Chapter 20: Charge of Commons! Rise, Enlightenment!
The ex-Security forces spilled out of the trash facilities and charged through the streets, slowly making their way towards the Duel Palace. Cries and shouts echoed across the city as the angry Commons prepared to attack.
Melissa watched in concern as mobs swarmed through the Commons districts, before turning back to the stadiums. "Now, everyone! It's time for the second match of the finals! It's already been decided that Sergey Volkov will be in the finals, but who will join him? Will it be," Melissa paused for effect as a massive hologram appeared.
"Yugo Hyuri, the plucky kid from Commons, doing everything he can to walk along Jack Atlas' footsteps and reach the top with his Clear Wing Synchro Dragon?" The blonde boy appeared with a grin, and a massive revolving image of Clear Wing's card appeared next to him.
Both suddenly vanished, replaced by Yuya Sakaki, who had the cards of Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon, Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon, and Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon orbiting him. "Or will it be Yuya Sakaki, the pioneer of the mysterious Summon technique known as Pendulum, with his arsenal of powerful Odd-Eyes Dragons? Only time will tell!" Melissa narrated.
The spokesperson paused in surprise as she saw that the Commons stands were slowly clearing. "Hey! Where are you all going? The Duel's here!"
In the garage, Yugo smiled at Yuya, who did the same. The two shook hands. "Your Clear Wing will be tough to beat, I'm sure," Yuya complimented his opponent.
"I can say the same for all those dragons you have, but none of them can top Clear Wing and Crystal Wing," Yugo grinned back.
The two mounted their D-Wheels. "Good luck,"
"You too, mate! Let's go!" And with that, Yugo blazed out onto the track.
Yuya was about to follow him, but Junior poked his head out of his pocket. "Hey," the boy smiled, patting the dragon's head. He squeaked, and vanished. Knowingly, Yuya reached into his pocket to extract the card - and paused.
There were two cards in his pocket. Pulling them out, one was Odd-Eyes Baby Dragonet, and the other -
Yuya smiled. "You continue to amaze me, Junior. I'll be sure to use this well," And with that, he sped out onto the course.
"Our competitors are raring to go! So let's mirror their enthusiasm and not beat around the bush!" Melissa cheered, not letting her rapidly diminishing audience dampen her spirits. "Riding Duel! Acceleration!"
Yugo charged forwards, his experience on a D-Wheel giving him the clear upper hand on Yuya. "My turn!" he commanded, taking his opening hand as he passed out of the Palace. "I Normal Summon Speedroid Den-Den Daiko Duke from my hand!" he added, and slammed his card onto the field. His noble Tuner appeared. "While I control a WIND monster, I can Special Summon Speedroid Taketomborg from my hand!" The transforming action figure appeared too.
"I Tune my Level 3 Tuner Monster Daiko Duke to my Level 3 Taketomborg!" Yugo commanded, chanting. "Possessed sword in the shape of a cross, take your power and slice through your enemies! Synchro Summon! Appear, Hi-Speedroid Maken Dharma!" The leader of the Speedroids appeared with a ferocious roar.
"Seriously? Yugo's summoned that monster every single time he's Duelled in this tournament," Melissa sighed. "Lame,"
"Shut up!" the blonde shouted. "I Set a card and turn end!"
Yuya grinned. "Fine then. My turn, draw!"
He consulted his hand. "Using the Scale 2 Performapal Camelump and the Scale 4 Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, I set the Pendulum Scale!" Yuya declared, a brown camel rising into the air with a gentle nod, joined by his ace dragon, who roared. A crystalline two and four appeared beneath them.
"Swing far, pendulum!" Yuya commanded as a giant version of his crystal pendulum appeared, drawing a portal in the sky. "Carve the arc of victory!"
A portal opened and two monsters swept out. "My monsters are ready, to swing into action!" Yuya shouted. "Come forth, Timegazer Magician! Timebreaker Magician! And Performapal Lizardraw!" he commanded, his three monsters appearing, Timegazer and Lizardraw with 1200 ATK and Timebreaker with 1400.
