Turn 16: Fall into Chaos, Draconequus Attacks
It had been a week since Tempest's Duel against Novo. Both she and Heath Burns were still recuperating from the Dominate.
Since then, much had happened. Mainly, the data they'd collected on the Dominators had finally hit upon a location that might pose as a possible base location. And that place was where we open this chapter of the tale on.
Romania.
"Alright!" Thorax announced as his armoured vehicles packed outside the cliff-top manor, "let's get this done quick before they have a chance to escape." The soldiers all nodded as they jumped out of their vehicles and began to surround the building.
Thorax stared up at the place while frowning. "I hope this doesn't turn out to be a dead end." As he said this, Pharynx stepped up with his gun in hand.
"We're ready to head in." Thorax nodded and he turned to the others. "Alright! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" With that, the small army began to bust down the door and rush inside, their weapons primed encase of any contact. After several minutes, many soldiers began to call out.
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
Pharynx continued to survey the building but eventually came to the conclusion it was empty. He switched on his radio and spoke into it. "The building's secure. No sign of hostiles." That was Thorax's cue to enter, the teen stepping inside and looking around before sighing.
"Dang it." He made his own sweep of the place but eventually came to the same conclusion his cousin had. Every room in the house was bare and empty. If anyone had been living here, they'd either been gone for a while or done a very thorough job of cleaning up after themselves.
"I'm sorry," Thorax's face filled Cold's screen and showed a sorrowful frown. "It looks like they were onto us. By the time we got there, they'd already moved out."
Cold growled as he sat back in his chair. He, Sunset and Misty was in his office, talking to the young king over video chat. "That's disappointing, but should have been expected." He remembered back to what Tempest had told him about the Zealot's ability to teleport themselves. That would make escaping easy. "Did they leave anything behind?"
"A few loose documents here and there, but nothing that'll give us anything we don't already know."
"They were one step ahead of us."
Sunset saw how upset her mentor was and knew he needed to be lifted up. "On the bright side, we're definitely making progress on reducing the number of Zealots."
"Maybe," Misty sighed.
Sunset turned to her, looking curious at her frown. "What's up?"
Misty turned to another computer, showing an image that looked like a seismograph page. "Even though we destroyed Void, the distortion in space-time is still active."
"What does that mean?" Thorax asked.
"It means that there's still a connection between our world and the Duel Monster Spirit World. And it isn't like the Shadow Gate or natural breeches. If we're not careful, who knows what that could cause. And I'm sure whatever the Zealots have planned, this distortion has something to do with it."
"It's possible it's a backup of some kind," Sunset pointed out. "The Zealots must have known we'd target the place, so they put it in as a safeguard."
"Maybe," Misty sighed again, "or maybe they deliberately let us destroy the place."
"Why would they do that?" Thorax asked. "They wanted to have Zeronull Dominate someone, but that can only happen in Void. Why would they let the only place their master can awaken in be destroyed?"
"Who knows," Misty told him. "Maybe they planned for us to destroy it, only after Zeronull Dominated someone and we just managed to do it early. I might be wrong about this but I might also be right. We can't assume anything without more information."
Cold sat up and stared at Thorax, "keep up the good work. We'll message you if we get any leads on where the Zealots are hiding out." Thorax nodded and the screen went blank, Cold sitting back.
"Now what do we do?" Sunset asked, Misty turning towards the window and staring at the setting sun.
"We've done all we can for now. At this moment our best course of action is to relax and recharge. No doubt the Zealots are thinking the same thing. They've lost two of their members, so they'll likely need to rest and regroup to re-plan their next step."
Cold turned to her, "then we should be taking this opportunity to strike while they're off balance."
"We can't until we know where they are," Misty pointed out. "And if we just go off half-cocked, we'll end up too exhausted to put up a good fight. Right now, we need to do something that'll de-stress us. Like, say...a party." Cold sighed as he looked away, Sunset pouting.
"Come on. Flash and the others have worked really hard on this welcome home party. Don't you want to show how much you appreciate Pinkie and Maud's hard work?"
"I guess," Cold growled. To be honest, parties weren't really his thing. Nine times out of ten, he'd leave the event more stressed than when he arrived there. But he had a feeling he wouldn't be getting out of this easily.
In another part of the world, in an old junkyard, Discord was sitting on the remains of an old car flipping through his deck.
