Chapter 4 – Devil Hunter
In his throne room, Haysheen was more red than gray. Anger boiled through his system after Marthis had given him the report in the most subjective way possible. "Traitors, all of them! I knew we couldn't trust the Dragon, but our Imperial Guard Captain double-crossed us first!" Haysheen bellowed.
"The Dragon was in part of it, she knocked me out cold while Kaiba talked to Pegasus!" Marthis claimed, "She was in it with Kaiba from the very start! She and that Ninja!" Haysheen was about to go further when a guard entered the lair. He bowed before Haysheen before speaking.
"Your majesty, the Imperial Guard Marshals have returned." He reported.
"The timing couldn't be better," Haysheen had a crooked grin. "Show them our new doormat!"
The White Dragons landed gracefully in front of the gates surrounding the largest fortress of Rondeval. The castle was much like the other Imperial strongholds except that it was twice the size and had a blue, huge semi-sphere set into the front wall of the building. It had a suspicious aura to it, the first thing Miranda noticed upon landing. "Haysheen wants to be robbed?" she asked sarcastically, already knowing that the orb facing them has something to do in the next few seconds.
Gema's head perked, catching on to a very weak vibrato. "This can't be part of our welcoming committee."
"Not the welcoming committee you've been expecting! Activate Gravity Bind now!" Marthis commanded from the main entrance, still damaged on the shoulders, fabric and mask and surrounded by guards. The party felt enraged, especially Kaiba.
"Gema! Miranda! Stop him!" Kaiba commanded, and both powered users lunged with flamberge and fire-breath ready.
"On the Imperial's grounds, remember?" Marthis taunted and the orb thundered. A wave of unknown properties blanketed the castle grounds and the land surrounding it. The guards merely tried to hold their ground. While thereafter, Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragons were suppressed by the force, and the charge fell short. Miranda's unbalanced weight from the wings threw her to the ground and Gema's flamberge handle pinned her hands, unable to get free.
Kaiba was the only one standing. "Curse you Marthis…" he hissed, already trying to find a way to break loose of the trap card simulation. Our monsters are virtually useless here! And there's no command protocol to override the system…not now at least.
Marthis chuckled in victory. "You're Dragons will remain out here under Gravity Bind; and yet, the Black Dragon needs to be addressed punishment. She certainly can't become an Imperial servant like the others."
Not willingly. Miranda muttered under the mounting force.
"Ah, I have a solution!" Marthis acclaimed and called a guard to fetch a clay pot.
Kaiba recognized it instantly. "A Dragon Capture Jar!" The identity made Miranda freak. Marthis took the jar into his gilded-armor hands and stepped forward, Gravity Bind hardly affecting him. He placed the Dragon Capture Jar before the immobile Miranda and waited only a short moment.
"MIRANDA!" Gema cried, watching in horror. Purple smoke began to seep from the pot's brim and linger towards Miranda. The smokescreen grew thicker by the second and then slurped back into the jar, leaving no trace of what was once the Marshal. A stream of vulgarities Gema thought she'd never used flew from her mouth. "Let her go! Let her go you two-timing virus! I swear I'm gonna go Zabuza on your hide when I get my flamberge off the ground!" There was the same protest murmuring from the jar itself; Miranda was only sealed inside, the purpose of the Jar in the game itself.
Marthis didn't seem threatened as he lifted the jar off the ground. "The Stone Soldier will bring her in." He directed and the golem stepped forward, each footfall called a tremor towards Gema. One arm hooked Gema around her shoulders and restrained her arms' mobility, and then with its spare hand picked up the flamberge like it was a stick. As Gema's feet left the ground, it completed the second Mashal's restraint.
Mokuba looked hopeless, still on Ibris' back and paralyzed by Gravity Bind's force. "Why did Haysheen double-cross us Seto?"
"It's you that double-crossed Emperor Haysheen!" Marthis argued, "And now unless you want to walk willingly, you will be forced to hear and endure your punishments." Kaiba wanted to argue, seriously. But he faced several problems.
"Blue-Eyes…return." Kaiba commanded and the Dragons returned to their cards, he tried to keep Mokuba from falling to the ground at terminal velocity from only five feet.
"Seto-sama! What are you doing?" Gema cried from under the Giant Stone Soldier's arm.
Marthis appeared content. "If you would follow me. Release the Gravity Bind!" He commanded and the orb ended its deafening vibration. Mokuba and Kaiba felt it easy to stand again but helpless of anything at the moment. The Dragon Capture Jar still had muffled protesting inside while in Marthis' hands as he led the Stone Soldier in first, the monster unnecessarily constricting Gema while she was swearing in silence. Pushed by the guards, Kaiba and Mokuba followed Marthis inside.
Kaiba and Mokuba stood before Haysheen with guards surrounding them. Gema still squirmed in the clutches of the stone soldier and Miranda crammed in the Dragon Capture Jar in Marthis' hand, the jar rumbled lightly as Miranda continued to fight a way out.
"Now then…today we pass judgment." Haysheen boasted from his throne.
