Author's Note: Ordinarily I don't work on any of my fanfics on a Saturday, but this story's a little different. Plus I've got another online class starting in a couple of weeks and I want to get as much of this story done before then as I can. So enjoy this special Saturday afternoon treat.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.
Chapter 6: Queen of the Undead
"You're not making any sense, Droite!" Kaito told her. "What do you mean when you say that these things… these vampires are your people?"
"The fact is I was never truly a human being." Droite answered. "I have always been the creature that you know as a vampire, but I never awakened until that night in the lab. That night, you opened the gateway to the realm where my people sleep. It was only a crack, but it was enough for the mother goddess of my race, Morphia, to send her power through and reawaken me as my true self. I have been in contact with her ever since. And now it is my mission to bring Morphia and the rest of my people to this world."
"This is all nonsense!" Gauche declared. "I don't know what the hell that accident did to you Droite, but you've obviously lost it! Do you really expect us to believe that you were never human? That's garbage!"
"Believe what you want." Droite coldly told him. "But if you truly intend to try and shut the gateway, you must defeat me first."
"Fine then! I'll take you down!" Gauche decided.
"Gauche, wait! Are you sure about this?" Yuma asked.
"Back off, Yuma! I know what I'm doing!" Gauche told him. "I'm gonna duel Droite and knock some sense into her!"
"So be it." Droite agreed.
With that, Droite and Gauche activated their duel disks and D-Gazer tattoos to begin the duel. Everyone else in the group quickly activated their own D-Gazers to watch. The color of the surrounding area changed slightly and several holographic screens appeared in the air.
"I'll start things off!" Droite declared as she drew her first card. "I summon Swallowtail Butterspy in Attack Mode!"
Appearing on Droite's side of the field was a female monster with a humanoid upper half and a pair of large stunning orange and black butterfly wings on her back. Parts of her upper body were covered in white armor and a white helmet covered the upper half of her face.
"Since I just summoned a monster, I also summon Blue Mountain Butterspy from my hand!" Droite announced.
Materializing next to Swallowtail was another butterfly woman with a large beautiful pair of blue butterfly wings on her back. She had on blue armor, and in each hand carried a small shield.
"Using these two level four monsters, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon the priestess of the undead!" Droite announced. "Arise, Dead Star Butterfly Priestess!"
A large vortex of purple light appeared in the middle of the battlefield, causing Droite's two monsters to turn into balls of purple energy and be sucked in. Rising out of the vortex moments later was a woman with chalk-white skin with a large pair of purple butterfly wings on her back. She had white hair styled like Droite's and orange eyes with slit pupils like a cat's. Atop her head was a crown of black flowers, and a black stocking covered the lower half of face and her neck. She had on a light-blue dress with two slits in the sides of the skirt that went down just past her knees, along with a pair of black knee-high high-heeled boots and black elbow-high gloves. Hanging from her neck was a butterfly-shaped necklace like the one Droite was wearing. Orbiting around the new monster were two balls of purple light.
"That ends my turn." Droite announced.
"Droite must be pretty confident about that monster she just played." Hikari assumed.
"It's not just confidence." Kaito told her. "I know Droite pretty well. She wouldn't have summoned that new monster of hers unprotected unless she was sure it could survive through the next turn. Gauche on the other hand can act pretty reckless sometimes, especially at times like this when he's mad. He may not be able to win this duel."
"I'm gonna end this quick!" Gauche declared as he drew his first card. "First I activate the Spell, Reinforcement of the Army to add Heroic Challenger-Assault Halberd to my hand! Now, since you control a monster and I don't, I special summon Assault Halberd to the field!" Gauche's knight in blue materialized on the battlefield. "Next I summon Heroic Challenger-Double Lance!"
Appearing on the battlefield was a knight clad in white armor and wearing a helmet with a purple top. In each hand, the knight carried a small lance.
"Double Lance's effect allows me to use him as two overlay units for an Xyz Summon!" Gauche announced. "So using my three monsters, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon Heroic Champion-Kusanagi!"
A clone of Double Lance appeared on the battlefield next to the original. Soon after, a large vortex formed on the ground and the three warriors were turned into energy and sucked in. Rising out of the vortex moments later was Gauche's giant samurai warrior.
