Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.
Chapter 10: Frozen Heart
Thomas paced around the campsite while Faker and the others tended to the unconscious Mithril. The former mad scientist was busy repairing the young woman's cybernetic arm using tools he had brought with him. The waiting was really getting on Thomas's nerves. He wanted to leave the camp and go off after Cleo and Iris to find Rio. But as it was, Cleo had taken the only map to where Rio was. Plus there was the chance that the person who had threatened to kill Rio if Cleo showed up with anyone other than Iris was very real. Even so, it wasn't like Thomas to just sit on his hands and do nothing when someone close to him was in danger.
"I still can't believe you brought such a tool kit with you, Faker." Byron remarked as Faker continued his repairs.
"I believe in being prepared for any situation that may come up." Faker replied. "And as you can clearly see, Byron, my preparations have paid off."
"So if this woman's a cyborg, does that mean she's some kind of super soldier?" Michael wondered.
"Actually, this type of prosthetic arm is used fairly often these days by normal doctors to replace severed limbs lost in accidents." Faker revealed. "This young woman probably didn't have her arm replaced intentionally." The old scientist finished patching another wire and closed the panel in Mithril's upper arm. "There. That should take care of it."
Suddenly as if on cue, Mithril began to stir and slowly sat up holding her head. "Where am I?"
"So you're finally awake." Thomas spoke as he walked over. "You better tell us where you took Rio, or else."
"Who?" Mithril asked. "What are you talking about? Who are you people?" She then noticed the tight-fitting body armor she had on. "What the hell am I wearing? Oh god! Don't tell me I got carried away partying with the girls again! Well, at least I didn't wake up in bed with some guy who's name I can't remember… or in a jail cell."
"Um, Ms.? We might be able to help you if you could just tell us who you are." Michael suggested.
"My name's Alyssa." The former masked duelist replied. "Alyssa Fairbanks."
"What the… Fairbanks?" a surprised Thomas exclaimed.
"Young lady, you wouldn't happen to be related to Dante Fairbanks, would you?" Byron asked.
"That's my little brother." Alyssa revealed. "Wait, do all of you know him? What exactly is going on here?"
"Wait a minute… does this mean that Dante's the one who's been behind this whole thing?" Michael asked.
"It's starting to look that way." Faker agreed.
"Will you people just tell me what the hell's going on?" Alyssa demanded. "My brother's done something bad, hasn't he?"
"You say that like you're not entirely surprised." Byron observed.
At this, Alyssa sighed. "…My brother hasn't been quite right for awhile now. It started about two years ago. I was on a trip with my parents and the plane we were on crashed. My parents died and I ended up with a metal arm. Dante was pretty broken up over the whole thing. I was too, obviously, but Dante was hit I think a little harder than I was. Then one day he found this old crystal pendant that's apparently been in our family for ages, and that's when he started getting kind of weird. He told me once that the pendant showed him things. It said that he was the reincarnation of some prince from ancient times or something."
"Didn't you try and get help for him?" Faker asked.
"Well yeah. I took him to like three different shrinks after I got out of the hospital, but they all said he was normal." Alyssa answered. "He probably denied everything during the sessions and those doctors somehow bought it. My little brother always has been a smooth talker."
"From the sound of it, Dante must think he's Zahn the Black Diamond." Michael assumed. "He probably thinks that Cleo is the Scarlet Empress and is trying to get revenge on her."
"Will you people please tell me what's going on already?" Alyssa asked.
"That I'm afraid is going to take some time." Byron told her. "And you're probably not going to like what you're about to hear."
Cleo and Iris had been walking though the forest for a little over fifteen minutes. Fortunately, the place where Rio was being held wasn't very far according to the map. They would be there as soon as they left the forest.
"Hey Cleo, mind if I ask you something?" Iris asked, breaking the long silence that had been hanging over them since they left camp. "There was no warning on the map saying that only you and I could go, was there?"
"…You really are pretty sharp." Cleo admitted. "I didn't want IV or any of his family getting in my way."
"So why'd you let me come?" Iris asked.
"Because… I need your help." Cleo admitted. "You've probably noticed that I haven't really been thinking straight. But for some reason you're able to help me stay focused, like you did in that last duel. Maybe it's because you look so much like Rio, I don't know. But I need you to keep doing that for me right now."
"I'll do my best." Iris assured her.
At last, the two of them exited the forest and saw some kind of small stone hut before them. From where they were, they could see a person standing in front of the open door. As they ventured closer, they saw that it was Dante.
"Hello, Cleo. I see that you were able to defeat Mithril after all." Dante greeted. "Of course I had my doubts, considering your performance lately. But I'm happy to see that I was wrong. Otherwise most of my efforts would've been for nothing."
