Yu-Gi-Oh! Gakuen D

[Merci]

Meanwhile, the Dusk crept right next to the first and second target, but he was intangible and invisible so they wouldn't notice him.

"Now, prepare yourself, for it's the last turn! Draw." And Minerva drew his card. "I summon XIII Nobody Creeper." And the same monster that was used for the Synchro Summon of Twilight Thorn appeared (ATK 700). "See, it has an effect, which is attacking you directly. Go, Creeper." And then the Creeper stealthily went passed Shihiro's monsters before attacking Shihiro himself. "Your life points is now only 1200. And now everything ends here! The Dragon Superior, attack Shien!"

And Protheus was bored. Time quickly passed by in his mind. He took out four pieces of paper, all which were crippled.....

[Takashi125]

Shihiro grunted as he is struck with a direct attack. There was nothing he could do about that. Now it was his Dragon's turn. "You think? I activate the trap card Half Counter!" He declared as the trap card flips open. "With this card, I increase the attack power of Shien by half of the original attack of your Dragon!" Shien yells as a silver aura envelopes him and his attack power increases. (ATK 4350) "Just enough to counter your dragon!"

[Blackstone Dresden]

[color=red]Ruby shivered and looked up at the darkening sky, "Ya know," She said, stepping closer to Itsu, "I think Itsy the Infallible was finally wrong about something." She joked, shivering again, "You're finally wrong and I'm gonna get pneumonia because of it. How is that fair?"[/color]

Meanwhile, a mile and eight blocks away...

"You're really pathetic, Hero." Rayos' opponent, a Warrior Duelist, told him, "You're still using pathetic, worthless, Fusions, when you should be using Synchro Monsters. Synchro Monsters are proof of mankind's evolution in the Dueling world. Your pathetic Fusions are just stagnation, waiting to be wiped out of existence." He chuckled and looked at the card he just drew, "I think my Fortress Warrior and Big One Warrior are getting lonely, don't you?" He asked mockingly, "I Summon the Tuner Monster Road Synchron and Special Summon Boost Warrior." The two Monsters were soon joined by a humanoid steamroller and a heavily armored Warrior, "Now, I'm Tuning my Level 1 Big One Warrior and Boost Warrior, my Level 2 Fortress Warrior, and my Level 4 Road Synchron. Synchro Summon! Road Warrior! Destroy his Elemental Hero Woodsman!"

[color=orange]Rayos chuckled, "Ya know, you're right." He said, snapping his fingers once, "Your Synchros are proof of your evolution, but," Snap, "You're evolving into scum. Evolution is progress, you're evolving backwards. You think that because your little Trap Card knocked out my Spells that I can't Fusion Summon. Well, here's my evolution." Snap. With each snap another of Rayos' face downs triggered. "I activate Internal Strife, Releasing your Road Warriors and Special Summoning its Synchro Materials. Then, I activate Alternate Fusion, a Trap Card that lets me Fuse my Woodsman and Ocean into Elemental Hero Earth!" Two agonizing screams echoed throughout the alley and merged into one pained, throat tearing roar, "Finally, I'll activate Earth's Gravity, forcing your Monsters to attack my Hero." The embodiment of the planet Earth reluctantly and painfully destroyed the Warrior Duelist's Road Synchron, Fortress Warrior, and Boost Warrior, dropping his Life Points to 0 and leaving him in a sniveling, sobbing heap on the ground.[/color]

[Merci]

"You really want it, huh?" Minerva watched as the machine slowly faded away. "Then I'll show you the next form! Come on out, XIII The Armored Controller!" And then from the cockpit of the Dragon Superior came an armored being with a rainbow cloak. The being also wore a crown and had a sigil on its chest (ATK 4600). "No opponent has ever sent this form to the graveyard. See, this form has all six attributes, Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Dark, and Light, plus a handy effect, which is once per turn, if this monster should be destroyed, I can remove from play a XIII monster in the graveyard or on the field to negate it. The Armored Controller, attack Shien!" And then rings of flames, whips of water, super-heavy wind, energy blasts of light and darkness, and boulders of earth all erupted out of nowhere, the attack heading towards Shien.

