Yu-Gi-Oh! 5 Deluxe Dragons
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InsaneMakaioshin - I feel that Crow would naturally lose, at this point. Yes, he became a Signer in the show, but in all honesty, Kiryu was the leader of Team Satisfaction for a reason. That, and his knowledge of Crow's tactics was a huge deciding factor, especially since he was the only one of the four who changed his deck.
Toa Solaric - Well, you're about to find out. In the next chapter.
Chapter 2 – The Looming Spider of Satellite
Twilight looms over the Japanese horizon by the sights from Neo Domino City. Standing on a balcony are Yusei and Aki watching the gold turn to purple.
Enamored, Aki asks, "Do you believe sunsets were this beautiful thousands of years ago?"
"I do, because they fought for it," says the male teen as he calms himself for the upcoming battle. Of course, his unintentionally romantic line touches her without trying.
Up above, Jack lies on the roof. In one hand is a pair of cracked glasses, his eyes intently staring at them. "Atlas-sama!"
He pulls out of his train of thought to look down at Mikage coming up by a ladder. She prepares to say something, stopping when she sees the glasses. She comes out of her thoughts about that to speak her mind. "S-Something terrible has happened in Satellite!"
"Huh?"
The Signers collect together after being warned of this moment. In a monitor room, an image of Satellite is shown to them.
"Is this Satellite?" asks Lua while staring at the blue screen. "Is the fog always that thick?"
"No… that's not right," Yusei says while looking. The other monitors show absolutely no one.
"We're checking it, but it seems there was an abnormality emerging from the deepest region of Satellite. We've lost contact with everyone there." As if to add to that, all the monitors turn to snow to signify how bad it is.
"We can't just sit hear doing nothing…" Jack laments with clenched fists. "Prepare a helicopter now!"
"Y-Yes!" Mikage goes off to make preparations.
By the time that happens, it's already dawn. The citizens of Neo Domino City had been out and about the night prior in a mass riot demanding answers about what happened in their city. All of the Signers stand together on the helicopter landing site of the building they were in.
While waiting for their ride, Goodwin next to Yusei watches the mist bubble around Satellite. "It would appear that whatever made the mist emerged from the site of Old Momentum."
Everyone except Yusei turns to Goodwin as he said that, wondering outloud what that was. Goodwin continues, saying, "It seems the gears of destiny are finally turning in a major way, guiding you back to your origin. You cannot turn away now, Professor Fudo's son."
That also gets some attention. "Your mission is to defeat the Dark Signers and force Old Momentum back into the right direction."
The helicopter arrives, landing right before them. Out steps their guide, Ushio. Only now does Yusei finally say anything after being the most silent person of the entire group. "Oh, you again?"
"'You again', he says! I'm only escorting you people to that trash heap on orders!" As expected, Ushio rages at Yusei. But when Mikage shows up, he is quickly pacified. Blushing too.
"Alright, everyone, you may board," Mikage says to the Signers and Lua.
Everyone else goes up to join, except Yusei. "One last thing."
This stops the group, causing them to face their del-facto leader. Facing Goodwin, Yusei makes his demands. "Goodwin, when we manage to defeat all of the Dark Signers and protect the world from the threat of the Earthbound Gods for another 5000 years, I want you to promise that you will reconnect the Daedalus Bridge between Satellite and Neo Domino City."
Jack silently listens, remembering the legend behind it.
"Daedalus Bridge… do you intend to emulate the legendary D-Wheeler?"
"No, but it's something you said before. The only reason Satellite and the city were still separate was because of the Dark Signers, but once they're gone you no longer need that excuse. So, I want you to guarantee you'll reconnect the two once again and put an end to this."
There's a pause on the old man's end. Before… "Deal."
With that, the Signers are off.
Traversing the skies aboard the chopper, blue lightning strikes around them. It's a tense situation.
Curious about what Goodwin said prior, Aki looks to Mikage. "Sagiri, can you tell us some details on Old Momentum? And this Professor Fudo?"
Having sensed that question would emerge, Mikage proceeds to explain what she knows. "Seventeen years ago, the tectonic shift that separated the city and Satellite known as Zero Reverse, wasn't a natural event; over in what is now Satellite's deepest regions, Old Momentum went out of control. The supervisor of M.I.D.S., the Momentum Development Section, was Yusei's father."
Those not in the know look to their leader in awe and interest. Aki then realizes that his father must be why Yusei cares so much about bonds.
