Alright everyone, it's time for the most heart wrenching moment in all of GX season 3. Also one of my longest chapters. I hope you guys don't hate me for what you're about to read. But this will set the stage for the rest of the fanfic and prepare for the dark times.
Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or any of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchise. I do own Claudio Osbourne and the Jukebox Hero Archetype while the other OCs are copyrighted to their respective authors.
Chapter 44: The Fall of Armies
The reunited group was still resting inside Zure's abandoned fortress. Needless to say that while they were happy that everyone had survived, with Reyna explaining how Bastion was not with the gang at present, the mood was still at an all-time low thanks to the near-death experience by Zure's army.
However, Jaden had no intention of taking a rest as he decided to scour the empty fortress with Winged Kuriboh taking point. Knowing that the others were in good hands of the more seasoned members, Seth joined Jaden in protecting the Senior Slifer from potential ambush. Both Duel Disks were active and both duelists were ready to strike if need be.
"You know what you did was reckless," Seth said to Jaden calmly, "When you left the hideout, one of the Dark World soldiers found it while most of your friends took off after you." Jaden continued his walk as the Blackwing Duelist continued, "Add in everyone nearly dying, you really placed us in a deep spot."
"Kuri kuri!" Winged Kuriboh chimed as it looked inside the cave they were approaching.
Jaden nodded, "Good, maybe they're here." He stated as he continued in.
Seth sighed as he followed after the boy, 'Thinks with his instinct before his brain... Yeah, I can see how he's a powerful duelist but he doesn't understand what's going on around him thanks to losing the Andersons.'
Once both of them reached the end, Jaden and Seth immediately drew their hands as they stared down several straggling Fiends who were poised to attack. They were like rats trapped in a corner.
"Let's go!" Jaden shouted.
Outside the fortress, the rest of the gang had sat down and heard the many sounds of battle coming from inside.
Chazz sighed, "Jaden, what's he up to now?"
"Yeah, ever since beating Zure and losing Freed he's been on a rampage lately," Sam added worriedly.
The Ojamas and Windaar appeared by their respective partners.
"I haven't got a clue," Yellow replied, with the four others nodding.
"Your friend's lost in the dark," Windaar explained, "Too many roads and he doesn't know which to take in order to find Allyson and Jesse."
"Yeah, but he's not getting anywhere just hearing about them," Reyna frowned, "All it takes is for one small detail and he runs off after it!"
"What's he trying to discover now?" Syrus muttered as Reyna wrapped her arm around him for comfort.
"I do wonder what did he come here for," Hassleberry added.
"It's like nothing will change if we find Allyson, Jesse, and Freed's people," Alexis muttered as she leaned into Kenji's shoulder, "I mean, what can we really do?"
"Right, we're not heroes," Atticus replied as strummed a ukulele, "We don't have the same kind of power Jaden does."
"But we came here because we trust him," Crystal stated, "From what you've guys have told me, you always have..."
"But look at what he's doing," Claudio spoke up as he looked at the fortress, "Everything he's doing now, it's for himself. We're having a rough time because he keeps going off on his own and he doesn't feel anything about what we're feeling!"
"Claudio, calm down," Melody assured him.
"Melody, you know what's going on," the J-Hero duelist said as he looked back at her, "You guys wouldn't have to save the others if he stayed back at the fortress."
"But if he didn't, who knows what would have happened to us," Bradshaw spoke up.
"We don't know how we got here," Kairi stated, "But we woke up in those cells and at their mercy."
"If Jaden didn't come when he did, we'd all be goners," Mikoto added.
"It's true," Kurogasa agreed, "I knew if he'd come because of those Allyson and Jesse look-alikes."
"Yeah, and he walked into a trap and a duel he would have lost," Kenji stated, "If weren't for Freed's sacrifice, Jaden would be dead and us next."
Vincent sighed, "This is all so frustrating... I always thought we'd have an easier time trying to search the dimensions, but since this war between Dark World and Fabled started, we can't sit still for a minute." He looked up at the comet and shook his head, "I don't know about this anymore."
Claudio frowned, "It still doesn't change the fact that we have been in danger since he tried to strike out on his own. He's not the only one who wants to save them, but we can't keep running ragged like this because of what Jaden wants." Syrus, Hassleberry, Alexis, Atticus, Chazz, and Kenji nodded in agreement. Melody, Bradshaw, Kairi, Kurogasa, Mikoto, and Vincent were unsure of Claudio's statements. Axel, Fidel, Tetsu, Jim, Yuri, and Crystal were looking concerned at the group, who saw Jaden and Claudio as the most influential people in the group's lives. Now they were driving a wedge between the group and it was getting worse as time went by.
"Hey guys, check this out!"
Everyone turned to see Jaden and Seth regrouping with a flock of green feathered ducks wearing a red scarf around their necks and buckets over their heads. (3/1700/700) Both guys were riding on two of them and Jaden held a rolled up thick piece of paper.
"We found a map of this world," Jaden exclaimed and pointed to the flock of ducks, "I also got some help for our feet!"
"What are these monsters?" Syrus wondered.
"Sonic Ducks," Hassleberry replied.
"We need to keep alert of these Dark World and Fabled monsters you also mentioned," Seth stated. "With these guys we can see everything while the Sonic Ducks keep their eyes on the road. As much as you don't like dueling with your life on the line, if we can summon that one monster or get that single strategy out, we don't need to keep worrying about dying every turn. Less known about us, the better."
"That sounds like a good idea," Axel nodded, "No wonder Kaiba thinks so highly of you..."
"And we can go to the next fortress on these guys," Jaden stated with a smile, causing some people to frown.
"Hold it!" Sam stated she stood in front of Jaden's duck. "We don't know if Allyson and Jesse are in the next fortress! What happens if they're not there?"
Jaden shrugged, keeping his smile on, "We just look in the next fortress! We can find Freed's friends along the way."
"And if they're not there," Chazz growled, "I don't think you even heard Sam when she said that we don't know where Allyson and Jesse are? We need more info, man! It's better to lay low until we can find out more."
"Come on, Chazz," Jaden sighed, "I never known you to be this freaked out. This world is huge, so they have to be around somewhere. So just trust me on this and let's just go."
"They do bring up a good point," Seth stated, "We need more information, some real information on where those two are. Otherwise, there will be more traps. Like I was saying earlier, the less known about us, the better off we'll be."
Jaden looked to the Private Investigator in confusion, "But you were saying that we should do this!"
"What I said is that we can stay safe and alert," the adult of the group corrected, "Obviously, you didn't hear what I was saying after we defeated the Fiends in the cave. You're too reckless; we need to calm down about this before we strike out to save anyone."
The Slifer scoffed, "Then obviously I'll go without your help, since you can't understand about how I feel." the Slifer scoffed as he prepared to signal the duck to ride.
Then, without anyone noticing the speed he was moving in, Claudio grabbed Jaden off the Sonic Duck and tossed him to the ground. Everyone gasped at the harsh action of the J-Hero duelist.
"I've had it with you," Claudio shouted to Jaden. "You're outta control!"
"What are you talking about?" the E-Hero duelist groaned, "Why'd you do that?"
"To keep you from running off again," The J-Hero duelist snapped, "You don't listen to anyone anymore ever since you got into these dimensions! The first dimension you got in, you ran off on your own and found out the biggest problem, we duel and lose, we die! But when you found that out, did you stay cautious? NO! You kept dueling without thinking again, but this time lives that are not yours are at risk! And if you didn't realize what happened earlier, your actions got people you care about, even your sister, almost dead!"
"What about you!?" Jaden countered as he got back up on his feet and got in Claudio's face, "You may have come to this dimension to help Allyson and Jesse, but you won't do much because you're scared of Tragoedia! I'm scared of Yubel as well, but I want to stop them from doing who knows what to my girlfriend and her brother! You on the other hand, once you see him, you'll run scared! I bet if those close to you were taken, you'd jump at the chance!"
Claudio then hit Jaden's face with a right hand! But before he could continue the pummeling, Axel and Jim grabbed Claudio's arms and held him back.
"Claudio, stop this!" Axel shouted as he struggled to keep the J-Hero duelist back while Reyna helped her brother up.
Melody then got into Claudio's face and shouted, "Claudio that was uncalled for!" She glared at him, causing her boyfriend's glare to falter and stopped struggling.
Claudio groaned in frustration, and then walked off to a Sonic Duck and mounted it. He then looked to Jaden one last time and said, "Jaden, if you don't keep your friends safe, you won't want to see me again!" He then snapped the reins, telling the Sonic Duck to run off.
"Wait, Claudio!" Melody shouted after him, "Get back here!"
"Damn," Fidel growled, "We got to go after him! It's not going to be good if he gets caught!" He stated as he ran to another Sonic Duck.
"When you find him, keep him levelled," Axel said to his partner. "He may do something he'd regret..."
"Got it, amigo," Fidel nodded.
"I'll go with you," Yuri said as she got onto another Sonic Duck and helped Kylie in the front of her, so she could keep him steady on it. She then turned to Jim and Shirley, "I'll be back."
"I'll help out, too," Tetsu added, "He's going to need all the help he can get."
"Stay safe, out there," the Fossil duelist smiled as Shirley growled in agreement as they watched their friends ride off after Claudio.
"I'm going to," Melody stated as she mounted another Sonic Duck, "I don't want doing any more things out of his fear and frustration!" She then took off after Fidel and Yuri, determined to find her boyfriend.
Reyna looked at the retreating forms sadly while holding her brother, "I can't believe he would do that..." Jaden groaned as he walked out of Reyna's embrace and walked over to the Sonic Duck he was riding on. "What are you doing Jaden?"
"To find Allyson and Jesse," Jaden stated, "If you want to follow me you can, if not..." He sighed as he told the rest of the gang before taking off.
"Jaden, get back here," Reyna shouted as she followed after him with a Sonic Duck.
"Wait for me," Crystal added as she mounted her Sonic Duck and followed Reyna.
"Hey wait a second," Chazz shouted after him, but got no response, "Damn, both of them walked off and didn't want our input."
"This is too heart wrenching," Sam frowned. "We should be staying together, not splitting up!"
"Right," Axel said as he and Jim mounted more Sonic Ducks, "It's better that we clear away from here; even with Zure gone, the enemy knows where to look if we stay."
"We better get a move on," the Fossil duelist nodded. "We should at least follow Jaden since he'll be the closest one."
"Not to mention he's the one with a map," Kairi stated.
"Yeah, it wouldn't be good to get lost now," Bradshaw added.
"And I don't want anyone coming after us," Mikoto sighed worriedly.
"Don't worry," Kurogasa assured her as he patted her shoulder, "Let's just do what Seth says, summon a high-ranked monster or combination and take out whoever comes after us!"
"Then let's get a move on," Kenji added.
It was then one of the remaining Sonic Ducks took it upon himself and picked up Syrus by the blaze and flipped him on its back. Unfortunately when the duck started running, Syrus was barely hanging onto the scarf as he was screaming along the way.
"We better get going then," Atticus assured.
"Yeah and don't fall off," Alexis added.
Chazz sighed angrily, "What's with Jaden?"
"What's with Claudio, too?" Sam added.
"Let's get a move on!" Hassleberry announced as the six of them mounted Sonic Ducks and rode off.
"Looks like it's our turn," Kurogasa said to his gang, as Vincent, Bradshaw, Kairi, and Mikoto nodded.
"Too bad you won't be seeing Brron's fortress!" A male voice shouted.
"But we'll be happy to show you our camp instead!" Another male voice followed.
"Huh!?"
A white smoke enveloped the fortress and knocked out the remaining five duelists. It was then that two figures showed themselves, looming over the unconscious duelists.
"That was easy," The Fiend stated. He was a purple skinned monster that had a dark blue mask over his face, dressed in a dark blue muscle shirt and pants. He landed on the ground with his black-feathered wings. He was called Fabled Ashenveil. "I just wish taking on the Gods years ago were easy as this."
"Then we better do this before our Master gets upset at us," The second fiend said. He was clad in silver armor with a black mask over its face. He flew with the dark green wings on his arms like a Harpie Lady. This was Fabled Gallabas. "But first, the party favors!"
"Of course," Ashenveil stated as he took five orbs and tossed them over the duelists, letting them be absorbed into the bodies, "Good thing we took these items from Brron's fortress; he must have had plans for the one our Master wants and use them against us."
"Then let's get a move..." Gallabas stopped talking as he looked down at Kurogasa and noticed that the orb didn't absorb into his flesh. "Wait, this orb didn't take this boy!"
The purple fiend growled, "Because it was meant for a girl in yellow! It won't work on this one!"
"What should we do?" the silver armored fiend asked.
"Leave him, take the other four, and then search for the girl! We're running out of time."
Soon, Ashenveil picked up Bradshaw and Kairi and hoisted them over his shoulders while Gallabas took flight and grabbed Vincent and Mikoto and took flight, leaving Kurogasa in the fortress.
Meanwhile, Jaden raced across the canyons and followed the map to the nearest fortress he could find. He had a stern look on his face, 'Allyson, Jesse! I know you two are still alive! Just hang on! I can't concern myself with Claudio now, but I deal with him later.'
If he'd paid attention, there were two figures watching him go by.
"It's him: the outside who defeated Zure!" Stated a fiend in dark, silver armor with grey spheres and horns attached to it and bat-like wings on his back.
"Hold it! He's not our concern!" He was interrupted by another fiend with gold armor with bronze colored diamonds attached to him and gargoyle-like wings on his back. "He's the Mad King's opponent." He then pointed to the distance where more people were following him. "There's our prey... Get ready..."
After seeing Axel, Jim, Sam, Seth, and Kenji pass by, the Fiends saw Chazz yelling at his Sonic Duck to go faster. It complied as it jumped over a rock, but it knocked over the Ojama duelist in the process while it kept going.
"Hey! Don't leave me here!" Chazz yelled after his steed. He was then interrupted by Hassleberry's Sonic Duck ramming into him, dropping the Jurrac duelist on his back as well and leaving him.
And speaking of the Sonic Ducks, those wild ones rammed into Alexis and Atticus' Sonic Ducks, dropping them on their backsides.
Some time passed by as the four of them regrouped.
"I bet Jaden hasn't noticed that we're not behind him," Chazz grumbled as he crossed his arms, "We should have followed Claudio with the others."
"I agree," Hassleberry sighed, "We all came here to rescue Allyson and Jesse but we can't even get the guy to stay still."
"We've found very few clues about Allyson and Jesse," Atticus recalled, "But Jaden doesn't care as long as he's got the feeling that they are here in this dimension. We need more than that..."
"But both Jaden and Claudio... they've changed since Yubel and Tragoedia came after them," Alexis noted, "I never thought it would come to a fight between them. I know Claudio was trying to make Jaden understand, but he didn't have to take it that far. Here's hoping Melody and the others can get through to him."
Suddenly, the mark of Anger appeared on Chazz's neck and the Slifer reacted to it, "But Claudio's right! Jaden hasn't paid attention to us! After confiding in him to help me with Jachin, I figured I can actually be friends with the guy. But he just proves me wrong!"
Then the mark of Hatred appeared on Hassleberry's shoulder, making him take on the emotion, "That's really selfish of him! I can't believe I have this hatred bottled up in me! Is this what it's like to hate someone so much!?"
The mark of Anguish appeared on Atticus' right hand, making him reply with, "I'm not saying we should blame him, but I wish Jaden knew we're all going through a rough time, just like he is..."
Finally, the mark of Sadness appeared on Alexis' right arm, making her gloomy as she said, "Right now Jaden's trying too hard... But not for Allyson and Jaden, but to get something off his chest..."
Chazz growled, "Claudio should have hit him harder! I'll make sure of that when I get to him!"
Hassleberry frowned as he looked in the direction they were going, "But how are we going to go after him since we lost our ducks?"
"We're probably far away from that next fortress," Atticus figured somberly. "This is so distressing..."
"Atticus," Alexis frowned, "Don't say such saddening things!"
"Are you lost?" A voice called out from behind them, causing them to gasp in shock when they looked up to see who addressed them. They saw two Fiends jump from the ledge above and right in front of them.
"We can lead you to the Mad King's Fortress." The gold armored Fiend stated.
"It's easy for us with our speed," the sliver armored Fiend added, "We'll be there before your friend gets there..."
Chazz jumped in front of the gang and activated his duel disk, "You're not taking one step towards us, Fiends!"
The two Fiends frowned as they talked amongst each other. "Oh? He wants to duel us, it seems," the sliver Fiend stated.
"Don't do it, Chazz," Alexis protested, "We can't run the risk of losing your life! Jachin and Sam would be heartbroken!" Chazz growled with his conflicting emotions, knowing the two younger generation duelists would be beyond consoling if he died.
The gold Fiend smirked, "The kindness of humans is so troublesome..."
"Oh great, I remember them," Atticus said, now feeling worried, "It's Goldd the Wu-Lord and Silva the Warlord! Level 5 monsters and they'll be hard opponents, especially since Zure was Level 4 and he gave Jaden a rough time."
Hassleberry then stepped up and growled, "No matter what world it is, I'm still a duelist! We might as well fight this duel!"
Silva groaned as he pointed to the dino duelist, "He's got some fire, that one..."
"Unfortunately, we have our own conditions," Goldd muttered darkly as both Fiends took out their weapons of choice: Goldd carried a golden axe while Silva had daggers attached to his gauntlets. "We aim to bring you back alive!"
"Our orders from our King," Silva declared as they leapt into action.
The four duelists didn't see the attacks coming as Goldd used his weapon's handle to strike Chazz and Atticus on the back of their heads, while Silva used the flat side of his daggers to hit Hassleberry and Alexis on their heads as well. Once done, all four duelists had fallen like leaves thanks to the speed of the attacks.
"All done," Goldd said proudly.
"It would have been troublesome if those two forced a duel from us," Silva added. "So let's take them..."
"Wait!" the gold Fiend interrupted as he looked to his partner, "Didn't the King say there were five people that absorbed the orbs?"
Silva counted the people laid out on the ground, and groaned as he saw that they were indeed one short, "Damn, where's number 5!?"
Goldd picked up Atticus and Alexis over his shoulders and stated, "This will do for now. We can search for the last one later..."
"Where did he go anyway," Silva wondered as he carried Chazz and Hassleberry under his arms.
Their answer was deeper into the canyon, but far away from anyone else. Syrus was still screaming for his life as his Sonic Duck continued to run. "Jaden! Claudio! Everyone!" He cried out, "Anyone's fine, just save me!" But as the Sonic Duck jumped over a ledge safely, scaring the young Ra once more, the mark of Doubt appeared on Syrus' left cheek and made him downcast, "I guess not even Jaden's coming after me..."
With Jaden, he finally made it to the fortress in question. It was made out of dark marble bring that looked like it used to be white. He dismounted the Sonic Duck and prepared to walk inside...
