Author's Note: I'd like to apologize for not updating this story for a few weeks. Things have been crazy at my job ever since the holidays started. Plus lately I've been a bit wrapped up with playing Pokemon Sword. Well, to make up for it, I'm going to be posting two chapters instead of just one. So without further delay, let's get on with the first one.
Disclaimer: I do not own Revolutionary Girl Utena or Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.
Chapter 29: Madness from the Void
It was the dead of night as Utena and Anthy made their way across campus to the administration building. During the whole walk, Utena's mind was on her upcoming duels against Mikage and the Skeleton Knight, particularly on facing Mikage. As much as Utena despised what Mikage had done to Miki, Kozue, Juri and Wakaba, there was still a part of her that liked Mikage and sympathized with why he had been helping the Skeleton Knight orchestrate all of these dark turbo duels. Just as Utena had been fighting all this time to protect Anthy and possibly have a real future with her, Mikage had been fighting so that he could have a future with Mamiya. Unfortunately with the way things were, only one of them could get what they want.
"Are you all right Lady Utena?" Anthy asked as they walked, breaking the silence. "You've been quieter than you usually are before a duel."
"…Yeah, I'm okay," Utena replied. "It's just…I've never gone up against an opponent like Mikage before. In a way, he and I are kind of the same. And while I hate to admit it, I probably would've done the same things he did if I had been in his shoes. It's a shame that both of us can't get what we want out of all this."
"You know you could simply throw the duel so that at least Mr. Mikage can have what he wants. I would be just fine with whatever fate awaited me afterwards."
At this, Utena's hands clenched into fists at her sides. "No. Anthy, me losing this time would mean that Mikage and the Skeleton Knight would kill you! Besides, even though Mikage had some good reasons for doing what he did to Miki, Wakaba and the others, he crossed a line that he shouldn't have. That's why I'm going to fight like hell to take him down!"
Utena and Anthy at last reached the administration building and went in, unsurprisingly finding the door to be unlocked. In moments they were down in the abandoned hallway heading for the elevators up to the track. During the walk, Utena couldn't help but be reminded of how Mikage had said he had been the one responsible for making it so that those elevators could rise up to the duel track. As soon as they came near the doors, Anthy walked ahead and vanished down her own private corridor. Utena meanwhile headed into her usual elevator.
Once inside, Utena's elevator began to ascend and the familiar piece of choral rock music started to play over the intercom speakers. Flat green lights washed over Utena from the corners of the car, changing her from her tomboyish student look to her longhaired dueling appearance. When the car finally came to a stop after a few moments, the floor opened up and Utena's pink D-Wheel rose out. As Utena mounted the machine, the large door at the other side of the car opened up. With her helmet secure, Utena drove out onto the track.
As always, Seibal was hovering above the track in the starry night sky. Utena immediately spotted Anhty standing on her platform in her usual red princess-like outfit. Soon after as she approached the starting line, the pinkette spotted the Skeleton Knight standing next to the track. Utena immediately noticed that there was a small lavender tent next to the Skeleton Knight. The fabric of the tent was just thin enough for Utena to make out the silhouette of someone sitting in a wheelchair.
"Skeleton Knight. Is that…Mamiya?" Utena asked after pulling up to the starting line.
The Skeleton Knight nodded. "Mikage insisted that the boy be present for this. And I think a bit of added motivation is just what Mikage needs to defeat you."
Just then, Mikage pulled up next to Utena at the starting line. The pink-haired genius was on the back of a white D-Wheel with the front designed to look like the head of a dragon with yellow eyes.
"Well Utena, it seems that our long struggle is about to come to an end," Mikage spoke. "You've proven to be a worthy foe. In fact…I've honestly grown rather fond of you in a way. It's a shame though, because I must sacrifice Himemiya so that I can restore Mamiya."
"You know I can't let you do that!" Utena responded.
Mikage nodded. "Then there's nothing more that needs to be said. Let's begin the duel!"
