Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh
Tanya Facing Fire All On Her Own
Dragon Knights
Dash
The Elf leads me over the sea. We fly over it for miles. My gut wretched, thinking about all I had left behind. Now I knew there was no way of going back home. This was terrible. But if what the Elf told me was true, then it meant I had to accept what lay ahead of me. A life I never thought was meant for me. A life of royalty. Just as the sun was setting over the ocean, I saw it. An island paradise far away from the troubles of my home of Goldcircle Kingdom City. There was a city mixing with the forest of palm trees and conifers in the island. They were made of solid gold and white marble and limestone that could make the snow on the peaks of the Spineridge Mountains over my ranch look gray in comparison. The buildings were oddly shaped and had red banners damasked in gold hanging from the center poles. And, I saw dragon riders atop of brilliant white dragons with scales that glimmered like a rainbow adorned in silver armor and mail of gold. They signal for me and the Elf to land. I couldn't believe this was real. Elves, an almost forgotten race of people were crowding around below at the top of the tallest building which I guessed was the castle. And there in all him majesty stood the Elf King wearing colossal gold armor with white banners hanging from his shoulders and he donned a white cloth-of-gold cape. Even from high up I could see his pale-green eyes peering at me from where he stood. I gulped. I knew I was in for the story of my life.
" Dash. Welcome to my kingdom." The elf king said.
The Elven people were the most beautiful things I had ever seen. Their hair was like silk and their faces, heavenly. Their eyes were as clear as diamonds and when they spoke their voices rang like silver bells. Elven warriors in gold armor trimmed with white and holding gold banners approached me and bowed. My cheeks turn red. In the midst of all the excitement I forgot I was royalty. I thank the king for his welcome and he leads me towards his castle which looked like it was carved out of the very mountain with a few added towers of white limestone with red and gold banners hanging from their tops. Once we reach the twelfth level of the palace the elf who rescued me, his name was Adain, sent me away to a bath house where I had my flight gear and clothes removed. I nervously sat in a warm bath as a group of pretty Elven girls wash me. They giggle flirtatiously as they scrub my arms and ey were dressed in thin white silks that turned invisible when wet so they might as well been naked. The Elf King sees me shivering and laughs warmly telling me that this was just some of the luxuries ahead. From the bathing pool I could see dragon tamers and doctors taking a look at my Bright Tooth. They were cleaning his scales and using thick metal tools to carve away the old ones until he shined like a Gem. After my bath the Elven girls trim my long hair and then dress me in fine garbs. Bright Tooth was then armored in platinum and he was given a high-tech saddle for me to ride in.
It was time for dinner. Adain, my hero, escorts me to the dining hall where the king was going to fill me in on my destiny. First he allowed me to have a drink I never tried before that tasted like a very sweet nectar.
"Mmm," I said, "This is good," I looked around and then started scarfing down all the food on the table. I've never eaten Elven food before, and they impressed me. Man, they are really good cooks. I ate six shrimps, five turkey legs dipped in a honey sauce and crusted with herbs, golden waffle chips, and I gulped down more of that sweet drink. I let out a loud and satisfied burp and look around at my hosts, looking at me as though I were some creature that needed to be destroyed.
"Sorry," I apologize. They all burst out laughing. That really made me smile. The Elves were a very friendly folk and it began to dawn on me why they refused to go to war and stay out of the dirty politics of my home Goldcircle Kingdom. Bright Tooth flies into the room shining in his new armor. "So what is this all about?" I asked the king, who looks at me with a wide grin.
"I am King Gondolin of the Woodland Realm," he said proudly. "And you, child, are the salvation we've been looking for."
