Eliminator
Smokegirl: (escapes from her closet and glares at everyone) If I hear any cracks about 'coming out of the closet'-
Magicman: Last time the bad guys were finally getting ahead with their schemes. This time, we can actually watch those schemes in motion.
Smokegirl: Good. Can we kill off Kaiba now?
Magicman: As tempting as that is, we need him alive. But enough chit chat. Let's get down to business.
IIIIIII
Mai was alone in the hallway, sifting through her deck and pondering the merits of certain cards. Should she add in Harpy's Brother? It was a powerful level four monster true, but it didn't fit into her usual line up of combos like the weaker Harpy lady did. Should she trade combo attacks for sheer power?
The blonde bit her lip thoughtfully. This was always a tough choice. One could never be sure exactly what cards the opposition would be using, so any choice she made had to be perfect.
In the end she decided to stick with her harpy combos. A single powerful monster could be overcome, but when a good combo got under way it was almost impossible to stop. Mai grinned as she shuffled up her cards. Yugi may have gotten lucky against her last time, but with him out of the way first place was hers for the taking.
"Mai girl" she told herself with a grin, "This year it's all yours."
She started to turn and head back to the big reception room when an arm suddenly wrapped around her mouth and another grabbed her arm and pinned it to her side.
Startled, Mai jerked hard to get away but the hand over her face was cutting off her air. Panic set in when she couldn't draw a breath. Her screams were muffled but she did manage to elbow her attacker in the ribs pretty hard, and when she ground her spiked heel into his toe the assailant let out a yelp of pain.
Still though, the lack of air was draining her will to fight. Black spots were gathering in her line of sight. Her limbs were growing weak…
Mai lost consciousness and the Rare Hunter tossed her over his shoulder. He carried her away, limping as he went. His ribs still hurt too.
"I hope the others have as much trouble with their targets" he grumbled vindictively.
IIIIIII
When the hands grabbed her from behind, Shannon immediately knew that it wasn't any of her friends. When Joey playfully grabbed her from behind or when Serenity did for that matter (the siblings were quite playful), he was always careful not to actually hurt her. The hands that seized her shoulders were rough and painful. They squeezed hard, holding her in place for a split second. Shannon immediately realized that the owner of those hands had no good intentions toward her, so she did what was natural. She grabbed one hand, jerked it in front of her face and sank her teeth into it.
"Ow! OW!" screamed a voice behind her. "Christ, she's biting me! The bitch is biting me!"
Another voice started laughing as Shannon kept struggling wildly. "What's the matter Kenji? Is the little girl too tough for you?"
"You shut the hell up! OW! I'll show you!"
A fist crashed into the side of Shannon's head. Wincing, she dug her teeth in deeper, provoking another yell of pain and another vicious blow to the head. She held on and the punches kept coming.
"Will you hurry up Kenji?" the man's partner demanded. "I don't fancy being here when Pegasus' security arrives."
"She's biting bone damn it!" Kenji snarled, and hit Shannon harder than ever.
Flashes of light burst in Shannon's sight and she involuntarily cried out in pain. Kenjo took the chance and yanked his hand from her mouth. For a second Shannon weaved unsteadily on her feet then fell to the tile floor dazed. She felt something warm trickling down her face. 'Hmm. What is that? Is that blood? I guess it is' she thought blearily. Dimly, she could hear the two men now standing above her arguing.
"What did you do? Hit her in the head with a brick? We were supposed to bring her back alive!"
"She'll be fine, so get off my back! Come on and help me carry her out of here."
The two men grabbed Shannon and started to haul her down the empty corridor, moving quickly to avoid being caught. The blonde tried struggling but she was having a lot of trouble staying conscious after that last blow to the head. Maybe she could just rest for a minute…try again later…
IIIIIII
When the two strange hooded men broke into the guest room that Serenity and Tea were sharing and tried to kidnap, all hell broke loose.
Serenity wasn't the most athletic girl in the world but that day she proved exactly how nimble she could be, diving under tables and clambering over couches to try and reach the door. Unfortunately her pursuer was fairly intelligent and always stayed between her and the door while his partner chased Tea into another room. Serenity could never find a chance to slip around behind him and escape. Also she didn't want to abandon Tea.
Eventually the hooded man had her cornered in the den. Serenity was stuck against a wall, fending him off with a chair. Every time he approached, she would jab it at his face, forcing him to scramble back.
The stalemate could not last long though. The chair was surprisingly heavy and both combatants knew it was only a matter of time until Serenity dropped it.
"Hiiiya!"
The other hooded man went flying through the air to crash heavily into Serenity's assailant. The shocked man stumbled forward. Serenity jumped out of the way and the man's head was planted into the wall. Both lay on the floor, groaning in pain.
