Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Terrorist
Danielle stood on a hill overlooking a compound as workers loaded crates of Dust into the back of a truck. The letters SDC were emblazoned on the side of it. She could feel her body heat up as her anger began to boil. Who knew how many Faunus had died just to produce one of those crates? Danielle checked her Scroll and let out a breath. 20 minutes until it would leave; that was plenty of time. She grabbed her Grimm mask and put it on, adjusting it. She pulled her long red hair into a ponytail and broke into a light jog down the road, where her crew was waiting.
It was her first time running a mission like this, and she had a lot to prove not just to her superiors, but to herself. She quickly rose through the ranks of the White Fang not just for her skills with a Duel Disk, but also for her fierceness and tenacity. “Gather round,” she called out firmly. The other grunts she’d been assigned gathered around her. “Alright, the plan is simple.” Her finger began moving in the dirt, creating a small map.
“Any questions?” she asked, looking at the others. The grunts looked at each other and then shook their heads.
“U-um, sorry, but I’ve never used a Duel Disk before,” one of them said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. A small chorus of snickers filled the air before Danielle shot them all a glare. She didn’t tolerate bullying; they had enough problems dealing with humans. They didn’t need any infighting.
Danielle knelt next to him and helped him adjust the strap. “It’s simple enough. Let your Aura do the work. These buttons trigger your Spell and Trap cards,” she explained before standing up. The grunt nodded eagerly. “Thanks, don’t worry, I got this.”
“Can we move things along? Enough with this buddy crap!” one of the grunts snapped.
Danielle snapped her head towards the voice. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were in charge,” she growled as her cat ears twitched in annoyance.
“If we just sit here singing Kumbaya, then we’ll miss the truck,” the grunt said, pushing back. The air was quiet and tension lingered.
“We aren’t missing anything,” she countered, swallowing the anger like a bitter pill. She gestured to her cat-ears. “I’ve got good hearing. If that truck was sneaking up on us or left early, I would know.” She quickly surveyed the area one last time, before taking control. “The truck is going to be coming from the east, you two will jump from the bushes, the driver will come to a stop and that’s where the rest of us come in,” she explained. She turned to the veteran next. “You will subdue the driver, and if you need to use your duel collar, make him submit. I’ll go to the back of the truck with the newbie, and we’ll take what we need.”
The other grunts nodded in approval. The plan was simple. It was foolproof. “Now get into position,” she said as the other group scattered. She took her spot in a tree, giving her a bird’s-eye view from above. Everything got quiet as they waited. Her heart pounded as the truck still hadn't shown up. Had she been wrong, had she been seen, did they change the route? All these questions ran through her mind. She looked down and watched the recruit shift nervously in the bushes. She met the eyes of the veteran. She could almost sense his smugness from behind his mask. Then her ears twitched as the sound of the truck approached and her heart seemed to stop pounding. She heard the sounds of the tires against the dirt, some rocks and dirt kicked up as it drove.
Danielle let out a sharp, short whistle and everyone leaped into action. As a pair of grunts jumped into the road, the truck came to a screeching halt. The veteran leaped from the bushes, the door to the truck flew open, and the driver was quickly thrown to the ground. Danielle hit the ground with a thud as the new recruit began opening the back of the truck. There was a loud grunt as he flew backward as if someone had hit him. “No!” she shouted and rushed to the recruit’s side.
“Hah, I was right. I figured a bunch of you animals would try to steal this Dust.” A gruff voice cackled as a large man with a buzz cut and a military uniform stepped out. There was a click as he pressed a button and a cord launched from his duel disk and attached to Danielle’s, forcing it to activate. The custom red and silver disk hummed to life and activated. The life point dial beeped loudly, showing the starting amounts
Atlas Soldier: 8000 – Danielle 8000
Danielle scowled at herself; she should have been able to predict that something like this would happen. It was too late now. “Get the dust and go!” she barked as she drew her opening hand (5 cards).
“Since I initiated the duel, I get to go first,” the soldier said as he looked at his hand (6 cards). “I’ll start by summoning Machina Gearframe in attack mode.” He placed a card on the Duel Disk, and a metal robot with orange armor appeared on the field (1800 atk). “When my Gearframe is summoned, I get to add one Machina card from my deck to my hand, and I’m choosing Machina Air Raider. With that, I’ll set 2 cards face down and end my turn.” (2 face-downs, 4 cards in hand.)
Danielle’s eyes flicked over her hand as she drew for her turn. (6 cards) She needed to end this quickly; that was something she could do, but luck and fate had to be on her side. Her eyes lit up as she saw her first play. “I’ll activate Polymerization, fusing my Lunalight Purple Butterfly and my Lunalight Blue Cat.” She placed the three cards into her graveyard. “I fusion summon Lunalight Cat Dancer.” (2400 atk). A large bipedal cat-warrior appeared on the field, wielding throwing daggers; long flowing ribbons swayed in the breeze.
