Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh. I do own Temarocia though.
Song of Temarocia
Chapter 7: Foreshadowing Memories
Journal of Alita Meijer
We won. I'm not sure how, because when I heard that Flair had fallen I was sure that all hope had disappeared. However it seems that Jason, using the killing instincts of the Subzero Shark, managed to defeat the subordinate of Kyris the Hell that had attacked the town. Now Alita's Adventuring Company has three members…
Jason nearly choked to death on the loaf of bread he had tried to consume whole, but after a few moments of forcing it into a much denser ball of dough he managed to chew and swallow it. "Mmmph mmph mlaf…"
Clearing her throat and looking up from her thick journal book, Alita sighed helplessly at him. "Finish what's in your mouth before you try to speak."
Pounding his chest repeatedly, the dark-haired boy managed to get the entire loaf down before he grabbed a pitcher of water and poured the contents of it down his throat to help wash down something he shouldn't have been able to eat in one bite. "I was just saying that I'm still freaking starving."
"You haven't eaten for over three days, are you surprised?" She looked over at Flair, who was calmly sipping his soup. "How about you, Flair? Are you feeling better?"
The samurai placed his bowl down on the table between them and shot a glare at Jason. "I'd feel better if a certain dog would not eat at the table with the rest of us."
"Hey!" Jason yelled around a piece of meat on a bone that he was chewing apart rabidly, leaping to his feet to point across the table. "I saved you, so what's with you still calling me a dog?"
"There are two reasons. Your table manners are atrocious and until I see it for myself I don't believe that you're as powerful as Alita claims, which is why you're still a dog." He stood up and walked out the door of the tavern. "We're leaving in one hour, be ready by then."
Alita sighed and rested her head in her hands. "Can you two please stop fighting? If this group is going to work then we'll have to be nice to each other." Her eyes bulged out of her skull when she looked over at Jason. "What are you doing?"
The black-haired young man had stopped midway through his drink of water, the cup draining its contents over his face as he stared at the ceiling with a far-away look on his face.
-------------------
Jason sneered coldly as he was kicked in the midsection again, his whole body sore from the rather brutal beating he was receiving. "I…I hope you guys don't have any dinner plans, because at this rate I won't be dying anytime soon."
The leader of the gang, a blond spiky-haired guy wearing a leather jacket and a pair of sunglasses snarled and slammed his boot into the young man's midsection again. "That's fine by me; this is a lot more fun than what I planned on doing anyway!"
One of the other gang members near the back of the group turned to look at his fellow member. "What's with this dude anyway? He suddenly comes running at us and punches Johnny in the face, and now he's smiling while getting the crap beaten out of him."
"That's what I'd like to know." The other one scratched the top of his head. "What is this guy's problem?"
"I don't care what his reason was!" Johnny slammed his boot down on top of Jason's head. "All I know is that I'm going to make sure he regrets attacking me for no damn reason!"
"There was a reason though," Jason whispered out, lifting his head up despite the weight on top of it. "I was bored."
"Then you're a suicidal idiot." Johnny pulled a pair of brass knuckles out of his jacket and slid them on. "Look on the bright side though, now you won't be bored."
"Nope," Jason suddenly grinned. "No I won't."
--------------------
Alita shook the young man a couple of times; ignoring the strange looks the other patrons in the restaurant were giving them both. "Hey, are you alright? Snap out of it!" She slapped him across the face roughly. "Come on Jason, speak to me!"
His eyes still out of focus, Jason suddenly grew a small smile. "Hey King, how's it going?" The words were whispered out, as if he was talking in his sleep.
---------------------
A blond-haired young man wearing a black silk shirt and silk pants of the same color slowly brought his foot down to the ground at the same time as the second to last gang member dropped face-first to the pavement. He glanced down at the fallen Jason and kicked him in the ribs softly. "You're an idiot, Jace. Why would you pick a fight knowing that you'd lose?"
"I'm bored," Sitting up and rubbing some dirt from his face, the dark-haired boy grinned again. "And you did get a chance to show off a little bit, didn't you?"
