Episode 86. - Unnatural Laws of Natural Fear

Taimi sat, legs crossed, in the chair. It was about ten in the morning. The shop was alive with activity. Dueling, trading, discussing of the latest KirriCorp magazines. Remni stood next to her, waiting for her to say something in response to what he had just revealed.

Taimi took her time, taking her deck out of her case, and sifting through it a bit. Finally, she took one Darkness creature from it and began to twirl it between the fingers of her right hand, the violet nail polish she wore contrasting against the grey and blue of the card. Now, Kaijudo rose in her very gradually, and the dark tendrils emerged, poking and prodding Remni.

"I don't feel it," she finally said, the energy withdrawing.

"Wh-wha? What do you mean you don't feel it? It was there, it's still there, I'm serious! I met a girl who showed me how to do it."

Taimi looked him up and down, then blinked at him and shrugged, "I guess since you're still new at it, you can only use it when you're dueling, if you've really got it..."

"I've really got it!" Remni insisted, starting to take his deck out of its case. Taimi stopped him, as she stood up, and leaned to whisper in his ear.

"Not here. There's too many baby duelists around. Can't have them getting all freaked out and scared of me now, hmm? Let's go find someplace else. I have a perfect idea for where."

Remni seemed slightly confused, but nodded and followed her out of the store. She did not seem to be going anywhere within the mall itself, but rather, towards the exit, making him wonder just how far she was willing to go for one duel.

He stepped through the archway behind her, and found her standing there, looking slightly spaced out, her eyes scanning the parking lot. Soon, she spotted the black GT vehicle, and started toward it. Remni, in that moment, realized she was quite serious, and indeed planning to take their duel somewhere else altogether.

She was mostly silent as they drove, only occasionally giving him directions. Remni could feel the shift in her Kaijudo. It continued to gradually rise, and at times he could 'hear' her conversing with her avatar, though he could not discern what it was. Eventually they came to what looked like an old youth center, and she breathed a contented sigh. Her Kaijudo was literally pulsating around her at this point, causing Remni's breathing to become slightly erratic itself. This did not feel like the Taimi he knew.

The building they now approached was not quite dilapidated. It was simply not a place where most groups would still choose to gather. Especially in these days of malls and gadgetry. It was simply the sort of place where people would gather for 'inspirational talks to the youth' and such, not a real 'hangout'.

The caretaker gave them a strange look. A beautiful young woman walking into an empty building with a young man following behind was quite suspicious, given that he was quite aware that no one had any activities scheduled there for the day. They could not even be there to make preparations for anything. He was approaching them to stop them when Remni sensed Taimi's Kaijudo snake out toward the man.

Something happened then. Something strange, but definitely recognizable as having come from the female duelist. The caretaker turned away again without a word, and allowed the pair to proceed into the building.

"What... what'd you just do there?" he asked as they walked through the foyer and opened a door to a dark corridor. Taimi did not answer, simply grinned, and led him up a flight of stairs to what looked like a rec room. It was slightly dusty, probably not one of the more often used rooms in the building, but not enough to bother either of them. Sunlight streamed in through slightly dirty windows, illuminating the particles of dust in the air. She moved to one end of the pool table in the room, and motioned to him that he should go to the other.

"We're going to be kind of far apar--"
She began to laugh before he could even finish his observation, and 'poked' him with her Kaijudo, startling him. It made her point. She began to shuffle, and to Remni's surprise, her psionic output became even more potent.

"You're the fast one of the two of us. I'll go first, alright?" she smiled. Remni nodded. Her first card into her mana zone seemed to increase her Kaijudo even more, but Remni could sense that it was not her avatar. He, on the other hand, charged Bombazar first of all, and the energy surge from his mind instantly catapulted them both into the mindspace.

"Ah. You weren't just blowing smoke then. Good. I'll test you. I assume you wanna know if you take Juravis down... so I won't hold back! Daidalos, General of Fury, to mana!"
Remni felt the backlash of her own energy smashing his away. She had responded to his avatar-charge with her own, causing his mind to reel. He caught his breath and placed an Aqua Hulcus into mana. Strong waves were coming off her already, and he could see her form floating in the battle zone, amidst a world that seemed to be comprised of pure chaos.

"Summon Emeral..." he said, slightly timidly. He had not meant to sound scared, but Taimi's force was quite overwhelming, that was undeniable. His Emeral appeared with even more vivid imagery than it had against Marina, and this time, it switched one of his shields.

