Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh. I do own Temarocia though, and all the stuff that happens there.
Song of Temarocia
Chapter 9: The Approaching Storm
As he walked down the dimly lit hallways of the Bloody Prison, King wondered to himself how all this could have come to pass over the course of just a few days. ("It's his fault, that idiot Jace, and yet I can't just place the blame entirely on his shoulders. We were fools for trying to find him…")
When he had suddenly arrived in the main hall of Kyris the Hell's castle he immediately fell under attack. Despite his confidence in his skills he was easily defeated because he was caught off guard by the Life Deck his enemy used. ("So many bad things have happened in such a short amount of time…and now the only guy who can do anything about it was easily pounded flat by me. If that is the limit of his power then we are truly finished. Jace has to become stronger…")
He stopped in front of a pair of guards that were guarding a heavily locked door. "Is this the interrogation room?" When they nodded he motioned to it. "Let me in, I've got to speak with the prisoner before the execution takes place."
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"And I'm telling you that you're wrong!" King poked Jason in the forehead a couple of times, some veins bulging out of his neck and a half-finished cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth. "The French are by far the best when it comes to military tactics! A comparison of them to you is like comparing…well, it's like comparing them to you! It's idiotic!"
"The only stupid thing here is you!" Jason thumbed at his chest and slammed his hand down on the top of their table outside the restaurant. "The French ain't nothing compared to my incredible tactical skill! Name one good thing that's come from there that's got to do with the military!"
"Have you ever heard of Napoleon?"
"What does ice cream have to do with this?"
"I know goldfishes that are smarter than you!"
"That's it, it's go time!" Jason tackled King and the two went down in a heap, sending their food and drinks flying everywhere around them.
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Jason coughed a couple of times as he got a breath of cigarette smoke to the face. "Damn it King, I'm up! There's no need for you to spray me with your nasty breath."
"Your jokes are still lame." The blond-haired young man sat down in the poorly made wooden chair in the center of the roughly-hewn stone cell, crossing his legs together slowly.
At the far end of the small room the black-haired young man was chained up to the wall, heavy metal bonds wrapped around his legs and arms to keep him from moving at all. "So why are you here?"
"I'm here because there are a few things I wanted to say to you before you're executed." Taking another puff of his cigarette, King looked up at the ceiling and sprayed a jet of smoke from his mouth upwards. "I'll tell it to you as simply as possible. The others are somewhere here in Temarocia. Kimberly, Rick, and Saika…all three of them were with me when it happened."
His heart had stopped in his chest when he heard this, so Jason didn't immediately have a snappy reply on hand. "Are they alright?"
"Who knows?" After taking another drag of his cigarette, King sighed out and leaned back in his seat. "Though as I sit here I recall the events that led up to it like it was yesterday…"
"Stop trying to sound cool," Jason barked out angrily. "It happened a few days ago, so of course it would be fresh in your mind!"
Kicking the other man in the face, King held his foot there as he started remembering out loud.
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"He's late!"
King sighed as someone paced in front of him, though at his current eye level he could only see the top of a black-haired head. "You know, Kim chéri, it would be better on your heart and your complexion if you did the smart thing and relaxed a little bit."
The top of the head of hair stopped right in front of him and he felt something cold and metal get pressed against the underside of his chin. "Shut your mouth, Casanova, before I staple it shut with some lead! That idiot said he'd be here at noon, and just take a look at what time it is now!"
Ignoring the pistol aimed at his head, King pulled out his pocketwatch and flipped it open. "It's 12:03. Wow, you normally only start making threats when he's five minutes late. Come on now, the others aren't here yet either."
The pistol was removed from his neck and holstered. "Sai and Rick have excuses though! Jace lives fifteen minutes from here!"
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Fifteen minutes later…
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"So what do you think should I use rubber bullets or those pepper powder ones that Rick came up with?" The sound of a pistol being loaded could be heard from off to King's side.
"Whichever you use will more than likely not do too much to him." Finding himself fidgeting, King quickly pulled a cigarette out and flicked it into the corner of his mouth, though he didn't light it. "I'm really starting to wonder if something happened to the poor bastard. He's not one to be this late usually."
"Hey, is there a fire over there?" Someone nearby called out.
"Hmmm?" Tilting his head skyward, King blinked at the cloud of orange smoke that hung in the air above two blocks away. "Isn't that the stupid smoke signal that Rick invented? We really need to get that boy a cell phone."
"Yup, which means that something happened and he needs our help." Kim ran past him quickly. "Come on, Casanova; let's find out what the deal is. We already missed the tournament anyway!"
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The first thing that King realized when he arrived was that the cloud was directly over an alley, which considering this was New York never boded well for anyone. Charging into the rather spacious area between the two buildings, he skidded to a halt as he realized there was a pair of men in black suits in his way. "Excuse me gentlemen, I've got to get through here."
