World 035: Towards the Subjective Truth

"Hey, arent we forgetting someone." As Echo and Charles's evergrowing crew kept moving and talking across the dreamworld roads, the fates of the remaining Pandemonium heroes became all too clear to them. Except for the one whose absence Blanche noticed halfway soon enough. "Where did Yoro-Himiko go?" Her name never came up as a victim or an ally. "I was trying to get to that. Himiko avoided Static's attack. Because... her mother took her back." Crescent revealed with an uncomfortable expression. "Ah... What?" Blanche replied flatly.

"It happened right before everything with Static went down. Her family had spies inside the investigation team. And when Therese found that out, her mother showed up on the network and defeated Himiko in a duel. I havent heard from her since.. I havent heard from Therese either since then. Since Static captured her." Crescent listed off every event like a stoic reporter, because it was the only way she know how to deliver news that troubled her as well. "We will find them too. I imagine Static dropped Therese down into one of his nightmare pits, like he did with Blanche. So its only a matter of using the right memory to track her down. We can do that as soon as we have regrouped." Charles said and glanced at Echo behind him. The girl in blue seemed to be fine with that plan. Crescent on the other hand still had her doubts. Because the Shintaro family was one of the more powerful families in the corporate world. "But what about Himiko? She is not a part of STHEREA anymore. And we cannot do anything in their world."

"I doubt we've heard the last of them. They're just another part of this whole conspiracy.. Them, Static, Exeter, the people who helped me.. the Creator. And you, Echo." Charles was suddenly reminded of something. "Echo? Do you know if any more... of you exist? Besides Static that is?" Reminded of another factor yet to make its appearance. "No? I didn't even know I was special until last week.. Are there more like me?" Echo could not help but be curious as well. "Maybe. Static hinted at another.. entity. But I would not get my hopes up when it comes to things he said. I would just focus on what we know so far. I just hope that at least one of them can make sense of it all." Because he sure couldn't.

...

"That is.. the World Armor? How? What did you do?" Cherry Anise would have enjoyed her regained presence in the network proper, if it had not been substantiated by a girl she hardly recognized. "Just gave you a good old dose of it. It seems there's a lot of online ghosts around these days, first Void and now you. But the funny thing about this armor is.. it kinda gives ya a sixth sense when it comes to folks who were touched by it before." This strange girl all but admitted that she found Cherry with the armor's help. "I figured if I just let out a wave of its delicious energy, I would get you to show up! And I did! Haha!" Her nerves were illuminated across her shoulders and face. The only one who had ever shown this light before, was Melyria. And this clearly was not Melyria. "So that was you: Cherry Anise! I didn't recognize that miserable face.. But now that you're wearing the old red and black again, yeah there's no mistaking you!" More and more she talked. And soon enough Cherry put one and two together.

"Scura?" She would never have guessed that this familiar voice would come with that 'loud' outfit. "Heheh. Yeah! What do you think? I took the shoulderless motif from you! But I like having the poofier sleeves and the big skirt. Its not as heavy as it looks.."

"Forget the dress! Why do you have the Armor?" Cherry began to yell. "Forget the dress? Blasphemy! If you have to know, Crescent gave it to me after she took it from Ezra, after he took it from Melyria. It was a whole chair dance. I was temping in there too, since I made Melyria lose the armor to begin with." Chiaroscura enjoyed Cherry's reaction of bewilderment so much, she kept setting aside the point of their whole encounter. "Miserable face? Wait. How do you know my face?" And Cherry was a little more than confused. "Oh? I saw you back at that fancy science lab or whatever it was. You and your new friends. One of which I guess was the real Void apparently, but I didn't dot those eyes until Wagnerok told me about him. But yeah, that's how. I wasn't really there. But the Jinzo I helped make was.."

"Jinzo!? That was your handiwork?" Cherry immediately pulled back, though there were few places to run too. "Psh, that wasn't my idea. How was I supposed to predict you'd be there. I can make it up to you. Clearly something nice happened to me recently. To all of us.. we got new powers, new items, and new freedoms. And its all thanks to Static. Now I know what you're gonna say.. He may be a bit shifty. But he got us a pretty good bargain. And we can give it to you too I just realized! You were there when he brought us all to the arena, his power should be deep inside of you too! All it takes is a little nudge to get it out!" Scura said as she bobbed back and forth. "Deal? ...You joined with Static? You actually think I want to go back to that mess?" Cherry hissed. "Oh but come on! If you do, you can stay inside the network as long as you want! That's what you like, isn't it? It will help you break free from those stuffy suits that are keeping you locked up in that weird place. I don't know what that's all abut, but I bet its not where you want to be. So really you should be glad that I found you."

