IV - Trance
Is this a dream, or reality? Why is it all so black? Why is it all so cold? I feel…nothing. Lightning…
Myst. I want to stay by you, and protect you, but I don't know if I can…I don't know if I can protect anyone anymore. If only things had gone differently that day…
Lightning reached out a hand, trying to grab Myst's. All he could see was red.
~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~
A group of small children were playing in a dark, dingy, cramped corner of the Delta 9 sector. It was a horrible place to live, filled to the brim with people, but no where near enough accommodation to allow them all to live comfortably. Most of them had sad stories for their childhood, filled with tales of orphanage, deserted parents, murder. It wasn't at all the right place to grow up as a child. But that's where Lightning and Myst came in. They too had grown up in this sector, just like these children today, but their's was a different story. They had stayed together, to overcome all the hardships of a life underground, and they were willing to help those around them. It is truly people like them, that let people have hope in their lives.
"Lightning! Look everyone it's Lightning!"
The young boy, about 7 or 8 years of age pointed furiously in the direction that the tall blonde man was coming from. Myst looked over her shoulder, as she helped up a child who had fallen on the ground. She smiled, standing up whilst turning around. "Never thought you'd make it back in time for dinner…where have you been?" Lightning looked away slightly, as he turned his attention to the children swarming around them. He bent down and ruffled the hair of one of them. "Hey kids, Big Brother is back! And he brought gifts!" Lightning took a package out of his bag, as he unfolded it and lay the contents down on the ground.
"Whoa! Those are some rare cards, Big Brother!" One of the children exclaimed, picking up a Serpent Night's Dragon. Another, picking up Tri-Horned Dragon, started waving it around, making roaring noises. Lightning smiled as Myst approached him, and the children ran out of earshot. "So…where have you really been?" She asked, a slightly more demanding tone in her voice. "…Around." Lightning muttered back, quietly as his eyes shifted to the ground. "Around where? And where exactly did you get those cards? I know you can't afford them. Don't tell me you started up stealing again…" Lightning looked furious, as he pushed her away. "Don't you dare say that about me! I'm not proud of my past, that's why I've become different today! That's why I've tried to get a life on the surface! Maybe you just can't accept that!" Myst looked stunned as Lightning stomped off, knocking over piles of trash that littered the sides of the alleyways. She hadn't expected him to react like that…what had he really done? All she could do now, was smile for the children.
~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~
Lightning used the last of his strength to tear through the red that was blocking out Myst. But it didn't move an inch. He lay there, staring intensely into it, before he realised it had spoken to him. "Damn it Lightning, I'm trying to help Myst! Don't get in the way!". A drop of red ran down from Lightning's eye.
~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~
Lightning awoke to the sound of crashing. He got up, putting on his ragged clothing as he stepped outside from his makeshift house, built out of what little scraps of metal they could find. He rubbed his eyes gently, and yawned, as he walked towards Myst, who was standing in the small circle of tiny enclaves where the children slept, and which also connected to the street ahead. His eyes turned sharply, as he noticed that there was a man dressed completely in white, with shockingly white hair to match. Blue lights flickered up and down his suit, as it seemed to be connected to some source of electricity. A cohort of other men, dressed in the same starling white with uniform masks, stood behind him, with another gigantic, burly man standing to his left bearing the same trademark attire.
"Ah, Lightning, isn't it? My my, what a surprise. To think somebody like you would be living down here, amongst common rabble like these. I guess Celeste is willing to open it's doors to anyone these days." The man smirked in the dim light, as the shuffling of feet could be heard from the small group of soldiers behind him. They were preparing to strike. "Oh, how rude of me. I am a Captain of the 6th Celeste Regiment, Nicholas Rehmel and this is my assistant, Ophius. We're here on official Celeste business."
Lightning scowled as he pushed Myst behind him. Some of the children had woken up and had begun to look outside to see what all the noise was. Lightning posed a simple question. "What sort of business." The man giggled slightly, as he raised a hand. "Why, we're conducting a research operation. And we need some test subjects. Go~!" He pointed the hand forwards, all the while keeping one hand behind him in a polite fashion. The men behind him sprang into action, as dim blue lights brightened the dreary night. The children screamed as the blue light connected with them, and then not another sound was heard. All Lightning could do was stare in disbelief, as a Armoured Carrier Vehicle came around the corner, and parked just a little ways out into the street. The men began to carry the children to the vehicle, some of them still twitching from the electricity that had passed through their bodies.
