Chapter 9: Shadows of Revenge, the Lord of Shadows appears.
Leaving the small coffee, the group was returning to the apartments, for Rafael to rest a bit and finally recover from everything he lived up to now. By playing his synchro monster in the last duel, he was hoping to finally overcome his past and move towards a brighter future.
"Well, finally everything is behind, right Rafa?" asked Alan a bit doubtful.
"The fact that I overcame my defeat with Jack, yes." replied Rafael smiling to him "I lived so much in my past that I was missing things in the present, such as my training as a duelist."
"So, we had to go through all of this for you to simply notice that?" said Emily teasing Rafa.
"Of course not!" replied Rafael, falling to the trick "I also realized that I was getting distanced from my dearest friends. I'll make up for that, somehow."
"Rafa, you don't have to. We're glad you're back to normal." Said Sara smiling to him.
"Well, he's not normal at all. After all he wanted to pay us back for his attitude." Said Alan teasing him even more.
"I think so too, so what about a dinner tonight?" suggested Emily "Of course, Rafa will pay, hahaha!"
"Right. But first I must talk with someone." said Rafa turning to Domino City, to the location of the Arcadia Movement's facility. Rafael pushed a button on his gauntlet and began moving towards the street, when his runner appeared out of nowhere. "I'll see you at my dorm by 7 pm." He then began running to the downtown.
"We'll see you there!" shouted Sara, hoping he heard them.
He passed the headquarters of Sector Security and kept going on, he had a new resolution and finally knew just what to do. He finally understood what to do with his life and how to go on, he arrived a couple of minutes later to the building where he met Sayer and Akiza, the Arcadia Movement. He entered the building and headed to talk with the people in the lobby.
"Is Sayer in here by any chance?" asked Rafael politely.
"I'll check it on a moment." replied the woman of the other day while checking a few things in the computer "He's in the auditory, left hallway last room to the right."
"Thanks." Rafael then headed that way, searching for them and quite determined, until someone from behind stopped him.
"It won't be necessary to go there, my friend." Said a voice from the room, it was Sayer, arriving barely.
"Sayer, I need to talk with you."
"Come with me, would you?" he guided Rafa to the same room where they talked the last time, serving him some coffee. "So, have you come to a decision so fast?"
"Yes Sayer, I did." Answered Rafael quite serious.
"Well, I'm glad to hear that." Sayer was preparing his tea while talking to Rafa "Your room is on the upper floors, near the one of Akiza for our surprise. Also…" He kept going on without letting Rafael speak, he wanted to tell me he didn't want the job and would decline "… training sessions at…"
Rafael then interrupted him at the moment "Sorry Sayer, but I've decided to decline the offer."
Sayer was left without words; he was looking directly to Rafa "Is that so? Well, nothing left to do." after saying that, Rafael was about to leave the room when Sayer snapped his fingers. When Rafael opened the door, he found a few arcadia's men, preventing him from leaving. "You see Rafael, anyone that is not with us…"
Rafael then simply hit with his fist the one of the guards outside, then kicked in the stomach the other one, knocking them down easily and turning them aside to leave, but turned to Sayer instead. "Is against you?" he then noticed the angry look of Sayer, as he was trying to get his deck. "Do not even bother with foolish threats Sayer, I know your organization is up to something and Goodwin knows too. But let me tell you something, you dare to do something, you will find the end of the road, understood?" he then shut the door, as he left the room.
Sayer simply kept staring angrily at the door, furious of what just happened in the room. "So, he thinks he can get away that easily, right?" he then stood up "You don't know in what a mess you set yourself and your friends in, boy." He then took his arm to his head and activated a communicator in his wrist "Seria, ready a few of our men. We're going on a hunt." From the communicator a female voice was heard, confirming Sayer's order.
"You should bring him here." said a voice in the room, right behind Sayer. He turned to see a kind of turbo duelist, wearing a dark cape and hood. "Then his friends will come, or maybe the other way around, and you may do as you please with them."
Sayer simply smiled a bit deviously, yet he turned to the mysterious man "Who are you anyways?"
