Call of Darkness
XII: Howl of the Wild
"Alexianna-san!" I cried.
By all accounts, Alexianna LeRouge was actually a distant cousin of Setsu-chan. That I already knew. However, I knew that no matter how much influence Alexianna had, Setsu-chan still beat her. I knew it because the accounts had listed Alexianna's profile in the Central Movement. And how Alexianna's career extended as a pawn of the Movement until she took her life back.
Slowly, Alexianna let go of Chase-nii as Youkai flipped and got away from Ishihara-san.
Youkai's eyes flicked from Chase-nii to Ishihara-san and to Alexianna. His face set. "Angel."
"Sylph," Alexianna raised both hands in a gesture of fisted surrender. Better for Psychic Duelists, since then there was no need to worry if they had a card ready. "Sorry. We were on stakeout. We were trying to get to Ichimonji."
"Oh, like that makes everything better," was Uzuki's assessment, but she helped Ishihara-san up.
Ishihara-san groaned, his lip split open and his hair messy but otherwise okay. "That hurt. Lexi, we really could have tried something else. They're jumpy."
"We could have," Alexianna-san turned to face us, shifting her weight to another foot. "Sorry. What were you doing in there?"
"Looking for missing Duelists," I answered. "And you, Alexianna-san?"
"Takeshi and I were looking around," she defended. "None of your business."
"The Movement is at war, Alexianna-san," I evenly answered. "And I am its leader."
There was that pause once more. "...I see," Alexianna-san finally replied.
"The Rune Eye twitched around here," Ishihara-san offered. "So we were on stakeout. I've seen Duel Spirits try to shift form before, so we couldn't be sure until we met you face-to-face. You guys must be tired. I'll take Ichimonji to the hospital."
"Thanks," Chase-nii answered him, looking at the sky. "You know... it's awfully late."
"It's... seven right now," Alexianna-san checked her watch. "The sunset's already passed, Takeshi."
"Oh," Takeshi shrugged. "We'll have to take Ichimonji. You guys, you'll... be alright?"
"Yes," I nodded. There was a chorus of agreements.
"With us, the Himemiya sisters, we'll be fine!" Uzuki cheered.
The couple nodded and left, toting Ichimonji-san along to a waiting car.
The trip back through Neo Domino did not take too long; we just walked through one of the few shortcuts Youkai knew. As we passed, an orange-haired man flipped and did a swan dive off a roof, to land on the back of a flying white horse ridden by a blond man.
"Glen and Reggie," Youkai pointed. "Old hands. Boss picked them up way before me. They work with NDPD sometimes, more often assigned to the First Investigative Brigade."
"I know," I answered. "Glen and Reggie joined the Movement nine years ago, when Setsu-chan really started on the Movement. She recruited them in Gotham City."
"From what I heard, they're tougher and faced the closest things like Divine that the world has," Youkai shrugged. "Have you found a suitable older partner for the newbie here?"
"Erm... I think Ryuusuke-san might prefer to work as he has been for now," I answered. "Ryuusuke-san?"
"From what Nakamura-san told me, I might prefer to remain a civilian member," Ryuusuke answered. "I think I agree, if that... Marguerite is only one in a few cases."
It took a while, but the foot traffic had been light and we dropped Nikki-chan off at home before returning. As we entered the foyer, Nakamura-san stood before me, unusually stoic.
"Seika-ojou, there has been... an unexpected appointment," he said. So there was someone Nakamura-san preferred not to see, in the waiting room.
"An unexpected appointment?" Youkai was speculating as we rode the elevator to reach the meeting room. "What kind of-"
We paused. The dark-skinned man was seated beside another dark-skinned man, the second one significantly older than the first, and they were dressed in hard-worn camouflage clothes. Both of them had been studying Baa-chan, but their eyes turned to the door as we entered.
"Sorry I'm late," I bowed to an incredibly nervous Baa-chan and then to the two men. "I'm Kannazuki Seika, the invested head of the Arcadia Movement. May I ask who are you?"
"Miss Kannazuki?" the two men stood up. "I'm United States Army Sergeant Major Austin O'Brien. This is Specialist Archibald O'Brien."
"O'Brien... I see," I nodded. "My apologies that you had to come all this way from Okinawa to see a child, Sergeant."
"It is of no problem," the first man nodded, and his age was definitely older. Wrinkles showed on his face, at the corners of his eyes, but other than that he remained serious. "Miss Kannazuki, as you may know, we have claimed an interest in the Arcadia Movement in the past."
"Indeed? Neither I nor my regnant leader are aware," I answered, frowning. "Nakamura-san?"
