Chapter 34: The Final Refuge! Duel Sanctuary!
"I hate stairs," Sawatari complained.
"I'm really getting sick of your complaining," Gong retorted.
"Don't worry, we're almost there," Shun told them.
The three, along with Yuya, Yuke and Katie, were trekking up a seemingly endless set of stairs.
"What is this place?" Yuya asked Shun, looking over his shoulder. The entire city of Heartland was spread out beneath them, like a massive map of greyed-out ruins, from their vantage point halfway up one of the huge hills that surrounded the city.
"It's the Duel Sanctuary. An ancient shrine that's been here for as long as anyone can remember, and predates all other human settlement here. Legend says that the monks that once lived here used to worship Duel Spirits," Shun explained, gazing upwards. Following his gaze, Yuya could barely see the top of an old-fashioned roof up above them. He nodded. "Impressive,"
"Come on, you lot. It's not far now," Shun admonished the four behind him and Yuya, and they hastily attempted to catch up.
X
"You call that not far? That was at least four storeys' worth of stairs!" Sawatari protested as they finally staggered to the top.
"What took you all so long?" a familiar voice greeted them.
"Flare!" Katie grinned, relieved to see her friend again. The redhead waved, casually leaning against a tree. "Been waiting for you lot," She focused her gaze on Shun. "Brings back memories, huh?" she nodded, gesturing at the tall building.
"It was a better time," Shun nodded, a faraway look entering his eyes.
"Did I miss something?" Sawatari frowned, squinting at the two Xyzians.
"It was a sort of ritual for any aspiring Duelist in Heartland. Spend a weekend learning and training under Master Roku, the monk who used to live here," Flare explained with a sigh at the thought of the old man. "That was actually the first time I met Shun," she remembered.
"Used to?" Yuke frowned. Flare cast him a look, cocking her head and half-lidding her eyes. "Oh. Right," the boy nodded, awkwardly looking away.
X
The young girl was eleven now, and in light of the events that had resulted in the creation of Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon, Ryuna's father had decided it was time for her to make a trip to the Duel Sanctuary. Ryuna breathed heavily as she reached the top. "Couldn't you have put the temple on the ground?" she rhetorically questioned.
"Quit complaining," a voice retorted. The redhead looked up to see a slightly taller boy with navy-blue hair looking down at her with arms folded. "We're here to be taught, not to whine about stairs,"
Ryuna leapt up, the dragon in her chest growling. "I'll show you who's a whiner!" she barked, raising her Duel Disk. "I'm Ryuna Abakir and I'm not gonna win!" She paused, realising what she just said as the boy raised an eyebrow in amusement. "I mean lose! I'm not gonna lose!"
"I won't either. So we might have a problem," he responded.
"Now, now, children," a voice interrupted them. "There's more to Duelling than just winning and losing, you know?" An elderly, stooped and short man appeared between them. The boy bowed. "Yes, master Roku,"
"Good, good, Shun. And you?" The comment was directed at Ryuna, whose temper flared. "I'm Ryuna. And I'm here to Duel,"
"Maybe later. For now, I have a more appropriate task in mind for you," the sensei suggested.
"Yeah?" the eleven-year-old asked in excitement. What could possibly be more fun than Duelling in this place?
X
"Lousy old man," the girl huffed as she scraped a bristling broom across the wooden floor of the shrine.
X
The redhead's eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh, that reminds me," She pulled a small pile of cards from her pocket. "Here, you'll need this," she told Yuya, handing him one of them. He squinted at it. "Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer?" he read, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "It's a Rank 4 Xyz monster. As much as I appreciate it, Flare, what is this for?"
"Gong, Sawatari. Can your Decks field a Rank 4 Xyz Summon?" the redhead asked.
"That needs you to have two Level 4 monsters on the field, right?" Sawatari asked for confirmation, and Flare nodded. "Easy," the blonde smirked, and Gong rumbled in agreement. "Good," Flare nodded, handing each of them a copy of Castel as well.
"This is Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer," Flare explained, handing two more copies of the monster to Yuke and Katie. "See, Ancient Gear Chaos Giants are unaffected by Spells and Traps, and negate the effects of monsters they battle. They are also easy to revive from the Graveyard should they be destroyed. Therefore, the only surefire way to combat them is to either banish them or return them to the Extra Deck. Castel is an Xyz monster that is easy for most people to use and has the ability to place monsters on top of the Deck by using both of its Overlay Units. He was created shortly after the invasion for the rebellion, designed to be able to rid of a Chaos Giant. If you ever find yourself facing off with one of them, this guy is your best bet," she told the other five.
"Good to know," Yuya nodded.