"Wait, something doesn't add up. Why was a Satellite native in charge of such a huge project?"
"Yusei's parents were from the city," Jack answers, shutting back Ushio's response. "Not that it should matter."
"R-Right…" Ushio looks away, proceeding to fly the chopper.
As the storm proceeds to get worst, Ushio wonders if they should return. Yusei simply steps up and points at a certain area. "Just land over there."
They land just before a dusty white building surrounded by trees. As the door opens and they step out, who should await them but Martha and Saiga.
"Yusei, you're back!" Martha says upon seeing her foster child returning with friends. She then gapes at the blond adonis in white. "Jack! You know, there are rules for growing big!"
"You know, it's been years since I've left right?" Jack retorts submissively.
"Now, now. How about one like always? What does a king do?"
The blond duelist grits his teeth at the embarrassing act he's about to perform, before swallowing his pride. He takes a knee before holding up Martha's hand and kissing the knuckle. "A king always shows respect to a lady."
Upon standing, he gets another hug from his adoptive mother. "Martha, I'm too old for this!"
Lua and Luca look at Jack being treated like a child by his mother figure, before turning to the kids fawning over Yusei. The former says, "Huh. I thought Satellite would be a scarier place… but there are kids here just like us."
"Meh. Same old, same old," Ushio grunts.
"Speaking of which, what's a guy like you tagging along with a group like this?" asks Saiga as he smugly approaches Ushio.
"Hey, you! You're that guy who kicked me in the face!"
"Oh, how nice that you remember that. Did you miss me so much you decided to come back?"
"Shut up. You think I'd be here if I wasn't on orders?!" He glances down at the kids looking at him. A scary face frightens them away, except one boy. 'Peh. Not like I care about being popular with a bunch of kids…'
His eyes turn to Mikage at that thought, grinning while thinking of ways to impress her.
Approaching Martha, Yusei asks, "Have you heard from Rally and the others?" The look on her face gives him pause.
After greetings finish, the Signer group enter the living room with Martha and Saiga, where the latter group explains what happened. "Yesterday, a black fog suddenly covered Satellite, and by the time it cleared everyone just up and vanished."
"Vanished?" asks Yusei.
"Yeah, vanished," speaks Saiga to back her up. "It didn't reach here so we were safe, but we hadn't heard from Rally, Blitz, Nerve, Taka, or Crow. I think it's just us."
Yusei immediately becomes worried, lowering his head as a result. Hoping to bring him out of his depression, Martha asks, "From what I can tell, Kiryu and those others are behind this, aren't they?"
He nods in response. "And are you still afraid of him?"
He pauses a little, before saying, "I'm afraid of the power he wields, but I can't wane on that. I have friends with me now, and that sense of camaraderie can overwhelm any fear. After all, Kiryu was once my friend."
"Please…" Jack grumbles with arms crossed. "I ain't here to be friends with anyone."
Taking in the situation, Martha makes a nod before saying, "Well, it's good that you're heading toward your problems, and I'll support you, Yusei. But, it's late. You can stay here for the night and go in the morning."
"Thank you Martha."
As the group separates, Lua and Luca stick together while looking around. The former hasn't properly apologized yet for his words prior to their trip. Personally, he still feels unnecessary.
"Lua, it's okay," Luca says placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Neh." The twins turn over to see some of the other kids approaching them. The one who spoke asks, "Are you from the City? What's that like?"
With the twins hanging out with the kids, Martha approaches Yusei and Aki by themselves. The foster mother eyes the two and how close they seem, before speaking. "I've been meaning to ask since the meeting, but would you happen to be the senator's daughter?"
This catches the girl off guard. "You knew my father?"
"I knew it," Martha says with a smile. "Your father came over the other day asking for Yusei's help, and I can see his faith was well placed."
"T-Thank you."
Turning to Yusei, Martha then takes his arm to guide him away. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to borrow Yusei."
"Martha?"
"We're going to cook for tonight. You gotta impress your future wife after all." Our dark-haired protagonist flinches out of embarrassment while his mother figure laughs.
Aki simply beams.
Outside, Ushio walks into the playground out back. Inside he rejects the concept of camaraderie Yusei promoted, reminding himself of the sole reason he's putting up with this. Picking up a tulip, he prepares to present it to the woman of his desire.