He stopped when he came to a certain card, smiling as he looked it over. "Soon. Very soon. Just wait a little longer and then you can come out to play." He was then pulled from his thoughts by a flash of light, looking up at the source and spotting Guto standing atop a pile of cars. "How is everything?"
"Good," Guto replied, "all things considering. Glorianna has begun setting everything up in the new base."
"She always did work fast," Discord smiled. "How goes the work on the Void Space projector?"
"It's coming along. Rhodos is working harder than ever to get it done. No doubt what happened to her mother has inspired her to push beyond her natural limits."
"Glad to hear some good came from her loss."
Guto turned to look down at him. "I would have thought you'd be more upset about that."
"Before she went back, she managed to awaken the Zenith Dragon of Bottomless Oceans. Now, Lord Zeronull can awaken. She might not have been here long, but she managed to achieve her mission. And with the title of Omega Zealot passed onto her daughter, everything can still go forward on schedule."
"Still," Guto went on, "these humans are starting to get the edge on us. First Hellfire and now Amphitrite. They're beginning to organise themselves."
"That's why I'm going to throw a wrench into their works," Discord put his cards away before getting up.
"What are you planning on doing?" Guto asked, Discord's reply coming as he turned to give him a sinister smirk.
"What I do best. Cause chaos and disorder. And the best way to do that is to follow the old proverb, cut off the head and the body will die."
Guto's confusion turned to a smile, "you're going after Cold Steel."
Cold nodded. "He was the one that orchestrated Sombra's defeat at the hands of Flash Sentry and he was the first to suspect Storm King. Take him out of the equation and they won't know what to do."
"Well be careful," Guto told him. "Cold Steel isn't a Duellist to be messed with."
"Oh, I know that. But I have a little trick to help even the odds." He looked down at his gloved hand, "a gift from our master." Guto's eyes went wide at this, Discord looking back up at him. "You'll be in charge until I get back."
Guto nodded in return, "and what if you don't come back."
"You know what needs doing," Discord pulled a card out and threw it to form a portal. "Make sure it gets done." Guto nodded back. "And if Gaia-Maiden should show up again, don't hold her previous actions against her. She likes to play games and I like that in a Zealot. She may be a little unorthodox, but her wishes are the same as ours."
"Alright," Guto nodded before Discord stepped up to the portal.
Before he stepped through, however, he turned back to say just one thing. "See you, at the moment of destruction."
Over at Freeze Stadium, our heroes were busy decorating the room they'd had the Celestic Cup and victory over Sombra party. The former hostages had all been let off from house arrest, so they got to enjoy the outside world as long as they were careful.
"What do you think?" Scootaloo asked as she and Applebloom hung a banner with the words 'Welcome Home' written on it. Her target for the question was Sweetie Belle and Spike, the two staring up at the sign while the other two were standing on step ladders.
Spike hummed, tilting his head. "A little bit higher on the left side."
"Like this?" Applebloom adjusted it.
"Perfect," Sweetie smiled. As the two climbed down, Twilight stepped past carrying a box of decorations. She was taking them over to Flash, how was sitting on another ladder hanging decoration.
"Here you go," she handed them over to her boyfriend.
The teen smiled down at her as he took them. "Thanks." But as the box was placed in his hands, Twilight noticed he was wearing a pair of fingerless black gloves. This made her frown as she watched him work, her mind flashing back to when they'd escaped.
Twilight was battling Moondancer when she suddenly heard Flash's voice cry out, causing her to look over as the darkness around her faded to show her boyfriend.
She gasped seeing him floating in the air, a dark light exploding off his hand. "Flash!" She cried, trying to get to him. He didn't seem to notice her, "Flash!" He didn't hear her again. "FLASH!" This time he heard her, his eyes opening and turning towards her before the darkness returned and blocked her from view.
"FLASH!" She heard her brother cry out.
"FLASH!" Sunburst's voice echoed.
"FLASH!" All their friend's voices yelled.
Despite getting out of Void, that image still haunted Twilight. And the sudden addition of gloves to Flash's ensemble made her even more suspicious.
"Flash?" He turned to her questioningly.
"What's up?" But before the teen could reply, the elevator pinged open.
"Hey guys!" They all looked to see Rainbow and her team step out into the room, "what's up?"
"You made it!" Flash smirked as he climbed down, rushing over to them. "About time."
"Sorry," Soarin smirked as he showed them the bags of goodies they were all carrying. "Gilda couldn't decide what to get. It took forever to-YOW!" He cried out as Gilda trod down on his foot, shooting him a death glare. "I mean, it's all my fault. I couldn't decide what to get."
