Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!, Bakugan, or any such properties. All rights belong to their respective owners.
Chapter 4: Rage of Helios
Two hours passed since the faulty Duel Runner was delivered, finding Haruka, Rally and Tank gathered in the tent at the end of the platform. Rally and Tank shared the lumpy couch, while Haruka spun slowly in the rusty swivel chair that sat at the desk.
"Nervin sure has been gone for a while," Rally said quietly, addressing the thought that everyone shared, but that no one else seemed willing to bring up. "You guys don't think he's in trouble, do you?"
"It's only been an hour…ish," Tank answered, trying to sound calm. He wasn't doing a good job. "He probably just got lost on his way back."
I tried to tell him it was no big deal, Haruka thought. It's not like we paid anything for it, it was a dirty trick for sure, but we got a frame, and that's a start.
Shortly after the Duel Runner was delivered to the station, Nervin ran off to give the salesman a piece of his mind. No matter what the others said to try and stop him, he wasn't going to hear it.
"It doesn't matter if we didn't lose anything by it," Nervin had said. "We had a deal! If they're not going to give us what they promised, then I'm going to go take what we're owed! Haruka needs this if he wants his memory back!"
As the minutes dragged on, the sensation of butterflies in Haruka's belly got stronger. What if something had happened to Nervin, all because he wanted to help Haruka?
That salesman looked like a rough sort of guy, and if he had friends…
Imagining what those guys could do to the dreadlocked male, seeing the worry on his friends' faces… the butterflies all at once seemed to spontaneously combust, kindling a fire in his stomach. It was small, but it burned fiercely.
Haruka stopped the chair's spinning and stood up. "I'll go find him," he said.
"Haruka?" Rally looked at him.
"It's my fault he's out there," the brown-haired teen said. "I owe him this much, after all the effort he put in trying to get me the Duel Runner."
"But…" Rally looked nervous. Then, he gave Haruka a small smile. "No, no you're right… sorry. I'm just a little worried."
Haruka gave Rally a reassuring smile. "I've already dealt with the salesman before, so I can handle whatever he's got to throw at me."
There was still the slightest bit of hesitation in Rally's eyes, but he nodded. "Yeah. Just be careful, Haruka, okay? It's no good if you get hurt too," he said.
"It'll be alright!" Haruka promised, giving Rally a thumbs-up. "Weren't you just saying how strong I was earlier? Besides, if I duel more, I might remember more. Just icing on the cake, you know?"
The salesman was standing in almost the exact same spot as when Haruka had last seen him, that same sleazy smile still in place. It seemed to grow even wider when the man spotted the teen.
"A returning customer!" the salesman greeted. "How did you like the Duel Runner? Everything running properly?"
"You know it isn't," Haruka said. "The friend I was with came by here a little while ago. Where is he?"
"The guy with the dreadlocks? Yeah, he came by. He was a bit… unhappy, so I sent him inside to deal with customer service. I suspect he's still having a talk with them."
Haruka didn't like the way the man grinned at the mention of 'customer service.'
"Is that so." Haruka said flatly. "I'd like to have a talk with… 'customer service.'"
"I'm sorry, but that'll be impossible until they're finished with your friend." The salesman's smile was outright malicious now.
"Is that so." Haruka said again, flatly. "And I suppose you're going to try and stop me?"
The salesman lifted his Duel Disk. "Correct you are," he said. "And don't think that you'll be able to pull one over on me like last time!"
"Suit yourself," Haruka said, powering on his Duel Disk.
"DUEL!"
…
…
…
But nothing happened.
"Huh?! Why isn't my Life Points going up?!" the salesman shouted, staring at the device on his arm which was flashing with red lights. He pressed several buttons, but nonetheless it refused to work.
A robotic voice emitted from the machine, "COUNTERFEIT CARDS DETECTED. COUNTERFEIT CARDS DETECTED. DUELIST FORFEITS."
"Hey! No I don't!" the salesman said, not even trying to defend his supposed 'counterfeit' cards.
The Duel Disk didn't seem particularly interested in talking back, though, and instead began shooting cards out of the deck slot like a machine gun.
"Duel Disks have surprisingly sophisticated counterfeit-detection technology," Haruka commented. He paused after hearing himself say that. Where had that come from?
The salesman wailed as he saw his cards blasting all over the place, and Haruka couldn't help but notice that some of the 'cards' were of different sizes, or looked particularly shiny, and most didn't even have the correct backs, looking like they were made from cereal boxes.
