YU-GI-OH: The third legacy part II

[TotalObelisk]

Part one (Episode 1-26) can be read here.

 

Episode 27: The tournament has started, time for a new league of dueling to begin!

 

[spoiler=episode]The sun rose slowly over Domino city, spreading light as far as it could and waking up the day. Of course most people were pretty busy. Duelists were arriving to Domino city from just about everywhere; cars, trucks, limos and even helicopters were seen swarming towards the Kaiba dome in time to start the duel rally tournament, hosted by Seto Kaiba. There was a buzz going about through the crowds, chatting about what strange new dueling rules Kaiba had developed for the tournament, after all there had been more than enough rumors about it floating all over the place. It was said that this would be the longest running tournament ever in the history of dueling. Spectators were looking about as new people arrived in many flashy and expensive ways, making as big a show as they could of arriving. One man even produced a gold duel disk in front of the crowd.

 

“Show offs,” Diablos muttered as he and Kim queued up to enter the waiting rooms “Just because you look good doesn’t mean you play good.”

“Lucky for you,” Kim chuckled.

“Hey I heard that!” Diablo snapped.

“Hey,” Kim piped up “Where’s Jamin.”

Diablo looked about and shrugged: “Maybe he’s planning to make a big entrance too.”

“That doesn’t seem very like him if you ask me,” Kim muttered “Perhaps he’s late.”

“Why does that not surprise me?” Diablo muttered.

 

In fact Jamin was still in his room, lying on his bed and staring up at the ceiling.

“Jamin,” Hiita’s spirit appeared next to him “Are you gonna lie in all day? The tournament starts in about an hour, you’re gonna miss it.”

“Maybe,” Jamin sighed “But is it really worth going?”

He held up a blank card.

“I mean I still can’t see Nephthys, Horus and the Creator,” he continued “Heck I can’t even see them. How am I supposed to win without them?”

“Come on,” Hiita said “We’ve been rebuilding your deck for ages now, you don’t need them anymore. You’ve got us.”

“I suppose,” Jamin sighed “But not having a signature monster in my deck is gonna leave me a bit vulnerable.”

He sighed again and sat up, setting the blank card aside.

“You managed fine the other day,” Hiita pointed out.

“I suppose,” Jamin said “But say they had Jinzo and a Spell Canceller out? What should I do then?”

“Don’t be so negative,” Eria said, appearing beside Hiita “Look on the bright side; it’ll look even more impressive to duel without a signature monster!”

“I guess,” Jamin shrugged.

He stood up and walked over to the door, however he didn’t open it.

“What’s up?” Eria asked.

“It’s Josh;” Jamin said “He’s there too. And for some reason he’s been avoiding me, perhaps now I’ll finally be able to ask him about it.”

With a final breath he opened the door and left his room, making sure he’d got everything he needed.

“Bye dad!” He called as he put his shoes on and went through the door to the garage.

He pulled his bike out from a few bits and pieces and wheeled it outside before mounting.

“Here I go,”

He pushed off and peddled down the road towards the Kaiba dome.

 

By the time Jamin arrived the line of people had died down but the immense crowds were still surrounding the place.

“Looks big,” he muttered.

Parking his bike outside, he moved inside and followed the rest of the contestants into the waiting rooms. He looked about. Noting that there was barely anyplace to sit what with all the duelists hanging around. He noticed Sammy, the nerdy kid from school who used the battery deck, boasting to a bored looking teenager with silvery blue hair.

“Could all participants please move into the main arena,” a voice called over the intercom.

Most people looked up before grumbling and getting to their feet before filing out through the doors into the main arena. Jamin mingled in with the crowd and kept his head low.

 

The arena might have been huge, but it was still a sardine tin to stand in what with so many duelists crowding into it just to begin the tournament. Jamin blinked as several lights lit up the crowd and several cheers rang through the crowd. He looked about as the big display screen lit up displaying a man with dark hair, a suit and sunglasses.

“Attention Duelists,” he called “Welcome to Kaiba Corporation’s Duel Rally Tournament.”

More cheers.

“As I’m sure some of you have heard, there have been several new rules introduced for this tournament, for one thing there will be no life points in these duels.”

The crowd suddenly went silent, an air of confusion washing over them.

“Instead you’ll be using these,” the announcer said, holding up a duel disk.

It looked rather plain, the part that held the deck seemed like any other duel disk and the field was just a crescent shape curving away from the player’s arm, the whole thing was coloured grey and blue.

“This is a Zangetsu duel disk,” the announcer explained “And it’s programmed to follow the new rules.”

Jamin’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Allow me to explain the rules,” the announcer said “Instead of life points being lost, any damage will be taken out of the player himself by use of electric shocks. During the duels the only thing keeping you alive is your own resolve to keep fighting, once you cannot fight anymore then you have lost.”

“It’s just like that duel with Zorc,” Jamin muttered “Did Kaiba get the idea from there?”

“Life points won’t just be lost from your opponent’s damage,” the announcer said “When a monster of yours is destroyed you also take damage depending on that monster’s level. Also it is impossible to recover using life points boosting cards, so if your deck is based around those you may as well leave.”

Several murmurs could be heard through the crowd.

“In a few minutes you will all receive one of these new duel disks, and are expected to use them,” the announcer continued “Anybody caught not using them will be disqualified.”

The duelist with the gold duel disk muttered something and scowled up at the duel disk on the screen.

 

“This is crazy!” Jamin heard several people cry back in the waiting room “I can’t believe they’re gonna shock us just cause we’re using life points.”

“Won’t do anything for me,” Another grinned “I used to be in the underground duels, I’m used to it.”

Jamin heaved a sigh, looking down at his new duel disk.

“Cutting Moon, huh,” He muttered “How appropriate.”

“Hey,”

Jamin looked around and saw Sammy looking up at him.

“Oh, hello,” he said.

“I hope you know who you’re dealing with,” Sammy grinned “My decks become ten times more powerful than before, I doubt you’ll stand a chance against me!”

“Well just have to see,” Jamin sighed.

“What’s up with you?” Sammy asked.

“Nothing much,” Jamin shrugged.

Sammy glanced about: “Hey, where’s that black haired dude you always hang out with?”

“Josh?” Jamin looked down at Sammy “He’s elsewhere.”

“You guys fall out or something?”

Jamin looked away from him, remembering the look Josh had given him right before he’d vanished beneath the chaos.

“I guess,” Jamin shrugged.

 

Meanwhile, Josh was waiting in another waiting room, his arms folded and eyes closed. He was ignoring just about everybody else around him.

“Inferior duelists,” he muttered.

He looked up and saw Drem wandering about looking very full of himself, although like many others he wasn’t impressed about having to use a new duel disk. Josh looked down at his own with a careless expression.

“It’s like he’s trying to simulate a spirit duel,” he muttered “Somehow I’m not surprised.”

He looked up again at the people milling around.

“Pretty soon they’ll all be out of here,” he muttered.

“Hope you’re not forgetting about me,”

Josh looked up and saw Mashi-Ushi standing next to him, a grin on his face.

“Looks like you lost the bet,” he grinned “Those thugs you hired did a pathetic job.”

“Oh? I don’t remember anything about losing to Jamin meaning you’re out of the bet,” Josh replied “In any case I wasn’t aiming to defeat him.”

“Then what were you doing?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“Simply doing him a favor,” Josh replied “It would be no fun to duel Jamin with no spirit powers left, so I merely helped him replenish them.”

“I see,” Mashi-Ushi chuckled “Good idea, too bad I’ll defeat him way before you will.”

“We’ll see,” Josh grinned.

“So what do you think of these new rules?” Mashi-Ushi asked “Seem pretty barbaric, don’t they?”

“It’ll just make it easier for me to win,” Josh explained “Most of these people are weaklings, they couldn’t last a second against me or you, I can’t feel anything from any of them.”

“Heh, you’re ruthless,” Mashi-Ushi chuckled.

 

“Thankyou for waiting!” A voice rang out across the whole building “The Duel Rally Tournament is about to begin!”

Loud cheers could be heard from the crowds and fireworks flew into the air as night fell across the Kaiba Dome.

“As of now no more alterations may be made to anybodies deck are prohibited,” the announcer declared “The matches are now set and will begin in a few moments.”

Jamin looked up at the screen in the waiting room as it lit up, revealing the matches for his set. The matches were divided up into four segments with 32 duelists in each segment; the four survivors from each one would enter into the semi-finals and then the final duel to decide the winner. Jamin looked about and noticed that neither Josh nor Mashi-Ushi was in his group. Jamin’s first match was against a duelist called Serra. He looked around and noticed her at the other end of the room, she looked a little gothic.

“First match will be Drem Armou vs Allen Seya.” The announcer called, a loud cheer going up at the sound of Drem’s name “Will the two duelists please report to the main duel field for your match.”

 

The screen lit up to show the main arena as the two duelists entered and shook hands before shuffling each others decks. Allen was a fairly short kid with white hair falling over his face and a black jacket. Drem looked quietly confident.

“As you know no life points will be used,” the announcer said “The first to drop will be declared the loser.”

The two duelists inserted their decks into their brand new Zangetsu duel disks and walked to opposite sides of the arena.

“Duelists, begin!”

 

Both players picked up five cards from their decks and the duel began.

“I’ll go first,” Allen said, drawing a new card “I summon Pyramid Turtle in Defense mode and lay two cards face down.”

A large Egyptian pyramid rose up in front of Allen and a pair of eyes glowed from the shadow beneath it.

“A zombie deck, huh?” Jamin muttered.

“My draw,” Drem said “I summon Ancient Gear Knight in attack mode!”

A rusty mecha armed with a gear shaped shield and a long lance weapon.

“Ancient Gear Knight, attack!” Drem ordered “Gear Lance.”

Ancient Gear Knight’s lance span round like a drill and he charged at Allen’s monster, plunging the lance into the creature and destroying it.

“You’ve activated my monster’s effect,” Allen said “When he’s destroyed I can special summon a Zombie monster with less than 1500 defense points, so say hello to my Il Blud!”

A fat monster dressed in a striped shirt rose on Allen’s field, his front had a tear right down the middle and a face was staring out of it.

“Ew,”

“I’ll set three cards face down and end my turn,” Drem said.

“The first round is over and both duelists are still on their feet,” the announcer declared “Let’s see if it stays that way.”

“My draw,” Allen said “Now I second summon My Il Blud,”

Allen’s monster glowed with the same effect of a monster being summoned for the first time, only he was already on the field.

“Now I can special summon any Zombie monster from my hand or either graveyard,” Allen said “So I now special summon Vampire Lord.”

A blue haired vampire rose on Allen’s field, throwing his cloak aside in an attempt to look impressive.

“But he won’t be there for long,” Allen said “Because I’m sacrificing him to summon Vampire Genesis!”

Vampire Lord vanished and was replaced by a massive monster that looked more like a giant purple gargoyle than a vampire.

“Now by playing Vampire Genesis’ effect, I can discard Ryu Kokki to resurrect my Vampire Lord!”

Allen’s Vampire Lord rose on his field again, giving Drem a toothy smile.

“And I’m not done,” Allen said “Because I reveal my face down, Call of the Haunted. This allows me to resurrect my Ryu Kokki!”

A large behemoth of a monster made up of skulls and bones rose on Allen’s side of the field.

“Amazing,” the announced said “Four high level monsters in just one turn. Drem’s going to have to think fast to get out of this one.”

“Go my monsters, attack!” Allen declared.

All of Allen’s monsters charged forwards, Vampire Lord taking out Drem’s Ancient Gear Knight and the rest having a go at his life points. As soon as the attacks his Drem’s duel disk lit up.

“What the!?”

A sudden shock shot through Drem, coursing through his body like a snake on fire. He yelled and collapsed onto one knee from the sudden shock, his body smoking slightly.

“Is the duel over that quickly?” The announcer asked “I suppose four high level monsters attacking at once would defeat anybody.”

“I’m not done,” Drem Muttered, getting to his feet “It’ll take more than that to beat me.”

 

“Amazing,” the duelist next to Jamin stared at Drem with his mouth wide open.

Jamin looked over at him for a few seconds before focusing back on the match.

“My turn,” Drem said, drawing a card “I play pot of Greed, allowing me to draw two cards.”

Allen’s eyes narrowed.

“Then I’ll play my double summon,” Drem said “So I’ll summon my Trojan Horse!”

A wooden Horse rose on Drem’s field.

“However he’s not going to be around for long,” Drem said “Because now I sacrifice him, for the Ancient Gear Golem!”

A huge cheer rose in the crowd as Drem’s most powerful monster rose onto the field.

“Then I’ll play my three face down cards,” Drem said “And they’re all Rare Metal Morph!”

All three of Drem’s cards flipped up and his Ancient Gear Golem suddenly shone like polished steel with no sign of rust anywhere.

“And finally I’ll play Limiter Removal!” Drem said “Since each of my traps give my golem 500 extra attack points, he now has 4500. And with Limiter Removal he’ll have 9000. Ancient Gear Golem, attack with Mechanized Melee!”

Ancient Gear Golem raised its fist and struck Allen’s Vampire Lord, destroying him completely. Allen’s duel disk lit up this time and delivered a massive shock to him. He doubled up in pain and almost collapsed.

“You done yet?” Drem asked.

“As if,” Allen grinned “Limiter Removal is about to destroy your Ancient Gear Golem, so I’ve won this duel.”

“Wrong,” Drem said.

“What?”

“Thanks to the effect of my Rare Metal Morphs I can cancel the effect of any spell card on my Ancient Gear Golem once for each one, meaning he remains on the field with 9000 attack points.” Drem explained “Defeat that.”

“No way,” Allen gasped.

“Heh, still think you can win?” Drem asked.

“Stock mocking me!” Allen growled.

He drew a card from his deck.

“Argh, useless.”

“Do you end your turn?” Drem asked.

Allen scowled at him.

“In that case I’ll go,” Drem said “Looks like there’s nothing left for me to do, your face down is useless since my Ancient Gear Golem negates trap cards when it attacks.”

Allen gritted his teeth as he glared at Drem.

“Looks like your done,” Drem said “Ancient Gear Golem, attack!”

Drem’s monster reared up again and attacked, taking out Allen’s Vampire Genesis, and Allen felt another shock fire through his system, his yells broke over the crowd. He stopped as suddenly as he started and collapsed onto one knee, panting.

“Still not done?” Drem asked.

Allen looked up at him.

“As….If………I’d let my-myself…Lose to….You,” He panted.

“That’s a pity,” Drem sighed “Because I’d saved this just in case.”

Drem turned about the card in his hand. Allen’s eyes widened in panic.

“Ancient Gear Explosive?”

“Now Normally My monster would be destroyed,” Drem explained “But I can negate that destruction with my second Rare Metal Morph. And now half my monsters attack points are taken out of your life points.”

The Ancient Gear Explosive appeared in the hands of Drem’s Ancient Gear Golem and he drew his arm back to throw it.

“Any last words?” Drem asked.

Allen merely gaped as the massive Golem prepared to strike.

“Attack!” Drem ordered.

Drem’s Ancient Gear Golem threw the explosive towards Allen, striking him with a colossal explosion and sending another shock through his body. The smoke cleared and revealed Allen still on one knee but shaking violently.

“I…” He panted “Can’t….Lose…”

He let out another heavy breath and then passed out. The holograms faded and a loud cheer rang through the audience.

“Drem Armou is the winner!” The announcer declared “Congratulations!”

Drem waved at the crowd before returning to the waiting rooms as a medical team ran to carry Allen to the medical bay.

 

“So that’s what the duels are gonna be like, huh?” Diablo muttered.

“Ohh, I’m so glad I’m in the same group as him,” Kim muttered “Cause then I’ll be able to beat him to a pulp!”

Diablo looked over at her.

“You don’t like him, do you?” He asked.

“Whatever gave you that impression?” Kim asked.

 

A few hours later Jamin was entering the arena for his match again Serra.

“And now, Jamin Tsubasa vs Serra Talen!” The announcer said.

Jamin shook Serra’s hand and shuffled her deck.

“I hope you like hospital food,” Serra commented.

“I’m not fussy,” Jamin shrugged.

Serra scowled and handed him back his deck. Jamin gave Serra hers and they both walked several paces away from each other before turning back around and activating their duel disks.

“Ladies first,” Serra said “I play my Dimensional Alchemist!”

A creature dressed in silver and gold armour and a dark blue cloak emerged on Serra’s field, an odd grin on his face.

“Now I play my Different Dimension Capsule,” Serra said as a Sarcophagus rose on her field “This allow me to remove one card in my deck from play for two turns, and that’ll do me.”

Jamin drew a card from his deck and placed it in his hand, deciding what to do.

“Well, here I go,” he muttered “I summon Fox Fire in attack mode!”

Jamin’s small fox appeared in a ball of flame.

“What?” Serra stared at the furball “No offense, it’s cute and everything but it can’t hold a candle to my alchemist.”

“Fox Fire, attack!” Jamin ordered.

“What!?”

Jamin’s monster charged forwards and leaped up at Serra’s monster and impacted against it before exploding. Jamin looked at his duel disk as it lit up and sent a charge through his body. He grabbed his arm as the pain subsided.

“That was dumb,” Serra sighed.

“Not really,” Jamin said “Because I play the quick play spell card Demon Kyubi!”

“Huh?”

“When a face up Fox Fire on my side of the field is destroyed, I can remove Fox Fire from play and special summon one Infernal Fox Fire from my deck!”

Another ball of flame appeared on Jamin’s side of the field and a much larger and powerful looking Fox with two flaming tails emerged on Jamin’s field, with an attack of 1850.

“So that’s why you let your monster take a hit,” Serra muttered.

“Infernal Fox Fire, attack her Dimensional Alchemist, Kyubi Flame!”

Jamin’s monster launched itself towards Serra’s, its tails spinning like a wheel and creating a ring of fire. It landed just in front of the Dimensional Alchemist and swung its tails flame it him, completely destroying him. Serra screamed as a shock went through her body this time.

“I play my monster’s special effect,” she said “When he’s destroyed I get to add one monster from out of play to my hand.”

“So I guess all I did was give you your card one turn early, huh?” Jamin said “I’ll lay one card face down and end my turn.”

“Well if that’s it,” Serra muttered “My draw. I summon Different Dimension Warrior Lady!”

A battle scarred maiden with rust armour and a short sword emerged on Serra’s field.

“During a battle between this card and another card, I’m allowed to remove both monsters, from play.” Serra explained “Warrior Lady, attack Infernal Fox Fire!”

Serra’s monster charged forwards and swung down with her sword, striking Infernal Fox Fire on the head. The sword glowed and suddenly filled the whole arena with a blinding light. Once the light cleared and Jamin had lowered his arm, both monsters were gone.

“I’ll lay two cards face down and end my turn,” Serra declared.

“My draw then,” Jamin said “Let’s see, I have three cards in my hand plus a face down.” He looked at his hand and then at Serra’s field “She has no monsters out, but two face downs, so I’ll have to play this carefully.”

Serra raised an eyebrow.

“I summon Familiar Possessed Aussa in attack mode,” Jamin said, placing Aussa on his field.

Aussa rose up in front of him.

“Aussa attack,” Jamin ordered “Diamond Shower!”

Aussa raised her staff and several diamonds appeared about her and flew in Serra’s direction.

“You’ve forgotten about my face downs,” Serra said “I activate Sakuretsu armor. Destroying your monster.”

Aussa suddenly doubled up in pain and exploded, sending a slight shock through Jamin’s body.

“You should’ve played that move way more carefully,” Serra smirked.

“Your face down is out of the way, isn’t it?” Jamin smirked.

“Huh?”

“I play my face down card, last resolve,” Jamin said “When a monster I control is destroyed during the battle phase, I can special summon it back to my side of the field with half its original attack points.”

“Oh.”

“Let’s try again,” Jamin said “Aussa, attack!”

Aussa rose up on Jamin’s field again and re-launched her attack, hitting Serra and sending another shock through her.

“Ouch, that stings,” she muttered.

“I’ll play two cards face down and end my turn,” Jamin said.

 

“My draw!” Serra said “I play Allure of Darkness, so I’ll draw two cards and remove one Dark monster in my hand from play.”

Serra picked up two cards from her deck and stowed another card from her hand in a back pocket.

“Then I’ll play D.D.R!” She said.

“DDR? Is it really the time for that?” Jamin asked.

“Different Dimension Reincarnation you moron!” Serra yelled.

“Oh,” was all Jamin could reply with.

“By this card’s effect I discard one card from my hand, and special summon Caius the Shadow Monarch!”

A black whirlpool opened up in front of Serra and a massive form began to emerge from it. Clad in black and towering above both duelists, Caius the Shadow Monarch emerged onto the field.

“So that’s the Shadow Monarch, huh?” Jamin muttered “I see. Well fair game.”

“Caius, attack Aussa!” Serra ordered “Black Cannon!”

Caius summoned a massive sphere of dark energy in his hand and threw it at Aussa. It impacted and exploded with almost enough force to throw Jamin backwards, if not then the shock sent through his body certainly would.

“Ha, how’s that?” Serra grinned.

“Could be better,” Jamin muttered.

He stood up straight again and drew a card.

“I play my face down,” Jamin declared “Union of the Charmers.”

A massive shock ran through his body, threatening to knock him out cold.

“Normally I’d pay 2000 life points,” he muttered “But since we’re not playing life points, I guess that’ll do. Cause now I get to summon my four charmers.”

Jamin’s four main monsters appeared in a wave of their various elements till all four were standing on his side of the field, glaring at Caius.

“So you summoned four chicks,” Serra blinked “No offense, they’re cute and everything but I’m afraid they can’t hold a candle to my monster.”

“Well I suppose it’s a good thing I have this,” Jamin said “Fuh-Rin-Ka-Zan!”

“What?”

“I’m sure you know this trick by now,” Jamin said “I have four elements on my field, so I can obliterate all monsters on your field!”

Jamin’s monsters glowed and suddenly fired a wave of red, blue, green and yellow energy at Caius, destroying him.”

“My monarch!” Serra cried.

“I’m not done yet,” Jamin said “I play Spirit Release, by sending these four to the graveyard I can special summon their Familiar Possessed versions.”

“Huh?”

Jamin’s monsters glowed again and grew into their more powerful forms, Familiar Possessed Aussa, Familiar Possessed Eria, Familiar Possessed Hiita and Familiar Possessed Wynn.

“Okay guys, attack!” Jamin ordered.

“You got it.”

“This is only the beginning,” Jamin thought as his monsters charged in to finish Serra off “It’s gonna take a long time, but I’m gonna find you Josh. And I’m gonna put things right, like how they used to be.”

 

Josh was watching the screen from the waiting room, staring at the determined expression on Jamin’s face. He heaved a sigh and turned about, walking away.

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 28: The duelings continue and Jamin has a surprise in store.

 

[spoiler=episode]“You’re finished,” came the cry from the arena “Insect Queen, attack!”

The last screams of the loser came through the speakers in the waiting room and the screen displayed him collapsing in a heap in front of his opponent.

“And the winner is Saeyo Aku,” the announcer called “congratulations, you move on to the next stage of the tournament.”

Jamin stood at the back of the waiting room.

“We’re more than half way through the first round,” he thought “And Josh still hasn’t shown up.”

He sighed and moved towards the exit.

“Where are you going?” One of the duelists asked.

“For a walk,” Jamin replied “I’ll be back in a bit.”

He opened the door and walked out the room before walking down the corridor.

“Jamin?” Eria’s spirit appeared next to him.

“What?”

“You’re really concerned about him, aren’t you?” She asked.

“He’s my best friend,” Jamin said, remembering the look Josh had given him the last time he saw him “Of course I’m worried about him.”

“Jamin?”

“It’s just, I wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for him,” Jamin said “Before I met him I was terrible at Duel Monsters, and I barely even liked it. I just wanted people to respect me because of it. Then of course I met him, and I suddenly found a second win. With him as my friend, I finally had something to enjoy, someone to look up to. And then he led me to you guys.”

He looked down at Eria.

“If Josh hadn’t been around, I guess the world would have ended,” Jamin shrugged.

 

He left the building and gazed about him. A large screen had been set up in a nearby park, displaying the duels going on in the arena. Jamin noticed it and moved closer, watching the screen from the back of the crowd. A huge cheer went up as a huge dragon was seen blasting a large blue lobster type thing out of the way.

“Jun Yusuke’s Kaiser Glider is the best!” Jamin heard a kid yell.

He looked over and saw a group of about three or four kids watching the screen, each one watching the duelist. Jamin looked up and saw the silvery blue haired duelist with a fairly smug look on his face.

“A fantastic win, as expected of German Champion, Jun Yusuke!” The announcer said.

“German? If he’s the German champion why does he have a Japanese name?” Jamin muttered.

“Cause he was raised in Japan but went to Germany to win the championship!”

“Huh?”

Jamin looked down and saw the group of kids looking at him. One had a cap worn backwards and a cheeky expression, his friend nearest to him had blond spiky hair, probably trying to mimic the style of the duelist currently leaving the arena, the other two looked like twins, they both had short cut, black hair and wore matching outfits.

“Say, you’re in the Duel Rally too, aren’t you,” the blond kid spoke.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Jamin replied.

“I saw you match,” one of the twins said “You use girls.”

“Pardon,” Jamin looked down at him, all the kids had started laughing.

“Your decks got girly card sin it,” the twin repeated “Why do you use girls?”

Jamin bent low, till he was on eye level with the group of kids.

“Those girls are my friends,” he said “I’d like to see what you make of them.”

The twin that had spoken looked slightly taken aback.

“Nah,” he said turning around “I don’t play with grown-ups.”

“Me neither,” the twin replied.

 

“Heh, I bet Jun-sama is going to beat you senseless,” the capped kid spoke up “You’re in the same group as him right?”

Jamin nodded.

“Then you’re going down!” The blond kid said “Jun is one of the favorites to win this tournament, and he’s going all the way!”

“What about Drem?” Jamin asked “He’s in this tournament too.”

“Drem,” the blond kid scoffed “He’s nothing but a show off, he’s now match for Jun.”

“I see,” Jamin said.

He turned and walked away for the group as they continued their boasts about how good Jun was.

“Those guys are really getting on my nerves,” Hiita muttered, appearing beside Jamin “Girly am I? We’ll see how girly I am when I thrust a fireball up your…!”

“Hiita, he can’t hear you,” Jamin pointed out.

“I don’t care!” Hiita retorted “And as for that Jun guy…”

Jamin looked up at the screen.

“He won one championship and became a hero,” she sighed “Whatever happened to the king of games?”

“Yugi?” Jamin replied “Come on, he’s like sixty, he can’t duel anymore.”

“I’ve seen a fair share of old people dueling,” Hiita replied.

“Hey, um,”

Jamin looked about and saw someone running his way, once they got close enough he noticed that it was a girl with short raven hair that stuck up at the back and crimson eyes, she wore a plain white T-shirt and jeans and looked pretty worn out.

“I knew it!” She said “You’re the guy who beat the American Champion, aren’t you?”

“Oh, you saw that?” Jamin asked.

“Yup,” the girl nodded “I’m Eris by the way, and…” Eris suddenly started blushing.

“Err…” Jamin scratched the back of his head.

“Well…Um…The thing is…I….” She stuttered “Can I have your autograph.”

Jamin looked taken aback.

“You want my autograph?” He repeated.

Eris nodded: “I just know you’re gonna win this, so…”

“Err sure,” Jamin replied, taking the pen and notebook Eris handed him.

“Looks like you’ve picked up a fan,” Hiita muttered in his ear.

 

“Thankyou,” Eris said, taking the notebook back “Say, what’s your Ace monster like?”

“Huh?”

“I mean you haven’t used it in any of your duels I’ve seen, I bet it’s really cute,” Eris went on “All your cards are so cute.”

“That’s why you like them, huh?” Jamin sighed “I knew there was a good reason behind it.”

Eris giggled: “I only just started playing myself; my brother said you can’t win with just cute cards but you’re brilliant and you have cute cards.”

“I never really saw them as cute,” Jamin said “I just liked the look of them. That and they’re like my friends.”

“Huh?”

“It’s like my deck is just another group of friends,” Jamin explained “And when I’m dueling it’s like they’re dueling with me, and if we work together we can win anything.”

“I see,” Eris muttered “Well, bye then!”

She waved at Jamin and then ran off.

“Cute huh,” Jamin muttered.

“Don’t get any ideas,” Hiita said “I don’t do cute.”

“You need to lighten up,” Eria said, appearing as well “After all, Jamin got a fan because of us, isn’t that great.”

“If all my fans are gonna be girls I might have to change decks,” Jamin muttered.

“What? Say that again!” Hiita snapped.

“Nothing,” Jamin said.

Hiita huffed and vanished from sight. Eria gave Jamin a smile and followed suit. Jamin heaved a sigh and walked off again.

 

A few minutes later he was relaxing a little way from the crowd against a tree. From here he had a descent view of the screen and could just about hear it over the roar of the crowd. At the moment Sammy was having his duel against a guy who had a Black Luster Soldier on his side of the field while all Sammy had was a face down monster and a face down trap card.

“Black Luster Soldier, attack!” Sammy’s opponent ordered.

Sammy monster flipped up and was revealed as a small round pink thing, it was destroyed as soon as Black Luster Soldier struck.

“You’ve activated my monster’s flip effect!” Sammy said “Allowing me to special summon Batteryman AA from my deck!”

Sammy’s monster appeared in a flash of lightning.

“Then I’ll play my face down, infernal reckless summon,” Sammy continued “This means I can special summon two more, giving my monsters a total of 3000 attack points.”

Two more Batterymen emerged on Sammy’s field.

“Still using that old strategy, huh?” Jamin muttered.

“Then I activate the spell card Leakage,” Sammy said “Since I control three Batterymen, I destroy every card you control.”

“What!?” The duelist Sammy was fighting yelled as his field suddenly exploded.

“Now my monsters, attack!” Sammy ordered “Thunder Punch!”

Jamin looked up in time to see Sammy’s opponent vanish in a surge of lightning and monsters, yelling as pain shot through his body. As soon as the smoke cleared he collapsed and Sammy was declared the winner.

“I sure hope he doesn’t get too full of himself,” Jamin muttered “I wonder if I’ll be dueling him, he is in my group after all.”

A fleeting memory of the miniature duelist flashed through Jamin’s mind and a slight grin came to his face. From what he remembered of Sammy he vastly overestimated himself, and focused on nothing but getting his monsters up to full power.

“Just like a battery I guess,” Jamin muttered sitting up.

“And our next match will be Erio Kekonangi against Joshinyu Tenshi!” The announcer said.

“What?!” Jamin immediately sat up and saw Josh’s face on the screen “Josh!”

He scrambled to his feet and rushed back to the Kaiba Dome.

“Josh is dueling the National Champion,” he panted “I don’t believe it; I probably won’t get to duel him at this rate.”

He burst through the doors to the waiting room and stared up at the screen as the two duelists faced each other. Erio looked a bit battered but was no doubt looking smug, he wore glasses and had bright red hair that stuck out behind him in several spiked bunches.

 

“Erio Kekonangi is well known as our national champion,” the announcer commented “And prides himself on his deck which he calls the perfect circle.”

“Perfect circle?” Jamin muttered.

Josh stared at Erio with his blood red eyes, a very irritated expression on his face.

“Y’know, you’re way too popular,” he commented.

“Hm?” Erio stopped waving to the crowd and looked down at Josh.

“Just because you’re kinda good at Duel Monsters, you make a big deal out of it,” Josh went on “I’ll admit you pull off the occasionally impressive move but I’m afraid that doesn’t impress me.”

“Oh really?” Erio replied “I don’t suppose you’ve ever won anything, have you? What was your name again? Jo Tissue or something?”

“Insults will get you nowhere,” Josh commented.

“Yeah okay, whatever you say,” Erio replied “Let’s just finish this; I’ve got a tournament to win.”

“Whatever you say,” Josh replied, activating his duel disk.

“Let’s see what this tournament rookie will do to combat the national champion,” the announcer said “Duelists, begin!”

“I’ll begin,” Erio said “I play my Treeborn Frog in defense mode, and end my turn.”

A small winged frog creature popped up on Erio’s field.

Josh looked down at it and heaved a sigh: “My draw,” he said “I play the magic card Dark Magic Curtain. Normally I’d pay half my life points, but in this case I’ll just be getting a bit of a shock.”

Josh’s duel disk lit up and a shock jumped through his system, however rather than screaming Josh merely let out a defiant roar. Erio raised an eyebrow.

“That was dumb,” he muttered “One good hit from me and you’re finished.”

“Oh?” Josh replied, looking up “That was nothing. You think I’d let myself lose like this, as if. Come on out Dark Magician!”

A red curtain draped itself over Josh’s arena and then vanished to reveal Josh’s signature monster.

“A black Dark Magician?” Jamin muttered.

“Then I’ll play my quick play magic card, Serial Spell,” Josh said “So I’ll summon another Dark Magician!”

“Two Dark Magicians?” Erio muttered.

A second Magician appeared beside the first.

“Unfortunately, Serial Spell requires me to discard my entire hand, oh well,” Josh continued “Dark Magicians, attack!”

Josh’s first Dark Magician attacked, taking out Erio’s Treeborn frog and clearing the way for the second one. Erio doubled up in pain as the attack hit but recovered quickly.

“Heh, that it?” He smirked “My turn, and during my standby phase my Treeborn Frog resurrect.”

Erio’s frog reappeared on his field.

“So now I can sacrifice him, for Kuraz the Light Monarch!”

A display of flashing lights lit up Erio’s field and Kuraz emerged in a display of dazzling bangs and flashes before finally emerging onto the field, dressed completely in gold armor.

“Now his effect allows me to destroy your two Dark Magicians!” Erio explained.

Josh looked up as his Dark Magician’s reared up in pain and exploded, but ignored the jolt of pain running through his system.

“So what?” He asked coldly.

“So what? Is that all he can say?” Jamin muttered.

“By Kuraz’s effect, you draw two cards from your deck. Now Kuraz, attack!” Erio ordered “Wave of Flashing Light!”

Kuraz raised his hands and fired two beams of energy straight at Josh, causing him to vanish for a brief moment.

“I win,” Erio declared.

The light faded and Josh was still standing in the same pose as before, despite the electricity running up his arm.

“You were saying,” he grinned.

“W-what?”

 

“My draw,” Josh said “I activate card of sanctity, I remove the two cards currently in my hand from play and then draw two more cards.

“What’s the point of that?” Erio asked.

“Well luckily enough one of my cards is this,” Josh said “Dimension Fusion, this card allows me to pay 2000 life points and special summon all my monsters that have been removed from play, but then again we’re not playing with life points, are we?”

Another shock sent itself through Josh’s system as his Dark Magician of Chaos rose up in front of him.

“2800 attack points?” Erio stammered.

“And by his effect I can add one spell card from my graveyard to my hand,” Josh said “And I choose Ancient Rules. One of the cards discarded by my Serial Spell.”

“Get on with it,” Erio grumbled.

“Now I activate Ancient Rules,” Josh said “Allowing me to summon the Dark Magician!”

“Again?”

Once again, Josh’s Dark Magician emerged on his side of the field.

“That’s makes all three of his magicians,” Jamin muttered “What’s he planning?”

“Dark Magician, attack!” Josh ordered.

Josh’s Dark Magician charged forwards, spinning his staff about and firing it at Kuraz, destroying him.

“K-Kuraz,” Erio grunted as his body was shocked once again.

“Dark Magician of Chaos, attack him directly!” Josh ordered.

Erio looked up in time to see Josh’s monster launch his attack and felt another surge of electricity through his body.

“M-my draw,” Erios stuttered “And now my Treeborn Frog comes back again!”

Josh smirked as Erio’s frog monster came back to life again.

“How many times are you going to use that thing?” He asked “It’s kind of annoying.”

“Annoy this,” Erio said “I sacrifice him for Zanborg the Thunder Monarch!”

Josh looked up as a thunder storm started overhead and suddenly came crashing down to reveal Erio’s next Monarch.”

“And by his effect, I can send your Dark Magician of Chaos packing,” Erio said.

Josh looked up as his magician was hit by a wave of thunder from Erio’s monarch and exploded, sending another shock around Josh’s body.

“I’ll lay two cards face down and end my turn,” Erio said.

“I see,” Josh muttered “Of course I assume you know my Dark Magician has more attack points than your monarch.”

“That’s what the face downs are for, moron,” Erio thought.

Josh drew a new card from his deck.

“Well how convenient,” he smirked “I activate the spell card Dark Magic Attack!” Josh said.

“Say what?”

Josh’s Dark Magician raised his staff again and fired at Erio’s field, destroying both his face downs.

“No way.”

A smirk played across Josh’s face.

“Dark Magician, attack Zanborg,” he ordered.

Erio looked up again as his monster was hit and another shock went through his body.

 

“It’s Josh alright,” Jamin muttered “But he’s different, he seems more ruthless than before. I don’t get it.”

Josh laughed as he felt Zorc’s powers flowing within him.

“I should’ve done this from the start,” he thought “Forget about saving the world, all I need is to steal enough energy and I’ll have full control over the power of the Dark Magician, heck I probably won’t even need him once I’m done.”

Erio let out a cough as he tried to continue standing on his two feet.

“I’m not going to lose,” he gritted his teeth “I’m the national champion.”

Josh looked at him blankly.

“I don’t care what your past is like,” Josh said “In a duel nothing matters but the here and now, this move, this moment. You need to take every opportunity possible to take the duel and win.”

Erio glared up at him.

“Let’s see what you make of that,” Josh said “It’s your move.”

“Very well,” Erio said “I use my Treeborn Frog’s effect to bring him back.”

“It looks like the national champion is on the run, however his powerful monarchs only require one tribute each and all he needs is that Treeborn frog to bring one out,” the announcer commented.

“I lay these two cards face down,” Erio said “Then I tribute my Treeborn frog for Mobius the Frost Monarch.”

The ice blue and white armored ice monarch replaced Erio’s Treeborn frog, sending a chill across the arena.

“By his effect I destroy my two face down cards,” Erio commented “And they were both statue of the wicked, so I summon two Wicked tokens!”

“Hm,” Josh’s eyes narrowed as two golden, serpentine idols rose on Erio’s field.

“Now for my final move,” Erio said “I sacrifice Mobius and my two Wicked tokens in order to summon my Ace monster…”

Josh looked up as Erio’s monsters vanished in a pillar of flame that soon turned into a flaming hurricane.

“Here it comes,” the announcer said “Erio is about to summon his legendarily powerful monster.”

“Behold,” Erio said “Kanda, king of Emperors!”

The flames subsided, leaving a single towering behemoth of a monster. He had gold and silver armour on and three long spikes protruding from his helmet, he also had six arms with each attribute symbol calved into his palm.

“Kand gets a different effect depending on the attribute of the monster he destroys,” Erio explained “In the case of Dark monsters, the owner loses 1000 life points, and since his attack is 3500 you’re going to lose a grand total of 2000 points, maybe this’ll wake you up, Shadow Storm!”

Kanda raised his hand with the Dark symbol carved onto it and thrust it forwards, firing a powerful blast of energy at Josh’s Dark Magician and destroying him. Josh doubled up as more energy shot through him, attempting to drain him of energy. The pain subsided and he let out a gasp.

“I’ll give you this,” Erio said “Nobody’s managed to survive a single attack from Kanda, you’re one stubborn kid.”

“Stubborn?” Josh replied “Please, I’m just waiting for you to make the mistake you just did.”

“Mistake?” Erio raised an eyebrow.

“Allow me to demonstrate,” Josh said drawing a new card from his deck “I activate Necro Draw, after I name a card in my grave I get to draw cards from my deck equal to the number of copies of that card I currently have in my grave, and of course I choose the Dark Magician, so that’s three cards.”

Josh picked up three new cards and scanned them, a smirk rising on his face.

“Anything good?” Erio asked.

“You could say that,” Josh replied.

He looked up at Kanda towering over him.

“All that thing is, is a powered up Monarch,” Josh thought “All it can do is the same thing as the regular monarchs, pathetic.”

He looked back down at Erio.

“I’m going to enjoy this,”

 

Jamin clenched his fist as he stared up at Josh, taking in his evil expression.

“I don’t believe it,” he muttered “Josh absorbed Zorc’s energy and became ruthless, does that mean he’s half Zorc now.”

He looked down at his own deck.

“I can’t believe that newbie almost beat the national champion,” a duelist nearby Jamin muttered “He looked so promising too.”

“What makes you think he’s lost?” His friend asked.

“Come on, look at him, one more attack and he’s finished,”

Jamin looked up at the screen too.

“Doesn’t look that way to me,” Jamin muttered.

“What makes you say that?” Hiita asked, appearing beside him.

“He’s about to win,” Jamin said “He always has that expression on his face when he’s about to win.”

“I’ll summon Rapid Fire Magician in defense mode, and lay two cards face down,” Josh said “Now, let’s see what you can do next.”

Erio frowned down at the magician with his twin staffs crossed in front of him.

“One attack is all I need to end this,” Erio said “And I doubt either of your face down’s will help you.”

Erio drew a new card from his deck and looked at it, his grin immediately widened. The card he’s drawn was Element Gun-man.

“All right,” he thought “When this guy’s summoned I can change the attribute of one monster on the field, so if I change his monster to water type I’ll be able to destroy both his face downs, making him defenseless.”

“Got a plan?” Josh asked.

“This duel is mine,” Erio said “I summon Element Gun-Man!”

A masked samurai armed with a large gun that looked more like a hair dryer with each of the attribute symbols dotted about the side appeared on Erio’s field.

“When this guy’s summoned I can change the attribute of any monster I choose,” Erio said “Like your Rapid Fire Magician.”

Erio’s Element Gun-Man locked his gun in the Water position and prepared to fire.

“Is that so?” Josh chuckled “Face down card open, Dark Renewal!”

“Huh?”

“When my opponent summons a monster, I can tribute him and one of my monsters to special summon a spellcaster from my grave,” Josh explained “And I choose my Dark Magician!”

A blood red coffin rose on Josh’s field and opened up, dragging in Rapid Fire Magician and Element Gun-Man. It then closed and lit up, blinding anyone looking at it. Once the light faded Josh’s Dark Magician was standing in front of him once again.

