AN: Hello, I have the next chapter here. Sorry for the long wait, I had a lot of stuff happen the past few months between sets coming out with cards I wanted to right into this series, family visit on the holidays, and a sudden medical leave that I am now fine from. So, I am back with the last phase of this story with a very emotional chapter for our remaining characters. The duel at the end was a lot of fun to make and I was proud of how it turned out. Hope you enjoy this chapter, leave a review with your comments and questions, and have a nice day.
See Datasheet Chapter for cover art details.
Chapter 74 – The One Thing
In the depths of the void, Jaden and Pyrrha lay unconscious on the shadowy floor. However, a familiar voice spoke that had awakened them.
Arise.
With that word, the duo of red duelists awoke up and jumped back in dread, both staring down the embodiment of darkness, uttering her name, "Salem!" They said the as she glared at the duo.
How did you enter my domain?
"Us first, what did you do to Neo!?" Jaden responded.
"And where's Aster?" Pyrrha added.
She has been given the soul of someone you seem to have forgotten.
Salem spoke to Jaden before turning to Pyrrha.
And he has been locked away in a memory of his despair.
"What does that even mean?" Pyrrha responded with a scowl, but Salem smiled.
Allow me to show you.
The embodiment of darkness said before a wave of shadows, encased Pyrrha. Dragging her into the depths.
Consider this a reward for disposing of my last worthless pawn.
"Pyrrha!" Jaden called out as he went to her. However, he was encased in shadows as well.
As for you, my King, you can remember your only friend's true origins.
Salem spoke as Jaden glared at her before he was fully encompassed, and his vision going black.
As the darkness faded from her eyes, Pyrrha found herself no longer in what looked like a void. Instead, she found herself leaning against a tree in a cemetery. Stepping out from the cover of the leaves, she felt the drizzle of rainfall on her hand. The magnetic Pro Duelist looked around in confusion but then gasped at the sight of someone. As she ran over, the grey hairstyle made her have no doubt who it was, but his age was far younger than the pro duelist she knew. He sat in front of a tombstone. While Pyrrha could not see the first name of the engraving, she saw the last.
"Why Dad?" The young Aster spoke, tears following down his face with the raindrops, "Why did you have to die?" he said while burrowing his head into this hand, "You said you were my Hero; how could the hero die while the villain is still out there?"
"Aster…" Pyrrha spoke, kneeling to place her hand on his back, "Cinder is gone, I defeated her. The person who killed your father has been dealt with for her crimes." She said as she closed her eyes, "You can let go of your grief now."
"…Why?" Aster spoke as anger built in his voice, "Why could I not get my justice." Pyrrha opened her eyes in confusion, seeing Aster now in his current age in the same position, "I spent so long hoping someone would arrest them, but nobody did. Then, when I decided to take matters into my own hands, I lost my chance to someone at the last second." Suddenly, Aster turned around and coiled his hands around Pyrrha's neck, pressing her to the ground, "WHY WOULD YOU ROB ME OF MY DESTINY!" He spoke with eyes of rage, the iris's red as the white turned to black.
"As..ter…" Pyrrha said as she tried to hold his grip back but was unable to break his grip, only losing it for a moment, "Salem is still here, she is manipulating you as she has done with everyone she has encountered. Including her lackeys like Cinder."
"My goal was never the one pulling the strings, only my father's killer." Aster responded, "But if you defeated Cinder, then what am I to do with myself." Aster spoke, "I have nothing left, no future, no destiny to achieve." He spoke as his grip strengthened, "Tell me, what am I supposed to do now!?"
"Gah!" Pyrrha tried gasping for air as she tried to find an answer, "Li..ve.." she spoke before pulling back his arms for one last plead, "Your father would want you to live!" With that sentence, Aster gasped. At that moment, his grip loosed before she could kick him back as he slammed into the tombstone, "Gah…ah…" Pyrrha caught her breath before speaking again, "Don't you see, your father would want you to live. That's why he wanted to be your hero, so you could be free to live your own life." She said before standing up, "Your destiny is not what you think it should be due to what happened to you. That can warp your mind into very dark thoughts. And if you sink too far into a depression like that, you can't come back." She then knelt again to hug Aster, "I may not have had the same loss as you have, but I know that feeling of an untimely end that eats away at your soul." She said before hugging him tighter, "You need to know, there are people who want you to keep living on. To keep moving forward and not held back by the past." She said as tears formed in her eyes, "Please, if you believe in destiny, make it your own and not let it be defined by the torment of your past."
