Brother vs Brother; Duel Between the Stars

Turn Five: Star Hunter

“I draw!” announced Hunter as he drew (hand: 6). Time seemed to slow down as the top card from his deck slid off, arcing through the air carried by Hunter’s fingers. Everything depended on this draw. His fate, the lives of those he cared about, everything. As it drew closer to his face, Hunter fought to keep his eyes from closing as he didn’t want to show any more signs of weakness. To show a lack of faith in the deck he had been given and made his own. Finally, when the card was placed next to the others, Hunter’s eyes widened before a smile crept onto his face. If this worked then he might, might, stand a chance.

As he looked at his hand, a plan began to form. He knew what he had to do in order to win. But, he would have to do this just right. A single mistake at any point and it would be gone.

“To start out, I’ll discard Dragonmaid Ernus in order to activate her effect,” began Hunter as he slid the card into his graveyard slot. “This lets me special summon one Dragonmaid monster from my hand. Meaning I can special summon my Nurse Dragonmaid once again!” declared Hunter as he placed a card onto his duel disk. Appearing on the field was Nurse who looked at Chamber before they both nodded in unison. “With her on the field, I can special summon another Dragonmaid monster. This time from my graveyard. So Nurse, help get Parlor back on her feet!” Parlor again appeared on the field, this time holding her stomach as if she had a stomach ache. Nurse walked over to the green haired maid, pulling out a syringe as she did so while also giving her fellow maid a deadpanned look. Parlor seemed to notice this, jumping onto her feet and standing stiffly as sweat formed around her brow.

“Repeating the same moves?” laughed Chaser. “How pathetic!”

“Here’s where it gets different,” continued Hunter, his confidence growing. “Parlors effect activates, allowing me to send a card from my deck to the graveyard. And this time the card I choose is Dragonmaid Tidying.” Once again, a tray appeared in Parlor’s open palm. On it was a trap card which was carried over to Hunter and slid into his graveyard slot. “Now I activate the effect of Tidying. By removing it from the graveyard, I can special summon another Dragonmaid from the graveyard in defense mode. Kitchen, please start your shift again!” As Hunter spoke, Kitchen Dragonmaid appeared on the field in a kneeling position. “You remember her effect, right Chaser? After all, you claim to be oh so superior in all things. So I’ll just add Dragonmaid Lorpar to my hand and then send Tinkhec to the graveyard.” Pleased to see Chaser brisling at this comment, Hunter made his move.

“Now comes the good part,” said Hunter. “I bounce Nurse back to my hand in order to add Dragonmaid Changeover from my grave to my hand. With it I can fuse both Nurse and Lorpar in my hand to create my deck’s strongest Dragonmaid!” Behind Hunter appeared a massive doorway that was more like a skyscraper, casting a shadow on all of Chaser’s monsters. The two cards in Hunter’s hand transformed into energy, pink and green respectively, before flying up and behind him before slipping through the cracks. “The duties of a maid matches the will of the dragon. Oh great House maid, shed thy human form to reveal thy truest self! Fusion Summon: Dragonmaid Sheou!” The doors burst open, shattering the surrounding walls of Chaser’s temple behind Hunter as his monster made its entrance. Dragonmaid Sheou (3500/2000) was massive, easily as large as a Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. But she was far more majestic in Hunter’s opinion. Standing on her hind legs, she showed off her black scales and white underbelly while her outstretched wings revealed the red webbing. Horns like a bull gave her skull some added danger, almost distracting everyone from her long tail.

“Well,” gulped Chaser as the dragon looked down at him, snorting out a puff of white smoke. “It’s big…but not enough to take down The First Darklord.”

“She will be after I play Dragonmaid Welcome!” announced Hunter as the spell card appeared on the field. “First, this gives my monsters 100 extra attack points for every Dragonmaid on the field. But that’s not all. If I control two or more Dragonmaid monsters, I get to add one Dragonmaid card from my grave to my hand. Meaning Dragonmaid Tinkhec returns to my hand. Only she won’t be staying there for long. I discard her in order to give Sheou 2000 more attack points until the end of the turn!”

