Double

Yu-Gi-Oh!: Perils of the Night

Is Aile at the gate? I was under the impression that she was somewhere inside the cemetery, otherwise Toby would have had a bad reaction to seeing her.

World of Light

The Under

Dreams of Light

Word Count: 882
Level 5 Ganondorf: 45/60
Exp: +4
NEW EXP Balance--- 49/60

As the Radiance continued to rain hell on the Seekers, Ganondorf had taken a moment to get his bearings and try to analyze the Guardian’s attacks for a moment. She teleported a lot, and almost all of her attacks were big, sweeping area attacks designed to keep her from being swarmed by crowds. Ganondorf was willing to bet that this meant she was less effective against a foe that forced her into a one-on-one at close range. And then came Nadia’s voice.

“Wow, this thing really has it out for you.”

Ganondorf grimaced, but nodded in agreement. ”I can assure thee that the feeling is mutual.” he offered back in response. Seconds later, Therion springboarded off of him and Nadia soon followed after him to team-up against the Guardian. After their attack came the Koopa Troop’s turn once again to try their hand at facing the Guardian. In the midst of this she unleashed a volley of light lances, and a handful of those even came in the warlord’s direction. He sidestepped one and tried to deflect the rest with this trident but one of them managed to slice past his lower mid section.

”You damnedable creature!” he hissed in pain. The wound itself wasn’t serious, but the light element behind it still burned a being such as himself. And this was also when Ganondorf looked down and realized he had been wielding his trident as if he were still right-handed! ”Bah, I knew this would take some getting used to! Curses!” and so he quickly moved the trident so that it would be held predominantly by his left hand. He didn’t expect this to have much of a profound effect, but at least it was a start.

That was when the Radiance teleported away from her fight with the Koopa Troop. After which she unleashed another volley of lances. But this time Bowser was the one with the answer as he summoned a wall of skeletal minions to form up and at least stop the first couple lines of fire. As for the warlord, he didn’t waste the opportunity to defensively duck behind the wall of minions. In those precious moments he re-summoned his Moblin archers whom he immediately commanded to ready a volley and fire only after the skeletons fell.

When they did, the Moblins let their arrows fly. Between that and the Moblins’ bodies themselves, Ganondorf was able to block a small portion of the next volley of lances. It wasn’t as wide of a coverage but it did give the Seekers behind him some kind of safe zone they could cling to. And once the volley ended, Ganondorf charged. He used bullet jump to sprint forward and launch himself up at the Radiance, intending to directly engage her once again.

”Die, knave!” he barked as he managed to catch the Radiance with a sweep of his trident. He managed a short flurry of attacks before she lashed back at him with lasers to send him back to the floor of the platform. But the warlord refused to be pushed back so easily. He had by some miracle managed to land on his feet and into a crouched position, ”Thou wilt not best me so easily!” and once again launched himself up at the Guardian.

This time he grappled onto the Radiance, using his trident to get some leverage around her head and neck area. And then he exploded. Well, not literally. He unleashed an explosive area of effect blast of his own. A power he had very recently obtained courtesy of Artorias - Abyssal Resurgence. Not only was this an explosion of dark energy, however effective that would be against the Radiance. But it also gave Ganondorf a nice little temporary damage buff that he was keen to capitalize on. He pushed himself off of the Guardian and then threw his spear at the Radiance and even managed to call a lightning blast onto it like a lightning rod just before she teleported away.

Only after that did Ganondorf crash back onto the platform. He staggered to his feet, still kicking but clearly not in great shape. He could only use Abyssal Resurgence because he had taken significant damage by this point. He was one of the only Seekers that was outside of Jr’s medico spell range earlier. That was probably why he had been taken into range of using Abyssal Resurgence. He could also enter his true form if he wanted to, but decided against it.

