"The speed they're multiplying is incredible," Beezy said in awe. He had
put himself back to back with Serena as the ever increasing population of
the small fiends had encircled them. Every few seconds one or two of them
would launch themselves forward to attack, only to be sliced in half by the
sword of either Serena or Beezy as they depending themselves. For every one
of them that was destroyed though, another two was appear in its place to
fill the hole in the line. "they just keep coming," he continued as he tore
through another of the furry attackers. "I hope you have a plan."
"I do," Serena replied. "But we'll have to act fast. After I make my move we'll only have a few seconds at best to destroy the orignal Kuriboh or it will begin to multiply all over again." She looked over her shoulder to get a signal from Beezy that he was ready. he nodded. "Dark Hole!" she called out into the night. as she did a massive vortex appeared, only a few short meters in the air above them.
The force of gravity from the black tear in space was incredible and begun to suck the helpless Kuriboh into its gaping maw. Serena and Beezy drove their swords into the ground and held tightly as they fought against the pressure on their bodies. After about fifteen seconds, a length of time that seemed like an eternity to the two of them as they fought to hold on to dear life, the Dark Hole closed, having swallowed all the Kuriboh, except one.
A single Kuriboh was floating in the air. In the same place as it had when it had pushed through the cloud of smoke. It had been on the very edge of the effects of Serena's magic card, just outside the Dark Hole's event horizon. It began to glow as it had before, attempting to spawn its infinite army again. It never got the chance though. Beezy was upon it in a second, driving his sword straight into the hairy Kuriboh, destroying it. Breathing a sigh of relief and sheathing his swords he turned back to Serena, who walked towards him. "Do I want to know what would have happened if we had gotten sucked into that vortex?" he asked her.
"Not really, but we had to take the chance."
"Fine with me," he replied. "As long as you don't ever tell me, I think I'm happier never knowing how close I come to oblivion." Just then Beezy noticed a glowing object at his feet. Bending down, he picked it up to examine it. "What's this?" he asked, holding the object out to Serena.
She took it from him. "It's a one-time use support card. When you defeat certain enemies there's a chance that they'll drop one. Here," she explained, offering it back to Beezy.
He held up his hands, refusing to take it. "No. You were the one that saved our butts back there. You should keep it."
"Thanks," she said, placing the card into a fold in her armor. There was a soft groan from behind them and Serena whipped around with recognition. "She's alive!" she said, as she rushed to her friend's side.
"But in bad shape, I don't even think she can stand."
"I've got that covered." Serena stood up and positioned herself relatively close to both Beezy and Vega. "Rain of Mercy," she declared out loud. A gentle rain started to fall over them.
"Wow, I feel different," Beezy said.
"The Rain of Mercy healed your character just like it would heal your Life Points in the card game."
"Not just that," he said shaking his head. "I feel stronger."
"That's probably your character's special ability. Every character in the game has one, related to their ability in Duel Monsters. You grow stronger with every enemy you destroy just like the Sword Hunter normally does." Serena and Beezy both looked down and watched as Vega's eyes opened and she pushed herself to a sitting position.
"What? Where?" she asked as she tried to get her bearings.
Serena dropped to her side to help Vega to her feet. "It's alright Vega, you took quite a beating."
"Serena?" Vega asked in awe. "What are you doing here?"
"The same thing you are," Beezy answered for her. "And it looks like we got here just in time."
"They all came out of no where," Vega explained. "We had just arrived in the server. Barely been here a few minutes before the Serpent Night Dragon attacked. A few seconds after that the Kuriboh started exploding everywhere and the fire's broke out. We got seperated."
"We?" Serena asked her.
"Sorry," apologized Vega. "There were user characters. People that I met while I've been trapped in the game. We teamed up, worked together. Strength in numbers you know. We had a group of about ten users. We ran into a few non player characters and two viral avatars of terminated users. But that's it. We didn't find anyone else."
"What's odd about that?" asked Beezy.
"It's odd that with over seven hundred users currently logged into the game that we've had contact with less then a dozen."
"They're probably stretched out across all the servers," he answered.
"That was our theory," Vega said nodding. "But there's no way to be sure."
"Why not?"
"Because every other server in the game is closed."
"What?" Serena and Beezy said in unison.
"Almost all of them at least. The other users must be trapped there."
"That's not possible," protested Serena. "When we logged in, all of the lab instruments told us that all the servers were working normally, and so were the connections between them. All twenty were fine."