“WHAT? NO!” shouted Chaser, his eyes widening as a red aura surrounded Sheou.

“Time to battle,” said Hunter, his hand moving to his duel disk to remove two cards from it. “But this time, I’ll only be bouncing Chamber and Kitchen back to my hand. Chamber is a very powerful maid. Unlike the others, who are locked into certain levels of dragons they can special summon, she can do it for any level seven or higher Dragonmaids! So I’ll bring her back to the hand in order to summon Lorpar while Kitchen will be bounced to summon Tinkhec!” Both of Hunter’s remaining maids began to transform. As Kitchen took on her red dragon form and settled to Hunter’s right, Chamber was transforming to his left. Lorpar (2700/1700) was a large green dragon that walked on all fours, her hair going down her long neck. Her horns looked an even more leaf-like shape while vines and grass seemed to grow on her back.

“Dragonmaid Sheou, destroy The First Darklord!” commanded Hunter as he pointed to Chaser’s fusion monster. Sheou (3500 🡪 5900) opened her mouth revealing white flames while lighting sparked around her maw. The two elements seemed to merge as they were then shot down towards the fallen angel who raised his shield in vain, only to be incinerated leaving behind only his shadow before it too vanished from sight. As for Chaser, the blast sent him flying backwards so that his back hit the wall with enough force that cracks could be seen even from a distance.

-Star Chaser’s Life Points: 6100-

“Alright Tinkhec, show Darklord Zerato what’s cooking!” shouted Hunter. Dragonmaid Tinkhec (2700 🡪 3100) seemed to grin at that. She too opened her mouth to send red flames towards the massive sword wielder, burning him to a crisp. The flames hit Chaser as well, setting his hair on fire as he pried himself off the wall. The arrogant teen began to strike his head while everyone laughed at him, his life point dropping slightly.

-Star Chaser’s Life Points: 5800-

“One more attack. Lorpar, show Darklord Tezcatlipoca what we do to rude guests!” Lorpar (2700 🡪 3100) grinned as well as she opened her mouth. A blast of green mist mixed with leaves shot across the field, Hunter getting a powerful scent of mint. Darklord Tezcatlipoca was knocked down before he exploded, Chaser getting knocked down to the ground as he began to cough do to the power odor in the air around him.

-Star Chaser’s Life Points: 5500-

“Do you,” began Chaser, pausing to let out a series of coughs that almost made him double over. When he managed to stop himself, Chaser used his arm to wipe away some spit around his lips. “Do you really think that will be enough to stop me? My life points will just return to 8000!”

“I’m working on it,” replied Hunter, causing Chaser to growl. “I end my battle phase. But, instead of sending my dragons back to my hand, I’ll use them to create the overlay network!” Chaser balked as a comic rift appeared in the middle of the cathedral, both of Hunter’s monsters turning into energy before flying into it. “The might of two dragons merge to become one with the cosmos. Now fly through the endless void in search of new stars. XYZ summon Rank 8! Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon Titanic Galaxy!” After announcing that mouthful of a name, blue crackling energy came out of the portal as blue and white armor began to surround it thus giving it shape. Hope Harbinger (3000/2500) let out a roar as two orbs began to circle it while it flexed its metal claws. And while two Dragonmaids were no longer on the field, it did get a boost from the last remaining one (3000 🡪 3100).

