Returning home means different things to different people. Some people find it to be a break from adult life, others find it to mean facing a life you never wanted to live, and others it's something you wish for with all your heart but know you can never get.
Now I'm back home, but not because I want to. Instead I have a job to do and I pride myself on being able to complete my work. So now despite any feelings I may have I'm back to my old stomping ground to save the world (or at least the greater Austin area).
Austin Texas
"Lord it's too hot! How did you even live here Suz, this is actually making me miss London and I hated it there." Carter Carlyle complained, he was a pretty average looking person with glasses, short hair, and shorts with a T-Shirt, his companion however stood out wherever they went.
"You get used to it. Besides it's only ninety two out. This is jacket weather to some Texans." Suzanna Hernandez, or rather Suz, had long brown hair, tanned skin that showed her hispanic heritage, and towered over everybody with her freakish hight. She was wearing some black dress pants, a white button up shirt, and a blue tie. "If we came here in July then we'd be seeing people literally melt."
"I agree with Carter for once. You'd never get this kind of weather back in Camelot. Good old overcast would keep us safe from the evil sun." Unseen to the rest of the world a purple ball of light named Ymir floated along with Carter and Suz.
The three of them were making their way through downtown Austin in the middle of the afternoon. "You are literally made up of energy how do you feel the heat?" Suz asked.
"You're guess is as good as mine. I didn't really get an instruction manual when I was put in this body." Ymir replied.
"Ladies; I know I started this by complaining, so I'm going to end it by complaining. Where exactly is this shop you wanted to find?" Carter said coming between the two of them.
"It's around this corner. Morgan's Flower Kingdom." The store they stopped at was brightly colored, and had several bouquets around the entrance to entice customers. The trio went inside and a bell rang. The interior was similar to the exterior with bouquet displays and bright colors.
"Welcome to Morgan's Flower Kingdom, how may I be of assistance?" A bored looking punk girl with colored streaks in her hair asked from behind a counter, she seemed more focused on her magazine then on them.
"We're here to see Morgan, I'm an old friend of hers." Suz replied. Carter went off to the side and looked at some tulips.
"I'm afraid Miss. Larson isn't available at this time. Can I take a message?" The punk sighed in discontent, obviously not wanting to take a message.
"I'm here about the blue sunflowers." Suz said. "The ones from Romania."
Once again the girl sighed. "Go on through the back, I'll buzz you in." She gestured to a door behind her that rippled for a moment before returning to normal.
"How much for these tulips?" Carter was holding up a half dozen multi colored tulips in his hand.
"Just take them I don't care." The girl went back to reading her magazine.
"Now I'd just feel bad taking them." Carter put the flowers back and the trio walked through the door and entered a room that shouldn't have even existed. It wasn't even a room, more like a small park, there were trees and flowers everywhere and even a small fountain, and ceiling, well, there was none. Throughout the area there people playing, talking, and some practicing what seemed to be magic.
"So how did you say you knew about this place exactly?" Carter leaned over to Suz and whispered in her ear.
"Her mother was one of my favorite pupils and loved to show off her daughter to the class." A voice from behind them said. The three of them turned around, well at least Carter snd Suz turned around, Ymir just kept on hovering there.
First of all they realized the door had disappeared, next they saw the breathtakingly beautiful woman standing in front of them. She was tall and graceful looking, with ebony hair and alabaster skin. She was wearing a long dress that shaped her figure in a way that made Carter blush. On her left arm was a tattoo of swirling lines that ran from her shoulder to below her elbow.
"Suzanna!" She opened her arms.
"Tia Morgan!" Suz ran in for a hug and squeezed as tight as she could.
"It's been far too long, I can hardly recognize you. Are you going to introduce me to your friends here?" Morgan asked.
"These are my coworkers actually, Carter and Ymir. Carter, Ymir this is Morgan, my honorary aunt." Suz was grinning now.
"Pleasure to meet you." Carter offered his hand for a shake but was pulled into a hug.
"It is a pleasure, sorry if I can't offer you a hug." Ymir said.
"Oh my!" Morgan covered her mouth with her hand when she got a good look at Ymir. "A real life fairy homunculus, looks like the rumors about you are true. Where did little Suzy find you?"
"It's a long story Tia, involving way to much fire for my liking, but it will have to wait. I'm here for business." Suz said apologetically.
"Of course you are. You would never visit otherwise. Let me guess what the 'Three Immortals' want with me. May it perchance be about the cities best duelists who will disappear and then reappear two days later with no memories of their time missing?" Suz nodded. "And you came to me why? Because you think I am involved?" Morgan folded her arms below her breasts making Carter blush even brighter.
"Of course not Tia, but you're connected to everything magical here in Austin, so you must have heard something."
"Hmmm?" Morgan tapped her chin as if thinking. "I may know something, but the knowledge will cost you"
"Tia-"
"Don't Tia me Suzanna. I have a policy 'knowledge comes at a price' and if you want my knowledge you will have to pay my price. And that cost for knowing everything I do about the disappearances is a full day studying your coworker here, the glowing one of course." Morgan reached out as if to touch Ymir but the orb floated away from the sorceress.
"No way! I'm not letting anybody examine me! This body is confidential" She said.
"You heard her." Carter stepped in front of Ymir. "Name another price." He was no longer blushing
Morgan gave a small chortle. "So protective. I admire that in a man, very well I will alter the deal. In fact I'll sweeten it for you."
"Really? Thank you Tia!" A grin appeared on Suz's face. "What's the new price?"
"Simple. The price is the similar, I will get a single hour to talk with your friend alone, no experimenting of course; but we will settle this like everyone in this era seems to with Duel Monsters." Morgan smirked and looked Suz in the eyes.
"Duel Monsters!? Why?" Suz was confused.
"Why not? Ever since Industrial Illusions decided to bind the Egyptian Shadow Games to the cards their importance has just continued to rise in the magical community. So I offer you this deal. If you win I tell you what you want to know, if you lose I still tell you but I get an hour with that glowing friend of yours."
"I don't think-" Suz began.
"Do it." Ymir said. "I trust you Suz."
"But Ymir!" Carter objected. "You don't have to agree to this if you don't want to."
"Yeah, we can find another way to get the information. We don't want you to do anything that you don't feel comfortable doing." Suz cupped her hand and Ymir floated down into it.
"I trust your abilities. And you should you too Carter. Besides; just an hour can't be that bad. Let's take the deal."
"If Ymir says it's fine." Carter said.
"Alright." Suz turned back to Morgan. "We're taking the deal Tia, but I hope you know that I'm not holding back."
"Hohohohoho! I wouldn't have it any other way." Morgan snapped her fingers and an ornate flowery duel disk appeared on her arm. Its body was ivy covers in small sunflowers and for the card plate a red rose was there for each monster zone.
"Wonder what kind of deck she uses." Carter joked.
"Don't jump to conclusions boy, I may have a few tricks up my sleeve." Morgan gave a sly grin.
"So do I!" Suz activated her own red colored duel disk now standing a fair distance away from the sorceress.
Suz: 8000 Morgan: 8000
"I'll let you have the first turn Suzanna." Morgan said drawing her starting five.
"I'll take you up on that. I'll start off by setting one monster facedown and that'll be all." A facedown card appeared in front of Suz.
"My turn then. And I summon to the field my Moonlit Papillon." A large grey butterfly appeared on the field (ATK 1200).
"Butterflies then." Carter commented. "I admit it keeps with the whole florist thing without being too obvious."
