XXX
"DRAW!"
It ached Tenjō Kaito to do even that. The 2200 LP left to him and Haruto had caused more debilitating pain than he had expected. He wondered if that was because the Solid Vision that governed this Duel had dispensed with the safety systems—or if the hot desert sun was finally starting to take its toll upon the both of them. His brief days with the Resistance told him the latter—he was one of the few people he knew, after all, who could point and laugh at safety systems and not sound the least bit boastful about it—but then, he'd never faced six Antique Gear Chaos Giants in one sitting even in those days … and certainly not with his little brother by his side.
He saw each of the colossal iron titans, staring him down (6 × Level 10: ATK 4500/DEF 3000), over the edge of the card he'd just put in his hand. But already the discomfort of their Hound Dogs' effect damage was slipping away—that one card had a reputation for making him feel like he was on top of the world.
Kaito stole a look at Haruto. The boy nodded once—and for two brothers, each who knew the other's mind better than anyone else, that was enough. They're all yours if you want them. "I Set one more card face-down," the elder declared, watching it materialize briefly before him, "and end my turn."
Haruto began his with a will that belied his frail body. "Draw!" Perhaps he'd been storing that will ever since he'd been sealed, Kaito thought. One look at the boy was enough for him to suspect a lot was going to be taking place this turn—not least because of what he himself had just Set during his own turn.
"First, I activate Photon Orbital's second effect," Haruto began, "and send it to the Graveyard to add another Photon or Galaxy monster to my hand!" Kaito tore his eyes away from his field just in time to see Orbital 7's body glowing briefly before retreating into his backpack form, as its owner ejected another card from his Deck. "Then, I'll reveal my Continuous Trap: Photon Change! With this card, I can send a Photon or a Galaxy monster from my field to the Graveyard, and either Special Summon a different one from my Deck, or add a whole other Photon card from my Deck to my hand! But if the monster I choose to send is this Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon here"—the beast beneath his feet roared in answer, as if it knew what was about to happen—"I can use both of those effects! So I'll send my Dragon, add my Photon card—and then Special Summon Photon Lizard in Defense Position!"
Haruto leapt off his mount just before his Photon Dragon fulminated into oblivion with a FLASH—but scarcely had Orbital 7 fired its jets once more to slow his descent when a second monster had materialized beneath him. This one was smaller—just large enough that the boy could ride on its back as it scuttled over the desert—and decidedly less draconian (Level 3: ATK 900/DEF 1200). But that was one of the beauties of Haruto's Deck, Kaito thought: great or small, all monsters had their own place in a Duelist's Deck—just as all humans had their own place in the world.
"My Lizard's effect lets me Release it to add 1 Level 4 or lower Photon monster from my Deck to my hand," Haruto went on, dismounting quickly from his reptilian mount before that flashed out of existence too, "and then, I'm gonna play this Spell Card: Photon Sublimation—which lets me banish two Photon monsters from my Graveyard and draw two more cards! I banish my Orbital and my Lizard"—thwip and thwip again, went the cards in his Duel Disk as he added a brace of them to his hand—"and here's one I can use right off the bat! I Summon Galaxy Wizard in Attack Position—and then use its effect to Release it, and add 1 other Galaxy card from my Deck to my hand!"
Kaito caught the briefest glimpse of a one-eyed cleric in a flowing blue robe (Level 4: ATK 0/DEF 1800)—and then: "I add and activate the Spell Card: Galaxy Transer!"
His heart almost stopped. If those Hound Dogs had been capable of dealing even the slightest bit more damage …
"By paying 2000 Life Points"—Kaito bit his lip till the blood flowed as he watched his brother seize up amidst the flashes of light erupting over his body, and did not relent until long after he'd seen Haruto's life gauge drop to a mere 200—"I can Special Summon a Photon monster from my Graveyard, and another Galaxy monster with the same Level from my Deck in Defense Position, with their effects negated and their ATK set to 2000! Two guesses what I'm going to bring back!"
And suddenly Kaito was grinning despite himself. "That's right—I'll revive one Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon from my Graveyard, and Special Summon a second one just like it!"
Light-flowers bloomed either side of him with a WHUMP almost at the same time, nearly erasing the dune beneath. Within seconds, not one long neck, but two, had emerged from the dust clouds, glowing with incandescent energy as they stomped to Haruto's side (Level 8: ATK 3000 » 2000/DEF 2500).
"That makes two dragons." Kaito could have sworn that his little brother looked ready to float even without the aid of Orbital 7. "Cipher Dragon can make three. But I want to make more!" He plucked two more cards from his hand. "Since there's an Xyz Monster on the field"—he aimed his thumb at Kaito's monster—"I'll take this Photon Slayer that I added with my Photon Change Trap, and Special Summon him through its own effect in Defense Position!" He slid a card onto his crescent blade, and a winged swordsman in radiant white armor had materialized before him (Level 5: ATK 2100/DEF 1000).
"Then, since I control a Photon or a Galaxy monster"—Haruto betrayed a small smirk here, and so did his Photon Dragons, both seeming to comprehend that again, they counted as both—"I can take this Photon Vanisher that I got when I Released my Lizard, and Special Summon it in Attack Position!" And a second Duel Monster, much more human-sized and -shaped, shimmered next to Slayer, cocking the gun in his hands and aiming it right at the Chaos Giant in the lead (Level 4: ATK 2000/DEF 0).
"My Lizard added a Photon monster to my hand," Haruto crowed, standing taller and straighter than Kaito had ever seen him—and with good reason. "And then my Wizard added a Galaxy card to my hand! Which of you wants to guess what my Photon Vanisher gets to add?"
Kaito knew. And even as he watched Haruto slip it into his hand, in the corner of his eye, he was ready to whoop. Because he could tell that every single one of the Ædonai were guessing the same thing.
"And look at that—I've got two LIGHT-Attribute monsters on my field with 2000 ATK!" Haruto exclaimed, pointing at his Slayer and Vanisher as if he'd just seen them for the first time. As if they themselves were in on the joke, they began to gleam and glow—and vanish from the desert just as the earth began to tremble:
"Descend now!" Haruto chanted. "My embodiment of light: my Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!"