"I too am unaware of the details discussed between the Missy and Sergeant O'Brien," Nakamura-san answered. "The sudden appearance of the United States military is unprecedented. I would have assumed that at the very least a Colonel be sent for negotiations."
"That is neither here nor there," Austin O'Brien argued. "Although the United States military is aware of the various branches of the Movement in place around the world, two of these branches in Louisiana and New York, we feel that the presence of the Central Movement in Neo Domino City may break Article Nine of the Japan National Constitution, that states that the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes, and that land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The... potential of the Arcadia Movement has come to our attention given the recent cases in Neo Domino itself."
"I do not understand," I murmured. "I do not understand why these concerns were not first brought up during my forerunners' tenure as leaders of the Movement."
Both the men looked stunned.
"She is right," Baa-chan was smiling. "The Arcadia Movement remains an extra-governmental organisation, working with the Neo Domino Police Department where needed but otherwise limiting itself to Psychic Duelists. We consider ourselves a social organisation, that is highly invested in Duel Monsters and Psychic Duelists. If the United States military has concerns, they could have been brought up with the Movements in New York and Louisiana, whose existences you are aware of as you have mentioned. I do not see why we are entertaining soldiers right now. Neither do I see why the United States Army has chosen to raise its concerns now, with the lack of Shimotsuki Setsuka about. Therefore, please, enlighten us."
Sergeant O'Brien looked grave. The younger one, possibly family, looked more... shocked. Stunned.
"We are Psychic Duelists, but we are foremost an organisation that wishes to see change for the better," I gently murmured. "Please, tell us, the true purpose of your appointment with us. Or we shall have to conclude this at once."
"Well... I didn't expect to be outed by a kid," Sergeant O'Brien sighed. "Simply put... the Army might have thought of the potential army the Japanese government might have been mobilising, but mostly it's about the numbers of Psychic Duelists. You know how the Peru riots ended, right?"
"A Raigeki was fired," I recalled. "Everyone was killed."
"Yes... so, when people see the Movement, they're imagining an organisation with people of nuclear capabilities, worldwide," he explained. "Literally walking WMDs. And all of them take instruction from Japan. Can you follow me, kid?"
"I am the invested leader of the Movement, not its figurehead," I replied. "I can see that you would be worried about security, but I do not understand why this has not been brought up before. Surely the heads of the Movement before me would have met you before."
The Sergeant did not meet my eyes. "Setsuka Shimotsuki..."
"I do not believe for a moment that you were terrified of a child, whom I know is barely two years older than I." I believed it. Setsu-chan once inspired nightmares in a serial killer.
The Sergeant looked... haunted. Like he had seen a ghost. "I was a friend of Judai Yuuki. I saw things... that no one would believe. And that girl? Her mother? The negotiators ran for the hills when this assignment came up. It degenerated into a case of leaving each other alone. Until now. I only came here because of the change in leadership."
"Until now," I echoed. "I can see that there are... legitimate security concerns. I can say that I can try to make remunerations where needed. But I cannot leave this Movement to the Army, or even to the Self-Defence Force, or anything else. Consider, that before we are weapons of mass destruction, we are people, led by a defenceless girl without power as well."
His eyes widened. "You..."
"I have no power, save this position," I replied. "I too know what it is like to fear what one does not understand. But, I have a Psychic Duelist as a guardian, and another as a brother, as my best friend, and many more. Yet I am the head of the Arcadia Movement, of the Central Movement and of the others across the globe. We work as security and protection, amongst many different industries worldwide. We promote peace and Duel Monsters as our platform on the stage globally. You may contract us, but in the end we are people, subject to our own aims of equal opportunities, peace and non-violence. Will that answer suffice?"
"I may accept the answer," he considered. "I fear that my superiors might not."
The other rolled his eyes, as if wondering why was he doing this. I agreed.
"Then... perhaps if we provided reasonable doubt?" Baa-chan suggested. "How about a Duel, Sergeant? A Duel between the Specialist and a Psychic Duelist. You can assess that for yourself."
The two men exchanged looks. "Very well," the older O'Brien conceded.
"Excellent." Baa-chan stood up. "How about now?"
The Specialist kept staring at me as we descended in the lift. "Are you really the head of the Arcadia Movement?"
"I am, the fully invested head," I answered. "The will of the previous head was quite clear on that. Since I am a minor, Baa-chan is technically the one covering matters, but my presence is required as well. Why?"
"Well... because the Sergeant said that the head was a lot more terrifying," he considered. "For a kid. And I think you're pretty terrifying as well."
I thought about it. "Why?"
