Chapter 27: Blowing Storm! Blackwing-Silverwind The Ascendant!
The violet fire along the side of the road lights up the oil stains on it like a field of stars. Beams of metal and ruined buildings block the road on all sides, as Crow and Sakura, with Usagi sitting behind her, holding onto her around the waist, and Grim lying down on his specially built-in platform, accompanied by Blackwing Armor Master and Blackwing-Gale the Whirlwind, race onward, followed closely by Bommer and his Dark Flattop.
"It's so big! But just because it's big doesn't mean it's useful!" Crow says.
"Too bad, but there are no useless monsters in my deck! Due to the effect of Darksea Rescue that I sent to the graveyard, I draw two cards! Then I activate Dark Flattop's effect! Once a turn, I can Special Summon Flying Fortress SKY FIRE from my graveyard!" Says Bommer.
"What? Are you for real?" Crow asks.
"If he doesn't destroy Dark Flattop, Flying Fortress SKY FIRE is immortal." Sakura thinks to herself.
"Resurrect! Flying Fortress SKYFIRE!" Says Bommer.
Flying Fortress SKYFIRE has 3000 attack points and is a Level 8 monster.
"Damn! I worked hard to destroy it, but it already resurrected!" Crow says.
"I activate Flying Fortress SKY FIRE's effect. Once a turn, I can send one card in my hand to the graveyard to destroy one card on your field! I destroy Blackwing Armor Master! Sharpshooting!" Says Bommer.
Armor Master gets riddled with holes, to Crow's dismay.
"Then Flying Fortress SKY FIRE attacks Blackwing-Gale the Whirlwind!" Bommer says.
Gale the Whirlwind finds itself all alone against SKYFIRE.
"Death Air Raid!" Says Bommer.
Gale the Whirlwind tries to fly for it, but doesn't stand a chance.
"Gah!" Crow says. He and his D-Wheel are flung into near-horizontal donuts, forward along the track. Crow's screen starts to crash. "Aaa-aaa-aaaa-aaah!"
"Crow!" Says Sakura.
The road still steams from a track scraped out of it by Crow's passage. He and his D-Wheel are down, lying on the ground. Crow's life points are at 900. He clenches his fists, already struggling to get up.
Sakura and Greiger both brake.
"Crow!" Sakura says.
"It seems the battle is over. You can't continue to duel in that condition." Says Bommer.
"Crow!" Sakura says. She climbs off of her D-Wheel, about to run over.
"Don't come near me! Rrrgh." Says Crow. He pushes himself up on his hands. "Don't come near me, Sakura! This duel isn't over yet!" Crow says.
Sakura gasps, he's going to try and continue the duel.
"You can still move?" Asks Bommer.
Crow gets to his feet and trudges over to his fallen D-Wheel. There's a patch torn out of his pants that wasn't there before. "Of course. I'm not giving up until I defeat the Dark Signers! Agh!" Crow says. He tries to kneel next to his D-Wheel, and ends up falling down on top of it. Crow fights his way back up. "Or else…" Says Crow.
In his mind's eye, he sees the kids he looks after, smiling and laughing.
"Or else, they can't rest in peace!" Crow says, angrily.
"Crow... " Says Sakura.
"I know you can still fight, Blackbird." Crow says. He pulls up a panel on his D-Wheel and toggles something, the engine revs. Crow begins to smile. The D-Wheel pushes itself up on one of its wing-flaps, peels out and zooms away, then arcs back, stopping at his side, as he stands up. The screen flickers back on.
"You're saying that D-Wheel is alive?" Asks Greiger.
Crow settles back onto his D-Wheel and looks over his shoulder. "Blackbird and I haven't given up yet! Let's restart the duel!" Crow says. He keeps going.
Bommer follows him. "Fine, Crow!" Says Bommer. "You're angry because you lost your kids. But I feel the same way." Bommer thinks to himself.
Flashback. "I grew up in a poor village similar to Satellite." Bommer thinks to himself, in voice-over. One night, his younger sister and brother wave goodbye, as he leaves for the City on his D-Wheel.
Then, the flashback changes. On a sunny day, kids in clothes with bright patterns, Bommer comes from a village somewhere in Peru, run to meet him, taller and older than all of them, and he hands out cards. "Just like you, I learned everything from Duel Monsters cards. I wanted to pass them on to my siblings and the kids." Bommer thinks to himself, in voice-over.
