“What did you say?” demanded Raging as their duel disks connected. Above their heads, a dual sided portrait of the pair began to spin around and around. At the same time the chubby, buck toothed teen snickered as he moved off to the side. There was something in that sound that Raging didn’t like, beyond sounding annoying as all hell. Nor did he like the confidence of the girl who was to be his opponent.
But perhaps that was to be expected. Ever since he had gained this magical power, people blanched at the thought of dueling his gang. So many times he had heard people beg for mercy or simply ran away leaving others to the fate that awaited the loser. This cocky girl, however, was different. She didn’t know that when she lost all of her life points she would be turned into a living mummy with him gaining more strength and vitality! Probably didn’t know that all damage felt would be turned real as well. That would be her mistake: coming here without knowing everything
“You heard me,” said the girl as their portraits stopped spinning. Looking up, Raging saw that he was up first. He also noted the girls name: Adagio Dazzle. Returning his gaze to his opponent, Raging saw Adagio standing there with her arms crossed and a smug expression on her face. “Seems like you get to go first. Goodie. That means I get the first chance to take a bite out of your life points.”
“I’ll make this quick so I can shut you up for good,” Raging snarled through gritted teeth as he drew his opening hand. Perhaps a bit too tightly as the bottom of his cards began to bend. Not that that really mattered. As his life points rose to 8000, the only thing he cared about really was shutting this girl up.
“First off, I’ll play the spell card: Feast of the Wilds LV5!” shouted Raging as he placed one of the six cards in his hand in his spell/trap card slot. “With this, I can special summon two LV 5 Warrior type monsters from my hand or graveyard. Come on out: Swamp Battleguard and Lava Battleguard!” With a sweeping arm motion, Raging slapped two more cards onto his duel disk while at the same time two giants fell to the ground on his side of the field. Both monsters looked like giant cavemen, mostly nude with fur covering their private areas, wrists, and back. The two hunched figures also had horns on their heads as they bellowed to the sky while waving wooden clubs in the air. They also shared the same attack points at 1550. The only difference between them was that one had green skin while the other had red. “Normally, their effects would power the other up. However the effects of my spell card negates that as well as preventing them from attacking this turn.”
“Oh, I’m sooo frightened,” mocked Adagio in a baby-like voice, a hand being placed on top of her massive forehead. Like she was pretending to faint or something. Then, just as quickly as it happened, the girl burst out laughing. “You’re going to have to do better than that if you want any chance of betting me. There are level three monsters out there with more attack than those two even with their special abilities!”
“Good thing I’m not done yet!” yelled Raging, air shooting out of his nose as he snorted. “Because now I normal summon Valkyrian Knight in attack mode!” With another sweep of his hand, Raging slapped down another monster card whose form appeared between the two brutes. However, this 1900 attack point monster was far nobler in appearance. It was a woman with long flowing blonde hair dressed in red armor. Golden wings extended from her helmet while another set of silver ones adorned her waist. As she drew one of the two swords from the scabbards attached to her hip, her blue cape flickered in the wind. “Now if you want to attack my Battleguards you have to go through her first! Then I place one card face down and end my turn.”
“Really, that’s it?” asked Adagio as she drew her card. Briefly she looked over the six in her hand, looking over them as a snake looks at a fat mouse who had gotten too close for its own good. Slowly, she licked her lips before returning her attention back to Raging. “I had hoped you’d be smart enough to at least overlay those two level five monsters. But it seems I was giving you far too much credit. Now, I’ll show you the folly of such a misplay. And to do that, I’ll start with the spell card Reasoning. Here’s how it works: you call out a level and I keep drawing until I get a card that can be normal summoned or set. If you guess correctly then that monster goes to the graveyard. Guess wrong and I get to special summon it. As for everything else they get flushed down to the grave. Simple.”
Raging hummed as he thought about this for a moment. “I pick level four,” he said. It was the safest bet since nearly every deck out there used them.
“Well, lets see if you were right,” said Adagio as she drew. Then she drew again. She then drew for a third time. It was on the fourth that she stopped and held up her card. “I drew Big Jaws, a level three monster. Looks like you lose.” As Adagio said this, she placed her card on her dark duel disk to summon her monster. The ground in front of her began to crack before quickly exploding as a giant shark shot upwards, water splashing behind it as if they were dueling on a thick sheet of ice. Big Jaws lived up to its name for this 1800 attack point monster’s jaw took up at least half of its body with metal covering its jaw and the fin on its back looking razor sharp.
“Since a fish type monster was special summoned to my side of the field, I’m now allowed to special summon Shark Stickers to the field in attack mode,” continued Adagio as another shark like monster erupted from the ground. This time the shark was purple with what looked like an oval plate on its head with rows of orange circles on it. This shark, however, had far less bite than Big Jaws for its attack was only 200. “Now for my normal summon! Come on out Spear Shark!” Once again the ground cracked and erupted as another one of Adagio’s sharks appeared on the field. This time it was a red shark with glowing green eyes and 1600 attack. Attached to the nose of this creature was a metal mount holding a yellow spear made for stabbing.
“When Spear Shark is normal summoned its effect kicks in,” said Adagio confidently. “Now all of my level three fish type monsters get their level raised by one. Which means I have three level four monsters to build the overlay network!” Raging watched as Adagio raised her hand high into the air as a dark, spiraling portal appeared in the middle of the field. The girl’s monsters transformed into different colored lights before being sucked into the void which lights then erupted out of. “Great beast of the depths, the perfect hunter within the ocean. Merge your might with that of the dragon so that you shall have no equal! XYZ Summon Rank 4 Number 32: Shark Drake!” What came out of the portal was one of the stranger monsters Raging had ever seen. This red skinned giant stood on two legs but had four fins that might have been wings. They just looked so odd. The monster was bent forward with a long neck that stretched outward but ended with a small head. Floating around it were three orbs of yellow light and its attack points were 2800.
