Chapter 22: For King and Country! Borrowed Words!
The Lancers dashed through the streets towards Crow's house, Sawatari in the lead. Flare, who had managed to keep the stolen D-Wheel from yesterday, was mounted with the blonde riding behind her, and Gong and Shun were riding Shun's Raidraptor - Rise Falcon in the sky above and using the motorbike as reference.
The two were conducting an Action Duel with each other, but had taken advantage of Solid Vision with Mass to make Rise Falcon their vehicle. Gong's Superheavy Samurai Transporter skated beneath them on its wheels.
"How much further is it?" Flare questioned. Sawatari gestured. "A few blocks,"
"He said that before," Gong frowned. "Remind me why we're trusting his judgement?"
"Ninja man said so and you seem to think you can trust him," Shun shrugged.
"We're here!" Sawatari shouted up at them.
Rise Falcon vanished as Shun terminated the Duel, and the two landed as Flare pulled up.
They stood before a completely nondescript one-storey house. "It looks exactly like every other house around here?" Shun frowned.
"Of course it does. What did you expect, a Vegas casino?" Sawatari snorted.
"That would have been nice," Flare nodded.
The blonde rolled his eyes, strutting up to the house and knocking.
Sure enough, the door was swept open to reveal Selena, the girl with her Duel Disk armed and vehemently glaring at what she assumed was likely to be an enemy.
Sawatari gulped in shock and leapt back, hiding behind Gong's muscled body, even as Selena relaxed, realising it was the the other Lancers. "Where're the other two?" she frowned.
"Shinsei and Megan are with the rioters," Gong shrugged.
"Of course they are. I always thought that girl seemed a few cards short of a Deck," the girl shook her head. "So, where are we going?"
She paused, feeling Tanner tug at her dress. The Lancers paused, seeing the three kids behind her. "Who are they?" Flare frowned. Her gaze lingered on Amanda. The younger girl seemed almost familiar for some reason.
"Will you three be fine here by yourself?" Selena asked Frank, the eldest.
"Sure. Crow leaves us alone all the time," Amanda grinned, and the two boys nodded in agreement.
"Then it's settled. Let's get moving," Shun nodded, but Flare held up her hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Maybe Crow's seen fit to leave them alone in the past, but that was in peacetime. We're in the middle of a revolution, anything could happen. For all we know armed looters could be taking advantage of the confusion to break into people's houses!"
"Cough - worrywart - cough," Sawatari 'coughed', and shivered as the redhead glared at him.
"Well what are we gonna do? We can't miss the rendezvous," Gong frowned.
X
The look on Shun's face was stormy as Raidraptor - Rise Falcon took flight. "Oh wow!" Frank gasped, looking down at the view from the sky. "This is so cool!" Amanda grinned. Gong kept a close eye on the three to make sure they wouldn't fall off the flying Raidraptor as it soared through the air, following Flare on her D-Wheel as she used the computer mapping system on board the motorbike that had once belonged to Security to guide them to the power grid. While places 'of no importance' such as Crow's house were not marked on the map, the central power grid was a completely different matter.
Tanner leapt up at Sawatari - who Flare had insisted ride on the bird due to the fact that she was rapidly losing patience with him - and snatched at his face. "Got your nose!" the child squeaked with a grin.
Sawatari blinked, before frowning. "Hey! I need that!" he demanded, chasing after Tanner in circles on the broad back of the metal bird.
Beneath them, Flare inspected what she had come to think of as 'her' D-Wheel and winced, seeing the dents and scratches it had taken during the pursuit with Kisara the previous night. "I could fix that," she whispered to herself with a pause. The redhead rapidly looked around, then looked up at the bird above her. Satisfied that no one was watching, she focused - and the tip of her finger burst into flame. She ran her finger over the gauges in the framework, slowly welding them back together. "Can't do too much, or they'll notice something's off," Flare told herself, holding back from restoring every single injury the machine had sustained. Her welding job was patchy, but it was an improvement.
As she did, energy pulsed in both the Main and Extra Decks in her Duel Disk.
X
Beneath the Duel, in the Commons, a young man with light green hair in two long strands stood on top of a building. "I know that you are nearby. You have to be," he muttered to himself, looking around.
His gaze lingered on the low-flying metal bird making its way towards Tops. "It's as good a place to start as any," he shrugged, and, tensing his legs, leapt across the street like a ninja, landing expertly and running across the tops of buildings in an impressive feat of parkour.
"I'm going to find you, Selena," the man muttered to himself, arming his Duel Disk. A black blade with mossy green edges appeared. It was shaped like a miniature broadsword.
