Author's Note: I don't know what it is about this story that keeps causing it to get delayed. Yesterday my town had a power outage that lasted the entire morning. And after it was over I was too stressed to do any writing because of some personal stuff that happened during the blackout. But enough about me. On with the thrilling conclusion to Jack and Carly's duel.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, and the character of Raven is the creation of sammycrusinix.
Chapter 13: Burning Soul
"With so little of your life points left, I could've just attacked you directly with Fire and brought this duel to an end." Carly remarked. "But that would be letting you off easy. I want you to suffer, my dear Jack. And my Witch Queen of the Netherworld has 2800 ATK, more than enough power to destroy you in an instant. Witch Queen, attack Jack directly!"
"You won't get the chance!" Jack interrupted. "Activate Trap, Fiendish Chain! This card not only stops your witch from attacking, it negates her effects as well!"
Just as Carly's Witch Queen was about to raise her scythe to attack, a long chain covered in blue flames shot out of Jack's Trap card. The chain swiftly wrapped around the Witch Queen's midsection and bound her arms.
"Fine! You may have bought yourself another turn, but next time your finished!" Carly angrily declared. "I end my turn."
Jack drew his next card and looked at his hand. All he had was a pair of Tuner monsters, nothing that he could use to turn the duel around. He did have a card set on the field that he could use to bring back Red Dragon Archfiend and take out the Witch Queen, but the card would only bring back the dragon for one turn. After that, he would be wide open to an attack. And with his life points so low, Jack knew that even Carly's weaker monsters could take him out in one hit. Jack had landed himself if a pretty bad situation, and there didn't seem to be anyway out.
"Seems you're in quite a bind." A familiar voice remarked. Jack looked to his right and saw Dark Jack hovering alongside him with an arrogant grin. "Care to reconsider my offer?"
"Oh, it's you again." Jack replied with an annoyed expression. "I don't have time to deal with you right now, so scram!"
"I think it would be in your best interests to make time for me. After all, it's not like you have a lot of options right now." Dark Jack pointed out. "You know it's actually rather amusing that the pathetic wench who took you in turned out to be able to call upon a being with powers similar to my own. Only her dark guardian is an insect compared to me."
"What are you talking about?" Jack demanded to know. "Just what the hell are you?"
"Hey Jack! Do you mind getting on with our duel already?" an annoyed Carly requested. "Quit talking to yourself and make your move so I can kill you!"
"See what I mean? That pathetic girl doesn't even have to power to perceive my existence." Dark Jack chuckled. "With my power you'll be able to crush her easily. And not just her, you'll be able to annihilate Yusei and any other fool who would oppose you! You'd be a true king! A god! All you have to do is accept my offer and this world can be yours to rule or destroy!"
"Look Crimson Devil, or whatever your name is, I'm not agreeing to any sort of deal until you tell me exactly what you are!" Jack told him.
"Fair enough." Dark Jack agreed. "I suppose if we are going to be working together you have a right to know that. I am a being that has existed for ten thousand years. I am the power to destroy whole armies and make gods cower in fear! I am destruction and chaos itself! I am… Red Nova!"
"…The power to make gods cower in fear, eh?" Jack chuckled sarcastically. "Do you really expect me to buy that?"
"You're going to have to take a leap of faith and trust me." Dark Jack replied. "You don't have any other options at the moment. Join with me. Let me handle things and I'll get you out of this duel."
"What about Carly?" Jack asked. "What happens to her?"
"What difference does that make?" Dark Jack chuckled. "If she dies, than so be it. That girl is worthless anyway. Just let me run the show and I'll take care of everything."
Something seemed to go off in Jack's mind when the demon said that it didn't matter if Carly lived or died. It mattered to Jack a great deal. Sure Carly was trying to kill him at the moment, but he still cared about her. And the fact that Dark Jack thought that Carly was insignificant really ticked Jack off.
"…Just who the hell do you think you are?" Jack told the demon. "How dare you treat Carly like she was nothing?"
"Excuse me?" Dark Jack replied with a raised eyebrow.
Suddenly Jack cried out and his body suddenly produced a flaming red aura, startling the demon. His eyes began to glow red and the mark on his arm blazed to life.
The hummingbird mark on Carly's arm began to glow as well. "Hey! What's going on here?"
"What are you doing?" Dark Jack demanded to know.
"I swore that I would never be used by anyone again! Not by Goodwin, and certainly not by you!" Jack told him. "I'll take your damn power, but we're going to be doing things my way!"
