For the first time in his life, he was grateful he had a random deck of useless trading cards at his side. As the enemies tried to launch attacks at him, the surprising allies that were two dragons and a magician seemed to fend them off quite well. He was very grateful that Arthur gave him a deck to run around with, for he would most certainly be dead…what with the magic spells and the guns running around. How many times did his clothes get horribly ripped? How many times did he have to resort to using a healing spell? God bless Kiku for throwing in a Healing Wind or two in here…
"Voi! The bastard won't stay down!"
"How about I take a try here?"
Everyone jumped out of the way as Lovino stepped forward, his blade coming out of his cape and charging toward Rizal. He took a deep breath and drew his card, and instantly Celestial Sword – Eatos came into his hand. He figured that it might as well do and threw on a one-on-one duel with the princely character, dodging bullets that his magician couldn't control.
"What's wrong?" Lovino looked a little peeved. "You're not going to hurt me?"
"That's the problem: even if I try to, I can't. The sword won't let me." He dodged another spell and got his leg nicked by another bullet. "This one, on the other hand, can."
Another card flew into the air, and two swords landed in his hand and slashed through Lovino. With the third blade in his mouth, he threw it at the crystal above them, hearing it crackle with energy. Lovino was about to say something when he saw that blood was coming from his arms. Then the pain came.
"It's a little subtle, but it works out fine." Rizal turned to him. "That's one down…fifty billion to go."
"Rizal! Thank god I can contact you!"
He turned his head and saw Matthew as he materialized out of nowhere, taking in the energy that was leaking from the crystal. No one had to say anything as Matthew dived right into Lovino's body, and he watched as the fingers twitched and he slowly rose to his feet, purple eyes flashing back to him.
"You doing all right, Matthew?"
"This will work well enough…" He shook his head. "He's unconscious, so there won't be resistance anytime soon…"
"Need a healing spell?"
"I got that handled…FIRST AID!"
A light spell rained down on the both of them, instantly healing all their wounds. Before they could breathe, another gunshot echoed out. Francis had just dealt with his Blue Eyes, and now he's after Rizal. He turned to Matthew, who grinned.
"How many monsters can you get out?"
"Five total."
"You handle Francis."
"With pleasure."
Rizal quickly summoned a Sky Paladin and the Herald of Creation as he charged toward the French man, dodging the bullets as fast as he could. If he knew anything, it was that ordinary men could in fact dodge bullets if they were athletic enough, and god knows Rizal fit that category. He jumped over his head and roundhouse kicked him, barely dodging the snake that was behind him.
"God, you have no idea how I wanted to kick your ass." Rizal chuckled.
Francis said nothing as he started shooting toward him, missing for some strange reason. The back of his newly spiritual senses seemed to take the form of Francis screaming at him to get down and all that stuff. They must be snapping out of it…either that or I'm really going insane.
He looked up and realized that he had stopped for a minute, aiming one of his arms at him. Rizal stared at him for a minute before seeing that same arm turn into a huge gun, aiming right at him. He strained his brain for a few minutes, trying to remember just what was the story behind the costume. All he could remember was that he was a goofball who was secretly really strong and only acted like a jerk just so people can ease up around him.
Oh, and he has the power in one of his arms to destroy entire cities.
…
Oh crap.
His mind quickly dug through the situation, knowing that he can't stop the gun from charging and everyone else can't come here in time to either block it or otherwise. No spell card can try to block a gun that can destroy civilizations…so he might as well try the oldest trick in the book…
He dashed forward, running as fast as he could, and just when Francis was about to fire, he kicked his arm upward until the gun fired itself right into the crystal. The explosion left all of them in a huge cloud of dust, and Francis on his back.
"Geez! The French really doesn't know what they're doing half the time, don't they?" He joked, standing up. "At least it's-"
He looked up.
"…no way…the crystal's still standing…" He shook his head. "Oh great…so much for that. Now what?"
He turned his head and realized that he wasn't hearing some complaining from Francis anymore (maybe he's losing his abilities?). But instead of that, he stood up and cleaned off the gun-arm-thing that was at his side, turning back into a regular arm.
"Thanks. Being manipulated really sucks."
"…back to normal?"
"Yeah. Of course, that crystal has to do something about it."
"No kidding."
Rizal turned his head and realized that despite the crystal still standing, a few of the people around them were snapping out of it. Heck, he even saw Lovino snapping out of it and yelling for Matthew to get the heck out of his body, which he gladly does. Fortunately, his sister seems to be among them.
