Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Reverse of Arcadia ❯ Chapter 5: Fate – Signers vs. Dark Signers Part 4 ( Chapter 12 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

“Do you really think you could be a threat to me, little girl?” the black and green clad Dark Signer sneers, “I’ll just have to get you out of my way first!” Misty then gave a pained yell. “No! She’s trying to resist me! The power… is unstable! I must defeat you! If I do, this fool may stop resisting me!”
Here we go again. This wasn’t going to be easy.

And I was right. That lizard was one sneaky bitch. I might have been able to keep her from summoning that gecko thing, but she did somehow managed to get a monster with 2600 attack on the field. My Monarchs may have been strong, but not that strong.
But just as it looked as if things were bleak, I could feel a strange power coming from my deck. I felt a strange sense of determination coming from my cards, as if the bits of cardboard wanted to fight… wanted me to continue on. I drew my beloved D.D. Survivor!
“K-Kiryu…” I murmur. I somehow felt my boyfriend’s arms wrap around me and I start and almost jump out of my skin.
‘Take her down, Io,’ I hear him whisper and I can’t stop the tears from falling from my eyes. ‘I know you can do it… koi.’
“Kiryu…” I say again, “Thank… you.” Even now, he was still with me; still watching out for me.
“Make your move,” the possessed Misty demands impatiently, “Or have you decided to give up already?”
I glared it the thing that had taken Misty’s body, “Satellites NEVER give up!” I shout in defiance. “I summon D.D. Survivor in attack mode!”
“Oh you foolish, foolish, foolish girl,” Misty jeers, grinning sadistically. I wasn’t worried. D.D. hardly ever let me down when I summoned him. And I already had one of the few cards needed for his special ability in play. Plus there was still the Monarch I had in my hand. I knew now, Kiryu would always be there for me, no matter where he was. “Reptilliane Vaskii! Destroy her D.D. Survivor!!” I wince as I feel the pain from the 800 points of damage. It didn’t matter, my most prized monster would be back. “Still wish to continue your suffering?” she asks.
“Bring it you scaly bitch!” I spit.
“Hmph. As you wish. I end my turn for now.”
I smirk triumphantly as my monster’s ability kicks in and he returns to my side of the field. “Time to end your suffering Misty,” I call, “I summon Zaborg, the Thunder Monarch in attack mode, using my D.D. Survivor as payment for his services.”
“Heh! You know I’ll just destroy that monster anyway, so why bother,” the Dark Signer drawls.
“Never underestimate Team Satisfaction!” I shout back, “We’re family, and family always looks out for each other!” Kiryu… koi… I thought, a tiny smile coming to my lips. “Zabby here, like all my other Monarchs, has a very special gift. He gets to destroy one monster I choose whenever he’s summoned using a sacrifice. And guess who’s gonna have to say bye-bye?”
“W-What?!”
“You know what happens to a lizard when it’s struck by lightning?” I sneer, “The same thing that happens to everything else. Zabby, fry that reptile!” Lightning leaps from the giant’s hands and sparks across the field until it hits Misty’s Reptilliane Vaskii. The naga like creature let out a hissing scream as she was electrocuted and shattered to bits.
“Y-You!”
“But that’s not all. Now, Zaborg! Finish her off for good!”
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” the possessed woman screams as the last of her life points are annihilated. The cloud of dark energy appears once more, but quickly dissipates, leaving Misty’s body to start petrifying just like all the other Dark Signers’.
“Misty!!!!” Aki screams as the woman falls, catching her as she runs over.
“Thank… you…” Misty says, smiling towards me. I nod, wiping frantically at my once again tearing eyes. “Aki… you mustn’t look at me so… You still… have to protect this world… as a Signer… All I ask… is that you never… forget us… my brother Tobi… and I…”
“Misty…” Aki says, her eyes just as wet as mine, as the dust that was once the woman’s body is blown away by the wind.
