Yu-Gi-Oh! Reborn Arc 1: Our King [IC]

[Yui]

---

And so the chase for the flags had begun. Morgan's interests were set in the lake area. It would by far be the easiest way to get her flag and move on to the next round. And so, she set off, taking a look at her surroundings in hopes of seeing the other duelists and getting a look at their monsters. It would be best to know what she could be up against, but she didn't have any reason to believe they were anything she couldn't handle anyway. It was more out of curiosity than anything. However, it wasn't long before Morgan found herself at the lake. This could get messy.

 

Pulling up the hood of her raincoat and tucking her hair under it, Morgan set one monster card on her Duel Disk, declaring "I summon Deep Terror Aspidochelone!" Under the water, something was stirring. Something big. From under the water, one standing near the lake could hear a rumbling sound, growing louder until finally, the beast revealed itself. A hulking monster of the depths rose to the surface, scattering water all around and unleashing a deep sound that could be compared to a whale...if whales were horror flick monsters.

 

Aspidochelone opened its mouth, and extended a long tongue to the shore of the lake, facing Morgan. The girl's response was to walk along the tongue as though it were a bridge, and step inside her monster's mouth, followed by Aspidochelone closing its mouth and returning to the depths from whence it came. Using her monster as an improvised submarine, Morgan began her search for a flag in the lake.

[вєgσттєη ιηѕαηιту]

 

[spoiler=Post]

The crowd piled into the arena and Kyoko felt an oddly growing comfort at having Ryuu standing at her side, a look of pristine determination. He reminded her of Shorty…

With a quick shake of her head she washed that thought out of her head. That was a different life. I need to move on… The world around her was slowly drowning out as her thoughts threatened to cave in on here. That was, until Tendra came flying down on his dragon with a flashy tale of victory, valor, and pride as his dragon blasted gusts of wind across the stadium, messing her hair up.

She wavered in and out of paying attention to the world around her. After Tendra gave a long speech, another announcer, with a rather annoying voice, began droning on about flags and something that she hadn’t paid much attention to.

Her family kept finding holes in her mental state, seeping in and clouding her attention. There were so many kids. People just like her. Other children lost, abandoned, just looking for someone to love. The bonds they formed… she thought they were unbreakable… she didn’t know that one thing could twist everything on its side.

On the fringes of her consciousness the arena around her erupted in life as duelists summoned their monsters and chased after an objective. The only thing Kyoko could notice outside of her own head was the beautiful forest that had erected out of the ground all around her. The trees were luscious and green, impossible to believe that they were only holograms.

Beauty, a world so beautiful, a world she had not yet experienced..

“Kyoko!”

She couldn’t hear Ryuu as he called out for her and tackled her to the ground. Her breath escaped from her lungs in a frenzy as she hit the arena floor hard. A large orange skinned ogre pummeled the ground with a wooden club at the place she stood just moments before. Ryuu grabbed her by the arm, his grip tight and cutting circulation, and pulled her quickly behind a tree in the forest so the beast (and the duelist controlling it) could no longer find them.

“Kyoko! Snap out of it.” Ryuu said as he snapped his finger in front of her face. The adrenaline from being attacked by a giant seemed to seep any sheepishness from him.

She blinked three times in rapid succession and looked him in the eyes. “Right. Yeah, sorry.” They hid behind the tree as the ogre made its way opposite of them.

“Where do you want to go?” Ryuu asked.

It only just dawned on her that their friendship would exist past the entrance of the tournament. There was no reason the two of them could not go together during this stage. She looked down at her deck, knowing immediately that she wanted to fly after the smug Thunderham.

“Up,” she said with a grin. “I summon Steadfast Hamippos”

Steadfast Hamippos

FIRE - ✪✪✪✪ - Warrior/Effect - 1300/900

A warrior clad in Greek-esque armor and a broad sword landed firmly on his feet and stood in a battle ready position before Kyoko.

“Now, I banish Steadfast Hamippos from the field, and Aggressive Akontistes from my deck to Special Summon Matalus the High Priestess!”

 

The warrior nodded to Kyoko proudly before fading away into nothing alongside another soldier clad with a spear. A purple light emitted from the area around them and a large purple dragon emerged from the light.

