Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, and the character of Raven is the creation of sammycrusinix.
Chapter 2: Declaration of War
Shortly after the duel, a small press conference conducted by Rex Goodwin was held so that the reporters could ask Jack and his defeated opponent various questions. It was the usual assortment of questions. One reporter had asked Jack if he was ever once afraid of facing Chet, which had gotten a good laugh from Jack in response. Another reporter had asked Chet what it was like to lose to the great Jack Atlas. And as usual, Carly was stuck in the very back row with the Fortune Fairy sisters.
Normally, Carly would've been frustrated about once again winding up in the back of the crowd, where her questions were usually dismissed. But in this instance, Carly didn't really care about being stuck in the back. The questions she wanted to ask were too personal for a press conference. Carly needed a one-on-one interview with Jack. The only reason she was at the press conference was to find the right opportunity to try and get Jack alone with her.
The opportunity came when rex called an end to the conference. Carly saw her moment and tried to follow Jack, the Fortune Fairies flying close behind. But alas, it seemed that about eighty to ninety percent of the other reporters had gotten the same idea. Before she knew it, Carly was practically trampled by a stampede that lasted only seconds. As Carly slowly started to get back to her feet, she noticed a familiar shadow standing over her.
"Well, looks like you've hit rock bottom again, Carly." A very familiar voice mocked. "Being on the ground suits you quite well."
Carly recognized the voice in an instant. She looked up to see a young woman, taller than her, with long blonde hair wearing a red jacket. Sure enough, it was Carly's archrival, Angela Rains.
"What do you want, Angela?" Carly asked as she got up.
"I was just on my way out when I saw you on the ground like a piece of trash." Angela replied. "Just what was it that you were trying to do?"
"That's none of your business!" Carly told her.
"Wait, don't tell me." Angela snickered. "You weren't trying to get an interview with Jack Atlas, were you?"
"And what if I was?" Carly replied.
"Well you certainly weren't going to get an interview by chasing after him." Angela laughed. "A professional reporter would've tried getting an appointment, and they certainly wouldn't give one to a wannabe like you."
"Now wait just a minute!" Carly protested.
"Oh don't feel too bad. Even I probably wouldn't be able to get an interview with Jack." Angela assured her. "And I'm Neo Domino's number one newscaster. Well, I better get going. I'm sure your editor is waiting for you at the office to bring him a fresh cup of coffee. Ta-ta."
As Angela walked off, Fortune Fairy Hu stuck her tongue out at her. Carly felt quite tempted to do the same. It infuriated Carly that Angela was considered the city's number one reporter. She was a competent enough reporter, but true reason Angela was number one was because her looks attracted most of the male viewers in the city. There was also a rumor going around that Angela had an "understanding" with her station manager. But Carly usually dismissed such rumors as gossip.
"Why does Angela always have to be such a meanie?" Hikari wondered.
"She almost makes Ann look like the nicest girl on earth." Hu remarked.
"Watch it, twerp!" Ann warned.
"Calm down, Ann." Chee told her. "I'm sure Hu didn't mean anything."
"As atrocious as Angela is, she does have a point." Swee told Carly. "You aren't going to get any interviews by simply chasing after Jack like a common fangirl."
"Yeah, I guess you're right about that." Carly admitted. "But I can't interview Jack by going through the normal channels either."
"Don't give up so easily Carly. I'm sure you can figure out a solution." Chee said encouragingly.
"You're right! If I'm going to get this interview, I'm going to have to think more strategically." Carly decided. "C'mon you six! We've got planning to do!"
"Since when did we have to come up with ways for Carly to get a scoop?" Hu asked as they went off.
Of all the buildings of Satellite that were ruined or destroyed by the Zero Reverse incident that tore the island away from its original landmass, one of the most intact was an old apartment complex originally known as Sherwood Tower. In its heyday, the tower served as residence for the old Domino City's middle class citizens. Since that time though, the tower became known as the Bird's Nest, the secret headquarters of the Blackbird Gang. Rather than being a normal street gang, the Blackbird Gang was a benevolent organization that did what it could to help the people of Satellite. The gang's membership had grown to over sixty people, many of them skilled duelists.
