SILENT TALE: PART 3 – Ben Warren
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Dante stepped into the New York City arena and blinked in the dazzle of the spotlights, the crowd went wild. Across, already standing ready for him was his opponent, the so-called 'legendary' fiend-type user Leon Timer. The man was a little bit older than Dante was, but he had an unbroken winning streak over here in the United States that had lasted him twenty-five straight games.
That streak ended now.
Crossing the distance between them the announcer introduced the rules of play, and the contestants to the audience. The screams of adoration were equally mixed between the two players, Leon being on his home ground and Dante having stirred quite a following in the states.
This match had been arranged months ago, and in all probability he should have avoided it, but it was the best way to draw Dartz's attention to him. He was done running from the stranger, and it was time he started to fight back. This tournament would prove useful in two respects. Firstly it would catch the attention of those who were looking for him, and secondly it would give him the chance to test his deck in a proper duel for the first time since he re-assembled it at the hotel.
"You're going down English!" Leon called from across the field.
Dante didn't say a word, he had already slipped into the quiet, determined frame of mind he always had when he was focused upon his goal.
"Draw!" the American yelled and pulled his first card from the deck. Instantly a shimmering hologram of a monster card in defence position appeared on the field in front of them. Another card appeared in his Magic and Trap area, face down and unable to be seen.
"End turn." He announced proudly.
Dante drew his card and stared at his hand for a moment, then played Neo the Magic Swordsman in face up attack and placed swords of revealing light into play.
Instantly three magical swords pinned a line in front of the opponent's monsters, disabling their ability to attack this turn. On Dante's side of the board a small female warrior clad in armour appeared and drew her sword.
"End turn." He called softly.
Not at all shaken by the appearance of the magic card, Leon drew his card and played Yami. The field took on a darker tone to reflect the field-card's effect on monsters in play. He set another monster card face down before opening his attack phase. Flipping his original monster into face-up attack position he revealed a Crass Clown, which was projected as sinister and bloated figure onto the field.
Reaching out the Clown kicked Neo the Magic Swordsman and she vanished, the card jumping back into Dante's hand. Every time the clown moved from defensive to attack position the effect would send 1 monster in play back into his hand.
That's why he wasn't worried about Swords of Revealing Light, he realised.
The turn ended and Dante quickly drew another card. With a smile he realised it was Polymerisation. Playing from his hand Dante crossed two of his smaller creatures to create Flame Swordsman, and promptly used the fire wielding knight to destroy the Crass Clown.
The blue and red garbed warrior crossed the distance in three huge strides and sliced the clown in half, it shattered and the card was sent to the grave. Leon's life points dipped accordingly and he cursed at Dante, but the Englishman's turn wasn't over yet.
Laying a trap card he called for a finish, and watched as one of the three swords of Revealing Light shimmered and vanished. Two more turns and it's protection would die as well.
Flipping his remaining monster card face up, Leon revealed a Rogue Doll, which he sacrificed to create the King of Yamimakai. The large spiky humanoid shape hung back, unable to attack. And Leon ended his turn.
"Hmmm . . ." Dante smiled as he drew his next card. "This is beginning to get interesting."
The Skull Demon, shattered into a thousand pieces and vanished. Leon screamed in rage and stormed from the arena as the crowd went wild. In total the match had taken only half an hour, by far one of the shortest games played in a long time.
"And the winner," the judge announced "Dante!" he handed over the prize money and a rare-card, then stepping back to allow the audience a clear view of the victor.
Amongst them Tanya clapped and stamped her feet, ecstatic that he had won. Rising from her seat, she tried to be one of the first people out of the arena, but the others had already started to break up and she got caught in the fight for the exit.
Pushing and dodging her way through the crowd, she got as far as the foyer before they caught up with her again and this time there was no way she could escape the squash. Making the decision, she sat herself at the bar and ordered something to drink. Dante would just have to come find her when he was done instead of meeting her outside the back door like they had planned.
Sipping the sweet liquid that the bartender provided for her, she savoured the fruity taste and tipped him generously from the money Dante had left her before separating.
A high pitched female cry made her jump a little, the memory of the incident onboard the train only three days ago still playing on her mind and making her unnaturally nervous. But this was a cry of pleasure and surprise, one which was quickly picked up by five or six more young girls as they began to realise what all of the fuss was about.
Dante sauntered into the room from the stage door and was quickly swamped by a tight ring of women all clamouring for an autograph. Tanya watched him laugh and oblige them from her vantage-point at the other side of the room.
Must be nice to have so many people love you, she thought to herself, and no wonder he's popular, he's young and attractive, as well as being good at what he does.
Dante however looked a little out of place amongst the crowd, evidently not as keen on being the centre of attention as Tanya would have thought. The honest truth was that he had never experienced this kind of thing until his arrival in the states, stardom in England was a much less fan-orientated business, and he was a little surprised at the hero-worship he got from the Americans. Not to mention the attention many of the ladies appeared to be giving him.