"Well your instruments are wrong. You can check for yourself. Only five servers are still connected with each other, including this one."
"So what happened?" Beezy asked, urging her to continue.
"There are ten of us. Were ten of us. I don't know anymore. We split up into teams of two to each look over the five servers. Obviously they've been kept open for a reason. My partner and I followed the team ahead of over to this server after we hadn't heard form them in a while."
"You're talking about Bradon and Wes aren't you?" Serena asked. "The Gazelle and Berfomet?"
"Yes!" Vega replied with a look of hope.
Serena shook her head. "They're both dead. The virus spread into their avatars and attacked us."
"We have to find my partner then," Vega said. "Before it's too late. We may be the only four left." It was then that they heard the sounds of large crashes and collapsing buildings coming from not too far away. Smoke that was still pouring upwards from the wrecked buildings was preventing them from seeing anything.
"It sounds like we may be too late already," Beezy said. the three of them broke into a run, blindly heading towards the sounds of the commotion, praying Beezy was wrong. They turned the corner of a building just in time to have the wall collapse behind them, the city on its last breath.
"Up there!" Vega shouted, pointing up into the moonlit sky. The Serpent Night Dragon was battling another monster in the air. It was flyi8ng erratically all through the air, trying in vain to hit its opponent with a devestating attack. Its missed shots destroying the remaining cityscape. The smaller orange monster's movements were a blur, using speed to keep its massive adversary off balance while tossing small fireballs to attack the dragon.
"He's using Quik Attack," Serena said as she watched. "I can't tell what monster it is though, he's moving too fast."
"A Baby Dragon," Vega answered.
"He's slowing down," pointed out Beezy. "The effects of his support are wearing off." As if on cue the Serpent Night Dragon whipped the slowing Baby Dragon with one of it's powerful claws as it flew throught the air, sending it crashing to the ground. It recovered form the harsh landing quickly, but not fast enough as the black dragon let loose with a wave of energy attacks that pummelled the small mosnter.
"Hinotama!" Vega shouted holding her staff in the air. Fireballs began to rain down on the Serpent Dragon, haltings its attack upon the Baby Dragon. Vega rushed to her partner's side.
"Vega look out!" Serena shouted as the Serepnt Night Dragon shook off the attack. It lowered itself to the ground, digging its claws into the broken earth of the ruined town.
"Excellent Job my dear," the dragon said in a deep voice. "You've brought me Kaiba, just as planned."
"I do," Serena replied. "But we'll have to act fast. After I make my move we'll only have a few seconds at best to destroy the orignal Kuriboh or it will begin to multiply all over again." She looked over her shoulder to get a signal from Beezy that he was ready. he nodded. "Dark Hole!" she called out into the night. as she did a massive vortex appeared, only a few short meters in the air above them.
The force of gravity from the black tear in space was incredible and begun to suck the helpless Kuriboh into its gaping maw. Serena and Beezy drove their swords into the ground and held tightly as they fought against the pressure on their bodies. After about fifteen seconds, a length of time that seemed like an eternity to the two of them as they fought to hold on to dear life, the Dark Hole closed, having swallowed all the Kuriboh, except one.
A single Kuriboh was floating in the air. In the same place as it had when it had pushed through the cloud of smoke. It had been on the very edge of the effects of Serena's magic card, just outside the Dark Hole's event horizon. It began to glow as it had before, attempting to spawn its infinite army again. It never got the chance though. Beezy was upon it in a second, driving his sword straight into the hairy Kuriboh, destroying it. Breathing a sigh of relief and sheathing his swords he turned back to Serena, who walked towards him. "Do I want to know what would have happened if we had gotten sucked into that vortex?" he asked her.
"Not really, but we had to take the chance."
"Fine with me," he replied. "As long as you don't ever tell me, I think I'm happier never knowing how close I come to oblivion." Just then Beezy noticed a glowing object at his feet. Bending down, he picked it up to examine it. "What's this?" he asked, holding the object out to Serena.
She took it from him. "It's a one-time use support card. When you defeat certain enemies there's a chance that they'll drop one. Here," she explained, offering it back to Beezy.
He held up his hands, refusing to take it. "No. You were the one that saved our butts back there. You should keep it."
"Thanks," she said, placing the card into a fold in her armor. There was a soft groan from behind them and Serena whipped around with recognition. "She's alive!" she said, as she rushed to her friend's side.
