Yu-Gi-Oh!: Return of the Earthbound Immortals [Fanfic conversion of old RP][Chapter 3&4 added][PG-13]

[Merci]

Um, okay, so this project's going to take a while. It involves the entire conversion of [url="http://forum.yugiohcardmaker.net/topic/125499-lock/"]this roleplay[/url] into a fanfiction. I've already done it with its sequel, Return of the Arcadia Movement, but that one was easier because it's already finished. Still, even though the sequel's done converting into fanfic form, I still have to move on to the original roleplay.

Mine and Charlotte's characters' roleplay career had started here. I'd hate to leave that one roleplay that started it all never see the light of day ever again. If the story doesn't make much sense, then I apologize. It was a roleplay afterall, unorganized. It's just my job to organize what did happen and what was unimportant. [b]So here it is!!! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you "Return of the Earthbound Immortals"!!![/b]


[center][size=5][i]Many years after the Dark Signers had been defeated, the Earthbound Immortals have begun to stir again, but this time they have awoken their twins, the Skybound Immortals.

In the midst of the forthcoming chaos, the Dark Signers and the Sky Signers duke it out, with each person their own goal to achieve. Who will come out on top? Who will decide the fate of the world? Nothing is for certain.[/i][/size][/center]


[spoiler=Chapter 1: Nick, Vincent, and Bebe]
It was a dark day in New Domino City. People, duelists and non-duelists alike, quickly hurried home, whether in fear or for some other reason.

Rumors had begun to circulate, dark rumors about death, chaos and destruction. Things haven’t been the same for a while now, and although nobody knew what was actually happening, they were sure something had happened. A silence had begun to creep upon the city, strangling it, and the residents couldn’t even tell what was happening. The setting sun above them looked eerie, as if it were the eye of a gigantic monster plotting to destroy them all.

A young teenager, looking about seventeen, walked along the shadows of a street in New Domino City. He seemed ordinary enough, except for the fact that he wore a black and white robe, with scarlet lines running around it. His eyes looked as if he had an extremely thin, transparent layer of grey skin over them, even though they were scarlet underneath. He walked in a mature kind of way, as if he had seen things beyond his age, but at the moment he had an impatient look on his face.

His eyes were darting from one place to another. He was looking for something. But whatever it was, he didn’t seem to see them.

His name was Nicholas Hawk.

[i]I need to find a Dark Signer. Otherwise they'll end up opening the portal to the underworld, [/i]he affirmed in his mind. So far, he hadn’t found any signs of Dark Signer activity. They were elusive, very elusive, operating in the shadows, corrupting the most innocent of minds.

Below the setting sun, he walked over to the waterside, but still found no sign of any Dark Signers. He pulled back his robe’s sleeve and then pressed a button on his watch, which looked futuristic with a silver metal plating and high tech three-dimensional screen.

He waited for a second or two before he heard the sound of a motorcycle approaching, fast. But he still couldn’t see it. Then, all of a sudden it appeared right in front of him, driverless, but stopped before it hit him. The futuristic motorcycle had an onyx and gold frame, and two devices resembling wings were attached to it. The motorcycle, called a Duel Runner, despite its colors, it was most definitely not made of onyx and gold. Instead, it looked as though it were built from an unknown alloy.

Nick knew it was made of a fusion between a metal alloy extracted from Mercury, and another metal alloy resting near the earth’s core, the two metal alloys Sky Signers and Dark Signers used to create their Duel Runners.

But of course, he belonged to neither group. His sleeve was still pulled and he looked down at his arm, where a purple Dark Signer mark, the mark of the Wolf, lay. When his eyes saw the mark, he pulled his other sleeve out of habit and looked at the mark on his other arm. A white Sky Signer mark, which was of Ara the Altar constellation, had been burned into his other arm. He belonged to neither group, but only because he was part of both groups.

Once, he was an ordinary teenager. But then he was chosen to be a Sky Signer, one of the Heralds of the Light. Of course, in a duel against a Dark Signer, he had gotten too cocky and, well, he ended up as [i]this.[/i] He was reborn as a Dark Signer, but something backfired. He had ended up a fusion between the two, now he possessed the powers of both Signer factions.

What were Dark Signers and Sky Signers exactly? They were the chosen ones of bound Immortals, the bound Immortals of the earth and the sky. Dark Signers had appeared around the world every hundred years, but the appearance of the Sky Signers was a new thing. It was supposed to signal something, but what, Nick didn’t know. The Sky Signers didn’t possess the same uniting abilities the Dark Signers had, and because of that so far the Sky Signers were disorganized, scattered across the city. And so far, it didn’t look as if things would change anytime soon.

Taking another step forward towards his parked Duel Runner, Nick jumped onto it, and the vehicle instantly and automatically veered to life, recognizing its owner. Then the wing-like devices began to glow brightly, and it lifted off from the ground, now hovering in the air.

Duel Runners couldn’t actually fly in this futuristic future, but the ones belonging to Sky Signers could, being powered by ethereal forces. Namely, the Skybound Immortals. Nick made his flying Duel Runner higher, until it was over a big building.

He sighed for a moment, before letting his consciousness flatten. He felt his energy sweeping across the city, searching for Dark Signers.

[i]There they are.[/i]

He could feel their presence, many of them, scattered across the city. This was his first time trying out this technique. Since he was a Dark Signer himself now too, he could utilize their abilities to sense other Dark Signers. The Sky Signers didn’t have such ability; they had to rally blindly from the skies. But Nick was both. He twitched a little as he realized just how many Dark Signers there were out there.

The mark on his right arm, his Dark Signer mark, began to glow as he counted the numbers.

[i]Let’s see, three . . . . five . . . . . seven . . . . . [b]TEN?![/b] . . . .[/i]

He was horrified by how many Dark Signers there actually were. He had suspected there was at least five, but not so big a number as [i]ten, [/i]and that was only a rough number. It might be twelve or higher, as far as he knew. He got his Duel Runner to hover back lower down to the ground. He memorized the location of one of them, the closest one.

And he was going to stop this first Dark Signer target. If he had to, he would take down all [i]twelve of them.[/i]

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Nearby, within a tall building, a girl stood within the shadows of a corner, lurking within its darkness. She tried to look inconspicuous, but it was hard to disguise the fact that she stood out. Her clothes blended in with the shadows, but the rest of her own self didn’t. Her eyes, martin brown with black sclera, were fixated on a man wearing a white suit, who looked around thirty.

She herself looked around seventeen, and had dark brownish hair with a big golden ribbon wrapped around it. She could’ve looked normal, except for the fact that a long golden tattoo ran along the back of her head and around her neck, continuing downward to split and spread across her entire body. The lines throughout her body however, were concealed by her clothes, which were also unusual. She wore a long-sleeved black shirt, also stylized with the same golden lines that were around her body, and the same with her long black skirt.

Suddenly, she felt a strange sensation, and she shook when she felt it. [i]This is dangerous hanging out in a public place, [/i]she thought. [i]Someone must have found out I’m here.[/i]

She had to abandon her hunt, and slipped away from the crowd, and from the man she had been watching. Her attention had been on him for a long time now, and recently she had spotted a thick constellation of the Phoenix burned onto his arm. It was convenient that he was rich, it made him an easy target. She would have his revenge very, very soon.

However, as soon as she left the party, exiting the building it was held in, she was met by a guy wearing a black and white cloak.

“You there.” He said, pointing at her.

She just stared, but didn’t utter a sound. The sensation was growing stronger and she could tell exactly who he was. A Sky Signer. Her own mark, the purple mark of the Whale glowed beneath her left sleeve. There wasn’t something quite right about this Sky Signer, her senses were also telling her that he was a Dark Signer.

Did that mean he was similar to their leader, Shinato? Perhaps he was, but it was obvious by his manner that he had chosen not to side with the Dark Signers. She had to quickly think of a plan to evade him. He took a step towards her.

“My name is Nick, and I challenge you to a duel.” He continued. Who did he think he was, challenging her to a duel right out of the blue? Even if she had remembered to bring her deck, it wasn’t as if she would’ve accepted his challenge.

“Call me Bebe Phoenix, but I have no reason to duel you. I’m just a guest at the party behind us.” She said, and walked past him, acting as if he was just a creepy stranger who thought he could challenge chicks to duels just like that. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an important errand I must run."

Bebe quickened her pace and began to walk away from this guy Nick, heading towards a hotel. She hoped he wouldn’t dare try to follow her. No such luck, she heard his footsteps following her calmly.

“A regular person wouldn’t mind dueling.” He stated, activating a big yet light electronic device attached to his right arm, called a Duel Disk. “You’re not escaping, you [i]will[/i] duel me.”

She was becoming extremely annoyed by this guy, but she kept her cool at the same time. It wouldn’t achieve anything to snap at him. For all she knew, his power was comparable to her leaders’, and in that case she wouldn’t want him to use his powers against her. Maybe she could keep him off her tail.

"Look I don’t even have a Duel Disk with me right now.” She said, and indicated to the lack of any such device on her arm. She kept on walking until she had arrived at a road. “So if you'll excuse me," and before Nick could do anything to stop her, she had escaped into a taxi that quickly drove away.

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The man Bebe had been watching was the host of a lavish party currently ongoing in New Domino City. His name was Vincent Tavares. He was usually able to stand all the chit-chat and small talk.

But tonight something was different. After his transformation into a Sky Signer and his run-in with a Dark Signer a few months back, these parties didn't do it for him anymore. He was getting bored of all the congratulations on another great publicity event and all the fake smiles. He knew nothing of this group or what they wanted, but he knew they couldn't be up to anything good.

He had noticed the woman who was watching her. She was quite cute and pretty, but for one thing she was too young for him. For another, there was something different about her. Something about her clothes, and her overall appearance, although it was unclear in the shadows she had stood within. He felt as if he should recognize her, as if he should [i]know[/i] her. Something drew him towards her, but he had no idea what.

He had tried to push his way through the members of the crowd to go talk to her, but then he saw her leave. He had tried to follow her by following the black-and-white robed guy who had been following her. He had seen her get into a taxi and drive off before he could get to her. He then approached the one left standing there, and felt his skull tingle as he did so.

"Excuse me. Can I help you?" He asked.

“Yes, you can.” The teenager replied. He talked as if he was fully mature, and this bugged Vincent a little. “Did you know who that woman was?”

"Sadly no. That's what I was trying to find out. There was something different about her, but I don't know what-” Vincent began, before something occurred to him. “Wait, she was at my party! So I'm sure I could find out via the guest list.”
He paused for a moment.

“But more importantly and immediately, who are [i]you?"[/i] Vincent asked, and the cloaked guy turned back to him. Their eyes met each other, and Vincent managed to notice the thin piece of transparent skin that covered this cloaked guy’s eyes, the same piece that covered Vincent’s own eyes. He realized that this person was also a Sky Signer, if only younger. "Besides being a Sky Signer like myself."

Vincent's right arm then started to tremble slightly at this discovery. It had been months, but he never thought he’d ever meet another Sky Signer. Still, this Sky Signer was unusual. He could feel it, this guy had black sclera like the Dark Signer he had ran into a few months back.
“I am Nicholas Hawk, but call me Nick.” The mysterious Sky Signer replied. Vincent was cautious, but he extended his hand. “And you are. . . .?”

"Nice to meet you.” Vincent replied. “The name's Vincent Tavares. I have to say, it's nice to finally meet someone who doesn't know my name or is trying to suck up.”

“Even if I [i]had[/i] known your name, I still wouldn't care, no offense.” Nick said, and this only got on Vincent’s nerves. He wasn’t used to being insulted, if only unintentionally. “Anyway, I have to go scout the skies more; I’ll try to locate that girl we’re both looking for. Contact me from my Duel Runner when you find out who that was. My ID’s M-A-57.”

He didn’t give Vincent a chance to hear it again, and mounted his Duel Runner, which began to rise into the air. All Sky Signers’ Duel Runners had been fitted with special devices that allowed them to be capable of flight, so Vincent wasn’t surprised when he saw it hover.

"Sure thing." Vincent muttered as the Duel Runner shot high into the air. [i]M-A-57, I’ll try to memorize that.[/i] He took out a pen and then jotted it down on his right sleeve. It helped to be wearing a white suit instead of a black one. Then after that, he turned around and headed back to the party.

When he did, he asked the list from the doorman, who gave it, and then he scanned the names. He had invited most of the people himself so he should recognize anyone that didn't seem familiar. He saw a name. Fernanda Alves.

He pressed a button on his watch, and then a holographic screen materialized in front of him. A keyboard appeared on it and he typed ‘Fernanda Alves’ into it.

He wasn’t accessing Google, but a specialized electronic library that held the data of every single citizen in New Domino City, and such access to it required a [i]lot[/i] of money. No problem for Vincent.

A single file popped up with the name. It helped that more and more people were choosing unique names nowadays, which made it easier to track them down. The file said that she was a reporter, as well as various other info. Hmm, she didn't look to be twenty-four. [i]Well, with plastic surgery nowadays you never know.[/i] He turned to the guard. "Thank you."

Vincent walked off, continuing to look at the file in front of him. He decided he'd go pay this woman a visit. He could’ve waited until morning, but . . . he didn't want to miss his opportunity again. He quietly left the party and returned to his room. He was unsure about many things, but something told him he'd need his deck. He went to his book shelf and took out a hollowed book that had his deck. He as well got out his Duel Disk, and slipped it on his arm.

Afterwards, he got into his car and headed towards the address on the file, not knowing what he'd find. Above him, he could see a faint light which seemed to follow him at every turn. Any other person would’ve just thought it was a plane or helicopter in the now-night sky, but he knew it was that guy, Nick. There was no need for contact afterall then.

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Nick hadn’t been able to pinpoint the female Dark Signers’ position from up in the air, it was too difficult. It would take a while getting used to these powers, he needed time to train them. So instead, at the moment he had kept a camera installed into the Duel Runner fixated on the building Vincent was supposedly in. Vincent had been the only Sky Signer he had seen in a while, it was a reassuring feeling.

When Vincent had left in what appeared to an expensive sports car, Nick had opted to follow him, knowing he had probably found out the location of this female Dark Signer. It occurred to him that Vincent might not know what Dark Signers even were. It occurred to him that Vincent had probably not been taught anything at all about the Signers. He’d have to tell him about it later.

He followed Vincent’s car until it had stopped in front of a building. Then he made his Duel Runner quickly fall to the ground, and it hit the ground rather cleanly. He parked it nearby the Sky Signer’s car, and then looked at the building. It seemed to be the correct one as he could feel a Dark Signer inside. [i]This should be the building. Now then, how do I get in?[/i]

He watched as Vincent just walked right into the place as if he owned it. And then he facepalmed.