"I now Normal Summon Tuning Magician from my hand!" Yuya nodded, and his Level 1 Tuner appeared with a smile and a wave. "When Tuning Magician is Summoned, I lose 400 Life Points and you gain 400 Life Points!" Yuya's LP dropped to 3600 and Yugo's became 4400.
"Now, I tune my Level 1 Tuning Magician to my Level 3 Timegazer Magician and my Level 3 Performapal Lizardraw!" Yuya commanded. Six stars, one ring. 1 + 3 + 3 = 7. "Descend from the stars, burning dragon of mismatched eyes!" he declared. "Synchro Summon! Level 7! Come forth, as the dragon who burns like a meteor streaking across the sky! Descend, Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon!"
Yuya's great red Synchro dragon arrived and roared. 2500 ATK. "Meteor Dislodge! When Meteorburst is summoned, I can Special Summon a Pendulum Monster from my Pendulum Zone! I Summon Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" he shouted, and a meteor knocked Odd-Eyes out of the Pendulum Zone and down to the field, next to Meteorburst.
"Time to try that card you gave me, Junior," Yuya muttered to his Deck, where Junior's card nestled. "I overlay my Level 7 Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon with my Level 7 Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"
A bright blue Overlay Network appeared and sucked in his dragons. "As water freezes to ice, be reborn amid the torrential depths! Xyz Summon, Rank 7! Crystalline dragon of the howling rainstorm! Surface, Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon!"
"A new dragon! Cool!" Melissa grinned.
The Xyz monster was tall and covered in blue and purple crystals, with blue-and-red eyes and spikes running down the right side of its neck. The dragon roared in primal fury, revealing 2800 ATK.
"Battle Phase!" Yuya commanded. "Timebreaker Magician! Attack Hi-Speedroid Maken Dharma!"
"What? But Maken Dharma has 1000 more ATK!" Yugo gasped.
"I activate Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon's effect! I use one Overlay Unit to negate Timebreaker's attack, and then Special Summon an Odd-Eyes monster from my hand or Grave! Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon was detached to activate the effect, so I Summon him back!" Odd-Eyes roared as he returned to the field next to his icy brother.
"Odd-Eyes! Attack Hi-Speedroid Maken Dharma!" Yuya commanded, and his Pendulum monster happily charged. "When Odd-Eyes battles a Level 5 or higher monster, battle damage is doubled!" Yuya added. "Spiral Strike Burst!"
Odd-Eyes charged and destroyed Maken Dharma, dealing Yugo 300 damage twice over. "Absolute! Direct attack!" Yuya continued, and his Xyz monster unleashed a stream of water with shucks of ice in it at Yuya. "Glacial Meltwater Barrage!"
In a freezing blast, Yugo's LP was cut to 1000.
"Turn end!" Yuya grinned.
"Fine!" the blonde retorted. "My turn! Draw!"
He drew his card. "I activate Maken Dharma's Graveyard effect! By foregoing my Normal Summon for the turn while I control no monsters, I Special Summon him back from the Grave!" The Synchro monster returned. "Now I activate my Continuous Trap, Speedroid Racetrack!" The orange racing track appeared behind Maken Dharma. "With that out of the way, I trigger Speedroid Den-Den Daiko Duke in my grave! By banishing him, I can Special Summon a Speedroid Tuner from my hand or Grave! Appear, another copy of Daiko Duke!" Yugo declared, and a second Duke arrived. "Racetrack's effect now activates! I change Daiko Duke from Level 3 to Level 1!" Two level stars were sucked away from the nobleman by the band of orange track.
"Let's go! I tune my Level 1 Daiko Duke to my Level 6 Maken Dharma!" Yugo commanded. "Spread those wonderful and beautiful wings and strike your enemies down at the speed of light!" he chanted. "Synchro Summon! Level 7! Appear now! Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!"
The great striped dragon appeared with a mighty roar. "Once again, I activate my second Daiko Duke's effect! Banishing him to Special Summon Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice from my hand! Appear!" The red-and-gold dice appeared next to Clear Wing. "Now, I tune my Level 1 Red-Eyed Dice to my Level 7 Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!" Yugo repeated, performing a second Synchro Summon. 1 + 7 = 8.
