Hey guys. Just a quick word from me. From those interested in Tanion's story, I'd like to hear what you think of the story so far! So please, either leave a review or send me a message because I'm interested as to what you all think. Also, if there's any monsters or characters from the first three series that you wish to see in this story, please say so! I'll try and find a way to include them in Tanion's journey. Anyway, here's the latest chapter. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 10 – Rats in a Trap
"Darrien, report," Jorann demanded.
"There's four sewer mains that lead here. Scans show at least twenty entering from every one of them, with more covering the pipes that lead onto the mains."
"What about our backup?"
"We're too far down. The signal isn't getting through."
"Elise, take my men and get them set up in ambush locations around the town. Slow them down. They knew this was possibly a one-way trip, and now it's imperative we get out of here with the boy."
"You would abandon these people?" Tanion asked. "Your own men?"
"These people will not suffer any more than they have," Jorann said. "The Grand Order simply wants the boy. If we get him out of here, then they will follow us. And my men know what needs to be done."
"How are we getting out of here, Jorann?" Elise demanded.
"The three of you, take the boy and head out through the one opposite to where we came in," he said. "I will head to the one we came from and hold them at bay."
"But they'll overwhelm you," Darrien said desperately. "There's no way you can take them all on by yourself."
"I've gotten out of worse spots that this, boy," Jorann grumbled. "I'll meet you with the child in Omaha north of the city by tomorrow. You know the spot, Elise?"
"I do," she said, nodding her head. "Let's move, gentlemen."
"You're leaving Jorann's men to die?" Tanion said in disbelief as they ran.
"That's war, Tanion," Elise said softly. "Sometimes, in order to win a fight, some people have to lose it. Everyone in the Coalition knows that when they go on a mission it could be their last."
"I can't believe you dragged me into this bulls–"
"The boy's just up ahead," Darrien said, cutting him off. "He's too sick to run though."
"Just get him," Elise said. "I have an idea."
They scurried through buildings and eventually made it to where the mother and blind child had found themselves. Once inside, Elise told them to be quiet as they shut the door and blocked it as best they can in case the Grand Order soldiers coming their way decided to start pillaging.
"Has Jorann discussed with you why he's here?" Elise asked in the mother in a hushed tone.
"Yes," she said sadly. "He will be safe though, yes?"
"As safe as he can be in this world," Elise said.
"You're not coming with me, mummy?" the boy asked.
"I must stay," she said to him. "You will be safe, and there will be others for me to look out for."
"I'll come back one day."
"I know, son. I know."
Elise suddenly hushed everyone to be quiet, and then footsteps could be heard outside the building. The soldiers of the Grand Order scuffled their way past, Elise keeping a keen ear out in case any of them decided to discreetly stop. However, long after Tanion thought they were gone, Elise finally cocked her head slightly in relaxation.
"Darrien, scan the area," she ordered. "What are we dealing with?"
"The Order's men have gathered in the main square," he said, reading the output on his version of the device Elise had used earlier. "Jorann and his men are off the grid, but the Order has left two men at each pipe to make sure no one escapes. Their disks are running, so they've probably got monsters summoned to defend. Taking them on in any form of duel would attract too much attention."
"Then we do this the old fashioned way," Elise whispered. "Tanion, get the boy, and have your duel disk at the ready. We're leaving."
"Um, okay," Tanion whispered back. "Yurrah, are you ready to go?"
"Yes," the boy said with his eerie blank stare. "Goodbye, mummy."
"Goodbye, son," the woman said, kissing Yurrah's forehead through tears. "I'll see you soon."
Tanion took Yurrah by the hand and followed behind Elise and Darrien as quietly as he could as they slipped out of the shack and headed toward the the pipeline Jorann had told them to head for. There, just as Darrien's device had predicted, they found two of The Grand Order's men waiting, each having a 'Double Cannon' monster ready and summoned to blast anyone who got too close. Standing next to the corner of a shack, Elise peered around the corner at the men, taking in as much information as she could.
"What now?" Tanion whispered, still holding onto Yurrah, who looked exhausted.
"On my mark, summon Charger, and Darrien summon Shining Angel," Elise ordered. "We're getting out of here."
"Okay, but how are you going to deal with the men?" Tanion wondered.