"Well I don't feel glad. I feel like I am starting to see what the hell Void was getting all worked up about." Cherry would have declined politely, but they both knew that this conversation was going in a different direction. "So why not do him a favor and kick some sense into one of his pals?" Summoning her dueldisk would help get the point across. "Oh, you wanna have some action? Even better! I haven't had a chance to get very creative yet!" Scura accepted the unspoken challenge, conjuring up a deck of cards from thin air. "Let's duel, sister!"

Chiaroscura's LP: 8000 Cherry's LP: 8000

-TURN 01-

"This will be fun! You sing, and I dance!" Chiaroscura twirled around and set her stage: the field spell Hidden City. "You call this a stage?" Cherry sneered as the two duelists were taken to the dimly lit caverns of the Subterrors. "What would you call it?" Scura asked while she activated the effect of the Hidden City to add Subterror Guru to her hand. "Not the kind of place I would want to be in either. Besides, you said you were giving yourself a makeover? You look like the same old duelist to me. A flattering dress does not hide who you really are."

"Oh this is about my cards, is it? Don't tell me you're one of those types that sees symbolism in every corner? Doesn't that get annoying?" Scura snapped back as she placed Subterror Guru [Zone 1] face-down. "I just like my Subterrors. I did back then, I still do now. But I also like standing out! I activate Hidden City's effect! I flip Subterror Guru back face-up!" The field spell's second effect initiated an immediate flip once a turn. And the Subterranean masked Guru(4/1600/1800) could add a Subterror card from the deck to the hand, if it were to be flip summoned. "Guru gets to add.. No. I get to add Subterror Cave Clash to my hand! And I activate it too! Now all my monsters gains 500 points for each set monster on the field! So you better get to work on summoning them! Then I can start flipping them!" Scura placed three more cards down in the backrow and ended the turn.

-TURN 02-

"So is this what you would have been like if you joined Millennium? I guess you would have fit right in. But this new club, whatever it is, I don't like it nearly as much." To start her turn, Cherry activated the Terraforming spell to add a field spell from the deck to her hand. "I would rather have my own stage. Trickstar Light Stage!" The shadows of the Hidden City drew back as a bright and colorful idol stage popped up at the center, with heart-shaped neon lights and dazzling stars in the air. "I add one Trickstar monster to my hand! Trickstar Candina!" Cherry popped another Trickstar out of her dueldisk, a monster. "And each turn it can negate the effects of one face-down card on the field. That card will activate at the end of the turn instead!" Cherry set her sights and spotlights on the second face-down trap, about which she had a bad gutfeeling. "Oh. Millennium? Heh. Cherry, I AM Millennium now."

"Somehow I don't see it..." Against Scura, Cherry did not feel like changing up her routine greatly, so she started the show with the blonde lead: Trickstar Candina(4/1800/400) [Zone 5]. "Candina's effect adds Trickstar Lilybell to my hand!" The second star entered the stage, the pink pigtailed Trickstar Lilybell(2/800/2000) [Zone 4], as this Trickstar could be special summoned if she entered Cherry's hand through a card effect. "Trickstar Lycoris special summons herself." The brunette trickstar(4/1600/1200) [Zone 3] always appeared at the cost of another star, in this case Lycoris returned Trickstar Candina to her hand. "And I summon Candina again! With my skill, Fata Morgana!" The last step would be one that she alone could make. The illusionists skill summoned Candina(0/400) from the hand again, clearly without their attackpoints. Both players would also draw a spell afterwards too, which helped Lycoris with her performance. As usual, each time the opponent added a card to their hand, Trickstar Lycoris would inflict 200 points of damage.

Chiaroscura's LP: 7600

Fata Morgana, Skill Card
Special summon 1 level 4 or lower monster from your hand with its ATK reduced to 0. Then each player draws 1 card.