Flash chuckled before hearing a door open and looked around. "Hola mi amigos!" Tidal cried as he, Shining, Cadance and Flurry stepped into the room. "Who's ready to part-A!" Flurry giggled at this, Flash smirking as he moved over to took her in his arms and started playing rocket.
Seeing this, Twilight couldn't help but feel bad about her attempted grilling. After everything that'd happened to him recently, Flash deserved to spend the entire party enjoying himself. "Just for tonight." She'd grill him tomorrow.
Everyone kept working on decorating the place, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Sunburst, Starlight and Mac arriving soon after to help out.
"Alright guys," Twilight called out once everything was done. "I just gotta text from Pinkie. Their taxi's pulling up and they'll be here any minute." A dinging of the elevator told them it was about to make its way up there. "They're here!"
"Hide!" Flash yelled as everyone hid behind the furniture and the lights went off. They waited several seconds until the elevator announced its arrival and opened.
"SURPRISE!" They cried as the lights flashed on and everyone leapt out. But as they did, they realised they'd just surprised Misty and Sunset.
"Err...thanks," the redhead spoke up.
"Oh," Everyone deflated as Flash spoke up, "wrong person." The elevator closed and began to travel downwards, indicating it was going down again.
"This time it should be them," Twilight told them as they once again hid and turned the lights back off.
Inside the elevator, Pinkie and Maud were waiting for it to reach the floor. All the while they both wondered the same thing.
"Why'd you think the others asked us here?" Pinkie turned to Maud, who turned back to her.
"I'm not sure. We'll find out in a minute." And they did, the elevator coming to a stop before the doors opened and showed there was nothing but darkness.
"Hello?" Pinkie called as they stepped into the room, pulling their suitcases with them. But seconds later, the lights flew on and their friends suddenly appeared infront of them.
"SURPRISE!" The two girls gasped but quickly realised what was happening, Pinkie's face making her signature smile.
"Aw, you guys."
Once the two'd said their hellos, including Pinkie hugging each of them for thirty seconds each, they all grabbed some snacks and talked about the two's time abroad. "It's good to have you back," Twilight told them. "Grand's been keeping us up to date with everything you've been doing."
Flash smirked, "you girls did a great job. So this party's also to thank you for all your hard work." This statement got the girls to frown.
"But Flash," Pinkie looked down in shame. "All we did was-"
"Hey," they both looked back at him, "we'll chat about your adventures later." He raised a glass of orange juice. "First, let's have a toast." The two looked confused by this, but then smile and nodded before everyone raised a glass.
"CHEERS!" Everyone called out before taking a drink and beginning to eat, talk, laugh and so much more.
"So Tempest and my father are still out in the field?" Misty asked the girls, who nodded.
"They're trying to track down more Zealot bases," Maud explained.
"I wish Tempest was here," Flash said. "I wanted to congratulate her on beating another Zealot."
"I'm sure she knows you're glad," Cadance assured him before turning back to the Pie Sisters. "We heard about what happened with Marble. That must have been tough."
"Yeah," Pinkie nodded, "but we managed to see her again for a little bit."
Rarity smiled at them. "I'm sure she sensed you were thinking about her."
Applejack nodded, "just keep believing in one another and things'll always turn out fine."
Pinkie and Maud nodded in agreement before turning to one another. "Then we can't waste any more time," Maud announced.
"We need to get stronger," Pinkie agreed.
"Then what are we waiting for," Flash smirked as he pulled out his deck. "Let's Duel!" This announcement got everyone hyped, the lot quickly setting up tables and split into opponents for sit down games.
"DUEL!"
Meanwhile, Cold was calmly making his way through the darkness of the night. His destination, the area Flash had been taken to Void from. The distortion spot.
He had his Duel Disk out and was currently video chatting with Grand about the distortion. "Do you really need to investigate that now?" The older man asked, "it's gotta be pretty late there. Why not wait until tomorrow."
"Might as well get it done now," Cold told him.
But then, in that moment, his Duel Disk began to glitch. "C-Cold?" Grand asked, the screen glitching. "W--ot --ong? I'm loo-ing...con----on." That was all he got before the screen went dead.
Cold was about to reboot when something new caught his attention. From out of nowhere, a burst of purple lightning sparked around him. "What?" That was all he could say before the world around him when black. "GYAH!"