“A fusion and an XYZ monster?!” yelped Chaser as he took a step back. “That’s…That’s still not enough. Now end your turn so I-”

“I’m not done yet. I still haven’t normal summoned, remember?” said Hunter as he held up the card he had drawn at the beginning of his turn. “Now I normal summon my Debris Dragon in attack mode!” Debris Dragon (1000/2000) appeared looking like a smaller version of the legendary Stardust Dragon, standing at about half the size as Hunter’s human sized maids. “With this card, everything is set. I tune my level four tuner Debris Dragon with my level 3 Parlor Dragonmaid.” Everyone gasped as Debris Dragon opened its wings, soaring overhead where it became four rings with Parlor right behind as she transformed into three stars. At once a pillar of light appeared on the field with enough force to shake the cages and cause Chaser to raise a hand to protect his eyes. “The cry of the dragon pierces the dark heavens. Let your petals bloom under the full moon’s light. Synchro Summon Level 7: Black Rose Moonlight Dragon!” A loud screeching cry echoed through the chamber as the pillar vanished, revealing a monster who looked like a black dragon covered in red rose petals. This was Black Rose Moonlight Dragon (2400/1800), a dead ringing for the original Black Rose Dragon.

“Black Rose…” began Chaser, his words trailing as he stared into the red eyes of Hunter’s synchro monster. He almost looked pale, sweat beginning to appear on his forehead, before he suddenly shook his head. “You stupid retard! Are you planning on nuking the field? You’ll just end up destroying-”

“Wrong dragon,” interrupted Hunter, a small smirk appearing on his face. “Moonlight here doesn’t have a destruction effect. Oh no, she has a far greater ability in my humble opinion. Sending a level five or higher monster back to the hand! Goodbye Nergal!”

“NO! NO!” screamed Chaser as a flurry of rose petals began to surround his monster, lifting it up into the air before vanishing leaving only the fragrance of the flower in the air.

“With that, I end my turn,” said Hunter firmly.

“Well…Well shoot,” said Breaburn as he held onto the bars of his cage, body slowly adapting to the chill of the water. His voice, however, was soft and almost distant as he saw something that was rare. A deck that had managed to summon a fusion, XYZ, and synchro monster all in one turn. And mighty powerful ones at that, dominating the field without emptying Hunter’s hand! Slowly he turned to look at Lightning. “Did…Did ya know he could do that?”

“He mentioned it,” said Lightning, shirt clinging to her tightly as she too clung onto the bars. “But seeing it. Damn. Pegasus gave him a good deck.”

“It’s not just the cards that he was given,” said Moondancer from down the line. “Hunter adjusted it to make it his own. Some of those cards are from his personal collection to push it as far as he could.” Moondancer then paused, a small smile appearing on her face. “And some were monsters that Chaser discarded, apparently thinking that they weren’t good enough for him.”

“Looks like he’s going to regret that,” mumbled Wallflower. “Nobody likes being ignored.”

Turn Six: Star Chaser

“Finally. I draw so I can finally end you!” roared Chaser (hand: 5). But before Chaser could look at what he had drawn, Sheou began to glow.

“My Dragonmaid has a couple interesting effects,” said Hunter, noticing the look of confusion on Chaser’s face. “Like, for example, during each standby phase, she lets me special summon any Dragonmaid monster from my hand or graveyard. Meaning I can revive Nurse!” Appearing at the far end of the field was Nurse Dragonmaid, taking a knee while in defense mode and smirking at Chaser. “And when she’s special summoned, her effect lets her bring back another Dragonmaid in the graveyard. So she’ll patch up Laundry!” At the opposite side of the field rose Laundry, causing Hunter to discard the top three cards of his deck.

“FINE! TAKE YOUR USELESS BITCHES! IT DOESN’T MATTER!” screamed Chaser as Hunter examined what he was sending to the grave. “Do you know why? Because you won’t be getting another turn! It all ends here! I play Darklord Contact to bring back-” Chaser’s words were cut out for as soon as his card appeared on the field, Hope Harbinger brought its claws to its stomach where a black hole began to form. Instantly a vortex was created, sucking everything towards it. “What is this?!?”

“My dragon’s effect,” replied Hunter who stood calmly thanks to the invisible hands holding him up. “You didn’t really think I’d let you use that card again to build up your field, did you?”

“Grr, so you’re negating it. Big deal,” spat Chaser. “I can still use its effect from the graveyard once I-”

“No, you won’t,” said Hunter, closing his eyes as Chaser’s spell card was sucked into the black hole. The vortex ended instantly, the black hole becoming another orb circling the dragon. “When my monster negates the effect of one of your spell cards, he doesn’t send them to the graveyard. Instead, they become material for him!”