His younger siblings are waving goodbye to him again, then they drown in flames. The entire village is engulfed in a single soundless blast of white light. "But now, that dream will never come true!" Bommer thinks to himself, in voice-over. The flashback ends.
Back to the present. "Hmm! I set one card and end my turn!" Bommer says.
Switching back to Crow, he puts a hand to his side, clearly in pain. The woolen, wrist guards around his forearms have been ripped and torn, to the point that they cover up gray bracers of some kind underneath. "Damn! I broke two or three ribs! I have no strength in my body. But this isn't the time to complain." Crow thinks to himself. "My turn!" Says Crow. He draws. "Even if I summon a monster, Flying Fortress SKY FIRE has an effect that will destroy it. I just have to try to survive. If I carelessly summon a monster and take unnecessary damage, I won't survive this time." Crow thinks to himself. "Ugh!" Crow says.
"Crow hurt himself when he fell." Sakura thinks to herself.
"I end my turn!" Says Crow.
"My turn!" Bommer says. He draws. "Looks like you ran out of strategies." Says Bommer.
"You think so? There are two sets cards on my field. One of those cards will destroy all your monsters!" Crow says.
"What?" Asks Bommer.
"Choose carefully, Bommer." Crow says. He pulls ahead, laughing, daring Bommer to try and attack him.
"Even if he's telling the truth… I already know how to deal with that. There's no doubt that I'll win!" Bommer thinks to himself. "Flying Fortress SKY FIRE's effect activates! By sending one card in my hand to the graveyard, Flying Fortress SKY FIRE destroys one card on your field! I'll destroy… that card! Sharpshooting!" Says Bommer.
Crow's left-side set card gets blown away, it was 'Fake Feather'. "You chose the wrong one! If you attack me, all your monsters will be destroyed!" Crow says.
"I know you're bluffing. You have no monsters on your field. If I attack you directly, you'll lose the duel! You're bluffing because you're desperate!" Says Bommer.
Crow's still smiling. "Then test me!" Crow says.
"With this, the duel is over! Flying Fortress SKY FIRE, attack him directly! Death Air Raid!" Says Bommer.
SKY FIRE launches three rockets, which zoom behind Crow in formation, but don't hit him.
"I was waiting for this moment! I activate my trap! 'Blackwing-Backlash'! If I take a direct attack when there are five or more Blackwing monsters in my graveyard… all monsters on your field are destroyed!" Crow says.
The Blackwings in his graveyard appear as streams of colored light, blue, green, purple, red, yellow and white. They gracefully target the rockets, then SKY FIRE, then Dark Flattop, and send them flaming to the ground.
"What?" Asks Bommer.
"All right! I sunk your fleet with just one trap!" Crow says.
"So you weren't bluffing." Says Bommer.
"I haven't told a lie since the day I was born. I survived because you didn't trust me." Crow says.
They race onward, three sets of headlights flying down a track of purple. Sakura's headlights are slightly redder than Bommer's or Crow's.
"It's not that I didn't trust you." Says Bommer.
"You're making excuses!" Crow says.
"Due to the effect of Darksea Float that I sent to the graveyard, I draw one card from my deck." Says Bommer. He draws, looks at what he drew and smirks. "I set one card. You stepped right into my trap. I activate the trap 'Contaminated Earth'! When two or more Level Five-or-above monsters on the field are destroyed this turn, I can Special Summon an Earthbound Immortal from my hand, deck or graveyard!" Bommer says.
A big rock, a small asteroid with a hole through the center, appears above them.
"Earthbound Immortal?" Asks Crow.
"Earthbound Immortal is going to appear!" Sakura says. Grim lifts his head up to the sky, as his dark fur starts to stand on edge.
In the hole at the center of the rock, the strange egg of an Earthbound Immortal appears in midair. Lights appear on the surface of the rock and flow into it. It starts to thump like a heart, showing veins of purple energy.
"Souls beneath the ground whose hatred grew over many years! Emerge from the 'Contaminated Earth' and lend me your power!" Says Bommer.
Big column of white-purple light.
"Descend, Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua!" Bommer says.
It appears, a massive killer whale, graceful and terrifying. Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua has 2900 attack points and is a Level 10 monster.
"It's huge!" Says Crow.
"It is a killer whale Earthbound Immortal. Be careful, Crow!" Sakura says. Grim's blazing red eyes are intensely locked on the giant monstrosity, baring his teeth and growling at the thing.