“Time for you to learn just how wrong it is to get on my bad side,” continued Adagio. “Shark Drake, that Valkyrian Knight is standing in the way. Show it terror like never before and destroy it!” Raging watched as Shark Drake leapt off its feet before launching itself towards Valkyrian Knight who stood with her weapon at the ready.
“I activate my trap card!” yelled Raging as Shark Drake opened its mouth. “Covering Fire. This card lets me target one of my other monsters and then add that monster’s attack to the monster that you’re attacking. Lava Battleguard, give Valkyrian Knight a boost!”
“Wait, WHAT?!?” screamed Adagio as Lava Battlegaurd moved in close to Valkyrian Knight, holding his club with both hands. Together they swung at Shark Drake with an attack of 3450, cutting off its head before smashing it to the ground. As its body vanished, Adagio’s life points fell to 7350.
“Looks like all that work to get that big monster was all for nothing,” said Raging smugly as Adagio began to grit her teeth.
“That was one of my best monsters,” she growled, eyes narrowing. “You’ll pay for that!”
“Yes, I’m sure I will,” replied Raging as he loosened his grip on his cards slightly. “So, do you have anything else you want to do or can I draw?” Looking ready to kill, Adagio looked at her hand. As she did, Raging pressed a button on his duel disk to see what cards she had lost when she had used Reasoning. There were three non-monster cards waiting for him. One was Moray of Greed; a spell card that let her send two water monsters back into her deck in order to draw three new cards. The second was Salvage which would have let her return two water monsters from her grave back to her hand with 1500 or less attack points. Something that might have helped her down the line. Finally the trap card Solemn Judgment, at the cost of half her life point she could have negated anything he did and destroyed that card. Very powerful.
“Just go,” the girl snapped.
“Gladly,” replied Raging as he drew. Examining the two cards in his hand, Raging saw that he could not advance his field very well. One card was utterly useless right now, he would need a specific card that went with it if he was going to make the most of it. The other card would help him during the next turn. “I’ll set one card face down before launching an all out attack!” Thrusting his hand forward, pointing at Adagio as he did so, Raging’s call was instantly answered by his monsters. Valkyrian Knight leapt into the air, both hands gripping the hilt of her blade, as the two Battleguards trampled the ground below. His knight struck first with her blade slashing downward on Adagio, cutting her top along the side and drawing blood. He felt no pity the afro haired girl as she struggled to remain standing, arm hanging almost limply by her side as her life points dropped to 5450. After all, why should he? He had done this to so many others before her. Men, women, and even children. Like them, she would suffer the same fate. A fate that inched closer as Lava Battleguard’s club hit her in the gut, eyes bulging wide while decreasing her life points to 3900. The force of the blow sent her flying towards Swamp Battleguard who stood several feet away and clubbed her down into the ground.
“Oh my god!” screamed the chubby teen that had come with Adagio as the girl bounced off the concrete road. When she finally laid there flat, her life points fell even more ending at 2350.
“Look at you,” said Raging crossing his arms as his monsters filed up before him. “You came here acting so smug, so self assured. Just like all those other stuck ups who always flaunted their money around me. Thinking they were better than me because they were born to riches while family could barely scrape by! Rubbing it my face day in and day out. Now you’re just like them, lying on the ground after the beating I gave them. Just be glad I didn’t break your jaw in three places.”
Adagio groaned as she placed her hands on the ground. “I don’t give a damn about your back story,” she gasped while pushing herself up. Slowly she got to her feet, stumbling a little as she did. Her legs trembled to keep herself up right, her knees scraped with blood coming out. Her face was dirty and one of her eyes was closed. But, what was most shocking was that this girl was smiling. “That magic of yours, on the other hand, is something else. It’s been too long since I felt power like it. When I win this duel it’ll be all mine.”
“Dream on,” growled Raging.
“Don’t need to because now it's my turn!” cried Adagio as she drew. Confidently she looked at the four cards in her hand before nodding. “Perfect draw. First off I’ll play the spell card Different Dimension Deepsea Trench. This lets me banish one water monster from my hand, deck or graveyard. From my deck, I’ll drop Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth into the deepest depths of the ocean!” A crack in the street appeared in front of Adagio as she said this with icy blue light coming out from it. As she removed a card from her deck, the image of a giant fish appeared for a moment before falling into the void.
“Now I summon my Double Fin Shark to the field in attack mode!” As Adagio said this, a purple shark shot out of the ground, baring its monstrous fangs. Its attack was only 1000 but Raging had a feeling it wouldn’t be attacking him. “When this guppy is summoned I can bring back one of my fallen fish as long as its level four or three. Problem is that it comes back in defense mode and its effects are negated. Oh well, come on back Spear Shark. I still have a use for you.” Raging watched as Spear Shark returned to the field, showing its side to the three warriors instead of its bladed head. “Now things are perfect. I can now build the overlay network anew! In the deepest parts of the ocean, where no light can reach it dwells. Will you find relief or shall you be caught in its web? XYZ summon Rank 4! Number 37: Hope Woven Dragon Spider Shark!” From the overlay portal created by Adagio came a loud cry right before a massive white creature swam up and into the sky. Unlike her last monster, this one looked far more menacing. Its main body was divided into two segment like a spider, with four purple gems glowing within the head section and five glowing red orbs on the back. It had two bulky arms that ended in bladed claws that looked like they could slash through a school bus with ease as well as six fins behind them. It swam using a long purple tail that came out of its back while two orbs moved around it. This monster’s attack was 2600.