"Do it now!" Elise ordered as she bolted from their cover.
Thrown by this, it took Tanion longer than he had liked to summon out Charger, and the effect was much larger than he would've liked. After getting Yurrah up, he jumped onto Charger's back as well, struggling to come to grips with the fact that he was riding a projection of a monster card. They turned the corner, and found Elise standing over the two men, both flat on the ground.
"What did you do to them?" Tanion asked, confused, as Shining Angel picked her up in his other hand.
"I knocked them out," she said. "Couple of kicks and punches can do wonders on those not expecting them."
"...right," Tanion managed to say. "What's next?"
"We take this pipe all the way to the end," Elise said. "I'll be covering our asses, so you just make sure to keep Yurrah on board. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Then let's get moving. We haven't got much time before they realise something is wrong."
Urging Charger to move forward, the horse obeyed eagerly, and soon he was sprinting through the tunnel behind an airborne Shining Angel, twisting their way through the damp, dark corridors. Elise was dealing with any of the Grand Order members they came across, knocking them out cold with one of her Risen Soldiers. If I wasn't potentially about to die, this would be one of the coolest things ever, Tanion thought to himself. I'm riding on the back of my monster, following an angel while zombies attack my enemies.
"Sharp right!" Darrien called.
Tanion pulled at the lead, and Charger obeyed, skidding almost to halt before expertly taking the sharp turn. Suddenly, something bleeped on Tanion's duel disk, and he heard the same noise come from Elise's and Darrien's.
"We're back in range!" Elise exclaimed. "Darrien, send out the emergency signal. Get them to meet us where this pipe comes out."
"That'll alert the Order as well though," he countered.
"We don't have a choice," Elise said. "We can't afford to be on our own when we get to the surface. Do it!"
Following his orders, the distress signal went up only moments later, and Tanion felt his heartbeat increase just a bit more in his chest as the horse pounded away beneath him, following the angel with precision. After what seemed like forever, Darrien ordered them to halt, and they found themselves standing next to a ladder leading up to a sewer drain lid.
"Where are we, Darrien?" Elise asked.
"Above us used to be the main road that led out of the city heading north," he answered. "The response team is two minutes out."
"Then we need to give them a beacon to find," Elise said. "Send him up."
Darrien and Elise leapt off of Shining Angel and the monster rocketed into the sky, bursting through the sewer drain lid and flying high into the sky. Elise ordered Darrien up the ladder to be followed by her and, after making sure Yurrah was safely on his back, Tanion went up after them. Once his way up, he noticed that Elise had already summoned Risen General Hol to her side with little effort, whilst Darrien had already traded out Shining Angel for Zerath, but Tanion could see that the effort had taken a severe toll on his body.
"Darrien, you can summon a Level 8?" Tanion asked, amazed. "Are you going to be okay?"
"He'll be fine," Elise answered for him. "The coast is clear for now, but we need to be vigilant. Put the boy in the centre and summon a monster, Tanion. We can't allow the Grand Order to reach him."
Following her orders, Tanion helped Yurrah down and then summoned Defender of the Knight to his side, the effort taking a considerable toll on him. Now that they had three monsters summoned, they formed a lock around the boy, but from what Tanion had learned about Duels of Strength, he knew it would mean little if the Grand Order reached them before their reinforcements did.
"It's too quiet," Elise whispered after a while. "Darrien, where are our boys?"
"They... they stopped," Darrien said, confused, as he looked at his radar on the device. "3 blocks away, due west. They must have set up a defensive line there."
"And the Order?"
"I don't... oh."
"What is it?"
"We need to move," Darrien said hurriedly, scrambling to put the device away. "The Grand Order must have known of our reinforcements. They're holding back because they've more soldiers coming in. They'll have double our numbers very soon."
"Let's go, people!"
Tanion helped Yurrah onto his back once more, the child feeling slightly heavier than before. Nevertheless, Tanion ran behind Darrien and Elise as they headed for the Coalition forces. Rounding a couple streets, they eventually took a right, and found themselves right in the middle of a stand-off.
To their left was the Coalition forces, all in a row and with monster summoned and ready to fight, some that Tanion recognised and others he didn't. To their right, The Grand Order was ready to march, a row of Double Cannon monsters lined up and ready to fire. Behind them, Tanion spied a few War Machine Omegas lined up, amongst others he had never seen before. A chill ran down his spine. This was not going to end well.
