A/N: Alright everyone, here's chapter 3 of Death Rising. Before you all start reading though, I just want to point out that not a lot is changed from the episode here aside from side commentary from Ryou during Yusei's duel against Uryu, so this is pretty much a skippable chapter. Also, The Duelist Of Dawn and I have decided to work on a little project once he's finished with his Duel Academy Stories fanfic, but I need to reach a certain point in this one for us to work on it. As such, I will be temporarily taking down my OneWinged Angel: Enigma story since I'm going to need to pour all my attention onto this one. Enigma will be put back up once I'm caught up in this story, but depending on when I start re-uploading it there'll be edits placed accordingly. And just to point out, this is, so far, the first episode of a Japanese anime where I've seen a screw up on behalf of the Japanese company. When Uryu uses the card Insect Disguise (known as Insect Costume in the 4Kids dub), Uryu sends a Metal Armored Bug to the Cemetery in the Japanese version. However, when he summons Devil Dozer, it shows the two cards in his Cemetery were Pinch Batter and Insect Knight. Looks like this time around 4Kids did something right with an edit (though they did make another correction with editing in a later episode which I'll also point out). Now with the end of that rant, let's start the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise! I DO, however, own my S.I. Misaki Ryou and the Epitaph/Phase/Avatar archtype!
It had been a few days since my Riding Duel against Ushio and I continued spending my time lounging around Yusei's hideout while he spent his time working on his D-Wheel and testing its speed with Rally using a stopwatch to keep track of Yusei's runs. In fact, today was such a day as Yusei took his D-Wheel for a trial run and Rally looked down the tunnel, holding out the stopwatch.
"Are we still waiting?" Lycoris asked me.
"Until Yusei decides to leave, we have no choice," I answered quietly so that Rally wouldn't hear and think I was talking to myself.
The sound of a D-Wheel's engine could soon be heard through the tunnel and in a near instant, Yusei passed by with a dust trail behind him as he skid to a stop, prompting Rally to stop the timer on the stopwatch immediately. Upon looking at the time on the watch, Rally gasped in surprise, I could tell it was out of joy, as I watched him jump down to meet with Yusei.
"Amazing! Your best time yet!" I could hear Rally's voice say to Yusei.
'From how we're getting out, he's going to have to be faster than that,' I thought to myself as I turned my attention to my D-Wheel. 'And if Lycoris made Shadow as good as I think she did, I should be able to get to the City easily.'
"Tonight's the night, huh?" Rally's voice asked.
"Looks like we'll be getting to the city soon!" Lycoris said ecstatically.
'You sure seem happy,' I said to Lycoris through my mind.
"Why wouldn't I be? We're getting closer to saving this world," Lycoris said with a smile on her face.
'Whatever. Just remember I'm only in this because you picked me and I only want to find strong opponents for my new deck,' I told the young deity.
I then heard Yusei rev his D-Wheel's engine before speeding down the tunnels once more. Some time later, after Yusei finished his practice runs down the tunnels and started to fine-tune the machine, Blitz, Nerve and Taka walked in looking like they'd just gotten their asses handed to them, and the story they told more than clarified it.
"You guys sure got whipped…" Rally told his three friends as he tended to their wounds.
"Freaking Uryu… Heard he stirred up some trouble in the city so he ended up over here," Nerve said. "Looms like he boasts up a storm about being from the city and picks fights with residents of Satellite."
"That guy just likes to tell us that we're different," Blitz added.
'Looks like that dumbass hasn't learned his lesson after I dueled him,' I thought to myself while sighing quietly.
"Say, Yusei, how's it holding up there?" Taka asked the spiky-haired D-Wheeler.
"Couldn't be better! He got his fastest time yet today!" Rally shouted ecstatically.
"Not half bad," Nerve said in awe.
"It's all thanks to Rally," Yusei said modestly.
"I gotta give you my thanks too, Yusei!" Rally said before turning to the other three. "Security hasn't been after me since then!"
