Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, and the character of Raven is the creation of sammycrusinix.
Chapter 8: Night of the Immortals, Part 2
"You must have a death wish if you're so eager to take me on." Kiryu chuckled madly at Greiger as they took their starting positions on the road. "I think I'm gonna enjoy slaughtering you!"
Greiger ignored him and in seconds they took off at top speed. Yusei and the others followed from behind to watch. Kiryu's D-Wheel easily pulled ahead of Greiger and took the first curve.
"Track Field, activate!" Kiryu cackled. "Domain of the Earthbound!"
The city and highway vanished and transformed into a grey wasteland under a sky with thick black clouds. It was the same Track Field that the Skeleton Knight had used in his duel with Crow.
"I summon Infernity Knight in Defense Mode!" Kiryu announced. His black knight materialized onto the battlefield. "That ends my turn!"
Greiger drew his first card. "I activate the Spell card, Polymerization! From my hand I fuse Roar Vulcan and Vanguard to summon Ignition Beast Volcannon!"
Dropping onto a field through a vortex in the sky was a metal grey creature that resembled a dragon. It had four arms and a large horn on the top of its snout. On its shoulders were red metal three-chambered cannons. The dragon's rear end had a large round black sphere with a fuse on it.
"When Volcannon is summoned, I can destroy both it and an opponent's monster!" Greiger announced. "And when that monster is destroyed, my opponent takes damage equal to its ATK. So now I use Volcannon's effect to destroy Infernity Knight!"
The fuse attached to Volcannon ignited, and in seconds the mechanical dragon exploded into a wave of flames that consumed Kiryu and Infernity Knight. Kiryu emerged from the flames cackling, but his black knight was no more and his life points had dropped to 2600.
"That was a pretty good move." Kiryu praised. "But when Infernity Knight is destroyed, I can discard two cards to bring it back to the field!" The black knight reappeared alongside Kiryu.
"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Greiger announced.
Kiryu's grin widened as he drew his next card. "I sacrifice Infernity Knight to summon… Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu!"
Infernity Knight shattered and the mark on Kiryu's arm began to glow purple. Walls of purple flame appeared on both sides of the track and a pillar of blue light erupted into the sky. The light quickly faded to reveal Kiryu's shadowy giant.
"No way! He had that thing in his hand from the beginning?" a shocked Sect realized.
"That Greiger guy is gonna be crushed!" Crow assumed.
Carly and Jack had attempted to rush to the site of the supernatural event that Jack and the Fortune Fairies were sensing, but they had come to a dead stop. That was because Carly's car had been stopped by a very common phenomenon, a traffic jam. The two had been packed into a line of cars that seemed to stretch endlessly in both directions.
"What the bloody hell is the hold up?" Jack impatiently wondered. "It seems like we've been here for hours!"
Carly looked at a computer monitor mounted on the car dashboard. "Looks like someone's using the road to have a duel."
"How can you tell that?" Jack asked.
"Oh, I put a special kind of radar that detects active duel disks and D-Wheels." Carly explained, patting the top of the monitor. "I put it in to let me know if there are any exciting duels going on nearby. It cost a lot to install, but it was worth it."
"Well whatever's going on probably has something to do with that duel." Jack assumed.
Carly felt certain that Jack was right. Though she didn't say anything about it to him. All she knew for sure though was that ever since they had gotten closer to where they were headed she had been feeling a sort of strange energy rushing through her, almost as if she had touched an un-insulated wire. Her right arm felt like it was on fire.
"Ccapac Apu, attack him directly!" Kiryu gleefully commanded. "Hand of Death!"
The shadowy giant lowered it hand to crush Greiger into the ground. Yusei and the others quickly backed off to avoid being struck as well. Ccapac Apu's attack made contact, stopping Greiger in his tracks. But after a moment, the giant quickly pulled its hand away and Greiger's massive D-Wheel shot out from under it. Greiger was catching his breath and his life points had fallen to 1000.
Yusei managed to pull ahead of Greiger and ride alongside Kiryu. "This has to stop, Kiryu! This isn't you!"
"I'll be more than happy to kill you when I'm done Yusei." Kiryu laughed. "But for right now, back off!"
"Hey! You on the red D-Wheel!" Greiger interrupted. "Just sit back and let me handle your friend."
"Do as he says, Yusei!" Aki called up. "I think Greiger knows what he's doing."
Yusei gritted his teeth and slowed down in order to fall back. After a moment he had rejoined the other spectators of the duel.
