Yu-Gi-Oh! 5 Deluxe Dragons
Disclaimer: This one doesn't own the Yugioh series.
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Chapter 35 – Catastrophe Prelude
"To Team 5D's first victory of the WRGP!"
"KANPAI!"
Back in the garage, Team 5D's raise their glasses in joy as they cheer for their tumultuous victory over Team Unicorn. While for once, Yusei isn't drinking milk, neither of them has alcohol.
"Man, that was a close one…" Lua says with a sigh. "I was afraid we were about to lose."
Crow sips some apple cider. "Yeah. To think Team 5D's would be in such bad shape just because I wasn't around."
"I can't hear you over that big head of yours, Crow," Jack says with annoyance.
"You're the only one here with a big head! If you had come in for a check-up, they wouldn't have been up 12 counters from your flop!"
As Jack and Crow argue it out, Yusei sighs as he drinks his glass of ginger ale. "It was rather scary indeed. Those guys were better than I thought."
"That last duel was the most intense. They really planned it all out with you in mind," Luca adds while drinking milk.
"Don't call my injury a flop! Compared to your minor wound-"
"It's a fracture!"
Stephanie steps in between Jack and Crow. "Now, now, Jack. Let's not ruin this moment."
"What the hell are you doing here anyway?" asks Carly with a scowl. "Don't you work across the street?"
"I'm off duty today." Stephanie glares back at the four-eyed journalist. "And? Why are you here? You had nothing to do with this."
"Obviously, as Jack's girlfriend, I have every right to be here," she replies, holding onto Jack.
"I don't remember him agreeing to that!" Mikage barks, finally making her presence known.
Both girls glare back at the blunette. "And why are you here? Don't you have a job to do?"
She sheepishly rubs the table with her finger. "Well, with Atlas-sama injured, I can't just leave him be-"
"That's not the type of attitude someone working with Security should be having! I'll write an article about that."
Mikage slams the table in anger. "And I'll sue you for libel!"
"Hey, be careful with the table! Jack made it!" Crow tells the ladies.
"Well. Don't you all seem lively after one victory?" All eyes turn to the new voice in the room. By the garage entrance, Sherry Leblanc stands holding her helmet.
"Sherry?" Aki and Yusei say in perfect unison.
"Sherry?" Jack asks seeing the blond for the first time among everyone else.
"She's the woman we told you about," Bruno says, remembering her vicious strikes.
As Sherry enters the room, scaring the other girls fearing she might be after Jack, Yusei asks her, "Is your first round over already?"
"Didn't you need another partner?" a curious Aki asks.
"Indeed I did. But since Yusei said no, I had to face three opponents all by myself. Mizoguchi didn't have time to duel."
With that context, it makes it sound like she won against all three of her enemies alone. Bruno even checks the scores, confirming that she indeed defeated them all herself. This fact shocks the rest of the group, dampening the mood of the party.
"It's not impressive. I'm sure you could have defeated three opponents by yourself too," she says to Yusei with closed eyes. "You were just unfortunate enough to face three geniuses."
Reopening her lids, she says, "Anyway, I only came to speak with you two. About Yliaster, and the Arcadia Movement."
Immediately, all eyes and ears turn on to listen to her perfectly. As Sherry enters and picks up a piece of meat to eat, she quickly finishes to resume her story. "Divine has made his way back to Japan."
Aki gasps in horror hearing that the man who has caused so much pain to almost everyone in this room is back. Carly winces in terror remembering that he's the one who killed her. Lua and Luca hold hands recalling how that sociopath tried to groom the latter and almost killed the former.
"Of course he is. Misty was right…"
Sherry somberly continues. "Divine has a mark on him so wherever he goes he should be tracked. Most likely, he has a group of psychics still loyal to his cause helping him. Like Yliaster, they may strike during the WRGP."
"And…" Mikage steps forward verbally. "What does he have to do with Yliaster?"
There is a long pause on her end. "Divine was a member of Yliaster."
This brings a collective gasp of shock from everyone who knew of him. Even Mikage is in disbelief. "No. That can't be. He couldn't have-"
"I believe it." All eyes go to Carly. "Divine knew about Goodwin being from Satellite…"
"He told you?" asks Jack suddenly.
"Yes. Right before he killed me." Almost instinctively, he holds her out of comfort.