“An animal using an animal, that's not surprising,” he taunted. “You see, I noticed a pattern in the dust shipments that keep going missing, so I decided to do something about it,” the soldier explained with a smug look.
“I’m not an animal!” Danielle snapped, and her dancer twirled the dagger in her hand, the sun glinting off it slightly as if reacting to Danielle’s anger. The machine across the field raised the gun on its arm in response. “Lunalight Cat Dancer, attack Machina fortress.” The cat leaped into the air, twirling in the air as 2 daggers sailed, one striking the machine. There was a small explosion as the machine shattered into dust. The 2nd dagger struck the leader.
Atlas Soldier: 8000 –> 7300 – Danielle: 8000
“That math isn’t making sense; you must be cheating,” the soldier growled, clenching his fist tightly.
“The exact opposite. That extra 100 points of damage comes from my dancer’s effect; anytime she declares an attack, she deals 100 points of damage to you directly,” Danielle explained as the cat landed beside her, pulling a couple more daggers from its belt, almost beaming with pride. “I’ll end my turn there; your move.” (3 cards in hand).
The soldier scoffed as he drew his card (5 cards). “This won’t take long; first things first, I activate my spell card Machina redeployment. By discarding 1 card, I can add 2 Machina cards from my deck with different names. I’ll discard Machina Citadel, and add Machina Unclaspare, and Machina Processstorage to my hand.” he stated with a smirk.
Danielle shifted; she could tell he was up to something. She didn’t pretend to know every card in the game, but she had been briefed on key cards in Atlas military decks, and Machina Citadel was a very strong card. He had a plan, clearly; she would just have to see how it played out.
“Now, because Unclaspare was added to my hand, its effect lets me special summon it to the field.” He slammed the card on the Duel Disk, and another robotic soldier appeared on the field this time in black, wielding some sort of large blade. (1800 atk). ”Now, by sending my Machina Air Raider to the grave, I can special summon another monster, Machina Fortress,” he said as a large tank with a soldier built into it appeared on the field. (2500 atk). There was a loud hum as the machine whirred to life and aimed its gun towards Danielle’s dancer. “Now I summon Machina Possesstorage.” (1600 atk) As another black robot appeared on the field, this one was wielding a smaller blade but one just as sharp. “Now it's time for the offense. Machina Fortress, attack her cat Dancer,” he called out as a loud bang erupted from the cannon and the forest shook around them.
Danielle’s dancer leapt, twirling as the bullet just missed the cat's foot, landing on it and using it as a springboard to leap again. More loud bangs erupted through the forest as it tried to connect. The dancer went to leap again, but a final bang erupted, sending the cat flying backward, crashing into the ground behind Danielle, a small crater forming as the dancer brushed itself off. “Sorry to disappoint you, but Cat Dancer can’t be destroyed in battle,” Danielle added as her dance brushed itself off, licking its fur with its tongue.
“Just means I’ll have to destroy it another way,” the soldier added, “and I have just the thing, Unclaspare, attack her cat dancer!” he called out, as the soldier nodded and moved forward. A dagger flew out, hitting the machine before it could make its move, shattering into dust.
Soldier:7300->6800 – Danielle: 8000→7900
“That's not good,” Danielle said to herself as the ground began shaking as a set of drills emerged from under the earth.
“When one of my Machina is destroyed by battle or card effect, I can activate Citadel’s effect in my graveyard, and he lets me special summon him from the graveyard,” he explained with a boastful laugh. A much larger tank appeared on the field as the drills hummed loudly. (3000 atk) “Now I activate its effect by sending my fortress to the graveyard; it destroys all monsters on your field whose attack is less than his, which means your dancer is going to have to exit stage left.” The bullets erupted from the citadel's gun; her dancer went to dodge, but this time they were faster, as her dancer shattered. “Now it's time for an all-out assault! Machina’s advance!”
The attacks all landed, hitting Danielle, directly knocking her to the ground as her Aura flickered.
“Alright, pussy-cat, your move. Better make it count, the next one is your last,” the soldier taunted. (2 face-down, 1 card in hand)
Soldier: 6800 – Danielle:7900→3300
Danielle stood up and groaned; she felt like she’d been put through a washing machine. She’d trained, so she was at least somewhat used to the feeling, that didn’t make it easier. “I’m not…out yet,” she said as she drew. (4 cards) She looked at her hand. “Cat Dancer might be able to come back and clear some of those monsters out, but that might trigger Citadel again.” She muttered to herself. She felt something nagging her in the back of her mind. Her hand drifted to her extra deck, but she shook her head. “No…I can’t do that…but what other choice do I have?”
