Koros45 doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, or any other Yu-Gi-Oh!'s (If the author did, they hope Ancient Fairy Dragon wouldn't be banned in real life due to Link Summon/field spell shenanigans).
Chapter 25: Magician Navigation
Despite the earlier double elimination that took half of the duelists out of the game, both teams still faced each other.
On one side, Ruka stood, holding a freshly drawn card and grinning confidently at her opponent. From the opposite side, Jounouchi held a steely gaze, aware that she had quite the advantage in life points.
Ruka: 5650 vs Jounouchi: 1750
Ruka looked to her field. They were, of course, dueling within the old forest that she'd once visited as a child, but at the moment her field spell, Synchro Monument was active. She also had two set cards courtesy of Yusei, and two set cards of her own to spare.
As for monsters, she controlled her ace, Ancient Fairy Dragon (7/2100/3000), and her spirit guardian, Regulus (4/1700/1000).
As for Jounouchi's field, he controlled his famed Red-Eyes Black Dragon, currently powered up by both the trap card Metalmorph, and the equip spell Burning Soul Sword (7/2700/2000). Next to Red-Eyes were monsters that he'd inherited from Mai– Harpie Lady 2, and 3 (4/1300/1400 X 2).
And for his row of spell and trap cards, it was quite full. Mai's continuous spell card, Hysteric Sign, and her trap cards, Mirror Wall and Hysteric Party were all on Jounouchi's field. Adding in Jounouchi's own Metalmorph and Burning Soul Sword, and his field was almost entirely locked.
"First I'll use Regulus' effect to return Ancient Forest from the graveyard to my deck." Ruka said as her guardian lion let out a roar.
Ruka looked to the two cards in her hand and smiled. "Well now I'll be using Ancient Fairy's effect!"
Her signature dragon sent out a shockwave from her wings and Synchro Monument shattered as Ruka's life-points rose (5650 + 1000 = 6650).
"And since I destroyed a field spell with this effect, I can add another one to my hand." Ruka said, adding Ancient Forest to her hand once again.
"Then I'll activate Ancient Forest." Ruka said as she played her signature field spell once again.
Ancient Fairy Dragon let out a growl as she raised her head, moving into attack mode (2100).
Satisfied, Ruka looked to Jounouchi. "Turn end."
Jounouchi drew a card, giving him two to work with.
"Well I'd like to say we're at a stalemate, but I don't mind letting Red-Eyes take a hit if it means getting rid of your combo." Jounouchi said.
"First I'll use Burning Soul Sword to sacrifice Harpy Lady 2!" Jounouchi declared. The harpie stretched and walked over to watch the duel as Red-Eyes gained her attack points (2700 + 1300 = 4000).
"Now let's have Red-Eyes attack that Ancient Fairy Dragon and deal some extra damage!"
Red-Eyes let out a rasp as it built up another pink ball of energy in it's mouth, attack points increasing once again due to Metalmorph's ability (4000 + 1050 = 5050).
"Attack with Dark Mega Flare!" Jounouchi commanded.
The energy ball flew towards Ruka, but was blocked by a shimmering wall of twinkling lights.
"Trap Card, Twinkle Wall!" Ruka countered. "This trap card negates your attack and prevents you from activating any spells or traps for the rest of the turn, but I take half the attack as damage."
Ruka grimaced as her life points fell (6650 – 2525 = 4125).
Mai looked disappointed. "Well that certainly brought her life points down, but she's still got over four thousand. Plus, without your Red-Eyes, how are you going to get over her now?"
Jounouchi grinned. "That's the fun part. I haven't figured it out yet."
"Interesting. You're enjoying this duel even with such a disadvantage?" Yusei observed.
"Of course! That makes it more exciting." Jounouchi said.
"Anyway my turn's over." Jounouchi said to Ruka, as Red-Eyes shattered-sent to the graveyard by Ancient Forest's effect.
Ruka drew another card, giving her three to work with.
"Hmm, you still have Harpie Lady 3." She observed as Keraino gave her a wave.
"And your Mirror Wall means I can't advance either. . ." Ruka seemed to think out loud. "I'll just put Ancient Fairy Dragon to defense mode and end my turn." She said.