"Glad I have our approval." Morgan sent a wink Carter's way which reignited his blush. "Now then my Papillon attack her facedown monster." With a flap of it's wings the butterfly shot some sort of pollen that shattered Suz's card.
"The monster you just destroyed was Phantom Magician. Now I can summon one weak hero from my deck in defense position." Suz took a card from her deck and slapped it on the field, "So say hello to Elemental Woodsman!" A green man with half o his body comprised of wood appeared (DEF 2000).
"Elemental Heroes?" Morgan clicked her tongue. "I had hoped you would have outgrown your obsession with these so called heroes. I set one card and end my turn."
"It's my turn then, and trust me Tia these heroes aren't going anywhere. Now I draw and during my standby phase Woodsman's effect activates letting me move a Polymerization from my deck to my hand!" Suz drew than took a card form her deck. "Now I summon Elemental Hero Blazeman!"
This here was smaller than Woodsman and was covered in flames that the other hero shied away form (ATK 1200). "Because he was summoned I can add another Polymerization from my deck to my hand."
"Again?" Morgan said surprised.
"Yup, and now I'll play the card I just grabbed! Go Fusion Substitute!" The two heroes began to flow into a swirling vortex.
"But you said the card you searched for was Polymerization?" Morgan said confused.
"Fusion Substitute has an effect always treating it as Polymerization, so now I fuse monsters on my field to summon a fusion monster!
"Flame that burns brightly in the night, use the hero of the woods to burn even hotter than before. Fusion Summon! Elemental Hero Nova Master!"
The monster that emerged from the vortex was larger than everyone present and covered in flaming red armor, he landed in front of Suz and pointed at Morgan (ATK 2600). "Nova Master can be summoned when I fuse an Elemental Hero and a fire attribute monster! Now attack her monster with Nova Punch!" The monster reared back and slammed it's fist into Morgan's Moonlit Papillon destroying it.
"Now because Nova Master destroyed a monster I can draw one card." Suz drew leaving her with a total of six.
"Moonlit Papillon has an effect as well, when destroyed she can summon a Butterspy monster from my deck, and I choose Swallowtail Butterspy." The ashes of the destroyed monster another creature emerged. This one had the body of a human and the wings of a butterfly which were orange (ATK 1800).
Suz: 8000 Morgan: 6600
"I'll hand it over to you Tia."
"Good. Now it's time for me to show you what you're really up against. I activate Call of the Haunted reviving my Papillon!" The butterfly reappeared on the field. "Then I summon Morpho Butterspy!" Another human butterfly hybrid appeared this one with blue wings that turned darker as they reached the tips (ATK 1200).
"Now with three level four monster I can open up the overlay network!" A spiraling galaxy appeared and the three monsters were drawn into it.
"Dance in the darkness my beautiful incarnation of death! Night Papilloperative!"
This monster was humanoid and had blue armor and twin bladed on her forearms, but like the Butterspy monsters it had butterfly wings, hers a deep blue with crimson towards the end (ATK 2600). Three overlay units orbited the monster.
"Impressive Tia, but unless you were hoping for a tie I'm afraid your monster's not up to the challenge." Suz said confidently.
"That's why I'm activating her effect, by removing one overlay unit I can give Night Papilloperative three hundred attack points for each overlay unit on the field." One of the three overlay units popped and the Xyz monsters attack grew (ATK 2600—3200).
"Looks like Suz might have a little trouble with that one." Ymir commented.
"Didn't you tell me to have some faith in her. She's got this." Carter said.
"Papilloperative attack Elemental Hero Inferno" The butterfly assassin flew in and sliced Inferno in half. "I'll set one card end my turn with that."
Suz: 7200 Morgan: 6600
"Hope you enjoyed your monster while you had it because I'm taking it down. I activate Fusion Recovery to get my Fusion Substitute and Blazeman back to my hand." Suz took the cards from the graveyard setting her hand at eight and placed one on the disk. "And now let's welcome back Blazeman once more!" The flaming hero reappeared. "However I'm not going to use his effect to get a Polymerization, instead I'll use his second effect. By sending a hero to the grave he can gain their attack defense and attribute, so I send Shadow Mist to the grave to turn my blazing hero dark!"
Blazeman's suit durning pitch black and his flames became purple in color (ATK 1200—1000). "And Shadow Mist's effect activates when sent to the graveyard, letting me add a hero from my deck to my hand." Suz grabbed another card from her deck keeping her hand filled.
"You do know that you can have less than six card in your hand right?" Morgan deadpanned.
"Really? Let's try out this idea. I activate my Polymerization to fuse the Elemental Heroes Heat and Woodsman in my hand." Once more the fusion vortex appeared and a second copy of Woodsman and a hero in a red and white outfit flew into it.
"Hero of the earth, use the energy of the raging fire to evolve into the next stage, come forth! Elemental Hero Gaia!"
With a thud a monster wearing that seemed to be made completely out of rock and earth landed on the field (ATK 2200). "This is Elemental Hero Gaia! When he's summoned I can halve the attack of one of your monsters and add it to his own score!" Gaia slammed it's fists on the ground and a cage of rocks trapped Night Papilloperative in place (ATK 3200—1600) (ATK 2200—3800).
"Told you so." Carter muttered slyly to Ymir. "This is the perfect example of Suz's dueling style." Carter said. "The Legacy. No matter what happens to her heroes she can always summon a new one by maintaining a decent hand. I admit I'm jealous."
"You aren't the only one." Ymir agreed. "Sometimes I forget how easily she counters her opponents."
"Now my Gaia will attack!" Gaia slammed threw a fist toward Morgan's monster then stopped when a swarm of butterflies forced him to kneel (DEF 2600).
"Butterspy Rotation forces one of your monsters to defense position and halves all damage I take for the rest of the turn. Nice try though Suzanna." Morgan gave a little laugh as her face down card flipped up.
"So we may have spoken a little too quickly." Carter grumbled.
"There is no try! I activate Rush Recklessly! So now my Blazeman is plenty strong enough to destroy your Xyz monster!" As Suz played the card Blazeman glowed and his attack rose (ATK 1000—1700) just enough to destroy Night Papilloperative.
"And with the end of my turn Blazeman's stats return to normal." Blazeman's flames and outfit turned their regular fiery color (ATK 1700—1200).
Suz: 7200 Morgan: 6550
"Guess you won't be getting your hour with Ymir after all Tia." Suz said then gestured to show she was handing the turn over to Morgan.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that. I summon Beetron to the field." The monster was like a humanoid beetle. "Now I activate it's effect and send a face up trap card, like my now useless Call of the Haunted to summon an Insect monster from my graveyard, so return Moonlit Papillon!" The face up trap card dissolved into a hundred golden butterflies which reformed into Morgan's first monster.
"Now I overlay my two level four monsters! Come on out Photon Papilloperative!"
Photon Papilloperative had dark purple conferring in her wings and wielded two bladed knuckles (ATK 2100). "Now I activate her effect and remove an overlay unit and bring your monster to attack position!" A ray of light appeared from Photon Papilloperative's wings and forced Gaia to stand upright (ATK 2200—1600).
"And your monster loses six hundred attack points. Go Papilloperative, solar pollination!" Photon Papilloperative rose up into the air and then sped right towards Elemental Hero Gaia spearing him through. "If you want to win this Suzanna you had better step to up."
Suz: 6700 Morgan: 6550
"Trust me I will." Suz drew and looked at her hand. "You're a pretty good duelist Tia, but I'm afraid that this ends now. The last turn has come."
