Yu-Gi-Oh!: Return of the Shadows (IC)

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Mechazawa looked up at the vampire wannabe, "How about no. There's three of us, and one of you. Honestly, Pat is doing you a favor, because- now stop me if I'm wrong, Apostolos- I speak for both of us when I say we really would like nothing more than breaking your legs right now. How about, if you win, we let you leave with your limbs intact."
He looked back at the now-blank pillar, admiring his handiwork. Mechazawa placed the steel woll back into his bag and pulled out a piece of chalk, a small mallet, and a chisel.
 
"Nice duel disk" Pat remarked. "Too bad you can't use it once I break it. Your face that is." Pat held his duel disk right out in front of him, the holographic projector booting up and the entire device preparing itself for use. Within a few clicking sounds, it was ready and Pat drew his first five cards.
 
Apostolos glanced and Mechazawa and smiled, "I would love to break her legs. Let her crawl back..." He glanced at Mechazawa's work. "A fascinating craft." Apostolos turned to Pat and Madora. "This will be interesting..."

Apostolis then glanced at Mechazawa, "Grace this pillar with your great skills as an artist."
 
True, there were three of them, and one of her. But they were drunk, so Madora had the advantage of being able to fully use her brain. And Madora had a plan. It meant using the duel to stall for time, and making some compromises to say the least, but it was better than letting these three get away with their crime against the Cult.

Only half feigning a cough, Madora put her switch blade back into her bag, concealing something else in the back of her hand when she withdrew her arm from the bag. While staggering about a bit, playing up her injuries, Madora subtly hid her hand behind her bag and back, so that her opponents wouldn't see what was hidden inside it. "F-fine," Madora snarled, containing her urge to leap on Mechazawa while he continued ruining the pillar, "I'll play by your rules. Just please...don't touch me again. I-it damn hurt." Madora shuddered, drawing five cards from her duel disk with one hand (the free one). She glanced at her cards, realizing it wasn't too bad a hand. Keeping her cards close to her chest, Madora croaked, "You can go f-first. Though it's n-not like I get a choice..." Madora nodded towards Apostolos and Mechazawa, acknowledging that due to their brute force they were in charge of the situation.

Meanwhile, the secret item in Madora's other hand was preparing to turn the tables.
 
Darius was walking home, if you counted a cardboard box as home, after a long day of dueling. As he walked he counted the money he had made "Fifteen dollars. Wow, I made a lot more than usual today maybe I can eat something other than plastic tomorrow." To celebrate, he decided to go see one of the prime pillars and maybe buy one of the newer packs of cards. He dreamed of all the new powerful cards he had a chance of getting. It wasn't until he bumped into to something, did he realize that he had arrived at the pillar. As he got a hold of his sense, he started to apologoize before he realized that he had bumped into a robot, which was usually completely normal, but this one was dueling some poor girl who looked severely hurt and on top of that the duel was 3v1. "Hey if you're gonna duel how about making it fair" he stated in a monotonous tone. He then proceeded to walk over to the girl and pull out his duel disk "I'll help even out the odds."
 
"We're not dueling, you jackass." Mechazawa was carefully drawing a 膓 insignia onto the pillar in chalk, "It's just Pat and the goth chick."
 
Madora was going to protest about being called a goth chick, but she didn't want to draw attention. Not when her secret plan was almost ready...

((I've opened a conversation for the duel!))
 
Officer Lancelot was VERY unhappy. First, the "freak accidents", as the chief had called them. People getting hurt in duels. Strange creatures in secluded areas of the city... That was a mountain of paperwork. However, that mountain would've been preferable to patrol duty. But, with the suspicious shortage of officers recently, Officer Lancelot had been called to the frontlines. He hated patrolling. People always looked at him funny. These chumps hated chimps, and Officer Lancelot knew it...

His internal grumbling was cut short by the sounds of a confrontation. A duel! He blew as hard as he could on his police whistle, and pulled forth his deck. "Hey! Stop that right now! Nooooooo MONKEY BUSINESS!"
 
Pat drew his first card and smirked. "Oh, you're gonna like this one... I play not one, but TWO Jam Breeding Machines." he placed the spell cards into his duel disk as two machines were erected on the field. "BEHOLD! THE POWER OF MY MACHINES! I'll set another card face down and end my turn."