The story he tells me makes my blood boil. He begins by telling me about how my aunt killed both my mother and father in a cleverly devised plot to kill them, putting my cousin, Rufio into power just hours before those Imperial Knights went chasing after me. When I was a baby my older brothers were also slaughtered by assassins under orders of my queen-regent aunt to shorten my father's line into the throne and put her child into power. It appears Marcus was some tool to get info on me. They knew of my fierce rivalry with him and used him to get to me. Poor bastard still thought this hunt was about Duel Monsters while Rufio and his mother made their move on my mom and dad, the king and queen. And while I was watching Tanya and Nixie duel they sent their forces to the ranch looking for me and killed my family and my dragon Nyx.
They were all going to pay for this. I don't care about the throne, I just want to kick Rufio's ass in a duel and kick him and his mother out of the throne and let the law decide what to do with them.
Tanya
"Rise and shine sleepy head!" Nixie shouts into her friend's face.
Tanya stirs and forces open her heavy eyes. She looks around her room. The golden glow of the sun lit up her chambers and made the waterfall glisten. "What time is it?" she asked. Nixie was sitting on top of her staring into her bloodshot eyes. Her hair, usually combed, was messy and tied into two long braids.
"Six thirty in the morning. It's the last day of school for you, sweetums."
"We don't seem that excited," said Tanya.
"Hey, when you don't go to school anymore, summer breaks mean shit."
"Any word on Dash?" Tanya asked.
"No, not a one," Nixie said getting off her friend and running to the dresser drawer to find something to wear for school.
"How can you be so cheerful, Nixie? You read the papers. You saw how gruesome the deaths of the Blue Mountain Ranch were."
"I feel awful about Dash's folks, Tanya," Nixie said, tossing Tanya her jeans. "But if you weren't such a worry-wart you would have read that Dash was nowhere to be found and neither was his dragon, Bright Tooth. And I'll have you know, the bounty hunters looking for Dash are still on the hunt. They're not too convinced he's good and dead."
"That's stupid!" snapped Tanya. "And very selfish!"
"Well, all they want is money, sweetie. And so long as Dash has not been placed in the obituaries they're gonna keep looking. This has actually been helping the police forces. The bounty hunters have been asking around town looking for clues on their bounty, and get this, I overheard at the arcade that a local farm family near Crop Hollow saw Dash flying to the east with a big dragon by his side."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Tanya asked.
"I just did didn't I?" Nixie said putting her hands on her hips. "Besides, you were so overcome with grief that you cried yourself to sleep. If I know Dash, he'll be back. And we're going to find out who or what did this to his family."
As the day went by, the final bell of the school year rang. Tanya and Nixie ran outside to join the other students in the celebration. School reports, essays and notebook paper were tossed into the air as the kids ran home ready for a summer of games and the big Dragon Duel Grand Prix that had been hyped all year.
"Do you reckon he'll show up for the big tournament?" Tanya asked.
"Who knows," said Nixie.
"Hey!" shouted a tough looking student with a blond mullet. "You there, girl in the booty shorts!"
"Looks like he's addressing me," said Nixie.
"What do you want?" Tanya asked.
"Hey, that's no way to speak to the Regional Champion!" said one of the blond kid's goons. He had a group of three cronies behind him. They were silver badges over their shoulders. They were from the school's Duel Monsters team.
"No way," said Tanya. "Lord Braden of House Arundel!"
"Lord who-e-of-House-What-Now?" Nixie asked.
"Branden Arundel, the youngest House Lord in the kingdom," said Tanya. "He decimates his opponents with nasty Pyro monsters that deal painful burn damage."
"Glad one of you studies their Duel Monsters history," boasted the young lord, he was their age with messy red hair and bright green eyes. He wore elegant clothing and wore rings on all of his fingers. "I've heard much about our pretty little Dino-Duelist here, and how much she knows about Dash. You know where he is cutie-pie? I've got to hunt him down and claim those Gems my friend Marcus is offering for his defeat."
"Don't have plenty of money?" Tanya asked. "You have your own House to rule in and just bought that palace by the sea."
"You can never have too much money!" sneered Branden. "And I don't know what makes Dash so special, but if Gems like that are being offered as a reward for beating him, I can't refuse."