"Hold up, Jaden!" Jim shouted as he, Axel, Seth, Kenji, Sam, Reyna, and Crystal caught up with him. Jaden turned around to face the Fossil duelist, who pointed back the way they came. "The others that followed haven't showed up yet. Maybe something happened along the way."
Jaden gasped as he looked down, "I see..." He muttered. He looked back at the group of seven and asked, "I'm sorry, but can you go after them?"
Everyone gasped, including Winged Kuriboh, at what was just said.
"But what if something happened to them?" Sam wondered, now looking back and worried about Chazz.
"They're friends who helped you," Axel added, "Don't forget about them!"
"Damn," Kenji growled as he looked back, "I hope Alexis is alright..."
"And to reach our goal, we need everyone's help," Seth stated, "Since we've decided along the way to finish the Dark World Army, we need all the help we can get." He then looked to Jaden and said, "Until we get back from looking, wait here."
"Right," Jaden nodded, "I got it."
"Hold you to it," Jim stated as he, Seth, Axel, Kenji, and Sam left on their Sonic Ducks.
Reyna and Crystal dismounted their Sonic Ducks and stared at Jaden.
"Why didn't you go?" Jaden asked them.
"To make sure you keep your promise," Reyna stated, crossing her arms over her chest, "You didn't listen earlier since no one watched you, so making sure this time."
"You know if you go in there now, you'll be ambushed," Crystal added, "I want to help Jesse and Allyson anyway I can, but I can't do it if I'm captured or dead." And then she walked up to Jaden and patted him on the shoulders, "I know how you feel to lose someone you truly care about and someone who despite having negatives stick right by you."
"Yeah," Reyna added as she hugged her brother, "I don't like this anymore than you do, but we have to stick together at times like this... Okay?"
Jaden sighed and smiled, "Okay..."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Good, now let's..."
Suddenly, two chains shot from the fortress entrance and wrapped round Crystal and Reyna, pulling them inside.
"JADEN!" They shouted as they disappeared into the fortress.
"NO!" Jaden shouted as he ran inside after them.
But once inside, a white flash stopped him in his tracks and blinded the Slifer. Once it passed, he saw the fortress filled with many Fiends and Zombies that were cheering. Jaden took a good look around and saw that the fortress was actually an arena and he was in the heart of it!
"What the?" He muttered as he looked to his right and saw Crystal and Reyna chained to the wall, looking back at him with scared eyes. "Reyna, Crystal!"
An evil laugh filled the arena, prompting Jaden to look ahead and saw a staircase leading to a shadow of a monster sitting on a throne. The shadow got off the throne and walked into the light of the torches, showing his appearance. It was another Fiend with a jagged face that had skeleton-like hair tendrils out of his head. He wore a black robe with a white-furred collar and surprisingly, chains wrapped around his body while holding onto a duel disk.
"My name is Brron, the Mad King of Dark World," the Fiend introduced himself, "I'm the ruler of this fortress."
Jaden frowned as he shouted, "I'm Jaden Yuki! I know that Freed's people and also that my girlfriend and her brother are also being held here!" He then glanced at Crystal and his sister. "And I'm also here to save my sister and my other friend as well!"
"You see the two women before you," Brron stated, "But as for the others... maybe they are here as well...In this fortress, many humans from other worlds are held. Just look at the sand beneath your feet." Jaden gasped as he looked down, plus from the revelation that the Mad King dropped on him, "The sand in this arena has absorbed many humans. Those who escape are punished for their sins. And so they fall prey to monsters like us, for our enjoyment." He then grinned, "Whether in a duel or by my vicious pets!"
Jaden looked horrified as the thought of Allyson and Jesse being surrounded by the monsters of this fortress with nowhere to go but at Brron's mercy. "They can't be..."
"If you want to know, you have to win," the Mad King declared, "Especially if you want to save the women."
The Slifer growled, "Okay! I'll do it!"
"Yes, you will!" Brron said as he used his arms to rip apart the chains holding them together with mighty grunt. "But you'll have to kill me in the process!"
Reyna and Crystal gasped as well.
"Why do all of you risk your lives like this," Crystal protested.
The Mad King walked down the stairs and strapped on his duel disk, "Fighting is our life." He replied as the disk activated, "The defeated opponent's life becomes our blood and flesh."
"In other words, talking against this is useless," Reyna frowned.
"Words are useless in this world!" Brron shouted.
"Then, I risk everything to rescue those dear to me," Jaden declared as he activated his duel disk, "That includes my life and yours!"
Brron laughed as both players drew their opening hands.
DUEL!
Jaden: 8000
Brron, Mad King of Dark World: 8000
"I'll begin this duel," Brron announced, drawing his sixth card, "First, I reveal the Field Spell known as the Gates of Dark World!" Once inserted into his Duel Disk, behind Brron appeared a large, black gateway with many murals of Fiends on it. "Next, I summon Renge, Gatekeeper of Dark World from the depths of darkness!" The Gates of Dark World opened up and unleashed a blinding light making Jaden block with his duel disk. Every spectator was watching in awe as from the light, a giant Fiend appeared with silver armor over his skeletal-like body. On his chest was a blue jewel and once he reached the field, he used his giant, orange hands to play defense. But the look in his eyes showed that he was completely mindless. (4/100/2100)
"That's a lot of DEF," Jaden wondered.
"And there's more," Brron stated as he pointed to the gates. "Thanks to my Field Spell, all Fiend-Type Monsters gain 300 ATK and DEF! Making my Renge truly deserving of his nickname, Iron Wall Renge!" The crowd cheered as Renge growled menacingly as he increased his power. (4/100-400/2100-2400) "Good luck, Jaden! You're going to need it to save the girls..."
"It's my move," Jaden announced as he drew his sixth card, "I summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman!" He announced as his E-Hero of Water appeared on the field. (4/800/1200) "And with no other cards on the field, I draw two cards!" He stated as he drew out his extra cards. "Next, I use Charge Fusion to fuse Elemental Heroes Bubbleman on the field and Avian in my hand to form my Elemental Hero Mariner!"
Avian appeared onto the field as he and Bubbleman disappeared into a fusion vortex. After the process was done, a new face appeared. A blue skinned warrior with long, black hair and wore blue and red armor around his chest, arms and legs and wore blue underwear-like tights. On his left arm, he wielded a small, silver anchor. (5/1400/1000)
"I'll set one card facedown, and then activate Fusion Weapon to boost my Fusion Monster's ATK and DEF by 1500!" The E-Hero duelist announced as a Set card appeared behind Mariner and then he was outfitted with a red, three-pronged weapon that charged electricity. (5/1400-2900/1000-2500)
"Yes," Crystal cheered, "With that line up, Jaden can win this in about 4 turns! Mariner can attack directly! And if Brron does try something to prevent that, Renge won't be able to stop it!"
"It will be less than that," Reyna continued, not convinced, "I know he'll have something else to continue the pressure as the duel goes on!"
"Now Mariner's effect activates," Jaden continued, "When there are facedown cards in my Spell & Trap Card Zone, Mariner's allowed to attack directly!"
Mariner jumped into the air and launched electricity at the defenseless king and shocked him heavily, making his screams heard throughout the fortress.
Jaden: 8000
Brron, Mad King of Dark World: 5100
"It's your move!" Jaden concluded as Mariner returned to his side.
"Ah, I figured you would go after my Gatekeeper... But it looks like I have to extend the invitation," Brron stated as he drew his next card. He grinned at his draw, "And this will be the card to defeat you! I call upon the powers of Wicked Canon!" He announced, inserting a Continuous Spell Card into his disk. Appearing behind the King now was a giant, brown canon with a devil-looking skull imprinted on the cover. It was leaking a dark aura.
"What is that about?" Reyna wondered.
"I don't know," Crystal whispered.
Brron cackled as he threw up a blank card from his hand and threw at the canon. The dark aura caught it above the canon and kept it suspended in midair.
Suddenly, the rumbling of the earth was heard as Jaden tried to keep steady while Reyna and Crystal tried to stand against while they were in chains. Above the left side of the interior, four figures in chains rose from the prison gates and were currently unconscious. Jaden, Reyna, and Crystal gasped as they saw who they were.
"Chazz! Alexis! Atticus! Hasssleberry!" the Senior Slifer shouted. "What did you do to them!?"
"I figured you would like to see them one last time before the end comes for you all," Brron said cryptically as he played his next card. "Since you won't come after my monster, I'll just start my attack! First, I activate the Spell Card Destruction! So let us discard our hands and draw new ones!" Brron gleefully discarded his three card hand while Jaden reluctantly discard his three card hand. Both players redrew their respective hand to their previous numbers."
"Uh oh," Reyna gasped.
"Yeah, if he had monsters in his hand..."
"Three of the cards I had were some of my loyal brethren," The Mad King stated, "Now let me introduce you to some of them! I discarded Broww, Huntsman of Dark World!" He announced as the Huntsman that hunted Fidel revealed himself on the field. "Once discarded, I can draw a new card." He drew out his card as Broww vanished. "Next, Kahkki, Guerilla of Dark World!" Soon, one of the leader of the raiding parties that came after Scarr's death appeared. "When discarded, I can destroy one monster on your field!" Jaden gasped. "You don't have anything else to choose from, so let's get started!" The Guerilla grinned as he took out a small dagger and tackled Mariner into the ground before stabbing him through the stomach. The girls looked away as the E-Hero shattered into pixels.
Jaden looked at his facedown card, 'My Hero Barrier's useless now!'
"And finally, I discarded Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World!" Brron continued, "When he's discarded, I can Special Summon him to the field!" The crowd cheered as the monster that was killed by Rahz broke out of the ground and jumped out with his spear. (4/1600-1900/1300-1600) The Mad King cackled as he summoned another card, "And then, I'll summon an old friend of yours! I bring back the man you killed back from the abyss and revive him!"
In a dark red flash, another Fiend appeared and roared in violent and mindless fury... It was Zure, Knight of Dark World! (4/1800-2100/1500-1800)
Jaden gasped as he saw the Fiend that almost killed his friends, glaring at him menacingly while drawing his sword.
"Take your revenge, Zure!" Brron shouted, "Take the life points of the Warrior who defeated you!"
Zure roared as he charged across the field and then dealt a massive slash to Jaden, making him cry out in pain.
Jaden: 6900
Brron, Mad King of Dark World: 5100
"Jaden!" the girls cried as they saw Jaden staggering on his feet.
"Now Beiige," the Mad King cackled, "Don't feel left out! Go, deal some more pain!"
The Vanguard jumped into the air and then descended fast while stabbing Jaden near the same place Zure struck, sending him to the ground.
Jaden: 5000
Brron, Mad King of Dark World: 5100
The monsters in the arena cheered as they saw their King take the lead in the match.
"It'll be your turn if you can get up," Brron laughed as he inserted two more cards into his disk.
Jaden groaned as he stood up and drew his next card, "I summon Elemental Hero Wildheart!" He announced, bringing out the dark-skinned wild Hero. (4/1500/1600) "Next, I activate Wild Half! With Wildheart on the field, I can half the original ATK and DEF of Zure and then place a Half Token with the same stats!"
Zure roared in anguish as he felt himself split apart into two, draining his strength. (4/1800-900-1200/1500-750-1050) x2
"Next, I play Cyclone Boomerang to increase Wildheart's ATK by 500!" He continued as giant, grey boomerang flew onto the field and let Wildheart catch it in hand. (4/1500-2000/1600) "Now I'll attack one of your Zures!" He announced as Wildheart threw his boomerang at Zure's double and shattered him to pixels.
Jaden: 5000
Brron, Mad King of Dark World: 4300
Despite feeling the damage, Brron laughed it off which confused Jaden and the girls.
"Thank you Jaden," the Mad King stated with a bow, "You activated the effect of my Wicked Canon! I can take a Wicked Rune Spell Card from my deck to the graveyard!" Everyone watched as a card slipped out of Brron's deck and revealed itself. It depicted the kanji for "Anger" surrounded by crimson flames.
It was then Chazz decided to wake up and rub his head from the strike of the Wu-Lord. "What the Hell..." He groaned as he focused his eyes and stood up. But once he did, he felt the chains tug on his wrists and gasped. He then looked to his right and saw the three others with him. "Alexis! Atticus! Hassleberry!" He then remembered what happened, "Dammit! Silva and Goldd knocked us out!"
"Boss!" The Ojama brothers then appeared.
"Something's wrong here!" Green stated.
"Yeah, there's a bad vibe all around us," Red said, shivering.
"Is Sam alright?" Chazz wondered.
"She was with Kenji and the other guys," Yellow replied.
The Ojama duelist sighed in relief. "Good, at least someone who cares is still around..."
It was then Kenji, with Sam on his back, hopped onto the watchtower behind Brron's throne and crouched down. "We're here." The ninja duelist announced as Sam got off his back. "I was thinking that the others got here somehow..."
(Flashback)
Kenji and Sam stopped the rest of the gang and declared, "I have a bad feeling... I think the others might be in danger."
"Which is why we're searching," Seth stated.
"I mean that I think Alexis and the others are back at the fortress," the ninja duelist elaborated, "If these Fiends know this area better than us, then in the time we took to get there and back here..."
"They would have been picked up," Sam figured out, as she also felt worried.
The others understood and nodded.
"Alright, go back and check on Jaden as well," Axel noted.
"And be careful..." Jim added.
"Don't worry, they won't see me," Kenji declared as he began to turn around.
"I'm coming with you," Sam added as she followed after the ninja duelist, "If they also got Chazz, I'll make them pay when you give the go-ahead to attack!"
Kenji smiled, "Didn't know you liked him that much..."
The Gusta duelist blush and frowned while looking away, "So..."
"Just saying," Kenji added, "Chazz needs someone after what happened between him and Alexis."
"Heartbroken?"
"Yup..."
"Wow..."
(End Flashback)
"Man, that was a rush," the Gusta duelist stated as she took a deep breath. She then looked down and saw the duel. "Hey, it's Jaden..." She then gasped as she saw Reyna and Crystal shackled to the wall. "Damn, they got those two."
Kenji growled angrily, "That's not all they have..."
Sam turned to look Kenji's way and gasped horribly at who else was shackled. "Chazz!" The ninja duelist quickly covered her mouth.
"I know how you feel, but we have to move in quietly," He whispered. "Otherwise we'll end up like them instead of freeing them..."
"Chazz!" Jaden called out to the black coat Slifer, who in turn looked down on him. "Are you alright!? Just sit tight; I'll get you all out soon!"
"That idiot's... in a duel!?" Chazz growled. Suddenly, his eyes dilated and then the dam of frustration and exasperation within him finally broke. "JADEN! YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
All of the Academy Duelists was at a loss for words at what came out of Chazz's mouth. Sure, he was always at heads with Jaden since Day 1... Even when he mellowed out after dealing with his brothers. But they never heard such fury from the Ojama duelist. Even the Ojamas couldn't believe it as they immediately backed off from him before trying to calm him down.
"I thought you came with us to rescue Allyson and Jesse!" The Ojama duelist continued to shout, making Jaden gasp. "You've been acting on you own from the very beginning, not even caring about the rest of us! Claudio was right about you! We should have gone with him since you just keep doing what YOU want to do!"
The loud voice caused Alexis, Atticus, and Hassleberry to wake up and realize the predicament they were in.
"You're wrong," Jaden protested, "I've been..."
"Hell no!" Chazz interrupted, "You're just the guy who would forget everything!" He then pointed at Reyna and Crystal. "Just look at what you put your sister and Jesse's friend through! You only cared about yourself! Just when I thought I could trust you as a friend just like when I needed your help with Jachin! But we were all fools to follow you!"
Then, the Anger symbol on his neck brighten and cause Chazz to choke on his next words. The symbol was then extracted from his neck and absorbed into the Wicked Canon, causing its aura to grow. The black coat Slifer started to fall over causing Black, Green, Red, and Blue to catch him. But then the unbelievable happened...
Yellow saw in horror as Chazz gave a dying gasp as he and the four Ojama Brothers started glow and then break apart into golden particles!
"What's going on!?" Yellow shouted, "Chazz, no!"
Kenji and Sam couldn't believe what they saw as well once the shackles that once held Chazz dropped to the dirt. "Chazz..." The ninja duelist gasped, seeing one of his friends and rivals gone before his eyes.
Sam was at a loss for words as tears started to leak from her eyes, 'No... no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!'
"CHAZZ!" Alexis, Atticus, Hassleberry, Crystal, and Reyna cried out as the golden particles fizzled out of sight.
"NO!" Jaden shouted.
Brron cackled loudly as he discarded the Wicked Rune and the Wicked Canon opened up to reveal Chazz and the four Ojamas imprinted on the page with the Anger Rune crossed over them.
"Chazz is..." Jaden still couldn't believe at what just happened.
The Mad King continued to laugh, "Come and continue your attacks! I can take the pain! Wicked Canon will take that pain and use your friends to create new entries inside its pages!"
Atticus looked distraught, "So if Jaden keeps attacking, then the one who disappears..."
Alexis was now horrified, "I don't like the sound of that! Why are we the ones that die because of a duel we're not in!?"
Hassleberry finally reached his breaking point as he stared daggers at Jaden, "That's it! It's all Jaden's fault! It's all because you always did what you wanted!"
"Y-You guys..." Jaden was now at a loss for words as his friends were looking at him now with negative feelings.
"That would mean..." Crystal gasped as she looked at Jaden.
"Jaden has to choose between us..." Reyna whispered as she looked to the friends left on the cliff. "And them..."
Brron relished in the despair of the humans, 'That's it... keep suffering... The negative feelings from your emotions, through the Wicked Canon, will be fed into that card! He stared up at the blank card over the Wicked Canon, which started to pop veins all over itself. 'In order to awaken the Super Polymerization card, you will all become sacrifices!'
Kenji growled, "I'll be damned if Alexis gets killed over this!" He then let go of Sam, who was still distraught over seeing Chazz's death. "Listen Sam, stay here... I'm going after the rest of them. I can't trust Jaden to quit this duel... If he deals more damage, then the rest will be gone like Chazz." Sam nodded unconsciously as Kenji started making use of his stealth to go after the last three.
Jaden fell to his hands and knees, "Oh no! I have to... choose who lives... and dies?"
Brron grinned, "What's wrong, Jaden? Are you going to play anything else? If not, don't you think you should finish this turn?"
Jaden stood up and gave a weary nod, "I end my turn."
The Mad King looked to the ones trapped above him. 'There's only 3 humans left... I'm missing one sacrifice... Goldd and Silva... Bring the last one soon...'
Somewhere around the cliffs, Syrus and his Sonic Duck were taking a break. The winged-beast monsters was taking a drink from a small opened rock.
"Where am I even going?" Syrus said to himself. "But I know nobody's coming to help me..." Then, the kanji for Doubt appeared on his left cheek. "Why have I gotten into all this? Why are you so cruel to me, Jaden?" He started to cry a little.
"Would you like to meet with your friends?"
Syrus gasped as he looked above him and saw Goldd and Silva hovering over him, staring him in the face.
"All you have to do..." Goldd said.