“Y’know, that would be impressive if he had the attack points to defend against my Kanda,” Erio commented, gesturing up at his monster “Kanda, attack!”

“Hard luck,” Josh said “I play my face down card, Dark Magic Sphere!”

“Huh?”

Josh’s Dark Magician raised his staff and was surrounded by a transparent bubble just before Kanda’s attack hit. Josh recoiled slightly as another shock went through his body but his Dark Magician remained unharmed.

“Dark Magic Sphere allows me to prevent my Dark Magician from being destroyed in battle,” Josh explained.

“I see,” Erio frowned “Well I guess you get one more move then.”

Josh chuckled and drew a new card from his deck.

“I win,” he said.

“What?”

“Magic card, Offerings to the Doomed!” Josh said, showing Erio the spell card “You’re king of emperors is destroyed.”

“What!?”

Erio looked up as his monster reared up in pain and exploded, causing a massive shock to shoot through Erio’s system.

“Argh, m-my monster,” he gasped “Kanda.”

He collapsed onto one knee, panting heavily. He looked up as the smoke cleared and saw Josh’s Dark Magician standing over him with his staff pointed directly at his head. Erio cringed slightly.

“Enjoy your trip to the medical bay,” Josh said “Dark Magician, destroy him!”

Erio’s eyes widened as the Dark Magician’s staff glowed with energy and fired, causing a massive explosion that sent Erio flying off his feet only to come sliding to a halt on his back. He wasn’t moving.

 

The crowd seemed lost for words for a moment; the only sounds that could be heard at the moment were Josh’s footsteps as he exited the arena.

“Josh,” Jamin muttered.

“Ah…I….Well there you have it,” the announcer stammered “Erio, the national champion has been defeated in the first round and by a tournament rookie. I don’t think anybody ever saw this coming.”

A buzz had started in the waiting room.

“Did you see that?”

“Yeah, he looked like he was toying with Erio,”

“I don’t believe it, he threw the match. He must have.”

“Why would he?”

“I don’t know but there can’t be any other explanation.”

Jamin remained silent through this; he merely stared at the floor between his feet.

“It’s my fault, isn’t it?” He muttered.

“Huh?” the four charmers appeared around him, concerned looks on their faces “What do you mean?”

“I just know,” Jamin muttered “Josh never liked being second best, and for me to be the one who was supposed to stop Zorc and save the world from darkness again instead of him must have made him real mad. If I’d noticed that sooner I’d have let him take care of it all along, after all I’ve never beaten him in a duel and I never will.”

“You have to,” Wynn said “You’re his only hope now, if he keeps going on like this, his soul will fall so deep into shadow he won’t be able to come back, you have to defeat him to show him the way back.”

Jamin looked down at her and smiled.

“Well, I’ll try my best,” he said, looking up again “Josh, I’m coming for you.”

 

[SoljaBoy]

That took me about an hour 2 read LoL

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 29: The power of Darkness, doesn't always mean the power of evil :p

 

[spoiler=episode]“Welcome spectators to day three of the duel rally tournament,” the announced said, just audible over the cheers of the crowds “We’ve already seen some surprise duelists pass through and we have yet to conclude the first round, so without further ado let the duels begin!”

Another loud cheer resonated from the crowds, audible even in the separate waiting rooms that each group of duelists were waiting in. Kim heaved a sigh and looked up at the screen as the two current duelists walked into the arena and shuffled each others decks.

“I hope Jamin’s okay,” she muttered.

The truth of it was Kim hadn’t spoken to Jamin since the tournament started and all she’d seen of him was his duel in the first round, which he won of course. She looked around and noticed all the other duelists boasting to each other about they’re decks or having a plain old table top duel. She spied Drem Armou in the corner and scowled at him.

 

“I sure hope I get to duel him,” she thought “He really gets on my nerves.”

Unfortunately, the competitors weren’t allowed to visit the other waiting rooms to talk to anybody so Kim hadn’t had any opportunity to talk to Jamin and Diablo was in the same segment as Mashi-Ushi so he wasn’t around either. Kim found it rather convenient that the four of them were in different groups and she giggled slightly at the thought of her, Jamin, Josh and Diablo all in the semi-finals.

“I hope that happens,” she muttered “Cause it’ll be our victory either way.”

She paused and looked up at the screen.

“Unless, Josh really has changed,” she continued “He certainly didn’t seem like himself when I saw him duel.”

She thought back to the duel between Josh and Erio, in which Josh had ruthlessly taken down the national champion in a fierce display of dueling skill, finishing him off with an attack from his Dark Magician at point blank range. There were rumors floating around that Erio was still unconscious in the medical bay. Kim shuddered at the thought that her duel disk could inflict incredible pain and even knock her out.

“Calm down,” she told herself “You’re a duel spirit; you can take much more than most of the other people here.”

Although she wasn’t truly confident about what she’d tried to convince herself of. She heard someone creeping up behind her and span about, noticing Drem standing over her.

 

“Oh, it’s you,” she said coldly.

“Nothing wrong with saying hello?” Drem answered.

“You’ve already won your duel so intimidating me isn’t going to do you any good,” Kim snapped.

“Hey, I was just being friendly,” Drem retorted “What’s up with you?”

“Maybe I don’t like jerks,” Kim answered.

“Jerk, huh?” Drem chuckled “I see.”

He sat down next to Kim and looked across at her.

“So, what can you tell me about that Jamin kid?” Drem asked.

“Huh?” Kim looked around, surprised.

“You’re his friend, right?” Drem asked “So you obviously know a lot about him.”

“Why are you asking?” Kim replied, looking away and turning red.

“Cause I want to find out his weak spot before I duel him,” Drem replied.

Kim glared at him.

“What makes you think you’ll get to duel him?” She asked.

Drem chuckled again.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Drem asked “If he can pull of that kind of duel with such low level monsters he’s obviously make it to the semi finals at least.”

“I was referring to your defeat, moron,” Kim interjected.

“Me, defeated?” Drem chuckled “As if. I’m one of the top duelists in Japan, I only lost the national championships cause Erio pulled a fast one on me. One slip up and I was done for. This time though I’m going all the way.”

“Like hell you are!” Kim retorted “You’re nothing but a show off, just cause you got your Ancient Gear Golem to 9000 ATK you think you’re good, but you need more than just attack points to win!”

 

“Funny, last time I checked the whole point of the game was to take as many life points as possible,” Drem interrupted.

“We’ll just see about that,” Kim huffed.

Drem looked over at her again, a slight smile on his face. Kim didn’t return the gaze; she carried on staring up at the screen defiantly.

“You’re kinda cute when you’re cross,” Drem commented, looking up at the screen too.

Kim’s cheeks turned pink but her scowl seemed to grow darker.

“Oh, I really hate this guy!” Kim thought “Just wait till he duels me; I’ll give him what he deserves.”

 

“Montage Dragon, attack his life points directly!”

A massive cheer went up as the three headed dragon took out yet another duelist, sending him skidding across the ground before he came to a halt.

“Another duel is done and dusted!” The announcer said “What a tournament we’re having, you can just smell the tension in the air folks.”

Diablo sat in the waiting room, strapping his duel disk onto his arm.

“The next duel is between Kaira Hikari and a duelist known only as Diablo,” the announcer continued as Diablo inserted his deck “Let’s see what this duel will give us!”

Diablo stood up just as Kaira passed him; she had short violet hair and wore a red jumpsuit and black trousers. Diablo followed her into the arena and soon the two of them were facing each other and shuffling each other’s deck.

“I’ve heard you use powerful Dark Fiend monsters,” Kaira commented, a smirk crossing her face “Isn’t that appropriate?”

“Why? Are you one of those weaklings who uses Light monsters?” Diablo replied with a smirk.

Kaira scowled at him and snatched her deck back, inserting it into her duel disk and walking off. Diablo chuckled and inserted his own, moving back to his position in the arena.

“Duelists, begin!” The announcer declared.

Diablo’s duel disk flared into life and he immediately drew five cards from it, Dark Deal, Zure Knight of Dark World, Dark World Lightning, Reign-Beux Overlord of Dark World and Broww, huntsman of Dark World.

“I’ll take the first move,” Kaira interrupted his thinking.

Diablo looked up and narrowed his eyes.

“Let’s hope she doesn’t use cards that’ll negate my monsters’ effects,” he thought.

“I start with the field spell; Justice World!” Kaira declared, slotting her card into her field spell zone.

Diablo looked up and then covered his eyes as a bright light illuminated the arena behind Kaira, he peered through his defense to see a gold and white palace rising up out of the ground behind her. Kaira stared down at him smugly as she rose at the top of a flight of stairs and Diablo was left on the ground on a silver path leading up to the castle.

“What in the?” He stammered, staring about him “This place makes me feel sick.”

“This is justice world,” Kaira announced “And I such I shall reign justice down upon all who surrender their hearts to shadow.”

“Wait, what?” Diablo stared up at her.

“That’s right Diablo, I’m a hunter of dark duelists like yourself,” Kaira explained “It is my mission to rid you of your powers and leave you for dead.”

“I see,” Diablo said “Well you’re a little late cause I’m not a dark duelist anymore, I’ve already had my soul cleansed thankyou.”

 

“A soul once lost can never return,” Kaira announced “Now prepare yourself, I activate two copies of Treasure of Flashing Light!”

Diablo covered his eyes again as more light spread from Kaira’s field, and large hologram versions of the cards she activated appeared on her side of the field.

“With these cards, I can draw three cards during my draw phase,” Kaira explained “But until then I summon Lightlord Summoner Luminous!”

A tall and fair haired woman dressed in bright white and gold clothes materialized on Kaira’s field in another wave of light. By now Diablo was squinting just to look at Kaira’s field.

“By the effect of Justice World, each of my Light Lords gain 100 extra attack points for each shine counter on it, and when I discard a card from the top of my deck a shine counter is added for each card discarded,” Kaira explained “So I’ll end my turn and send three cards from my deck to the grave, thus increasing Luminous’ attack by 300.”

Kaira sent the first three cards from her deck to her graveyard and three shining orbs appeared in the air about her, increasing her monster’s attack strength to 1300.

“You’re really gonna risk decking out just to get your monsters up to full power?” Diablo smirked “Let’s say you start off with 40 cards, you’ve already drawn six for your first turn so that’s 34 left, then you discard three at the end of every turn, that’s 31. And with that spell card combo you draw 3 cards so by your next turn you’ll have 28 and if you summon another Lightlord…Well, let’s just say you won’t last long.”

“Oh?” Kaira smirked “It’s no better than ditching cards from your hand.”

“What?”

“That’s right, Diablo,” Kaira chuckled “I know your strategy, there’s nothing you can surprise me with.”

Diablo gritted his teeth and drew a new card.

“Go, Zure knight of Dark World!” Diablo said, summoning his Dark knight.

Another smirk crossed Kaira’s face.

“Zure attack!” Diablo ordered.

Zure raised his sword and swung it down, firing a beam of black energy that struck Kaira’s monster and destroyed it, delivering a slight shock to her.

“How’s that?” Diablo smirked.

“Not bad,” Kaira replied “Just don’t expect me to take it lying down.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Diablo said “I’ll lay one card face down and end my turn.”

“My draw then,” Kaira said “And by the effect of my Treasure cards I draw three cards.”

Diablo narrowed his eyes.

“I summon Lightlord Paladin Jean!” Kaira said.

Diablo squinted to look at Kaira’s field as a paladin dressed in silver and with short white hair appeared in another flash of light of Kaira’s field.

“Thanks to Justice World my monster gains 300 attack points,” Kaira explained as her monster’s attack rose to 2100 “And during my battle phase she gains an extra 300.”

“You’re kidding,” Diablo answered.

“Paladin Jean, attack Zure knight of Dark World!” Kaira ordered.

Jean charged forwards and locked swords with Diablo’s monster, both of them struggling to surpass the other.

“Ordinarily Zure and Jean would be evenly matched,” Diablo thought “But in this case she’s got 600 extra attack points, Zure won’t stand a chance.”

Jean succeeded in knocking Zure’s sword away and then struck him in the chest. Zure roared in pain and exploded, causing a wave of pain to break over Diablo.

“Damn it!” He roared.

Kaira laughed as Jean walked back to her side of the field.

“At the end phase of my turn, I have to pay for Lightlord Jean with two cards from my deck,” Kaira explained, sending the appropriate cards to her graveyard “And that puts two more counters on Justice World, giving my monster an extra 200 attack.”

Diablo glared up at Kaira as Lighlord Paladin Jean’s attack power rose to 2300.

“She’s already caught up with Gold and Sillva,” he thought “I’ll have to do something fast.

“My draw,” Diablo declared “And I summon Broww, Huntsman of Dark World in defense mode.”

Diablo’s fiendish archer rose on his side of the field.

“I’ll lay two cards face down and end my turn,” Diablo said.

“Heh, you’ll have to do better than that,” Kaira said, picking up three cards.

Diablo narrowed his eyes.

“I’ll play the magic card Solar Exchange,” Kaira declared “To sum it up, all I do is discard a Lightlord monster from my hand, and then I draw two cards from my deck and ditch two to the graveyard.”

Diablo smirked: “Oh?”

“Huh? What’s with that smile?” Kaira demanded.

“Because you’ve fallen for my trap,” Diablo said “I activate Dark Deal!”

“What?”

“When my opponent activates a magic card, I can pay 1000 life points to change that card’s effect so that you have to discard a card from my hand.”

Diablo’s duel disk sparked into life and delivered 1000 life points worth of shock to his body.

“This is nothing,” he growled “So choose now.”

Kaira glared at Diablo: “Fine, I choose that one,” she said, pointing.

“Wrong choice,” Diablo smirked “Rise from the shadows, Regin-Beux!”

A vortex of black energy whirled into life in front of Diablo, eclipsing any light on his side of the arena. Diablo’s ultimate monster then rose out of the blackness, looming over Kaira’s monster.

“Impossible,” Kaira’s eyes widened.

 

“Now I play my overlord’s effect,” Diablo said “Since he was special summon after you discarded him, I can now destroy all spell and trap cards on the field!”

Reign raised his massive axe into the air and swung it once, sending a crescent of dark energy flying toward’s Kaira’s field and hitting it dead on, destroying both her spell cards and carrying on towards her Justice World.

“I play the effect of Justice World!” Kaira explained.

“Huh?” Diablo looked up.

“I remove two shine counters to prevent its destruction,” Kaira explained.

Two of the glowing orbs floating around Kaira glowed and rushed to meet Reign-Beux’s attack head on. They collided and exploded in a massive wave of light, blinding Diablo once again.

“I can’t stand this,” he grunted.

“Hm, seems I’m a little short of being able to destroy your overlord now though,” Kaira pondered “Even with Jean’s effect she’ll be 100 points short.”

Diablo narrowed his eyes.

“I sacrifice Lightlord Paladin Jean,” Kaira declared as Jean vanished in a wave of light “To summon Lightlord Angel Cherebim!”

The ray of light intensified and a shadow fell of Kaira’s field, spreading a pair of large wings and raised a staff. The light faded to reveal an elegant blue haired angel standing before her, staring down at Daiblo’s field.

“By the effect of Cherebim, I send the top four cards of my deck to the graveyard, and destroy both your monsters.”

“What!?”

Kaira discarded four cards from her deck, adding four more shine counters to Justice World and increasing her monster’s attack to 3000. Lightlord Angel Cherebim raised her staff and it lit up and sent out several rays of light, two of which hit Diablo’s monsters and destroyed them.

“Reign!” He cried, shielding his eyes from the blinding flashes.

“I’m not done yet,” Kaira said “Since I sent Lightlord Beast Wolf to my graveyard by Angel Cherebim’s effect, he’s epcial summoned to my side of the field.”

Diablo’s eyes widened but were soon shut again as another wave of light cascaded from Kaira’s field, marking the entrance of a tall white wolf standing on its hind legs and carrying a vicous looking axe.

 

“Now my monsters,” Kaira ordered “Attack his life points directly!”

Both monsters raised their weapons and fired two beams of light at Diablo, sending a massive shock throughout his body and causing him to yell at the top of his voice.

“And with that this duel concludes,” Kaira smirked.

“No,” Diablo grunted.

“Excuse me?”

“I said, no!” Diablo repeated “I activate my quick play spell card, Gateway to Dark World!”

Diablo’s face down flipped up to reveal his spell card.

“And with this, I revive Reign-Beux!” Diablo finished.

Kaira scowled as Diablo’s ultimate monster rose up on his field again.

“Please,” she sighed “That thing can’t hold a candle to either of my monster, give it up.”

“She’s right,” Diablo thought “I need to get rid of that field spell of hers, before I pass out.”

He blinked; his vision was beginning to go blurry.

“My turn,” Diablo said, drawing.

He looked at the new card in his hand then up at Kaira’s field, squinting.

“I’ll set one card face down and end my turn,” Diablo said.

Kaira chuckled: “Is that it? Is this the power of darkness that you sold your soul to?”

“I never sold my soul to anyone,” Diablo growled.

“Well, we’ll soon see about that,” Kaira replied “Lightlord Beast Wolf, attack!”

Kaira’s monster charged forwards, raising his axe and swinging it down. Riegn riased his own to parry it and the two weapons clashed.

“My monster had far more attack points than yours,” Kaira said “Don’t bother.”

“We shall see,” Diablo said “Reverse card open! Bark of the Dark Ruler!”

“What?”

“By paying my life points in multiples of 100, I can increase the attack of my monster by the same amount until the end of my turn,” Diablo explained “But seeing as we’re not using life points, I can pay as many as I want!”

Diablo’s duel disk sprang into life and a massive shock enveloped his body.

 

“Precisely how many life points are you paying?” Kaira’s asked over Diablo’s yells.

Diablo continued yelling with pain as the lightning surged through his body and his monster’s attack strength kept going up, 3000, 4000, 5000.

“5000 attack points!”

Riegn broke the lock between him and Beast Wolf, knocking the Lightlord’s weapon out of his hand and then swinging his axe around and striking the beast in the chest, destroying him.

Kaira’s duel disk lit up now and a wave of lightning shot through her body instead. Diablo looked up at her, a grin spreading across his face however his body was shaking and there was sweat gathering on his forehead.

“So, still think you can beat me?” He panted.

“That was just one move!” Kaira retorted “It won’t save you!”

Diablo smirked and placed two fingers on his deck: “My draw,”

A shadow suddenly began spewing from his deck and falling to the floor like some sort of thick fog.

“W-what’s going on?” Kaira gazed down at Diablo.

“I’ve just realized the weakness of your strategy,” Diablo said “Once your field spell goes your only option is to deck out, so all I need to do is destroy it.”

Kaira looked slightly baffled for a moment, then a smile slowly tugged at her mouth and she began chuckling softly. Diablo narrowed his eyes as her laughing intensified and soon became a complete uproar of laughter.

“Haven’t I already pointed this out?” She panted through several breaths “My field spell can’t be destroyed, all I have to do is remove two counters from it and your plan goes to waste.”

“I’m not talking about using a card effect,” Diablo said “I’m referring to the rule book!”

Kaira stopped laughing and she stared down at Diablo: “Rule book?”

“That’s right,” Diablo said “When a field spell is activated while there is another field spell in play, the second field spell is destroyed regardless.”

Kaira’s eyes widened in horror as the realization dawned on her: “You haven’t…”

“I have,” Diablo said “Go, field spell Dark World Tower!”

Kaira’s eyes grew even wider as a shadow suddenly fell across her field of light as a massive dark spiraling tower rose above Diablo, causing a slight tremor and causing cracks in the white pavement Diablo was standing on.

“And no according to the rules, your field spell is destroyed!” Diablo declared.

Several cracks spread through the great golden pillars around Kaira’s justice world and several rocks began to fall before the entire structure collapsed, leaving Kaira standing in on top of a bridge made out of some sort of dark rock hanging over a river of molten lava. She looked up and saw Diablo standing in front of a pair of bronze doors leading inside the tower behind him.

“And by the effect of my Dark World Tower, all my Dark World monsters gain 500 extra attack points,” Diablo explained “And when one is ressurected from the graveyard I get to draw a new card.”

Reign-Beux growled as its attack points rose to 3000.

“Now your pitiful monster is no match for my overlord!” Diablo roared “Reign, destroy her!”

Reign swung his axe and threw a crescent of shadow energy towards Kaira’s monster. It wept right through her and the angel exploded, resulting in another electric shock to Kaira. Diablo smirked as Kaira fell to one knee, clutching her arm.

“Look like…You had some…Fight left,” she panted.

“Look who’s talking?” Diablo smirked “You’re almost beaten.”

Kaira looked up at Diablo and then began laughing again, getting slowly to her feet.

“Like I’d be beaten by some Dark World scum,” she coughed “I will never let that happen!”

A light suddenly shone from Kaira’s deck, almost blinding Diablo again.

“I’ve had enough of this?” He muttered.

“You see, I have the same powers you do,” Kaira said “I can see spirits too, only mine draw power from the light and the pure, and I shall use that light to destroy you dark powers of evil.”

“Evil?” Diablo looked up at her.

“It’s my draw!” Kaira said, a light following the card she drew.

A loud roar suddenly sounded from behind Kaira. Diablo’s eyes widened suddenly.

“Now that I have four different Lightlord monsters in my graveyard, I can special summon my ultimate monster,” Kaira declared “Rise! Judgment Dragon!”

The loud roar sounded again as Kaira’s monster rose in a massive flash of light. A golden white dragon covered in glistening scales and red talons. Diablo looked up at the white dragon, something resembling fear in his eyes, but it soon changed into smugness.

“So what, both our monsters have 3000 attack points,” Diablo explained “Any battle will just result in a tie, then you’ll be open to an attack.”

“I don’t think do,” Kaira said “Judgment Dragon, activate your ragnarok wave!”

“What?”

“Ragnarok wave is one of the monster powerful effects in the whole of duel monsters,” Kaira explained “It allows me to pay a measly 1000 life points to destroy all cards on the field except my judgement dragon.”

“What!”

Kaira’s duel disk sprang into life and delivered 1000 points worth of shock to Kaira. Once this was done the great dragon opened its wings and then began to emit a strong light across the arena, striking Reign and Diablo’s Dark World Tower, causing both to crumble. Diablo looked behind him as his field spell collapsed and revealed the stadium and the crowd watching intently.

“Hm, I’d almost forgotten we were here,” he muttered.

He turned back around and stared up at the Judgment Dragon as it opened its mouth.

“Oh dear.”

The beam of light fired from the dragons mouth struck Diablo, and delivered a massive shock to his body, causing him to sink down on one knee.

“So, who’s on their knees now?” Kaira smirked.

“Shut up!” Diablo scowled.

“On my next turn all I need is to play my monster’s effect again,” Kaira said, ditching four cards from the top of her deck “So, take your last turn.”

Diablo narrowed his eyes and then bowed his head.

“I’m not evil,” he said.

“What?”

“I said I’m not evil,” Daiblo said “Just because I use the power of shadows, that doesn’t make me evil.”

“What are you talking about?” Kaira asked “Shadows will always be evil, there are no exceptions…”

 

“Shut up!” Diablo roared, staring up “Light and Shadow are no different! Fire, Water, Wind, Earth. They’re just different ways of utilizing the same power! The power to speak to spirits!”

Kaira glared at Diablo, balling her hands into fists: “Don’t try to lecture me about shadows!”

“I’ll show you,” Diablo said “The power of shadows. Come on, deck down fail me now!”

Diablo placed his hand on his deck and drew. She looked down at the card she just drew, it was Blank. A smirk crossed his face.

“I activate Pot of Greed,” he said “So I draw two cards from my deck, perfect. Now I activate Dark Calling!”

“Dark Calling?” Kaira’s eyes widened as a wave of shadow energy flowed from Diablo graveyard.

“I fuse Reign-Beux and Blank, and summon Colorless, chaos king of Dark World!”

“What!”

Diablo ultimate monster suddenly exploded from out of his graveyard. Kaira stared up at the monster in fear.

“Colorless’ attack becomes the combined attack of the two monsters used to fuse it, and thanls to Blanc’s effect, when it’s used as a fusion material its attack becomes 3500, so my monster’s attack is 6000! And when he attacks I discard Sillva from my hand when he attacks!”

“B-but that means…His attack is…”

“Let’s just say it’s a lot,” Diablo smirked “Colorless! Destroy Judgment Dragon!”

Colorless raised both his hands and began charging a ball of dark energy between them; in fact it became so powerful his hands began shaking as he charged it.

“My judgment Dragon,” Kaira stared up at her monster.

 

“Like I said,” Diablo said “I’m not evil, I have the same faith and trust in my monsters that you have in yours, I’m no different than you, Kim, or even Jamin. We’re all just simple guys playing a children’s card game, win or lose you’re just the same guy.”

Kaira’s eyes widened: “I…I…”

“Colorless, attack!” Daiblo ordered.

Colorless released the ball of energy and it flew straight towards Kaira’s judgment dragon, striking it directly in the chest. The dragon let out a final foar before it was destroyed and Kaira was dealt another shock from her Zengetsu duel disk. She stood; panting for a few momens before she finally lost the will to stand up and collapsed onto the floor. The holograms faded and Diablo deactivated his duel disk.

“Thanks guys,” he muttered, staring at his deck “I guess I need to prove that to myself as well.”

He looked up as the medic team moved onto the field and shrugged, walking back to his waiting room.

 

“Not bad,” Drem muttered, still sitting next to Kim “Course, his attack points were nowhere near the amount I can get my monsters up to.”

“Well at least he doestn’t show off!” Kim scowled.

“Show off? You mean that monologue he had about the power of shadows?” Drem looked over at her “Utter poppycock.”

“P-poppycock!” Kim started.

“Yeah, there’s no such thing as spirits,” Drem said “This deck is just a tool that keeps me living, there’s no friendship about it.”

He chuckled and stood up, walking off. Kim watched him go, a mixture of shock and anger on her face.

“No…Real….Am I?!” She growled under her breath “Well I guess a bunch of rusty, heartless machines shuit you then you big jerk!”

She glared at him as he left and then turned her head away, still shaking slightly.

“Just wait till I duel him,” she thought “I’ll show him the power of spirits.”

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 30: Kim's duel next, bout time she had one.

 

[spoiler=episode]A bead of sweat dripped down Kim’s forehead and her hand shook violently. She looked down at the single card she was holding, Harpie girl. She swallowed and looked up at her opponent’s field, her opponent was hidden in shadow and all that was left on his field was Gen-Warped War Wolf. Kim gritted her teeth.

“Nothing to worry about,” she thought “His monster can’t harm my life points if my monster’s in defense mode; I’m safe for the moment.”

“I summon Harpie Girl in defense mode!” Kim declared, placing her monster on her field and watching it appear in a show of feathers, its wings crossed across its front.

“Your move,” Kim said.

 

Her opponent drew silently, and then a smirk crossed his face.

“Equip magic, fairy meteor crush!”

“Huh?”

“War Wolf, attack!”

The Gene-Warped Wolf charged forwards, raising its four arms into the air and bringing them down on Kim’s monster. Kim screamed as a shock passed through her body and she felt her energy drain out of her. She dropped down to her knees, panting slightly.

“I….Won’t lose,” she grunted.

“Kim?”

“Huh?”

 

Kim looked up and saw Drem staring down at her, a frown on his face.

“Did you know you talk in your sleep?” He asked.

“I…Huh?!” Kim’s face turned red “What the hell do you think you’re doing!”

“Well you kind of fell asleep,” Drem replied “So I figured I’d wake you up.”

“Yeah…Well….Don’t sneak up on me like that!” Kim retaliated.

“Hey chill,” Drem said “Just trying to do you a favor, you could at least be grateful.”

“Grateful? Get lost,” Kim grunted.

Drem shrugged and moved off, humming softly. Kim glared at him as he left and sat down, rather angrily.

“Damn I hate him,” she thought.

She turned her head back towards the screen and watched the proceedings.

 

“Yamata Dragon, attack mystic tamato!”

The two duelists currently dueling were a tall dark haired guy with a long black tailcoat and trousers and a light gray undershirt and another shorter guy with shoulder length brown hair, grey eyes, a red T-shirt with a dark blue jacket over the top and black trousers. The Yamata dragon raised its many heads and fired at the brown haired duelist’s monster, destroying it.

“And by the effect of my Yata mirro, my Yamata dragon reamins on my field during my end phase,” the first duelist stated.

“True, but my monster has an effect too,” his opponent added “Come on out, Junk Synchron!”

A chibified monster in orange armour and with a pull string motor on his back popped into existance on the second duelist’s field.

“Hah, you’re pathetic Junk deck is exactly that, junk,” the dark haired duelist said “Tell me one good use it has!”

His opponent narrowed his eyes.

“Very well, I’ll end my turn by placing another face down defense monster beside my first,” the first duelist stated “your move, Sou.”

Sou grinned: “My draw,” he said “I play the effect of Bolt Hedgehog in my graveyard, since I have a face up tuner monster on my side of the field, I can special summon him on my side of the field!”

A small orange hedgehog with bolts and screws rather than spines rolled out onto Sou’s field, emitting a small squeak as he did so and resulting in a chrous of coos from a lot of the female crowd.

“Wait, are you?”

Sou’s grin widened: “Junk Synchron, Bolt Hedgehog, combine and summon…”

Junk Synchron pulled the string coming from his front and his whole form glowed and vanished into three balls of light. Meanwhile three green circles surrounded the Bolt hedgehog and began to change it.

“…Junk Warrior!” Sou said.

A flash of light later and a purple clad machine warrior emerged on Sou’s field, its arms crossed and staring over at Sou’s opponent.

“Amazing,” the announced said “I haven’t seen a synchro summon since my days in the satelite district, a rare occourence among most duelists these days.”

“A Synchro summon?” Sou’s opponent took a step back “Why you, heh. But he doesn’t have enough attack points to get past my Yamata Dragon!”

“Doesn’t it?” Sou grinned “We’ll have to fix that then. I activate double summon, by playing this card I’m allowed an extra summon this turn, so I play Tune Warrior and Magical Ficialist!”

A monk in a white and purple robe, as well as an armoured robot with plugs on the end of its arms appeared on Sou’s field.

“Then I activate the effect of One-Shot Booster from my hand,” Sou explained “Since I’ve normal summoned this turn, I can special summon it from my hand.”

A yellow robot appeared this time, with two large engines pointing out at the front.

 

“Then I’ll activate my face down, miniaturize,” Sou said, flipping the card up “This lowers the level of my Tune Warrior by one.”

“Huh?” His opponent looked confused “Why the heck would you do that?”

“I’m also playing Synchro hero, and equipping it to my One-Shot Booster! Raising its level by one and giving it 500 extra attack points.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Sou’s opponent demanded as his One-Shot Booster glowed and grew slightly larger.

“Simple,” Sou began to explain “My Junk Warrior gains the attack of all level 2 monsters on my side of the field.”

His opponent froze: “Wait, he gains they’re attack points.”

“Yup,” Sou said “So right now his attack is 4200!”

“Now way!”

Junk Warrior glowed with a white aura as his attack points rose to almost double what they were originally.

“And I’m not done yet,” Sou said “I play the effect of Magicial Ficialist, when he’s summoned a spell counter is placed on him, and I can remove that counter to increase the attack of any of my monsters by 500, take it away!”

Sou’s monster summoned a small ball of energy in his hand and threw it at Junk Warrior, increasing its attack by another 500.

“4700 attack points!”

“This is it!” Sou said “Junk Warrior, Scrap Fist!”

 

Kim watched in awe as Sou’s monster took down his opponent’s Yamata Dragon, inflicting a heavy amount of damage to his life points.

“That Sou guy isn’t half bad,” Drem commented.

Kim started and looked around, noticing Drem beside her again.

“Are you following me?” She demanded.

“I’m just getting to know as much about the duelist I might face as possible,” Drem said “And there’s a good view of the screen from here.”

“Jerk,” Kim muttered.

“Wassat?”

“Nothing.”

 

Sou’s opponent quickly recovered from the shock he’d just received.

“Lucky shot,” he grunted.

“As if,” Sou chuckled.

“You won’t be saying that before too long!” His opponent said, drawing “I summon Iniba White Rabbit in attack mode!”

Sou’s eyes narrowed.

“Then I flip up Tsukuyomi and Asura Priest!”

Sou raised his eyebrows as the three spirit monsters emerged onto the field.

“Why the hell are you doing that?” He asked.

“So I can sacrifice them!” His opponent replied “Behold the almighty, Vashtan Lord of Spirits!”

Sou’s eyes widened as a huge white behemoth of a monster emerged on the opposite side of the field; it looked like he was made of bone and with a white and black mask covering his head and a long pale tail swinging about behind him.

“What in the world?” Sou’s eyes widened.

“Now I equip him with Kusanagi, so when he destroys a defense monster the difference goes to you.”

“Grr!”

 

“Vashtan, attack!” Sou’s opponent ordered “Black Fist!”

Vashtan raised his white fist into the air and hurled it forwards, heading for Sou’s One-Shot Booster.

“You’re underestimating me!” Sou growled “I play my face down, Scrapiron Scarcrow!”

“What!”

A metal scarecrow covered with odd bits of just including an old biker’s helmet rose on Sou’s field. Vashtan’s fist hit it with a loud clang but didn’t go through.

“Scrapiron Scarecrow allows me to negate one of my opponent’s attacks,” Sou explained “And then I get to flip it back face down.”

Sou’s scarecrow flipped down and became a face down card again.

“Very good, but I still have one more effect to play,”

“Huh?”

“I return Vashtan from the field to my hand, and destroy all monsters on your side of the field!”

“What?”

Sou’s opponent took his card off the field and Sou’s entire asortment of monsters exploded with tremendous force, delivering a massive shock to Sou.

 

“He’s not bad either,” Drem murmured.

“Will you can it,” Kim grumbled.

“Too bad he’s not in our group,” Drem ignored her “I’ll just have to face him in the finals.”

“My draw!” Sou declared.

“What is your problem?” Kim asked.

“I activate my magic card…”

“I just evaluate my opponent’s properly,” Drem commented “If I can get to know their strategy, I can beat them no problem.”

“We’ll see about that,” Kim grumbled.

“Nitro Warrior, attack his life points directly!”

“I think your duels up next,” Drem commented “I’ll be able to see what you can do. Whether or not you’ll end up dueling me is another matter.”

Kim glared up at him.

“I will beat you,” she said, defiantly “I’m gonna beat you so badly you won’t even know what hit you, got that?”

“I look forward to it,” Drem replied.

 

“The Winner is Sou Ovelesku,” the announcer declared “Next match will be Kim Harrison vs Kana Yue.”

“Good luck,” Drem said.

“Shut it,” Kim muttered, walking out into the arena.

 

From what she’d heard about her opponent, Kana was a stubborn man with dark hair held in a very long pony tail and he liked to use a lot of warrior monsters. She looked up and saw him at the other end of the arena.

“Okay, keep it together Kim,” she told herself, handing him his deck to shuffle and taking his in return “No need to get nervous.”

The two duelists walked apart and then turned about to face each other.

“Duelists, begin!” The announcer declared.

“Okay!” Kim said “First off I play the field spell, Harpies Hunting ground! Now all my Winged Beast monsters gain 200 extra attack points. I’ll also set this card face down, and summon Harpie Lady number 1!”

One of Kim’s signature monsters rose up on her side of the field.

“By the effect of my Hunting Ground, I destroy my face down card,” Kim said “And it’s my Dark Coffin!”

Kim’s face down flipped up and then smashed.

“Thanks to my Dark Coffin, you have to discard one card from your hand,” Kim said.

Kana narrowed his eyes and ditched a card.

“Now thanks to my field spell and my monsters effect,” Kim carried on “My monster’s attack points raise by 500, giving her a grand total of 1800 attack points.”

Kim’s Harpie Lady glowed green and her attack points rose.

“I’ll set two cards face down and end my turn,” Kim declared.

Kana didn’t say anything and drew a card.

“I summon Marauding Captain,” he said as a heavily battered but tough looking warrior emerged on his field “And by his effect I also summon my Command Knight!”

A female warrior dressed in crimson armour with a lot of feather themed decoration appeared on Kana’s field.

“Thanks to her effect, my warrior monster gains 400 extra attack,” Kana explained.

Kim hummed, thoughtfully.

“Then I play my spell card Allied Forces!” Kana said “So my monsters gain 200 attack points for each warrior type monster I control!”

“Huh?”

“So now, both my monsters have 2000 attack points,” Kana explained “Command Knight, attack Harpie Lady 1!”

Kana’s monster drew her sword and charged, striking down at Kim’s monster.

“I activate my face down card,” Kim said “Icarus attack!”

“Huh?”

“By tributing my Harpie Lady, I destroy both your monsters!” Kim explained.

“No way!”

Kim’s monster vanished and both of Kana’s monsters exploded. He grunted, covering his face with one arm as the dust cleared.

“Fine,” he said “I end my turn.”

“My draw,” Kim said “I activate my face down, Reckless Greed. Thanks to this trap, I draw two cards from my deck, but skip my next two draw phases.”

Kim picked up two cards from her deck and her trap card smashed.

“Then I Remove Harpie Lady 1 in my graveyard from play, to special summon Silpheed!”

An emerled green magician rose up on Kim’s field in a show of wind, brandishing his staff and causing several particles of dust to rise from the floor.

“Then I’ll summon Hunter Owl from my hand,” Kim said “And thanks to his effect he gains 500 attack for each Wind monster on my field, as well as 200 extra from my field spell.”

Kim’s rarest monster flew down next to Silpheed, its attack raising

“Silpheed, Hunter Owl, direct attack!” Kim ordered.

Both monsters leaped forwards, firing their separate attacks. Silpheed threw a cresent of wind at Kana which went straight through him, inflicting 1700 points worth of shock to his body, this was then followed up by a strike from Kin’s Hunter Owl’s curved axe, inflicting another 2200. Kim’s monsters settled back onto her side of the field as Kana began his recovery.

“I’ll set one card face down and end my turn,” she said.

 

Jamin had been watching the duel from his own waiting room, keeping a close eye on the moved Kim played.

“She’s improved,” he muttered “It might have something to do with those cards Diablo put in her deck, but she’s learning to use them really well.”

He bowed his head, thinking for a moment.

 

“My turn,” Kana said, drawing a new card “I activate Reinforcment of the army, letting me add Armed Samurai Ben-Kai to my deck! I’ll then summon him to the field.”

A Samurai in a battered grey tunic and white headscalf emerged on Kana’s field, wielding twin swords.

“I’ll then activate three equip spell cards,” Kana said “Divine Sword Phoenix Blade, Lightning Blade and Fusion Sword Murasame Blade, giving him a grand total of 2400 attack points!”

“2400?” Kim’s eyes widened.

“And thanks to my monster’s effect, he can attack four times because of the equip spells placed on him, not to mention an extra 200 attack thanks to my allied forces spell card.”

“This is gonna hurt,” Jamin muttered.

“Armed Samurai, attack!” Kana ordered.

Kana’s monster charged forwards, aiming for Kim’s Silpheed. He struck him relentlessely and her monster exploded, inflicting a large shock to her body. She grabbed her arm in pain and looked back up at the field in time to see the armed Samurai swing his sword towards Kim’s Hunter Owl and destroying it, inflicting more pain towards her.

“H-hunter Owl,” she muttered.

Ben-Kai turned about and raised his swords again, delivering two more blows to Kim directly, causing her to scream in pain as a massive electric shock struck her body.

“Kim,” Jamin muttered.

“I…I’m not going to lose,” Kim muttered, refusing to succum to the pain threatening to envelop her body “I need to duel Drem and give him a good butt kicking.”

A smirk crossed Drem’s face as he watched the duel.

“I love a challenge,” he muttered.

 

“Don’t push yourself,” Kana warned “I’ve met people like you before, you never last too long in a real challenge.”

“Oh can it,” Kim snapped “I can’t bear to see Drem’s smug face when he discovers I’ve lost this duel, after I promised to kick his butt!”

Kana sighed and shook his head.

“My turn,” Kim said “Although I can’t draw thanks to the effect of reckless greed, so I’ll one monster in face down defense mode and end my turn.”

Kana narrowed his eyes.

“Very well,” he said “Ben-Kai, attack!”

Kana’s monster charged forwards.

“I activate my trap card,” Kim said “Negate Attack!”

Kana’s eyes widened as his monster’s attack was blocked by a wall of ripples.

“Why didn’t she play that before,” Jamin muttered.

“I end my turn,” Kana sighed.

“My turn,” Kim said “And I flip up my Slate Warrior!”

“Huh?”

Kim’s yellow armored fiend rose on her side of the field in a small display of lights and finally emerged, staring down Kana’s armed Samurai.

“And thanks to his flip effect, he gains 500 extra attack points,” Kim said.

“Now I get it,” Jamin said “She didn’t want to waste her trap before so she could use it to protect her Slate Warrior and get him up to full power, nice going.”

A grin spread across Kim’s face: “Pity our two monsters have equal attack points,” she said “Otherwise I’d have attacked by now.”

“I’ll take it as my turn then,” Kana said, drawing a card.

He looked at his hand.

“All I need is another warrior and I can destroy her monster,”

However, the only cards in his hand were Magic Jammer and Release Restraint.

“No good,” he muttered “I can’t take on her Slate Warrior with this.

“I end my turn,” he said.

“And now I can finally draw a card,” Kim said, doing so.

She looked down at the card she just drew and frowed.

“I’ll lay this card face down and end my turn,” she said.

Kana drew and looked at his card, his eyes widened suddenly: “I got it,”

Kim looked up.

“I summon Gearfied the Iron Knight!” Kana said.

A black knight dressed from head to toe in heavy metal armor materialized on Kana’s field.

“Then I play the magic card, Release Restraint!” Kana said “And Sacrifice my monster to summon Geafried the SwordMaster!”

“Huh?”

 

Several cracks spread all across Geafried’s armour and eventually exploded off him, exposing a tough, wild looking warrior with long brown hair and a massive sword.

“No way,” Kim’s eyes widened.

“Thanks to the effect of my allied forces, my armed samurai gains 200 extra attack, and my Sword Master gains 400.” Kana explained.

“That means he has 3200,” Kim’s eyes widened.

“Geafried, attack!” Kana ordered.

Geafrid hefted his massive sword and charged forwards, brining it down on Kim’s monster and destroying him.