Metalus the High Priestess

FIRE - ✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪ - Dragon/Effect - 2000/1800 (2200/1800)

Metalus had dark purple skin that was outlined with streaks of Gold. Her wings spanned outward 10 feet in each direction and in each hand she held a weapon, one greataxe and one broad sword. Her tail branched off in three directions, each end having a smaller dragons head adjourned to it.

For a moment Kyoko was frozen in awe of Metalus’ power. She had never seen her dragon in flesh before. But she shook her head and nodded to Ryuu, who displayed a minor disdain but followed her onto the dragon’s back.

Together they rose up slowly and watched as the arena below them bustled with energy and commotion. Kyoko noticed that there were several other duelists rising up as well, each riding on the back of some winged beast. Closest to Kyoko and Ryuu was a small group of teenagers, each riding on the backs of a Gustos monster.

Kyoko directed Metalus to fly opposite of the group until she was able to catch a sight of Tendra. They flew quickly, dodging around the particularly tall trees. She kept Metalus low on the tree line to avoid drawing the attention of too many others, but she must have failed that attempt because a bright red haired female duelist riding a Stardust Dragon came crashing from beneath them and knocked Metalus into a barrel roll.

“Hang on!” Kyoko yelled as they twisted in the air. Metalus quickly righted herself and Ryuu reached for his deck.

“I’ve got this,” he said as he pulled out a card. “I summon Shaddoll Herald!”

Shaddoll Herald

DARK - ✪✪✪✪ - Spellcaster/Flip/Effect - 1900/0

A dark void started to take shape in the surrounding sky. One could see a black and purple fog through the widening rent before the space was quickly taken up by some thick metallic string, shooting forwards into this dimension. Their ends began to fray as they grew, coiling and darting left and right, almost like the limbs of some otherworldly creature. The rapidly splitting wires started to connect in places, forming a smooth, glowing, metallic surface. A purple figure started to take form, more like pieces of alien armor than an actual being. Limbs hanging limp, the shell of a monster remained motionless as the strings continued to build it, forming arms, legs, a segmented tail and the skeleton of what looked like wings. As the final connection was made, a burst of dark energy shot from the misty void through the tethering cables into the monster, causing it to spasm as dark fog appeared within the armor that had been formed, quickly filling the entire structure and forming glowing wings flapping above it. The floating void shut as quickly as it had appeared, leaving the remaining strings fading off near where their ends had been connected.  As the being settled, glowing eyes shone above a face-covering mask, focusing briefly on Ryuu, then Kyoko, before settling on the attacking Dragon.

Ryuu directed Herald to charge straight at Stardust Dragon as they flew around in a circle above it. The dark figure shot forward, easily dodging the blasts fired by the opposing monster. Ducking under a swinging tail, Herald pulled back his arm, then, as it started glowing with energy, he rammed it into the chest of the dragon.

While the attack seemed to be a fatal blow, Stardust Dragon started to glow white. Kyoko stared at it curiously, unsure if that was what was supposed to happen, before realizing what the other duelist was trying to do.

“Quick, Metalus!” she called, gesturing at the now brightly shining monster, “Finish it off before it can use its effect!”

Metalus wrapped her tails around from behind her body as she faced Stardust Dragon, the three heads aligned and twisted together slightly as a large purple ball of energy formed from the mouths and blasted with devastating force at their opponent. The girl winced as her dragon shuddered under the force of Metalus’ attack, but they still stood.

Kyoko was astounded, even with Metalus’ power boosted from her banished monsters, the Stardust dragon was still standing. She looked at Ryuu, feeling hopeless as Stardust continued to glow. Ryuu however, looked completely calm as he gave Herald a knowing nod and the monster few yet again at the opponent. Stardust erupted in a series of crystallized pixels before vanishing completely and sending the red haired girl down into the arena below.

“Metalus, we are up to high. Other duelists may target us, get closer to the ground!” Kyoko called out.

Watching the duelists progress as they descended to the treeline beneath, Kyoko caught sight of the Gusto monsters again reminding her that the ordeal was far from over. Directing her dragon forward, the pair flew onwards, this time with another monster beside them, barely keeping pace with the awe-inspiring dragon.

“There I see, them!”

While Ryuu’s finger was unsteady, knocked left and right by the jolts of their ride, Kyoko could easily see the object of his fascination. Tendra and his own dragon were ahead of them, visible but way above and moving fast. Glancing left and right, she gritted her teeth as she noticed the many other duelists who had caught sight of their prize, the fluttering flags on the tail of the monster. She would not be knocked out this early. Neither of them would.

