Yukina and her friends are attempting to learn more about the upcoming threat and how to stop it. They thought they could find something by checking out where the Malicious Fiends were once sealed away. At the moment, they only have one location. That's why they're heading for a small island out in the middle of the ocean.
"There it is." Felix said. They could see the island was right before them. "Do you really think we'll find something about the Malicious Fiends on there?"
"I don't know, but it's worth a look." Yukina said.
"This better not be some sort of wild goose chase." Cray complained. They soon reached the island and docked their boat so they would get on the island.
"So, are we heading for the volcano?" Cindy questioned.
"There's actually a small village on this island." Felix said. "I think we should head there and see if the villagers know anything." It sounded good to the rest of them, so they decided to head there.
"Why not just head straight for the volcano?" Cray questioned. "We're going to have to end up going up there at some point. Why waste our time talking to these people?"
"They might know something that could be helpful." Cindy said. "The more we know, the more it helps us, Cray. I know you're itching for a fight, but just try to be patient. We'll get our shot."
"What you mean by that?" Cray said. "What exactly are you going to do? You haven't been much help." When he said those words, they hit Cindy rather hard. He didn't hold anything back with those words.
'He's actually right.' Cindy thought because there was some truth to what he said. 'When we first took on the Black Ace, I wasn't that much help to anyone. I didn't even do much of anything when we were in the Worldwide Supreme Tournament. At least Kent dueled a little. What exactly did I do?' Cindy has been thinking about that herself. She just couldn't keep up with Yukina and the others, but that doesn't mean she can't do her part. Does it?
"Here we are." Felix said. They all came across the village. Hopefully, someone there will be nice enough to talk to them.
"Excuse me! I'm sorry to bother all of you, but could you help us?!" Yukina called. She got the villagers' attention, but then they noticed their decks and they all seemed to have gotten scared and ran in their homes and locked the doors. "Huh? What was that about?"
"Cray and Kent might have some ugly mugs, but they're not that bad." Felix said.
"Hey! What do you mean by that?!" Kent shouted. Yukina went to learn more, so she went knocking on a door.
"Hello? We just want to talk to someone. We're hoping to know more about your volcano." Yukina said. "We came here because there's something about your volcano that we want to investigate." The door opened slightly and she could see someone in there.
"You came here to investigate our volcano?"
"That's right. It's complicated, but..." Yukina didn't finish explaining because water was thrown in her face.
"Go away! Your kind isn't welcomed here!" That's when all the villagers started acting out. They all started throwing things at them and telling them to leave.
"Hey! What's the big idea?!" Cindy complained.
"So, you want to fight?!" Cray shouted.
"Cray, don't! Don't make the situation worse than it already it is!" Felix said. "Let's just get out of here!" That sounded like a good idea to them, so the five of them ran out of there. All of the villagers were shouting at them to never come back, but there was one in that group that thought differently. Regardless, the five of them retreated back into the forest and put some distance between them and the village.
"That was nuts. What was all that about?" Yukina questioned.
"What do you think was going on with them, Cray?" Kent asked.
"How should I know? I suggested we just go straight to the volcano." Cray complained.
"Something must have happened with outsiders." Felix said. "Then, when Yukina mentioned that we came to investigate the volcano, they acted out against us. I think that proves we're on the right track with something. We were told they worship some sort of volcano deity or something like that. They might not want us to disturb their sacred ground."
"Yes, but there's more to it than that." All of them looked and saw one of the villagers came after them. He had dreadlocks and simple clothing, but what is he doing here?
...
A House
The villager acted the opposite form the rest of them. He brought them to their home and served them some food to them. Since his house was separated from the rest of the village, no one would see them.
"Eat as much as you like. It's nice to have some company."
"You're going to regret saying that to me." Kent said since he loves food.
"Thank you." Felix said as they all helped themselves to the food. "Ulu is your name, right?"
"That's right. I'm sorry about the rest of the villagers." Ulu said. "I tried to tell them not to be so hostile, but they wouldn't listen. You're all duelists, aren't you? I wanted to be one myself when I was a kid, but it didn't quite work. Life had other plans for me."