Serenity looked over at the door. Tea stood there, glowering angrily at the attackers. "We're not going with you and I sure as well won't let you kidnap us, so BACK OFF!" she yelled.
The red head blinked. Tea could be really scary sometimes. But as the two men picked themselves up, she shook her head and scurried over to hide behind her martial arts-wielding friend.
That was when she heard the door open again. She turned quickly, hoping to see Joey or someone to help them.
Instead she saw two more hooded men. To her horror, one of them was hauling an unconscious and bleeding Shannon over his shoulder.
One of the men surveyed the situation and sighed gustily. "You two really are idiots, you know that? You couldn't even take care of two little girls."
The man that Tea had flung through the room glared angrily. "Shut up and lend a hand!"
"If I must. Put her down Kenji. It seems our job isn't quite finished."
The four men approached the two girls, circling them warily. Serenity back away until she bumped against Tea's back. Tea glanced over at her friend and sighed.
"Sorry Serenity. I guess they'll get us after all."
"It's not your fault." The redhead smiled. "If I'm getting kidnapped, at least it's with you."
"Get them!"
The men rushed them all at once…
IIIIIII
It was the pulse of dark energy that woke Ishizu from her magic induced coma.
She sat up, groaning at the headache that gripped her mind in a sadistic hand. She couldn't think. She even had a hard time remembering what had happened to her. But it wasn't so easy to escape those memories of evil.
"Did you have pleasant dreams?" The voice was sharp and mocking, and grated in her mind.
Ishizu managed to push herself up off the floor and face her tormentor with dignity befitting a tombkeeper. "You will release me at once fiend" she told him coldly.
Bakura grinned a shark's grin. "Have you even looked around you yet? With my magic pinning yours down, you won't be going anywhere."
Belatedly, Ishizu glanced at her surroundings. She was stuck in a large steel cage with no visible lock or door. The cage itself was surrounded with a dark mist that whirled and flowed from invisible currents. Her heart sank. She was in the Shadowrealm.
"Like I said, you won't be going anywhere. Of course it's not like you're the only one" Bakura added cheerfully. "You're little friends are absolutely terrified."
Ishizu's attention was jerked forcibly back to her tormentor. She stared at him incredulously for several seconds before recovering her composure. "What are you talking about?"
Bakura grinned that evil grin again. "The Gardner girl, the dog's sister, Pegasus' daughter, and the blonde bitch are all guests in Kaiba's little deathtrap."
"Kaiba!"
"Indeed. I suppose you didn't notice the quality of this cage because of my…modifications. Kaiba may be a self-absorbed ass who denies what's in front of his face, but I must say that he does not stint on the quality of his property."
And I gave HIM Obelisk. Ishizu could just slap herself for not foreseeing this! She had been sure that Kaiba would prove instrumental in retrieving the remaining god cards. Instead he had run straight to Marik. Now her brother had all three Gods at his disposal thanks to her. She hung her head in shame at her disastrous error.
Meanwhile Bakura had continued his rambling gloating. "He calls this place 'Death T'. A pretentious name, but I suppose it fits. He's really quite a homicidal maniac under that cool exterior. But enough of my small talk. It's time for the two of us to get down to business."
It was alarming how his demeanor changed from strangely playful to dark and menacing in an instant. His red eyes narrowed and his hand came up in a gesture of command. The darkness cleared away in a small part of the cavernous chamber. A scream split the silence. In the clearing revealed by Bakura's magic, two forms were revealed. One was scaly, built low to the ground and possessed a mouthful of teeth, and it stalked toward the other, a young red headed girl.
"Do you find her familiar Ishizu? You should. She's Wheeler's sister." The fiend grinned as the girl scrambled back from the monster. "The creature is a Man Eater Bug. They're quite ravenous, especially after being summoned all the way from the Shadowrealm. Do you think Wheeler would thank you for letting a monster devour his sister?"
Ishizu started as the bug suddenly leapt forward. Serenity shrieked as the large bug landed on her chest, knocking her backward. She tried to push it away but it bore down and pushed her to the floor.
"What are you doing? Let her go!"
"I have the power here, not you. But I'm prepared to be merciful. Simply give me your Millennium necklace and I'll call off the bug."
"Come now Ishizu" Bakura coaxed, seeing the Egyptian woman's horror. "There's no need to condemn the poor girl to death."
Ishizu gritted her teeth. She clenched her eyes shut and tried to ignore the screams. "I won't give you what you want" she whispered.
Bakura's pleasant smile vanished and he gestured violently. The bug leaned its head down, obscuring the girl's face from Ishizu's view. A scream was cut off by a sickening crunch and Serenity's struggling arms flopped limply to the floor.