"Mikage…" he gushes, before turning to look for her. That's where he comes across the kid from before. "You know, you don't have to follow me…"
Ushio steps away from him, before noticing Mikage by the swings.
Next to Jack.
"Atlas-sama, why are you here?" asks his assistant with concern in her voice. "You said yourself you don't care about friendship, but here you are doing what needs to be done."
"I have questions, and those Dark Signers are the only ones who can answer…" he replies, his thoughts on that one single thought.
"As I thought, it's Carly." Mikage's tone catches the eavesdropping Ushio. "Atlas-sama, you can't!"
"I have to! I'm only here now trying to move forward because of Carly. I owe her for that. But she still got involved, and now she's probably in pain… if it's possible to save her, I'll have to look for it!" Jack then gets up to leave.
As Mikage repeats his name, Ushio drapes in disappointment and heartbreak. She loves another man.
Drowning in despair, he is left open to Martha grabbing an earlobe and pulling. He gets manhandled all the way to the kitchen.
"Alright, roll up them sleeves and wash those hands. You'll be helping with dinner," says Martha as she picks up a ladle.
"Wait, why am I helping? I'm a guest!"
"So is Yusei." She points a thumb to the best duelist of the Fortune Cup, chopping onions.
Sighing, Ushio gets to work assisting. He messes up a bit, and gets a ladle to the head as a result. Testing for heat gets another light smack.
Now he's scrubbing the toilets… wait, what? "Why am I doing this?"
Now he's getting struck by a plunger. "Don't worry about that."
"Is that sanitized?!"
"I'll help!" The boy from before enters the bathroom to assist, grabbing a push broom to sweep the floor.
Thankful, Ushio expresses his gratitude and gets back to work. "Speaking of work, you're a bit of a slave driver, you know?"
"Hey, nothing distracts from your troubles better than hard work." At that, Ushio realizes she's right. All of this stuff has helped take his mind off learning Mikage loved Jack.
"Everyone here in Satellite is good at busy work. We all have problems after all. Like Takeshi over there." Martha gestures to Takeshi, her voice lowering now. "His father was murdered in a robbery, and he never forgot the Security Officer who risked his life to help him."
This touches Ushio, who finally understands the boy's admiration. Sadly, he isn't sure how to tell him the truth. How can he tell that admiring smiling child that Satellite natives can't join Security?
Over at the dinner table, Ushio finds Yusei setting up the table alongside Aki and Saiga. He looks to Yusei, before remembering the last thing Yusei said prior to coming to Satellite. 'That's right… if they win, there won't be anymore separation… then maybe that kid can accomplish his dream.' He figured it would be a cold day in hell that he'd want Yusei to not get what's coming to him, for giving him that scar and constantly losing to him, but now he's of a different opinion.
…
Later that evening, the house enjoys their delicious dinner. Outside, a man with a hood stands just by the bay window. He laughs as lightning strikes from the black clouds, causing all the glass in the house to shatter and the lights to go out. Everyone gets up and checks outside, and see him.
His shadow the shape of a spider, this red Dark Signer stands with a cocky grin. "Good evening. I didn't want to crash dinner, but I had heard there were four Signers here and I just had to extend my greetings."
"Who are you?" Jack demands in anger. The kids behind him hide in terror.
"I am the Dark Signer of the Spider geoglyph, Rudger." The wind blows off his hood to reveal his face. "Allow me to welcome you to Satellite with a duel."
"Oh, I'll take you on-"
"Jack, wait!" Yusei stops his blanche rival. "Not here."
He then goes to the window and jumps out, the Junk duelist saying, "I'll take you on. Follow me."
"Yusei Fudo, huh? Very well."
Yusei doesn't like how familiar he seems to be with saying his name. Regardless, he approaches his D-Wheel left over since initially coming to Satellite last week and removes the duel disk piece. Aki comes outside wishing to join him; her powers can come in handy here.
The duelists move to the city standing in the streets by dilapidation. Yusei and Rudger activate their duel disks, the spider geoglyph forming around them.
Duel!
Yusei Fudo: 4000
Rudger Goodwin: 4000
Back at the mansion, Jack and Luca check their arms noticing their glowing marks. But that's the least of Martha's attention. Some kids are missing.
Back to action, the duel starts. "As the one who offered the challenge, I'll let you go first."
Yusei draws his card before entering his Main Phase. "I'll start by summoning Shield Wing in defense mode."