“Aki,” Mikage says solemnly, “let’s seal the control unit. It’s what she would have wanted.”
“Yes…” she says getting up. I watch as she takes out a card and holds it up before the tower entrance. And again there was another blinding flash, causing the overpowering sense of dread and menace vanish from the air.
“The control unit is sealed,” Aki says. She blinks confusedly and lets out a grunt as if in pain.
“Aki?!” Mikage asks in concern.
“I-It’s ok,” the burgundy haired girl replies, struggling to stay on her feet.
“No! You’ve overworked yourself,” the blue haired woman says, helping Aki to lean on her, “Let’s get you somewhere so you can rest. I’m sure Atlas-san can seal the last control unit in no time. Iolanthe-san, I’ll escort Aki back, will you please make sure the last control unit is sealed?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you and good luck,” Mikage says helping Aki to walk as they leave the area.
As I turn to go check up on my idiotic ‘big brother’, a blinding light shines from the direction where I had left Jack and Carly. “Well it looks like you finally did something right, ‘big brother.’”

I start to head back to where the others had decided to meet up when a black and red clad man appears out of no where. What the?! A sixth Dark Signer?! Just how many of these maniacs were there?! On his right arm, I could make out the faint purplish glow in the shape of my most hated enemies on the planet… a spider. Gods!!! I loathed those creepy eight legged freaks!! Just thinking about them made my skin crawl.
“Nice to meet you Signers,” the white haired man says in greeting, “I am Rudger.”
Like who cares. If he was here for a duel, he’d better get it over with otherwise, I’d have to take him down the old fashioned way – a good swift kick to where the sun don’t shine. I’d been hit on by enough persistent pervy idiots back in Satellite to know that that would leave any man totally defenseless while I made my escape. Sure enough it’ll work on a Dark Signer, dead or not.
“You may have sealed all the control units,” Rudger goes on, “but you’re much too late. The power from the control units has already been gathered into the Old Ener-D System.” That definitely didn’t sound too good. “All that is needed now is for me to open the gate and the world will be ours! But if you must insist on stopping that from happening, then come defeat me – if you can – I’ll be waiting at the Old Ener-D System. I hope you do come, I’ll enjoy crushing you all and offer your souls to the King of the Underworld! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” He then vanished in a swirl of purple flames.
I had to get to the others! No. There wasn’t enough time! I just couldn’t go traipsing around looking from my friends now! I was the only one close enough to the old reactor so, it had to be to stop that Rudger guy or else all Hell will literally break loose!
I rush down the stairs located to the north of the control unit and make a beeline for the once defunct Ener-D System.

R 20;Rudger!” I bellow charging along the plus sign shaped catwalk that was situated above a glowing purple pit.
The white haired man raises an eyebrow before deigning to speak to me, “I’d never thought a non-Signer would dare come here; and all alone at that. Now why is that I wonder?”
“Why the hell do you think?!” I snarl, “I’m here to stop you! There’s no way I’m gonna let you open that gate!”
“Are you challenging me, child? Do you truly believe you could best me in a duel?”
“I’ll stop you no matter what the cost!” I retort.
“I admire that courage of yours, so I think I’ll give you a reward. The gate is about to open any moment now, if you want to stop it, you’ll have to defeat me first! By the looks of things, I’d say it’d open in about twenty duel turns. Think you can beat me before then?”
That shouldn’t be too hard right? I mean twenty turns was a long time in dueling terms. But knowing how tough a Dark Signer is, this wasn’t the time for me to get cocky. Besides, no telling what Spidey here was up to. I can just hope my Monarchs would get me through this as they always have.
“Fine,” I say readying my disk and deck. “I. Will. Stop. You!”
“Really now? I don’t think you’d even last five turns against me let alone twenty.” He then laughs maniacally, starting the duel.