"You're stupid, man." A slight French accent accompanied the words of King, though it seemed a bit fake. "Unlike you I don't go and show off the fact that I'm a member of the Freaks Gang."
"Yeah, it's cause you're afraid your mom'll whip your ass if she finds out you were fighting." Jason sneered for another second before he was silenced by a drop-kick to the skull.
Sweat dripping down his forehead, Johnny took another step back closer towards the exit of the parking structure. "You ain't human…there's no way somebody could do that…"
Ignoring the gang leader, King stomped on Jason's back roughly. "I'm not afraid of that old hag at all!"
"Yeah, of course you're not." Sitting up, Jason tapped the side of his head with a finger. "Come on man, how long are you going to deny this? It's not like you don't have a good reason to be scared of her."
"Would you shut up about it already?" Kicking his friend in the head again, King turned on one heel to face Johnny. "As for you, get going before I do to you what I did to your buddies."
Putting on another pair of brass knuckles, Johnny swept back his hair with his hands and started throwing a few warm-up punches at the air. "I ain't afraid of you at all, weirdo!"
"The name's King Lawless, not weirdo." His bowl-shaped haircut bobbing slightly with his movements, he shoved his hands into his pockets. "And if you really want to fight, then I'll even give you a handicap." His arms shrugged a little, pulling on the fabric of his pants. "I won't use my hands at all."
--------------------------------
"How is that a handicap for you?" Jason was pulled out of his severe daydream as a pitcher of water was emptied over his head. "I'm up, what's happening?" Leaping to his feet, he looked around the restaurant with fists balled up. "Is it a monster attack? Another of Kyris' flunkies?"
"How about you were acting bizarre?" Alita stood up and hit him over the head with the empty metal pitcher, denting it on his skull. "Why did you suddenly space out like that?"
He looked around worriedly, and then leaned in to whisper to her. "I spaced out?" Then he winced as she struck him over the head with the pitcher again.
-----------------------------------
Not too far away…
-----------------------------------
Flair readjusted the ties of his robe and bowed his head to the mayor of Acudacia once more. "I thank you again for respecting our wishes not to have a large celebration in honor of us defeating one of the officers of Kyris the Hell, Mayor."
The elderly man nodded his head up and down shakily. "I still do not see why you wish to avoid holding the celebration, but we are very thankful you stopped that mad magician from destroying our town and as such we will do anything you ask of us."
"Then do not speak of us again," The samurai looked out the sunlit window of the mayor's small home. "My partner is trying her best to avoid being detected by a certain group of people, because if they find us then there will be major trouble. Let us slip into obscurity."
Just then a frantic knock came from the door of the Mayor's office. "Mayor, we just received a message from Reduma!"
"It seems that trouble follows you where ever you go, good sir," The elderly man stood up and walked over to door, letting the sweating man in. "What was the message?"
"There is a group of men approaching from the east!" The man looked frantic. "They're carrying the bloody banner of Kyris the Hell at their front, and according to the report have a large number of Bloody Golems with them!"
"I see," Stroking his beard, the Mayor turned to look at Flair. "Master Swordsman, I know it will be inconvenient for you considering your timetable but would you mind so much as to accept a certain contract?"
"That will not be necessary." The samurai stepped past the two villagers, his hand resting on the hilt of his katana. "It seems that Kyris the Hell has decided that we're worth investigating. Mayor, we'll be leaving now. Please do not expect us back anytime soon."
"I wish you good luck in your travels, Master Swordsman." The old mayor bowed his head slightly to the samurai's back. "And thank you very much for worrying about us, though I think the ones in real danger are you."
--------------------
Rubbing the top of his head where Alita had bent her water pitcher over his skull, Jason glared at the girl. "What's your problem anyway, so what if I spaced out for a couple of seconds?"
"You were spaced out for a minute or so," She returned the glare. "And I thought that maybe it was some kind of side-effect of the distillation that made you a Grafter!"
