Atop a large mountain, Dan and Nick were holding up the rear, both of whom were doing there best to ignore each other. Sarah and Amy gave a slight sigh as they looked over their shoulders at the two, while Kristin and Kathryn headed their troop up the rocky embankments.
"How much farther?" Dan asked.
"Not too far, we're almost to the summit." Kathryn called back.
Dan gave a slight grin, as he crouched back, "Seeya Nick, Ladies, hang on."
In an amazing blast of speed, he shot pass Amy and Sarah, and picked up the two older women in his arms and was shooting towards the top of the mountain.
"Oh no you don't, Amy and Sarah, brace yourselves!" Nick warned, as he began to glow with a golden radiance.
An in the next moment, the three of them vanished off the mountain top, only to appear atop the summit. But as they materialized, Dan crashed into them at full speed!
The girls were sent flying through the air, but Kathryn and Kristin landed on their feet, catching Amy and Sarah as they fell. Dan and Nick on the other hand went sliding across the ground and skidded to a stop.
"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" the two growled at each other as they sprang back to their feet and their faces were about an inch apart.
"QUIT IT!" Sarah shouted, "For crying out loud you are acting like 3 year olds."
"He started it." The two claimed, pointing at each other.
"And people wonder why we have a no male policy in the temple." Kathryn said.
"Huh?" The DDL and the Horseman asked, as they looked behind them, to see a massive temple, its gates were a 40 foot tall Oriental with an emerald paint job, and standing on pedestals on the sides of the gate were large Tiger statues, each was carved in the position that they were bounding into the air.
"Impressive front door. But what's on the inside?" Dan asked.
"Off limits to men, but especially thieves." Kathryn stated coldly, but the demonic stare she emitted from her eyes caused both Dan and Nick to crouch in fear for their lives.
"Sorry Guys, but you'll have to stay out here, don't worry, we'll send out some blankets and dinner for you if you want to stay on the mountain." Kristin said, as she led the two DDL girls inside.
"Take care Nick." Amy waved.
"Don't kill each other." Sarah warned.
As Kathyrn followed them behind the gate, twin doors that had to weight 20 tons each swung forth and slammed the doorway shut with a loud bang!
Dan and Nick stood quietly, apparently stunned by the sudden events, but with shocking speed, they turned to each other and pointed, "IT'S YOUR FAULT!"
Back in the Soul Stone Chamber, Erin had been watching the clouds roll by, waiting for Aaron to figure out how to beat the puzzle or how long till he'd have to give up and try again.
The sun was beginning to set in the distance; the hour had gotten late in the day, and so far Aaron had not come up for a break.
Erin looked at the cave entrance and still no sign of him climbing his way out, it was beginning to worry her.
He's as stubborn as a mule; I don't think he'd be able to beat the wall on his first time in the pit. Valkyrion's test is more than just a slight difficultly and going after it half- heartened is a failure waiting to happen. But I sense he's got a will strong enough to cover come that test, he just needs a change in perspective.
She got up off the grass and dusted herself off, "I better go check on him." She said to herself, as she headed down towards the entrance.
Descending down into the depths of the cavern, she wondered what was with the silence; it was like she was walking straight into a tomb. As she reached the end she heard heavy panting. Sounds like he's exhausted, how has he been doing?
And around the final corner, she saw something shocking. Aaron's breaths were labored, the left side of his face bruised and bleeding down onto his shredded shirt and worn pants. His chest, was patched with blue bruises, and partially splashed with the blood from his head. His arms were cut and purple and lying on the ground next to him were his broken glasses.
He hasn't given up yet? What is trying to do? Kill himself?
She watched him struggle to get back on his feet, nearly falling over in the process. In his right hand, he held a rock, and he gripped it hard. His good eye widened as he growled, "HEYAH!"
He pulled back and chucked the hunk of stone straight for the center panel, causing it to recede into the wall. He started a mad dash towards the wall.
Erin watched him, if anything remained rational inside his broken body, but no sign of it could be seen on his enraged face. It was twisted with anger, but a feeling inside of her told her that under all the bruises and madness, it was determination that was fueling him.
Suddenly one of the drawers, the upperleft, fired out at him.
Aaron, with a quick glance with his good eye, swung his fist, slamming it against the face of the drawer. The object shook for a second, and then receded into the wall.
He's figured out the first half! Erin exclaimed to herself, But does he know how to finish it?
However, the panel on the bottom center shot forward, nailing Aaron's left leg head on. The sudden pain caused him to slouch forward, and land on his right knee. He didn't have time to react, as the center left panel shot forward, and smashed him in the face!
The impact crunched his nose sent him flying backwards, his face covered in blood and eyes closed. He hit the ground hard, and his limbs fell limp at his sides. Erin got over her initial shock and ran over to the wounded duelist, he wasn't going to die in this world where the laws of physics had been curtailed, but the pain was going to make him feel like a corpse nonetheless.
