*Temple of Anubis, Sahara Desert, 4:00 P.M.*
Jeremy Griffan lied motionless on the ground, void of all consciousness. Makoto was desperately pleading for him to get up.
"Jeremy! JEREMY, wake up!" Makoto shouted.
The Gatekeeper then began to walk along the path that was open.
"Come, the path awaits." The Gatekeeper spoke.
"What about Jeremy?" Makoto asked. "He might be dead!"
"Dead? Then show me his body." The Gatekeeper requested.
Makoto gave him a look of 'are you ****ing kidding me!'. Then she looked down at where Jeremy was only to see that his body was gone.
"Where-Where did he go? !" Makoto asked.
"His body has been sent to the next plain." The Gatekeeper assured. "Should we succeed, we will meet him at the end."
"And if we fail?" Renee asked.
"The monsters will eat him." The Gatekeeper answered. "Now come, the first trial awaits."
The Gatekeeper walked on and Makoto followed, followed by Renee. Trinity looked around the place, felt a chill and held her arm, then followed the others.
"What do you think he meant by 'eaten by monsters'?" Shigeru asked Edwards.
"He means nothing. The boy's probably dead." Edwards responded. "He just doesn't want the girl to cry." Edwards then walked with the group and Shigeru followed.
Yuki stayed back for a moment and looked at the area Jeremy was, almost as if she was looking right at him. After a moment, she then walked off to follow the group.
Jeremy awoke in a musty hallway similar to the one in the temple. In fact, he was still in the temple, but something was different. The air seemed to sparkle, almost as if the place seemed more magical.
"Where the hell is everybody?" Jeremy asked himself.
"Back in your world." A voice answered.
Jeremy turned around to see Magician's Valkyria standing behind him, offering a hand to help him up.
"Magician's Valkyria?" Jeremy was confused as Magician's Valkyria helped him get up. "Where am I?"
"You're in our world. The Spirit World." Magician's Valkyria answered. "The enchantments on those bars activated your Rose ability and brought you here."
"But why am I here and where is everybody?" Jeremy wondered.
"I don't know, but everyone's moving on ahead further into the temple." Magician's Valkyria answered.
"The temple?" Jeremy asked. "How can the temple exist in both the real world and the Spirit World?"
"Because Anubis' tomb is in this world and your world." Magician's Valkyria revealed. "And although your friends can't see you, you can see them and their actions, which is why I advise we catch up to them."
"Yeah, you're right." Jeremy agreed. "Let's go."
The Gatekeeper led the group to an empty chamber.
"The Spellcaster who sealed away Anubis placed seven seals over his tomb." The Gatekeeper stated. "These completely block Anubis off from this world and the next. To destroy Anubis, you must break all of these seals. Seven seals, seven trials, seven sins. Each reflecting the soul he or cast the spells. Who shall face the first trial?"
"But what about Jeremy?" Makoto asked.
"The Violet Rose is in the Spirit World, where each of the triggers reside." The Gatekeeper answered. "He must unlock them there in order for you to face them here."
Jeremy caught up to the group just in time to hear that. As soon as Jeremy entered the room, Yuki looked over in his direction almost as if she could see him.
"That's great." Jeremy said. "What the hell am I supposed to do?"
Yuki looked over and pointed to the center of the room. At the rooms center was the symbol of a crescent moon covering the sun.
"Am I supposed to interact with that?" Jeremy asked
Yuki Nodded. Makoto looked at her sister quizzically. "Yuki?" She asked. "What are you pointing at?"
Jeremy walked over toward the symbol and analyzed it for a few moments. He hesitated to touch it when his Rose mark started to glow. Then the symbol started to glow as well.
The symbol appeared in the room, glowing a bright violet. Shadows converged at the symbol and began shape into a creature. It was a reptile-creature on four hind legs that seemed to have 100 heads sprouting from a 100 necks and each head had two glowing red eyes.
"What the hell is that? !" Shigeru shouted.
"I am the Shadow of Gluttony." The shadow seemed to speak. "I can never have enough of what I already have. And I choke myself on life's pleasures. She who bears the Yellow Rose knows my pain."
"What?" Makoto responded.
"Ah, I see." The Gatekeeper said. "You, young lady, need to Duel him and defeat him, then we can advance."
"Why me?" Makoto asked.
"Because he recognizes that you've perpetrated this sin more than anyone else here." The Gatekeeper answered. "It will refuse to challenge anyone else but you and unless you can find the virtue against your sin, you cannot win."
"How am I supposed to Duel against THAT thing?" Makoto asked.
"Just Duel and you shall see." The Gatekeeper provided a simple answer.
