YU-GI-OH: The third legacy

[TotalObelisk]

Triple Bill:

 

Episode 19:

 

[spoiler=episode]Shadowcaster laughed like a maniac at the attack hit.

“So? Give up yet?” He asked “there’s nothing you can do about my monster now!”

The dust began to clear and Jamin was still on his feet with an open trap next to him.

“Huh?”

“Trap card, Damage condenser unit,” Jamin declared “when I take battle damage from an opponent’s attack, I can discard one card from my hand and special summon any monster from my deck who’s attack points are equal or less than the damage I just received.”

Jamin discarded one card from his hand and his deck lit up.

“Come forth, The Creator!” Jamin declared.

A light shone behind Jamin and the huge bronze behemoth that was the Creator rose out of it, crouched down with its arms crossed over its chest.

“My monster had 3000 defense points,” Jamin explained “so I’m afraid we’re tied.”

“I’m far from done with you,” Shadowcaster snarled “I end my turn.”

 

“My draw then,” Jamin said “I play my creator’s special effect, simply by discarding Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV 8 from my hand, I can resurrect one monster from my graveyard.”

“Gh!”

Jamin graveyard lit up again and a new monster began to emerge out of it.

“I summon the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!” Jamin declared.

Jamin’s golden Phoenix burst out of the light show and floated down to his side of the field.

“So what?” Shadowcaster snarled “your monster only had 2400 attack points, and thanks to my field spell all Dark World monsters gain 500 attack, so my monster has 3000 attack points.”

“Don’t think I didn’t know that,” Jamin said “I just needed to get my dragon into the graveyard.”

“Say what?”

“Magic card, Level Modulation,” Jamin said “my opponent draws two additional cards, and I get to summon a LV monster from my graveyard regardless of summoning condition, come forth Horus.”

Jamin’s giant silver dragon rose out of the ground beside his Creator, letting out a mighty screech as it fully emerged.

 

“I’ve managed to summon all three of my Ancient Gods,” Jamin said “so, Shadowcaster. Are you ready to feel the full force of them?”

An expression closely resembling anger was showing on Shadowcaster’s face as he glared up at the three monsters.

 

“Josh, are you okay?” Kim asked.

“Yeah,” Josh gasped “I’m fine, it’s just that…”

“What?”

“I don’t know,” Josh said “whatever’s about to happen, it’s big. We have to get in there; if the puzzle falls into the wrong hands we’re doomed.”

“Josh,”

Josh stood up and began walking up the stone steps to the crypt. As soon as he reached it a shadow burst from the ground in front of him, covering the doors and blocking his way past.

“No way!”

“We can’t get in,” Kim gasped.

Josh’s eyes narrowed and he gritted his teeth, a red tint formed around the edge of his iris.

“Oh yes we will,” he growled.

He activated his duel disk and drew a card from it.

“Come forth, Dark Magician!” Josh declared.

Josh’s dark spellcaster rose from the ground in front of him, glaring up at the shadowed gates.

“Josh,”

“Black magic attack!” Josh ordered.

The Dark Magician raised his staff and fired at the doors, striking them. Josh smirked, however once the dust cleared the shadow and the doors were still intact.

“No way!”

“Josh, please stop!” Kim begged.

 

“I can’t!” Josh snapped “I have to get in there, before Jamin loses the puzzle.”

“He won’t lose it,” Kim said “I know he won’t.”

“How do you know?” Josh turned around to glare at Kim “if even I can’t defeat Zorc, then what chance does he stand? Zorc already had most of the items in his possession, that’s power enough for him to influence his followers’ minds. Tell me he stands a chance now!”

Kim backed off.

“He does,” she said “he stands a better chance of winning than you do, and do you know why?”

Josh looked taken aback; he retreated up the steps still glaring at Kim.

“Because he doesn’t play just to win,” Kim explained “I believe he can do it, and if I believe he can then so should you.”

“Kim?” Josh’s eyes began to return to normal “s-sorry.”

Kim smiled again.

“That’s right,” she said “now all we have to do is cheer Jamin on.”

Josh nodded and deactivated his duel disk before turning to watch the gates before him.

“Jamin, don’t screw up,” he muttered.

 

“Don’t get so cocky just because you’ve summoned your best monsters,” Shadowcaster snarled “it’ll take much more than them to defeat me, I’ll pick them off one by one starting with that phoenix of yours, Reign-Beux, destroy her!”

Reign raised his staff again and fired a volley of lightning at Jamin’s Phoenix, it screeched as the blast hit it and smashed.

“There!” Shadowcaster laughed “now you don’t have your three best monsters on the field anymore, so much for your big plan! I’ll set two cards face down and end my turn.”

Two face down cards appeared behind Reign-Beux.

“So, Jamin. How are you going to come back from that attack?” Shadowcaster jeered.

“Like this,” Jamin replied “my draw.”

“It’ll be your last,” Shadowcaster muttered.

Jamin ignored him.

“I play my Creator’s effect,” Jamin said “by discarding Aussa the Earth Charmer, I get to special summon my Phoenix again.”

Jamin’s Phoenix rose again in another display of light, settling down next to the Creator again with its wings folded over its body.

“You actually think bringing that thing back is going to help you?” Shadowcaster laughed “that’s a good one, there’s nothing you can do to stop me Jamin, nothing!”

“I’ll set one card face down and end,” Jamin said.

“My turn then!” Shadowcaster laughed “I play my Forces of Darkness trap; this allows me to put two Dark World cards back into my hand.”

 

Jamin’s expression darkened slightly.

“Next I play Dark World Lightning, and destroy your face down.”

“Huh?”

A bolt of lightning fell down from the ceiling and struck Jamin’s trap card, destroying it.

“Damn you,” he cursed.

“I’m not done,” Shadowcaster laughed “next I can discard Celery from my hand, and that mean’s he’s special summoned to your side of the field!”

Shadowcaster’s Guru emerged again on Jamin’s side of the field.

“Next his effect activates, so you get to discard one card from my hand,”

“Fine,” Jamin said “I choose that one.”

“Heh, you’ve discarded Broww, Huntsman of Dark World,” Shadowcaster explained “so I get to draw one card from my deck, and since it was technically your effect that did it, I get to draw another one.”

Jamin gritted his teeth.

 

“Next I play Dark World Road,” Shadowcaster said “I move one Dark World monster in my deck to my hand, and then discard one card from my hand to the grave.”

“Let me guess,” Jamin interrupted.

“That’s right,” Shadowcaster laughed “since I sent another Broww to the grave, I get to draw again.”

“Quit stalling,” Jamin said “drawing cards until you get the right one isn’t going to help you pal.”

Shadowcaster began to laugh again.

“I’m just sizing up for my big finale,” he laughed “enjoy the duel while you can, because next turn I’m going to tear you apart!”

“We’ll see,” Jamin drew a card from his deck “I’ll place one card face down, then play the equip spell card Scroll of Bewitchment, allowing me to change the attribute of the equipped monster, so I’m changing your Guru into a water monster.”

“Fine by me,” Shadowcaster said “are you done?”

“Yeah, get on with your turn already.”

“Excellent,” Shadowcaster said “I draw!”

“Trap card open!” Jamin said “Spiritual Water art Aoi!”

“Huh?”

“By sacrificing your Guru, I can take a look at your hand and discard any card of my choice.”

“Hm, fine.”

Five cards appeared in front of Jamin, Snatch steel, Scarr, Scout of Dark World, Polymerization, Gateway to Dark World and Renge, Gatekeeper of Dark World.

“Heh, looks like you don’t have anything that threatening in your hand after all,” Jamin smirked “okay then, I discard your snatch steel to the graveyard.”

The image of the card smashed, and the adjacent card vanished from Shadowcaster’s hand.

 

“Well, I guess you’re a bit better than I give you credit for,” he narrowed his eyes “but still, I have a backup plan.”

“What’s to back up?” Jamin sneered “we’re tied, remember?”

“You’ll see,” Shadowcaster snarled “Reign, attack Horus the Black Flame Dragon!” Shadowcaster ordered.

Shadowcaster’s monster charged a blast of lightning and fired at Horus; at the same time Horus charged a black fireball in his mouth and shot it at Reign. Both attack his each other and exploded, destroying both monsters.

“And what’s that accomplished?” Jamin asked “now your precious Reign-Beux is destroyed.”

“Not for long,” Shadowcaster laughed “I play my face down, gateway to Dark World! With this I can special summon Rein back to the field.”

 

Shadowcaster’s monster rose out of the shadows again, towering over Jamin.

“Attack his Phoenix!” Shadowcaster ordered.

Reign fired again, striking Jamin’s Sacred Phoenix and destroying it.

“Damn,” Jamin grimaced.

“Where are your precious gods now?” Shadowcaster sighed “I’ll tell you, in the graveyard where they belong!”

“They won’t stay there,” Jamin said “I still have the Creator and I can bring them back with him.”

“Oh, I’m afraid you won’t be doing so,” Shadowcaster replied “you see, your creator is not as loyal as you would like to think.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jamin asked.

“I play my Dark World Tower’s second effect,” Shadowcaster said “during the second main phase after a Dark World monster has been special summoned from the graveyard, I can draw one card from my deck.”

Jamin’s eyes narrowed.

“Next, I sacrifice Genria, to summon Blank, servant of Dark World.” Shadowcaster said.

“Huh?”

A monster dressed in a white rag, with blue skeletal skin, red eyes and a single crack horn rose from the ground beside Reign.

“A level five monster with zero attack points?” Jamin muttered.

“Yes,” Shadowcaster nodded “but he has a special effect too, if he’s face up on the field along with Reign-Beux, overlord of Dark World, then he’s treated as a Light attribute monster.”

Jamin’s expression changed to surprise within an instant, he stared at Shadowcaster confused.

“What’s the use in that?” He asked “your monsters and combos are all Dark related, there’s nothing a Light monster can do for you.”

“Oh?” Shadowcaster replied “well just wait and see.”

 

Shadowcaster took a card from his hand and placed it in the magic zone slot.

“I play the magic card Polymerization,” he declared “with this I can fuse two monsters I have to summon a fusion monster from my fusion deck.”

Jamin’s eyes narrowed.

“So now I fuse Reign-Beux, and Blank to fusion summon the ultimate monster,” Shadowcaster said “come forth, Colorless, Chaos King of Dark World.”

A shadowy vortex formed above Shadowcaster’s monsters and sucked them inside, then a massive gust of wind exploded from the center and a new monster began to emerge.

 

Josh jumped, his eyes widening. Kim mimicked him, looking up at the gate.

“It can’t be,” she muttered.

“It’s happening,” Josh gasped “something pure evil is being summoned, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“No way.”

 

Jamin could only watch in fear as Shadowcaster’s monster emerged from the vortex, it was a hulking black monster with hooves feet, a pronged tail, two spiraling horns on its head, a pair of massive black wings, giant claws and two massive axes growing out of its arms. It settled in front of Shadowcaster quiet calmly, towering over Jaming’s Creator.

“That’s,” Jamin muttered.

“Colorless, Chaos King of Dark World,” Shadowcaster explained “can only be fusion summoned by fusing Reign-Beux, and a Light attribute monster. Then his attack points become the sum of the two monsters fused.”

Colorless’ attack immediately rose up to 3000.

“He still can’t destroy my Creator,” Jamin explained “their points are still equal.”

“I’m not done yet,” Shadowcaster explained “but I’ll explain all that next turn.”

Jamin took a step back, glaring up at Shadowcaster’s monster.

“How the hell am I going to defeat that thing?” He muttered “there’s just no way.”

 

He drew a card from his deck and looked at it.

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

“Bad choice!” Shadowcaster laughed “because now I can wipe your Creator off the field. I play Colorless, Chaos King of Dark World’s special effect, by discarding a monster from my hand, I can increase his attack points by the attack of the discarded monster until the end of this turn, but if I do this I can’t make any more summons this turn.”

“Huh?”

“So, I discard Renge, Gatekeeper of Dark World from my hand to increase my monster’s attack power by 100.”

Colorless glowed red and his attack points rose to 3100.

“Now he can destroy you monster,” Shadowcaster laughed “go my Chaos King, attack the Creator!”

Colorless raised one hand, a black energy ball formed in front of the palm and a black stream of energy burst from it, striking the Creator and destroying him.

“No!”

“Yes!” Shadowcaster laughed “I’m afraid your last hope if gone, there’s nothing you can do to stop me now!”

 

Jamin dropped to his knees, staring at the ground between his legs.

“This can’t be happening,” he thought “after all I’ve been through, and it’s all just going to end here? I guess it can’t be helped, Josh.” The image of Josh floated before him and faded into the shadows “Kim,” Kim’s image floated in front of him now, before that too vanished into darkness “I’m sorry.”

He fell forwards, holding himself up with his arms and shutting his eyes tight.

“I did my best,”

“Quit sulking,” Josh’s voice rang in his ear.

“Huh?”

Jamin looked up and saw the ghostly image of Josh floating before him, arms folded.

“You’re gonna give up just cause you’re losing?” Josh asked “come on, what happened to the guy who would still draw even if he knew he was going to lose next turn anyway? Where’s the guy who would just keep coming back again and again with an even stronger deck? Where’s that guy, huh? Where is he?”

“Josh,”

“Pull yourself together Jamin,” Josh said “you’re not the sort of person to give up here.”

The image faded and Jamin bowed his head again.

“This is different,” he muttered “if I lose, then the whole world gets destroyed, there’s no room for fun anymore. I’ve got no choice but to win!”

 

“Huh? That’s not like you Jamin,” Kim’s voice echoed now.

Jamin looked up again, and saw Kim’s image standing in front of him again.

“Kim?”

“I thought you didn’t care about winning?” Kim asked “you always told me that a duel isn’t about winning or losing, but about how you play, the friends you make through it and the amount of fun you have.”

“Kim,”

“You always told me not to give up just because I was losing,” Kim explained “that’s why I like you Jamin, you never give in.”

“Kim?”

“I’m sorry, Jamin,” Kim sighed and bowed her head “I thought we could rely on you.”

“Huh?”

Kim’s imaged floated away from him and vanished once again.

“Kim!”

 

“What’s the matter?” Shadowcaster asked “going crazy? I guess I can’t blame you, after I am about to kill you.”

Jamin bowed his head again, screwing up his eyes.

“Shut up,” he said quietly.

“Huh?”

“I said shut up,” Jamin repeated “I’m not about to give up, not now.”

He got back to his feet and opened his eyes, they had become bloodshot and there were tears welling up in them.

“I can’t afford to just stop here,” he said “in fact I’m not going to give up until I destroy you.”

“Fitting words for someone about to die, Jamin,” Shadowcaster sneered.

Jamin’s eyes narrowed and he closed them again.

“Kim, Josh,” he muttered “there’s no need for you to doubt me any more, you’re right, I won’t give up. I’ll carry on dueling until this is over, even if I am going to lose.”

 

Josh suddenly glanced upwards. He stood up and turned around, gazing up at the gates.

“Now what?” Kim asked.

“I don’t know?” Josh asked “something, strange. It’s Jamin, I can feel it.”

“What’s he doing?” Kim asked.

“I don’t know,” Josh said “I can’t explain it but.”

He glanced down at the ground again.

“Whoever he’s dueling is in big trouble.”

He looked up again, and noticed that the shadow around the gates was fading. Josh’s eyes widened.

“Come on!” He called back to Kim.

 

He and Kim dashed towards the doors and pushed them open, dashing inside. They ran past the serpent head and carried one running. Josh spotted the trap door ahead of them. The fire burning in the straw was beginning to go out.

“Damn it, we have to hurry,” he snarled.

He grabbed Kim’s arm and hurled her forwards, she tripped over and rolled along the ground, tumbling down the trap hole. Josh dived after her, just getting through before the hatch closed above them. He ran down the steps and saw Kim at the bottom, rubbing her head.

“That hurt!” She complained “couldn’t you have thrown me a little less roughly?”

“We’re in aren’t we?” Josh said “come on, we can’t avoid to hesitate now.”

He marched past Kim and set foot on the maze in front of him.

“They’ve really made a mess of this place,” he muttered looking at the broken statues.

“Josh?” Kim walked up behind him.

“Don’t worry,” Josh said “we can get across here fine.”

Kim nodded and followed Josh along the path. They reached the end within minutes and ran through the door at the other end.

“I can’t see,” Kim complained.

“Wait,” Josh said.

He stopped and stared ahead of him; Kim stepped out from behind him and saw what was ahead of them.

“Jamin!”

Jamin looked about and saw Kim and Josh standing behind him, watching the duel.

 

“Hey guys,” he said, a smile cracking across his face “what kept you.”

“You two!” Shadowcaster snarled.

“Quiet methane mouth,” Josh said “mommy and daddy are talking.”

Josh turned his attention back to Jamin.

“I guess you found your way to the puzzle by yourself,” he said.

“Yeah,” Jamin nodded “I’ve been through a lot lately.”

He looked back over at Shadowcaster and his smile broadened.

“So, guess it’s time we finished this little charade then,” he said “no offence, but trying to destroy the world by playing a children’s card game is a little pathetic, especially seeing as there’s always a strong likelihood that you’ll lose.”

“Are you mocking me?” Shadowcaster growled.

“Yeah, I am,” Jamin said, his face returning to its normal expression “and the best thing about card games, is there’s no telling what comes next.”

“Huh?”

“Although, for a guy like me, luck is taken out of the equation completely,” Jamin placed two fingers on his deck and prepared to draw “ready to lose?” He asked.

“Don’t tell me, you think just one card will help you to win this duel?” Shadowcaster laughed.

“Of course,” Jamin said “watch.”

 

Jamin’s fingers tensed as they prepared to draw, and a wave of spirit energy suddenly filled the room.

“No way,” Josh gasped “he can’t be.”

“Josh?” Kim looked up at him “what’s wrong?”

Josh’s eyes were wide with both fear and amazement as he watched Jamin draw his card.

“I don’t know if I’m right,” Josh said “but I think Jamin’s about to do something that’s only ever been done by one other person.”

“Stop talking in riddles!” Kim yelled.

Josh turned to her.

“You remember the stories that my father told me, right?” He asked “about the Pharaoh, and the millennium items, and all the stuff like that.”

Kim nodded.

“Yeah, what about it?” She asked.

“Well, I don’t know exactly how to explain it,” Josh said “but trust me, this is gonna hurt.”

 

Shadowcaster’s body was being blown out behind him a very long way by the force of the energy that Jamin was giving off.

“Impossible,” he muttered “there’s no way, not him!”

Jamin looked up at Shadowcaster, grinning broadly. Then without even looking at the card placed it in his magic zone slot.

“Magic card,” he declared “Divine Fusion!”

“Huh?”

“H-he did it,” Josh gasped.

A bright light shone from Jamin’s graveyard, illuminating the whole room.

“I pay half my life points,” Jamin explained “and remove from play all the cards in my hand and on the field, then I remove from play fusion material monsters in my graveyard and special summon the specific fusion monster.”

“T-this can’t be happening,” Shadowcaster gasped

 

“Now I can finally summon, Kamika, Deity of Rebirth!” Jamin explained.

The light intensified to the point where Josh and Kim had to shield their eyes from it. Once it settled a new monster had formed on Jamin’s side of the field, glowing with light and illuminating the room.

“No way,” Josh gazed in awe at the monster.

The monster looked almost like the creator, only it had a hawks head and large golden wings, a large shield emblazoned with an eyes was clutched in one hand while a giant sword was clutched in the other, the hilt formed by a single Egyptian eye.

“That’s Jamin’s ultimate monster?” Kim stared up at it “amazing.”

“Thanks to the effect of Divine Fusion, my monster gains the same effect as the three monsters I fused for him,” Jamin explained “as well as his own effect.”

“And what would that be?” Shadowcaster asked.

“Well, for each card in my graveyard, you’re monster loses 100 attack points,” Jamin explained.

“W-what!?”

“And since my monster has 4000 attack points, I’m afraid that means you’re through,” Jamin said “Kamika, attack!”

 

Shadowcaster’s eyes widened as Jamin’s monster moved in for the kill. He raised his sword above his head and then brought it down, sending a blast of energy at Shadowcaster’s monster.

“I….I lost?” Shadowcaster gasped “even with my ultimate monster, I lost?”

Kamika’s attack struck Colorless directly and completely obliterated him.

“Impossible,” Shadowcaster said quietly.

The blast carried on, striking Shadowcaster and tearing up the path he was floating above, and struck the wall behind him, creating an almighty explosion. Dust fell down from the ceiling and rubble rolled along the floor. All Shadowcaster could do was stare into space as his life points depleted to zero. Jamin gave a sigh of relief as his monster vanished, then he leaned forwards and collapsed on the remains of the path he was standing on.

 

Episode 20:

 

“Jamin!” Kim ran over to him and attempted to pull him to his feet “Jamin! Jamin! Wake up, damn you!”

Jamin didn’t stir despite Kim’s efforts. Josh merely hung back, staring down at Jamin’s limp form.

“Idiot,” he muttered “putting so much force into one attack, he could have killed himself.”

Shadowcaster meanwhile could only float where he was, gazing ahead of him without even being aware of what was going on. Josh looked up at him. The items floating about inside him were beginning to drop out one by one, bouncing off the remains of the bridge and tumbling into the abyss. Josh looked down as they vanished into the darkness.

“Looks like they’re sealed again,” he muttered and heaved a sigh of relief “Zorc can resurrect without all of the items.”

 

He turned to leave.

“Come on Kim,” he said.

“Wait,” Kim said “I can’t carry Jamin, he’s way too heavy!”

Josh sighed and bent down, picking up Jamin’s body and draping it over his back.

“Coming?” He asked.

As they started to move towards the exit, the millennium puzzle dropped off Jamin’s neck and bounced along the ground. Josh froze as it did so, turning round to look at what was happening. Shadowcaster too seemed to have snapped out of his trance, as he watched the puzzle bounce to a stop and then begin to roll to the edge of the bridge.

“No!”

Josh and Shadowcaster both dived forwards, Josh made a wild swipe at the puzzle but missed, Shadowcaster made a similar movement but was too late to stop it from falling into the oblivion.

“Uh oh,” Josh muttered.

Shadowcaster dived down the pit, speeding towards where the puzzle and the rest of the items were still falling.

“We can’t go after him,” Kim said “we’ll die!”

Josh looked up at her.

“Come on,” he said “we have to get out of here and fast.”

 

He picked Jamin up again and turned towards the exit, sprinting as fast as he could, jumping across the gaps in the maze and reaching the end within seconds. He skidded to a halt at the steps leading up to the doorway.

“Wait, we can’t get through,” he gasped “the trap door’s closed.”

“What’ll we do now?” Kim asked.

Josh set Jamin down on the ground and sprinted up the stairs, his eyes glowing red again.

“The same thing as before!” He yelled back down.

He reached the hatch and placed both hands against it, pushing with all his might and releasing a colossal amount of energy as he did so. Kim looked down at Jamin and dragged him up the steps just in time to see Josh tears the stone hatch away and throw it aside.

“Amazing,” she gasped.

Josh stood still for a moment, panting. Then grabbed Jamin again and pulled him out of the hatch.

“Hurry,” he said.

A sudden rumble sounded throughout the crypt, coming from the chamber they had just left behind. A look of fear showed in Josh’s eyes.

“I think we’re too late,” he said.

 

Shadowcaster hurtled down the pit as fast as he could, gaining on the puzzle with every passing second. He reached out with a shadowy hand and closed his fist around the pendant. Immediately the puzzle glowed and the chamber above him shook, bits of rubble and debris began falling from the ceiling and what was left of the bridge collapsed completely. He sped up, catching sight of the rest of the items still falling.

“Soon master, soon,” he muttered.

He reached out and grabbed the eye and then began closing in on the rod.

“You’ll be revived soon master, I promise,” he said, reaching for the key.

 

Josh collapsed just outside the gates of the tomb, carrying Jamin on his back the whole way was no easy task.

“Dammit,” he grunted “why’d he have to go and do something stupid like that.”

“Josh I think we should keep moving,” Kim said.

Josh nodded and pushed himself to his feet again, moving down the steps.

“What’s happening?” Kim asked.

“The very thing we were trying to avoid,” Josh replied “come on, there’s nothing we can do now.”

Kim looked behind her as the gates collapsed behind them, blocking the exit with rubble.

 

“Well, at least he’s not going to get out,” Kim commented.

Josh looked behind him at the rubble.

“You think that’s going to stop him?” He snapped “listen to me and move!”

Kim looked back at him and hurried along behind him.

“What’ll happen now?” She asked “if this Zorc guy resurrects?”

“He destroys the world,” Josh said “and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

 

A sudden gust of wind exploded out of the chamber, cracking the rock and throwing Kim and Josh to the floor, Josh looked up, rubbing his temple as something massive forced its way into the open, laughing loud enough to wake the whole county. A giant black demon with massive wings, two horns curling out in front of him and oddly enough a dragon head extending from between his legs.

“Is that Zorc?” Kim asked.

“Yeah,” was all Josh could reply with.

Kim backed off, staring up at the monstrosity before them. She turned around and grabbed Jamin’s shoulders, shaking him roughly.

“Jamin!” She yelled “wake up, we need you! Jamin!”

“It’s not use,” Josh said “he can’t help us even if he was awake.”

“We’ve got to try,” Kim said, grabbing Jamin’s duel disk and inserting her own deck into it.

She ran forwards in front of Zorc and activated it. Zorc looked down at her without speaking.

“You want to destroy the world? Well just try!” Kim yelled up at him.

“Kim don’t!” Josh yelled.

“Hm,” Zorc stared down at Kim “I do need to absorb just one more soul to regain my full power, one with a spirit force so powerful nobody will be able to stop me.”

Kim braced herself, trying to stop her legs from shaking.

“However,” Zorc continued “you spirit power is small, it has potential to become something very powerful, but I’m afraid it’s not quiet enough!”

The dragon head opened it mouth and fired a stream of flame at Kim, Josh ran forwards and pulled Kim to the ground. The flames licked over them, just missing them. Zorc turned his attention to Josh.

“Hehe, that’s better,” he laughed “I can feel a strong force from you, and a powerful determination, yes you are a very powerful source.”

 

Josh narrowed his eyes, the iris slowly becoming red once again.

“But here,” Zorc looked over to Jamin currently slumped on the ground.

Zorc’s eyes widened with excitement as they fell on him and he began to laugh again.

“Perfect!” He jeered “a great power, almost as powerful as Haou, no greater than that. On level with the Pharaoh himself!” Zorc’s voice began to grow dizzy with excitement “yes, with his power I shall be invincible; he’ll be my opponent!”

“He can’t fight you!” Kim said “he’s too weak.”

“What a pity,” Zorc sighed “then we’ll just have to wait for him to wake up, won’t we.”

Josh glared up at Zorc, a mad look in his eyes.

“Why can’t you just duel me?” He said “leave Jamin out of this!”

Zorc glared down at him and fired another blast of flame at him. Josh dived out of the way just in time.

“You may be strong, but I’m afraid he’ll do much better,” Zorc said “with his power I can not just destroy the world, but the whole universe as well, complete and utter blackness, perfect bliss.”

“You…..”

Zorc fired again, just missing Josh for a third time.

 

“Looks like we’re seriously going to have to pin our hopes on Jamin,” Josh thought, gritting his teeth “again, always Jamin. Why? Am I nothing compared to him or something? I can beat him senseless in a duel, so why is he always taking the glory? Why?!”

He turned to glare at Jamin’s limp form, the red tinge around his eyes growing more and more prominent.

“If he loses then that’s it,” Josh thought “I’ve had enough of always taking back seat.”

 

Jamin stirred slightly, but then ceased moving, Kim gazed at him longingly.

“Jamin,” she muttered.

Josh glared at him, not saying a word.

 

“Do you think he’s dead?”

“Highly unlikely.”

“Well he did just overdo it like a hundred times over,”

“Come on, I’m sure he’s just sleeping it off,”

“Are you sure,”

“Hey! Let’s pour water over him!”

“How the heck will that help?”

Jamin opened his eyes blearily, only to have a phial of water thrown over him. He spluttered slightly and sat up.

“See, it worked!”

“He was already awake,”

Jamin recovered himself and looked around, he was in the same dark corridor of his mind that he’d visited last time, only now there were four people surrounding him. Hiita and Wynn were present for a start, but also Eria, a girl with long blue hair and a cute smile, and Aussa, who had short brown hair, glasses and a blank expression.

“Well he’s awake now,” Eria commented.

“Well technically you’ve just woken up his subconscious self in his mind that represents his personality,” Aussa said “therefore the real him is still asleep and we’re just talking to his essence.”

“Walking scroll that girl,” Hiita sighed.

Jamin looked about him, barely able to take in all of this.

“Err, am I supposed to say something?” He asked “like, where the hell am I?”

Eria gave him a very girly smile and leaned over to him.

“Well ‘thank you for waking me up and saving me from an eternal sleep’ might be a good start,” she said.

“He woke up before you drenched him idiot,” Hiita said, pulling Eria back.

“Gah, well try and give him all the credit why don’t you!” Eria blurted out.

 

“Oh and I suppose you could take on Zorc all by yourself can you?” Hiita replied.

“I can fight Zorc with both eyes closed!” Eria protested.

