Back at the castle, some one large had just arrived at the main Gate and was heading for the entrance.
Dalin, Sarah, and Kuro ran out side to see what it was, and they were frozen. It was a Giant Soldier of Stone, and it was ready to smash right through the wall!
"It's him!" Dalin said.
"He's too big to fight with the automated defenses systems; we'll have to drop him ourselves." Sarah said.
"Then let's do it!" Kuro said, as she slammed a card on her duel brace, and was swept up in energy.
Dalin and Sarah did as well, as they also were surrounded in energy.
"SPIRIT MERGE!"
"CAT'S EAR TRIBE!"
"ANCIENT ELF!"
"AMAZONESS SWORDSWOMAN!"
All 5 monsters emerged, and had drawn the attention of the Giant.
"So. Is this all your castle can muster to face me? I'd think I'd have more of a challenge breaking into Public Library." The giant spoke in a very disappointed voice.
"Is that right? Well get ready for a pounding!" The trio of cats said in unison.
"Let's go!" Kuro shouted as she and Sarah jumped into the air and landed on the top of the wall, and were now on eye level of the Giant.
"Watch the Birdie, SOUL SCEPTAR FLARE!!!" Sarah called out as she swung her weapon at the stone monolith, and released the blinding flame.
However, the Stone monster vanished from sight, and the flare flew right by!
"What the hell?" She demanded.
Just then, The stone man's head popped up!
"That was close." He said sarcastically.
Sarah nearly fell back from the shock, How'd he move so fast!?
The stone soldier pulled a sword loose from its shoulder sheathes, "My turn." He said, as he held up the giant stone blade, and swung the blade down to crush the wall and the Girls in one shot!
"We Don't Think So!"
The trio of kittens came running up the wall, each with their swords in held out for battle.
The cats pounced off the wall and intercepted the blade with theirs.
All of a sudden, the miniature monsters swords glowed brightly.
"What the-?" Dan said, as the momentum from the blade shifted, instead of landing on the castle, it was going backwards!
The Giant's shifting motion sent him falling backwards, till he crashed on the ground on his back.
"DELTA SABER STRIKE!!!" The kittens shouted as they form a triangle, and each of their blades was glowing brightly.
However, the Giant's body phased out of the way, and appeared behind them!
"Bad Kitty." He said, as he pulled back his fist and slammed it down on them!
"DALIN!!!" The girls called out.
The 3 beings turned into energy, and fused back together, leaving Dalin cold on the ground.
Sarah jumped off the castle wall, and flipped until she landed on the Stone Soldier's head.
"DODGE THIS! SOUL SCEPTAR FLARE!!!" She screamed as the staff's power was sent flying down towards the giant's skull!
A massive red flash overtook the night's sky, Sarah had jumped off and watched the smoke cloud from her attack.
That did it. She though to herself.
But a giant stone arm shot out of the cloud!
"Nap time."
The fist nailed her head on, and sent her flying to the ground, her transformation unraveling as she plummeted to the ground.
The Stone soldier turned towards Kuro, "Looks like its just you and me now Doll."
Kuro pulled out her blade, "You're going down."
"Bring it on blonde wonder."
She dove forward and brought her blade above her head, "GLADIUS CAEDIS!" She swung the blade, a jagged wave of energy came forth, and sent it hurling at the Giant rock.
The wave hit with incredible magnitude, but not so much as a scratch!
"Impossible!"
The Giant brushed off his arm, "Fraid so, you seem to forget that I'm solid stone, it will take a lot better than your best shot to break through this hide."
"If you say so," She said, as she started to glow, and become Rema.
But then, her form began to change, it was no longer an Amazon, but a new creature all together. It was still female, but she was also part bird, she had taloned feet and hands. Her skin was a pale blue, she wore a leather garment on her front, her legs, on her arms and around her neck, she had wings of green feathers from her elbows to her wrists, her hair was a long and a dark red.
"HARPIE LADY SB!" She called out, as she took to the sky and flew above the clouds.
She flipped around, and made a plunge, straight for Dan!
Dan pulled back his weapon, and held it like a bat, ready to hit her out of the park.
But she came down with blinding speed!
"PHENIOX FEATHER ZEPHYR!!!"
Her wings were glowing with red fire!
She shot right down, her wings and claws grazing the Soldier's rocky form. But the power from her strike had clearly scorched the rock and left a definite crack in the body.
"You were saying?" She said.
Dan simply said, "You had your shot. My turn."
The Giant rock pulled his other blade from his sheathe, and held them at his side. Just then, a powerful force was being exerted from the giant's body.
The ground was pulsating, and was being drained of strength, but it seemed to be flowing straight for Dan!
"TERRA THUNDER SWORD!!!" He swung both swords at the same time, following their descent were powerful shockwaves of force flying right at her!
Kuro braced herself, as the powerful air current sent her flying backwards and crashing into the trees.
Dan, sheathed his weapons, "And then there were none." His giant form was encompassed in energy, and shrank down into a much smaller form.
The being, in a single bound, landed, over the wall next to the open door of the castle.
Dan was back to his human form, a tall kid, 5.10 He was heavy set, his muscles around his arms and legs were large, as was his waist. He wore a bright orange t-shirt, a pair of khaki jean shorts, steel toed boots, and on his head was an Indiana Jones style hat. His eyes were blue, and his hair was a very light blonde, and on his left arm, was a Dueling Brace of the Thousand Dragon.
"Well that was fun." He humored himself, as he stepped inside.
