//------------------------------// // Turn 8: The Counterattack Begins // Story: Yugioh EQG: Ω Zenith // by Banshee531 //------------------------------// On the streets of Hong Kong, we find Grand, Pinkie and Maud surrounded by many others. Pinkie and Maud were Dueling, testing out the changes they'd made to their decks. And as it stood, Maud was in the lead with eighteen hundred life points while her sister only had nine hundred. What's more, Maud had her Giga-Rock Titan Gaia and Fossil Tusker on her field while Pinkie had her Balloonimal Cerberus. "I now activate Gaia's special ability!" The Giga-Rock Titan reached down and grabbed Fossil Tusker, lifting it up before crushing it in her hands. "With this, her ATK now increases by Fossil Tusker's eighteen hundred ATK." (A4800/D3000/L8/P3) "Let's end this!" Maud cried as Gaia reached down to crush Pinkie's monster. "Sorry," Pinkie smiled as her face down flipped up, "but I play De-Fusion!" Her three-headed balloon animal suddenly vanished and was replaced by three single-headed dogs, which all took a defensive position before Gaia crushed one. Maud sighed, "I place one card face down and end my turn." She knew Pinkie would likely try to destroy her monster next turn. But when that happened, Maud's Trap would activate and win her the game. "My turn," Pinkie drew her card and smiled before playing another card. "Now I play Polymerisation!" The vortex opened up and sucked her two dogs inside, "I FUSION SUMMON!" The portal exploded, revealing her Fusion Monster. "Balloonimal Othros!" (A2000/D2000/L6) "That can't beat my monster," Maud pointed out. "I know," Pinkie took the card she'd drawn. "That's why I have this. The Hopeful Blindfold of Somnambula!" Both heads came together before a strange blindfold appeared and tied them together. "This card cuts the ATK of my monster in half." (A1000/D2000/L6) "But now, it can attack you directly." "What?" Maud asked as Othros bounced forward, going right at her despite being blinded. It bounced over Gaia and belly-flopped Maud. Maud: 800 Pinkie: 900 "There's more," Pinkie smiled. "Othros can attack twice in one turn." Her balloon dog charged again, Maud unable to stop it as it belly-flopped her on more time and wiped out the rest of her life points. Maud: 0 Pinkie: 900 (Winner) As the monsters vanished, the crowd began to cheer for the girls. This made Pinkie smile while Maud's lips curved into the tiniest of grins. Grand stepped up to the two of them, a smirk clear on his face. "Well done, both of you. You both showed some good moves and it's clear you've both grown as Duellists." "Thank you," Maud nodded. "Yeah," Pinkie turned back to Maud, "wanna go again?" But before Maud could reply, a new set of applause rang out over the dying ones. "Great Duel," they all looked over and saw Tempest Shadow and Misty Vail standing infront of the crowd. Misty quickly rushed over and hugged her father, the police officer hugging her back. "I'm sorry about what happened to Flash and Scootaloo." "There's nothing to be sorry for," Misty pulled back. "It was the Zealots that need to be sorry." Tempest nodded. "And they will be, once we find out where they've taken the others. Once we get them back, we can focus on making those body snatchers pay." The others nodded and after Pinkie's gut growled, everyone headed over to a nearby restaurant. They sat down and ordered their food, which quickly came out. As they settled their stomachs, they talked about the reason they were all there. "So we're only here because of a rumour?" Pinkie asked before throwing an oversized shrimp into her mouth. "Partly," Grand took a few bites of his sweet and sour chicken. "There have been many rumours detailing the sightings of Princess Skystar around this location in the last few days. If she's here, the Zealots must be plotting something in this city." This made sense, though the others were hoping they wouldn't just be chasing hypothetical geese. "I've also been receiving word from my international contacts. It appears that multiple material companies have been getting large orders to the same place. There's no explanation of what that material is being used for or any paperwork confirming a person signed for it. They just deliver the goods, dump it at the location and leave without saying two words to anyone." "That is weird," Tempest agreed. "You'd think the company would want to at least see who they're selling these materials too." Grand took a sip of his drink. "If you pay them enough, you