A Legacy of Souls: Terminate the Dream

by Medigo

The virtual world of dueling has survived many threats, but the worst has yet to come. New entities born from the minds of millions seek power to shape the destiny of living. Heroes will be turned against each other as it becomes impossible to trust anyone. And in the middle of it all, one duelist struggles to return to his friends to save them from the one who has stolen his life.

61. World 053: Parasites of Cooperation

World 053: Parasites of Cooperation

Just when things started to get good, a lull in the action ruined all of her fun. "What is the hold up? Dont tell me your fancy code broke down?" Donna had to immediately pull back to the castle as soon as every ASI around her froze up. Not because she feared overwhelming odds, but because it seemed like they were giving up. "Something has changed, a deal is being made." Scarlet Shaddoll, still in her guise of Echo, waited at the edge of the inner stronghold to inform the angered duelist. "A deal? With who? Did those Shintaro geezers finally show up?" Donna snarled. "No. Charles did." Shaddoll bluntly clarified. "Charles? The real Void? You mean they attacked us from behind too? What a bunch of cowards!So what? Are we in a ceasefire now? We were winning!"

"It was Schwarzwald's idea. But.. that does not mean we are forced to go along with it. Certain terms are up for interpretation." The fake Echo smiled wickedly. "I know where you can go, to secure some extra leverage."

...

Mephistar could not stand Hydra's presence any longer. Madam Blanche however he felt he could vent to as much as possible. "I do not see how you can trust him. He is Schwarzwald!" And vent he did, on every step inside the clocktower. "Yeah but they are different now. He's Hydra and the black baron is his own guy. Its complicated." Blanche'd wanted to go to the highest point in Pandemonium to get a better view of things, but she figured he was better off wasting her time than Scarlets. "Even if they are two separate people now, they still started as one. Hydra sold us out to Millennium before. Who is to say he will not do it again?" Mephistar had too much to say either way. "Just promise me you wont start fighting him. I mean, Scarlet Fever did lord know what to him. And those people over at Shintaro probably werent nice to you either, weren't they? So maybe you can be at least understand his position a little and be slightly sympathetic towards him?"

"Hmph, you know it is not the same. We are not the same, why are you pretending like you don't know that?" Mephistar's tone became sullen. "Huh? What do you... Oh." Blanche flinched. "That. Dude, you think I mind that? I've been talking to dragons and harpies already this week. It's all the same to me, you don't deserve to be hurt as much as Hydra or anyone else does." From where she stood, she could not even tell that Mephistar was supposed to be inhuman. "Hmph. If only everyone else could think like that. Myself included. But then I have to see it differently, there are just some things I cannot do." Sundown looked at his own hands. "But perhaps the things I can do, do not have to be negative all the time." Perhaps he could at least get over his hatred for Hydra for the moment.

He soon changed his mind on that when the terrifying Borreload Dragon appeared behind them both, flying in from above. "Hydra!? "What is he doing!?" Blanche gasped as the dragon opened its claws. "He's attacking us! I knew I shouldn't have forgiven him!" Sundown cursed. "No. Wait!" The Dragon flew right passed them and slammed into the walls of the clocktower. "It's" Blanche looked closer and spotted a second figure up above, the real target of Borreload Dragon's claws. "Was that... Donna!?"

"Gah!" Donna Monday got pushed through the wall and dragged to another tower. "Is that your best shot?" She punched herself free with her own arms and pushed the dragon back. "No. That was just the challenge." Hydra soon appeared on top of the tower altar as well, having ridden his dragon all the way. "You tried to sneak in and attack Blanche, did you not? Unfortunately I caught you from my vantage point. Now you will have to deal with me." The half-invisible duelist prepared a set of cards, which this time appeared completely visible. "Ha! You? A lightweight like you will go down in one round! Why risk your neck? You must really like punishment!" Donna did not mind a quick bout before the main show. "I like things to remain stabe. Blanche holds the Armor now, and you must be here to reclaim it." Hydra drew his hand. "Ahaha! At least you get right down to business. Fine! Lets duel!"