With that, Anthy raised her hand in the air, signaling Utena and Mikage to rev their engines. The moment Anthy swung her hand downward, Mikage and Utena took off down the track. The two of them were neck and neck for several moments. As soon as they came near the first corner though, Mikage rammed his D-Wheel into Utena, causing her to swerve. This gave Mikage the opening he needed to pull ahead and take the first corner.
"That was a dirty move, Mikage!" Utena protested.
"This was the only way I had of getting the first turn!" Mikage declared as he drew his first card. "In case you haven't realized it by now, I'm willing to use any means necessary to restore Mamiya! Now then, for my first move I summon Infernity Ogre in Attack Mode!"
Materializing next to Mikage's D-Wheel was a large humanoid creature with grey skin, a fat gut, and muscular arms and legs. A yellowed horned animal skull covered the top half of the beast's head, revealing only the large jaw and fanged mouth that were part of its face. A pair of red animalistic eyes could be seen through the eye sockets of the skull that the beast wore as a helmet. Spiked plates of black armor covered the creature's shoulders, while two black crisscrossing straps were the only things covering its chest and back. A black leather kilt hung down around the beast's waist, and in his clawed right hand he clutched a large club made of yellowed bone.
"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Mikage announced.
Utena drew her first card. "I summon Junk Commander in Attack Mode!"
On cue, the burgundy-armored warrior appeared next to Utena's D-Wheel in his tattered red mantle.
"Because I've summoned Junk Commander when I have no other monsters on the field, I can special summon a Junk Tuner from my deck!" Utena announced. "From my deck I summon Junk Anchor!"
Junk Commander slashed his sword through the air, causing a hole of green light to appear. The robot-like Junk Anchor dropped down out of the hole only a few seconds before it vanished.
"Junk Anchor's effect lets me use him as a substitute for any Synchron Tuner monster!" Utena announced. "Using him in place of Turbo Synchron, I tune the level two Junk Anchor into the level four Junk Commander for a level six Synchro Summon!"
Junk Anchor flashed green and changed into two green rings of light. The rings encircled Junk Commander and transformed the warrior into four white stars.
"The stars of the noble shall come together and become a light that races down the path to a victorious future!" Utena chanted. "Synchro Summon! Race forth! Turbo Knight!"
The stars flashed and became a ray of white light that expanded outward. After a few seconds the light broke apart to reveal Utena's pink female knight.
"Since I summoned Turbo Knight using a Junk monster as material, I get to draw one card!" Utena announced. "Next I use Junk Commander's other effect! Because he was used to Synchro Summon a Knight monster, I get to summon Junk Blader from my hand!"
On cue, the purple-armored warrior appeared on the track next to Turbo Knight.
"I attack Infernity Ogre with Turbo Knight!" Utena announced. "Accel Strike!"
Turbo Knight zoomed up the track on her wheels and struck Infernity Ogre with several lightning-fast strikes from the tip of her rapier. Soon after being hit, the ogre shattered into particles of gold light. Mikage's life points took a slight drop to 3500.
"At this moment I activate my Trap, Rope of Life!" Mikage announced. "With this card's effect, I send all other cards in my hand to the Graveyard to summon Infernity Ogre back to the field with 800 extra ATK points!"
Infernity Ogre reappeared on the track with a burst of crimson light. The beast let out a horrid roar and the end of his club became lit with crimson flames.
"Now my Infernity Ogre's ATK is at 2600," Mikage announced.
"Yeah, but…losing your whole hand seems like a pretty big cost just to bring back that one monster," Utena pointed out.
Mikage smirked. "Ah! But you see Utena…my goal wasn't simply to bring back Infernity Ogre, but to empty my entire hand!"
"What? But why play without a hand? That's nuts!"
"At first glance yes, but there is a method to this madness. You'll see soon enough on my next turn."
"Well in that case, I guess I'll just set one more card on the field and end my turn!" Utena announced.
Mikage drew his next card. "I summon the Tuner monster, Infernity Beetle in Attack Mode!"
Appearing next to Infernity Ogre was a large black and brown beetle with large green eyes and long legs. From the top of its head extended a large horn that curved downward and had two spikes towards the end on its underside. Meanwhile growing from the end of the beetle's snout was a slightly smaller horn that curved upward.
