Disclaimer: Koros45 doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, or Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Kindred Spirits Chapter 24: Swords at Dawn
Shiro's life points fell to a definite zero, and the man looked to the other five duelists with a mixture of disbelief and disappointment. "Well done." He said as he slowly applauded the five assembled duelists.
"Now, for our answers." Atem said, crossing his arms as Mahado pointed his staff at Shiro.
"And for you to return the monsters you stole." Mai added.
Shiro laughed. "Well, I'm sorry to tell you this Jack, but I already sent Scar Red Nova away with Bakura." He grinned. "It's too valuable to just give you a being that dwarfs something as strong as the Earthbound Immortals."
Jack frowned and kept his glare focused on Shiro.
"As for Harpy Queen, take her!" Shiro said, throwing the card to Mai, who caught it and slipped in into her deck.
"But Dark Simorgh is now mine. Ha Des saw to that." Shiro said. "I don't think you'd want me to let this creature of chaos loose in this world." He said. Shiro took a step back and his right leg plunged into the portal behind him.
"As for my motive, I'm here to end all Gods. And I calculated that the era of the D-Wheel is the best point in time to do it." He said. "Especially after that business with Z-ONE was wrapped up."
"Why?" Yusei asked.
"Simple. It's a carefree point in time, and one I'm already very acquainted with. There's no real problems, other than the city and Satellite still coming to terms with each other. Society is on the cusp of change, and once my plan has resolved, I hope to enact that change." He said.
"End all Gods?" Atem asked. "Why – how would you do that?"
"Well for the 'why' it's easy. They are things that humanity can, and should shun. All it takes is one entire generation to stop believing in them, and they die out, like a disease once a population has been vaccinated. And for the how, well, let's say that I'm going to simultaneously have them kill each other, and then have humanity shun them due to the fallout created from their destruction." He said.
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. But what is your grudge?" Jack asked.
"Grudge? Well I do have my own reasons for doing this, but I assure you it's not that personal. Simply put, Yliaster ordered me to do it. Once they learned that Z-ONE was taking over their operation, they sent me an encrypted message telling me to do it. I am the man who will lead to Yliaster's resurrection." He said.
"How do you know about all this stuff anyway?" Jounouichi asked.
"I'm a member of Yliaster. And I'm from the future. My organization sent me extensive files on everything I needed to know when I got this message. Z-ONE's failure was a wake up call for us, and we can't entrust the future to a bunch of former Signers and a Crimson Dragon who only decides to appear when it directly benefits them."
"Well, I'd love to chat longer, but it looks like I'm out of time." Shiro said, holding up his hands and shrugging as his body disappeared from the cavern and he fell into the portal, which winked out of existence as soon as he passed through it leaving the five duelists to ponder what to do next.
Once Shiro departed into the whirling machine, the group was frantic to try and go after him. Jack ran towards the vortex, but it faded seconds before Jack could reach it. The duelist stopped and growled as the man had gotten away despite their victory.
"Damn." His deep voice echoed through the large cavern.
"Well, what now?" Mai asked.
Mahado spoke up. "We should return to the castle and report this to the others. I'm sure King's and Queen's Knight will want to hear about this. And I'd like to meet this world's Dark Magician Girl." Mahado said. "We have much to discuss."
Atem heard him and removed his deck from the replicated duel disk as it faded, the properties of Jounouchi's Copycat wearing off.
"Yes. And we need to discuss how to further pursue Bakura." Atem said.
"And how far ahead of us they'll be in the timeline." Yusei added.
Mai shrugged. "Well I'm sure we'll get some of our answers but for now can we just go back to the castle? I'm sick of this dark cave." She said, shuddering.
Jounouchi agreed and they walked back through the ruins, glad that the legions of Ancient Gear monsters were still standing still, deactivated though they looked as though they were at attention.
This time it was Harpie's Pet Dragon that flew them all back through the night– the other dragons had earned a rest, Mai figured. The Harpie Sisters flew in formation around the dragon, as it was very exited to be able to fly for a long period of time. It mostly stayed on course, even with such a large group on it's back.
They returned to a mostly subdued battlefield. Most of the fiends had scattered to the Black Forest, or they were captured, or flat-out surrendered. Isis was there to greet them flying alongside of them on her Winged Dragon.
She smiled warmly at the sight of them. "You've returned. What of Bakura?"
She seemed to pick up the vibe from most of the group, but Mai spoke up. "He's gone. Escaped."
"Was that other man there?" Isis asked.
Jack nodded. "Yes. He got away as well. Into our timeline."
"I'm sorry Isis." Mahado said. "These shadows continue to plague us."
"Be that as it may, I'm glad we all were unscathed." Isis said, granted Mahado a smile.
They descended to meet the royalty, King's and Queen's Knight in scratched up armor and with a few bruises but nonetheless looking fine.
"Pharaoh! Jack! And assembled friends! Good to see we all live to see another day!" King's Knight said, laughing cheerfully.
"And the Harpie Sisters of course." Queen's Knight added, and they both bowed to the group.
Queen's Knight nodded and sheathed her sword. "The fight has ended. No sign of Ha Des, but we can discuss our next move." She said.
A figure appeared in front of the royals, blond, green eyed, and wearing a blue and pink uniform. "And I get to meet these duelists."
The group had mixed reactions to seeing the Dark Magician Girl. Atem, Jounouchi, and Yusei weren't too surprised, but everyone else was.
She grinned. "Pharaoh. Jounouchi. I wish that Kaiba was here as well, but it is good to see that you both are here. If you would free your knights?" She asked.
The two duelists looked to each other and nodded, holding up the Eye of Timaeus and Claw of Hermos in unison. Both cards shone and before them, both knights appeared, gleaming armor of emerald and crimson practically lighting up the space around them.
Criteas walked up to them and the three knights formed a scrum, glad to be reunited again.
"Master Atem. Master Jounouchi. Thank you for letting my brothers return to my side." Criteas said once he and his brothers had finished the scrum. "It does me well to see them as their original forms again."
Atem and Jounouchi smiled and Mai looked at them, puzzled. "Original forms? Wait, these were your Legendary Dragons?" She asked Jounouchi.
"Yeah. That's Hermos alright." Jounouchi said, pointing to the crimson armored knight.
Mai frowned. "So he was the one who turned into a Red-Eyes Sword? And a Time Magic Hammer?"
"Guilty as charged, Lady Mai. Glad to see that you are no longer under the Orachalcos' wicked spell." Hermos said as he bowed to her. Mai giggled.
"He's a dead ringer for you, Jounouchi. Other than having manners and chivalry." She said, elbowing him in the ribs.
"Hey! Not fair!" Jounouchi protested as the knights chuckled.
"Still, I didn't come to this dimension just to tease you." Mai said, looking to him. "When we have time, can we catch up?" She asked.
Jounouchi nodded. "Of course. Between people from the future, talking cards, duel bikes, Atem, and ancient magic, I need somebody to fill me in." He stopped for a second. "And yeah, I would really like to talk to you too." He said, aware that a wrong word meant he might get slapped.
The moment passed and Mai grabbed his hand and bowed back to the knights.
"Well I have to give Jounouchi credit, Hermos took that Shiro character by surprise. And Jounouchi's tactics gave me and Atem what we needed to set up a good field for victory. Not that they didn't pull their weight either." Mai said, jerking a thumb back to Atem, Jack, and Yusei, who were talking to Ruka, Mahado, and Dark Magician Girl.
