifer was holding him, he'd probably return to ball form." He had lost and now, Ragnaroid's power was going to be stolen. "No," he whispered, "I can't let this happen." He then had an idea and reached down, starting to fiddle with his gauntlet. Moments later, the battlefield around them began to glitch.
"What?" Sombra looked around and saw rocks and statues staticing several times, "what's going on?" He looked down at his BakuColar and saw a warning flag up.
"Connection Failure."
"Connection failure?" He looked up at Phantom and saw he had done something with his gauntlet, "what have you done?" Phantom smiled as the rest of the field began to glitch, whilst Lucifer and Ragnaroid began to feel the Vestroia atmosphere around them beginning to fade away.
"No!" Lucifer yelled as he was no longer able to hold onto Ragnaroid, losing his grip seconds before he could start draining his power. "NOOOOO!" With that, the pair reverted back to ball form as the entire field disintegrated with a powerful Flash of light.
"Augh!" Sombra cried as he was blinded and staggered backwards, the man quickly finding himself walking backwards into something.
That something was his office chair, the man opening his eyes to see he was back in his office. Lucifer landed on his desk and when he looked ahead, he saw Phantom had been thrown backwards into the wall and had slid down to the floor with Ragnaroid rolling back towards him.
"You idiot!" He growled as he picked himself up and glared the teen down, "you could destroyed us all or got us stuck between dimensions."
Phantom groaned as he picked his head up and smirk, "true. But it saved Ragnaroid from being absorbed." Ragnaroid opened up and let out a moan, clearly feeling exhausted after being defeated so easily and almost having his power stolen from him.
"Thanks," he told his partner. At the same time, Lucifer opened himself up.
"You think just because we're not in our true forms, I can't drain you of all the power you've collected?" He turned to Sombra, "get them. It's time I put this foolish human back under my control." Sombra nodded and got up, moving around his desk and heading toward the pair.
Phantom began to worry, not wanting to be turned into Lucifer's puppet again. Instead, he pushed himself up and grabbed Ragnaroid before rolling away from Sombra. "Not gonna happen!" He cried.
"There's nowhere to run!" Sombra told him, only for Phantom to rush forward. Sombra tried to grab him, but the shades wearing teen managed to side-step and dash passed him. By the time Sombra spun around, a loud smashing sound filled the air as Phantom crashed through the windows and fell out of sight.
Sombra rushed to the broken window and when he looked down, the Darkus Brawler and his Bakugan were gone.
"They got away!" Sombra growled, slamming his fist into the metal or the window and causing more piece of glass to break off. "What do we do now?"
"We be patient," Lucifer told him. "They might have lost this time, but their pride will not allow them to leave things as they are. They will attempt to defeat us again and this time, we'll make sure to end the battle right from the start."
"And what if they manage to get stronger?" Sombra asked, "you were able to beat them but you used you a lot of the power you built up. If they managed to get more powerful, you might not be able to last long enough to defeat them." Lucifer hummed at this, appearing to realise he was right.
"We'll need to come up with a backup plan, just for that eventuality." Sombra nodded and looked out the window, down on the city below.
"Enjoy this time whilst you can Phantom. The next time we meet, all the power you've acquired will be ours."
Meanwhile, Flash and his friends had found a cafe near the river and were all sitting on the couches and on chairs surrounding a large table.
Each of them had a drink in hand, the BakuFighters all needing something to recharge themselves after the insanity they had faced during their trials. As they drank, the five explained everything they had learned from the Guardians.
"So that's how Sombra got the other Bakugan," Rarity frowned. "To think he would let himself be fooled by Lucifer so easily."
"No way is Lucifer going to keep whatever bargain they struck," Cleopal agreed. "No doubt once Lucifer has the power he needs, he'll turn on Sombra."
"That's why we've gotta stop them before Lucifer can get that power," Heath stated as he looked down at his newly evolved Bakugan Partner. "And now that Wukong's powered up, we don't have to worry."
"Heck yeah!" Wukong cheered, jumping up and down as he did so. "You can count on me. Pyrus King Wukong is in the house."
"Don't get cocky," Nimue told him. "The powers we have are thanks to the Attribute Energy we all obtained. The Guardians trusted them to us, meaning we need to treat them with respect and keep them all safe."
"She's right," Garuda nodded. "These energies are all that remain of Vestroia. Once we've defeated Lucifer, we'll have to give them up in order for the Guardians to rebuild our homeworld. So until then, he need to be careful with them. Who knows what Lucifer would do if he learned about them." They all agreed and the girls asked about each of the Bakugan's new forms, Heath being the first and explaining how awesome Wukong's new form was.