"Earthbound Immortal has finally appeared! My turn!" Says Crow. He draws. "He has one thousand eight hundred life points. I don't have a monster that can beat Earthbound Immortal's attack points." Crow thinks to himself. "In that case… I summon Blackwing-Fane the Steel Chain!" Crow says.
Blackwing-Fane the Steel Chain has 500 attack points and is a Level 2 monster.
"A monster with five hundred attack points is completely useless against Earthbound Immortal!" Says Bommer.
"This card isn't going to battle against Earthbound Immortal! You're my target, Bommer! This card can attack you directly! Go, Fane!" Crow says.
Bommer's life points are reduced to 1300. "But on the next turn, Earthbound Immortal will attack you and smash you to pieces!" Says Bommer.
"We'll see about that." Crow says.
"What?" Asks Bommer.
"When Fane the Steel Chain successfully attacks you directly… one of your monsters switches to defense position, and it can't change battle position next turn!" Crow says.
Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua has 1600 defense points.
"No matter how powerful the monster, I'm not worried if it can't attack!" Says Crow.
"Well done, Crow!" Sakura says.
"I set one card and end my turn!" Says Crow.
"My turn!" Bommer says. He draws. "Crow, you made a huge mistake. Earthbound Immortal has no weaknesses! Chacu Challhua's effect activates! When this monster doesn't attack, you take damage equal to half its defense points! Dark Dive Attack!" Says Bommer.
Chacu Challhua's dorsal fin surfaces from the road, as though it were the surface of the ocean, and swims straight for Crow and his D-Wheel.
"What?" Crow asks. It hits, his D-Wheel gets thrown off balance, it's a rough ride as he struggles to hang on.
"Crow!" Says Sakura.
Crow's screen flashes a warning that his life points are now 100.
"I summon Darksea Rescue." Bommer says.
Darksea Rescue has 0 attack points and is a Level 1 monster. "Then I activate the Continuous Trap 'Basara'! Once a turn, I can release one monster. Your monster that has a higher Level than my released monster is destroyed! And the destroyed monster's controller takes eight hundred points of damage! I release Level 1 Darksea Rescue. I destroy Fane the Steel Chain!" Says Bommer.
Dark Sea Rescue disappears into the face of the trap card, and a hungry stream of fire emerges from the card and heads straight for Crow's Blackwing.
"What?" Crow asks.
"Crow will lose if he takes this damage!" Sakura thinks to herself. "Crow!" Says Sakura.
At the edge of the fiery purple track, a jeep is approaching. Ushio and both sets of twins are picking their way along the outside, looking for any sign of life. "What's with this road?" Lua asks. "It looks like it was bombed from the sky. What's happening up ahead?" Asks Ushio. "Sakura, please be safe." Luca says. Subaru's holding Velvet close, as she sleeps in his hold. And they move on through the empty wasteland.
"Crow, you will lose if you take that damage." Says Sakura.
"I won't let that happen! I activate my trap 'Guard Mines'! When an effect that destroys my monster activates… that effect is negated, and you take five hundred points of damage!" Crow says.
"What?" Asks Bommer. His life points are now at 800.
Crow flies out of the cloud of smoke, leaving Bommer in the dust.
"He keeps avoiding my attacks!" Bommer thinks to himself.
"Crow!" Sakura says. She has a small smile.
"My turn!" Says Crow. He goes to draw. "All I have in my hand is one trap card. At this rate, I'll lose. I'll risk everything on this draw!" Crow thinks to himself.
The smiles of his nestlings flicker across his visor.
"Everyone, lend me your strength!" Crow thinks to himself. He draws. He flips it. It's Blackwing-Blizzard the Far North. Crow looks at it for a moment, hardly able to believe his eyes, then smiles. "Thanks, everyone! I set one card and summon Blackwing-Blizzard the Far North!" Crow says.
Blackwing-Blizzard the Far North has 1300 attack points and is a Level 2 monster.
"When this card is successfully summoned, I can summon one Level Four-or-below Blackwing monster in my graveyard in defense position! Appear, Blackwing-Shura the Blue Flame!" Says Crow.
Blackwing-Shura the Blue Flame has 1200 defense points and is a Level 4 monster.
"Level Two Blizzard the Far North tunes Level Two Fane the Steel and Level Four Shura the Blue Flame! Blowing storm, sublimate with steel will and light speed! Synchro Summon! Blackwing-Silverwind the Ascendant!" Crow says.