"I activate Infernity General's effect from the Graveyard!" Mikage announced. "Because I have no cards in my hand, I can banish Infernity General to summon two level three or lower Infernity monsters from my Graveyard! I use this effect to summon Infernity Shield Bearer and Infernity Spear Bearer!"
Materializing next to Mikage's D-Wheel were two knights clad in identical suits of heavy black and silver armor. Each knight had a long armored skirt that extended down past his knees. One of the knights carried a small black shield decorated with three red gems arranged like the points of a triangle, and had a large round spike extending from the armor on his left shoulder. The other knight meanwhile held a long spear with a large blade at the end in his right hand, and had a large round spike on the armor covering his right shoulder.
"I tune the level two Infernity Beetle into the level three Shield Bearer and the level three Spear Bearer for a level eight Synchro Summon!" Mikage announced.
Infernity Beetle flashed green before transforming into two rings made of red light. The rings encircled Mikage's two dark knights and changed them into six black stars.
"Arise from the space between Heaven and Hell and cast this world into eternal night!" Mikage chanted. "Synchro Summon! The dragon of the damned! Void Ogre Dragon!"
The black stars crackled and became a ray of black energy that shot down the track and extending outward, which faded only seconds later to reveal a large dragon with two large membranous wings and scales the color of dried blood. It had red eyes and a red gemstone embedded in the center of its forehead, and from the sides of its head like a pair of ears extended two large wing-like fins. Two silver spikes grew from the sides of its jaw, while a third extended from the back of its head. The dragon's large hands each bore a set of six long silver claws, and it had three more silver claws on the toes of each foot. At the end of the dragon's long whip-like tail was a single silver spike.
As soon as the dragon appeared, a thick black aura began to emanate from its body. Utena knew in an instant was kind of dragon it was.
"So this is your Duel Dragon, huh?" Utena observed.
Mikage grinned and nodded. "Yes, and it's unlike any of the others you've faced before. Not only does Void Ogre possess 3000 ATK and DEF, it has an effect that will obliterate any hope you may have of victory! But of course I'm getting ahead of myself. First I shall attack Turbo Knight with Infernity Ogre! Skull Break Club!"
"I activate my Trap, A Knight's Tenacity!" Utena announced as Infernity Ogre leapt into the air towards Turbo Knight. "This card's effect prevents Turbo Knight from being destroyed!"
"It won't this time, because I activate Void Ogre Dragon's effect!" Mikage announced. "Once per turn when I have no cards in my hand, Void Ogre can negate the activation of an opponent's Spell or Trap card and destroy it!"
Suddenly Void Ogre's tail extended across the field and pierced the large version of Utena's Trap card through the center with the spike at the end of his tail, causing the card to shatter like glass. Internity Ogre meanwhile slammed his flaming club into the top of Turbo Knight's head, causing her to explode with a blast of fire and smoke. The shockwave from the explosion shook Utena's D-Wheel, causing her to loose speed and her life points to drop to 3700.
"And now, when Infernity Ogre destroys a monster while I hold no cards in my hand, he deals damage equal to the destroyed monster's ATK of DEF, whichever is stronger!" Mikage announced. "This means you take Turbo Knight's 2300 ATK as damage!"
Infernity Ogre let out a savage roar and slammed his flaming club into the concrete of the track, sending a wave of blue flames across the track at Utena. As Utena was hit by the wave, her life points dropped to 1400 and she fell even further behind Mikage.
"And now I attack Junk Blader with Void Ogre!" Mikage announced. "Infernity Chaos Burst!"
Void Ogre opened his jaws and fired a massive beam of crimson light across the track at Junk Blader. The beam totally enveloped the armor warrior and vaporized him in an instant. Utena's life points dropped to a mere 200 and her D-Wheel lost even more of its speed.
"That ends my turn!" Mikage announced.
"So…your monsters gain power when you have no cards in your hand," Utena observed. "I gotta say Mikage, that's a pretty reckless strategy."