“Yeah, but you’d lose!” Hiita replied.

Jamin blinked as he watched the events proceed.

“Ignore them,” Aussa said “they’re always like that.”

“Oh,” Jamin commented “oh well.”

Eria and Hiita carried on glaring at each other and seemed completely oblivious to what was going on behind them.

“It’s amazing those two ever got along,” Aussa sighed.

“They’ve been arguing more and more lately,” Wynn muttered.

“One question,” Jamin said “what’s going on?”

“You exerted an extreme amount of spiritual energy in one go and ended up exceeding your bodies capabilities as a duelist,” Aussa said “in short you almost killed yourself.”

“Well what would you have me do?” Jamin retorted “lose?”

“No,” Aussa said “but you could at least have tried to hold back just a small bit.”

“What she’s trying to say is you should try to learn to control your spirit energy,” Wynn said “so until you’ve mastered it, I wouldn’t go up against any humongous powerful destroyers of worlds just yet.”

“Sure, I’ll keep that in mind,” Jamin said.

 

“That’s no use!” Hiita suddenly yelled “Zorceinstien’s already broken free from his seal and is hell bent on eating your soul and growing even more powerful! You need to get a grip on yourself now and try not to kill yourself this time!”

“Hiita, calm down,” Wynn pleaded “there’s no way he’s going to learn to control it just like that.”

“Are you quiet finished?”

Hiita looked round and froze, noticing the forms of Hand of Nephthys, the Creator Incarnate and Horus’ Servant standing behind her.

“Err, I was just…I mean, me and Jamin were,” Hiita stammered.

“Enough,” the Creator Incarnate interrupted her “Jamin’s not going to learn to control his powers if you just yell at him.”

Hiita backed off, irritated. Hand of Nephthys moved forwards and knelt down in front of Jamin.

“You’re not going to ask me to duel you are you?” He asked.

“That would take up too much time,” Hand of Nephthys said “and I’m afraid that’s something we’re running out of.”

“What then?” Jamin asked.

Hand of Nephthys reached out and placed both hands on Jamin’s temple.

“Just relax,” she explained “I’m going to show you something.”

 

A sudden spasm shot through Jamin, and he felt himself falling through something. He closed his eyes, waiting for some form of impact. But when his feet hit earth, it was soft and weightless. He opened his eyes and noticed that he was just outside his own front floor. He looked up as the door opened. A tall woman with elbow length sandy hair and green eyes stepped out and walked up the path.

“Mom?”

Jamin moved forwards, but the woman merely walked right through him and up the street. A loud voice sounded from inside the house and a small six year old Jamin ran out of the door and in front of his mother.

“That’s me?” Jamin gasped “but why?”

“Mommy, you forgot to hug me before you left!” The chibi Jamin complained.

“Oh my,” the woman sighed “well, never mind.”

She bent down and embraced the small child warmly. Jamin felt his cheeks turn red slowly, before he shook himself.

“You’ll do good today, right?” Chibi Jamin said.

“Yeah,” his mum nodded “I’ll do good.”

“Good!”

“Why do I have to watch this?” Jamin sighed.

The image in front of him froze and melted away. Hearing something behind him Jamin turned around and saw the inside of the Kaiba dome, a cheering crowd creating an almighty din around the edges and an announcer just distinguishable over the rant of the crowd.

“And here were are folks, a truly historic battle taking place before us now,” it said “Tenjoin Fubuki vs Tsubasa Shia.”

“My mum’s dueling?” Jamin muttered.

“Just watch, I could speed it up if you like,”

“No thanks,” Jamin said “I can watch fine.”

 

“I’ll go first,” Shia said.

“I’d forgotten my mum used to duel,” Jamin muttered aloud “it’s been so long I mean.”

“I summon Bountiful Artemis in attack mode,” Shia declared “and place two cards face down.”

“My draw then,”

“He’s getting on in years,” Jamin commented “I wonder why he’s still dueling?”

“I summon Red Eyes Black Chick!” Fubuki declared “but I’m not done with that, next I can sacrifice him and summon Red Eyes Black Dragon!”

“Uh oh,” Jamin muttered.

“Now I’ll play Inferno Fire blast,” Fubuki said “meaning you lose 2400 life points.”

Red Eyes opened its mouth and shot a fireball at Shia, dropping her life points to 1600.

“Next, I’ll play Polymerization,” Fubuki declared “and fuse my red eyes with my Dark Hex sealed fusion to summon the Black Skull Dragon!”

“He’s gonna win in one turn!” Jamin gasped.

“Not yet, watch,”

“Black Skull Dragon attack Bountiful Artemis,” Fubuki declared.

Fubuki’s monster reared its head and shot a flaming meteor at Shia’s monster.

“I reveal my face down,” Shia declared “Negate attack!”

 

An invisible wall rose from nowhere and deflected the meteor, leaving Shia unscathed.

“I place one card face down and end my turn,” Fubuki said.

“My draw then,” Shia said “I play the magic card pot of greed, allowing me to draw two cards.”

“I’m pretty sure everyone knows what that does by now,” Jamin sighed.

“Next I set one card face down and switch my monster into defense mode,” Shia said “with that I’ll end my turn.”

“My draw,” Fubuki declared “and I activate big bang shot, giving my dragon an extra 400 attack but also giving him the power to inflict piercing damage.”

“No way!”

“Black Skull Dragon, destroy Bountiful Artemis!” Fubuki declared.

The dragon fired again.

“I play Draining shield,” Shia declared “allowing me to negate your attack and increase my life points.”

“I don’t think so,” Fubuki replied “I play my trap jammer, negating your card.”

“I do think so either,” Shia said “I have my own trap jammer, and mine cancels out yours.”

Fubuki gritted his teeth as his trap card smashed.

“And you’ve activated another effect,” Shia said “because now I can activate the effect of my Dark Ruler Vandalgyon!”

“The what!”

A bolt of black thunder shot out of Shia’s card, striking the ceiling and creating a grey cloud. Out of it a giant dark blue dragon descended, crackling with black lightning.

“And thanks to his effect, if I use a counter trap to negate another trap then I can destroy one card on your side of the field,” Shia explained “so your big bang shot bites it along with your dragon!”

Fubuki’s card smashed and the Black Skull Dragon was removed from play.

“N-no way,” Fubuki stammered.

“You’re getting sloppy in your old age,” Shia smirked, drawing a card “for my turn, I play the spell card gift of the Martyr, allowing me to sacrifice my Bountiful Artemis and add his attack points to my Dark Ruler.”

Bountiful Artemis vanished from sight and Dark Ruler Vandalgyon’s attack rose to 4400.

 

Fubuki took a nervous step backwards.

“Dark Ruler Vandalgyon, attack Fubuki directly!” Shia ordered “Dark Thunder Smasher!”

Dark Ruler Vandalgyon flapped his wings and sent a fork of black lightning at Fubuki, striking him directly and reducing his life points to zero.

“Tsubasa Shia is the winner!” The announcer declared “what a duel…”

 

The picture faded and Jamin found himself walking through darkness once again.

“What was that supposed to show me?” He asked.

“It wasn’t that that was important,” Hand of Nephthys explained “it’s what happened afterwards.”

Jamin looked round and saw his mother in the waiting room, sobbing about something. She was holding the Dark Ruler Vandalgyon card in her hand.

“Why?” She asked “isn’t this enough? Do you know what I have to do for this?”

“Do not forget that you serve me,” the card replied “so as you use me I take my rent in your dueling energy, the more you exert the more I grow stronger.”

“Then what’s wrong with what I’m giving you already?” Shia asked.

“It’s not enough!” The card replied “I need more; I need you to use your whole ability.”

“I can’t just do that,” Shia said “if I do it too much I’ll.”

“Enough!” The card cut across her “either you do as I say or I’ll take your son’s energy instead.”

At this Jamin froze, barely able to hear what was going on anymore.

 

The scene changed again, this time Shia was in the middle of a duel with a boy with long dark hair and a Cyber End Dragon resting behind him. Shia had Dark Ruler Vandalgyon, Harvest angel of Wisdom and Meltiel, Sage of the Sky.

“Remember,” Jamin heard the card whisper “use as much as you can!”

Shia gritted her teeth. Jamin then felt a sudden release of energy, powerful enough for him to feel even from here.

“This is what I did?” He muttered “I wonder if it was this scary to watch.”

Shia’s opponent backed off nervously. Shia drew her card, a light shining from it momentarily.

“I play the magic card Dark Will,” Shia said “for this turn, when one of my monsters destroys one of yours; you lose the attack of that monster from your life points.”

“Never heard of it,” the duelist scoffed “besides, non of your monsters can even scratch mine.”

“That’s why I’m also playing this,” Shia said “Union attack.”

“Isn’t that the one where one of your monsters gains the attack points of all your other monsters?” The duelist asked.

“Precisely,” Shia explained, panting slightly “but it means you receive no damage, of course Dark Will makes up for that quiet nicely.”

The Duelist was now genuinely scared.

“Now pour all of your soul into this attack,” Vandalgyon ordered.

Jamin could almost see the spirit energy being sucked out of his mother and into Vandalgyon.

“Mum,” he muttered.

 

“Dark Ruler Vandalgyon, destroy Cyber End Dragon!” Shia ordered.

Shia’s dark ruler reared up and fired, hitting the Cyber End Dragon and completely destroying it, depleting the duelist’s life points to zero. The result of the attack caused a colossal explosion that sent both duelists flying backwards and a large crater in the middle of the floor.

“Mum!” Jamin unfroze and ran over to where his mother had fallen, however the body and scenery faded into mist before he could reach her “why?” He asked the air “why did she do that?”

“Dark Ruler Vandalgyon is an evil spirit,” Hand of Nephthys explained “he feeds of the energy of the duelist using him, although your mother’s soul was reflected by the fairies she used, the Dark Ruler was a small corruption in her soul, and that was what ultimately caused her death.”

“And I thought it was just a fault in the duel system,” Jamin muttered “she was killed by a spirit; they can really be that dangerous?”

“Yes,” Hand of Nephthys explained “Zorc is planning to do something similar to you, only he’ll devour every particle of energy from you, you’ll barely have any physical existence left.”

“And if I let loose again like I did with Diablo then I’ll die anyway,” Jamin finished “so I’ve just got to learn to control by powers here and now, with no practice at all?”

 

“Admittedly, you are not yet ready to face Zorc,” Hand of Nephthys replied “it would take a good few years of training for you to get to that level, however we have no choice, you must face him as you are now.”

Jamin turned to look at her.

“What if I refuse to duel him?” He asked.

“He’ll start his rampage anyway,” Hand of Nephthys replied “until you do duel him, and then he plans to absorb your power and finish his assault, unless you beat him in a duel, there’s no way to save the earth.”

“And what happens I fail?” Jamin asked.

“Then this world will fall,” Hand of Nephthys replied “and next the spirit world, dark world and the rest of the 12 dimensions.”

“Guess I have no choice then,” Jamin sighed.

He turned around and saw that the four charmers were standing behind him.

“You guys, huh?” He muttered “I remember I started to get good at dueling when I got you.”

“You expected something else?” Hiita sneered “we’re your spirit monsters after all, in fact…”

Horus’ servant, The Creator Incarnate, Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, Horus the Black Flame Dragon, The Creator, Homunculus the alchemic being, Elemental Mistress Doriado, Element Doom, Element Soldier, Element Valkyrie, Element Saurus, Element Magician and Element Dragon all appeared behind the charmers.

“We’re all your spirits,” Eria finished “neat huh?”

“So many spirits for one person,” Jamin mused.

“It reflects you level of power,” Aussa explained “a duelist who can make his whole deck come to life deserves the highest praise.”

Jamin smiled down at her.

“Well I guess this means one thing,” he turned back to Hand of Nephthys “let’s go,” he said “I’ve got an appointment with an ugly bugger with a dragon for a penis and I’m not going to miss it.”

Hand of Nephthys nodded and waved her hand. The image before Jamin shattered and he blacked out again.

 

“I warn you!” Zorc said “if he doesn’t wake up soon, I’m going to take my wrath out on this world anyway, soul or no soul.”

“Why don’t you just duel me?” Josh said, activating his duel disk “come on, I’m just as good as him any day, plus you’ll get more power anyway.”

Zorc murmured something inaudible, staring down at Josh.

“I think not!” He said.

The dragon between his legs fired another jet of flame at Josh. Having no time to dodge, Josh raised his arms above his head in a vain attempt to block the attack. A shadow fell over him and the flames never hit. He looked up to see the Creator kneeling in front of him, having blocked the flame.

“What?!”

Zorc turned his gaze to where Jamin was, noticing that he was on his feet with his duel disk active and a smile on his face.

“Surprised?” He asked.

“You can call spirits to this world without any kind of amplifier?” Zorc commented “very impressive, pity it’s going to such a waste.”

“Quit the trash talk,” Jamin said, inserting a spell card into his duel disk now.

An explosion suddenly impacted against Zorc’s chest, knocking him backwards.

“Grr…”

Jamin strode forwards, returning the two cards to his deck and shuffling before inserting it back.

“So how about it destroyed of worlds?” He asked “let’s you and me play a little card game to decide the fate of the world, I’ll lead.”

Jamin was grinning broadly, his duel disk ready to take whatever card he cared to play.

 

Episode 21:

 

“Foolish mortal,” Zorc laughed “I cannot believe you’re so full of yourself, but very well. Let us duel!”

5 tablets suddenly burst out of the ground in front of Zorc.

“Wow,” Jamin gasped in awe.

“But this game is going to be slightly different,” Zorc explained “we won’t be having any life points; we’ll just keep dueling until the other drops.”

“That’s a bit unfair isn’t it?” Kim asked “I mean, he’s huge!”

“Forget it, Kim,” Jamin said “I’ve been waiting for a duel like this, now I’m gonna duel till I drop.”

“Hehe, drop it right,” Zorc laughed “Let us duel!”

 

Jamin nodded and drew six cards from his deck.

“I’ll do the honors,” he said “by summoning Familiar Possessed Aussa in attack mode!”

Jamin’s Earth Charmer rose out of the ground in front of him, gripping her staff tight.

“You ready?” Jamin asked.

“As ever,” Aussa replied.

“I’ll lay two cards face down,” Jamin said “and play the magic card Double Summon, meaning I can now call two more monsters to my side of the field, and I choose Storming Wynn and Element Doom!”

Two more monsters appeared beside Aussa, Wynn in her summoning form and Jamin’s Elemental gargoyle.

“And now that I have an Earth and Wind monster on the field, my Element Doom’s full effect is activated, but more on that later. I end my turn.”

“Heh, what a waste,” Zorc scoffed “my turn.”

A sixth tablet rose out of the ground in front of Zorc.

“Ah perfect,” he said “I summon Avatar of the Pot!”

“Avatar of the What?”

One of Zorc’s tablets spun round and smashed, revealing a strange green genie with a pot of greed for a head.

“What the….”

“Now I play his effect,” Zorc explained “by sending Pot of Greed to the graveyard, I draw three cards.”

One of Zorc’s tablets smashed and three more rose up to replace it.

“Hehe, I’ll end my turn there,” he laughed.

“Huh, you’re not going to do anything else?”

“Do I need to?” Zorc asked.

 

“Well, no,” Jamin replied drawing a card “but it helps, especially when I’m about to do this! Element Doom, destroy his Avatar!”

Element Doom leapt forwards, brining his claws down on Zorc’s monster and destroying it.

“Now since there’s a wind monster on the field, he can attack again,” Jamin ordered “Wynn, Aussa, Element Doom. Direct attack!”

All three of Jamin’s monsters leapt into the air, firing their various attacks at Zorc and kicking up a large amount of dust. Jamin smirked as his three monsters landed back on his side of the field.

“Did we get him?” Wynn asked.

“Most likely,” Aussa replied, pushing her glasses further up her nose.

Jamin grinned and looked up at Zorc, the smoke cleared and revealed him still standing where he was without a scratch on him.

“You’re kidding,” Jamin gasped “an attack like that should have taken out well over 4000 life points, and I should have won already.”

“Forgetting something?” Zorc asked “remember, we’re playing with our energy, not life points. And I’m afraid my dueling energy is almost infinite, so a measly attack like that doesn’t even come close to finishing me off.”

A new tablet rose in front of Zorc.

“I play card of sanctity,” Zorc said “and remove all of my hand from play to draw two cards.”

“What?”

“That hand was useless,” Zorc explained as all his tablets smashed and two more rose out of the ground “now I can create a new one, so I activate Chaos Greed, allowing me to draw twice again.”

“This isn’t looking good,” Wynn mused.

“What’s up?” Jamin asked.

“Removing his whole hand from play like that,” Wynn said “he must be planning something big.”

“Whatever it is I’ll just have to stay strong, won’t I?” Jamin said.

“I guess,” Wynn said.

 

“Are you finished?” Zorc asked “because I’m playing the spell card chaos end.”

Another of Zorc’s tablet’s smashed and a light suddenly filled the sky above him.

“Chaos end,” Jamin muttered “isn’t that the one where he destroys every card on the field?”

“Precisely!” Zorc laughed.

“Uh oh.”

A sudden reign of meteors and other debris suddenly reigned down from the sky, hitting Jamin’s field and obliterating every card on it.

“Wynn, Aussa!”

“Hehe, where are your friends now?” Zorc asked “in the graveyard, that’s where!”

“Grr.”

“I’ll finish by playing Cyber Archfiend in defense mode,” Zorc said “and setting one card face down.”

A metallic version of the summoned skull broke out of Zorc’s next tablet in a crouched position, and the second tablet fell over.

“My draw then,” Jamin said “I place one monster in defense mode, then activate the trap card DNA transplant, meaning I can change the attribute of all monsters on the field to whatever attribute I want, and I choose fire!”

“What’s the point in that?” Zorc laughed, “Your monster is face down!”

“Maybe, but yours is still affected,” Jamin said.

Zorc looked down at his monster as it burst into flames.

“And that leads us to our next face down card,” Jamin said “reveal face down Desert Sunlight!”

A soon as Jamin’s trap card flipped up a light suddenly illuminated the sky, pushing the night aside. Zorc threw one arm over his face to try and shade his eyes.

“And now the effect of Desert Sunlight allows me to flip all my monsters face up,” Jamin said “such as my face down Hiita the Fire Charmer.”

“Fire Charmer?”

Jamin’s defense monster flipped up, revealing the red head.

“Now Hiita’s effect allows me to take control of one fire attribute monster on my opponent’s side of the field,” Jamin said “such as your Cyber Archfiend!”

Hiita closed her eyes and began chanting, a red aura spread around her and the Cyber Archfiend, pulling the monster to Jamin’s side of the field.

 

“That card is useless to you,” Zorc laughed “he’ll be destroyed at the end of your turn anyway.”

“Are you pretending to be stupid?” Jamin asked “or are those horns growing into your brain?”

“Grr.”

“I play the effect of Familiar Possessed Hiita,” Jamin said “by sending Hiita the Fire Charmer and any Fire attribute monster on my side of the field, I can special summon her from my deck.”

Both Jamin’s monsters burst into balls of fire and merged together, the ball broke apart to reveal an older version of Hiita standing where the original Hiita had been.

“Am I late?” She asked.

“Not at all,” Jamin grinned “the party’s just starting. Hiita attack Zorc directly!”

“Kurenai tsurubeuchi!” Hiita chanted.

Hiita raised her staff and fired six fireball’s at Zorc, each one hitting him square on.

“I’ve definitely won now,” Jamin declared.

“Not so fast, you fool!” Zorc laughed “I still have energy left!”

“No way,” Jamin gasped “I’ve done more than 6000 points of damage to you, how can you still be up?”

“Ha, 6000 is a mere fraction of my energy,” Zorc replied “you cannot defeat me.”

 

“Yeah, we’ll just see about that,” Jamin said.

“And in any case, you’ve set of my trap card,” Zorc said “I activate Destructive Draw, meaning I can draw two cards this turn instead of one.”

Two stone tablets burst out of the ground in front of Zorc.

“You can’t win a duel just by drawing,” Jamin said.

“All I need to do is endure your pitiful attacks until I draw exactly the cards I want,” Zorc said.

“Oh, and what would that be?” Jamin said “Because no matter what monster you throw at me I’ll just send it straight to the graveyard where it belongs.”

“I’m afraid this monster will never see a graveyard as long as he lives,” Zorc laughed “just think carefully about which monster can possibly represent me in terms of power.”

“Yeah, sure whatever,” Jamin replied.

“Do not underestimate me!” Zorc said “I summon Cybernetic Cycloptian in attack mode.”

A green ogre-cyborg monster broke out of another of Zorc’s tablets, growling at Jamin.

“So you can summon little green me,” Jamin smirked.

“Do not take him so lightly,” Zorc said “after I place this face down, his attack points raise to 2400.”

“Just because you have a face down?” Jamin queried.

“No,” Zorc replied “because there are no cards in my hand, that’s why.”

“Oh,” Jamin replied “I knew that.”

“Cybernetic Cyloptian, attack Familiar Possessed Hiita!” Zorc ordered.

“Jamin,” Hiita said nervously.

“Don’t worry,” Jamin said “this won’t do much.”

 

Zorc’s monster smashed straight through Hiita and carried on towards Jamin.

“What the..!?”

The creature’s fist was driven into Jamin’s stomach, winding him and knocking him to the flaw.

“Can you feel it?” Zorc asked “your energy being drained from your body? If you can barely stand from an attack life that then there’s no way you can stand up against me!”

“Jamin, you okay?”

Jamin looked up and saw the spirit of Hiita standing beside him.

“Never better,” he replied, getting to his feet “he may be able to pull of a good move now and then but this guy can barely duel at all, I just have to hit him enough times to get the message across. My turn.”

Jamin drew a new card from his deck.

“I play pot of greed,” he said “but since we all know what that does I’m not even going to bother explaining. Anyway with the two new cards I got I’m gonna summon the Creator Incarnate.”

A thunder clap sounded from above and struck Jamin’s field, illuminating it momentarily before Jamin’s warrior materialized before them.

“You know the deal right?” Jamin asked.

His monster nodded and drew his sword, slamming it into the ground. A sudden rush of energy blasted from the spot he struck and the Creator himself rose out of it, banging his fists together.

“Say hello to god number one,” Jamin smirked “so, how’s it feel when I get the ultimate monster out first?”

“About as entertaining as watching mortals farm,” Zorc said “your monster cannot scratch me.”

“Lucky I can still do this then,” Jamin said “by discarding Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 from my hand, I get to resurrect one monster from my graveyard.”

The Creator held out both hands, lightning crackled between them and struck the ground, recreating the image of Familiar Possessed Hiita.

“Heh, did ya’ miss me?” She grinned.

“Next I play a spell card,” Jamin said “level modulation, allowing me to special summon Horus LV6 from my graveyard, but then you draw two cards.”

“What!?” Two stone tablets rose out of the ground in front of Zorc and his monster’s attack points dropped back to 1400.

“And finally I play the spell card Level Up,” Jamin said “meaning I send Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 to the graveyard, and special summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8!”

Horus was engulfed in black flames and suddenly grew in size, becoming stronger and more ferocious with each second before finally bursting out of his cocoon.”

“I’ll finish off by playing this card,” Jamin said “reasoning, meaning you choose a level and I pick up cards from my deck until I draw a monster I can normal summon, if it’s the level I selected all my cards go to the grave, if not I put the cards in my hand and special summon the monster.”

 

“You’re gambling a lot on this,” Zorc laughed “I choose level 4.”

Jamin picked up four cards from his deck until drawing a monster.

“Too bad,” he smirked “you’ve chosen the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!”

A pillar of fire burst into life beside Hiita and Jamin’s Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys rose out of it, rising into the air with a screech.”

“Jamin, I’m kinda feeling out of place here,” Hiita muttered.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jamin replied “cause what I’ve got planned, is gonna hurt like hell. Hiita, attack Cybernetic Cycloptian!”

“Payback time!” Hiita laughed.

Hiita flew forwards, charging a fireball with her fist and slamming it straight into the creature’s belly, destroying him.

“Ata girl,” Jamin said “now Horus, Nephthys and Creator, attack Zorc directly!”

Jamin’s three monsters charged their attacks and fired three bursts at Zorc, all three hitting him directly and resulting in a massive explosion in Zorc’s stomach.

 

“You’ve got to be dead now,” Jamin said.

The smoke cleared and Zorc was still standing as undamaged as ever.

“For the love of Yugioh, how the hell are you still standing!” Jamin yelled “I’ve given you well over 10,000 points of damage by now, you should be on the floor in a heap not standing there laughing like an overgrown Billy goat with the horns to match!”

“Your petty mockery won’t win you this duel,” Zorc said “do you honestly believe that you pathetic monsters can harm me? Remember I managed to take out the three Egyptian gods single handed.”

Jamin grimaced and tightened one hand into a fist as he glared up at Zorc, imagining the scene of Zorc fighting the three gods.

“The Pharaoh was a fool, he sent such pitiful creatures against me,” Zorc explained “not even their most powerful attacks could destroy me, no matter how many times they went at me I ended up defeating their gods. Then there was that white dragon the high priest sent at me, I’ll admit he did make a mildly amusing opponent but I defeated him in seconds, only to have a new dragon attack me. Not even that could defeat me, not even when the Pharaoh decided to fuse himself with it.” Zorc paused; he was panting for breath just remembering the scene “everything they threw at me I threw back double, there was nothing they could do to stop me.”

“Forgetting something?” Jamin asked.

“Huh?”

“I’ve heard the stories about the Pharaoh and you, you might have defeated his gods cards alone, but they creamed you when they fused together,” he said “they beat you, and I’m going to beat you too!”

“Silence!” Zorc yelled “I will not hear another word from you! You’re pathetic demi-gods have nothing that can stand up to my might.”

“Bring it on.” Jamin said “I’m ready!”

“Very well,”

A new tablet burst out of the ground in front of Zorc.

“I play my face down card,” Zorc said “return from the different dimension.”

“Hm,”

“This allows me to special summon as many monsters as possible that were removed from play,” Zorc said “normally it would involve paying half my life points, but in this case it’ll take half my energy and pour it into the monsters I summon.”

“Say what!?”

“Hehe, now I special summon Plague Wolf and Malice Doll of Demise!”

A black wolf that looked as though it were on fire and a very ugly wooden doll wieling a chopping axe rose out of the ground in front of Zorc surrounded by black energy.

“Damn,” Jamin muttered “I can feel that energy burning from here, and this is only half of what he has left?”

“Now since these two will be removed from the game at the end of the turn again, there’s no use in having them lying around,” Zorc said “so I’ll tribute them both…”

Shadowcaster floated up till he was beside Zorc’s shoulder, staring down at the duel. Zorc reached up and grabbed him.

“Huh, what are you doing?” Shadowcaster demanded.

“Diablo, allow me to show you your true purpose,” Zorc said “behold your true form!”

Zorc plunged his fist with Shadowcaster in it into one of the tablets still standing, cracking it. The two monsters on Zorcs field were also sucked into the tablet and it began shaking.

“Behold,” Zorc said, removing his fist “Diablos, King of the Abyss!”

The tablet smashed and a massive black dragon with huge spines on his head and neck, and bound in chains reared out of it.

 

“So that’s Diablo’s true form, huh?” Jamin asked.

“Yes,” Zorc replied “and with the energy I poured into the two monsters I sacrificed, he now has half of my energy, so this next attack is only half of what you’d feel if I were to attack you! Diablos, attack Familiar Possessed Hiita, Abyssal Inferno!”

Diablos roared and reared up again, forming a black fireball in his mouth.

“Uh oh,” Hiita muttered.

Diablo’s fired the shot at Hiita, completely obliterating her and causing an explosion large enough to tear several houses apart easily. Jamin felt himself getting thrown backwards by the force of it and tossed into the air like a paper bag. He hit the earth hard a few seconds later, several meters away from where he had been standing.

“Jamin!” Kim yelled.

“Haha,” Zorc laughed “do you comprehend my power now? You’ve felt a mere fraction of what I can do, there is no sense left in continuing with this pathetic display.”

Jamin got to his feet shakily, glaring up at Zorc.

“Hm, impressive that you’re able to survive all that,” Zorc said “you must truly be a destined duelist.”

 

[TotalObelisk]

[spoiler=the rest of the previous]“Cut that out,” Jamin said, walking back to his place on the field “destined duelist or not, I’m going to beat you and get back to the day where card games were just a harmless hobby I played for the fun of it. You’ve taken my life, twisted it about and flung it in the blender and I’m sick of it, I’m going to beat you here and now.”

Jamin placed his hand on his deck, focusing his energy again.

“Jamin, don’t expend all your energy,” he heard the warning voice of Hand of Nephthys.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered back “I won’t.”

The top card of his deck glowed and he prepared to draw.

“Not so fast,” Zorc said “I played the effect of Diablos.”

“Huh?”

“I get to look at the top card of your deck,” Zorc said “and if I don’t like it I send it straight to the bottom.”

“Fine then,” Jamin said.

The card vanished and appeared in front of Zorc.

“Hehe, what a pity. This card would have saved you a great deal of trouble,” Zorc said “but I’m afraid it’s going straight to the bottom of your deck.

The card vanished from in front of Zorc and reappeared at the bottom of Jamin’s deck.

