Koros45 doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, or Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Chapter Twenty: Solidarity
Ha Des noticed Bakura was all but gone now and a silver craft of some kind rapidly streaked towards him before it slammed right into his castle. Ha Des panicked as the flotation ring was now shattered. He tried to cast a warp spell, but found that something was cutting him off – Dark Necrofear had set down her doll and grabbed his arms, preventing the spell from working.
"Master Bakura says farewell." The fiend said with the ghost of a smile on her face as they both fell with the castle. Ha Des looked up to see Bakura looking down on him from Diabound's back with an ear to ear grin on his face. Ha Des' roar of rage and surprise was cut off as the floating fortress slammed into the ground.
The castle of Dark Illusions collided with the ground with a great shudder, and Atem couldn't help but feel a touch of irony as it fell upon Ha Des' surprise attack force, crushing the advancing Ancient Gear Golem in the process.
Atem heard a cry as a monster he recognized as the original Harpy Lady landed on the castle top, letting down Yusei Fudo from her back before she adjusted her long red hair so it wasn't in her face. Atem didn't have time to respond as a second harpy, this one blond, then landed, letting off Mai Kujaku as well.
"Good thing Keraino wasn't here to see that." The red headed harpy said to the blond one. "She'd never let it go if she saw us carrying them on our backs." The blond one responded and they chuckled before they turned to Atem and Jounouchi.
"Yusei! And Mai?! Well met!" Atem said, bowing to the two.
Mai looked surprised seeing Atem, but immediately ran up to Jounouchi. She stood there staring at him for a moment. before she then pulled him into a tight embrace. "You idiot, going off on your own into some other world! I've been worried sick you got eaten by some giant orc, or broke your leg in a trap hole, or some other awful duel monsters related death!" Mai said as she held him. |
Atem took the opportunity to shake Yusei's hand, glad to see the last missing member of the group now was here. "How did you meet Mai?" Atem asked, looking to her and Jounouchi.
Yusei chuckled. "Well there were harpies, and Amazons, and even a Ra Yellow and it's a long story. How did you meet that one?" Yusei said, pointing to Jounouchi.
Atem grinned. "Well he was possessed and we saved him which is a good thing because he's been saving me from a lot of things since then." Atem said.
Jounouchi himself was at a loss for words for a moment before he embraced Mai back and chuckled, noticing both Harpy Sisters were glaring daggers his way.
"Good to see you too, Mai." He said, stepping back from the embrace. "I'd love to hear about how you've been doing. Catch up after we see who can beat up the most Goblin Attack Forces?" He asked.
Mai stepped back as well and looked to her Harpy Sisters. "It's ok ladies, he's the one I'm looking for."
Then she turned to him. "You're on. And good to see you, Yugi, but the tan's a little much." Mai said, winking at Atem.
"Good to see you too Mai, and my name's Atem. This is actually what I looked like about 5,000 years ago" The pharaoh corrected and Mai nodded.
"So that wasn't just a crock of nonsense Dartz fed me." she said. "Atem, huh. Sounds appropriate."
Yusei stood and looked down at the battlefield stoically. "The armies are still attacking from two fronts. Losing the castle confused them, but we should get down there and drive them out."
"Everyone, to the field, now!" Atem said as it was the best chance to strike.
/
Invader of Darkness fought well, but with the combination of knights and harpy facing him, he got tired out. Of course, the same could be said for the other side. The two royal knights were struggling to stand up, and with her Cyber Shield armor nullified by some outside magic, Keraino couldn't fight as well as she'd like to. Invader of Darkness charged, jagged body shuddering under his cloak as he ran at them head on.
Keraino took to the air, grabbing the back of the Invader's head with her talons. The fiend didn't slow down and instead opted to grab the harpy, slamming her into the dirt. She was convinced she was dead at that moment, but the Invader shuddered and suddenly his strength ebbed.
Two flashing blades carved through him and he fell as the royalty finished him in a double attack. Keraino was helped up by King's Knight, looking around. Ha Des' castle fell close to them, and there was movement from the rubble as the spidery body of Spell Canceler emerged, but no sign of Ha Des. With the fallen castle, the fog had lifted, and several of the fiends were running for the hills at the apparent death of their commanders.
