LunaticChaos: Glad you liked. ^_^
John: I know the duel was bad. Still funny though… _
=P: Don't worry, the officials aren't all that stupid. And I'm scared of you. _
Whispering Hope: Yep, Demon Rue rules!
Zander: So true, so true.
*Chapter 19: A Virus Of Death*
Rue tried to rise, but was too weak, so he remained on the ground.
"What… the hell… happened to me?"
"I think we'd like to know as well," Will stated. "We thought you were dead."
"I did too…" Rue looked at his chest shakily. His shirt was still soaked with blood, but he felt no pain. "But I healed somehow…"
"It's that Demon," Hope inferred. "Rue, do you know anything about it?"
"Nothing…" he sighed. "I was never aware of it until when Claire was taken…"
"You've lost me," Miles commented.
"It might be better if we discussed it later," Brandi suggested. "We need to get out of here, quickly. Too many people have died here for us to just be ignored."
"Yeah. We want to know more about what happened to you," Darche informed Fell and Larka, "But later. Let's get out of here and wait until we get to the real world before talking."
"Maybe Claire will know something," Gaston agreed. "So let's hold off on it. Where should we go to?"
"The mountains?" Gen offered. "Last time we ran into some trouble, but it should be ok this time, right?"
"Probably," Will responded. "Alright, let's get there. Rue, can you walk?"
"Of course I can," Rue replied, standing, only to fall again.
Will shook his head. "Quit playing the tough guy. Ruecian, a little help please?"
Ruecian easily lifted him, and although Rue was disgusted at his own weakness, he felt relieved to not have to beg for help. He felt like he would faint any second from weariness.
*****
They had no problems reaching the mountains, but when they got there Brandi recalled something rather important.
"We're not going to be able to use Time Capsule to immediately get up there, since our Duel Disks are off limits."
"Shoot," Miles muttered. "You have a point. We'll have to climb."
"You're kidding, right?" Hope said. "These things are way too steep and tall!"
"We won't be going up this one," Will told her. "There are a few others that won't be as hard to climb as this one. We just need to find one."
"What about your friends?" Daine requested. "Can they transport us?"
"No chance," Darche disagreed. "Most of them are asleep now. I wouldn't be able to contact enough to carry us up."
They soon found a mountain that looked much easier to scale. In Hope's opinion, it still seemed a little too tall for her liking, but it was certainly better than the others they had seen.
"You sure you can manage this?" Gaston joked to Neo. "You don't seem like one who would be good at climbing."
"Shut up," Neo grumbled, walking towards the mountain. A few seconds later, he tripped and fell over a rock.
"Very convincing," Mana laughed as she passed the collapsed swordsman.
They found little difficulty in climbing up. It wasn't as steep as it looked, so it was more of a hike than a climb, although sometimes they were forced to scale rocky walls. Miles had the most trouble. He nearly fell several times, but Gen was always there to assist.
"I'm not good at physical activities," Miles told Hope when she asked.
"I noticed."
She had expected Zack to face difficulties, with a metal body like his, but to her surprise he easily kept up the pace. Rue was still assisted by Ruecian. Luckily, he had recovered enough to climb when necessary. Daine and Malon were unable to find a way to climb, so they returned to their Soul Cards while the humanoid Soul Monsters remained to assist their companions. Everyone else had no trouble; even Neo did fine.
"We're almost to the top!" Will announced. He had been leading the way.
"Whew, about time!" Miles called back, panting as he hiked.
They finished scaling the cliff, climbing over onto a much more secure area.
Hope shivered, looking at the long drop. "I hope we can get down without trouble."
"Don't worry about it," Draken assured her. "The other side should be easy enough to deal with."
Suddenly, a huge explosion sounded. A stream of bright energy slammed into Fell. Taken completely by surprise, he was thrown over the edge they had just climbed, halting by painfully crashing into a big rock on the way down the mountain, instantly falling unconscious.
"An ambush!" Rue snarled. "We were too careless!"