Erin reached down and pressed her hand against his chest, checking to see if he had any broken ribs, giving a slight sigh of relief when she didn't. But with all the battered damage he had received, without the rage he had driving him during the test, he was probably going to be immobilized with pain.
She looked over to the side of his head; he nearly crushed the remnants of his glasses when his head hit the ground. She picked them up gently and put them under her breast plate, then turned her attention to the unconscious boy before her.
Stubborn little fool, humph. She thought to herself, Just like him though.
She wrapped her arm around his waist and his left arm over her shoulder, "Let's call it a day." She whispered into his ear as she carried the boy up and out of the cavern.
Once back outside, she looked at the poor excuse of the face she had known for the past month. The light of the sun was fading fast, but the shadows cast upon the damaged body made him seem like he had crawled out of a war zone.
"It never ceases to amaze me that a wall can wail on someone so hard," she smirked, but then she took into account that the poor boy couldn't hear what she was saying. "Hang on Aaron, I'll have you battering that wall by tomorrow morning."
I hope.
Back in the real world, Paul and Justin had arrived back at the SLC, Richard was waiting by a doorway in the Command Center while the SDL conversed.
"Nice job out there Paul, you were incredible." Kyle complemented.
"It was nothing." Paul said solemnly, but with a smile on his face.
"Any clues on what the heck those trash cans are and what they were doing coming after us?" Justin asked.
"Sorry, so far we've been doing search procedures to find the manufacturer from the fried wreckage from the restaurant, but so far we've been running into dummy companies and layers upon layers of bullshit." Josh stated.
"It's like your friends out there came out of thin air." Mike said exasperated, as he folded his arms behind his head.
"Oh I don't think so. Take another look." Richard called from the doorway, as he chucked the salvaged robot head at the group. Josh raised his hand and caught it in mid air.
"Whatcha getting at Rich?" Kyle asked.
"The optical piece is made with a different kind of technology than a camera lens. It's designed with a photosensitive material that absorbs light, all across the spectrum, and collects data on objects that reflect the majority of the ambient light. It's meant to lock onto patterns that reflect light on a certain wavelength, the wavelength that corresponds with the Rema conduction fields found in certain humans," Richard said, as he stepped down the metal stairs to join the group.
"The certain humans, called Dragon League Duelists, Daikai, or simply Seekers, because its only people such as us whose Rema is enough to appear on these eyes." He finished, pointing at the camera.
"And this helps us how?" Josh asked.
"Its unconventional technology, meaning there's a limited number of facilities capable of producing it." Justin said.
"How'd you know what this thing is?" Paul asked.
"My family didn't get as rich as it is by being ignorant of the advancements in all lucrative fields." Richard said smugly.
"Lucrative as in Weapons R and D?" Mike asked.
"Science in general, but the US Military is quite the pioneer eh? Anyway, I believe I can track down the facility that produced the camera, there by which you can find out who bought them, and created our party crashers." Richard stated calmly.
"Richie's pullin his weight after all." Josh smiled.
"The only thing that weights him down at all is the wad of cash he has in his pants pocket." Kyle muttered under his breath.
"Alright then, give me a few hours and I'll have a name for you, where or not it's the right one is up to you to find out." Richard said casually as he headed back up the steps and towards the door.
"I'm gonna keep my eye on him, what about you Paul?" Kyle asked.
"I'll," Paul said, pausing for a second, "wait this one out, tell me when you get a name." He then proceeded to leave through a door on the opposite side of the room.
Josh and Kyle exchanged glances then turned to Justin, "You wanna keep an eye on him?"
"Do I have a choice?" Justin asked, but shrugged, "Fine, I'll go with him, but I expect a raise if all I'm doing is babysitting around here."
"Check's in the mail." Josh responded and pointed towards the door.
Justin headed after Paul, and Kyle ran up the steps after Richard, and Josh peered over Mike's shoulder, scanning for any trouble on the screens.
Back on the Mountain top, Dan and Nick had ended their bickering session and decided to remain silent, though clearly, neither was willing to back down from accusing the other of all the misfortune that had been happening so far.
Both had come close to start their epic arguments again, but so far each was waiting for the other to start it, and the tension was growing ever so steadily.
"Oh settle it with a duel and be done with it!" A voice broke the silence.
The two turned their heads towards the wall of the temple, a young girl, no less than 12 years old was watching them, with curly red hair and green eyes.
"She does have a good suggestion." Dan pointed out.
"I'm up for it, and its time to see what you can do." Nick grinned as he turned to face him, his duel brace's eyes glowed as it unfolded into position.
Dan took in a breath, and then raised his arm, his duel brace arming up for action.
"You're going down Dan." Nick vowed, as he drew his first 5 cards.
"Let's see if you can make it happen." Dan challenged, as he drew 6, signifying he had first turn.