"It looks like Suz has made her decision. This duel is pretty much over now." Carter said.
"Really?" Morgan raised an eyebrow. "How exactly are you going to be accomplishing that exactly?"
"Like this! I use Blazeman to send my second Shadow Mist to the graveyard!"
"What! It isn't a summon effect?" Morgan exclaimed realizing her mistake.
"Nope it's once per turn, and since I sent another Shadow Mist to the graveyard I can add my Avian to my hand!" Blazeman's armor once more went dark as Suz added a card to her hand (ATK 1200—1000). "Now lets me introduce you to him, come on out Avian!" The classic hero used by Jaden Yuki appeared and landed next to Blazeman (ATK 1000).
"Now all I need is a fusion card, and Fusion Substitute will to very nicely." The two monster came to gather in a bright light.
"Hero of the Skies take the power handed to you and blow away my enemies! Fusion summon, Elemental Hero Great Tornado!"
The hero that emerged had a long billowing cloak around him, but the observers were able to make out green armor underneath and winds were swirling around him (ATK 2800). "And now for his effect! Tornado Swirl!" Great Tornado gestured and gale force winds buffeted Photon Papilloperative (2100—1050). "When summoned Great Tornado halves the attack of all your monsters."
"I still don't see how you'll be ending the duel like that." Morgan huffed.
"Like this I play the Warrior Returning Alive to bring Woodsman back to my hand and then activate play E-Emergency Call to bring Elemental Hero Ocean to my hand!"
"You can't be! The legendary planet series Terra Firma!" Morgan stepped back in fear.
"Wrong!" Suz held her arms in a X position. "The monster I'm summoning isn't an Elemental Hero at all, although he is a hero. I use polymerization to fuse together Ocean, Woodsman, and my second Avian!" One by one the heroes appeared behind Suz and came together.
"Earth Water Air, reveal the eye that see's all! Fusion summon, Vision Hero Trinity!"
Standing tall in red armor and with only a singular robotic eye in it's helmet Vision Hero Trinity took the stage (ATK 2500). "And when the big guy is summoned he gets double the attack points for the rest of the turn!" Vision Hero Trinity stuck a pose (ATK 2500—5000).
Morgan began counting on her fingers. "five thousand plus twenty eight hundred, minus… I'm finished!" She exclaimed when she finished the math.
"You got the right Tia. Trinity!" Suz pointed at Morgan's monster, "Vision of Tomorrow!" A red light built up in Trinity's visor and was then released shattering Photon Papilloperative. "Now Great Tornado, finish this!" A strong gust of wind blew threw the field and sent Morgan onto her but.
Suz: 6700 Morgan: 0000
"Looks like I win Tia." Suz said smiling.
Morgan got back to her feet. "So you have. Come into my office, I'll tell you what I know." Morgan turned on her heels and walked though a glowing portal that appeared with a wave of her arm.
"Nice one Suz." Carter said as they walked through the portal patting her on the back.
"We never doubted you for a second." Ymir added.
Through the portal was a simple looking office with two chairs for Suz and Carter to sit. Morgan sat behind a desk that was sparkly populated by some papers and an empty vase.
"So Tia what can you tell us?" Suz asked.
"Not much unfortunately." Morgan sighed. "I have noticed some magical surges lately along the cities lay lines. When I examined it it seemed like it was just some magicians gearing up for a big spell, we do it all the time you see mostly for setting up barriers, opening up communication between the twelve dimensions and the like. Normally I wouldn't be able to tell exactly what was being cast but now that I know that the disappearances are connected however I think I know what that spell is." Morgan paused for a second.
'Well? What is it?"Carter asked impatiently. "We don't have time for dramatic effect."
"Children have become so impatient these last few centuries. It's a special sort of summoning ritual. I've come across similar spells in my studies. Essentially the culprits are taking these duelists and draining them of energy to store in the lay lines. Once they have enough power for that particular summon they will release the energies to call up whatever they wish. Unfortunately this energy drain also links the duelists to the lay lines so when the spell is completed the will be drained of the rest of their life force and die." Morgan finished nonchalantly.
"That's horrible! But why take duelists?" Suz wondered out loud.
"To stay under the radar." Ymir commented. "Duelists tend to have greater than average spiritual power than normal humans and only the mortal police would investigate. By going after duelists they can speed up their plans and fly under the radar of most magic users at the same time."
"Your fairy friend is correct. If magicians had been taken then the community here in Austin would be in an uproar and we would find these trouble makers in an instant. However since it's mortals we just don't care enough to make any sort of connection or effort." Morgan looked over her fingernails.
Suz stood up and reached over the desk to give Morgan a hug. "Thanks Tia! I'll drop by once we stop these guys." She made a move to leave but her arm was grabbed by Morgan.
"Wait Suz. Have gone to see them yet?" Morgan asked with a serious look on her face.
Suz's smile faltered for a second. "I will Tia, once we catch this guy." And she ran out of the room.
Carter stood an followed after Suz. "Pleasure meeting you."
"Thanks for the information." Ymir said as she floated out.
Morgan smiled softly to herself. "What a shame that girl. Wasting her time with such pointless pursuits."
The Hotel
Suz, Carter, and Ymir were currently in their hotel room strategizing this next move.
"We need to find a way to track down exactly who these guys will strike next." Suz said spreading a series of filters across the table they were sitting around. "Any luck on which escapee we're looking at?"
"Sorry." The ball of energy floated in an approximation to shaking a head. "Many of them were able to perform summons and we don't have enough information to narrow it down."
"Damn." Suz cursed. "And unfortunately there are currently four duelists with the energy levels to be of good use to the culprits and we can't tail all of them."
"Let's look at the patterns of the disappearances, any correlation in time or location." Carter flipped through a few folders then settled in a map of Austin with several X marks on it.
"They were taken at different different locations and all of them disappeared in the middle of the night. Nothing here that indicates a pattern… except this." Ymir held up a police report with what could only be magic. "The early disappearances, before the police realized that these were disappearances they were thought to be caused by the duelists celebrating too hard, celebrating recent wins in tournaments. Mark the store locations Carter." Carter obliged and took the report before making a few Xs and handing it to Suz.
Suz looked over the police report then cross referenced several other files. "Yeah the police looked into that but couldn't find a solid connection. Some of them would win city wide tournaments and others small mom and pop hobby shop ones, not to mention all the tournament winners who weren't taken. Police couldn't find a solid connection."
"The police aren't me." Ymir said. "Now that we now these guys are planning a summoning and using the lay lines I can see how the victims are chosen. Both the general locations of the disappearances and the tournaments seem to be long the same lay line. Look." Ymir floated over the map and golden lines appeared, several connecting two Xs on the map until they were all in pairs.
"I still don't see how to predict where the next one will be. I mean if they were just taking any tournament winner along a lay line there wold be more than this. Maybe some sort of geometry. There's usually some sort of theme with these guys. A snake or a spider." Suz got out a ruler and began connecting some of the Xs with it and a pencil. No clear picture formed and Suz erased it. "No, I can't see anything. Maybe we don't have a big enough sample size to find it."
"No you're onto something." Carter took the pencil and ruler from her. "I may of hated the academy my folks sent me too but there was one class I excelled at, Ancient Runes and Sigils. You see if the distance between the tournaments and disappearance spots act as line segments and we move them toward the center of the city." A few precise marks of a pencil and in the center of the map what appeared to be a rune was drawn.
"A summoning rune." Ymir gasped.
