Disclaimer: The following piece is in no way a claim to ownership of the depicted characters. Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh R, Yu-Gi-Oh GX and Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's are owned by TV Tokyo, Konami Corporation and Kazuki Takahashi. This story as presented is strictly for entertainment purposes, both for its owner and readers.
Chapter 10 – Behold, the Duel of a King! Jack vs. Jack!
At the base if the building where Kyojo's D-Wheel had crashed, Judai suddenly ran out from the doorway and grabbed the man by the arm, helping him up. "Are you alright?" he asked of his friend. "Can you walk?"
"I don't think I've broken anything," Kyojo responded, leaning on Judai a bit. "This suit's pretty protective; but my legs hurt like a son of a bitch."
"Come on, let's let up to the roof," Judai said, yurning them both around as they stepped back into the doorway.
Just as they entered into the building, Jack and the fake Jack passed by again, the fake out in front and Jack having just drawn a fresh hand. With his opponent having just set 2 cards, it was not Jack's turn, and so he reached for his Deck.
"One card can turn this situation around," he realized, seeing the three Piece Golems and two Trap Cards in his opening hand. "It's my turn! Draw (Jack: 4 SPC/Enemy: 4 SPC)!" Looking over at his card, he realized he had gotten exactly what he needed. "I activate Speed Spell – Speed Fusion! Since I have 4 SPC, I send Fusion Material Monsters from my hand or field to the Cemetery to Fusion Summon a Fusion Monster!"
"Fusion Summoning?" the fake Jack questioned. "Give me your worst."
"I fuse Big, Mid and Small Piece Golems! Come forth, Ultimate Piece Golem (ATK: 3800, LV: 10)!" Up from Jack's hand jumped three rock-based figures. The largest one was a dark grey creature with a rough cylindrical body including rock-hewn lips below green eyes, long arms and short legs with big feet. In front of it stopped a piece creature with a muscular form including regularly-proportioned limbs, red eyes in cracks in its face and a ridge down its head and back. Smallest and in front was another cylindrical creature with big feet, long arms and almost no legs; but this one had a helm-like hole in its face with human blue eyes, and a ponytail of rocks.
These three creatures then all spiraled together, and from that spawned a single massive rock creature with traits of all three and some new ones. Its chest was formed by a large boulder-like rock with an Easter Island statue-like face mounted on it, a ridge down the back of the head to the bottom of the back. Its arms looked like the largest creatures, but with boulder-like shoulders and brick-like upper arms; its lower body was formed of cinder block; and its legs were long and jointed with five-toed feet and sandstone pieces above large red brick.
"Way to go Jack!" Judai and the others cheered out. "Show him who's King!"
"That's certainly a powerful monster," the fake Jack stated, "But a true King is always prepared. Trap Activate: Junk Dealer!" Surprising Jack, he explained, "when my opponent Fusion Summons a monster, I Special Summon the materials used to my won field in Defence Position (DEF: 0, LV: 5) (DEF: 0, LV: 4) (DEF: 0, LV: 3)." From three vortexes emerged blue versions of the three rocks that had fused, in crouching positions.
"The monsters Special Summoned by this effect have their effects negated, and they cannot be Released or used as Fusion Material Monsters. However, you know full well what that means I can use them for."
"He intends to use them for Synchro Summons," Jack realized. "Still, I'm in prime position." "I attack Red daemon's Dragon with Ultimate Piece Golem! Gaia Knuckle!" The large rock creature swung its huge fist at the dragon, connecting its torso-sized fist with the chest of the Dragon. The monster roared out as it flew fifty feet into the air and exploded, the shockwave striking the fake and making him cringe.
Jack: LP 1800
Enemy: LP 1800
"He damaged that imposter's Life Points!" Carly said, enthused and jumpy as she pulled out her digital camera and began to take pictures.
"Indeed, he's off to a great start," Judai stated, Kyojo giving a thumb's-up.
"Damn you! Damn you, you fucking knave! You dare to disgrace the King's Duel!" the fake yelled back at the real Jack, confusing him slightly.
"By destroying your fake Dragon, I've insulted your duel?" he questioned, getting a snapping reply.
"Not simply by destroying it, but by doing so with a Fusion Monster! Fusion Monsters are the outdated cards of fools and wannabes."