“It may lower my monster’s attack points, but it’s well worth it,” Kana said “Armed Samurai, attack!”

Kim looked up and saw the Armed Samurai Ben-Kai charging towards her. She covered her head as four sword strokes struck her, each resutling in a heavy electric shock. It ended and she sank down on both knees, shaking violently.

“Don’t push yourself,” Kana said “If you surrender now I won’t make it any more painful for you.”

“No,” Kim said, getting to her feet slowly “I won’t give in like that.”

Kana sighed.

“It’s my draw,” Kim said “I play pot of greed and draw two more cards.”

Kim discarded her spell card and picked up two cards from her deck. She looked down at the cards she’d drawn.

“Harpie Girl!” Kim’s eyes widened “I’ve drawn myself.”

Kana looked up at her.

“Is there really a way to win this duel with Harpie Girl?” She thought “I mean, I should know better than anyone, I’m a weak spirit.”

She sighed and dropped her arm down by her side, staring at the ground. Kana’s eyes narrowed with concern.

“Wait,” Kim thought, noticing her face down card “There is a way.”

She looked at her hand, then at her field: “I got it,”

 

“Well?” Kana asked.

“I summon Harpie Girl in defense mode,” Kim said.

“What?” Kana’s eyes widened, looking down at the small winged female.

Jamin looked up, staring at Kim’s field.

“She played herself?” His eyes grew wider as well.

“Then I play my face down card, super hurricane!” Kim declared, flipping up her face down “I tribute one normal Wind monster on my field and special summon one wind monster from my deck,” she explained as her monster vanished within a whirlwind “The monster summoned by this card is treated as being tribute summoned,” Kim explained “And is returned to my deck at the end phase.”

Kana’s mouth opened slightly, as though her were about to speak.

“Rise, Ancient God Bird Simorgh!” Kim ordered.

A golden version of her other high powere bird monster exploded out of the tornado and let out a loud screech.

“Thanks to his effect, both your monsters return to your hand,” Kim said.

“What?”

Simorgh flapped his wings and a powerful gust caught both his monsters, sending them flying backwards. Kana looked down as the two cards appeared back in his hand.

“Impossible,” his eyes widened.

“This is it,” Kim said “Simorgh, attack his life points directly, ancient hurricane attack!”

 

Kim’s monster flapped its mighty wings again, sending another powerful gust Kana’s way and hitting him hard, delivering a massive electric shock. Kana dropped to his knees, panting heavily.

“Nice move Kim!” Jamin yelled, despite the fact that she couldn’t hear him.

“Not bad,” Drem muttered.

“I did it!” Kim yelled, punching the air.

Kana panted and looked up at Kim, a slight grin crossing his face.

“I guess….You did have it in you after all,” he panted.

Kim returned her monster to her deck and the giant golden bird vanished, signaling the end of her turn. Kana drew a new card from his deck and looked at it, it was Blast With Chain. He sighed and lowered his hand, folding it back up into a stack of cards. Kim looke dup at him, surprised.

“I surrender,” Kana said, placing his hand on his deck “I guess you caught me by surprise.”

The smile on Kim’s face grew even bigger and she let out another loud whoop, followed by a cheer from the crowd.

 

Jamin heaved a sigh and sat down, somewhat relieved by Kim’s victory.

“Maybe she’s taking this a bit too lightly,” he muttered, watching Kim waving about on the screen.

 

Kim wandered back into the waiting room, a huge smile on her face, still elated from her recent victory. Drem watched her come in, a notebook in his hand and appeared to have just writing something down. He shut the book as soon as he finished and stowed it away in a back pocket.

“Nice match,” he commented “Even if your opponent did surrender.”

Kim attempted to ignore him but her smile faded and she avoided eye contact with him.

“I’ve just finished taking down a few notes on you,” Drem commented, a soft smile crossing his face “If I ever end up facing you I’ll be ready.”

“I doubt that,” Kim muttered.

“What’s that?” Drem asked.

“Nothing,” Kim snapped “Why are you always coming over to talk to me anyway?”

“I told you,” Drem said “You’re the closest person here to Jamin, and I want to make sure I’m ready for him by finding out everything about him.”

He moved close enough to mutter in Kim’s ear.

“So, what’s his ultimate monster?” Drem asked “He can’t just use those charmers all the time.”

“Never you mind,” Kim muttered.

“Of course,” she thought “Jamin’s cards went blank when Zorc took his powers, and he’s only just beginning to recover them.”

Drem moved away from her, sighing: “If you’re not gonna tell me then I guess I’ll find out the hard way,” he shrugged “He’s bound to use it sooner or later.”

Kim bit her lip, luckily though Drem didn’t notice.

 

Meanwhile, Jamin was shuffling through his deck. The first round was over and they were allowed to edit their decks between rounds so he was seeing what was good to lose and put in. As he was looking through a single card fell out of his pocket and onto the floor.

“Huh?”

He bent down and picked it up, however the card was blank. He scratched his chin.

“I might not be able to see them but they can probably see me,” he muttered “I guess they’re tyring to tell me they’re still with me.”

He put his cards together again and straightened them out, taking a short practice draw on the table. He drew Hiita the Fire Charmer, Spiritual Earth Art – Kurogane, Draining Shield, Super Deformed Eria and Homunculus the Alchemic Being. He hummed thoughtfully and didn’t bother looking round as Hiita’s spirit appeared behing him.

“Nervous?” She asked.

“Fairly,” Jamin replied “I hope it doesn’t take too long to recover all my powers, right now I’m pretty vulnerable without an ultimate monster.”

“You’ll get around that,” Hiita said “I’m sure you will.”

Jamin nodded and put his cards away.

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 31: 4Kids are gonna hate this one :p

 

[spoiler=episode]There was quiet a buzz going through the arena now, the first round was almost over and there had certainly been a few upsets and surprises along the way, most people were talking about Josh’s defeat of the national champion, Erio. Others were talking about the synchro summon pulled off by Sou. Few of them were talking about Jamin, but those who did were mostly girls conversing about the cards he used. Jamin was finding it hard to walk down the corridor without having a group of girl waving at him.

“This is getting frustrating,” he sighed “I never even wanted to become a tournament duelists, I was happy where I was.”

“Hey, I don’t mind all the attention,” Eria replied, walking along beside him and completely invisible to the people pointing and talking.

“Eria, they can’t even see you,” Jamin pointed out as Eria began pointing and waving.

“Who cares?” Eria replied “I just love attention, even if they do think I’m just some ink on a card.”

Jamin pulled his gaze away from her and entered the waiting room, noting that it was considerably less crowded than when he’d entered. In fact the only people there were himself, Sammy, Jun and….Jamin looked around, but the other duelist who should have been there wasn’t.

“That’s weird,” he muttered.

“What?” Eria looked out from behind him.

“There should be three people in this room,” Jamin pointed out “Where’s the other one?”

Eria looked about and scratched her head: “Maybe he’s late,” she suggested “After all, you’ve only just arrived.”

Jamin shrugged and Eria dissapeared.

 

“Enjoying the fangirls?” Jun asked, eying him “They mostly came for me, but I think they saved you a few cheers just to be nice.”

Jamin sat down and looked up at him. Up close Jun didn’t look as cool as he did on screen, his face was almost pointed and there were clear signs of aging under his eyes.

“They were kind of irritating actually,” he commented.

“Heh, Einstein over there didn’t get a single one,” Jun went on, jabbing his thumb in the direction of Sammy, who was going through his deck “How a nerd like him ever got into this torunament I don’t know.”

“He’s the type who likes to boast a lot,” Jamin shrugged.

“Oh, I love taking down guys like that,” Jun commented, cracking his knuckled “Say where’s that other guy? Kaeo I think his name was…”

Jamin looked up and over to the door where the final duelist still hadn’t come through.

“Somewhere else,” he shrugged “Maybe he overslept or something, he’s already got through the first round, he doesn’t need to watch everybody else.”

Jun was now picking his nose and not paying Jamin any attention.

“I’m the German champ you know,” he said lightly.

“I know,” Jamin replied “I’ve met a fan.”

Jun chuckled: “Doesn’t surprise me one bit,” he muttered “I’m probably the most popular duelist here now that Erio’s out and Drem shouldn’t be too hard to beat.”

“Drem? You mean that Ancient Gear duelist,” Jamin asked “He’s seems to be more full of himself than you.”

“Hey, I’m not full of myself,” Jun retorted “I know exactly how good I am, and I’m brilliant, not one of those losers who win one duel and think they’re god.”

“All you’ve won is the German championship,” Jamin pointed out.

“Oh? Well take a look, kid!” Jun said, opening his jacket.

Jamin looked up and saw it was lined with medals from almost every legue Jamin had heard about, and even a few he hadn’t.

“Not all my victories were reported in the press,” Jun said, smugly “I’ve entered more tournaments than any other duelist, I was in the Genex tournament ten years ago, and battle city before that, I’ve been dueling since I was younger than you, kid.”

Jamin looked from the medals and back up at Jun, a smile crossing his face.

“So?”

“Huh?”

“I don’t care how many medals you’ve won, or how good your deck is,” Jamin said “Cause it makes no difference to people like me.”

“And just what are people like you?” Jun asked, raising an eyebrow.

“The sort of person who trusts his cards to come when he needs them,” Jamin said “And doesn’t just treat them as tools to win a card game.”

 

Jun looked confused.

“Wait, you’re one of those spirit hippie things, aren’t you?” He said, backing off “I swear you people belong in an asylum.”

“Well, that got rid of him,” Jamin sighed, leaning back “I wonder who’s in the last match.”

He looked around at the screen mounted at the far wall of the waiting room, seeing the crowd cheering before the start of the final match of the first round. Jamin frowned slightly but made no comment.

“Thankyou for waiting,” the announcer declared “Our final match will be between millionair Max Summoa, and Mashi-Ushi Teshino.”

“Mashi-Ushi!” Jamin suddenly perked up.

The two duelists were moving out onto the field, Mashi-Ushi looking quietly confident, his opponent was the duelist who had tried to enter with the golden duel disk. He seemed to have recovered from the shock of not being able to lose his most prized possession. Mashi-Ushi handed his deck over to Max and then took Max’s deck too and the pair began to shuffle.

“This isn’t gonna look very good,” Jamin muttered.

The two duelists finished shuffling and returned to their respective sides of the field.

“Duelists, you may begin!” The announcer declared.

A smug crossed Mashi-Ushi’s face, then the screen cut out.

“Huh?!” Jamin sprang to his feet, Hiita and Wynn appearing behind him.

“What just happened?” Jun asked “Did the fuse blow?”

“I don’t think it uses a fuse,” Sammy replied.

“Yeah, whatever,”

“Jamin?” Wynn looked over at him.

Jamin clenched his fist and charged out of the waiting room, heading through the door to the arena.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” Jun asked.

Jamin didn’t reply and simply tore through the door and up the ramp.

“Idiot,” Sammy muttered “He’ll get thrown out of the tournament, guess that makes things a lot easier for…”

Jun ran after Jamin’s throwing the doors aside and tearing up the ramp as well.

“Huh? Hey!” Sammy called after them “Idiots, they’ll….” He looked behind him and then ran after them.

 

As soon as the announcer had permitted the two duelists to begin, Max had already activated his duel disk and drawn five cards.

“I hope you like hospital food,” he sneared.

“Oh don’t worry, I’m not hungry right now,” Mashi-Ushi said.

He chuckled softly, and then his chuckle suddenly exploded into a maniac laughter as several white tendrals burst from behind him.

“What the!?”

The white swam about them, concealing the pair in a sort of foggy white dome. Bits of the outside arena were still visible through gaps in the fog but all sound from the outside seemed to have ceased. Max stared about him, fear beginning to flood through him. Mashi-Ushi watched him, a dissapointed expression on his face.

“Guess you don’t have anything worth taking,” he sighed “You can’t even so much as hear a Kuriboh.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Max demanded, his voice growing shaky.

“I’m talking about your level of spirit power,” Mashi-Ushi said “After all, this is a spirit duel I’ve just started.”

“A-a spirit duel?” Max’s eyes widened.

“Yes, it’s kind of like the endurance duels Kaiba set up for this tournament,” Mashi-Ushi explained “In fact I think it was the inspiration for it. He’ll do anything to mimic the ancient powers. Anyway, in this realm our monsters are created from out life force, in other words the more power we put into summoning a monster, the stronger it will become. So if you can afford to give up enough spirit energy, a Kuriboh can take down a Blue-Eyes-White Dragon.”

“That’s nonsense,” Max interjected “There’s no rules about that in the tournament.”

“I’m afraid the only way you can escape from my barrier is either to defeat me or die trying,” Mashi-Ushi said “That’s right Max, I’m going to kill you!”

“W-what?”

 

Jamin, Jun and Sammy burst through the doors to the arena and all three let out a loud gasp of amazement.

“What the hell is that?” Jun asked.

Jamin’s eyes grew wider as he felt something wash over him.

“This feeing,” he muttered “I’ve felt it before.”

A flash of a large grin, red eyes and massive horns sparked in his memory, causing him to jump suddenly.

“No way!”

“What? What is it?” Sammy asked.

He looked over at Jamin and noticed that he’d gone pale.

 

“So, are you ready?” Mashi-Ushi asked “After all, there’s no other way out of here now. I’ll finish you off in seconds.”

Max glared at Mashi-Ushi and drew a sixth card from his deck.

“I’ll show you the power of my rare cards!” He roared “I’ll place one monster in defense mode and place one card face down. Your move.”

Mashi-Ushi grinned as Max’s cards appeared in front of him.

“Too scared to make a real move, are we?” He grinned “Well no matter. Go Luster Dragon!”

A sapphire blue dragon rose up on Mashi-Ushi’s field, letting out a roar and descending onto the arean. Max looked up at it, his eyes widening.

“No way, but that’s…”

“Real, I know,” Mashi-Ushi said “Now Luster Dragon, attack!”

Mashi-Ushi’s monster reared its head and fired a beam of bright blue energy, heading towards Max’s monster.

“Too bad,” Max said “Go trap card, mirror force!”

“Hm?”

Luster Dragon’s attack hit an invisible wall and bounced back, heading towards Mashi-Ushi’s field. Mashi-Ushi raised his arm over his head as his own monster was hit by his attack.

“Heh, guess I let my guard down because you’re so weak,” he grinned “Well, not anymore. I’ll lay two cards face down and end my turn!”

“Here I go,” Max said.

He drew a card and a massive grin spread across his face.

“So much for you pal, I sacrifice my monster, to summon Jinzo!” Max declared.

The almighty Jinzo rose up on the field, towering above both players and staring down at Mashi-Ushi.

“Impressive,” Mashi-Ushi commented “But, do you have what it takes to use him?”

“Use him?” Max laughed “I don’t need to use him, your face down cards are negated and Jinzo has a clear shot at your life points. Go Jinzo, destroy him.”

 

Jinzo raised his arms, charging a ball of psychic energy between them and throwing it at Mashi-Ushi. Mashi-Ushi grinned.

“What’s so funny?” Max asked.

“What makes you think my face down cards are trap cards?” Mashi-Ushi said.

“Huh?”

“I play the quick play spell card, Enemy Controller!”

“Huh?”

A large game pad appeared behind Mashi-Ushi and a cord flew from it, attatching itself to Jinzo.

“What in the world?”

“By the effect of my enemy controller, I’m allowed to change the battle position of your monster,” Mashi-Ushi explained “So you’re Jinzo goes into defense mode and your attack is cancelled.”

“Grr.”

Jinzo’s ball of energy vanished and he bent down on one knee, covering his chest with both arms.

“Don’t try to insult me,” Max roared.

 

“I don’t need to, you do a brilliant job yourself,” Mashi-Ushi said, drawing a card “But for now I summon Spear Dragon!”

“Gah!?”

“By the effect of Spear Dragon, when a monster in defense mode is destroyed, it’ll inflict piercing damage to the opponent. Spear Dragon, attack!”

Mashi-Ushi’s monster flew up into the air and then dived towards Jinzo. The dragon’s sharp nose pierced straight through Jinzo and carried on, hitting Max just below his chest. Max doubled up in pain as his Jinzo shattered.

“W-what…On Earth…” He looked down in horror and saw a patch of red appearing on his jacket, his eyes widened in horror.

“This is a spirit duel,” Mashi-Ushi said “Real monsters, real magic, and real damage. Whereas a Shadow game will damage the soul and often destroy it, a spirit duel damages the body and leaves the soul intact for the victor to absorb.”

“A-absorb?” Max looked up at Mashi-ushi.

“That’s right,” Mash-Ushi said “When I’m done with you I’m going to kill you and absorb the little amount of power you have. It may be a small drop in a well, but it’s another small step closer to becoming stronger than Jamin!”

“Jamin?” Max got steadily to his feet “You mean that blond kid with the sunglasses and the charmers?”

“That’s the one,” Mashi-Ushi said.

 

Outside, Jamin, Jun and Sammy were still watching as best they could.

“What’s going on?” Jun said “I can’t see a thing.”

“I think someone summoned a Jinzo,” Sammy said.

“No, it was destroyed,” Jamin said.

“Huh? How’d you know that?” Jun asked.

“I can just tell,” Jamin said, one hand clutching his chest “I can feel it.”

Jamin wasn’t watching the duel, but staring at the floor, his eyes wide with fear.

“Jamin?” Sammy looked about at him, but Jamin didn’t respond.

“You feel it, don’t you?” Mashi-Ushi’s voice rang in his ear “The power of the spirit game.”

Jamin shut his eyes tight and tried to ignore him, it felt as though Mashi-Ushi was standing right beside him in an endless void of white smoke.

“Why fear the very powers you hold within you?” Mashi-Ushi said “You are one of the few people who can understand what I can do.”

“You may have the power to do this,” Jamin said “But that doesn’t mean you have to.”

“Oh, you misunderstand,” Mashi-Ushi said, his voice growing cold “That’s precisely the reason why I’m doing this.”

“What?” Jamin’s eyes snapped open.

“I wouldn’t have my powers if I wasn’t doing this,” Mashi-Ushi said “Everyone who’s given spirit sensitivity is given it for a reason. The guardians of the sacred court all those years ago were given their powers to protect the pharaoh, the pharaoh’s own reincarnation was given powers to help the pharaoh retrieve his memories and lock away the shadow games, and you were given the power to keep that lock sealed. And now that your job is done I’m free to rip it from you without destroying the world in the process.”

“Then, why do you have powers then?” Jamin asked.

“I swore an oath,” Mashi-Ushi said “It is my duty to defeat the Dark Magician and take his powers.”

“What?” Jamin’s eyes widened once again “You don’t mean…Josh?”

 

“Correct,” Mashi-Ushi said “You’re merely a stepping stone to my destiny, once I get rid of you, there’s nothing that can stop me from defeating the Dark Magician and completing my destiny.”

Mashi-Ushi’s voice faded and Jamin became aware of everything around him once again.

“Hey, you okay?” Jun asked.

“Huh?” Jamin looked over at him “Oh, excuse me.”

He turned about and ran back into the waiting room.

“Huh? Hey!” Jun called after him.

 

Jamin tore out of the exit of the Kaiba Dome and turned about, charging off.

“I have to find him,” he muttered.

He ran through the park where the giant screen was attempting to display the duel between Max and Mashi-Ushi. He grabbed a tree branch and used it to turn quickly, charging up a hill. He screeched to a halt and gazed upwards, noticing the dark haired figure staring down at him. A pair of blood red eyes loomed at him.

“Josh,” Jamin muttered.

“I guess Mashi-Ushi told you then,” Josh said “I guess I couldn’t trust him to keep it quiet.”

“Wait, you’re okay with this?” Jamin replied.

“Of course,” Josh said “Even with your power, Mashi-Ushi will be no match for me. You should be grateful I helped you restore the rest of your powers, after all it’ll be no fun dueling a weak soul.”

Josh raised his sychte duel disk, the field swinging round and the field glowing red.

“But it’s not all there,” he said “I need to pull the rest out of you, before I tear it from you.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Jamin asked.

“I’ll tell you what I think of destiny,” Josh said “Destiny is just people’s excuse for coincidence, of course a powerful duelist will be able to thwart evil if he’s good enough at dueling, but I defied destiny when I defeated Zorc instead of you, and I’ll do the same with Mashi-Ushi.”

“What are you saying?” Jamin asked.

“All my life I’ve been brought up in the realm of spirits and deuling,” Josh said “The power of the Dark Magician passed down by my family was entrusted to me, however it was this lifestyle that got my parents and my grandfather killed! So I’m not going to let that happen to me, I’m going to defeat every spirit sensitive duelist and absorb their powers, and then nobody will ever be able to push me around again.”

“You’re mad,” Jamin said “I never wanted to be the one who defeated Zorc, I’d have gladly swapped places with you any day, but that’s in the past now!”

“Really? We’ll just see,” Josh said “You gonna duel or what?”

“No,” Jamin said.

“What?” A look of surprise crossed Josh’s face.

“I said no,” Jamin said “Not everything can be solved by dueling.”

“How else do you solve something then?” Josh asked.

“Like this!”

 

Jamin charged at Josh and threw a punch at him, hitting his square in the nose. Josh stumbled backwards, cluching his face and trying to stem the flow of blood. Jamin charged at him again and aimed another punch. Josh recovered just in time knock his fist out of the way but felt another hit his stomach. He reared up and saw Jamin’s knee come up to his face, knocking him backwards. He toppled over and rolled down the hill a few feet before scrambling back to his feet. There was a bruise on his cheek and his nose and lip were bleeding, he glared up at Jamin and charged, aiming a punch of his own. Jamin dodged sideways and retaliated, Josh grabbed his first and the two of them began trying to break the other’s arm. Josh forced Jamin sideways and the two of them lost their balance and began rolling down the hill, still entangled in their mad brawl.

“Never did this with a card game did you!” Jamin said.

“Shut up!” Josh yelled “Just Shut up!”

They reached the bottom of the hill and Josh managed to plant both feet on Jamin’s chet, rolling backwards and throwing him across the floor. Jamin rolled over a few times before getting back up, staring at Josh. His sunglasses had fallen off somewhere along the hill and lay with a smashed lense just a few feet away from them, there was a cut just beneath Jamin’s eye and several scraped along his arms.

 

“Heh. Beats a card game anyway,” Jamin muttered, wiping the blood off his face.

“I’ve had enough of you!” Josh growled, black energy beginning to ripple about him “Dark Magician, Kill him!”

The energy about Josh exploded into a pillar of black flame and his Dark Magician flew out of it, firing an orb of green energy at Jamin. Jamin’s eyes widened with surprise and he took a step back. A flash of red appeared in front of him and the orb impaced against another staff, causing a massive wave of energy to explode outwards.

“Hiita?” Jamin looked down at his monster.

“Moron!” Hiita barked “You’re way too reckless.”

A smirk crossed Jamin’s face: “Heh, you just can’t resist an excuse to come out can you?”

Hiita blushed angrily and glared at Jamin.

“Shut up!” She retorted “I’ve just saved your neck, you could at least be grateful.”

She threw the Dark Magician’s attack aside and it exploded against a tree, kncoking it over.

“Hm, so you can call your monsters into reality too now. I guess you’ve recovered even more power than you had before. Still it doesn’t matter; my Dark Magician is far superior to your monster.”

“Hiita’s not a monster,” Jamin said “She’s my friend, and so are you. That’s why I’m not holding back!”

“Bring it on!”

A pillar of red energy suddenly flowed out of Jamin, towering into the sky and then coming back down, striking Hiita and transferring Jamin’s powers into her. Josh’s own pillar of black energy flowed into his Dark Magician.

“Let’s see who’s stronger then,” Josh said.

Jamin nodded: “Let’s go Hiita!”

“You got it,” Hiita said.

She got to her feet, still with Jamin’s energy flowing around her. A wind suddenly began to whirl about her and something burst out of her back, forming into a pair red wing. She kicked off and flew up into the air and threw a fireball at the Dark Magician but missed.

“You’re my friend, Josh,” Jamin said “Like Kim, Diablo, even my cards. That’s why I’m going to tear Zorc out of you. That’s my destiny, now just try and stop me.”

Josh grinned and began to chuckle: “I won’t try, Jamin,” he said “I’ll succeed. Dark Magician, destroy them.”

Josh’s Dark Magician raised his staff again and fired towards Hiita. Hiita raised her own staff and fired a ball of red energy back at the Dark Magician. Both attacks struck each other in the middle and let out a burst of red and green light, almost blinding both Josh and Jamin.

 

“Jinzo Lord, attack his decoy dragon,” Max ordered.

The duel between Mashi-Ushi and Max was still going on, Max having now summoned the more powerful Jinzo lord. Max’s monster curled its telsors around in front of it and charged a bolt of electricty between them, throwing it at Mashi-Ushi’s tinry blue dragon.

“I hope you realize you’ve just walked into a trap,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Max laughed “My monster negates all your trap cards; you can’t do anything about my attack.”

“No?” Mashi-Ushi grinned “We’ll see about that, go Felgrand Dragon!”

“What?”

A pillar of golden energy rose in front of Mashi-Ushi’s Decoy Dragon and a shadowy form rose out of it. The pillar exploded into sparks and revealed Mashi-Ushi’s ultimate monster, the felgrand dragon. It reared back and let out a massive roar.

“Uh…I can’t see what’s going on, but it looks like Mashi-Ushi just summoned his most poweful monster,” the announcer said “Whatever’s going on down there it must be intense.”

“What the hell is going on,” Jun muttered.

The sound of doors opening and closing caught his and Sammy’s ears and the pair of them turned around to see Jamin walking towards him, still bearing the injuries from his punch up with Josh.

“Hey guys,” he muttered.

“Jamin,” Sammy looked up at him “What the hell happened to you?”

“I ran into an old friend,” Jamin commented.

He looked up and caught of glimpse of Mashi-Ushi’s Felgrand Dragon through the dome of fog covering the arena.

“What’s up?” Sammy asked.

“I’ve just seen another one,” Jamin replied.

 

“So you summon a big dragon,” Max laughed nervously “I’m still attacking your Decoy Dragon.”

“Really?” Mashi-Ushi asked “Well look again.”

Max’s Jinzo Lord fired his ball of energy towards Felgrand Dragon who hit it aside carelessely.

“What?”

“My Decoy Dragon allows me to special summon any Dragon Type monster from my graveyard,” Mashi-Ushi explained “And then the attack sent at him is then switched to the monster I summon.”

“Grr.”

“But that’s not all,” Mashi-Ushi said “When Felgrand Dragon is summoned from the graveyard, I can equip him with any monster from my graveyard and he gains 200 attack points for each level star of that monster.”

“Say what?”

“So now I summon Tyrant Dragon from my graveyard and transfer his powers to my Felgrand Dragon!”

Felgrand Dragon glowed gold and roared as his attack points rose to 4400.

Jamin’s eyes narrowed.

“Watch this Jamin,” Mashi-Ushi said “This is the power that will defeat the Dark Magician.”

“Felgrand Dragon, counter attack,” Mashi-Ushi ordered.

Felgrand Dragon opened its mouth and charged a massive golden fireball in its mouth, firing it at Max’s Jinzo Lord and destroying it. Max yelled outloud as the fireball washed over him, covering his body with burns.

“And now it’s my turn,” Mash-Ushi said.

Max’s eyes widened in fear and he glanced up at Felgrand Dragon.

“Destroy him!” Mashi-Ushi ordered.

Max’s eyes widened in terror as Felgrand Dragon unleashed his attack.

“I hope you enjoyed the show, Jamin,” Mash-Ushi said.

“Don’t worry,” Jamin said “I’m not about to back down now.”

“Good.”

Felgrand Dragon’s attack hit Max directly and his screams filled the whole of the foggy dome they were trapped inside. He collapsed on the floor, still and not breathing. Mashi-Ushi walked over to his body and raised his hand, a small white orb of light floated from Max’s body and Mashi-Ushi caught it in his fist. The white fog disapated and revealed Mashi-Ushi’s form standing over Max’s corpse, the arena was silent. Jamin clenched one hand into a fist, glaring at Mashi-Ushi.

“Enjoy the rest of your life,” Mashi-Ushi said “See you late.”

He turned about and walked away, not even sparing them so much as a second glance.

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 32: 20 episodes to go, yay me XD!

 

[spoiler=episode]“Round 2 of the Duel Rally tournament will begin shortly,” the announcer said “In the meantime participants are welcome to take a break and make any changes to their deck that they deem necessary.”

Jamin lay his deck out on the table in front of him and drew his top five cards: Super Deformed Eria, Spiritual Wind Art – Miyabi, Magician’s Circle, DNA transplant and Familiar Possessed Hiita. Aussa’s spirit was standing behind him, watching.

“Any good?” She asked.

“Not bad,” Jamin shrugged “But without Nephthys, Horus and the Creator I’ve still got a massive hole in my strategy. It was just luck that I won my last duel, but I’ll have to be dueling a total newbie if I want to win my next one.”

Aussa sighed and vanished from sight. Jun was sitting opposite Jamin, putting his cards into different piles and looking at them carefully.

“A good duelist always balances his deck,” he muttered.

Jamin didn’t pay him any attention and went back to shuffling his deck and test drawing. The two of them were interrupted by a knock at the door and they looked up.

“Am I interupting something?” Kim asked, poking her head around the door.

“Aha,” Jun smirked “Sorry I’m not doing autographs right now, but I’ll be doing them later once I’ve won this thing but I can give you a handshake if you…”

 

“So how are you doing, Jamin?” Kim asked, totally ignoring Jun.

“Not bad,” Jamin said “Still recovering a bit.”

“Aw don’t worry, it’ll come back in time,” Kim said.

Jun’s face fell slightly as he stared at the two conversing. Jamin glanced over at him.

“Oh, Kim this is Jun,” he explained “Jun, Kim…Anyway you were saying…”

“Oh nothing really,”

“Quit ignoring me!” Jun yelled.

Kim looked up at him, a confused expression on her face as though she’d only just noticed him.

“Oh, pardon me,” she said “And you are?”

“Jamin just introduced me!” Jun yelled.

“Did he?” Kim looked down at Jamin “Guess I wasn’t paying attention.”

“More to the point,” Jin glared down at Jamin “Since when did you pick up a fangirl?”

“Fangirl?” Jamin looked up at Kim “Whoever said that?”

“Heh, silly,” Kim tapped Jun on the head childishly “Jamin’s my…”

“Don’t say it,” Jamin said.

“…Friend, there happy?”

“Thankyou,”

“Aha, so you don’t have any fangirls after all!” Jun grinned, pointing at Jamin.

Jamin scratched his chin thoughtfully when there was another knock at the door. Jun immediately look away from the two and marched over to it.

“Now this one has to be for me,”

Kim and Jamin watched him, completely nonplussed. Jun opened the door and noticed Eris standing in the hallway. She blushed upon seeing Jun’s chest and immediately took a step back.

“G-good afternoon,” she said.

“Hi there,” Jun said brightly.

“Err, well I’ve been watching the tournament and…”

Jun’s smile grew wider: “And?”

Eris glanced around and bit then looked past Jun and noticed Kim and Jamin, her face lit up and she waved over at them.

“Hi Jamin!” She said.

Jun’s body practically froze as Eris walked past him and over to Jamin.

“Good afternoon,” she said to Kim “I’m Eris.”

“Oh, are you a fangirl?” Kim asked.

“Eh?” Eris’ cheeks turned pink “Well…I guess so.”

“I knew it,” Jun sighed.

 

“Wait, how did you get in here?” Jamin asked “Doesn’t the security here stop people coming into the waiting rooms.”

Eris began blushing again.

“I guess they just forgot today,” she laughed nervously.

“I see,” Jamin muttered.

“Anyway,” Eris went on “I was just wondering if you had a spare moment.”

“My next duel doesn’t start for another five hours,” Jamin said “Of course I have some spare time.”

“That’s great!” Eris said.

“How come there’s not a whole hord of people coming in here if the security’s off?” Kim wondered out loud.

Eris seemed to jump upon Kim saying this but managed to turn it into an embarrassed smile. Jun closed the door and turned back around, heaving a sigh.

“What’s up with him?” Kim asked.

“Pre-match nerves,” Jamin said “Anyway, you were saying?”

“Err; can we talk away from him?” Eris asked, pointing at Jun.

“Just what the hell is wrong with me!?” Jun yelled.

Jamin shrugged. Another knock sounded at the door.

“Oh, that’s gotta be me this time,” Jun said, turning about and swinging the door open.

“Yes?”

“Who the hell are you?” Diablo asked.

Jun’s jaw dropped and he almost collapsed to the ground.

“Diablo?” Jamin looked up “What’re you doing here.”

“Same as Kim really,” Diablo shrugged “Who’s this.”

“I’m Eris,” Eris said “Nice to meet you.”

 

“Eris, huh?” Diablo scratched his head.

“Anyway, would you mind following me?” Eris said, turning to Jamin.

“Err, sure. Where are you going?” Jamin asked.

“For a walk,” Eris replied.

The four of them left the depressed Jun behind in the waiting rooms and proceeded outside towards the park. Jamin looked up and noticed the hill where he’d had a punch up with Josh; he still had the scratch under his eye from that incident.

“Why did you start dueling?” Eris asked as they walked.

“Me?” Jamin asked “I dunno really. Well I guess it might have something to do with my mum?”

“Hm?”

“You see she used to duel here a lot,” Jamin explained “And I looked up to her for it, although the deck I used back then was pretty aweful, I don’t think I have a single card left from it.”

“So you were inspired by your mother, huh?” Eris muttered, falling back slightly.

“Not exactly,” Jamin said “She died just after I started school.”

“Huh?” Eris looked up.

“After that I guess I lost heart,” Jamin said “I didn’t want to play anymore, and I got bullied because of it.”

“And when you’re being bullied for not playing a card game you know you’re a loser,” Diablo commented.

“So what happened?” Eris asked.

“I met someone,” Jamin replied, remembering his first encounter with Josh “A friend. I guess I never really gave him enough credit for it.”

He stopped and looked up at the sky.

“If you can beat me before the end of my first championship, I’ll give you a card…”

“Hm, I guess this is Josh’s first official tournament,” Jamin thought “I wonder if he’ll live up to his promise if I beat him. Or has he forgotten.”

Josh’s face swam across his mind, a pair of blood red eyes staring at him with nothing but hatred.

“Heh, I doubt it,” he muttered.

 

A sudden cream interupted Jamin’s thoughts. He turned about and his eyes widen as he saw Diablo snatch Eris’ writs and hoist her arm up into the air, Kim had one hand on her shoulder and there was blood seeping out from underneath it, and a long white claw had suddenly extended from Eris’ arm.

“What the hell!?” Jamin yelled.

“Ah, let go, that hurts,” Eris said.

“That’s the idea,” Diablo growled.

Kim staggered back a few feet and just managed to avoid falling over.

“Hey, you okay?” Jamin asked, rushing up beside her.

“Yeah, I guess so,” she muttered.

Jamin gave her a concerned look before turning his gaze back to Eris.

“What the hell is the big idea?” He yelled.

“Let go of me,” Eris said, throwing Diablo off her.

Diablo charged at her again but Eris dodged backwards, a pair of leathery wings sprouted from her back and she glided into the air and settled down a few feet away.

 

“What the hell,” Jamin gazed at her as a forked tail curled out from behind Eris.

Eris grapped the claw extending from her arm and pulled it out with some difficulty, causing a spray of blood over the ground at her feet.

“Damn, you’re sharp,” she glared at Daiblo “I didn’t think a human would be able to figure me out so easily.”

“Yeah, well I’m more than human,” Diablo said “But what the hell are you?”

“You don’t know?” Eris asked “I’m a Succubus.”

“A-a what?” Kim asked.

“Succubus,” Eris repeated “A race of creatures that seduce men to do their bidding.”

“And you’re trying to seduce me by killing my friends,” Jamin commented.

“I just didn’t want any unneeded competetion,” Eris shrugged “After all; I can’t have you going out with someone else.”

“Why are you so interested in me?” Jamin asked.

“My race prey on those with high spirit levels,” Eris explained “And when I saw you dueling that American guy I just couldn’t resist, your spirit level is one of the highest I’ve ever seen.”

Diablo heaved a sigh and raised his duel disk.

“I say we settle this the good old fashioned way,” he said “By dueling.”

“What?” Eris looked almost surprised “You want to duel me? But I don’t even have a duel disk!”

Kim took hers off and threw it at Eris a little more forecefully that one would normally do. However Eris caught it in one hand and slipped it onto her arm before taking a deck from her back pocket and inserting it.

“Hm, your spirit powers seem pretty high too,” she muttered, staring at Diablo “I guess I’m spoilt for choice.”

 

“Whatever you say,” Diablo replied “Now let’s duel.”

Both players activated their duel disks and their life points immediately set to 4000. Eris drew five cards from her deck and Diablo mimicked her.

“Wow, it’s kinda weird watching an ordinary duel, huh?” Jamin said.

“We’ll see what kind of guy you are,” Eris said, drawing a card “Aha! I summon Dark Valkyrai!”

A dark skinned angel dressed in blue and silver armor and with a pair of shining black wings flew down onto Eris’ field, staring cheekily at Diablo.

“Heh, suits you,” Diablo smirked.

“I’ll lay two cards face down and end my turn,” Eris said.

“Very well,” Diablo said, drawing his sixth card “I activate Dark World Reload. By the effect of this card, I can move one Dark World monster from my deck to my hand, and then discard another card from my hand to the grave. So I move Brron, Mad King of Dark World from my deck to my hand, and discard Scarr, scout of Dark World.”

Diablo picked a card out from his hand and inserted it into his graveyard slot.

“Now Scarr’s effect activates,” Diablo continued “And allows me to add Kahkki, Guerilla of Dark World from my deck to my hand.”

“Hm, not bad,” Eris said “I guess I should be on my guard in this duel.”

“You might want to keep that in mind,” Diablo said “Because now I summon Brron, Mad King of Dark World!”

Diablo placed his card on the field and Brron rose in a cyclone of dark energy before finally shattering the chains around his body and revealing his full form.

“By the effect of Brron, whenever he inflicts battle damage to my opponent, I can discard one card from my hand.”

“Well that would normally impress me,” Eris said “But you seem to have forgotten, our monsters have equal attack points, so even if you destroy my monster you won’t do me any damage and your effect will be nullified.”

“Well I guess I’d better change that then,” Diablo said.

“Huh?”

“I activate the field spell Dark World Tower,” Diablo said, activating his field card zone. The dark spiraling towards rose up behind him and the entire scenery changed about them.

“By the effect of this card, all my Dark World monsters gain 500 attack points,” Diablo explained “So now my Mad King has more than enough power to take down your monster, Brron attack!”

Brron let out a mad cackle and charged at Eris’ Dark Valkyria, raising his hand to attack.

“Reckless,” Eris muttered “Go trap card, Sunder!”

“Huh?”

“By the effect of this card, all the points that have gone into increasing your monster’s attack points instead go towards reversing it.”

“Say what?”

Dark Valkyria raised her hand and caught Brron’s wrist, a suttle smile crossing her face.

“Counter attack,” Eris ordered “Dark Burn!”

Eris’ monster charged a ball of black energy in her free hand and thrust it towards Diablo’s monster, destroying him and dropping Diablo’s life points to 3500. He staggered back slightly from the shock of the attack but recovered.

“Heh, don’t underestimate me,” Eris said.

“Grr,” Diablo glared at her “I’ll lay one card face down and end my turn.”

 

Eris grinned and drew a card from her deck.

“Now then, Dark Valkyria, second summon!” Eris ordered.

“What?”

“Since my monster is a Gemini, I can give up my normal summon for this turn to activate her effect,” Eris explained “Now I can add one spell counter to her and increase her attack points by 300!”

Eris’ monster glowed and suddenly became much cleared, and her attack points rose to 2100.

“This is bad,” Diablo thought.

“Attack,” Eris ordered “Dark Burn!”

Eris’ Dark Valkyria charged another sphere of dark energy and threw it at Diablo.

“Gotta act quickly,” Diablo thought “Go face down card, Gateway to Dark World.”

“Huh?”

“By the effect of this card, I can now special summon Brron, Mad King of Dark World from my graveyard to my side of the field.” Diablo said “Return, Brron!”

Diablo’s card vanished in a swirl of darkness and was replaced by the cackling form of his mad king.

“And this time he’s still got his attack points boost from my field spell,” Diablo explained.

Eris glared at him.

“Cancel attack,” she ordered.

“Heh, I thought so,” Diablo grinned.

“Don’t act so smug,” Eris said “I still have another effect to play.”

“What?”

“I remove the spell counter placed on my monster, and destroy your mad king,” Eris explained “Go, Dark Valkyria!”

Once again, Dark Valkyria charged dark energy in her palm and threw it at Diablo’s Mad King, destroying him again.

“Damnit,” he muttered.

“I’ll end my turn, for now,” Eris said.

Diablo glared at her and drew a new card from his deck; he looked down at the cards in his hand and nodded.

“Right, this should work,” he muttered “I activate Dark World Dealings!”

“Whatever does that do?” Eris asked.

“It’s simple,” Diablo said “We both draw a card and then discard another card from our hands.”

“I see,” Eris said, drawing one card from her deck and ditching another “Nothing to worry about then.”

“It is when the monster I discarded was Celri, Monk of Dark World,” Diablo said.

“Say what?” Eris said, she looked down as Diablo’s monster appeared on her side of the field “Wait, I thought you discarded that thing?”

“I did,” Diablo said “And that activated his effect, now you have to select one card in my hand and send it to the graveyard.”

“Very well,” Eris said “I choose the middle right.”

“Hm,” Diablo took the card from his hand “Go, Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World!”

“What!?”

Diablo’s golden clad beserker rose on his field, laughing softly as he hefted a mighty golden axe.

 

“What the hell is a Wu-Lord anyway?” Jamin commented.

“Now, since he was discarded by your effect, I can select two cards on your side of the field and destroy them,” Diablo explained “So I choose your two monsters.”

Eris’ expression changed to that of shock as both her monsters shattered, leaving her field wide open.

“Goldd, attack!” Diablo ordered.

Gold charged forwards, hefting his mighty axe and bringing it down upon Eris.

“Bone head,” Eris laughed “Forget I had a face down.”

