Author's Note: So as luck would have it, I ended up with a little bit of free time this afternoon. So here's the epic conclusion to this story's three-part tag duel.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.
Chapter 20: Barian Star
"Giganto, attack Shooting Star Dragon!" Splicer commanded. "Jurrasic Volcano Strike!"
"I activate Shooting Star Dragon's effect!" Hikari announced. "By banishing Shooting Star from the field until the end of the turn, Shooting Star Dragon negates Giganto's attack!"
As soon as Giganto breathed out another blast of flames, Shooting Star Dragon vanished with a flash of green light. Giganto's attack broke apart as if it had hit an invisible shield.
"Nice try, but you can't block this one!" Splicer declared. "Darwino, attack them directly! Evolsaur Air Blitz!"
The flying dinosaur opened its mouth and fired a barrage of small fireballs down at Hikari and Hana. On the sidelines, Rio turned away to avoid seeing the pair of turbo duelists getting hit. At the last moment though, a mechanical scarecrow with a metallic rod-like body flew in from above and intercepted the attack, causing it to explode. When the smoke cleared, Hikari and Hana's life points were untouched.
"What the hell just happened?" Brimstone demanded to know.
"When you attacked, I discarded a monster from my hand, Swift Scarecrow." Hikari explained. "By discarding it, I was able to negate Darwino's direct attack."
"These girls are really starting to become a pain in the ass!" Brimstone declared.
"Yeah, and if we can't end this soon, Primeval Revolution will destroy itself at the start of my third turn from now and that'll be the end of our monsters." Splicer told him.
"Relax, little bro. Just leave it to me." Brimstone assured him.
"Fine then. I end my turn." Splicer announced.
With the end of Splicer's turn, Shooting Star Dragon reappeared with a flash of green light.
Hana drew her next card. "I summon Rose Paladin in Defense Mode and end my turn."
A female warrior appeared on the track with a swirl of rose petals. She had short pink hair and armor that was colored a rosy pink. On her right arm, the warrior carried a lance.
"Sorry sis, this is the best I can do." Hana told Hikari.
"Don't worry about it. You've at least bought us just a little more time." Hikari assured her.
"Yeah, but not much!" Brimstone declared as he drew his next card. "Giganto, attack Shooting Star Dragon! Jurrasic Volcano Srike!"
"I activate Shooting Star Dragon's effect and banish him from the field to negate Giganto's attack!" Hikari announced.
Just as before, Shooting Star Dragon vanished with a flash of green light as soon as Giganto breathed out another blast of flames. The flames dissipated up hitting the invisible barrier that protected Hikari.
"Darwino, take out Rose Paladin with Evolsaur Air Blitz!" Brimstone commanded.
The flying dinosaur opened its jaws and fired another barrage of fireballs. Rose Paladin was struck by the attack and shattered into bits of light in an instant.
"Looks like Hikari and Hana were able to survive one more turn." Rio observed with a sigh of relief.
"True. But they can't keep this up forever." Cleo darkly pointed out. "And they can't keep waiting for Splicer's Spell card to destroy itself. Hikari has to end this now or else they may be finished."
"Dammit!" Shark cursed as he hit the metal railing in front of the bleachers they were watching from with the side of his fist. "It should be me down there backing Hikari up."
"Take it easy, Ryoga." Rio told her. "I'm sure if anyone can find a way out of this situation, Hikari can."
"So I'm guessing you're done now?" Hikari asked Brimstone.
At this Brimstone grinned. "Not quite. For my next move I activate one of my favorite Spell cards, Ookazi!"
With that, a plum of fire erupted from the ground near Hana. The redheaded turbo duelist managed to avoid the flame, but a second fire plum erupted right under the rear wheel of Hikari's D-Wheel. The force of the blast flung Hikari and her vehicle into the air. Hana, Shark, Rio and Cleo all watched in horror as Hikari flipped through the air. All the while, Brimstone was laughing madly.
"Hikari!" a horrified Hana called out.
In the same instance that Hana cried out in terror Shark suddenly collapsed, causing Rio to become concerned. A split second later, Hikari managed to land her D-Wheel on the ground with a clunk and kept on riding. Her and Hana's life points had fallen to 1400.
"Nice!" Brimstone praised as he clapped. "Of course I would've liked it better if you were knocked off and broke your neck, but that was still pretty cool. Anyway, I'll set one card on the field and end my turn."
As soon as Brimstone's turn ended, Shooting Star Dragon reappeared with a flash of green light.
"Hikari, are you okay?" a concerned Hana asked.
"You… bastard!" Hikari cursed as her eyes suddenly started to glow red.
Suddenly the Signer Marks of Hikari, Hana and Cleo all began to glow with a brilliant crimson light. The next card Hikari drew from her deck glowed a brilliant red.