Hydra's LP: 8000 Donna's LP: 8000

-TURN 01-

"I normal summon Shellrokket Dragon. And link summon Striker Dragon! The material is one Rokket Dragon!" One bullet, the golden-shelled Rokket Dragon(2/1100/2000) [Zone 1], would fill the entire chamber of the blue-metal and pintailed Striker Dragon(1000/LINK 1) {Right} [Extra Zone 1]. "Striker Dragon can add Boot Sector Launch from the deck to my hand when it is link summoned." The gundragon struck the floor with its firing pin tail and ignited a fieldwide makeover, changing the setting into the steel gun factory of Boot Sector Launch. "All Rokket Dragons gain 300 attack and defense points. And I can special summon two from my hand each turn." The large cylinder at the center of the field spell spun around twice and unloaded the blue bullet Magnarokket Dragon(4/2100/1400) [Zone 2] and pure silver dragon Silverrokket(4/2200/400) [Zone 3] to the field. "Hmph. Typical. Any weak man only knows to bring a gun to a fistfight. Then again I am talking to the biggest coward of them all! You should learn to fight with your own damn hands, Hydra!"

"I find it questionable to place faith in strength, when this world gives no upper bound to said strength. Regardless, I have always been more of a thinker." Hydra played the last card in his hand, Supply Squad. "Each turn, Striker Dragon can also destroy one card I control to retake one Rokket from my graveyard." The firing pin hit another target: Autorokket Dragon. "And as long as I have Supply Squad, I can draw one card each turn a monster is destroyed." Hydra reloaded his hand as it were by exchanging his living monster for the Shellrokket Dragon in his graveyard and for the monster card on top of his deck. "Hmm.. I will link summon Dillingerous Dragon next. The materials are two Dark-attribute dragons." He took Striker Dragon and the Magnarokket Dragon away, and replaced them with the twin-barrel wielding cannon dragon Dillingerous(1600/LINK 2) {Up/Down} [Extra Zone 2]. "And when I link summon a monster, I can special summon Linkbelt Wall Dragon from my hand!" Behind the frontline would be the defense force, Linkbelt(7/0/2100) [Zone 2] coiled around the monster zones like a snake made out of ammunition belts.

"H-hey!? What is the big idea here?" Donna did not take long to figure out what kind of choice Hydra tried to serve her. "I believe it is obvious. Dillingerous Dragon will destroy any monster that has not attacked at the end of your turn. And only link monsters can attack while Linkbelt Wall Dragon is on the field. However, this Dragon also gains two link counters from the very start, and will acquire another each standby phase. No monsters with a link rating lower than the number of link counters can be link summoned." Right now only two of the red orbs held by the dragons claws were shining. As soon as Hydra ended the turn, the third orb started to glow. "I noticed that you prefer to lead with a double Link. I imagine it is a little more difficult to start from Link Three." The same endphase saw the activation of the destroyed Silverrokket Dragon's effect. From the graveyard it could special summon the next bullet: another Magnarokket Dragon(4/2200/1400) [Zone 4]

-TURN 02-

"Oh you imagined that, huh? Well, screw you and your mindgames, Hydra! I don't need to play to your tunes!" Donna immediately normal summoned the scorpion-claw and tailed brawler Gouki Riscorpio(5/2300/0). Since she controlled no monsters she could normal summon it without tributes. "Not when I have Gouki Dark Match! I can make our monsters fight no matter what!" Her new spell did the rest, forcing Riscorpio to ignore the effects of LinkbeltWall and punch it right in the face. The ammo dragon fell to pieces shortly afterwards. "I see you are using your own imagination as well." Hydra remarked. It suited Donna to create simple yet devastating cards. Nevertheless, Hydra's lockdown managed to deny Donna her quick victory and secured another draw from Supply Squad for himself.

