Disclaimer: The following piece is in no way a claim to ownership of the depicted characters. Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh R, Yu-Gi-Oh GX and Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's are owned by TV Tokyo, Konami Corporation and Kazuki Takahashi. This story as presented is strictly for entertainment purposes, both for its owner and readers.
Chapter 8 – A Traitor or a Comrade? Yusuriha vs. Placido
From within the light-filled Sky Temple, Placido sat upon his throne, the other two opposite him, while he pondered the events that were unfolding. "It seems that despite its superior processing," Placido commented, "X was unable to defeat Judai."
"Judai has the advantage of a more flexible strategy and more experience with his cards than X did," Lucciano pointed out. "Likely, X simply didn't have the AI to deal with its original."
"The secret lies within Rainbow Neos," Jose stated. "It was that monster, which represented his friends, which allowed him to win. As long as he has that kind of power, no duplicate will ever be able to match him."
"Then if we recycle X, we will need to duplicate someone less attached to others," Placido realized.
"You still want to pursue that worthless venture?" Jose criticized.
"I thought it was destroyed," Lucciano said, with Placido "tisk-tisking" her.
"Did you think I'd be destroyed so easily?" the disembodied, distorted voice of Jack Atlus issued. Into the room then stepped a figure who resembled Jack, except that his outfit was grey and his eyes were red with black lines under them. "I'm disappointed."
"He lives?" Jose pondered, stunned, while Placido grinned maliciously.
"X cannot be destroyed except by a huge force," he stated. "However, the energy required to escape destruction at the hands of Rainbow Neos was left him too weak to dwell outside of a body for some time. No human body could survive X's radiation, so I had a robotic body built for him. That, coupled with the duplication of Jack's Deck, should allow him to regain his energy."
"It is time for the King to ride again," the fake Jack then stated, a dark grin upon his face.
"We need to get back to the others and tell them of what's going on," Yusei said, getting onto his D-Wheel as Jack and Kyojo did the same. Crow, however, simply stood by his, being supported by Judai; the shocking had left him too weak and numb to drive.
"Here, Crow," Judai said. "I'll help you onto the back and I'll drive." With that Judai helped Crow hoist himself onto the very rear of the seat, while Judai grabbed his helmet and got to the front of the seat.
When Crow looked at him in confusion Judai informed him, "I've had my D-Wheel license for 2 years; I just don't own one. I have been thinking of getting one though." With that everyone started the engines of their vehicles, put them in drive and quickly shot through the gates and onto the road leading from the little island back to Neo Domino City. The vehicles made quick time, getting onto the main highway and reaching 200 km/h within a few seconds.
All of a sudden, the five friends heard a sound coming from behind them. Turning around, the group saw a huge hoard of Riding Roids dressed as officers behind them, giving chase in perfect formation.
"Fuck!" Crow yelled. "How are we gonna get back with this lot chasing us?"
"I think I know!" Judai stated, his eyes glowing over as Yubel's. "Jack, Yusei! Call your monsters!" Knowing what Judai meant, Jack and Yusei both looked into their Extra Decks and pulled out their 10-star Savior Monsters, holding them to the sky.
"Take flights…" Yusei started to command.
"…Savior Dragons!" Jack finished off. With that the cards glowed and produced explosions of energy that covered Kyojo and Jack in crimson flames while covering Judai, Crow and Yusei in blue plasma. With a secondary blast, the blue plasma took the form of the plabe-sized four-winged silver and blue dragon Yusei had used the day before; while the flames spawned a red and black four-winged wyvern with white-feathered wings, a spiked tail club, three long yellow horns and a red mane, which took to the sky as well.
Inside the blue dragon, Yusei and Judai found themselves side-by-side within a starry aura of colours, with Jack and Kyojo appearing on their monitors in a flame-like field. "Now this is a way to travel," Judai stated, looking down and seeing that the dragon was currently only going the speed of the Riding Roids, but 2000 feet up.
"You wanna see a cool way to travel?" Yusei asked. "Jack, let's go!"
"Right!" With that both Yusei and Jack revved their engines, causing the dragons to fold their wings up against their bodies and become covered in a blue and a red aura, respectively, before they broke the sound barrier with a loud boom.
