Susano-o: Holy hell, that is all.
Sekhmet: We delayed the chapter to do this right.
Susano-o: Yeah, so lets not keep you waiting, it's showtime.
Duel 55: Snakes in a School
Rose fought her way through Viper's guards with the skill and efficiency brought on from years of martial arts training as she swiftly dispatched her opposition.
"Anyone else wanna go?" She smirked as the doors on the other side of the room opened, unleashing two laser shooting robots on her. Rose laughed as she used her darkness to reflect the blasts back at them and run down the hall, where she found Yuko, Hassleberry, Alexis, and Syrus on the ground moaning in pain.
"Rose!" Alexis yelled. "Save us!" She pleaded.
"We can't, punch good," Hassleberry said, throwing a weak punch in the air.
Rose quickly got him and Yuko on her shoulders.
"Ah, you're so unbelievably awesome," Yuko said. "I just wish I'd noticed sooner," She finished before passing out. Rose then threw Alexis over the top of them and dragged Syrus behind her down the hall where she kicked down the last door.
"Thelonius Viper," She said evenly to the man's back.
"Well if it isn't Rose," Viper smirked. "The greatest martial artist in all of Duel Academy, Behold!" He yelled spinning around and pointing a gun at her. "I have a gun that shoots a snake!" He yelled firing a giant mechanical snake at Rose.
Rose quickly set her friends down and grabbed the snake, tearing it in two. "Ok, and you're just in time to feel my Warren Whirlwind!"
"No not that!" Viper pleaded, cowering in fear as Rose ran at him.
"How'd you like to meet my friend? His name is Atatatatata!" She shouted spinning around on her hands as she kicked Viper out the window.
"Curse your awesomeness Rose!" Viper screamed as he fell to his death below.
…
"That's your plan?" Yuko said, unimpressed. They were gathered in Chazz's hospital room.
"Sarge I'm 100% percent sure I wouldn't say that," Hassleberry deadpanned.
"Look can we get back to the program!" Alexis yelled. "I think I know what Viper is doing."
"What?" Syrus asked.
"He pulled something out of the abandoned dorms, the same one where Atticus and his friends summoned Nightshroud, I think he dug up Nightshroud's body and is trying to bring him to life," She explained.
"What the actual shit?!" Yuko roared. "Now there's necromancy involved?!"
"Oh god damn it Atticus," Rose sighed.
"Nightshroud?" Jesse asked confused.
"He was a spirit that possessed my brother," Alexis said, pulling out her deck box. "I defeated him and broke the possession, leaving him trapped in this card," She said, holding out the card.
"...Alexis the card is fading," Rose said. Alexis pulled it back and looked at it in shock.
"Why do you have it and why did you not destroy it years ago?" Yuko asked.
"-Because that could have released him," Alexis answered. "He said when we dueled the soul trapped in it, it was just easier to hold onto it."
"Seems like that was a right lie then," Jim said, interrupting them. "Or maybe he meant that was only for you."
"So what do we do now? How do we beat him back to hell or wherever he came from?" Hassleberry asked.
"...In all honestly I don't know," Rose sighed, rubbing her head. "The only time I've dealt with a spirit ended when I beat him in a duel for my soul, and even then I don't know if that worked because we passed out before seeing the end."
"Yeah it was the two of us, our friend Chumley, and our old professor Banner," Syrus explained. "I don't remember what happened, Chumley we'd have to call, and Banner turned to ash."
"He sold his soul," Rose added back. "Sold it to the three 'Sacred Beast' cards sealed on this island to save himself from death, he had everyone but me and Yuko trapped in a book at the time."
"..." Hassleberry said nothing as he grabbed Rose's flask and took a sip.
"...There seems to be a lot of things that happened here," Jesse added.
"Oh yeah this isn't new," Rose said with a sad smile. "For now we need to find Viper, if he's using our energy to bring Nightshroud back then we're all in trouble."
"Then we need to break into teams to find him." Yuko said.
"Count me in," Chazz groaned sitting up. "Gotta pay you guys back for last year."