With his green pterodactyl monster flying to the field and taking a defending position, and Yusei concludes his turn. He's pretty confident in his set up, although he wishes he went second.
Rudger draws his card before playing it. "Spider Web activate!" The field around them becomes entangled in spider silk, until it forms into a web underneath them.
"While you control a monster and I don't, I can special summon the Dark Tuner Spider Cocoon." A purple spider the size of an SUV crawls down to the field in front of Rudger.
Spider Cocoon: 0/0 (5) DARK Tuner
Yusei and Aki immediately go on edge seeing the Dark Tuner. "Next, I will summon Dark Spider." His level 1 arachnid descends from a thread next to the Dark Tuner. "Dark Spider can increase the level of another Insect by 2."
Spider Cocoon: (5-7)
'Here it comes,' Yusei realizes.
"I'll perform a Dark Tuning with Spider Cocoon to Dark Spider." The cocoon explodes into stars that enters the Dark Spider. One star collides with the monster's and they both shatter, before the body explodes to leave six dark stars.
"When darkness overlaps with darkness, the gates of the underworld will open to a world without light! DARK Synchro!" The dark stars spiral before Rudger just as they summon a veil of darkness. Entering the world is a centaurian spider woman. The lower half has a spider head poking out while the top is a demonic insect woman akin to jorogumo. "Come forth, Underground Arachne!"
Underground Arachne: 2400/2000 (-6)
Meanwhile, Martha and Ushio go out toward the battlefield, knowing just where those kids would go.
Takeshi climbs to the upper echelon of an abandoned building, staring down at the duel. He watches as Underground Arachne captures Shield Wing and attacks Yusei, reducing his life to 1600.
"Yusei…" Takeshi whispers with worry, but thankfully, Yusei gets back up.
"Don't be so upset. That was a love tap." Rudger pulls a card from his hand and sets it, ending his turn.
Angered, Yusei gets back up and draws, ready to make his counterattack. "I summon Road Synchron!" Appearing to the field is a yellow Synchron monster with rollers for legs. "Then, I play One for One. I'll discard this monster to special summon Tuning Supporter!"
Yusei's combo nets him a new monster from his hand. He then uses the power of Bolt Hedgehog in his grave, reviving it next to Road Synchron. "Tuning Supporter can be a level 2 monster, allowing me to tune Road Synchron with Tuning Supporter and Bolt Hedgehog!"
His level four Tuner turns into rings, which pass by the two monsters, turning them into stars. "Clustering wishes gather to make a new horizon! Become the path the light shines upon; Synchro Summon!"
Coming forth is a khaki-yellow armored warrior with blue underneath. His red eyes shine in the darkness as he adjusts the road module on his back. "Dash onward, Road Warrior!"
Road Warrior: 3000/1500 (8)
Due to Tuning Supporter's effect, he draws a card. "Battle! Lightning Claw!"
Electricity sparks around the warrior's hands as he dashes toward the arachnid. With a single strike he pulverizes her, a shockwave electrifying Rudger. But, to Yusei's shock, the bug is still there.
Rudger: 3400
All he destroyed was Shield Wing. "Underground Arachne protects herself by using the monsters she equips. And now, Spider Web's effect."
Threads shoot out and force Road Warrior to his knees. "Any non-Insect that battles is switched to defense mode until the end of your next turn." Rudger chuckles at that. "Too bad, so sad; you went through all that trouble, and now you'll lose your monster. I can't wait to see you perform the dance of death."
Scuffing, Yusei replies, "I'm a horrible dancer. Road Warrior can bring out any level 2 or lower Warrior or Machine monster!"
Road Warrior brings out his module and shoots a path of light into the sky. From it, One-Shot Booster pops up. "By releasing One-Shot Booster, it destroys any monster my monster battled this turn."
The machine monster fires its boosters and detonates the arachnid. "Thanks, Rally."
"Yeah! Go Yusei!" Both Aki and Yusei turn around at the sudden shouting behind them, where they spot them. Two of the kids from the orphanage are inside the blazing geoglyph.
"No! You're not supposed to be here!" she shouts.
"Ah, but it's too late," Rudger speaks, turning all eyes back to him, "for once a Shadow Duel has started, it much have a conclusion." He then activates his facedown, Altar of the Bound Deity, before explaining that it gains counters for defense position monsters on the field during his Standby Phases, which he can tribute once it has four to summon his Earthbound God.
