Call of Darkness

XIX: Natural Disaster

"And I'm all out of bubblegum!" Chase-nii shouted as he came charging in.

Rex-nii paused in the midst of strangling one of the straggler Mad Dogs of Darkness. "Oh, welcome back." The dog gave a piteous whine as Rex-nii finally managed to release it and made it run away. Around was the scene of carnage once more.

"You know, we really should get our reputation back on line," Kaido commented, slumped next to Satoshi-san. "Hey, chibi-Boss, can we go hang some enemies in public?"

"Bad weather now," I pointed. I did not comment on the hanging enemies comment as I stood. "Chase-nii, you're back."

Chase-nii shook his head. Holding hands with Youkai, the two of them looked miserably wet. "We need a shower, food, and then I need a team of every available Psychic to go charging with me into a battlefield to stop the coming war. I saw Ryuusei, by the way."

"Good for you," Rodriguez-san was in the midst of side-stepping a feebly struggling Inpachi as he came to us.

"You never told me that he was stuck to a freaking plant IV." Chase-nii rounded on him.

"He wasn't. Not when I was around anyway. Guess it's new."

"I'm still blaming you." Chase-nii turned to survey the debris. "Well... compared to the Despair of the Dark, it's really... a huge improvement."

"We had to unlock one of our defence programs, I don't call that an improvement," Kaido snarled. "I'll make the arrangements. Princeton, Misawa, a bath. I'll brief everyone we can spare."

"I'll go too," I quickly volunteered.

"You are the head of the Arcadia Movement," Kaido hotly replied as Nakamura-san suddenly came in, casually stomping one of the fallen Inpachi to bits on his way. "You are needed here."

"I need to know what we are facing as well," I replied. "Kaido-san, this is an order. I need you to supervise and monitor with Nakamura-san while I am gone with Chase-nii and anyone else he's bringing along."

"Very good, Seika-ojou," Nakamura-san cut in as he looped an arm around a sputtering Kaido. His look towards the rest of the group ensured no arguments. "I shall see that codename Spirit of the Books is deployed to the best of his abilities. Will the missy require anything else?"

I looked down, at the slightly messed-up uniform I wearing. "A change of clothing."

I went with basic black.

I made my calls, got a quick shower, and dressed in black. A pair of black military-style boots, black jeans (mostly clean), a black v-neck sweater, and on top of everything my duster, complete with a mantle that falls to my elbows and an extra large portion of billow. The weather was stormy enough, both figuratively and literally, to make me want the reassurance of the heavy coat.

I loaded up on the gear, and I caught sight of Youkai checking his portable DuelDisk as well as Death-match Duel Rope, knives and some of his heavier clothings, tough as denim and probably with plates as well. He checked his movements, nodded, laced up his boots, and then put on the vest and glared at me.

Hate to see him leave, love to watch him go. I squashed that sentiment down very hard. "I hate this sometimes, you know."

Youkai slowly nodded. "I know. At the rate I keep getting into fights in the Movement... it's almost enough to consider getting out. But... it's fun. I like this."

"Good, so do I." I paused. "I'm getting maudlin. Next time we'll just have a beer."

"Right..." Youkai looked doubtful. "We need to do this, don't we? Even though we have nothing to do with it."

"Self-preservation is always the best thing to do," I shrugged. "Besides, it's not like we're charging in with a bunch of uninformed people. The Movement has been doing this for two years and some of us already know that Duel Spirits exist."

"Yes, but..." Youkai's expression tightened. "They always keep score. And they always settle the score."

Nakamura-san had pulled out the minivan, Satoshi driving and Dante riding shotgun. A pale-faced Seika, decked in funereal black whom I did not have the presence of mind to argue with, Rex in grey and black, Adrian Rodriguez, the Wonder Twins and their cousin – I internally winced at what I was going to have to do – and Ryuusuke rode behind with us.

Dante drew the most attention, but as he righted the tie and smoothed the lapels of the purple suit-jacket and corrected his fedora, it was fairly obvious that he did not care a whit for our opinion. "Down the rabbit hole we go...!" he sang.

"Can you brief us, Chase-nii?" Seika quietly asked as the van trundled through the storm.

"Well-intentioned But Dangerously Insane Bad Guys are ahead coming down the stretch," I said, pointing up to the stormy cloud cover. "The Courts are duking it out up there, and it's probably going to be very hairy. Kiyoshi is our baddie, and the Evilswarm Ophion is his bitch. He has a magic hanky. He's going to use it to change a statue into a girl, and kill her on a big ritual table at midnight."

