James found himself standing once again, speechless, not even a quarter of the way up a hill. He looked behind him, where the trees formed an impenetrable wall. It was thirty paces or less, he guessed with his gaze, but it felt different from before. He couldn't turn back now.
When he looked up, the clouds were blocking the sun as before. But it was no longer dark but gray. In this way, the sun, which entered a little, added a dim atmosphere. The flowers and plants were affected by this dim air and began to bloom slightly and shyly show their beauty.
They were very shy, just like little James.
James smiled a strange, melancholy smile as he looked at them.
The feelings he was experiencing now were very strange. His new memories were not replacing the old ones. On the contrary, the old ones were experiencing a kind of awakening. He felt as if he already knew them, but he was experiencing those feelings as if they were happening in the moment.
It was an uncomfortable feeling on the one hand and a relief on the other. It was a very contradictory situation. After closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he looked at the blurred figure at the top of the hill. It looked more familiar than ever. There... he could see little James.
He was in no hurry to take a step. He took a few moments to digest and gather his thoughts. Since this place was already in his mind, it took less time than he expected. He wasn't too sure about time, though. Time seemed to have stopped here. Maybe a few seconds, maybe hours.
With his eyes fixed on the figure, he began to take his steps again. The steps were slow. He wanted to live every moment to the fullest, but at the same time, he was afraid that some disaster might befall him. Meanwhile, he was trying to digest his memories.
His friendship with Joe had undoubtedly affected little James greatly. How could it not? Joe's persistent effort, his insistence on talking to him all the time, had made him let down his walls.
As time went by, he became more and more accustomed to the orphanage. Thanks to Joe, he adapted more easily to the environment and made more friends.
A smile appeared on James' face as he thought about it. These moments were indeed beautiful.
The clouds on the hill where James was standing were gradually dissipating and the sun was showing signs of coming out, but it was stubbornly not coming out.
Time was passing by. As James walked, he smiled at times and felt sad at other times as he reminisced about his childhood. Memories of later times that he had difficulty making sense of came together, but they were more like specifics than complete clarity.
If he could give an example, it would be information about a book he had read or the lyrics of a song he had listened to.
As James walked, he was interrupted by a string of memories.
***
Time went on and on and on. Little James and Joe had grown up and moved into a separate house. They somehow managed to get enough money to pay the rent and get by.
Joe and James were twenty-five years old. James was not so little anymore. Joe had become a policeman. James had completed four years of undergraduate work and a JD while aspiring to be a lawyer. Uh... Yes, JD training costs fifty thousand dollars a year. Certainly not a sum that could be afforded in a normal situation.
What his parents had left, combined with his own efforts, was barely enough to cover James' expenses.
Although there was another, more economical and challenging path, James had chosen it and he did not regret it.
Now, he had many exams to take, but it was the Bar exam that most intimidated him, and as a result, he was absurdly stressed. He waited anxiously and excitedly for the results.
After many days and nights of this curiosity, one day a letter arrived in the mailbox.
He had... passed! He had passed the bar exam!
That day he was happier than he had ever been. The first thing he did was to call Joe. After a short while the phone was picked up:
"Handsome, novice, sexy cop Joe here! Who is this?"
James rolled his eyes and shouted excitedly as Joe continued his usual habit of answering his phone without looking:
"I passed the test, Joe!"
There was only a one-second pause. That was for Joe to comprehend the words being spoken. Immediately afterwards, Joe's shout of joy was heard:
"I knew you could do it!"
James heard him accidentally drop something. After a slight cough, he tried to bring Joe back to reality by continuing in a calmer voice, but one that did little to hide his excitement:
"I still have an ethics exam to take. So it's not something to be too happy about..."
He paused briefly. He realized that he was the one trying to stay in reality. Or rather, he was trying to normalize it. Who was he trying to make normal? To whom was he wearing a mask?
After his short pause, he could not stand it and laughed.
"Hahaha! What am I saying? Of course there is something to be happy about, dude! I did it!"
Joe joined him as he laughed like crazy. Finally, Joe said happily:
"All the best! Then we'll drink today!"
Alcohol... was the drink he was most afraid to use. Normally, it was for celebrations, but until now, James had always avoided it.
Now, because it was a special occasion, Joe had offered it to him. Had he forgotten about his condition? James wasn't sure.
"I don't think it would do me any good to put alcohol in my mouth, and you know I've never drunk."
Joe spoke in a flat voice, expecting him to refuse his offer:
"Then I'll drink-"
But before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by James:
"But I didn't say no."
On the evening of that day, James had his first drink.
***
James suddenly stopped walking up the hill. He just looked up at the sky and laughed.
The clouds scattered in all directions, accompanying his laughter, and the hill was as joyful as it had been when he first arrived, but this time the atmosphere was weird.
Everything was filled with unnecessary joy. He could see a smiling face in the trees, in the flowers, and even on the hill.
