Chapter 19: Flames of Vengance

“That avatar of darkness is now in our possession,” Lea spoke as he leaned against the wall of Gabriel’s office. The man in question nodded as he sat at his deck, looking over the card in his hand.

“Yes,” he spoke quietly, “Now we’re back to where we started. It’s time to focus on them once again.”

A short silence fell over the room before Lea spoke up again.

“Gabriel?”

The blonde looked up from the card at his little brother.

“Yes?”

“Who was he?”

Gabriel was a little curious by the question.

“What do you mean?”

“Who was Forte?” Lea asked. This confused him slightly. What did he mean “who was he?”

“I don’t understand.”

“When I faced him, there was something about him. Something familiar. It’s been bothering since I first saw him face Replica a few days ago.”

Gabriel’s mind fell into deep thought as he laced his fingers together. He had a sneaking suspicion about just who Forte was, and now Lea’s gut feeling was enforcing it.

He was removed from his thoughts when the door suddenly opened.

The large form of Karmov strode into the office.

“Sir.”

Karmov? Is there something wrong?”

“It’s Orion,” the Russian spoke up, “He’s gone.”

“Gone?” Lea looked up, curious. Karmov nodded.

“My men reported him leaving the building ten minutes ago. A few minutes later we discovered he took “it” with him.”

Gabriel and Lea’s eyes narrowed. They had a basic idea of what “it” was.

“I’ll go after him,” Lea spoke up, pushing himself off of the wall.

“There’s no need master Lea,” Karmov spoke up, “I’ll send my men after him. He wont get far.”

“There’s no need for that.”

All eyes fell on Gabriel as he spoke.

“I know where he’s going, and what he intends to do.”

Both Lea and Karmov nodded, getting as feeling they knew what Gabriel meant.

--------------~*~--------------

Forte almost seemed peaceful, laying there in the bed.

Rose looked down on his prone form sadly from the chair she was sitting on. She hadn’t left Forte’s side since they got Forte’s body to the hotel room. It was still hard for her to take in, seeing Forte so lifeless after he seemed so full of it just hours ago.

Reece stood behind her, leaning against the wall. His mind was going a hundred miles an hour as he looked at his friend’s prone form.

Dogma now had the avatar of darkness. What were they to do now? They couldn’t just leave Forte like this, but was there any way to restore him? Did Lea know of some way? But how were they going to get him to help? Would it result in another shadow game?

And what about the rest of the world? Now that they had the avatar, would that mean they can reopen the Shadow Realm? Forte may not have cared enough about the world to do something, but Reece wasn’t enthusiastic about his home being turned into monster central.

He was pulled from his thoughts by a sound coming from outside. Something sounding like…

“A motorcycle…?” he murmured quietly, not exactly sure why that particular sound caught his attention.

Quietly pushing himself off of the wall, he made his way over to the window and looked out.

His eyes narrowed at what he saw.

Down on the street in front of the hotel was Orion.

As the black haired teen stepped off his bike, he looked up, his grey eyes meeting with Reece’s electric blue.

A small growl escaped from Reece’s face. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why he was here.

“What is it?” Rose asked, looking over at Reece from where she sat.

“Orion,” Reece growled, pulling away from the window. Rose’s eyes narrowed that the mention of that name. She was drawing the same conclusion as Reece.

The red head walked over to the nearby table, picking up his duel disk and deck.

“What are you…?” Rose started before Reece cut him off.

“Stay here with Forte,” he spoke solemnly, “I’ll handle this.”

Rose wasn’t sure what to do as Reece left the room, an almost uncharacteristic determination and seriousness burning in his eyes.

--------------~*~ --------------

“So, I guess it’s true.”

Orion leaned against his bike as Reece stepped out onto the street.

“Lea did manage to take Forte out.”

Reece leered at the black haired teen.

“I guess you’ve come to gloat?”

Orion growled, “Are you kidding?”

Reece was a little surprised by this as Orion reached for his deck holding, which hung from his hip. Pulling out a deck, he held it up for Reece to see.

“I spent plenty of time and energy building and refining this after Forte beat me, and just as I get this finished, that shadow wielding freak gets rid of him first! He stole my chance for revenge!”

Orion’s snarl softened and a cruel smirk spread on his face as his eyes fell on the duel disk on Reece’s arm.

“Well, I came all this way, and I wouldn’t this to go to waste.