"Ah yes. You're still all about that death by a thousand cuts. Honestly, I like your style. Why kill em quickly when you can draaaaaag it out?" Scura took a blast from the Trickstar's baton, which got boosted by another 200 points due to third effect of Trickstar Light Stage. "And yet people always tend to die after one or two turns." Cherry had to admit she enjoyed having a go at a real opponent again, and she wanted to do a lot more to her. "I link summon Trickstar Bloom! And she lets you draw a card! Enjoy!" One level 2 or lower Trickstar would be the link material, so the honor went to Lilybell. She turned into a winged pixie(100/LINK 1) {Down} [Extra Zone 1] with orange braided hair and a green dress. Her arrival forced Scura to draw again, and made her get zapped by another Lycoris/Light Stage combo of effect damage. "Ahaha. Keep it coming, Cher!"

Chiaroscura's LP: 7200

"I will! I link summon Trickstar Black Catbat!" The next star from the extra deck demanded two Trickstars as her materials: Candina and Lycoris. She was a red/black haired longwinged pixie(2000/LINK 2) {Left/Right} [Zone 2] with a cat-ear headband and a black corset. "Each time my Trickstars inflict damage, your monsters will lose 200 attackpoints for each card she points at. You can keep hiding your monsters. You're still gonna feel more than a papercut!" Cherry's next spell was the Trickstar Magical Laurel, a card that special summoned one Trickstar from the graveyard. For this occasion she picked Trickstar Lycoris [Zone 3] again and linked her up with the Catbat star. "Because I am gonna destroy everything you have. I activate Card Destruction! We both discard our hand and draw a new one!" Cherry discarded two cards (EVA, Trickstar Mandrake), while Scura relinquished all three of her cards (Subterror Behemoth Burrowing, Pot of the Forbidden, World Legacy World Armor). "The Armor? So your're using her cards too?" The contents of that discard made Cherry wince. "Well duh? What, does that scare you?"

"Of course not! A card is just a card! It does not mean you can give me what I want, or that I want it to begin with!" The reveal pulled Cherry out of the game, but the cards that waited forced herself back in. Both of her discards, Trickstar Mandrake and EVA, activated from the graveyard. Mandrake, the greenhaired and purple-skinned pixie(2/0/1000) [Zone 4], special summoned herself. EVA, the alien astronaut fairy, banished level 2 or lower fairies from the graveyard to add the same amount of fairies to its masters hand. "I banish Lilybell and add Trickstar Nightshade to my hand! And I summon her with Magical Laurel's second effect!" The second phase of Card Destruction led to Scura drawing three cards, and cost her 200 lifepoints for each draw. This in turn triggered the Laurel. When a monster it was equipped too inflicted damage, the equipment itself would special summon a Trickstar from the hand. In this case that would be the pixie Nightshade(1/100/0) [Zone 3] with her short red curls and tiny tophat. Finally, Trickstar Black Catbat channeled Lycoris' damage into powerdraining energy that siphoned attackpoints from Subterror Guru(1200/1800).

Chiaroscura's LP: 6600

"Wow you're really going all in on that Trickstar sandwich you're making there. But I gotta stop you there before it gets too greasy." A field with that many Trickstars would not be good for her health, anyone would reason. "Good thing I have a second Subterror card, so Guru can flip your Lycoris!" The quick-play effect of the Guru cut the Trickstar's starpower down by one singer. "You gotta wake up a lot sooner if you wanna catch me! Trickstar Bouquet!" The Trickstar duelist however retaliated through a quickplay spell. The Bouquet returned the Trickstar Lycoris to the hand and added her attackpower to Trickstar Black Catbat(3600 atk) for the rest of the turn. "Awake? Unlike my monsters, I don't need to sleep anymore! Cherry!" The two effects resolved backwards, and the Guru had only himself to flip face-down. But when a monster flipped face down and no other effects resolved afterwards, Subterror Behemoths could be special summoned from the hand.

"I special summon Subterror Behemoth Ultramafus! The biggest guy in my big guy army!" The Subterrors did not all dwell in the dark: the mightiest one carried his own lightsource. Ultramafus the longnecked rock dragon(12/3500/2300) [Zone 2] emerged from a geyser of endless lava, the same lava that formed the insides of its body that were held together by an exoskeleton of volcanic stone. Spikes in all directions marked its rough face, giving it the appearance of a symbolic sun. "Now what you should have been asking me.. is why I cared so much about my traps? Well sister.. that's because I was like three steps ahead of ya!" Scura imitated her accent mockingly before the first of two traps sprung up. "I activate Subterror Final Battle to switch my monster face-down!" Subterror Final Battle also flipped itself face-down after each use, so both it and Ultramafus vanished in unison to wait for their inevitable reflip. "And then I activate World Legacy Pawns! To switch my monster back face-up!" One of those flips came right away, thanks to a continuous trap. "And when Ultramafus is flipped, all your monsters are set face-down! Hehehehe. Haha! How's that for a show!?"

