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

[Lexadin]

Lolwhat, Tyranan Sauro? What where you thinking, I accepted her being called Tyrana while using Jurrac's, but Sauro. Isn't that a bit too much.

Other then that I have no comments.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Lolwhat, Tyranan Sauro? What where you thinking, I accepted her being called Tyrana while using Jurrac's, but Sauro. Isn't that a bit too much.

Other then that I have no comments.

 

No it definately isn't too much.

 

Rex Raptor?

 

Weevil Underwood?

 

Mako Tsunami?

[Lexadin]

No it definately isn't too much.

 

Rex Raptor?

 

Weevil Underwood?

 

Mako Tsunami?

 

Yes, but those are 4kids' names. And you know what I think about 4kids.

Thier REAL names where, in the same order:

 

Dinosaur Ryuzaki (Dinosaur being a nickname)

 

Insector Haga (ok, this one's for you)

 

Ryota Kajiki (Ok Kajikimagurō means swordfish, but still, it's only 1 part of his name).

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Bump for comments from Fusion, komma, and Umbra.

 

Also, updates. First two chapters written, third will be done tomorrow (I hope, no more oversleeping and crap). Arc four possibly begins 22/6/11 ish.

 

Will also have a bonus chapter up this time next week, know what I want to write about.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Tentative bump... again...

 

Have written five chapters in eight days, I'm on a roll. A roll that could come to a screeching halt if I move house, which is something I'm trying to do (thus an indefinite loss of internet access).

 

Still, until that time we'll continue as normal, the fourth and final arc starts on Wednesday the 22nd of June. That's just ten days.

 

I'll try and do the bonus chapter tomorrow and get it up soon.

[8komma2]

Well, I have exams coming up in the nest few weeks, so I'll probably not be here to comment when the next arc starts :(

 

Edit: But that does mean I get to read a lot at once afterwards... ^_^

[Fusion X. Denver]

Alright, I finally finished 45 (read 44 a while ago actually).

Good stuff Matt. I really should've seen Luca and Tyranna being signers coming, but no >.>

Good dragon choices for each of them, now YUMA I knew would be a signer =P

45 kinda lacked depth for me, Idk. Even though stuff happened, it felt short to me, but that's probably just me.

Good 3rd arc, I'm looking forward to the final one.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Well, I have exams coming up in the nest few weeks, so I'll probably not be here to comment when the next arc starts :(

 

Edit: But that does mean I get to read a lot at once afterwards... ^_^

 

Don't worry about it. Concentrate on your exams and best of luck with them.

 

Alright, I finally finished 45 (read 44 a while ago actually).

Good stuff Matt. I really should've seen Luca and Tyranna being signers coming, but no >.>

Good dragon choices for each of them, now YUMA I knew would be a signer =P

45 kinda lacked depth for me, Idk. Even though stuff happened, it felt short to me, but that's probably just me.

Good 3rd arc, I'm looking forward to the final one.

 

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

Well, chapter 44 was the longest chapter in the entire story (11 1/2 pages on word for me) so don't want it to go on and on... and on..... Couldn't really get enough description into the crimson dragon for my liking, was kinda flat considering how epic he is, but we all know what he looks like so.

 

I'm looking forward to it. I've more or less completed chapters 46-50 and I'm trying to keep it as varied as the last arc, although obviously things are becoming more focused with everyone reunited and time running out.

 

I will say one thing... there are going to be many different kinds of duels in the last arc...

 

Oh yeah, bonus chapter is well underway, will be up tomorrow or more likely wednesday.

[8komma2]

Just an idea, but it might be cool to have a team duel with all the signers on one side and all of Demon and co on the other.

 

It'd be hel to write, probably, but it would be nice as a final duel...

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Just an idea, but it might be cool to have a team duel with all the signers on one side and all of Demon and co on the other.

 

It'd be hell to write, probably, but it would be nice as a final duel...

 

A six on six relay duel? That would be crazy, I've had enough flipping difficulty with two normal (or maybe not normal) duels already. :angry:

 

Having said that, I only recently settled on the final duel, and who will duke it out. Something that has changed about five times. But the penultimate duel has been set in stone since pretty much the beginning. Odd?

 

Now, since it appears I will be here for a while yet and not moving home so imminently, this should be able to continue as normal. Chapter 46 will be posted on Wednesday 22nd June, at some time in the day (depending on rota) and should continue as normal. Not going to get much done on it until Friday due to other commitments but should write chapters 51 and 52 over long weekend, and the duels for 53, 54 are planned, so its going smoothly.

 

Anyway, below is the bonus chapter. This covers an underlying aspect of the story that has been mentioned a few times, but not yet explored in any details. And really, I don't expect people to be surprised by this.

 

Let me know when you've read if it went down alright, and see you next week. Matt :)

 

[spoiler=Bonus Chapter]

The year is 3164. The place is on the borders of the kingdom of Ascorsa, little over a thousand miles east of Sen’nenki no Toride, the capital city of the rival Empire nation. The borderlands were comprised of a small mountain range, unimaginatively branded the Ascorsa Mountains, which acted as a definite cut off point between the two nations. A cut off that both sides were looking to cross over. Somewhere at the base of these mountains a small camp had been set up; one of many outposts for Empire platoons journeying across the mountains to the battlegrounds of war. Here the troops would receive one last proper sit down meal and night’s sleep in the large tents, before continuing their march onto war.

 

Sitting outside one of these tents was a lean, unshaven man in rusty armour. This man was no soldier. He was a builder by trade, so physically he didn’t look too out of place with his reasonably muscular body composition. But he stuck out like a sore thumb because of the difference in attitude and mentality between the real army and the civilians like him who had been forced to arms by the Emperor, who had declared the war against Ascorsa as ‘pivotal for their survival’. He, like all the other common folk shoved into old armour and handed a sword, was on edge throughout the journey east, keeping in his own shell for the most part. His dark green eyes were soft; untainted by the horrors of war.

 

The man was sat outside this tent, staring at a photograph in his right hand. The photo was of him and the two things most precious to him; his wife and young son. They were outside their new home in the outskirts of the capital, and were very happy. Also in the man’s hand was a gold necklace with a ring pendant, which he had received from his wife on their wedding day as opposed to a traditional ring. The man pushed a hand through his grey hair. He was not a religious man, but whenever he did occasionally need to pray, he would take off the necklace and hold it, as his lucky charm from she who loved him.

 

While this man was sitting, two other men came around the corner. Two young men, who had also been recruited as part of the Empire’s war service policy. They were both quite tall, athletic, and both often described simply as ‘one of those’. The first man, a thin man whose face resembled that of a rat, saw the man sat outside of the tent and pointed to his shaven heady, gorilla like chum, who nodded simple-mindedly. The two stood either side of the grey haired man, who blinked as his light was suddenly blocked.

 

“Hey old man, nice necklace” sneered the ratty one. “Bet that’s worth something.”

 

“More than anything you can offer” the grey haired man replied automatically. He had heard of people like these mugs. He rose to leave, but the thicker man blocked his path.

 

“You’re not going anywhere buddy” he said in his dense tone. “Hand it over.”

 

The grey haired man turned and attempted to walk past the thinner man. Who promptly pushed him in the chest. The grey haired man swung for him, but was caught by the broad gorilla shaped meathead, who after a bit of a struggle locked the guy’s arms behind his back. Fighting wildly to break free the grey haired man kicked out, but the fight was already lost, now he was a punching bag for the other one. Snatching the necklace out of the man’s hand, the rat faced one cackled with glee at his prize. The gorilla like one guffawed dumbly from his position.

 

“Hey you, vermin. Hand that back to the gentleman. Now.”