"Faerie Life to mana. End turn."
Taimi's plays were as chaotic as the twisting world beyond her. Merely trying to make sense of what he could perceive within her half of the mindspace, hurt Remni's head whenever he made any attempt. He charged nature mana of his own and summoned his second creature.

The Bronze-Arm Tribe sent a Torcon to his mana zone, and the energy of his world began to push back against Taimi's again. She seemed to grin slightly. Emeral made its move now, into the dark chaos, and shattered the first shield. Vines instantly lashed out, capturing the very same Emeral, and dragging it into the ground, where its energy dissipated into Remni's world.

"Holy Awe to mana. Summon Daidalos, General of Fury!"
The roar of the Demon Command seemed to shatter even the warped perceptions around them as it came out of a portal behind Taimi. Her mental form burst into maniacal laughter, and dark energy erupted from her, glowing around her body. Remni found himself trembling involuntarily. Taimi's gaze fixed upon him now, and something in the way she grinned made his hair stand on end. Her turn ended there, quite simply. Nothing special about it would have appeared to one merely watching with no sense of the dark world created between them.

"I can't let her do this... she could make me slip up by that power alone, just like Juravis could if he tried... Got to move that thing..."
He charged mana, a Muscle Charger, and a wave of liquid force swept across the battlefield, washing the General of Fury away. Aqua Surfer.

His Bronze-Arm Tribe now rushed forward into the darkness, brandishing its spear. There was the sound of a slash, a shattering shield, then the unmistakable howl of Terror Pit, as the void surged out of the chaos to drag away the Aqua Surfer as easily as it had come.

"Urk... you and those... destruction spells and triggers... I'll still get through though. I've beaten you before, and I know I can do it again. End... turn."

"Dear Remni... it's not quite the same when I'm actually dueling, you know. Now, let the last civilization enter the void. Aqua Hulcus to mana!"
Remni did not understand the significance of this until a moment later when it was done. Her chaotic world instantly seemed to come to balance and order. All five of the civilizations of Duel Masters were now in her mana zone. Behind her, a city now appeared. A city of perfect lighted order, but that made sense and yet no sense at the same time. A city of light, and twisted bone, of fire smelted metal and solidified water, with vines crawling over it all. It shimmered in the darkness, a city lit up at night.

She did not summon Daidalos, to re-establish her dominance. Instead, she cast Proclamation of Death. The Bronze-Arm's life left it instantly, and the spell aged the Beast Folk into dust by the end of her turn. Taimi licked her lips and watched Remni draw his next card.

"She's not going to be able to stop us at this rate. If all she wants to do is kill us all she can never defeat us."

Remni nodded to the voice of Bombazar. Taimi seemed even more interested now, and as the water mana extended his mana zone further, and the Pyrofighter appeared, she found herself again grinning at the duelist before her.

"Pyrofighter Magnus, ikei!"
Yet another shield shattered. Yet another shield triggered. The first had been Nature, the second, Darkness. Now, the Water shield was the one to trigger. Brain Serum. Two more cards for Taimi. Whatever those two cards were, they made her psychic energy surge yet again, so powerfully that again, Remni's head pounded.

"Ha. Now I just need the Light trigger and the Fire trigger, eh, Remni?" she laughed, drawing her card. She placed that card, Syforce, Aurora Elemental, into her mana zone, and summoned one of the two cards the Brain Serum had given her. Galek, the Shadow Warrior.

The twisting souls surrounded Remni, there was a searing pain on his skin as they scorched him, and the Pyrofighter Magnus card fell from his limp hand into his graveyard pile. So far, that had been the resting place of three of his summoned creatures. There was now only one other card in his hand...

"I summon... Gonta, the Warrior Savage!" he now declared, his strength returning to him momentarily as the powerful fighter dashed into view. His own mindspace had not manifested much yet. He was back to where he had been before. Feeling like a guest in someone else's world. Now, he ended his turn.

"Unluckily for you, Rem, my deck gave me something just as useful as Galek, as the second card from my water trigger. I summon Bronze-Arm Tribe, and cast Proclamation of Death!"
Yet again, the spell of aging snatched the life from a beast warrior in Remni's world. Another creature dead, and Taimi's own forces were still slowly growing, as had her mana, with the addition of one Locomotiver.

"Destroy destroy destroy... why is that all you ever do?" he growled, drawing another card.

"Just my way, Rem. Don't let it bother you too much," she chuckled, a sinister timbre in that otherwise friendly laugh. He placed a Spiral Gate into his mana zone, and summoned his mighty Magmadragon Jagalzor. The volcano dragon seemed to appear from beyond some oddly close horizon, and floated there, eyeing Taimi's pristine city with menacing intent.