"I activate Rank-Up-Magic The Seventh One!" Hikari announced.
"Say what?" Splicer exclaimed.
"Huh? Wait! Sis, isn't that one of the cards Ryoga and his ex-Barian friends all use?" Hana asked.
"With the power of this card, I call forth Number 101: Silent Honor ARK to build the overlay network and Xyz Summon Number C101: Silent Honor DARK!" Hikari announced.
A swirling vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared behind Hikari on the track. Zooming out of the vortex was a vehicle that looked like a small blue submarine with three very long spikes projecting outward from the front. The front window of the craft burst open and a humanoid figure clad completely in dark-blue armor lunged out. In his right hand he carried a long red spear. Projecting back from the armor on his waist were two long fin-like blades. Adorning the right blade was the number 101 in light-blue alien writing.
"Uh, Hikari? Did Ryoga lend you those cards before the duel started?" Hana asked.
"What the hell's going on here?" Brimstone asked. "That's one of those weird Number cards that these Barain guys have been using!"
"What's she doing with one?" Splicer wondered.
"What's going on here?" Rio asked.
"Wait a minute. The same thing happened during my duel with Fairbanks!" Cleo recalled.
"So does this mean that Hikari is going to…?" Rio began to ask.
"Using Shooting Star Dragon and Number C101, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon the star that lights the world of chaos!" Hikari called. "Shine forth, CXyz Barian Star Dragon!"
Suddenly the sky turned red and a crimson light appeared to draw the seal of the Crimson Dragon around the Barian Emblem. Shooting Star Dragon and Number C101 were changed into balls of red energy and pulled into the symbol. The joined seal of the Singers and the Barians then exploded in a dazzling flash of crimson light that soon faded to reveal Shooting Star Dragon in a new form. The dragon's color had changed to the same shade of dark-blue that Number C101 was. His four wings had become long and blade-like and were arranged like the wings of a dragonfly. On the front of the top right wing, the number 101 glowed with a brilliant crimson light. The dragon's eyes glowed with the same crimson light, and adorning his chest was a gold version of the Barian Emblem. Orbiting around the dragon in a horizontal path were three red crystals covered with gold plates.
"A Rank 13 Xyz Monster? What the hell?" Splicer exclaimed.
"Relax little bro! I got this!" Brimstone assured him. "Looks like I've got no choice now but to activate my Trap, Extinction Synchro! By banishing a Jurrac Tuner and one or more non-Tuner Jurracs from my Graveyard, I can perform a Synchro Summon with those monsters! So I tune the banished level two Jurrac Gallim into my two banished level four Jurrac Velos for a level ten Synchro Summon!"
The ghostly image of a red and orange chicken-like dinosaur appeared along with two of Brimstone's ghostly raptors. The chicken-like dinosaur became two rings of red fire that encircled the raptors and transformed them into eight white stars.
"Vengeful primeval of the Jurassic Age! Rise up and bring forth the flaming harbinger of Armageddon!" Brimstone chanted. "Synchro Summon! Blow it all away, Jurrac Meteor!"
The stars flashed and became a fireball that shot up into the sky like a rocket. In seconds the fireball shot up so far away that it vanished.
"So where's this monster that you've supposedly summoned?" Hana asked.
"Look closely." Brimstone grinned as he pointed at the sky.
Hana looked and saw a distant point of red light that at first seemed to be a star. But in moments what she thought was a star started to grow large. In moments she saw that it was actually a monster in the form of a green almost humanoid reptile with three small red horns encased in a large spiky rock.
"When Jurrac Meteor is Synchro Summoned, it collides with the battlefield and destroys every other card in play!" Brimstone revealed. "After that, I'm able to bring out a Tuner monster. Of course with my psychic powers the effect does more than just wipe out all cards on the field."
Hana went pale upon realizing what Brimstone meant. "You mean…"
"That's right! Like it or not, this city's gonna become a whole lot smaller!" Brimstone laughed. "And there's not a damn thing you can do about it!"
"Guess again!" Hikari told him.
At that moment, Barian Star Dragon opened his mouth and fired a crimson beam of light at Jurrac Meteor. The beam slowed the living meteor down and then captured it in a transparent ball of crimson energy. The dragon moved his head and set the meteor dinosaur on the track. The tractor beam vanished, freeing Brimstone's would-be instrument of destruction.
"What… what the hell just happened?" an outraged Brimstone demanded to know.
"As long as Barian Star Dragon is on the field, all destruction effects are instantly negated!" Hikari announced. "I activate Barian Star Dragon's first effect. By sending any number of cards from the top of my deck to the Graveyard, I can attach the same number of my opponent's special summoned monsters to Barian Star Dragon as overlay units!"