"…" Aster remained quiet for a moment before placing his right hand on the magnetic pro duelist's back, "I'm sorry Pyrrha." He said as she pulled back from the hug in worry, but saw his face, "I guess I own another bouquet of roses." He said with a smile, his eyes back to their normal blue.
"Hehe," Pyrrha giggled before both stood, "Listen, Jaden is still somewhere nearby. He was hit by the same attack from Salem that sent me here."
"Then let's go find him," Aster said as Pyrrha nodded, walking away. He started to follow, but stopped and slightly turned his head towards the tombstone. However, the destined pro duelist looked on before moving forward, leaving the past behind.
"Okay, now how do we find Jaden?" Pyrrha said to herself as she looked around, but then saw something in the distance that caused her to gasp.
A giant demonic force towered over the clouds.
A few minutes earlier.
"How did I get here?" Jaden wandered down a stone corridor. It was not a cave he found himself in, but a dungeon. He made his way to the end of the hallway, seeing a fire's light. As the spirited Slifer Red approached, he hid upon seeing over a dozen cloaked individuals form a circle around two stone tables, "What are they doing?" he said to himself before realizing a young boy on one of the tables, his arms and legs bound. The young boy had on a tattered lavender top and shoes, and a golden ring around his neck. The green gem on his forehead matched his eyes, "Who is that?" Jaden said before seeing one of the cloaked figures walk up. While unable to see her face, he saw a tuft of light blond hair.
"You understand what will happen," She spoke to the young boy, "It will not only alter your body, but your very soul will change to that of a duel spirit."
"If it is for the prince's safety, I will do whatever it takes." The young boy said without fear in his eyes.
"Prince?" Jaden repeated as he did not understand.
"I thank you for being his only friend." The cloaked figure spoke, "Please, protect him."
"I shall be by his side. Both in this life and his next one." The young boy responded, then closed his eyes. Suddenly, all the cloaked individuals raised their hands, which radiated a crimson aura. That same aura then encompassed the young boy, causing his skin to boil and his body to convulse. He tried to grit his teeth, but soon let out a scream of agony, "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" he yelled as red lightning began sparking from his body, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" his eyes shot open in pain, the right iris changing to an orangish color, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" His body began to mutate more as the gem on his head shattered, growing a third eye.
"Hey, that's killing him, stop this!" Jaden announced as he emerged from his cover, rushing in. However, the scene he bore witness to faded away into darkness, "Now where am I?" he said before seeing something in the darkness, a small ball of light, "Buddy, is that you!?" Jaden called out as he went to the light again.
"Hmmm!" the spirit of Winged Kuriboh called out as he hovered in the ball of light form. However, a hand emerged from the shadows, grasping the ball of light, "Hmmm!" Winged Kuriboh cried as he was in the grapes of the duel spirit in the mute's body.
"Yubel!" Jaden called out as he ran over, "Let go of him right now!"
"I don't think so," Yubel said as he looked at her clenched fist, "I cannot kill a spirit like this one." She said before licking her lip, then devouring the ball of light in one chomp, "But this will silence it for now." In doing so, Jaden stopped in horror and remained speechless, "What, that is a far quicker fate than that of your three friends. Though, they did not last long in our duel."
"What did you do to them!?" Jaden said as his eyes filled with rage.
"I simply left them for Salem to do with their souls." Yubel answered, "But tell me, after seeing that moment from the past, does your soul remember me now?" she said as Jaden continued to glare, causing her to sigh, "I suppose there is only one way to remind you fully." She said before readying a duel disk.
"When I win, you'll free Neo from your control," Jaden said as he readied his duel disk as well.
