Chapter 4: Homefront-Part I

The room wasn't much brighter than before when the necromancer girl returned. The instant she entered, she knelt down on one knee as her leader looked at her with his red eyes. Everyone in the room were still wearing their robes. "My lord, Aken has failed with his life."

He looked at her questionably. "Rise, Ari, and explain."

The girl nodded and stood up on her feet, her yellow eyes locking with her lord's. "He executed a stealth attack against the wizards using the combined forces of Nezumi warriors and Hypnox, succeeding in eliminating the wizard of red mana and all defenders."

The lord now looked enraged. "If he failed, why is the wizard dead?"

"I'm not finished," Ari interrupted. "He wasn't alone, for he was accompanied by a young girl roughly his age and the rainbow wizard. The girl was knocked clear and unconscious when the battle began, while the rainbow wizard tried to assist his ally. As stated, both failed, but the rainbow wizard still had strength left to use a spell on Aken. Distracted, he failed to notice the girl awaken and strike."

He frowned. "How so?"

"By what I could see, Aken's creatures turned to stone, even the Hypnox, because of her. She summoned creatures of her own and sealed his fate by smashing him with them all," Ari looked down. "The girl seemed to have no wizarding ability before being knocked unconscious, yet had no problem controlling six legendary warriors from Otaria to finish him off. Even more disturbing, she healed the wounded rainbow wizard and revived the wizard of red mana before returning to normal."

The lord's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Returning to normal…what do you mean?" he asked harshly.

"She had brown hair before and after the incident, yet had green and white hair when she awoke until a few minutes after reviving the wizard."

He put a hand on his head in thought. "This makes little sense, unless…." He shot her a look with his red eyes. "I want you to trail that girl and find out how powerful she really is. If needed, battle her enough to expose her in that form again. Go now, and return with the information you obtain."

"Yes, my lord," Ari said as she bowed, then turned and left the room.

'This girl,' the leader thought. 'She sounds familiar from somewhere and seems to show strength. I must know who she is and eliminate her if I can't turn her.' He looked at his followers before smirking. "Let us continue with the ritual, before something else…"

"ZINEK!" a voice yelled from above. "GET YOUR ASS UP HERE AND CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM!"

"Shit," the lord mumbled as he glared at the ceiling menacingly. "I'm going to kill her one of these days…." He looked back at his group. "I'll be back," he said angrily as he left the room, thinking of what to do to his mother upstairs.

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Kari sighed as she returned to her room. She was asked quite a few questions by her mother the moment she had returned and she was exhausted. She managed to get through what seemed like 1000 questions with her mother and got something to eat before entering her room to sleep. She was mildly surprised to see a series of Kamigawa theme decks from the Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers, and Saviors sets. Also, the theme decks focused completely on either white cards, green cards, or both. Puzzled, she opened her room door and searched for her mother. "Mom, what are those Magic cards doing on my bed?"

Her mother, a blond haired woman in her mid forties with green eyes smiled at her daughter. "Silly me," she said. "I forgot to say happy birthday, sweetie." Kari's mouth dropped open before shaking her head, she had completely forgotten that today was supposed to be her birthday. "I knew how much you liked that Magic game, so I thought you would like the cards from the newest set."

"And how the heck did you know I used green and white cards?"

Her mother responded by holding up a sheet of paper with Kari's entire deck listed on it. One side of it said green while the other said white, with spaces for her multi color cards and artifacts. "I found it lying on your desk a few weeks ago and thought this would help."

Kari could have just slammed her head into the table just then. "Now I know where that list went…." She said as she walked over to her mother and gave her a hug. "Thanks, mom." She said happily.

After getting a 'your welcome' from her mother, she returned into her room and looked at the theme decks, then dug her hand into her pocket to pull out the Kamigawa pack she had purchased at the Expo that day. She blinked in surprise when she felt a plastic case in her pocket as well and pulled it out, noticing the card inside. 'Oops,' she thought, 'I completely forgot about that Darksteel Colossus card.' She set the cards down on her floor before she moved to her computer to confirm Darksteel's 'indestructible' rule. It was there that she found out that normal forms of destruction such as lethal damage and cards with 'destroy' wouldn't work in sending the creature to the graveyard. She continued to read, discovering that there were only five ways to effectively eliminate an indestructible card. She looked at her dark steel card.

'Okay, it isn't a legend, so the legend rule won't work on him if someone else has him out already. That leaves counter spells, rot (-X/-X effect cards), sacrifice, and removal from play to eliminate it,' she thought, then frowned at the thought. 'I'd need to be careful using it, for there are several strategies that can make this weapon become my downfall.' She remembered when another player had slapped an enchantment on her powered up phantom from judgment. Because the creature couldn't be killed by terminal damage because of its counter removal effect, she wasn't able to harm the enemy at all until she played Kirtar's Wrath, eliminating every creatures and the enchantment attached to them. If forced to do that again, it wouldn't work on the Colossus.

