Chapter 28: Consequential Actions
"Your hubris is your downfall, since you can't use your Dragon's effect, due to your own card!" The Hell Kaiser declared, activating the last card of the duel, and Yuri's face fell, and Declan braced. As the miasma from Yuri's dragon hit, Hell Kaiser's Dragon screeched, and the shrapnel of the explosion pulsed outwards, embedding itself in the opposing duelists, defeating them all.
Hell Kaiser: 2500 LP - 0 LP
Yuri: 1900 LP - 0 LP
Declan: 4000 LP - 0 LP
DRAW!
As the Real Solid Vision disengaged, so did the glow in Yuri's eyes, his pupils expanding as if they'd been like a snake's, or perhaps, a dragon's moments earlier. A snarl was visible, however, although it also got dropped quickly, being replaced with seeming confusion. Re-engaging his duel disk, Hell Kaiser slammed a card onto the blade, the original Cyber Dragon appeared, coiling defensively. He dashed to where Pure Hope lay, and he could hear faint moans of pain leaving her lips. His dragon protecting them, he scooped Hope up, and pressed a button on her duel disk, shouting to the gathered Lancers "I WILL be back, and you WILL regret this!" They then disappeared in a shower of blue particles, and Declan put his hand on Yuri's shoulder.
"I think we need to talk about what transpired." He coolly said,
"Wh-What do you mean?" Yuri questioned,
"When you attacked that Enforcer. You showed unnecessary cruelty." Declan responded,
"Unnecessary cruelty?! I would never! And how is the duel over? Didn't that girl just declare an attack?" Panic was visible in the boy's eyes,
"Are you claiming amnesia?"
"Y-Yes?" Yuri uncertainly said, still very confused. Declan looked out to the group,
"We need to return to the Camp. From there I'll show you the duel data." As Declan walked away, Yuri slowly followed, Yuya placing a hand on his back,
"Hey, I know how you're feeling right now. I've experienced this very thing before. When I first Fusion Summoned my Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon I couldn't remember the duel myself. Everything will be okay!" Yuya comforted, Yuri still looking slightly dejected,
"Mm," The boy responded, and he slightly sped up. When they reached the Camp again, they all took their seats around the ashes of their campfire, and Declan pulled up the duel data, "Can I have your deck, including Extra Deck?" He asked Yuri,
"Sure, just be careful with it, okay?" Yuri said, pulling the cards out,
"Of course. I would never deliberately damage one of my ally's cards." Declan affirmed, sorting through the deck, and placing seven cards on the concrete fragment that served as a preparatory table for meals and such, "These seven cards are the ones you used. As you can see, going through the duel data, you had Blossoming Fusion and Predaplant Oasis in your graveyard, these two monsters," He gestured at Starving Venom and Triphyoverutum, "banished, Predapower Fusion Dragon and Chimerafflesia on your field, and Predapower Overload was at the top of your deck, in your hand during Hell Kaiser's turn. How much of this do you recall?"
"Predapower Fusion Dragon? I thought I had Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon out?" Yuri questioned,
"Greedy Venom?" Yugo asked,
"An upgraded version of Starving Venom? I'd think you'd have something like that."
"OH! So like my Crystal Wing?"
"I'd guess so."
"That aside," Declan interrupted, "What do you remember?"
"Well, apart from remembering controlling a different Dragon, the rest seems consistent, although I don't think that spell was ever in my hand." Yuri answered, referring to Predapower Overload,
"Interesting. Now, please cut me off when you don't remember anything mentioned, other than what's been established. So, it was Pure Hope's battle phase, and she declared an attack with Expurery Happiness, which would have ended your duel, then-"
"That's all that I remember. The next I do was the aftermath." Yuri interrupted as requested, meanwhile, Yuto let a small growl out at the mention of the Xyz monster played by the Enforcer,
"To confirm, you don't remember from the response that you made until the duel ended?"
"Correct."
"Very interesting. Yuya, you said you have similar experience?"
"Yeah, in my duel against Iggy Arlo at the Arc League, although I didn't think I had a different monster out, though."