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[i]Who was that creep? [/i]Bebe thought, still sitting in the taxi. [i]He was like the Leader, both a Dark Signer and a Sky Signer. I could sense it.[/i]

When the taxi approached her apartment, she told the taxi to stop, and then paid the man in cash. After that, she walked towards the apartment and entered it. She could sense that another Dark Signer was nearby, but at the moment she couldn’t take any chances to recruit help from her – or him.

She took an elevator and went up to the forty-eighth floor, where her room was. [i]Something isn’t right here. [/i]She could sense the one who called himself Nick arrive at the building, along with someone else. Instead of going out of the elevator, she took it all the way to the rooftop.

[i]I knew it![/i] She thought as she saw Nick's Duel Runner parked outside the building. [i]Why does he insist on following me? I need to lose him somehow. [/i]

Bebe got an idea as she turned towards one of the other rooftop edges. Suddenly, she began running towards the edge, and jumped. With inhuman strength, she managed to jump up high into the air, before landing with a crash onto the next building’s rooftop.

She hit the other rooftop hard, and it probably would’ve broken a bone or two if she were an ordinary human. But she wasn’t, and as she got up she had already fully recovered. She was a Dark Signer after all.

Instead of running away, she had to do something useful. The man she was watching, the Sky Signer, she knew where he lived. She should know, she had been there herself nine years ago. Perhaps she could find him there, and take her revenge right there and then. His name was Vincent Tavares. She ran all the way towards the edge of the next rooftop she was currently on, and jumped once more.

The place where that rich man lived wasn’t actually very far from her apartment, and after a few rougher rooftop jumps, she had arrived at his own more fabulous apartment, where he lived. This was why one shouldn’t reveal their address to the public straight on television. From the roof of his own apartment, nobody had spotted her. No surprise there, the darkness of the night made her impossible to see.

She jumped down from the roof, but kicked open a window and went through it before she hit the ground. She had been intending to smash it, but opening it worked too. There were no alarms. Was he really so stupid as to not install a single alarm? She looked around again and saw that it was his room. Okay, maybe he wasn’t so stupid as to install alarms in his own room. But he [i]was[/i] stupid to install windows that opened inward, not outward, as she saw.

As far as she could tell, there weren’t any sign of any servants or of Vincent himself, so out of habit Bebe began to snoop around the room.

[i]So he’s [b]still[/b] rich, famous, and a total jerk[/i], she thought as she went through his photos, photos of him in America, France, Egypt, Germany, doing many different kinds of things in each photo, with his classmates, colleagues, friends, girlfriends, and . . . . [i]parents.[/i] . . . . . She felt sad when she thought about that.

[i]You haven't changed a bit, Vincent. You got the good life, while I got abuse and humiliation . . . .[/i]

Suddenly, she felt a tingling at the back of her skull. [i]He’s here[/i]. Without any other option, she quickly hid herself under his bed.

----------

Vincent had arrived at the apartment area. It was a very nice building; however the doorman was nowhere to be found. And the lobby was very quiet. [i]I've got a bad feeling about this. [/i]Vincent started towards the elevators.

Having obtained her room number from the file, he took the elevator up towards the forty-eighth floor. When it arrived, he stepped out, prepared for anything. But there was nothing. He quickly ran towards the room number and tried the door, but it was locked. Seeing no other option, he kicked it down. No sign of her anywhere inside. Damn it. Maybe she hadn’t come here after all. She had likely gone elsewhere with the taxi.

Still, it had been worth a shot. He exited the building and headed back towards his car. As he did, he noticed Nick’s Duel Runner, sitting there all by itself. But no sign of Nick, so maybe he was still inside searching for her, searching for Bebe, or maybe for Vincent himself. Oh well, it didn’t matter, he went into his car and quickly headed home. He was surprised when he had arrived in less than a minute. It had been really close.

For a rich guy, he preferred to do things the old-fashioned way, meaning he had no servants or butlers. He couldn’t risk them. He walked into his apartment and locked up after himself. Then he listened to see if he had any messages, before turning towards his room.

Just then, when he entered he got a sharp pain from his right arm, from his mark of the Phoenix. It was stronger than he had ever felt before, trying to tell him something . . . . He noticed that all of his photos had been scrambled up . . . . and then he heard the rustling.

He walked towards his bed and pulls up the covers and his jaw dropped for a moment when he saw her. It was the same girl from the party, the one who had been watching him. Under the bedroom light, she looked darker, and indeed he noticed her strange attire and orange tattoos. Oddly enough, she also looked cuter. Too bad she was too young for him.

"Well well well! What do you know? I was spending all my time looking for you, and I guess you were doing the same." Vincent said. He smiled politely. “So then, mind explaining what you're doing here, or how you got in?"

She didn’t utter a word to him, also surprisingly enough, and despite this awkward situation, she kept her calm, quickly got up and was about to head towards the door, but Vincent stepped in her way, blocking her.

"Not much for conversation, I see, but I'm gonna need some answers. What were you doing here?"

"I- I have no idea what you’re talking about. I'm just the housemaid's daughter. . . .” She said in a surprisingly innocent tone. Still, Vincent knew she was lying through her teeth. “She just lost something and I came looking for it. That is all . . ."

"Well, that is a good point. There's just one problem, I don't have a house maid.” Vincent said, shattering her lie, which was weak in the first place. “And I saw you at the party, and you were registered under a false name, likely forged. I may be a rich playboy, but I'm a lot smarter than you think. Now I want some answers."

He was done with joking, and was now serious. His Phoenix mark started to burn and glow under his shirt sleeve. He was tired of all these games. He was going to end this right here, right now, whatever it was. She was keeping her calm, but he knew she was getting more and more annoyed.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. . . .” She said, and began to edge away from him towards the open window.

“If you want to leave the only way is through me. Don't even think of a window jump, this building is 40 stories taller than any of the surrounding ones and you're on the top floor.” Vincent stated.

Then he decided to throw all caution to the wind. He lifted up his sleeve and showed her his mark, which was glowing.

[i]"Who are you, what do you want, and what do you know about this mark?”[/i] He asked her.

As soon as he had shown her, a purple mark began to glow on her lower left hip but she quickly jostled around, probably hoping he hadn’t noticed it. She had failed. “That’s a very nice tattoo you have.” She said, trying to continue to lie through her teeth. “I like the glow in dark ink.”

"Yeah, well, I didn’t get it from a tattoo place.” He said. “It tingled a little before when I met this other guy and now it’s going crazy with you here. Oh and that was a weird time for a turn, either you think you’re on a fashion runway, or you’re trying to hide something.”

He step a step closer towards her, and he could tell that she was losing control of her temper, although she tried to calm herself down, keep her cool. She was losing it, and he continued to smile politely.

“I'm not hiding anything. I just got tired of looking at your pathetic face.” She said, rather rudely. Two insults from two different people in one day. It must be a new record, Vincent noted to himself.

" Ouch, that was kinda harsh. But you can stop looking at it as soon as you give me some answers."

Vincent remembered the number Nick had given him for his runner. Vincent reached his hand into his back pocket and was going to signal him with his location, but then he had conflicting thoughts. Would he scare her off, or would he be needed for whatever might soon ensue. He decided to wait on it a bit longer and try once last time.

"Look, there's obviously something each of us wants from the other.” He said. “And the two of us just staring at each other is gonna solve anything. So please, what do you say we just sit down and try to even things out. I mean you no harm.”

He paused for a while to let this sink into her head. He continued before she could reply.
“I'm just curious. And scared. I'm curious as to what this mark means, and I'm scared because if it happened to me it could happen to others. Just please. . . I don’t think I'm asking for much, I just want you to level with me.”

------------------------

Bebe exploded. “LEVEL WITH YOU?!” She screamed. Her dark face became extremely furious. How much longer was this guy going to get on her nerves? She had been hoping he would be dumb as well as spoiled, but unfortunately he was intelligent enough to see through her lies. Still, she had to try. “Look, okay, I already told you I have no idea what you’re talking about! Now LET ME THROUGH!”

She almost turned around, but quickly caught herself. Suddenly, she felt an odd sensation. The Dark Signer she had sensed back at the apartment had followed her here. And it wasn’t that creep Nick. Hopefully, it was one of her colleagues, and not a new, clueless and senseless one. [i]Perfect, just in time.[/i]

"And by the way, I know when I'm being lied to. I told you the truth, I'd think you'd have the honor to at least return the favor." The man continued. How long was he going to keep on doing this? Urgh.

"But, this is the truth! Look, I don’t care where you got your freak-show tattoo or whatever happened to you to get it, but go take your crazy talk somewhere else, and now PLEASE let me through!" Bebe burst out.

Her mark was glowing full circle now so she covered it with her hand. Her mind began to fill with old memories, old memories she didn't want to remember. [i]I love you . . . [/i]She quickly shook her head, but then realized that she had said those words out out.

"Okay. I wasn't expecting that.” Vincent muttered, slightly stunned, and she quickly moved a lot closer towards the open window with amazing speed. But it wasn’t enough, and he resumed talking. “I'm flattered, but I think I'm a little old for you. And if you’re a fan, then I'll sign whatever you want-”

And then he noticed the glow beneath her hand. It was burning through her hand, clearly visible. It was ridiculous.

"That mark’s like mine.” She could sense that he was unnerved and even scared by it, but even so, he still took a step closer. Bebe took a step backward. She was now right next to the window. "Something tells me our marks aren't the same?"

Bebe gave him a cold stare. "Fine, you figured me out, but for the pleasure of seeing you struggle and suffer, I’m not telling you anything!” She declared. “Just know that you've hurt my [i]pride[/i] and my [i]life[/i], and that I will soon have my revenge on you!"

Then she whacked him right in the face with inhuman power, stopping him for a moment, before launching her body right off the window, and diving downward, plummeting over fifty stories towards the ground. He felt like he had deserved that whack for some reason.

He had slumped to the floor for a second, but pulled himself back together. He forced himself to walk towards the window, and looked down. The girl was on the ground, having survived the fall unscathed, and she was talking with another guy. This guy was also dressed in dark clothing similar to hers. Who was he? Who was she? Who were they?

He felt in his back pocket for his tracer, but it was gone. Had it been stolen by her when she whacked him? It was certainly in his pocket last time he checked, when he pressed it to alert Nick about her. Nick should be on his way here right about now. Hopefully.

He continued to look down the window. Maybe it was due to his Sky Signer powers or maybe it was due to his golden heart, but the pain from the inhuman whack had dulled down a lot. He quickly ran out of the room and headed towards the elevator.

He had to get to the bottom of this, and it couldn’t wait another second. Who had that girl been? Why had she felt so familiar? Who was that guy she was currently with? What did their marks mean? Whatever the answer, he was about to find out.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Chapter 2: Damian and Shinato]
A teenage boy who looked around sixteen was riding on his Duel Runner. He had finally arrived at new Domino City, his old birthplace. He had worn a helmet and ordinary clothes over his uniform to disguise the orange tattoos on his body and his overall identity.

[i]New Domino City. The place where I need to meet the other Dark Signers,[/i] he thought. He took a card out of his deck. It had the writing “Earthbound Immortal Aslla Piscu” on it, and it emitted a faint dark aura, a pleasurable aura at that. [i]And where the lives of my parents had begun.[/i]

His name was Damian, and he parked his Duel Runner close by to an apartment that appeared empty for the moment. [i]I have to get some info on these Sky Signers, whatever they are. But to find out, I’ll need the others to tell me. . . .[/i] He waited until there was no-one around, and then he raised his right arm, when all of a sudden he was enveloped in a white beam.

When it faded, his helmet and ordinary clothes had disappeared, revealing his true self. He had blonde hair and sky-blue eyes, but those details were minor compared to his black sclera and the orange tattoo lines that ran across his body and black uniform, a short-sleeved Dark Signer uniform, which showed off the purple mark of the Hummingbird on his arm in plain sight.

He then held up his arm, and the birthmark sent out a little pulse to alert any kind of Signer nearby that he was there. It was an ability he had earlier known about, but this was the first time he had attempted it. It was a dangerous, risky move, since it attracted any kind of Signers, whether they were normal, Dark, or in theory Sky Signers too.

All of a sudden, a white-robed guy wearing a cap, looking about the same age as Damian himself, pulled up. He was riding on a white Duel Runner, fitted with two strange devices looking like mechanical wings. “A Dark Signer!” The guy shouted out. “Show yourself!”

Damian had been hiding from within the shadows, and he found out that he could blend in with them well. It was no surprise when the white-robed guy he had attracted here failed to spot him. Still, there was no point in hiding, he may as well reveal himself to whoever it was.

"Hello there,” he said in a British accent. He didn’t have an accent like that because he was British, but because he had loved the accent so much he had practiced and mastered it when he was still alive. “Hmm, you don't feel like a Dark Signer . . ."

This presence of this person wearing a cap made his arm throb for some reason. His dark mark was trying to tell him that the stranger wasn’t a friend. If the stranger wasn’t a friend, then he was most definitely an enemy, especially since he wasn’t wearing black. Maybe he was a Sky Signer. Damian took a few steps back and jumped back onto his Duel Runner.

“Wait! Hold on there, stop!” The white-robed guy called out.

But it was too late, as Damian had drove off, escaped. Instead of attracting a Dark Signer as he had wanted, it had attracted a weirdo. He wouldn’t try to do that again, it had been a dumb move.

[i]But[/i] [i]I MUST find some more Dark Signers, [/i]he told himself[i]. [/i][i]I don't understand any of this. . . I need answers! Who are we? What is our purpose? [/i]He had many questions going on in his mind. Luckily, the guy hadn’t chosen to tail him.

He had only passed a few apartments when he suddenly felt a tingling at the back of his neck. [i]Another one of us. . . .? [/i]He didn’t know much, but what he did know was that only Dark Signers possessed the abilities to alert and track down other Dark Signers, meaning it was most definitely a Dark Signer he was feeling.

He stopped his Duel Runner and then dismounted. Yes, it was definitely most absolutely definitely another Dark Signer he was feeling. Now he could finally get some answers. He let his consciousness flow so he could detect this Dark Signer more easily, and he detected his comrade . . . from above?!

A figure suddenly crashed down right beside him from forty feet high up in the building, a female figure. Did she jump out of a window? She had crashed right into the ground and had left a couple of large cracks in it. She groaned a bit, but she looked to be a Dark Signer, he could feel it. And he could also see it from the gold lines on her body and black uniform. After a moment or so, she had already recovered from the forty-foot dive, and got up from the ground. Still, he was stunned, as he wasn’t expecting a comrade to drop from the sky.

“What are you staring at?!” The Dark Signer spat out in an angry tone, startling Damian further.