Flare paused. "Then again, you have a Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, that could destroy a Giant too," she thought, recalling the time Yuya had used the card against her.
"Regardless, I need it!" Sawatari ranted.
"Fair enough," Flare nodded. "Keep it anyway," she told Yuya. "Castel's, like, the mascot of the Resistance," The entertainer nodded, slipping the Xyz monster into his Extra Deck.
"Shall we go inside?" Shun suggested, interrupting the conversation.
"I second that. I'm hungry," Yuke agreed.
With that, Shun led the Lancers through a large set of doors and into the Sanctuary.
The seven were taken aback by the contents of the room. Shun and Flare recalled wide, open rooms, places to conduct practice Duels adorned with carved wood statues lit by candlelight.
Instead, counters, electric lights and massive rows of tables and chairs had been patchily installed, and dozens of people were sitting at the tables, eating some sort of stew.
Flare stopped in a heartbeat. She opened her mouth to say something, but they had already been seen. "Hey, Flare! I see your friends showed up! Come on over!"
The redhead sighed and lead the others between the tables. Katie shivered and clung close to Yuke, flattening her ears and curling her tail around her leg. They were attracting enough attention as being strangers as it was, and her abnormalities were definitely the group's most noticeable feature. The vast majority of the people in the room - easily at least forty crammed into the small space - were staring directly at her.
The fox girl breathed a sigh of relief as they exited the throng and reached a private table that was separated by a rice paper wall. "Shun! You're alright!" an unfamiliar voice cheered.
Shun cringed, his eyes shooting open as a short boy with orange hair streaked with gold dashed up and hugged him. "And you brought comrades! This is brilliant!"
"There's only five," another voice interrupted him. The boy turned and admonished his companion. "Hey, Sayaka! In times like this, we need all the help we can get,"
"It's nice to see you too, Allen," Shun responded, looking down at the short boy.
"Come on, everyone! Take a seat!" Allen declared, gesturing at the mostly empty table as he looked over the five unfamiliar people. His gaze paused on Katie as he spotted the furry orange tail wrapped around her left leg, but he shrugged it off as he saw her shiver at the attention. Yuke gently patted her head and guided her to the seat on the end of the table. Shun sat next to him, and Flare took the last seat in the row. Yuya, Gong and Sawatari took seats on the other side, next to a mousy girl wearing glasses, who Allen had identified as Sayaka. Allen reclaimed his place at the head of the table. "I'm so glad you're both okay," he grinned at his two old friends.
Sawatari stared at Allen, squinting and frowning. "You look familiar. Have we met?" he asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow. "No?" Allen blinked.
"You both look alike, like me and Yuya," Yuke pointed out. Allen nodded, realising he was right, but Sawatari shook his head. "I'm not seeing it,"
"So, you know him?" Yuya frowned, looking at Flare for answers. While he had known Shun for longer, the energetic dragon-like girl was a lot more friendly towards him than Shun had ever really been.
"Didn't you ever tell them about me?" Allen blinked in surprise.
"I've only known them for about a week," she protested in response. "And I thought you were dead,"
"I thought so too!" Allen burst out in excitement. "I was so shocked to see your Duel Disk's ID in Heartland,"
"Nothing to how I felt to see you send me a message," Flare grinned in response. "I thought I was hallucinating!"
"You haven't answered the question," Shun sighed.
"Oh, right!" Flare nodded. "Remember I told you my dad was a scientist?" she looked at Yuya, who nodded. "Allen was his lab assistant. I've known him since I was eight,"
"Ah," Yuya nodded, and the other two agreed. "It makes sense," Katie nodded, remembering the story Flare had told her about her abilities yesterday. She had mentioned Allen then, and that he was one of the only people who knew the truth about her.
"And this is Sayaka. She was a classmate of me and Ryuna's," Allen continued, gesturing to his other friend.
"Who's Ryuna?" Sawatari blinked.
Allen stared in surprise.
"Me. I'm Ryuna," the redhead snorted, gazing at the boy with half-lidded eyes.
"But your name's Flare," the blonde blinked.
Everyone was staring at Sawatari in disbelief at this point. "Did you honestly think my real name was Flare?" she demanded. "What kind of parent would go, 'Hmm, Alice? No. Eliza? No. How about Flare?',"
"I dunno, maybe they have weird names in Xyz Dimension?" Sawatari defended himself. "I didn't judge,"
Gong groaned to himself. "Even I knew that Flare was just a nickname,"
"Technically, it's an alias," Sayaka quietly pointed out.
