BENEATH THE SURFACE
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"Sy-… Sylar?" Tristan managed, his words echoing in the silence that then reigned in the dimly lot room.
"Indeed," came the flat reply from his doppelganger. "We may share the same face, amongst other things, but we are still different enough that I will no longer go by your name."
His voice was cold and sharp, with each word almost being spit out with maximal force as if they were projectiles with which he intended to hurt someone.
"The hell you mean by that?" demanded Joey.
Sylar did not look at him while responding, instead continuing to meet Tristan's eye with an unflinching stare.
"I am what you became when you decided to stop serving as a prop in the machinations of others and took control of your own life."
"That's a lotta big words to say you think Tristan is a doormat: which is NOT true," growled Joey.
Sylar turned to glare at him. "This doesn't concern you, Joey."
"Tristan's my friend and you're being a jerk to him, so it definitely does," came the fiery retort.
Sylar smirked cruelly, the look of pure disgust looking very out of place on the face of Tristan Taylor.
"Ah, you really are trying to pretend as if you respect us now, don't you?"
"What-… What are you…" mumbled Tristan hoarsely, finally speaking once again.
"Come, don't insult our intelligence by playing this game of make-believe as well," hissed Sylar derisively. "We both know with how little importance any of your friends here actually regard you. I was you, I've had all the same thoughts. You can't hide these things from me."
Joey turned to his friend in disbelief.
"Tristan, buddy, you can't possibly think that right?"
His friend didn't respond, and Sylar let out a bitter laugh.
"Perhaps he suspects it deep down but hasn't been able to fully acknowledge the truth yet. I certainly was desperate believe it wasn't true, until something happened that convinced me otherwise."
"What do you mean?!" exploded Joey. "You're literally not even real. You're just some kind of ghost or illusion created by that freak possessing Mokuba using the Quantum Cube."
"Perhaps I am, but a version of me exists elsewhere, many light years away in another reality," replied Sylar softly, staring out into the night through one of the windows on the far wall. "In this reality, I spent my life following you and Yugi around like a lapdog as you fought enemy after enemy, just like in this one. The difference, however, is that eventually I was killed."
Joey let out a gasp, while Tristan's eyes bulged, though he didn't say anything.
"Yes, my life was taken right before your very eyes.. and you moved right on," continued Sylar. "Your loyal friend of years, and my demise was an afterthought. I didn't receive a funeral... In fact I was scarcely ever spoken about again. I was, of course, dead, so this knowledge was lost on me… Until I was resurrected… by a dark force."
As he spoke, there was a twitch on the ground near his feet. Joey started, straining his eyes to make out what the source of the movement was.
"My new master revealed to me the extent of my former friends' treachery and gave me targets to exact my revenge on, in addition to some rather… interesting new powers."
There was another twitch, this time around his shoulder. Joey was now able to make out exactly what was going on. Sitting on this Sylar's left shoulder was a… snake?!
"What the hell is that?!" he gasped.
Sylar smiled savagely and raised the opposite hand to stroke what was indeed the head of a brown-skinned serpent resting on his shoulder. Its body seemed to be coiled around his torso.
"When I got my second chance at life, this time as a leader instead of a follower, I developed a strange affinity for snakes. It does make perfect sense. I died a worm, and was reborn as what I was always meant to be… a soldier, just like when a snake sheds its skin and changes color, resembling an entirely new creature in the process."
"You're really something," grunted Joey. "Everything you just said sounds like a bunch of hooey. Even if there is some kind of alternate universe where someone like you exists, how the hell are you here? There already is a Tristan in our reality, and he's standing right in front of you in case you didn't notice."
"Well, that would be a combination of the Quantum Cube and my own rather unique powers," came a brisk voice from the left of all three of them.
They all turned to see another hologram of Mokuba Kaiba, who was nonchalantly adjusting his tie.
"What are you doing here, freak?" snapped Joey.
Apep-Mokuba gave him a withering look.
"This is my company, I go where I please. In this case, I am here to explain to your feeble minds the set of circumstances that led to this unwittingly hilarious outcome. As I'm sure even you lowly creatures may have gathered, the Quantum Cube is able to open portals to my dimension, the Fear Dimension, and allow some of your deepest and darkest thoughts to be given physical form."
Tristan flinched as those last words were uttered.
"The original goal was of course to bring out some of Mr Wheeler's demons for him to confront, but it seemed that the crisis of confidence your no-name friend here was having led us down a different path," continued Apep-Mokuba with a dark chuckle.
"You watch your mouth," snarled Joey.
Apep-Mokuba ignored him.
"As it turns out, the manifestation of his insecurities actually does exist in another reality somewhere, and the Quantum Cube was able to create a version of that person and bring him here."
"Here to play a little game, of course," finished Sylar with a nasty smile. A Duel Disk had materialized on his arm. It looked like a regular DD2 but a lot older and more worn out, with a greenish tinge to the monster card zones visible on the top face. It also had a crimson "CV" emblazoned on it.
