Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.
Chapter 17: Superior Dora
"I end my turn." Kotori announced.
Anna drew her next card. "I activate Gustav Omega's effect and detach Night Express Knight to destroy Gagaga Guardna!"
One of the fireballs orbiting the wicked rail cannon entered the hatch on the top. Gustav Omega fired another round that passes through the barrier created by the swords of light and obliterated Kotori's monster. The resulting explosion knocked Kotori back down and reduced her life points to 1000.
"I now activate the Spell card, Rune Soul Charge!" Anna announced. "Since I have a Rune Mystic monster on the field, Soul Charge lets me attach two monsters in my hand to it as overlay units." With that, two more fireballs appeared and were pulled into Gustav Omega's orbit. "That ends my turn."
"Anna, it doesn't have to be this way between us!" Kotori told her.
"Like hell it doesn't!" Anna shot back. "You're the one thing that's standing between me and Yuma, which means you have to die!"
"Getting rid of me won't change how Yuma feels about you!" Kotori argued.
"What, so you're saying I should just give up?" Anna asked. "You're saying I should just stop fighting for the guy I'm in to just because he's seeing someone else?"
"Anna, you can't make Yuma love you!" Kotori told her. "I know this must be hard for you, but you have to let Yuma go! If it helps… I know Yuma still probably thinks of you as a friend. And even with everything that's happening, so do I."
"A friend? Don't give me that crap!" Anna told her "If you expect me to settle for just being a friend, then you can go to hell! Now make your move!"
Kotori sighed and drew her next card. "I activate the Spell card, Gagagadraw! By banishing the three Gagaga monsters that are in my Graveyard, I can draw two more cards!"
Kotori looked at the two new cards she had just pulled from the deck. One of them was Card of Sanctity, which she knew could help boost her hand further. But even if she did draw more cards it wouldn't help. She didn't have a card left in her deck that could affectively combat Gustav Omega. Suddenly the Emperor's Key flashed and Kotori felt herself being pulled to another place.
Kotori found that she was in a very familiar expanse of darkness that seemed to go on into infinity. Astral was hovering a few feet in front of her, providing the only source of light there was. Astral's body was still crackling with black electricity and flashing from blue to red just like the last time Kotori had seen him.
"Kotori… we do not have much time left." Astral spoke in the weakest voice Kotori had ever heard him use.
"I know that." Kotori replied. "But I don't know what to do. I don't think there's any way I can beat Anna."
"There is… one way." Astral told her. "It lies with… one of the Numbers."
"You're going to give me another Number?" Kotori asked.
Astral nodded and held up his hand, causing a single glowing card to appear right above it. "At the end of the war… a very few of the Numbers were still blank when I finally received them. Those blank Numbers ended up taking forms that reflected the bonds Yuma and I had formed with some of our friends. This Number represents the bond Yuma formed with Anna. It may be the key to defeating her."
The card floated from Astral's hand over to Kotori. Kotori took hold of the card, and the moment she did it stopped glowing, allowing her to take a good look at what the card was.
"How am I supposed to summon this?" Kotori asked.
"I… will help you." Astral told her. "All you have to do… is believe."
"Okay." Kotori replied with a nod. "I trust you."
Astral gave a weak smile and nodded. Soon after the darkness was enveloped by another flash of light.
The light cleared and Kotori found herself back in the duel. Anna was looking at her with crossed arms as she impatiently tapped her foot.
"Will you quite spacing out and make your move already?" Anna demanded.
"I activate the Spell, Card of Sanctity!" Kotori announced. "Now both of us get to draw until we have six cards in our hand!"
Kotori took a deep breath and touched the top of her deck. As she pulled her new cards, they glowed with a golden light.
"I summon Gagaga Sister in Attack Mode!" Kotori announced.
Appearing on the battlefield was a little girl with short blonde hair and green eyes. She had on a white and black dress with a short cape attached to the back. On the sides of the dress's black midsection were two large pink bows. The little girl also wore a pair of black knee-high boots decorated with little white skulls at the top and pink sashes around the ankles. On her head was a white conical hat with pink trim that curved back, and in her hand was a large ornate golden key that acted as a magic wand.
"When I've normal summoned Gagaga Sister, I can add a Gagaga Spell or Trap card to my hand!" Kotori announced. "Now I activate the Spell card I just added to my hand, Gagagawind! With this card I summon Gagaga Girl from my hand as a level four monster!" The blonde Spellcaster appeared on the field next to Gagaga Sister.
"And what do you expect to do with those two monsters?" Anna asked. "Neither of them has the same level. And you can't use Gagaga Girl with Gagaga Magician since you just banished him a minute ago."
