Yu-Gi-Oh! Armageddon (PG13) - Finished

[Lexadin]

Urusula using Insect monsters, meh, I can't say I'm disapointed, but it's not quite original. Though I can understand why. Loads of beetles though.

Just wondering, what kind of Insect Deck does she use. As the cards she used where pretty much staples in Insect Decks.

 

Wow, that's a trauma. First your mother tries to kill you, then the she tells you that the one you loved as a father is not your biological father.

 

And HELLYEAH! FabledWorld Deck FTW!

 

I don't really like that there hasn't been a solid explanation for Urusula apearance. It might have become worse from age, seeing as someone actually impregnated her when she was younger.

Not so found of her being a typical egocentric bad guy though. Though it does fit some insects, which would fit her again.

 

Overal a nice chapter though.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Urusula using Insect monsters, meh, I can't say I'm disapointed, but it's not quite original. Though I can understand why. Loads of beetles though.

Just wondering, what kind of Insect Deck does she use. As the cards she used where pretty much staples in Insect Decks.

 

Wow, that's a trauma. First your mother tries to kill you, then the she tells you that the one you loved as a father is not your biological father.

 

And HELLYEAH! FabledWorld Deck FTW!

 

I don't really like that there hasn't been a solid explanation for Urusula apearance. It might have become worse from age, seeing as someone actually impregnated her when she was younger.

Not so found of her being a typical egocentric bad guy though. Though it does fit some insects, which would fit her again.

 

Overal a nice chapter though.

 

Uh, it wouldn't make any sense if she used anything else would it? Her insects are mostly high ATK monsters that are land-based, since she doesn't have many fliers on her (apart from her hornets).

 

MY CHAOS DECK!!! MWAHAHAHA!!!

 

It's just supposed to be a one in a million freak of nature thing with her. But you know some guys will sleep with anyone, especially with someone as... provocative as Urusula. I was trying to hint at her being raped, which may explain why she is now lesbian, not that I've been able to work that much but must have been too sutble. Utopia isn't about power to her, it's about her being in a world where she is normal, after being alone as the freak in this life.

[Lexadin]

Uh, it wouldn't make any sense if she used anything else would it? Her insects are mostly high ATK monsters that are land-based, since she doesn't have many fliers on her (apart from her hornets).

 

MY CHAOS DECK!!! MWAHAHAHA!!!

 

It's just supposed to be a one in a million freak of nature thing with her. But you know some guys will sleep with anyone, especially with someone as... provocative as Urusula. I was trying to hint at her being raped, which may explain why she is now lesbian, not that I've been able to work that much but must have been too sutble. Utopia isn't about power to her, it's about her being in a world where she is normal, after being alone as the freak in this life.

 

True, I gues it wouldn't then. Though when she played Koa'ki Meiru Beetle, I kinda thought she used Koa'ki Meiru's.

 

It's also my fav chaos Deck.

 

Well me, being an evolutionary biologist in training, was quite interested in the mechanics how a person could become something like that. But I gues being a random stack of mutations is good enough (though it doesn't explain how the heck she manages to store all those bugs inside of her.

Well I thought about it and if it wasn't for the bugs and depending on the size of the veins I... Should probebly stop talking now.

Mhh, I didn't get that hint. But I kinda thought she was just Bi.

 

I know, but the way she does that looks too much like the typical egocentric bad guy to me.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

True, I gues it wouldn't then. Though when she played Koa'ki Meiru Beetle, I kinda thought she used Koa'ki Meiru's.

 

It's also my fav chaos Deck.

 

Well me, being an evolutionary biologist in training, was quite interested in the mechanics how a person could become something like that. But I gues being a random stack of mutations is good enough (though it doesn't explain how the heck she manages to store all those bugs inside of her.

Well I thought about it and if it wasn't for the bugs and depending on the size of the veins I... Should probebly stop talking now.

Mhh, I didn't get that hint. But I kinda thought she was just Bi.

 

I know, but the way she does that looks too much like the typical egocentric bad guy to me.

 

Wow, interesting career choice mate. Nice one. Think of her as like the X-Men, just a one-of mutant thing.

 

CHAOS!!! Woo!!!

 

You really DON'T want to know what's gone through my head concerning Urusula... it's... just not for discussion here... She is a les now; I think I may have misled you with her respectful adoration of Demon being a bit overdone, and may have made you think she loves him. She does, but not in that way.

 

Oh yes few notes, going to get my computer monitor replaced on Monday, hopefully a worn out blown up monitor is the only problem at it can at least be resolved quickly, even if it's an incredibly annoying cost I didn't need. Have done a little bit of writing in the post pages, but it is slow going.

 

Have chapter 51 - Head On Collision - saved on my memory stick to upload Monday as well. A chapter in which the events of will go down as a first; a historic moment for fanfics on this site.

 

See you all Monday. :)

[catlover2011]

FIIINALY IM WORKING

 

anyway ive been reading this for awile as a guest and i have to say this is amazing when i first sall i expected nothing good -----------then i found this and got realy into it its prity much ive been doing on the computer lately so i cant wait for the next one btw it would be cool if you made a new season with the same charicters after this problem has been resolvedmaybe focasing onn makinga new nation (and re-instaing DM) and realy think it would be cool for one of the new charicters to have a custem deck :lol:

 

(as soon as i can figure it out +rep)

[Vector Nightmare]

Oh... wow. Though I had gotten the gist of how it would all go down once Hikari said Ursula was her mother, this chapter still caught me off-guard. This duel, especially the ending, was top-tier as far as the plays that were made, strategy etc were concerned. I was really just... amazed at Hikari here. And the whole choreography of the duel was excellent. I tip my metaphorical hat at you for this duel.

 

Considering it's a world where there's duel monsters etc I can't say I find the Ursula thing too weird. Though I think I'd have preferred it if it was a result of some magical interference, rather than a natural(?) mutation.

 

I feel obliged to pinpoint that you're stacking too much tragedy on Hikari... thankfully it's well-executed but... I mean, there's such a thing as overdoing it.

 

I like how they told Ursula it was over for her, but then just basically... left her there to do whatever she wanted once she recovered. Not like she's a walking beehive that can stalk them until they die...

 

Anyway there were some minor flaws here and there as I said, too much stuff piles up on Hikari, and the after-the-duel events left me a bit wanting for a better conclusion, but overall it was a great chapter.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

FIIINALY IM WORKING

 

anyway ive been reading this for awile as a guest and i have to say this is amazing when i first sall i expected nothing good -----------then i found this and got realy into it its prity much ive been doing on the computer lately so i cant wait for the next one btw it would be cool if you made a new season with the same charicters after this problem has been resolvedmaybe focasing onn makinga new nation (and re-instaing DM) and realy think it would be cool for one of the new charicters to have a custem deck :lol:

 

(as soon as i can figure it out +rep)

 

NEW COMMENTOR!!! *faints in shock*

 

Thanks man, feels good when people say they are enjoying it.

 

Regarding the idea of a second season, unlikely at best. What with full time employ, moving into my own place and general adult life, my writing time is only going to get less and less. I have an idea for a second fanfic, but it is something completely different, and won't be started for a year at least. As for custom decks, seen them implemented in several fics, not really seen anyone do it that well yet. I've done a few custom archtypes (most notably Terra and Diablos)... I dunno, maybe.

 

Glad to have you on board, next chapter up tomorrow.

 

Oh... wow. Though I had gotten the gist of how it would all go down once Hikari said Ursula was her mother, this chapter still caught me off-guard. This duel, especially the ending, was top-tier as far as the plays that were made, strategy etc were concerned. I was really just... amazed at Hikari here. And the whole choreography of the duel was excellent. I tip my metaphorical hat at you for this duel.

 

Considering it's a world where there's duel monsters etc I can't say I find the Ursula thing too weird. Though I think I'd have preferred it if it was a result of some magical interference, rather than a natural(?) mutation.

 

I feel obliged to pinpoint that you're stacking too much tragedy on Hikari... thankfully it's well-executed but... I mean, there's such a thing as overdoing it.

 

I like how they told Ursula it was over for her, but then just basically... left her there to do whatever she wanted once she recovered. Not like she's a walking beehive that can stalk them until they die...

 

Anyway there were some minor flaws here and there as I said, too much stuff piles up on Hikari, and the after-the-duel events left me a bit wanting for a better conclusion, but overall it was a great chapter.

 

Happy days, glad you enjoyed.

 

Sorry if i'm laying it on to thick, perhaps I am but it will tie in quite soon.

 

But they are good guys... they can't kill the baddies... that ain't right! lol

[Lexadin]

Wow, interesting career choice mate. Nice one. Think of her as like the X-Men, just a one-of mutant thing.

 

CHAOS!!! Woo!!!

 

You really DON'T want to know what's gone through my head concerning Urusula... it's... just not for discussion here... She is a les now; I think I may have misled you with her respectful adoration of Demon being a bit overdone, and may have made you think she loves him. She does, but not in that way.

 

Oh yes few notes, going to get my computer monitor replaced on Monday, hopefully a worn out blown up monitor is the only problem at it can at least be resolved quickly, even if it's an incredibly annoying cost I didn't need. Have done a little bit of writing in the post pages, but it is slow going.

 

Have chapter 51 - Head On Collision - saved on my memory stick to upload Monday as well. A chapter in which the events of will go down as a first; a historic moment for fanfics on this site.

 

See you all Monday. :)

 

Thanks, oh ok then.

 

Oh no it's not that. I just thought of her being the type who likes both genders.

 

Oh? It has to be something really special to be a 1st here.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Happy Independance Day to all our American readers!

 

Well that's what I would have said, but as we all know the site went down just while YCMaker was on holiday. Frustrating, especially for me, but unavoidable.

 

I say frustrating for me because I was on the verge of my historic, ground-breaking first, and I was bricking it thinking the site would be down until I moved and someone would come in and steal my moment. But now, FINALLY, that moment IS AT HAND! For this historic moment in YCM fanfic history.

 

But before that, some other stuff, as chapter 51, Head On Collision, is up. Maybe that should be Head On Collisions, as there are several major head clashes here between several characters. Enjoy...

 

(Do I have American readers?)

 

[spoiler=Chapter 51]

Chapter 51 - Head On Collision

 

An hour had passed under the now baking hot sun, and Urusula was still lying against her duel runner, the bleeding slowly coming to a stop. Enough had been lost however to severely weaken her, and she had little strength to move, let alone summon any of her pets to her aid. The streets had been deserted, she had seen people fleeing a while after the signers had left, and they had paid little attention to her. Digging deep and moaning, she pulled herself forward, and started pressing buttons on the cpu of her duel runners; begging for something, any kind of response.

 

Oh what mercy, the radio still worked. Although the screen was cracked, she could hear the crackle of her S.O.S call being sent to the castle, which would be picked so she could be rescued. She smiled to herself; if Hikari thought she could rid herself of her that easily, she was gravely mistaken.

 

The radio crackled again, and a voice could be heard faintly. It was working, just about. Urusula pulled a small microphone like transmitter from under the dashboard, and said she was having difficulty hearing, requesting the person speak louder. There was a cough and another crackle, before the voice came again, more audible this time. Urusula realised who was on the other end, and her heart stopped. That cold, gruff voice that belonged not to Demon, who she was expecting, but to his father.

 

“You lost Urusula...”

 

Urusula gulped. “Please forgive me Lord Fygmorke, I’m sorry. The girl surprised me with her new cards, she tricked me. I will do better next time.” There was a pause, interrupted only by the beaten woman’s ragged breathing. Overhead, a dark shadow loomed.

 

“You assume there will be a next time Urusula...”

 

Desperation started to creep into Urusula’s voice. Black eyeliner mixed with her tears and ran down her cheeks as she pleaded. Focused on her radio, she did not notice the shadow broaden. “Please Lord Fygmorke, I’m begging you. I want to help you; I’ve given everything for Lord Demon and you. We share the same vision, we can achieve it together. I can beat her, I will destroy her. Just give me another chance.”

 

Laughter came over the radio; cold and mirthless laughter. “Our visions are nothing alike” snapped the gruff voice. “You had your chance and you failed. I am out of patience of people who fail...”

 

“Where’s Demon!?” Urusula screamed over the radio. “You might not bring me home but he will. I have served you two for years so that we can reach the blessed land. You promised me!”

 

“And why do you seek to escape this world, and reach Utopia? Is it because of the grief, the guilt, you feel about your daughter?” Urusula choked as the sorcerer mentioned her daughter, someone she had never mentioned to the others except Demon, who had known before recruiting her. “The daughter you abandoned in pursuit of your own dreams, who you dismissed as not truly being yours for not sharing your power. The daughter you just lost too. I think... you just want to run away from your own guilt. Your own shame. Your own self hatred...”

 

“I... I...” Urusula choked, as she felt the earth shake, as something landed heavily behind her. “Please...”

 

“Your hopeless suffering shall now be ended forever Urusula. Goodbye...”

 

There was a crackle of static, and the radio cut out. Without even the strength to weep anymore, the crawling Urusula slowly turned to face what awaited her. Towering over her was a massive dragon, with hide black as the moonless night. Its long black wings blocked out all light, throwing the cowering woman into complete darkness. Cruel claws extended and tore into the earth where it had landed. Its blood red eyes burned brightly and glaring down at her.

 

The screaming could be heard for miles.

 

...

 

Now far south of the village, the convoy continued to rumble on. Sabin was leading the way with Yuma sat behind him, following the arrow indicated by his radar as they closed in on their destination. They had both been quiet since they left the village. Yuma was kind of misty-eyed, daydreaming behind him. Sabin wondered if she was contacting her spirit friends in some way. He cleared his throat, and immediately she woke up, looking quite puzzled.

 

“You’re not going to freak out on your uncle when you see him, like Hikari did back there, right?”

 

“Is that some attempt at concern for me, or your idea of a joke?”

 

“No no, don’t get me wrong” Sabin started flustered; as he felt Yuma’s dark eyes narrow and bore through him. “I’m not having a go at Hikari. It’s just... you know... he did kill your father... and stuff...”

 

Yuma smiled as Sabin started to go round in circles. “Don’t worry, I will be fine. I hope Hikari will be too. We should help her more. We’re all a team and we all need to support each other more.”

 

“Yeah, I guess so. You are good with Hikari though. You two really seemed to click as soon as you joined the group. Luca and Tyrana know each other inside out having been together so long. As for me and Juruo, well, I’ve never really done friends. We have been at each other tooth and nail in the past. We still disagree on a lot of stuff now, but I think we’re slowly getting there. So you know, I think we’re a good team.” He looked back over his shoulder to see Yuma nod to him, and smile. Damn those smiles were rare but when she did, she just became even more beautiful. Spirits raised, Sabin put his foot down and accelerated, making Yuma cling to him and laugh as her long hair blew around in the wind.

 

Whilst they were enjoying the ride, behind him were Tyrana and Luca, with Mel being taken on their runner today. He was asking them plenty of questions, as was his way.

 

“So you were duelling the emperor when your dragons just appeared in your decks, along with the marks on your arms? That must have been cool.”

 

“Not at the time” Tyrana huffed. “At the time we were fighting for our lives, and so were thousands of people outside. Many of them died.”Mel looked dejected by this reprimand.

 

“But thanks to the Life Stream and Black Winged Dragons, many survived. We should focus on that” Luca added. Tyrana grunted, but nodded all the same, before Luca turned to Mel. “So you’ve seen the guys who are behind all this. We haven’t. Could you tell us a bit about them, you know, prepare us?”

 

“Sure can. Demon is the mastermind behind the final countdown above. In terms of what he looks like, he is skeletally thin, but he hides it by wearing a dark coat covered in chains. His skin is ghost like and his eyes are blank. He uses a ritual deck with lots of fiend types, and he also carries this long sword with him everywhere. I’ve seen him slay his own brother right in front of us.” Mel gulped as he remembered his former resistance leader, whom he once thought as the strongest man he’d ever met. “As for his dad, Fygmorke, I don’t really know much, other than what he looks like.”

 

“I see. What do you think his agenda might be?”

 

Mel shook his head in response. “Same as Demon’s I guess. Chasing this perfect world at all costs.”

 

At the back of the pack, Juruo was riding with Hikari in awkward silence. The girl had calmed down somewhat since they had left Gorge Town, but was still looking tense. There were so many things Juruo wanted to ask, but he wasn’t quite sure where to start. He thought about asking something about what just happened, or about her distant past, but the words seemed to cling to the back of his throat and refused to come out. Hikari looked at him curiously as he kept opening and closing his mouth, looking at him like she wanted him to speak. So, changing tact, he decided to start somewhere else, and hope that once dialogue was opened, it would flow easier.

 

“That was my Debris Dragon you used, wasn’t it? When did you take that?”

 

“Whilst you were in the medical bay, the engineer took all our shields so they could repair and strengthen them as much as possible. When he was finished, I bought yours back to the medical bay so it was there when you woke up. You were sleeping so peacefully. I guess I just wanted something of you with me, so I flicked through your deck and found that card, and thought I could use it in my deck. Then I’d have a card from you with me during all my duels...”

 

That was weird; Hikari’s voice had suddenly become really soft. Juruo gulped slightly. He didn’t want to lecture her, but she didn’t seem to grasp his problem. “Well, you could have said something. Debris Dragon is one of my best cards; one that can turn certain defeat into victory. What if I took Honest out of your deck without telling you, and then next duel you really needed it?”

 

“But if you needed it, then I would be happy.”

 

Juruo cringed inside as he felt her rest her head on his back, and heard her gasp. She knew she shouldn’t do that with her condition. He coughed awkwardly, bringing her back upright and to attention. “Well, I guess everything worked out okay, so it’s not too much of a problem. But Hikari, this whole new you thing. I don’t get it. Changing your clothes, using those Dark World cards - which I don’t understand where they came from. I’ve known you for a while now; how kind and selfless and... generally amazing you are. But since you lost against Erin, everything about you now just seems so alien to me, it’s like it isn’t you anymore.” He paused and bit his lip, as he felt Hikari’s grip around his hips tighten slightly. “I guess I’m just trying to say if you need to talk to me about anything, I’ll be there for you. You know that right?”