"Alright," Axel said standing. "Yuko take Syrus and Jim," He said. "Rose, Alexis and Hassleberry in case he acts up again. Chazz, that leaves you with Jesse and me, you know more about what's going on so we'll defer to you."
"Right," Was the collective response as they all broke up into groups, Alexis gave Hassleberry a small nod that he returned, she quickly grabbed Rose's shoulder before she could leave.
"Rose," She said as everyone filed out. "We need to talk."
"Can't it wait?" Rose groaned. "We're kinda busy saving the entire school again."
"No it can't, Viper isn't going to finish his plan in the ten or so minutes this will take," Alexis said forcefully as she pushed Rose into a chair and took the chair across from her. "Rose….what are we?" She asked vaguely.
"What do you mean?" Rose asked, crossing her arms and leaning back.
"Rose, you haven't talked to me since last year," Alexis said calmly. "You haven't said a word to me at all, I tried everything I could to talk to you short of going to your apartment, why didn't you answer?"
Rose shifted uncomfortably. "I….," She said. "...I don't know."
"Yes you do~" The voice laughed and Rose grit her teeth.
"I know you hold a grudge hard," Alexis admitted looking down. "-But….I didn't think it would happen to me."
Rose felt a sharp pang of pain in her chest at that as the voice laughed back.
"Please tell me what went wrong," Alexis asked, grabbing Rose's hand. "I know I was terrible to you when I was under the Light's control, but the fact you seem to be holding it against me so hard hurts," She said tears in her eyes.
"And there's the tears," The voice laughed loudly. "Congrats you're a piece of garbage!"
Rose grit her teeth and held Alexis hand tightly. "Alexis, you're right, I've been a terrible girlfriend," She admitted. "Look I'll tell you what happened, I-"
"Rose!" Syrus yelled from down the hall. "We found Viper, he's on the roof!"
"What!?" Rose yelled standing up pulling Alexis to her feet as well.
"Yeah, come on!" Syrus said, disappearing behind the corner.
Rose looked back at Alexis. "We'll talk about this later," She said squeezing her hand. "I promise."
Alexis nodded with a small smile. "Ok baby."
The two ran through the halls to the roof access where everyone else was waiting for them.
"What's the situation?" Rose asked.
"He's just waiting there." Hassleberry said when she caught up.
"Ok," Rose said with a breath. "Me and Yuko will go handle him, supernatural powers and all that."
"Wait," Alexis said, grabbing Rose's arm and giving her a kiss. "I'll see you soon."
Rose blushed and nodded. Yuko followed behind, still visibly irritated but not saying anything.
….
"Ah Rose Warren," Viper smirked. "Welcome to die!"
"Did you have a stroke there? That statement wasn't grammatically correct." Yuko said.
"No it's a reference," Rose answered. "X-Men arcade game 1996 to be exact."
"Street Fighter was my thing." Yuko said.
"Mortal Kombat was better," Rose retorted.
"Polybius was better." Yuko hissed.
"Yuko I know for a fact you didn't play Polybius because you're nowhere near old enough to have played," Rose said raising an eyebrow at her. "Who pissed in your cheerios this morning?"
"You did, five days ago when you lapsed into PTSD, committed arson, and threw a temper tantrum." Yuko hissed.
"I didn't lapse into anything," Rose snapped. "I also left because I wanted some time alone!"
"You're a shit liar and you know it! You can't even lie to yourself anymore, can you!" Yuko shouted. "The only reason you keep this up is because you can't handle being wrong or asking for help!"
"Hello!" Viper shouted. "I'm right here!"
"Yeah and we know what you're doing," Rose said, pulling out her Duel Disk. "You're not going to bring Nightshroud back."
"Yes I will," Viper said, activating his duel coat. "He will bring back my son and I will destroy anything or anyone who gets in my way."
"That's what you're in this for? It's an ancient evil, it's almost guaranteed lying to you!" Yuko said.
"Yeah trust me, spirits and ancient cosmic entities aren't good to work for," Rose said.
"Ignore them…." Nightshroud said, forming into a large orange blob from Viper's left arm. "The one with the glasses is filled with darkness…..and the one with purple hair is tainted by madness….."
