Hoping to learn more about the Malicious Fiends, Yukina and her friends traveled to a small island that they thought was once the sealing spot for one of the Malicious Fiends before the Black Ace got it. They didn't receive a warm welcome considering the villagers believed their volcano was sacred ground that was disturbed by duelists, but they learned they were on the right track. They went up to the volcano to try and learn more, and that was when the girls and Felix came across some sort of guardian that wanted to duel them. Yukina took the challenge, but Cindy wanted to be of greater use to her friends, so the two of them teamed up to take that guardian in a two-on-one duel. That's why they're dueling it right now. They have Yukina's Wild Ally Gorilla and Leopard at 1200 and 2000atk points, as well as Cindy's Seasonal Fury, and their life points are sitting at 2300. However, Cindy feels bad about not doing much and thought they would be doing better if she had a better start. As for the guardian, all he had was 1300LP.
"Well, I think I'm going to place this facedown and that ends my turn." Yukina said. "I believe it's your turn again, hot head. Time to see what you can really do."
'Yukina made quite the counter against this guy. I wish I could do more.' Cindy thought.
"My turn." The guardian said with him taking his turn. "I'll start by summoning Neo Flamvell Lady!" It summoned out a woman made of flames with her having 1600atk points. "And since I have her on the field, I can special summon Neo Flamvell Origin because of it's special ability!" He summoned out another flame that was like a pilot light with 200atk points. "Next, I activate Star Changer! With this, my Neo Flamvell Lady becomes a level five!" It's monster increased it's level and was now a five instead of a level four.
"Why would he increase his monster's level by just one like that?" Cindy questioned.
"Because Neo Flamvell Origin is a tuner monster! That guardian is about to synchro summon a level seven monster!" Yukina alerted.
"And now I tune my level two Neo Flamevell Origin with Neo Flamvell Lady!" He started up the synchro process and called upon a new monster to help him. "I synchro summon Ancient Flamvell Deity!" He summoned out a titan of flames with it having 2500atk points.
"That could be a problem." Felix claimed.
"Felix!" Felix turned around and saw Kent and Cray heading his way.
"What the heck is going on?! What is that thing?!" Cray said.
"Some sort of guardian. It appeared out of nowhere just when we were about to investigate that cave up ahead and wanted to challenge us, but I'm not sure what it's guarding if the Malicious Fiend is already gone."
"And Cindy and Yukina are teaming up against that thing? They've got this." Kent claimed as he felt confident those two together could beat him easily.
"They are winning, but that could change because of that monster that guardian just summoned." Felix said.
"I activate Ancient Flamvell Deity's special ability!" The guardian claimed. "Since you have only one card in your graveyard while you are holding at least one card, my deity banishes it and gains an additional 200atk points." Its deity unleashed a torrent of fire in the ground and saw Cindy's only card in their graveyard go up in flames with its monster now having 2700atk points.
"Oh no! It's even stronger!" Cindy said.
'Normally, that ability would banish any cards in their graveyard by the number of cards the opponent is holding, and then increase it's attack points by 200 per card.' Felix thought. 'It's a good thing they only had one card in their graveyard or it would have been a lot worse.'
"Ancient Flamvell Deity, attack Wild Ally Gorilla and destroy it!" The deity gathered all of it's fire power, it's flames burning intensely.
"Before that, I'm activating Beastly Endurance!" Yukina called with her trap activating. "When you attack a beast-type monster with a monster that has more attack points than it's original, this trap cuts the damage we take in half!" The deity unleashed it's flames and was able to destroy Yukina's monster, but the shared life points dropped down to just 1550.
"I place one face-down and now end my turn."
"You're turn, Cindy. You've got this." Yukina assured.
"Right..." 'I hope that I do. I have another chance, so I've got to get this right. Please, let this be a card that allows me to fight back.' Cindy thought. "I draw!" She drew her next card and was glad with what she got. "Perfect! I'm summoning Seasonal Spring Flower!" Her flower bloomed out on the field with 800atk points. "Thanks to my flower's ability, I can now summon Seasonal Summer Butterfly!" She summoned out her butterfly with it having 1300atk points. "And since I have these two, I can use Seasonal Fury to deal 400 points of damage!" She used her spell card and it blasted the guardian with it now having 900LP. "Now, I overlay my level three flower and level three butterfly to build the overlay network!" She built the network with both of her monsters diving inside. "Let the change in nature's beauty bring out new power! I xyz summon Seasonal Fall Wiccan!" She summoned out her sorceress with it having 2000atk points. "I activate her special ability! By using one overlay unit, Seasonal Fall Wiccan can drain away 1000atk points from one monster! That means you're deity is getting smaller!" The overlay unit went into her scepter and she unleashed a power that caused the deity's power to drop to 1700. "Now, attack and destroy Ancient Flamvell Deity! Go, Autumn's Spectrum!" Her monster held out the scepter and fired a ray of orange, red, and yellow lights. It blasted right through the monster and completely destroyed it with the guardian's life points dropping to 600. "Yes! I did it! I took down that big monster!"
"I activate Call of the Haunted!"
"What?! No! Not that!" Cindy said. Just when she was feeling good about herself, the guardian countered her efforts by activating its trap.
"This trap now allows me to bring back Ancient Flamvell Deity!" His monster returned to the field like nothing even happened and had all of it's power.
"At least it can't use it's ability again. That only works when it's synchro summoned." Felix claimed.
'Oh man... Just when I stepped up, this guy pushed me back down.' Cindy thought.
