Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh. I do own Temarocia though.

Ten years ago…

"Who's there?" A weak and yet somehow strong voice called out.

"It is I, your majesty," Daniel kneeled before the sickbed. "You called for me?"

"Yes I did, Daniel…" A hand reached out and placed itself on top of the Apprentice Seer's head. "You'll have to excuse me, I cannot see very well…"

"I swore that I would be your…" Daniel gasped as the King's hand dropped over his mouth to silence him.

"I understand that, but such a thing cannot save my life. My fate was decided when I fought against the Warlord of Hell's Inferno…and was struck by his sword. No matter what happens I do not want to see that fate befall any of you…like it befell your masters."

"Your majesty," Daniel pulled back slightly. "Please don't talk like this. If you continue speaking in such a manner it would sound like you're actually going to fall…"

"Do not fool yourself!" The King's hand shot out and grabbed the collar of the boy's collar. "I will not live to see tomorrow. You, as a Seer, should have that feeling."

"I don't want to accept that fate, I will fight it." Daniel pulled his grey glasses out of his pocket. "I will fight against it, even if it costs me my life. I swore, on that day, that as long as I drew breath I would protect the royal family and Mudeia!"

"Then protect her," The King patted the young man on the head with a weak hand. "I will die soon. Protect Alita. Keep her safe…do not forget that while the Warlord of Hell's Inferno is now dead that his son still walks the earth. He will not rest until he had accomplished his father's task and even though he is only five now…"

"He killed an entire platoon of our best soldiers," Daniel remembered the bloodshed and the screaming most of all; because he could also remember the visions he had received while touching the weapons on the ground at that site of horror. "He killed over a hundred men in a few strokes of his sword. Just like his father, he is a monster…"

"Such is the power of a Graftborn. All of them are monsters held within a human frame." The King sighed quietly and settled back against his bed. "Kyris was his name… the boy I mean?"

"Yes, his name was Kyris." Daniel's hands clenched tighter as he recalled the visions in more detail. "He is a child that is the spitting image of his father. A beast with hair as red as blood, and eyes of the same type. No matter what else happens, I will never forget that look on his face when he slaughtered those men…it was overjoyed, as if the death of his father meant nothing to him at all."

"Regardless, do not ever back down from this challenge. Protect Alita, and never let Kyris harm her. Fight him with your very last breath…"

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Deondre grasped his stilettos, both of the thin weapons pulsing with purple light. "Poison Strike." Then he disappeared, appearing right above Kyris's head and striking with his full force.

"It useless to try and catch me off guard," The boy tilted his head up to smile at the Assassin, blocking the two killing weapons with his sword and then rolling up into the air right past him. "You're far too slow!" He drop-kicked Deondre to the ground, though before he could strike a finishing blow he had to block a sword aimed for his head. "You too, Seer, don't you think that if your ability to see into the future could have taken me down it would have by now?"

"Regardless of whether it will work or not, I can't lose to you!" Daniel's eyes were pure grey now, his mind plunged about fifteen seconds into the most probable future events. "No matter what happens, I will protect her from you!"

"Sure, it sounds like fun." Kyris blocked a flurry of strikes aimed for his vital points. "Keep in mind though, Seer, that if you can't even catch me how will you stop me from…" His eyes widened as for just a moment there was a crystal sword edge against his neck before he knocked it away. "I see you've definitely improved since last time…"

("Whoever protected Princess Alita, please keep her safe for just a while longer.") Daniel could no longer see the room he was in; instead he was standing atop a rotating crystal platform that existed only in his mind's eye. ("Keep her safe, I beg of you!")

Song of Temarocia

Chapter 12: Shunsuna Standoff

King awoke screaming. "HOT!"

Jason removed his hand from his now-smoldering friend. "That takes care of The Hell. Well, now that you've got a clean bill of health from Dr. Valerio…"

"Clean bill of health my ass!" Suddenly moving, King did a handstand and spun on his palms, slamming the side of his foot against Jason's head and sending him flying. "What's the matter with you? Do you get off burning guys when they're trying to sleep off their injuries?"

"Shut up!" Leaping to his feet and having already returned to his normal shape, Jason pointed angrily at the bowl-haired young man. "If it wasn't for me then you'd still be infected by that creepy plague thing that Kyris the Hell gave you! Is that how you repay the guy who freed you from such a fate?"

"The only one who should shut up here is you. You're a lousy doctor regardless." King brushed some dust off of himself and lit up another cigarette. "So you beat that big guy, huh?"

"Oh yeah!" Jason pounded a fist against his chest. "I figured out that depending on my mood I'm more powerful when using different Grafts. That means now that I know the secret to it I'm even stronger than you!" He sneered cheerfully, which was a very strange sight. "Plus stuff like that fire Graft has abilities like how I burned that plague right out of your body."

"I find it hard to believe that you're stronger than me, regardless of whatever supernatural assistance you might have." King frowned as he noticed that Alita was still unconscious, propped up against the wall in a rather uncomfortable-looking position. "You really need to learn how to be gentler to a lady."

