Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh. I do own Temarocia though, and everything that happens in it.
Amongst the crashing sound of lightning in the background, a pair of leather boots walked across the blackened earth of the parched land that surrounded Shunsuna quietly. "So he won, huh?"
Wing adjusted his hat on top of his head, his black cape flapping in the wind behind him. "I was wondering if that kid was going to figure out the truth yet. Apparently he got it right without even realizing it too."
"Well you have to admit," Someone said from behind the scruffy-looking man. "That kid is a lot like his father. It's amazing that he turned out to be a Grafter though…this could provide an excellent opportunity to study the power of the Legendary Class up close."
"Maybe," Wing yawned. "The real question though is whether or not he'll be able to make any changes in this world. Think about it, Feather…the kid may have taken down Ruerto but that was just because of luck and because he happened to have found an excellent Graft to combine with to make use of his natural talent. Will he be able to achieve the same kind of things his old man did?"
"We'll see soon enough, won't we?" A black-haired woman dressed in regal armor stepped into line with the scruffy man. "Temarocia is in need of a new hero, and if there is anyone who can do it then it would be him. He's an entire adventuring party in one person thanks to those Grafts."
"Maybe, but that doesn't matter if he isn't careful." Wing tipped his hat over his eyes. "For now let's just wish him our best and leave it at that."
Song of Temarocia
Chapter 16: Guardians of Two Idenities (Part 1)
King and Flair stared wide-eyed at the gaping hole in the ceiling of the arena, while Alita cheered her lungs out and ran towards Jason.
The young Grafter used his teeth to pull out the barbs that were stuck in his palms, spitting the bloody pieces of wood onto the ground. "Well, how'd I do?"
"How'd you do?" Alita grabbed his hands in her own, jumping up and down in excitement. "That was incredible! I didn't think you would suddenly come up with your own moves like that on the fly! How did you know that Burst Foxes created their own air currents with their fur?"
He blushed a little and looked away, the silver fox ears on his head perking up. "It wasn't anything special…I just followed my gut instinct and did what it told me to do. The Burst Fox must have known those moves."
"And what about the fact that you were out of magic?" Alita's eyes were lit up with questions.
"Well, I just decided that I wasn't as tired as that stupid magic point thing said I should be, that's all." Jason shrugged like it was obvious as to how he completely avoided a rule of an Adventurer's Duel.
Flair noticed that Alita had yet to release Jason's hands, and casually knocked the young man's arms up into the air with his sheathed katana. "Take your hands off of her, dog."
"I didn't take her hands in the first place!" Jason glared at the samurai. "What are you so afraid of anyway?"
"I'm supposed to protect her, and you are by no means considered safe to touch. She might get your rabies." Flair snickered coldly. "Or worse, fleas."
"Do you want me to bite you, jerk?" Jason bared his fangs, growling under his breath until King dropkicked him to the ground.
"Calm down," The fake Frenchman turned and knelt in front of Alita, taking her hand and kissing it gently. "My dear lady, let this elegant knight take you in his arms and we shall ride into the night…"
Both Jason and Flair punched him at the same time. "Knock it off!"
"Both of you knock it off too!" Alita slapped them both. "Why are…all of…" She stumbled forward suddenly, eyes drooping and face flushed. "I don't feel so good…" Her legs buckled underneath her and she collapsed face-first to the ground.
"My angel?" King placed a hand against Alita's forehead and looked up at Flair urgently. "She's burning up! We need to get her medical attention right now!"
Flair glanced at the two large doors at the other end of the arena. "We have someone approaching our position at this very moment too. Take Alita and go hide."
"I'm not hiding." Jason flexed his claws. "I've still got a ton of energy left over to fight with!"
"That's not why I'm telling you…" Flair suddenly looked rather thoughtful. "Very well. I will get her to safety. You two hold off the approaching enemies and make sure they don't follow us for at least ten minutes, all right?"
"Ten minutes?" Jason popped his neck out and his tail started spinning rapidly, turning into a propeller as he started charging up wind energy. "That sounds like a piece of cake, right King?"
"For my angel's sake it will be a piece of the most delicious cake ever baked by any man…a cake meant for French Kings!" The blond-haired boy summoned out his Carrier and pointed at the double doors. "Now come, intruders, and let me blow you away with my kicks of love!"
"…." Flair scooped up Alita and ran for the hole that had been created by the earlier fighters. "I'm counting on you both."
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Though he was tired, Daniel had the drive to continue running. ("I've never fought that hard in my entire life, and considering the situation I certainly don't ever want to have to fight that hard again.") He was not a swordsman by nature, even though his ability to see into the future allowed him to move masterfully when wielding a blade. "Deondre, she's just up ahead but she's also moving away rather swiftly."
