Disclaimer: I do not own YGO 5Ds
A/N: Aka The consequences of losing the Momentum XD
"Rally!" Blitzer rushed up to catch the small redhead as he stumbled into their underground hideout, bruised and beaten.
"We have to run," Rally looked up with a small smile, "I shook them off but they're not far behind. They'll be looking for me here."
"You guys go," Yusei tossed the keys to his duel runners at Blitzer, obviously not unprepared for this situation, "I'll fend them off."
"You can't, Yusei." Blitzer protested.
"I'll buy you guys some time, then I'll catch up," Yusei assured them with a confident smile, the way he had done for the past two years, brandishing his duel disk in front of himself.
"You really can't," Rally said sadly, struggling with every breath. Yusei doesn't understand yet, this wasn't a normal Satellite brawl for territory, these guys really wanted him dead, and they're not the only ones. "I was trading with these guys a while ago, you know, I bought a lot of stuff from them. Mostly stuff they collected before. And now that our money is worthless again," Rally shuddered, hugging himself, trying not to throw up from the sheer amount of the running he just did, "Now they want everything back."
"They won't get past me!" Yusei insisted, listening to the hurried footsteps aboveground, trying to tell if they're coming this way.
"You really don't get it Yusei," Tank said as he quickly packed up their limited valuables into a single backpack. Yusei's definitely hanging out with Tono for too long, "Before your 'Miracle Girl' came along, all we ever saved up were the bits and pieces of machines, remember? These people sold Rally their life savings to buy into Tono's crap pieces of paper, now they really lost everything they've ever had."
"But Rally had nothing to do with that!" Yusei protested. "He didn't know any of this would happen! None of us did!"
Though a part of him secretly wondered if Yuki knew, just like she knew about Greiger's family. Another part of him wondered if Yuki should have known before she printed her own money. He quickly buried both of those thoughts, because he doesn't like doubting his friends. Yuki couldn't have known any of this would happen, and she was just doing her best to help the Satellite. Right?
"This is all Goodwin's doing!" He gritted his teeth, stating the obvious, "This is all because of the tariffs he set. He's trying to tear us apart from the inside!"
"You think those morons outside would listen to you right now? They just lost every penny they saved for the past decade, money they saved so they wouldn't starve to death after they can't work at the factories anymore. A lot of them may not have another decade to save up," Blitzer said for added effect, just so Yusei would fully grasp the severity of the situation. "You can't get rid of them with a duel. Let's go!"
"We'll go to the Development!" Yusei decided, starting up his duel runner. "We can regroup there."
"Development?" Tank repeated sarcastically, "No. We're going where it's safe. We're going to the Factories."
"Congratulations, The Director consented to your duel," Mina said with a pleasant, if slightly facetious smile, ignoring the people around her who would like nothing more than to feed her to a Gigaplant, slowly. Now completely free despite having blew up our Momentum system. "Of course, you'll have to hand over the Momentum first."
"Alright." I exhaled slowly, leaning back against the chair, feeling as though life drained out of me with every ounce of air that exited my lungs. At this point, I don't have a choice. We could, technically, still survive with Akiza's help, but the Satellite wouldn't, the Zephyrs wouldn't. "But we go into Neo Domino with the Momentum, that's my bottom line. Tell Goodwin I know exactly what he wants to do with the Momentum, and frankly, with our duel coming up, I couldn't care less."
I have never been so grateful for somebody accepting my duel request.
Instead of waiting for Goodwin's challenge as I had expected, I was forced to approach Goodwin for a duel, giving him at least the psychological advantage. With imports completely cut off, the food supply in the Satellite plummeted. Panic, both in the general population and inside the Zephrs, ran rampant. I had originally calculated that we could hold out for another two month with the resources we had, and we could. But I forgot to factor in the mass hysteria, or at least how quickly the mass hysteria builds up, I mean it's only been ten days.
What do you do when people holding the currency you just issued tries to buy and hoard the very limited supplies you have? So I did what every government has done in this situation, limit supply, hence the further hysteria.
We experienced the not-unexpected rapid inflation of our 'not quite currency'. Predictably, our credit with the satellite populace is also on the brink of collapse.
I had previously read about the dangers of inflation, mostly from glimpse of news or magazines, but to experience it first hand is horrifying. Those with the most faith in our system, my system, had already converted most of their possessions into our 'non-currency', which really might as well be paper at this point. Sacrifice of the faithful.