“Crud!”

“Reverse card open,” Eris ordered “Fires of Doomsday!”

“Huh?”

Two votexs of black energy opened in front of Eris and two small creatures emerged from it, both completely black and with only one eye each. Goldd’s axe swung down and hit the first one, slicing it in two and destroying it.

“Thanks to my Fires of Doomsday, I can summon two tokens to take the attack for me,” Eris explained.

“Clever,” Diablo muttered, setting a card face down “Your move.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Eris said, drawing “Excellent.”

“Huh?”

“I activate the field spell card 1000-Year Battle ground!” Eris said.

“Oh no!”

Diablo’s field spell shattered and returned them to their average scenery, only Diablo and Eris were now standing on a rusty metal platform.

“Now I activate my next spell card, soul couner,” Eris said “By removing my Dark Valkyria from play, I can place four spell counters on my field spell.”

Four orbs of glowing energy appeared in the middle of the platform, pulsating slightly.

“What’s the deal with that?” Diablo asked.

“You’ll find out,” Eris said “I summon the Super Seductive Angel!”

“Huh?”

A white angel appeared on Eris’ field, a pair of red eyes glowed out from her face and a cheeky smile placed across her chin.

“I’ll lay two cards face down and end my turn,” Eris said.

“She’s stalling,” Diablo thought “She must be up to something, otherwise she wouldn’t have left herself so open with such a weak monster, and I’ve got to think of something quick.”

He drew a card from his deck.

“Gren, Tactician of Dark World,” he thought “But I’ve got no way to discard him.”

He glared up at Eris’ field.

“I can’t risk attacking,” he thought “I’ll just have to wait it out.”

“I end my turn,” he said.

“Heh, bad move,” Eris chuckled drawing “I activate my trap card, Dark Spiritual Art – Greed.”

“Huh?” Jamin looked up “That’s a new one.”

“Unless you show me a magic card in your hand, I can sacrifice my Doomsday token and draw two cards,” Eris explained.

“Sorry, no cards here,” Diablo shrugged.

“Well in that case,” Eris grinned as her monster was sucked into a black vortex and she drew two cards from her deck “Now I summon my Dark Tuning Angel!”

“A Tuner monster?”

Another dark angel flew down on Eris’ field, curling her black wings around her.

“And now I play her effect,” Eris said “Since I control another Tuner monster, I can special summon another Tuner monster from my hand. So go, Mercury Angel!”

A slightly smaller angel with long white hair and small black wings emerged on Eris’ field this time.

“Now then,” Eris said “Synchro summon!”

Diablo’s eyes widened as the three monsters flew into the air and vanished into nine balls of light. The orbs flew about for a bit before hitting each other and transforming into a new angel, this one carrying a torn heart in one hand.

“A Synchro summon?” Diablo gasped “No way!”

Eris chuckled, delighted.

“Say hello to my Bloodrend Angel,” she said “And thanks to my Mercury Angel’s effect, she gains 500 attack points.”

“Uh oh, not good,” Diablo muttered.

“Bloodrend Angel, attack!” Eris ordered.

Eris’ Bloodrend angel opened up her white wings and flew into the air before diving down towards Diablo’s monster.

“Hard luck,” Diablo said “Go trap card, Shadow Spell!”

“Huh?”

Several chains burst from the ground and wrapped themselves around Eris’ monster, trapping her in place.

“Hey!” Eris yelled “You can’t do that!”

“I just did,” Diablo said “Now your monster is trapped and 700 points weaker.”

Eris glared at Diablo.

“So, you ending?” Diablo asked “Cause I’d like to get on with my turn now.”

“Like hell I will,” Eris said “I play the effect my 1000-Year Battle Ground.”

“Huh?”

“By removing any number of counters from this card, I can destroy a monster on the field equal in level to the number of counters removed” Eris explained.

“Say what?!”

The five balls of energy rose into the air and shot at Diablo’s monster. Goldd vanished beneath several small explosions and eventually exploded himself.

“Goldd!” Diablo cried.

“Now I’ll end my turn,” Eris said.

“Damn you,” Diablo muttered, taking a card from his deck “I still don’t have any monsters in my deck strong enough to take down that thing.” His eyes narrowed “I guess I’ll have to play it safe.

“Gren, Tactician of Dark World in defense mode,” Diablo said, summoning his monster “Take your turn.”

Eris’ smile widened: “That’s it?” She mused “I guess I shouldn’t expect anything special from you.”

“You might just end up eating those words,” Diablo said.

“We’ll see,” Eris replied, drawing a card.

She took one look at the card in her hand and her smile grew even larger.

“Huh?”

“What’s up?” Jamin asked.

Diablo’s eyes narrowed.

“Well isn’t that just my luck,” Eris chuckled “You’re finished now.”

“What do you mean?” Diablo asked.

 

“I summon, Spare Tuner!” Eris said.

Eris placed her monster on her field zone and a display of lights played on her field.

“What’s she summoning?” Jamin muttered.

The light faded and a small round rabbit dropped down on Eris’ field, gazing up at Diablo.

“W-what the…” Diablo blinked “A one star normal monster is your ultimate weapon?”

“Not yet,” Eris said “But it will be soon. Now I tune Spare Tuner to my Bloodrend Angel.”

“What!?”

Bloodrend Angel broke the chains binding it and flew up into the air alongside Spare Tuner, the angel burst into several orbs of light as did the rabbit and they both fused together, creating an almighty flash of light to illuminate the arena.

 

Several passersby stopped as the light engulfed the area.

“Hey, I think there’s a duel going on over there,” one of them pointed out.

“Really, they’re not watching the tournament?”

“Guess they got a bit hyped.”

 

Diablo took a step back just to be able to see the whole of Eris’ monster as it towered over him. The light had vanished and Diablo was now standing in the shadow of the biggest monster he had ever seen.

“What the hell is that?” He gasped, gazing up at the giant black and green behemoth before him.

It appeared humanoid, but it was massive and had some sort of cybernetic armor that glowed green, a pair of mechanical wings sprouted from its back and its arms were folded.

“This is the Super Synchro Demon,” Eris explained “My ultimate monster, and as you can see he far outmatches yours.”

“That’s your ultimate monster?” Diablo gazed up at it.

“Yes, with a grand total of 3400 attack points,” Eris said “And when he attacks a monster, he gains half that monster’s ATK points.”

“That means it can destroy anything with less than 6800 attack points,” Jamin muttered.

“I see,” Diablo muttered “Good thing my monsters is defense mode then.”

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to rain on your parade there too,” Eris said.

“Huh? What does that mean?” Diablo asked.

“It means my monster has another effect,” Eris explained, pointing up at her monster “Whenever my Super Synchro Demon declares an attack on a defense position monster, I can change that monster into attack mode.”

“W-what!?” Diablo said.

“First I’ll defeat you,” Eris said “Then I’ll defeat Jamin and you’ll both be mine.”

Diablo’s eyes narrowed.

“Super Syncrho Demon, attack his tactitian!” Eris ordered “Erasor Cannon!”

Eris’ demon unfolded its arms and held his hands out, charging an orb of green energy between them. Then floating the orb above one hand it drew its arm back and threw it towards Diablo’s monster. As the attack drew closer Diablo monster got up from its crouched position and instead stood into attack mode.

“No!” Diablo’s eyes widened.

He covered his head with his arms as the giant orb impacted, completely oblitorating Diablo’s monster and sending him flying backwards, reducing his life points to 250. He lay on the ground for a few moments, not moving.

“Diablo!” Jamin cried.

“I’m fine,” Diablo muttered, getting up.

He flinched and shook slightly as he got to his feet, gazing up at Eris’ monster.

“That thing’s huge,” he thought “How the hell am I going to beat that.”

“It’s over!” Eris laughed.

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 33: The duel continues, finally out of the filler eps...

 

[spoiler=episode]Diablo shook slightly as he got to his feet, staring up at Eris’ monster.

“That thing’s huge,” Jamin commented “And believe me I’ve seen huge things, dragon penis and all.”

“Yeah but this is a different problem entirely,” Diablo muttered.

Eris smirked, licking the blood still dripping down her arm.

“Gross,” Kim muttered.

“Well I’d say it’s about time you surrender,” Eris said “You cannot stop me, and any monsters you put out to defend your life points will only turn into attack mode and half their points will be added to my Super Syncrho Demon’s attack points, to put it simply there’s nothing you can do to defeat me.”

Diablo’s eyes narrowed.

“Your move,” Eris said.

“No good,” Diablo thought “No matter what monster I throw out my life points’ll take a hit, and then I’ll be finished.” He raised his duel disk to check his life points, he only had 250 left. “Even if I throw out a monster strong enough to defend my life points, her monster will gain half its attack points, meaning no matter what I throw out I’m finished unless my next card can save me.”

His fingers tensed on the top card of his deck and he drew it, putting it in his hand.

“Magic card, Dark World Corridor!” He said, showing the card from his hand “With this card I add one Dark World monster from my deck to my hand; afterwards I have to discard another card from my hand.”

“Stalling huh?” Eris muttered.

“Since the monster I discarded was Broww, Huntsman of Dark World, I draw one card from my deck,” Diablo said.

 

“Drawing cards won’t do you any good,” Eris said “Remember, none of your monsters can defend against my monster, so countless drawing won’t do you any good.”

“No, there is a card I can use,” Diablo thought “All I have to do is draw it.” He looked up at Eris’ monster, narrowing his eyes “All I can do until then is wait and hope she doesn’t play any other cards.”

“I sumon Olve, Guardna of Dark World,” Diablo said.

A small squat creature with a massive gold shield and white and silver armor held out in front of him materialized on Diablo’s field, holding his shield out in front of him.

“When will you learn?” Eris said “Remember, my monster will turn any defense position monster into attack mode and gain half its attack points.”

“I know that,” Diablo said “Just attack already.”

“Maybe I will,” Eris said “But first I summon another Dark Valkyria.”

A second Dark Winged angel appeared on Eris’ field.

“Why’d she summon that?” Jamin muttered.

“Ensurance,” Eris replied “Synchro Demon, attack!”

Diablo’s monster lowered its shield and stood up to take the attack.

 

“I’m not finished yet,” Diablo said “I play Olve’s effect.”

“Huh?”

“By discarding one card from my hand, I can negate any battle damage to my life points just once,” Diablo explained.

He ditched a monster from his hand and Diablo’s monster raised his shield again. Olve was completely consumed within the blast from Eris’ creature but Diablo’s life points remained the same.

“Now I play the effect of Kakhi,” Diablo said “Since he was discarded to the graveyard, I can destroy one monster you control, and I choose your Dark Valkyria!”

Eris’ monster screamed as a dagger shot out of her chest. Eris looked down and saw another small and squat little creature, this one with black armor, digging the weapon into the creatures back before they both shattered.

“Why you,”

“Wait, why didn’t you destroy that Synchro Demon?” Jamin asked.

“Simple,” Diablo said “If I had I’d still have no monsters on the field to defend my life points from her attack, and even if Olve did survive he only had 300 attack points, meaning an attack from her valkyria would kill me no matter if I had a monster or not.”

“Oh, I see,” Jamin replied.

“Looks like playing that Dark Valkyria was a smart move,” Eris chuckled “After all, I still have my Synchro Demon and you’re defensless.”

“Don’t count on it,” Diablo said “It’s my draw now.”

He took a card from his deck and looked at it, a grin spreading across his face.

“This should keep her at bay,” he thought “Go continuous magic card, Swords of Concealing Light!”

“What?”

Eris looked up as three black swords fell down from the sky, striking the ground in a triangle formation about her field. Her Synchro Demon went into a crouching position and vanished to be replaced by a face down card. Eris stared down at where her monster just was.

“What did you do?” She said.

“Simple,” Diablo said “My swords switch all your monsters into defense mode, and as long as this spell remains active they can’t change that position.”

Eris scowled at him.

“Next I’ll summon Zure, Knight of Dark World in defense mode,” Diablo said, summoning his skeletal knight to his field “It’s your move.”

“Hm,” Eris drew a card from her deck “Since you’ve rendered my monsters useless I guess I’ll have to end my turn,” she said.

Diablo let out a sigh of relief and drew a card from his deck.

 

“I’ve got another turn to draw the right card,” he said “After my next standby phase my effect will wear off and her monster will be free, I’ve got to find some way of keeping her at bay for a few moments longer.”

“I end my turn,” he said.

“This is getting kind of boring,” Jamin muttered.

He looked over at Kim who was still grabbing her shoulder.

“You okay?” He asked “We might need to get that patched up.”

Kim shook her head: “I’m fine,” she said “We’ll deal with that later; right now I think Diablo could use a little support.”

Jamin nodded and looked back up as Eris drew a new card from her deck.

 

Mashi-Ushi slipped his duel disk onto his arm, shuffled his deck and inserted it into his duel disk. He turned to face the blank wall in front of him and placed his hand on top of his deck.

“This is the power I’ll use to take on Josh when the time comes,” he thought “But if I take him on too soon I won’t have enough power to defeat him, I need more spirit energy if I’m to stand a chance against him.”

He drew a card from his deck and looked at it; the card he’d drawn was Felgrand Dragon.

“You’ve been with me all the way, haven’t you?” He muttered, closing his eyes.

The sound of gulls and the crashing of waves met Mashi-Ushi’s ears and when he opened his eyes again he was standing on a boat out in the sea. What’s more, he was only ten years old. The mini-Mashi-Ushi gripped the rails of the boat and hoisted himself up in order to see over.

“I can’t see any fishies mummy,” he said, looking up at the tall green-haired woman standing over him.

“Don’t lean over too far,” his mother warned “I don’t want you falling down there.”

“Don’t worry, I can swim,” Mashi-Ushi replied.

His mother smiled down at him and the two of them walked further down the deck until they were at the front of the boat and staring ahead to where the sun was just sinking over the horizon.

“Wow,” Mashi-Ushi’s eyes widened.

“It’s so pretty,” his mother said “By tomorrow we’ll be in Japan.”

“I can’t wait,” Mashi-Ushi said “It sounds like fun.”

His mother smiled down at him again and looked back up at the sunset. It dropped below the horizon and plunged the sky into darkness.

“Time for bed,” his mother said.

She began to turn around when the boat shook suddenly, throwing the two of them to the ground.

“W-what was that?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

The boat shook again and this time a loud explosion sounded from the back of the ship and the alarm sounded. Mashi-Ushi’s eyes widened and he rushed forwards.

“Mashi-Ushi, come back!” His mother called “It’s dangerous.”

Mashi-Ushi ignored her and continued running. The sky was no longer dark, the fire from the explosion illuminated the clouds above them in a ghastly way and sent shadows dancing along the deck, but there was something else casting a great golden light across the sea. He stopped and gazed up, his jaw dropped as a massive roar tore through the air and the great golden dragon rose from the destruction he’d just caused, rising up into the night.

 

Mashi-Ushi snapped out of his memories and stared down at the dragon, a slight smirk crossing his face.

“I can’t believe you would actually show yourself like that,” he muttered “You must have been really desperate to defeat the dark magician.”

He put the card back in his deck, shuffled and drew again. Once again his card was the Felgrand Dragon. Mashi-Ushi’s smirk grew slightly wider.

“I know,” he said “I can’t wait either.”

He paused and looked around, noticing Josh watching him with his eyes folded and a scowl on his face.

“You know, most people will call you mad for talking to your cards,” he commented.

“Maybe I am mad,” Mash-Ushi shrugged “But if I am then mad people have a heck of a better time than sane people.”

Josh smirked.

“I take it you’re not here for a social gathering,” Mashi-Ushi said, placing Felgrand Dragon back into his deck.

“Well, I had nothing better to do,” Josh commented “Neither of us will have the opportunity to duel Jamin in the tournament unless he gets through to the semi-finals. Neither of us is in the same group as him.”

“True,” Mashi-Ushi shrugged “But who says we need to wait till the semi-finals to duel him.”

“Are you planning on hunting him down?” Josh chuckled “You should know Jamin’s not like the rest of us, he doesn’t solve everything by dueling.”

“Really? What a sad guy,” Mashi-Ushi muttered.

“In any case, I think he’s busy right now,” Josh said “He only has a few hours until his next match, so do we if I’m not mistaken. So I suggest you cancel your cuddle time with your cards and start preparing.”

Mashi-Ushi scowled: “You’d do well not to provoke me,” he said “When we duel I’m going to strip you of every last drop of your spirit energy.”

“Try me,” Josh replied.

The two of them stared at each other for a few moments before Mashi-Ushi walked past Josh and out of the room. Josh smirked slightly as he walked past.

 

“Since my monster is immobolized by your swords, I’ll have to end my turn,” Eris said “But since your spell wears off during your next turn, I’ll be able to finish you off soon.”

Diablo’s eyes narrowed.

“Why?” He asked.

“Huh?”

“Why are you doing this?” Diablo said “I know you’re a succubus and everything, but you have to have another reason behind all this. What is it?”

Eris’ eyes narrowed and she looked annoyed.

“I don’t need an excuse,” she said “It’s in my nature. Draw men into my trap and suck them dry of all their spirit energy, isn’t that enough for you?”

“Fine, play dumb then,” Diablo said “Either way, I’ll defeat you.”

He placed his hand on his deck.

“Dark World, come through for me here,” he thought.

His fingers tensed and he drew his next card, a tail of black energy following it as he did so. Eris’ eyes widened slightly. Diablo looked at the card he’d just drawn as the swords surrounding Eris’ field vanished.

“What?” She demanded.

“Nothing,” Diablo sighed “I’ll lay one card face down and end my turn.”

“Diablo!” Jamin yelled “You can’t just give up like that!”

“What else can I do?” Diablo sighed “I guess I’ll never be able to get back at you now.”

“Huh?”

Diablo looked down at Jamin and smiled: “Can’t believe we’re ending this thing with 4 games to 1,” he chuckled “It was only a matter of time before I could catch up.”

“Diabo,”

“Your move,” Diablo said.

 

Eris smiled and drew a new card from her deck.

“And now, my monster is free,” she said, flipping the card on her field back up into attack mode.

The giant green behemoth rose again, casting its shadow over Diablo. He looked up at it, perfectly calm.

“Any last words before I finish you off?” Eris said.

“Not really,” Diablo said.

“Good,” Eris said, she then turned her attention to Jamin “And you’re next.”

“Huh?”

“I can never be satisfied with just one person,” Eris explained “So once I’m done here I’ll defeat you next and take your soul for my own.”

“Like that’ll ever happen!” Kim yelled.

Eris looked down at her, surprised.

“If the only way you can find a friend is by sucking them in then you deserve to be beaten,” she yelled “Jamin, Diablo, Josh, they’re all my friends and I didn’t earn that by forcing them into it!”

“Well to be honest you did stalk me for a few weeks before actually talking to me,” Jamin pointed out, earning himself a smack on the back of the head “I’ll be quiet.”

“I don’t need a lecture from a human,” Eris snapped, turning back to Diablo “I should’ve killed you straight away, but I’ll have time for that later. Super Synchro Demon attack!”

 

Eris’ monster unfolded its arms and began charging its green energy ball again.

“Heh, you can’t escape now,” Eris said.

“I lied,” Diablo said.

“Huh?” Eris looked taken aback.

“I said I lied,” Diablo said “I do have some last words for you.”

“Oh? And what might those be?” Eris asked.

Diablo smirked slightly.

“Reverse card open!” He commanded “Super Polymerization!”

“What?!”

Diablo’s face down flipped up and a powerful wind picked up, sucking Eris’ monster towards it.

“What’s happening?” Eris cried.

“Let’s see how you like being sucked in,” Diablo said “I fuse Reign-Beux in my hand, with your Super Synchro Demon!”

“No!” Eris’ eyes widened.

Diablo’s Reign-Beux appeared on his side of the field and was drawn into the card behind him. The wind intensified and eventually pulled the Super Synchro Demon off his feet and sent him flying into the card as well.

“My Synchro Demon!” Eris cried.

Diablo’s smirk widened as his card began to glow.

“Show yourself,” he commanded “Colorless, Chaos King of Dark World!”

The card exploded and the bits of it formed into Diablo’s ultimate monster, the Chaos King of Dark World.”

Eris’ eyes widened as she looked up at it, but a smile began to slowly spread over her face.

“Amazing,” she muttered “Such dark power.”

“The attack of my monster is determined by the attack of the two monsters used to fusion summon it,” Diablo explained “Meaning his attack is now 5900.”

Eris’ eyes seemed to grow even wider.

“Now let’s end this,” Diablo said “Colorless, attack!”

Colorless raised his arms and charged a sphere of black energy between them. The attack was so powerful that just charging it was causing Colorless’ hands to shake as the ball grew larger and when he finally released it the shock almost sent Diablo flying backwards. Eris merely closed her eyes and bowed her head as the attack loomed closer and struck, consuming her completely and creating a massive shockwave. Jamin looked up after a few minutes to see Diablo walking over to a smoking crater towards the unconscious Eris.

“Hey,” he stood up and ran over to him.

Diablo knelt down and hoisted the girl up, looking down at her.

“Are you okay with this?” He asked.

“I think she’s learned her lesson,” Diablo said.

 

“Thankyou for waiting everyone,” the announcer said “The second round will begin shortly.”

Diablo sat down on a small chair beside a large white bed next to Eris. They were in the medical bay and Eris had a bandage down her arm.

“I still don’t get how her arm ended up like that,” the nurse said, staring at her “It looks like something came out from inside her.”

“Hey, I just found her like that,” Diablo lied “I’m pretty sure she’ll tell you once she wakes up.”

“Well okay,” the nurse shrugged and walked away.

Diablo looked back down at Eris, still out cold on the bed.

“Succubus, huh?” He muttered “What a waste of time that was.”

He looked down at his watch.

“Still ages till my next match,” he muttered.

The sound of bed sheets moving caught his attention and he looked over to see Eris beginning to stir. She cracked open one eye and blinked, looking around in a bit of a daze.

“You awake at last, huh?” Diablo said.

Eris looked around quickly and noticed Diablo sitting beside her.

“D-did you?”

Diablo nodded.

“Huh?” Eris looked confused “But I attacked you and stuff, I tried to…”

“Knock it off,” Diablo said “I’ve been there too.”

“You’ve…What?” Eris looked confused.

“Look I know what it’s like being the bad guy,” Diablo said “You’re always underestimating people and making mistakes you can’t afford. I turned into a real jerk not too long ago. In fact I sunk so deep into the shadows that I became one.”

Eris’ jaw dropped slightly as she watched him speak.

“But I came to realize, just because my powers were dark powers, that didn’t mean I had to use them for evil,” Diablo said “I was just so angry at the world I couldn’t really think of anything else.”

“You really feel that way?” Eris asked.

“Yeah,” Diablo said “My parents split up when I was very young, and my dad did nothing but abuse me. I was beginning to think life wasn’t worth living so I tried to destroy it. In the end I just ended up becoming someone else’s play thing.”

Eris looked away again, her cheek beginning to turn pink.

“Say, do you ever feel lonely, from time to time?” She asked.

“How do you mean?”

“Well, you’re different from everyone else, I can tell,” Eris said “Do you ever feel like you just want to be left alone the rest of your life?”

“All the time,” Diablo said.

He looked down at his watch again.

“I’d better go,” he said “If I’m not in the waiting rooms I might be disqualified. And I don’t want my opponent getting off easy now, do I?”

“Kay,” Eris muttered.

 

“Well that was a waste of time,” Kim sighed, still rubbing the bandages around her shoulder “What was her problem anyway?”

Jamin shrugged: “Who knows,” he replied “But I didn’t know creatures like her were real.”

“Maybe she’s another spirit,” Kim suggested “Like me.”

“No, she’s different,” Jamin said “I doubt she has any real connection to the game. Succubs aren’t egyptian after all.”

Kim heaved a sigh and turned off down another corridor.

“Well, we’ve got our next duels coming up,” she called back “You’d better get ready too.”

Jamin nodded and carried on towards his own waiting room.

“Hiita,” he muttered and the red-headed spirit appeared beside him.

“What?” She asked “Something up?”

“I was just wondering,” Jamin said “There’s more going on here than just my problems, isn’t there?”

Hiita chuckled: “You know, you’re the first spirit sensative duelist I’ve served who didn’t think the whole world revolved around him,” she said.

“You’ve served other people?” Jamin stared at her.

“Uhuh,” Hiita nodded “Not all spirits are tied to one person for life, we’re immortal and they’re not. After all, the Dark Magician was originally one of Yugi Motou’s spirits. In my case I used to be in a fire duelist’s deck, he was kind of annoying but he could use his deck well.”

“Makes sense,” Jamin muttered.

He reached the waiting room and wandered inside, noticing Jun and Sammy still there.

“Where’ve you been?” Sammy asked.

Jamin took a quick glance at Jun, who was looking very grumpy.

“I just had to sort out a few things,” he said “Nothing serious.”

“I see,” Sammy muttered and picked up a magazine that was lying on a table next to him.

“Where’s that other guy?” Jamin asked “There are only three people here.”

“Beats me,” Sammy shrugged “I haven’t seen him since round one.”

“Hm,” Jamin scratched his chin and shrugged “Well if he doesn’t show up that makes my life easier.”

“Yeah, I’ll still beat you,” Sammy said.

“Ooh, I’d like to give him one,” Hiita muttered.

Jamin shot her a glance before he sat down himself.

 

“Thakyou for waiting everyone!” The announcer called “The second round of the Duel Rally Tournament is about to begin!”

Jamin shuffled his deck again and drew another five cards: Scroll of Bewitchment, Call of the Haunted, Homunculus the Alchemic Being, Swords of Revealing Light and Elemental Absorber.

“Hm, my powers still haven’t recovered completely,” he muttered.

“Whassat?” Sammy looked up.

“Nothing,” Jamin replied, picking his deck up again.

“Don’t worry,” Aussa said, her spirit sitting next to him and rifling through something that looked suspiciously like the book of secret arts “You’re powers will return the more you call them out, you just need a few more duels. Who knows, you might even find something new buried in there.”

“Here’s hoping,” Jamin muttered.

“Would you quit talking to yourself!” Sammy snapped.

“Huh? Oh, sorry,” Jamin replied.

“That’s the first sign of madness you know,” Sammy said, looking down again.

“Really,” Jamin muttered, glancing at Aussa.

She glanced back at him, sighed and shut her book before fading out of sight.

“Hey, Sammy,” Jamin said “What’re you in this for.”

Sammy glanced up at him.

“If you must know I’m tired of people making fun of me,” Sammy replied “I study this game hard and because of that everyone just makes a mokery of me every time I lose and I can’t work out why. Every time I miscalculate something I lose and people like you just laugh at me. Satisfied?”

“I suppose,” Jamin sighed, leaning back “Selfish idiot.”

“What was that?” Sammy snapped.

“Nothing,” Jamin replied.

He sat up straight again having just realized something.

“Hey, where’s that other guy?” He said “He still hasn’t turned up.”

“Hm?” Sammy looked up and glanced around, seeing only himself, Jamin and Jun in the room “Guess he pulled out.”

“Apologies for the delay!” The announcer called “There have been a few….Complications. The second round can now begin. Will Tsubasa Jamin please make his way to the arena?”

“Huh?” Jamin glanced up “Already, my match isn’t until later.”

“You’d better go,” Sammy said “I’d hate to see you disqualified.”

Jamin sighed and picked up his deck and duel disk before walking through the doors to the arena.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Wynn muttered, appearing beside him.

“Can’t be anything important,” Jamin said “Maybe they just changed the duel times around.”

“Aw come on!” Wynn moaned “How can you be so positive about it?”

“I’m not, I’m just pointing out what’s most likely,” Jamin said.

“And what if it’s not what you think it is?” Wynn went on “Perhaps some duelist mob want to duel you all at once and…”

“Can it Mrs. Paranoia,” Hiita said, whacking Wynn over the head with her staff.

“Ow!” Wynn cried, almost breaking into tears “Hitta…”

“Stop it you two,” Jamin said, pausing for a moment “This isn’t the time.”

Wynn gave another moping sob and vanished.

“Well, guess I can’t blame her,” Hitta sighed before she vanished as well.

Jamin sighed and carried on walking.

“Man, having four spirits is bothersome,” he muttered.

He exited the ramp leading up to the main arena and wandered into the center accompanied by a loud cheer from the crowd, a few of which involved cat-calls and several girls screaming exitedly.

“Yup, I’ve got fangirls,” Jamin chuckled.

 

Back in the medical bay Eris suddenly sat up and looked about.

“Something wrong,” she muttered “Why do I feel so nervous about something?”

At the same time Kim glanced around, cutting off another rant she was having with Drem.

“What?” Drem asked.

“I thought I felt…” Kim trailed off “Never mind, anyway you think you can…”

 

“The second round will now begin!” The announcer declared “We’ve been through a few technical difficulties for this round but we’re now ready to bring you the first match!”

“Hm?” Jamin looked about “Isn’t that Kaeo guy here anywhere?”

He looked down and noticed a figure walking out of the opposite ramp towards him. As he came closer he could make him out in detail, he was much taller than Jamin and a few years older than him with wiry blond hair that fell just short of his shoulders and was longer at the back, and he also had very cunning looking blue eyes and a smirk on his face. He wore a very baggy V-necked T-shirt and dark brown trousers that were tucked into a pair of rather high boots.

“Nice to finally meet you, Jamin Tsubasa,” he said “If that’s your real name.”

“Yeah…” Jamin said slowly “So, you are.”

The boy smirked before he pointed at himself dramatically.

“The real Jamin,” he said “Jamin Tsubaki!”

Jamin stared at him for a moment: “Huh?”

“You heard me imposter,” the second Jamin said “You think changing your last name just a bit will fool me? No way!”

“You mean you’re,” Jamin stared at him “Me!?”

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 34: This is plot, I swear!

 

[spoiler=episode]Jamin stared blankly at the second Jamin, completely unsure of what to say.

“So, you’re saying you’re me?” He asked.

“No,” the newcomer said “I’m saying you’re an impostor.”

“Huh?” Jamin was completely none plussed.

“Let me explain,” Jamin number 2 said “And don’t try to deny this. You caught me once on one of those late night duel programs, thought I looked cool and completely copied my deck, admit it.”

“Err,” Jamin just stared at him “You know I used a valcanoe deck till near the end of last year and my current ones been changing since I went to Egypt so I didn’t really have time to…Wait a minute what do you mean I copied your deck?”

It wasn’t just Jamin who was stunned into disbelief, back in the waiting rooms Kim had completely forgotten her argument with Drem and was staring at the screen; Diablo was gawping like he’d just seen a ghost and Josh wasn’t paying attention.

“Huh, playing dumb, huh?” Tsubaki said (reffering to him as Tsubaki for obvious reasons).

“Can you just explain to me what the heck’s going on here,” Jamin said.

“Simple,” Tsubaki said “I bribed the judges to kick Kaeo out and put me in to duel you first, so I can show the whole world what a copycat you are.”

“I still don’t get it,” Jamin said.

“Oh whatever,” Tsubaki said “Let’s just duel.”

He raised his duel disk and activated it, smirking from ear to ear. The original Jamin heaved a sigh and activated his own.

“I just know I’m gonna regret this,” he sighed.

“Thankyou for bearing with us!” The announcer said “The first duel of round two will now begin!”

 

“I’ll go first,” Tsubaki said “Take this impostor; I summon Wynn the Wind Charmer!”

“Huh?”

The green haired sorceress, more commonly found in Jamin’s deck materlialized on Tsubaki’s field.

“You use a charmer deck?” Jamin gawped “And….Why did you play her in attack mode?”

“Stunned, huh?” Tsubaki chuckled “I’m not surprised.”

“No, it’s not that,” Jamin sighed.

“Well, I’ll end my turn,” Tsubaki said.

Jamin stared at him, in fact the whole stadium had gone completely silent, all of them looking at Tsubaki.

“Hey, flower dude,” Jamin said.

“What?”

“Aren’t you gonna set any defenses?” Jamin said “Your monster only has 500 attack points.”

“500?” Tsubaki stared at the card “I thought she had 1850.”

“No, that’s familiar possessed Wynn,” Jamin said.

“Oh!” Tsubaki declared “Ah, easy mistake to make. Guess I got cocky for taking on such an amateur.”

“He’s still oblivious to his lack of traps,” Jamin muttered.

“Let him be,” Hitta muttered.

“This guys nothing more than a rake amateur,” Jamin thought as he drew his own card to begin his turn “I bet he just saw my first duel and copied my deck for the sake of it.”

“Scared you into submission have I?” Tsubaki called.

“Dude, be quiet,” Jamin groaned.

 

“This guy’s starting to get on my nerves,” Josh muttered “For once I wish Jamin will win this one.”

He sighed and turned away, not wishing to stare at the screen any longer.

 

“Okay, here’s how you use a real charmer deck,” Jamin said “I summon Familiar Possessed Aussa!”

Jamin’s brunette sorceress rose onto his field, holding her staff at one side casually.

“Aussa, you know the drill,” Jamin said “Attack.”

Aussa nodded and rushed forwards. Tsubaki recoiled slightly, and then a slight sneer crossed his face.

“Fool,” he thought, chuckling “I’ve lined the grip of my duel disk with rubber; I’m not getting hurt from this at all.”

Aussa swung her staff through the air, hitting Tsubaki’s Wynn and destroying her. Almost immediately Tsubaki grabbed his wrist and yelled.

“Ah, no, the pain!” He cried in a very fake voice.

“Dude, you suck even when you’re in pain,” Jamin sighed “I’ll lay two cards face down and end my turn.”

Two face down cards appeared behind Aussa and Jamin lowered his duel disk.

“Okay, warm up over!” Tsubaki said drawing a new card “Now let’s get serious! I summon Familiar Possessed Eria!”

Eria now appeared on Tsubaki’s field, staring over at Jamin and his field.

“Yeah, slight problem,” Jamin said “Our monsters have equal attack points, got any other plans?”

“Sure do,” Tsubaki said “I play Kishido Spirit, so now my monsters can’t be destroyed in battle if they’re attack is equal.”

“Oh,” Jamin replied.

“Eria attack!” Tsubaki ordered.

Eria raised her staff and then fired a torrent of water towards Aussa.

“Face down card, activate,” Jamin said “Elemental Absorber.”

“Huh?” Tsubaki stared at Jamin’s trap card.

“By removing Gigobyte in my hand from play,” Jamin said, holding up the card and putting it in his pocket “I can negate the attack of all water attribute monsters.”

A huge wave suddenly sprung up in front of Jamin’s field, blocking Eria’s attack. It faded away again and left Jamin’s field completely intact.

“Oh I see,” Tsubaki said “You’re hiding behind your trap card, you coward.”

“Oh give it a rest,” Jamin sighed.

“Fine, I’ll end my turn,” Tsubaki said.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Jamin muttered.

He drew a new card from his deck and examined it along with the rest of his field. The card he’d drawn was Double Summon, and in his hand was Hiita the Fire Charmer and Charming Draw. So I discard Hiita from my hand and send Familiar Possessed Hiita from my deck to the graveyard to draw two cards.”

He sent Hiita to his graveyard and took her familiar possessed form from his deck and sent it there too. After he’d done this he shuffled his deck and drew two cards from it.

“You know…” Tsubaki began.

“Don’t say stalling won’t help,” Jamin said “I’ve had enough of people barking that line at me.”

Tsubaki froze for a moment, speechless: “I wasn’t going to say that,”

“Good,” Jamin replied, examining his hand “Next I play Premature Burial, and use it to resurrect Familiar Possessed Hiita.”

He braced himself for the shock that tore briefly through his body and allowed Hiita to rise up on his field once again.

“Now I’ll lay this card face down,” Jamin said, placing his Double Summon face down “And activate Mage Power!”

“Huh?”

“It’s an equip spell card,” Jamin explained “That increases the attack of one of my monsters by 500 for each spell or trap card I have on the field, giving Hiita an extra 2000 attack points”

“How many?” Tsubaki gawped.

“Now Hiita,” Jamin said “Attack Eria!”

Tsubaki took a step back as his field was consumed by a wave of flames. The Eria he controlled let out a scream before she shattered.

“No!” Tsubaki cried.

“Aussa, attack him directly!” Jamin ordered.

Aussa raised her staff as well and fired a barrage of diamonds at Tsubaki, showing him.

“And with that I’ll end my turn,” Jamin said.

“About time,” Tsubaki said “You’re not bad for a copycat.”

“Precisely what part of my strategy is copying yours,” Jamin sighed.

Tsubaki chuckled as he stared at his hand.

“This is perfect,” he chuckled “Now I just have to wait for him to summon his other two charmers and then I’ll destroy them all at once.” He grinned at the Fuh-Ri-Ka-Zan card in his hand “It shouldn’t take too long.

“I summon Fox Fire in defense mode,” he declared “Your move.”

“Damn this guys getting annoying,” Jamin muttered, drawing a new card of his own.

 

Back in her own waiting room, Kim was staring at the screen with an odd expression on her face.

“Two Jamins?” She said out loud “What’s going on here.”

“Probably just some dork that liked the look of Jamin’s deck and copied it,” Drem shrugged “I bet his name isn’t even Jamin.”

“I hate people like that,” Kim sighed.

“You must hate a lot of people,” Drem chuckled “Most people copy their decks from pros these days, there’s just no originality.”

“I also hate people like you,” Kim pointed out, glaring at him “So be quiet, I’m trying to watch.”

 

“Aussa, attack his Fox Fire!” Jamin ordered.

Tsubaki’s Fox Fire yelped as it was covered with a shower of diamonds and shattered. Jamin gave a smirk and then pointed towards Tsubaki.

“Hiita, attack!” He ordered.

Hiita leaped into the air, glaring down at Tsubaki and charging a fire blast at the end of her staff. She raised it over her head and aimed it at Tsubaki, firing a wave of flames that washed over him.

“Ah, no. The pain!” Tsubaki yelled.

“Well, I guess if you can stand up after that your at least a half decend duelist,” Jamin said as Hiita landed back on his field.

“Moron,” Tsubaki thought “He has no idea at all.

“Say!” Tsubaki said “Let’s make this more interesting.”

Jamin stared at him for a moment: “How so?”

“Simple,” Tsubaki said “Let’s make a bet, once one of us has all four charmers in their graveyard, regardless of what type they are, then that person loses. Sound good.”

“Why should I agree to that?” Jamin asked “I’m gonna win as it is.”

“Well, it’ll get me off your back quicker,” Tsubaki said “And I already have two charmers in my graveyard, so you’ve got a head start.”

“Hm, good point,” Jamin said “Fari enough, you’re on.”

“Yes,” Tsubaki thought “Everything’s going perfectly.”

“Your move,” Jamin said.

 

“Very well,” Tsubaki said, drawing “And I activate Dark Designator!”

“Huh?” Jamin raised an eyebrow.

“Basically I call the name of a card and then if you have that card in your deck, you have to put it in your hand. And I call Eria the Water Charmer.”

Jamin looked down at his deck as a card popped out of it. He drew it out and placed it in his hand.

“He had this planned from the start,” he thought “I can’t believe I accepted to do this. Oh well, guess I’ll have to play along for now.”

“Next I play this card,” Tsubaki said “Temptation of the Goddess. Meaning I get to look at your hand and special summon a monster from it to your side of the field, and I choose the Eria I just put in there.”

Jamin stared at his field as Eria suddenly appeared there, looking just as confused as he did.

“Eria?” Jamin stared at her.

Eria looked about and spied Jamin standing behind her.

“Oh!” She said surprised “How did I get out here?”

“Oh pay attention,” Hiita sighed “He used a spell card.”

“Oh,” Eria said again “So, what’s happening?”

“Oh forget it,” Hiita sighed.

“You done yet?” Jamin asked.

“Not yet,” Tsubaki said “I summon my Aussa the Earth Charmer in defense mode and end my turn.”

“Now that I think about it, this strategy of his might work,” Jamin thought “I can’t believe I fell for it, but how is he going to destroy all of my charmers at once.” He stared at his deck “Whatever happens though, I have to keep Wynn off my field or out of my graveyard at least.

“My draw,” Jamin said “I’ll switch Eria into defense mode and have my Aussa attack yours.”

“Fine by me,” Tsubaki said “Bring her on.”

“Aussa, attack!” Jamin ordered “Diamond storm!”

Aussa aimed her staff towards her weaker counterpart and fired a barrage of diamond missiles that struck all around Tsubaki’s Aussa and destroyed her.

“That’s three in the bag,” Jamin smirked.

“Perhaps,” Tsubaki admitted “But you haven’t one yet.”

“Just one more,” Tsubaki thought “One more charmer and this game is mine.”

“I end my turn,” Jamin declared.

“Good,” Tsubaki said “Now I get on with beating you.”

 

“He’s up to something,” Diablo muttered.

“Still rooting for your old rival?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

Diablo turned about and glared at him.

“To be honest I’m kind of surprised,” Mashi-Ushi said “I never expected anyone to pull a stunt like this; he’s roped Jamin right in and has got him on the palm of his hand.”

“What makes you such an expert?” Diablo asked.

Mashi-Ushi chuckled causing Diablo’s eyes to narrow dangerously.

“Simple,” Mashi-Ushi said “Because I’ve done exactly the same thing.”

Diablo stared at him.

“Jamin entered this thing ages ago,” Diablo said “You had nothing to do with it.”

“Really?” Mashi-Ushi grinned “He might have entered of his own free will, but I’ve already taken steps to ensure he will be facing me in the finals.”

Diablo stared at him.

“Well fat chance,” he said “Because I’ll be the one advancing to the finals, not you.”

“Believe what you like,” Mashi-Ushi said “But if I were you I’d keep an eye on Jamin’s duel.”

“Huh?” Diablo looked about towards the screen displaying the duel.

 

“I play mystical space typhoon!” Tsubaki said “Destroying your Mage Power equip card.”

“On no!”

A whirlwind suddenly shot out of Tsubaki’s card, striking Hiita and erupting out again, carrying the Mage Power card with it. Jamin glared at it as it shattered and then turned his attention back to Tsubaki.

“Now I won’t have to be afraid of your petty little powerups any more,” Tsubaki said “So for now I’ll summon Familiar Possessed Aussa in attack mode and end my turn.”