“You can draw now,” Zorc said.

 

“Fine,” Jamin said, drawing his new card “but it’s going to hurt. I’ll play Pot of Avarice, which is actually just called Pot of Greed in a different language but that’s not important, because it let’s me put five monsters in my graveyard back in my deck, shuffle and draw twice, so I choose Familiar Possessed Hiita, Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6, the Creator Incarnate, Familiar Possessed Aussa and Element Doom.”

Jamin’s selected cards fell out of his graveyard and he shuffled them back into his deck and drew two more cards.

“I’m waiting,” Zorc said.

“Heh,” Jamin grinned “Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 has 3000 attack points, and your monsters only has 2800, so this’ll be easy pickings. Horus attack Diablos.”

Horus flew upwards, charging a black and red fireball in his mouth. Diablo mimicked him, soaring to the same level and forming a black and blue fireball in his mouth. Both dragons fired at each other, their attacks hitting in the centre and causing a powerful wind to sweep through the valley.

“Tough luck,” Jamin said “your dragon is weaker than mine.”

“Oh, is he?” Zorc said.

The blue flame suddenly began to push back the red flame, piercing straight through it until it hit Horus and destroyed him.

“What?!”

“This is no ordinary game,” Zorc said “the strength of a monster is determined on how much energy its master has poured into it, I’ve put half my power into that dragon, so it is now superior to all your pathetic gods put together!”

“This has got to be cheating,” Jamin muttered.

“Oh no, I just didn’t tell you all the rules when we began!” Zorc laughed “now that you know everything, you won’t waste your energy drawing the cards you want.”

Jamin glared up at him: “I don’t need to use up all my energy for that,” he said “I’ve got all the cards I need right here. I lay one card face down and switch the Creator and Nephthys into defense mode, and then I’ll end my turn.”

 

“Heh, hiding behind your monsters,” Zorc laughed “well don’t try and fool me. I know that if I destroy you bird you can just use the Creator’s effect to bring it straight back, not that it will matter. Your strategy is weak, Diablos attack the Creator!”

Diablos charged another black fireball and fired it at the Creator.

“I play my trap card,” Jamin said “Negate attack, meaning your attack is stopped.”

“Not unless you pour enough of your energy into it to exceed the energy from the attack!” Zorc said.

Jamin balled his hand into a fist and glared at Zorc. The flame attack hit an invisible wall of ripples and stopped, attempting to break through. Jamin’s arms shook as he concentrated on holding back the attack. Eventually the fire dispersed and the attack failed, Jamin stumbled backwards but managed to stay on his feet.

“Impressive,” Zorc said “it seems you still have enough energy left to exceed half of mine, but with that you’ve expended enough energy for me to destroy you with my next attack, I’ll end my turn there.”

 

“My draw then,” Jamin said “I guess I’ll just be laying one card face down.”

“Is that it?” Zorc asked “because you can’t afford to waste any more energy blocking my attacks, you’re going to have to fight back this time.”

“Why don’t you just attack and find out?” Jamin said.

“Maybe I will,” Zorc said as another tablet rose out of the ground in front of him “Diablo’s attack and destroy his Creator!”

Diablos charged a fireball again and shot it straight at Jamin’s monster.

“You can’t afford to give up any more energy,” Zorc said “so say goodbye to your Creator.”

“As if,” Jamin said “because I play my trap card.”

“Haven’t I told you it’s useless,” Zorc said “the energy of my attack far exceeds the energy you have left, so you can’t afford to waste any more.”

“Look again,” Jamin said “because my face down card is Draining Shield.”

“What?”

A dome surrounded Jamin and his monsters, deflecting Diablos’ attack with ease.

“Normally Draining Shield would increase my life points by the attack points of the attacking monster,” Jamin explained “but in this case since its energy being fired at me it’ll just replenish that instead.”

“No!”

“Yes!” Kim yelled “he used Zorc’s own twisted ruled against him, take that you overgrown goat!”

“Be Silent!” Zorc yelled, loud enough to cause a slight landslide in the valley “one lucky move won’t be enough to save you!”

Jamin wasn’t listening, he was too busy clenching and unclenching his fist, admiring the energy he could feel radiating out of it.

“That’s better,” he said “not as much as I normally have but certainly an improvement.”

He looked back up at Zorc as the shield vanished.

“I’d say something around 25,000 life points or something?” He mused “probably more, I don’t know.”

“Don’t mock me mortal!” Zorc yelled “you cannot possibly comprehend my power!”

“If this is half your energy plus a bit of mine then that means I exceed you,” Jamin said “meaning that a strong enough monster is enough to blow your dragon out of the skies.”

“Hah, pathetic fool,” Zorc laughed “your strongest monster is destroyed, there’s nothing you can do now.”

“We’ll just see, shall we?” Jamin said “because it’s coming up to my turn now, and I’ve got a good feeling about my next card.”

Jamin drew a new card from his deck, placing it in his hand.

“Looks like everything is set up nicely,” he said “just a couple more cards and I’m done. For now I’ll lay this face down and end my turn.”

 

“Is that it?” Zorc asked “is that all your great plan is? Keep in mind that I’m about to send half my power at you again, and if that card is one to block my attack you’ll need more than half my power to stop it, meaning that you’ll spend nearly all the energy you gained from your little trick before.”

“You just never shut up,” Jamin sighed “you gonna attack or not.”

“I will,” Zorc said “but first I play Big Bang Shot.”

Another of Zorc’s tablet’s smashed and a metallic gauntlet fused itself around Diablos’ arm.

“Now not only does he get a power boost, but he’ll inflict damage to you even if your monster is in defense mode,” Zorc explained “so unless you’ve got a good plan this duel will be over on my next turn, Diablos attack the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!”

Diablos flew into the air, charging another fireball in his mouth and firing straight at Nephthys. The attack hit dead on and destroyed Nephthys before continuing on to hit Jamin as well.

“I play my trap card,” he said “Dimension Wall!”

“What!?”

“You heard me,” Jamin said “Dimension Wall, you might have destroyed my monster, but I’ve got a bit of bad news for you.”

The attack was suddenly drawn into a black portal floating beside Jamin and vanished from sight.

“What have you done?” Zorc demanded.

“To put it simply, I’ve just taken all that damage that you were about to throw at me,” Jamin explained “and thrown I straight back at you!”

“What?!”

Zorc turned round and saw a portal similar to the one that had absorbed his monster’s attack opening beside him and glowing with the oncoming presence of his monster’s attack.

“No!”

The volley of fire streamed out of the portal like Champaign, striking Zorc directly and surrounding him with an intense burning flame. His screams could most likely be heard all the way back in Japan. Once the torment was over, Zorc was still smoking, his body was very badly singed all over and he was panting with exhaustion. He toppled over onto his knees with an almighty rumble that might have been an earthquake.

“Almost half your energy thrown right back at you,” Jamin grinned “and you only had half left, so in other words one more attack and you’re history.”

“No!” Zorc yelled “I will not be defeated here! Do you hear me? I shall never fall!”

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 22:

 

[spoiler=episode]“No point sulking over it,” Jamin said “Guess now I’ll just have to finish you off.”

“I’m not done yet,” Zorc replied, getting to his feet “I still have duel energy left, no matter how small I can still fight.”

“If you say so,” Jamin said.

“Remember,” Zorc said “I still have a dragon with more power than both your monsters combined; you’ll have to come up with something very powerful in order to defeat him.”

“No kidding,” Jamin muttered “well for now I’ll lay this card face down.”

“Is that it?” Zorc asked.

“For the moment,” Jamin said.

“You should have taken the opportunity then to destroy me,” Zorc said “not meddling around like that.”

“I’ll defeat you when I’m ready,” Jamin said “cause let’s face it, right now you’re not looking too peaky, and you can’t put too much energy into blocking my attacks any more. So tell me, how does it feel to be the underdog this time, huh?”

“Be silent!” Zorc growled “I will destroy you this turn!”

A new tablet rose out of the ground in front of Zorc.

“Heh, nothing new here,” he muttered “well then I suppose this’ll just have to do. Diablos, attack the sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!”

Jamin shifted his foot backwards and braced himself.

“You were a fool not to destroy my dragon last turn, now you’ll pay the price!” Zorc said “Diablos destroy her!”

Zorc’s dragon rose into the air, charging another fireball in its mouth. Nephthys looked up as he aimed the shot and fired it at her.

 

“Too bad,” Jamin said “I’ve got a trap card down, Raigeki Break!”

“I see planning to destroy my dragon are you?” Zorc laughed “do you not think I haven’t though of that?”

“Whoever said I was aiming for the dragon?” Jamin replied “I’m targeting my own monster, the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys.”

“What!?”

Jamin discarded Aussa the Earth Charmer from his hand and a thunderbolt suddenly crashed down from the sky and struck his phoenix, destroying it before the dragon’s attack even hit and sent the attack careering into the ground where it dispersed. Jamin barely batted an eyelid as the shockwave washed over him.

“Hardly the best move you’ve made all duel,” Jamin said.

“Be silent,” Zorc growled “I play a monster in defense mode and end my turn.”

“Whatever happened to that irritating loud mouth that used to stalk the shadow realm I wonder?” Jamin mocked, drawing a card “in case it’s escaped your memory my Phoenix has a special effect…”

A pillar of fire suddenly burst into life beside Jamin and Nephthys began to rise out of it.

“You see, my Phoenix can resurrect itself from my graveyard when its been destroyed by a card effect,” Jamin finished “and that’s not all, because your big bang shot is going straight to the graveyard!”

“What?!”

Nephthys flew into the air and curled its wings inwards before opening them in a single burst, sending a shower of flames at Zorc’s side of the field, striking the mechanical arm attached to Diablos.

“Here’s a trick I learnt from my mum,” Jamin said “because when Big Bang Shot removed from the field, the monster it’s equipped to is removed from play!”

“What!?”

Diablos vanished in a shimmer of yellow light, leaving just one face down tablet on Zorc’s side of the field.

 

“You, how dare you!” Zorc growled.

“Dude, it’s a duel,” Jamin said “you don’t expect me to make whatever moves I deem necessary to win? Come on, you must be smarter than that.”

“Well, now that you’ve sort of lost your strongest monster, I think I’ll be attacking now,” Jamin said “Nephthys, attack his face down monster. Phoenix Wing Wind Blast!”

Nephthys flapped her wings again, this time aiming for the tablet on Zorc’s side of the field. It flipped up to reveal an odd jar like creature.

“Morphing Jar?” Jamin gasped.

“Morphing Jar #2,” Zorc corrected him “and this returns all our monsters back to our decks and we draw the same number of cards that were returned, any level four or lower monsters are special summoned and the rest are sent to the graveyard.”

“Very well then,” Jamin said “I’ll special summon Familiar Possessed Eria and Hand of Nephthys!”

“Then I’ll summon Barrier Statue of the Abyss,” Zorc said.

“Barrier Statue of what?” Jamin stammered.

“The Abyss!” Zorc repeated “it means that only dark attribute monsters can be special summoned, so the effect of your Hand of Nephthys is made redundant!”

Jamin gritted his teeth and sent Scroll of Bewitchment to his graveyard.

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

 

“Then I’ll take mine,” Zorc said “I play the magic card, Heart of Pure Water and equip it to Barrier Statue of the Abyss.”

“What’s that do?” Jamin asked.

“Heh, fool. It means my monster can’t be destroyed as a result of battle,” Zorc explained “so you can forget about summoning any of your monsters.”

“Then I’ll just have to find a way round it!” Jamin replied.

“Fat chance of that!” Zorc laughed “for now I’ll play one card in defense mode and leave you to mull over that!”

“Fine then,” Jamin said, drawing a new card.

He looked at his new card and found that it was Wynn the Wind Charmer. He looked at his field.

“Normally I’d be able to summon Wynn and then use her effect to power her up,” he thought, thinking the process through. Sending both Wynn and Hand of Nephthys to the graveyard to special summon Familiar Possessed Wynn which would mean she’d gain piercing damage, so even if Zorc’s monster was in defense mode it would still damage his life points, destroyed in battle or not. “Heh, but it’s because of that Barrier Statue of the Abyss that I can’t do that, I can only special summon Dark attribute monsters, and I don’t have a dark charmer.” He thought back to when he ditched scroll of bewitchment from his hand. “Boy am I dumb.”

“Are you done?” Zorc asked “or are you giving up.”

“Like hell I am,” Jamin said “your other monster is still vulnerable, and I intend to wipe it off the field. Eria destroy his face down monster!”

“Got it!”

Eria raised her staff with her left hand and began chanting.

“Kouiki Shibuki!” She said.

A fountain of water flowed from her staff, covering the arena in water and flipping up Zorc’s tablet. It was another jar.

“Morphing Jar again!?” Jamin gaped.

“Yes, so now both our hands go to the graveyard and we each draw five cards,” Zorc said “I hope you didn’t have anything you wanted to use in that hand of yours.”

 

Jamin stared at the cards in his hand.

“Sorry, Wynn,” he muttered before placing all his cards back in his graveyard.

Zorc’s tablets shattered and five more rose from the ground to replace them. Jamin drew his own five cards and looked at them. His eyes widened when he realized he’s drawn Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys.

“All right,” he thought, playing the next move through in his mind “I can still normal summon my phoenix to the field, then all I have to do is get rid of that magic card of his.”

He explored the rest of his hand and noticed double spell was in there as well.

“Even better,” he thought “I can use this to take his Big Bang Shot, equipping it to my phoenix and taking out the rest of his energy with one attack, even if his monster isn’t destroyed in battle.”

A grin spread across his mouth as he looked up at Zorc.

“It’s all over,” he thought “next turn this will all be over and done with and we can finally go home.”

“Well, are you quite finished?” Zorc asked impatiently.

“Like hell I am,” Jamin said “watch this, I sacrifice Eria and Hand of Nephthys, to summon the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!”

Jamin held up his card as his two monsters burst into flames and were absorbed into it, turning the card into a fireball. The flame rose up into the air and crashed to the ground, revealing Jamin’s Sacred Phoenix on the field once more. It rose up into the air with a screech, glaring down at Zorc’s field.

“It’s over Zorc,” Jamin said “next turn I’m going to finish you off and put an end to this stupid game, got that.”

“You’ve got a lot of guts for someone using such pitiful cards,” Zorc commented.

“Save it,” Jamin said “I’ll use these cards however I want.”

He looked down at his deck.

“I still remember when I got these cards,” he thought “every one of them.”

Not at the most appropriate time, Jamin found himself reminiscing about his past, to when he was still very young, and had only known Josh for a few months or so. It was during the end of school:

 

“Oh man, you beat me again,” Jamin protested “your decks too strong.”

“It’s not that,” Josh replied “your decks just not that good, that’s all.”

“Oh really,” Jamin said “well I’m gonna make it better, just you watch. Then one day I’m gonna beat you.”

“I look forward to the challenge,” Josh replied “here…”

He fished in his pocket and drew out a card, tossing it to Jamin. He caught it and stared at the art.

“What is it?” He asked.

“A spare card,” Josh shrugged “it’s useless, but you can have it if you want.”

Jamin looked at the card, the short red-head displayed on the front seemed to give off something. The Jamin felt something else, like a pulse of energy coming from the card.

“What was that?” He asked.

“What was what?” Josh asked.

“I felt something,” Jamin said, staring down at Hiita the Fire Charmer. Say, do you have any more cards like this?”

Josh frowned and opened up his bag, taking out a tin of spare cards and rifling through them. He finally picked three out.

“Just these,” he said, tossing them to Jamin.

Jamin caught them and looked at the cards, Spiritual Wind Art-Miyabi, Spiritual Earth Art-Kurogane and Spiritual Fire Art-Kurenai. Jamin looked between Hiita the Fire Charmer and Spiritual Fire Art-Kurenai.

“Hey!” He commented “it’s the same girl!”

“Hm?” Josh looked at him and examined the cards “oh yeah, he muttered.”

Jamin carried on staring at the cards and a grin spread across his face.

“This is it,” he said “these’ll be my new friends.”

Josh looked at him. “Dude, it’s a card game,” he said.

 

A few years later Josh and Jamin were looking through each other’s decks and spares. Josh flicked through Jamin’s, noticing he’d picked up two Familiar Possessed Hiita’s, a Familiar Possessed Wynn, Blazing Hiita, Fox Fire, Spiritual Water Art-Aoi, Eria the Water Charmer, Storming Wynn, Avalanching Aussa and Raging Eria.

“Wow, you’ve been collecting a lot,” he commented.

“Hyahh, all your cards are Dark Magician rip offs!” Jamin commented “I mean look, they’ve got the same armour and stuff.”

“That’s because they go together,” Josh said “they’re like a set of cards that are meant to go together, like E-heroes or your charmers.”

“Oh, so they were meant to go together,” Jamin said “I knew there was a reason.”

“Yeah but they’ve got no ace card,” Josh said.

“Ace card?” Jamin asked.

“It’s a card that forms the center of your deck,” Josh said “like my Dark Magician in my deck.”

“Oh, I get you,” Jamin said “so I need to find an ace card for my charmers then?”

“Yup,” Josh nodded “without that your decks pretty much useless.”

Jamin dropped his head slightly, staring into one of Josh’s tins. As he looked her saw something peaking out at him and knelt down beside it, picking the card out.

“Hm, what’ve you found?” Josh asked.

Jamin didn’t reply. He was too busy staring at the card in his hand. Josh knelt down beside him to look at it.

“Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys,” he mused “you want that?”

Jamin swallowed.

“I can feel something from it,” he said “like its calling to me.”

“Calling to you?” Josh looked at the card and his eyes narrowed “no, it can’t be. It’s just ink and card.”

“I know,” Jamin replied “but it just feels like it wants me.”

“Meh, you can have it,” Josh said standing up “I’ve got all the cards I need, so you can take whatever you like from there.”

Jamin grinned: “Sure thing,” he said looking at the Phoenix.

 

Jamin looked down at his deck fondly.

“Josh gave me a lot of inspiration for this deck,” he thought “he’s my friend, and I’m grateful to him. Without him I’d still be a dueling clutz, and look at me now…” He stared up at Zorc with a satisfied grin on his face “I’m facing down the very being who created the shadow realm and winning, this is way too awesome to be true, I am so cool.”

 

“Say, let’s take a look at those,” Josh said, peering over Jamin’s shoulder.

“You can get a first hand look at them after school,” Jamin said “these are my god cards, and I’m gonna be the best duelist ever with them.”

“Come off it,” Josh said “the god cards only exist in a museum, and nobody’s allowed to use them.”

“Get real,” Jamin said “I’ve course I’m not using Yugi’s god cards, I’m using my own. Check them out!”

Josh took the three cards from Jamin, staring at them almost in wonderment.

“Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, Horus the Black Flame Dragon and the Creator,” he muttered “there’s no doubt they’re named after Egyptian Gods, and I defiantly wouldn’t like to face all three of them on the field together.” He looked up at Jamin “Guess you found your ace card then.”

“Sure did,” Jamin said “you just wait.”

 

“Now I play Diffusion Wave Motion,” Josh said “so my Sorcerer of Dark Magic can now attack all your monsters.”

“Huh? That means my gods are destroyed?” Jamin gasped “now way!”

“Hehe, guess I win again,” Josh laughed.

“Damnit,” Jamin sighed “and I was so close.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Josh said “I bet I was just lucky, I defiantly would have lost if I hadn’t drawn my Sorcerer.”

“You’re just trying to make me feel better aren’t you,” Jamin said “I bet you had that planned from the first draw.”

“Well, yeah I did,” Josh said “you see a good duelist plans their finishing move with their first hand.”

Jamin looked down at his deck.

“I can’t imagine myself being able to plan ahead that far,” he muttered.

“Probably because your strategy doesn’t revolve around getting the right monsters out or right spell cards,” Josh said “I guess your strategy is something more like ‘take it as it comes’ sort of thing.”

“Why not?” Jamin asked “if a long term plan goes wrong you’ve not got much left to rely on, so I pretty much make it up as I go along.”

“That’s not a very good way of dueling,” Josh said.

“Yeah, but it works for me,” Jamin said “you’re the only person in this school I haven’t beaten yet, so I’m going to keep trying until I beat you.”

“Hah, I look forward to that,” Josh said “in fact I’ll make a bet with you. If you beat me before the end of my first championship tournament I’ll give you a card.”

“A rare card?” Jamin asked.

“A super rare card,” Josh said “actually, how about ghost rare?”

“Ghost rare!”

“Hey, don’t shout or they’ll all want one,” Josh said “just remember you’ve got to beat me before I win my first tournament, got it?”

“Got it,” Jamin said “and no backing out, you hear.”

“Have I ever?” Josh said.

Both friends reached out and shook hands, grinning broadly.

 

Josh sat there, staring at the dirt in front of him.

“I remember that day,” he thought “when Jamin finally got his gods, how was I supposed to know it would make him the ‘chosen one’ or something. If I’d have known that I’ve have kept that Phoenix myself, never mind what he wanted.” He looked up at Jamin “I can’t believe I have to watch this, it should be me in there fighting Zorc, not a wannabe like him.”

“Josh?” Kim asked “you okay? You seem a little out of it?”

Josh didn’t look back at her but continued his observation of the ground.

“I’m fine,” he replied “just watch the duel and tell me if something interesting happens.”

“I don’t see much point,” Kim said brightly.

“Huh?”

“I think Jamin’s going to win next turn,” she said “I can see it on his face, he’s got a plan ready and he’s going to win with it. I can tell.”

“Really?” Josh muttered “well bully for him.”

“Don’t be like that,” Kim said “he’s always had that expression when he’s about to win, I know what he can do.”

“Ever seen him take on a 50 foot evil destroyer of worlds before?” Josh asked.

“That’s a little specific,” Kim commented.

“But true,” Josh replied.

“If he screws up I’ll never forgive him,” Josh said “never.”

“Josh?”

“I just can’t stand the way he always gets all the glory,” Josh replied “he’s always the one up front, even though I’m part of an ancient family.” He glared up at Jamin again “It’s just not fair to see a wannabe get all the credit.”

“Come on Josh,” Kim said “there’s no way Jamin could have gotten thing far without us, have some faith in him.”

“I will if he can get us out of this mess.” Josh muttered.

 

“So how about it,” Jamin said “you gonna surrender? Cause next turn you’re gonna be toast I’m afraid.”

“I care not for your foolish prattle,” Zorc said “I’ll set one monster in defense mode and place three cards face down.”

Jamin felt his tension relax as Zorc’s tablets hit the ground.

“And on my next turn, you’ll be history!” He growled.

“Heh, hate to break it to you, but you won’t be having a next turn,” Jamin said “cause I’m gonna finish you off this turn.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Zorc said “with my barrier statue on the field, you can’t special summon any monsters, so your chances of playing a card strong enough to counter what I’ve got planned are slim.”

“With all that talk of yours, I wonder if you’re actually able to back it up,” Jamin said “I mean come on, how can anybody take you seriously, you’ve got a dragon between your crotch and you’re playing a card game to take over the world, where’s the sense in that?”

“If I did not need your soul, I’d kill you right now for that comment,” Zorc said “I ought to take your head and rip it from your spine for your insolence.”

“Just because you can’t win a card game?” Jamin said “jeez, you’re messed up.”

 

Zorc growled at Jamin as a shadowy mist rose up from a few cracks in the ground behind him. Zorc looked down and saw the form of Diablo, becoming slowly more human again, reforming at his feet.

“So you’re still alive,” Zorc commented “my most loyal and powerful servant.”

“Just one thing,” Diablo said, looking up at Zorc “before this is over I want to know something.”

“Oh? And what is that?” Zorc asked.

“Your end of the bargain,” Diablo said “I serve you and you give me all the power I want, well I’m not done yet, I want more power.”

“Heh, so becoming the master of Dark World, a being of the very shadow realm itself and the very embodiment of Diablos isn’t good enough for you is it?”

“No,” Diablo said “I want to be a god!”

“Heh, we shall see,” Zorc said “right after I win this duel.”

 

Jamin turned his attention to Diablo.

“You’re getting a bit of colour back in your cheeks,” he commented.

“Quiet you!” Diablo snapped.

“Is he really going to give you all that?” Jamin asked “make you a god and not destroy you?”

“Got something against that?” Diablo sneered.

“Well, if you do become a god then what will you do next?” Jamin asked “Zorc will have destroyed the world and then you’ll be the only person left, god of a wasteland.”

“Be quiet!” Diablo snapped back “you’re just jealous, because Zorc favors me as his most powerful follower, a position you’ll never ascend to!”

“You might be his most powerful, but I’ve beaten you more times than you’ve beaten me,” Jamin said “face it, you’re a flunky.”

“What did you call me?” Diablo snarled.

“A Flunky, a dropout, a loser,” Jamin repeated “if you can’t beat me then I doubt Zorc will ever hold you in any sort of favor.”

Diablo grinded his teeth, glaring at Jamin but then stopped, smiling.

“Hehe, don’t forget I was the one who gathered all of the Dark Lord’s items and released him from his prison,” he said “I freed him from torment, and he was even willing to pour half his energy into me, how can you say he doesn’t favor me now.”

“He’s a destroyed of worlds,” Jamin reminded him “he lives to destroy, not to create. There’s no way he’d give you so much power if it didn’t benefit him in the end.”

“Be silent!” Zorc yelled “do not corrupt my servants mortal!”

Diablo looked up at him.

“So, what’s it to be?” He asked.

“Very well,” Zorc sneered “you shall be the most powerful person on this planet, once I am done with it!”

Diablo sneered and looked back at Jamin: “See?” He asked “can you doubt him now, if only you had submitted to his power before hand, he might have let you off lightly!”

Jamin narrowed his eyes.

 

“This is getting us nowhere,” he sighed “it’s my move, Zorc. I’m going to finish you this turn and put an end to this charade.”

“Good luck with that!” Diablo laughed.

“My draw!” Jamin said, drawing a card.

He looked at it and saw he had drawn a spell card, level down.

“Awesome,” he grinned “now it’s time to finish this game.”

Zorc’s eyes narrowed.

“I play the spell card double spell,” Jamin said “this card allows me to ditch one spell card from my hand to the graveyard, and take one spell card out of yours and add it to my hand.”

“What?”

“And guess what,” Jamin said “I’m choosing Big Bang Shot!”

A crack split in the ground in front of Jamin and a single card shot out, he grabbed it coolly, a large grin on his face.

“Ready?” He asked “because here I go, I equip big bang shot to my Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, not only giving her a power boost by meaning she inflicts damage even when your monster’s in defense mode, and you barely have any left over. Nephthys, finish him off!”

Nephthys flew up into the air and flapped her powerful wings, sending a shower of flames down at Zorc’s monster.

“Fool,” Zorc laughed “I play my trap card staunch defender!”

“The what?”

“This allows me to select one monster on my field, and you have to attack that monster only.”

“Your loss,” Jamin said “you’ll take the damage either way.”

Zorc’s card flipped up and was revealed to be a Sangan. Nephthys flames hit it directly and destroyed it.

“I’m also playing Wobuku,” Zorc said “meaning I take no damage.”

“Oh crap,” Jamin said.

Nephthys settled back down on Jamin’s side of the field.

“How d’ya like that?” Diablo grinned.

“Shut it you,” Jamin said.

“Jamin,” Nephthy’s voice rang in his ear “he is lost, but I sense a spark in him that I may be able to ignite.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Jamin asked.

“If I could get through to him, I may be able to save him from the path of darkness,” Nephthys replied.

“Okay, what do I do?” Jamin asked.

“Watch,”

 

Nephthys flew forwards, towards Diablo.

“What the!?”

An electric sensation flew through Diablo’s body and he felt himself tumble to the ground. He got up shakily, looking about him.

“Huh?”

The scenery had changed; he was standing in a rocky wasteland that was completely black, no wind or sun or moon anywhere. He looked about and saw himself and Zorc standing facing each other.

“What’s happening?” He gasped.

“I’m showing you the possible future of what Zorc will do to the world,” Nephthys explained “watch Chris, and listen carefully.”

 

“Liar!” The second Diablo yelled at Zorc “you said you’d make me a god!”

“I said I’d make you the most powerful person in this world,” Zorc repeated “so since there is nobody left, one I make my leave you will be the most powerful person, because there’ll be nobody else left to challenge you.”

“Why you!”

Diablo ran forwards but was driven back by the flames from Zorc’s dragon head. Diablo froze as he watched this.

“Zorc kept his promise,” Nephthys said “he just didn’t keep yours.”

 

Diablo wrenched himself free of the vision, bringing his senses back to reality in time to see Nephthys float down beside Jamin.

“That’s a lie!” He yelled “you’re lying to me!”

“Why would I?” Nephthys said “it doesn’t make any difference.”

“On with the duel,” Zorc demanded “no more pointless delays, soon I will finish you. Because thanks to Sangan’s effect I can add one Dark monster with less than 1500 attack points.”

“So are you ready for your final move?” Jamin said “cause you can’t spend any more energy into blocking my attacks so I may as well finish you off next turn, so say your prayers.”

“Yes,” Zorc said “I shall make my final move!”

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 23:

 

[spoiler=episode]Jamin braced himself for Zorc’s next move; however a satisfied grin played across his face.

“He’s getting cocky,” Josh muttered.

