Good Day Readers and welcome to the sequel to Pain of Betrayal, Pain of Loss! Thanks to all of you for the support and I hope that you all enjoy this latest edition of the Hope sisters. Sorry for the late update, yesterday was a bad day for me.
Obviously I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh only Kylie and Katherine Hope along with the unique cards within their decks and whatever other OCs decide to crop up. Also italics symbolise a mind conversation, a video tape or something in a language that isn't Japanese. I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy
Chapter 8: - The Miracle of Hermos
"Hermos! Please lend me your strength!" Jounouchi pleaded. The card was easily seen by the members of Doma, as Anzu and Honda realised what Jounouchi meant with those words; Yami vocally confirmed their suspicions that the blonde had gained a hold of the Dragon. As for the four up above, they appeared to be very unnerved by the fact that Jounouchi had gained this power.
"Maybe we underestimated this guy too much. This means he's a stronger Duelist than we thought," Rafael admitted. Mai was silent as she stared at the card, whether she knew of the Nameless Dragons or not, I couldn't be sure; but at least with Hermos' power Jounouchi had a better chance of ending this Duel safely.
"I activate a Magic card from my hand! Resurrection of the Dead! I'll revive Magical Gigacyber!" Jounouchi declared. He placed the selected card into his Duel Disk and it was projected, allowing Gigacyber to be brought to the field; Mai immediately dismissed this as a useless effort. "No! I'll bet on this!" Jounouchi declared. He held up a card with its' back to Mai, clearly confident in his cards. "Also, I Summon Time Magician in Attack Mode!" Jounouchi added on. The little clock wizard jumped onto the field.
Time Magician – Attribute: Light, Type: Magician, Level: 2, ATK/500, DEF/400
"And I activate the Claw of Hermos! Come forth Hermos!" Jounouchi declared. A brilliant light appeared when he cried out, radiating from the card, the light morphed and changed until it took a different shape and then solidified into the dragon. "Hermos can transform into an Equipment card for any Monster on the field!" Jounouchi revealed. The card's effect must stay secret until it's played and even then, only the one chosen by the Dragon would be able to know it.
Hermos let out a roar and then started to suck it the air, it actually had a visible effect as I saw the air rippling around the dragon's snout; Time Magician was drawn into the gaping maw of the dragon as a result of its' inhale. When that happened, Hermos stopped and golden light started to shine out from within his body, completely surrounding his form, before it eventually shrank back down into a much smaller shape than before.
When the light completely faded, my jaw slackened as I gaped at the object that had appeared. It was a hammer… with wings attached to the side… what the hell did Jounouchi do?! Apparently, from the confused word that came from him, even the blonde didn't know what he had done; Mai did not look impressed and Valon had the gall to start laughing.
"What the hell's that? I was a wee bit curious as to what was going to show up but what're you trying to prove by bringing that toy out?!" Valon cackled. Rafael gave no reaction as he continued to stare down at the field whilst Honda appeared to be despairing over the appearance, Anzu asked if he had made a mistake.
"No that's fine," Yami insisted. For all its' ridiculous appearance, I did sense immense power radiating from that hammer, looks could be deceiving after all, I just hoped that was the case and this… very strange hammer, would be able to do something to help turn the situation around; Jounouchi shook his head as if trying to recover from whatever state of mind he'd been thrown into by the hammer's appearance.
"It doesn't matter that it doesn't look cool. Even though I don't know the power of this weapon, I have no choice but to use it! I equip Time Magic Hammer to Gigacyber!" Jounouchi declared. The blonde's Monster took a hold of the weapon and brought it close, its' Attack didn't go up so that wasn't its' effect. "Go! Time Magic Hammer!" Jounouchi commanded. Anzu was confused whilst Honda thought Jounouchi was an idiot.
"I'm certain that hammer has some kind of power," Kylie stated. I nodded my head as Yami silently looked on, Gigacyber raised the hammer above his head as Mai activated her Vermillion Sparrow Formation in attempt to subvert any damage; but Gigacyber didn't attack the fiery bird, instead he swung the hammer down so that it struck the centre of the field.