Two? That was a nuisance to Madora...but not for long. Madora quickly drew a card. "I'll start by playing Mystical Space Typhoon to take out one of your jam machines!" Madora exclaimed, "Next I'll set a card, and lay a face down. E-end of turn!" Madora burst into a coughing fit, a real one she hadn't actually expected. It seemed Apostolos had reopened an old weakness of Madora's.

"Please, could you be any more of a drama queen?" Mechazawa finished chiseling the second stroke, making sure it was nice and deep. He lined up his chisel for the third, tapping the mallet with relentless efficiency.

"If you want, yes, yes I could," Madora retorted, after finishing her fit. She didn't care about being cheeky now that her secret weapon was almost ready.

The whistle was piercing as the chimp patrolman rushed onto the scene. He was prepared for anything. Anything... Other than whatever the hell this was. That strange obelisk was certainly not a normal part of this neighborhood. And it CERTAINLY didn't belong here. "Hey! You damn kids! What the hell are you doing out here? Some kind of gang thing, I bet!" He spit when he said the word gang. Probably because he didn't like gangs, but maybe because he was an ape, and apes did that sort of thing.

Apostolos glanced at Mechazawa, "Fine work." He peered at the duel going on, "Well this should be an interesting insight..." Apostolos chuckled as he glanced at Mechazawa's efficiency in carving. "Truly it will be a beautiful carving."
"But go on feel the wrath of the Jam Breeding Machine..." Apostolos said watching.

"Shit, it's the cops!" Mechazawa stowed his mallet and chisel as he ran, grabbing Pat's arm and dragging him along. "Apostolos, meet me at my bike!"

Oh, now Link was mad. These jerkwads were trying to get away! "Hey! HEY YOU! STOP THAT! NONE OF YOU APES ARE GONNA ESCAPE!" He blew into his whistle again, running after the fleeing nogoodniks. They would certainly pay for their crimes.

"Shit!" Apostolos grabbed his bag as he fled the scene heading to Mechazawa's bike.

And now there a police monkey. Of course. As if things weren't mad enough already. Well Madora was about to sort it all out with her hidden item, which she now revealed- a mobile phone! She wasn't letting those idiots run away freely.
"Don't worry, Mr. Cop," Madora answered, being careful not to point out he was a monkey, "I'm just making a...PHONE CALL!" Madora cackled, thinking she was calling Caleb for backup.
"Hello, Antonio's pizzeria, how can I help you?" Madora's phone buzzed. Madora almost dropped her phone in shock. She thought she'd rung Caleb, not the pizzeria. "Um...a margerita pizza please," Madora stumbled, trying to cover up her mistake, "A-anything you guys want? I'll pay?" Madora had been hoping that Caleb would be able to send out some cultists to capture her assaulters...pizza wouldn't do that, unfortunately. "Back to the duel, Pat?" Madora asked, ignoring the monkey.

Darius quickly chased after the punks who were trying to escape who were surprisingly fast, after a it seemed that they were gonna get away, and that's when an idea popped into his head, it was stupid and it probably wouldn't work, but it was all he had "That's right run you bunch of sissy's!"

Madora hurriedly ended her call to the pizzeria. While her original plan of ringing for backup was ruined, she didn't need it now. The cop and robot guy were chasing the two who'd beaten and threatened her. Madora didn't mind Pat so much- he was dueling her, and the only thing Madora loved more than the Cult (but not Caleb) was dueling. "Well? It's your turn!" Madora pointed out to Pat, "Ignore them, your friends deserve to be chased like rats. I just want to finish this duel!"

Normally, Mechazawa would have doubled back to beat the both the guy's and the goth chick's faces in, but the heat was on, and there was no way Mechazawa would be getting arrested if he could help it. Annoyingly, Pat refused to budge. Oh well, he had his own transportation.
"Alright, fine, Pat! If you don't get arrested, meet us at the usual place!" Mechazawa shouted as he hauled ass towards the alleyway where he had parked his motorcycle.

Pat groaned a forced groan of pain as if the destruction of his spell had actually hurt him. "My draw!" he took a card from his deck and looked at it before placing it in his hand. A slime formed on his side of the field, popping from the active machine. "I play wetlands, bringing my slime up to 1700 attack points! Then, I'll activate my facedown card- Token Stampede, making it 2700. Attack my slime!"