 

Hikari paused for a while as she considered her answer, glancing up at the midday sun.

 

“The next fireball has begun to form above us. We don’t have much time left. Let’s just keep going for now and get as far as we can. If you want we will talk later, alright?”

 

Juruo agreed, and accelerated after the others.

 

...

 

In the mountain castle, the sorcerer Fygmorke limped into the cavernous arena at the back of his son’s chamber, the strike of his staff resonating around the dome like structure. Between his long gnarled fingers, he twirled the card that had recently returned to his lap. In this cave was the giant archway, the portal to a different dimension, through which the explosive device that was amplifying the power of the final countdown, using the destructive energy of the sacred beast card as fuel, had been cast through. Once discovered by man, this entire castle had been built around this gateway to protect it. The archway was silent now as the sorcerer stared up at it; it would only be opened if enough duel energy... massive amounts of duel energy were detected in the vicinity.

 

“Admiring the keystone of our ambitions father?”

 

Fygmorke turned to see a figure stride confidently into the cave from behind him. Demon had returned, earlier than expected. He certainly looked refreshed from his time away. Well, as refreshed as anyone who always looked half dead could look anyway.

 

“Thank you for looking after things in my absence father. I was quite surprised to hear you suggest that I take a day off since you’ve always been so focused on our plan, but it has done me quite some good. My nightmares, and the pain I’ve suffered, seem to have receded somewhat over the last two nights. Perhaps my demons sense that the end is near, and soon they will be no longer able to hurt me anymore.”

 

“I am glad you have recovered your strength Demon. You shall need it for the final battle, as the signers continue to make their way to this castle. They could well arrive in time to wage battle with us.”

 

“I take it our attempts to stop their charge have not gone well?” The sorcerer’s silence prompted Demon to roll his eyes and pinch them, shaking his head and looking slightly stressed. “Honestly I go away for one night and the whole thing goes to... alright, where do we stand?”

 

“Gear fought two of the male signers along with Erin’s brother. The child somehow broke free from my power, possibly an overwhelming sense of emotion if I was to guess, and managed to present the signers a gift of a win, although I’m sure Gear’s arrogance did not help. He is back here now with Raesir, preparing the castles defences.”

 

“Ok. What of Erin and Urusula?”

 

“According to Gear, Erin’s brother was killed by her former loves attack. Ever since she discovered our plans for using him she has been troublesome, and was locked away until she decided to start following orders again. But since his death, she has been quiet. I’m not sure where she stands right now; she could be as dangerous to us, or our best weapon against the signers. As for Urusula, she also encountered the signers, and duelled against her daughter. She has fallen.”

 

“Fallen?” Demon physically stepped backwards as the words hit him. A lump formed in his throat and his misted eyes darted wildly behind their smoky screen. “Urusula is... dead...? I... I don’t understand. How can that be possible...? After all the defences I worked on to protect her and the others against the effects of the countdown, I failed her...”

 

“Do not be so weak Demon. She faced the signers and lost, and in her defeat I sensed her true motives, her shame and regret. She failed us.”

 

“What? No. Urusula has worked beside us for years. She has been a loyal and trusted ally to us for all this time. She shared our goals of the perfect, pain free world. How could she suddenly change her mind and fall right at the last hurdle? It doesn’t make sense. Why didn’t you bring her back if you could tell she was in danger?”

 

Under his veil, Fygmorke’s lips curled in disgust as he surveyed his son go to pieces over the loss of that wretched woman. “She was of no further use. Why waste my energy to save her when she would only continue to fail us?”

 

There was a long, deadly silence. Broken only by the cracking of bone as Demon clenched his fist.

 

“Now I think I understand. You left her to die? After all she’s done for us, you just abandoned her?”

 

“What is wrong with you all of a sudden?” Fygmorke struck the stone floor with his staff. “You have lost all focus on our only objective; to ensure the countdown is complete and Armageddon is realised. Why are you showing compassion for that roach of a woman, who failed simple orders to take out those who threaten us? She failed and she paid the price for it.”

 

“She deserved better than this. After all she’s been put through and all she has suffered, she deserved Utopia. So does Gear; and Raesir and Erin. Those guys have done everything I could ask of them and more, we would have gotten nowhere without them. Is it so wrong that maybe I should care about them just a little, when no-one else would? We are all outcasts together, all pulling in the same direction, or at least five of us were. Now you’ve just stabbed our friend in the back?” Demon shook his head, his body shaking with rage. “She deserved her Utopia.”

 

A slow cackling noise began to permeate from the old man. Demon blinked as the cackle grew louder, amplified by the shape of the cave, filling the air with deranged laughter. Through the gaps in the folds in the robes, Fygmorke’s wild dark purple eyes were blazing, filled with deranged joy.

 

“What’s so funny?”

 

The wild laughter continued, at a lesser volume, as Fygmorke began to shake his head, laughing himself out at his own obscene joke. Demon lost his temper. Slowly he reached for his sword, hanging down by his waist, and pulled out the blade, before brandishing it at the sorcerer. The sorcerer did not seem to react, right up until the moment when Demon was sticking it right up against his neck. He stopped laughing then, instead he stared wide eyed and disbelieving at what his son was daring to threaten him with.

 

“Oh really now? You dare raise your sword against me after everything I’ve done for you, after I offered you the glimmer of hope and salvation that was...” Fygmorke broke off, a sick smile crossing his lips. There was no point to this charade anymore, not now. It was too late anyway. Slowly, the old warlock raised his staff off the floor and held it so the end rested under Demon’s chin. “Well, maybe you deserve to be angry with me after all. I have hurt you so very much. You and your precious allies you are so fond of...” Demon frowned as he stared at the man grinning malevolently at him.

 

“Damn you. What aren’t you telling me?”

 

“Heh. We’ll put it this way. When someone is trapped in a pitfall, alone in the dark and desperate, they will clutch onto any kind of rope that they might see dangled in front of them, hoping against hope that it will allow them to climb free. You have spent your entire life in such a position, haven’t you Demon, suffering with the pain of your curse? Unfortunately for you, the rope you thought was an escape was in fact the tail of a venomous snake, waiting for you to take the bait.”

 

Demon blinked as the two men stood like statues, sword and staff pointed in each other’s throats, under the gaze of that enormous archway...

 

...

 

Night started to fall over the Empire. A flock of strange birds flew across the view of the sun as it touched the horizon, setting on another day. High in the sky above, the now seventeen fireballs still floated ominously in their two long curves, now only separated by a small gap on either side. Later that night, number eighteen would appear. Then tomorrow the nineteenth, which would connect the two separate arcs. Twenty would complete the circle, and then...

 

Dominik set down his binoculars and shuddered. That did not bear thinking about. That was out of his control. As he sat on his high tech black runner on the top of a hill, watching the shadows lengthen as the sun descended in front of him, he remembered all that Sabin and Hikari had told him; about the Final Countdown that would destroy everything once the ring was completed. He knew that soon disaster could be upon them all, and it was up to the others to stop it. He could only hope for their success on that front. In the meantime, there was another pressing issue, one that was threatening the city and that he felt sure he could do something about.

 

The night of their victory over the Empire, he had thought that war would be over, that the world could move forward into a time of peace and prosperity. However, fate seemed not to look upon them so kindly. No sooner had he got to the medical facility of the headquarters than an urgent message had come to him from the city walls; one that seemed nonsensical, unbelievable, but the messenger was adamant, and had the live video feed to prove it. Dominik remembered his and the others horrified stares at what they had seen. An army was gathering and surrounding the city. An army of undead.

 

Later that night, contact was made with the capital by figures of authority from many of the surrounding towns. The messages all described pretty much one of two things. Most were giving them panicked warnings that the townspeople from all over had seen legions of undead swordsman, archers, and all manner of hellish beasts marching through their towns. But what was strange was that the towns had been marched through and left undamaged. Witnesses had described watching the shuffling zombies march forward, leaving everything untouched, as if driven forward to one point. The capital. Many people who had played duel monsters before the amnesty of the Empire recognised many of the monsters as creatures from the game. Dominik and his seniors reasoned that their being able to appear in this world had something to do with the final countdown as he now knew it above. But that did not explain their drive; the seeming organisation and focus of these mindless, depraved souls who were now sat outside the city walls, assembled and waiting patiently, waiting for something.

 

But there were other reports, far from the east. At about the same time as these monsters started appearing, people were making contact with the capital with reports of a mysterious sight on the horizon, something that the others dismissed but Dominik could not. The sight of a single rider against the dark skyline, charging westwards at speed, a man on a duel runner. These days that sight was odd enough, as the Empire had taken or destroyed most duel runners, but what was worse the trail this rider was leaving. Farmers had watched this runner drive headlong through their fields, unrelenting in his straight direction exactly west. No sooner had he passed through then the scars of his presence were felt. Crops started to wither and die before people’s eyes. Even the leaves of giant trees would turn brown and fall and the tree would shrivel within seconds of his passing. Livestock would stoop, keel over and slowly perish. Small animals would die instantly. This could not be coincidence. Thus Dominik had ordered he be patched up as quickly as possible, took as many capsules of pain suppressing morphine as he could, and set off to meet this ‘rider’ head on.

 

He had travelled about three hundred miles east, before he realised he had to rest. Sleeping in a small village for most of the day, he’d decided it would be more reasonable to wait for his quarry to come to him. He was keeping in contact with Warren, in charge in his absence, who was informing him of more reports from village after village, and pinpointing this rider’s route. Dead west, heading for the capital. Dominik didn’t know what was driving him; maybe just a hunch or a bad feeling, but he knew he had to find this rider and stop his progress towards the capital, otherwise that army might just receive what it was waiting for. So now he was positioned on this hill surveying the wide plain expanse and, armed with binoculars, waiting. Unless the rider deviated in a way that he didn’t seem to have done so yet, he would pass this point soon. Dominik reached below his seat, pulled out a coffee flask and took a long drink from it. Thus the stake out continued.

 

An hour passed. There, a dust cloud billowed in the distance. Automatically he snatched up the binoculars and focused in on it. That was his cue. A black runner in the distance, quite an old model by the look of it from here, being ridden by someone in a black riding suit like his own, charging westwards. He placed the binoculars and the coffee flask back in their compartment, and fired up his duel runner. The ignition fired in silence, and started to roll. Dominik flicked down the gold visor of his sleek helmet, and opened the taps fully. In near silence, the runner accelerated rapidly as he shifted through the gears, and the chase was on.

 

Travelling in a sweeping arc to intercept his target by coming alongside it, the dust cloud got ever larger. Why was there a dust cloud, when the plains were quite fertile and grassy? Dominik pressed a button on his cpu and the airwaves opened, allowing him to speak to Warren back in the city.

 

“Warren, I have found the target and am about to make contact three hundred miles east of the city. Do you copy? Over.”

 

“I am receiving you Dominik” came the curt reply from the old sword hand. “There’s been some change here. The monsters outside the walls are beginning to move. Over.”

 

“What!?” Dominik was too alarmed to remember to say ‘over’.

 

“They haven’t attacked, but they look like they are preparing too. You might just be right about this gut feeling of yours. I just hope you can do something about it, because I wouldn’t fancy our chances. Over.”

 

“Alright Warren. I’m about to make contact. Talk to you when I know more. Over.” The transmission was closed, as Dominik prepared to intercept the strange rider.

 

The rider was moving faster than he had estimated, meaning he had just missed his arc and was now pulling round just behind him. The explanation for the stream of dust was now apparent; in the runners wake was a trail of death and decay. The grass has browned and rotted as soon as the rider passed by, as did any other larger plant life. Oddly, the dust didn’t seem to affect him. Dominik accelerated; he was now just behind the runner and pulling up on its left side. The machine resembled an old chopper like those in gangster movies, a long and narrow body with the rider sat back in the seat gripping the long handlebars. The engine was exposed and like nothing he’d ever seen before; mounted behind the seat and stood upright, three huge flame injector turbo’s were prominently lined up vertically and ready to fire. A duel shield was built into the front bearing some coat of arms design, his duel blade raised up just above his knees along with the hand slot central above that, and the rider’s deck down by his right.

 

The rider did not even look at him as pulled level. He was dressed in a tight black riding suit, with three yellow letters emblazed on the arms and front, presumably sponsors of some kind. On top of the riding suit he was wearing spiked shoulder defenders and leg bracers on his boots, made from thick bone and covered in cracks. The helmet was also made from bone and covered in spikes like a mohawk. The riders jaw was exposed, revealing a pale bony face and twisted lopsided mouth, but other features were obscured by the dark purple visor. He also had a cloak tied over his shoulders, again deep purple in colour and torn at the bottom, which billowed over the seat in the wind behind him. Dominik closed in and pulled alongside the rider.

 

“Hey you! Pull over.”

 

The mouth of the rider contorted into a sick grin. His voice was harsh and biting. “I’m sorry, but I’m in a hurry. I have somewhere to be, and my men are waiting for my arrival.”

 

“Your men? So you are in charge of that army outside the city?”

 

“And what if I am? Just who are you to do anything about it?”

 

Dominik answered by swerving and bashing his runner into the side of this foe. The rider grunted in irritation and turned to face him. The smile had turned to a furious, inhumane snarl, revealing what looked more like fangs than teeth. “My name is Dominik. I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m going to protect my city from danger by any means. I can see you duel. How about, as the leaders of our two sides, we duke this out ourselves?” That was technically a lie, Pallas was really the one in charge of the city right now, but he needed to give this guy some kind of incentive. He took the bait, warped smile returning.

 

“Take out the human’s leader before we even begin our attack. I like the sound of that. Dominik, you wish to duel me then I will oblige you. But I will warn you now you stand no chance of victory, my powers are beyond anything you could ever have known. You are dooming yourself to a world of pain that you cannot comprehend!”

 

“Oh yeah? We’ll see” Dominik pressed a button to initiate Speed World 2, and his deck shuffled automatically. “Now since we’re going in a straight line, how about the first to cover a mile takes the first move?” There was a roar from the engine beside him; his suggestion was clearly met with approval, as a stream of fire burst from the first turbo and the mysterious rider burst ahead, leaving a blazing trail behind him. Dominik slammed on the accelerator to keep up. With his high spec runner this should be easy, but he could gain no ground on the old chopper. Half a minute passed, and the chopper was still a length ahead of him as its rider started to cackle. Dominik stared in bewilderment at his cpu; he was nearly maxing his runner, but he had the feeling his opponent was cruising.

 

“No way! How are you moving so quickly?” he demanded.

 

“Your duel runner may be made with the cutting edge of your human science and technology, but my powers are of a different kind, far beyond your understanding. Which leads me to this point that you might want to know. I shall begin, and we will both gain a speed counter during each standby phase, as you know. I’m willing to duel you, but I don’t intend to hang around with you for too long, not when my runner can just blast you away.”

 

“What do you mean by that?” Dominik stared in disbelief at his cackling opponent as rings emanated from both runners, signalling Speed World 2 was now in effect.

 

“By that I mean that once my speed counters reach their maximum of twelve, my engine will automatically trigger its overdrive. I will be gone, in seconds reaching my legions of undead, and you will be burnt to cinders in the dust. There is no escape now, except death.” Dominik felt his throat stiffen slightly, but still plucked out five cards from his deck. He’d just have to win before that happened.

 

“Let’s duel!”

 

“Prepare yourself for the end, as you are crushed and a new order is established. It’s my turn, and with that I gain my first speed counter.” Laid back in his long seat, the rider looked most casual for such a high stakes duel as he pulled out his card, before adding it to the others held above the duel blade and choosing another from it. “I summon Giant Germ in defence mode, and place one card face down.”

 

The massive virus materialising before Dominik, prompting an irritated scowl (DEF: 100) “So you’re going to be a coward and stall until you reach your top speed?”

 

“Ha ha, you wish” scoffed the mysterious duelist.

 

“Oh, whatever. It’s my turn. Now because you control a monster and I don’t, I can special summon Tech Genus Striker straight to the field. And when I special summon him, I can summon Tech Genus Warwolf out too.” The silver suited warrior and the mutated wolf armed with its steel pincer appeared side by side, the warriors powered by futuristic technology that fought beside the former royal guard soaring either side of him. “Now I tune level two Striker and level three Warwolf to Synchro summon Tech Genus Power Gladiator, and have him attack your germ.”

 

The warrior split into stars and joined its power with the wolf as rings of light enveloped it, prompting the Synchro summon. From the light emerged the axe wielder wearing green tanned hides (ATK: 2300). Without hesitation it charged and sliced the germ in two, which upon destruction released its poisonous gas. The rider cackled to himself again.

 

“Don’t you know that when Giant Germ is destroyed by battle, you take five hundred points of damage, and I can summon two more from my deck?”

 

Dominik coughed and spluttered on the gas seeping into his lungs, barely able to see the two germs appearing ahead of him (LP: 3500).

“Don’t you know that when Power Gladiator destroys a defence position monster in battle, the difference in his attack and their defence is dealt to you in damage?” Red light enveloped the rider, who bowed his head and growled threateningly (LP: 1800). “Then I place one card face down and end my turn.”

 

[spoiler=Summary - End Turn 2]

??? - Front Row: Giant Germ x2. Back Row: Face Down Hand: 4 LP: 1800 SC: 2

Dominik - Front Row: Power Gladiator. Back Row: Face Down. Hand: 3 LP: 3500 SC: 2

 

 

 

“It’s back to me, and with that my third speed counter. Then I summon Delta Flyer in attack mode.”

 

“A tuner monster?” Dominik couldn’t help but gulp as the olive dragon like creature soared before him.

 

“That’s right Dominik. A tuner monster, and with an effect which I now activate. I can select one of my Giant Germs, and increase its level by one.” The cruel smile broke back across the riders face, his shoulders rising and falling as he chuckled to himself. “Now to show you my true face, and the face of things to come. The stage is set. I have waited for so long to do this again. Delta Flyer and level three Giant Germ, give unto my new monster your power. Exceed Summon!”

