Yu-Gi-Oh! Avatar
The Orichalcos Saga
Fanfic Chapter 230: To Light the Darkest Hour Pt 6: Soul Release
Episode Basis: A Duel with Dartz Pt 6
Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh! Yami had given up any hope in rescuing his friends and saving the world from the Great Leviathan. Dartz had convinced him to give up his soul. Suddenly the white orb, Yami's little guardian that had been following him ever since their adventure began revealed itself to be the original Avatar, a girl with physical similarities to Tea and great affection for the Pharaoh. Rejuvenated by the light of his friends, Yami played the card Pegasus gave him, the Legend of Heart which transformed the Legendary Dragons into knights. But even as they destroyed Shunaros, Dexia, and Aristeros, Dartz's last and most deadly monster appeared: the Divine Serpent with an attack of infinity. The Divine Serpent got Yami's life points down to 0 but the duel still wasn't over. Yami activated a trap card to summon his Dark Magician Girl. Now each of them has 1 monster on the field and if that monster is destroyed, the player loses.
Dartz commanded his Divine Serpent to attack Dark Magician Girl. But as the attack was launched, Yami cried out, "I activate Timaeus's special ability, giving him the power of a monster from my graveyard. Timaeus, absorb Obnoxious Celtic Guardian's ability and deflect the blast!" Obnoxious Celtic Guardian can not be destroyed by any monster with more than 1900 attack points so Timaeus was able to block the blast. "So much for infinite attack strength, I guess attack points aren't everything."
Dartz laughed, "You dodge one blast and you think you're king of the world?"
Yami closed his eyes. This is my last chance. Heart of the cards… my friends… I call upon you… "LIGHT OUR DARKEST HOUR!" He drew a card. "Solon, Hermos, Critius, attack!" The three warriors leapt onto the top of Divine Serpent's mouth and stabbed their swords into the top of the mouth.
"They're too weak," Dartz declared.
"You sure? Look again." The knights were still stabbing their swords into Divine Serpent's mouth.
"I don't understand, they should've been destroyed the moment they came into contact with my serpent!"
"Each of my knights has a hidden power," Yami explained. "Critius, absorb the power of Attack Guidance Barrier!" Critius's sword started to glow. "Now Critius has the power to send his attack points to another monster and the target of Critius's attack is Hermos! Next I activate Hermos's special ability, sacrificing my three Magnet Warriors so his attacks are tripled and sent anywhere I choose. So I'll send it to Solon's sword." Hermos's sword also started to glow. Energy streams poured into Solon's sword. "And let's not forget Solon's special ability, he can power up any monster by his own attack points and I choose Critius!" The three knights were now connected to one another by energy streams.
"The attack is stuck in a loop," Dartz realized.
"I'm not done yet," Yami said. "I still have one knight left. I use Timaeus's special ability to fuse his self with the other three knights." The knights transformed into beams of energy and swirled around one another. In a giant flash of light, a large purple knight appeared. "Now there's a force that's beyond infinity! The Knight of Destiny!"
"Impossible!"
"See for yourself. Knight of Destiny, attack with Sword of Justice!" The knight raised his sword and swung it. The force was so powerful that it seemed to tear a hole in very fabric of reality.
Yugi, Joey, and Harold turned and saw a black cut across the space of their prison. "That may be a way out," Joey said.
"No," Dartz cried as his serpent burst into flames. "I've come too close to stop now!"
"It's too late!" Yami announced as the serpent disappeared forever.
"I won't lose so easily," Dartz announced as a portal opened up behind him and the Great Leviathan appeared behind him. It snapped up Dartz in its jaws and disappeared back into the portal. The Knight of Destiny disappeared and the Legendary Knights reappeared.
On the outside, Roland and the pilot saw a green beam of light going up from the temple. "I hope Mr. Kaiba's all right in there," Roland said.
"I hope we're all right out here," the pilot added. "Look!" Near the island was a whirlpool that was also spouting a green beam of energy. "What is that?"
"I don't know."
"What is that?" Harold asked.
"I don't know," Joey replied. "But I think we're about to find out!" Harold, Kaiba, Joey and Yugi's bubbles shot into the rift.