"Kiyoshi?" was Yuko's and Yuuki's automatic reaction.

There were a couple of grunts from Yukio. "A girl?"

"Ayame-san?" Seika guessed.

I glanced back to Seika and nodded. "We have to find Kiyoshi and stop him. Save the girl."

"Or what happens?" Ryuusuke asked.

"Bad."

"Kaboom bad?"

I shook my head. "Mostly longer term than that. How do you feel about ice ages?"

Ryuusuke whistled. "Uh. Do you mind if I ask a few questions?"

I kept my eyes on road as Satoshi flagrantly disregarded all traffic laws in the face of bad weather. We were heading for the Bay again. "Go ahead."

"Right. As I understand it, Kiyoshi is trying to tear apart both of the Courts, right?"

"Yeah."

"Why? I mean, why not shoot for just those who traumatised him?"

"Because he can't," I said. "Ryuusei is a big softie. He's still a Duelist, but he's primarily the big softie. Kiyoshi took advantage of that, but Ryuusei tends to learn fast. And against the infamously cold-hearted Shimotsuki Setsuka, he knows he doesn't have the strength it would take to force things. Shimotsuki could slap him down easily. So he's using the only method and opportunity open."

"Screwing up the balance of power," Rex nodded. "But he's doing it by giving a bunch of mojo to Winter?"

"Limits," I said. "He's an opportunist. He took the opportunity. My guess is that he contracted the Despair of the Dark to attack the Movement while he went to... steal her."

"Ayame," growled Rex. I glanced over my shoulder and nodded.

"I don't believe it," Yuuki numbly murmured. "I don't believe that Kiyoshi could do such a thing."

"He did. I nearly got mauled by a Behemoth, and it was his fault." I softly whispered. Knowing that your friend was out to destroy the world was really screwing with his world-view.

"So why did the girl turn to stone?" Ryuusuke asked.

"A cover," I said. "I think the rulers could have found an active champion. Once Ayame was turned to stone, her power was stuck in limbo. Everyone would suspect Shimotsuki of doing something clever and Ryuusei would be forced to prepare to fight. Shimotsuki would have to move in response, and the pair of them would create the battleground around the Table."

"What's this Table for?" Yukio sniffed.

"Pouring power into one of the Courts," I said. "Like Ancient Ritual Art. It belongs to Summer until midnight tonight. After that, any power that gets poured in goes to Winter."

"Which is where we're going now," Rex said.

"Uh-huh," I said.

Ryuusuke nodded. "So, Kiyoshi steals the power and hides it, which forces the rulers to bring out the battleground with the special Table."

"You can get it when you put your mind to it," I depreciatingly answered. "Right. Now Kiyoshi plans to take Ayame there, and use the magic hanky to free her of the stone curse she's under. Then he kills her and touches off Armageddon. He's got to get to the table after midnight, but before Shimotsuki's forces actually take the ground around it. That means he's only got a small window of opportunity, and we need to stop him from using it."

"I still don't get it," Ryuusuke shook his head. "What the hell is he hoping to accomplish?"

I will never let us be abused again... "Probably thinks he can ride out the big war." I shrugged. "Then he'll put it all together again from the ashes, just the way he wants it."

"Dios, he's not too arrogant or anything," Adrian muttered sardonically. "It seems to me that Shimotsuki Setsuka is going to be handed a huge advantage in this. Why didn't Kiyoshi just work together with her?"

The Wonder Twins gave identical snorts. Satoshi nearly ran us off, choking with laughter. Rex's eyes widened.

I took pity on Adrian's woebegone expression. "It probably never occurred to him to try it that way. She's Winter. Kiyoshi is an anarchist in waiting. The two don't work together." And Kiyoshi was probably not stupid enough to work together with her on anything that she could back-stab him with.

"Small favours," Dante commented after telling Satoshi to drive to the right. "So what do we do to help?"

"We, as in Youkai and I, are going to have to move around through a battleground." I clarified. "I need muscle to do it. I don't want to stop to fight. We just keep moving until I can get to the Table and stop Kiyoshi. And I want all of us disguised in some way before we go up there. Duel Spirits can be vindictive as hell and you're going to piss some of them off. Better if they never get to see your faces."

"Right..." Ryuusuke glanced up. "How many are we talking about?"

