It was barely a few minutes later when Ashley asked the Tyrant Dragon to return to the campsite, Kuro and her friends had long since disappeared with the mangled corpse of the traitor, and cleaned all evidence of such an encounter from the scene. Ashley, though shaken by the attempted rape, was more focused on Vic. The bullet had burst into hundreds of fragments upon impact, the Aceanap inside had sprayed over the wound track. She and Kevin did their best to clean the wound, and Vic was now resting by the reignited fire, compliments of the Tyrant Dragon. Ash looked at the Duel Brace, it had come alive when she needed it most, and now had gone to sleep as well.
"Thank you." She whispered to the device.
Kevin had decided to keep watch over them, probably scared about what happened within the past hour, and was patrolling the perimeter. Ashley wanted to thank him, but she knew he was probably was too concerned to even acknowledge it.
She peered over to Vic, his body apparently had a stronger regeneration system; the wound was already sealing itself the second the Aceanap was cleaned up. He was wrapped tight in bandages, and he looked very still.
She glanced over to his duel brace, and saw how worn it was, it had been through a lot since he had been a duelist for the DDL, and it looked like it was barely operating. "You need to take better care of you're stuff Vic." She said as she took the machine in her hands and started to see if there was anything she could do about it.
Suddenly a bright light flew from his deck, and appearing in a bright haze was a Pikeru, her fluffy pink hair was alight in the fire's blaze.
"Whoa." Ashley gasped.
"Is masta Vic awight?" The little girl asked.
Ashley looked at him and gave a somber look, "I wish I knew, there's so much more to this world than I could ever know, and he is just another mystery."
Pikeru stepped over to him and placed his head on her lap, "He'll be Okey. I will pwotect him." She said with a big smile on her face.
Ashley couldn't argue with her, despite her small size and cute behavior, she was a Duel Monster, and clearly had more power than she did. Ash pondered the strange attraction the chibi had with Vic, it seemed like she was more of a caretaker of him than a mere servant that she had seen so far in other monster human relations.
Vic began to stir, and open his eyes, the sky was still lit with the light of stars, and morning wouldn't be coming for another 9 hours. "Ash, are you ok?"
"I'm fine, shaken, but fine. How bout you? You got shot after all."
He gave a small smile, "As long as it wasn't silver, I'll be ok."
"Silver?" She asked.
Vic groaned as he picked himself up, Pikeru helped in steadying him. "I kinda have a small curse to deal with. Happened along time ago and since then I've stayed at the castle to keep myself together, Pikeru keeps an eye on me so I don't get hurt, right?"
"Wight!" The chibi chimed.
"What happened?"
Vic took in a deep breath, and answered, "Along time ago, I and my so called family ended up with our first real duel monster experience. It was late at night, I woke up to the sight of my brother being mauled by a Pitch Black Warwolf, a small pack of 3 had struck our house, and my parents were already dead. I knew I was going to die if I stayed, so I made a break for it and ran out of my house."
Ashley fell deadly silent, as Vic continued to speak, "I dodged the first two as I made it out the front door, but I didn't see the last one jump from the second story window and come down on top of me. I felt it bury its teeth in my shoulder, and I fell into shock. I couldn't move, I couldn't feel, I just felt empty. The next thing I knew, a bright beam of light scared them away, and Pikeru was standing over me. From that point on, Pikeru has been by mine side."
"What happened then?"
"I had to leave, the police would never have believed me, and I really never had a family, my parents were horrible and my brother was just as bad, even now I don't grieve for them. I took what I needed to survive and I hit the road. I went from town to town; stealing what I needed to keep me from starving, never feeling safe. One stormy night I came across a small town in the Appalachian Mountains. The town was flooding like a monsoon and the wind was howling like a beast. I had taken refuge in the local church; the priest was away on a trip to Rome so it was vacant. During the night, I heard a battle, an epic battle between Kuro and Casey."
"Why were they fighting?"