Timaeus nodded. "I am honored to be part of that final turn. Even though I truthfully was just a steed for Dark Magician. It was well worth watching Shiro be beaten in practically one attack."
"Yes, brother Criteas! You should have seen it!" Hermos said.
Criteas was about to say something when Mai was tapped on the shoulder by Ocupete.
"Excuse me gents." Mai said, turning to the middle harpy.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Lady Mai, we need your help!"
"What's wrong?" Mai asked.
"Well, King's and Queen's Knight want to discuss Harpie traditions with us and we don't have the right way of saying it."
"What?" Mai asked, blinking.
"I mean, we don't speak for all Harpies – we're not-" Ocupete seemed a bit exasperated as she led Mai to Airo and Keraino, was were looking to an eager looking King's and Queen's Knight.
"We need someone who understands royalty more." Airo said with a grin as she pointed to Mai's duel disk. "Someone who has experience talking to another Queen".
Mai found herself laughing as she understood what Airo meant. "You girls are evil." She said.
Harpie Queen was summoned on the spot, and was immediately overwhelmed by the amount of people there, the smell of iron weapons and fresh wounds of combat, and of course, the presence of three harpies she very much did not want to see. She folded her arms and glared at them.
"Is that how the Harpie Queen reacts to other royalty?" Mai asked as she and the other Harpies looked to King's and Queen's Knight.
Silene's eyes widened as she saw human royalty was indeed there and she bowed deeply.
"Great Harpie Queen. The honor is ours." Queen's Knight said, as she and King's Knight bowed in return.
"Ah. I did not know that my – comrades – had taken me to a proper castle." Silene said. "Though a battle was waged here. Did they help fight Ha Des' horde?" She asked the royals.
"Yes, and they saved our lives too." King's Knight said. "We, therefore, owe the Harpies."
Silene blinked. "What debt?"
"Food. Shelter. Gifts when you depart. It's not every day a harpy as brave as that one saves both of us at once." King's Knight said, gesturing to Keraino, who blushed.
"Oh, of course. She is a good warrior, of course." Silene said and the harpie in question gave her the stink eye but said nothing.
"We would like to discuss aspects of Harpie culture with you, if it's no trouble. When we heard you'd been freed by Mai, we knew we were in luck." Queen's Knight said.
"Of course, all of you will be handsomely rewarded, but we'd like to make sure you are doing alright. From what we understand, you were taken prisoner by Ha Des?" She asked Silene.
Mai and the gathered Harpies watched Silene face the royals and lie through her teeth about how loyal and honorable she found the Harpie Sisters once she finished her sad tale as Ha Des' prisoner and being deprived of her Simorgh. Of course, it took the sisters all they had not to burst out laughing, and instead opted to using facial expressions to convey their feelings about it.
Once Silene was done talking to the royalty about some basics of Harpie etiquette, she stormed back to Mai and the Harpie Sisters, glaring at them.
"I'll see you later at the castle." She said, flying away.
"You're not her real subjects." King's Knight said with a wry grin.
"Subjects?" Airo scoffed. "She's lucky we talk to her at all."
Ocupete sighed and spoke up. "Well, did she teach you anything?" She asked them.
"Yes, a great deal in fact." Queen's Knight said. "We'll have to talk to both her and your group once we restore defenses to the castle."
Mai looked to the sisters, who, once Silene had been gone for a minute, fell over chuckling, clutching each other and causing some of the warriors in the vicinity to look to them, confused.
"We never would have gotten away with that on the island!" Keraino said as they stood to their feet, still grinning ear to ear.
Mai coughed and turned to see what Jounouchi had gotten himself into.
/
"Dark Magician Girl, how can you exist here if my apprentice Mana's in the other world-" Mahado asked.
"Oh, like you're the only Dark Magician here!" She said with a laugh. "But you know that I'm a duel spirit. I was sent to this world at the advent of human creation, and tied to your world with the advent of Duel Monsters. I've been a guardian of this realm since the Orachalcos War began, and keep watch over it ever since."
Mahado frowned, not getting the answers he expected, but still nodded. "So there's another Dark Magician here?" He asked.
"Yes. He's a bit unhinged. Scar on his face. Wears lots of red. Keeps to himself. But there's also a Dark Sage, Sorcerer of Dark Magic , Dark Eradicator Warlock-" Dark Magician Girl trailed on.
Atem turned to Jounouchi. "And as good as it is to see you and Mai, why are you here?" Atem asked.
Jounouchi chuckled. "Well I was looking for Yugi in this world, and found the wrong one." He said, pointing his finger at Atem with a chuckle. "I mean, you even got a different name and everything. Dig the bling, by the way."
Atem blinked and touched one of his regal earrings. "Oh, thanks."
"Looking for Yugi?" Mai asked as she entered the conversation once she freed herself from the Harpies' prank.
"Yeah. Mai, you know that big dumb space elevator thing Kaiba made last year?"
Mai nodded.
"Well I guess Kaiba used it to try and find him in the ancient Egyptian afterlife." Jounouchi said to the group, looking to Atem. "So did you kick him down a peg, again?" Jounouchi asked Atem.
"No, I didn't meet Kaiba in the afterlife, unless you mean my priest, Seto." Atem responded, a little confused.
"No, it wasn't that guy. He doesn't have nearly as big of an ego. Plus no delusions of time travel just to beat you in a duel." Jounouchi said.
"Well I didn't see Kaiba at all." Atem said. "But about Yugi?" He pressed on.
Jounouchi nodded. "Right, so Yugi also wanted to see what kinds of places Kaiba's new technology unlocked. He told me that he'd go exploring there. I guess Kaiba owed him a favor because the next thing I know, I get a call telling me to stop what I'm doing to find Yugi in this dimension. Kaiba even offered to pay me to do it."
Atem scoffed at this in disbelief. Jounouchi huffed and complained.
"Oh, come on! You know he can't live without his arch-rival being alive and in one piece. He said he'd go himself 'But I need to duel the Pharaoh to prove who's better once and for all'" Jounouchi said in his best Kaiba impression. "Plus I kinda made a deal with him so that Kaibacorp covered all my family severance pay if something happened to me.'"
Atem still looked unconvinced.
"Look, if it's any damn proof, here's this." Jounouchi said, pulling out a Kaibacorp ID from a beaten up wallet. It was marked in English to say Kaibacorp TEMPORARY AIDE, showing a serious looking Jounouchi on the front of the pristine white ID card, a small silver KC in the top corner, along with a Blue-Eyes White Dragon head on the right corner. Mai pointed to the bottom corner of the card and snorted at it.
"And you defaced Kaiba's property with a doodle of Red-Eyes. I'm proud of you, friend." Atem laughed.
Yusei remained stoic as ever but still asked: "Wait, if Kaiba found a way to Atem's timeline, why didn't that happen before I showed up there? My time period happens much later." He asked.
Jounouchi scratched the back of his head. "Well, it's not so much a time machine, more like a Stargate." He stopped when Yusei blinked at the reference.
"Or like a dimensional portal." Jounouchi continued. "Kaiba found a way to find Atem was there after Kaiba remade the Millennium Puzzle, so maybe it called Atem when it knew he was ready to duel? I dunno, hearing him explain it made my head hurt."
"Kaiba even remade the puzzle? This puzzle?" Atem asked, raising the inverted pyramid around his neck.
"Will maybe he does it in YOUR future, but he did it in my past." Jounouchi said, jerking a thumb to point to himself. "So maybe it will happen to you in the future? I dunno, thinking about this kinda stuff makes my head hurt."