 

“What!?” Dominik almost swerved and crashed as the two monsters faded into purple and olive light and suddenly shot upwards, the two beams of energy twisting and intertwining with each other. In front of the rider, a dark hole - a swirling red vortex, opened just above the ground. The rider laughed and opened a slot on his duel runner, pulling from it a card and holding it above his head, the card was jet black. Now Dominik could read the letters on the rider’s sleeve.

 

X.

Y.

Z.

 

He watched in terror as the rider slammed his card onto the duel shield, and the two lights arced and crashed downwards, absorbed by the raging vortex. A horrible roar came from within it.

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed that and that little ending came as a surprise. I'll work out somewhere to have a double chapter to catch up somewhere over the weekend. As for the continuation of this fic, I haven't written much due to lack of motivation because of the downtime. We'll see.

 

[spoiler=PS]

Friday 8th June Chapter Release - Exceed/Accel, the first duel in YCM fanfic history in which Xyz monsters are summoned as far as I'm aware. Hope you're all looking forward to it.

 

 

[Lexadin]

She died? :( I hope she'll come back somehow.

 

Nice to hear demon has some form of compasion for others, and finally the dark plans are revealed.

Though the betrayal is a tad cliche, it's a good cliche on which I personally can't get enough from. Also I like Fygmorke's choice of words in that part. Very fitting.

 

When I first heard of the rider that leaves a path of destruction behind it, I immidiatly thought of "Dokurorider". Though asa I read its description that theory was deminished.

 

Xyz's, god I hope that guy loses. I despise Xyz's even more then Synchro's.

[Vector Nightmare]

Why am I not surprised that the ultimate dark evil comes from Exceeds? =/

 

Good chapter. I had predicted the dynamics of the villain group developing like this a long time now. Otherwise Fygmorke would've been kinda pointless. Good to see Ursula got what she deserved (and yes, I realized a while back that her name was actually Urusula, but it just sounds weird that way). The dark rider from hell part was kinda random. I was actually trying to predict what the letters wrote - came up with some really random combinations before I finally got to the end. Also I applaud the idea of victory-at-12-counters. A shame that Dominik probably doesn't have Speed Spell - Speed Jammer in his deck. Using a Tuner to Exceed Summon was a nice touch, too. I don't know, even though normally I wouldn't like it at all, the whole Exceed thing sat very well with me here. Now let's see. Rank 3 Exceeds without conflicting requirements... from regular ones, Lavalval Ignis, Aero Shark, Lavaiel, Gurenosaurus. If you include the Numbers, you have Revise Dragon and Giant Brilli-ant. Yeah, I think he's probably going for Gurenosaurus, although I might be mistaken. Anyway, very nice.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

She died? :( I hope she'll come back somehow.

 

Nice to hear demon has some form of compasion for others, and finally the dark plans are revealed.

Though the betrayal is a tad cliche, it's a good cliche on which I personally can't get enough from. Also I like Fygmorke's choice of words in that part. Very fitting.

 

When I first heard of the rider that leaves a path of destruction behind it, I immidiatly thought of "Dokurorider". Though asa I read its description that theory was deminished.

 

Xyz's, god I hope that guy loses. I despise Xyz's even more then Synchro's.

 

She's been ripped apart and eaten by Red Eyes Black Dragon, there is little coming back from that.

 

But now I can't do her ... Erin. A small part of me is gutted.

 

Has to be done doesn't it? Everything going to plan for everyone would be boring.

 

Dokurorider was the inspiration, but he would use a Ritual Deck. And that wouldn't work.

 

But Xyz's don't have broken to hell effects, and I think are actually a bit harder to summon.

 

Why am I not surprised that the ultimate dark evil comes from Exceeds? =/

 

Good chapter. I had predicted the dynamics of the villain group developing like this a long time now. Otherwise Fygmorke would've been kinda pointless. Good to see Ursula got what she deserved (and yes, I realized a while back that her name was actually Urusula, but it just sounds weird that way). The dark rider from hell part was kinda random. I was actually trying to predict what the letters wrote - came up with some really random combinations before I finally got to the end. Also I applaud the idea of victory-at-12-counters. A shame that Dominik probably doesn't have Speed Spell - Speed Jammer in his deck. Using a Tuner to Exceed Summon was a nice touch, too. I don't know, even though normally I wouldn't like it at all, the whole Exceed thing sat very well with me here. Now let's see. Rank 3 Exceeds without conflicting requirements... from regular ones, Lavalval Ignis, Aero Shark, Lavaiel, Gurenosaurus. If you include the Numbers, you have Revise Dragon and Giant Brilli-ant. Yeah, I think he's probably going for Gurenosaurus, although I might be mistaken. Anyway, very nice.

 

You were the one who suggested fitting them in somewhere remember? :lol: It is filler duel but hell, it's a turbo duel featuring brand new monsters, I'm allowed.

 

Thought Delta Flyer would be a nice misleading tease. Heh heh. As for which Xyz monsters are about to come out... Friday.

 

PS: Just noticed I'm now four chapters behind on Dead Zone having had no opportunity to start the new arc yet. Lots to look forward to then.

[Umbra]

General feeling after reading Chapter 51: Armageddon! Now with more villains! I'd rather see there not be an obvious leader behind the undead army, but you know how I am.

 

While betrayal among the villains isn't exactly the most uncommon thing in the world of fiction, having the Big Bad betray The Man Behind The Man is an interesting twist. It reeks of Star Wars (Vader/Palpatine) but it's interesting nonetheless. THAT, combined with Demon's compassion for the rest of Team Evil, was in itself worthy of all the hype this chapter has had.

 

XYZs randomly being introduced for a filler villain? Not so much.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

General feeling after reading Chapter 51: Armageddon! Now with more villains! I'd rather see there not be an obvious leader behind the undead army, but you know how I am.

 

While betrayal among the villains isn't exactly the most uncommon thing in the world of fiction, having the Big Bad betray The Man Behind The Man is an interesting twist. It reeks of Star Wars (Vader/Palpatine) but it's interesting nonetheless. THAT, combined with Demon's compassion for the rest of Team Evil, was in itself worthy of all the hype this chapter has had.

 

XYZs randomly being introduced for a filler villain? Not so much.

 

Hmm... don't believe I've seen that one (being III right?)

 

Team Evil, lol!

 

Sorry, I'm weak and couldn't resist. We'll all be using them eventually so... might as well release chapter 52 now.

 

There's little over 24 hours before the Final Countdown is complete, and it's going to be a very busy night for all...

 

[spoiler=Notes on this duel]

Only my second turbo duel, awesome. Now with Dominik's Tech Genus, I've gone with their anime effects for this duel. This means:

-all TG monsters are considered machine type as well as their own.

-all TG monsters, when targeted by a spell or trap, can halve their ATK/DEF

-the synchro materials for synchro monsters are a lot looser.

-when destroyed, all TG effect monsters can add another TG monster to hand (except another copy of themselves)

-when destroyed, all TG Synchro monsters let you draw 1 card.

 

Also, I was using anime effects for speed spells, but only noticed at the end that the effect of one of the speed spells is the video game version. Not that it really matters much, it's for plot reasons anyway

 

 

Anyway here we go, Synchros vs XYZ!!!

 

[spoiler=Chapter 52]

Chapter 52 - Exceed/Accel

 

Dominik shivered as the increasingly maniacal laughter of this turbo duelist, the professed leader of the undead army surrounding the city, chilled his soul. Ahead of him, the spiralling whirlpool of red energy that was about to give birth to a creature of strange and untold power, summoned by means he had never heard off. Daring to tear his eyes off the energy stream for a second he looked at the display with all the duel information on. Two things hit him at once. One was their speed was steadily increasing, as he fought to keep up with the fiend who was charging towards the capital and the legions of zombies waiting for his command. At the current rate they would reach the city in little under two hours, but that rate was going to keep going up each turn. If his opponents speed counters reached the maximum of twelve, then it would be over, for him and the city. That was if this monster didn’t get him first. For the other was that on the field of his enemy, the Giant Germ and Delta Flyer that he thought had been released for this so called ‘Exceed Summon’ were still appearing on the field, one on top of the other. Not even the computer seemed to know what was happening.

 

“Your beloved Synchro monsters are about to become old hat Dominik, compared to my mighty creatures” mocked the duelist from just ahead and to the right of him. “This is the new age. My age, where the duels are ruled by Xyz monsters.”

 

“Xyz? That’s what the letters on your uniform stand for?”

 

“Yes, it is. I was the only one capable, the only one worthy of using Xyz monsters on my circuit, and proud of it. Now after centuries of slumber, of being sealed away, we shall be released to ride once more and give rise to a new order.”

 

“An order of undead? And just what is an Xyz monster, and this whole Exceed summon business?”

 

“Be patient Dominik, and I‘ll explain it to you. Whereas you need your monsters to combine to the correct total level in order to Synchro Summon, I need monsters of the same level to Exceed Summon. Instead of sending them to the graveyard, by overlaying the right amount of monsters on top of one another, I can summon a Xyz monster whose rank is equal to the shared level of those monsters. But maybe you’ll understand better when I show you. Arise, Grenosaurus!”

 

From the vortex came another roar, and then the beast rose up from its prison. A mechanical dinosaur, a giant T-Rex with red and silver paintwork, stretching its metal neck leading up to its oversized head and snapping its bloody jaws. The portal closed and the earth shook as Grenosaurus hit the ground, sprinting alongside its duelist. Dominik twitched as he stared at this new phenomenon and then back to the computer. The black card had appeared on the field, placed above the two monsters (ATK: 2000).

 

“Well, I don’t know what that thing is, but I do know that it’s still weaker than my Gladiator.”

 

“Not after I activate my trap card it isn’t. Reinforced Space. Until the end phase of the turn this card is played, Xyz monsters gain three hundred attack points for each overlay unit on them. You see” the grinning demon pointed to his monster. Spinning around it were two orbs of light, floating around the monster like miniature comets. “The cards used to summon Grenosaurus are placed underneath it as overlay units. When the time is right, I can detatch them from my Xyz monsters to activate their effects. Think of them as... ammunition. Now go Grenosaurus, destroy his Power Gladiator.”

 

The dinosaur unleashed another scrapping roar as its strength rose, before it turned and charged Dominik’s monster (ATK: 2600). A blast of fire shot from its open jaws, engulfing the warrior and destroying it. Dominik clutched his arm as he felt the attack. The burn cutting deep into his flesh, numbing all other sense of feeling except for tortuous pain (LP: 3200).

 

“When Gladiator is destroyed, I get to draw one card from my deck.”

 

“You won’t get much chance to use it. I activate the effect of Grenosaurus. When he destroys a monster by battle, by detatching the Giant Germ that was overlaid on it I can hit you with one thousand points of direct damage. So blast away.” Dominik’s eyes widened in shock as one of the comets left its orbit and was swallowed by the dinosaur. Its jaws opened, and a second fireball hurtled towards him, making him duck at the last second. Instantly he felt the agonising sensation of boiling hot lava trickling over his flesh, melting the skin and muscle away, melting even the bone. After a few seconds the feeling passed, and Dominik shook himself, feeling faint (LP: 2200).

 

“So you can only do that as long as you have overlay units to use.”

 

“Correct. You learn quickly Dominik. But it is already too late. Now my remaining Giant Germ attacks you directly.” A mucky shot of poison acid splattered Dominik, burning him again (LP: 1200). The pain, and this duelist, was unrelenting. “I place two cards face down and end my turn.”

 

“It’s my... Draw!” Dominik flicked over the rest of his hand, adding his fifth card to it. He only had limited duelling experience, given the Empire’s circumstances for the last five years, but he knew it was up against it, and was clutching at straws with this hand. Things were not however irretrievable yet.

 

“Alright XYZ, or whatever your name is. I summon Tech Genus Cyber Magician from my hand.” A tiny wizard in a silver dress and dark cloak sailed through the portal. “Next I activate my Double Type Rescue trap card. Because I control two types of monster, and you control more monsters than me, I can summon a monster in my graveyard.”

 

“How can you possibly activate that with only one monster out?” shouted XYZ.

 

“Because my magician is considered as both a spellcaster and a machine type. So now I can summon back Power Gladiator. Then because I already normal summoned this turn, I’m going to summon Turbo Booster from my hand.” The axe wielder returned, along with a small rocket boosted aircraft. “Then I tune Cyber Magician and Turbo Booster to summon Formula Synchron.”

 

From the light emerged a special kind of Synchro monster for Dominik, a Synchro Tuner monster. One that symbolised speed and agility above all else. A racing car that looked like a transformer toy, the monster was the key to accessing Dominik’s biggest monsters. And he needed them (DEF: 1500).

 

“When Formula Synchron is summoned, I get to draw another card. Then I activate from my hand, the speed spell Tune Up 123. When I have a tuner monster out, I get to roll a dice. Then depending on the number rolled, Formula Synchron’s level increases accordingly.” On both men’s computer displays a dice began to spin at random. Come on big numbers begged Dominik silently. The dice suddenly stopped, on a...

 

“Four, which raises the level of your Formula Synchron up from two to four.” The smile never left XYZ’s face. “Now I know there is absolutely nothing you can summon with such a combination.”

 

“Ok, ok, so you survive that for now. But I still have Power Gladiator around to take down your monster. Do the honours and slash away.”

 

“I activate the trap card, Half or Nothing. Now you get to make a choice. Either you can continue your assault, but with the strength of your monster cut in half. Or the alternative is to quit the battle phase now, while you’re still behind. What’s it going to be?”

 

'Hmm, Power Gladiator still has enough points to take down Giant Germ, but the damage would be minimal and I trigger its effect, dropping my life points to just seven hundred. Next turn, if XYZ activated the effect of that monster again, I’d be toast. He could even get me with the burn effect of Speed World 2. Discretion would be better for now'. “I place three cards face down and end my turn.”

 

[spoiler=Summary - End Turn 4]

XYZ - Front Row: Grenosaurus, Giant Germ. Back Row: Face Down Hand: 2 LP: 1800 SC: 4

Dominik - Front Row: Power Gladiator, Formula Synchron. Back Row: Face Down x3. Hand: - LP: 1200 SC: 4

 

 

 

“Just admit it Dominik, I’ve out-thought and outmatched you at every turn. Speaking of now it’s my draw, and my speed counters rise to five.” The speed was creeping up and up. Dominik manually opened his radar, the miles between them and the Empire were tumbling steadily, and whilst his runner was being run at its upper limits, XYZ was getting faster and faster. Grimacing, he did what he knew his opponent wanted him, forcing him to do. The only way he’d be able to keep up would be to slipstream right behind him. And that meant putting himself right in the firing line of those flaming turbo’s. XYZ smirked as he saw his opponent slip behind him in his mirrors.

 

“If you can’t stand the pace, then stay out of the fast lane. I activate the speed spell Angel Baton. This lets me draw two cards, then I have to send one card in my hand to the graveyard. The card I’m discarding is Dandylion.” As soon as the card was placed in the graveyard slot, the ability of the little plant activated. The spectral image of the lion shaped weed appeared briefly, before it vanished and was replaced by its two tokens, little wisps of seed that floated through the air. Such a card did not seem fitting for a zombie warlord, but Dominik knew there was method behind everything he had played.

 

“Next, by discarding the Silent Strider card from my hand, I can decrease the level of a monster on the field by one. I select my Giant Germ. So now with this and my two fluff tokens summoned by Dandylion, I control three level one monsters, and you know what happens now."

 

“Oh no, another Exceed Summon” Dominik predicted correctly as the three monsters spirits flew skywards in rays of green and purple light, circling in their wavering path as the this time violet coloured vortex opened ready to swallow them on their descent. From the portal rose a woman like creature with long dark hair, dressed in royal blue robes and carrying a small wand, smiling benevolently (DEF: 500) A single blue stream of light circled around her body.

 

“Say hello to another one of my Xyz monsters, known as No 83 Galaxy Queen. I can use tokens to summon her*, just like you can for Advance or Synchro summons. But because tokens cannot exist apart from in their own state, she only gets Giant Germ as an overlay unit. Not that she’ll need any more than that. Now because I summoned her successfully, I think I’ll activate my Xyz Effect trap card, and destroy one card on the field. I’m choosing Power Gladiator.”

 

“Not if I destroy it first. With the Destruct Potion trap card. This destroys one monster I control, and then I recover life points equal to that monsters attack.” Dominik felt a cooling sensation easing the aches and pains in his muscles, relieved as the trap card missed its target (LP: 3500). From this angle it was impossible to see his opponent, but he guessed he was scowling. “Plus I get to draw another card.”

 

“I activate the effect of Galaxy Queen” XYZ cried without missing a beat. “By detatching the overlay unit placed below her, all my monsters can inflict piercing damage this turn. Go Grenosaurus, attack Formula Synchron.” Again the beast turned and charged, engulfing the racing machine with its fiery breath, again Dominik suffering the consequences (LP: 3000). “Then by detatching the final overlay unit on Grenosaurus, you take one thousand more points.” Dominik yelled as flames licked his body again, even his suit didn’t help, as blisters and sores formed on his skin. His legs had lost all feeling, and his arms were shaking as he tried to reach for another card from his deck (LP: 2000). Somewhere ahead of him, XYZ placed a card face down, and signalled the end of his turn.

 

“I won’t let you destroy the city I’ve worked so hard to rebuild” Dominik panted, snatching out Rush Rhino from his deck.

 

“Why should I spare it? All you humans do is fight with one another, and you use duel spirits as your weapons. Well I think the duel spirits have had enough of being used as your tools of war!”

 

“What?” Dominik nearly slowed down as this outburst came out of nowhere. Curious, he pulled out of the slipstream so he could see his opponent. His head was still upright, in a way that indicated he was still staring solely at his target, but he looked solemn now. “That’s what this is all about. Protecting duel monsters? Just who are you?”

 

“My name is of no importance. Not to you or anyone else who is doomed. But as you may have deduced, I am not human. I once was, but no longer. When I died, I passed into another place, similar to what some would call Hell. This dark abyss was inhabited by the monsters you have seen surrounding your largest human city. These monsters that have been forced to fight and be slain, only to be resummoned and reslain in a never ending cycle, as you grubs fight for power, and glory, and money, and destruction. I was no different in my turbo duelling days. But now I will cleanse myself, and this world of the humans, so that these creatures no longer have to suffer by your hands.”

