[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

(3rd Person PoV)

The squad was still heading towards the geoglyph of the Killer Whale. We saw 5 Dark Signers before and we know what mark they must have based on the geoglyphs that have disappeared earlier so whoever has the Killer Whale mark must be someone different but who? Yusei thought.

His main questions were who was the Dark Signer with the Killed Whale mark and who was dueling them.

He shook his head slightly before turning his head over to the car where everyone else was at. "You should stay behind, it's going to get dangerous up ahead," he suggested but no one looked pleased at this suggestion. "Hell no! We're not going anywhere that isn't on this path," Ushio pointed out. "We're not leaving you behind," Rua added. "They're right. We've come this far so might as well go through it," Etho nodded.

"Yusei, my mark can protect us if we're ever inside the geoglyph. Joel's mark as well. No need to worry about us getting sacrificed as Joel and I can protect everyone else here," Ruka assured him. "...alright but I'll be going ahead to see who's dueling. Follow me once you have a path to go through," Yusei instructed and everyone nodded.

Quickly, he launched his Duel Runner from a nearby ramp and onto the duel course that was created by the geoglyph, driving through it.

(Meanwhile)

Crow was knocked off course and he gritted his teeth at this. "I'm not going down that easily!" He shouted and pressed a couple of buttons in the handlebars of his Duel Runner and a grappling hook came out from underneath it. It got shot onto the circuit, and using the wings that were activated after the grappling hook, Crow's Duel Runner glided back to the circuit.

"Hmm, I applaud you for persevering. I set this card down and I end my turn," Bommer stated, his monster's attack and defense points returning back to normal.

1800 —> 800 ATK

800 —> 1800 DF

"Because with Dark Signers, you actually risk losing your soul if you lose against them. It's no ordinary duel, attacks can actually hurt you. Physically. Unlike a regular duel, where you duel for fun and entertainment, a Dark Signer duel is where you have to be vigilant so you won't...die," Yusei's words echoed in Crow's mind as he remembered what he said about dueling a Dark Signer.

Still...these stakes are no match for the fate of the kids who were sacrificed earlier, Crow thought, angrily. He began his turn by drawing a card.

SC: 1 —> 2

SC: 1 —> 2

"I activate the Speed Spell, Angel Baton. I get to draw two cards and discard 1," Crow started and did just that. "I summon Blackwing- Mistral the Silver Shield (ATK: 100. DF: 1800) and when I have a Blackwing monster on my field, I'm able to summon Blackwing- Blast the Black Spear (ATK: 1700. DF: 800)," Crow said and two monsters with wings appeared on his field.

"Now attack his monster, Death Spiral!" Crow shouted and Blast the Black Spear did a spin and attacked Bommer's monster. An explosion rocked the building above them and came crashing down on Bommer.

However, he came out of it unscathed and what was more surprising was that... "what? Your monster didn't get destroyed?! But how? I know I hit it!" Crow exclaimed, shocked.

4000 —> 3100 LPS

"Yes, because I activate the trap, Fake Explosion Penta. When you declare an attack, I can negate the destruction of my monster and I get to special summon Summon Reactor AI (ATK: 2000. DF: 1400) from my hand," Bommer explained and a second monster appeared on his field.

Damn! He has two of his monsters out, all he needs to do is to summon Magic Reactor AID (ATK: 1200. DF: 900) and he'll have all the materials on the field to summon his Ace, Giant Bomber Airraid (ATK: 3000. DF: 2500) like he did against Yusei during the Fortune Cup, Crow thought, angrily.

"It's only natural that I, a Dark Signer, would win against a non-Signer," Bommer boasted and Crow gritted his teeth. Behind them, Yusei sped up as soon as he saw figures up ahead. When he saw who was dueling, he quietly gasped, "Bommer."

Bommer glanced at him and Yusei added, "I never thought that you would become a Dark Signer. Not like this." "I have been reborn to seek vengeance against Goodwin using the powers of the Dark Signer and since you are Goodwin's pawn, you are my enemy as well! As well as the new Signer," Bommer said.

"No....Crow, this duel is too dangerous! You need to stop!" Yusei called after him. Crow shook his head though.

"I can't! It's because of the Dark Signers, the kids are gone!" Crow shouted and Yusei gasped at this. The kids? He remembered a while back about the kids that Crow was taking care of. They're gone?

"My parents were killed in the Zero Reverse incident so I was left an orphan. As far as I remember, I would wander around Satellite without a place to go. Lonely, miserable, with no friends or family. Sometimes I would find food and a bed and sometimes I wouldn't," Crow explained before remembering that one day, something changed.

