Empire of Shadows, a LONG YuGiOh! fanfic by Tsunami Storm
Chapter 14: The Temple of Ice
"Brr! It is freezing up here!" Mana complained as she trudged through the deep snow next to Joey, who had his 'Flaming Sword of Battle' drawn to provide heat for the group. All of the girls were crowded around Joey, as their outfits didn't provide much protection from the elements. Seto kept fairly close to the FIRE-attribute Guardian too, because- as a dragon- he was a cold-blooded creature and was thus susceptible to the cold. If he wasn't careful, he would fall into a stupor. He would have to stay on his toes when they got to the mountaintop shrine, the domain of the Guardian of Ice.
"No arguments here, Mana." He answered with a grim smile, wishing- not for the first time- that he'd reclaimed his cape already. He'd have offered it to Téa, who looked the coldest. With his luck, though, it would be one of the last pieces he recovered.
"How're you still conscious?" Malik asked, honestly curious. Seto grinned at him. "I'm not all dragon. I'm still human. I think that's the only reason, though. You're lucky that you can't feel the cold." He joked as he rubbed his arms to restore some of their feeling. "I definitely don't envy the Guardian of this place. He or she probably doesn't stay here all the time. Unless they're a WATER-attribute."
"He is not." Mahaad answered, also looking like he was uncomfortable due to the cold. "My memory of my fellow Guardians has been hazy since the Shadow Hunters conquered the Dominion, but it has been slowly clearing as we defeat the duelists who hold us captive in our respective Shrines. Duos is a DARK-attribute monster that often trains his mind and body in extreme environments." He chuckled to himself. "Honestly, he spends more time here than anywhere else, so that is why he's the Guardian of this shrine."
"You said it's 'Duos'?" Seto gasped, coming to a realization. "He's the Ka of my brother Seth! Seth is the Guardian of Ice!"
"Your brother?" Mahaad repeated, surprised. He hadn't thought that someone as close to the dragon hero as a family member would be a Guardian.
"Yeah, my identical brother." Seto answered. "He's a bit older than me, but we look almost exactly alike. Except he grew up in Ancient Egypt, just like quite a few of you did."
"Wait, if he is your brother, then how did he grow up in Ancient Egypt? How does that work exactly?" Mana asked, thoroughly confused.
Seto smiled at her. "It's a long story, but the shortened version is that he's adopted. We- that is, Mokuba and I- adopted him, Kisara and my stepbrother Noah into our family shortly after they got their 'second chance'. They- and you guys- were granted your lives anew by the goddess Horakhty. Noah saved his consciousness in a file on the Internet, and Mokuba was able to find him and 'download' him into a robot body that I built. Now I have three brothers and one sister-in-law instead of just me and Mokuba." He explained, causing almost everyone's jaws to drop. "Now I've just gotta free all of you Guardians and put the Dominion back to the way it was before. Then we can all go home." Seto summarized with a sigh. "It's been tough, but I'm already over halfway done. With any luck, the Shadow Hunter here will be easy to defeat, and I'll be that much closer to our ultimate goal."
Everyone nodded their agreement, and Seto pushed open the doors of the Temple of Ice with both hands- leading the way into the frozen structure- his thirteen companions filing in behind him- most of them glad to be out of the wind and snow.
Upon entering the icy domain, everyone gasped at its chilling beauty. A gigantic chandelier of ice hung from the ceiling some one hundred feet above them, thousands of unique ice crystals hanging from it. Special candles lit with pale-blue flames burned brightly in their holders, and when Mana flew up to one, she was surprised to find that the flame was not hot, but pleasantly cool to the touch- like a cool drink of ice water on a hot midsummer day.
"We should take some of those flames along with us if we can. They might come in handy." Seto suggested, reaching into a pocket dimension and removing a few empty flasks. Mana scooped up several of the strange blue flames and stored them in the magical containers, handing them back to her duelist when she'd finished. Seto thanked her with a nod, then the group continued on toward the central tower of the temple. Honestly, this 'temple' was laid out more like a castle than a shrine, but that wasn't really important. What mattered to the heroes was the Guardian that was trapped here and the Shadow Hunter that was holding him prisoner. [If you're having trouble picturing the Shrine, just imagine Elsa's ice palace from 'Frozen', only with a huge pillar in the center.]