"But Jounouchi, you were captured by Ha Des! If it wasn't for the others here, you'd still be in his thrall." Atem pointed out.
Jounouchi scoffed. "Right, like I haven't been in those kind of situations before. Besides, I was totally waiting to unleash the true power of that Red-Eyes armor on Ha Des when I thought I was totally under his thumb."
Mai frowned and pulled out her own Kaiba Corp ID card. "Well, Jounouchi's safety is why I went too."
Jounouchi and Atem both now turned to her, surprised. "Though Pegasus convinced me to take up Kaiba's offer. He didn't want us to lose the world's third best duelist – according to Pegasus." Mai said, giving Jounouchi a smile.
"You've been gone for about a day in our world, but that means you've been here for weeks." Mai said.
Jounouchi blinked at her. "But Pegasus convinced you?"
"I guess Pegasus felt bad enough about all the people hurt from Duelist Kingdom, and my own problems with the Orachalcos. He paid for my therapy out of his own pocket, even though he didn't have to." Mai said to the group. "And of course I had experience testing Kaibacorp's virtual technology myself, so Kaiba saw it as the next testing phase. He said 'bring back the lab rat one way or another. I don't want Yugi moping because his friend got lost.'" Mai said, deepening her voice to imitate Kaiba as well.
"Wow, no dog comparison this time? I'm honored." Jounouchi said with a snort. "So I don't know how this time or dimension travel stuff works, but don't you guys need to go chase after Bakura soon, and do you need backup?" He asked.
Yusei shook his head. "As much as I'd like to accept your help, Mai, Jounouchi, our timeline has been messed around with enough. I don't want to bring anyone who still has an impact on their own timeline – the past of ours'. If something happened to you, it could affect the past."
Atem nodded. "And since Seto, Isis, and I are not currently living in any of the world's timelines, we won't interfere with that timeline if something happens to us."
Ruka was watching them and spoke up. "Also, Yusei came back from his fall into Old Momentum about five minutes after he fell into it. I'd say that if time is the same here as it was in your afterlife, not much time will have passed at all."
Mahado frowned. "What do you think, Dark Magician Girl?" He asked. "You're more knowledgeable about dimensions. I read a lot of your studies and theories on them and they're extensive."
"Well yes, I don't think much time would pass in theory, but now the problem is finding a dimensional gate." She said.
"There was one in Ha Des' hidden cavern." Mahado said. "It stopped working as soon as that Shiro character passed through it."
Mana sighed. "Well that solves that problem, but I'm tired. I'll look at it tomorrow." She said. "I'd like to talk more about magical theory, but we both can do that when we study the gate." She said to Mahado.
The Dark Magician nodded and dissolved his staff and his armor from his body, taking a sigh as he stretched in his purple robes. "Yes, I would very much like to do that later. I need sleep, and time." He said, bowing.
"Attention." Queen's Knight said, getting the attention of all of the current people and duel spirits present.
"We can accommodate a few of you." King's Knight said once the group had assembled. "But we also are on alert in case Ha Des' has some kind of second assault waiting for us. We'll send our field commander and our command knight to lead some nightly patrols. Tomorrow we can all have a banquet celebrating Ha Des' defeat, but for now we all need some sleep."
Queen's Knight nodded. "We've sent some knights to notify the citizenry that we're fine. Tomorrow meet us at sundown."
It was decided that Silene would be staying in the castle for the night. Mai went with the Harpies and Yusei as they all were still registered at the inn. Atem invited Jounouchi to share his quarters, and Isis and Mahado shared a room. Dark Magician Girl and Ruka decided to share a room between them as well.
/
The next morning came almost too quickly. Yusei found, waking up next to Ocupete and Keraino. Each sister had given him about two inches of space as the bed was rather small. He was thankful for the space, both due to his own personal boundaries and because it was rather muggy out.
Yusei looked tired as he sat up and turned his body to look at the two of them. They were still asleep.
As for Mai, she left before Yusei woke up, taking Airo shopping for more clothing. Mai had three Dimension Capsules she kept various supply cases in and shoved the dresses, undergarments, and some trinkets into them. Storing her luggage in three cards certainly saved her space when it came to shopping and travel.
Yusei sat himself at the desk in the room, at a comfortable temperature in his sleeveless black shirt with a red circular pattern on the front, and his regular jeans, fine-tuning Mai's duel disk at a request she made the night before. He spent about thirty minutes modding the duel disk when Mai came in.
"Yusei, what have you done with my disk?" She asked him. She wore a halter top as she did the day before, but this one was a light purple rather than white. She accompanied it with a purple jacket for light weather and a matching skirt. To complete her look, she had a set of purple gloves and matching heels.
"I've adjusted the Solid Vision levels to be more flexible. Now you can adjust it manually if you're dueling for fun, or if you need to summon a monster in a dangerous situation" Yusei said. "Normally you'd have to adjust it before a duel, but now you can turn it down if the strain is too much."
Mai grinned. "Anything else, Mr. Fix-It?" She asked, crossing her arms.
"One more thing. I put a tracer in your duel disk. It might seem mundane here, but it's got a twin here." Yusei said, pulling out another tracer that was currently deactivated. "Remind me to install in on Jounouchi's duel disk later. That way you guys can track each other when you split up."
"Thank you. That's wonderful." Mai said as she examined the duel disk. "Where did you learn this stuff?"
Yusei grinned. "Well back when I was in a duel gang, I fixed all our duel hardware. I had to learn it if we were to all keep dueling. We used vintage Kaibacorp duel disks because they were the only ones lying around I had enough parts to fix. But that turned out to be a good thing. This model is the most durable duel disk up though the Academia models." Yusei said.
Mai blinked and turned it on, surprised at the humming coming from it. "It sounds brand new, and feels lighter. Did you replace the batteries?"
"No. I just reconnected the wiring with some of the extra bits in there. I also decided to tune it up myself." Yusei said. "I took out some of the unnecessary bulk the original designer, Scott Irvine, added to up the price of it." He said. "Irvine added more thickness to the outer frame, both to make Kaibacorp more money, and to decrease potential buyers' fears it was a flimsy product."
"How do you know that?" Mai asked him.
"Easy. Kaibacorp made a second model right after Irvine was fired." Yusei said, pointing to his own duel disk resting on the desk. |
"According to that model's manual, Kaiba himself found out about these additions Irvine added to make himself some extra money as head of the design team. Naturally Kaiba had him fired and issued an apology to any duelists who found they had sore arms and thinner wallets after buying the first generation duel disk. This second one was made by Kaiba himself and he reassured customers with this." Yusei said, pressing a button on his own model.
Though scratchy sounding, a recording of Seto Kaiba's voice could be heard dimly. "This is an official tested Kaibacorp Product. As such, I assure you the highest quality Kaibacorp can offer. If you disagree, feel free to contact our complaints department. Good day."
Mai laughed. "That's hilarious. And also explains why Dartz' model felt lighter." She observed.
"But wait, did you stay up all night making this?" Mai asked.
Yusei frowned and closed his eyes. "No. Just about thirty minutes of tinkering. It was actually pretty easy since your duel disk is still in good condition. I just was pretty warm sharing a bed and needed something to do to wake up."
"Well, it is finished now, yes?" Keraino said, yawning and pointing to the duel disk. "Let us eat and meet with the others."
/
Atem found the morning was generous with a wonderful sunrise, Ra's splendor evident even in another world. He was treated to breakfast at first alone, but Mahado and Isis sat next to him, eating in silence and sharing smiles between each other. Atem guessed they were holding hands under the table, but he couldn't confirm it. Jounouchi was with them as well, wearing his white t-shirt with blue accents he'd worn for the majority of Battle City. silent as he was fixated on a very full plate of pancakes, sausage, and eggs.