"Your Butterfly Priestess only has 2400 ATK, which means she's no match for Kusanagi!" Gauche declared. "Kusanagi, take out Butterfly Priestess now!"
Kusanagi moved forward and slashed Butterfly Priestess in two. The two halves of her body turned into a swarm of purple butterflies. Droite was clam as her life points took a slight drop to 3900. Moments later however, the swarm of purple butterflies reformed into Butterfly Priestess, much to the surprise of Gauche and the others.
"What the… what's going on?" Gauche demanded to know. "How the hell is that monster of yours still on the field?"
"Dead Star Xyz Monsters like my Butterfly Priestess can only be destroyed in battle by one kind of monster." Droite explained. "A Synchro Monster."
"But Gauche doesn't have any Synchro Monsters in his deck!" Yuma exclaimed.
"Nobody in this city does." Shark added. "That is, nobody except…"
"Me." Hikari finished. "I should've been the one to step up and challenge Droite."
Suddenly Kusanagi began to glow with a feint purple aura. The giant samurai soon fell to one knee with a thud.
"What's going on now?" Gauche asked.
"Any monster that battles Butterfly Priestess loses 1000 ATK at the end of that battle." Droite explained. "I now activate Butterfly Priestess's effect! During either of our turns, I can detach one overlay unit from her to destroy one monster my opponent controls with lower attack than her own! And of course the monster I choose to destroy is Heroic Champion-Kusanagi!"
One of the purple balls of light orbiting Butterfly Priestess went into the red gemstone on her necklace. The white-haired monster then raised her right hand forward and shot Kusanagi with a ball of purple energy. The giant samurai turned to dust upon being hit.
"There's more." Droite continued. "Because the monster Butterfly Priestess just destroyed with her effect was an Xyz Monster, you take damage equal to that monster's Rank times 400."
Butterfly Priestess raised her hands in the air and shot Gauche with a massive bolt of purple electricity. Gauche was knocked back a few feet by the attack and his life points dropped to 2400.
"One more thing." Droite continued. "Butterfly Priestess gains 500 ATK for each Xyz Monster in both our Graveyards, which means right now her ATK is 2900."
"Damn!" Gauche cursed as he got back to his feet. "You're really not holding anything back, are ya?"
"You should just give up." Droite told him. "It was pointless for you to go against me in the first place."
"Like hell!" Gauche told her. "I'll set two cards on the field and end my turn!"
"This really doesn't look good." A concerned Kotori observed. "Droite's monster has enough power to beat Gauche with one shot."
"Don't count Gauche out yet." Yuma told her. "I'm sure he's already come of with a defense to stop that butterfly monster of hers."
"It may not be enough." Kaito told them. "If I'm right, Droite's already anticipated Gauche's next move."
Droite calmly drew her next card. "I set one card on the field. And now Butterfly Priestess, attack Gauche directly! Life Extinguisher!"
Butterfly Priestess raised her arms forward and a crackling ball of purple energy began to form between her palms. When the ball grew large enough, the undead priestess fired a massive blast of energy towards Gauche.
Gauche's lips curved into a grin. "Nice try, but I activate my Trap, Mirror Force!"
An invisible barrier suddenly appeared in front of Gauche just as the energy blast was about to hit. The blast bounced off the barrier and curved back through the air, coming down to strike Droite's monster. Butterfly Priestess was vaporized in an instant.
"How do ya like that, huh?" Gauche taunted. "Looks like I'm not so easy to take down after all, am I?"
"…I end my turn." Droite indifferently announced.
"I'm gonna make this quick!" Gauche declared as he drew his next card. "First I play Monster Reborn and summon Assault Halberd back from the Graveyard!" The blue and white knight reappeared on the field. "Next I summon Heroic Challenger-Spartan in Attack Mode!" Gauche's Roman-armored spearman appeared next to Assault Halberd. "Using these two monsters, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon Heroic Champion-Gandiva!"
The two warriors turned into balls of yellow energy and went into another large vortex that had appeared on the battlefield. Rising out of the vortex moments later was a warrior clad completely in black and yellow armor riding a black horse. Mounted on the warrior's arm was a large crossbow.