"Even more…" Sherry turns to Yusei now. "Do you remember Ghost?"
"Vividly."
"Most likely, Yliaster created them." That promotes a shared look of exchange between the Signers and their teammates.
"That makes sense. A cult like them would have the means and technology to create them," Jack says, recalling the type of reach Goodwin had. If he wasn't in charge and could still arrange so much, who knows how powerful the real bosses are?
Between the arrival of the Synchro Killers, Luciano hounding the twins, the factory Jaeger delivered the story program to, and the fake Jack, they can surmise that all three were a result of Yliaster. Add that with what Lua and Luca's father Leonite shared, this cult is far more dangerous than they believed.
"But why is Yliaster after us?" asks Luca with worry. "They're the reason we're together in the first place."
"Maybe it's because you're Signers that they're using you," Sherry tells them, prompting more surprise from the five. Sadly, Carly and Stephanie are out of the loop. "What? Did you think I would invite Yusei without researching him? I know all about it: the Signer marks, the Crimson Dragon, the Dark Signers."
"We could ask Jaeger. That clown stole our program after all."
At that, all eyes turn to Mikage. "Sadly, Vice Director Jaeger has left headquarters and hasn't been heard of since."
"What about the new Director? I'm pretty sure whoever replaced Goodwin would be a member of Yliaster."
"I… I have not been informed of that bit of knowledge, but I do know three directors were assigned. And except for Jaeger, no one else has met those three."
"Well, you're a big shot yourself," Carly points out, "so can't you ask them?"
"Seems like a poor excuse to get me to leave, but you're not wrong." Mikage dismisses herself.
"You know, a lot is going on and I feel we might be in the way so we'll show ourselves out." Stephanie and Carly leave too, feeling like third wheels at this point.
Sherry turns around to leave. "Wait, Sherry."
"I'm leaving. There is nothing left I can share." Sherry narrows her eyes as a horrible thought breaches her mind. "I want to find out a little more about Divine. Plus, there's that thing we saw…"
Yusei nods, knowing exactly what she's talking about. "Yusei, until then, protect yourself. And Izayoi…"
Aki perks up. "Good work out there. You're putting in a lot of work to prove me wrong."
And with that, Sherry boards her vehicle and drives off. The helmet is worn securely. As the entire conversation went on, Bruno has been looking off to the side. His face pale and eyes more hollow than usual, he steps outside to get some fresh air.
The Next Day…
It's a brand new day. Team Unicorn is planning to face their next opponent in their preliminary round. Should they win, they can avoid disqualification by winning one more duel allowing them entrance into the tournament.
Yusei, Jack, Aki, and Crow are making their way into the stadium to witness the duel. But, by the time they get there, they see a tragic scene.
A vehicle has crashed on the runway. In the duel pit, Andre and Jean are on stretchers being treated. Breo looks in horror at his teammates suffering from their injuries.
"How could this have happened, Team Unicorn?!" As the announcer trails on, the screen shows that both Andre and Jean respectively have crashed. The winners by default, in a way, are Team Catastrophe.
All three members are sinister-looking adults in their late twenties with markers—some more than others.
…
Some time passes by. As Yusei and Bruno are working on the machines, Crow steps inside. He shows that his arm is much better but still tender.
"So, how are Andre and Jean?"
"Still no visitors," he replies, having stopped by to try and visit them.
After a bit, Breo stops by. He reveals a startling piece of information to Yusei, Jack, Crow, and Bruno.
"Unusual data on Andre and Jean's D-Wheel memory chips?"
Breo hands over the data as Bruno checks it over. "There's no way Jean and Andre could crash like that in a row so I checked the data." As a graph appears on the screen, Breo points out where it happened.
"Wait a minute… this means that their tires were locked up," Yusei says as he too checks. Bruno explains that it's a term for when something is caught in the wheel.
"Which doesn't sense because that wouldn't just happen in the middle of a duel," Breo explains.
That's when Crow realizes something. 'Wait a minute.' "Come to think of it, that's like when the Blackbird crashed! It felt like the wheel locked for a second."
Bruno brings up the data on the Blackbird from the time to compare and gets a 99.9% match. The realization pisses off the injured bird. "So it was their fault!"