"I summon The Giant Soldier of Stone in attack mode!" He declared, as in a massive surge of energy, the humongous sentinel appeared, holding both of its stone sabers in a cross. (1300/2000)
"And I end my turn with one card face down." Dan finished, as a card appeared to his far left.
Nick drew his 6 card and glanced at it for a second, then said, "I'll summon the Blindly Loyal Goblin." Appearing in a quick burst of light was human sized ogre, he was a dull brown shaded, wearing a pair of pinkish purple pants, and a metal breast plate. He had a rather clueless expression on his tiny horn sprouting face. And carrying at his side was a sword, not very long but an average weapon none the less. (1800/1500)
"I place two cards facedown and end my turn." Nick said as two cards appeared in front of him. Dan's strategy the last time I saw him in action was wide ended monster destruction and the Gate Guardian, but its been a few months since then, so I wonder if anything's changed.
Dan drew his next card and said, "I activate Graceful Charity, I draw 3 and discard 2." As he did, he pulled a card from his hand and threw it into his brace, "I activate the Cost Down Card, I discard one card from my hand, and I can lower all the levels of the monsters in my hand by 2, so now I summon Blowback Dragon."
Appearing on the far right of Dan appeared the large machine dragon, its red armor's luster shined with the sun in the sky. It turned is cannon barrel head until it was facing Nick, (2300/1200)
I thought as much, but not this time!
"Fat chance, Trap Hole!" Nick called out as his facedown card flipped over. A vast pit appeared under Dan's newly summoned monster, as it sank beneath the surface and into the graveyard.
Dan however, didn't seem affected by what just happened and continued to play, "I now I set a card facedown, and end my turn."
He's being strangely defensive, when he went against Kuro and Vic he was a freakin bulldozer plowing through them. However, something's up. He left that cinderblock of a soldier in attack mode, and now he has two cards face down. He's planning something, but if all I do is wait for it to spring, I'll end up falling into it anyway.
Nick drew his next card, and said, "I summon Chick the Yellow!"
Appearing to the left of the Goblin was Chick, the young boy of the Dark Scorpions, his blonde hair waved in the mountain breeze; he reached over his shoulder and grabbed a hold of his mallet. (1000/1000)
"Is that supposed to scare me?" Dan asked the monster, pointing at the weapon. Chick responded with a growl and a fierce stare, gripping the handle of his hammer tighter.
"Mock all you want, but I'm afraid you're the one whose gonna be doing the crying. I activate my Magic card, Secret Pass to the Treasures." Nick said, as the card appeared along side him, glowing brightly and causing Chick to glow as well.
"This allows my monster to by pass that soldier of yours and go straight for your life points!" Nick called out as Chick sped down the space between the Soldier's massive legs, and dove straight for Dan!
Dan keenly reacted as Chick swung the hammer, swinging his right fist, he stopped the hammer in mid strike and sent Chick flying backwards, however the effect and damage already engaged. (7000)
"Chick's special ability allows him to send one card from the field back to your hand, and I choose your Stone Soldier!"
A large vibration shook the ground, as Dan's monster was forced off the field, and returned back to his hand.
"Ok Goblin, your turn!" Nick commanded, as his monster charged forth and attempted to jab Dan in the chest.
Dan once again did not put up a Rema barrier, instead he charged forth and linedrived Nick's monster into the ground, but it didn't do well for his life points, (5200).
"And that's all for me." Nick said, glancing at Dan's two facedown cards.
"Fine then, I draw." Dan said, adding a card to his hand, leaving him with 3 cards, one of which was his Soldier of Stone. He raised his hand and said, "I activate my facedown card, Card Destruction, and send the cards in our hands to our graveyards, and redraw from our decks equal to what we discard."
Nick looked at his hand briefly before tossing away, and redrew 2 cards, Wait a sec, he's been throwing away cards all duel, something's up!
Nick glanced at his duel brace and looked at Dan's Graveyard counter. So far Dan had discarded 10 cards, Graceful Charity, Monster Reborn, Time Wizard, Cost Down, Polymerization, Blowback Dragon, Card Destruction, Stone Soldier, Raigeki, and a Pot of Greed.
Am I hallucinating? He's thrown away a Pot of Greed and a Raigeki?
Dan continued with his turn and said, "I set two cards facedown, and end my turn."
Nick stared at Dan's field and knew something was definitely wrong, I'm walking right into a trap and I can't even stop my self, I'll have to hope this card counts.
Nick drew a card, and smiled, "I play the Magic of Double Spell."
He reached into his hand and threw away Dark Scorpion Poison, and held up his hand, "For the cost of a magic card from my hand, I get to take one of your cards in your graveyard, and I'll take your Graceful Charity."
After playing it he drew 3 cards, and threw two into the graveyard. But Dan raised his hand, "And now I'll activate my facedown card, Fiend's Comedian!"