Ganon would be too slow and sluggish to take on a teleporting enemy like this. In fact doing that would just make the warlord that much easier for the Guardian to shred his health to pieces with her area-based attacks. And so with heavy breaths, the warlord pulled out a splash healing potion - one of only two he had left - and crushed it against himself. It wasn’t a large amount of healing, but it was something. Ganondorf summoned the trident back to his left hand, then decided to position himself a little closer to Jr in the hopes of catching a healing spell later on.

World of Light

Midgar

Deep Ground ~ The Source

Word Count: 550
Level 7 Roxas: 63/70
Exp: +4
NEW EXP Balance--- 67/70

With Sam having gone, that was one less thing for the Seekers to have to worry about for this fight. But the fight itself was far from over. It wasn’t hard to see that Mephisto in his transformed state was the cause of all the white gas that was plaguing the Seekers in this fight, so Roxas decided he needed to focus on taking him out before all the white clouds of gas proved to be a problem.

He tried shooting a charged shot from his RockGun at the avian monster, but it didn’t seem to do much damage from what Roxas could see. And on top of that, the big bird also teleported away only to reappear elsewhere. Great. That meant anyone wanting to get rid of Mephisto was going to have to continually chase him down. Well, Roxas couldn’t fly around like some other Seekers, he was still capable of being mobile in his own way. So he used the dash of his StepSword and Flow Motion to try and keep up with and chase Mephisto wherever he teleported. He tried not to engage with the other enemies or get in any of the Seekers’ way while doing this.

When he got close he zoomed in on the Singer and nailed him with a Cross Slash. This naturally resulted in the avian teleporting away, forcing Roxas to begin the process over again. Roxas repeated this pattern a couple of more times, at one point narrowly dodging out of the way of a clash between Midna and C. But with the Singer continually teleporting around, and its gas slowly taking its toll on Roxas and everyone else, this was not looking to be a particularly good time for him.

”Hah… this is getting… really tiring…” Roxas gasped in between coughs. He began to wonder how much damage the gas had done by now and if he should pause and heal himself with Curaga. But if he did that, he’d lose all the rest of the MP and then what? It would be a lot harder to keep up with chasing down the Singer without any MP to use. And on top of that the Gas would just slowly undo the healing anyway, so what was even the point?

”No…” Roxas coughed, ”Can’t… let up… now…” and so he resumed the chase. He weaved his way past a chaotic confrontation between Karen and several of the Seekers. He could have stopped and joined any of these other fights, but if he did then the Singer’s gas would continue to slowly kill off the Seekers if it wasn’t stopped. After managing a StepSword slash and even following it with a Cross Slash, the Singer teleported away from the Nobody yet again.

”Come on…” Roxas gasped, ”Keep… fighting…” he staggered slightly. By now the gas was really hurting. But he couldn't just drain the rest of his MP on Curaga either. He wasn't sure he'd be able to keep attacking the Singer if he did that. And then what? Half a minute of struggling without MP while the gas slowly undid the Curaga's healing? No, there had to be another way around this.

Yu-Gi-Oh!: Perils of the Night

Tobias Westen

Toby was almost tempted to just leave after he was eliminated. He didn’t, though, not wanting to be rude to the game store owner or to the other players. But watching Aile win again and again, eventually even taking the final match? That made him burn and seethe even more than he already had been. He still thought back to that aggravating turn, where he drew Felgrand Dragon from his deck. It was the worst possible thing that could have happened. Felgrand Dragon could only be special summoned from the graveyard, and even then only after it was sent there from the field. Ideally it was supposed to be equipped to one of his Felgrand warriors directly from the deck so that it could be sent to the graveyard via their effect and summoned from it later. But drawing it to hand like that? With no Paladin or Guardian to equip it to right away? Of all the absolute rotten luck. Aile won because she had a bunch of powerful cards she bought. But she also won largely because of Toby's abysmal luck of the draw.