“With this monster on the field I believe I call it a turn,” finished Adagio, earning a raised eyebrow from Raging.
“That’s it?” he demanded as he looked at Adagio curiously.
“I’m not going to run blindly and fall into another trap,” replied Adagio simply, wincing in pain as she did.
“Alright then,” he said while drawing a card. Briefly he looked at it, happy to see it was what he needed. “I’ll start by equipping my Valkyrian Knight with Broken Bamboo Sword.”
“What does that card do?” yelled Adagio, looking alarmed. At first anyway, for confusion quickly took over as the sword held by Raging’s knight changed into a broken stick of a weapon.
“Nothing,” replied Raging simply. “It raises my monsters attack by 0. It offers up no protection or any other effects. Just something to be equipped.”
Adagio looked even more confused. “They why play such a useless card?” she demanded.
“Because of this: Golden Bamboo Sword!” declared Raging. “When I have a Bamboo equip spell on the field I get to draw two more cards!” Grinning at the look on Adagio’s face, Raging drew his cards. “And would you look at that. Another Golden Bamboo Sword!” Still grinning, Raging drew two more cards. Only this time he did not draw his third copy of the card. But it was fine for now.
“I now activate my face down card, the one you were right to fear: Battleguard Rage!” said Raging as his face down card flipped up for all to see. “When I activate this card, I pick one of my warriors and it gains 1000 additional attack! Not only that, but from now on whenever that monster destroys one of yours it goes back into the hand instead of going to the grave. And the warrior who will receive this great power will be my Valkyrian Knight!” A red aura began to surround Valkyrian Knight as her attack rose to 2900. Her eyes became bloodshot and veins could be seen sprouting on her exposed skin. As her grip tightened on her crappy sword, she looked beyond pissed off.
“This is bad,” said the fat teen on the side in a pointless fashion. Raging could see him quickly moving his legs as if to do the ‘I’ve got to pee dance’. Pathetic.
“Now, Valkyrian Knight, cut that shark up,” order Raging as he pointed to Hope Woven Dragon Spider Shark. “I’ve heard that shark fin soup is tasty.” Valkyrian Knight bent her legs before leaping forward with enough force that it cracked the street. His monster let out a warrior’s cry as she prepared to strike with her twig of a weapon.
“Sorry, but I’m going to have cancel your order,” replied Adagio smugly as she removed one of her monsters overlay units. “Because you’ve fallen into my trap! When either of us declares an attack the effect of my Number 37 activates. For the tiny cost of removing an overlay unit, its power reduces the attack of all your monsters by 1000! And you know what that means.” Raging said nothing, only grunting in acknowledgement as one of the Hope Woven’s orbs flew into the creature’s mouth. Before Valkyrian Knight could strike a web of light blue light was launched from her targets mouth, covering all of Raging monsters. Both of his Battleguards bellowed in pain as the webbing seemed to burn their skin while lowering their attack down to 550. But for Valkyrian Knight it was far worse. The webbing had wrapped around her as well, binding her arms and legs together so that she could not strike her target. Instead she bounced off of it like a ball before landing to the ground with a thud right before the Spider Shark raised one of its claws and impaled her.
“Aahh,” cried Raging as a wind swept over him, his trap card exploding as his monster was destroyed and his life points fell to 7300. “You little…I’ll set one monster in defense mode and end my turn!”
“As your turn ends, so too does the effect of my monster,” said Adagio as the webbing fell off Raging’s monsters. At the same time the girl drew her card giving her a total of three. “Since I control a water monster I can summon this card from my hand without a tribute! Come on out: Cyber Shark!” Bursting from the ground came another shark monster, this one about half the size as Adagio’s Number 37. This 2100 attack point fish monster had a white underbelly while its upper half was blue with lighter blue spots. The tips of its fins were coated in gold as well as a sort of mask over its skinless face.
“Now Number 37, attack and take out the ugly green monster,” shouted Adagio. With a roar the Dragon Spider Shark swam over to Swamp Battleguard who raised his club in defense. But it did no good as Adagio activated her monster’s effect once more, covering both him and Lava Battleguard in webbing. Both their clubs dissolved while their attacks were lowered to 550 again. Once they were at their weakest, Adagio’s monster rammed its claw into the Swamp’s gut to destroy him. Upon its destruction Raging was thrown backwards by the force, yelling out in pain while his life points dropped to 5250.
“I’m not done yet!” continued Adagio as Raging tried to get back on his feet. “Cyber Shark, drag Lava Battleguard to the bottom of the ocean so he can cool off.” As Adagio threw her head back to laugh, Cyber Shark flew through the air until it was about Lava Battleguard. It then did a nose dive towards the last warrior standing, crashing through the street as the ocean predator took Lava with him. By the time Raging got back onto his feet, Cyber Shark was back on Adagio’s side of the field with a muscular red arm in its jaw and nothing else. When the arm vanished Raging’s life points fell to 3700.
“That was amazing!” cheered the fatty on the side.
“I suppose,” said Adagio as she glanced over to her cheering section, a slight smile upon her lips as she did. “But, then again, what would you expect when a duelist of my caliber goes up against a third rate duelist.”
“I’ll shut that mouth of yours!” roared Raging as he drew. Once the card was in his hand he pointed it at Adagio. “Don’t think that just because you got in one lucky move means your better than me. I’ve defeated plenty of people here in this town and-”
“So you beat some backwater hicks,” laughed Adagio. “I bet for someone like you that’s a major accomplishment. But now you’re dealing with someone who knows what they’re doing!” Red began to fill Raging’s vision as he pulled back his hand while Adagio’s laughter filled the air once again. Just who did she think she was?! If she was so hot, so good then why did she have the lesser life points? Ok, she had two big bad monsters on her side of the field but he could take them down. Then, after he used his magic to drain her he’d leave her shriveled body in a ditch nearby along with her fat friend, slowly drinking water while she begged for mercy!