“It’s my draw!” Zorc said, a sixth tablet rising out of the ground.

“You may as well end,” Jamin said “after all, I’m going to finish you on my next turn.”

Zorc chuckled and then began to laugh. Jamin raised an eyebrow up at him.

“What’s so funny?” He asked.

“Because, you aren’t going to get a next turn,” Zorc laughed “because I’m going to finish you off here and now!”

“Oh get bent,” Jamin said.

“Its time to disillusion you!” Zorc laughed “I return all monsters in my graveyard to my arsenal, and special summon Exodios the ultimate forbidden God!”

“What!?”

 

A huge crack opened in the ground in front of Zorc and a giant of a monster rose out of it. He was huge and coated in bronze and black Egyptian armour; a black aura seemed to surround him as he emerged from the pit.

“You’re kidding me!” Jamin said, his cocky edge suddenly vanishing.

“I also equip him with mist body,” Zorc explained “meaning he can’t be destroyed in battle.”

“Is that it?” Jamin asked.

“Of course not!” Zorc laughed “I play the magic card double attack, so by discarding Gate Guardian from my hand, Exodios can attack twice this turn.”

“Not good,” Jamin muttered.

“Of course not,” Zorc laughed “because I’m also playing Serial spell, meaning he can attack three times!”

 

“I’m lost,” Kim said “his monster has zero attack points, how’s attacking three times going to help him to win?”

“Because whenever he attacks Zorc can send any monster card from his deck to the graveyard,” Josh explained “and once there are all five pieces of Exodia in the graveyard, Zorc’ll win the duel.”

“He’ll what!?”

Josh stood up, his eyes narrowing dangerously, and walked over to where the two where dueling.

 

“Exodios, attack the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!” Zorc ordered.

Exodios raised his fists and fired a beam of white energy at Nephthys. She deflected it with a flap of her wings and sent the attack flying back at Eoxdios.

“And again!” Zorc ordered.

A second attack came and had the same result; however Exodios’ attack had now risen to 2000.

“Three more attacks and you’re finished,” Zorc said “Exodios!”

Zorc’s monster raised his fist again and fired another beam of energy, destroying Jamin’s phoenix.

“Nephthys!” Jamin cried.

Zorc laughed like a maniac, taking in Jamin’s sudden torment.

“Soon,” he laughed “soon I shall defeat you and claim your soul for my own.”

Jamin gritted his teeth and placed his hand on his deck.

“Help me out here guys,” he said “there’s gotta be something in here to stop that thing. But none of my monsters are strong enough to destroy it, what the hell am I going to do.”

He screwed his eyes tight and prepared to draw. However a loud explosion interrupted him. He looked up and saw smoke billowing from Exodios’ chest as his armour crumbled and the monster collapsed.

“This duel’s over,” Josh declared, the Sorcerer of Dark Magic floating behind him with his staff raised.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Zorc said “it’s not over yet.”

“Yes it is!” Josh snapped.

He glared at Jamin with a look of spite on his face.

 

“He’s going to lose no matter what card he draws next,” Josh said “so he may as well quit while he’s ahead.”

“Josh, what…?”

“Shut it!” Josh interrupted.

“You think you can command me?” Zorc said “there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“Well how about this,” Josh said “I’ll duel you, and if you defeat me then you can have both our souls.”

Jamin stared at Josh, a black aura was surrounding him and the edge of his iris had become completely red and there was an enraged expression on his face. Jamin deactivated his duel disk and lowered his arm.

“Josh, what are you doing?” He asked “there’s no way you can win against him.”

“I said shut it, Jamin!” Josh turned to glare at him “you’ve already failed so now I’m going to have to take responsibility for it. I’m going to defeat Zorc, not you. I’m the chosen one, not you!”

Josh raised his arm and the Sorcerer of Dark Magic raised his staff and fired at Jamin. Jamin just about rolled out of the way before the attack struck where he’d just been and even that tossed Jamin a few feet into the air to land hard on the ground.

 

“Hm, I see that there’s no way around this,” Zorc mused “very well, I shall just have to defeat you again, but first.”

Zorc raised his arm in Jamin’s direction.

“I need a bit of refueling,”

Jamin gasped as a series of black tendrils were suddenly wrenched out of his body, flowing into Zorc’s hand. He felt himself growing weaker and dropped to the ground.

“You stole my energy,” Zorc growled “so now I’m taking it back!”

Jamin double over in pain, gasping. Josh merely stood by and watched, thinking nothing of the event.

Suddenly, a large black axe swung through the air and chopped the tendrils in half, returning the ones still attached to Jamin to his body. He collapsed on the ground, panting.

“What?!” Zorc looked down and saw Diablo standing beside Kim with his duel disk active and Reign-Beux standing over Jamin.

“You!”

“You lied to me,” Diablo said “so consider this my resignation! Reign-Beux, attack!”

Reign raised his axe and swept it through the air, creating a dark crescent shape in the air that flew up at Zorc. Zorc merely batted it away with one hand.

“You traitor!” Zorc growled “I’ll be sure to destroy you first!”

Diablo glared at Zorc with a look of pure venom.

“Diablo?” Kim looked up at him.

“Stay back,” Diablo said “if he comes over here I won’t let him hurt you.”

“Ha! A vain statement!” Zorc said “I could destroy you now if I wanted, however.” He turned his attention to Josh who was ready to duel “I’ll just destroy this brat first then I’ll move on to you!”

Diablo’s eyes narrowed.

 

Zorc turned his attention to Josh.

“Are you sure you want to fight me?” Zorc asked “Remember last time? I defeated you and used your old man’s soul to restore my life force, are you sure you can defeat me this time?”

“Of course I’m sure,” Josh said “I wouldn’t be dueling you if I wasn’t, would I?”

“A logical statement,” Zorc laughed “Very well, then welcome to your destruction!”

Six stone tablets rose out of the ground in front of Zorc.

“I summon Dark mimic level 1,” Zorc said “and place this down for later.”

A small white trunk formed from one of Zorc’s tablets and another fell on the ground behind it.

“Your move,” Zorc said.

“Very well,” Josh said, drawing a card “I know that when I destroy that thing, you’ll be able to draw a new card, so I doubt that trap is going to try and protect it in any way. So I summon Skilled Dark Magician in attack mode!”

Josh’s black clad mage rose out of the ground in front of him.

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

“Well that’s no fun,” Zorc laughed “how will you destroy me if you don’t even attack?”

“Trust me,” Josh said “I’ll find a way.”

“Your funeral,” Zorc said as another tablet rose in front of him “but thanks to my monster’s effect, I can now sacrifice him for Dark Mimic level 3.”

Zorc’s box grew and turned black.

“Now my monster will attack yours!” Zorc said.

Zorc’s box flew towards the Skilled Dark Magician. Josh monster raised his staff and fired a sphere of green energy towards the Dark Mimic and destroyed it. Two more tablets rose in front of Zorc.

“A small price to pay,” he laughed “now I’ll just summon a monster in defense mode.”

“Then I’ll play my trap card,” Josh said “Light of Intervention, so from now on neither of us can play monsters in defense mode.”

“Hm,” Zorc mused “very well, I’ll just have to play my Charcoal Inpachi in face up defense mode”

A charred, wooden robot emerged from Zorc’s tablets, slumped on the ground and slowly steaming.

“Pretty high defense points,” Josh commented.

“Yes,” Zorc said “and I’m also playing this, the Chorus of Sanctuary field spell.”

The scenery around them vanished and was replaced by a lush green field filled with a variety of different flowers and plants.

“You sure this guys evil?” Kim asked “because this is really pretty.”

Diablo blushed.

 

“So you played a meadow,” Josh said “just remember, you’ve now placed a spell counter on my Skilled Dark Magician.”

“It’s worth it,” Zorc said “because now all defense monsters have 500 extra defense points, so you’ll have a hard time defeating them.”

“In other words he’s just made a level 4 monster able to survive an attack from his Dark Magician,” Diablo muttered.

“My draw,” Josh said “I summon Skilled White Magician in attack mode!”

An almost identical mage to the Skilled Dark Magician rose up on Josh’s side of the field, although this monster was clad in white instead.

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

 

“Then I’ll take my turn,” Zorc said “Ah, at last.”

Josh raised an eyebrow.

“I tribute my monster in order to summon Labyrinth Wall in defense mode!” Zorc declared.

Zorc’s monster vanished and was replaced with a large mound of square rock.

“3500 defense points?” Kim gasped.

“Don’t think that pathetic pile of rock is going to be able to stop me,” Josh said.

“We’ll soon see, won’t we?” Zorc laughed.

“I draw,” Josh said “and I’ll play the magic card Magical Empowerment, this allows me to place one spell counter on any monster on the field, but since it’s a magic card it also puts another counter on both my monsters. So now both of my monsters have 2 spell counters on them.

 

“Is that it?” Zorc asked.

Josh nodded.

“Very well,” Zorc said “my defenses are assured anyway, because I play my Grave of Enkindling, allowing me to special summon my Charcoal Inpachi from my graveyard.”

Zorc’s heavily burnt and smoldering monster rose from the ground again before slumping back into a sitting position.

“Then I’ll play my double summon,” Zorc declared “allowing me to summon both Battle Footballer and Big Shield Gardna from my hand.”

A large armoured football player with a pair of glowing red eyes as well as a tribal man with long black hair and a massive shield rose on Zorc’s side of the field, crouching down behind their defenses.

“You’re hiding behind monsters with high defense points?” Josh noted “I thought you were going to try and destroy me as soon as possible.”

“All in good time,” Zorc said “since you have no monsters strong enough to get past my defenses, then this duel may as well be mine, because lest you forget, I have a monster in my deck powerful enough to tear through any monster!”

Josh narrowed his eyes and glared up at Zorc.

 

“He’s right,” he thought “if he summons Exodia then even I can’t survive it.”

He looked down at his deck.

 

“Here, Joshinyu, take this,” Josh’s grandfather said, handing a small case to him.

“What is it?” Josh asked.

“It is our family’s deck,” his grandfather said “when the Pharaoh finally left, the power of the Dark Magician was entrusted to our family and so we carry this burden.”

Josh looked up at his grandfather.

“Carry the power well, Joshinyu,”

 

“Say, Josh,” Jamin asked “how long have you had that deck for?”

Josh looked down at his cards.

“Since forever I guess,” he said.

“Wow, and you’ve never changed it once? That’s amazing,” Jamin commented.

“I didn’t build it,” Josh said “I have no right to change it.”

“Huh?”

“It’s my family’s tradition,” Josh explained “to carry the power of the Dark Magician and to utilize it as best we can. Eventually I’ll have to give this deck up myself.” He sighed “I can’t wait for that.”

“Huh? But this deck’s bad ass,” Jamin said “I’ve never seen you lose once.”

“Yeah, but I can’t stand it,” Josh said “this deck’s not mine, I can’t feel it.”

His fist tightened.

“But I can’t get rid of it; I have to carry it,”

Jamin stared at him.

“I see,” he replied “well good luck with that.”

Josh glared up at him.

“You stick with the Dark Magician, I think it suits you,” Jamin said “it just seems like the sort of thing you’d use.”

Josh stared down at his deck.

“I see,” he replied.

 

Josh broke out of his flashback, still staring at his deck.

“My grandfather entrusted this deck to me,” he thought “and now, I’m going to kill the person who killed him with it.”

He turned to glare up at Zorc.

“My turn!” He declared, drawing a card “mark my words Zorc, I will defeat you here, and nothing anybody says can stop me, I’m going to tear you apart.”

“Good luck with that,” Zorc said.

“I’ll lay two cards face down,” Josh said “and end my turn. This’ll be over soon.”

“Couldn’t agree more!” Zorc laughed.

A new tablet rose up in front of him.

“Ah, it seems an old friend would like a word,” Zorc said “let’s say high, shall we?”

A tablet spun around and smashed, revealing a small cub like creature.

“I summon Sphinx cub,” Zorc said “and now, since it’s a sphinx monster I can now tribute it.”

Josh’s eyes widened.

“Behold, Exxod Master of the Guard!”

Zorc’s great behemoth broke out of the ground, causing a small earthquake as he did so and rising high above the rest of Zorc’s monsters.

“4500 defense points,” Diablo muttered.

“That’s the monster he used to defeat Josh last time!” Kim said.

“What?” Diablo looked around at her.

“When Josh first dueled him he was using an Earth deck,” Kim explained “and that’s the monster he used to defeat him!”

“I see,” Diablo said, turning back to the monster “this could be a problem.”

 

Josh stared up at the monster, his eyes wide and his body shaking slightly.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” Zorc laughed “to be facing the very monster that defeated you all those weeks ago, the only monster ever to defeat you. How does it feel?”

Josh stumbled back slightly, staring at the ground.

“You monster,” he gasped.

“Why thank you,” Zorc laughed.

“Well, that certifies it then, doesn’t it?” Josh said “I will definitely defeat you Zorc!”

“Dream on, your strongest monster had 3200 attack points, and I have enough defense points to defend against that for all eternity, you cannot defeat me!”

 

Jamin groaned and pushed himself to his feet, staring up at the duel.

“Jamin!” Kim ran over to him “are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jamin panted.

Josh looked down at them, the same expression of hatred on his face.

“Jamin,” he said “you remember that time I told you about my deck?”

Jamin nodded.

“Where I said I had no right to change it?”

“Yeah,” Jamin replied.

“Well,” Josh looked up at Zorc “I lied!”

A sudden flow of black energy erupted out of Josh, spiraling up in the form of black flames and almost engulfing Josh’s entire field. A strong wind blew from him.

“Whoa!” Jamin said “that’s some nasty spirit force!”

 

“It’s time to finish this!” Josh said his voice layered on top of another “my draw!”

Josh drew a new card from his hand.

“I play the spell card, Card of Demise!” Josh said “allowing me to draw five new cards, but I’m also playing my serial spell, allowing me to draw five more!”

“Ten cards?” Jamin muttered.

“Now, since both my monsters have three spell cards each I can activate their effect,” Josh continued “by sending them to the graveyard I can special summon Buster Blader and Dark Magician!”

Josh’s signature monster rose out of the ground beside another bulkier monster with a large sword held between his hands.

“Now I play the spell card Polymerization!” Josh declared “so I fuse my Dark Magician and my Buster Blader in order to summon the Dark Paladin!”

Josh’s monsters rose into the air and were absorbed into a spiraling vortex and a second later emerged as a tall magician clad in green armour and carrying a bladed staff.

 

“Well then I’ll play my face down spell de-fusion,” Zorc said “so say goodbye to your monster!”

“Fat chance,” Josh said “because by discarding one card from my hand, I can negate your spell card.”

“What!”

“Next I play diffusion wave motion,” Josh said “meaning my Dark Paladin can attack every monster on your side of the field.”

“So what?” Zorc laughed “they’re all much more powerful than him!”

“I’m not done,” Josh said “I’ll reveal my face down cards, Samsara Dogma and DNA surgery. So now all our monsters, on the field and in the graveyard are treated as Dragon monsters, and that raises my monster’s attack strength!”

“Huh?”

Josh’s Dark Paladin glowed and his attack points rose higher.

“Next I’ll play the field spell Mystic Plasma Zone!” Josh said.

A bolt of thunder crashed down from the sky and destroyed the scenery around Zorc’s monster, changing it back into a wasteland and raising Dark Paladin’s attack by 500 more points.”

“Think I’m done?” Josh said “well think again, I play micro ray!”

“What!”

“This means all your monsters no have zero defense points,” Josh explained.

“No!”

Zorc stared down at his monsters and saw them sagging under their own weight, steam was rising out of them and Exxod was crumbling.

“How dare you!” Zorc roared.

 

“How dare I?” Josh said “how dare I! This is how I dare! I play Fairy Meteor Crush, meaning that even if your monsters are in defense mode you still take damage from my attack. And finally I’ll equip him ”

“What!?”

“Josh is gonna win!” Kim yelled eagerly.

“Looks like it,” Jamin said.

“Dark Paladin!” Josh said “Destroy him!”

Dark Paladin raised his staff into the air and five white rings of energy exploded out of it, spreading out across the field and heading towards Zorc’s monsters.

“No!”

“Yes!”

Each one of Zorc’s monsters were struck by the powerful rings of energy, and each one delivered an equally massive amount of damage to their owner. A massive explosion followed the last ring as it struck Exxod and Zorc was thrown backwards, all of his energy completely spent.

 

A strong wind blew through the valley as Zorc struck the ground, causing it to shake violently. The entrance of Atemu’s tomb collapsed from the shaking and a landslide covered the rubble.

“Come on!” Diablo yelled “we’ve gotta get out of here.”

Jamin, Kim and Diablo ran past Josh who was still standing there as the place collapsed around them. Jamin paused and looked back at him. Josh turned around slowly to look back, both eyes having become completely red.

“Josh,” Jamin muttered

“Come on Damn you!” Diablo grabbed Jamin’s arm and pulled him away from the destruction.

 

They ran and carried on running for as long as they could, and even when they’d ran as far as they could they could still hear the sounds of chaos behind them. The three of them stopped and looked around. A pillar of smoke was rising from the valley before disappearing into the night sky.

“Hey! Are you okay!”

Jamin looked around and saw Josh’s grandma along with the fortune teller and a few other people running towards them.

“What happened?” She asked as she reached them “where’s my grandson?”

“He’s…” Jamin looked back at the pillar of smoke.

“No…” Josh’s grandma said disbelief etched in her voice.

“Yes,” Jamin nodded “I’m afraid so.”

He looked back at the short woman and received a very hard slap and toppled to the ground.

“Ow! Hey I’ve just had all my energy sucked out you know!” He said.

He paused and saw that the old woman as crying, softly at first but then she let loose a whole river of tears and fell to her knees. Jamin looked at her sympathetically and lay back on the sand.

 

“I wasn’t supposed to end like this,” he thought “we should be going home triumphant, all of us together.”

He sat up and found himself in the void of his mind again, however there were no spirits this time to reassure him.

“Oh yeah,” he muttered “I had all my energy sucked out, didn’t I?” He sighed.

He looked at his deck still in his duel disk and drew the top card from his deck and saw that it was magical cylinders.

“He was wrong,” he realized “Josh was wrong after all.”

He took his deck out and shuffled through it, realizing that something was missing.

“Huh?”

He took a closer look and noticed that the cards that had previously been his god cards had all gone blank.

“Nephthys? Horus? Creator?” He muttered “they’ve gone.”

“Their purpose has been fulfilled,” a voice spoke behind him.

Jamin looked around and saw the goddess standing over him, a sorrowful expression on her face.

“Zorc took nearly all of your spirit energy,” she explained “I’m afraid you will not be able to hear your cards for a while, and you’ll be lucky if you do again.”

“What about Nephthys and the others?” Jamin asked.

“I’m afraid it is highly unlikely that you will see them again,”

“I see,” Jamin said, bowing his head “thanks.”

 

“Wow, it’s so pretty!” Kim said.

Jamin looked up to see what she was talking about. They’d just landed back home from Egypt after their little adventure, Diablo tagging along behind them but Josh notably absent. The airport was brightly decorated with lights and tinsel, and there was a cheery mood hanging in the air.

“It’s Christmas Eve,” Kim said “I nearly forgot!”

“Oh yeah,” Jamin muttered “makes you think, doesn’t it?”

“I’ve never been able to enjoy a Christmas in my entire life,” Diablo said “I’ve been running around after Zorc remember, he never gave me a break.”

“Well let’s give you a crash course in having fun then!”

Kim whirled round and grabbed Diablo’s hand, causing him to blush slightly.

“Hey, wait a second!” He said “I…”

Kim ignored him and ran off with Diablo in tow.

“Hey, we still need to collect our luggage!” Jamin yelled after her.

“I know,” Kim called back “pick it up would you, I’ll meet you in the town square.”

Jamin almost collapsed on the spot, remembering how much luggage Kim had bought and how heavy it was, he’d almost been fine when it had been him and Josh but now Josh wasn’t here.

 

“Merry xmas kiddo,”

Jamin looked behind him and saw a tall boy with teal hair walking towards him.

“Mashi-Ushi?” He said.

“Heard you were coming home from holidays today,” Mashi-Ushi said “bit short wasn’t it?”

“We did what we needed to,” Jamin said.

“I see,” Mashi-Ushi grinned “say, wasn’t there a black haired guy with you?”

Jamin frowned and looked away from Mashi-Ushi.

“Yeah,” he said “there was.”

“What happened to him?” Mashi-Ushi asked

“I don’t think you’d believe me,” Jamin said.

“Try me,” Mashi-Ushi replied.

Jamin shook his head and moved towards where their luggage was being delivered.

“The last few months have been a bit hectic for me,” he said “I’d rather not go into it all that much.”

“I see,” Mashi-Ushi leaned closer “that blond guy stole your girlfriend, didn’t he?”

“Might have,” Jamin shrugged “say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you duel before, what kind of deck do you use?”

Mashi-Ushi shrugged: “Dragons mostly,” he said “nothing special.

“I see,” Jamin said “you’re in the duel rally tournament too, right? Guess I’ll see it in action there.”

“Yeah,” Mashi-Ushi nodded “you certainly will.”

A smile spread across Mashi-Ushi’s face.

“And you’ll fall before it,” Mashi-Ushi thought.

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 24:

 

[spoiler=episode]Jamin woke up the next morning feeling exhausted; it had felt like years since he’d slept in his old bed. He stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes, taking in the events of the past few days. He breathed a heavy sigh and pulled himself out of bed.

“Oh yeah,” he thought “it’s over, isn’t it? No more trying to save the world with card games business. Zorc’s beaten, but…”

He remembered the last memory he had of his old friend. A pair of blood red eyes glaring at him with nothing but hatred.

“Why did he stay behind?” Jamin asked himself “why? I don’t understand.”

He looked at the desk beside his bedside and noticed he’d left his deck and duel disk there, a small assortment of blank cards lay beside it. He picked them up and counted seven blank cards.

“Looks like they’ve left after all,” he said “that means I’m going to have to work on my deck a little.”

He picked out the deck and sorted through it, noting which cards he could still use and which he couldn’t. He ditched Level Up, Level Modulation, Divine Fusion and Graveyard in the Fourth Dimension and weighed out what he had left.

“Guess I’m going to need to find a new signature card,” he thought “is there anything that can fit in with my strategy though?”

He pocketed the deck and moved downstairs.

 

When he entered the living room he noticed the decorated tree where a numerous amount of parcels lay beneath it. Looking around the room and noticing that Kim, his father, Josh’s grandmother and Diablo were waiting for him.

“Merry Christmas, Jamin,” Kim said.

“It’s Christmas already?” Jamin glanced over at the calendar “that sure went by fast.”

“Stop acting so cold,” Kim said “Forget about what happened back in Egypt, it’s time to have fun.”

“Oh, what happened in Egypt?” Jamin’s father asked, looking up from his newspaper.

“Nothing for you to be concerned over,” Josh’s grandma said, waving her hand reassuringly.

Jamin noticed her turn away and wipe something from her face. His father frowned and returned to what he’d been doing.

“No hard feelings about the whole ‘trying to kill you thing’, right?” Diablo said, a smile playing on his face.

“Nah, forget about it,” Jamin said.

“‘trying to kill you thing’?” Jamin’s father looked up again.

“It’s nothing, really!” Josh’s grandma repeated.

Jamin sat down with the others and pulled a present with his name written on it towards him.

“Guess it’s good to settle back to a regular life again,” he thought before opening the parcel.

 

A while later, Kim, Jamin and Diablo found themselves wandering around a hugely decorated town, alive with people moving about and exchanging greetings.

“Sure are a lot of people here,” Jamin said.

“Kind of puts us in perspective,” Diablo replied “even if we did just save the world, none of them could give a damn about it. Just goes to show what a boring race humanity is.”

“You could put it that way,” Jamin agreed.

Diablo looked down at him.

“Look, I’m sorry about Josh,” he said “it’s just that if he wanted it that way then there was nothing we could do about it.”

“Yeah,” Jamin nodded “I wouldn’t want to think he was doing something he didn’t want to.”

He sighed again and looked up. They had finally reached their destination, Domino City’s duel hall. A massive building converted from an old train station into the worlds biggest games store on the planet. As the threesome entered they were nearly swarmed by the magnitude of people moving about, spending Christmas money or buying late Christmas presents for close friends.

“Was it really such a good idea to come on such a busy day?” Kim asked.

“You’d rather be left out?” Jamin asked “you know what’s happening today.”

“Oh yeah,” Kim remembered “I just hope we can get a good view.”

 

Diablo looked down at the two of them and then turned his attention to the wall where a large amount of advertisements were displayed, the most notable one just beside the entrance. He moved closer to it and read.

 

Kaiba Corp presents:

The ultimate dueling experience.

 

He frowned and moved to read the small print.

 

On Christmas Day, Kaiba Corp will be unveiling its latest step into the dueling world. A new technology made to create a whole new meaning to the world of card games.

 

This revolutionary new technology will be displayed by current national champion ‘Kekonangi Erio’ and the American National champion ‘Zenith Robert’

 

“Some new gadget from Kaiba corp, huh?” Diablo muttered “I wonder if this’ll be all it’s cracked up to be.”

“Diablo!” He heard Kim’s voice calling “you’re going to get left behind!”

Diablo looked up and saw Kim’s red head bobbing above the crowd.

“H-huh? Oi! Wait up!” He called after her, shoving his way past pedestrians.

 

He finally caught up with them at a trading stall, out of breath.

“You could have told me you were running off,” he complained.

“Well you seemed a little busy,” Kim replied.

“Aw geez,”

Jamin opened the set of packs he bought and rifled through them.

“Hm, oh that’s the new pack, isn’t it?” He noted.

“Yeah,” Jamin said “I just remembered it came out today, I wonder what they’ve put in it.”

He shuffled through the first six cards he got.

“Anything good?” Kim asked, leaning over his shoulder.

“Nothing special,” Jamin admitted “this spell card might come in handy though.”

“Let’s try my luck, shall we?” Diablo said, picking up a few packs and handing some money to the owner.

He rifled through his first pull and frowned.

“Hey, I just remembered most of the cards in here are fairies,” he said “either that or irritatingly cute.”

“Well I think that’s a good thing,” Kim said “there are too many ugly monsters in this game, why can’t there be a cute all powerful monsters?”

Diablo glared at her.

“You’re saying my Reing-Buex isn’t worth anything cause he isn’t cute?” He growled “what about you? You’ve got a flipping giant bird with a fez for a signature, that’s no monster for a duelist to use!”

“Something wrong with my bird of divinity?” Kim asked “he’s cute AND he kicks butt!”

“How is that thing cute!?” Diablo demanded.

“He’s cuter than your’s,” Kim said, sticking her tongue out.

The two glared daggers at each other before turning back to the counter again.

“I’ll just get some more of the old packs,” Diablo muttered.

 

After the three of them were done exchanging money and cards they left the stand with their new cards in their hands.

“This one’s cute, I like it,” Kim said, smiling down at a card in her hand.

“It’s also mine so give it back,” Jamin said, taking the card from her hand.

“What are you going to use it for?” Kim said “you can’t even use that thing, so you’ve got no reason not to give it to me.”

“You can’t use it either,” Jamin pointed out.

“That’s not the point here!” Kim retorted.

“Yes it is,” Jamin commented, pocketing the card.

Kim frowned and then looked ahead, her expression changing to surprise. Ahead of them a podium had been erected with two odd looking gadgets set at either end. Jamin stared up at them. From what he could make out there was a rather bulky duel disk wired up to a large machine and another device that presumably went on the other arm. A black platform extended beneath the two weird objects with two footprints marked on it, presumably indicating where to stand.

 

“Weird,” he muttered “what do you suppose they’re for?”

Diablo was looking at his watch and Kim was busy sulking so neither of them paid him much attention.

“Naïve as always,” Jamin muttered.

He looked up and saw two bodyguards conversing with each other nearby, a worried expression on their face. Jamin glanced about and move closer.

“It’s a bust,” one of them muttered “we can’t go through with it anymore.”

“One hiccup isn’t going to calm Mr. Kaiba down!” The other guard said “he’ll go mad if this isn’t displayed to the public.”

Jamin raised an eyebrow and moved closer.

“What’s up?” He asked.

Both guards looked around, startled.

“Y-you were listening in on that?” One of them stammered.

“Guess there’s no point hiding it,” the other one said “the national champion Kekonangi Erio has had a terrible accident, and is unable to attend the event.”

“This is bad,” the first one said “not only will Mr. Kaiba be furious but the Americans will make a laughing stock of us.”

“Erio can’t duel, huh?” Jamin said “I see. I guess I’ll just have to replace him.”

Both guards looked around, bemused.

“I may not have any credentials, but I’ve proven myself enough times.”

The guards looked doubtful.

“Well, we’ll probably get scolded less, so I guess you’ll have to do,” they replied.

From across the room, a slightly overweight man with short cut light brown hair and an untidy beard was watching them. A towel was draped over his shoulders.

“Damn, guess those Japanese bastards lucked out,” he growled.

He turned to his companion, a tall man with sleek black hair, he wore sunglasses even inside and had a long black trench coat.

“No worries man,” he commented “I came here to duel, not to slack off. Let this kid have a shot, I’ll tear him apart in seconds.”