"I was right! It is you!" Blanche was heard shouting as she and Scarlet Rose finally managed to reach the top of the tower. "Heh, hello Blanche. Don't go anywhere, I will be done with Hydra over here in no time. I still got a score to settle with you... and Mephistar too!" Donna did not just care about her original target anymore, everyone ticked her off. "Hm. You slipped right past my sensors. Scarlet fever must have helped you." Scarlet Rose concluded correctly. "You be quiet too! I don't care about knockoff fights!" Though Donna would not admit it, she had used one of Fever's programs to enter this place undetected. "Ho. Well in any case, I thank you for being ever vigilant.. mister Hydra."

-TURN 03-

"Make no mention of it. It is enough for me that you witness this. Though... I do not see Sundown around." Hydra realized. "Yeah, he did not feel like being your cheerleader. Sorry about that." Blanche confessed. "I see. He still must see me as the monster that nearly killed him. Well I would hate to disappoint him." Hydra normal summoned the next monster, the green tank-plated dragon Chobham Armor Dragon(1/0/0) [Zone 2]. "Link summon! Borrelsword Dragon! The materials are three plus monsters!" It took Chobham, Magnarokket Dragon and Dillingerous Dragon's two links to craft the coveted fourway link circuit. When they came together they formed the second of three mighty Borrel Dragons: the Blade-horned and Blade-tailed Sword Dragon(3000/LINK 4) {Left/Downleft/Up/Down/Right} [Extra Zone 1]. "When Chobham Armor Dragon is used as a link material, we can both add one monster from the graveyard to our hands. Though you lack one, so that will just be me." He said with a chuckle and used the effect to redraw Magnarokket Dragon.

"Very funny. But even you at your best cannot scare me, Hydra. The only people you know how to beat are pathetic duelists like Hansen or Imperius!" The wrestler shouted. "You once considered Imperius to be your friend, did you not?" But as Scarlet Rose pointed out, the real Donna would have wanted to fight anyone who dares to say the things this Donna said. "Friend? What's the point of a friend like him? He did not even make it passed round one of Static's game! And you aren't much better, Scarlet! I already dueled your funner half and pulverized her! Thanks to her, I am stronger than ever!"

"I've also seen what that woman can accomplish and I would not put faith in that either." Hydra muttered. "The cards themselves will determine this duel. Boot Sector Launch activates again! And when I special summon a Rokket Dragon, I can also special summon Dillingerous Dragon from my graveyard!" Both the Magnum Bullet Dragon[Zone 4] and Shellrokket Dragon(1400/2300) [Zone 5] were summoned from the hand by the field spell's effect, and they were backed up by the purple/green twinblaster Dragon [Zone 3]. "Link summon! Flash Charge Dragon! The materials are two plus dragons!" Shellrokket Dragon and Dillingerous were picked this time around, and created a smaller but no less dangerous Link monster in the form of the purple wheeler dragon(2300LINK 3) {UpLeft/Up/UpRight} [Zone 3] with muzzled barrels on its tail, head and shoulders. "Finally, I activate Borrel Regenerator! This spell equips itself to a Rokket in my graveyard and special summons it. I choose Silver Rokket!" With the silver bullet(2200/400) [Zone 5] back in his proverbial pocket as well, Hydra felt ready to take on his enemy.

"Borrelsword attacks Gouki Riscorpio!" Yet he strangely held back for his first attack, preferring to cut down Gouki Riscorpio without powering up Borrelsword Dragon's blade. "Uh.. did you forget what your dragons can do?" Blanche expected Hydra to put up more of a fight. Then again she could say the same for Donna, who just let her monster die. Though since Riscorpio went to her graveyard, Donna could add a new Gouki card (Gouki Bearhug) to her hand. Of course, even without effects Hydra possessed enough power to end this duel in a single phase either way