"There it is. That machine is stopping our spells." King's Knight said. The machine looked damaged, but still fired off prismatic rays at the three from it's mirrors.
Keraino reached it first, landing on it's back and trying to find a decent place her talons could stab, but it was a machine and she didn't have a clue where to start. It started to buck and get her off, so it's focus was no longer on the knights.
"Jump off!" Queen's Knight said, and Keraino complied. Jack's Knight appeared behind the machine and sliced two of it's legs off.
The Canceler was now literally on it's last legs as the knight struck it again. Sparks and flashes surged out of the sliced metal and it fell as the other two knights joined in, cutting the machine to ribbons. Once the knights finished off their target, they looked to Keraino.
"Harpy, we owe you our gratitude. We are King's and Queen's Knight. And this is our faithful guard, Jack's Knight." King's Knight said. "We would ask your name and your purpose."
Keraino had a nervous laugh, but still kept her composure, nodded her head. "I am Keraino of the Harpy Lady Sisters. My allies wish to help your kingdom. Those fiends are in the wrong and The Harpy Sisters do not wish for their ilk to spread."
She hoped that sounded official enough, and the king and queen both nodded. "We are grateful for your help." Queen's Knight said. "And thank you as well, Jack's Knight." She said, acknowledging the third card knight.
There were squawks from above as Airo and Ocupete landed, both relieved to see their sister mostly unharmed.
"We saw you face that Invader by yourself and though it would be like the Insect Queen incident all over again." Airo said, relieved. "Thank you for looking after our little sister." She said, spreading her arms and bowing to the two knights.
Queen's Knight laughed. "Well met. If anything she saved us. Once this battle is over, we would like to speak further."
Airo agreed and Keraino pouted, having to once again be the little sister in the group as Ocupete looked at her bruises.
/
Several Goblin Attack Forces scattered as Gazelle and Berfomet tore through them. The larger fiends had to contend with Turret Warrior, Sword Hunter, and Harpie's Pet Dragon. The monsters in question were ordered to simply attack, driving Ha Des' forces away from the fight. Turret Warrior blasted at a Spikebot, blowing it to pieces. Harpies' Pet Dragon headbutted a Legendary Fiend, slamming the black and blue devil into the ground. Sword Hunter clashed blades with Beast of Talwar, neither one backing away as their multiple blades met.
Meanwhile, a duelist chanted as Debris Dragon – a more compact and slightly rounded dragon which strongly looked like Stardust Dragon - took to the skies, followed by Sangan and Kuriboh.
"Clustering Wishes form a new shining star! Become the path it's light shines upon!"
Yusei's tuner joined Atem's Sangan and Kuriboh as the three monsters tuned together.
"Synchro Summon! Take flight, Stardust Dragon!" Yusei finished.
With long white wings, Yusei's slender dragon was an impressive sight to behold, it's white body standing out in the darkness. It landed in front of both duelists and faced the enemy golem.
The Ancient Gear Golem had been damaged from the falling castle, but still functioned as it limped towards it's target. Stardust Dragon answered with a blast of sonic, striking the robot in the chest. The machine was briefly knocked back, but it's red eye fixed itself on Stardust's body as it pulled back a fist to strike the dragon with.
"Dark Magic Attack!"
Mahado's blast of dark energy struck the machine in the same spot, causing the golem to falter and miss it's intended target.
"Dragon's Gunfire!" Isis commanded as her blue Winged Dragon struck the golem in the back with a fireball as it passed by.
"He's ready for you to finish off now." Isis said to the two duelists below her.
"Stardust Dragon! Dark Magician! Together now!" Atem yelled. "Dark Cosmic Attack!"
Their respective ace monsters struck at once, the spiral of cosmic fire and dark energy boring through the machine's chest. The golem instantly fell to it's knees, red eye fading as it powered down.
"Dang, that was cool." Jounouchi commented. "Makes me wish I had Red-Eyes in hand to join in the fun."
"Hurry now!" Atem said as he, Yusei, Mai and Jounouchi all climbed aboard Stardust Dragon.
The Dark Magician Girl looked to Atem and Jounouchi. "Chosen ones, you must stop that man who is not from our world." She said, projecting an image of Bakura. "You know his evil and it must not spread to this world or any others."