After their speed increased, all four D-Wheels were shifted into neutral and they watched themselves get close to the city much faster than they could on their vehicles. "This is fucking awesome!" Crow yelled out from the back of his D-Wheel, making all the others start laughing in joy while they sped towards their destination.
After less than a minute of their high-speed transit, the two dragons banked to fit between a pair of skyscrapers before leveling out and starting their descent to the ground. Just before both monsters would have impacted the ground, their forms both glowed and became much more liquid; as they slid along the road, they released the four D-Wheels and then returned to normal, shooting off into the sky towards the sun.
"We're just a couple of blocks from the hideout," Yusei said, making a sharp left turn while the others followed suit. With their speeds at 150 km/h, they shot straight into the parking lot of the hideout, spinning out in doughnut style to burn off their speed before the four drivers killed the engines and jumped off.
"That was fucking amazing!" Crow yelled out ecstatically while Judai helped him down from the ride, the latter's eyes having returned to normal.
"I swear," Kyojo said under his breath jovially, "people with Turrettte's are drawn to me like buzzards to a carcass."
"I heard that," Crow said, half-angry and half-amused. Once he had support from Judai, the five men walked into the building and down the corridors.
Standing at the doorway of the lair, Taiyou looked around suspiciously in the event that another strange entity should make their way to them. Yusuriha's assailant was a near-miss as it was; the thought of a recurrence was an uneasy one to him. However, his thoughts changed when he saw Yusei, Kyojo, Jack and Judai supporting Crow make their way down the hallways towards him, bringing great relief to the disembodied Summoner.
"Finally," he said impatiently as they stepped by, a sarcastic smile on his face. "Took you guys long enough to get back here. What's with the limp Crow? Fall off your D-Wheel or something?"
"Fuck you!" Crow said in a jokingly-offended voice. "I was electrocuted by that bastard impersonating Judai!"
"You were what?" Johan asked, coming up to Crow as Judai let him down onto a sofa to rest. "When did this happen?"
"During my duel with him," Judai answered, pulling the Rainbow Dragon card from his Cemetery and handing it back to Johan.
"Yusuriha!" Jack yelled out, sounding angry. "Where the hell are you?"
"I'm right here!" the woman's annoyed voice yelled out as she stepped into the room from a darkened doorway. "No need to yell Jack. What do you want?" Her snippy tone was not well-received by Jack, who stomped over to her and picked her up by the collar with an angry expression. "Hey! What the hell?"
"Jack! Put her down!" Aki's voice yelled out as she ran into the room and Johan too ran up to jack, pulling on his arms.
"What the hell do you think you're trying to pull?" Jack snarled out to Yusuriha, oblivious to the two people pulling on his arms. "How long did you think we'd stay fooled?"
"Fooled? Pull? What are you taking about?" she asked quickly, confused and frightened by Jack's tone and questioning.
"What are you accusing her of?" Taiyou said, getting angry but being stopped by Kyojo. "What's this about?" he then inquired of his old friend, who gave his reply with a straight and serious face.
"It seems Miss Secret Agent is really a Double Agent," he stated. "She's been giving orders on Placido's behalf, as his personal assistant."
"You're taking the word of some cop over me!" Yusuriha spat in a rage, thrashing at Jack. His reply was to get even angrier and throw her onto the couch, where Crow restrained her. "Have you all completely lost your minds? Nothing Syd told you is true!"
"How do you know who jack and Kyojo talked to?" Judai asked, walking over to the restrained girl. "They never mentioned that. Besides, it was Ushio who told us that you were Placido's assistant."
"Funny how you never mentioned that, isn't it?" Yusei chimed in, stepping up beside Judai as they both looked down on her, struggling with Crow.
"You're going by the word of the man who arrested you?" Aki asked, dumbfounded.
"The man who arrested me was an imposter. I was never taken to a police station; Placido owns the lot where I was taken."
"What exactly implicates me?" the female Summoner again asked, half-giving up fighting with Crow.
"There was a crash of some object at the Godwin mansion several weeks before I was arrested, and apparently you put a gag order on the media on behalf of Director Placido."
"Then you also made Syd traffic about a hundred D-Wheels your way on behalf of the good Director," Kyojo implicated, "before you made the file disappear and threatened his life to make him shut up about it."