Kaiba huffed and breathed with sarcasm, "I'm so shaken, what can you programs possibly do?"
"Silence!" Haysheen countered with the seemingly empty title of royalty. "Marthis, if you would read the charges against these treacherous dogs?"
"Who you calling a dog! That's Wheeler's nickname appointed by Seto-sama himself!" Gema shrilled, kicking at the stone soldier until her heels hurt.
"Of course my Lord." Marthis replied, in his other hand Marthis held a piece of parchment. "Lord Kaiba and his band of ex-Imperial Marshals have broken several rules, including Paragraph 3 subsection 4.168: sparing enemies subdued after invoking Imperial contact, Paragraph 3 subsection 5.135: conversing with the enemy, and Paragraph 5 subsection 2.039: assault on Imperial personnel, four counts of that in fact! Which explains my injuries." It was true; his mask was still crippled in, his shoulder armor dented and damaged, and his cloaks torn to shreds.
"Well whoop-dee-doo. You got an owie. Who cares!" Kaiba mocked.
"Add disorderly conduct to those charges." Haysheen countered.
"You're the one not giving us conduct! We were not the ones that engaged that conversation with Pegasus!" Gema argued in. The verbal arguments bounced back and forth for only as long as Haysheen's patience could last.
"Enough!" Haysheen silenced the throne room. "I will now past judgment. Kaiba, Mokuba, Miranda, and Gema will be stripped of their ranks, imprisoned for the night, and executed at dawn." He said plainly, which didn't intimidate the punished mass as he has hoped. "Any last words?"
Kaiba was about to bark back, though a moment passed and his eyes hit Gema. Under the stone soldier's arm Gema's hands were flying with gestures. She better be giving us something good. "Nope, except I'd like to open your head and see how much brain matter you're missing." Gema saw the opening and seized it.
"Ninjutsu Art of Decoy!" Gema announced with the final hand gesture. Her body was engulfed in smokescreen in the stone soldier's arm, and in her place when the smoke cleared was one of the guards.
"Where is she!" Marthis proclaimed. "Guards, find her! Kill her if you must!"
"Then you don't have to look very far, I can say that much!" Gema claimed, crouching upside down on the ceiling and looking down upon the crowds below. "No one hurts Seto-sama or Mir-nee! Fuhma Shuriken!" Gema unleashed a flurry of throwing stars upon the guards and Marthis, but he hadn't dropped the jar. Gema's eyes narrowed, and she quickly dug for another throwing object. She felt something unlike her shuriken and nothing like a kunai. A Swiss Army knife? Why would I need… Gema's thoughts trailed as she fingered one of the knife's gadgets open. "Yes! Seven Tools of the Bandit!" She flung the array of small utensils right at the Jar Marthis held.
The knife hit its mark, and the jar exploded into purple smoke. Marthis now held in his hand the black appendage connected to Miranda's extend spinal column. It led to the Dragon Half sitting on the floor with her arms crossed and eye twitching. "Catch a Dragon by the tail, if she's angry she will wail… on you!" Miranda pulled off her threat. Fluently she grasped both hands firmly on Marthis wrist, crushing his armor like foil, and her leg went into a high round kick right on Marthis' head.
Gema was still on the ceiling as if she was standing, no tangible supports on the soles of her feet. "Yes Miranda! Head shot!" She cheered and released her hold on the ceiling, going into a free fall over the Stone Soldier, her gestures flying again in her fingers. "Ninjutsu Art of Transformation!" She declared and was swallowed by white lightning, returning form as a large lion-like beast with wings and a scorpion tail.
"A Manticore of Darkness!" Mokuba identified.
"Ninjutsu Art of Transformation allows the ninja to transform into a Beast, Winged-Beast, or Insect…she made a good choice." Kaiba commented and took advantage of the distraction from the guards. He jerked a spear out of one and knocked him out instantly. "Stay close Mokuba."
The Manticore sent a massive claw down on top of the Stone Soldier, which shattered in an instant and freed Gema's weapon of choice. Gema transformed back to her blue-and-white and reclaimed her flamberge. "We can either stick around and knock Haysheen off his high horse…" Gema said.
Mokuba finished after seeing more guards fled into the room, "…or we can find an escape route out of here!" Kaiba braced himself for another onslaught with a damaged spear alone.
Miranda finished herself pummeling Marthis and saw the guards. "OK, we overstayed our welcome." She said and cracked her knuckles. I'm only Dragon Half…but if I'm half Red-Eyes Black, I sure as Gema's ninja strength that I better be whole Red-Eyes. The room's big enough. Miranda thought and began to concentrate herself to change form. She hoped it didn't take much effort for the sake of time, and it didn't. Her hands were replaced with black nails, as was the rest of her body. Her neck clicked with extension until it hung over the shoulders and the face went from its tough girl features to even tougher dragon.
"Oh yeah we're pwning now!" Gema cheered after back swinging her flamberge, taking half-dozen guards with her.
