There was an ancient tale passed around campfires and watering holes for the last five thousand years. It ran along the lips of mortals and monsters alike, across all realms.
The saga was once a well-known one to the people of the human world, before they found new and creative ways to forget the truth. They forgot about the true power of their cards, and the newer generations never learned of the power held in the slips of paper. They forgot that it was not just a simple game as they now believed it to be.
The Crimson Dragon was a fearsome creature, matched in ferocity only by his partner, the Azure Dragon.
She was his equal in power and reputation, and the two of them roamed their lands at their own leisure for centuries, if not longer. Together, their strength was unmatched. They procreated, forming many other dragon cards that then populated their kingdom. Some of them were stronger than others, such as Stardust and Red Daemons Dragons. As caregivers, creators, and rulers, they shared their responsibility.
However, there were differences in their skills. The Crimson Dragon, with its higher attack power, was an offensive fighter. The Azure Dragon, though, was the opposite. It was more reserved, and tended to rely on its monster effects and other measures of attack. The dragons were two sides of the same coin, two pieces of one entity. Together, they were always victorious. Apart, not so much.
But it was not always paradise, they had their arguments, too. The Azure Dragon was an equal to her love, the Crimson Dragon, but that had unequal duties. She did not understand that their duties were equal, though not always the same. Each of them were strong, but in different ways. Where Azure was skilled with her words and always able to calm the citizens of their kingdom, Crimson was the expert at military-minded escapades.
The Crimson Dragon said it was to protect her, keep her safe. However, when she was alone and without him, she would worry herself sick, afraid that one day he'd not return home. She pleaded with her lover, "Crimson, allow me to fight alongside you."
He said that the enemies he faced were far too difficult for even him to face. "I will not lose you," he told her. He thought she would be happy to be able to relax and no longer take up arms. How things had gone so wrong, he didn't know. He had only wanted to protect her, to keep her safe and well. He didn't understand why she argued with him, wanting to put herself in danger all the time.
He forced her into seclusion, making sure she never left home. The Azure Dragon couldn't bear the loneliness, the despair, and pleaded with her lover more and more, until she finally stopped trying.
She lashed out, destroying their home. She even set fire to parts of the surrounding kingdoms. Nothing was safe from her sharp umbrage.
The Gods, seeing that the Dragons could not stop destroying the world in their constant bickering, were forced to separate the two of them. The three Gods knew that the dragons loved one another, and that they could not execute one of them for the wrath of the other. So they sent the Azure Dragon to the Shadow Realm instead. They then allowed the Crimson Dragon to take all the land and power she left behind, deepening the power imbalance that was created between them.
At first, the Azure pleaded to be let back in, hoping she could have her home back and return to her life, her love. After a thousand years, she gave up on that dream. Another thousand passed and turned her bitter, left her cursing the name of the Crimson Dragon.
Her time spent waiting had doubled, and after 4,000 years she was more than fed up. She swore to have her revenge against him in any way she could. The old spirit had lived through lifetimes of suffering because of him, and it took her another thousand to orchestrate her escape. This part of the story hasn't yet been told to the world, but when the Azure Dragon released herself from her prison, her soul split in two. Her adoration and her hatred had been separated, forced apart and into two different bodies.
Those two were fated to battle, as much so as the Signers and Dark Signers are fated to do the same. One of them would win, and absorb the other half of her soul, killing the other in the process. Only then will she be whole again. The spirits had been reincarnated thousands of times, and finally this is the cycle in which they will meet and do battle. Two will enter the bounds, and only one will leave.
I've never heard such a story before, but I'm inclined to believe it. With all that's been happening with Yusei and the others, it only makes sense that there would be other godly cards, like the Earthbound Immortals and Yusei's Stardust Dragon. It isn't all that far-fetched anymore.
Why didn't Godwin tell us about this? Did he know? How did this not light up earlier, when the Signer's marks glowed when they dueled? Is it something different? Why was I the last one to awaken? What the hell is happening to me and why?!