 

The rat faced one turned in shock to see who had dared address him like that. Stood behind him was another recruit, standing side on to them and glowering at them with narrowed eyes, which were a bright green colour. The man had a shocking mess of jet black hair, pale skin, and was looking at them in a way that lesser men may have buckled under. Indeed the gorilla man gulped, and the rat man lashed out.

 

“Or you’ll do what if I don’t? You rank no higher than we do. You have no power.”

 

“We’ll just see about that.” The man turned his body so that he was facing the muggers straight on, and their faces fell. On the man’s left arm was a shield clamped to his lower arm, but not just any shield. A shield that doubled as a duel disk to summon duel monsters with, housing a duelling hub that contained a deck of cards, and a blade running parallel with the arm to play them on. With eyes never leaving the two mugs, the stranger pulled out the top card of his deck and bellowed “Let’s show them just how much power we possess. Rise, Blue Eyes White Dragon!”

 

The air behind the stranger started to ripple, and the beast began to materialise into being. A towering creature with snow white hide, claws and teeth, and sparkling sapphire eyes like its name suggested. The legendary engine of destruction stood over the duelist, leering down at the insignificant pests cowering before it. How pathetic they all looked to it. The dragon craned its neck down to the three terrified looking humans, its head inches away from the thin ones face. Paralyzed with fright, the thin man stared back and gibbered slightly. What was that dark stain developing on the front of his trousers? Dismissively, the dragon snorted in the trio’s faces, a blast of hot air engulfing them, or the imaginary sense of it filled their minds at least.

 

The gorilla like man released his captive and ran. Reacting at last, the other one turned, shouting to his ally to come back, before falling backwards. He had walked straight into the fist of the third grey haired man, who looked awestruck by the dragon, but not quite as afraid as the other two. As the rat faced man fell backwards, the gold necklace flew out of his hand. To the man’s relief, it was caught by the duelist. Task accomplished, the white dragon growled, and slowly vanished into thin air before the astounded man.

 

The duelist returned his card to his duel shield with a smile, before striding over to the astounded looking grey haired man. He held out his hand holding the necklace, which the man shook vigorously before taking the necklace back, and tying it around his neck where it belonged, safe and sound. “Are you alright?” the duelist asked.

 

“Yes, I’m fine” he replied sheepishly. “Thank you for the rescue. I couldn’t bear to lose my wedding gift.”

 

“No problem. It’s bad enough that we have to fight the people of Ascorsa, but I have no problem taking on jerks like them. My name is Tatsan by the way.”

 

“I’m Novak. Novak Krieger. Hey, I recognise your face now. You’re Tatsan Daisuke, the five times duel monsters champion.”

 

Tatsan smiled awkwardly. “Not out here I’m not. Here I’m just another soldier, forced to fight against my will for the sake of increasing one man’s influence. I take it you were recruited by the same absurd scheme as well.” Novak smiled with a grimace.

 

“I find it difficult too, though it is more due to my personal matters than any widespread political views.” Tatsan looked perplexed, so Novak took out the photo of his family that he had pocketed before the skirmish. “This is my wife Lyna, and my son, Sabin. He will turn eleven in a few weeks. I have never been away from them for so long, I just hope I get back in one piece, and if soon even better.”

 

Tatsan smiled. “The sooner the better for all of us. I too have left behind wife and child, my son is also ten, although a few months younger than yours. When we get back to the capital safely, our families should meet. I’m sure our boys would get on well.”

 

Novak nodded again, before he was distracted by the shouts coming from his left. Running towards the duo between the tents were two full time soldiers, quite highly ranked, who were sprinting towards the scene with stressed looks. One of them was a huge man with chubby cheeks and piggy eyes, which were dancing wildly as he pushed his way past two men. Trailing behind him was another experienced looking soldier, who was clean shaven and had neatly combed dark hair.

 

The first, larger soldier got to them, face red from running. He grabbed Tatsan by the scruff of the neck, lifting him up slightly, and between heavy intakes of oxygen started to yell. “What... were you doing...? What was that dragon... doing in the... middle of camp duelist?”

 

“I apologise sir, but I did what I had to in order to protect my friend from being mugged by two other soldiers.” Tatsan indicated to the man still knocked out on the floor. The giant still didn’t look convinced, but his partner had arrived. He seemed a lot calmer than the other; refusing to ruffle his smart features by getting irate.

 

“Calm down Hagar. I’ve seen that guy lying over there making trouble before. As long as he hasn’t killed him, then I don’t see the problem.”

 

Once the two soldiers had established the miscreant was still alive and just passed out, and had spoken to one or two other neutral witnesses to the dragons summoning, they seemed a lot more relaxed. The neat looking one approached the two again. “I apologise on my friends behalf. It’s just a stressful time as it is; seeing our troops duke it out amongst each other is the last thing we need you know. But we know that guy was trouble. It’s just unfortunately some people like him slip through the net when we take on so many new recruits. Thanks for being straight with us.”

 

“No problem sir” Novak replied begrudgingly. “Thanks for not throwing us in nick.”

 

Somewhere in the distance, bells started to clang. This signalled that food was ready in the mess halls. The giant soldier approached them; a lot less red in the face now. “The last dinner before we cross the border tomorrow. We should make the most of it.”

 

“Right. I know the high commander will be addressing the troops too. If you two like you can sit with us. We always get seats near the front, and get good food. Our way of apology.”

 

“You have nothing to apologise for, but we certainly wouldn’t pass up on your offer” Tatsan extended a hand to the guard, and Novak followed suit, introducing himself. The soldiers introduced themselves as Warren and Hagar, and they headed to the mess halls. On the way they talked a bit about the Empire and the events leading to war. Novak wasn’t overly keen on the subject of conflict, especially with the reasons that Warren and Hagar were trying to convince upon them that this war, although unfortunate, was necessary for the Empire. To him it was never necessary. The soldiers respected his view, and instead moved on to discuss his building trade.

 

At the enormous mess tents, the four soldiers in arms walked straight to a table at the front, where someone was waving them over. Hagar easily pushed a few people out of the way with his bulk and sat himself next to this new soldier, a man with quite chiselled features that with his neatly trimmed moustache, grey eyes and silver fox style hair made him look quite handsome for a soldier. Warren, Novak and Tatsan sat opposite them.

 

“Guys this is Asgard Hope. Asgard, this is Tatsan, and Novak.” Asgard reached over the table and politely greeted them, before a chef came past and dumped a large plate of bread between them.

 

The food was good; roast chicken with mashed potatoes and a few greens. The bread went down excellently for wiping up the gravy with (especially for Hagar who had most of it). Over the course of this meal, the two raw recruits continued to chat with the three veteran soldiers. It was revealed that although Warren and Hagar were ‘married to the army’, Asgard had a wife waiting for him too, and also had two kids, although his boy was a bit older than the others, and his little girl only six. Some of Tatsan’s duels were discussed, including one Asgard said he’d seen about six months ago, the turbo duel final which had ended with Tatsan summoning his most powerful monster; the three headed Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon against his young opponent, who had crashed horrifically as the dragon attacked his monster to win the match.

 

“I don’t understand what happened; even though the way that kid was riding he could have come off that runner at any moment, crashes like that shouldn’t happen. Especially not because of monster attacks. Blue Eyes attacking his monster shouldn’t have affected his control like that. I hope he’s okay though, I heard he is still recovering in hospital...”

 

Meals were finished now, and someone had put a mic up on the raised platform at the front of the hall. A hush descended over the mess hall, as a stocky man approached it. He had flowing golden hair that matched his grand armour, and a magnificent moustache that curled upwards. The man cut a fine figure, although his face bore a slightly pompous air. Warren whispered that he was Pallas Goldberg, the high commander and war chief in general, before Pallas signalled for attention.

