A/N: I OWN NO PART YU GI OH 5DS! ALL RIGHTS GO TO THE CREATORS!
Some ideas in this story are influenced by the story, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds: Bonds Beyond Magic by Cool Cat 2000. The ideas go to her.
Chapter 35: The First Dark Signer's Duel
Third Person POV
Kalin activated Speed World and Kalin and Yusei, who had Era behind him, took off. 'Kalin's serious about this duel,' Yusei thought.
"Is this one of those life-whittling duels? Where blows from the duel are real?" Yusei asked.
"Yes," Kalin laughed. "And I'm going to put you through some of those deadly sentiments."
"Duel!" they shouted in unison.
"It's time for the revival of the Enforcers," Kalin stated and drew his card. "I summon Infernity Beast (Attack 1600/ Defense 1200) and set one face down to end my turn. Give me a fight that will make my flame of vengeance seethe even more, Yusei!"
Yusei drew his card seeing no other choice. "I summon Speed Warrior (Attack 900/ Defense 400) in attack mode and activate its effect. On the turn Speed Warrior is summoned, its attack doubles (Speed Warrior: Attack 1800)," he declared. "Speed Warrior, attack Infernity Beast!"
"I activate Depth Amulet! By discarding one card from my hand, I can negate the attack," Kalin defended. "Your deck hasn't changed at all, I can see right through it."
"Have you changed?" Yusei asked.
"Yep and it's all thanks to you," Kalin replied. "You and your precious little angel."
Era and Yusei's marks grew brighter. "Era doesn't have anything to do with that night, Kalin," Yusei responded.
Kalin laughed. "Has she not told you?" he asked. Yusei stated silent making Kalin grin even more.
Yusei glanced back at Era before turning back to Kalin to continue the duel, "I set two face downs and end my turn."
Kalin drew his card. "I summon Infernity Archfiend (Attack 1800/ Defense 1200) in attack mode. Now, Infernity Beast, attack Speed Warrior!" he ordered. The monster destroyed Speed Warrior and Yusei's life points fell to 3300. "Do the Dance of Death, Yusei!" Yusei nearly lost control of his runner making Era grip on tighter. "This is a true turbo duel; a game unlike any you have played before!"
Yusei managed to regain control of his duel runner and he asked Era, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she answered. "Just really wishing I could fly right now."
"Don't worry, Era," he responded. "I'll finish this as soon as I can." Era nodded.
"Oh, but I'm not does battling yet!" Kalin interrupted. "Infernity Archfiend, attack Yusei directly!" Kalin laughed sinisterly as Yusei watched the monster prepare its attack on him. "Die, Yusei, and go to Hell! And as soon as I'm done with you, you're angel is next!"
"Not quite, because I activate Scrap-Iron Scarecrow to negate your attack," Yusei fought making Kalin disappointed. "And after its activation, instead of going to the graveyard, it returns to face down mode again."
"Nice save, Yusei. Too bad it won't save you. I set one face down end my turn," Kalin finished. 'He should have been dead. I guess Yusei will use any means to keep himself and Era alive,' he thought and smirked. 'Maybe mentioning Era will make Yusei too angry to duel. After all. He does seem to have a thing for her.' He then said to Yusei, "You haven't changed a bit, Yusei. Maybe it's why you're so protective of Era, hm? Maybe instead of killing her after this, I'll take her with me and weaken her. Put her in better shape for Equette." Era tensed and Yusei glared. Yusei tried to respond but Kalin interrupted, "It's your turn."
Yusei drew his card. "Calm down, Yusei. Kalin can't hurt me," came Era's voice.
"You don't know that, Era," he retorted. "I'm going to keep you safe, no matter what." He then began his turn, "I summon Junk Synchron (Attack 1300/ Defense 500) in attack mode. Then I use its effect to summon back Speed Warrior in defense mode. Now Speed Warrior, tune with Junk Synchron. Rise up, Junk Warrior (Attack 2300/ Defense 1300)!" His monster took its position beside him with its signature punch.
"Go all out, Yusei! Yes, go all out and show me what you can do!" Kalin called.
"I activate Shard of Hope! When a monster I control inflicts battle damage to my opponent, I can draw one card. If it is a trap card, I can activate it from my hand," Yusei continued.
"That's if you can inflict battle damage on me," Kalin retorted.
'Depth Amulet can only negate an attack if he sends two cards from his hand to the graveyard. But Kalin only has two cards in his hand and two monsters on his field,' Yusei thought. 'Kalin will probably try to preserve his hand.' He watched as Kalin smirked. "Junk Warrior, attack Infernity Beast!" Yusei ordered.