Apep-Mokuba nodded. "Like I said, I was expecting something else, but fate would have it differently, so now we get to see the eternal sidekick step up to the plate and get a chance at being the main character he wanted to be so badly."
Tristan looked paralyzed with shock.
"I-… I don't duel," he muttered. "I haven't picked up a card in years."
"Well, that sounds like a problem you're going to have to find a way to fix," retorted the young boy with a cruel smile. "Rules are rules. Do you remember what I told your dear friend Kaiba would happen to this body if any of you refused to duel? Do you want that on your conscience?"
Tristan looked ready to keel over in horror. Both Sylar and Apep-Mokuba looked on impassively.
"You'll get your duel."
These words were uttered by Joey in a growl that broke the silence. He had withdrawn his own Duel Disk from his green jacket and slid it onto his arm.
Apep-Mokuba turned to look at him in amusement.
"Ah, perhaps I overestimated the intellectual capacity of you mortals again, as the nature of my rules seem to have eluded you. Only the person who has actually had their nightmares given material form will duel here today."
"Yeah, I don't care either ways," retorted Joey. "Tristan is my friend, and this is one thing he isn't able to do, so I'm gonna fill in for him. Think about it," he cut off their tormentor, who was about to start speaking, "you wanted me to duel anyway today. Why do you care who the opponent is? No offense to Tristan but I'll provide a more skilled opponent, and something tells me you want a longer duel here."
Apep-Mokuba rubbed his chin. "Strangely, even a being as ignoble as yourself seems capable of making a somewhat pertinent point. I suppose it would be no fun if your friend here lost in a matter of minutes."
"Plus, I have a feeling this jerk has it out for me for some reason too," grunted Joey while gesturing towards his would-be opponent, who fixed him with a glare.
"Oh, believe me, I have plenty of grounds to want to inflict some pain on you as well," hissed Sylar. "The original version of me was very successful at this in his reality so perhaps it will be time for me to do the same here."
"Joey… Are you sure about this?" mumbled Tristan, still trembling.
"I got this, man, don't worry about a thing," replied Joey, turning around flashing his trademark grin.
"I-… I can't expect you to-…"
"You can, because that's what brothers do."
With that, Joey strode over to the center of the room to stand about fifteen feet away from Sylar, leaving Tristan stunned and speechless.
"How touching," mocked Apep-Mokuba. "In any case, I have no more desire to witness such pathetic displays of emotion up close, so I am going to leave you two here to get this little game started. Oh, and don't forget," he added at the end, addressing Sylar specifically, "if you win here, you can have your doppelganger next, no matter how easy it is. Just make this one entertaining, yes?"
With that, the hologram vanished.
Joey stared grimly at his opponent while activating his Duel Disk.
"Despite your attempts to pretend otherwise, by the end of this duel it will be revealed just how little you and your friends ever cared for us," spat Sylar.
"There is no us here, buddy. There's Tristan, a real life person I've known for years, and there's you, a ghost and a freak who is never gonna haunt him again after I'm done with ya," fired back Joey.
Both duelists had fired off their holo projectors and drawn their opening hands.
"LET'S DUEL!"
(Sylar: 8000, Joey: 8000)
"Since you're the challenger, I will go first," growled Sylar, drawing a sixth card. "Oh… How very interesting."
He placed a card onto the monster card zone of his Duel Disk.
"I summon Cyber Venom – Iron Cobra (1700/1200) in attack mode."
An unnatural hiss echoed through the room, making Joey's skin crawl. The source of the sound seemed to be a slithery figure that had materialized on Sylar's field.
First emerging as simply a silhouette of light, it soon took the form of an unnaturally large cobra with segments of its body replaced by wire laden mechanical segments that contracted and expanded like accordions. One of its eyes was replaced by a metal sphere with a glowing red optic slit that shone brightly as its hood, now made of interlocking metal plates that fanned out ending in saw like serrations. The initials 'CV' had been branded onto the flaps of its hood one letter on each side.
"The hell is that thing?" muttered Joey through gritted teeth.
"The first step towards the reveal of your true self," replied Sylar in a steely voice. "Attack."
Before Joey could even begin to protest as to the fact that a monster could not attack on its first turn, the mechanical snake bowed its head to Sylar, as if its own hatred and ferocity paled in comparison to his, and darted towards Joey, who let out a yelp of pain as the snake coiled around his waist, latching onto his shoulder with its knife-like fangs.
"LET HIM GO YOU SICKO!" roared Tristan from the sidelines suddenly. Both it and its master pointedly ignored him, as the snake seemed to savor the taste of Joey's flesh. Finally, it seemed to have its fill and slithered back across the field back to Sylar.
(Sylar: 8000, Joey: 6300)
"How… How the hell did you do that?" demanded Joey through gasps of pain, down on one knee and clutching his shoulder.
"It's very simple. At the cost of a single card from my hand, Iron Cobra can attack your life-points directly regardless of any card effects, and even on the first turn of the duel."
"Joey, are you okay?" called Tristan, looking ready to step toward the field of play and help his friend up.
"I'm good, man," muttered Joey through gritted teeth, staggering to his feet.