"Flash Heart Dragon," Flash was about to call an attack when he suddenly froze as a pulse of pain surged through his hand. "Ahh!" He pulled it back, catching his opponent's attention.
"What's wrong?" Pinkie asked, seeing Flash stare at his gloved hand.
"I...I have no idea," he told her. Something about that felt strange, the fact it was happening to his marked hand causing even more worry.
When Cold's eyes finally opened, he found himself standing in a dark void.
All around him, there was nothing but darkness. "Where am I?" He tried to walk forward, but as far as he could tell each step lead him absolutely nowhere. It was as if he was walking on a treadmill, remaining stationary no matter how hard he tried to move forward. "What is this place?"
"Somewhere special, made just for you." Cold's eyes went wide as he turned towards the voice, frowning when he saw Discord step out of the darkness.
"Chaos Fiend, Draconequus."
Discord smiled, "thank you for using my true name." He then showed his arm had a Duel Disk, "for that, I'll be sure to make your end swift."
"So, you want to Duel me?"
"Of course. After all, that's how you silly humans settle everything on this world. Instead of using words or violence, you use cards."
"Never failed us before," Cold pointed out as he attached his own Duel Disk.
"Quite. But this won't be like any Duel you've had before. Here, you play for keeps. I intend to take out your annoying little group and the best way to start is with its leader."
"You're not taking me or anyone else down. I hope you enjoyed your time here because after this, you're going back to your world. And getting rid of you will put a major dent in your plan to resurrect Zeronull."
"We'll see," Discord stated as their Duel Disks activated. "For the resurrection of Lord Zeronull and the destruction that would follow.
"DUEL/OMEGA DUEL!"
Cold: 4000
Discord: 4000
"Ahh!" Flash cried again, feeling another pulse of pain flow through his hand.
"Is everything okay?" Pinkie asked. "Seems like you're in pain."
Flash frowned while staring at his hand. "Honestly, I'm not sure." This caused Twilight, who'd just finished her own Duel, to turn to him and frown. But before she could say anything, the sound of a phone made her turn to Misty.
She looked down at her phone before answering, "hey dad. What's-" She suddenly stopped before her eyes went wide. "Cold what!?" This got everyone's attention.
"I'll take the first move," Discord drew his card and smiled. "And I'll summon Neo Barrier Statue of the Abyss, in DEF mode!" From out of the darkness came a statue of a black demon with large wings, covered in purple gems with a skull for a face. (A1000/D1000/L4) "Then I activate the Continuous Spell, Chaos Control. This card will matter later. I'll place one card face down and end my turn."
Cold frowned as he looked over his options. He could only Special Summon Dark monsters but didn't have any. He had to find a way around that. "My draw!" He drew his card and nodded. "I summon Frozen Heart Wolf, in ATK mode!" An egg of ice appeared before shattering, revealing a large dire wolf that had fur as white as snow with two ice spikes coming out its back and ones coming off its knees. (A1200/D1300/L3/P4) "ATTACK!" The wolf charged at the statue and pounced on it, the monster exploding into darkness.
However, Discord simply smirked. "You activated my Trap!" His face down flipped up to reveal, "Shadow Reaper! This Continuous Trap's effect activates whenever a Dark Attributed monster is sent to the graveyard by battle. It then deals you one hundred points of damage for every Dark monster in my graveyard." A dark shadow shot out from Discord's feet, flying across the dark void until it reached Cold's feet.
Cold watched as it shot passed him and flew up out of the ground, the man turning to see it looming behind him with a large scythe. It then swung the scythe downwards, slashing him in the back. And when it did, pain like nothing Cold had ever felt surged through him. "AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, the pain making him fall to his knees.
Cold: 3900
Discord: 4000
He clutched his chest as he panted, looking up and glaring at Discord. "What was that?"
Discord smirked before opening his arms wide. "Didn't I tell you? This is a Duel especially for you." He glared down at Cold with a look that showed he was enjoying this. "Witness the special power granted to me by Lord Zeronull, which can be used once and once only. And with it, I cast a curse on the one that leads those foolish enough to oppose us." He pointed at Cold. "You won't just be losing life points in this Duel. You'll lose your very life force. And when those points hit zero, your life will come to an abrupt end."
Cold grunted as he pushed himself back to his feet. "Needed to put me under a handicap, huh? That doesn't paint you in a very favourable light."
"All that matters is your end. With you gone, your friends will be so distraught and without direction that they won't have a hope of standing against us."
"That's only if you win," Cold pointed out.