can get anyone to do anything no questions asked. Which is another factor leading us to this location. The money being used to fund it." "Where's it all coming from?" Misty realised what he was getting at. "Exactly. I managed to trace the transactions between the companies and the mysterious buyer. It was being transferred through tons of different shell companies, so it wasn't easy. But eventually, I managed to track it back to the source. Skystar's home kingdom." "The Dominator's using her host's own wealth to fund their plans?" Tempest asked before eating a har gow. "Not just Skystar. Her kingdom's only small. It couldn't afford to pay for all the materials we've confirmed they've bought. Another Dominator's likely doing the same thing." "It has to be Discord," Misty stated after finishing her rice. "I looked into him on the plane ride here. It was difficult, but I managed to track him down. It seems he comes from a long line of royal descendent in Romania, possibly a descendant of Vlad the Impaler. He's the sole heir to his family fortune, which could fund the materials the Zealots are using without making a dent in his money bin." Grand nodded, intrigued. "With all this in mind, it would make sense for this location to be a high-end base. That's why we're going to raid it." The women all turned to him in shock, barely believing what they'd just heard. "Don't look at me like I'm crazy. The longer we wait, the more steps ahead the Zealots get. We need to wage a counterattack now before they get too far ahead." "But aimlessly attacking them isn't gonna help us," Tempest reminded him. "It won't be aimless. We'll have one goal and one goal only. Data extraction. We get in, find the control terminal and gather all the information we need." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flashdrive. "This contains a special worm program that'll link their computer systems up with Freeze Industries. Once uploaded, the boffins will be able to gain full control of everything in that base. And since it's such a high-end location, it should have info on Void and everything else we need." "Which'll let us save Flash and the others," Misty smiled. "Exactly," Grand put the flashdrive away, "Getting the information is our top priority, but it doesn't mean we can't grasp an opportunity. It's likely one of the Zealots will be there, overlooking the operation. Most likely, it'll be Skystar. And if we can, we'll capture her and take her back for interrogation." Pinkie smiled before turning to her sister, "we gotta help them out. And maybe this Skystar girl will be able to help us find Marble." Maud frowned as she put down her food, sitting back. "I guess." Pinkie frowned, "hey. What's wrong?" Maud turned to her, "listen, Pinkie. Do you really think you and I can help with this?" Pinkie's head turned in confusion, "what are you talking about?" "The fact of the matter is, our opponents are all Dominators." Pinkie still didn't seem to understand. "The only way we're gonna free Marble is to defeat the Dominator that's possessing her." Maud then turned to Tempest, "think back to the Double X. Remember the tough time Flash had against Storm King." Tempest flinched, that name still hard for her to remember. "That's what we're up against." Maud turned back to her sister, "even Flash wasn't able to beat her." Pinkie frowned, remembering the report she'd seen about Greaterra's appearance in Canterlot. If Marble was packing that card in her deck, they might not stand a chance against her. "Yes, we need to get Marble back. But I'm not sure we have the skills to do it right away." The sisters stared down at the table, worrying about their lack of ability. What hope did they have against Marble, when even a Duellist far stronger than the two of them fell? "Then get out of here." Their heads both shot up as they stared at Grand, who wiped his mouth before standing up. "I'm leaving." With that, he headed off while Pinkie and Maud stood up. "But Grand," the late aged man didn't reply to Pinkie and continued walking until he stepped out of the restaurant. Both sighed until they heard Misty. "Don't mind him," they looked back at her. "It's just his way of encouraging you to do the right thing." She then frowned, "you shouldn't feel bad. All of us are feeling a bit daunted by this situation." Then a smile appeared on her lips. "But trying a failing is far better than never trying at all. You can't allow your fears or doubts to cloud your better judgements." Tempest