"You seem to have a lot of people who care about you." Greiger observed to Kiryu. "They'd probably feel real bad if you screwed everything up now and let this darkness take you over."
"Just shut up and duel!" Kiryu shot back. "I'm done with my turn!"
"Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way." Greiger sighed as he drew his next card. "Because there's an Earthbound Immortal on the field, I can discard one card to Special Summon the Tuner monster, Spirit Cleanser Sky Dolphin!"
Flying down onto the battlefield was a creature that looked like a snow-white dolphin with flippers that were like a pair of wings. A long purple line ran down the sides of its body.
"Normally only one Earthbound Immortal can be on the field at a time, but Domain of the Earthbound waves that little rule." Greiger revealed. "So now I activate my Trap, Revival of the Immortals! With this card, I bring back the card I discarded to summon Sky Dolphin!"
Suddenly a glowing purple mark appeared on Greiger's right forearm. This mark was in the shape of what looked like a fish or a whale.
"He has and Earthbound Immortal too?" a stunned Crow realized.
"Rise up, Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua!" Greiger called.
Suddenly bursting up through the earth like a submarine beaching the surface of the water was a massive creature that looked like a black whale with a purple underside. The whale had a very unsettling, almost monstrous appearance.
"Hey, if this guy has an Earthbound Immortal too, how come he's not going crazy like Kiryu?" Leo wondered.
"I think Greiger's one of those who can control an Earthbound Immortal." Raven theorized.
"You mean like the Skeleton Knight?" Aki asked.
"Not quite like that." Raven answered.
"I tune the level two Sky Dolphin into the level ten Chacu Challhua for a level twelve Synchro Summon!" Greiger announced.
Sky Dolphin made a few clicking noises and became two rings made out of white light. The rings expanded and encircled the earthbound whale. They shrank and went inside Chacu Challhua, causing the whale's body to light up the sky.
"A shining resonance reverberates through heaven and earth! Its power purifies the land and its protector!" Greiger chanted. "Synchro Summon! Rise up, Earthbound Guardian Chacu Challhua!"
The light cleared and Chacu Challhua had completely transformed and had taken on a gentler appearance. Its body had become white with a purple underside, and it had gained large circular purple marks over both its now visible eyes. Jutting forward from its forehead was a long horn made of purple crystal.
"What's going on?" Kiryu demanded to know.
"This is the form Chacu Challhua had before it was consumed by darkness." Greiger explained. "I activate Chacu Challhua's effect! Once per turn, Chacu Challhua can negate the effects of an opponent's monster until the end of the turn. And the monster I target with this effect is Ccapac Apu!"
A beam of purple light shot forth from Chacu Challhua's horn and struck Kiryu's giant. The blue lines on Ccpac Apu's body turned grey and became dull.
"I now activate Sky Dolphin's effect from the Graveyard!" Greiger announced. "By banishing it, I can cut Ccapac Apu's ATK in half until the end of the turn!"
A ghostly version of Sky Dolphin appeared and flew through the sky at top speed. It struck Ccapa Apu in the chest and passed through the giant as though it were made of water.
"Chacu Challhua, purify the land of this evil!" Greiger commanded. "Shining Torpedo Spear!"
The white whale flew full speed at Ccapac Apu and struck the giant with its horn. The giant shattered into bits and Kiryu's life points dropped to 1200.
"There's more!" Greiger continued. "When Chacu Challhua destroys a monster in battle, my opponent takes damage equal to Chacu Challhua's DEF!"
Chacu Challhua struck Kiryu with another beam of light from its horn. Kiryu cried out as his life points dropped to zero. With the duel over, Chacu Challhua vanished and the land returned to normal. Yusei pulled up next to Kiryu. The silver-haired duelist was still catching his breath.
"You okay?" a concerned Yusei asked.
"…Yeah, I think so." Kiryu finally answered after a moment. A look of sanity had returned to his eyes. "I really went out of control, didn't I?"
"You're real lucky I was nearby." Greiger cut in. "Your friends probably would've had a harder time stopping you."
"Thanks for your help." Yusei told him. "But I'd like to know who you are and why you're here."
"Fine, but not here." Greiger replied. "I'm sure the city's security force will be coming here to investigate what happened, and I'd be a lot more comfortable not being seen by them."
"No problem. We can talk at Yusei's." Crow decided.
"I still think it's weird calling that place mine." Yusei admitted.
"Why? What kind of place is it?" Greiger inquired.