"What chance do you have?" Discord asked. "You felt how much pain losing a hundred life points dealt you. You won't be able to stand losing anymore." He smirked, "you're just a mere human. You can't hope to stand up to the curse of Lord Zeronull."
"Don't be so sure," Cold smiled. "For a long time, I've risked my life and suffered for this game. It'll take more than this to stop me."
"We'll see," Discord replied before something appeared in the darkness. "But for now, Neo Barrier Statue's ability lets me summon a Dark monster from my deck that has fifteen hundred or less ATK points. Arise, Chaos Fiend, Dark Jester!" A man in purple jester clothes appeared, having four lanky arms and four glowing green eyes hidden behind a mask. (A400/D400/L4)
Cold frowned before continuing on with his turn. "I now set scale two Frozen Heart Orca and scale nine Frozen Heart Yuki-Onna into the Pendulum Zone!" The pillars of light appeared on either side of him, the two monsters appearing within them before the portal formed above him. "Cut through space time and carve the arc of victory!" He chanted as the portal was completed. "I PENDULUM SUMMON!"
The portal opened up before a single light shot out of it and hit the ground, revealing Cold's ice monster. "Frozen Heart Mantis!" (A1700/D1200/L4/P3) "And when Mantis is Special Summoned, he deals you three hundred points of damage for every card in your hand!" The insect slashed its arms through the air, sending out two blades of freezing air that struck Discord.
Cold: 3900
Discord: 3100
"I place a card face down and end my turn." He shot a glare at Discord, "you might think you're something special but in the end, you're nothing but a mad man looking to get his kicks causing others pain. But your days of causing those on this world misery will end now."
Discord just smiled back, "we'll see."
"Alright," Misty nodded, "I'll head back there right now." She hung up as everyone else moved in closer.
"Mom," Flash spoke up, "what's happening with Cold?"
"Is he okay?" Sunset asked, looking worried.
"We don't know," Misty explained. "He was investigating the distortion of space-time when he suddenly disappeared." This made everyone look worried, "I'm gonna head back to the office and see-WAIT!" Flash rushed towards the open elevator and hit the button, the doors closing before anyone could stop him.
"FLASH!" Twilight pressed the call button but the elevator refused to return until it'd dropped Flash off on the ground floor. So as the others were riding the metal box down, Flash had already rushed out of the building and ran over to his Duel Runner.
"Cold," he whispered as he got on and kick-started the engine.
"It's my turn," Discord drew his card. "And since it's my Standby Phase, Dark Jester's ability activates." The clown snapped its fingers before a purple die appeared above them, the six-sided game piece falling to the ground and rolling around. "Now whatever number this dice lands on, Dark Jester's ATK and DEF will increase times it."
Cold frowned, hoping he'd get a one.
"Hoping for a lucky roll?" Discord asked, "I'm afraid your luck has run out. Thanks to my Chaos Control card." His Spell glowed, unleashing a light that flew over to the die. "Thanks to this card, I can dictate the outcome of a dice roll once per turn." Cold's eyes went wide as the die stopped, showing a monstrous-looking six to points straight up. "Now Dark Jester's ATK and DEF increases by six times its natural amount." The clown roared as a dark aura wrapped around him, his power increasing. (A2400/D2400/L4)
"Impossible," Cold whispered as Discord summoned another monster.
"Now, Chaos Fiend Mirror Phantom, appear!" From out of the shadows, a black gothic mirror appeared and floated next to Dark Jester. Inside the mirror, a dark figure with bright red eyes could be seen but had no distinguishing features. (A100/D100/L1) "Now I activate Mirror Phantom's special ability." The mirror turned towards Frozen Heart Mantis as a purple coin appeared in Discord's hand, the man showing it to Cold. "Heads," he showed a side that had the image of his ace monster's tail on it before flipping it around to show the other side had his ace's head on it, "tails." He then flipped it up into the air, "call it!"
Cold watched it flip upwards, spinning around and around until it reached its tip. And as it flew back down, he called out. "Heads!" The coin hit the ground and bounced around until it came to a stop, both seeing the image of Draconequus's head staring up at them.
"Oh, looks like you called it wrong." Discord smiled as the creature within his mirror began to shift and change. "Now, Mirror Phantom's skill lets it copy your monster. That includes its ATK and DEF points." The shape finally stabilised, revealing a dark reflection of Frozen Heart Mantis. (A1700/D1200/L1)
Cold growled as Discord ordered an attack, Mirror Phantom shooting out of the mirror and flying towards Frozen Heart Wolf. "I activate my Trap!" His face down flipped up, "Damage Diet!" Seconds later, the fake Mantis sliced through wolf and Cold once again bore the damage. "AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed once again, Damage Diet halving the damage but the pain was still great.