"You're the powerless leader of an organisation that totes Duel Monster cards as deadly weapons. Surely there's got to be some badass normal in there."
"You have a strange turn of phrase, Mr O'Brien."
We reached the general practice lot, and Uzuki jumped to me. "Seika! I'm going to Camp Kaboom!"
The Sergeant actually raised an eyebrow. "Camp Kaboom?"
"The primary method of Psychic Duelists fighting is burn damage," I explained. "So mostly we draw on the three basics: Sparks, Hinotama and Ookazi. Of course, given that we have a lot of Psychic Duelists, we had to go out of the city to teach a group how to apply such burn damage. Officially it's a self-defence camp, but given that we spend on average about two days out of a week turning thirty acres of sand and scrub into glass, Camp Kaboom was named as it is."
Both men had blinked at my full explanation, and now looked thoughtful. "You teach these things in groups?" the Sergeant asked.
"We have to," I nodded. "Well, the basics. After that, there are some who ask for advanced lessons, but that's reserved for special cases."
"And this burn damage..." the Sergeant looked thoughtful. "What can it mean? As it, how much damage are we talking about?"
"An Ookazi could probably set a small building on fire, but that requires a lot of power from the Duelist," I answered. "The damage inflicted in game terms and the heat generated has to be proportional, and there's only so much fire produced with eight hundred points of damage. At least my consultants say so."
"Uzuki, we have to start on training already," Hazuki-nee called from across the room. "The Professor offered to help, you know."
"Y- Yes!" Uzuki called. "So, Seika, who are they?"
"A- Ah. Uzuki, these men are from the Okinawa base," I answered. "Sergeant Austin O'Brien and Specialist Archibald O'Brien. Is there anyone free for a Duel?"
"Seika, maybe you should ask them to practice with us," Jii-chan called, getting down from the Duel stage. He was in his lab coat, but he still had a practised air. "O'Brien? The Volcanic specialist?"
"Yes," the older O'Brien nodded. "Yusei Fudo, the King of the generation. And this is Specialist Archibald O'Brien."
"Not forever," Jii-chan laughed. "So, which of you are Dueling?"
"I will be," the younger O'Brien stepped up.
"I see... Uzuki, you try," Jii-chan called.
"Yes!" Uzuki jumped up, excitedly unlocking her DuelDisk. "Well? Come up here!"
"No powers!" Jii-chan warned.
"Yes, yes!" Uzuki laughed as she faced Archibald. "So, what's with the serious face? Smile some more!"
"Maybe when I'm off-duty," he offered. "But please, call me Archie."
"Very well, I won't go easy on you if you don't call me Uzuki!" Uzuki laughed.
"Duel!" they shouted as Chase-nii entered the scene.
"O'Brien?" I muttered as I recognised the two guys. I knew only one family who could have that kind of family-inherited soldier features.
The older O'Brien blinked. "Manjoume?"
"My uncle," I stuck a hand out. "Chase Princeton."
He nodded, shaking it. "Austin O'Brien. The one currently Dueling is Archibald O'Brien."
Poor kid, was my automatic thought. There's something about certain names that pretty much ensures that particular child will be teased and bullied by his peers all through childhood. I think the parents do it on purpose, to ensure their precious progeny will grow up tough and hard. With a name like Archibald, the guy was destined to be in the Marines or something someday. That, or a serial killer.
"Then, I'll start!" Uzuki laughed. "I activate the Spell, Pot of Duality. By revealing the top three cards of my deck, I can take one card and shuffle the rest into my deck, but I cannot special summon the turn I activate this effect. I'll take Madolche Marmalmaide to my hand. With that, I set a monster and two cards, and activate the Continuous Spell, Madolche Ticket. Turn end."
"Draw!" Archie called. "I activate the Continuous Spell, Hazy Pillar. Now I can normal summon Hazy monsters with one less tribute. I summon Hazy Flame Peryton [1600/1700] to the field!"
"A level six monster-" Uzuki cut off as the flaming horse neighed and pawed the field in front of Archie.
"Now, I can send one Fire Attribute monster from my hand to the graveyard, and tribute Peryton to special summon two Hazy Flame monsters from my deck," Archie called. "Come, Hazy Flame Cerberus [2000/200], Hazy Flame Mantikor [2200/300]!"
"Two monsters with over two thousand attack power..." Uzuki stared.
"Battle!" Archie called. "Mantikor, attack the set monster!"
"Madolche Marmalmaide!" Uzuki called as the card flipped over to revealed the orange-haired maid that appeared in a bunch of sparkles and perched on a jigsaw puzzle of an orange biscuit screamed and shattered.