Snorting loudly, Raging looked at the three cards in his hand before making his move. “First, I’ll flip my Dust Knight into attack mode,” he announced as his face down card was replaced with a man in silver armor and a red scarf around his neck. “When flipped face up, I can send one earth monster from my deck to the graveyard. So I’ll send Battleguard King.”
“Is that supposed to scare me or something?” asked Adagio as she waved her hand dismissively. “I mean, another Battleguard monster? What makes it the king? Does it have 1700 attack points?”
As Adagio snickered, Raging allowed himself to grin. “You’ll find out soon enough.” This caused the girl to stop in mid-laugh, eyeing him cautiously while he continued his play. “Now I activate the effect of my Valkyrian Knight in the grave. By removing herself as well as one other warrior monster in my grave allows me to special summon one level five or higher warrior that is also in my grave. So I’ll be banishing her and my Swamp Battleguard in order to bring out Battleguard King!” Erupting from the ground came a massive beast standing three times the size of a normal man with 3000 attack points. Unlike the last two Battleguard monsters, this one wore black armor with a gem in the middle of its chest as well as a battle kilt. It’s horns were thinner than the other two, raising above its eyes like two massive eyebrows. The King of the Battleguards also carried a club weapon, but this one was clearly better made. This club was thick and well rounded, having been professionally smoothed while also having a metal ring around it.
“Time to show you his true power!” continued Raging as Adagio looked upon his monster, clearly not impressed. “By tributing warriors on my side of the field, Battleguard King gains an additional attack for each. So I tribute Dust Knight so that he can attack a total of two times!” Adagio frowned as Battleguard King grabbed Dust Knight’s head before crushing it, the destroyed monsters light entering the remaining one’s body who roared loudly. “Since Number 37 doesn’t have any overlay units, I can attack without worry. Battleguard King, SMASH!” Battleguard King spat as he roared again, charging towards Adagio’s XYZ monster with so much force that chunks of the street flew backwards and hit Raging in the face. The teen, however, didn’t even flinch. Instead he kept his gaze on Battleguard King whom swung his club right into the side of Hope Woven Dragon Spider Shark’s head, creating a loud cracking noise before the target flew off. As the monster vanished, Adagio’s life points fell to 1950.
“When Hope Woven Dragon Spider Shark is destroyed, he leaves behind a parting gift,” said Adagio. “I can target one monster in my graveyard and special summon it. So I’ll bring back my Number 32: Shark Drake in defense mode.” Just like that, Shark Drake had returned to defend Adagio with 2100 defense points.
“Without an overlay unit, that monster is worthless,” sneered Raging. “Battleguard King, you still have one more attack. Destroy Cyber Shark!” Battleguard King swung his club towards his second target, crushing the head once more. As the monster exploded and Battleguard King returned to his side of the field, Adagio’s life points dropped to 1050. “Now that that’s done, I’ll set one card face down and end my turn.”
‘Whatever she has planned, she can’t win,’ thought Raging as his face down card appeared on the field. 'She could try to overlay her monster again, but I know for a fact that that monster’s chaos form requires her to have less than a thousand points in order to activate. So I’m safe from that. Heck, even if she did try to attack or targets my King with a monster effect Battleguard Howling will activate. It’ll send her monster packing back to her hand while burning her with her own monsters attack. All I got to do is wait for her to attack and I win!’
Meanwhile, Adagio hummed as she drew and examined the three cards in her hand. “I’ll play my own draw card: Moray of Greed. To activate this card, I have to send two water monsters back into my deck. Then I get to draw three!” Raging watched as Adagio took a breath, sending the remainder of her hand back into her deck, allowing the auto-shuffle function to finish before drawing three cards. “Just what I needed! I play the spell card Twin Twister! By discarding one card from my hand I can destroy two spell/trap cards on the field. So I’ll take away that face down of yours as well as my own Different Dimension Deepsea Trench!”
“Crap!” swore Raging as a tornado appeared from the card Adagio held in her hand. Bracing himself from the powerful winds, as well as noticing the fat kid getting knocked down by said winds from out of the corner of his eye, Raging watched as the tornado split into two. The first funnel destroyed Adagio’s card while the other destroyed his trap.
“When Different Dimension Deepsea Trench is destroyed, the monster I banished with it appears on my side of the field,” announced Adagio with a laugh. “So rise up from the depths of the ocean: Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth!” Appearing above Adagio’s head was a large fish the size of a whale with massive fangs to match its size. On its head was a crown and it swam using thick fins on its sides that looked like they could have been used for legs. It’s attack points were 2800. “Now I activate my monster’s effect. By discarding one card from my hand, I can special summon as many level four or lower monsters from my deck with their effects negated. Not like I’ll really need them. So come on out Hammer Shark and Double Shark!” Appearing on Adagio’s side of the field appeared two more sharks. Hammer Shark looked like it literally had a hammer for a head with 1700 attack points. Double Shark had 1200 attack points and looked like there was a bar in its mouth to keep it from closing all the way.
“This isn’t good,” whispered Raging.
“For you, no. It isn’t,” said Adagio. “Because I now overlay level four Hammer Shark and Double Shark to build the overlay network one last time! In the darkness where there is no light, it stalks its prey. Feel your heart race as its hot breath brushes against the back of your neck! XYZ Summon Rank 4: Abyss Dweller!” Now on Adagio’s side of the field was a serpent-like creature with black, scaled skin. Its head was like that of a dragon, with yellow eyes that never blinked as well as a forked tongue. On its upper body were several spikes which glowed blue as if meant to attract prey while its two overlay units orbited around it. Thankfully, it only had 1700 attack points.