The silence was broken as Bakura snapped his fingers, engulfing the macabre spectacle in darkness once again. "I'll give you the night to think it over" he snarled hatefully. "Tomorrow I'll feed Pegasus' daughter to my pet if you don't give me what I want! And I'll do the same to Gardner and Valentine too! And if you still defy me then, I swear I will feed your precious brother to my Man Eater Bug!" He took a breath and calmed himself. "I will speak to you tomorrow. Think on it."
Bakura spun on his heel and walked out into the shadows. Drained by the confrontation and the realization that she had just helped to murder Joey's sister, she sank to her knees and shuddered.
IIIIIII
Serenity sneezed loudly.
Tea looked up from taking care of a comatose Shannon. "Are you alright?"
Serenity nodded and looked around suspiciously. "I'm getting the feeling that someone is talking about me behind my back."
Mai rolled her eyes then looked nervously at the guard. Their captors had thrown them into this cage that seemed made of shadows, and set a guard to watch them. Normally she wouldn't be so worried about one lousy guard…but this guard looked suspiciously like a Summoned Skull card brought to life.
The massive demon loomed over the four girls, never turning its eyeless sockets away from them for an instant. Occasionally it let out a growl but other than that it never budged an inch.
Some short, blonde, tanned guy had set it to watch them with a warning to not run away or be devoured. He seemed to be the one in charge, though he refused to divulge his evil plans.
The three girls had awoken in this rather sorry state more or less at the same time. Tea was tending to Shannon's head injury but other than that they were pretty much alternating between being bored out of their skulls and scared out of their minds.
"So" Mai began, trying out some small talk, "Has anyone seen that new movie? Snakes on a Plane?"
Tea and Serenity looked at Mai like she was insane. Shannon just sort of groaned and fluttered her eyelids before finally coming to.
"Owww… My head. What hit me?"
"Just relax Shann" Tea soothed, as Serenity and Mai came over to the groggy girl. "We were all kidnapped for some reason, and have been thrown in some jail cell."
"Do we know who by?"
Serenity shook her head. "There were a bunch of robed men who came after us, but I don't know who they were."
Shannon considered, struggling to think through the throbbing headache she had. "I remember dad talking to the guys about some nuts who broke onto the island. Maybe these are them out for revenge after getting their butts handed to them."
"And what about him?"
Shannon followed Mai's pointing finger to the demon watching them diligently and her silver eyes widened at once. For the first time since Mai met her, the other blonde was speechless.
"Exactly."
Shannon closed her mouth and frowned as an idea occurred to her. "Help me up, would you?"
Mai slung an arm over her shoulder and helped the younger girl to her feet. Together they staggered to the edge of their dark prison, halting within ten feet of the Summoned Skull. Shannon pulled a handful of change from her pocket and flung them at the monster. Her aim wasn't perfect with her painful head injury, but enough coins bounced off the gruesome head to annoy the demon significantly.
The skull let out an earth shaking growl and heaved itself to its feet, sending Mai and Shannon scrambling backwards and Tea and Serenity shrinking into the corner opposite of it. The beast loomed over them, lightning crackling in its talons. The vacant face did not show the rage it felt at its captivity, and its desire to destroy the pathetic humans around it then return to its dark realm. But it had been summoned to obey by a being, possessing ancient dark magic that could bind even its mighty soul. Reluctantly the Summoned Skull dispersed its magical lightning. It could kill the humans in a heartbeat, but its summoner would punish it. All it could do was wait for a chance to vent its growing wrath.
As the Summoned Skull sat back down and returned to eyeing the girls, Shannon let out the breath she was holding.
"Okay. It's definitely real. No holograms here, nosiree."
Mai turned a little red at this. "You thought it was a damn hologram!"
"Well yeah. What else could it be? Mass hallucination? A robot? A guy in a suit? It's just a darn card game after all."
Shannon blinked innocently as Mai's eye twitched violently. 'Maybe she has anger management problems or something' she thought absently.
Tea sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Shann, it's a lot more than a card game." She took the girl aside, sat her down on the cold steel floor, and proceeded to tell her a very long story…
IIIIIII
Magicman: I am almost sick from how long that took…
Smokegirl: (pulls out sword and jabs it at Magicman) Next time you had better pick up the pace!
Magicman: I promise I'll try. I don't know why this one was so hard to write. But since you've probably seen the plot so far, can anyone tell me what was on level one of Death T? I never figured it out and it's kind of essential to the story line.
Smokegirl: (prods Magicman)
Magicman: Ow. Anywho, I hope it was enjoyed. I'm kind of uncertain about some parts, but I'll be darned if I can see any specific problem.