Crow: 3100
Bolger: 4000
"Come on, Crow," Bolger taunted. "It's your turn."
Their duel had taken a turn, in Bolger's favor, that is. He had his two monsters on the field, Hall and Fog. He also had the two trap cards White Out, and Heaven's Arrow. Crow, on the other hand, had a completely empty field.
"It's my turn! I draw!" Crow said. He grit his teeth. He had to think of a way out of this mess. This is bad. At this rate, I can't use my Blackwings' effects. First, I should destroy White Out. This card will do perfectly.
"I set one card facedown. I'll also summon the tuner monster Blackwing Mistral the Silver Shield in defense mode!"
(Blackwing Mistral the Silver Shield: Atk: 100 Def: 1800)
This bird looked like your average black bird. If you didn't consider the large, metallic shield covering the bird's face and chest.
"I end my turn."
Bolger smirked to himself. Too easy. "My turn! Draw! I summon the tuner monster White Warriors: Snow the Rope Whip!"
(White Warriors: Snow the Rope Whip: Atk: 0 Def: 0)
Clad in white robes, this new monster sported blue hair and a blue cape. He also carried a long, lethal-looking whip with a blade on the end.
"This card gains 100 attack points for each card on the field," Bolger explained. "there are seven cards on the field, so its attack rises by 700! In addition, Snow the Rope Whip can attack you directly! Go!"
Crow grunted. The monsters were holograms, but it wasn't exactly comforting to have a holographic, bladed whip go through you.
Crow: 2400
Bolger: 4000
"Aw man, this is not looking good," Lise held her fists at the ready. Like she wanted to punch something to get her frustrations out, but couldn't punch anything.
"Now since a direct attack was successful," Bolger continued. "I activate Fog the Treasured Shield's effect! I can destroy one of the opponent's spell or trap cards. Do it, Fog the Treasured Shield!"
At his command, the monster directed his shield at Crow. Waves of power radiated off the shield, blasting Crow's trap away.
"Oh no, Trap Stun is gone!" Crow had only Mistral to protect him now.
"Did you think I wouldn't notice, Crow? How many times do you think we've dueled?"
"A duel in which they know each other's moves well," Jack nudged Yusei a little. "Kind of like our duels, mate."
Yusei moved back, away from Jack's reach. He did nod a little in acknowledgement.
"I end my turn," Bolger said.
"My move then!" Crow drew his card. "I summon Blackwing Shura the Blue Flame!"
(Blackwing Shura the Blue Flame: Atk: 1800 Def: 1200)
This monster's avian body was covered in blue and black feathers. Sharp claws and talons gleamed in the morning light.
"I tune Shura the Blue Flame with Mistral the Silver Shield! I synchro summon… Blackwing Armed Wing!"
(Blackwing Armed Wing: Atk: 2300 Def: 1000)
The synchro monster was more humanoid than birdlike. It still had large wings, but also carried a long gun in its hands.
"Good! He was able to synchro summon!" Akiza smiled, some of the tension easing out of her shoulders.
"Armed Wing," Crow commanded. "Attack Snow the Rope Whip!"
"Monster effect activate!" Bolger countered. "Snow the Rope Whip returns to my hand when it's chosen as an attack target!"
"Fine!" Crow yelled back. "Then I attack Fog the Treasured Shield! When Armed Wing attacks a monster in defense mode, it increases its attack by 500! Armed Wing can inflict piercing damage equal to the difference between defense and attack points!"
Crow: 2400
Bolger: 3200
"So he managed to destroy one monster at least," Jack said.
Akiza nodded. "And because of Heaven's Arrow, Bolger will take the 400 points of damage this time."
"I set one card and end my turn," Crow said.
As the card required, an arrow came hurtling down from the skies. This time, it pierced through Bolger, and not Crow.
Crow: 2400
Bolger: 2800
"Bolger, I can't afford to lose this duel! I have to catch Pearson's killer!" He had to do this. For the sake of his friend that would never get to see his dream carried out.
"I see you're determined," Bolger said. "Then I'll tell you! My turn! Once again, I summon White Warriors: Snow the Rope Whip! I tune Hall the Iron Hammer and Snow the Rope Whip! I synchro summon… Blood Mephisto!"
(Blood Mephisto: Atk: 2800 Def: 1300)
"Blood Mephisto?!" Crow gasped. It can't be!