"Pharaoh, it does me good to enjoy this." Isis said, pointing to her food. "But the way of eating it is curious." She said, gesturing to the knives and forks as she watched Jounouchi use them with wild abandon.
"That's true enough. Getting used to new ways of eating is always a challenge. Just wait until chopsticks." Atem said.
Mahado's smile was still there but he looked a bit melancholy. "Alas, I wish I could come with you, but since I am now a duel spirit, I-" He trailed off and Isis swallowed a bit of her biscuit and finished the sentence.
"Yes, yes Mahado. Since you're now one of these 'duel spirits' you cannot pass through the gate." Isis said, glancing at his wrist. She clasped her hand with his resting on the table and Atem raised an eyebrow.
"Mahado, rest assured I will be fine." Isis said, and Mahado nodded.
"I know, yet I still will worry. It is my nature."
Atem felt very much unable to say anything and was relieved when Dark Magician Girl and Ruka joined them.
"Are you ready for our study today, Dark Magician?" The counterpart magician asked.
"Yes, once I finish eating. I wish to spend as much time with my companions as possible."
Isis smiled at him and Atem felt something in his chest scream at how pure it felt seeing his two friends steal glances into each other's eyes. The other part of him said it was about damn time.
Ruka looked to Dark Magician Girl. "So that means you'll find out how to work that gate?" She asked.
The magician in question nodded, tossing a fork in the air and balancing it on the tip of her finger.
"That's right. We'll look at it and should be able to get your group to your timeline by tomorrow if all goes to plan."
"It never does." She said, winking to Ruka and the teen wondered if she was joking or not.
The group finished eating and met up in the courtyard. Jack met them there, the tall blond going through his deck as they approached him
"Today I need to visit Dragon Mountain." Jack said. "You said Seto and Kisara, and the Yusei-Go – Yusei's D-Wheel - are still there, yes?" He asked Jounouchi and Atem, who both nodded.
"I have to get a dragonscale to a witch before we go. Normally I'd dismiss it, but in this case I don't want bad luck following us all the way back home." He said.
Yusei looked to Jack. "You're fine getting my D-Wheel?" He asked the other man.
Jack nodded. "I'll manage. Think of it as an apology for tossing out your first model."
Yusei smiled. "I'll try to, but some things can never be forgiven."
Jack blinked. "And I can't tell if you're still angry about that, or if you're joking." He said. "I'll get it back to you in one piece, regardless." The king said as he summoned Vice Dragon.
"Take me to that mountain." Jack said, as the purple dragon let him hop aboard, Jack's white coat-tails billowing in the wind as the dragon took flight.
"And what are we to do today?" Ruka asked as Vice Dragon departed.
Dark Magician Girl laughed. "Well you're really free to do whatever you need to, but Mahado and I need to wait for the afternoon to begin before we study this machine. Morning magic is less powerful when I'm not fully awake I find. And besides, I didn't come this far not to see a duel." She said.
"Duel?" Jounouchi asked. "I'm not complaining, but why?"
Dark Magician Girl looked at him. "Well, Sir Jounouchi, I mean that for us it's a great entertainment. But I think that a change of venue is in order." She said.
Dark Magician Girl formed a seal on the ground that was golden and covered in runes. It's diameter was roughly four feet across.
"Step right up in to the Magician's Circle and disappear!" Dark Magician Girl boomed as she gestured to the seal on the ground with a dramatic bow.
"This is Magician's trickery!" Airo said as she landed in the middle of the circle and looked up to Dark Magician Girl as though she was clever.
Then Airo vanished.
Her sisters cried her name and leapt on the seal after her, vanishing as well.
"Who's next?" Dark Magician Girl asked.
Mai sighed and stepped in the circle, disappearing. Jounouchi whimpered but followed suit, making a tough face as he faded away as well.
"This is no trick." Mahado said as he stepped in the circle and was gone.
Eventually everyone had gone through the portal and once Isis, Yusei, Atem, Ruka, and Dark Magician Girl had all stepped in the portal, they found themselves in an older looking forest, full of sturdy trees, plenty of shade, and beautiful beams of light that shone through the large trees.
The Harpie Sisters had immediately flocked around Mai when she appeared, and everyone was stunned at the majesty of the forest.
Ruka gasped as she looked around. "I recognize this place! Ancient Fairy took me here!" She said, looking around. "This was the same place I saw! This really is the Spirit World!" She declared.
Jounouchi looked around at the air, and it seemed to sparkle. "Well that might be comforting for you, but I'm lost as to why we're here." He said.
Dark Magician Girl smiled. "Well, I wasn't kidding when I said that our magic wasn't as good in the morning. This forest is full of magical properties. The time it takes two of you to finish a duel will be enough for us to recover our magical energy." She said.
Jounouchi grinned. "Alrighty, a duel to hype you up! Now that's something I understand! Who's ready to step up to my miracle deck?" He asked.
Mai groaned and looked to Yusei. "Hard pass. If I recall correctly, our last duel wasn't really serious. I'd feel offended if we didn't conclude it properly."
Yusei looked to her in thought and Jounouchi's face deflated.
"Aww Mai, I can't duel him? He kinda looks like Yugi's serious older brother. He gives off this badass vibe I can't really shake." Jounouchi said.
"What about a Battle Royale then? Everyone for themselves?" Yusei suggested.
Mai frowned. "Well Jounouchi, can't you duel him when I'm done? I am serious about getting my duel, you know." She said.
Ruka piped up. "Well, if it's not too much trouble, we could tag duel." She said, taking her duel disk out of her backpack, which she had set on the ground.
"What do you say? Jounouchi and Mai on a team against us?" Ruka asked, standing next to Yusei.
Mai beamed. "Of course! That solves everything, right?" She asked.
Atem nodded. "I'll watch to see your strategies. It might give me some ideas." He said with a grin.
"Are you sure, Ruka?" Yusei asked.
"If I met Jounouchi AND Mai and didn't duel them, Rua would never let me hear the end of it. Plus, I'd like to see how our decks work together in a tag duel." She said.
Yusei smiled. "Then we'll show them the strength of Team 5D's clustering bonds!" Yusei said.
Mai frowned. "Clustering bonds, huh? Well Jounouchi and I have our own bond, and in this duel, you'll see our first tag duel as well!" Mai said.
Dark Magician Girl beamed as the four duelists stood across from one another, Mai and Jounouchi looking across the forest ground to Ruka and Yusei.
"Jounouchi, I think I'll have everything I need to write my paper about you once I duel you!" Ruka said, putting on her duel disk.
"Alright then, you'd better show me how they duel in the future, Ruka!" Jounouchi said as he loaded in his deck.
Mai looked to Yusei. "Show me your skills. I'll know if you're holding back."
Yusei grinned. "Trust me, I won't. Not against duelists of your caliber."
"Right then, well each player will have their own life points, but each team will share fields and graveyards! Any objections? No?" No one at the time gave any to Dark Magician Girl.
Then let the duel begin!" Dark Magician Girl shouted as both teams activated their duel disks.
"DUEL!" All the combatants shouted.
Ruka: 4000/Yusei: 4000 vs Jounouchi: 4000/Mai: 4000
Ruka began, drawing her first card.
"I'll set one monster face-down." She said. The set monster appeared as a brown rectangle at her feet.
"Then I'll end my turn." She said, looking at the five cards in her hand briefly.