Donna's LP: 7300

Unfortunately, Donna had the right defense either way as well. "He probably doesn't even remember half of his moves! Ha! Well you still fell for my trap! " She howled as the next direct attack came from Flash Charge Dragon instead. "You attacked me directly, and your combined attackpower is higher than my lifepoints! That lets me activate Dances with Beasts! I can special summon one monster from my deck, hand and graveyard! In attack mode!" One after the other Gouki stormed into the ring: Gouki Riscorpio(5/2300/0) [Zone 1] from the graveyard, Gouki Bearhug(6/2400/0) [Zone 3] from the hand and Gouki Twistcobra(4/1600/0) [Zone 5] from the deck. "Since I summoned him, Gouki Bearhug lowers your monsters attack down to half its original attackpoints!" The Bearhugger jumped on the Borrelsword Dragon's back and grappled it tight until over two thousand attackpoints fell out of it(1500 atk). "I see. You are not just about brute force after all." Hydra remarked and redirected Flash Charge Dragon's cannonfire towards Twistcobra.

Donna's LP: 6600

"Now what? Do you expect me to panic and use his effect? Fat chance!" Donna growled as she resolved Gouki Twistcobra's graveyard effect to add a second Gouki card (Gouki Diver) to her hand. "A wise move. Borrelsword Dragon's second effect allows me to take half a monsters attackpoints away." Had she activated Twistcobra's quick effect to make her other Gouki's stronger, Borrelsword would simply have taken more attackpower away. "You're a smartass. If you had used that dragons powers the other way around, or triggered them before I set off my trap, I would have had you!" Donna protested. "And this is exactly why I restrained myself, until now... I activate Borrelsword's first effect by targeting Magnarokket Dragon! Magnarokket will go to defense, and Borrelsword will gain two attacks this turn. And when Magnarokket is targeted by another Link monster, it will selfdestruct and send one other monster to the graveyard!" Hydra would kill two birds with one stone, while the destruction of Magnarokket would also dovetail nicely into Supply Squad's drawing effect. "I send Gouki Riscorpio!" The magnum blast headed straight for the weakest Gouki.

"You are still not fast enough to catch me, Hydra! I activate Dark Factory of More Production and send my monster to the graveyard draw one card from my deck!" The continuous factory trap turned Riscorpio into raw materials, letting it dodge the magnum shot alltogether. "You planned this out well. You should then agree that there is more to dueling than power. Perhaps Scarlet Fever taught you that as well... Borrelsword Dragon attacks Gouki Bearhug and Silver Rokket Dragon will attack directly!" The great gun dragon(2700 atk) could only drain 1200 attackpoints away from the Bearhugger(1200/0) before it slayed the Gouki with a swing of its blad and cut it in half. Silver Rokket Dragon then slammed its glossy body into Donna directly. "I did not need anything like that from her!" Donna refused to budge despite the mass of the Silver Dragon plowing right into her. The fact that he stole the first bit of damage from her just made her madder.

Donna's LP: 2900

"So what? You just wanna be by yourself beating up everyone around you? I get why Scura thought the way she did, but you..." Blanche could not make any sense of her friend anymore. "You know you cannot reason with them, Blanche. The real Donna is inside her and vast asleep. Everything you say or do will only sound like a vague dream to her. What is left is just her at her worst, and they will never get better on their own. The only way to defeat them is to actually defeat them, like you have done with Scura." Hydra activated his next spell, Squib Draw. It destroyed a Rokket Dragon to draw two new cards. "When the monster revived by Borrel Regenerator is destroyed, I can draw one card." Targeting the Silver Rokket let him draw one more card on top of the ones drawn by the Squib spell. "And I set two cards before I end my turn." Then during the endphase, the destroyed Magna and Silver Rokket could special summon different Rokket Dragons from the deck. They respectively called out a defending AnesthRokket Dragon(1/300/2500) [Zone 2] and the final Magnarokket Dragon(4/2200/1400) [Zone 3] in attack position.

