Hey all, Ray here doing this chapter's intro and it'll be quite an insane beginning to our new arc. Be warned, it will be a lot of dueling so if you're expecting a break in between, you're out of luck. Also, we will be introducing a new aspect to our series, which we'll explain later down the line so look forward to that. For those excited, we've got quite a few duels and showing the side characters history. As always, we want to thank our beta, Eneko95, for her continued hard work at checking over our stuff.
Chapter 32
War of the Planets
Derailed Rumble
Part I
Night
Ra Dorm
The time was 10ish as many of the students were now in deep sleep, enjoying the peace and quiet. Though some found themselves unable to sleep, staying up without causing much noise as they did activities that would help them sleep.
Jessie was one of these students, stargazing from his window. He wasn't the type to sleep until later, something his family hated. Though lucky for him, they weren't around so it gave him ample time to enjoy the view.
The reason he had been up was due to his last two weeks of late night training. Since getting his power, his partner suggested that he learn about them, get a grasp of how they worked.
It was still a mystery what exactly he had, but thanks to the sessions, he learned how to summon them by will and control it effectively.
For the most part, he could emit an energy that repelled certain forces. Not only that, but it allowed him to view duel spirits that lingered and sense certain energies around him.
He was anxious, hoping to finally put his power to the test. Luckily for him, tonight would be that night.
Jessie felt a dark energy emanate from the outside along with a powerful burst of positive energy that made it disappear.
His partner, Heroic Champion - Excalibur, manifested in his spirit form and floated towards him. He crossed his arms, feeling what Jessie was feeling.
"I'm not sure how to feel about whatever just happened," he admitted. "If you're, uh, visible, that means that darkness from earlier survived somebody's light mojo even though I just felt it dissolve."
"It is weaker now, yes," Excalibur replied. "Furthermore, it feels like the same presence that controlled you in the first place."
Jessie looked at him with a serious expression and was about to reply, but soon felt another surge of dark power, only this time close by.
"I'm not gonna enjoy this, am I?"
Excalibur shrugged, then disappeared back into his deck. Jessie groaned in frustration as he pulled on his uniform and grabbed the duel disk.
Outside
Jessie barely took five steps out into the cool night air before he saw a flicker of movement near the woods. The spike in energy was stronger than when he sensed it in his room, causing him to realize that whatever it was, it wasn't too far away from him. Putting his duel disk on, he started towards where he saw the figure, being cautious.
A few minutes of walking eventually led him to a clearing not too far from the Ra Dorm, usually a spot where most of the students from Ra practice when the normal training halls were packed.
There, he saw Ivor, who was still in his disguise as he was looking around almost frantically as if he had lost something.
He got a bit closer, crushing leaves underneath his feet and making the person quickly turn around to see who it was, making Jessie stop his advance and see more clearly what he was wearing.
"Nice mask. Practicing for Duel Spirit Day?" Jessie asked.
"Eto takaya katastrofa," Ivor muttered to himself. "You were not the one I was searching for, but I appreciate this bit of good luck regardless."
"Uh, thanks?" Jessie replied. "How am I lucky for you?"
"Because now, I have a chance to counteract my foolish comrade's failure."
When he said that, Jessie's eyes narrowed as he remembered what had happened to him before. His fists tightened in anger.
"That bitch... Where is she?!"
"What you want hardly matters, now be a good puppet and return to the fold."
As he said that, a dark aura surrounded him and focused into his hand that he extended forward, releasing a powerful blast that shot right at the Ra student. When it collided, Ivor smiled under his mask at the success, but soon felt it drop when he felt a powerful shock wave deflect his attack.
It made him stagger and look at his enemy with rage, only to be surprised by the appearance of Excalibur with its sword drawn.
"Don't think I'll be so easy to manipulate this time around," Jessie snarled. "I've got some new tricks up my sleeve."
"Including a spirit partner, I see. Your puny power still cannot compare to my own dark magic, nor will you avoid paying for your crimes against our Mistress! I'll just have more fun making you suffer along the way!"