"Joey… Dude, I swear to you… This isn't me. I've never wanted this. I don't know how-…"
"Oh, but you do," interrupted Sylar. "You are simply suppressing these emotions, because once you begin to feel the sum total of the humiliation you've endured over the years, it will turn you into me."
"I'm know it's not you, Tristan," stated Joey calmly, ignoring Sylar's diatribe. "I know it because you're standing over here to the side, while the maniac who just sicced a one-eyed cobra on me is all the way over there."
He turned back to his opponent. "You done?"
"Your façade is going to be shattered very soon, once you realize that this is indeed what your friend wants," growled Sylar. "I will subsequently set one card and then end my turn."
Joey drew, wincing at the pain that the movement still sent lancing through the shoulder that the Iron Cobra had sank its fangs into.
"All right, time for some payback. I summon Red-Eyes Wyvern (1800/1600)!"
A smaller version of Joey's iconic Red-Eyes Black Dragon materialized on his field. It was mostly identical to the original other than in size as well as the fact that it was glowing a faint purple.
"Go get 'em: attack his Cobra with Inferno Flare Blast!"
The dragon parted its jaws, a glowing crimson ball of flames beginning to erupt within. It threw its head back and then forward, flinging the growing sphere in the direction of the serpent on Sylar's field. Its aim was true, and the fire overtook the cobra, which let out a pained hiss before being reduced to a grisly set of charred remains on the field.
(Sylar: 7900, Joey: 6300)
"I activate Snake Whistle in response," retorted Sylar. "This trap card allows me to summon a level four or lower reptile-type monster from my deck when one on my field is destroyed. I will call out Cyber Venom – Armor Rattler (2000/2000)."
The previous snake's corpse began to vibrate, and suddenly, a new creature exploded from within it with a hiss. It was a rattlesnake whose eyes were covered with a metal plate with the initials 'CV' branded onto it. Much larger than a normal rattlesnake, it had metal spikes sticking out of its scales that rattled as it moved, and a particularly thick cluster near its tail. It waved its tail slightly as it hissed, giving the infamous warning of a normal rattlesnake.
"Two thousand for a level four?!" muttered Joey in shock. He received no response to this, so he grunted and continued.
"Ok, wise guy. Keep your secrets. I'll put one card facedown and call it a turn there."
"I draw," uttered Sylar, his eyes gleaming at the newest addition to his hand. He turned to look at Tristan.
"Perhaps some more pain will force your so-called friend here to reveal his true self to you. I summon Cyber Venom – Nitro Marauder (1700/1600)."
Another hiss echoed through the room, but this one was not caused by the tongue of a snake. It was the result of a wave of steam erupting all over the field, blinding Joey momentarily. Out of the corner of his eye, he was able to see another serpentine figure appear from the ground. As the steam cleared, it was revealed to be a snake about ten feet long, with a large hood and long fangs. Its scales were pale blue, and a bright blue optic lens covered its eyes. A number of vents were visible along the length of its body, remnant wisps of steam issuing out of them.
"Nitro Marauder attacks your Red-Eyes Wyvern."
The serpent gathered its coils and sprang forward, flying into the air. It used its momentum to knock the Red-Eyes Wyvern to the ground, and then began to rapidly wrap its body around its prey. Blue gas began to escape from the numerous vents on its body, which caused the dragon to stop struggling as soon as it began to inhale said gas. With another squeeze of the Marauder's coils, the now dead dragon exploded into pixels.
"What the-… It's weaker than my Red-Eyes," protested Joey.
"Nitro Marauder drains the attack points of any monster it does attacks by seven hundred," retorted Sylar.
(Sylar: 7900: Joey: 5600)
Joey braced himself for the direct attack he was expecting, but it never came.
"Now, Book of Moon, activate. I will flip Nitro Marauder facedown."
To Joey's surprise, the beast that had just slain his dragon vanished, replaced by a horizontal brown card.
"Armor Rattler cannot attack," informed Sylar. "Once per turn, however, I can flip him into facedown defense mode, and then shuffle the positions of all facedown monsters on my field."
The spike-covered rattle snake was also replaced by a facedown card and then the two on Sylar's field began to rapidly change position. It was happening at a pace far too fast for Joey, or indeed any human eye, to follow.
"Five bucks says that his Armor Rattler has a really nasty effect when it's flipped too," thought Joey grimly.
"Turn end. Continue with your sorry dueling, so I can expose to my other self what a duplicitous viper you are."
Joey drew, and his concentration broke as Tristan's voice sounded out in concern.
"Joey… Damnit, I can't believe I got you into this mess."
He turned to his friend and offered an easy grin of reassurance.
"Buddy, trust me, I've got this. I was runner-up at Duelist Kingdom and fourth place at Battle City for a reason, remember?"
He turned back to his opponent.
"So, you wanna hide behind some facedowns? Well, I've got an answer for that. I summon Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands (1400/1000) in attack mode."
A stone statue with numerous arms appeared through a portal. The grey, cracked structure of the statue shifted uneasily as its hands curled.