"...is follow us." Silva finished. "Oh and by the way..." He then used his daggers strike the water rock that the Sonic Duck was drinking from, scaring it and making it run away.
"You won't need transportation..." Goldd continued as he and his partner advanced towards the frightened Ra.
'Someone help me!' He cried in his mind.
Suddenly, a flash appeared from his duel disk and blinded the Dark World monsters.
"What's going on!?" Silva shouted.
"What's with the light show!?" Goldd cried out.
Syrus saw his deck shoot a beam that knocked down the both of them. "Wha?" A loud, familiar beep was sounded as another form materialized in front of him. It formed into Syrus's righteous Duel Spirit... Transformer Bumblebee in his car form! "Bumblebee?" The Dark World monsters started to stir and awaken. "Oh no!" The Ra cried.
Bumblebee let out another beep as he opened his driver side door and used the seat belt inside to wrap Syrus' right arm and pull him inside.
"WHOA!" The Ra shouted as he was pulled in and the car door slammed. The Transformer revved up its wheels and started to make a break for cover. It was then Goldd and Silva got back to their feet.
"Damn that brat!" Goldd shouted, "We have to go after him!"
"That's right," Silva agreed, "King Brron still needs that fifth rune to complete his card!"
The both of them took to the skies and continued their pursuit of Syrus.
Back at the Dark World Arena, the monsters around the arena were cheering for Brron's next move. And with Jaden's state of mind, it was the Mad King's time to strike.
'What do I do?' Jaden thought, feeling afraid. 'If I give up and die, Reyna and Crystal will die with me! But if Brron dies, my friends die!' He then gritted his teeth and shut his eyes. 'WHAT DO I DO!?'
"Jaden!" Hassleberry shouted down at the Slifer. "Did you forget about us!? If you don't crush that guy and rescue us all soon, I'll hate you even after I become a fossil!"
Brron grinned, "You see what's done here? I've placed you in a no-win situation! If you die, you won't have a peaceful ending as you'll bring your sister and her friend down with you. If you'd continue, you'll risk losing the friends with my Runes attached to them!" He laughed, "No matter what, you'll make your loved ones suffer in death or in life!"
Brron drew his next card, but frowned, "But it looks like I don't have anything to deal with you yet. So, I'll use the secondary effect of my Field Spell! I can banish Broww from my graveyard, discard 1 Fiend-Type monster from my hand to the graveyard, such as my Lucent, Netherlord of Dark World, and draw one card!" He announced, removing Broww from his graveyard, discarding Lucent, and then drawing another card. "And since Lucent was discarded from my hand, I can Special Summon him to the field! Come forth my fallen Lord of the Dead!"
While Kenji was moving closer to Alexis and the others, he paused for a moment and gasped as he saw the monster he defeated back at the Dominion of the Beasts. The monster walked out of the Gates, leaking darkness with every step of the way. The crowd cheered at the monster's return, but just like Zure and Renge, he was just a mindless shell. (6/2400-2700/0-300)
Jaden braced himself as he was staring down four monsters to his one.
"Lucent, take down his Wildheart!" Brron commanded as the Netherlord charged in and prepared a slash of his claws...
"I activate my Trap Card," Jaden announced, revealing his facedown card, "Hero Barrier! This negates an attack as long as an Elemental Hero is on the field!" Wildheart thought fast and used his boomerang to spin it at an alarming speed. It created a shield made of wind and electricity and blocked Lucent's attack and repelled him back onto Brron's side.
"So, you're resisting?" Brron cackled as he set one more card on the field, "Good, I can't wait to see the choice you'll make. Now take your turn..."
Alexis, Atticus, and Hassleberry tensed up again as Jaden prepared to make his next move.
With Syrus, he was still making his getaway inside Bumblebee. He was screaming all the while as he held onto the steering wheel for dear life against the speed. Unknown to either of them, Goldd and Silva was right behind them.
"Do they think they can get away?" Silva wondered in disgust.
"Maybe I should stab that little machine and pull out that brat," Goldd growled.
"Fine, but remember not to kill the brat," his partner replied as they charged in. Once they did, they were able to strike the back tires of Bumblebee and caused them to pop and deflate.
"WHOAAAAAA!" Syrus cried out as his partner spun out of control with no signs of stopping. The spins were able to knock the twin Lords into the cliffs. But they were still conscious enough to see what was about to happen to their prey.
"He's heading for the canyon!" Goldd shouted.
"Oh crap," Silva muttered.
"NOOOO!" Syrus shouted as Bumblebee skidded off the cliff and dropped into the canyon below with a loud crash.
Once Goldd and Silva looked over the cliff, they cringed at seeing the damage before them.
"This is bad," Silva stated, "This wasn't supposed to happen..."
"If the king calls us, he got away from us," Goldd assured his partner, "That's what happened!"
"Right!" They both agreed as they disappeared out of sight.
The joke was on them however as the wreckage of Bumblebee glowed and shrunk into two mannequins, one on top of the other, before a purple light enveloped them both and went into two spell cards. They depicted the same mannequin that was using a mirror and a pencil to draw a face on itself. The Spells were held by Axel and Seth!
"The Spell Card, Copy Doll," They declared as he pocketed the cards.
Next to him were Syrus and Bumblebee... They survived the crash!
Jim walked from behind a wall and said, "Good thing I was able to find you before those Fiends did."
"Thanks guys," Syrus stated, and then looked to Bumblebee, "And thanks Bumblebee for getting me away from those creeps." The yellow Transformer gave happy beeps before vanishing back into his partner's deck.
"We're glad you're safe," Jim stated with relief, "Now let's go; Jaden, Reyna, and Crystal are waiting back at the fortress." At the mention of Jaden, Syrus started to sulk, "What's wrong?"
"I'm worried about Jaden's words," The Transformer duelist replied, "He said he would do anything to find Jesse, Allyson, and Freed's people. Even sacrifice anything..."
Jim, Axel, and Seth looked to each other with concern, understanding where Syrus was coming from. When Jaden said those words after defeating Zure and watching Freed's sacrifice, Jaden was hell-bent on doing anything it takes to find everyone he missed.
It was then Axel made a decision, "Let's go back to the fortress; if Reyna and Crystal couldn't stop Jaden from going inside that fortress, their lives are in danger." Jim and Syrus nodded as the three of them made their way back.
Back at the fortress, everyone inside was awaiting Jaden's next move... The Slifer was still wary of what his next actions might do. He felt like no matter what, Jaden was going to lose people closest to him...
"What's wrong," Brron taunted, "Make your move. Or... Do you want to surrender and go straight to Hell and bring the women with you?"
Jaden shook as he drew his next card. It was Elemental Hero Neos!
'Jaden!' the Hero from Neo Space called from the card, 'The dice has been rolled already. It has turned our like this; you must use up all your strength to win against this duelist! It is the fate of a Duelist!'
'I can't,' Jaden thought, 'I can't attack or else I'll sacrifice another one of my friends! There's only one way to win: either by making him deck out or use an automatic victory combo. But there's no way I can do that!' In his frustration, he said, "On my Standby Phase, I retrieve Charge Fusion..." He said as the Fusion card slid out of his graveyard, letting him retrieve it. "Then I switch Wildheart to defense mode and set one card facedown."
Alexis, Atticus, and Hassleberry sighed in relief as Jaden wasn't going to deal damage this turn. But then they turned to sounds of the many spectators that weren't pleased with Jaden's decision. All of them were telling the Slifer that he was supposed to fight, that he had to show his strength against their king.
Reyna and Crystal were also distraught at seeing Jaden's decision as they knew he couldn't do much unless he'd take someone down with it.
Brron laughed, "You are a coward hesitating the way you are! In that case, I will help you with your decision! I reveal a Continuous Trap Card, Darkness Half!" He announced as his Trap revealed itself, depicting Kahkki standing near a wall while its shadow was animating itself. Suddenly, Lucent released a dark aura from his body and cut his ATK! (6/2400-1200-1500/300)
"What the?" Jaden gasped.
"Darkness Half will the cut the original ATK of my strongest monster," Brron explained, "In exchanged, I can summon two Dark Tokens on your side of the field in attack mode!" The dark aura that was expelled from Lucent's body formed into two shadow-like fiends with red eyes. (3/1000-1300/1000-1300) x2
"What are you doing?" Jaden wondered as he glanced over to Alexis, Atticus, and Hassleberry who were now worried. "I'm not going to attack you, but you're increasing my monsters!?"
"Not just that, but I also use the power of my Dark Tournament!" The Mad King announced as another Trap Card appeared onto the field, showing a martial artist being consumed by a dark aura. It was then Wildheart was consumed by the same dark aura and his eyes glowed blood red as he stood back up and decided to use his sword.
"Wildheart, why are you standing up!?" Jaden asked, frightened.
"Dark Tournament forces all monsters into attack mode this turn and causes all monsters to attack this turn," Brron continued, "However, no monster will be destroyed this turn!"
"Jaden, stop him!" Hassleberry shouted.
"Help us!" Alexis cried.
"Don't let him do this!" Atticus called out.
Wildheart's fighting instinct was awakened as he clutched his sword tightly. "Wildheart, don't attack..." Jaden said somberly. And unknown to everyone around him, Axel, Jim, Seth and Syrus walked through the tunnel behind the Slifer.
"Be careful," Axel whispered to the others, "They don't know we're here..."
Syrus managed to catch a glimpse of the prisoners on top of him to the left and strapped to the walls on his right, "Everyone..." He muttered. He could also hear the spectators around him cheering that the attacking was going to happen by Jaden's monsters.
Jaden gasped as it suddenly hit him, "If that's the case, I'll just attack Renge! I'll take all the damage and stop you from using that Canon!"
Brron grinned, "That's what I thought you'd say," He then revealed another Trap Card, familiar to everyone.
"No, not Taunt!" Jaden cried.
"That's right, I force you to attack Zure!" The Mad King cackled as Jaden's friends now looked horrified.
"I can't believe it," Jaden sulked, "I can't stop it..."
"Then I'll do it!"
Everyone gasped as Kenji jumped onto the ground where the prisoners were standing on, and knelt down to break his fall.
"Kenji!" the captives shouted happily.
"RRRAGGGHHH!" A member of the Goblin Attack Force whom guarded the prisoners attempted to take the ninja duelist down. But using his agility, Kenji was able to use the momentum of the goblin's speed to force him into a wall by rolling on his back and tossing him into it, effectively knocking him out and taking the keys. Quickly, he unlocked the shackles holding Alexis and his friends.
"You guys okay," the ninja said, gasping for breath at what could have happened.
Immediately, Alexis ran into his arms and hugged him tightly. "I am now..."
"Thanks for the help, dude," Atticus smiled.
"Yeah, unlike someone else," Hassleberry growled as he stared down Jaden.
Speaking of Jaden, the Slifer sighed in relief that his friends were safe.
However...
Wildheart leapt into the fray and hit Zure with a savage strike to his chest with his blade. And as the Knight of Dark World felt the strike, so did Brron who let out a wail of pain.
Jaden: 5000
Brron, Mad King of Dark World: 3500
Jaden quickly turned his attention back to the battle, just seeing Wildheart finish his attack and gasped. "No!" He then looked to his Dark Tokens and saw them leap after Zure as well. "STOP!" Both Tokens dealt a devastating slash with their claws upon the same spot Wildheart hit, making Zure and Brron cry out in unison.
Jaden: 5000
Brron, Mad King of Dark World: 3400-3300
The Mad King steadied himself after his attacks, and then laughed wickedly. "Jaden... Because the three attacks you dealt gave me damage, the effects of Wicked Canon now activates three times!" Soon, the deck shuffled through itself and ejected three cards and revealed them to be Wicked Rune – Hatred, Wicked Rune – Anguish, and Wicked Rune – Sorrow before vanishing into the graveyard. Brron continued to laugh and Jaden looked frightened as both of them looked to Alexis, Atticus, and Hassleberry all felt the pain of their Runes taking their life.
"Jaden!" Hassleberry shouted, "Why do you have to sacrifice us to save your sister, Crystal, and Freed's Friends!? I guess we're not that important to you, after all!"
"No, it's not like that!" Jaden protested.
"It's just painful," Atticus moaned as he fell to his knees, "It's not just the physical pain I feel, but the pain of betrayal... by you, Jaden..."
"I haven't…" Jaden continued to protest.
Kenji could only hold Alexis as she looked down at Jaden with sorrow, "I thought we were your friends, Jaden. But I have to carry this sadness of being betrayed by..."
"Alexis...?" Jaden muttered.
Soon, the runes extracted themselves from the three bodies and flew into the Wicked Canon. Then it happened...
Alexis, Atticus, and Hassleberry glowed and broke apart into golden particles while everyone heard the haunting cries they left behind…
"No..." Jaden muttered as Reyna and Crystal turned away from the sight and cried softly.
Kenji felt to his knees as he saw not only two of his friends vanished, but the girl he loved being taken from him. "Alexis..." He then noticed something in her place, the headband she held when Kenji was in the Society of Light. He took it in his hands and clutched it tightly as he let out tears from his eyes.
Syrus gasped horribly as he saw his friends being sacrificed, but more to the horror at what Jaden's actions caused, "So this... Is what he meant about sacrificing others...?"
The Wicked Canon then turned the pages to show its new contents...
The second page showed Hassleberry in a fit of rage with the Hatred kanji imprinted over him.
The third page showed Atticus racked with pain with the Anguish kanji imprinted over him.
And the fourth page showed a sorrowful Alexis with the Sorrow kanji imprinted over her.
Suddenly, the card above the Wicked Canon started to make a faint picture over the breathing veins. Brron saw this and was pleased with his progress.
"The time has come for the card to be awakened," He stated ominously. "It didn't need the last ball of Doubt to reveal itself!" Taking Jaden's lack of action as the end of his turn, Brron drew his next card. He then looked to his Continuous Spell Card, "Wicked Canon, I command you to release your power!" The aura left the Wicked Canon and into the blank card, giving the faint picture a more focused sight. "Come forth, Super Polymerization!"
Jaden weakly looked up and saw the card's faint image as well, "Super... Polymerization?"
"Yes... It's reviving," Brron marveled as the image started to become clearer. "Huh!?" Suddenly, the image vanished and the dark aura vanished from the card. "Damn! Four sacrifices weren't enough to revive Super Polymerization! I did need the fifth one!"
Jaden gasped, "What did you say!? You sacrificed everyone to revive that card!?"
Brron turned back his attention to his opponent in confusion before registering the question, "Yes, in order to revive the Super Polymerization card completely, letters of dark energy from five people is necessary."
"So this is what you wanted..."
"Although I can't get Super Polymerization to my hand, Wicked Canon was still activated," Brron stated with a bit of remorse but perked up, "Merely a material monster from Super Polymerization should be enough to defeat you in your current state! I remove my Wicked Canon and the four Wicked Rune cards from my graveyard to Special Summon a monster up to Level 8! And he may be one of the materials of my ultimate monster, Colorless, Chaos King of Dark World, but he is still powerful! I call Reign-Beaux, Overlord of Dark World!"
Wicked Canon erupted into a dark miasma and unleashed another terror of Dark World. It was a dark, intimidating monster clad in black metal armor that covered his whole body except the face that showed a dangerous-looking visage of yellow eyes, curved horns, and a wicked grin. His weapon of chose was a golden-trident with a black hilt. (7/2500-2800/1800-2100)
Jaden backed away as he saw the murderous intent of the Overlord.
"And then, I think I'll use something greater as well," Brron continued as he pointed to his Field Spell, "I activate my Gates of Dark World again! By banishing Kahkki from the graveyard, I discard my Fiend monster to the graveyard and draw 1 card!" He then removed his monster, discarded another monster, and drew out his card. He then grinned, "And now you'll see the power of the monster I discarded! I activated the effect of Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World! Once discarded, I can destroy a monster you control! And I select your Wildheart!"
Everyone gasped as the gates opened from the side, prompting everyone to look left including Wildheart. Suddenly, a massive roar blew from the darkness of the cell and knocked Wildheart into its gust. Reyna and Crystal screamed as the E-Hero landed in front of them and shattered to pixels.
Seeing this got Jaden riled up a little, "Cyclone Boomerang's effect activates! Since it was equipped to Wildheart while he was destroyed by a card effect, I get to destroy all Spell and Trap cards on the field and then deal 100 points of damage for each card destroyed!" He then revealed his facedown card, "But then, I also activate the Trap Card Rookie Fight! I can Special Summon an Elemental Hero up to Level 3 from my deck, and I pick Elemental Hero Avian and place him into defense mode!" He stated as the green E-Hero of wind appeared, covering himself with his wings. (3/1000/1000) Finally, the Cyclone Boomerang appeared out of nowhere and shattered Jaden's Rookie Fight and Brron's Darkness Half! Once done, it flew into the Gates of Dark World and made it crumble from the inside! "And with Darkness Half gone, Lucent's gone as well!"
Lucent roared in pain as he held his head and shattered to pixels.
Jaden: 5000
Brron, Mad King of Dark World: 3000
With the loss of the Gates, the Dark World Monsters and the Dark Tokens began to weaken. (7/2800-2500/2100-1800), (4/400-100/2400-2100), (4/1200-900/1800-1500), (3/1300-1000/1300-1000) x2
"No matter, I can still do this," Brron announced, as he raised his hand towards the field, "I send my Zure back into my hand in order to bring back Grapha from the dead via its first effect! To me, my Dragon Lord!" The same roar that erupted from cells bellowed again as Zure vanished back into Brron's hand. Then, thunderous footsteps shook the field as the figure marched its way from the cells and revealed the monster. A menacing dragon that stood on its two legs that had its wings wrapped around its body to walk through the out of the cell. It had a skeletal-looking face with horns near its mouth, attached to a long, bony neck. A long tail with a sharp tip swung back and forth with each step. "Monsters and prisoners! I give to you the most powerful monster to set foot on this arena, and the executioner of the humans! Meet Grapha, the Dragon Lord of Dark World!" Grapha then unwrapped his wings from his body and let loose another earthshaking roar while revealing its skeletal armored body and arms that raised its claws to the skies. (8/2700/1800)
"2700 ATK," Crystal looked on in shock. "It's a good thing he got rid of that Field Spell when he did, otherwise Jaden would done..."
"Next, I bring back Zure, Knight of Dark World to the field again!" The Mad King continued as he brought back his knight, now back to full strength. (4/1800/1500)
"And thanks to having Avian summoned, he can take more attacks," Reyna looked on the monster lineup.
"It's time," Brron announced, "Zure, continue your revenge by destroying that Avian!" Zure mindlessly complied as he raised his sword above his head and brought it down on the defending E-Hero, chopping him down to pixels. "Next, Reign-Beaux attacks one of your Dark Tokens!" The Overlord of Dark World used his weapon to fire dark lightning at one of the Tokens, shattering it to nothing and caused Jaden to take on the pain.
