The Crimson Diamonds
Chapter 13: The Tale of the Sixth Dragon
"Life Stream Dragon!" Black Rose gasped, "You're...you!"
"After all these millennia..." Stardust said in awe, "You've finally returned to us!"
"You...you're the strange dragon from my dream!" Luna gasped.
"Whoa..." Black Winged said, "I'd thought that little meeting thousands of years ago would be all I would ever see of you."
"My comrades," Life Stream said, his voice full of emotion, he then looked over at Fairy and gasped. He hung his head down low in shame and placed his clenched fist over his heart. "Ancient Fairy Dragon! After you were freed from the grasp of the Netherworld, I killed you! I-I-oh! What have I done! Please, I beg for your forgiveness!"
Fairy went over to Life Stream and put her hands on his shoulders. Life Stream looked up at her as she said gently, "Don't despair, my friend. You were not yourself at all at the time. You did not kill me, but the one who did is long gone. He's more than dead now. We are all so overjoyed to have you back."
"Wait a minute!" Leo shouted, "Could somebody please tell me what's going on! You mean Power Tool Dragon wasn't always a machine?"
"He's got a point," Crow said, "How is this possible?"
"Yeah! Give us some answers!" Jack demanded.
"It is a long story," Archfiend said.
The Crimson Dragon suddenly let out a roar, and with a flash, the entire group was floating in mid-air, watching an epic battle. Fairy, Black Winged, Rose, Archfiend, and Stardust were fighting the Crimson Devil alongside the Crimson Dragon.
"This was our battle 10,000 years ago..." Stardust said.
There was then a flash, and then they were watching the Five Dragons having a 10,000 year old conversation.
"I've gotta go," Black Winged said, "I have to, I need to tend to the Black Wing Clan. I can't abandon them, I'm their leader! I've got no choice."
"You are a servant of the Crimson Dragon!" Archfiend said angrily, smoke shooting out of his nose as he flared his nostrils, "You shall not leave!"
"He's right," Stardust said, "The Five Dragons must serve the master, for dark forces are at work, and they seek to strike when we have our guards down."
"I can't help it! I must train and protect my clan! And if I were to perish, they would be completely helpless! Sitting ducks!"
"But," Fairy began, but Archfiend interrupted her.
"So that's it! You're afraid to die, even for the master!"
"No! That's not-," Black Winged began, but then there was the rush of wings, and everyone saw Life Stream Dragon land among them.
"And who are you?" Archfiend asked in annoyance, "Can't you see we are having a conversation?"
"I am Life Stream Dragon," he said, saluting with his organic spear, "I was sent by the Crimson Dragon."
There was silence.
"How...?" Stardust gasped.
"He appeared to me in a dream," Life Stream said, "As he touched my chest, I heard the words 'there must be five' ringing in my head."
More silence.
"Well, I guess you can tend to your clan then," Archfiend said, "Seeing as the Crimson Dragon himself has provided a substitute."
"He's more than a substitute if the master spoke to him," Black Winged said, "Farewell my friend, and good fortune to you, Life Stream Dragon, he who was chosen by the Crimson Dragon.!" Black Winged then flew off to his clan.
There was another flash, and they saw the battle against the Earthbound Immortals 5,000 years ago. They witnessed Ancient Fairy Dragon being dragged under by Earthbound Immortal Uru.
After yet another flash, they witnessed the four remaining dragons speaking to one another after the battle.
"I HAVE FAILED!" Life Stream shouted.
"Calm down, comrade!" Black Rose said.
"I cannot be calm! I have failed! I allowed one of my allies, one of the brave soldiers who fought alongside me for the Crimson Dragon, to be dragged to her death to the dark Netherworld! The Crimson Dragon chose me to do this, and yet I have failed!"
"Snap out of it!" Archfiend said as he grabbed Life Stream and shook him, "You don't see us loosing our minds over this! We grieve for our lost friend, but we do not take it upon ourselves to be failures because of it!"
Life Stream wrenched himself from Archfiend's grip and said, "You don't understand, you three were three of the dragons selected by birth to serve the Crimson Dragon. The Crimson Dragon selected me personally, and gave me this mighty role, and I have failed miserably! Therefore, I – AM – A – FAILURE!" He then flew off. The three dragons sadly watched him go, knowing it would be futile to try and stop him.
With another flash, the group saw Life Stream alone somewhere in Dark World.
"Life Stream Dragon..."
"Who's there?" he said, looking around nervously
Suddenly, a huge Monster Gate opened, and a large robot came out.
"I am Machine King!"
Life Stream blinked and said, "What do you want from a failure like me?"
"Your emotions are tearing you apart."
"Hmm?"
"I have come to help you. You are distraught, yes?"
"Yes I am! I have lost one of my dear friends, and I have failed my other friends, and the Crimson Dragon as well."
"And you have also abandoned them. Have you not?"
"Oh no...I have..."
"You have many things wrong with you, which have lead to you being a failure, but I can change that. I can make you stronger and more powerful, and I can take away certain emotions such as fear and shame and other emotions that get in the way of doing what must be done. Nothing will ever stop you or cause you to fail ever again. Do you accept my offer?"
"Yes! Do this thing to me, so that I may never let my comrade down ever again! Do it now, so that I may return to them!"
Machine King nodded, and a strange statue of what appeared to be a metallic fiend with huge claws appeared. It's eyes opened, glowing bright red. The statue opened its arms, and it fired a red sphere of energy at Life Stream.
The dragon gasped and fell to the floor.
