Chapter 4
Battle of Charms, Blazing Fire!
~Key Card: Hiita the Fire Charmer~
"The earthquake that struck last night left the scientific world baffled. The initial reports of it striking only Japan were wrong as information came pouring in and it seems that the entire Earth has been hit with a disaster. With us is Jishin-sama." The blond reporter turned to an elderly man standing next to her. "Jishin-sama, the earthquake that struck the world last night, it's something beyond earthquake specialists as you could have imagined." The elderly man gave a firm nod "Yes, we are rather clueless about what caused it, the..."
"Hey, where was that good for?" Hiita turned around so that he could look over the back of his seat at Cristov who was holding the remote and had turned off the screen.
"First, neither Shirley and I can speak Japanese outside some basics. Second, we want to check out the town and you need to come along so you can tell us about some things." Hiita sighted and got of the couch with a smile.
"I could have expected something like that for today from you two." The three of them left the hotel room and quickly left the hotel on their D-Wheels. Shirley and Cristov followed Hiita, who seemed to know exactly where he wanted to go.
After a while, both Shirley and Cristov had a hard time keeping their eyes on the road as they looked around in Neo-Domino, they stopped at an empty site located in the centre where only rumble remained. Hiita got of his D-Wheel, Shirley and Cristov looked surprised at each other as they took of their helmets. They followed Hiita to the fence surrounding it to keep people away from the machines that were cleaning up the rumble. On the other side they could see some kids playing."Have you two ever heard of psychic duelists?" Shirley and Cristov nodded, Hiita turned around to the fence and looked at the rubble. "This site is where the building of the Arcadia Movement stood, it was completely destroyed a couple of months ago. So many people who had taken refuge here died." Hiita seemed to struggle to get the last words out, Shirley put her hand on his shoulder.
"Are you okay?" Hiita shook his head, took a deep breath and straightened himself.
"I am okay, but nobody knows what made the building suddenly collapse. Everyone that was near the tower had vanished. Some people claim to have seen a giant black hummingbird and lizard appearing just before it happened of the size of the building itself." Hiita looked up at the sky, then suddenly turned around, his face was a bit down but he forced a smile.
"Let's go, this is not a pleasant place to be for anyone of this city." Hiita moved back to his D-Wheel, Shirley and Cristov followed him. Cristov looked over his shoulder, giving a final glance at the site. He noticed that the kids had gone off, but now instead there was a lone teen, who seemed to be starring at them. Cristov shrugged, putting it aside as an impression.
"So Hiita, where off next?" Hiita smirked at Cristov's question.
"What better place to visit then the duel stadium, plenty of things happened there." The trio sped off, Cristov glancing one final time at where he saw the teen, but the teen was gone.
They drove for a while in direction of the stadium, when both Cristov's and Hiita's D-Wheel screens sprang on and showed Shirley.
"Hey, can we head back a bit? I think I saw a place where I can continue to practice Taekwondo." Both guys gave a nod and they all turned around, only driving a few minutes back before they reached a, in comparison, smaller skyscraper. Shirley got off and walked to the door, followed by the two guys.
"How are you sure that you can train here?" Cristov looked puzzled at the building, it seemed like an office building to him. A bright smile appeared on Shirley's face as she pointed to a sign that was in the window.
"If I am reading this right, it says that there is something like a training ground inside." She looked at Hiita in hope he would give her a better translation, which caused him to laugh.
"You are right, Shirley-san. There are training rooms inside, some are for classes it seems but others can also be used for private or solo training. It looks like people are free to come due to the Grand Prix to test out or train for themselves. You are lucky." Again a bright smile played over Shirley's face.
"Cristov you should come along with me sometime, you are the only one who can't defend itself." Cristov frowned at this statement, but shrugged.
"We will see, we are going to be busy enough. Hiita-kun, would you show us to the stadium?" Hiita nodded and turned around, at that moment the door opened from building. A blond woman walked out and saw the group standing.
"Oh hello, are you three looking for the dojo?"
"Sort of, I was looking for a place to train and find this one." Shirley observed the woman a bit, she had an elegant build but her muscles showed clearly to have been well trained, she wore tight fitting clothing and a silver crescent moon pendant was visible.
"It is a great place, I train here almost every day. By the way, my name is Karen. Maybe we should have a sparring match sometime." Shirley gave a slight bow, realised what she was doing and raised itself blushing a bit.
"My name is Shirley, I'd love to." Karen smiled at the Shirley's demeanour.