 

“I hope you ate well tonight gentleman. And I hope that you sleep well later. You’re going to need it in the battles ahead, as we fight against the Ascorsian war machine that threatens our way of life, and put an end to their leader’s regime of force. I won’t sugar-coat it; it will be a long and bloody conflict, which not all of you will survive, but remember those you are fighting to protect from invasion by this cruel tyrant and pray to God that you can find the strength to soldier on. I shall pray for all of you as well. Good health and luck to you all, and may our victory be swift and decisive.” The mess hall burst in rapturous applause for this short and simple speech, although not everyone was enthusiastic or convinced about it. Novak shrugged as Pallas left the stage, and swiped a piece of bread out of Hagar’s chubby hand, prompting grins from the others.

 

“Bloody cheek” growled Hagar.

 

“Careful Novak” chortled Warren. “Mess with Hagar’s dinner and you won’t even reach the border tomorrow.” This prompted more laughter, although for some it was quite hollow and forced.

 

Leaving the mess hall together, the five went to turn towards their separate sleeping quarters. Before they could leave however, Tatsan bought them together.

 

“It’s funny how in such dire and desperate times, the strongest bonds can be formed. I won’t speak for everyone, but I think we’ve all connected together by this meeting of chance. When this war is over and we all return home safely, I would very much like to meet up with you all again.”

 

“I agree with that, if we saw each other in less difficult circumstances, I think we could form very strong friendships.” Novak added. He held out his hand palm facing down. “We should make a pact. We should all vow to survive, and meet up again back in the city.”

 

Tatsan placed his hand on Novak’s. The three soldiers exchanged glances, and put their hands in as well. The group held it for a few seconds, and then said their farewells for now, leaving for their separate quarters.

 

...

 

The pact would never be fulfilled. The others never saw Novak again, as he was killed a week later. It was learned that his platoon had received a distress signal from a friendly company under fire and had gone to help, only to find themselves set up and ambushed upon arrival. Insufficiently trained by his rushed recruitment, he knew as soon as he saw the enemies he would not survive. He should never have been there to begin with.

 

Tatsan did survive the war and return to the city after six months, and he would meet Warren and Asgard again, only to find he had been branded an outlaw and criminal. They came to him and warned him that the emperor had, for reasons that mystified him, branded all professional duelists who didn’t surrender their cards and shields as traitors. That he was high on the list of duelists most wanted, and they were ordered to capture him on sight. They advised him to get out of the Empire. He agreed, but that night, before he could get his family to safety, he was captured, bought before a kangaroo court, and executed within a matter of hours.

 

As the years passed and the reign of the emperor became more and more cruel, the three soldiers became more disillusioned. But none knew any other way of life, and leaving the guards would see them, and in Asgard’s case their now young families, cast to the slums. With hands tied, they continued to bitterly serve the emperor. Asgard would be the next to lose his life, in service, unknowingly by the hand of his friend’s son in a Resistance attack on the palace. His own son, Dominik, would come to the capital and spark a huge rebellion against the Empire. Warren and Hagar joined his cause, the latter dying in a civil war at the palace that almost ripped the city in two. Only Warren still lives on with the memories of those lost, but he may never truly know why his friends have died, the true extent of the madness that has caused them all to suffer and be lost.

 

...

 

They are all just puppets to him, he who pulls on the strings. Like dolls dancing on life’s stage, mindlessly unaware as they dance in the misery and suffering, blind to all that he can see. But the puppeteer watches as they dance, pulling occasionally on the web of strings that connects them all together, and cutting the strings of those who need to be discarded, or who do not dance to his script. And all the while he plots, and waits, for the roof of this dismal theatre to come crashing down upon them all. Now, only twelve puppets were of relevance to him, left facing each other on the centre stage. The six he controls, and the six who could still threaten his plans. But he would destroy them, one by one, until his time, his goal was reached. The final curtain on the sad show of life will fall, blazing with fire, as the world meets its doom. His Armageddon, that is only three days away...

 

 

[Vector Nightmare]

This was... amazing. Yeah, I was completely and utterly satisfied with the concept, styling, pace and setting of this chapter. It provided depth that is usually rather buried in the main story with all the dueling action drawing attention. I liked how each character was portrayed, the little quirks, everything. Though the connection they all had did seem rather convenient, artistic license allows, I suppose.

 

[spoiler=_]But where are Hikari's parents? =(

 

 

Btw, I expected Sabin's dad to be more of a... I dunno, badass.

 

[spoiler=Fun predictions for the next arc]Alright we know a Juruo vs Erin is coming up. I'm not inclined to think Hikari and Erin will have another match, but I'm fairly sure Juruo will have to face Hikari at some point. I don't think it'll be as clear-cut as each Signer facing a nemesis amongst Demon's dad's minions, especially since there are some who don't have an opponent 'slated' for them. I tend to think hope that Sabin (or Erin) will be the one to take down Demon, leaving the big boss for Juruo. Erin's role in general is something I'm most curious to see, I think you could work it out well whichever path you decided to take with her. I don't expect Hikari's dark side to develop into anything particularly major, as it was introduced too late and there's little time - it's probably going to be a plot point to cause some grief for a couple of episodes. I expect Raesir and / or Gears to be the first to be offed. At this point they make perfect enemies for the less exposed Signers, ergo Luca, Tyrana and / or Yuma. They've already had their beefs with the main cast, Raesir twice, so I can't see them getting into the spotlight again. Ursula may be either Yuma's (if the twins take care of the aforementioned two) or, failing that, Sabin's enemy, though I prefer to think that Sabin will face Demon in Juruo's place. Since I can only count five on Demon's side, including Demon, I wonder who the sixth mentioned is... I don't think it's Nero, as he has pretty much lost his importance any more... I wonder if it might be Mel. That would make a good twist, and further drive some gear into Erin's plot. There probably isn't any space left for duels not relevant to those twelve and the big boss, which is just as well. I expect at least a couple of supporting characters to be part of a duel. I could see Dominik and maybe Carla and / or Pallas to duel one of the villains, such as Ursula (it'd be kinda sad for her to lose her first match, so maybe a draw or win against a supporting character would be a good idea), and it'd be redeeming in a good way if Eternia made a deus-ex-machina reappearance to help the Signers out.

 

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

This was... amazing. Yeah, I was completely and utterly satisfied with the concept, styling, pace and setting of this chapter. It provided depth that is usually rather buried in the main story with all the dueling action drawing attention. I liked how each character was portrayed, the little quirks, everything. Though the connection they all had did seem rather convenient, artistic license allows, I suppose.

 

But where are Hikari's parents? =(

 

Btw, I expected Sabin's dad to be more of a... I dunno, badass.

 

Huzzah! *Throws fists in air in triumph.*

 

Sabin's dad is the guy who in the role of 'forced to fight in a war he doesn't want to fight in'. This could have been given to Hikari's father, and may indeed have been more fitting him as a weedy tailor, but there's a reason he isn't there. Sabin's become a badass on the steets since losing his parents, rather than anything heridatory.

 

Anyway, enjoyable chapter was enjoyable. Glad the little end bit went down well as well, wasn't sure if it was too off kilter and distracting from the main. It was mostly inspired by John Doe's diary for the film 'Seven'.