"I'm the one you should thank for that!" I shouted to Rally and the others. "I was the one who beat down Ushio, Yusei just arranged the terms."
"Thank you very much, Ryou!" Rally said with a bow.
"Damn right," I said to myself.
"Don't you feel grateful for helping him?" Lycoris asked.
'Not at all. Ushio was a weakling, but it gave me a reason to test my deck in a Riding Duel. Yusei would've beaten him anyway,' I told Lyrcois through my mind.
"Seems like you have a lot of faith in him," Lycoris said with a smile.
'You have to be kidding. You already told me this was the world of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, which is an anime in my world. If Yusei wasn't able of defeating Ushio then I wouldn't know that he had a way to the city, right?' I explained to the young deity.
"Good point," Lycoris said.
Once Rally finished dressing up the wounds that were inflicted on his friends, the four of them gathered around Yusei as he was putting some finishing touches on his D-Wheel.
"Wonder how Jack'll react," Taka mused.
"You are dueling Jack, right?" Rally asked.
"I'm getting my card back. That's it," Yusei answered simply. "It's everyone's card."
'And here comes the sentimental garbage,' I thought in disgust.
"Yeah, you're right. We all wanted to see that dragon," Nerve said.
"The Riding Duel Yusei showed us by hacking into the City shocked the heck outta us, huh?" Taka said, starting to get excited from the memory. "We couldn't believe stuff like D-Wheels, advanced versions of Duel Disks, existed in the City."
"All of us were impressed when Yusei built a D-Wheel, huh?" Rally joined in the reminiscing.
"Yeah. And when that dragon took to the air, it made my heart race!" Blitz added.
"Our dreams had come true, right?" Rally said.
"But, Jack was alreadying scheming to take Yusei's D-Wheel and his card," Taka said with a lack of energy.
"This D-Wheel is pretty awesome itself! It could get through that pipeline in two minutes!" Rally told the others.
"Just two minutes? No joshing!" Taka asked, he along with Nerve and Blitz surprised at the information.
"I ran a simulation..." Yusei said, earning the attention of his friends.
"You mean you've hacked them again?" Blitz asked.
"The Security Division does have weak security, after all," Yusei said as he worked on his laptop. "Once a month, at twelve midnight, the pipeline is shutdown and they run interior maintenance. There's three minutes until its automatic controls finish their job and garbage starts flowing out again. If I can just bust through this maintenance hatch here before then, I can make it to the outside."
"Yusei… you…" Blitz started. "Nope… I won't say another damn thing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you."
"Here you are…" a familiar voice entered the area.
When I looked across from Yusei and his friends, I saw the blue-haired man I had beaten previously.
'Uryu…' I thought to myself while glaring at the man as he and two others walked towards Yusei and his friends.
"We're here to return the favor," Uryu said, directed towards Taka, Blitz and Nerve.
"We caught aaall sorts of hell for th' mess earlier!" said the large man standing to Uryu's left, a mark on the right side of his face. "And, wese tooks a hits outs our pays, to tops it off."
The shorter man, who stood to Uryu's right, had his right hand held up like a gun and screeching some weird-ass laugh.
"We've just gotta return the favor," Uryu said as he walked closer to Yusei and his friends while cracking his knuckles, before noticing Yusei's machine. "That a D-Wheel?"
"That wouldn't be any of your business," Nerve said.
"A bunch of Satellite punks like you don't deserve a D-Wheel," Uryu said, at which point I got up from my seat on the couch and slowly walked towards the two groups.
"Good treasure going wasted, I'd say," said the large man beside Uryu as the shorter man laughed again.
"You going to duel him again, Ryou?" Lycoris asked me.
'No, I'd have nothing to gain from beating him a second time. Just going to give him a little scare,' I told Lycoris through my mind with a small, dark grin on my face.
"Damn shame if it's just gonna waste," Uryu said. "Give it to me. That'd sure settle for an apology for causing me so much trouble."