Her dragon complied, widening it's wings and raising it's tail in a defensive posture (3000).
Mai frowned and looked to Yusei. "Hey, if she keeps stalling forever, Jounouchi's gonna draw a powerful monster sooner or later. Even with that forest, she's going to go down if he gets around her dragon." She said out of earshot.
Yusei looked to the field and responded. "Well it's true that Ruka's deck is a stall deck, she's grown quite a lot. Maybe she'll surprise us."
Mai looked back to the field. "Well let's hope that Jounouchi knows what he's doing."
"It's my turn!"
Jounouchi drew a third card and beamed.
"Aw yeah! Giant Trunade time!" He said, playing the spell card.
A giant gust of wind blasted through the field and all spells and traps returned to the players' hand. In Jounouchi's case it meant Hysteric Sign, Hysteric Party, and Mirror Wall all went to his hand. For Ruka, it meant that Ancient Forest and her three set cards were blown back to her hand.
"Since Hysteric Party was removed from the field, I have to say goodbye to Harpie Lady #3." Jounouchi said, bowing to Keraino dramatically. The harpy in question chuckled and walked off the field to join her sisters.
"Then I'll set three cards face-down and end my turn!" Jounouchi declared confidently.
Ruka drew a card, looking at the eight cards that now were in her hand.
"But before you do anything fancy, I'll use Hyper Refresh!" Jounouchi said as his quick play spell card activated.
"Hyper Refresh doubles my life points if they're lower than the total of your monsters' combined attack points!" Jounouchi's grin became prominent as his life points shot up to 3500.
"And then I'll use Hysteric Party to discard Hysteric Sign to special summon Harpie Lady 1, 2, 3, and Harpie Queen from the graveyard!"
The three harpies vanished briefly then re-appeared on the field as Harpy Lady 1, 2, and 3 (4/1300 → 1600/1400 X3). Next to them, Silene appeared, scowling as she glanced around to see Jounouchi had summoned her (4/1900 → 2200/1200).
"This human isn't even one I know! On whose' authority did you summon me!? I was about to eat!" She complained.
Mai raised her hands. "Look, I'm out of the game, so I gave Jounouchi my cards – and since you're now one of my cards, he's summoning you."
If looks could kill, Harpie Queen would have killed all the duelists present, but as it was she could only scoff.
"Well then I command you end this match quickly so I may go about my business."
Jounouchi nodded. "Yes ma'am." He said a bit nervously.
"-Anyway, I'll also use Mirror Wall again, so you know what happens if you attack." Jounouchi said as the trap card sprang up.
Atem looked to Yusei and Mai. "I definitely think Jounouchi knows what he's doing. Bringing back four harpies, and recovering life points on top of that."
Isis nodded. "Indeed. I may not understand the intricacies of this 'Duel Monsters' game, but this match is exciting to watch."
Back to the duel, Ruka continued.
"Then I'll play Ancient Forest again." Ruka said, as the field spell card appeared, now active again on the field.
Ancient Fairy Dragon once again went into attack mode (2100).
"And since Ancient Fairy has yet to act this turn, I'll put her back into defense mode." Ruka said.
"And then I'll use Ancient Fairy's other effect! Spirit Summon! Call fourth Fairy Archer from my hand!"
Next to Ancient Fairy Dragon, a four winged fairy holding a bow and arrow appeared in defense mode (3/1400/600).
"I might not be able to attack you, but I can still deal you burn damage on this turn!" Ruka warned.
"Fairy Archer's effect deals you four hundred points of damage times the number of LIGHT attribute monsters I control. And since I control three, that's twelve-hundred points!"
The archer notched an arrow on her bow and Jounouchi yelped as the arrow of light struck him (3500 – 1200 = 2300).
"Dang, I try to regain life points and this happens?! If you keep stalling, I'll just be taken out by that archer!" Jounouchi complained.
"Then I'll re-set three cards." Ruka said as they appeared in the back of her field.
"Turn end." Ruka declared, ending her turn with three cards in her hand.
"Then at the end phase, Hysteric Sign activates!" Jounouchi said. "I'll use it to add up to three 'Harpie' monsters from my deck to my hand! And while I may only have one target, I can still add Cyber Harpie from my deck to my hand!"
