Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OCs. And just like my other YGO stories, I will only use cards from the actually TCG/OCG, the current OCG banlist, and no Speed Spells or Counters for Riding Duels.
New Domino City. A sprawling island metropolis and Duel Monsters capital of the world. A new level of battles known as the Riding Duels have taken the world by storm. One of these riding duelists is the current champion, Jack Atlas, a duelist known for his overwhelming power and grace.
But not all is well in this future. Across the bay from New Domino is a run down industrial wasteland known as the Satellite Sector. This impoverished area is overrun with criminals, homeless and other lowly members of New Domino society.
And keeping the peace are the brave men & women of Sector Security, who are tasked to maintain order between the two cities.
Previously: Duel Chasers Erika Hawkins and Lukas Amador encountered the supposed urban myth known as the Shadow Knight. Lukas took Sect Injun, the Knight's latest victim, away while Erika stayed behind to duel him. However, the power of the Knight Red-Eyes deck combined with shadow magic may prove too much for the young officer.
Chapter 2: Kings and Pawns
"Is this live?" Sector Security Director Rex Godwin asked his assistant Lazar as the two were watching footage of Erika and the Shadow Knight's duel, which had started in New Domino Park and bled out into a nearby street. The duel chaser had Superheavy Samurai Big Benkei (LV. 8/DEF: 3500) equipped with Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer on her side of the field and three cards in her hand.
Erika: 5600
The Shadow Knight had Archfiend Black Skull Dragon (LV. 9/ATK: 3200) and a set card on his side with four cards in his hand.
Shadow Knight: 2800
"Yes, Director." The short clownish man replied as he brought up Erika's records. "DC 318 is currently in a riding duel with the supposedly mystical Shadow Knight while her partner, DC 560, is on his way to the hospital with an injured boy who was apparently assaulted by the suspect."
Godwin looked at the screen, specifically at the armored figure. "So, the Shadow Knight is real. How...unexpected." He then turned back to the short man. "Does 318 stand a chance?"
"Well, she does have a 93% arrest record."
"Yes, but I have a feeling that this Knight is going to be a tad stronger than a lowly theft." The silver-haired director stated.
Back at the Duel...
"I summon Superheavy Samurai Blue Brawler." Erika stated, the blue piston-armed monster appearing next to her (LV. 4/ATK: 0) before changing to defense mode via his effect. (DEF: 2000) "Benkei, get rid of that dragon!"
The orange-armored monster aimed the crossbow and fired an ignited arrow, shattering the skull-themed dragon.
Shadow Knight: 2800 - 2500
"Blue Brawler, attack him directly!" The piston using robot flew towards the mystical opponent, but he simply grabbed a card from his hand.
"When my opponent declares a direct attack, I can special summon Battle Fader from my hand and end the battle phase." A tiny fiend with appendages shaped like a clock pendulum appeared on the field. (LV. 1/DEF: 0) The small creature swung its pendulum and let out a sound that stopped Blue Brawler in its tracks and flew back to its owner. "I won't fall that easily."
Erika scowled and ended her turn, the Shadow Knight drew his next card, the sight of which brought about an unsettling chuckle. "I activate the spell known as Dragon's Mirror, letting me banish monsters from my graveyard to fusion summon a dragon-type fusion monster." A large mirror appeared over the knight. He then took out a certain amount of cards out of his graveyard. "I banish The Black Stone of Legend, Red-Eyes Tracer Dragon, my two Red-Eyes Black Dragons and Archfiend Black Skull Dragon."
The blonde duel chaser's eyes widened as the realization came over her. For there was only one fusion monster in the game that needed five dragons as materials. The five aforementioned dragons were absorbed into the large mirror before shattering into a massive pillar of purple fire, the Shadow Knight starting a chant.
"The ultimate creature, born of five! Descend and annihilate my enemies! Fusion Summon! Five-Headed Dragon!" The creature that emerged from the light was a massive yellow-scaled dragon that towered over the nearby buildings. Each of its five heads represented a different element. One that looked like a sea serpent, one with black scales, one made entirely of fire, one with a rocky exterior, and one with steel skin and green eyes. (LV. 12/ATK: 5000) The towering beast let out a roar from each of its heads, shattering all the nearby windows and forming a crack on Erika's helmet and windshield.