"And when I win," Yubel responded, "We shall truly be together forever,"
"Duel!" the two said as the duel in darkness had begun.
Yubel: 4000 Life Points
Jaden: 4000 Life Points
"I'll go first," Yubel said as she drew, playing the card, "I'll activate Cerulean Sky Fire." Suddenly, grey clouds appeared in the void. The crackle of bluish lightning was heard as the demonic duelist took three more cards from their hand, "Now, I set these spell cards."
"Why did she say what cards they were after setting them?" Jaden thought before gasping as all three cards shattered into a blue crystal.
"I can offer these useless spell cards to summon Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder!" Yubel said as the crystal shattered, revealing the thunder sacred beast with a roar to rival the thundercloud, (4000 ATK / 4000 DEF). "That ends my turn."
"Then it's my move!" Jaden said as he drew, "First I summon Elemental Hero Stratos in attack mode." He said as the blue wind warrior descended with the violent storm, (1800 ATK / 300 DEF). "Now, I use his effect to add a new Hero monster to my hand." He said as the card ejected from his deck, causing him to take it and another card in his hand, "I activate Polymerization, to fuse my-"
"Not this time, I use the other effect of my Cerulean Sky Fire." Yubel responded, "I can negate your card activation by switching Hamon to defense mode." As the lord of striking thunder folded in its wings, the fusion spell card shattered, "Hahahaha," Yubel laughed as she pointed to her head, "These girl's memories tell me that you love to fusion summon, so I just need to shut down that spell as soon as possible."
"Tsk, if you have Neo's memories, you should know that I have beaten her without Polymerization before." Jaden said as he took two cards out from his hand, "I'll set these and end my turn."
"Then I draw!" Yubel said before seeing the card, causing a wide smile on her face, "Now you will see the true horrors of the Sacred Beasts. I summon my Dark Beckoning Beast in attack mode." Yubel said the black-winged demon appeared, (0 ATK / 0 DEF). "And with its effect, I can add Uria to my hand." She said as the card ejected from her deck, but she took the other card out of her hand, "My monster's second effect allows me to summon another monster with zero attack and defense. So, I tribute my Dark Beckoning Beast and Hamon."
"You're tributing a Sacred Beast?" Jaden said as both monsters on Yubel's field faded into one.
"Yes, for my Phantasmal Summoning Beast," Yubel said as a demon with an exposed skeleton and violet wings was seen, radiating a red aura, (0 ATK / 0 DEF). "Now, I'll tribute it to add Raviel to my hand, who I can now special summon him while ignoring its conditions." The aura of the monster expanded, forming the shape of the Lord of Phantasms was seen, (4000 ATK / 4000 DEF).
"I don't get it, why do all of that for a monster with the same stats you started with?" Jaden thought before Yubel took a card from her graveyard.
"For its final effect, I can remove Phantasmal Summoning Beast to add a certain spell card from my deck to my hand." Yubel said as the card ejected, causing Jaden to gasp at the realization, "I play Dimension Fusion Destruction, merging my Sacred Beast from the hand, field, and graveyard by banishing them all!" Yubel said that Raviel had the soul of Hamon and Uria fuse into its body. The monster gained the wings of the Lord of Striking Thunder. While its right arm formed into the body of the Lord of Searing Flames. Jaden gasped as the giant demonic that he faced that towered over the clouds, "Behold, Armityle the Chaos Phantasms!" she said as the unholy sacred beast roared, (0 ATK / 0 DEF). "Don't let the stats fool you. On my turn, its attack becomes 10000."
"10000!?" Jaden responded as Armityle gained a dark aura, (10000 ATK / 0 DEF).
"Go, end this in one hit with Phantom of Fury!" Yubel declared as Armityle aimed its Uria head, the maw opening to unleash a beam of flames, thunder, and a special force all at one to obliterate its foes.
"Not so fast, I reveal my face down card, Negate Attack!" Jaden responded that the beam was nullified into a void without hitting its target, "That means your battle phase is over and my Stratos and Life Points are safe."