While the man went about trying to pick everything up, Haruka watched him wondering if he should help. After a second, he casually stepped around the crouching man and went toward the building.
Haruka pushed the doors open, carefully to make sure he didn't cut his hand on the shattered glass fragments, and stepped inside.
It was dark in there, and looked to be the remnants of an old office building. Desks were scattered all over the place, covered in dust, some flipped over, some tossed to the side, some right-side up with broken computers topping them. Old swivel chairs were in similar positions around the room. The desks seemed to form a sort of barrier, blocking off one part of the building from another, except for a single gap in which a man was standing.
Haruka took a deep breath, hoping that it was Nervin.
It wasn't.
The man looked a lot like the salesman outside, except with a purple mohawk. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Haruka approach. "Can I help you with something?" he asked, not bothering to inject the artificial friendliness that the guy outside had.
"Yeah, I'm looking for my friend. I was told he was talking to customer service," Haruka answered. "I'm here to pick him up."
"Oh, you're friends with the dreadlock guy?" the man asked. "How nice of you to come for him. He's in the back, why don't you come with me and I'll show you…"
Haruka raised his Duel Disk. "I'm sure I can find my way fine. Just get out of my way, before things need to escalate." He wasn't sure where this fire was coming from, but it was boiling inside him.
A cruel grin twisted the man's lips as he raised his own arm device. "Well. I suppose I'm game if you want to try," he said simply.
"DUEL!"
Haruka: 4000 LP / Thug: 4000 LP
A bit disappointingly, the purple-haired man's Duel Disk did not reject his deck. "I'm making the first move!" he said. "Draw! I'll call out Spear Dragon in attack mode!"
A medium-sized dragon with a tan body, blue wings and limbs, and a sharp, spear-like snout appeared on the field, thick tail swishing (4) (1900 ATK/0 DEF)
"I'll now activate the Continuous Spell, Kishido Spirit! Then, I place a card facedown and end my turn!"
"Draw!" Haruka said, feeling his muscles tense harder as he took the top card from his deck. "I summon Pyrus Siege, in attack position! And while I control a FIRE monster, I can summon Pyrus Falconeer as well!"
In a burst of flames, the humanoid bird creature appeared, and next to it was a tall knight in red armor, carrying a long staff with a crescent at the end of it.
Pyrus Falconeer: (3) (1300 ATK/1300 DEF)
Pyrus Siege: (4) (1900 ATK/1600 DEF)
The purple-haired man scoffed. "Are they supposed to scare me? Your knight is only just as strong as my dragon!"
"For now he is," Haruka said evenly. "Siege, attack his Spear Dragon, and get powered up by this Quick-Play Spell! Judgment of Fire!" Haruka revealed a Spell in his hand. "All FIRE monsters I control gain 200 ATK for each FIRE monster on my field. Since I have two, that's 400 ATK to both!"
Pyrus Falconeer: (1700 ATK/1300 DEF)
Pyrus Siege: (2300 ATK/1600 DEF)
That scoff turned into a teeth-bared cringe. "Er... well, I activate my Trap, Curse of Anubis! All monsters are changed to defense mode, and their DEF becomes 0 until the End Phase!"
Spear Dragon and Falconeer both dropped to a crouch, crossing their arms and wings over their torsos.
Pyrus Falconeer: (1700 ATK/0 DEF)
Spear Dragon: (1900 ATK/0 DEF)
But still Siege kept coming, crescent staff thrusting forward toward Spear Dragon.
"Hey, what gives?! Your monster shouldn't be able to attack now!"
"Curse of Anubis only affects Effect Monsters," Haruka corrected, once again not sure where this information was coming from. "Siege is a Normal Monster, which means he isn't touched by your curse! Go on, Pyrus Siege, spear that dragon!"
The knight didn't need to be told twice, thrusting the staff forward and slaying the dragon. As the dragon's image shattered, Siege returned to its position beside the crouching Falconeer.
"Now I'll activate the Spell, Attribute Change! I select one monster on my field and change its attribute. Falconeer, it's time to become EARTH!" The red coloring of the humanoid bird changed to a shade of brown. "Then I'll place one card face-down and end my turn!"
Pyrus Falconeer: (1300 ATK/1300 DEF)
Pyrus Siege: (1900 ATK/1600 DEF)
"Grr... I draw!" the thug said. "Now you're in trouble, I activate the Spell card Soul Taker! I'll destroy your Siege, but in exchange you gain 1000 Life Points!"
