Chapter 6: A Taste of Failure
Hello everyone, sorry for the wait. I got caught up in a bunch of schoolwork and activities, so I kind of fell behind. But never fear, I should hopefully have the next chapter in by tomorrow. Enj0y:)
(Fusion Dimension: Academia)
As he got ready to head to Standard, Yuri rechecked and finalized his deck to prepare for the hunt of his doppelgangers. He recalled what Dennis had told him via duel disk communication about Pendulum Summoning, and its pioneer, Yuya Sakaki. Apparently, Yuya had created Pendulum cards and they had strange abilities that would make duels a lot more interesting. Yuri found this somewhat exciting, and had modified his deck a bit to prepare for battling this new type of summoning method, which would hopefully bring him more exciting hunts. He also realized that the vision he had received when he first heard of Pendulum must have been when his standard doppelganger, Yuya Sakaki created it. Starve Venom had told him he had no idea how that could even happen. Not that Yuri really cared too much; it wouldn't affect his goal at the end of it. After being given the command to leave for Standard, Yuri activated his duel disk and disappeared in a flash of light.
(Meanwhile in Standard)
When Serena planned on coming to Standard to seek out the remaining Xyz remnants, she wasn't expecting what happened next. After meeting Akaba Reiji and being separated from Barrett, then being saved from the Obelisk Force (not that she needed it) by some red and blue ninjas, after meeting a girl who looked exactly like her, she was told things she couldn't believe. Apparently, her fellow Academia students had taken the war like some sort of game and carded innocent people as well as duelists. Worst of all, there was no true battle. Academia had supposedly launched an attack on a defenseless population and the true fight hadn't started until the people of Heartland learned to fight back.
Serena was in disbelief, to say the least. Academia's plan on uniting the dimensions was a noble goal and they were a proud warrior group, they'd never sink so low and card the innocent. However, a part of her wondered whether this was why the Professor kept her from the fight. Did she possess higher morals, and therefore wasn't suitable for combat. Whatever the case, she knew she'd have to find this Kurosaki to learn the truth. After switching clothes with Yuzu to throw off the Obelisk Force, she left to find the Xyz remnant.
Meanwhile, Dennis watched them in secret atop a building and waited until his ally was here. The next thing he knew, a flash of violet light appeared and a familiar face with it. Dennis turned around and smile. "It's been a while, long time no see, Yuri."
"Agreed, so did you find her?" Yuri said before walking to Dennis.
"Of course she right over there…" Dennis said pointing below the building they were on, his words coming to a halt at seeing who was with her. "Geez didn't know the Obelisk Force got here so fast."
"What, I thought the Professor sent me for this." Yuri said staring down at the pink haired girl while trying to ignore what she was wearing.
"Well, I actually know what happened, Serena and Yuzu swapped clothes earlier, the Obelisk Force must've been looking for Serena, and so have mixed them up. They're lookalikes, just like you and Yuya-kun." Dennis said with a joking smile.
"Yuya-kun…oh the guy who resembles me from here." Yuri replied. "Speaking of lookalikes, any sign of Yuto, or the guy with a motorbike who looks like me, heard they were here as well?
"As for the latter, no idea, and I haven't seen of Yuto but…" Dennis trailed off with a perplexed look.
"But, what?" Yuri asked, trying to hide his interest.
"It's just that Yuya has the same dragon Yuto had for some reason, Dark Rebellion I mean."
"Huh…well how about that." Yuri sighed, inwardly smirking as he knew what that meant. "Say Dennis, I know we don't really interact all that much, but can I ask you a favor?"
"Sure, what is it?" Dennis said confused.
"Well, I rarely get to do anything for the Arc Area Project except kidnap 3 girls, I was wondering if you could maybe…bring Yuya here for me to duel?" Yuri awkwardly turned his head aside. "It's just I never get to fight anything new and while I don't know much of this Pendulum summoning, I guess I'd like to try my hand at battling its creator. Plus, if this Yuya looks like me then maybe he'll be worth my time."