"None of this means anything!" Yusuriha yelled, finally breaking free from Crow and standing up. "You're the one who put me undercover in Yliaster, Kyojo! You have no reason to be suspicious of what I do?"
"Then why withhold being the Director's Assistant?" Jack asked hostilely.
"Stop this, all of you!" Taiyou yelled. "She's done nothing wrong!"
"Really?" Yusei asked, pulling Yusuriha's cell phone from her pocket. Looking through the memory, he saw a particular message and confronted her about it. "You got a call from Placido the night before Judai was arrested. Funny how you never mentioned that either."
At that moment the expression on Yusuriha's face went blank and here eyes began to glow green. With an open fist she struck at Yusei, who dodged the blow by ducking. When she spun around to strike again, Judai caught her hand and his eyes once again flashed over into Yubel's, canceling out the glow and making the girl fall unconscious.
"What the fuck is going on?" Crow asked as everyone except him and Judai gasped.
"Placido's been hypnotizing her," Judai explained. "She has no memory of any of the times these things happened because he's been manipulating her memories. I drove him out with Yubel's power, but he's already read her thoughts"
"Which means he'll know things about our hideout," Yusei realized. "What are we going to do?"
"You see!" Taiyou said, exasperated as he stepped towards her with a finger pointed. "You see? I told you she wasn't guilty!"
"We've established that already, but we need to do something about the issue at hand," Johan stated.
"The only thing we can do is move to another location," Aki realized. "Where can we go though? Judai's apartment is burnt out, Kyojo's penthouse isn't available…"
"I know a place where we can go," Yusei stated. "There's a working-class suburb a few blocks from here called Poppo Time that has a few lots for rent. They're good roomy spaces, but they're not exactly cheap…"
"Kyojo and I have plenty of money," Judai affirmed. "We can easily cover the rent; but to maintain our cover, I think we should get jobs there and all pay into the rent."
"I agree," Jack stated. "I've been practicing building with various materials and I can make some good furniture. I just need some tools."
"I think we can all get jobs there," Aki stated. "Kyojo, can you get us fake identities to complete the cover?"
"Can buzzards fly?" Kyojo asked jokingly.
"Alright, it's settled. We're going to Poppo Time," Judai stated, putting his hand into the centre of the group. Every other conscious person then put their hand in one-by-one, and then they broke. "Where are Lua and Luca?" he then asked of Aki.
"I took them home," she explained. "We don't need to take them with us anyway."
"No, but we do need to let them know," Taiyou reaffirmed. "I can contact Luca on our way there and she'll pass along the message."
"Let's let going then." Yusei stated, getting a nod from everyone.
Back at the Director's office, Placido was dressed in his suit and eye patch, clutching his left eye in pain and looking rather angered. He had received a rather painful kickback when Judai forced him out of Yusuriha's mind; and as he lifted his hand from his eye to open a drawer of the Desk, blood began to flow out from under the patch. Opening the drawer, he pulled out a Deck of cards, with the card Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity.
"Machine Emperor Wisel..." he thought solemnly. "The tests of this card with Yusei proved its power, a power almost unrivalled. But, those Saviors are almost immune to this card..." When a beeping sound emitted from the computer on the deck, he looked over to it and opened an e-mail which had just come up on the desktop.
"Interesting," he said to himself. Looking at the e-mail, he saw video that included the duel by Fubuki; but he was shocked when he saw who the opponent was. "No; I'm too late. I need to get this project going." Replying to the e-mail, he gave an instruction for the opponent, whose name he used, to meet him at the KC Building at midnight; then he shut down the computer, put the Deck in his pocket and got up to leave the office.
Yusuriha awoke to find herself in the middle of the stage at the lair, alone, not knowing where he friends had gone. Her head hurt, and she saw that her Duel Disc and Deck were still strapped to her arm.
Suddenly, her mind began to hurt again as she got a thought, almost like an instruction. "KC Building, 23 hundred hours," she repeated silently before looking at her watch. It said 22 30 hours. She knew she had to get going. She didn't know how, but she knew she had to be there somehow.