"Now I activate my other Trap, Xyz Reborn!" Gauche announced. "Using this card as material, I summon Heroic Champion-Kusanagi back from the Graveyard!"
Another vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and Kusanagi rose out of the center. A single ball of orange light orbited around him.
"Awesome! With both Kusanagi and Gandiva, beating Droite should be no problem for Gauche now!" Yuma enthusiastically declared.
"I told you before, Yuma. It's probably not going to be that easy." Kaito reminded him.
"You think that card Droite has on the field is something that can block Gauche's attack." Shark deduced.
"That's exactly what I think." Kaito confirmed.
"Even if you're right, Gauche can use Kusanagi's effect to stop Droite's Trap." Yuma pointed out.
"Unless it isn't a Trap card." Kaito retorted.
"Kusanagi! Gandiva! Attack Droite directly and end this duel!" Gauche commanded.
"I activate my face-down card! A Quick-Play Spell known as Butterspy Mirage!" Droite announced. "By banishing two Butterspy monsters from my Graveyard, this card negates any battle damage I would take this turn!"
The ghostly images of Swallowtail and Blue Mountain appeared on Droite's side of the battlefield. Kusanagi charged forward and slashed apart the image of Swallowtail, causing it to turn into a swarm of swallowtail butterflies that flew away and vanished. Gandiva fired an arrow at the image of Blue Mountain, causing it to shatter a part into a swarm of blue butterflies that instantly flew off.
"Nice try, Gauche. But I keep telling you it's pointless." Droite calmly insisted. "There's no way you can defeat me and prevent the rest of my people from coming through."
"Will you cut out all this crap about those monsters being your people?" Gauche told her. "Droite, you and I grew up together! There is no way you could've been born as anything other than a human!"
"You forget that both you and I are orphans." Droite reminded him. "Neither of us knew who are parents were. I may have grown up as a human, but my parents were not human at all. Not long after I was born, I was placed in a small pod in stasis and jettisoned to this world in order to avoid the same fate as the rest of my people."
"And just what fate is that?" Hikari suddenly asked. "What exactly happened to the rest of your people, Droite?"
"Who are you?" the butterfly duelist asked back.
"Hikari Fudo." The stardust heiress answered.
"I see… that would make you the new leader of the Signers. A blood enemy of my people." Droite told her.
"Blood enemy? What are you talking about?" Hikari asked.
"To answer your original question, my people were sealed away by the Envoy of Astral World." Droite replied.
"Wait, does she mean Astral?" a surprised Yuma asked.
"That's right." Droite confirmed. "But now after all this time, the seal shall finally be broken! My people shall come through and be fully revived by the life force of this world."
"I still don't buy any of this crap!" Gauche declared. "And even if I did, there's no way I'm gonna let these so-called people of yours suck our world dry!"
"There's nothing you can do to stop me." Droite calmly declared as she drew her next card. "I now activate the Spell, Rank-Up-Magic Morphia Force!"
"What the… she has her own Rank-Up Spell?" a surprised Gilag exclaimed.
"Not good!" Alit declared.
"Morphia Force allows me to revive a Dead Star Xyz Monster from the Graveyard and use it to Xyz Summon a new monster that's two Ranks higher." Droite explained. "So by the power of the mother goddess, I resurrect Butterfly Priestess and elevate her to a higher state of being!"
In a flash of purple light, a large crystal containing an unconscious Butterfly Priestess appeared on the field. A strange cold mist suddenly washed over the ground as soon as the crystal coffin appeared. Inside the crystal, Butterfly Priestess's eyes snapped open and streams of purple energy began to flow from Gauche's two monsters into the crystal. The two balls of light orbiting around the warriors were sucked into the crystal as well.
"Awaken, Dead Star Butterfly Blood Priestess!" Droite called.
The crystal shattered apart with a blinding flash of light. The light faded after a moment to reveal Droite's butterfly monster in a new form. Her white hair had grown longer and her black crown of flowers had been replaced by a pair of short red horns growing out of the top of her head. Her once orange eyes had turned red and became more savage. Her dress and wings had turned red as well, and growing from the ends of her gloved fingers were long red nails. Orbiting around the revived priestess were four crystal orbs that left trails of purple light.