While Dennis was worried about how this would affect the mission of delivering Yuzu to the Professor, he felt sorry for Yuri feeling so useless. Yuri was pretty much Academia's top duelist, so not being able to do much while their comrades fought on the frontlines seemed to have irritated him. Sighing, he whispered, "If you really want to then fine, I'll go find Yuya so you can duel him, make sure you have Yuzu knocked unconscious so we can take her to the Professor afterwards."
Turning around, Yuri had what seemed like an almost joyful smile and cheered, "Great!" Turning to where Yuzu was surrounded by the Obelisk Force below her. "I'll take care of her no prob…"
At that moment, two duelists came flying out of nowhere, then spotted Dennis and Yuri to challenge to a fight.
"Oi, oi, I don't think you can just challenge us…" Dennis started before Yuri took a few menacing steps towards them.
"You fools…are nuisances!" Yuri said in a piercing whisper that sent chills down their spines. The duel concluded in a single turn from Yuri, and he then jumped down to greet the new girl he'd been sent to kidnap. "You're all in my way!" He barked at the Obelisk Force.
"Huh, Yuya!" The girl cried out, happy to see her 'friend.'
"For the love of God, I'm not Yuya." Yuri scoffed before holding 2 cards and stared down the Obelisk force. "As for you 3, out of my way, if you don't you'll end up like they did." He then tossed the cards at them, letting them get the message before retreating.
Yuzu took a few steps towards them and gasped, "Turning others into cards…no way."
"Sorry, did you know? They were in my way so I carded them." He sneered as Yuzu stared at him "But you can have them back if you want."
This guy must be Yugo, she thought, "Did you do this?" She asked staring at the ground.
"I just said I did right."
"Why?"
"I told you they were in my way." Yuri couldn't understand why the girl needed him to repeat things that were so plain and obvious to anyone else.
Glaring at him angrily, Yuzu yelled, "Turning others into cards is not"
"If you're going to nag about it…would you like to join them?" Yuri interrupted, his sneer turning bloodthirsty, stopping Yuzu in her tracks. "Oh don't worry my sweet Yuzu. The Professor wouldn't like it if I did that."
"The Professor…" Yuzu thought about what Serena told her about Academia's dictator. "Why would he care about me?"
"I don't know, maybe it's because you look like Ruri and Rin." She also shared the face of someone else, and with her clothes, he felt a hint of anger in himself.
"Ruri and Rin! So that means the one who took Ruri was…"
"The handsome lad who stands before you? Yes."
"Why would you do that?!" She hollered at him.
"I just told you I was ordered to. I care nothing for your dimensions, or the people in them. I'm just here on the Professor's orders, his orders to bring you to him." Yuri then walked slowly up to her, who once again asked why her. He responded that he didn't know, he was just the errand boy. As of now anyway, he thought to himself.
Though he offered her to surrender, she instead jumped back, forcing Yuri to begin a duel with her.
Yuri LP: 4000
Yuzu LP: 4000
Staring at them with the Obelisk Force from behind one of the fake icebergs, Dennis turned around and revealed his Academia insignia. "Let's let Yuri deal with her, you guys look for Serena, I have other orders to accomplish." He then left to find Yuya, and bring him here for Yuri.
Back at the duel, Yuzu started her turn, I activate 1st Movement Solo. Since I control no monsters, I can special summon 1 Level 4 or lower Melodious from my hand, so come forth Aria The Melodious Diva!" A musical like female angel appeared on the field (ATTR:Light/LV:4/ATK:1600/DEF:1200). "I activate Sonata's effect from my hand, letting me special summon it to the field since I control a Melodious monster, so appear now!" With that, another monster materialized next to its comrade.
"Now I tribute both of my monsters and Advance Summon! Come forth Mozarta the Melodious Maestra!" With that both of her monsters vanished and became replaced with a more adult looking monster (ATTR:Light/LV:8/ATK:2600/DEF:2000). "Now with its effect I can special summon Tamtam the Melodious Diva!" Once again a new monster appeared next to what appeared to be Yuzu's ace (ATTR:Light/LV:4/ATK:1000/DEF:2000). "Have at it creep!"
