Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh. I do own Temarocia though, and everything that happens in it.

"Hello, is this 911? My friend is injured and there are these really scary guys in black suits and one of them smells really bad and he was threatening me and my friend who is also a ninja but he's self-trained jumped in and said something weird about threatening me and then they dueled and my friend got injured and…" A loud explosion came from somewhere nearby. "Ah, what's happening now? Is it an evil cyclone of terror coming to kill us all?"

"How would it be evil or of terror just because it's a cyclone?" Someone yelled in the background, the reception on the phone breaking up.

"It's because it was sent by the mean men to hurt us of course, Ricky!"

"Why would they go to that much trouble when we're already right here…and don't call me Ricky! I am the mighty Rick Richardson, the greatest self-trained ninja of them all! Remember it well, Saika!"

"King says the only reason you're the best self-trained ninja of all though is because there aren't any others. He says that's like saying he's the best cigarette smoker in the world, it doesn't mean anything."

"What would that perverted fishbowl-head know about the greatness of my ninjutsu anyway?" The voice got a lot louder all of a sudden. "She's lying, I'm absolutely URK!" Something fell nearby the phone.

"AHHH! He's bleeding all over the place! Where's the first-aid kit again?" The voices went silent over the line and the only sound that could be heard was the noise of something tearing up concrete. "…Ricky? Hey Ricky? Are you okay?"

More silence...and then the sound of someone sniffling. "Jason, I'm scared…" The phone beeped, saying the message was complete.

Song of Temarocia

Chapter 15: Impact Cannon

"Flash Cut!" Flair slashed Ruerto in half, sheathing his katana and leaping back before any of the splinters that came from either of the parted pieces could touch him. ("We do not know the full extent of this man's abilities, so we cannot be careless.")

"You want to take my angelic Alita, huh?" King launched in and slammed his foot down on one of the two halves of Ruerto's body, breaking it into even smaller pieces with the impact. "You won't get even close to her again!"

"You're both wasting your time!" The ex-general's numerous pieces pulled together and reformed, his fists clenched tight and his smile wide. "Don't you understand yet? My Wild Fusion makes me immune to such simple methods of attack. However, since it seems you don't get it…Branch Hammer!" His right and left fists exploded from their attached arms, turning to wood and slamming into the ribs of his two opponents.

King crashed onto his back and quickly came up into a standing position, trying to keep weight off of the section of ribs the fist had hit. ("I can't even feel the area he struck…how much power this guy has in those fists of his?") He flipped forwards, landing on his hands and going into a spin that slammed one of his feet against the Graftborn's face roughly.

"A wasted effort, your pitiful attacks don't hurt me!" Ruerto's stumps instantly grew new hands that punched King in the chest and sent him flying across the room. There was a momentary flash of light as a sword came out of the fading mist and cut his arm off. "You're just as annoying, long-haired loser!" His left leg changed into a pointed spear of wood that he stabbed into the mist, sneering at the grunt of pain he elicited from it. "I got you both. Now hurry up and die, I have my freedom to look forward to!"

"Even if you beat them both," The mist parted slowly to reveal Jason, something clenched tightly in his fist. "That won't change the fact that I'm your opponent."

"So you're back?" Ruerto snorted and his body shifted back into its wood-armored shape, his left arm forming into a shield of wood and his right arm changing into a wooden spear. "I was wondering if you were going to return to the fight or not. Then again this won't last too much longer. You don't have the power to win this battle…especially since you're all out of magic."

Jason was silent, his eye glancing down at the cell phone clenched tight in his grasp.

"What's that? From the look in your eyes it seems rather important…" The ex-general narrowed his eyes and smiled darkly. "Excuse my intrusion…"

Jason screamed as one of Ruerto's disembodied hands shot up from inside the mist at his feet and pierced his stomach with its fingers, another hand leaping out to grab the cell phone as it dropped from his hand and return to its master with the device in tow.