Atem nodded. "We will pursue him. I swear it." he said to her, wishing he had more time to talk to her and also pretty much everyone else in the area.
The splendid dragon took off, harpies in tow.
"Yusei, this monster is beautiful!" Airo said, flying by Stardust's face, and stroking it gently with a talon.
"A creature of the wind, for sure." Ocupete said, hovering next to Mai and keeping a watchful eye on Keraino.
"Yup, it definitely matches Yusei." Keraino said, flying close to Stardust's eye, looking at the pool of yellow.
A moment passed as Jounouchi looked down to the field.
"Hold up. That's Jinzo down there. I'm going down to stop it. Hate to see a card that good just get blown up." Jounouchi said. Yusei frowned as his fourth passenger on Stardust Dragon tried to move to jump off.
"Hey, I'm going too." Mai griped, elbowing Jounouchi lightly.
"Hang on, Stardust, get lower. We don't want you to break any bones." Yusei said to Jounouchi.
"We'll accompany you then." Ocupete said as she and her sister signaled Airo to join them.
Mai helped steady Jounouchi as Stardust got closer to the ground. The blond man leapt off, accompanied by Mai.
They got to their feet to see that the android had been equipped with Amplifier.
"Amplifier! That's probably how they took control of Jinzo! And that's why Ha Des himself could use Raigeki Break even though Jinzo stops all trap cards." Jounouchi said.
"Jou! Spell Canceler is gone! Spells are fair game!" Mai said, playing Harpie's Feather Duster. The three harpies behind her shot out their signature card-destroying gust as she did so.
The mechanical crown on Jinzo's head shattered and it's eyes flickered as it lost some power.
Jounouchi wasted no time, Monster Reborn flashed, bringing back his Red-Eyes Black Dragon.
The black scaled dragon snarled at the smaller machine and Rocket Warrior joined the dragon in question.
"Jinzo, I don't want to hurt you. If you surrender, we'll make sure you're looked after." Jounouchi said.
The machine paused to analyze what it was up against before it spoke.
"The terms are acceptable." Jinzo said as it raised it's hands in surrender. "I will rest in your Jinzo Card." The machine added.
Jounouchi grinned. "Two for two!" He said, holding out his Jinzo card, touching it to the android's hand as the machine faded away into his deck. "Oh yeah, now let's see Kaibaman's face after that!" Jounouchi said to a confused Mai.
"Tell me later about it later, hon." Mai said, surveying the battlefield.
"Where to now?" He asked Mai.
The other duelist looked to Red-Eyes and jerked her thumb back towards the dragon. "Let's join the others in the air."
/
Ancient Fairy Dragon held down Metalzoa, subduing the creature with her limbs and tail as Red Demon's let loose a punch, shattering the mechanized fiend's chest while Ancient Fairy incinerated the struggling monster with Ancient Sunshine.
"All here." Ruka said, and Jack nodded. "Then we'll try to find-"
Jack was cut off as a white creature approached. One Red Demon's defeated before.
"Jack, I'm back and ready for round two!" Bakura roared from the back of his monster, Diabound.
Diabound's fist blazed red and yellow, and Jack gritted his teeth.
"If it could assimilate the traits of creatures in battle, that means-"
"I'll kill your dragon with it's own power! Absolute Power Force!" Bakura yelled.
Jack stiffened and felt his pride swell up. "Fool! Red Demon's, show this pretender your true splendor! Absolute Power Force!"
Both men watched as their respective ace monsters' fists met, neither one backing down, the pressure from the attacks building up.
Red Demons and Diabound both pulled away from each other as the pressure created a shockwave, each sizing up the other a second time.
Jack snarled. "Smart of you to disable the use of our spells and traps, then kill off our powerful monsters. If you played your cards right, your monster would gain all kinds of powers."
Bakura grinned. "Like right now, when I kill you, Jack."
Jack felt a claw around his throat as Dark Necrofear alighted next to Bakura, a hand stretched out grasping at the air – yet Jack felt his windpipe constrict.
"If I can't kill that dragon, I'll just have to kill you." Bakura said.
"Stardust, Meteor Stream!"