Gritting his teeth, Yusei ends his turn as he stares at the towering altar behind Rudger.
One torch lights up as Rudger draws his card.
Altar: 1x
"Don't rush, Yusei. The duel just started, so let's enjoy it abit. Unless you want to reveal your hand too early." He slaps a card onto the field, this being Grand Spider.
This black spider takes a kneeling position to show its 1500 defense power. As Yusei proceeds to analyze his situation, Rudger sets a card accompanied with laughter. "Your turn."
'He's taunting me,' Yusei realizes, but he can't play it safe. Disregarding the Earthbound God's power to avoid monsters, if it appears those kids will be devoured.
Drawing his card, Yusei activates the effect of Road Warrior, bringing out Speed Warrior.
"Grand Spider's effect!" The black spider fires webbing, forcing Speed Warrior down to its knees. "When you summon a monster, once per turn I can force that monster into defense."
Silently cursing, Yusei grits his teeth realizing he's just adding to the counters at this point.
Aki worries about what he can do. "Yusei…"
"What's the matter? You seem upset…"
"Do yourself a favor, Rudger, and shove your comments down your throats. I activate Advance Draw!" Road Warrior slowly dispels into light particles. "By releasing a level 8 monster, I draw two cards."
"That's pretty pathetic, giving up your strongest monster. Are you that afraid of my god?"
"I'm afraid I'm gonna shove my fist through your corpsey heart in a minute!" Yusei threatens before drawing. "I'll sacrifice Speed Warrior to summon Turret Warrior!"
His monster disperses as it is replaced by a massive warrior with turret towers for shoulders.
Turret Warrior: 1200 →2100
"Attack!" The turrets on its shoulders aim at Grand Spider, destroying it. The webbing then forces the monster down.
"I'll set one card and end my turn." As he concludes, Aki smiles at Yusei's strategic movements. He successfully has reduced the number of defending monsters.
"YUSEI!" The two look up at the building behind him. There they spot Martha and Ushio staring down. She screams, "What are you doing, playing around?! Get those kids to safety!"
"Martha, we can't!" Aki tells her as loud as she can. "This duel can't end unless a winner is declared! And he's trying to summon an Earthbound God!"
Rudger laughs before drawing his card. A second torch lights up. "My turn."
"What do you find so funny?" Yusei demands.
"I'm imagining the look on your face when I activate this." His trap card opens up. "Offerings to the Bound Deity. It adds 2 counters to my Altar at the cost of half of my lifepoints."
"WHAT?!" Two more torches light up, much to their shock despite all of his efforts.
"And now, I offer my Altar to summon my Earthbound God!" The altar implodes, turning into a purple beam of light. At the zenith of the light, the heart appears. "The smoke we released yesterday contains the citizens of Satellite. Their essence will be used to feed my deity, along with those children."
The children groan as their bodies begin to transmute. As worry is voiced out, a D-Wheel's noise goes off.
"THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK!" From a pseudo ramp, Jack jumps over the flames onboard his Wheel of Fortune. He lands just by the kids and slides to a stop, before quickly dismounting. He kneels by the kids as his mark activates, creating a bubble to protect him and the children. "No Earthbound God is enough to stop Jack Atlas!"
"Jack!" Yusei says with relief.
"Pathetic. Come forth, Uru!"
Rudger raises his hand, calling forth the evil deity. The god forms around the heart, becoming a titanic black spider with red markings. Mikage, Luca, Lua, and Saiga watch from above another building outside the geoglyph, as the monster towers over them.
"It's so surprising. To think the first Signer I would be slaughtering would be you. I bet the professor is stirring in his grave knowing his son will share his fate."
At that, Yusei's ears pick up. "Wait. What do you mean by that?! Do you know my father?"
"Of course I do. I worked with Professor Fudo on Old Momentum as his assistant, along with my little brother Rex."
That little tibit of information is enough for air to breach Yusei and Aki in the form of gasping. Goodwin is this Dark Signer's brother, and they worked together with Yusei's father. What else is Goodwin hiding?
A dark thought then enters Yusei's mind. "Then… you were there when Zero Reverse happened?"
Rudger laughs. "Funny thing about that; your father noticed Momentum was experiencing an issue and wanted to halt production, until he was ousted and replaced by me. Shortly after, Zero Reverse happened."
That tips him off. Yusei follows suit and asks, "Are you saying that you're responsible for that tragedy?!"