It says something about Satellite loyalties that we've only had two riots against us in the past week, by mobs armed with limited firearms. Given the technological available to these satellites, I have no doubt they would be coming with tanks next time.
AS for the Zephyrs, both our money and products are trapped in the Satellite, therefore absolutely useless. The limited weapons we can produce is useless against Neo Domino forces that Rex Goodwin now arms properly. Akiza can still break free, but she's the only person who can.
Thank Ra Goodwin acquiesced to our duel request.
Thank Ra this was a YGO world.
This is why I needed the Momentum. If I still had it, Goodwin wouldn't have the guts to pull this shit. If I still had it, I'm not even sure I wouldn't pull the trigger and blow up Neo Domino at this point. Probably not, but the point is, I'm not sure.
Under close supervision by both the Zephyrs security team and Sector Security, Mina is installing the Momentum back into the Old Reactor inside the Satellite, thus opening the gate for the entry of the Netherworld monster. Akiza, unfortunately, was forced to come to Neo Domino and currently monitored by Sayer, so she doesn't physically rip the Old Reactor apart. Some of my crew stayed behind in the Satellite to help with the inevitable evacuation when the Netherworld monster crosses over, but most came to Neo Domino with me, I guess for moral support? We could have started evacuations earlier, except we don't have that kind of control over the Satellite anymore. Apparently neither does Neo Domino.
The good news remains, that the Netherworld Monster is destroyed if there is no Dark Signers in this world. So all I need to do is to defeat Rex Goodwin to prevent the upcoming calamity. As for Rex Goodwin himself, I hope to kidnap him after this fiasco blows over, so I would have Neo Domino under some sort of control. That would be extremely helpful given that we are currently completely broke.
Our ride to Neo Domino was mostly silent. Kalin tried to start the conversation a couple of times, so did Galen, but none of us were in a talkative mood. I stepped out of the car (yes, car, not motorcycle!) and was greeted with what looked like the ruins of a previous civilization. The People of the Stars, I vaguely remembered from the anime, this was where Rex Goodwin dueled Yusei during their final battle as well. He did always have a flair for the dramatic.
"So, Goodwin," I dragged my run-away train of thought back to the present to look for the Ruler of Neo Domino City.
"Yuki," Goodwin nodded, like acknowledging the existence of an ant on the street, it's there, but hardly worth your attention.
I didn't care, I barely noticed.
I mentioned before that Rex Goodwin was reasonably fit and looked good for his age, but this was something else.
"Goodwin? Are you sure that's Goodwin?" I turned to ask Roman, who nodded. Rex Goodwin still had the silver hair, but otherwise looked no older than 25, with an apparently magically-enhanced physique that even his lack-luster suit couldn't hide. When turned into a Dark Signer, the human stops aging, and is reverted back into their prime. It wasn't obvious with the others, since they had been converted in their teens or twenties, but with Rex Goodwin the effects are far more dramatic.
So all I heard was the music playing on a repeat in my head, "Girl look at that body! Girl look at that body!"
I bet I could bounce a quarter off that ass.
"This Dark Signer business has been good for you," I commented with a (possibly leering) smirk, for the first time in my life, yearning for immortality. It quickly passed, I was young, am even younger, so eternal life doesn't have the same appeal yet. I wonder if I'll regret not being turned into a Dark Signer when I get older.
"Rex," Roman Goodwin emerged from the car behind me, Rex Goodwin froze at the sight of his brother. The rest of my crew trailed out, completely ignored.
"I thought you were dead," he said loudly, not quite a question, but too excited to be a statement. I couldn't tell if it was happiness or just shock in his voice. "I expected you to die."
"We both did. But Master Yuki prevented my death, so I could save you," Roman responded evenly. I was beginning to wonder if letting him call me 'master' was such a good idea. As first it was fun, now it's just embarrassing.
"It's you who will need to be saved, Brother," Rex Goodwin growled in disgust, "I have no more Masters, divine or otherwise. I will finally be able to walk my own paths. Instead of following the will of the Gods, I will be amongst their ranks. For soon I will possess the power of Light and Darkness. The King of the Netherworld fast approaches. Once he arrives at this site, he would commence the destruction of this world. Then I will harness the powers of the Crimson Dragon remake the world in my image! I shall be the new God!"
I couldn't help but wonder if it was feasible. It honestly seemed like a good plan, I mean except for the 'destroying everything that exists' part. It really wasn't much more ridiculous than our plan of 'suck energy from evil monster (aka King of the Netherworld) trying to destroy the world for sustainable crop rotations'.