 

“Hey, enough with the stereotyping. Sure, there have been a load of duelists who are jerks. There have been some pretty insane ones who’ve gone down the whole ultimate power and destruction route. One of them is getting pretty troublesome right now, if you hadn’t looked upwards recently. But my friends are going to stop him. Because not everyone fights for what you say, some of us fight for honour, and to protect the people we care about. The fact I’m fighting you right now is proof enough of that.”

 

“Shut up!” roared the duelist in front. “You’re protection means nothing to me. Our speed counters increase to six, meaning I’m half way to burning you alive in my wake of devastation. Now take your turn.”

 

“Alright, if you insist. I summon Tech Genus Rush Rhino in attack mode.” The grey skinned rhinoceros shielded by cybernetic armour and jet pack charged through its portal (ATK: 1600). “Now I’m going to have my rhino attack Grenosaurus. When this happens, Rush Rhino’s strength gets a four hundred point boost.”

 

“Hoping for a tie huh? Well too bad your attack is going to blow up in your face, because now Galaxy Queen’s second ability comes into play. Until my next standby phase after detatching an overlay unit, my monsters aren’t destroyed in battle. Your attack was wasted.” Dominik could only watch as his beast charged headlong into the rampant dinosaur, only to be destroyed by its fiery attack. “You see what I mean now? You just sacrificed your monster, and for what?”

 

“Because I’m trying to protect people from nut-jobs like you. And the Tech Genus are going to fight beside me until the end. When they’re destroyed, I get to add another Tech Genus to my hand, and as long as it’s a different one to the monster destroyed. I’ll add my other Cyber Magician to hand. Then I activate my TGX3-DX2 trap card. By returning a Cyber Magician, Warwolf and Rush Rhino to my deck, I can draw two more cards.” Dominik gave the two new cards a quick once over. “I place these two face down and end my turn.”

 

“Which brings you one speed counter closer to the end” cried XYZ, reaching for his deck.

 

[spoiler=Summary - End Turn 6]

XYZ - Front Row: Grenosaurus, No.83 Galaxy Queen. Back Row: Face Down. Hand: 1 LP: 1800 SC: 6

Dominik - Front Row: -. Back Row: Face Down x3. Hand: 2 LP: 2000 SC: 6

 

 

 

“It’s my turn, and I’m now going to release my Galaxy Queen to advance summon a more powerful creature. Rise up, Cyber Dragon.” Putting his foot to the floor, XYZ accelerated, increasing the gap between the two riders as Galaxy Queen disappeared in a flash. The mighty silver plated serpent like dragon appeared in its place, screeching at the rider trailing behind (ATK: 2100). “You have no more of your precious Tech Genus to hide behind. Grenosaurus, direct attack.”

 

“I activate the trap card Spirit Force, reducing the battle damage from this one attack to zero.” As flames poured out from the dinosaur’s jaws, a barrier materialises in front of the runner to block it out. The monster persisted for a minute, before finally its attack relented and he could breathe again. “Then I get to add one warrior type tuner monster that’s in my graveyard back to my hand.”

 

“Cyber Dragon, finish him this time.” A laser fired from the machines jaws, hitting the ground ahead of him, carving through the earth and sending shockwaves that cause the runner to wobble violently as it hit the torn up earth, increasing the gap between them a little more.

 

“Trap card, Battle Stun Sonic. Your attack is negated, and then I can summon the tuner monster that Spirit Force added to my hand. Tech Genus Striker reappears.” The bio suited warrior somersaulted through his portal as the second deadly attack was prevented (ATK: 800), much to his opponents frustration.

 

“You can only hang on by your fingertips for so long before your strength fails. I end my turn.”

 

‘Damn it, he’s right. I’ve got stage a comeback starting now.’ “It’s my move, here goes.” There was a long pause as Dominik looked over his card. “I summon Cosmic Compass to the field.” A small pendulum like machine, golden in colour, floated through the portal beside him (ATK: 100)

 

“Now when I summon Cosmic Compass, it can create a number of level one compass tokens equal to the number of monsters you control, and summon them to my field beside it.” The machine swung its hanging weight twice, and two little copies of itself appeared on either side, before Striker split into stars beside them. “Now I tune Striker with Compass and the tokens to summon Tech Genus Hyper Librarian.” From the portal emerged a tall warrior in fine white robes and cloak, carrying with him a text containing endless information (ATK: 2400). Dominik couldn’t stop himself from raising a hand and punching the air ahead. “Hyper Librarian, destroy Grenosaurus once and for all.”

 

The old runner swerved violently as the dinosaur screamed and sank into the earth, sending shockwaves through the air that caught its duelist in the blast. XYZ’s body shook as he snarled in pain “You’ll pay for that” (LP: 1400)

 

“I activate my trap card TG-SX1. When a Tech Genus monster destroys your monster in battle, I’m then allowed to bring back a Synchro monster back from my graveyard. Rise again Power Gladiator, and attack Cyber Dragon.” The renewed axe wielder exploded from its portal and charged straight after the mechanical dragon, slicing through the middle of its body and sending another shockwave through the screaming XYZ (LP: 1200).

 

“Now because I summoned a Synchro monster, Hyper Librarian’s effect activates, letting me draw one card.” Dominik blinked as he pulled the card out. He got it, victory was suddenly at hand. “I activate the first effect of Speed World 2. By decreasing my speed counters by four, I can inflict damage to your life points equal to the number of speed spells in my hand times by eight hundred (sp 4). I reveal my drawn card, High Speed Crash.” ‘Alright, if this works, and then I do the same again, this duel is over’.

 

“I activate the trap card Damage Eraser. This nullifies the effect damage I would have received from your card effect. Instead the damage that would have been done is added to my life points.” Dominik cursed as the blue aura surrounded the runner ahead (LP: 2000). Why didn’t he wait for the second blast to do that, he would have made him use up more of his speed counters? Maybe the attacks had made him jumpy. Dominik looked back at his radar. The miles were really tumbling now as the runners reached ridiculous speeds. They had started about three hundred miles away from the city, now the distance was almost half that. Ahead of him, the last rays of the setting sun could be seen disappearing over the horizon as night fell over the world.

 

[spoiler=Summary - End Turn 8]

XYZ - Front Row: -. Back Row: -. Hand: 1 LP: 2000 SC: 8

Dominik - Front Row: Hyper Librarian, Power Gladiator. Back Row: -. Hand: 3 LP: 2000 SC: 4

 

 

 

Just ahead, the rider XYZ snatched out another card. Under his dark visor, a frown crossed his brow. “I activate the effect of the speed spell Zero Reverse. This lets me summon a monster from my graveyard, buts it attack points become zero. I bring back Cyber Dragon.” The silver dragon remerged, significantly weaker than before (ATK: 0) “Next I activate the second effect of Speed World 2. By decreasing my speed counters by seven, I can draw an additional card.” XYZ’s speed dropped dramatically as the field spell activated, much to Dominik’s delight as he pulled alongside (sp 2).

 

“Now who’s hanging on?” he said, before he realised that his opponent had drawn and was smirking. The rider raised his hand up to his helmet, and pulled up the visor. Dominik choked at what he saw. The upper part of the face had all the skin ripped off or burnt away, leaving behind only a thin cracked skull, staring blankly at him with empty eye sockets. The twisted smile of the skull broke out again as Dominik stared at him, transfixed in horror. “You are... you are...?”

 

“....your worst nightmare” XYZ concluded for him. “Now to end this little charade. I summon Wind-Up Dog in attack mode.” A small robotic hound leapt through the portal, bounding through the air between the two level riders (ATK: 1200). XYZ raised a fist into the air, his knuckles cracking as the fingers clenched. “Now I activate the effect of Wind-Up Dog, making it a level five monster until the end of the turn.”

 

“Not again!” Dominik shouted, as the second turbo booster ignited and propelled the demonic rider forward at new speed, as the two level five monsters split into blue and silver rays of light and spiralled upwards in a twisted web, and a dark vortex opened below them. Ahead of him XYZ burst into a fit of wild laughter, as the vortex absorbed the two sparks of light.

 

“The world as you know it is about to end, and a new dawn rises from the flames of war. I Exceed Summon the rank five Xyz monster Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon!”

 

The creature that rose from the vortex was a witch, soaring alongside the runner on her large crow like wings, dressed head to toe in black and with wild dark hair. Her mottled blue skin was cold and bloodless, and her red eyes burned in the dark night. In her right hand was a glowing red dagger, and two purple comets representing the two overlay units surrounded her (ATK: 2600). Between the cries of delirium, XYZ managed to rediscover his voice. “Once per turn, by detatching one overlay unit on Adreaus, one monster is destroyed immediately. I choose Hyper Librarian.”

 

Dominik swerved back in behind the other runner as a stream of black energy swallowed the majestic librarian, obliterating it and leaving a huge black scar on the land where it had been flying over. “Now Adreaus, lay waste to that other pest.”

 

The witch swooped down on her black wings, driving her dagger through the heart of the gladiator. Dominik too felt the blade cutting through him, driving through his chest. Gladiator vanished, and the pain alleviated, although Dominik still slowed, panting heavily as he took two cards from his deck (LP: 1700)

 

“I place one card face down. It’s over for you Dominik. Next turn I will be able to destroy anything you summon out to protect yourself with, and then Adreaus will attack you directly.”

 

“There may be nothing on my field right now, but thanks to my Tech Genus, there’s plenty in my hand I can use” gasped Dominik, drawing a sixth card. “I summon Tech Genus Catapult Dragon and then I activate its effect to special summon Cyber Magician from my hand as well.” Either side of him appeared the little magician and the strange dragon, gliding along on its small wings and brandishing the long spike producing from its head (ATK: 900). “Then I activate the effect of Cyber Magician, letting me Synchro summon using him, and the Synchro Soldier in my hand to summon Tech Genus Recipro Dragonfly.” Out came a small red bug, wings spinning around its neck like a propeller to keep it flying forwards (ATK: 300)

‘I don’t have any combination of cards to summon anything stronger right now. All I can do is drag myself over the line. If I can’t do that, my little sister and everyone else in the city are doomed.’ “I activate the High Speed Crash speed spell card. By destroying Recipro Dragonfly, I can send it crashing into Adreaus and take her down with it.”

 

“Fool. I already knew you had High Speed Crash in your hand, so I had Emperor's Surge waiting for it. This trap detatchs one overlay unit on a Xyz monster I control. Then that monster cannot be destroyed by card effects until next turn.” The dragonfly lunged hopelessly forward as the remaining comet shot from its orbit around Adreaus and intercepted it.

 

‘Well at least I used up its last overlay unit, so he can’t destroy my defences next turn. Plus with Dragonfly destroyed, I get to draw a card.’ Dominik stared at the new card he had pulled out, and grimaced. This spell was powerful, but it was costly, and could backfire in a big way. When backfiring now would be fatal, but he might not have a choice as he added it to his hand. “Alright, next I activate the spell Vision Wind, which summons a level two monster from my graveyard, then destroys it again at the end of the turn. I summon back Recipro Dragonfly and activate its effect to return it to the extra deck, and summon in its place the two monsters used to summon it.” Dragonfly’s aura shot back into his extra deck as Cyber Magician and Synchro Soldier appeared in its stead, in defence. “Next I activate the spell card Overspeed.”

 

“Overspeed?” XYZ physically turned in his seat to look back at Dominik, blank eyes boring into him. “Are you really that desperate?”

 

“To stop you and save the city from your zombie hordes, it’s a chance I’m going to have to take. Overspeed reduces my speed straight to zero, and prevents me from gaining any speed counters for the next three rounds. In exchange for this heavy price, I can add one monster and one spell or trap card from my graveyard to my hand.” Dominik dropped back a few bike lengths as the spell took effect, and he added his cards (sp 0). “I place one card face down and end my turn.”

 

“Don’t think you’re safe all the way back there. You’re still going to get burned by my engine as soon as it max’s out.”

 

[spoiler=Summary - End Turn 10]

XYZ - Front Row: Adreaus. Back Row: -. Hand: - LP: 2000 SC: 3

Dominik - Front Row: Dragon, Magician, Soldier. Back Row: Face Down. Hand: 2 LP: 1700 SC: 0

 

 

 

‘And with this card added to my hand, that time will be very soon’ he thought to himself as he drew, and his speed increased again. The miles between him and his target were plummeting, but once he reached top speed he would be gone in a flash, able to traverse the remaining hundred miles in mere minutes, while leaving this supposed leader of the enemy forces dead in his wake, incinerated by the supernatural power of his engine. “What could you possibly hope to gain by playing Overspeed? You know I am free to view the cards in your graveyard at any time, seeing what your face down is will be simple deduction.” Dominik grimaced; he knew that, he was hoping that XYZ didn’t know that. The zombie rider leaned forward slightly to go through his computer, and scroll through the list of cards. He grinned wickedly.

 

“From this, I can tell the monster you added to your hand is Turbo Booster, and the trap card must be Spirit Force. Clearly you are looking to protect yourself after placing Catapult Dragon in attack mode, and set yourself up to summon that Tech Genus Striker again. Well I won’t oblige you. Instead I’m going to destroy Cyber Magician, and stop any more potential tricks you have planned with that. Then again, you don’t seem to care how many of your monsters I destroy do you? As long as they keep you from harm, you don’t care how many you throw away to the slaughter. Adreaus, lay ruin to this human filth.”

 

With another slash of her knife, the dark witch cut through the little wizard effortlessly, causing the same heart pain in Dominik as before. “That’s not true. No duelist likes seeing their monsters destroyed, but sometimes we have to sacrifice ourselves for the greater good. Now because Cyber Magician was destroyed, he pulls out another of his ally’s from my deck to join me.”

 

“Pitiful speech. I end my turn, and as yours begins my speed counters rise to five. I have duelled with you for long enough human. On my next turn, it won’t matter how many monsters you have to throw in front of me. They won’t be able to save you from being caught in the blast of my engine as it reaches full power.”

 

“What are you talking about? Unless...” Dominik shuddered as the rider casually held out his remaining card with its back to him, glancing back at him with a conceited grin; teasing him.

 

“That card...? Is that... Overboost?”

 

The riders smile widened as he turned it over. Dominik had guessed right. It was Overboost. That meant he would activate it on his next turn, and his speed would jump straight from six to twelve, triggering his engine. Nothing on the field would matter. Dominik glanced panicking at the array of monsters in his hand. ‘Unless I win this turn, I’m going to die. But it’s not about me. If this guy gets away, he’ll lead those zombies into battle against the city, and they won’t stand a chance. Thousands will be killed, including Carla. Somehow, I have to destroy Adreaus and attack with enough power to wipe out his life points. But is that even possible? My one trap card can’t be activated, and I can’t use any speed spells I might draw because I have no speed. My only chance is that one monster, but to get to him...’ Dominik looked over his cards again, then back to the radar. The miles were now into the eighties, and falling rapidly as XYZ pressed on ahead, slowly extending the distance between them as he fought in the slipstream to keep up. He thought of the battle of two nights ago, how he thought everyone in the city was safe now. He thought of Carla. Breathing slowly, he placed his hand on top of his deck.

 

“Are you saying prayers back there, or are you begging your monsters for forgiveness before you are condemned to the abyss?” mocked the undead leader ahead of him. Dominik frowned but otherwise ignored him.

 

‘Hypocrite. However he dresses it up, he is still using duel monsters to bring death and destruction. My monsters fight beside me to protect the people from suffering at the hands of guys like him. We have to win, but to do it I am going to have to summon so many monsters. Everything has to be just right. I need my deck to have faith in me. I don’t just need one good draw, but for the top three cards of my deck to be absolutely perfect, starting with Unibird. This has to be Unibird. Please,... give me Unibird.’

 

“Alright XYZ, it’s my... Draw!” Dominik closed his eyes and pulled his card. His prayer was answered. “I call out Unibird to the field.” The electric blue chicken like creature sprang forth from the portal.

 

“So you have resolved to go down swinging? How admirable, but yet how meaningless.”

 

“Yeah, we’ll see. Next up, in my hand is the monster known as Gallis the Star Beast. By revealing this monster, I can send the top card of my deck to the graveyard. If it’s a monster card I can hit you with damage equal to that monsters level multiplied by two hundred, and then I can summon Gallis. If it’s not a monster, then Gallis goes straight to the graveyard.” Dominik placed his hand back to his deck, watching as the miles between them and the city hit eighty, and flipped the top card. “The top card is Tech Genus Warwolf, so you take six hundred points of damage, and Gallis comes forth.” The red glow indicating damage hit the growling fiend again as the winged beast soared forward (LP: 1400). “Next I activate the effect of Unibird. By removing it and Gallis from play, I can bring back a Synchro monster of a level equal to their combined total level from my graveyard. Hyper Librarian.”

 

“This is futile I tell you” roared the skull as the librarian appeared behind him. “You can’t possibly expect your luck to hold out!?”

 

“This isn’t luck. This is the power granted to a duelist when he believes in his cards, and his cards really believe in him and what he fights for. They will provide me with what I need to stop your war machine. Now by decreasing the attack of Hyper Librarian by one thousand, I can summon from my hand the tuner monster Tech Genus Gear Zombie, and have him tune with Synchro Soldier to bring back Recipro Dragonfly.” The flying bug reappeared on his left, whilst to his right Hyper Librarian opened his text (ATK:1400).

 

‘This is it. I just need one more card. Don’t let me down now.’ Dominik drew his card in a wide arc. The computer screen homed in its view, only sixty miles to go as the two runners tore across the plains. Ahead of him, the zombie was looking increasingly frantic. Knowing there was only one monster he could draw that could help him, Dominik pulled out his final card, and blinked at the result.

 

“I activate the effect of Catapult Dragon, to summon Tech Genus Jet Falcon from my hand.” The rocket propelled bird soared way overhead, diving down over the dragon and splitting into stars. “Now Jet Falcon, tune with Catapult Dragon, and in doing so inflict XYZ with five hundred points of damage. But that’s nothing compared to what I’m about to bring out now I have the Synchro tuner monster Tech Genus Wonder Magician.”