"You…MONSTER!" Lightning charged forward, aiming a fist at the man's head, but he was rebounded and thrown across the ground. The massive man had stepped forward, and simply pushed Lightning away with his palm. Myst looked with shock, as she ran back towards the back of the small alleyway where they lived. Lightning picked himself up off the ground, as the Captain stared to giggle. "Hee hee hee, I dare say you shouldn't interfere with us boy. We can easily kill you if we so wished." he turned away from Lightning, as he started walking towards the Armoured Carrier, with a sickening calm evident with each stride he took. Myst started to cry as she shouted at him, "But, they're only children! How can you do something like this? How can you do that to another human?" The Captain stopped, as he giggled slightly to himself once more. "Why, quite easily dear. Do you think anyone cares about these children? Do you think anyone cares about trash like you, who don't even deserve to live on the surface? I doubt anyone will notice you're gone. If you really cared about these children, you would protect them, but I see you are failing to do so. In that case, we will re-home them, which just so happens to agree nicely with our new research project…hee hee…"
"Shut up."
Lightning stood defiant, as he and Myst confronted the Celeste regiment. "Just shut up. These children aren't going away with you, they're staying right here, at home." Perhaps out of a desperate hope, Lightning raised his duel disk, the sound of the whirring energy breaking the silence. "Hmph. I'm afraid I do not have the time to be idly playing card games with a piece of Underground trash like you. But I'm sure Ophius will be more than happy to entertain your fragile hopes of getting these children back." Almost as if the giant man hung on his every word, it swayed forward, shaking the ground with each step. He himself unfolded a fairly long duel disk which stretched the width of his chest, and was a clean white colour, with veins of blue electricity shown running through the disk.
Duel 2! - A Duel to Remember? - Lightning vs. Ophius
Lightning: 8000
Ophius: 8000
As both duelists drew their opening hands, it suddenly struck Lightning that his opponent was hooked up to some massive breathing machine, or something similar. He wondered how he hadn't noticed it before. Must have been down to the fact he was so blinded with rage earlier…he took the first move, as he drew another card. "I summon Dark Blade to the field in attack position, and end with one reverse card!" Lightning had a sense of urgency in his voice. He didn't trust these men to wait around if he began to win the duel, or even to hand back the children if he did manage to win. Wasn't it enough that he was dueling? What more can he possibly do…?
Ophius drew a card, as he seemed to wheeze while playing them. He set two cards on the field, 1 monster face down, and 1 Magic or Trap. Lightning was wary of his cards, as he drew to begin another turn. "Reverse card, open! Raigeki Break!" A shot of electricity headed for Ohpius' face down card. "I discard 1 card to destroy 1 card on the field!" The man took a deep breath, as a resounding roar shook the field. His Trap, Threatening Roar, had been activated. "Ugh…no matter. I equip Dark Blade with Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade, increasing it's attack." Lightning then passed play onto his opponent, who with another great wheeze, drew a card. Finally he started to speak, in a very husky voice, almost like he was dying from a terrible illness. "I Flip Summon Fusion Roccke, allowing me to add a card with Fusion in it's name to my hand." His deck ejected a card into his opened hand, as it then automatically shuffled itself. He then held up 1 card, "I activate the Magic card, Excavation of Fusion Stones. This card allows me to Fusion Summon 1 Rock Type Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck." Ophius announced, placing his Fusion Roccke along with 3 other Rock monsters into the Graveyard, to Fusion Summon a terrifying beast in front of Lightning. The monster was made of a grey and black stone, which was completely smoothed down. Some soil and moss, and other plant life could be seen growing out of it. It opened its eyes to reveal blood red pupils. "The ground shakes with the calling of your name. Rock the foundations of the earth itself. Fusion Summon. Breathe, Granite - King of the Earth." He then drew 2 cards from his deck. "When I Fusion Summon using Excavation of Fusion Stones, I can draw 1 card for every 2 Fusion Materials. Also, Granite gains 500 ATK for each Rock monster used as it's Fusion Material." He raised a giant hand, pointing at Lightning who was nearly entirely blocked out by it.
