Adagio felt the rush of the unique sense of satiation overcoming her, all the while her delicate fingers fell over the blood red brooch adorning her neck, a crimson glow pulsing from within, like a crystalline heart. She breathed out in satisfaction, unable to restrain herself from licking at her lips, the taste almost mouthwateringly intoxicating, despite what a paltry quarry this one turned out to be.
When the sensation began to slowly wane, she approached the pile of clothing and other effects the pitiful man had on him, her purple boot unceremoniously stomping down on the Archfiend Black Skull Dragon that came dislodged from the steel grey duel disk on the ground. Utter garbage to her. She fumbled around the pockets, finding the fool’s wallet, then detached the deck from its placement in the duel disk and fanned it out. Pitiful as he was, he did seem to have a few cards that could prove useful. The rest she tossed away without a second thought, scattering them throughout the alley.
“Having a good time, Dagi?”
She turned around, immediately spotting the pair of red glowing orbs in the shadows. A normal person would be sent cowering or screaming in terror from such a sight, but upon stepping into the illuminated area of the alley, they dulled to a mulberry purple. It was a girl with pale fuchsia skin and purple hair sporting brilliant streaks of aquamarine in the large twin-tails and the bangs framing her face. She was adorned in a baggy, green hoodie.
“Aria,” said Adagio in acknowledgement. “The usual; fun to screw around with, absolutely lacking in inner-strength,” she remarked, glancing back at the pile of clothes. “So why are you here? Finally get sick of the tobacco stench of that factory you call a place of fun?”
Aria grinned amusedly, before going dour, “Place is gone.”
Adagio looked at her in confusion, “Excuse me?”
“Gone. Up in smoke. Crazy,” said Aria briefly.
“Oh,” Adagio brought a hand to her hip. “Finally blow a gas main or something?” she asked wryly.
“Actually, you might find this interesting. Although…” she looked around, “Any idea where Sonata is?”
Adagio rolled her eyes, “I’m sure she’s around somewhere. Does it really matter? Let’s just have it; we can-”
“Nuh-uh,” came another voice from the shadowed portion of the alley. Another pair of red glowing eyes moved steadily closer, until the illumination toned them down into a shade of raspberry, unveiling another girl; bluish white skin with arctic blue hair accented with Persian blue streaks, worn in a high ponytail, donning a purple hoodie. She pulled out the lollipop currently in her mouth to speak, “No fair leaving me out of the fun.” She looked at the piece of candy in an almost needlessly intent fashion, “Hmm, ever notice how the younger they are the more spirit they have?” she asked idly before popping it back into her mouth.
Aria groaned, “Where the hell were you?”
Sonata stared blankly at Aria, her eyes glancing down at the stick protruding from her mouth, before a wide grin formed.
“Right,” Aria looked at Sonata for a brief moment, before returning to addressing Adagio again. “Anyway, the factory: I was there, doing some feeding, see if I could bag some extra along the way.” She produced a smartphone from her hoodie pocket, “Thought it’d get interesting with that Sunset Shimmer girl returning.”
“Sunset Shimmer?” asked Adagio.
“You know; bacon hair, best in the underground, seems to go on and off whenever.”
Adagio caressed her jaw in contemplation, “Vaguely, but continue.”
“Look at this,” said Aria, handing her phone to Adagio. A video taken from the ‘VIP’ mezzanine in the local Ghouls’ factory hideout slash establishment just over the infamous cage arena.
Sure enough, to one side stood the aforementioned “bacon-haired” girl, this Sunset Shimmer, prominently sporting a black leather jacket while adorning a black duel disk with an orange tray. And seemed to be having some form of ailment, seeing how she seemed to be caressing her head. Adagio could hear how the girl was screaming. She knew the underground used their even more infamous shock collars to induce genuine pain from any damage people took in duels, but never had she seen nor heard of a case this agonizing.
She came close to dropping the phone when the girl threw her arms to her sides and roared, the footage seeming to distort for but a moment when a staticky roar blasted through the phone’s miniature speakers. What had Adagio’s undivided attention was the aura of blackness that enshrouded the girl in the cage.
“Uh… Okay, is someone screwing with the holo-emitters?” came a muffled voice somewhere off screen as the footage sloppily zoomed in on Sunset Shimmer, even from the distance, the billowing flames of shadows were impossible to miss, that and the glints of red emanating roughly where her eyes would be located.