I squinted up at a particularly violent burst of lightning. "Knowing our odds? All of them."

Dante led us to the waterfront along Neo Domino Harbour. Satoshi parked the van on the street outside wharves that had been the lifeblood of the city and that still received an enormous amount of shipping every year. Halogen floodlights every couple of hundred feet made the docks into a silent still life behind a grid of chain-link fence.

As we crawled out, it occurred to me that a lot of them were wearing heavy jackets and other things that could qualify as armour.

"No chain mail?" I asked.

"Hell no. But leather to stop claws," Rex motioned to his jacket. "Best I could do on short notice, knowing what we're likely to meet."

Satoshi had locked the van, and was now looking at the lightning-struck tower emblazoned on the side. "The van should be fine. Where to?"

Dante had a look of concentration and he pointed at the lake. "We move forward. If there's something out there, everyone let us know."

"Are you sure?" Youkai frowned.

"Yuuki, stay if you want to," Yukio shrugged, pulling on his jacket. "How are we going to go that way, Princeton? There's a fence. Harbour security, too."

I had no idea, but I didn't want to say that. I headed for the nearest gate instead. "Come on."

We got to the gate and found it open. A broken chain dangled from one edge. Part of the shattered link lay on the ground nearby. The ends had been twisted, not cut, and steam curled up from them in a little hissing cloud where raindrops touched.

"Broken," Satoshi commented. "And not long ago. This rain would cool the metal down fast."

"True," Adrian nodded. "Silly though. A cheap set of bolt cutters would have been better than just breaking a perfectly good chain."

"Yeah, monsters can be irrational that way," I shrugged.

Dante continued to glance out, toward the end of one of the long wharves thrusting into the lake. "Out that way."

We went through the gate, and had gone maybe twenty feet before the halogen floodlights went out, leaving us in storm-drenched blackness. Then, it lit up again, and there was someone standing on the wharf.

Satoshi and Adrian choked. I just shrugged and began sauntering. After a moment, Youkai followed, as did the rest. We didn't stop until I met the guys standing there.

Takeshi Ishihara was there, very well and good. Alexianna LeRouge, even better. The third man...

He had barely aged in the time since I last saw him. His brown hair was sectioned in two layers, and rather reminiscent of a Kuriboh, with brown eyes positioned directly beneath the bangs of the layer closest to his face. His outfit consisted of the standard Osiris Red uniform, unbuttoned, and a black shirt underneath. A deck box was strapped above his waistline, largely hidden beneath the lower rim of his jacket. He carried an Academy-issued Duel Disk on his left arm.

Other than the slight wear and tear, Yuuki Judai had not been touched by time at all.

"You're here," he commented. His eyes seemed to glitter gold as they scanned us, all of us. "Dante Swartzvauld. You feel it. You hear her Calling. You feel it, just like I do. The Queen Calls. All of Winter's blood."

"She calls," Dante shook his head, his voice lower, rougher. "I'm not answering."

"I know," Judai glanced up, undisturbed by the weather or the storm. "Damn, it's just not fun and games anymore. Not here. You shouldn't be here, Kannazuki Seika."

"I..." Seika glanced down, before she met his gaze evenly. "I'm the head of the Arcadia Movement."

"Only for a while," Judai commented. "Only until a member of the Hunter family comes. Do you think you can keep it then?"

"I don't care," Seika answered.

Judai smirked. "Good."

Dante caught his sight and followed it down the wharf to the last pier, then down to the end, empty of any ships or boats. Nothing but the cold waters of the Bay and a rolling thunderstorm surrounded us here at the end of the pier.

"So... where?" Satoshi asked.

I pointed up to the rolling clouds. "Up there."

Satoshi glanced at it. "I how you know some roads I don't."

"Don't be ridiculous." Judai commented. "You might as well glue feathers to your arms and flap them if you're thinking of using Psychic powers. The wind velocity would just mean that you're being pushed off course, not to mention not having enough air."

I scowled. "So what are you here for?"

Judai smirked. "Just like Manjoume, really. I am going to help you."

"That's where I come in," Takeshi scowled at Judai, but unlocked his DuelDisk. "I'm going to be your bridge. Judai-san is providing the power. Alexianna will be guarding us here. Any problems?"

"Yeah," I said. "Uh, yeah. Why?"

