Hey Gang, I hope you all enjoy this newest chapter! By the way, this story now has a TV Tropes Page! I hope you all read into it.
Anyway, without further ado, let's go!
Closed Fist to an Open Palm
Chapter 13: Doubt lingers in all
A splitting headache was the first thing that Brier felt as soon as he woke up. "What happened?" The boy asked to no one, pressing a hand upon his banging head. He looked around his new surroundings, his eyesight blurry and muted after what it seemed like an eternity of dreamless sleep.
As soon as his vision cleared, he looked to see that he was still in the locker room as if nothing had happened. However, his vivid memories proved otherwise. He remembered the mirror. He remembered seeing himself become taller, handsome, and confident before being pulled inside by his flawless reflection. He pulled his hair down, seeing locks of olive green brushing the tip of his eyes. He sighed in disappointment, expecting to see locks of raven black.
He knew that this place wasn't right. Getting up, the boy would walk up to his locker. The containers warped, their padlocks shifted, and their numbers reversed.
"This has to be the work of a Makai...Am I possessed?" The boy pondered out loud. Jasmine never shared on how it felt to be taken over by one of those demons, is this how it feels to be a prisoner to a Makai? To be stuck in limbo?
Cautiously, Brier opened up his locker, hoping that at least his personal belongings survived the journey.
He let out a sigh of relief, his cards and his duel disk were still inside his locker, seemingly unchanged.
Once Brier slung the duel disk around his wrist, he tried to find a way to escape from this backward realm. He quickly checked around the walls of the room, searching for a dor only to find no exits, the doors of this room seemingly erased from existence.
"The mirror!" Brier realized. It was how he got here in the first place. Perhaps he could get out the same way? Brier turned to where the mirror was, only to find out it had disappeared, the reflecting panel on the wall replaced with a lone rusty locker. To his knowledge, he was trapped here with no way out.
"...If I weren't so jealous of Jaden, I wouldn't be here...Dang it Brier. You let your insecurities get the better of you!" He cursed himself, angry at his lack of control. An echo of laughter then drifted to Brier's ears, finding great pleasure in the boy's deprecation.
"Who's there?" Brier demanded, quickly standing up. The laugh boomed in volume before it's owner revealed itself. Suddenly, a gust of violent blew through the room, opening all the lockers in a loudening slam.
Something fell out of one of the opened chambers, dropping to the ground in a lifeless thud.
The long blonde hair gave away who it was.
"Alexis!?" Brier exclaimed, quickly rushing to the blonde's side. She laid on the ground, motionlessly, her eyes slanted half-way open, her breathing fragile, and her skin paling. Her blonde hair, once shining like glittering gold, now faded and coated in a thick layer of grease.
Brier reeled back in horror as soon as he saw what was all around Alexis's skin. Littered all around Alexis's body was a colony of black leeches. They feasted upon her ailing body, drinking her blood, drop-by-drop.
"In only an hour, my children will consume all of her blood...How sad!" The voice continued to taunt. A horde of leeches crawled out of the lockers, gathering in front of Brier, forming into a human shape. A horrid stench of rotting meat transcended through the room,
"Konaki!" The Makai announced. The statue of leeches lifted its arms dramatically before they seeped into the stature, now gaining flesh, blood, and bones, unveiling the Demon's pure form to Brier. The servant of the Makai looked like a mass of tumors growing over a water-logged corpse. Gigantic blackened boils sprawled all over the Demon's bloated body, growing over The Demon's eyes and pressing against its long-nosed maw.
The Demonic servant stepped forward, squishing a wart growing underneath its three-toed foot before it bowed to Brier. Content to show off its horrifying form to the disgusted boy.
"And you two will die here!" The Demon declared, laughing hysterically.
"This worthless piece of trash was supposedly the best in her class! Yet here she lies, broken and beaten by me! Replaced by a friend of mine! Instilling your feeble minds with lovely taint!" Konaki declared as he twirled in a giddy spin. Brier went silent before he stood up to the Demon, his eyes locked on to him in a glare.
"Don't you ever call her that! I may not know Alexis on a personal level...But I know that she's one of the best duelists around!" Brier defended. Konaki laughed in response.
"Aw, yes! I love it when trash mingles with trash! There is a reason why she's here! Like you...She thought she wasn't good enough for someone. So she foolishly stared at my mirror!" Brier's glare turned into a look of confusion.
'Why would Alexis think that? She's a great duelist, she incredibly smart, she's incredibly nice...' Brier contemplated. A person such as him should be harboring this kind of self-doubt, not someone like Alexis.