“If you say so, Rob,” the fat man shrugged “but this means I hired those hit-men goons for nothing.”

“Down sweat it,” Robert said “it’ll only take a few turns less to beat him.”

 

It was only a few minutes later when the lights in the hall dimmed and the platform was illuminated. Kim looked about.

“Hey where’s Jamin?” She asked.

Diablo shrugged.

“Apologies for the delay,” a voice rang out across the crowd “the current national champion ‘Kekonangi Erio’ has been forced to pull out of the display.”

“What?” Diablo retorted.

“So instead to represent Japan we have ‘Tsubasa Jamin’,” the voice continued.

“What!” Both Kim and Diablo exclaimed.

Jamin walked up onto the stage to a rather luke warm applause.

“Hey guys!” He called.

“Jamin, what the hell are you doing up there!” Diablo yelled.

“Dueling, what’s it look like?” Jamin replied.

“And from America, we have ‘Robert Zenith’,” the voice continued and the black clad American stepped up on stage.

“I’d hate to spoil your fun, kid,” he said “you’re playing with the best now.”

“I’ve played with better,” Jamin said.

At either end of the podium, a staff member stepped up and began fitting the strange gadgets onto the two duelists. The strange cuff went on the drawing arm and the duel disk went on the usual arm, but it was far bulkier and heavier that normal. Something like a breast plate was fastened around Jamin’s chest and shoulders and shin pads were attached to his legs. Finally a visor was placed over their heads.

“This had better be good,” Jamin muttered.

“Duel Armour, activate!”

“Holy Neo Space!”

From what Jamin could see he was standing in a whole different landscape, it was like he was standing in space, all noises and feelings of the outside world seemed to have vanished. He looked down at himself and saw he was wearing a rather retarded blue skin-suit. He noticed his duel disk on his arm.

“Well at least that’s normal,” he muttered.

He looked up and saw his opponent, wearing an equally retarded red skin suit.

 

From the outside, Kim and Diablo watched as a screen lit up behind the two duelists, displaying the virtual world they were in.

“How original,” Diablo muttered.

“As you can see, the duelists are in a whole new environment created by the computer,” the voice said “the virtual reality duel world condensed into a mobile suit, meaning duelists can duel anytime, anywhere within the virtual world. This new environment even changes whenever a field spell is played and everything is realistic to the point of perfection.”

“He spent 40 years building this?” Diablo said “there’s gotta be a catch, why all the stupid armour?”

Kim shrugged.

 

“I hope you’re ready for this kid,” Robert said.

“You too, Bobby,” Jamin said.

“It’s Robert pipsqueak!” Robert replied.

“If both duelists are ready then select your deck master,” the voice announced.

“Oh, so we’re using deck master rules, huh?” Jamin muttered “I see.”

“Don’t be too cocky,” Robert said “because I choose Ryu-Senshi!”

Robert held up a card and it immediately vanished from his hand, almost at the same time Robert was coated in the same armour crafted onto the monster, an odd violet arrangement with decorative wings for shoulder pads and spines running down his back.

“And as a deck master, he grants all my Earth attribute monsters an extra 700 points,” Robert said “neat, huh?”

“Dude, you look ridiculous,” Jamin said “well for my deck master, I choose Elemental Mistress Doriado!”

Jamin showed the card to his opponent and it vanished from his hand, soon a dark blue armour coated Jamin with a similar colour scheme to Doriado’s robes. Jamin felt a helmet materialize on his head.

“That’s a relief,” he said looking down at himself “I could have ended up cross dressing.”

“As you can see, the virtual reality even takes into account the duelist’s gender,” the voice announced “if you’re ready then you may begin the duel.”

“Sounds good to me,” Jamin said.

“Since you’re clearly the underdog here I’ll let you go first,” Robert said.

“Your funeral,” Jamin said “I’ll just start easy and summon Aussa the Earth Charmer in defense mode, and lay one card face down.”

Instead of the usual flashing lights and holograms, Jamin’s card flew from his hand and morphed into the image displayed, creating a very realistic hologram.

“Wow, I could practically touch that,” Jamin thought.

He looked at the rest of his hand.

“If I could still hear my cards I’d probably have drawn a combo to summon one of my gods,” he thought “I guess I’m just a regular duelist without them.”

“I’ll take my turn then,” Robert said “I’ll summon Indomitable Fighter Lei-Lei in attack mode!”

A half man, half beast morphed from Robert’s card.

“And thanks to my deck master’s special ability, he gains an extra 700 attack points.”

Jamin looked over at the monster as his attack points rose to 3000.

“Brace yourself, Aussa,” he said, forgetting that she couldn’t hear him anymore.

“I’ll also play Big Bang Shot,” Robert said “meaning my monster gains an extra 400, but also does damage even when your monsters in defense mode.”

A mechanical arm materialized around Le-Lei arm.

“Lei-Lei, attack his weakling!” Robert ordered.

 

Robert’s monster charged forwards and rammed Aussa out of the way. She flew backwards and slid along the ground before turning back into a card and flying into Jamin’s graveyard. Lei-Lei continued his attack and rammed head first into Jamin, knocking the wind out of him. Jamin stumbled back, gasping.

“I felt that,” he gasped.

“As you can see, the duel armour simulates actual feeling during battle, if a fire monster attacks it gets hot, if a water monster attacks you feel wet and so on,” the voice said “it’s the ultimate dueling experience.”

“He likes to go on with himself,” Diablo muttered.

Jamin staggered back to where he’d been standing before, looking up at Robert.

“Heh, pity my monster switches to defense mode at the end of my turn,” he said “I’ll just lay these two cards face down and end my turn.”

“It’s over kid,” he thought “once you attack my sakuretsu armor will blow your monster to pieces, then next turn I’ll summon my goblin attack force to deal a heavy blow to you, and then my zero gravity trap’ll finish you off.”

He stared up at Jamin, sneering.

“Well this is a good piece of junk,” Jamin said “I can see why they’re so desperate to display it.”

“Heh, I doubt a kid like you could realize the seriousness of your situation,” Robert sneered.

“Get bent,” Jamin said “my draw.”

He looked at his hand as he placed his new card in it.

He had just drawn Familiar Possessed Aussa and in his hand he had, Familiar Possessed Wynn, Twin Headed Behemoth, Tag-Team Charmers and S.D Wynn.

“Well, I guess it’s time to finish off then,” Jamin said.

“You’re right,” Robert said “this’ll be over by my next turn.”

“I wasn’t talking about you,” Jamin said “for my turn I summon Super Deformed Wynn in attack mode!”

A chibified version of Wynn the Wind Charmer formed from Jamin’s card. Hitting the ground hard with her backside and bouncing a bit, hugging a large pink rabbit in her arms.

“You’re going to beat me with that?” Robert laughed.

“You haven’t seen her special effect,” Jamin said “it allows me to special summon a level 4 or lower wind monster from my deck.”

“Oh, another monster,” Robert shrugged “your funeral.”

“I special summon Wynn the Wind Charmer,” Jamin said and his green haired spellcaster flew out of his deck and landed next to her chibified form.

“So you summon two chicks, what’re they gonna do for you?” Robert sneered.

“Well, since I have Familiar Possessed Wynn in my hand, I can send both of them to the graveyard to special summon her,” Jamin explained “And since I used her effect to summon her, she gains the same effect as your big bang shot there.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah how generic!” Robert retorted.

Both Jamin’s monsters were absorbed into Familiar Possessed Wynn’s card before the wind manipulator herself emerged from the card, landing rather acrobatically on the field in front of Jamin.

“Wynn, attack!” Jamin ordered.

Jamin’s monster raised her staff and began generating a powerful wind before firing it in Robert’s direction.

“Tough break kid,” he said “I play my trap card, sorry but your baby’s going kaboom.”

“Guess again,” Jamin said “because now my deck master ability activates!”

“You what?”

“When one of my monsters is targeted by an effect, all I have to do is discard a monster of the same attribute to negate it, it’s called the Alchemy Barrier, look it up.”

Jamin discarded Twin Headed Behemoth from his hand and Robert’s card shattered. Wynn’s attack hit Indomitable Fighter Lei-Lei and carried on to Robert, blowing him off his feet.

“Whoa, that’s chilly,” he commented.

 

“I’m not done yet,” Jamin said “I play the spell card Tag-Team Charmers, so by sending Wynn here back to my hand I can special summon Familiar Possessed Aussa!”

Wynn vanished into a card and returned to Jamin’s hand only to be replaced by Familiar Possessed Aussa.

“Now it’s your turn Aussa,” Jamin said “attack!”

Aussa raised her staff and fired a shower of diamond rocks at Robert. Robert looked up and realized the projectiles were heading for him and covered his face.

“Yow, ow, he, ouch!”

The smoke cleared and Robert was on the floor, his armour crack and smoking.

“You done yet kid?” He asked wearily.

“Nope,”

“Huh?”

“I play my trap card,” Jamin said “Spiritual Earth Art – Kurogane, by sending Familiar Possessed Aussa to the graveyard I can special summon an Earth monster that isn’t the one I just sent.”

“Bah, the only monster you’ve got in there has barely more than 500 attack points,” Robert scoffed “I’ll easily survive…Tha……..”

He looked down at his duel and saw that he only had 300 life points.

“Oh fudge.”

Familiar Possessed Aussa was absorbed by a large brown rock emerging from the ground. The rock smashed and revealed her slightly smaller counterpart.

“Time for a little payback Aussa,” Jamin said “attack.”

Aussa raised her staff and fired another rain of diamond projectiles at Robert. The cocky American gulped and covered his face as the shower hit him and his life points were wiped out.

“This stuff rocks,” Jamin said “I gotta get me one of these.”

 

The illusion ended and Jamin took his visor off, noticing that Robert seemed to have fainted.

“Guess it was too much for the poor guy,” Jamin said.

He jumped off the stage and was immediately glomped by Kim. He felt his head bang against the floor. He looked up at the red head, half smiling.

“Old habit just don’t die, do they?” He sighed.

“You know, I bet I’d have beaten him in one move,” Diablo said.

“Yeah right,” Jamin replied.

“I so could have!” Diablo said “you want an example?”

 

The threesome left the hall a few hours later. The sky was already beginning to grow dark and there was white powdery snow falling from the sky.

“Wow!” Kim exclaimed “it’s so pretty.”

“Well this was an eventful Christmas,” Jamin said.

“You mean playing a children’s card game with an American,” Diablo said “you have a strange idea of ‘eventful’.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Jamin said.

The three of them walked off through the crowd, not noticing that Robert and his manager were tailing them from behind.

“That cocky kid,” Robert grunted, cracking his knuckles “I’ll tear him apart, damnit those diamonds hurt!”

“Don’t worry about it, Rob,” the manager said “I’ll just have to get the boys to take them out, know what I mean.”

“I’d rather do it myself,”

 

Without waiting for his manager to say anything, Robert tore after the threesome, gritting his teeth. Just as he crossed the town square however somebody bumped into his and he fell backwards.

“Hey, watch it!” He yelled.

The figure looked down at him, a snide expression playing on his face.

“You wouldn’t be thinking of chasing after those guys, would you?” Mashi-Ushi said.

 

Robert’s manager watched these proceedings from far off, balling his hand into a fist.

“Cocky kid,” he growled “Just wait till I get the boys on him, he won’t last a second.”

A foot crunched into the snow behind him and he turned around to see who was trying to sneak up on him.

“Who the hell are you?”

 

“Great Maju Garzett, attack!” Robert ordered.

Robert’s hulking monster charged forwards and destroyed Mashi-Ushi’s dragon, sending it to the graveyard.

“You think that’s it, do ya?” Robert said “I’m playing my Meteor of destruction, meaning you take one grand of damage.”

“Too bad,” Mashi-Ushi said “I’m playing my fusion guard, meaning that by discard my Five God Dragon, that effect is negated.”

“Heh, lucky draw,” Robert scoffed.

“Is it really?” Mashi-Ushi said “well I guess it’s my turn then. I’ll summon Decoy Dragon in attack mode.”

A small blue dragon popped into the air in front of Mashi-Ushi, making an odd squeaking noise.

“And that’s it,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“You’re joking,” Robert said “there’s no way that thing’ll survive my Great Maju Garzett, after all her hand 4800 attack points, you’ll be done for it one attack.”

“Well attack me then,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“Maybe I will,” Robert said “Great Maju Garzett, destroy him.”

“Tough luck, you’ve activated my dragon’s special ability, allowing me to special summon a dragon monster from my graveyard, and I choose my Felgrand Dragon!”

“I don’t care,” Robert said “I’m still attacking your little munchkin.”

“I’m afraid you’ve got no choice but to attack Felgrand Dragon,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“Fine by me, go Great Maju Garzett,”

“Now Felgrand dragon’s effect activated,” Mashi-Ushi said “allowing me to equip him with one dragon monster from my graveyard, and I choose the Five God Dragon.”

“The what,”

“And that means my monster gains 5000 attack points,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“Oh fudge!”

Felgrand dragon glowed brightly and fired a massive fireball back at Great Maju Garzett, destroying him and taking out the rest of Robert’s life points, he was thrown backwards by the force of the attack and lay on the ground out cold. Mashi-Ushi deactivated his duel disk and wandered over to him.

“Huh, pushy Americans,” he smirked.

 

 

He looked up in time to see Robert’s managed get blasted backwards by a black energy ball, he rolled along the ground for a few moments before coming to rest beside his client, as out cold as he was. Mashi-Ushi looked up smiling as the offending duelist stepped up to the two bodies.

“You took a bit longer that I thought,” he said “Joshinyu.”

“Most of it was trash talk,” Josh replied, kicking the managed “and don’t call me Joshinyu.”

He glared up at Mashi-Ushi with a pair of blood red eyes.

“So I guess the bets still on, huh?” Mashi-Ushi said “first one to beat Jamin gets his spirit energy.”

“Like I need it to beat you,” Josh smirked.

“Don’t act so cocky,” Mashi-Ushi said “soon the power of the Dark Magician will be mine.”

“Not unless I take your powers first,” Josh smirked.

“Well, I’ll see you at the duel rally then,” Mashi-Ushi said “and may the best man win.”

“I plan to.”

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 25: For anybody still reading this :P

 

[spoiler=episode]It was still dark the next morning, however sounds could already be heard inside Josh’s bedroom and had been going on all night. The place was a tip, Josh had been throwing things all over the place and what he couldn’t throw he’d toppled over. A bookshelf lay broken on the floor just beside an upturned bin. The window had been smashed and Josh hadn’t bothered to check the cut on the back of his hand. He stood in the center of the chaos, panting; his eyes were still blood red but his entire composure had changed as well, he stood more like some sort of ancient warrior having survived a long and bloody battle and was just about to finish off his last victim. Josh screwed up his eyes and let out a loud yell of rage, running across the room and driving his fist into a mirror set into the wall, smashing it.

“Get out of me!” He demanded “Leave me alone!”

He looked up at the mirror and realized to his horror that his reflection was sneering back at him, much in the same way as a certain destroyer of worlds.

“Why quit?” The reflection asked “Now you have the greatest Shadow powers in the universe?”

“Shut up!” Josh ordered.

“Don’t deny it!” The reflection laughed.

Josh grabbed his face in pain as he remembered what had happened in the valley a few days ago.

 

As soon as Josh looked around again he moved towards the slowly melting body of Zorc and somehow jumped on top of him before plunging his hand into his chest.

“Your power is mine now, Zorc!” Josh growled, pulling his hand out and yanking out the same black tendrils Zorc had used to suck out Jamin’s power.

The tentacles flowed into Josh’s fist like live snakes and he plunged his other hand in, taking another fistful of spirit energy.

“Look at the great destroyer of worlds now!” Josh laughed, his face growing madder and madder with each step “conquered by the black magic of the Dark Magician at last!”

 

Josh let go of his face and staggered backwards, picking up a chair and hurling it at the mirror, smashing it completely.

“I don’t need you,” Josh said, clenching his hand into a fist. A black aura furled out of it as he did so, surrounding it like a flame. “I possess the power of the Dark Magician and the dark lord Zorc, once I absorb Jamin’s powers I’ll be invincible, then nobody will be able to ignore me anymore!”

 

Jamin opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes. He turned over and looked at a small pile of blank cards on his bedside cabinet.

“Still blank, huh?” He mused, getting up out of bed “I wonder what I have to do in order to get them back again.”

He picked up his deck and rifled through it.

“You guys can’t hear me either, can you?” He muttered “I wonder.”

He put the deck back on the cabinet and stood up, wandering over to the window and gazing out of it. As he stared out of it a familiar sensation washed over him and he started.

“What the heck?” He staggered away from his window “was that Josh, or Zorc.” He narrowed his eyes “It felt like both of them, but it was the same spirit force.”

Hastily, he picked up his deck and duel disk and got dressed as fast as he could, charging down the stairs.

“Jamin, where are you going in such a hurry?” His dad asked.

“I’m off the thwart the forces of darkness again,” Jamin said as he went out the door.

“Err…..Okay, but be back by dinner time,” his dad said.

 

Jamin threw himself onto his bike and peddled off down the street, following the direction of where he felt the energy. He suddenly realized he was traveling along the route to Josh’s house.

“It can’t be,” he muttered.

As he turned a corner he noticed somebody blocking his way and he braked, swerving to the side and grinding along the tarmac, almost falling off. As he slowed to a halt he looked up and saw Mashi-Ushi standing in the middle of the road with a duel disk on one hand.

“Hey there,” he waved.

“Oh, it’s you,” Jamin said “you didn’t happen to….No, never mind.”

“Didn’t happen to what?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” Jamin said.

“You’re wondering if I felt that energy just now.” Mashi-Ushi asked with a hint of slyness in his voice.

Jamin froze and stared, wide eyed, at Mashi-Ushi.

“How do you…?”

“How do I know? Easy,” Mashi-Ushi said “Because I’m spirit sensitive too.”

Upon saying this Jamin felt a sudden rush of energy flow out of Mashi-Ushi, almost choking him. Almost as soon as it had begun however it stopped.

“I hate to waste it showing off,” Mashi-Ushi said “but right now I have a little bit of business to take care of.”

He raised his arm and activated the duel disk on his arm.

“You want to duel me?” Jamin asked.

“No, I want to play scrabble,” Mashi-Ushi said “of course I want to duel you!”

Jamin hesitated, but activated his duel disk all the same.

“You sure you want to do this?” He asked “I mean you know what I can do.”

“Don’t push it,” Mashi-Ushi said, drawing six cards “I’ll begin by summoning Luster Dragon in attack mode!”

A shining Blue dragon rose out of the ground in front of Mashi-Ushi.

“A dragon, huh?” Jamin muttered.

“I’ll set two cards face down and end my turn,” Mashi-Ushi said.

 

“Fine then,” Jamin said “I’ll set one monster in defense mode, and then activate the book of Taiyou, flipping my monster back up again.”

Jamin’s card flipped up, revealing Wynn the Wind Charmer.

“And since your monster is a wind attribute, that’s the perfect target for Wynn’s effect.”

Wynn began chanting and a green aura surrounded both her and the dragon and it turned about to face Mashi-Ushi.

“Now Luster Dragon and Wynn can attack your life points directly,” Jamin said “go!”

Both monsters charged forwards and struck Mashi-Ushi with full force, lowering his life points to 1600.

“Heh, nice going,” he smirked.

“Now I send Wynn and Luster Dragon to the graveyard,” Jamin said “in order to summon Familiar Possessed Wynn!”

Both monsters vanished in a hurricane and were replaced by a much older looking version of Wynn.

“Bad move,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“Huh?”

“It’s my turn,” Mashi-Ushi said “and I play Trade In, by sending my Diamond Dragon to the Graveyard I get to draw two cards.”

Mashi-Ushi sent a monster to his grave and drew two new cards from his deck.

“Now I play the spell card double summon,” He said “allowing me to normal summon twice this turn, and to start with I summon Kaiser Sea-Horse.”

A violet and black warrior clad in marine like armour and carrying a trident rose on Mashi-Ushi’s side of the field.

“And thanks to his effect I can treat him as two tributes when summoning a Light attribute monster, so say hello to the Felgrand Dragon!”

“The what?”

Kaiser Sea-Horse vanished in a golden fireball and exploded. A huge, snaking, golden dragon rose out of the ground to replace him, towering above Jamin’s monster.

“What is that?” He gasped.

“This is the Felgrand Dragon,” Mashi-Ushi said “the ultimate of all monsters and you’ll soon find out why. Because now I activate my Grave Trade trap card.”

“Huh?”

“By sending my Felgrand Dragon to the graveyard, I can special summon any other monster from my graveyard that I choose,” Mashi-Ushi said “so say hello to my Luster Dragon again!”

Jamin stared at Mashi-Ushi.

“You sent a level eight monster just to get a level four monster?” He gapsed.

“I’m not done yet,” Mashi-Ushi said “because I have another Grave Trade trap.”

“Another one!”

“Exactly, so now I’m sending Luster Dragon to the Graveyard again, to re-summon my Felgrand Dragon!”

Mashi-Ushi’s dragon was pulled back underground again and the golden dragon from before rose up to replace it.

“Why did you do that?” Jamin asked.

“Moron!” Mashi-Ushi laughed “because when my Felgrand Dragon is special summoned from the graveyard, I can immediately equip one monster in my graveyard to him and increase his attack power by that monster’s attack points!”

“Say what?”

 

Mashi-Ushi held up his duel disk and the graveyard glowed and his Diamond Dragon flew out of it and was absorbed into Felgrand Dragon, raising his attack power to 4900.

“Uh-oh,” Jamin muttered.

“Oh and just to be extra snide, I’m playing Shrink as well,” Mashi-Ushi said “cutting the attack points of your monster in half!”

Jamin looked over at Wynn as she shrunk to half her usual height, as did her attack points.

“No!”

“Felgrand Dragon attack!” Mashi-Ushi ordered “Golden Inferno!”

Felgrand Dragon rose into the air, charging a golden coloured fireball in his mouth and firing it straight at Wynn. Jamin gazed on in horror as the fireball struck, obliterating Wynn and taking a massive chunk out of his life points. He staggered backwards, dazed.

“Hm? Must have miscalculated,” Mashi-Ushi muttered “looks like you still have 25 life points left.”

Jamin glared up at him. “It’s my turn now!” He said.

“Take it then,” Mashi-Ushi said “it’s none of my concern.”

“I’m playing my own double summon,” Jamin said “but since you’ve already used one I doubt it needs an introduction.”

“Too true,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“I’m also playing the Shallow Grave,” Jamin said “so we both get to special summon a monster from our graveyards in face down defense mode.”

Mashi-Ushi shrugged: “Then I choose Kaiser Sea-Horse.”

“And I choose Wynn the Wind Charmer,” Jamin said.

Both players placed the selected monsters on their fields and two face down monster cards appeared on each of them.

“So, got any better plans than that?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“Simple,” Jamin said “I summon Super Deformed Aussa in attack mode!”

A small child-like version of Aussa popped out of a small pink cloud on Jamin’s side of the field, gazing around curiously.

“And now, thanks to her effect I can special summon a level four or lower earth attribute monster from my deck,” Jamin explained “and I choose the Witch Doctor of Sparta.”

“Excuse me?”

 

A small and crooked old man wearing a ram’s skull for a mask and a black and violet cloak emerged from a stone next to Super Deformed Aussa, a small ball of magic energy forming in his hands.

“What’s he doing?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“Using his special effect,” Jamin said “whenever a monster in special summon to either side of the field, you lose 500 life points.”

“Huh?”

Jamin’s Witch Doctor threw the ball of energy at Mashi-Ushi, hitting him and dropping his life points to 3500.

“Nothing but a scratch,” Mashi-Ushi glowered.

Jamin smirked.

“Heh, pity I know what you’re about to do,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“Huh?”

“I know the kind of deck you use,” Mashi-Ushi said “it relies on having as many monsters at a time working together, and right now I bet I know what you’re going to do. Since you’ve used double summon you have another normal summon left, so I’ll bet your going to use it to summon the Creator Incarnate or Hand of Nephthys, then use their special effects to special summon the appropriate card, inflicting another 500 points to me because of your Witch Doctor, and if you happen to use their own abilities that’ll be another 500 off me. I’ve got your strategy worked out Jamin, and I know that it won’t work.”

“Wrong,” Jamin said.

“Huh?”

“You’re wrong,” Jamin said “after my run in with Zorc my powers have been temporarily sapped, for the moment I’m unable to hear my cards and Horus, Nephthys and the Creator have completely vanished and I doubt I’ll recover them again.”

Mashi-Ushi stared at him, aghast.

“You mean you’ve got no spirit powers at all?” He said.

“Pretty much,” Jamin said.

Mashi-Ushi glared at him and suddenly yelled out in rage.

“Damnit! What a waste of time!” He yelled “I was hoping to defeat you and take all your powers before the duel rally tournament so I’d be able to go through it like a breeze, but you just had to lose all your powers to somebody else, didn’t you!?”

“Not my fault,” Jamin said.

“Enough!” Mashi-Ushi said “I’ll just have to tear you apart here!”

“Sorry, but I’m not done with my turn yet,” Jamin said “and there is another reason why I summoned three monsters in one turn.”

Mashi-Ushi stared up at him and his eyes widened.

“You’re going to make a three monster sacrifice.” He said slowly.

“Bingo,” Jamin said, holding up a card “I sacrifice Wynn the Wind Charmer, Super Deformed Aussa and the Witch Doctor of Sparta in order to summon Gilford the Lightning!”

“Huh?”

A knight in very little armour with a tattered red cloak and an odd helmet with two horns extending past his jaw materialized on Jamin’s side of the field.

“Since I can’t see Nephthys or the others I can’t use them any more,” Jamin explained “so I’m having to make do with this guy as an ace card for now, and you’re about to see why!”

Gilford raised his sword and a thunder bolt shot out of it and into the sky. Mashi-Ushi looked up and his eyes widened as several bolts of lightning reigned down upon his field, completely destroying his monsters.

“W-what the?!”

“When Gilford is tribute summoned by sacrificing three monsters, all monsters on your side of the field are destroyed.”

“Like I care,” Mashi-Ushi scoffed “You only have 25 life points left!”

“That’ll make it even more embarrassing for you when you lose,” Jamin said “Gilford, attack!”

Another bolt of lightning charged itself in Gilford’s blade and he rushed forwards, taking a wild swing at Mashi-Ushi with his sword. Mashi-Ushi took a step back clutching his chest as his life points dropped to 700.

“You little…”

 

Jamin’s eyes narrowed.

“Do I have to stress this to every evil minded freak trying to steal my soul?” He asked “it’s a card game, and in a card game there’s always a chance that you’ll lose so welcome to the real world.”

“Be quiet!” Mashi-Ushi yelled.

Jamin cut off, staring at Mashi-Ushi.

“Don’t you dare think this an idle kid’s game!” Mashi-Ushi said “This used to be a game of life and death, but because of people like you it’s regressed into a mere pass time.”

“A popular pass time,” Jamin pointed out.

“Zip it!” Mashi-Ushi cut across him.

“What’s with you?” Jamin asked “why are you getting worked up over this? And what the hell do you want with me?”

“Maybe I’ll tell you if you beat me,” Mashi-Ushi said “however, I’m afraid it’s my draw!”

Mashi-Ushi drew the next card on his deck and played it almost immediately.

“I activate Foolish Burial,” he said “by using this card, I send Winged Kuriboh Level 10 to my graveyard.”

Mashi-Ushi picked a card out of his deck and placed it on his graveyard slot, the card slid in with a faint flash of light.

“Next I play the magic card A Rival Returns,” he said “by playing this card I can resurrect one monster from my graveyard, and I think you can guess who that’s going to be.”

“Felgrand Dragon by any chance?” Jamin asked.

 

Mashi-Ushi sneered: “Not as dumb as you make yourself out to be,”

“Maybe I’m hiding something,” Jamin sneered back.

Mashi-Ushi chuckled as his massive golden dragon rose out of the ground beside him, letting out an almighty roar.

“I play Felgrand Dragon’s special effect,” Mashi-Ushi said “when he’s special summoned from my graveyard, I can take one monster in my graveyard and equip it to him and he gains attack points equal to that monster’s level.”

Mashi-Ushi held up his duel disk and Winged Kuriboh Level 10 slid out, he picked it up and placed it in the slot behind his Felgrand Dragon. The massive creature roared as a glow surrounded it and his attack points raised to 4800.

“This is gonna hurt,” Jamin muttered.

“Felgrand Dragon attack!” Mashi-Ushi ordered.

His mighty dragon rose into the air, charging a fireball in its mouth and preparing to fire.

“You’ve lost, Jamin,” Mashi-Ushi said “remember this and think, I was holding back in this duel, and you still couldn’t beat me, so when you recover your powers I’m coming to get you and there’s nothing you’ll be able to do to stop it.”

Jamin gazed up at the dragon about to attack him.

“You just keep thinking that,” he said “because I’m not at full strength either.”

“Who cares?!” Mashi-Ushi laughed.

With that his Felgrand Dragon released its attack and destroyed Jamin’s monster, reducing his fairly low life points to zero.

 

The smoke cleared along with the holograms, revealing Jamin to be standing exactly the way he was before. Mashi-Ushi was enraged, a vein was throbbing in his temple and his teeth were grinding against each other.