The hour had grown late as Yusei and Aki stood out on the balcony of the Fudo mansion looking up at the night sky. Just as the two of them were about to head inside for the evening, both of their dragon marks suddenly blazed to life. But they were shining brighter than they ever had before. The pain was so intense that Yusei and Aki both nearly dropped to their knees.
"Yusei, what's going on?" a concerned Aki asked.
"I… don't know." Yusei replied through gritted teeth. "But… I think Jack has something to do with it somehow."
At that moment, Greiger staggered onto the balcony with his own whale mark glowing bright. "Yusei. I think Red Nova is finally awakening. It's the only thing that explains what's going on."
"If you're right, than what does that mean for Jack?" Yusei asked.
"Probably nothing good." Greiger grimly assumed. "But right now I'm a little more concerned by what this means for the rest of the world."
Rex shot up in bed. His sleep had been disturbed by a painful burning sensation on his back. Rex got out of bed and walked over to the mirror. He turned his back to the mirror to see his large condor-shaped mark glowing like a star. Never before had the silver haired man felt such terrible power. He could tell that the Earthbound Immortal was terrified by something.
"Brother!" the Skeleton Knight's voice called out inside his head. "Are you sensing the same thing that I am?"
"I am." Rex replied. "I never imagined that such a terrifying power could exist."
"What do we do?" Skeleton Knight asked telepathically.
"I don't know." Rex answered. "But this power could prove to be a threat to our plans."
"Because my opponent controls a Synchro monster, I can Special Summon Synclone Resonator from my hand!" Jack announced.
Appearing on the battlefield was a monster that looked similar to Dark Resonator wearing purple robes and a green frilled collar. The banner that hung on the front of his chest bore a red and blue spade. On its back were two large blades, one yellow and one green. Together they formed the shape of a large spade.
"I now activate my Trap, Archfiend's Roar! With this card I bring Red Dragon Archfiend back from the Graveyard for one turn!" Jack announced. The dragon reappeared on the field from a burst of black flames. "Now, since I control a Synchro monster, I Special Summon Creation Resonator from my hand!"
Another Resonator monster materialized onto the track. This one wore mostly blue robes, and adorning the banner on its chest was a gold symbol shaped like an inverted S. On the demon's back was a large silver fan with four blue blades and powder-blue wings at its base.
"What are you doing?" Dark Jack demanded to know.
"I tune the level three Creation Resonator and the level one Synclone Resonator into the level eight Red Dragon Archfiend for a level twelve Synchro Summon!" Jack announced.
The two Resonator demons clinked their tuning forks, and together they became four rings made of red flames. The rings encircled Red Dragon Archfiend and formed a spherical cocoon of fire. At the same time, ropes of crimson fire shot out of the mark of Jack's arm and latched onto Dark Jack.
"Wait! No! No! NOOOOOO!" Dark Jack cried out before turning into flames and getting sucked into the mark. An instant later, a fiery card appeared in Jack's right hand.
"The King and The Devil, here and now, shall become as one! A Raging Spirit! Lift up the very cries of Creation itself!" Jack chanted. "Synchro Summon! Come forth, Red Nova Dragon!"
The ball of flames that had enveloped Red Dragon Archfiend exploded and a new dragon emerged from the fire. This new dragon was larger and was mainly bright red and dark black. On his back were four very large blade-like wings. Blade-like spikes ran down the length of his back, and the end of its tail resembled a large axe. On the back of the dragon's head was a large horn that went straight back, while on the sides of his head were two smaller horns that curved forward. On the front of the dragon's chest was a small blue diamond.
"What kind of dragon is that supposed to be?" a shocked Carly wondered.
"Red Nova Dragon gains 500 extra ATK for every Tuner monster I have in my Graveyard." Jack explained. "Right now I have Dark Resonator, Synclone Resonator, and Creation Resonator in the Graveyard. Which means Red Nova's ATK goes up from 3500 to 5000!"
"Wait, what?" Carly asked with disbelief.
"Red Nova Dragon, attack Witch Queen of the Netherworld!" Jack commanded. "Burning Soul!"
Red Nova roared and became covered in flames. An expression of terror was on the Witch Queen's face as the demon dragon flew into her at full speed, shattering her into bits of black energy. Red Nova's attack continued and the dragon flew into Carly, knocking her D-Wheel into the air and dropping her life points to 1800. Just when it looked like Carly was about to crash, Red Nova came back around and gently set her D-Wheel back onto the road, allowing the duel to continue.