'Okay, okay. Just stay calm. Sure, a scary-as-hell knight with magical powers just summoned one of the most powerful monsters in the game. But my monster's DEF will keep me safe. And Blue Brawler can't be destroyed by battle anyway. I just need to stall until I find a way around that behemoth.' Erika thought to herself, breathing to calm down from the sight of the legendary monster.
"Next, I activate the continuous trap Dragon's Rage, giving my dragon monsters piercing damage." The Knight stated as he activated his face-down card.
"OH FU..."
"Five-Headed Dragon, vaporize Big Benkei!" The armored duelist ordered. The multi-limbed dragon fired a blast from each of its heads until the five elemental blasts combined into one. The incredible blasts consumed Erika's ace monster until it was nothing but ash. And thanks to Dragon's Rage, the wind generated from the attack pushed the dirty blonde. Her duel runner started to swerve out of control. Thankfully, the auto-pilot quickly realigned the vehicle and the duel was back on.
Erika: 5600 - 4100
The Shadow Knight looked as his foe. While the duel runner kept driving ahead via the auto-pilot, the driver had an unbelieving and haunted look in her eyes.
"Perhaps now you will realize what the rest of world knows. That heroism and altruism are fleeting concepts that only children believe. You should've let me collect that boy's soul. But because you felt the need to play the hero, your soul is now on the verge of eternal damnation." The Knight then pointed at his foe. "No matter how strong you build up your defense, my dragons will smash through! So just surrender and save yourself the agony of a slow defeat!"
As the Knight's words faded over her, Erika's mind started to recall a certain event from her past.
In the middle of the West New Domino mall, there was a little girl no older than five was crying. While most of the shoppers just ignored the sobbing girl, a woman in a Sector Security uniform saw this and walked towards the girl. She kneeled down and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. The little girl looked up and saw the older woman's kind blue eyes, dark skin and short brown hair.
"What's wrong, miss?" The officer asked kindly.
"I...(sniff)...I was with my daddy a minute ago. But then we went into the crowd (sniff) a-and now I can't find him." She said with tears in her eyes and her nose stuffed from the crying. The officer pulled out a handkerchief and gave it to the girl to blow in and wipe her tears.
"Now don't worry your pretty little head." The officer lady stated in a comforting voice, patting the girl on the head. "We'll find your daddy."
The two walked through the mall, looking through the crowd for the girl's father. And eventually...
"Erika! Erika!" The two looked in the direction of the sound and saw a man in his late twenties weaving through the crowd.
"Daddy!" The girl cried in joy and ran towards her father. The man saw his daughter running towards him and met her halfway, smiling in relief as the two hugged.
"I'm so sorry, princess." The father said earnestly. "I sorry I made you feel scared."
"It's okay, daddy." Erika said before turning back towards the officer. "This nice lady helped me find you."
"I can't thank you enough." Erika's father said as he shook the officer's hand in gratitude.
"No need to thank me. It's all part of the job." The officer replied before kneeling down to Erika again. "Now don't getting lost again. Can you promise me that?"
The dirty-blonde girl smiled and shook her head. "I super promise!" The two adults chuckled at the child's excitement. The officer stood back up and went back to her usual patrol.
"Who was that lady by the way, daddy?" Erika asked her father latter that day.
"She's a Sector Security officer, sweetie."
"Sector...Secortiny?"
"No, Sector Security." Her father corrected her. "It's their job to protect and help everyone in New Domino."
Hearing this made the little girl think back to how the officer was the only one who helped her when she was crying. And just like that, the girl made a decision that changed the course of her life.
(Music Que - Last One Standing by Simple Plan)
"Don't..." Erika said back in the present. "Don't count me out just yet!" She revved the throttles and sped ahead, catching up with the Shadow Knight. "Soulpiercer's effect activates! When it's sent from the field to the graveyard, I can add one Superheavy Samurai from my deck to my hand that isn't another Soulpiercer." The dirty-blonde selected a card and added it to her hand.
"So you have some fight left in you. I set a card and end my turn." The Shadow Knight stated, the card appearing next to his duel runner before vanishing. Erika began her turn and looked over her hand.
