Kiryu reached into the pocket of his trench coat, pulling out a harmonica, "The entire time I was in the town, I was playing this just for ambiance. Now, I'm going to use it to announce my entry. Hopefully I will distract them long enough for you to get the kids free."
Rubbing sweat out of my eyes, I hummed in agreement, "That works. Hopefully Justice will be able to handle a quick jaunt, or else I'm going to have to run."
He smiled at me, "You be careful, okay?"
I nodded, and checked on Justice, "You too."
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him slip away to the western entrance of the town. Quickly shoving pieces of Justice back in place, I hopped on and drove to the northern side as quietly as she could handle. From my angle I could just barely make out the silhouettes of two poor guys facing each other with duel disks drawn.
Slowly moving closer, I now saw Lotten leaning over the kids, and Nico yelled loud enough for me to hear him, "Kiryu and Yusei will save us, just you watch."
Lotten whispered something else to them and West nearly screamed her response, "They aren't dead! And you'll see when they come!"
Suddenly, a haunting song drifted through the air, and I resisted the urge to laugh. Almost every single person in town froze and faced the western entrance to town. Kiryu slowly walked in, and stopped directly in the center of town, "Why are you obeying him like he is the real leader here?"
With how quickly Lotten stiffened, it looked like he got flash frozen, "How are you still alive?"
His face revealed nothing as he spoke, "Who said that I survived that? I was brought back as a shinigami just to take you down."
I rolled my eyes, but Kiryu wasn't done yet, "We all came here because we had nothing to lose, and no one who cares about us. But that doesn't mean that we are pushovers, or that we have no drive left. So why obey a tyrant? You came here to be free."
Everyone stopped, and backed away from Lotten and a lady. She lifted up a whip, "If any of you fight us, we will go after the kids!"
I raced into town, and almost made it to the kids before Lotten's whip wrapped around my front wheel, sending me skidding. Rolling to my feet, I smirked, "Were you hoping that we were both dead? Tough luck. I don't rest until all innocents are safe."
Lotten glared at both of us, "I am going to bury you once I beat both of you."
Kiryu laughed maniacally, "Go ahead and try. The two of us have never lost while we faced the same opponent."
Nico called out, "Yeah! We get to see the two best duelists from the Enforcers!"
We all activated our duel disks, and Lotten smirked, "Since it's two against one, I will be starting with ten cards instead of five."
He's going to try and take out both of us with his monster's ability. Pretty good plan if I do say so myself.
Kiryu smiled at me, "That sounds fine to me, how about you, Yusei?"
"I see no problem. Let's do this."
Lotten looked at both of us, "Whoever draws their cards first gets to go first."
We all drew our cards the second the sun hit the horizon, but Lotten held up ten cards the second I was pulling out my last card, "Looks like I get to go first."
Kiryu's smile chilled my blood, "Go ahead and try to enforce your rules on us."
I rolled my eyes, and waited for the inevitable.
Sure enough, "I summon Gatling Ogre in attack mode!"
Gatling Ogre-800
"I place five facedowns, in order to load my 'bullets'."
After a quick can of my hand, I started reaching for Effect Veiler, but Kiryu held out his hand, "Don't."
Lowering my hand, I stared at him with one eyebrow up. He smiled, "I have a plan."
"Gatling Ogre, shoot Kiryu!"
Kiryu flew back, and I grew slightly concerned, What on earth is your plan?
Kiryu Life Points=0
He got back to his feet, a dark blue aura swirling around him, "Did you really think that you could kill a shinigami? We cannot die."
My brain was split between laughing at his antics, and rolling my eyes, so I settled for a slight smirk. Kiryu continued, "If my life points drop to zero, I can send all of my cards to the graveyard in order to summon Infernity Zero in defense mode."
Infernity Zero-0
"I cannot lose with this on the field, even if I reach zero life points. But for every 500 points I take after summoning him, I gain a Death Counter. The only way for me to lose is to gain three Death Counters."