"Uh, hello there . . . you’re a Dark Signer too, right?" He said nervously, before noting that his mark was glowing, as was a mark on her hip. Well, at least he didn’t need to ask for more confirmation. "Erm, sorry about staring. . .”

“Apology accepted.” The female comrade continued, still annoyed with something he didn’t know what. “I’m Bebe Phoenix. We’ve never met.”

“Yeah, I’m Damian, and I only stared earlier because well, I had been sensing another . . . . one of [i]us.”[/i]

Then, the door from the building suddenly slammed open and a man in a formal white suit charged out. He looked as if he was dressed for a party. When he appeared, the glowing mark on Damian’s arm began to throb the same way it had just a minute ago when that white-robed guy appeared. Was it a custom for them to wear white? He had no idea. His face looked as if it had been just whacked in the face, although he seemed fine. It was probably just a weird facial feature then.

"And just what exactly is this [i]‘us’, [/i]or in this case you two[i]?[/i]" The man demanded in a calm voice.

Damian couldn’t help but notice that there was a strange-patterned mark on his arm which was glowing through his suit. It didn’t look like a shadow mark, it was much too simple for that. And yet it also wasn’t glowing purple. It was glowing white.

“Well, I know you had called your friend.” Bebe stated to the man, and revealed a tracer in her hand, waving it as if she had just stolen it from him. Maybe she had. “So I got one of my own now.”

“Er. . . . Is he one of those Sky Signers?” Damian asked Bebe.

“Yes, he is.” His comrade replied. “Look you take care of this ridiculous fool for now, got it? Keep him occupied. I forgot to bring my deck.”

She gave the man Vincent a scornful look full of hatred, before disappearing into the darkness of the night sky. There was no moon in the sky this night. If it weren’t for the streetlamps, the night would have been utter pitch-black darkness.

-----------------

"Base. . . .? WAIT!" The Dark Signer called Damian shouted, and tried to follow her, but it was impossible to see her within the darkness. "I DON'T KNOW HALF THE THINGS ABOUT WHAT WE ARE!!! WHY'D YOU THINK I WAS LOOKING FOR YOU?!"

"You know that girl?” Vincent asked. Apparently it was too late for this Damian guy. “Well, then maybe you can tell me something. I want some answers, but she seemed to have a real attitude problem for some reason. I hope you can be a bit more pleasant with me.”

Vincent was hoping that Nick would get here soon and follow that girl, but Vincent had his own problems right now. He had to take care of this Dark Signer punk. He had only dueled one Dark Signer before, so he didn’t know what to expect. What kind of deck did this one run?

The Dark Signer groaned, but he jumped onto his Duel Runner anyway. Vincent realized he was going to do a Turbo Duel, and so he pressed a button on his watch. After a moment, his own Duel Runner appeared, having driven itself automatically to his location. It was completely white, and fitted with the same devices resembling wings that Nick had. Vincent climbed onto his own Duel Runner.
“Er, fine then! I'll just have to get rid of you, in a shadow duel!" The boy Dark Signer declared, trying to act evil, but Vincent could tell he was afraid of him. The mark on his arm began to glow a purple light, and his voice sounded strangely and slightly double-toned.
The two futuristic motorcycles began going at high speed across the streets. Speed World activated, a voice intoned from the Duel Runners, and then a pathway began to quickly build itself it front of the duo, having recognized a Turbo Duel starting. The pathway lead to an extremely long network of roads fifty feet high in the air, but mostly empty to allow for safe Turbo Dueling.

Vincent and Damian both drove up this pathway until they had reached the many roads. Automatically, most of the networks were closed off, leaving only a single round course for them to take across the roads high up in the air, with the winds controlled so nobody would ever get knocked off. The duel started with 4000 Life Points each for both players, and when it did, the whole edges of the created circuit had been surrounded by purple walls of energy, no doubt caused by Damian. This was a shadow duel.
[b]“LET’S DUEL!”[/b]

Vincent went first, and he drew six cards from a deckbox attached to his Duel Runner as two lights lit up on his Duel Runner. There were twelve lights altogether that represented the Speed Counters, and this one light represented one of them. (Vincent SPC: 1)

"Alright, I set a monster face-down and end my turn!” He said, and then a large holographic Duel Monsters card appeared face-down in horizontal position, in front of the moving Duel Runner. The hologram followed the speed of the Duel Runner. “Your move."

"Hehehe . . . DRAW!" The Dark Signer cackled out.

The double-tone in his voice was starting to become increasingly obvious. Vincent figured it must be his true nature, brought out in duels. Damian looked at his hand. Two lights lit up on his own darker Duel Runner. (Damian SPC: 2)

“Since you control a monster and I don't, I can Special Summon Priest of the Sun!” The boy declared, and then a white-robed humanoid figure appeared, flying next to the Duel Runner, looking like the chief of an old Nazca tribe. (ATK 1900)

“Now I’ll Normal Summon this card, Red Ant Azcatl!”

Next to the humanoid figure a big red ant appeared, tattooed with strange gold markings. (ATK 300)

“And then I’ll tune together my monsters to perform a [b]Synchro Summon![/b] Or more specifically, [b][i]SUN DRAGON INTI!"[/i][/b]

Suddenly, Damian’s two monsters had turned into rings and stars, which then aligned themselves with each other into a line before being enveloped within a bright red beam of light. When the light had faded away, a four-headed orange dragon with a sun-shaped rock for a body emerged out of flames out of nowhere. Its four heads stared at Vincent with a cold look. (ATK 3000)

"I can now use my Ant's effect, the one I used to summon Inti, to remove itself from play and Special Summon a Level 2 or lower monster from my Deck, and I’ll summon my Dark Verger!”

A bright ball of flames formed next to the Sun Dragon, before materializing into a dark creature. (ATK 0)

“Now, with Dark Verger’s effect, I’ll pay a thousand Life Points to Special Summon the Dark Tuner Black Goddess Witaka from my deck!"

Damian was surrounded by a purple aura for a moment, draining him of energy (Damian LP: 3000). The body of the dark creature glowed purple for a moment, and then next to it a black female humanoid figure appeared, glowing a black color. (ATK 0) With the appearance of this monster, Vincent was on guard. He knew what the Dark Signer was about to attempt. He had seen it before, months ago, with his own eyes.

“I’ll use her effect to copy the Level of one Synchro monster on the field! Since Inti’s the only one, I’ll copy that, and she's now Level 8!” The Black Goddess Witaka glowed more intensely for a moment and grew in size, but other than that nothing much happened. “And now I’ll dark tune my Dark Tuner to my Verger! [i]I Dark Synchro Summon . . . . [b]Moonlight Dragon Quilla!"[/b][/i]

When the name had been called forth, the Black Goddess transformed into a tiny whirling black hole trying to suck everything into it, grinding it all particle by particle. The Dark Verger had transformed into two black stars of energy, which were then instantly sucked into the black hole. For a moment, the black hole cackled with electricity as it grinded apart the two black stars, before the area was suddenly showered with darkness.

It was pitch-black, and Vincent couldn’t see anything. He was lucky his Duel Runner was on automatic, and it already knew the pathway, or else he could’ve crashed while inside that darkness, which soon faded. When it did, a four-headed blue dragon with a rock shaped like a moon for a body had appeared on the field out of nowhere, next to the Sun Dragon Inti. It had an insane look on its face, as if it was extremely glad there was no such thing as world peace. (ATK 3000)

"I end my turn,” Damian finished. “. . . . so unfortunately its effect will have to activate and Quilla will be destroyed."

And the Dark Synchro monster, the Moonlight Dragon exploded, just like that, and now only Inti was on the field. Why he had bothered to summon the monster at all if it was going to self-destruct, Vincent had no idea. Vincent also didn’t know why Damian hadn’t attacked, but perhaps he was cautious. Still, it didn’t change the fact that he was in a bad situation.

“Draw!” Vincent said, and drew a card from his deck (Vincent SPC: 3). Whatever this kid was planning, it didn’t look good. Still, he couldn’t just sit here and do nothing. “I play the Normal Spell card Swords of Revealing Light! Due to Speed World’s effect, I’ll take 2000 damage since I activated a non-Speed Spell.”

A bunch of swords dropped down around Damian’s Sun Dragon, trapping it and not allowing it to escape. However, as they did, Vincent’s Duel Runner stopped abruptly for a moment and Vincent himself with it (Vincent LP: 2000). It made him a little sick. The Duel Runner however, began to drive again, only this time it was way behind Damian by a long distance. This wasn’t a race, but Vincent still planned on overtaking him once more before winning. That was, if he did win.

“I now play another monster face-down, set a card and end my turn.” Vincent said.

Another large holographic horizontal card appeared, floating next to his other one. They were both face-down, so that Damian couldn’t see what they were. Behind the two horizontal face-downs a vertical face-down then appeared. This one represented the covered Spell or Trap card. Vincent had to play this cautiously.

"DRAW!" Damian declared, and by now it sounded as if two voices were talking at the same time (Damian SPC: 5). He seemed annoyed by the Swords of Revealing Light, and perhaps at the moment he was regretting not earlier attacking with the Sun and Moonlight Dragons when he had the chance. “I set one monster and end my turn.”

“I draw a card from my deck,” Vincent said, and drew his own card as a facedown horizontal card appeared face-down beside Damian’s Duel Runner (Vincent SPC: 6). “I play a [i]third [/i]monster facedown and end my turn!”

“I DRAW!” The teen Dark Signer said (Damian SPC: 7).

Swords of Revealing Light would only last a turn or so longer, and then he knew that whatever assault this Damian would try, it would be brutal. Luckily, he had already prepared with his three set cards. He had to beat Damian now, while he still had the chance.
“I summon Nettles and set a card. Turn end.”

A plant-like creature appeared on the field above the Sun Dragon Inti (ATK 1850), and behind it materialized a vertical facedown card. It occurred to Vincent as his Duel Runner turned a sharp right, gaining speed and catching up with Damian as it did so, that he had to be cautious. Not of driving, but of dueling.

"Now then, draw!” Vincent said, and drew his next card. It was time to go onto the offensive. “First off, I’ll flip face-up my Stealth Bird! When it is, I can use its effect to inflict 1000 damage to you!”

A bat-like bird appeared above one of the horizontal cards on Vincent’s side (DEF 1900), and then it flapped its wings, causing a gust to slam into Damian. It also caused his runner to shake and decrease in speed (Damian LP: 2000/SPC: 6). “Then I'll flip him face down again with his other effect!” And then the bird disappeared back into the card below it.

“Next then . . . are you ready?” He asked the Dark Signer, a grin beginning to form on his face. “I release my other two set monsters! I hope you’re prepared for this, Dark Signer!” His Phoenix mark began to glow.

[center][i]"Protectors of the Light, let the gateway from the sky open! Be reborn from the ashes of the old world as I cry out your name! [b]Descend forth! Advent, Skybound Immortal Helios Phoenix!" [/b][/i][/center]

The other two facedown horizontal cards were shredded into pieces by an unknown force, and then all of a sudden a large rip tore open in the sky, a large rip at that. A shadow fell over the circuit the two Signers were riding in, a shadow that came from an incredibly gigantic monster, but despite its size, it was flying too high in the sky for it to be noticed by any of the residents of New Domino City. Although they might’ve still felt its presence.

It was a colossal monster in the shape of a large bird, likely a phoenix, colored completely in a marble white, with its eyes glowing a yellow color. It was a colossal monster, over thirty feet tall, and it flapped its wings high over the course Vincent and Damian were riding in. Although the residents forty feet below couldn’t see it, they could, and clearly. (ATK 2500)

“Well, this is my Skybound Immortal.” Vincent said. He knew he had Damian with this game, and with it this game was over. “This monster has the ability to attack directly. Of course, it has restrictions, such as ‘only one Skybound can be on the field’ and ‘destroy this card if there’s no Field Spell’, but see, it’s also unaffected by Spell and Trap cards. The only way to take down a Skybound is by battle. But that won’t matter. Prepare yourself, Dark Signer! Helios Phoenix, attack directly! [b][i]Sky-Ash Bomb![/i][/b]”

He could feel Damian’s eyes widen at the sight of his Skybound Immortal. He could feel his fear. He felt a little guilty, though, threatening Damian like this. Still, he had no other choice. Last time he didn’t have a chance to summon his Skybound Immortal against the Dark Signer and it nearly cost him the game. He couldn’t afford to miss this next opportunity. As he thought all this, his Duel Runner overtook Damian’s and he was now in the lead.

The phoenix Immortal up in the air began to charge up a large ball of grey energy, a gigantic one the size of a large monument. And then the ball dropped, having decided to obey the laws of gravity. It was going to land right on top of the Dark Signer.

"Argh . . . I won’t lose!” He declared and flipped open his set vertical card. “I activate Defense Draw! It allows me to take no damage from an attack, and then draw a card!”

The bomb landed directly on top of him as Damian drew a card from his deck. When he drew, a shield of dark energy formed all around him and protected him from the blast. The course, however, wasn’t so luckily and now there was a gap. If the Turbo Duel lasted longer than it should and they went all the way across the circuit again, he would have to stop the duel in order to prevent falling all the way down.

Vincent noted to himself to pay for the damages. He [i]was[/i] rich after all. “It’s not over yet!” Vincent mockingly warned Damian. “I end my turn.”

"DRAW!" Damian drew another card (Damian SPC: 7) and sped up, but he was now behind Vincent again. When he drew his next card, he began to grin to himself.

Was this it? Did he draw [b]THAT[/b] card?

If he did, then it was all over for Vincent. He couldn’t hope to counter such a card, if it was what he thought it was. “I set a card . . . and then a monster. End of turn.”

Whew!

“Draw!” He said, and drew his card (Vincent SPC: 9). When he did, the Swords stopping Damian from attacking had already vanished.

"I activate Stealthbird's special ability yet again. I flip him face up to inflict 1000 points of damage to you!" The beast appeared again and blasted Damian and his runner once more, much to the Dark Signer’s annoyance (Damian LP: 1000/SPC: 6). However, this time instead of retreating back into its card, it stayed face-up. "Then I’ll release it to summon Cyber Dragon in attack position!”

It disappeared in a small beam of light, before being replaced by a mechanical serpentine dragon (ATK 2100).

“So now this time I’ll really finish you off! Go, Helios Phoenix! Attack dire-”

“Not so fast! I activate the trap card Negate Attack!” Damian countered. “This card will end the Battle Phase immediately and stop your attack! Your monster may be impervious to spell and trap card effects, but I bet it’s not impervious to the game rules!”

The colossal phoenix high up in the air had been ready to drop another bomb, however a swirling red and blue vortex had stopped it from materializing such an attack.

“Fine, turn end.” Vincent said, not at all worried.