 

[spoiler=Fun predictions for the next arc]Alright we know a Juruo vs Erin is coming up. I'm not inclined to think Hikari and Erin will have another match, but I'm fairly sure Juruo will have to face Hikari at some point. I don't think it'll be as clear-cut as each Signer facing a nemesis amongst Demon's dad's minions, especially since there are some who don't have an opponent 'slated' for them. I tend to think hope that Sabin (or Erin) will be the one to take down Demon, leaving the big boss for Juruo. Erin's role in general is something I'm most curious to see, I think you could work it out well whichever path you decided to take with her. I don't expect Hikari's dark side to develop into anything particularly major, as it was introduced too late and there's little time - it's probably going to be a plot point to cause some grief for a couple of episodes. I expect Raesir and / or Gears to be the first to be offed. At this point they make perfect enemies for the less exposed Signers, ergo Luca, Tyrana and / or Yuma. They've already had their beefs with the main cast, Raesir twice, so I can't see them getting into the spotlight again. Ursula may be either Yuma's (if the twins take care of the aforementioned two) or, failing that, Sabin's enemy, though I prefer to think that Sabin will face Demon in Juruo's place. Since I can only count five on Demon's side, including Demon, I wonder who the sixth mentioned is... I don't think it's Nero, as he has pretty much lost his importance any more... I wonder if it might be Mel. That would make a good twist, and further drive some gear into Erin's plot. There probably isn't any space left for duels not relevant to those twelve and the big boss, which is just as well. I expect at least a couple of supporting characters to be part of a duel. I could see Dominik and maybe Carla and / or Pallas to duel one of the villains, such as Ursula (it'd be kinda sad for her to lose her first match, so maybe a draw or win against a supporting character would be a good idea), and it'd be redeeming in a good way if Eternia made a deus-ex-machina reappearance to help the Signers out.

 

 

[spoiler=Response to fun predictions]

Well, some right, some wrong (well durr). One that I'm actually really annoyed you got right :angry: oh well.

 

Nero's usefulness has expired, and thus he is dead, definitely dead.

 

There are eight duels left; one will be for the 'non twelve, signers vs Demon's bad guys'. I'll be writing that chapter soon (the duel has been planned out) and I'm hoping that that duel will be something that YCM has never seen before...

 

Yeah, don't want to say much, but hopefully I will meet expectations ^_^

 

 

 

Note: At work tonight, then off for 4 of the next five. Major writing time, could get four chapters done in that time. Hurrah.

 

Then that will bring us to Wednesday, and the posting of ch.46.

 

BTW: New signiture promo.

[Vector Nightmare]

I'm kindasorta leaning on the one you're annoyed about. Well, there weren't that many that were really that important or hard to predict.

 

[spoiler=_]

It's either about Mel, or Sabin facing Demon. I'm thinking the first. Hoping the second.

 

Eight duels? Since I'm guessing there will be one involving each Signer and each of Demon's dad's people, that makes six at the very minimum, plus one for Demon's dad himself... then the final one must be the one you mentioned. If what I said earlier is incorrect, I'm almost 99% sure that Mel will be in it. It could be the Juruo vs Hikari, since it just doesn't fit the bill otherwise... actually, you specifying the number of duels has made it harder for me. I was expecting at least 10-11 duels, both numbers that could fit my 3-4 'outsider' duels including any main character conflict. Now it seems there's not even space for that. Maybe the unrelated duel will be Hikari vs her dark side? Each Signer will almost definitely get a duel so that leaves 2 duels up for grabs, assuming the last one is Juruo vs big boss, it'd be unfair giving the last one to Hikari while Sabin only gets one and messes up the balance. Not to mention Sabin has been getting the short end of the stick lately. But I can't see how Hikari's plot can be resolved at all with only one duel. If you have something as tacky as Erin vs Hikari redux where they both realize their mistakes and reconcile with each other and the rest... yeah, I won't be pleased.

 

There is the scenario of Demon's dad not dueling at all. Or maybe Demon himself being offed by his dad. However I think that is rather unlikely. It's been stressed out that we haven't seen the full extent of Demon's deck yet, and the final villain not being a duelist would be rather refreshingly... anticlimactic. And though that would, seemingly, buy space for an extra duel, in the end it wouldn't serve any real purpose and would either defeat the six vs six concept, or it wouldn't free any actually important character for a duel. So yeah, I don't think that will happen.

 

I definitely want Juruo vs Erin, and Juruo vs Demon's dad is almost bound to happen, so that kinda leaves Juruo vs Hikari out, since I don't think the eighth wildcard duel will be about that. Now that I think about it, Juruo vs Hikari isn't that necessary. In fact, I know I said it before but so far, I'd prefer if you left the whole 'Hikari-going-down-to-darkness' part out of the equation... it was really too late for that, and I'm quite certain there won't be enough space for it to be explored meaningfully. Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

 

 

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

[spoiler=...]

Would it help if I mentioned that 2-6 of thos eight battles are not one on one, or throw your plans further askew? :P

 

inb4LucaandTyranatagduelagain.

 

All kinds of crazy stuff coming up duel wise, got work in six hours then, then I'm free to do loads more writing...

 

Don't worry, I won't end plot-lines on a damp, unsatisfying note just to get it all in. I very much doubt it will all be done in 15 chapters, probably going to be 18, with a mini break/updated bios before the final battle (kinda like Huge Revolution was originally supposed to be five chapters and ?? duels long)

 

I'm going to shut up now k?

 

 

[Lexadin]

*aplouds* I must say this chapter is really nice. I like how some of the character's fathers used to know each other.

The only thing I can think of that's somewhat bad, is the 2 thugs that tried to rob Novak. A rat-like guy and a gorrilla-like guy? But I gues it's ok since they're minor characters.

[Vector Nightmare]

[spoiler=.........]...wait, 2-6? What kind of ridiculously vague estimate is that? I admit I hadn't taken into account more than 2 people dueling at once because it would further complicate things, and I was fairly convinced that most of the Signer battles would be 1-on-1. It would be kinda... weird to have Luca and Tyrana, with 2 essentially tag duels up till now and no individual ones, fight seperately in their final duel. I certainly hope it's not really 6 out of 8 duels that won't be 1-on-1, since it would feel rather cluster-y. As fun as unconventional duels might be, there's only so much you can exploit them before it all degrades into a contrived mess.

 

inb4juruosabinandhikarifacedemonsdad

 

 

Also, I lol'd at those descriptions, too.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

*aplouds* I must say this chapter is really nice. I like how some of the character's fathers used to know each other.

The only thing I can think of that's somewhat bad, is the 2 thugs that tried to rob Novak. A rat-like guy and a gorrilla-like guy? But I gues it's ok since they're minor characters.

 

Useless villians always have comedic descriptions.

 

Have you never seen anyone who you think looks like some kind of animal.

 

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/4018/478821-yossi_benayoun_large.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.giantbomb.com/yossi-benayoun/94-5474/&usg=__2CTL2UBf1hRGJ5v-034xfFLWiDc=&h=384&w=300&sz=19&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=lERPbSjjFZvnUM:&tbnh=156&tbnw=127&ei=Gzv6Tb3YF5D4sAO80tneBQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dyossi%2Bbenayoun%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D665%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=937&vpy=266&dur=1156&hovh=254&hovw=198&tx=80&ty=123&page=1&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:0&biw=1366&bih=665

 

He looks like a rat.

 

[spoiler=.........]...wait, 2-6? What kind of ridiculously vague estimate is that? I admit I hadn't taken into account more than 2 people dueling at once because it would further complicate things, and I was fairly convinced that most of the Signer battles would be 1-on-1. It would be kinda... weird to have Luca and Tyrana, with 2 essentially tag duels up till now and no individual ones, fight seperately in their final duel. I certainly hope it's not really 6 out of 8 duels that won't be 1-on-1, since it would feel rather cluster-y. As fun as unconventional duels might be, there's only so much you can exploit them before it all degrades into a contrived mess.

