Chapter 8 - The clear dragon soars again, battle the blackbird
The mood falls to a calm whisper as Yuya sits around the throne room with the other members of the resistance and Academia. He explains what he's been told about Zarc, and that he's been sent to gather the lancers once more to combat him. Yuya's duel disk starts to flicker. An incoming call is being sent to him. "Yuya..." Reiji's voice can be heard from the other side. Yuya holds his disk up to talk. "Reiji? What's wrong?" "Yuya...the dimension hop isn't stable...unable to..." the signal gets cut off, and the screen goes blank. "Reiji!" Yuya repeatedly tries to call him back, to no avail. Out of view of Yuya, Shun uses his disk to send a private message to another person, outside of the dimension.
"What did he mean that the dimension hop isn't stable?" Asuka asks, looking confused, and partially worried. "That's how I got here. If I can't use it to travel, then how am I able to get back home?" Yuya's tone is one of desperation, concerned for the safety of his friends. "Yuya." Shun speaks up. "Going home isn't the priority. You need to continue to gather help against Zarc." Yuya looks to Shun for guidance, and nods. "Right. Maybe I can gather people here that can help..." Shun shakes his head. "I didn't mean from here. Follow me."
Shun leads everyone to a small outdoors area of the school. Overlooking the sea, Shun points out a small, truck sized hole in the world. "What is that?" Yuya asks, confused. "Our instruments scanned it as a whole in the dimensions. They've popped up a few times, and if you walk through it, you'd likely be lost to time. But, this one leads to the Synchro Dimension." Yuya steps closer to the hole, clenching his fist. "That's great. I can get Jack with his, we'd take on Zarc together. But how would I..." Before Yuya could finish, he hears the sound of two speeding motors approaching from the other side of the hole.
Jumping out of the way, two duel runners sprint out of the hole and into the courtyard. One of them is unmanned, but the other is being ridden by Crow. "Hello again Yuya, it's been a while hasn't it?" Shun steps forward to greet his coward in arms. Yuya can faintly hear Crow whisper to Shun "I left once I got your message." Crow throws Yuay's helmet at him. He catches it. "It's unsafe just to walk through it, so you'll need to use one of these to get you there." "Right." Yuya hops into the unmanned runner, and straps in. "Thank you. All of you." Yuya looks back at his friends, before turning the runner to aim at the hole.
"Not so fast Yuya." Crow pulls up beside him. "It was fairly unstable when I was coming in. The only way this hole will remain open for the full trip, is using duel energy." Yuya's eyes widen, as he smiles. "Is this you say you want a rematch?" "On your marks Yuya." Crow starts to rev up his engine. Yuya responses in kind. The two populate the air with their roaring motors before speeding off, directly into the hole itself. Once the two have entered the hole, they begin their duel. "Duel!"
Crow 4000 LP
VS.
Yuya 4000 LP
"Because I control no monsters, I can special summon Blackwing - Gust the Backblast." Crow starts the duel, summoning a low level humanoid birdman. "Because I control a Blackwing, I can now special summon Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall." Crow summons another small bird to join his field. "Now, by releasing Oroshi, I can advance summon Assault Blackwing - Kunai the Drizzle." By releasing his small bird, Crow summons a bigger one, armed with bladed wings.
[Gust LVL 2 Dark Winged Beast ATK 900]
[Oroshi LVL 1 Dark Winged Beast Tuner ATK 100]
[Kunai LVL 5 Dark Winged Beast ATK 2100]
"Because I released a Blackwing to summon Kunai, my monster is now treated as a Tuner monster. I tune my level 5 Kunai to my level 2 Gust to synchro summon! Level 7! Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Sudden Shower!" Using his two monsters, Crow is able to summon his ace monster to the field. Raikiri sharpens his sword on his armour before ascending on the field.
[Raikiri LVL 7 Dark Winged Beast Synchro ATK 2600]
"I'll set two cards facedown, and end my turn. It's your move now Yuya. What have you got for me?" The bridge the two are dueling on remains stable. "Draw!" Yuya looks at his hand, and sees that he holds the cards to summon one of his most powerful monsters. "I set the pendulum scale with scale 1 Stargazer Magician and scale 8 Performapal Odd-Eyes Unicorn!" Yuya sets his pendulum scale on his board. "Pendulum Summon! Timegazer Magician and Performapal Odd-Eyes Synchron."
[Stargazer LVL 5 1 Dark Spellcaster Pendulum Scale 1]
[Unicorn LVL 1 Light Beast Pendulum Scale 8]
[Synchron LVL 2 Dark Spellcaster Pendulum ATK 200]
[Timegazer LVL 3 Dark Spellcaster Pendulum ATK 1200]
"Using the effect of Synchron, I perform a synchro summon using a monster on the scale. I tune my level 2 Synchron to my level 5 Stargazer." Yuya's extra deck roars, as if something was calling out. "Synchro Summon! Level 7! Clearwing Synchro Dragon!" Using his two spellcasters he summons the dragon with clear, glass wings.
