World 102: Last Breach to the Stars
The heroes of Pandemonium barely managed to make it out in time by using the military air-raid as a distraction. As always they fell back to Exeter HQ, believing it to be a safe haven. "So how many countries did Scarlet upset? I can count at least a half dozen." Bionis Khan meanwhile marveled at the fact that the attacks kept coming. "Bionis, Scarlet is here too you know." Charles quickly pointed out. "Oh right.. Meh, the least she could do is start using her real name so we dont get the two mixed up all the time." Bionis kept fuming regardless. Scarlet was too busy with trying to analyze the obelisk to respond anyway. "That's something, coming from you.. William." Charles replied with his own real name. "That's different! I dont have my evil doppelganger out there anymore! And maybe I am paranoid, alright. But I don't like not knowing.."
"This is what happens when you don't listen. I told you from the beginning, Static was nothing compared to this." Tycho scoffed in the background. He could not enjoy 'being right' like this. "Well we have all the time in the world to hear your ideas now, Tyke. Or at least for as long as those navy boys hold out" Dharma sighed. "Hmph. I understand their endgoal as much as anyone else here, but I also know it has something to do with all those recreated areas inside the closed systems and STHEREA. They have a bunker somewhere we havent found yet, and everyone who's all chummy with Continuum will probably be hiding there like that Hikaru guy. If we find them, we maybe be able to get information out of them like Continuums weaknesses." Tycho explained. "You really think so?" The blue-eyed duelist wondered. His eagerness betrayed an alternative motive. "Even if it doesn't, at least we will get to bring down those bastards who got us into this mess!" A motive Tycho made no effort to disguise.
"I have been wondering about that. These areas.. including the one my brother created. What is their purpose?" Therese spoke up. "To give Continuum more reach? To spread out across the entire globe?" Vigionaire joined in on the theorizing, he could use the mental diversion. "I thought about that. But it seemed like Echo and Static had no issue entering areas that had no virtual counterpart. Continuum should not have it either. Mister Rivers may be right, those areas hide some as of yet unknown purpose. And if they do.." Ms. Hansen let out a gasp. "What? What is it?" Crescent flinched. "This place. This place is the same." Therese realized.
"What is.." The consequences of this fact became evident sooner than anyone would have liked. "The Obelisk... it's gone?" Scarlet Rose witnessed the disappearance of the construct. It blinked out of existence, leaving the island of STHEREA and every downed jetfighter behind. "It must have used the Ark!" Where it went her machines could not tell, nor did they need too. The answer appeared right outside their windows: the answer to Scarlet Rose's question and to Therese Hansen's epiphany. "Aaah.. she's here!" Cherry freaked out. The Obelisk of Scarlet Fever now stood parallel to the Exeter HQ building, and the dozen Continuum entities were right there with it. "This is their purpose? She can freely move to any part of the planet like this?" They were not safe here anymore, they were not safe anywhere.
...
Her monsters looked different.. "Aignisters?!" Light Dragon AIgnister(R4/2300/1500) [Zone 1] looked different; not a princess of the sea but a dragon made of golden light. "You couldn't have.. when did this happen?" She looked different. The girl discarded her wheelchair and stood upright despite them still being inside STHEREA. The dress she wore became more torn around the edges and jagged, while her blue hair flowed through the air as if she were submerged in deep water. It also seemed to have grown even longer. But the trait that distressed him the most was her face. Her eyes glowed with the same color as her new monster, and white markings appeared on her cheeks that made her look like she was crying. "This is still happening. Static's world is already changing me. No, this is who I always was. It just took this great crisis to finally let me see that nothing was going to work unless the way things were. The Marincess were not strong enough. The element of water is not enough. I have to be prepared for anything. That is why I created this dragon of light and why I stepped into the new elements and have to abandon the old."
"But if this is going to be their farewell, I will make sure they leave me with one last moment of joy. Even if that joy comes at the cost of another." Because she controlled Marincess Marbled Rock(2500/LINK 3) {Left/Down/Right} [Zone 2], she could special summon the Marincess Seahorse(3/1400/1000) [Zone 3] to her other link. "I summon Blue Slug again!" The Seahorse materialized herself into a second slug-marine princess(1500/LINK 1) {Down}, who could add one Marincess monster from the graveyard (Marincess Pascalus) back to the hand. Marbled Rock herself could reclaim the Marincess Wave trap card. "And then I link summon Marincess Great Bubble Reef!" Her extra deck after all still held the second strongest Marincess, the teal-haired Reef princess(2600/LINK 4) {Left/Downleft/Down/Right} [Extra Zone 2] with her red-flower wand. "Farewell? So you are going to abandon them all?" This implied that she had made more than just a couple of extra deck monsters. That she'd gone as far with the power of creation as Static once did.