The man simply let go a devious laugh, taking of his hood "You can call me the Shadow Lord." The man that was with Sayer was the last thug behind Sara, the leader of the band that pursued her to New Domino City, Kasumi.
Rafael was heading back to his apartment, when he received a call from Mina in the Kaiba Dome. He decided to make a slight detour there, arriving just in time before Jack's duel after what happened in the Kaiba Dome the day before, with the Satellite duelist and the mysterious red dragon. He was heading towards Jack's room when Mina left it, looking down a bit. "Good afternoon Mina, you called me?"
She looked up and smiled back to Rafael "Oh, Rafael, thanks for coming so early." She then stood right in front of him and asked him to accompany her to the seats in the dome; she was still looking a bit worried. Rafael eventually got concerned and asked her if everything was alright, she then made a brief stop, as they arrived the back part of the seats in one of the good areas to watch turbo duels. Out of one of the exits, the ex-champion of the turbo dueling world left with his runner, Hunter Pace was hoping to get his payback from Jack already.
Mina then turned to Rafael. "Rafael, Jack's been acting quite strange lately." moments later, Jack made his grand entrance with his runner, with his catch phrase for turbo duels, Mina then turned to Rafael again "After the duel with this Yusei Fudo, Jack's been acting as if the world ended for him. Yesterday he told he wouldn't duel anymore until evening the score with Yusei."
Rafael got astonished to hear that, he immediately realized that Jack had lost the duel somehow when they lost sight of the duel. "So, he's dwelling in the past? What a weight to deal with, I can assure you it's not pretty." He then noticed Mina looking down again "Look, maybe this duel will help him, why not watch it and see what happens?"
Mina then smiled a bit "Yeah, this may help him." the duel didn't had the most brilliant of beginnings, sure Jack managed to bring one of his favorite tuners, Dark Resonator, but Pace really fired things up with his Skull Flame and burning out most of Jack's Life Points, to which the crowd reacted in concern for him. Jak simply drew his card and turned his runner, summoning his Big Piece Golem by releasing the Dark Resonator and activating a trap card he set, Graceful Revival a card that brought back Jack's Resonator and two tokens in Hunter's field. He then synchro summoned his ace monster, Red Dragon Archfiend to the field, crushing Hunter Pace yet again. "Well done Mr. Atlas." She said smiling as Jack won the duel before things got out of control and then turning to Rafael a bit worried "Oh right, Mr. Goodwin had a new assignment for you. He's waiting for us at his balcony." Both of them headed there as the crowd kept cheering for Jack, who still looked pretty serious in his runner.
Rafael and Mina arrived moments later at Goodwin's balcony, by the center of the Kaiba Dome and entered, watching Goodwin in there, waiting. "Director Goodwin, we arrived." said Mina, as they entered.
"Very well Mina, thanks for the help." He then stood up and approached Rafael "Rafael, I want to ask for your assistance in a little project we have in hands now."
"Sure, but please tell me it's not right now." replied Rafael, trying to keep it polite for the moment. Goodwin simply let go a laugh and turned to the windows.
"Have you heard anything of The Facility?" asked Goodwin.
"Well, I've heard that's the place where Satellites that intrude here are sent to, to pay for a 'crime' and then are sent back to their homes; of course, with a security mark." he then made a brief stop and continued "Also, supposedly citizens of New Domino City that commit a crime are sent there to pay their debt with society."
"Brilliant indeed. You're correct in everything." replied Goodwin smiling but then turning serious "However, I have a feeling that those who enter it will never be able to change their lives, not when we have Armstrong as the chief."
"So, you hope to pay a little surprise visit, don't you?" then remembering that Yusei was sent there too "And to look upon this, Yusei Fudo?"
"Precisely." replied Goodwin, leaving the room "We'll be going tomorrow as soon as you arrive. Until then." He then left with Mina and Lazar, who was waiting for him outside. Rafael then left Kaiba Dome with his runner, heading back home.
He arrived at his apartment moments later and got ready for the evening with his friends, it had passed a long time since they did that. Things were different than in the old days of course, Emily and Alan were already dating while Sara and Rafael stayed single. While getting things ready, he heard a knock in the door. It was Blair and her friends, with Sara, Alan and Emily along.