Officer Lancelot was FED UP. These crooks weren't getting away without a fight. "Hey! HEY YOU SHITTY KIDS! How about this? I'll duel you. You win, you go free. I win? You stay the hell off my streets and quit vandalizing this city! I won't be gibbon you another chance!" He groaned, wondering why he was forced to make yet another primate pun. "Sound good?"

"Too bad that my set monster is a Marshmallon!" Madora boasted, revealing her set card, "You lose 1000 life points, and Marshallon isn't destroyed. Ha!" The Marshmallon bounced over the slime's attack, then directly hit Pat.

Mechazawa screeched to a halt at the entrance to the alleyway. "This is a bluff, right? To get us to let our guard down? There's no way you're actually challenging us to a card game."

Pat let out another grunt as he took lifepoints. "Very well then" he shrugged it off, throwing the tail of his trench coat so that it blew in the 'breeze'. "I'll just get you next turn. I end."

"I ain't bluffing, chump," Officer Lancelot snarled, and it was true. He was actually challenging a bunch of hoodlums to a card game. To decide whether or not to deal with them. It wasn't exactly /proper/ police work, but it beat letting them get away on their motorcycle.

"I- what?", he turned to Apostolos, "Is this actually a thing you do here, in America? I mean, is- is that legal?"

Madora drew a card, and smiled when she saw it. "I sacrifice Marshmallon to summon Mobius the Frost Monarch!" Madora announced, as Marshmallon was torn to pieces by the blue monarch emerging from the ground, "His effect means I can destroy two spell or trap cards. I chose Token Stampede and the Jam Breeding Machine!" The two cards shattered, bringing the slime's attack back down to 1700. "Now Mobius, attack the slime!" Madora was proud of her move, but not sure of what to do next considering her current hand.

Apostolos glanced at Mechazawa, "Sounds treacherous... It has to be a bluff."

"Let's make it a tag duel you two versus the cop and I, and if you guys win I'll personally hold him back so you can make your get away, if not then you come peacefully. Sound good?" he asked.

Pat grunted once more as he saw his monster destroyed and his lifepoints brought down to 6300. It seemed that he was on the fast track o losing. On top of that, he didn't have another Jam Breeding Machine in hand- his face showed it. It was a harsh grimace, Pat glaring at Madora as he looked for a different strategy.
When it became his turn, he could do little but set a single card face down. "Go."

Madora glanced over at the alleyway. It seemed like the monkey-cop had challenged Mechazawa and Apostolos to a duel, with the robot now teaming up the the cop. Madora guessed it was Mechazawa and Apostolos' freedom at stake, so she hoped they accepted the duel and lost. It was something to keep an eye on while participating in her own duel.

"That's... a really raw deal, seeing as we can just, you know, haul ass." Mechazawa inched towards the alleyway, his hand closing around the motorcycle keys in his pocket.

"Hey lady! Pay attention!" Pat yelled.

"You could just run away, but then you would be just a bunch of cowards and on top of that it looks like your throwing your friend to the sharks. Now I'm no delinquent, but being branded a coward and a traitor sounds like it would hurt your rep quite a bit." He said in the monotonous tone that he usually carried.

"Well, you don't know a lot about delinquents, that part is clear.", Mechazawa said, "No shame in running from the cops. Come on, Apostolos, let's cheese it!"

Apostolos glanced at the new guy as he moved to the Motorcycle. "He can handle a little freak." Apostolos glanced at Mechazawa, nodding at him. "CHEESE IT!"

Ignoring Pat's insult, Madora drew a card and considered her hand. Two cards she wanted to save for later, when she was in a trickier situation. Another one was idiotic to use right now. As for the other two...
"I activate the spell Return of the Monarchs," Madora declared, "Now I sacrifice Mobius to summon Zaborg the Lightning Monarch! Also, Return of the Monarchs means I can add Caius the Shadow Monarch to my hand from my deck. Now that's all over, Zaborg, attack!" Zaborg gathered up lightning in preparation for his attack.

H-"I activate my trap- Scrap-Iron Scare Crow! See, I don't have the fancy strategies and combos you do, but there is one thing I have" Pat paused a moment to 'build suspense. "THE HEART! Now make your move! Or is it my turn now?"