Mai grinned. "Well even I forgot about that. Way to go, Jounouchi. Now just summon her and we'll have a full field of harpies!" Jounouchi added the card to his hand and Mai gave him a thumbs up.
Jounouchi drew a third card and once again was ecstatic.
"Here we go! I play Pot of Greed! So now I'll draw two cards!" He said and did so.
"Then I'll play Gearfried the Iron Knight!"
Jounouchi's black armored knight appeared between the four harpies and let out a growl as he struck a battle pose (4/1800/1600).
Mai frowned as her dream of five harpie monsters out at once was now squandered. "You'd better have summoned that Gearfried for a reason."
"Well how about this for a reason?! I play Release Restraint!" Jounouchi countered as his armor clad knight let out a yell.
Gearfried flexed his back outwards and his armor vanished, revealing a muscular man with tan skin and long black hair. He was clad in a warrior's belt and had two leather straps across his chest, making an X pattern. He also had minor bandages wrapped around his wrists (7/2600/2300).
"Well that's certainly interesting." Mai said. "But what good is that going to do you?" She asked him.
"I equip Gearfried the Swordmaster with Lightning Blade!" Jounouchi declared.
Gearfried raised his hands to the sky as a thick double edged blade appeared above him, surging with electricity. The swordmaster nodded and swung the blade in front of him as his attack rose (2600 + 800 = 3400).
"And by equipping Gearfried the Swordmaster with an equip card, I activated his special ability! One that lets him destroy a monster you control! So now let's say bye bye to Ancient Fairy Dragon!"
Gearfried swung the sword with both hands, sending a shockwave of lightning arcing towards Ancient Fairy Dragon.
"Trap Card Activate! Synchro Out!" Ruka shouted as Ancient Fairy Dragon disappeared from the field, the shockwave missing it's target altogether, flying over Ruka's head.
Then three blue portals appeared in front of Ruka, out of which Speed Warrior (2/900 → 1200/400), Nettles (2/1200/400), and Spirit of the Breeze (3/0 → 300/1800) rose, falling to the field in defense mode.
Jounouchi groaned. "What was that?"
"Well, while Mai gave you her cards, Yusei gave me his. Synchro Out is a trap card that lets me return a Synchro Monster to the Extra Deck to summon the Synchro material monsters from the graveyard, but they are removed from the game at the end of the turn." Ruka said.
Jounouchi grinned. "Well at least that Ancient Fairy Dragon is not going to interfere now! I'll go right to the battle phase!"
"We'll start by having Harpie Queen take out Spirit of the Breeze! Queen's Talon!" Jounouchi yelled.
"Don't presume to command me!" Harpie Queen countered, even as she lept in the air, and did a somersault before landing, talons out, on Spirit of the Breeze, which shattered instantly.
"And then we'll have Harpy Lady 1 attack that Fairy Archer, Harpy Lady 2 attack Speed Warrior, and Harpie Lady 3 attack Nettles! Triple Scratch Crusher!"
The three harpies let out a caw as they took wing, each slicing through their designated targets with a swipe of their talons.
"And that leaves Gearfried with getting rid of your Regulus! Attack with Lightning Swordmaster Slash!"
Gearfried let out a grunt as he charged towards Regulus, Lightning Blade raised to the skies.
Ruka hesitated for a moment, but her finger pressed a button on her duel disk and a trap card sprung up.
"A second trap card then! Ancient Sunshine!"
Regulus let out a roar, and a great light emitted behind the lion, stopping Gearfried in his tracks. The audience and even the other duel monsters were stunned as, in blazing light, Ancient Fairy Dragon appeared, roaring in unison with the lion familiar.
Then, she vanished and Regulus shattered, along with the rest of the cards Ruka had on the field.
"I can only use Ancient Sunshine if I control 'Regulus'. By banishing Ancient Fairy Dragon from my extra deck and destroying all cards I control, I can inflict you with 2100 points of damage!" Ruka said.
A large lance of light shone down from the sky, striking Jounouchi, who yelled as his life points were all but burned away from the blazing ray (2300 – 2100 = 200).
The assembled parties were silent as Jounouchi slowly recovered.