"That's too bad." Yukina said. "Still, we appreciate you helping us. So, what was the deal with the rest of the village? Why did they act that way?"
"I'm afraid it has something to do with the last group of people that came here months ago." Ulu claimed. That got their attention because it had to be who they thought it was. "One day, these strange group of people arrived on our island. Our volcano is considered sacred ground. Even we villagers aren't allowed to go up there unless we disturb our great deity. That didn't stop those people from going up there. The villagers witnessed a great light coming from the mountain, and then saw a dark figure emerge for just a moment before it vanished. Ever since that happened, outsiders and duelists aren't trusted around here. Many of the villagers are like that because they felt our great deity was angered."
"The Black Ace... It had to have been them." Felix said.
"And the Dark Figure must be one of the Malicious Fiends, one of the ones Team Void held." Cindy pointed out. "That proves that volcano was where one of them was sealed away before those creeps took it."
"Well, now that we know that. Let's get going." Cray said as he got right up. "Now that we confirmed what we already knew, let's get going."
"Going? You mean to the volcano? You can't." Ulu said. He tried to stop Cray, but Cray just simply pushed him out of the way.
"I go where I want." Cray said.
"Wait, Cray." Yukina said with him grabbing his arm.
"Are you touching me?" Cray said.
"It's not that simple for us, Cray. That volcano is considered sacred ground." Yukina said. "We don't want to upset the villagers anymore than they already are."
"Who cares? We came here to learn more about the Malicious Fiends, and that volcano could hold the answers." Cray said.
"But we don't want to cause more trouble, especially for Ulu here since he's been so nice to us." Felix said.
"Which is why I think we should wait until it's dark." Yukina claimed. "We can sneak around more easily if we do that. If anyone asks, we never came here. We never met Ulu, so he won't get in trouble for helping us."
"What? You really don't have to do that." Ulu claimed.
"Yes, we do. We have to get up there, but it's not worth getting you in trouble when you were trying to help us." Yukina said. "So, try to be patient and wait until then, Cray." Cray hated to wait, but it does seem like he's outvoted on this one.
...
The Volcano
All of them stuck with Yukina's plan and waited until it was dark so that they could sneak towards the volcano and not get caught. They certainly don't want to get Ulu in trouble, so they went without him. They arrived at the base of the volcano, but there was some ground to cover since the volcano took up most of the island.
"Wow. They even have a pointless gate. This place must be sacred to them." Kent said with them standing in front of an archway.
"Let's split-up." Yukina said. "We'll cover more ground if we do that. There must be a cave or something."
"Wait! Are you saying we might actually have to go inside a volcano?!" Kent said with him not liking the sound of that.
"What? I thought you love to turn up the heat." Felix teased.
"Enough. Let's just go and quit wasting time. I want to get this over with." Cray said and started making his way up the mountain with Kent following him. Those two went one way while Felix and the girls went the other. They searched around the volcano to see if there was anything on there that could help them.
"Quick question, what are we going to do if there's nothing to find here?" Cindy asked.
"We won't be better off than when we have been." Felix said.
"Well, I'm sure I can find something. Just wait." Cindy said with her running ahead of them.
"Cindy, wait! Don't go off on your own!" Yukina called with them following. Cindy is really letting what Cray said get to her.
'It will be different this time. I will be useful.' Cindy thought. She kept on going up the volcano until she spotted something.
"Hey! I think I might have found something!" Cindy called. They all looked ahead and saw a small opening in the volcano. "It doesn't look like that big of a cave, but it's better than nothing!" She ran straight for it.
"Cindy, hold up!" Felix called. She tried to make it to the opening, but then fire simply ignited and stopped her from moving. "What is that?" It was rather strange to them. Then, the fire took the form of a person.
"What is that?" Yukina questioned.
"I am the guardian that watches this sacred seal. Retreat or you will have to face my challenge."
