I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters.
Anna and I were stalking through the wasteland of the B.A.D. area, and we could hear the sounds of battle all around us: revving motorcycles and the sound effects of a monster being summoned. We were surprised when we heard the sound of screeching brakes from the cliff that we were walking under, and just a moment later an odd looking duel runner jumped off the cliff with no rider. It was completely dark, covered with hues of violet, navy and black, with a single wing-shaped object fashioned onto the back of one side of it, red gems of some sort skirting the tips of the wing.
"Kalin, No!" I heard Yusei yell. I heard some shuffling on the cliff, but I knew that I couldn't effectively see everything that was going on up there, so I just stayed beneath the cliff face and motioned for Anna to do the same.
"Heh, you know, Yusei," I could hear Kalin's voice, as unmistakable as the day he was taken by Sector Security, say. He was coughing, sputtering, even. "When I became a Dark signer, I wished for two things, revenge on you and Wil, and one last duel as the Enforcers. At least I got one of those."
"No, Kalin, you don't have to go, not like this, you can still be our friend, we can work this out!" Yusei was trying desperately, but I saw anger rising in Anna's eyes. I guess that she never forgave Kalin for taking the path that he did. Granted, neither had I.
"That's not the way a Signer Duel works, Yusei. I'll be gone now, and permanently this time." I could almost see the wry smile that Kalin must've had. "Tell the others, tell them that I'm sorry…"
Yusei was crying quite audibly when I heard Pitch-Black Dragon say he's gone, captain.
Good, now we can get on with the mission. I thought in response.
After we heard Yusei get onto his Duel Runner and motor away, Anna tugged at my arm and pointed at Kalin's abandoned one. I saw some sort of swirling dark energy around it.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Whatever power it was that sustained the Dark Signers. Kalin has already faded away, but his Duel Runner remains. I think it's calling to you…" Anna seemed worried.
"Why would it do that?" I wondered, slightly afraid myself.
"Are you still angry with Sayer, do you still want revenge?" asked a deep, abysmal voice. Anna and I made a quick scan of the area before we looked at the Runner again. The shadows had stopped swirling and instead formed a face of some kind.
"I can give you power, power enough to do what you want, everything that you want, including the killing of Sayer, who I can guarantee still lives. I can give you the power to take that witch next to you and punish her for lying to you for so long, force her to be your docile and willing mistress." the apparition said.
Captain, this power is of the Underworld, it lies. It's Darkness is not true. Pitch-Black told me.
Anna was filled with fear and looked at me, pleading with her eyes. "Please, Willie, don't, I beg you."
I remained silent while carrying on my conversation with Pitch-Black. Then what can be done? Can my sword damage it?
No, Captain, nor will Athena's weaponry do anything to it. This is the spirit of an Earthbound Immortal, looking for release by taking your soul. It sees the Darkness within you and seeks to devour it, to make itself stronger off of your power.
The Darkness within me?
Yes, Captain. At present, you are the scion of the Gentle Darkness in the Mortal World. You don't have the powers of the Supreme King, but you have enough to show that beast the true meaning of Darkness.
What the Ra do you… nevermind. How?
Let me out.
I smiled and drew my deck out of its box, rifling through the cards until I found the one that I was looking for. Anna seemed less concerned at that point, and I think that she could tell that I had a plan.
"Looking for a card that can beat me? I assure you, there isn't one." the apparition cackled.
"What would my color be?" I asked the apparition as I put the rest of the deck away.
"Whatever color you want, except for black. Every Dark Signer has black." the apparition seemed confused.
"What a shame," I said. "Because as cheesy as it is, I'll have to go with Pitch-Black Dragon!" The dragon leaped to life off of my duel disk and roared at the apparition. Anna smiled as Pitch-Black Dragon picked up and ate the Duel Runner. It belched slightly, covering its mouth and looking rather proud of itself from what I could tell. It was more of a feeling that I got, really.
"It's good to see you again, General." the dragon said to Anna.
