Yu-Gi-Oh! ZD: Rise Of The Dragons (A Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfiction) - Chapter 33

“By the power of the Orichalcos and the authority of Order. Let the shadow of the Beast now descend!”

*ARH-WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!*

A terrifying howl echoed in the night sky and even all over Heartland city far below. Those that heard it could not help but feel a sense of helplessness, of powerlessness. A feeling of terror as old as time which came when an ancient predator had you in its sights. A primal instinct.

Even deep underground at New Order Headquarters the effect of that howl could be felt, and the Orichalcos King cursed his Gold General for doing something so foolish. To think that Proteus would dare call the shadow of the Great Beast into being, the shadow of the Fenris. This was a disaster!

High in the sky Drake was flung backwards from the shockwaves that cry had unleashed. Over and over he tumbled in freefall before he could right himself, his feet skimming a large cloud bank. His ears hurt, no not just his ears, that howl had shaken him to his very soul, beside him Astral looked better but his face was still pained.

Looking up he saw Proteus backed by the full moon, the green glowing sceptre in his hand was disintegrating at an alarming rate and behind him black storm clouds began to materialise. Like a giant maw the clouds closed around the moon blocking its white light. For miles around people would later claim that on that night, they saw the moon eaten by a black beast.

As the dark clouds grew larger and larger they began to swirl like a brewing tempest, a sinister black whirlpool.

“Behold! The Beast has come!” cried Proteus as he raised his arms in supplication.

Then the centre of the whirling clouds opened up to reveal a single golden wolfs eye. Looking at the scene reminded Drake of when Yugi first summoned Timaeus against the projected power of the partially awakened leviathan. But Drake had no intention of letting this beast have the chance to strike the first blow.

“It’s time! Come forth Critias I summon you!”

Blinding streaks of blue light began to shine out from within the clouds beneath Drakes feet, before they erupted upwards like a geyser. Like Godzilla rising from the depths, the giant form of the Legendary Dragon Critias burst upwards pulling the clouds behind his wake. His dark blue scales gleamed like armour as his beating wings sent him bursting towards the great wolf eye.

Lightning began to gather around the eye as it looked down on the world below, its focus on the puny creature that dared to challenge its power. One could see the distain it held for the dragon, it would destroy this challenger with its might, with another howl it loosed its lighting down as a thundering bolt of power.

*ROAR!*

With a mighty roar Critias replied with a stream of overwhelming crimson flames. Fire and lighting clashed in the night skies, two forces of utter destruction locked in battle. But while the Great Beast of the Orichalcos was a powerful mythical creature, it was ultimately still just a projection. And such a projection was no match for the true power of a Legendary Dragon!

Critias burst forth with even greater strength, his flames rolling over the lightning unleashed by the Eye of the Fenris, speeding, surging and blasting forth into and then through the projection of the eye which shattered into pieces of green stone that vanished into nothing.

*ROAAARR!*

Crying out a roar of victory Critias faded away, returning to Drakes mindscape to recover its strength till the next time it was needed. For it knew that even although it had won a victory, the war was far from over.

Proteus was in shock, to him it was unbelievable that anything could stop the Great Beast. Although he knew it had only a shadow of its true power, that should still have been enough to devastate a city, to wipe out an army, to overturn heaven and earth. But it had failed…

So great was his shock that it was only at the last moment that he realised that Drake was charging at him with his sword. Turning at the last moment his sword still managed to cut through Proteus robes and gouge out a scar on his outer shell, cutting open one of his pockets and allowing Yuma’s golden key which he had stolen, to fall from it.

With his free hand Drake grabbed at the glittering key, there was no way he would allow such an important object to fall 20,000 feet to the ground below. Not only was its Yuma’s valued treasure, but it had a connection to Astral and held many secrets.

With the momentum of the grab Drake swung the Sword of Wisdom in a roundhouse strike trying to cut the Gold General in half. He missed as the General backed away, but before he could follow through.

“Move and I crush his soul!” Proteus threatened, in his hand was grasped the card that held Yuma’s soul.

Drake held back, he didn’t know if destroying the card would destroy Yuma’s soul, but he did not want to take the risk.