"This strategy demonstrates my resolve!" Mikage declared. "I'm a desperate man with nothing to lose, Utena. I live a cursed existence, one that will not end until I can gain the power of eternity waiting up in Seibal and restore Mamiya. That is why I duel with my back against the wall, with only the top card of my deck to decide my victory or defeat! Of course now that I've summoned Void Ogre to the field, my victory is assured!"
"We'll see about that!" Utena declared as she sped up and drew her next card. "I summon Junk Squire in Attack Mode!"
On cue, the diminutive squire appeared next to Utena's D-Wheel clad in his grey goggles and his tattered green hooded cloak.
"I activate Junk Squire's effect and sacrifice him to summon Turbo Knight back from the Graveyard!" Utena announced.
Junk Squire shattered into particles of gold light and a pillar of pink light shot up from the ground into the night sky. After a few moments, the light faded to reveal Utena's pink female knight.
"Since I have a Knight Synchro Monster on the field, I can special summon Vassal Synchron from my hand!" Utena announced.
Materializing next to Turbo Knight was a small knight clad in silvery white armor. Covering his head was a helmet with a large visor styled to look like Stardust Spark Dragon's head. Covering the small knight's torso was a red and grey tunic decorated with markings similar to the ones on parts of Stardust's body. Hanging from the knight's waist was a small sword with a green scabbard and handle.
"I tune the level two Vassal Synchron into the level six Turbo Knight for a level eight Synchro Summon!" Utena announced.
Vassal Synchron drew his sword and raised it into the air before changing into three green rings of light. The rings encircled Turbo Knight and transformed her into six white stars.
"Flash of light that splits the sea of stars! Shake our souls and roar through this world!" Utena chanted. "Synchro Summon! Shine! Stardust Spark Dragon!"
The stars flashed and became a ray of blinding white light that shot down the track and expanded outward. In a matter of seconds the light broke apart and Stardust Spark Dragon appeared with a roar, showering the track with particles of stardust with each flap of his mighty wings.
"I attack Infernity Ogre with Stardust!" Utena announced.
"Now who's being reckless?" Mikage responded. "You forget that thanks to being brought back with Rope of Life, Infernity Ogre is 100 ATK points stronger than Stardust!"
"Except that when a Stardust monster is Synchro Summoned using Vassal Synchron, it gains 600 ATK for each Knight Synchro Monster in my Graveyard when it attacks an opponent's monster!" Utena revealed. "This means that during this battle, Stardust's ATK shoots up to 3100! Stardust! Blow Infernity Ogre away! Shooting Blast!"
Stardust roared and fired a ray of light from his jaws across the field at Infernity Ogre. Upon being struck in the chest by the blast, the savage ogre shattered into particles of red light. The resulting shockwave rocked Mikage's D-Wheel, causing him to loose speed and dropping his life points to 3000.
"And now I activate a Quick-Play Spell, Synchro Rampage!" Utena announced. "When a level eight or higher Synchro Monster destroys an opponent's monster by battle, that monster can make a second attack during this turn!"
"How quickly we forget! At this moment I activate Void Ogre's effect to negate the activation of your Spell card!" Mikage announced.
"And at this moment I activate the effect of Effect Punisher from my hand!" Utena announced. "When my opponent activates a monster effect during the Battle Phase, I can discard Effect Punisher from my hand to negate that effect and lower that monster's ATK by 500 until the end of the turn!"
Suddenly appearing high above the track was a young man with long purple hair tied in a ponytail. He wore a long-sleeved white shirt under gold armor covering his chest and shoulders, and on his back was a pair of large white-feathered wings. Upon his head was a gold helmet with a visor and two wing-shaped blades on the sides. Covering his legs was a pair of long black slacks with golden boots. In his hand, the angelic young man held a long golden spear.
Effect Punisher threw the spear down towards Void Ogre. Midway through its descent the spear transformed into a massive bolt of gold lighting that struck Void Ogre in the back. Void Ogre roared in pain as his body sparked with gold electricity and his ATK dropped to 2500. At this point, Utena and Mikage were once again coming near where the Skeleton Knight and Mamiya were at the track's edge.
"Stardust! Blow Void Ogre away!" Utena commanded. "Shooting Blast!"