"The battle isn't over yet, Rizal." Francis grinned. "I've heard from Antonio that you were one of his greatest enemies, no?"
"Well, I shouldn't disappoint then." He pulled out his blades. "I'm going after the crystal."
"We'll handle the rest of them here."
He shook his head and jumped upward, slashing hard into the crystal and getting the cracks deeper and deeper until half of it had fallen apart. He grinned: this was definitely something that will be over soon.
*BAM!*
A wave of pain ran through his body, and he looked down in shock to see that someone had shot him right through the stomach. With the last of his energy, he slashed right through the rest of the crystal, seeing it shatter into crystal dust. Rizal flipped in the air and barely saw who shot him before the mist clouded over him.
It was Ludwig.
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"Gah!"
"Oi, kuya! Don't tell me you tripped!"
He blinked in confusion. He was face down in the dirt, and perfectly fine. Rizal slowly stood up as he saw his sister staring at him like he was the craziest person in the world (compared to the others, that is hard to do), and to his surprise his eyes were starting to itch again. He rubbed his head.
"Sorry, there was something here." He lied. "W-what time is it, anyway?"
"Eh? It's only five-thirty two! Come on, we're going to the party whether you like it or not!"
So she really doesn't remember…guess none of them will, then. He sighed. And now I have to relive Halloween all over aga-
He froze, another wave of pain exceeding from his stomach. Charice turned around as he unzipped his jacket, revealing that the gunshot that he got was still there, bleeding all over his white shirt. She screamed bloody murder.
"I-i-i-is that a…GUNSHOT?"
"…um…y-yeah…" Rizal sighed. He's dealt with these before. Thank god for calm scenarios. "Look, we're at the building already…I'll just ask for some warm water and a few blankets or two…and tweezers."
"Hey, don't be that calm, bastard! You just got shot out of nowhere!"
"I've taken out gunshots out of my own body before…now hurry up before I bleed to death."
The pain that he felt when he was first shot was fortunately diminished. He must've had his nation strength returned to him, which was working in the long run. He was about to head forward when he saw a strange image running right toward him with a panicked look on his face. And guess who it was.
"Rizal! Are you all right?"
"Um…Ludwig?" He tried to stay calm. "Yeah…um, totally fine. I just need tweezers and some hot water, really."
"Are you-?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Calm down."
Surprisingly enough, he did. The others around them were extremely shocked at what happened, and were quick to bend to Rizal's demands (did he really think that he should be shot more often? That was horrible). Ten long minutes later, the bullet was out and he had the gauze placed in…except on his back.
"Can you get that place down here, Ludwig…?" He said, trying to hide the excitement (out of that? Really? He really was a sixteen year old hormonal teenager). "The gauze and tape is on the counter over there."
He didn't hesitate in doing so. Rizal waited in strange anticipation, knowing that any moment now his fingers were going to touch his skin at a sensitive moment in his life (being shot DOES count, you know). Before he knew it, he felt the fingers on his back. They were warm and gentle, pushing only in places that weren't too painful, and yet it was still making his head spin.
"This doesn't hurt, doesn't it?"
"…no." Rizal turned his head. "You…you remember, don't you?"
"…"
"I'm not mad, Germany. You were brainwashed."
"…does it still hurt?"
"No, not anymore. I've had a lot worse than this, and Antonio can account for that-"
And yes, he was being backhugged.
God save his manly soul.
He turned his head and barely saw the worried look on his face, registering absolutely nothing. Rizal had to make sure that Ludwig's hand did not go over his heart cause god forbid he hears a vital organ in his body work so hard that it might die all on its own, and god knows that he shouldn't have more blood running out of his still open chest wound. Was he seriously cursing right now?
"…did you know that Feliciano likes my sister?"
"…you approve of that?"
"I'm more worried about him than her, really." He laughed. "Now come on and stop the melodrama. It stopped when the crystal was broken, and I want to see how she handles it."
"…you're seriously all right though, right?"
"Yes, I'm fine."
And life carried on, with Rizal heading forward toward a Halloween party that will always end with someone drunk or tossed out a window…
Francis.
/=+=/
Celestial Sword – Eatos has an effect that allows the equipped monster to attack all the opponent's monsters on the field, but cannot attack directly to the opponent's Life Points.
And that is the end of the fanfic! Hope you guys can handle my craziness that was this Halloween fanfic, and look to the other ones as…well, this wasn't really my best work. In other news, I MIGHT FINALLY UPDATE MY MANUAL FANFIC!