Jaden: 3500
Brron, Mad King of Dark World: 3000
"Then, Grapha attacks your second Token!" The Dark World duelist continued as Grapha unleashed a breath of graphite flames at the second token, melting it to nothing and causing Jaden to take more pain.
Jaden: 1800
Brron, Mad King of Dark World: 3000
Brron laughed more at Jaden's pain as he inserted a Set card into his disk, "One card facedown and I end my turn." He then stared up at Jaden and continued to berate him, "Are you going to die and bring the girls to see your friends?" Jaden cringed as he drew his next card. "Huh? I doubt, losing all of your friends' souls, that you have the spirit to continue the duel!"
"If you beat me here, you'll keep playing around with the spirits and memories of my friends," Jaden growled, "No, I'll take you down here and now!"
Brron laughed, "Just as I expected of you!"
"I activate Spell Book Inside the Pot," Jaden announced as he and Brron drew their three cards. "Next, I summon Neo-Spacian Air Hummingbird!" He announced as he female hummingbird humanoid appeared onto the field. (3/800/600) "And then I use the Spell Fake Hero to Special Summon my Elemental Hero Neos!" He stated, inserting the named Spell Card which allowed him to bring out the E-Hero from Neo-Space. (7/2500/2000) "Now, I send them back to the deck and have those two do a Contact Fusion!" Both monsters flew into the skies and entered into a galaxy, enveloped in a bright glow. "I summon Elemental Hero Air Neos!"
Neos came back to the field, sporting the color and wings of Air Hummingbird, ready to fight. (7/2500/2000)
Brron laughed, "He's not as strong as my Grapha, and he matches Reign-Beaux's ATK!"
Jaden then took on a smirk as he said, "I activate Air Neos' effect! Since your Life Points are higher than mine, Air Neos gains ATK equal to the difference between our Life Points!" Brron gasped as Air Neos' aura began to take on a green aura. (7/2500-3700/2000) "Air Neos, take out Grapha with Skyrip Wing!" Air Neos took flight and used his wings to create blades of air that cut apart the dark dragon, shattering it to pixels.
Jaden: 1800
Brron: Mad King of Dark World: 2000
"Then, I use the Quick-Play Spell Contact Out," Jaden continued as he inserted his Spell, "Air Neos, de-fuse!" Air Neos glowed white as he spilt back up into Elemental Hero Neos who stood ready to attack (7/2500/2000) and Air Hummingbird that took on a defensive posture. (3/800/600) "Neos, take down Zure!" He commanded as Neos rushed at the knight, punching him through the chest and shattered him to pixels.
Jaden: 1800
Brron, Mad King of Dark World: 1300
Suddenly, flowers sprouted from Brron's four cards as Air Hummingbird took flight. "I activate Air Hummingbird's effect! Once per turn, I gain 500 Life Points multiplied by the number of cards you hold!" Hummingbird proceeded to drink the nectar from the flowers, transferring the revitalizing effects to Jaden as a green aura healed some of his wounds.
Jaden: 3800
Brron, Mad King of Dark World: 1300
"It's your turn!"
Brron laughed once more maniacally, "This is more like it! The anger, the pain, the aggression! This is the real thrill of dueling!" He then drew his next card. "I activate the effect of Grapha from my Graveyard, returning Reign-Beaux from my field and resurrecting him!" Reign-Beaux vanished into a dark aura, placing his card back into Brron's hand. Then, Grapha walked back from the darkened cells and took his place back on the field. (8/2700/1800)
"I'll just destroy it again next turn," Jaden stated.
"How will you do that when I activate Dark World Dealings?" Brron countered as he inserted his Spell Card, "This allows us both to draw a card, but then discard once! You won't have much of a choice since you only have a card!" Jaden reluctantly drew his card, and when he saw it, discarded it immediately as he saw he couldn't use it. Whereas Brron drew his card, but was able to choose a different card to discard. "And the card I chose to discard was Ceruli, Guru of Dark World! His effect summons himself to your side in Defense Mode!"
Jaden gasped as a new face took up space on his field. It was midget-like fiend covered in a cerulean cape and wield a dark staff, using it to defend itself with a wicked grin. (1/100/300) "What?"
Brron then pointed to the new face, "The second of effect of Ceruli activates! Since it was Special Summoned by the effect of a Dark World card: The opponent must discard 1 card." Everyone was shocked at what that meant.
"And since it's on Jaden's field, Brron has to discard!" Crystal stated as Brron gleefully discarded a card, but not before showing what it was.
"I discard Reign-Beaux thanks to your card effect," The Mad King stated as he discarded his powerful monster. "And that, of course, unlocks Reign-Beaux's effect and Special Summons him onto the field!" A dark miasma erupted from the field, bringing back the Overlord of Dark World. (7/2500/1800) "That's not all! Since your card effect made me discard him, Reign-Beaux's second effect can activate! I can destroy all of your monsters or Spell and Trap Cards when it is Summoned this way!" Everyone gasped. "And naturally, I destroy your monsters with Hell's Ray!"
Reign-Beaux's chest glowed the seven colors of a rainbow and blasted every one of Jaden's monsters off the field!
"Jaden's defenseless," Reyna cried, worried for her brother, "He can't take both attacks, or he'll lose!"
"Goodbye, Jaden," Brron grinned, "Grapha, attack!" The dark dragon unleashed its graphite breath onto Jaden, making him use his duel disk for cover.
Jaden: 1100
Brron, Mad King of Dark World: 1300
"Reign-Beaux, end this duel!" Brron shouted as the Overlord used his spear to fire dark lightning again at Jaden.
"JADEN!" Reyna cried.
"I banish my Necro Guardna from the Graveyard," Jaden announced, revealing his graveyard which took out the named monster. Necro Guardna took the field and blocked the attack. Reyna and Crystal sighed with relief.
"That must have been the card he discarded with Dark World Dealings," Crystal figured.
"Yeah, he still has another turn,"
Despite this, Brron was still in a good mood, "No matter, you're finished next turn... With no cards left, you cannot possibly win this with the one card you'll draw..." He then inserted two cards into his disk, 'Just in case he destroys any of my monsters, I can use the Forces of Darkness Trap to add two of them back to my hand! Also, I have the Trap Mirror Force to destroy his attacking monsters! He'll be finish he decides to attack! I also have another card to use that I discarded just in case he bypasses all of that.'
Jaden was now shaking heavily after escaping the last attack, "Chazz... Hassleberry... Atticus... Alexis... This is not the kind of pain everyone received." He then gritted his teeth. "I will not let the demon who sacrificed the souls of everyone I tried to protect live!?" He stared at Brron with a livid expression. "I WILL MAKE YOU PAY!" Unbeknownst to him, Jaden's eyes started to glow golden with black ridges. He then forcibly ripped the next card from his deck. "I activate Legacy of a Hero!" He announced, drawing his three cards. "I activate O-Oversoul! This will Special Summon a Normal Elemental Hero Monster! Be reborn, Elemental Hero Neos!" As the O from the Spell Card flashed, Neos was reborn. (7/2500/2000) "Next, I use the Spell Wrath of Neos! By sending Elemental Hero Neos back into my deck, I can destroy every card you have on the field! Destroy them all!"
Brron gasped as Neos started to erupt into a white light, letting out a mighty call. Then he flew into Brron's side of the field and stretched out his arms to tackle Grapha, Reign-Beaux, Renge, and his facedown card all to oblivion.
"Now to take you down! I'll make sure you pay for taking my friends away from me!" Jaden shouted with malice in voice, making everyone cringe. Kenji, finally broken out of his sorrow, heard Jaden's words and glared down at the E-Hero duelist.
Brron cackled, "You don't have any monsters to use! You've sent your only monster away to destroy my cards! You only have one card left!" He then said to himself, "He's been covered with anger and hatred... It clouded his mind so much as he made a grave error..."
"I activate another Spell Card," Jaden shouted as he revealed it. "I activate HERO Flash! This allows me to Banish H-Heated Heart, E-Emergency Call, R-Righteous Call, and O-Oversoul from my graveyard so I can Special Summon Elemental Hero Neos back to the field!"
Brron was now confused, "But you never played the first three cards!"
Jaden narrowed his eyes, "You made me discard the first two, along with Necro Guardna with Card Destruction, and the third with Dark World Dealings! I don't have to play them if they're already in the graveyard!" He then raised his disk removing the four Spell Cards from his graveyard and ignited the skies with the four letters of HERO. "Neos, come back!" Soon, the E-Hero of Neos answered the signal and stood on the field. (7/2500/2000) "Now, you die!"
"Not quite," Brron grinned as his graveyard flashed and removed a card from his disk as well, "I activate a Trap from my Graveyard! Dark World Eruption! It allows me to Special Summon a Dark World Monster at the cost of banishing it from the field when it's destroyed! Defend me, Grapha!" An eruption of dark mist from the graveyard released the powerful dragon once again. (8/2700/1800) "Now there's nothing you can do! With no cards in your hand, you have nothing to get through my monster!" He laughed loudly.
Jaden still glared, keeping his eyes on Brron, "The second of effect of HERO Flash! It allows all Normal Elemental Heroes to attack directly." Brron flinched as he was still exposed. "My friends may not be coming back, but I will avenge them by destroying you! I wished there was a card that would allow me to attack your multiple times, for everyone you've killed! Neos, end this!"
Brron could only nervously chuckle as Neos dashed across the field and smashed his fist into the Mad King's chest, knocking him to the ground and ending the duel.
Jaden: 1100, Winner
Brron, Mad King of Dark World: 0
Once the monsters vanished off the field, Brron cackled while gasping, "That's a good look for you! Anger, Pain, Hatred, and Sadness! Although they are not enough, those negative feelings have already been around in your heart!"
"Shut the Hell up," Jaden shouted and demanded. "Where are Allyson, Jesse, and Freed's people!?"
The Mad King started glowing golden as he laughed again, "I've already told you... His people's blood is already been seeped into sand of this field. Even the ones called Allyson and Jesse are dead as well!"
Everyone gasped in horror, but Jaden was still defiant. "YOU LIE! THAT'S A LIE!"
Brron gave his final laugh as he broke apart into golden particles. The chains that held Reyna and Crystal unlocked, letting them run over to Jaden. The spectators were in disbelief as the monarch of the Dark World Army had been defeated and put down.
"You guys alright," Seth said as he, Axel, and Jim walked up to the trio.
"We're alright..." Crystal said sadly.
"But the others..." Reyna added, shedding some tears.
"Jaden..." Syrus called as he walked past the three men.
The E-Hero duelist gasped as he looked back and saw his best friend, and sighed with relief. "Syrus, you're alright!"
"Jesse, Allyson, and the others are dead," Syrus muttered sadly.
Jaden sighed, "Yeah, but I will avenge them." He wasn't aware that Kenji was still staring daggers at him as well as Sam's tearful glare when he turned back to the Transformer duelist. "It's still really good to see you, Syrus."
Suddenly, it was as if Syrus went into a trance once the Doubt symbol lit up on his face again, "You don't mean that..." Everyone gasped as they looked to Syrus. "You've been acting by yourself. Up until now you've been the one giving us all the strength to go on. But those were all lies. As long as you feel that you're alright, everything is okay. But it's not! Our friends are gone now, thanks to you! It doesn't matter who's sacrificed to you, as long as you reach your goal! But even if you defeat your enemies, everyone who were sacrificed won't come back!"
Jaden gasped, "Syrus..."
"Shut up," the young Ra shouted, "Stay away from me!" He then cried and ran off.
"Syrus, come back," Jim shouted as he ran after the young boy.
Axel and Seth looked back to the retreating forms before turning back to Jaden. "We told you to wait..." The Volcanic Duelist told him sternly.
"Wait a second," Reyna protested, "He had no choice but to go inside!"
"That's right," Crystal added, "Brron had imprisoned us, making Jaden go through with that duel!"
"Is that true," Seth asked.
"Yes!" the girls shouted to them.
The men sighed as they truly grasped at what happened, "Then this just made it worse as everyone should have stuck together." The Blackwing duelist stated. "We need to find Claudio and the others; they'll be in danger as well."
"I agree," Axel nodded. "The Fabled Monsters that Fidel told me about are still out there..."
"What did I do wrong?"
Everyone turned to see Jaden, kneeling on the ground and crying.
"My sister and my friends were in danger," Jaden cried, "But despite doing what I thought was I right, everyone hasn't been by my side. Why!? Why, damn it!? What did I do wrong!?"
It was then Kenji jumped down from the watchtower, after retrieving Sam, both still angry.
"You sacrificed our friends, that's what," Kenji growled, "You sacrificed Alexis, too!"
"This didn't have to happen, Jaden," Sam shouted at him. "You could have saved everyone! All you had to do was destroy that stupid book!"
Jaden couldn't respond as he was still enduring the anger and swallowed up by his sorrow.
"Claudio was right about you," the ninja duelist stated, "Look at where your actions got us! If you would have stuck with us, none of this would have taken place!"
"Now that everyone's dead, you still want to fight," the Gusta duelist asked in disbelief, "You're unbelievable! Who are you!?"
"Guys!" Reyna shouted.
As the argument continued to escalate, the blank card that Brron was trying to use floated in front of Jaden, making him notice it.
"Super Polymerization?" He muttered as the darkness enveloped him without warning.
Soon, he found himself completely surrounded by darkness with many blank cards around him. Some of them had the images of his friends, but he never noticed them as the cards vanished. There was also images of Syrus, Kenji, and Sam, but only the pictures had vanished from the cards. This soon left Reyna's and Crystal's pictures around him until...
"Jaden Yuki..." A voice called out, prompting Jaden to look up from the blank card and stare at a dark image unknown to him, "If you want to defeat evil, you should become evil. In this cruel world of deceits, you must rule by power."
"Power?" Jaden wondered.
"The card in your hand is the Super Polymerization card," the figured stated, letting Jaden look at the card once more, "Take down your opponents and put their lives in to complete that card." Pretty soon the image morphed itself into a likeness of Jaden himself.
Jaden gasped as he turned to the figure, "You! Who are you?"
"I am the one who will rule this world..." the image morphed a dark armor around him. "I am Haou, the Supreme King!"
The dark essence of the Supreme King surrounded Jaden, prompting him to close his eyes. But then he reopened them to show that they were a vacant, dark yellow.
Meanwhile, Claudio and his Sonic Duck continued to run across the world, going his own way to find Jesse and Allyson.
'If they want to stick by Jaden, fine,' Claudio thought in his rage, 'But if I find that he's gotten someone dead, I will take him down! I'll be damned if Melody gets caught up in this! He had no right in bringing her name up!' He then looked conflicted, 'And then Trageodia... What will I do if I find him? I don't want him hurting others just to get to me again. As much as it's going to kill me, I have to find that monster and take him down. I have to be careful...'
"Claudio!"
The J-Hero duelist stopped his Sonic Duck to see Melody catch up to him and stop her duck as well, "Melody?"
"Claudio, you really shouldn't have done that back there," The Magician duelist frowned.
"You've heard what he's been doing," Claudio protested, "I've even seen what he's been doing; the one moment he hears about those two, he goes off running without thinking or even getting support. And look what happened, he nearly got people killed if we didn't step in."
"But you have to look at it his way," Melody argued, "Someone he loves is in danger, and I know if I were in danger, you'd let nothing hold you back to get to me."
"But I wouldn't sacrifice others..." Claudio sighed, causing Melody to gasp, "You're strong enough to handle yourself until I can see for myself; but I'm not willing to let other innocent people die in the process. Freed's soldiers are still in danger, but we don't know where they are. Sure Jaden had the map, but he's not thinking about the others! It's like he forgot all about us... That's why I hit him when he mentioned you... The thought of losing you to these freaks... And with Tragoedia in the mixed..." He started to shed tears, "I just don't want people to die, okay..."
Melody looked at her boyfriend with concern, now that she understood what's been going on in his head. In fact, she kept worrying about him when she was with her group at the Dominion of Beasts. And after hearing about the Dark World Army and the Fabled Way using humans in their plot while at war, she knew Claudio would have to go through it in order to help save Jesse and Allyson. The only thing she could do right now was to hug him, to assure him everything would be okay.
But little did they know, it would prove to be fruitless...
"This is a touching moment..."
The couple stopped their hug as they looked up and found two more problems hovering over them: Fabled Ashenveil and Fabled Gallabas.
"How sweet, young love," Ashenveil grinned. "And they say it never lasts..."
"What with growing up, staying friends," Gallabas continued, but then gave an evil grin, "Or until death do they part!"
"Great, more Fabled monsters," Claudio muttered as Melody also glared at them.
"We want the two of you to come along with us," Gallabas replied. "Our Master, the Great Fabled Levianthan wants to see you both!"
"He wants to see the warrior who defeated Topi," Ashenveil added. "He extends an invitation to his army."
"Thanks, but no thanks," Melody stated, "We don't want any part of this war!"
"It would be in your best interest to listen; you know the Dark World Army imprisons other humans against their will and either kill them through duels or through force. We, on the other hand, we seek out strong duelists to join their cause because we all want the same thing... The complete annihilation of the Dark World Army. We'll be revered as heroes of this dimension and many others!"
"Tell that to Urustos when he tried to resurrect a demon emperor to kill others," Claudio snapped, "Many innocents could have died in order for recruiting him."
The Fabled Monsters frowned as they looked to each other and shrugged. "Then we'll make you by force!" They shouted as Gallabas threw a white orb at Melody, causing the item to vanish when it nearly hit her head. It caused her to gasp and a kanji appeared on her forehead meaning Fear. She was now freaked out, causing the Sonic Duck to react and start running back the way she came.
"Get away from me!" She shouted.
"Melody!" Claudio shouted after her.
"Not so fast," Ashenveil shouted as he dove after Claudio and knocked him off the Sonic Duck with a clothesline. The J-Hero duelist fell to the ground and groaned as he fell unconscious. "So much for subtlety..."
Gallabas scoffed, "Go and take him back to the hideout, I'll go after the girl."
"Right," Ashenveil nodded as he took Claudio in his hands and flew off further into the canyons.
"Come back, little girl," Gallabas shouted as he flew after Melody.
Sometime later...
Fidel, Yuri, and Tetsu were still searching for Claudio and Melody after the fight between the two Hero duelists.
"Damn," Fidel muttered, "Jaden and Claudio really broke up morale, eh?"
"It's heart-wrenching to say the least," Tetsu noticed, "But I can't believe it all escalated to this. I mean, know Claudio's concern for Jaden's actions..."
"But we can't help but think that when Claudio punched him, it was the last straw for everyone," Yuri figured as Kylie muttered in a sad voice. "Knowing how close everyone is to those two, it's hard to notice those two at each other's' throats."
"Two of the top duelists getting into conflicts..." the Video Game duelist sighed, "And this year started so well..."
"No kidding," the Metal Gear Duelist said, "Let's just keep moving..."
Everyone nodded as the Sonic Ducks continued to run.
Elesewhere...