With a surge of energy Kyoko kicked into Metalus, directing her to fly upwards and towards Tendra. She realized quickly that her sudden action caught the attention of several other duelists as the three Gustos teens came rushing towards them. Stubbornly Kyoko kept her pace but due to their much lighter weight, the avian monsters caught up quickly.

The teens were rowdy and instructed their monsters to shoot strong gusts of wind at Metalus, creating turbulence.

“Hang on!” Kyoko called out as she pulled Metalus into a nosedive before pulling back up, out of the range of the teens.

 

They gunned it again, straight at Tendra who was fascinatingly dodging many other duelists’ attacks, but another burst of wind came directly at them, this one knocking Ryuu off balance and sending him toppling over Metalus’ side.

Ryuu cried out as he began to fall but Kyoko quickly reached out and grabbed him by the arm. Metalus clawed and swung her blades at the Gustos monsters who closed in around them. Thankful to have caught Ryuu with her arm that the duel disk was attached to, Kyoko pulled out a card.

“I activate Moans of the Damned!”

Moans of the Damned

Spell Card

 

The cries of Hamippos and Akontistes could be heard echoing from around them, the monsters quickly covering their ears as the sound caused them pain. It wasn’t enough to destroy them, but Kyoko was able to pull Ryuu back onto Metalus.

She knew now that this wasn’t going to be easy. It was time for them to fight.

[0PxPz0]

Sota had arrived at the lake sooner than he had expected, his amorphous blob of coding carrying him surprisingly swiftly for it's lack of limbs, he had even sped by several competitors he assumed were headed for the same location. Suddenly he heard a deep rumbling as he approached the clearing

 

"I summon Deep Terror Aspidochelone!"

 

as Sota made it to the lake he saw a girl climb inside of the monster she had played and watched as it descended into the waters

 

"Looks like i will have some compitition" he thought, climbing out of his creature to survey the area

 

"Mermail Abyssbalaen, destroy that glitching pile of numbers!"

 

suddenly a large whale-human hybrid attempted to smash his monster with a large hammer. Sota just smiled as it happened.

 

"tisk tisk tisk, don't you know what you're doing? When you attack my Corrupt monster yours gets infected with it's virus!"

 

as the massive monsters attacked connected with Sota's glitched creature it stopped and began to distort

 

"What? no way!"

 

the attacker, who turned out to be a young boy dressed like a pirate, yelled in disbelief as his monster glitched and spasmed from the contact, causing it's attack to be reduced to zero

 

"I'm afraid yes way" Sota's grin grew as the boy looked through his hand desperately for something to save him "And since my monster's now stronger it would appear we're done here"

 

with that the Mermail, now distorted beyond belief, exploded into pixilated chunks as it's controller ran off to regroup.

 

"Now then, let's see about that flag."

 

he said as he examined the lake, hoping to find his flag and the creature hidden below.

[JessicaMuddy]

The Duel Champion, Tendra Thunderham, shot off into the sky, allowing the official announcer of the tournament to his job, and within minutes, was being assaulted by hundreds of crazy creatures. He stayed far ahead of most, Thunderclap Dragon easily out speeding the other monsters, but the first one to reach the man was oddly a young boy in his Goblindbergh's airplane.

"Tell me, young man, how did you reach my mighty dragon's speed so easily?"

"I-I used my Lucky Chance trap card, Mister Tendra sir!"

"Interesting... You seem to grasp the concept of this field quite well. Now, try to make this chance count!"

 

The boy commanded his pilot to ease towards Tendra and his dragon, but as he did so, Tendra slammed another card into his Duel Disk. "Judgement of Thunder allows me to destroy one of your cards! And since I'd rather not have such a young one plummeting to their doom, I shall get rid of your Lucky Chance! I don't suppose I'll be seeing you in the finals." Tendra remained nonplussed as the spirit of the boy before his broke, and his goblin pilot slowed down, inching away from the massive dragon before it.

