Skyler LP: 2900
Number 25: Sonicboom Dragon: Dragon-Type/Xyz/WIND/Rank 7/ATK 2400/DEF 1700 – 1 OLU
Spell & Trap Card Zone: 1 set card
Dan LP: 1600
Number 55: Vapour Freeze: Pyro-Type/Xyz/WATER/Rank 4/ATK 2100/DEF 1200 – 2 OLU
Polaris Dragon Fross: Dragon-Type/Tuner/WATER/Level 6/ATK 2300/DEF 2200 – 2 Polaris Counters
Spell & Trap Card Zone: Water Hazard, 1 set card
Skyler looked up at the new arrival. "Seriously?" he said, with contempt dripping from his voice. "You're really going to pin your remaining hopes on that? A Number that weak?"
"Hey, don't insult it," Dan replied. "From my experience, there's no such thing as a weak Number." In the brief lull between moves, he wiped the trickle of blood off his cheek as best he could. "Alright then, let's get to it. I activate Vapour Freeze's effect! Once per turn, by detaching one of its Overlay Units, I can apply one of two different effects." One of the blue orbs broke orbit and sailed into the swirling mist surrounding the Number.
Number 55: Vapour Freeze: 2 → 1 OLU
"I'll choose the first effect," Dan stated.
"Which does what exactly?" Skyler asked, sounding bored.
"Oh, you'll love this," Dan grinned. "I target one face-up monster on the field, and swap its ATK with its DEF. I target Sonicboom Dragon!" With a strange buzzing sound, a gale of steam rushed towards Skyler's field, completely engulfing his dragon.
Number 25: Sonicboom Dragon: ATK 2400 → 1700/DEF 1700 → 2400
"What's your point?" Skyler snapped. "You know perfectly well that you can't attack Sonicboom Drag-"
"Yes, yes, I know," Dan interrupted. "If I attack it, then you'll just use its effect to attack me in return, and it still has enough ATK to finish me off."
Skyler grinned. "You've grown up, young Delta. The last time we duelled, you fell into every trap I laid, did everything I expected you to, and only won through an oversight on my part. Now you're actively identifying your own mistakes, which is a plus I suppose."
"Yeah, I suppose it is," Dan muttered. "And there's also something else you taught me in our last duel."
"Oh?" Skyler said. "And what might that be?"
"That I can't beat you by dueling normally. I just can't," Dan replied. "It's a simple fact; I can't defeat you, because you have too much conviction. You want to win more than I do. So the question is, how do I defeat someone like that?" There was a brief pause.
"Well go on, how?" Katie called.
Dan grinned. "By giving him what he wants."
Skyler blinked. "Pardon me?"
"You heard me," Dan repeated. "I'm going to do exactly what you want. For example, you want me to attack your Sonicboom Dragon, so I'm going to do just that!"
"You're not making any sense, boy," Skyler said. "It'll wipe you out!"
"Ah, you see there I have to disagree," Dan grinned. "I activate the Quick-Play Spell Card, Archlord's Blessing!" The Spell materialized on his field, next to Water Hazard.
Katie's eyes widened. "Wait, what? How did he...?" she turned to Leah. "Did you...?"
She grinned mischievously. "I sure did."
Skyler gasped. "That card! Not again!"
"Glad you remember it," Dan said. "This card is activated when the ATK of a monster on the field changes. Then, this card doubles that change until the End Phase. In this case, the ATK of Sonicboom Dragon just dropped by 700, so this card will decrease its ATK by 700 more."
Number 25: Sonicboom Dragon: ATK 1700 → 1000
"And now, even if it does attack me, it doesn't have enough ATK to finish me off," Dan grinned. "Now, battle time! Vapour Freeze, attack Soni-"
"No, wait!" Matt shouted. "Dan, don't you dare! Just because its attack won't finish you off, doesn't mean you won't still lose life points! And when this thing damages your life points, it damages you! Don't attack it, seriously!"
Leah gasped as she realised he was right. "Oh god, what have I... Dan, listen, don't attack! You'll get hurt! Just stop, please!"
Dan stood there for a moment, not saying a word, his back to his friends. He seemed to be pondering what they had said. Vapour Freeze remained suspended above him, waiting for a command to be given.
Finally, he said three words, loudly and clearly. "Cover your ears."
"No! Don't!" Leah screamed, but it was too late.
"Battle! Vapour Freeze, attack Sonicboom Dragon!"
Vapour Freeze had been waiting for this. The spherical lump of ice began to spin on its axis, rotating faster and faster, creating air currents that drew the steam up and around it.