This smiling face must have been a manifestation of the nickname Joe had given him after his constant laughter after drinking the conversation.
At least that's what James thought. Still, instead of moving, he waited a moment. He had a long life story to digest. He was in no hurry. He didn't even know what was out there and he was relaxed.
Some time passed and he wondered what was happening outside. What was he doing now? Had he turned into a rampaging monster? Or had the bakugans already thrown him out?
Personally, he would have preferred the latter. He didn't want to kill someone unintentionally.
Just as his thoughts reached this point, clouds gathered in the sky and the they became a huge television. It was a great contrast to all the beautiful and peaceful scenes on television!
A strong hand - no, a claw had grabbed Verias by the throat in a way that made him question whether it belonged to him. He could see the particles coming out of Verias, coming towards him at speed. James was consuming him!
He wasn't sure how he was doing it, but that was the most logical conclusion. He couldn't estimate how much power he was getting from it or when it would stop.
Watching Verias being consumed was a horrible yet satisfying experience. The creature struggled helplessly. Even the bakugans trying to stop it could not prevent the tragic fate of the bakugan trapped in its clutches.
James' first thought was to question whether he was really that strong. Yes, for a human, he was more than superhuman. It wasn't hard to deduce that from his actions. But his G-Power had developed to the point where it was barely comparable to the average bakugan the last time he could remember. And that was only because of the leveling logic of the system.
Still, it was weird. It shouldn't have happened. It didn't make any sense. It was one thing for him to be so powerful, it was another for him to be so unstoppable. Three or four bakugan should logically have been able to stop him easily. Did his power increase when he was uncontrolled? WHAT THE FUCK WAS GOING ON OUT THERE!?
Naturally, he panicked. Even though he foresaw a catastrophe outside, even he didn't expect it to be a bakugan-hunting monster!
His first thought was to call out to Fox, but then he gave up. She couldn't hear him here. He could guess that.
He gritted his teeth. He paused every fifteen or twenty steps to digest all the memories. He was moving in the healthiest way so as not to get confused, but now, he realized that he had to move forward without stopping. Every second he spent here jeopardized the lives of his friends and even the vestals he considered more than friends!
Looking at the silhouette ahead, he resolutely kept moving forward. With each step, an even more beautiful memory greeted him.
He had witnessed his lawyer career, his successes, even Joe's marriage and his baby!
As the steps progressed, the memories came faster than he expected. There were good memories as well as bad ones. He had experienced sad events such as learning that some of his friends had died in an accident, Joe's wife had died after having a child, and more.
The environment was in constant change. At every beautiful moment, roses bloomed on the hill and joy filled the air. Everything was colorful and vibrant. But with every sad event, it would close and the colors would fade. All that was left were shades of gray.
This constant change was the best way to summarize James' emotional states.
***
After killing Verias, the dragon-like beast roared and began searching for targets. The bakugans that kept appearing were an open menu for it. The best targets were the Haos and Aquos bakugans in front of it.
Xayah panicked. Of course, she had seen brutal bakugans before. It was not uncommon to see bakugans climbing over the corpses of those they had defeated. But none had ever publicly destroyed them in such a miserable way!
She didn't know what to do, but it only lasted for a second. They made a pact with the bakugans coming out of the arena and began to use common and sequential abilities on the dragon-like beast.
The first to make a move was a pure white bakugan that had left a certain distance. Like a paladin, Siege wore a full suit of armor that even covered its face. The dragon-like beast was about to attack a random bakugan when he struck the ground with a long white stick with a golden ring!
A fast barrier appeared in front of it, momentarily knocking the beast's back. This barrier was a yellowish, comforting, translucent wall. Of course, cracks could be seen in the barrier. Despite the barrier, it paused for a moment. The dragon-like beast looked at the barrier and grinned.
It turned fully in another direction, into the arena. It camped the air with its serpentine tail and tried to leap! But right after it, another barrier appeared before it and pushed it back!
Barrier after barrier after barrier, the beast found itself inside a rectangular box. Any attack from it would instantly cause cracks, while other Haos Bakugan supported the translucent box with their own abilities.
The monster that had just killed a bakugan was easily trapped like this with the help of a few bakugans.
And it wasn't just the Haos bakugans that soon lent their support. Earth element Subterra, fire element Pyrus, water element Aquos, wind element Ventus, and finally Xayah and the dark element Darkus bakugans all formed a barrier in succession!
With dark feathers, stone spikes, walls of flame and ice, and the wind, the beast stood up.
No matter how powerful it was, it would have been impossible for so many bakugas to break out of this cage after their collective, consecutive use of their abilities. It should have been impossible. It was as if the gods had sealed an extremely terrifying being.
At least that's what everyone thought.
At this very moment, a dragon-like, powerful, and dominant voice was heard.
"What is going on here!?"
This voice, of course, belonged to Neo Dragonoid. He and the Bakugan Resistance had finally gotten out!