"Heh, for now." Yubel crossed her arms as she ended her turn.
"I draw," Jaden said before pointing, "And now, your monster loses all its attack points, so Stratos can take it down!" He said as Armityle lost the dark aura, (0 ATK / 0 DEF). Stratos then unleashed a wave of wind from its fans, the Chaos Phantasms remained undamaged, "What?"
"Armityle is unable to be destroyed by battle." Yubel responded, "And thanks to the spell card I used to summon it, I take no battle damage from attacks involving this monster."
"Tsk," Jaden said as he entered his second main phase, then took a card from his hand, "I tribute Stratos to set a monster on the field. That ends my turn."
"Pathetic." Yubel said as she drew, setting the card in her spell and trap zone, "You're only delaying the inevitable." She said as Armityle regained its aura, (10000 ATK / 0 DEF). "This time, destroy his monster." She said as the beam was fired again, revealing the set monster as Elemental Hero Necroshade, (1600 ATK / 1800 DEF). The dark hero was no match for the attack as he shattered to bits, "That ends my turn, but how many more do you think you have left?"
"I'll keep fighting until the last one, I draw!" Jaden said as he looked at the card in his hand and his options, "I summon Elemental Hero Ice Edge in attack mode." He said a small chilled armored hero was seen on the field, (800 ATK / 900 DEF). "With his effect, I can send a card from my hand to the graveyard to allow him to attack directly." The spirited Slifer Red said before doing so, but all took a card out of the graveyard, "I remove Polymerization to special summon Spell Striker from my hand." He said as a small warrior with a wand appeared next to the ice hero, (600 ATK / 200 DEF).
"Wow, you're so desperate as to remove that spell card from your grave." Yubel responded, extending her arms, "Very well, show me what you got!" Jaden then pointed as both his monsters unleashed a combination of ice shards and electric mage into the demonic duelist's body.
Yubel: 4000 – 600 – 800 = 2600 Life Points
"Due to Ice Edge's effect, your set card is destroyed since he inflicted direct damage," Jaden said as the face down was destroyed, revealed to be Hyper Blaze. "That ends my turn."
"And I can now go," Yubel said before drawing, playing the card, "I summon Phantom Skyblaster in attack mode." She said a grey demon with blue armor and laser cannons was seen, (1100 ATK / 800 DEF). "And when summoned, I can generate Skyblaster Tokens up to the number of monsters on my field." The demonic duelist said two identical monsters to her Skyblaster were seen, but with less attack and defense, (500 ATK / 500 DEF). "But it doesn't matter, Armityle, end this duel." She said the attack was targeted at Ice Edge.
"Not so fast, I reveal my fast down, Hero Ring." Jaden responded, causing an orb of light to shroud Ice Edge, "Now, your monster with over 1900 attacks can target him."
"No matter, you left another weak monster in attack mode," Yubel said as Armityle retargeted towards Spell Striker, unleashing the beam that destroyed the warrior with a wand. However, Jaden remained unharmed, "So that monster could avoid battle damage." She said before pointing, "But my Skyblaster army is still here, open fire!" the demonic duelist declared as the monster gunned down Ice Edge, followed by the two tokens that hit the spirited Slifer Red directly.
"AAAAAAAAAA!" Jaden was blasted back from the assault, hitting the ground with a thud as his life points fell.
Jaden: 4000 – 300 – 500 – 500 = 2700 Life Points
"I end my turn." Yubel said Jaden pushed himself up, "Once it's only, you and I will be united for all eternity. You will be only mine, as I was only yours."
"I think…I think I understand it now." Jaden said as he stood up fully,
"Oh, you do." Yubel responded, "So, will you forfeit this duel?"
"No," Jaden answered, "I get why Neo was the soul you bonded with here." He said as Yubel scowled, "She told me something similar, about how she only had one person in this world that she cared about." The spirited Slifer Red said as he started to smile as he looked up, "I think she referred to him as her One Thing. And she thought I was the one who took him away from her," He then looked back at Yubel, "The look in your eyes now, it's almost the same as the look she was giving me back them." He then had a slight giggle in his voice, "Well, she has the same two-eye color thing, but different colors that she can switch at will. Can you do that too with your colors?"