"Then you need to refresh your memory!" Jack yelled. "Yuki Judai is a Champion Duelist who uses Fusion Monsters."
"Yuki Judai is a fucking imposter to the throne of dueling! Real Kings use brute force to claim their victories, and that is to be done for Synchro Monsters! Yuki Judai is nothing but an outdated fucking joke!"
"Shut the fuck up about my friend!" Jack yelled. "I'll show you what these so-called outdated cards can do! I set 2 cards and end my turn!"
"Draw (Jack: 5 SPC/Enemy: 5 SPC)!' Jack's imposter declared. "And it's time we took this Ride in a different direction!"
"What are you taking about?" Jack's question was soon answered when his imposter passed the building where his friends were again; instead of keeping the tight lap, he shot out down a side street, forcing Jack to give chase onto the highways of Neo Domino City.
"Where are they going?" Carly asked, being just as confused as Jack and the others were by this maneuver.
"I don't know," Judai responded, "but we'd better go after them!" With a nod, all three of them got onto Judai's parked red, black and chrome motorcycle-like D-Wheel and put on helmets, and then the man himself jumped off the building and onto the street, where Kyojo got off and jumped onto his own vehicle.
"Hey, she still runs!" he said ecstatically, pulling it vertical and starting it up. With that both of the two vehicles shot off after Jack and his imposter, remaining at a distance but being close enough to see the action.
"What is this about?" Jack asked. "What do you intend to prove?"
"I felt our duel needed a new venue," his imposter stated. "Intermission is over! Trap Card Open: Piece Together! When I control all 3 Piece Golems, I draw 3 cards!"
"Permanent Trap!" the real Jack declared in chain, "Powered Destiny! When my opponent draws cards via a card's effect, I draw the same number of cards!" With that both Jack and his doppelganger pulled three cards and placed them in their trays, at which time the fake Jack sneered.
"Thank you, knave," he stated. "For now, I send your face-up Powered Destiny Trap Card to the Cemetery, as a cost, and I Special Summon Trap Eater from my hand (ATK: 1900, LV: 4)!" All of a sudden a purple leathery piranha-like demon with a massive mouth full of gigantic curved teeth came up from under the Trap Card upside-down, swallowing it whole and turning right-side up before returning it its controller.
"A Level 4 Tuner Monster?" Jack questioned taken off guard by such a move. "Are you going for Daemon Chaos King?"
"Stop being so fucking naïve!" Jack's double roared. "I Tune my Level 4 Trap Eater to my Level 4 Mid Piece Golem!" Growling loudly, the purple monster opened its mouth and released 4 white orbs before disappearing; these rings surrounded the beige rock creature vertically, changing it into a yellow outline of itself containing 4 white orbs. The outline then disappeared, and the orbs formed a vertical column of light.
"Synchro Summon! Red Daemon's Dragon (ATK: 3000, LV: 8)!" Bursting forth from the light, another of the blackened grey and red dragon from earlier appeared and roared at Jack, showing its readiness for battle.
"A second Red Daemon's?" Jack gasped, sharing the same sentiment as the others while the imposter sneered.
"Yes, and that's not all! Because I successfully Synchro Summoned a monster, I Special Summon the Tuner monster Synchro Magnator from my hand (ATK: 1000, LV: 3)!" From a blue vortex shot a metal cylindrical creature with big bulging eyes, a top-like bottom ad a pair of jointed arms with three-clawed hands, which made a strange groaning sound.
"I tune my Level 3 Synchro Magnator to my Level 5 Big Piece Golem!" With that the metal monster changed into three green rings that surrounded the largest rock monster before him, changing it into 5 white orbs and then a column of light. "Synchro Summon! Red Daemon's Dragon (ATK: 3000, LV: 8)!" Once again, a blackened red and grey dragon emerged from the light, growling at Jack while it made itself known.
"This is getting pretty intense," Judai stated. "If that thing can manage to get out a few more cards, it's game over for Jack."
"Permanent Trap Open: Boosting Resurrection! I Special Summon the Level 3 Tuner Monster Flare Resonator from my Cemetery, with 100 more ATK and DEF and 1 Level higher (ATK: 400, DEF: 1400, LV: 4)!" Shooting up from the Cemetery slot, said burning monster reappeared and began to laugh in a gremlin-like way.
