Chapter 53: Veiling
{Leo Corp Tower: July 28th, 2014: 4:00am}
Reiji Akaba stood observing the data that had been implanted on his Duel Disk, finding the anti-hacking program Yuya had put into the electronic to be nearly flawless. The program had only one weakness, and it was only accessible with a singular code, which, from what he saw, Yuya himself was the only one aware of it. Reiji smiled, satisfied with the work the Pillar had done while he also considered that today, the spell required for the card he'd developed to work would be applied, and once it was, the Duel Disks would be completed, in addition, the bombs would be finished today. Reiji looked to the table where a small set of packs were located, and smiled to himself, knowing that he had completed the work he needed to on the cards for the group. As he sat his Duel Disk down on the table, the door opened, and he looked to see his mother present.
"Good morning, Reiji," she said.
"Morning, mother, have you slept well?" Henrietta smiled.
"I'm afraid these early hours aren't sufficient for me. However, you are much younger than I am, so me being able to be up this early is reasonable I suppose," she stated.
"Hmm… is Riley with you?" Henrietta shook her head.
"I was going to let him sleep for a bit longer. You know young children need more sleep than you teenagers do," she explained as Reiji nodded and Henrietta looked at the Duel Disks and cards laid out on the table.
"So, I'll take it that Yuya Sakaki completed the Duel Disk programming?" Reiji glanced her way.
"In no time at all, our Pillar has completed the reprogramming, gotten a coven together to make the Fly-By-Night capsules, and will be applying the magic to the Duel Disks today, and then he and some of the other Lancers will be meeting up at his residence, and with Yoko Sakaki's aid and supervision, will be creating the protection crystals while also making the anti-curse stones," he informed her as she nodded.
"Then they're coming along with preparations nicely, and we're only on day three. Have they prepared to do magic practice and combat training?" Reiji shook his head.
"That will start tomorrow. Today, Yuya informed me that he has to return to Umino Fortune Duel Academy and pick up the capsules, then he and the Lancers will proceed to make the crystals and stones before coming here. They will arrive later today to complete the bombs, Duel Disks, and begin gun training," he stated as he looked towards the city below him.
"I see… and are you certain teaching them how to handle guns is appropriate?" Reiji nodded swiftly.
"The Obelisk Force has placed witches in front of firing squads in order to execute them. This leads me to believe that they may use such methods to do us harm should they come to the Synchro Dimension… in addition, magic in the basic form will be shown. Yuya will be one of the people who teaches us, alongside Shay and Sky," he said simply.
"Are you positive having Yuya Sakaki teach all of you magic is wise when he can't even control his own?" Reiji smiled just a fraction.
"Yuya is more than capable of controlling it; however, there are moments when it gets the best of him. Doubting one another is not something we can do right now though… Yuya is our Pillar, and we cannot afford to mistrust him, nor misuse his power," Reiji stated simply.
"Very true, but still… the powers he possesses are not known to us, what if he were to use this against us?" the silver-haired teen glanced her way.
"If you're insinuating that Yuya would betray us, I suggest you save your breath… that boy isn't that kind of person," he closed the conversation, and Henrietta sighed.
"Whether he is or not, a Waking Witch is a lethal force of nature… that much was made clear in the stories." With that, Henrietta walked away, exiting the office as Reiji sighed.
Since he had chosen Yuya as a Lancer, his mother had cautioned him against it, not only because there was a high risk of something bad happening to the boy on the front lines, but because it was evident that Yuya had very little control over his magic when his emotions got the better of him. Reiji knew all of these details very well; however, he also was aware that Yuya was undoubtedly powerful, and would be a valuable asset on this journey. The silver-haired teen sighed, closing his eyes for a brief moment while he thought over how the Dimension-Zone rift would have to be repaired, thus doing just as suggested, and snuffing out his father's schemes in moments. At the moment, though, preparing his Lancers, would be the best course of action.