At least, it did at first. The spikes on Abyss Dweller began to glow brightly as its attack rose to 2200. At the same time, the other monsters on Adagio’s side of the field began to gain more attack as well. Both Shark Drake and Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth seemed to grow in size while their attack increased to 3300!
“N-No,” gasped Raging as he backed up a little.
“Oh yes,” said Adagio as grinned evilly. “When my Abyss Dweller has water monsters as overlay units, all of my water monsters gain 500 extra attack points. More than enough to destroy that brute of yours and end this duel. I believe I started with my Shark Drake which you destroyed with that annoying trap. Time for him to get his revenge.” Just like that, Shark Drake was upon his monster. With jaws open wide, it grabbed Battleguard King by the neck before flying upward and chomping down hard. Bits of the King fell several feet before vanishing in a sparkle of light that did nothing to ease its departure as Raging’s life points were lowered to 3400. “Now Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth, it's your turn.” Raging only had time to look up as Coelacanth opened its jaws to allow a torrent of water to come shooting out with enough force that he was knocked on his back. He laid there, water pouring onto his body in all directions with enough force to keep him from moving. The teenager could feel his ribs being pressed down causing him to try and scream in pain. However, no sound came out that he could hear. The sound of rushing water was deafening to his ears and his mouth quickly became filled with water causing his lungs to burn with a lack of air. Several times he felt his body being cut, perhaps by shards of the rocky street rushing past him or something. He didn’t know but blood was certainly in the water.
When it finally ended, all Raging could do was stare upwards at the sky while gasping for air. The thought of his life points being 100 was now something far and away, the only thing that mattered to him was filling his lungs while his body ached with pain. That was until the serpent form of Abyss Dweller appeared above him. Raging never heard the attack as he screamed out as loud as he could. Abyss Dweller, in return, sent a high pressured stream of water to his gut which knocked the wind out of him and dropping his life points to zero.
Now declared the loser, Raging watched as his body began to convulse. All of his muscle mass began to shrink while the pain he was feeling became more intense. As the process continued, he noted through teary eyes a green stream of energy was rising from his gem which he followed. To his shock, it flew towards Adagio’s duel disk whose shuttered section had opened up. The energy entered it like something from the original Ghostbusters movies. And as his vision faded, the last thing he saw was the eyes of Adagio glowing green as she grinned with glee.
-x-
“Ok, I think I might know where the magic is being isolated,” said Twilight. Applejack stood across from her within the hospital’s cafeteria with Sonata on her right and Pinkie on her left. The place was large but not in any real use right now. Fresh food was getting harder to find and most of the people who had been brought to this place were no longer able to eat solid foods. At least, that was what Applejack had been told by the doctors and the nurses. So, rather than use the room to cook a decent meal, the healthy folk here use the microwaves to whip up some instant meals they managed to scrounge up and eat on the go while a special formula was given to the afflicted. Yet even after all the time that this place hadn’t been in use, the scent of bad hospital food still lingered in the air. But it was a quiet, isolated place where the four of them could work out a plan without being bothered too much. The four of them stood around a map of the town that they had managed to find with Twilight’s magic finding doohickey on top of it like a paperweight.
“I set the range of my scanner as far as it can go,” continued Twilight as she placed a hand on the map. “While I can’t get an exact location right now, I can say with a fair degree of certainty that they are in this area.” Applejack and the other girls watched as Twilight’s finger moved upwards towards the end of the town before circling. If the map was to be believed, there were several large buildings these varmints could be hiding in as well as a few farm houses. Including the one owned by her great uncle Chili Pepper.
“Really?” asked Pinkie Pie as she picked up the doohickey. “Can’t you press a button to zoom out or something like in that one anime where people scream a lot and they don’t power up by turning into pony people but going blond instead?”
“No,” said Twilight as she quickly took back the thing. Applejack watched as Twilight took a calming breath before continuing. “The device can’t do that at this range. All it can do right now is point up in the general direction. Thankfully once we get closer I’ll be able to better pinpoint where the magic is so we don’t have to go searching through buildings.” She then let out a sigh, suddenly looked a tad depressed. “And that’s all the good news I have for all of us.”
“Well what’s the bad news?” asked Applejack.
Again, Twilight sighed. Only this time she winced a little before touching her wounds. “We have the power to fight them and take away their magic,” began Twilight as she sat down. “But the thing is that we only have one duel disk that can do that right now. I’ll be sure to make some more when we get home, but for right now we have to share. Something that might become a problem if they surround us.”
“Ohh, yeah,” winced Sonata.
“Not ta mention the toll it takes on ya,” commented Applejack as she looked at Twilight in a serious fashion. “There’s only three of us who have them fancy gems and no idea how many of them there are. Even if we each win once, we might be down for the count before all this here is done. Twi, ya think ya can handle another duel like that?”
“Probably…not,” said Twilight slowly, her hands checking her wounds again and wincing as a result. “I can keep up and do maintenance on the duel disk as needed, but I don’t think I’ll be able to duel like that again anytime soon. Maybe in a pinch I could.”
“I can help!” said Sonata loudly as she bounced on her feet. “I can just borrow Twilight’s gem and use the duel disk. Plus I am a good duelist too.”