"Fairbanks!" Cleo spoke as her hands balled into fists at her sides. "So you've been behind this the whole time! What have you done with Rio?"
"I assure she's unharmed. Though that may change if you fail to do exactly what I say." Dante told her. He then produced a steel manacle with a counter on it and threw it to Cleo. "Please put that on your upper right arm. If you don't, I can easily have Rio's throat slashed with a snap of my fingers."
Gritting her teeth, Cleo did as she was instructed and placed the device on her arm. The device locked itself upon being closed and red numbers appeared on the counter.
"The device you're now wearing is going to play a key part in the duel that's about to take place." Dante explained. "Should you win, the device will detach itself and they'll be no harm done. But if your life points reach zero, and I have absolute faith that they will, the device will inject you with a fast-acting and very fatal toxin that will kill you in seconds."
"Will you at least tell me what all this is about?" Cleo asked.
"From the very beginning, this has been all about settling our ancient battle from long ago, Sonja." Dante told her.
"What are you talking about, Dante?" Iris asked.
"I think that should be obvious, little Iris." Dante replied. "I am the reincarnation of great Zahn the Black Diamond, prince of the grand lost kingdom of Obsidia!"
"You really are delusional." Cleo told him.
"After thousands of years, our destinies have led us here back to this place, Sonja." Dante continued. "And at long last, I shall finally have my revenge."
"Well then, if this is about you and I battling, I'll be glad to take you on." Cleo told him. "Now I can finally put you in your place."
"I admire your enthusiasm, but I'm not the one you're going to be dueling." Dante told her.
With that, Dante snapped his fingers and stepped aside. Rio walked out of the stone structure looking like she was in some kind of trance.
"Rio!" Cleo called. "Are you okay?"
Rio looked at Cleo with a blank expression. "My dear Sonja… I will destroy you in the name of Prince Zahn."
"What the… Rio! Snap out of it!" Iris told her. "Do you even know what you're saying?"
At this, Dante laughed. "I'm afraid getting through to Rio is hopeless. Thanks to the power of my pendant, she is completely in my power."
"You're saying you can control people's minds?" Iris asked.
"You've already seen evidence of it." Dante told them. "The assassin you encounter before, Mithril is actually my older sister Alyssa. She had been starting to get in my way, so I used her to test my power and made her my loyal servant. And now I have done the same to Rio."
"Damn you!" Cleo cursed.
"There's no getting out of this duel, Sonja." Dante told Cleo. "If you refuse to duel, I'll simply order Rio to kill herself. She'll do it without question."
"Just do it, Cleo." Iris told her. "Maybe if you win, you can snap Rio out of this spell she's under."
"…Fine." Cleo agreed. "Let's get this over with!"
With that, Cleo and Rio activated their duel disks. When everyone's D-Gazers activated, the color of the surrounding area changed.
"I shall go first." Rio announced as she drew a card. "I set two cards on the field. Then I summon Aurora Phoenix in Defense Mode!"
Materializing on Rio's side of the battlefield was a bird that looked somewhat similar to a peacock. Its body was made of dazzling multicolored light like that of the aurora borealis.
"I end my turn." Rio announced.
Cleo drew her first card. "I summon Mad Archfiend in Attack Mode!"
Appearing on Cleo's side of the field was a humanoid demon with wild red hair. The only thing that could be told about his face was that he had yellow eyes. He had animal skulls on over his shoulders, and in the large mouth on his torso he had a white human skull.
"I activate the Continuous Trap, DNA Transplant!" Rio announced. "As long as this card is on the field, the attribute of all monsters on the field changes to whichever one I want. And the attribute I choose is Water."
"As if that will make any difference." Cleo told her. "Mad Archfiend, attack Aurora Phoenix!"
"I activate my other Trap, Diamond Dust!" Rio announced. "This card destroys all Water monsters on the field and deals 500 points of damage to my opponent for each one."
Just as Mad Archfiend began to charge, both he and Aurora Phoenix were hit by an ice-cold wind that blew over the battlefield and frozen in a thick layer of ice. The two monsters shattered to bits and the shards struck Cleo, causing her life points to drop to 3000.
"Are you done?" Rio coldly asked.
"I set one card on the field and end my turn." Cleo announced.
Rio drew her next card. "At the beginning of my turn, because Aurora Phoenix was destroyed by a card effect, it's summoned back to my side of the field."
An aurora appeared on Rio's side of the field and quickly changed into a dazzling ball of multicolored flames. The fireball ignited and changed into Rio's bird of light.
"Because Aurora Phoenix was summoned using her own effect, I can draw one more card." Rio announced. "Next I summon Aurora Wing in Defense Mode!"