Lise's face scrunched up. "Blood Mephisto? Gross! That's like an emo vampire name."
"Lise," Akiza sounded exasperated. "That's the card that killed Pearson!"
"Oh," her mouth opened in a perfect letter 'O.' Lise's head swiveled manically between Akiza and the duel, eyes wide. "Oh shit," she finally said.
Despite the serious situation, Leo had to hide his giggles behind his hand.
Blood Mephisto did indeed look like a goblin had sex with a vampire. Its skinny, bony limbs and long nose were a pale green. It had even greener hair, and beady, mean black eyes.
"Bolger! Why do you have that card?" Crow asked. He didn't want to believe it. His own friend. There was just no way. Yet the evidence was right there in front of him. "YOU killed Pearson?!"
Bolger didn't respond. He didn't need to. One look back into Crow's eyes was all it took to confirm the truth.
"Why?" Crow choked out. "You were Pearson friend, so why?!"
"Obviously, it was to create the ultimate duel runner."
"Ultimate duel runner?"
"That's right," Bolger said. "As you already know, that was our dream. We stopped our research due to lack of funds. But one day, men from the city came. They'd heard of our problems and came with an enormous amount of money as an investment."
"Whoa…" Crow blinked. He could imagine what such an offer must have felt like. So close to what you wanted.
"But he refused!"
"He did?"
"Yes!" Bolger ground his teeth together. Just thinking about pushing away all that money made him furious. "Completing the duel runner wasn't what was important to him. He wanted people to remember his name for becoming a Satellite duel runner researcher!
I couldn't forgive him! Trying to get himself approved by the city through his work! That's why, when the time came, I…"
/
A younger Bolger, in grungier clothes, yanked the flash drive from the computer he and Pearson shared.
"Bolger! What're you doing?" Pearson stared at his friend. He couldn't believe what he was doing. Taking their research like that?
"I'm taking this. If you want to stop me, you'll have to defeat me." Bolger activated his duel disk.
/
Present day Bolger continued his tale. "I don't regret it! By defeating him, I was able to complete the duel runners we tried so hard to make! Now even people in the Satellite can enjoy turbo duels! I was able to create the duel runner of my dreams! Even if I'll be known as a murderer, I'll defend my actions!
If you understand, give me Black Feather Dragon! I know Pearson gave Black Bird and Black Feather Dragon to you! Give it to me!" Bolger turned back, hand outstretched.
Crow's grip on his runner was so hard, his knuckles turned white. He'd lost his friend over such a stupid reason! He wiped away the one tear he allowed to fall. "Like I would believe that… I'll never believe Pearson was that kind of man!" he cried, resolve even firmer than before.
Bolger hmphed and faced his console. "Then I have no choice. I'll get Black Feather Dragon by winning! Even if I have to do the same to you as I did to Pearson!
I activate Blood Mephisto's effect! Once per turn, I inflict 300 points of damage for each card on my opponent's field!"
"What?!"
A red orb appeared in the cruel monster's hand. It thrust its hand out, and the orb exploded upon impact with Crow. Smoke kicked up from the force of the attack.
"Crow!" came the collective cry of the onlookers.
Crow: 1800
Bolger: 2800
Crow drove out of the cloud of smoke. He was all right, but that blast had been powerful.
"Blood Mephisto attacks Armed Wing! Cursed Blood!"
Blood erupted out of the monster's mouth. Armed Wing was covered in seconds, rotting away until it was destroyed.
Crow: 1300
Bolger: 2800
Crow screamed from the pain. Mina and Trudge hadn't been kidding. The damage from the duel was real!
"This is worse than a psychic duel!" Akiza's hands seized her hair.
"This pain… It feels like my body's being torn apart…" Crow murmured to himself.
"Real damage? That must be Blood Mephisto's power!" Jack cried.
"Along with the end of my turn, Heaven's Arrow activates."
Crow: 900
Bolger: 2800
Damage was raining down on Crow from all sides. He had to find a way out of the cycle of pain.
"You can still save yourself, Crow. Surrender to me! Pearson wasn't a person you should risk your life for!"
"Like I would just surrender!" Crow yelled back. "I believe in Pearson!
It's my turn! I activate Speed World 2's effect! By removing seven speed counters, I draw one card from my deck! Yes! I summon the tuner monster, Blackwing Kochi the Daybreak in defense mode!"