 

It wasn't until a quarrel between a group of Gustos and another huge dragon that Tendra and Thunderclap got involved in the fray. He descended far quicker than any giving chase to him would have anticipated, and in a fashionable style, glided along the tops of the forest trees, rapidly pursuing the massive dragons and the pair of duelists resting on its back. After easily catching up to them, he turned to the trio of birds before him. "I believe the one you should be bullying is me!" Tendra pointed at the Gusto player closest to him, and within seconds, him dragon pierced the creature's abdomen, causing it to shatter and its duelist to fall into the wild forest beneath.

 

The other two Gusto riders panicked and sped down to assist their friend, and the portion of the crowd paying exclusive attention to Tendra (which was a majority of it) erupted into whistles and cheers. Tendra only briefly glanced at the pair in distress, before once more shooting off.

 

 

The announcer from earlier sat in waiting. It didn't take long for another duelist to descend to his level, as he wasn't in too deep in the lake, but as soon as he saw their abnormally large horror, he set his shark into action. The creature wasn't far below the surface of the great lake, but it was still deep enough to be concealed. Moving any higher would expose its position. The man stood proudly on his beast's head, inside the diving suit of his Deep Diver, clutching the rough skin of the monster. With a nod of the announcer, the shark bolted upwards, directly at the terror before it.

"Go-ah, Hypa-Ancient Shark Megaladon-ah! take out that hideous thing-ah!"

 

Anyone observing the lake could now see all the incredible action happening beneath.

 

 

Rh Gvmwiz gsv gifv prmt?

 

 

"Oh, my my, a Monarchs user? I'll let him rule over me any time..." The lust-filled voice of a stunning woman resounded throughout her small room of the cave, as she watched the competitors from the gaps in the ceiling above, following them throughout her sector of the arena. "Falling victim to an Action Trap is... Pitiful, but at least that ruler in the shadows is something to worry about. Shouldn't be too hard to take it out though." Briskly making her way further into the cave from her elevated path, the woman approached the guardian of her four flags in no time, and leaned against it, its heated skin enveloping her back and heating it up exponentially. "This will be... Fun."

 

 

Making its way through the forest was a massive member of the primate family that wielded an unnaturally large bow to fit its size. Its commander chose to make the creature move as weary and inconspicuous as he could make a humongous monkey move, not allowing other duelists to locate it. It stood proudly at half the height of the trees around it, reaching at least 20 feet tall. The creature was prepared to strike any foes, and there were many for it to pick on.

"Magic card, Shrink! This will make my monkey seem rather inconspicuous, like I'm just another competitor. Well, barring the flags in its furry mane. Shouldn't be a problem, though."

The duelist hopped of the creature's shoulder as it shrunk, landing beside it and now matching it in height.

 

 

[spoiler=OOC]

So here we have the real introduction for some the beasts holding the flags, and hoo boy is this going to be fun!

 

Sky - Thunderclap Gateway Dragon (duh!)

Lake - Hyper-Ancient Shark Megalodon

Cave - Something that has warm skin and that lives in a cave...

Forest - A monkey that wields a bow and arrows. It is large and has a mane of some kind.

 

So, I may have created encounters for some, and if those of you in those encounters want to collab, PM me and we'll do it. In fact, anyone who wants to collab with my characters, ask me and I'll most likely say yes. Other than that, I really encourage everyone to collab with each other, and to really get into some cool fights!

 

Those of you in the forest and cave, you can either encounter each other or a random duelist or whatever, and the guys in the forest can encounter the flag-bearing monkey. Descending further into the cave will get you to the boss lady.

 

Happy posting!

 

 

[Dova]

---

As the sound of crackling fire echoed past him, Steven gritted his teeth. Combined with the growl, and a faint red glow that seemed to come from all around, it seemed like the holder of the flags within the catacombs was a FIRE monster. That wasn’t so good, as he had a bad experience with FIRE monsters and archetypes, and their burn tactics were really annoying. However, it would be good to start this tournament off with a challenge. Best to stay confident.

Although the creature was barely twice his size, Steven’s monster managed to move forward as easily as if there was no weight on top of it. Veronian Diapsida was unable to use this extra power though, as Steven opted for a more silent strategy, staying out of sight unless they had a clear advantage.

The two of them creeped forward at a reasonable pace, watching other duelists explore the huge area around them. Steven was afraid that his monster’s glowing armor might catch other duelists’ eyes, but so far they had been lucky. Most of the other competitors were busy dueling each other, more eager to destroy the competition than to just plain win. A nearby battle between a Red-Eyes user and a Monarch user had distracted pretty much everyone nearby, allowing the pair to move even further inwards.

