With that, almost nothing changed. In his gauntlet, James could see his own and his enemy's life bar. When one side was down to zero, the battle would be over.
Taking the lead, Tatsuki immediately threw a card with a flame pattern, with the Pyrus symbol in red on the right side.
"Gate card set!"
As soon as this patterned card touched the ground, it quickly sank as if it had entered water. A wave of red light followed. Immediately after this light wave, Tatsuki and James took turns throwing their bakugans.
Tatsuki was the first to throw.
"Bakugan brawl! Bakugan stand, Pyrus Verias."
The first Bakugan thrown was, as expected, red in color. As soon as it touched the ground, it opened up and took the shape of a quadruped. Then it glowed and flames briefly surrounded it.
Immediately afterwards, a monkey with red fur appeared. There were a pair of orange plates between its fur on its legs and on its chest, and its eyes were green and had a strange bloodshot look. It looked like a wild animal waiting for a command. Standing on two legs, this monkey had a stick in its hand. It was a long stick, black at the beginning and yellow towards the end.
"Ook-ook!"
The monkey made noises and made strange movements with the stick. James looked at his opponent and then at the monkey, or rather Verias. For a brief moment he felt pity. To get him out of this battle, it was necessary to do it in the shortest way possible.
He threw his bakugan.
"Bakugan brawl! Bakugan stand, Darkus Hammersaur!"
The black bakugan rolled quickly and opened. It had two outstretched hands and a crocodile head sticking out. Its hands and torso had striking purple details.
However, immediately after opening, it began to glow. It transformed accompanied by purple lights.
It looked like a warrior crocodile standing on two legs. Its eyes were yellow. His gaze was menacing. Its skin was a deep purple color. Covering its claws were larger hammer-like claws of black color. On top of this was a kind of shoulder armor. The armor was set with yellow jewels. There were two plates on its legs in the same black color.
"Roar!"
It roared ferociously. Without hesitation, Verias responded with "Waak!" However, when the two bakugan appeared, there was a status update on the gauntlets of both of them, featuring Darkus Hammersaur and Pyrus Verias.
James grinned. Just then, the announcer's voice was heard to encourage the rest of the audience:
"This lizard looks very strong. If the monkey doesn't pull a trick out of his pocket, he'll be finished easily. Haha!"
Tatsuki inserted a skill card while ignoring the annoying voice of the announcer.
"Ability activate! Verias Siba! Gate card open! Pyrus Reactor!"
James's gauntlet also made a sound.
Verias' whole body glowed. The club in his hand burst into flames as he rushed at Hammersaur. He swung his club vertically as he leaped at it.
At this moment he saw Tatsuki grinning mockingly. He was obviously taking his victory for granted.
James calmly placed the ability card in his gauntlet.
"Ability activate. Crush Hurricane. Crush that monkey."
As he held the gauntlet as if to show it to Tatsuki, the circle in the center of the skill card glowed with a purple light. With that, Verias' glow quickly flowed to Hammersaur.
"ROARRR!"
Hammersaur swatted away the incapacitated flaming bat that came at him nimbly and punched Verias in the face! Dust rose into the air as he crashed into a corner of the pitch.
As visibility was momentarily restricted by the dust, the audience, which had been stagnant all this time, began to watch with excitement.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. Am I seeing this right?"
"Yes, it's finally getting interesting."
"We're finally going to see something entertaining."
Meanwhile, the announcer cheered, "And an unexpected, quick move by James! He's stolen the field effect for himself and has his opponent cornered. It looks like it's only a matter of time before he's finished. I wonder what Tatsuki will do?"
As the dust settled, James noticed a red glow on Tatsuki's gauntlet. That didn't make him feel any better. Although he didn't show it, his heart was pounding. He could feel the excitement in his bones.
A breathy voice was heard as the dust dispersed.
"Blazing Chakram... active."
Verias emerged from the dust cloud surrounded by several rings of flame. Hammersaur slammed both hands together provocatively. There was a sound like two sledgehammers hitting each other.
Verias grabbed the club with both hands in defense, while Hammersaur strode towards him without hesitation. James looked out of the corner of his eye at the screen on the gauntlet.
Their stats were even. Tatsuki had stopped looking at him with disdain. He looked puzzled and angry. But he was also worried.
And he was right to be worried. He glanced at Hammersaur, then at the card in his hand. Finally he grinned and spoke:
"Let's get this done. Ability activate..."
As the sound of the ability card being inserted was heard, Tatsuki shouted, "Impossible! Hammersaur didn't have any more abilities." At this moment, a sound was heard from Tatsuki's glove.
"Dark Mirror."
A kind of black mirror formed behind Hammersaur's hands. The rings of flame faded as the dark mirrors glowed with radiance. By this time, he was a few feet away from Verias.
Verias tried to dodge backwards but could not because of the clear power difference. As if in revenge, Hammersaur brought his hands together and brought them down like a sledgehammer. He aligned his club in defense, but when the hands collided with the club, there was a cracking sound and Verias was covered in a red glow!
As Verias' terrified scream was heard, he quickly transformed into ball form and flew towards his owner.
Verias was defeated as his partner was too surprised to react.
Tatsuki: 300 Life Points | James: 500 Life Points
There was a moment of stunned silence. The audience, who thought they were going to see a classic one-shot show, and even the announcer, who had hoped for a narrow loss, were stunned.
Tatsuki was having trouble making sense of the situation. The receptionist who had booked him had said he was easy prey, someone who knew nothing. He was surprised, even startled, by the speed of his reaction and the quick use of his unexpected ability.
He was someone who only won over newbies. He refused to believe that this man was a first-timer.
Just then James' bakugan roared and turned into a ball and hit his hand. "Good job," James said with a smile. He was happy that he had won, but he didn't show it in his expression, except for a smile. In fact, he could hardly see any change in his demeanor. Because he had not yet won the battle and he knew it.
Then he took out a black and purple card with the darkus symbol on the right. "Gate card, set," he said as he threw the card, just like Tatsuki. The only difference was that he had a calmer tone.
However, this time a purple wave was emitted.
"You useless trash," Tatsuki grumbled as he clutched his bakugan tightly. He then threw it on the ground like trash and took out another bakugan from his pocket. Witnessing this, James frowned.
'This bastard... He's taking it out on his own bakugan.'
The excitement in him had suddenly disappeared. He had some degree of involuntary empathy for Bakugan and this scene disturbed him. His breath caught for a moment. But he didn't think it was because he was uncomfortable and didn't worry too much about it.
His attention was completely focused on defeating his opponent. He threw his bakugan again.
"Bakugan brawl. Bakugan stand. Let's give him what he deserves, Darkus Hammersaur!"
As he shouted angrily for the first time, Hammersaur roared in response to his voice, causing everyone to get excited.
"I wonder if he can beat him?"
"Beat him? It is very hard."
"Why is that?"
"Because Tatsuki will play his ace now. Look, this is the first time I've seen him so angry."
"I hope James wins."
"I hope so."
At this point, Tatsuki started laughing.
"I can't believe you forced me to use this, but I have to give you credit, it's the first time in a long time I've actually had to use this bakugan."
James looked at her coldly. The pale, eerie lights in his eyes were visible for a moment.
"Stop talking and throw your bakugan, trash."