"I shall turn your flesh to metal, and your heart and mind to circuit boards and a CPU! Life Stream Dragon, I give you new life, as a Machine!"
His scaly skin began to turn into solid metal. His wings turned metallic as well. His spear became a screw driver. His other hand became an excavating arm. His head warped and morphed into a robotic head with electric lights for eyes.
"What it your name?"
"Well, you do know, you shall be called Power Tool Dragon!"
"Power...Tool...Dragon..."
"What is your past?
"I have no past."
"Good. Who is your King?"
Power Tool Dragon looked up at Machine King and said, "You are!"
There was a flash, and the group was floating over the Morphtronic world. Machine King and Power Tool were standing in a balcony on the Morphtronic Tower, overlooking the entire population of Morphtronic Machines.
"Morphtronics!" Machine King said, "You are a chaotic anarchy no more! I give you your new king! He shall end the senseless rabble that you are and make the Morphtronic Kingdom great! Behold, your new King! All hail Power Tool Dragon!"
Power Tool gasped when all of the Machines cheered his name. His eyes shone brightly, and he raised his arms high, and laughed in triumph.
There was another flash, and there were the five original dragons.
"...so, now that my clan has learned to bring forth Synchro Warriors, I don't need to always be there to guard them," Black Winged said, "Not that I have a choice, I mean, the Crimson Dragon came to me in a dream, and I knew that I had to come back. It's too bad about Life Stream though..."
"I almost feel responsible," Fairy said sadly.
"Don't," Archfiend said, "It's not your fault he acted so bizarre."
"But he did have a point," Rose said, "I mean, the Crimson Dragon actually called him. No wonder he felt like a failure."
"I just hope he's alright..." Stardust said.
With a final flash, everyone was back on the deck of Air Fortress Ziggurat.
"Wow... what an amazing story," Leo said.
"So, what happens now, Life Stream?" Yusei asked, "I mean, what about the Morphtronics?"
Life Stream made a determined face, his living eyes shining, and he said, "MORPHTRONICS!"
The machines all came up on deck.
"We are no longer a part of the Machine Kingdom! Because of Machine King's treachery and deceit, we shall no longer obey him! It was Machine King who had told me to use the Crimson Diamonds to conquer the Earth for him. I told him of my plans to make it a paradise, and he agreed with that as long as I made sure that the Signers wouldn't be there to oppose him. But now that I have my heart and soul back, I now realize that Machine was planning to wrench control away from me and rule supreme as a tyrant! I will never allow that to happen! In the name of the Crimson Dragon, Machines Kings dominion over us has ended!"
The Morphtronics all cheered.
Suddenly, the Crimson Dragon roared again, and he broke into the Five Marks. The five Crimson Diamonds flew beneath the marks. Suddenly, in the center of the orbiting gems and symbols, appeared a sixth gem and a sixth symbol. The symbol was the Mark of the Dragon's Heart, and the gem bore that mark.
"A sixth Mark?" Akiza gasped.
"A sixth Diamond?" Bruno said.
The mark then flew over to Leo, and placed itself onto his arm.
"I'm...a Signer?" Leo gasped, scarcely believing it.
Suddenly, light glew from within Leo's deck. He drew his Power Tool Dragon card. With a flash, it became a Life Stream Dragon card.
Before they knew what was happening, all of the humans were back on the streets of New Domino City. They looked up at the Air Fortress Ziggurat. The Six Dragons appeared to them.
"I guess we're the Six Dragons now! Ha-ha!" Black Winged said.
"Thank you Signers, from the bottom of our hearts," Rose said.
"Because of you, the Crimson Diamonds have been recovered," Stardust said.
"And my kingdom and I have been freed from the malevolent control of Machine King," Life Stream Dragon said.
"Finally, we cam all return home!" Archfiend said, already thinking of soaking in the heat from his treasure volcanic crater.
"Yes, and Life Stream, we all have a lot of catching up to do," Fairy said.
"And I gotta get to know you better Life Stream!" Black Winged said, "Hey! Exactly what kind of attacks can you execute with that spear of yours? I know this Black-wing warrior, Bora the Spear, that could really use some pointers..."
Suddenly, Torunka, Regulus, and Kuribon appeared right next to the humans.
"Thank you all, so very, very much," Torunka said.
"You know where we will be, as well as the dragons: right there in your decks!" Regulus said.
Kuribon just waved goodbye enthusiastically.
The Duel Spirits vanished, and then the dragons, holding the six Crimson Diamonds, all shouted:
"CRIMSON CONTROL!"
With a final brilliant flash of light, the Duel Spirit island, Air Fortress Ziggurat, and all of the Duel Monsters, vanished without a trace.
"Wow...so I am a Signer! I knew it!" Leo said.
Luna giggled and said, "Take it easy, Leo! Just because you're a Signer doesn't mean you'll always win every duel you play!"
"Relax, I know, but I haven't exactly gotten worse! I mean, I'm still awesome! I"m still better than Jack-."
"What! Why you little-," Jack said.
"What's wrong, Jack? Do you wanna take on Life Stream Dragon?"
"I'll squash you so fast that you want have time for a Synchro Summon!"
The two Signers fired up their Duel Disks.
"Duel!" they said.
Everyone else laughed.
"Never a dull moment, huh guys?" Crow said.
"You can say that again," Bruno said, "And there's still the Grand Prix to prepare for!"
"Well, I know one thing for sure," Yusei said, "When we're all together, united, nothing can stop us!"
Apparently, as the friends watched the Duel, things were heading back to normal in New Domino City.
The story's not over yet! Check back soon for an Epilogue to wrap this story up, and then some authors notes!