"What else, boy?! Don't you understand?!" Brier jumped in surprise, unaware that the Demon could read his thoughts. Without a second warning, Konaki quickly ran up to the boy, its broken jaw mere inches away from the boy's face.
"You will never be good enough..." He said in a disturbingly cold and emotionless whisper.
"She will never be good enough for her older brother..." He continued, his breath brushing Brier's face, hitting him with a scent of rotting flesh.
"And you will never be good enough for the girl you love." Brier visibly flinched, the Demon's words struck like a dagger to his heart.
"Give up boy...No one will notice you...No one will need you...So just die with her..." The Demon cooed in a contorted hum. Brier dropped to his knees, letting Konaki's venomous words poison his doubting mind. Sensing easy prey, A horde of squirming leeches crawled out of their hiding spots. They circled Brier, inching closer and closer, ready to claim him as their next victim, ready to feast upon his blood.
"That's where your...Wrong." Brier finally said. Like fire to rats, the parasites began to disperse, cowardly crawling back to the crevices as soon as Brier showed a spark of courage.
"My friends may not need me...They may not notice me...But right now...Alexis needs me! I will never succumb! If it means letting anyone down," Brier declared, standing up to the Demon. An irritated growl creaked out of Kanoki's broken mouth, frustrated by Brier's resistance.
"Then..." A duel disk, made of growths spurred out of Kanoki's arm. The Demon quickly ran up to Brier's locker, snatching one of his decks before slotting it into its duel disk.
"I will gladly take your body and join my kin in the real world!" Kanoki declared.
"Hang in there, Alexis...I may not be good enough for Blair. But I know that I'm good enough to save you." Brier whispered to the girl before readying himself.
"DUEL!"
The audience in the stands began to build up as the two started, clamoring to watch the duel between Alexis Rhodes and her red-headed friend. Jasmine grumbled at the amount of support Alexis garnered, only needing her looks to gain a swath of support from the mostly male audience.
However, amongst this crowd of swooning fanboys was a solemn Zenn. He leaned against the railing, his eyes focused solely on Jasmine.
He nodded to her, silently telling her that no matter what, he will be supporting her to the bitter end.
Jasmine smiled before nodding back. While Jasmine only had one supporter within the hundred that rooted against her, that single one was all that she needed to have a spark of determination flare within her.
Jasmine turned to face Alexis. All of Duel Academy, barring her close friends think Jasmine is a loser, a stain upon the pristine Obelisk Blue Dorm, it's time to make them realize she's much more, and what better way to do that than to dethrone the Queen of the Obelisk Blues?
"DUEL!"
Alexis's LP: 4000
Jasmine's LP: 4000
"I'll start first! I summon Cyber Tutu in attack mode!" Alexis started. A young, petite woman with pink hair arrived at the field in a ballet spin, balancing on one foot before assuming a stance.
"I then set two cards face-down and end my turn, your move Jazz!" Alexis finished.
"I draw! I know for a fact that one of those set cards is Doble Passe! So I activate this! Twin Twisters! By discarding my Harpie Girl, I can destroy both of those set cards!"
"Huh?" Alexis gasped. A pair of cyclones blasted out of the activated spell card, storming onto Alexis's field, scooping up the two set cards, and destroying them.
"Oh Yeah! You think this 'practice' duel is going to be easy!? Come on out! Harpie Queen!" Jasmine announced as she slammed the card down on her duel disk. There was a whirlwind of white feathers as a woman with emerald green hair and sharp claws descended to the field.
"How...Did you get so good?" Alexis pondered, genuinely surprised.
"I was always good, Lexy. You didn't notice it. Now! Harpie Queen! Attack Cyber Tutu with Golden Talon!" Jasmine ordered, swinging her hand at her opponent's way.
Rising in the air, the Queen of Harpies dropped down onto Cyber Tutu with her sharp nails, ripping the dancer to shreds.
Alexis's LP: 3100
"Excellently done, Jasmine!" Zenn shouted, applauding the red-head for her strong turn. The boy's praise immediately brought a blush to Jasmine's cheeks, flustering her to no end.
"Quiet! You dork! I'm trying to focus here!" She scolded back, her cheeks now as red as a tomato. A torrent of laughs went to Jasmine's way, heckling her flustered state.
"Can you end your turn already?" Alexis grumbled impatiently, her brow furrowed in irritation.
"I will! But after I activate this! Hysteric Sign!" Stamped upon the field was a sigil of moving runes and symbols, circling Jasmine's side of the ground in a magical aura.
"When this continuous spell card is activated, I can add Elegant Egotist from my deck to my hand!" Her duel disk popped the card out of her deck, allowing the girl to add it to her hand.
