Tournament of Souls: Darkness Falls

by LucienShadowMaster

Lucien was always just a smarter than average kid with one bad memory. But when he got better at dueling, things started happening. Strange things. As if life wasn't enough to deal with already.

21. Dimensions of Discovery

Tournament of Souls Chapter 21

The Card Shop vs. Mach 5

Match 2

Duel 2

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"It could not be happening because this sort of thing did not happen. Any contradictory evidence could be safely ignored." Terry Pratchett, Jingo

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who, when presented with a glass that is exactly half full, say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass! Who drank my beer?" – Terry Pratchett, The Truth

Author's Note: Meh, sorry Peace. Mr. Dongard has his own little idea of politics and crowd manipulation and he is going to do anything he can to get his team to be popular and stop other teams from doing the same. Some of them may tell their own names, but they probably won't be appearing on the boards.

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Aliya looked nervous as she stood at the duel station facing her opponent. Who wouldn't be when her team's success as a whole depended on her success here? Now she doubted that even Lucien could stand up here without fear. He had been avoiding dueling after all.

Her opponent didn't look too tough. He looked kind of silly actually; he was wearing a leather jacket that didn't quite fit him even though it was almost summer time. And he had a knitted hat on his head with a little green alien on it.

The judge announced the start of the duel; Aliya was grateful that this one wasn't trying to be overly dramatic. She was similarly grateful that this one didn't keep a glass of iced tea on his little platform. It was distracting to hear the ice clinking around the glass when she dueled.

And no matter how silly he looked she wanted to have her full attention on this duel. Lucien wouldn't be able to pick up the slack if she lost. There was so much that depended on her; she felt the pressure like a physical weight.

The gem on her side had turned the same familiar rainbow as it usually did. Her opponent's contained stars on a black sky. At least that was what it looked like. Aliya had no idea what that could mean and by the look on his face Lucien didn't either. Raoul looked thoughtful; a frightening prospect.

The spinner landed on the rainbow colored piece so Aliya took the first turn. Her hand wasn't outstanding but it offered potential to set up some nice plays later on. She smiled as she saw another one of the cards she had added in after the West City championship; she hadn't gotten the chance to use it last round; hopefully this one would be different.

Aliya Renon: 8000

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 8000

"I'll set a monster." She then considered for a moment. "I'll stop with that I think."

Her opponent was slightly more aggressive. "I summon Zombyra the Dark (2100/500). He will attack your face down monster."

Banisher of the Light (100/2000) never stood a chance. A single punch to the jaw knocked him into the oblivion of the graveyard.

"Whenever it destroys a monster Zombyra the Dark loses 200 attack points (1900/500). I'll set a card and end my turn."

Aliya made a quick mental calculation before making her move. "First I am going to play Soul Absorption so that I may gain 500 life points for each card that is removed from play. Then I'll set this monster face down. I will also set a single card down behind it. That will be all."

Her opponent narrowed his eyes with suspicion. He thought she was up to something. I wish.

"I summon Tenkabito Shien (1500/1000) in attack mode and have Zombyra attack your set monster." The set card shattered, revealing Mystical Shine Ball (500/500) which also shattered. Zombyra the Dark (1700/500) was weakened. "Then Tenkabito Shien will attack directly." The mounted warrior looked dispassionately down at Aliya, sword raised. Evidently he considered her not to be worthy enough of an opponent to dull his blade on. He hit her in the back of the head with the hilt of his sword; she staggered.

Aliya Renon: 6500

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 8000

"I need not do anything else."

To Lucien it looked like Aliya had figured out something to do. He didn't have the slightest idea what though. It didn't look like she had overly many options to him. He just hoped that her smile meant that she had something good. "To begin the turn I will summon Fire Princess (1300/1500). Now I will special summon Soul of Purity and Light (2000/1800). To do this I remove both Mystical Shine Ball and Banisher of the Light from play. So that gives me 1000 life points from Soul Absorption. Equivalent damage is done to you by Fire Princess."

Aliya Renon: 7500

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 7000

"Now I will play Dimension Distortion. This spell card allows me to special summon one of my monsters that has been removed from play to the field if there are no cards in my Graveyard. I will bring back Banisher of the Light (100/2000) in defense mode. Soul of Purity and Light will attack your Zombyra the Dark."

Her opponent held up a hand. "Not so fast. I activate the trap card A Hero Emerges. Now you must pick a random card from my hand; if it is a monster it is summoned, if it is anything else it is sent to the graveyard. Or in this case out of play I suppose. Now, pick."