(Blackwing Kochi the Daybreak: Atk: 700 Def: 1500)
Kochi was a sweet looking little birdy. His long snout was trumpet shaped, and the tips of his feathers were black, red, and blue.
"I set one card and end my turn!"
"I activate Blood Mephisto's effect! If the opponent sets a spell or trap, 300 points of damage are inflicted!"
Another orb came crashing into Crow. At this point, his lifepoints were being slowly, agonizingly, picked away.
Crow: 600
Bolger: 2800
Crow's screams of pain filled the arena. Even his duel runner was feeling the damage. The back left wing of Black Bird ripped right off, crashing onto the track.
"If that's what that thing does to his runner, I'd hate to see what it does to Crow!" Akiza bit her lip. She wanted to look away, but couldn't. She had to make sure Crow would come out of this in one piece.
"At this rate, you're going to die," Bolger said matter-of-factly.
"Then do it," Crow challenged. "End of turn!"
"I see. Then I have no choice. My turn!
Through Blood Mephisto's effect, you take 300 points of damage for each card on your field, for a total of 900!"
"Crow!"
"Trap open! Downburst!" Crow quickly countered. "I set all face up spells and traps on my opponent's field to face down!"
"What?!"
"I activate another trap: Delta Crow – Anti Reverse! When there's a face up Blackwing monster on my field, it destroys all my opponent's set spell and trap cards! Now the number of cards has been reduced by two! Which means the damage I take is only 300!"
Crow: 300
Bolger: 2800
Bruno's attention hadn't been focused on one spot for nothing. Black Bird had been damaged again, and something was stirring inside it.
"Your will to live is persistent, but your lifepoints are but a candle ready to be blown out by the wind," Bolger said, albeit grudgingly.
"I summon White Warriors: Sleet of the Sacred Flail!"
(White Warriors: Sleet of the Sacred Flail: Atk: 0 Def: 0)
Like the others, the warrior wore a white robe, with a metal wing extending from his back. This warrior donned a purple cape, and a metallic headdress.
"By sacrificing this card, when Blood Mephisto destroys a monster, half of that monster's attack points are dealt as damage!"
"I hope Crow has a card that can get him out of this," Jack said.
"I'll use Blood Mephisto to attack Kochi the Daybreak! Cursed Blood!"
"Oh no, Crow!"
Crow moved fast. He had to, to save his own ass. "By sending Blackwing Jet the Blue Sky from my hand to the graveyard, I negate the destruction of a Blackwing monster!"
"What?"
Akiza breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness."
"Next turn, it's over," Bolger promised. "I set a card facedown, ending my turn."
"Damn," Crow sore. If I set a card now, I'll take damage, and my lifepoints will become zero. Is it impossible to win against Blood Mephisto after all?
"Big brother Crow!"
"Crow, look!"
"big brother Crow, can you hear me?"
Crow looked up to the observation deck. Bruno and the kids had joined his friends. Every single kid he'd ever helped was there. They even had signs they had made.
"We're cheering for you!"
"Good luck, big bro Crow!"
Crow smiled genuinely for the first time that day. "Everyone…" He closed his eyes, letting the support of his friends and the kids, his loved ones, reach him. Their support was everything to him right now. "I want to protect it! Their feelings, and Pearson's will!"
Bright red light flared, and Crow opened his eyes. His arm was aglow, bright with the mark of the Crimson Dragon.
A green screen popped open on Crow's display. Password, Accepted, it read, Code: Black Feather Dragon.
The spectators all gasped. Every screen in the tower displayed the card. Black Feather Dragon was everywhere!
"That's what it was." The memory came back to Crow. "He fought for the kids! That's why he turned down the money! Pearson…your feelings… I never stopped living them! It's my turn!
I summon Blackwing Bora the Spear! I tune Bora the Spear with Kochi the Daybreak! I synchro summon…BLACKFEATHER DRAGON!"
(Blackfeather Dragon: Atk: 2800 Def: 1600)
Majestic as it was beautiful, Blackfeather spread its wings for the first time in three years. Steel accoutrements extended out of the Dragon's lean, metallic body. Blackfeather's three, white feather tails flapped in the wind. Dark feathers trailed down from the beast's head, and wise, red eyes peered out from a beak-like snout. Blackfeather's best feature was its wings. They extended from the shoulders, in two pieces, the first small, and the second larger. Each feather was white and black, lighter than a cloud, but sharp in its beauty.