So, instead of standing here and fuming, I’ll take my frustration out on you!”

Reece glared as he readied his duel disk.

“Well, whatever you cooked up, let’s just see how good it is.”

Orion smirked.

“Try not to get scorched.”

“Let’s duel!”

Reece: 8000
Orion: 8000

“I’ll go first,” Reece spoke up as he drew.

“Be my guest,” Orion replied smugly. Reece’s eyes narrowed as he looked over his cards.

An ok opening.

“I’ll set one card face down and one monster in defence mode. That will be all.”

“A pretty weak opening don’t you think?” Orion chuckled coldly as he drew. He looked over his hand, his cruel smirk widening slightly.

“I’ll summon Volcanic Rocket in attack mode!”

As the name stated, a monster that resembled a cross between a tridactyl and a rocket appeared, with cream, bone like armour and red flesh. Reece could feel a small bit of heat coming off of the monster. (1900/1400)

“Now, when my rocket is summoned, I can bring the main card of my deck to my hand.”

Reece watched as Orion went through his deck.

Volcanic Rocket. I’ve heard of these cards. They’re new, but are pretty powerful. What was their main card again?

“Now, I’ll play it! Blaze Accelarator!”

With a burst of flame, a weapon resembling a gattling gun mounted on a tripod appeared in front of Orion.

“And now for the fun part,” Orion smirked, “Because I discard one pyro monster, as long as it has five hundred attack or less, and my Blaze Accelarator wipes out one of your monsters!”

He then plucked a card from his hand.

“So I’ll choose this one. Volcanic Shell!”

A small metallic creature appeared before loading itself into the gun.

“Fire!”

Reece shielded himself as the cannon blasted a stream of searing flame at him, incinerating his batteryman.

“Now, since I can’t attack when I’ve used its effect, I’ll end my turn, but first.”

Orion reached into his deck and pulled out a card.

“I can pay five hundred lifepoints to add another Volcanic Shell to my hand. Now it’s your turn.

Reece: 8000
Orion: 7500

Reece scowled as he drew.

Time to wipe that smirk off of his face.

“I’ll start by playing Graceful Charity!”

The pure angel of charity appeared, handing Reece 3 cards. The red head quickly accepted them before handing two over to her.

“Now, I’ll play Battery Charger, to bring back the Batteryman AA I just discarded.”

The small batteryman appeared on the field, its body crackling with power. (1000/1000)

Reece: 7500
Orion: 7500

“Now, I’ll chain it with Inferno Reckless Summon! This will let me special summon my other two Batterymen AAs to the field!”

Two more batterymen appeared. Energy coursed between the three as they hummed loudly (3000/3000) x3.

“Of course, it allows you to special summon any more Rockets in your deck, but that wont be much of a problem.”

Orion said nothing as he pulled two more volcanic rockets from his deck and special summoned them (1900/1400) x2.

“Now, My Batterymen, attack Orion’s rockets! Battery Charge!”

The three batterymen hummed loudly as they sent a charge of electricity at the three monsters, frying them before they exploded violently. Orion growled and shielded himself from the attack.

Reece: 7500
Orion: 4200

“That ends my turn.”

Orion drew and smirked.

“Now, let’s get rid of your batteries shall we? I’ll tribute the monster Volcaic Scattershot!”

Another metallic creature, this time a redish hue with two head appeared and loaded itself into the blaze accelerator. Reece shielded himself as another blast from the gun wiped out the central Batteryman. The other two groaned as their attacks dropped to two thousand.

“Now, this is where it gets interesting. When my scattershot is in the graveyard, it deals five hundred damage to you.”

Reece groaned and winced as an intense heat washed over his body.

Reece: 7o00
Orion: 4200

“Now, when my scattershot goes to the graveyard by Blaze Accelerator’s effect, I can send the other two in my deck to the grave.”

He plucked two cards from his deck and grinned.

“And when I do, ALL of your monsters are destroyed!”

Reece shielded himself as a massive burst of flame suddenly engulfed the field, taking the rest of his monsters.

“And don’t forget, they’re in my graveyard now, so here comes the damage!”

Reece groaned again as the heat washed over him.

Reece: 6000
Orion: 4200

“Now, I’ll summon the monster Volcanic Slicer!”