"Run," Elise said slowly. "Run!"
They broke into stride, and as they did, all hell broke loose. The Grand Order opened fire, and cannonballs flew over their heads at the Coalition forces. In retaliation, shields were held high and counter-attacks were launched. Explosions rang across the street, some monsters falling and others brushing off the attacks like they were nothing on both sides. Elise ordered them to drop their monsters, and they did so, eventually making it into the Coalition camp.
"You're alive!" a man said from the far back, an unknown Level 8 monster on his disk. "Where is Jorann and his men? And who's this?"
"This is why Jorann was here," Elise said quickly. "He's blind, but can see Duel Energy. Now get him out of here and back to base."
"We can't do so under such heavy fire," the man said. "It would be suicide."
"Then we will provide one," Elise said. "Darrien, Tanion, let's go."
With Yurrah as safe as he could be, Tanion followed the duo around the back of the fighting, with the constant cannon fire being used as a way of navigation. A couple of minutes later, they found themselves atop a slightly taller structure, and just behind the enemy lines. Tanion watched the fire and counter fire streak across the open street, some shots running wild and smashing into buildings, other hitting their target and blowing them to smithereens. He could tell that their significantly fewer attackers on either side already, and he couldn't bear the thought of how many people had possibly dead in such a small amount of time.
"This is why we avoid fighting out in the open like this," Elise said through gritted teeth. "Can't be avoided sometimes though."
"What's the plan, Elise?" Tanion asked breathlessly.
"We need to disrupt their attacks," she said. "It'll give the boys time to launch one big attack and hopefully wipe them out. Have you any monsters that can utilise stealth?"
"One," Tanion replied.
"Okay, I'll make this simple," Elise said. "Darrien, you're to distract their monsters with Angel of Light. Radiant aura. Blind them."
"Got it."
"Tanion, use your monster to slip into enemy lines," she continued. "No need to go for kills, just interrupt. Through some sideways. Knock others over."
"And what will you do?" Tanion asked in response.
"Hope not to pass out," Elise said. "Now go!"
Tanion summoned Shadow of the Knight and willed him into stealth. As his monster turned to blackness and moved undetected through the road toward the Grand Order's front lines, Darrien's Angel swooped around the side of the buildings and got itself into position. After the angel was ready, Elise gave them and signal, and they set their plan into motion.
After another barrage of fire from the dwindling Grand Order forces, Darrien moved his Angel around, and suddenly it erupted with light, its glow a lot more powerful than Tanion had thought possible. However, making sure not to miss his cue, Tanion willed is Shadow out of the ground, which sent three Double Cannons flying. Tanion watched from a distance as his Shadow ran through the enemy lines, blinded by the Angel, and knocked many duelists of their feet and some into buildings. Tanion winced at this sight, but he knew he had no choice. The were the bad guys, and he needed to do it in order to save the Coalition's men.
Suddenly Elise cried out, and Tanion turned to see that she had three copies of Risen General Hol placed upon her duel disk. Down below, the generals moved in from behind and began wrecking the men and cannons positioned at the back, but they were coming under heavy fire from the War Machines and other monsters. Knowing that he had given them a chance already, Tanion took his Shadow off his duel disk and rushed to Elise's side.
"Three Level 7's at once?" Tanion gasped. "Are you crazy?"
"It wasn't at once," Elise managed to say. "But summoning them and keeping them alive is... is proving more difficult than I thought."
Tanion held Elise in a seated position as he watched the carnage below. Her plan had worked, but the Coalition forces weren't counter-attacking. Frowning, Tanion tried to get a clearer look at the area where the Coalition had set themselves up. Much to his dismay, his noticed that a building had collapsed near them, the sound gone unnoticed due to the explosions and other impacts, and half of their forces were simply gone, buried under the rubble. Tanion looked away and hoped that somehow Yurrah hadn't been under that building. Reaching over to Elise's disk, Tanion took the three copies of Hol from her disk.
"Why?" Elise whispered.
"We've lost, Elise," Tanion said gravely. "We've taken out much of The Grand Order's forces, but half of ours were crushed under a building. Keeping your monsters there would've served no purpose."