Yuya gasped as he felt power overwhelm him. For a second his mind was flooded as Odd-Eyes roared, but then the haze cleared as he heard Junior squeak from his Deck.
Looking around to regain his bearings after the confusion, he gulped, seeing Yugo's eyes shine with green light. "Spread those wings shining with sacred light! Strike down your ennemies with your radiance! Synchro Summon! Come forth! Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon!" Yugo, rooted in Berserk Mode, roared as his evolved crystalline dragon appeared on the field. 3000 ATK. Yuya cursed.
"Crystal Wing! Attack Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" Yugo commanded.
"I activate Absolute's effect!" Yuya attempted. "By using an Overlay Unit, I negate your -"
"Wrong!" his opponent barked. "Crystal Wing's effect! I negate your effect, destroy it and then Crystal Wing gains ATK equal to the destroyed monster's ATK until the end of the turn! Also, when Crystal Wing battles, it gains ATK equal to the monster it battles! Go, Crystal Wing! Heaven Dive Hurricane Slash!"
The dragon charged, cutting through Absolute and charging towards Odd-Eyes as its ATK increased to an incredible 8300. Yuya gulped. "I activate Performapal Rain Goat's effect in my hand! By discarding him, I prevent Odd-Eyes' destruction!" A massive patchwork blue jacket appeared and covered Odd-Eyes. "But you'll still take damage!" Yugo retorted.
His opponent snatched an Action Card from midair. "I play Miracle! Odd-Eyes cannot be destroyed and battle damage is halved!"
Half of 5800 is 2900, Yuya smiled as the attack registered, reducing him to 700 LP.
"Turn end!" the blonde shouted.
"My turn," the junior entertainer muttered to himself. "Draw!" he declared, multicoloured sparkles trailing from his card.
Far beneath them, in the Commons dwellings, Sora desperately chased after a speeding car. "Hey! Slow down!" he demanded, his short legs unable to keep up. "Damnit," he cursed as it sped away.
Meanwhile, Yuya looked at his card. "Monster Reborn," he smiled. "I can revive any monster from the Grave, but," he paused. "What have I got that could stand a chance against Crystal Wing? I could steal Yugo's Clear Wing, but," he paused.
Something in his Extra Deck was calling.
"Again?" Yuya blinked, feeling power resonate from his pendant. "Junior? Is that you?"
His little dragon was silent, but the fact that his pendulum was calling to him, like it did when Beast-Eyes and Rune-Eyes were created, could not be denied.
"I'm going with my gut," the boy resolved, sensing instinctively what he should do. "I play Monster Reborn!" he commanded, the Spell appearing in front of him. "I revive Tuning Magician!" he declared, and the girl appeared next to Odd-Eyes and Timebreaker. "Tuning Magician's effect activates and I give you four hundred LP!" Yuya continued. His Life dropped to 300, and Yugo's became 1400.
"What is Yuya doing?" Melissa frowned.
"Now, I Tune Tuning Magician to Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" Yuya shouted, sweeping his arm across. Odd-Eyes went to the Extra Deck, Tuning returned to the grave, and 1 + 7 = 8.
"Hero's blade that brings forth unyielding light, awaken now with a flash!" the green-haired boy commanded. "Synchro Summon! Level 8! Awaken, Enlightenment Paladin!"
A gleaming sword shot from the pulse of energy, snatched out of the air by a gauntleted white arm. A tall white warrior appeared, with golden blades behind his head and on his arms, wielding a great white sword. 2500 ATK.
"Oh wow, another new monster from Yuya Sakaki!" Melissa grinned, then paused. "But it isn't a dragon?"
Enlightenment Paladin stared down the dragon in front of it as Yuya searched for an Action Card.
But as he did, the out-of-control car Sora had given up on chasing moments ago crashed into the support beam that held up the part of the highway Yuya and Yugo were racing down. Its three occupants hastily leapt out and ran away as the car began to smoke, rapidly catching fire.
Deep inside the engine, the fire burnt closer and closer to the gas tank.
As Yuya spotted an Action Card in the distance, an explosion from beneath them interrupted their Duel.