And this one, Kaito knew, was under none of the restrictions that bound his two brethren thanks to Galaxy Transer. Perhaps that was why it looked visibly bigger than either of them—why it roared more loudly, more aggressively, at the Chaos Giants as it rose out of the dune, casting a long shadow behind his little brother like a faithful bodyguard (Level 8: ATK 3000/DEF 2500).
Kaito heard the nearest Ædonai mutter something that sounded oddly like three Level 8 monsters?—and knew it was time. "Hold on, Haruto!" he called out. "Before you get too carried away there, I want to show these poor excuses of Duelists a taste of what they're in for! So—Quick-Play Spell, activate: Rank-Up-Magic Cipher Ascension!"
His Cipher Dragon roared, and unfurled its wings until they seemed to dim the sky. "During any Main Phase," he smirked, "I can target a Cipher Xyz Monster I control, and Xyz Summon another Cipher monster whose Rank is 1 higher than that target, by using it as the entire Overlay Unit! I target my Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon—and with it, I reconstruct the Overlay Network! GO!"
The light that flared from the dunes at that moment was so brilliant—and the wind that followed was so scouring—that it felt akin to the flashpoint of a nuclear explosion. Kaito privately thought the end result wasn't that far off, as he watched the morphing silhouette of his monster—still barely visible within the blinding light—rise into the air:
"Galaxy shining in the darkness," he roared to the skies. "Release the forever-unchanging light and become the beacon that illuminates the future!"
"Rank-Up Xyz Change! Descend, Rank 9! Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon!"
How Kaito managed to stay on his feet for all that, he would never be sure. How he maintained that same footing even as a monolithic clawed foot planted itself on the nearest sand dune, flattening it with a THUD as easily as it could have an entire house, was equally beyond his ken. All he knew—all he cared about—was seeing his strongest monster plodding onto the field at last, both its wings dancing with colors both known and unknown to the human eye, and all three of its heads bellowing long and loud until the very dimension seemed to tremble at its approach (Rank 9: ATK 4500/DEF 3000; ORU 4).
That three-part roar was answered by another in short order: all three of Haruto's Photon Dragons had let fly with a sonorous rumble of noise that chilled Kaito despite himself. He nodded back at Haruto. It's your time to shine now.
"And now," his little brother declared, in the voice of a Duelist who'd been practicing these exact words for years, "I use all three of my Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragons to construct the Overlay Network! GO!"
One—two—three—they took off with a will, and within seconds the entire Duel had been turned into a sandstorm. Kaito couldn't even see Haruto in the chaos, let alone the Ædonai—but he could just barely hear the words he was chanting over the all-consuming rush, in a yell that threatened to tear his throat in two:
"Radiant galaxy, here and now become the striking light, and show yourself!"
"XYZ SUMMON! Descend, my very soul! Rank 8! Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!"
Kaito never saw the explosion; the sandstorm was too intense for that. But he heard the WHUMP that dispelled it an instant later from the sheer force of the shockwave it had created. Only the wings of his Neo Cipher Dragon, folded protectively over him, kept him from getting bowled over. The Chaos Giants, somehow looking more demonic in the hellish red light that now seemed to bathe all of Giza, were forced to hunker down to a one to keep the same thing from happening to their own Summoners.
The Xyz Duelist turned to regard the source of that crimson brilliance, and felt his breath catch in his throat as he watched plate after plate of ebon armor sizzle and streak with scarlet lightning, gathering one volt at a time into the trio of jaws that slavered and snarled amidst this unfolding war (Rank 8: ATK 4500/DEF 3000; ORU 3).
Incredible. Kaito could only stare agog. Not even the explosion that sounded in the distance, somewhere off to his left, could tear his eyes from the beautiful sight of Dr. Tenjō's strongest monster.
It would not be until much later that he found out what the source of that explosion was.
The moment Noboru had ended his turn, Shingo saw a change come over Jim Cook.
The Australian had tilted his hat backwards, and shifted himself slightly to the left, so that the bandages that covered his artificial eye were staring down the both of them. Then he'd shifted the arm bearing his Duel Disk until the wrist was level with his navel, and the device's boomerang blade was now edge on with their point of view, near-invisible to Shingo's eyes but for a sliver of orange light.
They were subtle changes—if he hadn't been eyeing him in the first place, he would never have guessed they'd ever happened. And like shadows that fell in the right places, they'd helped to paint a frighteningly different picture of the young man who'd passed his turn just to play with a crocodile. All of a sudden, he looked more invested in this Duel than he'd ever been before—and Shingo couldn't help but feel a chill of foreboding.
"Right, then." Jim gave no other sign he'd drawn his card—there was no pomp and circumstance about him—and his face gave no sign as to what he might have drawn at all. Shingo decided he must have played a lot of poker. "I activate the Spell Card: Foolish Burial, and send a monster from my Deck to the Graveyard. I'll just send this 'ere Weathering Soldier"—he swiped a card from his Deck, and slid it into his Duel Disk—"'cause when it's sent to the Graveyard by a card effect, I get t' add this from my Deck to my 'and: the Spell Card: Fossil Fusion!"
Shingo gulped. Here we go.
"With this 'ere," Jim went on, "I can Fusion Summon a Fossil Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck by banishing its materials from the Graveyard! The Graveyard," he repeated, smirking widely. "Not just mine, but yours as well."
"What?!"
Shingo couldn't blame Noboru for his outburst. He, alone of the two, had monsters in his Graveyard to banish thanks to all the Synchro Monsters he'd brought out—Pendulum Monsters tended to remove that side effect of Extra Deck Summoning from the equation. So Shingo might be safe from this Fossil Fusion card … but Noboru definitely wasn't.
"I'll banish the Weathering Soldier in me grave," Jim cried, as the earth began to rumble, "and that Synchro Monster whose name I can't be arsed to remember in yours"—he pointed a finger at Noboru—"to show you this li'l beauty!"
The Steadfast Duelist was very red in the face, and looked almost unable to form words. Shingo couldn't blame him for feeling angry; Shutendō-G had put in far too much work this Duel to deserve such ignominious treatment.
"Fusion Summon!" crowed the Australian. "Level 6! Mesozoic Fossil Machine Skull Wagon!"