"This can't be good." Cathy assumed.
"Hey, what happened to Gauche's monsters?" Kotori asked, pointing at the two warriors.
The others looked and saw that the armor of Gauche's two monsters had become old and rusted. The horse that Gandiva was riding had become a withered husk of its former self.
"What the hell did you do to my monsters, Droite?" Gauche demanded to know.
"Morphia Force also reduces the attack of all my opponent's monsters to zero and gives any overlay units to the monster I Ranked Up." Droite explained. "I now activate the effect of Butterfly Blood Priestess! By detaching any number of overlay units, she can destroy the same number of monsters you control with ATK lower than her own. So I detach two overlay units to destroy Gandiva and Kusanagi!"
Two of the crystal orbs orbiting Blood Priestess shattered and using both hand she fired to bolts of red electricity at Gauche's monsters. Both warriors became dust upon being hit.
"And now, because the monsters Blood Priestess destroyed were Xyz Monsters, you take damage equal to their Ranks times 600." Droite announced.
"But… that means Gauche takes 4800 points of damage!" Yuma realized.
Blood Priestess raised her hands above her head and fired a blast of red electrical energy at Gauche. Gauche cried out as he life points plummeted to zero. After a moment, the attack ended and Gauche was on his back, unconscious. With the duel over, Droite's monster vanished and the surrounding area returned to normal. Suddenly Gauche's unconscious form turned into purple energy and flew up into the pillar of light that was streaming into the sky from the tower.
"Gauche!" a horrified Yuma called out.
"What the hell just happened?" Alit demanded to know.
"He lost to me, so his energy has gone to my people to speed their revival." Droite answered. "But that doesn't happen to any of you. You can all become one of us and live for eternity. All expect for you, Hikari Fudo. You I'm afraid must die."
With that, more vampires began to gather around the tower. Many of them were the horrid inhuman variety that seemed to be most common.
"Damn! I think we better get the hell out of here." Shark decided.
"No argument here." Vector agreed.
"What about Gauche and Droite?" Yuma asked.
"We'll figure out what to do about them later!" Hikari answered. "Right now we better get moving!"
Everyone began to run to their vehicles as quickly as they could. Just as Hikari was about to mount her D-Wheel, one of the more inhuman vampires charged in and grabbed her by the arm. As soon as it did though, Hikari's Signer Mark began to glow, causing the creature to shriek in pain and pull its clawed hand away. The flesh of its hand was smoking as if it had just been burned. Hikari didn't bother to figure out what happened and simply mounted her D-Wheel to follow after the others.
Orbital meanwhile had only just finished changing to his wing pack mode. Kaito quickly put the robot onto his back and took off into the air.
"Kaito!" Droite called, causing the photon duelist to stop and look back. He could see a sort of pleading expression on Droite's face. "You don't have to go with them. You can join me, and together we can lead my people side by side. Please Kaito. I want you with me."
Kaito gritted his teeth. He couldn't help but find the offer somehow tempting. Even so, the photon duelist shook it off and flew after Shark and the others. As he left, a single tear rolled down Droite's cheek. Meanwhile, Hikari and Kaito managed to catch up to the rest of the group as they sped off down the road.
"So I guess we're going back to Shark's huh?" Yuma assumed, talking to the other over his D-Gazer.
"I don't think so." Shark replied. "Droite probably already has my place surrounded with her little army. She's probably expecting us to go back there."
"But if we can't go back to the mansion, where can we go?" Cathy asked.
"We'll go to my place here in the city!" Hikari told them. "We should be safe for awhile. And I may have something there that can help us stop Droite."
Author's Note: I ended up thinking long and hard about the Rank-Up-Magic card that Droite would be using. It ended up being sort of an odd cross between Astral Force, Barian's Force, and The Seventh One. But I figured it should be a card that revived Xyz Monsters from the Graveyard to Rank them up to fit with the whole vampire theme. And that it should suck the life from other monsters on the field. Anyway, Kaito's going to have to make a pretty big decision in the next chapter. So stay tuned.
Please review and let me know what you think.
