From Victory to Oblivion: 365 Days to Live [IC Thread] [PG-16]

[Christian Exodia]

Exodia props the Medigun beam on a rock in such a way that its healing light is exhumed throughout James' body and the arms of those who look on. I sigh as I continue to work, dealing with further excess shrapnel as well as other means as well as possibly hypoxia. I keep his mouth and nostrils open and clear any possible obstructions. 

 

"Thankfully he did not go into shock or sustain massive hypoxia, so this should not be too bad to him." This should be somewhat easier, he thinks, than if he had if either of those two had occurred.

 

He quickly runs off to clear the area of the shrapnel and to sanitize some of the area, so no major contaminants could reach him easily. He keeps an acute watch for bugs crawling towards James, killing them if they get close. He fills his canteen in case either the doctor or the patient should require some later on.

 

"Can't be too careful." Well, he couldn't.

[Tesability Black]

~Talen's POV~

"Dude, I'm leaving James to you... Gotta help Tesability!" Talen raised her head towards the fleeing Tetsuya, whom left behind on his bed a communication device of some sort before hauling ass towards the lake and diving into it headfirst.

"He just went..." With a start after tossing her hand into the air, she bolted towards the device, knowing she wouldn't be able to run fast enough to catch up.

She didn't get to chew him out when the words in her ears became heard.

"...can hear me, the replicas myself and Tesability are about to face... They're the ones that beat both mine and James' ass, once at a time."

"You're f***ing insane for going down there with her!"

"I'm gonna plant this communication device on Tesability when I catch up with her, you'll be able to communicate with her that way so you'll be able to give commands to her and s***, but she has to tell you what's going on first to get the full picture."

"Don't worry, I'm a native here, so I have all the necessary props needed to survive here."

"I don't care if you're native or not, what you're doing is pure idiocy!"

"Do you know how to use these?" Talen lifted her head and turned towards the source of the new voice, seeing Meguri with a bunch of...how the hell did she get first aid supplies?!

"It was one of many things drilled into my head by my live-in boyfriend before he suffered a gruesome end." Taking the stuff and rolling up her eyes at the remark that followed the question, Talen pulled back out her bright-yellow and white laptop, quickly booting it up, then pulling up various documents saved on her computer linked to the area hit with the shrapnel. She didn't trust her memory enough to remember all of this, especially with her seizures, so having a way to keep that knowledge kept in a small space, especially since she brought with her a way to recharge it when needed, was half a blessing.

Recalling that the group had seen one replica that was apparently a double of one in their group, she made a mental note to herself to grab a Medigun of her own off any replicas if she got a chance after seeing how the newcomer with the Duel Monster name made expert work with such a device.

Though, such a tool still couldn't remove the shards that made it further into the body than the surface, and it looked a fair amount of glass was such, and in...oh, boy.

"Alright, I'm gonna need at least two of you to hold him down while I do this. Some of those shards look to be in sensitive locations and one of them's near a massive nerve cluster, and I do not need James thrashing on me." Glancing towards James, she adopted a look of pity that broke her previous serious expression. "I'm not gonna lie, this is gonna hurt a lot. I suggest you start bracing for this now."

"Eesh dat me?!"

Moving a hand over the comm she had moved to her ear, Talen reacted quick to the new voice, that she immediately recognized as her draconic partner.

"Tes, what's wrong?"

"Dewe'sh a dwagon dat wooks wike me hewe!"

"...Tes, get that double to follow you out of the water. I'll take care of it as soon as I can." Lowering her hand as she glanced towards the water's surface, she knew she had to work quick and so, with as much swiftness and precision as she could muster, the lone normal human among the group got to work after James was restrained by some of the others, the cold serious expression returning to her face as she did as she glanced up towards the computer screen to double-check what was usually where in the human body as she worked...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Tesability's POV~

"Here," the dragon heard as a small device was planted into one of the dragon's ears, as if it absorbed the tiny machine. "You'll be able to talk to Talen that way... I figured you won't be able to support yourself without some form of communication. You have to tell Talen everything you see here otherwise she can't help you."

Before Tesability could make a retort to that regarding being alone for over a decade, others emerged within the water, though two of them...

"Eesh dat me?!" The Netmonster was almost stunned stupid from practically looking at herself in two mirrors, though there was an error in the doubles compared to her. The doubled were pure-black, lacking the golden coloration from under their wings.

"Tes, what's wrong," she suddenly heard in her left ear, which twitched from the voice. Not knowing what was going on, Tesability still responded as if her partner was still with her.

"Dewe'sh dwagons dat wooks wike me hewe!"

"...Tes, get the doubles to follow you out of the water. I'll take care of it as soon as I can." Now the NetMonster was thinking that the human was being stupid, but she instead shook her head before flying towards one of her doubles to ram it headfirst in hopes of getting it to follow after she began to swim away afterwards, not hearing Tetsuya's latest words...

[Christian Exodia]

"I'll help hold him down. The Savior of Souls will help calm him, soothing his mind, so a slight bit of ease will be had with him. However, that will be more than offset by the nerve pain. I assure you, however, the weapon will quickly, relatively speaking, heal the nerve damage." Exodia calmly look down and grabs a small amount of gauze and wraps it around his left hand, leaving the sticky part open to his hands itself. Next, he drapes the gauze over James' arm and tries to create a tight hold upon him to keep him from thrashing with his arms. His right hand gets the same treatment with James' right leg, and he creates a tight hold upon him.

 

"You may need to work somewhat fast, though. The Medigun is designed to help heal wounds and promote fast tissue growth. I turned it on its lowest setting so it only slowly sustains this growth. Faster settings may damage the body because it overtaxes it to build the tissue back or keep wounds healed so quickly, so I don't often go much higher than the lowest settings. I've never really gotten the chance to find out, though..." And I never wanted to... he thought.

 

Looking down towards the pond where there were currently battles going on, Exodia looks up towards Talen.

 

"I apologize for taking time from your work there, but is this a common sight? If it is, we will have some interesting times practicing medicine." I smile, and continue to do my work in restraining one side.

[Chaotic Angel]

"Morph! Die, motherfucker!"

 

Tetsuya summons his familiar by sacrificing both of his weapons, merging them together. Then a being you know all too well appears. It's a familiar that fatally bit down on Ron's Lingering Will, yet no one had managed to thank Tetsuya for that yet. Ocean Dragon Lord, Neo-Daedalus appears in the fray and devours the Blasphemous Shadow he was up against and crashes down on the rocks that trapped him, setting Tetsuya free. By then, his eyes will have grown red and darkness aura glowed within him, but only for a second or two.

 

Tetsuya swims forward and sees another Blasphemous Shadow follow Tesability out of the water, but three Isolated Emperors are about to block her path, and they do so, preparing to fight her off. Tetsuya was about to catch up with Tes as well, but another three Eastern Sinners block his path as he was about to reach her.

 

"Holy shit, that's not good... Tes! You got three more coming!"

 

Tetsuya shouts the warning at her, realising he has more replicas surrounding him. As well as the three Eastern Sinners that beat his ass surrounding the front of him, whilst two Desolate Empresses follow on from behind, stopping him from swimming back in. "Looks like I got more than I bargained for. Tes, Lure the two ladies and bring them with you! I've got the men! If I deal any more than this lot, then the wound on my back will open again!" he instructs, ensuring both his and Tesability's safety.

 

On land...

 

"I managed to get these from the camp's supply box. Apparently it appeared as we arrived here earlier today..." Meguri said, stating where she got the operating kit from. She then adheres to Talen's instruction and restrains the other side of James, making sure he doesn't thrash himself on her. "James, you're gonna be fine. You may be my idiot brother, but you're the best one I can afford. I can't let you die this early in the game... It's not happening!" she says, throws her backpack to one side and prepares the stitches. "I'll leave my stitches to one side, Talen... In case you don't have enough. I'll support you the best I can, so let's go! James... Bear the pain..." she concludes as treatment is about to begin.

