Author's Note: I deeply apologize to everyone for not updating this story for over a month. I had intended to take only a week-long break from this story to work on another project. When it came time to outline the duel that we're about to see in this chapter though, I ended up getting hit with a nasty case of writer's block. And that writer's block ended up being made worse by stuff that had been happening in my personal life. In fact a couple of weeks ago I was hit by a fairly nasty bout of depression that totally crippled my ability to write anything.
I'm back at the story now though. It took a little longer than I would've like to get this chapter finished, but here it is at last. The future updates to this story may be a little slower than they were before, but this story is nowhere near dead.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V.
Chapter 26: Infiltration
Yugo slowly awoke from a dreamless sleep to find that something soft and pleasantly warm was cuddled up close to him. His nostrils also detected the familiar scent of flowers after a gentle spring rain; a scent that he often associated with Rin. Yugo slowly opened his eyes to see Rin's sleeping face only inches away from his own. The realization was asleep in bed next to him caused Yugo to fully awaken and his brain to go into panic mode. He recalled that time two years ago back in the underground hideout of the resistance when the two of them had accidentally fallen asleep together on the couch and Rin's rather violent reaction to the whole thing.
As Yugo's brain finished its morning boot-up though, he recalled that Rin had purposely gotten into bed the night before after he had experienced another nightmare. With the realization that Rin wasn't going to kill him, Yugo instantly relaxed. He had almost fallen asleep again after a few moments when Rin suddenly stirred and slowly opened her eyes.
Rin looked at Yugo and smiled. "Good morning."
"Uh… good morning," Yugo responded as his face turned bright red.
"Did you sleep well?" Rin asked as she gently brushed Yugo's cheek with her hand.
"Yeah," Yugo answered. "Um, thanks for that last night."
"No problem," Rin responded.
The two of them were now gazing deeply into one another's eyes. Before either of them really knew what was happening, Rin and Yugo's faces moved closer to one another and their lips became locked in a kiss. The kiss soon deepened, and Yugo's tongue pressed against Rin's lips for entry. Rin's mouth opened almost automatically, and their tongues began to grind against one another. As the kiss continued, the two of them became locked in a very passionate embrace, with Yugo running his hand through Rin's green hair.
They rolled on the bed with Rin ending up on top. When they were finally forced to break apart for air, Rin sat up and looked down at Yugo; her face bright red. It was at that moment when both Rin and Yugo seemed to regain the capacity for rational thought.
"Uh… I think maybe we should get up now," Rin suggested. "I'm sure Bruno already has breakfast ready."
"Good, uh… good idea," Yugo agreed. "I'll join you guys in a minute."
Rin got off the bed and walked out of the room with her face still bright red. Yugo remained where he was, flat on his back looking up at the ceiling. He was actually kind of glad that Rin had decided to pull the plug on their steamy little encounter since he didn't think he was ready to take their relationship to that level, even though there was one currently rigid part of his anatomy that seemed to strongly disagree with him. Yugo at last got out of bed and headed for the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face.
Rin arrived at the small dining area of the cabin to find Sherry sitting at the table with a plate of pancakes and a glass of orange juice in front of her. Bruno meanwhile was behind the stove cooking up another batch of pancakes.
"Well good morning," Sherry spoke as Rin sat down across from her. "This is the latest I've ever seen you get up so far."
"I, um… overslept," Rin lied. She would've been mortified if Sherry and Bruno knew the real reason why she was late getting out of bed.
"No big deal to me," Sherry replied with a small shrug. "It's not like we need to get up at the crack of dawn to feed the chickens here or anything like that. You must've had some pretty wild dreams last night though."
"Why do you say that?" Rin asked as Bruno brought over a plate of pancakes and a glass of milk for her.
"Because of the way your hair's so messed up," Sherry answered. "You must've thrashed around in bed quite a bit to make it into that wild of a bird's nest."
Rin's face turned a very deep red in response to Sherry's observation. She would surly die of embarrassment if the blonde really knew if it was Yugo's hand that had messed up her hair rather than her pillow. "Uh… it was a really far out dream alright."
"What was it about?" Sherry asked.
"Oh… um… come to think of it, I don't remember," Rin lied. "You know how it is sometimes with dreams. Sometimes you forget all about them right as you're waking up."