Lotten narrowed his eyes, "Then I guess that I have to attack you again. I place four facedowns, and-"
A creature appeared next to him, with a gun to his head. Kiryu smirked, "When I take effect damage when my hand is empty, any further effect damage is negated. Then, my opponent is in charge of what happens. If you choose to tempt fate, I can draw my next card. If it is a monster, you take the damage I just took, and the damage that you were going to deal to me that was negated. If it isn't a monster, then you can proceed with your damage. And it's such a pity, because I can't remember how many monsters I have in this deck."
I bit my lip, What are you doing, leaving it to fate again?
Frustration filled Lotten's face as he glared at Kiryu, "I refuse to chance it. I end my turn."
Dramatically, Kiryu drew the top card, "Oh my, I place one card facedown and end my turn."
Lotten's face grew darker, and I drew my next card, "I summon Justice Bringer in attack mode.
Justice Bringer-1700
He spoke up before I could do anything else, "I know that you have Effect Veiler in your hand. And due to my spell, Pinpoint Shot, if I guessed right, you have to send it to the graveyard."
I discarded it, "Alright, then I place one facedown and end my turn."
Paying attention was getting harder with the mischief flooding in from Kiryu. I nearly missed when Lotten spoke, "I switch Gatling Ogre into defense mode, and use Double Arms equip spell, which makes all damage dealt by Gatling Ogre double."
Gatling Ogre-800
Lotten kept going, "Now I send one card to the graveyard, and you take 1600 points of damage."
Kiryu flipped up his facedown, "I activate Dodge Roll. This makes all damage 0, one single time."
Of course, Lotten got even madder, "Then I send a second one, and you take 1600 points of damage."
I flipped up my facedown, "Nope. I activate Half Shield, which halves all damage for the rest of the turn."
Kiryu Death Counter=1
Kiryu spread his arms wide, "Is that all you have, Lotten? You have one more, care to attack me?"
His goal hit me hard, He's being a decoy for me! That's why he's so determined to be attacked!
Lotten paused, then acted like nothing happened, "I end my turn."
A genuinely terrifying smile crossed Kiryu's face, "Thank you for helping me to finally figure out how to love dueling. I thought I loved dueling when I was a teen, but now that I am dueling for those that care about me, I now understand how Yusei is always the most lively of all of us. But anyway, if my hand is empty when I draw Infernity Archfiend, I can special summon him to the field. Then I also can draw another Infernity monster from my deck."
Infernity Archfiend-1800
"My new monster is Infernity Mirage, and I am going to summon him."
Infernity Mirage-0
"Then his special ability activates, which happens if I have no cards in my hand. I can release him to bring two Infernity monsters from my graveyard. I choose Infernity Beetle, and Infernity Beast."
Infernity Beetle-1200
Infernity Beast-1600
"However, the fun doesn't stop there. I can release my Beetle, in order to summon two of his friends from my deck, hand, or graveyard."
Infernity Beetle-1200
Infernity Beetle-1200
Lotten's lady screeched at an ear-ringing level, "If you lose Lotten, we are so over!"
Sucks to have such a pathetic boyfriend. I'm pretty freaking proud of Kiryu, no matter what the outcome of this duel is.
I smiled over to him, "Great plan, Kiryu."
He smiled at me, then turned back to Lotten, "I have one of my Beetles attack you!"
Lotten wasn't having it, "I activate my trap, Back Attack Ambush. The battle phase ends, and I get an Ambush Token for every monster you have in attack mode. Whenever they are sacrificed, you take 500 points of damage."
Ambush Token-100
Ambush Token-100
Ambush Token-100
Ambush Token-100
Both kids looked upset, while the girlfriend's terrifying smile grew. I had to resist smiling back at her, and waited for Lotten, "I release all of my Tokens, and send the damage to Kiryu!"
Justice Bringer swung her sword, "I activate my monster's ability. Whenever it isn't my turn, I can decide whether or not special summoned monsters can use their ability or not. And your tokens do not have my permission."
If looks could kill, Lotten's glare would have done the job quite well, "I end my turn."