"Well it seems you are getting quiet accustomed. I have to leave now, it was nice meeting you Shirley. See you next time." Karen waved as she walked off, leaving both the guys dumbfounded.
"So Cristov, care to reconsider coming along?" A playful smile played over Shirley's face, when a slight blush appeared on Cristov's cheeks. He muttered something about that they should head to the Stadium. A burst of laughter echoed between the tall buildings as Hiita friendly smacked Cristov on his shoulder and pushed him towards his D-Wheel. Still chuckling Hiita took the lead again, directing them to Neo Domino Stadium. Shirley glanced over her shoulder to memorize the place, she noticed a teen bend over, seemingly reading the sign.
"Hiita, what did you want to tell us about this place?" Shirley looked at the empty stands, the Stadium made a bit of depressing impression as it was completely empty.
"There is enough to tell, you two probably heard of Satellites Shooting Star, Fudou Yusei, the King of D-Wheels, Jack Atlas, the duel prodigy, Ruka and her twin brother Rua and finally Arcadia's pride, the Black Rose, Izayoi Aki?" Both Cristov and Shirley nodded.
"I remember the big commotion about Aki almost destroying the stadium during her duel with Yusei. The whole public had turned against her. And of course, the fact that Yusei had won against Jack in the final match." Hiita nodded at Cristov.
"Thanks to a reporter, some information was leaked. Godwin, who was the head of Sector Security and organizer of the Fortune Cup, was from Satellite himself, just like Jack Atlas, followed by an huge commotion, more information of Godwin was exposed yet we still don't know much of him. He was aiming for something with the Fortune Cup, but what that was we do not know. Shortly after the Fortune Cup, the Arcadia Movement Tower was destroyed, by what I said earlier, people claiming to be a giant hummingbird and a giant lizard. They report them to be all black, the humming bird with orange lining on it and the lizard green, this and the reports of strange light shapes in the sky flooded in. As the report that, the leader of the Arcadia Movement had died, but no body was found. Then, this one I saw myself, shapes in the sky above Satellite had appeared, 6 different ones. I do not know after that, some claim to have seen a huge monster in the sea, wadding from Satellite to Neo Domino and that the seventh shape in the sky had appeared where the monster seemed to move towards, finally it had been destroyed by a large crimson serpentine dragon." Cristov was about to say something when Shirley gave him an elbow and shot him a "keep quiet" look.
"I know what you are thinking, Cristov-kun, it sounds all like taken from some kind of fantasy story. You do not believe in that kind of things. I do not know what is true, all I can say is that I did saw those lights above Satellite and finally after that time they say that the gruesome beast was destroy, certain people had gone missing, a reporter called Carly Nagisa, the famous top model Misty Lola, Jack Atlas, Fudou Yusei, Izayoi Aki, Ruka, Rex Goodwin and a participant of the Fortune Cup, Bommer." After this reveal it went quiet, both Shirley and Cristov did not know what to say. Cristov still had the look on his face that showed that he did not buy the whole story, yet he had heard of some of those disappearances.
"Hey, who is that?" Cristov looked up and saw Hiita starring at someone, who had entered the stadium. As he looked at the teen, Cristov frowned.
"Hiita, how big is the chance to encounter someone who you saw at the Arcadia Movement here in the empty stadium?" Hiita looked at Cristov with a weird look.
"Very slime, why?" But that instant Cristov had already jumped up and ran down the stairs at the teen. Shirley followed him, Hiita stood their dumbfounded at what was happening.
"Hey, you! What are you doing here?" Cristov stopped right in front of what he could see was now a slim build, blond teen. Shirley stopped next to Cristov and starred at the teen aswell.
"I saw you at the entrance for the dojo." Cristov shot a glare at the young guy, just as Hiita appeared behind them.
"Why are you following us? I saw you at the rubble site, spying us from the other side." The young teen smirked at the angry tone of Cristov, he revealed an oddly bend Duel Disk around his arm and took a fighting stance.
"I saw you at the opening yesterday, I want a duel with you. If you win, I will get lost and leave you alone. When I win you need to let me on your team." Cristov frowned, it was a strange deal, but if the kid could beat him it would be a good addition to the team as back-up.
" You got a deal."
Both of the Duel Disks activated, Cristov's being a plain model, while the teens was revealed that the odd shape caused it to look like a crescent moon while active.
"Duel!" The shout echoed through the empty stadium, as both drew their opening hands.