"I'm up next! Draw!" Jounouchi exclaimed as he pulled a card from his deck.
"First, here's Graceful Charity! So I'll draw three cards, then discard two."
Jounouchi pulled three cards off of his deck and nodded, sending two to the graveyard. "I'll send my Burning Soul Sword and Landstar Forces to the graveyard." He declared.
"And now I'll begin with Panther Warrior!" He shouted.
In front of him, a purple creature appeared, with the head of a panther and the body of a man. The Panther Warrior in question was clad in gold and blue tunic, boots, and blue arm bands. The creature carried a wicked looking cutlass in one hand and an ornate blue and gold shield in the other. Finally a long green cape flowed from between the creature's shoulders (4/2000/1600).
Ruka blinked and looked at it. "Panther Warrior. . . say, Yusei. . . is that?"
"One of the original cards in the 'Warrior' series. The same line that Speed and Junk Warrior are from." Yusei said, with his arms crossed as he admired the monster..
Jounouchi grinned. "And if that wasn't enough, here's a card face-down!" He exclaimed as a set card appeared between him and his Panther Warrior.
"That'll be all for me." Jounouchi said, ending with four cards in his hand.
Yusei nodded and drew a card.
"I'll increase our defenses with a set monster." Yusei said as a hidden monster appeared next to Ruka's own set monster.
"Then I'll set three cards face-down." Yusei said as three set cards appeared behind their mystery monsters, leaving two cards left in his hand.
"Turn end."
Mai drew a card. "Before I left, Pegasus gave me some new toys to play with. First is this one, Hysteric Sign!"
Mai played a card showing an unknown Harpie standing in front of Harpies' Pet Dragon on the card's art.
"This is a continuous spell that lets me add a copy of Elegant Egotist from my deck straight to my hand as soon as I play it!" Mai said, adding the card in question.
"Then I'll discard the newest addition to my deck – Harpie Queen – to add a specific field spell to my hand!"
Next to Mai, Silene appeared, crossing her arms and glared at Mai as she vanished from sight. Mai added the field spell and didn't waste any time playing it.
"Say hello to my next new card, Harpie's Hunting Ground!"
The field spell showed Harpie Lady descending on an group of Ojama monsters, but playing the field spell itself didn't change the scenery around them.
"Next, I'll summon Harpie Lady 1!"
A screech was heard from the sky as Airo landed in front of Mai, crossing her arm talons and staring at the two set monsters (4/1300/1400).
"And my field spell gives all Winged-Beast monsters 200 more attack points!" Mai said.
Harpie Lady 1 grinned as her attack points rose (1300 → 1500).
"And if that wasn't enough, Harpie Lady 1 gives all WIND monsters 300 more attack points!" Mai added.
Harpie Lady 1 glowed in a green aura as her attack points rose again (1500 → 1800).
"Then I'll demonstrate the effect of the field spell! Since I summoned a "Harpie Lady" monster, I can destroy one spell or trap card on the field! So that middle set card of yours is easy prey for my Harpie Lady, Yusei!" Mai stated as Airo lept into the air and landed on Yusei's set card, shattering it. Airo grinned as she watched Yusei remove the trap from his field.
Yusei discarded the destroyed trap card – Talisman of Reversal and Mai played another card.
"And then I'll use another copy of Elegant Egotist!" Mai said.
Harpie Lady 1 let out a caw as another figure descended from the sky - Harpie Lady 2. Ocupete smiled as she appeared next to her sister and powered up both from Airo, and the field spell (1300 → 1800).
Mai's field spell flashed again and Ocupete lept into the air, somersaulting over the field and slamming a talon into another one of Yusei's cards, shattering it into pieces.
Yusei grimaced as now he only had one set card left as his Synchro Ring trap card split into fragments of light.
"Now we'll battle! And I'll start with Harpie Lady 2! Attack Yusei's set monster!" Mai commanded.
The blond harpie took wing and slammed both talons down on Yusei's set monster, revealing a dark skinned man in battle armor, holding an impressive shield (3/800/1600). Still, as impressive as the shield was, it cracked under Ocupete's onslaught and Shield Warrior shattered.
"Then we'll have Harpie Lady 1 attack that other monster! Scratch Crusher!" Mai yelled.
Harpie Lady 1 grinned as she made a fist and punched Ruka's set card, and it flipped over to reveal a green skinned fairy, with long blue hair, and a bright yellow dress and matching wings (4/0/1800).
Airo frowned as her fist didn't seem to do anything to the fairy, it's aura repelling her back to Mai's side of the field.
"My Spirit of the Breeze has 1800 defense points, so it's a draw." Ruka said. "And since she's a WIND monster, she'll gain 300 more attack points from your Harpie as well."
Spirit of the Breeze gave a smile to the Harpie that tried to punch her as she got stronger from that effect (0 → 300).
Mai grinned. "Not bad, but we still have another monster, remember?"
Next to Harpie Lady 1, Panther Warrior let out a growl.
"I'll send Harpie Lady 2 to the graveyard to let Panther Warrior attack!" Mai stated.
Ocupete shrugged and patted Panther Warrior on the shoulder as she walked off the playing field to stand next to Dark Magician Girl.
Panther Warrior nodded and let out a snarl as it lept and drew it's cutlass back to slam into Spirit of the Breeze.
"Not so fast! I'll stop that with Card Defense!" Yusei declared.
The cutlass slammed into a barrier made from several cards that flew out of the larger trap card.
"I discard a card to stop your attack, then I draw a card." Yusei said, bringing his hand to three cards.
Panther Warrior roared as he lept back from the barrier, landing next to Harpie Lady 1.
"And since I just sent my Limiter Overload to the graveyard as a cost for Card Defense, it's effect activates. I can special summon Speed Warrior from my hand, deck, or graveyard." Yusei said.
In a flash of light, Yusei's go-to monster appeared on his side of the field, crossing it's arms in defense position (2/900/400).
Airo glowed with a green aura, and Speed Warrior let out a grunt as it's attack re-adjusted itself (2/400 → 900/1200).
Mai frowned. "You know, I'd have just used the vanilla Harpie Lady if I'd known you'd both use WIND monsters." She said.
"In any case, I'll set two cards and end my turn." Mai did so, leaving a card in her hand.
As Ruka drew her next card, all sides looked on, observing the first rotation of the duel.
"Well, as expected, Jounouchi and Mai are aggressively taking control of the field." Atem said, eyeing their monsters.
"Yes, but even with such a loss to their traps, Yusei and Ruka managed to keep two monsters in play." Isis remarked.
Mahado nodded. "If there would be a time for Ruka to play a powerful card, now would be it."
Ruka had a full hand of six cards and grinned when she saw a particular card among them.
"I summon the Tuner monster, Nettles."
Next to Ruka, an impish looking mass of plant life appeared, complete with narrowed hallow black eyes and a mouth (2/1200/400).
"Then I'll tune Nettles with Speed Warrior and Spirit of the Breeze." Ruka said as a card ejected out of her duel disk's Extra Deck. Then Ruka chanted as she played the card in question on her duel disk.
"The holy light of protection, shine now and become eternal life! Synchro Summon! A regal birth, Ancient Fairy Dragon!"
From the pillar of light created by the Synchro Summon, Ancient Fairy Dragon appeared in all her royal glory, gleaming armor shining in the light of the forest around them. The slender dragon dwarfed Panther Warrior and Harpie Lady 1, looking down on them as it fanned out it's translucent fairy wings (7/2100/3000).
Jounouchi sighed. "Great. Another one of those Synchro-whatzits."