nodded, "do you wanna save your sister?" "More then anything," Pinkie nodded. "Then why are you just standing around here?" That was a good question. Pinkie and Maud shared a glance before nodding and rushing outside, Tempest and Misty following after them. As they left the restaurant, they spotted Grand standing beside a boat. "Grand!" Pinkie and Maud rushed over to them, "listen..." Maud became highly serious, "we've decided-" "Come on," Grand interrupted. "It's time to counterattack." Both girls seemed surprised by this until they both smiled, nodding in unison as they spoke. "Okay!" They followed Grand onto the boat, Misty and Tempest getting on too. Once aboard, they set off and headed for their location: The Zealot's base. In a dark, unknown, location, we find Skystar sitting in a chair staring at a holographic screen being projected from a computer terminal. "The Fire Zenith Generator is eighty-five percent complete," she told herself while putting her hand into a pick-a-mix bag and pulling out a handful of gummy products. As she stuffed them into her mouth, she pressed something on the computer and caused several mores pieces of info the appear onscreen "Water and Wind Zenith Generators are seventy-four percent complete while the Light Zenith Generator is seventy-two percent. Earth is sixty-nine and finally Dark is sixty-six." She took another handful while sitting back with a smile on her face. "At this rate, everything will be ready in no time. Mother's dream can finally become a reality and our people will finally be free." It was then that a beeping sound caught her attention, the Dominator recognising that sound as a perimeter alarm. She turned towards one of the screens as it changed to show footage from a camera located outside the base. The image onscreen showed the area infront of the main entrance, allowing her to see Grand, Tempest, Misty, Pinkie and Maud step into the camera's sight. "Oh, so they finally managed to find us." She typed away at another computer, the screen eventually switching to show the image of Discord. "Master Draconequus, we have a minor pest problem." Discord smiled, "I figured it was a matter of time before they managed to put two brain cells together. Finding us is one thing, but actually trying to storm the base." He shook his head, "do your best to get rid of them. But if things should turn in their favour, be prepared to initiate the fail-safe." Skystar nodded, "I won't fail you. It's not like those silly humans can actually defeat me. I'll trap them in here and take them all down. Once that happens, maybe I can send them to Void." This thought seemed to intrigue Discord. "We never designed it to hold non-vessel candidates. But there hasn't been any problems with that...what's her name? Hooter...poo, girl." He nodded, "very well. Should they lose, send them there." "Yes!" Skystar jumped up and down, the idea of getting to send someone to their prison making her giddy, "I won't disappoint you." "I'm sure you won't," Discord's face vanished off the screen and Skystar looked back at the people who'd just gained entry. "Don't bother being sneaky. I can see you." She started typing once again, "but let's have a little fun with you before your defeat. Security droids, activate!" Grand and the girls were carefully sneaking through the halls of the warehouse disguising the Zealot's base. Once they'd arrived and managed to get inside, they found the place looked very different from the outer appearance. It looked like something from a sci-fi movie, the walls made of white metal and shaped in an octagon. It was like a hallway from a starship. "Look at this place," Pinkie whistled as they walked through it. Eventually, they found themselves at an X-shaped hallway. "Now what?" "Hang on." Grand took out his Duel Disk and after a few seconds, some blueprints appeared onscreen. "This way." He turned left and headed down and hallway, the others following him. "I managed to pull a few strings with my FBI friends and had them use their satellite system to scan the building and get me a floor map of the place. I already sent you each on encase we get separated." "So you know where we have to go?" Tempest asked as they turned right and found themselves at a set of stairs. "In a way. I'm leading us to where the satellite picked up the most energy drain. That has to be where their main computer is located." The arrived at the bottom of the stairs and found themselves approaching another four-way hall. "As long