"Of course not!" Leaping to his feet, right foot resting on the top of the table, Jason pounded his chest a couple of times. "I'm in perfect shape!" Then he dropped backwards into his chair, nearly tipping the whole thing over with the action. "Besides, I was just remembering one of my buddies in the Freaks Gang."
"The Freaks Gang? What's that?" Alita closed her book and rested her elbows on it, leaning in towards him.
"The Freaks Gang is my group of friends back in New York. We decided to call ourselves the Freaks Gang because not a single one of us is truly normal. The guy I remembered, for example, was definitely one of the freakiest out of the Freaks." Jason sneered at the memories that were coming back to him.
"You mean there is someone where you are from that is stranger than you?" Alita found that hard to believe, just because she didn't want to believe such a scary thought.
"King Lawless, a guy that tries way too hard to appear cool." Jason sat back in his seat as he had more and more memories of the time he had spent with the first member of the Freaks Gang. "He's a big fan of the French, and despite being a full-blooded New Yorker tries to sound like them too."
If a question mark could have appeared over Alita's head then it would be there. "What is 'French'? Is that what makes him a special member of your group?"
"Psh, not at all." Jason waved his hand in the air nonchalantly. "It's hard to explain beyond saying that I'm pretty sure he ain't human." His eyes suddenly turned to look out the nearest window. "Hey Alita, I'm going to go check and make sure the ass hasn't planned to poison me or something." Without waiting for her to acknowledge him he ran out the door.
They tore through the trees with ease, their giant blood-soaked bodies nearly capable of walking right over the trees and flattening them in the process. They were the Bloody Golems, one of Kyris the Hell's primary methods of terrorizing the populace.
"Man, what did we do that made Kyris decide to stick us with babysitting duty?" A long green-haired man with blood-red eyes snarled angrily and kicked the shins of one of the Bloody Golems, the creature ignoring him as it continued its approach across the tree-covered lands of the country of Forest.
"I agree, this is a waste of our unique talents." A bald man wearing a snug red leather bodysuit walked alongside the still-grumbling green-haired man. "However, if this is what Kyris wants us to do then who are we to argue with his decision?"
"It's just so stupid though!" The green-haired man turned to look at the chained and shackled form in the middle of the ring of Bloody Golems, the large creatures holding the chains that were attached to the restraints. "You can't seriously tell me that a guy like this is actually dangerous…"
"According to the rumors he's capable of incredible feats," The bald man leapt up onto the road that they just reached. "From here if we follow this path we will arrive in Acudacia within a matter of hours." His eyes widened slightly as he looked down the road. "What's this?"
---------------------------
Alita tugged on the straps of her pack. "Alright Flair, let's get ready to go."
The samurai glanced around the main street of Acudacia. "I'm not complaining that he's not here, but where's the dog?"
"…." The blond-haired girl paled. "He left the tavern about forty minutes ago and said he was going to go find you…"
"Damn it, I can only guess where he is." Flair motioned to the front gate. "Continue on towards our next location, I'll be following sometime later today…" His eyes narrowed angrily. ("If that idiot loses then he'll become a member of The Hell's crew, and if what Alita said about him being a Legendary Class is true then I have to make sure he doesn't lose….at least not at the hands of anyone who follows The Hell.")
------------------------------
Jason grinned calmly, his back resting against the trunk of a tree alongside the road, and tugged on the hem of his vest. "It looks like you guys are headed somewhere in a hurry. Where might that be, huh?"
"We were heading towards Acudacia to meet you, Grafter." The bald man glanced back at his partner. "However it seems that you've come to meet us personally…why is that?"
"Because…" Jason's right eye started twitching and he began pacing across the road. "Wow, how did I even know you guys were here? Or that you were looking for me?"
"How should we know?" The green-haired man snapped impatiently. "All we know is that we brought someone for you to fight, at the request of Kyris the Hell. Do you accept?"