A metallic monster, resembling a larger version of the Volcanic Shell, but with a tail, appeared on the field, letting out a metallic shriek. (1800/1200)

“Now, I can’t attack on this turn since I used Blaze Accelerator, so I’ll use Slicer’s other effect, which lets him deal another five hundred damage!”

With another screech, the slicer let out a blast of fire, scorching Reece.

Reece: 5500
Orion: 4200

“I’ll now set one card face down and end my turn.”

Reece growled and drew. He was getting sick of that Blaze Accelerator.

He glanced at the card.

Perfect.

Reece smirked.

“It’s time I got rid of that bloody cannon of yours, AND deal some damage at the same time.”

Orion rose an eyebrow, a little curious.

“I’ll now remove Batteryman D, which you destroyed, and Batteryman C, which I discarded, from my graveyard.”

The two Batterymen appeared briefly before degenerating into crackling energy.

“And now, I’ll special summon the most powerful Batteryman currently in production, Batteryman Industrial Type!”

Out of the maelstrom of electricity rose what could be best described as a giant living battery, the kind used in industrial machinery. It had a single wheel in place of legs and in its hands held jumper cables as if they were weapons. With a deep growl, electricity jumped between its two weapons. (2600/0)

“Now, it’s time for me to show you something interesting,” Reece smirked, “Because you see, by removing one batteryman from my graveyard, my industrial type can wipe out one monster and one magic or trap card you’ve got!”

Orion’s eyes widened, realising what was happening.

“So, I’ll remove one of my Batterymen AAs and I’ll have Industrial Type wipe out your slicer, AND your Blaze Accelerator!”

The small batteryman appeared briefly before degenerating into electricity, which crackled violently around the bigger battery’s weapons. With a loud growl, two arcs of electricity were fired at Orion, one striking the slicer, the other hitting the gun. Orion et out a cry of shock as they both exploded.

“And it gets better,” Reece grinned, “Because unlike your monsters, I can still attack after I use his effect! Batteryman Industrial Type, attack Orion directly! Industrial Strength Current!”

Electricity charged in the battery’s arms before firing an arc towards Orion.

“Activate trap card!” Orion shouted, “Firewall!”

Before the attack could connect, a wall of flame erupting in front of Orion, blocking the attack.

“By removing one fire monster from my graveyard, I can negate any attack you throw at me,” Orion sneered as he removed his slicer.

Reece growled, “I’ll end my turn then.”

Orion seemed a bit relieved as he drew.

“First, I’ll pay five hundred lifepoints in order to maintain my firewall.”

Reece: 5000
Orion: 3700

“Now I’ll play my second Blaze Accelerator!”

A second gun, identical to the first appeared on the field.

“I should thank you. If you didn’t make me special summon those other rockets, I wouldn’t have this.

Or this for that matter. I‘ll sacrifice my Blaze Accelerator to give it an upgrade! Behold, Tri-blaze Accelerator!”

The gun was consumed by flame before forming another weapon, this time with three barrels instead of one.

“Now, like I said, this card is an upgrade, so, as well as destroying your monster, it also deals an additional five hundred damage!”

Orion smirked as he plucked a card from his hand. A second Volcanic Shell appeared and loaded itself into the gun.

“And, fire!”

Reece groaned and shielded himself as the flames engulfed his monster before scolding him.

Reece: 4500
Orion: 3700

“Now, I’ll pay another five hundred to add my last Volcanic Shell to my hand and end my turn,” Orion chuckled coldly.

Reece: 4500
Orion: 3200

Reece drew.

Not much I can do. I’ll need to buy some time.

“I’ll set one card face down and end my turn.”

Orion eyed the card as he drew.

Hmmm. I should play it safe for now.

“I’ll pay five hundred lifepoints to keep my firewall active and I’ll end my turn.”

Reece smiled as he drew.

“I’ll flip summon my Batteryman Button Cell into attack mode!”

A small, flat battery with a face and limbs appeared on the field, giving a small squeak as it let off a small charge. (100/100)

“When this card is flipped face up, it allows me to special summon one Batteryman from my deck! So I’ll bring out Batteryman C!”

Reece’s Batteryman appeared on the field next to the Button Cell, charged with energy. (0/0)

“Now, I’ll tribute my Batteryman C, in order to summon Charge Batteryman in attack mode!”

Batteryman C dissolved into shards and a new one, with a pink head and a blocky metallic body appeared, crackling with energy ready to be unleashed. (1800/1200)

“And finally, since he was normal summoned, he lets me special summon a Batteryman from my graveyard, so I’ll bring back my Batteryman AA!”