as we're careful and don't any attention, we should be fine." But as they turned another corner, they all suddenly froze at the sight infront of them. Robots. Tons of robots. They were all white with humanoid designs, having a three claws hand on their left arm and a long knife sticking out of their right. Instead of legs, they have cone-like bottoms that likely had wheels under them. As soon as they all stopped, the robots turned towards them and showed their glowing red eyes. "Run," Grand whispered before they turned to bolt down the opposite hallway. The robots followed after them, their blades raised and sparking with electricity. Grand lead the ground down the path, trying to find another route to the control room. Pinkie let out a cry, "you didn't say anything about this!" "What did you expect?" Misty asked as she glanced back at the charging robots, "this is the Zealot's HQ. Of course, they're gonna have security." Grand glanced back and saw the robots getting closer, then looked forward and saw something. "This way!" He directed them around another corner. But when the first line of robots rolled around, Grand and Tempest suddenly shot out. Being careful to avoid their knives, the two table several of them and pushed them so they tipped backwards off their wheels. And like a line of dominoes, those robots fell into the ones behind them and knocked them into the robots behind them and so on. With most of the robots knocked to the floor, the few still standing surrounded by fallen metal and unable to move more than a few inches, Grand turned to the others. "Hurry." They all jumped over the robots and headed down the way they were meant to be heading. After a good few minutes of searching, being sure no to run into any more robots, they came up to a large metal doorway with a key card scanner. "Let's hope this works," Misty took out a card and swiped it. Seconds later, the doors opened to allow them entrance. They looked around and saw nobody in sight, the group spotting a large computer terminal infront of them. "This must be the place," Tempest stepped up to the computer and saw the image on the holoscreen. The image showed the black void with the small patch of land floating within, a strange-looking building built on that land. "So this is Void." Pinkie turned to Grand. "Maybe we can find a way to free Flash and the others from here." "I doubt it'd be that easy," Grand took out the flashdrive. "But we'll find out as soon as we get this uploaded." "I think not!" Everyone tensed at the sound of that voice, only to hear a loud clunking noise behind them. Looking around, they saw a large metal wall beginning to descend from the roof. It looked several inches think and was falling fast, trying to trap them all in. But Grand wasn't gonna let that happen, instead grabbing the two closest to him. "Wait/Hey!" Maud and Pinkie cried as the old man threw at the wall, both hitting the ground and rolling under it before it completely shut. "Grand!" Pinkie jumped to her feet and rushed back to the wall, "you guys okay?" "We're fine," Tempest's muffled voice cried back through the wall. "Don't worry about us," Misty told them. "Go back the way we came and escape." Pinkie frowned, not liking the idea of abandoning her friends. Maud meanwhile, noticed something on the ground and picked it up to find it was Grand's flashdrive. He must have thrown it with them. That meant... "Alright," she grabbed Pinkie's shoulder, "come on." With that, she rushed off down the hallway. Pinkie gave the wall one last sad look before following her sister. Back in the room, the three's attention quickly became drawn to the bright light that suddenly appeared from on high. They all spun around and saw something come out of the light, that being a hooked pole with someone holding onto it. "Well well well. So two of my little natts escaped. No matter." She finally reached the bottom and the three got a look at her, recognising her as Skystar. "I'm sure the robots will be able to get them." She then turned to Tempest, "welcome back to us, Storm King." Tempest glared at her, "I am not him. I will never be him." "Such a shame," she jumped off the pole as it retracted back to the ceiling. "You might have been granted the title of Omega Zealot, if you'd only accepted the great Zeronull into your heart." She then pointed at the screen, "but now all that awaits you is a one way trip to Void." "Not happening," Grand stepped up to him. "You will tell us how to free my grandchildren