Chapter 21: Defend the Throne! Power of the King!
Sergey and Jack's Duel Disks armed themselves, and the connection was established. "I will take the first move!" Jack commanded, drawing his hand.
An old friend of his winked up at him, a card that he still remembered rescuing from the garbage as a child. "I use the effect of Vice Dragon to Summon him to the field while I control no monsters by halving its ATK and DEF!" Jack declared, summoning his Level 5 dragon. The beast appeared, 1200 DEF. "Now, I Normal Summon Force Resonator from my hand!" Jack continued, bringing out a squat shaman with a tuning fork and a large black ball on his back. 500 ATK.
"I Tune my Level 2 Force Resonator to my Level 5 Vice Dragon!" Jack commanded. "Rise from the volcano to prove your might! Synchro Summon! Level 7! Arise as the explosive volcanic dragon! Appear, Exploder Dragonwing!"
The great dragon appeared in a blaze of fire. "I Set a card and end my turn!" Jack finished.
"My turn. Draw," Sergey intoned. "I Normal Summon Kozmo Goodwitch from my hand," His fairy warrior appeared. "Now I activate her effect, and banish her to Summon a Kozmo with a higher level. I Summon my Level 5 Kozmo Dark Lady," he commanded, and a tall black-haired witch with a metal cloak and hat and a mask covering her face appeared. 2200 ATK. "I Set a card and end my turn,"
"My turn!" Jack shouted, drawing his card. "Behold, the reason that you should not challenge the King! I Normal Summon Chain Resonator from my hand!" he commanded, and another shaman appeared with a large chain hanging on his back. "I Tune my Level 1 Chain Resonator to my Level 7 Exploder Dragonwing! Howl of the ruler, shake the heavens and earth!" Jack chanted, wasting no time and Summoning his ace monster. "Engrave the power of the one and only supreme ruler into yourself! Synchro Summon! Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend!"
A blast of Solid Vision flame burst through the windows of the viewing deck, obliterating them. Outside, in the helicopter, Melissa turned in surprise. "Oh? Everyone, it appears that Sergey Volkov has somehow snuck into Jack Atlas' private viewing quarters and has challenged the King!"
"When Chain Resonator is set to the Grave, I can return a Resonator from my Grave to my hand. Return, Force Resonator," Jack commanded, taking his card back and making his hand a total of three cards.
The Tops turned in surprise, seeing Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend glaring down at the Kozmo monster. "This should be exciting! But Sergey really should have waited until after he Duelled Yuya or Yugo," Melissa paused for a second. "As soon as we find them and figure out who won,"
"I activate the effect of Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend!" Jack commanded, and his dragon roared. "All other monsters on the field are destroyed and you take 500 damage for each!"
"Wrong!" Sergey barked. "I activate the effect of Dark Lady. By paying 1000 LP, I negate your effect and destroy it," Dark Lady leapt forwards, her metallic cloak billowing behind her as she used her beam sword to cleave the Synchro in two.
The lines around Jack's eyes hardened. "I was going to let you off easy," the man frowned. "I was going to give you a slap on the wrist and educate you as to why you never defy the King. But now?" The man adopted a combat stance, standing head on with the blade of his Duel Disk perfectly horizontal. "Now you have angered me,"
"So what?" Sergey snorted.
"You will find out," Jack promised. "Turn end,"
"My turn! Draw!" the bulky cyborg retorted. "I activate Dark Lady's effect! By banishing her, I Summon a Kozmo with a higher level from my hand! Appear, Kozmo Dark Destroyer!"
The massive black spaceship appeared on his field, and Sergey grinned. "Dark Destroyer! Attack!"
Jack shook his head in disgust. "I activate Reject Reborn. The Battle Phase is ended, and I Summon a Synchro monster and a Tuner monster from my Graveyard. Return, Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend! And Chain Resonator!"
"The King has revived his ace! Woohoo!" Melissa cheered as the great red dragon returned, along with the level 1 Tuner.
"Congratulations," Sergey snorted. "I Set a second card and end my turn,"
"My turn!" Jack barked, and drew. "I play Red Dragon Vase!" he commanded, playing his card. "For the price of being unable to Summon this turn, I draw two cards!" Two cards presented themselves to him from his Deck, and he nodded with a smile. "I Set a monster in face-down Defence Position and activate the effect of Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend! I destroy all other Attack Position monsters on the field and inflict 500 damage to you for each!" Jack commanded, and Scarlight roared, unleashing bursts of fire at Chain Resonator and Kozmo Dark Destroyer.
Sergey didn't flinch as the monsters were destroyed and his LP was burnt to 2000.
"Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend! Attack!" Jack commanded, and his dragon charged. "Flaming Crimson Hell Burning!"