Huge holographic representations of his cards appeared on the field; both sides showed only the image of the back of the card. Aliya looked at the four cards and picked the one on the far right. It looked as promising as any. It flipped around; now both sides of the card showed the image of The Earth- Hex-Sealed Fusion (1000/1600). Slowly the card faded away leaving the squirming illusion of the monster.

Her opponent grinned. "I summon it in defense mode. Your little combo manipulates life points a bit too."

Aliya Renon: 8000

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 6500

Aliya recognized the Hex- Sealed Fusion, but she couldn't see what it was doing there. He must have some card to fuse with it in his deck. I wonder what.

Lucien wasn't fairing any better. He couldn't think of any cards that were fusions of Tenkabito Shien or Zombyra the Dark. None came to mind. Now Lucien was fairly proud of his knowledge of Duel Monsters but even he had to admit that just because he hadn't heard of or couldn't remember a card didn't mean that it didn't exist. Take License to Torment for example. Before he could follow that train of thought farther Aliya made her move.

"Soul of Purity and Light will continue its attack on Zombyra."

Aliya Renon: 8500

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 5700

"End turn."

Aliya's opponent looked at her setup of monsters. He wasn't quite as cocky as the opponents she had faced previously. Either that or he was just plain smarter. "What is Soul of Purity and Light's effect, other than its summoning condition?"

Aliya's face brightened. "I'm glad you asked. The attack strength of all your monsters is lowered by 300 during your battle phase."

"I thought it might be something like that. I will set three cards; one monster and two otherwise, and then I will switch Tenkabito Shien to defense mode. End turn."

The field looked ripe for the picking; except for those face down cards. Aliya decided to chance an attack. "Fire Princess will attack Tenkabito Shien." The princess sent forth a wave of flame from her cape.

Now bored, her opponent activated a card and the wall of flame paused. "I will chain with Good Goblin House Keeping, causing me to draw a card, and an additional card for every copy of Good Goblin House Keeping in my graveyard; of which there are none and will persist to be none due to your combo. Then I must send one card in my hand to the bottom of my deck." He drew. "I'll send Light of Intervention to the bottom of my deck. The attack may continue."

Aliya Renon: 9000

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 5200

The frozen wave of flames swept over his monster, destroying it.

Aliya Renon: 9500

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 4700

"Next Soul of Purity and Light will attack The Earth – Hex-Sealed Fusion."

Aliya Renon: 10000

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 4200

"To end my turn I will equip Heart of Clear Water to Banisher of the Light. Now it cannot be destroyed in battle unless its attack goes above 1300."

Her opponent was clearly not happy about this. Aliya suspected the he would have liked to destroy Banisher of the Light as soon as possible. Not that it would be easy with her Soul of Purity and Light in place. None the less, he made his move.

"I'll pass this turn with a set card."

Aliya was puzzled. He should have been able to do something more. Then again, she wasn't about to let an opportunity go by. "I attack your face down monster with Soul of Purity and Light."

Swiftly he flipped up his set card. "Activate A Hero Emerges. Select a card."

He only had one card in his hand. What a choice. I just love it when I have so many options. Aliya pointed at it and it was revealed to be Zombyra the Dark. An ironic situation as Zombyra was the monster portrayed on A Hero Emerges.

Aliya Renon: 10500

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 3700

Aliya wasn't going to let it distract her though. She could still destroy his set monster. "I will-"

Her opponent let out a short choked laugh. "No, you won't. I chain to the special summoning of Zombyra the Dark with A Feint Plan. Now you may not declare an attack on a face down monster."

Aliya Renon: 11000

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 3200

"I'll end my turn. Take yours."

He laughed again. "I'll take it and gladly. I flip summon my set monster, The Earth - Hex-Sealed Fusion. Now I will activate its ability, fusing it with Zombyra the Dark."

There were reactions from all over the stadium. Some of those who had been present at his previous duel, and probably some of his friends from wherever it was that he hailed from cheered. Lucien and the majority of the crowd were baffled. They couldn't think of any creature that was a fusion of Zombyra. In any case, why would a fusion using Zombyra have the Earth attribute? Zombyra was dark. More than that, Zombyra was the dark. It just didn't make sense.

Yet before their eyes, the two monsters were fusing. This way of fusing wasn't half as pretty as it would have been with Polymerization. Rather than a nice, neat, and tidy vortex there was a confusion of flying clots of earth as various body parts grew and shrank. Mostly they appeared to be on a trend of growth.

Soon everything calmed down until there was just a rather large mound of earth. Or it might have been dung; except that there were no flies. It shook, and bits started to fall off. From the depths of the earth (or dung) emerged a large green being; alien in all uses of the word. Alien boy (hitherto known as Aliya's opponent) was grinning like the maniac he probably was on the inside.

"I summon The Last Warrior from Another Planet (2350/2300)."