It was seven turns into the duel that I was able to wrest the upper hand from Rudger and his hideous deck of spider monsters. In his haste to finish me off, he had used a spell called ‘Mausoleum of the Emperor’ to summon the biggest, baddest, AND ugliest arachnid I’d ever seen. That had left his life points just about 1000.
If this had been three years ago, I’d be running away in sheer an utter terror, screaming for one of the boys to kill it for me. But the rest of Team Satisfaction wasn’t here. I had to take care of this monstrosity of nature on my own. I swallowed hard and took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.
“Ever hear that ‘haste makes waste,’ bub?” I say once I can hold my cards without trembling. “I sacrifice my Banisher of the Radiance to summon Raiza, the Storm Monarch! Since I sacrificed a monster to summon him, Raiza gets to send one of your cards to the top of your deck, and I choose… your Earthbound Immortal!! Raiza! Blow that disgusting thing out of my sight!!” The white and green armored giant claps his hands together and the hurricane force wind that created did indeed send the eight legged freak flying off the field.
“H-How?!” Rudger shouts in utter confusion.
“Caius, the Shadow Monarch,” I command, “FINISH HIM OFF FOR GOOD!!!!!!” My purple and black armored monster blasts an enormous ball of purplish black energy – much like the stuff that had surrounded Carly and Misty – at Rudger, hitting square in the chest and knocking him backwards across the glowing pit.
“H-How is it,” the red and black clad man huffs, “that some who isn’t a Signer like you can be so powerful…?!”
“Iolanthe!” Yusei shouts, running over to me.
“I’ve been waiting for you… Yusei Fudo,” Rudger says before I can properly explain to my spiky haired friend. “It’s too bad you’re too late. The gate to the Underworld will open any second now!”
“What?!”
My sentiments exactly Yus. I beat Rudger. He said I could prevent the gate from opening if I beat him, so just what the heck was going on?! Just how naive could I be?! I can’t believe I took the word of a Dark Signer at face value! Had my time with Kiryu and the boys taught me nothing?!
“There is… nothing you can do… but cower in fear… as your world comes… to an end! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!” Rudger’s laugh lingers as his petrified body crumbles to dust.
“It can’t be!” Yusei says in shock, “I didn’t make it in time?! There’s nothing I can do?!”
“Yusei!” I scold, “Get a hold of yourself!”
Suddenly there was a flash of red light coming from my former teammate’s right arm. “My Signer mark!” he says, eyes widening at the glowing tattoo. There was another blinding flash of light and when I could see again, I was standing at the gates of Goodwin’s mansion, but where was Yusei?! Glancing around I see that Aki and Mikage are there as well.
“Where are we?!” Aki says, just as surprised as I.
“Iolanthe-san!” the blue haired woman cries upon spotting me.
“I knew you’d show up here sooner or later!” the freakish clown guy from the Fortune Cup says coming from through the gates, chuckling eerily.
“You’re…!” Mikage gasps.
“Hmm…” the creep says, ignoring her, “we seem to be missing a few people. And there’s a non-Signer no less. It seems that the power of the Crimson Dragon’s become a bit… unstable.”
You’re one to talk you creepy circus reject. If anything’s unstable around here, it’s you! Was it me or did he remind the others of that killer clown from an old horror movie?
“What do you mean?!” Aki asks.
“I bet you’d like to know what’s going on in the world, don’t you?” Well, duh. Just spit it out already pasty face! “Well the answers you seek are just beyond this gate.” Great. Just great not only was he freaky, but a weisenheimer too. I definitely wasn’t looking forward to having to deal with that sanctimonious bastard Goodwin.
“But I can’t just let you through,” he jeers, giggling insanely, “not unless you can prove you’re worthy enough to enter.” Yep. He was definitely a weisenheimer. I was soooooo gonna kick his pasty little kiester so hard that he’d be sitting on his head! Either that or that freaky grin’s gonna be where his smeller ought to be.