"That won't be possible." One of the two men started to reach into his suit pocket. "You'll need to leave this instant."
"Is that so?" King's hands came to a rest in his pockets. "That's too bad; my friend just called me on his cell phone and told me that there were suspicious-looking guys making a ruckus."
"Is that so?" The man removed his handgun from his suit pocket and aimed it at the young man. "That's too bad, buddy. It looks like you won't be walking out of this situation alive."
"Actually, the ones not walking out of this situation alive would be you two." King suddenly disappeared; appearing behind them both with his body already in the middle of a roundhouse kick that laid them both flat on the ground. "Now then, let's see what you two were…" He turned and his eyes widened in amazement at the pulsing orb of darkness just around the corner in the alley. "And just what is this thing?"
"That's a good question," Kim said from off to his side. "Do you think Rick is inside?"
"There's only one way to find out." Popping his neck a couple of times, King leapt up into the air above the orb and brought his foot crashing down on top of it. "Charger à la Tête!" There was a burst of pressure that shook the surrounding walls for a few moments, and then the blond-haired young man was hurled backwards into a wall.
"Wow, that thing is pretty strong if it stood against one of your kicks." Kim snapped her pistol up and a shot rang out across the alley as she fired once into it, not surprised when she heard a hissing noise and a small spray of purple sparks came from the orb. "Maybe we should try…"
The orb hummed and disappeared, leaving no trace it had ever been there in the first place.
"It's empty?" King rolled to his feet and walked to the center of where the orb had been, looking around for some clue as to the location of their friend.
The clue came in the form of a ringing noise at his feet. It was a pink cell phone with stickers of little kittens all over it. "Sai's cell phone is here?"
Kim pointed near a dumpster. "And that's Jace's scooter right?"
"That means that all three of them have been here at one point or another…" Lighting up a fresh cigarette, King flipped through the call records of Saika's cell phone with one hand. "Hmmm, the last call was to 911 but it didn't get through."
"I bet this is somehow Jace's fault." Kicking the side of the motor scooter with her foot, Kim turned to face the fake Frenchman. "Are there any messages on Saika's phone?"
"Let me check." Holding the device up to his ear, King pressed the call button and contacted the phone's voice mail service. After a minute or two passed he growled in frustration and turned it off. "Damn it, I knew he was somehow responsible for this! And she was crying too! I'm going to kick his ass!" Shoving the phone into his pocket, he turned to walk out of the alley and stopped immediately when a bullet whizzed past his cheek.
"That's as far as you go, brat." One of the two men King had knocked out earlier had his handgun out and was aiming at the two of them. "I'll kill you both."
"Can you really do such thing?" King stretched his legs a little bit. "Normal firearms aren't going to be able to connect with me and you just wasted your only free shot hitting nothing but air."
"That may be true, but if I start a Darkness Game then I'll be able to crush you both in a duel." The man made a motion with his hands and another orb of darkness formed, this time around the three of them. "A two on one…" His eyes widened in pain as he was suddenly destroyed by a trio of black lightning bolts that fell from the edge of the orb.
"What the…" King felt a powerful burst of force slam against his body and then he was falling…
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"And that's how I wound up here. I'm still not sure why that guy starting a Darkness Game would cause this, but that's the deal." King removed his foot from Jason's face and returned to his seat. "So, anything you'd like to ask me before I leave you to your fate?"
The black-haired young man collapsed against the nearly spiky stone wall behind him, head hanging low. "Where's the cell phone, King?"
The blond-haired man chuckled mirthlessly. "Why should I…"
His head snapped up, murder in his eyes. "Where's the cell phone, King?"
King patted his pant's pocket. "It's right here. If you want it then you'll have to take it from me. Of course considering that you'll be executed in about ten minutes you've got little left to do except to say your prayers." His attention was off of Jason, so he barely had time to react before the black-haired boy leapt up and lunged across the room, reaching the end of the chain right before they connected bodily. "I see you're desperate to save her, aren't you? She sounded pretty scared too…in fact; she even called your name out a couple of times, as if you would mysteriously appear like some kind of hero to save her."
"I'll…" Jason pushed forward harder, the metal bands applying even more pressure to his body. "…kick your ass…" His eyes reflected nothing but a burning hot desire to break free of his bonds now.
The fake Frenchman laughed and walked over to the door, pushing it open with his foot. "What will you do? Jason, even if you got free there's no way you could possibly take me down in a fight. That's impossible, no matter how mad you are. You've got no fighting skill whatsoever."
"It doesn't matter!" Jason tugged harder on the metal bonds, stealing his own breath away because of it. "It doesn't take any kind of fighting skill to beat the crap out of a loser like you!"
"Is that so?" King smirked and closed the door behind him as he left. "Good luck, buddy. Let's see if you can follow up your threat."