The familiar site of Reece’s first Batteryman appeared next to charge, crackling with a renewed vigour. (1000/100)

“Now, since I can’t attack you with that Firewall in place, I’ll end my turn.”

Orion eyed the three Batterymen as he drew.

Dammit! Still not it. Where the heck are you!?

He looked over his hands.

Well, I can use this later if I have to.

“I’ll pay five hundred to keep Firewall and I’ll set one card face down. Your turn.”

Reece: 4500
Orion: 2700

Reece drew.

“I too will set a card face down and it’s your move.”

At this rate, he’ll kill himself with that Firewall card of his.

Orion drew, and a big smirk stretched across his face.

“I think it’s time we heated things up don’t you think?” Orin chuckled. Reece rose an eyebrow.

“What the heck do you call that last few turns?”

“That was warm at best, but now things are going to get hot! Volcanic hot!”

Reece took a step back as the room began to grow hot.

“First, I’ll destroy my Firewall, since I no longer need it.”

The firewall died out, but it did nothing to cool the temperature.

“Now, I will sacrifice my Tri-blaze Accelerator, to bring out one of my deck’s most powerful cards!”

The gun violently burst into flames, the inferno growing until a large and sinister form could be seen.

“Now, behold, Volcanic Doomfire!”

Reece could only describe it as a fiery demon. With red flesh and black, bone-like plates covering parts of its body, a fiery mane ran down its back as it exhaled intense heat. (3000/1800)

“Now let me explain how this tower of fire works,” Orion explained smugly, “First of all, you MUST attack it. There’s no choice in the matter!”

Great, so I can’t defend myself against that thing!

“And secondly, when he destroys a monster, ALL monster on your field are destroyed!”

Reece growled, unable to say anything.

“Now, Volcanic Doomfire, destroy his Button Cell! Molten Fury!”

Letting out and Earth-trembling roar, the beats spewed forth a stream of pure heat, engulfing Reece’s batterymen effortlessly. Reece cried out as the head singed his skin.

Reece: 1900
Orion: 2200

Orion gave a cold chuckled which caused Reece to seethe in anger.

“I guess you weren’t as good as Forte after all,” Orion chuckled, “Then again, I never really expected you to be.

After all, all you are is his little sidekick, someone for him to kick duty onto when he doesn’t feel like doing it himself.”

“Shut up,” Reece seethed angrily.

“Why? You know it’s true. He’s no hero, just someone with a lot of power and not afraid to use it to crush anyone who gets in his way.

That’s why we’re a lot alike he and I, we don’t give a damn who we step on and destroy, just as long as we get what we want, who gives a damn?”

Reece snarled with rage, tempted to charge over there and slug him one. However, the more rational part of his mind kept reminding him of the giant fiery monstrosity that was looking to tear him apart.

Unbeknownst to them, Rose was watching the duel from above.

Her hands clenched into fists, trembling slightly to Orion’s comments.

Forte was not like that. Sure, he wasn’t a saint, but he was nothing like Orion.

She wouldn’t believe it.

“Make your last move Reece,” Orion chuckled, “I’ll wipe you out with my Doomfire no matter what you do.”

Reece drew, glaring at Orion before looking at his hand.

He couldn’t suppress the small smile that appeared on his lips.

“I’ll activate the trap card Travel-Type Battery!”

A trap card raised, depicting a large battery charger of some kind.

“This will allow me to special summon two Batterymen from my graveyard, as long as they’re level four or lower, so I’ll choose to bring back my AAs.”

The two batterymen appeared, energy jumping between the two of them. (2000/2000) x2

“So there’s two of them, big deal,” Orion scoffed, “They’ll get destroyed when they attack anyway!”

“You’re right,” Reece smirked, “So I’ll attack you with this instead! I’ll sacrifice one of my batterymen…”

A large, mechanical form began to appear behind the batteryman.

“In order to summon Super-Electromagnetic Voltech Dragon in attack mode!”

The large, mechanical dragon rose up, letting out a metallic roar as its eyes glowed with life. (2400/1000)

“And since I sacrificed Batteryman AA for it, it gains an additional thousand attack points!”