For the second time this Duel, Shingo heard revving motors—but these sounded much more poorly lubricated than the Superheavy Samurai in Noboru's Deck. Then, a low, ovoid shape the size of a car emerged from the desert in front of Jim (Level 6: ATK 1700/DEF 1500), and he winced at the cacophony of metal grating harshly against sand.
The LDS Duelist did a double take a moment later: that actually was a car the Australian had Summoned—though certainly not one the mayor of any city would be caught dead driving, least of all his own father. It looked more like the cross of a funeral hearse and the skeleton of the body it had been ferrying along to its final resting place; the grille looked far too much like a fanged mouth, the headlights its angry red eyes, and the engine beneath snarled so like a beast that Shingo wondered if this bizarre monster really was more than just a machine.
At least it wasn't that strong, he reassured himself. "I've seen Level 4s with more bite to them than this lemon you call a car," he smirked derisively at Jim.
The Australian didn't even dignify his taunt with a response. "Now for the Spell Card: Time Stream! When I play this 'ere card, I can target a Fossil Fusion Monster on me field, and Fusion Summon another Fossil Fusion Monster whose Level is 2 higher than that target, by using it as the material! I'll send my Skull Wagon back in time—and yew buckos can watch it grow into an even bigger beastie!"
Shingo tensed, swallowed. You made the right choice, he soothed himself for the umpteenth time—but even now, he was starting to wonder if maybe he'd spoken too soon. He still remembered the three monsters he'd glimpsed earlier with his final Abyss Script. That the strongest of them was gone somehow assuaged him little—there was something about this Duelist's entire Deck, and the swagger he used it with, that unnerved him to no end.
"Fusion Summon!" Jim threw out his hand. "Level 8! Paleozoic Fossil Machine Skull Convoy!"
As if to prove him right, Skull Wagon had vanished in front of Shingo's eyes before he could draw breath; a hole had yawned open in the sand with a roar like an incoming freight train, and big enough to swallow it in one gulp. The source of that hole wasn't long in coming—scarcely had Skull Wagon been consumed than the bleached skull of a triceratops burst from the maelstrom, revealing a square body the size of an eighteen-wheeler, and the bones of a tail the length of a whole other one that lashed great fan-like shapes in the sand behind Jim (Level 8: ATK 2100/DEF 1800).
Again, the bizarre nature of the monster reared its head at Shingo—the wheels beneath its bulk made him wonder if this actually had been modeled after a semi truck. But for once, he was in no mood to pay attention—for what was happening on his own field right now was ringing alarm bells by the dozen inside his brain.
His Abyss Actors had undergone what he could only describe as a sudden case of stage fright: all five of them were quaking at the sight of Skull Convoy. One second later, those alarms intensified when Shingo checked his Duel Disk: all of their ATK gauges were dropping like stones! Big Star and Pretty Heroine still managed to stand tall, despite the 700 ATK and 500 ATK still left to them—but the rest of his monsters' point gauges had been reduced to a big fat zero, and were cowering behind their stronger cohorts as if their own meager power would be enough to save them.
How the hell—?!
"That enough bite for you, mate?" Jim was smiling at Shingo as he delivered the jibe—but there was less humor to it than there was moisture in this desert, and that was saying something. "Skull Convoy's effect makes every monster my opponent has lose ATK equal to its DEF, while it stays Fusion Summoned on my field! And I mean every opponent's monster," he added derisively, ignoring Shingo's wordless splutter of blank shock, "even those bloomin' big robots your friend and his dumb-looking 'air have on his field!"
The insult stung Noboru so badly that he seemed to find his voice at last. His eyes flicked once towards the black pompadour on his brow for a split second, before he balled his hands into fists. "My monsters do not need their ATK!" he boomed. "Tetsudō-Ō's effect makes it able to attack while in Defense Position, and use its DEF to damage any monster it battles!"
It took an instant longer than that for Shingo to remember that most of his monsters were still in Defense Position as well—including all of his weaker ones. And the fact that one of those monsters was Pretty Heroine meant that Jim had been put in a nasty spot already—attacking it first would mean his strongest monster, Big Star, survived—but attacking Big Star instead would allow Pretty Heroine to weaken Skull Convoy until even a flea could topple it. Either way, Skull Convoy would waste its attack this turn—and so he exhaled then, knowing he was safe.
Jim, meanwhile, had brushed off Noboru's boast like so much sand off his shirt collar, holding another card aloft. "Now the Spell Card: Miracle Rupture! I can use this to send 1 Level 4 or lower Rock-Type monster from my Deck to my Graveyard—and then to draw a card if Fossil Fusion is in me Graveyard already! I send me Level 4 Shell Knight—and then, 'cause that was sent to the Graveyard by a card effect, I can activate its effect, and add a Level 8 Rock-Type monster from my Deck to my hand … or Special Summon it instead if that Fossil Fusion is still in my Graveyard! I Special Summon Gaia Plate the Earth Giant!"
CRACK. The earth heaved and rolled behind Jim—and the LDS Duelist nearly jumped out of his skin as a giant fist, hewn entirely from rock, punched its way out of the desert with a thunderous battle cry. Gaia Plate seemed to grow from the very earth that had given it birth: a faceless, smooth-edged golem that ground and scraped with the noise of rock on rock, towering over the Duel in mere seconds (Level 8: ATK 2800/DEF 1000).
The LDS Duelist swallowed, suddenly feeling a lot smaller as he craned his neck to take in Gaia Plate's full height. Even Noboru looked uneasy; if Shingo hadn't seen its point gauge already, he'd have thought the thing could have run roughshod over even Tetsudō-Ō. The thought made him shudder.
"Quick-Play Spell: Pot of Acquisitiveness!" Jim slammed this card on his blade with particular force. "This neat li'l trinket can target three banished monsters—exactly three, mind yew—put them all back in the Deck, and then draw a card! That's me Weathering Soldier, your Superheavy whatever-the-bollocks—"
"God Oni Shutendō-G!" barked Noboru, his face bypassing red and veering dangerously close to purple.
"Yeah—that, too." The Aussie clicked his fingers with an odd sound that Shingo swore was actually his teammate grinding his teeth until they cracked. "And that goes into the Extra Deck, just 'cause it's a Synchro"—he pulled a face at the word—"which, I think, still leaves one more monster t' get back."