"I'll not leave those men to die," Elise said defiantly, but she could barely stand, and Tanion had to support her when she did.
"He's right, Elise," Darrien said, his eyes firmly focussed on the battlefield. "We've taken out many of the Double Cannons, but the War Machines remain. Quite damaged, by the looks of it, but they're there nonetheless. They'll tear us apart."
"Not unless we get reinforcements," Elise smiled, looking above the Coalition.
A roar went out from the dragon as it soared into view, one that Tanion immediately recognised as being High Dragon Edilisna. Tanion watched in awe as the dragon opened its mouth and pored forth its judgement, its raw power surging through the machinery of the Grand Order and destroying the damages machines with ease. The single blast ripped a line straight through the Order's front lines, with more than half of their War Machines and many of the smaller monster taken out by the blast. The firing stopped almost instantly afterward, and the dragon roared once again and landed right between the two forces. Then, must to Tanion's excitement, a single stealth unit took off from behind the Coalition's lines, one that he felt sure was carrying Yurrah to Stromberg Castle and to safety. Below, he could just make out Jorann sitting atop Edilisna's head, and beside him, Elise couldn't help but smile.
"He finally managed to do it," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"I know of your Duel of Strength in the courtyard, Tanion," Elise said. "I know Jorann summoned Blue-Eyes, but did you know he's never summoned a monster higher than Level 8 before? He is very strong, but his Duel Energy pool was never large enough to summon any higher."
"He did say you get used to the pain," Tanion noted. "Perhaps he really was struggling with summoning Blue-Eyes but just didn't show it. But if that's the case, how is Edilisna there? She is Level 10."
"When The Grand Order invaded 5 years ago, they began killing all Synchro users," Elise reminded him. "Jorann has been the only Synchro user in our part of the Resistance for almost 3 years now. I suppose seeing you give him hope."
"Hope? The guy hates me."
"He doesn't hate you," Elise said. "He simply wishes you to understand the importance of being a Synchro user, and what that title truly means. Seeing you and how skilled you are as a Synchro user... I think it gave him the push he needed."
Down below, Edilisna roared again, and The Grand Order forces began to retreat, their monsters disappearing. Although Tanion knew that if they all attacked at once Jorann would be in trouble, he doubted any had the morale to do so. The dragon had taken out a lot of them in a single blow. He doubted that they wanted to face a beast that could do that.
Suddenly Edilisna took off, and Tanion watched as the dragon soared directly toward them, and eventually came to find itself clinging to the side of the building, the top of its head level with the level of the floor on which they stood now. Jorann got off the dragon's head, and proceeded to walk up to the group with a stern look on his face.
"It's good to see you alive, Jorann," Elise said breathlessly.
"Where is the boy?" he demanded.
"Safe," Darrien said. "He left in a stealth bird just after you interrupted the fire fight."
"You finally managed to summon her, I see," Elise added.
"You, boy," Jorann said angrily, looking at Tanion. "We need to talk."
"It can wait until we're back at base," Elise said.
"No," Jorann said. "Elise, Darrien, you get back to base. Tanion is coming with me. We will be gone for a while."
"What?" Elise exclaimed. "You can't leave with him? What will people think if our only Synchro users just up and leave?"
"It matters not," Jorann said bluntly. "The boy and I have much to discuss, and such a thing cannot be done at the castle."
"Elise, it's fine," Tanion said. "I doubt there's much of a choice, and I'll make sure we get back quickly."
"Felirae won't be happy..."
"Felirae be damned," Jorann spat. "He's not a Synchro user. He won't understand."
"Where are you going?" Elise demanded.
"It's none of your business."
Elise sighed. "I can't stop you either way. So go. But you better come back."
"We'll see," Jorann muttered. "Tanion, get on Edilisna."
"Yes, sir," Tanion said sarcastically.
"Don't patronise me, or I'll have Edilisna throw you off in flight."
Tanion went with Jorann and sat upon the dragon's head, something that he was struggling to comprehend. Elise and Darrien watched from the building as Jorann ordered Edilisna into flight, and was as it headed north out of the city. After it was gone, Elise relaxed, and would've collapsed had it not been for Darrien.
"What do we do now?" he asked her.
"We tell Felirae what happened," she said breathlessly. "We tell him everything."