【75 - Setting the Final Stage and Converging on the Target...】
As Kanoa was swallowed by his cloak of nature energy, Jayden recoiled from the brightness and took several steps away. A pale vortex opened behind Amira, winds blowing with an ominous howl. Saishi clutched his broken arm as he manoeuvred away, stumbling on the street rubble.
"You're not using Dormageddon?" Kanoa realised.
"You start with an extra card," Amira said back.
Last time she'd clearly not demonstrated much control with it. According to Sinan it used to belong to Urobach before Gatekeeper Pluto took it and gave it to her. Kanoa drew and figured: If she truly made this deal with Saishi just to duel Heidi again, she won't want to wipe out the landscape while Heidi's nearby.
"Dealing with you is not just Heidi's problem… it's mine too! I'll go first! I cast Twinpact Map! I reveal my top three cards and take a twinpact from them to my hand!" The one-cost spell shone bright green; Kanoa's cloak moved like tangling branches. The cards floated from his deck and rotated for both players to see, all twinpacts: Na Turalgo Danger, Ichigotchi Tank and Ledy Ba Gooba. "I take Ichigotchi Tank and done!"
"I cast Bloody Cross!" Amira smirked while her own one-cost spell shone sinister violet. The Lost, Dark Armour and Lapis Lazuli, False Millionaire turned over before falling into her graveyard. Kanoa's deck also shone purple, spitting out Ichigotchi Tank and Marinyan to his graveyard. Lastly the spell floated down, making Amira's graveyard total three.
Kanoa charged then: "I cast Let's Goichigo and boost one," Stegoro Kaiser turned over and was added to his mana, "Done."
"At the start of my turn I can burn a shield to put The Lost, Dark Armour from my graveyard!" The shield revealed itself to be Bone Dance Charger before disintegrating into cyan dust. "I fulfill the Ceremony of Resurrection and mill two!" A purple coffin raised up behind her left, leaking a stream of silver. Dugenda Gig and Spiner joined her graveyard, making the total five. Then Amira drew for turn start and charged Team Tech's Wave Go. "Turn end."
The ominous presence behind Amira disturbed not only Kanoa but Jupiter as well. It compounded when Amira fulfilled a ceremony and was likely to grow more foreboding.
"I already know all about Zeron from Sinan!" Kanoa revealed, making Amira scowl. "I cast Purification Sharrup to boost mana and shuffle all the cards in your graveyard back into your deck!"
"Uh-?" Amira baulked as the cards flew into her deck which floated, shuffled, then set itself back down. She clenched a fist.
Kanoa noticed that unfortunately Hayabusamaru was boosted to his mana, "Done."
"I cast Bone Dance Charger!" Amira spoke more forcefully. She milled Codename Dread Blood then lost her own copy of Hayabusamaru. "Turn end."
"It's time. I summon Marinyan, Dragon Edge!" The pink-haired cat-girl jumped out, pumping its paw overhead as electric chains shot up and opened a gap to hyperspace. "I bring out Reddull, Dragon Soul Castle to give her speed attacker!" The spiked red temple fell, quaking the ground. "Marinyan attacks and invasion! Deadman=the=Origin evolves for free and brings out Greene, Dragon Soul Ruins and boosts mana!" A green building fell on his other side as the cat-girl became a towering green behemoth.
Amira frowned, he'd been first to take the lead.
Kanoa yelled, "Double break!" A huge axe was swung by muscled arms, smashing two panels. Amira faced away, feeling more exposed without her hood. The two cards flashed and appeared in her hand normally: no triggers.
"I summon Dugenda Gig!" It was her darkness-water creature made of chains and spiky maces. She drew two and discarded another two cards. "Then I cast Bone Dance Charger!" Ragnarok the Clock and Bloody Cross floated up then sank down. Since her charger spells went to mana her graveyard total was only six.