 

The pink haired fairy like magician appeared, flying central between Librarian and Dragonfly. Dominik looked up; the lights of the towering city walls were beginning to come into view in the night sky. Revving the engine has hard as he could, he pulled out of the slipstream, the front end of his runner starting to glow white hot. In front of him, Wonder Magician turned herself into stars, as the two other monsters aligned themselves. Slowly he pulled alongside, and then passed, the dumbfounded looking rider and the dark witch, as a column of pure white light shot upwards, twelve stars spinning around it.

 

“NO!” yelled the rider (LP: 900). “This is madness! You can’t pass me!”

 

“Sorry XYZ, but this is going to end right now. Go, Accel Synchro!” There was a flash, as the column of light erupted, spraying stars everywhere. The runner lurched forward, and the world disappeared in a blur. When the light had cleared a second later, Dominik looked up to see flying above his head was the mightiest monster he possessed but had never summoned. A machine warrior in dark silvery and amber armour, carrying a spear as it sailed overhead (ATK: 4000). He had perhaps a minute left, but a minute was all this would take now.

 

“Tech Genus Halberd Cannon, attack Adreaus and end this duel.”

 

The undead rider screamed as the almighty spear carrier charged, lunging through the witch like it was thin air. The second it was gone Dominik veered away and screeched to a stop, watching as his defeated opponent charged onwards. Watched on as the engine overloaded, and the whole runner was engulfed in flames. XYZ continued to wail at increasingly high pitch as the flames ripped into his body, swerving the runner violently and flipping it over. Dominik dived behind his runner as the runner exploded, throwing metal through the air, leaving only a burning heap of scrap in the distance when he was able to look up again, coming to a stop only twenty four miles from the city walls. Floating above him, the Halberd Cannon returned to its card whilst Dominik, unable to tear his eyes away from the blaze, opened a transmission to the city.

 

 

 

Going to bed now, hopefully wake up to a few comments.

 

Then I'll post Chapter 53 - Last Chance to Be, which sees us get away from this filler and back to the main plot.

[Umbra]

Vader turning on Palpatine would be the crucial moment in Episode VI. This isn't exactly like that, but the circumstances are similar.

 

The chapter was enjoyable, as was the conclusion of the duel in its own. It felt a bit like Dominik had an awful lot of monsters in his hand near the end, but I guess he must've been lucky in his draws.

 

XYZ did raise some valid points, though, with the duelists repeatedly summoning the spirits from the Spirit World only to have them destroyed. Apart from causing pain, that honestly can't be good for keeping the two realms separate. Dueling could probably accelerate the arrival of Armageddon, if done excessively.

 

I can't predict exactly what's going to happen in the next chapter, but I look forward to it nonetheless.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Two new posts... double post... buzzkill.

 

Oh yeah, long time since I watched Star Wars.

 

Yes there were a lot of monsters at the end, and some would probably say random ones. Well Gear Zombie was added to hand by CM and Turbo Booster by Overspeed, Gallis had been in hand for a while so yeah, I guess maybe a bit of luck was involved. There were a few speed spells drawn in succession as well at times. As for the duel spirit thing, it didn't need to be there but it's an angle I don't think I've ever seen anyone use. Just worth a thought and does give Xyz some motive other than "I'm an evil git k".

 

Was hoping for more feedback before releasing next chapter but... what the hell?

 

[spoiler=Chapter 53]

Chapter 53 - Last Chance to Be

 

Glamis village. A small town in the central part of the Empire, lying in the shadow of the dark mountains that were snow-capped all year long. Somewhere in those mountains was the fortress where those seeking to bring the world to an end were hiding, waiting for the completion of the countdown, and would be doing everything they could to stop any interference. Protect their ambitions of reaching their own paradise at the expense of millions of lives throughout multiple realities, from the people who were trying to stop them, who had arrived in the village an hour ago. They would not fight tonight though. After talking with the locals, it was agreed by all that trying to climb the mountains - littered with sharp drops and maze like roads - in the dark would be needlessly hazardous. It was frustrating for everyone, but it was better to rest and prepare than to go charging in... and over a cliff.

 

Juruo was sat in the boy’s room for the night giving his deck a final once over; Mel looking over his shoulder as he drew, shuffled, and re-drew. He and the others still hadn’t decided what to do with Mel yet. Personally he didn’t want to expose him to any more danger, but at this point where was safe? There was also having to consider how he would react to seeing Erin again. He made a mental note to discuss it with the others when the little guy had gone to sleep, although it would probably be left to Mel as to what he wanted to do. Absentmindedly he drew again, and ran through opening moves he could make with each hand as Mel watched. If it hadn’t been for Mel breaking free from whatever it was that was controlling him, then he and Sabin would have lost to Gear. As formidable as the Karakuri using duelist might be, he was far from being the strongest of those waiting to destroy them. He, and indeed the others, would all have to duel better than ever before to emerge victorious.

 

When they had arrived here, it was immediately apparent that there had been attacks from duel spirits on the town, and the orders for the signers to avoid all contact with potentially hostile monsters was justified on sight. The town centre had been torn apart by a herd of swamp and lava battleguards, leaving a trail of devastation in their wake. People daring to go outside could be attacked at any moment by a small beast like creature lying in hiding. But the worst incident was on the outskirts of town, where three houses had been completely crushed after being landed on and ripped apart by some dark winged fiend. According to the villagers this monster could well have destroyed the entire town, had it not been for the intervention of more duel spirits; a group of five humanoid creatures who had fought together and toppled the creature against the odds using their superhero like powers. Thank goodness there were those sorts appearing through the holes in reality as well. Once again the group had booked into a barely populated inn for the night, their two rooms a little way down the hall from each other on the second floor. Sabin and Luca were currently downstairs playing pool. Presumably this was some way of taking their minds off of what was ahead, just for an hour or so. He didn’t know what any of the girls were doing, probably the same things; either preparing for the battle ahead, or trying to enjoy a few moments of normality.

 

Both boys jumped at a smart rapping sound at the door. With everything going on, nerves were frayed and senses were always alert for danger. Mel called for the person to enter, and Hikari let herself in.

 

“Busy?” she asked.

 

“Nothing I can’t do later. What’s up?”

 

Hikari paused for a moment, glancing around the room whilst deciding what to say. The inn had not escaped from the destructive creatures either, and a lot of damage had been done to the rooms around them. In the corridor ornaments and decorum were smashed and broken, and the owner had no will to replace them; it would only get attacked again. They had been given two of the few rooms still mostly intact, although the glass in the window of this one had been smashed and since boarded up.

 

“I was wondering if we could go for a drive, and have that talk.”

 

Juruo nodded, he had expected this at some point after their discussion was interrupted earlier. “Sure. Mel, you’re okay to hang out with the others right?” Mel nodded and promptly left, allowing Juruo to get his jacket and helmet, and follow Hikari down the backstairs and out of the hole in the wall where a fire exit door had been ripped out.

 

...

 

Apparently Hikari had been looking at a local brochure before she approached him, so gave to Juruo directions to somewhere she wanted to go. Driving slightly south east towards the mountains base, the duo came across a small waterfall. Crystal clear water was thundering down on the rocks below and into a small pool, before flowing away into the trees and beyond. This wasn’t just a beauty spot according to the brochure; it was a place of some historical importance because of a stone table rising from the ground near the bank of the water. A treaty of peace had been signed here centuries ago, along with the passing of a few laws and rights and many other agreements that built the society in which people aspired to be part of. One that Nero had crushed, but would hopefully be given new life if the signers could give it the time it needed. It was also at this place that the previous emperor, Nero’s father, had married his beloved. A duchess from the former neighbouring state, Ascorsa. How ironic.

 

Juruo was concerned about coming here given the small red markings on the runners cpu indicating the presence of duel spirits. However his fears were eased by the sight of some of the smaller, friendlier species of duel monsters inhabiting the area at present. A ball of pink fluff know as Watapon bounced past, chasing happily after the fairy flying ahead. Several creatures Juruo half recognised from memory as the Naturia; resembling pumpkins, plants, cherries and living rocks littered the area. At the water’s edge was a Baby Dragon, clawing at a fish hiding below the water line, in position ready to pounce. Under the waterfall itself, giggles could be heard from the nymph spirits Water Omotics and Waterdragon Fairy playing in the flow of the river, beautiful creatures but ferocious if disturbed.

 

Hikari sat herself down by the water’s edge, gazing out at the duel spirits at play. Juruo had a play with his computer, setting an alarm that Tyrana had shown him, for if any large creatures approached and they needed to leave, before sitting beside her. There was no wind tonight but there were some gloomy clouds overhead, blocking out most of the moonlight and a lot of the light from the fiery ring and casting a dark pale over the area. However the water, possibly due to the spirits inhabiting it, seemed to emit its own aura. They sat in silence for a while, watching the creatures in the water and enjoying the serenity.

 

“We don’t need a perfect world when we have places like this” Hikari said sadly.

 

“Yeah” was Juruo’s response. The tone was awkward, but he would be patient. If Hikari wanted to say anything, then he would allow her to in her own time. He really agreed with her point though. For all the bad places in the world, there were just as many good places, if you took the time to look for them. To think in this area there were two so close together, at complete opposite ends of the spectrum...

 

Juruo’s train of thought was interrupted at this point, as without warning Hikari rolled herself on top of him and sat on his hips. Completely off guard, he did not react as she pressed her bandage wrapped hands against his shoulders, pushed him to the floor, and deeply kissed him.

 

It still took a few seconds for his body to catch up with his mind. Shocked, Juruo tried to roll his head to the side. Hikari grabbed his hair and pulled him back, her eyes closed, breathing hot air into him. He wriggled and tried to pull himself upright, but Hikari just pressed up against him with all her weight, and slide her tongue into his mouth. Confusion and alarm creeping in, Juruo reacted automatically and did something he never consciously would have done; grabbed Hikari around the upper arms and squeezed.

 

It worked, but he regretted it as soon as he realised what he’d done. Hikari jumped up and cried in pain, falling backwards and clutching at her arms where Juruo had applied the pressure. He hadn’t gripped her that hard, but to Hikari any kind of pressure on her arms like that felt as if she was being mauled and torn apart by an animal. Gasping and red, Juruo staggered to his feet, panicked by her reaction. He reached out to her but she pulled away, shaking her head. She was crying slightly. Neither of the two noticed the light rain that had started to fall.

 

“Oh god I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.... I... I just...”

 

“Better or worse?”

 

Juruo’s rambling apology was cut short by this bizarre question, prompting a long silence except for the sounds of their heavy breathing. The two were standing just a few feet apart; Juruo frozen like a statue with his hand held out and his face pale and distraught, and Hikari shivering slightly, clutching her arms and eyes shut, fighting back tears.

 

“Than Erin. Better or worse?”

 

“I... what?” Juruo spluttered out several attempts at words, all the while Hikari just standing there with her eyes closed. “Hikari...?”

 

“I’m not going to hide anything anymore. Not my fears. Not my feelings. Not even my scars. I’ve wanted to tell you for ages, but one thing or another just kept getting in the way, either my fear or my doubt, or everything going on around us just pushing us together and then pulling as apart again. I was going to tell you, and then that damn b**** got in the way.” Juruo physically took a step back at the sudden resentment and anger in Hikari’s voice. Unfortunately, she noticed. She was visibly shaking now, and her face wore an ugly grimace. “Now be a good boy and answer the question. Me or Erin?”

 

“Hikari, I... didn’t realise... we’ve just been through so much crazy stuff together and we’ve been close but...”

 

“That’s. Not. Good enough.”

 

Juruo swallowed. He knew he would regret this, but there was no gain in deceiving her. This would have to come to a head now.

 

“Alright Hikari. You want it straight? Here it is. You are one of the best friends I’ve ever had and I think the world of you. I admire you, I respect you, just everything about you. I admit I’ve never thought about us in that way, and I never imagined that you did either. But...”

 

“You idiot!” Hikari shouted at him. “How could you not notice my feelings, or was that two-faced charlatan’s claws so deeply buried in your brain? You were just so blinded by her, and by this journey to notice me. I am so... sick of you overlooking me... and ignoring me. I won’t accept it anymore.” Hikari’s eyes snapped open, revealing the transformation into her fragile, chaotic other self that had come out against Urusula. One golden eye, and one dark purple. “I will not be pushed around anymore. I am going to get what I want, no matter what.”

 

There was a crash of thunder overhead, and the rain continued. The duel spirits had abandoned the pool for cover, and as a result it had lost most of its glow. There was still just enough light for Juruo to see this girl clearly, his friend now suddenly so alien to him. So focused on her, it took him a minute to realise something was pulling at his trousers. Looking down, he saw the cat spirit Rinyan, Hikari’s companion, tugging and meowing to him. It sounded so sad, so fearful. Scooping her up and looking back at Hikari, he blinked to see her face had turned to one of appalled fear. That confirmed it, this wasn’t the real Hikari. So the demon inside had finally shown her face.

 

“Maybe I was too focused on what was going on around us to notice the way you felt, and that is my fault. But for it to inspire this change in you? No way. The way you’ve been acting the last few days, you’re not the same person anymore; you can’t even look at your companion who’s been there for you. I don’t even know who you are now. Who are you now? What have you done to my friend?”

 

Hikari chuckled to herself at his questions. “I am Hikari, but not the same part of her who traipsed around after you like an embarrassed school girl with love puppy eyes. I’m the better, stronger part of Hikari. The one that gets things done, and gets what she wants. And I want you. I am a goddess, and you are going to worship me as such, or suffer the consequences.”

 

Scowling, Juruo armed his duel shield. Why did it always have to come down to this? “Or maybe I’ll just expel your darkness and get Hikari, the real one who was my friend, back to us.”

 

Hikari, or the dark unstable half that held control over her, smirked and armed her own duel shield. In Juruo’s arms, Rinyan growled a small battle cry at her possessed friend. Lightning flashed across the sky, as both drew their opening hands.

 

“Let’s duel!”

 

The randomizer gave Juruo the honours of going first. Staring through the rain at his malevolently grinning ‘friend’, he put Rinyan down, and snatched out his sixth card, nodding at the sign his cards had given him as he viewed his Dragon Heart card. ‘Hang on Hikari. I’ll show you how much you mean to me, and then you’ll be freed from this thing controlling you.’ “I summon Dragunity Darkspear in defence mode.” The long black and silver dragon descended, crouching in front of Juruo with its deadly head spike bared (DEF: 1000). “Then I’ll place another card face down. It’s your turn now.”

 

The Hikari with mismatched eyes stared right back at him, ignoring the ominous weather overhead. “Everything that happens to you now, you have bought entirely upon yourself. I start with a spell card called Temptation of the Goddess. This card lets me look at the contents of your hand. Then, if there exists a level four or lower monster in it, I can have it summoned to the field in attack mode.” Mockingly acting that she couldn’t see through the drizzle, Hikari walked over with a smirk to where Juruo was standing with his hand revealed, scowling at the cat growling at her, and promptly pressed up against him again (wincing as she made contact). She whispered in his ear “It doesn’t have to be like this. We should be together, you and me. We can take down Demon and Erin together with my new power. Then with our future secure, we could do anything we wanted to. Just forgot the old Hikari, and embrace me. Look into my eyes. I can make you very happy.”

 

Juruo didn’t withdraw, instead moving only to shake his head. “No, you can’t. All I can see in your eyes now is cruelty and self-centeredness; you can’t even look at the spirit that embodies you. I want the real Hikari back, the one with heart and compassion. Now get on with it so I can bring her back from under your spell.”

 

Hikari bit her lip, forcing back any words with an ugly look, before she turned on her heel and walked back to her side of the field. “Pfft, that little cat embodies my weak and pitiable side, the one I have locked away. As for you, you don’t stand a chance. I pick Dux from your hand, and summon him in attack mode. Next I activate another spell card called Dark World Dealings. We each must draw a card, and then discard one as well. The card I’m discarding is Gren, Tactician of Dark World, who when discarded like so from my hand destroys a spell or trap you control.” No sooner than the winged warrior appeared beside Juruo than his face down - Hallowed Life Barrier - blew up in his face. Hikari grinned as she brandished her next card.

 

“Now I summon Fabled Raven. You are familiar with his effect. By discarding a card from my hand, I can raise his level by one. The card I’m discarding is Sillva, Warlord of Dark World who is thus summoned to the field instead.” The bird mans wings started to glow, reflected by the drops of rain falling on them, as the twin sword wielding demon appeared beside him. “If you will not stand beside me, I will make you cower before me for your rebuke. I tune Raven with Sillva. Rise, Fabled Valkyrus!” Juruo grimaced at the sight of the demon king clad in black armour descending through the storm clouds (ATK: 2900). “Now I activate Valkyrus’ effect. By discarding one fiend type monster, I can draw a new card. My discarded card is Kahkki, Guerilla of Dark World and his effect activates, destroying Darkspear. Now Valkyrus, take flight and make Juruo kneel before me.”

 

Laughing maniacally, Valkyrus swooped down and sank its black sword straight through the ribs of the hopelessly outmatched Dux (ATK: 1700). Juruo roared as he felt the same pain in his own side, suffering as his monster suffered, sinking to one knee as Dux fell before him, Rinyan meowed at him in alarm (LP: 2800). “Why Hikari? Why have you sold your soul to this demon?”

 

“I just told you, I am Hikari, or at least a part of” the girl smirked at him. “You just won’t listen to me will you? I am the part of Hikari born out of her fear and suffering and anger. All this negative emotion being bottled away as she fought on, never letting her hurt or despair show, locking it all away in her heart where it kept growing and shaping, feeding me. Losing to Erin was the final straw. As she wrapped herself in her own torment all alone, I was able to seize my chance of release and take control of us. She put up little fight, although she had no choice in the matter. She was weak and helpless.”

 

“The real Hikari was anything but weak” Juruo yelled, staggering back upright.

 

The girl raised an eyebrow, looking at him as if he had said something insane. “Oh you think so? Well too bad she’s not coming back. I end my turn with a face down.”