Gods! This circus reject was really starting to piss me off!! As if his constant insane giggling weren’t annoying enough, this freak wasn’t even attacking! All he did was put wimpy monsters in defense and relied on his attack blocking traps and spells. He’s a disgrace to duelists everywhere! Where was the fun if your opponent wasn’t even going to try attacking even once?! Was it his intention to make me feel like a bully here?!! Well even if wasn’t, I sure did, but he brought it upon himself! Time to end this farce of a duel!
“Cauis, Thestalos, Raiza!” I call to my darling Monarchs, “Rip him to shreds!!!!!” Wind, fire, and dark energy cover the field as all three of my monsters shot their attacks at the now defenseless clown.
“AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” he screams, the gates the only things keeping him up right. “N-Not bad,” he pants, “not bad at all. I think you just may have what it takes after all.” He gave yet another insane giggle, as he gets up and starts to walk away. “Well, anyway, good luck to you… you’ll be needing it.” With that, the annoying circus reject walks toward the city entrance.
“Just what was that about…?” Aki asks as she watches the clown disappear behind the city gates.
“Don’t look at me, Aki,” I say, “Come on, let’s get this over with. The sooner we get away from the snake, the sooner I can go looking for Yusei. He was with me just before I wound up here.”
“Ah! What’s going on?!” Mikage shouts as the earth shakes.
“Look at the mansion!” Aki says, pointing at the huge house behind us. Mikage and I whirl around and I gasp.
The temple Goodwin had shown us on the holoscreen was no longer underground. It was out there in plain sight for all to see. Just what the hell was going on?!!
“What’s happening?!” Yusei says, echoing my thoughts and running over to us with officer Ushio.
“That’s…!”
“I know Yus,” I say, frowning at the enormous Mayan style structure.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this…” Aki adds, again echoing what was going through my mind.
“Hey!” Ushio pipes up, “Where’re the kids? Aren’t they here? I was with them, but they got swallowed up by that huge flash of light and we got separated.”
“I think they may have been teleported somewhere by the Crimson Dragon’s power,” Yusei explains. “It’s best we check out that temple though. Everyone, stay here, Aki and I will go. Besides, the twins may show up yet.”
“Got it,” agreed the security officer, “We’ll tell them you went ahead.”
“Aki, you should stay here,” Mikage says as the burgundy haired girl started to follow Yusei.
“I’m going in,” she protests determinedly, “I made a promise to Misty that I’d protect this world not matter the costs!”
“Fine, if you feel as though you must,” the blue haired woman replied, “but don’t do anything reckless, please? I-Iolanthe-san?!!!”
I glance at her over my shoulder as I too head for the mansion. “I’m going too,” I say firmly, “Someone’s got to keep an eye on Yusei. Besides, I want answers and I want them, now!”
“B-But…”
“Let her go, Mika-chan,” Ushio says, shocking us all, “I’m against it too, but I know that when a girl’s got her mind made up, there’s nothing that’s gonna change it.”
“Thanks,” I say. He’d just better not think I was going to make it a habit of being nice to that Security jerk. Once a bunch of arrogant self righteous bastards, always a bunch of arrogant self righteous bastards.

******************************************************
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I finally catch up to the others by a fountain out behind the mansion. “I still can’t believe that’s the same temple that was under the mansion,” Yusei says in awe as we stared at the enormous structure.
“Me neither, Yus,” I say.
“Though, I wonder why it chose now to rise up like that…”
“Good point, Aki. Any ideas Yusei? You’re the one who’s always figuring things out before we could.”
Yusei was about to say something when that snake of a bastard, Goodwin came walking toward us from the temple’s stairs. “I’ve been waiting, Signers. Hmm… I see that not all of you are here. No matter, I am certain they’ll show up when the time is right.”
“What’s going on here, Goodwin?!” my black and gold haired friend demands. “The gate to the underworld was about to open…”
“I am well aware of that, Yusei. However, you are too late. It can not be stopped.”