“That’s true, you are a good duelist,” admitted Twilight. But the tone in her voice clearly held a ‘but’ in there. Heck, even Sonata could see it coming. “But, from the research I’ve done, it doesn’t look like you’ll be able to use the duel disk I created.” She then paused before pulling out her gem and holding it in the palm of her hand. “I’ve been doing tests with Sunset with our geodes. Nothing too fancy, just seeing how they would react if someone else held them. In all eighty-nine tests, not once have they reacted to anyone else but their owner. It’s interesting, since Gloriosa was able to use them back at Camp Everfree, but I believe I have few theories that might explain this. The first, and most likely, is that the geodes where in a state of flux before we got them at which point they bonded with us. Following that, it could be that there are people out there that can inherently use whatever magic they find. But these are talks for another day. The main point I’m get at is since the geode is what powers the duel disk, there is a high chance that it wouldn’t work for you.”
“Oh,” was all Sonata could say as she lowered her head. Applejack noted that Sonata looked disappointed which didn’t sit so well for her. Given how close Sonata had become to Twilight, Applejack wanted to believe that she wanted to help her. But she also couldn’t forget that for the longest time Sonata had been a Siren, using Equestrian magic to get people to fight and bicker with each other in order to gain strength. How she and her sisters had used gems as well as the instrument of their magic. Perhaps she was being a tad paranoid, but the speed in which she wanted the gem and how she was acting right now made AJ wonder if she really just wanted magic back in her life. Like she was falling back on some sort of temptation or something.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Twilight, snapping Applejack out of her thoughts. She watched as Twilight placed a hand on Sonata’s shoulder before giving her a reassuring smile. “Even without magic, I’m sure there will be plenty of ways you can help.” Sonata smiled back at Twilight, giving her a nod.
All Applejack could do was bite her lower lip as she watched this before averting her eyes. She didn’t like thinking like this about somebody who was trying to better herself. A person trying for that second chance. They had helped give one to Sunset and to Twilight. She could see that Sonata was trying to better herself. Heck, Sunset had even used her magic to see what was going on in Sonata’s heart. So why was she now thinking like this? Maybe it was because she was afraid Twilight might get hurt after sticking her neck out so much for her. Or maybe it-
Quickly, Applejack shook her head. When they got home she would talk to Sunset about this, just the two of them. That way, if it was just paranoia or something fancy like that, no one else would know about it and no feelings would be hurt if she were wrong. But for right now, the four of them had to get out there. There were varmints to wrangle and a great uncle to find. That, right now, was what was most important.
-x-
At the same time, on the opposite side of town, Long Horn sat comfortably on Chili Pepper’s porch looking out at all that lay before him. He was seated in one of the couched arm chairs, old fashioned looking but very comfortable. Several others like it had been thrown onto the front yard along with other items they had trashed or burned in celebration. Some of them were still smoking. Other crap they had found in the house had been tossed into the fields, partly to test their newfound strength but mostly just for the hell of it. It was just more old stuff so it didn’t really matter in the end. All of the buildings around the area had all been marked, spray painted with their symbol so that everyone around would know who was here.
As Long Horn leaned back in his chair, his notice fell upon one of the few members of his gang on the property. This teen, Free Range, was busy with what he considered ‘work’. This ‘work’ began shortly after they had discovered the gems and what they could do. Some punk had thrown a glass bottle at Long Horn’s head with enough force that it shattered on impact. The strange thing was, it didn’t leave any mark on him. Heck, he barely felt it. Normally he would have shrugged it off to him being tough, but Free Range wasn’t convinced. The next morning found Free at the ballpark, standing in front of one of those automatic pitchers as balls were chucked into his gut. He said it was to see just how durable their bodies had become. Personally, Long Horn thought he was just a masochist.
Still, this ‘work’ had paid off. Free Range had discovered that with the more people they sucked the life from the tougher their bodies became. After dueling two people after the baseball test Free had returned and found that the baseballs no longer hurt him. Then he had tried cutting his skin with a knife only for the blade to become dull in the process. After that, well, the guy had found a shotgun. That had hurt him, leaving massive bruises but nothing else. According to Free Range, if they drain enough people not even tank fire will be able to phase them!
A grin appeared on Long Horn’s face. He had been content to have better looks and the strength to move a semi-truck. But throw in immunity to gun fire? Heck yeah! Soon him and his gang would be a pack of Supermen ready to take whatever they wanted and no one could stop them! Just image what would happen if they drained the entire town!
The sound of an engine pulled Long Horn from his thoughts. It was strange. Raging wasn’t supposed to be back yet and Bull had gone out on foot. So who could it be? Another group of dumbass townies who thought they could stop him if they all worked together? If that was the case they saved him the trouble of hunting them down.
What happened next occurred so fast it was like a blur. A motorcycle came barreling down carrying three people, a driver and two people in a side compartment. It moved quickly, turning at the last possible second in front of the porch and coming to a complete stop. As Long Horn sat there in complete shock a fat, buck toothed teenage boy dumped a withered body onto the ground as he and the female driver got out of the bike. Glancing down, Long Horn saw that it was Raging looking like all the townsfolk they had defeated in duels. Nothing more than a shell of his former self.
“Boss,” wheezed the broken teen as he reached out a bony arm towards Long Horn. “Be careful…They knew about magic…Took mine…”
“We thought we’d bring him back as a courtesy,” said the female driver, causing Long Horn’s head to snap back up and look at the two. The woman stood there with a smirk on her face, arms crossed right below her breasts while her partner cracked his knuckles. As he looked at her, Long Horn felt a small bit of nervousness sprout within him. Despite looking like she had been in a fight, no doubt a duel against Raging, she displayed a look of predatory glee. And while the short teenager besides her tried (and failed utterly) to display confidence, the girl seemed to ooze it. Long Horn had seen people like this back in the slammer, dangerous people who would prey upon him if they spotted the smallest hint of weakness. So he did his best to keep his face neutral.
“How thoughtful,” said Long Horn as he walked past Raging, shooting a brief glance at the whimpering mass below him as he did. In that brief moment, Long Horn noticed that the pendent around Raging’s neck had lost all its color. As if it had been drained. “I guess the neighborly thing for me to do is invite you both inside for a glass of lemonade or something.”