X
Academia. A harsh, rocky island covered with weathered buildings from various eras of construction convention juxtaposed alongside one another. Perhaps, in some alternate universe, it could have been a wonderful, beautiful place, full of life and learning and fun and happiness. And once, more than a hundred years ago, it had been.
"I'm glad it isn't anymore, though," Kisara giggled to herself, leaning out the window and looking down to the courtyard, where two legions of Obelisk Force soldiers were being drilled. Once, the courtyard had contained grass and trees, but the trees had been cut down and the grass turned to mud by years of marching drills and parades across it. "That would be so boring. This is way more fun," The white-haired girl transferred her weight to her hands and lifted herself off her feet, dangling her legs in childish glee as she leaned out.
The girl felt a hand on her collar pull her back into the corridor. She turned indignantly, ready to protest, and possibly card, the offender, then realised that it was only Yuri. "Careful, careful. You wouldn't want to fall off," he shook his head.
Kisara bobbed her head to the side with an impish grin. "Aww, come on. You know I of all people don't have to worry about falling,"
Yuri nodded, smiling his sadistic, cocky smirk. "So, how are you feeling about what happened in Synchro Dimension?" he asked, taking her hand and guiding her down the corridor. Kisara happily followed him, but her features turned stormy and angry as she remembered the events. "That Black Flare bitch is gonna pay," she growled, feeling the dragon in her own chest roar with list for vengeance. "Daddy's making me pay for a new Duel Disk out of my own pocket!" she fumed.
Yuri gently stroked the side of her cheek, and she shivered in pleasure. "I thought you took that one from Security? It's not like you need a Duel Disk to turn people into cards," he questioned, referencing her unique (and envied by him) abilities.
"Maybe some half-rate Synchro Disk is good enough for you, but that thing broke after a couple of uses. It couldn't take my power, and it overloaded. So I'm waiting for a new one with the same specialisation as my old one to get finished,"
"So you can't Duel until you get the new one?" Yuri asked sympathetically as they descended the stairs at the end of the corridor into a gap between buildings. "Can't Duel, can't fight, can't do anything but sit on my tail and wait," the girl fumed to herself. "You have no idea how infuriating it is to know you have all this energy, all this power building up within you and you can't do anything about it!" she shrieked, stamping her feet as her dragon growled in anger.
Yuri stroked her cheek some more, and she calmed down. "Save it, you feisty dragon," he grinned at her. "Save it for the Xyz and Synchro scum,"
Kisara nodded, thinking back to herself about the way the Security forces had shrieked in horror as she ended their lives, one by one, and smiling, baring her pointed teeth. "Remind me to get myself a wrecking ball," she absent-mindedly noted. "Please. You are a wrecking ball," Yuri snorted with a grin.
She paused, remembering something else from that day. "Wrecking ball . . . ."
X
"Using the Scale 3 Performapal Radish Horse and the Scale 8 Performapal Odd-Eyes Unicorn I set the Pendulum Scale!" Yuya declared, and his two monsters rose into the air in twin pillars of blue light. "I Pendulum Summon! Swing far, pendulum! Carve the arc of victory!" he exuberantly shouted, a massive replication of his necklace drawing a portal in the air.
"My monsters are ready, to swing into action!" he grinned. "Appear, Wisdom-Eye Magician!" A tall caped white spellcaster wielding a golden flail appeared. 1500 ATK. "Performapal Whip Snake!" Yuya continued, and his purple snake monster appeared and happily coiled around its master's arm. "And take centre stage with your wondrous heterochromatic eyes, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" he commanded, and his ace monster leapt out of the portal in brilliant red light, landing with a crash.
X
"Yuri," she sweetly asked. "Do you know what a Pendulum Summon is?"
The purple-haired boy paused in surprise at the abrupt change in topic. "Pendulum Summon," he repeated to himself, eyes mostly closed in concentration, before his face brightened with memory. "I think I saw someone from Standard do something like that?" he uncertainly offered.
"Really?" Kisara smiled, before grabbing his arm and pulling him behind her as she ran, Yuri stumbling in his attempt to keep up. "Where are we going?" he demanded.
"We're going to get Daddy to get me some of those Pendulum Monsters or whatever they're called," the girl smirked. "And you might get some too if you're nice,"
X
Jean-Michael furiously slammed on the brakes as the car he was driving almost crashed into a bank of traffic. "Traffic? Now? Does the universe conspire against me?" he demanded.
As the Tops fleeing the City due to the mounting revolution registered the sound of police sirens, they began to move aside to allow Jean-Michael and the ten Duel Chasers passage, believing it to be some form of relief.
They began to move aside very, very slowly.