"Kuro joined the HDL when she was eleven, recruited because of her Rema powers and her strong connection to Duel Monsters. She served under their order for 2 years, training under the Senva of Focus, when she stole a sacred artifact from inside their temple. Casey soon caught up with her, and the two began to fight. Kuro was strong but Casey was a Senva, a master of combat. Kuro got the living crap kicked out of her." Vic remembered, grimacing at the sight of the powerful memory.
Vic continued, "I managed to pull her out of the fight, Casey had been injured in the fight, and had taken too much of a beating to keep up with me as a beast."
Ashley spoke up, "Is that when you joined the Dark Dragon League?"
"Almost, Kuro wasn't too thrilled about joining another League like she just ran away from. But she also knew that the HDL's forces were too much to face as a mere mortal, so she and I were on the run for a few months, living off the wild. But soon Casey caught up with us yet again, the only reason were still breathing was because of something strange."
"Strange?" Ashley asked, the term seemed to be quite flexible since the night had begun.
"As she prepared to drive her blade through Kuro's heart, a weird looking spellcaster appeared out of nowhere. Whatever it was it scared the living daylights out of the Senva because she took off with her tails between her legs. The thing told us it had come to save us so we could guide another to the truth."
"The truth?"
"It never explained, all it did was say that the Dark Dragon League was our best place to stay, the HDL wouldn't be allowed to come after us since we be under the guise of fellow Duelists for the Tournament. Kuro resented it at first, having to hide among those she despised, but after a while she grew more attached to us, like me, people didn't judge me for what I had become, and they accepted us."
"How long did you stay there before Aaron came along?"
"2 years, sure we were the only ones to live in the castle besides Kyle and Kara, but it was a home we were proud to live in. When Aaron came to live with us, we felt we were becoming a true family. And now you." He said, looking at her, his eyes watering.
Ashley reached over to him and rubbed his shoulder.
"So she's not coming back?"
"She's where she belongs, and that's all we can say." He said solemnly.
Kevin came beside them and sat down by the fire, "Well I've looked everywhere, no sign of anyone or anything coming back to get us."
"That's good to hear." Vic groaned a little, the wound flaring with some moderate pain.
"I don't think I can sleep after all that's happened, mind if either of you want to duel? I think we can all use the distraction."
"I'll give it a try." She said, as she stepped up. She looked at her new duel brace, "Need to give her a test drive anyway."
The two stepped 5 meters away from each other as they readied themselves for the duel, Kevin's strange dragon duel brace simmered to life as it unfolded for the duel.
Ashley's turned on, as the Phoenix's jaws opened up and her deck became visible, the left wing unfolded and even spaced slots for her cards were setup.
Ashley drew her 5 cards as Kevin drew his 6th. Vic and Pikeru watched from beside the fire, Pikeru was happy as a chibi could be, Vic was concentrating on Ash. He knew she had become a descent duelist, but Kevin was a veteran duelist, the Full Metal Dragon was rumored to be one of the strongest of the SDL, Josh and Justin apparently just outranking him.
"I'll start off with a monster facedown." And with that Kevin's turn came to an end, (1/0/5)
Ash drew her next card, and glanced at it carefully, "I'll summon my Archlord, The Agent of Creation-Venus!"
As she placed the card down, she felt the familiar flushing feeling of her Rema being drained to summon a card, and appearing in a flash of brilliant feathers was her monster. She stood roughly six feet tall, wearing a gown of bronze and gold, with silver gauntlets on her wrists. Her blonde hair floated in the air, but her eyes remained closed, as she opened a pair of large angel wings. She floated over to Ashley, and crossed her arms at Kevin. (1600/0)
"I'll set 2 cards; now Venus, I pay up 1500 life points to special summon 3 Mystical Shine Balls to the field." She called out as her life points dropped to 6500, but appearing before her were 3 balls of light. (500/500)x3
Pikeru turned to Vic, "Why Swe du dat?"