Nah, our plan is definitely better. Our plan involves food.
"Don't do this, Rex," Roman pleaded, "it's not right."
"There will be no right or wrong! I alone shall be Justice! With your help of course," Rex Goodwin said with a crazed look in his eyes. As he spoke, he took out a carton displaying the mark of the Signer, Roman gasped, then raced up in an attempt physically stop his brother. His younger brother was quicker. I watched in awe as Rex Goodwin screwed off his metal left forearm, then stuck it into the radioactive-looking green stuff inside the container, and his arm grew back! In a split second, his arm grew back!*
Palpable Light energy surrounded him, leaving its mark along his face, then trailed down through his neckline into his jacket. But the blue glowing tattoos were a footnote compared to this, his arm actually grew back! Instincts tell me that there's tremendous room for research here. Did magic (let's call it that for now) stimulate his dead tissue to instantly regenerate? Did the magical energy instantly become matter in the form of human flesh? Did the regeneration take a lot of time, just not the time in this world? The whirring of my duel disk on my arm told me it wasn't time to think about these things.
But I couldn't not weigh the practical implications of this magical power he possessed. As Roman Goodwin ran up, Rex rose his hand, and magically (and I don't use that word liberally), an impressive stone pedestal rose from the ground, raising the now-overly-muscular man over thirty feet into the sky. With powers like that, you could build Rome in a day!
Such energy, such matter creation, or at least somehow managing to change the fundamental structures of matter as perceived in this physical reality and at no apparent cost to the user. This could have innumerable practical applications! Though psychology behind the 'physically-raising-yourself-onto-a-pedestal" thing is probably worth looking into by a licensed psychiatrist.
His muscles also grew a little bit bigger, ripping the jacket on his back, which was nice.
"I now control the powers of light and darkness," Rex Goodwin laughed evilly, for the lack of a better word. To be perfectly honest, he was scarier before this brains to muscles transformation, when he just looked at you and chuckled ominously. "Soon, I shall defeat the Signers, and gather the powers of the Crimson Dragon to create a new world!"
"How about we have a duel, that's why I'm here." I offered with a broad smile, "I'll even go easy on you since I had promised your brother that I'd at least make an effort to, save you as he called it."
"I'm aware of your abilities Ms. Tono," Rex Goodwin replied, condescension so thick it was dripping from his voice "your track record has been impressive, but I'm afraid you're kidding yourself if you think you can defeat me."
"If you're not defeated, we all die," I told him with wide-eyed honesty, "so I really don't have much to lose here."
"If you want a last chance, I'll give it to you." His laughter rang out and somehow managed to echo in the largely empty ruins, making the sound seem like it was coming from the sky. "Prepare for your demise."
At that, a large hologram of Rex Goodwin appeared. A 20' figure of Goodwin, on par in size with the ancient ruins behind him materialized, towering over us like an over-sized parade float.
I couldn't see him very well before due to the distance, but now that he had a giant hologram hovering over my head... That's got to be at least 42E? 42F? It's hard to tell when the image was enlarged like this.
I was briefly distracted by his naked beautifully-toned upper body and now that he's much more muscular, the previously-well-fitted pants became obscenely tight. Good for him if you know what I mean. Was that magically-enhanced too or was it always there? And then there's the purple markings at all the right places, guiding my eyes down the eight-pack. I particularly liked the purple dot squarely between his huge pecs.
"One more thing, though," I added just for good measure, "if I do happen to win, you work for me." I didn't need him working for me (in case this was to work) I just needed resources from Neo Domino City, and an excuse to restrain him after he is freed, in case he was still evil (which he would be, because his actions were not affected by the Netherworld Rulers until he chose to become a Dark Signer like two weeks ago).
The giant blinked down at me, at a loss for words.
"Always thought you'd make a good butler," I explained helpfully. Nothing I say now would make a difference, so why not get a couple of jabs in.
Laughter again rang out from all angles, but his eyes were not laughing, and shone with an anger I had never seen in him before.
"Very well," The giant obscured my view of the man, "But just for that, you'll die last." The implied threat was obvious. The man presumably held out his duel disk, and the giant hologram did the same.
"Ladies first," I activated my duel disk, arbitrarily establishing the order of the duel for the first time. I wouldn't hesitate to use any advantage I had.
"Master," Roman walked up behind me with his own duel disk.
"Yuki," Kalin followed also, raising his left arm as his duel disk began to turn on.