Cristov – Teen
4000 LP – 4000 LP
"I will start things off, draw. I activate Soul of Fire, letting me remove a fire monster from my deck and deal damage to you equal to half its attack, though you get to draw a card." Cristov drew a card as the teen pulled a card out of its deck and revealed it to be Infernal Flame Emperor, whose ghostly image appeared and shot forward clashing his flaming body against Cristov. [2750 LP]
"Then I will summon Fox Fire in defence position." A small red fox appeared on the field, it stood on his hind legs and the tip of his tail was white with a flame burning on top of it. It squatted and crossed his front paws. [200 Def]
"Last I set this card and end my turn." The card appeared behind Fox Fire as the teen gestured that Cristov could take his turn.
Cristov – Teen
2750 LP – 4000 LP
"Draw, I will keep it simple. I summon Priest of Nephthys in defence position." A tanned man appeared, only wearing a simple robe around his waist, which was engraved on one side with a red flame. The man was bald and wore some make-up in style of ancient Egypt, as he crouched down he raised his hands in prayer. [1800 Def]
"Then, I set two cards face-down and end my turn." Two cards appeared on Cristov's side of the field, which caused the teen to smirk.
"No strong enough attack force, I expected more from another fire duelist." Cristov shot a glare at the teen.
"Stop babbling and just show me why I should accept you on my team." The teen shrugged.
Cristov – Teen
2750 LP – 4000 LP
"Draw, now let's kick things off, I summon Hiita the Fire Charmer." A young girl appeared on the field, wearing a black short skirt and a grey jacket almost reaching to her end of her skirt. Under her jacket she black top, which just covered her chest. Her crimson hair hang in layers, each layer ending in spikes, reaching her shoulders. In her left hand she wielded a staff, with the end of it seemingly being set ablaze with a white orb floating in it. Jumping around her was a young fox, as well with the tip of its tail burning with a small flame. [500 ATK]
"Cristov watch out, Charmer's are dangerous if they match up with the attribute's they are duelling." Hiita had a worried look, but Cristov started laughing.
"I know about the Charmers, you know my deck Hiita, I will be able to deal with it."
"If you two are done, I would like to continue, namely I send both Fox Fire and Hiita to the graveyard to summon Familiar-Possessed Hiita." A slightly elder version of Hiita appeared, her hair had turned more wild and spikier and tied around her left arm there was now a long white ribbon with blue decoration embroidered on the edges of it. The change in her familiar was far more drastic, it had grown in size and the fur had turned spikier, the snout had become pointed, the tongue lolling out of its mouth and the pupils had vanished from the eyes. From the top of the head running down the spine, red fur stood straight up in spikes. [1850 ATK]
"Since Hiita was summoned by her own effect, she deals piercing damage now. Go Hiita attack that Priest. Possessed Blaze!" The gem of the staff started to shine brighter, enveloping the familiar with flames, who pounced forward, ready to assault Cristov's monster.
"Trap card open, Twin Vortex. It allows me to destroy a monster on your side of the field and mine, so I will be destroying my Priest and your Hiita." Two lightning bolts blasted from the opened trap card, one aimed at Cristov's monster and one at his opponent's monster.
"Like I would let that happen. Reveal face down, Spiritual Fire Art – Kurenai! I release my Familiar-Possessed and deal damage to you equal to his attack." A magic circle appeared around Hiita and was absorbed into it before the lightning bolt could strike her. The ring blasted energy towards Cristov and his monster was shattered by the lightning bolt simultaneously. Cristov was forced to his knees by the sudden blast, raising back up slightly panting [900 LP]
"I can't do anything more." Cristov's graveyard slot started to radiate light and with the burst of light, Priest of Nephthys appears on the field in its defensive stance.
"Priest of Nephthys returns to the field in the end phase it was destroyed by a card effect."
Cristov – Teen
900 – 4000
"Now, it's time to pick the pace up a bit. My turn!" Cristov drew his card and without any hesitation he picked a card from his hand and put it on a monster card slot. A young woman appeared, cloaked in tight fitting top that seemed to be made out of straps of gold. Around her ankles and wrists, the same straps of gold were woven around them. A large two piece skirt waved around her legs and from her back seemed to sprout two wings made out of flames. On her heard she wore a Egyptian crown, but from it stood out only the head of a phoenix.