"When I summon him, I can add one ritual monster or spell card from my deck to my hand. I choose Dark Dragon Ritual, which I'll play right away!"
A swirling blue and purple vortex materialized behind the statue.
"Then I'll sacrifice my Manju to summon Paladin of Dark Dragon (1900/1200)!"
The statue was immediately sucked into the vortex, which began to swirl. This went on for a moment, before a new form began to push through and take shape. It was soon revealed to be a knight standing on the back of a large jet-black dragon, wielding a broadsword. The knight himself wore purple armor and had a cape billowing out behind him, while the dragon somewhat resembled the classic Red-Eyes Black Dragon but had a larger and flat cranium, instead of horns sticking out like the original.
"Now… Attack the facedown on the left!"
The knight raised his blade commandingly, and his steed took off across the field. Both were surrounded by a dark but translucent aura beginning from the point of the sword. It reached the facedown, which flipped face-up to reveal the Armor Rattler.
"Foolish," mocked Sylar. "When attacked while facedown, my Armor Rattler will drain the attacking monster of two thousand attack points. If this reduces them below zero, the monster is destroyed!"
Even as he spoke, none of this happened. The Paladin continued on and sliced the reptile in half, both pieces exploding soon after.
"What just happened?" Sylar snarled in outrage.
"My Paladin's effect, is what. When he attacks a facedown monster, he destroys it no questions asked. No flip effects, no nothing."
His opponent growled in response but said nothing.
"Next I'm gonna move to my second main phase and then use my Paladin's second effect: I can sacrifice him to summon my Red-Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000) from my deck!"
The Paladin and his winged steed vanished, and a gigantic shining silhouette materialized in their place. The silhouette slowly began to darken and take the form of a dragon with pitch-black scales, wings, and skin, widening its mouth to flaunt its fang-like teeth. What little light was present in the warehouse thanks to their duel reflected off the creature, giving it artificial white stripes around its outlines. Beady, squinted, crimson eyes flickered on the wide mug of the vicious dragon.
Sylar perked up at the appearance of Joey's signature monster, the edges of his lips lifting up into a sneer.
Before he could speak, however, Joey slid another card into his Duel Disk.
"Since I'm outta my battle phase and Red-Eyes can't attack anyway, I think I'll activate Inferno Fire Blast!"
The Red-Eyes let out a savage roar, and a giant, crackling ball of crimson flaming energy appeared in its mouth, which it then spat out in Sylar's direction. The sphere collided head-on and knocked him to his knees, resulting in a snarl of pain.
(Sylar: 5500, Joey: 5600)
"When I've got my Red-Eyes on the field, Inferno Fire Blast will deal ya twenty-four hundred damage," explained Joey, before turning to Tristan with a grin. "See, I told ya I had this, didn't I?"
Tristan allowed himself a small smile and was about to reply before he was cut off by his doppelganger.
"Rather interesting you bring out your Red-Eyes Black Dragon in this particular duel, isn't it?"
Sylar had gotten back to his feet, looking not much worse for the wear. He had fixed both Joey and the dragon with a piercing look.
"What do you mean?" replied Joey, narrowing his eyes.
"Typical, of course you've forgotten," growled Sylar through gritted teeth. He then turned to Tristan.
"I'm sure we remember how exactly he came by this card," he snapped.
Tristan didn't reply for a second but then nodded almost imperceptibly.
"Of course you do. It was in a duel with that cur Rex Raptor back in Duelist Kingdom. A duel he'd have no doubt had lost if not for the fact that we leant him our most prized card: the Lava Battleguard."
Joey's eyes widened in recognition.
"Wait, no, of course… I DO remember!"
"Now you do," snapped Sylar. "All this time, we were pivotal in helping you acquire this rare and powerful card that would go on to help you succeed as a duelist, yet you were the one who walked away with the accolades while we were always forgotten!"
Joey didn't reply, a bit stunned at what he was hearing.
He turned to look at Tristan, who didn't meet his gaze.
"Tristan, bro… Do you really feel that way?"
"No," came the mumbled, rather unconvincing reply.
"It's as likely you believe him as I do, and I know he's lying because we are the same person," hissed Sylar.
"Buddy… Look I'm real sorry if that is really how I ever made you feel. I'm gonna make it up to you, we'll talk more about this after the duel," muttered Joey, before turning back to glare at his opponent.
"You can shove it. Stop playing mind games with my friend and duel."
"You will wish I hadn't," growled Sylar, pulling the top card off his deck before looking at it.
"First I play Pot of Greed, which as you know allows me to draw an additional two cards."
The familiar, grinning green pot appeared on his field, and he followed suit by increasing his hand size to four.
"Next, I flip my Cyber Venom – Nitro Marauder face-up."
The blue skinned serpent reappeared with a hiss.
"Then I summon Cyber Venom – Acid Lizard (1600/1500)."
A horrifying, bipedal reptile appeared on Sylar's field. It stood perhaps eight feet tall, and had ugly, brownish-green skin. It was roughly humanoid in shape, but far more muscular. It had the flat head of a snake, with a blue tongue and metal fangs visible as it hissed out at Joey. Strapped to its back was a vat of acid, with two wires connected its fangs to the vat. As it hissed again, drops of acid dripped off its teeth, corroding the floor beneath it.
