Chapter 12: The Ice Princess and the Hell Rider

Sarina sets the stack of pancakes on the kitchen table in front of CJ as she takes the apron off of her.

"Sorry for the wait." She said as she went over to the cabinet to get plates.

"Oh no, don't worry about it. I still can't get over the fact that you made me breakfast."

"Well it won't mean anything unless you try it." Sarina handed him a fork.

C.J. turned to the stack and studied it.

"It won't bite so stop poking it, it'll fall over." She said watching him.

"Easy for you to say; you probably put some Kaijudo magic or whatever into it to make it come alive and bite my arm off."

Sarina sighed and took her fork, taking the top cake off the stack. She cut a piece off with her fork and ate it with no problem.

"See, Nothing. Now try it."

C.J. didn't trust her but he reluctantly took one and did the same thing.

"So…? How is it?" Sarina came closer eagerly awaiting his approval.

C.J. chewed some more and swallowed. "Well, I'll say this. This is probably the most-"

C.J. froze midsentence, making gagging motions, quickly tilting his head back, as if he passed out.

"Uh… C.J.?" Sarina asked.

Tsume materialized onto the table, seeing C.J.'s lifeless body and looking back at Sarina. "You killed him… You know divorce papers could've worked better in this situation."

Sarina glared at the Cat. "Ok at first it was cute but now you're pushing your luck, so I suggest you drop it while you still have 9 lives."

Tsume felt a chill in his spine and stepped back. "I deeply apologize."

"Apology accepted. Now then to the task at hand… Holy Crap my cooking killed him!"

"Killed who?" C.J. looked at her. He reached over and took 3 more pancakes and began to mow them down.

Tsume and Sarina stared at the teen.

"Um… What?"

"We thought you choked to death!" they harmonized.

"Oh, my bad… I think I went to pancake heaven for a second." C.J. explained.

"So you like it?" Sarina sparked.

"Are you kidding? This is phenomenal." He replied happily. "Really filling too."

"Glad you enjoying it." She replied. She took a few more and the two began to eat breakfast.

A while passed since breakfast and C.J. and Sarina sat in the living room, deck building with set 17 cards that Adrian advised they use.

"So… C.J." Sarina sat her deck down and sat back on the sofa. "A deal's a deal. Who taught you Kaijudo Art?"

C.J. nodded slightly. "Yeah I did promise that. Well, I never told any of my friends this, especially Jake. Back when I lived in California… I had a friend. Basically when Jake moved to NYC, I was left alone without a best friend. That's when I met him."

"Who'd u meet?" She asked.

"His name was Dante Roman."

"Dante Roman?" Sarina repeated. "Son of Mitchell Roman, Founder of the DCA, that Dante Roman?"

"Yeah, go figure." C.J. chuckled. "Dan and I. We became friends fast. He got into Duel Masters but I was terrible at the game, I couldn't get the hang of it. He tried to teach me but… I just couldn't. Even so he never gave up. But then he showed me something he could do…"

"He released Kaijudo Energy from his hand didn't he…?" Sarina concluded.

C.J. nodded. "I was so fascinated by how he did it, that I wanted to try it. We did the training like we did earlier and sure enough… I succeeded."

"Whatever happened to Dante?" Sarina asked.

"I don't know. From what I heard two years ago, he died in a boat accident. The story was covered up fast as Mr. Roman didn't want to make the death of his son a big deal. That was the last I heard of him."

"I'm sorry…"

"Nah, don't be. Since I moved here Five months ago, I've made a lot of friends that are irreplaceable. And nothing could ever change that."

Out of nowhere a loud boom shook the house as C.J. and Sarina both darted to the front door.

"What is that?"

"Galmuta, Matchless Fear Lord." Sarina replied as they stared at the Purple giant.

"C.J.!" A voice called from the giant.

C.J. froze. "Could it be…?" he ripped the door open and ran outside.

"Hey wait!"

C.J. stopped in front of the Dragon as it looked down. The man walked up to make himself visible to him. "It's been a while, hasn't it Bro?"

"Dante… You're alive…"

Dante smirked. "Hate to say it, but I wish I could say the same of you in 20 seconds. "Ryukuma, kill him."

"Understood…" He drew his Katana and locked onto his Target. Ryukuma dove at the Duo, both of them frozen in fear.

"C.J. Move it!" Sarina pulled C.J back out of harm's way, but realized that the creature's blade was over her head.

A large boom rang into the air afterward…

Meanwhile at Dylan's house, Wyatt and Dylan were deck building in a similar fashion to Sarina and C.J. Not needing to go through the similar training as those two did, Wyatt just needed to make sure that Dylan understood the chemistry of Light and Water together. And speaking of chemistry…

"Buenos Dias, Dylan." A young girl, roughly eleven or twelve said as she ran down the stairs early that morning.

