(82) Clean up

Bolts of yellow lightning rushed out, bashing into the remaining soldiers standing, leaving a trail of destruction never quite expected from a single attack. Some tried to flee, but it was no use. One by one, they felt the wrath of thousands of volts rushing down their collective spines and pain receptors. Collapsing in extreme pain.

"""“AAAAAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!”"""

Screaming ensued, some from the pain, most from pure terror, and as they fell, they looked up. Above them was a menacing figure. It looked like an angel, clad in metal skin and metal wings which reflected the yellow light of its own attack, making it seem like a veritable beacon. Beacon of what? That depended on who was watching.

To the teenage girls looking on behind a makeshift wall of metal desks now deformed thanks to the previous gunfight. It was a beacon of hope. Hope they reached for with all their might, a hope to overcome a hopeless predicament. They were done for, quite literally, these men now screaming in agony, shot at them without mercy. Now that they had the upper hand, were they expected to show mercy back?

For the two twins who dropped to the floor as soon as the gunfight began, maybe yes. While frightened, the soldiers hadn’t hurt them directly… But they still knew that was more of an accident than their intentions.

For the tanned, green-haired girl clad in a NWDA red rank uniform with her back firmly pressed against the wall. No, no mercy. These bastards came to kidnap them. State sanctioned or not, what was the point of showing mercy to men looking to nab teenage girls? It was a cartoonish level of evil.

The answer was even more obvious to the girls wearing blue rank NWDA uniforms looking over a tall, pink-haired girl motionless on the floor. These scum had hurt their most precious captain, and for all the positivity they cheered for, none of them could find an ounce in their hearts now.

Further back from the wall, running away from the scene, were two girls. One of them was tall, tan, and had her green hair styled in a pixie cut. For all she cared, these men stopped being human the second they tried to hurt her, and the girl she swore to protect. The other girl was short, pale, and had her blond hair styled into pigtails, and while she found a little sympathy for these soldiers—after all they were just following orders, something she was very familiar with—she was the one who risked her life to provide the tools for this to happen, if she had the choice, she would do it again.

And then there was the last girl standing in the middle of it, her lilac eyes focused on what was happening in front of her, with her long purple hair and pale bangs flowing in the stray air currents formed by the heat shooting back from the battlefield. Around her was a transparent blue barrier.

This girl was me, standing proud with my white duel disk and white duel blade, looking on with a wide smile. Clueless that I was about to make a decision I would probably regret for the rest of my life… No, it wasn’t calling for AA-Zeus to smite the soldiers. That was necessary. What I did next, however, was not.

--

I look on at the destruction caused by my summon. The downed soldiers and burned greenery. I never wanted it to come to this, but they forced my hand. ‘If they had surrendered, goddammit.’ Taking some steps forward, I arrive next to the wall, where Yasuna and the cheerleaders promptly turn my way.

Yasuna is the first to speak. “You… did that?” she asks in an uncertain tone of voice.

I nod. “Yup, Zeus clears the field alright…” I immediately regret joking. “Sorry, just… Trying to make light of some of this.”

She closes her eyes, leaning further against the table while letting out a sigh of relief. “Thank… god…”

Seeing she needs some time to recover, I turn to Naeko, asking. “How is Haruna doing?”

She also sighs. “The machine finished before we ran out of power. She should be okay, but we really need to get her to a hospital. We could scavenge some antibiotics from the hotels. But without GlobalNet, my limited medical knowledge might prove insufficient for dealing with infections.”

I nod. “Understood. I’m going to do a walk around checking if the coast is clear, and if it is, we go right to the escape pods.”

Naeko nods.

My eyes turn to Nanako. She’s sitting straight with her necked arched up, taking deep, periodic breaths. “Are you okay?”

She takes a deep breath in through her nose, closing her eyes and looks back down at Haruna. “I never imagined our first ever outing would turn out like this…”

I shake my head. “Neither did I.” I look at the duel disk on my arm. “I really thought this would be a pleasant break from dueling… You know? Dancing around with you girls without a care about hand advantage and combo progression? Well… It seems like that was too much to ask.”

She scoffs. “Only you would be glad to be put in the cheer team instead of on the dueling floor…”

“Nah.” I shot while shaking my head. “I’m pretty sure some pro duelists share my sentiment. Anyway, you relax now.”

She gives me a thumbs up, and I take it as a sigh to lunge over the wall and start my walk around. I thought about going to check on the twins, but if there is someone left, I don’t want to waste too much power just standing around. I’ll check on them after I confirm we’re safe.

As I start my walk around, my first impression is grim. Most of the greenery is scorched, with many of the park features evaporated. ‘Zeus really did a number on this clearing… the landscapers are going to be pissed.’ Speaking of Zeus, it is still flying above the battlefield. I’m keeping it active as insurance. The power draw is bad, but if at full load this thing can last 15 minutes, then it can do at least an hour with one summon and no special effects like that attack.