-TURN 04-

"Heh. That is what you think, Hydra. But that wont work anymore! I am not like Scura or that simpering persona you call Schwarzwald. I am immortal! I activate Gouki Rematch!" Now she could play the spell she'd wanted to use last turn, which special summoned both Gouki Bearhug[Zone 1] and Gouki Riscorpio[Zone 2] back to the field. Bearhug immediately leaped across the field to pin down Borrelsword Dragon(1500 atk) again with its attack-halving effect. "I would still be careful, miss immortal. While I cannot summon monsters to the zones marked by Flash Charge Dragon, you can. Though if you do, the dragon will destroy that monster and inflict 500 points of damage." Scarlet Rose spoke up. With the link arrows pointing down diagonally, Hydra had sealed Donna's own extra monster zone during her turns. "Tch. Whose side are you on? I already have heard enough from one of you!" Donna growled. "I have my ways around that little setback! Since I control a Gouki monster, I can activate Gouki Poison Mist!" Suddenly Donna opened her mouth and breathed out venomous mist.

Hydra's LP: 7300

Gouki Poison Mist, Normal Spell
If you control a "Gouki" monster: Inflict 700 damage to your opponent, also Set Spells and Traps your opponent currently controls cannot be activated this turn.

"!?" Hydra shielded his face to keep himself from inhaling the poison, but one whiff was enough to sap some of his lifeforce. And if he did not act quickly, his traps would be rusted shut as well. "Zero Day Blaster!" He let out a muffled cry when his first trap flipped face-up. Zero Day Blaster tributed one DARK link monster to destroy a number of cards equal to its link rating. "Gah! Oh no you don't!" Donna stopped her poisonous attack to activate the Dark Factory of More Production again, and sent Gouki Bearhug to the graveyard to draw another card from her deck. On the other side, Flash Charge Dragon exploded into three separate bolts of energy, though now there were only two cards left to destroy: The Factory continuous trap and Gouki Riscorpio. "Too slow again!" The sneering Donna added two more Gouki cards (Gouki Headbatt, Gouki Moonsault) from the deck to her hand, with the help of the dying Goukis Bearhug and Riscorpio. "So it would seem." Hydra grunted. She won that exchange, because now her extra zone had been cleared of boobytraps.

"Get out there, Gouki Suprex and Gouki Guts!" Donna drew her next card and normal summoned the saurian Gouki Suprex(4/1800/0) [Zone 2]. His effect allowed her to special summon another Gouki from her hand: the fire-haired Gouki Guts(2/800/0)

"You too, Headbatt!" The headbutting bat-wrestler(2/800/0) followed the others into the ring, using his special summon effect to add an additional 800 attackpoints to Gouki Suprex(2600/0). "And Moonsault!" The rabbit-eared leaping Gouki Moonsault(6/1900/0) [Zone 4] could cut in by tossing one other Gouki back to the hand. In this case he benched Gouki Suprex. "Then! Link summon, Gouki Thunder Ogre!" The trio of wrestlers combined and jumped right into the third level of the link circuit, so that Donna could bring out her thunderous piledriving Ogre(2200/LINK 3) {Up/Downleft/Downright} [Extra Zone 1]. But he would only be a stepping stone towards the ultimate warrior. "I can normal summon another monster to his marked zone! Go, Suprex!" And that one would appear as soon as the Gouki Suprex finished his own comeback. This time its normal summoned let Donna special summon another Gouki Twistcobra(4/1600/0) from her hand. "Heh, you started duelring again too soon, Hydra. You really are too slow! Because it's time to summon the Master! Gouki Master Ogre!"

"Too slow?" Hydra finally reacted, when it seemed to be too late. Thunder Ogre and Twistcobra joined together into the royal Gouki lord(2800/LINK 4) {Up/Downleft/Down/Downright} [Extra Zone 1] with his majestic red cape and crown-like mask. "Yeah! You should have destroyed my Thunder Ogre when you had the chance. Now you're facing this!" All the while Donna had been amassing cards from her deck as well through the effects of her link materials. Gouki Guts and Headbatt added the already used Gouki Twistcobra and Gouki Octostretch. Suprex in turn claimed the deadliest Gouki card: Gouki Finisher. "I activate the Finisher spell. My Gouki gains a thousand attackpoints for each of his link markers! And he can pierce right through your defenses! And that is not all, Master Ogre himself can attack all your monsters in a single battle phase! And if I return one linked Gouki to my hand, he can also negate the effects of your monster! You would have stopped this if you hadn't lost your touch or your instincts! Without Schwarzwald you are not even half of a duelist! While I am so much more!

