Here's the next installment.

It was Bommer's turn now. He drew his cards.

"I'm sending one card to the Graveyard to activate one of my Giant Bomber AIRRAID's special abilities. Also, since the card I'm sending is Dark Sea Float, I get to draw one card from my deck."

He drew one card. His AIRRAID focused its guns on her Shiba-Warrior Taro. This was what she was hoping for.

"I'm going to destroy your Shiba-Warrior Taro with this effect, since I can't destroy it in battle. Just be thankful this effect won't hit you with direct damage."

She raised her hand and revealed a facedown.

"I activate my Blast with Chain and Equip it to Shiba-Warrior Taro!"

A pack of Dynamite with a malicious chain appeared in front of her warrior. It barked and took the chain and began to swirl it around.

"That won't help you, Sidney. I can destroy you trap with the effect of my AIRRAID. Are you looking to get yourself hurt by my monster?"

She was hailed with another round of bullets as her lifepoints dropped by another 800 points and only 1400 remained. Yusei was frightened especially since Bommer still had 3200 lifepoints. It would take a real beating to catch up with him.

Just then, Sidney smiled. Bommer blinked.

"You find this amusing?"

"Yes, because I wanted you to destroy my Blast with Chain!"

The smoke cleared and her Shiba-Warrior Taro was gone, but the Blast with Chain was still there and the Dynamite was lit. Bommer ground his teeth.

"If you destroy my Blast with Chain as an Equip Card, I'm allowed to return the favor by destroying one other card on the field. I think your Giant Bomber AIRRAID is the one I choose to destroy."

The chain shook as the string ran out and the Dynamite exploded in Bommer's face. His AIRRAID fell to pieces and collapsed before disappearing into the shadows. Crow pumped his fist.

"Wow! I didn't see that one coming! Great comeback!"

Sidney nodded, but turned her attention back to Bommer. She still needed to bring down his lifepoints if she wanted to win the duel. Bommer set down a pair of facedowns in his Trap and Spell Card Zone and a facedown defense monster before ending his turn.

"You think you're clever because you destroyed my monster, don't you? I've got a surprise for you. It may not be the last you've seen of my Giant Bomber AIRRAID."

"Probably not." Sidney drew her card and was happy to see that it was Fog Dragon. She would need it later for a Synchro Summon.

She felt pretty beat up after the waves of bullets. Sidney had been hit a couple of times and had a couple of wounds. She was in excruciating pain. Her Signers marks were shining more intensely with Yusei and Luna nearby, and the dark power emitting from Bommer and his deck amplified her physical pain.

At least for a turn or two, she was relieved from being pelted. It would give her time to tap into her abilities and use the ability of the Tail Birthmark to recover from some of her agony.

Sidney didn't want Yusei or the others to know she was hurting so much, but she knew she couldn't hide it. She ceased thinking about her injuries and continued her turn.

"I'm summoning Baby Dragon in attack mode."

Baby Dragon emerged, fluttering its orange wings. It squealed, its green eyes fixated in Bommer. He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm also switching my Skull Dog Marron to attack mode. Thanks to Gaia Power, it's got a decent 1800 attack points."

Her skeletal dog got up and howled at Bommer. It scratched at the ground in anticipation. Baby Dragon hovered above Sidney's head, gathering itself to launch an attack.

Then, Sidney's mind wandered back an initial thought she had had before the duel began. She was so caught in protecting herself and the others that she had forgotten about it until now.

"Bommer…Tell me about what happened at the Fortune Cup."

Bommer wasn't sure why she was asking this all of a sudden. Sidney was still wondering what had happened. He said that his duel with Yusei in the Semi-Finals is where everything went wrong. Yusei would know; Crow also seemed to know something about it. But she needed him to tell her himself.

"You said you didn't judge in the wrong people unless they gave you a reason. Well, I'm extending that courtesy to you."

"I see." Bommer.

"I mean, what is it that you have against Yusei? Is it really worth destroying humanity over?" Sidney felt herself shaking, a sign of anger.

"Yusei prevented me from making Goodwin pay for what he did to me. He destroyed my family!"

Sidney's eyes widened. It was Goodwin that was really the person to blame. Sidney found that it made perfect sense. After what she'd been through with Goodwin, nothing of the sort would surprise her.

"I come from a rural village in South America, and all I had was my little brother and sister. But something happened…something terrible happened to my village…"

He paused.

"Goodwin recruited me to work for an organization called Ylliaster, a group in which he held great prominence. He hired me to participate in the Fortune Cup tournament to fight other duelists and confirm whether or not they bore the mark of the Dragon…"

"And you dueled Leo and Yusei?" She asked, recalling what he had told her before. He nodded.