Bah! Who was he kidding? Everyone in this tournament was able to summon a bunch of powerhouse cards from their extra deck. And here Toby was with his barely-functioning structure deck that had no extra deck monsters of its own to use. He had to face it, there was no way in hell he was winning this thing. Not really. But finally, it all ended and Toby could get out of there without looking too much like a sore loser. But before he did, one of the judges slipped him something on his way out. It was some kinda envelope, with its only note being to not open until he was alone. Seemed weird, but Toby took it anyway, once again not wanting to be rude and do or say something that would get him banned from the shop.

Toby eventually did open the thing once he was back home and sulking in his bedroom. Cemetery? Midnight? Alone? This had “suspicious” written all over it. In fact Toby was pretty sure he’d seen a horror movie once that started out kinda like this. Any sane person would toss the invitation and forget about it. And for a while he did just that. Toby actually crumpled the note up and tossed it in his trash bin before he went to bed and fell asleep.

Toby ended up cutting school the next day. He had no desire to risk running into Aile and dealing with her, especially after having lost to her for the second time in a row. Instead he spent almost the entire day at the Old Domino Batting Cage. Toby had a habit of spending a lot of his free time here, especially when he wanted to vent his frustrations into hitting homers or if he just wanted to think. Not only that, this was the only way he could even play baseball anymore after being cut from the team at school.

If Tobias was being completely and totally honest with himself, then between baseball and duel monsters? He loved baseball just a little bit more. He played this sport for far longer than he ever played any card games. Whether it was little league when he was a kid, or with the Tigers on the high school team. He had more fond memories of playing ball than playing cards. But these days, the cards were the only thing he could actually competitively play. Or what passed for competitive play, given his lousy excuse for a deck.

Later that evening, after Toby made it back home and heard an earful from his mom about skipping school, he found himself sulking in his bedroom once again. The cards of his dueling deck were spread out on his desk, him having spent a bit of time looking over them and trying to figure out which ones he should eventually replace. Unfortunately, his knowledge of this game was still pretty lacking, and so in the end he frustratingly decided to leave the deck alone for the time being. And that was when he remembered the weird invitation he was given yesterday.

”Tch, geez…” he muttered to himself, ”I must be out of my freaking mind.” With no more time left to think this over, Toby hastily dug the crumpled up invitation out of the trash bin and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. Then he gathered his deck and snuck out into the chilly night. From there, it was a matter of making his way to Old Domino Cemetery. The note said there would be further instructions at the gate, so that’s where Toby stopped and waited.

Until he saw her, that is.

"Oh come ON!" Toby groaned with frustration, "SHE'S here too? As if I don't have to deal with the pampered princess enough at school during the day..." he added, his voice trailing off into incoherent grumbling.

World of Light

Midgar

Deep Ground ~ The Source

Word Count: 890
Level 7 Roxas: 59/70
Exp: +4
NEW EXP Balance--- 63/70

At first, Roxas was just as dumbfounded as everyone else. Why the sudden outburst? Why was Nox acting like he had already lost before the fight could even start? But the more Roxas pondered about it, the more he began to remember something from his own past that was, at least, tangentially related. And that was when it hit him. Time travel? Had a future incarnation of Nox jumped back in time into the body of his past self? That was the only thing that would make his sudden change in attitude make sense.

It also followed the rules of time travel, at least the way Roxas understood it back in his world. The rule was that someone could only go back to a point in time that their past self existed in, and that they would essentially enter and take control of their past self. And this seemed to fit that bill. Maybe. Roxas couldn’t be absolutely certain without just coming out and asking, and it looked like he wasn’t going to be getting an opportunity to do that as the tensions rose and C suddenly escalated things by changing Mephisto into another form and deciding to join the fight himself.

But Nox’s actions weren’t the only thing that got the Nobody’s attention. He noticed that Sam, too, looked just as perplexed as everyone else. In fact for a moment he even looked downright dispirited. And that was when Roxas knew what he should do. He had to at least try.

”Things aren’t going the way you planned, Sam?” Roxas asked him, approaching slowly and not drawing any weapons just yet. The man offered a slow shrug before he spoke back.