One of the two face-downs between the dragon and his target flipped up. "I activate Dimensional Prison!" Sergey snorted. "Your dragon is banished,"
A tear in time and space swallowed Red Dragon Archfiend. Jack's eyes widened. "Very well then," he hissed. "I Set two cards and end my turn,"
"Oh my gosh!" Melissa gulped. "Sergey got rid of Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend! Again!"
"My turn!" Sergey madly grinned, targeting Jack's face-down. "I draw and immediately Normal Summon Kozmo Farmgirl!" he declared, his farmer appearing with her steed in tow. "Farmgirl! Attack that face-down!" he commanded. "I activate Call of the Haunted!" Jack barked, his own Set card appearing. "I revive Exploder Dragonwing!" The volcanic dragon appeared and roared as Farmgirl targeted the Set monster, who flipped face-up to reveal Force Resonator. "So what?" Sergey snorted.
"I activate my other Trap, Urgent Tuning!" Jack barked, his second card appearing. "I perform a Synchro Summon during your Battle Phase! And I Tune Force Resonator to Exploder Dragonwing!"
"Oh wow! What is Jack doing? Two plus seven equals nine!" Melissa gasped.
"Hellish dragon, come forth from the depths of the volcano! Synchro Summon! Don your armour and prepare for battle!" Jack commanded. Two rings, seven stars. "Level 9! Appear, Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss!"
A massive red dragon roared as it appeared, closely resembling Scarlight but with large blades on its forearms and a large image of a malign face on its chest.
Melissa's jaw was slack. "It's that monster! The evolution of Scarlight that Jack has, before now, only had to use on two occasions! Both against extremely strong opponents!"
"Stop the attack!" Sergey gulped as Abyss was revealed to have 3200 ATK. "I end my turn,"
"My turn!" Jack barked. "Draw!" he declared, taking a card from his Deck. "I activate the effect of Abyss! Once per turn, I can target one card on the field and negate its effects until the end of the turn! I negate Kozmo Farmgirl! he declared, and Abyss spat a ring of flame at Kozmo Farmgirl. "You won't use her effect to Summon a stronger Kozmo this turn!" Jack commanded. "Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss! Attack that pitiful monster! Hell Burning Dual Slash!" His dragon eagerly obeyed, charging forwards and baring the blades on its forearms. The girl was destroyed in an instant and Sergey's LP was reduced to 300.
"Pitiful," Jack shook his head and ended his turn. "Simply pitiful. Someone like you could never hope to defeat me. You have not even managed to damage me once. Even that pathetic Hunter Pace man from last year managed that,"
Last year, a Duelist named Hunter Pace had been the one who faced Jack on the opening night of the Friendship Cup as the exhibition match, Melissa recalled. The Duel between him and Jack Atlas had gone as well for him as it was for Sergey, but Hunter, despite losing, had managed to use his burn damage effects to reduce the King to 1400 LP before his defeat. Shortly afterwards, he lost in the first round.
"I'll show you pathetic!" Sergey screamed in anger. "My turn! Draw!" he commanded, pulling a card from his Deck so forcefully that Jack noticed a tiny tear appear in the card between his fingers. "I activate the effect of Kozmo Dark Planet in my hand! By banishing Kozmos from my hand or field, I Special Summon it to the field! I banish the Kozmo Forerunner and Kozmo Soartroopers in my hand!" he commanded, getting rid of the last two cards in his hand and placing the card he drew on his Duel Disk. "Face your doom, Jack Atlas! Face your doom at the hands of my Kozmo Dark Planet!" the man demanded.
Once again, the massive black spaceship appeared overhead, for the second time that day, blocking out the sun and casting the City into shadow.
"My doom, you say?" Jack shook his head. "All I see is a great flying pile of scrap,"
"Dark Planet! Destroy that dragon!" Sergey demanded. "Dark Plasma Blast of Infinite Obliteration!"
The monster fired, carving a gaping hole in the side of the Duel Palace, blowing Jack backwards and throwing him into the wall. His chair and the majority of the observation deck were reduced to charred rubble, and the blonde fumed. "Turn end!" Sergey declared.
"That monster is no threat," Jack growled. "If anything? It's boring! I draw!" He took a card from his Deck and glared. "You can destroy my ace monster. You can destroy his evolution. You can even dare to inflict damage to my Life Points! But nobody, NOBODY, damages my throne!" He gestured to the charred, smoking pile of wood and lumber that he had been sitting in less than half an hour ago. "You have angered the King," he whispered in quiet fury.