As they spoke, Leonidas stared at the Bakugan who had accepted him as their friend and allie despite knowing where he came from. Now knowing that he was given new life thanks to Dragonia helped Leonidas a lot, but he was still thankful to them for accepting him. But now he would need to defeat them all in order to get stronger. That didn't feel right.
"Is something wrong Leonidas?" He turned to Gaia, the large Bakugan staring down at him in concern. "You seem troubled by something."
"I'm fine," Leonidas replied. "Just...tired."
"I get that," Wukong agreed. "Your evolution must have been insane, since you've already evolved once before."
"True," Nimue nodded. "You were already pretty powerful before, but now you must be immensely strong in your new form. What this form called?"
"Oh," Leonidas didn't know what to say given that he wasn't actually evolved. But he could see them looking expectantly at im. "Um...I'm now Haos...Supreme Leonidas." He wasn't sure if that was what his next evolution would be, but he remembered Dragonia saying something about that before vanishing.
"Supreme Leonidas?" Lepusinge laughed, "sounds tough. Maybe we can battle so you can test out your new power." The others seemed to like this idea, but Flash and Leonidas began to panic. They both knew they should have simply told the truth, but couldn't being themselves too.
"Maybe another day," Flash got up and picked Leo up. "I'm kinda tired. I think I'm gonna head home and rest up." He made for the door, "I'll see you guys tomorrow." With that, he was gone and the others looked surprised.
"Well that was weird," Rainbow frowned whilst they all nodded. Twilight frowned and could tell something was up, so got up.
"I think I'm gonna head home too. Today's been a pretty exhausting day with everything that's happened." The others nodded in agreement and all got up to leave, the lot heading off to get home. Twilight, instead of heading for her house, headed towards Flash's instead. She didn't expect to catch up with him, but she hoped you could talk to him there.
However, she soon spotted the person she was looking for on a bench a mile or so from his house.
Flash was simply sitting there, his legs up with his arms on his knees. "Flash?" He looked shocked by this and turned to her, Twilight seeing the worry on his face. "Okay mister. What's going on? And before you say nothing's wrong, don't even bother. I know you're upset about something."
Flash let out a sigh and turned to Leo, who nodded back to him. Since she wasn't one of the ones they had to beat, it wouldn't matter if they told her. "Alright, here's the deal."
Phantom panted as he lay within the alleyway he had taken refuge in.
He thought about the battle he had just had and everything that had gone down, each of Ragnaroid's losses filling him with hatred. "No," he slammed a fist into the wall behind him, "no, no, no, NO!" Ragnaroid leapt onto the ground in front of him, looking up at his partner as he remembered his near death.
"We were defeated," he finally told him. "There's no other way to state it. Lucifer is more powerful than we originally thought." He let out a sigh, "we have to get stronger."
"How?" Phantom asked, "it took defeating some of the strongest Brawlers in the country in order to get you as strong as you already are. How do you expect to get stronger than we already are?" Ragnaroid didn't reply, not knowing how to answer that question. The problem was time.
If they didn't find a way to quickly gain an enormous amount of power, Sombra and Lucifer would find them and take them down. But where could he find such a power source?
Derpy was walking home, exhausted after what had happened that day.
She was glad that her friends were alright and able to evolve their Bakugan, but that also meant they were in a lot of danger. Too much danger for Derpy's liking, the young girl hating that she was still stuck on the sidelines whilst their friends were gonna fight to try and save not one world, but two.
It was in that moment that Derpy heard something coming out of the alleyway she was passing. "How do you expect to get stronger then we already are?" She stopped and looked inside the alley, seeing a dumpster up against one of the walls that appeared to have someone sitting behind it.
"Hello?" She said, stepping into the alleyway. "Sorry to interrupt. I thought I heard someone in distress?" The figure got up from behind the dumpster, "are you okay?" But before she could look around and see who it was, there was a bright light and Derpy cried out as she staggered backwards.
After a few moments, her head and eyes cleared and she opened them up. The alleyway was completely empty now, Derpy looking around but not seeing any sign of whoever had spoken up before.
"Where'd they go?" She asked, wondering if maybe she had imagined the whole event. "Weird." She turned to leave and as she did, she gave the area one final look back
Flash and Twilight sat together, Twilight taking in everything Flash had just told her.
"Wow," she whispered.
"Yup," Flash nodded.