He put his fingers to his lips, and blew a loud whistle, one so loud it rang through the halls of the castle like a siren.
Just then, a small creature flew towards him, it was a bright orange dragon, with small claws, horns, and talons.
Dan held out his arm as the dragon perched on top, it was a Baby Dragon, but with emerald green eyes.
"Nice to see you again, have you found it yet?"
The little creature on his arm nodded his head.
"Good, let's go hunting."
Back outside, Nick, Aaron, and V had picked up Dalin, and now had just grabbed ahold of Sarah.
"So what's the deal with this guy?" Aaron asked, as they all rode their dragons.
"He's a powerful duelist; he's been the champion of nine tournaments, one after the other. Not many have managed to beat him." V said.
"But he's known more for being a thief, he's managed to grab all sorts of valuables from any kind of safe or lock, no security system has thwarted him." Nick stated.
"Till now." A voice said, as Kuro flew up behind them.
"You ok?" V asked.
"Good enough, I'll take the back door in." Kuro said.
"You know you can't beat him on your own." Nick said.
"Well see." Kuro said coldly, as she dove back under the clouds.
"Why'd you do that?" Aaron asked.
"Reverse Psychology, works every time." Nick said.
"Oh brother." V shook his head, as they descended towards the castle.
Back in the castle, or more appropriately, in the vault hallway, Dan had just got off the elevator.
"So you say this is where all the valuables are?" He asked his dragon, who simply nodded in reply.
"Then I guess we'd better get going." He said, taking several cards off his deck and slammed them on his brace.
"Stray Lambs, Scapegoats go!" He commanded, as a flock miniature sheep appeared in front of him, and they stampeded across the hall.
Just then, all of them sprouted stingers and insect wings.
DNA Surgery
Just then, a sticky web spewed from under one of the sheep, and a giant brown spider jumped from under the tile, devouring it in one shot.
Jirai Gumo
But as the rest of the swarm headed forward, a net of yellow energy beams cut them off.
Insect Barrier
Dan drew a card from his deck and played it, "Remove Trap."
A card appeared with the image of a broken bear trap, just then all the sheep returned to normal and continued on their trek.
An interesting first line defense, I wonder what else she's planning.
As the steep drew closer to the end of the hall, more traps began to emerge.
First one of the sheep was sucked into the floor and shot up through the roof.
Compulsory Evacuation Device
Just then, another trap went off, a group of small monsters, each was a disgusting little midget with bad teeth, each had there own ugly characteristics and own color.
Ojama Trio
Then the three uglies came charging and smashed all but one of the sheep, who went along as though nothing happened.
And then, a 3 clawed arm shot out of the wall and sliced the sheep to ribbons!
Wall Shadow
"My, she's put together a pretty descent security system. I'm going to have to write her a thank you letter for the workout." He said, as stepped back and began running down the hall!
He pushed off on one of his steps and flipped, just as the Landmine Spider shot up to eat him.
He landed on the Evacuation pad, however, with his added weight of 224, he forced the pad to turn. Instead of shooting him through the roof, he was shot across the hall!
The trio and Wall Shadow tried to intercept him, but he was going to fast!
And with one final flip, he landed past the monsters and at the door, "Raigeki!!!"
He threw a massive blast of electricity, and blew away all of the monsters behind him, and roasted a hole through the vault door.
Dan waited a sec for the metal to cool, then he pried the door open.
Just then, a fist came flying and nailed him in the face, sending him reeling back wards.
Kuro was ready, panting, but was aggravated more than anything else.
"Step into my parlor." She spat, as she raised her fists like a boxer.
Dan picked his hat off the floor, "Nice punch, here's mine!"
Just then, his body began to faze as he moved with blinding speed, and appeared right on top of her, with his fist coming straight down!
She flipped out of the way, and tried to use her legs to nail him as he came down, but they simply bounced off the muscled exterior.
"Nice try cupcake."
Kuro's normally moderate tempter was now skyrocketing to Volcanic!
"What'd you say? That's it you're dead!" She growled as she clinched her fists.
"Go ahead and try." Dan said, goading her on.
"Don't bother."
The two looked behind them, Sarah, Dalin, and the others were watching them.
"Rather than beating the crap out of each other, how bout you settle with a duel." V suggested.
"Fine with me, if I win, I'll be helping myself to your vault." Dan said, his brace humming with energy.
"And If I win, I'll be sending your rear in the brig." Kuro said.
"Oh no you don't, not with out me." A voice called out from behind her.
It was coming from inside the vault, a guy who had blonde hair, piercing black eyes, he was decked out in an all black ensemble of a T-shirt and pants. On his left arm was a Duel brace, a large brownish dragon, with bright red eyes.
"Vic, leave this to me." Kuro said.
"Kuro, your exhausted, I can't let you duel this guy." Vic said, stepping next to her.
"Who's he?" Aaron asked.
"He's Vic, one of the Vault's many categorizers. He's a good duelist, but he's stayed out of many of the fights, and Dan is an ace, not just anyone can take him on." Dalin stated.
"But he's the only one who hasn't gotten his face beaten into the ground today." Nick said.
"Stay out of it Vic, He's gone after my Vault and he's going to pay." Kuro warned.
"How bout I take you both on? Neither of you 2 is going to back down, so let's get this duel going." Dan said, his brace unfolding.
"Fine." They said, as their braces unfolded.
The air in the hall had become still, it was now time for them to face one of the Dark Side's strongest.
To be continued...