'I just gotta think this through. He might have one of the strongest monsters in game out, but a duel isn't over until the last card's played.' She thought to herself before picking a card from her hand and slapping in on one her monster card zones. "Since I have no spell or trap cards in my graveyard, I can special summon Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter." The tiny instrument carrying monster floated next to her. (LV. 2/ATK: 300)
"A tuner monster? Well I better use this while I can." The Knight said as he activated his face-down card. "My Ceasefire will inflict 500 damage to you for each effect monster on the field."
A red aura appeared around Erika, making the officer grunt in pain as she felt part of her soul being burnt.
Erika: 4100 - 2100
However, she quickly shook it off and pressed on with her next move. "I tune my Level 4 Blue Brawler with my Level 2 Trumpeter." The two monsters flew ahead and transformed into two synchro rings and four stars. Erika started to chant as they exploded into a pillar of green light.
"Raise your voice, godly demon! Come before us! To this battlefield where evil dwells! Synchro Summon! Storm the field, Superheavy Samurai Orge Shutendoji!" The light faded and revealed a new monster in red armor, green eyes and yellow exhaust pipes. In its left hand was a large spiked club with a yellow handle. (LV. 6/DEF: 2500) "And when Shutendoji is synchro summoned and I have no spell and trap cards in my graveyard, I can destroy all of my opponent's spell and trap cards!"
The red machine monster roared and swung its club-holding arm with such force that it shattered the Dragon's Rage trap card.
"Shutendoji, attack his Battle Fader!" The red monster raised its spiked club and swung, revealed a chain in between the club and the handle that let the weapon fly ahead and destroy the tiny clock-themed monster.
'Now I'm safe from any piercing damage.' She thought to herself before grabbing the card she got from Soulpiercer. "I set a monster and end my turn."
'Hmph. She's reinforced her defense by destroying my trap card.' The Knight looked at his hand, which currently consisted of Red-Eyes Wyvern, Dark Dragon Ritual and Inferno Fire Blast. All he had to do was draw another Black Stone of Legend or Red-Eyes Fusion and he would have all he needed to win. He drew his next card and saw that is was Monster Reborn. 'Not exactly what I wanted, but it's still enough for me to end this game.'
"I activate Monster Reborn and resurrect my Summoned Skull." The Shadow Knight stated, the famous fiend-type monster coming out from a purple portal. (LV. 6/ATK: 2500) "Then I normal summon Red-Eyes Wyvern." A smaller version of Red-Eyes Black Dragon also emerged on the field. (LV. 4/ATK: 1800) "Five-Headed Dragon, vaporize that her Orge!"
The massive multi-limbed dragon roared and unleashed another five-pronged attack that destroyed Orge Shutendoji, Erika having to steady herself from the wind that was generated.
"Wyvern, attack her set monster." The smaller Red-Eyes monster fired a small version of the Inferno Fire Blast at the set, which turn flipped up and revealed a monster with brown & red armor and absurdly massive hands. (LV. 3/DEF: 1000) The fireball hit the samurai-themed monster, blasting it to pieces.
"I use Superheavy Samurai Gigagloves' monster effect." Erika stated. "When he's sent to my graveyard and I have no spell or trap cards in my graveyard, I can look at five cards from the top of my deck and put them back in any order." She did just that and looked at the five cards. A smile appeared on her face and she placed the five cards back in her preferred order.
'Strange.' The Knight thought to himself as he saw the officer's smile. "Summoned Skull, end this duel!" The famous fiend gathered lightning around its claws and launched it the duel chaser.
"I activate Gigagloves' second effect!" The dirty-blonde officer quickly said as she ejected the aforementioned monster from her graveyard. "When one of your monsters declare a direct attack, I can banish Gigagloves from my graveyard and look at the top card of my deck. And if its a Superheavy Samurai monster, I can add it to my hand and reduce the attacking monster's ATK to 0." She drew her card and showed it, revealing a card called Superheavy Samurai Scales. She added it to her hand and the spirit of Gigagloves appeared, blocking the lightning with its massive hands as Summoned Skull's attack points dropped down to zero.
'So she had a monster that could rearrange the next card she drew and then used its effect to save her. She turned a card based on chance into a sure thing.' The Knight thought with a hint of amusement as he ended his turn. Erika drew her next card and added it to her hand.