"From your expression, it looks like that is all you can do. It's now my turn!" He continued on with the duel, but it looks like it's going to get a lot worse for them. "I summon Flamvell Archer!" He summoned out a flaming archer to the field with it having 1000atk points. "But he won't be staying. I tribute it to use it's special ability and give all Flamvell monsters 800atk points." He sent his archer away, but the flames from that monster transfer over to his deity and gave it 3300atk points. "Attack and destroy Seasonal Fall Wiccan!" He had his monster attack by unleashing tremendous flames and destroyed Cindy's monster and caused their shared life points to drop all the way down to 250. "I end my turn."
"Oh man. They are seriously getting burned out there." Kent claimed.
"Well, they better figure something out fast or else we can't learn the secrets of the Malicious Fiends." Felix claimed. "That guardian is still here for a reason, and defeating that thing might be the only way."
"Stop worrying. Yukina isn't going to lose to a walking candle, even if Cindy is holding her back." Cray said with Cindy hearing him and was offended by it.
"Cray, what is wrong with you to say something like?" Felix argued, but Cray didn't even responded.
"Cindy, don't let it get to you. We're just fine. As long as our life points don't reach zero, we're fine." Yukina assured, but Cindy wasn't feeling so sure about that. "Watch. It's my turn! I draw!" She drew her next card, and it was just the card she needed, especially since the deity's points dropped back to normal. "I tribute by Wild Ally Leopard to bring out the big guy! Charge on in, Wild Ally Elephant!" She traded away her leopard and brought out her mighty elephant with it having 2200atk points. "Now that I have this big guy on the field, this duel is ours."
"How? Your monster is weaker."
"Not when I activate Animal Incarnation! Thanks to this, since both my elephant and the leopard in my graveyard are beast-type monsters, I can transfer all of my leopard's attack points straight into my elephant!" Yukina claimed. "That means he's getting 2000atk points!" Her elephant's power rose all the way to 4200. "It's all over now! Wild Ally Elephant, attack Ancient Volcano Deity and end this duel!" Her elephant charged right into it and smashed itself against the monster. It ended up completely destroyed and the shockwaves pushed against the guardian. The last of its life points dropped to zero and marked the end of this duel.
"Boom, baby! They won!" Kent cheered.
"See? I'm the only one allowed to defeat Yukina." Cray said.
"Let's not make it about that." Felix said with annoyance.
"See, Cindy? I told you we would be able to pull it off." Yukina assured.
"Yeah... We sure did..." Cindy claimed, but it didn't sound so sincere. 'Who am I kidding? That was mostly Yukina. I could barely do anything. Yukina is the best duelist I know, but what have I been doing? I haven't been getting better or stronger.' Despite that, the duel is now over. That means they can get some answers. Yukina tried to do just that as she moved closer to the guardian.
"Yukina, be careful!" Felix advised, but Yukina didn't seem all that worried.
"I... I have failed..." The guardian moaned.
"Failed what? One of the Malicious Fiends was sealed away here once before, and it is already gone. So, how are you still here? What else are you guarding?" Yukina asked. "Listen, we're not your enemies. We want to know more about the Malicious Fiends so that we can destroy them. Something bad is coming, and we're trying to stop it."
"Yes... His revival will soon be at hand... Unless it is stopped. I have failed in the prevention of the revival..."
"Revival? Whose revival?" Yukina questioned.
"Centuries ago, I was created to guard this place. Guard the piece of evil" The guardian claimed.
"Did he just say centuries ago, and this guy knows how to duel?" Kent questioned.
"A piece of the evil was sealed away here. It was my job to protect it, but if there was ever a chance that brave warriors would come to stop it, I would protect the knowledge for those who wish to stop it. To see if they are truly worthy, and have the power."
"That's us. We want to destroy the Malicious Fiends once and for all." Yukina claimed. "They've already fell into the wrong hands. You have to tell us what we want to know. How do we stop it?"
"The pieces are the key to the full restoration. All must be needed for his full power to be restored and granted, and then the world will be covered in darkness. Stop the evil ones. Stop... Tezca..." That was all the guardian told them before he went out like a flame.
"Tezca?" Yukina questioned.
"Great! That was just one big waste of time!" Cray complained. "What information was that thing trying to guard?! He didn't really tell us anything!"
"Not exactly. We now know a little more than when we did before." Felix said. "This proves that Yukina was right. Something evil is trying to return, and it could affect our world and much more. We also know the Malicious Fiends are each a piece of this dark power. They somehow are the key to all of this. We also might have name... Tezca..."
"But what does any of that mean?" Kent questioned.
"I'm not sure. We need more information." Felix said. "We don't know what we're up against this time."
"Let's keep looking around. There might be something else here." Yukina said. That sounded like a good idea to them. They continued to search around the mountain, but there wasn't any luck. They couldn't find anything more, and nothing about what the guardian was trying to tell them.
"Nothing. Just like back in Decker." Felix said. "There isn't much here that could tell us more."
"I knew it. This was a complete waste of time." Cray complained.
"At least we know a little more. We have a name to look into now. Someone by the name Tezca." Cindy said. "Does anyone know if that name means anything?"
"I certainly don't." Felix claimed.
"Me either." Yukina claimed. They know more, but at the same time not enough. "Well, I think we did all that we could, but the villagers had to have noticed something going on up here, and are debating if they should intrude or not. I think we better get out of here while we still can." They all thought she was right and just left the volcano. However, Cindy was still upset about what happened.
'I wasn't much help at all.' Cindy thought. 'Yukina mostly handled everything, and I didn't do one thing that helped. Is there really nothing I can do that can actually help my friends?' Cindy hates herself because she feels so useless. She wants to figure out how to change that, but how when she isn't on the same dueling level as Yukina and the others?