{Sakaki Household: 8:03am}
Sylvio Sawatari let out a long sigh as he walked towards the address he had been handed by Yuya yesterday afternoon. He was supposed to be present at the house alongside the other Lancers in order to assist where they could in addition to receiving their crystals and stones. It was going to be a grueling process, he understood, and while he was thankful that he had been able to sleep in just a bit today, he was also questioning why the hell he was having to come when he had no power. It rubbed him in an odd way, to know that the boy he had picked on and challenged to a duel for his Pendulum cards had been a powerful Witch all along, and most likely could have just turned him into a mouse or something if the notion had crossed him.
However, what unnerved him the most, was getting to know more about the red-green-haired Odd-Eyes Duelist. Ever since elementary school, Yuya Sakaki had made him extremely confused, and it had little to do with much more than by his appearance and presence. The scarlet-eyed boy had an aura of purity and innocence around him, something that made Sawatari nervous if he got down to the root of his dislike of the boy. Yuya was always smiling, giving people understanding, and never chose to seek revenge, when it was obvious that he could have. The half-Italian sighed in defeat as he considered how many times he had picked on the boy, and how often he had seen signs that Yuya was more than just a strange-looking but beautiful person.
His energy had always been a source of envy growing up, seeing as he could keep going much longer than most could, and he rarely got winded or tired, and then as they entered middle school, after a short stint away, Sawatari had been floored when he'd returned from his vacation, to see the strange little boy he'd met, had grown quite a bit. Yuya had shown what his mother called a natural beauty, which he never quite understood – but his mother was Italian, and he supposed they understood it better than most – when she had met Yuya, the woman had fawned over his scarlet eyes and mixed color hair as though he was a work of art. Sawatari groaned, wondering why his tired brain was making him think such strange things.
"It's like he's some kind of mythological creature or somethin', I swear," he muttered as he heard someone fall into step with him and glanced to the side to see Shay walking beside him.
"Good morning, Sawatari." The blonde-brunette jolted.
"O-Oh! Morning! I guess you're heading to Sakaki's house, too, huh?" he inquired.
"Yuya requested the witches to be there so that they could help with empowering the crystals and stones that he and Dennis are working on. As a witch myself, I feel as though I have a responsibility to be there when asked to help." Sawatari eyed the blue-haired teen.
"Witches sure are high on this honor code thing…" he stated.
"It's because during times of crisis or war, we are all one another has. Our community has been built upon thousands of years of tyranny and suffering from mortals who merely didn't understand us and thought we were evil." Sawatari sighed.
"Admittedly, I kinda thought that, too. Until yesterday when I saw Yuya nearly in tears when he said what he did about being a witch… at that point… I couldn't see him or any of the rest of you who are witches… as what I used to think they were," he informed him of this, and Shay huffed.
"Not that I blame you, because you didn't know better… but perhaps you should have considered that what movies portray something as doesn't necessarily mean that it is exactly that." Sawatari nodded glumly.
"Until a few days ago, I thought all of this was fictional bullshit for little kids… and yet, here I am," he told him as Shay glanced his way.
"Believe me when I say this: reality can be more terrifying than fiction." The other sighed.
"Yea, no kidding… especially the one we live in," he muttered.
"HEY! HURRY UP YOU SLOW POKES!" the two looked up to see Sky standing at the end of a driveway, waving his arms back and forth as they picked up their pace and approached.
The moment they turned around the shrub and the house came into view, Sawatari was frozen in his tracks. It was a normal, modern house, painted white with a nice garden and private backyard. Plants were growing, neatly kept in the garden, butterflies were floating around, the grass well-kept, and everything tidy. He blinked, rubbing his eyes and took a moment to gather himself before he followed Sky and Shay down the driveway and Sky opened the door, letting them in where Sawatari was greeted with another shock. Aside from the climbing wall and fireman's pole, the house was clean, with hardwood floors, neat, white walls, and a few randomized things here and there that looked like foreign decorations, but Sylvio suspected were part of the practice of witchcraft.
"You're looking kinda bug-eyed there, Sawatari, you okay?" mauve eyes looked up to the top of the stairwell and saw Yuya leaning over it.
