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Parasite Problem

Summary:

Declan and some of his teammates try to drive back the Parasite Queen and her hoard from the mountains.

Notes:

My 2nd attempt at Amethystshipping. Don't ask me what the hell this AU was supposed to be. I don't even remember. This chapter feels like a fever dream.

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"Lulu! Lulu, wake up, please!" Lulu could hear her brother's voice. He sounded really worried. She forced herself to open her eyes. Standing over her, Lulu could make out two shapes. The first one was, of course, her brother Shay. The other was none other than their leader, Declan. However, both of them were in their Duel Forms, Rise Falcon and Doom King Armageddon respectively.

"B-brother?"

"Oh thank the Gods," Shay swore quietly. "Are you alright? How are you feeling?"

"Honestly, everything aches. What...happen?"

"You mean, you don't remember?" Out of the corner of her eye Lulu could see Odd-Eyes and Dark Rebellion, the Duel Forms of Yuya and Yuto. Why was everyone in their Duel Forms? Even she was in her own Duel Form! Was there a fight?

"N-no. What happened?" Lulu asked as she struggle to stand on her feet.

"A Fusion Parasite stung you," Declan answers. "After you were injected with the poison, you started attacking us."

"Yeah! Sorry we had to knock some sense into you." Yuya said, apologetically. Lulu could see the spot where the stringer had dug its way underneath her feathers.

"We manage to remove the stinger after knocking you out, but your wing will feel sore for a few days." Yuto said, pointing at the injury.

"It's fine." Lulu looked around the dark cave they had done battle. All the little parasites were gone as well as the Queen Parasite, the commander of the Fusion Parasites. "Sorry for being an obstacle."

"It's not your fault, Lulu. You really saved Declan's butt." Yuya said with a smile. "Although, he never will admit it." He added with a glance at their leader. Now it was all coming back to her. The reason she had gotten stung in the first place was because the parasite was aiming for Declan and she got in the way.

"Speaking of which, I didn't hear any thank yous." Shay muttered, glaring at Declan.

"It's fine, Shay," Lulu said, grabbing onto her brother's shoulder. "Better for me to get stung than him. I mean, could you really imagine us taking on a mind controlled Declan?"

"Fighting an unrestrained Declan? That probably wouldn't have ended well." Yuto added. Declan didn't comment. Instead he had his eyes fixed on another hole that led deeper into the network.

"Which means we all need to stay on our toes. The Queen and her parasites have retreated further in the tunnels. We need to stop her from making a new nest. Lulu, can you still fight?"

"Of course! I'm with you guys until the end!"

"Then just stay close to us. They got you once, I don't want to fight you again." Shay said softly.

"Don't worry, brother. I'll be fine." She claimed. The group trudge deeper into the caves. After wandering for what felt like ages they could finally hear some insect chattering coming from up ahead. Declan signal for them to be quiet and to stay low. The end of the tunnel lead to another large cavern where inside the Queen was addressing her subjects.

"Any plan, Declan?" Lulu whisper to him quietly.

"Still thinking..." Declan murmurs back, his gaze flickering across the room. Unfortunately, this was the exact moment Yuya's allergies decided to kick in.

"ACHOO!" He sneezed, causing everyone to look in his direction.

"Bless you." Yuto sighs as everyone gets into a battle stance.

"Thanks." Yuya sniffs.

"Parasites, protect your Queen!" The Parasite Queen hisses and waves of poisonous parasites flood towards them. For the next few minutes, it would be total chaos. The moment they defeated one parasite, two more would pop up in its place. There seem to be no end to them.

There's when Lulu spotted the Queen trying to make a run for it through a different tunnel, but Declan was right on her heels. Lulu knew that Declan couldn't take on that monster alone!

"Guys-!" Lulu tried to call out to her brother and teammates, but all of them had their hands full. Making a choice, Lulu broke free from the swarm of parasites and flew straight for the same tunnel she last saw Declan go through. When she got to the other side of the tunnel, she was horrified by what she saw.

The Queen was nowhere in sight, but Declan was on the ground, motionless. When she got close to him, she could see that he was bleeding.

"Declan! Declan, are you alright?! Please, answer me!" Lulu began shaking their leader, almost viciously just to get a response from him. But he didn't move. Tears falling from her face, Lulu turned to scream for her team, but before she could even open her mouth, a hand closed around her throat and picked her up.