"But that does give us a baseline. Are there any other occasions that you can think of?" Declan inquired,
"Now that I think about it, yeah, I do. After I created Pendulum I couldn't remember how to do it for the life of me! Although 291 practice duels later, and countless rewatches of my match against the Sledgehammer, I figured it out." Yuya informed the Lancer's leader,
"How in the world did it take you that many times, even with, actually no, ESPECIALLY with viewing that duel again?" Izumi incredulously questioned. As she asked this, a few nods of agreement were exchanged, and Yuya guiltily rubbed the back of his head,
"Well, it only took 200 to figure out how I did it with Timegazer and Stargazer, and the other attempts were me making sure it worked with my other Pendulum Monsters." He admitted,
"ONLY 200?!" Yugo exclaimed, "I learnt Fusion AND Pendulum in the middle of a duel, quite similarly to how you learnt Pendulum, mind you, and while I will admit to being slightly scatterbrained at times, I didn't need 200 duels to recall it!"
"Ehehe, well, I don't know, but you'd seen Pendulum a few times before, so yeah." Yuya quietly said,
"I learnt Pendulum through an overheard description of it! And you proudly call yourself the pioneer?" Yuri questioned,
"I think this is getting a bit off topic. Shall we recommence our previous point of discussion, being what you felt after said events." Declan interrupted,
"Ah, yes. Well, I just felt like there was a gap in my memory which I couldn't explain. Like I was doing one thing, in the case of creating Pendulum, being figuring out my next move, and the next I had won the duel. I can remember what went on in that gap, but in the moment its like you just don't remember." Yuya explained,
"Now that I think of it, that is kinda similar to how I felt," Yuri recalled, "Like I was half-asleep or something."
"Interesting," Declan mused, "But you did say that you have utterly no recollection, even in hindsight?"
"Yes, that is correct."
"So this may be a slightly different phenomenon than what Yuya experienced. Well, the rest of the Lancers should be arriving soon. We won't hold you in contempt yet, but be warned that you are on close watch. I'm sure Lulu wouldn't mind tying you up next to Ren if you do show yourself as untrustworthy." The Xyzian girl cracked her knuckles at this, a shiver running through Yuri's spine as he swore to not do anything that the others wouldn't, "Furthermore, we now know that the Fusion Dimension can employ Fusion, Xyz and Link summoning. I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing Synchro using duelists from there, and perhaps even Pendulum given Dennis' status as an infiltrator who succeeded in his job." The group nodded grimly and settled in to wait some more.
Fusion Dimension – Dimensional Teleportation Array
The lab technicians that Leo Akaba employed were shocked when the Array suddenly fired up, and a familiar silhouette appeared on it. "OUT OF MY WAY!" The Hell Kaiser bellowed as he rushed in the direction of the infirmary, Carly (Pure Hope's actual name, for those who don't remember) faintly moaning in pain over his shoulder. He threw open the door and marched to an empty bed, carefully slinging the young Enforcer onto it, and calling a nurse over. "She was hit by highly concentrated Duel Energy. A broken arm and leg at the least, and probably some more internal damage. I trust you'll take care of her?" Truesdale growled, the nurse cowering slightly,
"Y-Y-Yes, Mr. H-Hell Kaiser, sir!" She dutifully said, and started to prepare a workstation to figure out how much damage Carly had taken and where. Zane then left the room, the aura he was giving off leaving with him, the infirmary suddenly feeling a lot lighter and less oppressive. Walking into the Throne Room, Zane bowed respectfully, and began his report, Leo sitting in anticipation,
"My liege, as you can see I have returned from Xyz following an encounter with your son's forces."
"What happened to Belladonna? She didn't lose, did she? And for that matter, YOU didn't lose, I trust?" Leo inquired,
"Unfortunately, Belladonna has been hospitalized. The Traitor unleashed a dragon who's attack dealt significant damage to her physical body. And in regards to your other question, we neither won nor lost." Zane informed the Professor,
"Hmm. That is most disappointing that you of all people didn't win. I will forgive this failure just this once, but know that you have a single chance left, and I won't be as lenient as I was here."
"Understood, Professor. There is also a matter that I wish to talk to you about. It regards those Summoning Energy spikes."
"Go on."