"It's official," Lise smiled at Crow's new dragon. Her markings across her entire body had lit up.
The marks of her friends, increased the red glow inside the observation tower.
"We have the fifth Signer Dragon!"
"You've finally shown yourself, Blackfeather Dragon!" Bolger tossed a nasty look over his shoulder. "but this match has already been decided! Trap activate; Synchro Rivalry! During the turn an opponent's synchro monster has been summoned, monsters on my field can't be destroyed in battle!"
"I play the speed spell Angel Baton! When I have two speed counters, I can draw two cards from my deck, so long as I send one card in my hand to the graveyard. I send Blackwing Zephyros the Elite to the graveyard, and set one card."
"But if he does that, Blood Mephisto's effect will activate, and it'll be over!" Jack said.
"Blood Mephisto's effect activates! When the opponent sets a spell or trap, it inflicts 300 points of damage!"
"Big bro Crow!" the kids cried out.
"I'm not out yet!" Crow smiled. "I activate Blackfeather Dragon's effect!"
"What?"
"Damage Drain! When damage is inflicted due to a card effect, by reducing Blackfeather Dragon's attack points by the same amount, the damage is negated!"
"What? Negating damage?"
Crow's combo wasn't done yet. "Next, I can special summon Blackwing Zephyros the Elite in my graveyard by taking 400 points of damage, and returning a card on the field to my hand!"
(Blackwing Zephyros the Elite: Atk: 1800 Def: 1000)
This monster had a humanoid stature, multicolored armor, and large, black wings.
"However, through Blackfeather Dragon's effect, the damage is negated!"
"It's attack points went down again," one of the kids commented.
Bolger's eyes narrowed. "Just what are you planning, Crow."
"When Zephyros has been summoned by this effect, it's destroyed by setting a card," Crow said. He did exactly that, again taking and negating the damage from Blood Mephisto.
Crow kept on going. Returning the card to his hand, summoning Zephyros, destroying it by setting a card, and returning the card back to his hand. All the while Blackfeather Dragon took and negated the effect damage, its attack points lowering every time. Its wing feathers turned from white to black with each negation.
"By using its body as a shield, through pain, it faces any difficulty," Bolger spoke softly to himself.
"Bolger, you should have understood! Pearson wasn't trying to complete the duel runner! He wanted the kids to know that they could do anything if they believed in themselves! They didn't have to rely on the city for anything! That's why Pearson refused the money!"
Bolger gasped, watching the attack points of Blackfeather continually decrease. "Could it be…I…made a mistake?"
"That's right! Pearson said he understood how those kids felt! They lost their parents, their homes, their will to live! They didn't think they could do anything with their lives! This Dragon is the same as Pearson! They absorbs others' pain so they don't have to take it! It encompasses Satellite's sadness and pain! Just like Pearson, who achieved Satellite's release by completing the Satellite-made duel runner! That's why Blackfeather Dragon is flying next to Pearson!"
"Blackfeather Dragon is completely black!"
"Yeah," Leo agreed. "And with no attack points!"
"Bolger! Blackfeather Dragon's black feathers are the pain Pearson received from you! You feel that pain as well! I activate Blackfeather Dragon's effect! Once per turn, I restore its attack points reduced by effect damage to its original, and I reduce my opponent's monster's attack points by the restored amount! Black burst!"
Blackfeather Dragon's and Blood Mephisto's attack points switched. Blackfeather was at 2800, but Mephisto was stuck at zero.
"Blackfeather Dragon, attack Blood Mephisto!" Crow commanded. "Nova stream!"
Fear clouded Bolger's eyes at the sight of the attack coming for him. But he lowered his head in defeat. He'd been wrong, after all.
Crow: 300
Bolger: 0
"He won!"
"Big bro Crow won!" the kids cheered.
"Well done," Akiza said. She hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath.
Bolger's runner let out steam, forcing him to a stop. Crow braked right behind him.
"Pearson…" Bolger removed his helmet, staring up at the great dragon before him. "To think that you cared about this kids so much… So it was me… who was blinded by money. I'm sorry…" Bolger hung his head, tears dripping and splashing on his helmet.
"Bolger," Crow said softly.
/
Crow went back to Pearson grave the next morning. This time, he brought his friends.
"Pearson, Bolger turned himself in," Crow told him. "Your feelings finally reached him. Blackfeather Dragon and I will carry on your dream, I promise. Pearson…"