His lips split in a grin. "By the look on yore face, I think y' know exactly which one I'm talkin' 'bout—don't you, blondie?"
Shingo did—and the curse that exploded behind his gritted teeth was equal parts for his lapse in focus and for his own rotten luck. I don't believe it! he fumed. I went to so much trouble to make sure that thing wouldn't be played!
Jim retrieved a card from inside his Duel Disk, wagging it at the duo with a smirk. "I won't name it," he laughed. "Leastways, not yet. Let me just see what that card puts in me 'and … " With a flourishing swipe, he drew …
… and relaxed. "Ah, 'm just kidding. I already got the card I needed from Miracle Rupture—a second Fossil Fusion!"
Shingo finally lost his cool. "You have got to be kidding me!" he howled in frustration. He'd never thought he'd cross paths with a Duelist more disrespectful than Kachidoki Isao—and somehow he suspected even the former ace of the Ryōzanpaku School might want to plant his fist in this Aussie's smug face.
Jim quirked an eyebrow. "There an echo out here?" he shot back—before his face split in a grin. "Right, boys—let's do this dance again! I banish the Skull Knight in my Graveyard and that Level 10 Superheavy Samurai blah-de-blah in yours"—Shingo instinctively took a step back from Noboru when he saw the Steadfast Duelist's eye twitching—"and fuse them both into a beastie you've only seen in the museums!"
There was no warning—only an instant where some sixth sense of Shingo told him he needed to back away. It was just as well that he did; an instant after that—BANG—the entire Duel field simply exploded, peppering his Abyss Actors and Noboru's Tetsudō-Ō in sand, dirt, and debris. Dozens of bones—and then hundreds of them—were blasted forth from the crater, growing bigger and bigger with each one that appeared until the last of them, a skull that could have crushed a car fell to the sand in front of him with a muffled thud.
Then—the LDS Duelist suppressed a swallow—some unseen force began to clump them all together as if by magic. The three-clawed feet came first; then the powerful legs, the bones as thick around as both of Shingo's legs together … the long, straight tail and spine; the barrel-chested ribs and arms barely the size of his own … until finally, the bleached skull and its jaw, lined with ripping fangs that no amount of sand or time could ever dull, clicked and clacked into place, forming a rictus grin that could not speak below eye sockets that could not see—
"FUSION SUMMON!" Jim bellowed. "Level 8! Paleozoic Fossil Dragon Skullgios!"
Until now, Shingo had been second-guessing himself as to whether he'd been right to banish this monster, instead of the Skull Convoy that had wrought so much havoc on his own field. But a single look at the Skullgios that loomed over them all (Level 8: ATK 3500/DEF 0), its skeletal feet shaking the earth with every plodding step it took—its toothy grin almost gloating as it peered down at him—was enough for him to be certain he'd told Noboru the truth.
Not that it mattered much anymore, he thought, huffing at the notion that everything he'd done these past two turns might have been for nothing.
"Battle Phase!" Jim brought his boomerang blade to his chest; he might have been about to throw it right at them. "Gaia Plate's effect cuts the ATK and DEF of any monster it fights in half! Now, attack Pretty Heroine with Plate Tempest!" And before Shingo could cry out in protest, the rocky titan rumbled forward. It only took three steps for it to cross over to where Shingo's monsters cowered in terror; each step made for one less monster around Pretty Heroine, all the rest deciding then and there to exercise the better part of valor and flee for cover.
It only took one step more for Pretty Heroine to die, smashed flat under the stone foot that had planted itself upon her with all the grace of a child attacking an anthill. Shingo grimaced, but he knew, at least, that he'd had the foresight to put Pretty Heroine in Defense Position—so he wouldn't take battle damage.
But that was the other thing that worried him. Why had Jim decided to go for that monster first, out of all the ones on his field? Had he known about Pretty Heroine's abilities as well somehow—had he decided she was the most dangerous Abyss Actor on his field, and attacked it first to keep Shingo from weakening one of his own monsters in retaliation?
He looked back at the Australian—and felt his fists ball up in sudden anger. The bandages that covered half of his face weren't covering it enough to betray the glow that brimmed from beneath.
He knew, all right, the LDS Duelist realized, cursing all the while. That damnable eye of his had told him everything.
"Skull Convoy's second effect!" Jim's other monster revved its motor to an earsplitting degree. "During each Battle Phase, it can make up to three attacks on monsters—and each time it destroys a monster by battle, whoever controls that monster takes 1000 damage! Attack with Great Collision—destroy Liberty Dramatist, Mellow Madonna—!"
And Big Star too, a suddenly horrified Shingo realized. He'd done the math, and knew there was no way out of this.
Immediately, he ran for the only shelter he knew he could find—but before he'd taken one step towards Noboru and his Tetsudō-Ō, Skull Convoy had launched forward with a screech of tires. Liberty Dramatist had time for one split-second scream—CRUNCH—and then she was gone too, run over by Jim's monster with hardly a pause. Shingo didn't dare look back to see how much of her might have survived.
Not that he needed to. One second later—WHACK—something soft, wet, and just big enough that he knew it to be the remains of his unfortunate monster—don't look don't look for God's sake don't look—hit him in the back and sent him sprawling, unbalancing him and sending him face-first into the sand. He hauled himself up just as quickly, spitting out grit as he heard his life gauge drop to 3000, the first step in what he knew was an inexorable fall—
He did not stop running until he felt the shadow of Noboru's monster against his skin—but by then, Skull Convoy was making its second run, spinning a wide circle in the dunes—made wider still by the bony tail that trailed behind it. Twinkle Littlestar, still with Shingo, was near tears and shaking like a leaf as if she, too, knew what was about to happen. Big Star and Mellow Madonna looked at Shingo forlornly, then back at each other …
The first swing of the tail sailed inches over their heads. If they hadn't bent to kiss at that moment, they might have been beheaded then and there. But it made no difference—the second swing, made all the stronger with the momentum of the first, cleaved them in two at the stomach. Their upper halves, still locked in their final embrace, careened into Shingo, bowling him over and sending his life gauge to 2000—1000—
The third swing had even more power to it. Shingo—pale-faced and distraught at the demise of his monsters—had no inkling of this until the flat of the tail, so quickly it seemed half a mirage against the sand, appeared in the corner of his eye, completely out of nowhere.