"A big two-story mansion with a guesthouse and a pool." Sect answered.
"Who the hell are you guys?" a surprised Greiger asked.
"It's a long story." Yusei sighed.
"Well, whatever. Let's just get the hell out of here." Greiger told them.
Jack and Carly finally arrived at the location where Carly had detected Carly the duel between Kiryu and Greiger. But by the time they had gotten there, everyone involved was long gone. An irritated Jack and a disappointed Carly stood on the side of the road by the car with the six Fortune Fairies.
"What the hell happened here?" Jack wondered. "Who was dueling?"
"Can you guys find out where whoever was dueling went?" Carly asked the fairies.
"I'm afraid not, Carly." Chee told them. "Whoever it was just dropped off the radar."
"I guess we came all the way out here for nothing." Hu sighed. "Not like I'm surprised though. Let's just go home."
"Darn it!" Carly cursed with a stomp of her right foot.
"Let's just go." Jack decided as he opened the car door. "It's pointless just staying out here."
Carly sighed and got back into the car with the fairies following behind. She had once again missed out on what she was sure was a big scoop.
Yusei and the others made it back to the mansion without incident. Once everyone had gathered in the drawing room, Greiger was ready to tell his tale.
"I come from a small village in South America." Greiger began. "I'd tell you what it was called, but the fact is it no longer exists. It was destroyed in an explosion half a year ago. I was out on the edge of town when it happened and was caught in the shockwave. But somehow I survived."
"What caused the explosion?" Yusei asked.
"After it happened, I wandered the wreckage looking for survivors." Greiger continued. "But I found no one. Not even any bodies. That's when I met this man. At least I think he was a man. He was riding this horse wrapped up like a mummy and wore armor that made him look like a skeleton. Or at least I think it was just armor."
"The Skeleton Knight!" Yusei realized.
"You know him?" a surprised Greiger asked.
"The guy took away a lot of our friends." Crow explained. "And he's done a lot of other stuff."
"Well this knight told me that if I wanted to find out what happened to my village, I should go to Neo Domino." Greiger explained. "After that he just vanished. It took me a while, but I finally got here. Now I just need to find the answers."
"We'd be glad to help you if you like." Yusei told him. "The Skeleton Knight's our enemy too."
"You seem to be a little more familiar with the guy. And I could probably use all the help I can get." Greiger replied. "Hell, I have no clue where to start looking."
"How are you able to control your Earthbound Immortal?" Raven suddenly asked.
"I was wondering when you were going to ask about that." Greiger smirked. "Not long after the explosion, the Immortal I had a connection to, Chacu Challhua, suddenly began to awaken. I was in the state your friend Kiryu was in, or at least pretty close to it. Lucky for me I was found by a hermit named Demak. He had a connection to an Earthbound Immortal too, only he had learned to control it. Demak taught me what he had learned. I'd probably be completely insane right now if it weren't for him."
"Then maybe you can teach what you learned to Kiryu." Raven suggested. "That way he won't go nuts again like he did tonight."
"If there really is a way for me to control this thing, I have to learn." Kiryu requested. "I don't want to be responsible for hurting my friends or anyone else."
"Fine with me." Greiger agreed as he stood up. "But it won't be easy. We'll start first thing in the morning."
Mikage yawned as she walked through the halls of the Security headquarters. It was almost 2:00 AM and she had been disturbed from her sleep by an urgent phone call. The caller had informed Mikage that he had found a lead on Jack, the first she had gotten in two day. Mikage entered a small basement office to find a scruffy blonde man in a rumpled Security uniform was sitting in front of a computer.
"This had better be good, Jensen." Mikage yawned.
"Sorry to wake you up so late, but I was going through some traffic camera footage from this evening and found this." Jensen explained. "I thought you'd want to see it as soon as possible."
The blue-haired woman looked at the monitor and saw an image of Jack and Carly on the side of the road with Carly's car. Mikage watched as the two got into the car and drove off.
"Were you able to get a license plate number?" a more alert Mikage asked.
"Afraid not. But I am running facial recognition on the girl." Jensen reported. "We should hopefully have something by morning."
"Let me know as soon as you find anything." Mikage ordered. "I want to know exactly who that woman is."
Author's Note: So in this chapter we've seen the first example of a "good" Earthbound Immortal. It took me a while to figure out the effects such a card would have. But so far, the Earthbound Guardians are turning out to be anti-Earthbound Immortal cards.
Please review and let me know what you think.