"Well now, we can't have that, can we... Lost Soul to mana. Cast Terror Pit."
Jagalzor's roar was quickly silenced by the darkness, and the battlefield returned to silence.

Remni could do nothing with his next card but add it to his mana zone. A Comet Missile. The eerie silence made him able to become vaguely aware of the sounds of birds singing outside the window of the building they were in, but this sound was drowned again a moment later when Taimi again brought her avatar out of the city, and the only 'sound' he could hear was her laughter, and his own mind screaming in pain. She followed this up with a Mana Nexus, placing her Holy Awe into her shield zone.

"Might as well make the Light trigger myself, hm?"
Her voice now erupted into laughter again as her turn ended. Remni drew his card, and as his fortune would have it, Daidalos met the same fate this time around, as it had on the first time she had brought it into being. Swept away by an Aqua Surfer's powerful wave.

"I won't let you beat me today, Taimi. I know what I'm doing. I've beaten you before."
His determination was sincere, but all it seemed to do was amuse her further.

"You've beaten me before. True. You haven't beaten us before. We'll see if you can. Summon Estol, Vizier of Aqua. Estol, show me what trap his Emeral has set for us..."

The Liquid Vizier's tentacles extended forward and began their scan, soon confirming her suspicions. It was an Aqua Surfer. Estol's power then generated a new shield from the city, and Taimi ended her turn.

Remni's next card brought him no comfort, but it did cause an eruption of flame to scorch Galek, the Shadow Warrior out of existence.
"Aqua Surfer, ikei!"

The shield that shattered was the Holy Awe she had set. Clearly, there was no reason to trigger the card. Taimi simply added it to her hand and drew, placing the Awe into mana.

"Let's try this one more time. Daidalos, General of Fury."
Her attitude now was calm and cold. No longer making jovial threats. No longer apparently concerned with Remni's state. Estol moved forward now, tentacles slashing at the Aqua Surfer. It spun and twisted, the water beneath them splashing and rippling with the shockwaves of their colliding energies.

The outcome was obvious. Neither survived. Taimi nodded at the fallen Vizier of Aqua, and motioned to Remni that her turn was over. He drew a new card, but did not play it.

"Now, another Estol. Seek another shield for me."
This one was revealed to be Comet Missile. No threat to Taimi whatsoever. Another shield was generated from her city by the creature, and her Bronze-Arm Tribe charged. This time, the outcome of the attack was assured. The Comet Missile card was added to Remni's hand.

"I'll... show you..." he managed to say. The strain of the duel was heavy on him, and Taimi did not seem in any hurry to end it. The feeling was not like that which he had experienced when facing Roland. Taimi was definitely feeding on something, but it was not his energy.

"Comet Missile to mana... Summon Emeral, and cast Soulswap."
Unexpectedly, the creature that emerged from the portal was not Bombazar, but rather an Aqua Hulcus. Remni drew a Bronze-Arm Tribe, and summoned it alongside the Liquid one.

"The apostles of chaos protect the city of their mistress, Remni. You have a lot to learn still. Summon Skysword, the Savage Vizier."
The new mana card and new shield made Remni's heart sink, upon seeing the effect take place in his mind. It was then, that he felt it clearly. She was relishing his despair. The failing hope within him was somehow her aim.

"Bronze-Arm Tribe, ikei." --the shield shattered without trigger. Daidalos now moved forward, grabbing the Bronze-Arm. The great maw opened, closed, and the Beast Folk was no more.

"Good, now double break! Ikei!" Daidalos rumbled forward, purposely aiming for the revealed shield from before. It shattered, and as the wave surged forward, Daidalos swung to shatter another. To Taimi's surprise, the Surfer did not sweep away the waiting Estol, but rather, Daidalos yet again. She laughed, as Estol moved in against the last remaining shield.

"That's three baths you've given Daidalos today. Now no one can complain about the scent of death on him anymore. Then again... those who complain don't last long, do they, Daidalos, dear?"
She burst into laughter again, but Remni could hear no response from the General of Fury. He found himself wondering if Daidalos could communicate in that way at all, but then remembered that she had almost certainly been speaking with the Demon Command whilst they had been on the road.

"This is it!" came the encouragement from the Dragon of Destiny, "All she wanted was to kill everything and suck up all your hope, but her strategy has failed. Finish it!"

"I summon Aqua Hulcus... and Magmadragon Jagalzor! Now I play Spiral Gate on your Skysword, Savage Vizier! Bronze-Arm Tribe, ikei!"