"And you need to learn to stop being such a babbling fool for a pair of nice legs," Jason popped his neck and sat down next to the unconscious Alita. "I guess we'd better escape from this place, huh?"

"That would be the best course of action." King took a drag from his cigarette and blew the smoke behind him coldly. "The problem is that I'm not sure of the way out of here. I suppose I could just start blowing through the walls until we find an exit though."

"We could do that, but do you have the strength to go and do something like that?" Jason ducked a kick that blew a hole in the wall behind him. "I guess I'll take that as a yes?"

"You'd better, it definitely wasn't a no." Going into a series of leg warm-ups, King got ready to start his one-man demolition of the Bloody Prison. "You had better keep a close eye on that lady, because if anything happens to her then I'll break your face."

"I heard you the first time, ya walking bag of smoke." Jason stood up and threw Alita over his shoulder. "Now hurry up and get us out of here."

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Bull slowly stood up and sighed, spraying a small puff of black smoke from his mouth. "Wow, I actually passed out from that attack. That kid is definitely something special…" Crossing his legs together, he blew a glob of soot and mucus out of his nose. "I'm going to taste this for weeks too. What a drag."

"It's more of a drag," A cold voice said from behind him angrily, "That you went and lost our only way to get that key, didn't you Bull?"

The burly man scooted around to face the other end of the room, grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry about that Masquil. The kid that fought me for her was really strong, and he was definitely determined to win."

"Was he now?" A bare foot stepped forward slowly, and a pair of hands ran through a head of short oiled black hair. "I don't believe I was asking for excuses, Bull. I can't believe that you would lose to a kid, would you?"

"Well, maybe kid was the wrong word to use. He was pretty young though, and his power was way too amazing for me to do anything about. The guy was a Grafter, after all." Bull started laughing heartily, not bothered at all by the loss of their only way out of Shunsuna.

"He was a Grafter?" Ruerto's rough features twisted into a cold smile. "Interesting…so there's a Grafter here…" He turned to look back at his two compatriots. "You two are coming with me, we've got a girl to recover."

Raiza stretched his hand slowly, the metal cat claws attached to it clicking together loudly. "It sounds like fun, and a good way to make sure I haven't lost my touch." His wiry red hair bristled slightly.

Guzmo licked his lips together; his greasy green mane and snake-like eyes alone enough to prove that he looked like his name…a treacherous killer. "And there's a Grafter too, which I'm sure you'll want to have a little talk with."

"That is, without a doubt, the truth." Ruerto cracked his knuckles. "To think there are still guys like that alive…I have to find out his secret. How was he created?" Then he realized he was wasting time and looked down at Bull. "Go and wait for us at the meeting place, we'll be ready to go soon enough."

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Another wall exploded outwards and King strolled through the hole he had created casually, hands in his pockets as his mouth fiddled with his cigarette teasingly. "How many walls is that now?"

"I stopped counting after fifteen." Jason walked past him and dropped Alita to the ground. "Whew, this is…" He grunted as King slammed a heel down on his shoulder and pulled him to his back.

"What did I tell you about being gentle to the lady?" The fake Frenchman punted the black-haired young man across the room angrily. "She might have a concussion and you just keep jostling her like nothing is wrong at all."

Sitting up and rubbing his side gingerly, Jason glared at King. "If she's strong then she'll survive just fine!" He was silenced by another kick to the face.

"If she's strong?" King spat his lit cigarette onto Jason's forehead and watched his friend jump up screaming about how it was burning into his skull. "A lady is like a delicate flower. You can't expect her to be a rough and mindless brute like you, ignoring all pain because you've got a fight to go to."

Jason tuned the fake Frenchman's rant out, his eyes going out of focus momentarily before he held a hand up to indicate to King that quiet was needed. "Do you hear that? Someone's coming…"

Sure enough, the sound of footsteps could be heard around the corner of the hallway they were in.

"Hmph, more than likely just another group of criminals." King hopped up and down a couple of times, throwing a quick duo of kicks into the air to warm his legs up. "I'll take them down in a flash." Then he saw a shadow coming and kicked full force…

Flair snapped his katana up and blocked the incoming dress shoe masterfully, barely moving at all. "Oh, it's you two." Pushing King away he sheathed his katana and looked down at Jason and the unconscious Alita. "Is she alright, dog?"

"She's just fine, ass." The black-haired boy stood up and glared at the samurai. "Why do you still feel the need to call me dog?"

"If it whines like a dog, smells like a dog, and looks like a dog then it's a dog." Flair kneeled next to Alita and checked her pulse. "What happened to Alita?"

"Alita?" King suddenly had hearts in his eyes. "Ah, the gods have bestowed upon me the name of this angel. This girl that has stolen my heart…"

"You haven't even spoken with her!" Jason slammed his forehead into King's chin and floored the love-struck young man. "What a freaking idiot."

Flair struck Jason over the head with his sheathed katana. "That's enough of your stupid comedy routine; just tell me what happened to her."

"How the hell should I know?" Jason rolled his shoulders. "When I showed up she was with this really big smelly guy. He kind of reminded me of a bear, and he was hella strong. He took King's attacks like they were nothing."