"And what is this, I wonder?" Hands returning to normal, Ruerto reached and grabbed the phone from his disembodied extra limb before it withered and turned to dust along with the one that had gutted Jason. "What a strange little thing…" He shook it a couple of times rather roughly. "Is it magic, maybe?"

"Give it back." Jason didn't even make an attempt to cover his wound, which was bleeding rather profusely and staining his tunic. His eyes simply reflected an intense emotion, though because of the mist it was difficult to discern exactly what that emotion was. "That's your only warning."

"You're still rather impetuous, aren't you?" The ex-general's hand closed around the device and when he opened his fingers little pieces of circuitry and plastic rained out. "Ooops, I broke it."

Jason looked up at the ceiling. "You know, I was wondering whether I was going to find someone in this world that I truly wanted to beat down. Up until this point I've been fighting people that I have nothing against at all."

Ruerto's limbs reformed into their spear and shield shapes. "What's this now? Are you saying that you hate me and that you want to beat me down from the bottom of your core?"

"The first part is false, as is half of the second part. I wanted to kick your ass, but that really doesn't mean anything at all. If it's in my way I just kick its ass, you're no exception to the rule." Jason smiled. "In fact, you're of no consequence."

The ex-general snickered coldly. "You're a real piece of work, kid. Even though you are about be killed by me you've got the guts to still say that. I'll make you feel levels of pain that nothing alive has ever felt before."

"About to be killed by you?" Jason cracked his knuckles, the blood from his stomach wound starting to stain his pants too. "No. I can't die by your hands. If it isn't obvious yet, pain means nothing to me beyond perhaps the shock value. I have already experienced the most torturous of pains out of them all. Besides, I don't think you can match up to the situation that made me experience that pain at first."

"And just what kind of pain could you have possibly experienced that would make you a match for me?" Ruerto started to approach Jason slowly, each of his steps shaking the earth. "Well, would you like to tell me? What kind of pain would allow you to beat me without having any more magic to rely upon? Without your Grafts, what are you but a weak little human with no skills of your own?"

"You're right." Jason sneered confidently. "In Temarocia magic means almost everything. Without it you aren't even a man. However that's why I intend to fight you to the bitter end with every fiber of my being, because somewhere in this world there is a certain someone I have to go rescue. She's a klutz and because of her I always wind up getting badly injured, but she's also a member of my gang and therefore her problems are my own."

"I don't care where you have to be." Ruerto charged towards the black-haired young man rapidly, his spear-arm rising to pierce Jason's chest. "I will kill you and then I will be free of this place! I'll trade in that girl for my freedom!"

"You're not doing any such thing," Jason closed his eyes and was illuminated by a bright silver aura. "I won't let you." The aura grew larger and he disappeared within it.

Ruerto- 8000/33000 (2100/1200)

Jason- 3000/0 (1000/1000)

The aura dissolved to reveal Jason, except his hair had shifted to a silver color. On top of his head were a pair of pointed silver fox ears, and swinging behind him was a silver tail of the same kind of animal. "The power of wind might not have any special abilities that can specially counter you…" He had a strange smile on his face. In fact he almost looked cheerful. "However I think it will do just fine."

"Another Graft?" Ruerto snorted in disgust. "When will you learn that you can't win just by switching strategies? I don't have any weaknesses!"

"If that was true then Wing wouldn't have told me that Graftborn have a big weakness." Jason grafted his knuckles and flexed his silver claws. "I'm not sure what this Graft can do yet, but it seems to want to follow a certain pattern of movement. Let's do this then, weird silver fox thing!"

"You don't even know the name of your own Graft, and you expect to defeat me?" Ruerto stabbed forwards, but right before he could connect Jason disappeared. ("So this is a speed type Graft?")

----------------

King winced and sat up slowly, clutching at his stomach. "Wow, I feel like he tried to put a hole in me."

"Don't complain," Flair said from off to the side, the samurai sitting cross-legged next to the unconscious Alita. "You didn't take a spear to the arm."