"What the?" Yugo blinked in surprise as the track underneath them began to shake uncontrollably. Yuya was having difficulty keeping his D-Wheel upright, and braked to a halt. Yugo did likewise, the Berserk Mode light fading from his eyes.
Beneath them, Commons ran from the support beam that now had a taping hole in it. Anyone could see that it couldn't possibly support its own weight, and it didn't take a genius to know what was about to happen.
Suddenly, the track fell sideways, tearing away from the other posts nearby and falling downwards, turning into a ramp that led into the Commons districts. As it did, Yuya lost his grip and slid sideways on his D-Wheel, sliding down towards the slums. Yugo, though, managed to keep it in place as Yuya slid down.
Until the entire track tilted sideways, falling over and collapsing, crushing several buildings. Yuya screamed as his D-Wheel fell off the track and landed, upright somehow, on the roof of a building.
A couple of hundred metres away, Yugo yelled in shock as he fell off the side, falling further down and slowly tilting forwards. The blonde braced himself for a hard impact - but suddenly Crystal Wing shot forwards and caught his master, depositing him safely on the ground several hundred feet away from his former opponent.
Yuya breathed a sigh of relief. "It's probably for the best that that Duel ended," he muttered to himself, before looking around. Enlightenment Paladin was nowhere to be seen, and he was still on top of a building. "How am I supposed to get down from here?"
Melissa watched in shock. "Er," was all she could say. "We might need help out here,"
X
Jack Atlas watched impassively from his private viewing deck. For a moment, concern flitted across his face, but then he spotted Yuya standing on top of a building on one of the cameras and he nodded. "I would be very disappointed if you could not survive something as small as a crash, Yuya Sakaki,"
If asked, Jack Atlas couldn't explain why he liked the teenage boy with green hair. Perhaps there was something about him that reminded him of himself when he was young.
X
Katsu Rinoka grinned to himself, looking at the card that he had found. It had just appeared on his bedside table one night, and he didn't know how, but it was powerful. Powerful enough to have a chance at taking on the Tops.
But if he was going to ascend from the Commons to the top, he would need more than one good card and a Deck built out of trash and throwaways. He would need a reputation, and he needed it to be legendary.
One of his friends, after seeing his Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend, remembered a story about someone from more than a century ago. A man named Jack Atlas. A King. A King whose ace monster, Red Dragon Archfiend, very closely resembled his Scarlight. They had also noticed that his hair was the same colour as the King's, platinum blonde.
It was this resemblance that had inspired Katsu's idea, he reflected as he slipped purple contact lenses into his hazel eyes and finished styling his blonde hair, so that it very closely resembled an old photo that had been given to him by the owner of the orphanage he lived in. It depicted the famed King.
Katsu strapped on his shoes with their foot-tall soles, designed to make himself seem taller, and fastened his white cloak around himself. He had spent a long time recreating a facsimile of the old Jack's white-and-purple coat. And he was finally ready to don the visage of one of the greatest heroes of history.
As he did, the photo fell off his table and fluttered to the ground. There were words on the back, but he paid them no mind, assuming them to be an autograph.
Satisfied that he was ready, Katsu strapped on his Duel Disk and set off to enter himself in the Friendship Cup.
The name he would enter himself under?
Jack Atlas.
X
From there, things only got better. At first, people were skeptical, but as Katsu - as 'Jack' racked up the victories, eventually they were all convinced. This young man, who had come out of nowhere wielding a card that so closely resembled the infamous Red Dragon Archfiend, and as soon as he could afford to commissioned a unique D-Wheel to be built that was a perfect replica of Jack's legendary D-Wheel, the Wheel of Fortune, truly was a miraculous reincarnation of the legendary King, Jack Atlas.
As he reclined in his throne, Katsu smiled. It had been a long, hard road, but ever since the day he had found that card, the Tuning Magician, and been inspired to perform this impossible plan, he had never failed.
He was Jack Atlas. He was King.
And he was being interrupted. Jack glared at the door as it swung open, revealing a face he recognised. "Sergey Volkov. Why are you here?" he questioned, his aged, deep voice booming.
"I have come to take care of you," the man responded.