“Really?” asked the chubby one, all traces of ‘menace’ vanishing on the spot and instead looking hopeful. “That would be great! It’s so hot out here!” He took a step forward, never noticing the glare his partner was giving him. Or any care as to the danger he was in.
That was corrected very quickly as Long Horn grabbed him by his shirt and lifted him easily with one hand. The boy let out a series of noises as he kicked his feet wildly, his hands doing everything in their power to break his hold. It would have been so very easy for Long Horn and his new found strength to throw this worm far into the fields without any real effort. Yet he held the boy by his shirt while glancing over at the girl. Her look told him it would have been a waste of time. The she had smirk was now gone, looking more annoyed than anything else as her gaze shot to the buck toothed teen before returning to Long Horn. It was clear to him that this hostage meant nothing to her. He was just an underling to her, something to be used and then disposed of. Still, he had displayed his power in the situation while instilling a healthy dose of fear into this boy.
“You attacked one of my boys,” growled Long Horn as he glared at the woman. “Don’t know what you were expecting by coming here, but I’ll make sure you regret it.”
“And you’ll end up regretting not listening to what I have to say,” said the girl firmly.
“What do you have to say?” came a familiar voice from behind Long Horn as well as the sound of heavy boots against the wooden floor. Without needing to turn around, Long Horn could see his second in command stepping through the doorway. Dressed in ripped jeans, a white shirt covered her dark orchid skin as well as a worn leather jacket as she looked down at the girl by the bike with those opal colored eyes. No doubt the girl was noticing his partner’s scarred eye.
“Tell this guy to drop my…,” the girl paused as she placed her hand under her chin, as if debating something in her head. But only for a moment. “…acquaintance, and I’ll tell you both everything. Like how I found out you people have magic. How I was able to steal it from the worm before you. And, this is the most important, what I can offer you.”
Long Horn continued to look at the girl for a moment in stunned silence before throwing his head back to laugh. “What you can offer us?!” he laughed. It was the most absurd thing he had ever heard. She comes in here, looking all beat up and with a loser, thinking that she had anything to offer them?
“Well this has piqued my interest,” said his partner as she moved beside him. Long Horn looked down at the smaller, slender figure beside him who eyed the orange-haired girl.
“Come on Tempest,” he said with a half laugh. “You can’t really be serious.”
“She certainly knew how to find us,” replied Tempest, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the other girl. “Maybe she found out that we were holed up here from Raging, but out of all the towns in the state she knew to come here. Meaning either she has a way to detect this power we found or there’s a leak somewhere.”
“Right,” said Long Horn slowly. That did make some sense. If someone did manage to get word out, most people would think it to be a joke or something. Especially if only one person was doing the talking. Get a whole bunch telling the same story, well, that just might be a different story. So, without another word, Long Horn tossed the chubby kid over to the girl.
“Thanks boss,” coughed the fat kid as he got on all fours.
“Hm, boss. I like the sound of that,” said the girl as she took a step forward. “Well then, let us start off with a little introduction. My name is Adagio Dazzle and I am representing a group of losers who are looking for magical powers.”
“Let me guess, there are others out there like us?” asked Long Horn, a small smile on his lips.
“Similar in the fact that they have magic,” said Adagio in a smug, matter of fact voice. “But most of them have more impressive powers. From what I can see, you all have the basic transfer of life force shtick that my sister’s old boy toy used. Not very original nor subtle enough for my tastes.” Long Horn snorted in annoyance as Adagio paused, still looking superior.
“So what powers do you have?” asked Tempest, whipping away that look from Adagio’s face. “I mean, if our powers are so inferior, surely you must have some amazing ability of your own.” The look on Adagio’s face was priceless to Long Horn. She stood there, hands clenched tightly as she bared her teeth. It almost reminded Long Horn of this dog he knew back when he was a kid, a helpless creature who could only bark at those who came too close and hid its missing rear leg.
“I…used to be able to bring out the worst in people,” admitted Adagio slowly. “I would then gather up their negative emotional energy before controlling them. I could make them do whatever I wanted them to do. Mainly worship me. But my magic was taken away like the rest of our group.”
Long Horn threw back his head and laughed. “That’s so pathetic,” he said as he stepped forward. The little toady scrambled to get behind Adagio as he moved closer, stopping only when he was towering over her. “You come here acting all high and mighty, yet you don’t have any magic to call your own. In fact, none of you do. So why should we bother joining up with a bunch of losers?”
“I hate to say it, but Long Horn has a point,” said Tempest, slightly irritating the teen.
“We’re not the only group of people looking for magic wielding people,” snapped Adagio. “There’s this group called the Rainbooms, bunch of goodie goodies who have magic as well. They’re the reason I lost mine as well as all of the others in our group.”
“Expect for me and Snails,” said the fat teen.
Adagio rolled her eyes before placing a hand on her forehead. “Yes, except for you two.” She then paused for a quick breath. “Sooner or later, the Rainbooms will hear about what’s going on in this town. They will come for you and they have a large arsenal of powers to tap in to as well as numbers. Believe me, when they come here they will take away your magic. Me, I would prefer that that didn’t happen. See, my group is right now collecting magic to benefit us over the long term. Regain what we have lost as well as strengthening ourselves for the future. But in order to do that we need to study magic properly to find other ways to use it. Something that requires samples. Now, while I don’t mind taking it outright, it would be easier if you donated it of your own free will. So here’s our offer: agree to help us by joining our ranks and allowing us to study those pendants and in return we will provide you shelter from the Rainbooms, access to some of our technology which allowed us to find you, and a place in our future.”