"…" King glanced at both of the other man's arms. "You can't seriously tell me that you can take a hit like that and still have that relaxed look on your face."

"I won't tell you then." Flair sighed as he watched the arena in front of them. "I wonder how long he intends to act this stupid."

"What are you…" King looked forward and twitched a couple of times. "What's he doing?"

"STOP ALREADY!" Jason screamed as loud as he could right before he rebounded off the wall of the arena, dodging another stabbing attack from Ruerto's spear-arm.

King lit up another cigarette. "Why's he telling the wood guy to stop? Why doesn't he just fight back and make him stop?"

"He's not talking to Masquil." Flair frowned as Jason grabbed a stone sticking out of the wall and tried to anchor himself to it, except the small piece of weak rock barely held on for more than a second before it snapped off and he continued rushing around the arena in a mad attempt to avoid getting hit. "He's telling his Graft to stop."

"His Graft?" King thought about that for a second and groaned as he figured it out. "The thing he's fused with is more interested in running that fighting?"

"That it is." The samurai had tried to tell Alita that it would be a bad idea to use that particular Prize Card, but she had told him that its abilities would be far too useful to him. "The creature the dog is fused with right now is called a Burst Fox. It is a rare animal that exists only in the meadows outside Mudeia. The reason I say it is rare is because the only person in this country fast and silent enough to catch one is the head of the Assassin's Guild in the Holy City, Deondre Anderson. The Prize Card was a present to Alita from him, because she always loved how beautifully the fur of the monster shined when it ran at full speed."

"…" King lifted an eyebrow at Flair. "Why would a top assassin be giving my dear angel things?"

"…" Flair glanced at his katana, and flicked it out just enough so the blade could be seen. "Does that answer your question?"

"Yeah, sure." The fake Frenchman frowned as Jason came running by again, screaming at himself to stop running. "Is it really that hard to control?"

"I can't tell you for sure, but I can tell you this much…" The samurai yawned. "This is boring."

"Agreed." King cupped his hands in front of his mouth and shouted, "Hey Jason, pick up the pace and beat this guy already!"

"Shut up!" The Grafter went shooting by again, currently trying to grab his own legs. "I'm trying to stop this crazy thing right now, alright?"

"Though I'm surprised he's been running full speed for the last three minutes without stopping." Flair heard a little gasp off to his side and he looked down at Alita, who was sitting up and staring in front of her in amazement. "So you're finally awake?"

"Jason," The blond-haired girl cupped her hands in front of her mouth like King had and shouted, "When a Burst Fox is excited its body tries its hardest to move! The trick is just to make sure that a certain part of you is moving at all times when you're fighting!"

"Seriously?" Jason suddenly skidded to a halt, grinning like an idiot. "Oh, that makes a lot more…" Then he was shot forward like a cannonball as Ruerto slashed his back and sent him flying into the wall of the arena.

Ruerto- 8000/33000 (2100/1200)

Jason- 900/0 (1000/1000)

"Hah, so you finally have awoken?" Ruerto sneered at the girl. "You'll be coming with me very shortly, just after I beat down these three nuisances."

"That won't be happening." Alita smirked confidently. "I'm glad that Jason chose the power of the Burst Fox finally. That means he won't possibly lose to somebody like you…"

"What was that?" Ruerto glared at her. "What a stupid thing to say. Just take a look at how he had reacted so far…he's been running away!"

"That's because he needed a bit of time to get adjusted to the way a Burst Fox moves." She smiled at the ex-general winningly. "Let me give you a bit of trivia too…that a Burst Fox can normally only run about twenty seconds without a break. That's because its body doesn't have the stamina to go any longer than that…"

"So what?" Ruerto started to laugh…until he heard another set of footsteps from where he had hit Jason. "I place two Contingencies and end my turn. Take your best shot, coward!"