“Fine!” spat Chaser, discarding two cards from his hand. “I discard two Darklord cards in order to special summon Darklord Nasten in defense mode!” Nasten (2600/2600) appeared in front of Chaser, a bulking brute of a monster with large horns coming out of its head as well as white wings on its back. “With him on the-” Chaser’s words were cut out as another gale of roses began to surround his monster. “What’s going on?”

“I told you,” said Hunter. “Black Rose Moonlight Dragon has a greater ability than the original. Once per turn, whenever you special summon a level five or higher monster, I can send one special summoned monster back to your hand. Oh, it also does that when she is special summoned.” At that, Nasten vanished from the field and was returned to Chaser’s hand.

“B-But that-” stammered Chaser, the seriousness of the situation coming down on him.

“Chaser, Darklords are a powerful archetype,” said Hunter as he opened his eyes. “Their spell and traps are powerful and, as you have shown throughout this duel, their monsters allow them to recycle those very same cards. However, they have a fatal flaw: nearly all of them are high level monsters. Without any means of special summoning them from your hand or graveyard, they become useless. With Hope Harbinger and Moonlight, I have locked you out of special summoning any of them to build up your field. For now at least.”

“No…No!” growled Chaser as he looked at his hand, the cards shaking in his grip. “You think you’ve won just because you stopped me this round? Think again! I end my turn. Now my life points-” Chaser’s words ended as Sheou began to glow a bright white light. She looked like she was about to curl up into a ball when the light shot out from all around her before turning into House Dragonmaid. The light that exploded out from her collided with the walls of Chaser’s Cathedral of the Darklords, destroying it. As the bricks and stained glass began to tumble downward, shattering into millions of tiny golden lights, House Dragonmaid landed gracefully onto the field as it returned to the tank of water.

“What you just saw was Sheou’s most powerful effect, tributing herself in order to negate the activation of a card on the field and destroying it,” said Hunter firmly over the gentle rustling of the water as it splashed on the sides of the tank. “Then I special summon House Dragonmaid from my extra deck.”

“My…My Cathedral,” gasped Chaser, his gaze focused on where the old stone masonry used to be. “My temple, the place of my glory. Gone.” Chaser’s voice had gone down to barely a whisper as he slowly twirled around, as if hoping that some small piece of his field spell still remained. That one fraction of the stained glass windows could be found. A fraction of the altar. But Hunter knew that all his brother would find was an old, abandoned studio. Then, after he had spun around several times, his legs looked like they were about to give out and he would fall on his knees. But, in an awkward movement, Chaser stopped himself before he glared again at Hunter with renewed, redoubled hatred.

“Again! You took it all away from me again!” he yelled, face turning red with rage. “Why?! You’re not allowed to do that! You’re not allowed to! A loser! That’s all you have ever been! A brain dead loser who would never even come close to my skills! So why? Why won’t you just roll over and die?!”

Turn Seven: Star Hunter

“Chaser, I never took anything away from you,” said Hunter in a flat, almost emotionless tone as he drew (hand: 4) “As much as I would have liked to, I am not responsible for anything that has happened to you. You were the one they caught cheating that day. You were the one they caught trying to poison the students. I am just so…sick of this. At the very least, I can finally end this once and for all.” But as Hunter spoke, his eyes narrowed in on the last card on the field: the face down that Chaser had placed there on his first turn.

Hope Harbinger can’t negate traps and absorb them, thought Hunter. None of my monsters can do anything about it. And I have no cards in hand which could destroy it just to be on the safe side. But is there anything to worry about? The last time I attacked Chaser he didn’t activate it and I don’t recall Darklords having a trap that could destroy multiple monsters. It could be something like Drowning Mirror Force…but Chaser would have used it the last time I attacked him directly.

