Disclaimer: I do not own YGO 5Ds
Subtitle: Why We Resolve Inter-Dimensional Conflicts with Children's Trading Cards
I woke up to the nozzle of a gun pressed against my forehead. Greiger looked down at me with a satisfied grin that suggest he would love nothing more than to pull the trigger.
I froze over in fear.
I had never been so keenly aware of my own mortality. Technically, I could have been 'disappeared' at any time while I was at Neo Domino, but that just didn't have the impact of a gun to your head.
To be honest, I didn't think I'd be so scared. I mean, it's not like I hadn't prepared for danger. I had been wearing a bulletproof vest since the first day I met Akiza. I even sharped the edge of my duel disk like the other satellites, I swear that thing could slice somebody's arm off. The only reason I didn't get a gun is because I don't want to shoot myself in the foot. And I have prepared for 'accidents'. I had written my own will weeks ago and laid out a detailed strategy of what the Zephyrs should do following my (probably untimely) death to salvage this dimension.
The reasonable part of my brain kept on reminding me that fear doesn't do me any good right now, I needed to think and to act. The rest of my body simply refused to comply. You know that feeling when you hit your funny bone and your arm feels weak? That's what my entire body feels like. Hey, at least I haven't lost control over the autonomic part of my body, I remember thinking optimistically.
"You know Yuki, you had every advantage," Greiger gloated, which sort of helped to normalize the situation. I was very good at talking, and gloating. "Chances the rest of us could only dream of. Even in the Satellite you somehow found a way out. But that wasn't enough, nothing was ever enough for you. You knew my family were in danger, yet you did nothing about it! Just so you could use me, Rex Goodwin's lackey, to do your bidding. Now the tables have turned."
Greiger wasn't making sense, not really. And he knew that, he just didn't care. Why should this woman be able to get whatever she wants when his family burned to their deaths? Why shouldn't he play the villain rather than the victim when given the chance? He had had perfect self-restraint for the past two years, and look where that got him?
Now that he's dead, he was finally free to enjoy what's left of his life.
"Greiger, stop! This isn't the man you are. This isn't the big brother Annie and Max love!" Yusei called out.
"Loved." Greiger corrected. "Everything I ever loved is gone." He paused, "I have nothing left. Not even their ashes."
A chill ran down my spine. I knew exactly how he felt, I could understand the reckless abandon because I felt the same way when I first woke up in the Satellite, when everything I ever cared about was in a different world.
"And it's all because of her and you satellites! If I had been in Neo Domino, I could have found out about Goodwin's plans and stopped him." Gregier continued.
"I'm sorry for your loss, Greiger, but it's not your fault, you didn't know. None of us knew at the time." Yusei continued. "There was nothing any of us could have done!"
Now, normally I'm a pretty good liar but I don't perform well under stress.
My face contorted at Yusei's bold claim. Yusei must have thought it was true, but it wasn't, not even close. I knew. And I might have been able to stop it, if I had devoted enough time and resources. But, I mean, his family were going to come back alive anyways, so what's the big deal, right?
"You knew!" Greiger recognized the look on my face instinctively. "you actually knew! And you never even thought to mention it?!" Or was she hiding the truth from him on Rex Goodwin's orders?
Well... Not being able to think up a good answer (excuse) fast enough (due to fear), I kept my mouth shut.
So everything Roman told him had been the truth! Tono had been conspiring with Rex Goodwin since the very beginning, and they were equally responsible for his family's death!
Greiger's finger on the trigger began to tighten.
"Greiger! Stop!." Devack interrupted harshly. "You cannot destroy a Signer by mortal means."
"Why not?" Greiger demanded, "They'll be dead all the same. Doesn't that satisfy your God?"
"We duel in order to secure a victory for our Lord in the Netherworld," Devack gently but firmly pushed Greiger's hand down. "To defeat a Signer by bloodshed does no harm to the Crimson Dragon, the Beast would simply recruit another to its cause! We no longer have the time to find all five Signers again."
Greiger hesitated and I remembered to breathe again.
"But the next Signer would not be such a good duelist," Greiger argued, unwilling to let go of a chance to avenge his family, "Whoever they are would make a much easier target."