"Even though those are small balls, if they strike directly, Kevin will lose as many life points as she did to pay for them." Vic surmised by the current layout. Kevin hadn't set any facedown cards to enforce the monster, so if it fell, so would quarter of his life points.
"Venus attack, Meteor Volley!" She called out, as 3 orbs appeared rotating around her angel; a red on her left, a blue on her right and a purple hovered over her head. Each spun as they flung towards the facedown monster.
They crashed hard into the card, but the image didn't buckle!
"What the?" She gasped, her life points dropped to 5900.
The card flipped over, and appearing atop it was a rather large machine. It stood a little higher than Venus, and was a bout 5 feet wide with a pair of large shields dangling on its sides. Its body was made of steel with a light blue finish, bronze was it's small and diminutive head that rested in the center with a large spike hovering over it. It was finished with large and sharp spikes protruding around the sides of the body and shields, and it seemed to roll on its tiny legs. (800/2200)
"Gear Golem, the Moving Fortress. Should have guessed as much." Vic grumbled.
"Nice try Ash, but your little bubbles aren't getting through this defense."
Ash shook it off and said, "Oh well, I end my turn, but before your turn starts, I activate my trap."
"What?"
"Activate Solar Ray." She said, as the card flipped up, it looked like a Radiant Angel was shining.
"This card inflicts 600 points of damage to your life points for each of my light monsters, that means 2400 points of damage." She smiled, as 4 beams of light fired from each of her monsters and nailed him head on. (5600) (4/1/3)
"Draw." Kevin groaned as he drew his next card, "I summon my Mechanical Chaser."
Appearing along side the mini fortress was a small ball of terror. It had a face in the center of its green metal body, it had 6 small arms that extended from the center, and each armed with a different weapon. On its back was a pair of wings and a thruster that propelled the machine. (1850/800)
"I'll have him carve up that ball!" he called out as it flew towards Ashley's closest ball.
"I chain with Dimension Wall!" She called out as she flipped up her other facedown card, a vortex appeared as it sucked up his monster, the next thing Kevin knew, the monster had came behind him and slammed him to the ground, (4250)
He growled as he picked himself up and said, "I set 2 cards, and that will do it for me." (2/2/3)
Ash drew her next card, "I'm activating a Field Spell card, The Sanctuary in the Sky!" She called out as a slot opened on the tail end of her Duel Brace, and she threw it inside, and suddenly the ground began to change.
The ground was replaced with soft white clouds, and appearing behind Ashley was a huge ruin or temple, hanging in its center was a tower with a crescent shaped monument in the center, a glowing orb drifted in the void. The Angels Ashley had amassed drifted above her to hang in the sky.
"And now I summon my 5th monster, Archlord Mars, the Agent of Force!" She called out as she threw the card down, and a flash of fire burst across her field.
It floated alongside Venus, it was a male Angel, firey red skin with purple wings. He wore a red loin cloth and white pants, a brown wrap over his left shoulder, and a golden headdress. In his hands was a large stone hammer, and he looked mighty angry. (1650/1650)
"So? The guy is too weak to attack either of my monsters."
"Is that so? I play my Poison of the Old Man, and increase my life points by 1200! She said, as her lp rose to 7100, and Mars' began to glow brighter, (2850/2850)
"Crud!" Kevin growled, as the monster spun his hammer.
"Mars! Hammer of the Stars!" She called out as the monster flew down on Kevin's Mechanical chaser!
The Machine was crushed in a single swing, reducing it to slag. Kevin braced against the shockwave as his life points dropped to 3250, and Mars grew to 3850.
"Yey!" Pikeru cheered.
"Don't celebrate yet," Vic stated, "Kevin has yet to bare his teeth."
Ashley said, "I set one more card and I end my turn." (5/2/0)
"Draw." Kevin called out as he pulled it from his deck; his eyes glanced at the card, a flash of white. Yes.