"I Normal Summon Red Sprinter from my hand, and activate its effect! When Red Sprinter is Summoned, I can Summon a Fiend-Type Tuner from my hand or Grave! Revive, Force Resonator!" Jack commanded. The demonic dinosaur arrived and bellowed, pulling the electrical shaman out of the Grave as it did. "Now, I Tune my Level 2 Force Resonator to my Level 4 Red Sprinter!" Jack declared, his face a mask of anger. 2 + 4 = 6.
"Come forth, descendant of hell, and make your mark with a streak of crimson! Synchro Summon! Level 6! Appear, Red Wyvern!" Jack commanded, bringing his Synchro monster to bear. The four-limbed dragon roared, appearing in front of him. The King nodded to his Synchro with a smile. "I activate the effect of Red Wyvern! If there is a monster wth greater ATK than it on the field, the monster on the field with the highest ATK is destroyed!" The King declared with a mighty Florida as Red Wyvern charged into the sky.
"Kozmo Dark Planet cannot be targeted by card effects!" Sergey snorted. Massive cannons appeared all over the ship and fired at the dragon, every pulse missing and winking out of existence before it hit something other than its intended target.
"Red Wyvern's effect does not target," Jack snorted. The dragon roared and dive-bombed the monster, diving through a canyon in its structure and firing a blast of flame into a shaft that led to the centre of the monster, before returning to Jack's field.
As it did, the Dark Planet exploded in a massive plume of smoke and fire that rapidly petered out. "That was absolutely incredible!" Melissa grinned. "Jack Atlas truly is the King!"
"Red Wyvern, attack directly," Jack waved Sergey off, and his dragon obliged, charging at the Duelist and obliterating the last of his Life Points. Sergey was thrown backwards, passing through the doorway he had had his back to and crashing through the wall behind him.
Unfortunately for Sergey, that wall was the outside wall of the stadium.
Jack heard him distantly scream as he fell down the five-storey drop that would drop him to the level of the raised Duel Carnival - then paused as he heard the screams continue for far longer than they should have. Picking his way through the wreckage, he rushed over to the hole his dragon had created and looked down. His dragon hovered behind him.
Sergey had been blown too far backwards, and was slowly falling down the eight-hundred-metre drop to the Commons dwellings far, far below.
"Would you mind going and catching him?" Jack politely requested of his dragon, who snorted, but nodded and flew away.
"And with that, Jack Atlas maintains his title as the King!" Melissa grinned.
Jack shook his head. "I hope that he has learnt something now. He could never be a strong Duelist with Duelling like that,"
His musings were interrupted by a roar of anger. "He's this way!"
Jack turned in surprise to see four Commons charge up the corridor towards him. "There he is! The despot King!" one of them shouted. "Let's kick his ass and show him why he shouldn't have forgotten the Commons he came from! another agreed.
"I don't want to fight you," Jack shook his head, retreating in the other direction towards the stairs. "You're going to! You're gonna get what you deserve for letting us down so badly!"
The man's eyes widened. 'The rebellion is becoming a problem. Something must be done,' he thought to himself. "I sincerely apologise, but I have other duties. Perhaps another time?" Jack politely offered, slowly backing towards the hole in the wall. He did not have time for this.
"No way," the lead Common snorted.
"That is not your choice to make," Jack shook his head. He spared a glance at his Duel Disk to ensure that the Solid Vision was still active. Satisfied that it was, he leapt backwards, falling out of the hole and into the air.
"What the hell?" one of the Commons blinked.
They gasped as Red Wyvern swept him up, Jack confidently landing on his back. "Let's go," he told his dragon. "We must find Yuya Sakaki,"
The King paused, spotting Sergey's unconscious body behind him. "I should also do something about him,"
X
Yuya braked hard, spotting someone in front of him as he sped down the road on his D-Wheel. "What the?" he blinked in shock.
Tsukikage nodded to him. "It is good to see you again, my friend,"
"What's happening? Where are Declan and Reira?" Yuya asked.
"Declan and Reira are at the power grid. The Duel Palace is compromised, so Declan wishes us all to meet up there," the ninja informed him. "Okay," Yuya nodded. "Then what?"
"Hopefully, Declan has decided on a plan of action by then," the ninja resolved.
"Wait, what about Yuzu?" Yuya blinked and asked.
"Security is being destroyed as we speak. She will likely be liberated from her holding cell, which is most likely in the Security headquarters, by the rioters. I will look for her after the Lancers are reunited and a plan has been decided upon," he explained.
The entertainer reluctantly nodded. "Where to?"
X
A squad of a dozen members of Security guarded one of the entrances to the Duel Palace. "Here they come, men. Hold the line," Shigeru commanded his troops, who armed their Duel Disks and prepared for combat. A myriad of Goyo Chasers, Goyo Predators and Goyo Catapults appeared around them.
Shinji shouted. "Bee Force - Hana the Evil-Crushing Bow! Charge!"