"Most set monsters are meant to be a wall," Archie answered. "Best to let the stronger monster attack first. What are you doing with that card? You're supposed to put your monster into the graveyard…"
Uzuki shook her red-head as she slipped the card atop her deck and allowed the DuelDisk to shuffle the cards. "The Madolche cards all share one effect – when they're destroyed and sent to the graveyard by my opponent's cards, whether by battle or card effect, whether in my deck, hand or field, they return to the deck right afterwards!"
"...shit," was his succinct answer. "So I'm stuck dealing with them over and over again?"
"And because of Madolche Ticket, I get to search for a card when a card returns from my graveyard or field to the deck or hand," Uzuki winked. "So I'll search for Madolche Magileine and add her to my hand!"
"Well, there's still the fact of my other monster!" Archie defended. "Go, Hazy Flame Cerberus!"
"Continuous Trap, Ultimate Offering!" Uzuki called. "During my main phase or my opponent's battle phase, I can do this for the cost of five hundred life points! Come, Madolche Magileine [1400/1200]!"
The pink witch appeared, grinning madly as she twirled around on her fork-broomstick. Her wide hat was pulled low, giving her an intimidating aura as she stood to face the monster.
"Go, Cerberus!" Archie called as the monster roared and leapt on the witch, devouring her.
Uzuki: LP 8000 → LP 7500 → LP 6900
Archie: LP 8000
"Too bad... when Magileine is normal summoned, I get to add a Madolche monster to my hand," Uzuki murmured as she pulled a card from her deck. "And Magileine returns to the deck."
"Shit," Archie muttered. "Wait... then Madolche Ticket?"
"Can only be activated once per turn," Uzuki shook her head.
"Okay... turn end," he declared.
"Draw!" Uzuki called. "You could have gone for a rank six monster..."
"Yeah, my deck is like that," Archie nodded. "But I need more materials first. Like fire, that needs to be banked first... I don't like chaos. So I consider that my deck is an embodiment of chaos."
"I see..." Uzuki considered. "I summon Madolche Magileine again."
Another witch appeared, this time really angry, enough that clouds of steam was appearing around her head as she stuck her tongue out at the two beasts.
"I search for a second Magileine," Uzuki called. "Activate Ultimate Offering, I'll summon the second Magileine."
The second witch appeared, cackling madly as she and her identical twin winked and gloated.
"Repeat, with the third Magileine," Uzuki called. "Now, I search for Madolche Butlerusk [1500/800] and summon him with the effect of Ultimate Offering!"
Uzuki: LP 6900 → LP 5400
Archie: LP 8000
With the third witch, came a cloud, and followed by a man in an impeccable suit and tail-coat and monocle standing on a piece of biscotti, pouring a cup of tea with a white teapot. As we watched, the butler served tea to all the witches.
"With the effect of Butlerusk, I can search my deck for a Field Spell when he's normal summoned and I control another Madolche monster," Uzuki responded. "Activate Field Spell, Madolche Château!"
We found ourselves in the middle of a bad rendition of Candy Crush Saga again, this time complete with cotton candy trees. In baby pink.
"You know... I have a hard time taking this seriously, with your monsters." Archie admitted. "Why activate the Field Spell?"
"You should," Uzuki warned. "I construct an overlay network with Madolche Butlerusk and Madolche Magileine! The fairy that rules the sugar kingdom, come! Begin the haunting dance of the night! Exceed summon! Queen of the kingdom of sweets, Madolche Queen Tiaramisu!"
As the 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy' began playing, the throne appeared. It was made of a confection of opera cake, and primarily decorated with cappuccino-coloured whipped cream at its head and white chocolate at its arms, carved into a curve. It stood empty for a moment... and from stage left entered the queen. Her hair was grey-white and spun, like cotton candy, to hand on either side of the beaming, rosy face. She was dressed in a frilly gown with overcoat, the gown being white on ochre, and the coat edged with brown lace on ochre, complete with a bodice tied with laced liquorice ropes around her waist. The overall effect reminded me of a tiramisu cake – yum. Her crown was perched on her head, delicate as sugar spun into that shape, and a horned staff was held in one hand [2200/2100].
"Now I overlay the two Madolche Magileine!" Uzuki called. "Come, king of the fairies, Fairy King Albverdich!"
"Oh..." Archie heaved a big sigh as the elfin monster appeared, dressed in long robes of white with a red scarf, and a sprite dancing on one shoulder. His pointed ears were clearly displayed as fanning out on either side of his head [2300/1400]. "Finally, a normal-looking monster... I thought that this girl's deck might be really hopeless..."
Her expression froze. "What did you say?"
"Well... it's a bit hard... to take them seriously," Archie volunteered.