"Perhaps I should check on Yugo and see if he'll be joining us," Bruno suddenly suggested. "I know he hasn't had much of an appetite these past few days."
"Can't blame the kid for that after everything he's been through," Sherry remarked. "It probably is a good idea to go check on him though."
"I think Yugo will probably be joining us soon," Rin told them. "Just a feeling I get."
Almost as if on cue, Yugo walked into the room, rubbing the back of his head as he headed for the table. "Morning."
"Ah! Good morning Yugo," Bruno responded. "Glad you decided to join us. Care for some pancakes?"
"Sure," Yugo answered as he sat in a chair next to Rin.
Bruno brought over a plate of pancakes and another glass of milk and sat them in front of Yugo. Yugo stabbed his fork into small stack on his plate and cut off a small slice. After taking his first bite, the young turbo duelist decided they were good and began to tear into them. Rin was relieved to see that Yugo was slowly getting his old appetite back. He wasn't quite at his usual level of trying to devour every piece of food on the table like a famished Tasmanian devil, but it did seem like he was starting to get there.
"Don't be afraid to ask for seconds," Bruno told Yugo.
"So Yugo, it kind of seems like you must've had a pretty wild dream last night too," Sherry remarked. "Your hair is just about as messed up as Rin's."
Yugo froze upon hearing Sherry's comment, a fork full of pancake slices only inches from his open mouth. He realized that the reason his case of bedhead was because of the hot encounter that he and Rin had only a few minutes before. Yugo's eyes looked toward Rin to find the green-haired girl giving him a glare that seemed to say, "Mention one word of what we were just doing and I'll beat you to a pulp."
"Uh… yeah," Yugo lied in response to Sherry's question. "It was a pretty wild dream."
While Yugo and Rin were having breakfast, miles away Crow was in the command center with Ushio and Carly overseeing the biggest operation the resistance had taken yet. Days before, after it was discovered that one of the people rescued during the convoy mission had the security codes for every one of Iliaster's major droid manufacturing plants, each branch of the resistance worked together to put together a coordinated plan of attack to eliminate the factories and deal a crippling blow to Iliaster. Each branch had decided to send teams of its strongest duelists to distract the droids guarding the factories while other teams of agents infiltrated the actual facilities to plant bombs that will blow them all sky high. Once the plan had been finalized, Jack, Aki, Shinji, and every other powerful duelist at the Japanese branch left to take down the largest factory outside of the one in Neo Domino, with Saiga and Izzy going with to help with the bombs. This left only Crow, Ushio, Sid, and the rookie security officers that Ushio had trained to help guard the base in the unthinkable event it was attacked while everyone was away; one of the very things that Crow was afraid would happen during that mission.
Crow and Ushio stood next to one another as they watched the large centeral monitor on the wall of the command center that showed the assault team's position on the map. The large red dot that showed the team's current position showed them not far away from the location of the factory.
"How much longer until the team reaches the factory?" Ushio asked.
"They should be there in about half an hour," Carly answered from the seat of her computer station. "All but two other branches report that their teams have reached their targets. They're just waiting on the signal to begin."
"I sure hope this operation doesn't end up being something that we all regret," Crow remarked.
"You know what they say. No risk, no reward," Ushio told him. "This is our first chance to finally strike a blow against Iliaster."
Crow sighed. "I know. Jack, Shinji, and everyone else had a point. We're not gonna get anywhere just hiding out down here the rest of our lives. I just worry that we might be risking too much."
"I know how you feel. A lot about this mission makes me uneasy too," Ushio admitted. "Still, if we don't do this, if we just do nothing, Iliaster is going to win."
"You know what they say," Carly spoke as she swiveled around in her chair. "All it takes for evil to win is for good people to do nothing. I'm probably more on edge than either of you with Jack out there on the frontlines. Every time he goes out on one of these missions I worry that he won't come back. But the thing that keeps me together is my faith in Jack's power as a duelist; that he's a man that no droid can take down. I believe he'll come back, just like I believe that the others will come back too."
"Yeah, well… I'm also kinda worried about what might happen here while everyone else is out," Crow told them.