"Game over." She stated before picking a card from her wrist dealer. "Since you have more than two monsters on the field and I have none, I can special summon Superheavy Samurai Scales from my hand." She slapped the card down and a new monster with green armor and a large set of scales held behind its head appeared with a blue aura. (LV. 4/DEF: 1800) "And when Scales is summoned, I can special summon a level 4 or lower Superheavy Samurai from my graveyard in defense mode."
Scales held out its namesake and green energy appeared within it, letting Trumpeter reappear. (LV. 2/DEF: 600) "Next I normal summon Blue Brawler." A second Blue Brawler appeared and switched to defense mode with its effect. (LV. 4/DEF: 2000) "I tune my Level 4 Scales and Blue Brawler with my Level 2 Trumpeter."
Once again, the small tuner monster flew ahead and blew on its trumpet. It then turned into two synchro rings that surrounded Blue Brawler and Scales, who in turn transformed into eight stars. The stars aligned as Erika started her chant.
"Raging Deity, in unison with the roar of a thousand blades! Come forth in a spiraling storm! Synchro Summon! Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo!" The stars and rings erupted and the massive samurai-themed monster appeared over the duel chaser. (LV. 10/DEF: 3800)
"While that is an impressive monster, it's still no match for my dragon." The Shadow Knight boasted.
"That's right. My warlord isn't strong enough to destroy Five-Headed Dragon." Erika stated before smirking. "But then again, I'm not aiming for your dragon."
The Shadow Knight then realized that Summoned Skull was still on the field, its ATK still zero from Gigagloves' effect. But instead of feeling anger, the Knight just gave a silent chuckle. 'So she is indeed brave.'
Erika blasted ahead of the Shadow Knight and then put her dueling runner into a drift. The dirty blonde pointed to the weakened monster and gave the order. "Susanowo, wipe out Summoned Skull and the rest of his life points!"
The massive blue-armored samurai's eyes glowed red before he swung his weapon in an arc, creating a crescent blast of energy that flew ahead. The blast hit Summoned Skull head on, destroying it as the monster gave a dying roar. The blast then moved past Five-Headed Dragon and Red-Eyes Wyvern before hitting the Shadow Knight. The inhuman knight yelled in pain, his armor cracking as he was blasted off his duel runner.
Shadow Knight: 2500 - 0
(Music Over)
With the duel over, the monster holograms faded away and Erika stopped her duel runner. After a sigh of relief, she dismounted her vehicle and started walking towards the downed Shadow Knight, her pistol at the ready. As she approached the inhuman being, the Knight slowly got back up and looked at the officer with his red eyes.
"Okay, I won. Now get the hell out of here!" Erika ordered with her pistol pointed at his armored head. Seeing this amused the Knight, especially since they both knew the bullets had no effect on his armor.
"Excellent." He stated, confusion the officer. "With people like you running around, this city might actually have a chance."
"What're you taking about?" The dirty-blonde asked.
The Knight just looked up at the sky and walked past the officer, who still aimed her pistol at the supernatural being. "The barriers between life and death have been weakened. So weakened that I was able to manifest myself on this plane of existence."
"Um...okay?" Erika responded with a confused expression.
"You don't believe? Well I guess it's human nature to treat unnatural phenomenon with a hint of skepticism." The Shadow Knight said before turning back to the duel chaser. "But know this, Erika Hawkins. When the Crimson Dragon awakes from its long slumber, the barriers will be torn asunder. And then the Earthbounds shall rise."
"Look, can you quit with the crazy talk and just cut to the point?" She demanded, only to get a chuckle in response.
"You will see." The Shadow Knight stated. And before Erika had a chance to say anything else, the armored figure faded away into a wisp of shadows, the same thing happening to his duel runner. The dirty-blonde was also covered in a shadowy aura and tried to fight it off. But much to her surprise, the aura didn't harm her. In fact, it did quite the opposite, healing her injuries before disappearing. And when it did, Erika quickly looked around for any trace of the Shadow Knight, only to find nothing.
'What the hell just happened?' The dirty-blonde asked herself, baffled by the recent events. After a few minutes of thinking, she remembered the injured kid that Lukas left with. She got back on her duel runner and headed to the nearby hospital. As she drove away, the Shadow Knight rematerialized on a nearby building, watching the officer. Shadow wisps appeared in his hand and faded, revealing a blank card.