"Who knows?" Aki gasps in horror while Jack clenches in rage.
"WHY!? Why did you do that?! What the hell happened between you, Goodman, and my father?!"
"Why waste time telling you? This duel is just about over! Uru, attack!" The spider god opens its mandibles and fires threads at Yusei.
"I activate Iron Resolve!" Yusei's lifepoints drop down to 800 as a barrier forms around him, blocking the attack. Unfortunately, one of the threads hits the building Takeshi, Martha, and Ushio are in.
Takeshi's cry catches Martha and Ushio's attention, causing them to climb to the roof where he is. But the damage from before has made the building slope on the roof, with Takeshi about to fall over. Martha, reaching the roof first, slowly climbs down to reach the boy.
"Don't worry, Takeshi. I got you. Just be brave," she says, reaching the boy eventually. With all her strength, she helps him up to where Ushio is.
The building shakes again, causing Martha to fall over the edge holding on for dear life. "Martha!"
"Martha!"
Realizing she can't save herself, Martha looks up with warmth at Ushio. "Officer, please look after Takeshi for me."
"You can't give up yet!"
"I'm not a spring chicken anymore. You take care of Takeshi. You're his hero after all…"
At this, Ushio almost breaks down crying. "I… I ain't no hero! I'm no different than the other officers who makes fun of everyone in Satellite."
"Martha!" Jack and Yusei shout, the latter almost about to cancel the duel to save her.
"Yusei! Jack! Don't worry about me…" Martha speaks, the ledge she held onto cracking. "You two have been good boys. I believe you will do great things, even now. You'll save us, and Satellite…"
The ledge then breaks, and she falls over. Even worse, she falls into the flaming geoglyph, causing her body to transfigure and be devoured by the god.
"MARTHA!"
Rudger simply laughs watching the, in his eyes, fiasco. Pissed, a traumatized Jack shouts, "Yusei! Finish this duel!"
Ushio crawls back to a safe position while saying, "Yusei! Take him down!"
His heart filled with a silent rage, Yusei complies by drawing. "Rudger… I won't forgive you for this!"
He slaps his monster onto the field, Junk Synchron. With his effect he resurrects One-Shot Booster, before immediately tuning it with Turret Warrior.
"Clustering wishes will become a shining star! Become the path the light shines upon; Synchro Summon!" The familiar chant brings hope as everyone sees Yusei's monster appearing from the light of Synchro.
"Take flight, Stardust Dragon!" And there it is; Yusei's ace monster appears, a star blue and white dragon surrounded by glittering stardust.
Stardust Dragon: 2500/2000 (8)
"There it it, the proof that you're a Signer. Too bad it lacks any real attack power," Rudger mocks, to which Yusei ignores.
"Stardust, go!" His dragon flies forward. As Uru stands guard, the dragon passes through the illusionary beast. "I know how this works; Earthbound Gods exist, but they can't be targeted for attack. Meaning they can't protect you."
After that bit of proof, Stardust fires its breath attack upon Rudger. "Naive. Spider Egg, activate!"
Rudger's trap opens up, revealing an egg that takes the hit. After that, it shatters, and out pop three little spiders. These level 1 bugs land in a defending position. "Did you really think I wouldn't know that weakness?"
Cursing under his lips, Yusei sets a card before ending his turn.
"That said, this has been an interesting opening act. But, it's time we moved onto the real event." Rudger's body is enveloped in darkness, before taking on a new shape.
Everyone watches in surprise as the person that was Rudger disappears, and in his place is a little boy with red hair. He has the dark spider mark on his arm and a duel disk. Of course, Yusei cares more about how he recognizes that boy.
"Rally?!"
"Yusei…" Rally responds, his mind coming back to him from his newfound freedom.
Yusei runs over to try and talk to him, but then there's a shout. "Do that, and you forfeit the duel!" Up above the Spider Web, everyone spots Rudger standing above looking down upon them.
"Rudger!"
"I wasn't aware that there was another one of your friends in there, but this worked for me."
"Let Rally go! You have no right to control him, you coward!" shouts Yusei in rage.
"Control? Right now, that boy has his free will. What he does from here on out is his own choice. But surrender is not an option, so have fun kid."
Rally looks up at Yusei, the child filled with sadness and despair. "Yusei, I'm sorry. But the loser will disappear."