"I summon Dark Angel (ATK: 0, LV: 1) From the blue vortex emerged a black-winged figure dressed in battle armour, which created the image of a Red Daemon's Dragon card above it. "When this card is Summoned, I return 1 DARK monster from my Cemetery to my Deck and draw 1 card!" With the card disappearing, he pulled a card and yelled, "Tuning!"
"This again!"
"I tune my now Level 4 Flare Resonator to my Level 1 Dark Angel and my Level 3 Small Piece Golem!" Clanging its glass rod into its tuning fork, said monster changed into 4 green rings that rose up into the air, followed by the armoured black-winged figure and the smallest rock creature. Said creatures turned into 1 and 3 white orbs, respectively, and then they formed a vertical column of light. "Synchro Summon: Red Daemon's Dragon (ATK: 3300, LV: 8)!"
Yelling at the top of his lungs, the fake Jack called forth from a burst of flames the dragon he had first summoned at the beginning of the duel, roaring as it looked on at Jack and formed a triangular formation with its two clones, that one being at the top.
"I don't believe it!" Judai yelled out, completely stunned. "He actually performed the Synchro Summon of 3 Red Daemon's Dragons in one turn!" All of a sudden a loud whirring noise was heard overhead, and a news helicopter appeared above the duel and began to follow it.
"Looks like we have a real audience now!" the fake Jack yelled. "Prepare for the closing act of this tragedy, where the poor fool tastes the blade of the King! I activate Speed Spell – Speed Energy! With this, my original Red Daemon's Dragon will gain 200 ATK for each of my Speed Counters, and I have 5 (ATK: 4300)!"
"No!" Jack yelled, stunned and concerned about such a move being made by his opponent.
"Battle! Red Daemon's, destroy his Ultimate Piece Golem! Absolute Power Force!" Once again the dragon formed a huge fireball over its fist and swung it up into the chest of the massive rock monster, causing it to explode. Jack's D-Wheel swayed from side to side, but he managed to hold it upright. Seconds later, though, he received a taste of the red electricity, making him cringe.
Jack: LP 1300
Enemy: LP 1800
"Trap Activate!" Jack declared. "Synchro Polymer! When a Fusion Monster I control is destroyed by battle, I Special Summon 1 Tuner monster from my Deck with the same Level as one of that Fusion Monster's Fusion Materials, and I end the Battle Phase!" From his Deck slid out a single card, and he slapped it on the tray and declared, "I Special Summon Trust Guardian (ATK: 0, LV: 3)!"
Before Jack appeared a small blue-robed figure wearing a large pink hat, which had wings both on its back and the sides of its head. "Such a pathetic creature before the King will be trampled like a bug!" the fake declared. "I set 2 cards and end my turn!"
"You're wrong!" Jack yelled. "This card is a symbol of the bonds with my friends, and it is through that which I will defeat you!"
"Bring it on!"
"Draw (Jack: 6 SPC/Enemy: 6 SPC)!" Looking at his card quickly, Jack saw his chance and declared, "When my opponent controls 2 or more monsters, I can Normal Summon Power Invader without Release (ATK: 2200, LV: 5)!" From the blue vortex emerged a massive, muscular creature with blue skin and a small, upside-down teardrop-shaped head whose face only included yellow bulging eyes. Its body was clothed in purple, and it made a strange hissing growl as it appeared.
"Alright!" Kyojo yelled. "He's busting out the big guns now!"
"I Tune my Level 3 Trust Guardian t6o my Level 5 Power Invader!" The blue-robed monster then changed into 3 white robs that became green rings and surrounded the giant alien monster, turning it into 5 white orbs and then a vertical column of light. "The High Ruler of Hell will now file through here! Take witness to its creation-shaking power! Synchro Summon! The soul of Burning Justice, Red Daemon's Dragon (ATK: 3000, LV: 8)!"
The white light then turned crimson and released Kyojo's glowing red version of the massive grey and red dragon, roaring strongly at the opposing dragons. At that moment, Jack's Signer Mark began to glow on his arm because of the creature's presence, and then the fake Jack declared, "Even if such a monster is more powerful than those others, the card of that imposter will never be powerful enough to stop my dragons!"