Yuri sighed; he could already tell that this duel was going to be bland and uninteresting. Ruri had been forced to grow stronger during the war, and the society Rin lived in demanded only the best. However, it seems the criteria here in Standard was much more lax, and as such Yuzu hadn't developed her skills as great as she could have. He guessed this would be a quick duel then.
"Fine, let's get this over with. I draw; I summon Predator Plants – Orphrys Scorpio in attack position." The familiar sight of his scorpion made Yuri smile a bit. "Now I use its effect when its summoned, allowing to special summon a Predator Plants from my deck at the cost of sending a monster from my graveyard, so come forth Darling Cobra!" A familiar serpent materialized on the field and began to hiss. "Now I use its effect in order to add one Fusion card from my deck to my hand, and I add "Fusion" itself." A new card came to Yuri's hand as Yuzu took a step back.
"I now activate Fusion, allowing me to fuse my Scorpio and Cobra together. Alluring plants that invite despair, come together to form the parasite that feeds on life. Fusion Summon! Level 7! Predator – Plants Chimera Rafflesia!" With that, a monstrously overgrown plant appeared from the fusion vortex, much to Yuzu horror and confusion.
"Wait a minute. Your monster has less attack points than Mozarta so why did you summon it? Guessing it has an effect to it."
"Wow Yuzu, I must say, out of all the people I've had to kidnap, you're by far the most boring and possibly the dumbest. Ruri and Rin had figured that out much earlier on and were able to handle this beast easy. Let's see if you can do the same. Attack her monster Rafflesia! Rip Mozarta to pieces!" With that the flowers ivy like tentacle arms stretched out and grabbed Mozarta before beginning to squeeze her. "You were wondering about its special effect, so I'll let you know, when it battles an enemy monster, it absorbs 1000 of its attack points, so say farewell to your monster." Yuri grinned as Mozarta was squeezed to pieces, its hologram breaking from the strain (Yuzu's LP: 4000 – 1800 = 2200). "Turn end."
Yuzu shook before standing up with determination. "I'm not giving up, no matter what. I draw! Summoning monster, Soprano the Melodious Songstress!" A new monster appeared next to Canon (ATTR:Light/LV:4/ATK:1400/DEF:1400). "I activate Soprano's effect, now I can use monsters in my hand or on my field for a Fusion summon without using a Fusion spell, including Soprano!" With that, Yuri's eyes widened, he had left Tamtam on her field hoping she'd put up more of a fight, and now she was.
"Angel's song! Supreme genius! With the guidance of the baton, gather your power! Fusion Summon! Now come here to the stage! Sing the song of victory! Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir!" With that a dollish female in a red gown appeared from the fusion portal (ATTR:Light/LV:6/ATK:1000/DEF:2000). "Now I activate Tamtam's effect, since it was used for a fusion summon, I can now decrease my monster's ATK by 500 while yout take 500 points of damage!" At that moment Yuri was hit by a small blast that pushed him back a few feet (Yuri's LP: 4000 – 500 = 3500) "I attack now with Bloom Diva! I'm well aware now that your monster gains 1000 ATK from my monster, but that can be used to my advantage. Thanks to Bloom Diva's effect when it battles a special summoned monster, it isn't destroyed by the battle and you take all they damage I'd receive!" With that she saw his eyes widened, and allowed herself a grin of satisfaction at knowing he'd underestimated her and now it would cost him the duel. With her monster's power reduced to 0 and his monster now at 3500, the damage that would be reflected back to him would be 3500, wiping out all of his life points. "Now end this! Go Bloom Diva, Symphony of Requiem!" A blast of light shot from the singer towards the plant and her assailant, smiting them both. However, when the smoke cleared both were still standing, and next to Rafflesia was a new small and furry plant being with 2 eyes, it resembled Kuriboh actually (ATTR:Dark/LV:1/ATKE:300/DEF:200).