CRACK. It slammed right into his left side, catapulting him right off his feet and clear to the other end of the field—
WHAM.
—gut-first into the outstretched fist of Jim Cook. He'd doubled over in agony before he'd hit the ground—and well before he heard his life gauge finally plummet to zero.
"SAWATARI!"
It would have been worth it—so very worth it—to abandon every tenet of his training then and there; to cancel the Duel and come to his fallen teammate's aid. But to be a Steadfast Duelist, Gongenzaka Noboru knew, was to trust in the resilience of not only himself, but of the brave souls that chose to ally with him. So, against his own better judgment, he stayed the course, kept his feet planted, and prayed that Shingo wasn't as badly injured as he looked.
A faint movement from the boy drove a breath out of his windpipe he didn't know he'd been holding in. Shingo was alive—and conscious, too, he thought, if only just—all that the defeated Duelist could manage was to flail his right arm. But it was enough to reassure him; Noboru suspected a punch like that would have felled a lesser Duelist.
"Worry about yore own fortunes, mate," Jim smirked at him. He jerked his head towards his Skullgios, massaging the fist he'd driven into Shingo's stomach with scarcely a wince. "I still have one more go this turn—and if yew thought Karen was bein' grouchy, yew ain't seen this beastie in a temper!
"Now—Fossil Dragon Skullgios!" The gigantic skeleton tensed. "Attack Superheavy Steam Train with Dragon Fang!"
Oh, now he gets the name right, Noboru huffed under his breath—right before he revealed the last card in his hand. "Too little, too late!" he boomed in triumph. "Superheavy Samurai Soulbuster Gauntlet! If my Superheavy monster battles another monster while I have no Spells or Traps in my Graveyard, I can use this card's effect to send it from my hand to my Graveyard, and double my monster's original DEF for the rest of the turn!"
A whoosh of steam issued from the demon-face of the engine next to him—just enough that its point gauge of 9600 DEF was barely visible in the thick of it—but Noboru barely registered this over the swell of his beating heart. That much DEF was more than enough to stop this monster in its tracks—and finish the Duel as well!
But even as he looked on, something didn't feel right. Skullgios wasn't stopping—in fact, he thought, it almost felt as though it was gaining speed—
And then Jim, damnably, opened his mouth again. "Skullgios' effect!" He had to match the Steadfast Duelist decibel for decibel over the thud-thud-thud of his rampaging relic. "If it battles an opponent's monster, I get to switch the current ATK and DEF of your monster for as long as that battle lasts!"
"Switch—?!" The single word fell from a suddenly slackened jaw. Noboru could only watch helplessly as bright flames and black smoke belched from every seam of Tetsudō-Ō with a mighty roar. Before he knew it, the point gauge of his last, best, most immovable wall had flipped to 9600/0—far more ATK than the locomotive knew how to use.
And far less DEF than Noboru knew could save it.
CRUNCH. Skullgios' three-toed foot trampled the engine beneath it like so much cardboard. The fires in its iron belly, with nowhere to go but out, exploded in a conflagration that fused the sand around it into glass for meters around.
And still the beast kept coming—
"Skullgios' second effect!" He barely heard Jim over the carnage. "If it battles an opponent's monster, any battle damage taken is doubled—and if that monster is in Defense Position, that doubled damage pierces right through it!"
No! But there was no time for words—all that Noboru could manage was one long, loud scream before Skullgios was finally upon him. The trampled ruins of Tetsudō-Ō collapsed into ruin, forgotten by monster and Summoner alike as the former bulled into the latter—with enough speed and force that Noboru, as powerfully built as he was, sailed through the air for a good ten meters. It didn't even take half that distance for his Duel Disk to shriek in defeat.
I lost … he could only think to himself. How on earth did I lose … ?
And then—WHUMP—air whooshed from his lungs, and he yelled in sudden agony as his body hit the ground back first, leaving a furrow in the dunes. He'd hoped the sand would have been yielding enough to break his fall. He was less wrong than he'd expected … but less right than he would have liked.
Yet even as his spine seared with pain, the aches of the body meant little and less to Gongenzaka Noboru, next to the truth that now tortured his mind: all of his friends had been counting on him. They had never mattered to him more than in this moment.
And he'd failed them.
"GONGENZAKA!"
Even Jim had winced from the force with which the Steadfast Duelist had fallen to earth. For a long moment, there was nothing but a cloud of sand—and in that long moment, Shingo dared not breathe.
Not that he felt as though he freely could; the body blow he'd absorbed when Jim had punched him in the stomach felt like someone had swung a sledgehammer straight to his navel. It had exhausted all the air in Shingo's lungs just to cry out to his fallen teammate—he didn't feel ready to form sentences any time soon.
And even if he was … what was left to say after such a humiliating defeat?
"Whew. I think that's a new personal record, Karen!" Jim cracked his neck as he shut off his blade, listening to the crocodile burbling over his back. "I don't remember ever tossin' a tosser that big or that far. But I reckon he's nice and tender for y' now!" He laughed. "Don't worry, he'll get a good wash—get out all the sand from his meat, eh?"
And to Shingo's horror, he began undoing the straps again. "Just promise you'll save pretty boy 'ere for dessert," he muttered to his pet as Karen began to shrug free. "'E looks like he can keep a day or two—"
KRAKOOM.
"OH NO YOU DON'T!"
Shingo would have cursed at himself if he'd had the will to do so. With all that had happened since he'd started this Duel, he had completely forgotten about the boy who'd made sure he hadn't had to fight it alone.
But the boy was no longer a boy—if anything, Tyranno Kenzan seemed to have become even more vicious because of the Ædonai's efforts in trying to contain him. Of the soldiers in the dunes where the insane Duelist had been cornered, and the Duel Monsters they'd commanded, there was no sign—but there was enough evidence for Shingo to make an educated guess as to what had happened. Faint spatters of blood lined Tyranno's shredded clothes, and enough of the stuff was shot through his eyes by now that his irises were no longer visible. It was a miracle they weren't leaking blood—let alone that he wasn't blinded.