“You done yet, human scum?” an ominous voice called out, sounding like it thundered, despite the remarkable distance.
“T-the hell…?” Sunset’s opponent seemed to stutter somewhere off the camera feed, “I… I end my turn. So what now, bitch? You’ve one foot in the grave! There’s no way in hell you’re coming back from that… You ain’t got no chance, bitch! You only got one card in your hand, your monsters are dead and buried. Just give up and I promise me and my pals will go easy on ya!”
“Draw!” the girl swiped a card from atop her deck, the motion bringing with it an arc of black flames. That was the moment Adagio heard a muffled “Shit,” that was clearly Aria, who promptly took off running, the footage becoming blurry and unintelligible in the rush.
Incomprehensible sounds overcame the audio, with what were clearly screams emanating from somewhere, when a loud bang of a door being rammed open followed, with the footage seeming to brighten into what must have been the night sky. The recording must have been left on unintentionally, when all that could be seen was the asphalt.
“I kinda forgot I’d left it on at that point, but true story: Soon enough, the building caught fire,” said Aria, taking her phone back.
“A dark duelist…” muttered Adagio, “And she’s here; in the same city as us… Oh… Ohhh-hoh-ho…” a smile crept onto Adagio’s, all the while her realization slowly came to manifest itself as a laugh. She haughtily brought a hand to her mouth, the realization beginning to work itself into a most brilliant idea.
All the while, Aria too began to chuckle along with her, being more reserved as opposed to Adagio’s more outward habits, joined soon by the third wheel, Sonata, who began giggling enthusiastically. The sounds bounced about the compact space of the alleyway, forming a veritable cacophony echoing into the night.
Sonata was the first to come to an abrupt halt, “Umm, what are we laughing at?”
Adagio quickly composed herself, clearing her throat. “This, dear sisters; this is the moment we’ve all been waiting for!” She drew the two to her by their shoulders and huddled them together, “Stuck in this wretched world where the inhabitants wouldn’t know real magic from a book of fiction; when lo and behold, after only… What? More than a whole millennium; do we find someone like her.”
Sonata’s face seemed to brighten, “Oh! Does this mean we’re one step closer to…?”
Adagio’s hand snapped forth and squeezed around Sonata’s cheeks, “Yes! Bringing this world to its knees before us! We may have not gotten our home world, but now, our goals of dominating this one; it’s back on…” she finished with a positively sinister smile, a sentiment Aria seemed to agree with, and possibly Sonata, if she were able to move her lips. “So, Aria,” she released Sonata’s face, whose face squirmed extensively, “where do we find this Sunset Shimmer?”
“Well, that’s the hard part…” she muttered resentfully. “I’ve only seen her play in the underground; I never really asked where she came from. I think she might have been a student somewhere in town.”
Adagio however, was not undeterred, “Merely a minor setback, dear sister.”
“Oooh, she said ‘dear’,” remarked Sonata, “Dagi’s in a good mood~!”
“Oh, like you wouldn’t believe,” Adagio chuckled. “Come, let’s discuss strategy over some drinks at the Barbed Wire. I’m feeling generous right now, so I’m buying.”
“I want a milkshake,” Sonata blurted, idly spitting out the lollipop stick.
“Yes, Sonata, we know you don’t like what us grownups drink,” Aria groaned, which earned her a pouty raspberry blowing.
“Trust me, sisters: In this quaint little town; this Sunset Shimmer won’t stay hidden for long. We’ll track her down. A dark duelist isn’t exactly something mundane. And who knows, maybe there’s other surprises to be found, once the noose tightens around her,” said Adagio, slowly and deliberately closing her elegant, slender hand into a fist before their eyes, accented with the crimson glow of their eyes and the three identical pendants they wore around their necks.
-
♪I’m flustered at myself, no matter what I do
Defeating all the odds, but still I won’t hear the truth
My journey’s long, but I must stay strong
For anything
Seems like I’ve lost all of my control, ON THE FIELD, I won’t back down
Maybe you’re afraid, DON’T GO AWAY, just STAY
The path that I chose towards my future will not be easy as it seems
Though I know I’ll find my destiny
I must close my eyes, and trust in my heart, JUST LIKE CARDS, I believe
I’ll never break my promise, YES, YOU ARE THE WINNER
NEVER LOSE, I’ll trust in my shuffle, JUST LIKE CARDS, I’ll believe
That we’ll be blessed by a miracle♪