"…Why aren't you taking this seriously anymore?" Yubel said with a scowl, "Especially when you know all that I have done for you, what I have sacrificed."
"I know, and I intended to pay you back for it." Jaden responded, drawing his card, "For both of you, I'll win this duel. To do that, I summon Elemental Hero Neos!" he said as the contact hero emerged onto the field, (2500 ATK / 2000 DEF). "Since Necroshade was in the grave, I could summon him without any tributes. On go, attack one of the tokens with Wrath of Neos!" The spirited Slifer Red said his monster leaped into the air, then chopped a Skyblaster token in half with his bare hands before it exploded.
Yubel: 2600 – 2000 = 600 Life Points
Yubel was pushed back by the blast, but smirked, "Don't think so high on yourself because you have that monster." As she drew, "Since you did not destroy Phantom Skyblaster, he can inflict 300 points of damage to you for each Skyblaster monster I have." The demonic duelist said before both monsters unleashed a barrage of energy blasts that bombarded Jaden.
Jaden: 2700 – 600 = 2100 Life Points
"And now, Armityle, end this!" Yubel said as she knew her opponent had no face-downs to save him this time, only a normal monster on the field. However, as the Phantom of Fury blast was about to hit Neos, it was blocked by Necro Gardna, "But when did you-" She said before recalling the card Jaden discard for Ice Edge, "Damn you!" Yubel said before looking at the card she drew, gasping before smiling, "Hahaha, this will do nicely now." She said before looking at her field, "I tribute my two Skyblaster monsters." She said before playing a card, "To summon Yubel." The monsters faded, merging into one as a demonic monster was seen with heterochromia matching its duelist. The hair was a split of violet and grey. A large yellow eye was seen in the center of its forehead, (0 ATK / 0 DEF).
"So, that's what the ritual turned you into," Jaden responded.
"This was my choice," Yubel spoke as the monster remained silent, "I did this all for you." She said as tears started to form in her eyes, "And you promised never to forget me. So, why?" Yubel screamed, "Why did you leave me all alone!"
"…" Jaden remained silent for a moment.
"…No matter, it will all be rectified soon." Yubel responded, "To keep my true form on the field, I must tribute another monster." She said before taking Armitlye, who faded away, "I sacrifice the Chaos Phantasms and end my turn."
"I draw," Jaden said as he looked at the card, then pointed, "Neos now attacks Yubel to end this duel." He said as the contact hero rushed in.
"…Hahaha, you fool!" Yubel responded, "When my true form is attacked, I can reflect the damage to you and-" she was saying until seeing Jaden already discarded a card, then gasped at what was played next.
"I activate Super Polymerization," Jaden said as the storm now crackled with darker clouds and yellow lightning, "The targets for my fusion are Neos and Yubel!" he said as both monsters were sucked into the vortex in the clouds.
"Impossible!" Yubel said from below as she saw the fusion with her true form.
"Now appear, Elemental Hero Neos Kluger!" emerging from the storm was Neos with demonic armor on his chest, arms, and legs. He had gained the wings of Yubel as he descended on the battlefield, his heterochromia eyes glaring with their blue and red colors, (3000 ATK / 2500 DEF). "Go, attack with Reality Warping Wrath!" he said as Kluger rushed into a still-stocked Yubel, who could only watch at the rising punch was about to collide with her body.
Yubel: 600 – 3000 = 0 Life Points
And suddenly, all went silent.
In a white void created in their mind, Yubel stood across Neo, "So, this is my end." Yubel spoke, their voice somber and melancholy, "' Am I just destined to fade away, forgotten by the one person I cared for in my life?" the duel spirit asked, but then saw but duelist offer her right hand.
"…" Neo smiled as she changed the orientation of her eye colors.
"Why?" Yubel asked, "Even after what I did to you, and his friends."
"…" Neo concentrated, having no device to speak, instead speaking with her heart, "Feeling alone is scary. It can cause you to act without thinking of others." Neo looked at Yubel with a soft smile, "He taught me that you are never alone when someone is willing to reach out to you."