 

inb4juruosabinandhikarifacedemonsdad

 

 

Also, I lol'd at those descriptions, too.

 

I know how many will be 1on 1 and how many... won't... I'm not telling you that... :P

 

Yeah, know what you're driving at, it won't be 6:2.

 

EDIT: Back from work, and you can now ignore pretty much most of the above. Because more is being added. Not filler, but stuff to build other characters up and stuff. Plus it moves things back to where I want the arc to end. (ie. where Arc Three was supposed to end).

 

And extra duel going to be added.

[Lexadin]

Useless villians always have comedic descriptions.

 

Have you never seen anyone who you think looks like some kind of animal.

 

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/4018/478821-yossi_benayoun_large.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.giantbomb.com/yossi-benayoun/94-5474/&usg=__2CTL2UBf1hRGJ5v-034xfFLWiDc=&h=384&w=300&sz=19&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=lERPbSjjFZvnUM:&tbnh=156&tbnw=127&ei=Gzv6Tb3YF5D4sAO80tneBQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dyossi%2Bbenayoun%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D665%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=937&vpy=266&dur=1156&hovh=254&hovw=198&tx=80&ty=123&page=1&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:0&biw=1366&bih=665

 

He looks like a rat.

 

And extra duel going to be added.

 

True.

 

Actually all people I know look like Homo Sapien Sapiens (aka regular humans). So no.

 

I gues so.

 

Yay, an extra duel!

[Fusion X. Denver]

Nice bonus chapter, mate. Sabin's dad wasn't what I expected, but not in a bad way. I actually think Armageddon's "universe" gains more depth once you tie in character's backstories unexpectedly, so that was particularly good to me.

Sucks that almost all of them are dead, but I liked the story.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Thanks Fusion.

 

Now...

 

I have only one thing to say...

 

48 hours and counting down until Chapter 46...

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

We'rrrrre baaaaaackkkkkkkkkk... :)

 

The fourth and FINAL arc of Yu-Gi-Oh! Armageddon, Huge Revolution.

 

In the second spoiler is Chapter 46; titled '62 hours to save the world' (catchy no?). Alright you know the drill by now, new chapter every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and a double chapter release at the end. So dates to keep in mind:

 

Fri 24th June - The next update

Mon 4th July - Independance Day, and a historic chapter in YCM history...

Fri 8th July - Say it quietly but I think the best duel of the fic starts here...

Fri 22nd July - Double Chapter Arc Finale

 

Note that doesn't say story finale. This is likely to go to 65-66 chapters now to get everything in and resolved satisfactorily, and with epic duelling (don't look at me like that, I want my life back too!) Would like to have a short break for bios and stuff between Chapters 60-61, but I go on holiday on August 12th so I will ideally try to get it all done by then. It might be quite tight. We'll just have to see.

 

Anyway, lots of stuff to look forward to, including action, drama, lulz, love, hate, life, death, and epic card games for the fate of the world(s), as we wrap everything up over the remaining 20 chapters. :)

 

Will the signers stop the countdown in time? Do they have the power to defeat Demon and the dark sorcerer? Will the sorcerer soon be refered to by name any time soon, rather than just 'the sorcerer'? What will be the full extent of Hikari's transformation? What will become of Erin? What is the historic event I'm planning for Independance day? Will Warren get in on the duels? Who is Urusula going to les up with? When will Luca get his crazy feckin hair sorted out? When will I stop asking these goddam questions!!! Read on, dear readers, all shall be revealed...*

 

[spoiler=The story so far...]

After the parties defeat and capture by Demon, thanks in no small part to the betrayal of Erin, the Final Countdown was activated. This unstoppable destructive force from above would start a timer, giving both the human and duel spirit worlds ten days and ten nights until Armageddon was triggered. In desperation, the signer dragons re-emerged, selecting those who fought with courage and selflessness against the threat as their new champions; the signers. Those signers turned out to be Juruo, Sabin and Hikari; who had originally tried to stop Demon, along with Yuma; picked out by Ancient Fairy Dragon at birth, and Luca and Tyrana; who had fought against and ultimately defeated the emperor. Without being able to hide behind the defeated Nero anymore, the dark forces pulling the strings of this mayhem have been exposed. Now the united group must travel back to Demon’s stronghold in the heart of the Empire to try and stop his plans, before time runs out.

 

 

*Note: Don't spoiler yourself by trying to answer those, they're not all that serious if ya didn't notice.

 

[spoiler=Chapter 46]

Chapter 46 - Sixty Two Hours to Save the World

 

A tall, thin figure writhed from side to side under their sheets, trying to find peace in slumber. In their mind, the darkness was all consuming, the emptiness was endless, the cold was unbearable. Shivering despite this cold being solely in their head, the figure clutched its chest. Breathing became laboured, as shadows started to form in the empty plain of the mind. Shadows that grew larger, solid, with great wings and claws and teeth that were aching to rip through the beings flesh. Running was pointless, but that did stop the person from sprinting for their life from the monstrous invaders of their sanctuary. In no time, the creatures had caught up. There were countless numbers of them. A giant, boulder like beast reached down and plucked up the panicking figure in one of its enormous hands, crushing his bones as its fingers coiled around. The giant threw the tormented soul through the cold air, towards a bird like creature hovering over head. The figures eyes widened as the bird slashed at him with its talons. Hot blood started to pour from him as he fell back towards earth, into the open jaws of a giant gecko like creature waiting below. The falling figure passed through the mouth, the jaws started to close above him…

 

Demon woke with a scream.

 

Snatching desperately for oxygen, Demon fell out of his bed, and crawled towards the table a few meters away on which his duel shield was resting. He could sense that his ribs felt crushed, and that blood was trickling from his arm and shoulder. The pain was unbelievable, yet all too familiar. Demon crept more and more slowly towards the table, his body sinking lower and lower, reaching up with all his strength for the duel shield. Attaching it and rolling into a sitting position, his back propped against the wall as he no longer had the strength to support his meagre frame, Demon summoned the monster that he made sure was at the top of his deck every night.

 

“My...sterious... Puppeteer, revive me.”

 

By no means the only healing card in his deck, Demon had found familiarity with the hooded man in flowing lilac robes. As the puppeteer appeared before him, Demon placed another four monsters from the top of his deck into the blade of the shield. Jeroid, Newdoria, Senju, and his trump card, the ritual monster Demise, appeared side by side before him, powering up the puppeteer to cast his spell over his duelist, a white orb growing in its palm. The orb floated across the air to Demon and passed through him. Slowly the open bloody wounds sealed up, and the pain in his sides alleviated. Breathing heavily, Demon looked up hopelessly at the five monsters that were staring down at him, the mismatched, freakish monsters looked so sad for their suffering duelist. This was just as familiar to them. Demon had endured this same nightmare, and the injuries that somehow transferred from dream world to real world, almost every single night since birth.

 

“Just three more nights. Just three nights... and it will all stop. It will all end...”

 

...

 

Morning broke over the capital of the Empire, Sen’nenki no Toride. The morning after the war, and the fall of the emperor. People looking out of their windows could no longer see the palace cutting through the sky, for it had been swallowed almost entirely by a huge chasm in the earth.

 

Somewhere below the earth, in the waterway network that ran under the city, Juruo was in resistance headquarters, in the medical bay. He had been here a long time ago, and nothing had changed since, except for the medical personnel. After he and the others had left the Atem Tower last night they had come straight down to the headquarters, where he had been taken to the medical bay to sleep while the nurses patched up his shoulder. There were many with more serious injuries and Juruo had protested that he was being jumped up the queue, but Dominik had given the order that his shoulder be fixed as best as possible, and he was drugged before he could complain further. The fight for those others was over. Juruo’s wasn’t, and he had to be as ready as possible if he was to win his battle.