"We'll see!" Jack yelled. "I set 3 cards and end my turn!" Three cards appeared around Jack: one to his left, one to his right and one directly in front of him, and then they all disappeared.
"Then let the show continue!" the fake Jack yelled, spinning his D-Wheel around to face Jack. "It's my turn (Jack: 7 SPC/Enemy: 7 SPC)! Battle! Go, Red Daemon's, attack that imposter's beast! Absolute Power Force!" The powered-up dragon formed another fist of flames and struck the dragon in front of Jack' making the energy consume and shock him, but the dragon withstood the attack with only a few shallow scratches. "What's this?" the fake asked.
Jack: LP 1000
Enemy: LP 1800
"A Synchro Monster summoned through Trust Guardian can reduce its ATK by 400 to prevent its destruction by battle (ATK: 2600)!" Jack stated. "I'll show you; while power can come and go, the bonds with friends will never die!"
"Then you'll have to die in its place!" the fake yelled. "I attack with a second Red Daemon's Dragon!" The dragon then formed a similar fireball over its fist and struck Jack's monster in the face, splintering its right horn (ATK: 2200) and shocking Jack again.
Jack: LP 600
Enemy: LP 1800
"Prepare to die! I attack with the third and final Dragon! Fare thee well, Jack Atlus! Blazing Crimson Hell Flare!" The final dragon quickly built up a blast of flames in its mouth and shot a stream of molten flames at Jack's dragon, bathing it in fire and creating an explosion.
"Jack!" the others welled out in worry as the imposter laughed at the perceived destruction of his foe.
"It's just as I told you!" the fake Jack yelled out. "Before true power, the bonds of friendship are as useless as your worthless Fusion Monsters, Judai!" the man himself then cringed as the fake pointed at him and laughed. "You're next!"
"I'm afraid you'll have to reschedule that duel!" Jack's voice yelled out from the flames as he shot out from them, his dragon still right beside him. When the imposter showed clear confusion as to the event, Jack stated, "I activated the Trap Card Half Force. Now, I halve the Battle damage from that attack to my Life Points, and then after damage calculation I add that value to my monster's ATK. Thus, my dragon's power remains at 2200."
Jack: LP 200
Enemy: LP 1800
With Jack's Life Point number now in red on everyone's D-Wheel, the fake spun his D-Wheel back around forwards and said, "You may as well give up. Your monster has lost so much power that it cannot fight against my Dragons, and your Life Points are one strike away from absolute destruction. You have no ability to continue. You can never defeat the King!"
"Never say never!" Jack yelled. "It's my turn (Jack: 8 SPC)! I activate the Trap Card, Half Straight! With this card, I halve the ATK of Red Daemon's Dragon until the End Phase (ATK: 1100), and now I can attack the opponent directly. Go, Red Daemon's! Attack this imposter!" Roaring, the dragon on Jack's field built up a load of energy in its jaws and fired it straight at the fake.
Unfortunately, the figure took on square on as a challenge. Snapping his fingers, he stated, "Trap Activate: Drain Shield! I negate the attack from that pathetic dragon and add its ATK to my Life Points!" The flames were then channeled into the imposter's Duel Disc and he laughed out maniacally as his Life Points rose.
Jack: LP 200
Enemy: LP 2900
"Oh no!" Carly yelled. "Now it's gotten even harder for Jack to defeat this enemy."
"No more pulling punches Jack!" Judai yelled up to him. "If you wanna get rid of this imposter, you need to do whatever it takes!"
"I end my turn!" Jack yelled up to his opponent with a grunt, making the man laugh.
"If it is so easy to defeat you," he said, "then I thank you for your performance. You were so convincing as a challenger to the Throne, but the time has come for your curtain to fall! Draw (Jack: 9 SPC/Enemy: 9 SPC)! Battle! Red Daemon's, destroy this wannabe's Dragon!"
"Trap Card Open: Sub-Space Matter Transfer Device!" Jack yelled, a rip in the dimension forming behind the dragon which it then slipped into. "I exclude Red Daemon's until the End Phase!"
"What?" the fake asked, seeming outraged for a moment before he burst out laughing. "I see; you'd rather spare your dragon the scars of battle and simply accept your defeat head-on! I praise such nobility! Battle!" the powered-up dragon then formed a fireball in its mouth and shot it at Jack, but Jack simply slammed a card down on the tray.