"Relax. I've seen to it that security here is as tight as it's ever been," Ushio told him. "It's practically impossible for any enemy to get in here."
"I really hope you're right," Crow replied. "It's just that these past couple of years have made me a firm believer in Murphy's Law."
Sid was making his rounds through the base making sure everything was totally secured, not that he was expecting anything to be amiss. The base was the most impenetrable facility he had ever been in, and as far as he knew Iliaster didn't even know its location. Sid had covered half the base as the assault team neared its destination and was heading for the central D-Wheel hanger. When he arrived, two of the rookie security officers, Doug and Toshi were standing in the middle of the vast chamber shooting the breeze.
"Gentlemen, status report!" Sid ordered as he approached to duo.
"All's quiet around here, sir," Doug reported.
"Yeah. Nobody's been in here for hours," Toshi added. "To be honest, I kinda feel like we're wasting time hanging around this empty garage."
"To be honest, I kind of agree with you both," Sid admitted. "But we need to be on high alert with our best duelists out in the field. We need to be ready for absolutely anything."
Suddenly the ground began to shake violently. As Sid and the other two guards tried to figure out what was happening, a large drill suddenly burst from the ground in the very center of the hanger only a few feet from where the three were standing. The ground stopped shaking once the drill penetrated the surface. Attached to the other end of the drill was a massive golden-yellow cylinder. The three security officers instantly noticed the objects and readied their duel disks.
Sid and the others watched as what appeared to be steam vented from the seams of what looked like a large hatch on the side of the device. The door of the hatch went inward and retracted to the right, showing a black interior. Walking out of the strange vehicle a few tense moments later was a short man with his hands folded behind his back. He had on a smooth chrome helmet with a white clown-like mask on the front; a mask which had green eyes, a red nose, a grinning mouth full of yellow teeth, and a black infinity symbol on the front. The rest of the short man's outfit consisted of a long black leather coat with a strange metal pack on the back, long white pants, black knee-high boots and white gloves.
The short man let out a creepy high-voiced laugh as he approached Sid and the others. "Well, well. It seems we've hit the jackpot. We knew that this branch of the resistance had to be keeping its base underground somewhere."
"Halt!" Sid ordered. "Whoever you are, you better leave now or else you'll experience a world of hurt!"
"Oh my! Such an inhospitable welcome," the clown remarked as he brought his hand to the mouth of his mask. "Well, it's a good thing I brought a little muscle with me to deal with people like you. Oh Sergey!"
Suddenly lumbering out of the cylindrical capsule was a large muscular man who stood at well over six feet. He had short white hair and yellow criminal markings that decorated an emotionless stone-like face that resembled that of Frankenstein's Monster. A chrome eyepiece with a red lens covered his left eye, and his ears were covered by a pair of chrome rectangular devices that were joined together by a metal band that went around the back of the head. His outfit was a white bodysuit decorated with black lines resembling circuit paths on the arms and legs, and a large black infinity symbol on the front of the chest. On his feet was a pair of thick black boots.
All of the color totally drained from Sid's face upon seeing the muscular giant. "Oh… dear… god."
"Sergey, crush these buffoons quickly so that we can get on with our work," the clown ordered. "And don't worry. I'm sure there are plenty more victims where these three came from."
Sergey's mouth twisted into a mad grin as he raised his duel disk arm. As soon as he saw the giant's expression, Sid knew he was finished.
"Our team has now reached the target," Carly reported. "All other branches are reporting same. Everyone's waiting on your signal, Crow."
"They're all leaving it up to me, huh?" Crow asked.
"Our branch is the only one close to the heart of Iliaster," Ushio pointed out. "It makes sense for us to take the lead."
Crow sighed. "Okay. Let's get this over with. All teams attack!"
"All teams moving out," Carly reported. "Our team's heading straight for the front gate of the factory."
Suddenly all of the lights and monitors inside the command center went out. Soon after, the emergency lights mounted on the upper walls of the room flicked on. The monitors came back on after half a minute, though many of them showed only digital static or lines of computer code.
"What the hell was that?" Ushio asked.
"The base's primary generator's gone dead," Carly reported. "All the backups are working, but we're at about fifty percent of normal power right now."
"Do we still have contact with the assault team?" Crow asked.