and their friends, or you'll be sorry." Skystar laughed, "don't think you can threaten me, old-timer." She pulled out a Duel Disk, "I don't frighten easily." She pointed at them, "you'll be the ones that are sorry. If you don't give us the remaining candidates, the Omega Zealots will continue to crush you until there's nothing standing between us and them." "You won't be getting any more of them," Grand took out his Duel Disk. "As long as I'm around, I'll make sure of it." They both attached their Duel Disks and activated them, drawing their cards as they cried out. "DUEL!" Grand: 4000 Skystar: 4000 "I'll be going first," Skystar drew her card and smiled. "First I'll activate the Field Spell, A Legendary Ocean!" The card appeared beside her before unleashing a torrent of water, which began to spread out until everyone was ankle-deep. "Ahh," Misty pulled her foot out of the water and frowned, "I hate soggy socks." "This Spell does more than make your socks wet," Skystar smiled. "I grants any Water monsters and extra two hundred ATK and DEF points while also lowering their Level by one." "Meaning she can summon high Level monsters more easily," Tempest realised. "Next, I summon Neo Barrier Statue of the Torrent!" From out of the water emerged a humanoid frog statue carrying a trident and shield., its power raised due to A Legendary Ocean. (A1200/D1200/L3) "And with this card, the only monsters allowed to be Special Summoned are Water monsters." Skystar saw Grand growling at her, obviously not liking that ability. "I end my turn." "My turn!" Grand drew his card and smiled, "you're not the only one that can summon a toad. "I summon Shinobi Stealth Beast, Gama-Torappu!" From out of the water leapt a large orange frog wearing ninja clothing, a katana in its hands. (A1400/D1200/L4) "ATTACK!" The toad leapt forward and slashed the Neo Barrier Statue in half, causing it to explode into bubbles. Grand: 4000 Skystar: 3800 "You activated my monster's ability!" Skystar announced, "no I can summon another Water monster from my deck with fifteen hundred or less ATK points." The bubbles came together before popping to reveal another Neo Barrier Statue." "I don't think so," Grand told her. "Because I activate Gama-Torappu's ability!" He discarded a card. "Now I can destroy any Special Summoned monster." The toad opened its mouth before a large tongue shot out and wrapped around the statue, Gama-Torappu pulling it into its mouth and swallowing it whole. "Not cool," Skystar pouted. "That takes care of that," Misty smiled. Tempest nodded. "Neo Barrier Statues can only use their abilities when they're destroyed by battle. Now Grand can Special Summon." "I place two cards face down and end my turn." As he did, he looked back at the wall that was trapping them. 'Pinkie, Maud. Be careful. Right now, you're our only hope of getting out of this." In one of the four-way corridors, a robot rolled from one hall through the X and down another. Once it was gone, Pinkie and Maud looked around the corner and saw it was safe. They then rushed off down another hallway, Maud leading the way with Pinkie behind her. But as they approached a corner that would lead them outside, Maud kept running and completely passed it. "Maud," Pinkie stopped at the corner and pointed down the hallway, "you're going the wrong way. The exit's over this way, silly." "We're not leaving," Maud called back as Pinkie rushed after her. She had her Duel Disk out, keyed into the schematics Grand had been using before. "The main control room might be locked down, but it's not the only place we can access the system from." "You mean there's a backdoor?" "More like a backup," she corrected. "Likely used when the main control computer is damaged. If we can get to it, we could hack into their system." "Hack?" Maud smiled. Unknown to Pinkie, the girl had been teaching herself to hack into computers since they'd started travelling with Grand. She hadn't had any reason to learn until now, knowing they'd very likely need it to help save their sister. "Grand gave us this chance to prove ourselves. We can't waste the opportunity." Pinkie smiled with a nod before looking down at her Duel Disk, "so where's this backup?" "There are several back-ups littered all throughout the base, but the closest one is directly below us. There should be a staircase leading to it close by." But as the two turned another corner, they found themselves pulling to a complete stop as a small army of robots blocked their path. "Whoops," the