The Blackbird Gang was started not long after Crow Hogan had accidentally married a young woman named Raven by winning a ceremonial duel in Raven's home village. Upon the couple's return to Satellite they had quickly gained an entourage due to their efforts to help Satellite's citizens. Most recently, the gang had taken in three of Crow's childhood friends, Yusei Fudo, Aki Izayoi, and Kiryu Kyosuki. Together, they had defeated the Infinity Triad, whose true identity was an android from an apocalyptic future known as Aporia. Since Aporia's defeat, peace had returned to the area. But there were still threats on the horizon.
That afternoon, Aki went down to the garage of the Nest to find Yusei. As usual, Yusei was found in what had come to be known as the lab. He was hard at work tuning up his D-Wheel.
"Yusei, I just talked to Saiga." Aki informed him. "He's still having no luck finding a way for us to get to Neo Domino."
"Fine." Yusei replied very absently, not once looking up from his work.
"Uh, he says he can try a few more of his old contacts. But right now it doesn't look good." Aki continued.
"Sure." Yusei responded, still focused on his cycle.
One of the things Aki had quickly learned about her boyfriend was his tendency to tune out the rest of the world while working on machines. It was even worse when Bruno was in the room. Aki decided to find out just how engrossed Yusei was in his current task.
"Kiryu and I are having an affair." Aki announced very sarcastically. "In a few months I'll be giving birth to his love child."
"That's nice." Yusei replied indifferently, still a hundred percent focused of his work.
Aki sighed and shook her head. Yusei had clearly not noticed that she was even there. Finding a large wrench on the nearby table, Aki banged it hard against a hubcap that was hanging from the wall. The clanging noise started Yusei from his work and caused him to finally look up.
"Oh, Aki." Yusei finally noticed. "How long have you been there?"
"Not long." Aki replied as she put down the wrench and crossed her arms.
"We weren't supposed to be going out today or anything, were we?" Yusei asked with a look of panic.
"Sometimes I think you care about these machines than me." Aki teased with a pouting expression. "I could probably walk in here naked and you wouldn't even notice."
"Uh, that's not true!" a panicked Yusei assured her as he frantically waved his hands.
"Relax, silly. I'm just messing with you." Aki assured him as she walked up and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Oh. Okay." A very relieved Yusei sighed. "So why did you come down here then?"
"I just came to tell you that Saiga is still having no luck finding a way for us to get to the city." Aki reported.
"There has to be a way." Yusei insisted. "If we're going to have any chance of stopping Z-one and the Skeleton Knight, we'll need Jack's help."
"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll figure something out." Aki assured him. "After all, you still have a score to settle with Jack too."
"Yeah. I know." Yusei replied as he recalled the duel he and Jack had down in the Pit.
Crow rode towards the Bird's Nest on the way back from a patrol. All seemed quiet in the area. But as the tower came into sight, a thick cold fog suddenly rolled in. The fog cleared up a bit, a before Crow was a very familiar skeletal knight riding an undead horse wrapped in bandages.
"Hello Crow." The Skeleton Knight greeted.
"What do you want, bonehead?" Crow demanded to know.
"I don't suppose Yusei's around here somewhere." The undead knight assumed.
"If you wanna duel someone, duel me!" Crow dared.
"Very well." Skeleton Knight agreed. "But I warn you, the consequences of losing this duel will be quite high."
As Yusei and Aki exited the lab together, Raven ran up to them with Leo and Luna. Raven's pale-blue eyes were wide with fear.
"What's wrong Raven?" Aki asked.
"I think Crow might be in trouble." Raven told them. "Just a minute ago I sensed a really strong dark power come into the area. It was in the same direction Crow was supposed to be returning back from."
"Do you think it's the Skeleton Knight?" Yusei asked.
"I don't see what else it could be." Raven replied.
At that moment Bruno came walking towards them with Kiryu and Sect. "What's going on?"
"Looks like the Skeleton Knight's finally making a move." Yusei explained. "Crow might need our help."
"Then we better go find him." Kiryu decided.
In a few short minutes the group had gotten onto their D-Wheels and were out the door. They followed Raven in the direction where she sensed the Skeleton Knight.