"Hey, Kaiba. Lemme see one a dose flames fer a sec. I wanna try somethin'." Hono no Kenshi asked, and Seto handed him a flask. Joey carefully unscrewed the lid and poured the flame into his hand, then touched that hand to his blade after he returned the flask. Joey's sword began to glow a pale blue, and suddenly his entire outfit changed. He looked at himself in surprise, muttering to himself, "Huh. So dat's how dat works."
"What'd you do, Joey?" Seto asked, intrigued by his friend's transformation.
"I was jus' wonderin' where 'Soen no Kenshi' came from, an' I tink I jus' figured it out." Joey answered with a grin, casting 'Salamandra' around himself as he did so and changed back to his normal appearance. "Tink I like orange better, tho. Cold, blue fire dun make much sense."
"Well, a driftwood fire is blue, but that is because the salt changes its color." Mana reminded him, thinking back to their battle in the Undersea Temple at the southern shore just after they'd freed Joey's shrine at the Mountain of Fire.
"Yeah, but dose flames weren't cold." Joey argued, also remembering the battle. That battle was rough, against the former member of the Big Five, Gansley.
"We've defeated three of the Big Five so far." Seto recalled, storing the flasks of fire back in the pocket dimension for later use. "We've just got Krump and Nezbitt left. Wonder which one will go down first?" He asked himself. "And who do I know that has an affinity for ice and the cold?" He continued, then sighed heavily when he remembered. "Guess I'm fighting that penguin-fanatic next."
"Now, that's not very charitable, Kaiba." A rough voice growled from somewhere deep in the shrine. "Is that how you were taught to talk to your loyal associates after so many years of faithful service?"
"Loyal? Don't make me laugh." Seto snorted. "You guys tried to have me killed in Duelist Kingdom so Pegasus could take over Kaibacorp., then you tried to do it yourselves with my 'Adventure Land' game you corrupted, and then you sided with Noah in his whole 'revenge' scheme. 'Faithful service', my foot!" He retorted.
"Well can you blame me for siding with the brat? I wanted out of the VR world by any means necessary!" Krump's voice answered testily.
"I'll say." Seto growled. "I saw and heard what happened in your duel with Téa. You make me sick!" He spat, glaring at where he thought the voice was coming from. Téa shivered involuntarily as the memory of that battle came back to her, and Joey put a hand on her shoulder, thinking she was cold. [I'm referring to the subbed version here. The dubbed wasn't too bad.]
Krump laughed sinisterly. "Heh. Guilty as charged, as my esteemed cohort Mr. Johnson would say. But numbers are my area of expertise, not the legal side of things. And all my calculations say that your number is up, 'Ryushiro'! That is, if you can find me." He laughed maniacally, and Seto used the echoes in the nearly empty shrine to pinpoint the businessman's location. He and the others quickly made their way to the base of the central tower, then ascended the flight of stairs to the top, where their opponent and imprisoned Guardian were waiting for them.
Seto threw open the icy doors to the tower room, ran over to a central pillar- not even sparing a glance for his opponent- and put a hand on the smooth, glass-like surface. It seemed that Duos had sealed himself within the pillar of ice for protection, and Seto didn't blame him. Krump was creepy enough as a member of the Big Five. Seto shuddered to think how much that had increased since he joined the Shadow Hunters under Bandit Keith.
But then a sparkle of something golden caught his eye. Seto gasped as he saw his own Millennium Rod grasped in the Guardian's hand. He hadn't seen it since he and Mokuba had to flee the safety of their own home in the middle of the night when all of this madness had started. The Rod was sheathed, but Seto could see that Seth had attempted to reveal the hidden blade of the Rod before he had been frozen- suggesting that he had been in battle with something. Seto was angry that anyone would think of harming a member of his family, and that anger burned brightly in his sapphire eyes as he glared at Krump.
"Ooh, scary." The former accountant laughed cruelly. "You're just as scary as when you were twelve and Daddy had to punish you for neglecting your studies. In other words, not at all."
Everyone looked at Seto as his expression shifted from righteous anger to shock, then from shock to outright fury. No one brought up those times in front of him. No one reminded him of his terrible past in front of his friends and family. No one! "I couldn't do anything back then when I was a kid, you're right. But I'm far from helpless now, as you'll soon learn the hard way! I challenge you to a duel, Krump! And when I win, I will free my brother from his icy prison!"
"Sure. Been tryin' to do that from the start, anyway." Krump shrugged. "My new boss will be very pleased to finally have all seven Millennium Items in his possession. He's been waiting for that one for a long time." He seemed very nonchalant about the whole thing- as if he didn't care if he won or lost- just that Keith would get the Millennium Rod one way or another.