Before I could respond, a visible force field of purple light appeared around me, shoving both duelists away from the dueling arena. Guess that's a 'No' from Rex Goodwin.
"I don't think that'll be necessary anyway, just watch and enjoy the game," I grinned. If nothing else, this will be much, much easier than dealing with our desperate employees who had just lost their life savings after investing in the 'IOUs' we just printed.
"You're too confident, Tono," Rex Goodwin's voice boomed, "you'll regret it soon enough, I'll make sure of it."
"Let's duel!" I activated my duel disk as well and an even-larger-than-normal holographic duel arena appeared out of thin air, a compromise between my normal-human size and Rex Goodwin's giant holographic body. I wonder if the system can sense the distance between duelists automatically, or did Goodwin specially resize the duel arena.
I was running an Agent deck. I had wanted a Lightsworn deck, but couldn't find a single Justice Dragon. In a 4000LP game, that card pretty much a guaranteed win. I could barely stand the irony, I had bought about 5% of the total land mass of the island of Japan, yet couldn't find a card for a children's trading card game.
Turn 1: Yuki's Turn, Yuki 4000 Rex 4000
"First, I discard Zeradias, Herald of Heaven (lv4, 2100/800), to bring Sanctuary in the Sky to my hand." I paused, brainstorming a cool way of saying this, "Now I will bring heaven onto this mortal realm." Yep, that sounded awesome, a little tacky, but awesome. I activated Sanctuary in the Sky field card as the duel arena changed its designs to be filled with clouds and pearly gates.
"Next, I'll place one facedown card in the monster zone, and another in the spell-trap zone, and end my turn." I think I figured out why nobody in the anime set monsters face-down, saying 'I set in my monster zone' might be easily misinterpreted, especially by the tween/teen male population that is the target demographic of this show.
Turn 2: Rex's Turn, Yuki 4000 Rex 4000
"My turn then," The younger Goodwin didn't even bother looking at me as he drew and played his card. "First, since you have a monster on the field and I don't, I can special summon Oracle of the Sun (lv 5, 1000/2000) to the field by his own effect. Next, I will summon Fire Ant Ascator (lv3, tuner, 700/1300)." Rex Goodwin's eyes finally focused on me, but only temporarily as they shifted back to his brother. "You've always been the foolish one, Roman, and now to serve this, this girl, this is a new low even for you. So you get to watch as I destroy your master. I tune Oracle of the Sune and Fire Ant Ascator to synchro summon: When the Sun rises, it will illuminate all darkness! Light of the Sun, show yourself: Sun Dragon Inti (lv8, 3000/2800)."
His most powerful monster on his first turn, I guess he isn't messing around.
"Next, I banish Fire-Ant Ascater from play, to summon Weeping Idol (lv2, 0/500). And by paying 1000LP, I can special summon Dark Tuner Dark Goddess Witaka (lv 3, dark tuner, 0/0), and activate her special ability to make her level equal to my Sun Dragon Inti! When shadows are swallowed..."
I tuned him out. As mentioned before, I had a problem with the shadow-devouring-shadow speech, it's not scientifically sound. "To summon," Rex Goodwin was still droning on, "Moon Dragon Quilla (lv-5, 2500/2000). Just like I have embraced both the powers of the Light and Darkness, as has my deck. Now you'll understand why this is the only way to possess the ultimate power!"
"Now, Sun Dragon Inti, attack and destroy his monster!"
My facedown Shining Angel was destroyed as expected.
"I will bring a Shining Angel to the field." I said flatly. The angel appeared in attack mode, due to the limitations of his effect.
"Moon Dragon Quilla, attack!" A malicious smile surfaced at the edge of his lips in anticipation of the damage he would deal. Remind me, why was I trying to save this guy again?
"With Sanctuary in the Sky in play," I explained good-naturedly, "I take no damage in battles involving fairy monsters. Now, I'll bring Agent of Mystery-Earth (lv 2, 1000/1900, tuner) onto my field." I only had Destruction Ring facedown right now, so there wasn't much I could do.
"I'll lay two cards down and end my turn." Goodwin placed two face-downs, "At the end of my turn, my Moon Dragon Quilla is destroyed and sent to the graveyard."
Now he's used up all six of his cards, generally not a good idea to not leave yourself a little wiggle-room. This should be interesting.
Turn 3: Yuki's Turn: Yuki 4000 Rex 4000
I drew a card, Dimensional Prison (banish attacking monster), perfect. I'm reminded again and again that your cards really do respond to your needs.
