As Jack joined us in the pit, the announcer's voice came out over the intercom, "It seems that there are safety concerns amongst the dueling teams on the highways. There seems to be some outside group attacking the teams, and Sector Security has asked that all of you remain here until the threat has passed."
Our group looked at each other, and Dad looked at me, "The twins and I will stay here with Crow. You guys go help out."
I nodded, and we rushed outside to see Trudge leaning into his car, yelling into his radio, "What do you mean there are dozens of unknown signals? I want visuals of at least one of them so we know what on Earth is going on here!"
An image came up on the screen, and my heart skipped a beat, "How is Ghost back? Wasn't he one of a kind?"
The image changed, and Jack grabbed my shoulder as dozens of them appeared, "No way. Those duelists don't stand a chance."
Aki leaned over to me, "We need to help them. No one else knows what we know."
Nodding, I glanced over at my team, "You guys ready to go rescue the other teams?"
Suddenly an all-too-familiar runner pulled up, and Sherri whisked off her helmet, "Things are getting very bad out there, and it looks like the others are struggling."
Despite the urgency of the situation, an errant thought whispered, How does your hair stay so immaculate?
Another runner pulled up, and Jack's friend on the force smiled at him, "I'm going to help you guys, wouldn't want to make Jack look bad if I stay behind."
I stretched, "Alright. Jack and you can go north. Aki and I will go south. Sherri, where are you two going?"
"Most of them seem to be to the south, so we'll go with you."
The four of us were rushing up behind a group of Ghosts when I saw an attack being sent at a young lady, "Go Rapid Scarecrow!"
My monster shot forward and took the blow for her. As we caught up, I looked her in the eye, "You okay?"
She nodded, relief rippling across her face, "Thanks."
"We got this, you just get off the highways to safety."
As she fell back, I smirked at the machines, "My turn. I summon Junk Synchron to the field, and his special effect lets me bring back Rapid Scarecrow from the graveyard. Then I summon Mirror Ladybug, who can be brought to the field if I have a Tuner."
Junk Synchron-1300
Rapid Scarecrow-0
Mirror Ladybug-300
"Next, I tune them all together to create Stardust Dragon!"
Stardust Dragon-2500
Stardust attacked without me commanding it, and this copy of Ghost had no chance.
Life Points Ghost 1=0
As the final robot exploded, I sighed, "That took a lot of time. I hope that the others were as lucky."
Aki twisted around, and grimaced as she touched her stomach, "Yusei…"
A horde of Ghosts were closing in on us, and I bit my lip, "I hate being a good duelist sometimes."
My screen lit up, and Battle Royal mode reactivated.
One of the Ghosts moved closer than its fellow minions, and took the first turn, "I summon Ally of Justice Garadholg, and place two facedowns."
Ally of Justice Garadholg-1600
Sherri's butler glared, "I summon Spirit Summon Warrior."
Spirit Summon Warrior-1200
"When he is summoned, I can special summon a level 3 or below Warrior type monster from my hand. I choose Liberated Rear Warrior."
Liberated Rear Warrior-0
"Then the two of them tune together to create Driven Daredevil!"
Driven Daredevil-2400
Sherri drew a card, "My turn! I used the spell Overboost. It raises my speed counters by 4 but at the end of the turn it drops down to 1. I then use my new speed counters to use Speed Fusion. If I have 4 or more speed counters, I can send specific monsters to the graveyard to summon their Fused form. I send Sacred Knight's Spearholder and Horse of the Floral Knights to the graveyard to summon Centaur Mina."
Centaur Mina-2200
"Then I can normal summon Fleur Synchron, who is just coming out to tune up Mina! Together, they create Chevalier de Fleur."
Chevalier de Fleur-2700
"Direct attack!"
Life Points Ghost 2=500
Sherri smiled at me, and I drew a card, "I send Quillbolt Hedgehog to the graveyard in order to special summon Quick Draw Synchron. And since I got a Synchro on my field, Quillbolt comes back!"
Quick Draw Synchron-700
Quillbolt Hedgehog-800
"Then I normal summon Reed Butterfly. She tunes my other cards together to create Road Warrior!"
Road Warrior-3000
"When he is summoned, I can special summon a level 4 or below monster. Say hello to Speed Warrior!"
Speed Warrior-900
I pointed at the nearest Ghost, "Direct attack, both of you!"
Life Points Ghost 3=3100
Life Points Ghost 4=1000
"I place one facedown."
Before Aki could take her turn, one of the Ghosts drew a card. I glared, "I activate Synchro Prominence. If one side has Synchros and the other doesn't, you take 1000 points of damage."
