-
Chapter 27
-

From the depth of the darkness at the end of the corridor, Milly and Aaron found themselves rattled by a bellowing roar.

"W-What in the world is that?" Milly questioned to Victor, her voice still shaking after hearing such a roar. She turned her gaze to glance up at the other man for an explanation, but the only thing she got from him was a bemused grin as he stepped closer to where the roar had come from. It was enough to make her eyes widen considerably, her expression mixing with both shock and growing fear. "Don't tell me that's one of your pet zombies, isn't it? I thought we weren't able to use our cards in this labyrinth."

The question made Victor stop in his steps and turn to look at Milly with a knowing grin. "What?" he chuckled as his hands entered the deep pockets of his coat, "you don't recognize the voice of your own friend?"

"Friend?" Milly queried again, the fear fading as it gave way towards confusion.

At that point, a second roar echoed through the corridors to shut down Victor's response. A large portion of the shadows covering the stone walls and floor darkened as a new mass came charging out of it. All at once, a large black mass leaped forth, teeth and claws reaching out to tear out the anchor points of the two Traps surrounding Victor and the others, even as a screechy little voice called out jibberish from somewhere near the charging beast. If one were to look close enough, it would almost appear that a second (and much smaller) black mass was somehow riding atop of the giant one!

Then, before Milly or Aaron could realize what was happening, the barriers failed and disappeared entirely, symbols fading and chains collapsing to the floor. Then, to their utter dismay, the found themselves staring down face-to-face with a very large black feline. It was massive, easily towering over Milly and the others, and it stared back with a face marred by twin scars over one eye. The darker stripes running over most of its body gave it a tiger-like appearance, and the more that Milly stared at them and the beast, the more familiar they became to her. Her hanging jaw snapped shut and her brow furrowed slightly as she stepped closer to the enormous cat, her hand slowly and cautiously lifting up to touch the cat's massive snout.

"Ritsuko?" Milly gasped with awe.

With a sound that almost sounded like a purr and a growl, the large cat suddenly settled back and gave an emphatic nod to Milly. "Look at me!" Ritsuko thought, her elation unheard by her friend even though they stood face to face. "I'm huge! Those chains didn't even stand a chance."

"Very well done, Ritsuko," Victor commended as he walked around behind her to reach behind her back. Before anyone could question his motives, he reached up and yanked something off of Ritsuko's back with abrupt force. Aaron could barely make out the furball with limbs that Victor now held hanging by an arm. "Although I do believe you overdid it, Sangan."

"Sorry master," the three-eyed thing warbled back. The little fiend could only squirm in Victor's grip as it tried to reach for the arm holding it with a hand, although it didn't really seem to mind being held like that. Instead, it almost seemed to be wanting to get closer to Victor and try climbing up his arm. "It seemed like a good idea at the time, plus she didn't seem to mind."

"I'm sure," Victor shrugged, notching an eyebrow at Ritsuko, "but I did say Black Tiger LV4, not LV6. Any bigger and we'd start to have real concerns." He shrugged again and dropped the squirming critter. "At least you did retrieve Ian and Ritsuko from Evelyn as I instructed. I trust Ian has already been taken care of?"

"Yes, he's where you said to take him." replied the little Sangan.

"And his condition?"

"Fixed. Right as rain, boss."

"Hold on!" Aaron suddenly shouted. The mention of Ian on Victor's lips had made him tear his gaze away from Ritsuko and her new body to where Victor was standing with Sangan. His eyes were narrowed at the other man and he almost seemed like he was about to draw one of his swords. "Did you know this was going to happen?"

"Not all of it," Victor responded, settling himself back again Aaron's advances. "I merely played the odds I expected from what I figured out."

"And exactly how much did you figure out?" Aaron argued. "And when were you planning on explaining this to us?"

"I don't see where that's really your concern at this moment," Victor countered, "especially considering we should make out way to the exit now unless we wish to leave our pal Ian alone."

"Wait, what?" Aaron spat, his line of thought obviously interrupted with the new information.

"Ian is at the exit, waiting for Evelyn and Copycat to reach him. It's his task to slow them 'till our arrival.

"Well then let's be off then," Milly exclaimed before she stepped up between Victor and Aaron. "If he's by himself, he'll need our help. We can deal with you," she continued, throwing a glare at Victor, "and your methods later."

"Well said," Victor chimed jovially. With that, he continued striding past Milly and stepping up Ritsuko. After eyeballing her for a moment, he chuckled lightly. "Well, at least Sangan's folly can be useful for once. Care to give us a lift, Ritsuko?"