[Takashi125]

Shihiro's eyes widened as he saw the monster before him launch a cataclysmic assault. "Heh... that's good... I'm glad to have seen your full power." He realized with such an effect he couldn't beat it no matter what he did. He thrusts his hand outward and a trap card activates. "You got me Minerva. There's nothing I can do about that thing. However, I can at least deny you a victory! I activate Kamon's Self Detonation Device! I use this to destroy Shien and both of use take damage equal to half his attack!" At that point, a vest made of dynamite equips onto Shien. The dynamite goes off, destroying Shien and impacting both Shihiro and Minerva. Shihiro intended to end the duel in a draw.

Kamon's Self Detonation Device
Trap
Destroy 1 "Six Samurai" or "Great Shogun Shien" Monster on the field. Inflict damage equal to half the attack power of the destroyed monster's attack to both you and your opponent.

LP: 0

[Merci]

And Minerva was shocked (LP 0). "It happened again?" He asked himself. He then turned to Shihiro. "I've got something to tell you. The Armored Controller has never been beaten, but my brother defeated me in a similar matter, using effect damage cards to attack me directly, and I lost with it on the field." And then Minerva watched as the holograms disappeared, along with the field around them. "Perhaps I shouldn't have thought you weak. It's just....your spirit is too similar to thousands of Duelists I've beaten. You're a good Duelist, for sure. If we duel again, I will not underestimate you."

Protheus examined every piece of paper. He carefully handled the paper, the oldest piece of paper, as any harsh grip would make it break into dust.
[spoiler=It had been so long ago since he had written this. And yet one hour hasn't even passed for her.][img]http://i56.tinypic.com/9gkgld.png[/img][/spoiler]
He read it all. He just felt like reading it. Maybe the precaution wasn't necessary after all, after all, his plan was going smoothly, with only a few bumps. He then looked towards the next one, set two days after the previous.
[spoiler=Isabella's Ka wasn't made into a card. No card existing resembled her Ka.][img]http://i51.tinypic.com/64gj0h.png[/img][/spoiler]
What did that mean? Did that mean he was going to be permanently suppressed after all? Nonsense. Maybe she was just able to control herself from letting others identify her Ka, and kept herself well hidden as well. Then he looked to the next one, one which was made only a few thousand years ago.
[spoiler=To tell the truth, it was remarkably easy for him to screw her life up.][img]http://i51.tinypic.com/15g5a8m.png[/img][/spoiler]
Isabella and Amy were people from completely countries, let alone era's and worlds, and yet Protheus had intertwined their fates.
[spoiler=He then looked to the newest piece of paper......][img]http://i52.tinypic.com/rkshkx.png[/img][/spoiler]
So, he had intertwined the lives of two young girls. He had chosen them as his successors, if he were ever to completely disappear, which would never happen, of course. He had also successfully destroyed that world mentioned at the end of the last paper. He chuckled to himself. [color=gray]"But I do wonder about that boy. No matter, he's just another speck in my carefully-put down plans that unfold over the centuries."[/color]

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

The trap had the effect of detonating in front of Paradox, and something flew out of the explosion and into Eria's hand.
It was her mask.
The smoke cleared, and Paradox was finally revealed for what she was. Her face was eerily beautiful yet shockingly gruesome at the same time. Across a visage that would face shamed a supermodel were several nasty scars, including one jagged one across her right eye, making it sealed shut, accounting for the lack of a right eyehole. Her remaining eye was an icy-blue, and glaring at Eria. The leather binding across her body had been brunt off, revealing machinery underneath.
Suddenly, memories started surging into Eria's head. Memories of a horrible war against this masked woman and her forces, while Eria served...no..it couldn't be! Principal Protheus was her leader?!? And virtually all of the students fought in this war as well?!? And she was some sort of magical being of immense power who was brought to this dimension in the Sundering, a cataclysmic event that drew in beings from across the multiverse and trapped them here, just like hr! This universe was never her home, and would never be anymore, because [b][u]SHE REMEMBERED EVERYTHING[/b][/u].

[encapturer]

"Wha.... what? What... is this?"

The sudden release of memories within Eria left the girl in shock. The calm and serene facade she kept up was no more; she looked broken and battered from the experience. Falling to her knees, a now familiar green glow began emanating from Eria as her hair turned white, her eyes narrowed and her pupils became green. She had no idea what her body was doing, but she felt that something within her was stopping her from collapsing from the shock. Which was painful, having to basically sit and remember the truth: that everything she knows is a lie.