“You think?” Even Sam apparently couldn’t maintain his typical carefree attitude in circumstances like these. He’d deployed some sort of face mask from his armor to shield his nose and mouth from Mephisto’s clouds, and his eyes were narrowed against the stinging haze.

”Why were you even doing this, anyway?” Roxas asked, ”You know as well as we do what’s really behind all this. So why suddenly throw your lot in with these guys?” The Nobody coughed as the looming clouds began to envelop them. He shielded his mouth with his sleeve and his helmet’s green visor deployed as well to shield his eyes.

“When someone offers you a chance for a nice, clean do-over?” Sam responded, “Well, it’s kind of hard to say no.”

”There’s still another way out of this.” Roxas offered alongside another cough.

“Oh? Do tell,” the samurai replied, his tone quite humorless as he gave the boy and his allies a dubious glance.

”Help us eliminate the Guardian. When it’s gone, everyone in Midgar will remember the things they forgot… just like you did. I can’t promise it’ll be perfect, but maybe that’ll give you the do-over that you’re looking for?” he coughed again while awaiting the response.

“Hmm…” Though one hand continued to rest on the hilt of his sheathed katana, Sam rubbed his chin with the other, and did seem to be considering it.

”How about this then?” Roxas offered instead, ”Let’s see who can land the first hit. If I do? You join our side. If I can’t? You can do whatever else you want. No tricks, no gimmicks. Just you, me…” Roxas paused in order to summon Oblivion and proceeded to hold it both hands much like Sam would with his katana, ”...and our blades.”

After a moment, the suggestion elicited a snicker. “Everywhere I go, it’s the same. Everyone wants a piece of me. I fight and I fight, for this cause or that, and the moment I run into someone stronger, I’m under new management again. I’m tired of being a blade, passed along and wielded by other men.” He shook his head. “I thought this would be my chance to start all over. But in the end, it was too good to be true.” Sam tilted his head back slightly, staring down the bridge of his nose at Roxas. “So you know what? I’m done. No more recruiting. No more causes. It’s time I started fighting for myself.”

Roxas could only smile at this. ”Then I guess that’s that.” He turned away from Sam, knowing he needed to go join the others in the fight, ”But you know… I’m not really looking for a blade.” he said with another cough, ”Just looking for friends really. I guess I was hoping I could count you as one.” he couldn’t really wait around for a response this time, and dashed off to go join the fight.

“Hah.” On some level, Sam expected Roxas or his allies to try and recruit him by force. The idea that the Seekers might just let him go hadn’t even crossed his mind. It made for a welcome change of pace, but the Brazilian wasn’t going to give them too much credit. After making sure that nobody would rush him the moment his back was turned, Sam turned to go. “Friends, huh?”

Mephisto’s smog and Tycoon’s spells hurried him on his way, and after another moment, Jetstream Sam was gone. He wasn’t sure where he was going, but for once he’d be the one to decide.

Yu-Gi-Oh!: Perils of the Night

It's a chance for our characters to get to know each other a bit as well.

I'm fine with skipping most of the tournament, since that would take a while to RP out for something that really does not matter in the slightest; we can just vote of who wins. But having us duel at least one other player does at least let us point at each other and go "hey, it you, you got a weird cemetery invite as well".

@King Cosmos

It also means we'll be able to solidify once and for all how we handle duels in the future.

World of Light

The Under

Temple of the Black Egg ~ The Radiance

Word Count: 791
Level 5 Ganondorf: 41/60
Exp: +4
NEW EXP Balance--- 45/60

And just like that, the battlefield shifted. The circular pillar looked almost the same, but the skies and terrain around it was not. That didn’t change the fact that this was the dream world yet again. As with Robin Goodfellow, Ganondorf was unmoved and unfazed. Whether here or in the waking world, it made little difference. Victory would still be his in the end. And then the sun-like beacon approached, and fast. It then also took the shape of a silvery-white being, angelic and alien-like at the same time. And this was when Ganondorf visibly grimaced in displeasure. Light. Pure, radiant light. This creature practically reeked of it.