"Before we can label them, we have to know how they did it…" Bruno adds.
Carly, who followed Jack in after telling him about some sketchy rumors of Catastrophe prior, takes out her laptop. "Well, I do have footage of the duel. We could…"
Everyone immediately gives her the look. "… what?"
"HOW NICE OF YOU TO WAIT UNTIL NOW TO TELL US THIS!"
As she apologizes, they get a look at the duel shown on screen. It's Andre vs Nicholas on turn two. All of a sudden, Andre's D-Wheel swerves out of control and flips. Adjusting the angle, they see something of interest. They then switch to Hermann and Jean's duel, which shows the latter already swerving.
That's when Yusei notices something; each time they lock up, the same monster appears on the field. Hidden Knight – Hook, a DARK Warrior monster with hooks for hands. When they attacked it, its effect activated and the wheels locked up.
"Wait…" Jack cups his chin. "You think these could be the Psychic duelists Sherry warned us about? They could materialize their monsters to act, which caused the crashes?"
"Either that or this could be a dark card like with Blood Mefisto," Crow adds with a nod.
"Then you two better be careful," Carly states. "If they did this to Crow, who knows who else they could do this to."
Yusei's eyes suddenly widen in terror. "AKI!" He immediately grabs his coat and boards his D-Wheel, driving off to find her. The others follow, realizing his exact thought process.
…
Speaking of whom, Aki is out on the road perfecting her skills. "I hope these new cards help out my deck."
She passes under a higher road making her way back to the city. As she does, her wheel suddenly locks up. She cries out as she's suddenly flung into the air. Thinking quickly, she draws a card from her deck.
'I'll use my powers!' "I summon Aromaseraphy Rosemary!" A fairy appears on the field, reaching out to catch Aki. But, to the horror of everyone around, something happens.
Aki passes right through it. 'My… my powers didn't work?'
Her machine crashes and breaks. Aki herself hits the pavement painfully, her helmet coming loose and rolling along the ground. Blood leaks from her head where she is impacted.
While lying sideways on the pavement, she sees a monster disappearing from the road above she previously passed by. Three machines drive off, their engines drowning out their laughter.
Aki struggles to move, pushing herself off the ground. With her D-Wheel in flames, she isn't leaving anytime soon. But she needs to call for an ambulance before she cuts out. The last thing she sees as her consciousness slips is the sound of another machine approaching her.
A redhead approaches the young woman, her face covered by a familiar mask. She stares down at the unconscious duelist, laughing. "How sad that you've ended up this way, former Black Rose Witch. You've been so domesticated you can't even use your powers anymore."
She reaches out for Aki, before stopping when she hears something. 'Company…' She rushes to her vehicle and drives off, leaving Aki to her fate.
Arriving at the scene are the members of Team 5D's. "Aki!"
…
After finding her, the group brings Aki to the hospital. With her parents watching over her sleeping form, Yusei calls the others to update.
"She's got a nasty concussion, but her life is in no danger," Yusei says, speaking with Bruno on the other end. He's still on the road, having looked into the data of the Bloody Rose.
"What did the data read?"
"No doubt about it. Her wheel was locked up."
"Thank you." Yusei angrily hangs up. Crow storms away.
"I'm going to find them and kick the fucking shit out of them!"
"Crow!" Yusei stands in front of his friend. "I know how you feel, but you're in no condition to be whooping anyone's butts. Besides, we still can't prove to the world that they did this."
"So, what are we supposed to do?!"
"We'll whoop them in a duel… and THEN we kick their asses."
Nodding in agreement with that, Crow notes the intensity in his eyes. He wants them dead more than anyone. "Got it."
He removes the cast around his arm. "Then I'm helping."
…
On the day of their appointed duel, everyone is back in the stadium ready to play.
As the announcer gets everyone pumped up, Team Catastrophe enters the ring. A percentage cheer for them, being punks who came solely for the crashing like this was NASCAR. Team 5D's come in next. Sherry watches in hiding, having heard what befell Aki.
Crow immediately gives them a look, causing Nicholas to flinch. "Wait… why is that guy still around?"
"He's just being stubborn," responds his partner. "He won't last a second crash."
Crow comes over to their team. "What? You seem like you wanna say something."