"Yes, you were," an official said calmly. There were about thirty, being lead by a young blond man, with light green eyes. "We heard about the deaths that happened in the town, and seeing who did the crime, it's not too surprising."
"We didn't do anything wrong!" Miles snapped.
"Watch your tongue," the official advised. "You might notice that we completely outnumber you, and we have access to support cards. Your friend over there was done in by a Wave Motion Cannon. A charged Wave Motion Cannon, to be more specific. Very painful, and we have cards that are far worse. Even if you run, you'll only get caught at the peak."
"That makes no difference," Brandi declared, getting into a ready position. Zack's switchblade came out of his arm as he stepped up to assist.
"A girl like you will make no difference to us," the official smirked. "Neither will you, cyborg. We'll take you both out, one at a time." Then he slid a card into his Duel Disk.
Hope yelped as a rain drop landed on her arm. Unlike ordinary water, this drop stung her.
"Ow! What the hell is this supposed to be?!" Rue shouted. Apparently, some drops had landed on him too. Everyone was getting caught in the rainstorm, although the officials seemed unaffected by it.
Will winced at his hand, where the rain had landed on him. "Acid Rain… it's a magic card. Painful, but no long-lasting effects. Why use it?"
Hope got an uneasy feeling. "Didn't he say he'd take us out one at a time? Will, what does Acid Rain do?"
"In the game? It destroys all Machine Sub-Types… wait a minute… oh great," he muttered, looking at Zack.
The cyborg was faring far worse than the others. Electricity flew out of his body at various places, the metal rusting at several places. He was unable to stand, being in too much pain.
"One down, and it looks like only one more to go," the official said, looking at Brandi. She had not backed down.
She swiftly wiped away a rain drop that landed on her cheek, ignoring the pain. "All of you, get out of here! Get away from this rain storm!"
"But what about you?!" Hope protested.
"I'm the only one who can fight these guys!" she told them. "You'd just get in my way!"
"She has a point," Will realized. "Alright, let's get out of here. Maybe we can take care of whatever threat is supposed to be at the peak."
"But I can't leave!" Larka objected. "Fell's seriously hurt! And what about Zack?"
"We'll have to trust in Brandi," Rue informed her. "And if you had seen her fight like we had, you would have no doubts, believe me."
"If you say so…"
They ran up the path, leaving Brandi and Mana to face the officials. Brandi stepped up carefully, starting to close the distance between them.
"There's only two; go get them!" the official cried. The group brought up their guns, and fired.
Brandi easily dodged the shots, coming into range of the officials at the front. She punched one, breaking his nose. He fell instantly, blood flying everywhere to mix with the rain. Another was kicked in the stomach, collapsing painfully. A third received a punch to his mouth. Teeth flew out, accompanied by saliva and more blood.
Mana was firing black spheres of magic everywhere with her staff. She avoided the areas Brandi was fighting, trying to take out those to the side. Occasionally, she blasted a bullet out of mid-air, and then targeted the officials again.
This is taking too long, Brandi thought, dodging the attack of another official. Zack's suffering too much, and this rain isn't exactly helping Mana or me either. I need to finish this quickly.
She tensed, jumping back, away from the group to ready herself. Then she lunged, moving at an impossible speed.
The lead official seemed ready though. He coolly slipped another card into his Duel Disk.
A huge downburst of wind slammed into Brandi. She was thrown onto the ground, gasping as her back was cut by several sharp rocks.
"Itaqua's Gale," the official explained to her. "A trap card that normally switches all monster's positions on the field. Highly effective, wouldn't you say?"
The strain on her muscles was too much. She couldn't move, crying in pain.
"Brandi?!" Mana yelled. Distracted, she did not see the bullets until it was too late. She was hit in the side. Trying to ignore the searing pain, she crawled over to Brandi, thrusting her hand onto the girl's chest.