All the more reason to kill it, he reasoned. The warlord wasn’t going to wait this time like he had earlier. No, this time he would be the first one to get a taste of what this wretched creature of the light could do. He summoned Moblins who readied their bows and fire arrows, but did not fire just yet. Ganondorf summoned one of his strikers, Riptor. And only when she lobbed the fireball from her mouth did he give the order for the Moblins to loose their arrows. What Ganondorf didn’t expect was the Radiance summoning a wall of light that she sent shooting forward like an oversized projectile. It easily tanked the fireball and fire arrows, but dissipated after it traveled halfway across the arena.

And then swords began to rain from above like a storm of razor-sharp pain and death. They came in 18 columns of twelve that almost seemed to shift around their positions. The only options were to either hope one was skilled enough to deflect the swords above them, or fast enough to keep to the occasional safe spots that showed up as gaps among the columns. All the while, the Radiance teleported herself about - making it all but impossible to try to attack her during the rain.

”Steel thyselves!” Ganondorf warned, knowing that the rain of swords endangered everyone and not just himself. He was able to use his trident to deflect away many of the swords coming down on him until he could bullet jump himself over to one of the safe spots. It wasn’t a clean getaway though, he was nicked and grazed by a few blades along the way. Riptor had vanished before the rain of swords began, and the Moblin archers weren’t nearly as skilled or fortunate as their master was. They were skewered and wiped out in moments by the falling blades. A horrific demonstration of the fate that awaited anyone who failed to avoid the attack.

”Curses!” Ganondorf said sharply. But he refused to be intimidated by this creature. He launched up and then jumped again in midair so that he could then catch the Radiance in a series of serial sweeps with his Trident. He intended to try and slam her down to the ground of the pillar where he could then call down a lightning bolt strike, but the Guardian had other plans. She suddenly shot out several beams of light around her from her face. Ganondorf tried to twist his body in a way to avoid them, but they caught him anyway and he was sent careening back to the ground.

That landing and the hard hit from the beams took Ganondorf to his knees. But the warlord pushed himself back to his feet with a scowl, ”Damn you!” he grunted. Instead of going on another direct assault, he instead summoned Blast Hornet. The reploid used its search attack to launch the wasp-like drones to fly toward the Radiance and explode upon colliding with her. Or they would have if she had not fired off a volley of swords from her face that struck the wasps and destroyed them before they could reach her.

And then she summoned a trio of orbs that flew down and attempted to home in on Ganondorf. Thankfully he managed to avoid taking this hit, by batting two of the orbs with his trident and managing to dive out of the way of the third one, resulting in it striking the ground instead. Ganondorf gave the boss a frustrated glare. Whatever this Radiance was, she was doing a right good job of pissing him off. But Ganondorf hadn’t used up all of his tools just yet. He still had a trump card he could play. But that would have to wait for the time being. And besides, he didn’t want to waste the power of his true form until he had exhausted all of his other options.

World of Light

The Under

The Chasm ~ Temple of the Black Egg

Word Count: 1,169
Level 5 Ganondorf: 35/60
Exp: +6
NEW EXP Balance--- 41/60

Ganondorf grimaced and made a low growl of frustration, ”Of course the little coward runs away. But he can’t run forever. I’ll hunt him down myself if I have to.” That of course left the matter of the newly dropped Spirits. And the warlord did have his eye on at least one of them, that being Artorias. He hadn’t known the knight for long, but he’d shown himself to be a strong warrior in his own right, just the sort of power that Ganondorf wanted for his own. With the spirit in hand, the Gerudo Warlord pressed it against his torso in order to consume it. Like always, he was enveloped in a brief flash of light.