They entered once again the apartment, noticing Rafael had been working in a new development for practicing either tag or single duels. A computer that downloads a recipe duel to test the power of a deck and the effectiveness of the strategy; they also saw the slight modifications Rafael was making to his runner, checking a few troubles it had in the past days. They finally decided to get to the kitchen and have dinner already, to enjoy it better while having some fun.
"Say Rafael." said Blair while finishing her dish "Would you like to have a duel? You know, just for fun."
Rafael simply smiled a bit and then turned on the duel arena "Let's get this game on then." He took his duel disk and readied his deck, Blair doing the same to get ready. Everyone else moved nearer to the arena, with the dinner some of them to see the duel.
"Let's make this a bit interesting." He said while opening a screen in the arena as a menu popped in front of them. "Let's choose an additional rule for this rule, like starting with a determined Life Points quantity, draw a number of cards in the draw phase, things of that sort."
Blair began examining the options, until she choose one of the upper ones. "We'll duel with 8000 Life Points in that case." She then started her disk as the arena allowed the duel to begin seconds later.
Blair, 8000; Rafael, 8000
"I'll start this duel!" said Blair, drawing a card from her deck and checking her starting hand "First I'll start by activating the Terraforming spell, which allows me to search for a field spell card." Her deck then threw a card from the deck and shuffled, she added it to her hand and proceeded "Next, I'll be activating my Realm of Light!" the duel arena below them turned blank, as a castle surrounded by clouds appeared below them, with a little waterfall in it. "Wow, this is really cool!"
"The duel field in here becomes that of the activated field spell." Replied Rafael, explaining how it worked "This allows the spectators to watch the duel without any troubles and the field to stay clear with our monsters."
Blair then continued with her turn, choosing a card in her hand "I'll summon Ehren, the Lightsworn Monk in attack mode!" a brunette woman appeared in front of Blair, with a white outfit, taking a battle position of the martial arts. Next I'll set a face down card and finish my turn." When the card appeared, a light began surrounding Ehren, forcing the top three cards in Blair's deck to be thrown into the graveyard, when one of them appeared on the field. "Because Wulf was sent from my deck to the graveyard, I can special summon it in attack mode!" the human wolf beast appeared, howling and lifting his claw gauntlet in its left hand and a spear in its right hand. "Your turn, Rafael, do your best."
"Let's see what I've got in store!" said Rafael while drawing his card. "I'll start by summoning my Blizzard Dragon in attack mode!" a frozen solid ice stone appeared in the field, until it broke apart, releasing a blue bat-faced dragon into the battlefield. "That's not all, since I'll activate its skill!" the dragon launched an ice beam to Wulf "I can choose one of your monsters and freeze it for your entire turn. No attacks, change of positions, useful for the moment. But things can go even worse now, by removing my dragon, I'll special summon my Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon!" when the blue dragon disappeared, a black as night dragon appeared, covered in metal and roaring furiously. "That's not all yet, by activating its skill, I can bring another dragon type monster to the field, like my Blue Eyes White Dragon!" the ultimate dragon appeared, roaring as is points were registered "Time to erase that face down, with my Mystical Space Typhoon!" a long vortex headed to the face down card, to destroy it immediately, revealing a Sakuretsu Armor that was successfully destroyed. "Now my dragons, attack!" the black dragon stroke down Ehren, while the white one finished off Wulf in a single turn, dealing serious damage to Blair. "I'll finish by setting my two last cards."
Blair, 6000; Rafael 8000
"I still remember that strategy from Duel Academy, and I can assure you I'm prepared for it!" said Blair while getting her card and smiling "I'll activate the spell A Feather of a Phoenix! By discarding a card from my hand, I can get a card in my graveyard back into my hand!" the image of Sakuretsu Armor appeared, as a red-yellowish feather fell in it, returning it to her hand. "Now, I'll summon my Jain, the Lightsworn Paladin!" the knight appeared in the battlefield, packing her sword and shield "Now, I activate my Lightsworn Sabre, equipping it to my Jain to increase her attack to 2600! Attack the Red Eyes Dragon now!" Jain simply jumped in the air, wielding the sabre and stabbing it right in the head of the metallic dragon, destroying it. "When Jain attacks, she gains 300 attack points."