 

"Can I really.... Bear the pain...?"

 

"Shut up, it's gonna hurt a lot so brace yourself. I can't find any anaesthesia so I have no choice but to treat you as things stand. I'm sure Exodia would be of some use too."

 

The two converse during the treatment, but James continues to be in more pain. We can only blame the Desolate Empress since her weapon is made from glass. Then, the voice emerged...

 

"Campmates... Starting tomorrow, two people at a time will be heading for a location assigned by the camp every day until seven locations have been covered. The seven locations are: Torn Streets, Garden of Roses, Graveyard, Winding Road, Abandoned Junkyard, Desolate Marketplace and College Courtyard. The first two people leaving the Singing Waterfalls until nightfall will be Talen Avalon and Exodia. Please prepare your belongings as you will not be back tomorrow until dark, your location will be in the Garden of Roses, turning right from the Torn Streets but you need not worry about walking over there. A helicopter will take you straight to your location and back to the Singing Waterfalls again during dark. Good luck for the rest of your journey. Let's see how you can handle the surprises in the Garden of Roses!"

 

"Brrh... That voice makes me shiver... Every time... Looks like Talen and Exodia are going to the Garden of Roses first it seems. First impression, it's a garden filled with all types of flowers, eighty-percent of them are roses."

 

"Sure as hell, they'll be surprised... Let's finish this treatment..."

 

Meguri makes her first impression of the Garden of Roses, before continuing with the treatment ahead.

 

Back underwater...

 

"Let's party then, hopefully I won't get my ass beaten again!" Tetsuya taunts, bringing the Eastern Sinners closer to the Desolate Empresses and brings his weapons forth.

 

As Tetsuya prepares for his fight, he uses an ability to control and manipulate the waters around him, trapping the replicas Eastern Sinners and Desolate Empresses with him for the duration of the fight, and to prevent him from taking unwanted damage from Tesability's electric shocks.

[Christian Exodia]

"Darn it. I guess the patient will be without its medics soon enough." Exodia quickly says as he gets back into focus keeping James' extremities held down as the operating can begin. It'll be interesting to see how they see me fight. He looks towards Talen, who seems to know what she is doing. He also looks to the Medigun in order to gauge if it is carefully kept in place. 

 

"At least I had not unpacked. At all. I just got here, finally a nice bed to sleep on and I get thrown into the wilds after one night." I calmly sigh before going off into my head, remembering adventures and escapades of the past and spacing out for a second. 

 

I space back in and realize I am putting too much pressure on his arm. I need to be firm, but not too hard because blood flow can be restricted. I put a lighter, but still as firm grip, on his hands. 

 

"How is the operation dealing, Talen?" I calmly remind her of the mission at stake. "It closes up wounds slowly but efficiently... may need to be careful with how you extract. If you need me to take off the beam, I can easily do so to allow time to extract shrapnel."

[Chaotic Angel]

"The voice tends to like sending random people off to other locations... Two people alone, in fact..."

 

Meguri makes a judgement as the surgery to save James' life commences. "I wonder how Tes and Tetsuya would react when they hear the news...?" she said, scratching her head in confusion and when she looked away, she saw a laminate flying around and grabbed it. "What the fuck does it say..." she thought, reading through the sheet of paper. It turns out the laminate contains all the full details of the locations each pair of campmates are going to. "I better keep this to myself for now. I don't think everyone else would like this... I mean, I've gotta imagine the way they would react!" Meguri thought, hiding the laminate behind her back and focuses on the task ahead.

 

In the Garden of Roses...

 

In this location, there's lilies, roses and daisies all over. 80% roses, 10% lilies and 10% daisies. There will be a memorabilia of past YCM characters fixated on the ground, including the likes of Ron Yim as a humanoid with his eldest son and youngest daughter. Also around the garden will be David Verona, Gemini, Neos and Shade. The latter few has different owners so we should know who they belong to. Summoners of Solace are believed to be around, but only two of them so far.

 

Need me not to mention, there will be surprises coming your way, but they're all pleasant ones. Some even have letters from home, but you'll have to win them. You will have to play games with replicas to win the letters from home. The games include Blackjack, American Roulette, Three Card Poker and Craps, or maybe even Chess, Mahjong or other traditional board games.

 

We could say, the overall location is 5% tarmac, 10% memorabilia, 85% flowers.

 

And now the most important stuff is out of the way...

 

The replicas set off in their positions, awaiting a game against you... Don't worry, in the Garden of Roses... They are not allowed to strike or kill you, neither are you allowed to do the same to them. This is after all, a location used to look back at the memories and to gamble for letters from home...

 

Back in camp...

 

"Cough... Cough!"

 

James starts to strain himself and coughs violently due to the glass lodged in his internal organs. Any minute now, they could explode...

 

"James, pull yourself together!"

 

"Ah.."

 

"Shit."

 

Meguri grabs her knife, forces herself in front of Talen for a second and cuts James' clothes open. ​"Just as I suspected. Haemorrhaging. And it's only gonna become worse. Exodia, Talen. Use your judgement to look for any hidden shadows around him. The glass around him may have exploded on his insides and toxins may have formed... Unless we do something now, this guy is as good as gone." Meguri said, memorising what she had been taught.

 

In Meguri and James' Home World...

 

"So James got himself into trouble, right...? Hmph. Time for me to shine... Elisha, Harriet... Are you ready?" Ron said to his old-friends-now-comrades. He swipes his right hand onto his upper left arm and changes himself into an Immortal Cyborg, complete with a suit, consisting of an iron torso, gauntlets, helmet, lithium boots and gaiters, covering his face. "You two, you're on standby. When Neo, our Emperor opens the portal... It'll be your turn to shine. Until then... I'll be seeing ya." he concludes, opening the portal and makes his way to camp.

 

You may probably notice, that Elisha and Harriet haven't been saying anything... Until now. Fact is, they're probably Immortal Cyborgs as well. "I'll see you on the other side then, Ron... Let's go, Harriet." Elisha said, leaving the scene with Harriet.

 

In the College Courtyard...

 

Ron enters the College Courtyard, awaiting his campmates, but something was wrong...

 

His aura became dark and control around him was limited. It seems that Talen and Meguri would need to come over and check the situation, but since Talen is currently occupied with another assigned location... This will have to wait.

 

"Why... Are my negative emotions getting the better of me...?"

 

"Is desolation... Really the answer...?"

 

"ARGH!"

 

Back in the Singing Waterfalls...

 

"I hear screaming! That's the sound of... Ron! It looks like the Lingering Darkness within him has taken over. We don't have very long left. Talen, let's hurry and finish this so I can get to the bottom of what's going on!" Meguri said as she hears a foreign scream coming from the College Courtyard.

 

"Refrain from doing so! Proceed with your current assignment. My specimen is almost at its pinnacle. Even thinking about touching him is suicide... I won't stop you, Meguri Nightingale... but are you sure you'll be able to kill him alone...?" the voice of the campsite said, warning Meguri of the severe consequences she would have to suffer later.

 

"..."

 

"I'm willing to go, hell yeah. But I'm not going there alone! Let me finish this off, you ignorant motherfucker!" Meguri shouts back at the voice.

 

Looks like we have a new surprise coming our way... It's probably far less pleasant than the one in the Garden of Roses...

[Tesability Black]

(I remembered this, but hadn't managed to get to start on Tesability's part. So, I'mma post this while I can.)