“How can you just stand there?” He growled “you lost!”

“That I did, but I’m still here, aren’t I?” Jamin replied.

“You’re not taking this game seriously enough,” Mashi-Ushi snarled.

“I don’t need to,” Jamin said “Zorc’s beaten; there’s nothing else that I need to do. So I don’t need to duel you when I’ve recovered my powers, after all you can’t destroy the world, I’ve got no reason to duel you.”

Jamin deactivated his duel disk and turned to leave.

“What if I gave you a reason to duel me?” Mashi-Ushi said.

Jamin stopped and looked around.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“I suppose you remember your friend Josh right?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

Jamin’s eyes widened.

“Josh?”

“That’s right, after he defeated Zorc he took all of his energy, that’s how a spirit game works, the loser gives up all his powers to the winner,” Mashi-Ushi explained.

“Wait, are you saying Josh’s spirit force and Zorc’s spirit force are the same thing now?” Jamin asked.

“Exactly,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“That’s why they felt like two then,” Jamin muttered.

“And I’ll tell you something else,” Mashi-Ushi said “if you can defeat me in a spirit duel, I’ll tell you how to defeat Josh.”

Jamin’s eyes narrowed again.

“Fine,” he said “you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“I hope you recover your powers soon,” Mashi-Ushi said before turning around and walking away.

 

About a week later, Jamin found himself back at school again and bitterly anticipating the start of the duel rally tournament.

“Josh and Mashi-Ushi will be there,” he thought “so I need to beat them both in order to get Josh back to normal.”

He turned his head to the seat next to him, which was empty.

“It’s not a question of whether or not Mashi-Ushi was lying,” he thought “I know I felt Josh’s presence, there can’t be any other explanation.”

A piece of chalk flew through the air and bounced off his head. Jamin jumped and looked up to see their teacher, a strong Wolverine look alike except he wore a black suit, glaring at him.

“Tsubasa, pay attention!” He barked.

“Uh, err, yes sir,” Jamin stuttered.

His teacher frowned.

“You’ve been spacing out too much,” he said “see me after class.”

“Yes sire,” Jamin muttered.

He sighed and propped his head up with one arm, only half listening to what the teacher was saying.

“I need to find a way to retrieve my powers by next month,” he thought “I don’t even know where to start.”

He looked at the set of cards currently under his desk, the seven blank cards that had previously been his somewhat minor god cards.

“Even if I do recover my powers, will I still be able to see my cards?” He thought “I wonder.”

 

The day ended rather quickly, and Jamin found himself knocking on his teacher’s office door.

“Prof. Kon,” he called “it’s me.”

He opened the door and stepped inside. The rather cramped but tidy office was empty aside from a desk piled with paperwork. Jamin looked about and saw a poster of Yugi Moto on the back wall.

“Interesting,” he muttered.

He looked down at the desk and noticed a small note in rather hurried handwriting.

 

Jamin, I’ll be waiting in the GYM…

 

“The GYM?” Jamin muttered.

He left the office and moved to the located the note had specified. All the time he walked he began to wonder what his teacher wanted with him at a GYM. He arrived at the doors a few minutes later and walked inside. He noticed that his teacher had removed his dark suit and tie and had laid them on a bench just inside the door. He looked up to see Kon’s back; he looked like he was fiddling with something.

“Professor?” He said tentatively.

“You saw the note then,” his teacher noted “good.”

“Why exactly are we in the GYM?” Jamin asked.

“Those in your pocket take them out,” Kon ordered.

Jamin blinked and fished in his pocket, taking out the blank cards.

“These?” He asked.

“They’re blank, aren’t they?”

“How’d you…”

“You’ve lost your powers,” haven’t you.

Jamin froze, suddenly unable to speak.

“H-how…” He began “you know about that.”

“I used to be like you,” Kon went on, still with his back to Jamin “a young kid with power to speak to creatures from another world and even to call them to this one.”

“You were a duelist?” Jamin replied.

“I still am,” Kon said “I just don’t play that much anymore.”

He lowered his arms and Jamin saw an old style duel disk strapped to his arm. Kon turned around and tossed another to Jamin. He caught it deftly and gazed down at it.

“You’re going to duel me because I spaced out in class?” He asked.

“No, I just needed a good excuse,” Kon said “I was going to go for the bad homework plan but then I never set any, did I?”

Jamin could only blink.

“Listen,” Kon said “I know how important it is for you to recover your abilities, I felt Josh that day as well and I know it has to be you to sort him out again.”

“Why me?” Jamin asked.

“Let’s just say ‘chosen one’s unfinished business’, shall we?” Kon said.

 

The bell for the end of lessons rang the next day and Jamin almost immediately got up from his desk.

“Hey Jamin!” Kim ran over to him from her desk “I got a new DVD player for Christmas and I just finished working out how it works, wanna come to my place.”

“Sorry, I’ve got plans for this afternoon,” Jamin said “another time maybe.”

Kim looked disappointed but soon changed her expression to bright and cheery again.

“Okay!” She said.

Jamin waited till she’d left the classroom before picking up his schoolbag and a large carrier bag and headed out of the room himself. He immediately went to the GYM and walked in, finding Professor Kon already waiting for him.

“Good,” Kon said “you’re here.”

Jamin nodded and put his things down, taking his duel disk out of the bag and fitting it onto his arm.

“You remember what we’re doing here,” Kon said “You need to recover your powers in just under two months, usually it takes a good few years for any powers to develop but you’ve only lost yours so it should be possible to gain them in less time, however we can’t afford to let them recover on their own.”

“Got it,” Jamin said.

“You need to push yourself,” Kon went on “and by that I mean don’t just duel like every other kids duels, try and hear what your cards are saying to you and treat them more than just paper and ink.”

Jamin inserted his deck and activated his duel disk.

“Everything’s riding on me again,” he thought “I can’t let Josh go around with Zorc’s dark power, if he loses it too much he’ll end up destroying the world anyway, I can’t let him do that. And then there’s Mashi-Ushi to worry about, I need to beat him to find out how I can beat Josh, and if I lose to either of them then its game over.”

He looked back up at his teacher, feeling a flow of spiritual energy flowing from him.

“I’m ready,” he said.

“Good,” Kon said “now get ready, I’m not holding back.”

Jamin nodded.

“Draw!”

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 25: For anybody still reading this :P

 

[spoiler=episode]It was still dark the next morning, however sounds could already be heard inside Josh’s bedroom and had been going on all night. The place was a tip, Josh had been throwing things all over the place and what he couldn’t throw he’d toppled over. A bookshelf lay broken on the floor just beside an upturned bin. The window had been smashed and Josh hadn’t bothered to check the cut on the back of his hand. He stood in the center of the chaos, panting; his eyes were still blood red but his entire composure had changed as well, he stood more like some sort of ancient warrior having survived a long and bloody battle and was just about to finish off his last victim. Josh screwed up his eyes and let out a loud yell of rage, running across the room and driving his fist into a mirror set into the wall, smashing it.

“Get out of me!” He demanded “Leave me alone!”

He looked up at the mirror and realized to his horror that his reflection was sneering back at him, much in the same way as a certain destroyer of worlds.

“Why quit?” The reflection asked “Now you have the greatest Shadow powers in the universe?”

“Shut up!” Josh ordered.

“Don’t deny it!” The reflection laughed.

Josh grabbed his face in pain as he remembered what had happened in the valley a few days ago.

 

As soon as Josh looked around again he moved towards the slowly melting body of Zorc and somehow jumped on top of him before plunging his hand into his chest.

“Your power is mine now, Zorc!” Josh growled, pulling his hand out and yanking out the same black tendrils Zorc had used to suck out Jamin’s power.

The tentacles flowed into Josh’s fist like live snakes and he plunged his other hand in, taking another fistful of spirit energy.

“Look at the great destroyer of worlds now!” Josh laughed, his face growing madder and madder with each step “conquered by the black magic of the Dark Magician at last!”

 

Josh let go of his face and staggered backwards, picking up a chair and hurling it at the mirror, smashing it completely.

“I don’t need you,” Josh said, clenching his hand into a fist. A black aura furled out of it as he did so, surrounding it like a flame. “I possess the power of the Dark Magician and the dark lord Zorc, once I absorb Jamin’s powers I’ll be invincible, then nobody will be able to ignore me anymore!”

 

Jamin opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes. He turned over and looked at a small pile of blank cards on his bedside cabinet.

“Still blank, huh?” He mused, getting up out of bed “I wonder what I have to do in order to get them back again.”

He picked up his deck and rifled through it.

“You guys can’t hear me either, can you?” He muttered “I wonder.”

He put the deck back on the cabinet and stood up, wandering over to the window and gazing out of it. As he stared out of it a familiar sensation washed over him and he started.

“What the heck?” He staggered away from his window “was that Josh, or Zorc.” He narrowed his eyes “It felt like both of them, but it was the same spirit force.”

Hastily, he picked up his deck and duel disk and got dressed as fast as he could, charging down the stairs.

“Jamin, where are you going in such a hurry?” His dad asked.

“I’m off the thwart the forces of darkness again,” Jamin said as he went out the door.

“Err…..Okay, but be back by dinner time,” his dad said.

 

Jamin threw himself onto his bike and peddled off down the street, following the direction of where he felt the energy. He suddenly realized he was traveling along the route to Josh’s house.

“It can’t be,” he muttered.

As he turned a corner he noticed somebody blocking his way and he braked, swerving to the side and grinding along the tarmac, almost falling off. As he slowed to a halt he looked up and saw Mashi-Ushi standing in the middle of the road with a duel disk on one hand.

“Hey there,” he waved.

“Oh, it’s you,” Jamin said “you didn’t happen to….No, never mind.”

“Didn’t happen to what?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” Jamin said.

“You’re wondering if I felt that energy just now.” Mashi-Ushi asked with a hint of slyness in his voice.

Jamin froze and stared, wide eyed, at Mashi-Ushi.

“How do you…?”

“How do I know? Easy,” Mashi-Ushi said “Because I’m spirit sensitive too.”

Upon saying this Jamin felt a sudden rush of energy flow out of Mashi-Ushi, almost choking him. Almost as soon as it had begun however it stopped.

“I hate to waste it showing off,” Mashi-Ushi said “but right now I have a little bit of business to take care of.”

He raised his arm and activated the duel disk on his arm.

“You want to duel me?” Jamin asked.

“No, I want to play scrabble,” Mashi-Ushi said “of course I want to duel you!”

Jamin hesitated, but activated his duel disk all the same.

“You sure you want to do this?” He asked “I mean you know what I can do.”

“Don’t push it,” Mashi-Ushi said, drawing six cards “I’ll begin by summoning Luster Dragon in attack mode!”

A shining Blue dragon rose out of the ground in front of Mashi-Ushi.

“A dragon, huh?” Jamin muttered.

“I’ll set two cards face down and end my turn,” Mashi-Ushi said.

 

“Fine then,” Jamin said “I’ll set one monster in defense mode, and then activate the book of Taiyou, flipping my monster back up again.”

Jamin’s card flipped up, revealing Wynn the Wind Charmer.

“And since your monster is a wind attribute, that’s the perfect target for Wynn’s effect.”

Wynn began chanting and a green aura surrounded both her and the dragon and it turned about to face Mashi-Ushi.

“Now Luster Dragon and Wynn can attack your life points directly,” Jamin said “go!”

Both monsters charged forwards and struck Mashi-Ushi with full force, lowering his life points to 1600.

“Heh, nice going,” he smirked.

“Now I send Wynn and Luster Dragon to the graveyard,” Jamin said “in order to summon Familiar Possessed Wynn!”

Both monsters vanished in a hurricane and were replaced by a much older looking version of Wynn.

“Bad move,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“Huh?”

“It’s my turn,” Mashi-Ushi said “and I play Trade In, by sending my Diamond Dragon to the Graveyard I get to draw two cards.”

Mashi-Ushi sent a monster to his grave and drew two new cards from his deck.

“Now I play the spell card double summon,” He said “allowing me to normal summon twice this turn, and to start with I summon Kaiser Sea-Horse.”

A violet and black warrior clad in marine like armour and carrying a trident rose on Mashi-Ushi’s side of the field.

“And thanks to his effect I can treat him as two tributes when summoning a Light attribute monster, so say hello to the Felgrand Dragon!”

“The what?”

Kaiser Sea-Horse vanished in a golden fireball and exploded. A huge, snaking, golden dragon rose out of the ground to replace him, towering above Jamin’s monster.

“What is that?” He gasped.

“This is the Felgrand Dragon,” Mashi-Ushi said “the ultimate of all monsters and you’ll soon find out why. Because now I activate my Grave Trade trap card.”

“Huh?”

“By sending my Felgrand Dragon to the graveyard, I can special summon any other monster from my graveyard that I choose,” Mashi-Ushi said “so say hello to my Luster Dragon again!”

Jamin stared at Mashi-Ushi.

“You sent a level eight monster just to get a level four monster?” He gapsed.

“I’m not done yet,” Mashi-Ushi said “because I have another Grave Trade trap.”

“Another one!”

“Exactly, so now I’m sending Luster Dragon to the Graveyard again, to re-summon my Felgrand Dragon!”

Mashi-Ushi’s dragon was pulled back underground again and the golden dragon from before rose up to replace it.

“Why did you do that?” Jamin asked.

“Moron!” Mashi-Ushi laughed “because when my Felgrand Dragon is special summoned from the graveyard, I can immediately equip one monster in my graveyard to him and increase his attack power by that monster’s attack points!”

“Say what?”

 

Mashi-Ushi held up his duel disk and the graveyard glowed and his Diamond Dragon flew out of it and was absorbed into Felgrand Dragon, raising his attack power to 4900.

“Uh-oh,” Jamin muttered.

“Oh and just to be extra snide, I’m playing Shrink as well,” Mashi-Ushi said “cutting the attack points of your monster in half!”

Jamin looked over at Wynn as she shrunk to half her usual height, as did her attack points.

“No!”

“Felgrand Dragon attack!” Mashi-Ushi ordered “Golden Inferno!”

Felgrand Dragon rose into the air, charging a golden coloured fireball in his mouth and firing it straight at Wynn. Jamin gazed on in horror as the fireball struck, obliterating Wynn and taking a massive chunk out of his life points. He staggered backwards, dazed.

“Hm? Must have miscalculated,” Mashi-Ushi muttered “looks like you still have 25 life points left.”

Jamin glared up at him. “It’s my turn now!” He said.

“Take it then,” Mashi-Ushi said “it’s none of my concern.”

“I’m playing my own double summon,” Jamin said “but since you’ve already used one I doubt it needs an introduction.”

“Too true,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“I’m also playing the Shallow Grave,” Jamin said “so we both get to special summon a monster from our graveyards in face down defense mode.”

Mashi-Ushi shrugged: “Then I choose Kaiser Sea-Horse.”

“And I choose Wynn the Wind Charmer,” Jamin said.

Both players placed the selected monsters on their fields and two face down monster cards appeared on each of them.

“So, got any better plans than that?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“Simple,” Jamin said “I summon Super Deformed Aussa in attack mode!”

A small child-like version of Aussa popped out of a small pink cloud on Jamin’s side of the field, gazing around curiously.

“And now, thanks to her effect I can special summon a level four or lower earth attribute monster from my deck,” Jamin explained “and I choose the Witch Doctor of Sparta.”

“Excuse me?”

 

A small and crooked old man wearing a ram’s skull for a mask and a black and violet cloak emerged from a stone next to Super Deformed Aussa, a small ball of magic energy forming in his hands.

“What’s he doing?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“Using his special effect,” Jamin said “whenever a monster in special summon to either side of the field, you lose 500 life points.”

“Huh?”

Jamin’s Witch Doctor threw the ball of energy at Mashi-Ushi, hitting him and dropping his life points to 3500.

“Nothing but a scratch,” Mashi-Ushi glowered.

Jamin smirked.

“Heh, pity I know what you’re about to do,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“Huh?”

“I know the kind of deck you use,” Mashi-Ushi said “it relies on having as many monsters at a time working together, and right now I bet I know what you’re going to do. Since you’ve used double summon you have another normal summon left, so I’ll bet your going to use it to summon the Creator Incarnate or Hand of Nephthys, then use their special effects to special summon the appropriate card, inflicting another 500 points to me because of your Witch Doctor, and if you happen to use their own abilities that’ll be another 500 off me. I’ve got your strategy worked out Jamin, and I know that it won’t work.”

“Wrong,” Jamin said.

“Huh?”

“You’re wrong,” Jamin said “after my run in with Zorc my powers have been temporarily sapped, for the moment I’m unable to hear my cards and Horus, Nephthys and the Creator have completely vanished and I doubt I’ll recover them again.”

Mashi-Ushi stared at him, aghast.

“You mean you’ve got no spirit powers at all?” He said.

“Pretty much,” Jamin said.

Mashi-Ushi glared at him and suddenly yelled out in rage.

“Damnit! What a waste of time!” He yelled “I was hoping to defeat you and take all your powers before the duel rally tournament so I’d be able to go through it like a breeze, but you just had to lose all your powers to somebody else, didn’t you!?”

“Not my fault,” Jamin said.

“Enough!” Mashi-Ushi said “I’ll just have to tear you apart here!”

“Sorry, but I’m not done with my turn yet,” Jamin said “and there is another reason why I summoned three monsters in one turn.”

Mashi-Ushi stared up at him and his eyes widened.

“You’re going to make a three monster sacrifice.” He said slowly.

“Bingo,” Jamin said, holding up a card “I sacrifice Wynn the Wind Charmer, Super Deformed Aussa and the Witch Doctor of Sparta in order to summon Gilford the Lightning!”

“Huh?”

A knight in very little armour with a tattered red cloak and an odd helmet with two horns extending past his jaw materialized on Jamin’s side of the field.

“Since I can’t see Nephthys or the others I can’t use them any more,” Jamin explained “so I’m having to make do with this guy as an ace card for now, and you’re about to see why!”

Gilford raised his sword and a thunder bolt shot out of it and into the sky. Mashi-Ushi looked up and his eyes widened as several bolts of lightning reigned down upon his field, completely destroying his monsters.

“W-what the?!”

“When Gilford is tribute summoned by sacrificing three monsters, all monsters on your side of the field are destroyed.”

“Like I care,” Mashi-Ushi scoffed “You only have 25 life points left!”

“That’ll make it even more embarrassing for you when you lose,” Jamin said “Gilford, attack!”

Another bolt of lightning charged itself in Gilford’s blade and he rushed forwards, taking a wild swing at Mashi-Ushi with his sword. Mashi-Ushi took a step back clutching his chest as his life points dropped to 700.

“You little…”

 

Jamin’s eyes narrowed.

“Do I have to stress this to every evil minded freak trying to steal my soul?” He asked “it’s a card game, and in a card game there’s always a chance that you’ll lose so welcome to the real world.”

“Be quiet!” Mashi-Ushi yelled.

Jamin cut off, staring at Mashi-Ushi.

“Don’t you dare think this an idle kid’s game!” Mashi-Ushi said “This used to be a game of life and death, but because of people like you it’s regressed into a mere pass time.”

“A popular pass time,” Jamin pointed out.

“Zip it!” Mashi-Ushi cut across him.

“What’s with you?” Jamin asked “why are you getting worked up over this? And what the hell do you want with me?”

“Maybe I’ll tell you if you beat me,” Mashi-Ushi said “however, I’m afraid it’s my draw!”

Mashi-Ushi drew the next card on his deck and played it almost immediately.

“I activate Foolish Burial,” he said “by using this card, I send Winged Kuriboh Level 10 to my graveyard.”

Mashi-Ushi picked a card out of his deck and placed it on his graveyard slot, the card slid in with a faint flash of light.

“Next I play the magic card A Rival Returns,” he said “by playing this card I can resurrect one monster from my graveyard, and I think you can guess who that’s going to be.”

“Felgrand Dragon by any chance?” Jamin asked.

 

Mashi-Ushi sneered: “Not as dumb as you make yourself out to be,”

“Maybe I’m hiding something,” Jamin sneered back.

Mashi-Ushi chuckled as his massive golden dragon rose out of the ground beside him, letting out an almighty roar.

“I play Felgrand Dragon’s special effect,” Mashi-Ushi said “when he’s special summoned from my graveyard, I can take one monster in my graveyard and equip it to him and he gains attack points equal to that monster’s level.”

Mashi-Ushi held up his duel disk and Winged Kuriboh Level 10 slid out, he picked it up and placed it in the slot behind his Felgrand Dragon. The massive creature roared as a glow surrounded it and his attack points raised to 4800.

“This is gonna hurt,” Jamin muttered.

“Felgrand Dragon attack!” Mashi-Ushi ordered.

His mighty dragon rose into the air, charging a fireball in its mouth and preparing to fire.

“You’ve lost, Jamin,” Mashi-Ushi said “remember this and think, I was holding back in this duel, and you still couldn’t beat me, so when you recover your powers I’m coming to get you and there’s nothing you’ll be able to do to stop it.”

Jamin gazed up at the dragon about to attack him.

“You just keep thinking that,” he said “because I’m not at full strength either.”

“Who cares?!” Mashi-Ushi laughed.

With that his Felgrand Dragon released its attack and destroyed Jamin’s monster, reducing his fairly low life points to zero.

 

The smoke cleared along with the holograms, revealing Jamin to be standing exactly the way he was before. Mashi-Ushi was enraged, a vein was throbbing in his temple and his teeth were grinding against each other.

“How can you just stand there?” He growled “you lost!”

“That I did, but I’m still here, aren’t I?” Jamin replied.

“You’re not taking this game seriously enough,” Mashi-Ushi snarled.

“I don’t need to,” Jamin said “Zorc’s beaten; there’s nothing else that I need to do. So I don’t need to duel you when I’ve recovered my powers, after all you can’t destroy the world, I’ve got no reason to duel you.”

Jamin deactivated his duel disk and turned to leave.

“What if I gave you a reason to duel me?” Mashi-Ushi said.

Jamin stopped and looked around.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“I suppose you remember your friend Josh right?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

Jamin’s eyes widened.

“Josh?”

“That’s right, after he defeated Zorc he took all of his energy, that’s how a spirit game works, the loser gives up all his powers to the winner,” Mashi-Ushi explained.

“Wait, are you saying Josh’s spirit force and Zorc’s spirit force are the same thing now?” Jamin asked.

“Exactly,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“That’s why they felt like two then,” Jamin muttered.

“And I’ll tell you something else,” Mashi-Ushi said “if you can defeat me in a spirit duel, I’ll tell you how to defeat Josh.”

Jamin’s eyes narrowed again.

“Fine,” he said “you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“I hope you recover your powers soon,” Mashi-Ushi said before turning around and walking away.

 

About a week later, Jamin found himself back at school again and bitterly anticipating the start of the duel rally tournament.

“Josh and Mashi-Ushi will be there,” he thought “so I need to beat them both in order to get Josh back to normal.”

He turned his head to the seat next to him, which was empty.

“It’s not a question of whether or not Mashi-Ushi was lying,” he thought “I know I felt Josh’s presence, there can’t be any other explanation.”

A piece of chalk flew through the air and bounced off his head. Jamin jumped and looked up to see their teacher, a strong Wolverine look alike except he wore a black suit, glaring at him.

“Tsubasa, pay attention!” He barked.

“Uh, err, yes sir,” Jamin stuttered.

His teacher frowned.

“You’ve been spacing out too much,” he said “see me after class.”

“Yes sire,” Jamin muttered.

He sighed and propped his head up with one arm, only half listening to what the teacher was saying.

“I need to find a way to retrieve my powers by next month,” he thought “I don’t even know where to start.”

He looked at the set of cards currently under his desk, the seven blank cards that had previously been his somewhat minor god cards.

“Even if I do recover my powers, will I still be able to see my cards?” He thought “I wonder.”

 

The day ended rather quickly, and Jamin found himself knocking on his teacher’s office door.

“Prof. Kon,” he called “it’s me.”

He opened the door and stepped inside. The rather cramped but tidy office was empty aside from a desk piled with paperwork. Jamin looked about and saw a poster of Yugi Moto on the back wall.

“Interesting,” he muttered.

He looked down at the desk and noticed a small note in rather hurried handwriting.

 

Jamin, I’ll be waiting in the GYM…

 

“The GYM?” Jamin muttered.

He left the office and moved to the located the note had specified. All the time he walked he began to wonder what his teacher wanted with him at a GYM. He arrived at the doors a few minutes later and walked inside. He noticed that his teacher had removed his dark suit and tie and had laid them on a bench just inside the door. He looked up to see Kon’s back; he looked like he was fiddling with something.

“Professor?” He said tentatively.

“You saw the note then,” his teacher noted “good.”

“Why exactly are we in the GYM?” Jamin asked.

“Those in your pocket take them out,” Kon ordered.

Jamin blinked and fished in his pocket, taking out the blank cards.

“These?” He asked.

“They’re blank, aren’t they?”

“How’d you…”

“You’ve lost your powers,” haven’t you.

Jamin froze, suddenly unable to speak.

“H-how…” He began “you know about that.”

“I used to be like you,” Kon went on, still with his back to Jamin “a young kid with power to speak to creatures from another world and even to call them to this one.”

“You were a duelist?” Jamin replied.

“I still am,” Kon said “I just don’t play that much anymore.”

He lowered his arms and Jamin saw an old style duel disk strapped to his arm. Kon turned around and tossed another to Jamin. He caught it deftly and gazed down at it.

“You’re going to duel me because I spaced out in class?” He asked.

“No, I just needed a good excuse,” Kon said “I was going to go for the bad homework plan but then I never set any, did I?”

Jamin could only blink.

“Listen,” Kon said “I know how important it is for you to recover your abilities, I felt Josh that day as well and I know it has to be you to sort him out again.”

“Why me?” Jamin asked.

“Let’s just say ‘chosen one’s unfinished business’, shall we?” Kon said.

 

The bell for the end of lessons rang the next day and Jamin almost immediately got up from his desk.

“Hey Jamin!” Kim ran over to him from her desk “I got a new DVD player for Christmas and I just finished working out how it works, wanna come to my place.”

“Sorry, I’ve got plans for this afternoon,” Jamin said “another time maybe.”

Kim looked disappointed but soon changed her expression to bright and cheery again.

“Okay!” She said.

Jamin waited till she’d left the classroom before picking up his schoolbag and a large carrier bag and headed out of the room himself. He immediately went to the GYM and walked in, finding Professor Kon already waiting for him.

“Good,” Kon said “you’re here.”

Jamin nodded and put his things down, taking his duel disk out of the bag and fitting it onto his arm.

“You remember what we’re doing here,” Kon said “You need to recover your powers in just under two months, usually it takes a good few years for any powers to develop but you’ve only lost yours so it should be possible to gain them in less time, however we can’t afford to let them recover on their own.”

“Got it,” Jamin said.

“You need to push yourself,” Kon went on “and by that I mean don’t just duel like every other kids duels, try and hear what your cards are saying to you and treat them more than just paper and ink.”

Jamin inserted his deck and activated his duel disk.

“Everything’s riding on me again,” he thought “I can’t let Josh go around with Zorc’s dark power, if he loses it too much he’ll end up destroying the world anyway, I can’t let him do that. And then there’s Mashi-Ushi to worry about, I need to beat him to find out how I can beat Josh, and if I lose to either of them then its game over.”

He looked back up at his teacher, feeling a flow of spiritual energy flowing from him.

“I’m ready,” he said.

“Good,” Kon said “now get ready, I’m not holding back.”

Jamin nodded.

“Draw!”

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 26: Halfway Point...

 

Part 26

 

[spoiler=episode]A moonless night shone over the darkened city, marking the end of January and moving on into the next month, only 24 days left until the start of the duel rally tournament. Only a single soul was seen wandering through the streets at this late hour, Joshinyu Tenshi. His eyes were still blood red and he had a menacing feel to him when he walked, a black duel disk with a field shaped more like a scythe than anything was strapped to his wrist and his deck was giving off a black aura.

“If this is what Zorc’s power feels like then I can hardly imagine what it must be like when I get Jamin’s too,” he stared at his hand as the same black aura engulfed it “no more sick prophecies about chosen ones and all that crap, this time I’m going to change all that and kill the so called chosen one, it should have been me all along anyway.”

He stopped outside of an alleyway and stared inside. He could make out five shapes moving in the depths.

“Evening gentlemen,” he stated.

The five men turned to glare at him; the first four were all large men with their faces hidden by balaclavas, the fifth sat behind them, his face hidden in shadow.

“What d’you want?” The man behind asked, clearly the leader.

“I just heard that you were duel mercenaries, that’s all,” Josh said “although hiring yourselves to play a card game doesn’t appeal too well to such a serious career.”

The four thugs clenched their fists; each one had a duel disk on their arm.

“Heh, our duels are always a little different,” the leader said “want an example? You can duel anyone of us you like.”

Josh grinned.

“How about the four humpty dumptys?” He asked.

“You sure you can manage four duels in a row?” The leader asked.

“No,” Josh admitted “I don’t have the time; I’m going to take you all on at the same time.”

“Huh?” The first thug looked taken aback, however the four of them raised their duel disks.

“Your funeral.” The leader shrugged.