"No, but we're trying to reestablish it now," Carly answered. "All of the computers are rebooting, so it's going to take a minute."
"Dammit!" Crow cursed. "Of all the times for this to happen…"
"Hold on! We're getting a call from the hanger," Carly reported.
"Put it on monitor three," Ushio ordered.
On cue, an image of Sid appeared on one of the smaller monitors on the wall. "Guys… we're in trouble! Two intruders… inside the base… can't stop them. Have to…"
Before Sid could finish, his face slipped off the screen and the sound of his body falling to the floor could be heard. Only the inside of the hanger could be seen on the monitor.
"You've gotta be kidding!" Ushio exclaimed. "How could intruders get inside the base?"
"It doesn't really matter now, since they're here," Crow pointed out. "Carly, can you pull these freaks up on surveillance?"
"Working on it now!" Carly answered. "Found one of 'em! I'm putting him up on the main monitor."
The central screen changed from static to an image of one of the corridors in the base. As soon as the image appeared, the group saw Sergey lumber across the screen, turning into one of the other corridors.
Ushio went completely pale upon seeing the giant. "Dear god! That's… that's Sergey Volkov!"
This time it was Crow's turn to go pale. "As in the Duelist Crusher? He's really one of the intruders?"
"I heard he had died not long after being arrested," Ushio recalled. "The story is that Anastasia beat him up pretty badly in their duel. If that really is Sergey… we could all be dead."
"What do we do now?" Carly asked.
Ushio gritted his teeth and headed for the door. "Crow, you stay here. I'm gonna go take down Sergey before he can do any more damage."
"Do you really think you can take him?" Crow asked.
Ushio stopped at the doorway and looked back. "Not a chance in hell. But what other choice do we have? Besides, I've always pictured myself going out in a blaze of glory."
With that, Ushio exited the room. Not long after he left, Crow slammed his fist into the table.
"This is pretty bad, isn't it?" Carly realized.
"You kidding? This is the worst thing that could've happened to us," Crow confirmed. "We can only hope that Ushio somehow stops Sergey before that monster hurts anyone else."
Rua, Ruka and Hitomi had been hanging out in the base's small arboretum ever since the mission to take out the droid factories had begun. The arboretum was one of the more popular spots in the base, as it almost created the illusion that they were on the surface. Many of the plants were still quite young, but it helped make the base's inhabitants feel like they weren't trapped inside a vast underground compound. Of course with the arboretum's primary lights out, the space had become a lot less inviting.
"Maybe we should all go back to our quarters," Hitomi suggested. "At least until this issue with the power is resolved.
"That's probably a good idea," Ruka agreed.
"Man! This day just keeps getting worse and worse," Rua complained as they started for the door. "First they don't let me go on that big mission, and now this."
"Rua, that sort of battle is way out of our league," Ruka told him.
"She's right, Rua," Hitomi agreed. "As a duelist, you've been getting better and better, but you're still nowhere near the level of duelists like Mr. Atlas or Ms. Aki."
"Hey! I can duel just as well as any of them can!" Rua declared.
Ruka merely rolled her eyes. Just as the trio had reached the door, Sergey lumbered in and blocked their path. All three of them practically froze upon seeing the giant. Sergey meanwhile looked down at them with indifference.
After taking a big gulp, Ruka stepped forward to confront him. "Who are you? And how did you get into this base?"
Sergey said nothing and suddenly grabbed Ruka by the front of her shirt, lifting her off the ground. Before Rua and Hitomi could do anything, the cybernetic giant threw Ruka towards a young tree just a few feet away. The green-haired girl's head struck the trunk of the tree as she dropped to the ground, knocking her out cold. Hitomi instantly ran over to where Ruka had fallen while Sergey slowly came towards her.
Rua instantly rushed in and got between Sergey and the girls. "Hey! I don't know who you are, you freak! But I'm not gonna let you get away with hurting my sister!"
"By the will of Iliaster… all the people of this facility must either be assimilated or destroyed," Sergey told him. "If you stand in my way… you will be crushed."
"Yeah? We'll bring it!" Rua told him as he dropped the bag that had been hanging from his shoulder to the ground and pulled his duel disk from it.