Crow and the knight raced towards an old dead tree that was to be the starting point of the duel. At almost the last second, the Skeleton Knight's steed pulled ahead with surprising speed and turned left at the tree.
"It looks like the first turn is mine." The Skeleton Knight observed as he drew his first card. "Track Field, activate! Domain of the Earthbound!"
In an instant, the cold fog dispelled and the landscape changed in all directions. The sky overhead had become thick with dark-purple clouds and the dark-grey landscape had large lines carved into it. From their immense size, it was impossible for Crow to tell if the lines formed any sort of shape.
"I summon Skull Spider-Shield Weaver in Defense Mode!" the Skeleton Knight announced.
Materializing on the battlefield was a large spider with a black body and eight long thin tan legs. It had four pairs of green eyes on its head, and on the back of its abdomen was a large white skull-shaped mark that curved inward at the top like a shield.
"I'll set two cards on the field and end my turn." The knight announced.
Just as Crow drew his first card, Yusei and the others quickly approached from behind. The group pulled up to move alongside Crow.
"You okay?" Yusei asked him.
"Yeah, don't worry. I'll have this thing wrapped up this turn." Crow assured them.
"Honey, I have a real bad feeling about this duel." Raven told him.
"Well it's not like I can back out now." Crow pointed out. "Besides, I have everything under control."
"…Just be careful, okay?" Raven sighed.
"Relax. I've got this." Crow smirked as he turned his attention back to the duel. "I summon Blackwing-Sirocco the Dawn in Attack Mode!"
Materializing onto the field was a creature looked like a man dressed like a bird. He had large black-feathered wings and tail feathers on his back, and his hands and feet were talons. On his head he wore a black bird head mask with a large yellow beak that was open to reveal part of his face.
"Since I have another Blackwing monster on the field, I now Special Summon Blackwing, Bora the Spear!" Crow announced.
Appearing next to Sirocco was another bird-like humanoid with massive blue-black wings and tail feathers. The feathers on his head were orange and he had a long beak. The warrior carried a large black lance in his right hand.
"And now, because I have at least one other Blackwing monster on the field, I Special Summon Blackwing-Gale the Whirlwind!"
Materializing alongside the other two bird monsters was a small semi-humanoid bird-like creature. Its body was covered in black feathers and it had green feathers on the top and back of its head. Its yellow face lacked any sort of beak.
"Wow! Three monsters in one turn!" an impressed Leo observed. "That's totally awesome!"
"You haven't seen anything yet." Sect told him. "The boss is getting ready to use one of his strongest combos."
"First I activate Gale the Whirlwind's effect and cut the ATK and DEF of your Shield Weaver in half!" Crow announced. "Which means that spider of yours will only have 1000 DEF!"
Gale the Whirlwind flapped its wings and sent a small twister at Shield Weaver. The large spider was momentarily knocked onto its side by the whirlwind.
"Next I activate Sirocco's effect and add Sirocco and Gale's ATK to Bora's until the end of the turn!" Crow announced. "Making Bora's ATK 5000!"
Sirocco raised his arms and both he and Gale glowed with purple auras. Energy flowed from the two bird monsters into Bora, causing his lance to glow with a golden light.
"And now, since I have three Blackwings on the field, I activate a Trap from my hand, Delta Crow-Anti Reverse!" Crow announced. "This card destroys all my opponent's face down Spell and Trap cards!"
The three bird monsters flapped their wings and sent a massive wind at the Skeleton Knight. The windblast caused the knight's two face down cards to explode in flashes of flame.
"Since I used Sirocco's effect on Bora, Bora's the only monster that can attack this turn." Crow revealed. "But when Bora destroys a monster in Defense Mode, it deals the difference as battle damage!"
"Right now Bora has 5000 ATK, and the Skeleton Knight's monster only has 1000 DEF. So that means…" Luna quickly realized.
"Yep! The boss has this duel in the bag!" Sect finished.
"Bora, attack Shield Weaver!" Crow commanded. "Pitch-Black Spear!"
"I activate Shield Weaver's effect!" the Skeleton Knight announced. "Once per turn, it can negate the attack of a monster that selected it as its target!"
Just as Bora flew in the deliver the killing blow with his lance, the spider spread its two front pairs of legs and created a spider wed made out of green energy. The tip of the lance struck the web and caused it to shatter. But Shield Weaver remained unharmed.