Uryu was grinning smugly before I noticed his attention was turned elsewhere.
"Huh? That's…" Uryu said, a look of shock in his eyes.
I glanced over and saw that Uryu had spotted my own D-Wheel. I turned my attention back to the blue-haired man and saw a terrified look on his face.
"Found something interesting about my D-Wheel, shit-face?" I called out to Uryu, causing everyone to turn their attention to me.
"You?" Uryu shouted in shock.
"Surprised to see me again?" I asked as I walked down the wooden ramp.
"You know him?" Blitz asked me.
"You could say that. Tried to take my D-Wheel before I first got here, but I knocked him around and gave him a good beating before chasing him off," I answered before turning my attention back to Uryu. "But you don't have to worry about that again."
"What do you mean by that?" Uryu asked me.
"I have no interest in rematching someone so pathetically weak," I answered, still grinning.
"Why you!" Uryu's large friend snarled at me.
"But if you're interested in a D-Wheel…" I said, pointing my thumb towards Yusei. "Try dueling him. I'm sure he wouldn't mind dueling for something so precious to him."
Yusei's friends were undoubtedly shocked that I was trying to force Yusei into a duel for his D-Wheel. Uryu, on the other hand, seemed intrigued at the idea and turned his attention to the spiky-haired D-Wheeler.
"I think I might take up that offer. So, can you duel?" Uryu asked as he held up right left arm, his large crony putting a standard Duel Disk on his arm.
"Yusei, don't get involved with him," Nerve warned his friend, momentarily glaring daggers at me, which I shrugged off.
However, instead of heeding his friends' warning, Yusei pulled his deck out of the holder on his wrist and put it into a box attached to his waist. He then reached for another box and pulled out a second deck and put it in the holder.
"Format, out," said the A.I. from Yusei's D-Wheel before it raised the Duel Disk.
Yusei attached the Duel Disk to his wrist and turned to face Uryu.
"Oh, it's a Hybrid, I see," Uryu said, obviously impressed.
"Hey, Yusei, you don't have time for this, you know?" Taka said, reminding Yusei about the pipeline.
"These guys… they scoffed at our dreams…" Yusei said as he glared at Uryu.
"Dreams, huh? You dirty Satellite inhabitant," Uryu scoffed. "Come on. This way."
As Uryu turned and walked down the tunnel, his lackies followed along with Yusei and his friends.
"Are you going to go with them?" Lycoris asked me.
"Why should I? I won't get anything out of it," I told the girl.
"But I want to see how Yusei duels," Lycoris answered.
"Then why don't you just go?" I asked.
"Because I can't. I picked you to help me so I have to follow you everywhere," Lycoris explained.
"What a pain in the ass," I growled in annoyance before following the others down the tunnel, knowing that Lycoris was smiling as she followed me.
"Duel!" I heard Yusei and Uryu shout as I caught up with them, deciding to stand next to Rally and his friends.
Yusei: 4000
Uryu: 4000
"I'll go first, then! Doro!" Uryu said as he drew his sixth card and Yusei drew his starting five. "I summon Chainsaw Insect from my hand!"
As Uryu played his card, a monster rose from the ground and, true to its name, its pincers were replaced by large curved chainsaw blades. (4/2400/0)
"Level-4 and an ATK of 2400?" Taka said in surprise of the powerful, low-level card.
"He's already loading on the pressure!" Blitz pointed out.
"Next! I activate the Permanent Magic, Ant Lion's Vengeance!" Uryu said as he played another card, summoning a swirling vortex of sand a few feet in front of himself. "When a monster is destroyed and sent to the Cemetery, it inflicts 800 points of damage to its controller!"
"And that means that…" Taka started.
"If either one of them loses a monster, they'll take a hit from that card and lose Life Points," I finished.
"And just why are you here? You're the one who gave Uryu the idea to duel Yusei," Nerve glared at me.