"I don't think so!" he yelled while a huge demonic creature resembling a pendulum appeared above him. Its face was skull-like, it had a bell for a right arm, and the pendulum that made up its lower body struck this bell, negating the fireball.
"You Special Summoned Battlefader (ATK: 0, LV: 1) and ended the Battle Phase, did you?" the fake asked. "You're as persistently annoying as ever." Grunting, the man looked up and suddenly jerked left, causing Jack and the others to follow suit onto what turned out to be the Daedalus Bridge. Once they got on, the D-Wheels of Crow and Yusei entered onto the bridge, with Aki also on Yusei's D-Wheel and Luca on the Blackbird with Crow.
"Jack! Hang in there!" Yusei yelled up to his friend.
Huffing smugly, the faker then said, "There is nothing left to hang onto for your friend. His dragon is battered and bruised, and nothing stands between him and my dragons but a lone monster with 0 ATK."
"That voice…" Yusei recalled. "Judai, is this…?"
"It's X alright," the man responded over the helmet headsets.
"You're wrong!" jack yelled up to the fake, making him actually take note. "I do have plenty to hang onto: I have the friendships I've created and their power. It is through my friends that my – no, Kyojo's Dragon has endured its fights, and now the time has cone for it to claim its revenge!"
"Then come and get me!" the fake yelled. "I set one card and end my turn!"
"Then in the End Phase, my Dragon returns (ATK: 3000, LV: 8)!" Once again the void opened up, this time releasing the glowing dragon with no scratches on its body.
"Because that dragon left the field," Crow realized, "its ATK was restored; but it also means it can't use Trust Guardian's effect anymore!"
"Why don't you just give up?" the fake once again inquired of Jack smugly. "Your dragon cannot use your effect to survive another attack from my dragon, and so your Life Points will be destroyed. I've beaten you into submission; your dragon is just like you are now."
"What are you talking about?" Jack asked.
"It's a mere imposter to the Crown. A wolf that has lost its claws and fangs, and a shell of what it once was. You are exactly the same; you're a shadow of the King who ruled over duelists since the beginning of Riding Duels, and now it's time I exile you so a true ruler can rise up!"
"Are you done spouting your fucking bullshit?!" Jack yelled up to him, actually surprising the man. "My friends have brought me a long way from the shallow and selfish man I once was; I no longer fight for the glory, for the fame or fortune, not for myself at all. I fight because we are all in this together, and together it's time we took you down!"
"Well said," Kyojo said, smiling.
"Behold, the power of the bonds of friendship," Jack said, raising up his right arm to reveal the glowing Wings mark. At that moment the other 4 Signers' marks lit up and disappeared, along with Jack's, and then the completed Seal of the Crimson Dragon appeared on his back. "A power that it without limit, without parallel, and which knows no bounds! Draw (Jack: 10 SPC/Enemy: 10 SPC)!"
Grabbing onto his top card, it began to glow strongly in gold and he pulled it up and raised it into the air, yelling, "Appear now: Salvation Dragon – Savior Dragon (ATK: 0, LV: 1)!" From the light shot up the red teardrop-shaped dragon with bladed wings and large head complete with bulging greed eyes, at which time he turned to his other dragon and yelled, "Kyojo's Red Daemon's!"
Getting the dragon's attention, it looked down at Jack and growled softly to show connection as Jack said, "The time has come to make your matser proud and cast out this imposter once and for all!" With that the dragon raised its head and roared out strongly, showing its readiness to fight, and so all three monsters rose up into the air and the red teardrop dragon became huge. "I tune my Level 1 Savior Dragon to my Level 8 Red Daemon's Dragon and my Level 1 Battlefader!"
When the dragon reached its massive size just above the news chopper, the other dragon rose up into it along with the pendulum demon, both turning into yellow outlines of themselves and releasing 8 and 1 white orbs respectively. These then filed into a line inside a green ring in the dragon's body and Jack chanted, "Polished, Lone Light! Become the true High Ruler and illuminate the Earth! Shine your Light!" Finally, Jack jumped up into the air as a column of light exploded from the dragon and consumed it in red light, swallowing Jack as well and forging the outline of a new monster.
"What is this?!" the fake then asked as the light shone down, almost brighter than the sun despite it being the night. The light was so strong that the D-Wheelers were forced to cover their eyes, and the cameras inside the helicopter were burnt oit by the strength of the light.