"Hey I resemble that remark," Rose said cheekily.
"Yeah, and all four of us could kick your ass." Yuko said.
"So you admit you're trying to stop me from getting my son back," Viper glared. "That's it there's nothing to talk about, we will duel for control."
"Fine," Rose said, snorting. "Good thing anyway, I don't want to get rusty."
"Duel!"
"I'll go first," Rose said. "I'll summon 'Elemental Hero Blazeman' (1200/1800) now I'll use his effect to send 'Elemental Hero Avian' to the grave and change 'Blazeman's' attribute ATK and DEF to 'Avians', now I'll use 'Masked Change' to send a wind monster to the grave to summon 'Masked Hero Divine Wind' (2700/1900)! I'll set a card and end my turn."
"My move now," Viper said, drawing his card. "I play the field spell 'Venom Swamp'," He smirked as the entire field became covered in a sickly purple swamp. "Now I'll summon 'Venom Snake' (1200/600) and I'll use its effect to give your 'Divine Wind' a Venom Counter (Divine Wind VC 1) now I'll set two cards and end my turn, giving your 'Divine Wind' another Venom Counter from the effect of 'Venom Swamp' (Divine Wind VC 2) oh and by the way, every Venom Counter your monsters attack by 500 points, and when it hits zero they are destroyed." (Divine Wind 2700-1700).
Rose glared and drew her card. "I'll use 'Polymerization' to fuse 'Clayman' and 'Burstinatrix' to summon my newest hero 'Elemental Hero Sunriser' (2500/1200)!"
"That's a new one." Jesse said.
"Yeah, and summoning it on the second turn set her up good in the long term." Hassleberry agreed.
"Hmm interesting," Viper said, smirking. "Well come on then, attack."
Rose grit her teeth. "I will, but first, 'Sunriser's' effect to add a 'Miracle Fusion' to my hand, and here's a fun fact, when 'Sunriser' is on the field all monsters I control gain 200 ATK for each attribute I control, so since I have three my monsters gain 400 ATK." (Sunriser (2500-2900), Divine Wind (1700-2100)). "And when a 'HERO' attacks I can use 'Sunriser's' last effect to destroy a card on the field, so go 'Divine Wind' attack 'Venom Snake'!"
"Oh no you don't, 'Negate attack'!" Viper yelled, activating his face down. "Stopping your attack cold," 'Divine Wind' stopped his attack and returned to her side, Rose glared. "I set a card and end my turn." (Divine Wind VC 3, Sunriser VC 2) (Divine Wind 2100-1600, Sunriser 2900-2400.
Viper smirked and drew his card. "Now I activate my 'Venom Shot' if I control a 'Venom' monster I can send a Reptile type monster to the grave and give your monster 2 Venom Counters, and I think I'll give them to 'Sunriser' (Sunriser VC 4) (Sunriser 2400-1400). "Now I'll tribute 'Venom Snake' to summon 'Venom Boa' (1600/1200) and use his effect to give your 'Sunriser' two more Venom Counters (Sunriser VC 6) (Sunriser 1400-400). "Now I end my turn, giving your monsters another counter and destroying your 'Sunriser' (Sunriser VC 7) (Sunriser 1400-0), (Divine Wind VC 4) (Divine Wind 1600-1100-700)."
"Not so impressive anymore." Yuko snarled.
"If she keeps losing monsters like that, there's no way she'll win. She's gotta stop those Counters!" Syrus added.
Rose glared as she drew her next card. "I'll activate 'Miracle Fusion' to fuse 'Burstinatrix' and 'Avian' to summon 'Elemental Hero Nova Master' (2600/2100). "'Nova Master' attack 'Venom Boa' (Viper LP: 8000-7000).
"I activate 'Damage = Reptile'," Viper smirked. "Now I get to summon a Reptile monster equal to or less than the damage I took, so come on out 'Venom Serpent' (1000/800)."