On the other side, the Legendary Knights held out their hands calling out, "Duelists of Legend, we call upon you, cross over to the human world!" Four orbs of light came out of the rift just before it closed. One landed in Yami's hands. He looked up with a questioning look at the Knights. The Knights nodded before they disappeared. Yami breathed a sigh of relief and allowed the orb to be absorbed into him. Another orb fell into Kaiba's unconscious form while a third nestled into Harold's body. The last one left the temple and found its resting place inside the helicopter.
Kaiba was the first to awake. "I'm alive?" He asked astonished. He looked around and saw Mokuba lying next to him. "Hey, Mokuba," Kaiba said shaking the boy awake. "Mokuba, wake up."
Mokuba stirred. He first looked at Seto like he was a foreign object then when he realized who it was and what he was doing, his eyes snapped open wide. "BIG BROTHER!" He embraced his brother. "Oh Seto, I'm so glad to see you."
"What's with all the screaming," Tristan asked as he woke up. He saw the Kaiba Brothers. "Oh, you're back?" He turned to Amara who was sleeping next to him. "Hey Amara, wake up."
"Anyone get the attack points of that monster?" Amara moaned. "What happened, Tristan?"
"I think Dartz sucker-punched us." Tristan looked over Amara at something. His eyes opened wide and a smile overcame his face, "Amara, look!" Amara turned and looked. She felt her eyes tear up.
Harold was standing, using the wall for support.
Harold was caught off-guard as Tristan and Amara tackled him in a fierce embrace. "Tristan? Amara? Did Jonah's boss kidnap you too?"
Amara looked up at him, tears dripping down her face. "Stupid," she said between sniffles. "Don't you ever go off on your own again, you had us worried sick."
"I… worried you?" Harold asked groggy. "I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter," Tristan said. "We're just glad to have you back."
"What's going on?" Tea asked as she got up. She saw Kaiba on her right and Harold on her left. "Everyone's all right? Wait, if Kaiba's here and Harold's here, does that mean…" She turned to look at Yami's back. The boy was staring at the portal that Dartz disappeared through. "Is that…" She slowly stepped forward. The others kept silent as they watched Tea approach the boy.
The boy turned around and looked at her.
His eyes, his eyes were big and bright. And Tea knew, in her heart of hearts, that this wasn't the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh who inhabited the Millennium Puzzle, but this was the boy she known and cared about all her life.
Yugi had returned.
"YUGI!" Yugi was surprised (and secretly pleased) as Tea threw her arms around him giving him the tightest hug that was humanly possible. "It's so good to see you again! I was worried you were gone forever."
"All right, everybody move it, one side, where's my little buddy?" Joey ran into the room and grabbed Yugi's head in a noogie, "Oh man how I missed this spiky little head."
"Hey, don't forget us," Tristan said as he and Amara helped Harold over to them. The gang all joined in a large group hug.
"The gang's all together again," Tea said happily.
"Yugi," Yami called. Yugi turned inward. "Welcome back."
"Good to be back but how were we released?"
"The Legendary Knights set you free."
"Does that mean you beat Dartz?"
"It does, but soon after he disappeared into a portal." The two turned to look at the blue portal. "I have a feeling that the worse is yet to come. But at least that now we'll face it together."
"Yeah, together."
"I guess this means that it's all over," Mokuba said.
"Think again," Joey said. Everyone turned to look at Raphael and Jonah's still forms. "All those over poor schmups are still trapped."
"That must mean that Dartz isn't gone forever yet," Harold deduced.
"Mr. Kaiba, Mr. Kaiba!" Roland came running into the temple. "Sir, we have a problem."
"What kind of problem?" Kaiba asked.
"Come outside, sir, and I'll show you." Everyone ran outside where Roland pointed out the green beam of light. Except now there was something new.
A large circular city was rising out of the ocean. "What is that thing?" Kaiba asked.
"Off hand, I'd say bad news," Amara replied.
Tea gasped as she remembered something and checked the book on Atlantis that she bought. "Guy, its Atlantis!" Everyone turned to look at her. She showed them a picture in her book. "That city looks just like this drawing of Atlantis!"
On board the aircraft carrier, an officer reported to the Captain, "Sir, an underwater disturbance has formed a massive tsunami and it's heading towards the Atlantic coastline."
"When will it touch land?" The Captain asked.
"One hour."
The Captain cursed.
"I don't know what the deal is," Kaiba said staring at Atlantis. "So I'm going up to find out."
"Great, tell us how it goes," Tristan said.
"I'm going too," Yugi decided.