 

~Talen's POV~

"...oh, sure. Send off the one that can't fight to save her own life and the actual medic off by themselves," Talen couldn't help but remark with a side of snide as she looked upon the shard of glass that was in contact with a larger nerve cluster. Clicking her tongue, she opened the thin clamp and grabbed for it, the removal sure to cause pain no matter what she did and so figured it was best to quickly remove it and minimize the resulting pain.

However, the quickness of the grab caused her to accidentally nick herself on the forearm with the shard, to which she showed no reaction to, before grabbing the needle and thread and beginning to stitch together the vital areas that were heavily damaged. While it did look like she had no actual experience with typing up surgical knots herself, the stitchwork did still look secure, like she's been on the recieving end enough times to know what to do.

"Alright," she stated before glancing up towards the monster-named man and his unusual weapon, making a note to get one of her own off a replica if she saw one of Exodia's doubles for herself. "Once I'm done stitching, I need you to use that 'gun o yours to at least get him to stop bleeding. The rest of the healing is best done overtime with small bursts from that to help speed things along safely." Remembering that she had been asked a question, Talen looked up towards the sky with brownish-silver eyes in thought. "Not yet, but knowing my luck, it's gonna be frequent. At least Tes has MegaHeal, so I don't have to stitch her up."

Removing her hands from James, she took herself and the tools to the edge of the water to clean them and herself off of the blood as much as possible, finding herself looking at the space between her thumb and pointer finger for a brief moment before shaking her head and looking ahead for where her partner could appear...

...which didn't take too long. A few Eastern Sinners were suddenly send flying from out of the water and way over the heads of James, Meguri and Exodia to land on the other side of them in a daze for a moment before another became ejected from the water to land just short of the trio, the odd landing upon its head cracking this one's neck and killing it.

Finally, with wings stretched out to reveal the golden color underneath her wings, Tesability flew straight up out of the water with a few monochrome doubles following after her, resulting in a multiway dragon fight in the sky.

Though, whatever plan that was brewing in her head suddenly broke at the scream.

[Chaotic Angel]

"Whoa! Who brought those replicas over here?"

"Tes, how's Tetsuya? You must have separated from him whilst you lured them over, huh...?" Meguri said, halting treatment whilst she communicates with the dragon that jumps up from underwater. "James, my brother. I'll handle this one, You sit tight and recover. Talen, I'll buy you time. Patch James up, check for any haemorrhaging and call it quits for now. He will need two separate treatments in order to get every bit of glass out." she instructs, washing her hands of any blood using the water tank nearby and pulls out her weapons. "I dunno, but there isn't supposed to be replicas over here! Don't let them destroy our beds and hammocks!" she instructed, heading to one of the replicas, charging at it. In the end though, she gets kicked in the abdomen and flies to the waterfalls behind her.

"Those guys are tough. Oh yeah, we met them before, haven't we?"

"Shit, behind you, Tes!"

Meguri shouts, sighting two more replicas, the Desolate Empresses that once faced Tetsuya. So now, in the scene, we have two Eastern Sinners, two Blasphemous Shadows and two Desolate Empresses. The three Isolated Emperors aren't anywhere to be seen, however. It probably might have been underwater fighting Tetsuya right now.

"Morph!"

Meguri merges her two knives to create one giant shuriken, heals herself with a drink of potion from her backpack (We're surprised she even bought this. It's alright however. No one noticed until now.), charges at the replicas and hacks at the two Desolate Empresses, sending them back underwater in broken pieces. She saw the dead Eastern Sinner behind her, and did what she had to do as well. Break the replica apart and throws it back underwater.

"Please for the love of God... Let there be no more for the time being!"

"Cough!"

James starts to react to the haemorrhaging inside his body, elevating his heart rate and goes under cardiac arrest.

"James, NO!"

"He's flatlining. It's okay though, he's not quite dead yet. Keep looking out for him!"

She keeps an eye on James as he is being recovered and prepares to take out the rest of the replicas. Soon enough though, Tetsuya jumps out of the water, making it back in one piece, with the head of one of the Isolated Emperors. "How's James doing? Oh, shit. Cardiac arrest doesn't sound good. I can tell literally by looking at him. I need to beat directly at his heart to get his pulse back. Do you mind?" he asked, approaching James slowly.

Though, however Tetsuya made it back in one piece, we will explain next. It seems like he was successful in holding back at the replicas.

Tetsuya then takes his shirt off and looks at his own reflection in the waterfalls. It would appear that the large gash on his back had suddenly reopened.

"Wait, how did that happen...?"

"It just doesn't make sense..."

Tetsuya thinks to himself about how he ended up with a reopened wound and pulls out one of his spinners. He throws it like a discus, quite blindly at one of the replicas, but wherever it ended up, we will have to wait and see.

"Tetsuya, your back..." Meguri thought. "You couldn't have overdone it now, could you?"

[Yami Zero]

~Specter Cam~ (Specter's point of view)

 

Specter escaped his underground prison, being far away looking around saying: "So this is what the world has come to?" Specter then grabbed a backpack full of the basic supplies he sees next to him. "Who would know my name? Whatever!" He puts it on his back and walks over to the camp, (which was extremely far away) grabbing his Blade Maker and makes a wind blade and makes a whirlwind around himself to protect himself from any surprise attacks. He is quickly attacked by an Oppressed Hero, sending it flying about 20 feet up and falling to it's imminent doom. if that isn't enough he then strikes it down with a goliath sword (colossal sword that could cut a shark in half with ease) He then walks off, finding the most repulsing creature in history, the Immobilized Ghost. "What in the name of HELL are YOU?!?!" He quickly strikes it down, using a mixture of nuclear energy and wind magic from his sword. He destroys it with his attack, breathing heavily, eventually collapsing.

 

 

<>Luke's Perspective<>

 

 Luke gets to Tetsuya with some minor medical supplies "What the hell did you do to yourself? Whatever..." He then start putting medicine and covering the wound, all up to the point where he covers the wound with a special healing cover (small machine that starts creating new muscle, tissue and skin in a matter of minutes, but requires extreme caution so it doesn't over do it and make a mistake like a malformed muscle). "Does it feel better? Sorry if it feels like a little weird but it'll eventually feel normal again!" He then whispers to Meguri "You obviously know him better than me... I need you to make sure he doesn't fight for atleast 3 hours. It'll take a while for his body to be completely healed, even with high-tech medicine and extreme body reconstruction." He then turns around, seeing an Oppressed Hero infront of him, Luke then reaches for his gun, noticing he forgot it at his tent and watches as his own replica aims an arm rocket at him. "Can someone help me please? I have a rocket aimed at my face!" Behind the replica, comes out the Crimson Blade, Specter Atomizer, energies replenished. "Another clone? What are these things and why are there so many?" He then stabs the replica from behind with the goliath sword, ripping it's head in half.

[Tesability Black]

~Tesability's POV~

"Tes! You got three more coming!"

"Huh?"

Tesability looked back after hearing the shout to see a few extra of those replicas had joined in. Knowing Talen had told her to get the still-following fake dragons on her tail out of the water, she figured it was best to pull these out of the water, too.

And what better way than a good set of Throws?

Barrel-rolling out of the path of a bolt from behind her, Tesability zipped in and grabbed one of the Eastern Sinners, spinning in place for a second to build momentum before letting go and letting it fly straight out of the water. Ducking several more bolts sent her way, she grabbed the other Eastern Sinners and pulled more Throws in the same way, though the last toss was the weakest one pulled.

"Get'sh outta da watewsh," Tesability relayed to Tetsuya before dodging yet another spray of bolts before finally flying out of the water herself.

She had past experience with dealing with multiple enemies, but ones that absorb and heal from electricity was a different ballgame, requiring her to use claw, fang and tail to deal damage instead. She even use Throw on one of them to put it head-first through a few trees...though like her, it just got back up and back into the fight in the sky.