He recognised a couple of the girls from previous tournaments he'd fought in the states, they must have followed him all of the way to New York when the announcement of this next fight was made.
After a short time spent amongst the crowd, he managed to disperse them enough to have a clear run at the bar area. Excusing himself he wondered directly over to Tanya and sunk down onto the barstool next to hers, clearly exhausted.
"Well that was impressive." She commented as the last of her drink drained away.
"Not very, Leon really had me on the ropes for a while there." Dante sighed and ordered himself a fruit juice to match the one Tanya had just finished.
"No, not the game." She teased, "I was referring to the little fan club you seem to have acquired."
He winced and raised an eyebrow. "Don't go there." He laughed.
She smiled back at him and gave him the once-over. Tall, with nice grey eyes and short cut white hair, a good build and the ultimate James Bond accent. Yeah, she thought, I can see where these girls are coming from.
"The money from this duel will keep us living pretty for a few weeks at least." Dante was talking, not noticing that her attention was drawn elsewhere. "I think that the speed of the win should be enough to get the attention we've been looking for. Now all we have to do is hope that Dartz comes himself instead of sending another monster in his stead."
"Hmmmm . . ." Tanya murmured and then seemed to come to her senses. "I mean, right!" she corrected herself quickly.
"Didn't Bakura come with you?" he asked.
She shook her head and leant against the bar, cradling her head in her arms. "He said he wanted to look around the local museum, don't ask me why. I'll take you there to pick him up when we're done here." She paused for a moment before adding. "He still gives me the creeps."
Dante nodded his agreement. It had been five days since their rescue from a monstrous Inferno by the young Japanese man, but he was still a mystery to them. Most of the time he was either sleeping of ordering them around, but on occasion he was mean enough to spark an argument between Tanya and himself. Dante had learnt a little from him about the powers inherent in Duel Monsters, the card game they both played, but it was only a drop in the ocean – and they both knew it.
"Room for one more?" Dante turned around to see Leon sliding onto the stool next to him and waving over the barman. "Figured that I should buy the guy who broke me a drink." He smiled in a warm fashion, "non-alcoholic of course. You're still too young to drink over here in the states."
Dante smiled back, "I'll have a lemonade." He held out his hand, "that was a good game you gave me."
Leon shook his head in disbelief but shook the younger man's hand anyway. "Good game? You knocked me flat in half an hour. That's not a game it's a slaughter." Then he laughed in a loud booming voice. "You're good kid." He added, "Better than anybody I've ever fought, and I've fought a great many duellers. Maybe you're even as good as that Japanese boy with the 'King of Gamers' title, but then I suppose that you've already set a date to duel him."
"Yugi?" Dante looked confused. "How would I get to Japan on such short notice?"
"Japan? Kid the guy's been seen around over here for the past few weeks! Don't you check you're information on the net?"
Dante winced. "I've been a little busy lately." He admitted.
Leon sipped his own drink and passed the newly arrived beverage over to his friend. Shrugging, he laughed again and clapped Dante on the back. "Well don't let it get to ya kid." He chuckled, "I hear that he went straight to see Pegasus at his office then vanished off the face of the earth."
At the mention of Pegasus both he and Tanya looked up from their drinks, suddenly paying much more attention to the dueller than previously.
Yugi had gone to see Pegasus? How long ago was that? Dante had seen the creator of Duel Monsters trapped within one of his own cards. Was this Yugi involved somehow?
"Well," Leon drained the last of his drink in two quick gulps and rose to leave. "I gotta be going. There's some mean people about the streets at night of late, and I don't wanna get mixed up in anything. News says that they've been targeting duellists like you and me and doing something . . . terrible to them. Their bodies are unharmed but their mind's gone."
Dante rose with him and shook the man's hand once again. "Thanks," he murmured. "I'll keep it in mind."
They weren't going to be meeting up with Bakura for another hour, and Tanya wanted to go shopping before the last stores closed. The hotel they were staying at was only a ten minute walk away, so Dante waved her goodbye and hailed a taxi.
He wanted to go and visit the Pegasus building. Yugi had been sniffing around there recently, and it was most likely the last place the creator of Duel Monsters was seen. That made it the best place to start if he wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on.
Whatever was happening, Pegasus was a key figure in all of this. The real question was which side was Yugi on? He had the other three God-Cards, was Dartz after him as well, or were they working together?
Slipping his bag from around his shoulder, Dante opened it and took out the Duel-plate that Bakura had given him. Inspected mutely the mark left by the Baou's blade when it had tried to kill him, a small scratch that could have taken his hand off had he not been luckier.
Firmly attaching the plate to his arm, he inserted his deck and clenched his fist tight. This wasn't a game anymore – Duel Monsters was something far more real.