"Restrain that beast!" Haysheen ordered and the guard flew on the command, attacking the Red-Eyes Black Dragon in numbers. The Dragon responded with one mighty tail swing, knocking off the rest of the guards and glanced to Kaiba.
"Wok ed!" the phrase escaped from the Dragon's jaws. At first everyone stood dumbfounded. The Black Dragon then lowered its level and jerked its head, beckoning them to get on her shoulders.
"I think she said we're out of here." Gema roughly translated and jumped on first, following Mokuba and Kaiba and the Dragon rose onto its hindquarters. "Miranda, what did you say?"
"A juat wok ed!" Miranda repeated, barely an answer for her friend.
"Can't understand you, just get us out of here!" Gema called and Miranda followed. She felt a burning sensation in her throat and let loose an explosive impact of fire, knocking away a series of walls.
Why do I even bother giving them warning? They can't understand a word I say in this form. I say one thing, think another. The Dragons must have a different language altogether here… Miranda thought and sprang forward through the makeshift tunnel. She blasted another set of walls to clear an opening into the outside. "Marthis mawxk kxawwoh Gravity Bind uwuad!" Miranda warned.
"Miranda, just shut it unless you're going to speak English!" Kaiba ordered.
"She said something about Gravity Bind…Marthis might use it again?" Gema asked to try and understand, getting a nod from the Dragon in return. Gema smirked, "Leave it to me, just get us up there." The Black Dragon breached the final wall and pounded her wings into the ground, all fours leaving the terrain and making a circle around Sygh-Varths castle.
Gema slipped out of her position on the dragon's shoulders and watched carefully, slipping into her hand a small throwing knife and a slip of paper. The orb on the castle was beginning to hum again. Gema readied herself, "Bad chance. Royal Decree!" Gema sent the kunai flying sharply towards the orb. A direct hit right on the orb itself, cracked it, and deactivated it. "Yes! I am so good!"
Mokuba cheered also, "Thanks for bailing us out guys!"
Kaiba was otherwise, "Even though we didn't need it, but if it saved me most of the trouble so…some gratitude. You too aren't deadweight after all."
"Uvkoh ucc?" Miranda questioned and darted off from Sygh-Varths' sight into the night. In flight she sunk into her thoughts, This language sounds familiar, nothing like any of the worldly languages…this has to be Dino from Star Fox Adventures…
Mokuba looked a bit confused, "How did you get Royal Decree? Do ninja even have that?"
"I swiped it off a desk from a room we passed while Miranda was making our escape." Gema answered with a wide smile and a victory gesture. She then turned to her metamorphic ally, "So, any idea where we're going?"
"Uj cedw uj kxoho uhod'k udo Imperial vehsoj, udonxoho." Miranda answered, still speaking beyond comprehension as she flew everyone to safety, gliding while keeping her eyes on the ground for anything good.
"At least we got out with our end of the money, though not our supplies." Mokuba commented, "Hopefully we'll find a trader in a stronghold."
"Mokuba, don't fool yourself in the reality of hallucinations, just because we're in the virtual world doesn't mean we have to play by their rules. Miranda and Gema didn't have to play the Marshal Law when they surprised Haysheen." Kaiba answered.
Gema looked to Kaiba, "Well, you're probably not accepting the reality because you're not the one flawed. It was the reality of now between Miranda and me than got us out. And I kinda like this reality…I mean I wouldn't want to be here forever but I'll like it for how it lasts."
"Jeidtj cabo oei'ho khoadw ke xop ij." Miranda commented under-breath and finally found a peaceful region of Rondeval. She began a soft descent towards a village surrounded by forests on either side. "Kxaj fcuso ceebj doikhuc." Miranda commented and landed at the gate. Again it was a village surrounded by a weak wall, and very few people inhabited it. Everyone dismounted and Miranda was freed to pop her joints back into place as a half-dragon. "Please tell me I can speak English again." She groaned when her claws turned back to hands.
"Yes, you can…what kind of dialect was that?" Gema wondered.
"I recognized a few simple words when I was speaking. 'Kxo' equaled 'the,' 'oei' equaled 'you,' I was speaking Dino, a language in a video game that completely disorients the alphabet. It's pretty clever when the video game is Sci-Fi/Fantasy involving space travel." Miranda explained, "I guess Dino and Dragon are the same dialect."
"Then if need be you can be our interpreter." Said Kaiba as he headed himself into the village with the other marshals following.
There was always the lingering threat of real-world contact would strike Gema and Miranda, and it got to one of them. Miranda zoned out; she stopped walking, and hearing voices and seeing flashes before her. Gema turned around, seeing Miranda just standing behind them with her mouth just slightly hanging open, "Miranda?" she asked, with no response in return.
Miranda's bottom jaw quivered, and then sunk to her knees, hearing most everything but it was broken like a low-reception radio signal. She could recognize instantly who found her body in front of her computer. She heard her sister's voice, apparently already on some sort of phone, "Dad! Dad it's me! …No Miranda did have the phone but she won't wake up! …She's on her desk and won't wake up!" Miranda could hear the sobbing on her end of the conversation, her fingers dug into the ground and shaking in magnitudes.