Forcing herself up onto her feet, she began to walk towards the doorway when she saw Johan walk in, his D-Wheel helmet under his arm. "I see you're awake," he said with a smile while he two got progressively closer, until she was within reach of him. With an unhappy look on her face, Johan found himself asking, "What's wrong?"
Without warning, Yusuriha pulled a stun gun from her robe and shocked Johan with it, causing him to fall to the ground without being able to utter a word while she grabbed his helmet and ran. He simply laid there, his limbs unable to respond to his brain, until he heard the sound of footsteps approaching.
"Johan? What's taking you?" Judai's voice yelled down the hall seconds before he stepped into the room. When he did though, the seriousness hit him and he ran to his friend, grabbing him and asking him, "What happened?"
"She… she stunned me," Johan explained, trying with Judai's help to get to his feet despite the numbness in his legs. "She took my helmet."
"Then she's taking you D-Wheel too," Judai realized. "But where's she going? She doesn't know about our new base yet."
"It's not about the news base though, is it?" Johan asked.
"Then she's going back to Placido. We have to tell the others." When Johan nodded, he managed to push himself free of Judai and stand up, right before both men bolted down the hallway.
Within 5 minutes of 2300 hours, Yusuriha pulled up to the KC Building on Johan's stolen D-Wheel, parking it and running up the front steps to the lobby of the facility. The doors were locked, so she pulled a blade out from her pocket, smashed one of the ceiling-to-floor windows and stepped through the frame. At the other end of the lobby she saw three elevators; one of them had a glowing green infinity symbol above it and an open door, so she made her way over to it and entered.
When she pressed the door close button, Placido's low and deep laughter began to echo out over the elevator's speakers, making Yusuriha uneasy. Her earlier encounter with confrontation and her realizations about Placido had a drastic effect on her perceptions. She had no idea whether she was there under her cover or under his command. Whether she was with or against him and his two companions. Who she was had become a mystery to her.
Yusuriha came out of her own thoughts when she heard the "ding" noise signaling that she was at the correct floor. When the door slid open, she saw an octagonal room with a spider-web pattern on it and two podium-like structures mounted on folding ramps overtop of a field sectioned off into 20 rectangles in a 4-by-5 pattern. "The Kaiba Corporation still has this old place," Yusuriha thought to herself, laughing at the prospect. "This was the place where Yugi and Kaiba dueled for the first time..."
"Such an illustrious concept, isn't it?" Placido's voice echoed from the other side of the gigantic room. Looking up, Yusuriha saw him standing behind the other podium in his James Bond-like white suit and his eye patch. A silver Duel Disc was strapped to his right arm, as he was left-handed, and a Deck was already loaded into it. "I take it your trip was uneventful, given how close you are to this building."
"How long have you been using me as a marionette?" Yusuriha asked coldly and accusingly. "I thought you trusted me."
"It became very clear that such trust was misplaced," the man responded. "You were a mole, abusing my trust for the sake of keeping an event like Maenou's siege from happening again."
"How do you know about that?" Here eyes went wide and she gasped when he heard her say that; she thought no one besides the Summoners, Judai and Yubel knew of his actions.
"I know many things," Placido answered coyly. "And I can continue to share these answers with you, but only if you can earn them from me." Placido then closed his eyes and snapped his left fingers; causing the podiums' ramps to fold down to a lower angle and making them hang over the field. Both people then stepped out to the podiums and pulled the retractable USB cables out from them, attaching them to their Duel Discs.
Yusuriha's Duel Disc was first to take form, folding into its X shape; and then Placido's Duel Disc formed, similar to a Standard Neo Domino one but with a 1-and-4 tray instead of a 2-and-3 one, and with Infinity Symbols on the gem and Life Point Counters. Overhead both player's 4000 Life Points appeared on 4 screens in a hockey arena-like box, and thus they drew 5 cards each.
"I'll take the first turn," Placido said calmly, drawing a card. "I summon Wise Core (ATK: 0, LV: 1) The centre rectangle of Placido's Monster Zones glowed yellow before releasing a striped silver egg-like structure in a shower of sparks. "I set 4 cards and end my turn." All the rear rectangles except the ones directly behind the object then glowed yellow and produced card backs above them.
"Draw!" Yusuriha declared.