Kanoa drew and had two cards in his hand, "No charge. Deadman attacks and invasion into another Deadman=the=Origin. This time I'm bringing out Whitey to tap and freeze Dugenda, and Blacko so you must discard one card!" His 7000 double-breaker shone but remained the same. The white church and black mansion fell among the other buildings. It seemed like he'd be first to bring out his finisher, and that was…
"All Over the World…" Amira realised as she discarded Codename Dread Blood. "You have that?" She didn't get an answer and thought: He's keeping Bluenika to draw after it awakens, and is keeping a card in his hand so I can't fulfil one of the ceremonies. Things were looking bad - she wouldn't even be able to revive The Lost after all her shields were gone.
"Deadman, final break!"
Amira caught black fire, shards of glass flew through her before she solidified again.
Her last shield reconfigured itself into a card, "Super shield trigger, Spiner Shock Doctor!" There was loud zapping and lightning blazed from its electric prongs, held together in an X. "Give -3000 power three times to Deadman!" Her creature jumped then fell toward Deadman, piercing it with both prongs and it howled, zapping brightly before exploding. "I can also revive as many creatures that cost four or less as I want, so I choose: The Lost, Dark Armour, Hayabusamaru and Ragnarok, the Clock!" They were a strange assembly of creatures around the physician. Her spiked blocker, the gold flyer and clockface wizard. The latter weaved his arms, ending the turn with a resounding toll.
"Hehe…" Amira couldn't help but chuckle. "And now before I draw, I destroy The Lost and my Dugenda that won't untap this turn to summon Codename Dread Blood! Then I'll sacrifice it right away with my Spiner to summon a second Codename Dread Blood!"
Kanoa's face betrayed his grave bewilderment as he watched two creatures rot away, forming the zombie dragon who then rotted away with Spiner, only to return.
Amira turned side-on, with her arm out she pointed down with two fingers, "So that's four creatures destroyed this turn, enough for the Ceremony of Destruction! I return Bloody Cross to my hand and now draw for turn." She charged Team Tech's Wave Go. "I cast Bloody Cross and we both mill two. That makes nine cards in my graveyard, fulfilling that ceremony too. Last but not least I play my final card," Kanoa tensed up but relaxed when he saw what it was, "The spell Cyber Brain."
Amira noticed his misplaced relief and it only made her grin widen, "I can draw up to three cards. I choose to draw zero cards." At that the lasting vestiges of Kanoa's hope sank away. "That means as soon as I end my turn, the Ceremony of Hands will be completed and Zeron will rise." Amira looked at his shields and considered. Hayabusamaru and Ragnarok could still attack Kanoa, but it was probably best she wait for Zeron to wipe out all his shields in one go. She couldn't afford to give him more options in a situation this precarious. "I end. Gacharange summon, CL-20 Supply." The watery gadget appeared. "Zeron is birthed!"
Both coffins were in position and the portal swirled fast behind its curtains of darkness. They heard something unlock, loud and coming from within them. Zeron was bigger than Pluto, Jupiter or any other phoenix. It was wide, its edges transparent like oblivion. At its centre Zeron was bone-white, with teeth and spikes all over, dotted with a great many red eyes. Its hissing sneer made the hairs on the back of Kanoa's neck stand on end.
"Are you getting goosebumps?" Amira smiled, "I'm getting goosebumps, and I summoned the damn thing. I don't think I could've dreamt up something quite so horrific in even my most creative nightmares…" She turned and leant back to appreciate the size of her monster. Then she looked at Kanoa who was looking up and still hadn't moved. "Moment of truth. You wanted to be a hero too, right? If you can't call out your finisher then it's all over."
Kanoa pulled his eyes away from the cosmic, primordial deity. Once his gaze was back on Amira his scowl returned.
"Mark my words. One way or another you're going to learn… there's no easy way out!" He pulled in a heroic fashion then charged his eighth mana. The cards all turned, "I summon Sasoris Rage, Terror Dragon Edge!" The masked green squirrel landed, "With him I bring out Bluenika, Dragon Soul Fortress and now I dragsolution All Over The World, Supreme True Dragon Soul."