"Yep." Carter made three more lines and the rune glowed before spitting out a ball of darkness smaller than Ymir. "An incomplete summoning rune that if completed at that size will engulf the city into a living sphere of darkness."
Suz gasped. "It's a feed back loop! They have the living darkness consume the city absorbing all the citizens energy and then use the summoning contract to absorb the empowered darkness into themselves." Suz swiped his hand and the sphere of darkness disappeared.
"Gaining almost unlimited power…" Ymir began.
"At the cost of almost a million lives." Suz finished.
"Bloody psychopaths. Looks like we have two choices." Carter said. "Wait until they complete the rune and then stop them at the final ceremony,"
"Or anticipate their next line and stop them there." Suz looked at the lines that Carter drew and traced them back to their lay lines. "Here." Suz circled a spot on the map. "When I lived in Austin there was a tournament every six months at this high school's campus. Winner would get a free spot in the Austin City Championship in May. If I'm right then the tournament will happen in a few days."
"And since it sits right on one of the lay lines needed it's definitely the next target. We can tail the winner and catch the bad guys in the act." Ymir was getting excited.
"Actually I was thinking of something a bit more involved." Suz got a sly grin on her face.
The High School
"Laval Dual Slasher attack him directly for game!" Carter's monster flew at his opponent and finished him off.
"Talk about a sick burn! There it is folks new comer Sam Rogers has won the tournament! What an amazing upset!" Carter rolled his eyes and made his way to Suz. "Are we done here yet?"
"We have to stay for the awards ceremony. And stop complaining we played rock paper scissors and you lost fairly Sam."
"It's never fair with you. I'm positive you made me pick rock somehow. Anyways either of you make anyone on the crowd?" He asked.
"Nope, Ymir?" The glowing sphere gave the same response.
"They're either not here or hiding well enough to avoid detection. Either way we're gonna have to wait How long after these things do the victims usually go missing again?" Carter crossed his arms.
"The longest was twenty eight hours the shortest was just after it finished. The escapee probably uses some kind of magic lure to draw the victims in. The moment you feel it tell us, we'll follow you there and you know what to do then." Suz rattled off. "We'll try to keep you from getting too hurt."
"Glad to know you care so much." Carter rolled his eyes at Suz.
"Don't tell me the great Carter Carlyle is scared?" Ymir said jokingly.
"Scared? Please." Carter scoffed. "If anything this guy should be afraid of me."
Suz giggled and pinched Carter's cheek. "Don't worry Carter, you're very very scary."
Carter brushed her hand away and smiled a bit. "Dork."
"Loser."
Three Hours Later
"Dumpster diver." Carter shot back.
"Puke face." Suz returned.
The three of them were now walking through the streets of Austin and Ymir was beyond done with them. "Would you two please just stop it already? This is just ridiculous."
"C'mon Ymir, we're just having a bit of fun." Carter said. "No reason to." Carter suddenly stopped talking and shuddered a bit.
"Carter?" Suz asked with concerned. "Is everything ok?"
"I'm fine, but I have a sudden urge to go that way." Carter said pointing in a completely different direction then they were heading. "Exactly to where we predicted the kidnapping will take place."
"So they're using mental suggestion to get the duelist where they need them to be, and without your experience with magic they would be drawn into the suggestion." Ymir said. "It looks like it's time to put our plan into action. You ready Carter?"
"As ready as I ever am for this kind of stuff."
The Dark Alleyway
Carter stumbled into the alleyway as if in a trance. Once he was in however he shook his head clear and seemed to come to. "Well this is creepy." He said.
"Hehehe." A laugh echoed out around the alley. "Looks like you fell right into my trap." The shadows seemed to coalesces into a figure as the light of the street seemed to grow cold and distant.
"Well that's even creepier." Carter deadpanned.
"You're taking this awfully well aren't you Sam." The shadows fell off the figure revealing what looked to be a humanoid lizard. "Or should I say Carter of the Three Immortals!" The lizard man pointed a claw accusingly at Carter.
Carter's eyes narrowed. "So you know who I am then? Then you should know that you have no chance of winning so you should just give up."
"You think we would give up when we are so close to our goal. Once I'm finished with you I'll hunt down your partners and use them to complete the seal!" The shadows rushed onto the lizards arm forming a pitch black duel disk. "I Crogar will beat you in a shadow game!"
Carter set his duel disk into place and gave a grin. "Sorry but you're plan ended the moment I entered the city."
Carter: 8000 Crogar: 8000
"I'll go first." Crogar said drawing five cards. "And I'll go easy on you by only setting one monster. Your turn."
"That's a pretty disappointing opening for such a big build up. I hope the rest of this duel isn't so pathetic. I'll start off with Laval Magma Cannoneer." A purple rock monster appeared with two large cannons on it's back (ATK 1700).
"And now I can discard a fire monster to inflict five hundred damage to your life points." Carter sent a card from his hand to the graveyard and one of the cannons sent a flame blast at Crogar. "And I can do that twice per turn." A second card and a second fire ball.
"And don't think I sent those cards just for the burn damage, but because the second card I sent was Laval Volcano Handmaiden I can send a Laval monster from my deck to the graveyard, like another Handmaiden." Carter sent the second Handmaiden to the graveyard. "Then a third." Another card to the grave. "And now I'll send Laval Lakeside Lady and that will be that."
"I'm not done with my turn though because I attack that facedown monster with my Cannoneer." Two more fireballs began hurtling through the air striking the facedown card, which revealed a little pink disk with arms and legs which quickly shattered. "What was that?"
Crogar chuckled. "That was my Batteryman Micro-Cell. And thanks to it's effect I can special summon one Batteryman, like my Batteryman AA," An orange battery with arms and legs appeared (DEF 0—1000) "Of course since there is only one of them it's defense is quite pitiful. However my Micro-Cell's second effect gives me an extra card so it's not a complete loss." The lizard man snatched the card from the top of his deck and smiled. "Then since I summoned a Batteryman monster I can activate my trap card Judgement of Thunder!" The set card revealed itself and a blast of lightening struck Laval Cannoneer destroying it.
"Since I summoned a thunder type monster I get to destroy one card you control." The smile on Crogar's face curled into s frightening sneer "Anything else?"
"I'll set a card and end my turn." A card appeared in front of Carter and Crogar drew a card.
Carter: 8000 Crogar: 7000
"I have to ask." Carter said. "Why Batterymen? I was expecting something a bit more scaly."
"Hehehe. Well you expected wrong then. I bet you're used to chumps whose decks symbolize themselves and their inner struggle, well this deck don't represent me it represents you and your fate. You shall become a battery for our grand plan and grant us unlimited power!"
"Blah blah blah. I was expecting a sentence not a monologue. Hurry up and play so I can beat you." Carter rolled his eyes.
Crogar snarled. "If you wish to lose so quickly fine." He drew a card. "Time to wipe that smug grin off your face." He swiped Batteryman AA of his disk and replaced it with another card.
"Since a single Batteryman AA is useless I'm replacing it with a more dangerous beast," The batteryman retreated it's electric limbs into it's battery form. A thumping sounds could then be heard as from the darkness what looked like a large metal dragon moved onto the field looking oddly empty. "this is Super-Electromagnetic Voltech Dragon. Sure it looks a little dull right but since I used my AA to summon it." The AA battery flew into the metallic beast and the change was immediate. The empty parts in the monster lit up with electric energy and it let out a late roar (ATK 2400—3400).
"That's right an extra thousand points for attacking! All of which will go right at you! Attack with Voltic Punishment!" The dragon breathed a breath of concentrated lightening at Carter which pushed him back as his cloths tore from the sheer force.