"My reasons are my own," I answered as I quickly glanced at Lycoris, who was standing beside me and remained invisible to everyone else. "Besides, I thought this duel might be interesting."
"I'll end my turn here," Uryu said feeling completely smug. "I'm gonna show you just how scary my Power Insect Deck can be!"
Uryu's hand: 4
"Then why didn't you use it on me, smart-ass?" I called out to the blue-haired bastard.
"You stay out of this!" Uryu shouted back.
"Ore no tān," Yusei said as he pulled his sixth card. "I summon Shield Warrior from my hand in defense mode."
As Yusei played his card, a human monster appeared and knelt down, a large shield in its left hand and a polearm in his right. (3/800/1600)
"Next, I place a card face-down to end my turn," Yusei said as a reversed card appeared in front of him.
Yusei's hand: 4
"You big fat chicken. Putting that shrimp in defense mode like that!" Uryu mocked.
"Yer really good for a laugh, pal!" Uryu's large crony continued to mock the spiky-haired duelist.
"Right, then, it's my turn!" Uryu said, drawing his next card. "I summon Pinch Batter!"
As Uryu played his next card, the grasshopper-like monster that he used against me before appeared on the field. (4/1000/1200)
"And there's more! I send one Insect-type monster from my hand to the Cemetery…" Uryu said as he dropped a card into his Duel Disk. "to activate Insect Disguise! Now it's showtime! Insect Disguise's effect adds one Insect-type monster to my hand and then it destroys an Insect-type monster on my field!"
As Uryu pulled a card from his deck, Pinch Batter's body started to shrivel up and its back split in two as a glowing monster slithered out of the overgrown grasshopper. Pinch Batter's body then shattered as its card went to Uryu's Cemetery.
"He destroyed his own monster?" Taka asked in confusion as the swirling vortex on the field started to glow and a blast of energy shot into the air before crashing down on Uryu, shocking the hell out of the man as his Life Points dropped.
Yusei: 4000
Uryu: 3200
"Why'd my Life Points decrease?" Uryu shouted in utter surprise.
"You dumbass, it's because of your card!" I shouted to Yusei's opponent.
"Oh, yeah, that's right," Uryu said, calming down a little, but as stupid as it may have been to watch on TV or the internet, it was even more so to see this moron in person. "But, still, that ain't even enough to make a fuss about! Take a look at this! Now my Pinch Batter's effect activates! When this card is sent to the Cemetery, it can Special Summon an Insect-type monster from my hand! Metal Armored Bug! An ATK of 2800!"
As Uryu played his card, a large, heavily armored beetle appeared on the field. (8/2800/1500)
"I got affected by Ant Lion's Vengeance, but it's well worth it to call out a monster like this," Uryu said with a smug grin as he rubbed his finger under his nose.
"Ya gotta lose to gain, I'd say," said Uryu's large crony.
"It's huge!" Taka said, surprised at the size the hologram gave the Insect.
"You have to be joking. Compared to other cards I've seen, that monster's puny," I said. "The only thing that makes it 'huge' is its ATK. Though I have to say, that wasn't a bad play. He may have taken damage from hit own Magic, but he made use of Pinch Batter's effect."
"But what about when you dueled him? He did something similar without losing Life Points," Lycoris pointed out.
'It must have been a different deck then, otherwise he would've definitely used this combo on me. But I will say that what he used against me was better than what he's trying to do here.' I told the young deity with my mind.
"That's not the half of it! The fun's just getting started! I remove both Insect-type cards in my Cemetery from the game!" Uryu announced as holographic forms of Pinch Batter and Insect Knight appeared before both were pulled into a dark vortex. "This'll summon Devil Dozer from my hand!"
As Uryu played his card, a large red centipede-like monster slithered out of the ground and, judging by its shape, I could only guess that this was the card he grabbed from his deck with his Magic card as an image of the glowing monster that crawled out of Pinch Batter's back quickly flashed in my mind. (8/2800/2600)
"Now, then, my Insect Monster Army's off to battle! First, Chainsaw Insectm attack Shield Warrior!" Uryu declared as his monster charged at Yusei's.