"Well good for you, but now I get to draw a card," Rose said. "And I think I'll activate it, 'I'll send 'Captain Gold' to the graveyard to add 'Skyscraper' to my hand, now I'll end my turn." (Divine Wind VC 5) (Nova Master VC 1) (Divine Wind 700-200) (Nova Master 2600-2100)
"My move then," Viper said. "And I summon another 'Venom Serpent' (1000/800) and I'll use their effects to give both your monsters a Venom Counter, destroying your 'Divine Wind' (Divine Wind VC 6) (Divine Wind 200-0) (Nova Master VC 2) (2100-1600), but also I'll play this card again too 'Venom Shot' to give 'Nova Master' two more Venom Counter's. (Nova Master VC 4) (Nova Master 1600-600). "Now my 'Venom Serpent's' will attack you and your monster!" Rose LP: 8000-7600-6600). "And that's all for me."
"My move then," Rose said drawing. "I play 'Parallel World Fusion' to fuse my banished 'Avian' and 'Burstinatrix' to summon 'Elemental Hero Great Tornado' (2800/2200) to halve your 'Serpents' ATK and DEF (1000-500/800-400), 'Great Tornado' attack one of the 'Venom Serpents'!" (Viper LP: 7000-4700).
"'Damage = Reptile' activates now so I get a new 'Venom Serpent'," Viper smirked.
"He's building up stage presence like crazy. Whatever he's planning to summon must be really powerful." Jim said.
"She can still win. I've seen her get out of worse." Alexis said.
"Well good for you," Rose snorted. "Now I'll set a card and end my turn." (Great Tornado VC 1) (2800-2300).
"And I'll be ending this duel now," Viper laughed while drawing his card. "I send both my 'Venom Serpents' to the grave to summon 'Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes' (0/0) he may not look that strong, but he gains 500 attack for each Reptile Type monster in my graveyard, which by my count is seven so that means a grand total of 3500 attack!" (Vennominon 0-3500/0). "'Vennominon' attack 'Great Tornado' Venom Blow!" (Rose LP: 6600-5400).
"Go 'Hero Signal'!" Rose yelled. "Now I can summon a level 4 or lower 'HERO', go 'Shadow Mist' (1000/1500) and now I get to add a 'Change' quick play to my hand."
"No matter, you'll be done soon enough," Viper said, ending his turn (Shadow Mist VC1) (Shadow Mist 1000-500).
"No I won't," Rose glared. "I activate 'Mask Change' on 'Shadow Mist' to summon 'Masked Hero Anki' (2800/1200), and after I use shadow's effect to add 'Ocean' to my hand, I'll send him to attack you directly for half damage." (Viper LP: 4700-3300). "And now I play 'Call of the Haunted' to special summon 'Blazeman' (1200/1800) and get a 'Polymerization'," Rose smirked. "And now I think it's time to take care of your field."
"Oh how so?" Viper asked, raising an eyebrow.
"-By playing this 'Polymerization to fuse 'Blazeman' and 'Ocean' to form 'Elemental Hero Absolute Zero' (2500/2000), then I'll swap him out with 'Forme Change' to get my 'Masked Hero Acid' (2600/2100)!"
"Oh, I know what she's gonna do!" Syrus said.
"What's that?" Jim asked.
"She's gonna do the thing she did when we were training!" Syrus said, not having time to elaborate as Rose did the thing.
Rose gave him a big smile. "And when 'Absolute Zero' is removed from the field all monsters on your field are destroyed, go Frozen In the Moment!"
Viper's smirk never left his face as his 'Vennominon' was destroyed. "I activate 'Rise of the Snake Deity, bring forth my ultimate monster 'Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes (0/0) and she gains 500 ATK as well for all the reptiles in my grave (0-4000/0)!"
The swamp churned and bubbled as a giant snake woman with snakes for hair, snakes for hands and…. her hand snakes had snake tongues…. appeared on the field.
"Nice card," Rose smiled. "-But it's about to get weaker when I hit it with 'Acid's' effect to lower its attack by 300 ATK!" Acid loaded up his gun and shot each of Viper's spell and trap cards one after another, when it came to 'Vennominaga' the shot simply bounced off it. "Wait what?" Rose asked confused.