“Wait, he couldn’t attacked any one of my monsters and destroyed them,” Jamin thought “I might not have taken any damage, but thanks to that stupid bet of his I’d be one step closer to losing, so what’s he playing at?

“Since I can’t destroy your monster I’ll just take steps to make sure it can’t do me any damage,” Jamin said drawing, he stared at the card he’d drawn “No, its Familiar Possessed Wynn. If he’s got another one of those goddess cards she’ll be on the field and out in the open.” He narrowed his eyes and chose another card from his hand “I play Swords of Revealing Light, stopping you from attacking for three turns.”

“What a waste of time,” Tsubaki chuckled “I don’t need to attack to get rid of your monsters.”

“Huh?” Jamin stared at him and narrowed his eyes “You’re way too overconfident.”

“Says the copycat,” Tsubaki chuckled.

“I am not a copycat!” Jamin yelled “Will you drop that already?”

“Not until you admit it,” Tsubaki retorted.

“Listen you!” Jamin yelled back.

“My turn,” Tsubaki interrupted him.

He glanced over at his card casually and saw that it was Lightforce Sword.

“Good, everythings going according to plan,” he thought “Fame and Glory will soon be mine.”

“I guess I’ll have to pass this turn for now,” he said “But once I’m free you’ll be finished.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jamin sighed, drawing a card of his own “I’ll just have to end my turn.”

“Whatever you say,” Tsubaki said “If that’s all you’ve got then this duel as good as mine, my draw!”

He looked down at the card he’d drawn and grinned: “I play my second Temptation of the Goddess spell card,” he said “So turn them around.”

Jamin glared at him and showed him his hand.

“Perfect,” Tsubaki cried “Summon Wynn now!”

Jamin glared at Tsubaki and reluctantly placed the card on his field, summoning his wind sorceress.

“Stay focused guys,” he said “I don’t like that look of his.”

“Now then,” Tsubaki said “I’ll lay these three cards face down and end my turn.

Jamin stared at him.

“He hasn’t played a single trap card this whole game,” he thought “Which means that those three down there have got to mean something important.” He stared down at the card he’d just drawn “Oh well, here’s hoping.”

He drew a card from his deck.

“Trap card open!” Tsubaki declared “Drop off!”

“Huh?” Jamin looked up.

“This means I can send that card you’ve just drawn to the graveyard,” Tsubaki said.

Jamin grumbled and ditched his spiritual Earth Art to the graveyard.

“Carry on,” Tsubaki said, airily.

“I play Charming Evolution!” Jamin said “I return Eria the Water Charmer from my field to my deck, and then I get to summon Familiar Possessed Eria from my deck.”

Eria suddenly vanished behind a torrent of water which then cleared to reveal her in her familiar possessed form.

“Time to chain,” Tsubaki said “I activate Lightforce Sword.”

“Huh?” Jamin stared up as a white sword flew down from the sky and struck one of the only cards left in his hand “Hey!”

“That card can’t be used for three turns,” Tsubaki said “Meaning that if it could save you right now then that ambitions is out of the window!”

Jamin glared up at him.

“Now I activate my second trap,” Tsubaki said “Fuh-Rin-Ka-Zan!”

“So that’s what he was planning,” Jamin muttered.

“Since you have four different elements on your field, I get to wipe them out!” Tsubaki declared “So I win.”

Tsubaki’s card glowed and suddenly fired four colored blasts in Jamin’s direction, each one impacting his field and exploding. Tsubaki laughed out loud, punching the air with his fist.

“Yes! I won! I beat you Jamin Tsubasa!” He roared “Take that!”

“Oh really?” Jamin’s voice replied through the smoke.

Tsubaki chuckled for a moment: “Of course, your charmers are all beaten. Which means I win.”

“Funny,” Jamin said “Because I don’t see them in my graveyard.”

The smoke cleared to reveal Jamin grinning, with four face down monsters on his field and a flipped up spell card.

“Huh?” Tsubaki stared and then noticed that his own monster was also face down “What’s going on.”

“Don’t you know?” Jamin asked “It’s the face down card I’ve had since the start of this duel, Book of Total Solar Eclipse.”

“What?”

“I activated it just after you play your trap card,” Jamin explained “And it flipped every monster on the field into face down defense mode, meaning that the requirments needed to activate your trap card all vanished.”

“No way!” Tsubaki cried.

“And that’s not all,” Jamin said “I now switch all of my monsters into attack mode…”

Jamin flipped over all his monsters and each of them appeared one after the other.

“…Then I activate the spell card Hidden Spiritual Art,” he continued “I can activate this card when I have four different charmers of the same type on the field, and all of them can no attack your life points directly!”

“What?”

“Let’s show him how to use a real charmer deck,” Jamin said “Get him girls!”

“You got it,” the four charmers said together and each one leaped into the air.

Tsubaki looked up in fear as the four of them raised their staffs and fired at him with water, fire, wind and earths. He covered his head with his arms as the shower hit.

“Gotcha,” Jamin yelled as his monsters returned to his field.

The smoke cleared, and Tsubaki was still standing.

“Huh?” Jamin stared at him “Hey, what gives?”

“I’m not done yet,” Tsubaki said.

“No way,” Jamin replied “I’ve given you more than enough damage to knock out an average person, but you’re not even the least bit tired.”

“Well I’m more than your average person,” Tsubaki said “Looks like you did your little victory dance too soon.”

Jamin glared at him: “I don’t get it. Why didn’t that finish him off?” He thought “He’s definitely not spirit sensitive; otherwise he’d have heard my charmers talking.”

“Jamin,” Hiita looked over her shoulder at him.

Jamin nodded and looked up at Tsubaki: “I end my turn,” he said “And your monster flips up again and you draw a card.”

 

“Good,” Tsubaki replied, sounding a little irritated “I could use a boost.”

He glared at Jamin for a moment before he turned to look at his hand.

“I can’t believe that didn’t work,” he thought “I guess I underestimated him, oh well. I can still knock him out.”

“I summon familiar Possessed Wynn!” He declared, summoning his own Wynn to the field “Next I’ll activate my second Mystical Space Typhoon to get rid of your pesky swords.”

Another whirlwind surrounded Tsubaki’s field and tossed Jamin’s swords aside.

“They’ll have worn off this turn anyway,” Jamin pointed out.

“Then I switch Aussa to attack mode,” Tsubaki said, ignoring him “Now attack your counterparts!”

Tsubaki’s Aussa stood up and both she and Wynn charged at their opposites on Jamin’s field.

“Brace yourselves guys,” Jamin warned.

The monsters met and Jamin’s two were destroyed, however due to Kishido Spirit, Tsubaki’s monsters remained intact.

“I can still win this duel,” Tsubaki said “I will prove that I’m better than you.”

“I thought you were trying to prove I copied you,” Jamin said.

“Huh? Oh yeah, that too!” Tsubaki replied “You’re a copycat and a lousy duelist, admit it.”

“Let’s get one thing straight,” Jamin said “It’s you who’s the copycat, and on top of that you suck as well. You saw me win one duel and thought youd look cool by claiming I copied you. Well wake up Jamin! Man, I never thought I’d have to say that.”

“Oh yeah!” Tsubaki replied “Prove it then!”

“Simple,” Jamin said “You did more than copy my deck list, you changed it to fit in with that bet you made to ensure you won, then you lulled me into a flase sense of security so I’d agree to it, and then you’d start duelling for real.”

Tsubaki glared at him.

“I don’t have to admit to that,” he growled “You’re just saying whatever is convenient for you.”

“Whatever you say,” Jamin said, drawing a card. “There’s more to it than that,” he thought “Any normal person would at least be panting by now, he’s not even breaking out in sweat, he’s cheating, and I know it. There’s got to be a way to unmask him.”

“You know, there is a way to beat him without causing a fuss,” Mashi-Ushi’s voice whispered in his ear.

“Huh?” Jamin looked about, but nobody was there “What do you mean?”

“Remember what I did?” Mashi-Ushi asked “Just let out pour your spirit power into the cards you play, and then use that to hurt him.”

“Are you insane?” Jamin muttered “I could kill him.”

“You’d still win,”

Jamin gritted his teeth and set the card he’d just drawn.

“I’ll lay this card face down and end my turn,” he said. “I’ve got another three standby phases until my card is free,” he thought “I just hope he doesn’t somehow manage to beat me in that time.”

“And now!” Tsubaki declared “My two monsters attack your two monsters and I win the duel!”

Jamin glared up at him: “Not so fast,” he said “I play my face down, DNA Transplant.”

“Huh?”

“With this trap card, I can change the attribute of every monster on the field,” Jamin explained “And I choose water!”

“Your point?” Tsubaki asked, then he spied Jamin’s other face up trap card “No way!”

“That’s right,” Jamin grinned “My elemental absorber blocks the attack of all water attribute monsters.”

As Tsubaki’s two monsters charged forwards they were surrounded by a blue aura and then blocked by a sudden tidal wave, cutting them off from their attack.

“Fine then,” Tsubaki huffed “I end my turn.”

“Okay,” Jamin drew a new card from his deck “Now I just need to get past his monsters, but then again he’s still somehow cheating to stop him from getting shocked. Maybe if I give him a big enough one and everyone notices he’s taking no damage I’ll be able to unmask him.” Jamin thought.

“Are you gonna move or what?” Tsubaki asked.

Jamin stared at the card in his hand.

“I’ll move,” he said “I play the spell card magician’s unite.”

“Huh?”

“So long as I have two or more spellcasters on my field, I can make the attack of one of them 3000.” Jamin explained.

Tsubaki’s jaw dropped slightly.

“That’s good, but it’s not really enough to give him a big shock,” Jamin thought.

“Jamin,” Mashi-Ushi’s voice floated in his ear again “You can still do it.”

Jamin shook his head and tried not to listen.

“Come on, it’s easy,” Mashi-Ushi said “Just let you powers flow out of you.”

“Stop that,” Jamin hissed “I’m not going to.”

He slotted his magic card into his duel disk and a white aura surrounded his two monsters.

“Wynn, Aussa,” he commanded.

“Do it!” Mashi-Ushi’s voice cried.

Jamin screwed his eyes shut, trying to ignore him.

“He’ll be defeated, and you’ll be one step further to duelling me,” Mashi-Ushi went on “Do it, you’ll feel much better.”

A red aura began to surround Jamin and wind down his arm into the card he was still holding. At the same time the same aura surrounded his two monsters.

“Wynn, Aussa,” Jamin said, his eyes snapping open and punching the air in front of him “Attack!”

Both his monsters lunged forwards and fired their separate attacks, destroying Tsubaki’s Wynn and sending him flying backwards. He struck the wall behind him and slid down it, leaving a path of blood trailing down it. Jamin stared at the scene in horror, still frozen in the same position he’d been in when he’d declared the attack.

“No way,” he muttered, trying not to listen to Mashi-Ushi’s chuckles in his ear.

The holograms faded however there was no cheer for Jamin’s victory.

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 35: Not filler, I swear...

 

[spoiler=episode]“I can’t believe I did that,” Jamin said when he was back in the waiting room, sitting on one of the green sofas.

The other duels of round 2 had begun and were being displayed on the screen; however Jamin didn’t care to watch them.

“Come on, he’ll be fine,” Sammy said “He deserved what he got anyway, what an jabroni.”

“Still, you gotta admit it was kinda weird to watch,” Jun said.

“What do you mean?” Sammy asked.

“That red glow around Jamin,” Jun answer.

Jamin froze for a moment and then looked round at Jun.

“What glow?” Sammy asked.

“What? You didn’t see it?” Jun asked.

“Cane he see monster spirits?” Jamin muttered.

“Let’s check,” Hiita said, appearing beside him.

She vaulted over the sofa Jamin was sitting on and landed in front of Jun and started pulling faces.

“You’re delusional,” Sammy said.

“I’m not kidding,” Jun said “There was this crazy red glow.”

“Hm, guess not,” Jamin muttered.

Hiita shrugged and stuck her tongue out at Jun whilst pulling at the skin under one eye before vanishing.

“Well our duels coming up soon,” Sammy said, checking the now revised timetable “We’ll just see who’s better.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jun said airily “Just don’t go crying to mummy when you lose.”

Sammy glared at him for a moment.

“These two are impossible,” Jamin sighed, turning away “How did I end up in a group with them again?”

He heaved a sigh and then fished for something in his pocket, pulling out the set of blank cards that used to be his gods. He stared at them for a moment, pondering.

“What’re you doing?” Jun asked, leaning on the head of the sofa.

Jamin jumped and almost dropped his cards.

“Nothing,” he replied “Nothing at all.”

“Why do you have a set of blank cards?” Jun asked, giving Jamin a strange look “What’re they for?”

“Just a keepsake,” Jamin replied, putting them away in his pocket.

It would be too hard to explain to someone like Jun that the cards used to contain the spirits of ancient gods before Jamin’s soul was almost sucked out along with his ability to see spirits, and as a result he was now unable to see his most powerful monsters.

“Say,” Jun said, suddenly looking up “You’ve got a Sacred Phoenix don’t you?”

“What?” Jamin stared at him.

“I knew it,” Jun chuckled “I saw your profile on Duel net worldwide, you used to have a phoenix, where’d it go.”

“I…” Jamin faltered for a bit “Lost it.”

“Oh?” Jun looked slightly disappointed “Oh well, if you’re clumsy enough to lose you rarest card then you’ll be easy to beat.”

Jun stood up and wandered off again, leaving Jamin along. Once again Jamin fished in his pocket and pulled out one of the blank cards.

“I don’t even know if this was my phoenix or not,” he thought “I can’t even hear them, let alone see them.”

He stood up and put the card away again, turning to look at the screen showing the current duel.

 

“Harpie’s Pet Baby Dragon, attack his Black Veloci now!” Kim ordered.

Kim’s duel was almost over, her opponent was shaking from just standing up and all he had on the field was a black dinosaur in defense mode, whereas Kim had a Harpie’s Pet Baby dragon, a Harpie Lady #2 and Harpie Lady Sisters. Her small red dragon opened its mouth and shot a fireball at her opponent’s monster, destroying it.

“Now Harpies, attack him directly,” Kim ordered.

Obediently her monsters charged forwards and took four swipes at the man, sending a massive shock through his body. He stood where he was for a moment before he collapsed.

“Yes!” Kim yelled in delight “I won again!”

 

“Hm, that only took about five minutes,” Sammy said, checking his watch.

“Hey, it’s our match next,” Jun said, moving towards the doors to the arena “Or did you forget?”

Sammy glared at him before following.

“The next match will be between Jun Yusuke and Sammy Oldren,” the announcer explained “I can’t wait to see what this duel turns out as.”

Jamin glanced up at the screen as Jun and Sammy took up their positions.

“I hope you’re ready to lose,” Sammy said, grinning.

“You two short stuff,” Jun replied.

“Awesome, it’s Jun-sama,”

“Go Yusuke!”

Jun waved about at the crowd for a few moments, basking in the glory of his fame.

“You need to die,” Sammy sighed “Very badly.”

“Oh shut up,” Jun said.

“Duelists, begin!” The announcer said.

“Let’s duel,” Sammy and Jun said in unison.

“Let’s see how you deal with this,” Sammy said, drawing six cards from his deck “I summon Shining Angel in defense mode and lay this card face down. Your move.”

An angel dressed in white with short blond hair emerged in a wave of light on Sammy’s field and set himself down on his field with his arms in front of him.

“Heh, you’ll have to do better than that,” Jun said, drawing a card of his own “I summon my Kaiser Seahorse in attack mode!”

A black and purple warrior with armour representing that of a seahorse and carrying a long golden trident appeared on Jun’s field.

“With this your shining angel bites the dust,” Jun said “Kaiser Seahorse, attack!”

Jun’s monster charged forwards, raising its trident and taking a swing at Sammy’s Shining Angel and destroying it.

“You’ve activated my monster’s special effect,” Sammy said “This allows me to special summon a Light monster from my deck, and I choose Batteryman AA!”

A light shone from Sammy’s deck and projected the form of his Batteryman AA onto the field.

“And that’s not all,” Sammy said “Check out my face down, inferno reckless summon!”

Sammy’s face down spell card flipped up and produced two more rays of light that formed into two more Batterymen.

“When I special summon a monster with less than 1500 attack points, I can special summon two more of the same monster,” Sammy said “But don’t worry, you get to summon two more Seahorses.”

Jun looked down at his field as two more Kaiser Seahorse appeared on his field.

“Well that was dumb,” he chuckled “All your monsters have no attack points, my monsters will tear straight through them.”

“You wish,” Sammy chuckled “Batteryman AA gains 1000 attack for each copy of him in attack mode, and since I have three his attack is 3000.”

“Say what?” Jun stared at Sammy’s monsters as they all glowed and their attack pointed raised.

“Fine,” Jun said “I’ll place two cards face down and end my turn.”

“Heh,” Sammy drew a new card from his deck “You’ll regret not destroying my monsters, I activate Short circuit.”

“Huh?”

“This is a powerful spell card that I can only activate when I have exactly three Batterymen on my field,” Sammy explained “And it destroys all cards on your field!”

“What?”

“Go!” Sammy ordered.

All three of Sammy’s monsters began charging with lightning that then shot out of them and struck all three of Jun’s monsters and both his face down cards.

“You’re finished!” Sammy said “Batterymen, attack!”

All three of Sammy’s monsters raised their fists and fired three bolts of Lightning into the cloud of dust that was currenlt obscuring Jun.

“And that’s it,” Sammy laughed.

“Pft, pathetic,” Came Jun’s voice from the mist.

“Huh?” Sammy stared forwards “What do you mean?”

The dust cleared to reveal Jun with a smug expression on his face, inside a large blue dome that had somehow negated the Batterymen’s attack.

“What?” Sammy stated at him “How? I destroyed both your trap cards.”

“I figured you’d do that,” Jun said “Which is why I put out this little insurance card I like to call my Super Compression Shield.”

“Super Compression what?” Sammy repeated.

“Super Compression Shield,” Jun explained “When this card is destroyed by a card effect then I automatically take no damage for the rest of the turn, sorry pal but we’re not done just yet.”

Sammy glared at him.

“Fine,” he said “I’ll set this card face down and end my turn.”

A face down card appeared behind his batterymen and Jun drew a new card from his deck.

“Time to start the real game,” Jun said “I summon my Reflect Bounder in attack mode!”

A strange robot creature covered with a set of circular mirrors appeared on Jun’s field.

“I guess I’ll give you a bit of warning about this guy,” Jun said “His attack might only be 1700, but when he’s attack he immediately reflects that damage back to the attacking player.

“I guess I’ll just lay these three cards face down and end my turn,” Jun said, placing the last three cards in his hand into his trap zone slots “Your move.”

“Well, it seems I underestimated you,” Sammy said “But no more, I’ll move now.”

He took a card from his deck and placed it in his hand.

“Excellent,” he said “I tribute one of my Batterymen in order to summon Super-Electromagnetic Voltech Dragon!”

One of Sammy’s monsters vanished and was replaced by a giant mechanical dragon brimming with energy.

“And now since I used a Batteryman AA to summon him he gains 1000 attack points,” Sammy explained “Now then, Batteryman AA, attack!”

One of Sammy’s remaining Batterymen threw a punch at Jun’s monster, sending an electric wave straight at him.

“You’re forgetting one thing,” Jun said “Since you’ve lost one of your batterymen, your other two only have 2000 attack points.”

“Yeah? So what?” Sammy asked.

“Well, it’s a real problem if I do something like this,” Jun said “Trap card, Magical arm shield!”

“What?!”

A large silver box materialized on Jun’s field and an extending arm shot out and grabbed Sammy’s other batteryman, pulling him to Jun’s field and putting him in the way of the other batteryman’s attack.

“W-wait!” Sammy cried.

“Now that we only have one batteryman each both their attack is 1000,” Jun explained “Which means they’ll destroy each other!”

Sammy’s eyes widened in horror as Jun’s captured Batteryman AA fired back and the two attacks collided, destroying both monsters.

“I still have my dragon,” Sammy retorted.

“Go ahead,” Jun grinned “If you want to take 3400 damage that is.”

“It’s worth it!” Sammy yelled “Super-Electromagnetic Voltech Dragon, attack!”

Sammy’s monster charged an attack in its mouth and then sent it flying towards Jun’s monster. The Reflect Bounder raised its arms, firing the attack back at Sammy before it was destroyed. Sammy’s eyes grew wider as the attack approached and finally hit, giving him a massive shock from his duel disk. He yelled out loud and then dropped to one knee, panting.

“Go Jun!” Came a roar from the crowd.

“Awesome!”

“You can do it!”

The cheering started up again and Jun glanced about smugly.

“Are you done already?” He asked.

“Not by a long shot,” Sammy replied “But I’ll end my turn for now.”

“Fair enough,” Jun said, drawing a card from his deck.

He glanced at it carelessly and smiled.

“What?” Sammy asked, standing up shakily.

“I’ve just drawn my ace,” Jun said “So let’s begin. I activate call of the haunted to ressurect my Kaiser Seahorse.”

Jun’s trap card flipped up and his Kaiser Seahorse emerged out of it, standing to attention.

“But then I’ll sacrifice him!” Jun said “For my Kaiser Glider!”

Kaiser Seahorse vanished in a whirlwind and was replaced by Jun’s mighty bronze dragon. It rose up above the field and let out an almight roar, causing the crowd to cheer once more.

“So what?” Sammy said, grinning “My monster had more attack points than yours.”

“Your funeral,” Jun said “Kaiser Glider attack! Kaiser Dive!”

Jun’s Kaiser Glider burst into flames and dived at Sammy’s monster.

“Are you crazy?” Sammy asked.

The Voltech Dragon raised its mouth and shot a blast of lightning at Jun’s monster, destroying it. Jun doubled up as pain shot through him upon the destruction of his monster.

“Heh, I hope you’ve learned your…” Sammy was cut off as his Voltech Dragon vanished “What?” He glanced at his hand and saw it there “What did you do?”

“Simple,” Jun said “When my Kaiser Glider is destroyed, I get to return one monster on the field to the owner’s hand.”

“You’re kidding,” Sammy gasped.

“Nope,” Jun chuckled “And I’m not done yet, I activate Rope of Life!”

A hole appeared in the floor in front of Jun and his Kaiser Glider rose out of it.

“No way!” Sammy gasped.

“And the best part is he now has 3200 attack points,” Jun explained “So how’s that. Kaiser Glider attack!”

Kaiser Glider dived forwards, shooting a great bronze fireball at Sammy and hitting him directly. Sammy yelled again as the pain from the attack shot through his body.

“Looks like I win,” Jun said as his monster landed back on his field.

“No,” Sammy said, getting up from his knees again “I won’t lose to you!”

Jun’s face took on a look of honest surprise, however it settled back into a grin: “Have it your way then,” he said.

“My turn!” Sammy said “And I remove two of my Battermen AAs in my graveyard to special summon my Batteryman Industrial Strength!”

A large box battery with arms, legs and a head as well as a red and blue wire extending from his shoulders appeared on Sammy’s field.

“And next I’ll activate his effect,” Sammy said “I remove my final Batterman from my graveyard to destroy your Kaiser Glider, leaving the way clear for my attack!”

Sammy’s monster grabbed the blue wire and fired a bolt of lightning at the Kaiser Glider, destroying it. It then grabbed the other wire and charged forwards. Jun merely stood where he was, looking extremely smug.

“You just don’t learn, do you?” He sighed.

“Huh?”

The Batteryman Industrial Strength was inches from Jun’s face before he too vanished, reappearing in Sammy’s hand.

“What gives!” Sammy yelled.

“My monster doesn’t just have to be destroyed by battle to activate his effect,” Jun explained “It’s when he’s destroyed under any conditions.”

Sammy stared at Jun in horror.

“And now it’s my turn,” Jun said, drawing a card from his deck.

Sammy and the crowd watched tensely as Jun looked at the card he’d just drawn and a grin spread across his face, resulting in a nervous look from Sammy.

“This is my final card,” Jun said “Monster Reborn!”

He held the spell card out and it glowed brightly.

“With this card I can call back my Kaiser Glider!” Jun explained “Behold!”

Jun’s monster return to the field, welcomed by a great roar from the crowd.

“Time to finish this,” Jun said “Kaiser Glider, attack!”

Sammy’s face froze in horror as the dragon flew into the air and fired another fireball straight towards him. He screwed his eyes shut tight and yelled as it struck and pain erupted over his body once again. He dropped to his knees and stared up at Jun, panting heavily. Jun stared back at him for a moment before Sammy keeled over forwards, out cold.

“Jun Yusuke is the winner!” The announcer declared “I doubt anybody wasn’t expecting that!”

“Hm,” Jamin muttered as he stared at the screen “Guess he is a decent duelist after all.”

 

“Well, that was easy,” Jun sighed as he sank into the sofa opposite the one Jamin was sitting on.

Jamin glanced up at him momentarily before he leaned back and stared at the ceiling.

“Guess that means it’s you and me for the group final,” Jun said “So, how’s it feel to be up against a true professional?”

“Nothing like this,” Jamin replied without looking down.

“The next match of round two is Sou Ovelesku against Mash-Ushi Teshino,” the announcer declared.

Jamin looked round to the screen, catching sight of Mashi-Ushi entering the arena.

“He’s gonna duel again,” Jamin gasped.

Jun looked at him and then up at the screen.

“Wasn’t he the guy that used that weird smoke trick?” He asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Jamin said “He’s about to do it again.”

He sprang to his feet and headed towards the doors to the arena.

“Hey, where’re you going?” Jun demanded, blocking his path “If you go into that arena without permission you’ll get disqualified, and to be honest I’d rather duel my way into the finals than get in by default.”

“You don’t understand,” Jamin said “He’s going to kill Sou.”

“What the hell is your problem?” Jun demanded “Nobodies killing anybody.”

“Get out of my way!” Jamin demanded.

He ducked behind Jun and charged through the doors.

 

In the arena the crowd was watching intently as the two duelists stared at each other.

“I hope you’re ready for this,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“Cut the trash talk,” Sou said “Let’s just get this over with.”

Mashi-Ushi chuckled softly: “Very well,”

A slight breeze seemed to lift the hairs on Mashi-Ushi’s head and the same mist began to spread out from him, beginning to form the same dome around the two.

“Using that trick again?” Sou sighed “It looked impressive the first time, but this time it’s just boring.”

“Trick?” Mashi-Ushi replied “I assure you this is no trick; this is so nobody gets in the way of our little game.”

“Heh, show off,”

“And just in case somebody tried to play the hero, I’ve put up a little insurance around the edge of the arena,” Mashi-Ushi explained “I’ve set up a circle of scarab stones around the perimeter, now that the spirit duel is active anybody crossing that line will be trapped within their own mind.”

“You’re nothing but talk,” Sou replied “Let’s duel already!”

“As you wish!” Mashi-Ushi replied, activating his duel disk.

 

Jamin could see the entrance to the arena just ahead of him and he sped up.

“Jamin,” Wynn said, appearing beside him “Please stop, I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“I can’t,” Jamin said “I won’t let Mashi-Ushi kill anybody else.”

He reached the end and stepped over the line of stones Mashi-Ushi had deployed and froze in mid sprint, staring into space for a few minutes before he collapsed. Mashi-Ushi’s head turned a bit and he smirked.

“Gotcha,” he muttered.

 

“Jamin, Jamin!”

Jamin opened his eyes and looked up, seeing Wynn leaning over him, completely opaque. He sat up and looked around, noticing he was in that long steel corridor that made up his mind.

“Where am I?” He asked.

“Your mind,” Wynn said “You’ve been trapped in your own mind.”

“What?” Jamin looked around at her “How?”

“I think Mashi-Ushi must have set up a trap,” Wynn shrugged “I don’t know, I’m not good at magic circles and stuff, just making wind.”

“Well, I guess I just need to get out,” Jamin said, standing up “So tell me, how long is this thing.”

“Hey, it’s your mind, not mine,” Wynn said.

“You mean you don’t know?” Jamin gazed at her “I thought you lived in here.”

“I live in a different part,” Wynn explained.

“Different part?” Jamin repeated.

“Let me explain,” Wynn said, standing up “Each person’s mind is made up of different sections, the entry way, memories, and in the case of spirit sensitive people the area where their powers reside.”

“That’s where you live, right?” Jamin asked “Well then, let’s go.”

“Err, the thing is,” Wynn said, slightly nervously “I don’t know the way.”

“What?” Jamin looked around at her.

“We could be anywhere within your entry way,” Wynn explained “It doesn’t have to just be small room; it can be an infinite corridor like yours. Which means that aside from being unnecessarily complicated, your mind in unnecessarily huge, meaning you can take in great amounts of spirit energy without overloading your mind.”

“You mean we can’t get out of here?” Jamin asked “Oh great.”

“Maybe if you’d absorbed Zorc’s spirit energy this place might be smaller and less hard to get out of,” Wynn said “But never mind.”

“Hey, I’m not touching anybodies spirit energy,” Jamin said “I’m not a thief.”

“You defeated him in a spirit game,” Wynn explained “That entitles you to take somebodies powers. Look on the bright side; it’s not like a shadow game where you lose your soul, just your powers.”

“Even if I’m entitled to them, I’m not taking them,” Jamin said “Come on, if we’re going to get out of here we’d best get going.”

He strode past Wynn and down the corridor, going to goodness knows where.

 

After about ten minutes he came across a door in the wall, looking slightly out of place.

“Where’s this lead?” He asked.

“I don’t know,” Wynn replied.

Jamin gripped the handle and opened it. The scene in front of him startled him with familiarity, a great sunken pit with a grand staircase leading down towards the entrance of a maze.

“But this is, underneath that tomb,” he gasped.

“Oh!” Wynn exclaimed “This must be your memories!”

“My memories?” Jamin stared at the scene as a great crash sounded and smoke billowed from within the maze “But that’s…” Another crash and another ball of smoke as well as a cry for an attack “This is when we were trapped in that maze and searching for the ring.”

Wynn nodded. Jamin stepped out of the room and closed the door.

“Well, at least we know that that room is your memories,” Wynn said “Which means the door to your powers must be here somewhere.”

“Good,” Jamin said “This place is starting to bore me.”

He turned about to continue walking when the sound of footsteps sounded from nearby. He froze on the spot, gazing forwards.

“Who’s there?” He demanded.

A figure began to emerge from the shadows, moving towards the pair. Jamin’s eyes narrowed as he came into view. The man wore a red hood that covered his face and was armoured with a pair of red and gold shoulder blades. A red cloak extended behind him and ended just short of the floor, her wore a dark red tunic done up with a belt and had baggy red trousers tucked into a pair of crimson boots.

“Who’s he?” Jamin asked.

“I don’t know,” Wynn replied “Maybe he’s someone from your memories.”

“You mean my memories can just escape and walk around?” Jamin gazed at her.

“Ever had a nightmare?” Wynn answered back, as though this settled matter.

“What are you doing here?” The stranger asked “How can you be in this realm.”

“Okay, I know the drill,” Jamin said “Bring it on.”

He raised his duel disk and prepared to activate it.

“That is not apart of this world,” the man said, raising his arm casually.

Jamin stared at his duel disk as its image blurred and then vanished into thin air.

“What?” He glanced up at the figure “Who are you and what are you doing in my head?”

“So, you know where you are,” the figure replied “Well, that’s close enough.”

Jamin glared at him.

“It matter not who I am,” the man said “But what you are going to do about getting out again.”

“Are you going to stop me?” Jamin asked.

“No,” the man said “Merely advise you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You are not thinking, Jamin Tsubasa,” the man said “Think, this is your mind. You can create your own exit.”

“Huh?” Jamin stared at him.

“It seems you still have much to learn,” the man said, lifting his hands to his hood and preparing to lower it “And with such a short space of time, I doubt you’ll be able to learn it all.”

Jamin’s eyes widened in awe as the man lowered his hood and revealed his face, showing himself to be a mirror image of Jamin, only with tanned skin, black hair and brown eyes.

“After all, it seems my efforts were wasted,” the darker Jamin said.

“J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-Jarada-sama!” Wynn squealed.

“What?” Jamin looked down at her.

“How have you been, Wynn,” Jarada said, patting the girl on the head “You’re looking well.”

“You know each other?” Jamin asked.

“Of course,” Jarada said “I’m you. Well, strictly speaking I’m you from 3000 years ago.”

“You mean you’re me?” Jamin gasped.

“Of course,” Jarada nodded “But we don’t have any time to waste, you must get out of here, imagine a door appearing before you.”

Jamin gazed in front of him and focused as hard as he could, then the same way his duel disk had vanished, a door appeared in front of him.

“No way,” he muttered.

“Now, leave,” Jarada said “Your time will come when you reside in here with me, but not yet.”

Jamin nodded and opened the door, stepping through.

 

He opened his eyes again and found himself staring up at the ceiling of the waiting room.

“Oh,” he muttered “I’m back here.”

He looked about and saw Jun sitting opposite him.

“What about the duel?” He asked “Mashi-Ushi…”

“He won,” Jun said “Again. Did the smoke trick too.”

“What happened?” Jamin asked.

“You just collapsed,” Jun shrugged “I hauled you back here myself; you’re heavier than you look.”

“I failed,” Jamin muttered “I failed to stop him.”

He closed his eyes again and leaned back, cursing.

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 36:

 

[spoiler=episode]The sun rose upon another day, casting light across Domino city and lighting up the Kaiba Dome that dominated the park. The crowds were already milling around it, some having slept in tents in order to avoid the rush. There was a buzz going around about the duelist about to start the third round before the finals. A lot of people were placing bets on different people.

“Josh for sure,” A black haired kid with a baseball cap said “I’ll bet my rarest card that he makes it to the final round.”

“No way, Dark Magician decks are old news,” another blue haired guy replied “You wanna win, you’ve gotta get with the times.”

“Jun will win, hands down!” One of Jun’s fanboys butted in on the conversation “He’s gonna beat that Jamin kid senseless.”

 

Even in the waiting rooms the buzz outside could be heard, although it was significantly less audible than it was outside.

“Fans,” Jun chuckled “I bet they’re all saying I’ll win.”

“In your dreams,” Jamin muttered.

“What was that?” Jun turned and glared at him “You wanna go now?”

“No,” Jamin sighed “I wouldn’t want to disappoint your fans.”

Jun glared at him and then turned away.

“The third round is about to begin!” The announcer declared “And the finalists from the four groups are as follows. Mashi-Ushi vs Diablo, Jun vs Jamin, Drem vs, Kim and Joshinyu vs Tenshiro.”

“Believe me, you won’t last a turn against me,” Jun said “I’ve seen you duel and I know how your deck works. And I know you can’t hold a candle against super powerful monsters.”

“That depends on if you can get a super powerful monster out of not,” Jamin replied.

“Don’t get smart with me,” Jun growled.

“Then don’t underestimate me,” Jamin replied “Every time I’ve duelled someone like you, I’ve beaten them senseless.”

“Heh,” Jun scoffed “I bet they were all just big headed. You’ve seen what short work I made of that Sammy kid.”

“Whatever you say gramps,” Jamin replied.

“Don’t call me gramps!” Jun barked.

 

The audience began to file into the arena, chatting exitedly, a few still placing bets.

“Welcome to the third round of the duel rally tournament!” The announcer declared “As you can see there are two finalists for each group, the winners of these four duels will face each other in the final three duels of the tournament!”

The two giant screens hanging from the roof lit up, displaying the eight duelists against their opponents.

“Our first match will be between Joshinyu Tenshi and Tenshiro Ryuga,” the announcer declared “I hope you’re ready to see some cards fly!”

The crowd gave a roar of approval at these words.

“Very well, then let the duel begin.”

Jamin looked up at the small screen in the waiting room displaying the arena.

“Josh again,” he muttered “This won’t be good.”

Josh marched into the arena looking very serious. It wasn’t that different from his usual look, however his eyes were now blood red and instead of just glaring ahead he was also scowling. His opponent was much taller than him and had a wild mane of violet hair and for some reason wore a pink frilly shirt as well as a pair of very tight black trousers.

“Duelists, begin!” The announcer said.

“Might as well,” Josh muttered.

“Heh?” His opponent gave a grin “Your winning streak ends here!”

Tenshiro drew six cards from his deck in a rather overcomplicated pose before placing one of his cards on the field.

“How’s this? I summon Silent Swordsman LV3!”

A small warrior with green skin and a long blue robe as well as a large silver sword appeared on Tenshiro’s field.

“But that’s not all,” Tenshiro said “Because next I play Level Up, allowing me to summon Silent Swordsman LV5!”

The Silent Swordsman glowed and suddenly grew taller, his hair got slightly longer and the size of his sword increased dramatically.

“And as if that wasn’t enough I have another Level Up!” Tenshiro said “Allowing me to summon Silent Swordsman LV7!”

The swordsman glowed again and his sword grew even larger. Josh however merely watched without changing expression.

“Such a shame I can’t attack this turn,” Tenshiro sighed “Oh well, your move.”

Josh drew a card and placed it in his hand.

 

“Josh might actually lose this one,” Jamin thought “Most of the cards in his deck are spell cards, and in fact he relies on them most of all. And that swordsman negates all spell cards.”

Josh however took a card from his hand and placed it in the spell card slot.

“What’s he doing?” Jamin thought.

“Spell card,” Josh said “Magician’s Call!”

“Fool,” Tenshiro laughed “My monster negates all spell cards, what are you playing at?”

Josh glanced down as his card shattered.

“Funny,” he replied “Because this card has two effects.”

“Huh?”

“Allow me to explain,” Josh said “Normally this card allows me to special summon one normal spellcaster monster from my hand, but since it was negated I’m allowed to summon one from my deck instead.”

“What?”

“Rise, Dark Magician!” Josh ordered.

“You’re kidding,” Jamin gasped.

Tenshiro gazed in horror at Josh’s field as his Dark Magician appeared in a whirlwind of dark magic before finally ascending onto the field.

“No, you knew I’d do this!” Tenshiro cried.

“I’ve watched you duel before,” Josh said “You’re too predictable. You thought you could weaken my deck by stopping me from using all my spell cards, well I guess you’d do that and took measures to make sure your plan failed.”

“You…” Tenshiro glared at him.

“And now, I activate my second Magician’s Call!” Josh said, placing it in his spell card zone.

The hologram of the card shattered again and another Dark Magician took its place.

“Now I sacrifice my two Dark Magicians!” Josh declared as his two monsters were swept up in a whirlwind “And Summon the Sorcerer of Dark Magic!”

Josh’s monsters vanished and were replaced with his most powerful monster.

“So much for that plan of yours,” Josh said “Sorcerer of Dark Magic, attack!”

Josh’s monster span its staff once and pointed it at Tenshiro’s Silent Swordsman, firing a wave of flame at it and destroying it, sending a surge of pain through Tenshiro. Tenshiro screamed for a moment and then the pain stopped.

“W-why you…” He growled.

“And now I’m free to play all the spells I want,” Josh said “So I’ll start with my premature burial, allowing me to resurrect my Dark Magician.”

A surge of electricity passed through Josh’s body but then vanished as his Dark Magician rose up on the field again.

“I’ll set this card face down and end my turn,” Josh declared.

 

Jamin heaved a sigh and stood up.

“Where are you going?” Jun asked.

“I don’t need to watch this,” Jamin said “I know Josh is going to win.”

“Heh, don’t be so sure about that,” Jun chuckled “For all you know he might lose.”

“No, he’ll win,” Jamin said “I know it.”

He walked out of the waiting rooms.

 

A few minutes later he found himself in the bathroom, washing his face for no apparent reason. He looked up and saw his reflection in the mirror gazing back at him.

“Chosen one, huh?” He muttered “Couldn’t they have thought of something a bit more original?”

“Jamin?”

Jamin looked about and saw Diablo standing at the doorway.

“Oh, hello,” Jamin replied.

“Can’t stand to watch either?” Diablo asked.

Jamin shook his head.

“Fair enough,” Diablo sighed.

He moved forwards and turned a tap on at one of the sinks and began repeating the same actions as Jamin had.

“He’s gonna kill that guy, you know?” Diablo said.

“Yeah,” Jamin replied.

“You’re not going to try and stop him?” Diablo asked.

“Why bother?” Jamin replied “He won’t listen to me, it’s my fault he became like this anyway?”

“Huh?” Diablo looked at him.

“He’s the one descended from those keeper guys,” Jamin went on “He’s the one entrusted with the power of the Dark Magician, and on top of that he’s a much better duelist than me.”

“Your point?” Diablo asked.

“The point is I was the one chosen to defeat Zorc,” Jamin replied “On top of that I’m really just a lousy duelist, most of my draws are just pot luck.”

Diablo sighed: “Jamin,”

“Hm?” Jamin looked about at him and felt Diablo’s fist connect with his face.

He fell backwards and landed on his backside.

“Ow!”

“There’s plenty more where that came from,” Diablo said, cracking his knuckled “So belt up Jamin!”

“You hit me,” Jamin gazed up at him, rubbing his cheek.

“Look pal,” Diablo said “If I was beaten by some guy using pot luck then I must really suck. Just remember why you always win.”

“Because I can hear my cards?” Jamin asked.

“Exactly,” Diablo said “And a guy who can hear spirits is never gonna lose to anybody if he just believes in himself, so get a grip, the chosen one’s not allowed to lose.”

“That’s just it,” Jamin said “I’m not the chosen one anymore. Zorc’s beaten; I’ve got nothing left to do.”

“Listen Jamin,” Diablo said “When I first met you I thought you were nothing, you were cocky, you were stupid and you just took everything in like it was nothing. And that’s what I hate about you even now, that you can take anything and still keep going.”

Jamin blinked and continued to gaze up at him.

“So take this in,” Diablo said “Your best friend’s gone psycho, and now you have to snap him out of it. That’s your destiny now, so get on with it.”

Jamin stood up and took his hand away from his cheek; a large bruise had begun to blossom there.

“And to think you tried to kill me once,” Jamin muttered.

“So, what do you say?” Diablo asked “Wanna give this chosen one business one more shot?”

“I guess so,” Jamin replied, grinning slightly “Hell, I’ve got no choice. If either Josh or Mashi-Ushi wins this thing then we’ll never hear the end of it.”

Diablo chuckled softly and the two of them walked out of the bathroom.

“Catch you later,” Diablo said, taking a detour a walking towards his own waiting room.