"And you, but won't the power of the Earthbound Immortal hurt you eventually?" Anna asked.
"No. To put it in the simplest terms, I removed it from play while it was on top of the deck."
"But you don't have that effect…" I said.
"How terrible, it is almost like the cards are not perfect representations of their counterparts, Captain." I thought that I sense a laugh from the dragon. "Regardless, I now have a new power, at least in this world. Behold…" Pitch Black Dragon crouched down and huffed some smoke over itself. When the smoke cleared there was a shiny new duel runner as black as pitch where the old one had been.
"So you ate the Duel Runner to become the Duel Runner?" Anna asked.
"Mostly, General, yes, though only duel spirits will ever hear me and I can't easily shift back to normal." the dragon warned.
I picked up the card from my duel disk and put it back in the deck. "So what happens if I decide to call you back into the Spirit World?"
"I wouldn't go back there, Captain. I belong to the Evil World, the same as you do. And while I would go back in spirit, the Duel Runner would remain."
"Good, then you'd better have proper seats because Anna and I need to get a move on, we've wasted enough time already."
"Yes, Captain," it said as Anna and I climbed onto the runner. I took hold of the handlebars as Anna wrapped one arm around my waist. Her other hand was readying a spear.
"Are we expecting to have a joust?" I jested.
"No, but if we find this Sayer guy I want to stab him through the heart," she told me. Without another word, I revved the engines and we sped off towards the nearest battle.
We saw the same green beast that gave me my wounds earlier and so decided to pursue that particular battle. If Sayer was going to be anywhere then it would be near Akiza. In his own sick and twisted way, Sayer legitimately cared for Akiza's safety.
We hadn't really gotten far when we saw that the beast was looming over an abandoned amusement park, and I could also see a dragon that looked like it was made out of a rose flying around trying to fight it.
"Black Rose Dragon," Pitch-Black said.
"Relative of yours?" I asked as we sped closer.
"Distant cousin. All dragons are descended from either Thousand Dragon or what you refer to as the Second Luster Dragon, and their mates of course, but the mates died long ago."
"I don't need a history lesson, Pitch. I just need to know if we need to go over there." I said.
"Given the current location of the object of your revenge, it seems that I will need wings," Pitch-Black said as its wings unfolded just between where Anna and I were seated. In just a few moments we were flying.
"And how exactly do you know where Sayer is?" Anna asked.
"The Beast knew, and I ate it, so now I know." Pitch hummed.
Within a few moments, we were landing on one of the higher floors of a skyscraper, directly overlooking the duel between Akiza and the Dark Signer. It seemed to be going well for Akiza, except for the part where it looked like she had lost control over her psychic abilities, trying to destroy her opponent instead of beating her.
"If you dare stand in my way I will erase your very existence. Don't test me." Akiza said gravely.
"Just like you erased my brother, right?" the female Dark Signer asked. "Now, Witch, it is your turn! Go to my brother in the afterlife and make your peace with him!"
"Akiza, what is wrong with you?" Yusei yelled.
"I think that we're missing a lot of context…" Anna said.
"No kidding," I added.
"Hahaha! That's it! Excellent!" Anna and I suddenly heard a twisted voice laugh. "Defeat them, Akiza. With your powers unleashed, you are stronger than any Dark Signer could ever be!"
"Is that who I think it is?" Anna snarled.
"Yes," I said. Anna ran off to the nearest flight of stairs leading down, going to where she heard the voice.
I had only just gotten to the stairs when I heard Anna yell at Sayer, "I challenge you to a duel!"
"Well, this is certainly unexpected. Are you a friend of that knight's, come for revenge against the one who controls Akiza?" I heard Sayer say.
"Actually, she's a friend of mine," I said, rounding the staircase.
"Then that special connection to the Spirit World exists in her as well? Very well, I am eager to see what power she commands." Sayer activated his duel disk. Anna activated the duel disk that had become part of her spartan-style shield.
"Choice of weapon goes to the challenged, yes?" Sayer asked with a devious smile.