White light began to pour from her hand, entering Brandi. Her body lit up with the energy. The wounds on her back began to close, and her muscles started to heal. Mana gritted her teeth; not only were the bullets paining her, but healing was a very difficult task for her. Now she was not only blinking away rain, but also sweat. Nevertheless, she continued to fire black spheres at the officials, taking out several.
Brandi rose shakily, diving at the remaining officials. A bullet ripped by her leg, but she ignored the wound, slaying the others.
The lead official was about to place another card, but Brandi was already there, hitting him several times, too fast to counter. His corpse hit the ground.
Brandi managed to grasp the Acid Rain card and tore it out of the Duel Disk. The painful rain drops stopped coming down instantly.
When seeing that the last official was dead, Mana collapsed, completely worn out. Brandi made her way to her Soul Monster painfully, only to fall when she was next to her.
*****
"I still don't like this," Larka commented as they ran up the mountain.
"I doubt any of us do," Draken replied. "But at least we can be of some help. Let's go take care of whatever's at the peak, and then we can go back!"
They sprinted the rest of the way, halting when they saw someone up ahead.
It only took Hope a second to recognize the woman. "Malady!"
"The one and only," Malady smirked. Streak was on her shoulder, glaring at the group. "It seems that you wish to pass through this area."
"What gave you that idea?" Rue said sarcastically.
"If you want to get by here, I will require a duel. You can try to get by without one, but without support cards, you will never make it."
"Fine then!" Hope activated her Duel Disk. "If it's a duel you want, I'll be your opponent!"
"Still mad at the unfairness of what I did to you?"
"Exactly!" she snarled.
"Fine then. I'll be glad to destroy you, once and for all. Of course the loser of this duel will die. The method will be… most painful."
Hope: 8000
Malady: 8000
"I'll begin this," Hope declared. "I summon Dark World Warrior Dark Sword. (1800/1500) I end my turn at that."
"A poor first move, at the best. I will first lay one monster in defense mode, and then play Black Snake Sickness."
"What does that do?"
"It's a permanent magic card. During my next standby phase, we each take 200 Life Point damage. On my next one, we take 400. Then 800. And it continues to double."
"But what's the point in that? You will be losing just as much as me."
"Ah, but I have mode methods to deal Life Point damage than you. I will activate another permanent magic called Torture Room of Nightmares. Each time you take a form of damage other than battle damage, you lose 300 additional Life Points. The only card this does not work on is another Torture Room of Nightmares."
"This will be painful," Hope muttered.
"Indeed. Now I lay one more card down, and then I end."
Hope winced at her hand. "I have nothing to stop the Black Snake Sickness… I'll summon Dark Hero: Zombire! (2100/500) He attacks your monster!"
"I activate Gravity Bind, halting your attack."
"I can do nothing else then…"
"I draw, while Black Snake Sickness and Torture Room of Nightmares activate."
Hope stifled a yell of pain when she felt something burn into her skin. She looked at her legs, and saw that, glowing through her jeans, was an outline of black snakes. They coiled around her legs, like grim tattoos, filling her whole body with pain that nearly brought tears.
Malady's legs were in the same condition, but she seemed to not be affected like Hope was.
"Ah, I forgot that you wouldn't be used to this," Malady smirked. "These are the side effects of Black Snake Sickness. Pleasant, isn't it?"
"Are you ok?" Gaston asked, eyes filled with worry.
"Yeah… I'll be able to hold out."
Hope: 7500
Malady: 7800
"Next, I flip summon my Balloon Lizard. (500/1900) When I flip summon a monster, Streak's Deck Master ability activates. You lose 1000 Life Points; actually, 1300 with Torture Room of Nightmares."
Hope: 6200
Malady: 7800
"Then I will lay two cards down, and another monster in defense mode. It's your turn."
Hope smiled at her next card. "I haven't gotten this guy in a while. I summon Severing Samurai. (500/800) He attacks your defense monster."
"Using something that weak to attack? What an idiotic move. You attacked my Death Koala. (1100/1800) When flipped, you lose 400 Life Points for each card in your hand."