Uzuki's expression could have burned him, it was that intense. "Toon monsters are hard to deal with when Toon World is around. They were the nightmare of every Duelist in the early days of Duel Monsters. What are you implying? My monsters support one another, they fight together, they cry and laugh and charge together... and you're not taking us seriously? Let me get one thing straight; we're good. We're not nice."
Before you say anything about tiny and fierce, I should remind you that this girl is not only the younger sister of Himemiya Hazuki, the Titania, but also a Psychic Duelist. I got the feeling that she would have gotten a lot of flak for not only her heritage, but also for her childish monsters. It was probably the crudest form of self-preservation, but Himemiya Uzuki had been a hamster compared to her sister. Well, hamsters had wickedly sharp teeth as well.
"I detach one Exceed material, Madolche Magileine from Albverdich to activate his effect," Uzuki announced. "I lower the attack and defence of all non-Earth Attribute monsters by five hundred. But that's not important, because I detach one Exceed material, another Magileine, from Her Majesty the Queen to select both Madolche monsters in my graveyard to shuffle into the deck, and shuffle an equal number of cards my opponent controls into the deck!"
"But my monsters can't be targeted by card effects!" Archie justified.
"How nice," Uzuki answered. "The Queen doesn't target."
Giggling, the Queen banged her staff, and the ghosts of two witches cackled as they flew past, perched on their brooms as they buffeted the howling flame monsters back to Archie's deck.
"The Madolche Château allows me to add both Magileine to my hand when they would be sent to the deck instead," Uzuki interrupted. "Madolche Ticket allows me to special summon one Madolche monster from my deck when I control a Fairy-Type Madolche monsters, and all the royalty of the Château are Fairies! So come, Madolche Puddingcess [1000/1000]!"
The (evil) blonde princess in her wedding-cake gown appeared, dancing a waltz of some other rendition of Tchaikovsky's ballet. Of course, I didn't admit it, because it would be very damaging to my pride to be slightly intimidated of something that cute, and I suspect that Uzuki might not let me off.
"Okay... and she warranted to be special summoned, why?" Archie mentioned as the princess curtsied before her mother.
"She's one of the royals of the Château!" Uzuki raged. "Firstly, when I have no monsters in my graveyard, she gains eight hundred attack and defence [1000/1000 → 1800/1800]! Next, she's a Madolche monster, and so she's got the advantage with her mother to gain five hundred attack and defence from her castle [2200/2100 → 2700/2600] [1800/1800 → 2300/2300]!"
Archie's face had paled until he was the colour of coffee milk, which was a really hard feat.
Then, Uzuki smirked. "And, by the way? Ultimate Offering, summon Madolche Magileine!"
This time, the witch [1400/1200 → 1900/1700] reappeared, cackling madly as she hefted her broomstick and made motions in the perfectly innocent way that it was, with stabbing and thrusting, but considering that it was a giant fork... yeah, I was beginning to feel how Hansel must have felt when the witch was about to eat him.
The Sergeant was counting. "Er... nineteen plus twenty-seven plus twenty-three times two is..."
"Ninety-two hundred," the Professor supplied.
Archie faced the cute Madolche monsters, who were grinning malevolently, and Uzuki standing behind them and wearing a wicked grin as well. "Erm... oh, god."
"Take no prisoners!"
You haven't lived until you've seen the witch do stabbity things with her fork to people. You haven't lived until the Queen Tiaramisu brained you with her staff. You haven't quite managed until the Puddingcess made a jute right to the face. And the pardon only came when the Fairy King advanced, stared at him, and just sighed in a disappointed look.
Archie: LP 8000 → LP 0
Uzuki: LP 5400 → LP 4900
It looked painful. Also cool. But mostly painful. For me, of course. Archie's pain was a readily apparent subject as he slammed into the floor.
"I got my tail handed to me by a candy-land princess..." Archie moaned. "How do I tell the boys at West Point that..."
"And in something like a One-Turn Kill, too..." Austin O'Brien whistled. "I'll never see them in the same way ever again."
"Many tend to have that same reaction when Uzuki battles," the Professor agreed. "She is... very uniquely combative." A nice way of saying that she prefers fights to any diplomacy involved.
Uzuki punched the air. "I win!"
Of course, then the lights went out.
"Oh, God," Archie whispered. "What's happening?"
I clenched my teeth and closed my eyes, waiting for them to adjust to the sudden darkness.
Above, the sounds of things exploding echoed.
OC applications are open! Please include:
Name:
Age:
Occupation:
Appearance:
Personality:
History:
Deck:
Trivia:
Please review!