Yuya looked tired, dark circles under his eyes, his normally faintly tanned skin pale, and his commonly vivid scarlet eyes a bit dull. His hair was mused up in an odd way, his goggles not there to keep it tamed as he crossed his arms over the railing. Yuya was dressed in loose fitting green pants like his normal ones, a black v-neck t-shirt, and his pendulum crystal.
He was barefoot, lacking his arm warmers, and anything else that was common in his attire; however, his arms were marred with severe bruises, gauze, and bandages, showing him how injured he was. Sawatari eyed him as he stretched and grabbed hold of the fireman's pole before he swung down gracefully and landed like a cat. Yuya stretched once more and looked to him.
"I-I um… your house wasn't what I was expecting," he admitted as Yuya chuckled a bit.
"Guessing you were expecting a cottage or maybe a house made of candy?" Sawatari felt his mouth open and close like a fish while Sky hummed.
"That would be kinda cool, but that hag had it comin' to her, giving the rest of us a bad rep," he mentioned as Yuya shrugged, Sawatari staring at him still.
"Yea, you've gotta point there." Shay removed his jacket and shoes, Sawatari following as Yuya stretched a bit more.
"Did you just wake up?" the Risulian witch inquired.
"Sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night… fixed a few small bugs I found in my own duel disk. It's wanting to be kinda weird with me… probably because it's used to the magic I put in it when I duel normally… when the programming changed, I had to extract all the magical impulses embedded into it so it would take it and also accept the spell I'm putting on the other ones." Shay sighed.
"Just don't get yourself too worn out, got it?" Yuya nodded, covering his mouth as he yawned.
"Gotcha…" Sky laughed.
"Maybe you should drink some coffee," he suggested as the other shook his head.
"Mhm… I don't like the taste… is anyone hungry? My aunt's making breakfast for everyone." The group walked into the kitchen, being greeted by Yoko busying herself with cooking as Shay looked around alongside Sawatari while Sky sighed, Yuya going to help his aunt.
"Thank you for making breakfast for all of us, Mrs. Sakaki," Shay stated as Yoko glanced his way.
"No problem dear. The lot of you can't survive on doughnuts alone, even though our resident Dyren Witch could say otherwise." Sky smiled.
"Hey, they're a breakfast food!" he defended as Yoko shook her head.
"Your kind of witch have such ridiculous sweet toothes." Sawatari looked around the kitchen, seeing dried herbs hanging from the ceiling in different areas.
"Make sure to give him the chocolate chip ones, then," Yuya mentioned tiredly as he started to get a few jars out and began putting the leaves he plucked from it into a silver ball before he grabbed a red tea kettle and sat it on the stove, preparing to turn it on normally when Yoko looked to him.
"Yuya…" he rolled his eyes.
"Right," he stated as he pointed his finger at it and the dial turned as he rotated his finger to the left, turning it to four in order for the water to boil, causing Sawatari to gawk.
"Vielen Dank…" Yuya hummed.
"Dankon…" he replied as Sawatari slowly took a seat at the surprisingly large table.
"What was that?" he muttered to Sky who smiled.
"Esperanto, witches have used it to communicate for a pretty long time now, and that was mostly because it was a mixture of Romantic, Germanic, and Slavic languages with a dash of Latin and harder for people to understand back in the day. It's pretty dead now-a-days, but witches use it and Latin still as a universal language as well as our native tongues." Sawatari stared as he looked to Yuya.
"How many languages do you speak?" he inquired.
"Five…" the other felt his jaw drop open.
"F-Five?!" he exclaimed as Yuya glanced his way.
"Yea… well… technically six, but the others are only on basics, I can speak five fluently, though, excluding my native language…" Sawatari hummed.
"Which ones?" Yuya thought for a second.
"Esperanto, Latin, German, French, and English," he stated.
"I only speak Japanese and Italian." Yuya looked to him again as he leaned against the counter.
"That's something my mom's trying to teach me," he informed the other while Yoko sent him a look.
"Hai bisogno di esercitari…" Yuya blew his bangs out of his face.
"I know, but with everything going on, I barely even have the time to read the grimoire, let alone practice another language," he defended as Shay smiled.