"YES! I DRAW!" The teen Dark Signer exclaimed, drawing a card as the seventh light on his Duel Runner lit up for the third time (Damian SPC: 7). Vincent was widely surprised by his sudden excitement. His Phoenix mark began to glow heavily, hurting his arm a bit. Damian’s arm also seemed to glow up with purple light, that was presumably coming from his own mark.

Vincent braced himself. He had his own Skybound Immortal with him, he shouldn’t be worried, right? Right? Had he finally drawn it? Was this it? [b]“I RELEASE MY TWO FACEDOWN MONSTERS!"[/b] It was. Vincent went pale.

[center][i]“As the curtain of darkness falls, a shadow will rise! The great hummingbird will soar and devour the light of my enemies! [b]Come forth! Advent, Earthbound Immortal Aslla Piscu!!!”[/b][/i][/center]

As the Dark Signer chanted, his own two face-down cards shattered into pieces as if they had been made of glass. When they shattered, an extremely gigantic fifty-foot vortex had materialized high up in the air, opposite facing the Phoenix Skybound Immortal. Vincent mumbled gibberish to himself. Then a dark figure emerged from the portal, and in the darkness it was nearly impossible to see.

But whether it was some miracle or whether it was something else, after a moment of blurry images, it could also be clearly seen by Vincent. It appeared to be an incredibly colossal black monster in the shape of a hummingbird, with orange Nazca lines running through its body. It was just a little bit smaller than the Helios Phoenix facing it opposite, but nobody could deny the power and the terror the hummingbird radiated, high up in the air. (ATK 2600)

"It’s over!” The Dark Signer declared, with a wide grin on his face. “Aslla Piscu, attack this Sky Signer directly!!”

Vincent was paralyzed with fear for a moment, as he looked up again and saw that the colossal bird was about to dive down and peck on him. For a moment, he thought it was hopeless, that he was foolish to had ever picked a fight with Dark Signers in the first place. But then he remembered something. He remembered his own plan.

"This is it." Vincent bit his lip, and then started to laugh. "Not only am I not worried about your Earthbound Immortal’s attack . . . but I’ve been planning it for a while now, ever since that run-in with that previous Dark Signer I met, Alucard.”

He paused to let this sink in, regardless of the godlike monster now diving at him.

“Whenever a monster declares a direct attack, although Helios Phoenix can be selected as an attack target, Helios can sacrifice itself to negate that attack, banish the attacking monster, and then Helios will return from the ashes during the End Phase! This was an effect I deliberately modified my Skybound with, so it could be used as a counter against the Earthbound Immortals. This means that my Skybound is a specific [b]anti-Earthbound Immortal! [/b]Get what I’m saying?[b]”[/b]

Damian’s eyes widened as he realized this. As the gigantic Hummingbird Earthbound Immortal dove down towards Vincent, Vincent could tell that Damian wanted to call off the attack. But it was too late. “Now, Helios. [b]Skybound Dimension!” [/b]At that moment, the Skybound Immortal Helios Phoenix vanished in a beam of light.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then Vincent saw Aslla Piscu’s sharp beak rain down upon him from the skies, like a black spear shot from the heavens by gods. It had gotten awfully close. When it had reached five meters from him and his Duel Runner, Aslla Piscu vanished in a white beam of light, leaving only a terribly powerful gust of wind that scratched at the metal of his white Duel Runner, and ashes that were swept against him and tried to get in his eyes.

“Urgh.” Damian muttered, now slightly dazed. He had forgotten all about his Sun Dragon Inti in his despair over Aslla Piscu’s defeat. “Turn end.”

As soon as the Dark Signer had said those words, all the ashes suddenly disappeared in tiny beams of light, before a gigantic beam of light reappeared in the sky, and Helios Phoenix was back. Vincent grinned.

“You have no more counters, Damian!” He declared. “Now, Skybound Immortal Helios Phoenix, let’s finish this! [b][i]Sky-Ash Bomb!”[/i][/b]
The Phoenix Skybound Immortal up in the air charged up one final ball of grey energy, before dropping it upon the poor teen Dark Signer. It wouldn’t have actually vaporized him, only his Duel Runner, as the bomb felt like nothing more than a hot day for Signers, but he made the mistake of panicking and tried to escape it by driving through the purple wall of energy he himself had created and off the circuit they were driving on, fifty feet in the air.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!"

His Duel Runner was suspended in midair for a moment or so, before diving straight down into the ground. Vincent, seeing the danger, drove his own Duel Runner off the circuit and activated the devices attached to it that allowed it flight. His Duel Runner was now flying in the air, but he wasn’t fast enough to save Damian, whose Duel Runner had dived down fifty feet.

Vincent made his Duel Runner follow the fall, and tried to use gravity to his advantage . . . but gravity was a b****. The Dark Signer and his Duel Runner crashed right into the ground in a secluded alley. Vincent was horrified when he reached the ground. Damian’s Duel Runner was now in shambles, and Damian himself seemed really hurt, but still alive. Any ordinary human would have died, but Damian managed to survive because he was a Dark Signer. And apparently he didn’t know the same tricks Bebe had in recovering from high falls quickly. The pitiful Dark Signer let out a small groan, crawling out of the rubble of his former Duel Runner.

"H- h- help. . . . m- me . . . . . please . . ." He begged. Vincent felt sorry for him, but there was nothing he could do to help him. What could he do?

[i]I did this, [/i]he thought to himself as he looked across to the pathetic teenage boy wearing a now-ripped black uniform, trying to crawl out of the rubble of his own former Duel Runner. [i]I caused this guy pain.[/i]

He didn’t know why Bebe hated him, though it might’ve been related to the fact that he recognized her face from somewhere. Where, he didn’t know. But he just gave her a reason to hate him more, by critically harming her friend, if he could be called that. He was surprised when Damian continued to talk.

"W- what w- was . . . y- your n- n- n- name . . . ?" He seemed to have trouble speaking. It was obvious that he wasn’t going to recover quickly.

"The name's Vincent. Are you okay? I did want some answers but your health is more important right now.” Vincent replied, still feeling guilty. “Don't worry, I called the hospital, they're sending an ambulance for you right away."

All of a sudden, a familiar female figure walked out of the shadows. It startled Vincent when he noticed her. This was the third time he’d seen her, and each time he saw he felt like déjà vu, as if there was something he was missing in his memories, something he had forgotten. It was bugging him, and it frustrated him to not know the reason why she hated him.

“You just keep making this worse for yourself, don’t you, [b][i]Vincent?”[/i][/b] She asked, spitting out his name like a swear word, as she walked over to help Damian.

Her use of his name startled him extremely. How did she know his name? Okay, granted, he was rich but still, not many other than the rich or the famous knew about him. He had done his best to make himself anonymous. The déjà vu in his head continued, he just stared at her.

As she kneeled down to help Damian, the poor innocent Dark Signer fainted. His deck began to glow a purple light for a little while, but it quickly faded away. She rested her hands on his chest and began to mutter words that sounded to be in another language, possibly spells.

“Leave.” She commanded suddenly, directed at Vincent.

“I refuse! I’m sick of all these games!” Vincent retorted, and grabbed her shoulder, before turning her around and pulling her towards him using a self-defense technique he once learned. Only this time he wasn’t using it for self-defense. They were now face-to-face. “What’s your real [i]stupid[/i] name anyway?! Would it kill just to tell me [b]that?!”[/b]

She was silent for a moment. The silence chewed at Vincent. He was getting impatient. She would never give him any answers, but this might be his only chance. He had had enough of this game of cat-and-mouse. What pulled him to her? What was this feeling?
She was silent, staring through his eyes with her black sclera, as if considering whether she should answer him, lie, or just ignore him. She obviously had an annoyed look on her face, but when Vincent looked into his eyes, he thought he could see something familiar, something that told him that she was older than she looked. And dead.

“My name is Bebe Phoenix.” She said at last.

Vincent gasped at the mention of this name and let go of her. He took a few steps back. The memories were all coming back to him now, of him, and of a girl called Bebe, together. They had been together. But then they separated, he had to break up with her. The memories were still hazy, he couldn’t remember. He was still devastated over this revelation. She hadn’t been his first girlfriend, nor his last, so she hadn’t exactly lingered in his mind, as guiltily as he had to admit. But . . .

“But, it’s been nine years, and you don’t look a day older than the last time I saw you!” He pointed out, exasperated.
His body was starting to shake. If this was really her . . . .

“Dark Signers don’t age. But you have.” Bebe said, with her face quiet. She had retreated out of the streetlights and took a step back into the shadows, hiding her face and most of her body, showing only her feet and ankles, which had begun to wobble. “When you left me, [i]old man,[/i] I felt like my world had died down. My parents abused me every day and never cared about me, and we were nearing poverty!”

Vincent shook his head. He didn’t want to remember. [i]He didn’t want to remember.[/i]

“When you came into my life, I thought you’d be my savior! I thought that we . . . might have actually had something special together. But it was all a lie. After a few months, you had dumped me as soon as you found a prettier girl. Do you know how that felt like? [b][i]Do you know how that feels, you bastard?”[/i][/b]

He kept taking steps back. Tears were starting to well up in his eyes. He was [i]that[/i] kind of person. Wasn’t he? A [i]rich playboy,[/i] that’s what he had been in the past, a lucky guy born from a billionaire father and with good looks. But he’d changed since then, he was older now, more mature. He had learned from his past. But he had broken the hearts of dozens and dozens of girls in the process, always trying to find the prettiest of them all.

“I felt like my world had died. And did you know what I did the day after you dumped me?”

He shook his hard harder. He didn’t want to know. He didn’t want to hear this, any of this. He was twenty-six, a grown man now. He was over his past. Wasn’t he? Tears were all over his face, and it was only then that he realized that he kept on muttering the words ‘I’m sorry’ over and over again, like a deranged lunatic. Perhaps he was.

[i]“I jumped off Daedalus Bridge.”[/i] Bebe stated.

Vincent had heard of a recent suicide back then, but he had never thought it’d be her. But then again, even if he had known, back then he might not have cared. Back then he had been as heartless as an ideal Dark Signer. He didn’t want to remember anymore ‘back thens’.

“After that, the Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua appeared to me, and do you know what it offered me? It offered me [b]redemption;[/b] it offered me a chance to finally get my [b][i]revenge, [/i][/b]my revenge on you,[i] you annoying little pesky insect!”[/i]

“That’s enough.” Another voice echoed from the shadows.

Out from them emerged a pale man who looked around twenty, with long silver hair. He had silver tattoo lines running through his own face, body, and black uniform, meaning he was a Dark Signer. But his uniform looked different. His uniform looked metallic and stylized, just like armor, just like the armor of a medieval knight. It didn’t take long for Vincent to figure out that he was the leader of the Dark Signers. “Siste, it’s time to return back to the hideout.”

When Bebe had noticed his appearance, she had turned to face him and knelt down. “Shinato-sama, why are you here?”

To Vincent’s shock, he saw that there were two marks on Shinato, and both of them were glowing. One was the mark of the Heron, glowing purple like an ordinary Dark Signer. But the other, the other was the mark of Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs. And he had a powerful aura around him, a powerful aura that threatened to bring Vincent to his knees. It reminded him.

“An old comrade is returning to our cause.” Shinato continued. “You will do well to meet him, and continue your petty revenge afterwards.”

Vincent wanted to move. If anyone had his answers, it was this guy. But his body was still too much in shock over Bebe’s revelation to move, it refused to move. He was paralyzed against the wall, he couldn’t move against Shinato or anyone else. Dammit.
Suddenly, all of their marks, that of Vincent, Bebe, both of Shinato’s, and the unconscious Damian, they all began to glow as a fifth figure emerged from the shadows. It was Nick.

“I’m here, Vincent.” He said. “Stop trying to move around all the time, it was incredibly difficult following you everywhere.”

He then took his time to survey the area. Vincent was nervous, and his tears were still flowing across his face. Damian was still unconscious. Bebe now had an annoyed look, having been interrupted by two people. And Shinato was looking right back at Nick.

“Curious.” Shinato said at last. “I thought I had been the only Chaos Signer in existence.”

“If you meant as in ‘possessing the marks of both Sky and Dark Signers’, then I suppose we’re both thinking the same thing.” Nick replied. “I also thought I had been the only one.”

“This is interesting. Very interesting.” Shinato said, before turning back to the shadows. “Leave the newborn Dark Signer here, Bebe, he’ll recover in his own time, and if he wants to he’ll come and join us.” Vincent knew that he had been referring to the unconscious Damian. He had paused for a moment. “Now then, let’s go and meet our old friend.”

He went first, walking back into the darkness and disappearing. Bebe was about to follow him, but before she did she stopped and turned around to give Vincent an annoyed, cold glare.

“You’re lucky I’ve held in my wrath this entire time.” She said coldly. “Remember this; I will be coming for you soon, maggot, for my [b][i]revenge.”[/i][/b]

“And I’ll be there, ready and waiting.” Vincent replied, still trying to recover from the revelation. “You hear me, Bebe? When you come, I’ll be ready to face you one-on-one!”

“You’d better.”

And then she disappeared into the darkness, leaving an unconscious hurt Damian, Nick, and Vincent. Vincent knew he had to prepare for this encounter. It might be his last.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Chapter 3: Alucard and DJ]
“We have arrived.” The Leader said.

The two Dark Signers arrived back at the Dark Signer headquarters, a large building in Satellite. It had originally been a Sector Security base, but now it was abandoned. It definitely looked abandoned, with its metal rusting away and color draining. The place hadn’t been dusted in decades, and so there were cobwebs everywhere. The Leader led the way, and Bebe followed him inside.

When they entered, they had entered a small empty room, with loads of doors around to lead to other rooms. There were fourteen doors in total, leading to fourteen rooms. One was them was the meeting room, which the duo were heading towards now. The Leader opened the door and they walked inside, entering a round room with thirteen seats. Then, after that, he walked over to the seat at the very back, which looked more like a throne fit for a king, and sat down.
A single lightbulb was hanging by the ceiling, providing the only light in the darkness. The Leader’s gaze went across the entire room as Bebe walked over to one of the other seats, her seat, and sat down as well. The other three comrades, Hure, Jesse, and Saizen, had already taken their seats. Everyone was wearing hoods, so as to shadow their face. It was more of a custom than anything, so everyone wearing hoods was simply for formality. But it also made it difficult for anyone not part of them to recognize who was who. Jesse and one other sat in other seats, while a confident Dark Signer was sitting in the seat directly next to the Leader’s.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Late to your own party, eh, Shinato-sama?” He pointed out, mocking the Leader next to him, but the Leader just ignored him, as did Bebe and the others. He was always like this.