Shaking his head, Hunter returned Nurse and Laundry to his hand. “From the grave, I special summon Dragonmaid Ernus and Nudyarl!” At once his two maids transformed into their dragon forms, eyes and fangs barring down on Chaser. “House, attack Chaser directly!” House (3000 🡪 3300) nodded before opening her mouth, creating another orb of lightning that was then fired at Chaser. The orb hit his brother with enough force it knocked him backwards, hitting the platform with enough force that he seemed to bounce a good foot in the air before crashing down.

-Star Chaser’s Life Points: 2200-

“Dragonmaid Nudyarl,” said Hunter, his blue dragoness turning her head to look at him. “You started this match so it only seems fitting that you end this!” Nudyarl (2600 🡪 2900) grinned before turning to face Chaser as he shambled to his feet, swaying slightly and wheezing in pain. The blue dragon opened her mouth as a stream of boiling hot water came pouring out with the same force as a fire hydrant.

“Activate trap: Darklord Pride!” yelled Chaser, his face down card flipping up. From the card came a large red, flaming halo which placed itself in front of Chaser so it looked like a portal. The water passed into it, vanishing as it entered the middle of the ring before turning into red stars that flew towards Chaser.

“Surprised?” asked Chaser, his tone becoming mocking as he discarded his hand. “Did you really think with that lesser brain of yours that I wouldn’t have a backup plan? Darklord Pride is a trap card that I can only use when I have no monsters on the field. When I am about to receive an attack that would drop my life points to zero, I can discard my hand in order to turn all damage for the rest of this turn into sweet life points for myself.” As he spoke, the red stars began to land on his body causing it to glow.

`-Star Chaser’s Life Points: 5100-

Then, much to Hunter’s surprise, Chaser then drew two cards from his deck. “But that’s only the beginning. All of your monsters must now attack me and every time my life points increase, I get to draw two cards!”

“BULL CRAP!” yelled Lightning, practically swinging in her cage.

Bull crap is an understatement, thought Hunter while Nudyarl looked ashamed of herself. A card that can turn attacks into life points isn’t anything new. Draining Shield and Rainbow Life come to mind. But forcing all my monsters to attack and he gets to draw two more cards each time! That card is broken! Hunter then took a breath, trying to calm himself. But, I don’t think I have to worry about it again. Chaser said that that card can only be activated when there are no other cards on the field and he has to dump his entire hand.

“Nudyarl,” said Hunter, his dragon perking up at his voice. “Don’t worry about it. That was my mistake.” He had no idea why he said that. Perhaps because they seemed more alive than any cards he had ever used before. Or maybe it was the way those hands held against his body, feeling warmer as he spoke. Or maybe it… Well, anyways, Nudyarl seemed to perk up at that.

“Alright everyone, you know what we have to do,” finished Hunter. At once, all of his dragons fired their attacks at Chaser only to pass through the ring so that his life points would increase. The more they attacked, the redder Chaser began to glow until he appeared like a red star.

-Star Chaser’s Life Points: 14000-

“Now do you see how pointless it is to fight me, to go against me?” mocked Chaser, holding his newly acquired eight cards in his hand. “With our life points this far apart, it’ll be easy for me to end you utterly. You’ll fail just like you always do. Remember?”

Flashback

Chaser looked gleefully at his brother who sat there, shoulders slumped at the dinner table looking down at a purple ribbon attached to a couple of papers. Chaser knew what they were, the submission to a writing contest that Hunter had entered for young writers. And purple didn’t mean first place. Heck, Chaser could see clearly from where he stood that there wasn’t even a number on it. It was just one of those ‘thanks for wasting our time’ ribbons that they gave out to whiny little shits like Hunter to make them ‘feel better’.

Like they deserved it.

Grinning, Chaser ran over to the table and leapt up so he could grab the paper. “Give that back!” yelled Hunter, giving chase to Chaser. But Chaser was faster, he had always been. Together the two ran around the house and into the backyard for several long minutes before being stopped by their mom who looked down at Hunter cross.

“You know better Hunter,” she said, frowning at the stupid older boy.