I push the questions out of my head, knowing there isn't time to deal with them. The only thing on my mind should be the opponent in front of me, another thing I learned from my older brother. "I'll go first," I say, and he nods along. Is this really him? My Onii-san? He doesn't seem the same, and he looked a bit different. More gaunt than ever. His hair was longer, and he seemed paler and thinner. There's something wrong with him, that's for sure. I pick up a duel disk that was left on the ground, attaching it to my wrist and pulling my deck out of my hip pouch.
"You should know, this duel will risk your life. The damage will be real, and you will feel excruciating, senseless pain like you never have before." He shakes his head, arms crossed over the bare skin of his chest. "You'll probably cry after my first attack. You always were a wimp. I won't hold back, I suggest you do the same."
The deck I run may be a bit unconventional, and some may call it wimpy, especially since I hadn't shopped for new cards in a decade, but it would have to do. I slip it into the duel disk and let it shuffle. I draw the top five cards, as does Ryuuga across from me. Flames rise around us, the ultramarine reflection of them drawing a crude canine in the sky. It looks eerily similar to the Dark Signer marks, but is somehow different. Ryuuga, if that is who I'm battling, wears an open shirt, baring his pale chest to the world. Only upon second inspection do I notice the beams of blue light scattering from the mark there, a dark blue dragon wound up in a circle, wings apart and mouth open.
I pull out the collar of my shirt, looking down to see an almost identical mark between my bosoms, but outlined in blue rather than filled in like Ryuuga's. No wonder there had been light in my room, it had been coming from me! Now that I've noticed it, I'm not sure how I ever missed it. "I summon Fluffal Owl in attack mode. When Fluffal Owl is summoned, I can add Polymerization to my hand from my deck." (Fluffal Owl: ATK 1000 DEF 1000) The bird of prey hoots as it appears on the field, flapping its pink-and-yellow wings and unsettling the air. A card sticks out of my deck, and I pluck it gently, adding it to my hand. "Then I'll set these two face-downs and end my turn."
"Alright. I draw." The coldness in his eyes, it's unsettling. I've never seen Ryuuga like this, not even when we lost mom. He was destroyed by her death, especially because he knew what she was like before the drugs, before she became a horrid witch of a woman, and claimed she was an motherly and kind woman once. I suppose she just couldn't keep up with it, then she found her fix. He's all business right now, stoically examining his hand and creating a strategy. "I summon Armageddon Knight in attack mode. When it is summoned, I can choose a Dark-type monster from my deck and send it to the Graveyard. I'm sending Plaguespreader Zombie." (Armageddon Knight: ATK 1400 DEF 1200) He ends his turn, but not before setting two cards face-down.
I draw a card, mind abuzz with different strategies that can work depending on what card I pull. I draw, and fortunately I find the perfect monster looking up at me. "I summon Fluffal Rabbit in attack mode! Then I activate Polymerization from my hand to fuse Fluffal Owl and Fluffal Rabbit!" All three cards are sent to the graveyard, and Frightfur Wolf appears on my field when I lay down the card. "I summon Frightfur Wolf, and with its effect, it can attack as many times as the number of fusion materials used to summon it. Frightfur Wolf attacks Armageddon Knight!" (Frightfur Wolf: ATK 2000 DEF 1500) Ryuuga loses 600 life points with a swipe of the wolf's claws. It tears through Armageddon Knight, destroying it. "Now it attacks you directly!"
A smile appears in his face, a dark laugh flowing out of him. "I activate my trap card, Mirror Force." The wolf lunges, but explodes into a flash of white light. The wolf was obliterated and Ryuuga had taken no damage. "I thought I taught you to be prepared for anything. Of course I would set up my defenses in the first turn. I even gave you a handicap by not attacking." He's too calm, smoothly going through the mechanics of a duel like we're young again. Is he... teaching me?
No, I'm just seeing what I want to see. He's playing with me. I suck my teeth, irritated. I should have seen it coming. He always was one step ahead of me. "I'll set one card face-down and end my turn."
"I activate my spell card, Foolish Burial!" The wild-looking man plays a simple card with only one effect. "It lets me send a monster to my Graveyard, and I choose Shiranui Spiritmaster!"