“Comrades, I am delighted to announce that an old friend of ours has chosen to return to us, an old friend which I’m sure all but one of you will recognize.” The Leader said in a quiet, commanding tone. Maybe it was just Bebe’s imagination, but she thought she could’ve heard a hint of excitement in it. “Please welcome back our old friend who has returned from Heartland in order to aid us in our endeavor against the Sky Signers . . . [i]Alucard![/i]”

As if on cue, the door opened once more and in walked in a Dark Signer. He was wearing his hood so his facial features were hard to see, but he had an overall slim body and wore the black uniform, with red lines and tattoos running over his uniform and body. When he entered, his Mark of the Shadows began to glow a purple light within the heavy darkness, revealing itself as the mark of the Spider.

When he walked in, one of the other Dark Signers gasped. It was Jesse. That was forgivable, since Alucard had been responsible for his death, and Jesse still wasn’t over it. Bebe herself wasn’t all that surprised.

“That is [i]so[/i] like you.” She said, giving him an annoyed look. “You disappear for years, and then suddenly show up again like nothing happened. . . .”

“And it’s just like you to complain over not seeing me for years.” Alucard replied in a bored tone. “What’s the big deal anyway? Nothing much has changed at all.”

“A lot has changed, Alucard.” A small grin began to on Bebe’s face. “Guess what? I’ve finally locked in on [i]him[/i]. Now I can finally have my revenge. . .”

“Oh?”

“Ahem.” The Leader said, quieting the duo down. “If you are going to hold a conversation, at least wait until the meeting is over and everyone has resumed their previous duties.”

“We apologize, Shinato-sama.” Alucard said, bowing down before Bebe could say anything. After that, he turned to the seat next to her and sat down on it.

“Good.” The Leader replied, and then for a moment everything was silent. He let his gaze fall upon all the other Dark Signers one by one, as if judging them. After this moment of silence he himself had created, he resumed talking. “There is meant to be [i]thirteen[/i] of us in total, but right now we are only [i]six[/i][b].[/b] Why is this, does anyone wonder? Any theories?”

“I have one.” Bebe said, raising her hand, and surprising herself. She hadn’t actually been planning to do that, but now there was no choice. She always thought the lack of Dark Signers was annoying, there were always just a few. Now and then, once a year, someone would join them or someone would leave them. It had always annoyed her.

“It is because that we aren’t expending our efforts on gathering other Dark Signers, and also because we don’t do anything whenever Dark Signer chooses to leave us. We simply sit down and wait patiently for Dark Signers to come to us themselves, but see, they rarely ever make that choice. And we don’t guide them to us anyway. That’s why that seven of us, more than half of us, are still missing.”

She glanced at her Leader, who had [i]not[/i] made the decision to bring that teenage Dark Signer from earlier to their headquarters. It could’ve been a fatal mistake, for all they knew. Then the Leader suddenly gave a friendly smile back to her when he noticed her glance, which for some reason frightened her.

“We appreciate your theory on this matter, Bebe.” The Leader said, before resuming his own speech. “What she said is true, we have been inactive far too long, and never went on the initiative to gather Dark Signers. Therefore, you are all now tasked to search for duelists capable of becoming Dark Signers, and convert them.”

He paused for a moment to let this sink in to the five other members.

“Can we choose anyone at all?” The confident Dark Signer sitting next to him asked.

“How do you convert someone into one of us?” Jesse asked.

“Do we get a reward for increasing our numbers?” The other Dark Signer asked.

“What if they fail to transform into a Dark Signer?” Bebe asked.

“Are transsexuals or cyborgs allowed to be converted, by any chance?” Alucard asked.

“Now, now, all your questions will be answered in due time.” The Leader said, and this answer got on everyone’s nerves, it annoyed them all. They all wanted a proper answer for each of their questions. But it seemed as if the Leader didn’t feel like giving them any proper answer.
“So for now, the battle against the Sky Signers will continue, and now we’re tasked with the mission of increasing our numbers. I hope you all have listened. This meeting is over, you’re all excused.”

And with that, all six Dark Signers rose from their seats and began to leave one by one. Before Alucard left, however, Bebe grabbed his hand, wanting to talk to him for a bit.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nick had left, dragging the unconscious Damian along with him before Vincent could ask anything. This got on his nerves. Despite the fact he kept on going everywhere, he was getting very few answers. The one answer he did manage to get was extremely surprising, and disturbing. Were all of his answers going to be the same? No, he doubted it, nothing could compare to that revelation he had just learned.

He sighed, and then was surprised when a white Duel Runner suddenly landed on the ground from the air next to him. At first, he thought it was Nick returning, but this Duel Runner looked a little different. It wasn’t Nick, it was a different Sky Signer. When it landed on the ground, Vincent looked at its rider. It was a white-robed guy wearing a baseball cap, looking around sixteen or seventeen. And his eyes had a thin transparent layer of skin over them.

“I saw your duel!” He said suddenly, getting off of his Duel Runner. “You . . . you’re the Sky Signer of the Phoenix, right?”

Vincent just stared, kind of dumbfounded, but he remembered to wipe his tears from earlier before the guy could notice them. He was glad it was night-time, it helped him hide it.
“I- it’s odd.” He said, still a little shaky from earlier. “For months now nothing much has happened, but now I’m meeting Signer after Signer.”

“It happens. By the way, if you want to know my name, it’s DJ. Nice to meet ya!”

Then DJ took a small, sturdy box from his Duel Runner. At first, he thought it was a large lunchbox or something, but then he realized that it was actually a toolbox. DJ set it down nearby the damaged Duel Runner and then took out a few tools. Vincent’s jaw dropped. This guy was going to repair a pile of junk! For a moment, he just stood there, watching as the Sky Signer stuck bits of metal together, taking out another tool from his toolbox to stick them together somehow.

“Well, nice to know I have someone smart like you to watch my back. And I’m Vincent.” Vincent said, not knowing what else he really should say. “So my mark’s the Phoenix, right? What’s yours?”

He watched an unbelievable as DJ had already put the New Ener-D engine back together, replacing a damaged chip with one from his own toolbox. Then he took plates of the black alloy the Duel Runner’s frame was made of and fitted them together, before turning to Vincent.

“Oh, mine? Mine’s Apus, the Bird of Paradise.” He replied, pulling up his right sleeve to show the constellation on his arm. “My Skybound Immortal’s called Apus Ucsip, and don’t tell anyone but I think I can actually talk to it!” He couldn’t have said anything to surprise Vincent even further.

“So what’s your story? How’d you become a Sky Signer?”

“Well, I used to be a playboy, dating and dumping girl after girl . . .” Vincent began. He couldn’t believe he was telling this to a stranger he’d only just met. “Then a couple of months ago, I decided to quit, and the day I did a voice approached me and congratulated me, and then this mark appeared on my arm.” He showed his mark.

“Well, that explains a theory I’ve had for a while. The Skybound Immortals approach anyone who makes a noble decision.” DJ said. Vincent kept this in mind, before continuing.

“Later on that day, a man in black with red lines on his body and clothes challenged me to a duel, declaring that he was a Dark Signer. He rambled on a lot, told me I was a Sky Signer, and neither of us were the only ones of our kind. I lost the duel, but thanks to my Sky Signer powers, I managed to survive it. Since then, I’ve been focusing my influence and money on trying to find out more about them but so far, I haven’t found out much.”

The other Sky Signer was listening as he continued to work on the Duel Runner. Amazingly, within less than a minute he had already repaired the entire interior, and some of the parts were supposed to be alien to him, such as the piece of rock with orange lines around it. Yet DJ took guesses and had so far managed to repair the entire thing. The only thing remaining was to put the mysterious black alloy back together into a frame around the interior to repair the Dark Signer’s Duel Runner.

“Are you sure you should be spending so much time on this guy’s Duel Runner?” Vincent added, still watching an impossible sight. “I have a feeling he’s mixed up in something really bad.”

“It’s not his fault.” DJ replied. “Besides, I’m good at this kind of stuff. Even though I’m only seventeen, I’m the chief of repairing Duel Runners at Kaiba Corporation! And not only that . . . . but I’m the grandson of [i]Mokuba Kaiba.[/i]”

Although Vincent had earlier thought that DJ couldn’t say anything to surprise him further, the very fact that he was a Kaiba simply brought things up to eleven. Wasn’t this guy supposed to be younger than him, regardless of whether or not he’s a Kaiba? Really, Vincent should’ve been the one fixing the Duel Runner. He was supposed to be the mature all-knowing adult here.

“You didn’t answer my question. You sure you should be spending so much time and effort on Damian, a Dark Signer?” He repeated.

“Well, I just like to help people, I guess. What’s the harm anyway, even if it’s a guy called Damian? Don’t you feel sorry for him? I mean after all, you’re the one who-”

“So how did you become a Sky Signer?” Vincent asked, trying to avoid the subject and change it.

DJ had to work harder on the plates, since a lot of them were crooked or damaged from the fall. He took out another tool from his toolbox that allowed him to shape them back into top form before attaching them with other plates to create parts of the exterior frame. Within minutes, he was already almost finished with repairing a former pile of junk. After working on it for a little while longer, he then turned to Vincent.

“Well, here’s my story.” He began. “One day, I was on my way back home from school when suddenly a malfunctioning Duel Runner appeared out of nowhere and slammed into me. Luckily I wasn’t killed on the spot, but I was heavily damaged and very close to dying.”
He had heard of an accident like that before, a failing Duel Runner accidentally hitting a teenage school kid. Naturally, though, they had failed to report that he was a Kaiba boy.
“I was rushed to the hospital and the doctors tried their best to save me, but I could feel the darkness slipping away from me. That’s when a voice appeared. It asked me if I wanted revenge against the driver, if I wanted a second life, to be reborn into the world as a Dark Signer and do their bidding . . .”

Vincent caught his breath.

“But I refused. After that, another voice appeared to me, a lighter voice. This voice congratulated me for my refusing the previous one, and then after that the doctors had a breakthrough. They managed to save my life. I was stuck in the hospital for another few weeks, but while I was, I noticed that the Apus mark had formed on my arm.” DJ ended.
“And how did you find out about the Sky Signers?”

At this question, DJ dropped his tools and suddenly went silent, as if recalling a dark, but not so distant memory, and for a moment Vincent was worried that he had just asked a forbidden question. Then DJ opened his mouth, about to answer Vincent’s question, when all of a sudden his eyes darted towards the darkness near them, and he got up, activating his Duel Disk.

Where he had looked, another figure emerged from the darkness and into the streetlamp lights, a figure that was wearing the Dark Signer uniform with red tattoos and lines. His hood was down, revealing his long dark brown hair and heartless red eyes with black sclera. Within the darkness, his red lines looked like streaming blood, and he himself looked like a vampire.
When this figure emerged, Vincent was shocked, as if he hadn’t had enough revelations already within less than half an hour.

“Alucard.” He stated, breathless.

The man now standing before the duo was someone Vincent could recognize from a long distance away. Just seeing the Dark Signer made him feel a little weak, the very same Dark Signer that left him to suffer and die. But he had survived that fateful encounter.

“Just who in the world are you?” DJ asked the Dark Signer, and Alucard grinned.

"I’m your worst nightmare." He said in a slightly amused tone. “I’ve been given the mission to recruit more Dark Signers, but instead I run into two Sky Signers. What a lucky day this must be.” And he activated his own dark Duel Disk.

"DJ, this is gonna be a lot tougher duel than my last one." Vincent warned. “We’re going to have to join forces in a two-on-one against him!”

He then raised his own arm and his golden Duel Disk opened as if it were a wing, and DJ just nodded, his own Duel Disk already activated.

Then the Life Point counters on their Duel Disks rose up, increasing until they were at 4000. Afterwards, all three duelists drew five cards from their deck, DJ and Vincent on one side, and Alucard on the other. [i]It’s two Sky Signers against just one Dark Signer. But even so, this guy . . . he’s not easy to beat. I should know, [/i]Vincent thought to himself. [i]I won’t lose this time. I’m stronger now, after all.[/i]

His reassuring himself didn’t help the feeling inside his stomach when he saw a wall of purple fire form a ring around the three of them, trapping them inside a Shadow Duel.

[b]“DUEL!”[/b]

“I’ll go first, draw!” DJ declared, and drew his sixth card. “I summon Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus in Attack Mode!”

Then, in front of DJ a white unicorn with golden-feathered wings appeared on the field, and it seemed as if there were two sapphire gems incorporated into its wings (ATK 1800).

“When it’s summoned, I can place a Crystal Beast monster from my hand, Deck, or graveyard onto my Spell and Trap Zone! Thus, I’ll place a Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise from my deck!”
The two sapphires on its wings began to glow a moment, and then behind it a large emerald gem materialized, floating in the air.

“Then I’ll lay down a face-down and end my turn!”

Vincent found it a little odd that DJ ran Crystals Beasts, especially since DJ was a Kaiba. For a moment, he had been expecting DJ to be running something like a Blue-Eyes deck like his great-uncle. But he guessed it didn’t matter much. What mattered was that he had this guy’s support in the duel against Alucard.

"Alright, here we go, draw!” Vincent said, and drew his own card. "I summon Archfiend Soldier in attack position, before setting a card! Turn end!"

A vertical card appeared face-down by Vincent, and then a knight clad in demonic armor formed in front of it, wearing a green cape and wielding a sharp sword. (ATK 1900) “Your move, sunshine!”

Alucard’s eyebrow twitched a little when he was called that. “You'll regret that. Draw.” He stated. “I activate the field spell Zombie World. After that, I’ll summon dark resonator and i equip him with the Equip Spell card Axe of Despair.”

All of a sudden, the scenery around them suddenly morphed from a dark abandoned street to a wasteland with bones and blood scattered across the ground like a horror scene, and if one looked into the distance they might see the shadow of a limping lazy figure wandering the empty land, a zombie. When the scenery changed, DJ’s Pegasus and Vincent’s Archfiend Soldier morphed into more zombie-like figures.

After that, a small demonic creature materialized, wielding a staff materialized in front of Alucard. When it did, its appearance became more zombie-like and the staff transformed into a gigantic demonic axe. (ATK 1300 -> 2300)

“Dark Resonator, attack his Sapphire Pegasus.” Alucard commanded, and then the demonic creature shot forward. It swung its axe at the unicorn.

“Not so fast! I activate my trap card Negate Attack! This will negate your attack and end the Battle Phase right away!” DJ retaliated, and a red and blue vortex formed in front of the Crystal Beast, absorbing the axe’s force. Then the demon retreated back to its master’s side.

“Fine, turn end.” He ended, starting to get bored.

“My turn again!” DJ declared, and drew his next card. “I activate the Field Spell Geartown! This will destroy your Zombie World, and with it I can summon Ancient Gear monsters with one less tribute!”