Pulling up to a halt in front of the grand building, he hopped out and paid the driver before approaching the front door. It was locked and sealed, but it looked like there had been some kind of a fight in the main lobby not too long ago. Stuff was scattered all over the place and there was a nasty split in the stone floor that was defiantly not done naturally.
Sidling around, he managed to find a fire-escape door that looked like it had been forced open, and slipped inside with as little noise as possible. He didn't want to be picked up by the police for breaking and entering.
Inside it was a rabbit-warren of corridors and offices, all winding up towards the top floor. That would be Pegasus' office, he realised as he began to climb higher, any answers he would find would be there.
Stopping to listen, he thought for a moment that he could hear footsteps, but the sound must have been an echo, because nothing reached his ears.
Checking which floor he was on, Dante began to seven-floor climb to reach the office.
"This is defiantly the place where he e-mailed me from." He mumbled as he stepped around the desk and over the lush carpet of the office. And he was right, behind the desk was the same view in the video-file that he had seen.
Glancing around, he booted up the computer sitting at the desk. Cursing, he realised that it was password protected. Glancing about him, he looked for some kind of clue as to what the answer to this riddle could be. Off the top of his head he tried a few words associated with Duel Monsters, but to no avail.
Beside the computer, sitting on the desk, was a photograph of a young couple. A man and a woman at a party somewhere, dressed up and obviously having fun. Slipping the picture out of its frame he squinted at it, the man was defiantly Pegasus. But the girl was unfamiliar to him.
Checking the back he found a note and a name – trying it in the computer he found to some satisfaction that it was the password he was looking for.
Well I may not be James Bond, he thought, but my spy technique is defiantly getting better.
The files were mostly notes on future releases and pieces of journal. Dante scanned through a few of them but aside from the mildly interesting tit-bit of information that the cards in Duel Monsters were in fact based upon ancient Egyptian carvings, and the truth behind who the girl in the picture was, it was mostly useless.
A large portion of the hard-drive seemed to be filled with the data on a new game called Duel Dice Monsters. But he didn't look too far into it.
Then he came across a folder entitled 'Dante'.
Clicking to open it, he found that it too was password protected, but this time he felt that it was for different reasons. Could it be that this file was set there for him to find?
Typing in the password TIDUS he was pleased to see that it unlocked and spread out its sparse contents on the screen before him - one video file and a notepad document containing two words "Watch me."
Carefully, as if it might break, Dante clicked on the Video and slipped into Pegasus' leather seat to watch it.
Instantly the face of Duel Monster's creator flashed up on the screen, looking just as worried and as panicked as he had done before, but perhaps there was the barest hint of determination and hope in his one visible eye this time.
"Dante-boy" the singsong tone of voice the always used piped through the speakers. "If you're watching this then you have failed in your attempt to keep Tius secret, I must say that I am not surprised – those who hunt you are very good at what they do." He lent forwards and his face filled the screen a little more. "You must not allow them to get hold of Tius Dante-boy! It is perhaps the one card that could stand up against the three true God-Cards should their power fall to the use of evil. I do not know what these people want with them, but they will be coming for me shortly, and despite my best efforts to arm Yugi and yourself against them I fear that soon I will no longer be able to aid you."
Dante reached up to his deck and drew out Tius, holding it between himself and the screen, scrutinising the card whilst he listened.
"Yugi can take care of himself, he is the true King of Gamers, and that fact may save your life. Almost all of their attention will be fixed on him, perhaps allowing you to slip through the net if you are careful. In other circumstances I would suggest that you seek him out and team up with him – between you your powers would be formidable, but it would seem that destiny has greater plans for you my boy.
When I travelled the world I filtered through many myths and legends, but only two cultures had such powerful mythical creatures that they could once have been real. Egyptian legend was the basis for the original Duel Monsters game, but your own local legends have power as well. I know this, and so does Dartz. He will realise that your nationality was not as coincidental as it may seem, that I chose you to receive Tius for a reason. Listen closely Dante-boy because what I am about to tell you is very important -"
The video cut off as the monitor exploded into a shower of sparks.
Pushing himself up and away, Dante found himself standing face to face with a woman with long purple hair, tied back into a ponytail and garbed in a long trench coat. Strapped to one arm was what looked on first glance to be a Duel-plate, but on closer inspection it was a lot more streamlined in design and faintly organic in comparison to the bulky piece he wore on his own left arm. His right still too weak to support the weight without pain.
"Who?" He started to ask, but the girl cut him off.
"My name is Nadia." She spoke in a sharp tone, her voice crisp and with a slightly southern accent. "Lord Dartz demands you're soul. And I, as his emissary am here to collect it." She activated her strange Duel-plate and slid a card from her deck into her hand.