This doesn't feel like Ryuuga. He never had that in his deck before, and he had loved using his deck they way it was. While the red-cloaked monk dissipates, flowing to the grave, he pulls another card from his deck. "Then I summon Shiranui Solitaire! I'll tribute it and use it's effect to summon Uni-Zombie from my deck." Two zombies, joined together at the hip, float down onto the field. "Uni-Zombie's effect allows me to select one face-up monster and increase it's level by 1 when I discard a card. I discard Shiranui Spectralsword from my deck to the Graveyard, raising Uni-Zombie's level!" He points at the monster, and it's level increases to 4.
"Then I'll finish up by placing a card face-down and end my turn," he chuckles. This Azure Dragon business... I don't know if everything he said was true, but it left me with more questions than answers. I had never felt so blind, so unequipped with the knowledge I needed to understand it all.
Ryuuga still hasn't attacked. It's anyone's guess as to why, but I have to assume he's planning something big. He was a formidable opponent and not one I had ever defeated. I must admit, going up against him alone will be harrowing. I long for the support of my friends, but I fear they are far away, fighting their own battles. Yusei holds the world on his shoulders. He wouldn't always be there and I'd have to deal with that.
"Pinoko!" I think I imagined it at first, but it comes again, louder. The very man that ran through my mind is flying toward me, his D-Wheel moving with haste.
There's a geoglyph in the sky, not one I've ever seen before, not one of the Dark Signers' marks. It's a different color, too, a shadowy, dark blue that engulfs the flames instead of purple. It's in the shape of a dog. I hadn't known who was engaged in this duel, but my gut told me to prepare for the worst. How right it was. There's something that pulled me forward, tugging at the center of my chest. I had ridden ahead of the others, my heart caught on a line that was reeling me in tortuously.
The cold, bitter wind bites my skin like the frigid bite of fear gnaws at my thoughts. I speed to the location of the old Moment. My Signer Mark isn't lit up, but there's a pain in my chest that forces me toward her position. Nothing could have prepared me for this. I have to figure out how to deal with it now, with or without the Crimson Dragon's help.
Nearing the pit of the old Moment, the figure closest to me becomes clear. My worst nightmare is being realized. Pinoko stands inside the heavy blue flames, squaring off against someone I'd never seen before. He looked like a Dark Signer, even dressed like them, but everything was blue. His robes, his facial markings, his flames. What sets him apart is the dark blue image burned into his chest. A canine's crude depiction is projected above their heads, showering them in the azure light.
First Martha, then Rally and the others, then Rua when he fought alongside Ruka... Now Pinoko. It has to be a nightmare. Some kind of horrible joke that my mind plays on me behind closed eyes, it has to be.
It isn't. The only saving grace is that she hasn't lost any life points yet.
"Pinoko!" Her name flies from my mouth, my eyes locked on her form amongst the fire. I was trying to keep her safe from these things, not lead her into danger. She doesn't hear me. Getting closer now, I urge my D-Wheel to turn, squeaking to a stop parallel to the flames. "Pinoko!"
Hair fanning out, her head turns suddenly to look for me. Her big eyes look not just sad, but worried. If anyone should be worried, it's me. Never having seen her duel before, I don't know if she's going to win this one. It tears me up inside that she, too, may vanish.
This time, there is nothing I can do about it. Just like when I dueled Rally, I lost all control over the situation. It is in her hands, not mine. I only pray I can help her along to victory. There's no guarantee that she'll walk away from this one, and I have only one person to blame. I regret it now, but I should have been with her. She would have been safer at my side than she was now. I feel so stupid! I don't know anything about what's going on, or who she's dueling. All I know is that I can't lose her.
I couldn't believe he's here. I'd have words to share with him later, mostly about leaving without saying goodbye. I know he must also be confused about seeing me here, but I hadn't wanted to come. The pain in my chest only abided when I reached this spot, where Ryuuga says this fated duel was meant to be. His bike squeals, stopping at the edge of the field.
"Yusei..." His eyes are blown wide, disbelief written on his face. To have been the reason he looked so torn hurts me as well. He's worried, taking in my appearance to ensure I'm not injured. I wasn't yet, but that could change fast. I was hoping he would show up before, but now I'm not so sure I want him to witness this.