"Not with my Severing Samurai! He destroys any face down monsters without flipping them. So my Life Points are safe."
"So you still have some tricks up your sleeve. Anything else?"
"No, I end."
"Black Snake Sickness activates again. This time, I chain it with Hellish Trapdoor Gun."
"What does that do?"
"It negates any kind of damage, besides battle, that would occur to me. Also, you lose the amount of Life Points I would have lost. And Torture Room of Nightmares makes it no easier for you."
The blast from the gun caught her in the chest, and did not help her deal with the pain Black Snake Sickness brought. The snake tattoos were continuing up her body. Now they had reached her chest.
Hope: 5100
Malady: 7800
"My Balloon Lizard also gets a counter. When it's destroyed, the amount of counters will be multiplied by 400, and that number will be dealt as damage to the person who destroyed it. And then I will activate my trap card, Babel Tower. Every time we play a magic card, it gets a magic counter. Once there are four magic counters, it is destroyed, and whoever played the last magic card is dealt 3000 damage."
"This won't be fun," Hope muttered.
"I play Jar of Greed, giving my Babel Tower one magic counter. Then I play Angel's Gift, discarding Judgment of Anubis and Ceasefire Treaty. That makes two magic counters. Then I activate Emissary of Peace. No monster about 1500 attack may attack. That makes three magic counters for Babel Tower."
"Just great," Hope moaned.
"I switch Balloon Lizard to defense mode. It's your turn now."
*****
Brandi opened her eyes slowly when she heard something approach. She forced herself to look up.
It was a huge bird. It was about the size of a large dog, with big white wings. Its body was red, as was its head, while it has many feathers surrounding where its neck came from its body. Its green eyes greedily observed the powerless girl as it took a few hops toward her.
Although Mana had healed her skin and muscles, she still felt the pain-that was something that could not be prevented by her Soul Monster alone. She was in too much agony to do anything but watch helplessly. She closed her eyes again, giving up. There was nothing she could do, and hoped that the death would be quick.
She felt a sharp pain on her shoulder. The Queen Bird-for that was what Brandi realized it was-was examining her.
No! she snarled at herself. I can't give in that easily! I've been staying alive, protecting Max, too long to die now! It will all be for nothing if I cannot go on! All those years of pain and sorrow will be worthless! I can't die; not yet!
Blood trickled down her neck from the wound on her shoulder, hitting the ground. The Queen Bird's beak was sharper than she had expected.
How she did it was a mystery. Her condition should have affected her too severely to even rise, but she forced herself to. Ignoring the waves of pain she felt, she lashed out with her fist, striking the bird over the head. It squawked, awkwardly flying off as another blow caught it around the eye, probably in search of easier prey.
It was too much movement. Brandi collapsed again.
*****
Hope looked at her next draw, and sighed. "This is a difficult decision, but it's a necessary one. I play Cyclone, on Black Snake Sickness."
"What?! Hope, are you an idiot or something?!" Rue yelled.
"Black Snake Sickness was hurting more than Babel Tower would, ok? It'll help in the long run."
"I doubt that," Malady said calmly. "3300 Life Points is quite a blow to take."
The explosion ripped through the area. When the smoke cleared, they saw Hope rising, having been thrown away by the blast.
Hope: 1800
Malady: 7800
"I'll be fine," she told Gaston before he asked. "All I need to do is destroy that Balloon Lizard somehow. First I play Calling Reinforcements, to grab Troop Commander. (1200/400) Then I summon him, and using his special effect, bring forth Initiate Troops! (1000/1000) I sacrifice Initiate Troops to kill your Balloon Lizard!"
"You lose 400 Life Points from Balloon Lizard, 700 with my Torture Room of Nightmares."
Hope: 1100
Malady: 7800
"It's a small price to pay to be able to hit you directly! I attack with Severing Samurai and Troop Commander! Then I lay one card down, to end my turn."
Hope: 1100
Malady: 6100
"To keep my Emissary of Peace up, I must pay 100 Life Points each turn, so I will do so."