"I mean...wow. You two have to go up against your best friends." The pair nodded, "I know that must be hard." Flash sighed as he stood up, "you don't have to do this."
"Yes I do," Flash turned to her. "It's the only way Leonidas is gonna evolve and if he doesn't evolve, we won't stand a chance against Lucifer. We couldn't beat Ragnaroid as we are and if he's only supposed to be the general, Lucifer's gonna be a heck of a lot harder."
"So why didn't you tell the others?"
Flash sat back down, "just because I understand what I've gotta do doesn't mean I have to like it." Twilight nodded in understanding, "but I gotta do this. I just...need to think of a way to explain it to them."
"Well I'll be there to help you," Twilight assured him. "You're not alone in this. We'll figure out how to tell the others together." Flash smiled at her, happy he had friends like her to have his back when he needed them. He just hoped his other friends would be as understanding.
Heath arrived home and when he did, he heard his parents in the next room.
"Heath, is that you?"
"Yeah mom."
"There's someone who wants to talk to you." Heath wondered who it was and headed into the living room, where he found both his parents sitting in front of the laptop. When he saw who was on screen, his heart leapt.
"Blaze!" He smiled seeing his brother staring back at him.
"Hey little bro," Blaze waved. "You doing okay back home without me?" Heath laughed and nodded, glad he got to see his big brother after everything that happened with his trial.
"Hey, Blaze." He looked at his parents, then back to the screen. "I...I'm sorry." Everyone was surprised to hear this, as he sat in front of the computer. "I've been resenting you for a while because everyone was always comparing me to you. But that wasn't your fault."
"Where's all this coming from?" Blaze asked, with Heath turning to look at Wukong as he popped his head out of his jacket pocket.
"A friend of mine...helped me realise I shouldn't be mad at you." Blaze smiled at this and happily accepted the apology, the family planning to talk a lot more and work to bury the hatchet.
Lyra arrived at her home but both her parents were gone.
When she arrived at her room, she headed over to a draw and opened it up. Inside was a framed picture of herself and her middle school friends, the lots of them looking really happy as they posed.
Lyra stared at the version of her in that photo, having hidden it away due to the shame she felt about her old self. However, she could never bring herself to outright throw it away. And now she no longer felt that shame, so happily placed it on her dresser.
"No more hiding parts of myself away," she stated. "I'm gonna show every part of me and if people don't like it, they can, like, totally get lost for all I care." Nimue jumped onto her bedside table and smiled at her, happy she was being true to herself. Every part of herself.
When Bonnie arrived home, she could hear the sound of cooking in the kitchen.
She headed into the kitchen and found her mother at the stove, the woman turning at the sound of her entrance. The two stared at each other, looking upon one another like never before. Candy was about to say something, but Bonnie rushed forward and the two hugged.
"It's okay," her mother told her. "It's okay. I'm...I'm sorry for smothering you." She pulled away from her, "I know I've been a little overbearing. it's just."
"I know mom," Bonnie nodded. "I understand. And I'm sorry I never appreciated everything you've done for me." The pair hugged, knowing they had a lot of making up to do. But they had time to do it, Gaia happily watching the exchange from her spot on the counter.
Having arrived back in Cloudsdale, Soarin split up from Rainbow and Fluttershy to head home.
Along the way, he passed his school and heard noise coming from the soccer field. Looking down, he saw his old team there practising. Spitfire was also there and by the sounds of things, she was pushing the players just as hard as ever. And when she noticed Soarin standing at the side, she and the players all frowned at him clearly trying to make him feel guilty.
But Soarin was done blaming himself. He simply smiled and kept his head held high, walking off and leaving them to be miserable. He intended to talk to Spitfire, but he would wait until he didn't have more important things to worry about.
Flash arrived home and when he stepped into his house, finding the rest of his family were all about to sit down to dinner.
"Flash," Misty smiled, "we were worried you'd miss dinner. Where have you been all day?" Flash wasn't really sure how to explain it and told them he and his friends had simply been training. They seemed to accept this and Flash sat down to eat with them, all the while thinking about what he and Twilight had prepared to say to the others when he was ready.
Tomorrow, he would tell his friends the truth and challenge them. If he didn't win, he would never grow strong enough. He needed to go all out, no matter what.
When the sun set and the moon rose, Phantom was standing atop a building.
He had recovered from his battle with Sombra and was now ready to begin his quest, having discovered a way to power Ragnaroid up. "Legendary Guardians of Vestroia," he looked up at the moon. "I hope you've taken good care of that final Attribute Energy for me."