Cipher (1)07: The Straight Line is the Longest Road
Natasha's LP: 7800 Shins LP: 1000
"Shin? What is..the matter?" To see his friend go pale and quiet like that, was enough cause for Sky to be concerned. And it all happened when he drew that card from his deck. "Now I get it. It was me.." Shin started to chuckle. "Aheh. Well. No more nice guy then! I activate.. Chaos Force!" And as easily as that, he had given in. "Shin!?" And Sky and Natasha observed with great distress, how Shins rank up spell transformed his Xyz monster. The Moral Leader Norito(6/2700/2000) evolved into a higher class of Shinto priest, the previous form attaching tself to its new body; a masked Cxyz monster(7/3000/2500) in white robes. "I call this; Simon the Great Moral Leader! He is totally and completely unaffected by monster effects!" Shin said as he placed one trap card down before him and ended his turn. "You were right after all, Nat! Does that make you happy?" Shin asked her with a nasty smile on his face.
"No! I did not want to be right!" And yet she was. Crystal had chosen Shin as the next duelist to use the Chaotic spell. "But how did she.. When did she give it to him?" Crystal never had gotten the chance to talk to Shin again after the duel, and Natasha did not see anything out of the ordinary take place during the duel. "Perhaps a defeat in a duel is enough to pass on that card." Sky theorized. And thet theory led him to another shocking thought. "Subito may be infected too!" He looked towards the exit of the gym room. "There is no getting out now, Sky!l!" Alas, Shin had done the same thing Crystal did during their duel and sealed every exit with glowing red energy. Nobody could get in or out, nobody could see or hear them. "You are probably right though; Crystal defeated me, so I became the keeper of this awesome power. I will share this with you Nat! Together, as Chaos duelists, we can defeat Sky and vanquish his Number!"
"Not if I save you before it gets that far!" Natasha's turn began. "Legendary Wind-Up Key!" She activated the quickplay spell card she had drawn this turn, during her standby phase. "I flip the positions of all my Wind-Up monsters!" Her Wind-Up Rat(3/600/600) and Wind-Up Hunter(3/1600/500) were moved to a face-down defense Wind-Up Magician(4/600/1800) returned from Wind-Up Rabbits banishment, in defense position. "Monsters that are face-down, can be flipped around if they were not summoned that turn!" Natasha switched her Hunter and Rat cards back into face-up attack position as soon as she entered the main phase. Because they were not face-up for that time, the keys in their back had wound back to their initial setting. "Rat's effect activates! I can special summon a Wind-up from my graveyard!" Wind-Up rat twisted its key and rebuilt Wind-Up Shark(4/1500/1300).
Because a Wind-Up monster's effect was activated, both the Magician and Natasha's field spell, Wind-Up Factory, could put their own abilities to use. Wind-Up magician special summoned an orange punching robot, Wind-Up Warrior(4/1200/1800) from Natasha's deck. And the Factory would search her deck for another Wind-Up monster, and add it to her hand. Natasha found a Wind-Up Bat and put it in her hand. "Quickplay spell card!" This time however, Shin chained to her field spell's effect. "Shared Ride! Each time you add a card to your hand through an effect this turn, I can draw one card!" Shin added a card to his hand, while Natasha was still looking for hers. "Thanks Nat!" Shin laughed at her once again.
"..Cant you fight it all? Shin. Just a moment ago you wanted to destroy these Chaos cards!" She snapped at him, thinking that would get a reaction. But not even her usual harshness seemed to bother him. That unpleasant smile was still carved into Shins face. "... Then I must destroy it myself. I activate the effects of my Wind-Up Shark and Wind-Up Warrior!" By winding up their bodies, Natasha could level up her monsters. Shark(5/1500/1300) altered its own level by 1 star. Warrior(5/1800/1800) boosted its level and its attackpoints. Natasha had gotten the levels she wanted. "I summon Wind-Up Arsenal Zenmaioh!" The Shark and Warrior were re-assembled into a driller cyborg(5/2600/1900) in defense position. "Zenmaioh? Trying to destroy my trap card perhaps? I would't count on it!" Shin scoffed. Zenmaioh could destroy 2 set cards on the field. It was a power he did not intend to witness. "While Norito is attached to Simon, my CXyz monster can switch a monsters position and negate it's effects!" Simon detached its other material and swept its Shide paper streamers around, ensnaring Zenmaioh with them and forcing it to assume an offensive stance.