Moving away from her computer, she opened up the theme decks and split them by color, land, creature, and spells. She also opened up her Kamigawa pack, dismayed slightly that her rare from the pack wasn't a tough creature, but some artifact called the Long Forgotten Gohei. As she examined the cards, she noticed that there were quite a few spirits that she could use. They weren't as invincible as her Judgment phantoms could be, but she started formulating a deck design because of it. She took her main deck and dismantled it down to the individual cards, picking the few strong cards and all her phantoms from the deck and putting them aside for her new one. She then selected several spirit cards for it as well with varying abilities. When an ability confused her, she referred to the computer or the inserts from the theme decks to understand. She learned of the new rules from Kamigawa block and also learned of the refitted rules for legendary cards.

She spent a good hour redesigning her deck until she was done. She had chosen to salvage the legendary creatures Kirtar, Teroh, and Kamahl the Fist of Krosa for use in her deck, along with her phantoms and Kirtar's Wrath. She also had added Oyobi, Kodama, and the Bounteous Kirin from the Kamigawa cards she got and also threw in the Darksteel Colossus to spook her opponents. To power up her creatures, she added the Long Forgotten Goheis she got from both a booster and one of the theme decks to power up her spirits and lower the cost of the new Arcane spell cards. To add even more power, she added her only copy of Mirari's wake to both power up her creatures by an additional +1+1 as well as practically double her mana supply during a fight. She then set up her side deck, making sure her four circle of protections were among the fifteen in there. 'Four circles down, only circle of green to go,' she thought, tossing in a random card for the fifteenth card.

She felt exhausted even more so at this point, barely stifling a yawn. She packed up her cards and put them in her Judgment box, which used to house several Judgment theme decks before she stopped the store owner from throwing the empty thing out. She got irritated when she noticed that all of her green and white cards now filled more that 5/6ths of the box. Barely leaving any for the hundred or so cards from each of the other colors, as well as the countless land cards she had accumulated. Sighing again, she decided to set aside the gold colored Saviors of Kamigawa deck box for her deck while she sorted the remaining cards into the extra deck boxes she had. Putting all her cards away, she removed her clothes and slipped into her green and white nightgown before entering her bed. She fell asleep rather quickly and silently in her bed.

………………………………...

Diron and Nick were having another card battle that evening, trying to think about what was going on. The battle was going against Nick, for he was unable to keep Darigaaz alive long enough to do damage and he was out of creatures that turn. "And that, my friend, is game. I attack full out with Kamahl and the others."

Nick nodded in defeat. "You got me. So, any luck on where that guy was from?"

"Can't say," Diron said. "According to you, that Necromancer was too concerned with taking my head. I'm not even sure who the hell would want to kill me or why."

Nick sighed. "That guy was tough, though. You should have seen the look on his face when his monsters turned to stone and died."

"Yeah," Diron said sarcastically. "Real shame I couldn't see it, considering I was ALREADY DEAD!"

Nick rubbed his ear in pain. "Chill already. That's water under the bridge now. That 'Reika person saved your life, remember?"

He glared at the rainbow wizard. "How the hell could I forget," he said, the image of the blushing girl still etched in his head, "but her sudden appearance is troubling. She wouldn't have been in this universe at all if she didn't have something important to do here."

Nick smirked devilishly. "So, how did it feel?"

"How did what feel?"

"Getting kissed by Reika?" Nick instantly regretted those words as the nearest book slammed into his face. To his dismay, it was a hardcover copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

"Stupid question, Nick. I was dead through most of it, remember?" Diron said. "I wouldn't have even known she kissed me to bring me back to life if you didn't open your damned mouth." He then walked outside and looked at the carcass of the dead Necromancer. He then noticed a sigil on his cloak, his face paling. "Oh shit!"

Nick followed Diron outside, an imprint of the book's cover on his face. "What? You recognize something?"

He nodded. "This sigil, it belongs to a group called the Dark Omen!" He gritted his teeth. "I encountered these guys once before. They resort to nearly any means to get what they want, and I was pretty much on their shit list when I killed one of their men and refused to join them. Chances are, they still want…" His eyes widened. "#$! KARI!" Nick realized that Diron was going to run just before Diron did, the two managing to keep up.

"What the hell! What's this got to do with her?" Nick yelled to Diron.

He shot Nick a look. "She killed a necromancer of Dark Omen. They'll be after her, too!"

Nick looked at Diron in confusion. "How's anyone to know?"

"The man I killed was alone, yet they knew of his death and his assailant none the less! They'll know it was her as well. I know it!"

They ran down a street when Nick looked at him. "You even know where she lives?"

Diron shook his head. "Not really. I'm trying to follow her mana aura. You'd sense it too if you'd shut up and concentrate! Focus on collecting mana, or we won't have time to get creatures summoned to defend Kari and ourselves!"

………………………………...