"First, I summon Agent of Creation- Venus (1600/0, lv3), and activate her special ability, for every 500 LP I pay, I can bring one Mystic Shining Ball (lv 2, 500/500) to the field. And I will special summon 3 Mystic Shining Balls by paying 1500LP." My field is swarmed with shiny balls, I really wanted to comment on that fact, but alas decided against it. This was, after all, a duel to defend the world. Plus, there's a live-feed of this duel sent back to my team, what's left of my team, in the Satellite, so they could monitor the progression of the duel as well as the locations of the 'Ruler of the Netherworld' when it appears.
So I said instead, "Now, I can use all four of my level 2 monsters on the field (3x Mystical Shining Balls and 1 tuner Agent Earth) to synchro summon, Red Nova Dragon (lv8, 3500/2500).*"
This can't be destroyed by card effects and gains 500 attack for each tuner in my graveyard. Plus, it can negate one attack per turn.I did think this monster was a little OP compared to the rest of the cards in my deck, then again, it's nothing compared to my previous Shaddoll deck. It's also a little odd that I managed to get this card at all. I think it used to be Jack's card in the anime or something. I don't remember when he got it, but the card sounds pretty familiar, and the image basically has a Red Dragon Archfiend on it. Oh well, mine now.
"And I activate his special ability to destroy your-"
"Not so fast," Goodwin interrupted "I activate Fiendish Chains, which binds to your dragon, negating its effects and stops it from attacking."
"Too bad," I tried to hide my annoyance, "well, I guess I just have to use Plan B. I banish Agent of Creation-Venus from the field, to special summon, Master Hyperion (lv8, 2700/2300), in attack mode!"
As we spoke, commotion from the Satellite drew my attention. A creature that can only be described as a misshaped pile of mud arose from the Satellite, appearing out of what seems to be thin air. It crawled towards Neo Domino, gaining an earthly form as it moved, beginning to look more and more like a dragon-bird as it approaches. It felt overwhelming, as one might feel the heat of an approaching wildfire, except this was not any of the five senses that I'm used to.
My watch beeped three times, signaling the beginning of our evacuation efforts in the Satellite.
Rex Goodwin took a step back, as did the giant 3-D conjuring in the sky. It's actually quite entertaining to watch, if it weren't for the imminent destruction of the world as they know it (not me, because I knew of a completely different world).
"Behold," Rex Goodwin smiled gleefully, "My plan is coming to fruition! Both Gods under mortal control, as they should be! I'll even give you a chance to surrender, Tono. Even if you have no desire for this life, the rest of your team might think different. It would be cruel of you to deny them this last chance at life. Bow before me, and join my utopia!"
"I activate Master Hyperion's special ability," I said quickly before Roman could try to convince his brother again, we're sort of short on time right now, "By banishing the light-fairy type monster Mystical Shining Balls from my grave, I can destroy one card on the field, and I'll start with your face-down card!"
The trap Destruct Potion was destroyed. Activating it would have required the tribute of his Sun Dragon, and loss of his final line of defense.
"With Sanctuary in the Sky on the field, I can use Master Hyperion's ability twice per turn, so now I remove another Mystical Shining Balls from my graveyard, destroy your Sun Dragon Inti!" Goodwin blanched, seeing what's to come.
Only having 4000LP had its obvious setbacks.
"Now, Master Hyperion, attack directly!" I commanded.
* This isn't the correct level or summoning requirement for Red Nova Dragon, I changed it for a reason that I'll reveal next chapter
A/N: Sorry this took so long. Had to rewrite a lot of stuff including the entire ending because I lost this chapter and only had the rough draft. I hate rewriting stuff, there's no mystery anymore, and I keep wanting to write exactly what I wrote last time, but I can't.
Also, I just got into soccer! Which is like the upgrade of YGO. LMAO With more characters, more interesting plot lines, better looking guys, more strategy, more drama XD Though sans the 'end of the world' stuff, but the way some fans obsess over the sport, you'd think that the world is on the line anyway.
A/N 2: Inflation! XD
#Venezuela, #Turkey 2005
This is also why I actually think people are too harsh on Erdogan, though I completely disagree with his divergence away from a secular state.
A/N 3: In the Japanese version, the carton actually contained Roman's severed arm, which I guess makes more sense. I'm using the American version which only has a carton of 'energy', because it's the first one I watched and that's the one that really made an impression on me.