"Leo had been pretending to be his sister so he could participate in the Fortune Cup, since Luna was the one who was invited. So, I wasn't able to confirm a mark. Then, Goodwin had me duel Yusei in the next round…I was unable to reveal that he was a Signer, either. But, the night before the duel…I discovered the truth about what happened to my village!"

"Goodwin lied."

"Yes. He told me that an Earthquake occurred and that if I completed my task, he would send funding to help rebuild it and make things better for my family. The truth was, my village was not even there anymore…

He had used it as a testing ground to try and summon his precious Crimson Dragon, and wound up destroying the whole village! There was nothing left!"

That couldn't be true, Sidney thought. At least, the Crimson Dragon wouldn't hurt anyone on purpose, would it? Or was it Goodwin's futile attempt to summon it? Would he even try to summon the Crimson Dragon without the help of the Signers?

"So, after my defeat, I revealed that I knew the truth. I was going to make him pay! I shot into the sky with the Runner…I was planning to crash through the window and make him feel the wrath of justice…"

Bommer glared at Yusei.

"Then you got in my way! I would've had him! But, he got off with a torn jacket and a broken window. If joining the Dark Signers is what it takes to see that justice is served…then I have no choice…"

Yusei frowned.

"But you always had a choice Bommer! I said I would help you! He wasn't just going to get away with it…"

"He almost did, Yusei…because you stopped me. I was arrested and he was going to have me executed!" Bommer roared. Sidney gasped. Goodwin would have someone killed on his behalf? After what she had heard…She was feeling angry herself. But, Yusei was trying to do the right thing, wasn't he?

"Was…you mean, he didn't?" Sidney was confused.

"No, a Dark Signer named Rudger opened a trap door and I fell into Momentum… the Ener-D Reactor. I was their prisoner until that happened."

Sidney clenched a fist.

"That doesn't make any sense at all!" Crow shook his head, "You're saying you decided to work for the people who killed you just so you could get revenge! That's just like when you were working for Goodwin, who lied to you about your family!"

"Stay out of this!" Bommer protested.

Crow sighed.

"Look, if there's anyone who understands, it's me," said Crow, "Etsuo and I managed to escape the Black Fog that covers Satellite…but the kids I looked after…Almost everyone is gone. And guess what? It's the Dark Signers who took'em!"

Midori at the mention of her grandfather then began to wonder where he was. He was with Sidney's friend Laura, that much she knew…But were they ok?"

"Bommer, I can't imagine how much it hurts. Sure, my dad died not too long ago…but you've lost everything. You're entire village...I don't hold it against you for wanting Goodwin to fess up. I mean…"

"It's true that Goodwin was also threatening Yusei at the time. His friends were being held prisoner by Goodwin so Yusei would duel in the Fortune Cup. But, that didn't make my cause any less significant."

"Of course not…But, I was thinking about what Goodwin did to me. Let's just say I have my share of complaints against him…"

There was a silence.
"Aren't you going to finish your turn, Sidney?" His attention was called back to the duel. Sidney huffed.

"Just know this. Yusei didn't destroy your village. If he said he wanted to help you, I believe him. I have every reason to…"

"Well, I believed him to. I respected him. But, when push came to shove, he made his choice and I made mine."

"That doesn't mean he deserves to be punished. Nobody here does. As far as I'm concerned, the only really enemy here is Goodwin…and for certain that Earthbound Immortal of yours that's hiding in your deck somewhere!"

She pointed at his facedown monster.

"Baby Dragon! Attack his monster with your fireball!"

Her Baby Dragon let go of a hot sphere of flames from its mouth that hurdled towards his monster. The monster was revealed to be a lifeboat manned by two masked fiends and sickly, ghostlike passengers. It was lit ablaze and disintegrated.

"You may have destroyed my Dark Sea Rescue," noted Bommer, "But I'm activating a trap known as Dark Sea Salvager! I can exchange a card in my hand for a card in my graveyard and add that card to my hand. I'm going to send a card to my grave to add Dark Sea Rescue back to my hand!"

The image of the Dark Sea Rescue flashed before Sidney's eyes as a ghostly crane hoisted it up from the bowels of the earth. The card returned to Bommer's hand. He discarded a card. She wondered what card it was and if it mattered or not. Still, she knew he needed his Dark Sea Rescue for something, or he wouldn't he retrieved it.