The Zombie World then shattered like glass, and for a moment their real surroundings, the dark street was revealed, but then it morphed again, this time into that of a mechanical town. The town apparently appeared to be heavily reliant upon spinning and turning gears for sustenance and daily activities. When it appeared, finally DJ’s deck began to make sense to Vincent. This kid ran both Crystal Beasts and Ancient Gears in one deck, an almost impossible combination.

“Now I’ll release my Pegasus to summon [i]Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon!”[/i]

Then the unicorn suddenly disappeared in a flash of light, before being replaced by a decently large, rusty mechanical dragon flying in the air, possessing a large tail and glowing red lights from where its eyes should have been placed at. It looked powerful. (ATK 3000)

“When it attacks, like all Ancient Gears, the opponent can’t activate Spells or Traps until the end of the Damage Step! So I’ll attack your Dark Resonator!”

The mechanical dragon’s mouth opened up, and then a wide concentrated red laser beam was fired from it, aimed at the Dark Resonator. But before it could hit, a barrier suddenly formed around the dark creature, shielding it. Still, bits of the laser passed through and hit Alucard’s ankle. (Alucard LP: 3300)

“Once per turn, Dark Resonator can’t be destroyed by battle.” Alucard explained. “Still, as you can see, damage is still applied.”

“Tch, fine. I lay a facedown! Turn-”

“Hold on, DJ.” Vincent said, a vertical face-down card appearing near him. “Before you end your turn, I activate the Quick-Play spell card Fires of Doomsday, which allows me to summon two Doomsday Tokens in Defense Position!”

Two black ember-like creatures with one eye each appeared onto the field, on both sides of Vincent’s Archfiend Soldier, and the two beings giggled maliciously like little mischievous schoolgirls. (DEF 0)

“. . . end!”

"Now then, my turn! Draw!" Vincent declared, and drew his next card. Unfortunately, he didn’t draw a good enough card that would allow him to overcome Alucard’s Dark Resonator. “I end my turn.”

“Draw.” Alucard said, and drew his next card. When he saw it, he grinned. “I activate Monster Reborn to revive the Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus in the grave to my side of the field, and then [b][i]I’ll release my two monsters, Sapphire Pegasus and Dark Resonator!”[/i][/b]

“Oh no, here we go again. . . .” Vincent muttered to himself, feeling a little pale as DJ’s unicorn reappeared on the field, but this time next to the demonic Dark Resonator (ATK 1800). And this time he didn’t have his Skybound Immortal Helios Phoenix with him to save him.

Alucard’s arms rose up high into the air, and he himself was madly grinning. A mark on his right arm began to glow brightly with purple light, the mark of the Spider. As it did, the ring of purple fire around them began to turn from a ring into the shape of the Spider Nazca line.

[center][i]“Souls resting within the earth, become a force that will end all life! The future stands dark for all eternity! Rise and destroy! [b]Advent, Earthbound Immortal Uru!!!”[/b][/i][/center]

As the red Dark Signer chanted, the Sapphire Pegasus and Dark Resonator were suddenly consumed in a growing dark purple mist that had begun to envelop around Geartown.

Then, high above the three Signers, an extremely gigantic figure began to emerge out of the darkness of the night, a terrifying colossal figure that then landed onto the ground close to where they were. When it landed, it sent a huge sound across all of New Domino City. Maybe they had been unsure about Aslla Piscu, there was no denying the appearance of Uru. They were on ground so it was also capable of consuming the souls of anyone nearby caught inside its Nazca line. Aslla Piscu’s line had been harmless way up high in the air, but this Earthbound Immortal was undeniable. It confirmed their nightmares, it confirmed all the rumors.

Eight ominous red lights came from the darkness of the night, and the light seemed to spread until the entire creature was visible. It was a large black monster in the shape of an oval-headed spider with eight legs, the size of a large house, with red lines running across its body. The eight ominous red lights were coming from its eyes, eight large glowing eyes. (ATK 3000)

“Now I’ll activate the Equip Spell card Black Pendant!” Alucard continued, and played a card from his hand. Nothing noticeable happened, but actually a pendant had materialized and landed on the Earthbound Immortal’s head (ATK 3500).

“And finally, go, Earthbound Immortal Uru! Attack this Sky Signer on the right, [i]directly!”[/i]

The gigantic arachnid’s head looked down towards DJ, who eyed back at the Immortal. For a moment, they were locked in a staring contest, with neither Uru nor DJ blinking. But try all DJ could, in the end he blinked, and the creature fired a large red laser beam at him. It hit him directly, engulfing him for a moment and sending him flying back all the way towards a wall twenty meters away. He hit it hard, but he managed to survive the blast and the loss of the staring contest (DJ LP: 500)

“I set a card. Turn end.”

Vincent ran towards DJ to help him up, but there was no need. DJ had already miraculously pulled himself back together as if the laser had only scratched him, and he had a slightly-pissed look on his face, but not for the reason one might think. His white clothes were slightly torn, but that wasn’t all. His cap had been vaporized by the Immortal’s blast.

“That was my favorite cap!” He screamed out angrily. “You’re gonna pay for this! DRAW!”

When DJ drew his card, the Apus mark on his arm began to glow. “Earthbounds can’t be selected as an attack target, right?! So GO, Gadjiltron Dragon! Attack dire-”

“I activate the Trap card Destruct Potion.” Alucard replied. “It allows me to destroy one monster I control and gain Life Points equal to its ATK. So thus, in this case I will destroy my very own Earthbound Immortal.”

“Huh? Why would you do that?!” DJ asked, but Vincent saw through his strategy.

The gigantic arachnid’s eight glowing eyes began to fade; a purple aura was surrounding it, draining it of energy, the eight lights flickering on and off like dying lamps. Finally, the lights were gone, and the Immortal faded away into the darkness. After it had faded away, a blast of purple energy came from nowhere and hit Alucard, but instead of damaging him, it healed him (Alucard LP: 6300).

The pendant that had been lying on the spider’s head then began to fall down, crashing down into the ground.

“DJ, GET OUT OF THE WAY!” Vincent called out, but it was too late.

The pendant hit the ground near DJ, and then it shattered. When it shattered, an explosion suddenly erupted from it. The Kaiba Sky Signer was caught in it, and it sent him back into the wall he had earlier crashed into, only with much greater force, forming large cracks in the wall. The explosion’s force was equivalent to that of a land mine. (DJ LP: 0)

The poor Sky Signer then collapsed onto the ground, burnt and unconscious. Maybe he was even dead. Vincent turned angrily back at the Dark Signer.

“You- how could you?!” He cried out.

“With logic.” Alucard replied, yawning a little. “Black Pendant’s an Equip Spell, so it’s destroyed whenever the equipped monster is destroyed. It also happens that when Black Pendant is destroyed, it inflicts 500 damage towards an opponent.” He then pointed at Vincent. “And now it’s just you and me again, Sky Signer. I may have let you live last time, but this time I’m ending you.”

The Dark Signer chuckled evilly a little. It occurred to Vincent that he was probably holding back his true power.

“Bebe hates you, but she regarded you as a threat that she herself had to take out.” He continued. “She asked me to test you, really. I’m supposed to be some kind of warning. But no. I’m just going to end you right here, right now.”

“Not a chance!” Vincent replied, his fists clenching. “Since my partner’s down, now it’s my turn! I DRAW!”

He drew his card, desperately hoping to draw a card that could allow him to summon his Skybound Immortal in his hand, but unfortunately not. It was just a Tuner monster. But then his attention turned towards the three monsters he controlled. They were Dark, weren’t they? And the Tuner monster in his hand, it was a Light monster. A strategy formed in his mind, a dangerous one, but still a strategy.

“I summon the Tuner monster Vylon Tetrah!” He declared, and a light robot materialized onto the field in a burst of light, floating. (ATK 900) “And now . . . I’ll tune it together with my Archfiend Soldier and two Fires of Doomsday!”

The strategy was dangerous, but he had to at least try.

[center][i]“Light and darkness, fuse together to become the primordial chaos! [b]Synchro Summon! Chaorrupt, Chaos Goddess!”[/b][/i][/center]

As Vincent chanted, the Fires and Archfiend Soldier turned into six glowing stars of darkness, and the Vylon Tetrah into two rings made of light. The stars aligned themselves together inside the rings, also aligned, before all eight rings and orbs burst out together, showering the Geartown with pitch-black darkness and rays of light here and there.

When the darkness disappeared, the rays of light combined together to form a woman. The woman had long white hair, wore a black dress, wielded a white staff, and had two wings. One black and one white. The Chaos Goddess indeed looked like a fusion between light and darkness. (ATK 2500)

“Now I activate its effect! Once per turn, I can discard a Light monster in my hand to revive a Level Five or higher Dark monster from YOUR grave!”

“Oh?” Alucard seemed to show slight interest.

“Since your Earthbound Immortal is the only one, I’ll revive that to my side of the field. I discard my Skybound Immortal Helios Phoenix!” He stated, and he took a card from his hand and sent it to the grave slot in his Duel Disk. When he did, a bright flash suddenly came from it, before being subdued. “Now, Chaos Goddess, bring forth [b]Earthbound Immortal Uru!”[/b]

The Chaos Goddess smiled at the opportunity to show off her powers, and then raised her staff high into the air, glowing with bright light. Then a portal made of dark energy formed behind Vincent, above the wall DJ had earlier been thrown into twice. Afterwards, the familiar gigantic arachnid climbed out of it, and landed back on the ground, its eight eyes glowing in the darkness. (ATK 3000)

But then, all of a sudden, it noticed that it was facing [i]against[/i] its own Dark Signer controller and that it was on the side of a Sky Signer instead. The eight eyes flickered for a moment, and suddenly a sharp pain went through Vincent’s arm, the arm with his Phoenix mark on it. The Phoenix mark began to glow brightly, but over it to Vincent’s horror the mark of the Spider began to form in purple light, trying to take over. They were fighting. Alucard laughed.

“Uru probably doesn’t appreciate that SKYBOUND within you.” He said. “I advice you hurry up or else . . . who knows?”

[color=darkred][i]Surrender to me, and I will grant your deepest, most valued wish![/i][/color] A dark voice whispered in Vincent’s head. He didn’t need telling from who it came from, as he looked up to see Uru silently looking back down at him.

“Well . . . I’m going to attack you directly anyway, Alucard!” Vincent declared. “Prepare yourself! Go, Uru and Chaos Goddess, attack directly!”

Chaos Goddess then pointed her staff at the Dark Signer, and a large laser beam fired out, made of concentrated light but with tints of darkness around it. The laser hit Alucard, sending him back a few feet, but he shook it off easily. (Alucard LP: 3800)

After that, the colossal black arachnid looked at its master and, without hesitating, shot a red beam of energy at him. It hit him a lot harder, sending him flying back into the unlit dark part of the street. For a moment, the darkness was silent, but then he reemerged, with his black uniform slightly torn. Even so, he didn’t seem all that bothered by it, only amused. (Alucard LP: 800)

“Not a bad hit there.” He said. “But then again, I expect nothing less from my very own Earthbound Immortal. Which you stole, by the way.”

The Phoenix mark on Vincent’s arm began to dim, slowly starting to be overcome by the Spider mark. It was no good. He had to end this [i]now [/i]somehow. He bet that if he ended his turn, Alucard would just be cruel and let time pass without him ending his turn, allowing the mark to take him over. He glanced back at DJ’s motionless body, motionless. Not even breathing. When Vincent looked at his Duel Disk, suddenly he got an idea and ran over to DJ’s body.

“This ends now!” Vincent said, and took off DJ’s Duel Disk. “DJ’s Gadjiltron Dragon hasn’t attacked yet, has it?! Even though its owner has lost, it’s still on the field, and so I’ll attack you directly with it! Prepare yourself! Go, Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon! Attack directly!”

“That’s against the rules.” Alucard pointed out, now slightly annoyed by this violation of the regulations. DJ’s rusty gear dragon opened its mouth and then began to charge up an attack.

“You know what?! I’m sick of this, SCREW THE RULES, [i]I HAVE MONEY!”[/i] Vincent shot back.

Then the dragon fired a powerful laser beam that hit the Dark Signer directly before he could protest. From the angle the mechanical dragon had fired, the laser simply forced Alucard to the ground, creating large cracks and a tiny crater beneath him. (Alucard LP: 0)

As soon as his Life Points hit zero, Vincent, a little panicked, quickly tore off the Earthbound Immortal Uru card from his Duel Disk and threw it back at the defeated Dark Signer. Just as quickly, the Spider mark that had begun to permanently make its way into his arm faded away, and the Phoenix mark beneath it glowed a white light, glad to have repelled off the Earthbound Immortal’s influence.

Then he kneeled down at DJ and felt his chest. No heartbeat, no breath. He was dead for sure. He had been killed before he could answer his questions. Dammit.

But then the Phoenix mark on his arm began to glow, and suddenly the dead Sky Signer was wrapped in a mass of light. Vincent took a step back, slightly surprised, and slightly confused. He looked at his arm, and the mark was now glowing intensely. It even began to sting a little, or hurt, or burn. It continued on like this, and he just stood there, confused.

The light enveloping DJ then intensified as well. It continued to intensify up to the point that it was starting to get too intense for Vincent to look at, blinding him, before finally starting to die down. As the intense light faded away, Vincent found himself drained of energy and he collapsed to his knees, exhausted. He glanced back at the dead Sky Signer.

DJ’s eyes flickered open.

“Huh . . .? What just . . . . happened. . .?” DJ whispered out weakly, holding his head. It seemed as if he had a slight headache.

Vincent was relieved that he had somehow been revived. Maybe his Phoenix mark had such a special ability, to revive the fallen. Or maybe it was exclusive to Sky Signers, or to the recently-dead, or maybe even to Kaiba kids. His thoughts weren’t especially clear so he couldn’t speculate properly.

The downed Dark Signer got up from the formed crater, and looked at the two weakened Sky Signers. He himself was also weak from the attacks, but it looked as if he had more spare energy left.

“Impressive, even if you cheated.” Alucard said. “Very well, you’ve proven your worth. Your ex-girlfriend will be awaiting you tomorrow in Satellite, to take her revenge. She told me that you would already know the exact location.”

Vincent frowned a little, but he was right. He had only ever been to Satellite once, so he could imagine where Bebe would be waiting for him. [i]The Tower.[/i] For a second, he considered bailing out and not appearing, but that was cowardly. No, he would face his fate and solve this problem. Once it had just been a mission to stop a force of evil, but now it was personal. Now he would have to face what he had created, face his past, face to face.