"Alright, well since you destroyed Regulus yourself, that gives my buddy Gearfried an extra attack. Attack her directly!"
Ruka grunted as, for the first time in the duel, she took a direct attack, her life points rapidly dropping as the Swordmaster swung his blade (4125 – 3400 = 725).
"Then I'll end my turn." Jounouchi said, looking at the Cyber Harpie in his hand for a moment.
Ruka found she was breathing heavily, but rather than fall over from the strain of the duel, she stood up to meet Jounouchi's gaze as she drew her next card and gave a smile. "Finally here."
"I'll set one card face down and end my turn." She said as her single card appeared on her field.
Jounouchi drew a card with caution, but then grinned as it all but secured victory. He opened his mouth to declare his move when Ruka's set card sprang up.
"Trap card, open! Fairy Wind!"
A gust of wind once again blew through the field and as it did so, Lightning Blade, Mirror Wall, and Hysteric Party cards all shattered. The four Harpies all flew away as the card tethering them to the field was not there anymore, and Gearfried frowned as his blade shattered. Finally, Mirror Wall erupted into crystal shards that evaporated, leaving Jounouchi's field bare except for his lone Swordmaster.
"Fairy Wind is a trap card that destroys all face up spell and trap cards. And for each one destroyed, we both take three hundred points of damage!"
Ruka took a knee to steady herself from the winds and beamed even as both of their life points fell to zero. Jounouchi looked stunned for a moment, then chuckled once the winds died down.
"Well that was a surprising end to the duel! I thought for sure I'd win when I drew Jinzo!" Jounouchi said, revealing his anti trap monster to Ruka.
Ruka laughed. "And I'm surprised about that Swordmaster. I was a little worried you'd have something else to equip to him."
Jounouchi laughed and looked up to the skies as Harpie Queen was floating there, keeping some distance from the Harpie Sisters.
"Uh, you can leave now if you want." he said and the Queen frowned but nevertheless nodded before she vanished.
The three remaining harpies all landed around Ruka. "Well done, little one." Keraino said, offering her a talon up. Ruka chuckled and let the bird woman help her stand.
"And good job to you too, Mai. You sure gave him a lot to work with."
Mai grinned. "Hey, Yusei gave you a lot as well, enough to KO me and nearly do the same to Jounouchi. That was a good duel."
Yusei smiled and nodded as Ruka handed him his cards. "That was fun. Are you feeling ready now, Dark Magician Girl?" He asked.
Dark Magician Girl laughed. "Of course! That was great. I didn't expect such a back and forth tag duel!"
Mahado gave a curt nod. "Now let us proceed to the ruins."
With another portal, they appeared next to the gate that Shiro and Bakura had used.
"This is ancient." Dark Magician Girl said. "To power it, they'd need a lot of energy. I'm detecting raw and ancient magic. It feels very angry."
Mahado frowned. "It may be a creature of Shiro's. I hear it whispering the phrase 'red devil' over and over again."
Yusei looked a bit worried. "Scar-Red Nova. Shiro took it from Jack. That's really bad. I didn't think he could use it like that."
Isis shook her head. "Shiro had trouble controlling it when he summoned it in the afterworld. There must be something else in play as well." She said.
Mahado gasped as he touched the surface of the gate. "That's energy from the Millennium Ring. I can feel it. That Bakura must've used the ring to either convince this Scar-Red Nova to do it, or. . . put something else into the gate."
Atem spoke up. "The Millennium Ring lets the owner seal away souls. Perhaps those Ancient Gear monsters were used to activate the gate?"
"Well they are machines. They may possess something like a soul, but I don't think that's what happened." Dark Magician Girl said. "Perhaps Scar-Red Nova had a common goal with these men?"
"They returned to our world." Ruka said. "That means maybe Scar-Red Nova wanted to go back to Peru?" She guessed. "It was sealed away there, so it would have the most power in that spot."
Isis nodded. "Regardless of the reason, they used their own power to operate the gate. Do we have the energy we need to activate it ourselves?"
"We do." Mahado said. "Dark Magician Girl and I just need to perform some tests on this gate to determine our next course of action. Once we figure out how to navigate this gate to deliver us to Ruka's timeline, we'll notify you all. For now, I suggest you all rest up. I'd like to send you on your way by tomorrow if possible."