"Synchro Summon!" Jack's echoing voice yelled down. "Creation-shaking soul, Savior Demon Dragon (ATK: 4000, LV: 10)!" Shattering the light around it, a modified version of Jack's usual gigantic red and grey four-winged wyvern appeared; it has glowing red feathers on its wings instead of white, glowing lines between its face scales, and a red glow bathing its whole body. "Next, I activate Force of the High Ruler!"
With the Trap Card appearing beside the dragon, the fake Jack saw it on the screen and cringed, knowing what was coming. "Since I Synchro Summoned a Level 8 or higher Dragon, my opponent cannot activate Spell or Trap Cards until their second Standby Phase! And then, I activate my Savior Demon Dragon's effect!"
"What?!" By this point in time the dragon, the size of a passenger jet, was flying so fast that it had to start doing lop-sided laps to keep with the Duel in the sky. Inside, Jack looked down from the fiery background, smiling because he knew this was over.
"Once per turn, I negate the effect of my opponent's Effect Monster until the End Phase; then, my monster absorbs the negated monster's ATK. Power Gain!" Roaring loudly, the dragon shot a beam of crimson flames from its mouth and struck the powered-up dragon, covering its entire body in flames for a split second before the power was revered and drained back into the giant dragon, which again roared loudly (ATK: 7300)!"
"That's impossible!" the fake yelled out. "7300 ATK?!" With that the robot leaned back in its seat and fell silent, and within the entity known as X thought to itself, "The time has come to jettison this body while I still can." With a flash of black and red that went unnoticed X then jumped from the robot, leaving nothing but an empty shell of a robot with no AI.
"It's time to bring this duel to an end!" Jack yelled. "Savior Demon Dragon, attack that Red Daemon's Dragon! Ultimate Power Force!" Roaring, the monster brought its wings back to its sides and covered itself in red flames before diving and striking all three dragons with its jaws. The smaller dragons were shredded and thus exploded one by one; snarling as they did so, and then the dragon broke out of its stoop and began to climb with the fake Wheel of Fortune now in its mouth.
"Be gone, you shadow of imitation!" With a loud roar, the dragon finally brought its jaws shut upon the D-Wheel, crushing it and causing an explosion in its jaws that destroyed the robot and its Deck. Seconds later, the dragon opened its wings again and shed the flames, the dragon began to slow down and sink lower and lower, until it finally touched down as a field of energy and released Jack.
"Awesome job!" Yusei yelled out as the entire gang came to a stop, the Signers all regaining their respective marks. After they all parked, the new helicopter dropped down onto the roadway and two of the cameramen, as well as a reported, stepped out; but Judai and Kyojo quickly jumped from their vehicles and intercepted them.
"What do you think you're doing?" Judai asked them, his and Kyojo's arms crossed as the female reporter came up to him.
"Our camera got no good footage of the last move, so we wanted to get an interview with Jack instead," she explained. Judai's response to this was to grab the camera away from one of the men with one hand, using the other to remove the tape and drop it on the ground before crushing it under foot. "Hey!"
"There won't be an interview," the red-head said, clearly pissed. "Here's what you'll do; you'll take enough from that tape to prove Jack's innocence, and you'll show that and only that."
"Is that a threat?" she asked, getting an amused glare from Kyojo.
"No," he informed. "But if I know Judai here, he's dead serious." Judai himself continued to stare on at the reporter and her cameramen for a few seconds, until they got the message that he wasn't playing around.
"Fine," the female reporter finally said. "We'll exonerate Jack, but on one condition; that we get to do a story about those creatures – the dragon Jack summoned at the end, and the other one that looks like it."
"She's seen the Saviors before," Judai realized, "I'd better do something about this." In a split second his eyes once again flash over into Yubel's, glowing and quickly lulling the cameramen and reporter into a trance-like state.
"Whoa," Kyojo blurted, impressed with Judai's trick. "I see you still make use of Yubel's powers whenever you can."
"Listen closely," Judai then said to his hypnotized flock. "The duel ended without a conclusion when the Jack imposter accidentally jumped the walls of the Bridge and crashed into the ocean. Jack never summoned a large dragon, and there have been no confirmed sightings of them either. Do you understand?"