Jamin nodded and watch him go before heaving a sigh and rubbing his face.

“Didn’t half hurt,” he muttered.

“Try to lighten up,” Eria’s spirit appeared beside him “After all it’s a game remember, you’re supposed to have fun.”

“It’s a very strange person who has fun by watching his best friend kill people,” Jamin pointed out.

“I know a few,” Eria replied brightly.

“Yeah?” Jamin said “Well you’re weird.”

Eria stuck her tongue out at him and vanished. Jamin heaved a sigh and entered the waiting room, noticing Jun was still there and currently reading the book Sammy had left behind.

“Did I miss anything?” Jamin asked.

“Not much,” Jun replied “At least, nothing important.”

Jamin stared up at the screen to see the two duelists still going at each other, Josh evidentally on top.

“He’s getting a kick out of this,” Jamin muttered.

“Hm?” Jun looked up at him.

 

“Dark Magician of Chaos, attack his life points directly!” Josh ordered.

Josh’s field was now filled with high level spellcasters, the Dark Magician of Chaos, the Sorcerer of Dark Magic, Chaos Command Magician and the Dark Paladin, whereas his opponent’s field merely had a single face down. Josh’s Dark Magician of Chaos spar his staff over his head and brought it down, preparing to fire at Tenshiro.

“Hard luck,” Tenshiro said “You’ve activated my face down card, mirror force!”

Tenshiro’s trap card flipped up. However Josh merely grinned.

“What’s so funny?” Tenshiro asked.

“Well, it’s simply the fact that my Sorcerer of Dark Magic can negate and destroy any trap card,” Josh explained.

“He what?”

Josh’s sorcerer raised his staff and shot a fireball at the trap card, destroying it. The sorcerer gave his staff another swing before letting it hang loose by his side. Tenshiro gazed ahead in horror.

“Now all my monsters are free to attack you life points directly!” Josh said “Go my magicians!”

Tenshiro screamed as each monster hit him with a powerful attack which resulted in a massive shock being sent through his body. Josh merely stood by as he watched Tenshiro writhe in pain before he dropped to his knees, smoke was rising off him and his face looked blank.

“That’s what you get for underestimating your opponent,” Josh said smugly “And just to make sure you are out of it, I activate the spell card Magical Blast.”

Josh inserted a new spell card into his spell zone slot and a larger hologram of it appeared in front of him. A white light began to charge around the card and suddenly shot out of it, striking Tenshiro and throwing him backwards. He rolled across the floor for a few seconds before he came to a halt, lying still. The holograms on Josh’s field faded and he deactivated his duel disk.

“Not even worth my time,” he sighed and turned around, walking to the arena exit.

 

“And the winner is Joshinyu Tenshi!” The announcer declared “With only three places left in the finals, it’ll be exciting to see who can stand up to his ruthless duelling style!”

“He never used to duel like that,” Jamin muttered.

“Hm?” Jun looked up at him “How’d you mean?”

“I mean he didn’t overdo it,” Jamin said “He always played the exact number of cards to put his opponent’s life points down to zero, he never did anything more than that.”

 

Jamin cast his mind back to several years ago, the summer before he and Josh were about to start high school. The two of them were standing in a field at sunset on the last day of the holidays.

“This decides it,” Josh said “No matter what we’ll always be duelling forever.”

“You bet,” Jamin said “Nothing’s getting in my way!”

“Let’s duel!”

Both of them slotted their decks into their duel disks and their life points set to 4000.

“I’ll start,” Jamin said, drawing six cards “I summon Familiar Possessed Wynn in attack mode and lay these two cards face down.”

Jamin’s emerald haired sorceress appeared on his field in a gust of wind and two face down cards appeared behind her.

“My draw,” Josh said “I’ll summon the Skilled Dark Magician!”

One of Josh’s many black clad magicians appeared on his field.

“But I’m not done yet,” Josh said “Because I play my Magical Dimension!”

Josh’s monster was sealed in a golden coffin which then opened up to reveal Josh’s Dark Magician.

“And thanks to my Magical Dimension’s effect, I destroy your Familiar Possessed Wynn!” Josh declared.

Josh’s Dark Magician raised his staff and fired a beam of green energy at Jamin’s monster.

“Not if I play my face down!” Jamin said “Spiritual Wind Art – Miyabi! With this card I send your Dark Magician back to the bottom of your deck!”

Jamin’s monster vanished in a whirlwind which then moved toward’s Josh’s Dark Magician, threatening to sweep him up.

“Not bad but you’ll have to be quicker than that,” Josh said “I activate the quick play spell card Dedication through Light and Darkness. This card allows me to sacrifice my Dark Magician and summon the Dark Magician of Chaos!”

Josh’s Dark Magician was enveloped in a golden light and then vanished to be replaced by the more powerful Dark Magician of Chaos. Since the target for Jamin’s trap card was now gone, the whirlwind died and left Jamin’s field wide open.

“Dark Magician of Chaos, attack his life points directly!” Josh ordered.

Josh’s monster span his staff and slammed it into the ground, sending a sphere of black magic careering towards Jamin.

“I’ve got another face down,” Jamin said “Go, Magical Cylinders!”

Jamin’s face down flipped up and two tubes appeared on his field. The chaos mage’s attack flew down on of the tubes and vanished, only to come flying back out of the second one straight towards Josh.

“Too bad,” Josh said, taking another spell card from his hand “I activate my next quick play spell, Spell of Pain!”

“Huh?”

A larger version of the card appeared in front of Josh and bounced the Dark Magician of Chaos’ attack back at Jamin again.

“And that’s not all,” Josh said “I also play my final spell card, Chain Strike! Since there have been three cards in this chain, this card inflicts 1200 points of damage to your life points, and combined with my Dark Magician of Chaos’ 2800 attack points, that means you lose.”

“What?”

Three chains suddenly flew out of Josh’s card, following the path of the ball of magic heading towards Jamin and overtaking it. All three hit Jamin seperatly and reduced his life points to 2800. He crouched down on one knee, clutching his chest and looked up to see the chaos mage’s attack still coming at him. He yelled as the attack his and threw him backwards, knocking his life points down to 0. The holograms faded and Josh deactivated his duel disk, walking over to where Jamin had landed.

“You okay?” He asked, crouching down.

Jamin merely gazed skywards and laughed: “I still can’t beat you,” he laughed “Even after all this time.”

“Ha, you’re never gonna beat me,” Josh chuckled.

“Well, I guess that was it for this holiday,” Jamin said, sitting up “Say, what are you going to do once you finish high school?”

“Me?” Josh pondered for a bit “I don’t actually know.”

“Because either way we’re never gonna stop duelling each other,” Jamin said.

“Yeah,” Josh nodded “It’ll take more than time to separate us.”

He stood up and extended his arm, helping Jamin to his feet. Then the two of them began walking back home as the sun finall set behind them, plunging the scenery into night. Jamin paused and looked behind him.

“What’s up?” Josh asked.

“I thought I heard something,” Jamin said “Like a bird singing.”

“You’re imagining it,” Josh said “I didn’t hear anything.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Jamin shrugged and began walking again.

 

Jamin stared up at the ceiling of the waiting room and heaved a sigh.

“You can’t expect people to stay the same forever,” Jun said “I used to be the worst duelist I know, now look at me.”

“I’d rather not,” Jamin replied.

“Oh snap out of it,” Jun growled “He’s your friend, right? All you have to do is talk to him; maybe he’s just had a change of opinion, that’s all.”

“Talk to him?” Jamin stared at Jun and stared laughing “Sorry, I tried that. I ended up punching him in the face.”

Jun stared at him for a moment.

“Okay, let me break this down for you,” Jamin said “Josh has gone mental and the only way to snap him out of it is for me to do the impossible and beat him.”

“So I’m guessing you’ve never beaten him in a duel then,” Jun replied.

“Nope, never,” Jamin said “We’ve had like a hundred and I’ve lost every time.”

“Well in that case you’re screwed,” Jun chuckled.

“Oh put a sock in it,” Jamin sighed.

 

“After an explosive first duel we are now ready for the second match of the third round!” The announcer declared.

Jamin and Jun both looked up at the screen.

“This duel will be between the finalists, Jamin Tsubasa and Jun Yusuke,” the announcer said.

Jamin and Jun both put on the exact same smug expression.

“Looks like we’re finally against each other,” Jun said.

“I guess,” Jamin said, standing up “Now I can finally shut you up, gramps.”

“Gramps!”

Jamin chuckled and walked through the doors to the arena.

 

Moments later he was turning around to face Jun in the arena with the crowd in uproar. Jun took a few moments to wave about at the crowd.

“Are you done yet?” Jamin asked, shuffling his deck out of boredom.

“Heh, not a crowd pleaser I see,” Jun replied, giving him a strange look.

“Hey, I’m not in this for them,” Jamin replied “For me, duelings always been about keeping up with everybody else, and then beating them, and the same goes for you.”

“As if,” Jun chuckled “Let’s do this.”

“Duelists,” the announcer began “Begin!”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jamin said.

“Then take this,” Jun said, drawing six cards from his deck and placing one on the field “Behild the Lord of Dragons!”

A wizard in dragon scale robes and armour appeared on Jun’s field.

“And next I’ll activate this powerful spell card,” Jun said “The Flute of Summoning Dragon!”

A golden flute with a dragon head design appeared in front of Jun’s monster and he grabbed it before blowing into it. Two shapeless clouds of colour drifted out of it and began to form into something.

“And now I summon Kaiser Glider and Divine Dragon Ragnarok!” Jun said.

Jun’s bronze dragon appeared in a display of fire, at the same time a pink snake dragon also appeared, electricity and lightning coiling round and jumping off now and again.

“And to top it off I activate Polymerization!” Jun said “And fuse my Lord of Dragons and Divine Dragon Ragnarok to summon King Dragun!”

Jun’s two monsters were pulled into a vortex behind them and emerged again with the Lord of Dragon’s torso growing from the top of a coiling bronze dragon’s tail.

“So, what are you going to do now?” Jun asked “I have two powerful monsters on my side of the field, and to top it off they’re immune to all your effects, not to mention if my Kaiser Glider happens to bite it, then whatever monster you played gets sent right back to your hand.

Jamin stared up at the two monsters as they leered over him.

“You’re forgetting one thing,” Jamin said.

“What’s that?” Jun asked.

“With my deck, I don’t care about what my opponent’s got on the field; all my spell and traps target my monsters!” Jamin said, drawing a card from his deck “Go spell card, Double Summon!”

Jun glared at him for a moment as a whirlwind of fire and another of water appeared on Jamin’s field.

“Come on out, Eria, Hiita!” Jamin said.

Jamin’s flame and water charmers appeared on his field in their powered up, familiar possessed form.

“Well you summoned two monsters in one turn,” Jun grinned “But neither of them have enough attack power to take down either of my monsters, give it up!”

“Yeah, that’s where my next card comes in handy,” Jamin said “Go spell card, Union attack!”

“Huh?”

Both Jamin’s monsters poised, ready to attack, each with an aura of their respective elements flowing about them.

“What gives?” Jun asked “Why are they both preparing to attack.”

“Because Union attack allows me to combine the attacks of all monsters on my field,” Jamin explained “Giving me more than enough points to get rid of your Dragun. Eria, Hiita attack!”

Both charmers raised their staffs and fired a pillar of fire and water which twisted together and struck Jun’s king Dragun and shot straight through him, destroying him completely.

“No way!” Jun gasped, looking up at where his monster had been.

“Unfortunately this spell has a downside,” Jamin said “You don’t take any damage, and I’m only allowed to declare one attack.”

Jun looked over at him again, his smug smile returned.

“You might have tried to save that for later kid,” he said “You don’t know what I’ve got hidden in this deck that might take you out.”

“Well we’ll just see to that later,” Jamin said “For now I’ll activate this, the continuous spell card, Spiritual Elemental Art – Shiro.”

“Huh?” Jun gazed at Jamin’s field as the card appeared, the image displaying a white light with the six attribute symbols floating around the edge “What’s that do?”

“Simple,” Jamin said “During my draw phase I can skip drawing a card and instead select one monster on your field and add a monster from my deck to my hand with the same attribute.”

“I see,” Jun chuckled “Just like a charmer deck.”

“Say what you like,” Jamin chuckled “For now I’ll lay this card face down and end my turn.”

“Whatever,” Jun said, drawing a card “I’ll just play this, my Dragon’s mirror.”

“Huh?”

“I remove Lord of Dragons and Divine Dragon Ragnarock in my graveyard from play and summon another King Dragun!”

“You’re kidding me!”

Jun’s king Dragun reappeared on Jun’s field, leering over Jamin’s two monsters.

“Sorry kid, but you just don’t have what it takes,” Jun chuckled “King Dragun, attack his fire charmer!”

Jamin braced himself as Jun’s monster fired a beam of lightning at Hiita and destroyed her, sending a shock through Jamin’s body. He staggered a bit after it stopped, in time to look up and see Eria struck by a giant bronze fireball and destroyed, sending another shock through his body. Jun laughed as he tried to keep his balance from two shocks in a row.

“What’s wrong?” Jun laughed “What happened to all that talk you had before?”

“Guess I was getting a little ahead of myself,” Jamin muttered, standing up straight “Oh well.”

“Still not done?” Jun asked, sounding genuinely disappointed “Well, I’d hate to give the crowd such a boring final.”

“Please,” Jamin chuckled “Do you think I’d really go down from that? You’ve got a lot to learn pal, my draw!”

He placed his hand on his deck and drew a new card from it.

“Now then,” he said “Time for the real duel to begin!”

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 37: Jamin continues his duel with Jun

 

[spoiler=episode]The crowd was cheering themselves horse just watching the two duelists, most were shouting for Jun, the rest of them for Jamin and most of those were all girls.

“I knew I should’ve stuck with the volcano deck,” Jamin muttered.

“Snap out of it!” Hiita barked.

“Oh right,” Jamin replied, remembering it was his turn.

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” Jun said “All these people cheering your name, admiring you. It’s like you’ve suddenly become a god, isn’t it?”

“To be honest I think all this has gone to your head,” Jamin said “I already told you, I’m not here to give them a good show, I’m just here to beat you so I can win a bet.”

“A bet?” Jun stared at him

“Now then,” Jamin said “I play my face down Spiritual Gathering, now for every monster with Hiita, Eria, Wynn or Aussa in it name in my graveyard I get to special summon a monster from my deck with equal or fewer stars than that number.”

“Boring,” Jun said “As if a level two monster could face up to me.”

“Now I special summon Fox Fire,” Jamin said.

A small fireball formed on his field and then opened up to reveal his flame tailed fox fire.

“Next, I’ll summon my Necro Guardna in defense mode and end my turn,” Jamin said.

A creature in black and red samurai style armour with long which hair appeared on Jamin’s field with its massive arms crossed over its face.

“You think two weaklings are gonna stand up to me?” Jun laughed “Get real.”

He drew a card from his deck.

“Let me show you something,” he said “With my King Dragun’s special effect I can special summon any Dragon type monster from my hand once per turn, and I summon a second Kaiser Glider!”

Another bronze armoured dragon rose up on Jun’s field to a massive cheer from the crowd.

“Care to give up yet?” Jun asked.

“Just cause you summoned two bronze chickens?” Jamin chuckled “Get real.”

Jun’s eyebrow twitched as his expression darkened rapidly.

“Don’t speak to me like that,” he snapped “Kaiser Gliders, attack both his monsters!”

Both Jun’s dragons charged a fireball and fired them at Jamin’s monsters, destroying them.

“You’re finished now,” Jun said “King Dragun, attack him directly!”

Jun’s monster charged a bolt of electricity between his hands and threw it at Jamin. A smirk appeared across Jamin’s face and a monster card rolled out of his graveyard slot. The ball of lightning struck and exploded, clouding Jamin from view for a few moments.

“That’s better,” Jun chuckled “Now I’ve got you out of the way for a while.”

 

The smoke cleared and revealed a slightly transparent hologram of the Necro Guardna Jamin had played before.

“What?”

“Hate to break it to you, but by removing my Necro Guardna in my graveyard from play, I can negate one of your attacks,” Jamin explained, showing Jun the card before stowing it away in his pocket “Now I’ll take my turn!”

He drew a new card from his deck and immediately activated it.

“I play my Pot of Greed,” Jamin said, before picking up two cards from his deck “I assume you know what it does?”

“Every duelist knows what pot of greed down,” Jun scowled “Now hurry up.”

Jamin looked at the two cards in his hand and nodded.

“I summon Eria the Water Charmer in attack mode,” he said.

“What?” Jun exclaimed.

Jun merely stared at Jamin’s field as his blue haired water charmer appeared in a torrent of water before taking her place on his field.

“Next, I’ll lay this card face down,” Jamin said “And then end my turn.”

Jun merely gawped at him for a moment and drew a card from his deck.

“Wait a minute,” he thought “He threw out such a weak monster and then put a face down on the field, does he think I’m brain dead or something? None of my dragons can be affected by his traps.”

The something Jamin said earlier floated through his mind: “My cards only target my monsters.”

“That’s it!” Jun thought “His face down is going to power up his monster the moment I declare my attack.”

He looked up at Jamin and sneered.

“Nice try rookie but that’s not going to work!” He called “Do you honestly think I’d fall for such an obvious trap like that? You’ve got some nerve, you know that?”

Jamin merely scratched the back of his head, barely even listening.

“So what are you going to do?” He asked, a sly smile crossing his face “Destroy it?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly…” Jun cut off, staring at Jamin’s smile. “Wait a minute,” he thought “He won’t be smiling if I’m about to destroy his face down, it could be another trap. If I attack I risk it being a trap that powers up his monster, and if I destroy it I risk activating something else, I’ve got no choice.

“I end my turn,” Jun said.

 

“Really?” Jamin stared at him with mock perplection “Well if you’re sure.”

He drew a new card from his deck and placed it in his hand.

“Okay, everything’s going according to plan,” he said aloud “Now to reveal my face down, Evolution of Mankind!”

An equip spell card flipped up behind Eria, displaying a grey stone tablet, Eria looked at it over her shoulder and her face lit up.

“Since at this point in the game my life points would be lower than yours, I can equip this card to Eria to make her attack strength 2400,” Jamin explained.

A white aura surrounded Eria and her attack power rose by almost five times.

“And next comes this spell card, Kishido Spirit,” Jamin declared “With this card, whenever my monsters battle with a monster with equal attack points, my monster won’t be destroyed in battle.”

A slight smile crossed Jun’s face.

“Eria, attack his Kaiser Glider!” Jamin ordered.

“Got it,” Eria replied, leaping into the air.

Jun followed her movement, still with the same smirk on his face. Water span around the end of Eria’s staff for a moment before collecting at the end and shooting out with great preassure, heading towards Jun’s monster. Jun merely stood by as the attack hit and the water washed over his Kaiser Glider.

“How’s that?” Jamin said triumphantly.

Eria stopped her attack and dropped back down to Jamin’s field, however Jun’s Kaiser Glider was still there, if a bit wet.

“Hey, what gives?” Jamin asked “Why isn’t your monster dead?”

“Idiot,” Jun barked “Kaiser Glider can’t be destroyed when he battles a monster with the same attack points.”

Jamin’s eyes widened slightly. “So if it battles a weaker monster that monsters destroyed, if it battles a monster with equal strength it survives, and if it battles a stronger monster that monster gets sent back to the owner’s hand,” he muttered “That means there’s no way to attack that thing without any consequences.”

“Exactly,” Jun laughed “its win, win and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

 

Jamin gritted his teeth: “Fine then, I’ll end my turn.”

Jun smirked and drew a new card from his deck, placing it in his hand.

“Well, my Gliders are safe, however if he attacks my King Dragun he’s finished and then my dragon’s will be open to any effects he throws as me.

“I’ll summon this monsterin face down defense mode,” Jun said as a sideways card hologram appeared next to one of his Kaiser Gliders “Then lay this card face down, your move.”

Jamin looked up at Jun’s field then at the only card in his hand which was Book of Total Solar Eclipse.

“I could use this card to put his monsters into defense mode,” he thought “But none of his monsters will be affected, and on top of that Eria will switch to defense too. I guess the first step is to get rid of his King Dragun.”

Jamin looked up at Jun’s field and his eyes narrowed.

“Eria, attack King Dragun!” He ordered.

Jun’s smiled widened as Eria prepared her attack.

“You’ve fallen for my trap card,” Jun said “Shift!”

“Huh?”

Eria rotated her staff to the left, aiming it at Jun’s face down card instead.

“Eria, no!” Jamin cried.

However Eria didn’t listen to him and fired a column of water at the monster. It flipped up to reveal a black jar with a single eye and toothy grin in side it.

“A morphing jar,” Jamin muttered.

The jar chuckled before it was destroyed.

“And you know exactly what Mophing Jar does,” Jun said “We both discard our entire hand and draw five new cards.”

“Good thing I only have one card,” Jamin muttered.

He ditched his Book of Total Solar Eclipse and drew five new cards from his deck, Jun did the same with his own hand.

“Could have been worse I guess,” Jamin thought “But now that he knows I’m targeting his King Dragun he won’t be taking any chances.”

“I summon my Shield Warrior in defense mode,” Jamin said.

A tall thin man in dark armor and carrying a long spear and large black shield appeared on Jamin’s field, kneeling down and with the shield balanced in front of him.

“I end my turn,” Jamin said.

“Good,” Jun said, drawing a new card “Now to get rid of your monsters, King Dragun, attack his Shield Warrior!”

Jun’s monster fired a bolt of lightning at Jamin’s Shield Warrior, destroying it.

“Heh, that shield didn’t do him much good,” Jun chuckled “Now I activate Spirit Absorbtion!”

“What?”

“I play this card when one of my opponent’s monsters is destroyed in battle,” Jun explained “And I increase the ATK of one monster I control by the ATK of the destroyed monster.”

“What?” Jamin’s eyes widened with surprise as Jun’s Kaiser Glider’s attack points rose to 3200 “No way.”

“Kaiser Glider, finish off that little brat,” Jun ordered.

Jun’s monster flew into the air and charged a fireball in its mouth, firing it towards Eria.

“I hate to break it to you but I’ve got some bad news,” Jamin said “By removing my Shield Warrior from play, I can prevent my monster being destroyed in battle.”

“What?”

Jamin’s Shield Warrior trundled out of his graveyard seconds before the attack hit Eria. The fireball exploded and whirled around her, and Jamin felt 800 attack points worth of shock to his life points, however Eria remained where she was. Jun glared at Jamin for a moment.

“Fine, I’ll lay these two cards face down end my turn,” he said “Just don’t think one lucky break will win you this duel.”

“He has a point,” Jamin thought “I need to work out a way to get rid of his King Dragun, and then I’ll be able to destroy the rest of his monsters.

“Eria, attack his King Dragun,” Jamin ordered.

Jun’s smile broadened: “Face down, open,” he ordered “Negate attack!”

“Not good,” Jamun muttered.

A wall of ripples blocked the way between Jun’s field and Eria, and her attack merely bounced off, showing Jamin’s side of the field with droplets of water.

“Oops, sorry,” Eria muttered.

“It’s a hologram,” Jamin replied “Lighten up.”

“So, are you done?” Jun asked.

“Stop being so impatient,” Jamin snapped “I’ll lay this card down and end my turn.”

“Good,” Jun said, drawing a card and smirking “I play King Dragun’s effect, allowing me to special summon Kaiser Glider!”

“Another one?” Jamin gasped.

A third bronze dragon rose up with a roar on Jun’s field, accompanied by an almight cheer from the crowd.

“Three Kaiser Gliders and none of my card effects can touch them,” Jamin muttered “This is not good.”

“So, hows it feel facing down three mighty dragons?” Jun laughed.

“Nothing like this,” Jamin replied “And I get the feeling this scenario has been done somewhere before.”

“Whatever,” Jun replied “Either way you don’t stand a chance of destroying them.”

“I can still try!” Jamin retorted, drawing a new card from his deck “Eria, attack!”

Eria raised her staff and fired a torrent of water towards Jun’s King Dragun.

“Your Kaiser Glider’s might survive Eria’s attacks, but your King Dragun certainly can’t,” Jamin said “Now go!”

Jun chuckled again.

“Trap card, Sakuretsu armor!”

“What?”

A strong wind picked up, blowing past Jun’s King Dragun and splitting Eria’s attack in two, heading towards her.

“Now your monster is destroyed,” Jun laughed.

“Not quiet,” Jamin said “I play my trap card, trigger of Tragedy!”

“What?”

“I can play this card when one of my monsters is about to be destroyed by a card effect,” Jamin explained “And instead one of your monsters blows up, so your King Dragun bites it after all.”

A beam of light charged from Jamin’s trap and fired towards King Dragun, cutting through the wind and stopping it in its tracks. However Jun still smiled as his King was hit and exploded.

 

“Take that!” Jamin cried.

The smoke cleared and Jun’s King Dragun was still there.

“What?”

“In case you haven’t guessed, King Dragun is a dragon too,” Jun explained “And by his effect all dragon monsters are immune to your effects, including him.”

“No way,” Jamin cried “That’s gotta be against the rules.”

“Well I’m afraid it isn’t,” Jun chuckled.

“Fine then,” Jamin said “I’ll set this card face down and summon Familiar Possessed Aussa in attack mode.”

Jamin’s Earth sorceress appeared next to Eria.

“Hm,” Jun huffed and drew a card from his deck “Putting her in attack mode was a very bad idea, King Dragun attack!”

“Perfect,” Jamin muttered.

Jun’s monster fired another lightning bolt towards Aussa.

“I play my face down,” Jamin said “Roar of Pride.”

“What?”

“With this card, I increase Aussa attack to 300 times more than your King’s,” Jamin explained “Giving her 2700 attack points.”

Aussa raised her staff and the lightning bolt hit the end of it but didn’t break through.

“Tought break kid but I’ve got a card to play too,” Jun said “Rush Recklessely, giving my King Dragun 700 attack points.”

“Uh oh.”

Aussa’s staff began to crack before it finnaly broke and the lightning bolt soared straight through her and hit Jamin, giving him another shock as well as destroying Aussa.

“A-Aussa,” he panted, managing to keep his balance.

“Well, you’re holding out pretty well, I’ll give you that,” Jun said “But I guess with such low level monsters you can’t beat me.”

Jamin stared at him for a moment, memories of Horus, Nephthys and the Creator flashing through his mind as well as their fused form, Kamika.

“Is that it?” He thought “Were those guys the only reason I kept winning. Now that I think about it, every duel I won I used them. I’ve barely won any duels without using them, and now that I’ve lost them and I’m going up against someone with such great experience I guess I can’t win anymore.” He stared up at Jun’s field.

“Quit whining!”

“Huh?” Jamin glanced around, an unfamiliar voice filling his head “Who’s there?”

Jun blinked and stared at him: “Hey, who’re you talking to?” He asked “You haven’t gone crazy, have you?”

Jamin ignored him and carried on looking for the speaker.

“Okay, listen up,” the voice continued “You haven’t been winning just because of three cards in your deck; you’ve been winning because you’ve finally opened your mind to the spirits within them, and they weren’t the only ones you had connections with. Remember, a duelist like you who can hear his cards won’t lose if they listen carefully enough.”

“To be honest I already knew that,” Jamin replied “I guess I got a little caught up in the moment. By the way, who are you?”

 

“We’ll get to that later,” the voice said “Now hurry up and beat this guy.”

“Right,” Jamin nodded drawing a new card from his deck.

He glanced up at Jun and grinned: “Eria, attack his King Dragun!”

Eria raised her staff once more and fired another stream of water.

“This time for sure,” Jamin thought.

“I remove Shield Warrior in my graveyard from play,” Jun said.

“Huh?”

Eria’s attack hit Jun’s King Dragun; however he remained intact on the field.

“You can’t do that,” Jamin said “Sure you can have a Shield Warrior in your deck, but I don’t remember you sending him to the graveyard.”

“Don’t you?” Jun replied “Because I remember it quite clearly.”

Jamin stared at him for a moment and then realization suddenly showed on his face.

“No way,” he gasped “Your Morphing Jar?”

“Bingo,” Jun said “With that card I sent my Shield Warrior to the graveyard. I knew I’d eventually run out of traps to protect my King, so I took some extra precautions and sent a Shield Warrior to my graveyard, you didn’t think I used that Morphing Jar simply to stall did you?”

“Well, I guess you are a proffesional duelist,” Jamin muttered “Fine, I’ll set these two cards face down and end my turn.”

Two face down cards appeared beside Jamin’s Spiritual Elemental Art card.

“Wait, I forgot about that,” he thought “If I used it, are there any monsters in my deck that can help right about now?”

“Oh quit messing about!” The voice snapped.

“You again?”

“My draw,” Jun said.

“Huh?”

Jamin ignored the voice for now and turned his attention back to Jun.

“Jamin,” Jun began “Do you know how good duelists become great duelists?”

“Why are you asking that?” Jamin asked.

“Because I’m about to show you the difference between a good duelist and a great duelist,” Jun said “In other words, the difference between you and me.”

Jamin’s eyes narrowed.

“And that difference is, a good duelist can summon their best monsters with ease,” Jun began “And a great duelist can make them even more powerful. Go magic card, Polymerization!”

“What?”

 

Jun grinned as another swirling vortex opened in front of him and sucked in his three Kaiser Gliders.

“Behold,” Jun said “King Kaiser Dragon!”

A massive black and bronze dragon emerged from the vortex and crashed down onto Jun’s field, causing the ground to shake slightly.

“You fused three Light attribute monsters to make a Dark attribute?” Jamin said.

“What does the attribute matter?” Jun chuckled “Nothing, that’s what. What does matter is that my new monster can’t be destroyed in battle with any monster, and when it’s destroyed I get to destroy one card on your side of the field.”

“Talk about broken,” Jamin muttered.

“However, my King Dragun negates all effects targeting my dragon monsters,” Jun continued “In other words, my King Dragun is invinsible!”

Jamin glared at him.

“And with 3500 attack points, I guess that’s you beaten,” Jun chuckled “King Kaiser Dragon, attack!”

Jun’s massive dragon raised its head and opened wide, black and bronze flames licked about inside its throat before it let forth a massive stream of flame towards Eria.

“I play my trap card,” Jamin said “Last Will of the Fallen.”

“Huh?”

The card glowed and then Jamin’s fox fire flew out of it in front of the attack.

“This card let’s me special summon a monster from my graveyard with less attack than the monster on my field your monster is attacking,” Jamin said “And then the attack is redirected towards that monster instead.”

The flames hit Fox fire head on and a pain like no other shot through Jamin’s body. He yelled in pain and dropped down on one knee, panting.

“Heh, you just ended up taking more damage,” Jun scoffed “Fine, I guess you get to live an extra turn.”

“Well, here goes,” Jamin muttered, preparing to draw a card.

“Not that one moron!”

“Huh?” Jamin stared at his deck “Wait a minute, you’re a…”

He looked at the spell card still one his field and grinned.

“I activate the effect of my Spiritual Elemental Art,” he said “I select one monster on your field, and instead of drawing I get to add one monster from my deck to my hand with the same attribute.”

“Big deal,” Jun said.

“You know what,” Jamin said “You’re completely wrong; the attribute of a monster does matter, because now I can add a Dark monster to my hand.”

“That would be impressive,” Jun chuckled “But the charmers only cover four elements, that’s why you have no chance against me. All my monsters are Light and Dark!”

 

Jamin filed through his deck until he found what he was looking for.

“I knew it,” he chuckled, taking out a card.

“What took you so long?”

“Are you done?” Jun asked.

“I’ll set the monster I just drew in face down defense mode,” Jamin said “Now, Eria attack his King Dragun!”

“Huh?” Jun looked slightly surprised “Uh oh.”

Eria fired at Jun’s monster again, this time the attack his dead on and Jun’s monster was destroyed.

“Finally,” Jamin said “And now I play my face down, Desert Sunlight!”

“What?”

Jun covered his face with his arm as a brilliant light shone over the field and Eria knelt down with her arms crossed in front of her.

“Desert Sunlight turns all my monsters into face up defense mode,” Jamin explained “Meaning all my face down monsters, flip face up!”

Jun stared at Jamin field as his face down monster turned over; revealing a new spellcaster with baggy black shorts, short black hair and a Meda Bat as a familiar.

“A new charmer?” Jun’s eyes widened.

“Introducing, Darc the Dark Charmer!” Jamin declared.

“Nice to meet you,” Darc said, giving Jun a cheeky grin.

“And as you can guess, being a Dark charmer, Darc can now take control of your King Kaiser Dragon,” Jamin said.

“What?” Jun gazed up at his monster as it turned on him “No!”

“King Kaiser Dragon, attack Jun directly!” Jamin ordered.

The King Kaiser Dragon opened its mouth wide, revealing the fireball building up inside it.

“W-wait,” Jun stammered “You can’t attack me with my own monsters, I….I…”

Jun’s monster attacked, firing the great falming sphere towards Jun and striking him head on. His yells stunned the crowd into silence.

“Now I’m guessing you’re now done yet,” Jamin said as the flames cleared, revealing Jun still standing “So I play Quick Possesion, allowing me to sent Darc and King Kaiser Dragon to the graveyard to summon Familiar Possessed Darc!”

Jun’s monster vanished into black flames and surrouned Darc. A few seconds later Darc emerged, looking a lot older and powerful.

“And just to make sure I play Tag-Team Charmers,” Jamin said “And return Eria to my hand to special summon Familiar Possessed Hiita.”

“N-n-now wait a minute,” Jun said, laughing nervously as Jamin’s red haired charmer emerged onto the field “You’re not thinking of…Oh no.”

“Hiita, Darc. Attack!” Jamin ordered.

Both Jamin’s Charmers raised their staffs, firing a stream of dark magic and fire which merged together, becoming a pillar of black flames flying towards Jun. Jun’s eyes grew wider as the column approached and when it finally his he let out an almighty yell as the shock mimicking the damage went through his body. The crowd had gone silent, watching intently to see what would happen next.

 

The flames cleared and Jun was still standing, however he was panting heavily and smoke was rising off him.

“I…” He panted “I….Not yet….”

His voice trailed off and he toppled forwards, out cold. The crowd watched in silence, completely stunned. The holograms faded and Jamin lowered his duel disk

“Err…” The announcer seemed lost for words “And the winner is Jamin Tsubasa!”

A Luke warm cheer welcomed these words, whilst most of the rest of the audience was still in a state of disbelief over Jun’s defeat. Jamin meanwhile was walking to the arena exit with Darc’s card in his hand.

 

“Well,” Drem chuckled, watching the screen “That was impressive.”

 

“Figures,” Josh muttered, back in his own waiting room.

 

“Makes sense,” Mashi-Ushi said “After all, he’s already conquered the power of darkness, so he created his own charmer from it.”

He began laughing softly and picked up his own Felgrand Dragon from his deck.

“But he has yet to defeat the powers of light.”

 

“That was so awesome,” Hiita cried when Jamin was back in the waiting room “Did you see that black fire attack?”

The room was now empty except for Jamin and the now five charmer spirits sitting around here and there.

“Um…” Wynn began “If you’re a dark charmer, doesn’t that make you evil?”

“What? Haven’t we been through this?” Aussa said “Dark doesn’t automatically mean evil; it’s just that a lot of evil people prefer to use darker powers. It’s coincidence.”

“Hey Dark, is there a ‘Light’ as well?” Eria asked.

“It’s Darc,” Darc replied “With a ‘C’ and no, I don’t think so.”

“Aw,” Eria looked slightly crestfallen “That would mean there’d be one for each element. Jaming could you make a Light charmer next?”

“Hey, I didn’t make Darc,” Jamin said “I just…”

“We’ll get to that later,” Darc sighed “Basically once you defeated Diablo’s ultimate monster you absorbed some of his dark powers, and as your powers returned to you I was born along with them, got it?”

“I think so,” Jamin said.

“This means we’ve got more of a chance of beating that Mushy Squishy guy, right?” Eria said brightly.

“Hopefully,” Jamin replied “But he uses Light monsters, and there’s no Light charmer, so I guess I’m gonna have to try something else.”

He fished about in his pocket and pulled out one of his blank cards.

“So before the finals come, I’m gonna need to get these guys back.” He said.

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 38: If anybody ever wanted to know Kim's backstory, here is is...

 

[spoiler=episode]Jamin lay back on the grass outside the arena and breathed a sigh of relief. He’s just won his duel with Jun and passed into the final four in the final. All that was left now was for two more duels to decide the remaining two places, these being the matches for Kim, Drem, Diablo and Mashi-Ushi. He looked up at the screen as the final eight duellists were arranged on a table, Jun and Tenshiro’s pictures were slightly faded whilst Jamin’s and Josh’s had a rainbow outline. The pictures of Kim, Drem, Diablo and Mashi-Ushi were normal, since none of them had either advanced or been knocked out.

“Did you see that last duel?” Jamin overheard a group of people saying “I can’t believe Jun lost.”

“Hey, he’s like 50, remember? He can’t take much.”

“But still, he looked like he was toying with his opponent and just when he summons his strongest monster he gets beaten.”

“By the way, did you guys ever hear of a dark charmer?”

 

“Ignore them,” Darc said, appearing next to Jamin.

“Hey, it’s not them I’m worried about,” Jamin replied “It’s the next two duels.”

“How do your mean?” Darc asked.

“I mean, I’m not really worried about Kim,” Jamin said “A guy like Drem shouldn’t be a problem for her. But I doubt Diablo can beat Mashi-Ushi so easily.”

“Even if he can’t you still can,” Darc said “You have more powers than him any day.”

“That’s not it,” Jamin said “If Mashi-Ushi beats someone he takes all their powers, and let’s face it Diablo’s not exactly low on them.”

“You’re worried he might surpass you?” Darc raised an eyebrow.

“No, I’m worried he might kill Diablo and take his abilities,” Jamin replied “He’s my friend, and I don’t won’t him to lose his abilities, especially not to Mashi-Ushi.”

“Oh,” Darc replied “Well there’s not much I can do about that.”

“Some new power you are,” Jamin muttered.

 

“After a terrific second match it’s gonna be hard for the remaining duellists to impress the audience as much as their predecessors have!” The announcer said “Without further delay, the next duel will begin, Kim vs. Drem.”

Jamin sat up and glanced at the screen.

“I hope she’ll be okay,” he muttered “She should be fine so long as she doesn’t lose her head.”

 

Kim took a deep breath and stepped into the arena, glaring at Drem standing opposite her.

“This is it,” she thought to herself “This is where I beat this guy senseless and give him what he deserves.”

“I hope you’re ready,” Drem said “I’ve been waiting for this.”

“So have I,” Kim said “And now I get to finally shut you up.”

Drem chuckled: “We’ll have to see if you can live up to that,”

“Duellists, begin!” The announcer declared.

Both duellists slotted their decks into their duel disks and activate them, each drawing five cards from their deck.

“Let’s see how good you really are,” Drem said, drawing a card “My draw, I summon Ancient Gear Soldier in attack mode!”

A rusty iron robot with a long revolved gun for one arm rose up on Drem’s field.

“I’ll lay two cards face down and end my turn,” Drem said.

Kim looked closely at Drem’s field and drew a card of her own.

“I summon Cyber Harpie Lady!” Kim said.

A Harpie Lady with a grey steel costume appeared on Kim’s field in a whirlwind.

“And next I activate my Aero Nail,” Kim said, giving her 300 extra attack points.

A long silver blade attached to a cuff around Cyber Harpie’s wrist appeared.

“And now, since Cyber Harpie is treated as Harpie Lady,” Kim continued “I activate Elegant Egotist, allowing me to summon Harpie Lady Sisters!”

Another whirlwind appeared on Kim’s field and three Harpies appeared there, giggling.

“And now I activate Cyber Shield,” Kim said “Giving my Harpie Lady Sisters an extra 500 attack.”

Drem grinned slightly.

“Now I have a monster with 2100 attack, and a monster with 2450 attack,” Kim explained “Harpie Lady Sisters, attack!”

Kim’s three Harpies flew forwards, raising their talons to attack Drem’s Ancient Gear Soldier.

“I activate my trap card, Beginning of the End,” Drem said.

“Huh?”

Kim’s Harpie’s flew straight past the Ancient Gear Soldier and attack Drem instead. A charge of electricity shot through his body.

“Why did you do that?” Kim asked.

“Because now,” Drem panted “I can play my other trap, Damage Condenser.”

“Huh?”

A large machine with electricity brimming around it rose up on Drem’s field.

“With this card, I can send a card from my hand to the graveyard and summon a monster with equal or less attack points than the damage I just took,” Drem explained “Rise up, Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera!”

“Ancient Gear what?”

A huge mess of cogs, bolts and other parts spilled out of the machine and fell onto Drem’s field, forming into a extremely mismatched robot with three heads and a long tail with a snake’s head on the end of it.

“Gross,” Kim muttered.

“So, is that all?” Drem asked casually.

“No,” Kim retorted “Cyber Harpie, attack his Soldier.”

Kim’s monster flew forwards, raising her arm and bringing it down with enough force to crack open Drem’s Ancient Gear Soldier. It fell to pieces and vanished, giving Drem another shock from his duel disk. He staggered back a few feet but managed to retain his balance.

“Ah, I forgot she had another monster to attack with,” he muttered “That was careless of me.”

“If that’s all you’ve got then this duel will be easy,” Kim said.

“Heh,” Drem smiled “We’ll see.”

He drew a new card from his deck and examined it closely.

“Yes, this will do nicely,” he said.

“Huh?”

“I activate my field spell, Gear town,” Drem said.

“Huh?” Kim looked about her.

The crowd was suddenly obscured by several tall and rusty structures rising up around them, with cogs, gears and other parts showing here and there. By the way they were arranged it seemed as though she and Drem were dueling in the middle of the street of an old run down town, with a large factory ablaze with light and movement standing behind Drem.

“With this card, all my Ancient Gear monsters require one less sacrifice,” Drem explained “So now without sacrifice I can summon Ancient Gear Beast!”

A huge metal dog appeared on Drem’s field, and as usual it had gears and other machine parts showing beneath its armor.

“Well that’s very impressive and all,” Kim said “But in case you’ve forgotten, both my monsters have more than 2000 attack points. Face it; you’re not as big as you think you are.”

Drem’s smile widened.