"Why would I turn down such a kind invitation?" Jason's lips curled into that cold sneer of his. "Besides, a good old-fashioned brawl sounds like fun." His Carrier appeared on his arm. "Who am I fighting?"
"That one." The bald man thumbed over his shoulder at the man surrounded by Bloody Golems, completely covered from head to toe in black cloth that was bound to his body by chains.
"Hmph, that's fine." Jason closed his eyes and his Carrier started glowing. "Let's get this battle underway."
----------------------
The trees whipping past him, Flair ran as fast as he could towards the location of the rising magical auras he could sense in the distance. ("That idiot is getting ready to engage someone, but whom? If it's someone weak then there won't be a problem, but if it's someone stronger than myself he will not be able to win.") And unfortunately at this distance he couldn't be sure who this enemy was. ("The enemy's power is fluctuating…it's on a very strange wavelength that I'm not used to.")
---------------------------
The bald man snapped his fingers and the Golems released the chains they were holding, the now pressure-less pieces of metal falling away from the enwrapped form. "Grafter, I'm not sure why but Kyris wants to test you with this opponent…he told me to tell you that he's sure you'll like this enemy."
"Oh really?" Wishing more than ever that he had pockets, Jason contended himself to lick his lips. "I love a potential challenge…so what kind of weird battle will this one be?"
"An Adventurer's Duel." The green-haired man motioned to Jason's Carrier. "Remove your Duel Deck, it is forbidden in this battle. In exchange both players come into battle immediately. You got it?"
"Not really, but I'm sure that I'll figure it out by the time the battle has begun." Jason hadn't brought his Duel Deck with him anyway, fairly confident in his abilities to handle this kind of problem. "You ready, bag-head?"
"Bag-head…" The clothed form suddenly was rushing forward, appearing in front of Jason almost instantly. "Your jokes are far too lame!" The black-haired boy had no time to respond before he was bounced off the shoulder of his chagrining opponent and sent flying backwards through several trees.
The bald man crossed his arms across his chest. "Hmmm, that's pretty impressive speed."
---------------------
Flair lowered his sheathed katana slowly, his hiding place in the trees nearby affording him a perfect place to watch while he recovered his endurance. Running this direction full speed for over half an hour was exhausting. ("I'll have to let the dog get slapped around a bit before I intervene.") Besides, he was interested in the power of this mystery opponent as well.
-----------------------
The fallen trees shuddered and exploded upwards in a spray of splinters, revealing Jason with bone spikes jutting out of his body, a long spiked tail swinging behind him, and a head of long green-gray fur. "Damn dude, you almost hit me before I could call out Stonequill." (1500/3000)
(1800/800) The covered opponent was silent now. ("What is this strange form of his?")
"Regardless of what you expected to happen, attacking a defense mode monster with a weaker creature tends to result in a lot of backlash pain," Jason smirked calmly, showing off one fang and slamming his tail against the ground a couple of times.
?- 6000/0
Jason- 8000/5000
"Wha…" Eyes wide, Jason quickly took note of something bizarre about this guy. "You've got no magic points but you've got a Life Deck…how?"
"Shut up," The clothed opponent stood his ground calmly. "The turn is yours now."
Jason touched the top of his Life Deck and the top card of it disappeared, eyes narrowed. ("This guy is creeping me out…it's like he's testing me.") Part of him wanted to exclaim just how cool it was that he could see all of the cards in his 'hand' in his head at this very moment. ("This place has got some weird rules when it comes to dueling, but none of that really matters. What matters is why I was drawn to this place.") "I activate Stone Bullet at the cost of 200 magic points, which activates when I'm in defense mode! Take 600 points of damage and switch to defense mode!" Kicking a small stone on the ground up into the air, he spun on one foot and slapped the piece of rock towards his opponent with his tail.
"Even when you look different, you still use the same stupid tricks," The mystery opponent hopped into a twist in the air, one leg lancing out and easily shattering the stone before it could connect. "Those won't work on me, Jason."