"Heart my arse," Madora sneered, "Sure, have your go now."

Mechazawa kicked the motorcycle in gear as Apostolos hopped on the back. "We'll kick your ass later, pretty-boy! Count on it!" he shouted to the brunette kid as he and Apostolos tore out of the alleyway and onto the road.

Pat drew his card. It was Pot of Duality, which he played immediately. The cards revealed were Scrap Iron Scarecrow, Hidden Armory, and Testudo Erat Numens in that order. He revealed Hidden Armory and put it in his hand before shuffling the other two cards into his deck. He then played Hidden Armory, discarding the top card of his deck, Blizzed Defender of the Ice Barrier and searching out Mage Power, which he put in his hand.
"Two trap cards face down. I end my turn."

Drawing a card, Madora eyed the face downs. "Zaborg, attack right away!" Madora ordered. She was going to conduct most of her turn in the second main phase. That way she should still have a monster if Zaborg was killed by a trap.

"You're forgetting about THE HEART! Scrap Iron Scarecrow!" Pat activated his trap and looked toward Madora smugly.

Mechazawa wove through alleyways like a convoluted metaphor in an attempt to throw off anyone who might be after them. He spoke to Apostolos as they drove.
"Man, that guy has really got some nerve, coming in like that with his priestly garments and his perfect hair- you know, come to think of it, he didn't have the collar. Is impersonating a priest even a thing? Do people do that here?"

"How boringly predictable," Madora commented, "Watch this. I'll firstly activate the field card Seal of Orichalcos, raising all my monsters attack by 500. I also activate the spell card Double Summon. So I summon Battle Fader, just to sacrifice it to summon Caius the Shadow Monarch." The Battle Fader appeared for a few seconds, only to be engulfed by Caius' darkness. "Caius' effect lets me banish Scrap-Iron Scarecrow," Madora continued, pointing at Pat's trap, "Plus Return of the Monarch's effect means I can retrieve Mobius the Mega Monarch from my deck, and add it to my hand. I think that's it now." Madora looked at the two monarchs standing tall on her side, both enhanced by her seal. Madora doubted they'd be taken down easily, but she still had her face down just in case. And the one currently useless card in her hand.

Pat sighed and quietly watched as Madora took her turn. Before the turn shifted to his and Pat drew his card, Pat took a deep breath. "SHUT UP WOMAN! I'M TRYING TO THINK!" he exploded, before drawing a card.
"Alright. Great. Dark Hole. I set one monster face down. Go." Pat said with chopped up words.

"Shut up? I'm not talking!" Madora complained as she watched her monsters get sucked away. She drew a card, and decided to take a gamble. "I normal summon Tree Born Frog in attack mode. Next I'll use Creature Swap. We both only have one monster, so that's the one we must swap! Now tell me, what's the set monster I now control?"

Apostolos spoke to Mechazawa as they fled, "So we've got cops, rival gang and a priest impersonator..." Apostolos paused for a moment, "Fun. Well I have no doubt our gang will win the turf duel. But that card game won't keep them out. We need to plan..."

"Blizzed, Defender of the Ice Barrier" Pat confessed "but you can check yourself." The effect of the cards read: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, draw one card. "I better tell you though- when it gets destroyed, I'm the one who gets to draw."

"Well, personally speaking, I was planning on punching that guy in his perfect bishonen mug, then finding the next goth kid to enter our turf and breaking his legs, but I'm open to suggestions. You?"

Officer Lancelot made a decision. He knew what he had to do, and just how to do it. Just as Pat was getting ready for his next turn... A pair of wires stuck straight to his back, and began delivering a shocking experience to his unfortunate body. Officer Lancelot smiled. "Looks like victory... Just wasn't in the cards for you."

Apostolos thought for a moment, "We need to get a delinquent inside those Card Fetish Freakos, if we want to completely destroy them. Sure we can just beat them out of our territory, but if we want them truly dead... we need a man on the inside, to let us know where they hang out. Then we take them all out...."
Apostolos then nodded, "Personally I also agree with your suggestion. Perhaps once we aren't being chased."
 