Not everything was bad; her 'parent', if you could call him that, was a definate improvement from the ones in her false memory. He was strict, but she felt a distinct warmth from him, as if he truly cared for her. He was dead. Died in the last war. It made not being a real human all the more bearable.

Standing up, Eria faced the person opposite of her, and looked her straight in the remaining eye, with a look of determination that was never seen on this gentle girl before. Then she spoke.

"These memories... That war... Are they true?"

[Merci]

Protheus was quiet. He had sensed thousands of memories suddenly pop up, far away. Memories grow slowly over time, but for them to just pop up, as if someone forgot their entire life and then remembered it again. And he knew why. [color=gray]"The first sleeper has awakened."[/color] He muttered to himself. He then stood up. [color=gray]"If more follow, then I shall have no more army to fight with. Then again, I can handle myself, for now. If all dormant people on my side awaken, then all with be troublesome. Perhaps I should just enlist Bast to....no, that can wait another day. It is still not yet time. There are better ways to handle this. But what I do need to know is that who was the one that awakened. I shall find out myself tomorrow, as the one who acts the most uncomfortable in the school will be that person."[/color]

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

Paradox solemnly nodded. [color=#800000]"Yes, it was. And it still is. I know I am the enemy, but I am one of the keys to reawakening this war, my face and body too shocking and too memorable to those that have seen it, in this case, everyone trapped in this pseudo-reality, for them not to remember. Once one memory is unlocked, another and another will awaken, until the illusion is broken from the Resonance Cascade of memories."[/color] She turned very serious, and was bitter as she continued. [color=#800000]"Plus, you should know my true name, and know that the one who has stolen my identity has taken advantage of the situation to replace me with herself. All of my lieutenants are now her friends, and only the Outsiders, the ones who resisted the changes like myself, know that she is an impostor!"[/color]
"Paradox" continued. [color=#800000]"I flip up Counselor Lily in Attack Mode!"[/color] A lovely fairy doctor fluttered up from the face-down. (400 ATK, LV3). [color=#800000]"And Now I will Tribute Burning Dragon to Normal Summon Dragon Ice!"[/color] Burning Dragon fizzled and burnt out for a cool, icy dragon to take his place. (1800 ATK, LV5) [color=#800000]"Now I will Alternate Synchro Summon!"[/color] Counselor Lily turned into 3 rings, which Dragon Ice entered, transforming into 5 stars, but the rings started rotating, and they became a ball, with the 5 stars spinning around inside.
[color=#800000]"Alternate Synchro Summon! Blue-Eyes White Dragon/AR!"[/color]
A huge flash of light let out, and some sort of draconic figure that was radiating the intense light appeared, but when the light faded, they were back on the street, with "Paradox's" mask and leather back on, while Eria appeared normal, though her field had been cleared. (Eria: 0 LP)
[color=#800000]"Now you know the truth. There are those who will stop you, and there are those who will help you. Now that you remember, the world has changed."[/color]
And with that, she departed.

[Takashi125]

Shihiro braced himself as he is hit with the shock-wave from the explosion. And that was that, the duel ended in a draw. While he didn't like the outcome, he was content with proving himself to be a formidable opponent and having someone such as Minerva to acknowledge that. He smiled as the holograms vanished from the field. He approached Minerva to shake his hand. "I see, well I guess you should never underestimate someone just by relying on sense alone. A duel is what brings out the true potential in someone. And thank you, you're a strong duelist yourself, that I already sensed from the moment I saw you." He offered his hand to shake.

[evilfusion]

After eating, David had started walking back. His mind was presently on something more than his destination. A hidden drive within him, an odd determination. He could just have been having a bad duel day, but at the same time, he didn't want to take that chance. He knew his deck could be vastly improved, even at the cost of hurting his usual style, but he didn't want to start thinking winning was more important than the duel.

Yet something ached within him with every step he took. A frustration boiling within his heart. He had spent both of his duels performing complex moves and comboes, doing everything in his power to empty his hand and use the cards he had been dealt to win and deal damage, yet both his opponent defeated him, not with complex comboes of their own, but by very straightforward moves. Shihiro had simply negated his Trap, and Haseo...had pulled a beater and added piercing out of nowhere.