"Battle. Granite. Core Eruption." The monster was slow to respond, but just like it's master, it raised one of it's front legs, and slammed it into the ground. Lightning's Dark Blade was swallowed up by the searing hot lava that poured out. And it was exactly that, hot lava. Some managed to overspill and burn holes in Lightning's rags. He felt the heat, the intensity, the pain. He looked at his hand, it was charred slightly, and shaking. "Ohohoho. Seems you have found out my assistant's little secret. He's one of the prototypes for this research, the first ever Artificial Psycho Duelist." Lightning looked up to see just what Rehmel was talking about. "That's it…the tanker…" Lightning looked down at his hand once more, as he tried to stop it from trembling. "I place one reverse card." Ophius said.
Lightning: 8000 → 7100
Ophius: 8000 (Granite - King of the Earth 1000 → 3000/2000)
"Yes," the Captain replied, "Not only is that tanker keeping him alive, it's also pumping him full of the testing drugs that induce such capabilities. The longer he wears it, the more powerful his Psycho Dueling skills become.". Lightning clenched his burnt hand as he reached for the top card of his deck. "That's unforgivable…you are less than human." Surveying his hand, he knew he was not strong enough to take down this monster now. He placed 1 monster face down on the field. "My turn," Ophius wheezed, drawing the card slowly. "Battle. Core Eruption." The monster repeated the move, slamming it's leg down into the earth, and blowing the face down card to pieces. "Reverse card, Diamond Minefields. I can equip this card to a Fusion monster I control, to allow it to inflict piercing damage, while also lowering it's attack by 500." The lava splashed against the surface, as a much larger quantity hit Lightning this time. He felt like his skin was going to melt off his body. Somehow, he managed to pick himself up off the ground. Perhaps because he had someone to fight for, was the reason he was not giving up so easily. "Battle Warrior only had 1000 Defence…"
Lightning: 7100 → 5600
Ophius: 8000 (Granite - King of the Earth 3000 → 2500/2000)
It was obvious the captain was finding this boring, as he yawned rather loudly. He let out a sharp sigh, as he began to talk, looking at his nails. "I never expected a resident of the Underground to actually win this duel, but at least provide some entertainment. My men always like a good blood bath, but only when the other side gives it their all." Lightning remained silent, as he drew another card. Still nothing…but why, why do I feel like this card could make a difference? The knight in his hand gleamed brightly for a second. He looked up at the giant man in front of him, and the smirking captain behind him. He then thought about the children, locked up in that Armoured Carrier Vehicle, all scared, all alone. He wouldn't let that happen to them. "I end my turn."
"What's this? Giving up are we? Hardly worth acknowledging Underground citizen's requests. I'll keep a note of that in the future. Just finish him now Ophius. I'm sure your Psycho power has grown enough to blow this piece of trash off his feet." Ophius seemed to nod slowly, as he drew yet another card. "I summon Core Chimail Sandman to the field.. Then I remove from play Granite, Sandman and the other 4 Rock monsters in my Graveyard to Special Summon Megarock Dragon." The ground began to tremble once more, as a fissure split open the ground in front of them. A claw latched onto the surface, as a gigantic dragon made of rock pulled itself from out of the crater. Nearly every inch of it's rock covered body was formed into some form of spike. If it hit Lightning…it'd be a miracle if he survived. "Battle. Megarock Dragon will attack directly. Pain Cascade." The giant dragon, which nearly filled the already cramped space, lifted it's front leg, as it prepared a swipe for Lightning. He was ready though. Perhaps this was for the best, maybe somehow, someway, his death could help those children out in some way.
"NO!"
Lightning felt the push of a small but courageous woman, as Myst pushed him out of the way just as the Rock Dragon released it's attack, smashing her into a pile of the rusty metal houses. Lightning looked to her as all he could see was her broken body. Surely, she was dead.
Lightning: 5600 → 1400
Ophius: 8000 (Megarock Dragon ? → 4200/ ? → 4200)
Lightning forgot all about what he was doing, forgot all about what he was thinking. Instead, he let his emotions rule him. It was all he could do to stop himself from ripping the top card of his deck to pieces when he drew it. But with that card, came a whole new path. "I activate the Magic card, Polymerization!" Slamming the card down furiously, he picked up a further two cards from his hand. "I will fuse Gaia the Fierce Knight together with Curse of Dragon!" He slid the cards into his graveyard, as he picked up a card from his Extra Deck. "Hmm, seems he does have some rare cards after all. I was getting bored of all those trashy cards." Lightning pointed directly at the Captain as he was speaking, cutting him off, "Get ready you bastard…I WILL KILL YOU!" Perhaps through all the rage, Lightning didn't realise that his vision was starting to go blurry or maybe he just didn't care. He could hear a whisper in the air, almost like someone was speaking to him, but nobody had said a word, as they waited for his assault. "Gaia the Dragon Champion! Attack! Diamond Dragon Lance!" The knight nodded as the air in the Underground area which they called home, seemed to get thicker, almost like their was an increase in pressure. The knight on it's dragon steed flew back, and then burst forth with almost sound barrier breaking speed, it charged straight for the head of the giant rock dragon.