"I activate Gagaga Sister's other effect!" Kotori announced. "Gagaga Sister lets me combine level with the level of another Gagaga monster I have on the field! That means both Gagaga Sister and Gagaga Girl become two level six monsters!"
Gagaga Sister happily waved her golden key through the air, causing pink sparking lights to rain down on her and Gagaga Girl. Both monsters then began to glow with a pink aura.
"I use Gagaga Sister and Gagaga Girl to Xyz Summon my ace card!" Kotori announced. "Help me out, Magi Magi Magician Gal!"
A vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in the two Gagaga monsters as balls of purple energy. Moments later, Kotori's blonde magical girl emerged from the vortex orbited by two balls of purple light.
"I now activate Gagaga Girl's effect!" Kotori announced. "Since she was used for an Xyz Summon, I can drop the ATK of Gustav Omega to zero!"
The ghostly image of Gagaga Girl appeared around one of the balls of light orbiting Magician Gal and fired a beam of light from the screen of her smart phone. The beam struck Gustav Omega and reduced its ATK to zero.
"I activate the Continuous Trap, Law of the Rune!" Anna announced. "As long as this card is on the field, only Number monsters are allowed to attack Rune Mystic monsters like Gustav Omega!"
"So in other words I can't attack using Magician Gal." Kotori observed.
"I saw that little move coming, you know." Anna told her. "Sammy told me all about how you like to use Gagaga Girl and Magi Magi Magician Gal together. Of course even if I hadn't used Law of the Rune, all you would've gotten off was a cheap shot. On my next turn I'll just use Gustav Omega's effect to blow your so-called ace card away and end you."
"I activate Magi Magi Magician Gal's effect!" Kotori announced. "I detach one overlay unit and banish one card from my hand to summon Night Express Knight from your Graveyard!"
One of the balls of light orbiting Magician Gal entered the brooch on her chest. Magician Gal closed her eyes and put her hand on her chest as the ankh tattoo above her brooch glowed with a white light. A gigantic version of the ankh symbol glowed on the ground behind Kotori. Night Express Knight materialized on the battlefield behind Kotori.
"And what was swiping one of my monsters from the Graveyard supposed to accomplish?" Anna asked.
"I activate the Spell card, Number Overlay Bypass!" Kotori announced. "By banishing a Number from my Graveyard, I can use a monster with a level I control as material to Xyz Summon a Number monster with a Rank equal to that monster's level! I banish Utopia and use Night Express Knight to build the overlay network! Help me out, Number 81: Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Superior Dora!"
A gigantic vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared on the ground behind Kotori and pulled in Night Express Knight as a ball of red energy. Rising out of the vortex was a spherical grey and black object that looked like an engine part. Orbiting around it was a single ball of red light. The object quickly expanded and transformed into a massive blue and grey machine that looked the torso of some giant robot. Attached to the base of machine as a means to pull it along the ground were two pairs of grey bullet trains. Mounted on the top of one train in each pair was a long narrow black cannon barrel. On the left grey shoulder plate of the torso-like machine was the number 81 written in red alien writing. In place of a head, the machine had a long black cannon barrel with glowing red circuit paths running along it.
"A Rail Cannon Number?" a stunned Anna asked. "How's that possible?"
"This Number represents the friendship between you and Yuma." Kotori told her. "I can tell he must think of you as a good friend if this Number took the form it has now."
"It that supposed to make me feel better?" Anna bitterly asked.
"Anna, I know there's not anything I can say to make the pain you must be feeling go away." Kotori continued. "But right now, you have to push that pain aside! Right now Yuma's in terrible danger! If Mitaka gets to him, she'll make him her slave! If you really love Yuma, you have to let me go help him!"
"I… I don't have to do anything except blow your ass away!" Anna declared.
"Then I guess we have to do this the hard way." Kotori sighed. "I activate another Spell card, Empowered Number! This card lets me add the ATK of all other Xyz Monsters I have out to a Number monster! So I add Magician Gal's 2400 ATK to Superior Dora's 3200 ATK, which means Dora's ATK becomes 5600!"
Magician Gal flew high into the air and landed on the top of Superior Dora. Both monsters began to glow with a pink aura.
"I attack Gustav Omega with Superior Dora!" Kotori declared.
"And I activate a Trap card from my hand, Rune Counterstrike!" Anna announced.
"A Trap that can be activate from the hand!" Kotori exclaimed.
"Only when I have a Rune Mystic monster on the field!" Anna explained. "Rune Counterstrike lets me destroy one of your monsters and inflict 800 points of damage! Which means Superior Dora's headed for the scrapheap!"
