Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's: Power of the Dragon

VII

"They didn't tell you anything about the fake Sayer? Like at all?" Leo asked Crow. He and Yuri had rejoined Yusei, Jack, Leo, and Luna at Poppo Time and explained everything about the duel. 

"I'm getting the feeling the fake Sayer is the least of our worries Leo," Crow said. 

"Yeah, me too. After what Walker said, it sounds like whoever is behind this has bigger plans than just us," Yuri said. 

"Quite right you are," a voice from the garage door said. Everyone looked up.

"Mr. Lu?" Yuri asked. "What are you doing here?" Lu held up his hand and removed his right glove. An ouroboros seal was on the back of it. 

"This is what brings me here," Lu said. "And my name isn't Lu. My true name is Vlad Tepes*. I am the head of the Order of the Dragon. We have been observing you Yuri."

"We? Who's we?" Yuri asked. Vlad tapped his walking stick. A girl with blonde hair joined Vlad. 

"This is Kari. She has been monitoring you since you returned to New Domino," Vlad said. 

"Hey, how's the new duel disk treating you?" " Kari asked.

"No complaints. Where'd you get it?" Yuri asked.

"I built it myself. I'm a bit of a gearhead," Kari said. "And I'm also a member of the Dragon," she said, showing the group her right hand, which had a ouroboros infinity sign. Their marks started to glow, as did the marks of the Crimson Dragon. 

"AAHH!" Yuri shouted, clutching his right arm and falling to his knees. 

"Are you okay? Yusei asked.

"I-I'm fine. It j-just hurts a-a little," Yuri said. Yusei knelt down next to Yuri. Yuri's coat was smoking where his mark was shining. Vlad knelt down and placed his hand on the mark. The mark burned brighter. Yuri screamed in pain.

"You're hurting him!" Yusei shouted at Vlad.

"It will be over in a moment," Vlad said calmly. A moment later, the mark disappeared completely. 

"What-what did you do?" Yuri stuttered.

"I removed your dragon mark. It was causing you pain," Vlad said, standing up and adjusting his suit. "I'm sorry to tell you, but your dragon mark wasn't real. It was a forgery created by our enemies." 

"But why would they do that?" Jack asked. 

"We aren't yet sure Mr. Atlas, but after Yuri and Walkers first duel, I knew I had to look into Sayer. I had a feeling he would know something, so I became interim warden of the Facility. And then I saw the worry in Yuri's eyes."

"I knew it. You were the guy from the bar," Yuri said. 

"Yes I am. But I couldn't reveal myself then. But after today, I had no choice," Vlad said. "With their plan to reawaken the Cosmic Gods, it became impossible to hide my involvement."

"Cosmic Gods? What are those?" Leo asked, his voice shaking.

"Ancient gods, more so than Slifer the Sky Dragon, Obelisk the Tormentor, and The Winged Dragon of Ra. And far more powerful than them," Vlad said.

"Not to mention that these would be an entire deck of god monsters, while the Egyptian God Monsters were only three card," Kari said. "And they have no known weakness." 

"That's impossible. Every monster has it's weakness," Jack said. "There has to be a way to beat them."

"Jack's right. There's no such thing as a deck without a weakness," Yuri said. "We just have to watch a few duels with those cards to figure out what it is."

"Good luck with that. These cards are the rarest cards on Earth. No one has ever seen them in use," Kari said. 

"Well, there is something we could look into. Kari, the book, if you please," Vlad said. Kari nodded and left. A moment later, Kari returned carrying a large book. She slammed the book down on the table and flipped it open. She stopped at a page filled with runes and monsters. 

Yuri looked at the images in the book. "Hey, that's my card," Yuri said, pointing at an image of a dragon. He pulled his Blazing Chaos Dragon out of his card holster and placed it next to the image of the dragon in the book. "And this one is Stardust Dragon," Yuri said, pointing to another.

"Are you sure?" Yusei asked, approaching the book.

"Yeah, look," Yuri said. Yusei pulled his Stardust Dragon card out and compared the images.

"You're right!" Yusei said. He turned the page. There was an image of a man in a black armor and a dragon shaped helm on it. In one hand he held a sword over his head. In the other was a pike. Two dragons, a Red-Eyes Black Dragon and a Blue-Eyes White Dragon stood over him. On the other were three dragons, one of which was Blazing Chaos Dragon, was blasting a figure cloaked in blackness. "What's that?"

"The enemy of all things," Vlad said. "And the figure on the other page is Vlad III. You may know him better as Vlad the Impaler."

"What do you mean that's the enemy of all things?" Jack asked.

"That, Mr. Atlas, is one of the Cosmic Gods. Many millions of years ago, they came to this planet as a second home. When humans were created, they recognized the dark potential of these beings and sealed them away in a realm far beyond our own. The remaining ones were put to rest in their great cities" Vlad said. "Now, throughout our history, some have come through to our realm, or awaken from their slumber, but for brief moments at a time. At least, brief amounts of time for them. But they usually go back after a few months."

"A few months? With how you describe these things, they could've destroyed the world a hundred times over!" Jack shouted at Vlad.

"I realize that Mr. Atlas, as did my forefathers. That is why the Order of the Dragon was founded, to battle these beasts with a power of our own. Dragons. In the year 1310, Basarab I, of Wallachia learned the secret to summon spirit monsters. An art that was lost with the fall of the Egyptian Empire. Since Maximillion Pegasus created Duel Monsters, we haven't needed to summon spirit monsters when the Cosmic Gods enter our reality."

"Since then, the order has reached out to all corners of the world," Kari said. 

"So, how do we stop these Cosmic Gods? We just have to beat them in a duel?" Yusei asked.

"Yes, Mr. Fudo. But that is easier said than done. As Kari said, it's a deck of god monster," Vlad said. "I suppose with Yuri's and Kari's dragons there could be a chance, but the book depicts three dragons fighting the Cosmic Gods."

"You have a dragon card too?" Yuri asked. Kari pointed to the middle dragon on the page. 

"Shining Order Dragon. That one's mine," Kari said. She held the monster card up for everyone to look at. Her dragon looked like Blazing Chaos Dragon, except it was white and gold instead of black and purple, and looked more muscular. They put their cards back in their deck holsters. 

"Okay, but what about the fake Sayer? He's still on the loose," Luna said. 

"I suspect he is a conjuration of a duel monster spirit," Vlad said. "As for Walker and Striker, they are a most dangerous duo. It was Walker who mentioned the Cosmic Gods to you. Their presence in all of this could mean that the false Sayer is gathering support to reawaken them permanently." 

"Okay. I can ask Regulus if anyone is missing in the duel monster spirit world," Luna said. Vlad and Kari made to leave the garage.

"Tread carefully Signers. There are dark times approaching," Vlad said. He and Kari got into a car and drove away.