"I will, Fisher. I did not make these monsters just to satisfy the friends I could never make. But also to honor the ones I lost.. like Everest. . And even though all of you chose different summoning styles than what I expected, I will never forget the way he started.. As a fusion." Echo revealed the card that she got during the draw phase, a new non-Marincess monster. "There's main deck cards too?" The Fisherman gasped. His fears came true. Not just that, but now Echo's left eye glowed with an eerie purple light. "Yes. This is Doshin AIgnister. I can special summon it when I control an AIgnister monster." Echo introduced her EARTH-brown cyberse(1/100/800) [Zone 4] made of stacked cube-molds. Colorful patterns like a blue eye, green rings and pink teardrops were drawn on its body. "And there are spells too. Doshin can return one link monster to my extra deck, to add the spell card A.I. Love Fusion to my hand." Echo returned Marincess Blue Slug, and gave herself a brand new fusion spell. "Artificial Intelligence you mean?"
"That is what I am. But that does not make my love any less real. My love for you.. and for the Valkyrion. He may be gone, but he is still with us. And you will be too.. AI Love Fusion can take one of your monsters too as a fusion material! And I need one AIgnister and one link monster as materials to summon AIgnister Earth Golem!" The spell forced a fusion between the monsters of two duelists who loved each other, Eria the Water Charmer(1850/LINK 2) [Extra Zone 1] and Doshin AIgnister. What came out of the extra deck then was a monster that exemplified the element of the late Valkyrion: a cybernetic crystal golem-warrior(7/2300/2000) [Zone 3] covered in rock-like armor. "Now I have two AIgnisters on my field. Light Dragon AIgnister can destroy just as many monsters!" Her new aggressive style showed up quickly, when the dragon of light unleashed two blasts of lightning at the Fisherman's Valiant Shark Lancer(3300/1600) [Zone 3] and Hope Woven Dragon Spider Shark(3400/2100) [Zone 2]. "Then I banish Fury of the Kairyushin from my graveyard! Which negates the destruction of my water monsters!" At the last second a leviathan of pure water surged out of the ocean floor and intercepted the dragons electric assault, splattering water across the zones.
"I knew you would. You are still so very strong. But I know I have to be stronger.. than all of you combined." Echo clenched her hand and punched forward into the battle phase. "When Earth Golem AIgnister attacks a monster that was summoned from the extra deck, its attackpoints are doubled!" She set her sights on the Valiant Lancer. Destroying the Spider Shark would just trigger too many effects. "The the Lancer will destroy it!" Because he controlled another XYZ-monster, he could still activate his monster's effect as a quick effect by detaching one of its own XYZ-materials. "You know that will not be enough." Echo still negated the effect, by discarding Marincess Wave from her hand. The trap worked on all of her monsters, and not just Marincess cards. She would not let anything get in her way. Earth Golem closed the distance and delivered the powerful uppercut against the black armored lancer to break it down into many fragments.
Fisherman's LP: 3800
"Light Dragon also has the power to bring back one of my monsters when another cyberse inflicts damage. So Marincess Marbled Rock returns to me!" Things went from bad to worse, once the lady in blue, white and purple brought back yet another monster to her field. Marbled Rock[Zone 2] at least could not fight back against the Spider Shark. Great Bubble Reef and Light Dragon were not strong enough either. "I guess that was not enough. My transformation.. is not complete yet. But soon I will be." She sighed and reactivated Marbled Rock's effect to add Marincess Wave to her hand for the third time, once again ensuring that only attacks would be getting through to her. With five cards still in her hand and her skill still unused, she ended her turn.
-TURN 06-
After that, the Fisherman drew his next card.. a special card. He wanted to tell her what it would do, but she made her move first. "During the standby phase, Great Bubble Reef banishes one Marincess from the graveyard! And when she does, I can draw one card and increase her attackpower by six hundred!" Echo's voice became louder as she banished her own Marincess Basilalima. "And when Basilalima is banished, I can increase the attackpoints of one of my monsters by six hundred as well!" Twice the Great Bubble Reef(3600 atk) powered up, growing stronger than anything else on the field. "After all of that, how can you tell me that you were already strong enough, lady Echo. These AIgnister monsters are not necessary." The Fisherman claimed, even if he had to admit that her powers surpassed anyone's wildest imaginations. "It is nice of you to say that, Fisher. But if lying is the only way to make one happy, then that someone has to change..."