"During your Standby Phase," Placido said, snapping his fingers and pressing a button, "I activate the Trap Card Deck Destruction Computer Virus." Looking on in dismay, Yusuriha had to watch as he explained, "I destroy a DARK Machine-Type monster I control, and I send the top 10 cards of my opponent's Deck to the Cemetery."
Glowing black, the egg-like creature released tentacles that wrapped around the Duel Disc of the female, causing electrical sparks. After that, 10 cards disappeared from her Deck and appeared in her Cemetery slot one by one: Body and Sword as One, X-Saber Palomlo, XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, Saber Slash, X-Saber Galahad, a second Fulhelmknight, Saber Hole, X-Saber Galsem, Rescue Cat and Warrior Lady of Revenge – Rose.
Then, there was an explosion at the egg-likie structure's location, producing a green glow over the entire room. "What's going on?" Yusuriha choked out, shocked by the event.
"When Wise Core is destroyed by a card effect," Placido rhymed off, fanning through his Deck, "I destroy all monsters I control and Special Summon, from my hand, Deck or Graveyard, Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity (ATK: 0, LV: 1), Wisel Top (ATK: 500, LV: 1), Wisel Attack (ATK: 1200, LV: 1), Wisel Guard (DEF: 1200, LV: 1) and Wisel Carrier (ATK: 800, LV: 1)." All five of the rectangles below then began to glow yellow and then produced sparks, producing white metal monsters one by one.
The first monster was an oblong-like object with a grey infinity symbol on it and spikes at its sides. The second one was a cobra-like object with an antenna-like spike on the left side of its "head" and a claw-like end to its tail. The third was a football-like object with a blade out the top of itself and a black tip. The fourth was a similar creature with a hinge to it and metal studs on itself. Finally, there appeared an object with two rounded spike-like structures on either side of itself.
"Summoning five monsters at once?" Yusuriha exclaimed. "This can't be!"
"Oh, but it is," Placido stated. "And now, since there 5 monsters are in play, they will form Machine Emperor Wisel." The first object began to glow as the metal at its very top, very bottom and sides retracted and that inside its Infinity symbol folded away. The foruth figure folded around on its hinge and formed a right arm with a black hand and a shield-like structure along its forearm, and the one before it extended out into a similar left arm with a blade along its forearm. The last figure then folded around into a pair of jointless legs and the three then attacked to the first, forming its limbs.
Finally, the second figure attacked to the top of it by its tail, and its front folded into a paneled black face with glowing features, and the whole creature flexed to show it now acted as a single unit (ATK: 2500, LV: 1). "Behold, the power of the Infinity series," Placido explained while the green light died out, allowing everything to be seen again.
Looking nervous and anxious, Yusuriha declared, "I Summon XX-Saber Emmersblade (DEF: 800, LV: 3)." With the mid-left rectangle of her Monster Zones glowing yellow and producing sparks, she called forth a mantis-like humanoid covered in metal armour with blue and red trim, which appeared crouching with all four of its arms folded into an X-like shape. "I also set 2 cards and end my turn."
"I expected as much," Placido stated succinctly while the two zones lit up. "There is little that can be done when faced with an Infinity monster. But enough banter; let me demonstrate its power first-hand. It's my turn. I draw." Looking at his card quickly, he pressed all the Zones he had with set cards still in them, causing them all to form a chain. "I activate 3 copies of Reckless Greed as a chain. For each card, I draw 2 cards, letting me pick up six cards; but then, I skip my next 2 Draw Phases."
"You're skipping six Draw Phases?" Yusuriha questioned, getting a sneer in reply as a red glowing paper talisman bearing the Kanji "Gouyuko (Greed)" appeared on top of his Deck.
"Normally that would be the case, yes my dear; but because these cards all formed a chain, their secondary effect does not accumulate. Therefore, I only skip 2 Draw Phases while I draw 6 cards." Reaching for his top cards, Placido pulled six of them in one motion while his opponent looked on at him in total dismay. "Next, I activate Wise Wave!"
"What is that card?" Yusuriha asked worriedly as the green glow returned and sparks began to form from the head and limbs of Placido's monster.