A hole opened up at the moment of impact and small balls of light rose out of the hole, these lights flew over to each of Mai's Monsters and then popped to reveal numbers. Harpie's Pet Dragon got a one, the Harpies got two, three and six; I cocked my head to the side in confusion as to what these numbers could possibly mean whilst Valon started to laugh once more.
"Nothing happened… my turn is over!" Jounouchi admitted. Mai demanded to know if she was being made fun off, before assuming that he hadn't been fighting her seriously. "Mai… I-," Jounouchi tried to argue. But our friend turned foe was completely disinterested in listening to him and she intended to end the Duel, her fingers reached for the top card of her Deck as a fire burned in her violet gaze.
"My turn! Draw!" Mai declared. She pulled the card free, but the moment she did, a wind began to blow from the hole, some force was sucking the air into it and soon all of Mai's Monsters followed after it; they were drawn into the hole with screams of shock and surprise. "My Monsters!" Mai exclaimed. All of us were probably staring in shock at the event we'd just witnessed.
"Is destroying the Monsters part of Hermos' power?" Yugi's voice rang. I wasn't surprised by the words and figured that the boy was probably asking Yami as well, however I don't think that was a good assessment, if it was destruction then what was the purpose behind those numbers that had appeared and why was the hole it created still on the field; Time Magic Hammer had more secrets to it, Yami shared my sentiments.
"What happened to my Harpies?!" Mai demanded. But Jounouchi had no clue as to the answer and said as much, a sneer appeared no Mai's lips as she glared at Jounouchi. "I set one card! Turn over!" Mai declared. It was really all she could do after losing all of her Monsters, including the only one strong enough to defeat Gigacyber.
"I don't know what happened, but since Mai's field is empty, now's my chance!" Jounouchi decided. It was the perfect opportunity to lessen the Life Point gap and hopefully succeed in ending this Duel in a tie. "My turn! Draw!" Jounouchi declared. He pulled the card free but didn't even spare it a glance as his gaze stayed focused on the field before him. "Gigacyber, Direct Attack Mai!" Jounouchi ordered. The Monster charged forward and with a crackling energy around his right hand, thrusted the limb out so that it sent out a crackling field of energy that slammed against the blonde woman.
Mai – LP: 3600 – LP: 1400
Mai was sent flying back from the impact and she collapsed onto the ground, the four who were watching actually seemed to be worried now that Mai was in such a precarious position. She pushed herself onto her feet with a heated glare set on her face, Jounouchi set a single card face down and ended his turn… but that was when I noticed… Mai was trembling, visibly shaking all over.
"Must not lose… I must not lose… I can't lose here…" Mai spoke. Her head dipped so we couldn't see her face, but the fear etched into her voice was more than enough. "I've got much stronger… I have obtained Doma's power… so I can't lose!" Mai declared. She lifted her head slightly so that we could see her eyes now, a fierce glare in her eyes even as she kept shaking. "My turn! Draw!" Mai announced. She pulled a card free and suddenly Harpie's Pet Dragon flew out of the hole and returned to the field.
Harpie's Pet Dragon – ATK/3400 – ATK/2500
"AH! I know what the hammer does now!" Kylie exclaimed. I looked at my sister with a furrow present on my brow as I wanted to know what she figured out… although I think I knew what she meant. "It sends Monsters into the future through the hole it makes, a number indicates the number of turns its' gone from the field at the moment they're sucked inside. Harpie's Pet Dragon had a one so it was only gone for one turn after being sucked inside!" Kylie explained. That was both good and bad, good because it gave Jounouchi time to wipe out Mai's Monster army… but bad because the first one that came back had to be the Dragon.
"Even so, the Dragon is stronger than Gigacyber," I pointed out. Kylie nodded her head, it was strong enough to destroy the rest of Jounouchi's meagre Life Points, meanwhile Mai was completely ecstatic that her Monster had returned to the field and was reassured of her victory, with that Mai commanded her favourite's Pet Dragon to attack Jounouchi's only Monster; Rafael claimed she'd lost her cool as Valon called out to the woman.