"Fine. If you've got a death wish, far be it from me to deny you." Seto shrugged, activating his Duel Disk and waiting for his opponent to do the same.
"Game start!" They cried in unison.
"I'll go first." Seto announced. "I summon Akhenamkhanen [1600/1400] in Attack mode!"
"I am ready to fight, my prince." The former pharaoh answered, raising his sword and leveling it at their opponent.
"Then I'll set two face-downs." Seto finished his turn. The two cards appeared on the field behind King's Knight.
"Well, well." Krump declared smugly. "It was a one hundred percent chance that you would place one monster card. The cards in front of you have a fifty percent chance each of being traps or spells. As well as the same chance for one trap and one spell."
"Math." Malik groaned. "What's the point?" Obviously that wasn't his favorite subject.
"Don't get him started." Téa growled, smacking him on the head. Lightly, as she didn't want to get goo all over her hand.
"I summon 'Seasarion' [1800/800] in Attack mode!" Krump called, beginning his turn. The red snake hissed at the dragon-prince. "Attack that knight!" At this, the giant snake shot toward King's Knight.
"I play the spell card 'Crackling'!" Seto called as the left card showed its face. "This will destroy your monster and protect mine as well." The ground cracked open and swallowed the unsuspecting sea monster.
I knew that the card had a fifty percent chance of being a spell, but zero percent chance of guessing what the card was. The Big Five member thought. Out loud he announced, "I place a card face-down and end my turn." The card appeared on his side of the field in the proper zone.
"I draw and play the spell card 'Large Fire of Day and Night', dealing you 800 points of direct damage!" Seto pulled the card from his hand and set it in his disk. Krump's Life Points decreased to 3200 in response, the energy- pale blue this time- twisting itself out of his back and into the ether. "And now I summon Karim [1400/1200]!" The elfin swordsman calmly walked onto the field.
"Go, brother." Isis whispered, silently praying that her twin sibling wouldn't be too badly injured in this battle, if at all.
"First I'll have Akhenamkhanen attack you directly." Seto called, and the royal knight charged the former Kaibacorp. employee, cleaving Krump's Life Points- quite literally- in half.
"Damn you, brat!" The penguin duelist growled.
"Next it's your turn, Karim!" Seto called to his second swordsman, who readied his blade and ran at the businessman, cutting his Life Points by 1400. This won't bring his Life Points down to 0, but it will have to do this turn. Krump's Life Points were now only 200. "I end my turn."
"Nice! After da next turn, dis duel is done!" Joey crowed happily, proud of his friend and his skill in battle.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that, boy!" Krump snarled, getting up from the ground. "My turn! And I play my spell card 'Penguin Helper'! [fake] This lets me summon a penguin monster from my hand and add half its attack points to my Life Points. I summon 'Penguin Nightmare' [900/1800] in Defense mode!" The man's former Deck Master was wearing a suit, a top hat and no pants, and the accountant's Life Points increased to 650 as the aquatic bird squawked angrily at Seto.
"Be careful, Kaiba!" Téa called suddenly, breaking through her memory-block. "That monster can give WATER-attribute monsters a power boost of 200 points!"
"Not only that, but it's stronger in defense mode." Malik growled. He might not like math, but even he knew that in a duel numbers mattered.
"I end my turn with a face-down." The businessman announced, and the card appeared in the proper section.
"Thanks, you two." Seto called back- already knowing about his opponent's monster, but grateful for their input nonetheless. "I draw!" He called, taking the top card off of his deck with a flourish. Now what? I need a way to first get rid of that bird, then defeat him in one shot. But how?
"I know you have monsters with more than 1800 attack points, but you can't summon them without a tribute or card." Krump mocked. "You don't want your so called 'friends' to go to the Graveyard." He laughed.
"Of course." Seto snarled. "They're my friends, and I would do anything for them." The first friends I've had in a long time. He thought to himself.
"Kaiba, please summon me." Téa asked. "I know my points won't make a difference, but I do have a plan."
"What is it?" Seto asked. Téa whispered her plan to him. Seto didn't like it but it would have to do. "I summon Téa [1800/1700] and I'll have her attack 'Penguin Nightmare'!" Téa launched her magic at the penguin, who in turn countered with water. Neither was destroyed.
"Well, that had a zero percent chance of working." Krump said with a laugh. "Now all you have are monsters with fewer attack points!"