As Kari slept she dreamed. She saw herself in a forest area, yet didn't know what forest it was. She wandered around a little bit until she encountered a green and white haired person, who seemed to be asleep or meditating. Oddly enough for her, this meditating woman seemed similar in appearance to Kari herself. She moved up to this person. "H-hello?" she asked hesitantly.

The girl awoke and looked at Kari with brown eyes and smiled. "Hello," the girl said to Kari politely. "I'm glad you found me."

Kari was taken aback. "You were expecting me?"

The girl nodded. "Yes, I was. I've been waiting for years for you to find me, Kari, just so I could speak to you."

Kari frowned now. "You seem to know my name already. Who are you, and what is there to talk about?"

The girl still smiled. "My name is Reika, and I'm a part of you."

"That's laying it a little thick," Kari replied.

"Perhaps," Reika said, "but it is the truth. I'm a part of you that has been left dormant for a long time. If it wasn't for what happened today, I wouldn't have even awakened slightly to help save you and your friends."

Kari glared. "There is no way. Diron and Nick said a friend helped them."

"What about those creatures turned to stone," Reika said, noting some irritation at what she was saying. "I know you saw them. Its harder for a creature to disappear when they are trapped as statues of calcium." Kari looked away. Reika was right, she had seen Nezumi ronins, a Nezumi Cutthroat, and a Hypnox encased in stone not too far away from the butchered form within the black robes. Reika saw this and shook her head. "No, it probably isn't time for you to recognize me yet. I can't rush you into this, for you must find out for yourself." She got up and started walking away.

Kari looked at Reika. "What do you mean?"

Reika looked at Kari once more. "We are both parts of a whole. Unless we both can recognize each other as such, our full potential and power cannot be reached. It seems you are not ready to accept that fact yet. Until you do, you shall maintain command of every action, while I wait on the side to assist when needed. I won't allow this body to die, for it would kill us both."

She was about to leave when both girls froze, for they both heard a blood curdling scream that instantly woke Kari up. She thought it was a dream for a moment, until she noticed a second later that the scream was real and familiar. She immediately got out of bed and ran out of her room, fear in her eyes at knowing whose scream that was. She ran down the steps of her house and came to a gruesome sight. She saw her mother, rotting away to nothing before her eyes. Her skin was already grey and cracking in places, exposing bone and flesh. "MOTHER!" The dying woman looked at her daughter in fear.

"K-ka-ari….r-run…" she managed to say before her mouth wasted to nothing, followed by the rest of her. Kari ran to her mother, tears in her eyes as she tried to grab her, to save her. She only managed to embrace her mother for a minute before she turned to dust in her hands. Tears streamed down Kari's face as she looked at what remained.

"MOTHER!" she screamed, collapsing over her mother's remains in sorrow. She sobbed over the body before sensing a presence in the room. She looked up and saw a figure cloaked in black, as if it were a shadow. A pair of glowing yellow eyes could be seen in the darkness.

"If she wasn't so ill cooperative," the figure started with a female voice, "I wouldn't have needed to waste her away like that. Such a waste." The figure moved closer to the crying girl.

"Why are you here? What the hell do you want?"

"I'm here for you, girl," the figure said. "You have killed a necromancer of the Dark Omen. For that, you must either join or die."

She glared at the woman as she shakily got up, tears still in her eyes. "Yo-you killed m-my mother…" she said in a wavering voice. "I will ne-never join my mother's k-killers!"

The woman seemed to smile under her cloak. "What a shame," she said, charging her mana up for a move. "Then prepare to die!"

To be continued…

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For the first time in this fic, we have a cliffhanger. Now that school's out, I can freely get these fanfic chapters done rather easily. Only problems to face now are work…and moving. Goddamn, I don't wanna move, but I have no choice. The house was sold a while ago and we must leave by the 23rd of this month.

Here are the reviewers from chapters two and three:

Chigi-apologies for not saying anything about the review for chapter two sooner, it popped up too late. Nick did make a noob mistake, both in the story and in real life, because he can easily misread how an effect works. Don't worry, there are few he'd make a horrible mistake with.

MTDL-thanks for the wizard duels comment. Hypnox wasn't sacrificed. Throughout this chapter, references to it being caught by the Kirtar's wrath are mentioned, which is its real fate of it from that fight.

Sehl-me? As good as arrathir? Doubt it, he's my inspiration for even starting a magic fan fiction, but thanks for the comment As for additional people, that would be appreciated, and there is adequate time for others to arrive see below for information.

Thanks to sehl, I will now be accepting any additional characters to appear in the fic. I will require the character's name, age, gender, personality, appearance, and deck usage. Bios are welcome, but nothing overly crazy. Neutrals, heroes, and villains welcome. DO NOT POST A CHARACTER PROFILE ON THE REVIEWS! Please send them to also, please do not send me a profile that is or will be in use by arrathir. I'd like the fic to be as original as possible without our stories mingling together.

Once again, remember to thank the proofreading staff for their work on making sure nothing is wrong and for their ideas in use so far. See you for part II of Homefront.