[i]But what am I to do about it? I can't prove that Elemental Hero jerk wrong if I can't actually win..[/i]

[Blackstone Dresden]

[color=navy]Less than a block ahead of David on the same street as him, a familiar looking person was trying to light a cigarette. After the fourth or fifth click, the smoker pocketed his lighter and took a long drag of his poison and exhaled the smoke into the sky, revealing him to be either Rayos or Rahl, though David couldn't tell which one it was because his eyes, the only thing that could distinguish the twins in the dark light of the evening, were closed as he walked. Despite this, however, he still managed to step out of the way of people traveling in the opposite direction.[/color]

[evilfusion]

It wasn't long before David snapped out of his reverie and spotted a familiar body shape ahead of him. He scowled internally. [i]Speak of the devil. Huh, I'm not that far off the mark.[/i] He contemplated no less than a half dozen versions of a confrontation, most of them pleasantly dramatized in his favor. As he came nearer to the other figure, he noted with great distaste, the cigarette protruding from his finger. [i]Smoking, too? Wow, push him another notch on the 'I'm a horrible person' meter.[/i]

It took David several seconds to realize how grossly nasty his mental commentary was. Once within earshot of the other young man, he spoke. "Not the best choice for your health, you know." [i]Yeah, you tell him, David. That's the best thing you've got to say,[/i] he mentally chided himself.

[Blackstone Dresden]

[color=navy]Rahl, the Evil Hero Duelist, opened his violet eyes and chuckled, "I've never been sick a day in my life, I figure if I'm going to get sick by now, I may as well make it count, ya know?" He asked, pulling out his lighter and extinguishing the cigarette on it, "But I suppose I can go a while without pushing my luck a little further." He told David, putting the lighter back in his pocket and the smoke back in its back, which also went into his pocket. He then did a one hundred and eighty degree turn and starting walking beside David, "Besides, it's a victory smoke for winning my Duel this morning and surviving my arrogant ass of a brother for another day. It's a hab... tradition of mine." He told his teammate, "I'm sure you'll understand if you and Rayos get better acquainted. Sixteen some years with that prick, lung cancer's not looking like that bad of an idea anymore."[/color]

[evilfusion]

David blinked, his entire train of thought utterly derailed. [i]Oh, you idiot. It's not the big jerk, it's the lesser...still potential jerk. Someone stil got mentally messed up from the duel he had.[/i] Unsure exactly how to reply, David waited until his brain realigned itself before even chancing himself to speak. "I think I got the picture from the short meeting we had," he said finally, doing his best to mask the coldness his voice took on when remembering the other brother's cruel philosophy. "Even so..." he paused, unsure what to say at this point.

"Never been sick a day?" he repeated, remembering what he had said. "Not even the stuff everyone catches? Like chicken pox or a cold?"

[Blackstone Dresden]

[color=navy]"Nope." Rahl said, shrugging, "Neither has Rayos." He rolled up his sleeve to reveal his metal arm, "We always assumed that whatever defect prevented our right arms from growing and dyed our eyes bolstered our immune systems. Kinda like God's way of apologizing to us, I suppose." He shrugged, "Our sister wasn't as lucky though, she kept all her limbs and her eyes are normal, but so's her immune system, so she gets sick just like everybody else." He shrugged again and popped a toothpick into his mouth to nibble on, "Say, did you hear anything about the teacher I Dueled earlier?" He asked, "I hope he's not banged up too much, I was trying to get my Heroes to aim for his shoulder or someplace non-vital. I was gonna check up on him after classes to apologize, but Rayos and I took a four hour lunch break so I didn't get around to it yet."[/color]

[evilfusion]

David listened with rapt attention. Thus far, Rahl had given no real indication of being in the same league of sadistic insanity as Rayos, and he started to relax a little bit. "Hm? No, I didn't ask. Or even think to ask, really," he admitted. He had considered the other two people injured, the girl Itsu and the other teacher, to be of far more notice than the one who just got seemingly banged up.

"Is that sort of thing difficult to control?" he asked, keeping his voice casual. "Isn't there some way to...reduce how intensely it manifests?"

