Yu-gi-oh/RWBY Chapter 19

The Fall of Arcadia

Weiss imagined that her current experience was similar to a tooth being pulled out. The rogue pulling her arm might have helped get her out of the door faster, but it also made it feel like her arm was about to ripped out. Once she was finally free, she fell to the ground. The rogue offered to help her up, but she refused. "I think I've had enough of your help for one day." The rogue shrugs and fades away, leaving Weiss to find Whitley.

"I am Pyrrha Nikos. A member of the dark signers. It's time you faced justice for what you've done, Ruby Rose!" Yang wasn't sure what that meant, but she wasn't about to let someone say that sort of thing about her sister. She moved forward, ready to attack, but a wall of blue flame cut her off, separating the sisters. A similar flame appeared behind Pyrrha.

Ruby readied her duel disk, all the while trying to remember where she met this woman. "I draw! I summon Twilight Rose Knight!" A knight in black armor with a white cape appears and draws his sword (Level 3/1000). "I use his effect to summon Lord Poison from my hand!" (Level 4/1500). "I tune my level 4 Lord Poison with my Level 3 Twilight Rose Knight! The bloom of evolution blazes forth. Grow and grow ever stronger! Synchro Summon! Crescent Rose Dragon!" (Level 7/2400). "I set three cards and end my turn!"

Pyrrha looks at the dragon with disgust. "Crescent Rose Dragon. So you are one of the signers. That will make this all the sweeter! I draw! I activate Savage Colosseum!" Various arches fill the area inside the flames. "Now our monsters must attack and will be destroyed if they don't. I also activate Field Barrier!" A green dome surrounds the two duelists, encapsulating the field. "New field spells can't be activated, and Savage Colosseum can't be destroyed. I then summon Aquila Flag-bearer!" A skeleton in roman armor appears, carrying a flag (Level 4/1800). "Flag-bearer shall inspire all my troops, giving them 500 attack!" The skeleton waves his flag around (Flag-bearer 1800-2300). "I then activate Aquila Company, to summon another Flag-bearer from my hand or deck!" A second skeleton appears, waving its own flag (Level 4/1800). "Its own ability applies, empowering the both of them!" (Both Flag-Bearers 2800).

"Aquila Flag-bearer, attack Crescent Rose Dragon with Flag Pierce!" The first skeleton leaps forward, letting the sharp tip at the bottom of its flag impale Crescent Rose Dragon. Ruby feels the cold breeze from the flag chill her (Ruby 4000-3600). "Since I attacked with a monster, Savage Colosseum rewards me with 300 life points." (Pyrrha 4000-4300). What is this? Is she stronger than a psychic duelist? "I activate my face-down, Synchro Spirits! By removing Crescent Rose from play, I can summon its synchro materials from the graveyard!" Twilight Rose Knight (1000) and Lord Poison (1000) appear again. "That won't save you, Ruby Rose! My second Flag-bearer, attack Twilight Rose Knight with Flag Pierce!" The second skeleton leapt forward again, aiming for the knight.

"I activate my second face-down, Dimension Reversion to return all banished monsters to their owner's decks." The spectral image of Crescent Rose Dragon appears before fading into Ruby's duel disk. Pyrrha smirks. "What good will that do you?" "Now I can activate my final face-down, Urgent Tuning, to synchro summon right now! I tune my level 4 Lord Poison with my Level 3 Twilight Rose Knight! Return, Crescent Rose Dragon!" Twilight Rose Knight jumps away from Flag-bearer's attack and is tuned with Lord Poison, bringing Crescent Rose Dragon back (Level 7/2400). "I now activate Crescent Rose Dragon's effect to destroy your first Flag-bearer. Rose Shot!" Crescent Rose fires a shot from one of its vines, shattering the skeleton. "Since you only have one flag-bearer now, its attack will drop!" (Aquila Flag-Bearer 2800-2300). Ruby started to feel a stinging in her head, beyond just the mark on her arm glowing.

Pyrrha glares at Ruby with murderous intent. "I bet you're trying to remember who I am, aren't you? I don't blame you. It was years ago, and I wasn't the one who attended this school. It was my beloved Jaune. He was a psychic duelist, who wanted nothing more than to be the strongest duelist in the world." Ruby remembered Jaune, a lanky blond boy who looked up to her. She always wondered what happened to him. "You encouraged him, leading him further into this web of lies and deceit! I tried to warn him, but he insisted that he was fine! He ignored how his body couldn't take the strain, and one day, he never returned! It's all your fault! You could have stopped him, you could have saved him! But now he's…" Pyrrha gripped her fist in resolution. "I set a card and end my turn."

Ruby shook her head. "That's not true. I would have noticed if something was wrong and helped him." "He hid his weakness from everyone, because he didn't want to appear weak. He didn't want to disappoint you. You pushed him too far!" Ruby put her hands to her head, starting to cry as the pain got even worse. "I didn't. I didn't!" "You were selfish. You were so focused on strength and power that you didn't even recognize those you hurt! You should just-" "YOU SHUT UP!" Yang interjected. "Ruby is the kindest person I know. She would never hurt anybody!" Yang turns to Ruby. "Don't listen to her. Jaune decided not to tell anyone he was being hurt, so it wasn't your fault. You need to win this duel for both of us!"