"Activate second Solar Ray!" She called out, and 5 beams of light lanced from her monsters and struck him dead on.
Kevin crouched on his knee, his life points down to 250. He looked at Mars, his power rose 3000 to 6850.
"Not bad Ashley." He said, as he picked himself off the ground, and looked at her straight in the eye. "But I'm afraid I've got this victory in the bag."
"What! How? Mars almost has 7000 points, there's no machine that can reach that high."
Kevin looked at her with almost paralyzing confidence, "True enough, but there's always a way, and mine is one with Blue Eyes."
Vic's eyes bulged, "No way! He can't have gotten it in time."
"I play my Call of the Haunted, this card resurrects my Mechanical Chaser, but he'll only be around long enough for my ultimate monster." He said, as the machine appeared in a haze of purple fog.
"I now sacrifice both of my Machines," He called out as the two were transformed into light.
"I call forth!" He shouted as a powerful down pouring of energy filled the air, and appearing in all its majestic glory was…"Blue Eyes White Dragon!"
Ashley remained calm, although the Dragon's ferocity and cool azure gaze made her definitely uneasy. (3000/2500)
"Your Dragon is strong, but it's still no match for Mars, its more than twice the power of yours." She said, her monster twirled his hammer preparing for imminent battle.
"We'll see about that Ash, I'm not the Full Metal Dragon Duelist for nothing. Watch and learn, activate Metal Morph!" He commanded, as his second facedown card flipped up.
That doesn't make sense, even if he uses its effect to add 300 and half the attack power of the target monster, it's only 6725, 125 too few to beat Mars.
The Dragon was transforming, the pure white scales of its body were becoming metallic.
"Now I sacrifice both Blue Eyes and my Metal Morph to summon my greatest monster!" He exclaimed as the transformation was complete. The Wings of the Dragon were now giant sheets of silver, its tail a combination huge links, powerful mechanized claws, its mouth was now full of sharp titanium teeth, and its blue eyes glowed bright sapphire. "The Blue Eyes Metal Dragon!" (3400/2900)
Ashley recognized it was the card his duel brace was designed after, but despite the formidable creature's presence, it was no match for Mars now.
Kevin reached for his remaining 3 cards, and said, "I play Limiter Removal, doubling the attack power of my monster." As he spoke, the monster glowed a light blue as its attack doubled to 6800.
The two monsters floated towards each other, both showing clear hatred towards the other.
"Almost Kevin, but my card is 50 points higher than yours." She said.
"I can fix that with this, I play Machine Conversion Factory. This card adds 300 attack and defense points to one machine on the field."
Ashley was awestruck as the Dragon's eyes flashed even brighter as its points rose. (7100/3200)
"And now, it ends, I play Mystical Space Typhoon to Destroy your Sanctuary!"
Ashley froze, Without the power of the field spell, Mars loses its ability to raises its points equal to the difference in our life points!
A powerful cyclone flew from his card and caused her card to fly from her FSZ. The temple crumbled to sand and the ground returned to normal, and Mars' radiance faded away as its points dropped right to zero!
"Brace yourself Ashley, Shining Nova Stream!" He called out as the Dragon opened its mouth, a stream of energy so powerful it lit up the sky, sailed down in Ashley's field, and incinerated her Mars in moment.
Ashley threw a barrier around herself as her monsters vanished as her life points dropped to 0.
The Blue Eyes roared once, and vanished as well. Kevin turned to Ash and asked, "You alright?"
Ashley nodded her head, "That was incredible."
"Yeah, but we better get going. The light of my attack has probably alerted the attention of the enemy." Kevin said.
"What about Vic?" She asked, his injuries were still fresh.
"What about me? Come on you two." He called, riding his Kaiser Glider.
The Icarus and FMD stared at each other before they cleaned up the campsite before taking off again.
Aaron began his descent into the cavern; the darkness had an almost draining effect on his soul, the peace in his mind grew restless. The memory of getting himself beaten by the wall kept replaying in his mind, and for each of his memories, each injury burned with pain.