[Blackstone Dresden]

[color=navy]"I don't know." Rahl told him, "I'm not really that strong anyway, so there's not much for me to control. I usually try to aim someplace non-vital, and hope for the best, or off to the side, but that wasn't really possible today with as big of an audience as we had, I didn't want any spectators getting hurt. My aim's fairly good from up close, but, once I start shooting out into the stands, I'm not sure if I'm going to hit the empty chair on the end, or the old lady in a wheelchair parked next to it. It was too great of a risk." He shook his head, "Rayos, on the other hand, doesn't even try holding back. He just blasts anything in his sight into rubble, or less, if he can manage. And, like so many other things in my family, our sister gets spared. She doesn't have this... curse, I guess is the closest word for it. She's the normal one in the family. Maybe that's why Rayos hates her..."[/color]

[evilfusion]

"Yes, I think I noticed that tendency of his," David remarked irritably, but calmed down just as quickly. "I would think it's better to have it weaker if forced to have it at all," he mused. "Some things are only good for causing pain or damage, to those who don't deserve it." He stopped, silently noting that this left a loophole to hold nothing back against someone who did deserve it, and his thoughts went again to his desire to prove to the sadistic brother that honor did, at times, exceed the need to win no matter what.

"I'd consider your sister the lucky one," he said finally, trailing off awkwardly.

[Blackstone Dresden]

[color=navy]"Ya, I'm sure she doesn't see herself that way though." Rahl said, "She's always been Rayos' designated sparring partner. Every time he thinks up a new combo, or gets a new card, or has a bad day, or has a good day, he always forced her to Duel him. She always lost too. She moved out not too far back, after she fell down the stairs and broke her arm in five places." He sighed sadly, "Or, Rayos said she fell. There were no witnesses, so no one can prove him wrong, but... Well, you've talked to him for ten seconds. Does he sound like the kind of person that would shove his older sister down the stairs just for the hell of it?" The Evil Hero Duelist could only shake his head, "I would do anything to be normal, Ruby would do anything to be like us. So she can finally get some revenge on the years of abuse she's suffered. She doesn't know it, but I've seen the look in her eyes when she actually lands a hit on Rayos in a Duel. It's the same look I say Rayos get whenever he wounds his opponent."[/color]

[evilfusion]

David stopped and gave Rahl a bewildered look. "In ten seconds...yeah, I wouldn't be remotely shocked." He winced. "Ow...okay, now I pity her. I expect anyone could go mad from having abuse inflicted again and again." He went silent at this point, unsure what to say and not really wanting to make more statements that could be interpreted as 'tell me more horrifying accounts of your family life'. He resumed walking soon enough.

"So where are you heading?"

[Blackstone Dresden]

[color=navy]"Nowhere." Rahl said simply, "Just walking. Not every journey needs a destination, but that doesn't mean the journey isn't worth taking. What starts out as a journey to nowhere can turn into something, and an important journey can end up as nothing. It's all a matter of the path you take." As he spoke, they came to a red light, "Like here for example. Sure, we can stop, wait for the light to change, and keep going as we were, or we can change direction and keep going. Maybe we'll find our way back to the old path, maybe we'll find something better, maybe we'll find something worse. Who knows what's around the next turn, what's on the next block. I sure don't, do you?"[/color]

[evilfusion]

David blinked. "That's...a really, really good point," he admitted, scratching the back of his head and casting his eyes up at the red light. "No, I guess I don't know what's ahead." He looked at the various directions, shrugged and pointed to the right. "Then let's go that way instead," he suggested, already turning and walking to the other side of the street. It wasn't so late at night he had to rush home, and he didn't really have anything better to do. Perhaps he had misjudged Rahl based on his association with the blatantly more sadistic brother, and the only way he knew to find out for sure was to stick around him a little or go on his way.

[encapturer]

Eria wanted to call out to Paradox as she left. Call her true name, even. But her... 'awakening' had her asking more questions than ever before, most likely due to Eria still not completely believing that this world they are in is a fabrication... a falsehood. Deep within, she knew the truth, though. Deep within, she also had alot of Mana built up.

Mana. That word took on a whole new meaning after that battle. The same essence her cards use, she absorbs automatically from duels nearby, and duels she participates in. Even though they were enemies, the duel with Paradox filled her with more mana than she ever recieved from a single duel. Paradox had to know that, so why did she pick her out?

Eria's creator, Itchel Manafay, always said that truth was something everyone deserves. While Eria didn't want to just run around telling people what she remembered, she felt the need to discover the true form of this world. She wondered if she had any time; apparently, once one person gains their memories, others will soon follow.

For now, she needed to get... new cards. Even in this world, Duel Monsters is still real, which is a small comfort, at least. And with her awakening comes with the knowledge of the true potential of certain cards she has. With renewed energy, the reborn magic girl, Eria Manafay, walked off of academy grounds with purpose.