Mai simply stared up at the dragon in question. "What does that do?" She asked.
"I'll show you right now." Ruka said. "Ancient Fairy, Plain Back!" She cried out.
Ancient Fairy Dragon let out a roar as it sent out a shockwave that struck and shattered Mai's Harpie's Hunting Ground. Harpie Lady 1 snarled as her attack points fell at the loss of the field spell (1800 → 1600).
"And once Ancient Fairy Dragon uses this effect, I gain 1000 life points." Ruka said, her life points rising to an impressive 5000.
"And finally, I can add a field spell of my own from my deck to my hand." Ruka said as her deck ejected one for her. She grabbed the card protruding out of the deck and played it in the extra slot on her duel disk, the slot withdrawing into the disk as the field spell activated.
"I activate the field spell Synchro Monument." Ruka said, as two gigantic white pillars erupted from the ground, on both ends of the field so that they were between the opposing teams. The pillars hovered above the ground, a green gem on the top of each pillar conducted a surge of lightning to the other. They seemed to be kept up by a silver ring under each pillar that let each one defy gravity.
"This field spell protects our Synchro Monsters in that their summons can't be negated, and no player can activate spell or traps when a Synchro Monster is summoned." Ruka said.
"I will set one card face-down and end my turn." Ruka finished with four cards in her hand.
Jounouchi drew a card and grinned. "Mai, time to make them get serious." He said, summoning a new monster.
"Come on out, Swordsman of Landstar!"
In front of Jounouchi, a small cartoonish swordsman appeared, with a gigantic circular head, cartoon eyes and a smile. The warrior had leather armor and a small pair of goggles on it's giant head. It also held a short-sword in one hand and a round shield in the other with an emblem of the warrior's head in the center of the shield. (3/500/1200).
"And before you ask why I summoned a monster like that, I'll play Star Blaster!"
A large dice appeared in front of the swordsman, falling to the ground and rolling as Jounouchi explained what it did.
"This card lets me add the level of the dice to one of my monsters. Then I can sacrifice that monster to summon a monster in my hand with the same level."
Yusei looked to the levels Jounouchi and Mai had. "You have a level 3 and two level 4 monsters."
Ruka looked to be thinking for a second. "But Jounouchi already had monsters on the field. He could tribute anything he wanted, so he probably has a level seven or eight monster in his hand."
The dice stopped rolling, revealing a four.
"All right!" Jounouchi said, narrowing his eyes and grinning so strongly it appeared to make his chin appear more prominent.
"Now I'll use those levels on Swordsman of Landstar to make it level seven, and then sacrifice it to summon a level seven monster from my hand!"
Atem smiled. "Show me the card you won back from me, Jounouchi."
"All right then! I'll sacrifice my Swordsman to summon the Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"
Jounouchi sent his swordsman to the graveyard and with a shriek, his famed Red-Eyes Black Dragon appeared amidst the bright forest, it's slick dark hide making it stand out like a sore thumb (7/2400/2000).
Ruka gasped. "Red-Eyes Black Dragon! That's a legendary card!"
Yusei looked to her. "I wish you could've seen the last duel he used it in. The ways Jounouchi used it, he's truly worthy of that legendary monster."
Jounouchi smirked. "You know, Yusei, I can do more than just make Red-Eyes into a suit of armor or a sword! So instead I'll give Red-Eyes his very own suit of armor! I activate my trap card, Metalmorph!"
Red-Eyes growled as the tip of it's tail turned pure silver, the color flowing down Red-Eyes' body encasing it entirely. The metallic skin appeared to give Red-Eyes some mechanical traits, as it now sported some areas where metallic bolts had cropped up down it's streamlined body (2400 → 2700).
"Now Metalmorph isn't just giving Red-Eyes 300 attack points and a fancy paint job. Oh no. It also gives Red-Eyes a special ability when it battles! It will gain half the attack power of the monster it attacks!"
Ruka did the math and frowned. "That would be 3850 attack points if it attacked Ancient Fairy!" She said.
Jounouchi nodded. "That's right! So I'll attack with Red-Eyes! Dark Mega Flare!" He declared.
The metallized dragon hissed and formed a ball of energy in it's maw as it grew in strength (2700 + 1050 = 3750), shooting the dark fireball at Ancient Fairy Dragon.
Ruka activated her trap card in response.
"I activate my counter trap, Fairy Breath." She said.
Ancient Fairy Dragon looked to Red-Eyes and her wings glowed with radiance as her defense points drastically shot up (3000 x 2 = 6000).
Jounouchi took a step back seeing those numbers, standing slack-jawed as Red-Eyes' attack hit thin air. Then Ancient Fairy Dragon flapped her wings, and with that, Red-Eyes was sent flying back, slamming into the ground right in front of Jounouchi.
The duelist groaned as his life points fell (4000 – 2250 = 1750).
"W-what the heck was that?!" Jounouchi exclaimed.
"My counter trap, Fairy Breath. It adds 3000 defense points to a monster I control if I have Ancient Fairy Dragon in play." Ruka said.
Mai looked to him with shock. "You alright?" She asked.
He swayed a bit but recovered. "Yeah. Just glad that thing's defense wasn't something like 4000 or I would have lost right there."
"You ok, Red-Eyes?" Jounouchi asked. The metallized dragon hissed and stood on two legs, growling again at Ancient Fairy Dragon who seemed to be taunting him to try again, hissing back.
"In any case, that's it for my turn." Jounouchi said, exhaling.
Yusei looked to the field and Hysteric Sign, Metalmorph and two mystery cards. At this rate he'd need to give his team something more to work with.
"My turn, draw!" Yusei said, adding a third card to his hand.
"Good." Yusei thought as he looked to his hand, then to Ancient Fairy Dragon.
"I'll start by summoning the tuner monster, Debris Dragon!"
Next to Ancient Fairy Dragon, a more compact dragon appeared. It was as though Stardust Dragon had been condensed into a short, but muscular creature. It had bigger, more expressive eyes, but still had an air of power to it (4/1000 → 1300/2000).
"And when I normal summon Debris Dragon, I can special summon a monster from our graveyard with 500 or less attack points." Yusei said.
With that, Debris Dragon cried and ached it's back as Spirit of the Breeze rose next to the tuner in attack mode (3/0 → 200/1800).
"More WIND monsters?" Mai sighed. "You have a level seven Synchro Monster up your sleeve, Yusei?"
Yusei shook his head. "In this case, no. Debris Dragon can only be used to Synchro Summon Dragon type monsters, and I can only summon one of those on this turn, and that happens to be level eight."
"But hold on, you're a level short." Jounouchi pointed out.
Yusei grinned. "Are you so sure about that?"
"Ancient Fairy Dragon, however, has a final effect! By not attacking this turn, I can special summon a level four or lower monster from my hand! Appear! Tuningware!"
Ancient Fairy Dragon gestured next to her to a free monster zone as Yusei's next monster appeared in that spot. Tuningware gave a beep as it stared across the field with it's small blue eyes (1/100/300).
"Eight levels in total." Mai said. "Something big is coming."
"I'll tune our three monsters together." Yusei said as Tuningware and Spirit of the Breeze flew into the rings created by Debris Dragon's vanishing form.
Then Yusei began to chant.
"Clustering hopes will become a new shining star! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Take flight, Stardust Dragon!"
The fading light from the Synchro Summon revealed Yusei's ace monster – Stardust Dragon let out a prideful roar as it landed next to it's sister Signer Dragon (8/2500/200).