But with every step he took, he kept repeating in his mind, Duel.
After what seemed like an eternity, he saw the ball of fire that had been burning since he left. The room hadn't changed in the least; his blood was still dripping off of several drawers.
He stepped forward till he was directly facing the large obstruction. Aaron could see it in his eyes, the feeling of frustration and aggravation that seemed to be seeping from the brass and steel.
"So you still want a fight eh?" Aaron asked. He knew the wall had no means of answering, but he could imagine how the destructive piece of upholstery would respond.
Reaching down to his pant leg, he patted his deck. It all comes down to this, everything I've worked for. It all rides on this last test!
An image of Ashley flashed in his mind, His eyes focused hard on the panels.
"Here goes!" He shouted as he made a mad dash straight for the wall.
He pulled back his left arm and smashed it straight into the center panel. Aaron took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Focus, and Duel!
He suddenly saw the wall in a new way. Instead of a mechanized combatant, it was a child, maybe 10 years old. It was a boy, bright orange t-shirt and shorts, with a purple cap on his head. He had a smug look on his face as he slammed down a monster card, a Drillago.
Suddenly the right side middle panel flew out to hit Aaron.
Aaron, in his mind, flipped over a monster card of his own, Gearfried.
Aaron swung over to his left, dodging the attack with ease.
The kid scowled, but Aaron drew a card from his deck and sacrificed Gearfried for Fairy King Truesdale.
Aaron jumped into the air and kicked the right hand panel that had flown out at him. The impact sent it flying inside the wall, and sunk even further into the wall.
The kid growled as it drew a card, and played it, A Fissure card.
The upper left hand panel flew out and nailed Aaron hard, as it sent him flying across the dirt floor.
In his mind, Aaron drew a card, Pot of Greed.
He picked himself up, rubbing his shoulder blade, and turned back in the direction of the wall.
He drew two more cards from his deck. And played one, Monster Reborn, Gearfried appeared once again on the field.
Aaron focused hard at the center panel, and with all his strength he bolted straight for it.
Release Restraints. The Iron Knight was exchanged for the Sword Master. The kid on the other side of the table was shocked.
The Walls panels sunk to their standby positions, as if they were bracing for an attack.
Aaron looked at the miserable kid with the utmost contempt, "You lose!" He called out as he pointed at the kid.
"Aaaaahhhh!" He roared as he swung with all the strength he had and smashed his fist into the center panel.
The wall shook violently, cracks spread from the panel like a dam about to burst. Aaron opened his eyes, and saw what was happening to the wall.
"Game over." He whispered.
The wall had it, as it came tumbling down upon itself, and was soundly reduced to dust. The air turned to gray as the wall's remnants continued to obstruct the way.
This is it, here I go.
He stepped forth into the dust, and entered the inner sanctum within.
Awaiting him on the other side was a huge statue made of marble. It was a flawless life-size version of what he sought.
"We meet at last, Valkyrion." He spoke softly, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his deck. He began to shift through the cards, until he grabbed each one of the Magnet Warriors and had them in his hand.
"Okay, it's up to you guys." He said, as the 3 began to glow bright.
Springing to life from each came Alpha, Beta and Gamma. All 3 made their familiar humming and droning noises as they began to change into small balls of energy that hovered above the ground. Aaron stepped back as the 3 picked themselves off the ground and flew at the statue. Each dispersed upon impact, but as each did, the statue began to change color. And with the final blast, the mighty Rock Monster began to move on its own.
Aaron looked in awe of the incredible sight, the pain, the agony, and the fighting; all of it was worth seeing the monster in front of him.
"Hi." He managed to speak.
The giant's gaze appeared to soften, as it soon faded away into the air, but appearing on the ground, was the card.
Aaron strode up to it slowly, and took a knee as he reached down to pick it up. He smiled as he looked at the printed title. "Valkyrion the Magna Warrior."