Nick cringed; a card that stupid can only mean one thing.
"My trap works like this," Dan said, as a purple skinned comedian monster sprouted from the card, "My comedian is going to try and make your monsters laugh, if It does, say goodbye to the cards in your graveyard, if not, I must send cards equal to the amount in your graveyard from my deck to the graveyard."
The comedian apparition ran up to Nick's monsters ears and whispered something into their ears. However, both of Nick's monsters apparently didn't understand whatever the fiend was saying and simply shook their heads.
"Looks like I lost." Dan said solemnly.
No, you knew it was going to happen, and now I'm in trouble.
Dan took the top 6 cards of his deck and threw them into his graveyard. Then grinned, "Now I activate my Trap card Exchange of the Spirit!"
Damn it! I was right!
"Since I have 16 cards in my graveyard, I can pay up 1000 life points, and switch our decks with our graveyards. And since you only have 6 cards in your graveyard, that's all the turns you have left before you automatically lose."
Nick growled, but knew the game wasn't over yet, but with only 6 cards left in his deck, he was at a serve disadvantage. "Well my turn isn't done yet! I summon Don Zaloog!"
Nick's prized Thief appeared alongside Chick and the two exchanged a high five, (1400/1500)
"Am I supposed to be afraid of that amateur?" Dan asked rather pompously.
"Take a look Dan, you have no monsters out on the field, and if you know how to count, you can see I have just enough fire power to wipe out your life points!" Nick called out, as his monsters lunged for Dan.
"Nice try, but you forget my facedown card, Call of the Haunted, and I use it to call my Barrel Dragon to the field." Dan countered, as his metal dragon cannon appeared infront of him growling at Nick's monsters as they stopped their assault. (2600/2200)
Damn! I'll have to bide my time.
"I end my turn."
"Goodie." Dan said as he drew his next card, "I play Pot of Greed, and draw 2 cards."
Nick glowered in frustration, He's been leading me on since we started and now he's got me cornered.
"I play Polymerization; I fuse the Barrel Dragon on the field with the Blowback in my hand!" He shouted as the swirling vortex appeared and engulfed his monster on the field.
Appearing next was a machine of ruthless design, it rolled on a pair of wheels reminiscent of the ones that drew cannons and gattling guns back in the early 19th century, however they were lined with razor sharp spikes. The main body was the heavy armored, but now its appendages were connected by long gray hoses, each with a gatling gun in the end, including the one that comprised its head, but instead of an armor plate surrounding it like on its arms, under the barrel was a the jaw of the Barrel dragon.
"Meet the Gatling Dragon." (2600/1200)
"I was better off with the last one." Nick muttered to himself.
Meanwhile, Inside the temple. Sarah and Amy were being lead through to the center. So far they had witnessed amazing spectacles of the Rema manipulation the HDL had been able to produce; trees that manifested themselves to be used as chairs, ice statues that never melted, gardens of crystal, and many others.
"How do you guys make all of this happen? We haven't seen many Seekers with this kind of power." Sarah asked.
"It comes from extreme study and practice. Rema is the life blood of matter, energy and thought in living creatures, and by learning to utilize it through each of the spiritual elements, amazing feats can be conceived. No other league has progressed as far as we have into the understanding of it and the potential it is capable of." Kristen said, as they entered the hall.
The room itself was rather plain, polished wooden floors surrounding a red carpet with a large fire roaring in the center of the room. Many drapes hung around the ceiling, each of brilliant and dark tones. The room was quite dark, cept for the flame in the center, leaving the walls cast in shadow. Their appeared to be a doorway on the other side of the room, but it was blocked off with a rather large slab of rock; many Chinese talismans were strapped to the hulk of stone, signifying that neither living nor nonliving, holy or damned were getting in there.
Kristen and Kathryn stepped towards and sat around the blaze, Amy and Sarah soon followed till they were sitting in each of the cardinal positions.
"So why'd you bring us here?" Amy asked.
"We come here to this room to speak with the forces of nature, sense disturbances in the world, and to focus our skills. The flame you see here was forged by the feather of a Phoenix; its power has kept this blaze going for the past 2000 years. We have come to call it the Ember of Eternity, since it's more than likely that human kind will be extinct before this flame will ever fade. We use it as a focusing medium, with it we can see many things that are hidden from view and all around the globe." Kathryn said as the blaze jumped and roared, its fervor was incredibly intense.
"So you're going to show us how you do it?" Sarah asked.
"Sarah, you in particular can see things with far greater intensity than any of us. With the power of this blaze, you could see the very fabric of reality, the essence of existence. Humans who have gazed upon it are never the same, so I advise you to beware if you ever have to use it." Kathryn warned.
Amy glanced once again towards the stone, "So what's with that rock?"