"Reverse card open! Demon's Dice!" Jounouchi commanded. The card opened up at the red die was projected onto the field alongside its' little demon. "This card reduces the enemy Monster's Attack by the amount rolled on the dice!" Jounouchi reminded. The demon threw the red cube and it bounced across the floor before rolling to a stop on a two. "Yes! The Attack Points of Harpie's Pet Dragon is reduced by half!" Jounouchi announced.
Harpie's Pet Dragon – ATK/2500 – ATK/1250
With the change in Attack Points, that meant the dragon was weaker than Jounouchi's Monster, easily allowing Gigacyber to destroy the Monster with a single punch. Plus, this would also dramatically reduce Mai's Life Points until it was much closer to Jounouchi's and make it so that ending this Duel in a tie much easier.
Mai – LP: 1400 – LP: 450
"No! I can't lose!" Mai screamed. The calm that Harpie's Pet Dragon had brought back with him suddenly evaporated as Mai's body started to tremble once more and her eyes went wide whilst the pupils shrank into pinpricks. "I… I want to win! I have to!" Mai chanted. The fear she felt was clearly overriding any other thought.
"This isn't good, if this keeps up-," Rafael began to speak. However, he was cut off when Valon threw himself over the railing so his feet could hit the wall beneath and he pushed off, starting to fall towards the Barrier. "Valon!" Rafael cried. Tsula and the pinkette seemed to be equally as shocked by the brunette's actions as my eyes widened in confusion and surprise.
"Shard of the Oreichalcos! Release your power!" Valon chanted. On his ring I spotted a ring that started to glow with the same creepy energy as Gurimo's necklace, Valon neared the Barrier and pulled his fist back before throwing it out to hit the edge. A loud explosion shook the room as a massive wall of smoke materialised, all of us were sent flying backwards from the force of the impact.
"Valon!" Three voices called. The smoke was so thick that I wouldn't be able to see anything standing up let alone from my current position on the floor, fortunately it disappeared and I saw both Jounouchi and Mai collapsed on the ground but the boundary had vanished; somehow Valon had managed to interfere in the Duel and he was currently holding Mai's unconscious body to his form in a tight embrace.
"Are you mad! That was too reckless! Even with the Oreichalcos' protection, releasing the Barrier against its' will could kill us!" The pinkette yelled. Despite her angry words, her face was ashen white, clearly concerned over the actions her comrade had taken; they seemed to actually care about each other which was a good thing and a bad thing at the same time.
"Even so, Margaret, I couldn't let her continue like this!" Valon responded. Rafael turned his attention to us and vowed that the next time we met, he was intent on facing off against Yami, he then reached for the pendant he wore and on impulse me and Kylie dived behind Yami; Rafael raised it above his head and the object began to glow, emitting a green light that swallowed the five from view.
When the light finally faded, they were all gone and the creaking behind us indicated that the shutters were finally rising; the two brunettes with us ran passed me and my sister towards the unconscious blonde, each of them panicking over him. Fortunately, the boy pushed himself up and shook his head, as if clearing some fog, but once he did Jounouchi immediately started to search for Mai; Honda informed him of what happened.
"DAMN IT! MAI!" Jounouchi screamed. He was regretting that he couldn't save our friend from the darkness she'd fallen into and no words could be spoken to help him. "SHIT! SHIT! Why Mai?!" Jounouchi cried. My lips curled into a frown as Honda insisted that Mai had betrayed us, that wasn't the kind of thing that should be said at this moment.
"Stop talking like that! We don't know that for sure yet!" Anzu insisted. Kylie sighed as she shook her head at the ridiculous statement that had come from Anzu, everything that Mai had said, done or even just implied proved just how wrong Anzu's words were and the brunette seriously needed to realise that otherwise things could go catastrophically wrong.
"Anzu, she stole my Uncle's soul, she tried to steal Jounouchi. She's with the punks who stole mine, Kathie and Yami's most powerful cards. How is that not enough evidence that she is clearly working against us? Especially when she seemed to be doing it of her own free will," Kylie stated. Her tone was even and blunt, unwilling to sugar coat the truth about what we'd just been forced to witnessed but it was also weary, as if speaking the words were a drain on her energy.