 

A nurse was removing the bandages as Luca walked in. After a good rest he had changed out of his armour from last night’s battle. He had from somewhere procured a padded blue riding jacket with a yellow collar and trim to match his blonde hair, and similar trousers. The material in the left arm had been thinned to attach his dark blue duel shield over. Luca walked over to him and passed over a bundle of clothes under his other arm. Some kind soul had taken the time to wash his sweaty and bloody clothes during the night.

 

“If we’re gonna save the world, we’re going to do it smelling daisy fresh” Luca chortled.

 

The nurse asked Juruo to try out his shoulder. He could see the scar from the stab wound Urusula had given him a few nights ago had shrunk and healed relatively well. He gave his arm a few tentative swings and rotations; the pain was minor. Thanking the nurse, Juruo pulled on his white shirt and black jacket, before picking up the duel shield resting at his bedside. Dented and tarnished, the silver shield emblazed with a dragon and its winged warrior, housing a bright emerald. He placed on his arm; it felt a little weightier than normal, but otherwise fine. He smiled, it felt so much more natural to have this back in place.

 

Before he could express these feelings to Luca, the medical bay’s doors swung open again, and Juruo was filled with another feeling; dread. The doors had opened to admit a little girl with dark pigtails, grey eyes, and clutching a teddy pair in her hand. A girl who he had duelled, after she was manipulated by Osborn while grieving for her dad. A man Juruo had killed and still been unable to come to terms with.

 

“Hey Luca” Carla skipped over to him, looking slightly flustered. “Have you seen my big bro? I’ve been looking everywhere for him.”

Luca blinked. “Sorry Carla, I haven’t seen him since we went to bed last night, I thought he was here.”

 

The little girl pouted, clutching her teddy tightly. “He needs to rest. Everyone’s been celebrating our victory last night, but those fireballs still haven’t gone away like he promised. Does this mean you all have to go away and fight more people?”

 

“Unfortunately so. We’re leaving soon, but as far as I was aware your brother wasn’t coming with us. If I see him, I’ll tell him to find you, alright?” The little girl nodded and beamed. “Oh, by the way Juruo, this is Dominik’s little sister Carla. Carla, this is Juruo, who’ll be fighting with me and Tyrana against the bad guys causing the fireballs. Hey man, you look pale. Your shoulder not fixed properly?”

 

Juruo had been gaping open mouthed at Carla ever since she entered the room. He almost threw up when the little girl turned to him and scrunched up her face, staring at him as if she knew him, but couldn’t think why. But then she smiled broadly, and hugged him tightly around the waist.

 

“Yay, you’re going to make those fireballs go away. You and big bro’s other friends are gonna be unstoppable alright, I know it. Go do it guys!” Carla hugged Luca as well, before she waved goodbye and hurtled out of the medical bay again.

 

“Poor girl’s been through the mill. Dom said she was found lost miles south of the city, and when it comes to how she got there, she has amnesia. Still, she has helped us a bit. Seriously Juruo, you look ill suddenly. What’s up?”

 

Juruo wanted to say something. Admit to everything he had done to the poor girl, and indeed to Dominik who was, as far as he was aware, in the dark about who killed his father. Maybe as a former guard he’d sympathise with the situation, but he doubted it. But now was not the time, he would sort that out later, after the countdown was stopped, he would make amends to the two.

 

“I’m fine, just need some air maybe. Now, let’s do this.”

 

...

 

Luca lead Juruo through the network of passageways until they came to a room marked ‘engineering’. The workshop was a massive room that was cluttered with heaps of scrap metal, which had been salvaged and used to build siege equipment. A short man with glasses wearing dark green engineer’s overalls approached them. Behind him, the two boys could see three duel runners lined up side by side, each being worked on by a team of mechanics.

 

“Good morning gentleman, I’m glad to see you are refreshed and ready for what lies ahead.” The man, who was quite elderly and balding slightly, chuckled at their surprised blinks. “No I’m not too sure what I even mean by that. Dominik just told me that the six of you needed to be getting off if you are to stop the fireballs above in time, and you would require your runners in tip top condition to make it to your destination.”

 

“Erm, am I missing something?” Juruo asked, turning to Luca.

 

“After we left you in the medical bay, the rest of us had a brief chat. Sabin and Hikari filled us in on your travels and everything that has happened since you left Sennen’Yama, and we did the same. We figured that our next move now that we’re all together is to head back to the castle of that Demon guy where you fought before and this thing above started. Sabin said about how there was some weird archway in the castle, through which he’d seen Demon throwing this bomb device into.” Juruo nodded to confirm all of this was correct. “All we can figure out is we have to get to that archway, pass through into wherever it takes us, and stop the bomb manually, thus hopefully deactivating the countdown. It’s hard to say without seeing it, but Tyrana is a whiz with anything mechanical, and Sabin seems pretty handy too.”

 

Juruo nodded slowly. He had guessed a return to Glamisery was inevitable ever since their escape, when they were rescued by the spirit Seishin, and they saw the fires above in the clear light of day that Demon had summoned. To return to the scene of his defeat and makes amends, and save the two worlds from destruction. Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy, given the foes in their path.

 

Luca ruffled the back of his hair, looking anxious. “You sure we’re doing the right thing by this? I mean, Sabin explained that Demon and Erin keep going on about this Utopia place, and how amazing that’s supposed to be. It all seems a little farfetched to me, and the emperor never mentioned that, just the destruction part.”

 

Juruo placed a hand on the younger boy’s shoulder. “Demon is putting the lives of everyone in this world in jeopardy, and the lives of all the creatures that inhabit the duel spirit world and maybe even worlds beyond. He admits not all of them will pass through Armageddon into Utopia. We can’t let so many lives be ended on the off chance of a better world for a few. Especially not after you, Tyrana and Dominik secured a better world for everyone already, with your actions last night.” Luca blushed slightly, before Juruo turned to the old mechanic. “Say, where is Dominik? His little sister is looking for him.”

 

The mechanic shrugged. “All I know is that he spent a couple of hours in the medical bay with you last night, before apparently he got an urgent message and left.” The two boys looked astounded at this news.

 

“Where’d he go? He was in no condition to go anywhere” Luca started.

 

Again, a shrug. “I’m just a mechanic. But I know Dominik is impossible to stop when he gets an idea into his head. But he clearly intends to be gone a while, for Warren has been placed in charge of things down here for now. As for the capital itself, you don’t need to worry about that. Pallas has been appointed in charge of the city temporarily, until a more permanent successor is needed. Now please, follow me.”

 

With that the mechanic led the duo over to the three runners that were being played with. Sitting on the bulky black and red craft was Sabin, his now lengthening silver hair having to be tied back in a little ponytail. Concentration etched into his forehead, he revved the engine, which roared louder and more menacingly than ever before. On his right, the standard grey model seemed to be receiving the most attention from the three mechanics all working on different parts of the engine and the cpu. To his left was the sleek, blue and white model that Juruo had inherited from its previous rider, Erin. The team were finished with this one. The old man instructed Juruo to get on and try the engine. It had sounded worn out and beaten last night. Now it purred smoothly.

 

“Now as you will have no doubt guessed by now, your runners will be capable of cruising at higher speeds, and the engines will be able to last for longer distances than before without needing to stop to recharge themselves. This in short will get you to your destination in time. Speaking of, your computer has been programmed with this little app here that indicates Glamisery Castle, and your clearest direction to it.” The man pressed a few buttons and the map screen came up, a flashing green dot indicating the runner’s position, and a red dot far below it, indicating the target.

