And so Special #2 comes to an end. I totally didn't rip off Digimon. What even gave you that idea?
Chapter SixDark Divine Dragon
Tucker
The shadow continued to take form, becoming a massive shadowy black dragon. It wasn’t long before the dragon began to move. It opened its eyes, swung its head and roared. When it did, the shadows fell away like a shell, revealing a dark dragon with a bronze-colored chest and stomach, broad reddish wings, and protruding spikes covering its back and head. The dragon hung in the air, raising its head to the sky and letting out a fierce, bellowing roar.
Then the dragon saw us, and it spoke, “You have great magic children. I will consume it!” The dragon inhaled and the darkness all around it turned to smoke. He sucked the smoke in, and it formed a black orb surrounded by a white aura. The orb discharged in the form of a thick white beam with a black core. The beam washed over us, but to the dragon’s surprise, when the attack ended, we were still alive, protected by a barrier, summoned by a trio of priests in blue robes. Kimi’s Soul of Light was still flashing as she placed her ‘Waboku’ card back into her deck.
“It looks,” said Jen, “like it uses magic to turn darkness into something solid, just like John’s Soul of Darkness. Then it inhales the solidified darkness using it to fuel its attack.”
I watched as the dragon began sucking in more black smoke.
“Well,” I said, “whatever it does, it’s doing it again now. We’d better hit it hard and fast.”
My Soul of Fire glowed red. I could tell that ever since we’d approached the dragon we’d been locked into a Shadow Game. I felt the familiar strain on my body. If we were in a Shadow Game then this would probably work, and I didn’t see a downside to trying. I concentrated and lifted a monster card up above my head, “I summon the very face of my Soul!” A man in blue armor appeared, wearing a vest made of flames and carrying both a staff and a dagger, and I commanded, “Fight with me, ‘Legendary Flame Lord!”
Jen and Kris held up cards as well, and their Souls flashed.
“I summon,” said Kris, “my ‘Emes the Infinity’!”
“I summon,” said Jen, “my ‘Ultimate Insect’ in its Level Seven form!”
My monster rose into the air alongside Jen’s monster, a massive beetle with glossy wings. “Use your poison,” Jen commanded, and a cloud of spores spread from her monster’s wings. The dragon fired its attack, dispersing the cloud before it could do any harm. The beam carried through and incinerated Jen’s monster. Jen clutched her chest and fell heavily to her knees.
“Jen!” Kris cried. She dropped to her knees at her sister’s side.
“‘Flame Lord’,” I commanded, “attack him now while he’s still drained from his last attack!”
My monster summoned a massive fire, dropping it down on the dragon from above, but just before the flames hit, black smoke coalesced ahead of the fire, forming a solid transparent black wall, like a black glass half-sphere. The wall held back the flames, taking absolutely no damage.
As my monster’s attack ended, Kris rose to her feet, her eyes filled with a vengeful twinkle. She pulled another card from her deck, “You won’t get away with hurting my sister. ‘Emes’, attack with ‘Electromagnetic Burst’!”
‘Emes the Infinity’, Kris’s four-armed golden mech with a serpentine lower body, and a humanoid torso raised his sword and his staff toward the dragon. Electricity lanced from his sword toward the dragon, but the dragon once again summoned a wall of darkness, protecting itself from harm.
“So those shadows can block attacks from Spells as well?” Sarah asked, surprised. “Then I guess we should see what a monster effect can do against it.”
Her Soul glowed blue, and a large two-headed silver sea serpent with pink and blue fins appeared with a mighty roar.
“I summon the waters of ‘A Legendary Ocean’,” Sarah declared, and a swirling wall of water rose up around her monster. “‘Ocean Dragon Lord – Neo Daedalus’, attack with Aqua Eruption!” The water expanded into a massive wave that poured over the dragon, swallowing it up, but when the water receded, the dark dragon was still alive, protected by a complete sphere of shadows.
“Well,” I said, my voice dripping sarcasm, “that’s just great.”
“If it uses darkness,” said Kimi with a cheerful smile, “then we just have to turn up the lights.” Her Soul flashed, and a blue-skinned angel with golden wings appeared, wearing Hindu-esque garbs. His wings glowed brightly, pushing the clouds of darkness away from the dragon.
“‘Shinato, King of a Higher Plane’,” Kimi commanded, “use Celestial Ring!”