Ritsuko tilted her head for a moment before realizing what Victor was asking. "You guys are seriously going to ride on my back?" She thought, even though she knew directing the thought at them wasn't going to get much of an answer. Looking them over, she realized it wouldn't be much work and nodded at Victor.

"Excellent," he only replied. With a light step, and after gently grabbing a handful of Ristuko's fur, he carefully vaulted himself up and over Ritsuko's tiger body and landed just before her shoulder blades. The action was even enough to startle Ritusko, despite the fact that she was expecting it. "Well, milady," Victor chuckled sarcastically as he held a hand out to Milly, "shall we be off?"

"Don't even try that on me," she countered, throwing her massive lollipop up at Victor. He caught it in his outstretched hand with ease and settled it across his lap while maintaining one hand on Ritsuko to keep his balance. Ignoring his feat of dexterity, Milly pulled herself up and settled in right behind him.

"Let's go, let's go," the Sangan chattered, suddenly jumping up on Aaron's back and pointing to Ritsuko. "It's fun, you'll see."

Aaron could only groan at that and then pulled himself up alongside Milly, gladly accepting the blonde's outstretched hand due to the extra weight of his armor and Sangan. "Right then," Victor called out, "let's be off."

With that, Ritusko nodded her massive feline head and then sprang forward towards where Victor had pointed the exit to be. Her movements were powerful and graceful, her muscles surging forward beneath her fur coat despite the extra three passengers and the furball on her back. If anything less, it seemed she was enjoying the fact that she could.

Meanwhile, Ian had already found himself staring down Copycat and Eve. "Right then," Copycat chocked, "so this is where you wandered off to? I'm so glad that that little Critter didn't ditch you somewhere...harmful."

Ian stared back with a fierce look in his now-human eyes. It was all thanks to some gadget Victor had given Sangan right before the furball had left with Ritsuko to find the others. It had looked like something a medical tool, sharp and polished, which wasn't all that surprising considering that Sangan had gotten it from Victor. What had surprised Ian was the fact that it had looked oddly similar to a device he had once seen on the card "DNA Surgery", which had been held by one of the three goblinoid doctors depicted on the card. He'd regained his normal body with it, and was once again sporting his Slifer Red garments and duel disk. Even better yet, it worked, and he could feel the connection to his Forgotten Toys through it once again. "You're not going any further, Copycat. Sangan explained your tricks to me, so don't even try anything."

"Am I really that predictable?" Copycat laughed in amusement. "To think that little furball could sum up all my brilliant escapades is preposterous, to say the least. I will have to find it and teach it a lesson now." If anything could be gained from the body language of someone without a face, it would be that he truly felt slighted at being summed up so easily by such a critter. "But no, where was I? Ah yes, I was watching your pitiful attempt to confront me."

"Pitiful? Don't make me laugh," Ian replied sharply.

"But you're already doing such for me," Copycat countered. "To watch you play hero with the rest of these...children...is refreshingly amusing. I haven't had this much fun since the last time a band of Duel Academy students was dropped here. Then again, I'm thinking this is more fun since I missed the big members of that last bunch. Can't quite recall their names at the moment, but they were apparently quite fun to play with."

"So what's the deal?" Ian sniped, "gonna stand there and try to bore me to death with your stories? I get it, you've been around the block a bit. Your point?"

"It's just that I don't feel like I should need to fight you," Copycat chuckled. "After all, the way you are...we should be on the same side, actually."

"Don't even think about giving me that 'we're just alike' speech and trying to recruit me. That kind of evil villain stuff is so cliché that it's not even funny."

"Heh," Copycat smirked, "first of all, we aren't alike. I'm much better than you. But yes, you should be on our side. I can see it in you; the will to destroy. I'm not gonna say anything as cliché as 'I know the darkness in you' or 'join me in darkness' or that such nonsense. But I sense such a killer instinct from you." Copycat paused at the moment, seeming to survey Ian with much thought. "Could it be that other deck of yours?"

Ian's breath caught in his throat as he unconsciously settled his hand on top of the deckbox strapped at his hip. "Right on the mark," he thought, grimacing at Copycat's accuracy.

"Oh," Copycat trilled, "it seems I am correct? What is that little beauty you hide there? Whoever they are, can they come out and play?"

"Not with the likes of you," Ian resisted. "Not ever if I have much say in it."

"Oh, I do love a good surprise," Copycat laughed suddenly. He was actually clapping in approval of Ian, the mirror simply hovering over his face without a hand to hold it up. "Very well, I suppose we should end this charade. We both know how this is going to end."