Dante responded slowly, carefully. He slipped a CD into the hard-drive of the computer and sent a command to copy the active file, hoping that it was just the screen she had damaged, then stepped around the desk and drew her attention away from it to himself.
"I've got some questions for you." He commented dryly, lifting his own Duel-plate. "Don't think that I won't defend myself – I can pull the monster trick too."
Nadia smiled. A disconcerting gesture that made him shiver, "I expected no less from somebody who can face Lord Dartz himself and live to tell the tale." She held her hand threateningly close to the plate. "That's why I made sure I got this assignment instead of the Swordsmen. I WILL bring you, and that card of yours back with me."
"You can try!" Dante slammed a card onto the plate and activated it. Instantly a warrior dressed in samurai garb appeared in front of him, drawing its sword it stood firmly between the two of them.
"Getsu Fuhma." She identified it immediately and summoned a warrior of her own, a large humanoid warrior in deep blue armour and bearing a scythe. Dante recognised it instantly as the Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness.
The Serpent swung its weapon in a wide arc that shattered the female warrior Dante had summoned and caused it to vanish. Taking two more steps it came within striking range of him and made to slice away his head.
Without faltering, Dante slid a Trap Card from his deck and dropped it quickly onto the board. A Physical Double of the monster appeared and they destroyed each other instantly as they collided with the resounding sound of armour grinding together.
Pushing his advantage one step further, he activated the spell Legendary Sword and, grasping the weapon as it appeared from the air, stepped forwards quickly enough to catch the girl before she could get another card from her deck.
The sword to her throat, he held her there, unmoving.
"Now." Dante hissed "I said that I wanted answers!"
"You . . . you're better than you let on." She said, trying not to move too close towards the tip of the blade for fear of slicing open her jugular vein, "Why haven't you pushed yourself like this before?" she asked.
"I've been protecting people." He replied darkly. "But there's nobody here to worry about except you and me, so you're going to answer me a few questions. Understand?"
She nodded and he took a half-step back, keeping the sword levelled at her but giving her room to breathe. "Drop the deck." He commanded, and she did so, the cards tumbling all over the floor by her feet.
Duel Monsters was real, monsters could be summoned to fight for someone with the ability to do so. Which meant that the other cards where of a similar nature. Spell cards containing weapons could be used by both a monster AND the summoner. Which gave Dante the edge. It looked like these guys liked their monsters to do the fighting, he on the other hand wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty.
"Who are you?" he asked her, kicking the cards away from where she knelt.
"Nadia, disciple of Dartz." She responded with as much dignity as she could manage. "I was given the mission to track you down and take your soul whilst the three Swordsman hunt Yugi and his friends." She jaded a moment, spite creeping into her tone. "Your destruction would have brought me great standing within his organisation."
"So he wants me dead huh?"
"Not dead, he wants to add your soul to his collection. He wants to summon his god."
Dante blinked, startled, but the sword in his hand never wavered. He remembered what Leon had said about duellists being attacked on the streets, and it all began to add up. "Well he's not going to be getting it." He answered, wishing that he was half as certain as he sounded. "Not without a fight."
There was a chime from the computer, the CD had finished writing. Reaching out with one hand Dante slipped it from the drive into his pocket, taking his eye off of the girl for a fraction of a second.
That was when she chose to strike.
Kicking herself backwards she moved sharply away from his sword and dived across the carpet, scooping up the first monster that came to her hand. Slamming it onto her wrist-mounted plate, it shone for a second before forming the shape of a Zombie Tiger. The beast pounced at him the second that it was fully formed, and Dante was forced to put off his pursuit of the girl and face this new threat. Rolling over to one side he slashed at the beast's midsection, drawing a thin scratch along its underbelly that only seemed to madden the monster.
Summoning Rare Gold Armour in which to clad himself, Dante battled the beast head-on. Blocking three swipes from the thing's claws before he finally managed to decapitate it. The Tiger vanished and reappeared as a card on the floor. Its owner was nowhere to be seen.
Dante scooped it up and pocketed the card. He had a feeling that he was going to get the chance to return it real soon, something told him that he hadn't seen the last of that girl.
Sighing, he let the armour and the sword vanish, breathing out as the weight of the gold was taken from his slim body. He patted the CD, checking that it was still whole in his pocket. The last instructions left for him by Pegasus. It looked like he and Yugi where on the same side, but their fights against Dartz would take on very different forms. The rest of this message was going to reveal his own role in the battle to come, and he knew on some basic level that a direct confrontation with Dartz and his organisation was unavoidable. All that remained was for him to hear the instructions.
He hoped that wherever Yugi was, and whatever he was doing out there, he was all right. If Dartz really was stealing souls then he was up to something bigger than Dante could even imagine. And they where going to need every warrior on their side available to fight if they wanted to have any chance of winning . . .
TO BE CONTINUED.