"Oh boy, two of them now." Mai said with anticipation.
Stardust flapped it's large white wings and roared a second time as it briefly glowed in a green aura (2500 → 2800).
Yusei smiled and pointed to Harpie Lady 1.
"Airo, I have to thank you for making Stardust Dragon, a creature of the wind, even more powerful." He said.
Airo took a step back and raised her talons defensively. "Mai, I swear I didn't know half of these monsters were of the wind variety." She said, looking to her summoner.
"Sister, if you jinx this for Mai, we're not letting it go for the next three decades." Ocupete joked, and Keraino landed next to her to snicker.
"Ladies, let's save the chatter for after the duel, shall we?" Mai said, gesturing for them to stop.
Yusei spoke up. "One last thing, since I used Tuningware for a Synchro Summon, I can draw another card." Yusei said as he did just that, now holding two cards in his hand.
"I set a card, and that ends my turn." Yusei said.
Mai looked at both Synchro dragons and then began her turn.
"I draw."
Mai looked at the card she drew and then to the field.
"I'll sacrifice Harpie Lady 1 and Panther Warrior!"
Panther Warrior vanished in an orb of light while Airo walked away to stand with Ocupete as a spectator.
"It would be rude to leave my own dragon absent from this party, so here's Harpie's Pet Dragon!"
From an orange flame, Harpie's Pet Dragon emerged, letting out a proud roar as it landed next to Red-Eyes. The bulky pink and black dragon was a stocky contrast to Red-Eyes' thin frame (7/2000/2500).
"But that's just the start of my turn." Mai said. "Now, I'll use a new trap card, Hysteric Party!"
Mai revealed the trap card depicting a two sets of the Harpie Lady Sisters being summoned en mass.
"This trap card lets me summon as many Harpies as I can from my graveyard, but I need to discard a card as a cost, so I'll say adieu to Harpie Lady 3." Mai said, sending the named card to the graveyard.
"And now that that's done, I can summon all three Harpies from the graveyard once again!"
The three Harpie Ladies flew to the field and they all stuck a pose, gaining attack points from the elder sister (1300 → 1600).
"And now that I control three Harpies, Harpies' Pet Dragon gains 900 more attack points and defense points, plus 300 attack points on top of that since it's a WIND monster!" Mai declared, her dragon roaring as it's attack rose again (2000/2500 → 3200/3400).
"And now since I control all three Harpie Lady Sisters, I can use this! Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation!" Mai stated as she played the spell.
"With this card, I can't attack this turn, but I can destroy all of your monsters, then deal you damage equal to those monsters' attack points. If this works, I'll wipe you completely out, Yusei, and severely damage you, Ruka." Mai said.
The three Harpie Sisters flew in the air, creating a blazing phoenix of blue above them.
"Go! Phoenix Formation! Destroy both those dragons!" Mai commanded.
"Sorry, but by sending my Stardust Dragon to the Graveyard, I can negate the activation of, and destroy a card that would destroy a card or more on the field." Yusei said as he slid Stardust Dragon into his graveyard.
"Victim Sanctuary!" Yusei commanded.
Stardust Dragon dissolved into a haze of glimmering particles that blew towards the burning phoenix, consuming it and causing it to vanish.
Mai grimaced at this. "Of course your monster had some effect like that! I had the field all set up for victory, and that happened."
Then Mai looked to the field. There was still Ancient Fairy Dragon and a set card to worry about. She looked at Red-Eyes and then to Jounouchi.
"I'm not sure if attacking is the best play right now. If that's anything like that Fairy Breath trap card, we could be in trouble." Mai said, eyeing the face-down card.
"In that case, I'll just set one card face-down, and put Harpie Lady 1 in defense mode."
Airo crouched down as Mai rotated her card horizontally (1400)
"Then I'll end my turn." Mai said, with one card remaining in her hand.
Yusei raised up an arm. "And at the end phase, Stardust Dragon will return to the field!"
The swarm made of flecks of light was once again drawn together, solidifying in the shape of Stardust Dragon, once again powered up by Mai's Harpie Lady 1 (8/2500 → 2800/2000).
"Well that's just great." Jounouchi huffed. "They can negate destruction effects now. I guess that makes my Gilford the Lightning, and Gearfried the Swordmaster relatively useless."
Airo exhaled sharply from her crouched position. "And regrettably, my own power seems to be helping the enemy team just as much as it helps my allies." She looked up at Stardust Dragon and frowned. "I don't want to fight that thing either."
Ruka drew a card and looked at all her options from the five cards in her hand.
"I summon Armored White Bear."
Next to Ruka, a bulky polar bear appeared, clad in plate armor and a helmet adorned with two prominent horns (4/1800/1400). (4)
"Then I equip my Armored White Bear with Horn of the Unicorn".
Ruka played the equip card and on the helmet, a large horn sprouted, increasing the bear's attack power (1800 → 2500).
"Horn of the Unicorn!" Atem chuckled. "That was a card I used in Duelist Kingdom. Glad to see it's being put to good use." The Pharaoh stated.
Ruka nodded to him and then turned to her Signer Dragon.
"I will now use Ancient Fairy Dragon's effect, Plain Back!" Ruka said as the dragon roared, and Synchro Monument shattered (Ruka: 5000 → 6000).
"Hold up, six thousand life points?!" Mai practically shouted. "That adds up quick."
Ruka smiled softly. "Well my stall tactics usually mean I end up with lots of life points."
"In any case," the teenager continued, "I will use Ancient Fairy Dragon's effect to add Ancient Forest from my deck to my hand." Ruka said.
Her deck ejected the field spell, and she played it, her card's art depicting the forest that they now stood in.
Ruka played the field spell, and suddenly Ancient Fairy Dragon and Harpie Lady 1 shifted to attack mode.
"The turn I play this field spell, it shifts all defense position monsters into attack mode. Additionally, any monsters that attack are destroyed at that turn's end phase." Ruka explained.
"My Battle Phase. I'll have Armored White Bear attack Harpie Lady 1! Hammering Gauntlet!"
The empowered polar bear let out a roar as it dashed towards the Harpie Lady.
Mai smirked. "Got em'."
A continuous trap sprang up and suddenly a reflective crystal wall appeared in front of Mai's field. Armored White Bear crashed into it's own reflection as it swung an armored claw at the Harpie (2500 – 1250 = 1250).
"Here's Mirror Wall! Now, Harpie Lady!" Mai commanded.
Airo grinned and kicked the polar bear in the stomach with her talons, shattering it.
Ruka closed her eyes as she took minor damage from the counterattack (6000 – 350 = 5650).
Jounouchi grinned. "First damage dealt! Good job, Harpie Lady!"
The harpie in question turned to the blonde duelist and flipped her hair over her shoulder as she did so, causing her sisters to sigh in embarrassment. "Call me Airo, sweetie." She said.
Ruka put her monster in her graveyard.
"When Horn of the Unicorn leaves the field, it goes on top of my deck."
"And when Armored White Bear is destroyed by battle or card effect, I can summon a level four or lower LIGHT beast monster from my deck, so I'll summon Regulus!"
Ruka played the chosen card from her deck and a steadfast lion appeared, white in color and wearing pearl white armor (4/1700/1000).
Then Ruka shuffled her deck. "Normally, Horn of the Unicorn would stay on top of my deck, but since I special summoned a monster from my deck, now I must shuffle my deck."
"Then I'll set these face-down." Ruka said, as she set two cards, leaving her with two in her hand. "Turn end."
"My turn then." Jounouchi drew another card, giving him two.