Devack hesitated, Greiger had a point. These Signers are proving to be quite formidable opponents.
"Same for the others. Why risk our Cause," Greiger resisted a shudder when he said those words, but it's the only way to convince Devack, "on a battle of duel monsters when we can ensure our victory? The Crimson Dragon had had time to train these Signers, any new recruits would be easy pickings."
Devack began to nod.
Seeing Devack's reaction, Akiza summoned Black Rose Dragon (lv7, 2400/1600) behind her. The monster was immediately matched by Greiger's Flying Fortress SKYFIRE (lv8, 3000/2500) and Devack's Zeman the Ape King (lv7, 2500/1800). If those monsters begin a fight, even if Akiza somehow manage to win (which is looking pretty unlikely), all of us mortals would be dead anyways.
"No! You can't!" I shouted loudly while searching desperately for a reason why they can't do what I would have done in their shoes.
"I can't?" Greiger mocked. "Enlighten me, I beg of you."
"Because I have the Momentum." I replied confidently, having found the reason. I told you I was good at talking.
"So what?" Greiger pressed uneasily, astutely detecting a shift in the power balance.
"The Momentum." I repeated, managing to put a smile on my face again, speaking to Devack this time, "The machine that is the passage from the Netherworld into ours."
"What of it?" Devack is still cautiously keeping Greiger under check.
"There're two copies of that machine in the world, you control one, and I hold the other." I continued quickly before Greiger pulled the trigger, "With the press of a button, I could blow up one copy of the Momentum,, which would in turn destroy yours. To my knowledge, even Dark Signers cannot withstand the blast from the Momentum. With all of you dead and the passage to the mortal realm destroyed, Crimson Dragon rules for another 5000 years." To be honest, I have no idea if Dark Signers would be destroyed with the Momentum, but I'm betting he didn't know either.
"If so, why haven't you used it?" Greiger asked skeptically.
"Because it would blow up the Satellite," I said matter-of-factly, "That's where I am, remember?"
There it is again, that smart-alec, holier-than-thou tone, Greiger gritted his teeth. It's so tempting, it would be so simple just to pull the trigger...
As though reading his mind, Devack took the gun out of his hand.
"What do you propose?" Devack asked calmly, "As Greiger correctly surmised, if you try to change the rules every time you lose, there's no sense for us to play the game."
"How about this then," I took a deep breath, I can't believe I'm actually proposing this, "We will face off against every Dark Signer, till there's only one of us left. Last one standing wins humanity for the next five millennia."
"I will consult need to with Roman for such a consequential decision," Devack paused thoughtfully, "Though I see no reason he would decline, that has been his plan all along."
I was pretty sure he would say yes, but I was nevertheless relieved. And that's why I needed the Momentum, when both sides hold enough power to destroy the other, we're essentially both reduced to salami tactics, giving me time to think and react. I decided against saying that, seeing as I really shouldn't teach Greiger anymore than he already knows, and also I'm probably the only one here who knew what salami was.
"Very well," I grinned. I tried to reach a hand up to shake his hand, only to find I couldn't yet control my arm. "I will see you in another duel."
"Wait!" Greiger grabbed Devack before he could leave. That can't be all! He was so close! So close to getting revenge on this woman who let his family die! There's no way she would get off scot-free again just by scrounging up the right thing to say at the right time.
"Greiger?" Devack waited as Greiger knew he would, he had always been patient.
"This Signer remains a threat, does she not?" Greiger glanced down at the woman still lying on the ground, "She had never lost a duel and would have destroyed your Immortal if I didn't come in time." Greiger really wasn't mincing his words, whatever it took to get through to Devack. "With your Immortal destroyed, you would be nothing more than human."
Greiger said the last word like an insult.
"True, the Immortal is our Link to the Netherworld and the key to our powers." Devack admitted, "And Yuki is a challenging opponent, so what do you propose?" Devack asked. He had dedicated his life to bringing his Netherworld Master to the throne and bringing freedom to the duel monsters, so he knew very little else. Though if Greiger knew more, he was more than willing to listen.
"A duelist is nothing without her deck," Greiger grinned as he leaned down.
My deck? My deck never even factored into the equation since I had a gun aimed at my head a couple of minutes ago.