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"Hmm... you make a very valid point Apostolos- ah, we're here.", Mechazwa pulled up next to a condemned building in the docks district. It used to be a card shop, but since competition was so absurdly high, and it didn't have a second niche, the owner was soon forced into bankruptcy and forced to foreclose. Since then, the delinquents had used it as a safehouse of sorts. Mechazawa parked his bike next to the building and covered it in a tarp before entering.
 
Apostolos followed Mechazawa in, "Right, well. Let's hang out here until the heat comes off us." Apostolos did a double check to see if there was anyone in the area to worry about. No, not a soul, just as to be expected in this condemned area.
 
Mechazawa hit a switch. The lights flickered for a few seconds before bathing the room in a dim fluorescent glow.
"Yup. So, I was thinking-" Mechazawa said as he opened a small tool closet at the back of the shop, "-these goth kids or whatever: They seem to get real pissy when we erase their street art. So, see, I'm thinking, how do we draw them out-", he pulled a bulky portable sander out of the cabinet, "-and then it hits me. Just take off their tags, and they'll show. So, Apostolos, how about we charge this baby up and do some community service?", there was a pause, "You know, that sounded a lot cooler in my head."
 
Apostolos nodded, as he clapped his hands. "As soon as we mark those little bastard's tags off... They'll come straight to us! Then we can take them out one by one, and interrogate them to learn more about their gang so we can finish the job." Apostolos flung both his hands to the sides, "It is our civic duty to our territory *HIC*" Apostolos rubbed his mouth with his right hand, "'Scuse me."
Apostolos glanced towards Mechazawa as he moved his left hand in a don't worry about it motion, "We can think of a cool name for our community service." Apostolos smiled. "Ah, this will be wonderful."
 
"Well, you know, I kind of like Community Service. It has a nice sort of euphemistic ring to it. Though I suppose it does sound a little lame when you shout it. Operation: Sandblast, maybe? Wait, no, I think that's a speed metal song. Also, this isn't a sand blaster.", Mechazawa plugged the sander and a spare battery into its charger, "Names are tough."
 
Apostolos began pacing back and forth, "We can stick with Community Service. I personally like Damage Control, Operation: Reclamation." Apostolos paused as he pointed upwards, "Perhaps Zeus' Vengeance... Then again that one really only appeals to me, so that wouldn't be fair." Apostolos shook his head, "Names are tough."
 
Now THAT outburst was completely uncalled for. All of the antagonism that Ben and Gregory had built up towards one another was climaxing here, and the recent events only could fuel Ben's rage. Cain merely looked with forlorn as the expelled investigator stormed his own way out of the building, followed eventually by a far more smug Terrel.

It was more of the fact, though, that Cain had seen the Iswarm symbol on Ben's Duel Disk flash when the ex-officer's anger sparked. There was no denying it now; the Iswarm deck was taking sway over Benjamin's emotions, and at this rate it might not be long before he becomes totally corrupted.

"...I'm sorry, sir," Cain said finally, turning to regard the Commander. "I know for certain that what happened was real, but I really don't have any way of proving it." Cain meekly shrugged his shoulders and sighed, continuing, "Honestly, I should've known that this would've ended up being such a waste of time. Again, I'm sorry."

With that, Cain excused himself from the office, closing the door on his way out. The degrees of helpless that Cain had experienced throughout the day now had a new addition: the fear of the inability to change a terrible fate. For at least a little while Cain had believed that perhaps Ben was not as different from himself, that maybe Cain and Ben could find an ally in one another. What just happened may have turned that all around, however.

...Or maybe not. He hadn't even brought it up with Ben yet.

Cain decisively picked up his pace out of the building, retracing the path taken to the Commander's office. As he exited the station, Cain managed to spot Benjamin in the growing evening. In an event not unlike his first attempt to reconnect with the officer, the duelist rushed in pursuit of Ben, calling out, "Ben! Hey, Ben, hang on!"
 
Madora was shocked to see Pat get shocked. She'd thought that the monkey was chasing after the other two delinquents, but he must have given up on them and come after Pat instead. Madora supposed this was her victory...sort of.