A smile filled my face when I saw my cute little hedgehog on the next card that I drew, "I send one monster to the graveyard in order to special summon Quickdraw Synchron."
Quickdraw Synchron-700
"Whenever I have tuner on my field, Quillbolt Hedgehog comes back from the graveyard."
Quillbolt Hedgehog-800
Kiryu smiled at me as I continued, "I tune the two of them together to create Nitro Warrior!"
Nitro Warrior-2800
"Now my Warrior attacks your Gatling Ogre."
It shattered, and a smile spread further onto my face, "Now his special ability activates. If he successfully destroyed one of your monsters this turn, he can switch one of your monsters from defense mode into attack mode. Then, the two of them have to attack each other. I chose one of your tokens."
Token-100
Nitro Warrior charged at the token, causing it to shatter as well.
Life Points Lotten=1300
"Finally, Justice Bringer sends an attack toward another of your tokens. Then I place two facedowns and end my turn."
Kiryu let out a chuckle, "Only you would be able to drop his life points to 1300 in a single turn, and get rid of three monsters when you only have two. Keep up the good work, Yusei."
Lotten glared at me, "I'm not going down that easy! I activate Card of Burial Magic. This removes three spell cards in my graveyard from play, then I get to draw 2 cards from my deck. Next, I sacrifice my two remaining tokens in order to tribute summon Long Barrel Ogre in defense mode!
Long Barrel Ogre-3000
"His effect destroys the monster with the highest attack points. The owner of that monster then takes half of its points as damage. My first target will be Infernity Archfiend."
Infernity Archfiend shattered, and Kiryu took 900 points of damage, knocking him down.
Death Counters Kiryu=2
"Long Barrel Ogre's effect can be used twice during my turn, so now he's going after your Beast!"
Right in the middle of the bullet's flight, it changed direction and crashed into Nitro Warrior, destroying him, "I activate Skill Twist. It redirects a monster's effect to a different monster. I chose for it to hit my Nitro."
Life Points Yusei=2600
His glare deepened, "I place one facedown and end my turn."
Kiryu drew his next card, "I am going to start my turn by activating the spell card Blaster Cartridge. This sends four cards from my deck to the graveyard. Then I get to draw a card. The catch is that the spell goes on top of my deck, and when I draw it, I have to send it to the graveyard."
Something in Lotten's face changed during Kiryu's turn, but he continued, "I summon Infernity Randomizer in attack mode."
Infernity Randomizer-900
"Then I tune it together with both of my Beetles and my Beast to create Infernity Doom Dragon!"
Infernity Doom Dragon-3000
It sure is ugly, but way nicer looking than the last dragon he used in a duel. I will never miss 100 Eye Dragon.
A smile spread across Kiryu's face, "His special ability activates when there are no cards in my hand. One of your monsters gets destroyed, and you take half of their points as damage."
One of Lotten's spell cards flipped open, "I activate Metal Coat. As long as this is equipped to my monster, it cannot be destroyed by monster effects."
Kiryu's smile disappeared, "Doom Dragon can't attack the turn that his ability is activated."
My face mirrored Kiryu's smile, "I guess that it's my turn now. I summon Bri Synchron, and tune her with Justice Bringer in order to Synchro summon my best friend, Stardust Dragon!"
Stardust Dragon-2500
"Bri's effect is activated. Since she was used in a Synchro summon, the Synchro's abilities don't work for the first turn. But in return, it gains 600 attack points."
Stardust Dragon-3100
"Guess who is going to attack your Ogre?"
Lotten smirked, "If I send Metal Coat to the graveyard, my monster cannot be destroyed in battle this turn."
I smiled right back at him, "Well, I activated Synchro Blast when you weren't looking. Whenever my Synchro monster is involved in battle, you take 500 points of damage."
Life Points Lotten=800
Stardust Dragon=2500
Lotten smiled, "You can't possibly win against me now that your big monster is back to its original strength."
"Keep in mind that I literally have three times the life points that you do, and that the only time I took damage is when I let you. I haven't had a lead like this in YEARS."