Cold: 3650
Discord: 3100
Discord smiled, "now Dark Jester!" The clown began juggling dark fireballs before throwing them in Mantis's direction, destroying it and causing Cold to once again scream out in unbelievable pain as his life points dropped again.
Cold: 3300
Discord: 3100
The Zealot watched as Cold stood there, grasping his chest in pain as he swayed from side to side. "You must be so scared. Not even down a thousand life points and already you've likely endured more pain then any human has possibly endured in your silly little existence." He placed a card face down as his monster's ATK points returned to normal, "makes me wonder just how much longer you'll be able to go on for."
Cold continued to pant as he reached for his deck, "long enough to beat you!" he drew his card as the portal above his head began to form. "I PENDULUM SUMMON!"
The portal opened before three lights shot out revealing his monsters after they exploded from their ice eggs. "Frozen Heart Wolf!" (A1200/D1300/L3/P4)
"Frozen Heart Mantis!" (A1700/D1200/L4/P3)
"And Frozen Heart Golem!" (A2800/D1800/L7) "Mantis's skill!" The insect swung its blades around, slashing right through Discord and making him cry out.
Cold: 3300
Discord: 2800
Despite having fewer life points, Discord smiled as he watched Cold pant. Clearly, he was feeling the exhaustion from the pain he'd felt.
"Look at you," Discord laughed. "You can't keep Duelling. You can barely stand up. You won't even make it to the end of the Duel. Soon you'll be gone and Flash Sentry will be ours." Cold's eyes went wide. "What, he didn't tell you. Before Void's destruction, his link with Master Zeronull fully realised. Had he remained in Void, he would have become the vessel. Now, all we need is to get him and master Zeronull will finally awaken!"
Hearing this caused new flames to explode in Cold's heart, "I won't let you lay a hand on him!" He placed his last card into his Duel Disk, "I place Ice Sculpture Carving. By shuffling Golem back into my deck, I can draw cards equal to his Level." Cold's monster exploded as he drew seven new cards, all the while thinking about the boy the Zealots were targeting.
'When we first met, I saw him as nothing more than a tool to use to undo the mistakes my family made.'
"I now sacrifice Mantis and Wolf, in order to summon Frozen Heart Neo Dragon!" The two monsters exploded into snow, which began to spiral around each other to form an ice egg that quickly began to crack. It then shattered, revealing Cold's ace as it roared and flew behind him. (A3000/D2500/L8/P5)
'I thought he would never have the strength and drive needed to save the world. But I pushed him, maybe even further than was necessary, so he could grow and mature. And during that time, he taught me just as much as I taught him. He showed me the true worth of what we were fighting to protect.'
"Neo Frozen Heart, ATTACK!" The dragon flew up as Cold reached for his Duel Disk. "Neo Dragon's skill!" He pulled a card from his Extra Deck, revealing Frozen Heart Wolf. Said monster appeared infront of the dragon before exploding into a bunch of ice, Neo Frozen Heart forming an ice ball that it tossed at Mirror Phantom.
'And now he stands as the light, that will act as a beacon leading us into a new world.'
The snow struck the mirror, freezing it and lowering its ATK points. (A0/D100/L1) The Chaos Fiend shivered within the mirror as Neo Frozen Heart flew down, its claws primed to destroy it and end this Duel.
"And now, my next path in life is clear." The attack landed and caused an explosion, filling the void space. "To protect that light, until it can attain its full strength!"
Flash was racing down the street, the pain in his hand returning constantly and almost directing him towards his destination.
Meanwhile, the others were following after him in their own vehicles. Twilight and Spike were riding with Misty and Scootaloo, "I've got Flash's signal," the teen girl explained. "He's not too far."
"Good," Misty looked at her satnav as Twilight told her the coordinates. "He's heading towards the distortion. But he doesn't know where he is. How is he getting there?"
Twilight had a feeling she knew and now she was seriously scolding herself for leaving it before now. "Flash."
Cold waited as the smoke began to fade, hoping to see a defeated Discord standing on the other side.
But when it finally dispersed, Cold's eyes went wide when he saw Discord standing there looking unscathed. "What?" He looked down at his Duel Disk and saw Discord's points remained unchanged, Cold asking a million questions until he realised what had happened.