Blackwing-Silverwind the Ascendant has 2800 attack points and is a Level 8 monster.
"Though you worked hard to get a Synchro Monster, Chacu Challhua has an effect that skips your Battle Phase." Says Bommer.
"I see. But Silverwind also has an effect! If I choose not to battle this turn, I can destroy up to two monsters whose defense points are less than Silverwind's attack points!" Crow says.
"What?" Asks Bommer.
"Even if I can't defeat it in battle, I can use an effect to destroy your Earthbound Immortal! Go, Silverwind! Perfect Storm!" Crow says.
As Silverwind goes to attack, ghostly faces appear on Chacu Challhua's head, recognizing them as Bommer's brother and sister. "I'm in pain!" "Save me!"
"What?" Asks Crow.
"Save me!" "It hurts!"
"That is…" Sakura says.
"Who are they?" Asks Crow.
"What's wrong, Crow? If you're not going to attack, I'm going to take my turn!" Bommer says.
"Bommer, you don't see them?" Asks Crow.
"The only thing I see is my goal for victory!" Bommer says.
"Bommer!" Says Crow.
"Shut up!" Bommer says.
"Wait, Bommer! Look carefully at that Earthbound Immortal!" Says Sakura.
"Sakura?" Bommer asks. He looks up, seeing the faces of his younger brother, younger sister and fellow villagers inside the Earthbound Immortal. "Huh? That's impossible…" Says Bommer.
"Bommer!" Crow says.
"Why are people from my hometown inside Earthbound Immortal?" Asks Bommer.
Flashback. The same one from earlier, where the kids run toward him laughing and cheering. The flashback ends.
Back to the present. "What?" Crow asks.
"Those kids are your siblings?" Asks Sakura.
"There's no mistake. Trapped inside this Earthbound Immortal are my siblings and people from my hometown. That means Crimson Dragon didn't destroy my hometown. It was the Dark Signers!" Bommer says.
"The Dark Signers destroyed your hometown?" Asks Sakura.
"What have I been fighting for all this time?" Bommer asks. He decelerates.
Sakura falls back with Bommer. "Bommer, there's no point in continuing this duel. Stop this battle immediately!" Says Sakura.
Bommer opens his eyes, his scleras have turned back to white. "Sakura, I'm sorry. What I've done to you is…" Bommer says. At that, the mark of the whale reacts.
Bommer hears a deep voice. "You must fight, Bommer! You're a Dark Signer who resurrected from the underworld! Battle and kill the Signers!"
Bommer's eyes glow with purple light, the mark on his face shines, too, and he laughs, evilly, clearly possessed.
Sakura can see veins on the edges of his face standing out from the skin.
Bommer grips the accelerator and roars forward.
"Bommer!" Says Sakura.
"I'm a Dark Signer. The darkness of the underworld will annihilate the world!"
"Bommer?" Crow asks.
Bommer snaps free for a moment. "Rrgh! Crow… Hurry up and defeat me. If you defeat me, the souls trapped inside Earthbound Immortal will be free." Says Bommer.
"Bommer..." Crow asks.
The whale mark flares, Bommer screams. His eyes are glowing. "Crow. If you're not going to continue your turn, then I'm going. My turn!" He draws. "Heheheheheh! I switch Chacu Challhua to attack position." Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua has 2900 attack points.
Grim growls at the possessed Bommer, his teeth bared and his eyes locked on him, intensely. "Be careful, Crow! That is no longer Bommer!" Says Sakura.
"Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua! Attack him directly!"
"What?" Crow asks.
"Crow! Don't let Bommer down!" Says Sakura.
"Bommer…" Crow says. "Oh yeah! Earthbound Immortal isn't affected by my traps or spells, but what if it's his card effect?" Crow thinks to himself.
"Die, Crow!"
"I activate the trap 'Parasite Mind'! I take control of your Continuous Trap's effect and activate it! I'll use your Continuous Trap 'Basara'! Once a turn, 'Basara' allows me to release a monster on my field to destroy a higher-Level monster! Then you take eight hundred points of damage! I release Level Eight Silverwind to destroy Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua!" Says Crow.