She was paying attention to no one around her that was speaking, however...

"Tes, bring one to me!"

...there was one voice she would always hear. Shaking her head at the command, she managed to grab one of the monochrome dragons by the wings and Throw it to the ground, cratering the ground where it hit headfirst like she did when she first arrived...

 

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~Talen's POV~

At some point, Talen had grabbed hold of her staff, one point in the ground and another in the air as if ready to have it used like a lightning rod. She watched at her long-time partner used Throw one of of the dragons she was fighting against, causing it to crater near her feet.

A muted growl emerged from the pure-black dragon as it shook off the impact before catching sight of the human with her staff, letting out a silenced roar towards her as it stretched out its wings to make itself bigger.

"That won't work on me," the human responded before pulling out the weapon from the ground. "Let's see if you guys follow NetMonster rules."

It was evident that Talen was not the best at combat, but her knowledge of how the orignal functioned provided the edge she needed to keep from getting electrocuted or seriously harmed. Once she was close enough, she jabbed one of the points into the double...

...which finally let out a vocalized scream before the weapon went through it, fatally impaling it with its own weight...

"They do follow the NetMonster Circle of Life..."

 

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~???'s POV~

 

Among the many flowers with the Garden of Roses, there was one already present amongst the greenery, though one would perform a double-take upon seeing it. An Estranged Assassin was sitting crosslegged, minding its own business. Unprompted, it looked up towards the blue sky with eyes of red instead of the monochrome.

 

"Michele really should have given her avatar a better weapon," it remarked with a voice that did not belong to it. "If I had been using full force then, she would have died right there."

[Christian Exodia]

Exodia looked towards Talen. "The healing itself may take until tomorrow, so I may, for the benefit of the doubt, leave the Savior of Souls here to keep James intact. I would rather risk myself going into an area uncharted than leave a patient to suffer for a day." Exodia's gaze goes hard as he looks towards Talen, knowing that they would be going together in the morning. "Who knows? Maybe it has nobody to fight."

 

Exodia looks towards the Medigun itself, and smiles. He fiddles through the healing tool to find its settings button. Once he finds it, he quickly sets it to a burst mode. "If you ever need to use it, Talen, just understand, it has four modes." He points to its settings.

 

"The first is full blast. This one gives a consistent stream of healing but it is more efficient for battle as it is meant to keep soldiers invigorated and its effects are meant for temporary relief before we are finished... it also drains the power easily."

 

"The second is burst. This one gives a burst every minute or so. It is meant to heal wounds more so than invigorate and keep on the battlefield because you are getting more charged energy per shot, concentrating itself.

 

"The third is low beam. This one is meant to stabilize a patient. It keeps their body intact without creating healing easily. The healing in this mode takes the least energy, but it's difficult to actually make a complete difference in their structural makeup. It's for surgery before you switch to burst mode.

 

"The fourth is rapid fire. This one works similarly to burst, but it is meant for healing multiple allies quickly. Short bursts of energy that come out much more quickly than burst. It's meant for close-quarters healing, but it also has the effect that I can accidentally hit the enemy with it." Exodia finishes explaining it to Talen, who seems to be absentmindedly in her head. All concentration, however, is broken at the sound of the scream, which makes Exodia accidentally turn on rapid fire.

 

"Darn it!" Exodia accidentally hits Talen with a short burst before switching it back to burst and placing it onto James.

[Chaotic Angel]

FLASHBACK

 

Tetsuya looked back at Tesability, only to see that he was left with Isolated Emperors. "Good, lure them away! I'll take care of the rest!" he said as he quickly got back on with his job. He placed his hands on both sides of him, to the point they touched the flow of the water trapping himself to create sharp thorns on either side of him. This was so that they can back him up in case his weapons would not suffice. Isolated Emperors were good swimmers anyway so they wouldn't go down without a fight. Then Tetsuya would hack and slash at the replicas and when he looked at Tesability, who signaled him to get out, he immediately followed on. He summoned as many water thorns as possible using his Water Manipulation ability in order to have them charge straight at the Isolated Emperors. However, Tetsuya stopped after three minutes of following Tesability and saw that all three of the replicas he targeted are already dead and shattered and so he caught one of the heads and catches back up with Tes, and jumped out of the water. What he didn't know was... His gash that he suffered before he introduced himself to everyone had reopened.

 

BACK TO THE PRESENT

 

"Thanks, Luke Reapur... Is it? And change your attitude a bit, dude. My gash from earlier reopened for some reason." Tetsuya said, as he saw the spinners landing on one of the Eastern Sinners, sending that one back to the water sliced in half. "Now, to pay attention to James Barker! Everyone move, it's gonna be dangerous, but effective!" He said, instructing everyone to move aside as he attempts to recover James' heartbeat. He clasps his hands together and starts slamming the middle of James' chest and listens back to his heart beat every two seconds. "None yet. Two more!" he said. He does the same two more times before James' heartbeat is back. "There we go. The slamming technique worked. Doesn't take a doctor to do that." he reviews, as he takes out his survival knife.

 

"Tetsuya... We have a scalpel already..."

 

"Then... I'll use that. This will get a better picture of what's really inside. I'll borrow that then... Watch closely Meg, Exodia, Talen..."

 

Tetsuya then makes an incision on James' chest revealing his left lung, of course it wouldn't go without a nervous pain in him.

 

"Tsk! Be more careful, Tetsuya!"

 

James starts to become a little bit more awake because his heart beat has been recovered so he as well can guide Exodia and Talen. Now, Tetsuya reveals what he suspected he saw in the first place. "Glass from the weapon called Niflheim... A Glass Excalibur. If we don't remove it now, the whole of his left lung would be frozen. Lemme check for other locations, then cut those up too." Tetsuya said, as he starts to feel around other locations for any other glass shards and when he saw shadows on his right arm too, that's when he started reacting. "Haemorrhaging. I'm gonna cut that open." he said, cutting the skin open to reveal the shadow, spewing blood and.... Glass too.

 

"That's easy to remove. Talen, can you do the honors?" he asked, before moving on to other locations, but not before cutting two more areas in James' right arm, due to the same problem. He then grabs a marker and draws on any abnormalities within James and refocuses himself on the left lung.

 

"So far, the problem organs are the left lung, liver, pancreas and stomach."

 

"If we don't finish this within... Three hours. James is finished. His organs are as good as frozen and it will be a while before they heat back up again..."

 

"Maybe even ten or more years."

 

Tetsuya said, hurrying the procedure as quickly as possible without rushing and pulling out the shards in a quick, but accurate manner. Ten minutes later, all of the shards in James' left lung including the smaller pieces are out and he proceeds to closing him up with his own set of stitches.

 

"Talen, Exodia. I've told you where the rest of the problem organs are... We have the liver, stomach and pancreas to deal with. You'll need to hurry though, I told you the consequences but even so, I'll have you two take over... I'll be taking that last replica out!" he said, running to the water tank to clear the blood from his hands. Then he took his weapons out and started charging and brawling at his own replica, or so he thinks...

 

"No you don't, Tetsuya. I'll do it. You keep an eye on James." Meguri retaliated, unsheathing one of her knives and does what Tetsuya was intending to do. Tetsuya just watches James and monitors his heart rate.

 

So, as intended, Meguri goes on and brawls the Eastern Sinner instead, throwing herself and it underwater and commences a fist fight.

 

"Right... That's easier said than done. You used your fists to fight a replica capable of fighting underwater... At that rate, she's not gonna make it back in one piece too easily..."

 

"Pfft, good luck, Meg."

[Christian Exodia]

Exodia fumbles with the Medigun further, to further adjust the gun to accommodate the complex reactions that are occurring. He sighs as he sees blood spurt out of him further. "Please don't end our patient's life with a maladjusted swing." He sighs and continues to place down the Medigun stably. He looks towards the body of James whilst trying to avoid the Medigun beam.