Yuri laughed, "You forced me to think fast, so I activated Predatoriboh's effect from my hand. If I were to receive battle damage or effect damage, I can special summon this card from my hand, and know I can I can use its other effect, letting me Fusion summon using it and another Predator Plants monster I have in my hand or control. So I fuse Predatoriboh with Rafflesia! Appear Now! Level 8! Predator Plants – Dragostapelia!" With that both of Yuri's monsters disappeared in the vortex before his plantlike draconian beast appeared.
"Damn it, turn end." Yuzu began to sweat in front of Yuri's new beast.
"My turn starts, I draw. Now during the Standby phase after it was sent from the field to the grave, Rafflesia's final effect lets me add a new Fusion card to my hand." A new card appeared and came into Yuri's hand. "Now I use Dragostapelia's effect to place a Predator Counter on your Diva, reducing its level to 1. However, that's not the point. Thanks to its other effect monsters with Predator Counters have their effects negated. Now attack! Destroy Bloom Diva with Toxic Breath!" At that moment the beast spayed a noxious chemical on the angel with its mouth, turning it into dust (Yuzu's LP: 2200 – 1700 = 500). "I end my turn."
"My turn, I draw!" Seeing her card, she smiled. "I activate Draw of Light, if I have no other cards in my hand or on the field I can activate this card. Now I can draw cards from my deck equal to the number of LIGHT monsters in my graveyard. So with 5 in my graveyard I can draw 5 new cards!" She then refilled her entire hand. "I now activate the spell Fusion! Now I fuse the Aria and Sonata in my hand to Fusion Summon Schuberta the Melodious Maestra!" With that two angelic beings went into the fusion portal while a new more adult looking being came forth to fight (ATTR:Light/LV:6/ATK:2400/DEF:2000).
"Now with its effect I can banish all the cards that were used for 1 of your fusion summons and gain 200 ATK for each card!"
Not wanting her to banish his more important cards, Yuri stopped her right there. "I use Dragostapelia's effect to place a Predator Counter on your monster, reducing its level to 1 and negating its effects."
Yuzu smiled, "I was hoping you'd do that, now I can start my real plan. I activate Fusion Recovery to return my Fusion and Sonata from my graveyard, and now I activate Fusion once more, using Schuberta on my field as well as Canon and Sonata in my hand."
"Supreme prodigy! Noble resonance! The flutter of angel's wings! By the guidance of the baton, assemble your power. Fusion Summon! Now on stage, the song of passion! Bloom Prima the Melodious Floral Saint!" With that a smaller and more innocent being appeared, yet it seemed to shine with power (ATTR:Light/LV:7/ATK:1900/DEF:2000). "Bloom Prima gains ATK equal to the number of monsters used to summon it times 300, and it can attack twice per turn!"
The saint then blasted the wicked plant to dust before blasting Yuri, leaving Yuri with only 600 life points…
Meanwhile, Yuya was in the jungle zone with Gongenzaka and Michio as he wondered of the strange dark being that was in his heart, when Dennis then appeared. "Yuya, guess what I just beat Yuzu."
Yuya turned around to face him, "You've seen her, where is she!"
Dennis made a surprised face, "She was at the Ancient Ruin field and said she was going to the ice field."
"Can you take us to her?!" Yuya begged urgently, with Sora and the Obelisk Force around, he didn't want her in danger.
"Okay, follow me then." With that he led them to Yuzu, smirking over how easy this was.
Meanwhile, somewhere else on the ice field, a shimmering light appeared and a man riding a white motorcycle shot out from it. The man took off his helmet before examining his glowing card. "I guess Clear Wing took me here now. I wonder if Rin is nearby." With that he stormed off to find her.
Back at the duel Yuri felt his dragon roar from his Extra Deck. 'Now is the time, summon me to the field.' It spoke in his mind. 'My brethren are finally closing in, my appearance will signal them to us, and we can finish free ourselves.'