Aliya Renon: 12000

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 2200

"Now I will explain my warrior's ability. As long as it is on the field, neither of us may summon monsters. If I had possessed any other monsters on my side of the field I would have had to destroy them. Now I will have my Last Warrior attack Fire Princess."

Aliya Renon: 11750

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 2200

"I'll end my turn."

Aliya looked at her life point total; she had a few to spare. She could afford a few risks. Problem was that she didn't have any risks to take. "I'll play Soul Release to remove Dimension Distortion from play; it's the only card in either of our graveyards."

Aliya Renon: 12750

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 2200

"Now I will play Chaos Greed, allowing me to draw two cards when I have four or more cards removed from play and none in the graveyard."

Aliya Renon: 13250

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 2200

"Finally to play one of the cards I just drew; Sanctuary in the Sky." As the familiar roof poked through the surface of the duel station, Aliya breathed a sigh of relief. Even if he drew something that allowed him to deal damage through defense she would be safe.

"End turn."

"Last Warrior From Another Planet, attack Soul of Purity and Light."

Aliya Renon: 13750

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 2200

"Take your miserable little turn."

"Very well, I will set this monster face down and end my turn."

Her opponent drew a card and smiled. "I will set a card face down. Now it is your turn."

Aliya's expression was unreadable, a perfect poker face. "I'll set this single card face down. That will be all for me."

Raoul didn't like the situation. For him this would be the perfect time to use an Old Vindictive Magician, but Aliya didn't use that card or any of its many equivalents. He couldn't even think of something in her deck that would get her out of this situation with ease. Well, there was Chaos End of course, but he didn't like the thought of her playing that again. She had passed out last time after all.

He whispered to Lucien. "Do you think she can win?"

The team captain nodded slowly. "I know she can win. The question is, will she? It all depends on those face down cards. To tell the truth, I don't know for sure. I hope so."

Raoul muttered something along the lines of, "Yeah, like I didn't already know that." Then both boys turned their attention back to the duel as Aliya's opponent made his move.

"To start your doom, I activate my face down card. It is Raigeki Break and has the ability to destroy one card if I discard one. Now, destroy Banisher of the Light!" He held his finger out, dramatically pointing at the monster. Lightning issued from a spot about three inches to the left of his finger. He chose to ignore it.

Aliya: 14750

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 2200

"Now I will attack your face down monster with Last Warrior from Another Planet. Last Soldier Shot!" The large alien braced itself as the shoulder cannon charged and stepped back as it discharged a huge beam of energy.

It dissipated against the shadowed form of a winged figure. When the light effects had completely cleared the monster was shown to be Agent of Force – Mars (12550/12550). Aliya's eyes came alive as she watched her monster unfurl his wings and launch into the air.

His shadow swept over the field as he flew above and landed in front of her adversary. Aliya seemed to lose her voice at this climatic moment. So she could only command and commend her monster softly. "Thank you Mars; now finish this with a counterstrike!" The exclamation was a sharp evacuation of breath. The Agent of Force swept his hammer down in a final strike, ending the duel.

Aliya: 14750

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 0

The opposing bench erupted in outrage but the two protesters were ignored. The defeated was too stunned to argue. The crowd was in an uproar; who had ever heard of a duel being won by the damage dealt by an unsuccessful attack on a defense position monster?

Lucien couldn't have cared less. He stood and gave a walking ovation on the way to the duel station, arriving just before the elevator booth reached ground level. As the door opened he squeezed in past Aliya.

As soon as she was out he made to press the button to send him back up but stopped and turned to her instead. "What was your face down card?"

She smiled and flashed D.D. Dynamite past his eyes before heading back to the bench to watch the duel that was about to start. Lucien pressed the button to raise the platform and set his deck down. The gem turned black. It made him wonder how much it was responding to the deck and how much to the duelist.

His opponent was somewhat slower. The captain of Mach 5 was just now being raised to the level of the field. He was different than the rest; not in the way he looked which was ordinary enough with brown hair that was in need of cutting and a t-shirt and damaged jeans. No, he looked perfectly normal if a bit out of date. It was the way he held himself that was different.

His face suggested confidence. His eyes darted around nervously as if looking for some superior which seemed to contradict the rest of his expression. Lucien hadn't been paying attention to him earlier so he didn't notice how he walked in large quick strides. Another contradiction; the large strides suggested an air of confidence that the speed counteracted. Speed is oft caused by nervousness. Raoul was the only one who noticed the stride and he took no note of it.

All of this went far over Lucien's head. He saw an opponent and that was all that mattered. To Lucien the world was black and white. If you saw gray you weren't looking closely enough. At the moment nothing mattered outside of their opposition and the fact that one must come out on top and that the other must lose.