"Oh. No it is not me feeling sluggish that is holding me back, Donna Monday." Hydra shook his head and activated Borrelsword Dragon's quick effect. "I simply knew that it would not do me any good to fire too early. You would have had plenty of cards to bring any Gouki back to life, if I try to destroy it. Even now." He could choose between two Rokkets... and he picked the least destructive one. "I target Anesthrokket Dragon! I can then destroy it to negate your monster's effect!" Instead of a bullet he would fire the anesthetic needle dragon, straight into the heart of Master Ogre. "Gah! You.. I cannot stop it?" Donna could only activate Master Ogre's effect in response to Anesthrokket Dragon's destruction, returning Gouki Twistcobra to the hand. "Borrelsword's effect cannot be chained too, Donna. And this way, I can reduce the amount of damage I take this turn to acceptable levels." Hydra showed a half visible smirk. Master Ogre and Borrel Dragon negated each others effects in the end, which meant Master Ogre could only attack once.

Donna did not take it well. "You think that means anything?" Her muscles began to bulge and veins popped up on her forehead as the anger inside her kept building up. "You are just a shadow, a pathetic lowlife who is going to die just like everyone else!" She activated Gouki Finisher anyway, powering up the Master Ogre(6800 atk) before entering the battle phase. "Master Ogre! attack Borrel Sword Dragon!" Hydra's dragon now also lacked its battle destruction immunity, so it easily went down after just one silver-bracer punch from Master Ogre. "Ngh!" Hydra himself got pushed back several feet, to the edge of the Pandemonium altar. "The least you can die is go down like a warrior!" The wrestler roared, as the whites of her eye were starting to become bloodshot red.

Hydra's LP: 2000

"Hmmm." Scarlet Rose began to notice these changes as well. "It must be starting to take effect." She muttered to herself, and waited to see what else this miracle elixer of Scarlet Fever would do to Donna. Unfortunately for her, she could imagine many things...

...

"Damn it!" Charles hit the side of the pod as he woke back up in his reality. "Hey! Let him out!" Cherry Anise and some scientists were there to help him get out of the pod, and the Trickstar duelist could see the frustration written on his face. "What went wrong now?" She inquired. "Too much. Static caught us as we were about to leave, and he defeated Vigionaire." Charles grunted as he rubbed his sore hand. "Of all the people. Well at least you got out okay." Cherry tried to point out the bright side. But there was none. "Only because he let me go. He's using Vigionaire as a hostage.. Bionis and Scura..I mean Jenna.. as well. If we do not do what he says, he will hurt them in ways we cannot imagine."

"Hmph. What does he want you to do?" Tycho Rivers asked, waltzing into the room just as the conversation got interesting for him. "Tycho.. Static wants us to find another closed system on the network, one that belongs to Shintaro.. to Himiko's parents. I thought maybe we could ask these people to finally tell us all they know about that family." Right now Crescent and the others were doing the same on Exeter's side. "Well, good luck trying to get them to talk. They'll just give us the same old 'only Renner knew' spiel. But this is our chance to find out more." Tycho smirked and pointed at himself. "If you are going, Charles. So am I. Static has nothing that interest me. But these Shintaro people.. they know the truth. They have to..."

(To Be Continued in World 054: Brute Forced Evolution)

New Cards used by Hydra
Silverrokket Dragon

-
Striker Dragon

-
Zero Day Blaster

New Cards used by Donna Monday
Gouki Poison Mist

-
Dark Factory of More Production
Dances with Beasts