All of the illusions faded away, and everyone pointed their guns at us, "Oh, come on!"
Miss Lady Friend glared at us, "We already decided who won, and it wasn't you."
One of the two mine keepers started to protest, "But that's breaking our town's dueling rule!"
With just a single wave of her hand, some of the guns were now pointed at them, cutting off any further arguments from them, "Lotten is in charge of this town. He decides what rules stay and which ones need to be trashed."
She looked back at us, "If you don't surrender, then these two children get it."
My fists clenched, "Why would these people continue to obey you if their lives are guaranteed to be thrown away?"
Kiryu grabbed his duel disk, and started to pull it off.
"No, Kiryu-sama! Don't surrender! This town needs the two of you to rescue them!"
West had tears flowing down her cheeks, and Nico was straining to see us.
A click silenced the entire town, and one of the gang members took off his bandanna as he held his disk against her head, "Lotten hasn't even been here long. Why are we letting him push us around? Why are we making the Enforcers save us again? We all had to deal with this in Satellite, that's why we came here - a fresh start."
Slowly, most of them started removing their bandannas as well. The weapons started to turn on them instead of us.
The man pointing directly at her suddenly got shot with electricity, as well as the one who stood with him. Lotten was holding the smoking gun, "Barbara is right. I rule this village. Anyone who rebels is going to get sent to the mines."
He turned, pointing at Kiryu. And surprisingly, my first thought was only, For once, I'm not the target. I don't know how to feel.
A card flew down, cutting Lotten's hand, causing the gun to hit the ground.
Blackwing - Silver Mistral.
From above us came a familiar voice, "Kiryu, we told you to bring our sister back yesterday."
Kiryu smiled up at Crow, "She's ridiculously stubborn. I doubt she listens to you any more than she does to me."
I folded my arms across my chest, "Right here!"
Cries of pain drew our attention, and we saw Barbara dragging the kids back. Kiryu took a step forward, and she squeezed their necks, "Take another step, and these brats get it."
Between blinks, she flew sideways, and Jack stood between her and the kids, "If you attack these kids again, I will show you which one of us is the most deadly."
"Still me."
He glared at me, "Shut up Yusei. You are only deadly when you are mad."
Kiryu smiled, "I think that the last time any of us were fighting with each other was back when we were the Enforcers."
Rolling my eyes, I scoffed, "Kiryu, not everything is about your gang."
Loud bangs came from behind us, and Crow smiled as he dropped down, "Brought the coppers like you asked. They're cleaning up the mines."
Stiffly, Lotten sat up, and pulled out a detonator, "Have fun with my little present!"
Every single building in town exploded, knocking me to the ground. Kiryu scrambled to the kids, and the guys rushed to my side, "Quit fussing, I'm fine. Kiryu!"
He looked back towards me, and I smiled, "Take Justice and beat the pulp out of that man. But she better come back in one piece."
Nodding, he hopped on her and drove off.
I went over to the kids, "What happened?"
West fell in my arms, and started crying, "Lotten found us, and...Dad!"
Pulling her into a hug, I whispered, "You two can come back to the city with Kiryu and I. We have a friend named Martha who lets kids stay with her."
Nico crawled into my arms as well, "Can't we stay with you?"
"Kiryu lives with Martha, so you would be staying with him. My house is a little full right now. But once people move out, I don't see why not."
Trudge walked over to us, "Thanks for the tip, Yusei. Who are these two?"
Sitting back, I looked up at him, "The kids of Kiryu's friend. They're coming back with us to the city."
Loud engine noises alerted us to the return of Kiryu, and he pulled up with my battered baby, Lotten flopped across the back, "Sorry, he didn't seem to want to duel for some strange reason."
Nico and West ambushed him with hugs, and I stood up, hands on my waist, "You really owe me now, Albino. I hope you keep your promise."
He laughed, "If you help foot the bill."
A/N: Thanks to PipeDream for reviewing on the original version of this chapter!