Suddenly, a stream of blazing hot meteors slammed into Diabound and Dark Necrofear. Bakura had to reposition his fiends to see the new challenger.
The grip on Jack's neck stopped and he took a deep breath, grinning as his earlier thoughts turned out to be true.
A dragon of pure white and blue appeared above the devil dragon and the angelic fiend. Stardust Dragon let out it's signature cry as Yusei and Atem looked down from the creature's back.
"Bakura. Your monsters who were canceling our spell and traps are gone now." Atem said. "If you stop now, we'll-"
Bakura laughed. "Please. I'd rather show you all something interesting! A show before you all die!" The thief said to them.
Of course, there was no sight of Ha Des. However Diabound hovered in the sky, and Bakura yelled down at Atem. "Pharaoh! If you want answers, I suggest you follow me!"
Atem looked to his friends. "It's a trap."
Yusei looked to Bakura. "You're the third one responsible for attacking Atem's city. I won't let you just do as you please."
Bakura grinned. "Well you did a fine job of not interfering till now! You're a bit late to be making such claims!"
Bakura snapped his fingers and Dark Necrofear flew up to sit on Diabound's shoulder.
"Bakura?" Mai asked. "Well I'm not going to stay here if you're somehow involved in all this, especially if you've harmed anyone." She said.
"That's right! I don't trust you for once second!" Jounouchi said from the back of Red-Eyes, the creature flying up to flank Stardust Dragon.
"Jack" Ruka's voice came through his helmet. "The area is secure. No sign of Ha Des though. Isis, the magicians and I can keep the area secure. You go after Bakura." The teen said.
Jack nodded. "Understood, Ruka. Thanks. Then I'll go with you, Red Demon's." Jack said as he removed the helmet, and connected his duel disk to his arm, making sure that Gaia and Criteas looked after his ride as he was picked up by Red Demon's. The dragon flew to the sky on the other side of Stardust Dragon.
The two former Signer dragons and Red-Eyes flew off pursuing Bakura's monster. The Harpy Lady Sisters following moments after, leaving the knights, the magicians, and Ruka to ensure the castle was protected.
It was a long flight, and they all were tired as Bakura led them to his destination. They flew over the forest, and took a winding path away from the dragon mountain. Diabound flew through a fog and once the others followed, they saw the fog had obscured a hidden location.
It was was an ancient ruin, made obvious by the huge hole in the ground where Ha Des' castle used to be before it took off. Next to the crater was a series of catacombs.
A continuous trap sprung up in the air – Dragon Capture Jar – and the three high level dragons halted, unable to proceed. All they could do was land, Red-Eyes, Stardust, and Red Demon's roaring in anger as they could continue no longer. The five duelists all unmounted and Jounouchi, Yusei, and Jack recalled each one to their respective decks.
Not wanting to leave them unprotected, Atem called upon Timaeus, holding the card up and projecting the knight next to them with his Diadhank. The Atlantian Knight appeared before them and bowed quickly. He was the vanguard of their group, followed by the harpies.
As for the ruins themselves, they looked high tech, but very rusted and worn down looking. It was a mix of industrial machinery and an experimental laboratory. Most of the place looked untouched. The catacombs were very spacious, yet packed to the brim with all kinds of deactivated machines. The group was a bit taken aback seeing two more inactive Ancient Gear Golems standing silently, flanked by still more still ancient gear monsters all switched off.
"Ha Des never had any of these toys when I attacked him." Jounouchi said aloud.
Ahead of them, Bakura landed Diabound and lept off the spirit as his Ka and Dark Necrofear vanished.
"That's because he didn't have what he needed to get by the guards here." Shiro said as he emerged in from behind a machine. "Right on time, Former Signers, Atem. And you brought guests." He said, looking to the five duelists.
He was clad in the same white suit that Jack saw him in, and he had a new addition of a white hat he tipped at them. Despite being by himself, the group knew to be cautious.
Timaeus pointed his sword at the man. "Whoever you are, your invasion failed. Ha Des' castle has fallen and his forces are scattered. Your attack was a failure."
Bakura chuckled and Shiro didn't react at all to the threat.
"The whole thing was bait. Ha Des was a pawn who thought he was using us. But it seems that we used him." Bakura said, tipping over a chessboard in the background.