?- 5400/0
Jason- 8000/4800
"So you know my name?" The Grafter cracked his knuckles and motioned for the mystery opponent to come and get him. "Well then, let's see what you've got."
"Very well," The clothed form suddenly collapsed in on itself, the empty fabric folding into a neat pile on the dirt ground.
Both Jason and Flair couldn't hide the absolute surprise on their faces.
"You're wide open," came a whisper from off to the Grafter's side. Even as he started to turn he knew that nothing would be able to protect him from the blow he was about to sustain. "Coup de Pied Court!" Then Jason's chin was aimed skywards as a shoe shot up and caught him square in the jaw with enough force to make him black out momentarily. "Le Talon tournant à la Tête!" The air-born foot slammed down on the ground and its partner came hurtling in to crack its heel against Jason's jaw, sending him moving horizontally through the air. "Baisse de balance!" The same heel repositioned itself to slam a dropkick down on Jason's chest and send him into the dirt with enough force to bring him bouncing back into the air moments later. "Coup de Pied Court!" The tip of a shoe crashed into Jason's back and pushed him a little higher into the air so that he couldn't reach the ground.
("This is impossible…") Flair, though he was a quick-draw swordsman, had never seen such speed before. The opponent was like some kind of living blur, stopping only before the moment it would strike. ("His movements are too fluid to be normal. If this is martial arts then I've never heard of the style before…")
("Damn…") Jason knew this pattern of attack from a third-person perspective, so getting put through it in a first-person view was pretty painful just to think about. Through the numb and burning sensations in his swollen jaw the Grafter managed to ask one question in this odd moment in time, where everything felt like it was moving slower than it should have been possible. "What's got you so pissed off?"
King, blood-red eyes perfectly matching his dirtied and worn appearance, looked down at the still in-air Jason with contempt. "You made Saika cry because your stupid ass doesn't know how to keep out of trouble." His right leg was perfectly straight in the air, his balance amazingly keeping him from moving in the slightest despite the extreme strain this must have put on his pelvis and groin.
"Sai cried?" The question sounded extremely stupid when he said it, mostly because he knew what was coming for the finale. ("King's trademark final attack, the killer move he only uses when he's pissed off…") Yet he couldn't move…even though he was augmented by Stonequill's defensive power the damage from King's strikes were just as inhumanly powerful as ever.
"Charger à la Tête!" His bowl-shaped haircut flowing in the wind created by the sudden action, King brought his foot down and connected right at the weakest spot of Jason's skull. The Grafter hit the ground, and then he was pushed through it as the following force of pressure created a powerful explosion of dirt that rose up into the sky for a good hundred feet.
Flair covered his face with the low-hanging part of his robe as the immense winds created by the strike blew across his face. ("What was that? A kick? No, no kick could do that much damage…")
The green-haired man dropped the barrier he had created to protect himself from the impact's backlash and frowned at King, who was walking towards them with his hands in his pockets. "How about a little bit of warning before you use such powerful strikes, eh?"
King didn't respond, walking past them both calmly and willing away the Carrier that was attached to his arm.
King- 8800/0
Jason- 0/4800
The dust clouds slowly cleared away to reveal a bloodied Jason face-first in the dirt, his forearm spines shattered and his body impacted into the bedrock a few feet below the ground.
The bald man whistled in astonishment. "You made quick work of him. Then again, that's not much to brag about considering how weak he was."
King stopped, glanced back at the two sneering subordinates of Kyris the Hell, and then walked back over to the fallen Jason. "I'll be the one to get the credit for capturing him, got it?" Throwing the unconscious Grafter over his shoulder, he walked past the two growling red-eyed men with a dark look in his eyes. "Or you can try to stop me, but after witnessing that do you really want to risk fighting me when I'm this angry? The choice is yours." Then he continued back the way they had come.
From his hiding place, Flair knew that this wasn't going to end well at all. ("I already know what Alita is going to order me to do when I tell her what happened here…") Sighing inwardly, he started to make the run back towards the road she would be traveling.
To be continued…