Life Points Ghost 2=0
Life Points Ghost 3=2100
Life Points Ghost 4=0
The remaining Ghost stared at me, "I summon Ally of Justice Tractor."
Ally of Justice Tractor-0
"When there is a light attribute monster on my opponent's field, like your Road Warrior, I can add 2 Ally of Justice cards to my hand. Then I summon 3 Cosmic Gateways due to its effect."
Cosmic Gateway-2400
Cosmic Gateway-2400
Cosmic Gateway-2400
"I can special summon as many of these monsters as my opponent has of Light attribute monsters. Number 1 attacks Driven Daredevil!"
Both monsters shattered, but Ghost 3 wasn't done, "Now the other two attack you directly!"
Life Points Elsworth=0
Sherri's butler spun out of control, and her accent grew as she started yelling obscenities.
Ghost 3 ignored it and placed a facedown.
Another Ghost edged up and drew a card, only to be interrupted by the one who just had his turn, "I activate DNA Transplant. All monsters become the same attribute, and I choose for them all to be Light Attribute."
The one who was spoken over continued, "I summon Ally Salvo, which attacks Chevalier de Fleur."
His tiny orb of a monster was sliced in half by Sherri's monster, and Ghost smiled, "When Ally Salvo is destroyed by a Light Attribute monster, two monsters on the field are destroyed."
My eyes went wide as two of our monsters, including Chevalier de Fleur, turned to dust.
But they were just getting started. Ten of them spoke in unison, "I summon Ally Salvo, and have it attack you directly."
Sherri was mobbed by all of the Ally Salvos, sending her spinning out of control.
Life Points Sherri=0
I glanced over at Aki, "Stay ahead of me! They seem to be going for me and anyone who gets between us!"
She nodded, and pulled ahead, "If things get dicey, I'm jumping in!"
One of the Salvos charged to me, and bumped me just enough to tilt my runner.
Life Points Yusei=2000
"I equip Tech Genius Blade Blaster with Buster Blader!"
My head whipped around, and I saw the mysterious duelist catching up, "Okay…"
Aki looked confused, "The guy from the party?"
Buster Blader-2800
"It loses 500 attack points, but if it destroys one of your monsters, all monsters on your side of the field with the same type are destroyed!"
Every single one of them shattered, and Vizor caught up to me, "We need to speed up."
Nodding, I looked over at Aki, "Think you can handle speed?"
"Yeah. And if not they are likely to ignore me."
Vizor went in front of me, and both of us got in his slipstream as he sped up. I kept glancing back as much as I could to make sure that Aki was safe, but she seemed to be doing pretty well despite the speed.
She caught me looking and smirked, "You think this is any scarier than dueling psychic duelists? At least here I know someone will worry if I'm not doing well."
Vizor grunted, "Someone is gaining on us."
Sure enough, a white runner was slowly gaining on us, and a voice came from it, "Fudo Yusei, you have caused me enough problems. It's time to shut you down."
One of my eyebrows went up, "Found the puppeteer."
His voice seemed to echo inside the communications, "My Mechlord will make sure that you never duel again."
"Marvelous. So I'm assuming that you are the owner of that deck?"
Even his huff didn't sound quite right, "And what if I am? It will mean nothing to you in a few moments. Even if I did explain, your pathetically tiny human brain would never comprehend the plan that I have set in motion."
Turning my frequency onto private, I spoke to Aki, "His voice is metallic, and it doesn't feel right. Either he isn't from this planet, or he is an android like Ghost."
She nodded, and drew as close to me as possible. But before she could do anything, we were no longer inside of a slipstream, and Vizor was smashing against the stranger.
The stranger spun out of control, and Vizor pulled up next to me, "Figure out how to Accel Synchro in order to get yourself out of danger. They aren't after your friend. If you leave, they will go find you."
I opened my mouth, and he kept talking, "You just need to clear your mind of all anxieties. That is the only way to Accel Synchro. Listen to the wind, and only focus on that."
Glancing over at Aki, I smiled, "Here's hoping this works. Keep yourself safe, okay?"
She smiled at me, "Go ahead. I'll find the others once you're gone."
The wind flew around me, and the world seemed to fade away. All I was aware of was a strange kind of warmth, with a single patch of cold.
My fear of the Mechlord.
Pushing that aside, I sped up. Everything blurred together until I was surrounded by nothing but a warm light. In front of me was a massive dragon, roaring so loud that every fiber of my being screamed with joy.
A/N: Thanks to Daniel Kazami for reviewing on the original version of this chapter!