Carter: 4600 Crogar: 7000
"What do you think about that human?" Crogar asked. "How does a full powered Shadow Game feel to you?"
"I think that you're so dumb you can't even tell when you're falling deeper into a trap. I activate Shock Draw letting draw once for every three thousand points of damage you did to me." Carter took the top three cards from his deck and waved them at Crogar. "How does it feel to have your plan so spectacularly backfire?"
"If you think that those three card will save you then you got his harder then I thought. I'll set one card facedown and end my turn."
"Then it's my turn and I'll start off by activating the effect of Laval Lakeside Lady with 3 Laval monsters with different names I can banish her and another Laval to destroy your facedown card!" Carter took two cards from his graveyard and pocketed them as a blast of fire burned away what was revealed to be a Mirror Force. "That was lucky don't you think?"
Crogar simply growled. "Destroying that face down was just a lucky side effect though. My real goal was to banish that other Laval monster. Because by summoning Laval Cannon," A rock monster with a large cannon for an arm appeared and sent a blast of flame into the air (ATK 1600). "he acts as a beacon for a monster in the banished zone." Like a meteor blazing through the darkness that surrounded them a warrior appeared. He was made of the same rock as the previous monsters but was wearing metallic armor with red cloth that resembled the fire swirling around him at the monsters will (ATK 2700).
"This is Laval Judgement Lord, but he won't be making any decisions here since your fate was sealed the moment I walked into this alley. And you better not say anything dumb about him not being strong enough because I equip him with Magnum Shield adding his defense to his attack." Judgement Lord roared as he flared up with strength pushing away some of the darkness away from the arena revealing the alley for just a moment (ATK 2700—4500).
"What!" Crogar exclaimed.
"Time for you to have a taste of your own medicine. Cannon, Judgement Lord, attack with Eternal Flare." The two monsters shot blasts of flame that combined into a single beam of pure heat that annihilated Super-Electromagnetic Voltech Dragon and consumed Crogar kicking up a large amount of dust as the blast finally ended.
"Not bad for a human." Cougar said as the dust cleared away revealing that the flames had burnt off most of his cloths revealing a heavily scared and scaled body.
Carter: 4600 Crogar: 4300
"I was almost scared for a second there. This is actually quite exhilarating, none of those other duelists were able to get me below 6000 life points and you've taken away almost half of them. You truly are a credit to-"
"Yeah no I don't do the whole mutual respect thing. Just take your turn." Carter crossed his arms over his body, already tired of the duel.
"You'll regret saying that human." Crogar said as he drew a card. "In fact you'll regret that saying that right now, because these three cards," The lizard held up three of the cards in his hand. "for these three cards contain your doom!"
"Sorry to burst your bubble but I've been doomed since long before I met you."
"Save your jokes for somebody who isn't about to win! I activate Battery Charger! So for only five hundred life points I can bring back my Batteryman AA." With a flash of lightening the charged warrior reappeared. "And you know what they say the more the merrier! I activate Inferno Reckless Summon, so I can bring out the rest of the Batteryman crew!" Two more batterymen zipped into place besides the first (ATK 1000—3000).
"I can also summon two Laval Cannon's to my field." two more rock monsters appeared and knelt in defense position (DEF 900). "But that doesn't matter does it?"
"No it doesn't because this third card is the one that destroy's all in it's path; Short Circuit!" A surge of blinding electricity rushed Carter's field and vaporized everything leaving nothing between him and nine thousand points of damage.
"Any last words human?"
Carter gave a glare at Crogar. "Only this. Your fate was determined the moment I choose rock."
"I don't even know what that means." Crogar shrugged. "Anyways it's time for you do lose. Batterymen; fire at will." The battery men leapt into the air and formed a triangle from which they send a colossal lightening blast which tore right through the darkness and sent Carter flying into an alley wall knocking him out.
Crogar stalked over to the body and looked it over. "Punk's like him always talk big but in the end they're nothing but hot air." He then reached into his mostly intact pocket and pulled out a spider before tossing it onto Carter. The spider instantly began weaving a web covering Carter in a cocoon. Crogar then began to pull him away.
Unbeknownst to him though sitting on the rooftops having watched the whole thing was Suz and Ymir. "Let's go." Suz said and the two disappeared.
The Dark Sewer
Crogar threw the cocoon with Carter onto the floor in the middle of several smaller lizard men. The cavern was dark with only a few torches to light the area, the walls were damp and filled with mold and on one end of the room was a gigantic spider web
"You there!" Crogar pointed at one of the smaller lizards. "Tell the boss I caught one of the knights that are after us, and that his immortal energy will more then be enough to finish the seal without needing more subjects." The lizard nodded and ran off deeper into the tunnels. "You three go out and draw the last two lines while I drain the human's energy." A group of lizards nodded and went out the entrance Crogar came from.
Crogar grabbed one end of the cocoon and pulled taking some web with him before attacking it to the larger web. "Now let's see your pathetic face as I drain your energy dry."
He ripped off the part of the web where Carter's face would be and gasped in shock when instead he saw a decaying corpse that looked nothing like Carter. "What!"
The corpse opened it's eyes and somehow gave a smile before saying, "You didn't think it would be that easy did you?" before crumbling into dust.
"What's going o-" Crogar was interrupted by an explosion down by the entrance of the sewer that knocked him off of his feet. "It's a trap! You there!" He pointed to a lizard man trembling in the corner. "Tell the boss now! I'll take care of the Immortals!"
Crogar stomped off towards the site of the explosion where he saw two figures fighting off the remaining lizard people in the sewer. Suz was standing there in full armor and a sword flashing in her hand that struck down lizard man after lizard man while Carter held back wearing a dark cloak with several bleach white bones scattered around him.
"You!" Crogar said pointing at Carter. "It's time for a rematch human!"
Carter looked at Crogar with cold eyes and smirked. "Go on ahead Suz. I'll take care of that thing." Suz nodded and went off with Ymir floating behind her while Carter and Crogar activated their duel disks.
"I'm going to crush you again human and this time when I'm finished I'll find your partner and make her suffer before using the two of you to finish our glyph. You had better start praying to whatever god's you worship." Crogar growled as he summoned the darkness to surround them.
Carter just gave a dark chuckle as he drew his starting five.
Carter: 8000 Crogar: 8000
"I'll crush your arms and legs into dust and drink your blood!" Crogar barred his teeth drawing five cards. "You will scream in terror as you regret the folly of making a fool of me. I will-"
Crogar stopped talking when Carter suddenly took three cards and said in an even tone. "These three cards contain your doom."
"D-don't you dare try and pull that trick out on me! That's nothing but a bluff!" Crogar played a card. "I activate foolish burial sending Bateryman AA to the graveyard.
"And then I'll end my turn by setting three cards on my side of the field! N-Now do your best!" Crogar's hand began to tremble. "W-what is this? What are you doing?"
"I'm doing nothing Crogar. This is all on you, and the fear you are feeling." Carter pulled down the hood of his cloak and revealed a rotting face. "Don't worry though. You have every reason to fear."
"You have reason to fear me." Carter's face continued to decompose one of his eyes falling out of his head.
"You have reason to fear the dark." All around them the shadows began to write and twist growing deeper and darker.
"You have reason to fear death." Carter drew a card.
"Now I will activate a card known as That Grass Looks Greener. This card allows me to essentially equalize the number cards in our deck; so I lose cards from the top of my deck equal to the difference in our deck counts. I run a sixty card deck so that's twenty cards from my deck to my graveyard."