"Hey Maria." Dylan said without turning. "Mom left breakfast on the table.

"Ok. Hi Wyatt." Maria smiled.

"Oh uh… Good morning…" He shyly blushed. Dylan caught sight of that and took quick glances at the both of them. He shrugged his shoulders and continued to construct his deck.

"What'd she make?" Maria asked afterward.

"Bacon, Eggs, that stuff." He replied turning. It was then that he noticed the creature on her shoulder. "Um, is that a Marshal Queen?"

Maria looked at her shoulder seeing the creature rests peacefully. It was mermaid-type creature having a lavender dress cover the torso of her body. Her arms made of water made the ripples on her arms look like white spirals as she brushed the pink squid tentacles out of her face that made up her hair. Finally she carried a ammonite shell as her crown on top of her hair, signifying her role in the undersea kingdom.

"Isn't she beautiful? I got her after winning a Tournament last week." Maria smiled.

"You won a tournament?" Dylan asked. "You didn't tell me."

"Yes I did." She replied back. "You were too busy with your team that you've been ignoring me. You probably didn't realize that I moved onto C-Rank too did you?"

"Wha you did?" He asked.

"How could you ignore you little sister like that, shame on you!" Wyatt defended.

Dylan gave him a sideways look. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"Wyatt knows what I'm going through."

"Yup, 100%." He perked.

Dylan rolled his eyes. "Just go and eat breakfast."

Maria skipped out of the room and Dylan turned to his companion. "What's with the sudden attitude change, you went from smart-alec Starnoid to a love struck kid going through puberty."

"I think I might've developed a crush on your sister." Wyatt admitted.

Dylan sat there for a good second. "You can't date her."

"Why not?" Wyatt asked disappointed.

"Because… She's human and you're a Starnoid, whatever it is. Never gonna work."

"Seems to be working perfectly fine for CJ and Sarina, explain that."

Dylan laughed lightly. "Nice one."

"Not only that I wanna see how powerful she is." Wyatt mentioned. "She's a C-rank even though she's been dueling for a few months. She's moving on up just like C.J." Dylan added.

"Interesting… In this case, this should be fun to watch." Wyatt cleared his throat. "Hey Maria, wanna duel with your brother?"

Maria popped her head around the corner of the kitchen with a piece of bacon in her mouth. "OK. Just be careful, I've gotten really strong since the last time we played against each other.

"What will this prove exactly?" Dylan asked.

"Oh nothing, just satisfying my curiosity." Wyatt said.

Maria scrapped her plate into the garbage can and ran out into the living room as Dylan fixed his deck. "Ready Chica?"

"Yep, whenever you are."

Dylan and his sister sat across from each other and set the shields on the table.

"Duel Start!" They said together.

"Ladies first." Dylan motioned.

Maria nodded and set nature mana. "I end my turn."

Dylan drew and set Light mana. "I end as well."

"Maria drew and set water mana. " I cast Faerie life and gain an extra mana. I end."

Dylan drew and like her, set water mana. "I Generate Quick Defense and end my turn." He set the Light Cross gear onto the table as Maria drew her next card.

She set more nature mana, now having two of each. She tapped one of each.

"I Summon Emeral." She set a card in her shield zone and picked a new card from there. "Afterward…" She tapped the other two. "I summon Pocopen, the Counterattacking Fairy. That's all."

Dylan drew and set mana. "I summon Ardent Lunatron and end my turn."

Maria drew her card and set mana. "I summon Malibu Dancer and end my turn."

Dylan drew his card and set it. "I summon Moonedge and end my turn."

"Didn't get a great hand did you?" Wyatt asked Dylan.

"Nope. Didn't expect her to spam creatures like this either."

"Trust me, it's gonna get much worse." She smiled. she drew and tapped 3 mana.

"Charge, Queen of the rushing waves: Marshal Queen!"

She threw the Evo Creature on top of Malibu dancer as Maria smiled. She set her only remaining card in her hand and picked up the card set by Emeral.

"Shield Trigger X: Octillion Force!"

She slid it under Marhsal Queen and tapped Pocopen. "Pocopen attack his shield Ike!"

Dylan snickered and tapped Ardent. "Ardent blocks."

"Marshal Queen, Triple Break his shields. Those three in the middle."

Dylan nodded and picked the 3 cards up , leaving the end shields remaining.

Wyatt whistled. "Not bad!"

Maria smiled. "Thanks."

Dylan looked at his shields, none of them triggers.

"What crappy luck." He drew and set one of the broken shields to his mana.

"I summon a second Ardent Lunatron and I cross Quick defense onto Moonedge. Due to that his power increases to 5000 and he becomes a Cyber Moon and Blocker. That should hold you for a while."