Sara got a bit confused to send a monster to a fight that would end in a tie "But she has the same attack, why do so?"
Carl simply let go a laugh, as the other cheerleaders and her friends did. "You see, when Realm of Light is in play and cards are sent from the deck it gets one Light counter." Said Jean, pointing to the light circling around the castle's hologram. "For each counter on the card, Lightsworns monsters receive a 100 attack bonus."
Jain's attack was successful, slicing the metal dragon in half, after defeating it she returned with Blair, sheathing her sabre and shining brightly. "I'll finish my turn setting this card." Two cards from Blair's deck were sent to her graveyard, as she began reacting a bit surprised and angry "No way! My Judgement Dragon was sent there?"
Jean and the cheerleaders simply smiled concerned she shouted it so loud, the guys simply looked unsurprised. "Yeah, that's the bad part of this deck. If you can't bring that dragon early and it's sent to graveyard, you're left with fewer options."
Blair, 6000; Rafael 7900
"I guess it's my turn!" said Rafael drawing his card "I'll activate the Hand Destruction spell, both of us send two cards from our hands to the graveyard" said Rafael, then both choose two cards and discarded them "and then, we get to draw two new cards!" both got their cards, until Rafael's graveyard began shining "I activate from my graveyard, the spell Dragoon Rise! This card allows me to send a card from my hand to my graveyard for me to special summon a Dragoon monster from my deck." Rafael discarded his card and a new one appeared from his deck "I special summon Dragoon Swordsman!" a winged humanoid began appearing in the field, as it took his sword and shield. The creature was somehow strong, but not to that point. "I'll activate its ability, which allows me to get synchro materials from my hand or graveyard, as long as they are removed from play." He then sent the Genesic Dragon in his hand as a material "Now I'll synchro summon my…" suddenly something began to happen in the room, as the duel field turned off and the screen on, blurred.
"What's going on?" asked Jean quite scared and worried. Rafael tried to get back control until everything stopped at once, when the door opened.
"Good evening Rafael, have you reconsidered my offer." He turned back to see Sayer entering the room, along with a few arcadians behind him.
Rafael got angry once again, approaching to him as the guards Sayer had began to tremble in fear. "Sayer, you've made a great mistake coming here. Get out of my sight now!"
From behind Sayer, another man appeared from there. It was Kasumi. "Hehe, long time no see Sara." He said smiling deviously, then turning to Rafael "Rafael, good to see you're here. I was hoping to talk with you." He then ordered Sayer to get away "Some time ago, when the archfiend prince came to this world, he had three of the most powerful creatures in our realm, those that you sealed in cards with Dread's help. We want them back."
"And if I refuse?"
Kasumi simply continued laughing "Well, you'll see. So, you'll help me with it?"
"Never."
"Perfect then." said Kasumi coldly. Kasumi simply snapped his fingers, as the arcadians retreat. Rafael then asked his friends to leave him for the time being, since things could get tough from that moment onwards and about his task the next day, meaning he would be absent for some time. He lay down in his bed, trying to get some rest for the next day.
"Why did you simply warned him that?" asked Sayer confused, as his group was leaving with Kasumi, he simply let go a cynical laugh.
"If you want to make someone pay for something, you must first make him suffer." He then stared at the apartments "You then finish the job, that's the way of darkness."
Cards of the Day:
Dragoon Rise; Normal Spell Card
By discarding a card from your hand, you can Special Summon a Dragoon monster from your hand or deck.
Dragoon Swordsman, Effect Tuner Monster; Warrior, Level 3; Atk 1100, Def 600
You can use cards from your hand or graveyard for a Synchro Summon. Monsters used this way are removed from play.
Well, I thought of not only give a GREAT focus to duels. I'll try my best to make the chapters enjoyable not only because of a duel, but also because of history between characters, things of that sort. Until next time and play fair (I wanted so badly to say that)!