"I wanted to attack with a different monster. But now that it has come to it, I will end the duel along with your Chaos card!" Natasha flipped her other trap card. "Overwind! I double a monsters attackpoints!" Her trap turned the key in Zenmaioh's back a dangerous amount of times, charging the Arsenal machine(5200/1900) with bolts of energy. "You said CXyz are still vulnerable in battle, Shin. I will show you how right you were!" Zenmaioh charged his drill straight towards CXyz Simon. "Heh. Trap card: Magic Cylinder! Your attack is negated and you take damage equal to its attackpoints!" Unfortunately during the middle of its attack run, Zenmaioh disappeared in one Cylinder and came out another. "!?" And his drill shot right into Natasha instead. "Kyaaah!" The impact left no injuries, but the force sent her against the wall.
Natasha's LP: 2600
"Natasha!" Sky shouted. "Shin! You are hurting your friend! She is not your enemy!" His words were all he could use to try and put an end to this violence. "Friends? I do not need friends anymore! I don't need anything!" Shin ignored Sky and looked down at Natasha, who had taken the damage pretty hard. "What's the matter?And if she were to use Wind-Up Bats effect, his Shared Ride spell would allow him to draw even in her turn. Natasha did not get up, but she did continue her turn and utter a few commands. "I.. overlay Hunter and Rat to summon Wind-Up Zenmaines in defense position" By attaching the toy archer and toy mouse to a rank 3 monster, her pincer droid(3/1500/2100) could be xyz-summoned. "And I end my turn."
"Heh. You will adjust to the power soon enough. You just need a couple more shots." Shin detached the last xyz material from the Great Simon. This time the CXyz priest captured Zenmaines in the streamers and forced it to attack position. "Your monster can not negate its own destruction anymore now!" And the CXyz priest made a whiplash motion with the streams, which turned rigid and tore the pincer Wind-Up machine into pieces. "Ah!" The debris crashed down in front of her. "I pfeel sorry for you, Nat. You are so weak and terrified. But soon you will have part of this fearsome power too!"
Natasha's LP: 1100
"And then what?" Natasha asked. "What?" And Shin had difficulty comprehending the question. "Once you have Sky's Number, and all the other Numbers. Then what?" She clarified it for him, as she tried to push herself up again. Though for the time being she was too weak to do so. "Ha. Aha.. That's not important! Once we have all that power, we can do whatever we want! Why limit outselves to one plan, to one desire?" Shin continued his turn and summoned a Magical Exemplar(4/1700/1400). "Nobody can stop us, nobody tells us what out future is!" He activated the spell card, Spell Power Grasp, to place one spell counter on the female mage. The Exemplars own effect created two more counters for her to hold, as a spell had recently been used. "Summon Flelf!" Exemplar used up 2 of her spell counters to revive the elven fencer mage(2/800/1300) from his cemetery. "Flelf, absorb the level stars of this monster in my hand!" By revealing the Spellbook Magician of Prophecy to his opponent, its two levels were added to those of Flelf(4/800/1300). "I xyz-summon Gagaga Cowboy in defense position!" Exemplar and Flelf were overlayed to release a Rank 4 monster from his extra deck; the pistol wielding Gagaga Cowboy(4/1500/2400). "Once a turn, while in defense mode, it may inflict 800 points of damage!" The Cowboy took out one of its guns, loaded it with an xyz material, and fired it off like a bullet. "Haaa!" It pierced Natasha's shoulder. And the life-like pain of that effect attack drained what little strength she had recovered up until now.