"No way!" a shocked Crow exclaimed.
"That was a powerful combo." Skeleton Knight praised. "But as you can see, even the strongest combos can be brought down by a single card."
"Damn it!" Crow cursed. "I end my turn."
The Skeleton Knight drew his next card. "Because of my Field Spell, the monster I'm about to summon can be brought forth with one less tribute. So I now sacrifice Shield Weaver to summon my ultimate monster! Arise! Earthbound Immortal Uru!"
Shield Weaver shattered and a column of red light suddenly shot up into the air. Walls of purple flames suddenly erupted from the ground on both sides of the duel. At the same time, Kiryu cried out as a glowing purple mark appeared on his right arm.
"Kiryu, are you okay?" a concerned Yusei asked.
"I've seen this once before." Aki recalled.
"Look!" Luna called out pointing at the Skeleton Knight. "The Skeleton Knight has one too!"
Sure enough, a glowing purple mark in the shape of a spider was on the undead knight's right forearm. Meanwhile, the column of red light exploded in a blinding flash. After a moment the light faded to reveal a massive black spider with four red eyes and red markings on parts of its body. Raven went completely pale as she looked on at the creature.
"What the hell kind of monster is that?" a frightened Sect wondered.
Bruno consulted the screen of his D-Wheel consol. "Oh no! According to the data, Skeleton Knight's monster can attack directly. And it has 3000 ATK!"
"Not for long." The Skeleton Knight chuckled. "I discard Skull Spider-War Venom and use its effect to increase Uru's ATK by 1000 until the end of the turn!"
A fairly large black and grey spider with a red skull-shaped mark on its abdomen suddenly appeared on Uru's back. The smaller spider bit down and injected the larger spider with its venom. The markings on Uru's body suddenly glowed bright and blazed like fire.
"Uru, attack Crow directly!" Skeleton Knight commanded. "Hell Thread!"
The giant spider fired a sharp stream of silk down at Crow. Crow cried out as he was struck and the attack knocked his D-Wheel into the air as his life points went from 4000 to zero in an instant. The cycle landed on its side and Crow thrown only a couple feet away from it. A horrified Raven quickly rode over to Crow and dismounted. The rest of the group followed. As Raven tended to Crow's injuries, Uru vanished from the field.
After a moment, Crow regained consciousness. "What the hell… was that?"
"Don't try and move right now." Raven ordered.
"You lost the duel." Skeleton Knight interrupted. "Which means its now time for you to pay the price."
A thick wave of fog suddenly moved in from behind the undead knight. The dragon marks of the Signers and the dragon seal on Raven's back suddenly lit up and created a barrier of red light around the entire group. After a moment the fog rolled away and the landscape returned to normal. But the Skeleton Knight was still present.
"What did you just do?" Yusei demanded to know.
"I've just taken my prize." The knight answered as he held up a crystal ball filled with a purple mist. "All of your friends in the Blackbird Gang now reside in this sphere!"
Yusei and the others looked closely at the crystal ball. Swirling around inside the mist were moaning entities with human-looking faces. Many of them bore a striking resemblance to the other members of the gang.
"Let them go!" Yusei ordered.
"Not going to happen." The knight replied as the crystal ball suddenly vanished from his hand. "There's only one way to release your friends from your current hell. And that is to defeat me."
"Then bring it on!" Yusei dared.
"Oh no. Not here, Yusei." Skeleton Knight told him with a wave of his finger. "The stage for our battle shall be in Neo Domino."
"And just how are we supposed to get there?" Kiryu asked.
"Go to the old Daedalus Bridge tonight at midnight." The knight answered as he began to fade away with a black mist. "A ship will be there to take you to the city. I'll be waiting for you." With that, Skeleton Knight vanished along with his steed.
Using her powers, Raven healed Crow's injuries. Which turned out to be fairly minor considering he was thrown from his D-Wheel. As for the Blackbird, Bruno inspected the cycle and found that the damage was minor and could be repaired back at the Nest. When the group got back to the Nest, they found the entire building to be quite. D-Wheels had been left outside as if their riders had simply forgotten about them. Yusei and the others searched every room in the building and found the Nest completely empty. With the Nest vacant, Yusei and the others went down to the lab to decide on their next course of action.