"Well I don't want to lose Red-Eyes due to that field spell, so I'll just set a card face-down." the blond said as a lone card appeared by his metallic dragon.
"Then I'll end my turn."
Yusei drew a third card as well and looked at his hand, in thought.
"First, I'll set three cards face-down." Yusei said, setting his entire hand.
"Next I'll use Regulus' effect to send the Synchro Monument from the Graveyard to my deck." Yusei said.
Ruka pulled the card from her graveyard and handed it to Yusei, curious to see what his long term plan was.
"Then, just as Ruka did before, I'll use Ancient Fairy Dragon's effect to destroy Ancient Forest, gain 1000 life points, and add a field spell card from my deck to my hand." Yusei explained.
Ancient Fairy Dragon cried and the Ancient Forest card shattered as Yusei gained life points (4000 → 5000) then added Synchro Monument to his hand.
"And now I'll play Synchro Monument." Once again the twin floating pillars appeared and Stardust and Ancient Fairy both let out growls in response.
"That ends my turn." Yusei said.
"My turn then!" Mai said as she drew a second card.
Mai looked to her team's set cards and grinned. "I'll use Jounouchi's set card – Energy Drain! This lets me reduce a monster's attack points to zero, then I get to draw a card!" Mai declared. She pointed to Stardust Dragon and the Synchro monster hissed as it's attack points fell (2800 → 0).
Mai drew another card, giving her three.
"Then I'll retrieve another card from our graveyard with Spell Reproduction! So by discarding my Grave Arm and Cyber Shield, I can add Jounouchi's Burning Soul Sword from our grave to my hand.
Jounouchi handed Mai the card. "That's awesome! With Ancient Forest gone, we can use that to. . . "
"-Make a decisive attack!" Mai finished with a grin. "Now I'll equip Red-Eyes with Burning Soul Sword!" Mai said.
In front of Red-Eyes, a large golden blade appeared. It was a single-edged sword, with an open eye in the center of the blade. The sword erupted into golden flames, and it flew into the metallic dragon, disappearing but leaving the eye present on the center of Red-Eyes' chest.
"And then I'll use the very special effect of Burning Soul Sword!" Mai said. "By tributing a monster I control, another monster gains attack points equal to the current attack of the tributed monster!" Mai finished.
"And the card I'm sacrificing is Harpies' Pet Dragon!"
The eye on Red-Eyes' chest widened and Harpies' Pet Dragon dissolved into yellow flames, the colossal mass of fire trialing upwards as it flew into the eye. Red-Eyes let out a tremendous screech as it's attack points rose significantly (2700 + 3200 = 5900).
Ruka and Yusei both widened their eyes as Stardust Dragon suddenly became a very viable target for Red-Eyes.
Mai chuckled. "Harpies' Pet Dragon had 3200 attack points when it was on the field, so all of those attack points go to Red-Eyes. Now, let's see what I'll do next."
Mai took a second to think. "Even though I could wipe Yusei out in one attack, those set cards must mean trouble, so let's start with something else. Harpie Lady 1! Attack Stardust Dragon!"
Airo's face briefly showed that she was conflicted, but the Harpie Lady still lept at the dragon, talons both raised to strike as she descended on Stardust.
Her attack struck true as Stardust braced itself, straining so it would not fall on Yusei as the battle was conducted.
"I'll use the effect of Shield Warrior." Yusei said. "By removing it from my graveyard, Stardust Dragon won't be destroyed!" He said, even as he took the battle damage (5000 – 1600 = 3400).
Mai exhaled as Yusei hadn't used any traps to disrupt the battle. "Right, but that just means I'll just attack again!"
A trap card sprung up on Yusei's field and he smiled. "Actually, that's true, but not the way you think! Trap card open! Cross-Line Counter!"
"This card adds the battle damage I took to Stardust's attack, but doubles it! Then it forces the monster that just attacked Stardust Dragon to attack it again!"
Stardust glowed in an aura of white flames as it's attack went up to 3200.
"Counter battle! Stardust Dragon!" Yusei cried out.
Airo let out a yelp as the sonic blast from Stardust's mouth sent her flying. She landed on her back in front of Mai and her sisters and shook her head as Mai's life points dropped (4000 – 1600 = 2400).
Mai grimaced as her first Harpie Lady got up and walked off of the field to observe the rest of the turn.
"That may be an interesting way to deal me damage, but that doesn't change anything! Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon, attack Stardust Dragon with Dark Mega Flare!"
The metal-skinned dragon let out a hiss as Metalmorph triggered, raising it's attack power from an already high 5900 to a colossal 7500 attack. Red-Eyes arched it's neck back then brought it forwards and fired off a pink orb of energy from it's maw. The sphere slammed into Stardust Dragon and the dragon let out a shriek briefly before it shattered.
Yusei raised his arm bracing himself from the attack as his life points dropped (3400 → 0).
Mai grinned and pumped her fist. "Well, it looks like that's it for you, Yusei!" She said as Jounouchi gave her a thumbs up.
Yusei solemnly nodded and handed Ruka his set cards, and his graveyard, which she discarded into her own disk. "Good job Mai, Jounouchi." Yusei said. "I didn't expect you to sacrifice your Pet Dragon."
Mai smiled. "Well, at the time it was all I could think of to get over Stardust in one clean attack."
Ruka narrowed her eyes. "But the turn isn't over yet!"
Ruka pushed a button on her duel disk and one of Yusei's set trap cards sprung up.
"Trap card, activate! Cosmic Blast! When a dragon type Synchro monster leaves the field, by not summoning this turn, I can deal damage equal to that monster's attack points!"
With a cry, a ghostly image of Stardust Dragon appeared above the field, hovering over a nervous Mai and Jounouchi.
"While I could wipe out either of you, I still want to have my duel with Jounouchi!" Ruka said as she pointed to Mai. "Please wipe her out, Stardust!" Ruka yelled.
Mai raised her arms as the spectral dragon slammed into where Mai was standing (2400 → 0).
Ruka smirked as suddenly the tables turned again, this time giving her a very high life point advantage, 5650 compared to Jounouchi's 1750.
"Jounouchi, let's finish this duel!"
Jounouchi seemed surprised at first, but grinned as he looked to his field. "Bring it on, Ruka!"
Both duelists had inherited their partners' field and graveyards, and the onlookers were transfixed as Ruka drew her next card, giving her two in total.
"It's my turn!" Ruka declared as she drew her next card. At this point she knew whether she lost or not, she'd definitely have a duel worth writing home about.
/
* So I gotta admit that Dark Side of Dimensions kinda threw a monkey wrench in my original story, but it also gave me some ideas that hopefully worked here given how vague time and dimensional travel is in Yu-Gi-Oh! Seeing as the Crimson Dragon can just do it if the plot calls for it. I hope that everybody was more or less in character and that their motivations made sense even with all of the exposition that goes into time and dimensional travel.
Also I don't know if addressing everyone in the way King's and Queen's Knight did right after they'd finished repelling a castle siege, was believable so let me know if that stuck or just stunk. I'm in a place where I'm happy where this fic is going but I'll accept your criticisms if they are constructive.
This chapter has a ton of exposition in it, but I wanted to nip any loose ends of the main story line as soon as possible. I ended up cutting a lot of stuff with the Harpies and hope that they're not overstaying their welcome in the fic because I have fun writing them in the story. Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I had writing it. As always happy reading.
*Edit: I put Shiro's monologue at the beginning of this chapter since I felt that it flows much better having the exposition be here. Otherwise it kind of detracts from the ending of the duel.