robots turned to them all before their eyes went red and they raised their bladed arms. "DETOUR!" The girls turned to run down another hallway, the robots giving chase with electrified blades. "My turn!" Skystar smiled when she saw what she'd gotten. "I summon Atlantean Dragoons in ATK position!" From out of the water shot a pair of sea-monster riding fishmen knights. (A2000/D200/L3) "Check this out. Any Level three or lower Sea-Serpent monsters can attack directly, meaning you're about to lose half your life points in one go!" "Not good," Tempest gulped while Misty became worried. "Dad!" They watched as the two knights swam through the air, circumventing Gama-Torappu and slashing at Grand. Grand: 2000 Skystar: 3800 The man grunted before activating his face down, "I play Mystik Wok!" A giant wok appeared infront of him, "now I sacrifice my Stealth Beast in order to gain his ATK points as life points." Grand: 3400 Skystar: 3800 Skystar sighed, "you got lucky. I place one card face down and end my turn." "My turn," Grand drew his card. "And from my hand, I activate the Ninjutsu Art of Ambush! By banishing Gama-Torappu, I can draw cards equal to his Level." He drew four cards and smiled. "Next, I set the Pendulum Scale with two Kukiakuma Shinobi and scale eight Mizuakuma Shinobi!" The pillars of light appeared on either side of him before two new ninja monsters flew up into them. The first was a ninja wearing a green demon mask with the wind symbol on it, while the other was a ninja wearing a blue demon mask with the water symbol on it. Once they were both high enough, the portal began to form above Grand. "I PENDULUM SUMMON!" The portal opened before a pair of lights shot out, revealing his monsters. The first was a ninja wearing a red demon mask with the fire symbol on it. "Hiakuma Shinobi!" (A1600/D1400/L4/P4) The second looked like Twin Blade Shinobi, but its blades were longer and its outfit had some slight differences to it. "And Duel Blade Shinobi!" (A2400/D2300/L7/P5) "Duel Blade's summon skill!" His ninja began forming a bunch of hand-signs before hitting the ground, a puff of smoke appearing there, "Special Summon one ninja monster from the graveyard." The smoke cleared to reveal Shinobi Shadow Striker, which crouched in DEF mode. (A500/D1000/L3) Skystar frowned at the army she was up against, "show off." "Duel Blade Shinobi!" The ninja charged forward, swinging its blades around. "ATTACK!" The Pendulum Monster sliced through Atlantean Dragoons, using one blade on each of them. Grand: 3400 Skystar: 3400 "You activated my Trap!" Her face down flipped up, "Abyssal Ascension! Since you destroyed a Water monster, I can now summon another Water monster from my graveyard with less ATK." Her Neo Barrier Statue appeared infront of her. (A1200/D1200/L3) Grand frowned. "Well, I've still got my Hiakuma Shinobi!" The demon masked ninja began forming hand-signs before a large fireball shot out of the hole in the mouth area. That fireball struck Skystar's monster and caused it to explode into bubbles. Grand: 3400 Skystar: 3000 "Don't forget about my Barrier Statue's ability!" The bubbles came together before bursting, revealing a black haired teen wearing blue armour that carried a golden trident water was leaned against the back of his neck. "Meet Neptabyss, the Atlantean Prince." (A1000/D200/L1) She frowned as she stared at the monster, a look of sorrow clear to all those looking at her. "Well Hiakuma has his own ability," the ninja started making hand-signs again. "When he destroys a monster, I can destroy one face-up Spell or Trap on your field." He spat another fireball, which struck the water from A Legendary Ocean and caused it to evaporate. (A800/D0/L1) "I place one card face down and end my turn." "Things seem to be going well," Tempest said. "Grand has the stronger monsters and more Life Points." "Maybe," Misty frowned, "but that doesn't mean he has this Duel in the bag." "It's my turn," she drew her card before another one slotted out of her deck. "And with Neptabyss's ability, I send one Atlantean monster from my Deck to my Grave to add another Atlantean monster to my hand." Another card slotted out of her deck. "Now I summon the Legendary Atlantean, Tridon!" A pillar of water appeared infront of her before a scaly blue sea creature her size appeared. (A1600/D800/L3) "Now, I'll use his special ability to tribute him and Neptabyss." A giant water tornado exploded into existence behind her, Skystar's monsters jumping into it. "This