Chapter 20: Web of Deceit
Akiza flopped down onto the couch, exhausted. As soon as the Fortune Cup had finished, a horde of reporters hounded Yusei for an interview. Luckily, Blister managed to sneak them out. Currently, they were resting in Yusei's apartment, waiting for the chaos to die down.
"God, I thought we'd never get away!"
"Tell me about it."
Leo, on the other hand, was still pumped from watching the duel.
"That was awesome! You totally deserved the win!"
Luna just sighed in frustration.
"You didn't even see the conclusion, how can you tell how awesome it was?"
"I saw most of it! And from what I did see, Yusei was totally going to kick Jack's butt!"
"Aren't you supposed to be Jack's biggest fan or something?"
"Nah, he's old news!"
Blister just chuckled.
"Alright, I think it's time I got you two home."
"Ah, but I want to talk to Yusei more!"
"Come on, Leo!" Luna snapped. "Let him rest."
Leo groaned, but complied, and left with Blister and his sister. Akiza just shook her head in amusement.
"He sure is excitable."
"He reminds me of Rally."
Akiza laughed, sitting down and wrapping her arms around Yusei, snuggling into his chest.
"So…Mr. Master of Faster, huh?"
Yusei just rolled his eyes.
"It was never about the title, I just wanted Stardust back."
"I don't know, I think it has a good ring to it."
"Let's just get some sleep, okay?"
Akiza nodded, and the two fell asleep right on the couch.
It was no later than midnight when they were woken up by a burning sensation in their arms.
"Ugh, what's going on?"
"Not another one!"
"Signers! Come on out and face us!"
Yusei and Akiza looked out the window to see two robed figures standing outside. On their arms were glowing Spider birthmarks.
"We know you're in there! And unless you want everyone else in that building to get hurt, you'll come out here and face us!"
Yusei and Akiza were scared, but with no other choice they complied.
"Alright, but not here! If you want a battle, then we do it away from where people can get hurt!"
The two silently complied, one leading Yusei away towards an empty parking garage. Akiza was about to follow when the other figure stopped her.
"Leave them! I'm your opponent!"
"Be careful, Akiza! I've got a bad feeling about this!"
"You too, Yusei!"
The robed figure led Akiza to the city park, where he then turned around with their duel disk at the ready.
"Get ready for the fight of your life, signer!"
Suddenly, a ring of fire erupted around them, ensuring no one would interrupt their duel. Akiza, readied her duel disk, scared but not willing to let them cause any harm to anyone else.
DUEL!
Unknown: 4000
Akiza: 4000
"I'll go first, signer! By discarding Skull Conductor, I can special summon up to two zombies from my hand whose combined attack is exactly 2000. Come on out, Burning Skull Heads (1000/800) in defense mode! And when they're summoned from the hand, you lose 1000 life points!"
The two zombies launched themselves at Akiza, exploding on contact and launching her right into the ring of fire, making her gasp in pain.
Akiza: 2000
"That attack… those aren't holograms!"
"Now do you see the danger you're in! In this shadow duel, all the damage you take is real, and if you lose your soul is forfeit!"
Akiza grunted in pain, forcing herself to her feet.
"Well, at least I know who my opponent is! Show yourself, Hunter Pace!"
The figure removed his hood, revealing her opponent to be the former champ himself.
"I knew it! But you're a signer?"
"Ha! Don't make me laugh! You signers are nothing compared to my masters, the Dark Signers!"
"What are you rambling on about!"
"Enough! I'll sacrifice my Burning Skull Heads to summon Skull Flame (2600/2000) in attack mode! I'll set two cards face down and end my turn."
Akiza groaned in pain as she drew her card. She needed to end this duel, and fast.
"I Summon Twilight Rose Knight in attack mode! And with his effect, I can special summon Botanical Girl from my hand! Now, my Rose Knight tunes with my Botanical Girl to Synchro Summon Splendid Rose!"