"Nobody's lucky forever, Tono. Once in a while, us underdogs do come up for air." Greiger reached down, removing my deck from my duel disk, flipping through. "Cards I've never even heard of, in your deck just because you wanted it. And how long did it take you to build your deck? A week? A day? Everything you ever wanted was handed to you on a silver platter."
A day, probably. I asked for for it and Rex Goodwin provided it as part of the deal for my stay in Domino. Of course, he doesn't realize Goodwin might have killed me anytime I was in Domino, or what I had to do to get to a position where I could risk my life to get those cards.
"This is your trump card, isn't it, Shaddoll Fusion?" He picked out both copies from my deck and ripped them up into quarters, tossed carelessly into the water.
"What's next, what about Shaddoll Falco? This must have been useful a couple of times." Greiger traced his fingers over the frame of the frail-looking bird, "So much power in such a small monster. Not anymore."
Seeing Akiza and her Black Rose Dragon about to rush up, Greiger shook his head slightly, pulling out a second gun and twirling it in his fingers casually.
"Would you like me to list each card out before ripping them up? I believe I will."
"Greiger." Devack interrupted, "Winning is our business and it has nothing to do with duel monsters. Win or lose, you will show these monsters the respect they deserve."
"You always were the stickler," Greiger laughed in response but complied none the less. He gathered the cards in my deck and extra deck, tossing them onto the ground, firing at them a couple of times until the cards caught on fire.
"What happens to the monsters...?" I directed the question at Devack. I was still terrified but it was something I had to find out.
"They lose a passage into the mortal realm, though in exchange, they are freed from your control." Devack responded coolly, "More than a fair trade. When our Lord rises, they will be free to enter this world once more. "
"What about..." I gestured vaguely at where my monsters had appeared to block the bullet for me.
"Mortal weapons does no harm to Duel Monsters." Devack seemed to understand my unfinished questions perfectly, "Now they're back in Hell where they came from."
"Hell?" I asked before I could stop myself.
"The Shadow Realm. The mortals have always called it Hell."
"I think our job today is done," Greiger haven't felt this sense of accomplishment in a long while. Now that Tono doesn't have her deck anymore, why shouldn't he let her live a little longer. The Zephyrs don't provide cable to the Satellite yet, so her suffering would be the only entertainment he had in this town. "I look forward to our next duel."
"Indeed," Devack agreed, "We must report back to Roman with the new developments."
X
Seeing them ride off, I suddenly felt another wave of fear washing over me as my overactive imagination eagerly went over all the ways my last encounter could have gone very, very wrong. I felt nauseous and saw nothing but stars in front of my eyes. My heart still pounding in my chest and in my ears.
"Are you okay?" Yusei asked, hovering over me.
I looked up at the crowd of concerned faces then mused over what I have learned with what little brainpower I had left- Dark Signers were finally going sane and would deal with things the mortal way. We had maybe a couple of hours before they regroup, I really don't have time for a breakdown.
"I'll live." I said weakly, not entirely sure if it was the truth.
Realizing my struggle, Chaos reached down and dragged me up by the back of my shirt. He held up my entire weight with one hand, seeing as my legs were more decorative than anything else at this point. He dangled me for a bit, waiting for me to stand on my own again. My body had no plans of cooperating.
Too tired to talk, I glared at him instead. Chaos relented at put me on his shoulders.
A part of me was embarrassed at being given the first piggy-back ride since I was five, the vast majority of me couldn't care less at this point.
"Are you going to be okay?" He held onto my legs so I wouldn't fall off.
"I'm gonna get so wasted after this is all over," I laughed weakly and avoided his questions altogether.
Chaos squeezed my leg, his hands felt warm against bare flesh. I bent down to nuzzle him in gratitude, only to immediately straighten up again. Owww! He looked up at me inquiringly. "I think I may have broken something." I muttered.
A/N: Okay, I'll be honest, I was never going to let Yuki keep the complete Shaddoll deck, it was way too powerful for this era. But with the resources at her disposal, Yuki would naturally get an OP deck while she's in Domino. Also I wanted to write a couple of duels with Shaddolls, XD
A/N 2: I'm nearing 200 k. God I'm nearing 200k. I feel like I should write something to celebrate..