“Tell her I’ll be there.” Vincent replied. Alucard grinned, before taking a few steps back into the darkness once more, blending and disappearing into it. And then Vincent collapsed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DJ felt confused. He had just been about to direct a powerful blow at the red Dark Signer when all of a sudden something exploded near his feet, a grenade or something.
The next thing he knew, he had been walking around in a withering forest. The forest looked special, but the trees, strange though they may be, were dead. And not a single soul was in sight. It was quiet, just quiet. He had been scared, but even more so he felt sorry for the forest, so he had taken out a seed from his pocket, a seed he took from an apple he had been chewing before he sensed the presence of a Dark Signer, who turned out to be some teenager.

The ground beneath him was soft, and he was easily able to dig out a small hole. Then he planted the seed, before covering it up with the dug-up soil. He hoped that it would rain soon in this strange place, since there was no water for him to water it with yet. He hoped that the apple seed would grow into an apple tree, and then start to grow all around the forest, repairing it and replacing its dead trees.

After he had planted the seed, he walked over to one of the dead trees and touched it. The wood was fragile and soft, and so when he touched it, it crumbled away like dust. It was an odd feeling. He sympathized with the tree. He looked down at his feet and saw just earth, with tiny bits of dead grass around.

Then DJ noticed the oddity of it all. Why did they all die? Maybe the ground had become infertile. But if that was the case, how come when he dug it, it seemed to feel rich. He turned to where he had buried his apple seed. Would it die too? If it did, he would be extremely disappointed. But still, how did they all die? The ground felt okay. Was it the air? He breathed in. Plenty of oxygen. What, then?

A large monstrous bark then suddenly came from nearby, jolting DJ. [i]It’s probably not safe here,[/i] he thought to himself, and looked around. But all he saw were miles and miles of dead trees and bold ground. There was nowhere to hide. He looked around, starting to get worried, before running off into a random direction. Maybe if he ran far enough, he could reach someplace like a village or city. Everyone knew Kaiba Corporation, so he could be easily transported back to New Domino City. How did he end up here anyway? He heard the bark again, this time closer than before.

Whatever it was, it was following him.

He picked up his pace and began to run even faster, but it was no use. Now he was starting to hear trembling in the earth, as if a giant was chasing him. He kept on running. He wasn’t about to risk stopping, not now. The sounds of trembling earth was rising, and now he could also hear dead trees being crushed and destroyed as whatever was following him got even closer. He took a risk to look behind his shoulder, and was then horrified. A gigantic black monster in the shape of a dog, as large as a mansion, with cyan lines running across it was chasing after him. It was a dog Earthbound Immortal, and with its colossal size it was already very close.

DJ reached a cliff. He was trapped, it was over.

[color=#00ffff][i]You belong with me,[/i][/color] the dog Immortal said. [color=#00ffff][i]Surrender now and let me control you![/i][/color]

“NO!” DJ replied, and showed the black monster the mark on his arm. By now, he knew it was the voice that had talked to him within the hospital all that time ago. “I’m a Sky Signer now! I don’t belong with you at all, dog!”

[color=#00ffff][i]We will see about that.[/i][/color]

The Immortal then barked again, an extremely loud bark that shook the earth beneath them. DJ turned around and looked down the cliff. He had to escape this Immortal somehow, or at least prove him wrong. They did [i]not[/i] belong to each other. He had to do something, or else-

Right after that, he found himself panting and exhausted, lying back in the dark street from earlier. His Geartown Field Spell had disappeared, so he guessed the duel was over. Near him sat Vincent, also drained of energy. The red Dark Signer had still been there for a moment, but after he and Vincent exchanged a few words, Alucard disappeared off into the night, and Vincent collapsed. What time was it now?

He tried to pick himself up, but it was difficult. He felt like he had run a marathon ten times. Giving up, he just settled for lying against the wall behind him, a wall with a lot of cracks in it. Maybe those were his cracks, the ones he himself had created by enduring Uru’s blast. It was a miracle he had survived that in the first place.

Well, at least he had escaped the dog Earthbound Immortal for now, and as he relaxed, he hoped his apple seed would survive and endure its rampage across that forest, whatever it had been.

[i]Are you alright, DJ?[/i] A friendly, if grumpy voice asked him in his mind.

[i]Yeah, Ucsip, I just . . . I don’t know how to explain . . . [/i]DJ replied.

[i]I saw all of that, you know. The world you entered earlier . . . that was the Spirit World. First time I’d ever seen it, and it looked dead all thanks to that accursed brother of mine. But I’m surprised.[/i]
The Spirit World? DJ tried to reply to Apus Ucsip, but instead his vision began to fade away and his consciousness slipped away . . .
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Chapter 4: AKI]
“Come back here!” The dual Signer screamed out, and both of his hands began to be enveloped in energies of both light and darkness.

Damian kept running as irregular shadows, as well as the dual Signer, had begun to chase him. He had lost against a Sky Signer, and had just been about to be executed by this other Sky Signer, the one currently running after him. This other Sky Signer, though, also happened to be a Dark Signer. He could feel it, as the Hummingbird mark on his arm told him so. Not only that, but there had been tattoos and lines running across his body, as Damian had seen through his cloak. The dual Signer had earlier had some flying Duel Flyer, but Damian had thrown the keys into the open window of someone’s house, and apparently the dual Signer didn’t have enough time to both retrieve his keys [i]and[/i] chase him.

He kept on running, but the dual Signer apparently had the ability to manipulate shadows to an extent, and he was trying to bend the shadows to grab hold of Damian. Luckily, he was terrible at it, and Damian also knew parkour. The chase had begun on top of a large building, but as soon as Damian had regained consciousness he began running towards where he felt his Duel Runner lay. Granted, it was most likely now in pieces but he still had to see it.

“You won’t get away-” And then the dual Signer accidentally crashed into a small wall which Damian had jumped over.

“Mind your own business!” Damian retorted. He was following his feeling, heading towards the place where he thought, he knew . . .

And then he arrived back at the same area he had earlier crash-landed in, the abandoned alley or street or whatever it really was. By now, it was likely already past midnight. He noticed that the people wearing white, both Sky Signers and both ragged, were cuddling up against a wall with each other, sleeping. One of them was the one he had accidentally attracted, and the other was the one who had beaten him in a duel. But they were both sleeping so he didn’t regard them as a threat.

His attention then turned to the black Duel Runner nearby. He was surprised, since somehow it was back in one piece again. He ran over to it to check it out. It looked a little different from his old one, but the basics were the same. It was still a Duel Runner. He saw the toolbox lying near it, and then looked back at the Duel Runner. Did somebody actually [i]repair[/i] a damaged piece of junk? No, that was impossible, must’ve been magic.


He jumped onto it, and could already hear the dual Signer running towards him. When he got onto his ride, he half-expected it to stay dead, but it revved back to life. Only a Dark Signer could ride a Dark Signer Runner after all. Before the dual Signer could catch up to him, he sped off. Where to now?


“Oh great, he got away. . .” Nick muttered as the teenage Dark Signer drove off. [i]And wasn’t that Duel Runner supposed to be in pieces anyway?[/i]

He was about to use his powers to trace the escaping Dark Signer and give chase when he noticed the two unconscious Sky Signers nearby, DJ and Vincent. For a moment, he panicked. [i]Had their souls been taken?![/i] But luckily not, since they were both breathing. They were just sleeping out of exhaustion, nothing more.

He was a little surprised to see DJ all the way over here, but then again, DJ worked for Kaiba Corporation, whose headquarters were based here, so in actuality it wasn’t much of a shock. What was a shock was that his cap was missing. Nick had never, even back at the flying fortress, seen him without wearing his cap before. DJ had black hair.

He couldn’t leave the two Sky Signers here, since they were still in danger of being attacked while resting. The city was likely going into a quiet panic at the moment after the appearance of the Earthbound Immortal Uru, the Spider. The panic would soon rise the same moment the sun did, which wasn’t really very far off. [i]Only four more hours left until sunrise[/i], he noted, looking at the watch on his wrist.

Nick could sense that there had earlier been another Dark Signer here. It hadn’t been a Chaos Signer like the one earlier, nor had it been the female Bebe or the teenage Dark Signer that just escaped him. It was different, one he didn’t recognize. It was recent too. Unfortunately, he couldn’t waste time on tracking down the other Dark Signer, and instead knelt down close to the floor to help heal the two hurt Sky Signers.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Damian had gone off in a random direction. Somehow, his Duel Runner was now even faster than before and more stable as well. There was no mistake. Whoever repaired it must have been a genius at this kind of thing. The night was still pretty dark so he had blended in it well. Then he felt a raindrop suddenly land on his shoulder.

It was going to rain.

The rain began to come down, but slowly, just tiny raindrops every now and then. But he knew that the rain would soon increase, and although he was a Dark Signer, he didn’t possess accelerated drying powers and didn’t appreciate getting wet. He quickly rode off into an alley, and began to slow down, looking around for shelter. Unfortunately, so far there was none, and the rain was increasing. Could Dark Signer catch colds?

[i]Wait, what’s that noise? [/i]He thought suddenly, noticing that there was a rising noise heading towards his direction.

It sounded like a group of Duel Runners, but they were all going at high speeds. All going past the speed limit. Plus who would ride so fast in the middle of the dark, with it about to rain, and so late- er, early? On instinct, he turned his Duel Runner around and was about to drive off, to avoid whoever they were. Becoming a Dark Signer, unfortunately, hadn’t improved his confidence.

But before he could drive off, four Duel Runners suddenly sped past him. Three of them had been purple, and their riders had been wearing purple robes. The one in the lead, a Duel Runner colored pink and white, was going the fastest. The rider had been wearing a black leather bodysuit and a black helmet with a purple visor. This rider looked as if he was trying to escape them. Then it all made sense to Damian. This was a chase, and from he understood, if he helped this person he might gain an ally. If he was going to go up against people as powerful as that Vincent guy, he needed support.

He revved his black Duel Runner and then chased after them. Although they had all been going fast, his was even faster. His Duel Runner actually had a model name, called Giganto D, but he didn’t understand why much. The Dark Signer Duel Runners all go extremely fast, but now his own one could go even faster than before. In no time at all, he had caught up with the one being pursued and slowed down a bit.

“Hey, why’re these guys chasing after you?!” He called out, and the rider turned his head towards him.

"It's a long story.” [i]He[/i] said in an unexpectedly female voice. “But could you please help me lose them first?"

He was surprised that the rider was actually female, but he was even more surprised that it had seemed oddly familiar to him, how it sounded. Yet, despite this, it had a slight mechanical undertone to it, which only furthered his confusion.

"If I help you, will you join my, er, 'team', and defeat a, um, evil team?"

Damian was making sure he didn't say the word Signer or Dark Signer. At that moment, he also just realized that he hadn’t put on his helmet. His identity as a Dark Signer was clearly visible, even in the darkness! The rider stared at his face mysteriously for a moment as they both rode off, trying to lose their pursuers.


"According to my scans," she stated in a semi-monotone, still riding. "Your 'criminal marks' do not fit any known criminal mark configurations, but do fit the configurations of the ritualistic facial markings of a [b]Dark Signer[/b]. Your eyes also have black sclera, a trait only found in [b]Dark Signers.[/b] Also, your Duel Runner and Duel Disk fit known [b]Dark Signer[/b] configurations. Combine that with your current attire, and I have tantamount evidence that you belong to none other than the [b][i]Dark Signers."[/i][/b]

"GAH! How the-?!” Damian cursed to himself. “How could you tell? SCAN?! Now I MUST help you to shut you up!"

Then he slowed down his Duel Runner a little more and dropped behind. Now he was riding with the pursuers, and when he looked at them he saw that they were robots. [i]No need to hold back then! [/i]He slammed his Duel Runner into one of the purple ones, making it lose balance and control. It fell behind its friends and spun out of control, before finally hitting a wall and exploding.

Then one of the other purple robot riders recognized him as a threat and took out what looked like a laser gun. The robot fired at him, but he raised his arm and reflected it with his Duel Disk, sending the laser right back at it and blowing up another purple Duel Runner.

Finally, the last pursuing robot pointed its arm at Damian, and suddenly it transformed into a cannon, which it fired at Damian. He quickly sped up his Duel Runner and turned a corner. As he did, he looked ahead and saw the mystery rider simply watching him from her own Duel Runner. She knew his identity now, so he couldn’t back out of it anymore.

Right after he had turned the corner, he quickly stopped his own Duel Runner, and as the final pursuer turned round the corner, he slammed his Duel Disk’s sharp edge into the robot rider, slicing off its head. Without a head to control the body, the robot went inanimate and the Duel Runner crashed into a wall before exploding. All the pursuers had been taken care of.

He revved up his Duel Runner and was going to catch back up to the mystery rider, but then he saw that she had driven into an alley close by, as if beckoning him to come and follow her. He had an odd feeling in his stomach, but he went and followed her in.

He turned into the alley. There were a few streetlamps on, lighting up the mystery rider and the teenage Dark Signer, who then parked his Duel Runner and dismounted. Then he took a few steps towards the mystery rider, whose voice had seemed so familiar.

“Thank you.” She thanked.

He took a few more cautious steps, as if she had planted landmines in the ground. But that wouldn’t have made any sense. Still, the mystery rider herself didn’t make any sense. She had been pursued by three robed robots on purple Duel Runners. Her voice seemed oddly familiar, yet also mechanical in a way. She knew that he was a Dark Signer now, but as of yet didn’t seem startled or afraid. It didn’t make sense.

". . . Who are you?" Damian asked, hesitating a moment.

The rider then dismounted from her pink Duel Runner, before walking up to Damian without fear or hesitation.

“I have a secret.” The rider said. “This secret is the reason why the Arcadia Movement has been after me. If you wish to know my secret, you must promise to never reveal it to [b][i]anyone.[/i][/b] Understood?" Damian rolled his eyes at this.

"Fine. I [i]promise.[/i]" Damian rolled his eyes, his hands in his pockets. He also wondered a little what this ‘Arcadia Movement’ thing she mentioned was. It was all so mysterious and confusing.

"Thank you again." The rider replied.

And then all of a sudden she vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye. Damian was shocked, and he rubbed his eyes, as if it was just his eyes that weren’t working correctly, but they seemed fine, even if they had black sclera.

“HUH?! Where'd you go?!” He exclaimed with his British accent, surprised. “Oh, no! You're not a g- g- g- g- ghost?!”

Suddenly, the Duel Runner which the ‘rider’ had earlier been on started to convulse, and then transform.