"Thank you, Mahado." Atem said. "I'll leave it to the two of you then."
"Well, we need an anchor. Ruka, might we let Ancient Fairy Dragon aid us?" Dark Magician Girl asked.
Ruka blinked. "Oh, sure." She said, handing the card over.
Dark Magician Girl grinned and raised her left arm as an Academia duel disk appeared on her arm.
"Then I'll summon the Ancient Fairy Dragon!" The Magician Girl declared.
Once again, Ancient Fairy Dragon appeared, this time giving everyone assembled a bow. "Ruka, I'll do my best to aid them both. You go along with your friends and enjoy this day. You've all earned it." The dragon projected to everyone there.
The group left the three to examine the old gate as they elected to all return to the castle. No one protested when Jounouchi announced that he was ready for lunch, as they all shared the same sentiment.
The flight took longer than Jack thought it would, but eventually Vice Dragon found the summit of the mountain. Despite the roars of other various dragons Jack assumed must be nearby, his own dragon pushed forwards and kept flying. The entire mountain was concealed in a mist that Jack swore wasn't there the day before.
He saw a red gleam and grinned as his promised machine was in sight, the Yusei Go looking fine, if a bit dusty. That was a relief. Jack wasn't sure how Yusei would take the news if he'd brought back a beaten down D-Wheel.
Jack urged Vice Dragon to land. The purple dragon did so and Jack slid off into a crouch. He stood to admire the machine, but heard laughter as he stood.
"I don't remember inviting you here." A cold voice said. "My dragons don't get visitors very often, much less ones that radiate as much power as you do.
Jack dismissed his dragon to it's card and turned at the voice. He saw a man looking down at him from a higher point of the mountain. The man wore a coat similar to his own, with wide coat-tails, but a slim fit around the waist, boots, and black spiked gloves. The most prominent detail about the man, however, was the helmet he wore, styled in the shape of arguably the most famous duel monster.
"My name is Jack Atlus. And who might you be?" Jack asked the other man.
"Just call me Kaibaman." The other said, raising his left arm, which Jack now noticed had conjured a duel disk on it, the main deck holder in the shape of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's head, while the card zones all were arranged on a wing-shaped piece.
"Now Jack, I've met some of your friends, and I don't want to keep you away from them." The man said. Other than a smirk, Jack couldn't read the man at all, face hidden behind his dragon helmet, while his long reddish brown hair blew in the wind along with his coat-tails.
The man kept speaking. "But this is hallowed ground. Only those worthy of commanding the mightiest of dragons are permitted here." Kaibaman said. "My dragons sense not long ago you once held an overwhelming strength. . . but it has been cut out of you. And now you are like a hallow shell, simply moving forward because it's all you know how to do!"
Jack found he was furious. "Fool! You don't know what I've lost! If you wish to insult me, do so with either your cards or your fists!"
Kaibaman's duel disk shone with a blue glow as his deck began to auto-shuffle.
"As a duel spirit, I need to test your worth and measure your power. On the summit of Dragon Mountain, here we will duel!"
Jack narrowed his eyes and raised his duel disk, deck already loaded, as it turned on with a whir.
"Then let this duel prove to you that I am indeed worthy of such power!" Jack exclaimed, his pride stinging at Kaibaman's skepticism.
Five cards were drawn from both duel disks as each man faced the other.
Kaibaman: 4000, Jack: 4000
"DUEL!" both men cried out as their own duel began.
/
Author's note: I'm forever angry that Ruka's card pool is as severely limited as it is. I don't want to give her something generic like Agents or Lightsworn and it was tricky coming up with ways for her to use her cards effectively. I was also torn on giving Mai more Harpie cards, but as she's now using Harpie Queen I felt it was appropriate. I dunno, I like that stuff like Red-Eyes is now it's own archetype, but making everything Jounouchi used ever into a Red-Eyes card kinda cheapens them if that makes sense. I'd rather see stuff like Panther Warrior and Gearfried the Swordmaster than just ten different Red-Eyes variants.
Anyway rant over. I am starting a new work position soon and I'm excited to start it. I'll try to update soon but it may be a little while due to adjusting to the new duties I have.