will allow me to summon...his daddy. Poseidra, the Atlantean Dragon!" The tornado exploded to reveal a giant sea monster with armour on its back and a large trident head on the tip of its tail. (A2800/D1600/L7) "And, since Tridon was used to summon him, all your monsters lose three hundred ATK points." The ghostly image of her monster appeared before shooting water at from its mouth, which struck Grand's monsters and weakened them. (A2100/D2300/L7/P5) (A1300/D1400/L4/P4) (A200/D1000/L3) "Not good," Tempest gulped. "Don't worry," Misty assured her. "It'll take more than an oversized goldfish to beat my dad." "Poseidra," Skystar pointed at Hiakuma Shinobi, "attack!" The giant sea monster began to swim through the air before swinging its tail around, preparing to slash at the demon ninja with the trident. "Skill of Duel Blade Shinobi!" Grand's ace swung its katanas to slice through Shadow Striker, then used them to block Poseidra's tail. "By tributing a Ninja monster, I can negate any attack sent my way." Skystar frowned. "You think you're so smart." She threw two cards face down, "I end my turn." "My turn!" Grand drew his card as a portal formed above his head, "I PENDULUM SUMMON!" The portal opened before a light flew out and struck the ground, exploding to reveal a ninja with a yellow demon mask with the storm symbol on its head. "Arashiakuma Shinobi!" (A1800/D2100/L5/P2) "Next, I activate the Pendulum Ability of Kukiakuma Shinobi." The monster in the Pendulum Zone began to make hand-signs. "Once per turn, I can make the ATK of a Ninja monster on my field zero and then give those points to another Ninja on my field." Hiakuma suddenly grew weaker while Dual Blade's power increased. (A3400/D2300/L7/P5) (A0/D1400/L4/P4) "ATTACK!" The shinobi charged forward crossing its blade as it leapt forward and slashed at Poseidra's neck in an X formation. Seconds later, the ninja landed behind the sea monster and sheaved its blades before Poseidra's head flew off. Grand: 3400 Skystar: 2400 "Now, Arashiakuma, attack!" The demon shinobi performed several hand-signs before charging forwards, lightning exploding in its hands. "Go!" Skystar's face down flipped up, "Tidal Defence!" A huge wall for water appeared between her and Arashiakuma, the ninja leaping through the water and slowing down. "This card cuts the damage I take from an attack in half." The ninja slammed its electrified fist into her, Skystar grunting in pain. Grand: 3400 Skystar: 1500 "Now," she reached for her deck, "I draw one card for every four hundred points of damage." She drew two cards. "I end my turn," Grand's monsters returned to their original ATK strength, still weakened due to Tridon's special ability. (A2100/D2300/L7/P5) (A1300/D1400/L4/P4) As Grand ended his turn, Tempest and Misty couldn't help looking over at Skystar. Despite her best monster begin gone, she didn't seem at all worried. "She's up to something," Tempest realised. Misty nodded. "And whatever it is, we won't like it." "My turn," Skystar smiled at what she'd gotten before preparing her move. "I'll start with the Spell card, Monster Reincarnation." She discarded a card before taking another card out of her graveyard. She looked at the card and nodded before activating another one. "I now play the Spell Card, Call of the Atlanteans! With this, I can summon up to three Level three or lower Sea-Serpent monsters from my graveyard." Three water tornadoes exploded infront of her before dispelling to reveal Neptabyss, Rhodos and Tridon. "But don't expect them to stick around for long, because I'm now sacrificing them!" Another water tornado exploded behind her before the three leapt inside. "Emerge from the murky depths of the ocean, beast that wrecked a thousand ships!" The tornado exploded and Skystar's monster appeared behind her. "Poseidra, the Atlantean Dragon!" (A2800/D1600/L7) "She summoned the same monster again?" Tempest asked. "But in a different way," Misty pointed out. "Since she used three summons, that'll activate its special ability." "That's right," Skystar announced. "With it, I now return every Spell and Trap on the field to the hand!" Poseidra shot a powerful blast of water that caused a tidal way, which swept away not just Skystar's face downs, but both of Grands and his two Pendulum Monsters. "Gyah!" Grand cried as the water hit him, Tempest and Misty. He was able to keep his eyes open long enough to see his cards float away before they reappeared in his hands. He then looked at his monsters and