"Anyway!" Allen broke up the argument. "Who are you lot?" he questioned the five newcomers,"We're the Lancers," Yuya explained. "See, there are four different dimensions. Fusion and Xyz, which you already know, then there's Synchro Dimension, and Standard Dimension. We're from Standard," he explained.
"We, along with the rest of the Lancers, found out about what happened here in Xyz and tried to go to Synchro Dimension to get them to ally with us," Gong continued. "The plan was for Synchro and Standard to join forces against the threat of Fusion,"
"Did something go wrong?" Allen frowned.
"You could say that," Sawatari shrugged.
"There was this guy in Synchro called Jean-Michael Roger who tried to take over - long story short, we got sucked through a portal by accident and after meeting those two in a place called the Crashlands we ended up here," Yuya finished.
"How did you meet Shun and Flare?"
"I went to Standard to get help," Shun reminded him. "I ended up making a deal, I'd join the Lancers if Standard did everything it could to help Heartland after the war,"
"I had a similar plan, but I ended up in Synchro instead by accident," Flare confessed. "That was when I met Yuya and Gong, and joined up with them,"
"Makes sense," Allen nodded, before remembering something. "Uh, Ryuna, can I talk to you in private for a moment?" he asked, standing up.
The redhead knew exactly what it was about. "Sure," she agreed, carefully stepping out of the bench. She spotted Yuya's concerned look, and nodded to him. "Relax. Allen's my oldest friend. I trust him,"
"Aww, thanks," the short boy chuckled. "Come on!" he added, pulling Ryuna out of the room.
With their energetic host gone, the six Lancers' attention fell on the only other person in the room - Sayaka. The mousy girl very deliberately failed to meet any of their eyes and ate rapidly, giving herself an excuse not to talk.
"I'm glad he didn't say anything," Katie smiled, sniffing at the food in front of her.
"I think he might not have even noticed," Yuke chuckled, swallowing a mouthful of minced chicken.
"He probably thought they were fake," Yuya conversationally offered.
The purple-eyed girl paused, cocking her head, and her ears twitched. "Yeah, that's probably it," she agreed, flicking her tail amicably and continuing to eat.
Across the table from her, Sayaka almost choked on a piece of broccoli.
X
"I still can't believe you're alright," Allen grinned. They were in one of the back rooms of the Sanctuary, and night had completely fallen, so the room was rather dark. "Mind lighting up?" he asked, rummaging around in a bench until his groping hand found a candle, and holding it out to Flare.
She obligingly clicked her finger, and a tiny streak of fire shot from her palm and ignited the candle. "It feels so weird to use my powers casually after so long," she off-handedly commented.
Allen looked up at her in surprise. "So long? Have you been repressing them again?" he demanded. "You know that's not healthy for you,"
"I know, I know," Flare sighed. "But what am I supposed to do? I've got them buying a story I made up about it being some kind of Solid Vision app on my Duel Disk or something, but that only goes so far," she sighed, looking at her feet.
Her friend's eyes widened in fear. "How long has it been since you took your true form?" he demanded.
"A little over a month," she confessed.
It was at this that Allen really went pale. "You're supposed to transform at least once a week!" he burst out. Snatching her hand, he set the candle down on the dresser and pulled her towards the back door. "Come on. We are going outside, we are finding a clearing in the forest or something and you are spending the night in your true form. I'll tell your friends you needed some time to yourself and come and get you in the morning," he demanded, pulling his friend after him.
Ryuna wanted to protest, but she knew he was right. Ever since the invasion, she'd been repressing her powers, only using them when absolutely necessary. Like that moment when she tried to stop Yuya from being sucked into the wormhole yesterday. That had been the first time she'd really used her powers in a month. She hated to admit it, but Allen was right. She needed this.
"Do any of them know?" he suddenly asked, a few feet into the forest.
"Katie does. The rest think my pyrokinesis is Solid Vision," Ryuna explained - then suddenly realised something. "Allen, there's something you need to know,"
"Uh-huh?"
"There's someone else like me, a girl called Kisara," Ryuna burst out, rushing to catch up with her friend as he ploughed through the undergrowth.
Allen stopped in shock. "What? Where is she?"
"With Academia," Flare fumed. "She's more powerful than me, too. Almost killed me,"
"That's a problem we can deal with tomorrow," the orange-haired boy asserted. "It's a shame she won't fight with us, but we can worry about this Kisara person another time,"
The two emerged into a rocky clearing, with trees on three sides and a rocky wall in a slight overhang. "Here," Allen declared, pulling her forwards. "Transform. Now," he commanded.
Ryuna took a deep breath and stepped into the centre of the clearing. "Okay," she breathed, taking her Duel Disk off and setting it down on the floor. A circle of red energy appeared as she closed her eyes and concentrated.