He placed it and the other Magnets inside his deck and prepared to leave, but as soon as he did, the cards began to fly from the pile and spun around him.
"Hey what's going on?" He demanded.
Suddenly a dark void appeared at his feet, he couldn't move!
Fear and uncertainty began to prey on his mind as the void began to climb up his legs and his body. It felt cold as it past his waist, and crept up to his shoulders.
"URGGHAHH!" He yelled as it swallowed him whole.
Outside the cave, Erin could hear, but she didn't move; only tears flowed down her face. "Please, don't die."
Back in the DM realm, the Castle of Dragons was all but silent. So far no one had contacted them with any news of the other leagues activities, and Chuck was getting more and more worried.
Raikoo was starring at the ceiling in the Library, it was boring as hell, and everyone else was busy being worried that no one wanted to duel, though Jeregrine had made a pass at chess. Jordan meanwhile was stuffing his mouth full of cereal down in the cafeteria, Poineswine was kinda worried since Jordan's appetite normally consisted of half his stock, but so far Jordan hadn't made any attempts to eat anything else that was within arms reach.
And Vaurnut, he was sitting on the balcony of the promenade, watching the sun fade behind the mountains. He had his deck in hand, the Mr. Volcano card was resting on the top. The coolness of night was picking up and he was wondering what was going to happen next.
Suddenly there was a strange presence in the air, he snapped his head around and saw figures hiding in the shade of the castle. Each was of varying height, but apparently there was one who stood 5.8 and seemed to have the others behind him.
"Who's there?" V demanded, climbing off the side of the balcony.
The figure seemed to chuckle, "John you wound me, don't you know who I am?"
"You seem to know who I am, and you knew how to get this far without setting off a single alarm, so who are you?" V asked. The voice sounded eerily familiar, but V shook it off, the owner of that voice was long gone.
The figure turned to his companions, all 5 of which took off in different directions.
"You might have wanted those thugs of yours to stick around, you might get lonely after I kick your ass back to whatever hole you crawled out from." V said, as he threw his deck inside of his duel brace.
"Oh really V? I think you won't lay a finger on me." He said as he stepped out of the shade.
Vaurnut braced for combat, but as soon as the figure stepped into the fading light, he froze. IMPOSSSIBLE!
"Hi V why it looks like you've seen a ghost?"
Standing ahead of him was a boy in his late teens, he wore a black t-shirt with the sleeves torn off, army issue jeans, black sneakers, and a Pitch Dark Dragon Duel brace on his arm. His face was a mix of childlike innocence and an adult's scowl, his maple brown eyes had a blood lust, and his hair was shaved down to the smallest hair.
"Matt." Vaurnut whispered.
"Oh so you do remember me John? You had me surprised, since you let me die." Matt sneered.
"What?" V gasped.
"After I dove into that fire, did you even bother trying to find me?"
"The building collapsed…there was no way for you to have survived that kind of destruction."
"Wrong! I survived, but nobody even tried to find me in all that rubble. I spent 4 months buried under all that mess; I was near death when I finally escaped." Matt shouted, "I spent the next year recovering and now I'm back to repay the favor!"
Matt's duel brace unfolded, and he drew a card, "Spirit Merge!"
V's eyes widened as Matt was engulfed in energy, and came bursting out of it the Dark Blade, with his blade already drawn for a slash!
"SNAP OUT OF IT!"
CLANG!
V looked up and saw The Archfiend Soldier standing in front of him, He had caught Matt's weapon, but black blood was flowing from his hand.
"Jordan." Matt growled as he tried to swing the other sword at him, but Jordan was already one step ahead, as he kicked him in the chest and sent him flying across the promenade.
Jordan turned around to V, "John, that thing is not Matt, at least not any more."
"Not any more? What do you mean?" V asked.
"I don't have time to explain, but if you want to know, fight, it will become clear soon after."