"Your move Lexy!" Jasmine announced, beckoning the blonde to make her next move.
"Finally, I draw! I activate the ritual spell Machine Angel Ritual! By tributing Cyber Angel Idaten from my hand to the graveyard, I can Special Summon!" A Burning fire, nested on top of a massive pedestal rose from the middle of the arena. The lights around the field darkened, the pedestal's flame now serving as the only source of light.
"Cyber Angel?" Jasmine muttered, tilting her head, confused to hear such a monster name.
"Cyber Angel Benten!" A woman wielding a pair of fans jumped out of the holy flame, a spotlight following in her wake, her long black hair flowing behind her like a river of never-ending twilight.
Cyber Angel Benten
Level 6, LIGHT, Fairy, Ritual, ATK: 1800, DEF: 1500
You can Ritual Summon this card with "Machine Angel Ritual." If this card destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the GY: Inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster's original DEF in the GY. If this card is Tributed: You can add 1 LIGHT Fairy monster from your deck to your hand.
The monster descended to the field, like an angel coming down from the heavens. Silence befell upon the arena, the audience enthralled by the monster's appearance.
"And when Idaten is tributed, Cyber Angel Benten gains 1000 attack points!" A blue aura covered Alexis's monster, empowering the ritual monster.
Benten's ATK: 1800 - 2800
"Cyber Angel Benten! Attack Harpie Queen!" Alexis ordered. A sly smile grew on Jasmine's lips.
"Your monster doesn't scare me! Because I activate Spiritual Wind Art - Miyabi! I can tribute my Harpie Queen to send your Benten to the bottom of your deck!" In a blink of an eye, the two monsters vanished before they came to blows, ending the battle before it began. The crowd let out an audible groan, upset to see Alexis get trounced once again by her 'weaker' opponent.
Alexis fell silent, her eye twitching in irritation.
"You enjoying this 'practice' duel, Lexy?" Jasmine asked in a cocky tone, placing her hands on her hips.
"Enough of THIS!" Alexis suddenly shouted, her voice changing into a guttural growl. The crowd fell silent.
"What the hell?" Jasmine expressed, taken aback by Alexis's sudden outburst.
"Alexis...?" Jaden asked.
"...Makai." Zenn whispered.
"I'm tired of having to hide! It's time for you all to..." Alexis declared. Suddenly Alexis's eyes flashed a tinge of soulless white as a swarm of mosquitos rained down from the arena. The crowd began to scream in terror from the massive cloud of flying insects, quickly evacuating the stadium in fear.
"C'mon Blair! We got to get out of here!" Mindy tried to convince the now-catatonic Blair, cautiously eyeing the ever-looming cloud of blood-sucking insects. The girl didn't budge, still broken like the pedestal she put Jaden up in.
"Yeah, she's right! I don't want to become a mosquito's lunch!" Jaden agreed. Without a second thought, Jaden would scoop the stiff girl up under his arms. Instantly, life began to course back into Blair as she felt Jaden's touch, her fantasies and dreams of her prince carrying her off like a bride revitalized like a flower blooming in the sun.
"Oh, Jaden! Thank you so much for being my hero!" Blair exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the boy's neck and pressing her face against his chest.
"Save the celebrations for later! Let's go!" Jaden replied, running off, Mindy following close behind.
"Fester in fear!" The mosquitos swarmed over to Alexis, covering her in a shroud of buzzing bloodsuckers.
"Ikanok!" The Demon declared, the mosquitos quickly dispersed, giving entrance to the Servant of Makai. A satisfied buzz came out of the Makai's needle-like mouth as it rubbed its spindly black arms, happy to be in its true form than the guise of a human.
"And now, little girl...The swarm shall feast on you!" The Mosquito Makai promised, a buzzing snicker escaping from its maw. Ikanok would discard Alexis's deck, callously dumping them to the ground before replacing the duel disk with his collection of cards.
Jasmine grimaced as she watched the ever-growing horde of mosquitos circle above her, completely covering the arena ceiling in a blanket of rapid buzzing. It was if they all stared at her, waiting for her to let her guard down so they can swoop in and devour her.
"Then let's go then," Jasmine said through gritted teeth, irked by the buzzing cloud above her.
"Besides, you freaks possessed me last time. Now it's time for a little payback!" Jasmine declared, steeling her nerves
"Such Insolence! I will find great pleasure in feasting upon your fear!" Ikanok retaliated, clasping one of its claws.
Jasmine assumed a stance. Ready for the real duel ahead of her.
"DUEL!"