"This card allows me to send 4 Wisel Cards to the Cemetery to replace them with monsters 2 Levels higher but with the same root name. Therefore, I call Wisel Top 3 (ATK: 800, LV: 3), Wisel Attack 3 (ATK: 1600, LV: 3), Wisel Guard 3 (DEF: 2000, LV: 3) and Wisel Carrier 3 (ATK: 1100, LV: 3)." In a split second the sparking limbs formed a bright, blinding flash of light, and so Placido stared on in amusement while Yusuriha covered her eyes.
From the light emerged four new machines while the robot was reduced to its floating chest. Where the head had been was a rat-like white machine with a black face and LED lights, which folded out into a more round head with a shorter neck formed from its folded up legs and a ponytail-like object formed from a tail. Second was a long oval-shaped object with axe blades on either side and a piece on top with a sharp point and two curved blades, which folded out into a left arm with axe blades at the top, the curved blades on either side of the forearm, and a sword blade attached to the wrist, attaching itself as well.
Third was a large white wheel-like object with a five-lobed base and several rivets, which then folded out into a new arm with the five0lobed base as a shield, and it two attached itself to the body. Finally, a vehicle with two large boosters, a circular form and a triangular nose formed and folded around into a pair of long jointed legs set onto the former cockpit and complete with booster-backed feet, attaching itself to form the waist and legs of the robot. The new figure then let out a mechanical guttural noise, and flexed its limbs to show that they functioned (ATK: 3500, LV: 1).
"It's already got all new parts and 1000 more ATK?" the female Summoner exclaimed, looking on in dismay.
"Indeed, and it only gets worse from here my dear," Placido informed, holding up a card. "I equip Opti-Camouflage Armour to Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity." All of a sudden the form of the large robot became obscure and almost invisible, while Yusuriha looked on in exasperation. "This card can only be equipped to a Level 1 monster, and said monster can attack the opponent directly. Go, Wisel!"
"I don't think so!" Yusuriha issued. "Trap Card: Gatmuz' Urgent Orders! I Special Summon 2 XX-Saber Fulhelmknights from my Cemetery (DEF: 1000, LV: 3) (DEF: 1000, LV: 3). From zones on either side of the mantis warrior erupted the crouching forms of the two young female armoured warriors with metal segmented whips, one of which swung out and struck the machine to stop it cold. "One time only, Fulhelmknight may negate my opponent's attack."
"Very well then," Placido said calmly. "I set 4 cards and end my turn." "That's it my dear, Synchro Summon your ace monster."
"Draw!" Yusuriha declared. "I tune my Level 3 Fulhelmknight to my Level 3 Emmersblade!" Spinning her whip around herself like a streamer, the warrior formed three loops with it that transformed into green rings before disappearing. These green rings then flew over and covered the mantis warrior, changing it into a yellow outline of itself and then 3 white orbs. "Come forth, the mistress of the sword and the goddess of war!" Yusuriha declared. "Banish the mortal foes and unleash thy might! Synchro Summon! Arise, XX-Saber Hyunlay (ATK: 2300, LV: 6)!"
The white orbs formed a column of white light while the green rings vanished, releasing a samurai-like female warrior complete with an electronic blade, metal armour and a full-head visor, who appeared on Yusuriha's field and swung her sword. "When this monster is Synchro Summoned, I destroy up to 3 Magic or Trap Cards on the field, and I choose three of your set cards Placido!"
"Then I am afraid you must fail," Placido said simply, snapping his fingers while a Trap Card flipped. "I chain the Trap Card Hierophants' Wand. With this, my opponent draws 1 card, but during this turn card I control cannot be destroyed by card effects." Once the card disappeared, Yusuriha looked frustrated while she drew a card and Placido's cards were unharmed by the swinging blade of her warrior.
"Then I'll simply tune my remaining Fulhelmknight to my Level 6 Hyunlay!" The second small female warrior began to spin the whip around herself until it formed three loops that changed into green rings. These surrounded the other warrior and transformed her; first into a yellow outline, then 6 white orbs, and finally a column of light.
"Master of War and Arms of the Heavens," Yusuriha chanted, "rise up in this battle and take up arms against our foe! Let slip the dogs of Roar! Synchro Summon! God of the Sword, XX-Saber Gatmuz (ATK: 3100, LV: 9)!" From the light same the swinging dual-bladed sword, and then the armoured silver body, of her massive warrior, who let out a loud battle cry.