"Rua! Be careful!" Hitomi told him.
"Relax. I can take down this freak no problem," Rua confidently told her as he activated his duel disk.
Sergey activated his own duel disk in response. "You resistance is futile. This unit shall annihilate you."
Ushio was running as fast as he could towards the area where Sergey had been last spotted on surveillance. He was unsettled by the fact that he had run into nobody in the corridors. Ushio thought that perhaps everyone other than the guards and the engineering team had gone back to their quarters for the duration of the power outage, but he knew it might also mean that Sergey had already eliminated anybody that might've been out walking around. Either way though, Ushio tried to put it out of his mind and focus on figuring out a way to take Sergey down. Of course he had no clue how to begin forming a proper strategy since he didn't know what sort of deck the mad giant would be using.
After turning another corner, Ushio found three security guards on the ground. He hoped that they were merely unconscious and not dead. Just as Ushio was about to press on, he suddenly heard the sound of creepy high-pitched laughter coming from behind him. Ushio turned around slowly and saw the masked clown standing a few feet away.
"You seem in quite the hurry," the clown remarked. "Please relax. Stay awhile. I'd so enjoy having your company."
"You're the other guy who broke in here with Sergey Volkov!" Ushio realized as he activated his duel disk. "I'm gonna make you pay for what you did to Sid and the others!"
The clown laughed as he activated his own duel disk in response. "You have no idea who you're up against, my dear fellow. By the time I'm through with you, you'll be screaming in terror."
"I shall go first," Sergey announced. "I summon Meklord Punisher – Shocker in Attack Mode!"
Materializing on Sergey's side of the battlefield was a floating sphere made of a dark-grey metal. On the front of it was a window with a brass frame in the shape of an infinity symbol that showed a sphere of red energy on the inside. On the top of the sphere was a metal skull-like head with red eyes and a sort of mouth guard made of sharp blades. On the sides of this head were two short black curved horns. Attached to the sides of the sphere were two brass electrodes, and on the bottom was a cylindrical brass floatation device with three thin black rods on the bottom.
"What the heck? He played a monster with only 300 ATK in Attack Mode," Rua observed with a raised eyebrow.
"Rua, be careful!" Hitomi called out. "That monster probably has a powerful special effect if he played it in Attack Mode with those low stats."
"Next I play the Continuous Spell card, Punishment Shackles!" Sergey announced. "While this card remains face-up on the field, any monster that's summoned from the Extra Deck or the Graveyard has a shackle counter placed on it. Also, each player must pay 400 life points each time they attack using a monster with a shackle counter on it. I shall play two cards face-down and end my turn."
Rua drew his first card. "I summon Morphtronic Celfon in Attack Mode!"
A giant yellow cell phone appeared on Rua's side of the field and instantly unfolded into a humanoid robot.
"Now I activate Celfon's effect!" Rua announced. "Depending on the number that lights up on Celfon's chest, I can pick up the same number of cards from the top of my deck and summon a Morphtronic from one of those cards! Celfon! Dial it up!"
On cue, the number buttons on Celfon's chest lit up one at a time, cycling from one to six. After going through the sequence at least five times, the light finally stopped on the number two.
Rua pulled two cards from his deck and smirked. "From the cards I picked up, I summon Morphtronic Remoten in Attack Mode!"
Materializing next to Celfon was a flat white device resembling some sort of iPod. Arms and legs extended from the sides of the device, and two green circles resembling eyes appeared on its black screen.
"I tune the level three Remoten into the level one Celfon to Synchro Summon a level four monster in Attack Mode!" Rua announced.
The eyes on Remoten's screen were replaced with the word, "Tuning" before its body flashed orange and changed into three green rings of light. The rings encircled Celfon and transformed the robot into a single white star.
"Guardian of sound from the modern age! Strike forth and play the song of justice!" Rua chanted. "Synchro Summon! Appear! Level four! Morphtronic Warrior Stereon!"
The star flashed and became a pillar of white light that soon faded to reveal a large dark-grey stereo that unfolded into the shape of a humanoid robot.
"Because the monster you just played was summoned from the Extra Deck, a shackle counter is now placed on it!" Sergey announced.