(Flashback)

A younger version of Crow with no marks on his face and wearing dirty and ragged clothes was wandering around a landfill site. It was nothing new to him, he's usually looking for something to eat or to use.

However, he found something else. A small card with a picture of a purple cloaked bird with a long nose was poking out of the dump and Crow ran up to it. He carefully pulled it out and dusted it off. His curiosity sparked and he looked through the dump for some more.

He found a couple of more and was heading back with his treasure. As he walked through the streets, a couple of older kids spotted him and walked up to him. At first, Crow felt a little scared as the kids glared at him but their expression changed into a more curious expression as they saw what was in his hands. "Are those Duel Monsters cards?" One of them asked, excitedly. "What type of cards did you get?" Another asked.

Crow and the other kids began to talk about the cards. One kid even helped him with reading the cards and since Crow didn't go to school, he could barely read, write and do math so in a sense, Duel Monsters helped him with it.

For the first time ever, Crow felt...happy. These kids were talking with him and there was genuine enjoyment in their conversations. All because of the cards that he carried. Crow didn't have any money or an education of sorts so Duel Monsters helped him make friends.

Eventually, he was talking with more kids and met Yusei and Jack. Even they were curious about the cards he had and even shared the cards that they had. Crow no longer felt alone as Duel Monsters saved him from the lonely prison of Satellite especially since he had no one previously. He was even taken to the orphanage where Yusei and Jack lived and met Martha who became his foster mother.

(Flashback over)

"There are still plenty of kids out there whose lives were just like mine except some of them weren't as lucky which is why I decided to take them in and show them the lessons that I learned from Duel Monsters. I didn't want them to be alone like I was," Crow explained with a sad smile on his face.

That smile faded though as he continued, "but...the black fog. They took the lives of the kids and I'll never forgive the Dark Signers for that!"

"The darkness in your heart begs for revenge, I can sense that in you for vengeance never dies," Bommer told him, having a familiar feeling about Crow as it was the same one that he felt once he figured out who was responsible for the deaths of his village and especially for his little siblings.

"You two! You need to stop, you both have suffered through the same wounds so you should be understanding each other and not fighting!" Yusei pleaded, hoping to stop the duel. "Then where do we put our anger towards?!" Crow shouted, taking Yusei by surprise.

"Crow...anger and revenge leads to more anger and revenge. It's an endless cycle of pain," Yusei told him. "My mind agrees with you but my heart doesn't. My heart wants to continue this duel so please, Yusei! Let me continue this duel and just watch," Crow said and bowed his head. Thanks to the fast speed that they were all going, some of his tears flew off his face and hit the side of Yusei's visor.

"...alright, Crow," he gave him a nod and Bommer decided that now would be a good time to start his turn and drew a card.

SC: 2 —> 3

SC: 2 —> 3

"I summon Magic Reactor AID and I will use the third effect of Summon Reactor AI to release my third monsters in order to special summon Giant Bomber Airraid!" Bommer called out and a huge, machine monster appeared on his field.

"Next, by sending a card from my hand to the graveyard, I can activate Giant Bomber's effect to destroy your Mistral! Sharp Shooting!" He added and with a rapid shooting of bullets, Crow's monster was gone. "Attack his remaining monster!" Bommer shouted.

"I activate Mistral's effect! When it's destroyed and sent to the graveyard, I can negate the battle damage I would have taken on the next attack so while my monster goes down, the amount of life points I lose goes to zero," Crow explained as his second monster got destroyed. "Turn over then," Bommer said.

That monster gave Yusei a hard time during the Fortune Cup. Thankfully I learned of its effect from watching the duel on that old, beat up TV that I got for the kids. If I hadn't done that, I would have taken the damage head on, Crow thought before drawing a card.

SC: 3 —> 4

SC: 3 —> 4

Alright so the effect of Giant Bomber is that if I summon a monster, it gets automatically destroyed and I lose 800 life points and that goes for if I set a card as well. Thankfully it's once per turn so I have to make a work around it, Crow thought and looked at the cards that he currently has.

"Alright, let's do this! I summon Blackwing - Vayu the Battlefield Standard (ATK: 800. DF: 0) in defense position," Crow started and a small bird wearing a black jacket appeared on his field.