"You're going down," Ian challenged, lifting his arm up as he turned on his duel disk. The machine hummed to life, it's central light beginning to glow as the card trays extended.

"Oh, and now who's the one being cliché, Mr. Challenger?" Copycat taunted as he revealed his own arm. He wore a disk that mirrored Ian's Duel Disk, including the part where it was powering up. But then suddenly, he slid it off his hand and held it off to his right in a single motion. Eve, who happened to be standing there, could only look at him dumbfounded. "Take it," he ordered. "Defeat him and you'll go free. Don't even worry about the deck. It is your deck. I'm not the type to cast aside such amusing trinkets as those."

Eve looked at Copycat, then the duel disk in his hand, and then back to Copycat before finally looking at Ian. The tiniest hint of tears welled up her eyes before she shook her head, casting them back before they could surface. Murmuring something to the effect of, "I'm sorry," she grabbed the duel disk and turned to Ian. "I can not go easy on you, Ian Diots."

Ian, on other hand, hardly seemed surprised at all by this turn of events. It was as if he had been expecting Copycat to pull such an underhanded trick all along. Maybe he hadn't known that he would actually do that, but the tactic was hardly surprising considering what Ian had seen from him until now. "I was afraid of that," Ian replied steadily to Eve, "and neither can I." Settling back, he raised his duel disk and prepared himself. "But you," he called out, turning his head to Copycat , even as the shapeshifter strolled off to the side. "You're next."

"As if," Copycat scoffed, dismissing Ian's threat with a wave of his hand. Etching several movements into the air, Copycat seemed content with himself after producing a chair from thin air. Now settled down comfortable, he steepled his hand and stared intently at Ian. Or so he appeared since the mirror was still covering his face. "Here's the deal, if you're willing to take it," he explained, looking at neither Ian nor Eve, but instead staring straight ahead. "Defeat your opponent and you shall go free. Taste defeat...and we'll see what will be your treat."

Ian could only grimace at Copycat's promise before turning back. The sounds of both their duel disks whirling to life wasn't the only thing causing noise. A loud grinding forced Ian to look behind himself, and filled his face with surprise.

"I've been meaning to ask," Milly called out, forcing Victor to turn around while maintain his grip. "If there's an exit to this maze, why don't people just find that instead of fighting Copycat's guardians?"

"The door is locked," Victor explained. "And the only way to open it is to enact a duel. Trust me, when you're like this," he continued while nodding at her outfit and then down at Ritsuko,."it gets kind of hard."

"So then how..." she started, but Victor's smile cut her off.

"In defeating the guardians," Victor explained, "you do not gain yourself freedom from the maze, but instead freedom from the transformation. This let's you duel your way out. If one could simply fight their way out of the complexity, then far more would've escaped by now. You didn't think this was going to be that easy, did you?"

"You know," Milly smiled, her hands gripping the giant sucker a little tighter, "for a second there, yeah, I kinda did."

To Ian's surprise, the entire wall behind him had slid open, revealing a path to the outside. Even as he watched on, light forced its way in along with a stiff breeze. Or perhaps it just felt that way since the labyrinth was stuffy, he wasn't sure. One thing that was for certain was that it was the way out.

"What do you think?" Copycat chuckled. "You stand mere paces from freedom. All you need to do is defeat our dear friend Evelyn here, and the doors will stay open long enough for you to make you mistake. They might even stay open long enough for your friends."

"Whatever you say," Ian scoffed. "As if I'd listen to your taunts any longer." he thought before narrowing his gaze at Copycat. "I don't care about escaping. Just listen to this, Copycat. As soon as I'm done here, I'm coming after you." Ian's hand went to his deck as he drew his top five cards.

"So fiesty," Copycat chuckled, "just like your other friends. It seems my job here was a rousing success."

"Say what?" Ian commented, his guard suddenly lowered by the odd comment.

"Quite frankly," Copycat chuckled, shrugging casually at Ian's confusion, "I was merely tasked with inciting your petty little gang. For some reason, my master wants you band of idiots to truly crave the destruction of the Monarchs and their minions. I can't say I would know why, but I so do enjoy the task."

"So I figured," Ian chocked before he jumped slightly at the sound of Eve clearing her throat.

"If you do not mind, Ian Diots," Eve explained, "I would rather end this as soon as possible." Her eyes drifted to the exit, then returned their focus on Ian. "I would like to escape my bondage now, so I fear I cannot go easy on you. I hope you can forgive me."

"Yeah," Ian scoffed, settling back as Eve drew her starting hands, "I was afraid of that. Let's get this over with."