Claudio groaned as he woke up off the ground, sitting up on his knees. "Ow..." He moaned as he rubbed his neck. "I'll get even with that guy..." He then focused his eyes and looked around, and even noticed the cheers coming from around his new location. He was now at an arena reminiscent of a Roman coliseum, surrounded by marble walls made by brick. The interior was filled with marble seats and it was filled with many monsters that had taken residences and even some humans. Claudio himself was standing in the arena's pit with two gates in front and behind him, realizing he was trapped inside. "What the-?"
"Welcome to my domain, Claudio!" A regal voice called through cheers.
Claudio looked up and saw a demonic figure sitting on a throne, one leg crossed over the other. It was a Fiend with long, red hair that flowed down to his shoulders while wearing red goggles over his eyes. It also had armor on composed of red plated armor with golden adornments all over. He also had giant, gargoyle-like wings that was half-closed around his body.
"I am the Fabled Leviathan," the Fiend announced, "I lead the Fabled Way across the many dimensions in search of destroying the Dark World Army." He then smiled, "I bid you welcome to my camp that we've taken from the Dark World Army."
"Where's Melody," Claudio growled.
"The girl?" Leviathan mused. "I do not know; when I sent my subordinates to retrieve you and her, only Ashenveil returned with you. I assume Gallabas is on his way to get her now."
"You leave her out of this!" the J-Hero duelist demanded. "If this is about what Urustos did at the Age of Metal, then take it up with me! I fought off his plans there and if you're trying to get revenge, I ready to duel you in exchange for staying away from Melody!" He then thought, 'I know Atticus was the one who dealt with Urustos, but there's no need to get him on these guys' hit list.'
"Oh Urustos," the Fabled leader waved off, "No need for your concern; he does not matter to me anymore. He failed his mission and he was dealt with accordingly with his death."
The J-Hero duelist frowned, "You kill off your own subordinates?"
Leviathan waved his hand around the arena and said, "I have many soldiers at ready to do what is necessary; even the humans knew when to join my cause when they turned up at my doorstep. Some however did not see it my way and had to be punished. Better this than having the Dark World Army use them for entertainment..."
Claudio growled, "You're no better! If no one follows you, you kill them? The Dark World Army does the same thing!" The crowd jeered at the J-Hero duelist's statement, but he paid it no mind, "So what is that you want from me, if not revenge?"
"Simply put, I want you to join the Fabled Way," Leviathan replied, "I heard from our scouts how you defeated Topi. Though she was not one of my greatest duelists, her tactics have made many duelists turn to my cause to avoid death by this dimension's law. When you defeated her, I lost my greatest eye on the Dark World. Hopefully, my little demons could give me the information I need since I haven't heard about the Dark World Army's activities since."
"I'm not joining," Claudio stated without a moment's thought. "I will not be a part of killing to get what I want!"
The Fabled leader sighed, "Then I propose something that will catch your interest... Your precious Melody will be used for my purposes in defeating the Army. But if you survive my challenge, she will not be harmed."
The Ra grumbled, "Alright, I defeat you and win Melody's freedom!"
Leviathan smirked, "I never said I'll be dueling; I have my best duelist ready to serve has my representative! Defeat him, and you will have your wish!"
"Like I said, I'm ready," Claudio shouted as he activated his duel disk.
"Very well!" The Fabled Leader stood up and raised his hands towards the crowd. "Humans and monsters! We have ourselves a contest!" The crowd cheered. "Witness one of the strongest known humans to cross this dimension, Claudio, face our reigning, defending champion of our Fabled Way... Fabled Dianaira!"
"Dianaira! Dianaira! Dianaira! Dianaira!" The crowd cheered as the gates in front of Claudio opened up, prompting him to look across the arena. Out came a giant, intimidating figure with a black duel disk on its left arm. It was a muscular, magenta colored demon wearing only black wrist guards and black armor covering the waist down, leaving his chest and stomach bare. The face was covered by a black mask with a yellow horns with red lightning marks, similar to a luchador. He raised his arms to the sky and roared loudly, amplifying the cheers made for him.
Once he saw Claudio, the demon grinned, "Ah, fresh meat! I've heard about you and I want to crush you underneath my foot!"
"You won't be doing that," Claudio countered, "I will not let you have my girlfriend or anyone else your army wants! I'll take you out and when I'm finished…" He stared up at Leviathan, "I come for you."
Leviathan grinned as the crowd jeered once more, "We've heard our challenger's declaration, so let's begin!"
The crowd cheered as both players drew their opening hands.
DUEL!
Claudio: 8000
Fabled Dianaira: 8000
"I'll begin," Claudio announced, drawing his sixth card, "I summon Jukebox Hero Li in attack mode!" He placed the card on his disk, bringing out the Japanese and dragon-scaled armored guitarist onto the field. (4/1600/1200) "And I'll finish with one card facedown." He concluded, inserting a facedown card into his disk.
"My move," Dianaira roared as he drew his sixth card. Once he saw his hand, he laughed, "Perfect! I will enjoy this far more than anticipated!" He looked to Claudio, "I hope you're ready to stand up to my might, warrior! I summon Psychic Armor Head in attack mode!" The crowd cheered as he brought out a silver and blue cyber helmet with a glass visor. (4/0/500)
"Psychic Armor Head?" Claudio wondered. "I never seen this card."
"And you will never forget it," the Fabled monster grinned, "For this monster is just one of many parts that is used to defeat many opponents during this war!" He then showed off another Spell Card depicting a man wearing a silver and blue cyber suit. "And I'll bring them out with Armored Gravitation! This Spell Card will bring out 4 Armor monsters up to Level 4 when Psychic Armor Head is on the field! Prepare to be crushed by my might!" He inserted the Spell Card showing the image upfront. Once done, four cards flew out of the fiend's deck and placed themselves onto his duel disk. "I Special Summon these four cards! Trap Buster, Big Bang Blow, Overboost, and Active Guard!"
Trap Buster was a left cybernetic arm with silver glove. (4/0/0)
Big Bang Blow was a right cybernetic arm with a silver forearm and holes within the fist. (4/0/0)
Overboost was a pair of cybernetic boots with blue thrusters underneath the heels. (4/0/1000)
Active Guard was a chest plate with a blue belt wrapped around. (4/0/2500)
"Five monsters with 0 ATK?" Claudio wondered, "What's the deal!?"
"The deal is that I can combine them into a full suit of armor," Dianaira explained, "And it is capable of destroying anything in my path! Now my armor, combine yourselves to me!"
Soon the five pieces of machinery separated and then started to attach themselves to Dianaira's body! Psychic Armor Head was placed over his head, Trap Buster and Big Bang Blow became his left and right arms respectively, Overboost was his new legs, and Active Guard was over his torso. The electricity flew out his body as the crowd cheered.
"Bravo! Bravo!" Leviathan clapped, "Now for the real game!"
"Now it's time for me to explain the one of the effects of my cards," the Fabled monster continued, "Active Guard gains 500 DEF for each Armor monster on the field!" The chest plate started to glow blue, absorbing energy from the other parts. (4/0/2500-5000)
"So what?" Claudio shrugged, "It's not like you're going to make me attack that thing."
"Which is why I'll be using this Black Pendant card to attach itself to my Big Bang Blow, giving it 500 ATK," Dianaira announced, inserting the Equip Spell.
"I don't what you're planning, but I'm chaining that Black Pendant with my Quick Summon Spell Card to bring out Jukebox Hero Manson!" Claudio countered, revealing his Quick-Play Spell card. From it, the pale-skinned singer appeared holding his microphone and stretching out the cable it was attached to. (4/1500/1200).
Then, the black jeweled necklace wrapped itself around Dianaira's right fist. (4/0-500/0)
"And if you think I just use my card to perform another summon, think again," Claudio continued, "He gains 300 ATK for each card in a Chain Link! For two cards, that's 600!" Li performed a fast-paced solo that caused flames to surround him, amplifying his power. (4/1600-2200/1200)
"It proves nothing," the Fabled monster growled as he charged up his right arm, "Watch as I use Big Bang Blow to attack your powered up monster!"
While the crowd was roaring with praise as Dianaira charged in to attack, Claudio was stunned at an attack that was very weak against his monster lineup. But not one to back down on a winning fight, the J-Hero duelist retaliated.
"Li, burn him up!" Claudio announced as Li played another solo that created a wall of flames that kept the right fist at bay with neither side giving in.
"Now I give you the effects of my Armor," Dianaira shouted, "I give up my Active Guard to prevent the Battle Damage done to me!" The chest plate started glowing, absorbing the flames of Li's attack. But before Claudio could respond, "Then Big Bang Blow will destroy all monsters on the field and inflict damage to both players to the combined ATK of their respective Monsters' ATK. And you also know with Black Pendant being destroyed, another 500 points of damage is dealt."
"WHAT!?" Claudio shouted.
Big Bang Blow started to absorb the flames as well, turning crimson red and releasing steam from the fist. Then, Dianaira roared and thrust his fist forward to send a massive shockwave that not only broke through the flames, it also destroyed Li and Manson in a blaze of pixels. The force of the attack knocked Claudio on his back.
Claudio: 3800
Fabled Dianaira: 8000
The crowd roared as Dianaira's Armor disintegrated off his body, letting him flex his muscles.
"And as you can see, I never lost points because my cards have 0 ATK," the Fiend grinned, "But now that I've started the damage, it's time for you to show me what you have!" He then used his right hand with a 'bring it' gesture.
Claudio groaned as he sat up in disbelief, "You have... no monsters... You're just inviting me to attack?"
"And what's wrong with that," Leviathan called from his throne, "In this Army, you have to take the pain and then give your opponent much more in spades! When it comes to that philosophy, Dianaira's the best in this dimension! If he can defeat someone who bested the craftiest member of my group, I'm willing to end Brron's reign with what I have now!" He then narrowed his eyes. "So please Claudio, do not disappoint me in dealing Dianaira some well-deserved pain..."
The J-Hero duelist got on his feet, but was now wary. These guys wanted an attack as the Fabled Leader stated and Dianaira was welcoming it with literal open arms. It was like facing Zane near the end of the second year. But to end this duel and find the others, he had to get this done.
"It's my move," He announced, drawing his next card, "It was bad move destroying my monsters with effect, because one of them comes back!" A cloud of mist erupted from the field, releasing Manson from the graveyard. (4/1500/1200) "On my Standby Phase, following his destruction by card effect, Manson resurrects from the graveyard. But now I'll sacrifice him to summon out the Jukebox Hero Kill Master!" Manson vanished back into the mist, bringing out the cowboy themed bassist and healer of the J-Heroes. (6/2400/1500)
Dianaira grinned as he braced himself.
"Attack directly," Claudio shouted as the Kill Master dashed across the field and unleashed a shock wave that stunned the big Fiend and made him roar in pain.
Claudio: 3800
Fabled Dianaira: 5600
The crowd continued to cheer, causing Claudio to look confused and look around while Kill Master returned to his side. 'Cheering for me?' He thought warily, 'I figured they'd be booing me after scoring a hit on their prized duelist...'
"Are you feeling the praise," Leviathan asked politely, "Just think of the continued accolades should you continued to reign victorious..."
The J-Hero duelist frowned as he inserted another card into his disk, "I place another facedown card and end my turn. Also, the effect of my Kill Master activates during the End Phase. For every Jukebox Hero on my field, I gain 600 Life Points!" Kill Master then played a steady bass solo that surrounded Claudio with a starry, white aura to erase some of the pain dealt from his last turn.
Claudio: 4400
Fabled Dianaira: 5600
Dianaira took a deep breath and smirked, "This will be better than I thought; I wanted a challenge, and I'm getting one. Let's see how you handle this one..." He then drew his next card. "On my Standby Phase, I can resurrect Psychic Armor Head from my graveyard." He announced as his cyber helmet appeared in a flow of electricity. (4/0/500) "But just like your Manson, I'll sacrifice my Psychic Armor Head and bring out my Double Cloth Armor!" The Cyber Helmet disappeared again and gave way to, surprisingly, a full suit of armor. This one was red in color, had silver horns out of the helmet, crystal orbs inside the gauntlets, and black leather on the arms and legs. (6/0/0) It immediately equipped itself onto Dianaira, fitting him just as the last suit of Armor did.
"A full suit this time?" Claudio wondered, "What does it do?"
"You'll find out," the Fiend said cryptically as he inserted two more cards into his disk, "I promise you'll see firsthand like the last one..."
The J-Hero duelist just drew his next card, 'Maybe I should play the waiting game and make him use his monster's effects.'
"On the Standby Phase, I activate the trap card Battle Mania, forcing your Battle Phase to take place," Dianaira interjected, revealing one of his facedown cards to show the proclaimed Trap Card. "I couldn't help but notice your hesitation to move, so allow me to make the decision for you. Now your monsters will stay in attack mode and they must fight!" He then got himself ready for the attack that would come next. "Come!"
The crowd continued cheering, knowing more attacks would come as there was no avoiding it.
"Okay, so there is an effect to worry about," Claudio muttered, before looking at his hand, "So I won't attack will Kill Master now and use another to strike..." He then picked his card and place d it on the field, "I summon Soul Mic!" Appearing in Claudio's hand, his silver microphone appeared, surrounded in a white aura. (1/300/200) "Let's see what makes your Armor so great!" He then used the cord to swing his microphone and then tossed it into the Double Cloth Armor.
"There's no use spoiling it then," The Armor Duelist shrugged, though he sounded disappointed, "I use Double Cloth Armor's effect to destroy both monsters and then you are dealt damage equal to half of Soul Mic's ATK!"
Once the microphone hit the chest plate of the armor, it bounced off with immense force and hit Claudio instead which destroyed both Soul Mic and Double Cloth Armor after the impact.
Claudio: 4250
Fabled Dianaira: 5600
Claudio grinned, "Looks like I was right about my monster being destroyed! Now Kill Master's free to strike again! Go!" Kill Master rushed in once again, preparing another strum of the bass.
Dianaira grinned right back as he revealed his facedown card. It showed a giant cloud of smoke with a human hand reaching out for pieces of armor that were being drawn to it, "And I was right about having a backup plan! I activate Magnet Armor! This allows me to re-summon my Double Cloth Armor from the graveyard!" A flash of electricity erupted around Dianaira as he made a triumphant laugh while the Double Cloth Armor reformed around him. (6/0/0) Kill Master gasped as Dianaira grabbed him into a bear hug and crushed him down to pixels. "Now take the damage that was originally intended!"
Suddenly, the Armor released itself from Dianaira's body and used it to tackle Claudio into the ground again, much to the crowd's pleasure.
Claudio: 3050
Fabled Dianaira: 5600
"Do not try to avoid the pain," Dianaira stated, crossing his arms, "It will not go well for you..."
Claudio sat up once again and glared right back his opponent, "You say that and yet you have Traps laid out to prevent your pain. It sounds like you wanted to make this back and forth between effect and battle damage. So why didn't you let the attacks hit you?"
"Because I enjoy the struggle," the Armor duelist continued, "Now what do you plan to do?"
Looking over his hand again, Claudio took another card from it and placed it into his disk, "It's your move." He concluded.
"Good," Dianaira announced, drawing his next card, "First, Psychic Armor Head returns..."
The Cyber Helmet resurrected itself back from the graveyard. (4/0/500)
"Next, I use the Spell Card Full Armor Gravitation," He continued as he inserted another Spell Card depicting pieces of the Armor Cards forming into another full suit. "This card allows me to pick up the top 10 cards and Special Summons any Armor Monsters from it." He took out the top 10 cards and fanned them out. "I summon Burning Knuckle!"
Burning Knuckle was a blue armored gauntlet with a light blue gauge on top of the fist. (4/0/1000)
"Black Hole Shield!"
Black Hole Shield was a left, forearmed fist with a mechanical hole on its side. (4/0/0)
"Advanced Shield!"
Advanced Shield was a metal knuckle brace that was shaped like a shield. (4/1000/0)
"And Buster Pyle!"
Buster Pyle was a right-sided, forearmed fist with two spikes in its fist. (4/0/0)
All five Armor monsters once gain combined and created another suit of Armor, leaving his legs and torso bare, letting Dianaira charge up from its power.
"And from the looks of things, with no monsters on my side of the field, how are you going to attack me?" Claudio wondered.
"Easy," Dianaira replied as his right fist charged up power, "With Burning Knuckle's effect, it gains 200 ATK for each Armor Monster on the field." He stated as the mentioned Armor piece finished charging. (4/0-1000/1000) "But let me up the ante by using the Continuous Spell, Clockwork Night! Even if you don't have Machine monsters on the field, I can use this Spell to increase my Machine monsters ATK by 500 ATK!"
Claudio gasped as the Armor pieces powered up from the Spell. (4/0-500/500), (4/1000-1500/0), (4/0-500/0), (4/1000-1500/0), (4/0-500/0)
"Now watch my direct attack!" The Fabled Fiend charged in with Claudio preparing to block. When he saw him go left, Claudio prepared the Duel Disk for a strong defense...
However, with blinding speed, Dianaira appeared on his right with Claudio taking the right fist to the side of his stomach and launched him to the corner of the field.
Claudio: 1550
Fabled Dianaira: 5600
"Lucky for you, my Armor monsters only allow for one piece to attack," Dianaira as he watched Claudio clutched his side, "But then, only my Burning Knuckle had the true capacity to attack to the fullest extent, giving its increased ATK effect."
The J-Hero duelist coughed as he pressed a button on his duel disk, "I activate... Damage Condenser..." He managed to say, revealing his facedown card and discarding once to pay for the Trap's cost. "I can now Special Summon Symphonic Warrior Drumss to the field!"
Soon, the living drum set appeared and flexed its cymbals. (2/700/700)
"I can't wait to see what you can do with that monster," Dianaira grinned as he signaled the end of his turn. "Continue to entertain us!"
Claudio huffed as he drew his next card, "I summon Ironheade – Lita the Strong!" He announced as his blonde, spear-wielding warrior appeared on the field. (4/1500/400) "Now, I can tune Level 4 Lita with Level 2 Drumss to Synchro Summon!"
Drumss crashed his Symbols together, becoming two Tuning Rings that surrounded Lita and reduced her to four stars.
"Keeper of timeless secrets, grant me the knowledge of the Titans! Synchro Summon! Come forth, Guardian of Metal!"
From the summoning, the pillar of light became one of flames that erupted into a man with long, black hair and wore orange sunglasses, a black robe with tassels on the arms, and a necklace that had cross with a skull on top. He immediately took a knee, all the while giving a grin. (6/0/2200)
"Defense mode!?" Dianaira shouted. "How dare you!?"
"Excuse me for using a strategy..." Claudio scoffed as he used his next card, "I activate the Continuous Spell Frontline Base! This lets me Special Summon low level Union monsters from my hand, and I choose Rima the Wild!" From the Spell, the Zaulia leader appeared and readied her spear at the Fabled monster. (4/1900/900) "Now to get back to the Guardian of Metal you just insulted. One of his effects allows the secrets of my Ironheade monsters to take effect. Basically, he allows the Ironheade monsters can use their Union Effects without Roadie Riggs on the field! So you'll probably want to brace yourself as I attack your Armor, starting with Psychic Armor Head!"