 

Josh raised his duel disk and the scythe swung round with a chilling whistle, the five monster zones lit up red.

“Bring it on!” He cried.

Josh drew a card from his deck and placed it in his hand, complementing his next move.

“I active the spell card Ancient Rules, this allows me to special summon Dark Magician from my hand!” Josh showed the magic card to his opponents, the card glowed and a black flame shot off it and hit the ground. The flame grew larger and eventually formed into a Dark Magician with black armour, red eyes and green hair. “And I’m not done yet,” Josh said “because now I’m going to sacrifice him for the Dark Eradicator Warlock!”

Josh’s Dark Magician vanished in another torrent of black flame and the powered up Dark Eradicator Warlock emerged onto the field.

“Next I play Premature Burial,” Josh explained “This card allows me to pay 800 life points to resurrect a monster from my graveyard, and I choose the Dark Magician, but I’m going to sacrifice him again for another Dark Eradicator Warlock!”

Josh’s Dark Magician re-emerged onto the field only to vanish again in place of another Dark Eradicator Warlock.

“I end my turn,” Josh explained.

“My draw,” the first thug said “I summon Chainsaw Insect from my hand. Next I play graceful charity, so I’ll draw three cards and ditch Metal Armoured bug and Insect knight to my grave, and then I’ll remove them from play to summon Doom Dozer!”

The two bugs vanished behind the thug and a massive centipede with vicious mandibles rose up behind the thug, staring down at Josh’s monster.

“Too bad you can’t attack this turn,” Josh said “and you seem to have forgotten something.”

“What’s that?” The thug smirked.

“Every time a spell card is activated, my Dark Eradicator Warlock can take 1000 points off your life points, and since I have two, that’s 2000 points!”

“Wha…?!”

Both magicians raised their staffs and fired a blast of black energy at the four thugs, taking out half their life points in one foul swoop.

“Better be careful,” Josh grinned “one more spell card and you guys are finished.”

 

The four thugs backed away as a black aura suddenly surrounded Josh’s body and grew like a fire, Josh laughed at the four of them, taking in their fear.

“M-my turn,” the second mercenary stuttered “I activate End of the World, so I send two Insect Knights from my hand to the grave to summon Demise, King of Armageddon!”

The black, battle hardened warrior emerged on the field beside Doom Dozer, wielding an axe in one hand.

“I see, clever using a ritual spell to avoid the effect of my monsters,” Josh said “however you seem to have made a miscalculation.”

“Huh?”

“From just watching two moves I can see that your decks are built around a one turn kill involving Demise, Doom Dozer, Metamorphosis and Cyber Twin Dragon, a powerful combo that can take out more than 8000 life points in one turn, however you’ve made two miscalculations. For Demise’s effect to work you need to pay 2000 life points, and you only have 2000 left, and even if you did activating metamorphosis will take out another 2000 life points.”

“Ack…” Realization suddenly filled the eyes of the four duelists and they took a second step back.

“Frightening, isn’t it?” Josh laughed “I’ve just left you all with half your life points left, nullified your use of spell cards and defeated your ultimate combo before I even knew what it was. If that doesn’t scare you then I don’t think anything will.”

Josh burst into another fit of laughter, his eyes growing wider and madder as he did so.

“Make your next moves and make them wisely,” he said “Because if you don’t plan this carefully, you’re all toast!”

The third Thug drew a card and noticed that he had two cyber proto dragons, power bond, Light Hex Sealed fusion, End of the World and Metal Armoured bug in his hand. His hand waved over Power Bond for a moment until he remembered.

“I summon Light Hex Sealed Fusion in defense mode,” He said “and end my turn.”

Josh grinned.

The final thug drew a card from his deck.

“I summon Insect Knight in defense mode,” he said “and lay two cards face down.”

“Pathetic,” Josh said “and that move is such a powerful combo as well, you should all be ashamed.”

“Quiet!” The thug’s leader said.

“As if!” Josh said “it’s my move now!”

He drew a card from his deck, a dark shadow tailing off from it as he did so.

“All I need it one spell card,” he said “and here it is.”

He raised the card into the air and turned it around slowly, showing the card in his hand to his opponents and read the name out slowly: “Pot…Of….Greed.”

The four thugs yelled as Josh’s monsters waged their attacks once again and destroyed the rest of their life points. The four thugs were sent flying backwards from the force of the explosion, landing in assorted positions.

“Well that was mildly entertaining,” Josh commented, stepping forwards.

 

The thug’s leader stepped out in front of Josh.

“You’ve got some nerve to do that,” he growled.

“Some nerve?” Josh said “it’s a card game, as Jamin always says, and you take it so seriously, but then again so do I but at least I can actually win.”

The leader gritted his teeth and raised his duel disk.

“Oh? So you want to play too, huh?” Josh said “well I suppose I could waste some time right now.”

“You’re gonna regret messing with me,” the leader said “nobody messes with Kaisen Kyomeru and lives!”

“We’ll see about that,” Josh said.

Both players’ life points immediately set to 4000, Josh’s scythe like field swung round again and the crimson field lit up again.

“You may have defeated my four cronies,” Kaisen said “but I’m afraid you’re no match for me.”

“We’ll see about that, shall we?” Josh replied “I suppose you use a different strategy to those four idiots back there, I’d like to have at least a half decent duel if you don’t mind.”

“I’ll give you decent,” Kaisen snapped, drawing a card.

Josh’s eyes narrowed but his grin widened.

“I summon Grinder Golem!” Kaisen declared.

A flash of light suddenly illuminated the alleyway, blinding Josh for a few moments. When he looked up again there were two monsters on Kaisen’s side of the field, both looked like an observatory with a saw coming out of the top and appendages.

“Wait, those have no attack points,” Josh commented.

“Hm, look behind you,” Kaisen replied, pointing.

Josh looked around and his eyes widened: Standing behind him was a larger version of the two tokens on Kaisen’s side of the field, only this one had 3000 attack points.

“You summoned that on my side of the field?” Josh turned back around.

“Correct,” Kaisen said “now Grinder Golem token, attack Girnder Golem!”

“What?”

One of Kaisen’s tokens jumped into the air towards his larger counterpart and was batted away and destroyed, reducing Kaisen’s life points to 1000.

“There’s a reason I did that,” Kaisen said “because now I can play inferno tempest!”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Kaisen said “now we both send all monsters in our decks to out of play.”

Josh scowled and removed a good number of cards in his deck from play.

“I’m not done yet,” Kaisen interrupted “I’ve removed three Necrofaces, which means we both send the top 15 cards from our deck to our graves.”

Josh glared at Kaisen and sent the top few cards from his deck to his graveyard.

“Finally I’ll play my trap booster,” Kaisen said “meaning I ditch one card from my hand to play Rainbow life, meaning I gain 6000 life points.”

 

Kaisen’s expression became smug as his body glowed with several different colours and his life points rose to 7000.

“Still think you can beat me?” He grinned “You’ve barely got any cards left in your deck, and even if you have been hiding a few monsters away in your hand it won’t be enough to take out my life points before you deck out, sorry kid but you’ve lost. Why don’t you just surrender now?”

Josh glowered at Kaisen, but then his anger suddenly turned into a smirk.

“That’s easy,” he said “because I just need one card to complete this combo!”

“Huh?” Kaisen blinked.

Josh drew a card from his deck and his eyes widened madly.

“Yes!” He roared “you’re finished now.”

“What do you mean?” Kaisen asked.

“It just so happens I had a few monsters in my hand already,” Josh said “meaning they weren’t affected by your pitiful spell card.”

“So?” Kaisen grinned “it’s not enough to take out my life points, you’re through.”

“Hardly,” Josh said “because now I summon apprentice Magician!”

Josh’s weakest monster rose up on his side of the field, completely undisturbed by the massive golem beside him.

“Next I play Magical Dimension,” Josh said “this allows me to sacrifice my apprentice magician, and summon the Dark Magician of Chaos!”

A new magician rose up on Josh’s side of the field, his skin was blue and he wore all black and red robes. His black hair cascaded down his shoulders randomly and when he opened his eyes, two yellow irises shone out at Kaisen.

“I told you,” Kaisen roared “you can’t take out enough of my life points!”

“Can’t I?” Josh asked “well we’ll just see. I’ll start by playing magical dimension’s special effect, and destroy your token.”

Kaisen glanced down at his grinded golem token as it shattered into pieces.

“Get lost, that doesn’t work!” Kaisen yelled “Quit stalling!”

“Who said anything about stalling?” Josh asked “I’m just waiting for you to think you’ve truly won before I beat you.”

“Beat me?” Kaisen laughed “Go on then.”

“If you insist,” Josh said, his eye appearing to glow “I play Dimension Fusion! So I pay 2000 life points and summon as many monsters from out of play as I choose!”

“Pathetic!” Kaisen laughed “Don’t forget, I get to summon monsters too, and I put all mine in defense mode!”

Five monsters suddenly emerged on Kaisen’s side of the field, all crouched down.

“Face it, you’re finished,” Kaisen laughed.

“I haven’t summoned my monsters yet,” Josh commented “so I play my three Dark Magicians!”

Josh’s three new Dark Magicians rose up on his side of the field, all looking just as creepy as the next one.

“I still have two cards in my hand left to play,” Josh said “So I’ll ditch one to play the other.”

“Huh?”

“Go, Lightning Vortex!”

“No way!”

A huge bolt of thunder came crashing down from the sky and struck Kaisen’s field.

“M-my monsters! My defense!” He yelled, and then looked up at the five monsters staring him down “my life points!”

 

“Grinder Golem, Dark Magicians and Dark Magician of Chaos,” Josh ordered “attack his life points directly!”

“Wh…What?”

All five monsters rushed at Kaisen at once, completely obliterating his life points and sending him sprawling to the ground, coughing from the dust and smoke that had been caused by Josh’s attack. Josh walked through the smoke-screen, his appearance made even creepier by the glowing red field as it shone through the smog.

“Now,” he said “To business.”

“Business?” Kaisen gaped up at Josh.

 

****

 

“Tsubasa!”

Jamin jumped and looked round at his teacher standing at the other end of the gym.

“Stop spacing out,” Prof. Kon said “Remember what I told you, try and listen to your cards, that’s what I was taught.”

“You were taught to feel spirit energy?” Jamin asked.

“Of course,” Kon replied “I was one of Judai’s students when he was connecting humans with the spirit world.”

Jamin’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Now let’s begin,” Kon said, activating his duel disk.

Jamin nodded and mimicked him.

“I’ll start,” Kon said “And I’ll play the continuous magic card Six Samurai United. Whenever a Six samurai monster is normal summoned I add one Bushido counter to this card, then when it’s destroyed I draw as many cards from my deck as there are counters on it.”

Jamin’s eyes narrowed.

“Then I’ll play double summon,” Kon said “Allowing me to summon both Kamon and Zanji!”

Two Samurai emerged on Kon’s side of the field, one wore red armor strapped with dynamites, and the other wore yellow and wielded a long pole with an energy blade at the top.

“Since I’ve summoned two Six Samurai monsters, I place two Bushido counters on my magic card,” Kon continued “Then I’ll place the effect of Kamon, since I have another six samurai monster on the field, I can destroy one face up spell card on the field.”

Kamon casually lit a stick of dynamite and tossed it over his shoulder. The explosive hit the magic card and destroyed it.

“Since I had two counters on that card, I get to draw two cards from my deck!” Kon said “I’ll lay three cards face down and end my turn.”

 

Jamin looked down at the cards in his hand.

“Come on guys, talk to me,” he muttered as he drew a card, he looked up at Kon’s field “Six Samurai monsters can destroy themselves to protect the others, that and he has three cards face down.”

“Hey, you gonna take your turn or what?” Kon growled.

“Huh? Oh, yes sir,” Jamin gulped, taking a card from his hand “I summon Homunculus the Alchemic being.

“Since he has 1800 attack points, he’ll be equal to his Six Samura Zanji, and he’ll easily take out his Kamon.” Jamin thought “Homunculus, attack the Six Samurai Zamon!”

Jamin’s monster cleared the field in a single bound and raised his fist to strike Zamon.

“You’re losing concentration, moron!” Kon snapped “I play my trap card, Sakuretsu armor, destroying your monster!”

“Huh?”

Jamin’s monster groaned and then exploded before his attack even hit.

“Homunculus,” Jamin gasped.

“Honestly, take a look at my field as well as yours,” Kon sighed.

“Yes sir,” Jamin sighed “I lay three cards face down and end my turn.”

Kon sighed.

“My turn then,” Kon said “I play Graceful Charity, meaning I draw three cards and ditch two.”

“Doesn’t that leave you with the same amount of cards you had before?” Jamin mused.

“Quit spacing out!” Kon yelled “I play my trap card, double edged sword, allowing me to summon Six Samurai Irou and Yariza!”

Two more Samurai emerged on Kon’s field, one dressed in black with a long katana and the other was green with a face mask and a pole arm weapon.

“At the end of my turn I’ll lose 2700 life points,” Kon explained “but until then I’ll summon Six Samurai Yaichi!”

A yellow Samurai armed with a bow and arrow emerged on Kon’s remaining field.

“Damn, his field’s full already,” Jamin thought.

“Thanks to Yaichi’s effect, I can destroy one face down card on your field!” Kon declared.

“Huh?” Jamin looked down at one of his face down cards as an arrow struck it and it smashed “Damn it!”

“Now my Six Samurai, attack!” Kon ordered.

“I still have another face down,” Jamin said “Spirit Charge. When my opponent attacks me when I have no monsters on my side of the field, I can special summon a charmer from my deck and activate its flip effect, of course I’m gonna summon Wynn.”

“Why that one?” Kon asked “I don’t have any Wind monsters.”

“Because it let’s me play this,” Jamin said “The trap card, Fuh-Rin-Ka-Zan. Ironically enough a Six Samurai card. And now I destroy all monsters on your side of the field.”

Kon looked down at his field as all his monsters exploded.

“Not bad, huh?” Jamin smirked.

“Not bad at all,” Kon said “However I can still play this, Backs to the wall.”

“Back to the what?” Jamin scratched his head.

“To cut a long story short I reduce my life points to 100 and special summon as many six samurai monsters from my graveyard as possible.”

Jamin gulped

“So now all my monsters returned to me,” Kon said as the five samurai re-emerged onto his field “now let’s try this again. Six Samurai, attack!”

Jamin covered his head with his arms as the five monsters all attacked him at once, destroying his defense and completely obliterating his life points. He stumbled backwards and fell onto his backside as the holograms faded.

“Pathetic,” Kon sighed.

“Hey, it’s not my fault you’re better than me,” Jamin complained.

“That’s not the problem here,” Kon said “The problem is you’re not even trying to listen to your cards.”

“Well it’s not like I needed to put any effort in,” Jamin said, picking up his deck “They spoke to me when they wanted, and to be honest I’m kind of glad they’ve stopped. I’m fed up with everyone going after me because of my abilities.”

Kon heaved a sigh and walked past Jamin.

“Listen, I didn’t like having my cards talk to me as well,” he said “It was like a nightmare only when I was awake, until I was taught how to control my abilities. Now my cards listen to me, not the other way around.”

“Sounds like a master and his slaves if you ask me,” Jamin muttered.

Kon whirled around, rage filling his eyes. He hefted Jamin up by the collar till he was dangling a few inches above the floor.

“Like it or not pal, you’ve got this ability and you have to live with it,” he growled “If you can’t live with that then get out of my face.”

He let Jamin go and he dropped to the floor.

“We’re done for today,” he muttered.

 

Hours later Jamin was walking home in the dead of night, his duel disk still on his arm and his head bowed, shuffling through his deck.

“Don’t get me wrong, it was pretty cool having you guys talk to me,” he said “But I just can’t live with it, I’m not cut out for this ‘chosen one’ business, it’s like some bored person’s just given me super powers and sent all this crazy stuff at me.”

“Y’know, people are gonna think your mad if you talk to cards,”

Jamin stopped and looked up, noticing Kaisen and his masked thugs blocking his path.

“Who’re you?” He asked, stowing his cards away.

“Hm,” Kaisen looked Jamin up and down “Never mind who we are, you’re not going any further till we’re done.”

“Let me guess,” Jamin sighed “You want a duel.”

“Correct,” Kaisen replied.

“Who does that not surprise me?” Jamin muttered, inserting his deck into his duel disk.

Kaisen’s four thugs stepped forwards and activated their duel disks as well.

“Hey, four against one isn’t fair!” Jamin objected.

“Oh? Your friend didn’t seem to think so,” Kaisen replied.

“What?”

“Took down these four no sweat, and according to him you’re just as good as he is,” Kaisen explained “Or maybe he was wrong, we’ll soon find out.”

One of the random thugs drew a card and summoned a chainsaw insect to the field and set two cards face down. The second thug drew as well and played contract with the abyss, discard ritual raven to summon Demise King of Armageddon. The third played a Light Hex Sealed Fusion in defense mode and the fourth lay one card face down.

“Your move,” Kaisen said “Make it a good one.”

“Yet again people are taking it out on me,” Jamin sighed “Oh well.”

He placed a hand on his deck and prepared to draw, something shot up his arm and a faint whisper sounded in his ear. Jamin stiffened and stared at his deck.

“What’s the matter, you forgotten how to draw or something?”

“What was that?” Jamin muttered.

He took a deep breath and took the top card off his deck, a faint white something followed from the card as he did so and wrapped itself around his arm.

“What the hell is going on?” Jamin thought “It’s like…”

Then he suddenly remembered, the black tendrils shooting out of his body when Zorc sucked his spirit energy out of him, it was the same sensation only with a white tendril flowing into his body.

 

Jamin placed the card in his hand and the white aura seemed to spread across his entire hand of cards, a cool and refreshing feeling broke over his body.

“My powers are back,” he muttered.

He dove into his back pocket and took out one of the cards in there, it was still blank.

“Hm, perhaps not.”

“Hey kid, I’m waiting over here!” Kaisen yelled.

“Hey, guys. Can you here me?” Jamin called out with his mind.

“Barely,” a faint voice replied “Open up a bit more.”

Jamin closed his eyes and focused, letting the strange new energy flow about his body again.

“What’s he doing,” one of the thugs muttered.

His neighbor shrugged and looked back. The white aura was now surrounding Jamin, flowing around his body like a flame, and then it slowly began to change color, first white, then gray, then silver until finally it settled on light blue and suddenly exploded out of him. The thugs, though oblivious to the aura around Jamin, recoiled from the sudden wave of energy.

“Wow, I’m not doing that again,” Jamin gasped, having held his breath through the entire incident.

“That’s better,” Eria’s voice rang in Jamin’s ear, as clearly as if she was standing next to him “Now I think you know what to do.”

“Of course,” Jamin nodded, a grin spreading across his face.

“What’s he grinning for?” One of the thugs asked.

 

“I play my quick-play spell card, Union of the Charmers!” Jamin declared “By giving up 2000 life points, I’m allowed to summon the four charmers to my side of the field, so come on out guys.”

A burst of fire, water and wind shot out from Jamin’s card and the ground beneath him cracked. Jamin’s four monsters, Hiita, Eria, Aussa and Wynn rose up on his side of the field.

“You’ve just summoned four weaklings;” Kaisen smirked “Is that it.”

“No,” Jamin said “I activate my trap booster, allowing me to discard one card from my hand to play Elemental Burst.”

“Ele-what?” Kaisen asked.

“I’ll make it simple,” Jamin said “I send my four buddies here to the graveyard, and destroy every card on your field.”

“Every card…”

“Hey guys, do you mind?” Jamin asked.

“Not a bit,” Hiita grinned.

“Huh? Hey don’t speak for all of us!” Wynn cried in panic.

Too late though, the four charmers vanished into four balls of multicolored energy and shot at the opposite side of the field, bouncing about and destroying every single one of the thugs cards.

“Well I guess that’s your fields completely obliterated,” Jamin grinned.

“So what?” Kaisen snarled “Your field’s empty too.”

Jamin shrugged.

“Did I say I was done?” He asked.

 

The door slammed closed and a light switched flicked on suddenly. Jamin muttered under his breath as he took his shoes off and walked into the house.

“Anybody awake?” He called. No answer. “Dad must be asleep,” he mused.

He climbed up the stairs and entered his room, setting his duel disk aside on the desk and collapsing onto his bed. He looked about and noticed a note right next to him. He reached over and took it, unfolding the paper and recognizing the outrageously girly handwriting upon it.

 

[ALIGN=center]Hey, Ja-chan. You’ve been hanging out at school too much lately, the duel rally touny is starting soon so I’d appreciate it if we could hand out before then, oh and my mum said you can come over anytime so maybe you’ll be free this weekend. Anyway I see you when I see you.

~Kim.[/ALIGN]

 

Jamin finished reading it and heaved a sigh.

“Since when did she start calling me Ja-chan?” He muttered.

 

[Axiom_Nor]

ALL HAIL TO-SAMA!!!

 

best-fanfic-ever.

 

[spoiler=All 246 pages...]

 

YU-GI-OH: The third legacy - TotalObelisk - 02-18-2007 04:49 PM

 

NOTE: If you have just started reading this then I recommend you read one part a day, it's getting kinda long...

 

Part ones kinda rubbish, but its introducing main characters so I guess that's an excuse

 

The character called Jamin uses a deck similar to my deck, and for some reason acts exactly like me ^_^.

 

Jamin woke up feeling dizzy and rubbed his head, he was about 16, nearly 17 and was just below average height, his hair was long especially at the back and he had bluey-green eyes. He stood up and looked around; he was in some kind of wood with grey trees. He looked down and saw a person standing opposite him, he could barely see him though through the darkness.

?Tell me Jamin, have you ever heard of a shadow duel?? he asked.

?No, I can?t say that I have,? Jamin replied ?and how do you know who I am, who are you??

The stranger laughed softly ?I am Diablo, duellist of the dark world.?

?Never heard of it,? Jamin said.

?You soon will,? Diablo continued ?when you will spend the rest of your pathetic mortal life in the shadow realm.?

?Dude, I seriously have no idea what you?re going on about,? Jamin said backing off ?but if it?s okay with you I want to go now.?

?You can?t,? Diablo laughed ?the only way out of here is a duel.?

?A duel? Oh you mean these right?? Jamin reached into the small case on the back of his belt and pulled out a deck of cards.

?Very good,? Diablo said ?depends on weather or not you can use them though.?

A grey fog suddenly appeared floating just above the floor but not reaching any higher and everything became dark.

?Where are we?? Jamin demanded.

?This is what?s called the shadow realm,? Diablo explained ?if you happen to lose this game then your soul is trapped here forever.?

?You?re having a joke right?? Jamin said ?this is all just mirrors and smoke screens, come on none of this is real. I?m going.?

?You can?t leave,? Diablo said ?unless you win our duel.?

?Fine,? Jamin sighed ?but duelling in a dream is gonna be kinda tricky, after all no one knows what could happen.?

?It?s no dream,? Diablo said. He raised his arm and some kind of metal wing appeared on it, when he lowered it again Jamin could see that a dome in the shape of a skull had strapped itself onto his arm and what he?d thought was a wing was coming out of the side and had 5 slots on the side facing Diablo and 5 on top.

?Is that a custom duel disk?? Jamin asked ?man you must be stinking rich to afford one of those.?

?Silence mortal,? Diablo ordered. He shuffled his own deck and slotted them into a large slot under the skull?s teeth, the eyes glowed and the wing extended out.

?All fine and dandy but I don?t have a duel disk,? Jamin said ?sorry.? He scratched the back of his head and suddenly realised that an identical model had appeared on his own arm.

?Wow, that proves it this is a dream,? he said.

?Idiot,? Diablo barked ?anything is possible in the shadow realm now prepare to lose your soul.?

?Why me though?? Jamin asked.

?Fool,? Diablo retorted ?don?t you know your own fate? Every person has a destiny; it?s my job to see you never fulfil your destiny so let?s duel!?

Jamin shuffled his own deck and put it into the duel disk, the eyes lit up and the field extended out. Each of them drew 5 cards from their decks.

?Seeing as this is my realm,? Diablo said ?I?ll start.? He pulled a card from his deck and placed it with the others in his hand. ?Let?s see, first I?ll summon Cyber Soldier of Dark World in attack mode!? He placed one of his cards on the field and the creature in the picture appeared in front of him, it was a giant robot with a blue, spherical body with two large shoulders coming out of the sides, 3 rows of yellow tubing were on top of them, it also had a large square hood from which a robotic pink head poked out, at the end of its arms were giant blasters. ?And if you think he?s scary, wait till you see what else I have in store for you. Welcome to the shadow realm!? Diablo laughed.

Jamin stared up at the robot as it leered down on him. ?No biggie,? he said ?it?s only a hologram after all. It?s probably not even that because this is all a dream, in a second he?ll probably turn into a big blue bunny.?

?This is no dream,? Diablo yelled ?now make your move before I pound you into dust!?

?You need to take it easy,? Jamin said drawing a card from his deck ?after all when you see what I?ve got for you, I don?t think you?ll know what hit you. Now then?? he took one of the cards from his hand and placed it on the field. ?I summon Element Doom in attack mode!?

A gargoyle type creature appeared on his side, it was a light brown colour with a large pair of ears that looked more like hair covered with green and white highlights, a pair of wings sprouted from its back with the same coloured highlights and a long tail wound its way around its leg, it?s shins also had some kind of green armour that looked like scales as did the edge of its tail.

?Okay then,? Jamin looked up at his beast ?Element Doom attack Cyber Soldier of Dark World. Serrated elemental claw!?

Element Doom leapt into the air and raised its arm soaring in front of the Cyber Soldier, it brought its arm down and struck the Cyber Soldier and it shattered into tiny triangles and vanished.

?This is the most realistic, consistent dream I?ve ever had,? Jamin said ?and it?s about duelling, man I?m loving this. I guess I?ll play this face down and that?ll do? Jamin placed a card into the bottom slot underneath Element Doom, a hologram of a face down card appeared in front of him.

Diablo glared at him as his life points dropped to 3900. ?I?ve told you this is no dream,? he said ?now that I?ve seen the kind of cards you use; it?s time for you to see mine.? Diablo drew a card from his deck ?perfect, now I activate dark world lightning! All I have to do is discard one card from my hand, and I can instantly destroy your face down, so go Dark World lightning.? He raised the card into the air and it glowed and began crackling, thunder suddenly shot from it into the sky and then back down hitting Jamin?s face down card and destroying it.

?Hey,? he complained ?I needed that.?

?Not any more,? Diablo said putting a card from his hand into a slot on the back of the skull ?but since I discarded this card by a card effect, I can special summon it to the field.? The slot glowed and the card came back out, Diablo picked it up and placed it one the field. ?Behold, Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World.?

A monster appeared in front of Diablo, it looked like its skin was made from blue muscle tissue, it had white bone-like armour covering his thigh, chest, shoulders and head and carried a sword with a handle as long as the blade.

?Wait, you just ditched that guy right?? Jamin said.

?Exactly,? Diablo explained ?if Beiige is sent to the graveyard by a card effect then I can instantly summon him to the field. So, say your payers! Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World, attack Element Doom!?

Beiige leaped into the air raising his sword over his head and bringing it down slicing Element Doom in two before leaping back to Diablo?s side of the field as Element Doom shattered into triangles and vanished. Jamin?s life points dropped to 3900.

?Hey, I felt that,? he said aghast.

?Exactly, this is the shadow realm,? Diablo explained ?in here the pain is real, the monsters are real, the magic is real and the game is real.?

?Oh boy,? Jamin said ?duelling just got a whole lot scarier.?

?Make your move if you still can,? Diablo laughed ?but first I play one card face down, then I end my turn.?

Jamin glared at his and drew a card from his deck placing it in his hand.

?Okay, time for a fun filled turn,? he said ?this time the hurt it on you, to start things off I summon Darkfire Soldier number two in attack mode?? He placed a card on his field and the monster appeared, it looked like a man in a karate suit with black skin, red hair and two flaming samurai swords. ?But just to make this all the more painful, I also play this magic card Salamandra!? A large red sword appeared in the Darkfire Soldier?s hands replacing the two samurai swords. ?This increases his attack power by a whopping 700, giving him 2400 attack points. So attack his monster!?

The Darkfire soldier ran forwards raising the sword to attack Diablo?s monster.

?I don?t think so little boy,? Diablo said ?I play Bark of Dark Ruler.?

?Say what??

?In case you didn?t know, Bark of Dark Ruler let?s me give up any number of life points, and give them to my monster for one turn, and I give up 900, enough to take out your monster.?

A black aura suddenly surrounded Beiige and he struck at the Darkfire Soldier destroying him and putting Jamin?s life points down to 3800.

?What was the point of that?? He said ?now I?m 800 points up. I?ll play this face down and end my turn though but answer anyway.?

?Because now kid, I can attack you directly,? Diablo explained ?Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World, attack him directly!?

Beiige leapt into the air raising his sword, Jamin took a step back and when Beiige struck he felt as though the blade had just sliced through his insides as his life points dropped down to 2200.

?What?s wrong?? Diablo asked ?the shadow realm too much for you or something??