Long Horn chuckled again. “Sounds to me like you all need us more than we need you. As far as I can see, we’re doing pretty good right now.”
“If you can call this good,” Adagio shot back. Turning around, she began to walk around all the thrown about furniture in the yard while also avoiding any trash left behind by his gang. “Holed up in some out of the way town, waiting for the state to find out what’s going on.”
Long Horn shrugged. “I know what I am,” he replied as he crossed his arms. “Being in a gang, leading it, has been my life. I’m not so stupid to get drunk on power and think about ruling the world or whatever shit you people are thinking about. Right now, we’re just having fun and getting some payback for all the townies who treated us with disrespect. Once we get bored we’ll just go somewhere else. Like one of the big cities and make a name for ourselves. Maybe we could even take over something like a mafia or some shit like that.”
As he spoke, Long Horn watched Adagio closely. She stood there, eyeing the two carefully as if to size them up. Perhaps to steal their magic and do what she did to Raging. Or maybe to find another way to convince them to join. Pointless really. Even before he got this power, Long Horn had never listened to anyone. Not his parents, teachers, or anybody. Working for her or anybody from that group of hers was not an option he would take even if his life depended upon it. And no one in his gang would consider it. Not after everything he had done for them. It seemed Adagio realized this as well as she let out a sigh of defeat.
-x-
“Are you sure it’s really a good idea to leave like this?” shouted Snips from his passenger cart, looking up at Adagio as she watched him out of the corner of her eyes. Together they speed down the rows of chili peppers, having just left that idiot Long Horn, as they moved closer towards the town. She noticed Snips opening his mouth to no doubt say something stupid but she was spared as he swallowed a bug, a round of hacking beginning.
“We got what we came here for,” she shouted, loud enough to hear. “Our mission was to test out the capture disk to see if it worked. Getting them as additional goons was nothing more than an added bonus. Not getting them to join won’t hurt us too much in the long run. Especially with that idiot they call a boss.”
Snips hacked for a bit longer, finally spitting to the side before talking again. “So, ah, what are we going to do about them? We can’t just leave all that magic behind?”
“No, we can’t,” admitted Adagio. “That’s why we’re driving to the next town and contacting Cinch. She’ll want to know how everything went. Then, if she’s smart, she’ll send Aria down here with some extra capture disks so we can duel them together. And while we wait I can heal up.”
“Great idea bos-,” began Snips before another bug flew down his throat.
-x-
“Think it was a good idea to let them go?” asked Tempest as she leaned against the open door frame, her eyes focused on Long Horn. The more muscular teen was sitting in his chair, staring off at the cloud of dust kicked up by Adagio’s motorcycle. “If she’s telling the truth about her group, they could come back here with greater numbers.”
“If I didn’t, and she was telling the truth, they would have sent people back anyways,” said Long Horn with a sigh. “It would have happened sooner or later. At least this way, the odds are they’ll send people sooner. Then we can take care of them before we leave this dump.”
“Really?” asked Tempest. “After what they did to Raging? We don’t even know how they took his magic!”
“That’s true,” said Long Horn as he leaned forward, cupping his hands together as he did. “Very true. But, we do have Free Range.”
Tempest cocked an eyebrow at this. “What? Do you think he’s smart enough to figure out how they did that all on his own?”
“Not really,” admitted Long Horn. “But, he’d be the perfect bait. Let him duel them and, if he wins we can grill the idiots to find out everything that they know. If he loses, well then we get to see exactly how they steal magic without having to waste time beating it out of them. Then we give the power back to Free Range. No harm, no foul.”
“I disagree about Free Range,” commented Tempest causing Long Horn to look at her with a frown on his face.
“Don’t tell me that you’re soft on the guy,” he accused. “I thought I knew you better than that.”
A smile appeared on Tempest’s face as her hands slid into her pockets. “That’s hardly the case. He’s simply more reliable than Bull or Raging. Nothing more and nothing less. We might lose him if he ever found out we willingly put him in harm’s way. And we’d lose him for sure if we were unable to restore him. Better to use someone who’s more disposable. Since Raging is in no condition to duel anymore, best to use Bull.” As Tempest said this, she glanced over to the far corner of the porch where Raging now lay. A dirt blanket now covered his withered body like a funeral shroud. What they were going to do with him was still up in the air.
Long Horn chuckled at that. “Makes sense,” he said as he turned to look at Tempest, a smile appearing on his face. “That’s why I like you so much. Always there to help me see there’s a better way.”
Tempest didn’t respond right away, instead standing up straight before turning towards the house. “Now that that’s out of the way, I’d better go and make sure our ace in the hole is doing fine.” Without waiting for a response, Tempest walked into the building. What had once been an old fashioned yet well kept house now lay in ruins, trashed without any real thought about tomorrow. Holes were punched in the old wooden walls, wallpaper either torn up or spray painted upon. Here and there were piles of glass from the old picture frames that had been thrown across the room as well as anything else breakable they could find. Old vases, figurines, and so on all now lay shattered on the old wooden floor as well as an old style TV set that looked like it had once been from the 1950’s.
Taking a brief detour towards the kitchen, Tempest maneuvered around the moldy or rotten food to grab a bowl of chili peppers before heading upstairs. As she walked up the creaking steps, she examined the food for any spots or blemishes and tossing the one bad one over her shoulder.
Once at the top of the landing, Tempest turned right and headed down the hallway leading towards a door at the far end. A door locked with a padlock from the outside. The sight of it caused Tempest to grip the bowl a little tighter. That lasted only until she got to the door where she paused to pull the key out of her pocket.
“Hey Grandpa,” said Tempest in a somewhat more gentle and earnest voice. “I brought a snack for you.”