"Wait, how the hell can you see Exca—"
Ivor slammed his hands together and green energy appeared around and between them. As he pulled them apart, runes in the same color began blinking into existence around him. Soon enough, a complete magic circle formed and began to spread out on the ground.
The Ra student attempted to protect himself, thinking whatever he was doing was actually an attempt on him.
As the circle passed onto his side, Jessie felt no change in the energy or threatening aura emanating from it. What he did feel was something almost like TV static, like he could only get pieces of the circle's proper intent.
It hit him as the circle glowed and shot a pillar of light into the sky. Ivor's…spell? Ritual? Whatever it was wasn't a direct attack.
Some kind of pathway was being opened.
Unfortunately, he realized this too late to prevent the pillar from utterly enveloping both him and Ivor in its radiance.
?
As the light died down, finally allowing some kind of vision to return, Jessie was finally able to open his eyes and look around to where he was.
He stood in a glowing green magical circle on a smooth, reflective surface. It looked like glass, but it was hard to tell. The circle was the only light source in the area; beyond that, everything was a shapeless pitch-dark void. It was as if it was a place of nothingness, where darkness was the master and light had no purpose anywhere.
Jessie thought he was alone, but felt a hand on his shoulder as he turned to see Excalibur looking around him, almost as shocked as he was.
He actually felt Excalibur's hand, causing to wonder what exactly was going on.
Despite their surprise, both quickly sensed the presence they felt before, turning to see Ivor still standing in the same spot he was at.
"Where the hell are we?" Jessie questioned.
"This… It can't be…" Excalibur muttered.
"Oh, dear dukh, it is. We stand in between the dimensions, Purgatory!"
The Ra student's eyes widened as he looked around, trying to get an understanding of what this place truly was.
"That is impossible! How can a human like you have access to this place?!" Excalibur questioned.
"That's something you need not concern yourself with, spirit. After I break this weakling, your power will aid my mistress in her endeavor," Ivor proclaimed.
"This place… if it's really where you say it is, then the church was way off," he commented. "Why exactly did you bring me here?"
"Oh, quite simple," Ivor replied as he called on the darkness around his left arm, manifesting a duel disk and activating it as his construct emerged.
On his arm was a large rectangular blue shape before narrowing near the wrist and having more yellow coloration. The digi-construct blade that buzzed into life was two lines, parallel to the duel disk with five bars creating a section of railroad.
"You brought me here… to duel? Seriously? I find you skulking around the woods at night, you almost destroy me and drag me into another dimension, and now you just want to duel?!" Jessie shouted. "We're at a school dedicated to dueling! Plus, why would you even do that when you have weirdo magic powers to begin with? I don't understand how you thought this would work! Even as a plan B since zapping me didn't do anything!"
"It is true, you are much stronger than when you were controlled by my associate. My power cannot yet destroy you. It can, however, still weaken you through my connection to this domain. Once you are sufficiently drained, well, I will do my best to grant you a swift end," Ivor remarked with a touch of satisfaction.
The Ra student glared at his proclamation, but knew he only had one way to get back and it wasn't through his own power.
He then activated his Duel Disk and grabbed his visor from inside his jacket pocket to put on.
"You won't be needing those here. Purgatory itself gives the monsters their physical forms."
Jessie put the visor on anyway, then slotted his deck and connected his disk to Ivor's without really expecting it to work.
But work it did, and Jessie's new construct—a simple steel blade identical to Excalibur's, with the golden hilt wrapping around his arm—materialized the same way it would if they were on Earth.
Well, that's convenient.
"Show him how much you have grown," Excalibur remarked. Afterwards, he entered Jessie's extra deck.
Both flaunted their power by releasing a powerful force as it caused wind to blow through.
"Let's duel!"
Jessie - 8000
Ivor - 8000
Both drew their hands as a small green light appendage emerged from the circle and tapped Jessie's disk.
"Guess that means I go first," Jessie acknowledged. "To begin, I'll place two cards face down and set one monster in defense mode."
Three cards appeared on Jessie's side of the field.
"Your move, 'trainspotter'."
His opponent drew, looking at his hand before picking a single card.