saw them being struck by the wave. "And since at least three cards were returned to the hand, every monster on your field now lose three hundred ATK points for each one." The three's power lowered as the water finally receded, revealing Grand significantly weakened monsters. (A300/D2300/L7/P5) (A0/D1400/L4/P4) (A0/D2100/L5/P2) "I can't believe she had such a powerful effect," Tempest gulped. "It's a good thing Grand's got Dual Blade Shinobi's ability." "Maybe," Misty wasn't so sure. "She knows this, so she wouldn't bother attacking unless she has a plan." "Next I activate the Continuous Spell card, Curse of the Abyss. Now, by discarding a card, I can negate the skill of a monster on your field for the remainder of the turn." The Spell appeared before firing a shroud of black fog at Duel Blade, causing him to chock as his power was weakened. Tempest and Misty shared a worried look. "That means he can't negate the attack," Tempest realised. "At least he has enough Life Points to survive his monster's destruction." "Don't be so sure," Skystar smirked as she played another card. "I now equip Poseidra with the Spell, Shell Blade!" A giant seashell appeared in her monster's hands, which had a large spike on the end of it. "With this card, whenever it attacks a monster, it gains three hundred ATK points for every monster you control!" Everyone's eyes went wide hearing this, watching as the monster swam forward. "ATTACK!" Poseidra raised its weapon and pointed it at Arashiakuma Shinobi, its effects kicking in and boosting the sea monster's ATK by up to nine hundred ATK points. (A3700/D1600/L7) Everyone knew that if this attack landed, Grand was done for. "AAARRRHHH!" Pinkie screamed as she and Maud continued to run, the robot army continuing to chase after them. Said army had grown three times as big, the girls having run into several more security details during their rush through the facility. And with each robot group they ran into, they had to redirect their route to the backup terminal. Maud looked down at her Duel Disk and saw there was only one room with what they needed in this area. But if they ran into another group of robots, they were doomed. "This way!" She grabbed Pinkie's arm and pulled her around the corner and as she did, they both spotted a door at the end of a hallway. "There it is!" They ran as fast as they could to get into the room before the robots caught them, managing to get in and slammed the door shut before the mechanised security turned a corner. Seeing nobody there, their systems told them they'd escaped and the robots started to disperse. "That was close," Pinkie sighed in relief. She then looked around and saw the room they were in was full of multiple brooms, mops and boxes of cleaning supplies. "Is this...a broom closet?" "It's the very bottom of the backup terminals," Maud began to move several boxes to reveal a small computer system at the back of the room. "Only used when absolutely every other backup is out of order. Even so, we can still use it to tap into their systems and find what we need." She started typing at it while Pinkie looked back at the door, seeing no way of locking it. "Alright," she grabbed a broom and shoved it between the handle before grabbing any and all boxes she could find. "I'll make sure you aren't disturbed." "Thanks," Maud nodded as the holographic screen appeared infront of her. She took the flashdrive out of her pocket and plugged it in, the system coming online as she began her work. "It'll take a few minutes to get through their security. But once we're through, I can upload the worm that'll let Freeze Industries gain access. After that, it'll be a simple matter for them to transfer all the information they need." "Great, then get hacking. And while you do that, I stand guard." Maud looked back at Pinkie and saw she was now dressed like a London guard with her hair acting like the hat and a broom in place of a gun. The girl didn't seem at all bewildered by the clothing change and looked back at the computer, right as a window popped up. "What?" Maud looked closely at the image on the window, seeing it was blueprints for something. Atop the blueprints were two words. "Zenith Generator?" The image showed an orb of some kind, with a flat ring-like structure going around it. Said ring had eight triangular spikes coming out of it, giving it an almost star-like shape. "What are those Zealots up too?" She knew she had to focus on the Void information, but this might be just as important.