"Go, Gatmuz! Attack Wisel Top 3! Sword of Destruction!" Staring over at the metal head of the robot, the gigantic warrior grunted and prepared to release a powerful swing, but suddenly the right arm of the machine came forward to intercept the brunt of the blade.
"Sorry my dear," Placido informed, "But I activate the effect of Wisel Guard 3, meaning once per turn I may negate the attack of 1 opponent's monster against a Wisel monster." Though the warrior tried to force its blade through the robot's arm, it was deflected and was forced to return to its place before its master.
"I set 2 cards and end my turn."
"Then I shall skip my Draw Phase due to Reckless Greed," Placido responded, noting the talisman still at the top of his Deck. "Next, I shall activate the effect of Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity." The Infinity Symbol on the robot began to glow green, until it opened up like a mouth and shot out 6 green tentacles, almost like spider threads, of energy that wrapped around the gigantic armoured warrior, causing it to dissolve into the open symbol, at which point it closed.
"What the hell just happened?" Yusuriha asked in dismay.
"Once per turn, Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity may equip one opponent's Synchro Monster to itself to gain its attack strength unto its own (ATK: 6600). What's more, is that you now have only your two face-down cards to protect you from my monster. Therefore, I attack your Life Points directly with Machine Emperor Wisel 3!"
"I activate my Trap Card!" Yusuriha declared. "Holy Barrier – Mirror Force! Because you attacked, I…"
"I'm sorry my dear," Placido countered, snapping his fingers and causing a Trap Card to appear. "Permanent Trap: Royal Decree. For as long as this card remains face-up on the field, all other Trap Cards are negated." With that the Trap Card in front of Yusuriha shattered like glass and she was left with nothing to save herself.
"Fare thee well." With that, the robot fired a green blast of energy from its centre, striking Yusuriha dead on and knocking her back against the wall, out cold. Her cards were strewn all over the podium and ramp, and so Placido retracted his Duel Disc's USB cable, cutting the Solid Vision. With that, his Duel Disc deactivated. "What a shame," Placido lamented. "She was such a useful individual."
Yusuriha: LP 0
Placido: LP 4000
Suddenly, from upstairs, Placido heard the sound of a familiar voice screaming out in terror and pain. "The Duel Arena above this one, on the roof," he realized, running to the elevator on his side and getting in. When he pressed the up button, the entire device shut down; but he then lit up his Infinity Symbol on his eye patch, and suddenly it started up to the next floor.
When the door opened, Placido saw a sight he never thought could possibly be true. Around the entire place, the arena had been rendered a purple and red space-like effect, though glowing green outlines still gave away what it had been. The two combatants were at opposite ends; one was none other than Kaiba Seto, dressed in his Battle City outfit and with no monsters in front of him but his massive three-headed white dragon (ATK: 4500, LV: 12).
Opposite him, mostly covered in a black cloak, was a figure with mostly yellow long hair, who was also wearing a mask that was black on its right side and white on its left, and which had patterns of lines where its eyes should have been. Behind him, hovering, were two dragons; one was the black dragon with red eyes and metal wings and upper jaw, the other a white dragon complete with a black faceplate and wings of dull grey and black metal. "I see he's already made his way here," Placido realized, slightly despaired at that prospect.
"It is my turn," the low, deep voice of the cloaked figure let out as he drew a card. "I activate a Magic Card known as Riryoku. With this, I halve the ATK of your Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (ATK: 2250) and then add that lost amount to my Red-Eyes (ATK: 4650, LV: 7)."
"What?" Kaiba asked out in terror. "No, it can't be!" With that Kaiba watched in horror as energy was drained away from his three-headed dragon, which roared out in agony; and that power was funneled into the black dragon, which growled demonically.
"I'm afraid so," the figure answered, sounding pleased with himself under his mask. "I attack Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon with Sin Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Darkness Flame Bolt." With that the dragon blasted a flare of pitch-black flames straight at the dragon, causing it to explode and making Kaiba shake on his feet.
