My heart remained in my throat as we made our way to downtown Satellite, far away from Martha's house. I came to a stop in a large opening, facing Roman as my duel disk activated.
Up until this point, I had thought that I knew what a heartless smile was, but Roman quickly disproved that with his maniacal grin, "What a lovely location that you picked. Shall we get started?"
I gave a clear nod, and immediately we were encircled by a familiar, but still terrifying, ring of purple fire. Beyond it, I could somewhat see the rest of his symbol starting to form as well. Above us, his mark faded into existence all at the same time, not filling out like the one of the ground was.
Roman continued to smile at me, "Ladies first."
Fighting down the panic of the entire scenario, I drew my first card. Scanning the cards in my hand, I showed Aki the one I was planning on playing, "Yusei summons her Shield Wing in defense mode."
Shield Wing-900
He burst into loud laughter, "I thought you weren't speaking, and this just confirmed it. I activate the field spell, Spider Web."
A giant web took over the field, then he continued, "Then I special summon my dark tuner, Spider Cocoon since you are the only one with monsters."
Spider Cocoon-0
Aki breathed in sharply, muttering quietly under her breath, "Great."
Roman seemed to enjoy our concern, "I summon Dark Spider to the field. And Dark Spider's effect raises my Spider Cocoon's level by 2."
Dark Spider-0
Gracefully placing another card down, he kept going, "Next, I Dark Synchro to create Underground Arachnid. When the shadows are engulfed by even darker shadows, the curtain pulls back to reveal a world without light!"
Underground Arachnid-2400
Out of this dark orb came an ugly woman/spider mix, and it immediately spit a rope of web at Shield Wing, dragging it over to Roman's side, "Once per turn, my Arachnid can steal one of your monsters and use it as an equip spell. Now attack Yusei directly!"
A giant clump of webbing slammed into my still sensitive gut, sending me flying into the wall of fire. I crashed into the ground, losing my breath for a minute.
Life Points Yusei=1600
Aki helped me back to my feet, and I showed her what I was going to do, "She summons Road Synchron in attack mode."
Road Synchron-1600
Holding up the next sequence of cards, I did my best to ignore the pain, "Then she activates the spell 1 for 1. She sends one monster to the graveyard in order to summon Tuningware to the field in attack mode."
Tuningware-100
"Next, her Quillbolt Hedgehog comes back from the graveyard since she has a tuner on the field."
Quillbolt Hedgehog-800
She was doing great at following my plan, and even started talking before I showed her what I was doing, "And when she uses Tuningware in a synchro summon, it acts like a level 2 monster. So now she summons Road Warrior!"
Road Warrior-3000
Aki looked at me in confirmation, and then kept going, "First Yusei gets to draw a card since she used Road Synchron in a Synchro summon, and then Road Warrior attacks Underground Arachnid!"
To our shock, his monster swung my Shield Wing in front of itself to use as a Shield. Roman laughed, "Were you expecting something else? My Arachnid can sacrifice a monster equipped to it in order to negate its own destruction."
I made a gesture, and Aki spoke up, "Well, you still take damage from the attack."
Life Points Roman=3400
Roman kept laughing, "Thanks to my field spell, your monster is permanently switched into defense mode."
Road Warrior-1500
I held up another card, and Aki nodded, "Once per turn, Road Warrior can bring out a 1 or 2 level monster. Yusei chooses Turbo Booster, which she can send to the graveyard to destroy a monster that one of her monsters battled this turn."
Underground Arachnid scattered into pieces, and yet Roman was still smiling at the two of us, "Thank you for that. I activate my trap card, Altar of the Bound Deity. For every monster in defense mode each turn, this Altar gains a token. When it gets four tokens, I can summon my Earthbound Immortal Uru!"
A small voice drifted from behind us, "Yusei!"
Just beyond the wall of flames was two of Martha's kids, huddled together with wide eyes. Aki cried out, "Don't come any closer! And no matter what you do, don't touch the fire!"
Roman let out another bone chilling laugh, bring my attention back to his empty field, "Since it's my standby phase, my Altar gains 1 Immortal Counter. Next I summon Ground Spider in defense mode and place one facedown."
Ground Spider-900
Drawing my next card, my mind raced through any possible plans. Finally a plan came to mind, and I showed Aki which cards I was going to use, "Yusei uses Road Warrior's ability to special summon Speed Warrior."
Speed Warrior-900
He interrupted her before she could keep talking, "Once per turn I can use my Ground Spider's ability to switch one of your monsters into defense mode."
Speed Warrior-400
Adrenaline flowed through my body as I hurried to figure out a solution. I showed Aki a card, "She activates the spell card Advance Draw. By sacrificing a level 8 or above monster, like Road Warrior, she gets to draw two cards."
I watched my Warrior disappear, "Next, she releases Speed Warrior to summon Turret Warrior."
Turret Warrior-1200
Turret Warrior-2100
"Take out that Ground Spider!"
For a brief second, I allowed myself to calm down, knowing the general theme of what Roman was about to say. And, to no surprise, he said, "Your Warrior is now stuck in defense mode."