"Sorry to burst your bubble hot shot," said Nixie. "But we don't know where the hell he is. And it sickens me that you don't consider everything he's lost. His family was killed, no, butchered by unknown assailants and all you care about is beating him in a stupid duel."
"His concerns aren't mine!" laughed Branden. "But, Dash isn't the only one on my radar. Oh-ho-no. I've had my eye on your plump little ass since you first came to town, Nixie."
"Ew, what a creep," Tanya muttered with a roll of her eyes.
"So that's why I'm here, Nixie. I came for you, of course I don't expect you to fall into my arms that easily."
"You asking for a game?" Nixie sneered. "Because if you are, I'm ready."
"Perfect, the new dueling arenas have been built in an awesome new facility downtown. We can have our match there. If you win, which I doubt, I'll let you in on a little info I picked up on Dash."
Tanya gasped in shock.
"And," Branden continued. "I'm putting this up on the line! Pyrorex the Elemental Lord. One fiery and powerful dinosaur I found just for you if you accept this duel."
"And what if I lose?" Nixie asked.
Branden licked his lips seductively. "If you lose, you forfeit that legendary Ultimate Conductor Tyranno I've heard so much about. And...you go on a date with me!"
Tanya gulped. She searched to the ends of the kingdom looking for Ultimate Conductor Tyranno just for Nixie. She hoped her friend would refuse the match, but Nixie had that look in her eye and her pink lips formed into that snarky smile of hers which made her admired throughout the school.
"You got it, big boy. Let' duel!"
" I'll go first. I summon Ultimate Baseball Kid in Attack Mode (500)."
Brendan summoned a monster Nixie wasn't sure if it was a kid in fiery red clothing, a midget who just happened to be playing baseball, or a video game character in a world full of short people. Either way she wasn't impressed with its attack points.
" I set three cards facedown and end my turn."
Name: Brendan
[1]
Monster Zone (1): Ultimate Baseball Kid
Spell/Trap Zone (3): Set Cards
Life Points: 4000
Nixie drew a card from her deck. " I activate Heart of the Underdog. Now whenever I draw a normal monster I can reveal it to you to draw again. I special summon Gilasaurus in Attack Mode."
Gilasaurus made its appearance by power sliding on the field and whipping its tail around to intimidate Brendan.
" I can special summon Gilasaurus but at the cost of my opponent being able to summon a monster from their graveyard. Luckily for me you have no monsters in your graveyard. I activate Big Evolution Pill. By tributing one dinosaur monster I can normal summon any dinosaur from my hand without tributing. I normal summon Ultimate Tyranno in Attack Mode (3000)."
Gilasaurus shattered from the field as Nixie's second most powerful card appeared on her field with steps that would shatter the ground. Brendan knew she would summon something big.
" Ultimate Tyranno attack his Ultimate Baseball Kid! Destroying feet of Dinosaur Volcano!"
Ultimate Tyranno stampede towards Ultimate Baseball Kid ready to break the monster under its feet. Brendan however had a card for the attack.
" I activate DNA Transplant. This card changes the attribute of all monsters on the field to the attribute of my choosing. I pick the Attribute Fire. In addition Ultimate Baseball Kid gains 1000 ATK for every fire monster on the field except itself."
500 + 1000= 1500
Ultimate Tyranno still destroyed Ultimate Baseball Kid and delivered 1500 points of damage to the life points of Brendan. Brendan smirked upon his monsters destruction.
" I activate Call of the Haunted. I can special summon any monster from my graveyard in Attack Mode. I pick Ultimate Baseball Kid, the only monster in my graveyard."
Ultimate Baseball Kid came back swinging its back making its whole body roar with fire in the background. Thanks to DNA Transplant he came back with 1500 ATK instead of its normal 500 ATK points.
" I chain to the special summon of Ultimate Baseball Kid with Inferno Reckless summon. When I special summon a monster with 1500 or less ATK I can special summon two copies of the same monster from my deck. But my opponent can special summon three copies of the same monster they have."