 

"His body may need some fluids to maintain homeostasis." He looks down at the patient's body, seeing the organs in their current state. "I should heat up some water. I shouldn't give it to him all at once burning hot... I need to give it to him in stages to warm his body up slowly. I will return swiftly." He runs to the water tank, fumbling for a water receptacle. Exodia finds a simple pot and then a small means of giving water to him: A small cup. "This should work." 

 

Running back to James, he slowly gives him a couple of sips of this cool water, wondering how this will work. Whilst trying to take in all of the situation, he looks inside himself to calm down. 

 

(I'm sorry the post is short; I can make it a little longer in the morning.

[Chaotic Angel]

Assuming Exodia and Talen had removed the shards from James' arm, hidden within the haemorrhaging shadows...

 

"Alright, time to save that funker. I need absolute focus now."

 

Tetsuya said, starting with the liver and making an incision there. Once done, there's a few glass bits lodged in and all he had to do is wipe it off. He grabs a cloth from his backpack and gently wipes the bits off his liver before closing it up again. Afterwards, he moves on to the pancreas. As soon as he cuts that up, he saw toxins covering the entire organ. "He's finished.... No, seriously." he thought. When he turned his head to his right, he saw a draining machine. He picks it up and turns it on, points it at the toxins and drains it away. After that, more glass bits were revealed so he simply wipes it away. "Closing it up..." he said, working quickly in order to save James.

 

"Final organ now, you say? It's my stomach next... Damn, that jabroni." James said, guiding Tetsuya through the treatment.

 

"Alright, thanks brother. Just keep talking." he said, making an incision in the stomach area. When he revealed the stomach, he never seen anything like a large blade lodged in before. "A piece of a blade? No... funking way. I gotta get it out, now!" he said in total awe, grabbing the scalpel and cutting around the blade. Then he pulls it out slowly and gently. An hour into the operation and Tetsuya finally finishes extracting the foreign object. "Holy sheet. James, this is no laughing matter! I'm beat! Closing the operation field up." Tetsuya said, finishing the operation.

 

James seems to be fine now, at least. Meguri finally jumps out of the water as well, but with a black orb in her hand. "That replica was a complete pain in the arse." she said, signalling her victory against it. She keeps the orb right besides the waterfall and leaves it floating for now. By the time she looks up to the sky, it had already become dark. "Time for my dinner. I'll get the grill set up." she said, grabbing her lighter and warms the BBQ grill up, ready to cook her rations.

 

"James, you can't eat yet... We need to get the remaining toxins out of your system."

 

"Also don't you even think about fighting on your own for the next day."

 

"You're not the only one though, my gash reopened and I'm not allowed to fight yet either."

 

Tetsuya says those things to James. He simply acknowledged his warning and replies: "Alright, I got it. I'll be getting a shut eye instead. 'Night."

 

James gets up and approaches his hammock before lying down and goes straight to sleep. Without eating anything, following the advice of Tetsuya.

 

"I just hope he doesn't overdo it..."

 

Tetsuya then checks over the grill Meguri had lighted and starts putting his beef burger patties in, providing it's nice and hot. And now, he waits...

 

"The rations taste better when it's heated over charcoal. I can smell it."

 

When the rations are done cooking for Tetsuya, it was Meguri's turn to put her rations in.

 

Tetsuya takes a bite of his beef burger patty and unfortunately it tasted bland. "Bleugh. They should know better. Oh well. Better keep this going..."

 

"Yep. This one was better, but still just as bland." she said, tasting her beef burger after five minutes of heating it up on the grill.

 

"It's not enough, but it'll calm my hunger down. I think I lost some weight in the past three days. The fourth coming."

 

"Yeah, so have I... And I only just come here this morning. I'm beginning to feel like I've lost weight... We've got a lot to compensate."

 

And with that, assuming everyone else is done with their actions... Day 4 will become imminent.

[Christian Exodia]

------------------------------------------------------DAY 4---------------------------------------------------------------

 

​Exodia looks up at the sky as he awakens. He yawns lazily, rubbing the stuff from his eyes. He goes in a meticulous pattern, from crevice to crevice. Once he was satisfied, he hops upwards. In his clothing, he tries to clean out his bed, shaking any crumbs off the sheets from any midnight snacking. When satisfied, he quickly puts them back down. Knowing what he will be doing today, he quickly begins to pack anything he needs and to get his clothing neat. He notices that he seems to be the first to awake. Sighing in relief after yesterday's carnage, he fades into his mind for a brief moment in happiness.

 

"Darn it it happened again." Exodia curses under his breath as he continues to pack whatever he needs. Clothing, weapon in sheath, items in Medigun pack. Once done, he puts the sheath onto the medigun and puts each strap on his arms. Tightening the straps, he puts on a smile. Rearranging his now messy hair, he looks around for any signs of conscious life.

 

Exodia walks over to James' currently unconscious body. Smiling in his wake, he looks down at what of his body is currently visible. He seems to have healed well... Walking over each sleeping self, looking up to the night sky, he is captivated. He gets himself back together, and goes to fix breakfast.

 

As a meal, he fixes some rations, feeling that he does not deserve any of the food they have yet because he did not yet get involved with any of the activities. Until today. Today is the day I will be useful! I can help our camp! Cooking the burger lightly, preferring it rare, he does not use it for longer than he needs. Once satisfied, he bites down. He does not care about anything it is... except that it is food.

 

He then fixes himself a small glass of water to help his dry mouth from the morning. He simply looks up at the sky, not yet day, waiting for the others to wake up.

[Tesability Black]

~Talen's POV~

A grumpy woman opened her eyes upon hearing voices and movement before starting to get up out of her fairly-thick sleeping bag, taking a split second to feel around for her glasses next to her before putting them on and spotting Exodia glancing into the tent she brought with her that currently held within the sleeping James. The tent itself was actually for two people, but she found long ago that tents were often more comfortable when there's one less person than the max in it.

"Ya mind being a bit more quiet when being noisy," Talen griped with full awareness of the irony of the complaint as she rubbed one of her eyes and allowing a yawn to escape from her mouth. Pulling herself out of the sleeping bag and rolling it up, she began muttering some crude, unintelligible swears that she probably wouldn't be able to repeat more-clearly later as she tried to wake herself up further.

Pulling out the pot that came with the supplies given to everyone here while thankful she managed to pack up what she could of her own stuff already during her little bit of insomnia last night, she also pulled out a few other things.

A flint & steel, a small pack of spaghetti noodles, a silver pouch of admittedly-tasteless tomato sauce, a tiny pouch of sea salt and a grate that she could set the pot on while it was held over a fire.

"Might as well get to making charcoal for cooking with later on as well," she muttered to herself as she went to the edge of the water and scooped up a decent amount for boiling before bringing it back to a particular flat rock near where she had been sleeping, using it as an impromptu desk and other things.

Placing the pot on the desk, she began to ready the area for cooking she made last night when she was making herself dinner, a circular set of stones meant for holding something above a flame with a few logs already ready for being set ablaze. There was still a few bits of charcoal from before, but making a few more to bring with her afterwards wouldn't hurt, honestly.

After finally getting the flames going, which included catching herself with the sparks a few times, and the pot set over the grate she carefully made sure wasn't gonna budge afterwards, she glanced towards the sleeping dragon of the group, her four paws moving in her sleep as if she was chasing after something on foot. "Heh, goofball," she said with a smirk as she opened up and sprinkled half of the pouch of salt, which was no bigger than a condiment pack at most fast-food places into the water to help it boil and make it safe to drink or use for food faster...