His opponent stood there with his deck held in the air. The crowd began to murmur. It had to be symbolic some how. Then he spoke. "I refuse to be known only as 'Mach 5 Captain.'" Now the murmuring was of a definite positive nature. The crowd could feel a rousing speech when it was on the way and acted accordingly, completely ignoring anything except that opening line.

"I will not duel unless my name is posted on the score board as his is. I am Jess Colbert."

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Behind the scenes, Mr. Dongard contemplated this. If this Jess had his name posted, it would take away from the glorification of Lucien as he wouldn't be fighting a nameless enemy. But if the name was not posted and Jess refused to duel, it would be the same as handing the victory to Lucien. Yet it would be a glory less victory. He would gain no supporters if he won by default. It would be a shallow victory indeed and one containing no omen of greatness.

Not the type of victory he would need.

Mr. Dongard picked up one of the closed circuit connections and spoke

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The judge looked as if he was in over his head. This wasn't a decision for him. This was the type of thing that would be argued over for hours in a briefing room by a bunch of old men and women. To Aliya's eyes he seemed relieved when he answered a wireless company phone after only a few moments of awkward silence. It wasn't a cell phone, it was too large. It was more the type of thing that one might see carried around by secretaries and janitors these days. Basically it was a replacement of the bulkier walkie-talkie that had gone out of use years ago.

He nodded a few times at what was being said and then hung up, slipping the device back into his pocket. Then he stood and addressed the crowd. "It has been decided that the name of Mach 5's team captain will be posted along with that of The Card Shop."

Lucien nodded slowly. He couldn't care less whether the combatants' names were known as long as he got to duel. He however recognized and cursed the politics of the answer. The social maneuvering was beyond his understanding and he knew it. That didn't mean he had to like it, it just gave him one more reason not to.

The judge picked up the phone again and soon after his opponents name appeared on the board as he set down his deck. As it turned out the two events happened simultaneously. The gem remained clear on Jess's side of the field and after a brief conversation on the phone the judge announced to the crowd that there was a slight technical difficulty and that the gem would have to remain clear.

The spinner appeared and landed on black. In fact, there was nothing but black on the spinner. According to the judge this was inspired by the technical difficulty, but it just so happened that the spinner would have selected Lucien anyhow. Without any evidence to the contrary the duel began.

Lucien Morningstar: 8000

Jess Colbert: 8000

Lucien's name was printed in a smaller font due to length which made Aliya giggle briefly before he started his turn.

"To start the duel off I will play the spell card Meteor of Destruction, dealing 1000 points of direct damage to you." A meteor appeared just above the duel station and slammed into Jess.

Lucien Morningstar: 8000

Jess Colbert: 7000

"I will follow that up with Tremendous Fire. I pay 500 life points to deal 1000 in damage to you once again." Fires erupted around both duelists.

Lucien Morningstar: 7500

Jess Colbert: 6000

"And I will play Tremendous Fire yet again."

Lucien Morningstar: 7000

Jess Colbert: 5000

"Next I will play Ectoplasmer; we each must tribute one face up monster on our side of the field at the end of each turn. Then half of that monster's attack points are dealt to the opponent. I will summon Giant Orc and set a card before ending my turn. Giant Orc is sacrificed."

Lucien Morningstar: 7000

Jess Colbert: 3900

Jess looked weary after the spirit that had come out of Giant Orc had plunged through his body. "I summon Disciple of the Forbidden Spell (1700/800) and attack your life points directly." The warrior dashed forward and disappeared through a transparent wall only to tap his controller on the back of the head with its sword.

Lucien Morningstar: 7000

Jess Colbert: 2200

Seeing the question in his opponent's eyes Lucien spoke. "I activated Dimension Wall. It transfers battle damage that I would take to you."

Jess nodded slowly. "I will set a card. Now I end my turn and sacrifice Disciple of the Forbidden Spell."

Lucien Morningstar: 6150

Jess Colbert: 2200

Lucien scowled as he saw what he had drawn. "What a pity; I had wanted to end this duel with an even life point loss. I summon Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei (2300/0). Attack his life points directly." The warrior lunged forward. The face down had been a bluff.

Lucien Morningstar: 6150

Jess Colbert: 0

The hollow sound of a single person clapping echoed through the room. The crowd hadn't quite caught on that the duel was over just yet. Lucien looked up into the crowd to see a familiar red haired figure standing with an ironic grin on her face. She was the one clapping of course. The crowd caught on and burst into applause.

Lucien's teammates followed his gaze and stared. She looked normal and unthreatening. She stood there in a flowered dress and green stained straw sun hat applauding. There was no doubt as to whom it was though.

Things are rarely as they seem.