"I summon Hand of Nephthys, following immediately with her effect. I tribute her and my Priest and call out Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys from my deck. Sacred Calling!" Both Hand of Nephthys and Priest of Nephthys were engulfed into two pillars of flames, who joined together. From it a golden bird appeared, its wings were attached just above the hips, looking more like mechanical wings that of a bird. The front arms ended in small claws, the smooth body growing thinner as it went into the neck. The phoenix her head glared at the opponent with bright eyes and on her head a small flame burned. With each calm flap of her wings, thousands of small cinders were scattered around. [2400 ATK]
"Now Sacred Phoenix, attack him directly. Sacred Fire!" The phoenix started flapping her wings, more and more cinders appeared as the air stream turned into a stream of flames. The teen crossed his arms before his face, shielding his eyes from the flames [1600 LP]
"I set a card and leave it at that." A set card appeared behind the Sacred Phoenix, Cristov stood there with a confident smirk.
Cristov – Teen
900 – 1600
"Draw! I activate the spell card Bonfire. I can add one level four or lower Fire type from my graveyard to my hand. I think Hiita the Fire Charmer will do nicely." The graveyard slot started to glow and a card shot out from it, the blond revealed it to be Hiita and immediately placed it set on the field.
"I set a monster and I set one card as well. Turn End." A set card appeared behind the set monster. In an instant a card opened up on Cristov's side.
"Trap card open, Destruct Potion. By destroying a monster I control I gain its attack as Life Points back." The Sacred Phoenix burst into flames, the cinders raining down on Cristov as he started to glow. [3300 LP]
"Why would you destroy your own monster, unless it has some kind of effect." Cristov grinned.
"You will find out soon enough. My turn!"
Cristov – Teen
3300 LP – 1600 LP
"Draw, now my Sacred Phoenix her effect. When she is destroyed by a card effect, I can special summon her during my next Standby Phase and sweep the field clean of all Spell and Trap cards. Return to my side, Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!" In a burst of flames the Phoenix appeared on the field again, letting out a deafening cry, the flames spreading over the field, shattering Cristov's set card. The card on the opposing field shot up just before it got hit, revealing that it was Threatening Roar.
"I figured you had something to stop attacks with, that doesn't matter. First the effect of my set trap, Dormant Volcano. When it is destroyed both of us take 300 damage and as added bonus I get to add a Fire monster from my deck to my hand." Both Life Point gauges dropped as Cristov picked the card that was shot out from his deck.[3000 LP, 1300LP]
"Now on to more serious matters. Since Sacred Phoenix was special summoned this turn by her own effect, I can special summon Incarnation of the Phoenix." Cristov slammed the card onto his Duel Disk, a younger looking version of the Sacred Phoenix appeared. Instead of the harsh cry of her counterpart, she let out a melodious note. [1200 ATK]
"Next, I summon Follower of Nephthys." Another robbed man appeared, also an Egyptian but was less ordained then the previous man. The robe he wore looked worn out and was darkened by years of wearing, the face lacked any make-up and was shaved bald. In his right hand he wielded a small hoe. [1000 ATK]
"Now, Follower of Nephthys happens to be a tuner. So I tune my level four Follower of Nephthys to my level three Incarnation of the Phoenix." Follower of Nephthys dissolved into the four rings and they lined up followed by the small phoenix flying through them and vanishing. Instead three stars appeared, shining brightly,
Great Bird of the South, drawing a blazing trail along the sky! Burn and be reborn!
Synchro Summon!
Descend! Noble God Sparrow!
A vermilion bird descended on to the field, flapping her wings slowly. The bird resembled a crane, landing majestically onto the field, folding her wings against herself. On her head was a small crest, the beak ended sharply and it and the legs looked like they were made from gold. Shaking her plumage, small sparks of fire leaped of her, burning brightly as if they were small stars. [2500 ATK]
"Now, since your trap prevents me from attacking, I will go with this. I activate Thunder Crash. I destroy all my monsters that I control and deal 300 damage for each of them to you." Cristov placed the card in his Duel Disk, as soon as it appeared on the field, two lightning bolts appeared, one striking Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, the other one was dodged by Noble God Sparrow and she then instantly vanished aswell.
"Noble God Sparrow's effect, when she would be destroyed by a card effect, she sends herself to the graveyard. Now since only one monster of mine was destroyed you take 300 points of damage." A third lightning bolt shot out from the card hitting the blond hard.[1000 LP]
"I set one card and end my turn, Noble God Sparrow special summons herself to the field." In a burst of dazzling flames, the phoenix appeared again on the field. A melodious note rang and suddenly her attack increased to 3000.
"When Noble God Sparrow is special summoned by her own effect her attack is increased by 500. Better make your turn worthwhile." Cristov looked confident and smirked at his opponent who seemed to only get irritated
Cristov – Teen
3000 – 1000
"I'll show you. Draw, I flip summon Hiita the Fire Charmer activating his effect, I can take control of one of your Fire monsters. Noble God Sparrow will do fine!" The staff of Hiita started to glow as soon as she rose up on the field.