 

[spoiler=Summary - End Turn 2]

Juruo - Front Row: - Back Row: - Hand: 3 LP: 2800

Irakih - Front Row: Valkyrus. Back Row: Face Down. Hand: 1 LP: 4000

 

 

 

‘Damn it, this is my fault. If I had been there for Hikari for her to confide in more, to express herself, this part of her would never have emerged like this. I just hope I can show her that I care about her, the real her, and that in doing so she’ll come back to us’. “I draw. Now you listen to me. If you really are part of Hikari, the part that only feels anger and despair, then the part of Hikari that was brave and compassionate as well as sad and lonely must still be in there somewhere, and I know she’s fighting to get out. I want that Hikari back and to be happy, and I won’t let her suffer in silence again. I’m going to do whatever I can to help her expel you and break free from your control.”

 

“How touching” the dark girl smirked. “But it is impossible to expel the sorrow and the anger. It exists in everyone, as long as there exists things that they fear and despise and feel grief over. Some can control their inner darkness to lash out against these things, but others are consumed by it. My weaker half contained so much ill feeling for so long; I have so much strength to keep control over her now, so I can do things my way. That’s meaning crushing Erin, and those who gave me these scars, and then making you my own. Besides, I rather like being in control, and I’m not going anywhere without a fight.”

 

“So you’re out for revenge on those who’ve hurt you in the past? You think that’s the better part of you, the part you expect me to accept and adore so suddenly?” Juruo shook as he saw the girl standing across from him nod, like he was just dawning on an obvious conclusion. “Well there’s no way I can let you stay in control. I’m going to make you see the light again. If that means I have to beat you into submission, so be it. I play the spell card Cards of Consonance. By discarding Dragunity Brandistock from my hand, I get to draw two new cards.” Two cards produced themselves from his deck; hopefully they would be good ones.

 

“First I summon Cyberdark Keel, and when he’s summoned to the field, he equips himself with the Dragunity Darkspear in my graveyard. Now the requirements are met. By removing Keel from play, I can special summon Dragunity Arms Leyvaten.” A fork of lightning illuminated the sky as the amber dragon with angel wings descended through the thunderstorm, sword brandished as it stared down the Fabled demon, screaming at the blackened sky (ATK: 2600).

 

Hikari laughed and shook her head. “All that effort and your monster is still weaker than mine.”

 

“Not for long. When Leyvaten is summoned, he equips himself with a dragon in my graveyard, namely Dragunity Brandistock. Then I play the continuous spell Dragon Mastery. Now this is in play, all monsters equipped with Dragunity cards get a five hundred point bonus. Leyvaten, attack.” Leyvaten screamed as it felt new power coursing through it (ATK: 3100), before beginning its dive.

 

“I activate my trap card, Depth Amulet. By discarding one card, your attack is negated.”

 

“Fine, but Brandistocks ability lets Leyvaten attack twice. And now you’re all out of cards in hand.”

 

“Don’t bet on that. The card I’m discarding is Broww, Huntsman of Dark World. When I discard him, I get to draw another card, and so will be able to save Valkyrus from the second attack.”

 

That didn’t stop Juruo from commanding a second attack. She could only draw so many cards with discard abilities like that. Sure enough, although the attack was repelled, no more effects were activated. Juruo looked at the last card in his hand and paused. He could set it, but unless the conditions were met he could just be offering a gift of a target to another copy of Gren. Better leave it in hand for now. “I end my turn.”

 

“Then I draw, and I play the spell Dark Eruption, to add Broww back to my hand. Then by using Valkyrus’ effect to discard Broww, I can draw two new cards” Hikari paused to look over her two new additions. Juruo scowled, more ammunition for Depth Amulet was not what he needed, however...

 

“I place two cards face down. Then by sending the top card from my deck to the graveyard, I can revive my Glow-Up Bulb that was discarded for Depth Amulet.” Juruo blinked at the sight of the one eyed seedling rising from the dead (ATK: 100). “With that I end my turn.”

 

[spoiler=Summary - End Turn 4]

Juruo - Front Row: Leyvaten. Back Row: Brandistock, Mastery. Hand: 1 LP: 2800

Irakih - Front Row: Valkyrus, Glow-Up Bulb. Back Row: Depth Amulet, Face Down x2. Hand: - LP: 4000

 

 

 

Okay, that was bizarre. She’d used up all her discardable cards, and then bought back her tuner monster with its one time effect out in attack position, only to leave it there. As soon as he drew his card however, the dark Hikari activated her face down and thus solved his confusion. “Card of Sacrifice. When I have two monsters out in attack, whose combined attack is less than your weakest monster, I can draw two cards.” Damn this never ending supply of dump-able ammunition.

 

“Leyvaten, attack Fabled Valkyrus.”

 

“I activate my other trap, Raigeki Break. By discarding one card, Leyvaten is destroyed.”

 

A bolt struck down from above, this one not down to the natural storm. The bolt hit the dragon and instantly erased it from existence. Juruo was not unprepared for such a situation. “When Leyvaten is destroyed by a card effect, I can summon the monster he was equipped with to the field.”

 

“Again, I’m ahead of you. The card I discarded for my trap was Fabled Beast Catsith. When she is discarding, one card you control is destroyed. So your little dragon is going bye bye.”

 

Juruo cursed as yet another of his cards went up in smoke. Using this mix of Fabled and these Dark World monsters, this heartless and obsessive Hikari was defying him at every turn. There was nothing left for it but to hope. “I place two cards face down and end my turn.”

 

“Time to end this” the possessed girl confidently declared. “I summon Fabled Dwf.” An elf like creature in dark green robes, with dragon like wings sprouting from its back, stood beside its master who was shaking the rain out of her long hair, her gold and dark eyes glowing in the dim light. “Then I activate Valkyrus’ effect to discard another fiend from my hand to draw a card, at which point Dwf’s effect is triggered, releasing himself to bring forth the discarded monster. The almighty Fabled Dianaira!”

 

Dwf sank through the dark hole opening beneath its feet, and a terrible beast pulled itself up in its stead. A giant bull like fiend with violet skin, standing as tall as Valkyrus, towering over Juruo. The bulging arms bearing spiked gauntlets ended in clawed hands, and the fiend was grinning under its horned mask. Valkyrus laughed as its powerful ally rose up beside it (ATK: 2800) and Hikari stood between them. For someone who supposedly wanted him for herself, she was revelling at the prospect of her beasts sinking their claws into him. “Why would you want the old Hikari when I am far superior?”

 

“You may be a stronger duelist, but Hikari is a stronger human being” Juruo retorted, at his feet Rinyan growling in approval. Hikari’s face contorted in response, scowling in frustration at his stubborn refusal to accept her.

 

“Whatever. Direct attack.”

 

“I activate Negate Attack, cancelling the battle phase.” As soon as Valkyrus took flight, the barrier appeared, and the fiend settled itself down again.

 

“So you bought yourself one more turn. Big deal, this match is over. I’ll switch Glow-Up Bulb into defence and end my move there. You will see things my way Juruo. I have sacrificed so much for you. I have waited so long for this moment. What’s one more turn?”

 

[spoiler=Summary - End Turn 6]

Juruo - Front Row: - Back Row: Mastery, Face Down. Hand: - LP: 2800

Irakih - Front Row: Dianaira, Valkyrus. Back Row: Depth Amulet. Hand: 1 LP: 4000

 

 

 

Staring straight into the miscoloured eyes of Hikari, Juruo drew his card. His resolve was set. He could see through her eyes. This Hikari was not the girl who had broken into his home, and asked him to hide her from the Empire. Not the girl he fought with against Alpha and Omega, or endured the attack of the palace with, or travelled the length of the Empire and back with. This was someone else; some darkness born from despair and loneliness hell-bent on making people suffer as she had, but somewhere inside her the friend he knew must still be there. He would not bend to the will of her dark captor. He would keep trying to reach to her, to the real her who he been through so much with, and had - he admitted - taken for granted.

 

No matter what.

 

“It’s my move now. But before I make it, I want you to know something. Whatever happens, I will always be grateful for everything you, the real you, has done for me, even though I haven’t said it as often as I should have. I never meant to hurt you, but somehow I always do. I don’t deserve you to forgive me, but you always find it in your heart too. Now I’m going to repay my debt to you and help free you from your suffering, and the pain that is consuming you. But this dark side of you has got to go. It’s ok to be sad or angry sometimes, but you can’t let it consume you and try to destroy everything, like you nearly did in Gorge Town. You have to regain control of it before you do something you’ll regret and can’t undo, or you’ll suffer the same torment forever. I can’t let you fall this way. Please Hikari, don’t fall into the darkness. Grab my hand and break free from it.”

 

Hikari blinked at him, and swallowed hard. “Is that how you see me now?”

 

“I’m just being honest with you. Hikari, if you can change back to the way you were, and let go of the anger and the pain, then we can work this out. But I’m not going to pander to this dark soul that has consumed you. I play Swords of Revealing Light, to put up my barrier of light for three turns and prevent your monsters from attacking.

 

Shaking with fury, Hikari held out her hand, with her remaining card. “Say what you want, the old Hikari is gone. Dianaira’s ability activates as soon you play a spell card, negating its effect and replacing it with a new one which makes me discard a card from my hand. The only card I have is Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, whose ability is now activated, summoning him to the field and destroying your two remaining cards. Leaving you with nothing except your empty words and the knowledge that you have failed in any self righteous attempt to stop me.”

 

Juruo sighed, he had expected that. He still had one card to play and it all came down to this, hopefully this would save Hikari. “I activate my trap card, Starlight Road. This negates an effect that would destroy multiple cards, and then summons my almighty beast to the field. Stardust Dragon.”

 

The dragons head mark on Juruo’s arm began to glow as he summoned Stardust Dragon for the first time. The great silver dragon shone brilliantly, the rain illuminating its glow further still as it sank from the heavens above on its long wings. The sight made Juruo shiver, although again that could have been down to being quite wet by now. Stardust Dragon roared at the two fiends below it (ATK: 2500). Without a word, the dragon unleashed its attack on the only monster it could defeat, the Glow-Up Bulb, wiping it from the field.

 

Hikari stared up at the creature with distaste. “What was the point in that? It’s not strong enough to face either of my Fabled monsters, and you have nothing else to back it up with.”

 

“Maybe you can’t see why, but the Hikari I know would. The one that never gives up, and who fights to protect those she cares about from harm at any cost, just like my dragon does.” Juruo clenched his fists as he stared across at his bewildered looking opponent. “I just wish I had seen her sooner, and told her how much I care about her, and that she could come to me with anything. I hope I can tell you this now and that it’s not too late for things to change back to how they were with us. That you can see for real now how much you, the real you who has stood beside me through it all, means to me. And that you can forgive me when I say that I’m sorry, but I can’t let this destructive side of you win. I end my turn.”

 

Juruo stood and waited, there was nothing more he could say or do. Hikari drew a card automatically, gaping at the boy, as the rain rolled down her face and messy hair. Her eyes were trembling. He knew Hikari was in there, she could hear him. Her voice quivered as she spoke softly.

 

“You care about me? Really? As a friend, through better and worse, you’ll be there for me?”

 

Juruo nodded. Hikari continued to shiver, holding her card out in front of her, looking lost and confused. She moaned and clutched her head, and Juruo’s heart skipped several beats. What was happening, was she fighting back against her darkness? It was impossible to tell. For a minute he stood waiting in the rain, Stardust occasionally beating its mighty wings to stay airborne above him, whilst Hikari continued to fight. Struggling to watch anymore as his brain went into automatic, he started to walk towards her. It was then she looked up, and to his dismay the gold and purple eyes remained, darker than before.

 

“It’s all just empty words from you. All you do is say you’re sorry. You say let’s be friends again, but I know as soon as I’m gone you’ll just go running straight back into her claws, and you’ll just pass me of as ‘let’s be friends’. Why accept that when I have the power, if you will not willingly accept me, to force you to do so? Valkyrus, destroy his precious dragon.”

 

Valkyrus seemed to leap up in slow motion, its blade slicing through the belly of the silver dragon. It screamed in pain and disappeared, its wake thousands of stars fell to the earth over Juruo. The pain of his strongest monster going down had him clutching at his body again as if it might split in two; crying out and struggling to stand (LP: 2400). Across the field, Hikari was glaring at him as he fought the pain. Every word now was spoken with menace.

 

“This is your last chance. Either take me as I am now, or Dianaria will force you to your knees and make you beg for mercy.”

 

When Juruo opened his eyes to look at her, a part of Hikari died inside. The way he was looking at her as he stood crippled before her, like he had never done before, it was just so full of revulsion and hopeless refusal to give in. “So this is the better side of you? You want me all to yourself, and if I don’t agree then you’ll destroy me. Well I won’t bow to this side of you” he groaned. Hikari stood gaping at him, eyes dancing wildly and hands shaking. Somewhere in the mind of the dark side of her, a final fragile thread snapped.

 

“Then you incur the wrath of the goddess I am. Dianaira, make him see sense.”

 

The beast charged and slammed into Juruo’s shield as he raised it to meet the blow. The force knocked him sideways, flying across the grass, until he landed in a crumbled heap, breathing heavily and groaning as the rain fell down on him (LP: 0)

 

 

 

[spoiler=...]

Card games in the rain.

 

Go on, admit you. You all thought Juruo was going to win and free her, didn't you. :)

 

 

[Lexadin]

Meh, I've seen more miraculous returns.

 

I kinda like it, but then again. I am ussually rooting for the villians in the series I watch.

 

It's true that thier effects are not as horribly broken as Synchro's where. But they are WAY more easy to summon. Just watch the Anime, all 1 turn Xyz's.

 

Chapter 52: You can't use Tokens as Xyz Materials. Oh wait that's only in the TCG/OCG, nevermind then.

 

Anyway the duel was ok, nothing special but amuzing nonetheless.

 

Yeah, sorry. I was quite busy.

 

Chapter 53: Lol, E-HEROs to the rescue.

 

When you send a "Dark World" monster to the Grave with "Valkyrus's" effect, the "Dark World" monster's effect doesn't activate, seeing as it being discarded is not the last thing to happen. A small error I myself, made a lot while using FabledWorld.

 

I must say, the pre-duel part was brilliantly done. Cudos for that. The in-duel conversation was not as good as the pre-duel part. More like the common, 'trying to turn your friend back speach' like conversation. Still good, just less good then the pre-duel part. Though the duel itself was nicely done, even with the "Valkyrus" error Hikari used her Deck to perfection.

 

Nice twist on the end though, I have to admit that I did expect him to turn her back.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Chapter 51: It's true that thier effects are not as horribly broken as Synchro's where. But they are WAY more easy to summon. Just watch the Anime, all 1 turn Xyz's.

 

Chapter 52: You can't use Tokens as Xyz Materials. Oh wait that's only in the TCG/OCG, nevermind then.

 

Anyway the duel was ok, nothing special but amuzing nonetheless.

 

Chapter 53: Lol, E-HEROs to the rescue.

 

When you send a "Dark World" monster to the Grave with "Valkyrus's" effect, the "Dark World" monster's effect doesn't activate, seeing as it being discarded is not the last thing to happen. A small error I myself, made a lot while using FabledWorld.

 

I must say, the pre-duel part was brilliantly done. Cudos for that. The in-duel conversation was not as good as the pre-duel part. More like the common, 'trying to turn your friend back speach' like conversation. Still good, just less good then the pre-duel part. Though the duel itself was nicely done, even with the "Valkyrus" error Hikari used her Deck to perfection.

 

Nice twist on the end though, I have to admit that I did expect him to turn her back.

 

When I wrote the Domink vs XYZ duel, I looked on several sites to confirm if I could use Tokens. The answer on all of them was... we don't know yet. So I figured as you could use them for every other summon... oh well never mind.

 

Yes, gotta have some friendly spirits too. My favourite in that chapter though is the image of Baby Dragon trying to catch a fish. Cute! :lol:

 

Really, there's a timing error there? I thought that only happened with cards that 'can' activate their effects.

 

Don't worry it gets better on Monday with chapter 54 - Heart of Chaos...

[Umbra]

Really, there's a timing error there? I thought that only happened with cards that 'can' activate their effects.

 

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

 

I meant the dark worlds aren't can, they're must, so I thought they'd always activate wherever in the chain. Like Sangan is a must, and Vampire Dragon/Posion Draw Frog for example aren't and missed the time repeatedly.

 

I dunno, I've made a ton of mistakes in duels from the start of this (first duel, Pot of Duality and Tribute Doll in same turn, d'oh). The next three duels I've noticed there are (has a count) five I think. I 've said before I'm more concerned about making duels exciting than strictly accurate, but I do need to be more accurate with my next fanfic I feel.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Is a tiny bit disappointed in lack of comments over the weekend given the past two chapters. Hopefully this one will inspire some comments.

 

C'mon, I'm moving home next weekend, need some going away love guys :)

 

Anyway chapter 54. Looking back, I love the way this chapter is four times the length of chapter one.

 

I'm aware of two errors here. One was down to a half oppurtunity just presenting itself and then becoming too good to pass up. The second, in terms of the outcome of the duel itself, is pretty irrelevant.

 

[spoiler=Chapter 54]

Chapter 54 - Heart of Chaos

 

Juruo groaned as a strong hand grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and lifted him off the ground. The giant bull fiend Dianaira scooped up the boy and marched him over to the furious and demented looking girl, locking his arms behind him in his giant claws and forcing him to kneel before her. His head rolled to one side as he barely consciously registered what was going on. Scowling, Hikari grabbed him under the chin and refocused his attention on her, before letting him fall to the floor. She watched as he tried to push himself upright, but his strength was fading rapidly. Again Dianaira picked him up, and effortlessly cast him sideways, landing on his back and skidding in the wet grass. Hikari smiled, as she wiped the rain out of her hair, and walked towards him.

 

No sooner as she stepped forward, than the world burst into bright light. Hikari bought her hands to her face and hissed like a cat in the headlamps as they blinded her. Also struggling to see in the sudden brightness, Juruo could just pick out movement coming from the direction of the source. When the lights were dimmed down, he saw Sabin and Yuma hurrying towards him, having parked their runner a few yards away, whilst Tyrana and Luca were dismounting theirs. All of them had found rain macks for riding through the coming storm. The giant Dianaira, and indeed Valkyrus who was still standing behind it, growled threateningly, making both duelists take their next few steps more cautiously. Sabin raising his hands into an open unthreatening position, but they were allowed to kneel beside Juruo.