"Kaiba!" Yami exclaimed. All of us turned around and I smiled upon seeing both Kaiba brothers standing there, although slightly confused by their presence, Seto and Mokuba seemed equally surprised to see us there as we were to see them with them calling out to the four of us who were Duelists; at that moment Otogi proceeded to return through the front door, stopping once he saw our new members.
"What are you guys doing here?" Mokuba asked. We explained why we were here and both brothers gained wide eyes with Seto immediately asking how Pegasus was, that caused me and Kylie to exchange concerned glances as Seto was actually worried about our Uncle and the last time we spoke about Pegasus, he had wanted nothing to do with the man after what happened at Duelist Kingdom unless it was business.
"When we got here, he already…," Yami explained. The trailing off at the end would imply the worst and stop any arguments that might come from Seto regarding his lack of belief in anything occult; Honda however didn't realise what that meant as he explained what Mai had done to our Uncle, Seto's eyes zeroed in on the both of us, before jerking back up.
"Did you say Doma?" Seto asked. That received a few quizzical gazes and raised eyebrows as Yami asked if the brunette man knew about Doma as well, if he did then that meant they'd gone after our friend as well; these guys were ticking all the boxes to make me angry. Mokuba explained he fought someone called Amelda that was associated with Doma – probably the missing red head – apparently, he'd impersonated Pegasus to set a trap for Seto. "We pretty much took each other out," Seto explained. That at least confirmed a tie ended in no soul snatching.
"We're all here for the same reason then. Even though Uncle Pegasus is gone, I wouldn't put it passed him to have had a backup plan," Kylie suggested. Yami reached into a pocket and withdrew the mysterious key card that he'd been sent with the video letter, Otogi reacted to it and revealed he couldn't unlock one door, that was probably the one for this card. "Lead on Otogi!" Kylie commanded. The ravenette did as my sister said and took off, all of us tailed after the boy.
Amazingly enough, we were led right to Uncle Pegasus' office and the room that was connected to it and a card reader right next to it; Yami walked up and swiped the key card through the card reader, the light turned green indicating that it was open as the handle fell slightly. Kylie reached for it and pushed open further, allowing the door to swing open and we peered into the room that lay beyond it, but as Honda stated it was far too dark for us to see anything.
"It could be a trap Doma set up," Jounouchi admitted. That was not a pleasant thought to have, but Seto apparently didn't care as he strode confidently into the room with Mokuba beside him, Kylie followed right after them so the rest of us moved in even if we were incredibly wary about doing such a thing. Soon after entering, the lights flared on, revealing that the entire room was filled with Toon related memorabilia, everyone was surprised except for Seto who was annoyed by it.
Suddenly a figure wavered into view, it was Uncle Pegasus but quite obviously a hologram, Yami was surprised by the image's appearance whilst Seto easily identified it as being Solid Vision. Uncle Pegasus must have been really worried about his life if he went as far as leaving a Solid Vision message inside of a sealed room, a rock settled in the pit of my stomach at the fact that we'd failed to rescue my Uncle from his fate.
"Yugi boy, my lovely nieces, welcome to my private room. This room is the dreamland I hold deep within my heart. Do you like it?" Holo-Pegasus greeted. I adopted a deadpan look as Kylie slapped her hand to her face, Honda insulted him but Anzu ordered him to shut up. "However, Yugi boy… if you are listening to this message, in all probability, I am no longer safe. I anticipated this. Our company has already been taken over by another and George's is being targeted now as well," Holo-Pegasus revealed.
"What!" Me, Kylie and the two Kaiba brothers exclaimed. I looked at Seto who seemed rather terrified, the brunette exclaimed that Kaiba Corporation was also being brought out by a larger company, that was incredibly worrisome; none of those companies should have been bought out due to the division of the stocks necessary to keep them in certain people's hands
"This organisation is an underground, secretive company that is rumoured to rival even the American supremacy in its' brilliance and its' influence. Doma," Holo-Pegasus continued. He'd planned these pauses well, did he expect Seto to show up as well or was this just luck; however the company's name unnerved me given what we'd experienced. "Doma is said to act from the shadows pulling the strings for thousands of years as the cause of a multitude of financial changes throughout the world. You all should have learned this from the textbooks. The thriving reign of the Roman Empire and its' sudden downfall, a mere historical repetition? Who was truly responsible for providing the winning side with their weapons during the sailing age? Civil wars… was it truly the cause of civilians randomly rebelling against the government? Who was the one to bring the infamous Napoleon to power? The Industrial Revolution that began rising throughout cultures all over the world… as well as the renaissance of the seventeenth century. Who was the one pulling strings during all of these world events from the shadows?" Holo-Pegasus questioned.