"This is exactly what you deserve, you bastard," Yuzu spat at him from the back seat, sandwiched between two guards. "Shut up!" Jean-Michael barked. "Look at me! I'm so understaffed that I actually have to drive my own car! I am reduced to an escort of only ten Duel Chasers! And I am down to plan C, which is nothing more than holding the City to ransom for power! It's so degrading! Don't you see how far I've fallen?"
Yuzu looked at him through half-lidded, irritated eyes. "Yes. That's so horrible compared to just being a good person, doing your job and not trying to take over the City at all,"
"Don't be ridiculous," the Commander-in-Chief snorted.
X
"It's time, Yuya Sakaki," Jack commanded. Above them, Melissa's helicopter swung into view. "Attention everyone, Tops and Commons alike! I want you all to look at this right now!" Jack commanded, glaring at the camera. Every single screen across the City was suddenly showing Jack's angry face, and as one, the Commons paused. "The King has something to say," one of them whispered.
"It is time for the final Duel of the Friendship Cup! Myself, versus Yuya Sakaki!" he declared. "So quit it with all that petty rioting and watch closely!" he declared, the two D-Wheels establishing the Duel link. "I shall take the first turn!" he commanded, drawing his hand. He looked at the cards presented with interest and nodded to himself. "I Normal Summon Red Resonator from my hand!" The flaming shaman cackled as it rose from a portal and created a flaming wormhole. Yuya absent-mindedly noticed that the portal Red Resonator was creating looked very similar to the portal Flare created when she Pendulum Summoned.
"When Red Resonator is Normal Summoned, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower monster to my field!" Jack continued. "Appear, Red Gardna!" he commanded, and a large, horned shield forged from crystal appeared with 2000 DEF, while Red Resonator had 600 ATK. "Now, I tune my Level 2 Red Resonator to my Level 4 Red Gardna!" Two rings, four stars. 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 chanted, and his monster returned. Yuya grinned at the familiar sight.
"I Set a card and end my turn! Well, Yuya Sakaki? This is the same situation you were faced with when we first Duelled. Show me how you will respond! Demonstrate to me how you have changed!" Jack commanded, a small smile crossing his face in hope.
"Alright!" Yuya agreed. "My turn! Draw!" He took a sixth card for his hand and grinned. "The real fun's just getting started! Using the Scale 1 Odd-Eyes Baby Dragonet and the Scale 8 Timegazer Magician, I Set the Pendulum Scale!" he declared, and his first Pendulum Magician rose into the sky, accompanied by an excited Junior. "Now, I Pendulum Summon! Swing, pendulum of souls! Draw an arc across the aether!" Yuya commanded. A massive version of his pendant appeared, and the boy cheered, "My monsters are ready to swing into action!" he declared with a grin. "Appear, Performapal Radish Horse! And Performapal Turn Toad!" he commanded. Two monsters rose, a pink vegetable-like beast with 2000 DEF and a small frog in a top hat with 800 DEF.
"Now, I Normal Summon Tuning Magician from my hand!" Yuya continued, and his magician appeared. "When Tuning Magician is Summoned, I give you 400 Life Points!" he added, and his LP dropped to 3600, while Jack's became 4400.
"You want to know how I have evolved? I have learnt the summon techniques of this dimension and used them to further my own skills!" Yuya smiled. "I Tune my Level 1 Tuning Magician to my Level 2 Turn Toad and my Level 4 Radish Horse!" he declared. Tuning Magician chuckled and winked as she became a ring of energy, which trapped the other two monsters and converted them into six stars.
"Descend from the stars, burning dragon of mismatched eyes!" Yuya declared. "Synchro Summon! Level 7! Come forth, as the dragon who burns like a comet streaking across the sky! Descend, Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon!" he chanted with a grin and his Odd-Eyes Synchro appeared with 2500 ATK. Yuya declined the activation prompt. He had to attack, and if he used Meteorburst's effect, he would prevent itself from declaring an attack.
Jack frowned. "Yuya Sakaki! If that is the extent of what you have learnt, then I am extremely disappointed!" he shouted.
"Try me!" the boy grinned. "Battle Phase!"
"And now I activate Red Wyvern's effect! The monster with the highest attack is destroyed!" the King snorted, but Yuya shook his head. "Odd-Eyes Meteorburst's effect! Monster effects cannot be activated during the battle phase while he's on the field!"
Jack shook. "That is no triumph! Your Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon was already capable of defeating Red Wyvern! You still have yet to prove to me that you have learnt anything beyond parlour tricks in this dimension! Show me the Duelling that is yours!" he demanded.
"I'll show you my Duelling! The Entertainment Duelling that I inherited from my father!Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon!" Yuya commanded, frowning at Jack's words. "Attack Red Wyvern! Shooting Star Wavelength!"