The cards flew from the deck to the grave as if by magic cutting Carter's deck down. "Among the cards that I sent to the graveyard were two Wightprince so I can send two more Skull Servants to join the rest of my cards." Two more card flew out of his deck.
"Now for card two. I summon King of Skull Servants." A skeleton began to rise from the shadowed ground as purple cloak formed around it eventually creating the mighty King of Skull Servants (ATK ?—12000).
"Nice try!" Crogar shouted. "I activate Call of the Haunted. So why don't you say hello to the monster who destroyed you last time, Batteryman AA!" Like a meteor crashing to Earth the electronic warrior appeared (ATK 0—1000).
"And he won't be alone for one because I activate my other facedown card, Inferno Reckless Summon! Now I can summon my other two Batterymen AA." Two more Batterymen appeared (ATK 1000—3000), as well as 2 more King of Skull Servants (ATK 12000—11000).
"Ha looks like you had to take one of those Kings from your graveyard. And don't think you'll be able to finish me off this turn because I activate my facedown card Pixie Ring!" A brilliant ring of light wrapped around the three Batterymen. "With this you can't attack the monster I control with the lowest attack, and because my three Batteryman share the same attack you can't attack me at all!" Crogar began to laugh. "And this last card in my hand, it's Short Circuit so the moment you end your turn you die!
"What do you think human? Are you cowering in fear of my unbreakable defense?"
Carter glared at Crogar with his now mostly fleshless face. "From here it'd you who seems to be cowering. Hiding behind your warriors of light while keeping yourself safe from the darkness, such a hypocrite."
"Shut up! You've lost again don't try to act tough Immortal!"
"I'm not acting Crogar. You are a fool. You call on the darkness yet you hide behind the light." Carter began to walk forward as the Kings of Skull Servants vanished.
"You flaunt your knowledge of my immortality without knowing my true powers" Carter reached the edge of the pixie ring before breaking through bringing a wave of darkness that consumed the Batterymen.
Finally Carter reached Crogar no flesh on his bone wearing a dark purple cloak. "And lastly you forgot my third card." Translucent armor appeared on Carter. "Opti-Camouflage Armor let's a level one monster attack you directly."
"No please." Crogar begged as he fell to his knees.
Carter placed his hand on Crogar's head and began to push him down into the darkness. "You are charged with assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery, murder, and escaping the Camelot Penitentiary. However you are being punished for a crime worse than any of those."
"Please no! Help please! I'm sorry! Someone save me!" Crogar cried as he became mostly submerged in the inky darkness.
"The crime I am punishing you for is one of the highest degree, you pissed me off."
"Plea-" Crogar's final cry was silenced as he was completely drowned in the dark.
"The punishment is eternity in darkness." The darkness vanished leaving Carter alone in the sewer. "So declares I the Immortal of Death. Carter Carlyle the Litch"
Carter: 8000 Crogar: 0000
Deeper into the Sewer
"Are you sure you want to be the one to do this Suz? Carter is probably already finished with Crogar by now we can deal with the big boss and you can cover the exit incase something tries to slip by." Ymir said as her and Suz followed the Lizardmen tracks down the sewer.
"No Ymir. If we're right I want to be the one to face her. I have to do it." The two continued through in relative silence with Suz taking down the occasional Lizardman who got in their way.
Eventually they found themselves in front of a large iron door. "This is where the big boss is then" Suz said. "Let's go." Suz pushed open the iron gates and they stepped into a wide open field.
"So we were right. You are the one behind it Tia." Standing in the center of the field was Morgan with a smirk on her face.
"So when did you figure it out sweetie?" Morgan asked not looking worried in the slightest.
"It was a few things here and there. First was how you knew we were the three immortals when we tend to be unrecognizable when in combat, not that suspicious on it's own though. Then was how you knew almost immediately what we were looking for and gave us just enough information to figure it out ourselves, maybe your just observant I thought. Things then began to add up. Crogar knowing what Carter looks like and then the fact that his rap sheet contains nothing involving runes or summonings, there had to be somebody else behind it and Ymir only sensed one escapee. Of course we weren't sure at least not until now." Suz cast her eyes away.
"Oh my dear sweet Suz I am so sorry. I have an explanation for everything though." Morgan then flicked her wrist and a vine shot out to impale Suz in the chest, but was intercepted by her sword slashing it in half.
"You don't care about me at all do you Tia?" Suz asked
"Of course I do, however you're getting in my way so I'll have to kill you. Unless you want to step aside?" Morgan sent more vines at Suz which she deflected.
"Never!" Suz shot forward swinging her blade to cut Morgan down only to be stopped by a wall of vines.
"All this aggression. You're making me feel so guilty about all of this. Not guilty enough to stop of course but still." Suz's sword came inches close to hitting Morgan but the witch vanished and reappeared a few yards behind them.
Suz rushed again putting everything they had into her word swings, but continued to fail at making any progress against Morgan.
"Enough Suzanna enough." Morgan lifted her hands up to get her to stop. "Neither of us are making any progress here and it is getting so boring."
"Then give up. I'm sure prison will be quite interesting." Suz stopped her assault but kept her sword at the ready.
"You know I'm not going to give up Suzanna, but we can streamline this entire process. While I may not be bound to combat by Duel Monsters like your escapees but I am not opposed to the occasional Shadow Game or two." Morgan lifted her arm and manifested her duel disk.
Suz looked at Ymir who made a nodding motion."Alright Tia we'll duel, but you won't just be dueling me." Ymir flew above Suz and then flew down into her body. A small explosion blew dirt up everywhere and pushed Morgan back. When the dust cleared Suz was standing there alone with a glowing purple aura and her features looking much sharper.
"You're facing the two of us." Suz said with her voice having a weird reverb as if two people were talking just out of synch. "And I hope you're ready." Suz raised her arm and with a flash of purple light a glass duel disk appeared.
"I'll let my precious Suzanna go first, after all I don't want to be rude in your final moments." Morgan gestured to Suz.
Suz & Ymir: 8000 Morgan: 8000
"We aren't just Suz now. We are also Ymir the Immortal of the Returned, the Pheonix, and we take your offer." They looked over their cards and Ymir played a monster. "I summon Field Commander Rahz." A knight in ragged armor appeared. "When our monster is summoned we get to take any level four or lower warrior monster and place it on the top of the deck. That will be our turn."
"A warrior deck? How basic, but at least it isn't Elemental Heroes. Any ways I draw and during my standby phase I can activate the effect of my Golden Ladybug which by revealing it allows me to gain five hundred life points."
Suz & Ymir: 8000 Morgan: 8500
"Golden Ladybug, that doesn't look like something you would put in a Butterspy deck." Ymir said.
"Only a fool would show their true deck in the opening act. And as you'll see your friend Carter was right about the flower theme, I am unfortunately not very original."
"Just hurry up Tia, none of us want this to go on for too long." Suz said.
"Speak for yourself Suzanna I want to keep one of my precious student's precious children alive as long as possible. After all how embarrassing will it be when your mother asks why you had to join her in the great garden in sky and you reply with 'Oh Tia Morgan killed me trying to stop her plan to kill all of Austin.' " Morgan held her checks like some anime blushing school girl.
"You make the assumption that you can kill us." Ymir said.
"You wouldn't even be close to the first 'immortal' I've killed." Morgan gave a glare before switching back to her now obviously fake smile. "I'll humor you and continue my play, I activate the spell card Aroma Garden." The flowers around them bloomed in even more force then they already were and a green house appeared in the distance.