For Tyranno was stalking straight for Jim Cook, snarling and slavering through his foaming, filed teeth. "YOU! BONE-HEAD!" he howled, in a voice like thunder. "WHY DON'T YOU TRY FIGHTING A REAL DINOSAUR?!"
The roar that erupted from his lips before he rushed for the Australian could have wakened every pharaoh in the tombs of Egypt.
It had been a long time since a Duel Monster had robbed him of speech—and thinking back on it now, Tenjō Kaito had to wonder if perhaps his father had meant to evoke that feeling of awe when he'd made it. One Photon Dragon, he already knew, was a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands: poison to any loyal Duelist of the Xyz Dimension. Three of them … Haruto had taken a great risk to bring them all out, for it put a target on his back from which even Orbital 7 might not be able to fully shield him.
But uniting them—Overlaying them—was a whole different story.
Kaito pondered if Dr. Tenjō had been keen to make amends for creating such a devastating weapon thrice over—that maybe this titan of a three-headed dragon, so much like his own in form and in power, had been meant from the start to take the Xyz Dimension's most glaring weakness, and channel it into its greatest strength.
Were that so, he'd never be more proud than he was today, to be his brother's keeper—and with it, his father's son.
"Neo Photon Dragon's effect!" Haruto cried. "If even one Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon was used as an Overlay Unit when it was Xyz Summoned, then every other face-up card on the field has its effects negated!"
He held his hand aloft—"Photon Howling!"—and Neo Photon Dragon beat its wings once. Just once. The wave of red light and wind that followed outshone even Kaito's own Neo Cipher Dragon—and the Chaos Giants that blocked their path, he now saw, had erupted in sparks, their cyclopean eyes glitching beneath their iron helms.
That the same was happening to his own monster was of no consequence—Kaito had an idea of what Haruto was planning even before his little brother shouted, "Now I activate the Spell Card: Overlay Regenerate, and attach it to an Xyz Monster on the field as another Overlay Unit! I'll attach it to my brother's Neo Cipher Dragon!"
"Another one's good," Kaito acknowledged as he watched a single sphere of light drift over to join the quartet that illuminated his dragon. "But two is better! Trap Card, open: Cipher Bit! I can use its effect to not only attach it to any Galaxy-Eyes or Cipher Xyz Monster on my field as an Overlay Unit, but also prevent the next time it would be destroyed for the rest of this turn!"
Now five had become six … and the Ædonai, Kaito was pleased to see, were starting to look equal parts confused and uneasy. "Everything that makes an Xyz Monster," he explained to them, smirking all the while, "is the Overlay Units that nourish it. It's not different from other monsters simply because it has a Rank—it's different because it knows those Units give it life at the cost of their own. From the moment they're brought into the world, they live on borrowed time—they burn bright, they flicker, and fade away … like so many stars in the sky.
"So those Units take that small, precious time they're given, and use it to give them life: a body, a mind, a soul—existence and meaning—to the Xyz Monsters they help to create. The more of them there are, the longer that monster lasts, and the brighter and longer its light will burn in the heavens. And the more precious they are"—he could not help but steal a look at Haruto, knowing he was thinking the exact same thing about the Photon Dragons he'd used to make his own behemoth—"the more that monster is compelled to lead an existence that makes that sacrifice worth its weight in gold. That's why we're adding so many Overlay Units to our monsters—because they want themselves to make our monsters stronger than they've ever been before!"
"That's why I'm using the effect of this Galaxy Priest in my hand," Haruto added, and the translucent shade of a white-robed figure glided out from behind him, coalescing into another orbiting ball of energy around his monster, "to attach it to my Neo Photon Dragon as its fourth Overlay Unit! That's also why I'm activating the second effects of my Overlay Sniper and my Overlay Booster! By banishing them from my Graveyard, I can target a monster with Overlay Units I control, and a monster my opponent controls—like my big brother's Neo Cipher Dragon! And then, Overlay Sniper's effect makes his monster lose 500 ATK for each Overlay Unit my monster has—while Overlay Booster's ability gives my monster exactly that much ATK!"
"And that's also"—Haruto had to strain his voice to the breaking point, because the lightning that snapped along his Neo Photon Dragon had reached a crescendo, and even Kaito was beginning to eye its 6500 ATK with trepidation—"why I'll detach my Galaxy Priest to activate my Dragon's second effect! First, I can detach every single Overlay Unit from a monster my opponent controls … and then—for each Unit detached—it gains 500 ATK, and one more attack this turn!"
Through all this, Kaito had been feeling it coming—feeling that blaze of glory burgeoning in his heart … their heart. Because that was what brothers were supposed to do, in every family; there would come a time when they would see each other at their weakest—and time after time, each would find a way to overcome adversity and build the other into their strongest.
This, he'd come to realize, was the true genius behind the genesis of Dr. Tenjō's Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon; an amalgamation of entities made to fight Xyz Monsters, now an Xyz Monster themselves—but only when alone. The more Xyz Monsters around to lend it their strength, the stronger it became.
This monster was not simply the origin of his own dragon, Kaito knew—the mirror of Haruto's own brilliant soul—it was the heart and soul of every Duelist in Heartland City.
No, he thought; even that wasn't right. This monster was Heartland City—it was their home, weakened by Academia … and made strong once more by all the brothers and sisters, bound by blood or courage, who made up the Resistance.
And for that reason, as he watched Neo Photon Dragon soar into the sky, its ATK gauge of 9500 reflected in every single lightning bolt that snaked along its body and gathered in its jaws—as he watched his Neo Cipher Dragon fly up to join it, and as he watched all the Ædonai duck and run for cover they would never reach—Tenjō Kaito knew that the final blow of this Duel would not come from his little brother, but from the vindication of his father—
—the heart of the city that had resisted an army—
—and every single soul of the dimension that had suffered at that army's hands.
"BATTLE PHASE!" He roared the words along with Haruto. "Neo Photon Dragon, attack every single Antique Gear Chaos Giant on the field! Let them bear witness to the error of their ways, and repent!"
The sight that followed was so spectacular it actually caused a lull in the fighting.