I placed a facedown and flicked my hand at him.
Roman laughed, "First my Altar gains a Counter. Next, I activate my spell, Offerings to the Bound Deity. By dividing my life points in half, my Altar gains two Immortal Counters."
Life Points Roman=1700
Oh, boy. Here it comes.
The Altar immediately turned into a pillar, shooting out the giant green and purple heart. Bracing myself, I grabbed Aki's hand so the pulsing wind wouldn't blow her away. I whipped around as the two boys started screaming, reminding me of when I faced Kiryu.
Suddenly I heard a familiar voice, "Screw this, Earthbound Immortals aren't that special!"
Jack's runner burst through one of the walls of fire, crash landing next to the boys as they were turning into lights. He threw himself off his runner, and pulled both of them to his chest. His mark sent out a bubble, which protected them, letting them go back into their bodies.
I turned back to Roman, and he chuckled, "I don't need them. I have the spirits of Satellite that were absorbed into the fog. Come forth Earthbound Immortal Uru!"
Earthbound Immortal Uru-3000
A giant spider came out of the smoke, not nearly as terrifying as Ccapac Apu. Was it big? Yes. Did it have pincers the size of my runner? Also yes. But it was nothing compared to the giant.
My brother's voice came from behind me, "Squish that bug so we can get back to Martha's house!"
The corner of my mouth twitched up from Jack's cocky optimism. Think that all you want, but these thing are not easy to beat.
Roman's face was still in the terrifying grin that hadn't left his face since the duel started, "If only I knew that destiny would let the one Signer that would oppose me be the child of Hakase."
Despite my best attempts to reign in my facial expressions, Roman started laughing, "I don't expect you to remember me, you were only an infant when I saw you the one time. Your father's little angel. He kept you far away from the Reactor until your mother died. I was one of his assistants, my brother was the other one. I believe you've met Rex?"
Next to me, Aki stiffened, while I managed to not react to that statement. Roman's laugh grew even louder, "When he refused to keep the Reactor going, control was handed over to me. Of course, the next day Zero Reverse happened. And now it's your turn to dance the dance of death!"
"Earthbound Immortal Uru, attack Yusei directly!"
If only he knew that I don't dance. Especially if death is involved.
Pointing to one card that I had face down, I gave Aki a nod, "Yusei activates Iron Resolve. By cutting her life points in half, she can negate your attack!"
Life Points Yusei=800
The blow flew off the shield that appeared, and hit a nearby building. I froze when I heard screams, then slowly turned around. On top of the building was Taka, and as I watched, Martha climbed to him and started going back to the door.
My whole body froze as I watched Martha hand Taka over to Trudge, then get sent sliding backwards as the building collapsed further. Trudge reached out for her, "Martha!"
Jack stood up, "Martha, hold on!"
Aki almost screamed as she slid farther, "Martha!"
She looked at Jack and I, "Remember what I said about your strengths. Don't give up."
With that, she fell off the roof and into the fire, turning into a light that flew into Uru's mouth.
Rage filled me as I whipped around, the datapad screeching out barely recognizable words from my pocket, "How dare you take Martha! I'll kill you and your overgrown spider!"
He laughed as I drew my next card. Aki moved back to my side, shaking with anger, "Yusei summons Junk Synchron, and then uses its special ability to summon Turbo Booster back from the graveyard."
Junk Warrior-1300
Turbo Booster-0
Aki continued, "Then she tunes Turret Warrior with Junk Synchron to bring out the monster of her soul, Stardust Dragon!"
Stardust Dragon-2500
I pointed right at Roman, and Stardust flew right at him. His face looked shocked for a second before his trap card flipped up, "I activate the trap card Spider Egg. It negates your attack and summons three Spider Tokens."
Just then he laughed, "It seems I underestimated you Miss Fudo. But I know your weaknesses."
His form turned purple, and shrank into a familiar person: Rally.
I started running to her when his voice came from the edge of the duel, "If either of you surrender, you both get taken by my Earthbound Immortal. But your friend is free to win or lose."
Rally looked me in the eye, "He took everyone. I won't let him get away with it. I use the spider's ability to gain control of Turbo Booster. Then I summon Turbo Rocket from my hand."
Turbo Rocket-0
"Next I tune the two of them together to bring out Turbo Booster Cannon."
Turbo Booster Cannon-0
I grabbed the datapad, pulling it from my pocket, "No! Rally, take me out!"
She looked me in the eye, "You are the only hope of Satellite! Don't you see that! Once per turn, my Booster Cannon can destroy one monster on the field and give that amount of damage to the controller. I select Uru!"
Life Points Rally=0
Her robot destroyed Uru, sending her flying to my side of the field. I pulled her onto my lap as she gasped for breath, "Protect...Satellite. We're...rooting, for you."
To my horror, she turned to dust. I threw the datapad away from me and curled up, the tears I had been holding back since we left the city flowing out.
Aki sat next to me, not saying a word as Roman laughed, "Well, I didn't expect that."
A/N: Thanks to Let's-Go-To-Vermont and Dark Lord of the Fallen Angels for reviewing on the original version of this chapter!