"I'm afraid not, because I activate Dora's effect!" Kotori announced. "During either player's turn, I can detach an overlay unit from Dora to protect a monster from other card effects. Which means Dora won't be affected by your Trap!"
The single ball of red light orbiting Dora entered a red light on its chest. As a bolt of orange lightning came down from the sky towards the rail cannon, a transparent red barrier appeared around Dora and blocked it.
"Magician Gal! Dora! Attack Gustav Omega and end this!" Kotori commanded. "Supreme Magic Cannon Shot!"
Superior Dora aimed its cannon at Gustav Omega as a large crackling ball of pink energy formed at the end of Magician Gal's wand. Superior Dora fired around from its cannon at the same moment Magician Gal fired her wand. The two attacks joined together and struck Gustav Omega, destroying the wicked rail cannon in a massive explosion. The resulting blast blew Anna back several feet as her life points dropped from 4000 to zero in a second. With the duel at an end, Kotori's monsters vanished and the surroundings returned to normal.
Kotori quickly ran to Anna's side and found she was still conscious, though just barely. She kneeled down to see how badly hurt her rival was.
"Are you okay Anna?" Kotori asked.
"Well… it looks like you beat me." Anna observed. "Guess you can go to Yuma if you want."
"I never wanted things to turn out like this." Kotori told her with a tear in her eye.
Anna merely pulled a card from her duel disk. "Here… take this."
Kotori took the card that Anna handed her and was surprised. "Rank-Up-Magic Rune Force?"
"If… if Yuma really is in trouble… than maybe that can help you save him." Anna replied. "Hell… you might be able to use it better than I…"
Anna lost consciousness before she could finish her sentence. Kotori got to her feet and wiped her tears. Composing herself, Kotori looked back towards the park. She knew Yuma was still waiting for him. After slipping the card Anna had given him into his deck, Kotori ran towards the park.
Yuma had been running for the past several minutes trying to get away from Samantha. But no matter where he went in the park, the redhead seemed to find him instantly. Running out of breath, Yuma collapsed to his knees. Samantha calmly walked up from the front and stood over him.
"Looks like we're finally done with this little game of tag of yours." Samantha told him. "Why not just give in? You'll suffer a lot less if you do."
"I… I'll never give in to you." Yuma declared. Suddenly he winced as his curse mark began to glow through his shirt.
"See? You don't have much longer." Samantha told him. "I'd give you twenty, maybe thirty minutes at the most. If you don't give in to me, you'll die. And it'll be a very painful death too."
"No way." Yuma insisted.
"Come on, Yuma. Do you realize what I'm offering you?" Samantha asked. "I'll give the kind of pleasure that will set your soul on fire long after you've died a normal death."
"I just told you no." Yuma responded. "I'd never betray Kotori like that."
"What! You're turning me down because of her?" an outraged Samantha asked. "Why?"
"Because… I love her." Yuma answered.
Her rage boiling over, Samantha kneed Yuma in the chin. Yuma fell to the ground and was out like a light. Suddenly the redhead heard Kotori calling Yuma's name. She turned to see the green-haired girl standing a few feet away and breathing heavily.
"Well, it looks like Anna wasn't able to do her job." Samantha observed.
"Get away from Yuma!" Kotori ordered.
"You know there's only one way I'll do that, birdie-girl." Samantha replied. "Let's settle this once and for all."
"I guess I have no choice." Kotori replied.
With that, a pair of black-feathered angelic wings appeared on Samantha's back and her body glowed with a red light. The light cleared to reveal the redhead in her Barian form. She had gold armor with white trim covering her chest, in the center of which was a white Barian Emblem with a red spherical gem. Around her waist was a short shimmering gold skirt with a slit in the right side, kept in place by a white belt with an ornate gold buckle set with a red gemstone.
"So that's what you really look like." Kotori observed. "I knew you were a monster."
"This won't be like the first time we dueled, birdie-girl." Mitaka warned. "This time I won't be holding anything back."
"Neither will I!" Kotori declared.
Kotori activated her D-Gazer and duel disk. Meanwhile, Mitaka's left eye changed from gold to green and a gold blade-like duel disk appeared on her left arm. The dark stormy clouds above became tinted red.
"I'm going to rip you to shreds in this duel!" Mitaka declared. "And after I'm done, Yuma's ass will be all mine!"
Author's Note: I had been toying with the idea of Kotori using Number 81 in her duel with Anna since the beginning of this story. The decision about whether or not Number 81 should show up depended on if I could come up with a reasonable explanation of why the Number was a Rail Cannon monster. At this moment though I kind of wish there was an episode of the anime where Anna did end up with Number 81. That would've been a funny (and perhaps scary) episode.
Please review and let me know what you think.