"I never lie, lady Echo. I tell you everything I know.. But you already know about that too, and about my plan. I wanted to set this card on top of my deck with Valiant Lancer's effect, but it appears that destiny is on my side regardless.. I activate Rank-Up-Magic the Seventh One! When I draw it during my draw phase, I have to keep it revealed until the main phase. And then I must use it to special summon one of the Overhundred Numbers from my deck! And that Number will immediately evolve into its chaos-form!" The Fisherman brought his card up to the sky and absorbed the original Number 101: Silent Honor ARK into it. Within the light of the Seventh One, the card transformed further and returned the great Dark Knight(R5/2800/2100) [Extra Zone 1] to the field in attack mode. "You wont have your way.. not again." Echo acted pre-emptively and activated her Marincess Wave trap a second time to negate the effects of the Chaosnumber, and to make her current monster line-up immune to any card effects he might try to use against her.
Though he did not have any cards left in his hand anyway.. for the time being. "That is not all! I can banish Torpedo Takedown from my graveyard, to draw two cards! I can also banish Lifeless Leaffish to draw another card!" The activate the torpedo spell he had to banish one other XYZ-monster: Abyss Dweller. To activate the Lifeless fish he had to return three fish monsters (Buzzsaw Shark, Righthand Shark, Lantern Shark) to his deck. His previously empty hand gained three new cards at once: one spell, one trap and one monster. "..." The spell in particular told him what to do. "I activate Afterglow! This card banishes every copy of itself, and then shuffles one of them into the deck! Then if I draw Afterglow during the next turn, you take four thousand points of effect damage!" He could only use this effect once a duel, and the odds of drawing just the one copy again were too low to count on. "I only need to survive one more turn, miss Echo. Then this will all be over. But until then, I will do everything I can to remove these influences."
"Spider Shark! Attack Great Bubble Reef!" The fisherman sent the 37th Number straight after the clearly stronger Marincess, causing it to die and splatter across the wet void. "When Spider Shark is destroyed, I can special summon one monster from my graveyard. And when a Water monster is destroyed, I can also special summon Cataclysmic Circumpolar Chilblainia from my hand!" He crossed both the graveyard and hand with a stream of ice and water: resurrecting the Valiant Lancer[Zone 3] and summoning an ice-blue goddess(8/2600/200) [Zone 4] of the polar region. "When Chilblainia is special summoned, you will discard one random card: Echo!" First he would weaken her defenses. Though his strength matched hers, Echo possessed one advantage. She could discard Marincess cards from her hand to have Marincess Marbled Rock negate all damage done to her monster. The Polar goddess at least managed to discard one such card (Marincess Seastar) from her hand. However Light Dragon AIgnister could now revive one cyberse monster from her graveyard because of the damage done to the Fisherman. Echo and it decided to revive Marincess Wonder Heart(2400/LINK 4) [Zone 1].
Fisherman's LP: 3600
"Silent Honor DARK! Attack Marincess Great Bubble Reef!" Two cards in her hand remained. "Why are you.. still doing this?" Echo discarded one, Marincess Crowntail, to protect the Marincess of the Reef. Only the dark knight of the seas went down into a watery grave as the two monsters clashed... Only to immediately resurface and bring back a new dose of lifepoints with it. "Because "when Chaosnumber 101 is destroyed while he has XYZ-materials, I can special summon it again and gain lifepoints equal to his original attackpoints. But he cannot attack again for the rest of the turn. But then I knew I would not be able to hurt you like this." Now that a different XYZ-monster died, Valiant Shark Lancer would get the chance his power after all. "Valiant can place one spell card on top of my deck! The one I choose... is Afterglow!" That power being the key towards his victory. "This.. was your plan all along." The Lancer secured the future: the draw that would inflict 4000 points of damage to her and end the duel.