"Rally…"
The boy turns over to Rudger in anger. "Blitz, Nerve, Taka, they all disappeared with me… all because of them!" As the Dark Signer chuckles, Rally returns his attention to Yusei. "So, I have to do what I have to. Draw!"
Rally looks at the card in hand before pointing. "Uru's effect; by releasing one monster I control, I can take control of a monster you own."
One of the spider tokens disappears before Uru shoots some webbing to capture One-Shot Booster. With him by his side, Rally then summons One-Shot Rocket.
Seeing the level 2 Tuner, Yusei catches on and shouts, "Wait, Rally! You have to attack me!"
"I'll tune my level 1 One-Shot Booster with my level 2 One-Shot Rocket!" Rocket turns into two rings before passing by Booster. The light summoned turns it into a white and blue version of the monster. "Synchro Summon! One-Shot Cannon!"
OSC: 0/0 (3)
"What is he doing?" Aki asks, having not heard of this card.
"One-Shot Cannon," Jack begins, loudly answering Aki, "is a monster that destroys any other monster. And the controller of that card takes damage equal to its attack."
Now that she knows, Aki gasps realizing what's happening. Rally is going to self-destruct.
"Rally, wait!"
"No, I can't. You and Jack are the only ones left who can stop them. I believe in you." Rally then directs his monster, targeting Uru. Despite the effect going through, Yusei doesn't have the heart to use Stardust on him.
One-Shot Cannon fires, blowing up Uru. The shockwave slams into Rally, sending him flying backward.
Rally: 0000
Yusei immediately races over to catch Rally, a futile effort as he's already hit the ground. "Rally!"
Weak, Rally speaks his last words. "Yusei, please. Save Satellite. Don't let them get away with this…" His body then falls apart, turning into dark particles.
The duel concluding, all of the webbing and the geoglyph disappears. But none of that matters to him. All Yusei can think about is another lost friend. "RALLY!"
Aki approaches Yusei as he grieves, placing a hand on his shoulder. This has hurt him more than the duel ever could. Lua, Luca, Jack, and Ushio get close to them, as Rudger comes down to their level, laughing callously.
"Well, this has been a fun opening act. But now the real battle begins." Four more shadows move in behind them in a V formation before lining up.
Kiryu smirks before saying, "Yusei! Don't think this means you've conquered your fear of the Earthbound Gods. There's still plenty more to be afraid of."
Yusei grits his teeth in anger. "Oh, I'm afraid alright… of how angry I am wanting to destroy you all!"
The four Signers look up at their five opponents.
"The stars will determine the fate of your lives," speaks the Dark Signer in yellow markings. His black eyes focus on Luca as he speaks. He then dives into his pocket, pulling out a card she is familiar with.
"Ancient Fairy Dragon!"
"Little Titania, I believe this is what you seek. I am Demak, the Dark Signer of the Monkey mark." Demak reveals himself before pocketing the card. "What I seek can't happen until you're out of the way."
The woman in green stares down at her opponent. "Black Rose Witch. How good of you to come; I was hoping you'd died in that collapse, but this is even better. I'll give you the same pain you gave my brother."
Aki also grits her teeth. "Misty…"
"Yusei, fun fact; you're probably wondering where Crow is…" Kiryu speaks tauntingly, hurting the Junk duelist further. "Come find me to find out; Team Satisfaction can't conclude its last duel without your death!"
Rudger then turns around to leave. "Well then, let us all meet at your destinations, each of your stars of fate."
The others follow suit and disappear into the darkness… Except for one.
The girl in orange stares a little more, before turning around to walk away. What he could see is enough to rile Jack up. Her jaw looks familiar to him after all.
"Wait! We'll settle things now!" Yusei shouts as he rushes forward. Jack does as well. Sadly, for the former, they've gone; all that's left are their laughter.
Meanwhile, with Jack, he catches his target. "Hey! Girl in the orange! I need to talk to you!"
He grabs her hood, pulling it off to reveal her. "… I knew it. Carly…"
She turns around and looks to him. Her black eyes reveal sullen shame and a longing flame. "Carly… how could this happen to you?"
"If you want to know, then come find me at the Hummingbird, Jack… my dearest Jack…" Carly throws on her hood and fades into the shadows.
Kei: And that concludes this chapter. Next time, we'll see our little priest Luca enter the Spirit World. And then, her brother Lua will partake in his first duel of the story. Against-