"Oh?" Jack smiled. "If you wish to be my caretaker, then give me a foot rub,"
"You know that is not what I mean," Sergey snorted. He armed his Duel Disk.
The King frowned. "Very well. It is the duty of the King to humour his subjects. But I doubt you are one of my subjects anymore. Who is pulling your strings, Sergey? I suppose that Jean-Michael man?"
Sergey failed to respond.
"Very well, have it your way. I will discover the truth soon enough," Jack shrugged. It didn't really matter who had caused Sergey to stand against him. He had seen the way Sergey Dueled, and already knew the outcome of the Duel before it even began.
Sergey would be defeated.
X
The Lancers, accompanied by Shinsei and Megan, exited the trash facility. Both Flare and Shun carried backpacks full of cards on their back. "So, where are you two going?" Sawatari asked the two.
"We're gonna help the rioters! Death to the Tops!" Megan shrieked, and Shinsei nodded. "After that, eh, wherever, y'now?"
"Good luck," Gong offered the two, and they nodded, splitting off from the other four.
"I wonder where Shinji and Kei are?" Flare thought aloud.
"Probably moving on the Duel Palace, but that's not our problem for now. We need to find Selena and Yuya, then get back to the Duel Palace and meet up with Declan, Reira and Tsukikage," Shun resolved.
"Well, how will we know where Selena is?" Sawatari asked.
"She is at Crow Hogan's house. Sawatari knows where that is," a voice interrupted them. Flare jumped and whirled, seeing a blue-clad ninja behind her. "Hello, Tsukikage," Gong nodded.
Flare looked between them in confusion. "You didn't tell me this Tsukikage guy was a ninja!"
"Well, Sawatari? Can you find your way back to this Crow Hogan's house?" Shun glared at the blonde, and he nodded frantically, wavering under the look. "Easy, easy, no problem. Just follow me!"
"You coming with us?" Gong asked the ninja, but he shook his head. "I am going to find Yuya Sakaki. After you retrieve Selena, go to the City's main power grid and meet Declan. The Duel Palace is unsafe, so we are making the grid our rendezvous. Me and Yuya will be along shortly," he instructed,
"Got it," Gong nodded, dashing after Shun and Sawatari. After a moment, Flare followed them, nodding to Tsukikage as she left.
The blue-clad ninja watched them go. "Good luck," he muttered, before vanishing.
A/N
A/N
Yuya got Enlightenment Paladin! Woot!
Also, I didn't activate its Spell recycling effect for a reason; Yuya knew that if Enlightenment was Summoned using a Magician as Material, its effect would activate to return a Spell from the Grave to his hand. Then Crystal Wing would have negated and destroyed Enlightenment, so that was deliberately avoided.
I love that Enlightenment's card text doesn't have it as a mandatory effect, and lets you use anything as Material for it's Summon, rather than listing Magicians as non-Tuner Material and making the recycle effect mandatory, thus giving you options. :)
Anyway, with that the Friendship Cup is done! :) Of course, Jack's gonna Duel both Sergey and Yuya anyway, so . . . eh. XD
Speaking of Jack . . what does everyone think of the Katsu thing?
And yes, I had to cut off the Duel between Yuya and Yugo. Sorry for everyone who wanted to see Yuya absorb Yugo!
No original cards - but they should totally print my Speedroid Racetrack, it works awesome for Yugo! :) And I know I was a bit loose with Daiko Duke's effect . . but so what? XD
So, review time! :)
Corinne, Shinji couldn't be very aggressive because . . . well, he was facing down the Death Star. XD Plus, Bee Force DOES naturally play more defensively until you can get out Hana the Evil-Crushing Bow or Big Ballista the Final Assault. And Shinji couldn't have Summoned Big Ballista. Because if he Summoned Big Ballista and it was destroyed, then symbolically that would have meant that was all he had. That he was done. And Shinji is a long, looooooooong way from done.
I know, suppes.
danio, since Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon was Summoned before Yuya showed up, its effect only applied to Kisara and Sergey. I definitely didn't completely forget that effect and how badly it shuts down Yuya or anything. XD
Peace!