"What challenge are we talking about?" Yukina questioned. That was when the strange entity formed a deck with it coming right out of its arm. "A duel?!"
"I don't get it." Cindy said.
"It must be some sort of guardian meant to keep intruders away." Felix claimed. "But if the Malicious Fiend card is already gone, what is it still doing here?"
"I don't know, but he is so not your ordinary opponent. I've got to try and take this guy on." Yukina claimed with her excited for a duel.
"Wait, Yukina. Let me take him on. I know I can do this." Cindy offered.
"I will gladly take both of you on at once." The guardian offered.
"Really? That might make this even more fun." Yukina said with her having no problem with that.
"The rules will be that I take on both of you, but you share life points and a field." The guardian claimed.
"No argument here." Yukina said. "Are you ready, Cindy?"
"Right." Cindy said. 'This is my chance to be helpful. I can't let that pass.' The two of them put their duel disks together and readied themselves for this two against one duel.
"Let's duel!" All three of them said.
"I'll make the first move! Cindy said. She was ready to go, but then she took a look at her hand and it wasn't that good. 'Uh-oh. This isn't a good hand. I can't xyz summon. I'll just have to use what I can.' "I'll start by summoning Seasonal Winter Snowflake!" She summoned out her little snowflake with wings and it had 600atk points. "And thanks to it's special ability, you lose 200LP!" Her snowflake produced a small flurry and caused its life points to drop to 3800. "I'm also going to activate Season's Fury! This will add to the damage by 200 each turn for each Seasonal monster I have out!" Her spell blasted the guardian with his life points dropping to 3600. "With that, I end my turn."
'That's it? She might have dealt some damage, but she left her monster vulnerable.' Felix thought. 'Not bad, but not good enough, and she knows that. Not good if Cindy got a bad hand.'
"My turn!" The guardian said and drew its card. "I summon Flamvell Grunika!" He summoned out a dragon-like creature with wings and it held 1700atk points. "Attack her snowflake!" His monster unleashed a blast of fire and easily destroyed Cindy's monster with their shared life points dropping to 2900. "Next, Flamvell Grunika's ability deals you damage equal to your monster's level by 200. Your monster was level three, so you lose 600LP." His dragon unleashed its flames again with their life points dropping to 2300. "I end my turn."
"Sorry, Yukina. It's my fault." Cindy said.
"Don't worry about it, Cindy. We still have a shot at this, and we're not leaving without some answers." Yukina said. "I'll take it from here. I draw!" She drew her card and now can make a comeback. "I summon my feline friend. Wild Ally Gorilla!" She summoned out her gorilla with it having 1200atk points. "Now, since Cindy and I are sharing a field, her spell works for me. Since there's an active spell on the field, I can summon Wild Ally Leopard!" She summoned out her leopard with it having 2000atk points. "Now that I have that done, I can now use my gorilla's special ability to grant my leopard the power to attack for every Wild Ally I have on the field. That's the only monster I'm allowed to attack with, but that's just fine with me because now my leopard is able to attack twice this turn!" Her gorilla started beating it's chest and gave her leopard more power. "Wild Ally Leopard, attack Flamvell Grunika!" Her leopard pounced and slashed its claws against Grunika and destroyed it. That caused the guardian's life points to drop to 3300. "And now my leopard can attack you directly!" Her leopard attacked once again with it slashing against the guardian and caused it's life points to drop down to 1300. "See, Cindy? Nothing to worry about?"
'Easy for her to say. Of course Yukina could take out more than half of our opponent's life points after I made our situation worse.' Cindy thought with her starting to feel down on herself.
"You might be winning now, but I haven't even begun to fight." The guardian claimed.
"Well, you've got a point there." Yukina said. "Get ready, Cindy. I think the worst is yet to come."
'And we were already in a tough spot because of me.' Cindy thought. 'I better step it up or else I really am no good to Yukina and the others. I just hope we don't lose because of me.' Cindy is beginning to feel like the weakest link, and they say a team is only as strong as it's weakest link. Either Cindy steps up her game or they might never get the answers they're looking for.