Amira stared as his zone brightened, "…shit."
There was a techno grinding as the fortresses transformed and combined. Zeron hissed with fury. The new creature wasn't as large but strong enough to end the game. A world command dragon with 50,000 power. All cards in the battle zone, graveyard and hand flashed white before flying into their owner's decks. The cards floated up, shuffled and set themselves back down. Only Zeron refused to leave, since it was unmovable while its power remained on zero. The two forces glared and snarled at each other, the most intense stare-down that either duelist had ever seen.
Kanoa was ready to attack but he hesitated.
"Don't want to kill me?" Amira asked. She wasn't bothered but he hadn't clued in to that.
"You keep Mars and Pluto on you, don't you?"
"Ah… so you don't want your creature's attack to incinerate the phoenix cards."
It didn't give him pause for long. He knew if he didn't attack, Zeron might finish him. As he splayed his hand over the table, it seemed like mostly Kanoa was attacking because he believed Amira to be a lost cause.
"Todomeda!" Five beams of light representing the civilizations combined into white and fired.
It struck the ground and Amira's cards scattered. Smoke rose up from a person-sized crater, both Jayden and Saishi relaxed as they realised the handler had enough control to not eliminate everyone nearby too.
Zeron's parting snarl promised revenge as it faded out. All Over The World faded from view as well and Kanoa pushed his cards together. He then stared forward and said nothing for a while.
"Wasn't that pretty reckless for you?" Amira's voice made them all spin around. She was sitting on the edge of another building, unharmed. "Have you given up on uniting the chosens?"
Kanoa's jaw set and he said nothing.
Amira sighed and reached into her jacket pocket. "I want you to take this…" She flicked out a card and it fluttered down, landing a few feet away.
"Mars…?" Kanoa was shocked. He ran forward and crouched down to pick it up.
"What are you doing!?" Saishi yelled. He'd gone quite pale - possibly going into shock from the injury.
"Shut up," Amira told him.
Kanoa looked up. He had no idea why she'd just hand Mars over now. He had to try, "What about Pluto?"
Amira shook her head, "I still owe Heidi. That's the only reason I'm doing this. When Magris was hunting me down and trying to kill me, I made a deal with her that if she helped me stop him I would help her find the other chosens. But… I didn't keep my end of the bargain."
She closed her eyes and teleported again; she started picking up her scattered cards, "The truth is, when I first met Urobach he gave me the option to join him, same as Heidi. I realised he was going to be the winning side, and even though I wasn't officially with him, I pretty much was. That's how I got involved with Magris in the first place. But… everything still felt dangerous so I got cold feet and ran. But when I was with Heidi I knew running wasn't an option. I had to join Urobach, but first I needed my psycho ex dealt with."
"So you used Heidi for that," Kanoa turned his body to face her again.
"Mmhm. But… she was right that I wanted you all to join Urobach too so I could alleviate my own feelings of guilt. That was just me being selfish again, and not really about me paying her back for helping me so…"
"So giving her Mars back is how you're going to repay her for helping you stop Magris," Kanoa surmised.
"Yes. That and I'm going to give you all one final warning," Amira had gathered all her cards and faced him, "I'm gonna let you guys go from here. You should use this chance to destroy Jupiter, Venus and Mars yourselves and just go into hiding. If you keep fighting Urobach you will die."
"Heidi won't ever stop fighting. Even when she gave up on the mission, she never gave up fighting," Kanoa said.
"I know…" Amira spoke quietly. "And because she won't listen to me… I'm giving her Mars. I'm holding onto Pluto. She can try things her way and come after me again, and when we next duel I'll know I gave her a chance, and my conscience can be fully clear before I kill her."
The understanding settled in over several seconds of silence.
Kanoa lifted his head again, "It's not just Heidi. I also won't give up on my duty and responsibility to the whole world. And Sinan, he cares about the truth and finding out what the right thing to do is and actually doing it."