 

“Wow, who found that? I thought Glamisery was a relatively unknown place.”

 

“Warren was born in the little village nearby” Luca pointed just above the red dot. “He recognised it immediately, as the mountains the castle is hidden in loom high over the horizon from his old home from when he was young.”

 

“All you need to know for now is that it’s this button here to switch between the intercom and the map screen” indicated the mechanic. “You only need to do that if you’re opening the transmission, the receiving runners will swap screens automatically. Also, there is one other thing” the old man hesitated at this point, before zooming in on the map screen to depict a hundred mile radius. An arrow pointed south in the direction of the target, but what was more puzzling was the number of dark blood red clouds just outside the city, that appeared on all sides.

 

“Did you notice anything... unusual, during your travel north?” the old man asked innocently.

 

Juruo nodded, they had recently started seeing creatures they should not have been seeing. Since they learnt from Erin how the boundaries between the two worlds were thinning and they were collapsing into each other, otherworldly creatures from the land of duel monsters were slipping in and out between gaps in the fabric of this world. This was the conclusion Yuma, a mysterious girl who had been in communication with duel spirits for most of her life, had come to. They had seen a few glimpses of this, fire based things fighting reptiles, a herd of strange beasts passing by, but nothing... serious. This was as much as Juruo told the old man, who sighed.

 

“I’m afraid that since the fourteenth fireball appeared last night, there have been numerous... monsters seen in the distance. Presumably as the ring gets closer to completion, bigger and more bloodthirsty creatures will emerge that the city will not be able to defend against, not in its weakened state after yesterday’s battle. This is merely deduction, but we have to plan for a worst case scenario. You need to get to the castle and quickly as possible, and safely. If you see a red pattern like this on your map, you change course and avoid it.”

 

“Yeah yeah we get it. What are we supposed to do about the swarm right outside the front door of this city?” Sabin had finished checking over his runner, and was now staring questioningly at the old man.

 

“Warren is working on that. He’ll give you covering fire so that when the gates open, the creatures won’t be able to get in, and you’ll be able to charge through.”

 

“You think arrows are going to cut it? Gimme a break” Sabin snorted.

 

There was a sigh and a clapping sound, and the mechanics stood back from the third runner, allowing the one lying underneath to emerge. Grimy and sweaty, Tyrana wiped her brow with a cloth, a satisfied smile on her face. She had also discarded her battle armour, replaced with a red crop top exposing her (pierced) belly, brown engineer’s trousers with braces, and black boots and fingerless gloves. Blowing at her fringe irritably, she accepted the water bottle passed to her and drank from it, mounting the runner. “Finally finished. I’d like to see any of those monsters outside catch up with this baby now.”

 

“You know what Tyrana? I wouldn’t.” Tyrana scowled at Luca’s jibe, before wiping her face and revving her engine. It sounded impressive, a deep bellow of a noise that chugged away when she stopped, as if it too were desperate for the off.

 

“These are all set. All we need now are our other two signers” she said. “Oh yeah. Denton, have you explained to the others you fixed our duel shields too?”

 

“Oh yes, thank you for reminding me” the engineer apparently know as Denton replied. “You may have noticed that your shields are a little heavier than they were last night. Since Dominik told us about how since the appearance of the fireballs, battle damage sustained in duels has caused real injury. So my team and I had a play to strengthen your shields as much as we had the technology too. They’re not a perfect defence, but any additional protection against damage could make the difference between a large blow and a fatal one.” Denton sighed and bowed his head. “We hope we’ve done enough. I got the feeling from Dominik that you guys seem to be our only hope.”

 

“No worries old man. We’ll take it from here” Sabin smirked, and with a flick of his wrist, his runner lurched forward and drove out of the garage.

 

...

 

The three runners rolled out of the engineering bay and through the underground headquarters. After the end of the battle last night the place was not densely populated, with most of the temporary soldiers returning home to their relieved partners and children with the news of what had happened. Only the former guards had remained to clear a few things up. Some of the guards smiled and waved to Luca and Tyrana, as a gesture of thanks for their actions last night, but nobody approached them about where they were going now, thankfully. They parked in the central training area of the headquarters. Sabin looked around with a grimace, this was where he had duelled Vardus, only a few weeks ago.

 

The two remaining signers emerged from a room opposite them, walking over the small bridge to the training area. Yuma was still the same, with her long hair running back over her silky black dress and gloves that hid her mark, and her expression was still forlorn. In front of her was Hikari, who caused the others to blink in shock. She had also had a change of clothes since last night, but in a way more extreme than the others. The familiar leather armour that had protected her had been discarded. In its place was a black T-Shirt; that had been supposedly fashionably frayed and ripped, blue denim hot pants, and black combat boots that came nearly up to her knees. As for her lower arms, both had been wrapped in bandages like a boxer, from her knuckles all the way to her elbows, her duel shield attached over the left wrap. Some more bandaging could be seen under the boots. This new look was shocking simply as it exposed her shoulders, upper arms and thighs, revealing the deep scars for all to see. Everyone gaped at her as she marched up to the right runner, and gracefully swung herself behind Juruo, wrapping her bandaged arms around his waist.

 

“Erm, what’s with the change?” he asked.

 

“The armour was getting cumbersome and heavy” she replied airily, as if it was obvious. “I can move faster and be more comfortable riding like this. Beside, why should I try to cover up what has happened to me because of Demon? I’m not going to hide my scars anymore.”

 

“O....kay.... Guess that means you’re with me Yuma.” Sabin addressed the perplexed looking girl in black, who shrugged and, with a bit of fiddling with her dress, sat up behind him. Sabin tried to hide the look of delight about this, failing throughly miserably. Yuma herself didn’t see as she was preoccupied with sitting comfortably, however he earned himself a few glares from Hikari and Tyrana. “Anyway” Sabin shook himself out of it. “Don’t think there’s anything else we need to wait for. It’s ten o’clock now, meaning fireball number fifteen will probably appear soon.”

 

“Meaning on current form we’ve got about sixty hours to do this” Juruo finished the sentence for him. “Let’s go.” With a last menacing rev of the engine, he and Hikari set off, rumbling over the bridge, turning the tight corner between it and the wall with ease, and shooting off for the exit. Without hesitation, Sabin and his new passenger followed suit, taking the corner a lot slower, but once on a straight, accelerating up to a frightening speed top speed. That left Tyrana to turn to her partner.

 

“Ready for this?”

 

Luca shrugged. “Ready as I could be I guess. Let’s go save the world.”

 

Tyrana kicked the runner into starting, and set off in pursuit of the others.

 

...

 

Tearing through the empty streets towards the south gate of the city, Juruo was pleased with the new runner parts. He would change direction with only a slight flick off the wrists, keeping perfectly balanced as it weaved between the houses. It was so frustrating that as he got onto the main road leading towards the gate that he was waved down and forced to stop by a soldier waiting for him. Sabin and Tyrana stopped either side of him, the latter addressing the guard with the neatly combed hair and moustache, who was in charge of the guards in Dominik’s absence.

 

“Getting out of the city is going to be more complicated than we first thought” sighed Warren, looking weary. He had only had roughly three hours sleep, having to organise things in the aftermath of the battle long into last night, then being up early after being alerted to what was going on outside the walls. “There is a pack of strange... things... waiting out there, and they can’t wait for these gates to open to get inside here. We must look like tinned meat to them; they just need a can opener.”

 

“The engineer said you had archers” Juruo asked. Warren nodded.