"I assume you meant that as an insult. But that word, 'trainspotter', does actually suit me well as a title. I play the field spell Revolving Switchyard!"
As he slid the card into the field slot, the entire area began shaking violently, causing Jessie to be surprised. In seconds, the circle on the group expanded further away from the two as it stopped, causing the energy to begin materializing.
It soon began to take shape and turned into real world objects like solid concrete floor and walls, iron beams lined the floor all converging towards the center of the room. Flood lights illuminated a rotating circle on the floor where the beams met, a single pair of iron beams on the rotating platform connecting the tracks in the rest of the space.
Jessie and Ivor were now standing on two platforms not far from one another, each one standing next to a train tunnel.
"Next, I summon my strong beast, Lionhearted Locomotive (4/2400/2100) in attack mode."
A whistle could be heard coming from Ivor's tunnel as the headlights appeared with a large vehicle attached to them. Smoke billowed from the chimney of a bright green train as it came screeching to a halt, its wheels smoking and brakes hissing from the ride it took to get there.
Jessie stared at it a little confused as, unlike most monsters he was used to, this seemed to be a completely normal train, lacking any sign of sentience or cartoony face plastered across the front.
"That ends my turn."
Jessie had no idea what his opponent was planning, but decided to test the water by seeing what his opponent would do.
"My turn then, and it's about time I get this party started by summoning my Heroic Challenger - Assault Halberd (4/1800/200) in attack mode."
A second train whistle could be heard as a tunnel now appeared on Jessie's side of the field, allowing a new vehicle to ride towards him. It appeared to be a storage car instead of a train. After it stopped, the compartment door slid open, allowing the monster inside to jump out of it and land next to the defense monster on Jessie's platform.
It showed itself as a humanoid being, clad in purple armor with several spiky protrusions on the helm, the shoulders and several of the joints. While one hand had a spiked glove on, the other was replaced by the eponymous weapon.
"Then, I'll flip summon the monster that was in defense mode, Warrior Lady of the Wasteland (4/1100/1200)."
The card turned upward to reveal itself as the warrior emerged on the field with their cap fluttering from the wind.
Their appearance was that of a blonde female clad in green armor and covered by a tattered brown leather cape and wide brimmed hat. One shoulder had a pauldron on it and the arm beneath it was wrapped in cloth. A dagger was strapped to her hip and a sword hung from her back.
"With both of my warriors, I use them to build the Overlay Network and Xyz Summon Number 86: Heroic Champion - Rhongomyniad (R4/1500/1500)!"
Both monsters nodded as they jumped upward, transforming into two balls of light and entering a large black swirling galaxy that appeared in the middle of the tracks. In seconds, both orbs entered and caused an eruption of starlight that quickly vanished as a new figure was on the field.
The monster wore white armor that gleamed under the floodlights as the monster clutched a golden spear in one hand. The number 86 was imprinted on one thigh in red. Golden horns sprouted from the helm, gold accented the armor and massive spikes extended from the shoulders. "Here's where it gets interesting. Rhongomiyad gets different effects depending on how many overlay units he's got. I used two, so now his attack and defense go up by 1500."
Both orbs surrounding the number card glowed brightly, causing his large spear to surge with electricity.
Rhongomyniad: 1500 - 3000
"Which means your train is about to be derailed! Go, Rhongomyniad, attack Lionheart with Stormbreaker!"
The warrior nodded as he jumped, twirling the spear with both hands and then thrusted it forward, releasing a powerful bolt of lightning that aimed for the large machine.
"Net, I won't allow it because I now activate the effect of Construction Train Signal Red (3/1000/1300) from my hand!"
Ivor quickly placed his monster in an open slot, causing a second tunnel to appear next to the first. Sirens sounded as a red-orange vehicle with claw arms rolled down the tracks.
It flashed all six of its emergency lights briefly, and the bolt of lightning aimed at Lionheart made a sharp turn to strike Signal Red. The resulting explosion created a cloud of smoke over the area for a few moments. But when the smoke cleared, both of Ivor's trains were still standing.