Kristen jerked slightly, but responded, "It blocks the entrance towards the Fallen Shrine, a place where the early ones kept forsaken devices and magics that have since been sealed to prevent misuse. A lot of dangerous traps were set to prevent their theft, but after the last attempt, Cassidy ordered us to seal it with that rock, its core is made of solid iron and the talismans prevent any demons from attempting to touch it."
"Iron? Why?" Sarah wondered.
"Ancient civilizations long ago found that pure iron had a strange property, it was virtually magic resistant. I recall a member of your team who was a profound Gearfried user, who destroys magic cards that are equipped to him. The ancient power of iron is only awakened from blessing it, and hence why its strength is unparallel in this temple." Kathryn said, as the fire began to glow brighter, turning white hot.
"What's happening?" Amy asked.
"Something is amiss. The Ember is an embodiment of the Rema's balance in the world, it flickers because the world is in constant disarray, but this is different. Some thing wrong is happening, and the flame is responding in turn." Kathryn spoke as she turned to Kristen, "Go and fetch Emily, we'll need her to see if we can find what is disturbance."
But as Kristen headed out of the room, Sarah asked, "Why not use the Ember to find it?"
"It's wise not to mess with fire, especially the kind that came from a phoenix. Trying to see through it now would be the equivalent of sticking your brain it in. The Rema flowing in that blaze is more potent than that of the whole population of New York."
Amy suddenly felt cold, like a frigid breeze had flown into the room, but the room was especially warm from the incredible fire in front of her, Something is really wrong, I can feel it in my bones.
Back outside, Dan suddenly twitched, feeling the same freezing sensation that Amy had just gone through. But he didn't dwell on it, his dispute with Nick came first.
"I now use my Dragon's effect, by flipping 3 coins, I can destroy up to 3 monsters by how many heads I claim, so here goes." He said, as he pulled 3 quarters out of his pocket and shot each into the air.
Each thudded onto the sandy ground, and sadly for Nick, each was a heads. The Gatling Dragon's guns fired a barrage of bullets that sawed through each of Nick's monsters, and leaving him wide open.
"Now I attack with My Gatling Dragon, Bullet Barrage!" Dan shouted as all three of the guns fired at Nick!
Nick held up his hand, and shouted, "I activate Ordeal of a Traveler!" His facedown card flipped up, and the bullets froze in midair.
"In order for your attack to go through, you have to guess what the type of card in my hand is." Nick explained.
"I know, and I'm betting the card in your hand is a Monster card." Dan grinned.
Nick scowled, as he held it up, it was a Karate Man. And he quickly focused as he brought up a Rema field, causing the bullets to disperse. His Life points dropped to 5400.
"And now I activate my De-Fusion card, and spilt my monster back into his original parts."
Nick couldn't believe it, as the monster glowed for a moment before it split in half, but the glowing parts returned to its two machine dragon halves, (2600/2200) (2300/1200)
"And since I know your card, your trap is invalid, so I attack once again and devastate your life points!"
The two opened fire, and Nick's barrier buckled under the unbelievable stress of the fire, but it held. Nick's legs buckled for a second, his life points had dropped right to 500.
"There's nothing left for me. So the move is up to you Nick. I recommend you surrender while you can." Dan said, his voice was cold, but his eyes showed remorse.
"Sorry to disappoint you. But I'm not the kind of guy who gives up without a fight," Nick said, as he motioned his right hand toward his deck, "I know I've got less of a chance of survival than a snowflake in the desert,"
He clasped his fingers on his top card, "But there's no way I'm quitting now!" He shouted as he drew his card, and slammed it into his M/T slot on his duel brace, not even looking at it, and then stared at Dan with cold hard determination, "I'm done, and so are you!"
Dan raised an eyebrow, and asked, "What do you mean? You've got no monsters to stop me from wiping away the final specks of your life points."
"But I don't need a monster to finish you; because you've already dug yourself a grave, now I'll hammer in the last nail of your coffin! TRAP CARD GO!" Nick shouted, as the card flipped up.
Its image was that of a graveyard, a maelstrom of energy funneling above it, "CEMETERY BOMB!" Nick called out as the card began funneling an incredibly large charge!
"This card fires 100 points of damage for all the cards in your graveyard, and since you have over 3 hundred cards, that's 30,000 points of damage!"
Dan braced himself with both feet as the bomb went off, sending a massive shockwave heading straight for him! He threw out his hands and formed a huge wall of Rema, which began to crack under the incredible power of the trap!
The surge of power continued for another 10 seconds before finally dying down. Dan's monsters faded away, and his life points had dropped to zero.
Nick returned his duel brace to its folded position and walked over to Dan, who was now sitting on the ground. Dan's head was down, and his shoulders were quaking.
Was losing that bad? I didn't take the big guy for a crybaby.
Just then, he was bound in the massive limbs of Dan in a crushing embrace, and was nearly driven deaf by the sounds of laughter ringing out of him.