"I believe I have identified the persons that it came from. As you know, due to the intensity of the Cyber Style Evolution dueling I do, I have developed an innate understanding of residual Duel Energy and can approximate one's internal Duel Spirit, and a woman, around 20 years of age, along with a male I couldn't see, they seemed to be the source of the energy. But there is more. Both of them have so much Duel Spirit that it was nearly overwhelming. Your son as well, but I digress. The woman also had the face of Subject R of Revival Zero, and I presume that the man has the face of Subject Z."
"So a fifth incarnation does exist?" Leo quietly said to himself, "Thank you for informing me, Zane. Please, go get some rest. After that, we will discuss what our next step is. Dismissed." And with that, Zane bowed again, and left,
"So Ray. You split yourself and that Demon into five? Why must you make this even harder?" Leo mused, "Doktor, I hope you heard that."
"I did, sire. I also would like to inform you that the practical phases of Project ZERO, that being phases six through ten, are ready to be deployed. With these phases, we should more than gather enough life energy to succeed!" The man exclaimed,
"Good," Leo smiled, "Get the Creation Force ready to deploy to Synchro as soon as possible."
"As you wish."
As the Doktor left, Leo started laughing to himself, "Soon, I shall succeed, and we shall be together again. Then, when that Demon is dead, we can finally be happy. I'll see you again very soon, my dear Ray."
Next Chapter Preview: As the remaining Lancers arrive at the forward camp, Leo Akaba starts the next step of his plan, doing what no one would imagine.
Hey all, thanks for reading this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed, even if this chapter was on the shorter side, but we did get to see some more of what Leo is planning. Can anyone take a guess, I wonder? Anyways, before I answer reviews, I thought I should clarify what the different energies were and what they meant. First we have Duel Energy, which is what monsters and cards emit, almost as a constant presence. This is what allows Duel Spirits to manifest. Second, we have Summoning Energy, which is what is emitted when a monster is summoned. It is a subset of Duel Energy, and is affected by factors such as what Dimension a summoner is from (i.e. an Xyzian will cause more Summoning Energy to emit when they Xyz Summon compared to a Fusionite, for example.). And finally, we have Duel Spirit, which is connected to a duelist themselves. It is what allows monsters to physically manifest, Real Solid Vision drastically decreasing the required Spirit. Anyways, on to reviews!
Monkey D. Luffy – My favourite and least favourite of all Yu-Gi-Oh! characters? That's certainly an interesting question. Now, keeping in mind that I've only watched the dubs of the series, if I had to pick a favourite, I would say Yusaku (VRAINS), as his character is very interesting, and I loved how he was portrayed, vocally, although Yuto and Yugo are very close seconds. My least favourite, however, is a lot harder to pick, although, if you exclude characters you are obviously meant to hate (i.e. Scud from DSOD), I would have to say Bakura (Classic), both the Yami and normal versions. I just really disliked him as a character, and that's not to say he was a bad character, I just didn't particularly like him.
Aqua – Well, its good to know that! I also can't wait to see what you cook up next. (also, you have my full go ahead for Link Monsters for Ren as well! Orcust just kinda needs some more, lol)
Guest – I'm glad that you liked that I included that duel, although I am not particularly proud of that chapter myself. I do plan to do a redux of that duel, so look forward to that! Also, there's no need to worry about the Parasite monsters, as no one will be possessed by them at any point, and I'll see what I can do about those duels you suggested.
Kazuki Takahashi – I'll just say that when I read your review, I was rendered speechless for a little while. Thank you for giving me such a compliment, as I personally love The Fifth Circuit myself, and while I couldn't finish Bonds of Pendulum's sequel (I just felt it dragged on for a little, but that's not to dissuade its quality), I was constantly impressed by the writing the author produced. To know you consider my little story as your third favourite behind those two juggernauts of FanFiction is something that made my day, and I hope you continue enjoying this!
One last little announcement before I sign off. Next week won't be the chapter that the Preview, well, previews, but the first bonus chapter of this fic, and it will be released on the 25th (for me at least), as it will be a Zarcmas special! I will repeat this in an author's note at the beginning of that chapter, but the bonus chapters, unless otherwise stated, will be entirely non-canon to this fic, and any or all of them may feature a rather lose fourth wall. See you all next time - NightWingBOI