Fisherman's LP: 6400
"Yes. But my current turn is not through yet!" The newly summoned cataclysmic goddess targeted the dragon of light, gathering ice crystals above her head to rain down upon the XYZ-AIgnister. "And I am not through yet either!" Marbled Rock discarded her last Marincess card, Blue Tang, to negate the damage for the last time. "Then I suppose neither of us will know how this ends! But I am going forward with you, no matter what!" Killing the Light Dragon mattered more than anything, so he kept attacking it. The reborn Valiant Lancer drove its spear into the dragon of light and.. bounced off of her new skill card which placed an armor of rocks around the dragon.
Ignition Assault, Skill Card
Activate 1 of these effects based on the attribute of a cyberse-monster you control.
EARTH: Negate 1 attack or 1 effect that could destroy a card on the field.
FIRE:
WIND:
WATER:
LIGHT:
DARK:
"A new skill?" The Fisherman had never seen something like this, a skill delayed by one/sixths of its total power. "Yes. I changed my skill as well." Thanks to the EARTH Golem she could negate the destruction of Light Dragon for this one turn. "My last skill would not have saved me. So I am using the hopes and wishes of those that took all of my delayed skills so far, all of the children and families who want their dreams to come true. And from them, I can mold my own dreams.. And there are so many, Fisher. It's not enough to ask people to stop fighting anymore. There will always be someone who is only happy when he can be better than someone else. And because of that there will always be someone who has to struggle for their own happiness. It's coded into everyone's minds... everyone's souls." The light in her eyes, which briefly turned bright purple, faded again. Her skill wore off but so did the battle phase.
"Lady Echo. That is just human nature. But not everyone can have everything, even they know that." Said the Fisherman even as he activated the effect of his own Chaosnumber. Silent Honor DARK could turn any special summoned monster its XYZ-material, though once again it could only target Marincess Coral Anemone due to the blind spot in Marincess Wave's protection. "It is true, that I have been hiding a dark thought. I did want you for myself. But I can change that part, you do not have to force it. You only need to trust me, my lady."
-TURN 07-
"I trust you. But I do not trust everyone.. and I wish I could, Fisher. There's so many sad memories,.. even among the children. So many hateful minds for little to no reason. I just cannot stand it anymore. Whatever is happening the normal way, is not happening fast enough!" As the turns shifted again, Great Bubble Reef(2600 atk)'s power went back down to normal. But she could still banish another Marincess from the graveyard, Wonder Heart, to empower herself(3200 atk). "Great Bubble Reef revives one banished Marincess!" The same Wonder Heart(2400/LINK 4) [Zone 4] made her way back to the current dimension, after Echo discarded one card from her hand. "I can also banish Marincess Pascalus from my graveyard to add one Marincess card back to my hand!" Between that and Marbled Rock, Echo could reclaim two of her Marincess cards in one go while further boosting the attackpower of Bubble Reef(3800 atk) Yet she did not chose to retrieve Marincess Wave with either card: adding Marincess Cascade and Sea Star to her hand instead. "Fisher, Light Dragon AIgnister can also negate an effect that destroys my cards. So you should not try to use Valiant Lancer's effect against me. You can trust me too, I will never lie again."
"That does not make my situation better." The Fisherman noted. Already Echo made her Marincess monsters more dangerous by giving the 800 ATK-boost of the Marincess Sea Star's hand-effect to Marincess Wonderheart(3200 atk). And just like the previous turn, she could use Light Dragon AIgnisters main effect to destroy two of his cards. In this case it summoned the golden lightning to destroy both Valiant Shark Lancer and Silent Honor. "But even when an effect destroys my Chaosnumber, he can come back!" The Fisherman promptly returned the dark knight to his field in attack mode, gaining lifepoints equal to its original attackpower again. This did make his situation better.
Fisherman's LP: 9200
"Fisher. It is not going to happen." Echo would not lie about his chances either. "This is the last turn." With one card left in her hand, she entered the battle phase. The Seastar-powered Wonder Heart swung her spiraling sword across the field and carved the Circumpolar goddess into frozen pieces. Merely one second later, Great Bubble Reef destroyed the Shark Dark Knight with wave after wave of aquatic energy. The damage they dealt would only be the start. Small sums would still trigger the effect of the Light Dragon and allow it to bring another cyberse from the graveyard: Marincess Coral Anemone(2000/LINK 2)[Zone 5] back to the field in the last free monster zone.