"Fool! Your monster is too weak to defeat Skull Flame!"
"Not once I equip her with Thorn of Malice she won't be! This card gives her an extra 600 attack points (2200-2800)! Next, by banishing Botanical Girl from my graveyard, I can cut your Skull Flame's attack points in half (2600-1300)! Attack, Splendid Rose!"
Hunter: 2500
"Thanks to my equip spell's effect, your monster isn't destroyed, but it does lose 600 attack points (1300-700)! I end my turn with three cards face down."
"Get ready, signer, for this is your end! I activate Skull Flame's effect to summon the Burning Skull Head I just drew!"
Akiza: 1000
"Next, I activate my trap card, Empowered by the Netherworld! This allows me to treat my level 8 Skull Flame as a Dark Tuner Monster!"
"Dark Tuner?"
"Witness the powers of the Dark Signers! My level 8 Skull Flame dark tunes with my level 3 Burning Skull Head!"
Skull Flame turned into 8 black stars before entering into the floating skull, the monster screaming in pain before exploding into three stars. The two sets of stars circled around eachother for a few moments before exploding, revealing the new monster.
"When the shadows are swallowed by even darker shadows, the curtain pulls back to reveal a world without light! I Dark Synchro Summon, level -5, Blazing Fitzgerald (2500/2000)!"
(A/N: It's literally just Frozen Fitzgerald as a fire monster. Sorry, but I'm not wasting a whole lot of creativity on a card that will only appear once)
Akiza gulped. She could feel the intense heat coming from the monster.
"What was the point of that? My monster is stronger!"
"That doesn't matter! When Blazing Fitzgerald attacks an opponent's monster, your monster is automatically destroyed, and you take half of its attack points as damage! This duel is over!"
"Not so fast, I activate Emergency Provisions! By sending my Plant Food Chain to the graveyard, I gain 1000 life points, meaning I have just enough to survive!"
Despite this, the attack sent her flying once more into the wall of fire, making her gasp in pain. She wasn't sure, but she thought she heard a rib crack.
Akiza: 600
"I'll end my turn there, signer! But with no cards in your hand and only a single trap card on the field, you don't stand a chance!"
"There's always a chance! I activate Pot of Greed!"
Yes! Perfect.
"First, I activate my trap card, Call of the Haunted to bring back my Splendid Rose! Next, I summon Spore in attack mode! Now my level 1 Spore tunes with my level 6 Splendid Rose to Synchro Summon Black Rose Dragon!"
"So, your signature monster appears? But that won't matter, because even with its effect I'll still have life points left!"
And next turn I'll activate my own Call of the Haunted to bring back Blazing Fitzgerald and finish her off! My masters will be pleased.
"Not if I equip her with Lucky Iron Axe! This gives her a 500 attack point boost (2400-2900)! Next, by banishing Spore from the graveyard, your Blazing Fitzgerald loses all of its attack points (2500-0)!"
"No!"
"Black Rose Dragon, finish this!"
Akiza's ace destroyed the weird monster with a storm of rose petals, sending Hunter right into the ring of fire as his life points hit zero.
Hunter: 0000
Akiza ran over to him, checking to make sure he was alright. Once she learned he was still conscious, she began to interrogate him.
"Alright, you owe me answers! Who are these Dark Signers, and what do they want with me?"
Once Hunter Pace came to his senses, he immediately began to freak out.
"What are you talking about? What's a Dark Signer?"
"Don't play dumb with me! You were going on all about them during our duel?"
"Duel? What are you talking about? Last thing I remember is some weirdo in a cloak ranting about something called a Crimson Dragon, now I wake up to find you screaming in my face!"
Unconvinced, Akiza took out Hunter Pace's deck and began going through it.
"Hey!"
Ignoring his outburst, Akiza scoured all of the cards, but couldn't find any trace of a Dark Synchro monster.
"What is going on?"
Little did she know that this was only the beginning of a war…