Appearing next to Aurora Phoenix was another bird with a white body with massive wavy blue and green wings and tail feathers. On its head was a large wavy blue and green crest.
"Using my level four Aurora Phoenix and Aurora Wing, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon my ultimate monster!" Rio announced. "Arise, Number 103: Ragnazero!"
A large vortex in the form of a swirling galaxy formed in the center of the field and pulled Rio's two birds in as balls of blue light. Rising out of the vortex moments later with a gust of snow and wind was a woman with grey skin wearing a sleeveless white dress with a long skirt. Down the front of the skirt was a large section of red, and around the skirt's end were several gold triangular ornaments. She had six golden blades of ice on her back, and in each hand was a curved ice sword. A red stocking covered the lower half of the woman's face. She had red eyes, and dark-blue hair arranged in a very ornate style. Two of the ornaments in her hair were two more long blades of ice. Written on one of the blades in strange red alien writing was the number 103.
"What kind of monster is this?" a surprised Cleo asked. "Fairbanks! Is this card another one of your creations?"
"I'm afraid I can't take credit for this card, but I'm certainly not complaining about its appearance." Dante replied.
"Cleo! You need to be really careful!" Iris told her. "That monster Rio just summoned is really dangerous!"
"Ragnazero, attack my dear Sonja directly!" Rio commanded. "Dance of Frozen Death!"
"I activate a Trap, Metal Reflect Slime!" Cleo quickly announced. "When activated, this card becomes a monster with 3000 DEF!"
A spiked silver blob suddenly appeared on Cleo's side of the field. It began to grow and change shape, taking the form of a muscular silver monster with the head of a bull.
"I end my turn." Rio announced.
Cleo drew her next card. "I sacrifice Metal Reflect Slime to summon the Tuner monster, Emissary from Pandemonium!"
The metal monster shattered to bits, and in its place appeared a very large blue dog with a mouth full of fangs and two very large red horns. Much of its body was covered in black armor adorned with several spikes and chains.
"Since I summoned Emissary from Pandemonium using only one tribute, it ATK and DEF are halved and its level drops from seven to five." Cleo continued. "Next I play the Spell card, Over Tuning and summon Phantom King Hydride from my hand!" Cleo's silver horseman appeared on the field. "Using Hydride as a non-Tuner, I tune the level five Pandemonium Emissary into the level three Hydride for a level eight Synchro Summon!"
The blue demon hound howled and changed into five green rings of light. The encircled Hydride and changed him into three white stars.
"The ruler's heartbeats will now file through here! Take witness to its creation-shaking power!" Cleo chanted. "Synchro Summon! My very soul, Red Dragon Archfiend!"
The stars flashed and became a pillar of white light that shot into the air. In moments the light faded to reveal Cleo's red dragon.
"Red Dragon Archfiend, attack Ragnazero!" Cleo commanded. "Absolute Power Force!"
Red Dragon Archfiend moved in and struck Ragnazero with the large ball of flames that had formed in his palm. The ice maiden was struck and Rio's life points dropped to 3400. When the attack ended however, Ragnazero was still on the field.
"What? How can that monster still be alive?" a surprised Cleo asked.
"Only a Number can destroy another Number in battle." Rio explained. "And since I know for a fact that you don't have any Numbers of your own, as far as you're concerned Ragnazero's invincible."
"This is turning out much better than I thought it would." A pleased Dante remarked.
"Are you done, Sonja?" Rio asked.
"I… end my turn." Cleo announced.
Rio drew her next card. "I activate the Spell, Zero Blade! During this turn, Ragnazero can attack twice. But more importantly, your red dragon loses 1000 ATK."
Both of Ragnazero's swords began to glow with a blue light. At the same time, a twister of cold wind appeared around Red Dragon Archfiend and reduced his ATK to 2000.
"I activate Ragnazero's effect!" Rio announced. "Because the ATK of your monster's been lowered, I can detach an overlay unit from Ragnazero to destroy that monster and draw one card."
One of the balls of blue light orbiting around Ragnazero entered the guard of her right sword. The ice maiden waved the sword and hit Red Dragon Archfiend with a blast of snow and ice. In an instant, the dragon was frozen solid and his body shattered apart.
"Oh no!" Iris exclaimed. "If both of Ragnazero's attacks get through, Cleo's done for!"
Dante began to laugh manically. "This is perfect! My revenge will soon be fulfilled in the most ideal way! With this move Sonja will die at the hands of the one she loves most! And there's nothing she can do to stop it!"
Author's Note: In case anyone reading hasn't realized it, Rio's Aurora Phoenix card is a card that I made up for this story. Something like this was bound to happen, since the number of known cards Rio used in the anime was pretty small. This what happens when characters in the anime don't duel very often.
Pleas review and let me know what you think.