A ring of colored orbs appeared, spinning so fast that they seemed to form a solid ring. The ring shot right through the dragon’s weakened shield and cut deep into his chest. The ring disappeared, leaving the dragon with a seemingly fatal wound. The dragon fell heavily to the ground, unmoving, crushing the asphalt beneath him, but almost instantly the darkness poured into the wound, and the dragon rose to his feet, his wounds healed.
“‘Shinato’,” attack him again!”
‘Shinato’ once again summoned his attack and released it, but this time the dragon slashed with his claws, scattering the orbs, raised his claws, and slashed ‘Shinato’ to ribbons. Kimi coughed blood and collapsed. Both Rocky and John’s mom were instantly at her side.
“You can’t kill me,” said the dragon. “I am immortal. I am the ‘Dark Divine Dragon’!”
The dragon roared and attacked us yet again.
John
I woke up suddenly and sat up. I pulled the heart monitor probes from my skin and looked around. Karen was passed out on the floor beside my bed. I couldn’t believe that nobody had seen her lying there.
That’s why I don’t trust hospitals.
I jumped out of my bed and knelt down beside her, lifting her head from the floor. She woke up, looked around, and sat up straight. She looked directly at me and asked, “Do you feel that?”
“Yeah,” I said, “that dragon’s here in this realm now.”
“The others are fighting it,” Karen said. “We have to hurry and go help them.”
“Great plan,” I said, “but remember I didn’t bring my deck.”
Karen smiled, showing me the Duel Disk on her arm, “Fortunately I brought mine. I’ll hold that thing off. You go get your cards.”
I smiled back and disappeared into the shadows.
Tucker
An instant before the dragon’s latest blast would have hit us, it was deflected by an invisible wall. I turned, just in time to see Monty and Lawrence appear. Lawrence had his ‘Negate Attack’ card raised up above his shoulder. It was quite literally the first time that I’d ever been happy to see him.
“Sorry we’re late,” said Monty. “What did we miss?”
“Light hurts it,” said Jen weakly, still in pain, “everything else doesn’t.”
“Then let’s light it up,” said Lawrence. “I summon ‘Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon’!”
Three of the mighty white dragon’s appeared in the air above Lawrence. There was a flash of light, and the three dragons merged into the mighty three-headed beast, its body shining.
“And I,” said Monty, “summon my ‘Silent Magician LV8’!”
A sorceress with long white hair, wearing white robes fashioned like a dress, appeared. She wore a broad white hat and carried a wand in hand. She glowed just as bright as the dragon.
“You can’t kill me,” said ‘Dark Divine Dragon’, “I won’t let you!” He fired his attack. ‘Blue-Eyes’ fired back with Ultimate Burst. The attacks met. They seemed equal, each holding the other back. ‘Silent Magician’ rose into the air, preparing to attack, but the dragon saw her coming.
“No!” the dragon growled. He flapped his wings, blowing ‘Blue-Eyes’ off of his feet. The three-headed dragon fell back and was overcome by the ‘Dark Divine Dragon’’s attack. Lawrence gritted his teeth and grabbed his chest, but he remained standing, even as his dragon fell.
The dragon turned his attention to ‘Silent Magician’. He launched his attack again, engulfing her, but instead of dying the sorceress began to change. Her wand grew into a staff, and she grew more beautiful. Her aura flared and she brandished her staff, dispersing the dragon’s attack. “Level up,” said Monty, “to ‘Silent Magician LV12’!”
The sorceress raised her staff, but the dragon was ready. Before his opponent could attack, he slashed her with his left claws. The sorceress raised her staff, holding the claws back, but leaving her torso exposed. The ‘Dark Divine Dragon’ stabbed straight through the sorceress’ chest with his free claws. Monty’s monster disappeared, and her master fell unconscious and collapsed.
The dragon attacked. I didn’t know what to do. I called my fire sorcerer to defend. Sarah and Kris did the same with ‘Daedalus’ and ‘Emes the Infinity’, but the attack was blocked again by a spherical barrier that surrounded our entire group, monsters and all. I turned toward my friends to see who had saved us, and I saw that John’s mom had her ‘Hallowed Life Barrier’ card in hand. She wore a Shadow Pendant around her neck. It was still glowing.
I was wondering where she’d gotten a Shadow Item when I saw Monty checking his pocket. It took me a few minutes, but I realized that he must have dropped one, which she'd picked up.