Hope: 1100
Malady: 6000
"I summon Stealth Bird. (700/1700) It attacks your Severing Samurai."
"I'll activate my trap card, Reactive Armor! It destroys any attacking monster, so your Stealth Bird is now gone."
"A small set back… I play another Black Snake Sickness. How long will you last against this one? It's your turn."
Hope winced at the thought of the tattoos on her legs reactivating. "We'll see how long… I summon Chaos Rider, Gustav. (1400/1500) I also activate Cyclone on Gravity Bind! Another hard decision, but hopefully it's the right one. All three of my monsters that can will attack you! Then I end my turn by laying one card down."
Hope: 1100
Malady: 2900
Malady looked furious. "Black Snake Sickness does 200 damage to me and 500 to you."
The tattoos crept up both duelists' arms.
Hope: 600
Malady: 2700
"I play Black Hole. Now you cannot kill me in one attack, and Black Snake Sickness will destroy you next turn. It's your move."
Hope grimaced. "This is my last chance… I play Angel's Gift." She looked at her cards, and laughed. "It's perfect! I discard Rocket Warrior and Cry of the Living Dead. Now I play Warrior's Return, to let me place one Warrior Sub-Type into my hand. I choose Troop Commander, and summon him, calling forth Retrained Elven Swordsman! (1400/1200) Both of my monsters attack!"
Hope: 600
Malady: 100
"You almost won, but not quite. We will tie now," Malady pointed out.
Hope grinned. "You forget; I still have one card in my hand. And now I play it! My Cyclone will destroy Torture Room of Nightmares!"
"No! That means that you will only take 400 damage!"
"That's right. This is what you get for toying with us. Goodbye, Malady. I end my turn."
Hope: 200
Malady: 0
The snakes on Hope stopped short of her neck, and vanished after one last wave of agony. The ones on Malady continued up, coming onto her neck and face. She couldn't even scream; she was being suffocated and burned at the same time. She fell to the ground, holding onto her neck, as through pleading with it to stop. Then she collapsed, and did not rise.
Streak fell too, his feathers burning in a black flame that came from more snakes. The fire released its grip when the bird ceased its struggles, but the snakes remained on Malady and her Soul Monster as a reminder of how they had been defeated.
"Just… sickening," Hope managed to gasp before falling onto her knees, shivering. The smell of burned flesh did not help her condition.
"Better her than us," Miles said reasonably. "If that's all the resistance those stupid officials had planned, then they really need to learn what reinforcements mean."
"If that's all that's here, we'd better get back quickly," Rue told them. "Last time we looked, Fell and Zack weren't exactly in the best condition. Brandi and Mana were completely outnumbered as well."
"Can you walk?" Gaston questioned.
"Yeah… I'm just shocked, that's all." Hope got up, and they hurried back down the mountain. Ruecian still had to support Rue; the boy was too weak to go on his own.
*****
Will was leading the way back when he suddenly stopped, seeing the scene ahead of him.
"What's the matter?" Miles asked, coming down. His eyes went wide. "Holy cow!"
Officials were everywhere, all dead. Their blood stained the earth, along with the Acid Rain that had come down. Zack was in the same position they had left him, unconscious. Fell had also not moved, and looked as if he had not come around yet.
Brandi was injured, but not as badly as she could have been. Her leg was bleeding from a nasty wound, and nearby her shoulder it looked as if she had been cut. Around her shoulder and neck, blood was coated. Mana was no better; in fact, she looked worse. Her side was bleeding, and she seemed completely exhausted.
Hope examined Brandi instantly, looking over her neck. "This blood must have come from the wound on her shoulder. I see no injury on the neck, luckily."
Her voice caused Brandi to open her eyes. "What… happened…?"
"Brandi! Just hold on; we need to at least stop the blood flow. Don't worry, Malady's dead. She was killed in a duel. The path is clear now."