Weiss, having heard the whole thing, was unsure how to feel about Ruby now. The betrayal was still fresh in her head, but hearing what Ruby was going through made Weiss realize just how little agency Ruby seemed to have in this place. It made her wonder where Roman was.

Velvet was pushed against the window, cracks starting to form on it. "You can't! Sector Security will-" Roman laughed at the very idea. "If they ask, I'll tell them the truth. You slipped and fell. It's the truth they'll accept anyway, as long as I know Cinder's secret. Goodbye, little one." Psychic Commander fired the decisive shot, launching Velvet through the window.

As she fell through the air, Velvet saw her life flash before her eyes. At least, the past few days, with her experiences with Yang. The last thing on her mind when she hit the ground was Pyrrha's fortune to her; "You're about to die soon. See you then."

She lay on the ground, wondering if this was what death felt like. Then again, how would she know? She heard something start to whisper to her, and she liked what it had to say.

Ruby struggled to remember what had happened all those years ago. Every interaction she had with Jaune, any sign that she could have helped. "Maybe Pyrrha's right. What if I was so focused on myself that I didn't even notice?"Ruby looked back at Yang, hoping for an answer. "Am I the bad guy?" "HEY! Ruby Rose!" She turned to hear who said that, seeing Weiss a few floors above her. "Aren't you going to save us already?"

Ruby wiped away her tears. The sight of Weiss, someone who has every reason to hate her right now, cheering her on inspired her. She's right. I may have failed before, but I can't fail now. Everyone's counting on me. "I draw! I banish Lord Poison to grow Crescent Rose Dragon even stronger! Crescent Evolution!" (Crescent Rose 2400-3900). "Crescent Rose, attack Aquila Flag-bearer! Red Rose Flare!" The dragon releases a red beam, destroying the skeleton (Pyrrha 4300-2700). "Then, I gain life points from Savage Colosseum!" (Ruby 3600-3900). "I activate Aquila Reinforcements! Since my Aquila monster was destroyed, I can summon two Aquila tokens to replace it." Two more skeletons appear with less impressive armor and armed with a sword and shield (Level 4/1000). "I end my turn."

Whitley raced to Weiss, Yanagi and Tanner behind him. "Weiss!" "Whitley! How did you get free?" "They found me and busted me out of my cell." He looked down to examine the scene behind them. "What's happening?" Weiss began to explain.

"Hmph. You think you can just forgive and forget so easily?" Pyrrha taunted. "I'll show you that the underworld isn't so forgiving. I draw! I then tribute my two Aquila tokens for the greatest monster!" The two skeletons were pulled into the air by some invisible force, towards a black heart that appeared. A red sphere appears from Weiss's mark, expanding to cover the four onlookers. "What's going on?" Whitley asked. "I'm not sure." Weiss responded. "But it feels like it's protecting us from that." She points to the heart, which begins to pump. Outside, the area around Arcadia was covered in a blue flame, until the mark of the hummingbird that was already there was interlaced with a lizard.

"I bring forth the greatest being that will destroy you all and lay waste to Arcadia! Rise, Earthbound Immortal Ccarayhua!" Ruby looks around and asks "Uh, where is it?" Pyrrha points to a window, and Ruby looks through. A giant green eye appears, looking right back at her. Ruby, shocked by the sudden appearance, falls to the ground. "No way! That thing is a monster?" The lizard grabs the side of the building, emitting a hissing sound (Level 10/2800).

The building shakes, and rubble starts to fall. "It seems that our duel will have to be postponed. Good bye." Pyrrha waves her hand, and the blue flame disappears. She runs off, and a scream is heard from above. Everyone looks up and sees Roman falling. Ruby gets up and runs to the railing to try and catch him. "Roman!" He is too far away from the railing, however, and plummets into the darkness below. Yang grabs her by the shoulder. "We have to go, now!" Ruby at first resists, but her headache grows even worse until she falls unconscious. Yang picks her up and everyone evacuates the building.

Hazel looks through the window of his transport, seeing the fires in the city beyond. His imagining of what could be causing this is interrupted when the truck stops, and he hears the two guards in the front get out. They seem to be confronting someone but are silenced mid-sentence. The door at the back opens, revealing a shady man with a scorpion tail and blood over his face. "Mr Rainart, my master would like to know if you're still interested in making Cinder Fall pay."

Velvet walked through the rubble, trying to recall what happened and when she got into these robes. "Looks like I was right. Welcome to the fold, sister." Velvet turns around to see Pyrrha walking towards her. "What are you talking about? The last thing I remember was…" She relives the experience of falling through the window, and realizes what that means. "I-I'm dead?" Velvet drops to the ground and cries. She wonders where it all went wrong. As she does, she remembers Yang leaving her. Pyrrha stoops down and comforts her. "It was a necessary evil to finally serve our master's will. Now, get up. We have work to do."