"We choose our own paths, I suppose." Her eyes narrowed with that same empty look. "That's all then. See ya…"
She burnt up and appeared next to Saishi. Then both caught black fire and were gone.
Kanoa faced Jayden who looked incredulous.
"Does she not know about Urobach's plan?" Jayden asked. "Should we have told her?"
"Hmm. Maybe we should have." Kanoa thought before saying, "We need to get everyone back to the Roly poly."
Jayden pulled out his walkie-talkie and lengthened the antenna, "We definitely need a better name for it… Hello, do you all read me?"
After getting the news Heidi was racing back and Tsukumo was struggling to keep up with her.
"Heidi!" He jumped around rubble, trying not to sprain an ankle and cursed.
She was a fast runner, if it weren't for all the physical training Tsukumo wouldn't have been able to catch up. Before he and Engyo had found the chosens again, he'd worked for several hours a day on obstacle courses. He'd trained his body along with his mind on the new OCG sets. Tsukumo wasn't going to give up being the best just because their old school was gone.
He scanned ahead and piled on the speed before he could grab Heidi's arm and finally yank her back. They stopped and she looked surprised before pulling away from him.
"Heidi! You said you weren't going to run off!" Tsukumo said and they were both breathing harder.
"Tsukumo… It's Amira! She was here! Kanoa said he has Mars!"
"It's not safe to just go running without thinking!" He yelled back.
"Why do you care? You're probably more eager to get back than me! You hate being alone with me, even if you won't say it!"
"I don't-!" He caught himself yelling at her volume and managed to regain control, quieting down, "I don't like being stuck with you, you're absolutely right. Back then I said you were crass and a brute – and I stand by that. But okay, that's just who you are, so it's fine." He watched her scowl lighten a bit. "You didn't like me because you said I was selfish and a user, right?"
"And a snob. And you think you're better than everyone-"
"Point being," Tsukumo interrupted her, massaging his temples. He was going for a lecture, "You were right. And I was able to see that after I lost to you that day. Right after you ordered the final attack and knocked me down, the school also fell. My life was crashing down, physically and metaphorically. And it forced me to question things."
He noticed with relief that she'd finally calmed down, "I had to be the best in the school, and back then it was an ego thing. When the DMA fell I started to think about what really mattered. The scope of Duel Masters went beyond the school, it concerned the whole world. And yes I wasn't chosen by the phoenixes, and yes I'm sure I would've been a better choice than Sinan. But saving the world from people who want to use the game to destroy it - is what really matters, so to be the best I could be I needed to overcome the selfishness and the ego."
Heidi said nothing.
Tsukumo narrowed his eyes, "So it frustrates me that I could change when you're still running off like you used to, instead of thinking about the mission."
Heidi let out a breath of annoyance, "Okay… I get it." Then she spoke slower, like it was hard to get the words out, "Before you and Engyo rescued us from the island, there was a moment where I screwed up…"
Tsukumo watcher her, "When you lost Mars?"
"It was more than that. Kanoa never told anyone about this, but I kind of… lost it." She looked and Tsukumo just waited for her to go on. "When the DMA fell and I ran off… one of Narciel's disciples found me… and then Gatekeeper Pluto showed up and… killed her. She just ruptured, and I got covered in it. It wasn't the first time I saw death, there was already Penelope and Wembly."
"I know about those two," Tsukumo said gently and nodded.
"But when – Soroban died and went… everywhere. I just sort of, went into this zombie state for hours on the beach before I started walking the city aimlessly and got picked up."
"Jeez. So that's what happened to you…"
"And when I was on the island, Gatekeeper Pluto showed up again, and one of the islanders I was closest to, Malo… died in the exact same way." Heidi paused before continuing, "I… couldn't be reasoned with. Not by Kanoa, Dominic, Meilani, anyone… The lieutenants were already attacking the island and I started challenging anyone I came across. I don't remember how many I killed, but I think they were all enemy tribesmen… When Mars wouldn't do what I wanted, I threw him away. I didn't lose him." She looked at Tsukumo and he stared back.