He looked over at Discord's side of the field and saw another face up card, a Trap, along with another dark coin laying on the ground by Discord's feet. "Damage Flipper. Another Continuous Trap that lets me flip a coin whenever I'm about to take damage. Heads, it's negated. Tails, the damage is doubled."
Cold looked down at the coin and saw it showed the tail, a growl escaping his lips as he remembered that meant heads.
"And let's not forget about my Shadow Reaper!" The shadow shot across the field before appearing behind Cold and striking him with its scythe, the man screaming out once again.
Cold: 3100
Discord: 2800
Cold fell to his knees again, but quickly finished his turn before his strength left him. "I place two cards face down and end my turn."
Discord drew his card and smiled when he saw what he'd gotten, the die appearing infront of him as Dark Jester's ability activated. But strangely, Chaos Control didn't activate. This caused the die to roll a three, the clown's power raising but not as much as before. (A1200/D1200/L4) Discord then played the other card in his hand. "I place the Spell card, Monster Gate!"
Cold frowned, "that card's risky. Why use something that could destroy your whole strategy?"
"Where's the fun in playing things safe?" Discord asked as Dark Jester vanished into the darkness, "now I draw until I get a monster I can normal summon. And then I get to summon it."
'Is he trying to get to his ace?' Cold watched as Discord drew his cards, stopping after the third card as a smile appeared on his sinister face.
"Arise, Chaos Fiend, Dark Smile Magician!" From out of the darkness came a man wearing purple wizards robes with deranged smile patterns all over it. (A500/D1500/L4) As soon as it appeared, a large coin materialised in his hand before it flipped it into the air. "Tails." The coin landed showing the head, Discord smiling. "With that, Dark Smile Magician can now be treated as two tributes when summoning a high-level Dark monster." Cold's eyes went wide as Discord raised his card into the air, while Dark Smile Magician was consumed by a tornado of darkness. "Witness the arrival of my true self," he cried as he slapped the card on the Duel Disk. "Chaos Fiend, Draconequus!" The tornado exploded, revealing the amalgamation of body parts. (A3000/D2500/L8)
Cold could only watch in horror as the creature Dominating Discord floated behind him.
"Draconequus's skill!" The beast snapped its fingers before the purple die appeared and fell to the ground, Chaos Control activating and making it stop on a demonic one. "Now I can draw cards equal to your current hand." Discord drew four cards and smiled. "Now I activate Riryoku." Cold's eyes went wide as he watched a dark hand appeared out the darkness and grabbed Neo Frozen Heart, pulling back and ripping a spectral version of the dragon out of it. "This Spell lets me steal half your monsters ATK points and give them to my monster." The hand pulled the spectral image into Draconequus, powering it up. (A1500/D2500/L8/P5) (A4500/D2500/L8)
Cold's eyes filled with fear as Draconequus floated up into the air as its horns sparked with black lightning between them. The lightning then shoot off them and flew towards Neo Frozen Heart, electrocuting the dragon and causing it to explode. The lightning then flew off it towards Cold, zapping him.
"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He bellowed out at the top of his lungs, the pain of the lightning and the loss of his life points more then any human body can take. And so, as the lightning dispersed, he fell to his knees with his entire body smoking.
Cold: 100
Discord: 2800
Discord laughed as he stared down at the man, believing this was the end until he saw Cold reach for his Duel Disk. "I activate... my Trap," he forced out and his face down flipped up. "Healers... Breath. Now... I gain Life Points equal to half the damage... I just took."
Cold: 1600
Discord: 2800
Discord was actually impressed, "I place one card face down and end my turn."
Cold tried to reach for his deck, but his arm dropped in pain. His body was completely dead to him. He couldn't continue to Duel, which meant he'd lost.
"Finally reached your limit, have you?" Discord chuckled. "I commend you for lasting this long. I thought for sure you wouldn't survive that last attack. Very impressive. But this moment was inevitable."
Cold cried out as he tried to raise his arms again, "I'm not... done yet!"
Flash felt another stab of pain as he continued to race through the town, eventually arriving at the spot he'd first been captured and released from Void.
"Augh!" He cried as he pulled his runner to a stop and clutched his hand, looking around until he spotted it. An orb of shadows surrounded by purple lightning, a sense of dream filling Flash as he stared at it. "Over there?" He suddenly sensed something and rushed forward, reaching out with his gloved hands. But as he did, his hand surged with pain once again. "AUGH!" He flinched at the pain, seeing the Omega Symbol glowing through his glove. But he kept pushing forward, feeling himself beginning to phase through it.