“What?! That would mean…”
“You are correct Aki Izayoi. This world is doomed. The King of the Underworld is making his way to this very temple as we speak.”
“You bastard!” I snarl at the man’s cold demeanor. Didn’t he care about anything?! This was his world too!!
“What do you mean by that, Goodwin?!” my former teammate demands yet again.
“I summoned him here of course. That is this temple’s purpose after all.”
“Y-You filthy…!!!” Aki grabbed hold of me before I could get any closer to that slimy piece of…
“Iolanthe… don’t,” she says, “He isn’t worth it. We have more important things to worry about.”
“You planned all this didn’t you?” Yusei asks, glaring furiously at the silver haired scumbag.
“Yes. And I am glad to see that it all went without a hitch, except one. I used the power of the Crimson Dragon to summon you Signers here and complete the ritual… but that power has been dispersed and isn’t stable.”
“Why are you doing this?!” demands Aki. Who cares why he was doing this, he had to be taken down!!! And ASAP!!!
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you just yet. You will find out soon enough when the King of the Underworld arrives.”
“That’s it!!! I’ve had enough of this slime!!! Lemme go Aki!! Yusei!!!”
My friends tighten their hold as I began to furiously struggle to launch myself at the bastard who thought he could do whatever the f*#^ he wanted with people’s lives.
“Perhaps, my dear…” Goodwin begins, “if you all would just calm down and look at this, you’d understand a bit more…”
A geoglyph of a bird appeared to glow around the scumbag and shortly afterward he was surrounded by a cloud of purplish black energy. The same kind as…
“That’s…” Aki gasps, “the same thing that happened with Misty!”
The energy clears to reveal a shirtless Goodwin. Odd violet markings covering his body. My eyes widen upon noticing the prosthetic right arm. He… he had the same evil abyssal eyes as all the other Dark Signers! He was one of them all along!!!
“MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” he chortles evilly, “Shall we begin?” The same geoglyph that had surrounded Goodwin appeared in the sky while tracks of purple flames surround the area below it. No. Not again! “Let’s get this ritual started shall we?” he says hopping onto a D-Wheel he’d stashed near by.
“No!” Yusei shouts in frustration.
“The only way for you to stop me, is to catch me. Care to race, Signers?”
“You won’t get away with this, Goodwin! I won’t let you!” Yusei shouts as the lunatic revs his engine and starts racing down one of the glowing tracks. “We’re going after him.”
“You damn right we are!” I concur.
We race back to the mansion’s gate and order Mikage to have someone bring our D-Wheels. Within a few minutes, both motorbikes were brought to the geoglyph area and we mount them as soon as they’re properly checked over. Well, at least Mikage was good for one thing. She was efficient.
“Ready?” Yusei asks, putting on his helmet. I nod, revving my engine. There was no way I was gonna let that bastard go through with this. He was gonna pay, for Kiryu, for Crow, for Yusei and even for that traitor Jack, and most importantly, for all of those poor souls trapped in Satellite lying he and everyone else in the city was livin’ fat!
Yusei and I race around the glowing tracks in search of Goodwin. I silently pray that we’d find and catch him in time. And somehow, my prayer is answered and I spot the filth up ahead racing along one of the geoglyph’s wings. “Got you, slimeball!” I shout as I crash my Valkyrie into his D-Wheel. Sorry old friend, but I have to do this… you’ll understand right?
Before Yusei or I can get a hold of him, Goodwin leaps off his motor bike and dashes up the temple stairs. “You may have won our little race, Signers,” the maniac jeers as he stands before a carved stone altar, “But you’ve yet to stop me.”
“Why are you doing this Goodwin?! Why?!” Yusei yells as he starts up the stairs after him, with me following close behind.
“Come now, Yusei,” the bastard drawls, “You’re a bright boy, you should know that I won’t give up the answer so easily.”
I growl and whip out my duel disk.