Stardust let out another roar and fired a second ray of light from his jaws. The blast struck Void Ogre in the chest, causing glowing white cracks to form all over his body. Void Ogre roared one last time before exploding with a flash of white light. The resulting shockwave lowered Mikage's speed on the track and also lowered his life points to 2400, but that wasn't all that happened. The blast from Void Ogre's destruction also blew away the tent covering Mamiya and knocked over the wheelchair he had been sitting in. That was when Utena caught sight of a horrible truth.
The thing that had been sitting in the wheelchair was a mummified corpse with wavy bluish-white hair still growing from its head. It was dressed in a red outfit that Utena had seen once before in an old photograph.
"What…the hell?" a shocked Utena spoke. "Is that…Mamiya?"
"Mamiya?" Mikage's voice cried out. Utena looked ahead and saw Mikage looking back at the corpse on the ground. His skin had gone totally pale and he had a look of total shock and disbelief on his face. "No! No, no, no, no. NO! This…this is some sort of trick! Skeleton Knight! What have you done with Mamiya?"
"Mikage…the boy, Mamiya died forty years ago in the ritual you performed," the Skeleton Knight revealed. "But you could not accept his death, so you deluded yourself into thinking that he was still alive in an immortal but disabled state. All of the conversations you've had with the boy all these years…the ones you've had with the remains you've cared so tenderly for…have all been in your mind."
"Mikage, I…I'm so sorry," Utena spoke. "I can't begin to imagine what you're going through right now."
"…All this time…I've been chasing an illusion?" Mikage spoke as tears began to streak down his face. "Mamiya…the boy I loved…died by my hands forty years ago? Which means that everything I've done…has been for nothing. I have nothing left to fight for…nothing."
Utena was about to say something when Mikage's lips suddenly curved into an unnatural grin. The pink-haired genius suddenly began to chuckle, and in moments that chuckle turned into a mad laugh that sent a chill down Utena's spine. Suddenly a massive aura of shadow miasma erupted from Mikage's body and shot into the night sky.
After a few moments, the eruption of aura subsided, and Mikage looked back at Utena with eyes that had become pitch-black except for a pair of pale-blue irises. "Well then…if Mamiya is really gone…I guess all that's left for me is to kill you, Himemiya…AND THIS ENTIRE WRETCHED WORLD!"
From where he stood, the Skeleton Knight chuckled. "Now the real duel begins, Prince Utena. Let's see how well you do against a man overflowing with despair and madness from a bottomless void."
Author's Note: Before we get into the second half of this duel, let's take a quick look at the original cards that showed up. We'll start with Mikage's new card.
Infernity Ogre
DARK/Fiend/Effect/4/ATK 1800/DEF 800
When this card destroys an opponent's monster while you have no cards in your hand: Inflict damage to your opponent equal to the original ATK or DEF (whichever is higher) of the destroyed monster.
For Mikage's Infernity deck, I decided to go with the medieval-themed Infernity monsters used in the 5D's manga. Infernity Ogre was an attempt to stick with that theme.
Now a quick look at Utena's new cards.
Vassal Synchron
EARTH/Warrior/Tuner/Effect/2/ATK 400/DEF 600
You can Special Summon this card (from the hand) if you control a face-up "Knight" Synchro Monster. A "Stardust" monster Synchro Summoned using this card as material gains the following effect: *When this card attacks an opponent's monster, it gains 600 ATK for each "Knight" Synchro Monster in your Graveyard.
Effect Punisher
LIGHT/Fairy/Tuner/Effect/1/ATK 400/DEF 0
When your opponent activates a monster effect during the Battle Phase: You can discard this card from your hand; negate that effect and decrease the ATK of the opponent's monster by 500 until the End Phase.
Synchro Rampage
Quick-Play Spell
Activate when a level 8 or higher Synchro Monster you control destroys an opponent's monster by battle: That monster can make a second attack during that Battle Phase.
Effect Punisher was kind of a random card I made up on the fly while writing this duel. Originally I was just going to use Effect Veiler, but I needed something that would work during battle. Effect Punisher is essentially an alternate version of Effect Veiler.
That covers it for this chapter. The next chapter is already up, so feel free to proceed onward!