"This is a bad sign," Kylie stated. If the message from our Uncle was right then this meant Doma was an immensely powerful organisation and they'd been puppet controlling humanity's fate all this time, purposely guiding us forward, perhaps in order to revive this Dark God of theirs. Holo-Pegasus admitted he had no evidence, only because people who knew the truth had been killed off across the ages, but he was certain that they were involved in the biggest events of history; now they were moving again, using Duel Monsters for their next plan which was much larger than any of the others. "If what Gurimo, Haga and Ryuzaki implied is true, they plan to wipe out the world and start anew," Kylie admitted.
"Yugi boy, my nieces. It is because I wanted to tell you this that I have called you here. And I hope it is something you can accept. Hidden within this room is a new card I have created! In truth, I wanted to hand it to you personally, but it cannot be helped. You will have to find it yourself!" Holo-Pegasus stated. I looked around wondering where such a thing could possibly be hidden in this toon filled room.
"It's Pot of Greed," Kylie stated. I looked at my sister as she walked over to the created jar and easily lifted it up with two hands. "Seriously Uncle, next time you want to hide something, don't put it inside the only non-Toon thing in the room!" Kylie snapped. She walked over to Yami and held the pot out to the ancient spirit, he reached inside and pulled out a card that was inside, but his eyebrows furrowed together.
"This is strange, it's blank," Yami revealed. He held the card out so we could see it, indeed the artwork was completely blank yet the border of it was the exact same as the border belonging to the Nameless Dragons, hinting that there might be a connection between them and this card; a Nameless card, did my Uncle somehow know of the Dragons without being chosen by any of them.
"Yugi boy, I beg of you, please save my cute Monsters! I believe you Yugi boy and my nieces, are the only ones who can do so!" Holo-Pegasus pleaded. With those final words, the images broke into pixels and disappeared completely as a frown made its' way onto my lips and tears stung at the corners of my eyes, that my Uncle had been stolen from this plane once more; Jounouchi started freaking out about what had just happened
"Doma is close to us," Seto spoke up. We all turned to look at the CEO and I saw Kylie nod her head, as if in agreement with something he'd said. "I remember, Gozaburo once said 'there must be a darkness within the world economy, controlling its' capital from the shadows.' I never took them seriously, brushing them off as the heroic words of a coward, but… Yami! No matter how you struggle, these are opponents you can't reach!" Seto declared.
"No Kaiba!" Yami retaliated. That reaction should have been excepted but it still caused me to jump. "Are you sure about that? Maybe I can't touch such a huge enemy by myself… but…" Yami admitted. He reached for his Deck and pulled a card free, flipping it around to reveal the Eye of Timaeus and Seto flinched back, apparently recognising the card which could only mean one thing.
Me, Kylie and Jounouchi reached for our Decks and pulled a card forth, flipping them over to reveal our Dragons to the CEO, Yami asked the critical question; did Seto have one? In response Seto raised is Duel Disk and pulled a card from his Deck which he looked at before showing it to the rest of us, a black scaled Western Dragon, this one heavily armoured in scales yet smooth as well with prominent fangs jutting from its mouth.
"The Fang of Critias!" Seto revealed. Immediately all five Dragons began to glow with a white light, as if they were reacting to each other's presence, I wouldn't be surprised if that was actually the case since the five were meant to fight together against whatever was threatening the Duel Monsters' Spirit World.
"If the five of us combine our power… we may be able to defeat Doma. Didn't the card tell you that?" Yami asked. Seto looked at his rival, an intense look in his eyes.