'Now what will your bravery create, Miss Hawkins?' The inhuman being thought to himself before fading into the night.
"Well, that was interesting." Director Godwin stated as the feed ended. He brought up Erika's profile on his desk computer. "Looks like we'll be keeping an eye on you, Officer."
Hours later...
"I can't believe it all that happened!" Carly stated as she and Erika were having dinner on the officer's couch. After the Shadow Knight's disappearance, the Superheavy Samurai duelist went to St. Roce hospital to check on Lukas and the injured boy. It was there she learned that the boy's name was Sect Injun, a junior year student at the local Duel Academy. The doctors informed the officers that aside from some a slightly broken arm and bruising, the young duelist would be fine in a few months. Erika then explained the events of the shadow duel to her partner and proceeded to tell their chief the same thing. While the chief was skeptical about the existence of a Shadow Knight, the footage recorded by Erika's duel runner and the report of Sect's injuries was enough for him to start an investigation on the matter.
And with that (and a full body scan to make sure she wasn't infected by some unknown agent) Erika and Lukas were dismissed for the night. And when dirty-blonde arrived, she saw that her best friend there waiting for her. Apparently, Lukas had told Carly about the events of the day during Erika's chat with the chief. As such, the bespectacled blogger/informant thought that the officer wouldn't want to be alone to night.
"Tell me about it." The duel chaser replied as she chewed on some chicken lo mein. "Hell, I didn't even believe in all that shadow games crap until tonight."
"Are you going to tell her?" The bespectacled woman asked.
Erika sighed. "I'm not sure. I mean, I don't even what half of he said means. 'When the Crimson Dragon awakes from its long slumber, the barriers will be torn asunder. And then the Earthbounds shall rise.' What the hell is a Crimson Dragon or an Earthbound for that matter?"
"I can check with the local skeptics. See if they've heard of anything like that." Carly stated. She then saw the distraught look on her friends face. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"It...it's a lot to take in." But before the conversation could continue, Erika's phone started to shake from a text message. She looked at it and her eyes widened.
"What is it?"
"It's a mass text. All off and on duty officers are to converge at Memorial Circuit."
"Wait, I thought the chief gave you the night off." Carly stated.
"It's not from the chief. It's from the Head Director himself." Erika replied, putting her phone away and headed to her closet where her uniform was keep.
Within the hour, the dirty-blonde was adorned in her duel chaser uniform and zoomed through the streets, the sirens blaring on her duel runner. Eventually, she reached the landmark duel stadium and saw that nearly every officer was on standby right outside of it. She parked her vehicle and spotted Lukas in the crowd.
"Any idea what's going on?" She asked, getting his attention.
"Our orders just state that we're supposed to keep anyone from going in or out of the stadium." The older officer responded.
"And as for why?"
"Can't say. That's the info any of us have." Hearing this just aggravated the younger officer. After what had happened today, she wasn't in the mood to deal with more unknown crap.
However, the gathered officers were unaware that they where being watched. A tiny camera drone no bigger than a cockroach was observing them and feeding the footage back to a room lit only by the fifty or so monitors. And watching the feed was a familiar masked figure.
'Well, this is quite the turnout.' Verita thought to herself in amusement. 'Looks likes every officer is on the scene.' She then turned her attention to another screen as the audio footage started to play a famous chant.
"The ruler's heartbeat will now fly through here! Take witness to its creation-shaking power! Synchro Summon! My very soul, Red Dragon Archfiend!"
The visual feed showed the current King of Riding Duels, Jack Atlas, in the middle of a riding duel and having just summoned his ace monster. But what really got the masked woman's attention was the person he was dueling. A certain riding duelist who had been the subject of her recent broadcast, clad in a red helmet and riding a similarly-colored duel runner.
'Jack Atlas. Yusei Fudo. What's so special about you two to warrant this much attention?'
To be continued...
Author's Note 2: And with the Shadow Knight dealt with for the moment, we move on to the events of the canon (with some slight altercations). And I can't tell you how pumped I am to write a duel between staring one of my favorite characters!
Also, I'm still excepting OCs, in case anyone's wondering.
Until then, please remember to read, review, and possibly make a TV Tropes page to support this story. See ya next time!