Rima sounded her battle cry and charged in to attack her foe.
"I activate the effects of my Armor," Dianaira countered, "With 2 or more Armor pieces on the field, I can redirect to another monster of my choosing! And I pick my Burning Knuckle!"
"Fine by me, they'll all be destroyed!" Claudio continued as Rima struck her spear as Dianaira punched with his right fist which shattered into pixels.
Claudio: 1550
Fabled Dianaira: 5200
"And now I..." Claudio stopped as he saw Rima on her knees, feeling weakened from her first assault. (4/1900-400/900) "What's going on!? How did she lose her ATK!?"
"When Burning Knuckle's destroyed in battle, the monster that killed it will lose life points equal to the ATK it had," Dianaira smirked. "Which means with her ATK at 400, you won't be able to destroy the rest of Armor."
"Damn, I set a card and end my turn," Claudio concluded.
"It's my move," Dianaira announced, "I use the effect of my Psychic Armor Head, letting me take an Armor monster from my deck instead of my normal Draw!" He stated as another card flew out of his deck, letting him take it. "I'll summon my Jet Gauntlet!"
Overlaying his left arm was a blue gauntlet with a grey elbow pad and a sharp shoulder pad. (4/0-500/1500)
"Next, I use Buster Pyle to destroy Rima!" He continued as he charged with his left fist and slugged Rima in the stomach, shattering her into pixels. It also dragged Claudio backwards before he steadied himself. "Not only you lose 100 Life Points from the battle, but when fighting a monster, you lose another 500 Life Points!"
Claudio: 950
Fabled Dianaira: 5200
"Next, I use the effects of my Sneak Attack to allow me another attack and I'll use it on my Jet Gauntlet to attack your Guardian of Metal!" Soon, the Fabled attacked again with his left arm but this time Jet Gauntlet part started glowing to show that it was being used. It struck the Guardian of Metal, but the Synchro Monster just grabbed the fist and crushed it with his grip.
Claudio: 950
Fabled: Dianaira: 3700
"And because Jet Gauntlet battled your monster, they are both destroyed!" Dianaira grinned as Jet Gauntlet exploded off his arm, giving him slight pain but a sick grin as he saw the Guardian of Metal engulfed by the same explosion. "Now you're all alone on the..."
When the smoke cleared, the Guardian of Metal was unharmed!
"What!?"
"The Guardian of Metal is an immortal," Claudio grinned, "He can escape being destroyed by sending the top card from my deck to the graveyard!"
"Damn..."
"And since you have no cards left, I'm free to make my move," Claudio announced, drawing his next card, "I think I'll activate Legacy of a Hero to draw three cards since two of my high level Hero monsters are in the graveyard," He continued, drawing three cards. "Now I'll activate Monster Reborn to revive Rima the Wild!" He stated as the Zaulia leader returned to the field. (4/1900/900) "And also, I'll even use Ancient Rules to bring out Roadie Riggs!"
In another flash, the Roadie of the Jukebox Heroes appeared next to Rima. (8/2500/2000)
Dianaira braced for the impact.
"Rima's effect is used with Guardian of Metal," Claudio stated, "So she can attack all of your monsters!" Rima let out another battle cry as she attacked Psychic Armor Head first and shattered it into pixels.
"I use Black Hole Shield's effect to negate the damage!" Dianaira shouted as his elbow guard absorbed the pixels into it before shattering itself.
"Still, she can go after your Advanced Shield!" The J-Hero duelist continued as Rima struck the knuckle guard, shattering it off the Fiend and left him vulnerable.
Claudio: 950
Fabled Dianaira: 3300
"Finally, Roadie Riggs gets a shot!" The Roadie charged in and nailed a strong swing of his axe across Dianaira's chest, sending him to the ground.
Claudio: 950
Fabled Dianaira: 800
"I end my turn with a facedown card."
Dianaira shot up to his feet and snarled, "Good, good! Now to the final round!" He announced as he drew his next and lone card. "First, Psychic Armor Head returns!" He stated as his helmet came back. (4/0-500/500) "Then, I use Pot of Greed!" He then drew another two cards. "Yes! Go Phoenix Gravitation!" He inserted another Spell Card depicting a phoenix flying off with pieces of Armor. "This Special Summons 4 Armor Monsters from the graveyard with the side effect of being destroyed at the End Phase." He smirked, "Of course, with the 4 parts I summon, you'll be done for! I'll cement my place as the Champion! Come forth Big Bang Blow, Over Boost, Active Guard, and Trap Buster!"
Soon, the Right armored fist, armored boots, chest plate, and left armored gauntlet appeared and attached themselves to the Fabled beast. (4/0-500/0), (4/0-500/0), (4/0-500/2500-5000), (3/0-500/0)
"With this armor, I will defeat you," Dianaira stated, "With Active Guard, I can negate all damage to me this turn! If your facedown Trap Card tries to destroy my monsters or even target 1 of them, Trap Buster will negate the effects before it begins." Claudio flinched as he unconsciously looked to his facedown card, knowing it WAS a Trap Card. The Fiend grinned as he continued, "It leaves me with Big Bang Blow, meaning you'll lose the rest of your Life Points! It doesn't matter if your Guardian of Metal is safe from destruction or if he has 0 ATK!" He then charged up Big Bang Blow with a red aura. "Prepare to die!" He roared as he charged into the fray.
"I activate my Trap Card!" Claudio announced, revealing his facedown card.
"Trap Buster, negate it!" As his fist struck Roadie Riggs in a massive explosion that engulfed the field!
Some of the smoke cleared away to reveal Dianaira walking away from the battle, void of Armor on his body. He raised his massive arms in the air for his victory as the crowd roared. "I am victorious!" He shouted.
Leviathan casually clapped as he praised his champion duelist.
"That's what you think!"
Dianaira turned around to see the smoke clear and that Claudio and Roadie Riggs survived!
Claudio: 950
"WHAT!?"
Claudio showed off the trap card he activated, "That Trap Card you tried to negate was my Formation Union and your Trap Buster only stops ones that target your monsters! I had Rima become an Equip Card onto Riggs! Then, her effect as an Equip Card saved Riggs from destruction by giving her own life!" He looked to his graveyard, 'And we'll finish this for you!'
Dianaira looked to his last card and smirked, "But you have nothing left as I use Junk Dealer to resurrect my Big Bang Blow and Psychic Armor Head!" The right armored fist and helmet returned to the field and attached itself to Dianaira's head and right fist. (4/0-500/0), (4/0-500/500) "Now there's no way you can defeat me! Since I have two Armor Monsters on the field, I can redirect your attack to Big Bang Blow and set off its effect to destroy all your monsters!"
Claudio looked to his deck, "Time to draw!" He drew out his next card and looked at it. Once he saw it, he smiled, "I activate the Spell Power Slide! This will let Roadie Riggs bypass your monsters with a direct attack with half the damage! And from your score, you are gone!"
Riggs ran at Dianaira with amazing speed and then did a power slide that passed him while using his axe to chop across the torso of the Fabled monster, knocking him out on his back.
Claudio: 950, Winner
Fabled Dianaira: 0
The holograms disappeared while the crowd fell silent at Dianaira's loss. Claudio himself lost the smile and looked up at Leviathan, wanting to know what was next for him.
To his shock and amazement, Leviathan clapped for his victory. "Good, good," He said, "A worthy victory for yourself! I didn't think you could defeat Dianaira's Armor Deck. As promised, your Melody will not be harmed by my army."
"How can you make sure of that?" Claudio asked, narrowing his eyes. "It's not like you can just tell the guy who's after her to stop from where you are now..."
"I always have my eyes on my brethren," the Fabled Leader stated, "In fact, here is my guarantee..."
He then raised his right index finger and fired a lightning bolt from it into the skies...
Where Melody was at now was still being chased by the Gallabas, and she was still freaking out of fear thanks to the orb the Fiend made her absorb.
"Somebody help me," She shouted, "Claudio, where are you!?"
"If you would just stop running, I can bring you to him!" Gallabas retorted as he continued to dive right for her. However, the Sonic Duck instinctively kept dodging by running left and right. "Blast this bird! I'll take care of you!" He then breathed in and then let out a violent shout that knocked the Sonic Duck off its feet, which in turn knocked Melody off her ride as well.
The first thing the Sonic Duck did when it regained its footing was getting the Hell out of Dodge, leaving the magician duelist by her lonesome. Once she saw Gallabas land near her, she kept crabwalking backwards until she felt the canyon wall behind her, leaving her trapped.
"Now my dear," the Fabled monster grinned, "It's time I bring you back to Master Leviathan!" He raised his hand, preparing to strike the girl.
Melody shut her eyes, waiting for the pain to come...
But...
"YAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
She opened her eyes and saw Gallabas being shocked by lightning!
"WHY!?" Gallabas shouted as he then shattered into golden particles across the skies.
Melody was confused at seeing her oppressor being destroyed by some random lightning, but she wasn't one to question divine intervention when it came. She breathed heavily as the Fear symbol vanished into her forehead.
"Melody!"
She was then greeted by some friendly faces in the form of Fidel, Yuri, Kylie, and Tetsu. Immediately they jumped off their Sonic Ducks and ran over to the exhausted Magician duelist and tried to help her up.
"Easy now," Yuri assured her, "You okay?"
Catching her breath, Melody began to answer, "Claudio's... been... taken..."
Everyone gasped. "By who?" Tetsu wondered.
"Some flying demons... They didn't look like Dark World monsters..."
Fidel growled, "Damn, it must be the Fabled monsters! Do you know where they went!?"
"No," Melody whimpered, "I don't know what happened; we were being harassed by them, the next thing I know I freaked out and ran away. I would have had my Dark Magicians fend them off, but somehow I was overcome by fear..."
The three overseas duelists didn't know what to make of Melody's sudden emotion shifts. But they were about to have bigger problems.
"Guys!"
Everyone now turned to see Kurogasa running towards them on his Sonic Duck looking frantic.
"What's wrong?" Tetsu asked.
"Mikoto, Vincent, Bradshaw, and Kairi are gone," the Haos duelist replied, prompting more shocked gasps from the crew. "We were all suddenly knocked out again, but this time I woke up in the fortress by myself!"
"They didn't go after Jaden?" Yuri wondered.
"We were about to..." Kurogasa groaned. "But I can't help feeling something bad happened..."
"Then we better get a move on," Fidel suggested, "If the worse has happened, Claudio and the others have been abducted by the same creatures that tried to capture Melody." He then looked down the canyon. "Luckily I saw some of the map Jaden had and mental note of a fortress nearby. That's our first stop and hopefully, the only one before we regroup."
"Just hope Claudio's in a mood to calm down," Tetsu said.
"He has," Melody assured them as Fidel helped her on his Sonic Duck before mounting it himself. "But knowing those monsters, they may force him into some duels and push him to the limit."
"Yeah, Claudio may be good, but he'll run out of stamina thanks to this place," Kurogasa stated, managing to control his emotions a little. 'I just hope nothing happens to Mikoto and the others as well...'
Back at the fortress, Leviathan lowered his hand and placed it back on his throne.
"There, now Gallabas won't be able to interfere with your girl," He stated.
"You destroyed him?" Claudio figured with widened eyes.
"Yes," the Fabled leader nodded, "And speaking of which..." He then snapped his fingers. Suddenly, Dianaira's body went up in flames, causing Claudio to cover his face with his arms to block the light it made! Once done, Claudio looked again and saw nothing left of the opponent he bested. The crowd was surprisingly silent as they looked at the arena with no emotion at all. "Now let's talk about your new position with me. Join the Fabled Way, take your rightful place at my side and let us destroy the Dark World and free the oppression!"
Seeing the way Leviathan treated his own people, Claudio had reached his breaking point, "NO! If you're willing to kill allies and subordinates, then I don't want any part of it!"
Leviathan frowned, "You sure? You could ensure the safety of your friends better by having me as an ally."
"You have my answer," Claudio growled.
The Fabled Leader then stood up and walked down from his throne. "Then, I'm afraid I'll have to kill you as well..." Suddenly, three small round demons flew down and handed him a pure white duel disk with a deck already pre-shuffled inside. "However, I will take pleasure in doing so. I will drink from your Duel Energy and finally rid the Dark World Army from the world and rule it!"
"It's going to be hard to do that if you kill your own men and women," Claudio stated as he took out all the cards from his deck and graveyard and reshuffled them all. He then placed them back into his disk and reactivated it.
Once Leviathan jumped down to the arena, he activated his duel disk. Still, one of the small demons stuck by him and whispered into his ear. After it was done talking, the Fabled Leader smirked as he looked at his deck. "Really? Then I have this world to myself." He said to himself before staring down Claudio. "All I have to do is destroy this impudent mortal and there will be no one to oppose me but the one who took down Brron.. And he will fall just the same..."
Both players drew their opening hands.
DUEL!
Claudio: 8000
Fabled Leviathan: 8000
"I'll begin," Leviathan shouted as he drew his sixth card, "I start with the Fabled Rubyruda in attack mode!" He announced as brought out a small, black-feathered garuda with big black eyes, yellow beak and purple legs and tail. Surprisingly, there was a little red demon with green eyes riding it while using reins on the back. (4/1100/800) "I then place one card facedown to end my turn." He concluded, as a set card appeared behind the monster.
"You have to be kidding me," Claudio scoffed, drawing his sixth card, "All you play is a bird? This will be easy getting my friends out! I summon Jukebox Hero Slash in attack mode!" He announced as he played his first card, a tower of fire erupted and brought out a guitarist wearing a leather jacket with a white shirt underneath with blue jeans. He also had wild, black hair underneath his black top hat and black shades over his eyes. He had a black guitar with a sharp, red guitar pick. (4/1300/1500) "Not only that, I play Double Summon and bring out a partner, Jukebox Hero Tom Sawyer!" He announced, activating his Spell Card which allowed him to play another monster card. White fog rolled around and a warrior with a stern look appeared in silver battle armor. He had brown hair that reached his shoulders and carried a guitar that had a spear point at the neck. (4/1900/1000)
"Two monsters, eh?" Leviathan wondered.
"You won't be looking so hot after Slash plays his effect," the J-Hero duelist smirked, "By summoning a Jukebox Hero while he's on the field first, I can damage you by 500 Life Points! Time for some November Rain!"
Slash played a fast solo that summoned acid rain upon Leviathan, causing him to use his wings to shield him from the damage.
Claudio: 8000
Fabled Leviathan: 7500
"Next, I'll attack with Slash," Claudio grinned as Slash used another solo to summon flames that shot at Rubyruda.
Leviathan grinned, "Here's why I chose to keep Rubyruda all alone! First, I use the Trap Staunch Defender!" He announced, revealing his facedown card, "With it, you attack with all monsters out! Next, I activate Rubyruda's effect! I discard a Fabled Monster in order to negate your attack!" He then revealed one of them from his five card hand. "And I think Fabled Lurrie is a good start!" He discarded the monster card, making Rubyruda fly out of the way. "But by doing so, I can Special Summon the monster I discarded! Come out, Fabled Lurrie!" Flying out of the graveyard, came a small demon wearing a red mask that concealed all but his green eyes, sharp teeth, and its green, pupil-less eyes. It also had two large wings and wore a black toga. He let out a wicked cackle. (1/200/100) "And since Staunch Defender is in effect, Tom Sawyer must battle!"
Tom Sawyer saw Rubyruda dive in to recklessly attack him. To catch him off guard, the J-Hero rushed in to head him off... Only for Leviathan to discard another Fabled Monster in order for the Fabled bird to turn left to dodge the attack.
"I just discarded the Fabled Cerburrel to activate Rubyruda's effect," The Fabled duelist stated, "And because of its discard, the Fabled Cerburrel will join us!"
In another flash from the graveyard, a red, three-headed puppy appeared onto the field. Each of its three heads had head crest over its black eyes with white pupils. And just like Rubyruda, it was collared by a small, grey demon with green eyes. (2/1000/400)
"So you were aiming to summon more monsters?" Claudio figured. He then sighed, "Guess I have to get this out of the way..." He then inserted another card. "I end my turn with a facedown card of my own."
"I move," Leviathan called as he drew his next card. "I set two cards facedown and summon The Fabled Nozoochee!" He announced, inserting his two cards into his disk and then playing his monster card. It turned out to be a small, yellow snake with a blue head crest and brown markings all over its body. Latching onto it was a blue demon with green eyes. (2/1200/800) "Now I shall tune together Level 1 Lurrie with Level 4 Rubyruda!" Rubyruda encircled the little male demon, becoming four Tuning Rings and one star inside, to become a white tower of energy. "I Synchro Summon Fabled Ragin!"
Stepping out of the tower came a tall, intimidating demon, dressed in golden armor with red, blue, and dark purple markings over it. His face was armored as well, but from the regal laugh he made, it was a part of the body as well. A sword in its scabbard was strapped to his waist, letting him draw it. (5/2300/1800)
"I activate Ragin's effect," the Fabled duelist announced, "When Synchro Summoned, I can draw until I hold two cards in my hand!" He drew out his two cards as noted. "Next, I Tune my Level 2 Nozoochee with my Level 2 Cerburrel!" The puppy howled as it became two Tuning Rings and encircled Nozoochee, becoming two stars, and merged to become another tower of energy. "I Synchro Summon the Fabled Unicore!"
Appearing from the second tower, a white horse galloped onto the field. It had a black tail and harness on its back, ridden by a white demon, with a helmet on its head. Also on the head was a sharp, white horn and an evil look into its red eyes. (4/2300/1000)
"Two monsters with 2300 ATK!?" Claudio gasped.
"Yes, and your monsters are about to die," Leviathan grinned, "I start with Unicore! Attack Slash with Greed's Horn!" The unicorn gave a haunting neigh as the demon rode it to strike the guitarist.
"I activate my Trap Card, Let There Be Rock... Or Not!" Claudio announced, revealing his facedown card, "I can use this card to stop your attacks since your monster has over 1500 ATK!" The Trap sent white waves towards the approaching demons...
"HA!" The Fabled duelist laughed, "You fell for it! The Fabled Unicore can negate all card effects and destroy them as long as I have the same amount of cards in my hand as yours!" He then showed that he had two cards, making Claudio realize he had the same as well.
The J-Hero duelist gasped as his Trap card fizzled out and shattered into pixels. It allowed Unicore to run through Slash with its horn, shattering him to pixels as well.
Claudio: 7000
Fabled Leviathan: 7500
"Next, I have Ragin to destroy Tom Sawyer with Loss of Regality!" Ragin took flight into the skies and then dove straight for the spear-wielding guitarist, slicing him into pixels.
Claudio: 6600
Fabled Leviathan: 7500
"I end my turn right here," the Fabled duelist grinned. "I think you understand what happens now... the next card or effect you activate will be negated by my Unicore's effect as long as we have the same amount of cards in our hands. What will you do?"