"Miranda! Miranda what's wrong! Snap out of it!" Gema was already in front of her, holding her shoulders while Miranda was in mental submission.
Mokuba also looked frantic, in contrast Kaiba stood by, "Miranda must already be feeling the effects of Gozaburo's stunt."
"You mean, Miranda's caught in between the virtualization and the real world?" Mokuba asked.
"Exactly. Her body must have been moved from the computer she was at. Which explains why the division hadn't caught on instantly. If she's using a desktop, which works best stationary, then she's moved and she'll be like this until her body has settled down again; whereas when someone virtualized using a laptop, which is meant for travel, that person isn't as hit as hard as one with a desktop. That's normal knowledge that a desktop can't roam." Kaiba briefly explained, which undoubtedly was ignored.
Gema seemed to catch some of it while trying to get her friend back. "Isn't there anyway to stabilize her here? She looks like she's in serious pain."
"It's more of a strain. Mokuba and I are in pods, which are stationary and connected to our senses. In your case you might not feel a lot but with a mind connected weakly to a system, it could pose a strain when moved." Kaiba said all he could without throwing them into a panic. I can't say this poses a threat…if there is a threat. But my stepfather is one that takes carelessness quite professionally. While we're safe in the pods, the others aren't so lucky. This strain might have extreme backfires. If someone figures this to be Kaiba Corp technology…I have to get this done and fast. The last thing I need is lawsuits that aren't my responsibility. Kaiba grumbled. "We're moving in now." Kaiba said and marched into the village with Mokuba behind him.
Gema looked back, "Seto-sama!" she called before turning back to Miranda, "Mir-nee? Miranda come on!" Gema shook her shoulders. In a gasp of air, Miranda's day terror ended and she was looking back at Gema's eyes, her own framed with tears. "Miranda, what happened?" Gema asked, slightly relieved that she was somewhat back.
Miranda's virtual heart pounded, her breaths deep and quick, "Gema…Gema…my sister found me…at the computer."
"Seto-sama figured that. Can you walk?" Gema asked. Getting a nod from Miranda, the ninja helped her to her feet and slowly followed Kaiba inside the village identified as Beyzon. They came to the nearest building, a small restaurant and inn with two stories, and slid inside. They managed an inn for the night, but the three of them pondered how the time around them could affect them, Miranda was already in a bed, lying on her side with the wings sliding off the side.
Gema sat at the foot of Miranda's bed while Kaiba and Mokuba had the other bed. Gema looked despaired, "That was too freaky. Miranda just completely zoned out. What's going to happen now?"
"Why are you asking me? I only know of the problem and at our current position we have no idea how to solve it." Kaiba snorted.
Mokuba was lying across the bed, half-tired of the night flight. "Maybe we should find Noah. He might know how to solve it. He did come up with the idea." Kaiba's brother suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea and all but first we need to know what happens after this point." Gema debated, "Marthis is still on our tail, we're probably on the Imperial most-wanted list."
"Probably is an understatement…" Miranda grumbled, still sore from the reality flash, "Haysheen looked more than ticked off…"
"Miranda, I know this isn't reality but you need to rest." Gema cautioned and paused for her own thought, "It's odd how we're adapting quickly to game time."
"High-speed progress will do that, change night to day in ten minutes." Said Kaiba, "You two might be thrown into this because of your flaws; you're more data than human at this state, able to transform into Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Manticore of Darkness. You could almost be considered NPCs if it wasn't for your knowledge and response timing."
"But Marthis reacted the same way and just as fast. Could he also be a real person behind the mask?" Mokuba wondered.
"In rare occasions, NPCs could be like real players. Marthis was programmed to report to Haysheen and follow his role. Whether we did all that damage or not he still would have reported to Haysheen and we'd wind up where we are now. If there's one thing about Artificial Intelligence, it cannot be given the right to make choices; it lacks wisdom, common sense, and foresight of a future. A computer is only as smart as the person who creates it." Kaiba briefed to the falling-asleep Gema, "I see game time is getting to you. We'll take another room for the night and watch; you two are still useful." He said and the two walked out, leaving Gema and Miranda to a room themselves.
Gema tried to shake off the drowsiness, "Game time…geh. Miranda?" She asked, but the Dragon was already asleep. Finding it futile, the ninja unbuckled her flamberge and set aside her other small weaponry, turning in as well. She stared into the ceiling as final thoughts stirred in her head, Miranda's probably going to have more of those flashes…will I? I'm in college, so until my roommate finds me or my attendance slips will someone notice…and my attendance is more likely to notice than my roommate. Her eyes lit up in question, Will there be a problem? Gozaburo succeeded in digitizing the world. A lot of us should be out cold…maybe I'd run into more people as the time passes. Whoa…what is the time exchange rate between the real and virtual worlds? Questions unanswered, it was lights out for Gema.