 

“Lined up the whole way around the city. We’re being pretty much surrounded on all sides; otherwise we’d just release you through another gate. I don’t know what you six are supposed to be doing, but Dominik has ordered me to get you out of the city quickly and safely. But you understand I don’t want to open the gates and endanger the people.”

 

“We understand Warren, but we’ll only need the gates open for a few seconds if we have a running start.” Tyrana looked up and down the length of the street; it went in a straight line for about over two hundred metres from the gate into the slums. “You won’t even need to open them too wide. If we time it right we can shoot through the gap as you open and close it again.”

 

“And what will you do against the creatures out there?” Warren asked.

 

Hikari brandished her duel shield. “Well, since they’re monsters from the duel spirit world, we can summon our own monsters against them.” With that she plucked two cards out of her deck, and slide them into the blade of her shield. “I tune Fabled Raven with Fabled Dwf to summon Fabled Ragin.” The two monsters appeared briefly, before their bodies illuminated and split into stars. From the light emerged the dark prince of the Fabled, sword brandished (ATK: 2300).

 

“Sounds like a reasonable plan” Luca whipped out his own two cards. “You three focus on the driving, we’ll watch your backs. The archers can take care of anything coming towards the door that we miss. Now I tune Deep Sea Diva with Spined Gillman to summon Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon.” The merman and woman burst into bubbles that joined into a sphere of water, surrounded by spinning stars, before the great aqua dragon burst the bubble from the inside with a spread of its wings, roar muffled by the water in its throat. (ATK: 2300)

 

“I summon Dragon Queen of Tragic Endings.” Still without a duel shield of her own with none available to give to her, Yuma simply held her card out in her gloved hand, eyes closed, as dark energy surrounded it. From a portal behind her, the bizarre floral dragon emerged, taking flight on its huge leaf like wings beside the levitating Ragin (ATK: 1900).

 

Warren stared up at the collection of monsters in staggering disbelief, before rubbing the back of his neck, resigned to this plan that seemed madness to him. “Alright, we’ll do it your way. We’ll open the gates on my mark. As soon as we you see a glimmer of sky through them, you set off damn fast.” He paused, as if wanting to say something more. “Juruo. Sabin. I don’t know what you kids are doing, other than you are fighting for all of us. Tatsan and Novak would be proud.”

 

“Eh?” started Sabin, but Warren had already turned and started for the gate.

 

A few moments later and Warren had reached the gate, whilst the three runners rolled to the end of the street and lined up in single file, each separated by a monster floating behind it. Warren entered the little guard house at the base of the gate, and picked up the headset, requesting the gates - which slid open and shut from either side - to be opened slowly, and warned them to be ready to close it as quickly as possible when he shouted to them to do so.

 

At the front of the line due to having the lightest runner off the mark, Juruo put his head down and waited. Staring solely at the heavy metal gates, waiting. Feeling Hikari’s tense breathing on his neck, waiting.

 

Waiting...

 

He could see light.

 

Slamming on the throttle, the runner lurched forward, hitting top speed for the first gear in a blink. Somewhere behind him, Sabin had done the same, and although his heavier runner would take a few seconds more to really get going, once it did so he would hit top speed faster than Juruo could, and would be right up behind him. Shifting gears as quickly as possible, the runner continued to accelerate, as the gap continued to widen. On top of the walls, archers began to fire down on whatever was waiting for them, that had sensed the gate to their prey was being opened. He could hear the roar of the Fabled prince flying behind him, over him, sailing through the gate first, just squeezing through. Half a second later, an inch from hitting either side of the door, he had shot through, into the plains outside...

 

 

 

PS: Saber, how do I do the post hyperlink again?

[Vector Nightmare]

As expected, a smooth beginning to the final arc. You have a solid talent for characterization and storytelling (despite a few past blunders) and these transitional chapters tend to be pretty damn good because of it. I liked how they were all finally able to catch a real break, not to mention that they're all united now. This chapter served its purpose of setting up the pace for the arc and getting us pumped up... the Demon thing felt a little out of place, though.

 

Also:

 

[spoiler=Answers]Will the signers stop the countdown in time? No. Armageddon will happen, and then they'll have to reverse it to some extent.

Do they have the power to defeat Demon and the dark sorcerer? Not now. They will, by the end of the arc, probably.

Will the sorcerer soon be refered to by name any time soon, rather than just 'the sorcerer'? Nowai.

What will be the full extent of Hikari's transformation? Not much, I believe. Like I said, Hikari = Amamiya in my mind, so however grim things look now I actually expect this change to be for the best, in the end.

What will become of Erin? She'll turn good and help against Demon's team at a critical moment. She might die afterwards, though.

What is the historic event I'm planning for Independance day? Card games on spaceships?

Will Warren get in on the duels? Eeh, hope not. But maybe, in a one-shot duel...

Who is Urusula going to les up with? Really wondering about that. Leaning on Yuma.

When will Luca get his crazy feckin hair sorted out? When Demon's father fries them with a thunderbolt?

 

 

To hyperlink to the post, use the link you get when clicking on the number on the upper right corner of the post (for example, I'd click on the #272 in this post, copy the link, then use it as a regular hyperlink)

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

As expected, a smooth beginning to the final arc. You have a solid talent for characterization and storytelling (despite a few past blunders) and these transitional chapters tend to be pretty damn good because of it. I liked how they were all finally able to catch a real break, not to mention that they're all united now. This chapter served its purpose of setting up the pace for the arc and getting us pumped up... the Demon thing felt a little out of place, though.

 

Also:

 

[spoiler=Answers]Will the signers stop the countdown in time? No. Armageddon will happen, and then they'll have to reverse it to some extent.

Do they have the power to defeat Demon and the dark sorcerer? Not now. They will, by the end of the arc, probably.

Will the sorcerer soon be refered to by name any time soon, rather than just 'the sorcerer'? Nowai.

What will be the full extent of Hikari's transformation? Not much, I believe. Like I said, Hikari = Amamiya in my mind, so however grim things look now I actually expect this change to be for the best, in the end.

What will become of Erin? She'll turn good and help against Demon's team at a critical moment. She might die afterwards, though.

What is the historic event I'm planning for Independance day? Card games on spaceships?

Will Warren get in on the duels? Eeh, hope not. But maybe, in a one-shot duel...

Who is Urusula going to les up with? Really wondering about that. Leaning on Yuma.

When will Luca get his crazy feckin hair sorted out? When Demon's father fries them with a thunderbolt?

 

 

To hyperlink to the post, use the link you get when clicking on the number on the upper right corner of the post (for example, I'd click on the #272 in this post, copy the link, then use it as a regular hyperlink)

 

Glad to know I'm getting better.

 

Yeah it was nice to end the last arc on a relative high for the group. Of course that will change soon. Mwahahahaha *evil git*

 

The Demon bit at start: Didn't know quite where to put that. Hopefully it will fit soon in soon.

 

Thanks for the hyperlink thing, done it in contents now. And for the lulzy answers.

[Vector Nightmare]

I was actually serious about all of them, except #3, #6, and #9.

[Lexadin]

[spoiler=Meh]

I like how Demon revived himself with Mysterious Puppeteer, and how his monsters, though knowing he'll destroy his world, still sort of care for him.

 

Really the EBI's? First I thought it would be the ORIGINAL Gods, but the Gekko description kinda gave it away. Otherwise a wierd ass desciption for Sliver. MEh, it could be worse. It could've also been the Numbers. XD

 

Oh yeah, I kinda forgot that Juruo killed Dominik and Carla's father. As said in the extra chapter. Huh, nice guilt trip for Juruo. I probebly shouldn't be enjoying this.

 

In total a nice chapter and very well written. I still liked it more if the Original Gods would apear at a moment, but seeing as the end isn't there yet, they might still apear.