For Ganondorf

Notable spirit consumed:
Artorias
The host's build is a little narrower and less brawny, though he's a little taller. His armor now just about fully covers him, a very dark gray in color, and though his helmet is more open from the front his face is cast in darkness, and it features a plume in the back. A faded, black-stained blue is added to his cape and the other cloth elements of his outfit. His personality is a bit more doom-and-gloom. This spirit confers the Power Abyssal Resurgence, granting the host the ability to channel and then let off a dark AoE explosion when his health reaches 1/3. Every explosion gives him a stackable (but temporary) damage buff and he takes reduced damage while channeling, though he can be interrupted. This spirit also confers the Weakness Left Hand Rule, making the host's left hand his dominant one, but his left arm a weak point that's more susceptible to breaking.

He examined himself, Ganondorf now looking fully armored. The armor’s colors were darkened by the influence of the knight’s attire, and his cape also took on a blue hue stained with black. His helmet now appeared to be open-faced, though his actual visage appeared masked in shadow. He reached up and felt the newly formed plume on the back of his helmet as well. But apart from this, Ganondorf couldn’t help but stare at his left hand. The reason being that it suddenly felt more dominant than it previously was. Had Artorias’ spirit made him… left-handed? ”This will taketh some getting used to.” He said, realizing how he sounded shortly after. ”This, too, t’would seem.”

With that done, Ganondorf followed along with the other Seekers as they made their way back to the Temple of the Black Egg. The place where it all started. The warlord was none-too-thrilled to revisit the place he had been imprisoned. But he had always known that this was inevitable. The Guardian was here, and so it was going to be here where the hopefully final battle would be fought before he could finally put this blasted Under behind him forever. Also Ganondorf really hoped that their trick to duplicate one of their mask fragments actually worked. Because if this turned out to be for nothing, then… he would not be a happy camper.

Thankfully those worries turned out to be unfounded. The temple, cracked and damaged as it was since the last time they were all here, accepted the mask fragments as they were presented. And what finally emerged from the egg was… another knight. Was that it? Just another masked knight who wasn’t really much bigger than Ganondorf himself? He’d better have a lot of power backing him up, otherwise this was going to be a short battle.

It was Bowser and his kin who moved first. Typical. Of course he would be the one to impulsively jump in before anyone else. Even if, truth be told, if he didn’t then Ganondorf may well have done so himself. Oh well, at least he could look at what the Hollow Knight could do before engaging with it himself. If nothing else, Bowser made for a useful guinea pig in that regard. The knight was faster than he looked, even managing a nasty strike on the Koopa King’s arm. Jr and Rika managed to get him off but it was Kamek who finally said something that Ganondorf took note of.

It seemed they would have to kill this creature in its dreams in order for it to die for real. And now the Orsterrians in addition to Sectonia were making their moves. Therion’s attempted attacks proved unequivocally that the Hollow Knight was a lot faster than his appearance suggested. And so now Ganondorf decided to revisit an old tactic of his. While the knight was contending with Therion and Primrose and Sectonia was casting her Slow spell on it, the warlord summoned his Phantom to his side. Phantom Ganon brandished his trident and immediately took to floating in the air.

”Have at thee!” Ganondorf shouted. He brandished his own trident and hurled it forward in the newly slowed Hollow Knight’s direction. It spun through the air, but the weapon itself was intended to be a distraction more than anything. Ganondorf used a bullet jump to launch forward into a high-speed bullrush that he could put into a powerful lariat or clothesline attack with his right arm. As he planned, the Hollow Knight was busy deflecting the thrown trident and therefore was caught by the warlord’s attack which sent him flying back a bit.

The Hollow Knight was quick to recover from this and snapped its attention on the Gerudo and lunged, trying to impale him with the nail blade like he had nearly done to Bowser moments ago. Thankfully for Ganondorf, the knight was under the effects of the slow spell which gave him enough time to re-summon the trident and parry the incoming charge. But before Ganondorf could retaliate, the bastard teleported straight up so he could try to slam down on the warlord from above. And that was when Phantom Ganon made his move, lunging at the airborne Hollow Knight from the side and slamming into him with his own trident.