"Are you all right?" Jack asked Carly.
"None of your damn business!" Carly shot back. "What do you care anyway?"
"Carly… I'm sorry about what happened." Jack spoke. "When I found out that you were a reporter I overreacted. I know you're not the kind of person who would exploit me like that."
"Yeah right!" Carly scoffed. "Like I'm supposed to believe that?"
"I'm not lying to you!" Jack insisted. "I actually feel bad about what happened!"
"Save it!" Carly told him. "Even if I did believe you… it's too late now. I activate my face down Spell card, Fires of Doomsday! With this card, I summon two Doomsday Tokens to the field!"
Appearing alongside Carly were two small demons made out of black flames. Each only had one eye and tendril-like arms.
"Fine then. I end my turn." Jack announced.
"Good. That means I can activate one of the effects of Witch Queen of the Netherworld." Carly grinned. "During the end of a turn when my Witch Queen is sent to the Graveyard, I can banish her to add an Earthbound Immortal to my hand!"
A card with a black aura popped out of the middle of Carly's deck. Jack had a feeling that there was something strange about that card. And whatever it was had to be responsible for Carly's behavior somehow.
Carly drew her next card. "I now sacrifice my two Doomsday Tokens to summon the monster I just added to my hand! Arise, Earthbound Immortal Aslla piscu!"
The two fire demons exploded and a pillar of orange light shot up from the ground. The light soon faded to reveal a massive shadowy hummingbird with orange lines marking its body.
"Because of Future Visions, Aslla piscu gets sent a turn into the future. And when she leaves the field by a way other than her own effect, she destroys all my opponent's monsters and inflicts 800 points of damage for each one!" Carly revealed. "Game over, Jackie!"
Just as the giant bird began to fade from the battlefield, she shrieked and stabbed down at Red Nova Dragon with her beak, creating a massive explosion. Carly began to laugh madly at her victory, but her laughter was quickly cut short. When the smoke cleared, Red Nova was still on the battlefield and Jack's life points were untouched.
"Hey, what the…?" a stunned Carly began to ask.
"Nice move, but Red Nova Dragon can't be destroyed by my opponent's card effects." Jack explained.
"Uh… you know Jack, maybe we should talk this out." Carly suggested.
"Since you seem to be out of moves, I'm starting my turn!" Jack decided as he drew another card. "This ends now! Red Nova Dragon, attack Carly directly! Burning Soul!"
Red Nova roared and became shrouded in flames. The dragon flew into Carly at full speed, knocking her off her D-Wheel and bringing her life points to zero. With the duel finally at an end, the surrounding city returned to normal and Jack's demon dragon vanished. Jack brought his D-Wheel to a stop and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Carly seemed to be okay. As he dismounted, he noticed that they had ended up in front of Carly's apartment building.
Jack walked over and offered Carly a hand. "Are you hurt?"
"Get away from me!" Carly spat as she slapped his hand away. "I don't need your help."
"The hell you don't!" Jack told her as he suddenly picked her up.
"Hey! Put me down!" Carly ordered as she began hitting him with the sides of her fists. Jack was unfazed as he began carrying her to the door of the building. "I said put me down!"
Annoyed, Jack pinned her up against the wall. "Will you cut that the hell out?"
"I said let me go!" Carly ordered again as she continued to struggle. "Why the hell are you doing this?"
"Because I care about you, you stupid girl!" Jack told her, nearly shouting.
Carly continued to struggle, and in the heat of the moment Jack suddenly kissed her on the mouth. Carly responded by kissing back and jamming her tongue in. With their mouths still locked, the smaller reporter put her arms around Jack's neck and wrapped her legs around his waist. Jack responded by carrying her into the building. It seemed that the night was far from over.
Author's Note: The biggest challenge during the outline stage of the duel was how Jack was going to summon Red Nova Dragon. Because of Future Visions, normal summoning even one of the Tuners was out of the question. But I took another look at all the Resonator monsters and discovered the anime only Synclone Resonator, and the problem was solved. My one regret was that I didn't get to show off the full power of Carly's Synchro monsters. But then this won't be her only duel.
I hope nobody minds the ending of this chapter. Going in, I wasn't sure how everyone might react. But I decided to take a chance anyway. So by all means, please review and let me know what you think. And stay tuned for the next chapter.