“But mom he,” began Hunter but was stopped by their mother who gently took the papers from Chaser.

“No excuses from you,” she said. “Honestly, all that for a worthless ribbon that means nothing.”

“Report card time,” called out Chaser’s father as he walked into the living room, holding up two envelopes in his hand. Chaser grinned as he turned off the TV, standing in front of it while his loser of a brother looked like he would rather be anywhere else.

“Let’s start with Chaser,” said their father, quickly opening up the envelope and pulling out the letter with a flourish. He then slapped the letter before he too was grinning like mad. “Well, no surprise here! Straight A’s!”

“It was easy,” said Chaser, holding his head up high as he watched his father set the report card on the side. He knew that soon his father would be adding it to the scrapbook, preserving his brilliance for years to come.

Then, with much less fan fair and almost seeming begrudgingly, he went to open Hunter’s report card. He looked at it with a frown, shaking his head a little as his eyes scanned what was written. Then, he looked at the loser who sat next to Chaser. “Just like I thought,” he said, shaking his head. “Mostly B’s with a couple of A’s. When are you going to get all A’s like your younger brother?”

“Mr. and Mrs. Star, there’s something I need to talk to you about,” said the coach of Hollow Shades little league football as he approached the two parents.

“Is it Chaser? Is he hurt?” asked their mother, looking worried.

“He’s fine,” said the coach, his tone reassuring. “In fact, better than fine. Best arm from someone his age in a long time. Might be the best player we have.”

“That,” began the boy’s father, looking irritated as though he wanted to shout at the man that there was no ‘might’ about it. That Chaser WAS the best, no doubt about it. But the man held his tongue as he moved on. “If it’s not Chaser, what is it?”

“It’s about your other son, Hunter,” began the coach while the two parents relaxed a bit. “He…well, look. I can tell that the boy is trying, he really is giving it his all. It’s just that the boy just doesn’t have the talent for the game. That and I can tell he really doesn’t have that much interest in the-”

“We’ll talk to him,” interrupted Chaser mom before the two walked away.

“Well hello Chaser,” said the woman who ran the local ice cream parlor as Chaser and his dumb brother walked in. “What can I get for you?”

“Double chocolate fudge in a waffle cone,” said Chaser. The woman behind the counter smiled and nodded, going to work as she began to whip up Chaser’s order. When she had finished, she presented Chaser with a cone with two extra scoops with a smile on her face.

“It’s on the house dear,” she said. “You deserve it for winning that duel monsters tournament. First one first Hollow Shades to ever do that” Wordlessly, Chaser took the cone and began to eat it as he moved to the side, watching as the woman’s face fell as she looked at Hunter. The boy had pulled out what little money he had, still counting it as he looked up at the prices before wincing.

“Ah…can I just get a-”

“Sorry, but I can tell you don’t have enough,” said the woman, crossing her arms as she looked down at Hunter.

End Flashback

“That is your legacy,” said Chaser as he finished regaling everyone with the past. “A failure, a loser who will always be beneath me! Everyone could see it then! And with this duel, perhaps I can finally ram it through your disease-ridden brain. There is no way you can defeat me, not when I have this many life points and a new hand. Face it Hunter, you’ve lost!”

For a moment, Hunter stood there before letting out a sigh. “Chaser, you are right about one thing: I did fail a lot and I still do. I’m not perfect. I still don’t get perfect grades. I still suck in gym. And I don’t always win every single duel. But, do you know what? I’m not afraid to fail!”

“Of course you’re not,” laughed Chaser in a mocking fashion. “It happens so often to a pa-”

“I see failure as a friend and teacher, not the end,” interrupted Hunter, gaining him an irritated look from Chaser. “When I fail, I take the time to look, I can see where my answer was wrong so I can do better the next time. Or I might be caught off guard by a strategy I have never encountered before and I can learn to watch out for it or adopt it for myself. Then have even been times when…when I let my own rage and anger take over.” Briefly, Hunter turned to look over at Breaburn. “That’s when I can see the worst side of myself. The part of me that lashes out or just doesn’t think. And afterwards, I can swallow my pride and apologize to those I hurt while trying not to let that happen again. Yeah, I’ll fail a lot more. But I will at least keep trying to get better.