"Thanks Mr. Cop," Madora said to the monkey, deactivating her duel disk, "You won't mind if I just leave now, will you?" Without waiting for an answer, Madora shoved her duel disk in her bag, and bolted off. She didn't particularly feel like hanging around so that the cop could discover that she was in Cult of Shadows, or that she'd marked the pillar in the first place. Cops were just as bad news to the Cult as the delinquents.

While sprinting away, Madora popped her phone out again. She had to inform the Cult about how one set of their symbols had been ruined, so Madora had decided to text them the story. It would have been much simpler to go back to the underground base to do it, but Madora still hadn't achieved her original aim, had she? Despite everything that had happened, Madora was still determined to engrave the Cult's symbols into yet another pillar. Which was exactly where Madora was running to.

---

Terrell took this to be the opportune moment to slip away. Benjamin was too upset about the commander's outburst to notice Terrell, and Cain seemed busy trying to get Benjamin's attention. Without making any noise, Terrell vanished down a nearby alleyway into the growing darkness.

Even though he'd escaped, Terrell still crept down the alleyway stealthily. He didn't want anybody following him down one of the secret entrances to the Cult of Shadows. While Terrell loved danger, having the entire Cult against you for revealing their whereabouts didn't quite sound like Terrell's cup of tea.
 
Link was tired. The strangely dressed girl had escaped, both of the other gang members were gone, and all he could book this idiot on were charges of loitering and petty vandalism. Ah well, it would have to do. Quickly slapping a pair of cuffs onto the still floored Pat, Officer Lancelot grunted out a quiet euphemism, something that sounded quite offensive. "Now then," he finally addressed the poor little white boy, "You're comin' to the station to answer some questions. Don't even try to make like a banana and split." Ugh. Officer Lancelot hated that insatiable urge to make ape-related puns.
 
Penultimate Pi said:
Now THAT outburst was completely uncalled for. All of the antagonism that Ben and Gregory had built up towards one another was climaxing here, and the recent events only could fuel Ben's rage. Cain merely looked with forlorn as the expelled investigator stormed his own way out of the building, followed eventually by a far more smug Terrel.

It was more of the fact, though, that Cain had seen the Iswarm symbol on Ben's Duel Disk flash when the ex-officer's anger sparked. There was no denying it now; the Iswarm deck was taking sway over Benjamin's emotions, and at this rate it might not be long before he becomes totally corrupted.

"...I'm sorry, sir," Cain said finally, turning to regard the Commander. "I know for certain that what happened was real, but I really don't have any way of proving it." Cain meekly shrugged his shoulders and sighed, continuing, "Honestly, I should've known that this would've ended up being such a waste of time. Again, I'm sorry."

With that, Cain excused himself from the office, closing the door on his way out. The degrees of helpless that Cain had experienced throughout the day now had a new addition: the fear of the inability to change a terrible fate. For at least a little while Cain had believed that perhaps Ben was not as different from himself, that maybe Cain and Ben could find an ally in one another. What just happened may have turned that all around, however.

...Or maybe not. He hadn't even brought it up with Ben yet.

Cain decisively picked up his pace out of the building, retracing the path taken to the Commander's office. As he exited the station, Cain managed to spot Benjamin in the growing evening. In an event not unlike his first attempt to reconnect with the officer, the duelist rushed in pursuit of Ben, calling out, "Ben! Hey, Ben, hang on!"
Click to expand...

In the short time he'd been there, Benjamin had been able to help out the Department of Law Enforcement greatly, namely chasing down and defeating the various gang and crime bosses that existed throughout Aria City. Hell, he had even helped out the Commander himself from time to time, there was no way the guy would have just so easily disposed of him like he would have a rookie officer.... right? And to prevent him from even going near the Cult-influenced places where the Department was... There had to be something else going on.

Before Benjamin could begin thinking about the possibilities however, he heard Cain calling after him.

"Yeah, what do you want?" Ben said as he turned, irritation still in his voice.
 
Again, Cain slowed to a stop in front of the still-maddened Ben, more desperate than ever to put this plan to action. "You know, based on what we've both been through today... I don't think we're too different. Maybe we should keep in touch; you know, so both of us can have someone we can trust?"

There was a bit of hesitation in Cain's voice, as if he might've been afraid of a negative answer, or maybe even fearing if Ben was already totally lost to the Iswarm. Still, if this all worked out, they would both be benefiting from the experience. As they say, misery loves company.
 
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