"Seems to me that you're gonna have to pick up the pace if you want to get a handle on that Waking Magic of yours." The scarlet-eyed boy gave him a peeved look.
"Thanks, I'll remember that if you flub something up or – "Yuya was cut off by a squeak of shock as the broom slammed into the floor, causing Sawatari to jump as Yuya padded over nonchalantly and picked it up.
"Broom fell again," Yoko stated as Yuya gave her a knowing smirk.
"Company's coming…" Sawatari eyed him strangely.
"How do you know that?" Yuya looked to the corner of the kitchen and sighed as he walked over and picked up a purple fluffball in a turban, showing Sawatari that it was Performapal Momoncarpet, in the flesh.
"It's both an old belief and a witches' skill in knowing… if a broom falls, company is arriving," the boy explained.
"But still, how can you – "a ring of a doorbell came through the house and Yuya glanced to Sky.
"Can you grab that, Sky?" the other nodded and rushed to the door while Sawatari continued to stare while Yuya let Momoncarpet crawl up his arm and rest atop his head.
"You have a Duel Monster on your head," Shay mentioned as Yuya shrugged.
"That's where she usually goes… now, if I can just find Odd-Eyes…" the boy grabbed a small bag of dog food from the cabinet and poured it into a bowl before a series of pets came into the kitchen, Yuya moving around the cats and dogs as he started setting down bowls for them, hopping around them as though he were actually dancing, which was the sight that greeted Serena, Dennis, Gongenzaka, and Aura.
It was quite the sight, Yuya jumping around the hungry animals with a smile on his face as Momoncarpet clung to his head and he started putting down more bowls until finally they were all down and the animals started leaving him alone, which allowed him to sit Momoncarpet down on the far end of the counter for her to eat her grapes and cat food in peace. A squawk caught his attention and he crouched, picking up a smaller than normal Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon which crawled to sit on his shoulder, causing some of them to gape.
"Oh, my Gods! Is that Odd-Eyes?" Dennis asked.
"Yea, he's one of my familiars… but he seems to be feeling a bit gloomy… he's smaller than normal." Aura looked around and Sky shut the door at long last, taking in a deep breath as everyone began to sit down at the table, and Yuya went to pull the kettle off the stove, being mindful of his mother's new rule, which he followed by using magic to turn it off and set it on the table.
"How are you feeling? I heard you didn't feel good yesterday after what the headmistress did to you," Aura stated in concern.
"I'll be okay, the marks are gone, so I'm just glad it's over…" Yuya sat down another small bowl and Odd-Eyes started growing a bit until he was the size of a cat and started chowing down on the dog food.
Serena eyed the place around her, taking in the animals in addition to the duel spirits that were eating happily as she took her seat and remained quiet, thinking over how strange it was to be in an actual house instead of the castle that was Academia. Glancing up, she saw the herbs hanging from the ceiling, drying to be used in potions and powders, which caused her to smile a bit as it reminded her of the green house Joeri tended to.
The blue-purple-haired girl took in a deep breath, crossing her fingers in her lap as she thought about her friend and if he was safe or not. Dennis being here also drew concern to her mind; however, she also had a feeling that asking him just yet would be a poor move on her part, and so she waited and strategized a way to get her answers as soon as possible.
"Now, is everyone here?" Yoko asked as Yuya got a few mugs on the table, a series of plates soon following with a set of forks, spoons, and knives next as he yawned again, causing Aura and the others to gawk a bit as he nodded to his aunt.
"Yep, that's everybody." She smiled, and before they knew it, the food flew onto the table, and Yuya and Yoko had joined them.
"Well, then… color me impressed," stated Dennis.
"Thank you, now, everyone enjoy!"
The group set to taking what they wanted from the choices available, Yuya putting an omelet on his plate with a few slices of tomato, apples, and bacon, foregoing sweets for the time being as Sky grabbed pancakes, chocolate chips, and blueberry syrup. Aura laughing a bit as Serena raised an eyebrow and Yuya shook his head while Gongenzaka thanked Yoko and started to eat his meal, taking his time alongside Dennis and Shay. Within a few minutes, they had gotten what they wanted and started to work on eating, silence overtaking them in a mixture of awkwardness and the deep desire to enjoy a few sparse moments where they weren't having to eat and work at the same time.