"Not without me you aren't," Joey said.
Harold turned to Mokuba, "Don't worry, Mokuba, I'll keep an eye on your brother."
"You're all nuts," Amara complained.
"We just got you all back," Tea said. "And now you're going to walk into Dartz's hands again? We should just walk away while we have the chance."
"We can't do that, Tea," Yugi said. "There are still people trapped on the other side, people who are counting on us to save them. And if we don't finish Dartz off for good then even if we do leave, no place will be safe."
"You're right," Tea said reluctantly.
"Mr. Kaiba," Roland called from the helicopter. He had a headset on. "The National Weather Service has issued a major warning. A large tidal wave is heading for the east coast and will touch land soon. They're estimating casualties to be in the thousands!"
"I'm going to find Dartz," Kaiba announced. "All of you wait here."
"Hold on, Kaiba, wait up," Harold called as he ran to catch up with Kaiba.
"I can do this on my own, Kumara," Kaiba said.
"Maybe so, but I want a crack at this Dartz guy too, after everything he put me through."
"I'm not going to let you guys take all the glory," Joey said taking Amara's Duel Disk with his deck and running after them.
"Don't you have someone else to annoy?" Kaiba asked Joey.
"At the moment, nope."
Harold chuckled.
Yugi watched them enter the temple then turned to follow. "Yugi," Tea called running up to him.
"Yeah… oh, you probably want to wish the Pharaoh good luck." He raised his Millennium Puzzle.
Tea placed a hand over Yugi's allowing the puzzle to drop back down. "I… I wanted to wish you good luck." She gave him a peck on the cheek. "Just promise that you… both of you… will return to me."
"I promise." And Yugi went in to the temple.
Mokuba started to follow Yugi in but Amara held him back. A simple shake of her head told him all he needed to know.
As Yugi walked down the hallway, the Millennium Puzzle started to go off. He looked around. "I wonder what the Puzzle is reacting to." He went over to an altar of three serpents. He gasped upon seeing the God Cards resting in the serpents' mouths. The coloring on the back of the cards had faded almost to white. The pictures of the gods themselves looked like an old black and white television on the verge of breaking down. "What happened to them?" He asked Yami.
"Dartz had drained their power for the Great Leviathan."
"But they'll be better once we beat the Great Leviathan, right?"
"I think so."
Yugi proceeded to the chamber where he immediately noticed something was amiss.
"Wasn't this place filled with pictures of people?" Harold asked.
"I think so," Joey replied. "Maybe Dartz beamed them up to the mother ship."
"More like he beamed them up to the Great Leviathan," Yugi said. "Here, you guys are going to need these." He held out the Legendary Dragons and Wingweaver.
"Our dragons!"
"My cards!"
They each took the cards that belonged to them. "Back where he belongs," Joey said staring at Hermos. Harold looked down and saw his Armlet. "My Armlet!" He picked it up and re-donned it. "I was feeling naked without it." He looked at the symbols. "The characters are all Egyptian again."
"Bully for you, all we need is to find that snake," Kaiba said. "I have a feeling he isn't very far."
"Quite right, Kaiba." Dartz's voice seemed to come from everywhere. A faint image of Dartz appeared in the portal. "Come on in, the party's just started and you're the guests of honor."
"Okay, even I can tell this is a trap," Harold said.
"You'd think we learned to stay away from magical doorways by this point," Joey said.
"If you're scared, just stay back," Kaiba said.
"Who said I was scared?" The four entered the portal.
Yugi, Joey, Harold, and Kaiba came out in a desolate city street. The buildings were decimated. Kaiba thought it looked worse than the town Alister showed him during their second duel. "This Atlantis place is a real dump," Joey commented as he picked up a dull green broach with the Orichalcos symbol.
"Yeah, well being under water and abandoned for thousands of years would do that," Harold said.
"Where's Dartz?" Yugi wondered.
"I have an idea," Kaiba said pointing to the large green light coming from the inner ring of the city.
"Yeah, I'd say giant green glowing thing marks the spot," Joey agreed.
Yugi and Yami switched. "Let's be careful." The four proceeded into the inner courtyard. The inner courtyard had a gazebo across a stone bridge. Someone was sitting in a chair at the center of the gazebo.
"I think I see Dartz sitting there," Joey said excitedly. "Just waiting to get his butt kicked." But as they approached the gazebo, they saw that even though the figure was Dartz, it was made of glass which rapidly disintegrated when Harold touched it. "Somebody want to fill me in?" Joey asked.