Jason screamed again and started doing running leaps towards the door, the metal bonds applying more and more painful pressure. No matter how much it hurt though, he refused to stop. "King, I'll beat that cell phone out of you! Do you hear me? Do you hear me?"
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Flair casually stepped past the two guards in front of him, not even bothering to sheath his sword as they were both hurled backwards in a spray of their own blood. "Alita, do you even have any idea where he is being held?"
"Was I supposed to?" She asked, hand on her hip. "Can't we just tear through most of the guards here and find him?"
"You're not doing most of the fighting, and while alone these guards aren't too much I can only imagine that after another ten of them I'm going to need a break." Running his hand along the hilt of his katana, the samurai frowned at her. "I'm not a machine, Alita. Why not try to locate him through a divination spell?"
"Because if I do that then the alarms will go off." She glared at him. "Why are you complaining? I thought your skill was good enough to beat guys such as these sad little sacks of leather armor."
"It is, but I am a quickdraw swordsman." He noticed another pair of guards and disappeared, appearing alongside them both and slashing through them with his sword. "I can't move this fast forever."
"Well keep at it until we find him, alright?" She stomped past him and started yelling out Jason's name, hoping he would respond soon.
Right eye twitching, Flair wondered if she even realized what this place was…
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Ten hours away…
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"So that's what happened, huh?" A low laughter echoed across the cavernous blood red-colored throne room of Kyris the Hell.
"That's correct, Lord Kyris," The voice on the other end of the mirror hanging alongside the throne was that of Solaris, though it sounded rather strained. It was almost as if he was talking around a mouth full of cotton-balls. "That traitor has his own agenda, as you thought."
"That's enough then. I suggest you both hurry back to the castle." The mirror's mysterious red sheen faded away to indicate it was no longer connected to the hand mirror that the two servants were carrying with them. "It's as I thought, Yamuta. That King guy has his own plans and doesn't have any wish to serve me."
"You do not sound very upset by this turn of events." The voice came from off to the side of the shadowed throne.
"Why should I be?" A pair of blood-red eyes lit up the darkness, and off to the side of the throne a sheathed rapier was picked up. "I wasn't expecting King to follow my orders and infect the Grafter with The Hell, or that he would leave the Grafter to rot in Shunsuna. This is all going according to plan."
"Shall I prepare you a lunch?" Yamuta's voice spoke with the deepest respect behind it.
"No," Kyris slowly stood up, buckling the rapier to his side and brushing back a lock of his hair. "As nice as it would be to have something to eat after I let loose on Shunsuna and that annoying blowhard Regimond, it would be best if I at least made him think I intended on taking him seriously." His lips curled into a cold sneer. "I want to meet this Grafter so badly, but if King beat him so easily then I'm almost afraid that when I fight him that he'll accidentally be broken by my attacks."
"That may be one possible outcome." Yamuta laughed cheerfully. "However, if that is the case then why should you care? If his past reactions to danger are any indication that will just mean he'll find the situation all the more exciting."
"You're definitely right," The Hell touched the mirror alongside his throne, body already fading away. "I look forward to this fight with him and with King as well. Those two together might just make me actually need to use my sword."
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Daniel frowned and sheathed Future Edge, eyes looking out across the thundercloud-covered land between himself and the Blood Prison. "It seems all signs are pointing towards that hellish place. Sorry Deondre, but do you think you're up to a fight against the Warlord of the Lion?"
The Cross of Shadows shrugged his shoulders quietly, his face mask only showing his eyes and above. "Sure, let's see if two of us are enough to take him down."
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"KING!" Jason screamed louder and bashed his head against the metal welded to the wall that was holding his chains in place. "Tell me where they are! Give me that cell phone!" He slammed his skull against the metal plate again and drew blood as his forehead was cut open. "Fight me!"
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Regimond smiled to himself, one hand resting on the handle of his mighty battle-axe. "This is the best feeling in the world. Already they are appearing, the mightiest warriors that this country has are gathering in this one place to fight against each other for various reasons. This is why this prison exists, as a place to occasionally cleanse the scum of Temarocia from the world by using them as cannon fodder against those who come here."
His hand reached out and touched the top of his crystal ball, the orb lighting up green. "This is Lord Akutast. All guards are to head to your stations in preparation for the release of all prisoners' cells. Do you hear that, scum? That's right, your ears are not deceiving you. I have some intruders coming in, and that means you'll all get your chance to fight for your freedom. When those doors open, come out with the intent to kill everyone in your way…I hope you make good use of this chance, it doesn't come around often."
Removing his hand from the crystal ball, the giant man sneered into it. "Of course if any of you survive I'll just kill you anyway, but at least this way you'll actually be willing to kill yourselves fighting my enemies."
To be continued…