"I activate Depth Amulet's effect! By sending one card from my hand to the graveyard, I can negate the attack," Kalin fought and he laughed sinisterly.
'Is Kalin going to reduce his hand even further?' Yusei wondered.
"Thanks for the consideration, Yusei," Kalin called back.
"I end my turn," he finished.
"Don't worry, Yusei," Era told him mentally. "It'll… be alright."
"Something tells me you're not too sure about that," Yusei responded.
"I can at least hope, just like you should," she told him and Yusei gave a subtle nod while Kalin drew his card.
"I tribute my Infernity Beast and Infernity Archfiend to summon my Dark Tuner Nightmare Hand (Attack 0/ Defense 0) in attack mode," Kalin declared. "I then summon Infernity Dwarf (Attack 800/ Defense 500). Next I tune Infernity Dwarf with my Dark Tuner Nightmare Hand. You knew this was coming, didn't you, Yusei?" Yusei tensed. "I dark synchro summon!"
'I knew it. What's going to come out of his dark synchro summon?' Yusei thought.
"I bring out a monster of darkness, Hundred-Eyes Dragon (Attack 3000/ Defense 2500)!" Kalin called out.
"Is this your ace monster?" Yusei asked but Kalin refused to respond.
"I've never seen this monster before, Yusei. Be very careful," Era told him mentally.
"Hundred-Eyes Dragon, attack Junk Warrior!" Kalin ordered.
"I activate Scrap-Iron Scarecrow's effect," Yusei tried.
"You'll have to do better than that," Kalin retorted. "When Hundred-Eyes Dragon is in face up position, it gains the effect of a dark attribute monster in the graveyard. And the monster I copy is Infernity beast! So now, when my monster attacks and I have no cards in my hand, you can't activate any spell or trap cards." The attack continued and Junk Warrior was destroyed while Yusei's life points fell to 2600. Yusei lost control of his duel runner for a moment. "Be thrown into the flames, Yusei!" Yusei managed to regain control of his runner again much to Era's relief. "So that's the way, but you can't drop dead just yet. I will put you through so much more anguish that it'll kill you. I end my turn."
Yusei drew his card. "Are you alright, Era?" he asked and she nodded. "I summon Rockstone Warrior (Attack 1800/ Defense 1600) in defense mode."
"Is this your back up plan?" Kalin asked. "But Depth Amulet is destroyed after your third turn."
'It's already served its purpose,' Yusei thought while Kalin smirked. 'Kalin's strategy is nothing like him at all in the past. It's all been changed.'
"Why are we even fighting?" Yusei asked. Kalin didn't even bother to respond.
"I activate the Speed Spell- Power Baton! As long as I have at least six speed counter, I can select one monster card from my deck and by sending it to the graveyard, one monster on my field will increase in attack points during the damage step equal to that monster's attack. And the monster I'm sending is Infernity Destroyer with 2300 attack points (Hundred-Eyes Dragon: Attack 5300)," Kalin declared. "And now my monster's effect activates to use the effect of Infernity Dwarf. When there are zero cards in my hand and if my monster's attack is greater than the defense of monster, I can inflict damage equal to the difference. Here lies the power of my handless combo! Hundred-Eyes Dragon, attack Yusei's Rockstone Warrior. Get ready for 3700 points of damage, Yusei."
"I don't think so," Yusei retorted. "And that's because Rockstone Warrior's effect reduces all battle damage to zero." Even though Yusei took no damage, his monster was destroyed.
Kalin laughed madly. "You almost didn't make that one. What's next?" he asked. "You have no more monsters to shield you and you only have two cards in your hand. Are either of those cards that you hold in your hand the means of defeating my Hundred-Eyes Dragon?" Kalin laughed again sounding near insane. "Doubt, suffer, beg for your life! And leave Era for me!"
"That's enough! You never used to be like this," Yusei retorted feeling Era tense more. Yusei thought of how Kalin risked his life once, saying he would never abandon him as he was his friend and Yusei was overwhelmed by that.
"This isn't the end. Hundred-Eyes Dragon's effect activates again and I get to use the effect of Infernity Destroyer from my graveyard, which means when my hand is at zero and if it destroys a monster by battle, I can inflict 800 points of damage at you. So, Hundred-Eyes Dragon, give him that pain!" Yusei lost control of his runner again as his life points fell to 1800. "Burn this time, Yusei!"