Hikari then discarded the top three cards from her deck. Three beams of light shot from the red gem embedded in the dragon's Barian Emblem and struck Brimstone and Splicer's monsters. The dinosaurs were changed into three balls of crimson energy and pulled into the dragon's orbit, becoming red crystals like the other three satellites.
"The three cards I just sent to the Graveyard to activate Barian Star's effect were Tuners." Hikari continued. "I now activate the second effect of Barian Star Dragon! By detaching any number of overlay units, I can banish the same number of Tuner monsters from the Graveyard! I detach all six overlay units and banish Krebons, Mono Synchron, Formula Synchron, Jackie Jumper, Effect Veiler and Junk Changer!"
The six crystals orbiting the dragon shattered and became red electricity that entered the gem in the center of the dragon's Barian Emblem. Soon after, the ghostly forms of the six Tuners Hikari named appeared in the air above the track. The last two were an angelic young man with long green hair and white-feathered wings, and a robot with a barrel-shaped body. The six Tuners were pulled into the gem in the center of Barian Star Dragon's emblem. Barian Star Dragon then roared and began to glow with a brilliant crimson aura.
"For each Tuner banished by this effect, Barian Star Dragon gains 1000 ATK until the end of the turn!" Hikari announced. "Which means his ATK rises from 4300 to 10300!"
"Say what?" Splicer exclaimed.
"Uh, sis? Don't you think that's a little bit of an overkill?" Hana asked. "These guys only have 650 life points left!"
"Barian Star Dragon, attack them directly!" Hikari commanded. "Sonic Chaos!"
The dragon opened his mouth and roared as he fired a spiraling beam of crimson light down at Brimstone and Splicer. The attack hit and hurled both duelists and their D-Wheels into the air. Brimstone and Splicer's life points fell to zero in an instant. Brimstone was knocked off the back of his D-Wheel and hit the ground while Splicer jumped off at the last second and hit the ground face-first. Both their D-Wheels collided with one another as they hit the ground, exploding with a flash of fire and smoke.
With the duel finally at an end, Barian Star Dragon vanished and the surrounding area of the track returned to normal. Hikari and Hana pulled their D-Wheels to a stop. At about the same moment, Shark regained consciousness. Hana meanwhile dismounted her D-Wheel and ran up to Hikari, who was pulling off her helmet.
"Hikari, are you okay?" a concerned Hana asked.
"Yeah, just a little lightheaded." Hikari replied.
"You totally went nuts back there!" Hana told her. "What the heck happened?"
"I'm not really sure." Hikari answered. "It's almost like… Ryoga was dueling through me somehow. I mean I was in control but… it's almost like we became one. I don't really know how else to explain it."
"Well if you were channeling Ryoga, he must have some pretty big anger issues." Hana assumed.
"He's better than the piece of scum Hikari was dating before." Cleo remarked as she stormed past.
Cleo quickly checked Brimstone. The masked duelist seemed to be alive but was out cold. She then saw Splicer trying to get up. The dark-haired woman went over and flipped Splicer onto his back before putting her foot on his chest to pin him to the ground. At that moment, Kaito flew down from above using Orbital 7's flight mode. As soon as he landed, the robot detached himself and resumed his original form.
"About time you got here, Tenjo." Cleo told him. "Rio called you for help ages ago."
"Sorry." Kaito replied. "I guess I missed quite the show."
Cleo turned her attention back to Splicer. "Alright you ape, now that you've been crushed there are some questions all of us want answered."
"Might as well." Splicer coughed. "My next stop's probably a jail cell anyway. Then again, that'll be a big improvement over this gig with Team Arcadia. So what do ya wanna know?"
"For starters, you could tell us where your gang is hiding out." Kaito told him as he stepped forward.
"We've been using an old warehouse as our hideout." Splicer answered. "Of course Kaine is the only member of the gang left standing. I'm sure he'll be long gone before you get there."
"From the files we got from Akari, Kaine is supposed to be the strongest member of the team." Kaito recalled.
"You got that right, blondie." Splicer confirmed. "Kaine's not only the strongest of us, he's a total psycho. From the way I heard it, his powers kicked in when he was six. He ended up wasting his whole family. Apparently it was so bad that there was barely enough of them left to put in a sandwich bag. That kind of thing would drive any little kid that age nuts, and the training he was put through at the facility sure didn't help."
"And you and your brother worked for that psycho?" a shocked Hana asked.
"It's not like we had much of a choice." Splicer told her. "Kaine's not the kind of guys you say no to, not unless you wanna end it all. Bottom line, Kaine's pretty much a mad dog."
"Okay. What about the one who hired you, Anitak?" Cleo asked. "What can you tell us about her?"
"Not much, other than she's probably the only person I've met who could stand up to Kaine and probably kill him if she wanted." Splicer answered. "To tell the truth, I don't think she's even human. She always walks around in this hooded cloak, and she always comes and goes through these portals."