"No, it goes to the lady," Anna said as she drew her sixth card.
Turn 1: Anna
Anna: 4000
Sayer: 4000
"What happened to stabbing him?" I asked as Anna stuck her spear into the concrete.
"I had a better idea, one that will get rid of him more permanently," she said. "First I discard Hecatrice from my hand to add Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen to my hand." she put a card from her hand into her graveyard as a card was jutted out of her deck, which she picked up quickly.
"Then I'll do the same thing with Zeradias, Herald of Heaven in order to add The Sanctuary in the Sky to my hand. I then activate both Valhalla and Sanctuary." the concrete building was replaced with the projected image of a castle's inner sanctum, a red hall directly behind Anna.
"Using Valhalla's effect, I special summon Dark Valkyria from my hand, who I then normal summon to activate her Gemini effect, giving her a counter and 300 attack points," Anna said, a dark cybernetic fairy emerging from behind a curtain in the hall behind Anna, then empowering herself with lightning swirling around her.
Dark Valkyria: 2100/1050
"Your move," Anna growled threateningly at Sayer.
Turn 2: Sayer
Sayer drew a card and examined the field.
"Fair enough, mystery woman. I'll summon Krebons and set two other face downs. Your move." Sayer said calmly. The gangly purple and yellow psychic monster emerged from the battlefield in front of Sayer.
Krebons: 1200/0400
Turn 3: Anna
"Why would you summon such a weak monster in attack position?" Anna asked as she drew a card.
"For its effect, Anna. Krebons can negate attacks against it." I said. Sayer frowned at me.
"This is true, but no matter what you do now, no duel will be able to stop me. With Akiza under my control, I'll reinstitute the Arcade Movement and conquer the world. If only the brainwashing process had been more successful, maybe then I wouldn't have to deal with figuring out what you are." Sayer said, glaring at me.
"Not that it matters, fool. I activate Smashing Ground, which can only select one monster as it's target: your Krebons!" Anna said, laughing a little bit.
"What?" Sayer was shocked as his monster shattered, leaving him defenseless against Anna's Valkyria.
"And now Dark Valkyria will attack you directly!" Anna commanded, sending the dark fairy to kick Sayer across the face, knocking him to the ground.
Anna: 4000
Sayer: 1900
Sayer slowly got up off of the ground and wiped the blood from his mouth. "You would make an excellent psychic duelist, ma'am. I could use people like you in my organization."
"Not even in your nightmares," Anna folded her arms.
"Willing or not, I can and will find a way to make you. I'll just need more guinea pigs like I did for your boyfriend." Sayer laughed and his eyes went crazed.
"Is that what happened to that Dark Signer's brother?" I asked. "A test subject for treatment to eventually use on me?"
"Yes, though it seems that the treatment still has some bugs to work out. Perhaps if I use you as the test group for what to eventually use on this woman, then I will be successful."
"My name is Anna, Creep, and it's your turn!"
Turn 4: Sayer
"So be it," Sayer said as he drew another card. "I set one monster. Your move."
Turn 5: Anna
"You really don't get it, do you?" I asked as Anna drew another card.
"Don't get what, Mr. Jernigan?" Sayer looked at me with an eyebrow raised.
"Anna and I aren't normal people. And you don't get away quite as easily as a duel to test her potential. This isn't a psychic duel where you can recover easily." I said.
"Oh? I believe you are mistaken, Mr. Jernigan. This is no shadow duel, for I know shadow duels."
"Then perhaps I should explain it to you," Anna said as she set a face down. "We're duel spirits in mortal bodies, and we don't obey the same natural laws that you do."
"Oh! That helps me immensely! Thank you for sharing that knowledge with me, as now I know how to adjust the machine to properly brainwash both of you!" Sayer laughed. "How stupid of you!"
"No, that was just a timed distraction. I activate Dark Valkyria's other effect; by removing her counter I can destroy any monster on the field, and I select your set monster." Anna smirked as Sayer was once again shocked, his second monster reduced to shards.