"Acid Lizard gains one hundred attack points for every Cyber Venom monster in my graveyard. I have Iron Cobra and Armor Rattler, which gives him another two hundred."
The lizard shrieked suddenly as its strength grew (1800/1500).
Joey blinked.
"Wait a minute… I know what that card is."
He scrunched his face up, deep in thought. "No, I recognize it! That's a Drooling Lizard… just different and creepier."
Then he pointed at the Nitro Marauder. "And that's a Serpent Marauder… with gas pipes on it."
"Very perceptive," retorted his opponent coolly. "The Cyber Venom cards are all based on weak low-level reptile monsters that have barely seen any use since the inception of the game. Overlooked and considered worthless by almost everyone. That is until they were modified, upgraded and retrained. Almost like your friend watching us from the sidelines… and me."
Joey felt the heat rising in his face.
He didn't really know how to respond to this. He wanted to tell this guy to shut the hell up and that Tristan was not overlooked and worthless and that Sylar was categorically not an upgrade, but that would also invalidate Tristan's own feelings on the matter as he clearly did harbor at least some insecurities about his place in their circle and the world at large.
Almost thankfully, his opponent was already ready to move on.
"I move to my battle phase. Nitro Marauder, attack his Red-Eyes now!"
The mechanized snake once again launched itself across the field, curling around Joey's dragon's neck and dragging it to the ground. Its target thrashed and fought as the blue gas began to weaken it (1700/2000). In one last desperate attempt, it reached out and bit down hard, sinking its fangs into the Nitro Marauder, which let out a hiss of agony. Both monsters than exploded into pixels simultaneously.
"Now, Acid Lizard (1900/1500), attack his life-points direc-…"
Sylar was cut off by the reappearance of the ferocious black dragon he had just sacrificed his Nitro Marauder to destroy (2400/2000).
"I just destroyed that creature!" he snarled. "How is it back?"
"Just a little trap card I had facedown called Time Machine," replied Joey confidently. "When one of my monsters is destroyed by one of yours, it reverses time and brings mine back from the graveyard. Doesn't say anything about yours though, so good luck trying to beat Red-Eyes fair and square without those cheap tricks to try and weaken it first."
Sylar growled in frustration but his expression quickly turned emotionless again.
"Fine. I will set one card facedown and end my turn."
Joey drew.
"All right, Red-Eyes, time for some more target practice. Blast his lizard, Inferno Fire Blast!"
The epochal dragon screeched before throwing its head back and charging up another pulsing fireball, when it then lobbed at the Acid Lizard. The target actually managed to leap out of the way, largely avoiding the blast… It did, however, clip the vat of acid hanging off its back, igniting it and generating a second fireball, which incinerated Sylar's monster before it could even screech in pain.
(Sylar: 5000, Joey: 5600)
"I chain my facedown card, Damage = Reptile," Sylar put in quickly. "This allows me to summon a reptile type monster from my deck with attack points equal to the life-points I just lost. I will summon Cyber Venom – Lizard Bomber (500/1900)."
Appearing in defense mode, in the place of the fallen Acid Lizard was a creature that at first sight reminded one of a balloon. On closer examination, it was actually a lizard-like monster whose entire body was inflated to such a large extent that it really did resemble a balloon, with limbs and a head that looked like they had been glued on and light brown scales. Noticeably, it had a pair of rocket launchers on its shoulders, along with a laser-shooting mechanism in its mouth. It seemed like the air within its body was enough to make it float, just as it did over Sylar's field.
"That's an ugly sucker, but Red-Eyes will light him good next turn don't you worry," observed Joey confidently. "I'll put one card facedown and end my turn."
Sylar drew.
"I sacrifice Lizard Bomber. Cyber Venom – Cold War Komodo Dragon (2800/2300), come."
The puffed up creature vanished, and materializing in its place was a hulking green lizard… a deformed and horrific lizard, to be accurate. Its basic structure did indeed resemble a Komodo dragon, only that it was almost the size of Joey's Red-Eyes. That was where the similarities ended.
Its lower jaw was simply… gone, instead replaced by a metallic, shovel-like hinged plate lined with serrated steel fangs. Just like Nitro Marauder, the newest arrival also had vents along its torso that let out steam at random intervals. Perhaps most disconcerting was that its left leg was gone; in its place was a metal one with a yellow biohazard symbol on it.
"Cold War Komodo Dragon attacks your Red-Eyes."
The newest arrival let out a very strange sounding snarl. Joey realized the sound was actually the teeth in its lower mechanized jaw whirring like a chainsaw. It charged across the field and pounced on the Red-Eyes, closing its jaws around its target's neck and severing its head in a grisly scene.
Joey grimaced at the spectacle, and the stab of pain as his life-points dropped again.