"I activate a Trap," Yusei said as his facedown card rose, depicting a scarecrow made of scrap parts. "Scrap-Metal Scarecrow."
The scarecrow in the card's artwork appeared on the field and took Chainsaw Insect's attack before the overgrown bug backed off.
"This can negate an opponent's monster's attack once per turn," Yusei explained as the card flipped back down. "Next, I'll return Scrap-Metal Scarecrow back to its set position."
"Why would Yusei do that?" I couldn't help but think out loud.
"What are you talking about? Yusei just protected himself from an attack," Blitz said.
"Maybe so… but if he let that attack go through, Chainsaw Insect would've allowed Yusei to draw a new card even if he would've taken 800 damage from Uryu's Permanent Magic. Then he could use Scrap-Metal Scarecrow to block a direct attack," I explained.
"You may've endured my first try, but I've got two more left! Metal Armored Bug, attack Shield Warrior!" Uryu said as the heavily armored beetle charged cacross the field like a tank and rammed right through Yusei's monster, then the swirling vortex of sand started to glow once more. "That's right! Here it is! Here it is! The Permanent Magic, Ant Lion's Vengeance, is gonna reduce your Life Points!"
Another burst of energy was firsted from the vortex, this time stretching across the field and slamming into Yusei.
Yusei: 3200
Uryu: 3200
"Devil Dozer! Direct attack!" Uryu declared as the centipede monster opened its mouth and fired a burst of energy that struck Yusei dead-on.
Yusei: 400
Uryu: 3200
"How's it taste? Try counter-attacking that!" Uryu shouted with his right fist raised.
Uryu's hand: 1
'Definitely strange. Do neither of them know that Devil Dozer is supposed to make Yusei mill his top card? That attack would've been the best one to block with Scrap-Metal Scarecrow,' I thought to myself.
"Ore no tān," Yusei said as he drew his next card. "I summon Speed Warrior from my hand!"
As Yusei played his card, an armored humanoid appeared on the field. (2/900/400)
"Next, I activate the Magic card, Dual Summon," Yusei said as he played the card, causing a small vortex of yellow energy to appear next to Speed Warrior. "This effect allows me to Normal Summon once more during this turn. I summon this card, the Tuner Monster, Junk Synchron!"
Yusei played his next card, calling forth a small mechanical monster wearing orange and a white scarf around its neck and some kind of engine on its back. (3/1300/500)
"Right on! Junk Synchron!" Rally shouted as the other three cheered alongside him.
"I tune my Level-2 Speed Warrior with my Level-3 Junk Synchron!" Yusei called out as Junk Synchron took flight and turned into the green discs. "Tsudoishi hoshi ga aratana chikara wo yobiokosu! Hikari sasu michi tonare! (1)"
As Yusei chanted, the three discs descended on Speed Warrior, causing its color to fade and leave a gold outline of the monster, showing two white stars within its body.
"Shinkuro Shoukan!" Yusei called out as a burst of light shot down through the rings, engulfing Speed Warrior's stars along with Junk Synchron's discs. "Ideyo, Jyanku Woriā! (2)"
As the light faded, a new monster appeared on the field, its body metallic like Junk Synchron's but purple in color and the scarf around its neck had become longer. (5/2300/1300)
"Nani? W-What's with this guy? He plays with Synchro Summoning as well?" Uryu wondered in shock and I could clearly see in his eyes that he was terrified of Yusei's monster, probably after facing my own last time.
"It's no big deal, Uryu-san (3)! You still have plenty of breathin' room!" Uryu's large crony shouted to him.