"You're not bad kid! You got guts." He said, tears in his eyes.
"And I'd like to keep 'em! Let go!" Nick shouted, as he felt his ribs starting to crack under the strain.
Dan let go of his bear hug, and sat down on the ground, but Nick had beat him to the ground and was now lying on his back, his limbs pinned to his sides.
Dan looked south, towards the closest city from the mountain, the scene was serene and peaceful, he reached into his pocket, and pulled out his hat, and plopped it onto his head. "That was fun eh?"
"Sure, why else would I be throwing my free time into saving the world?" Nick spat from his agony.
Dan froze for a sec, but then reached for his deck and went through it, and took a pair of cards out. He turned to Nick, and tossed them onto his chest, and pocketed his deck.
Nick lifted his head as best he could, and caught a glimpse what they were, a Greed card and a Pot of Greed.
"What's the deal?"
"You won the duel, so I figured you deserved a trophy, for pulling off a miracle." Dan smirked, as he continued to look towards the city.
Nick finally got feeling back in his limbs and took the cards and placed them in his Duel Brace, and looked over to Dan, "Why were you crying? It wasn't that funny was it?"
"You reminded me of an old friend; back when I was still a normal person." He said with a hint of anxiety in his voice, "He kinda looked like you, but a bit smaller and could take a bear hug unlike you."
Nick growled a little, but Dan continued, "He was a wise cracking idiot that always aimed for the impossible, and ended up having me bail him out of it. But he was a kind, hanged out with me when no one else would; stuck up for me when I got myself into messes I couldn't solve with my muscles, and was my best friend."
Nick pulled himself to his feet and asked, "So what happened?"
Dan remained silent, but Nick had spent plenty of time studying Dan's emotional behavior so far, and could tell whatever had happened to his friend was tearing at him from the inside.
"Hey, if you don't wanna ta-" Nick was interrupted by a huge Explosion!"
It was coming from the city, a huge portion had simply been leveled to the ground. A single tower of a building, probably a hotel, was standing in the void of space that was at least 12 city blocks. Smoke was flowing from the top floors, and wisps of orange flame erupted from the black veil.
Dan's gaze flashed to Nick, it was intense, but Nick understood and nodded quickly. The two of them seemingly vanished into thin air as they sped towards the burning building.
Inside the Temple courtyard, Amy felt the ground shake, and looking up into the sky she could she the black smoke from the hotel. She was alone outside, since Sarah had remained in the Ember Chamber with Kathryn, but she had left to find out what was wrong on her own.
Well when there's smoke…
She held out her arm, and her duel brace unfolded, and she held up her Lily card. But as she prepared to place it on her brace, an arm landed on her shoulder. She turned her head to see it was Kristin, she said in a calm voice, "You're going to need help, fire's a kinda of a breeze for me, so count me in."
"Thanks, SPIRIT MERGE!" She called out as the brace exploded with energy and she was swept up in a funnel of Rema.
Barreling out of it was Lily, and Kristin riding shotgun as they soared with blinding speed for the damaged city.
Dan and Nick had already arrived in the destroyed section of the city, the ground was littered with hundreds of tons of debris. Whatever had happened had to have leveled the structures in a matter of seconds, snuffing whatever was alive in them, thankfully a swift death. But there was no clue as to why the single building in the center of the destruction was still standing, but burning.
"Any idea what happened?" Nick asked.
"Explosions and Implosions are unlikely, the destruction is too clean for any normal means of mass annihilation, and the hotel there would have gone first if either had." Dan pointed out.
Nick looked behind them, and saw that the debris was clogging up the roads, no way a fire truck would be able to get into handle the fire. He looked up and saw that the fire wasn't going to end on its own, "You ready to be a fire man fat man?"
"I wouldn't mind, but I think they would." Dan said, as his duel brace unfolded.
Nick looked down as he saw a large number of figures running towards them, they came in three different colors of red, white, and blue, and each was about 5.6. They wore Japanese ninja outfits, covering all but their eyes, which were as blank as snow banks. The blue carried long poles with crescent sickles on the ends, the red carried with them twin curved sabers, and the white carried throwing stars and kunais.
"Armed, Crimson and White Ninjas. Looks like we got a work out." Dan cracked his knuckles.
"I'll handle it." Nick said, as he took out Don Zaloog and unfolded his brace.
However, a swift bolt shot right pass them and over the incoming forces. Nick and Dan both hit the dirt when they realized what it was, as a sonic boom cut through the air and knocked the army of ninjas to the ground.
Lily waved to Nick as Kristin jumped off the syringe and plummeted towards the ground. Her hair was flapping in the draft as she held out her hand, and her duel brace began to shine like a star.
"Wha?" Nick wondered, "That's not the same light as a spirit merge, what's she doing?"