“Release him and I will let you go.” Drake offered.

“Surrender or I destroy it!” Proteus snarled, stalling for time as he received word his ȧssistant Tesla would catch up soon.

“Try it and your end with be slow and painful.” Drake angerly replied.

He could not afford to stretch this clash out for much longer, he thought as he transferred what little duel energy remained to him into his Tyrant Wings. It would be the ultimate irony for his wings to suddenly give out and send him plummeting to an ignoble death. But without any more duel energy it also meant that Drake could no longer activate the powers of the Sword of Wisdom.

If the New Order stooge in front of him knew that, then he would have a good chance of escaping. So Drake need to bluff it out. Let them think he could carry on like this all night.

“Surrender or else!” Proteus demanded.

“Why don’t you duel me instead, or are you too much of a coward?” Drake responded as he transformed the Sword of Wisdom back into its duel disk form.

“…Fine, but it will be a two on one duel!” Proteus claimed as Tesla zoomed up next to him breathing hard. While Proteus might be a cyborg capable of operating at this altitude and Drake had an enhanced artificial body, Tesla was just a human with high tech support gear.

“No, it will be a two on two Duel.” Interrupted Astral with his strange looking blue duel disk appearing on his arm.

“Then a tag duel it is… Duel!” decaled Proteus.

“Prepare to be crushed! And when we win you better return Yuma’s soul. Lets duel!” Drake replied.

Tag duel rules. Duellists begin with 8000 life points, duellists will switch at the start of their teams turn.

[Turn 1 – Tesla(Hand:5)/Proteus(Hand:5) LP:8000, Drake(Hand:5)/Astral(Hand:5) LP:8000]

“For the glory of New Order, I will go first! I draw, then I set one card face down and one monster face down. This ends my turn.” Cried Tesla, his voice slightly muffled and echoey from his breathing apparatus.

It was a simple start for such an important duel.

[Turn 2- A(H:5)/D(H:5) LP:8000, T(H:4)/P(H:5) LP:8000]

“Draw!” cried Astral as he started his turn.

“I summon my faithful < Satellarknight Alsahm> to the field!”

[Satellarknight Alsahm – Lv4 ATK:1400/DEF:1800]

A white armoured archer with golden bow and wings took to the field, pulling back its bow string his bow was lit by powerful light energy that took aim at Tesla.

“When this monster is summon it deals 1000 damage to my opponent.”

*Woooossshh!*

Letting go its bolt, the light arrow flew quicker than the eye and pierced through Tesla’s ċhėst.

[T/P LP > 7000]

“Argh!”

“Next I attack your face down monster, Go!” Astral commanded his monster.

[SA ATK:1400 > MP DEF:400]

Tesla’s monster was no match for Astral’s stellar warrior, exploding under the force of Alsahm’s arrow.

“When my Machina Peacekeeper is destroyed I can use its effect to add another to my hand.” Tesla said.

“I set a card face down and end my turn.”

[Turn 3- P(H:5)/ T(H:5) LP:7000, A(H:4)/D(H:5) LP:8000]

It was Proteus’s turn as he checked the facedown his partner had left for him.

“Draw. Logic dictates I set a monster face down and one more card face down.”

“End Turn”

Again a simple turn, not something Drake would have expected from a General of New Order.

[Turn 4- D(H:5)/A(H:4) LP:8000 P(H:4)/ T(H:5) LP:7000]

“Now its my turn! I draw!” said Drake taking charge of the field.

“Get ready to pay the price for your actions. I summon <Keeper of Dragon Magic>, when this monster is summoned I can discard a card from my hand to add a <Polymerization> to my hand. So I will discard my <The White Stone of Legend>.”

Drakes monster appeared on the field, its magical powers pulling a card from Drakes deck to add to his hand, but before Drake could do anything else.

“I activate my face down, <Torrential Tribute>. This destroys all monsters on the field, yours and mine. So I eliminate your dragon and knight, together with my <Wise Core>!”

A blue explosion blasted out across the field destroying all the monsters on the field, but although Proteus’s monster was also destroyed, Drake was not happy. Because he recognised the name of the Proteus monster. It was a famous monster and a key part in the arch type known as the Synchro Killers. The Meklords!