[Clearwing LVL 7 Wind Dragon Synchro ATK 2500]
"That's Yugo's card. So, you have all the dragons now?" Crow asks, curious. "Even still, it can't defeat Raikiri." Yuya scoffs. "He's not the one to destroy Raikiri." Crow is shocked. "There was a reason I pendulum summoned Timegazer instead of using him as a scale. By releasing my two monsters, I can summon a monster with more power." Clearwing turns to stars as it uses itself to tune Timegazer Magician. "Synchro Summon! Level 10! Nirvana High Paladin!" Yuya summons his towering Paladin monster to the board.
[Nirvana LVL 10 Dark Spellcaster Synchro Pendulum ATK 3300]
"I activate my trap, Synchro Brutality! I target 2 Synchro monsters on the field. They're forced to battle each other, but they can't be destroyed. Also, we both take the damage." "What!" Yuya's monster falls for the power of Crows trap, forcing a clash of titans between the two monsters. A shockwave erupts from the two, forcing both players to receive damage. While the pair get hit by the shockwave, Crow flips open his other trap.
[Yuya LP 4000 - 2600]
[Crow LP 4000 - 3300]
"How come I took more damage than you?" Yuya asks. Looking at the field, he sees that Crow has another face up trap. "Strict Ruling?" "It's a trap that doubles all battle damage dealt to the turn player." Yuya looks over at the last two cards in his hand. "My turn isn't over. Because of your trap, I still have my normal battle phase. I attack Raikiri with Nirvana." "But you'll still take the damage!" Nirvana pulls their blade once more, and strikes at the Winged monster, clashing swords.
[Yuya LP 2600 - 1200]
[Crow LP 3300 - 2600]
"I activate a spell, Revenge Crusade! By destroying two cards on my field, I can summon a monster from my extra deck with less ATK than a monster on yours, ignoring any condition. I destroy Unicorn, and Nirvana!" The spell card creates a tornado that destroys all of the monsters Yuya had left on his field. Without Nirvana on the field, Synchro Brutality is destroyed. "What monster do you intend to summon? Another dragon?" Yuya's eyes change colour from red to yellow. His voice changes subtly, as if he's possessed by something. "No. Despite my affection for my dragons, they aren't what's needed to win this duel. With the effect of Renege Crusade, I special summon Enlightenment Paladin!" Slicing through the tornado, splitting a hole in the world, the paladin of time and light appears once more to battle.
[Enlightenment LVL 8 Light Spellcaster Synchro ATK 2500]
"That's the card you beat Shiji with. How can it help you know?" Crow asks, looking back at his opponent. "Until the end of the turn, Enlightenment Paladin cannot be destroyed by battle, as per the effects of Crusade." Taking arms, the Paladin readys their swords to attack. "Battle! I attack Raikiri!" "You're mad! It's not strong enough." "I have one more card to play. Celebration of Rewards. On the turn a Performapal is destroyed, I can activate one of its many effects. I choose to activate the one that makes our monsters ATK equal."
[Enlightenment ATK 2500 - 2600]
The two monsters clash; using its blades, Paladin is able to fend off the sword of Raikiri. Merging its blades into one, Paladin delivers the killing blow on Raikiri, destroying it. "When Paladin destroys an opponent's monster by battle, you take damage equal to its ATK." Paladin absorbs the spirit of Raikiri in its blades before unleashing it upon Crow, reducing his life points to 0.
[Crow LP 2600 - 0]
The dimension bridge seems to be holding up correctly, even after the duel had concluded. Yuya's eyes return to his natural red as Crow slows down to ride beside him. "You've gotten better Yuya. Using my own cards against me like that." Yuya turns to face Crow, smiling. "Yeah, I think Reiji sent me out on this mission for a reason." Crow's smile almost fades, as he raises his eyebrow. "Oh yeah? And what would that be?" Yuya looks ahead of the bridge, seeing the light coming from the Synchro Dimension. "Yeah. He wants me to get stronger while recruiting the Lancers." Crow breathes a sigh of relief. "Yeah, that sounds like a good plan."
As the two get closer to the exit, the bridge gets attacked by an unseen threat. Missiles fire onto the bridge, narrowly missing the pair. "What is that?" Yuya asks, looking around him. Crow looks up to see Ancient Gear Howitzer in the sky. "It's Roget!" Crow points out as the mechanical fiend lands before them. Roget sits atop of the robot. "I have you now Zarc!" They fire on Yuya, hitting the front of the runner. He loses control, and falls off the bridge. "Yuya!" Roget, showing no care for Crow, takes off from the bridge, letting Crow pass into the Synchro Dimension as the hole closes behind him. Crow looks back at the dimension bridge as the hole in the world closes up behind him. "YUYA!"
Yuya continues to fall into darkness. He lets go of his Runner, as complete nothingness consumes them. As his vision slowly fades, he sees a light follow him down. This light takes the form of a person, with a feminine figure. They reach out to Yuya, and touch his hand.
End of Chapter 8...