Skyler reacted instantly. "I activate Number 25's effect! When your monster declares an attack, I can detach one of its Overlay Units to have it declare an attack of its own!" The dragon's final green Overlay Unit shot into its mouth.
Number 25: Sonicboom Dragon: 1 → 0 OLU
"Here comes the pain, pathetic Delta!" Skyler shouted. "Number 25, attack him directly!" Sonicboom Dragon took off like a miniature jet, building up its speed like before. On the opposite side, Vapour Freeze's cloud of steam was now spinning so fast that it looked like a tornado.
Then the Numbers attacked. Sonicboom Dragon stopped dead in the air, and coalesced a much smaller sphere of sound energy in its jaws. It launched it as quickly as it could, and it shot straight down and struck Dan with an explosive boom. But as the dragon looked down smugly at the scene of destruction, it was suddenly blindsided by Vapour Freeze's tornado, which it had fired at the same moment. Sonicboom Dragon shrieked in pain, an ear-splitting sound almost as bad as the explosion caused by its own attack. The dragon dissipated into nothingness, but the currents of the tornado continued on their journey and struck Skyler. This time, both duelists cried out in pain... but due to the commotion caused by the Numbers' vicious attacks, neither duelist could be heard. When the steam and dust cleared, both duelists were lying on their backs.
Skyler LP: 2900 → 1800
Dan LP: 1600 → 600
Dan picked himself up shakily, swiftly examining his own body for any injuries. Aside from a few cuts and bruises, and a pounding headache, he felt ok. Then he felt something trickling down his right cheek. He touched it, and his hand glided through something wet. He checked his fingers: they were red. "Oh not again..." he groaned. "I thought you'd stopped bleeding now."
"Dan!" he heard someone shout. Wearily, he turned around to see his team waving at him. He waved back, to assure them that he was ok. It was Leah who had shouted. "That was absolutely stupid!" she called. "That was stupid, reckless, careless, dangerous, foolhardy, ridiculous, senseless, and juvenile!" Then she grinned reluctantly. "And just a little bit brilliant."
Katie laughed. "Pay no attention to the naysayers, Dan!" she called. "You keep going!"
Dan nodded, laughing along even though it was painful. Suddenly, his mind turned back to Skyler, and he turned back to his fallen opponent.
Once again, Skyler seemed to feel no pain when his Number was destroyed. Unfortunately, Vapour Freeze's attack had still been extremely powerful, enough to knock him to the ground. Now, he was struggling to his feet. The orange number twenty-five had disappeared from his hand, but the look of menace in his eyes was still there.
"So how was that, o' great and mighty Number hunter?" Dan taunted. "My weaker Number just took down your 'stronger' one with very little help. How does that feel?"
Skyler didn't say anything. Instead he just glared at Dan, apocalyptic fury in his eyes.
"Really, nothing?" Dan asked. Still Skyler said nothing. "Hmph, you're no fun. Oh well, on with things. It's still my Battle Phase, and I still have one other monster I can attack you with. So go, Polaris Dragon Fross! Direct attack!" The shining dragon's scales flashed with light as it prepare its attack.
Skyler responded quickly. "I activate the Quick-Play Spell Card, Xyz Double Back!" His set card activated. "If I control no monsters, and one of my Xyz Monsters was destroyed during this turn, this card lets me revive that Xyz Monster, plus one other monster in my Graveyard with equal or less ATK. So reappear, Number 25: Sonicboom Dragon in Attack Position, and Cosmic Corruptor LV2 in Defence Position!" Both monsters reformed themselves on Skyler's field. Sonicboom Dragon snarled at Vapour Freeze, looking furious with the way it had been treated. Without a monster having been banished for its Summoning, Cosmic Corruptor was just a cloud of purple smoke with black electricity surrounding it.
Number 25: Sonicboom Dragon: Dragon-Type/Xyz/WIND/Rank 7/ATK 2400/DEF 1700 - 0 OLU
Cosmic Corruptor LV2: Machine-Type/DARK/Level 2/ATK 400/DEF 0
"Dang," Dan muttered. "Fine, I redirect the attack to Cosmic Corruptor LV2!" With that, Fross fired a spectral ball of energy at the virus, which simply faded from existence the moment it was struck. "I'll place one card face-down and end my turn." Dan's second set card appeared beside his first.
"During the End Phase, any monster Summoned by Xyz Double Back is destroyed," Skyler said calmly. Sonicboom Dragon dissipated into particles of light, which streamed back into his Graveyard.
"Hang on," Dan said, confused. "That was one of your precious 'strong Numbers'. Why didn't you try harder to keep it on the field?"