All across the desert, Duelists one and all beheld it rising in the sky. Damon and Tony paused in their frantic battle, equal parts Duel and motocross; Shinji and Amanda had skidded to a halt, just within sight of their companions; Mieru and Asuka, bystanders to the chaotic Riding Duel, felt their jaws drop in tandem. Yūzō craned his neck from where he'd been tending to Dennis; Rei, Hayato and Shō wore the same look of blank shock; Gauche and Kurosaki Shun smirked in anticipation. Jack Atlas had half removed his helmet to better take in the sight. Even Jim and Tyranno, having abandoned any thought of the Duel Disks on their wrists and resorting to physically grappling one another, were momentarily distracted by what was happening above them.
Noboru, alone of them all, was the unlucky one; even if he'd been in any condition to stir himself from where he lay in the sand, he was still facing Shingo, and had too little time to see what what was unfolding for himself. The LDS Duelist had slightly more warning—he had seen the flash at the very edge of his vision, above and off to his left, and whirled around so quickly that even as stitches by the dozen flared in his torso from the Duel he'd lost, what happened next made him forget about it all almost immediately.
"ULTIMATE PHOTON-CIPHER STREAM!"
His first thought was of a second sun, shining so brilliantly that its rays seemed to stretch across the sky. But they were too evenly spaced—too identical in shape. It took a breathless second longer before he realized those rays were actually heads—six dragon heads—and that every single one of those heads was directing more light and energy than Shingo had ever seen in one place directly onto a single spot on the field.
Then came the explosion—and in the instant before his brain had told him to take cover, a blinding beam imprinted itself upon his memory forever. It lanced through sand, stone, and Chaos Giants alike, vaporizing them all in less than a second and carving right through the already-damaged wall of the Ædonai fortress like it wasn't even there.
How many seconds—minutes—might have passed, Shingo did not know … but when next he chanced to look up, the light was gone—and so was the dragon-sun that had created it. All that was left was a mushrooming cloud of dust and debris, and—against the walls of the fortress—the edge of what Shingo strongly suspected was a smoking crater as wide and deep as a school.
He felt something in him go slack, and he fell back to earth on shaking legs. "S-Sora?" he heard himself speaking into his Duel Disk, as though from miles away. "What … what was that?"
"I … I think that was Haruto." The Lancer commander sounded like he was having trouble believing it himself. "I don't know how, but he broke through the wall—he's made us our way in!"
His moment of elation swiftly passed, and before long he was yelling into every channel his Duel Disk was tied into. "Violet Wing! White Wing! All wings, all points—form up on me and head straight in!"
The faint cheers that rose from the desert around them felt almost rejuvenating for Shingo—almost. "I'll—ugh—I'll be just a minute," he muttered back. "Gongenzaka and I took a heavy hit from Jim out here—"
"GO!"
The voice did not come from Sora, but Tyranno—and Shingo turned towards him just in time to see the berserk boy lay a right cross on Jim Cook with a noise that sounded like a broken jaw, and who knew how many teeth with it.
"I—SAID—GO!" he growled, loud enough that the Lancer flinched. "I FIGHT HIM NOW—NOT YOU! GET IN THERE! SAVE YOUR FRIENDS! NOW—!"
Jim silenced Tyranno by driving a fist into his face. From the earsplitting bellow that followed, Shingo was ready to believe he'd been hit square in the eye.
There was nothing for it, he decided as the brawl raged on—though he dearly wanted Tyranno to win, he was in no condition to make sure he did. So he hobbled his way over to Noboru, and tried his best to haul him upright.
"C'mon," he mumbled. "Get up, Gongenzaka—we're not out of this yet!"
He didn't look out—but he certainly looked down. The Steadfast Duelist was slow to stand up, and when he finally did and tried to walk, he looked even more ungainly than Shingo felt himself. Noboru's eyes—once steely with resolve—were now half-misted and out of focus. Shell shock, he instantly thought; maybe even a concussion.
"That's it—let's go," he soothed his friend, coming up under his shoulder and supporting him as best he could, like they were running a very awkward three-legged race. "We're that much closer to Yuya and Yuzu—"
"Yew blokes ain't goin' nowhere!"
Shingo whirled on Jim just in time to see the Australian—blood dripping from his mouth—unhook Karen from the harness on his back once more. The crocodile wasted no time; with a viciousness that surprised even him, she was upon Tyranno, snapping her jaws at however much of his legs she could reach. The dino-Duelist was knocked to the sand, his arms the only thing keeping Karen at bay.
That left Jim free to tap at his Duel Disk, and bring it to his mouth. "418, 221," he grunted. "The eastern wall is down. Youse lot are lookin' at a whole lot of incoming."
"Understood."
Something in the way that voice—a young woman; foreign too, by the sound of her—spoke the single word sent a chill up Shingo's spine. Not even Himika sounded that cold, or that ruthless. "All forces will stand by to regroup. Battalion commanders, acknowledge."
"Alpha, ready."
"Beta, ready."
"Gamma, ready."
"Delta, ready."
Even as he'd heard the words stand by to regroup, Shingo had had a sinking suspicion that it meant this fight was far from over. Now, with each new voice that announced itself from Jim's Duel Disk, he felt that sinking feeling enveloping more of his insides. By the time he heard the fourth and last of the battalion commanders—a deep snarl who sounded less human than all the rest—he was trembling in terror.
Because that last voice, alone of them all, was the only one of them that was new—the only one he didn't already recognize from times long past.
Yes—all the others, he'd heard from his first outing as a Lancer, traversing the dimensions in their fight against the old Academia. To hear those voices again—to hear them now, of all times—carried the grim portent of history repeating itself.
No, he could only think to himself, dread flowing through his body like ice as he saw a pair of large, blue-winged aircraft—heavily armed and armored—pass over the fortress with a low rumble of engines, making their way east. Oh, no, no, no …
"221, all points," the unknown woman said. "Advise all forces: clear to engage phase three. Unum in multis."
"Multi in unum!"
And before the voices had faded—Jim's loudest among them—Shingo was already fumbling for his Duel Disk.
"SORA!" he yelled, so close that spittle smeared the screen. "Everyone, stay where you are! Get as far away from the wall as you can—it's a trap!"
He didn't stop to do anything else—not even to think, or even to answer Sora's frantic demand of what the hell he meant by that. In a trice, he'd rifled through his Deck, pulled out his Abyss Prop "Escape Wagon" and slid it into his Duel Disk. Before the horse-drawn carriage had finished materializing in front of him, he was already guiding Noboru into one seat.