Gasping for breath she clawed at the hand but it refuse to let go. She twisted her head as best she could only to be completely confusion and alarmed as she stared back into Declan's cold purple eyes.

"D-Dec-" Her sentence was cut off as she was thrown against the wall of the cave. The wind was knocked out of her as she fell to the floor. Lulu only had a few seconds to react before Declan's lance came swinging down on her head. Lulu immediately headed for the air, her safe space.

This is exactly what she had feared! Declan had been poisoned by the Queen!

"Declan! Fight it! I know this isn't you!" Lulu shouted, but Declan disregarded her words, continuing to attack her. Even though she had air advantage it wasn't much compared to Declan's skills. And on top of that, Lulu was unable to use her sonic voice. She didn't want to hurt Declan, but Declan seem really keen on hurting her. Again, Lulu tried calling for her team, but her calls went unheard. They couldn't hear her from this deep within the caves and Declan wasn't letting her pass.

"Come on, Lulu! Think! There has to be the way to stop him! How did the others return me to normal?" Lulu then remember that Yuto said something about a stinger. Was removing the stringer the key to stopping him? Lost in her thoughts for a moment, Lulu failed to see the lance being thrown at her and the weapon hit its mark.

She slammed into the ground once again, but before she could regain any air, Declan was on top of her. Picking her up roughly he took up his lance and pierce it right through her wing, effectively pinning her to the rock wall. She screamed in pain as blood began to trickle down.

"D-Declan...please..." Lulu whimper, but she only got a cold stare in return. Lulu knows that when she was poisoned, she couldn't hear, see, or stop any of her actions. Why would Declan be any different? Declan then summoned a second lance to his other hand and aimed it at her heart.

He was going to kill her.

Just as Lulu was about to accept her fate, she spotted it. The stinger!

It was in the back of his neck, a purple thorn-like stinger. She just had to get it out! She struggle to dislodge the first lance that was pinning her down, but it refused to budge. She had to figure out a way to get him closer to her but without him noticing what she was going after.

Declan got ready for the final blow and that's when she lunged out as far as her hands could reach and grabbed a hold of Declan's scarf. She yank hard, forcing him towards her and before he could even react Lulu placed her lips over his own.

It was only for about three seconds tops. Just enough time for her to reach around and seize the stinger, pulling it out of his neck. As soon as she did, Declan pulled away. Lulu couldn't quite read his expression, but she was willing to guess that he was about as shocked as she was.

He blinked at her a couple of times, before seeing the position she was in and the stinger on the ground. He quickly grabbed his weapon, his calm, neutral expression returning.

"This...is going to hurt."

"Kind of figured that." She replies. Like pulling off a band-aid, he rips it out fast but that doesn't stop a strike of pain from coursing through her. She falls to her knees, trembling a bit.

"Any major wounds?" He asked.

"Aside from my wing, only scratches." She could have sworn Declan had let out a sigh of relief, but she wasn't listening too closely.

"Lulu? Declan?" Yuya had spotted them. He called back for the others. "Shay! Yuto! I found them!" Shay rushed in first, zeroing in on his sister.

"What happened?" He immediately demanded.

"It's nothing, brother. Just...uhh..."

"I wasn't watching myself and the Queen stung me." Declan answer for her.

"What?! She got you?!" Yuya exclaims. "Are you alright?!"

"Only thanks to Lulu I am." He said, nodding at her. Lulu smiled.

"Hey, I don't want to be 'that guy' but I think we should fall back." Yuto piped up. "All of us are either exhausted or worse." Yuto gestures at Lulu's bloody wing. "And I'm afraid that if we go any further in, we won't be able to find our way back out." Declan thought for a moment, mulling over the situation.

"We've driven the parasites off for a time. As long as they don't cause any trouble we can leave them be until we are able to assemble a larger team." The tired group began the journey back through the caves. Declan was leading with Yuya and Yuto behind him and Lulu and Shay taking up the rear.

It was too painful to fly so Shay had to support his sister the entire way which he had no problem doing.

"Lulu, are you okay? Going up against Declan probably wasn't fun." Yuya whisper to her quietly.

"It wasn't," Lulu said, shaking her head. "I'm just glad he's back to normal."

"Speaking of which, how did you do it?" Yuto asked. "It took nearly all of us to get out your stinger. How did you manage against Declan?"

"I actually want to know that as well." Shay added.

"Oh...well...umm...I..." Lulu glanced over at their leader for some help, but he just kept on walking forward. "Luck." She finally said.

"I just got really lucky."