Within the last twenty-four-hours, the group of eight had been swamped beyond belief with their work, but had managed to cram it into that tiny window of time and got themselves a brief respite from the task of reprogramming duel disks, making bombs, gathering agreements from other witches, getting permission for them to not return to school any time soon because of a special program Leo Corp was putting together – even though all of them believed that the head of their schools were already well aware of what was actually going on – and getting the basics of their first set of assignments out of the way before physical, magic, and weaponry training would begin later today and tomorrow.
"So, are things going well?" Yoko asked.
"At this point they are, who knows how it's gonna go between this afternoon at the departure date…" Yuya shrugged.
"Reiji's making sure we're prepared as we can be this quickly… but I get why he's doing these things," he stated.
"Why do you really think he's wanting us to learn magic? The minor combat and weapons training I kinda get, but why magic?" Shay looked to the others.
"Because if you don't know basics alongside those capsules… you'll be slaughtered," he pointed out as Yoko eyed him.
"I understand that things went badly in the Xyz Zone, and that you witnessed it. I'm sorry for it happening… if there had been a way, I'm sure a coven could have been called to help…" Shay shook his head.
"We did call a Coven… it didn't work… and what's worse… even our Pillar couldn't do anything to stop them…" Yoko looked down.
"That's another unfortunate thing as well… could you… maybe tell us what he was like?" she inquired as Shay took a bite of his meal, almost wanting to refuse, but decided against it.
"Yuma… was an exceptional person… he was kind hearted, honest, and dreamed big… no matter what, his attitude remained the same, even when things got bad. That was why he was in charge of our unit in the Resistance… he was just the right person for the job, and knew when to fight and when to retreat… it was a true honor to both fight alongside him… and to be his friend." Yuya felt his eyes soften.
"Shay… I wish I could tell you how sorry I am for not being here… I should be able to help you… like I promised," Yuto thought.
"He sounds like the kind of person Yuto would have gotten along with well," Yuya mentioned, causing Shay to eye him.
"They were very close. Yuma was older than Yuto, but they were like brothers sometimes… it was like they had some kind of strange connection or something." Yuya hummed.
"From what I know about Yuto, that sounds like he had a good relationship with him… and I'm guessing the same goes for you? The two of you are childhood friends, right?" he questioned, causing tawny-eyes to widen.
"How did you know that?" Yuya felt a flush come to his face.
"Yuto mentioned it to me in passing…" Shay sighed.
"Oh, well… I guess that makes sense… I just kind of wish I knew where he's gotten off to. How far he is and if he's okay," he stated.
"He's a lot closer than you think he is…."
"I'm sure he's fine."
{One Hour Later: 9:40am}
Gongenzaka and Sawatari stood up on the banister of the catwalk that connected the upstairs and the stairwell while the witches gathered in the area below them. It was quite the sight, all seven of them were barefoot, a circle of salt was surrounding a series of crystals that had been placed on braided ropes for them to put on their persons wherever they chose to. At the left side was Shay and Serena, across from them was Sky and Aura, while Yoko and Dennis were on the south end, and Yuya stood alone at the north. Sawatari was curious, but also worried, as he saw a dagger in Yoko's hand, and he began to wonder what they intended to do with it.
All of them before they had put the crystals on the floor, neatly separated from one another, and drawn the salt circle had gone to a basin Yoko had prepared in the kitchen and rinsed their hands in the icy water, while Sawatari and Gongenzaka watched, and Yoko drew different runes upon all of their foreheads, each symbolizing different elements and powers of nature before placing one upon her own forehead. It had been at that point that she had rinsed her hands, and taken a basin full of hot water and sunk the dagger she now held into it up to the hilt, closing her eyes as she carefully held it in and then removed it.