The dragon roared and cried out in frustration, “I will KILL YOU ALL!!!” The force of his explosive outburst sent a wave of darkness out in every direction, destroying our remaining monsters and knocking us off of our feet. ‘Dark Divine Dragon’ summoned up a larger attack than ever before. I thought that we were dead for sure.
Then, just before the dragon fired, a giant kangaroo with the face of a koala, wearing a vest and boxing gloves and carrying a Heavyweight Boxing Championship belt over his shoulder jumped down from atop a nearby building and punched the dragon in the jaw. The dragon reeled from the impact, and he lost the energy from his attack. The dragon tried to rise, but the giant beast landed at his side, shaking the ground, and smacked the dragon in the jaw with the championship belt, knocking it off balance again.
“Miss me guys?” Karen asked, stepping out of the shadows nearby, her ‘Master of Oz’ card in hand.
I couldn’t help but smile.
John
I stepped out of the shadows and into my room. I grabbed my deck, turned, and disappeared.
Tucker
“‘Master of Oz’,” Karen commanded, “Dynamite Uppercut!”
The massive monster jumped up and pummeled the dragon in the face. Despite the size of Karen’s monster, its attack had little effect. As the oversized Koala/Kangaroo hung in the air, the dragon attacked, destroying it with one blast. Karen yelped, but she managed to choke back the pain and stay on her feet.
“You have nothing left,” the ‘Dark Divine Dragon’ said. “Your will to fight is gone!” And he was right. I was out of ideas, and I could tell that the same was true of everyone else as well. The dragon inhaled, preparing to launch his attack, but before the orb was even half formed, a voice from behind the dragon’s head interrupted him, “I don’t mean to sound clichéd, but why don’t you fight someone your own size?”
The dragon turned toward the source of the voice, and over its shoulder I saw him. He was wearing a black t-shirt, faded jeans, and an old and tattered black jacket. His arms were crossed, and he was standing aback a mechanical red dragon, a confident look on his face. As soon as I saw him I knew that we’d make it out of this battle alive. After all, things always seem to work out once John arrives.
John
It may look different, I thought, still giving the dragon the epic smug face, but it’s definitely the same dragon that Karen and I fought within my mind. I can feel the evil that makes up its body, and I can hear its evil intensions echoing in the darkness. If I don’t kill it now, it will destroy everything.
“First you stand against me in the mental plane I traversed to get here, and now you stand against me here?” the dragon demanded, his harsh voice echoing in the shadows. “Who the hell are you!?”
I smiled, “I’m the one who’s gonna kill you.”
The dragon snarled, “Not if I kill you first!”
The dragon prepared to fire his beam. I brandished two cards, and ‘Fiend Megacyber’ appeared at my side, wreathed in the yellow aura of ‘Assault Armor’. The dragon fired its attack. ‘The Field Megacyber’ and the ‘Y – Dragon Head’ that was my mount slid to the side, avoiding the blast. ‘Y – Dragon Head’ fell back away from the dragon and fired a yellow energy pulse from its mouth, while ‘Fiend Megacyber’ shot toward the dragon, punching the dragon with all of his strength. Neither attack had any real effect. ‘Dark Divine Dragon’ slashed at my warrior, but hit only air. I returned my ‘Interdimensional Matter Transporter’ card to my deck as my warrior reappeared in the air at my side.
The dragon fired his attack at us, but I held up another card, my ‘Dark Core’. My Soul flashed and a small black hole appeared just ahead of me, just long enough to swallow up the oncoming attack. I'd managed to avoid every attack that this thing had made against me, but I was nearly out of ideas, and if a single attack from that thing made it through, I'd be stone dead. It was time for a Hail Mary.
“This ends now,” I declared. I held up six more cards, and the world around me began to shake. Three pillars of light burst up from the ground, and from them emerged the massive blue, winged, humanoid God ‘Obelisk the Tormentor’, flexing his massive arms, the golden-armored eagle ‘The Winged Dragon of Ra’, and the many-football-fields-long red serpentine dragon ‘Sky Dragon of Osiris’, growling through both his upper and lower mouths. Above the three Gods a massive black cloud formed. From the cloud descended three dragons, one black with spines down its back, the ‘Fang of Critias’, one red with spikes down its back, the ‘Claw of Hermos’, and one teal with a scar over its right eye, the ‘Eye of Timaeus’.