Seconds passed before the hypnotized people finally gave a woozy and slow nod, at which time Judai snapped his fingers. In that flash of time, his eyes and the people he had used them on returned to normal. They then proceeded to turn around and head back to the helicopter, getting in and flying away without saying a word.
"Are you sure they won't do a story on you now?" Kyojo asked Judai, who simply turned to him and smiled in a cheeky way. Yubel's spirit then appeared beside him and informed him,
"I erased their memories of Judai's mind trick. They have no idea anything happened besides the duel ending with the death of Jack's imposter."
"That's some good work then," he said, shaking their hands before they all turned back to Jack and went over to him.
"Awesome job Jack," Carly said to him, though it was clear everyone was thinking the same thing as they all smiled to the man, who simply shrugged.
"One thing's for sure," Jack then said. 'I'll never miss being the King again." Turning over to Judai and Kyojo, he asked of them, "What did they say?"
"Nothing I couldn't fix," Judai responded, still smiling in that mischievous way.
"Yep, he did some good old-fashioned media silencing," Kyojo affirmed. "Those buzzards won't be airing the whole story; just enough to get the cops off your back."
"Why did you do that?" Jack asked. "Keeping our cover wouldn't have been blown by that story."
"The media has a tendency to distort the truth," Judai pointed out, getting an agreeing nod from Jack. "Besides, now Carly can have an exclusive for Us Duel."
"Really?" she asked ecstatically, practically jumping out of herself. Judai simply smiled, and so did Jack, but seconds later Crow lightly punched Judai in the shoulder and said,
"Damn it man, you need to stop hitting on other people's girlfriends." At the declaration of this the entire group burst out laughing.
"Then the project has once again hit a stumbling block," Placido deduced from the results of the duel. "X was unable to defeat Jack because of that link he has with his friends."
"As long as we target one of that group, we're simply hanging our project out to dry, as they say," Lucciano concurred. "The only other option…"
"Is to use the Signers themselves," Jose declared. This caught the interest of both, for this was not what Lucciano had been thinking, so he elaborated: "The Signers were the creator of Paradox, so it stands to reason they would have enough power to destroy him. We need to get the Signers to fight and defeat him."
"They don't trust us enough for that," Lucciano pointed out "Our hostility has most certainly earned their ire. What could we possibly do to inform them of the true nature of these things?"
"We show our hand," Placido stated, confusing both other members. He then proceeded to point up to the apex, where a viewing hole normally used back in its original days opened up, showing a bluish object streaming through the atmosphere. "Lucciano, I believe blue was your colour to obtain."
"Really?" the woman asked, partly amused and partly scheming. "Well, then I guess we'll have to go retrieve it."
"I think it might be even simpler than that," Jose stated. Seconds later, there was a loud and earth-shaking sound of an impact taking place, and a stone tablet with a glowing blue Infinity Symbol on it partly wedged itself through the rock that made up the ground. Realizing this, the three Infinity Members stood up and filed out of the Sky Temple, then up the elevator of Godwin's old mansion to the ground floor.
Stepping outside, they saw that this tablet had not landed far away from where the last one had; in fact, it was just meters from the lake where the first one landed. Lucciano then turned back to the others, who nodded, and so she took it as an instruction to proceed up to the tablet a bit fast than they did. She stopped only about arm's length from the tablet, if even that.
"You may touch it," Jose informed her. Nodding, she pressed her left hand to the tablet, and its reaction was to slowly increase the intensity and size of its glow. Suddenly the light erupted out from it, consuming the woman for all of a few seconds. When it was done, she turned around and revealed that the Infinity symbol on her left eye was now glowing blue, and that energy triggered the green glow of Placido's.
"Then almost all of Infinity's power has come to us," Placido said, bemused. "I apologize for your tablet having not yet arrived, Jose."
"I do not think it matters whose tablet comes to us in what order," was the eldest man's reply. "We now have the power to show the Signers that we mean business. Lucciano, summon your monster; let us see its form." With a nod, she strapped on a simple Neo Domino Duel Disc, made for left-handed people, and activated it, the glow creating five cards at the top of her Deck.