"Granted, Valkyria now only has 1800 attack points, but that's still enough to attack!" Anna said as Valkyria leaped forward and thrust a knee into Sayer's stomach, making him spit out some more blood.
Anna: 4000
Sayer: 0100
"Your move," Anna said.
Turn 6: Sayer.
Sayer drew a card as soon as he picked himself up.
He smiled, "This is where the tide shifts, Anna. I summon Reinforced Human Psychic Borg!" A bulky human figure in heavy armor holding some sort of sword was suddenly on the battlefield.
Reinforced Human Psychic Borg: 1500/0800
"It only has 1500 attack points, what can it do?" Anna asked.
"That is where it's effect comes into play. By removing from play a psychic type monster in my graveyard my Borg gets an additional 500 attack points." Sayer cackled as Anna frowned.
"Now, Borg, attack!" Sayer yelled as the sword was lifted up and cut down the dark fairy.
Anna: 4000
Sayer: 0100
"What, why didn't you lose life points?" Sayer asked.
"So long as we are in my sanctuary, I don't take damage from combat involving my fairies." Anna smiled.
"And now you are without a monster to defend yourself with. Your turn." Sayer sighed.
Turn 7: Anna
Anna drew a card and frowned.
"Your turn." Anna said.
Turn 8: Sayer
"Really, nothing? You can't figure out something to do when you're a duel spirit?" Sayer laughed, drawing a card. "So be it: I summon Genetic Woman, and then I use her effect to add my removed from play Mind Master back to my hand!" A woman in a black jumpsuit with a massive green cybernetic arm got onto the battlefield.
Cybernetic Woman: 1700/1200
The woman then turned around and pointed her arm at Sayer.
"What? What is this?" Sayer yelled as the woman charged her beam.
"You don't get to call that effect back, Sayer, and you just made a fatal mistake. Cybernetic Woman requires 1000 life points from you in order to accomplish her goals, and you were so distracted that you mistook your 100 life points for something greater than that. You lose, Sayer." I smiled. The beam shot at Sayer and he fell onto his back.
Anna: 4000
Sayer: 0000
As the holograms faded away and we could see the rest of the world again we saw a gigantic black and green lizard's head peeking in at us, staring at Sayer and I with its eyes.
"You are the one responsible for my brother's death?" came a voice from far down below.
"What? Misty, How did you find out?" Sayer said, backing away from the Earthbound Immortal.
"Echoes, Sayer. The center of a castle is designed to echo, and they heard everything that happened in our duel." Anna said. Sayer paled as a black and green arm reached for him and grabbed him, slowly raising him above the Immortal's mouth only to drop him in. He screamed on the way down, and the Immortal gulped and swallowed. Anna and I watched as the Dark Signer smiled and sat down.
"That is enough, Akiza. I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble. My vengeance is complete. I surrender." the woman put the cards in her hand back on top of her deck. Slowly, she was consumed by darkness and the Earthbound Immortal faded away. Akiza looked petrified, looking into her hands as though she was terrified of her powers all over again. Yusei looked up at Anna and I and paused himself out of shock, probably because of the armor that she and I were wearing. I motioned for him to go to Akiza and he promptly obeyed, taking her in his arms as she wept.
Anna and I quickly turned around and returned to where we had left Pitch-Black Dragon.
"You know, Anna, you always start off strong but you have the most rotten luck," I said.
"The strategy is sound! I don't understand how or why I never draw the card I need at the time I need it!" Anna pouted.
"Even the best strategy can have an off hand, Anna." I laughed.
"It doesn't make any sense!" Anna said as we were getting onto Pitch.
"So now what do we do?" Pitch asked.
"Can you sense anywhere else where there is an Immortal's power?" I asked.
"Three, one of which is too far away at present, one of which is being dealt with, and one that seems to be waiting at a nexus of dark energy of some kind," Pitch said.
"Then we go to the nexus," I said.
So... I only just realized that I have not always had the format for my duels very consistent. Sorry about that. Otherwise, have a good day.