“You gonna stand there mutt, is reading your cards a little difficult for you?” The soldier taunted. Danielle clenched her fist, and her blood began to boil. She tried to push it down, to douse the flame but it was burning and burning hot. “No, Dani…you can’t do that,” she said again.
“Yoohoo, mutt, I’m right here and we ain’t got all day,” the soldier growled.
“Fine, you want me to make my move, I’ll make a move, and I’m ending this. I summon Lunalight White Rabbit to the field.” (800 atk) Danielle snarled as a cute rabbit with a large mallet appeared on the field. “I’ll use her effect to special summon Lunalight Cat Dancer from the graveyard. “I’ll discard Lunalight Black Sheep to add a copy of Polymerization from my deck to my hand.” She revealed the card to her opponent and then looked at the field again. “But first, I use White Rabbit’s effect to return both your face-downs to your hand.” The hammer slammed down hard on the ground as the cards were launched back into his hand.
“Now, time for Polymerization,” she said, slamming the card on the duel disk. A portal behind her opened up as the two monsters were sucked in. The two monsters looked at each other and dug their feet in almost as if they were resisting. Cat Dancer turned and looked at Danielle with a look that almost seemed to say don’t do this. It was too late, the play was made, and Danielle had made her choice. “I fuse my 2 dark monsters onto the field into Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!” she called out, and from the ground, a large pool of poison appeared, and a large purple dragon with large wings, poison dripping from its fangs, appeared on the field. It roared loudly, shaking the forest around them, causing the other grunts to freeze up. Birds scattered into the trees, and even the faint sound of Grimm deeper in the forest seemed to respond. It stared at the atlas soldier and radiated with power, Danielle’s anger feeding the monster. “When he’s summoned, he takes one special summoned monster level 5 or higher and gains its attack, adding it to his own.”
“Activate the effect of Citadel!” he said, stumbling a bit, the grip on his cards loosening. He’d seen many things, but never a dragon quite that bad, maybe in stories when he was a kid, but never in real life. Rockets fired off around the dragon, but as the smoke cleared, it stood there and stood strong. “Because my monster’s attack is higher than yours, you can’t destroy it. I activate Lunalight Perfume to bring my Lunalight cat Dancer back once again.” A bottle appeared on the field and uncapped itself, trailing into her graveyard, as her dancer returned to the field.
“You still don’t have enough to beat me, my Citadel will be destroyed, and just come back again,” he said, though he didn’t seem to be convinced by his own words.
“Watch me,” she snapped, the dragon responding to each word, almost punctuating what she was saying. “I activate Lunalight Perfume’s graveyard effect, sending Lunalight Crimson Fox to the grave, and since she was sent to the grave by a card effect, I target one card on your field, and its attack becomes....0.”
The soldier’s face paled as the dragon began to glow with power, charging its attack. “I use starving Venom’s final effect targeting my cat dancer, and tributing it, so that it can attack each of your special summoned monsters twice each, the first time they’re not destroyed,” she said, a cold look in her eyes.
“No…that means—” the soldier stuttered as he stumbled backward.
“Starving venom, attack his Citadel!” She called out as the blast erupted from her dragon’s mouth, hitting the machine, knocking both of them backwards, sending them flying. There was crashing as trees shattered and broke. The soldier went to stand, and he met Danielle’s cold eyes. “Starving Venom…end it,” she commanded.
Danielle woke up with a loud gasp, covered in sweat, panting, looking around the small room she had above her parents' noodle shop. This wasn't the first time she’d had this nightmare. It had been coming back, not always this memory, but all the people she hurt. She rolled out of bed and moved to her closet, opening it up. Inside sat a small wooden box. She opened it and inside, lying on top, was her mask. It felt heavy in her hands as she looked at the other contents, photos of her, and 2 other girls about her age. One was a cat, Faunus like her; the other looked almost human, but as she flipped to one of the other pictures, her skin changed colors like a chameleon.
Danielle let out a small chuckle. Illia was adorable, fierce, but intensely shy at the same time. It was hard to describe their relationship. She reached for another photo, and her face paled as her blood ran cold. A man a few years older than her stood in the photograph, with red hair, a mask over his face, and a pair of horns poking out. The figure had his arm resting comfortably around her and they both seemed to be smiling. A cold shiver ran up her spine, and she put it down as her eyes drifted to her mask. She started to reach for it, but she stopped and she shook her head before closing the box tightly. She grabbed her Scroll and opened the search bar. She took a breath before typing in. “One-way passage to Vale.”