"Yah!" He tugged at the reins, and the steeds surged forward, neighing loudly. But by then, Shingo had seen the two aircraft passing right over the newly formed crater, and knew he'd reach them far too late.
» PRIORITY ONE ALERT: INCOMING SECURE COMMUNICATION
» POINT OF ORIGIN CONFIRMED FUSION DIMENSION (SI_Σ-221)
» BEGIN TRANSMISSION
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[• - •]
[•]
what
…
is this
[• - • - •]
[• - •]
[•]
[DIRECTOR?]
{I KNOW. A CODE BURST FROM THE BESTATTER. JUST SIMPLE ENOUGH THAT HER DUEL DISK CAN TRANSMIT IT ACROSS THE DIMENSIONS WITH MINIMAL DELAY. IT WOULD SEEM THE LANCERS ARE MORE RESOLVED THAN I EXPECTED.}
[• - • - •]
[• - •]
[•]
{THEY BREACHED THE FORTRESS?}
{YES. THE NEXT PHASE WILL BEGIN ANY MOMENT NOW. PREPARE AGENT 223 IMMEDIATELY. TIMING WILL BE EVERYTHING.}
{RIGHT. TRY TO RELAX IN THERE, NOW. THIS IS GOING TO FEEL A LITTLE STRANGE.}
why
…
what
…
is she
[I DON'T—]
Château Pique-Diamant
The anticipation—the sheer building tension—of the past fifteen minutes had done no wonders for Masumi's nerves.
The Fusion ace had felt every joint in her body lock in place as she watched Dr. Grimm—miles away, yet reproduced in holographic detail by Angel-IQ, walk in a semicircle until she was facing the cloaked back—or what she assumed was the back—of the strangely built figure in front of her. Then, quite suddenly, she raised an arm, her slender hand inches away.
The fingers jerked—and an instant later, so did whoever was under that cloak.
Next to her, Yaiba was frowning. " … The hell did she just do?"
"Unknown." Angel-IQ was already zooming in on the Psychic Duelist's hand, but Masumi was already grimacing—it seemed even the supercomputer's powers of high-definition resolution had limits, with her hologram so far from LDS. "I must assume she was using her powers. But I cannot say to what end—"
Hotene, Fuyu, and Rika yelped in unison. The entwined fingers of Kiku and Kikyō were bone-white. Masumi, her heart suddenly thundering in her breast, could not blame them—all of the LID, even Hokuto and Shen, had jumped back a step in shock at what had just happened to the black cloak in the lead.
With a ripping noise none of them could hear, something had sliced out from within—Masumi caught a vaguely trident-like shape, a multi-jointed tentacle of bluish-black—and just below it, a blur of wicked red razors that shredded the cloth on the figure's lower back in a trice. It happened so quickly that she could not say if it had been iron made liquid, or ink made solid—only that the image had been here and gone before her mind's eye could brand it into her memory.
It was only when that tentacle began flexing and coiling, inches away from Dr. Grimm's face, that the Fusion ace realized what she'd seen was a tail—lithe, plated with metal, and almost as long as the Psychic Duelist stood tall. A single flick of the appendage—so casually violent it might have swatted a fly—sent the tattered lower half of the cloak to one side and into the path of a thermal, where it billowed over the side of LDS. The tail now slithered around the pair of legs that supported it, no doubt just as armored from the way they glinted in the sun—and yet so lean and long that Masumi strongly suspected their owner, hitherto unseen and unknown, might actually be female.
The thought had just crept into her brain when even more metal exploded from the figure's long, bizarrely shaped arms, reducing the sleeves to ribbons from the shoulders on down. The source of their strange shape, and the towering height of this new arrival, was instantly explained—what Masumi had taken to be said shoulders, wholly out of proportion with the arms attached, had instead been the slashing edges of heavy blades, each hinged at the wrist and more than a meter in length, soaring far past the figure's ears.
And the face the cloak concealed—my God—
"Who is … " A transfixed Fuyu had drawn very close to Hokuto. His mouth sounded very, very dry. "What is that?!"
But even Angel-IQ was far too distracted at the sight to offer an answer.
Giza
"New contacts detected—two marks on approach vector zero-nine-zero, sectors nine and ten."
But Orbital 7's warning was a mere afterthought for Shiun'in Sora. He'd already spotted the two W-Wing Catapults—Duel Monsters that he'd known had been on Academia's drawing board to double as troop transports at the time he'd left the school for good—well before Haruto's robot had alerted him to their arrival. And he was not happy about it.
Two W-Wings wouldn't provide nearly enough reinforcements, he knew—not after what he and the Lancers had been doing to both divisions of Duelists entrenched here.
Unless …
"Orbital 7—full scan." He felt his arm tense under his Duel Disk. "Check for Fusion radiation. Find out who's on board those things."
"He won't have to," Shingo cut in, sounding as though he'd come back from running a race. "I heard their voices just now, Sora—I know who they are. We've fought them before."
A pause. " … They told us they'd assumed the worst … Oh, God … they were so wrong … "
Huh? Confounded, Sora reached for his binoculars once again, and zeroed in on the W-Wings just as the hatches on their underbellies yawned open. He had just enough time to see five different figures drop from within—or at least three Duelists, Duel Disks ablaze, with two Duel Monsters. One of the latter was tall and humanoid, plated head to toe in blue-gold armor that crackled with dark lightning, and faceless behind the capital D that adorned his helm; the other was light-furred, four-legged, and the size of a car—just big enough for the two identically feminine figures seated on top of its back—
Sora's heart sank as he saw heads of gray, gold, and silver hair, whipping in the wind—and kept on sinking even as he made for his Duel Disk. "Violet Wing?" he said, far too quietly. " … Pull up your pants, lock in and dance. We're about to have ourselves a school reunion."
He swallowed. " … Compliments of Markus Streiter."
A/N: I've been waiting literal years for this shoe to drop. And drop it will—that's all I can say.
Not much else to blather on about at the moment. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy! – K
P.S.: "Photon Sublimation" appeared in episode 22 of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL. Been a while since I've had to dig into the anime-only pool.