"And here's the Fire trigger! Tornado Flame!"
The Aqua Surfer was engulfed in searing heat, and evaporated into nothingness, but Jagalzor's roar made it clear that things were not over yet.

"Jagalzor, attack Estol! Ikei!" Tentacles were no match for superheated breath, and the 'battle' was short. Remni considered for a moment, if he could attack with his Hulcus, but their inability to finish the duel immediately caused him to hold back the strike, and end turn.

Taimi's next card brought a smile to her face, and an instant feeling of dread in Remni. He could feel her elation at his dread, and finally, his rage surged within...

"You are no true friend! You brought us here so that no one could see you do this! You feed on our pain, on our despair! You call yourself our ally but in the end all you wish is to devour what little hope we have! You are a fiend who only cares about yourself!"
Bombazar's words echoed in the mindspace, and then there was silence. Taimi did not seem to have anything to say, for a moment, but this was merely a minor pause...

"Yes." The deep rumbling voice of the Demon Command now calmly responded, causing Remni to quake in fear. Somehow he knew, then, that something had gone wrong. That no matter how much it looked as if this duel was about to go his way... Daidalos knew better.

"Daidalos to mana. I cast Natural Snare on your Magmadragon Jagalzor, Spiral Gate on your Bronze-Arm Tribe, and another Spiral Gate on your Aqua Hulcus..." Taimi said simply.

The Magmadragon did scorch away the vines, but more came, and more, until finally even Jagalzor was overwhelmed, brought down, and became nothing more than force in Remni's mana. The Bronze-Arm Tribe and Aqua Hulcus also vanished, but Taimi did nothing more.

Remni found himself feeling cold. Trapped. Lost. Bombazar could no longer be felt, though the presence of Daidalos seemed to pervade every unreal molecule of this place. He drew his card, and placed it into mana. A Scarlet Skyterror.

"I summon Aqua Hulcus... and draw... and now summon Pyrofighter Magnus!"
The card had come off the top of his deck with the help of the Hulcus. His Kaijudo was alive again. Alive with hope and burning with passion and faith in a victory. Taimi seemed calm still. In fact, eerily so. The rising hope in him was nothing more than food to her...

"Pyrofighter, ikei!" --the shield shattered without trigger-- "Hulcus, ikei!" --and so did this. His turn ended with one shields remaining on her side, two Hulcus on his, and no creatures in her battle zone. Little could stop him now, even if she lasted one turn, it would be over.

"Bronze-Arm Tribe to mana. Summon Skysword, the Savage Vizier."

"This is... a really long duel..." he murmured, feeling the strain on him increase, feeling the hope get slowly siphoned away again. The new shield could be trigger. He could still be stopped, but still, he could hope. Still, he could battle. One Skysword could not stop--

"And Deklowaz, the Terminator..."
He did not need to look up at her to know she was grinning. More hope being practically dragged out of him like lifebreath. The Spirit Quartz could destroy everything he had, even taking away his Pyrofighter, if he could not win now. Two creatures, and he had no shields.

"Flail in your despair, young dragon. Feed me your misery, and let it fuel my fury. Your rage at your loss is my sustenance. Your hopelessness is my ambrosia..."

"I won't give up! You've lost! Bronze-Arm Tribe to mana! Phantom Dragon's Flame on your Skysword, and summon Gonta, with Pyrofighter Magnus! Pyrofighter! Break her shield! Ikei!"

"Shield Trigger. Locomotiver." The creature stole his Muscle Charger from him, but Remni's heart leapt with joy. This was it! She was finished!

"Aqua Hulcus! Break the final shield! Ikei!" The city shone for a moment, then a beam of light from high above, as bright as a blazing sun, engulfed his forces...

"No... it can't be..." His hands trembled, as his awareness adjusted. He knew what it was.

"The Light trigger has been saved for last, Remni. Holy Awe..."
His mind railed against it, willing it not to be so, as his creatures were immobilized by the shining glory. In the end, his Pyrofighter Magnus returned to his hand...

"There is a saying amongst those who are of the Dark... specifically one related to the parasite worms, young dragon," Daidalos smirked, "They say... "A friend in need... is a delicious snack!"... Deklowaz, finish him. Todomeda."

Remni strained against the dark power engulfing him, surrounding him as Taimi's haunting laugh did in that same instant, but it was futile. Taimi's dark Kaijudo reached out, to siphon away the last vestiges of hope within him, and finally, she simply let him crumple to the floor.