"Really?" The tables turned and so did the cards on it, only link monsters could resist the power of Ultramafus. "Lycoris!" While Mandrake got flipped face-down, Nightshade avoided the Behemoths powerful earthquake. Trickstar Lycoris could use her special summon quick effect an unlimited number of times a turn, and this time she [Zone 3], this time targeted the shadowy Trickstar to return to the hand. "Oh nice. Very nice. You still can't win tho." Scura clapped twice, feeling pretty satisfied with the results regardless. Now that the field counted three face-down monsters, the Subterror Behemoth(4000/2800) gained three powerboosts from Subterror Cave Clash. "You think you're so great? Melyria was ten times the duelist you ever will be! Lycoris, attack!" If nothing else, she would get rid of the Subterror Guru before it could flip any of her monsters face-down again. The licorice-haired pixie failed to get through its(2100/2300) improved defense, but could also triggered its flip effect. Chiaroscura used the effect to draw Subterror Behemoth Voltelluric from her deck, ignoring the damage inflicted by the scornful Lycoris on the Stage of Light.

Cherry's LP: 7300 Chiaroscura's LP: 6200

"You know I could have stopped that attack with my field spell. But it was more fun to see that Trickstar headbutt the Guru. That must hurt. Also, I guess you're not having much fun anymore now, huh?" The effect of the Black Catbat followed, she twirled her staff into the air and drained 200 attackpoints from the Guru and Ultramafus. Between that and the reduction of set monsters on the field, the Behemoth(3300/2800) could now be overpowered by a straight up attack. "You're the last person I need to get my fun from. Black Catbat! Attack Ultramafus!" The devilish trickstar jumped into the air and fired a sweetening blast of red light from her staff. The energy pierced the mighty volcanic behemoth and caused it to self-erupt. Meanwhile Trickstar Light Stage added 200 points of effect damage on top of the Trickstars battle damage as well.

Chiaroscura's LP: 5700

"Just because you can use her cards, does not mean you can use her power as well." Cherry concluded and placed one trap card face down. During the endphase Trickstar Light Stage forced the third trap card to activate. Though that trap card, Junk Sleep, could not meet its activation requirements and got destroyed instead.

-TURN 03-

"Is that how it goes?." Before Chiaroscura drew her next card, she flexed her arm and summoned the power of the Armor again. "God I get a kick out of this every time I do it. No wonder Melyria showed it off at every opportunity." The Subterror duelist swooned and swayed while her nerves glowed. "Though you're halfright, I am not as good as her yet. I haven't figured out how to make myself giant-sized for one thing... Now there's a fantasy I would love to make real. Maybe you can help me figure out how to do it? After I help you out of course." She kept the glow going and drew her card for the draw phase. Again, she barely felt the sting of Lycoris or the lightblast of the Light Stage.

Chiaroscura's LP: 5100

"Even if you can help me... This is not what I want.." The trickstar duelist hissed. "Huh? Why not? I am the only one who can give you what you used to have, Cherry Anise. If I don't, you're just gonna go back to that prison you call a home. Who'd want that!? You really don't make any sense. But whatever, you're gonna get my gift whether you like it or not. I activate Subterror Behemoth Burrowing!" Scura could banish the burrowed in trap to force one monster on the field into a face-down position. "Dragossuary!" The the chain of Behemoth selfsummons started along with it. First the red-skinned and black-scaled necrodragon Dragossuary(6/2900/2100) [Zone 3] appeared from Scura's hand. It used its own effect to flip itself face-down and that flip triggered the next Behemoth. Chiaroscura special summoned the thunder-breathing and winged caveserpent(9/3400/4500) [Zone 2] to the field in defense position as well and flipped it face-down too.