Orion stepped back in shock as the batteryman hoped into the dragons back, sending its attack power soaring. (2400/1000) – (3400/1000)

“And as soon as you summoned it, it’s gone. Voltech Dragon, wipe out Volcanic Doomfire! Batteryman AA, attack him directly!”

With a powerful roar, the mechanical dragon began to pump intense voltage into the volcanic beast, causing it to explode in a violent, fiery manner. Orion cried out in a combination of rage and pain as the second attack struck him.

Reece: 1900
Orion: 800

Orion let out growl of rage, glaring at Reece hatefully.

“For a sidekick, I seem to be giving you quite some trouble,” Reece chuckled, giving Orion a smug expression.

Are you done?” Orion seethed, trying to control his anger.

“Yeah, go ahead.”

Orion drew rather violently.

He gazed at the card he drew and his body slumped slightly. Reece assumed Orion had made a bad draw, until he heard a strange sound coming from Orion’s lips.

It sounded almost laughter. And indeed it was. Orion howled with laughter as he threw his head back in the air.

Reece thought for a moment that Orion had lost it before his expression of glee turned into a deranged smirk.

“It’s time to finish this,” Orion chuckled manically.

“What the heck did you draw?” Reece asked.

“First, I’ll activate my trap card,” Orion spoke, as if he didn’t hear, “Volcanic Recharge, which will bring three volcanic monsters back from the grave to my hand.”

He plucked three cards from his grave.

“Now, I’ll discard them,” He grinned, “For you see, in order to bring out this beast, I must discard three pyro fire attribute monsters from my hand.”

The air began to heat up as he discarded the cards.

“No, behold the essence of heat and flame itself! The avatar of fire!”

Reece stepped back as it arose onto the field. Its body was composed of flame, only fragments of black, iron armour defining its arms, ands and face. Its eyes burned with raw power as it looked down upon Reece.

“Behold, [B]Inferno Incarnate Eragos[/I]!” (2500/1200)

Reece and Rose’s eyes widened as they stared at the living being of flame on the field.

“It still only has twenty-five hundred attack,” Reece stated, trying to calm himself down, “My dragon can still beat it!”

However, something told Reece that wasn’t going to make his situation any better. Orion chuckled.

“That doesn’t matter. Because you see, this monster has a really nasty effect!”

Orion pulled out his graveyard. Eragos let out a deep growl as the air heated up.

“You see, after this effect, he wont be able to attack for three turns, but that doesn’t matter.

Because by removing every pyro monster from my graveyard, he deals five hundred damage for each one!”

Reece’s eyes widened in fear as he quickly did the calculation in his head.

“B-but that means…!”

“That’s right! Forty-five hundred damage! Inferno Incarnate Eragos, finish him now!”

Reece didn’t even get time to scream as the avatar let out a deafening roar, followed by a violent explosion. Flame engulfed the field. Rose was forced to pull back from the window and shield herself from the heat.

When the flames finally died down, Rose peered cautiously out of the window. Orion was still standing, and while the avatar looked like it had died down a bit, it was still there.

The notable difference was that Reece was flat on his back, unconscious.

Reece: 0
Orion: 800

“Reece!” Rose cried out before running off to get down there.

Orion smirked confidently as the avatar vanished.

“What amazing power.”

The black haired youth then looked down at the unconscious Reece. An idea formed in his head.

We’ll, I’d need something to bargain with Gabriel. No doubt he’s a bit peeved I took the avatar.

Lifting up the unconscious redhead with a grunt, Orion slumped him over the back of his bike, tying him down.

“Get away from him!”

Orion turned to see Rose strike him in the face, with a growl of annoyance, he grabbed her and shoved her to the ground.

“Go back and cry over your dead boyfriend,” Orion smirked cruelly before climbing onto his bike and speeding away.

Rose could only watch him leaving before pounding her fist into the ground.

“Damn you,” she said with a cracking voice, fighting back the ears welling up in her eyes.


Name: Inferno Incarnate Eragos
Card Type: Monster
Monster Type: Pyro/Effect
Attribute: Fire
Attack: 2500
Defence: 1200
Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can be special summoned by discarding 3 pyro-type FIRE monsters from your hand. Once per turn, remove all pyro-type monsters from the graveyard from play. Deal damage to your opponent by 500 x the number of monsters removed by this effect. If this effect is used, this card cannot attack for 3 turns.

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…Next up…
…Chapter 20: Darkest Memories…
…It’s so dark here…