"Quick Magic, Battle Fusion!" Lightning held out the card, as the dragon roared beneath the knight and it seemed to gain an aura of power. "Gaining the attack of the opposing monster? How do you have a card like that?" the Captain questioned, as Lightning ignored him and played yet another card. "Quick Magic, Battle Fusion!" This time, the knight bellowed, as together with their combined power, the dragon and the knight pierced through the rock dragon shattering it into pieces as they drilled through it. But their path did not stop there, as they continued forward, straight through Megarock Dragon, and then coming out of the other side, as the spear rammed into Ophius. It pierced through his clothing, blood splattered everywhere and he was thrust back with such a great force, that he slammed into the Armoured Carrier Vehicle and knocked it over, shattering his breathing apparatus in the process.
Lightning: 1400 (Gaia the Dragon Champion 2600 → 6800→ 11000/2100)
Ophius: 8000 → 1200
-DUEL CANCELLED-
Rehmel looked stunned as he stared at Lightning, who was gasping for breath. He quickly thrust a hand towards the ACV, as the soldiers turned it over, and started the engine. He looked down at Ophius, who was crumpled into a ball, the spear had pierced him clean through. There was no possible way he could survive. "It can't be true, but it is…Bleed Through…" He then climbed into the back of the ACV, as it revved up and sped off turning the corner at a vicious speed. The children were gone, and so was any hope of rescuing them, and Myst, Myst was…
"Lightning."
~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~Dream a little, and the world shall change.~
"Lightning!"
The woman's strong, courageous voice was easily identified by Lightning. He felt her warm hands on his chest, as she had begun CPR. "Lightning!" she cried, as tears fell from her face and onto his. "I'm so sure we had lost you…don't ever do that again!" She slapped him gently as she then began to smile, something she hadn't done in quite a while. "I'm all for everything being sugar and rainbows, but truth is we have to get out of here otherwise we're going to die. I'm sorry Lightning, but…" Lightning then grabbed Blaze's jacket as he spoke. "I know, I know we can't always protect and save whoever we want to. We'll just have to figure out some other way, yeah? We'll get them back, I promise. Those kids are coming home…" He then let go of his jacket, as he rested his strength. "Let's go." Myst said, nodding as Blaze picked up Lightning and thrust him on his back. The team was back together again, and there was nothing they couldn't do.
Except they couldn't foresee the future. As they made a break for the exit of the facility, which was close by the Research Center, they could not possibly see what was coming next. In the large courtyard between the entrance gates of the facility, and the exit of the corridor to the Research Centre, stood an army of Celeste, signature white masks and white uniforms a sure sign that this was true. Stood by them was a young man, with jet black hair which was long enough to cover his right eye, fashioned in such a way that it spiked down towards that direction. "Ah, I see. The intruders. There is no way you are getting out of here alive, one hopes you have a nice time in heaven. Give my regards to God." He clicked his fingers, as the soldiers readied their weaponry.
"Allow me." A voice as soft as satin emanated from the top of the dome of the Research Centre. With a flash, the guns of soldiers went off, but that wasn't where the flash had come from. A tall, fair skinned man stood in front of Blaze and Myst. He was dressed in what seemed to be a purple magician's robe lined with red trimming, complete with a green staff. He was holding out one hand, and in front of him had appeared a circle with a hexagram in the middle, which had completely blocked all of the bullets the soldiers had fired. The magician held out a hand, as the woman from on top of the building launched herself off it, grabbing the arm and swinging around it, before gracefully landing on the ground. She was wrapped in a black cloak, with a white trim around the edges. She snapped her fingers, and almost like a magic, a top hat appeared in her hand. She put it on, winked, and blew a kiss to all the soldiers around her. The Dark Magician joined her by her side, as she opened her black cloak, revealing a very voluptuous dress beneath. Pointing upwards into the night sky, she puts a hand on her waist.
"It's showtime, boys!