A massive hand covered in dark, leathery skin suddenly stretched up out of the ground. The hand cupped itself in front of Siege's chest, and the monster began to struggle as a glowing ball emitted from it, before the hand grabbed the orb and sank back down into the earth, while the hologram of Siege dissolved into pixels.
Haruka: 5000 LP / Thug: 4000 LP
Haruka's lip curled back in annoyance. "Tch."
"I'll now summon Masked Dragon in attack mode!" A muscular dragon with a beige body and wings, red underbelly, and a long neck with a face covered in a mask appeared. (3) (1400 ATK/1100 DEF) "Masked Dragon, attack Pyrus Falconeer!"
Haruka glanced at the hologram of the set Trap on his field. Of course he'd lost the other piece of his combo. Looking back at the field, he saw the dragon rear its head back and from somewhere behind the mask a burst of flames erupted, shooting across the field and consuming Falconeer.
A smug grin came across the enemy's face. "You might have beaten the guy out front, kid, but you're in a whole new league with me. Turn end!"
I'll wipe that look off your face this turn... Haruka thought. Though... the voice in his head sounded different somehow. The fire within him burned hotter.
"My turn, draw!" Haruka said. "I summon Pyrus Monarus in attack position, and I'll use her effect! By discarding a card in my hand, I can target a FIRE monster in my graveyard and Special Summon it! Come on back, Pyrus Siege!"
The familiar red butterfly creature appeared, alongside the returning knight.
Pyrus Monarus: (3) (1100 ATK/1000 DEF)
Pyrus Siege: (4) (1900 ATK/1600 DEF)
Haruka felt sweat rolling down his face. The voice coming from his throat seemed off; huskier, more vicious. His arm throbbed with a dull pain. "I tune Level 4 Pyrus Siege with Level 3 Pyrus Monarus!"
Yet again, Monarus spread her hands and flapped her wings before turning into the three green rings. Siege bent its armored knees and leapt up into the rings, collapsing into four shining stars.
"Rage of the combatant erupts into a burning fury! No rain can douse these flames! Raise your head, Pyrus Viper Helios!"
It seemed almost like Haruka could feel the flames as they tore through the rings. As the fire disappeared, in its place was a huge dragon, bigger than Leonidas or Dragonoid. Except for a dark red underbelly and on its wings, its body was covered in thick dark scales equipped with sharp spikes. A yellow horn jutted out of its head, and its hands and feet had razor-sharp claws. A long, whiplike tail extended far back behind Haruka. (7) (2900 ATK/2300 DEF)
Let's show him what we're made of! That voice said in Haruka's head. He was sure it wasn't his own now. It was deep, violent, rumbling. The voice of a monster.
"Viper Helios, attack that puny Masked Dragon!" Haruka shouted. He opened his mouth to announce the attack, when...
"GENERAL QUASAR!" a voice said. That voice. Only, it wasn't in Haruka's head...
"Did that dragon..." the thug began, but was cut off as a violent burst of flames erupted from Helios's maw. When it died off, the Masked Dragon was gone.
And the floor where it had been standing was blackened.
Haruka: 5000 LP / Thug: 2600 LP
"What..." Haruka gasped. That rage, that hatred faltered for just a moment, allowing him to see what had happened. Then there was that burning in his arm...
"Yeeeessss! This is what I've been waiting for!" the voice said again.
Then Haruka realized. He looked up at Helios and saw the dragon's fang-filled head turned toward him, jaws open in what he sincerely hoped was some odd smile.
"It's been too long since I've had some exercise!" Helios growled.
"The... the dragon is talking!" the thug said, his eyes wide, jaw hanging slack in shock. "I-is this some kind of trick?!"
"No trick!" Helios howled. "A treat! For me!"
Helios swung its whiplike tail, slamming it into and through a nearby desk. Nothing out of the ordinary there...
Except that the tail suddenly had weight to it. Rather than phasing through it like a hologram, the slender barb at the end of the tail slashed through the desk, cutting it clean in half. The computer resting on it went flying, and the now unbalanced halves of the desk slammed down onto the floor.
"T-this is too much trouble for me! I'm out of here!" the thug said, powering off his Duel Disk and taking off running.
"Leaving so soon?" Helios asked in an almost mocking tone. It swung its tail around again, aiming for the fleeing foe. "I was just starting to have fun!"