"This field spell is very powerful when used with a specific type of cards, and I'll summon one right now! Come forth Aromage Jasmine!" Some flowers near Morgan began to glow and a tiny fairy like create emerged form them (ATK 100). "Weak I know but while my life points are higher than yours I can use her effect to normal summon a second Aromage monster, like Aromage Cananga!"
Another woman appeared from the flowers this one human sized and wearing green (ATK 1400). "Canaga also has a powerful ability when I hold the life point advantage, your monsters lose five hundred attack and defense points!" Cananga swept her staff and pollen began to fall on the field making Rahz's armor begin to rust (ATK 1600—1100).
"Advantage through life point manipulation, impressive but these effect aren't the power houses you implied they would be." Suz said.
"Please you underestimate my dear. I activate the effect of my Aroma Garden, when I control an Aroma monster I can gain five hundred life points and give my Aromage's the same amount of points to attack." Morgan glowed as her life increased and her monster grew stronger (ATK 100—600) (ATK1400—1900).
"That's when the activated effect of my Aromage's activate, however only Jasmine's effect matters so I get to draw a card thanks to her." Morgan drew and smiled at the card.
"Now then it's time for you to say good bye to that silly warrior of yours, Cananga destroy him." The green Aromage pointed her staff and a blast of vines consumed Rahz.
The moment Suz and Ymir's life points went down they felt a sharp pain in their side. When they looked down they saw a small vine sticking out of their side. "What is this Morgan!?" They shouted.
"You didn't think that this would be a dull and boring Shadow Game did you, with all that disappearing into the darkness at the end of it. No this is my own personal spin on it, Vegetative Cannibalism. The more life points you lose the more of your internal organs are turned into man eating plants, quite brilliant don't you think?" Morgan gave a small laugh.
"Pretty impressive Tia." Suz said. "But it'll take more then that to stop me."
"Maybe this will get you to reconsider that statement, Jasmine a direct attack if you'd please." The small slap of the tiny girl hitting them wasn't what caused them to scream, it was the feeling of the vine squiggling around her small intestine that made them scream.
"That will be my turn, do as you wish."
Suz & Ymir: 6600 Morgan: 9000
"I will and we'll start by summoning the monster that we just drew thanks to Rahz, come on out Rose, Warrior of Revenge!" A women with read hair and a black body suit appeared wielding a sword (ATK 1600—1100). "Rose attack her Jasmine with Vengeful Strike!" Rose vanished for a brief moment before reappearing being Jasmine with her sword sheathed and Jasmine fell to the ground in two pieces.
"Rose also has a special ability to when she inflicts battle damage you take three hundred extra points of it!" Rose rushed forward once again slashing Morgan, who only laughed it off.
"Actually I'll be gaining two hundred from that encounter!"
Suz & Ymir: 6600 Morgan: 9200
"How!" The duo shouted.
"It's actually quite simple, you see the second effect of my Aroma Garden states that whenever an Aromage is destroyed I gain a thousand life points, so sorry but all you did was make me stronger."
"At least we got rid of your draw engine, we set a card face down and end our turn."
'Laugh now but soon you'll be on the defensive.' Suz thought.
'That's right. With Battleguard Rage set we can chain it to her monster's attack and bounce it right to the hand while powering up Rose. We're going to take the momentum back Suz.'
"Then I'll take over and once again activate the effect of Golden Ladybug to gain five hundred life points. And do you recall how I mentioned that Cananga couldn't use her effect before? Well now it's time for me to use it, it allows to to bounce one spell or trap card back to your hand!" A gust of pollen hit Suz and Ymir's set card and blew it off of the field.
"Dammit!" Ymir said.
"Oh I'm sorry dear, did I ruin your comeback?" Morgan did not look sorry. "Now I activate my Garden's effect to gain more life points and power up my monster once more." The pollen blew thru the field refreshing Morgan. "And then I summon Armoge Rosemary." A third cute woman appeared, this one in blue, and joined her comrade (ATK 1800).
"Now attack my lovely monsters, show her that there isn't room for other flowers in my garden." The flow based monsters sent blasts of pollen that blasted away Rose and slammed into Suz and Ymir.
Suz & Ymir: 4000 Morgan: 10200
"Now go on dear, try and come back from this." Morgan gave a little laugh.
"Ugh." The pair grasped their arm as they felt a vine crawl through it eating the muscles tendons, keeping them from drawing a card properly.
"What's wrong Suzanna? Is the pain too much to go on? Have the vines eaten up enough of your internal organs to hinder your movements?"
'What a cheap trick." Some blood tickled out of their mouth as the duo pushed their body to just hold their cards. 'Suz, we can't last much longer with this. If we lose anymore life points this body is going to give out.'
'Well what do you suggest, I doubt that we can not take anymore damage before we finish her off. Hell, unless we get lucky I don't think we can win this.' Suz thought.
'Well we could try and burn through some of those-' Ymir began before being interrupted.
'Not an option.' Suz said. 'Although I have an idea, but it's a little risky.'
'Run it by me.'
'If we take your immortality and run it through me it won't matter how many times we get hurt I can just come back full power. However…' Suz trailed off.
'Keeping two immortalities in a human body is dangerous.' Ymir finished. 'This is more then just our standard fusion, it'd be like powering a flashlight with the Hoover Dam you'll burn out in three turns maximum. Can we do more then ten thousand points worth of damage in that short an amount of time? If we don't end the Shadow Game before that happens you're finished.'
'Do we have a choice though?' Ymir didn't reply. 'Get the process started, I'll distract her.'
"Why are you doing this Tia?" The purple aura around Suz vanished and she almost collapsed on the spot. "Why would you want to kill everyone in Austin, aren't you powerful enough already?"
Morgan gave a great belly laugh. "You're buying time to try and recover from the vines aren't you? Well don't worry I'll humor you. You say I already have enough power that I don't need to use the rune? Well how do you think I got this powerful?"
"You mean?" Suz gasped for air.
"That's right. Nothing as big as Austin of course, but a few villages here and there throughout the ages. How do you think I got this powerful? How do you think I keep this young?" Morgan gave a small twirl.
"You monster! How many people have you killed for your eternal youth?"
"Honestly? I have no idea. Probably a few ten thousand? I mean I've been absorbing small villages every few hundred years or so since a little before Julius came along and ruined Rome." Morgan gave a small shrug. "Have you finished doing whatever it is you're doing to not you know; die."
"Not yet, give a second or two though. Just to warn you I'm going to bring you to justice the moment it does." Suz growled.
"Oh my!" Morgan gave a laugh. "Such bravado, pretending like you're some sort of superhero. You like to do a lot of pretending don't you?" She gave a malicious grin.
Suz said nothing. 'Ymir are you finished?'
'I'm done Suz. Kick her ass. I leave the rest to you.'
"Got it! It's my turn so I draw!" Suz forced herself through the pain and drew a card, which resulted in a vine destroying some of her arteries. "Fuck! Don't think I'll last the rest of the turn, either way I summon Goblindbergh." Four tiny airplanes appeared carrying a metal box appeared (ATK 1400). "Then I can use it's effect to summon Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn." The metal box opened up to reveal a shirtless man wielding a large knife (ATK 1700–1200).
"Now I'll-" Suz was cut off by bleeding out internally and falling to the floor dead.
"Suzanna?" Morgan asked confused. "Did, did you just die?"