Judai studied me. "If I know anything about the Manjoume family, is that its members tend to be the avatars of 'things go wrong'. I think it is to the benefit of everyone that you get up there."

"I'm not that bad!"

"Of course," Judai smirked. "I am doing this for my family, and I trust that you will do what I cannot. Get your game on, and be ready."

"For what?" I squawked.

Youkai elbowed me as Judai placed his hand on Takeshi's shoulder. "Be polite."

Takeshi lifted the card, playing it almost reverently. "The bridge of heroes, come once more, Bifrost!"

Brilliant light flickering through opalescent shades rose up in front of me, as bright as the full moon and as solid as ice. The light resolved itself into the starry outline of stairs, stairs that began at the end of the pier and climbed into the storm above.

I stepped forward and put one foot on the lowest step. It bore my weight, leaving me standing on a block of translucent moonlight over the wind-tossed waters of the Neo Domino Bay.

"Wow," Rex breathed.

"We go up that?" Satoshi asked.

"Si, si," Adrian snickered.

"While we're young," I sighed, and took the next step. "Come on."

Sometimes the most remarkable things seem commonplace.

I mean, when you think about it, jet travel is pretty freaking remarkable. You get in a plane, it defies the gravity of an entire planet by exploiting a loophole of air pressure, and it flies across distances that would take months or years to cross by any means of travel significant for more than a century or three. You hurtle above the earth at enough speed to kill you instantly, and you can only breathe because someone built a really good tin can that has seams tight enough to hold in a decent amount of air. Hundreds of millions of man-hours of work and struggle and research, blood, sweat, tears, and lives, have gone into the history of air travel, and it has totally revolutionised societies.

Get on any flight in the country, and I promise you that you will find someone who, in the face of all that incredible achievement, will be willing to complain about the drinks. Really.

That was me on the staircase. Yes, I was standing on nothing but congealed starlight. Yes, I was walking up through a savage storm, the wind threatening to tear me off and throw me into the freezing waters of the Neo Domino Bay far below. Yes, I was using a legendary and enchanted means of travel to transcend the border between one dimension and the next, and on my way to an epic struggle between elemental forces.

All I could think to say, between panting breaths, was, "Sure. They couldn't possibly have made this an elevator."

Long story short: we climbed about a kilometre or more of stairs (not fun at all) and came out standing on the storm clouds over the city.

It didn't look like it had before the opening curtain. What had once been rolling and silent terrain sculpted of cloud had now been filled with sound, colour, and violence. The storm below that battlefield was a pale reflection of the one raging upon it.

We emerged on one of the hills, looking down into the valley. The hillside around us, lit with flashes of lightning in the clouds beneath, was covered in Duel Monsters of all sizes and descriptions.

Sounds rang through the air – the crackling snap of lightning and the roar of thunder following in concert. Trumpets blared in symphony. Drums to a dozen different beats that both clashed and rumbled in time with one another. Shouts and cries rang out, shrieks that might have come from human throats, together with bellows and roars that could not have. It was its own wild storm of music, huge, teeth-rattling, overwhelming, and charged. A lot like Beethoven in his later life; ridiculously loud.

A few metres away stood a crowd of short, brown-skinned, brown-haired guys, their hands and feet rough and large and head wearing helmets made out of what looked like some kind of leather. Their eyes widened as I came up out of the clouds in my billowing black duster, leather slick with rain. Youkai and the others surrounded Seika and I in a loose ring as they emerged, and I could feel Satoshi and Adrian pressed up close behind me, watching our collective backs from the Exiled Force.

On the other side of us, stood a Lava Battleguard and a Swamp Battleguard, their skins upholstered in knobby warts, lank hair hanging greasily past massive shoulders, tiny red eyes glaring from beneath single craggy brows. Nostrils flared out and they turned toward me, drool dribbling from its lips, but Satoshi glared at it. The duo blinked for a long moment while it processed a thought, and then turned away as though disinterested.

More creatures stood within a long stone's throw, including a group of knights, completely encased in armour and mounted on long-legged warhorses of black. A wounded Dancing Fairy crouched nearby and would have looked like a lovely, winged girl from a distance away – but from there I could see her bloodied claws and the glittering razor edge of her wings.

I couldn't see the whole of the valley below. Some kind of mist lay over it, and only gave me the occasional glimpse of whirling masses of troops and beings, ranks of somewhat human things massed together against one another, while other beings, some of which could only be called monsters, rose up above the rest, slamming together in titanic conflicts that crushed those around them as mere circumstantial casualties. More important, I couldn't see the Table, and I couldn't even make a decent guess as to where I was standing in relation to where it should have been. Dante was glancing in one direction, but that led straight down into the madness below us.