"Next, my Skull Dog Marron will attack you directly. And thanks to my Gaia Power field spell, that's a whopping 1800 points of damage!"

The tree behind her emitted a great light and the ground trembled briefly as the skeletal hound lunged at Bommer and bit him. But, before its teeth could sink in, Bommer ripped the dog from his arm. The dog squirmed and scratched, howling in a shallow key. His lifepoints were now 1400. The attack left him with the sizable bite wound in his arm and several scratch marks. He staggered a bit, feeling that the attack had done more of a number on him than he thought. But, he quickly regained his footing and the dog took one last swipe at him before returning to Sidney's side of the field.

He then smirked; a feeling assured it wouldn't happen again.

"You got lucky."

Sidney couldn't help but agree, at least in her thoughts. Her turn was then over and she expected nothing less than a full-fledged counterattack… maybe even an Earthbound Immortal.

Bommer drew his card. He started his turn by throwing the card down onto his field. His hidden trap would be useful for later.

"Now, I special summon…Dark Tuner- Death Submarine from my graveyard by way of its special ability! Once a duel, I can summon it from the graveyard as long as I have no monsters."

A massive blue submarine with a malevolent face painted on its front emerged and floated in the air. It had long metal arms that could reach out. But, when Sidney looked at its attack points, she knew that it wasn't going to stick around for long. He had to be planning a Dark Synchro summon.

(Dark Tuner- Death Submarine is a level nine Dark Tuner Machine Type monster with no attack points and 300 defense points.)

"Next, I'm once again summoning my Dark Sea Rescue!"

The card she had previously destroyed returned to the field. Now came the part she was dreading.

"Now, I'm tuning my Death Submarine with my Dark Sea Rescue to Synchro Summon Dark Flat Top!"

Dark balls of energy surrounded the two monsters as they became transparent. Death Submarine disappeared and its energy embedded itself in Dark Sea Rescue. A flash of eerie green light erupted from the ground.

"When dark shadows swallow lesser shadows, the eyes of the underworld are opened and give witness to the birth of a greater darkness!"

Dark Flat top appeared, looking like a brightly colored, yet ghostly aircraft carrier that should have been sailing upon the sea. It had towers jutting out of its top that were brimming with dark energy. Sidney gulped.

(Dark Flat Top is a level eight (or negative eight) Dark Synchro Machine Type monster with no attack points and 3000 defense points.)

She didn't have anything strong enough to take it down head on. But, that was just the start of her worries. Yet, Bommer then chose to end his turn.

It was back to her again. She needed a card she could use. Anxiously, she drew her next card. She smiled. But, then she realized that Bommer couldn't attack right now unless he summoned a powerful monster next turn, which he very well could.

She set the card as a facedown for the moment. Sidney still had her Baby Dragon and her Skull Dog Marron to protect her.

"I'm switching my Skull Dog Marron to defense mode." She declared. Her dog turned a pale blue as it stood down and heeled at her feet. Then, an idea occurred to her. She picked a card from her hand.

"I'm removing my Baby Dragon from the feel to summon my level six Tiger Dragon to the field in attack mode."

Her striped, black-mane dragon showed its claws as it flew onto the field. Thanks to its Earth attribute, its attack power was now 2900 points, two hundred points shy of being able to destroy Dark Flat Top. She had nothing that could make that happen. But, hopefully it would keep her intact until she could make a comeback and take another whack at his lifepoints.

"I have to end my turn here." She said, feeling her heart beginning to pound in her ears. Crow and Yusei were growing nervous. Had she run out of moves? But, Midori felt reassured. Her powers had allowed her a glimpse of the card she had set as a facedown. If Bommer did try to attack with a bigger monster, he would be in trouble.

Trudge and the twins sat in the car, watching without say a word.

As Bommer drew his next card, Yusei noticed a smile on Sidney's face. Crow then caught wind of her strategy. She wanted Bommer to think she was running out of ideas. It was clever, he admitted. But, if he summoned an Earthbound Immortal, none of her cards she now had out would do her any good.

"Sidney, I admire your guts, but that will only get you so far." Bommer told her. She said nothing, but glanced over at Yusei for reassurance. He responded with a small nod.

"I have more than guts, Bommer," She replied, "I've got a lot more than that…"

Not to far in the distance, Cassandra had gotten close enough to see what was going on in the duel. Yet she couldn't come to close, for if she did, the flames would absorb her and she would become one of the lost.

Or perhaps she was already there.

This duel to be concluded in the next episode. Thanks for all the reviews so far and your dedication. I know this fanfiction has gotten kind of long, but the end is coming!