"But in bad shape, I don't even think she can stand."
"I've got that covered." Serena stood up and positioned herself relatively close to both Beezy and Vega. "Rain of Mercy," she declared out loud. A gentle rain started to fall over them.
"Wow, I feel different," Beezy said.
"The Rain of Mercy healed your character just like it would heal your Life Points in the card game."
"Not just that," he said shaking his head. "I feel stronger."
"That's probably your character's special ability. Every character in the game has one, related to their ability in Duel Monsters. You grow stronger with every enemy you destroy just like the Sword Hunter normally does." Serena and Beezy both looked down and watched as Vega's eyes opened and she pushed herself to a sitting position.
"What? Where?" she asked as she tried to get her bearings.
Serena dropped to her side to help Vega to her feet. "It's alright Vega, you took quite a beating."
"Serena?" Vega asked in awe. "What are you doing here?"
"The same thing you are," Beezy answered for her. "And it looks like we got here just in time."
"They all came out of no where," Vega explained. "We had just arrived in the server. Barely been here a few minutes before the Serpent Night Dragon attacked. A few seconds after that the Kuriboh started exploding everywhere and the fire's broke out. We got seperated."
"We?" Serena asked her.
"Sorry," apologized Vega. "There were user characters. People that I met while I've been trapped in the game. We teamed up, worked together. Strength in numbers you know. We had a group of about ten users. We ran into a few non player characters and two viral avatars of terminated users. But that's it. We didn't find anyone else."
"What's odd about that?" asked Beezy.
"It's odd that with over seven hundred users currently logged into the game that we've had contact with less then a dozen."
"They're probably stretched out across all the servers," he answered.
"That was our theory," Vega said nodding. "But there's no way to be sure."
"Why not?"
"Because every other server in the game is closed."
"What?" Serena and Beezy said in unison.
"Almost all of them at least. The other users must be trapped there."
"That's not possible," protested Serena. "When we logged in, all of the lab instruments told us that all the servers were working normally, and so were the connections between them. All twenty were fine."
"Well your instruments are wrong. You can check for yourself. Only five servers are still connected with each other, including this one."
"So what happened?" Beezy asked, urging her to continue.
"There are ten of us. Were ten of us. I don't know anymore. We split up into teams of two to each look over the five servers. Obviously they've been kept open for a reason. My partner and I followed the team ahead of over to this server after we hadn't heard form them in a while."
"You're talking about Bradon and Wes aren't you?" Serena asked. "The Gazelle and Berfomet?"
"Yes!" Vega replied with a look of hope.
Serena shook her head. "They're both dead. The virus spread into their avatars and attacked us."
"We have to find my partner then," Vega said. "Before it's too late. We may be the only four left." It was then that they heard the sounds of large crashes and collapsing buildings coming from not too far away. Smoke that was still pouring upwards from the wrecked buildings was preventing them from seeing anything.
"It sounds like we may be too late already," Beezy said. the three of them broke into a run, blindly heading towards the sounds of the commotion, praying Beezy was wrong. They turned the corner of a building just in time to have the wall collapse behind them, the city on its last breath.
"Up there!" Vega shouted, pointing up into the moonlit sky. The Serpent Night Dragon was battling another monster in the air. It was flyi8ng erratically all through the air, trying in vain to hit its opponent with a devestating attack. Its missed shots destroying the remaining cityscape. The smaller orange monster's movements were a blur, using speed to keep its massive adversary off balance while tossing small fireballs to attack the dragon.
"He's using Quik Attack," Serena said as she watched. "I can't tell what monster it is though, he's moving too fast."
"A Baby Dragon," Vega answered.
"He's slowing down," pointed out Beezy. "The effects of his support are wearing off." As if on cue the Serpent Night Dragon whipped the slowing Baby Dragon with one of it's powerful claws as it flew throught the air, sending it crashing to the ground. It recovered form the harsh landing quickly, but not fast enough as the black dragon let loose with a wave of energy attacks that pummelled the small mosnter.
"Hinotama!" Vega shouted holding her staff in the air. Fireballs began to rain down on the Serpent Dragon, haltings its attack upon the Baby Dragon. Vega rushed to her partner's side.
"Vega look out!" Serena shouted as the Serepnt Night Dragon shook off the attack. It lowered itself to the ground, digging its claws into the broken earth of the ruined town.
"Excellent Job my dear," the dragon said in a deep voice. "You've brought me Kaiba, just as planned."