 

“You alright mate?” Sabin asked most unhelpfully.

 

“I’ll live” Juruo groaned, pulling on the guys shoulder so that he could sit upright. Everything ached and groaned as he moved.

 

“What happened?” Yuma asked. She kept glancing at Hikari, looking increasingly fretful with every groan and grimace Juruo was making.

 

“Hikari’s been consumed by years of built up misery that she’s been hiding from us. It’s developed into this other part of her, taking her over, and transformed her into this impulsive and twisted person. I tried to bring her back to normal; make her realise I’m there for her and she needed to stop, but she went berserk. I... couldn’t free her...”

 

“No worries mate. I’ll take it from here.” With that Sabin stood and stepped over him, cracking his knuckles as he went, leaving Juruo to be tended to by Yuma and the others. Having been stood watching transfixed whilst this was going on, Hikari was now glaring at this new person who dared get in the way.

 

“What are you doing here? This is between me and Juruo and is none of your business” she yelled at him.

 

“Trust me, what’s going on between you and J isn’t something I would normally be that interested in, but when you start threatening Tyrana and nearly kill everyone in Gorge Town on a rampage, then it becomes my problem. He’s probably been too nice to say this; but you have gone way off the deep end!”

 

Yuma face-palmed when Sabin said that. “Why say that, just why?”

 

Indeed the remark did not go down too well. “How dare you insult me? I...”

 

“Yeah, I dare. What are you going to do about it, have these two beat me up? I mean, is it even registering up there, in your screwed up head, that you’ve beaten your best friend to the point where he can barely stand? I knew something was going wrong with you, but I – stupidly - took his advice and kept my mouth shut, and gave you the chance to work it out yourself. But now I’m stopping this my way.”

 

“What, by duelling me?” Hikari laughed. “What have either of us to gain by that? I’d only crush you, just like Juruo over there who won’t accept me for the stronger and better me.” Sabin grimaced. He was aware there was some method of forcing people to duel by hacking into their duel shield, but it had been a long time since he’d done it. If Hikari didn’t want to fight him, there wasn’t really a way he could make her.

 

There was a small cry, and something brushed against his leg. Sabin looked down in wonder, to see the white cat spirit of the Lightsworn, one that often came to Hikari in her time of need of moral support, had appeared from thin air, and was rubbing itself against his leg, looking up at him with its big green eyes. “Rinyan?” he mouthed at it.

 

“Hey, that’s the cat I found in Gorge Town, when she got all in my face” Tyrana said, crouching beside Juruo. “You know it?”

 

“Rinyan is, or was, Hikari’s duel spirit; the same as Decoy Dragon is mine. She fights beside and is a physical echo of the real her, but now she’s discarded her and the Lightsworn for these Dark World creatures. But this dark side of her seems terrified of it. Maybe she’s the key to releasing her.”

 

“That damned cat! Why does it keep following me? Hikari moaned as she retreated back behind her two giant monsters, as Sabin picked up the small feline. It purred contently in his arms. The gears in his brain started to turn, this was his chance.

 

“What, you’re scared of your loveable little companion here?”

 

Hikari laughed uneasily from a safe distance. “Scared, me? No. That wretched thing is just a part of the old me. I want nothing to do with it. Not when I can combine the overwhelming forces of the light of the fallen roar gods, and the darkness of the war lords of the dark realm. That weak thing symbolises everything I hate about my other self. But it keeps following me and it won’t stop!”

 

“Well I have a theory. Maybe it’s because Rinyan hasn’t given up on your real self coming back to her senses. You want a reason to duel? Well, from what J said, you’re a subconscious of Hikari that is currently dominant of her other half? And you want to stay in control and expunge the other, ‘weaker’ half of you, right?” The girl nodded to confirm all of this was a correct assumption. “Well then, maybe if you beat me, Rinyan will go away, and with it your weaker side will too. You’ll have full control of yourself forever. Sound tempting?”

 

The possessed girl paused, before nodding to Sabin, smiling sickly. “Alright, these are my terms. When I win, that mangy cat has to stay away from me for good. You also have to leave me with Juruo. In terms of our match, since my monsters are still out, they might as well stay out. We’ll make this a gauntlet match, meaning you get to come at me with a fresh starting field, while I retain my field, hand, and life points from the battle with Juruo. I suppose you have your own end you want me to put up?”

 

Sabin ignored the stream of protests that were coming from somewhere behind him. “Yeah, buts it’s not much in comparison. When I win” he held up the little cat out towards her. “You have to hold Rinyan.”

 

Two of the four looking on exchanging baffled looks at this strange demand. Yuma got it however, and looked across at Juruo, her face stern. He shared her look, indicating he understood. Hikari shuddered, but nodded her own agreement.

 

“Fine, it’s not going to happen anyway. Now Juruo, you wait over there while I take care of this one. As for you, cat, you might as well disappear now.” Sabin set Rinyan down, who snarled and set itself beside him. Discarding the mack with a flourish, he looked to Luca who had run over with his duel shield. Attaching it, he drew his opening five cards. On the sidelines, Luca rejoined the others, passing Juruo Sabin’s coat.

 

“Come on Sab” he said to himself, hoping that he could succeed where he had failed.

 

“Let’s duel!”

 

[spoiler=Summary - End Turn 8]

Sabin - Front Row: - Back Row: - Hand: 5 LP: 4000

Irakih - Front Row: Dianaira, Valkyrus. Back Row: - Hand: 1 LP: 4000

 

 

 

“Wait, four thousand life points?” Sabin turned in disbelief to Juruo as the summary came up on his duel shield. “You didn’t even hit her once?”

 

“It wasn’t like I was holding back, she just creamed me” Juruo yelled back. “Be careful mate, you don’t need me to tell you she is dangerous. With these cards she can make something out of nothing.”

 

‘Oh, fine then’ Sabin thought to himself, as he turned his attention back to his hand. It wasn’t great, even when he added the sixth card to it. His own copy of Card Destruction was probably the worst card he could have got right now, but he also had one of the best for fighting a light user. She may have demolished Juruo, but his deck had been built to destroy decks like Hikari’s.

 

“Rise, Ally of Justice Core Destroyer.”

 

The destroyer was a smaller version, if not the prototype of, the devastating Catastor. A slim curved silver body with a gold plated face and four pincer like legs that shimmered in the rain, that still stood as tall as Sabin. The machine landed with a crash on its legs as it flew through its portal (ATK: 1200). “Core Destroyer, attack Fabled Valkyrus.”

 

“Has he lost it!?” Tyrana yelled as the machine fired a laser from its tail at the far stronger demon king. Juruo shook his head and told her to watch. To her amazement, the laser pierced the demons black armour, and with a wail the monster staggered backwards, disappearing into darkness. Hikari watched all of this open mouthed, bewildered as to the apparent defeat of her key card, whilst across from her in the rain Rinyan purred and Sabin nodded his approval towards his machine, pulling back his wet silver hair.

 

“Anti-Light deck guys, remember? When Core Destroyer engages battle with any light monster, that monster is destroyed immediately, without damage calculation, end of. That puts half of your deck on the shelf. I place two cards face down and end my turn.”

 

“Why you dirty...! My draw” A vein in Hikari’s temple pulsed as she snatched out her card. “I play the spell known as Footsteps of the Goddess. This lets me look at your hand and force you to summon a level four or lower monster of my choosing in attack, and then I get to summon one as well.”

 

“Goddess? Seriously what is it with baddies all being ego-maniacs? Anyway the only monster in my hand is Genex Ally Remote, so I guess I’ll just go with it.” Sabin revealed his hand to prove this was the case and his other two cards were spells, as a white egg shaped machine, with a television remote control attached where its right hand should have been, leaping forth with few attack points to do so (ATK: 500) Across from him, Hikari summoned a dark looking creature, a small and frail winged fiend in black robes and supporting himself with a walking stick (ATK: 400).

 

“I special summon Fabled Miztoji. Now I tune Miztoji with Dianaira to summon the Fabled’s strongest Synchro monster. The queen of the fallen gods descends to punish the wicked standing before her. Fabled Leviathan.” The red haired demon in grand golden armour descended through the cloud cover on her enormous scarlet wings, grinning maliciously at Sabin, who looked only a little concerned (ATK: 3000). “Leviathan, attack Core Destroyer!”

 

“I activate... wait, what?” Sabin was sure he misheard over a rumble of thunder. “Destroyer? You’re passing on the chance to hit me for twenty five hundred’s worth of damage?”

 

“I doubt you’d allow it though. I saw you go to activate something, what was it, Power Frame? Red Screen maybe? Well I’m attacking Destroyer. Are you still going to activate your card?”

 

“Well, no” Sabin replied hesitantly. He and the others watched on completely baffled as the queen of the Fabled stretched out her hand, and a dark ball of energy started to build in her claws. But the machine beat her to the punch, firing its laser at a weak point in her armour and destroying her immediately. So why was Hikari grinning like that?

 

“Now with Leviathan gone, I get to add three Fabled monsters back to my hand. I choose Raven, Catsith, and the Fabled Gallabas that was sent to the graveyard by Glow-Up Bulb’s effect. The latter of which I’m summoning right now.” The mace swinging, lizard like demon stood before her (ATK: 1500). “Now I activate his effect, by discarding a card from my hand, I can destroy one monster on the field with defence less than his attack. Now take down Core Destroyer.”

 

“I activate my trap card, Panic Wave. By destroying my other face down card, the effects of all monsters on the field are negated for the rest of the round, along with any continuous spells or traps cards.” The crushing blow of the mace passed harmlessly through the machine,

but Hikari didn’t seem too bothered.

 

“So I can only take one monster instead of two. My discarded card was Catsith, so you’re still losing your machine due to her effect which activates from the graveyard.” Indeed this time the quadruped machine exploded into pieces.

 

“From my graveyard, the effect of Revenge Return activates. By removing it from play, I can resurrect a monster destroyed by a card effect this turn.” Hikari threw him a furious look as her efforts came to nought, as the silver machine clambered back through the portal from the grave on its insect like legs.

 

“Bah, I end my turn.”

 

[spoiler=Summary - End Turn 10]

Sabin - Front Row: Core Destroyer, Remote. Back Row: - Hand: 2 LP: 4000

Irakih - Front Row: Gallabas. Back Row: - Hand: 1 LP: 4000

 

 

 

“Good start, getting rid of those three Fabled in a few turns” Tyrana observed, watching Sabin draw his next card with a grimace, as lightning flashed across the sky again. “But there’s still a long way to go.”

 

Sabin paused as he looked over his card, Hyper Synchron. ‘Dammit, not the monster I needed. I have to press on and summon a bigger monster before she summons something that isn’t of the light attribute, but that doesn’t mean I want to sacrifice Core Destroyer for it. Still, looks like I don’t have a choice’ “I activate the effect of Genex Ally Remote, enabling itself to be treated as Genex Controller for the round instead. Then I tune my two monsters to summon an all new level of light destroying tech.”

 

Genex Remote pushed a button on its control pad, and split into starts. The stars spun around Core Destroyer, as a black column of energy surged upwards from the earth. From the column emerged a new machine, a towering humanoid shape in heavy black and green armour. A three barrelled cannon was grafted to its left arm, which the warrior supported with his other hand, aiming it at Hikari (ATK: 2400).

 

“This is Genex Ally Triarm, and his effects depend on the attribute of the non-tuner monsters used to summon him. Right now the only attribute used was dark, so he only has access to one of his effects, but that’s cool considering what he can do. By discarding one card from my hand, Triarm instantly destroys a light monster on the field, and then I get to draw a new card. Now Triarm, blast away!”

 

Throwing away Card Destruction, an orb of electrical energy formed in the cannon arm of Triarm. Mercilessly it fired, destroying the mace wielding fiend with ease. Sabin plucked out his new card unsmiling, as he brandished it at the glowering Hikari.

 

“Don’t make me do this.”

 

She didn’t speak to him, only glowered, staring furiously at him. Well, he had given her chance. Without further hesitation, Triarm fired another cannon blast straight at her. Hikari flew through the air on contact, spinning until she landed on her front in the wet grass. With a snarl she pushed herself upright, and snapped her head at him. Her mismatched eyes hard sharpened and brightened further, giving her the edgy look of someone completely losing it (LP: 1600).

 

“You’ll get yours, just you wait.”

 

“I’d better place a card face down then hadn’t I? I don’t take any pleasure out of this, but this is the only way to get you back to normal and away from the destructive path you’re barrelling down. You forget it’s a path I’ve been along before, to an extent. When I was in the city, I was a delinquent who hurt people to get myself ahead, and make me feel better and powerful. Take it from me that it doesn’t work, and power means nothing on its own.” The cat at his feet purred reassuringly as Sabin glanced across at the people on the sidelines, and gulped as he took a very great personal leap of faith. “Hikari, you went out of your way to befriend me and help me sort myself out at the start of this thing. Now you can consider this returning the favour.”

 

“What a load of complete garbage” Hikari scoffed as she staggered haphazardly back over, snatching a card on her way. “I don’t need friends, or companion spirits like that pathetic beast. All I yearn for is that boy over there, and my revenge on those who cursed me with this suffering.”

 

“Yeah about that.” Sabin turned to face the spectators again. “Juruo, how come you get all the girls? And how come all those girls end up going nuts and try to destroy us?”

 

“I think saving them from gallows helps. Either that or because I’m cute.” Sabin couldn’t help but crack a smile at Juruo’s tongue in cheek response. He himself smiled to, before wincing in pain. Yuma looked at him curiously. “Oh sorry, ages ago me and Sabin rescued Hikari, Mel and Erin from being hung by the Empire.” Yuma’s eyes darted from him to Sabin, shining slightly as though she was looking at them in new light.

 

“Stop ignoring me!” Hikari shouted, bringing Sabin back to the matter at hand. “I activate Pot of Avarice; returning Leviathan, Valkyrus, Gallabas, Kahkki and Broww to my deck to draw two cards. Then I play my second one, returning another five monsters for another two cards.” Hand replenished up to four, Hikari broke into a twisted smile, and started to laugh quietly. “It’s here” she whispered.

 

“I don’t like the sound of that” Luca gulped, as Hikari’s wild miscoloured eyes flashed.

 

“Now you’re going to suffer for hurting me Sabin, and for your empty lies” Hikari whispered, holding a card out in front of her as she drew out, trying to make him squirm. “By removing from my graveyard the light monster Dwf, and the dark monster Sillva, I can summon this card from my hand. The supreme wielder of both light and darkness, Chaos Sorcerer.”

 

Sabin gulped as from a black, lightning filled vortex emerged a thin man in black robes and mask, a feared duel monster who could be sprung at anytime with ease, and to devastating consequences.

 

“I activate Chaos Sorcerer’s effect; sacrificing his attack to remove Triarm from play. Then I summon Fabled Raven to the field.” Sabin’s machine vanished into thin air, and the winged tuner monster appeared ahead of him. Without warning, Raven split into stars and engulfed the sorcerer in white light. The wind had picked up from nowhere, and was sending Hikari’s long hair flying all around, making her look even more disturbed as she stared wide eyed and grinning at Sabin.

 

“Everyone bear witness to my ultimate power. The true me in duel monster form, as I merge light and darkness together. Come forth, Chaos Goddess!”

 

Hikari’s new reflection in monster form came in that of a womanly creature, clothed in a mismatched black and white dress. Her skin was pale and hairy snowy white, with a black crown sitting on her head. She had one black wing and one white, and in her hand carried a long silver sceptre adorned with a skull. The sorceress smiled softly, her eyes flashed with a hint of wickedness (ATK: 2500).

 

“Now I activate her effect. By sending the light monster Fabled Urustos from my hand to the graveyard, one dark monster there is revived. So Chaos Sorcerer comes back.” The earth erupted in front of her as Chaos Sorcerer exploded upwards. “Now Chaos Sorcerer regains the ability to attack you directly.”

 

Purple sparks of electricity flew through Sabin’s body, shocking him to the core and sending him flying backwards. Unable to see and feeling numb he writhed in the grass as electricity continued to pass through his body, slowly melting his cells and overloading his mind with pain. The others watched on in horror as he slowly forced himself to sit up. The cat spirit bounded over to him and put a concerned paw on his hand, looking at him hopelessly. He could smell his own flesh had been burnt by the attack, and his legs were still devoid of feeling as he, with much wincing, tried to rub some blood back into them (LP: 1700).

 

Yuma had buried her head in Luca’s shoulder as the attack struck, and was now staring anxiously across at his stricken body. “He can’t take another of those. What has it got to take to make her see what she’s doing?” Luca hugged her reassuringly, whilst Juruo and Tyrana continued to watch on with varied expressions of desperately fading hope. Across the field, Hikari was unrelenting, shaking as she lost control of herself.

 

“Chaos Goddess, banish all who stand before me.”

 

“I activate Fires of Doomsday, summoning my two tokens to protect me.” At the last second, the two black wisps of fire appeared before Sabin, only for one to be cut down by the magical blast flying from the staff of the goddess. Hikari scowled, before placing her one remaining card face down. Yuma turned to the others, looking confused.

 

[spoiler=Summary - End Turn 12]

Sabin - Front Row: Doomsday Token. Back Row: - Hand: 2 LP: 1700

Irakih - Front Row: Chaos Goddess, Chaos Sorcerer. Back Row: Face Down. Hand: - LP: 1600

 

 

 

“Why didn’t he use that card to block the first attack and protect himself?”

 

“Because sometimes you need to sacrifice yourself to help others.” Sabin called out over the wind and rain, making Yuma gasp at his words. “ Now I’m summoning ‘Hyper Synchron’, and tuning it with my remaining token to summon Ally of Justice Catastor” From the darkness emerged the steel behemoth and scourge of five monster attributes, the terrible Catastor (ATK: 2200). “I might have had to cut a few years off my life there but I’m going to make sure it was worth it. Now wipe out that Goddess out with your effect Catastor. Seek and destroy.”

 

“I activate Floral Shield, negating your attack, and also drawing a card.” Sabin groaned as his machines laser was thwarted by the invisible barrier.