"What next?" Rex yelled at me. He had to shout, though he was only a few feet away-and we were standing above the real fury of the battle below.

I shook my head and started to answer, but Youkai tugged on my sleeve and piped something that got swallowed by the sounds of battle. I looked to where he was pointing, and saw one of the mounted knights leave the others and come riding toward us. His Nightmare Horse pawed the ground. The Chinese-looking man in deep blue nodded and lifted a hand, and abruptly the sounds of battle cut off.

"Greetings," the man in the hexagonal hat nodded. "I see that thou art misplaced. Pray tell of your purpose upon this battlefield this day."

"Er, hi," I wittily answered. "I gotta speak to Shimotsuki. I mean, the Winter Queen."

Fool, Rei hissed. That is the General Raiho, one of three to serve the Queen directly.

He nodded. "I shall guide thee. Follow. And bid thy companions to put away their weapons ere we approach Her Majesty."

We followed the knight up the slope of the hill to its top, where the air grew cold enough to sting. I gathered my coat a little closer around me and could almost see the crystals of ice forming on my eyelashes. I just had to hope that my hair wouldn't freeze and break off.

Shimotsuki was astride a horse, and I say a horse in the loosest sense that the lightning-shooting monstrosity was one. Her lips and eyelashes were blue, her eyes white as moonlight. The sheer, cold, cruel beauty made my heart falter and my stomach flutter nervously. The air around her vibrated with power, and shone with cold white and blue light.

The Queen turned her regard to me as I approached, away from the battlefield. "You are here."

I shrugged. "Kiyoshi jumped me. He took the Unravelling."

"What does your logic tell you?"

"I must reach the Table before midnight," I groaned. "What can you do to get me there?"

Her eyes flickered to the stars above, and I thought I saw a flash of worry through there. "It is racing this night. Time himself runs against you."

One entire swath of the battlefield flooded with a sudden golden radiance. She lifted her hand, and the aura around her flashed with a cerulean fire, the air thickening. That flame lashed out against the gold, and the two clashed in a shower of emerald energy, cancelling one another out. "No matter. The direct route would place you in the path of battle enough to destroy any mortal. I can suggest another way."

"Go on," I put my hands to my ears. "These are my listening ears. I'm listening."

"Let me know if you experience any discomfort." She looked up again. "Queen of the Air I may be, but these skies remain contested. Ryuusei is at the height of his powers and I at the ebb of mine." She pointed to the field, all weirdly lighted mist in gold and blue, green mist swirling with violence where they met. "And Summer gains ground."

"Yes," I said. I might not know, but if she said it...

She lifted her hand again, a signal, and scores of bats swarmed up from somewhere behind her, launching themselves in a web-winged cloud into the skies above. "We yet hold the river, though we lose ground on both sides. My champions have concentrated upon it. Reach the river, and it will take you through the battle to the hill of the Stone Table."

"Get to the river," I said. "Right."

"Those who are mine know of you," she commented. "Give them no cause and they will not hamper your mission." She turned away from me, her attention back upon the battle, and the sound of it came crashing back in.

I turned from her and went back to the waiting Duelists. "We get to the river," I shouted to them. "Try to stay in the blue mist, and don't start a fight with anything."

I started downhill, which as far as I know is the easiest way to find water. We passed through hundreds more troops, most of them units evidently recovering from the first shock of battle: scarlet- and blue-skinned Ogres towered over me, their blood almost dull compared to their skin and armour. Another unit of Injection Fairies Lily tended to wounded with bandages. A group of Harpies crouched over a mound of bloody, stinking carrion, squabbling like vultures, blood all over their faces, breasts, and wings (I am never going to look at them the same way ever again). Another troop of battered, lantern-jawed, burly green-skinned humanoids with wide, bat-like ears, Goblins, dragged their dead and some of their wounded over to the Harpies, tossing them onto the carrion pile with businesslike efficiency despite their fellows' feeble screeches and yowls.

My stomach heaved. I fought down both fear and revulsion, and struggled to block out the images of nightmarish carnage around me. Ahead of us, bluish mist gave way to murky green, steel chimed and rasped on steel, and I could hear water amidst the louder shrieks and cries. The river.