“Objective achieved. When Wise Core is destroyed by a card effect I can summon <Meklord Emperor Wisel ∞>, <Wisel Attack>, <Wisel Carrier>, <Wisel Guard> and <Wisel Top> to the field from my deck.”

[Meklord Emperor Wisel ∞ – Lv1 ATK:?/DEF:0 , Wisel Attack – Lv1 ATK:1200/0, Wisel Carrier – Lv1 ATK:800/DEF:600, Wisel Guard – Lv1 ATK:0/DEF:1200, Wisel Top – Lv1 ATK:500/DEF:0]

These were the true Meklord cards from the anime, not the pale knock-off from the TCG. The modular monsters that was the bane of all Synchro monsters.

The five individual monsters appeared on the field, each clad in pure white armour. And as they did so they began to fly to each other, transforming and expanding as they combined into the humanoid warrior form of the first Meklord Emperor. Two arms, one with a blade the other with a energy shield, a pair of legs, a head and the core body with the infinity symbol prominent on its ċhėst.

Apart from the Meklord Emperor itself the rest of the pieces were summoned in defence mode.

“What are those?” Astral asked in awe of this robotic menace.

“Those are the Meklords, a modular combination monster. Also known as Synchro killers. The key is the core section that links them all together to form the Meklord Emperor, it is also the only part that can actually attack.” Drake told his partner.

“You know about the Meklord? Impressive. Then you should know that Meklord Emperor Wisel ∞ attack is equal to the combined attack of my other Meklord monsters.”

[Meklord Emperor Wisel ∞ – ATK:? >2500]

“Because I discarded my White Stone, I can now add a <Blue-Eyes White Dragon> to my hand. And yes I know a lot about the Meklords, but how did you get such cards?”

Drake tried to use his Dragons Eye on the Wisel pieces, he remembered that only a few of the basic pieces actually had any special abilities, but apart from Wisel Guard’s effect to redirect an attack to itself the rest escaped him at the moment. He certainly knew that all the upgraded parts had at least one ability each.

“Urgh…”

This was new, his Dragons eye was helpless to analyse Proteus’s cards. Instead sending a sharp feedback to Drake as it wept a bloody tear. It was like there was something different about these Meklord cards compared to the other cards he had encountered in this world.

“Destiny delivered them to me, so it is only logical that I go on to achieve greatness.” Proteus replied.

“Destiny… right. Next I will use the Polymerization I just got, along with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and a <Dragon Spirit of White> in my hand to fusion summon <First of the Dragons> in attack mode!” Drake said disregarding Proteus words.

[First of the Dragons – Lv9 ATK:2700/DEF:2000]

Drake could do this because Dragon Spirit of White was treated as a normal monster while in his hand or graveyard.

Drakes spiky purple/blue legless dragon materialised and circled the skies around them. Drake knew that he needed to get rid of that Emperor quickly, or else once the Seal of Orichalcos was played it would be a calamity.

“Now First of the Dragons attacks your Meklord Emperor Wisel!” Drake declared.

“I activate Wisel Guards effect, allowing me to switch your attack to this card instead.” Proteus said as the Meklord’s right arm projected an energy shield from a turbine on its shoulder.

[FotD ATK:2700 > WG DEF:1200]

Roaring flames blasted against the shield and the whole arm shattered into pieces with the destruction of one of the Wisel pieces. But since Wise guard had no attack points its loss did not effect the strength of the Emperor.

“I set two cards face down and end my turn.”

[Turn 5- T(H:5)/P(H:4) LP:7000, D(H:1)/A(H:4) LP:8000]

“Back to me now. I draw.” said Tesla.

“I play <Terraforming> which allows me to add to my hand and then activate <The Seal of Orichalcos>.”

The Power of the Seal activated and spread across the skies to engulf the four duellists. Its mark appearing on each piece of the Meklord.

“With the power of the Seal each of my monsters gains a 500ATK point boost. And don’t forget my Meklord Emperor’s attack is equal to the combined attack of my other Meklord monsters.”