And with that Jordan disappeared in a quick burst of speed, but the Dark Blade was already picking himself off the floor.
"So what are you going to do V?"
Vaurnut was a mix of confusion and shock, but his gaze hardened as he turned and stared right at the Dark Blade. "I'm going to fight."
He pulled out his Dark Fire Soldier card and slipped it onto his duel brace, "Spirit Merge."
V was engulfed in a swirling vortex of flames, and in a few seconds emerged as the flaming samurai. His face, though calm, was also quite pissed.
The Dark Blade stepped forward, both its swords in position for combat, and DF pulled his two flaming blades out of their sheathes, and held one out at Matt.
The two lunged for each other, V swung for his throat, Matt bated the swing with a strike of his own as he swung under and aimed for V's belly.
V bent over backwards with incredible speed as the blade shot over him, swing his right leg under Matt, causing him to topple over.
V flipped back to his feet and tried to slash at him, but the Dark Blade countered too quickly by swinging his blade up and knocking V's aside.
The Dark blade spun his legs, V jumped back to dodge them, and the Dark Blade was back on his feet, His cold red eyes were full of malice.
DF jumped into the air and slashed at him with his left blade with his right aimed for a thrust. DB crossed his jagged blades and caught the first strike and threw V to the ground.
"DIE!" The Dark Blade shouted as he swung both of his weapons down at the prone soldier.
V's eyes flashed as he turned up the heat! A massive inferno spread out from his body and caught DB on fire!
V picked himself up and watched as the spirit merge failed and Matt returned to normal. V focused and the flames shot around the two of them forming a flaming circle. The intense heat was incredible, Matt looked confused.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"I need to know what you are. You look like Matt, you fight like him too, but I can feel a different energy, the power in your blows, you don't feel like him. And there's only one way for me to truly know, I challenge you to a duel. And only the victor can escape this fire." V said, as he canceled his merge and returned to normal.
"Are you sure about that? What happens if you lose?"
"I'm not. And you'll see why." V declared as he drew 5 cards. "Let's see what you can do."
"Prepare to die V, I've been waiting for this moment for so long, and now I'll take you apart piece by agonizing piece." Matt gloated, as he pulled five cards from his deck.
Up in the infirmary, Jordan had returned to normal, and had placed a card on Aaron's tube, "I hope this reaches you in time." He said, as the card vanished into Aaron's soul stone chamber.
And with that he sprinted out of the infirmary as fast as he could, but meeting him at the end of the hall was one of Matt's thugs. He had a standard issue duel brace on his arm, but it had no decal. He was about 5.9, but mostly it was due to his hair, it was growing all over the place. He had a pair of thick nose glasses and smelled of marijuana.
"And where do you think your going?" He asked.
"Through you. Out of my way."
"I'm afraid you have to duel me before you go anywhere."
Jordan readied his body for a quick sprint out of the way and around the stoner with hair issues, but suddenly the kid spoke, "Syugei!"
Suddenly Jordan's duel brace began to beep.
"What you do?"
"I've enacted the rite of a duel to the death, the duel brace on your arm will self destruct and kill you if you try to refuse. Only the victor may leave here alive."
Jordan growled, "Damn you."
"Come now surely we can get along well enough before I blow you into tiny chunks across this hospital. My name is John."
"And I don't give a damn; you're going to be the one leaving here in a sponge!" He growled.
"Oh well, let's begin."
Next Time on the DDL:
An image of Paul and Justin watching on the roof top of the Silver Liner Complex at the stars appears.
"Paul you don't have to keep punishing yourself for what you did."
"Say that after you kill an innocent bystander."
An image of the leveled city appears, Dan and Nick are staring at the moon.
"So why are you a Horseman anyway?"
"A promise to my best friend, and I'll continue to honor it after his death."
And an image of the Dominance's brig appears, Tobias and Josh are talking.
"Why did you leave these guys anyway?"
"Because they carry the sin of Genocide."
DDL Chapter 41: The Past