"Next I attack the opponent directly with Sin Blue-Eyes White Dragon (ATK: 3000, LV: 8). Burst Stream of Darkness." Roaring out, the monster formed a ball of black static energy in its mouth and shot it straight at Kaiba, striking his dead on and obscuring him in a black explosion. When the smoke cleared, nothing remained of him but his Duel Disc. The two dragons then faded away, as did the field, as the figure pocketed the white Dragon's card.
"Now's my chance," Placido realized. Drawing his sword, he leapt down upon the robed and masked figure, sticking his sword's tip straight through where his left eye would be and taking a few steps back. However, seconds later, the figure pulled out the sword and threw it at Placido's feet, and not a drop of blood came from the wound.
"You're still pursuing me, Placido?" the figure asked, sounding completely unenthused and bored. "You haven't changed at all over these long years, have you?"
"You seem to have forgotten by tendency to get what I want, Paradox," Placido countered putting his blade back in its scabbard at his belt. "Your actions, however noble you think they are, will only bring more destruction."
"Humans deserve destruction. They've led this world to oblivion."
"And they could just as easily lead it to salvation. You need to give humans a chance to fix their mistakes."
"They've had more than enough chances. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you and I can stop being at odds."
"That's never going to happen," Placido stated, holding up his Five Wisel Cards and summoning the gigantic robot behind him. "Last time we fought you had the upper hand, but that advantage now lies with me. My associates and I will stop whatever abomination you plan upon unleashing, Paradox, and we will bring this world to a far better state."
Seeming amused by Placido's statement, Paradox replied with, "For the sake of this planet, and the worthless humans, I hope you are right." With that he faded out in a cloud of white and black particles, leaving only Placido on the top floor of the KC Building.
"My time is running out," he realized. "I need to acquire the rest of Infinity's power if I am to prevent Armageddon. I must fight not only Paradox, but the Signers who are playing right into his hands."
All of a sudden, Placido head footsteps coming from behind him. Turning around, he saw Lucciano coming towards him, seeming concerned for something. "Why have you come here?" he asked, getting a reply through a face best described as a sarcastic sneer.
"I heard you were coming here to deal with the traitor in our midst," she replied. "Jose told me you were going to deal with the Summoner, so I came to see that. But you had already dealt with her by the time I got here, so I went looking for you. Who was that man you were speaking to?"
Frowning and turning off to one side, Placido explained, "He calls himself Paradox. He comes from humankind's distant future, which is best described as a wasteland. He's an incredibly warped cynic and misanthrope because of it, so he's trying to destroy humankind. I've been in an arms race with him for some time, but I can't get the upper hand on him unless we receive more of the Infinity series."
"I see," Lucciano replied, almost lamenting. "Then… why are you out to destroy the Signers if that's such a priority?"
"Because the Signers don't realize… that they're the ones who created him…"
"Yusuriha!" Judai and Johan yelled out, running up to the KC Building's elevators and pressing the up button. Having followed her on a separate D-Wheel, they knew she had come to this building; and Judai knew that the gravity of the situation would be incredibly high.
When the elevator finally opened, they stepped inside and Johan pulled out a cell phone. Dialing in Yusuriha's number, there wasn't even any ring tone of the other side; but Johan's phone told him that she was on the top floor. Pushing the button, Judai and Johan waited while the elevator quickly made its way up to the top floor, where they started running as soon as the doors opened.
When they entered the Duel Arena, they found themselves on the viewing balcony, about twnty feet above the actual devices. Catching something out of the corner of his eye, Judai pointed to a figure lying slumped against a wall, unconscious and dressed in a white robe. When Johan saw too, Judai hopped the railing and jumped down, landing on the ramp and running over to Yusuriha.
"Is she alright?" Johan yelled down, for Judai to respond less than a second later.
"She has a pulse," he explained, sounding oddly worried, "and she's not injured badly."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"No," Judai said gravely, picking her up and hoisting her over his shoulder. "She's unconscious with no apparent physical cause. That doesn't bode well…"
Card of the Week – Yusuriha
XX-Saber Gatmuz
Type: EARTH
Level: 9
Sub-Type(s): [Beast-Soldier/Synchro/Effect]
Effect: 1 Tuner + 1 or more EARTH Monsters
Activate by releasing 1 "X-Saber" monster you control. Your opponent discards 1 random card.
ATK/ 3100
DEF/ 2600
*Confused yet? Me too. Review if you wish.*