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to do my best to survive then,” he said “Chimera, attack Cyber Harpie!”

Drem’s monster bounded forwards and bowled Kim’s monster over, destroying it. Kim hesitated for a moment and then doubled up as a brief pain shot through her body.

“That was nothing,” she said.

She placed her hand on her deck and drew her next card rather forcefully, almost causing the ones underneath to spill out.

“If you think this field spell is going to help you any longer you’ve got another thing coming,” Kim said “I activate my own field spell, Harpies Hunting Ground.”

“Huh?”

Drem’s city collapsed in a cloud of smoke and dust which cleared to reveal a flat plain of dirt and grass. Drem gazed around for a bit before a smile crossed his face.

“Well that would have been a good move,” he said “But I’m afraid you’ve activated the effect of my Gear Town, you see, when it’s destroyed I can special summon and Ancient Gear Monster from my deck.”

Drem took his deck out of his duel disk and shuffled through it, a grin crossing his face.

“Now then,” he said “Behold, the Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon!”

A huge rusty iron dragon rose out of the ground on Drem’s field and let out an almighty mechanical roar.

“You’re monster may get a 200 attack point boost from your field spell,” Drem explained “But my monster has 3000 attack points, a number you can’t even touch.”

“That’s why I’m not finished yet,” Kim said “I activate Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw two cards.”

She picked up the next two cards of her deck.

“Drawn something you need?” Drem asked.

“Shut up,” Kim snapped “I’ll lay one card face down and end my turn.”

“Very well,” Drem said, drawing a new card “My turn.”

He looked down at the card he’d just drawn and smiled.

“I’m getting close,” he muttered.

Kim glared at him.

“Ancient Gear Gadjitron Dragon, attack!” Drem ordered.

Drem’s monster let out an almighty mechanical roar and flew towards Kim’s monsters.

“Hard luck I have a trap card,” Kim said “Sakuretsu Armour!”

A terrific wind suddenly picked up, causing Drem’s dragon to shake violently until it fell apart completely.

“Ha, take that!” Kim said triumphantly “So much for your ultimate monster.”

Drem shrugged.

“I’ll just lay this card face down and end my turn then,” he said, inserting a card into his trap zone slot.

 

“This isn’t like Drem at all,” Jamin muttered “He’s falling right into Kim’s moves.”

“Maybe he’s not such a big shot after all,” Darc suggested.

Jamin shook his head.

“I don’t think so,” he replied “He’s up to something, I can tell.”

Darc raised an eyebrow.

“He’s a pro duellist, remember?” Jamin continued “I’m sure he’s got something up his sleeve.”

 

“My draw,” Kim said.

She drew a new card from her deck and froze momentarily; staring at the card she’d just drawn.

“Something up?” Drem called.

Kim carried on staring at the card she’d drawn, which was Harpie Queen.

“Mother?”

 

Kim minds drifted back to a cold winter about four years ago. A twelve year old Kim sat across a table opposite a tall and beautiful woman who looked exactly like Harpie Queen only she had dark red hair. Both of them had a deck of cards next to them and were holding a hand of cards each. Kim has 2100 life points left and her mother had 700. At the moment Kim only had one face down card and her mother had two monsters out and a face down card.

“My draw,” Kim said excitedly.

She drew a new card from her deck and her face brightened up, she’d drawn Harpie Girl.

“I summon Harpie Girl,” she said excitedly, placing the card on the field “And play my trap Icarus Attack, so both your monsters are destroyed.”

Kim’s mother gave a soft smile and removed her monsters from the field.

“I’ll place this card face down. Your turn,” Kim said brightly.

Her mother drew a card and smiled softly.

“I play the effect of Harpie Queen,” she said “By discarding her from my hand; I can add Harpie’s Hunting Ground to my hand.”

She sent the Harpie Queen to the graveyard and shuffled through her deck until she found the appropriate card.

“Now after I play it, I also activate Hysteric Party,” she continued “Allowing me to Special summon my Harpie Queen.”

“Lucky I have my trap card,” Kim thought.

“And thanks to the effect of Harpie’s Hunting ground I destroy your face down,”

“Huh?”

“Now I attack and you lose,”

“Again?” Kim moaned “No fair.”

Her mother smiled again and patted her on her head.

 

“I remember,” Kim muttered “My mother was the spirit of Harpie Queen; she got me into duel monsters in the first place.”

She looked down at her deck smiled warmly.

“I won’t forget,” she thought “That the reason why I duel was to make my mother proud.

“I summon Harpie Queen!” Kim declared.

The tall and elegant Harpie Queen rose up on Kim’s field, her long green hair flowing out behind her.

“Thanks to my Field Spell, she gains 200 attack points,” Kim explained “But since she’s a Winged Beast that means your face down card is destroyed.”

“Huh?” Drem looked genuinely shocked for the first time.

He looked down at his face down card shattered.

“Now then,” Kim said “Harpie Queen, Harpie Lady Sisters, attack!”

Both Kim’s monsters flew forwards and destroyed both of Drem’s monsters, giving him a shock from the life point damage.

“Damn,” he cursed.

“Mother,” Kim thought “I’ll make you proud, I promise.”

 

“Mother!” The thirteen year old Kim yelled, running through the empty streets at night “Where are you?”

It was the dead of night three years ago, dark clouds were above them and it looked like it was about to rain. Kim looked up briefly before running on, still calling out. She rounded a corner into the village square and froze, her eyes widening in fear. Standing in the middle of the square was a man with his face hidden in shadow and a raised duel disk, standing opposite Kim’s mother. Kim could see her mother had only one face down card whilst her opponent had Premature Burial activated keeping alive a Luster Dragon #2 and only 2100 life points left as well as another face down while her mother still had 4000.

“Your move,” the stranger said.

Kim’s mother glared at him and drew a card from her deck.

“Mother?” Kim muttered.

She took a few steps forwards and then noticed the white mist that was beginning to shroud the area, obscuring the surroundings from view.

“Come on,” the stranger said “Is that all? I was hoping to see your true form. It’s not every day I get to duel a spirit.”

“Is that so?” Kim mother said “Well in that case.”

She closed her eyes and green lights danced around her till her body transformed into the very image of Harpie Queen. Kim stood where she was frozen with fright.

“That’s better,”

“Now to end this,” Kim’s mother said “I send Harpie Queen from my hand to the graveyard to add Harpie’s Hunting Ground to my Hand!”

The stranger looked about casually as the scenery changed into a wide plain of grass and dirt; however he didn’t seem the least bit phased.

“Next I play my Hysteric Party, allowing me to resurrect my Harpie Queen!”

The trap card flipped up and glowed, allowing the Harpie Queen to rise out from the graveyard and hover down onto the field. Kim rubbed her eyes and blinked, seeing two Harpie Queen’s in front of her.

“Typical spirit,” the stranger chuckled “Always relying on their own strength.”

“You’ll see what my strength is when you’re Premature Burial is destroyed!” Harpie Queen said.

“Huh?”

The stranger looked down as his spell card shattered. His dragon let out a roar of pain and shattered too.

“This duel is over,” Harpie Queen said “Because now I attack!”

The Harpie Queen on the field flew forwards, brandishing her talons to strike at the stranger’s life points.

“Hard luck,” the stranger said “I play my Sakuretsu Armour trap.”

“What?”

“With this card, your monster is destroyed,” the stranger said.

A viscous wind picked up and blew the Harpie Queen away where she shattered in mid air. Kim wanted to cry out but she was frozen in place, too afraid to even move.

“Now I play Monster Reborn,” the stranger said “Allowing me to call back a monster from my graveyard.”

Harpie Queen glared up at him and her eyes widened in horror as a great golden dragon rose up on her opponent’s field. The stranger let out one last laugh before ordering his attack. The dragon unleashed its attack, firing a golden fireball at Harpie Queen and taking out all of her life points in one go.

“Now,” the stranger raised his hand “You’re mine.”

Kim’s mother dropped down on her knees, panting for breath. A green glow surrounded her body and she began to break up into little orbs of light that flowed into the stranger’s palm. Kim trembled where she was, trying to convince herself to move or at least yell.

“M-m-mother!” She cried.

Harpie Queen looked up, surprised and turned to face Kim who was still trembling with fear.

“Kim?”

Kim wanted to say something else, but she couldn’t, she could only watch as her mother vanished completely.

“Well, that’s that dealt with,” the stranger said calmly.

A few tears began to well up in Kim’s eyes and she turned to glare at the stranger.

“You…” she cried “You killed her!”

The man turned to look at her, as though surprised that she was there. Kim let out a yell of rage and charged at him, a display of green lights floating around her body and transforming herself into the form of Harpie Girl.

“What?”

She took a swipe at the stranger but the large dragon moved in her way and blasted her backwards. Kim slid across the floor for a few seconds before coming to a halt, still panting.

“I’ve got what I came for,” the stranger said, turning to leave.

Kim struggled to her feet again and glared at him. Through the light cast by the smouldering remains of the dragon’s fireball, she caught sight of the back of his head, a mane of untidy teal hair showed in the light before it died and the stranger vanished from sight. Kim remained where she was, staring at where the man had just been. A crack of thunder sounded overhead and a few drops of rain fell to the ground before turning into a complete downpour.

 

Kim snapped out of her flashback and focused back on the present.

“I’ll lay this card face down and end my turn,” Kim said.

Drem glared at her for a second before he drew a card of his own.

“Damn, now that she’s destroyed my face down, my original plan is bust,” he thought “Oh well, there’s always plan B.”

He looked down at the cards in his hand: “I hope this works.

“I play my Pot of Greed,” he said “Generic card playing aside, I draw two cards.”

Kim’s eye’s narrowed slightly.

“Now I play the spell card Ancient Gear Factory,” Drem continued.

“Huh?”

A large, rusty iron factory rose up behind Drem, shovelling bolts, cogs and other robotic parts onto a conveyor belt.

“With this card I can remove from play Ancient Gear monsters in my graveyard with a total level of 16 or more in order to summon my Ancient Gear Golem,” Drem explained “So I’ll remove Ancient Gear Soldier, Ancient Gear Beast and Ancient Gear Gadjitron Chimera, to summon Ancient Gear Golem!”

Kim gazed upwards as a massive shadow covered her field, cast by the massive Ancient Gear Golem that had just risen on Drem’s field.

“And in case you think your trap card is going to save you, then you should know that my Ancient Gear Golem negates spell and trap cards when he attacks,” Drem explained “Speaking of which, attack!”

Drem’s Ancient Gear Golem raised his fist, the massive gear in his chest spinning rapidly. He threw his giant mechanical attack forwards, hitting Kim’s Harpie Queen and destroying her, giving Kim another shock from her duel disk. She staggered back slightly and straightened up, glaring at Drem.

“I’ll finish up by laying this card face down,” Drem said “Your move.”

Kim glared at him and drew a new card from her deck.

“I’ve been waiting for this,” she said “Time to take down your Ancient Gear Golem. I activate the field spell, rising Air Current!”

“Huh?”

Drem looked about him as the grassy plain vanished and he found himself standing on a cloud in mid air.

“What?”

“With this, all my Wind monsters gain 500 attack,” Kim explained “Next I play my face down, Hysteric Party. Allowing me to resurrect my Harpie Queen.”

Kim’s monster rose up on her field out of the cloud, her attack points rising to 2400.

“Well that’s all well and good but she’s nowhere near strong enough to defeat my Golem,” Drem said.

“That’s because I’m not finished yet,” Kim said.

“Just wait, mother,” Kim thought “I’ll make you proud yet, I promise.”

She closed her eyes, thinking back to the last time she saw her mother and the stranger that had taken her. Then she opened them again, suddenly realizing something.

“Mashi-Ushi?”

She looked up at the screen displaying Mashi-Ushi’s image and her eyes widened.

“It was him,” she thought “He did it.”

Her eyes narrowed dangerously and she glared back at Drem.

“All the more reason to win this match,” she thought.

 

Back in his waiting room Mashi-Ushi was watching the screen in amusement.

“Like mother like daughter, eh?” He muttered “I think it’s time I took your powers too.”

 

“You’re finished,” Kim said “I sacrifice Harpie Queen and Harpie Lady Sisters to summon Simorgh, Bird of Divinity!”

Both Kim’s monsters vanished in a whirlwind which grew and vanished to reveal the giant green bird that was Simorgh, Bird of Divinity. Drem gazed up at it.

“Since he’s a wind monster he gains 500 attack thanks to my field spell,” Kim said “Putting him well above your Golem.”

Kim’s monster screeched and glowed green, its attack points rising beyond that of the Ancient Gear Golem.

“3200 attack points, huh?” Drem muttered “Well, looks like you are a pretty good duelist after all.”

“I don’t need your praise, thank you very much,” Kim said, glaring at him.

Drem’s smile widened slightly.

“Simorgh, Bird of Divinity,” Kim said “Attack Ancient Gear Golem!”

Kim’s bird took off, causing a tremendous gust of wind as it did so, and flew towards Drem’s monster, letting out an ear splitting screech.

“You’re through,” Kim said.

“I don’t think so,” Drem said.

“Huh?”

“I play my face down card,” Drem said “Limiter Removal.”

Kim froze with shock.

“No way,”

Drem’s Ancient Gear Golem glowed and his attack points rose to 6000. He drew his arm back and threw a punch at Kim’s monster.

“And that’s you beaten,” Drem said.

The Ancient Gear Golem’s fist struck Kim’s monster, throwing it backwards and destroying it. Kim gazed up in horror before screaming in pain as her duel disk activated and delivered a massive shock throughout her body. Drem bowed his head and closed his eyes, not wishing to watch.

 

Jamin stared at the screen in horror as he watched what was happening.

“No way,” he gasped “Kim lost?”

Darc looked from his to the screen and shrugged.

 

“And the winner is Drem Armou!” The announcer said “Yet another win for this ever popular Duelist, it seemed he is the only veteran duelist left in the tournament, and boy is he living up to his reputation.”

A massive cheer sounded as Drem walked off the arena, not even bothering to wave at the crowd.

 

Mashi-Ushi chuckled and turned his attention away from the screen, seeing Diablo glaring at him from the other end of the room.

“Problem?” He asked casually.

“Yeah,” Diablo said “It’s our match next. And mark my words you won’t even get a chance to duel Jamin, let alone Josh. Jamin’s mind and I’m not going to let some punk like you get in my way.”

“Still declaring your rivalry against him are you?” Mashi-Ushi asked “Believe me, you’re not even in Jamin’s league, even if you beat me there’s no way you can defeat him.”

“Maybe not,” Diablo said “But I’m still not going to let you near him.”

“Try me,” Mashi-Ushi said darkly.

Both of them stared daggers at each other before looked away and standing about, waiting for the announcer to begin their duel.

 

Back in the medical wing Kim was just waking up, still dreary from her duel with Drem.

“Huh?” She blinked and looked around, noticing Jamin sitting next to her.

“Morning,” he said “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Kim replied “What happened?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Jamin asked “You lost.”

“Oh.”

“You might have broken it to her gently,” Eris said.

Jamin looked behind him at Eris in the bed next to Kim’s.

“Says the girl who tore her shoulder open,” Jamin said.

“Hey, I thought we got over that whole thing,” Eris complained.

“Well never mind,” Jamin said, standing up “I’m glad you’re okay Kim.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, thanks,” Kim replied, blushing.

Jamin gave her a brief smile before leaving the ward to wait for the next match. Kim sat up, staring ahead of her in an almost hypnotic state.

“What’s wrong?” Eris asked.

“Mashi-Ushi,” Kim replied.

“Huh? You mean that green haired guy?” Eris asked “What about him.”

“It was him,” Kim said “He killed my mother.”

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 39: Diablo's final duel

 

[spoiler=episode]“Why, why did this all happen?” Jamin thought, lying on the sofa in the now empty waiting room “It all began so long ago, in the middle of September. Me, Kim and Josh had just begun our last year at middle school, then I had that crazy dream…”

 

“Tell me Jamin, have you ever heard of a shadow duel?”

“No, I can’t say that I have, and how do you know who I am, who are you?”

“I am Diablo, duellist of the dark world.”

“Never heard of it,”

“You soon will, when you will spend the rest of your pathetic mortal life in the shadow realm.”

 

“…Diablo, acting under orders from Zorc,” Jamin muttered “But why me? What’s so special about me?”

 

“You were once a great Egyptian sorcerer,”

 

“Argh, enough!” Jamin yelled, sitting up “I’m nothing special, I’m just a kid that’s kinda good at dueling, why do I have to do this?”

“Losing faith?”

Jamin stopped yelling and looked around, finding himself in the long dark corridor of his mind.

“Jarada,” he muttered, staring at his past self.

“We do not choose our destinies,” Jarada said “We merely follow them out. I completed mine by creating the charmers and reviving the gods you now possess, you’ve even proven our connection by creating your own charmer.”

“I’m not here for the lecture,” Jamin said, standing up “But what I want to know is why this happened, didn’t the Pharaoh destroy Zorc and the shadow games forever?”

“Zorc cannot be destroyed completely,” Jarada explained “He can merely be locked away for the time being, that is why you were born.”

“This has nothing to do with me,” Jamin replied “Why do I have to do this?”

“Because the dark power that released Zorc came from me,” Jarada explained “And I’m you.”

“What?”

“Years ago, when I was a sorcerer in Egypt I let myself give in to my greed and tried to create a creature even stronger than the gods,” Jarada said “That creature consumed me and almost destroyed me, and as a result Zorc’s cage was opened once again. Luckily though I was able to seal him off for a limited time by sealing that creature away and entrusting it to a duelist who could control it, unfortunately that duelist fell and the door opened once again.”

“Duelist, you don’t mean…” Jamin looked horror struck.

“I do,” Jarada nodded “That duelist was your mother.”

Jamin just stared at him, unsure of what to say, his mouth opened and closed a few times but no words came out.

“When I saw my mother dueling, she summoned a giant black dragon;” Jamin continued “Was that…?”

“It was,” Jarada said “I’m afraid I made it too powerful, it fed off the energy of other duelists and spirits, forcing them to awaken the darkness in themselves, your mother resisted and as a result it killed her.”

“No way,” Jamin muttered “But, Zorc’s beaten, Josh took care of him, I’ve got nothing left to do now.”

“Beaten?” Jarada looked confused “Zorc can only be beaten by you.”

“Then, what did Josh do?” Jamin asked.

“Impossible,” Jarada muttered “So Zorc lost on purpose, in order to get into Josh’s heart and control him.”

“What?”

“Then the situation is worse than I thought,” Jarada said “And Zorc is even more powerful than I imagined. You must waste no time in destroying him.”

“Wait!” Jamin called “What are you saying?”

But Jarada vanished and Jamin found himself back in the waiting room.

“It’s not true,” he muttered “Josh can’t be Zorc, he just can’t.”

 

“This is it Ladies and Gentlemen!” The announcer called “We are ready for the final duel of the group finals. Only one of these two can advance to the finals where they will face our other finalists, who will it be? Diablo or Mashi-Ushi?”

Diablo finished preparing his deck and slotted it into his duel disk rather forcefully.

“Good luck,” Mashi-Ushi said “This will be your final duel.”

“As if,” Diablo glared back at him.

Mashi-Ushi grinned and walked past Diablo towards the arena.

“This is it,” Diablo said “I was given these cards by Zorc, but soon I’ll use them to destroy him.”

He clenched his hand into a fist and his old smile crossed his face.

“It’s time to play.”

He followed Mashi-Ushi into the arena and was welcomed by a massive cheer from the crowd. Back in the medical wing Eris was watching on a small mini-TV she had on her lap.

“Diablo’s fighting Mash-Ushi,” she said “He’s the guy that killed your mother, right?”

“Yeah,” Kim nodded.

Jamin stared up at the screen displaying the duel that was about to happen.

“Diablo,” he muttered “Good luck.”

 

“Duelists,” The announcer began “Begin.”

“Okay,”

Diablo and Mashi-Ushi both activated their duel disks and drew the first five cards from their deck. The crowd watched in silence to see what would happen.

“I dunno about you,” Mashi-Ushi said “But I hate people staring over my shoulder when I’m dueling.”

“Huh?”

Diablo glared at Mashi-Ushi as the same white mist spread out from behind him, forming a dome around them and obscuring the crowd from view.

“That’s getting a bit old,” Diablo said.

 

The screen on Eris’ TV suddenly cut out and nothing but static came through.

“Oh no, I’ve lost it!” she cried.

“He’s doing that mist thing again,” Kim said.

“What?”

Kim jumped out of the bed and ran towards the exit.

“Hey!” Eris called “Wait for me!”

 

“Mashi-Ushi,” Jamin clenched his fists “Why you…”

 

“I suppose you know the rules of this game,” Mashi-Ushi said “We both duel till one of us is out of energy.”

“So it’s not much different,” Diablo replied.

“True,” Mashi-Ushi said “But we can willingly give up our spirit energy in order to make our monsters more powerful, that and the loser of this game dies.”

Diablo glared at him, and then a smile crossed his face: “In that case, I’ll just have to kill you!”

Mashi-Ushi returned the smile with equal malice: “You can try,”

He placed his hand on his deck and drew a new card.

“I summon UFO turtle in defense mode,” Mashi-Ushi said.

A large green turtle with a UFO instead of a shell appeared on Mashi-Ushi’s field.

“Next I play Trade In,” Mashi-Ushi said “So I discard Tyrant Dragon from my hand and draw two cards. Next I’ll lay these two face down and end my turn.”

Diablo stared down at Mashi-Ushi’s field.

“I can’t afford to mess up here,” he thought “If I lose this duel I’m toast, I can’t take any chances.

“My draw!” He said, taking a card from his deck. “Perfect. I activate my Dark World Lightning, so by sending Gren, Tactician of Dark World from my hand to the graveyard, I can destroy one of your face downs.”

Mashi-Ushi glanced down as a bolt of lightning crashed down and destroyed one of his trap cards.

“And I’m not done yet,” Diablo said “Because when Gren is sent from my hand to the graveyard, I can destroy one of your spell or trap cards.”

Mashi-Ushi looked genuinely surprised as his second face down shattered into pieces and vanished.

“Impressive,” he thought “I may have underestimated this one. Looks like I can finally get a good amount of spirit energy in order to defeat Jamin.”

“Now I summon Zure, Knight of Dark World,” Diablo said.

Diablo’s skeletal white knight appeared on his field, grinning broadly.

“Zure,” Diablo ordered “Attack his UFO Turtle!”

Zure raised his sword and brought it down, firing a shot of lightning at Mashi-Ushi’s turtle and destroying it. Diablo grinned broadly.

“Too bad, but you’ve activated his effect,” Mashi-Ushi said “When my UFO Turtle is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, I can special summon a fire attribute monster with less than 1500 attack points. So now I call upon the Darkblaze Dragon!”

A long black armored dragon rose up on Mashi-Ushi’s field, letting out a massive roar.

“A level eight monster with only 1200 attack points?” Diablo muttered.

“So, are you done?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

Diablo glared at him.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Mashi-Ushi replied, drawing a card “In that case I play Premature Burial, by using this card I can special summon a monster from my graveyard so long as I pay the appropriate number of points, however,” he chuckled softly “In this duel, I can give up as much energy as I want in order to make my monster stronger.”

A white flame suddenly surrounded Mashi-Ushi, flowing out of him and forming into the fearsome Tyrant Dragon.

“When Tyrant Dragon is special summoned from the graveyard I’m forced to destroy one Dragon monster I control,” Mashi-Ushi explained “So my Darkblaze Dragon is finished.”

Diablo’s eyes narrowed as Mashi-Ushi’s Darkblaze Dragon was consumed in a ball of flame and vanished.

“Now, Tyrant Dragon,” Mashi-Ushi cried “Destroy his knight!”

The Tyrant Dragon rose up, charging a great red fireball in its mouth and firing it at Diablo’s monster. The fireball hit and tore right through Zure, carrying on towards Diablo and almost consuming him too, he yelled as the flames licked around his body before vanishing.

“Well, it seems you have enough energy to survive even that,” Mashi-Ushi said “No wonder you’ve managed to duel card for card against Jamin, however you still lost every time.”

“Like hell,” Diablo panted.

“Suit yourself,” Mashi-Ushi shrugged.

 

Kim and Eris charged down the corridor to the stands and burst through the double doors to the balcony overlooking the arena. They leaned over and saw the great dome of mist in the middle of the arena, obscuring Diablo and Mashi-Ushi from view.

“This is bad,” Eris said “If Diablo loses he’ll die.”

“He can’t,” Kim said “He just can’t, he…” She broke off and swallowed.

“Kim?” Eris stared at her “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Kim replied, her voice shaking slightly “I just.”

Jamin burst through the doors at the other end of the arena, emerging onto the ramp that led up to where the two duelists were currently locked in a battle to the death.

“I’m too late,” he gasped “There’s nothing I can do. Diablo, I’m sorry.”

He looked up and saw Eris and Kim staring back at him, both wide eyed and almost pleading. Jamin tore his gaze away and looked back at the dome.

“Please Diablo,” he thought “Don’t die.”

 

“I play Dark World Dealings,” Diablo said, showing the card to Mashi-Ushi “By this card’s effect, we both draw one card and send another to the graveyard.”

“Fine by me,” Mashi-Ushi said.

He picked up a card from his deck and looked at it, it was Felgrand Dragon. A smile crossed Mashi-Ushi’s face and he sent it to his graveyard. Diablo did the same.

“The card I send was Sillva, Warlord of Dark World,” Diablo explained “And when he’s sent to the graveyard I can special summon him, and I’m taking you up on the offer of making him more powerful.”

Mashi-Ushi grinned as a black flame surrounded Diablo and flowed into his monster, raising his power.

“Sillva, attack!” Diablo ordered.

Diablo’s monster charged forwards, raising his axe and bringing it down on Mashi-Ushi’s tyrant dragon.

“Now, let’s see who’s got more energy to give,” Mashi-Ushi laughed.

The two monster remained froze for a few moments, neither moving. Then a crack began to spread along Sillva’s axe. The axe head shattered and with a final roar Sillva himself exploded. Mashi-Ushi laughed like crazy.

“Ha, you can’t even succeed in destroying one monster,” he laughed “Pathetic, how do you expect to beat me like this?”

A grin spread across Diablo’s face.

“What are you smiling about?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“Because,” Diablo said “Just take a look at your Tyrant Dragon now.”

Mashi-Ushi looked up and his eyes widened in surprise. A crack was spreading down his Tyrant Dragon from the point where Sillva’s axe had struck. It spread all throughout his monster till it gave a final roar and exploded.

“What?” Mashi-Ushi glared at Diablo.

“I deliberately made their strength equal so that they would destroy each other,” Diablo explained “This way, I can destroy your monster and get a direct attack on your life points.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Mashi-Ushi snapped “You don’t have any more monsters on the field.”

“Don’t I?” Diablo grinned “Then I’ll just have to activate my Gateway to Dark World.”

“What?”

A black vortex opened behind Diablo and Sillva stepped out of it, good as new.

“Now where was I?” Diablo asked “Ah yes, Sillva, attack his life points directly!”

Sillva dragged his axe along the ground, throwing a flame of silver energy towards Mashi-Ushi. It struck straight through him, taking out more of his energy. He collapsed down on one knee, panting heavily.

“You’re not like the others,” he panted “You can fight back. Excellent,” a grin spread across his face and he got back to his feet, laughing “Then when I beat you I’ll become even stronger, and then not even Jamin will be able to stop me. And once I absorb his life force and then that of Josh and the Dark Magician, I’ll be invincible! You’re about to make me invincible!”

Diablo glared at him for a moment.

“You’re mad,” he said “There no way I’m going to lose to you.”

“Isn’t there?” Mashi-Ushi asked, still chuckling “We’ll see. My draw.”

He took a new card from his deck, still grinning maliciously. He looked at the new card he’d drawn and placed it on the field.

“I’ll set this monster in defense mode,” he said as a holographic card appeared on his field “Then I’ll lay this card face down, your move.”

Diablo glared at him for a moment and drew a new card from his deck.

“This is it,” he thought “I can end this duel in this turn.

“I activate my Dark World Corridor,” Diablo said “With this card, I add Reign-Beaux, Overlord of Dark World from my deck to my hand, and then discard Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, allowing me to special summon him.”

Mashi-Ushi’s eyes narrowed but his smile widened as Diablo golden clad warrior emerged on his field.

“Now then,” he said “Goldd, attack his face down monster!”

Diablo’s monster charged forwards and brought his mighty axe down on Mashi-Ushi’s monster, it flipped up to reveal a small imp like creature which then shattered.

“You’ve done it now,” Mashi-Ushi said “My face down monster was Spear Cretin, and when he’s flipped up and destroyed we can both special summon a monster from our graveyards.”

“I that case, I choose Zure knight of Dark World,” Diablo said as his white knight reemerged onto the field.

“And as for me,” Mashi-Ushi said “I choose Felgrand Dragon!”

 

A giant roar sounded and Mashi-Ushi great golden dragon rose up on his field in a display of lights.

“Now I can take one monster from my graveyard and use its power to make my Felgrand Dragon even stronger,” Diablo explained “Watch.”

He took his Tyrant Dragon out of his graveyard and put it in the spell card slot behind his Felgrand Dragon. Mashi-Ushi’s monster let out and almighty roar and glowed white, becoming even stronger than before.

“You know, to be honest I was kind of hoping you would do that,” Diablo said.

“What?”

“It was plainly obvious that you were bluffing to make me think I had you on the run,” Diablo said “But I’m not a fool, either your face down monster or your trap card would have resurrected your Felgrand Dragon somehow, so I’ve planned ahead. I activate the quick play spell card, Super Polymerization!”

“What?”

Mashi-Ushi looked up in horror as his Felgrand Dragon was sucked into the vortex opening behind Diablo.

“I fuse Felgrand Dragon and Reign-Beaux,” Diablo explained, throwing his own card into the vortex “In order to summon Colorless, Chaos King of Dark World, and since his attack points are determined by the fusion material monsters strength, I’m guessing he’s got more than enough energy to finish you off.”

“That’s what you think,” Mashi-Ushi said softly.

“What?”

“I’m not fool,” Mashi-Ushi explained “I know each and every one of your monsters is a dark attribute so I’ve planned ahead, and placed my Shadow Imprisoning Mirror on the field!”

“What?”

Mashi-Ushi’s trap card flipped up and an Egyptian mirror appeared out of it. Black mist began rising off each of Diablo monsters and was sucked into the mirror. Diablo gazed down at the cards on the field as the color of the cards changed from brown to yellow.

“By the effect of Shadow Imprisoning Mirror, all Dark attribute monster effects are negated,” Mashi-Ushi explained “Meaning your Chaos King has a grand total of 0 attack points.”

Diablo’s eyes widened in horror as his monster rose up on his field, sagging under his own weight.

“Impossible,” Diablo gasped.

“So, as you can see I’ve rendered your ultimate monster completely powerless,” Mashi-Ushi said “Hard luck.”

Diablo turned around and glared at him angrily.

“I can still attack you!” He yelled “Sillva, Zure, destroy him!”

Diablo’s monster launched their separate attacks, each one hitting Mashi-Ushi and blasting him backwards. He slid across the floor for a few feet, still laughing like crazy.

“It’s useless,” he laughed “Maybe if your Chaos King was at full strength you might have beaten me, but not this time. Because now I’m going to destroy you!”

Diablo shook with rage, glaring at Mashi-Ushi. His fist was clenched so hard that blood was starting to drip down his arm.

“You…Are going…To pay,” he spat “Even if you defeat me, you won’t defeat Jamin, believe me I’ve tried everything and I still can’t beat him.”

A pillar of black flame suddenly erupted from Diablo and his eyes were hidden by a violet glow. Mashi-Ushi’s smile faded as the sheer force of Diablo’s energy washed over him.

“Amazing,” he muttered “With this energy, I’ll be able to completely eradicate Jamin, and all I need is one more move.”

He stared down at his deck, his smile broadening.

“I won’t fail to defeat him,” he thought.

“Mashi-Ushi,” Diablo said his voice echoing slightly.

Mashi-Ushi looked up, his eyes widening.

“Beware of seeking too much power,” Diablo said “Before long you will lose control of it and it will consume you and turn you into its plaything.”

Mashi-Ushi stared up as the faded image of a great gray dragon rose up behind Diablo.

“What’s this?” His eyes widened.

Diablo raised his hand and a volley of black flames flew towards Mashi-Ushi. Taken by surprise Mashi-Ushi covered his face with his arm and swatted the attack aside, at the same time drawing a new card from his deck.

 

“Consume me?” He laughed “I don’t think so…”

The flames around Diablo died and the dragon faded from view.

“Yeah,” Diablo muttered “I thought the same thing.”

“It’s my turn,” Mashi-Ushi declared, placing a spell card in his spell zone slot “And I activate Dragon’s mirror. By removing from play Tyrant Dragon, Darkblaze Dragon and Felgrand Dragon in my graveyard, I can summon a Dragon type fusion monster.”

Diablo’s eyes widened as a new creature exploded onto Mashi-Ushi’s field with an almighty roar. It was larger than any dragon Diablo had ever seen, covered in gold and black armour and with six massive wings and glowing red eyes.

“Behold,” Mashi-Ushi said “The ultimate dragon lord, Ryuka.”

“Ryuka,” Diablo repeated.

Mashi-Ushi chuckled softly.

“Now you may still have monster on your field but one’s good as dead, meaning an attack on him will mean you take full damage,” Mashi-Ushi explained.

Diablo looked up at his Chaos King, realization slowly crossing his face: “No way,”

“It’s time for you to take leave of this world,” Mashi-Ushi said.

 

“No!” Eris screamed, staring at the dome in horror “I can feel it, such an awesome power.”

“Diablo,” Kim muttered.

Jamin clenched one hand into a fist and slammed it into the wall next to him.

“No, no, no, no!” He yelled punching the wall again and again till his hand started bleeding “This is not happening this can’t be happening.”

 

“Tell me Jamin, have you ever heard of a Shadow duel?”

 

Diablo’s voice flashed through Jamin’s mind as well as his other memories of him. His first duel, the time Diablo defeated him, the time he first revealed himself as Zorc’s minion, the last time they’d dueled for the millennium items, and the time Diablo saved his life.

“It can’t end like this,” Jamin said, a tear falling down his cheek “It just can’t!”

 

“Say, Diablo,” Jamin said in a conversation with Diablo before the tournament began “Are you really okay with this?”

“Of course,” Diablo said “I don’t care what’s waiting for me; my life can’t really get any worse.”

“Diablo?”

“It’s nothing,” Diablo replied “All my problems are over now, thanks to you. The least I can do to repay you is help you get Josh back to normal.”

“So we’re friends now?” Jamin asked.

Diablo thought about it for a moment and a grin spread across his face, not like his usual evil grin either but a softer, kinder grin.

“Friends, yeah I guess we are,”

“Good,” Jamin said, extending his hand “Then let’s do this together.”

Diablo stared at Jamin for a moment before clasping Jamin’s hand tightly in his own.

“Yeah,” he said “Together.”

 

Eris had sunk to her knees and was shaking violently, Kim was still on her feet but she looked petrified.

“Can you feel that?” Eris asked.

“Yeah,” Kim replied, disbelief suspended in her voice.

“I can’t stand this,” Eris continued “Just waiting here like this, and there’s nothing we can do, we can’t even get in there.”

A memory suddenly flashed through Kim’s mind.

“But I can,” she said.

“Huh?”

Kim swallowed and took a step back, a display of green lights dancing around her and transforming her into Harpie Girl. Eris stared in amazement as Kim took off, soaring over the crowd and plunging through the mist.

“I won’t let you die,” Kim thought.

 

Diablo stared up at the giant dragon looming over him and his monsters like a hungry beast

“How does it feel to be on the brink of death?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“Just end it,” Diablo said “I’ve had enough of your talk.”

“No!”

“Huh?”

Both Diablo and Mashi-Ushi looked up as Harpie Girl descended and landed in front of Diablo, spreading her wings out in front of him.

“Kim?” Diablo gazed at her.

“I won’t let you kill him,” Kim said, tears flowing from her eyes “I’ve had enough of you and killing people close to me, I won’t let you do it.”

Mashi-Ushi stared at her for a moment and then grinned.

“In that case I’ll just have to kill you too,” he said.

Kim’s eyes widened in horror.

“Kim, get out of the way!” Diablo yelled.

“But…”

“No buts,” Diablo barked “There’s no sense in you dying because of me, I couldn’t live with that, even if I was dead.”

“But Diablo,” Kim said.

“Enough,” Diablo said “Jamin will need your support later, so if you die now how are you going to give it to him?”

Kim’s eyes widened slowly.

“But you’re my friend too,” she said “I don’t want you to give up that easily.”

Diablo paused, and a friendly smile crossed his face.

“I’m not giving up,” he said softly “I’ve done my part, now you do yours. Goodbye, Kim.”

“Diablo,” Kim stared at him.

She hesitated and then glided upwards out of the way. Diablo watched her go and then returned his attention to Mashi-Ushi.

“Well?” He asked “Are you going to do it or not?”

 

Mashi-Ushi stared at him for a moment.

“I’m going to enjoy taking your energy,” he said, then he looked up at Kim “And you’re next.”

Kim glared back at him.

“Ryuka,” Mashi-Ushi began, turning back to Diablo “Destroy him.”

Kim covered her face with her talons, not even daring to watch. Ryuka charged a massive fireball in his mouth and fired it towards Diablo, tearing through his Chaos King and consuming him.

 

Jamin gave the wall one final punch and it cracked. He looked up and saw the glow of Ryuka’s fireball through the mist and his eyes widened in horror.

“No way,” he gasped “Diablo!”

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 40: Home stretch

 

[spoiler=episode]“Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!” Jamin yelled, punching the wall.

The first few rounds were over and the finalists had about four months to wait for the finals to begin, in that time they were allowed to make whatever alterations to their deck they deemed necessary. Jamin was back in his room and was punching the wall again and had made a pretty sizeable hole.

“Jamin,” Wynn appeared behind him.

“Damn it all!” He yelled, punching right through into the space between the inner wall and the outer wall, he drew his bruised and bleeding hand out again, panting heavily.

“Jamin, I’m sure there was nothing you could do,” Wynn said “I…”

“I don’t care,” Jamin replied “I still should have tried to save him.”

“Jamin,” Wynn muttered before vanishing.

Jamin sighed and sat back down on his bed, still shaking.

“First Josh, now Diablo,” he muttered “When is this going to end?”

 

“We’ve got to stop him,” Eris said “We can’t let him kill anybody else.”

Eris and Kim were in the park, both having been let out of hospital and both were now plotting revenge for Diablo’s defeat.

“True, but we don’t even know where to find Mashi-Ushi,” Kim said “We don’t even know where he lives.”

Eris pondered this for a moment and then her face brightened up.

“Hey, you can fly, why don’t you search for him?” She suggested.

“Hey, I’m not an Ariel satellite you know,” Kim replied “I can’t just transform into a half naked Harpie every now and again just to look for someone, it isn’t half cold you know.”

“Okay, point taken,” Eris sighed “Well what do we do then?”

Kim thought about it for a minute and then flopped back onto the grass, sighing heavily.

“I have absolutely no idea,” she moaned “Who’d have thought it would be hard to find one murderer.”

“You’d think they’d arrest him after all his opponent’s died,” Eris muttered.

“I think they put it down to faulty duel disks,” Kim explained “People have such a bad case of denial.”

“Considering people like you and me exist,” Eris replied “I guess you’re right.”

 

Jamin stopped his mad assault of the wall and sat back down on his bed, sighing heavily.

“I can’t get at Mashi-Ushi for the moment,” he sighed “I still need to finish school and stuff, that’ll probably be why there’s such a long break between.”

He sighed and lay down, staring up at the ceiling. His gaze moved sideways and focused on the deck lying next to his duel disk on a desk next to his bed, the set of blank cards sitting next to it.

“I hope I can revive you guys soon,” he muttered.

“Jamin,” Darc appeared at his side.

“Not now,” Jamin sighed “I’m not in the mood.”

“No, this is important,” Darc said “I can feel it, something’s afoot.”

Jamin sat up and stared at her, confused.

“Of all the times,” he cursed, jumping off the bed.

He picked up his deck and duel disk, charging out of the room and down the stairs.

“What’s got you all worked up?” His dad said.

“Sorry, can’t talk,” Jamin said, opening the door to the garage “Later.”

His dad stared at the door as Jamin closed it behind him and sighed.

“I swear, he’s too much like his mother,” he sighed, gazing at a picture of her on the table in front of him “He’ll end up going the same way.”

“You can’t be sure of that,” a strong male voice said; however there was nobody else in the room.

“I’ve told you before,” Jamin’s dad said “I’m done with that.”

“Whatever you say, Keiche,”

 

Kim and Eris were beginning to get up to leave when both of them looked round and saw Mashi-Ushi leaning against a tree.

“Looking for me?” He asked.

“You!” They both said in unison, raising their duel disks.

Mashi-Ushi grinned and moved closer, raising his own. Eris and Kim glared at him.

“I’m still a little short of energy to beat Jamin,” Mashi-Ushi explained “So I figured sucking you two dry would help a great deal.”

“In your dreams,” Kim said “I bet you can’t beat both of us.”

“Well, let’s test that theory, shall we?” Mashi-Ushi said “Let’s duel.”

All three activated their duel disks, Kim and Eris’ life points set to 4000 while Mashi-Ushi’s rose to 8000.

“Since it’s two against one it’s only fair that I get double the life points,” Mashi-Ushi said “After all, you’ve got all the advantages here.”

“Stop talking and let’s duel,” Eris said.

“As you wish,” Mashi-Ushi said, drawing a card “I summon Flame Ruler in attack mode, and lay these two cards face down.”

“My draw,” Eris said, drawing a card from her deck “I summon Sho, Angel of Chaos.”

A boy with a white shirt, pale skin, black trouser, black hair, one black wing, one white wing, one black eye and one white eye appeared on Eris’ field.

“Then I’ll lay this card face down,” Eris said “Your move, Kim.”

Kim nodded and drew a card from her deck.

“I summon Harpie Lady 1,” she said.

One of Kim’s bird women appeared on her field.

“And thanks to her effect, all wind monsters gain 300 attack points,” Kim explained.