In the corner of his eyes, Steven caught sight of something that looked really out of place. A irregularly regular rock lying on the ground. It appeared brown in the light, and, combined with its rectangular shape, it looked almost like a...

Their sneaking spree was broken as another monster appeared out of the shadows, its huge, swollen body scuttling over the nearby rocks. The creature lunged forward, attempting to bite Diapsida, and Steven knew he only had one shot at keeping his advantage. He jumped forward, grabbing the Action Card and slamming it onto his Duel Disk, praying it wouldn’t be a trap.
 

Evasion
Action Card

Steven’s monster started to glow even brighter as it jumped out of the way with more speed than seemed possible. The mandibles of the attacking creature closed on thin air as Diapsida and Steven stumbled back.

The opposing duelist sneered from on top of the eyeless head of his insectoid monster. “Good move, but not good enough. Finish them off, Infernal Incinerator!”

“Not so fast!” Having taken a moment to regain his senses, Steven activated a card from his hand.
 

Reptilian Sacrifice
Normal Spell

As the projection of the spell appeared in front of him, he continued, “This card allows me to summon a reptile from my deck, but I have to banish a monster I control to pull it off.”

Diapsida entire body glowed briefly as a pit opened up beneath it. The monster’s body dissolved into a bolt of energy that shot down into the murky dimension below, but it was instantly replaced by another burst in the opposite direction. The streaking ball circled up, then took form as a more heavily clad biped landed next to the closing void.
 

Veronian Acutross
DARK - ✪✪✪✪ - Reptile/Effect - 1600/1600

“What, you’re bringing out a weaker monster?!” his opponents catcalled as the smirk on his face grew more pronounced, “I was right in thinking you were an easy target!”

“Stop making assumptions and I might get the chance to prove you wrong!” Steven selected another card then placed it onto his Duel Disk. “I'll start with this!”
 

Veronian Mistake
Quick-Play Spell

“This one allows me to choose two cards on the field, your monster and mine, but give you the opportunity to decide what happens to them. One is banished, the other just goes to the graveyard. Hope you make a better choice than choosing to fight me!”

“You think I’ll give you a chance?! Banish yours and send mine to my graveyard! At least now I get to bring it back!”

The wormhole appeared again, this time absorbing Acutross, but when the reptile’s energized form crossed the barrier, it released a burst of energy that disintegrated the opponent’s monster, causing the now raving duelist to fall to the ground.

Steven tutted in a supremely annoying fashion, adding in just enough waves of a raised index finger to make one lose their temper. “Look, mate, if I have a card that banishes a monster I control, let’s assume that I plan for that to happen. Acutross’ effect activates, allowing me to special summon another one of my banished monsters. Diapsida, deal with him!”

The void closed just as Diapsida reformed above it. Maintaining momentum, it surged forwards, knocking the shocked opponent into a nearby stalagmite. Stars flashed before his eyes, and when he regained full control of his body again, Steven and his monster had gone.

The boy grinned as he and his monster crept forward a little more quickly. While they had been slowed down a bit by the encounter, it had been really satisfying to defeat an opponent for the first time in this competition. Hopefully the actual duels would be as fun.

---

[Wind Rider]

"Huh, something's going on in the lake..." Akira looked to see that some action was taking place at the bottom of the lake, could the flag holder be hiding down there? "Clever... now... how do I get my machines down there?" Akira looked around a bit for answers when he saw a card floating from the ground. He took the card in hand and the image seemed to imply protection from Water. "Heh, nice... alright let's get that flag Pulser." Akira placed the card on his duel disk and Pulser and his other two machines started glowing, but before Akira go down into the lake...

 

"Attack!" A duelist came from behind Akira and was attacking with a Vorse Raider. "*Sigh* Pulser..." At his command, Pulser raised a barrier of sound that blocked the attack. "Attacking someone from behind? Such a cheap yet clever tactic. But you made the mistake of attacking a 2600 power monster!" Pulser let loose a volley of sound waves that converged and shattered the Vorse Raider, a 1900 power monster was smart, but if you don't equip it further, your not going to get anywhere.

 

With the duelist retreating from the failed attack, Akira turned his attention back to the lake. "Now if there are no more interruptions, let's go..." Akira waded into the virtual water and dove down. This being virtual reality, the water is just going to have physics, no need for much in the way of breathing aid.

