/ Duel Universe
/ Author: The Cowboy of Oklahoma
/ Ch 14.1: The Plea
/ word count: 2482
Planet Earth:
Ka'an and Merideth stood still as the little purple and rainbow colored ship they were in began its descent towards Earth's surface. The black goo was getting closer and closer as their descent brought them through the atmosphere and dropped below what few clouds remained in the sky. Without the oceans and the natural amount of water in the air, the sky was dark even with the sun shining down from overhead.
"Why are we here?" Merideth asked aloud.
The little ship shifted direction and we began going along parallel to the ground. We saw nothing but an endless ocean of darkness as far as the eye could see. Then the creature we were in chirped at us.
"Kuri, kuri."
We looked forwards and then down to see a hole in the goo. It shown outwards with a light we've only seen recently. The same light that transported us to this place, and the same we were descending into rapidly.
"Woah, woah, woah!" I exclaimed as we were about to dive below the surface of the goo.
The little creature didn't even skip a beat as we sailed into the hole and greatly to our surprise, out into a sun filled sky, blue atmosphere, and green lands for miles in every direction. We were in shock and awe as we were still descending to a land below I have never seen before. Looking back up from where we had just come from, there was a dark hole with a stary field beyond.
"Where are we?" I wondered.
"It..it almost looks like Earth, but that's impossible! We just saw it ourselves! Earth is still covered in that black goo! There's no way that.." Merideth was cut off by a roar from our left.
There was a red dragon, skinny and long, with a pointed nose and large wings flying right beside us. We didn't even hear it come up on us. It's eye looked from me to Merideth, then the creature we were riding in chirped and the dragon roared a reply, then banked away like a fighter jet.
"What..what..was that!?" Merideth was completely in shock, eyes wide and trembling.
I had no reasonable answer for her, all I could think to say was, "A dragon."
She collapsed back into my arms as her legs gave out beneath her. "I..think..I need to..sit down for a bit."
As we flew closer to the ground, and subsequently went parallel with it, we flew past what appears to be simple houses surrounded by large meadows. Farm fields of grain and crops further than the eye could see. Green trees dotted the landscape, and then we saw them, the inhabitants of this very luscious world. Monsters. Not scary creatures, with horns and rags covering parts of their bodies, but rather, duel monsters. Duel monsters of every type, shape and size imaginable. And in the distance, in the very direction we were going, stood a large white castle the likes I've never seen. There were monsters perched on different parts of the castles. At first I thought maybe what they were were just carved decorations, until they started to move. There was a house sized black dragon with shining red eyes watching us come towards the castle. But at the top, there sat a large white dragon, it's head was pointed up at the sky, but it was a dragon that was easily recognizable from the TV report a few years ago, the report that showed us just what we could do to slow down the goo.
"That's..Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Merideth spoke up somewhat coming out of her daze.
"And the other one is the Red-Eyes Black Dragon." I said.
"Just where the hell are we Captain!?"
"I couldn't hazard a guess Doctor. But I would like to think that someone in that castle has some answers for us."
We landed just outside the gate of the courtyard of this castle. After stepping off, the little purple creature shifted it's form and shrank done to the little creature we first saw onboard the Washington.
"And I take it that you are who I think you are, Rainbow Kuriboh." I said.
"Kuri, kuri!" It sounded happily.
"Okay, so where are we and what are we doing here?" I poised to the little guy.
He floated around us and then flew towards the castle, turning to see if we were following him. I motioned for the Doctor to come with us as I followed the Kuriboh.
"Are you sure Captain?" She asked.
"Well you got any better ideas Doc? It's not like we have a lot of options here." I stated.
She relented and walked a little behind me as we went inside. We passed a huge doorway, then into a foyer and afterwards another door that led to a large room with a golden throne at the far end.
"Wow!" We said in unison.
Moving closer to the throne, I noticed someone sitting on it. And as we got within throwing distance, I could tell that she wasn't what I'd have expected sitting on a throne. She wore little clothing actually, a short pink skirt, and blue armor to cover her body. A semi tall blue pointy hat with pink lines through it. Blue gauntlets and blue boots with pink lining them. And a scepter like staff that was blue with a pink and gold bauble at the end.
"Welcome my friends." She said.
Her voice was melodies and it seemed to vibrate us to the core.
"I am Dark Magician Girl and this is my kingdom."
We stared for a moment, unable to form a sentence in our mouths.
"I do realize that you aren't accustomed to being whisked away by magic and traveling a great deal to meet someone that claims to be a ruler of a strange land." She stated.
"Ma.. magic?" Merideth finally questioned.
"Yes. Well, I guess a full introduction is necessary. Welcome to the world of Duel Monsters." She gestured to the walls around us and they seemed to vanish like acid to metal, but with a faint golden glow to it. "We have lived here alongside your human world ever since the very beginning. We have grown and prospered in peace. But now, we need to help one another to combat the darkness that now threatens our world as well as your own." She pleaded.
"Wait, you've been here the whole time?" Why hasn't anyone ever been here before?" I asked.
"There have been the occasional human visitor to our lands. Some never made it back to their homes, instead living out their lives amongst us. Others were able to go back and took tales of our kind with them. And still others were able to break the barriers between our worlds and tried to wage wars using my kind as their weapons. It is how we were able to become known as your duel monsters cards and have fought battles alongside you." She explained.
"As fantastic as that sounds, it makes some sense as to where some of Earth's historical references for mythical creatures came from, but why are we here?" I asked.