Suddenly a flash of purple light appeared and then Suz was standing there good as new. "Holy shit it worked. Thank god."
"Wow okay." Morgan said surprised. "So you can come back to life, honestly didn't see that coming. Although with a group name of 'The Three Immortals' maybe I should've."
"There's a lot about me you won't see coming. It's time for you to get a taste of your own medicine, I tune my two monsters together to summon Ymir's strongest monster." Raiden turned himself into four tuning rings and the four planes turned into a star each.
"Clustering Souls gather into one and create the life that always burns bright! Level Eight Synchro Summon! Colossal Fighter!"
The rings and stars lined up and with a green column of light Colossal Fighter appeared (ATK 2800–2300). He was larger then the two duelists and wearing heavy white armor with blue gems in the shoulders.
"Not only is my monster stronger then yours even with the stat drain he gains a hundred attack points for each of my warriors in the grave." Colossal Fighter flexed and a purple aura surrounded him (ATK 2300—2700). "Now attack Cananga! Colossal Fist!"
The giant warrior leapt forward and crushed the flower girl in one strike removing the deliberating pollen from the field (ATK 2700—3200). "Now with Cananga gone I can start taking back ground."
Suz: 4000 Morgan: 10400
"However I still gained life points so I must use Rosemary's effect to change Colossal Fighter's battle position." The blue witch sent a blast of pollen that caused Colossal Fighter to kneel down (DEF 1000)
"I set a card and end my turn." A Suz placed a card in the field and then flinched as her skin began to bubble and grin tips of vines started poking out. "Looks like the revival only suppressed the vines, not gotten rid of them completely."
"Very good Suzanna, I was thinking this was getting a bit dull." Morgan gave another laugh. "You truly have grown as a duelist these past few years."
"The fact your staling show your on the ropes. Why don't you give up before I have to actually hurt you?" Suz managed to get out as the vines slowly spread back to where they were before the revival.
"No Suzanna it proves what a kind soul I am. After all I don't want to have to subject you to such a horrible fate as this. However you seem set on your course so I draw and reveal Golden Ladybug once more to gain another five hundred life points." The gold glow returned and Rosemary's pollen flew threw the wind returning to the witch. "Now I must use Rosemary's effect so I'll switch my own monster to defense mode." Rosemary knelt (DEF 700).
"Looks like those Aromage effects are backfiring on you, huh Tia?' Suz said.
"Not at all, because I can tribute Rosemary just fine from any battle position. And I will do just that to summon the strongest Aromage there is. Come on out Bergamot!" Rosemary disappeared and in her place was the largest Aromage yet. She wore robes with red accents and a large wooden staff that radiated power (ATK 2400).
"As you have hopefully figured out by now Aromages have two types of effect, a passive when I command the lead and an activated when I heal myself and Bergamot is no exception! When I have more life points then you my Aromages deal piercing damage!" A red aura surrounded Bergamot. "And when I gain life points, which I will when I activate my Aroma Garden, she gains an extra thousand points for attacking and defending in addition to the five hundred my Garden gives!" The red aura flared up and Bergamot surrounded herself in red pollen (ATK 2400—3900).
"Dammit. That looks like it's going to hurt." Suz said.
"Trust me it will. Bergamot destroy that pesky Colossal Fighter for me." The mage pointed her staff and a frenzy of vines tore into the warrior causing a huge explosion.
Suz: 1100 Morgan: 11400
"Agh!" Suz screamed as the vines grew exponentially and one cut her brain off from her spinal cord.
"Suz!" Ymir cried out as her form began to fall, however it hadn't even hit the floor before the light returned and Suz was standing upright.
"Don't worry Ymir, your resurrection is working great!" She gave the orb of energy a thumbs up, but from the way Suz was panting it was obvious the stress of dying and coming back was getting to her. "And it's not just my own resurrection working, because you destroyed Colossal Fighter by battle his effect activates letting me bring back any warrior in the graveyard, including himself."
The rubble from the warriors armor began shaking and then pulled together to reform Colossal Fighter.
"Impressive Suzanna Impressive. I have to admit I wasn't taking you as seriously as I should have, but you've shown real determination here. You truly have grown into a wonderful woman. I hope you know how hard this is for me, truly I wish there was another way." Morgan said with complete sincerity.
"I know Tia. You always got a tad rude when you didn't want to deal with emotions." Suz blinked away her tears as she drew. Then barely chocked down a sob as she saw her card.
"Suz that card." Ymir said softly.
"I know." Suz took a deep breath and looked at Morgan. "Tia, I have to ask you one more time, will you stop this madness. I can forgive whatever you have done in our past if you become the woman who held me at tight when I would cry myself to sleep, who took me shopping for my first dress, who cursed my first boyfriend with pimples when he broke up with me. The woman who took me in when my parents died." Suz was openly crying now. "Please just stop!"
Morgan's eyes began to tear up. "I'm sorry Suzanna. But when you've lived as long as I have, when you've loved as deeply and hated as long as a true immortal has you will know that even as much as I love you as if you were truly my daughter the one thing that matters is continuing this life of mine. After all how can a life as short as a mortals compare to my own."
"Then don't worry Tia, I'll make sure you live as long and as beautifully as you possibly can."
Morgan gave a small laugh. "Why do I get the feeling that that doesn't mean you're giving up."
"Sorry but it means I've won. I summon Fire Princess." A woman in a red cloak and wielding a bow appeared (ATK 1400).
"Fire Princess huh? And I suppose that face down…" Morgan trailed off as it flipped up.
"I activate Rainbow Life. Now by discarding one card all battle damage turns into life point gain."
"Colossal Fighter can attack and all the damage will become life points." Colossal Fighter began to glow with rainbow light and then he became a beam of energy. "Then as I gain life points Fire Princess deals five hundred points of damage." Fire Princess grabbed the beam of energy and fitted it onto her bow. "Colossal Fighter then revive itself to continue this cycle as many times as I need." A burning aura surrounded Fire Princess as she drew the energy arrow back.
"I'm sorry Tia, attack with Phoenix Flare!" Fire Princess released the arrow and as it flew it became a large bird of fire that eradicated the field in front of it.
Suz: 14700 Morgan: 0000
Morgan stood there shocked as she lost everything in a single instant. "I'm surprised i'm not dead. I did lose a Shadow Game after all." She felt sore everywhere but otherwise she was fine. She looked up to see Suz standing over her.
"I'm sorry Tia, but my Shadow Games are a little different from most, but you will be taken care of, I swear."
"And how exactly do you plan on doing that? You obviously think I'm to dangerous to simply go free."
"You never asked what my immortality was Tia. You saw first hand Ymir's resurrection, and you were probably spying on Carter dueling Crogar so you should've seen the Litch at work. You never asked what my powers were." Suz began to glow and Morgan watched on with awe. "I am Suzanna Hernandez, the Legacy. The immortal of Inheritance. Now I ask you to inherit my mantle."
The glow continued to grow until it was blinding and a scream echoed all the way down the sewer.
Minutes Later
Carter stood outside the large iron doors waiting for Suz to return. He wasn't waiting for long as the doors soon opened up to a crying Suz and somber Ymir.
Suz was different however, she seemed to have shrunk a few inches and her hair was darker then before, more glossy. Her body also seemed a bit more rounded then before and Carter could see a hint of a tattoo on her left arm through the armor.
Carter didn't say a word as he held the crying Suz. "We can't be like her." Suz got out between sobs. "No matter how long we live. We, we can never be like that."
Carter said nothing for a few moments before finally speaking. "Let's get out of this city."