 

The battle was fierce in the lake, Akira had to wait for the right moment so he could snatch a flag.

[Yui]

---

Morgan and her Aspidochelone kept their eyes open, in search of flags. When suddenly, the horror of a beast release a deep, bellowing wail as something bit it firmly from beneath. Water was leaking into the creature through its wounds. Glancing at them through the teeth of Aspidochelone, Morgan saw three things. A man in a diving suit, a very large shark, and a flag. Clever. Morgan wouldn't be bested so easily, though. The yellow-clad duelist didn't lose her composure, but would be lying if she said she didn't flinch on the initial impact. Looking over the cards of her hand, Morgan picked the obvious good choice and put it down on her Duel Disk, next to the Aspidochelone that would soon be leaving her.

 

"I summon Deep Terror Scylla," she said reflexively as the monster began to stir from the waters. "When this monster is summoned, I can banish one monster my opponent controls, and increase Scylla's attack by half that monster's original attack. I really don't like that shark, and want to get my flag quickly. Let's get rid of it." Not to mention that thanks to this shark, Morgan wouldn't be able to keep dry for the duration of this odd event, which had been one of her goals. Why else would she dress the way she was now? She didn't find full rain gear to be a flattering look, but took some satisfaction in that she'd get to get rid of that shark. Scylla shot upwards, opening its massive jaws wide to consume the shark from beneath the announcer's feet.

 

Any moment now.

[JessicaMuddy]

[spoiler=Post (2175 Words)]

 

 

Ken smirked, clinging to the side of his dragon as it rose higher and higher upward. So far, no one had been stupid enough to take it on, and once he was in an appropriate position, he would open fire. The other contestants would be grounded, and he could take Tendra down at his leisure. Speaking of the champion…

"I believe the one you should be bullying is me!"

Ken glanced down at the noise, to see some kids on green birds dive down after another competitor, who was falling fast. Flying impassively nearby was Tendra himself. Not even sparing a moment for the kid, the champion’s dragon once again shot off away from the main crowd, in a path that took him closer to Ken. Seeing an unexpected chance, Ken grinned and shouted up to his monster’s head.

“Change of plan! We’re going left, after the ass on the dragon!”

Wordless, the dragon began to tilt toward the other duelist, and Ken grinned wildly at the thought of being the first to get a flag. Even if he didn’t end up winning, it would certainly help his reputation.

Tendra looked back, proud of doing that pair justice, but instead only seeing an enormous serpentine dragon hot on his tail. It appeared to be catching up to him, unlike most other competitors in the competition. The massive mechanical beast drew nearer to Thunderclap Dragon, forcing the Duel Champion to take action. He turned away from the serpent and its rider, immediately dodging and weaving throughout a group of trees, and quickly ascending to avoid a Schwarzschild Limit Dragon leaping at the flags on Thunderclap Dragon’s tail.

As he moved upwards once more, Tendra snatched an Action Card out of the air. “Trick Revival, activate! This Action Card lets me reuse a Trap Card in my Graveyard, then banishing it. I use the effect of Judgement of Thunder, which in this context allows me to destroy one of your cards! The obvious choice is to dismiss your rather large mechanical dragon. Let’s go, smite my foe!” A grim thundercloud apparated above the monstrous machine, ready to strike at any moment.

Upon seeing the champion’s move, Ken shifted in his seat. The thunder was ready to smite him, but he really wasn’t worried. The champion’s trap would help Ken more than hinder him. It was really just a matter of timing.

“I activate my Cyber Network!” Ken shouted, as his face down appeared besides him. “Using this card’s effect, I’ll banish A-Assault Core from my deck.” The trap card flashed momentarily, before disappearing. At that moment, the lightning struck down, looking like it was to directly hit the massive dragon in the head. The lightning however suddenly turned impossibly in midair to strike the gun on the dragon’s back.

“Buster Drake’s effect activates! First, when the monster it is equipped to would be destroyed, Drake can destroy itself instead! Next, as it was sent to the graveyard, I can add 1 Union monster from my deck to my hand!” Ken reached for his duel disk, as a card shot out from the deck. “And I’ll summon him straight away! Heavy Mech Support Armor!”