But Phantom Ganon was not as quick or responsive as Ganondorf. So even the slowed Hollow Knight was able to retaliate with a slam of his nail that sent Phantom Ganon reeling back. But Ganondorf had now jumped in midair in order to catch him with a sweep of his trident that finally sent the vessel back down toward the ground. Ganondorf threw his trident straight down, but the Hollow Knight was able to dodge being skewered by it. But he was caught by the lightning bolt that followed the attack, avoiding a direct hit but still taking some indirect damage from the blast. This was when Ganondorf landed back on the ground next to the weapon and grasped it in his hands. But the Hollow Knight teleported behind him and managed to slash at his back with the nail.

”Thou shalt not get away with thy cowardice, ye knave!”

Yu-Gi-Oh!: Perils of the Night

Tobias Westen

”Ha! You fell for it!” Toby declared with a smug look on his face. On his field was Paladin of Felgrand with Felgrand Dragon equipped to it as well as Dragon Ravine in the Field Spell zone. He also had set two cards in his back row, but only one of them was important for the play he was about to make. Toby had just tried to Normal Summon his Dragon Knight of Creation, to which his opponent had responded by flipping over Torrential Tribute, destroying both the Dragon Knight and Paladin in one swoop.

“‘Fell for it’?” his opponent questioned with a look of skepticism, “Dude, I just wiped your monsters!” and normally he’d be right. Such a play was usually devastating. Unless, of course, the player in question wanted his cards in the graveyard.

”Looks like someone hasn’t been paying attention. Guess you’ll have to learn the hard way. I activate my trap: Call of the Haunted.” Toby flipped over one of his set cards, revealing it to be the trap card in question. He used its effect to special summon Felgrand Dragon from the graveyard, ”When this big guy hits the field, I choose a monster in my graveyard and he gains 200 attack times the chosen monster’s level. So I’ll choose my Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon.” a couple of turns ago, Toby had used the effect of Dragon Ravine to send Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon from his deck to the graveyard. This meant that Felgrand Dragon now had 4800 attack points, ”I’ll enter the battle phase and attack your Gladiator Beast Rynos.” the attack went unchallenged and Toby’s opponent lost 2300 life points as a result.

”Main Phase 2,” Toby announced, not quite done with his turn. ”I’ll discard a card from my hand to activate Dragon Ravine, sending Red-Eyes Wyvern from my deck to the graveyard. I’ll end my turn by activating Wyvern’s effect during the end phase. By banishing it from the graveyard, I can special summon a Red-Eyes Monster from the graveyard. In this case, Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon!”

And just like that, what would have otherwise been a devastating board wipe was instead turned around into a powerful summon of two high-level dragons. Of course, Toby only learned this play because the last time he attempted it, he missed the timing like an idiot and it cost him the duel. In fact, he remembered spotting the exact stuck up girl he had lost to in the crowd of tournament participants. That stuffy rich girl had a way of getting under his skin, and Toby was hoping for a chance to knock her off her high horse today. Between practicing the timing of his combos, and the modifications Toby made to his deck, he was sure he could win this time.

World of Light

Midgar

Deep Ground ~ The Guardian

Word Count: 954
Level 7 Roxas: 55/70
Exp: 4
NEW EXP Balance--- 59/70

For a moment it was finally over. The Consul was down for the count and disappeared. And the Seekers would finally be able to focus on the Guardian next. The healing from Sandalphon was definitely welcome, nearly topping him off. He would have offered some healing to others as well, but couldn't. The attack he used with Pit cost him the rest of his MP. And now it had to recharge before he could cast any more spells.