Signal Red's headlights shone almost like real eyes as it uncrossed its arms. Apart from a few scratches and a burn mark where the lightning had actually hit, it hadn't taken any real damage.
Jessie had a look of surprise since he didn't expect his enemy to allow a weak monster to live, let alone protect it from harm.
"I will not be easily beaten by scum like you," Ivor mocked.
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Jessie retorted. "You may have saved your Lionheart, but unless you've got another one of those in your hand I doubt you'll be able to protect it again."
The only thing his opponent did in response was crack his neck and chuckle smugly.
Calm down, man… He's just trying to rile you up, especially considering his monster can't be destroyed in battle. Just wait for an opening, Jessie thought to himself. "I end my turn."
Ivor smiled under his mask and drew.
"The time for your punishment begins now! I sacrifice both monsters on my field in order to Tribute Summon Night Express Knight (10/3000/3000) in attack mode!" When he said that, both vehicles entered one of the tunnels, one following the other.
Soon enough, instead of two headlights, a large single one started approaching until it came out, blowing its whistle much more loudly than the others.
The monster showed to be a white train, the front of which looked vaguely equine, while protruding from the top was the upper half of a humanoid figure. Its arms ended in a lance and a shield rather than hands, and its face (helmet?) was a perfect replica of Ivor's mask.
"Now my field will show its true power as its effect activates; When a level 10 Earth Machine Type monster is Normal or Special Summoned to the field, I bring out any level 4 Earth Machine Type monster with 1800 or less attack along with it."
When he said that, a spotlight turned on as it moved towards where Ivor was standing and shined on him.
After disappearing, Ivor's duel disk beeped once as a single card came out of it for him to take, shuffling afterwards.
"I now Special Summon to the field Express Train Trolly Olley (4/1800/1000)!"
As he said that, a new headlight appeared in the second tunnel, and a cheerful train whistle sounded. Soon, a maroon-colored locomotive and two dark blue coal cars emerged and rolled to a stop next to Express Knight. Jessie noticed the phrase "EMD SW1" stenciled in gold on one side of the (again completely normal-looking) train.
"O-kay…not sure what you're planning to do with that," said Jessie, raising an eyebrow. (Privately, he also wondered how his opponent could say that ridiculous name with a straight face.)
"I can see why my associate easily brainwashed you, you're as slow as you are weak. My field spell's effect isn't done yet. Any monster I special summon this way automatically becomes level ten."
Sounds of brakes screeching could be heard as a storage car emerged from the same tunnel that Olley did, slowing down and connecting to the monster.
Express: 4 - 10
Jessie's eyes went wide. "Oh no."
"Time for the fun to truly begin! With both my monsters, I now build the overlay network and xyz summon your doom, Skypalace Gangairdai (R10/3400/3000)!"
With his declaration, the roof of their arena suddenly began creaking as it split open to reveal the spiral galaxy above them. Both monsters transformed and shot upward towards it, entering and causing yet another burst of starlight before it died down to reveal the new monster they formed.
This time, instead of a human figure, a large ship was now in the air with it beginning a slow descent downward.
The size of the ship caused a powerful gust of wind that blew throughout the field, causing both platforms both duelist were standing on to shake. While Ivor was calm and cool, Jessie had his hands in front of him in an attempt to block the wind.
At that point, the Ra duelist really understood what his opponent had meant earlier. It wasn't just a machine working overtime to produce the wind effects. Skypalace was real. It was a real, tangible flagship, and its attacks would hurt just as much as a real battleship's, if not more.
It eventually died down as the ship stopped, hovering just above them.
Two long red cylinders held aloft a large white ship bow, gold trim pieces accented designs along the massive vehicle. A pair of green orbs circled the machine. Despite its complete lack of anything resembling a face, Jessie still got a strong sense of the war machine staring him down, probably without any trace of real emotion either.
"Now then, thanks to the effect of Trolly Olley, Gangairdai gains 800 extra attack points when it's used in an xyz summon." The large vessel glowed brightly as it opened its panels across it to allow a multitude of cannons to appear out of them.
Skypalace: 3400 - 4200
Ivor glanced at Jessie, hoping to see him look shocked by what a destructive force he had on his side, but only saw him keeping his cool.