Skyler stared at his Graveyard with a look of disgust. "Number 25 was defeated by a weakling Number. It's a piece of trash! It's worthless to me now."
"You... you sick-minded jerk!" Dan snapped. "Do you treat everything like that? Is there anything in your entire life that you've ever cared about? Ever! Answer me!"
Dan had been expecting Skyler to start shouting again, or to completely ignore him. But instead, Skyler looked down at his robotic arm, and something strange passed across his face. An emotion. It was only there for a split-second, but all four of the Deltas recognised it. It was sadness. A tiny glimpse of sadness.
"Once... a long time ago and so far away..." Skyler muttered. Then he looked back up, and his cold indifferent glare had returned. "But not anymore. She- I mean it... it's gone. It's gone forever. I lost it in a dark, empty, howling place. It was the worst thing I ever did. And now, the only thing I can believe in is my mission, and the only thing I can trust is my strength! Is that clear?"
Dan nodded tentatively, still trying to digest everything that Skyler had said. "But if you once believed in something, then there's no reason why you can't learn to-"
"Enough!" Skyler snapped. "I have no desire to discuss my history with you any further! We shall continue this duel, right now! My turn, draw!"
Author-made cards:
Polaris Dragon Fross
Dragon-Type/Tuner/WATER/Level 6/ATK 2300/DEF 2200
The most nocturnal dragon of the Polaris, it prefers the chilling cold of the night to the relative warmth of the day. Its glittering splendour during the night is unmatched among all of the Polaris Dragons.
Cosmic Corruptor LV2
Machine-Type/DARK/Level 2/ATK 400/DEF 0
You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by banishing 1 face-up Machine-Type monster you control. When you do: Increase this card's Level by the original Level of the banished monster.
Number 25: Sonicboom Dragon
Dragon-Type/Xyz/WIND/Rank 7/ATK 2400/DEF 1700
2 Level 7 monsters
This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. While you control no other monsters, this card can attack your opponent directly. Once per turn, when an opponent's monster declares an attack: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card; this card immediately declares an attack (the Battle Step and Damage Step for both attacks occur simultaneously). This card must be in face-up Attack Position to activate and resolve this effect.
Number 55: Vapour Freeze (credit to Superjad)
Pyro-Type/Xyz/WATER/Rank 4/ATK 2100/DEF 1200
2 Level 4 monsters
This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card, then target 1 face-up monster; apply 1 of these effects. ●Switch its current ATK and DEF. ●Halve its DEF.
Archlord's Blessing
Quick-Play Spell Card
When the ATK of a face-up monster changes: Target that monster; double that change until the End Phase.
Fun Fact #20: Three Numbers in one story, I'd say that's pretty good going. But we're not done yet.
Fun Fact #21: To Forestfleet, sorry we couldn't reply to you directly, but we can't send PMs to people who don't have an account. To answer your question, no, Dan isn't possessed, and he's still wearing his band. That's just how Numbers work in this dimension. It's one of a few slight deviations we've made from the world of the canon. Firstly, Numbers' symbols always appear on the user regardless of whether they're possessed or not. Secondly, none of the Numbers are part of another archetype (don't worry, there is a reason).
Fun Fact #22: As Numbershooter pointed out (and rightly so), Number 25: Sonicboom Dragon would never be made into a real card. And that's a good thing. That means that the concept is ours, for ever and ever. That's not to say we wouldn't like to see Sonicboom Dragon released - it would bring a whole new dimension to the game.
Fun Fact #23: If you look back on the Chapter 4 carefully enough, you'll see the moment that Leah gave her Archlord's Blessing card to Dan. You'll find it just before Skyler snares Dan with his duel anchor, before the duel starts.
Fun Fact #25: So, we've had a chance to use some of the new archetypes on DN, such as the Heraldics, Hazy Flames, and Fire Kings. And we have a few things to say about them. Firstly, I really wish that we'd known about the Hazy Flames back when Skyler was dueling Shora (Number 39: Ignite-Mare's holder), as they would've fitted Shora's Deck perfectly, so we could've made it into a full duel. As for the Fire Kings, they're fantastic. We heartily recommend them to anyone and everyone.
Fun Fact #26: Have we ranted about FanFictionDotNet's proofreading system recently? No? Well here we go again. Now its starting to tell us off for using something called a "passive voice", where the writer obscures or omits the subject of the sentence. This isn't incorrect, FanFictionDotNet, it's just another way of writing, and most of the time it's necessary for writing dueling-related stories. Plus, it's your fault for not recognising words like "Number" and "Xyz Monster" as subjects. Stop telling us off for it.