From there, everyone had to be certain that they cleared their minds, and soon, they would begin fusing the magic in with the crystals to purify them and form a protective spell upon them. Sawatari watched in fascination as Yoko took in a few deep breaths, and she soon opened her eyes, looking to each of the other witches before taking the dagger in her hand, and cutting a line on her palm which oozed blood before she held the dagger in front of her, letting a drop of blood hit the salt line, which quickly turned pale green-gold, spreading outwards as it started glowing.
"What in the – "Gongenzaka shook his head as Sawatari clapped his hands over his mouth, recalling that Yoko had asked that neither of them speak during this process.
"I open this blessing circle, so that these crystals may be cleansed," she stated as she handed the dagger to Dennis, who took it and cut a gash into his palm as well, holding the dagger in place as a drop of blood fell and the line of salt turned orange.
"Thus, I continue this blessing circle, so that these crystals may be unified." He handed off the dagger to Aura and clasped his cut hand with Yoko's own, the two waiting for the others to continue. Aura repeated the process, and took in a deep breath as pale green appeared upon the line of salt in front of her.
"As I forward this blessing circle, so that these crystals may aid," she stated as she handed the dagger off to Sky, and he followed the process as Aura grabbed Dennis's uninjured hand with hers. Sky took in a steady breath, dropping a bit of his blood on the salt before it glowed bright blue.
"So, I continue this blessing circle, so that these crystals may be supported." He held the dagger across to Serena who nodded, as Aura and Sky locked their wounded hands together.
"I pass on this blessing circle, so that these crystals may be a symbol," Serena said as she let the blood drop, causing it to become bright purple as she handed the dagger to Shay as she locked her uninjured hand to Yoko's.
"Once more, I continue this blessing circle, so that these crystals may be a shield." Shay cut both his palms, letting the blood drop on the salt to where it turned golden in color as he handed the dagger to Yuya while he locked his left wounded hand with Serena as Yuya looked at the others, Sawatari watching.
"As those who came before me, I complete this blessing circle, so that these crystals shall be bound and cast upon the mantle that all have spoken in a breath before I. They shall guard the hearts and souls of those who bear them upon their flesh, so say I," Yuya finished as he cut his hand, dropping the blood upon the salt which turned a vibrant glowing red as he tossed the dagger into the floor, anchoring it between the crystals before locking both hands with Shay and Sky.
The seven witches closed their eyes, Gongenzaka and Sawatari watched as the now gleaming, colored salt slithered forward, encroaching upon the crystals as it sought the dagger. Within a few moments, lines reached into the circle's center, touching the crystals as it coiled around the dagger, the crystals being dragged with it before a series of small glows appeared from the ten stones, startling the two mortals witnessing this as the crystals shined brighter as a gust of wind started to pick up, ruffling the hair and clothes of the witches, who still kept their eyes closed as the magic in the room crackled and seemed to cause the house to creak and groan to the point that Sawatari gripped the banister in fear that the house would fall apart before in the blink of an eye, it all stopped. The noise, wind, and lights vanished from existence, and a moment later, the witches opened their eyes, the salt retreating as Yuya glanced to the others.
"Job well done, kids! The purification and rite worked perfectly, the crystals will do their jobs now," Yoko told them as everyone nodded, Sawatari's eyes gleaming with fascination.
"That was freaking epic!" Sky laughed a bit at his exclamation while Yoko looked to her nephew.
"Yuya, I believe you know how to handle this part?" she inquired as he nodded.
The group watched as Yuya held his hand over the salt circle, moving his fingers as though he was making a string puppet move and slowly the salt began to move towards him, cascading up into a standing as he rotated the motion to both his hands and shifted his weight onto his front left foot, moving the salt into the air as though it was alive. Gongenzaka's eyes widened as Yuya kept his concentration, being careful as the salt kept lifting into the air and he took steady steps, making sure not to get distracted as he rotated the salt around his form, and back to in front of him.
Yoko watched with a satisfied smile as the boy moved his hand back and the salt followed until she opened the door, and he closed his hand into a fist, and then released it, taking in a deep breath which he quickly blew out gently, letting the air slip past his lips almost as though he were blowing a kiss of sorts as it sailed through the air and out the door to scatter about the front yard. Aura started clapping, jumping up and down a bit as Dennis whistled while Serena raised an eyebrow while Yuya picked up the dagger while Gongenzaka and Sawatari came down and stood near the boy while Aura giggled.