"Nah. I just came to say hello… for Jean, Andre, and Aki." His words shock the trio. "Oh, and for myself as well. We don't know how you're doing this, but you're dead when we win."
"Oh yeah? We'll see about that."
Crow regroups with the others, and the duel begins. First wheelers are the bird duelist and Hermann.
As the duel begins, up above watching is Placido. Glee colors the pale expression on his face, his hollow eye not covered by metal awaiting a specific moment. 'That's right…'
"Of course, you had a hand in this, Placido." He turns around to see Luciano behind him. "Jose ain't gonna like this if something happens to them again."
"That geezer's been dragging his heels with this worthless tournament. We would have been done if I had my way."
"So you had them target the psychic because you feared her power? Or because she was sweet on your target?"
"Who knows?"
Crow and Hermann drive neck in neck. The former's shoulder injury affects him, preventing the boy from going all out at first. Hermann sees what's up and elbows his shoulder, the sudden intense pain losing Crow the first corner.
Hermann: 4000
Crow: 4000
Hermann starts the duel. He summons the monster of concern, Hidden Knight – Hook, before setting a card facedown. Crow makes his draw, wincing in pain on his shoulder.
"I summon Black-Feather Sirocco the Dawn!" As Crow's monster appears, the birdman flies in to attack Hook. Eyes wait in anticipation of what is going to happen.
"Hidden Knight Hook's effect; when this monster in attack mode is attacked, I switch both it and the attacking monster to defense mode and deal 800 points of damage." Hook releases a purple shockwave that forces Sirocco and itself into a protective stance.
The energy hits Crow, who cries out in pain feeling it. 'What was that?' His eyes look around anticipating something that can lock his wheel.
Looking down, he spots something in the shadow of himself and his vehicle. "What the?!" He swerves to the left avoiding it, injuring his arm further. That is how everyone spots the shadow hook missing his tire. It fades away afterward.
"That… did everyone see that?" asks Jack, still surprised.
"We did," Bruno says, just as perplexed.
Crow looks back at the rear tire and then Hook. 'Wait a second…' He gets a good look at its arms, and it clicks for him; that monster tried to do it somehow.
'But how?' He sets four cards and ends his turn.
Hermann summons a new monster with wings, Hidden Knight – Dark. After he sets another card and switches Hook to attack mode, Dark makes a direct attack with its effect. Hook then destroys Sirocco.
Crow checks his rear tire and swerves again, dodging the hook once more to Catastrophe's annoyance. With the turn's conclusion, Crow takes in a deep breath knowing he has to finish this in one turn.
Drawing for his turn, Crow immediately summons Gale the Whirlwind. "Gale's effect; I'll cut Hook's attack in half!" Using Gale's effect, he cuts the hidden knight's power down and then activates Blackback.
Gale goes in to attack, but Hook's effect cuts Gale off. As Crow's life drops to 1600, he notes the hook once more and jumps over it. He laughs confidently as he continues to press onward. "Sirocco, attack Hook!"
"No, you won't. Dark's effect!" Dark releases itself, forcing Hook into attack mode. With that, Hook activates its effect again and Crow takes a hit again. The hook gets bolder and reaches for Crow, forcing him to take off with the Blackbird.
The hook shadow rises fully from the darkness, revealing itself to be Hidden Knight Hook itself. All of the audience gets a good look at the monster, with Crow annoyed by its persistence. "This thing won't give up, will it?"
"Of course not. You're going to fall one way or another, to our Card of Darkness!"
"That name sucks! And so do you! Since a Black-Feather failed to destroy your monster by battle, I can discard Black-Feather Etesian the Twin-Sword." Crow discards his monster, allowing Sirocco to deliver damage to Hermann and cut his health in half.
As the crowd cheers on, Crow continues with his turn; the battle phase isn't over yet. "I activate Emergency Tuning!" His trap flips over, and his monsters become shrouded in light. At the same time, Hermann activates his trap too. "Blackened whirlwinds shall reveal the hidden wishes within your wings! Synchro Summon!"
White feathers litter the battlefield. A mighty wingspan spreads as the avian dragon enters the field. It howls from its yellow beak-like mouth as the black monster soars above Crow. "Soar, Blackfeather Dragon!"
BFD: 2800/1600 (8)
"Yes! Crow brought out Blackfeather Dragon!" says Lua seeing the beast.