"This is all just so insane." Crow declared. "How could he have just taken everyone like that?"
"It doesn't matter how he did it. What matters is they've been captured." Yusei pointed out.
"What kind of monster was that big spider?" Sect wondered.
"Something I'd hope we'd never have to face." Raven spoke.
"Do you know about that monster?" Yusei asked her.
"Only from stories in my old village." Raven answered. "They're called the Earthbound Immortals. In the very distant past they were benevolent protectors of the land. But according to legend, they were corrupted by the darkness of human hearts and became demons. The Crimson Dragon was left with no choice but to seal the beneath the earth, creating the landmark known as the Nazca Lines."
"So how was the Skeleton Knight able to summon one of these Immortals?" Bruno asked.
"It's said that there are some humans out there who can call upon the Immortals." Raven continued. "And that those people are marked like the Signers."
"I've seen one of those Immortals before." Aki revealed. "Misty somehow called upon one of them down in the Pit."
"Misty, that was one of the two girls in your elimination squad, right?" Yusei recalled.
"Yeah. After Lucciano told Misty that Divine was the one who killed her brother, she got angry and summoned this lizard monster that… ate Divine." Aki told them.
"Wow, cool." Leo declared. Luna slapped him on the arm. "I mean, how awful."
"At the time I thought that monster was just the form Misty's powers took. But there was a glowing mark on her arm in the shape of a lizard." Aki continued. "It was the same kind of mark that was on the Skeleton Knight's arm when he summoned Uru."
"And the same kind of mark that showed up on my arm too." Kiryu cut in. "Which means I can summon one of those things too, right?"
"Kiryu, we don't know that for sure." Yusei told him.
"But if it is, than it means I'm a threat. Right?" Kiryu asked.
"…Not necessarily." Raven answered after a moment. "According to the legends I've heard, most of these 'Dark Signers' are consumed by the power of the Immortal they can summon and are driven mad. But there were said to be some who control the power of the Immortals too."
"But it means I could be a major threat to everyone." Kiryu pointed out. "I shouldn't be around you guys."
"No Kiryu. We need you now more than ever right now." Yusei told him. "Besides, if anyone can control the power of one of these Immortals, you can."
"Look, all this stuff about the Earthbound Immortals can wait!" Crow cut in. "Right now we have to figure out how we're going to save the gang."
"Right now we've got no choice but to play the Skeleton Knight's game." Yusei pointed out. "We'll have to go to the Daedalus Bridge and wait for this transportation he said would be coming."
"We have been trying to get to the city anyway." Bruno reminded them all. "This might be our only way at this point."
"Yeah. And once we're there, we can talk some sense into Jack and try to get him to help." Yusei decided.
Rex stood looking out the window of his office as the sun began to set. The Skeleton Knight appeared on the other side of his desk from a dark mist.
"Well brother, have you extended our invitation to Yusei and his friends?" Rex asked as he turned around.
"I have. Though it ended up being more of a declaration of war on my part." The knight replied. "I had to give them a little bit of incentive. In any case, I told them that a boat would be picking them up midnight tonight at the Daedalus Bridge."
"Ah, that old bridge. How foolish I was in my youth." Rex recalled.
"You did what you had to do, Rex." Skeleton Knight reminded him. "Just as I did what needed to be done all those years ago."
"I suppose." Rex admitted. "Anyway, now it seems we can begin the next phase of our plan."
Author's Note: I realized a little while after finishing Stardust and Roses that I never really showed just how big the Blackbird Gang was. So I tried to show that a little here in this chapter. I've actually tossed around the idea of doing a prequel that showed just how the gang formed. Still a few details I've got to work out though. So at the moment I'm not really sure if I'll do it.
One issue that came up even back during Stardust and Roses was how to include the Earthbound Immortals. In the end, there didn't really seem like any good way to do the AU without them. So I decided to reinvent them a little bit and depict them as protector deities that went bad. The "good" forms of some of the Immortals will show up later in the story. But this way those who are "Dark Signers" won't necessarily be evil.
Please review and let me know what you think.