" I only have one Ultimate Tyranno." Nixie said.
" Too bad. Say hello to two more Ultimate Baseball Kids." The monsters Ultimate Baseball Kid appeared lined up with the same fiery eyes as the rest of them. " Since I control two more pyro monsters the attack of all my other Ultimate Baseball Kid's is increased by two thousand. That's all three of them having the same ATK with two thousand point bonus."
1000 X 2= 2000
1500 +2000= 3500
" I set one card facedown and end my turn."
Name: Nixie
[1]
Monster Zone (1): Ultimate Tyranno
Spell/Trap Zone (2): Heart of the Underdog, 1 Set card
Life Points: 4000
Brendan drew one card from the top of his deck.
" It's time to end this and get that card of yours as well get to our date. Ultimate Baseball Kid on the far left attack Nixie's Ultimate Tyranno."
Ultimate Baseball Kid materialized a baseball in his hand, held it in his arm and hurled it at Ultimate Tyranno. It was like a meteor heading towards Ultimate Tyranno before going straight through the dinosaurs chest. Ultimate Tyranno was decimated into pixels by the fire of Ultimate Baseball Kid. However, all of Brendan's Ultimate Baseball Kid's ATK dropped to 2500 after losing a monster.
" Center and Right attack her direct-"
" I activate Threatening Roar. This card ends the battle phase."
Brendan was dumbfounded by this sudden card activation.
" Why didn't you use that card before my first Ultimate Baseball Kid attacked you?" Brendan asked.
" To keep my field small so when I finally do summon a monster it will be strong enough to destroy your monsters." Nixie said.
" I activate Dark World Dealing allowing all of us to draw one card but then discard a card. I discard Molten Zombie to draw one card." Brendan said.
Nixie drew Stegocyber and discarded the card into his discard pile.
" I set one card facedown and end my turn."
Name: Brendan
[0]
Monster Zone (3): All Ultimate Baseball Kid
Spell/Trap Zone (3): DNA Transplant, Call of the Haunted, Set card
Life Points: 2500
Nixie drew a card and showed it to Brendan. It was a normal monster.
" Since I drew the normal monster Frostsaurus I can draw an addition card." Nixie drew another card. She revealed what she drew. " Since I drew the monster KabaZaurs I can draw an addition card." Nixie drew a card before showing it to Brendan. " It's Crawling Dragon #2 which means I get to draw a card. Nixie drew two more cards until she drew a spell card.
" I activate Mystical Space Typhoon. I can target one spell/trap card on the field and destroy it. I choose to destroy your trap card DNA Transplant."
It made no difference at first destroying that trap because Nixie controlled no monsters but that would change once she used a good card.
" I play the spell card Moray of Greed. I can shuffle two water monsters from my hand back into the deck to draw three cards. I shuffle Frostsaurus and KabaZaurs." Nixie placed the two cards on top of her deck, KabaZaurs on the bottom and Frostsaurus on top, the deck shuffled by itself and she drew three cards. " Since Big Evolution Pills effect works for three turns I normal summon my ace monster Super Tyranno Conductor (3300)."
Lighting came down from the sky and out of the sky descended upon the ground was a Tyranno made out of a metallic case. It was bigger than her last monster as well strong enough to destroy Brandan's three monsters.
" Super Conductor Tyranno attack any Ultimate Baseball Kid and take away eight hundred of his life points."
Super Conductor Tyranno pulled itself forward and crushed one of the Ultimate Baseball Kid. Brendan was left with only two identical monsters.
" I set two cards facedown and end my turn."
Name: Nixie
[4]
Monster Zone (1): Ultimate Tyranno
Spell/Trap Zone (3): Heart of the Underdog, two set cards
Life Points: 3500
Brendan drew a card.
" I activate Call of the Haunted to special summon Molten Zombie in Attack Mode (1600)."