A beam of crimson light shot from Sergey's Spell card and shot Stereon. When the beam faded, the stereo robot had thick black iron shackles on its wrist that were connected by a thick chain.
"I activate the Continuous Trap card, Punishment Vice!" Sergey announced.
Suddenly two thick black chains burst from the ground on Rua's left and right and wrapped themselves around the green-haired boy's midsection. Two similar chains had also wrapped themselves around Sergey.
"As long as Punishment Vice is face-up on the field, each player takes 200 points of damage for every monster they control with a shackle counter on it," Sergey announced. "I must also pay 400 life points during each of my turns to keep Punishment Vice in play."
"Rua! This man's strategy seems to be designed to make it harder for the opponent to use cards from their Extra Deck," Hitomi realized. "You have to summon as few Synchro Monsters as possible, or else you'll take major damage."
"Yeah, but… most of my best monsters are in my Extra Deck," Rua pointed out.
"It's still your turn," Sergey spoke.
"Okay, then I pay the 400 point cost of Punishment Shackles to attack that weird Meklord monster of yours with Stereon!" Rua announced.
Suddenly the screen of Rua's duel disk flashed red and shocked him with bolts of blue electricity. The green-haired duelist cried out in pain as his life points dropped to 3600. After a few moments the electricity stopped, and Rua stood trying to catch his breath.
"What… what the heck was that?" Rua asked.
"Punishment Shackles is a forbidden card that uploads a program to the duel disks of players of a duel; causing them to feel real pain when they take damage or pay a life point cost," Sergey explained. His moth then twisted into a mad grin that sent a chill down Rua's spine. "Magnificent, isn't it? Now we both get to enjoy the sweet embrace of pain."
Rua gritted his teeth. "Stereon! Blow that Meklord monster away! Rock 'n Roll Justice!"
Stereon fired a blast of rock music from the giant speakers mounted on his shoulders down at Shocker. The sinister robot seemed totally undamaged, however.
"Shocker cannot be destroyed in battle with Synchro Monsters, and I take no damage from those battles," Sergey announced. "At this moment, I activate the Continuous Trap, Imperial Penalty! At the end of a battle where a Meklord Punisher monster was attacked, my opponent takes half the attacking monster's ATK as damage!"
Stereon's attack ended, and suddenly a beam of red light shot across the field from the window on the robot's chest and struck Rua. Rua screamed in pain once again as his life points dropped to 2600.
"I… end my turn," Rua announced.
"And at this moment, the effect of Punishment Vice causes you to lose 200 life points!" Sergey announced with insane glee.
Suddenly the chains wrapped around Rua's midsection tightened, digging into his flesh as they shocked him with blue electricity and dropped his life points to 2400.
Sergey drew his next card. "I now pay 400 life points to keep Punishment Vice on the field!"
The chains wrapped around Sergey's torso tightened, and he cried out as they shocked him and dropped his life points to 3600. He recovered quickly though and chuckled madly as he looked back across the field at Rua.
"I activate Meklord Punisher – Shocker's effect!" Sergey announced. "By paying 400 life points, Shocker can attack my opponent directly!"
An insane smile was on Sergey's face as his duel disk shocked him and took his life points down further to 3200. Shocker then fired two blasts of electrical energy from the electrodes on its sides that curved around Stereon and zapped Rua. The green-haired boy cried out in pain as his life points dropped to 2300. Rua staggered back for a moment after being hit, but he somehow managed to remain standing.
Sergey giggled. "Exquisite, isn't it? It is through this glorious pain that we duelists can feel truly alive!"
"This… this guy… can't be human," Rua whispered.
"I play one card face-down and end my turn," Sergey announced.
Rua drew his next card. "I… I activate the Spell card, One for One! By discarding a monster, I can summon a level one monster from my hand or deck! I discard Morphtronic Staplen to summon Morphtronic Lantron in Attack Mode!"
Materializing next to Stereon was a large flashlight that quickly unfolded into a humanoid shape, with the light becoming its torso.
"Next I summon Morphtronic Videon in Attack Mode!" Rua announced.
A giant handheld camcorder appeared on the field next to Lantron and instantly unfolded into a humanoid shape, with its lens becoming the head.
"I tune the level one Lantron into the level four Videon to Synchro Summon a level five monster in Attack Mode!" Rua announced.
