Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.
Chapter 15: Shining Heart
"Thanks to the reversed effect of your Black-Winged Dragon, Crusho's ATK has gone from 2600 to 5400, making him far stronger than your little dragon." Jaeger taunted. "Looks like your little combo backfired."
"Damn it!" Crow cursed. "I end my turn."
"Which unfortunately means that Crusho is no more." Jaeger revealed. The clown ogre suddenly shattered apart like glass and vanished. "The downside of Funhouse Mirror is that it destroys the monster it's used on. Fortunately I have a monster far more powerful than Crusho at my disposal." He drew his next card and grinned. "I summon Fiendish Clown-Necro the Ghoul!"
Appearing on the battlefield was a very slender frail-looking clown wearing a black bodysuit with red polka dots and a frilled red collar and a pair of oversized red shoes. The hair hanging from the sides of his baldhead was long, grey, and stringy and the fangs protruding from his mouth were yellow with age. In his right hand, the clown held a knarred wooden staff with a white skull on top.
"When Necro the Ghoul is summon to the field, I can return a Fiendish Clown monster from my Graveyard to my hand." Jaeger explained. "So I'll use his effect to bring Crusho back."
Jaeger's clown necromancer laughed evilly as he tapped the ground with the end of his staff twice. A ghostly green version of Crusho then erupted from the mouth of the skull atop Necro's staff, giggling madly as it returned to Jaeger's hand.
"You mean I have to deal with that thing again?" Crow asked with a shudder.
"Don't be silly." Jaeger chuckled. "Crusho was just the opening act. Now the time has come for the main event! I activate a Ritual Spell, Phantasmal Circus!"
Suddenly appearing in the middle of Jaeger's side of the field was a large pedestal, the kind usually seen in the center ring of a circus. It was black and red, with the colors being divided by a jagged line.
"To price of admission for Phantasmal Circus are monsters who's level add up to at least eight." Jaeger explained. "Fortunately the combined levels of Crusho and Necro more than add up to the needed cost. So I now offer them both up to Ritual Summon Fiendish Clown King-Phantasmo the Great!"
Crusho suddenly reappeared on the field and somersaulted onto the pedestal that had been created by Jaeger's Spell card. Necro then somersaulted onto the top of Crusho. The two clowns then vanished in a flash of pink smoke. In their place was a much larger clown with long gangly arms. He stood like a chimp and wore a red and black outfit like a court jester's. Like the other clowns, the clown king had a large red nose. The left side of his face was pitch black and had a silver millennium eye in place of a normal one. There was no mouth visible on that side of his face, but the right side showed a grinning mouth with sharp yellow fangs. The eye on the white side of the clown king's face was blood red.
"Wait a minute. You went through all that to summon a monster with just a thousand ATK?" a surprised Crow observed.
"There's more to this game than just ATK points, my dear Crow." Jaeger chuckled. "Phantasmo, attack Black-Winged Dragon! Nightmare Shadow Puppet!"
After twisting his head in a very unnatural way, Phantasmo brought his two clawed hands together to make the look like a fanged mouth. A massive black shadow in the form of a monstrous head burst forth from the hands and devoured Black-Winged Dragon in an instant. When it was over, Crow's life points had fallen to 350.
"What… just happened?" a stunned Crow wondered.
"When Phantasmo the Great battles a Synchro monster, it gains that monster's ATK during the battle." Jaeger explained. "This effect applies even when Phantasmo is being attacked by a Synchro monster. Which means that someone like you who uses Synchro monsters is powerless against him!"
"Crud!" Crow cursed.
"I'll set a card on the field and end my turn." Jaeger announced.
Crow looked at his hand and scowled. There wasn't anything in his hand that could help take down the clown king. He could attack with Zephyros, but Crow was sure that Jaeger had set a Trap for it. It seemed like he didn't have any options left.
"Don't give up Crow!" Raven called. "There's still a way for you to win! Someone like you with a heart that shines with hope can always find a way to win!"
"A Shining Heart?" Crow thought to himself with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't be ridiculous." Jaeger scoffed. "There's no way that either of you can get out of this. Victory is as good as mine."
"Like hell!" Crow denied. "Raven's right. Things may look bad for me right now, but there's no way I'll ever lose to a freak like you!"
Suddenly the dragon mark on Crow's arm lit up. At the same time, the top card of Crow's deck began to shine with a crimson light. As soon as Crow drew the card, the light faded to reveal a card that Crow had never seen before. It was a Spell card that showed an open silver chest containing a single black feather. Carved into the lid of the chest was the seal of the Crimson Dragon.
"I activate a Spell card, Black Feather Preparation!" Crow announced. "By banishing Gale the Whirlwind from my Graveyard, I can add a certain pair of cards from my deck to my hand!"