Fisherman's LP: 8400
"I am sorry, my lady. But this wont tip the scales. I activate XYZ Revive Splash! It brings one rank four or lower YZ-monster in the graveyard back to my field! I summon Spider Shark in attack mode!" The Fisherman could not leave himself wide open to four more direct attacks of course. And with this one trap which enabled the return of Number 37: Spider Shark(3400/2100)[Zone 3], he would not have to. None of her monsters could match it in attackpower. Almost none. "It will. It has to." Echo could still activate Marincess Cascade from her hand since she controlled her Link 3 Marincess. The trap banished both Great Bubble Reef and Wonder Heart from the field for the rest of the turn and added 300 attackpoints to Marincess Marbled Rock(4900 atk) for each of their link makers. "I have to be stronger than you too, Fisher. Don't you see? If I want to do anything by myself, this is how it should be!" The powered Marincess used her claws to start slicing off legs, fins and scales from the Hope Woven shark. Leaving nothing but fragments.. Still, there was a reason he summoned it in attack instead of defense..
Fisherman's LP: 6900
"You are strong. But you are stronger with me! There is strength in unity! You said this yourself! That is why I will never give up on you!" The destroyed Spider Shark could once again revive another monster from his graveyard, including the Shark Knight of Silent Honor(3600/2100). He summoned the Chaosnumber in attack mode too, as none of the AIgnisters or Coral Anemone could match it in strength. "I am not giving up on you either, Fisher. But.. you are still imperfect. And because of that you feel pain.. and sadness. I do not want to take the truth away from you." Echo smiled faintly. "But I have to destroy the old before I can make the new. Then it wont be a lie." She declared an attack, with the Earth Golem. "What? My lady?" The dark Shark knight was poised to strike back right up until the damage step, at which point Echo revealed her quickplay spell. "This is my newest card: T.A.I. Strike. It makes our monsters equally strong, and we both take damage equal to the attackpoints of the monsters that we lose." The clashing Golem(3600/1500) increased its own power, and the size of its fist, moments before coming into impact range. "What? But then you will lose too! Is that.. what you wanted all along?" Water and earth clashed.. causing a fierce and damaging explosion.
"No. I want to win." But only the Shark knight died, the Earth Golem emerged from the blast with its rocky body completely intact.
Fisherman's LP: 4100
"What? How did this.. happen?" His chaosnumber died and he took 2800 points of effect damage, only that much he could comprehend. "I can banish TAI Strike from my graveyard, to negate the destruction of a battling AIgnister monster, Fisher." Because T.A.I. Strike already left the field by time the damage step ended, she could activate this second effect before her Golem's intended destruction resolved. Her lifepoints stayed the same, while his dropped to a very dangerous low range. "You did this, Fisher. You pushed me to become this good.. For that I will always be grateful. But now you have to sleep." Her tone grew cold on that final sentence. "Where I am going, I go alone." Marincess Coral Anemone halved what remained of the Fisherman's lifepoints with one direct water blast attack. "But before you go. Can you maybe tell me.. if you ever came up with a name for yourself? Something to remember you by?" She would not hold back the second direct attack.
Fisherman's LP: 2100
"Ishmael." The fisherman answered without hesitation.
"Ishmael.." Echo emotionlessly repeated the name. "Yes, my lady. I see now, that our story does match that of one in my memories. It was a tale that grew close to me, probably because of my appearance and my cards. There are and were many famous masters of the sea.. but I always felt like the world had so much more to offer. And I am more than I was. Still, I could never come up with a name before that felt right to me. For a time I even considered the one of the man obsessed with hunting the great whale: Ahab. But I feel like.. instead I got the role of his right hand man: Ishmael." He sighed. "I see. Than I am the Ahab of your story?" Echo asked him. "You do not have to be, my lady. But I know I cannot stop you anymore. I just hope.. it will all be worth it for you." He resigned himself to his fate, and to hers as well. The water in the dimension evaporated, releasing Static's true core.
"It will be." Echo made the final attack, sending the lightning of Light Dragon into Ishmael's chest to knock him out.. "It has to be." In the same breath, she touched the orb of red light.. and absorbed it into herself to complete her transformation...
(To Be Continued in World 103: For My Third Wish)
New Cards used by Miss Echo
Doshin AIgnister
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Earth Golem AIgnister
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A.I. Love Fusion
T.A.I. Strike
New Cards used by Ishmael The Fisherman
Cataclysmic Circumpolar Chilblainia
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Rank-Up-Magic the Seventh One
Afterglow
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XYZ Revive Splash