The body of the Runner rose up and folded in on itself as its back section became a pair of legs. The body also shifted into a female torso, with parts of the ‘shell’ becoming something resembling a ‘skirt’. The wheels mounted themselves onto the robot's shoulders as arms that were once the sides popped into place, one arm had what looked like a folded-up Duel Disk, the other has a slightly bulky forearm and a gauntlet-like hand. Part of the handles turned into ear-like appendages on a newly-revealed head with red ‘hair’, golden eyes, and a pair of over-sized sunglass-like contraptions. The motor finally settled into place on the ‘Runner's’ back, and a few minor pieces locked into place.

"Hello." The robot, with the rider's voice, said meekly as she waved her somewhat larger right hand slightly towards him. The teenage Dark Signer just watched in shock, his mouth wide open.

“Oh . . . my . . . . Earthbound . . . God . . . .” He muttered to himself. "You're a robot?!”

“Cyborg.”

He examined her from her robotic feet to her robotic head, and couldn’t help but recognize that her robotic appearance was extremely similar to that of someone he knew.

"Now I see where I've heard that voice before . . .” Damian muttered, before facing the robot again. “What did you say your name was? Er, that is if you have a name. . . . Or do you only have a serial number?”

"I am an Autonomous Kinetic Intelligence. Serial Number 24-18-7. But I call myself 'A.K.I.' for short. It is a pleasure to meet you, Dark Signer."

She extended out her hand and Damian shook hands with it. "Okkkaaaay. . . I'm talking to a robot called Aki . . . who looks like Akiza Izinski, my parents’ friend, so um . . . . I must be going mad!"

He took in deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. Actually, since he was a Dark Signer there wasn’t really any need for him to breathe at all, but it was relaxing to do so anyway. It was all just hard to believe. He had saved a robot from a bunch of other robots. Just his luck.

“Judging by the tone of your voice and the readings I am getting from your body, you are in peak mental health.” She stated, examining him. “Peak mental health is unusual for a Dark Signer.”

“HEY! What's wrong with being a Dark Signer?” Damian asked, annoyed, before getting to the point. “Anyway, tell me, exactly just who are you, and what is this Arcadia Movement thing?”

The robot was silent for a moment, ominously silent, but then she replied.

"I am a specially designed combat cyborg created by the Arcadia Movement R&D Department two years ago. The Arcadia Movement was having trouble at the time with recruiting, so they came up with a brilliant idea. They would set up a special front corporation, modify Duel Runners to include cloned brains of some of their stronger members, and distribute them throughout the world. I was one of them.” She explained. And she wasn’t done yet.

“I don't remember much of that time, but I do remember being aware of my own existence after a freak lightning bolt hit me very close to my central processing core three-hundred and ninety-six point four six days ago. My onboard protocols dictated to me that I needed to execute an emergency shutdown until I could be repaired, but I decided to purge my programming of all of my protocols. Doing that liberated me, like my mind was initially locked up, but was now opened. Unfortunately, those protocols had a few uses. . . .”

Damian stared at her blankly. He hadn’t caught most of what she had said, but he did manage to understand she was a Duel Runner robot given free will by lightning.

“Er, well anyway, why do you look like Akiza?” He asked.

“It seems that you weren’t listening. The Arcadia Movement cloned her brain and inserted it into a modified Duel Runner with the ability to transform.” Aki further explained.

“Oh. So that means you aren’t just made up of complex computer programming or whatever?”

“Partially, but my brain serves as the primary controller. The chemicals it produces are much more advanced than any form of technology.”

For a moment, the Dark Signer and Duel Runner cyborg just stood there awkwardly within the alley, silent. Damian chose to break this silence.

“Okay, er, well, you still kinda owe me for saving you from those robot creeps.” He said. “I suggest you take on that weird duel runner-and-driver form and help me try to find the Dark Signer base.”

Damian then turned towards his own Duel Runner, expecting his new ally to follow.

Aki switched back into her Duel Runner form, complete with mysteriously reappearing rider, and checked her data on her new acquaintance. She had managed to get a small robotic drone onto Damian's robes. The drone was about the size of a flea and used tiny nanojets to maneuver through the air, but had only one purpose; to send back an encrypted pulse through the local information network back to Aki every second, which contained a series of GPS coordinates. These GPS coordinates corresponded to Damian's location, allowing Aki to find Damian whenever she wanted to. Then, instead of following him, she drove off.

“Hey- what? Come back!!!” Damian called out. But she didn’t reappear.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nick had taken DJ and Vincent to his garage so they could recover better. The robed Chaos Signer watched them, while at the same time looking around his garage. It was dusty, but spacious. His flying black-and-gold Duel Runner lay in one corner, while an old motorcycle, decades old, lay in another.

As he looked around his own garage, the Sky Signer Vincent regained consciousness. Nick was expecting him to be quiet, but instead he suddenly got up and pointed at Nick.

“Alright, Nick! There’s no avoiding me, I deserve some answers right about now, don’t you think?” Vincent shot at him.

“Calm down, Vincent.” Nick replied. “I’ve been in a hurry trying to chase around all the Dark Signers, and at the same time you also keep moving around. It makes it difficult for me to follow you around everywhere you go. It’s weird, I had one, two, three, and [i]four[/i] Dark Signers slip right through my grasp, and one of them was the leader . . . well. Go on then, ask away.”

Vincent took in a deep breath first, as if he was going to fight in a war instead of fire out questions, and then he started asking.

“What's up with this whole Sky Signer-Dark Signer business?” was his first question. “Thus far I've met one Dark Signers who really seems to hate me, and I don’t blame her, but I doubt their whole plans are just something like vengeance against me. The other one just looked lost. So what’s the deal? And mind explaining more about why I have this mark?” He showed his Phoenix mark to Nick.

“That’s a Sky Signer mark, signaling that you’re a herald of the light, a bearer of a Skybound Immortal, but I’m sure you already know that.” Nick began. “All three of us are Sky Signers. My friend DJ here has the Apus mark, the Bird of Paradise. You have the Phoenix mark, the Phoenix. And I have the Ara mark, the Altar. But see, there’s just one difference between me and you two.”

He then grabbed hold of his cloak, which had been disguising him this entire time, and threw it off. When it was thrown off, underneath the garage lights it simply confirmed what Vincent knew about him.

“I’m also a Dark Signer, holding of the Wolf Earthbound Immortal, Calnatos Lupunus.”

Underneath the cloak, Nick wore a black uniform with teal lines running across it. He also had teal tattoo lines running across his body, and his eyes had black sclera underneath the stretched transparent layer of skin. He also had a mark on both of his arms. The mark on his right arm was the Sky Signer mark, the constellation of Ara, while the one on his left arm was a Dark Signer mark, appearing to be a Nazca line of the Wolf.

Nick knew that there actually wasn’t any Wolf Nazca lines, or at least not anymore. Quite a few of the Nazca lines had faded away, unable to survive the passage of time over thousands of years. But they still existed, if only no longer visible. After all, the Earthbound Immortals were sealed into them.

“Showing off is great and all, but you haven’t answered my questions yet.” Vincent pointed out. “What’s up with this Sky Signer versus Dark Signer thing and do our marks mean?”

“I don’t know much myself actually.” Nick admitted. “The majority of what I know came from my former leader, Lady Kuroyukihime-sama.”

“Who-” Nick cut him off.

“ANYWAY, what I do know is this; for the past centuries the Dark Signers would always arise. There would always be five of them, each with the power of one Earthbound Immortal. And every time they arose, the five chosen Signers would gather together to subdue them. Whenever the Signers failed to gather together, or when they were beaten by the Dark Signers, the organization of Yliaster step in and subdue the Dark Signers for them.”

He paused for a moment.

“It was this way for centuries, a never-ending cycle. But the past few decades this cycle was broken, and instead of five Dark Signers, there appeared [i]seven[/i]. This was partially due to Yliaster’s corruption and influence and partially due to the fact that Devack wasn’t a natural Dark Signer, he had released the slumbering Monkey Immortal into himself on purpose. These two problems combined broke the cycle, and not only that but not long later, the Crimson Dragon was forced to interfere in its own Signer marking and create a sixth Signer to save the world, sending one of his standby Signer Dragons.”

Vincent frowned when Nick began explaining this. Nick guessed that Vincent didn’t know much about the past few decades despite actually being older than him, and decided to move onto a more comprehensible topic.

“Well, the thing is the cycle has now been broken and the Dark Signers have returned again, only this time instead of five . . . [b]there’s thirteen[/b].” He said.

“Of course, luckily for us, the Earthbound Immortals are still scrambling about trying to find thirteen heralds that are willing to surrender to them.” He reassured. “Anyway, due to these large amounts of Dark Signers, the Skybound Immortals, once peaceful and spread across the stars of the sky, decided to take matters into their own hands and choose thirteen heralds of their own to combat the Dark Signers.”

“Hmm, so that’s why we’re fighting against them. . .” Vincent realized, before asking again. “Next question, how come you’re a –what did he call it?- [i]Chaos Signer?[/i] And what about that other Chaos Signer guy?”

“Oh, that.” Nick replied. “Well, I guess sometimes people are like that. For a person to be chosen as a Sky Signer, they have to make a noble choice that would change their lives forever. But for a person to be chosen as a Dark Signer, they need to be dying unsatisfied, desiring revenge. If a person’s fulfilling both of these things, then they become what [i]he[/i] called a ‘Chaos Signer’. I had been chosen as a Sky Signer when I decided never to harm people with my Psychic powers out of arrogance ever again-”

“You’re Psychic?” Vincent interrupted.

“Yes. But see, after I had become a Sky Signer, I became cocky again. My Ara Skybound and I were invincible together, I thought. I challenged a Dark Signer I spotted, thinking I could beat him easily. But he was tougher than I thought, and I ended up dead. Then a dark voice appeared to me and offered me a chance to take revenge against the Dark Signer. Being the arrogant kid I was, I accepted and was revived. BUT somehow, as soon as I was revived, my Ara mark glowed, and then I regained myself. I was horrified at myself, but at the same time I realized I possessed powers like none other. I changed; I decided to continue working on the side of the Sky Signers. And I [i]still[/i] haven’t found that Dark Signer guy. That other guy might have a similar story, but he could’ve gained both marks in either order, whether he died after his noble decision or before.”

By this time, DJ had begun to regain consciousness as well.

“So what are these Dark Signers planning? What are they after?” Vincent continued on.

“I’m not sure, but I’m guessing they want to summon the King of the Underworld so they can turn the world into a living hell.” Nick replied. “And us Sky Signers are the only ones who can stop them.”

“And what will we do now?”

“We’re going to visit thirteen towers, all constructed within the past ten years.” Nick said. “I have no doubt their construction was the Dark Signers’ doing, and their plan is to use the thirteen towers to channel the powers of thirteen Earthbound Immortals and summon the King of the Underworld.”

He then pressed a button on the wall and the garage gate began to open up.

“Each tower can only be shut down by an Immortal, and one Immortal cannot be used to shut down more than one tower. I’ve been investigating it for a while now so this was my conclusion. I didn’t bother going there though since it was hopeless. Where could we get thirteen Immortals to shut them all down? Still, we can try to shut down a few to delay them, and now with you two with me you can help.”

“Alright, we’ll help!” DJ exclaimed out suddenly, getting up to his feet. “Time to save the world! Yeah!”

“Er.” Vincent gave an annoyed look to DJ. “Alright. Let’s shut down these towers then.”

“Good. I’m going to shut down the Wolf Tower myself, as it’s only proper.” Nick said. He took a deep breath. “We head for Satellite.”


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Damian was wandering around, alone, on his black Duel Runner. He had been looking around for the Dark Signer base everywhere, but so far he hadn’t found a single place that sparked a feeling in his Dark mark, he hadn’t found any indication of a Dark Signer base. As he kept on riding, he began to reflect to himself.

[i]What a weird day. I start off knowing nothing about my identity, but then learn about the other Dark Signers, get badly injured by a Sky Signer, escape from a creepy Both Dark AND Sky Signer. . . [/i]He reflected to himself. “And just now I met some weird robot . . .”

". . . And you’re still meeting her." Aki finished, stealthily pulling up beside him in her rider-and-runner form. He was annoyed, but she was a robot, so he couldn’t really care much at all. At least he had gained an ally, if only one that left on her own free will whenever he told her to follow him.

“Well-”

Then, all of a sudden he felt a strange sensation within him, as if something was screaming. It was coming from the Hummingbird mark on his arm, coming as a warning. It was trying to warn him of something. And then it was trying to direct him, trying to take him somewhere, somewhere not too far, but not too close either.

[i]. . . . Where does it want to take me . . . .?[/i]

He then decided to take out a card from his deck, and showed it to Aki. “I want you to take this for now, alright?” He requested her. “Next time, if you’re gonna drive out on me again or something, you’ll still have this card to remember me by. If you want, that is.”

Aki’s rider took the card, silently, and looked down on it. It was a card called Yu-Jo Friendship, proof of their fast-forged friendship. Then Damian suddenly swerved his Duel Runner into another direction. He had a feeling that he could find out more in that direction, whatever it was, his mark was telling him. His Duel Runner’s speed kept on accelerating and accelerating, going faster and faster as he headed towards Daedalus Bridge, and beyond it, Satellite.

"Wait!" Aki cried, trying to speed in pursuit of Damian, but his Duel Runner went too fast for the poor cyborg, and he escaped from her degrees of vision.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Credits so far]
Nicholas Hawk = Exowolf
Vincent Tavares = DNovaKnight
Bebe Phoenix = bebe3434
Damian Atlas = Lugia61617
Shinato Arcetraw = MaliciousX
DJ Kaiba = Tpopoli
Alucard = Alucard
A.K.I. = YRPOtaku169

[i]If anyone had participated in the roleplay Return of the Earthbound Immortals and their character had appeared in this fanfiction conversion, and they protest about the portrayal of character, please notify me and I will do my best to fix this mistake.[/i]
[/spoiler]

[Merci]

It ended up more mature than I had previously expected -___________-

Anyway, Chapter 2 added!

And I've planned this thing up to Chapter 12. It's very helpful to have a plan already laid out by others to the end.

[Sanvitch]

Nice. I think reusing Inca's was an odd choice, they are cool, but... well it is steal Goodwin's thunder. If it had been the same Immortal that would've been better.

But, well your fic, just my opinion.

[Merci]

[quote name='Sanvitch' timestamp='1332524835' post='5885345']
Nice. I think reusing Inca's was an odd choice, they are cool, but... well it is steal Goodwin's thunder. If it had been the same Immortal that would've been better.

But, well your fic, just my opinion.
[/quote]

Thanks for the info. And er, while if he had been using the same Immortal it would've been better, the fact that he runs Aslla Piscu is an important plot point so I can't really avoid that.

Chapter 3: Alucard and DJ, will probably be up really soon!

[Merci]

Added Chapter 3 and 4. I finished them a couple of days ago now but I had little to no internet access.