He's out of breath, panting, and still wearing his helmet. He rips it off, his hair bouncing back to its usual shape. His eyes hold a sullen concern for me wrapped up in a chillingly evident fear. He was afraid. Horribly afraid that he would lose me. It has never been clearer to me that his love is true and honest, no matter the struggle we face. I promise myself that if I make it out of this alive, I'll tell him just how much I love him.
Had I even known my brother at all? Was it all a facade? Who is he, beneath the secrets, beneath the lies of the past? I study him closely, needing to be certain that he is who he says he is. He looks so uncannily similar to my brother, but it could be a mistaken identity. It's possible that my brother is still dead, right? Each time I look at him, my mind can't reconcile the image of him now with who I knew then. Where was my precious Onii-san? The one who would smile at me with adoration, teaching me about the different cards and strategies that he used? He used to hug me and spin me around when he got home from work. He would kiss my forehead when he tucked me into bed.
His smile, uncannily villainous and cruel, hangs from his arrogant expression. He looks down his nose at me. "Go ahead and squirm. I enjoy the chase." He whips the long coat behind him, almost showing off the mark, cold and dark like the depths of the ocean.
I slip another card from the top of my deck. He looks down on me, both figuratively and literally, thinking my skill was inferior to his own like it was the last time we went head to head. I'd have to show him that those assumptions were wrong. "I activate Frightfur Factory! It allows me to fuse two monsters in my hand in exchange for banishing Polymerization from my Graveyard. I fuse Fluffal Sheep and Edge Imp Sabres in order to fusion summon Frightfur Tiger! When Frightfur Tiger is summoned, I can destroy cards equal to the number of fusion materials I used. I'll go for Uni-Zombie and that face-down card!" (Frightfur Tiger: ATK 1900 DEF 1200) The two cards erupt into white flakes. The older of our family had always been a tricky duelist, but today especially so. He must have changed a lot in the time they've been apart. "And its other effect is that all Frightfur monsters gain 300 ATK for each Fluffal or Frightfur monster I have on the field."
"But you don't have any other mon-"
"I'll activate my spell card, Frightfur Reborn! It allows me to Special Summon Frightfur Wolf from my Graveyard. Frightfur Wolf, attack him directly!" (Frightfur Wolf: ATK 2300 DEF 1500) I cut him off, not willing to give him the chance to say something nasty again. I don't like the mind games he's playing. The canine bounds over to Ryuuga, about to slash at him.
"My trap card activates! Negate Attack!" A red and blue vortex appears in front of Frightfur Wolf, absorbing the swipes of it's dangerous paws. It disappears once the battle phase has finished.
I'd used up all my options for now, seeing nothing else to be done. He has very few exposed weaknesses, but I can figure out how to play him. He doesn't know how much I've learned since I began traveling with Yusei and his friends. "I end my turn."
Ryuuga begins his turn, drawing the top card from his deck and smiling vilely at its face. "I play this card, Call of the Haunted, to Special Summon Shiranui Solitaire from my Graveyard." His smile flips, his frown curling so far it almost reaches his jaw. "Get ready for the ending to your little story, nee-chan. It was fun to play around with you one last time. I activate Plaguespreader Zombie's effect from the Graveyard. I place a card from my hand on the top of my deck, and can Special Summon it to my field." (Plaguespreader Zombie: ATK 400 DEF 200)
"I activate my spell card, Harmonic Waves, making Plaguespreader Zombie a Level 4 monster until my end phase. Level 4 Plaguespreader Zombie tunes Level 4 Shiranui Solitaire. Synchro Summon!" His dark, ominous aura grows stronger. A rift opens above the field, a halo of brilliant, shimmering light pouring out. Crystal Gleam Dragon descends, her crystalline body refracting the rays of blue and scattering them. "Appear before me and obey my wishes! Crystal Gleam Dragon!"