"I'm surprised you have the will to act so calm in the face of such a powerful monster. We'll have to fix that by activating Skypalace's effect; By using one Overlay unit, I destroy a card on your side of the field and deal 1000 damage once it's gone. Farewell, Rhongomyniad!"
One of the overlay units entered the airship, causing a power surge to trigger all the cannons as they began charging, all of them focusing on Jessie's monster.
"It is pretty intimidating," Jessie admitted. "But here's why I'm not afraid of it! I activate my trap, Battleguard Howling! Thanks to this, I get to return your oversized tin can to your extra deck and hit you with its original attack points as damage."
The cannons fired, and a now-glowing Rhongomyniad let out a fierce battle cry before throwing his spear at the incoming attack.
As soon as both attacks collided, the explosion from them created a massive fireball. The duelists had about a second to appreciate it before the shock wave hit and knocked them flat on their backs.
Jessie (8000 - 7000)
Ivor (8000 - 4600)
Jessie had never had the wind knocked out of him quite this forcefully. Sure, he'd been hit in the stomach a few times, everyone had, but this? This was an entirely new category.
It was as if he himself stood right in front of a bundle of dynamite right when it exploded. Thankfully his power had prevented any life-threatening injuries, but it still hurt if he moved too quickly. Jessie gasped, then clenched his teeth and fists to keep from crying.
Despite the pain, he struggled back to his feet and managed to get back up without too much trouble, mainly thanks to his power.
Ivor's hair looked a lot messier than it had under the mask, and he was definitely putting more weight on one leg. But despite both of those he still had it in him to gloat.
"Hah…that's what you get for being a failure! I told you your power couldn't compare to mine! To conclude my turn, I activate my spell Special Schedule! Thanks to this, I can select any monster with 3000 or more attack points in my grave and special summon it back to the field in defense mode. Return, Night Express Knight!"
A black magic circle appeared at the end of the first tunnel. One familiar train whistle later, Express Knight emerged with its shield held in front of it, returning to Ivor's side.
"Have you finally figured out that it's pointless to struggle? You can't win this duel, you're nothing!"
Jessie scoffed as he finally managed to draw his next card.
Looking at his cards, which were shaking slightly due to his own hand, he nearly cursed when noticing that he only had spell cards in his hand. However, Jessie took a good look at them more closely, coming up with a plan of attack.
"The fool has no clue about what you are, maybe it's time to show him," Excalibur remarked in Jessie's mind.
"You and I define 'nothing' very differently. But if that's really how you think, I'll just work that much harder to bring you down to my level. First, I activate my favorite spell, The Warrior Returning Alive, and bring back my Warrior Lady," he declared.
As the card revealed itself, it broke into shards of light that flew from the field into Jessie's graveyard slot. The card he wanted ejected out, allowing him to grab it and reveal it to his opponent before putting it back in his hand and shuffling it to make sure his opponent couldn't tell which one it was.
"I'll then set this defense monster and end my turn."
Ivor simply drew and let out a chuckle. "Ha, if that is you bringing me down to your level, you sadly failed. It's time for me to make my point once again; I switch Express Knight to attack mode and target that face down monster! Go, Piercing Thrust!"
The knight pulled back its lance arm, charging it with energy before thrusting forward and piercing the card. The revealed monster was Warrior Lady, the one Jessie brought back, who smiled as she got destroyed.
"Thanks for falling for such an obvious trap," Jessie laughed. "Destroying my Warrior Lady activates her effect; I can now special summon an Earth Warrior-type monster with less than 1500 attack points from my deck to the field in face-up defense mode."
Another storage train car appeared next to Jessie, opening and allowing the newest monster to emerge from it.
"Like my Heroic Challenger - Thousand Blades (4/1300/1100)."
His new monster stood proudly, wearing gleaming white and silver armor and carrying a spear almost bigger than he was. What really stood out, though, were the sword blades fanning out from his back like beautiful, deadly wings.
Ivor didn't say anything beyond an annoyed grunt.