In the next room Mokuba and Kaiba had their own beds but no interest of sleep. Normally, Kaiba is deep in his own thoughts, shuffling through his cards until he came across one most unusual. It possessed a blue card face but it wasn't a Ritual monster. If I'm right then Yugi is still in this world. I can snatch Slifer from him and defeat him in the semi-finals with both God Cards… Then there's Marik. I didn't see him file out of the blimp but surrounded by everything, he should be in the same situation as Miranda and Gema.
"Seto?" Mokuba snapped Kaiba out of his thoughts, "What's going to happen to Miranda if that mind strain keeps up."
"As long as she isn't moved from a spot in the real world, she'll be fine." Kaiba answered, "There are some qualities that I find valuable of both her and Gema and I'd rather not lose those if it means going to a disadvantage." He put away his deck back into his idle Duel Disk, "Nonetheless we need to find a way out of the virtual world and undo what Gozaburo did. He went too far without taking precautions, it's like him." Kaiba scowled and laid himself across the bed, "As for now we'll have to wait for game time to reawake Gema and Miranda…"
"And hope Marthis doesn't hit us before then." Mokuba added. After long moments of silence, Mokuba thought the advantage and took a bed for the game's night. However Kaiba still refused to submit to anything.
After what almost felt like ten minutes to Kaiba, the color out of the window changed from violet to light blue. On his pillow, Mokuba stared at the pane, "Aw come on, I haven't had sleep yet."
"Don't fall for game time Mokuba, we'll sleep when we need it, hopefully it's while they can be on guard." Kaiba grumbled and a knocked rapped the door.
"Seto-sama?" Gema's voice murmured from the other side, "Miranda and I are going to go for breakfast downstairs. You coming with?"
"Mokuba and I will buy supplies, go ahead and feed yourselves." Kaiba answered and the footsteps on the floorboards faded. Kaiba thought. However, we'll need to take every opportunity. If their abilities proved as useful as what they did in Sygh-Varths then we'll have to allow the virtual world to take its course on them. They're more game data than human.
Downstairs, the girls approached the counter to a large man, overweight if anything, cleaning a glass with a towel. Miranda looked over her shoulder, the breakfast crowd was staring at the two of them. "I hope the food doesn't stare." She mumbled.
"Don't order a Hungry Hamburger and you'll save more than a few turned heads." Gema whispered back and dug around her pocket for loose change, specifically the gold they were able to keep in the escape. She slid two gold coins under her fingers on the counter, "Will this do for a couple of eggs?"
"And a rare steak?" Miranda added. Without answer, the bar tender took the coins; he first handed Gema two eggs, unbroken, and then Miranda was given a slab of raw meat. Miranda grumbled before taking her plate, "I didn't want to hear the cow moo." Gema followed with the eggs in her fingers; at least they had plates, were the thankful thought between them, as they took an empty table.
"I thought this would be easy for a hot iron over flame." Gema groaned as she busted the shells on the plate, "I can't eat my eggs raw."
Miranda steadied the plate on her hand, "Well, exhaust our assets. Maybe you have more ninja tactics than transformation and decoy. I've learned that in human form my fire doesn't come from the mouth." Her hand went into flames, warming the plate and cooking the meat.
"Easy for you to say, you're a Dragon."
"Well maybe you're not exactly Zabuza with the large flamberge, maybe you're Kakashi." Miranda suggested and the gears in Gema's head worked. She opened her right hand with fingers curled slightly, gripping the wrist with her left hand, and concentrated deeply.
Miranda turned over the steak on her plate when sparks were popping in Gema's hand. Gema held the sparking hand over her eggs and the heat made the eggs fry right on the plate. "Thanks Mir-nee." Gema smiled. Miranda shrugged, still cooking.
Soon Kaiba and Mokuba made their way down and joined the girls at the table. Gema perked up after finishing the chore of breakfast, "Seto-sama, what are we going to do next?"
"Marthis hasn't made any move over 'night' so the anxiety would come to character." Kaiba commented and sighed, "You'll join us to gather supplies, as soon as we're done, then we leave for the next stronghold until we can get our numbers to subdue Haysheen."
"We're trying to draw out Gozaburo? Shouldn't we find more character faults and make an army out of it?" Miranda asked, wondering about what Pegasus told her before, "Pegasus mentioned running into one of them, someone called Devil Hunter."
"Explain BlakDragon." Kaiba said coldly.
"From what Pegasus told me, this Devil Hunter can corrupt active data." Miranda told only what she knew.
Gema looked up, "If the Devil Hunter could do that, think we'd see some sort of trail somewhere."
"Only a bit of Pegasus was distorted."
Kaiba chuckled, "The Toons probably annoyed Devil Hunter. While I fought Pegasus I noticed that some of his Toons looked misshapen."
"So we should try to find Devil Hunter, while looking for others like us in the process. But how do we determine power?" Mokuba chimed.
"Miranda and Gema handled the job exceptionally well at Sygh-Varths so they're good to keep. I'm sure there are other worth mentions out there." Kaiba answered, though said so casually that Miranda gnawed on the semi-cooked slab of meat to quell the small moment of temper.