"You heard him!" Kei commanded, unleashing the new Deck he had built from cards that had been rescued from the trash with Flare's help. "I Tune Jutte Fighter to Goblindbergh and Synchro Summon Gravity Warrior! When Gravity Warrior is Synchro Summoned, he gains 300 ATK for every monster my opponent controls! I count twenty-five!"
"That thing's your new ace?" Shinji grinned at his new friend as his blue, lion-like robot's ATK increased to an incredible 9600. "I'm impressed," he nodded as Gravity Warrior and Bee Force - Hana the Evil-Crushing Bow sent the Security forces toppling like skittles.
"Sorry about that, Shigeru! Are we still on for golf next month?" Kei hollered at his fallen former colleague as they passed the Security forces, followed by a mob of angry Commons. "You bet, Kei," Shigeru weakly raised a thumbs-up.
"Golf?" Shinji asked in disbelief. Kei bashfully shrugged. "It's fun,"
X
Sora raised an eyebrow as he looked up at the Security Public Headquarters. "Looks like a tough nut to crack," the boy observed.
He turned and grinned at the dozens of Commons he had rounded up with the promise of tearing the Security headquarters to pieces. "Well they can call us the Nutcrackers! Who's with me?!"
The Security in the building shivered as they heard the response.
X
Yuya started in surprise, seeing a red dragon in the sky above him that was angling towards him.
Red Wyvern landed, dropping the Wheel of Fortune onto the ground, and vanished, depositing the unconscious Sergey Volkov on the ground as Jack Atlas smartly stepped off, nodding to Tsukikage and turning to Yuya. "Yuya Sakaki," he greeted the boy.
"Jack Atlas?" Yuya breathed in shock, before stuttering as he realised that he was not honouring the King. "Oh, uh, I mean King, sir -" he tried, but Jack held up a hand. "There is no time for pleasantries and honourifics right now, Yuya. The City is in the brink of destruction from within. Working together, we can reunite Tops and Commons alike," Jack explained.
"How?" Yuya asked in surprise.
"Through a heated clash of souls in a Duel!" Jack barked. "If we can put on a spectacle of sufficient glamour, then the Commons will be distracted and calmed from their rioting. After the Duel, the victor can take advantage of the people's natural awe at the victory to pacify them and convince them that revolution is not the way of the future, but unity!" he declared, mounting his Duel Disk.
"You think that'll work?" Yuya smiled, starting to get excited at the thought of this crazy plan the King had dreamed up.
"I have seen the wonder you could bring forth, Yuya Sakaki. If we unite our skills, this City may yet live to see tomorrow," Jack nodded.
"What about our rendezvous with the other Lancers at the power grid?" Tsukikage questioned.
"I will guide Yuya to the plant in our Duel. You must take care of him," Jack requested, gesturing to Sergey's prone form.
The ninja thought about it for a second, then nodded. "Very well. I will see you at the grid,"
"And this rebellion will be quietened by the time we arrive," Jack agreed.
"One problem, how do we get back up on the highways?" the entertainer asked, suddenly realising the error in the King's plan.
In response, he just looked over Yuya's shoulder. The boy followed his gaze and spotted the chunk of highway that had fallen into the Commons during his Duel with Yugo. One of the six paths that had broken away from the collapsed pillar had fallen perfectly down into a Commons road, providing the perfect ramp back into the hexagonal highway grid.
"How convenient," Taukikage nodded as he scooped up the tanned, unconscious Duelist. "I will see you soon, my friend," he nodded to Yuya, and leapt away.
Yuya turned his D-Wheel around as Jack sped off, and followed the blonde King on his route through the suburbs. "Come, Yuya! Let us change the course of history!"
A/N
A/N
As I wrote this chapter, I suddenly realised how HORRIBLY the anime totally skipped over the events of the actual rebellion, only showing tiny fragments and moments. Since I have little to work with, apparently I must do the same. -.-
Anyhoo. I honestly think my Duel between Jack and Sergey is one of my best ever. And the moment where Red Wyvern destroyed Kozmo Dark Planet definitely isn't an abbreviated ripoff of the climax of Star Wars: A New Hope or anything. How dare you even suggest that? What do you mean, this is a pre-recorded Author's Note and therefore you cannot suggest anything because I have no way of hearing you? I grow tired of these baseless accusations. Allow me to sweep my royal cape and dismiss them all. XD
So, no new cards (though I am hard at work preparing for the future of made-up cards in this fiction) and a couple of reviews! Yay! :)
I noticed and fixed the problem, Leafeon. And thanks. Just a shame I couldn't finish it. Hopefully I'll get another chance. :)
And thanks to Purity-Aamutet and Chuckinstor for favouriting. :)
Anyways, peace!