"You are here because of the darkness that is now covering your entire world." She said.
"The goo? Why is it so important to you?" Merideth questioned.
"If the darkness, or goo as you call it, is not removed from your world, it will eventually come here and destroy this world as well." She answered. "It seems to have a hard time absorbing our energies, and it is greatly slowed down, but its advance is not halted indefinitely. Our strongest monsters are watching the openings above to make sure none of it comes in, but we cannot affect what happens to your world without assistance."
"What kind of assistance?" Merideth asked.
"We have noticed you've become aware of the energies released when you humans perform duels, and the more powerful the duel, the more powerful the energy is released."
"Yes, we've only recently learned of this. It's how we were able to travel across the stars so quickly." Merideth acknowledged.
"We will help you gather much more of this naturally occurring energy of our world. We have it in abundance the likes you cannot possibly fathom." She offered. "And by using this energy, we will help you build machines capable of getting the darkness off of your world. Thus saving our own world in the process." She explained.
Dark Magician Girl said we needed more duel monster cards, and even some that were lost to us by the goo. She had scouts go out and search tirelessly to reclaim each and every card that was out there beneath the goo. Since their kind was largely immune, they had little trouble with searching the entire world. As we talked, a question burned in my mind until I was unable to hold it back.
"Excuse me," I interrupted the conversation, "but just how was Rainbow Kuriboh able to find us and subsequently, bring us all the way back here so quickly?" I asked.
"Aw, it was when you first activated a large amount of duel energy all at once a few months ago. You actually opened a hole between our universes on accident and we felt you were very far away from your world. So I sent my little friend here to go and find you. He is the most versatile of his Kuriboh brethren. Able to survive where the others cannot and carry a small group with him wherever he goes." She explained.
"I'll give you this for now. A small container of pure, concentrated duel energy, one drop into your engines is enough to give a ship the power to travel from that distant star back to this one in only three months time. Use it in all of your engines and subsequent systems so that everything has the same amount of power. Otherwise you could destroy yourselves before returning."
"Thank you your majesty." Merideth said.
"Please, no need to stand on ceremony. We are reliant on our worlds' coexistence to survive. Otherwise we will cease to exist, and even your kind may perish out there amongst strange stars." She said. "When you get back to your ships, and are able to make it back to your world, there is something that still needs to be done."
"What's that?" I asked.
"A large number of your kind will be allowed to enter into our world, to help build the machines and weapons needed to fight and to keep safe any of you that cannot fight. Then when all the preparations are complete, we will fight together to rid your world of the darkness and then throw it into the dark of deep space where it will never be a bother to your kind or us again." She explained.
"Can it be destroyed?" Merideth asked.
"No. As much as we are not happy of its existence, it holds a purpose out amongst the stars. It is a balancer of life and death, but it was never meant to be on your world, and subsequently ours." She said.
She waved her wand, as I found out what it was, and a chest that looked remarkably Earth based, floated to us.
"This chest has a large number of your world's duel monsters cards inside. They were cleansed of the darkness so do not fear of any residue making its way onto your ships, and there is a surprise inside as well. Some of our greatest warriors have volunteered to go with you and become the cards you will use to fight the darkness. Sir Critias and Sir Timaeus, and Sir Hermos, otherwise known as the Legendary Dragons." She said. "May they aid you in your endeavors."
"Thank you. We will train everyone as hard as we can. To push them to be at their best." I said.
"It will take nearly the full three months and the time needed here building the tools and weapons, to train your people to use these cards and be ready to fight." She said.
"Okay, so how do we go back?" Merideth asked.
"I can send you back there myself. Rainbow Kuriboh was needed to bring you here, but to send you back will be simple. You will feel a little out of body experience, but it is harmless, I assure you. Now if you're ready, I'll.." she was interrupted by the Kuriboh chirping and trying to get her attention.
"What is it little one?" She asked.
He circled around and lightly pushed Dark Magician Girl forward to us and then kept circling us as a group.
"No, little one, I cannot go with them." She said.
"It would help make explaining all this to the rest of the human race a whole lot easier if someone was there that wasn't human." Merideth said.
"And could talk." I added.
She thought for a moment, "very well, I'll come with you, but I will be limited on how long I can stay there, because I will need to return to this world in order to survive."
We both looked at her questioningly.
"My kind needs the natural energies of our realm to survive. We are only allowed in your world for a short amount of time with an overcharge of energy or through the cards where we share our energies with duelists." She explained.
She went over to a pool of water and without a word of warning, began removing her garments. I was not expecting that to happen at all and was rightfully shocked by the sight. Merideth lunged and clasped her hands around my head and covered my eyes completely, which I did not fight her over.
"HEY!!" She shouted at Dark Magician Girl. "There is a man in here lady!!"
She stopped what she was doing and turned and looked back at us and our little display.
"Is something the matter?" She asked, somewhat ignorant of the situation.
"Girls don't usually just remove their clothes in front of everyone, especially a man!!" You wait for them to leave and then you do that!!"
"Oh, I thought time was of the essence? I need to bath in this concentrated form of duel energy to charge enough to cast us back to your vessels" She stated.
"That may be, but still wait until I get him out of here before you continue PLEASE!!" She said as she was pushing me while still covering my eyes of the sight behind us.
Rainbow Kuriboh floated over to Dark Magician Girl and chirped a question at her.
"Yes, very strange beings humans have become. It matters not. Go and watch them for me. I shan't be a moment." She said.
"Kuri, kuri." Then he floated away after them.