"Okay, run!" Satoshi called, having also heard. "Don't stop until you're standing in water or your legs are ripped off!"

Seika gave a muffled sob, or a cry. I chanced a bit. She was bright-eyed, sad but resolved, clawing as she leapt and nimbly dashed. A splash of water, and she was in the clear.

A bunch of Bladeflies were headed towards up, their wings humming like shop class. "Blustering Winds," Youkai whispered, before he sent out a flurry of his own monsters. I saw the Mist Valley bird take them on with extreme prejudice; ow.

"Wow!" Rex cried out.

We ran, and ran.

About three metres from shore, I heard a stampede from the far end, and turned to see horses and dragons flying overhead to land and roar and blast with extreme prejudice. On the lead horse was the Invader of Darkness, spattered in liquids that, being here, could only be blood. As he landed, the nearby Goblin Attack Force mounted a charge.

It turned toward them, a Sword of Dark Destruction in hand, and cut through one as if the other were butter and he was holding a light-sabre. The goblin's head toppled from its shoulders, which spouted greenish blood for a few seconds before the body fell beside the head on the misty ground. The remaining goblins retreated, and the Invader whirled his steed around to face me.

"Spirit-caller!" he shouted, laughing.

More monsters leapt the river, warriors touching down behind it in helmets and mail in a riot of cold colours. One of them was Bahamut, his wings outspread, also stained with blood in so many colours of liquid that it looked as if it had been puked on by a baby rainbow. Ophion landed as well, with Kiyoshi astride him, and them, with a beat of something heavier, the Despair of the Dark landed, digging clawed feet into soft mud.

Strapped onto the Duel Monster's shoulders was the stone statue of the two entwined – Mutou Ryuuki, grandson of the former King of Games, and Yuuki Ayame, the Summer champion.

Ophion drew up short, and Kiyoshi's brown eyes widened. "You," he half-whispered. To abuse the metaphor, as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Give me the Unravelling and let Ayame go, Kiyoshi." I demanded. "It's over."

His eyes glittered, too bright. He looked up at the stars, and then back to me with that same, too-intense pressure to his gaze. Bad enough that he was abused, first by his own foster family, and then by Duel Spirits as loopy as Marguerite, and then being so lonely and hurting with no one except a friend who was unable to notice it.

He was also mad.

"The hour is here," he shot back. "The end of this pointless cycle. Over!"

"Shimotsuki knows!" I yelled. "Ryuusei knows. There's no point to this anymore."

"Kiyoshi?" Yuuki called. "Please, stop this. What are you doing?"

Something flickered in Kiyoshi's expression, and I felt a stab of hope before it smoothed over. Kiyoshi let his head fall back as he laughed, the sound piercingly sweet. It set my nerves to jangling, and I had to push it back from my thoughts with an effort of will.

"They cannot stop me," Kiyoshi chuckled, that mad laughter still bubbling through. "And neither can you." His eyes blazed, and he pointed a finger at me. "Despair, with me. The rest of you. Kill him. Kill them all."

He turned his back on a crestfallen Yuuki, and the Despair followed him down the river with the statue.

The monsters, a score of them, drew swords or lifted long spears in their hands. Bahamut flexed its claws, focused on me with deadly feline intensity. The Invader of Darkness let out another laugh, spinning his sword arrogantly in his hand.

Around me, I heard the Psychic Duelists and Satoshi and Adrian crouch down, growls bubbling up in their throats. Weapons, Equip Spells or fireballs, or just knives, were in hand.

I put Seika behind me, considered my weapons in hand, and palmed a knife. It might not do much, but the weight was reassuring. "Seika."

"Yes?"

"When we charge, run downstream. Get to the Table. Trap Kiyoshi with that Death-match Duel Rope you have. Slow him down. Got it?"

Seika quickly nodded. "And Chase-nii? Rex-nii?"

The Invader levelled his sword and let out a cry, taking the panicked mount from a frightened rear to a full frontal charge. Around him, the monsters of the Duel charged, the light of stars and moon glittering on their... things, surging toward us like a deadly tide.

There was a full-throated howl, eerie and savage. Youkai screamed, wild and loud as he took to the air, and even Ryuusuke let out a battle shriek.

The noise was deafening, and no one could have heard me anyway as I let out my battle cry, which I figured was worth a shot even if it meant paying the copyright fee. What the hell.

"Get your game on!"

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