(Sylar: 5000, Joey: 5200)
He then noticed that a faint yellow glow was beginning to emit from the mechanized horror. It was almost easy to miss, but in addition its skin looked like it was beginning to crack in various places, with more puffs of steam issuing from its vents (2700/2300).
"What just happened?" grunted Joey.
"Rather simple. Whenever it does battle, Cold War Komodo Dragon gains one Meltdown counter, which reduce his attack points by one hundred for each one. Once he gains a certain number of counters, well… No sense spoiling the surprise yet," replied Sylar with a cruel smile.
Joey grimaced. With a name like "Cold War" Komodo Dragon and "Meltdown" counters, he could guess what was waiting.
"Go ahead and make your move, I daresay you don't have too many left. By the end I expect you," he turned to face Tristan as he emphasized the last word, "will have both a far better understanding and acceptance of where you really stand with him and his like."
"I don't need you to tell me anything about what my friendships are like," growled Tristan, though his expression was conflicted.
Sylar shrugged. "Deny it if you wish, but you know I wouldn't even be here if you weren't already questioning these things."
"Hey, you're dueling me, so keep your attention where you're gonna need it," snapped Joey as he drew, before brightening up a bit once he saw what he had just drawn.
"Ok, I'll play Graceful Charity."
The blonde duelist drew three cards, increasing his hand size to five, before selecting two and depositing them in his graveyard after pondering this choice for a moment.
"I'll put one monster facedown and call it a turn."
"Pitiful," scoffed Sylar as he added a third card to his hand.
"I summon Cyber Venom – Metameleon (1200/800) in attack mode."
Appearing next to the behemoth of a lizard on Sylar's field was a mutated chameleon of sorts. As one would expect with all chameleons, it had no definite color. Every time it shifted, its skin turned from blue, to black, to red, continually. Parts of its skin, however, were replaced by pieces of metal: pieces of metal that seemed to have computer chips inscribed with 'CV' embedded in them, which directed what color it would change to upon every movement. It left its lower jaw hanging out loosely, a large object which Ishizu was hoping was not the creature's tongue flicking in and out.
"Man, your deck is full of lookers isn't it," grunted Joey.
Sylar ignored the quip.
"Metameleon's effect deals you two hundred points of damage for every Cyber Venom monster in my graveyard."
Before the next thought could even form in Joey's mind, the chameleon let out a disturbing hiss, one that seemed to cause even the Cold War Komodo Dragon to take notice, before its tongue splashed out and latched onto his arm.
He looked down in disgust to see the long red organ wrapped around the area above his wrist. Suddenly, Metameleon changed color again, and white-hot pain began to flash in Joey's eyes. It was indescribable, like the tongue was sending dozens of knives dancing up his arm.
He bit his lip, willing himself not to shout at the sensation, more for Tristan's sake than his own: his friend seemed traumatized enough already.
Finally, it ended, as the slimy organ retracted.
(Sylar: 5000, Joey: 4200)
Before Joey could even catch his breath, Sylar continued.
"Cold War Komodo Dragon: slaughter his pathetic facedown."
The giant creature pounced once again. Joey's card was replaced by a furry, demonic creature that looked a bit like a pumpkin, with orange skin, large, primal yellow eyes, and long, green limbs. It let out a yelp of fright before being cut to pieces by its attacker's fangs.
"That was Sangan (1000/600)," put in Joey confidently. "Of course, since you destroyed him, I get to add monster with fifteen hundred or less attack points to my hand… I know just the one."
He quickly located his choice and showed it to Sylar. It was The Dark – Hex-Sealed Fusion (1000/1600).
As he did this, the Komodo Dragon's yellow aura began to intensify, as the cracks in its skin began to grow even further. It looked almost like the magma chamber of a volcano, with some form of energy inside desperate to come out (2600/2300).
Sylar didn't seem to care either way.
"Metameleon, attack his life-points directly."
The chameleon's tongue lashed out again, only this time instead of latching onto Joey's arm it simply hit him in the stomach before retracting. It still hurt, just like a lightning-quick body punch from a champion boxer would.
(Sylar: 5000, Joey: 3000)
"I place one card facedown. That ends my turn."
"Joey, please tell me you're all right, buddy," called out Tristan in a pained voice.
Joey had remained doubled over from the last attack, his hair hanging over his face and therefore hiding his expression.
He raised his head, grinned at Tristan again before flashing a thumbs-up.
"It'll take more than that to put Joey Wheeler down, trust me."
He turned his attention back to his opponent as he drew.
"First up, I'll summon The Dark – Hex-Sealed Fusion (1000/1600) that I just added to my hand in attack mode."
Appearing on Joey's field opposite the two freakish reptiles on Sylar's was a strange looking creature which seemed to be a floating, black sphere. It had a variety of symbols inscribed all over it, and a bunch of purple tentacles slithering out of various points of its body.
"Next up: Instant Fusion! I gotta pay a thousand life-points, but in return I can summon a level five or lower fusion monster… Here comes my Flame Swordsman (1800/1600)!"