A blast of fire, led by a Silverwind made of flames, blows a hole straight through the top of Chacu Challhua's head. It rears back and keels over, purple lights gushing like blood. The villagers cry out, as they are all sucked toward the wound. Chacu Challhua collapses out of sight behind some buildings ahead of the duel, dramatically. It dives beneath the water under the track and swims right into a bridge support.
Up on the track, buildings lean dangerously to the side and the duelists weather an earthquake.
Bommer's oblivious, as the thing possessing him roars and screams its fury. Part of his visor is already cracked off. Bommer closes his eyes, possibly unconscious, as his life points drop to 0.
Crow wins.
The parallel lines of purple fire recede into the distance and vanish.
Crow brakes. "I did it! Huh?" Crow asks. Above him, a piece of building gives way. Crow can't get out of the way. "Aaa-aaa-aaa-aaah!"
Bommer rides up in the blink of an eye and knocks Crow and his D-Wheel flying.
He lands, skidding hard to the side and yelling, as the huge chunk of concrete hits the ground. Crow sits there catching his breath for a moment, then realizes that Bommer isn't there. "Bommer!" Says Crow. He climbs off of his D-Wheel and runs toward the fallen concrete.
Sakura jumps the pile of debris. "Bommer!" Sakura says.
"Bommer!" Says Crow.
There sits Bommer, halfway buried in rubble, and from the looks of it barely alive. One of the two horns is cracked off his helmet, even more of his visor is gone, and part of his helmet is missing entirely.
Crow and Sakura kneel on either side, while Usagi stands nearby. "Don't die, Bommer!" Sakura says. Grim comes to sit down beside her.
Bommer opens his eyes, shaking, they're normal. "Sakura… Crow… You're safe." Says Bommer. "Why did you save me?" Crow asks. "Crow… You saved the people in my hometown." Says Bommer. Crow's eyes start to water. "Bommer..." Crow says. "Make sure you rescue the kids and raise them properly." Says Bommer. "I was going to do that anyway!" Crow says. Bommer turns to Sakura. "Sakura, you were right about everything. After revenge, there's nothing left." Says Bommer. He winces, clearly in a lot of pain. "Bommer…" Sakura says. "Sakura, defeat the Dark Signers for me. I'm counting on you." Says Bommer. He reaches up to Sakura with the hand that isn't buried. She grips it with both of hers, her eyes smoldering. Bommer closes his eyes, beginning to turn gray like the concrete around him. He begins to disappear, as little black specks float upward from where he lies. "Bommer!" Sakura says. "Bommer, don't die! Bommer!" Says Crow. "Bommer… I swear that I shall fulfill our promise!" Sakura says. Her irises flare in bright red to her anger.
Somewhere in Peru, a bright light can be seen at the end of a road in the valley. Bommer's brother, sister, and several other bemused villagers have suddenly appeared on the ground in the middle of the night. "Sister, where are we?" She looks at her hands, then gets excited. "We've been saved!" "Sister!" "Max!" They hug.
Other people start to cheer.
Above them, a bright, purplish shooting star lights the heavens.
"That's a huge shooting star." "It reminds me of Bommer. It was our brother who rescued us!" "You're right." "I wonder if our brother is also looking at this shooting star."
Ushio, both sets of twins, their jeep, Sakura, with Usagi sitting behind her, and Grim seated on his specially built-in platform, his harness already fastened around him, while the chain's hooked up to his collar, Crow and their D-Wheels stand on top of a building, not too far from the site of the duel.
In the background, behind them are a bunch of collapsed buildings.
Sakura can feel Yusei's nearby, as the wind starts blowing. "Brother." Sakura thinks to herself. However, she can also feel Kiryu's presence, as well, it's enough to cause the burning sensation in her arm. "Kyosuke." Sakura thinks to herself. Grim places his head and one of his paws on her lap. Sakura lightly strokes his head, petting him.
Crow puts one of his hands on her shoulder, who looks up at him. "What is it? You seem a little out of it." Crow says. "I'm fine, Crow. I can just feel Yusei's nearby, that is all. I think he's going to be dueling next." Says Sakura. "So he's going to Kiryu's location, Sakura?" Crow asks. Sakura finishes putting on her helmet, already astride her D-Wheel. Grim then lies himself down on the built-in platform. Usagi wraps her arms around Sakura's waist, securely. "Yes. His battle is only getting started!" Says Sakura. She grips the accelerator and takes off.
Above Sakura, the same shooting star burns brightly, though it looks a bit more bluish than purple.