"What kind of portals?" Shark suddenly asked as he walked up with Rio.
"Now that I think about it… they look like overlay networks." Splicer recalled. "I don't know why I never made that comparison until now."
"A hooded figure that comes and goes through overlay units?" Kaito spoke. "I think most of us have seen that before."
"Yeah. Anitak's a Barian." Shark deduced.
"Hold up, you're saying one of your own guys is trying to kill you?" Splicer asked.
"It's a little more complicated then that, but that's what it sounds like." Shark admitted.
"Why would a Barian be trying to kill you and the other former emperors?" Hikari asked.
"No clue." Shark answered. "But I'd sure like to ask her right before I beat her to a pulp."
"See? Anger issues." Hana whispered to Hikari.
"I guess for now, all we can do is make sure Brimstone and Splicer are locked up." Kaito observed.
"Hey, don't you think you should take us to the hospital first?" Splicer asked. "My brother's probably in bad shape, and I think I broke something."
"Don't worry. You'll both be taken care of." Kaito assured him.
"Though it is more than you deserve." Cleo added as she dug her heel into Splicer's chest, causing him to wince.
"Orbital, call the ambulance to get these two." Kaito ordered.
"Y-Yes sir!" Orbital replied with his trademark salute.
Kaine paced around the warehouse grumbling to himself as he waited for Brimstone and Splicer to return. It was becoming clear that the last two members of his gang had screwed up, as it was taking them too long to return. This did not surprise Kaine, as the brothers were never the most reliable of team members. In fact he would've killed them ages ago if he felt he didn't might need them for some purpose, as the brothers had left him and the rest of them team for dead years before. Still, he needed to have some kind of victory after the string of failures he had. Suddenly Kaine heard the sound of footsteps coming into the warehouse.
"About time you idiots…" Kaine began, but upon turning around he saw Chitose approaching him and froze. "C-Chelsea? Chelsea, is that really you?"
"Pardon?" Chitose replied with a raised eyebrow.
"Sis! You've come back!" Kaine happily called as he ran towards her. "I'm so happy to see you!"
Chitose scowled as she pointed her hand at Kaine and fired a blast of crimson energy from her palm. The blast hurled Kaine into the far wall of the warehouse. The one-eyed psychic remained sitting against the wall with a dazed expression as Chitose calmly walked towards him.
"W-What's wrong, sis?" Kaine asked. "I did something to make you mad again, didn't I? I'm sorry. What ever it is, I'll make it up to you."
Silently, Chitose grabbed Kaine by the neck with her left hand and lifted him off the ground. Her right arm changed to its Barian form and she plunged her arm into Kaine's chest as if his body was made of water. Chitose's green eyes then began to glow.
"I see… so this is what the inside of your mind looks like." Chitose spoke. "What a twisted creature you are. Perhaps it would be better if I simply killed you right now."
Kaine merely responded with soft coughing noises as Chitose violently dug through his mind like a gardener tearing though a vast patch of weeds. He wasn't even conscious of what the Barian woman was doing.
"It seems that you have some sort of twisted obsession with any young woman who happens to resemble the older sister you accidentally killed." Chitose continued. "You corner them and then end up killing them when they try to run away. If I were a normal human, that probably would've been might fate as well right now. In any case, your usefulness to me has almost ended. I only need you for one more little task."
Kaine cried out as Chitose began to shock him with crimson electricity. After a moment, she removed her arm from his chest and released his neck, letting him land on his feet. The one-eyed psychic stood there with a dazed expression as Chitose waved her Barian hand caused a certain card to fly from Kaine's deck. The card glowed briefly red and another card appeared on top of it. After Chitose returned her arm to its human appearance, she put a fake cheerful smile on her face.
After a moment, Kaine blinked and seemed to become aware of his surroundings again. "Chelsea?"
"Hi there, baby brother!" Chitose responded in as cheerful a voice she could manage. "I sure am happy to see you again."
"I'm… happy to see you too, sis." Kaine replied as a tear rolled down his cheek.
"Listen, I need you to do a really big favor for me." Chitose told him. "I need you to kill the one called Shark. Can you do that for me?"
"Sure sis. I'd do anything for you." Kaine told her.
"Good. You'll need these to do that." Chitose told him as she handed him the two cards she held.
Kaine took the cards from her. "After I do this, can we go away somewhere together? Just you and me?"
"Sure baby brother. Whatever you want." Chitose lied. She knew though that however things turned out, she would bring Kaine's life to an end.
Author's Note: And there we have it. As it happens, CXyz Barian Star Dragon is the very first card I created for this story. The idea of course was to create a counterpart to the dragon that Cleo used at the end of The Scarlet Empress, CXyz Zero Nova Dragon. Anyway, this story is finally nearing its conclusion, and with spring break coming up I should be able to finish it by next week.
In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.