"Dartz must've somehow left his body behind," Yami theorized.
"Oh please, it's just another one of his tricks."
"Is that your answer to everything, Kaiba?" Dartz's face appeared above them. "You really need a new catchphrase. I'm here, with the Great Leviathan."
"Hold on," Yami called. "You said the Great Leviathan couldn't be awakened without the souls of the Chosen Duelists."
That's true, but I was able to replace them with a soul of equal power—my own!" The shaft of light split into four which rapidly head into the water forming a whirlpool. Suddenly a humungous serpent burst from the whirlpool and wrapped its coils around Atlantis. "The Great Beast has returned!"
"That thing could pick its teeth with an Egyptian God Monster!" Joey shouted as they went behind the gazebo to what looked like was once a bridge.
"Not the best confidence booster, Joey," Harold replied. He noticed. "Hey, what's that on its front?" He pointed to a green dot on its front.
"Looks like a giant zit," Joey critiqued.
"It's Dartz, somehow he merged himself with the Great Leviathan," Yami explained.
"Well I'm not going to stay here talking to a mutated hood ornament," Kaiba said. "I'm going to blast him into next week!"
"I'd like to see you try," Dartz said.
"You asked for it, green bean," Harold said as he activated his Duel Disk. The others followed suit. "All right, people, this is a no holds bar, full-power attack! LET'S GO!"
"I summon Dark Magician," Yami called. "Summoned Skull (1) and Kuriboh!"
"I'll kick things off with my Flame Swordsman, my Jinzo and good-old Red-Eyes," Joey said.
"Try these on for size," Harold said. "I summon Serapheem, Wingweaver, and the Archlord Zerato!"
"I'll add Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and then Gadget Soldier (2) and Vorse Raider!"
"Now, Eye of Timaeus!"
"Along with the Fang of Critius!"
"The Wings of Solon!"
"And the unstoppable Claw of Hermos!"
"ARISE!" The four dragons formed from a combined burst of light.
"Now I play Legend of Heart!" Yami held up the card Pegasus gave him. Once again the dragons ascended into the sky and in a burst of light the knights descended. "Behold the legendary Knights of Atlantis!"
"So the dragons are really knights?" Harold asked.
"Looks like that card wasn't so useless after all," Joey said to Kaiba. Kaiba just grunted.
"Dartz, you're facing the most powerful force ever assembled!" Yami announced. "Now you will pay for all your crimes! Monsters, attack!" Archlord Zerato joinend the warrior monsters and the knights in making close-range attacks while the others stood back and fired long-range attacks. But when the smoke cleared, the Great Leviathan didn't even looked phased.
"When are you planning on launching your real attacks?"
Yami held up the Multiply magic card. "Timaeus, absorb Kuriboh's ability to multiply and attack with the force of ten thousand knights! Sword of Justice!" The little monster was absorbed into Timaeus's sword and Timaeus swung it. The Great Leviathan was swept back in the explosion.
The Duelists cheered, "We did it!"
But as the explosion subsided, the Duelists were shocked to see that even that didn't weaken the Great Leviathan. "I can't believe with all those attacks that it isn't even scratched," Kaiba said astonished.
"It gets worse," Joey said. "Now it's that thing's turn to attack us."
"Harold, quickly surround us in your Armlet's shield."
"I don't know if I can hold out from a blast from that thing but I'll try." The knights gathered around the Duelists as the circle of symbols appeared around them. The Great Leviathan launched a huge energy blast. The blast pounded at the rim of the shield like water against a rock. All the other monsters were destroyed.
Harold grunted but couldn't hold out as his footing gave away and he was thrown into the wall.
"Harold, are you all right?" Yami asked.
"I'll survive," Harold said as he stood with Kaiba's help.
"Uh… Harold, I'd rethink that answer if I were you," Joey said pointing to the Great Leviathan. "Because that thing's ready to make another blast!" Everyone watched in horror as the Great Leviathan fired its attack.
The End
Duel Monster Database
(1)
Name: Summoned Skull
Level: 6
Type: Fiend
Attribute: Dark
ATK: 2500
DEF: 1200
(2)
Name: Gadget Soldier
Level: 6
Type: Machine
Attribute: Fire
ATK: 1800
DEF: 2000