A ghostly image of Gale briefly appeared on the battlefield before flying off into the distance. An instant later, two red glowing cards popped out of the center of Crow's deck. The cards stopped glowing as soon as Crow added them to his hand.
"Looks like you're not the only one with a Ritual monster, you creep." Crow smirked. "I activate a Ritual Spell, Rite of Black Feathers!"
Appearing on the battlefield was an ornate silver torch that had yet to be lit. Carved into the front of the torch's head was the seal of the Crimson Dragon.
"Normally, I'd have to sacrifice a monster from my hand or the field with a level of four or more. But Rite of Black Feathers also lets me banish a Blackwing monster from my Graveyard to use as the whole tribute instead." Crow explained. "So I'll banish Mistral the Silver Shield to summon Blackwing-Flare the Dragon Star Priest!"
Mistral reappeared on the battlefield, only to explode into a mass of black feathers. One of the feathers landed in the torch, igniting into a red flame. The flame expanded and shot onto the battlefield. In moments the fire cleared to reveal a well-muscled man with tan skin clothed in white robes. He had long orange hair, and atop his head was a large headdress in the shape of a black bird. On his back was a pair of black-feathered wings, and painted on his face were red marks like the yellow marks on Crow's cheeks.
"When Flare the Dragon Star Priest is summoned, I can negate the effects of an opponent's monster until the end of the turn!" Crow revealed. "And of course the monster I choose is that creepy clown king of yours!"
The Dragon Star Priest raised his hands forward and shot Phantasmo with a ball of red light. The seal of the Crimson Dragon appeared where the projectile struck, and the clown began to crackle with red electricity.
"Now I activate another of Flare's effects!" Crow announced. "Once per turn, I can summon a Dark Synchro monster from my Graveyard. And the monster I choose to summon is Black-Winged Dragon!" Flare clapped his hands together and Crow's dragon reappeared in a burst of black flames. "Of course because Black-Winged Dragon was summoned by Flare's effect, his ATK is now zero."
"Then what was the point of that move?" Jaeger asked with a quirked brow.
"Well you see Flare the Dragon Star Priest isn't just a Ritual monster. He's also a Tuner!" Crow revealed.
"What! A Ritual Tuner?" Jaeger exclaimed.
"I tune the level four Flare into the level eight Black-Winged Dragon for a level twelve Synchro Summon!" Crow announced.
Flare clapped his hands together again and changed into four rings of crimson fire. The rings expanded and encircled Black-Winged Dragon.
"Pitch-black winds gather now and become a storm of justice!" Crow chanted. "Primal Synchro! Take off, Blackhawk Dragon!"
The rings of fire shrank and enclosed around Black-Winged Dragon, causing him to explode into a pillar of black flames. The flames died down to reveal a much larger dragon. The new dragon had four legs and much of its body was covered in black feathers. Its legs were silver and ended in large talons and its bird-like head had a silver beak. On the front of its chest it had a red diamond-shaped gem, and its tail ended in a silver blade that resembled the tail of the Crimson Dragon.
"Impressive… but I'm afraid you've sealed your doom!" Jaeger laughed. "I activate my Trap, Balloon Mine!" Suddenly appearing in the center of the battlefield was a balloon in the image of a clown's head. "When my opponent Synchro Summons in the presence of a Fiendish Clown or Fiendish Clown King, my opponent takes damage equal to that monster's ATK!"
The balloon began to laugh madly and suddenly expanded rapidly. Just when it looked like it was going to fill the entire room, the balloon exploded in a flash of fire and smoke. But when the smoke cleared, Crow's life points were untouched. The gem on Blackhawk Dragon's chest was glowing with a crimson light.
"What! What happened?" Jaeger demanded to know. "How did you escape my Trap?"
"Because Blackhawk Dragon is on the field, any effect damage either of us would take is negated." Crow explained. "Instead, that damage gets added to Blackhawk Dragon's ATK. And thanks to your Trap, his ATK has just doubled to 6600!"
"What!" Jaeger exclaimed.
"I'm not done! I set one card on the field, which causes Zphyros the Elite to be destroyed!" Crow announced. Zephyros shattered into bits of light. "Then by returning that card to my hand, I can summon Zephyros back to the field!" Zephyros then reappeared in a kneeling position and the gem on Blackhawk Dragon's chest glowed brighter. "And of course the 400 points of damage I would've taken is added to Blackhawk Dragon's ATK, making it 7000!"
"You're joking, right?" a horrified Jaeger asked.