"Kalin, stop this!" Crow called.
Kalin laughed more madly than ever making Era worry. She could only see darkness within him. Not even a spark of light. She knew there had to be some way for him to change, but she couldn't figure it out at the moment while Yusei regained control of his duel runner. Kalin was disappointed by this again.
"Your duel runner isn't doing so well," Kalin told Yusei. "After all, you can barely maintain control of it. I hope your duel runner manages to pull through until the outcome of the duel. At the end of the turn, Speed Spell- Power Baton's effect is gone (Hundred-Eyes Dragon: Attack 3000)."
Era could feel the dark energy surrounding her light and it burned. She cringed despite her efforts not to.
"Era, are you alright?" Yusei asked.
"I'm… fine," she replied weakly.
"No, you're not," he retorted.
"Just… finish this duel," Era responded as her body burned while it fought the dark energy that surrounded her.
Yusei gave a small nod though he worry didn't cease. 'Kalin's handless combo can only activate its effect when his hand is empty. There has to be a way to counter it,' he thought. He began his turn, "When there are monsters on your field while I have none, I can special summon this card as a level four monster. Level Warrior (Attack 300/ Defense 600)! Next I summon Hyper Synchron (Attack 1600/ Defense 800) in attack mode. Now I tune Level Warrior with Hyper Synchron to synchro summon. Take flight, Stardust Dragon (Attack 2500/ Defense 2000)!"
Kalin laughed. "This dragon is the symbol of a Signer. Come at me with your best shot, Yusei!" he called.
"Now I use the effect of Hyper Synchron. Since it was used in a synchro summon, the synchro monster gains 800 attack points (Stardust Dragon: Attack 3300)!" Yusei declared. "Stardust Dragon, attack Hundred-Eyes Dragon with Cosmic Flare!" The attack hit but as the dust settled, Kalin's monster was still standing. "What?!"
"I used my dragon's effect to use Infernity Guardian's effect in my graveyard, so my monster won't be destroyed by battle and the attack was negated."
"But you'll still take battle damage," Yusei reminded.
Kalin lost 300 life points dropping him to 3700. He laughed. "That was quite some fine damage, Yusei. We should have fun dwindling away at each other's lives," he stated.
"Now since I inflicted battle damage with Stardust Dragon, my Shard of Hope activates. Which mean I draw a card from my deck and if it's a trap, I can give up Shard of Hope to activate it," Yusei continued. He drew his card and grinned. "I destroy Shard of Hope to activate Miracle Locus! This makes you draw one card and raises Stardust Dragon's attack by 1000 (Stardust Dragon: Attack 4300) and it can attack again. So how about you draw a card?" Kalin drew his card while cursing Yusei. "Stardust Dragon, attack Hundred-Eyes Dragon!"
Kalin's monster was finally destroyed and his life points fell to 2400. "When Hundred-Eyes Dragon is destroyed, I can select one card from my deck and add it to my hand," he declared.
"I'm going to end this duel. I activate my trap, Synchro Destructor! This inflicts damage to you equal to half of the monster my synchro monster destroyed in battle. And if it was a synchro monster, you will take an additional damage equal to the same amount," Yusei declared.
The effect of the trap card are about to strike Kalin who cursed Yusei. But he suddenly smiled and said, "I activate Damage Translation. This halves all damage from a card's effect." Kalin's life points fell to 900. Despite being hurt from the attack, Kalin still smiled and said, "That was some very fine damage."
'On my next turn, I'll have eight speed counters, which will be just enough for me to activate the Speed Spell- Final Attack. It'll instantly double the attack of Stardust to 8600 and end this duel,' Yusei thought. He turned back to the duel, "I end my…"
"Slow it down, Yusei!" Kalin interrupted. "The other effect of Damage Translation activates. At the end phase, I special summon two Ghost Tokens (Attack 0/ Defense 0) equal to the number of times I received damage from a card's effect."
'What's Kalin up to?' Yusei thought. Kalin laugh. "What's so funny?" Yusei asked.
"I can't help but laugh. Thanks to you for sending Hundred-Eyes Dragon to the graveyard, I was able to add a card to my hand. Tell me, did you expect that card to be my most powerful?" Kalin asked laughing. Yusei began to worry as Kalin said, "It's showtime."
Outside the duel lane, people in robes began to appear. Era felt the dark energy in the air spike and it caused the burning on her body to increase. She couldn't stop the whimper before it escaped. Yusei looked at her worried.