"…So when I found you alone, dying from snake venom…"
"That's right. I was by myself because I didn't care about anything other than beating and killing every other person on the island."
"You were so angry the weeks after you were rescued…" Tsukumo remembered, "I thought you were grieving the same as Kanoa."
"I recovered on the saucer and everyone was treating me normally and nobody knew what I'd done. So I just started acting normally too, sort of pretending. It was thanks to Kanoa's patience, then seeing Summer, then learning from Hillary, and then Sinan joining us that I pulled myself back each time. This whole time I kept feeling like I was going to fall back into that dark place of just not caring anymore, but each of those circumstances helped."
Tsukumo grabbed her shoulders and lowered himself to her level, which wasn't easy since he'd grown tall in the months she hadn't seen him.
"Heidi… you've been through so much, and it's enough to drive anyone crazy. Maybe that's why your impulses are shot and I'm sorry I didn't think of that."
It felt very weird to be looking deep into his blue eyes with his face just inches away. It was almost hypnotizing, since he had always been annoyingly perfect-looking. Heidi couldn't help but blush and avert her eyes.
"Heidi!" He didn't get it, and was still trying to get her to look at him.
She twisted out of his hands, took a step and faced away.
Tsukumo stared at her back, "…the important thing is that you stay with us. All of us are here for you. If you feel like you're slipping again, you can go to Kanoa, Engyo, me. We'll help you."
"I think I preferred it when you were just my rival…" Heidi was embarrassed, still not turning around.
Tsukumo tried a laugh, "Well I'm that too."
They didn't say anything for a while.
Heidi looked up, "Okay, we'll go back to the others more carefully. Let's go."
She continued off, brisk but no longer running and remembering to sneak. Tsukumo followed her.
They travelled carefully until the mechanic shop was in view again. They crossed around the building to face where the Roly poly stuck outside. The others were standing there and turned to them.
Heidi ran to Kanoa and he held her card out. She stopped and took it, eyes big and disbelieving. Supernova Mars Disaster was hers once more.
Kanoa dipped his head, "You lost that card because you were on my island, because of me. I'm glad I could give it back."
It shone bright red then and Heidi was swallowed by her phoenix's aura. She laughed with incredulity. She felt her powers return, as well as Mars's presence and their telepathic link.
"I missed you too…" Heidi murmured. The cloak receded.
Kanoa frowned, "Of course, Amira was the one who gave Mars to me voluntarily after I won our duel."
"We've got a lot to explain," Jayden said.
They all boarded the Roly poly with whatever supplies they'd found and were driving north-east toward Dahron once more. After filling everyone in they sat quietly, contemplating.
Before anyone else could think of what to say, Henka removed both hands from her mouth and leant forward, "…Amira's not on our side, but now we know why she didn't destroy the phoenixes, and returned one of them."
"Right, guilt about Heidi," Tsukumo nodded.
"So Amira is loyal to the Gatekeepers, or we could say – to herself. But the important thing is she's not loyal to Urobach. I remember that he couldn't stand her. Bad enough a Gatekeeper was on his planet, but now Urobach was basically sharing this world with another general."
"Why is her not being loyal to Urobach important?" Tsukumo asked while Engyo adjusted his sitting and leaned in further, them both peering at her.
"At the lieutenant academy in the colony, we learnt about invasion strategies like divide and conquer. Maybe it's time we used their strategies against them: If we can build on the distrust between Urobach and Amira they won't be able to work together… and I think I have a perfect way to do that," Henka straightened.
"How?" Kanoa asked. Everyone else was listening closely.
"I'll talk to Urobach," Henka snapped her fingers. "When he finds out our mind-link was broken, I'll tell him the Gatekeeper did it so he could link me to Amira instead."
The others all looked at each other.