I do the best I can to avoid looking at the soldiers. I don’t want to know if some died. That’s something for future me to deal with. I already have too much to juggle without that weighing on my conscience.

But I still steal curious peaks and the ones which I see confirm my suspicions. Nothing could walk from that unharmed, but at least I see some of them moving. I have my barrier up, so I’m not worried about stray bullets, and I’m pretty sure most of them don’t have it in them, or they are too scared to act with Zeus still present.

‘Huh? What’s that?’ I ask myself when I spot a reddish light emitting from behind a tree right at the end of the clearing. Like any white girl in a horror movie, I make my way to the strange red light, the difference being I have thunder god mecha backing me up, nevermind the force field which I used to walk around in space naked before. Yes, I “Space Skinny Dipped”, you don’t just pass up on that opportunity, ok? It’s all fun and games until Haruna forgets she is supposed to hold on to our swimsuits and they float away… ‘Had a lot of awkward explaining to do to the staff…’

While reminiscing about simpler times, I arrive next to the tree.

“BLACK MAGIC ATTACK!” someone shouts from behind it.

An orb of black magic shoots right at me, but it disintegrates as soon as it hits my barrier. Still, I stumble back, raising my duel disk level with my chest.

[DIRECT DUEL MONSTER ATTACK NEUTRALIZED! POLLING FOR DUEL…]

From behind the tree, walks out a man in a disheveled red space suit with blue stripes and golden highlights. His helmet’s down, showing the man’s white bald head and blue eyes, which I feel piercing right through me. Behind him is none other than a dark magician, with his familiar dark purple robes and green staff. “So, we finally meet, Penta-Summoner.” he says in a deep voice.

I furrow my brow. “My name is Yuumi Matsunaga. You’d do well to remember it.”

He scoffs. “My, confident, are we?” He looks behind me. “Well, considering what you just did to my men, I would be confident, too. Not that dealing with normal soldiers would be a challenge to any duelist.”

My brow further lowers, and I frown deeply. “So, you’re the leader?” My eyes gaze at his arm, where a red duel disk with a projected red duel blade stands proud. “And you’re a duelist as well… Why did you let your men throw themselves at our summons when you could’ve ended this with a duel?”

He scoffs. “Right! A single 1v8 duel! Sounds great to me!” His eyebrows lower. “My men distracted you for long enough.” Then his eyes turn to my duel disk. “A battery pack? Union military as well. Why does a simple student have that in her possession?”

I cross my arms. “Wouldn’t you like to know? Tell me your name first, at least.”

He smirks. “Sure, if you’re so adamant about it. I’m Commander General Tychon of Union Solid Vision forces.”

I blink in confusion. “What? You meant Protectorate? Right?”

He arches his neck back and starts laughing out loud. “AHHAHAHAH!!” Something very unnerving coming from a burly, bald, middle-aged army general… He pipes down. “Ohhhh, doesn’t the world sometimes play the most elaborate of pranks?” He straightens up, raising his duel disk. “Yuumi Matsunaga, there’s more at play here than any of us know. For example, I never pictured one of my operations would end up depending on me defeating a teenage girl in a duel, but here I am.”

I take a step back, also readying my duel disk. “General Tychon, was it? Just humor me for a second. Are you implying that the Union Army breached into a private space station owned by a company from an allied city full of civilians to capture some teenage girls? Is that what you’re trying to sell?”

The General shrugged. “It is irrelevant to me if you believe what I say or who I am. But remember, you are not just ‘some teenage girl’ Penta-Summoner. I, for one, would love to have you as part of my assets, and I’m sure the Union also would. But from what I see here, they sure fucked up thinking they could force you in… Oh well, I have said too much. Let’s end this like real duelists. Dark magician, black magic attack!”

The dark magician behind him raises his staff, which starts glowing with dark energy.

I look down at my disk, thinking about what monster to place down. ‘You know what? I’m not playing with this idiot. My friends got hurt because of him. Let’s show him what it REALLY means to duel a Penta-Summoner.’

I grab a monster from my duel disk’s internal storage and slam it down on my blade.

Right as the dark magician finishes casting his spell, a sorcerer materializes in front of me. A cape draws along its back while its body is concealed by a tight blue bodysuit, and it wields a long staff conjured out of thin air.

‘Yes! Call for me!’ I hear a demonic sounding voice at the back of my head.

‘… Ness?’ I try to call after verifying there is no one behind me.

…

…

No response, but an announcement from my duel disk calls for my attention.

[“DUEL START!”]

‘We will talk about your pranks later.’ I think aloud so that Ness may hear it and try to focus back on what’s happening in front of me.

Astrograph had deflected the dark magic attack from dark magician, and now the duel had officially begun.

“I wish you luck Penta-Summoner. DUEL!” The General tells.

Seeing him showing a minuscule amount of sportsmanship, I return. “While I wished we could’ve dueled in different circumstances, I also wish you luck, General. DUEL!”

We draw our hands, and the final duel begins.