Yuri agreed, "My turn I draw, I activate the Continuous spell, Predator Planter. Now once during each of my turns I can special summon a level 4 or lower Predator Plants from my graveyard with its effects negated. So revive Orphrys Scorpio." A familiar scorpion materialized to his field. "Now I normal summon Prdator Plants – Fly Hell from my hand." With that a Venus flytrap monster appeared next to the scorpion (ATTR:Dark/LV:2/ATK:400/DEF:800). "Now I activate Fusion Substitute to fuse both of my monsters together." With that both of his monsters dissolved in the fusion portal as his greatest beast awoke.
Two beautiful flowers with insect-alluring fragrance! Now become one, and from the hell beneath your petals, give birth to a new terror! Fusion Summon! Appear! Poisonous dragon with hungering fangs. Level 8! Starve Venom Fusion Dragon!" With that Yuri's closest companion came forth and sent out a mighty roar.
Yugo felt his pulse rise as his card began to glow, he was no longer in control of where his D-Wheel was taking him, and it was now guided by Clear Wing. Yuya also felt Odd-Eyes and Dark Rebellion lead him, causing him to pass Dennis as he sped to where they were being called to.
Back at the duel Yuri laughed, "You can't win now Yuzu, thanks to Starve Venom's effect, it gains ATK equal to all your special summoned monsters ATK, bringing it to 5600!" With that Starve Venom roared as it was filled with new energy.
Yuzu walked back and began to grip her shoulders. She wished that someone, anyone, was here to help her. "Please save me…Yuya."
"Oh don't worry Yuzu, your boyfriend's coming. I'm counting on it. You can watch while I rip his soul straight from his screaming flesh!" With that he started laughing and he heard the familiar sound of an engine.
"GET AWAY FROM RIN YOU BASTARD!"
Yuri turned around and saw with glee that Yugo had come. Perfect, now his true hunt could. However, at that moment, a familiar pink light shined, causing Yuri to turn around and see it coming from Yuzu's bracelet. "What the…" Yuri said no more as he vanished in the flash of light. With the fusion boy gone the duel ended and Yuzu shook when the new man in the motorcycle ran towards her.
"RIN, OH THANK GOD!" With that he wrapped her in a big hug and nearly began to cry. "I was so worried…I thought I'd lost you forever Rin."
"Wait, Rin?" Yuzu said, recognizing the name of the other girl her assailant mentioned he kidnapped, and pushed him away a bit. "Do you know who she is?"
"Wait, you mean you're not Rin?" Yugo asked when suddenly Yuzu's braclet lit up again, causing them both to vanish. At that moment…
"YUZU!" Yuya yelled as he arrived where they were moments later, his friends catching up. He had been drawn to this place and now he felt that the trail had gone cold.
'Huh, that's strange, I guess Yuri just decided to take Yuzu to the Professor and be done with it. Not a big deal I guess.' Dennis thought to himself.
(Fusion Dimension: Academia)
To say Yuri was stunned was to put it mildly. He had no idea what had just happened. His goal was right at his finger tips and now it was gone. Worst of all, he had somehow been teleported right into the Professor's throne room, without Yuzu.
Confused at Yuri's appearance, "Did something go wrong Yuri?" The Professor asked.
Yuri groaned, 'This is gonna suck isn't it?' He felt his dragon agree.
Fanmade Cards
Draw of Light - (Spell:Normal) If you control no cards or ahve any other card in your hand, draw cards equal to the number of LIGHT monsters in your graveyard.
Predatoriboh - (ATTR:DARK/LV:1/ATK:300/DEF:200) (This card is always treated as a Predator Plants monster) During either players turn, if you were to take battle damage or effect damage, reduce that damage to 0 and special summon this card from your hand (If it was battle damage, and a monster you controlled was part of it, that monster isn't destroyed by the battle). Immediately after this effect resolves, Fusion SUmmon one DARK monster from your Extra Deck using monsters in your hand or on your field as material, including this card. If you control a fusion summoned monster that used this card as a material, you can't take any damage.
That wraps up this chapter, next chapter will delve into the minds of some of our characters and I'll also hint at what awaits for the heroes later on. Hope you enjoyed this!