The blonde snorted in derision. "You still borrowed words, Yuya Sakaki! Perhaps that Meteorburst Dragon has power, but it is no more than a cheap facsimile of my own power! This is not what I hoped to see from you,"
"Borrowed words?" Yuya frowned in confusion. "I end my turn,"
"You will never achieve your own strength if you merely take what has been done by others and use it as your own!" Jack shook his head. "Entertainment Duelling is your father's! Therefore, it is not yours! If you wish to defeat me and save this city, Yuya Sakaki, you will only be able to do it with the Duelling that is yours and yours alone! My turn! Draw!"
He drew his card. "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, and Summoned his Dragon with 1200 ATK. "Now, I Normal Summon the Level 3 Tuner Monster Dark Resonator from my hand!" he continued, placing another card on his field. "I tune my Level 3 Dark Resonator to my Level 5 Vice Dragon! 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!"
X
The green-haired man leapt from the building he perched on as Raidraptor - Rise Falcon swooped past and clung to the monster's leg. The bird took no notice as he flattened himself against its back, and he was perfectly silent, not even daring to look up to see who was on top of the bird. 'Now that I'm up close, the systems in my Duel Disk can recognise this monster. It is Raidraptor - Rise Falcon. An Xyz monster,' he thought to himself. 'Obelisk Force does not use Xyz Summons, and there is no such thing in this dimension. So the owner of this monster must originate from either the Xyz Dimension or the Standard Dimension. Either way, with luck, they will guide me to my goal,'
A picture of the purple-haired girl he sought floated in his mind. "Selena Gomez,' he thought to himself. 'I, Anakin, will find you. I swear it,'
If only he knew how close his quarry was.
X
Yuya barely registered the appearance of Jack's ace monster, so wrapped up he was trying to decipher the meaning of his words. "What does he mean, my Duelling?" he asked himself.
"This is not the Duel that I had hoped for from you, Yuya Sakaki," Jack shook his head. "I activate the effect of Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend! All monsters you control are destroyed and you take five hundred damage for each!" he barked.
Yuya looked up in surprise. "What?" as Scarlight destroyed Meteorburst in a blaze of hellish fire. "Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend! Attack Yuya directly! Flaming Crimson Hell Burning!"
Yuya swerved out of the way as a ray of energy shot from the dragon's mouth and narrowly missed him. "What do you mean, Jack Atlas?" he demanded. What is my Duelling?"
"I end my turn! And if you cannot figure that out for yourself, then you are not worthy to be my opponent!" Jack declared, his finger aimed straight at Yuya.
A/N
A/N
I just remembered something that I probably should have clarified back in Chapter 6. Flare knows Yuto from Heartland, and recognises Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon as his monster just like Kite does. But she doesn't understand the significance of Yuya having it because she doesn't know that there's only one Dark Rebellion Xyz Dagon. She thinks Yuya has a duplicate of Yuto's card, just like how she gave him a duplicate of Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon, and writes it off as a coincidence. Which is why we have yet to get a "Yuya, why do you have my friend's card?" from her.
Anyways. We have a new contender with a mysterious origin, who is obviously not a canon character (there has yet to be anyone with green hair outside of Jean-Michael) and his name is Anakin! Before you all say anything, no, Anakin is not a reference to Anakin Skywalker. I will explain the etymology of his name when it is not a spoiler of future events, but it is in no way connected to Star Wars.
The scene with Jean-Michael is VERY MUCH designed to portray him as a spoilt, power-hungry brat.
And Kisara with Pendulums? . . . Note to self, dig a Kisara shelter in the back yard. XD On the off chance anyone missed it, Kisara is capable of turning people into cards without the Human Sealing Technology employed by Academia. I wasn't planning this originally, but I realised that I had made a mistake. She sealed every Security member that battled her in Chapter 16, even though at the time she was using a stolen Security Duel Disk. As in, one that didn't have HST installed. Therefore, to correct this error, I've decided to just make it that she has the power to do that without needing a Duel Disk. She couldn't do that to Flare because even though the WOULD have beaten her within five seconds. the Duel Disk's destruction caused the game to be interrupted before she officially won and could seal Flare. No victory, no sealing. It really won't make much difference, I'm not planning on letting anyone destroy her Duel Disk again.
And since no one figured it out (unless you did by reading this chapter) the Synchro counterpart to Flare and Kisara is actually Amanda! Who saw that coming? :)
Anyhoo, review response time!
Thanks for following and favouriting, truth.
And I hope you're enjoying this, Leafeon. Sorry I had to break it up, but something like this deserved better than compression into one chapter. :)
Peace!