"As if I wouldn't be prepared, reveal face-down, Self-Bomb. It destroys all the monsters I control, activating Noble God Sparrow's effect, she sends herself." The phoenix vanished from the field again and the light of the staff dimmed.
"You are an idiot, you left yourself wide open. I summon Blazing Hiita." An older version of Hiita appeared on the field, she had grown taller and her hair was a bit more flattened, the bangs still being spiky. Her cloths had still the same attire and in her left hand she wielded the same staff she had as her younger self. Around her a older and sleek build fox was jumping around.[500 ATK]
"Blazing Hiita's effect, by tributing a Fire monster, I can special summon a Fire monster from my hand. So I give up Hiita the Fire Charmer to summon Hexe Trude." A magic circle appeared under Hiita, who slowly disintegrated into pixels. From the circle rose an you woman clad in a red dress, with the straps covering her chest. Around her waist she wore a golden belt with in the middle a triangular shape with an azure stone set in it and around her wrists she wore golden bracelets. Her black curling hair lay around her face revealing the nice features of her face, which immediately were diminished as she gave an evil smirk. [2600 ATK]
"Now let's end this, Hexe Trude attack him directly." Hexe Trude raised her arms to cast a spell but after a moment she seemed to reconsider and stopped. On Cristov's side of the field a faint image of Noble God Sparrow was visible.
"Sorry to break it for you, the turn that Noble God Sparrow is send to the graveyard by her own effect, I cannot be attacked directly." The blond scowled, anything he would set for defence would be destroyed by Sacred Phoenix.
"Fine, I end." Again, Noble God Sparrow graciously flew onto the field.
Cristov – Teen
3000 – 1000
"Draw, now you know what this means, during my Standby Phase, Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys comes back to the field." In a burst of flames, Sacred Phoenix appeared again on the field.
"Now to end this duel, Noble God Sparrow attack Blazing Hiita, Great Heat of the South!" The sparks around Noble God Sparrow started to glow more brightly, which formed a blaze in thin air, the stream hit Hiita and the blond teen hard. The blond let out a loud scream as his Life Points hit zero. Cristov, Hiita and Shirley all covered their eyes at the bright flames, when they could see clear again, the blond was gone.[0 LP]
"Where did he go?" Shirley looked around and walked towards edge of their platform and looked down. She shook her head, seeing nothing.
"Cristov-kun, you are sure that you do not have psychic powers? You could have burned up the poor fellow." Cristov frowned at Hiita.
"Don't be an idiot, of course not. Besides from what I have heard, don't I need to be pushed mentally to a brink to awaken them at all? This duel was a walk in the park." Hiita frowned a bit at how Cristov talked but then nodded as he understood.
"Shall we go back to our hotel? It's time for them to announce our pools." Shirley stood their looking at her watch, both Cristov and Hiita looked up.
"What about that guy?" Shirley shrugged at Cristov.
"You said that the duel was a walk in the park, so he probably used the moment we got blinded by your last attack to get away, so you couldn't scowl at him that he wouldn't get on the time." Cristov shrugged at this explanation.
"Is as good as any, besides it's not that we can file him missing, he didn't even introduce himself properly." Shirley nodded and started to walk back to their D-Wheels parked outside the Neo Domino Stadium.
"Sir, Suzaku has been identified. His name is Cristov Murufasa, team leader of Team Flame Wing. As you said, the one that duelled him has vanished without a trace." The loud female voice rang through the room, the speaker was cloaked in a dark robe with a cap over her head.
"Good, just two more left, let us see how they will deal with the rest. You are dismissed." The man behind the desk did not even look up, causing the female to puff out her chest in a form of protest. Then she turned around, removing her cap while she left the room, revealing long blond hair.
Key card: Hiita the Fire Charmer
Joey: Guys, news from our parents, they are all okay. Also Will, your dad said something about a business partner.
Will: Damn it, that guy never leaves me without sending me out.
Joey: Will, your dad's business partners are a bit strange. Battle of Charms, Raging Waters! Cards that tell a story, oh brother.
Author's notes: This chapter is a little bit less exciting than the previous one, this due to the nature of Cristov's deck. I hope it was not a too boring read in comparison with the previous one, but some background info is told so I guess it balances out. Creative Credits for Noble God Sparrow goes to he who donated the plot to charity~