Gema was otherwise, "A pleasure to help Seto-sama!" she squealed. Then her smile fade and eyes suddenly lost focus of her idol. The others at the table also fell silent, even Miranda nearly swallowed a bite whole to keep from distraction.
"Gema?" Mokuba asked quietly as Gema's eyes slowly scanned the area. Finally she flung a pair of shuriken out the window. In reaction there was a shriek, like a bat in pain. Most of the other customers had their eyes glued on the four of them as Gema walked out to check what she shot at.
Through the window she picked off the shuriken and held in her hand a large fleshy ball with wings, claws, and a tail whipping in frustration to escape. She came back in, still clutching the strange animal. "We've been followed by a scout." She stopped the thing onto the table. It nearly got away until Miranda grabbed the tail of it and looked at its face, just a solitary eye that might have composed the entire body of it.
Kaiba hardly looked at it, "A Meda Bat…and it has the Imperial insignia on its back."
"Marthis led us to believe that we escaped?" Gema cursed and raised her sword. "He'll meet the same fate as his Meda Bat!" She guillotined the bat and table, just missing Miranda's hand. Both halves of the monster fell after the table slid inward, the monster shattered afterwards.
"Then we better floor it, we'll find the next town for supplies." Miranda suggested, quickly tearing into the last of her steak.
"We. Don't. Run. I'm not going belly-up for Marthis and that sack of bones Haysheen and neither are you." Kaiba ordered back and directed everyone outside.
Chaos was let loose as Fiend monsters ran rampant in Beyzon, attacking and terrorizing any target. The only Fiends that weren't attacking the village were the Dragon Seekers gliding high above like scouts.
"Marthis is pathetic, he's only relying on a trait of the team that can easily be altered." Kaiba mumbled, his eyes going on Miranda. "Metalmorph Execute." He stated and Miranda felt a wave of aura fly through her.
"Metalmorph, how's that going to help?" Gema wondered.
"With the right monster, Metalmorph can change the equipped to a Machine-class, that'll protect Miranda from the heavy damage inflicted by weakness of the Dragon Seekers." Kaiba briefed as Miranda's image shifted. "You and Miranda have immediate access to certain cards based on your attributes, however it takes someone else to activate Miranda's access."
"So…bright side on your part…" Miranda grunted as armor began to plate itself. The head of a Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon equipped itself like a hand cannon to her right arm. "If I wanted to double-cross…I'd lose my advantages."
"Something the Big 5 didn't learn. Although you're only a Dragon Half, that side requires a host to tame it, and who better than me?" Kaiba smirked and the transformation was complete when a red targeting lens covered Miranda's eyes. "The Dragon Seekers are all yours! We're not playing my Marshal Law this time!" On command, the launch systems in Miranda's new wings ignited and exploded to lift Miranda off the ground.
"As for us Seto-sama?" Gema ask with her flamberge ready.
"We find Marthis, and after I'm done you can carve him like a turkey dinner."
"Sounds fair to me!" Gema accepted and headed off a random direction with the Kaiba's following. "If there's anything we know about Marthis, he'll want us to find him out in the open, and then he hardly has a plan after that! That was his big mistake back at Sygh-Varths." She commented, her blade cleanly slicing through one monster after another. "Quick question, how long will Metalmorph keep up?"
"Until I deny further access to it." Kaiba answered.
In the sprint Mokuba turned around and paled, "Seto!" he cried, looking at several flying objects coming towards them. Blurred, but it was easy to tell they were skulls on blades.
"Dokuroyaibas! Marthis is going all out!" Kaiba shouted in frustration and yanked a card from his deck. "Kisara!" He declared his summons and a tail whipped knocked aside the boomerangs.
The summoning of a dragon caught the Seekers attention and immediately lost interest in Miranda's persistence. She too saw the summoning, "Jxak!" she flipped and sped past the fleet of mercenary fiends. Once she was in between Kisara and the remaining six Dragon Seekers, she engaged the hand cannon. Her armor's energy compiled itself all into the weapon for a single blast. "Knocking six birds with one stone. Flash Flare Blast!" She proclaimed and a widespread laser escaped from the jaws. All the Seekers were caught in it and pixel by pixel they disintegrated.
Gema looked up slightly dumbfounded, "That's two seismic obliteration on her end…" she mumbled and struck down a Giant Orc. "Something tells me they're not playing by Marshal Law either."
Miranda hovered next to her with the black iron gleaming, "Then they must really want our heads."
"You know, I would not be the least bit surprised if an Imperials was one of the handful of idiots online."
"I'd be screaming for deletion if we run into him, assuming you and I are thinking of the same person."
"Miranda, you're too valuable as a friend to go to the recycle bin, but he's not worth wasting an anti-virus on either." Gema commented as the two fired off at the monsters one-by-one on their end. Kaiba had summoned all three of his Dragons to fight the numbers but the numbers began to slip through.
Seto needs help, Miranda and Gema's end is full already. Mokuba thought and pulled out his cards of monsters. "Trojan Horse!" he declared; the fabled Greek trap created a gap between them and the ground handicapped fiends.