A part of Haruka wanted to let the attack go through. This was one of the men who had scammed him and kidnapped Nervin. Possibly seriously hurt him, too, or worse. Why shouldn't Helios give him a taste of his own medicine?
Helios's tail whistled as it scythed through the air. The guy was running fast, but Helios was faster.
"Helios, STOP!" Haruka finally yelled. That sensation in his arm burned hotter. "Let him GO!"
The tail kept going, but its owner shifted, almost imperceptibly, and just when the limb would have hit the man it swung right above his head. The resulting wind knocked the man down, but it only took an instant for him to scramble up and away like a terrified animal.
The dragon gave a rumbling growl of disapproval as its tail cut a long scar diagonally up a wall. "Very well."
Then with a sudden crash, Helios pivoted and slammed its tail into the wall again. "It has been so long since I've been able to burn off this energy! I missed this!"
Another burst of angry fire tore from Helios's mouth, the scarlet and orange pillar shooting up toward the ceiling, melting through and up into the sky beyond. Molten and liquefied rubble began to tumble down around them as Helios unleashed its fury.
And then the building began to collapse.
Haruka had no idea how he got out of the building, but when the pain in his arm was gone, he was sprawled on his back surrounded by rubble. Helios had disappeared, and so had a good portion of the building. And Haruka could think clearly again.
Shooting up into a sitting position, Haruka's eyes frantically swept around as he fully came to and remembered the reason he had gone there in the first place. Did Nervin make it out of there?
A low groaning at his side drew Haruka's attention. Spread-eagle on his front, there lay Nervin. His face was a little worse for wear, adorned with a black eye and a bloody lip, and one of the lenses on his glasses was broken.
But he was alive. He was alive, and he was safe now.
"Haruka..." Nervin croaked. "Wh...what happened?"
The Pyrus duelist had to resist the urge to answer, "Beats the hell out of me." Instead, he answered, "I'm not so sure what happened, but after I went in to get you away from those thugs, the building just... started to collapse. I guess. Maybe they rigged up some sort of booby trap."
It wasn't really a lie. He didn't know what happened, how Helios had become solid and started destroying things; and it had occurred after he went in to retrieve the purple-haired man. But he also didn't want to go around telling people that, even his friends, until he was sure about certain things.
"Those guys... really were bad news, huh?" Nervin asked, flopping onto his back and weakly moving to a sitting position. "You came to rescue me?"
"Of course. That's what friends are for, right?" Haruka replied. "Nonfunctioning or not, I never would have gotten the Duel Runner without you. I couldn't just leave you like this."
Nervin smiled, coughed, spat out a small glob of blood. "Thanks. Friend."
Haruka gave him a smile in return. "Speaking of friends, we'd better be on our way soon. Do you think you can walk?"
Meanwhile, in New Domino City...
From his position on the balcony, the well-dressed man had an excellent view of the pillar of flames that rose into the sky. With his powerful binoculars, he examined the fire: scarlet and orange fighting against one another, shooting violently into the blue.
"I'd recognize those flames anywhere," the man said. "Pyrus Viper Helios."
He set the binoculars down on a nearby table, and folded his arms behind his back.
"So that's where you've been hiding, Haruka. How did you get to the Satellite?" the man wondered aloud. "Never mind that. Your brothers will be most overjoyed to see you again."
Author's Note: And that's where I'm calling it today! Big apologies for the gap since my last upload. I definitely didn't plan on taking a month off from this since my last upload, but I'm back now! Due to my school/work schedule, I doubt I can do weekly uploads, so just a heads-up on that. I'll definitely try, but from here on I'll try to do no later than every other week. So... good to see you guys again!
So! This chapter might have been a bit anticlimactic with the duels, but this is where I've been hoping to start laying down the blueprints of the story, and also developing Haruka more as a character. Where is all the random knowledge coming from? What was the deal with Haruka's arm burning? How the heck did Helios apparently destroy that building, and what was the effect he had over Haruka's emotions? Who is that man, and what did he mean by Haruka's "brothers?" Do I even know the answers to these questions? No comment! Find out in the next exciting chapter!
Lastly before I go, happy (late) Valentine's Day to anyone who celebrated it, with a SO or friends or otherwise. I recently decided to shoot my shot and got rejected, so here I am writing this instead XD (jk, I'd probably have written for you guys anyway since I've been owing you a chapter). Anyway, that's all I've got for now, so in the immortal words of Gary Oak, "Smell ya later!"