"But, why is it in defense?" asks Luca curiously, knowing they can't get rid of that thing now.
"Don't worry. Crow has two facedowns."
As Yusei says, Crow activates his third one for the turn, it being Defenders' Intersect. This switches both Hook and Blackfeather Dragon into attack mode with their effects negated for the turn. Seeing his monster no longer able to stop attacks, Hermann panics.
"Blackfeather Dragon, attack that damn cheating monster! Noble Stream!" An orange burst of energy fires out, eradicating the Hidden Knight until nothing is left.
Hermann: 0000
Hermann's engine bursts open, and the crowd cheers.
"Damn you," he curses, before activating his last facedown. The trap brings back Hidden Knight – Hook, whose shadow extends ready to engulf Crow.
"Oh, no you don't…" Crow opens his last trick, Gravity Collapse. His trap will ensure that no matter what, the Dark Card will not remain and haunt Jack and Yusei. Even at the cost of Pierson's card. "I'll release Blackfeather Dragon to negate Hook's summon and destroy it!"
The ground below Hook and Blackfeather Dragon shatters, becoming swallowed into the eternal darkness. As all card effects have concluded, the turn ends. As Hermann returns to the pit, Crow does so as well.
He pulls off his tag and hands it over to Jack, saying, "Sorry, but this is all I can do."
"It's alright, Crow. Leave it to me." Jack takes his tag and heads to his vehicle. This allows Crow to finally take a break.
With Crow's dismount from dueling, Jack will be entering at only 4000. But, Nicholas will proceed with his turn as planned.
"I hope you have some skill to back this duel up! Jack Atlas won't fall now that you have no Demon Card or whatever!" he declares as he passes by Nicholas.
He chuckles, whispering, "Oh, I can't wait until you see this then." He draws for his turn, proceeding to set one card from his hand. After that, his turn is concluded.
"You think you can defeat Jack Atlas with only one facedown?! Your arrogance will be your despair!" Jack draws for his turn and immediately summons it. "I'll discard Dread Dragon to special summon Power Giant."
A behemoth armored in crystals stands before Jack. "Power Giant's level is reduced by that of the monster I discarded."
Power Giant: 2200/0 (6→4)
He then commands his monster. "Direct attack!"
Of course, Nicholas is expecting that. "I have you now, ya blond boob! Card of Darkness, Doom's Ray activate!"
"Another one?!" Jack shouts suddenly, surprised to see a weird-looking bomb pop onto the field.
"This trap card activates when my opponent declares an attack. Both of us will lose 800 life points in damage for every card in my hand." The bomb counts down, exploding shortly after five ticks.
Upon detonation, both Nicholas and Jack are bombarded by near-blinding light. Soon, evil specters in the shape of skulls fly in and assault them. Jack cries out feeling pain, as does Nicholas to his surprise.
"W-Wait! Why is it affecting me!?" he screams, feeling his soul shatter apart.
Jack holds himself strong as his monster Power Giant activates its effect. It pushes aside the flow of energy, protecting Jack from the damage of the trap card. He glances over at Nicholas, seeing him dying from the effect of his card. Our white adonis makes a snap decision.
Kaboom.
Smoke collects between the area. A D-Wheel flies out, crashing into the walls of the stadium. Jack emerges from the smoke completely unscathed, Nicholas holding onto his arm for dear life.
The announcer makes his decision. "It's settled! Since Nicholas cannot pass on the baton to his partner, Team Catastrophe loses! Team 5D's shall continue to the main event!"
Up above, Luciano cackles as he is wont to. He says, "Looks like no matter what, you always end in complete failure. Eh, Placido?"
He receives no reply. "… Placido?"
Turning around, he finds that the adult emperor has disappeared. "What the? How dare you ditch me!"
Placido is long gone, but that is not of consequence. For it is his next course of action that will bring about a major upset. At this very moment, a horde of D-Wheels are driving out into the city. All of them are boarded by the same person, Ghost the Riding Roid.
Chaos is about to abend.
Lightz: And that ends this chapter. Here is a preview of the next three chapters.
36. The Ghost Assault - Bruno's Secret
37. Yusei vs Placido/The Rampaging Wisel
38. Shooting Star Dragon vs Wisel/Yliaster's Grand Circuit