"Coward?" Jason shook the dust he had accumulated off himself, his tail puffing out slightly before he had to smooth it down. "No, that was the Graft wanting to run. I still want to kick your ass." He had been tapping his foot the whole time, the ground underneath the blur of movement that was his leg starting to groove. "Here comes my ultimate counterattack!" Since he hadn't used any cards last turn he just bent at the knees and got ready to charge.

"I activate this card from my hand, Spell Cancel!" Ruerto snickered mockingly. "I negate my Grand Battle effect, which means that now this duel is over. Without any magic power I'm not even sure how you've been able to continue fighting using that Graft, but it doesn't matter now! You can't use your technique cards, and a measly 1000 attack point form won't be enough to beat me!"

"Here I go!" Jason suddenly exploded forwards, covering the distance between himself and the other Graft-user instantly. "Impact Shot!" His fist cocked back and slammed into Ruerto's chin, hurling the surprised Graftborn backwards through the arena wall that was behind him. "Wow, this body has some real speed behind it!"

Ruerto groaned in pain and slowly pulled himself out of the hole that his body had made in the wall. "Regardless of how much speed you've gained, that was just a basic attack. My armor takes out 1000 points of any damage I suffer, so your attack was useless!"

"He's just getting started!" Alita began laughing manically.

("And I wonder why she gets mad when people call her arrogant.") Flair noticed that King was leaning in towards her with huge hearts reflected in his eyes. "Oi, do you not notice me sitting here with my sword…" When he was ignored he placed said weapon against the young man's neck. "Keep your hands to yourself!"

Jason placed a hand on his other shoulder and started winding his fist up, a miniature swirl of air coming into existence around the limb. "Impact Shot!" He launched forward and punched the slowly getting up Ruerto in the chin again, pushing him back through the hole in the arena wall. "Wow, your chin is really freaking hard to break…how is wood that strong?"

"How…" The ex-general slowly started to stand up again. "How are you still able to attack? I destroyed the effect of Grand Battle, and even if I hadn't you didn't activate another technique so how?"

"Oh that?" Jason cracked his knuckles, while his tail was twirling itself in a blur behind him. "At the start of my battle phase Burst Fox can attack a number of extra times equal to the number of cards in my hand at that moment. I was holding six, so I can attack seven times total this battle phase."

"That might seem like you've got some kind of advantage, but if all of your attacks are as weak as that one then there is truly no point!" Ruerto sneered down at the young man as he stood to his full impressive height. "I will crush you under my feet!"

"That's not really likely…" Jason returned to winding up his right fist. "I'm just getting ready to finish this fight so I wanted to make sure that your armor was as hard as I thought it was. Now that I've got a general idea how hard it is, I've also got a general idea how much effort it'll take to break it and you."

He launched forwards and stopped inches from the ex-general, the force of his charge still going and hitting Ruerto while creating a sound like that of a gunshot. "Impact Setup Shot!" His fist launched forwards and shattered the already bent wooden armor, hitting the wide-eyed ex-general in the gut and forcing him backwards into the wall again.

Ruerto- 7000/33000 (2100/1200)

Jason- 900/0 (1000/1000)

Ruerto gasped painfully and coughed up some blood. "My armor failed…how?"

"Impact Setup Shot lets me destroy an item before I attack as long as I can catch that item in the air around my body when I charge." Jason leapt up into the air as a huge patch of brambles exploded out of the ground where he had been standing and in a twenty-foot radius around Ruerto. "Oh, that Contingency thing again?" He started spinning rapidly, creating a tornado that slammed down into the brambles and tore them to shreds as it approached Ruerto swiftly.

("He defeated my Bramble Trap that easily?") The ex-general stumbled backwards and tried to guard, but there nothing he could do as Jason suddenly exploded out of the tornado he had created and, still spinning, landed a powerful punch across the man's face.

"Impact Sidewinder!"