"Mokuba?" Kaiba looked slightly confused at his younger brother.
"Fighting's not working, so we gotta stall and find Marthis." Mokuba cleared his reasoning.
Kaiba took a moment of thought, "Our best bet. Gema, Miranda clear us a path!" he commanded, in unison the girls nodded and called for their stronger attacks.
Miranda held out her cannon again and concentrated a blast. At the same time Gema withdrew her flamberge and held the same pose at breakfast. They were both successful to gather energy fluently and proceeded.
"Flash Flare Blast!" Miranda cried and annihilated the first wave.
"White Lightning Blade!" Gema cried, charging in and any monster in the radius of her attack was destroyed. Together they had blown up the fiends invading their area and proceeded with Mokuba's blockade successful. "Are we sure Marthis is this way?"
"If games go as I've played the, any direction we run we'll run into him." Miranda answered, cocking the cannon for another shot. "Zoa, heads up!" The group was coming in close to Marthis who had a more powerful trio of monsters in front of him. Aside from Zoa, one of the fiends was hideously misshapen from the waist down, it had a staff for a weapon and assorted masks were scattered and stapled over its body. On Zoa's left hand side was a skeletal monster with muscle tissue under the bones and claws sparking with electricity.
"Zoa, Summoned Skull, and Masked Beast! I think our hands are gonna be full!" Gema cried, trying to match her lightning with the Skull's.
"My Meda Bat has tailed you here, and it's time the lot of you were executed, maybe even claim this area in the process!" Marthis boasted, holding another Dragon Capture Jar. "May have escaped the Seekers, but the jar will get you and those Blue-Eyes White Dragons!"
"Miranda…all yours." Kaiba stated.
"My pleasure!" The Black Metal Dragon's systems revved to life once more and bolted straight for the team Marthis had guarding him. Her targeting lens gleamed and fifth object entered in her range. "What! Five!"
"Leave fiends to the real demons!" A voice bellowed, followed by a whirling swish entered Miranda's spectrum of hearing coming from behind her. She slammed to the left and avoided a large sword thrown like a projectile.
"Gema!" Miranda cried.
"Not mine!" She called back.
Then who? Miranda's moment of thought was over as the sword spun through the Summoned Skull, dividing the fiend in two before shattering. The sword flew back like a boomerang, and them bounced back into the fight. This time it decapitated Zoa, and the second fiend fell in one swoop.
This time Gema tracked the sword's return. She saw it was as thick as her own sword but had smoother edges. The weapon was returned at the hand of a flying individual. From the sun it was pretty hard to see the newcomer, but it became easier when he landed onto the ground. Miranda had the best view: black hair crowned him over a pair of glasses emphasized his blue eyes. The attire seemed a bit off from what he was capable of by example, a black tuxedo. His inhuman features was a pair of horns faded black from his forehead, black leathery wings from his own back and a broadsword that anyone could mistake for Cloud's from Final Fantasy VII. Altogether, he at least appeared to be just two years shy of Gema.
"Miranda! Friend of yours?" Gema asked from afar. Miranda ignored Gema, in a deep gaze she saw slight distortion on the newcomer, much like Pegasus.
He looked to his arm and saw defrag of his body. Given the opportunity he'd do something about it; however, at the moment he was staring down Zoa and Marthis.
Marthis huffed, "Another bilge rat meant to take the empire head on alone? I have heads of those that tried that stupid stunt."
"I imagine they were overconfident or stupid, but I'm neither. I know I can send you out of this city single-handed, one way or another." He stated and turned to Miranda. "This is the part where I'm need to be given at least 50 feet of personal space." She registered and darted her way back to Gema and the Kaiba's.
"Miranda?" Gema tried to get her attention. Again failure because Miranda's eyes were still locked on him.
Marthis laughed, "You against the entire army I've brought here?"
"If you want to defeat an army, kill the Marshal." He shrugged.
Marthis fumed, "Zoa attack! Claws Shredder!" he commanded and the last standing fiend charged.
Response wasn't so fast at first, the opponent had spiked the broadsword into the ground with no intent to use it this time around and prepared himself to take the fiend head-on.
Kaiba looked on, examining Zoa's target. Another flawed user, what can this one do? He thought as the opponent finally made a charge of his own and held his ground. He caught Zoa's throat in his left hand as both claws flew in between him.
"That's weak." He grumbled and curled his spare hand into a fist. "Shatterfist!" he declared and the fist glowed before hammering Zoa in the stomach. The velocity was so powerful that it created a vacuum inside Zoa for only a moment; everyone saw the monster crack in pattern all over its body before exploding into a black cloud which quickly evaporated.
The other flawed looked dumbfounded. Gema had to uncover from her sash to let her jaw drop. "Miranda, I think we've been beaten in strengths."
"I think so too." Miranda agreed.
Mokuba looked half-terrified. "He just took that thing out in one swing. It takes Gema to shift to another monster before she can cause the same damage."
After Zoa was reduced to nothing, Marthis looked paralyzed. Zoa's slayer turned on a heel and retrieved is broadsword with his left hand. They all saw his end of damage, his right hand was so obscured it was rendered useless for the moment, and the distortion of his own body worsened.