Natasha's LP: 300
"Shin.. I know you are in there some.." Natasha began to speak, but a coughing fit stopped her. "..somewhere? I am out there, Natasha! The new me is all there is!" Shin sneered and proceeded to pass the turn to her. "No. You may be inattentive at times, childlike and easy to infuriate, but you are not someone who would hurt others and not care!" Natasha steadied her hand and drew her card. "I'd choose the fool over the brute any day!" She summoned her monster Wind-Up Bat(1/300/500). "By switching itself to defense position, Wind-Up Bat can add a Wind-Up monster from the graveyard to my hand!" Natasha used her toy bat to return Wind-Up Shark to her hand. At that time Wind-Up Factory sent another Wind-Up Shark into her hand from her deck. "Then I activate Zenmailfunction, a spell which summons a Wind-Up monster from the cemetery, with its effects negated." Natasha's card repaired her Wind-Up Honeybee(1/100/300), albeit with pieces missing which hampered its utility. "Since I summoned a Wind-Up monster. I can special summon both Wind-Up Sharks from my hand!" Two mechanical sharks(4/1500/1300) appeared in the air, swimming around Wind-Up Magician. "Shin.. Here I come. Xyz-summon!"
"What's next, Wind-Up Zenmaister? You tried all your other Xyz monsters already, this one will wind up just the same!" Shin had nothing to fear from any Wind-up due to Simons monster effect immunity. "No. Not them." Natasha overlayed both Sharks with the Magician, which already showed that she was not summoning a Wind-up card. "Sky was not the only one who helped me." The 3 level 4 monsters became an armored female warrior(4/2600/2000) who could fly through the air on blue butterfly wings. "That is.." Sky had seen something like this before, that card was like the Butterspies! "Lucy?" Shin only knew one duelist who even used that theme. "Yes, Lucy. She approached me some time ago, before her parents decided to move with her out of town. Ever since Azar saved her life, she wanted to help me out. But she did not think she was that good a duelist, so she gave me some of her best cards to put in my deck instead. Like this one." Natasha detached one material from the Papilloperative. "Once a turn, she can give herself 300 attackpoints for each xyz-material on the field!" Since there were currently 3 materials attached to monsters (Gagaga Cowboy: 1, Night Papilloperative: 2), her xyz-monster(3500/2000) gained 900 attackpoints.
"Lucy.. helped you?" Shin repeated to himself. It did not sound any more believable because of that. "We were friends, are friends. So are you, Shin. And this is what a friend does!" She entered her battlephase. "Papilloperative attacks CXyz Great Moral Leader Simon!" The butterfly assassin spread her wings, releasing a hail of deadly powder with one flap. "Natasha. If you attack do not attack Gagaga Cowboy , it will." Sky warned her. The Cowboy was the greater threat right now. "I realize that. But.. I have to take that.. thing.. down." That was the source of all this misery, that chaos abomination. "Finish it!" The Papilloperative's poison found its target, invading the body of the chaos priest and causing him to burn up from the inside out. Malevolent red energy splattered everywhere like blood. The CXyz had been slain.
Shins LP: 500
"!" In that instant, Shin felt an enormous weight fall of his back. "Natasha!" Gone was his maniacal joy, his malice. All he felt now was anguish at having put Natasha through this much. "Damn it. Damn .." Shin did not care about the duel anymore, he wanted to quit. But the forces that were controlling this duel would not let him, the monsters were still real and so was the pain. "Get..!" So Shin janked the rank-up spell card out of his graveyard and tossed it away as far as possible. "Out!" And finally was free, free to surrender and the match. "Natasha!" He rushed over to her, she had used up all her stamina to make that last move, so she could barely keep her eyes open. "I am sorry! I am sorry! You were right, it was me!"
Shins LP: 0
"You'd... better be." Natasha managed to tell him with a weak smile. "Guess I am still not as a good.. as you though.." And then she closed her eyes. "!" Shin gasped. "She is just asleep, Shin." Sky walked up to them. "It is over now, she has earned her rest." He had checked the walls of the gym room. The barrier was gone. "Even so.. This is all my fault." Shin stared at his own hands, one holding Natasha and the other still holding the D-pad that he had used to hurt her. The CXyz card was nowhere to be seen. "It was as if a completely different me started living in my body. Same memories, but completely different thoughts. I couldn't do anything at all. And each time I hurt her, I put that power inside her.. " It was not at all like the time he had been influenced by his Number. There he at least felt in control of his body. That was the major difference; one forced self-control, the other tore it away.