“I see at least one of you gets it. Beating you one by one would be quite troublesome, so I’ll take you both down at once!”
“It’s you who’s going down, you bastard!” I roar. Slamming my deck into the disk.
“Iolanthe…” Yusei says placing a hand on my disk arm. “There’s got to be another way… do you really think we have to do as he says?”
“’The dogs of war won’t negotiate,’ Yus,” I say, quoting an old rock song I once heard on Crow’s old broken down radio. How fitting that I should think of that song now.
My former teammate sighs, “I suppose you’re right Iolanthe. Let’s do this,” he says with a heavy heart.
I nod, placing my hand on his shoulder. “Get ready to lose, filth!” I spit venomously at Goodwin, “You’re gonna pay for every decent person you’ve kept prisoner in Satellite!!!”
“We shall see, young lady,” he returns, sneering at me.

*********************************************

The bastard was a total joke! Hmph some duelist. All he did was just as that freaky clown did. Oh sure he did try to attack Yusei and me, but thanks to having a partner, it was fairly easy to get the two Monarchs in my hand onto the field in no time flat! After that our battle was a cakewalk compared to the other Dark Signers. Goodwin was completely defenseless with only three cards facedown and no monsters. Yus and I had five monsters and two of ‘em were my beloved Monarchs. What a pity. It looked like I wasn’t gonna see my spiky haired friend’s beloved Stardust Dragon in action anytime soon. Oh well… time to save the world, Io!
“Caius!” I call to my favorite Monarch, “Wipe that stain out of existence!”
“Not so fast, my dear,” Goodwin sneers, “I activate my trap, “Offering to the Immortals!” Oh no! That wasn’t good. “Since you’ve been so kind to attack me while my life points are below 3000, I get to special summon two Ceremonial Tokens in defense on the field. Plus I get to add one card with Earthbound in its name to my hand from my deck. I’m sure you know which one.”
“Tch! Fine,” I spit angrily, as he shows me the card he picked – Earthbound Immortal Wariqocha Rasca. “So you live for another turn, but you won’t summon that thing! Raiza, Dimensional Alchemist! Destroy those tokens!”
“I activate the spell Terraforming!” Goodwin announces, “Now I place the field spell I just chose face down on the field and end my turn. Still think you can defeat me, Yusei?”
“I know we will, Goodwin,” he says drawing a card. “I place a card face down. Now Caius, the Shadow Monarch, wipe out the last of Goodwin’s life points!”
“NNNNNNNNUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!” the bastard screams as the ball of shadow magic hits him directly. Yes! We beat him!!! We did it, Kiryu. We got that bastard for you!
“I should have known you were so strong,” Goodwin says, eyeing me as if I were a nice rack of lamb. “That just means that you would be an even more delicious sacrifice to the King of the Underworld!”
“Give it up already, you slime!” I bellow, “You’ve lost!”
“What are you talking about, Goodwin?! Is that really the only reason you agreed to duel us?”
“But of course!” the silver haired Dark Signer says, cackling insanely, “I needed the power of a Signer and a strong duelist to complete the ritual. Ah… perfect. The others have finally arrived.
“Minna!” Aki calls as Jack and the twins join us.
“Just what is going on here?!” the blond asks, shocked to see the temple.
“This is Goodwin’s doing,” the burgundy haired girl explains.
“He’s trying to summon the King of the Underworld,” I add.
Ruka gasps in surprise, “So he’s really the bad guy, huh?” Rua pipes up, “Well there’s no way we’re gonna let him get away with that, right?!”
Before any of us could say anything, there was another earthquake, this one worse than before. We all struggle to keep our balance as we wait for the tremors to stop.
“MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!” that filthy slimeball cackles, “The King of the Underworld has finally been revived!!”
From atop of the gigantic temple, we could see all of Neo Domino and Satellite. Over by the Old Ener-D System, stood a gigantic, hideous six armed creature!