"When you summon a monster, Giant Bomber destroys it and you take 800 points of damage," Bommer said before adding on, "Death Drop!" A bomb fell on Crow's monster, exploding which destroyed his monster and the impact of it caused Crow's Duel Runner to spiral out of control. "Not this time!" Crow shouted and on the wings, he slid on the track which stopped his Duel Runner from toppling over.

3400 —> 2600 LPS

Even if he did survive that attack, Crow's body may not be able to take anymore, Yusei thought, concerned.

"I activate Vayu's effect! By banishing it and a non-tuner monster in my graveyard, I can use those two in order to Synchro Summon!" Crow shouted. "A synchro summon from the grave?" Bommer asked, shocked.

"Exactly! Wasn't expecting that were you? Level 1 Vayu tunes Level 6 Blackwing - Elphin the Pitch Black (ATK: 2200. DF: 1200)! Darkened gales, become the wings which will soar to the heavens! Synchro summon! Blackwing - Armored Wing (ATK: 2500. DF: 1500)!" Crow chanted and a tall, humanoid monster with black feathered wings appeared on his field. He also added, "and when I control a Blackwing monster, I can special summon Gale the Swift Wind (ATK: 1300. DF: 400)." A small bird with green wings appeared.

"I see so you predicted that your monster would be destroyed by Giant Bomber's effect so you used that to your advantage because otherwise, you would have lost the chance to bring out those two monsters," Bommer said, impressed. He added though, "but it's nowhere near strong enough to defeat my monster who is superior in life points."

"We'll see about that. Attack, Armored Wing! Black Hurricane!" Crow shouted and swiftly, his monster landed a punch on Bommer's monster. "Crow, you're aiming for that?" Yusei asked.

"Yep! My monster can't be destroyed in battle and any battle damage I would have taken gets reduced to zero," Crow explained as his monster retracted its fist from Giant Bomber and went back to Crow's field.

"Why would you attack in vain though?" Bommer asked. "Because of this. When my monster attacks, it can leave a wedge counter," Crow pointed and they could all see a small, black thorn on Giant Bomber.

"And by removing it, the attack points of your monster are lowered right to zero!" Crow declared and Bommer's monster suddenly weakened.

3000 —> 0 ATK

"And this easily allows my other monster to dispose of it so attack it, Gale!" Crow shouted and his monster brought up some whirlwinds caused by its wings, destroying Bommer's monster.

As his monster exploded, the impact of it caused Bommer's Duel Runner to get knocked out of control and he crashed into a pillar that supported a bridge above them. As the bridge came crashing down, Yusei sped up just in time to avoid it and caught up to Crow.

"Would you look at that? I think I'm holding pretty well against a Dark Signer for not being a Signer," Crow boasted. "I wouldn't count Bommer out though. Something tells me that he won't go down that easily," Yusei warned him.

And he was right for Bommer appeared again and cursed. "Damn you and your tricks!" He hissed under his breath.

3100 —> 1800 LPS

SC: 4 —> 3

"Heh, he won't be able to catch up to me now," Crow said before setting a card down. "Turn over," he added.

"I see...if I'm not able to catch up to you, then I'll just bring you down with me!" Bommer declared and drew a card.

SC: 4 —> 5

SC: 3 —> 4

"When I control no monsters on my field, I'm able to special summon the Dark Tuner, Death Submarine (ATK: 0. DF: 300) from my graveyard," Bommer said and a submarine with a face appeared on his field. The mark on his face began to glow as the monster appeared.

"Tch! To bring out a level 9 monster so easily like that, disgusting. That kinda play is cheating," Crow scoffed but Bommer merely laughed. "It's not cheating if you have the power of a Dark Signer. Next I normal summon Darksea Rescue (ATK: 0. DF: 0)," he said and a raft with two humanoids appeared while rowing it.

"Level 9 Death Submarine Dark Tunes Level 1 Darksea Rescue. When the shadows are devoured by even darker shadows, the curtain pulls back and reveals a world without light! Dark Synchro! Come forth, Dark Flat Top (ATK: 0. DF: 3000)!" Bommer shouted. As he chanted, the stars that came out of the Dark Tuner, jabbed themselves into Darksea Rescue and turned pitch black before revealing a large monster with a flat surface and in the shape of a battleship.

"Hah! Even though that monster is bigger, it doesn't mean that it's better!" Crow laughed but Yusei could tell that he was nervous.

A/N: Crow may not be my favorite character in 5DS but writing his dialogue here is fun. Also in the dub canon, it seems like World War 3 had happened in the 5DS universe. Just something I saw while looking at sub and dub differences in 5DS.

Cya in the next one -Flare

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]