She quickly pulled these cards, slapping them all down onto the tray in the same effort, and this created an explosion of light from the tablet behind her. Its body was obliterated, but from the blue glow created a silhouette of a large, serpentine, winged machine emperor with a glowing red Infinity mark on it, making all three members of Infinity smile.
Back at the Bridge, hour after everyone had left, a sudden burst of black energy issued in Paradox, still covered by his cloak, to the spot where the fake Jack had been lifted off the ground and destroyed by the dragon. "Such an interesting set of creatures, the Saviors," Paradox thought. "I would love to add them to my collection, but I'll settle for the next best thing..."
Suddenly, the fabric of reality around him began to twist and bend, and the incidents which occurred earlier began to occur quickly and in reverse. He saw the media leave, Judai talking to them, the robot being crushed, and finally the attack being made just after X had left the shell.
Starting time again here, he rendered himself invisible and jumped onto the fake Wheel of Fortune. Unnoticed by anyone, just after the spark of X had left and just after he heard Jack yell, "It's time to bring this duel to an end," he grabbed one of the Red Daemon's Dragon cards and warped away from the scene, speeding up time to catch up to where it should have been the instant he got off.
Seconds later, with time at its proper place, he reappeared on the Bridge, alone, holding the Red Daemon's Dragon card in his hand. A black aura was then emitted from his hand, covering the card in black flames, which slowly changed the card from a Synchro monster to an effect monster with "Sin" written in English in its name. Its illustration changed pose, and many parts of its body – including its wings – were changed into black and light grey metal.
"Yet another monster to add to my collection," he said to himself, putting the card into his Deck and disappearing once again.
"Are you sure that the imposter was X?" Taiyou asked of Judai and the others when they returned, all of whom nodded.
"There's absolutely no doubt in my mind," was Judai's reply on behalf of the whole group. "He had the same mannerisms and the same distortion to his voice that X did."
"But wait," Crow stated. "I thought you destroyed him."
"Apparently not, or Placido built a new one," Yusei stated. "It seems too obvious though; he must have known we'd eventually figure out what was going on."
"Maybe that was the point," Aki stated, Luca finishing off the thought.
"If you're right about Placido being connected to this masked assailant, then perhaps the fake Jack was to draw him out somehow, or to lure him like a decoy to somewhere."
"You're right," Kyojo said, crossing his arms. "It's too convenient to be a huge coincidence."
"Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action," Taiyou quoted, confirming he believed the same thing. "We have the masked assailant, the fake Jack, and the meteor crash."
"What meteor crash?" Jack asked, none of the group who'd just returned being aware of this.
"There was a bluish-tinted meteor that entered the atmosphere a few hours ago and just recently crashed," he explained. "Didn't Wisel show up just shortly after a similar incident two weeks ago?"
"You're thinking Wisel is in fact from space then," Yusei realized, getting an affirmative reply. "Then this next one, it stands to reason, it too close to the other one in terms of landing site and time frame for it to be a coincidence; it has to be another of those things."
"Then… what do we do about this?" Luca asked, somebody finally posing the million-dollar question.
"I don't know…" Judai pondered. "But I think I want to talk to Yusuriha about this group specifically, not Yliaster. It's quite clear these three – Jose, Placido and Lucciano – all have some sort of agenda separate from the rest of the group; perhaps she might know what that is."
"You think you can get that information out of her?" Taiyou asked, Judai's response being to trigger his Yubel eyes.
"I can simply read the information from her mind if I wish to," he said. "But, before I can do anything Luca, I need to know… where did you and Lua hide her after we rescued her?"
Card of the Week – Jack
Savior Demon Dragon
Type: DARK
Level: 10
Sub-Type(s): [Dragon/Synchro/Effect]
Effect: "Salvation Dragon – Savior Dragon" + "Red Daemon's Dragon" + 1 non-Tuner Monster
This card cannot be destroyed by the effects of Magic, Trap of Effect Monster cards. Once per turn, activate by selecting one Effect Monster your opponent controls. Until the Ed Phase, its effect is negated, and this card gains ATK equal to that monster's ATK. If this card attacks, Destroy all Defence Position monsters at the end of the Damage Step. During your End Phase, return this card to your Extra Deck and Special Summon 1 "Red Daemon's Dragon" from your Cemetery.
ATK/ 4000
DEF/ 3000
*Hurray! Now I can get the plot moving at a respectable pace! Review if you wish.*