Yubel remained silent for a moment. In their mind, the moment of their human life was recalled when he was a poor boy on the streets. His starving eyes started to close for the last time, but then saw a hand reach out to him. In looking up, he saw a prince with a red cape and brown shades of hair. The welcoming smile on his face was the same smile Neo showed the current Yubel. Like in the past, Yubel accepted the hand, "Thank you." Yubel spoke as tears ran down their eyes, but a smile on their face. At that moment, the two souls fused again. Not through force, but from a bond of no more words needing to be spoken.
"…" Neo's eyes twitched as she lay in Jaden's lap. He looked at her in slight caution waiting to see what color they were. Upon opening, the pink and brown eyes looked up at him with a smile before switching orientation with a blink, "…"
"Glad to have you back," Jaden said before the two heard someone approaching. They turned to witness Pyrrha and Aster running up to them.
"Jaden!" Pyrrha called out, "Is everything okay, we saw a massive monster and-"
"All good, no worries." Jaden responded, "We even got Neo back." he said as the mute pro duelist waved.
"That's great news." Pyrrha responded in relief, but the worry returned, "But now we need to find Bastion and the others."
"I think Salem is the one who has them," Jaden responded.
"And I think I know where she is." Aster said as he looked off into the distance, seeing a black tornado with lightning, "She must be daring us to approach her."
"Well, should keep her waiting." Jaden responded, then saw Pyrrha womble before falling to one knee, "Pyrrha, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Pyrrha responded as she held her head in pain while standing up.
"No, you aren't." Aster responded, "That duel you had with Cinder must have left you more damaged than you let on."
"He's right," Jaden said as he helped the mute pro duelist up, "Hang back with Neo and look for a way out." He said while passing Neo onto Pyrrha's shoulder, "Leave the rest of this to us."
"…" Neo looked at Jaden in concern.
"Don't worry, we'll be back." Jaden said before turning to Aster, "You ready?"
"I was waiting for you." Aster responded, then looked at Pyrrha, "See you in a minute." With that Jaden and Aster ran towards the black tornado. Pyrrha and Neo looked on in worry but knew they were the only ones who could face this challenge head-on.
AN: There you go, Yubel has lost, but does not leave Neo's soul. Rather they fuse together the same way Jaden did in the cannon. Before all that we had Pyrrha and Aster having a moment together, which I really like their relationship in this series and how it has been built. Then we have Jaden seeing the origins of Yubel with someone we all should know who was running the ritual. (In this continuity I want to clear up that Jaden never played the Yubel card as a kid since he never sent it into space with his Neos cards. Yubel was always talking to Jaden's soul here, which was the soul of that prince reincarnated). The duel as a lot of fun, using some of the cards in the new pack for Yubel's focus. I got to play Armityle, but not its upgraded from, mainly because that one is not as good in my opinion. Still, got to get out the better version of Wiseman in the form of Kluger. (Which I always thought his name was Kruger like from AoT). In the end, Yubel realizes they do not need to only see one thing in this world and decided to stay bonded with Neo, which I liked how I made it here. I gave Yubel a bit more of an extended origin to match with the origin of Neo in this continuity. Now, the final five remain with Jaden and Aster approaching Salem. That is all for now, thanks for reading, and hope to see you in the next chapter.
Now, time to answer some questions. I mentioned this in the earlier AN, but we did new support for the Sacred Beast card, which was part of the reason for me waiting on writing this chapter in hopes to avoid missing out on some cool cards. We also got other characters getting more cards to support their deck like Melodious, which was a big shock to me that I am welcome with. Also, Dark Guardian in now a think, but I think the brothers are dueled out for this series. The other thing I wanted to note was how the fire kings structure deck is almost exactly what Yang uses in this series, right down to some of her stamps and even have a Hiita in them for good measure. Finally, I will not say when characters are going to lose, you will have to wait and see how the duels play out. Those were all the questions I had, feel free to ask more, and I will answer them in the next chapter.