"I… I'm fine, Yusei," she told him.
"Era, you're not so stop saying you are," he retorted. He then looked at the people around them and asked Kalin, "Was the disappearing of the people of Satellite the doing of the Dark Signers?"
Kalin laughed. "It's my turn now," he stated and he couldn't draw his card due to the effect of Speed Spell- Power Baton.
"What have you done to the people of Satellite?" Yusei asked.
Kalin laughed. "The people of Satellite are the ones who are going to become the sacrifices of Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu and those sacrifices will bestow the power of the Immortal to my card!" Kalin answered. "I release both of my tokens." The Ghost Tokens merged into a shell-like object and the people began to get sucked into it.
"What're you doing?" Yusei asked.
"I'm sacrificing these people's souls to summon Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu (Attack 3000/ Defense 2500)!" Kalin answered. His monster emerged from the shell. It stood taller than anything Yusei and Era had seen before.
"It's… one of the Wicked Gods," Era muttered frightened. She looked at Yusei and saw a bit more of darkness grow inside him. It was the darkness of fear. "Yusei, don't let your fear get to you," she told him mentally. He looked at her. "Stay calm. You'll find a way to beat it."
"I'm… not sure, Era," Yusei responded.
"Yusei, stay hopeful, okay?" Era told him and he could hear the worry in her mental voice.
"Yusei, savor the curses of the dead firsthand! Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu, attack Yusei directly!" Kalin ordered.
"Stardust Dragon!" Yusei called and his dragon went to intercept the monster but merely phased through the monster's gigantic hand. "I activate…" Yusei tried but his card wouldn't activate.
"It's no use! No monsters or trap cards can stop my Earthbound Immortal!" Kalin responded.
'I can't do anything! I can't stop this attack!' Yusei thought.
That's when a piece in Yusei's duel runner snapped off and the duel ended with no conclusion. Era immediately used a protective spell as Yusei and her were thrown off a duel runner in the crash. But she focused most of the spell on Yusei and didn't watch how weak she put the spell on herself. Era gave a sharp gasp in a pain as she let go of Yusei. Yusei sat up and place a hand to his head.
Kalin rode up and stated, "Save by the poor performance of your duel runner. Simply pathetic. Say, what did that MC call you? Satellite's shooting star?" He laughed. "More like Satellite's falling star! Suffer, shiver in fear, be consumed by the inferno of terror, and experience the same hardship I once endured." He rode his card up and called to his monster, "Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu, return to me now!" His monster vanished. While the flaming course also disappeared. "Hold off on your death, Yusei. You must live in disgrace and stricken in terror until we meet again. Besides, you may just lose the one who protected you!" Kalin then left laughing hysterically as he did.
Yusei turned to Era who was cringing in pain. It didn't take him a second to notice the metal pierced into her side. "Era!" he called. He placed two fingers on her neck and was relieved to feel a pulse.
"Yusei!" Crow called. "Is she alright?!"
"She's alive but not even close to being alright," Yusei answered.
"Come on, Yusei. Let's get her to Martha's," Crow suggested. Yusei nodded and carefully picked her up. Crow looked at Yusei's friend. "Meet us at Martha's." He then took off with Yusei holding Era in his arms.
Crow arrived at Martha's house and ordered Yusei to stay there and keep Era in his arms. Yusei agreed and looked at Era in his arms while Crow went to grab Martha. Era was shivering and Yusei carefully brought her closer to try to give him some sort of warmth.
Martha came over and looked at Era. "She's shivering!" she exclaimed. She looked at Yusei. "Help me get her into the room," she ordered. Yusei nodded and carefully stood up. He hurried with Martha and set her on a hospital bed. "Her name's Era, right?" she asked Yusei.
"Yeah, how did you…?" Yusei started but Martha cut him off with the answer.
"She would come and help you guys whenever you three were in trouble. I can't tell you how many times she helped some kids," she explained. "I'm surprised you never recognized her." Yusei stared at Era, worry and concern the only thing on his face. "We'll save her, Yusei. Don't worry."
Yusei nodded before Martha told him to leave until her and Doctor Schmitt were done. He followed the instructions and went to the stairs outside the room to wait with Crow.
As him and Crow waited, Rally, Tank, Blitz, and Nervin came in with Yusei's runner. Yusei and Crow got the four blankets as they had explained they had to pay tolls to get the runner here, including their clothes.
Meanwhile, Martha and Doctor Schmitt were working on Era. "Don't give up, Era," Martha whispered to the angel.