A large jet like machine burst from a portal next to Ken, keeping pace with his dragon. The Support Armor began glowing, and what seemed to be the remains of the B-Buster Drake from earlier appeared next to it.

“When Heavy Mech Support Armor hits the field, he can bring back a fellow Union in the Graveyard!” Ken shouted gleefully.

The remains of his monster pulled together in a flash of light which cleared to show Buster Drake once again standing tall.

“And now things get fun! I’ll equip both to my Dragon!”

The two monsters broke apart, their components speeding towards the dragon. Ken felt triumphant. Once his Union monsters bonded with his dragon, it would be near invincible. Unable to be targeted, unaffected by spells, and with two Unions willing to sacrifice themselves for the monster’s survival, the Champion wasn’t going to be able to get away. Ken knew victory was near as B-Buster Drake once more became a cannon on his monster’s back, while the head was now covered in the parts of Heavy Mech Support Armor.

“Using my level 8 Schwarzschild Limit Dragon and my level 8 Swordsman of Revealing Light, I’ll overlay my monsters! Kingly fortress, rise from the depths and sate my vengeance! I Xyz Summon, Rank 8, Magical Sea Castle Aigaion!”

“The hell-?” Ken said, twisting to see who had conducted the summon. In the forest below, a rather irate looking blonde girl was staring at Ken angrily from on top a massive mechanical castle, with a pair of overlay units orbiting the creature.

“This is for beating up my brother, you a******!” The girl called out, as Ken rolled his eye. He hadn’t expected this, but he would be sure to get back at the girl and her weakling brother after the tournament. “Using the effect of my Magical Sea Castle, I can banish one random card from your Extra Deck and my monster gains Attack equal to it!” The castle’s “eye” began to glow, and one of the overlay units flew into it. Ken smirked as he watched. Cyber Colossal Dragon has the second highest Attack in his extra so the chances of her hitting the one thing that could get over it were low. The eye suddenly glowed much brighter, and Ken cursed as a beam of light flew up from it to his Duel Disk. Enveloped in the beam, his duel disk’s Extra Deck slot opened, revealing a glowing card. It was ABC-Dragon Buster. Ken stiffened as he saw it.

“Oh, come on!”

The glowing card suddenly vanished, and the blonde girl smirked.

“Looks like I’ll be outgunning you now! And that isn’t all!” she proclaimed, slamming a card on her Duel Disk. “Action Magic, Surging Rage! When a monster I control has an attack increase, this card means it can attack twice this turn by reducing my monster’s defense to 0!”

The castle glowed brightly, and the eye turned from red to an angry looking gold. Ken’s expression grew grime.

“This isn’t going to be fun…” he muttered.

“Take that jerk down a notch, Aigaion! Ferocious Dimensional Barrage!”

The castle’s cannons turned to point to where Ken and his dragon were soaring in the sky. With a massive boom, a salvo of lasers was released and impacted Ken’s dragon. When the smoke cleared, the dragon seemed unhurt except that his head was now unprotected. Cursing, Ken coughed from the smoke. Unsatisfied, the girl called out again.

“Again!”

Once more, the lasers pounded into Ken’s dragon, this time destroying the mighty cannon. This time, Ken spoke up.

“Genius move, moron. B-Buster Drake lets me add a Union monster, so once again I’ll add another Heavy Mech Support Armor. Oh, and while I’m at it, I’ll use Cyber Network to banish a Cyber Dragon from my deck!”

Ken angrily pulled out the required card from his deck, while the trap flashed once more. This time, however, it remained and didn’t disappear. Ken sneered down at his attacked.

“Done yet?”

The girl returned the sneer with fervour.

“Not yet, jackass. I’ll use my monster’s other effect. By returning your Dragon Buster to your Extra Deck, Aigaion can take down your Dragon!”

Ken pressed his lips together and watched, wordless as the eye of the castle glowed once more, this time in a purple hue. The glow built up for a few seconds, before being expelled in a violent rush that slammed into his dragon, knocking Ken from his seat. The girl spat on the ground next to her.

“Teach you to be an ass to my family.” she muttered. She was about to go looking for Tendra herself, when she heard a chant begin.

“Mechanical Dragon who soars across the endless sea of space…”

“What the..?” the girl murmured, turning to see what was going on. As the smoke cleared, it became visible that there was Ken on yet another dragon. She paled. “B-but I destroyed his dragon!”