[Chaotic Angel]

Meguri wakes up first to see that Talen and Exodia are already up. She fixes breakfast by approaching the grill next to her bed and opened the lid. Just when she was about to get the matches for the grill, she realises there's no charcoal left for them, so she went ahead and chucked wood from nearby on there. Afterwards, she went off and lit up the grill.

 

"Fourth day here... I hope it remains like that..."

 

Then James starts waking up, feeling a slight bit of pain from the postoperative symptom he is currently experiencing. "Morning sis... I don't feel too well for some reason." he said, though he may just feel better by tomorrow.

 

"It's alright James. Take a rest yeah? Oh... And don't eat anything until lunch today. There's still toxins left." she advised, saying it as if she knows what was going on, then she looks at the eerie orb. "What is it anyway?" she wandered.

 

"This, Meguri Nightingale... Is an Absent Silhouette. This contains souls who cannot rest in peace and they are quite powerful. I would advise you not to face this thing unless you are ready."

 

"At least the voice helps today..." she said, going back to the grill and places her beef burger in. Tetsuya started getting up not long after James did, but when he thought about approaching the waterfalls... A helicopter can be heard from outside the Singing Waterfalls, so he went to check.

 

"What the funk is going on here?" he asked, curious. There was no one in the pilot's seat, instead there's a laminate containing a message.

 

"Talen Avalon and Alexander Ryder, you are being summoned to the Garden of Roses today. Please board this helicopter and start making your way down there. You will be back to camp before lunch time today. Afterwards, you two, alongside Meguri Nightingale, Tetsuya Kousaka, Tesability Black, Specter Atomizer and a new camp mate will board the helicopter once again in order to meet your fate in the College Courtyard. One of you WILL die today, unless you wish to defy your odds.

 

Back to the point, there will be challenges that need to be won. If you manage to win them all, you will receive the following and eat well tonight for dinner:

• Emu Rump
• Baby Gem Lettuce
• Fresh Coriander
• 3 Oranges
• 2L Bottle of Cola

"So, if we win... We might be able to eat well tonight... If not, then what happens?"

 

"If you win most but not everything... Then you will miss out on a drink and the steak. The rest of it will be yours still."

 

"Shut up, you're not helping." he said to the voice but still, it didn't give a sheet.

 

When Tetsuya walks back to the Singing Waterfalls, he approaches Talen and then talks so Exodia can hear as well. "Talen, Exodia... Your ride is here. Not only that... Take a look at this message!" he said, passing the laminate containing the message over to Talen. "Apparently it's challenge-related. If we win every game at the Garden of Roses... We'll be eating good stuff tonight! Though, I'm not a fan of emu steak..." he said, expressing his apparent dislike for eating emu.

 

"Emu's alright, I guess. It's better than eating a bland beef burger that's already half-cooked. Give it your best shot then, Talen and Exodia..." Meguri said, giving some moral support, but she was stopped after Tetsuya gives out one more message. "Yeah, if you're thinking about celebrating... Don't."

 

"After Talen and Exodia are done... We only have five minutes, then we have to go again. Meguri, Tes, Specter, myself and another camp mate will be joining them for another fight that apparently we won't forget."

 

"Tes, I hope you're hearing this too. We're gonna be busy today."

 

After the announcement. Tetsuya then cooks his breakfast using dried spaghetti noodles. He follows Talen's technique, filling his tray up with water and soaking them on the grill. Not exactly the best idea but he knew what he was doing. "So... Is this right?" he muttered. A few minutes after the announcement had begun and Tetsuya cooks his breakfast, Meguri had already finished her meal whilst Tetsuya is still eating his for the time being and so she proceeds to washing her tray.

 

"So, Tetsuya... What would you do if you went there and won all the sheet? Spend all the time eating until you're fat?"

 

"Ahem... Not happening. Not gonna let myself. Besides, there's only gonna be a limited portion for each of us."

 

The two converse, joking about what they're gonna do with the dinner after Talen and Exodia wins against all of the replicas in all of the casino games.

 

Near the torn streets though...

 

An Isolated Emperor was ready to accompany the Lingering Darkness in taking out the camp mates but something was different... It was wielding a giant blade rather than its usual weapon and also... Aura was enveloped around it... Is the replica that strong? And so, it makes its way to the College Courtyard, where the major fight is about to take place.

[Christian Exodia]

Exodia looked towards the whirring that is occupying the noise high above the camp. A helicopter is hovering above them and lowering quite slowly towards them. Curiosity abounds him as it reaches the surface of the camp. Walking towards it, he sees one or two of his campmates leering into the vehicle itself. "Wonder what's inside that makes them so... jittery." He says to himself as he, too, takes a peek towards the means of their excitement.

 

Upon reading the message, Exodia feels a few shivers creeping up his spine. My name... Why do they know my name? Wait... how? Exodia is left in a heavy state of confusion upon reading the message itself, let alone the challenge it bears. Knowing that he will often overlook certain details on the first read-through, he goes through it again.

 

Talen and Exodia... yadda yadda yadda... Already know this... Oh. Oh no. Somebody is gonna die today?! Not on my watch! Exodia gets a bit of energy flaring through him as he gets a bit of delight at this message as an opportunity to test his healing abilities.

 

"Defy the odds? Is that not what these sorts of things are about? I mean, we are already gambling..." Exodia asks the voice in an inquisitive notion, his voice full of confusion and curiosity meshed into a single self.

 

Exodia, after getting his answer, gets his stuff completely ready and heads towards the helicopter to continue his journey.

[Tesability Black]

~Talen's POV~

She lifted her head at the sound of the helicopter, surprised to see one here. However, she wasn't stunned shocked to hear it, which is part of growing up within sound range of a military base.

"Another campmate," Talen remarked after reading over the note on the pilot's chair once she absconded it from Exodia's hand. "I wonder who else got dragged into this mess, then..." Folding down the top of the note over itself, she glanced at Exodia with a narrowed, yet non-hostile look in her eyes. "I probably have no room to speak, but...your name's actually Alexander? Why the Duel Monster name, then?"

Going back to reading the note after unfolding it, an increasing grin started to form on her face, especially in regards to the 'food challenge' as she would call it in her head. "Welp, for their sake, I hope they don't play Blackjack or Texas Hold'em." She glanced towards the rest of the group, her smirk now showing a bit of teeth...and unfortunately showing that she hadn't really been taking care of them with the sight of a gap becoming visible near where a molar should be. "Otherwise, you might see a smoke signal in the form of those replicas."

Placing the sheet back on the pilot's seat for the moment, she turned to head back towards her pot of cooking pasta, which was properly boiling now. "Also," she said after a few steps before turning her head back towards the group. "If we do win all of that, I wanna cook."

Taking a few minutes to check the noodles, which the one she grabbed easily wrapped around her finger and was able to be bitten through without issue, she drained some of the hot water into a cup she pulled out before draining the rest of the water back into the lake, hoping that whatever nutrients may have leaked into the water helps out whatever fish may be below. A slight drop of salinity can also do wonders for the wildlife as well, as long as its in small doses and isn't added too often. The noodles themselves she slid onto a plate before opening up the silver pouch with sauce and poured it in.

Satisfied that it could hold its own for a few moments, she walked over the sleeping dragon, whom had flipped over onto her other side at some point, which netted a smirk on her face.

"C'mon, Tes, time to get up..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Tesability's POV~

"C'mon, Tes, time to get up..."

"...mmmph..."

"Up."

"...ainowanna..."

"...typical kid." A few seconds passed before a bellow loud enough to probably literally wake the dead up became heard by the dragon's leafy ears. "TESABILITY BLACK, GET UP!"