"Hang on. All of that was to draw us out?" Yusei asked.
Shiro grinned. "Yes, although I didn't expect all of you would come here. That makes things more interesting." As he spoke, Shiro pulled out a deck from his breast pocket. "Especially with those harpies here."
The sisters all shrieked and backed away, putting their bodies in front of Mai protectively.
"He has bound a Harpie to those cards!" Airo said, shaking.
Shiro smirked. "Don't worry. You're not on my card checklist." He said to the sisters. "But you do need to get out." He said, and a trap card sprang open.
"Compulsory Evacuation Device." Shiro declared.
Under the three sisters, the floor opened up, revealing a giant launching contraption. The three sisters didn't have time to react as the contraption closed around them. A portal opened momentarily at the top of the cave's ceiling vanished, revealing the open stars. Then the device fired and they were shot into the sky. Then the cave ceiling returned as the device vanished.
Timeus' reaction was to charge at Shiro, sword raised above his head. He was met with a flying kick to the side of his helmet as Strike Ninja's foot connected, knocking him back. Shiro's ninja did a back flip and landed on the balls of his feet with perfect posture, looking down at the knight as he stood next to Shiro.
"Please, you thought that I'd have nothing prepared? Especially after I set up my Dragon Capture Jar?" Shiro asked.
"I'm afraid for your knight friend, it's back to square one." Shiro said, playing a card of the same name.
Timeus yelped as the spell card activated and he vanished in a flash of light. A single card fell to the floor in his place and Atem quickly picked it up, glaring at Shiro.
"This place is also wired with Chain Energy." Shiro said. "You'll suffer if you play anything so you may as well hear what we have to say."
Shiro demonstrated as a surge of yellow electricity struck his wrist and he winced, showing a faint, but sizable burn on his sleeve. "A fair cost for stopping your knight, but I wouldn't recommend playing a lot of cards right now."
Yusei looked to the others. "Let's listen to them for now."
Atem wanted to say something but held his tongue. "Alright."
Shiro gestured for them to follow him past the machine and they did so, keeping some distance between their group, and the other two. Strike Ninja walked behind them, and they all quickened their step due to this. Jounouchi and Mai found each other's hand and chose not to say anything as each took comfort in the contact, momentarily forgetting the conversations they'd have to have about each other's life.
They went down a huge catacomb and all of them gasped as Shiro clapped his hands once.
Two giant metal doors slid open, quaking with tremendous weight– each one covered in runic symbols and in a circular pattern. Beyond was an even bigger catacomb, with some sort of machine in the back of the room, connected to more ancient looking technology, lights briefly flickering in the the dark cave. Close to the machine were three large plaques, one of which had two creature footprints embedded into it. They were huge and looked like they belonged to a large monster.
Next to that was just pure rock through the rest of the cavern.
"This will be the stage for our duel." Shiro said, spreading his arms out. "Strike Ninja, if you would be so kind?"
The ninja nodded and leapt over the heads of the group, doing some Ninjutsu hand signs. As he did so, various torches lit up the walls, casting the whole area in a red and gold ambiance.
Shiro kept walking, and Bakura followed. The group all looked to each other as Shiro looked to the machine in the back of the room.
"This is a Different Dimension Gate. This is what I was looking for, and it was right under Ha Des' nose." Shiro said. He pulled a lever on the side of the machine and it turned on, humming as a large portal of energy began to churn at it's center. The purple energy spun and spun until the group could vaguely make out the outline of a city within the portal.
He specifically looked to Yusei and Jack, grinning to them. "This is the way back to your world."
Shiro then looked to Bakura.
"As soon that that portal's stable, get in it. I'll catch up later." He said to the thief.
"Seriously?" Bakura asked. "I won't say no, but don't you need backup?"
Shiro chuckled. "Not right now, I don't. No God Cards, no Signer powers. Just five duelists that think they'll win with the power of friendship." Shiro said dryly. "Go as fast as possible. We need Diabound to stay healthy for the next phase."
Bakura sighed but turned and lept through the swirling portal. He wasn't going to argue when the deal was in his favor.
Shiro turned to the group, slowly making eye contact with each one. Then he unfolded his duel disk from his jacket's sleeve.
"Well, shall we begin?" He asked the group.