“Harness the power of the stars’ final light and rain down death! CYBER DRAGON NOVA!”

With the powerful cry of a synthetic dragon, the smoke cleared. Ken rode a partly black, partly silver monster, with red highlights. The dragon’s wing spread wide to display its power and it stretched its arms skyward.

“Funny thing is, your brother made the same pathetic mistake you did. Still, suppose everyone in your family must be weaklings.”

“How!? How did you summon that thing!”

“The effect of Colossal means I can summon any Extra Deck Cyber monster when it gets destroyed. Next time, pay more attention to my cards!”

Ken shifted uncomfortably on his seat. The dragon’s body was uncomfortably warm, and he was beginning to sweat.

“I won’t waste any more time! First, I’m summoning my Heavy Mech Support Platform, reviving B-Buster Drake and equipping both to Cyber Dragon Nova!”

Once more, the plane like form of Heavy Mech Support Platform appeared and attached to Nova, this time forming armor round the power core in the middle of Nova’s chest. Buster Drake roared to announce his return again, and attached himself as two average sized turrets to the back of Nova. Satisfied with what he saw, Ken drew the top card with some force. He grinned at what he saw he just drew.

“Next, I’ll be summoning Cyber Dragon Drei to the field!”

The serpentine form of Ken’s monster, all gleaming metal with a pointed head, flew besides Ken. Drei bowed its head to Nova in respect.

“I’ll use Cyber Dragon Nova’s effect! By banishing my Drei,” Ken intoned, gesturing at Drei,”I can increase the attack of Nova by 2100!”

In the crowd, who were raptured by the scene before them, surprised exclamations were heard. “2100,” someone said, “A 2100 boost, how are you meant to beat that?!”

Meanwhile, Nova turned to Drei, and thin beams of light burst from Nova;s eyes, reducing Drei to nothing more than dust. The silvery dust silently streamed towards Nova, cloaking him.

“Now, Nova, crush her! Cybernetic Cosmos Cannon!”

The twin guns, the equipped form of Buster Drake, began to charge up signalling the massive forces being channeled. Thinking quickly, the blonde girl activated another Trap Card.

“Mystic 8! I can banish a Level 8 monster from my graveyard to reduce the attack of a targeted card by the attack of the banished monster! As my Schwarzschild Limit Dragon has 2000 attack, it’ll knock your dragon back down to size!”

“Is that your best attempt?” Ken retorted. “Poor! Heavy Mech Support Armor stops you from targeting Nova!” Ken, with grim determination, pointed down at his foe. “Nova, no more messing around! Fire!”

The attack burst forth from the turrets, a huge mass of black, red and silver energies that seemed unstoppable. WIthout even looking to see if he hit the target, Ken turned around to look for Tendra, who had presumably flown off while he was busy.

However, the top-reigning duelist was in the same location, and for the first time in the competition, seemed to be stressed. While much of the crowd was fixated on Ken’s ordeal, once it was over with, they immediately switched their attention back to Tendra. Many arrows and magical attacks were barraging him from inside the forest below, and several winged creatures were fighting him. “Let’s go, Sky Dracoons of Draconia, defeat the champion with the power of your Ego Boost!” The pterodactyl before the Duel Champion grew exponentially in size, and dashed forwards. Tendra looked back at his pursuer, then winced as he saw how well the boy handled the situation at hand, constantly searching and recycling his monsters to stay afloat.

As much as Tendra hated to admit it, that strategy of keeping his monsters alive through constant searching wasn’t one he was too well versed in. Duels usually ended far too fast for him to worry about such protection. His hand run dry by constant battles, Tendra stood up off of his saddle on the dragon and ran up the beast’s head, leaping into the air and grabbing an Action Card, as he began to free fall. “Action Magic Evade! As lowly as this may be, I must stay on the defence!” The blue dragon emanated a small white glow before swiftly ducking down and avoiding the attack, then continuing downwards to catch its owner. As soon at Tendra landed back on his dragon they shot off, making their way to the other side of the arena to catch a break. As no competitor could match Tendra’s dragon’s speed, when the beast slowed down Tendra stood up and walked down his monster to its tail.

A flag was missing.

 

As one of the many cameras focused in on this great reveal, the crowd went absolutely wild, far more than they had at any of Tendra’s flashy moves.

However, it was unclear who had the flag.