"No. It makes perfect sense, Scura. And you're showing me why. If I join you, I'd become like you. I wouldn't be me anymore. That is the difference between what Millennium did and what you are doing! And maybe I was wrong about Millennium all along.. But that is even more reason for me to never go back to a family like that ever again!" Cherry shouted while she waited for the right time to strike. Even if she feared that Scura was on to her. "Oh? You wanna stay as yourself? Too bad that can only happen in this world! And this world is ours now! I say what goes and what stays!" Scura snapped and flipped Subterror Guru back face-up. "Better that than to lie about who I am, Scura." Cherry in turn paid 1500 lifepoints to activate her countertrap: Solemn Strike. "Oho?" The Solemn trap struck the Guru down where he stood and also stopped next Subterror from leaving the deck.

Cherry's LP: 5800

"Unlike you. You're worse than ever, and you are still hiding! Last time you refused to join us because you were affraid of losing your connection with your friends and family! Now you are throwing it all away anyway? You're just a coward! You're not even Scura anymore! She at least wouldn't run away from all her problems anymore!" If this was the cost of living forever in STHEREA now, Cherry did not know if it would even still be worth it. "Not Scura? Ahah.. Ahahahah! So what!? I am what Scura... what Jenna could never be!" Scura used her normal summon for the turn to set a fourth unknown monster [Zone 4] on her field, its true identity not having any relevance beyond another set powerbooster. Since the Subterror duelist activated the Hidden City again to flip Subterror Behemoth Voltelluric(3400/4500) back face-up.

"I activate Book of Taiyou to flip your monster face-up! Trickstar Mandrake!" With the book of the moon set aside, Scura could now open the book of the sun. This quickplay spell targeted Cherry's card instead and placed the Mandrake(0/1000) up in a very vulnerable position. "And Subterror Final Battlecombines the original defense and attackpoints of my Behemoth!" That vulnerability became a lethal liability, when the self-setting trap reactivated to boost the power of Voltelluric(4900/4900). Even moreso once Subterror Cave Clash re-applied its own attackbonuses on the Subterror beast(5900/5900). With all of that power behind it, there was no hope left for Cherry. An overdose of lightning fried the unfortunate Trickstar down to ashes.

Cherry's LP: 0

"Gyaaahhhh!" The electricity arced towards the trickstar duelist and coursed through her entire body. "Heehehe. That was fun.. over to quick, but it looked great. Any more and I could have lit you up too, turned you into one of those electrified skeletons you always see in cartoons!" It was music to Scura's ears. Her own overjoyed cackling almost tuned out the laughter that came from Cherry herself.

"Ha... Haha." Cherry somehow found the strength to keep standing in spite of experiencing one of the worst kind of pains STHEREA had to offer. "Are you laughing?" Scura had no idea why. "Oh I am? That's only... because, I still think I had more fun than you did, Scura." Cherry Anise said with an insistent grin on her face. That proved to the final straw. "Let's see if you still think that way, after I show you some of new defintions for 'fun'!" Chiaroscura called upon the power of the Armor and of Static himself and stabbed both lights into Cherry's heart.

"Ngh." But anything that the attack caused, would go against Chiaroscura's wishes. "Hey..." The influence of Static did not pass over to Cherry. "This... should have worked. You were.. Static invited you too." Instead, she only left a crack in Cherry's physical appearance, one that did not bother the Trickstar duelist all that much. "Heh. Guess you and him dont know everything yet then. Maybe your fancy trick doesnt work on me... because I am not pretending to be someone else. I am Cherry Anise, in both worlds!" She yelled defiantly. "No. No that's insane. That's wrong! And even if it wasn't, my World Armor should have done something!" Scura could tell that she'd even failed to anchor her opponent in the network. It was as if the Legacy Items could not affect her as much as a normal avatar. "Guess what, Scura. I really am a ghost. I am not here thanks to STHEREA." Cherry vaguely explained as she regarded the bracelet around her wrist. "And I wont be here for that much longer either." It flashed a warning light, announcing the activation of its final function.

"See ya around, Scura. Between Static and mankind, I think I can stomach the latter just a bit more." The body of Cherry shattered in front of Chiaroscura, it could not sustain itself after the defeat and the power that assaulted it. "What?" Scura wound up with nothing for all of her effort, except the knowledge that she at least would not be helping Charles any time soon. "Geez, what kind of fun are those people at the weird lab up too?"

(To Be Continued in World 036: Killed By Curiosity)

New Cards used by Chiaroscura
Subterror Behemoth Ultramafus

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World Legacy Pawns
Subterror Behemoth Burrowing

New Cards used by Cherry Anise
EVA

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Trickstar Black Catbat

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Terraforming
Card Destruction

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Solemn Strike