This is what Drake had been afraid of, with three Wisel pieces each gaining 500 attack, plus the 500 that the Meklord Emperor itself gain, that meant that Meklord Emperor Wisel was effectively gaining 2000 attack points!

[Meklord Emperor Wisel ∞ – ATK:2500 > 4500, Wisel Attack – ATK:1200 > 1700, Wisel Carrier – ATK:800 > 1300, Wisel Top – ATK:500 > 1000]

“I activate my face down trap <Fusion Reserve> by revealing my <Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon> from my extra deck I can add a Blue-Eyes White dragon from my deck and a Polymerization from the grave to my hand.” said Drake as he activate one of the face down’s he had just played on his last turn.

“I summon a Machina Peacekeeper from my hand and then I equip it to my Meklord Emperor with its union effect. Then I move Wisel Attack to the back row.” Tesla said.

[Machina Peacekeeper – Lv2 ATK:500 > 1000/DEF:400]

With its non-existent defence it was safer for the monster which gave the Wisel Emperor the most attack points to be on the back row made available by the power of the Seal.

“Meklord Emperor Wisel attack First of the Dragons, Stainless Steel Slash!”

Now that it had such a large power boost Drakes dragon was no match for the metallic monster as it slashed down with the blade on its remaining left arm.

[MEW ATK:4500 > FotD ATK:2700 – D/A LP > 6200]

There was a massive explosion as the beasts clashed, but after the smoke cleared both monsters remained on the field.

“But thanks to my dragons ability it can’t be destroyed in battle except with Normal monsters.” explained Drake.

“I set a card facedown and end my turn.”

[Turn 6- A(H:4)/D(H:3) LP:6200, T(H:3)/P(H:4) LP:7000]

“Now I will draw!” said Astral

“I summon <Satellarknight Vega> to the field, and its effect allow me to special summon <Satellarknight Unukalhai>! With Unukalhai’s effect I then send <Satellarknight Rigel> from my deck to graveyard.”

[Satellarknight Vega – Lv4 ATK:1200/1600, Satellarknight Unukalhai – Lv4 ATK:1800/1000]

Since Meklord Wisel’s power was dependent on the other Wisel parts, Astral determined the best course of action was to first strip away a portion of its power so that their dragon could once more hold the advantage.

“Now Vega will attack Wisel Top.”

[SV ATK:1200 > WT DEF:0]

*Boom*

With a bolt of star light the Meklord Emperors head was blown away.

“And with one less monster your Emperor’s attack also falls!” Drake commented from behind.

[Meklord Emperor Wisel ∞ – ATK:4500 > 3500]

“Then Unukalhai will attack your Wisel Carrier.”

[SU ATK:1800 > WC DEF:600]

With a strike of its segmented tail the Emperors legs were blasted apart, leaving just the body core and left arm on the field, a poor state for such a legendary monster to find itself in Drake thought.

“Now you monster loses even more attack points!” said Astral.

[Meklord Emperor Wisel ∞ – ATK:3500 > 2200]

“Now First of the Dragons attacks Meklord Emperor Wisel!”

“Not before I activate my <Anti Fusion Device> which destroys a fusion monster of my choice. And your dragon is the only fusion monster on the field.”

*BANG*

With a loud explosion the great dragon was destroyed in a large blast as it charged towards its target. Unfortunately, while Drakes First of Dragons was protected against monster effects it had no such protection from trap cards.

Since all their remaining monsters had already attacked Astral had to end the battle phase.

“I am not finished yet! I now use my two Satellarknight’s to build the Overlay Network and Xyz Summon <Number 39: Utopia>!”

[Number 39: Utopia – Rank 4 ATK:2500/DEF:2000]

From the vortex of the Overlay Network emerged Astral’s most trusted Number. Although Yuma had used it in his last duel and lost, the Number for some reason had returned to Astral at the end of the duel. Perhaps because Bronk had been in no condition to claim the Number after what the Orichalcos King had done to him.

Whatever the reason, Astral planned to use this card that was the proof of the bond between him and Yuma to get his friend back.

“I set a card face down and end my turn.”