Maria drew and set mana. "I cast spiral gate, and send one of your Ardent's to your hand. Then I cast Mana Crisis and destroy one of your light mana.

Dylan reluctantly nodded and sent a mana to the grave.

"Marshal Queen, Double Break."

"Ardent blocks." Dylan sent his blocker to the grave.

"I end my turn." Maria told him.

Dylan drew and replaced his lost light mana. "I summon Aqua Skydiver and end my turn."

Maria drew and set mana. "I summon Mint Mirage, and evolve her into Marshal Queen."

"You gotta be kidding."

Like before Maria set her card into shields and picked the same one up.

"Shield Trigger X: Octillion Force. I cross it onto my Emeral.

"Not good."

"Emeral, Double Break!"

"Ardent Blocks." Dylan sent Ardent to the grave.

"Marshal Queen, Double Break!"

"Skydiver Blocks." Dylan returned it to his hand.

"Marshal Queen attack this shield."

Dylan nodded and picked up the card. "Finally Shield Trigger: Aqua Surfer, return the Crossed Marshal Queen to your hand."

"No problem." Maria replied as she sent it to her hand.

Dylan drew and set mana. "It'd be a miracle if I came back from this. I end my turn."

"Smart move…" Maria told him. She drew and set mana. "I Summon Malibu Dancer and evolve her back into Marshal Queen. Break his last shield."

"Moon edge blocks."

"Emeral Break his last shield, Marshal Queen Todomeda."

Dylan looked at his last shield. " Crystal Zweilancer… Good game sis."

"It feels so good to beat my older brother at his own game." She smiled in response.

"Maybe I should be training her instead of you, what do you think?" Wyatt remarked.

"There's the smart-alec Starnoid, I missed you."

Wyatt laughed. "Well then, should we get back to deck building or you're good for now?"

"Nah I'm good."

"Great, then do you mind me and your sister hanging out for a little while?"

"Yeah, sure whatev- wait, repeat that again?"

"We already made plans to hang out once we were done here. Besides, I wanna see her skills in other situations." Wyatt said. "So we decided that we're going to TCG Towers for a bit."

"Not without a chaperone you're not."

"Man Dylan, you're so overprotective." Maria shrugged her shoulders.

"Sure thing, maybe you can get more practice in while we're over there."

"I'll let that one slide…" Dylan glared at him. "Just get your stuff together so we can leave."

Sarina shielded herself from the attack, but nothing happened. The air above her felt warm as she saw molten feathers drop from under her.

"There's no way…" her vision darted upward as she realized Blaze Phoenix blocking Ryukuma's Blade.

"What are you doing here?" Dante asked Jamie, who stood on her Phoenix with her arms crossed.

"Stopping you for making a mistake." She replied. "This is my territory so I suggest you step off. Unless of course you want me to tell Drake that you went hunting the Avatars behind my back."

"Hunting the Avatars?" Sarina repeated…

"Ryukuma, at ease." Dante ordered.

Galumta retracted his blade and slid it into its sheath. "So close too…"

"Fine then, I'll leave them to you." Dante said. "But don't expect to order me around just because your Drake's puppy. I'm known as the Hell Rider for a reason. I'm the only man who had the courage to Ride with the Devil and survive."

Jamie shook her head. "Sounds like fun. Maybe I'll try it."

Dante smirked. Ryukuma began to float into the air. "We'll met again old friend."

Dante and Galumta disappeared soon after as Jamie turned to the two of them.

"Are you two OK?" She asked.

Her words shocked them both, but they nodded nonetheless.

Jamie gave a small smile. "Thank goodness."

Jamie and Blaze Phoenix flew off as well, before the two of them could say anything.

"That was…" Sarina began to say.

"Just what is going on?"

Elsewhere, in a wide open forest-like area, Karon and Jake lay on the ground, beaten up, clothing damaged as they look up at Adrian and Nikki.

"Come on, you can do better than this." Adrian told them

"On you feet, we're not done. If you want these two cards, you have to work harder.

"Alphadios, Shining Emperor." Adrian said as he revealed the card in his hand.

"Dorballom, Shadow King." Nikki flipped the card in her hand.

"The Embodiments of Light and Darkness are awaiting your call to them to aid you in your future battles. You're only option to gain their power, is to reach out them with every fiber of your body. Only then, can you command them."

"Damn…" Jake hit the ground. "Who'd knew this would be so hard."

"Those things drain an extreme amount of Kaijudo Energy. Nonetheless, we've been through worse." Karon mentioned. "So why the hell is controlling these light weights such a trial?"

"Well it's not like we're gonna give up."

"Got that right. Let's go, Partner." Karon turned to Jake.

"Right; Partner." Jake nodded.

The duo charged Adrian and Nikki afterward…

[END]