"'Vennominaga' is unaffected by all other card effects," Viper explained laughing. "And what's worse, if she inflicts battle damage to you, you will gain a 'Hyper Venom' counter, and when you get three, you lose."
Rose blinked and looked around at her cards. "Oh fuck…." She mumbled.
"Well this is quite the situation," The voice laughed. "You're going to lose most likely."
"Shut up before I break your leg," Rose mumbled looking at her cards again.
"Well, if you want to win, I suppose I could be persuaded to help you."
Rose watched in shock as a card started to appear in her hand, it was a winged three eyed demon that Rose quickly grabbed and crushed it in her hands. "Fuck you," Rose snarled. "I end my turn."
"My move," Viper smirked. "And I activate 'Snake Rain', by discarding a card, in this case 'Venom Boa' I can send four Reptile type monsters to my deck so that's another five Reptiles in my grave, or an extra 2500 ATK (Vennominaga 4000-7500).
"That card is one good Reptile archetype away from a banning!" Hassleberry said.
"'Vennominaga' attack her 'Masked Hero Anki' Venom Vapor Stream!" 'Vennominaga's' tongue snakes fired out two giant poison blasts, melting 'Anki' to nothingness. (Rose LP: 5400-700) "And don't forget the Hyper Venom Counter!" (Rose HVC 1)
"My move," Rose growled, drawing her card. "And I use 'Legacy of the Hero' by returning 'Great Tornado' and 'Nova Master' to my Extra Deck I can draw three cards!" She said drawing her cards, then smiling. "And they're exactly what I need," She said. "I activate 'Polymerization' to fuse 'Woodsman', 'Sparkman', and 'Clayman' to make 'Elemental Hero Core' (2700/2200)!"
"How will that help?" Viper laughed.
"It will when I activate 'Miracle Fusion' to fuse 'Ocean' and 'Woodsman' to make 'Elemental Hero Terra Firma' (2500/2000)!"
"Still not enough!" Viper laughed.
"I'm not done," Rose said with a deep breath. "I activate 'Generation Next'!" She shouted.
"We got it! That's a title drop!" Chazz yelled, sounding an air horn.
"When I have less life points than you I can summon a 'HERO' with attack less than or equal to the difference, so come on out 'Elemental Hero Bladedge (2600/1800)!"
"Ok, you've flooded your field, but it's not enough to take down 'Vennominaga'." Viper laughed.
(Persona 5 OST - Last Surprise)
"You forgot something," Rose said smiling. "I use 'Terra Firma's' effect to send 'Bladedge' to the grave to add his attack to 'Terra Firma'! (Terra Firma: 2500-5100)
Viper bit his lip.
"And again with 'Core'!" (Terra Firma: 5100-7800).
"Ha!" Viper laughed. "You may win this battle, but I will just revive 'Vennominaga' next turn!"
"No you won't," Rose said smiling. "Because when 'Core' is sent to the grave he revives a level eight or lower HERO monster from my grave, like 'Elemental Hero Sunrise' (2500/1200)!"
"And once more!" Rose yelled as 'Sunriser' was absorbed by the now blinding 'Terra Firma' (Terra Firma: 7800-10,300).
Viper smirked. "Well done, but it won't be enough."
"You forgot," Rose said holding up her last card. "I have one more card, and a normal summon, come on out 'Bubbleman' (800/1200)!"
"You'll never see it coming!" Everyone on the sidelines broke out in a chorus as the song peaked.
"NO!" The goo screamed.
"For the final time!" Rose yelled as 'Terra Firma' became as bright as a supernova (10,300-11,100). "'Terra Firma' attack 'Vennominaga'!" Rose screamed as 'Terra Firma' drew out his two skyscraper sized light swords. "TERRA FIRMA IMPACT!"
'Terra Firma' swung the swords faster than the eyes could follow, slicing 'Vennominaga' into two pieces that then dissolved into nothingness (Viper LP: 3300-0).
"I will not lose!" The Goo screamed, tearing itself out of Viper's arm and absorbing the residual energy of the attack, covering the island in a bright orange glow. When it died down, the island was no more.
"...hehe...you're in my world now…."