"AI'M UP!" Awoken with a jolt, Tesability was instantly on her paws...though a loud yawn escaped her muzzle before she turned towards the source of the rude awakening, which was her human partner with her arms crossed in front of her. "...whash up..."

"Time to get up, old friend. You need to eat, too."

"...eet?" The NetMonster blinked a few times in confusion before remembering the past few nights, when 'eating' something stopped her 'middle' from hurting. "...owh...dat weewd ding...UNWAP!"

The strange backpack that she had gotten at the start of this all began to glow before disappearing from the space on her back between her wings, then reappearing nearby before unwrapping itself to reveal a great many things. She watched as the human glanced through the many things before looking back towards her really quick before taking out more of those 'patties'. "WAPUP!"

The bag re-wrapped itself once the human was out of the way, making itself really small before returning to where it once was, a weird feeling to have something between her wings like that, but at least it didn't inhibit her ability to fly. "Here, munch this, like I told you to last night." Eyeing the 'patties', Tesability appeared to try to bite off Talen's hand due to her mouth completely covering it, but upon pulling back, only the burgers were gone. She tried to 'chew' then 'swallowed' the two burgers as they were and without even bothering to cook them first. She caught the pensive look on her partner's face, and so tilted her head slightly in curiosity.

"...wha'sh wong?"

A smile then formed on Talen's face before she petted Tesability between the leaves. "Nothing's wrong, just thinking." She went back to her sauce and heard a yip as she pulled the pot off the flame and poured the red liquid over the white strings. Shaking her head at the goofy human, she pawed her way towards the rest of the group to finally notice the huge chunk of metal that the others were around. "Wha'sh dat?"
 
(I'm only asking for wins in the two games mentioned, since I have smoked many in real life in both. The others are fair game, however.)

[Chaotic Angel]

"So Talen, Exodia? Are you ready to leave yet? The helicopter's about to take off. If they don't see you in the Garden of Roses... I'll be the one in trouble, no one else. My supplies are gonna be cut off for the rest of the night if that happens, but no one else will be affected apparently."

"Yeah, sure. Place the blame on me you lame bastards!"

Tetsuya reached out and called Talen and Exodia to the helicopter. Assuming they come over and enter the vehicle, Tetsuya sends the helicopter away to their location. All he can do is pray that they win the food for tonight, or whenever they think they can defeat the Lingering Darkness.

In the Garden of Roses...

When the pair arrive, all they will see are flowers, memorabilia and a set of replicas waiting to play a game against them. First up is a Cold-Hearted Samurai, who wants to play Blackjack. Second would be a Lone Wolverine who wants to play a game of American Roulette. Third will be an Apocalyptic Ninja who will be playing a game of Chess, alongside a Summoner of Solace who will also be playing the same game. Then it's the Woeful Witch who will be playing a game of Three Card Poker and finally it's the Neglected Crucifix who will be playing a game of Craps. They all give opportunities to win journal entries from either past characters or characters who never had a limelight in any RP, especially in this franchise.

There are three more replicas to play against, but they are optional and can be played at any point during the journey. First is an Illegal Alchemist who can play Texas Hold'em, a poker type game, Convicted Strategist who can play Backgammon and finally Lingering Lieutenant who can play Slots, not something that we can get from survival grounds but it's a pulley. No surprise there.

Memorabilia includes statues of the following people: Ron, Dan and Mel Yim, Shade, Neos, Gemini amongst other people.

Back in the Singing Waterfalls...

Meguri sits in her bed staring at the eerie orb. Tetsuya approaches her and asked: "Meg, what are you staring at? It's not like you, woman." Meguri looked at Tetsuya again and replied nonchalantly: "Oh, it's nothing. I was just wandering Tetsuya.... What is it anyway?"

"It's an Absent Silhouette. One of Elisha Bain apparently."

"You know about this? Would it be vital to tell everyone about it?" Meguri said to Tetsuya, after giving his thesis.

"They will find out eventually... Alright, I'll spill it out."

"Absent Silhouettes are beings who can't rest in peace. Can't get their ghouly asses back to their graves.... At least, that's what I think."

Meguri looked confused for a minute, but then she realises that all of the Absent Silhouettes may be of ones that are closest to Ron. "Yeah, those people who are Absent Silhouettes tend to be those who died well before 2060... Back in my home anyway. We couldn't even tell the funking time in camp."

"And Ron may just be affected. You know, James' teacher?"

Then James comes over, adding to what Meguri just said to Tetsuya.

"Yeah, master's in on it too. If I'm not wrong... There's five of them to find. We've found one so far."

"Also, I also found the Graveyard is sealed shut. I took a walk down there not too long before I was struck down last night. Hopefully it should be open by the time Talen and Exodia come back..."

Then, Tetsuya and Meguri walk near the water preparing to dive down. "We're grabbing some fish for tonight, in case Talen and Exodia manages to lose everything. Wanna come with?"

"Not so sure... But I think Tes would be capable enough to hunt down fishes on her own. But, your call man. I'm out."

James turns down their offer, so Tetsuya and Meguri goes underwater to hunt for fishes. On their way down, they saw one Illegal Alchemist and one Lingering Lieutenant.

But... Wait? how did they end up underwater, one may ask. Chances are, those replicas are manipulated by an Alternate version of what we have seen thus far... However that happened, we'll just have to wait until Talen and Exodia starts their first game.

Until then...

[Tesability Black]

~Talen's POV~

"...welp, at least the sauce tastes more tolerable now." Talen muttered to herself as she consumed her fill of spaghetti and tomato sauce, the slight burn in the sauce creating a false peppery taste to it. Glancing towards the supplies she was given, she thought about something she spotted when she was moving everything to the top of her rolling backpack.

Several bottles of the same medication known as Keppra, enough to take two a day for 366 days.

"Sh!t, time I started taking them again." Her face distorting for a second in disgust, she walked over towards the black, overfull bag, unzipping a front pocket before pulling out a bottle and opening it, pouring a pair of pills before downing them fast enough to not give herself a chance to give herself a second thought about it. "Yeuch...nothing quite like a necessary evil..."

Suddenly, she felt something round and large poke her in the back. Glancing back behind herself, Talen spotted Tesability pulling her snout back. "Wha'sh dat?" Tracing the dragon's gaze to the bottle in hand, she sighed in disbelief as she tried to figure out a way to explain the bottle in her hand and what she was just doing.

A sad smile creeping onto her face, Talen just gave Tesability a pet on the snout before responding. "Just a bit of daily maintanence I have to do, ol' girl." Removing her hand from the dragon's head, the human dared to turn away from the reptile to get to packing together the remainder of her things, though she suddenly heard the sound of wings closing behind her, prompting her to look back towards the dragon. "...yes?"

"...yu dinks a wot," Tesability muttered with her equal to a straight snout, only barely holding back the urge to shake her head in disbelief, something that Talen couldn't help but give a small chuckle over before turning around fully to pet her on the head.

"It's what I'm good at, lets me spot what others may sometimes miss." Glancing back towards her things, the thought that they should be back before lunch echoed in her head before grabbing only her staff and spinning it in her hands and around her, trying to knock some rust off her combat ability just in case before heading towards the helicopter to load up, missing the look of thought on the sitting dragon's muzzle...

(Purposely not doing Tes' POV this post-round, not yet at least...hehe.)

[Christian Exodia]

"Talen, I will explain on the copter ride."

 

Exodia pondered for a while how to answer the question Talen had transposed into his mind. He had a bit of problem with the past itself, especially because of the events that transpired prior to being here. They sort of broke him, but it was more of a chip. It messed with him; he didn't feel like he deserved to stay alive in this world. Yet, here he was. 

 

"Now that I have everything packed...let's go to the Rose Garden." Thankful that his first encounter will not be one of fighting, as he had to do a little bit of that to get here, he is in complete relief as to getting over. 