Jessie drew, and looked surprised to see that his new card was another copy of a spell he already had.
His plan of attack went into action.
"Remember how you said I failed at bringing you down to my level? Well, that was just the warm up act. I activate two identical Continuous Spells from my hand."
Two red and gold crowns appeared on the field, each with a bird's nest in the center. Two light blue chicks in turn peeked out from the center of each nest (and their eggshells).
"Burden of the Mighty," Jessie announced. "One of these would drop all your monsters' attack points by 100 times their level. So doubling that effect makes it easier to deal with your monsters!"
Both crowns glowed as the birds began chirping loudly, letting out a wave of energy that hit Express Knight. In seconds, his entire body began to rust as it yelled out in pain.
Night Express Knight: 3000 - 1000
Ivor actually did a mild double take at this turn of events.
"And just for fun, I'll play Reinforcement of the Army, allowing me to add another Level 4 or lower Warrior monster from my deck to my hand."
Once again, a single card ejected outward as Jessie grabbed it and showed it to his opponent before playing it.
"Welcome to the front line, Field Commander Rahz (4/1600/1200)."
Soon after, a third tunnel opened, allowing another storage train car to arrive next to Jessie, opening its doors once more and revealing his newest warrior.
A scruffy, brown haired humanoid stepped onto the field. He wore damaged plate armor and brandished a rusty long sword as a tattered dark cape hung limply from his back.
"And his effect kicks in now that he's been summoned," Jessie continued. "Allowing me to select another level 4 or lower Warrior and place it on top of my deck."
The monster focused energy into his hand, turning towards his master and blasting it at his duel disk. A single card ejected with a beep, allowing Jessie to grab it, revealing it to be Bull-Blader (4/1600/1000) as he put it on the top of his deck.
"Obviously with the spells, these two could handle your rust bucket on their own. But this way is more satisfying. I use them to rebuild the Overlay network and xyz summon Heroic Champion - Gandiva (R4/2100/1800)!"
Both of the monsters nodded to their master as they transformed into orbs, entering the galaxy spiral that once again appeared, causing the same explosion and revealing the newest monster.
A warrior woman in black and gold armor rode out on a similarly-armored horse from the center of the explosion. Her left arm had a longbow attached at the wrist, and the horned helmet covered her entire head.
"Now Gandiva, destroy Express Knight with Vishrambh Arrow!"
The warrior extended her arm forward, grabbing an arrow from her quiver, and charged energy into it before releasing it. When it hit, Ivor's monster screamed in pain as it caused cracks to spread across its body and the train it was connected to.
It then resulted in a huge explosion as the blast hit Ivor, knocking him down to the ground.
Jessie (7000)
Ivor (4600 - 3500)
"Recover from that, Mr. Conductor." Jessie smirked as he ended his turn.
Ivor slowly began to rise, shrouded in a black aura almost identical to their surroundings. "You have delayed the inevitable for long enough."
A surge of power covered the mask, warping its regal appearance into a more menacing, almost monstrous look. The "beak" shrank slightly, and several thin strips of metal actually tore themselves off of it to reveal Ivor's hardened expression. Most unsettlingly, though the rest of the mask was now iron-gray, the decoration on the back remained white. In fact, Jessie had genuine trouble telling it apart from Ivor's natural hair.
"I will not allow you to mock me any longer! Beg me for mercy, you worthless fool!"
His dark energy surged, creating another force of pressure as Jessie stood his ground.
Things were about to get much more difficult for him.
Jessie's first duel since his little vision quest! Will he do better? Will he fall back into old habits? Will he continue making train jokes at his opponent's expense? By the way... did this just automatically go into a Shadow Duel? And this Shadow Duel seems to have much higher stakes than those other ones... Turn in next chapter for the conclusion of this duel!
(Disclaimer: Please do not duel in actual rail yards.)
Translations
Eto takaya katastrofa - Russian, "This is such a disaster"
dukh - russian for Spirit
net - russian for "no"
vishrambh - Hindi for "confidence/trust/faith" (while Jessie is greek, the Hindi here is in reference to the weapon that Heroic Champion - Gandiva is named after)