She was his ace card, for as long as I can remember. Crystal Gleam had an astounding 2500 Attack Points and 2300 Defense points. Little does he know, he plays right into my hand. "I activate my trap card, Synchro Stealer! You should have listened to your own advice, Onii-san!" The brightly gleaming reptile is wrapped up in a beam of light that transports her to my side of the field.
He scoffs, but can't totally play off his nerves. No matter how much about him has changed, I can still read him all the same. It's encouraging to know that some things haven't changed.
"No. You can't." He's stiff, unmoving. Like a shard of ice, he looks cold and dangerous. Ryuuga finally shows an emotion besides sick joy, and it's anger. "I summon Shiranui Squire. When Shiranui Squire is Normal Summoned, I can Special Summon one Shiranui Spectralsword from my deck." You can always leave it to Ryuuga to make the best of a bad dueling situation. "Level 2 Shiranui Spectralsword tunes Level 4 Shiranui Squire. I Synchro Summon Shiranui Shogunsaga! When Shogunsaga is summoned, I can banish a Shiranui monster from my Graveyard and half of its original Attack points will be added to Shogunsaga's. I choose Shiranui Spiritmaster, increasing Shogunsaga's attack by 1500 points. Now what will you do, little Queen? Will you find a way to win with your weak cards or will you have to steal more of mine?" (Shiranui Shogunsaga: ATK 3000 DEF 0) The two monsters disappeared, allowing a tall, red-clothed samurai to be born from their forms.
He's able to pick at every weak spot, every hole in my armor. I'd told him everything they said to me, everything used as ammo to bully me. Now his earlier confidence is back, looking like he would take on the whole world if he needed to.
He wasn't always full of bravado. It unnerves me, as much as it was a deserved confidence. Ryuuga was a genius, one of the most inspired duelists of his generation in my opinion, but no one besides me would ever know it because of his early death. Then again, if he stands before me now, I suppose my earlier premise is incorrect. I look to Crystal Gleam, wondering if her radiance could shed light on these mysteries. It's too much to hope for, I know, but the alternative scares me. I don't want one of us to die. I want my brother back!
I don't expect her to say anything back.
Not that she spoke, exactly. She was sending me signals that I could interpret, like emotions and wants. Telling me everything will be okay, and not to be afraid, her eyes stare into my soul. She feels warm and gentle, but I thought she would be mad. She has always been Ryuuga's card, so the comforting look she sends me is shocking. "Trust me," she begs. When a talking card asks me for something, I obey, just a fact about me. It feels like divine intervention. I've never had this happen to me before, no hints or clues either. I can't believe cards can talk!
"Shiranui Shogunsaga, attack Crystal Gleam Dragon!" With the extra 1500 attack, I know she's soon to be demolished. My new ally stands no chance, the bright reds and blues from the enemy's swords shining through her prismatic body in foreboding. With his flaming katana, Shogunsaga cuts her down. Not just her, but my life points are sliced in half as well. Her encrusted surface shatters, splintering into microscopic shimmers that line the very atmosphere.
It isn't that I didn't believe him when he said the damage would be real, but I couldn't wrap my head around it until it was biting into my nerves. The splash of fire and ice, one for each of Shogunsaga's swords, hits me in bursts of red and blue. The white-hot and icy pain won't let me focus on anything else, a warbling cry ripping out of my throat. There's no evidence left after it, except the slowly spreading pool of blue and purple bruises swelling under the surface of my skin. My knees buckle and the weight of my body pulls me off my feet. I try to catch myself with an arm behind me, but I crash to the ground in a heap of exhausted, weary limbs.
A/N: I don't know where Takahashi-sensei found this Quechua language, but from what I've been able to find, the card names are not at all accurate translations so I tried to come up with a word that sounded similar enough. I tried my best! If I could figure out what the same translation that he would use for dog, I would use it... ;-;
Also I really hope this duel makes sense lol, I've been working on it for a long time and it's only halfway done but I'm afraid I'm actually dumb or something and messed something up. Please let me know in the comments or PM if you see any continuity errors! Also, did you feel like Yusei disappeared during the duel? Did you feel like the story gave you enough information for you to visualize it? Thanks so much for reading, my lovelies!