“You, on the other hand, are terrified of failure like it’s the boogeyman in the closet!” shouted Hunter as he pointed at Chaser. To his surprise, Chaser seemed to jump a little at this. “You think failure means the end. And in a way, it is. It means an end to the delusion that you are perfect, that you’re better than the rest of us. But rather than accepting it and moving on, you’d rather stay stuck in your fantasy world and screaming your head off at anyone who tells you otherwise. Anyone who doesn’t treat you like that little kid you once were.”

“Shut up!” growled Chaser through gritted teeth.

“That little kid you still are,” said Hunter, not backing down. “You think that just because mom and dad let you drink, let you swear, and do a whole slew of other things that kids our age shouldn’t do, that makes you more mature. But it doesn’t.”

“Shut up!” growled Chaser, louder this time as he brought both his hands to his head. “I am not…I’m better. I’m everything this world wants to be!”

“And even if I do fail here,” continued Hunter, his face stony as he glared at his brother. “Even if you can take over my body like you say you can, I know that you won’t be free forever.” That got Chaser’s attention as he lifted his head up a little to look at Hunter with wide eyes. “Sooner or later, you’ll wind up back in that prison no matter whose body you’re in. Because, no matter the body, you will still be you. And you never change, Chaser.”

“Hey, sorry to break this great roll you’re on,” interrupted Lightning, catching Hunter’s attention. He looked at her and saw that she was waving at him a little. “But ah, I kind of hope you don’t fail here because, well, us drowning and all.”

At that, Hunter gave her a half smile. “I don’t plan on it,” he said. “Just saying, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Lightning in a carefree tone. “I get it. Small comforts and all that.” She then let out a smile slip out, one that seemed like she didn’t feel like her life was in any danger at the moment. “Got to hand it to you. Said the same thing about this coward not too long ago. Not as classy and dressed up as you are doing. Oh, Four-Eyes?” The athletic girl turned to look at Moondancer who looked back in confusion. “I need to ask you something? Do you want to be like Chaser?”

Hunter watched as his girlfriend stared at Lightning for a moment…before smirking herself. “Well, if I ever wanted to see what it was like to live in a padded cell with a straightjacket on,” she said, loud enough so Chaser could hear it. “But to be honest, I don’t think that’s a good look for me. Him on the other hand…”

“I wanted to be wanted,” said Wallflower, speaking up as she looked at Chaser. “But not the way he is.”

“As mushy and lovey-dovey as my brother is,” said Pharynx. “I’d still take him over whatever the hell Chaser is in a heartbeat. Besides, his plan makes him sound more like a parasite than a god.”

“There is no way I’d want to be anything like Chaser,” said Autumn. “There’s no way anyone would go to see a play or a musical about him.”

“Well, I don’t know about that. I wouldn’t mind seeing him in a movie,” said Moondancer, surprising everyone. Well, everyone besides Hunter who smiled as he knew where Moondancer was going to take this. “Specifically, a horror movie. As that annoying character who usually gets killed first so we don’t have to bear with him for the entire run time.” Laughter exploded from the cages at that, everyone seeming to forget how they were all trapped for the moment.

“You…You dare,” whispered Chaser in a dangerous tone, one that sent a chill running down Hunter’s back. Slowly he looked back at his brother, seeing his eyes had grown wider than Hunter thought possible. The others noticed this as well, most of them moving back in their cages as if they thought he would leap into the water, swim towards their cages, and begin humping the bars in his rage while screaming at them. Not an unfounded belief. “You all dare?! Fine. FINE! If you love failure so much, then how about I introduce you to your ultimate failure! Lose every retard you care about! Perhaps then you’ll learn what happens when you go up against a true god!” Chaser then turned to the cages and stretched out his hand. “Drown! All of you drown right now!”