(Sylar: 5000, Joey: 2200)
Joey grimaced as he felt the familiar stabbing sensation in his gut, but then grinned as a warrior clad in blue and orange robes materialized on its field. His face was shadowed by a large headpiece that was curved on both sides, and in both hands he held a gigantic broadsword that had a Japanese symbol on its blade and flames flickering along its length.
Sylar said nothing.
"He can't attack, and he's destroyed at the end of the turn, but that's just fine because I got other plans for him. I'm gonna use The Dark – Hex-Sealed Fusion's effect, which allows me to sacrifice him as a fusion substitute, along with any other materials, to summon a dark attribute fusion monster!"
The rock-like creature and the swordsman slammed into each other, melding into a spinning vortex in the center of Joey's field. After a moment, the vortex began to slow and a new figure began to emerge from within it.
"I'll use my Hex Sealed Fusion as a substitute for Dark Magician (2500/2100)… Which means the next batter on deck is Dark Flare Knight (2200/800)," commented Joey smugly.
The latest arrival was a man clad in all black armor, albeit with red designs on his chest-plate and helmet. He carried a similar black shield with intricate crimson runes carved onto it, and a thin flaming orange sword. A long cape billowed out behind him. His face was the only part of him that remained uncovered, and he fixed the Cold War Komodo Dragon with a hard glare.
Joey began to speak, but Sylar cut him off with a snarl.
"I know what's coming, so just get on with it."
"Looks like someone's taking this personally," mocked his opponent with raised eyebrows. "Ok then, Dark Flare Knight, attack his Komodo Dragon!"
The fused warrior nodded and darted across the field, holding his blade at the ready. Just as he was about to bring it down, his target let out a low hiss, and then turned around and swatted him away with its large tail, knocking him to the ground. He was then, of course, easy work for the lizard's fangs.
Joey wasn't moved by the macabre scene.
"When Dark Flare Knight is destroyed, I don't lose any life-points. In fact, his effect then let's me summon another monster from my deck!"
A golden-armored, pale-skinned man now graced Joey's field. Just like the Dark Flare Knight, more or less his entire body save his face was covered by said armor. The difference was that his helmet was the same shining golden as the rest of his armor, and actually extended far behind his head. A blue cape hung as low as his knees, and curiously his left shoulder pad was significantly larger than his left. Similarly, he held a long thin golden scythe with a double edged blade: with the front side being much thicker than the back.
"Say hello to Mirage Knight (2800/2000)," grinned Joey.
Sylar's otherwise cold expression and morphed into one of fury, his free hand hanging by his side in a fist so tight it almost drew blood from his palm.
"And of course, since I'm still in my battle phase, I can still attack. So, go Mirage Knight… Sacred Sycthe Slash!"
The golden warrior lowered his scythe so it was directly in front of him, both his and the Cold War Komodo Dragon's faces reflected on either side. With that, he pushed off the ground, darting forward like a champion sprinter. The lizard hissed again and attempted to slash him with its robotic arm, but the knight deftly dodged to one side, and then raised his scythe as his entire body began to glow (5400/2000).
"Mirage Knight gains the attack points of any monster that he does battle with," narrated Joey, continuing to grin. "Which means your Komodo Dragon…"
The scythe dropped, slashing through the air and letting out an arc of energy that sliced through the Komodo Dragon, cleaving it in two.
"… Is history," he finished.
(Sylar: 2200, Joey: 2200)
Suddenly, he noticed that the bisected corpse of Sylar's monster had not yet vanished. In fact, it was glowing an even harsher yellow than before, with steam escaping from vents all over its body.
"What the-…"
Before he could finish speaking, the corpse exploded, sending metal shrapnel all over the field. A few barely missed Joey himself, who cursed while ducking and weaving. The Mirage Knight, however, and Tristan's own Cyber Venom Metameleon, were not so lucky, as both were hit by one of the projectiles, causing them to vanish into pixels.
"The hell just happened?" demanded Joey.
"When Cyber Venom – Cold War Komodo Dragon is destroyed, he destroys one card on the field for every Meltdown counter on him," spat Sylar.
"Ok, fine… But jeez, dude, what's with the attitude?" grunted Joey.
Sylar didn't respond right away, simply glaring at his opponent for a long moment before finally speaking.
"Do you remember the first time you ever summoned Mirage Knight in a duel?"
"Yeah, of course, it was when Yugi and I dueled the Big Five in that virtual reality schtick that Kaiba's brother set up," replied Joey thoughtfully.
"The Big Five… in my body," snarled Sylar in response.
Joey stopped short, thinking back to that particular time in his life. "Yeah, I remember now… Look, I get it, but what is-…"
"No, YOU DON'T GET IT!" thundered his opponent, a crazed look of rage entering his eyes.
"Have you ever had your body STOLEN? Have you ever been trapped in a MONKEY and forced to watch helplessly as "greater" men fight to save you? No? Then you DON'T GET IT!"
Joey started to speak but was cut off again.
"You think you've ever been angry? Ever felt humiliated? Believe me, you fool… You don't know what humiliationIS!"
Joey risked a brief glance away from his opponent's rant to get a look at how Tristan was reacting. His friend was simply staring at the spectacle stony-faced, his expression giving away no emotion whatsoever.