Ruerto- 6000/33000 (2100/1200)

Jason- 900/0 (1000/1000)

Jason touched down and cocked his fists back together they exploded forwards together, creating a wall of fists that slammed against Ruerto's body mercilessly. "Impact Turret!"

Ruerto- 3600/33000 (2100/1200)

Jason- 900/0 (1000/1000)

The Grafter launched into a rapid spin upwards, stopping about ten feet above Ruerto's head and using the build-up wind from his upwards movement to let him come down rolling in mid-air, so that when he landed a drop-kick to the ex-general's head it was properly charged up. "Impact Ground Bomb!"

Ruerto- 2600/33000 (2100/1200)

Jason- 900/0 (1000/1000)

"This can't…be happening…" Through blood-blurred eyes Ruerto tried to get his opponent clearly into view. "I am the mightiest in Shunsuna, the great Ruerto the Immortal…you are just a little boy."

He snarled angrily and spikes exploded out of his body, turning him into a living body of needles. "My ambitions won't be stopped by you! Bramble Guard!" (Contingency: When life falls under 3000. +1000 attack when attacked during this turn, afterwards equip to self and increase attack by 300.)

"Your ambitions?" Jason hopped back a step and somehow stood perfectly still, his arms cocked at his sides and his hands curled into fists. "Heh, your ambitions are about to go down the drain…and you're about to fly away."

"Impudent brat!" Ruerto braced himself as he saw the ground around Jason erupt into a storm of building wind. "You don't see these spikes coming out of my body, do you?"

"I see them just fine." Jason suddenly launched forward, his two hands slamming right into the barbs coming out of Ruerto's body and then into the ex-general's chest. "Impact…"

King gasped as he watched Jason stupidly pierce his own hands. Off to his side Flair was silent, while Alita was just smirking arrogantly.

For that one moment the ex-general had his eyes wide in surprise, mind trying to grasp what was happening. ("My ambitions…crushed by some unknown little boy…how…how was he able to use techniques when he had no magic points remaining?")

(6000/1000) "…Cannon!" Jason's arms stood strong against the impact of the connecting hit. Ruerto on the other hand…

Ruerto- 0/33000 (3100/1200)

Jason- 900/0 (6000/1000)

----------------------

Regimond glanced around his office in confusion. "Why is the prison shaking?" He had questioned his orb for the reason why, but as of yet he had gotten no answers.

Something exploded out of the ground in the middle of floor in his office and crashed into the ceiling before depositing itself in heap in front of his desk. It was a twitching mass of broken wood and badly pummeled flesh.

"Ruerto Masquil?" The Warlord of Lions couldn't believe it…hadn't the ex-general been fighting the intruders? Touching his crystal, he quickly inquired as to where the intruders were now. "They must be close to this location, but if that is true then I must make sure the guards are…"

One of the four guards that normally remained in the room and who weren't currently staring in amazement at the utterly demolished body of Ruerto looked up at the giant Warlord in concern. "What's the matter, Lord Akutast? How close are they?"

Regimond exploded into hearty laughter. "They're still ten floors down, in the lower arena!"

The jaws of all the guards dropped immediately. "WHAT?"

"Incredible…" The Warlord of Lions gazed into his orb amusedly, the image in it of a Burst Fox Jason, arms still stuck outwards, and still surrounded by the remaining bits of built-up wind energy from his Impact Cannon. "That boy sent a hardened criminal like Masquil through ten sheets of ten-foot thick stone…"

"Sir, should we apprehend them for the damages done to Shunsuna?" One of the guards gripped his sword tightly, not wishing to go fight whoever had done this to one of the most terrifying men in the entire prison…but his duty was a clear thing in his mind.

"No." Reigmond smiled at the sigh of relief that same guard let out. "They've earned the right to leave with their lives. Kyris the Hell also left not too long ago, and it seems that the two Guardians are headed their way now. If they fight then it will be a sight to behold, but since I doubt that prepare to have them led out of Shunsuna immediately."

To be continued…