"There are two unknowns ahead in the arena area. Should we avoid them?" The Assassin moved along at a leisurely pace so as not to leave the Seer in his dust. "They do seem to be the ones that protected Princess Alita though."
"Then I want to express my gratitude to them both. Plus the Princess must be moving away from them for a specific reason, and I want to know what that reason is." Daniel sheathed Future Edge. "Let's find out what they're up to."
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Hands in his pockets, King glared at the two Guardians as they entered through the double doors leisurely. "Hey, what's the deal with those relaxed walks? Do you guys think that you'll get to my angel so easily?"
Jason grinned excitedly. "Let's not waste too much time King, we'll ask questions later."
"Agreed." The fake Frenchman kicked the ground once and smiled widely. "Here I go! My…"
Deondre calmly stepped past King, seeming almost to have teleported from across the fifty-foot plus distance. "It seems they are rather quick to fight."
King gasped and collapsed to his knees, mouth wide open as he tried his hardest to suck air into his lungs. ("I can't breathe. Why? When did he approach me?")
Daniel close-lined Jason with his elbow calmly, stopping the Grafter's Impact Cannon before it even connected. "I don't know why you expected me to be easy to hit."
The two Guardians shrugged to each other and kept walking, apparently having been mistaken about the identities of these two.
A few minutes later Jason awoke, already having returned to normal. "That was the swiftest loss I've ever had in a fight…how about you?"
His ability to move slowly returning, King groaned sorely. "I have failed my beautiful angel…"
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Flair cursed and skidded to a halt as he realized that Deondre had somehow appeared in front of him. ("Those fools didn't even buy me the ten seconds I expected to get, did they?") He had know that those two were going to be easily defeated by a pair of the Guardians of Mudeia, especially considering the Princess was nearby…but he had expected them to at least spend a few moments bantering.
"This strange game of the princess's is over, Flair." The Cross of Shadows lifted his stilettos up and aimed them at the samurai. "Stop this futile running and hand her over. Mudeia has been in a state of turmoil ever since her disappearance and the fact that the man who should be keeping her safe in the castle is running around with her playing Wandering Swordsman doesn't help the situation."
"I cannot return her because I don't listen to you. I listen to her." The Samurai drew his katana with one hand and bit the hilt of it, speaking around the mouth-full he had now of lacquered leather. "Princess Alita has ordered me to make sure that none of you capture her. I am quite serious about this too, so please do not make me fight you Cross of Shadows."
"Flair, you are not one of the Guardians of the Kingdom." Tapping his weapons together, Deondre prepared to fight. ("I must be careful not to hurt Princess Alita.")
"Hold it Deondre!" Daniel, panting for air, finally arrived. "Sheesh Flair, do you always have to run so fast? Just return Princess Alita and come home with us already. You know as well as I do that this is just one of her fits…"
"Milord Seer, though you can see the future you do not possess the ability to see the world." He turned to look at Daniel with one of his eyes, the other sticking to Deondre to make sure the Assassin could not sneak attack him. "If Alita says that she will find Adventurers strong enough to take down Kyris the Hell without having to endanger the kingdom then I will follow her to hell and back in the name of that quest."
"It's a sweet notion, but I doubt we're going to be that lucky." Daniel frowned angrily. "At the moment we are sure that Kyris is stronger than two of us put together, but weaker than three of us. Unfortunately he also has the ability to be teleported long distances, which means that if we send a strong enough force against him then he could just go to Mudeia and overwhelm the weakened defenses there."
"That's why there are never more than two of you out of the kingdom at a time, I know this." Flair glared at them both angrily. "Why is it wrong for the princess to want to protect her people by finding those strong enough to beat Kyris?"
"Because there are no such people in this world. Those in this country with strength either already work for Kyris or want nothing to do with us." Deondre crossed his arms together coldly; taking the normal stance he took when he was angry but didn't wish to express it with his words. "Now surrender before I cut that long hair of yours on accident…that would be a shame."
"I welcome you to try…" Flair's right eye widened slightly as he realized that someone was approaching from behind Daniel. ("If it's one of Ruerto's men then we might have a problem.")
"That hurt, you jerk!" Jason came flying in towards Daniel's unguarded back, fist cocked to strike. "Impact Shot!"
The Seer turned and blocked the pressurized blow with the flat of Future Edge, a slight smile on his face. "So you really are the one who protected the Princess along with Flair?"
"You're damn right I am!" Already rebounding from the backlash of his blocked blow, Burst Fox Jason touched down on the stone floor and broke into a spin, becoming a swirling tornado. "And now I'm going to kick your ass because you had the audacity to walk over me like I was some kind of doormat."