The ‘Dark Divine Dragon’ laughed loudly, “So you command Gods. But not even these creatures can defeat me in the darkness. I am the darkness!” He inhaled and fired his attack directly at me. ‘Obelisk’ moved between me and the dragon, raising his arm and deflecting the attack with great effort. All three of the Gods then rose up to attack the dragon. The dragon roared, and a pulse of dark energy threw the three massive Gods to the ground where they smashed roads and buildings under their tremendous weight.
I'd had enough.
“You say you're the darkness? I asked, all business. “Well, you're wrong. I'm the darkness!”
My Soul of Darkness flashed blacklight purple, and a pulse of darkness spread from my body which rivaled the 'Dragon''s previous attack.
I smiled, “But that's not even enough to kill you, is it? Well, lucky for me, I can see into the Darkness pretty well. I see into you. I know what isn't enough to kill you, and I know what is.”
“I cast,” I called, “the Spell ‘Legend of Heart’.”
I held up another card, and my ‘Fiend Megacyber’ became three orbs of light that sunk into the backs of the three Legendary Dragons. Their bodies began to glow. There was a flash, and in their places appeared three knights, one in black armor, one in red armor, and one in teal armor. The three knights raised their swords up over their heads and they shone with an intense light that caused the dragon to shrink away. He snarled, “What is this!?”
The light flashed brighter, so much so that I had to turn away. When the light faded, the three knights had become one, a mighty golden-armored knight with a powerful sword.
I answered the dragon’s question, “That is the light that will destroy you.”
As I spoke the three Gods rose back up into the air. “Now ‘Osiris’, ‘Ra’,” I commanded, “give your power to ‘Obelisk’!” ‘Osiris’ roared, and he and ‘Ra’ became energy, pouring into the hands of the third God. ‘Obelisk’ roared at the sky, his body glowing red.
“Now my golden ‘Knight of Destiny’,” I continued, “activate your hidden ability of unity. Merge with the God of the Obelisk!”
Sensing the danger that he faced, the ‘Dark Divine Dragon’ cried out and fired his attack at ‘Obelisk’. It hit just as the ‘Knight of Destiny’ reached the God. My Soul glowed, becoming the half golden yellow and half blacklight purple Soul of Chaos, just as the attack ended, and there ‘Obelisk’ remained, glowing gold.
“But I’m not done,” I said. “Merging two infinite powers isn’t quite enough for what I want to do. Dragon, I know that you can regenerate, so I plan to destroy you so completely that there’s no doubt that you’ll remain dead.
“‘Obelisk’,” I commanded, “give your power to the shadows!” I watched as ‘Obelisk’ broke down into black smoke that merged with the dark cloud overhead. “Now emerge from the darkness,” I declared, “the manifestation of my Soul, the Ultimate Demon, ‘Great Maju Garzett’!”
The clouds crackled with red lightning and reformed, taking on the shape of a massive skeletal torso that filled the entire sky.
“My demon,” I explained, “absorbed the power of two infinite attacks. He always has power equal to twice the power that he absorbed, giving him power equal to four times infinity!”
“A power like that cannot exist!” the dragon exclaimed as he stared into my demon’s fierce red eyes, fear in his voice.
“You’re right,” I said, “it can’t. At least not for long. But trust me, it’ll last long enough to kill you.” As I spoke my demon reached out, engulfing the dragon in his dark light. Then suddenly he broke apart, and the sky cleared. The sun was just creeping up over the horizon. The dragon was nowhere to be seen. I could sense that he had been destroyed.
My ‘Y – Dragon Head’ flew low to the ground. I jumped down from its back, and it disappeared. I looked around at my friends. I could tell that they expected me to say something, but I didn't feel like talking. So I took Karen's arm, pulled her close to me, and I kissed her.
“Sorry, but I meant to do that earlier,” I told her, feeling a little embarrassed now, but still smiling.
She said nothing, only smiling back at me.
I stepped back from Karen and looked around at my friends (and my mom?) once more. Seeing them all together, it made me happy. I smiled even wider. Then I yawned and said, “Well I’m beat. I’m gonna go home and take a nap.”
Card(s) of the Day:
The Legendary Dragons
Played by: John
"Great Maju" was already featured in Book One Chapter Three, and the Gods were featured as Cards of the Day throughout Book Five, so these get this spot by default, not that they don't deserve it or anything. These cards kick ass!
Continue to Book 6 >>
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