Kim’s monster glowed green and her attack points rose to 1600.

“Impressive,” Mashi-Ushi said “Both your monsters are stronger than mine, but since this is a triangle duel neither of you are allowed to attack.”

Kim and Eris both glared at Mashi-Ushi.

“Which means you’ve walked right into my trap,” Mashi-Ushi said, drawing a card from his deck “My Flame Ruler counts as two tributes for a fire attribute monster and I’ve got the perfect one right here, Tyrant Dragon.”

Mashi-Ushi’s Flame Ruler vanished in a fireball to be replaced by the massive Tyrant Dragon, leering over Kim and Eris’ field.

“Already,” Kim gasped.

Mashi-Ushi chuckled softly.

“Tyrant Dragon, attack her Angel of Chaos!” he ordered.

Tyrant Dragon let fly with a powerful fireball, obliterating Eris’ monster and reducing her life points to 2700.

“Now, since there’s still a monster out,” Mashi-Ushi said “I can attack again!”

“What?”

Tyrant Dragon fired again, this time taking out Kim’s monster and reducing her life points to 2700. Mashi-Ushi chuckled as the flames cleared.

 

“I think that’s enough torment for now,” he said “Your move.”

Eris glared at him and drew a card from her deck.

“You’ll regret that,” she said “I summon Super Seductive Angel!”

Eris’ white angel flew down onto her side of the field, giggling softly.

“And since she’s the only monster on my side of the field her effect activates,” Eris explained “Allowing me to take control of one monster you control till the end phase.”

“Huh?”

Mashi-Ushi looked up as his Tyrant Dragon turned on him.

“Oh, is that it?” He asked.

“Tyrant Dragon, Super Seductive Angel, attack!” Eris ordered.

Tyrant Dragon shot a fireball at Mashi-Ushi and the white angel fired several feathers at him. Both attacks his and knocked Mashi-Ushi down to 3700 life points.

“Awesome,” Kim cried “We’re catching up!”

The smoke cleared and Mashi-Ushi was revealed to be wiping something off his coat.

“Are you done?” He asked, sounding rather bored.

Eris heaved a sigh: “At the end of my turn control of your monster returns,” she said plainly as Tyrant Dragon turned to face Kim and Eris again “Your move, Kim.”

“Right,” Kim drew a new card from her deck and pondered her next move.

Mashi-Ushi stared at her, quietly waiting for her to move.

“She uses the same deck as her mother,” he thought, commenting on her dueling “Meaning this won’t be too hard, but…” his gaze moved over to Eris “She might be a problem, she’s not exactly a spiritual being but she feeds of it just like me, I need to get rid of her first.”

“Okay, my move,” Kim said “I summon my Birdface in defense mode.”

A large armored bird appeared on Kim’s field, folding its wings in front of it in an attempt to defend from Mashi-Ushi’s dragon.

“Is that all?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“Yeah,” Kim replied quietly, not even looking up.

“Looks like this will be easier than I thought,” Mashi-Ushi muttered “Tyrant Dragon, attack Super Seductive Angel!”

Mashi-Ushi’s dragon reared up, charging a fireball in its mouth and firing it at Eris’ monster.

“I play my trap card,” Eris said “Enchanted Javelin.”

“Huh?”

A long and decorated Javelin appeared in front of Eris’ monster, blocking the fireball that was about to hit.

“What did you do?” Mashi-Ushi demanded.

“Simple,” Eris said “My Enchanted Javelin allows me to increase my life points by your monsters attack points.”

“What?”

Eris grinned at her life points rose to 5600. Mashi-Ushi glared at her.

“My attack still goes through though,” he said.

The javelin shattered and Mashi-Ushi’s attack carried on, hitting the Super Seductive Angel and destroying her, reducing Eris’ life points to 4100.

“Heh, that it?” She chuckled.

 

Mashi-Ushi scowled at her.

“Fine, I’ll end my turn,” he said.

Eris smiled and drew a card from her deck, her smile widening.

“Excellent,” she said “I summon Dark Valkyria!”

Eris’ black and silver angel rose on her field, her arms folded and her expression one of cheek.

“I’ll lay this card face down and end my turn,” Eris said.

Kim drew a card from her deck and placed it in her hand.

“I sacrifice my Bird Face,” she said “And summon Roc from the Valley of Haze!”

Kim’s Birdface vanished in a whirlwind and replaced by a giant eagle with an animal skull for a head and several snakes protruding from its tail.

“Next I play my field spell, Rising Air Current,” Kim declared, plunging the duelists into a world of clouds and sky.

A breeze blew past, blowing Kim’s hair out behind her and a green glow began to surround her as she slowly transformed into her Harpie Girl form. Mashi-Ushi watched her greedily as she fully emerged. He looked over at Eris and noticed a pair of leathery black wings had sprouted from her back and a long black tail was waving about behind her.

“A Harpie and a Succubus,” he muttered “Now this is very interesting.”

 

“Thanks to my field spell, Roc now gains and extra 500 attack points,” Kim explained.

Roc cawed and glowed green, his attack rising to 2900.

“Now attack,” Kim ordered “Haze Dive!”

Roc flew into the air and charged forwards. Mashi-Ushi’s Tyrant Dragon looked up and opened its mouth wide firing a fireball at Roc. Roc flew through it and struck Tyrant Dragon and both of them exploded. Mashi-Ushi covered his face from the explosion and looked back up at where his Tyrant Dragon had been.

“Damn,” he muttered “Very well, I play my trap card Guard Change, when one of my monsters in destroyed as a result of battle I can special summon another of the same type and level from my deck, so say hello to my Felgrand Dragon!”

A massive roar sounded as Mashi-Ushi’s great golden dragon rose onto his field, letting out a mighty roar. Kim stared up at it as it leered down on her.

“Now, Felgrand Dragon,” Mashi-Ushi began “Attack her life points directly!”

“Kim!” Eris cried.

Mashi-Ushi’s Felgrand Dragon opened its mouth wide and fired a great golden fireball at Kim, hitting her dead on and consuming her in fire.

“Kim!” Eris yelled again.

The flames dispersed and Kim was still standing, but was panting heavily.

“I’ve still got 100 life points left,” she panted.

“So you do,” Mashi-Ushi shrugged.

“Very well,” Mashi-Ushi said “I’ll end my turn for now.”

“Heh, bad move,” Eris said “Because now I can second summon my Dark Valkyria, allowing me to add one spell counter to her which increases her attack points by 300.”

“So what?” Mashi-Ushi asked, half laughing “She still can’t scratch my monster’s attack points.”

“True, but I can remove it to destroy your Felgrand Dragon,” Eris said.

“What?”

Eris’ Dark Valkyria threw a black orb at Mashi-Ushi’s monster and destroyed it.

“Now I’m free to attack you directly,” Eris said “Go!”

Eris’ monster charged another black orb and threw it at Mashi-Ushi. It hit him dead on and reduced his life points to 1900. He staggered backwards, clutching his chest.

“So much for that 8000 points bonus you had before,” Eris chuckled.

“I’ll still win,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“I’ll set one card down and end my turn,” Eris said.

“My draw,” Kim said “I’ll discard Harpie Queen from my hand in order to add Harpie’s Hunting Ground from my deck to my hand. Then I’ll activate it.”

The clouds vanished and were replaced by a field of grass and dirt.

“Next I’ll lay this card face down and end my turn,” Kim said.

 

“Is that it?” Mashi-Ushi asked, grinning “You’ll have to do better than that.”

Kim merely glared back it him.

“Very well,” Mashi-Ushi said, drawing a card “I’ll take it as my turn.”

He stared down at his card and a smirk crossed his face.

“I play Premature Burial, this card allows me to pay 800 life points and special summon one monster from my graveyard, and I choose Felgrand Dragon!”

Mashi-Ushi’s life points dropped and his great golden dragon burst out of the ground in front of him, towering above Kim and Eris.

“Next I’ll play Dian Keto the Cure Master,” Mashi-Ushi said “As a little insurance I’ll raise my life points by 1000.”

Mashi-Ushi glowed softly and his life points rose to 2100.

“I won’t help,” Eris said.

“Won’t it?” Mashi-Ushi asked “Well maybe this will. Since my Felgrand Dragon was special summoned from my graveyard I can special summon my Tyrant Dragon and equip it to him, and he gains attack points equal to 200 times Tyrant Dragon’s level. So that’s 1600.”

Mashi-Ushi’s Felgrand Dragon roared and glowed bright yellow, its attack rising to 4400.

“You won’t survive this,” Mashi-Ushi said “Felgrand Dragon, attack!”

Felgrand Dragon took in a deep breath and fired a great golden fireball at Eris’ monster.

“You’ve activated my trap card,” Eris said “Negate attack.”

Felgrand Dragon’s attack hit a wall of rippled and vanished, leaving Eris’ field unscathed.

“Fine,” Mashi-Ushi said “I’ll lay these two cards face down and end my turn.”

Two face down cards appeared beside his current one behind the Felgrand Dragon. Eris glared up at him as she drew a card from her deck.

“I play Monster Reborn,” she declared “Allowing me to special summon Super Seductive Angel from my Graveyard.”

Eris’ white angel rose up on her field once more, giggling childishly.

“But now I’m going to sacrifice them,” Eris said “To summon Chain Succubus!”

Both Eris’ monster vanished in a whirlwind and were replaced by a tall, scantily clad woman with long white hair, horns and a long chain with a flail at one end in her hands.

“Now thanks to her effect I’m allowed to take control of your Felgrand Dragon,” Eris said.

Eris’ Chain Succubus cast her flail and it wrapped around Mashi-Ushi’s Felgrand Dragon, pulling it to her side of the field.

“It may only last one turn but it’s more than enough,” Eris said “Now Chain Succubus, attack!”

Eris’ monster swung her flail again, this time aiming for Mashi-Ushi.

“You’ve activated my trap card,” Mashi-Ushi said “Guard block.”

“What?”

“This reduces all damage to zero and allows me to draw a card,” Mashi-Ushi explained.

Eris’ attack shot straight through Mashi-Ushi and did no damage whatsoever.

“I can still attack with your Felgrand Dragon,” Eris said “Go!”

“Felgrand Dragon raised his head and fired a blaze of golden fire towards Mashi-Ushi.

“I don’t think so,” Mashi-Ushi said “Go Trap Mirror.”

Another of Mashi-Ushi’s face downs flipped up and an ornately decorated mirror came out of it, reflecting the image of Mashi-Ushi’s guard block.

“Huh?”

“I can activate this when the last card I played is a trap,” Mashi-Ushi said “And this card gains the same effect.”

The attack surged past Mashi-Ushi however yet again it did no damage and Mashi-Ushi drew two cards from his deck.

Eris stared at Mashi-Ushi’s field and let out a sigh.

“At the end phase control of Felgrand Dragon returns to you,” she sighed as Felgrand Dragon turned back around to leer over her.

“My draw,” Kim said.

“So, what will you do?” Mashi-Ushi thought, staring at her.

“This is it mother,” Kim muttered “I’ll make you proud.

“I play my trap card, Hysteric Party,” Kim declared “Allowing me to special summon Harpie Queen from my Graveyard!”

Kim’s Harpie Queen rose back onto her field in a gust of wind, floating just above the ground.

“And now, your Premature Burial is destroyed!” Kim said.

Mashi-Ushi looked down as his Premature Burial card shattered. His Felgrand Dragon let out a roar and vanished from the field.

“Ah, Déjá vu,” he muttered.

“Harpie Queen, attack him directly!” Kim ordered.

“We’ve won!” Eris cried.

Kim’s Harpie Queen rushed forwards, brandishing her talons.

“I play my trap card,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“No!” Kim cried “Not again.”

Call of the Haunted flipped up on Mashi-Ushi’s field.

“I think you can guess what’s coming,” Mashi-Ushi said.

Once again, Mashi-Ushi’s great dragon rose out of the ground and let out a mighty roar, his attack rising to 4400.

 

“Face it,” Mashi-Ushi said “You can’t defeat me.”

Kim glared at Mashi-Ushi, hatred burning in her eyes.

“I’ll lay these two cards face down and end my turn,” she said.

“Good,” Mashi-Ushi said “Because now I can finish you off for good. Felgrand Dragon attack!”

Felgrand Dragon charged another golden fireball and shot it straight at Kim’s monster.

“Trap card open,” Kim said “Desert Sunlight.”

“Huh?”

A powerful light shone from above and Kim’s Harpie Queen bent down, covering her front with her wings. Felgrand Dragon’s attack hit and completely obliterated Kim’s monster, however her life points remained undamaged.

“Desert Sunlight automatically switches my monsters into defense mode,” Kim explained “And now since you destroyed it I can play my other trap, Harpie Tag.”

“Huh?”

“When one of my Harpie Monsters is destroyed and sent to the graveyard from battle, I can special summon another one with less attack points,” Kim explained “And I choose Harpie Girl.”

A typhoon rose up on Kim’s field and then dispersed, revealing a monster that was the mirror image of the duelist behind her.

“Interesting,” Mashi-Ushi muttered.

“And since she’s a winged beast type monster, your call of the Haunted is destroyed,” Kim said.

“What?”

Mashi-Ushi’s trap card shattered and his Felgrand Dragon vanished once again.

“Take that!” Eris cried.

Mashi-Ushi glared at them.

“Very well,” he said “I’ll set this monster in defense mode and lay this card face down and end my turn.”

“Time to end this,” Eris said “Let’s do this, Kim.”

“Right?”

“I summon Spare Tuner!” Eris said as a small white rabbit appeared on her field “And now, by sending Chain Succubus, Spare Tuner and Harpie Girl to the graveyard I can conduct a Synchro summon.”

Spare Tuner leaped into the air, transforming into a single green ring which lowered over Harpie Girl and Chain Succubus, causing both of them to vanish into ten balls of light.

“Behold our combined ultimate monster,” Kim said.

“Ultimate Succubus!” Eris said.

A tall girl with a baggy black suit, a woolen had, a short skirt with two tails extending from it, black leggings and boots, white hair and a pair of large white wings descended onto the field.

“Since Kim’s monster counts as one of my opponent’s monsters Ultimate Succubus’ effect activates,” Eris said.

“Well before all that happens I’ll play my trap card, Triggered Summon,” Mashi-Ushi said “Since you’ve special summoned a monster, I can now special summon Rare Metal Dragon to my field.”

A wingless metal dragon rose up on Mashi-Ushi’s field, glaring at Eris’ monster.

“Pity I don’t have any monsters to summon,” Eris said “But my monster effect can now activate. Since you’ve special summoned a monster I can now take control of it.”

“What?”

Mashi-Ushi stared down at his monster to find it glaring at him.

“Bad move,” Kim said.

Eris nodded: “Now Rare Metal Dragon, attack!” Eris ordered.

Mashi-Ushi stared at his monster as it charged at his face down monster. Then a grin spread across his face.

“Too bad,” he said “My face down monster is Decoy Dragon!”

“Huh?”

Mashi-Ushi’s card flipped up, revealing a small blue and orange dragon.

“And thanks to his effect my Felgrand Dragon is making a comeback,” Mashi-Ushi said “And Rare Metal Dragon’s attack is immediatly switched to him. Oh and before you get any ideas, your monster’s spell speed is nowhere near enough to stop my monsters effect in time.”

“You’re kidding,” Eris cried “But that means…”

“Read it and weep,” Mashi-Ushi said “It means you lose!”

Felgrand Dragon burst out of the ground, clamping Rare metal Dragon in its jaws and crushing it.

 

Eris could only stare in horror as her life points were wiped out and she sank to her knees, staring forwards in disbelief.

“No way,” she said softly “This can’t be happening.”

Kim gazed at her for a moment and then turned her attention back to Mashi-Ushi.

“I’ve still got 100 life points left,” she said “This duel isn’t over.”

“Good point,” Mashi-Ushi said “Then make your move.”

Kim shook slightly as she drew a new card from her deck and stared at it. The card she’d drawn was Icarus Attack.

“No way,” she gasped, staring at her hand “I can’t do anything…I’ve lost.”

Mashi-Ushi stared at her, grinning as Kim dropped her cards and sank to her knees.

“I lost,” she repeated “I lost.”

“Time to finish this,” Mashi-Ushi said.

 

Jamin skidded to a halt on his bike, letting it fall to the floor and vaulted over the park railings, seeing Kim, Eris and Mashi-Ushi’s duel from a distance.

“Kim!” He cried.

Kim looked up and saw Jamin running towards them.

“You’re too late, Jamin,” Mashi-Ushi said “Again! Attack, Felgrand Dragon!”

“No!”

Felgrand Dragon raised his head and charged another great fireball before letting it loose and heading straight for Kim.

“No, not again,” Jamin fumbled with his duel disk “Damn, I won’t make it one time.”

The fireball impacted and a massive explosion tore through the park. Jamin raised his arms to defend against flying debris. He lowered them again to see a cloud of smoke obscuring Kim and her field. Mashi-Ushi was laughing madly.

“How do you like that?” He laughed “I’ve beaten you, so that entitles me to…Huh?”

The smoke cleared and the oddest looking creature Jamin had ever seen was revealed. It looked like some sort of mechanical space horse; it was made out of silver and gold armour and had a single electronic eye but no visible head.

“What the heck is that?” Mashi-Ushi demanded.

“Ally of Justice – Catastor,” a voice answer.

Jamin looked around and his eyes widened in surprise as he saw his dad walking towards them with an active duel disk, a card placed upon it.

“Dad,” Jamin cried.

“Who are you?” Mashi-Ushi demanded.

 

“Tsubasa Keiche,” was the reply “Jamin’s father.”

Mashi-Ushi’s expression became a mixture of fear and anger.

“Jamin’s father?”

“Oh and there’s an interesting fact you might want to be aware of,” Keiche said pushing his glasses slightly further up his nose “When Ally of Justice – Catastor battles a monster that isn’t dark attribute, say your Felgrand Dragon, that monster it destroyed.”

“Say what?”

Mashi-Ushi gazed up at his Felgrand Dragon as it roared and shattered. Kim looked up, hardly daring to believe what had happened. Keiche moved forwards, past Jamin and moved to stand between Mashi-Ushi and Kim as the holograms began to fade.

“You dare interrupt me,” Mashi-Ushi growled.

“Shia always told me to use my powers for good,” Keiche said “To be honest I didn’t really want them in the first place. But I’m not about to let you harass my son and his friends.”

“Dad,” Jamin began “I didn’t know you could heard monster spirits too.”

“Didn’t you ever guess?” Keiche said “Remember, you got your powers from both your parents, that’s partly why it’s so high.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jamin asked.

“Because I didn’t want you to go the same way as your mother,” Keiche said “I thought you hadn’t noticed but when I heard you talking to spirits in your room I guess that failed.”

“Hey, don’t ignore me!” Mashi-Ushi yelled.

“Oh course,” Mashi-Ushi said, returning his monster to his deck “Your opponent is me, Mashi-Ushi.”

“Heh, you think you can beat me?” Mashi-Ushi chuckled “I’ll defeat you and take all your powers away from you.”

“Dad no!” Jamin yelled.

“Be quiet, Jamin,” Keiche said “If I don’t do this I’ll never be able to look Shia in the face next time I see her.”

“Next time,” Jamin repeated “Dad, you don’t mean…”

“Let’s duel!”

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 41: Even dead characters get to duel in this fan-fic :p

 

[spoiler=episode]“Heh, you don’t know who you’re dealing with, gramps,” Mashi-Ushi said “Let me spell this out for you. I’ve sucked out the dueling energy of more people than I’ve got hair on my head.”

“I wasn’t aware you spent your time counting your hair and comparing it to your victims,” Keiche said “That’s the saddest hobby I’ve ever heard.”

Mashi-Ushi broke off, glaring at Keiche madly.

“It’s a figure of speech granddad!” He yelled back “Now allow me to tear you apart.”

Both Mashi-Ushi and Keiche activated their duel disk, their life points setting to 4000. Jamin stared at them for a few minutes before breaking his gaze away and running over to Eris and Kim just as Kim was turning back into her human form.

“You two okay?” He asked.

“We’re fine,” Eris said, getting to her feet “Is that really your dad?”

“Yeah,” Jamin said “Funny, I always thought he was a boring old sod who didn’t care about me.”

“Jamin, I can hear you,” Keiche said.

“Oh, sorry.”

“You’d better stand back,” Keiche said “This might get….Nasty.”

“Huh?”

 

Kechie drew a card from his deck and placed it on the field.

“I summon my Ally Bomb in defense mode,” he said.

A small round orb with several holes in it appeared, floating on Keiche’s field.

“I’ll set these two cards face down and end my turn,” he said.

“My draw then,” Mashi-Ushi said “Now quake in fear before my Mirage Dragon!”

Keiche looked down as a long, thin yellow dragon appeared on Mashi-Ushi’s field.

“I hate to disappoint you,” Mashi-Ushi began “But I’m afraid you can’t activate your trap cards when I attack, what a pity.”

Keiche merely stared at him defiantly.

“Mirage Dragon, attack!” Mashi-Ushi ordered.

Keiche didn’t even twitch as his Ally Bomb was hit by Mashi-Ushi’s attack and was destroyed.

“I suppose you think you’ve outsmarted me,” Keiche said “But you’re wrong. My trap cards weren’t set to block your attack, however since my Ally Bomb was destroyed by a Light attribute monstet I can now destroy two cards on the field.”

“What?” Mashi-Ushi cried.

“And I choose my two trap cards,” Keiche said.

Two large explosions ripped up Keiche’s field, destroying his trap cards and creating a brief gust of wind. However Keiche remained as calm as ever, even when two ugly golden stautes rose up on his field.

“Wicked tokens,” Mashi-Ushi muttered, aghast.

“Correct,” Keiche said.

Mashi-Ushi glared down at him, rage clearly boiling up inside him.

“I’ll set these two cards face down and end my turn,” he said defiantly “Let’s see you beat that!”

“Very well,” Keiche said, drawing a card “I play my Duel Tribute spell card. I can activate this when I’m about to summon a monster that would normally require one tribute, but with this I can increase that to two.”

“And why would you want to do that?” Mashi-Ushi asked “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Because in exchange for doing this the monster I summon gains half the attack of the other monster used,” Keiche explained “In this case, 500 more attack points.”

“What?”

 

“Your dad duels like an expert,” Kim muttered.

“I never even knew he dueled,” Jamin said “I’ve never even seen him so much as look at a card before.”

Kim gazed up at him, confused.

“Now I sacrifice my two Wicked Tokens,” Keiche said as the statues vanished “And summon Ally of Justice – Rudra!”

A tall, purple and white robot thing that resembled something like a dog or a dragon rose up on Keiche’s field, creating a strong gust of wind, but Keiche still didn’t even blink.

“When Ally of Justice – Rudra attacks a Light attribute monster,” he explained “He gains 700 attack points. And thanks to the effect of my Dual Tribute, he has an extra 500 attack. Meaning his attack now is 2400, but when he attacks your mirage dragon it’ll be 3100.”

Mashi-Ushi looked completely lost for words.

“Amazing,” Kim muttered.

“I guess,” Jamin replied.

“Now Rudra, attack his Mirage Dragon,” Keiche ordered “Shadow Claw!”

Keiche’s monster flew forwards, its attack rising, and brought its great metal claw down on Mashi-Ushi’s monster, destroying it and dropping Mashi-Ushi down to 2500 life points. All Mashi-Ushi could do was stare in shock at Keiche, who to this moment hadn’t even twitched throughout the entire duel.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he thought “There’s no way an old man like this could have this much power, he…” He broke off, seeing the spirit of Catastor floating beside Keiche “A spirit. He has a spirit,” Mashi-Ushi’s eyes widened “No wonder he managed to block my attack, this is impossible.”

He glared at Keiche and drew a new card form his deck.

“I activate Tade In,” he said “Thanks to this card’s effect I can discard my Darkblaze Dragon in order to draw two cards from my deck.”

Mashi-Ushi ditched his monster into his grave and took two cards from the top of his deck.

“Next I play my face down card, call of the Haunted,” Mashi-Ushi said “With this card’s effect I can resurrect one monster from my graveyard.”

Mashi-Ushi chuckled softly as his Darkblaze dragon rose up on his field in a blaze of black fire, letting out a massive roar.

“And since he was special summoned from the graveyard he had twice the attack as usual,” Mashi-Ushi said.

Keiche watched calmly as Darkblaze Dragon glowed red and its attack points rose to 2400.

“True, but our monsters both have the same attack points now,” he said “Attacking now would get you nowhere.”

“True,” Mashi-Ushi admitted “So I’ll just end my turn for now. Since my monster isn’t a light attribute, your monster won’t get an attack bonus from fighting it.”

“Maybe so,” Keiche said “But you will still lose the battle.”

He drew a new card from his deck and placed it on his field.

“I summon Ally of Justice – Cyclone Summoner!” He declared.

A robotic red bird with fans in its wings keeping it upright rose up in a gust of wind on Keiche’s field, letting out a mechanical caw.

“Heh, that thing won’t even scratch my Darkblaze Dragon,” Mashi-Ushi said “You’re good luck streak vanished on you all of a sudden or something?”

“It’s seems you’ve failed to realize that my Cyclone Summoner is a Tuner monster,” Keiche said calmly.

“A Tuner monster?” Mashi-Ushi’s eyes widened.

“Now, Synchro summon,” Keiche said “I tune Cyclone Summoner to Rudra, in order to Synchro summon…”

Keiche’s Cyclone Summoner flew up into the air and transformed into three green rings, falling around Rudra who then exploded into five balls of light.

“Ally of Justice,” Keiche said “Light Gazer!”

A large white UFO type creature with a pair of arms and bright glowing eyes but no visible head and a ring around the bottom appeared from a pillar of green light. Mashi-Ushi stared up at the monster before a grin spread across his face.

“Heh, he still only has 2400 attack,” he said “What the heck are you thinking?”

“It seems you have not yet realized what I’m doing,” Keiche said “If you’re any kind of duelist, you’d keep an eye on your graveyard.”

 

“Keep an eye on my…What the heck are you taking about?” Mashi-Ushi demanded.

“Because for every Light attribute monster in my opponent’s graveyard he gains 200 attack points.”

“What?”

Light Gazer glowed brightly and its attack points rose to 2600.

“Now then,” Keichie began “Light Gazer, attack his Darkblaze Dragon. Shining Shadow!”

Light Gazer raised its stubby arms and two beams of light shone from them, shining over Mashi-Ushi’s Darkblaze Dragon. The dragon let out a roar of pain and shattered.

“I activate my trap card, guard block,” Mashi-Ushi said “This reduces the damage of your attack to zero and let’s me draw a card.”

“Fine by me,” Keiche said.

“Dad,” Jamin began “Are you ever going to explain to me what’s going on.”

He looked at the spirit floating beside his father.

“How long have you had this for?” He asked.

“Since I was your age, ironically enough,” Keiche said “I thought I was a big guy just because I couldn’t lose a duel with my spirits to help me, and then I met her…”

“Her?”

“Your mother,” Keiche explained.

 

 

“I summon Ally of Justice – Catastor!”

Almost twenty years ago, in the middle of a school yard, the teenage Keiche was in the middle of a duel with another person. He currently had on the field both Catastor and another larger silver bird robot.

“Heh, what a waste,” his opponent scoffed, a tall fat kid with short cut brown hair “Your monster is no match for my Metal Armored Bug.”

A large steel beetle was sat on the opponent’s field.

“And I’m guessing your monster’s effect has something to do with light monsters,” his opponent said “Well hard luck because my monster is Earth.”

“Nah,” Keiche said, pushing his rather large glasses slightly further up his nose “My Ally of Justice Catastor destroys all non dark monsters.”

“What?”

“Catastor attack!” Keiche ordered.

A beam of light charged in Catastor’s single eye and was let loose, destroying the Metal Armored Bug.

“Now Ally of Justice – Clausolas, attack him directly,” Keiche said.

Keiche’s robotic bird flew forwards, taking a swipe out of his opponent and reducing his life points to zero.

“Aw man, that means I lose,”

“Heh, that’s ten victories and no losses,” Keiche said “I’m the best.”

“You sure about that?”

Keiche turned about and saw a tall girl with long sand brown hair and grey eyes staring back at him. Keiche blushed slightly upon seeing her.

“You’re, Saruka Shia, right?” He asked.

The girl nodded: “Tsubasa Keiche,” she said “Nice name.”

Keiche blushed again.

“Anyway,” Shia continued “You can’t say you’re the best duelist until you’ve beaten everyone.”

“Like you?” Keiche asked.

Shia merely smiled.

 

Minutes later the two of them were almost done dueling. Keiche had 600 life points left and Shia had 1000 left. Shia had Bountiful Artemis on her field and one face down card whilst Keiche had Ally of Justice – Catastor and Ally of Justice – Rudra.

“You’re for it now,” Keiche said “When Ally of Justice Rudra attacks a light attribute monster, he gains 700 attack, hiving him a grand total of 2600, I win. Rudra attack!”

Keiche’s monster flew forwards, ready to attack.

“That’s a trigger effect, right?” Shia asked.

“Huh?” Keiche stared at her “Well, I guess so.”

“Then you’ve activated my face down,” Shia said “Divine Wrath.”

“Huh?”

A great thunderbolt suddenly crashed down and struck Keiche’s monster, destroying it.

“No way,” he gasped.

“That’s not all,” Shia said “You’ve activated the effect of the monster in my hand, Dark Ruler Vandalgyon!”

Keiche stared up in amazement as a great black dragon rose on Shia’s field in a cloud of black thunder.

“And since I special summoned him by negating a monster effect, I can special summon my Dreamsprite from my graveyard.”

A small blue fairy flew out of Shia’s graveyard and onto her field.

“Doesn’t matter,” Keiche said “You’ll still lose, Catastor, attack Dreamsprite!”

Catastor charged a beam of light in his eyes and fired straight towards Dreamsprite.

“Careful,” Shia said “Dreamsprite has an effect. When she’s attacked I can change the attack target to any monster I choose, and I choose my Dark Ruler Vandalgyon.”

Dreamsprite flew out of the way and the attack suddenly began heading for Shia’s Dark Ruler.

“Heh, so what,” Keiche said “Ally of Justice – Catastor destroys all non dark monsters.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing he is a dark monster then,” Shai said.

“Huh?”

Dark Ruler Vandalgyon swatted the attack aside and charged a thunderbolt in one of his great black fists.

“W-wait, that means…” Keiche began.

“You lose,” Shia said.

Keiche looked speechless as the lightning bolt tore through his monster, reducing his life points to zero. The holograms faded and Keiche merely stared ahead at where Dark Ruler Vandalgyon had been.

“Good game,” Shia said, walking up to him “You’re pretty good.”

“Uh, thanks,” Keiche said “I guess this means I’m not the best duelist anymore, huh.”

“Well, you wanna know a secret?” Shia asked.

“What?”

Shia leaned close enough to whisper in Keiche’s ear.

“I can hear monster spirits,”

“What?” Keiche looked over at her, surprised.

“Shh,” Shia said, smiling and putting a finger to her lips.

 

“When she died I knew what had really happened,” Keiche said, back in the present day “And I didn’t want that to happen to you as well.”

“Dad, not all spirits are like that,” Jamin said “Look at yours, you trust each other and combine your powers to win. Same with mine.”

Keiche paused and looked over at Jamin.

“Jamin,” he muttered.

“It doesn’t matter if I can hear spirits or not,” Jamin said “But they’re some of my best friends and I doubt I’d be where I am now without them. So you should trust your deck like your friends as well, not just take advantage of it, that’s why mum was a better duelist than you, she trusted her deck.”

“And where did it get her?” Keiche retorted “She’s dead because of that damn spirit. And she trusted it with her life.”

“Then, are you scared?” Jamin asked.

“Scared?” Keiche stared at Jamin, lost for words.

As he stared at Jamin he suddenly saw the same confident grin he’d always seen Shia displaying whenever she dueled, eyes slightly narrowed but a broad grin on her face.

“I believe in my deck,” Jamin said “Because my deck is my best friend.”

“You sound….Just like her,” Keiche muttered.

He stared down at his deck and then nodded.

“I see,” he thought “Was that what Shia was trying to tell me? That you should trust your deck no matter the consequences?” He glared back up at Mashi-Ushi “Shia, it looks like I won’t be seeing you for a while after all.”

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to continue the duel,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“Go ahead,” Keiche said.

Mashi-Ushi grinned and drew a card from his deck.

“I activate Mausoleum of the Emperor,” Keiche said.

The scenery around them vanished and was replaced by the courtyard of a massive temple with a bridge across a pit of stone statues. Behind Mashi-Ushi was what looked like an alter.

“With this card, I give up 2000 life points in order to summon Felgrand Dragon!” Mashi-Ushi declared.

Two of the statues rose up and vanished along with 2000 of Mashi-Ushi’s life points and his great golden dragon rose up on his field.

“Now, Felgrand Dragon,” Mashi-Ushi ordered “Attack his Light Gazer!”

 

Felgrand Dragon let out a mighty roar and fired a golden fireball at Keiche’s monster, destroying it and reducing his life points to 3800.

“Is that it?” He asked.

“Not quite,” Mashi-Ushi said “I’ll lay this card face down and end my turn.”

“Very well,” Keiche said, drawing a card “I summon Ally of Justice - Unknown Crusher!”

A large, gray mechanical elephant rose up on Keiche’s field, its trunk looking like some sort of vacumn cleared.

“When Unknown Crusher attacks a light attribute monster, that monster is removed from play at the end of the damage step,” Keiche explained “Go, Unknown Crushed. Attack Felgrand Dragon.”

Unknown Crushed raised its trunk and let out a mighty trumpet sound and began to suck in Felgrand Dragon.

“You think that’ll work against me?” Mashi-Ushi barked “I play my trap card, emergency rescue!”

“What?”

“When one of my monsters is attacked I can return it to my deck,” Mashi-Ushi said “So hard luck!”

Felgrand Dragon vanished into an orb of light and shot into Mashi-Ushi’s deck.

“And before you get any funny ideas, your attack is cancelled,” Mashi-Ushi replied.

Keiche heaved a sigh.

“Very well, in that case I’ll lay this card face down and end my turn,” he said.

“Right!”

Mashi-Ushi drew a card from his deck and summoned it onto his field.

“I summon Spear Dragon,” Mashi-Ushi said “And since he’s not a light monster you monster’s effect doesn’t apply.”

Keiche merely stared at him.

“Spear Dragon, attack!” Mashi-Ushi ordered.

Mashi-Ushi’s dragon shot forwards, aiming its sharp nose towards Keichie’s monster.

“I play my trap card,” Keiche said “DNA Transplant.”

“Huh?”

“With this card’s effect, I change the attribute of all monsters, to light,” Keiche said.

“You’re joking!” Mashi-Ushi cried.

Keiche’s elephant raised its trunk and began sucking in Tyrant Dragon. Then once it was absorbed the Unknown Crushed exploded and Keiche’s life points dropped to 3200.

“I’ll lay one card face down and end my turn,” Mashi-Ushi growled.

 

Keiche drew a new card from his deck and placed it on the field.

“I summon Ally of Justice – Garadholg!” Keiche said.

A red android rose up on Keiche’s field.

“If Garadholg attacks a light attribute monster, his attack raised by 200,” Keiche explained “But in this case I’ll just attack you directly.”

Keiche’s monster raised one arm and charged and beam of energy before firing it straight towards Keiche.

“I play my trap card,” Keiche said “Negate Attack.”

“Tch, how generic,”

A wall of rippled appeared in front of Mahsi-Ushi, blocking Garadholg’s attack.

“Very well,” Keiche said “I end my turn.”

“Hm,”

Mashi-Ushi glared at him and drew a card from his deck.

“I activate Card of Demise,” Mashi-Ushi said “This allows me to draw five cards.”

He picked up five cards from his deck, staring at them.

“Next I summon my Luster Dragon!” Mashi-Ushi said.

A great silver dragon rose up on Mashi-Ushi’s field.

“A 200 attack points bonus isn’t going to save your monster from this attack,” Mashi-Ushi said “Luster Dragon, attack!”

Luster Dragon took a deepr breath and then fired a blast of wind at Keiche’s monster. Its attack rose to 1800 but it was still destroyed by Luster Dragon’s attack, reducing Keiche’s life points to 3100.

“And just incase you’re thinking of messing up my deck even more I play Card Destruction,” Mash-Ushi said “So we both send our hands to the graveyard and draw the same number of cards.”

“I know how it works,” Keiche said, ditching the cards in his hand.

“Anyway, I’ll lay these three cards face down,” Mashi-Ushi said “Then end my turn.”

“Very well,” Keiche said, drawing a card “I summon Ally of Justice - Thousand Arms!”

A tall blue robot with several arms each carrying various deadly weapons rose up on Keiche’s field.

“Heh, I’m afraid my monster had more attack points than your loser,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“Maybe so,” Keiche said “However I also play the spell card Necromancy.”

“Necro what?”

“With this card, I special summon four monsters from your graveyard in defense position, and for each one destroyed your Luster Dragon loses 600 attack points.” Keiche explained.

Mashi-Ushi looked down at his field as Rare Metal Dragon, Mirage Dragon, Kaiser Seahorse and UFO turtle appeared on his field.

“And what did that achieve?” Mashi-Ushi asked, grinning “Now my monsters outnumber you as well.”

“Because thanks to my DNA transplant all your monsters are treated as Light attribute,” Keiche explained “And my monster can attack all Light attribute monsters on your field.”

“What?”

“Ally of Justice - Thousand Arms, attack all his monsters!” Keiche ordered “Bladed Frenzy!”

Thousand Arms rushed forwards, its arms whirling like mad. It destroyed Mirage Dragon and Rare Metal Dragon before destroying Kaiser Seahorse and UFO turtle. It then turned on Mashi-Ushi’s Luster dragon which now had 0 attack points.

“Finish him off!” Keiche said.

Thousand Arms span round, raising a massive sword to slice Luster Dragon in two. However upon contact the blade shattered.

“What?” Keiche stared wildly at Mashi-Ushi’s field “What did you do?”

“I played my Reverse Trap card,” Mashi-Ushi explained “It takes all increases and decreases in attack and defense and negated them, meaning my monster still has all his attack points.”

“What!”

Keiche looked up at his Thousand Arms exploded and his life points dropped to 2900.

“Heh, not so impressive after all,” Mashi-Ushi chuckled.

“Tch, I end my turn,” Keiche growled.

“Then I’ll take mine,” Mashi-Ushi said “And I sacrifice my Luster Dragon, for Luster Dragon number 2!”

Mashi-Ushi’s blue dragon vanished only to be replaced by a larger green dragon.

“Luster Dragon, attack,” Mashi-Ushi ordered.

Keiche covered his face with his arms as a green flame hit him dead on, reducing his life points to 500.

“Dad!” Jamin cried.

“It’s okay,” Keiche said “I’m still in this.”

Jamin fell silent.

“I play stray Lambs,” Keiche said “Meaning I can summon two sheep tokens to my side of the field.”

Two small balls of fur with horns and hooves appeared on Keiche’s field, neither looking much like a sheep at all.

“And end my turn,”

“Dad!”

 

“Fine by me,” Mashi-Ushi laughed “Luster Dragon, attack!”

A green fireball consumed one of Keiche’s sheep tokens and destroyed it.

“Heh, your move,” Mashi-Ushi chuckled.

Keiche drew a new card from his deck.

“I summon Frembell Magical!” Keiche said.

“Huh?”

A flame sorcerer rose up on Keiche field and then burst into four green rings that fell around the remaining sheep token.

“A synchro summon?”

“Behold,” Keiche said “Ally of Justice – Catastor!”

The sheep token vanished in agreen pillar and was replaced by Keiche’s ultimate monster.

“Only 2200 attack?” Mashi-Ushi stared.

“Catastor, attack!” Keiche ordered.

Mashi-Ushi’s eyes widened as his monster was destroyed.

“I’ll lay one card face down and end my turn,” Keiche said.

“Damn,” Mashi-Ushi thought “His monster can destroy any non dark monster, so it doesn’t matter even if I destroy his DNA transplant.”

He drew a card from his deck.

“Or maybe…” He grinned, staring up at Keiche’s field “I play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your DNA transplant.”

A whirlwind shot from Mashi-Ushi’s card and destroyed Keiche’s DNA Transplant.

“Good,” Mashi-Ushi thought “The decoy worked.”

“Then I’ll play monster reborn,” Mashi-Ushi said “To resurrect Rare Metal Dragon!”

Keiche stared at Mashi-Ushi’s field as his wingless steel dragon rose up once more.

“And since he’s a dark monster, you monster’s effect doesn’t apply,” Mashi-Ushi said “Too bad.”

 

Rare Metal Dragon opened its mouth and shot a stream of silver flame at Keiche’s monster.

“You think you’ve won?” Keiche began “You’ve got a lot to learn.”

“Huh?”

“Trap card open,” Keiche said “Last Turn.”

“What?”

A brilliant light suddenly shone from Keiche’s field. Jamin, Kim, Eris and Mashi-Ushi covered their eyes as it blinded them.

“What is this?” Mahsi-Ushi cried.

He looked up and his eyes widened in horror.

 

A massive explosion tore through the park, sending loose stones and twigs flying around the park. Jamin got to his feet, staring in horror at the scene as the holograms faded.

“Dad!” He cried.

He ran over to where his dad was down on one knee, panting heavily.

“You okay?” He asked.

“I’m fine,” Keiche said “I just overdid it a bit.”

Jamin heaved a sigh of relief.

“Jamin, you can beat him, can’t you?” Keiche asked.

“Huh?”

“Shia always said you had a great purpose,” Keiche said “And you can’t fulfill it without beating him. Belive me, Shia was never wrong.”

“Dad,” Jamin muttered.

Kim and Eris stared at the two of them, both smiling softly.

“Well, at least this ended well,” Kim said.

“Yeah,” Eris replied.

 

Night had fallen and Mashi-Ushi was staggering down a back alley, grabbing his shoulder.

“Damn,” he cursed “How did this happen, I let my guard down for one minute and he pulled that on me. What a cheap trick.”

He sank down to the floor, still clutching his shoulder.

“I swear Jamin, you’ll be the one to pay for your father’s unsult,” he thought “I’m a man of my word, and I never break my promises.”