"It could also double as a way of getting inside," Henka said, "I could tell Urobach that Amira doesn't know how to rule or conquer, and that I fancy my chances are better back with him."
Everyone paused to think about it.
After several seconds Jayden said, "So if he believes you, what then? He'll want to know where you are and teleport you over right away?"
"I think so. And if I tell him I'm sitting in a truck with supplies I stole from Amira, he'll teleport me with it, and you guys right there."
"Risky…" Heidi said.
"All of this is risky," Tsukumo said to her.
"I like this idea because…" Engyo had his hands clasped, forefingers over his mouth in a thinking posture. He lowered his arms, "I didn't want to raise this point before, because there was nothing we could do about it, but we're too far to only drive at night. And in the day, there's a high chance of passing jets or say, satellite technology spotting us again. Especially as we get closer to Dahron."
"If we're going to sell this it needs to be rock-solid," Tsukumo said.
"Yeah, that means we have to know the story inside-and-out…" Jayden added.
"And plan for everything else that might happen," Hillary added, "Like if he takes us to his pocket dimension instead, or someplace even further away."
"Planning the details of Henka's story, what we might need to be convincing and evaluating the risks to determine if this idea is even worth it." Engyo nodded then looked at Jayden, "Do we have paper and a pen?"
"Actually, I think we have a whiteboard." Jayden got up and pressed in the corners of a screen and it clicked out and flipped over for them.
"Even better," Engyo said. "So while we continue driving for now, we'll put our heads together and see if this plan can work." He was passed a marker by Jayden and it popped as he pulled the cap.
In a military facility in Dahron, black fire burst into being in a walkway, causing a pair of soldiers to stiffen and an intelligence worker to drop her clipboard. The janitor stopped pushing his trolley and various other heads peered out of walkways.
"This man needs medical attention!" Amira cupped her mouth to shout. The workers nodded and ran off to get help.
"What are you doing?" Saishi spun to Amira and grabbed her jacket before his own pain forced him to hiss and let her go, he went back to squeezing his arm. "Why are we letting them go?" He leaned over and hissed quietly, "We should report them to Urobach immediately!"
"You want to tell him when we didn't report to him right away, but left by ourselves and failed?"
"I'm the injured one!"
"Yes, you're getting paler by the second. And I had to leave so you could get medical care."
"You're letting them get away again. You might be fine, Amira, but Urobach still has access to my mind."
She looked into his frantic black eyes, "You said it yourself: he's been isolating for days and too absorbed in work to pay attention to his lieutenants." At that she saw his eyes narrow. "We already know they're going to come for Supernova Pluto and me. Ijiwa wasn't killed for failing him. So just relax, shut up about it, and if anyone asks you tripped on a stairwell."
"I will not let you get me into even worse trouble!"
Medics were rushing over from the corner now.
Amira smiled, "If you still want Zeron, yes you will. I haven't dueled Heidi yet, so our deal's not over."
He didn't make a rebuke but squinted at her. The workers in white did a once-over look of his face and body before guiding him down the hall and away from her.
Things were rather delicate in the three-way power dynamic between Pluto, Urobach and her. Yes, Amira was technically equal in rank with Urobach, but he'd been assigned this dimension by the colony so she wasn't allowed to interfere with his plans. She was supposed to be an ally and expected to help, but Gatekeeper Pluto was so vague and uninvolved with everything that they basically made guesses about what he expected her to do... Delicate, indeed.
『AN: Yay. I have just finished chapter 75, we are 75% of the way through light arc and 75% of the way through the entire story! At this point I'm starting to think we might actually make it to chapter 100. So thanks to Azure, who while still hasn't been reading or writing did help me with checking this duel. It came together a little too easily so I needed to make sure I wasn't blinded to any obvious errors. Now that I got to this point in the story, and am so relieved I did, I'll have to focus on my remaining assignments and exams, so will likely not write again until mid November. But when I do, I aim to finish the arc and epically too!』
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