"Next, I activate the Equpment Magic, Fighting Spirit, from my hand," Yusei said as he held up a card depicting a warrior letting out a fierce battle-cry while surrounded by enemies and when Yusei played it, three rings of energy appeared around Junk Warrior's right arm. "Junk Warrior's ATK increases by 300 for each of my opponent's monsters."
"He has three! It'll increase by a total of 900 points!" Taka pointed out.
"Awesome, Yusei!" Rally cheered as the rings around Junk Warrior's arm melded into its body, causing its entire arm to glow. (5/2300-3200/1300)
"What? It's greater than my Monster Insect Army's power?" Uryu shouted in shock.
"Then, I activate the Permanent Magic, Domino!" Yusei said as he played the card, the artwork depicting a couple of soilders about to be knocked down by large dominos.
"Domino? W-What's that?" Uryu asked.
"Junk Warrior, attack Chainsaw Insect! Scrap Fist!" Yusei called out, to which the Synchro Monster charged at the large Insect and delivered a mighty punch, causing the bug to stagger.
'Chainsaw Insect's effect should've activated there as well and let Yusei draw another card, not that he'd need to though,' I thought to myself.
Yusei: 400
Uryu: 2400
"In addition, I now send both Scrap-Metal Scarecrow and Fighting Spirit to my Cemetery," Yusei said as he pushed the two cards into his Cemetery slot. "Now, here's Domino."
Uryu turned his attention to his monsters and saw Chainsaw Insect wasn't destroyed. Instead, it was staggering around until it toppled into Devil Dozer, who then fell on top of Metal Armored Bug. The armored beetle struggled to stand, but the weight of the two other monsters was too much for it and it soon fell, shattering into pixels along with the other two insects.
"When a monster on my opponent's side of the field is destroyed and sent to the Cemetery, for every card on my side of the field I send to the Cemetery, Domino destroys and opposing monster," Yusei explained the effect of his card.
"I get it! With those two cards he sent to the Cemetery, Devil Dozer and Metal Armored Bug both toppled like dominoes and got destroyed!" Rally figured out.
"Now then, you'll take on the Ant Lion's Vengeance you set up," Yusei said as he pointed to the vortex that was still on the ground, which started to glow before another burst of energy shot upward and struck Uryu.
Yusei: 400 (Winner)
Uryu: 0
"Yusei won!" Taka and the others cheered as the holograms faded.
"T-This can't be…" Uryu said as he dropped to his knees.
"A long time ago, a friend of mine told me something," Yusei said as he walked up to Uryu, earning his attention as well as the attention of Rally and the others. "'A duel can't be won by monsters alone. They can't be won with just Magics or Traps alone either. Only with them all joining together as one will they add up. And what you need most of all to amass yourself to victory… is right here.'"
When Uryu looked up at Yusei, he saw that Yusei had his fist over his heart.
"My friend didn't tell me what that was. But, I know. It's the soul of a duelist that believes in all their cards!" Yusei explained.
"Heh. You sure told me good there…" Uryu said as he rose to his feet. "Sorry to have bothered you. But this ain't over. I'll win next time!"
"Fine," Yusei said with a small smile on his face, but I just glared at him.
'That speech is pointless. A duelist's soul doesn't affect their cards. The only thing that a person needs to win is a powerful combination to make the strongest deck possible,' I thought to myself as I turned my attention to my deck, which was in its case around my waist. 'And I'm going to prove it with my new deck.'
(1) "Gathering stars will call upon a new force! Become the path its light shines upon!"
(2) "Show yourself, Junk Warrior!"
(3) San (さん) (sometimes pronounced han (はん) in Kansai dialect), is the most commonplace honorific, and is a title of respect typically used between equals of any age. Although the closest analog in English are the honorifics "Mr.", "Miss", "Mrs.", or "Ms.", san is almost universally added to a person's name, in both formal and informal contexts. However, in addition to being used with people's names, it is also employed in a variety of other ways.
A/N: And there's the chapter. Again, it's pretty much a skippable chapter so I apologize.
Please R&R, everyone!