"…" Daniel smiled slightly and put on his grey glasses. "So you're a Graftborn too? Well regardless considering that the Princess's life is at risk while she is around you we'll have to take her home. You can just go find someone else to play with, young man."
Jason held up three fingers. "You just made three mistakes."
His fingers dropped and he held up one. "First off, I'm a freakin Grafter."
Another finger rose up. "Second, I ain't playin around."
"And the third?" The Seer pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, already slipping into the future with his mind.
"The third is…" Jason sucked in a huge amount of air and then screamed it at the top of his lungs. "ALITA IS PART OF THE FREAKS GANG!"
"Wait a second!" Flair spat angrily around his sword. "When was that decided?"
"All present members in favor of Alita joining us say 'Aye!'." Jason snapped his hand up. "Aye!"
"Aye!" Yelled King from behind his friends, hearts in his eyes. "My angel will be the perfect addition to our gang!"
"Then by the power invested in me as the strongest guy in the Freaks Gang currently, I declare Alita Meijer as an official member!" Jason's dramatic declaration was weakened a bit because King drop-kicked him for the 'strongest guy' comment.
"You're initiating her right NOW?" screamed Daniel, Deondre, and Flair in unison and in amazement.
"That's right!" Jason cracked his knuckles. "As such, she gains full rights and privileges of being a member of the Freaks Gang. When she is in danger, we will without fail come to her aid!"
"When she needs protection," King took a puff of his cigarette and tapped his shoes against the ground to make sure they were on tightly. "We will provide it for her."
"Now then," Jason disappeared within a swirling shaft of wind, emerging normal moments later. "What business do you have with our newest member, Four-Eyes?"
Deondre stepped forward, brandishing his stilettos. "This kind of arrogance will not be tolerated. Princess Alita is a member of the Meijer Royal Family. There is no way she would be associated as a member of any lowly gang, regardless of whether they possessed a Legendary Class or not."
Daniel held a hand behind him, smiling warmly. "So you want to fight for Princess Alita?" After a few moments he chuckled and his Carrier appeared. "You remind me of someone, young man. What's your name?"
"Jason 'going to kick your ass' Valerio." Running a hand through his sweat-matted hair, the New Yorker sneered confidently. "What about you, Four-Eyes?"
The Seer slowly sheathed his sword and adjusted his glasses. "My name is Daniel Pilkington, once the apprentice to the greatest Seer this world has ever known. I am the man who has sworn to protect the members of the Royal Family, and therefore I will fight you to my last breath to retrieve Alita."
"Then you'd better enjoy those breaths while they last…" Jason swiped a thumbnail across his throat threateningly, that sneer still on his face. "Because Alita is currently a member of our gang, and that means a whole lot more to me than this stupid Royal Family thing you keep babbling about."
Daniel started laughing, though not with malice. He was truly finding the humor in this. "To you this bond is so close, huh? Very well then, I will honor that bond and let you fight me. If you win then Alita goes with you, but if I win then she returns with us to Mudeia…deal?"
"No deal!" Jason pounded his fists together. "This fight between us is because you had to go and walk over me like I was your doormat. Whether Alita goes with you or us will be decided when she wakes up. It's her choice, and we aren't going to get involved until she tells us, in person, that she wants our help."
"Then this is just a battle between us over you getting taken down by me?" Daniel couldn't stop smiling. ("How very odd…your words remind me far too much of someone…")
"That's right!" Jason got his Duel Deck ready. "As such, I don't have a reason yet to actually beat your face in. Besides, I'm kind of tired and you don't look so hot yourself. Let's determine this with a duel, shall we?"
"I accept those conditions." The Seer removed his Life Deck from his Carrier and glanced back at Deondre and nodded to him before drawing his opening hand. "Are you ready, Jason Valerio?"
"That's right, I am!" The young man drew five cards from his deck. "Let's do it!"
"Duel!" They both yelled at the same time.
Daniel- 8000
Jason- 8000
To be continued…
Author's Notes: Hello to you all. Thank you for bearing with this bizarre little story of mine so far, and I hope that the strange concept of an Adventurer's Duel has been fun to read because for me it has been fun to write. While I'm not really accepting characters for this particular story, feedback about the effectiveness of the Adventurer Duel system would be appreciated if you could find the time.
Temarocia is a very vague world right now, with its history and rules being made up as I go along. Therefore it is a great place to base a story, as both you and I can unfold the truth behind this world together.
I'll be trying to get a forum up soon for Song, as I'm sure that some of the rules for dueling must be confusing and you more than likely have a few questions. Once again, thank you for reading up to this point and I'll have the other part of this chapter out by tommorow.