'This is bad,' Claudio thought, 'With my hand going to be at 3, I have to defend myself with a monster! I can't use a Spell or Trap card, because the moment I play it, I'll be at 2 again and opening him up to use Unicore's effect!'
"Come now, boy," Leviathan grinned, "Make your move and draw a card..."
Claudio growled as he drew his card, as instructed. He looked over his hand and saw something to use, "I set one monster in defense mode and one card facedown to end my turn." 'There, now I'm at one and he'll be at 3! I can use my facedown card then!'
"Once a proud warrior who defeated one of my best, is now a cowering kid before me," Leviathan grinned as he drew his next card. "Now to send you deeper into despair! I activate my Continuous Spell Card Wicked Cauldron!" Suddenly, the ground between the two duelists opened up and revealed a giant, black cauldron steaming with poison green liquid. "This card just happened to be owned by a certain Mad King of Dark World, but my brethren was able to take it. And I must say, I love the effects of it!"
Then, a light shone on a gate to the left side of Claudio and showed four familiar people that caused him to gasp in horror.
"Vincent! Kairi! Bradshaw! Mikoto!" Claudio called out to his unconscious captive friends inside the arena prison.
"With this card, I'll shall create the ultimate weapon that knows no equal," the Fabled leader rejoiced. "And your pain and misery will lead me to its power!" He then tossed a blank card and dropped into the cauldron.
"This has to be something bad," Claudio muttered to himself as he stared at his captive friends, "The only thing I can think of is too ensure a quick match... Just stay calm... I am not like Jaden. I never got them into this: I'm the one who's truly helping out to save Jesse and Allyson while keeping the others safe."
"Maybe I should help you focus on the match," Leviathan interrupted as he activated his facedown card, "I reveal my facedown card, Raigeki Break! By discarding one card, I can destroy 1 card on the field! And I pick your Set monster!" the Fabled duelist discarded one of his cards, reducing his hand to one, and used his index finger to zap Claudio's facedown monster card.
'Now I can't use my facedown card!' The J-Hero duelist screamed in his mind. 'I'm defenseless!'
"Now to deal some damage," Leviathan shouted as he raised his hand towards his horned steed, "Unicore, attack him directly!" Unicore gave another evil roar as it used his horn to unleashed dark lightning that shocked Claudio to the core.
Claudio: 4300
Fabled Leviathan: 7500
The damage left Claudio on his hands and knees, breathing heavily from his damage.
"Now I can activate the effect of my Wicked Cauldron!" Leviathan laughed darkly, as he took a card from his deck and showed off a vial of black liquid, with the kanji for envy. "Whenever you take damage I can send a Wicked Ingredient card to the graveyard! So I can send Wicked Ingredient – Envy to the graveyard!"
The Spell Card vanished from his fingertips and then glanced at Bradshaw, who was now waking up from his attack.
"Oh man..." the Gladiator Beast duelist groaned as he felt the pain throbbing from his head. "Those freaks... when I find them I'll..." He looked to his left and gasped at seeing his friends and his sister held against their will. "Kairi! Vincent! Mikoto!"
"Bradshaw!" Claudio shouted, prompting Alister's protégé to look down to him. "Are you okay!?"
"I'm just peachy," the Gladiator Beast duelist stated, "But why are you in a duel!? They got you the same us!"
"Like I had a choice," the J-Hero duelist replied, "These guys ganged up on me and forced me into a couple of duels! I just won the first one and now it looks like I have to beat the leader to free the rest of you!"
Suddenly, something within Bradshaw caused him to look down on the ground with conflicted emotions, 'So I was just something force a duel out of Claudio? Just like when I got left behind from the alternate dimension and forced to fight some flunkies... I'm nothing compared to Claudio, but no one gives me a chance to prove it! I could have fought this guy and saved everyone but people like Claudio and Jaden get all tough customers!'
He then yelled out loudly, causing Claudio to look at him strangely.
"Dammit Claudio!" Bradshaw shouted, "Why can't I have dueling skills you possess!? I actually have cards that follow a certain theme, but your cards do everything and become compatible with others! Alister and Erika saw a lot more in you than me, why did they bother taking me under their wing?"
The J-Hero duelist looked perplexed as he responded, not noticing that Kairi, Vincent, and Mikoto were waking up as well, "Bradshaw, where is this coming from?"
"YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHERE THIS IS COMING FROM!?" Bradshaw snapped. "You have it all! Skills, people that look up to you, and even someone that loves you! I've done a lot more than you did before I got noticed and I hardly get any recognition!"
Finally, Bradshaw gasped as the symbol on his left cheek extracted itself from the Gladiator Beast duelist and floated into the cauldron below the field. And then it happened...
Bradshaw Hawkins took his last breath before shattering into golden particles!
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Claudio shouted.
Vincent and Mikoto were at a loss for words, but Kairi fell to her knees and cried seeing her brother gone before her very eyes. "BRADSHAW!"
Leviathan grinned as he looked at the cauldron and saw the symbol for envy along with Bradshaw's image behind it.
"What's going on here!?" Claudio gasped, feeling scared, "How did he...!?"
"I'll explain it to you," the Fabled duelist interjected, "It was the effect of my Wicked Cauldron! When it activated, I had to send one of my Wicked Ingredients into the graveyard. And it also meant that whoever had that same symbol that was marked onto their flesh... is sacrificed into the Cauldron as well!" Claudio, Vincent, and the girls gasped at what they just heard, "And since your friends didn't know how it happened, I'll explain it to them with actions!"
Claudio realized what was going to happen and put out his hands in weak defiance shouting, "NO! DON'T DO IT!"
"Ragin, direct attack!" Leviathan called as his fiendish Synchro Monster had taken flight and then used his sword to slash across Claudio's chest, taking more points from him and hearing more screams of pain.
Claudio: 2000
Fabled Leviathan: 7500
Leviathan laughed once more as he looked up to his three remaining captives and grinned, "My dear humans; your friend just lost battle damage, triggering the effect of my Wicked Cauldron!" He then took another card from his deck, this time the symbol was of Frustation, "I shall send Wicked Ingredient – Frustration into the Cauldron!"
Soon, the spell was dropped into the Cauldron and it triggered the symbol on Vincent's neck to start glowing, causing the Dragunity duelist to grunt in pain as he clutched his neck.
"Vincent!" Mikoto gasped, "No! Not again!"
Kairi was now at a loss for words, but still continued to cry as she was going to lose another person.
Vincent looked down on Claudio, with an angry face, "This is how you repay my friendship, man... I helped your deck become better, but you couldn't do anything to stop me and Bradshaw from being sacrificed into your game!?" Claudio weakly looked back, not able to say anything from the pain he took. The Ra scoffed, "Yeah, I wouldn't say anything to me after what I've done either... Looks like you're no better than Jaden..."
The J-Hero gasped horribly as heard Vincent's last words before the symbol left his neck and went into the cauldron, making Vincent vanish into golden particles! 'I'm just like... Jaden!? I don't care about what others think!? Is that what he was implying!?' He then got angry as he picked himself up.
"So if Claudio takes damage, we'll be next," Mikoto realized as the symbol of Grief lit up on her left hand, she was using to cover her mouth.
"There's no way Claudio can stop taking damage," Kairi added as the symbol for Depression lit up on her forehead. "We're done for..."
"I end my turn with this facedown card." Leviathan concluded as he inserted a card into his disk. "And it's your turn..."
Still shaken up from what he just heard from Vincent, he looked unfocused and enraged as he drew his next card, "I activate my Trap Card, Coming to the Stage!" He shouted as he revealed his facedown card, "Now that Unicore can't negate my cards since you have no cards in your hand, I get to draw the top card of my deck and if it's a Jukebox Hero, I can summon it!" Claudio took the top card from his deck and flipped it over to show his signature monster card. "I Special Summon Roadie Riggs to the field in attack mode!" He announced as he summoned the ultimate Roadie onto the field. (7/2500/2000)
The duel spirit looked to Claudio with concerned eyes and tried to talk with him, "Hey Claudio, I'm sorry about..."
But it fell on deaf ears as the J-Hero duelist continued his move, "I activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards!" He announced, not waiting for the grinning pot to draw them out, "I now Normal Summon Ironheade – The Baron!" He continued as he brought out the flaming biker, who also looked concerned at his charge but couldn't say a word. (4/1900/1000) "Now I use the Union Effect of Baron, equipping him to Riggs!" Riggs reluctantly hopped onto the back of the Baron's bike, standing on the back. "I attack your Unicore!"
The Baron revved up his engines and rode straight into the unicorn and engulfed him with flames combined with Riggs's power.
Claudio: 2000
Fabled Leviathan: 7300
"I activate the effect of the Baron," Claudio continued, "While equipped to Roadie Riggs, I can destroy a Spell or Trap Card!" He then looked to the Cauldron below him and pointed to it, "I select the Wicked Cauldron!" The Baron conjured up flames from his fingers and snapped them to engulf the Wicked Cauldron in a giant flame. "Now you won't be able to use any more people as sacrifices!" But once the flame went away, the Cauldron was still there! "WHAT!?"
"I activate my facedown card, Fake Trap," Leviathan laughed as he had his trap card revealed already, showing off a purple demon holding a duplicate Wicked Cauldron card that was now being burned to ash. "It will be destroyed in place of my Spell!" The small demon laughed as it vanished as well. "What a shame, too... you could've saved your friends if you'd destroyed it..." Claudio gasped. "Hmm? You didn't know? Oh well, you had your chance..."
"Dammit..." Claudio growled as he activated the last card in his hand, "I activate my next card, Quick-Play Spell Combination Attack! This will separate the Baron from Roadie Riggs, and allow them both to attack!" Leviathan frowned as he saw the Roadie and the Ironheade biker separate from each other, poised to attack. (4/1900/1000) "Riggs, attack Ragin!"
Unstrapping his axe from his back, the Roadie ran across the field and sliced the regal demon apart into pixels.
Claudio: 2000
Fabled Leviathan: 7100
"Baron, attack directly!" Claudio shouted as the Baron raced across the field and then did a sharp U-turn that left a fiery blaze that engulfed Leviathan, making him grunt in pain.
Claudio: 2000
Fabled Leviathan: 5200
"Mark my words, I will take you down!" Claudio shouted as he inserted a facedown card and then signaled the end of his turn.
"Hmph," Leviathan shrugged as he drew his next card, "You really want to save your friends? After all the things those boys said to you... about being like Jaden..."
"I am not," Claudio frowned. "I strive to find my friends and keep everyone safe!"
"Good work so far," the fiend mocked as he inserted his lone card into his disk, "I activate the Spell Card, Card of Sanctity! Let us draw our six cards and continue your pain!" Claudio frowned as both he and Leviathan drew out their full hands. "I summon Fabled Raven to the field!"
From a dark tornado emerged a black robed, purple-skinned fiend. He had a black mask covering the top half of his face, but enough to show off his glaring, red eyes. On each of his arms and legs, a black wing with red tips spread themselves. (2/1300/1000)
"Next, while I control a Fabled Monster, I send Fabled Grimro to my hand to activate her Special Ability," He continued as he showed off another Fabled monster, a pale-skinned woman with black wings and wearing a dress made of black feathers. "I am able to retrieve the Fabled Chawa from my deck!" He announced as he sent away the former Fabled monster and retrieved the latter from his deck and added it to his hand. "And then, I activate Fabled Raven's effect! I discard any number of cards from my hand this turn, in order for it to gain and level and 400 ATK each until the end of this turn! So I discard a capture soldier known as Silva, Warlord of Dark World!" He showed of the card, clearly not a Fabled monster. Raven reveled in the power he received from the discarded. (2-3/1300-1700/1000)
"And he just discarded, meaning..." Mikoto gasped, fearing for her life.
"Silva, come join your new family!" Leviathan shouted as a dark portal opened up and unleashed a defeated looking Warlord as he stood up straight. (5/2300/1400)
"Wait, Dark World!?" Claudio shouted in confusion.
"That's right," Leviathan laughed, "The Dark World Army is no more! The Fabled have taken over!" The crowd cheered Leviathan's name as Silva sneered underneath his new master's gaze. Seeing this, the Fabled Leader smiled, "Don't feel bad... or is this because I had to kill your partner for defying my offer." He added darkly. "It made your decision easier, did it not?" Silva held back the anger present in his eyes. "You could have listened to my subordinate; that's how I knew where you were and then I was able to kill Goldd without him noticing!"
'So Jaden won...' Claudio figured, but then frowned. 'But what happened during that match... What did Jaden do?'
Leviathan turned to Claudio and smirked, "That's right, Claudio! Jaden defeated Brron! And you're also probably wondering what happened, yes?" He then turned to Silva, "Maybe you want to tell them what happened, Silva."
Claudio eyes widened, as did Mikoto's and Kairi's, once Silva spoke up. "My partner Goldd and I captured his friends and gave them to our... former king... as sacrifices to complete a card known as Super Polymerization," The former Warlord replied.
The girls' eyes gasped in horror while Claudio was beginning to look livid.
"That's right, Claudio," Leviathan smirked, "The Dark World Army has fallen thanks to Jaden... But not without losing four of his friends in the process, just because he wouldn't slow his pace to keep his former friends safe and just kept dueling for himself to find people he won't see again because of his actions..."
'Jaden... I will find you... and I will make you pay!' He thought in rage. He didn't notice the burning on his left arm, coming from the cuts he sustained from his battle with Doviculus. It made his blood boil and turned his eyes pitch black.
It was then Yuri, Kylie, Fidel, Kurogasa, and Melody showed up and hid in the shadows.
"So this is where they took them," Yuri stated as she held onto Kylie, who was still frightened.
"Yeah," Fidel added as he looked to Claudio, "They must have forced our guy into this match to free everyone held captive."
"I hope so," Kurogasa sighed as he looked to see where Mikoto was chained up with Kairi, "I don't want to see them get hurt."
Melody looked at Claudio sadly as she knew that he was in pain from how he was breathing heavily, "Claudio..."
Leviathan grinned, "Allow me to help out with your revenge..." He then turned to his two monsters. "I tune together Level 5 Silva and Level 3 Raven for a Synchro Summoning!"
Silva gasped in horror as he saw Raven erupt into black feathers and three Tuning Rings and began to surround him, "No, this wasn't part of the agreement!"
"Actually, you agreed to work for the Fabled Way in exchange for your life," the Fabled leader grinned, "And you are paying that now!"
"NOOOO!" Silva roared in anguish as he was reduced to 5 stars, creating another white tower.
"Come forth my ultimate warrior, Fabled Valkyrus!"
A dark laugh bellowed as another dark demon appeared from the energy. It wore dark red chest armor that had a small skull in the middle along with black armored leggings. Also a black helmet was on his head but covered his eyes and showed the sharp teeth that grinned. Leviathan laughed as Valkyrus stretched out his wings and laughed along with his master. (8/2900/1700)
"Oh great, 2900 ATK," Fidel growled, "This guy really has powerful Synchro Monster. Hell, it amazes me that the monsters in other dimensions have them."
"You're about to witness my monster's power beyond compare," Leviathan shouted, "But first, I activate Valkyrus's effect! I discard a Fiend monster, my Fabled Krus to draw a card!" He announced, discarding his monster before drawing again. "Now to activate my Krus' effect after being discarded! I can special summon a Level 4 or below Fabled monster! Like my Grimro!" In a flash, the feathered dress wearing Fabled reappeared in the flesh. (4/1700/1000)
"Next, I discard my Fabled Caitsith and Special Summon the Fabled Chawa!" He continued as he discarded a cat-like monster that had the tail of a rat to the graveyard. It unleashed a small Chihuahua being ridden by a yellow, green eyed demon. (1/200/100) "However, it activates Caitsith's effect! I can destroy a face-up card on the field! And choose your Riggs!" The ghost of the rat-tailed cat threw the green demon it held, launching at the Roadie.
The J-Hero duelist saw that his monster was being threatened and activated his facedown card, "I activate Altar for Tribute," He countered. "I can use this to send a monster to the graveyard and gain Life Points from his ATK!" Riggs vanished into white particles, fueling Claudio's life points but he looked conflicted as he did that.
Claudio: 4500
Fabled Leviathan: 5200
"Looks like you ARE like Jaden! Sacrificing others for personal gain!" Leviathan cackled, fueling Claudio's rage once more.
"Wait a second," Melody gasped, "'Like Jaden'? What does he mean by sacrificing others? He wouldn't do that! Sure, he got mad at him for trying to leave everyone behind but..."
"And for another thing to worry about," Yuri interjected, "What went on with Jaden's side that we missed? We have to find the others after we get the others out of here."
"Time for your friends to go," The Fabled Leader rejoiced as he pointed to his monsters. "Valkyrus, take out the Baron! Grimo, attack directly!"
Mikoto and Kairi gasped in horror that Claudio could not do anything to stop the attacks, and yet Claudio was still consumed in his rage as Valkyrus ripped apart the Baron into pixels. It was then followed by Grimo summoning black feathers in her hands and threw them at the J-Hero duelist like daggers, scarring his cheeks.
Claudio: 3500-1800
Fabled Leviathan: 5200
"Damn, if he takes another hit like that, he'll lose," Fidel growled, tightening his fist. He then stared at the wounds Claudio sustained and saw something dark leaking out of him. "Huh?"
"Now I activate Wicked Cauldron," Leviathan smirked as he took two cards from his deck, "I send the Wicked Ingredients Grief and Depression to the graveyard! So say goodbye to your friends!" The cards vanished from his hands.
Once done, Mikoto and Kairi screamed in pain as the symbols imprinted on them started to burn.
"Why Claudio!?" Kairi cried, "Why do you think that everyone can't help themselves?" All she got was Claudio falling to his knees, trying to suppress his anger and unable to hear the voices around them. "I can't believe you; I can't believe Alister and Erika were wrong about you!"
"So many bad things had to happen," Mikoto sobbed, hugging herself, "Jaden and Claudio... they're the cause of everyone breaking up... the cause of everyone's grief... Now I'll never see anyone again." She then caught a glimpse of Kurogasa, who was now looking saddened himself as he noticed what was happening, "Goodbye..." She whispered.
Both symbols of Grief and Depression extracted themselves from the girls and dropped into the Wicked Cauldron. Then, Mikoto and Kairi turned golden and broken up into golden particles.
The duelists that watched it all unfold couldn't believe what happened and looked up in horror and disbelief.
"Claudio..." Kurogasa muttered, "You... took her... away from me..." He then glared at the J-Hero with tear-filled eyes.
Melody was now beyond horrified as the symbol of Fear reappeared on her forehead, looking at her boyfriend with those same eyes, "Claudio... did you...?"