Fire erupted in her palms, rapidly covering the girl's entire body. The magical energy lifted her into the air as the fire grew, sucking oxygen from the sky. Her form grew, reshaping and elongating. As her fiery neck extended, massive wings emerged from her back. Allen watched in awe as her form crashed to the ground, a ten-foot, slim tail of fire appearing behind her as arms and legs grew and reformed.
Finally, black scales covered her, from her chest, and obscured the fire within, covering her body in a matter of seconds. Her skull grew elongated and triangular, as four short horns and sharp teeth rose from her head.
Ryuna roared, the newly formed black dragon flexing her wings and tail. "Oh, you're right! That feels so much better," Fire played between her teeth as she spoke.
"I never get sick of seeing that," Allen admitted, grinning madly.
The dragoness spread her wings wide, bright red eyes fixed on the sky above. "I want to fly," she moaned, flexing her tail.
"Ryuna. Don't let the dragon overwhelm you," Allen told her, reaching up in a futile attempt to touch her head, several metres above him. She crouched on her forelegs and lowered her head, and he gently stroked the softer scales on her cheek. "You'll be okay, right?" he asked, worried for his friend.
She flicked her tail around and waggled the tip at him. "Who's gonna mess with a freakin' dragon?" the girl grinned. "I'll be fine,"
'Euphoria,' Allen recalled, remembering something her father had explained to him the first time the boy had witnessed his mentor's daughter transforming. "Her brain releases endorphins when she transforms to block out the pain of her entire body transforming, and the longer she goes between changes, the more endorphins have built up and released," he muttered the words to himself.
An orange light above him broke the boy from his reminiscing and he looked up to see Flare releasing a jet of bright fire into the sky. "Oh, that is beautiful!" she crowed.
"I'll, ah, leave you to it," Allen decided, carefully backing away. "Bye!"
X
As soon as Allen rejoined the Lancers, Shun suspiciously stared at him. "Where's Flare?"
"She had something to take care of. She'll be back in the morning," Allen shrugged.
Yuya, Sawatari, Yuke and Katie seemed to accept this, but Gong and Shun still seemed suspicious. "Hey, if I'd done something to her, then she won't be back in the morning. If she isn't, you can threaten me or something then," the boy shrugged.
"Fair enough," Gong nodded, satisfied.
X
Later that night, Yuya lay on the sleeping mat that had been provided for him. Sawatari snoozed on the mat next to him. "Kiss me, Selena my darling," he muttered in his sleep. On the other side of the entertainer, Shun slept in complete silence. Behind him, Gong's snores shook the rice wall he lay against. Yuya could faintly see one of Yuke's spikes of hair behind Sawatari, and even though he couldn't see her, he knew that Katie was behind him. Normally girls would sleep separate from boys, but she had been uncomfortable in a room full of strangers and persuaded Allen to let her stay with her brother.
Yuya was the only one left awake - wait, no. For all he knew Flare was still up, whatever she was doing - no. Flare wasn't her real name, was it? It was Ryuna. Ryuna Abakir, he recalled. It suited her.
He slid open the compartment for his Extra Deck, inspecting it and how it had grown. Allen had told him that he was responsible for Ryuna giving everyone copies of Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer, and the bird-like warrior Xyz was the first card he pulled out. It was rapidly followed by his other Xyz monsters; Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon, Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon, and Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon. Yuya pulled the Fusion and Synchro monsters out as well, counting Beast-Eyes and Rune-Eyes, then procuring Odd-Eyes Meteorburst, Enlightenment Paladin and Nirvana High Paladin. His Extra Deck now numbered ten cards. Who'd have thought?
After a moment's thought, seeing all the evolutions of his ace laid out before him, he searched through his Main Deck and produced Odd-Eyes Gravity, Junior's card and his ace, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Instantly, Junior emerged from the card and nuzzled his cheek in affection, crooning softly. Yuya absent-mindedly stroked the little dragon, recalling how he had created Absolute and Meteorburst, and suspected that the baby had somehow had something to do with his unexpected discovery of Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon in Yuke's attic. "So, Junior. You got any more surprises for me?" he quietly asked the dragon, who cocked his head and looked up at him quizzically. Yuya chuckled. "I guess I'll just have to wait and see, huh?"
A/N
A/N
Plot twist! If anyone saw this aspect of Flare's powers coming, give yourself a cookie. You've earned it. :) Thanks for following and favouriting, kyaima. Nice username, too. :)
And thanks for the continued support, Leafeon.
So, no new cards, and, well, yeah. Peace!