The light on Lantron's chest flashed on and off a few times before it transformed into a single ring of green light. The ring encircled Videon and changed it into four white stars.
"Guardian of water from the ultra-modern world! Launch forth and cleanse the land of evil!" Rua chanted. "Synchro Summon! Appear! Level five! Morphtronic Warrior Washon!"
The stars flashed and became a pillar of white light that shot into the air, fading a few moments later to reveal a white front-loading washing machine with a round window on its door. Soon after appeared though, a pair of box-like legs with black lower legs and blue feet folded down from the back of the unit and clicked into place underneath it. At the same time, a pair of box-like arms with blue hands and black armor covering the forearms extended from the sides of the unit. Soon after, a head with a black helmet rose from the top of the machine. A yellow visor and a chrome faceplate covered the robot's face.
"Because another monster was summoned from the Extra Deck, Punishment Shackles places a shackle counter on it!" Sergey announced.
On cue, a beam of red light shot from Sergey's Spell card and struck Washon. When the beam faded, a pair of black shackles connected by a thick chain appeared on Washon's wrists.
"I activate Washon's effect!" Rua announced. "Once per turn, Washon can remove all counters from every card on the field that has a counter on it! And for each counter removed, I gain 300 life points!"
Washon raised its arms a bit, and the door on its chest opened and fired a powerful blast of water. Upon being hit, the shackles and chain binding its arms instantly rusted and fell apart. The washing machine robot turned and fired another water blast at Stereon, hitting the shackles on the stereo robot's arms. The shackles and chain that had been retraining Stereon rusted and fell to pieces. Steam came out of a vent on Washon's back and bombarded Rua, taking his life points up to 2900.
"Now that those counters are gone, I don't have to worry about getting burned by Punishment Vice," Rua declared.
"I activate the Trap, Punishment Enforcement!" Sergey announced. "When one or more Shackled Counters are removed from monsters on the field, Punishment Enforcement replaces those counters and deals 200 points for each counter that had originally been removed!"
Three bolts of red lightning were fired from the Trap card that Sergey had just played. Two of the lightning bolts struck Washon and Stereon, replacing the shackles and chains they had just lost with new ones. The third bolt of lightning struck Rua in the chest, causing him to cry out in pain and his life points to drop to 2500.
"You can't escape from pain that easily," Sergey told him as his face once again twisted into a made grin. "Besides, even if you did, where would the fun be?"
"I… I set one card on the field and end my turn," Rua announced.
"And with the end of this turn, Punishment Vice inflicts 400 points of damage for the shackle counters your monsters bare!" Sergey announced with glee.
At that moment, the chains wrapped around Rua's torso tightened even more and shocked him with electricity. It seemed like the chains were about to crush his ribs. Rua screamed at the top of his lungs as his life points dropped to 2100. When the electricity finally stopped, Rua's vision went blurry for a moment as he almost passed out, but somehow he managed to remain on his feet and conscious.
"Wonderful!" Sergey praised. "You're made of some pretty strong stuff for such a little boy. I'm going to have fun crushing you into the ground, and only then will you know the true joys of pain."
Author's Note: With Yugo and Rin taking some downtime, I realized I had an opportunity to give the spotlight over to some characters that I had been neglecting. I wanted to have at least one more duel in this story involving Rua, and it hit me that Sergey would be the perfect opponent for him. It would've been like the duel that Rua, Ruka and Jack had against Aporia in the 5D's anime. I suppose I should've done this duel so that Ruka and Hitomi were dueling with Rua against Sergey as well, but I had already done a similar duel with Mortimer a few chapters ago. To me, it felt like some readers would've thought those three characters were incapable of dueling on their own.
The writer's block I had with the duel in this chapter was about figuring out what deck Sergey is going to use. He couldn't use either of his decks from the anime because they had Fusion Monsters. Plus as cool as his Earthbound Servant deck was, I probably would've had to bring something regarding the Earthbound Immortals into this story and I didn't feel like there was room for any of that with all the other things I had going on. It was at least a couple of weeks before I finally came up with the Meklord Punisher monsters and the Punishment Spell and Trap cards.
Please review and let me know what you think.