"Oh! That was so pretty! You did such a good job, Yuya!" she stated as Yuya smiled in her direction.
"Thanks, I'm not really an expert on that, though…" Gongenzaka looked to his friend.
"What was that exactly?" He probed.
"That, my dear friends, was what is known as a salt dance spell. It's a very old spell that was designed to gather salt from stones and natural resources, and make it abide by the hands of the witch… it's used during some of the solstices as a form of entertainment, but can be incredibly tricky if it's done incorrectly," Dennis supplemented.
"It was pretty neat to see, the only sort of traditional dancing spells I've seen done were the departure dances that my sister did." Yoko looked to Shay at that.
"Then I'll suspect your sister is an Avian Witch, that's quite an honor," she stated.
"Avian?" Yuya nodded.
"There are about fifty or so different types of skills witches are classed under, Avian Witches sing elegies for the dead, perform complex dancing rituals, purification rites, are renowned for their healing abilities and their gentle nature. They're not vicious unless you threaten to harm the lives of their loved ones," Yuya explained as Sawatari nodded.
"So… there's Avian Witches, Dyren Witches, and Waking Witches, what else?" Yoko shook her head, laughing a bit.
"No, Sawatari, dear… Waking isn't a skill… Yuya's kind of magic is used by less than once percent of our global population. Waking Witches have a special kind of history all their own," she told him as he looked to Yuya.
"Seriously?" Dennis nodded.
"Yup, just like red hair has a lot of history in witch culture as well," he pointed out.
"Red hair?" a sudden noise caught their attention as a grumpy looking gnome entered into the house, grumbling as he marched up to Yuya.
"Would you mind not spraying me with salt this early in the morning?!" Sawatari felt his eyes widen to the point he was certain they were going to pop out of his skull.
"Niknak, now – "the gnome stomped his tiny feet.
"No! I understand there are many things happening! I truly do, Master Yuya, but please! For the love of hemlock! Watch where you aim your spells!" he stated sharply.
"O-Okay, I just was trying to clean up after we did a purification rite, so I…" Niknak frowned.
"You red-haired witches are gonna get yourselves into a heap of trouble one of these days! You hear me?! It'll be the dark ages all over again!" he said as he stormed off, and Yuya sighed.
"So… who was that?" Yuya looked to Sawatari.
"Our garden gnome…" he mumbled.
"I see… excuse me, I think I'll go check myself into the nearest psychiatric ward…" Dennis grabbed him by the back of his shirt.
"Not this time, old chap, we've got work to do…" Sawatari was dragged away into the kitchen, deciding that in a house full of witches, it would be pointless to struggle.
{Leo Corp Tower: 1:00pm}
"Alright, since we're all present and accounted for, I suppose it's time that I return everyone's duel disk, save for Yuya's I suppose. In addition, the cards I had mentioned earlier are present today for you to add to your decks," Reiji stated as the group nodded.
They had arrived after a quick lunch, and had been thankful for that before they'd arrived at Leo Corp's tower. Now, they were going to be heading straight into the task at hand: checking the Duel Disks to make sure they worked correctly, and adapting to the new monsters they had received. At current, they had retrieved their Duel Disks, and had each grabbed the cards handed off to them, and had begun inspecting them.
The lot included four Pendulum Cards, Polymerization – for their non-Fusion users – a Fusion monster, Synchro Monster, two Tuners, and an Xyz Monster. Gongenzaka eyed his Pendulum monsters, being thankful that he had been blessed with two of them having an effect that allowed him to Fusion summon without Polymerization. Sawatari eyed the newest additions to his deck, a Fusion Monster named Abyss Actor Stunt Double, two tuners known as Abyss Actors Announcer and Narrator, and an Xyz Monster known as Abyss Actor Legacy Legend.