"I fought and defeated the Evil Spirit of the Millennium Ring. I saved your sister from Rare Hunters at Battle City and then saved Yugi from drowning. I sacrificed myself to save Serenity in the duel against Nezbitt. And what did I get for all this? Worse than nothing. My entire life spent under the shadow of the likes of you has been one indignity after another.
"And you know what? Your so-called buddy standing over there has been through exactly the same things I have… and of course you have no clue that any of this even happened. Some friend," finished Sylar bitterly, his eyes bloodshot from the strain of the full-tilt, almost screamed-out rant he had just engaged in.
Joey turned around again.
"Tristan, you can't believe what he's saying."
He got no response. Tristan simply stared ahead blankly, meeting neither duelist's gaze, looking almost catatonic.
"Jesus, I really shouldn't have let him go on that rant-…"
"He's starting to realize that the things he suspected in the back of his head were always true, so he'll be out of commission for now," hissed Sylar. "In the meantime, we have a duel to finish, and I have comeuppance I need to met out. So finish your move, you mewling quisling."
Joey breathed out, trying to calm his raging thoughts, and took another glance at his hand.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Wow. I didn't get started on this until recently but once I did it practically wrote itself.
For starters, for those of you who don't know, the idea of Tristan as a villain called Sylar was present in my old story, YuGiOh! Nightrise. As Destiny's Recompense was meant to take some of the best ideas of Nightrise and repackage them, Sylar was always going to appear once I got the idea of these nightmare duels.
This has been a complete blast to write because Sylar was probably my favorite twist of the entirety of Advent of Power + Nightrise, and revisiting that is seriously nostalgic. What's more, I feel like while I wrote him as an entertaining villain back then, he could've just been an independent villain called Sylar and nothing much else would have changed: meaning I don't think I truly wrote a believable transformation for Tristan to become Sylar.
Well, that has been partially addressed in this chapter, with a lot more to come. It really is a unique experience taking a character I conceptualized fifteen years ago and fleshing him out way more in one chapter than I might have in an entire story previously. The benefits of age and life experience really make a difference to your ability as an author, imo.
Speaking of fifteen years, Metal Overlord 2.0 invented the Cyber Venom set back then for Sylar and of course I was always going to use them again. So, thank you good sir.
I am traveling for a bit starting later this week but I am going to do my BEST to get the next chapter out before the end of this month. Stay tuned folks, this is a blast to write, as I said, and I hope it was the same for you guys as readers.
Galaxyquest240: 7th Librarian gets the credit for Yugi as a card (and the whole L-Hero set), but yeah it worked out really well. As I said, DBZ, YGO and Pokemon were my childhood (well, DBZ and YGO stuck around till even now), so having those three team up was very nice to write. And yes: like I said the aim of this story was to tie up EVERY lose end from the original YGO series, so I felt like the relationship between Kaiba and Pegasus needed to be addressed. Pegasus just sort of drifted from villain into this vague neutral/good role so I wanted to give him a concrete redemption.
Reaver72: Ah, I knew my old readers would love to see Sylar again, so I'm glad you're one of them that is still around. And yes like I said above, I feel like (or at least hope) I've somewhat concluded Pegasus' story arc so he can finally have some peace (again, the show didn't address it at all and just shifted his role out of nowhere).
Metal Overlord 2.0: Re: Kaiba: it's not even so much that he is capable of showing emotion, I think he absolutely hates it and generally doesn't relate to people well. BUT this was one issue he understands all too well: loss. So I think he was able to understand what Pegasus was going through and his desire to get his brother back spurred him to connect with Pegasus over the foundational events of their lives.
Also, it seemed like you and some other people thought that Sylar was going to duel Tristan… Well, to be clear, that was never going to be the case. His opponent was always going to be Joey. Why? Because in Nightrise THAT was the major beef. I never got far enough into the story to address it, but Joey was the one wronged most by Sylar and this is sort of addressing that in a spiritual way.
I kind of was angling towards Sylar being Kaiba's foil back then, but honestly, Kaiba had ENOUGH going on in Nightrise (and this story too lmao). Like I said back when I started this story, some of my ideas for Nightrise didn't make sense thematically, and I was going to rectify them in this story. Sylar should be Joey's battle to fight, and that's how I made it here.
ChroniclerDL: I actually remembered that Kaiba helped Atem get himself together during the Strings duel, so yes, that was an inspiration for his talk to Pegasus! I am so glad that segment was this well received, I was worried people would see it as OOC for Kaiba so I did my very best to ensure that was not the case.
7th Librarian: Good to see you in here, buddy! As I've mentioned, I am PRETTY sure I was the one who first created the Alice in Wonderland deck haha, so I had to stick to my guns and go with the original cards I made with maybe a tweak here or there. And as I said above, I am very happy to see that Kaiba's pep talk has gotten such a positive reception! This gives me confidence for some of the further development I have planned as well. As for Sylar: I am sure you have a multitude of thoughts after just reading this latest chapter so I look forward to hearing them eventually too!