"I see you've never seen the HDL fight, watch and learn." Dan said as he picked himself up.
Kristin flipped as shouted, "SNODIN!"
Her duel brace flashed even brighter and a huge streamer of energy spun around her. Wrapping around her legs were cerulean leg guards, they were very vibrant and scaled like armor, with similar shielding found on the top of her shoes. Appearing around her neck was a strange shoulder armor that stretched across her chest, similarly designed and even sleeker in appearance. And appearing on her right arm was a recreation of a Levia Dragon Head, it wasn't to lifesize, but it had all the scales, fangs and the 4 eyes of the might creature, but a strange port was present at the base of the skull. And finally, a strange looking spear was on her left arm, or more accurately a harpoon; it was ended with a standard arrow head but the blades were serrated, and on the end of the pole were 3 red sharp blades sticking out on both sides.
"What the heck is that?" Lily wondered.
"It looks like body armor, but nothing I've ever seen before." Nick stated, as Kristin continued her rapid descent.
"It's called R.S.W., or Rema Solidified Weaponry, The Blades of the Holy Dragon." Dan answered, as he watched the Tsunami Duelist pulled back her right arm.
"LEVIA SHREDDER!" She shouted, as the Sea Serpent's head launched off her arm and sailed straight towards the ninjas!
The weapon plowed straight through the army of ninjas like a knife through butter, the edges of the head were spraying blades of highly pressurized water, slicing apart whatever got in the way! As the weapon sliced through the back end of the forces, a streamer of energy flew back from the port and attached back to Kristin's arm. With a tug from her arm, the weapon pulled back along the energy chain, and snapped back to her.
"RW.S. is the primary form of combat used by the HDL, instead of using transformations or technology, they utilize their Rema and form living weaponry out Monster card spirits, they provide excellent offensive capabilities and are only limited by the power of your creativity." Dan explained, as he pulled out his Stone Soldier card.
"Even so, she's out numbered." Nick said, as he placed Don on the duel brace.
"So let's get started." Dan smiled, as their duel braces began shining.
"SPIRIT MERGE!"
The Giant Soldier of Stone lunged from its vortex with amazing speed, Don was riding atop his head as they slid across the devastation towards the army.
Lily pointed her syringe down as she began a steep descent upon the battlefield, the air around the needle's point was beginning to swirl with energy, and the charge itself was magnifying as she plunged even faster!
Kristin watched in surprise as Dan's massive, merged form crashed straight down into the mass of monsters, crunching over 50 percent and sending the survivors running to escape the sliding bolder. She flipped once again and landed on Dan's backside, and said, "Nice entrance."
"I aim to please."
"Well they aim to kill! Look out!" Don shouted as a hail of Kunai flew from the sides of Dan's body.
"DAN MOVE!"
The Stone Soldier suddenly jerked, and in surprise to his riders, vanished into thin air!
The next thing Don and Kristin knew, they were standing in the open palms of the Stone Soldier, roughly 36 yards from where they were. The hail of Kunais landed meaninglessly on the ground where their target had disappeared.
"How did-" Kristin wondered aloud, but was interrupted by Dan.
"Look up."
She glance up, and saw Lily's syringe was overloading, but she held it directly toward the ground, and pulled up the plunger.
"NEEDLE SHATTERSHOT!" She shouted as she let the plunger fall like a hammer.
Flying out of the needle was a hail of energy bolts in the shape of needles, but in the firing pattern of a shot gun!
Hundreds upon hundreds of yellow bolts rained down on the ninjas, shredding and tearing apart the ninjas and vaporizing them back into the Rema energy that spawned them. As the dust cleared, nothing was left but a shallow crater.
"Nice." The giant golem said in his deep voice.
"She knows how to clear a room." Don smirked, but got a smack across the back of his head.
"Whatca do that for?" Nick demanded, but Kristin didn't answer.
Lily took a moment to wipe her brow, That was tiring.
She suddenly felt the light behind her become eclipsed; she turned her head to see an assailant come up right behind her! He was 7 feet tall, in a black ninja suit, in his hand was a silver and razor sharp kunai, his face was hidden behind a golden face mask with a red headband, with blue eye lens. It was a Strike Ninja and was within killing range!
"AH!" She screamed as she raised her arms in defense.
The Ninja swung with lightning swiftness, but a sudden bolt smashed his hand, tearing a good portion of it off.
The next thing the Strike knew, it was in a very strong, and very hard grip! Dan had snagged him out of the air and in a single downward motion, slammed the ninja against the ground and threw all his weight onto his right arm, crushing him instantly.
Amy looked to see the giant standing below her, and Nick blowing the smoke from the barrel of one his pistols.
"You ok Amy?" Nick asked.
"I…I'm fine." She stuttered, then looking at the giant, who turned his monolithic head towards her, "Thank you."
The giant winked an eye, but suddenly focused his glance toward the hotel, Lily looked behind her to see another force of Ninjas evacuating the burning building.