A monster that looked like a man boiling to death maybe already dead but brought back as undead came to Brendan's field.
" When this monster is special summoned I can draw a card from my deck."
Brendan drew a card from his deck. He would need something powerful to put a stop to Nixie's Super Conductor Tyranno.
" I overlay my two Ultimate Baseball Kids to special summon M-X Saber Invoker in Attack Mode (1600)." A brown armoured monster with a large clever and a red helmet appeared on Brendan's field. " By detaching one material I can special summon a level 4 or lower beast-warrior from my deck. I special summon Coach Soldier Wolfbark (1600)."
A bipedal wolf with silk blue fur, blue sunglasses, and yellow armor all over its body appeared on Brendan's field.
" I overlay my level 4 Molten Zombie and level 4 Coach Soldier Wolfbark to Xyz summon Castiel the Skyblaster (2000)."
A musketeer with a bird mask carrying a musket appeared on Brendan's field. His field was looking less like a pyro deck now.
" I can detach two materials from this card to shuffle one monster on your field to your deck using Castiel the Skyblaster's effect."
His monster fired a shot at the dinosaur putting it back in Nixie's deck. He was going to pay for taking her monster away.
" My Castiel and my M-X Saber Invoker attack you directly for game." Brendan smirked.
First came the clever that would cut almost half of her life points away.
" I activate Mirror Force." Nixie responded to his attack with a counter measure. " This card destroys all monsters you control in Attack position. Sorry but both your monsters are in Attack position get destroyed."
A dome of hexagon crystals surrounded Nixie's field richocheting both attacks towards Brendan's monsters destroying them both in the process.
" I set one card facedown and end my turn."
Name: Brendan
[1]
Monster Zone (0)
Spell/Trap Zone (1): Set card
Life Points: 1700
Nixie drew one card. It wasn't a normal monster so she couldn't draw an extra card and it was the last turn for the effect of Big Evolution Pill to take effect.
" I normal summon Super Conductor Tyranno in Attack Mode."
Her monster was summoned shadowed at first until it's eyes were glowing red it's teeth were bear.
" Super Conductor Tyranno attack Brendan-"
" I activate Compulsory Evacuation Device. I target one monster on your field and return it to your hand. I pick Super Conductor Tyranno."
Nixie felt a panic attack losing her monster. She knew there was no chance she would be able to summon it again.
" I set two cards facedown and activate Allure of Darkness. I draw two cards." She drew two cards and smiled at the results she had. " I will now send all cards in my hand to the graveyard because I don't have any dark monsters."
The first monster she sent was Tyranno Infinity the rest she was happy were in the graveyard.
" I end my turn."
Name: Nixie
[0]
Monster Zone (0)
Spell/Trap Zone (2): Set Cards
Life Points: 3500
Brendan drew a card from his deck finding a good card to play.
" I summon Elemental Hero Blazeman in Attack Mode (1200)." A man painted red with red visors and stringy hands appeared on Brendan's field. " When this card is normal or special Summoned I can add one Polmerization card from my deck to my hand." Brendan added Polmerization from his deck to his hand. " I didn't summon any monster last turn to lure you into a sense of false security. I play Polmerization fusing the Elemental Hero the Heat and Elemental Hero Blazeman to Fusion summon Elemental Hero Nova Master (2600)."
What first looked like a wizard Nixie realized was just a monster that could make fire come out of its hands appeared on Brendan's field.
" Attack with Searing Magic Star Shot!" Brendan shouted.
Elemental Hero Nova Master used fire from its fingertips that scorched into Nixie. She shielded herself from the blast but her life Points dropped to 900.
" I end my turn. Next turn you and I will be going on our date." Brendan smiled.
" What makes you think I didn't lead you into a false sense of security?" Nixie smirked.
Brendan's face turned scarlet red from the anger of what she was saying.
" I end my turn."