Makoto stared down the shadow and activated her Duel Disk.
"All right! Let's Duel!" Makoto exclaimed.
Gluttony (LP 4000) Makoto (LP 4000)
"I'll go first!" Makoto drew her first card. "I summon this card face-down in defense mode and then set one card face-down!"
"It is my turn now." The shadow said. "I summon Wattmole (Lv.3 0/100) in attack mode."
"Wattmole?" Makoto asked. "It uses a Watt deck like me?...Fine! I know my decks strengths and weaknesses! I can beat it!"
"Wattmole will now attack your face-down monster." The shadow declared its attack. "And when Wattmole attacks a face-down Defense Position monster, it can destroy it immediately."
Wattmole spun like a drill and charged towards Makoto's face-down monster, which was Wattdragonfly (Lv.2 900/100), and destroyed it.
"When Wattdragonfly is destroyed by my opponent, I can Special Summon a Watt card from my Deck!" Makoto pointed out. "I summon Wattcobra (Lv.4 1000/500)!"
"I end my turn by placing two cards face-down." The shadow finished its move.
Makoto drew her next card. "I now summon Wattsquirrel (Lv.3 700/100)! Wattsquirrel, attack Wattmole!"
Wattsquirrel attacked Wattmole and destroyed it, inflicting the shadow with 700 points of damage.
Gluttony (LP 3300) Makoto (LP 4000)
"Now Wattcobra will attack you directly!" Makoto declared her second attack.
"I activate the Trap Des Counterblow." The shadow responded to the attack. "This destroys any monster that inflicts damage from a direct attack."
Wattcobra bit the shadow and then exploded, which destroyed the monster after it inflicted 1000 damage to the shadow.
Gluttony (LP 2300) Makoto (LP 4000)
"Well, at least Wattcobra inflicted direct damage because when he does, I can add a Watt monster from my Deck to my hand!" Makoto stated as she added a card to her hand. "I end my turn!"
"And my turn comes again." The shadow said. "...Makoto Nagato..."
"...Y-yeah?" Makoto hesitated to asked.
"Do you understand why you are gluttonous?" The shadow asked.
"I'm not gluttonous!" Makoto responded. "I don't eat that much!"
"Gluttony isn't merely eating a lot of food." The shadow stated. "It is indulging in something that you already have."
"And what would that be?" Makoto asked.
"Your relationship with your boyfriend." The shadow pointed out. "You want more than what you're getting out of it."
"That's..." Makoto blurted out.
"Trying to trap him into a commitment." The shadow continued to speak. "Forcing yourself to him, trying to squeeze as much love as you can from him...and it will be the death of him."
"Shut up, that's not true!" Makoto shouted.
Jeremy could only watch and listen to what they said. No matter what the creature said, it didn't change anything about how he felt, but he could see how painful hearing this was to Makoto.
"Oh Makoto..." he muttered.
"Why is that?" The Shadow asked. "Is it because your father distanced you as a child and you felt that the parental love you wished for was missing? Or is it the inferiority of having your friends so far along in their relationships? One already married and another having a child?"
"SHUT UP!" Makoto shouted. "MAKE YOUR MOVE!"
"I activate my face-down Trap Wattkeeper, which allows me to Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Watt monster from my Graveyard. However, it is destroyed during the End Phase. Since I only have one Watt monster, I have no choice but to summon Wattmole. Next, I Normal Summon the Tuner monster Wattberyx (Lv.3 300/0). Then I activate the Spell Monster Reborn to bring back your Wattdragonfly. Then I tune Wattberyx with my other two monsters to Synchro Summon Energy Spark Dragon (Lv.8 2300/2800). And this card gains 200 attack points for each Thunder-type monster other than itself. There are a total of 5, so that means it gains 1000 attack points. Energy Spark Dragon, attack Wattsquirrel."
Energy Spark Dragon fired an electric blast from its mouth that completely obliterated Wattsquirrel and inflicted Makoto with 2600 points of damage.
Gluttony (LP 2300) Makoto (LP 1400)
"And since my dragon inflicted you with damage, you can't activate Spells and Traps until your next Standby Phase." The shadow pointed out. "I end my turn."
Makoto looked down at the ground, feeling humiliated. *There's nothing wrong with that, is there?* she thought
"Makoto!" Shigeru called out to her. "It's your move!"
"What's wrong with her?" Trinity asked.
"She's facing herself." The Gatekeeper spoke. "If she can not face herself and find her virtue, she will lose."
"And what happens if she loses?" Renee asked.
"If she loses, the spirit will be sealed again and we will not be able to move forward or return from whence we came. We will be trapped and die here."