"I'll set one card back on the field to destroy Zephyros, then send it back to my hand to summon Zephyros back to the field!" Crow announced. Zephyros shattered and reappeared, causing Blackhawk Dragon's gemstone to glow even brighter. "I set the same card and destroy Zehpyros again, and send that card back to my hand and summon him back to the field!" The bird warrior shattered and reappeared once more, causing the gem of Crow's dragon to glow brighter than before. "You know what come next, clown. Your clown king is about to be fried!"
Suddenly Jaeger burst out laughing. "Fool! Did you forget that Phantasmo gains the ATK of any Synchro monster it battles?"
"Did you forget that Flare the Dragon Star Priest negated Phantasmo's effects this turn?" Crow reminded him.
"…Oh…" Jaeger suddenly realized.
"Blackhawk Dragon, attack Phantasmo the Great!" Crow commanded. "Ebony Flare!"
Blackhawk Dragon opened his beak and hit Phantasmo with a massive blast of pitch-black flames. Jaeger was struck by the blast as well and his life points crashed from 6800 to zero. With the duel over, Crow's monsters vanished from the room.
"Now, time for you to tell us what we came here to find out." Crow reminded Jaeger as he advanced on him.
"Oh… of course." The clown replied with a frightened smile. "Well about that."
Suddenly Jaeger threw a smoke bomb and quickly ran out of the office. Just as the smoke started to clear, Crow and Raven ran out of the office in hopes of catching the little clown. On the way out of the door, they heard the sound of a face being struck by a hard moving object. When the couple got to the hallway, they found Greiger standing over an unconscious Jaeger.
"Hey Greiger." Crow greeted. "What're you doing here?"
"I decided to try and snoop around Goodwin's office to try and find out something about the Skeleton Knight or what happened to my village." Greiger explained. "Then I saw this little… whatever he is, running out of the office."
"Wow, Raven and I came here for the same thing." Crow explained. "I guess great minds think alike, huh?"
"The two of you can pat each other on the back later." Raven told them. "Right now we should get out of here before anyone else shows up."
"Right. We'll take that creepy little clown with us." Crow decided. "He should be able to tell us what we want to know."
Morning had come to the Fudo mansion, and everyone accept the twins had gathered in the drawing room. Jaeger was tied to a small wooden chair in the center of the room.
"Let me go this instant!" Jaeger insisted.
"We will as soon as you tell us what we want to know." Yusei calmly told him. "What's Goodwin really up to? And how are the Skeleton Knight and Greiger's village involved?"
"I'm not saying a word." Jaeger replied.
"Talk, you little worm! Or else I'll stomp you so flat they'll have to scrape you off the bottom of my shoe!" Greiger threatened as he picked Jaeger up by the collar, chair and all.
"Okay! I'll talk! I'll talk!" a frightened Jaeger complied. "The village you speak of was destroyed for a test! Director Goodwin wanted to know what would happen if the old Momentum Reactor in Satellite was reactivated!"
"What!" Yusei exclaimed.
"Yusei, if that reactor was to be turned on…" Bruno began.
"I know." Yusei nodded with a grim expression.
"Why, what would happen if that reactor was turned back on?" Aki asked.
"That reactor is what caused the Zero Reverse that created Satellite." Yusei reminded everyone. "If it were to be turned back on, it'd go critical like before."
"But then that would mean all of Satellite would be destroyed!" a horrified Crow realized.
"Why is Goodwin trying to turn the old reactor back on?" Yusei asked Jaeger.
"I don't know, I swear!" Jaeger whimpered. "And I don't know anything about a Skeleton Knight either! Please don't kill me!"
"We've gotten all we can out of this guy." Greiger decided as he dropped Jaeger to the ground.
"So now what?" Sect wondered. "How're we gonna stop Goodwin from wasting all of Satellite and find the Skeleton Knight?"
"I think the only thing to do now is confront Goodwin directly." Yusei decided.
Before the discussion could continue any further, the sound of the mansion's doorbell rang throughout the entire house. Yusei left the room to go answer the door. When he opened it, he found Mikage standing on the other side.
"Mr. Fudo, I'm Mikage, Jack Atlas' personal assistant." The bluenette greeted with a stern expression. "Currently Mr. Atlas is missing. I was wondering if he ended up coming here."
"Sorry, but Jack's not here." Yusei informed her. "The only clue we have is that he might be with some girl named Carly."
"You mean he's gone back to that… that woman?" an angered Mikage asked.
"Do you know where this Carly is?" Yusei asked.
"Of course I do!" Mikage answered. "And I'm going to go back there to get Mr. Atlas back!"
"Do you mind if a few of us come with?" Yusei requested. "There's something we need Jack's help with."
Author's Note: In the manga, Jaeger used a Ritual monster that was also anti-Synchro. But as I mentioned before, I decided that he'd use a new set. So I came up with Ritual monster that kind of had a similar effect. Just my way of trying to bring Ritual monsters back.
Please review and let me know what you think.