And as he did this, Twilight and the others arrived on the scene.
Getting out of the car, they spotted him and gasped. "Flash," Twilight called out, "wait-" But that was she was able to say before Flash disappear into the darkness. "FLASH!" They all yelled, rushing forward to try and go with him. But as they touched the orb, a pulse of energy exploded off of it and they both found themselves crying out in pain as he was thrown back.
Inside the dark space, Flash appeared out of the darkness and gasped when he saw what was going on.
"COLD!" He cried, spotting him on his knees staring down Discord and his ace monster. He rushed over to him and caught him, helping him from falling as he looked up at Discord. The two stared one another down, Discord smiling while Flash frowned. Flash barely understood what was happening, but he knew that whatever it was had Cold's fate on the line.
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Well, this duel is gonna be intense.
Will Cold make it out? If so how?
I need to know.
Also, I love the twist of the duel ending with the duelist unable to battle...
Now, If only during the initial series of Omega Zealots victories, someone used something like that to stop the Omega Zealots, or at least hinder them, like someone whose job is to protect someone used the tools of their trade to end the threat made to the person they are charged to protect... or maybe down the road, someone close to the heroes knocks out the Omega Zealots during a duel...
Well this is getting intense. Now Draconequus, the leader of the Omega Zealots is finally taking matters into his own hands. By the end of this duel one side will lose their leader. This certainly does feel sadistic on Draconequus' end though, basically rigging the match in his favor from the start by forcing Cold to feel pain through the damage he takes. Hopefully Flash can give Cold some assistance now that he's there though.
Change "even" to "either" and "of" to "or".
begun
calmly
paint
Damn that Draconequus. I knew the Zealots were evil, but this is just wrong on so many levels. Now he’s pushing Cold up to Death’s door, and Flash may well be on the verge of becoming Zeronull’s vessel.
These Zealots, they are hope crushers. They want to break the good guys’ spirits so they’ll stop fighting back because they know they can’t win otherwise. That’s why they need to be stopped, why they deserve to go down hard.
Discord is a major threat in this with that deck. I'm wondering how things will work out for the next chapter.
Okay, I was expecting Cold to have a chapter where he had his butt handed to him, but I didn't think it was going to turn out anything like this. For example, last few times he was beaten this bad, his arrogance, at least partially, lead to his downfall. This time his arrogance had hardly anything to do with what he's going through. Wait.
YOU'RE CORRUPTING FLASH NOW?! 
We haven't even reached turn 25 yet. Oh my. 
This story has taken a turn for the unpredictable.
10312523
We already went over why the protagonists couldn't resort to measures like that. 
Besides, no one wants to root for protagonists who fight dirty, and if the heroes play dirty too many times, the readers will eventually go from not rooting for them to straight up not caring if they win or not. I believe the term TVtropes uses for this event is "Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy."
Okay, if you're still going on about Pharynx not shooting Hellfire while he was still in Heath's body, let that go.
10312670
I don't know, man. Flash being there actually makes me feel worse about the whole situation.
10312719
Agreed.
10313782
You said it, not me
10313782
And contrary to your assertion, people do root for heroes that use underhanded methods, case in point, Batman.
Also 1) our villains are a doomsday cult with the means to usher in the apocalypse,I think we forgive our heroes for over-acting in desperation when all existence is at stake.
2) Heath was a willing partner of Hellfire when the two linked
3) you can't duel if you can't use either or both hands
4) Pharynx doesn't technically count as a protagonist or really part of the hero group proper, he's really an ally, with a mutual interest in helping the heroes because doing so is fulfill his duties in protecting his nation, people and his king
And 5) In my most recent critique, I said didn't say kill, I said... slight paraphrase... remove the threat
10313782
Maybe I’m a bit of an optimist trying to remain positive, but I have a good feeling about this. Flash and Cold were in trouble separated anyway, so I don’t see how Flash being there to help Cold could make things worse, power of friendship and all that.
10313828
Okay, I will concede that Flash and Cold were in just as much trouble separated as they are together. At the same time, Flash really isn't in the right state of mind to be facing off against Draconequus.
10313782
I don't know how this fight is going to end. What I do know is that I'm sick and tired of having to watch those damned demons do horrible things and then get everything they want. That's not how things are supposed to work...