"Who's King?" Flair nudged the guy at his feet, which still had hearts in his eyes. "This guy? He doesn't seem that strong." His eyes widened as he was forced back by a series of spinning kicks which barely missed his head.

"Not strong, huh?" King tugged on his collar and lit up another cigarette, apparently having finally gotten over his sudden bout of lovesickness. "I'm a ton stronger than you, you reject from a bad samurai movie."

Flair shrugged and kneeled down next to Alita, slapping her cheeks gently with his hand. "I'm sure that would be insulting if I knew what a movie was."

"Hey, be gentle with her!" King started to prep himself to kick the samurai in the head with the back of his foot, and then he realized that there was something hurtling towards them rapidly. "Scramble!"

"Huh?" Jason blinked as King and Flair, the latter holding Alita in his arms, leapt out of the way as a red-colored blur tore straight past them and into him.

"Jace!" King gritted his teeth as he watched his friend's body ride the red-colored blur all the wall into the far wall of the hallway.

Ruerto stepped into view from around the far corner at the end of the hallway, his hands curled into fists and an angry smile on his face. "I wonder if you actually thought you could get away with it. That girl is my ticket out of this hellhole, and there is no way that a trio of nobodies like you three are going to stop my ambitions!"

Raiza suddenly appeared alongside his fellow Crime Lord, sneering at the hole he had created in the wall. "I wonder if that other guy is still alive. I hit him pretty…"

"That hurt!" Jason exploded out of the remnants of the wall, rubbing the bump on top of his head gingerly. "Are you guys crazy or something? What kind of guy just breaks into the middle of a conversation and attacks people?"

"You, for one thing!" King tilted his head around to look at Ruerto. "So the big man was working for you, huh?"

"And if he was?" The ex-general smirked confidently.

Spitting his cigarette into a nearby torch to dispose of it, the fake Frenchman snapped his right foot up and aimed it at the much larger man. "Then I'll break you in half with my shoe…and then dance on your grave."

"That's a pretty big threat," Raiza clicked the nails of his cat claws together rhythmically. "Especially considering you won't even touch us. The difference in our skills is obvious. We're hardened criminals and murderers, men damned to this place because the people of this country don't even have the guts to try and kill us. What are you?"

"I'm the guy that will flatten you into the dirt if you try to touch my angel." King blinked as he felt a katana blade get pressed against his throat.

"When you said your angel, you'd better have been talking about the dog," Flair let the threat hang and turned his attention to Raiza. "If I'm correct you would be Raiza the Blade?"

"That's me." The murderer licked his tongue along the blades of his cat claws. "Do you have business with me, sir samurai?"

Sheathing his weapon and sliding into his quickdraw stance, Flair glanced over at King and Jason. "This particular one is mine. He is far too dangerous for either of you. Perhaps the dog should take the one slinking around at the moment?"

"I don't want that one though," Jason glanced behind him at the strange patch of blurry air that was moving on its own. "He smells weird."

"So you can sense my prescense…" Gozum shimmered into view. "Ruerto, this is the Grafter."

"Good then it's settled." Running his hands through his hair, the ex-general started approaching Jason slowly. "This one is mine."

("Did he say Ruerto?") Flair leapt in between the ex-general and Jason. "I changed my mind. I will take on this opponent and you can have the other one, dog."

Ruerto glowered at the samurai and kept approaching, despite the fact that Flair looked more than eager to draw his katana and cut him down. "I have no business with a piece of shit like you."

"Then let me give you a reason." Flair was suddenly moving, his sword slashing the man down the middle. Sheathing his blade, he turned away from the ex-general as the man fell in two halves to the ground. "That is the end of you…"

"It would be," One half of Ruerto said casually.

"If I was human anymore." The other half sneered and started to brown, changing to wood.

"What…what in the…" Flair stepped back, sweat dripping down the side of his face. "What kind of trickery is this?"

"What trickery?" The no-longer wood half said as it stood up fully restored to a full body, clothes and all. "This is merely the power of my Wild Fusion…"

"Oh!" Jason broke the mood by pounding his fist into his open hand, as if he had just remembered something. "That's what Wing said, those Wild Fusions…"

"It looks like you've been rejected, swordsman." Raiza snickered. "Come and play with me...you can't save the boy from his fate."

Flair sheathed his sword and walked over to the other killer, trying to stop himself from sweating more than he already was. "Dog, be careful…the man you face is someone to be afraid of…his power is at least twice my own."

"Really?" Jason put his hands on hips and grinned widely. "Awesome, it looks like I'm getting all of the good opponents!"

Gozum had been taking this opportunity to slowly inch towards Alita to grab her…

"Hey cur," King stomped on the man's slinking hand. "Don't touch the delicate flower with your filthy hands."

Rubbing his sore knuckles, the slimy man licked his lips. "You had best stop me then…"

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The Warlord of Lions threw back his head and started laughing joyously. "This will be the ultimate match! The three remaining Crime Lords of my prison against three of the intruders, and all the while Kyris the Hell and two of the Guardians of Mudeia fight elsewhere! This will be one of the best runnings ever!"

To be continued…