All that healing of course topped him off and Roxas was able to reinsert the ejected medal back into its slot on his helmet. His Medabot weapons reactivated and could be used once again. But this moment of reprieve, however small, was in for a nasty interruption. The other Consul, from the debate, showed up out of nowhere. And he didn’t show up alone. Roxas didn’t recognize all the people that Chaos had brought with him. Just Karen Travers, and-

”Sam!?” he shouted, ”Why?” he then demanded. Out of the four, Sam was the only one who wasn’t gleaming. He, out of all of them, should have known what was really happening. So then what was he doing on their side? Sakura was equally confused and had some things of her own to say. Only after that did Sam look to Roxas.

“Sorry, kid.” he offered with a shrug, “But when someone offers you a chance to literally start over with a clean slate? Well… it’s kind of hard to say ‘no’ to that.”

”But you know what’s actually behind all this!” Roxas pleaded, ”And do you really think the guy who brought you here isn’t just using you?”

“Eh, you get used to it.”

And that was all the time there was for any conversations. It looked like Goldlewis was the one itching to get things over with. He rushed out to face off against the mummy man, and… ”What? No - no way!” It made him pause, standing there like an idiot for what was probably the longest moment of his entire life. But as the fighting erupted around him, Roxas willed himself to get his head back in the game. His first instinct was to settle the score with Sam. He looked around for him only to hear Geralt’s voice - reminding everyone what their actual target was supposed to be.

The Guardian! Right… that was the actual goal. The Keybearer whirled around and pointed his Keyblade forward, ”Freeze!” Thankfully, enough time had passed for his MP to recharge. The spell shot forward and left its usual rail of ice in its wake. A rail that Roxas instantly used his StepSword to dash onto and propel forward thanks to flow motion. Most of the flying Seekers were either busy with Healing or, in Geralt’s case, already engaged with an opponent. Roxas decided he needed to use that chaos to try and get to the Guardian.

When Tycoon sweeped it’s arm, it naturally disrupted and ultimately dispelled the Blizzaga rail that Roxas conjured. But Roxas himself had launched upward before he himself could suffer the massive hit. He charged up the RockGun and shot it right at Tycoon’s head while still in midair. That shot hit, but whatever damage it did seemed minimal from the looks of it. What it did do was turn the big Guardian’s attention away from Susie for a moment and onto Roxas. This was of course moments after it fired its laser attack that took Blazermate down.

It went for another swing of its massive arm, this aimed more or less squarely for Roxas. Despite still hanging in midair, the Nobody wasn’t completely helpless. He used his StepSword dash to launch himself on a downward arc that took him back to the ground more quickly and allowed him to safely pass underneath Tycoon’s attack. But Roxas didn’t stay on the ground for long. He became a streak of light that zig-zagged right to Tycoon’s face, where Roxas hit him with a powerful Cross Slash. He also added a short string of Keyblade strikes immediately after, but during this his gaze caught sight of Sandalphon being seemingly cut down by Sam.

”Sandalphon!” Roxas cried out. But that was a massive mistake. The momentary distraction caused the Nobody to be swatted right out of the air by Tycoon. It was only a single hit, but that single hit was hard. It sent Roxas flying back and slamming hard onto the floor of the platform. Roxas slowly and painfully tried to push himself to his feet. When he was at least part way up he weakly held up one of his Keyblades. No choice. He had to use Curaga.

”He-” Roxas was cut off before he could finish commanding the spell. Something had slashed him across the back, cutting deep. The Medal in his helmet ejected and Roxas weakly turned around to see Sam with a sullen look on his face. Where had he come from? Did he ninja-run his way over here after his attack on Sandalphon to cut Roxas off from healing himself?

“...Sorry, kid.” Sam sheathed the Murasama only to let out another Iado slash across Roxas’ front torso. Those two deep cuts, combined with the crushing swat he had suffered from Tycoon? Roxas went down, his helmet even slipping from his head and bouncing forward a few feet from him. Crushed, broken, and bloodied. The Keybearer was down, and he wasn't getting back up. He wasn't thinking of anything now. Not the Seekers. Not the Guardian. No, the dying Nobody's thoughts were only on one thing.

Xi... Xion... Ax...el...