Leviathan grinned as he looked at the Cauldron and saw it bubbling from the four sacrifices, 'Glorious! Looks like that information my followers stole from Brron were wrong, I only needed four of them! I didn't need to kill my subordinates for failing me after all... But my orders are absolute...' He then saw that the blank card had sunk into the Cauldron and the bubbling stopped, 'Damn! It's not working! But with that fifth sacrifice gone from my clutches, I have no way to revive that card! I'll just keep up the charade; there's no way this boy can defeat me! Thanks to Urustos' work his dimension, this boy's mind is cluttered with fear, pain, suffering, and anger! He cannot win!'
"Come now dear boy," He announced, signaling the end of his turn, "At least I have saved them from the fate of watching what I'm going to do to you! They went peacefully, but you will not! And guess what? I lied about a way getting them back if you destroyed this card; you're doomed to walk alone!" He then laughed.
Unfortunately, Claudio's breaking point was reached as he jumped to his feet and yelled loudly.
"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Everyone felt a tremendous dark aura from around him, causing a power to well up from within. They cautiously looked at their friend and trembled at the sight. But it was nothing compared to what was said next by the J-Hero duelist.
"LEVIATHAN!" Claudio shouted as he practically ripped the next card from his deck during his Draw Phase, "I will break you! I summon Symphonic Warrior Piaano!" He announced as he brought out the living keyboard machine. (3/900/1300) "Next, I activate Quick Summon to bring out Jukebox Hero Voodoo Child!" Next, the purple smoke flushed out the afro-styled guitarist. (4/1600/1000) "Now I tune them both together!"
Piaano played a few keys and transformed into three Tuning Rings and surrounded Voodoo Child and reduced him to four stars. The combined energies unleashed silver energy that shot to the skies. "I Synchro Summon Jukebox Hero Hellion!" The silver energy tower unleashed the cybernetic eagle that helped to defeat Kenji at the beginning of the year. It let out a machine-like call as it took flight. (7/2300/1500)
"Sorry to disappoint your drive for revenge," Leviathan yawned mockingly, "But your Synchro Monster pales in comparison to mine!"
Claudio narrowed his eyes as made his next move, "You didn't hear about his next effect: I can look through your cards and select one monster from it. Hellion will scan it and gain 300 ATK multiplied by the Level!"
The Fabled leader cringed as Hellion's red eyes scanned the two cards in his hand. Once it did, it found one monster called Fabled Soulkius with the Level 6. Reading the data and storing it, Hellion charged up its energy. (7/2300-4100/1500)
"Now attack Valkyrus with Laser Sight," Claudio demanded as his monster's eyes changed blue and fired a laser that vaporized the fiendish Synchro Monster into nothing.
Claudio: 1800
Fabled Leviathan: 3100
"And if you liked the first part, here's the next attack," Claudio added darkly as he inserted another Spell card into his disk, showing Jukebox Hero Coheed Cambria raising his guitar to many cheers of fans, "I activate Encore Performance! This lets a Jukebox Hero attack again, but at the cost of 1000 ATK and being switched to defense mode until the End of my next turn! So that means it's now Grimo's turn to die!"
Fidel and Yuri gasped, while Kurogasa's glare intensified and Melody's fear grew as a red aura drained some of Hellion's power. (7/4100-3100/1500) Then it fired another blue laser, vaporizing the fallen angel and her destruction caused Leviathan to stumble back from the point loss.
Claudio: 1800
Fabled Leviathan: 1700
"I set card facedown and end my turn." Claudio concluded as Hellion curled up in defense mode, "Now hurry up and make your move... I want to take you down for hurting me... hurting others... If I can't bring them back, I'll at least avenge them by destroying you!"
Leviathan growled defiantly as he drew his next card, 'Damn... I can't take the risk in trying to see if I can use the fifth ingredient! I have to use the other effect and use my ultimate creature!' He then pointed to his Spell Card, "I activate Wicked Cauldron's effect! I send it to the graveyard and remove the four Ingredients from the graveyard and it allows me to Special Summon a monster from the Deck up to the Level 8!" He announced as the Continuous Spell card vanished, letting him take a Monster card from his deck, "From the dead, I call Fabled Dianaira to the field!" A dark smoke erupted from the Cauldron, unleashing the muscular masked demon from the dead but as a soulless shell. (8/2800/100)
"Good," Claudio grinned evilly, "I want to break him again for forcing me to his duel and your duel! I can't wait until my next turn!"
"From what I have planned, there will be no next turn," Leviathan stated as he played another card, "I call another duelist from your past: Fabled Topi!" From the flash of the summoning, the little female demon that tormented Rahz before his death appeared. (1/500/200) "Now I tune her and Dianaira together with the Fabled Chawa!" The dog howled to the moon as it became a single, yet giant Tuning Ring that grouped the undead Fabled monsters into 9 stars.
"A Level 10 Synchro Summoning!?" Everyone shouted.
Leviathan grinned as he saw the Synchro's energy merging together, "Not just any Synchro Monster!" The power was unleashed and it set free...
"IT'S ME!"
A complete doppelganger of Fabled Leviathan! (10/3000/2000)
Claudio scoffed, "I think you were better off trying to summon more monsters, because you can defeat Hellion, but you won't have anything left."
"Now whose being condescending," the Fabled Leader declared as he inserted another card and discarded another, "Now by discarding Fabled Soulkius, I can activate my Lightning Vortex to destroy your monster!" Everyone gasped as a lightning bolt shot down from the sky and struck down the machine eagle to pixels. "It's time to die!"
The Leviathan copy laughed as he lifted his finger to charge another lightning strike...
"I activate my facedown card, Half Shut!" Claudio countered, revealing his facedown card, "Now you only have half your power, meaning I'm still around!"
Leviathan groaned as his double got weaker. (10/3000-1500/2000) "It doesn't change my plans!" The double laughed loudly as it pointed at Claudio, causing another lightning bolt to strike down the angry Ra, taking most of his remaining points.
Claudio: 300
Fabled Leviathan: 1700
"You're final move," Leviathan grinned as his monster's power returned to full strength. (10/1500-3000/2000) "You won't be able to recover from what I've done to you! And if you see your friends again, how will you function alongside them again!"
This was proving true as Melody was now looking at Claudio with fear present in her eyes, 'Who is he...? Where's my Claudio?'
"Do not talk about my friends that way, Leviathan..." Claudio shouted, as he drew his next card, "I don't know why you decided to wage war with the Dark World, but when you decided to involve humans as pawns, you crossed the line with me! And with my cards I will destroy you!"
From his wounds, a dark aura leaked out more and reached out to Claudio's guitar on his back. Once surrounded, it started to play on Claudio's emotion and started to play by itself!
(Play Coheed and Cambria – This Shattered Symphony) (A/N: Wish I could use the lyrics in this one, but follow along the song and just imagine the rage!)
Soon, the dark aura took on the form of Claudio with red eyes and started singing the lyrics while the real Claudio started playing next cards. What was haunting to his friends was that how well it sung, making them believe every lyric recited.
"I activate Monster Reborn to revive Roadie Riggs from the graveyard!" He announced as he brought back his signature monster. (8/2500/2000) "Next, I sacrifice him to Special Summon Jukebox Hero Demon Riggs!" Riggs growled as his skin color and eyes changed and the wings sprouted from his back and let him took flight. (9/3000/2500) "Then I activate Clementine, increasing his power by 700!" The flying V-guitar appeared his hands, letting tune it up. (9/3000-3700/2500)
"He's got enough power to take him down," Fidel stated as he continued to listen to the music. "And how is his wounds causing the..." He then gasped as he figured it out, 'Crystal warned me about what happened in that other world; those attacks from the demons in that world must be affected him and the attacks from the Fabled monsters are increasing the negativity in his blood!'
"Yeah, but... what's going on," Yuri stated as she continued to see the event unfold.
"Then, I use Demon Riggs' ability to equip Ophelia the Rebel from my deck," He announced as Ophelia jumped out of nowhere and brought her daggers. She couldn't help but look at Claudio's state and gasped at what she saw. "Now attack and destroy Leviathan!"
Wanting to finish this off quickly, Ophelia jumped up to Riggs and let him launch her straight into the doppelganger, destroying it into pixels.
Claudio: 300
Fabled Leviathan: 900
Leviathan grinned as he took 3 cards from his graveyard, noticing that Claudio wasn't paying attention, 'Thanks to my effect, I can take 3 Fabled monsters from my graveyard and add them to my hand. And with my choices, I can I destroy his monsters and then make a direct attack with a weak monster to end this game!'
"Ophelia's effect activates," Claudio interrupted as he announced, "It allows Riggs to attack once again after defeating a monster!"
Leviathan cringed as he saw no other way out, but then gave a wicked grin as he saw Riggs come after him and whispered, "Welcome to your sorrow..." He was then chopped down and his dying body was dropped into the dark abyss below. Finally, golden particles erupted from the abyss to signify the Fabled Master's true end.
(End music)
Claudio: 300, Winner
Fabled Leviathan: 0
The crowd around the arena gasped in horror as they saw their once mighty leader being defeated in front of their eyes. Then, they all screamed as they climbed the fortress walls and started to vacate the premises. It was then Fidel, Tetsu, Yuri, Kylie, Kurogasa, and Melody made themselves known.
"Hey Claudio," Fidel called out carefully, "You alright?"
Claudio wouldn't look behind him as the dark aura seeped back into his wounds, "No, I'm not... They made me..."
"We saw it all," Yuri interjected. "Our friends are gone now because of that duel."
"Not only that," Tetsu added, "It seems some more of friends were gone because of Jaden's duel as well because of the Dark World Army's defeat."
Hearing that caused Claudio to growl and look to his companions as the dark aura came back from his wounds to surround him, "And I will make Jaden pay for what he's done!"
Everyone gasped as the Metal Gear Duelist stepped up to him, "Whoa, Claudio! You don't mean to duel Jaden in this world!? You know what's going to happen if you do!"
"It'll make him see what he's done to our friends," the J-Hero duelist demanded as he stared Fidel in the eyes. "I warned him what would happen if he caused this!"
"BUT YOU DID THIS TOO!?" Melody finally shouted back, causing Claudio finally notice her. Once he did, he gasped happily.
"Melody..." He whispered, changing his mood, "You're alive!" He ran to her side, but...
"NO!" She shouted as she stepped back from him.
This shocked Claudio as the dark aura continued to surround him, "Melody?"
"Stay away from me," She continued to shout, "I saw what you did to our friends! You let those Fiends take them away from us! Claudio..." She then shook her head rapidly as the Fear symbol continued to glow. "No... The Claudio I knew and love would never do this to us!" She then yelled at the top of her lungs. "WHO ARE YOU!?"
Claudio was on the verge of crying as he tried to reach out to her one last time, "Mel... I..."
*SMACK!"
Melody then slapped his face in retaliation before running out of the fortress crying in sorrow and fear.
"Melody, wait!" Yuri shouted as she and Kylie ran after their distraught friend.
"Damn..." Tetsu cursed as he ran after the girls and kangaroo, making sure they didn't get into trouble.
After being slapped, Claudio fell to his hands and knees in disbelief that his girlfriend didn't let him say his piece. Fidel was about to say something about his friend's condition.
"You took her away from me, Claudio," Kurogasa growled as he stood over Claudio's prone body. "You knew I had feelings for Mikoto and you took her away from me!"
"Kurogasa..." Fidel muttered.
"And what's more, you took one of my friends too," the Haos Duelist continued to snap. "You really are no better than Jaden!" He then turned around and ran off in a huff. "Don't try and find me..."
"Guys, wait," Fidel shouted, "You don't understand what's going on here!" He then looked back to Claudio and frowned at his wounds and dark aura. "Claudio, stay here... I'll be back..." He then ran off to find the others.
But Claudio didn't pay any attention as he started to cry.
"Why?" He sobbed. "I never meant for anything like this to happen! Why doesn't anyone believe what I did was not my fault? Why didn't Melody listen to me? It was Jaden's fault for trying to get everyone caught up in danger, and look what happened... Someone's dead and I don't know who!" Without noticing, the tears that fell from his eyes had turned black.
It was then Ophelia, Lars, and Lita emerged from his deck and looked at him somberly.
"Damn," Lita cursed as Ophelia knelt down with their charge and tried to comfort him, "Look at how everything has turned out."
"Both oppressors of the human race have fallen," Lars stated, "But because of their actions, we lost many friends because of how they played Claudio into their hands." He then looked down at Claudio with a sad expression. "This must have been how you all felt when I died in my previous life. Such tragedy..."
"Hey," Ophelia whispered to the crying J-Hero duelist, "We know what happened to you. That monster said that one of his men had Doviculus poison you during their duel." She looked back to the Halford siblings. "Remember all the attacks Claudio sustained during the duel against Doviculus?"
Both of them gasped as Lars spoke up, "Of course, the Tainted Coil's attacks corrupted him! It's how that black aura fueled him into a rage!"
"We need to get Claudio to the others," Lita stated, "We can have them talk with us and..."
She was then interrupted by a haunting female voice...
"Through the woods a girl came sadly. Something broken in her chest.
She had dared to love another. Alas, no better than the rest.
Up my path the girl came gladly. Something opened up my doors. I
longed to stop her bleeding heart. And so I called her to my shores.
Those you trust will hurt you badly. Something now I'm sure you see.
So drown your tears in me, my dear. As you drown, my dear, in me."
The haunting poem continued to recite around the fortress, causing Lita and Lars to be confused.
"What's this sound?" Lars wondered as he looked around.
"I don't know," Lita replied. "It doesn't feel well... that's for sure..."
Claudio stops crying as he hears the words, and looks up to see dark portal opening up in the hole where Leviathan fell to his death.
Ophelia hears it as well and starts to freak out as she whispered, "No... It can't be... It was sealed..." But once she sees the look in Claudio's eyes, she knows he heard the voice as he stood up and tries to walk into the portal.
"NOOOO!" Ophelia cries as she gets and front of him and hugs him tightly, "Don't listen to it! Don't listen to it!"
The Halford siblings turned back to see Ophelia holding Claudio back from something.
"Ophelia?" Lita asked, wondering what got her friend into such a state.
"It's the Sea of Black Tears," Ophelia shouted as Claudio continued in his sorrowful trance, fueled by the dark aura that let him walk without resistance from the Ironheade rebel. "That's the voice I heard when I went in!"
Lars and Lita gasped, "If he gets into the Sea of Black Tears…" They didn't want to finish that sentence as they tried to help Ophelia stop Claudio.
"You will not stop the resurrection of the Drowned Emperor!" The female voice stopped reciting the poem called out from within Claudio's aura.
Then the aura surrounded the three Ironheade members and started to crush them into an unforgiving grasp. They all let out strangled gasps as the air left them, making them all pass out before the dark aura released them...
Except for Ophelia...
The aura carried the unconscious woman and placed her into Claudio's waiting arms, bridal style.
"To bring back the army, you will need help from the previous mistress..." The voice stated, "Now... Jump into the portal and claim your destiny!"
Claudio then ran to the pit and then jumped inside the portal, leaving behind his duel disk and the cards Ironheade – Lars the Brave and Ironheade - Lita the Strong on the ground where their spirits once stood...
AND DONE!
Wicked Canon
Continuous Spell
When you take Battle Damage, you can send 1 "Wicked Rune" Spell Card from your hand or Deck to the Graveyard. You can remove from play this face-up card you control and all "Wicked Rune" cards from your Graveyard to Special Summon 1 Fusion Material Monster, from your Deck, that is listed on a Fusion Monster in your Fusion Deck that can only be Special Summoned with "Super Polymerization", and whose Level is equal to or less than the number of "Wicked Rune" Spell Cards removed x 2.
Wicked Rune – Anger
Quick-Play Spell
When this card is sent to the Graveyard, remove from play all other cards with the same name from your Graveyard
Wicked Rune – Hatred
Quick-Play Spell
When this card is sent to the Graveyard, remove from play all other cards with the same name from your Graveyard
Wicked Rune – Anguish
Quick-Play Spell
When this card is sent to the Graveyard, remove from play all other cards with the same name from your Graveyard
Wicked Rune – Doubt
Quick-Play Spell
When this card is sent to the Graveyard, remove from play all other cards with the same name from your Graveyard
Darkness Half
Continuous Trap Card
Select 1 monster you control with the highest ATK. Special Summon 2 "Dark Tokens" (Fiend-Type/DARK/Level 3/ATK 1000/DEF 1000) in Attack Position to your opponent's side of the field. Halve the original ATK of the selected monster. When this card is removed from the field, destroy that monster. When that monster is removed from the field, destroy this card
Dark Tournament
Normal Trap Card
Change all monsters on the field to face-up Attack Position. This turn, all face-up Attack Position monsters must declare an attack, if able, and if monsters battle, they cannot be destroyed by battle.
(The List of cards above were used by Brron, Mad King of Dark World in the GX episodes: Turning the Page. All rights go to the creators of the episodes.
Dark World Eruption
Normal Trap Card
This Trap Card can activate if it is in your graveyard when your opponent Special Summons a monster onto their side of the field. Special Summon 1 Dark World Monster from your graveyard. If this monster summoned by this card's effect would be destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, banish it instead.
Guardian of Metal
DARK
Level 6
Spellcaster/Effect/Synchro
0/2200
1 Tuner + 1 Ironheade Monster
When this card would be destroyed: Send the top card of your deck to the graveyard. While this card is face-up on the field: All Monsters with "Ironheade" in its name can use its effect printed on the card.
Wicked Cauldron
Continuous Spell Card
When you take Battle Damage, you can send 1 "Wicked Ingredient" Spell Card from your hand or Deck to the Graveyard. You can remove from play this face-up card you control and all "Wicked Ingredient" cards from your Graveyard to Special Summon 1 Monster from your Deck whose Level is equal to or less than the number of "Wicked Ingredient" Spell Cards removed x 2.
Wicked Ingredient – Envy
Quick-Play Spell
When this card is sent to the Graveyard, remove from play all other cards with the same name from your Graveyard
Wicked Ingredient – Frustration
Quick-Play Spell
When this card is sent to the Graveyard, remove from play all other cards with the same name from your Graveyard
Wicked Ingredient – Grief
Quick-Play Spell
When this card is sent to the Graveyard, remove from play all other cards with the same name from your Graveyard
Wicked Ingredient – Depression
Quick-Play Spell
When this card is sent to the Graveyard, remove from play all other cards with the same name from your Graveyard
Encore Performance
Quick-Play Spell
Activate when a "Jukebox Hero" you control has attacked. Decrease its ATK by 1000 and declare a second attack with it. Switch it to Defense Position until the end of your next turn.
(The Top 8 cards were created by me. Creative cards rights go to me)
I know people are going to hate me for what I've just done, but for those who stuck by the third season of GX... You know where this is going...
The Armor monsters were used by Valon in the Waking the Dragons season of the second series anime. All rights go to the creators of the anime.
Next Time: Syrus and Melody are now filled with grief as the people they trusted had done the unthinkable in their eyes. However, they still don't know about the orbs that grafted the seal on them that's fueling their emotional breakdowns. It's up to an unlikely source to help them break out of it.
Please Review! Later!