"This is going to take forever!" Don growled as he pulled out his second pistol.
But to his surprise, a bright red streak flew from the sky and struck hard against the vanguard of the enemy.
The 4 looked behind them to see The Ancient Elf and another figure hanging in mid air. The second figure was Kathryn; however she was wearing similar gear to Kristin. Around her feet were pink fluorescent talons that were holding onto the Ancient Elf's shoulders, with similar colored plating surrounding her shins. Sprouting from her back were ragged but long wings of the same pink color, and scales ran down her arms that ended with sharp and jagged claws. Her face was encased with a helmet, it's resemblance to the Seiyaru was vague but all the characteristics of its head were present.
"Kristin, take Amy inside, the rest of us we'll handle them." She commanded.
"Alright, Amy you ready?" Kristin asked.
"Grab a hold." She said, as she drifted over to Dan's shoulder.
Kristin grabbed onto the Needle and the two flew towards the blaze of the hotel.
Nick jumped off Dan's shoulder as well and began firing, blasting several of the ninjas heads off and reducing them to vapor.
He landed with a loud thud as he landed on his feet, quickly holstering his weapons and dove forward into the crowd. Whipping out his blades, he sliced two Armed Ninjas jugulars before ducking under the slice of a Crimson, whom was soon decapitated and burst into vapor. Don's endurance was rivaled only by his fury as he slashed and dodged his way through the mass of the enemy.
Dan took a rather simple approach; he simply marched through the incoming forces, crushing at least 20 per step as he headed for the hotel. Meanwhile Kathryn and Sarah were gliding there way into the battle zone; Kathryn wasn't used to having passengers so the trip was progressing very slowly.
Kristin and Amy had entered the hotel through one of the burning windows, and had flushed out the flames when the got inside. The place was deserted, and flames had all but burnt out. Amy had changed back to normal since it was too cramped to carry around Lily's weapon, and they now were proceeding upwards toward the top.
As they continued, they failed to find any skeletons, or any charred bodies, or for that matter, any sign that any one was in the building when it had caught fire. The void of death, instead of being reassuring, it was starting to unnerve them.
They eventually came to a door, the sides of it were solid black from the fire and soot, and the door was fried to a crisp, however directly across from it was a large gaping hole that burned straight through to the outside.
"If I didn't know any better, Amy, I say that this is where the fire started. But it looks like the fire came right through the door, and for some reason it didn't incinerate." Kristin stated as she examined the door.
"Nothing's making sense today. But at least we have an idea where it started." Amy said, as she put her hand over the scorched door, but felt no heat.
"Let's see what's inside."
They pushed hard on the door, and got it out of the doorway and let it crumble to the floor. However, inside…
"Oh my God!" Kristin gasped.
Inside was a hellish sight, a body of a woman was strapped to a table, her body was barbecued and her flesh gone. The remains of a demonic seal were present on the table's surface, and 5 torches that surrounded the table had been knocked over. The whole room stank of death and burnt flesh, and the added darkness made it seem like they had just stumbled into the bowls of hell.
Amy turned her head to cry and Kristin resisted the urge to throw up, and from inside the room came a small crying. The two girls turned to look back in the room, and saw something moving, it was under the dead woman's body!
The two girls nodded to each other and headed inside, as they headed for the body. The closer they came to it, they saw that strange markings were still visible in the destroyed flesh, and that her abdomen was sliced open, still oozing.
And directly under it, was a crying baby infant, bundled in a dark black silk towel. It was a boy, but his skin was unusually blue, but he was crying and breathing perfectly healthy.
Amy carefully picked up the child, and slowly rocked and cooed the baby, "There, there, it's alright little guy."
Kristin, though disgusted, looked at the abdomen; the skin had been sliced open with a blade, all the way to her placenta.
"They cut her open like a fricken roast." She growled in anger.
"But what where they after? The baby?" Amy asked, as the baby grew quieter.
"That'd be my guess. But if that's the case, where are the butchers that did it?"
Amy looked at the child in her arms, its eyes were still closed, but it seemed so alive and alert. Something was special about this child, and they had killed his mother to get him.
"I can only hope they were lost in the fire, and won't be coming back for him." She spoke softly.
The two remained quiet, the battle outside was coming to a close and now they were to find out what were they going to do with a baby.
To be continued…
Next Time on the DDL:
An image of Aaron awakening appears, resting in a hot spring, "Where am I?" He wonders.
An image of the Dominance parked in a lake appears, inside Tobias is arguing with Bryan.
"So what if I'm a Horseman, you know I'm better than anyone else in that search party so why am I stuck on this tub?"
And in a small town neighboring the lake, Dalin is running for his life from a slow moving mob.
"Jacob! We got Zombies!
DDL Chapter 38: The Darkness of the Emperor Dragon.