 

“Fine, I place one card face down and end my turn.”

 

“Then its back to me” Hikari pulled out another card with glee, pausing as she studied it. Her face contorted into a vicious smile as she looked over her hand. “I use Chaos Sorcerer’s effect to banish Catastor from play where it will be harmless, leaving you wide open for Chaos Goddess to put you and everything that opposes me down for good.” The goddess smiled as she charged another beam at the tip of her staff.

 

“I activate the trap card Red Screen, preventing all attacks from monsters you control.”

 

“Persistent aren’t you? I place one card face down. Remember you can only hide behind your barrier for so long as it drains your life points. It’s just a matter of time before I defeat you, and I can banish the weaker part of me away forever.”

 

[spoiler=Summary - End Turn 14]

Sabin - Front Row: -. Back Row: Red Screen. Hand: 1 LP: 1700

Irakih - Front Row: Chaos Goddess, Chaos Sorcerer. Back Row: Face Down. Hand: 1 LP: 1600

 

 

 

“She’s right, Red Screen drains a thousand life points at the end of each of Sabin’s turns, meaning he can only stop one more battle phase with it” Yuma glumly pointed out. The situation was getting increasingly hopeless. There was a groan to her left, as Juruo forced himself to stand.

 

“What are you doing?” Yuma asked. “You need to rest.”

 

“I’m not going to just lie down and watch. I can’t give up on them out there” Juruo groaned through gritted teeth, as he limped forward. He stumbled slightly; Luca grabbed him for support and tried to force him to sit. Juruo however refused as, digging deep, he found the strength to stand against him.

 

Back on the field, Sabin knew he was running out of defence. Rinyan could sense it too, meowing at him with increasingly worry. He drew, hoping for a game changer, and smiled as he got one. “I activate the spell card Mind Control, snatching one of your monsters until the end of the turn. So I’ll be taking Chaos Sorcerer and brining him over to the light side.”

 

“Wrong again. I activate the trap card Dark Bribe. This negates the effect of your spell entirely, although on the plus side you get to draw a card.” Sabin scowled as he drew again, having been stopped once more. Across the field standing between the two beings of chaos, Hikari was doubling over and breaking into that eerie laugh again. “Oh you think that’s bad? Well trust me, it’s about to go from bad... to complete disaster!” Behind her, a dark shadow appeared through the gloom, an ominous shape towering over her small frame, a pair of red eyes glowing through the rain. Sabin choked on sight.

 

“Oh no. Not him, not now.”

 

“Oh you recognise him? Well still, for the benefit of the others, since I successfully negated the activation of your card with the counter trap Dark Bribe, I get to summon The Dark Dragon Lord Van'Dalgyon!” Gaining solid form, the colossal black dragon spread its huge wings, standing far taller than anything else that had been played even without them. Its thick black hide had an armour plated look, tough and muscular as it flexed its long claws. Van’Dalgyon roared, lightning flashing across the sky in time (ATK: 2800)

 

Hikari stretched out a hand and clenched it violently. “Now Van’Dalygon activates an ability depending on the type of card that my trap negated. Because it was the spell card Mind Control that was cancelled, my dragon now slams you for an overwhelming total of fifteen hundred points of direct damage.”

 

“Oh no” Juruo gasped as the mighty black dragon pulled back its head and unleashed a torrent of dark purple flame down on Sabin. Crouching behind the duel shield did as good as nothing. He still screamed out and collapsed, panting and clutching his heart with a grimace (LP: 200). The spirit Rinyan pawed desperately at his shoulder. Yuma clasped her hands to her mouth in silent horror, whilst Luca and Tyrana stood back looking increasingly pale.

 

“Now he doesn’t even have enough for Red Screen to stay active” Luca said behind him. Indeed, the trap shattered as Sabin groggily pulled himself upright, unable to look at the ally he was about to fail. Across the field, the sadistic dark side of Hikari drew her card, revelling in her inevitable victory.

 

“Van’Dalgyon, finish this with a direct attack.” Overhead the giant dragon unleashed another stream of purple flame at the wounded duelist who was hunched over and beaten.

 

“From my hand, Battle Fader.” Snapping to sense at the last second, finding that last surge of adrenaline, desperately pushing the card into its slot, Sabin stood tall again as the tiny fiend slipped through the portal, sending ripples through the air from its swinging pendulum. The flames crashed down and dispersed in all directions as it pushed against the rippling current, unable to get past. Across the field; the scarred and battered duelist who was standing awkwardly and breathing so weakly stared at the girl across. She blinked, and hung her head. Looking down, she whispered four barely audiable words.

 

“Go ahead. End it.”

 

“Don’t worry, I will.” Sabin reached for his card, and fell to one knee. Oh come on, of all the times for him to run out of strength, why now? Ignoring the stress and that his heart was screaming at him not to move, Sabin clutched at where he though his deck was. Gasping, his dazed vision distorted, he snatched at thin air some way from his cards. This was ridiculous. He was so close, this darkness controlling Hikari was at her weakest and he couldn’t even manage to draw a card. He couldn’t let her down, not like this. But he could barely stand or see after Van’Dalgyon’s assault. He could collapse at any moment.

 

Something wormed itself under his left shoulder and heaved. Blinking through his hazy sight, Sabin turned to look at what was happening. Picking him up by the shoulder was Yuma, her face strained with the effort of supporting his dead weight. Slowly, she reached out and took his right hand, and placed it on his deck. As she looked up at his bewildered expression; her face was resolute, and her brown eyes were shining in the dim light breaking through the clouds overhead.

 

“Come on, let me help you. We can’t let her down now, not after you’ve come this far. End this.”

 

He smiled weakly, gripping his card as Yuma held out onto his wrist. “Draw” they cried together, before Sabin took charge. “Because you have more than one monster on your side of the field and one of them is of the light, I... we can summon Ally of Justice Cosmic Gateway straight from hand.” A compact portal generating machine appeared by the Battle Fader. “Next, I’m summoning a card that’s very dear to me, thanks to you. You told me to stick with it when I saw no use for it, told me that one day it’s reason for being in my deck would become clear. Today is that today, and the reason is to save you. Attack Gainer.” The tiny purple suited warrior somersaulted past the other two monsters. Sabin pressed the button to access his extra deck of Synchro monsters, whilst Yuma picked out the card for him. “Now Attack Gainer tunes with Cosmic Gateway and Battle Fader to Synchro Summon Ally of Justice Decisive Cannon!”

 

As Hikari looked up hopelessly at the giant gold and black triple barrelled cannon floating ominously overhead. The mechanical behemoth that towered above other Ally of Justice monsters, spotlights beaming down from all body parts that weren’t armed to the teeth (ATK: 3300). Sabin looked across at her, feeling guilty, but knowing what he had to do, that she had asked him to do.

 

“Now for Decisive Cannons ability. This lets us look at your hand and see how many light monsters you’re holding. If you have any, you have to discard them to the graveyard and take damage equal to their attack. I’m activating this because I guess the card you have left is Honest. Correct?”

 

Hikari lowered and shook her head. “No, it’s not Honest, but it is a light monster” she said, flipping it over to reveal a card depicting a flower girl, with red hair and a tatty blue dress, staring hopelessly back at them.

 

“The Unhappy Maiden?” Sabin asked to which she nodded.

 

“...this isn’t working for me either. No matter how much I lash out, nothing is going to take away my scars. I’m always doomed to be sad and lonely, and more so if everyone fears me. I’m making you guys hurt and...” Tears started to well in her discoloured eyes. “It’s just not fair... I guess... this card shows the real me...” Slowly, she gulped and turned to Sabin. “Please... release me from this nightmare.”

 

Sabin looked to Yuma, who hesitated. However by his side, the spirit Rinyan was nodding its head. Sabin decided to go with what it and Hikari. “Because Attack Gainer was used to Synchro Summon, your Chaos Sorcerer loses one thousand attack points. Meaning this will reduce you to zero. Decisive Cannon” Sabin roared up to his floating gun. “If you have the ability to... be gentle.”

 

The cannon’s main gun began to spin, as an electrical charge generated along its barrel and gathered at the tip. In an instant, the main cannon fired its stream of energy down on the weakened sorcerer, erasing it in an instant. To Sabin’s horror, the beam continued to crash along the earth towards Hikari. She raised her shield to meet it, as the beam of light enveloped her. The force threw her backwards, falling in slow motion. There was a flurry of movement behind her, and she found herself landing in Juruo’s arms. He must have broken free and dragged himself over while the others were focused on the duel, if the dazed Luca lying away from them was anything to go by, and leapt in to catch her. She landed softly beside him as he cushioned her fall and they fell backwards, and their eyes met for a moment. Smiling weakly, her eyes flickered as the gold and purple colours faded away, before she blacked out.

 

...

 

Somewhere in the dark and empty expanse of the subconscious, the spectral girl collapsed on her hands and knees, heaving to take in oxygen. Kneeling in front of her was another girl, staring down at the spectre who looked exactly like herself. The reflection stood and stretched. It felt like ages since she had moved. The spectre clutched at her foot, clawing at her boots, but the girl standing didn’t even need to move as her own newfound mental strength forced the demon back down into its crawling position.

 

“You know, in some twisted way, I should thank you. Seeing your actions while make me better myself, and make me a stronger person. That is what you wanted after all? Maybe you’ll get that. However you will never, ever, get the better of me again. Not now I know for sure that my friends will stand by me no matter what you’ve thrown at them.” Her voice was stronger than before, but not angry or hateful. Those dark feelings were what gave the spectre its strength, but by releasing her grief instead of burying it in her heart, it would never gain that strength again.

 

The standing girl looked up towards the dark sky. She could hear voices calling her name. The fallen one tried to speak but just made a gargling, strangled noise as it pulled desperately at the others short pants.

 

“They are calling for me to wake up. There are so many things I need to tell them, and I have the belief now that I can. Oh and... thanks for the fashion advice too. The wraps are strangely cool...”

 

...

 

Blinking slowly, Hikari woke up, for the first time in days. She found herself lying in Juruo’s arms by the small pool of water. Luca and Tyrana were running over, and from another direction, Sabin was limping over with Yuma’s help. Under his arm he was carrying the cat spirit of the Lightsworn. Wincing and smiling awkwardly she rolled off of Juruo; a motion that seemed to drain all of her energy. Juruo seemed too exhausted to sit up either. But then her other half had, in frustrated rage, beaten him to within an inch of his life. Reaching her, Sabin looked down at her. He seemed quite unsure what to say, or more unsure about who he was about to speak to.

 

“Deal’s a deal. Now you have to keep it.”

 

With that he held out the small cat. It purred softly, curiously, as it stretched out its paws to reach her. Blinking, she remembered the ‘forfeit’ arranged by her subconscious. But she had no problem with this. She held her arms out and took Rinyan from Sabin, and tightly hugged her. The cat purred with delight and in a way hugged her back.

 

“I’m sorry I cast you off Rinyan. I didn’t mean all those things I said...” Hikari began to choke on tears as she hugged the spirit for a good few moments, ignoring the blazing pain shooting through her arms from where Juruo had caught her and now in her chest into which the cat was firmly buried. The others stood or laid in silence as Hikari cried herself out. As she finished, the group watched as the crown on Rinyan’s head started to glow, and it opened its small mouth as wide as possible. In her open jaws, a small block shape began to form out of white light. When the light stopped shining, the shape revealed itself to be a small metal container that was a part of the duel shield, with a deck of cards inside. Hikari took it from Rinyan when offered, and looked through them.

 

“My Fablesworn deck. My subconscious threw this away in the capital when she filled it with her own cards.” She glanced nervously at her shield, and the deck sticking out of the hub.

 

“Hikari, whatever you want to do, we all support you.”

 

Hikari turned to Juruo, who smiled at her. A complete contrast to how he had looked at her when she was under the control of her subconscious. Nodding to him, she gave her deck back to Rinyan and stood up with Luca’s help, taking the other deck out of her shield in its little metal pack. The top card was Chaos Goddess. A card that manipulated both light and darkness to gain true power, as did the entire deck. She stared at it for a while; the coming enemies were strong, she’d need to be at full strength to defeat them and stop the countdown. But to achieve that strength, she had to let darkness consume her...?

 

Hikari launched the pack high into the air. The deck travelled in slow motion through the rain in a high arc, before it fell with a splash in the middle of the lake, and sank out of sight. Taking her deck back from Rinyan, she inserted it into her duel shield.

 

“You’re right Juruo, Sabin. Power isn’t everything. This is what I want.”

 

“Very touching” Tyrana interrupted, scowling at what she was witnessing. “Now if we’re all done tearing bits out of each other, we can get back to our main priority. Tomorrow we’ve all got to fight together against Demon and his crew, for the small matter of the fate of the world. So can we all please put our personal stuff on hold for a day, you three try to recover a bit, and do what we need to?”

 

As one last poignant reminder, Tyrana looked up at the clouds above, everyone following her gaze. High above them, a gap in the rain clouds revealed the fires of the final countdown overhead. Another ball of flame was starting to form, joining the end of one arched line. The giant ring was almost complete, with only a small gap separating the end of each arc from the other opposite. Once those gaps were filled by the final two fireballs, Armageddon would start, and the world would end.

 

 

 

Sidenote on progress: Finally finished chapter 56 for Friday. Also finished chapter 58 as well, and started on character bios. Will try to get chapters 59 and 60 written over the next three days although obviously most of my attention is on other things at present. If the muses get me going it could be the case where I sneak back into dads and use his broadband to post updates while I'm waiting for mine. Mwahahaha. I dunno, it will all work out eventually.

 

In the meantime everyone should read Dead Zone and, if they have the stomach, The Dark Doorway.

[Lexadin]

Well I lack compasion for others as I said before, so I honestly don't care that much about you moving.

But good luck anyway.

 

I'm of opinion that "Fabled Leviathan" is a he, seeing as 1 of the 7 Prince's of hell has the same name. I just wanted to note this as you refer to it as a she.

 

Couldn't Sabin win with "Hyper Synchron", seeing as he could still Normal Summon that turn?

Also "Chaos Goddess" needs 2 DARK monsters to be summoned.

 

"Van’Dalgyon"? That's kinda random, don't you think? I half expected her to have "Grapha, Dragon God of Dark World" (fitting with the divine theme of her Deck), but not "Van'Dalgyon".

 

Anywho, the ending, as well as the rest of this chapter, was nicely done. To bad she didn't kept her FabledWorld Deck though.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Well I lack compasion for others as I said before, so I honestly don't care that much about you moving.

But good luck anyway.

 

I'm of opinion that "Fabled Leviathan" is a he, seeing as 1 of the 7 Prince's of hell has the same name. I just wanted to note this as you refer to it as a she.

 

Couldn't Sabin win with "Hyper Synchron", seeing as he could still Normal Summon that turn?

Also "Chaos Goddess" needs 2 DARK monsters to be summoned.

 

"Van’Dalgyon"? That's kinda random, don't you think? I half expected her to have "Grapha, Dragon God of Dark World" (fitting with the divine theme of her Deck), but not "Van'Dalgyon".

 

Anywho, the ending, as well as the rest of this chapter, was nicely done. To bad she didn't kept her FabledWorld Deck though.

 

Thanks, just want everyone to know so they're not going "ARGH, why has he stopped so close to the end!?! :( "

 

Oh, I didn't know that. Just thought the synchros were king, queen and royal prince.

 

I don't see how, since Hyper Synchron was normal summoned with only the token on the field. Can't remember what else was in his hand, hmm... As for Chaos Goddess, I owned up to that one. But as I said the situation just presented itself (nearly anyway) by accident, it flashed across my brain as being approriate for 'Irakih' and that it was just too good to pass up. The next duel has a similiar stuff up. I shouldn't have been able to activate AoJDA's ability either without a discard, but nothing would have changed. Just wanted to get the Unhappy Maiden in.

 

Van'Dalgyon is one of my favourite cards ever, Counter Angels all the way! Thought a bit of variety would be cool.

[Lexadin]

Thanks, just want everyone to know so they're not going "ARGH, why has he stopped so close to the end!?! :( "

 

Oh, I didn't know that. Just thought the synchros were king, queen and royal prince.

 

I don't see how, since Hyper Synchron was normal summoned with only the token on the field. Can't remember what else was in his hand, hmm... As for Chaos Goddess, I owned up to that one. But as I said the situation just presented itself (nearly anyway) by accident, it flashed across my brain as being approriate for 'Irakih' and that it was just too good to pass up. The next duel has a similiar stuff up. I shouldn't have been able to activate AoJDA's ability either without a discard, but nothing would have changed. Just wanted to get the Unhappy Maiden in.

 

Van'Dalgyon is one of my favourite cards ever, Counter Angels all the way! Thought a bit of variety would be cool.

 

It's ok.

 

Possibly, but I think they are more like just fallen angels, the one's just mightier then the other. And Leviathan is one of the 7 Prince's in myth/demonology. So I can also be mistaken.

 

If "Hyper Synchron" would be Summoned when Sabin attack Hikari directly with "Triarm", her remaining Life Points where 1600, exactly the ATK of "Hyper Synchron". Irakih? Hikari reversed? That's kinda lame.

I can understand why you did that though.

 

Meh, I don't really like the Counter Fairies tbh. Even for variety, it was basicly the most unfitting card in her entire Deck and made the duel feel somewhat random.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

If "Hyper Synchron" would be Summoned when Sabin attack Hikari directly with "Triarm", her remaining Life Points where 1600, exactly the ATK of "Hyper Synchron". Irakih? Hikari reversed? That's kinda lame.

I can understand why you did that though.

 

Meh, I don't really like the Counter Fairies tbh. Even for variety, it was basicly the most unfitting card in her entire Deck and made the duel feel somewhat random.

 

............

 

oh for f***'s sake! :angry:

 

You're right. Can't believe I did that.

 

No, I know how I've done it. I've planned the skeleton of the duel out, then when it came to writing it made him draw HS a turn early so he wouldn't have a 'god draw' next turn, especially after playing Fires in such a strange way if you didn't know you had a lv4 tuner to hand.

 

I've annoyed myself with that.