 

Getting onto the helicopter shortly before it went off, he got settled into his seat. Feeling its comfortability envelop his back, he straps in and then awaits Talen's arrival on the helicopter. When she arrives, he explains.

 

​"The reason I name myself Exodia is... somewhat to sever ties with my past. I wanted to get away from the sorrow that is the last events before I arrived here. Dead friends, separation from everybody else. It felt like a new me, one that should not need a name suggesting sociality in a new world. It's weird, but it's what my mind thought to do in such a situation."

 

Exodia smiles. He said what he felt needed to be said to explain the name.

[Tesability Black]

~Talen's POV~

 

Talen listened and nodded as she listened to Exodia, to Alexander, before mirroring the smile he gave her near the end and nodding slightly as well.

"Welp," she started as she leaned back into her seat in the 'copter, crossing her arms in front of her as she leaned her staff against one side. "I can understand wanting to cut away from the past, but between you and me, I didn't use the name I'm using now to part away with my past. In all honesty, I wish I could keep it so I can keep some form of connection with what I lost."

Anticipating Exodia's potential question of why wasn't she using her real name, Talen dared to look outside, towards the clouds that they flew threw. "In fact, I actually took on a name I used when I wasn't even a teen yet for Tesability's sake, so she'd have someone she'd recognize in this whole mess." For a moment, she glanced back towards Exodia, a thoughtful look on her face as if she was debating something in her head. "My real name's actually Michele Lusterino."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

~Tesability's POV~

The dragon sat on her haunches as she watched the helicopter rise into the air in a vertical lift, miraculously not blown away by the blasts of wind the machination was creating. Her tail twitched behind her as she thought.

In all honesty, outside of combat, she wasn't used to have to think a lot. Her time alone forced her to have to do that more often, just to give her something to do usually. But now, there was one thing that had her thinking.

The 'Talen Avalon' she knew was transparent and see-through when she was back in her home reality before the Collapse. Why wasn't she now? Why was she just as solid as herself now?

There was only one way to find out.

Stretching out her wings, Tesability flapped up into the air and flew after the helicopter, trying to get as close to it as possible without being heard. As she grew close, her body became surrounded with electricity, then became more like the element she was. Upon becoming pure electricity did she insert herself into the flying machine's computers, listening into the conversation within.

"In fact, I actually took on a name I used when I wasn't even a teen yet for Tesability's sake, so she'd have someone she'd recognize in this whole mess," the NetMonster heard from within the wiring, catching her attention as she realized that it was her partner saying such words, though she could see nothing just yet. "My real name's actually Michele Lusterino."

...she has a different name? Her words were unheard for the time being, thankfully for her, but from what little she managed to catch, Tesability began to wonder if she really knew her Hunter...

[Christian Exodia]

"Darn. Talk about strong. Taking a name on for the sake of another. I guess you and I are like black and white in some aspects. I look to cast aside the past and look to the present, and you utilize what you have still to piece together the present with who you still have, meaning... Tes? I saw you two were close, and knowing the immediacy of time since we had begun." Exodia smiled, understanding a situation a little more clearly. "I had nobody, so I made myself anew. You had remnants to the past here; you held tightly onto them. Different ways of coping, Michele." 

 

Watching below, seeing all of the clouds align the sky below, threaded into such a thick quilt as to be unable to see the land below, Exodia pondered about this universe he had found himself in. I wonder how high we are up, and how big this world really is. It couldn't stretch forever. He shook his head, dismissing an infinite world.

 

"I wonder how the next few days will pan out. From the news we are given... doesn't seem that good for us. We don't seem to be the main fighters, but I guess we provide support? Could you explain to me the structure of fighting that has happened so far while we walk to the game area? I know certain people in the camp can fight underwater, but that's about all I know." Hearing the roar of the motor begin to purr a little more and the altitude quickly drop, he understood that it was about time for them to embark. Dipping into the clouds, he got a sight of the field itself. Roses of reds, blues, and hues of which roses were not naturally where he came from. Intertwined and folded in, they formed strong structural walls on all sides of the area, but then branched off into smaller pieces connecting to larger branches. These also contained roses, but there was also an area where Exodia could see. The gambling area... It would be a small ways from where they parked the helicopter, but not a long walk at all.

 

When they reached the bottom, Exodia quickly embarked. Captivated by the giant roses and small roses alike, but marvelled by the thorns, he looked towards Michele/Talen for the answer he craved.

[Chaotic Angel]

As the helicopter touches down, it's about time we explained what the Garden of Roses is really like...

 

BGM Currently Playing: Town, Flow of Time, People

 

The Garden of Roses... A field of beauty. Although it is unsuitable for camping, this is the place where we look back at the past, the flowers and of course, the gambling area where we play against replicas to win something we all treasure. Our journals. In the left side of the field, we see statues of Ron, Dan and Mel Yim, unified with their weapons as well as statues of Gemini, Neos, Shade amongst others. In the right side of the field is what we should be concerned about. Games such as Blackjack, Chess, Three Card Poker, American Roulette and other casino games can be played but you won't be betting. Instead, the dealer will be challenging you to each game with certain victory conditions.

 

If you really want to look at the past, this is the place to do so. However, be sure to expect any surprises, I'll give you a clue now, however. There's a new campmate lurking around here, but I can't exactly tell you where that person is.

 

You'll be facing the following replicas, playing the games in question: Cold-Hearted Samurai, Lone Wolverine, Apocalyptic Ninja, Woeful Witch, Neglected Crucifix, Summoner of Solace, Illegal Alchemist amongst others. The former six replicas are compulsory dealers. You won't be able to escape until you are done playing against all of the mentioned.

 

Back at the Singing Waterfalls

 

BGM Currently Playing: Tragic Love

 

"The helicopter's gone... But I've been wondering... Where the hell is Tes? I didn't see her since the helicopter flew off..."

 

James thought to himself, but it wasn't a matter of time until Meguri and Tetsuya comes back out of the water empty-handed.

 

"sheet, there's no fish underwater yet... May as well try again later."

 

"Hmm? James, what's the matter?"

 

Tetsuya asked James, tending to his thoughts. James came up to Tetsuya, saying:

 

"Yeah, I was wondering where Tes went. She might have shot off after you plunged yourselves underwater..."

 

"I wouldn't worry about that yet, James. We got more things to worry about there."

 

Tetsuya warns James, although the latter was still in the middle of healing.

 

"Yeah, it's probably the Lingering Darkness... We'll have to shut that funker's mouth later today. However, you can just leave all of the fighting to us. You're not fully healed yet so..."

 

Meguri says, reiterating what Tetsuya says, almost.

 

In the College Courtyard...

 

BGM Currently Playing: Northern Luxerion (Morning)

 

"So... Are you ready to face true darkness...?"

 

"What... What the funk was that? Am I starting to hear things?"

 

So, you're the former Emperor with tremendous energy... Allow me to feed through your power.... Allow me to feed through your anger..."

 

"No... SHUT UP! I don't need your bullshit!"

 

"Yes... Give me your anger!"

 

The voice was soon gone, followed by a hundred thousand replicas arriving to the scene... All of them are Illegal Alchemists. Ron was left with little choice but to fight.

 

"No.... You're funking kidding me right now..."

 

"No, stop. I need to fight them all off. No matter how long it takes..."

 

Ron thought to himself, but the amount of replicas were starting to get the better of him and eventually, they all leaped onto him, rendering Ron unconscious. At least, for now. Who knew a hundred thousand replicas were strong enough to take down the second strongest cyborg to ever exist? By the time the campmates arrive... Ron will have been succumbing to the darkness that feeds off him. The replicas are currently toppling him one by one until the negative emotions from Ron start leaking through...

 

"If only.... I was stronger..."