"So, no pressure..." Shigeru commented.
*What's wrong with wanting more out of a commitment?* Makoto thought to herself. *If Jeremy were just a little more forward, I wouldn't have to push him..* Makoto rested her face into the palm of her hands. *Great! Now I'm blaming Jeremy for my shortcomings...I can't help that I love him...what should I do?*
...
"Moderation."
Makoto heard her sister's voice and turned around to face Yuki who just repeated herself. "Moderation."
"Love in moderation..." Makoto repeated understanding what it meant. "Sounds kinda stupid, doesn't it?"
"What are you talking about?" The Shadow asked.
"When you love someone, you want to give them everything." Makoto explained. "Suffocate them and keep them for yourself. This will eventually drive them away. I'll admit...I'm afraid that if I don't, he'll never take the next step. But if I can show him my love without smothering him...maybe he'll make the next step for us..."
"My god," Edwards groaned. "This is so sappy it's annoying!"
"So, you understand now." The shadow spoke.
"Yes, and It's MY MOVE!" Makoto drew her next card. "First, I send a Level 7 Synchro Monster from my Extra Deck to the Graveyard to Special Summon Thunder Dancer (Lv.8 2700/1000)!"
A beautiful lady with long, tied-up pink hair wearing yellow and white elegant top and leggings appeared on Makoto's side of the field.
"Next, I activate her special ability!" Makoto continued. "Once per turn, I can banish any number of Thuder-type cards from my Graveyard to decrase the attack points of my opponent's monster by 400 for each of those banished cards! I banish Wattdragonfly, Wattcobra and Wattsquirrel to decrease your dragon's attack points by 1200! And since they're no longer in my Graveyard, your dragon loses 600 more attack points! Also, since Thunder Dancer is a Spellcaster, your dragon doesn't gain more attack points! Now, Thunder Dancer will attack Energy Spark Dragon! And since a Light card just attacked, I can send the card Honest from my hand to the Graveyard and her attack points increase by that of the card she's attacking! Since Energy Spark Dragon now has 1500 attack points, she gains 1500 more!"
With a total of 4200 attack points, Thunder Dancer performed a graceful dance that summoned forth lightning bolts that struck Energy Spark Dragon and destroyed it, inflicting 2700 points of damage to the shadow.
Gluttony (LP 0) Makoto (LP 1400)
The Shadow of Gluttony began to fade before completely disappearing.
Jeremy watched, in the spirt world, as the symbol he touched started to glow in light and a beam shot straight up into the ceiling and passing through it. Then the wall at the end of the room opened int both worlds.
"Excellent." The Gatekeeper spoke. "Let us move on."
"Are all these trials going to be like this?" Trinity asked.
"No," The Gatekeeper spoke. "They only get harder."
"Fantastic..." Edwards said sarcastically "And there is no way to head back is there?"
Before the Gatekeeper could answer, the Shadows took form again. This time it was the form of a Person. It was impossible to tell anything about them, but the figure was clearly human.
"As a child, I was told gluttony was over indulging in food. Eating outside of meals, adding spices, and altering food for taste was forbidden."
"What is that?" Trinity asked.
"The Spellcaster himself!" The gatekeeper said stunned. "He who sealed Anubis. He speaks to us through his seals."
"As I matured I realized that one can indulge in more than just food. My mother indulged in her love for me, more so than most mothers do. She kept me sheltered from the world, leaving my only entertainment the sacred scrolls held by my family. It is here I learned the secrets. I killed them. My Father. My sister. My brother. My mother had a chance to kill me before I learned the secrets, when I told her what I was to do. She didn't. Her overindulged love led me to this point...and her overindulged love prevented her from saving her life..."
The shadows then disappeared leaving a sickening air in the temple room.
"What...the hell?" Renee asked. "Trin, you're supposed to be related to that...thing?"
"Why-why would he kill his own family?" Trinity asked.
"I can not say." The Gatekeeper spoke. "Important people like him always have tragedy in their lives. Let us move on."
The Gatekeeper led the group forward. Yuki went to assist Makoto, who was tired from her duel.
"Thanks Yuki," Makoto said.
"Jeremy is with us." Yuki assured her.
"I know." Makoto said. "I can feel him here...Thank you..."
Cards
Thunder Dancer
Spellcaster/Effect (ATK 2700 DEF 1000)
Level 8/LIGHT
You can Special Summon this card from your hand by sending 1 Level 7 or higher Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck to your Graveyard. Once per turn; You can banish any number of Thunder-type monsters from your Graveyard, and if you do, decrease the ATK of a monster your opponent controls by 400 for each monster banished by this effect.