"Mana…"
"We'll take care of her now." Hope looked around. "But we have nothing to stop the blood…"
Miles threw his bandana over to Hope. "Wrap that around her leg. Maybe you can put something under it? It's been bloodied before, and having it suffer again won't make much difference."
Hope nodded, using the bandana to form a temporary bandage for Brandi's leg. The wound on her shoulder did not seem too deep, and did not bleed much, so they concentrated on Mana next.
"We'll need another cloth-like material…" Hope told them. "But what…?"
Neo took off his cape and threw it over to her. "You can use that, for the time being."
"I didn't know you would be so gallant," Gaston joked.
"Shut up," Neo muttered, turning away so they could not see his face.
"It'll do for now," Hope said, covering the injury. "What they mainly need is to rest, for now. Larka, how's Fell?"
She had been examining her brother. "I can't bring him around. He's breathing though."
Draken had been looking at Zack. "Same here. Well, I'm not sure if cyborgs need to breathe. But you get the point."
"This is going to be a pain, especially with Zack," Miles stated. "Until we get down the mountain, we'll need to carry them, or at least support."
Brandi rose slowly. "I can get down… on my own… I'll carry Mana…"
"You're insane!" Miles exclaimed. "With a leg injury like yours, it'll be hard enough just to walk! To carry someone else while just struggling to stay up is suicide!"
"I don't like feeling helpless," she said firmly, picking up Mana. Miles shut up, seeing the expression in her eyes.
"I can take my brother," Larka told them.
"You'll be able to do that?" Draken inquired.
"I'm much stronger than I look," she replied, easily lifting Fell.
"I can help with Zack," Gaston offered. "Darche, up for it?"
"Definitely."
They made it up to the top, and Brandi looked around.
"So where is Malady's body?" she asked.
Rue gave the area a puzzled look. "Good question… she was here a few minutes ago."
"Maybe they were burned to ashes," Hope suggested. "Those snakes… they burned into my skin…"
"Perhaps that's for the better," Gen thought out loud. "Now we cannot be charged with her death."
"Good point," Darche muttered.
It was a slow climb down. They had to be very cautious, often stopping when Brandi needed to rest.
"This is way too slow for my liking," Miles said at their third stop. "I'm going to go ahead, and find a place to rest at. That ok?"
"Yeah, go ahead," Will agreed.
"I'm going too," Gen told them, following Miles down.
The duo had no trouble going down the mountain; it was considerably easier than going up. They were soon at the bottom.
"We'll have to hope that a cave is nearby," Miles stated. "We won't find any shelter out on the plains."
Gen seemed uneasy. "Something's wrong..."
"What is it?"
"I feel as though someone's watching us…"
That was when it happened. Preoccupied as they were, they didn't see their attacker until the sword he wielded sliced into them, only leaving time for a cry of pain before falling into darkness.
*****
"Hey, Miles! You there?!" Draken called as they finally stepped off the mountain. It had been a long and hazardous trip, but they had finally made it.
"He's not here…" Hope murmured. "Where could he be?"
Larka had let Malon leave his Soul Card the minute they had came off of the mountain. Malon yipped happily, running around the area, but came back to Larka holding something.
"Did you find something boy?" she asked, holding out her hand. Malon carefully put the folded sheet of paper into it.
Larka scanned it quickly, and grew pale. "You'd best listen to this."
You desire revenge for those that the boy slew? You will have it. Directions are on the other sheet.
Remember, you can recognize him easily enough. You were the one who made the mark on him.
Be careful. Miles has grown much stronger. Yet we know that your burning hunger for vengeance will be enough to overcome, and hopefully kill, the monster.
*****
Olympion waited in the airport for yet another plane to come in that he could check. As he passed by a seat, he saw a discarded newspaper. What caught his attention was the picture on it; Hope, Rue, Will, and Brandi were immediately identified.
He looked over the article, seeing that the 'fugitives', including Max, were suspected to be in Illinois. He immediately went towards a plane bound for that destination.
To be continued…