Name: Brendan
Monster Zone (1): Elemental Hero Nova Master
Spell/Trap Zone (0)
Life Points: 1700
" I activate Common Charity. I draw two cards and than remove one Normal Monster from my hand. If I don't draw a normal monster my hand goes to the graveyard. So it's like Allure of Darkness but with a different sacrifice."
Nixie drew two cards and banished SaberSaurus in her hand. Since he already declared his end phase she drew one card for her Draw Phase.
" I activate Monster Reincarnation. I discard a card from my hand to add a monster from my graveyard to my hand. I choose Tyranno Infinity." What she discarded was Element Saurus. She turned her Tyranno Infinity around and around to gloat about the monster she would summon. " I summon Tyranno Infinity (?/?)."
A brown dinosaur with big legs and small claws with a line of multicolour energy through it roared as it made its appearance.
" Tyranno Infinity gains 1000 ATK for every dinosaur banished. I have one so it has 1000 ATK. Not enough to take care of your monster and win this duel, until I play Soul Release. I can banish five monsters from my graveyard and I choose Gilasaurus, Ultimate Tyranno, Crawling Dragon # 2, KabaZaurs, and tearfully my ace monster Super Conductor Tyranno. That raises Tyranno's ATK to 6000. Tyranno Infinity attack his Elemental Hero Nova Master."
Nixie remembered dueling with Tyranno Infinity with Tanya against the Monarch brothers. First it swallowed flashing energy in its mouth and then it fired a blast of that light towards Brendan decimating his fire monster and his life Points.
Nixie walked up to Brenden and picked him up by his shirt, pulling his face towards hers. "Okay hotshot, I won the duel, now you either tell me and Lady Tanya where Dash is our I've just found myself my next punching bag.
"Wait! Wait!" cried Brenden, still in shock over Super Conductor Tyranno. "I'll talk, okay, I'll talk. Look, we heard from some farmers over in the apple orchids that they saw Bright Tooth soaring over the coast following a giant gold dragon. They said it was huge, it must have been an ancient dragon."
"Where did they go?" Tanya asked furiously, raising her fist into the air.
"I-I don't know!" babbled Brenden. "When the boys and I went to ask the farmers all they said was that they headed over the Blissful Sea."
"Was Dash with them?" Tanya asked.
"WAS DASH WITH THEM!" Nixie shouted, repeating the question.
"We-We don't know. The dragons were pretty high up, b-but they were sure it was Bright Tooth, they could see his deformed wings. But if that was Bright Tooth, then it could mean that Dash was with them."
"He has a point, Nixie," said Tanya. "Put him down."
Nixie growled like a beast and let the kid go. "Now scram!" she shouted.
Brenden and his boys darted away.
"The Blissful Sea?" Tanya said stroking her chin. "You don't think?"
"Now you get those thoughts outta your head missy. There is no way in the Five Hells that Dash went with the Elves. They don't care about anyone but themselves, and Dash is just a poor farm boy, so what could he have that they want. The only thing of value he and his family have is Nyx and he's dead."
Tanya's lips began to tremble.
"I'm sorry," said Nixie. "I didn't mean anything by it."
"I can't believe Dash's family was just murdered," said Tanya. "And so brutally. Who would do such a thing?"
"I don't know," said Nixie, resting her hands on her hips and swaying from side to side to stretch her muscles. "But whoever they were, they sure got a mean streak. But don't sweat it, if Bright Tooth is okay, I'm more than sure Dash is with him. He's a brave guy, he is."
"Thanks Nixie," said Tanya. "I sure hope he's okay wherever he is. But what if he is with the elves."
"I know what you're thinking girl, and the answer is no."
"But...Godiva is fast. She can fly us..."
"No," Nixie insisted. "First off, I hate flying. Secondly, the elves are serious isolationists. They'd shoot us down before we even reach their turf."
Tanya bit her lip. She needed to think of someway to get Nixie to come. She sure didn't want to make the journey alone. She just had to think of something.