Serena's newest monsters were a few pendulums known as Moonlight Wolf, who was a Scale One, Moonlight Tiger, which stood at a Scale five, and Moonlight Canary with a Scale of Seven. Following that were two tuners: Moonlight Black Cat and Moonlight Crimson Fox, and then her Synchro Monster of level seven named Moonlight White Bat. Lastly was her Xyz Monster, a rank four that had been given the name Moonlight Graceful Liger. She smiled, satisfied as she put the cards into her deck, having not received a Fusion due to her using those fundamentally. Her gaze turned to Shay, who looked at his cards, nodding and putting them into his deck without question, before Dennis cheerfully added his own, then it was left to Yuya.
He had been given five new monsters that he quite honestly didn't know what to expect from. The first one was a Fusion Monster with a Wind attribute, following that was a Synchro Monster with a Fire attribute, and an Xyz Monster with a Water attribute. Raising an eyebrow, he looked to his two tuners: Performapal Odd-Eyes Synchron, and Nobledragon Magician. Yuya read through the effects and nodded, plugging them into his deck and extra deck before shuffling the deck just before locking it in place within the duel disk, which he put into his pants pocket.
"Is everyone satisfied with the cards?" Reiji inquired.
"Yea! I think they'll be great additions!" Yuya glanced to Sky.
"You've already got yours, so I guess that's a good thing," he stated.
"Oh, it is… those cards helped save our asses during that invasion." Shay glanced to Sky.
"Which reminds me, why did you use an Xyz Monster?" he probed.
"Duh! Because I knew it was the right thing to do, and because I knew it would spook the socks off those flybys." Yuya shook his head.
"Shay, you can trust Sky… he's helped us through a lot already, and he's not going to turn on us… believe me," he stated as he locked eyes with the Risulian Witch. He never understood it, but when the boy looked to him in such a manner, he felt an overwhelming sense that he had no need to question his judgment on others, and thus, he only sighed and shrugged, not knowing what else to do.
"If you say so…" Dennis smiled.
"Now, shall we have a friendly duel to check on each other's disks and test out these new cards?" he suggested.
"That sounds like a splendid plan… I'll observe while the eight of you have your rounds." Reiji walked away, sitting down off to the side of the large, open room as the group squared off, four verses four. Tomorrow, they would begin physical and magic training and would only have three days to get the basics down before they departed. At this point, Reiji could only hope that it worked out as well as it did in theory; otherwise, things would become twice as dangerous as they already were going to be.
{…}
I'll be dead before the day is done…
{….}
Author's Note: Dear sweet heavens! I was beginning to wonder if I could ever get through this chapter. It's one of the few that actually gave me a huge amount of trouble; however, I think I did okay. This chapter is much shorter than the prior ones, but that's because I'm using these as breather chapters before we get into the Synchro Dimension. At current, the Lancers will be departing from the Pendulum Zone in chapter 59 and we'll beginning the Synchro Dimension in chapter 60. Anyways, let me know what you guys think!
Sincerely,
ShadowDragon94.
Trivia:
There's a hint in the first line Sawatari says.
It's true that the truth is stranger than fiction, and in this case, twice as dangerous.
I grew up hearing that if a broom fell, company was coming, and strangely enough, every time a broom falls in my house – even when I still lived in the house I grew up in – someone would come visit us.
Yuya and Yoko's statements to each other: Vielen Dank: Thank you/Dankon: Welcome.
Esperanto was invented in 1887 by L.L Zamenhof and is spoken by approximately two-million speakers worldwide, and it is the most widely spoken constructed language in the world.
Yoko's statement in Italian: You need to practice.
This is one of the first times we see Yuya using household magic.
The purification rite done on the crystals is made up, but it was inspired by the exorcism scene from Practical Magic.
The Salt Dance Spell was inspired by Element Bending from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Yes, there are approximately 50 different skills for witches; however, I only plan for 27 or so to show up in this story.
Hemlock is a toxic plant, and ironically is part of the carrot family.
I'll show everyone's new monsters at least once at some point in this story, don't worry.
Moonlight Graceful Liger, is a reference to one of Yuya's monsters that he uses in the manga known as Handsome Liger.