"I'm not done yet!" Seto interrupted the man. "I play the trap card 'Dark Tribute'! [fake] Now because a LIGHT-attribute monster failed in an attack, I pay half of my Life Points and tribute that monster to summon a higher level DARK-attribute monster. Come forward, Mahaad! [2500/2100] My tribute monster doesn't go to the Graveyard, though, instead she gets shuffled back into my deck." Téa and Mahaad switched places as Seto's Life Points decreased to 2000. Seto grimaced as he felt his energy draining away out of his back and into the sky, but it was worth it to beat this creep. In response to his loss of Life Points, ice crystals began to creep up around his lower half- just like Téa's duel with this man in Noah's VR world. Seto suddenly shivered from the drop in temperature and felt dizzy and groggy at the same time.
"What?!" Krump cried, noticing the spellcaster's attack points and feeling a rush of déjà vu. "That's impossible! You don't have a card like that!"
"I do have it because- this isn't my deck from- the human world." Seto explained, struggling to stay conscious. "Now, the second effect- of 'Dark Tribute' is that the m-monster that I summon- with the first effect c-can inflict piercing damage. M-Mahaad, use 'Black Magic' on Penguin Nightmare!" Mahaad- seeming to realize the necessity for speed- gathered the black energy in his staff, then launched it at the penguin, causing it to explode into pixels.
"No!" Krump howled as his Life Points ticked to zero.
"T-thanks, g-guys." Seto shivered as the ice around him began to melt under Joey's power over fire. "If y-you h-hadn't b-been protecting m-my L-Life Points, I w-would've l-lost in practically t-the s-second r-round." He imparted, teeth chattering wildly.
The Malik-shaped blob nodded, and everyone else did too. "No problem, Kaiba. It's the least I could do to thank you for freeing me from my own prison in that Pyramid. And I'm sure the same goes for the others as well. And I'll continue to do it for as long as you need me. I want our home back the way it was, too."
Everyone present nodded their agreement, and Mana returned to her task of carefully melting the solid ice off of the 'new' Guardian with her 'Black Burning' attack. Isis was busy healing her fellow Guardians' injuries, as many of them had sustained quite a few cuts, scratches and frostbite from flying ice attacks. And most of them hadn't even participated in the duel!
"Um, my prince?" Mana asked cautiously, and Seto looked over at her. "I do not think I will be able to free the Guardian." Seto's look turned to one of confusion, and she explained. "This pillar somehow supports the whole castle. If I melt it, the whole shrine will come crashing down."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" He asked, and Mana shrugged.
"Do not fear, my prince." An ethereal voice answered his query, and Seto gasped and looked back at the Guardian of Ice. He knew that voice! "We can always rebuild. Crafting a shrine of ice such as this is child's play for an Ice-type monster like 'Neo Aqua Madoor' or 'Invincible Glacier - Defend Iceberg'."
"But what about you?" Seto asked. "If the temple collapses with you inside it, you could be- no, you will be killed!"
Seth paused for a moment. "I am willing to take that risk. I will not be much use as a Guardian if I am trapped in a block of ice, now will I?"
Seto had to snort at the amusing mental image Seth sent him. That was his yami's sense of humor, all right.
"Go ahead, Black Magician Girl." Seth encouraged, and Mana closed her eyes and sliced a powerful 'Black Burning' attack at the pillar. The ice around Duos cracked with a sound like thunder, and the whole temple began to shake.
Seth suddenly realized the danger his rescuers were in and shouted, "This whole place is falling apart! You must flee as quickly as you can! Go!"
"No! I won't leave you, Seth!" Seto cried, taking a step toward the shaking pillar, but Akefia and Ryou held him back.
"Don't be daft, Kaiba!" Diabound growled. "If you stay here and try to help him, you'll only be crushed! He'll be fine! Now, come on!" He assured, pulling the struggling dragon prince away from his brother, who smiled wryly. "I will be all right." He repeated, encouraging his hikari to leave with the others.
"I think."
Seto and the other Guardians ran out of the temple doors just as the entire structure crumbled to the ground, leaving no pieces bigger than a man's head. "No! Seth!" Seto cried, his worst fear realized.
End of chapter 14
Next chapter teaser: The Faerie Glade
Yep. Another cliffhanger. *Ducks rotten tomatoes* I'm sorry!
Yeah, this chapter was kinda short compared to the others. Writer's Block is a pain in the donkey, as I'm sure every writer knows. XD
Thanks again to 'dragonwolf416' for an amazing duel! Couldn't have done it without ya, buddy!
God Bless!
Tsunami Storm