Connection - The Holy White Dragon Saga: Book 1

Chapter 3 - One Year Later

"Wow, Dad! Is Ferocious Fire Drake the strongest Dragon-Type ever?" Young Mizuo asked, enthralled at her father's victory.

He smiled fondly at her, ruffling a hand in her fire-red hair. "No, Mizuo. There's a very famous Dragon-type that's much stronger than mine."

"Really?" Mizuo gasped. "What is it called?"

"The Blue-Eyes White Dragon." He intoned solemnly. "There are only 3 of them in the world. They are held by a very strong Duelist, named Seto Kaiba. Unfortunately, if either of us want the strongest dragon, we'll have to defeat them to get one."

"Oh . . ." Mizuo was a young duelist, but even she knew Seto Kaiba's name was legendary. "Well, it's alright. I'm sure there's at least one Dragon-type out there with more Attack Points than it. I'll find it and take those Blue-Eyes for myself, too!" She brightened, bouncing out of her chair.

Her father shook his head gently. "No. That's not the point. A Dragon's power, the power of any card, does not come from its Points alone. It comes from the strength of its soul."

"Its soul?"

---+++---

"Hey, Mizuo-san. You comin'?" The rough voice of Ushiro Hayama cut through Mizuo's reminiscence. Picking up her backpack, she nodded, silently.

"Good." Ushiro gave a thumbs-up to the other three guys seated in the gloom of their rotting shed. "We're all ready, Hatori-sama."

Hatori Inata, the oldest of them, stood up, stomping out his cigarette. "We'll make those Enjuno scum pay for encroaching on our grounds. We scavenge this Domino dump heap, and no one else. They came here for the last time, ehh?"

"Yes sir!" Ushiro, Oura, and Shoto echoed their leader's territorial yell. Mizuo, however, kept as silent as before.

"Hey, Mizuo-san. You scoped the place, right? Tell me what we're up against." Hatori leaned lazily against the wall, lighting another cigarette.

Mizuo nodded, picking up a roll of paper off the floor. She slipped a box of matches out of her pocket, lighting a candle. She gave it to Shoto to hold, and unrolled the paper, revealing an hand-drawn map of the surrounding area.

Her voice low and serious, Mizuo pointed out the places on her map as she talked. "The Enjuno gang live in an old, five-story apartment building. They all sleep in the lobby on the second floor, with scouts on floors 1, 2, 3, and the roof. Floors 4 and 5 are used for food and weapon storage. They are unsound. If possible, we should avoid them."

"Eating area is in this room, 217. There will be food supplies in  there. We should make a point of checking. There are two guards stationed around the building, at the front and back entrances. We can snipe them, easily."

"There are thirteen people in their gang. The oldest is their leader, who's 25 years old. There are three 18-19 year olds, four between 14-17 years old, three between 11-14, and two young children, below the ages of five. 9 are male. 4 are female. The outer guards are the leader and the three 19 year olds. The inner guard are the 14-17 year olds."

"The electricity in the building is active on the first three floors. There is running water on the first floor. The outer guards have walkie-talkies. They have ten hand guns, one bow, and a limited supply of arrows. Five have knives."

Mizuo took out five black chess pieces, each one symbolizing one of the people in the room with her now. Hatori was the King, Oura the Knight, Shoto the Bishop, Ushiro the Castle, and Mizuo the Queen. She positioned them on the map where they would be during the raid.

"We start by taking out the power. We cut the power lines around the building." She moved the Knight and Castle to a line marked 'Power'. "Second, we snipe the outer guards." She moved the Bishop to the front of the building, then the back. "Afterwards, Shoto meets up with the power-cutting squad. Hatori and I will use our toxic smoke-bombs to flush them out of the building. If we're lucky, one or two may asphyxiate on the way out. Hatori and I will stop anyone who comes out the back. You three will defend the building's front."

"Keep a tally of how many people you see. If we don't get them all, Oura and I will sweep the building, front and back, to find any survivors. When we've counted 13 bodies, we loot and move out. Simple."

She picked up the King, putting it in the center of the building on the map. She looked to Hatori, and bowed. "That is all."

He nodded slowly, pretending to contemplate the plan. As usual, he couldn't find any way to make it better. "Mizuo-san, I picked you up three years ago from the side of that crack in the ground. But the way things are now, you could be leading this little criminal organization, if you had any life left in you. Honestly, she's just like those computers she's always playing with. But at least that gives her some way out of this city. The rest of us are scum, and will be for the rest of our lives. But if Mizuo got a fire lit under her rear, she could really be something."

Out loud, he merely said, "Not bad. Kind of what I was thinking myself." He looked at Mizuo, and was surprised to see a flash of fire in her cold, green eyes. 'You stupid liar. You never could have done this without my intel, my weapon gathering, my planning.' but a moment later, the spark of hatred was gone, her eyes like unfeeling snow, making the gang leader decide it was just a trick of their flickering lights. "Let's head out! Ushiro, Oura, get on those power lines. Shoto, we'll give you cover on your shots. We'll stay with you until Oura and Ushiro are done. Mizuo, make sure these louts behave."

Ushiro picked up an axe, smiling broadly. A gap existed where a tooth once had been. "Let's give 'em hell."

The Enjuno gang had stolen resources from the edges of Domino City, where Hatori's Inata gang hunted. The old KaibaCorp factories still stood, with expensive computer parts ripe for the picking. But Hatori wasn't going to let his territory just be walked all over. His revenge was total annihilation.

Mizuo sighed silently, slipping the map into her backpack. She didn't approve of the Inata gang's use of violence, but in an area with little to have, those who couldn't protect themselves would die. This city had started as a refugee station for those fleeing from Zero Reverse, but it had quickly become a scum town, filled with those without enough money or talents to leave. The KaibaCorp factories in the area were the prime source of income, with plenty of parts to be sold to the highest bidder. Fights over them were desperate, as this raid proved.

It was a fierce, cold world, but a livable one.

Following close behind Oura, Ushiro, Shoto, and Hatori, Mizuo loosened her two knives in their sheaths, one on each side. In her special chest holster she had designed herself, her hand gun pressed against her breastbone, protecting her heart in a knife fight. In front of her, Shoto slid the muffler onto his gun, checking his ammunition. He was the group's sniper. Ushio only had his axe, which he held loosely by his side. Hatori had two pistols in his belt, and another in his back pocket. Oura had six knives all along his sleeves, and a gun in his front pocket. he also carried their bag full of poisonous smoke bombs.

They were going to kill. Blood was their main objective.