"... It was not you, that is what matters. Never blame yourself for what you couldn't do anything about." Sky said, wondering if that was even true. He noticed several times during that duel where things could have gone differently; better moves Shin could have made. Perhaps he was subconsciously holding himself back after all? Shin had enough on his mind however, so Sky kept that to himself. Secrets had their use after all. "It was the same for Azar. You never blamed him for the things he did as Chaos." Instead he reminded Shin of the fact that this power used to dwell inside one body; Azars. "Yeah.. he said it was changing him too. But it happened so much faster with me. Was I just weaker.. or.. is Chaos getting stronger?"
...
Once Janus had been delivered to the nearest law enforcers, Darcy, Azar and Thomas made their way out of the city, heading towards the city where it all began for Azar in his new car. "It feels strange, to look at yourself like this." Thomas was in the drivers seat now and in the rearview window he could see Azar. Or rather, he could see the Masked Raider. "But it functions. Though we shouldn't have left my motorcycle back home. It has become a trademark of mine. I customized it myself and all." Thomas let out a deep sigh. Being himself just felt.. boring.
"I am glad you did decide to help, Thomas." Azar could not have moved to the next part of his plan without him. By disguising himself as the other costumed duelist, the one the enforcers at home were not actively looking for, he could return to his friends and help them with the coming crisis. "I am sure you can get your outfit back afterwards." Darcy chimed in. "Oh that's no issue. As far as I am concerned, we are two apples from the same tree.. Dusk. We masked heroes have to stick together! And to tell you the secret. When the Number duelists started attacking my town, and I decided to do something about it, I simply went online and purchased a costume based on one of my favorite shows. It's easy to get, a lot of people have it." Which was why it was never tracked to him, thousands of people had purchased that costume. "In fact, We could get spares! If you really want to confuse the enemy. We could go as a trio of Masked Raiders! They will never know which of is which!" Thomas got excited just thinking about it. He had always wanted allies. "I don't think that would work. Not for me at least." With how tight-fitting that whole get-up was, nobody would mistake Darcy for Azar if she wore it. "Ah yes. A pity. I suppose we shouldn't waste the time we have by going back."
"You said your city had more than one Number duelists in it?" Azar inquired as he found that topic far more interesting. "Yes. I had conquered a few Numbers by the time I went to Neo Avalon. But I never found their creator. I assume it was one of those Catalysts, those villains you keep talking about." Thomas had read up on the incident in Azars city. It was comparable to what he had experienced, albeit on a lesser scale. "Yes. The Catalysts. I met them.. all nine. Seven so far have caused Number outbreaks like these. But this time the outbreak is different, it is not to spread Numbers..."
"!" In the middle of his sentence, a shot of pure agony ended up in the back of his head. "Azar? Is it.." It was not the first time that Azar reacted this way. "Yes, Darcy... Thomas" And Azar too knew what it meant. "They are not letting me go that easily. We are being followed." Somewhere on this road was one who controlled Chaos.
"Perhaps we can outspeed them!" Thomas preferred avoiding ambushes. "I think it is too late for that." Azar looked to his left and saw very familiar army SUV. "That is the vehicle Ruby took.." And that was not the only familiar sight one could spot through the window. "Don't we know that man?" Darcy never forgot a face, and the one that popped up from the other car was one even Azar and Thomas would recognize. "Korose?" It looked like he was manning a battle station. But instead of manning a turret, which that car did not have anyway, he had activated his D-pad. "Is he..doing what I think he is doing?" Darcy gasped as Korose summoned a monster with his D-pad, a swordsman who jumped in the air. "Holy..!" Thomas swerved to the left to avoid the swordsman attack. Several other cars veered off the road entirely in the resulting turmoil. "Yes I do think he is trying to get us killed!" Thomas regained control quickly. But they would have to get of the road quickly if they wanted to keep others out of danger.
"Korose.. is the enemy? How..when did Chaos get to him?"
(To be Continued in Cipher (1)08: Rules of Engagement)
New Cards used by Shin Artega
CXyz Simon the Great Moral Leader
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Rank-Up-Magic: Chaos Force
Shared Ride
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Magic Cylinder
New Cards used by Natasha Hessdalen
Wind-Up Warrior
Wind-Up Bat
Night Papilloperative
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Legendary Wind-Up Key
Zenmailfunction