Gema commented, "It's almost like Hiei and his dark dragon summons…"
He looked upon Marthis after his broadsword was firmly in his hand. Almost predictable, Marthis called the retreat and the fiends bounced away from Beyzon. The offender took flight with the sword ready. "Stinger!" he proclaimed right before his speed picked up and his sword went through all the layers of Marthis. There was no response for the slain as Marthis shattered just like his monsters.
It was from there that the chaos ended. Beyzon only had a few areas of damages, but the fiends were gone from the village.
"Looks like we're done here." Kaiba mumbled, "Close Metalmorph." Just as before, Kaiba's command altered Miranda and returned to her default appearance.
"So, what's the verdict on this one?" Gema asked, almost sounded like Kaiba when he admitted initiation of the girls. As they discussed things, Miranda hovered over to the savior who was in a deeper concentration. He stared deeply into his right hand and focused himself intensely. She watched as his hand pieced itself together in moments.
"You have the ability of recovery?" Miranda asked curiously.
He returned with a deadly glare, and came so sudden it made Miranda a wing beat back from him. He studied the Dragon Half briefly, making out for himself if she was part of the program or not. After a moment, he sought only fair to answer the question "'De-corruption' is the better term of things, if that term was real." He corrected, "Recovery is to restore to form of origin, a talent of which I do not possess."
Miranda was timid to answer to him. "I…guess that makes sense." Her thoughts came together. "Um, thank you for helping us against Marthis."
"As if we needed it." Kaiba spat, approaching with Gema and Mokuba. "We could have handled Marthis."
"That so?" He asked and stepped to where the Masked Beast stood before slain. He bent down and picked up a relic, a stone carved with the kanji of Lightning. "The Masked Beast is capable of Level 5 Magic. This one held a Raigeki spell." He stated, earning most of the group a gasp in surprise. "It would have taken more than a file command of Anti-Rageki or Magic Jammer to cancel it; you'd need the actual counter-spell. If it wasn't for me bringing down that one and the Summoned Skull which had Raimei, those in combat would have been for a world of hurt and left you open to be taken prisoner."
After his explanation, both men glared each other, waiting for one of them to back down. The silent conflict left out the girls and Mokuba while the village around them rebuilt. In moments, the standstill ended and Marthis' murderer glanced back on Miranda. Once more she was studied by appearance, "Attributes of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon…you probably would have taken a heavy hit compared to the white ninja there."
Miranda couldn't help but tilt her head in some confusion. "Because I'm more Duel Monster, I'd take more damage than Gema?" He nodded.
"Raigeki affects everything but causes the heaviest damage on Duel Monsters."
"And what would you know about my computers?" Kaiba demanded.
"I thought you might see that now, when everything is connected and mixed, there is no territory of cyberspace." He said simply, his hand trembling with rising temperament.
Gema readied herself for another battle. "I don't think he's friend."
His hand stopped shaking and his sword was at ease. "I did not come for a fight with you. You wouldn't be much of a fight if you were to face me. Now I'm almost regretting it…almost." He looked upon Miranda again, virtually changing the subject completely. "I figured you needed the help, you're not yet familiar with your character's full potential, despite the need of another source to access. I wish you luck to further progress."
Miranda gulped dryly, unusually shy but considering the circumstances. "Could I…have your alias?"
"His alias? Why not his name?" Mokuba asked.
"Don't know who's who in the world. Miranda and I trust each other because we know each other in the real world." Gema answered, knowing very well of Internet etiquette. Apparently he had the same taste of things.
"My alias is Devil Hunter." He introduced to Miranda mostly. "And I guess I'll just know you as Black Dragon and stick with that, the less known the better." Miranda was still hanging on to the mention of his name.
"You're the one Pegasus mentioned?" Miranda pressed on the questions.
"The less known the better." Devil Hunter repeated, his glare refocused and successfully silence Miranda for a minute.
Kaiba remained focused on Devil Hunter. Gozaburo you've outdone yourself this time. You've got another idiot believing in this world more than Gema and Miranda. "You have potential, but I'll have my eye on you; this virtual world isn't big enough for two Marthis."
"Then aren't you glad I took him out?" Devil Hunter intervened, making a joke of the scenario.
Kaiba grumbled before resuming, "Your choice to join us if you can carry your weight."
Devil Hunter took a moment of thought. His first impression was disposition at Kaiba, mainly of the insults and skepticism; disposition was also aimed at Mokuba and Gema, guilty by association. But he could admire Miranda's timid but brave approach, he saw she was aware of his abilities. He gave his answer, "If the empire's the enemy here, then I'll come for that. But we're going to need more than Marshal Law, ninjutsu and explosive tempers. And I believe I've got us a starting point."
Kaiba's eyes narrowed, obviously unhappy with an indefinite loyalty. "As long as it'll be the fastest route out of this virtual rat hole." He breathed deeply to hide the rock in his throat of his next phrase, "Lead the way."