Jamin drew a card from his deck and put it I his hand. ?I?ve had enough,? he barked ?I play incandescent ordeal! So I toss out Maiden of the Aqua and Giant Soldier of stone and summon Legendary Flame Lord in attack mode!? A burst of fire appeared in front of Jamin and a figure appeared with dark brown clothes, a torn red cloak, a pointed purple hat and a long violet staff with a glowing red orb at the end. ?And if I were you I wouldn?t play any more spell cards,? Jamin explained ?you see, after you activate 4, then I can destroy all cards on the field.?

?So I?ll destroy him before then,? Diablo said.

?Not gonna happen,? Jamin said ?I still have one card left in my hand, so I sacrifice Legendry Flame Lord to summon something even more powerful.?

?What??

?Say hello to infernal incinerator!? Jamin said. The Legendary Flame Lord was consumed in a fireball with grew and exploded: A large, red beetle-like creature appeared with armour down its back and spikes lining each side, it didn?t seem to have a face except for a large mouth lined with sharp teeth, also what looked like a knight was fused by the torso to its head.

?And as a little bonus, he get 200 attack points for all your monsters,? Jamin said ?so, Infernal Incinerator, attack his, whatever it?s called!?

The Infernal Incinerator opened its mouth and hit Beiige with a blast of fire destroying him and dropping Diablo?s life points to 1600.

?I?m still standing!? He declared.

?Not for long,? Jamin said ?because I play my trap card, call of the haunted. It let?s me bring a monster back from my graveyard, I didn?t do this before because it would have lowered Infernal Incinerator?s attack power by 500, but seeing as he?s used his attack I think I?ll bring back an old friend, Legendary Flame Lord!? The Legendary Flame Lord appeared in front of Jamin and floated to the ground ?now then,? Jamin continued ?attack his directly! Flame arrow attack!?

The Legendary Flame Lord raised his staff, the orb at the and glowed and a burst of fire flew out striking Diablo directly dropping his life points down to zero, he yelled and fell to his knees.

?Well this has been a swell dream,? Jamin said ?see you around.?

The image in front of him seemed to fade and vanished; a second later he opened his eyes again and discovered his was back in his bed room on the floor, apparently having collapsed in front of his T.V. ?Wow, weird dream,? he said rubbing his eyes ?those were the exact card in my deck, and exactly how I would use them.? He sat up rubbing his head and looked around. ?How long have I been out for anyway, I can?t seem to remember. Oh well.? He got up and crossed over to the window, standing on tip toes so that he could see out, it was daylight and the sun was high in the sky. ?Not too long,? he concluded. He looked about the rest of his room and looked up at the clock then suddenly jerked back into reality. ?Whoa? I said I?d meet Josh at the park, man how dumb can I get.? He immediately opened the door and rushed downstairs past the living room where his dad sat on a chair hidden in the newspaper.

?Going somewhere?? He asked.

Jamin doubled back looking into the room. ?Er, yeah see ya later!? He waved and dashed off again.

?It?ll all end in tears I know it,? Jamin?s dad sighed.

Jamin opened up the garage door and walked inside grabbing his bike and jumping on it. ?Let?s see, me check, bike check, deck check hey that rhymes. And I?m off.? He started off peddling out of the garage, pausing to close the door, and then rode out of the drive and down the street tilting his head back as the wind blew softly on his face.

?Wow, I?m glad it?s the weekend,? he said ?otherwise Mrs. Callie would probably scold me again.?

He rode up to the park and turned to go through the gate and onto the path passing an old man walking his equally old looking dog. ?Pardon me coming through,? he warned as he passed.

Josh leant against a large oak tree looking at his watch, he was about six feet tall, almost seven despite being 3 months younger than Jamin, he had black hair with went in on long strip down his back and spilled over the top of his head forcibly reminding any person of a volcano erupting. He heard a small ?ding? and looked up to see Jamin riding towards him. He pushed himself off the tree and folded his arms. ?Took your time didn?t you?? He stated.

?Sorry dozed off,? Jamin said getting off his bike ?but hey I?m here now right??

?Yeah, luckily before him,? Josh said ?man, he?s even later than you and that?s saying something.?

?Yeah why doesn?t Mrs. Callie ever pick on him?? Jamin wondered.

?Probably because he?s a blooming swot,? Josh said ?but I have heard he?s pretty good, you have got your duel disk right??

?Well?? Jamin said remembering an image of his mum and dad in pyjamas glaring at him looking half asleep ?my mum?s confiscated it until I stop practising duelling at night.?

?Typical,? Josh sighed. He looked up at the sound of whistling coming from nearby, followed by footsteps. Soon enough a boy in his early teens appeared with a white polo shirt and black shots, his hair was brown and short as well as well groomed, multiple freckles covered his nose and he carried a blue backpack, he tilted his head up slightly at the sight of Josh and Jamin.

?You two are supposed to be the best in the class are you?? He said in an annoying voice that made Josh want to hit him ?well you just haven?t faced me yet so let?s throw down.?

?Guess you can?t wait,? Josh said sarcastically ?seeing as bone brain here forgot his duel disk I?ll take this one. So you?re name?s Sammy right??

?That?s me,? Sammy said. He put his backpack down and opened it pulling out a duel disk; it looked like the one in Jamin?s dream only it wasn?t customised so it was just a regular silver dome with a blue orb set into it. Sammy shuffled his deck and placed it in the slot. ?Hope you like losing,? Sammy said ?I?ve studied your duelling and thought up countless strategies to beat you.?

?Well if you base your deck on beating one single person then you have a lot to learn about duelling pal,? Josh said. He produced his own duel disk and strapped it onto his arm and activated it, the blue orb glowed ad the field extended out, Sammy mimicked him. ?I?ll go first if you don?t mind,? Josh said drawing 6 cards from his deck.

?Fine by me,? Sammy shrugged drawing 5 ?you?ll lose either way.?

?Okay then,? Josh said ?to start with I summon Mythical Beast Cerberus in defence mode!? He placed a card on his field sideways and a hologram appeared in front of him, the creature had a blue body with two heads, one was a purple lions head, the other looked like a blue dolphin with a long mane. ?Next I?ll place this face down and end my turn.? Josh put a card in the slot beneath his Mythical beast Cerberus and a hologram of it appeared behind the Cerberus? hologram.

?My turn then,? Sammy said and drew a card placing it in his hand ?and I summon Batteryman AA in defence mode!? A battery appeared in front of Sammy, complete with arms, legs and a head.

?Wait, your move is a battery?? Josh said.

?Yep, a battery that get?s 1000 points for each Batteryman AA on the field for whichever mode he?s in.? Sammy boasted.

?1000? That?s really going to help,? Josh said sarcastically.

?Yeah, yeah,? Sammy said ?but I?ll also play this face down and that?ll do for me.?

?I thought I was going to have a challenge,? Josh sighed ?but now I?m just disappointed, my draw!? He pulled a card from his deck ?perfect, I summon Gemini elf in attack mode!? Two female elves appeared beside each other, one had shoulder length blonde hair, and the other had longer orange hair. ?Now, attack with double Elvin strike!?

The elves leapt forwards both striking the Batteryman and destroying him.

?Your 1000 points didn?t help you here I?m afraid little boy, I?ll place this face down as well as my other one,? Josh said ?why don?t you go back to school??

?Don?t bore me,? Sammy retorted ?I needed him in my graveyard, and now it?s my turn? He drew a card from his deck and placed it in his hand ?I play cheerful coffin, this let?s me put up to three cards into my graveyard but I?m only ditching one.? He took a card from his hand and put it into his graveyard slot.

?Well that was pointless,? Josh sighed.

?Not exactly,? Sammy said ?because now I pay 500 life points and activate Battery charger, this let?s me bring back a monster that has battery in its name from my graveyard so let?s all welcome back Batteryman AA in attack mode.?

Batteryman AA appeared back on the field in front of Sammy.

?Big deal,? Josh sighed ?he only has 1000 points.?

?You?d think so,? Sammy said ?but now I play call of the haunted?? The face down in front of Sammy flipped face up and glowed turning into another batteryman AA ?I?ve got two of these guys, and now I?ll bring on the third!? He placed a card into the monster card slot and a third Batteryman AA appeared.

?Now, seeing as they?re all in attack mode, they all get 3000 attack points each, not bad huh? Now simultaneous attack!?

The Batterymens? fist?s crackled with lightning and they charged forwards.

?I don?t think so rookie,? Josh said ?in case you hadn?t noticed, I kinda have some face downs here, so I activate the first one, magical cylinders!? The trap card flipped up and a pair of hollow tubes with several carvings on them appeared, one of the Batteryman?s attack went down one tube and came out the other in Sammy?s direction and hit him.

?Hey! What happened?? He said.

?Magical cylinders cancels one attack and deals the damage to you,? Josh explained ?and I make that 3000.?

?Well I still have my other two!? Sammy yelled.

?Wrong again,? Josh said ?I play my second trap mirror force!?

The two Batterymen fired a simultaneous lightning attack but it seemed to hit an invisible wall and bounced back destroying all of Sammy?s monsters.?

?No, what happened?? He said aghast.

?Mirror force destroys all your monsters in attack mode.? Josh explained ?and that?s all of them, so if you?re all out of monsters then I?ll take my turn so, Gemini elves finish him off!?

Josh?s two elves leapt forwards and hit Sammy directly dropping his life points down to zero.

?Pathetic,? Josh sighed ?I don?t know why I wasted my time with you.?

?But?but?but I?My batterymen?What went wrong?? Sammy stammered.

?You?re too cocky,? Josh explained ?You had 3 monsters with over 3000 attack points and wasted them, you?re no duellist.?

He turned his back on Sammy and walked off putting his duel disk away and taking out his cards. Jamin turned and followed him wheeling his bike along.

?Well that does seem like a useful strategy,? he said ?I mean having 3 monsters with 3000 attack points is really useful.?

?Yeah but take down one and they get weaker,? Josh said ?no strategy is fool proof and that one was just pathetic.?

?Well I think he got what was coming to him,? Jamin said ?I can?t stand people like him.?

?Well you?d probably have been stunned silly by that technique if you?d duelled, you fall apart whenever someone plays a powerful monster and forget your trap cards.?

?Oh yeah,? Jamin said ?that is a problem.?

?Well maybe I should teach you not to completely lose it when you?re up against a powerful monster,? Josh said ?whenever your opponent plays their best card try using magic cards or something like that.?

?Well I panic and forget I have them,? Jamin murmured embarrassed.

?Jesus Christ,? Josh sighed ?you wouldn?t last 5 minutes against me.?

?I probably wouldn?t even if I did remember,? Jamin said ?which reminds me, I had a crazy dream last night, I was duelling a guy called Diablo in some kind of dark smoky place, shadow realm that?s it.?

Josh started at the words. ?Shadow what??

?Shadow realm,? Jamin replied ?what?s the big deal??

?Wha? Oh, nothing,? Josh stuttered ?just an itch??

?Oh okay,?

Shadow realm? Josh though could what my grandfather told me be true?

 

****

 

Later that day Josh walked down the street alone, the sky was getting dark and there was nobody else for miles around. Suddenly Josh stopped, looking up he saw a silhouette of a person run along a roof top and jump down behind it. Josh narrowed his eyes and ran in the person?s direction. As he rounded the corner he stopped and looked up, the figure was standing across the road from him, it was hard to tell in the small amount of light but she looked female.

?Curiosity killed the cat hun?,? she said slyly.

?Good thing I?m not a cat then,? Josh said ?who are you? And what are you doing here??

?So much for manner,? she sighed ?my name is Katherine, but just call me Kat okay??

?Fine by me,? Josh said.

?And as for what I want?? Kat raised her arm, a broken street lamp suddenly lit up revealing Kat?s appearance; she was dressed mostly in black save for a few bracelets on her wrists and the short brown hair. On her arm was a duel disk.

?Let me guess,? Josh said ?you want to duel me right??

?I like it when people are smart,? Kat smiled. She activated the duel disk and the field extended.

Josh glared at her and pulled his own from his bag strapping it to his wrist. ?I suppose you know how good I am?? He asked.

?That?s exactly the reason I?m duelling you,? Kat said ?but talk is cheap so let?s duel!?

A grey fog suddenly engulfed them obscuring the surroundings.

?Hey what?s going on?? Josh demanded.

?Don?t want to be interrupted,? Kat chuckled ?now let?s begin?? She picked up 5 cards from the top of her deck and fanned them out looking at them ?hm, let?s see. I think I?ll let you go first shall I??

?Fine by me,? Josh said picking up another card he examined his hand closely then looked back up at Kat ?I summon Apprentice magician in defence mode!? Josh placed a card sideways on his field and the image of a young blonde man in violet robes wielding an emerald staff appeared in front of him crouched down ?as soon as I see what her strategy is I can counter it,? Josh though.

?I honestly thought you?d do better than that,? Kat sighed drawing a card ?oh well, I summon Allure queen level 3 in attack mode!? She placed her own card on the field and a woman in red and black robes holding a gold staff appeared, she was short but had a serious look on her face ?now I activate her effect, I can equip one of your creatures onto my Allure queen, so come here apprentice magician.?

The apprentice magician was reluctantly pulled away from Josh and stood behind Kat?s Allure Queen.

?Hey,? Josh protested ?well at least now I know her strategy, so I can counter it.?

?Allure Queen attack!? Kat ordered.

The Allure Queen raised her staff and fired an emerald beam which hit Josh directly dropping his life points down to 3500.

?Well looks like I?ll have to destroy that little queen of yours then,? he said ?it can only control level 3 or lower creatures, so I summon skilled dark magician in attack mode!? Josh placed a card on his field and a magician in long black robes hiding his eyes appeared wielding a black staff as though it were the lightest thing on earth. ?Also I?ll place this card face down,? A hologram of a face down card appeared beside Josh ?okay then. Skilled dark magician, attack Allure Queen level 3, dark magic attack!?

The skilled dark magician span its staff and fired a purple blast of energy at the Allure Queen, but the apprentice magician jumped in the way and was destroyed.

?What??

?Sorry but while Allure Queen is equipped with one of your creatures then I can destroy that instead of her.? Kat explained ?now it?s my turn, and I play this spell card level limit area B, so your magician switches to defence mode.?

A hologram of the card Kat played appeared in front of her and the Skilled Dark Magician switched to defence mode.

?I?m not done yet,? Kat said ?I also activate level up! So now I sacrifice Allure Queen level 3 to summon Allure Queen level 5!?

The Allure Queen vanished and was replaced by a taller version of herself with two ribbons spanning from behind her and a larger, more trident-like staff.

?Next I?ll play level modulation.? Kat said ?you draw two cards and I get back my Allure queen!?

Josh picked up two cards from his deck and Allure Queen level 3 appeared beside Allure Queen level 5.

?And now I sacrifice them?? Kat said as both Allure Queens vanished ?to summon Vanity?s ruler in attack mode!?

A man with green hair and a white cloak replaced the two queens and stood up towering over the skilled dark magician. Josh narrowed his eyes.

?Vanity?s ruler attack skilled dark magician!? Kat ordered ?whirlwind strike.?

A small hurricane surrounded Vanity?s ruler and he flew into the air and dived at the Skilled Dark Magician.

?Dark magic attack!? Josh ordered.

?What??

A beam of black energy flew from Josh?s side of the field hitting Vanity?s ruler, he stayed in mid air barely holding off the attack.

?What did you do?!? Kat demanded.

?You activated 3 spell cards,? Josh explained ?so that allowed me to sacrifice my Skilled dark magician, and summon Dark Magician!?

The smoke around Josh?s field cleared and a tall man in heavy purple armour and robes stood in the place of the skilled dark magician, his helmet was pointed and made him looked even taller and several layers of armour covered his shoulders.

?But they have equal attack points,? Kat laughed ?they?ll both be destroyed.?

?Well then, it?s a good thing I had my deal of phantom face down!? Josh said.

His trap card flipped up revealing a picture of a white ghost behind a black pendant.

?This allows me to increase dark magician?s attack power by 100 for all the monsters in my graveyard, sorry but you lose this round.?

The black beam engulfed Vanity?s ruler destroying him and dropping Kat?s life points down to 3800.

?I place this face down and end my turn,? Kat growled.

?My turn,? Josh declared and drew a card ?and now, for my next trick I play the spell dark magic attack! And destroy your level limit area B!?

The dark magician raised his staff and fired at the card destroying it.

?No!?

?Now, I can summon rapid fire magician in attack mode!? Josh said.

A younger looking version of the dark magician appeared with black robes in the same style and short purple hair.

?Finish this!? Josh ordered ?attack!?

Both magicians raised their staff firing at Kat and dropping her life points down to zero.

?You lose,? Josh stated.

A smile crossed Kat?s lips ?sorry, but soon you?ll be the one who will lose!? She threw her head back laughing before disappearing along with the fog.

?What was that all about?? Josh pondered.

 

****

 

The next day Jamin walked out of class and down the stairs at the side of the building, his uniform was a black blazer on top of a white polo shirt and pretty much black everything else, he even had a black bag strapped over his shoulder. As he approached the bottom he heard several rapid footsteps behind him and then was nearly knocked over as a pair of arms closed round him, he sighed and resigned himself to the worst.

?Hi Kim,? he muttered in a dull voice.

?Hi!? Kim replied brightly ?had a good day? Maths alright? Did you like your lunch.?

?Kim would you mind letting me go before I choke myself.? Jamin sighed.

?Oh, sorry.? Kim immediately let go and Jamin breathed s sigh of relief.

He began walked out of the double doors at the bottom of the stairs and Kim followed him, she was slightly taller than him with hazel eyes and long, very red hair down to her thighs, her face was bright and all smiles.

?Well?? She said impatiently but still keeping her bright tone.

?Well what?? Jamin asked.

?Aren?t you gonna say happy birthday?? Kim replied ?its June 18th remember??

?Oh right,? Jamin said ?happy birthday.?

No matter what his tone was like Kim looked over the moon and was virtually dancing.

?You never get bored do you?? Jamin sighed.

?Nope,? Kim said ?no use living life if you don?t enjoy it right??

?Suppose so,? Jamin muttered.

They walked out of the gates and up the road just as the last few cars left the parking area.

?Don?t you go a different way home?? Jamin asked.

?I?m going to my mum?s,? Kim explained ?so I get to talk to you!?

?Oh, joy.? Jamin moaned.

They turned a corner onto the high street and Jamin stopped, Kim looked up slightly astonished: A group of 3 people were blocking their way.

?What do you want?? Kim asked.

?Hello birthday girl,? the first one said in an obviously female voice.

?Sandra,? Kim sighed.

Sandra smiled, she was far taller than either of Jamin or Kim with a pretty thin body that she made every effort to show off, her cronies weren?t so lean they were as fat as they were tall with messy hair with unimaginable stains among them; Sandra?s hair was short and dyed red till it didn?t suit her.

?Well what now?? Kim asked ?I already spent my lunch money so you can?t have it.?

Sandra giggled and her two cronies attempted to copy her, she raised her arm showing off a chrome duel disk on her arm. ?I just got this from the money I collected from dweebs like you,? she explained ?I?m longing to try it out. And who better than a weakling like you.?

?I?m not a weakling!? Kim protested.

?Then prove it,? Sandra sneered.

She slid a cheap duel disk with a cracked dome in Kim?s direction, she picked it up forcefully.

?Er, Kim you sure you?? Jamin began.

?Don?t worry I got this one,? Kim said ?I mean Josh built this thing for me, right? How bad can it be??

An unnerving smile crossed Sandra?s lips ?this unnerving,? she said drawing a card from her deck ?let me see now, I?ll summon my soul-absorbing bone tower in defence mode!?

She placed the card sideways on her duel disk and a gigantic tower made of black tar and a bone-work frame emerged as though from the ground.

?Next,? Sandra continued ?I?ll place this card face down and that?ll do me.?

?Okay my turn then,? Kim picked up 6 cards and looked at them ?ah, so cute!? She exclaimed.

?Oh brother,? Jamin sighed.

?Okay then,? Kim continued ?to start my turn I?ll dismantle that ugly pile of muck you call a monster, by summoning bird face in attack mode!?

A humanoid eagle with gold feathers, blue chest armour and green trousers appeared in a flash in front of Kim flying slightly into the air.

?Okay now birdie, attack!? Kim ordered.

Bird Face leapt forwards gliding towards the Bone tower.

?Sorry girly but I have a trap card,? Sandra said ?it?s my crush card virus.?

?Your what??

?So by sacrificing my soul absorbing Bone castle all monsters on the field, in your hand and drawn in the next 3 turns with more than 1500 attack points are destroyed!? Sandra explained ?and that includes your little birdie there!?

Bird Face shattered and vanished and the soul absorbing castle glowed and vanished.

?I?ll presume that?s the end of your turn,? Sandra said ?oh yeah, and don?t forget the cards in your hand.?

Kim reluctantly placed 3 of her cards in the graveyard slot.

?Good girl,? Sandra smiled ?I can beat you in 3 turns, so to start it off I summon warrior of Zera in attack mode!?

A warrior with green armour, a spike helmet, blue trousers and a long red scarf appeared in front of Sandra.

 

Episode two: Now things start to happen properly

 

?Now attack her directly!? Sandra ordered.

The warrior raised his sword and ran forwards taking a slash out of Kim?s life points.

?You okay?? Jamin asked.

?Fine,? Kim said ?it was only 1600.? She drew a card from her deck and placed it sideways on her duel disk ?I summon Flying Kamikira one in defence mode.?

A large, red, parasitic insect appeared with a green head that looked like an Aztec mask.

?Not much else you can do,? Sandra laughed ?so, my creature will attack!?

The Warrior of Zera ran forwards and cut the flying Kamikira one in half before it shattered.

?Well he had an effect,? Kim said ?I can summon a wind attribute monster with less than 1500 attack points to the field, and I choose Harpie?s pet baby dragon!?

A small red dragon chick with a golden, jewelled crest on its head replaced the flying Kamikira, it looked up and yawned.

?He?s so cute,? Kim said seeming to forget that she was losing.

?Whatever,? Sandra sighed ?just get on with your turn already.?

?Okay if you insist,? Kim smiled ?I summon Harpie lady one in attack mode!?

A woman with long purple hair, bird talons and a pair of wings coming from her forearms took place beside the pet baby dragon.

?And you?re summoning her because?? Sandra asked.

?Duh, because all my wind monsters get 300 extra points,? Kim explained

?Like that?s gonna do you any good,? Sandra scoffed.

?It will when I play elegant egotist,? Kim said ?now I can summon Harpie Lady Sisters!?

3 more Harpie creature appeared beside the first one.

?Hey you can?t draw cards with more than 1500 points,? Sandra complained.

?I didn?t draw her,? Kim said ?she was special summoned from my deck, oh yeah and when I have two cards with Harpie in there name my pet dragon?s attack power doubles, so now he has 2400 attack points, plus 300 extra giving him 2700!?

?No way!?

The dragon suddenly expanded in size and glared down at Sandra.

?So, my Harpie lady one has 1600, my Harpie Lady Sisters have 2250, and my pet dragon has 2700.? Kim counter off on her fingers ?okay guys, you know the drill, attack!?

The harpie lady sister flew at the warrior of Zera slashing at him with their talons, he shattered instantly dropping Sandra?s life points down to 3350, then the pet baby dragon hit her with a blast of fire and finally Hapie Lady one slashed at her dropping her life points down to zero.

?Yay I won,? Kim yelled dancing around and hugging Jamin, much to his embarrassment.

Sandra glared angrily at Kim ?come on,? she spat ?let?s go.?

She and her cronies brushed past Jamin and Kim and walked away silently.

?Er, Kim you can let go now,? Jamin said.

?I won, I won, I won, I won, I won!? Kim kept on shouting ?what? Oh sorry,? she let go of Jamin quickly and stood aside.

 

****

 

Josh opened the door to his basement and descended the dark staircase, at the bottom was a small room with wooden floor, wall and ceiling, two doors stood at the back at either end and between them was a indent in the wall, like a square cut out about 2 feet from the floor, on the shelf was a set of golden scales with an orb balancing between them, an Egyptian eye was calved onto the orb. In the middle of the room an old man sat in front of the scales in a meditation trance, his hair was grey and reached down to the floor as did his beard, he wore old grey rags that didn?t seem to have been washed for years.

?I see you?re home, Joshinyu,? he said.

?Yes, grandfather,? Josh responded.

?Eiro,? he said.

?Pardon??

?I told you to call me Eiro, grandfather makes me sound old,?

?Well you are old,? Josh said.

?I know,? Eiro said ?but there?s no need to rub it in, now come here.?

Josh walked forwards and sat down next to Eiro watching the scales.

?What?s wrong?? He asked.

?The millennium scales,? Eiro began ?they have been trying to warn me of a great evil about to invade the world yet again, I fear we may need a new saviour.?

?You know I don?t believe all that mumbo jumbo grandfather,? Josh said ?it doesn?t make any sense at all.?

?Really,? Eiro replied ?but then why do I sense great doubt it you young man.?

Josh glared at Eiro briefly.

?You are beginning to wonder if what I told you was really true,? Eiro continued ?you have been in a shadow game.?

?What!?

?The signs are always there,? Eiro said ?your soul is tired from the effort, you react to the smallest possible things in case the shadows come at you again, and I sense the embers of the shadows within your mind.?

?Stop playing with my mind!? Josh retorted standing up.

?You?ll have to believe it eventually,? Eiro said as Josh began to ascend the stairs ?everyone does.?

?Shut up,? Josh said ?I?m not in the mood for fairy stories right now.? He walked back up the stairs and into the main house that looked perfectly modern, he turned a corner and went up another set of stairs and into his room. He took his deck from his pocket and looked at it. ?They can?t be real,? he sighed.

 

****

Jamin and Kim were at Kim?s house watching the television, the image on it was of two people duelling in a large stadium, one of them had a large black dragon on the field and the other didn?t have anything. The room they were in was small with yellow walls and ceiling and one wall was housing a large set of sliding glass doors into the garden.

?Hey do you ever think we could be in one of these tournaments some day?? Kim asked.

?I doubt it,? Jamin replied ?it?s hard to get in especially since new comers have to enter qualifying rounds, and those can be hard enough.?

?Yeah but we?ve never tried have we,? Kim pointed out.

?Trust me,? Jamin said ?we wouldn?t last 5 turns in there.?

?Well just looks at these people,? Kim said ?they?re lasting more than five turns right.?

?They?re experts,? Jamin explained ?we?re not.?

?That?s cruel,? Kim sighed ?they should let us in the tournaments.?

?Dude you?d get beat on live T.V,? Jamin said.

?At least I?ll have bee on the Tele,? Kim pointed out.

?Man don?t you ever get depressed?? Jamin sighed.

?Nope,? Kim replied.

?That?s what worries me,? Jamin sighed.

Kim leaned forwards eagerly watching the screen as the two people on it carried on what they were doing.

?Maybe if I had four harpies and my pet dragon I?d clobber either of these two,? she pondered out loud.

?You?d have to get them onto the field first,? Jamin said.

?Do you have to spoil the moment?? Kim retorted.

?Not really,? Jamin shrugged.

 

****

 

Josh was still in his room staring out of the window with a slight scowl on his face, he said he didn?t believe his grandpa, but he was beginning to go against that after what had happened.

?It was probably just all an illusion,? he convinced himself ?but who would go to such lengths to play a trick like that? And why me??

He turned away from the window and sat down on a metal framed bed still struggling for an answer, he heard the click of the door opening and Eiro came in.

?Yeah?? Josh asked ?what?s up??

?Good news and bad news,? Eiro explained ?the bad news is something terrible is about to happen, the good news is it might change your mind.?

?What??

?Follow me,? Eiro turned round again in a hurry and Josh followed him.

They ran into the basement and Josh almost had a heart attack, the golden scales were glowing.

?What?s that?? He stammered.

?Although this is not the genuine millennium scales it is still connected to it, and the other items, I think they?re trying to warn us of something.? Eiro replied.

?Like what?? Josh said.

?Like the shadow games,? Eiro said.

 

****

 

The T.V screen suddenly went blank and a grey fuzz filled it.

?Oh darn,? Kim groaned ?the TVs on the blink.?

Jamin glanced outside and did a double take. ?When did it get dark this early?? He said in a slightly freaked out voice.

?I know time flies when you?re having fun but this is ridicules,? Kim said. She got to her feet and opened the door and stepped out onto the patio, she immediately clutched her shoulders and shivered, Jamin followed her out reluctantly. ?It?s?Cold?? She said.

?What gave you the clue?? Jamin said ?the fact that I feel like I?ve just stepped into an ice cube factory??

?Where are we?? Kim muttered. She walked forwards stepping off the patio and nearly fell into a dark void beneath her, she threw herself backwards in a slight panic. ?What?s happening?? She said.

?Wait,? Jamin said ?I?ve seen this before, somewhere.?

?Well what is it?? Kim asked.

?Something about a shadow realm,? Jamin replied ?but that?s about all I know.?

?So what happens?? Kim asked.

?I think the only way out is a duel,? Jamin muttered.

?Well who are we supposed to duel?? Kim demanded ?we?re the only people here!?

?Correction.?

?Huh??

 

****

 

The light got so intense that Josh had to shield his eyes as it engulfed him, when he opened them again he found himself floating in the same black void that Kim had fallen into.

?What the?? He looked about for any sign that this was all a dream or a hallucination. ?Hello? Anybody there??

He floated around for a while then a shadowy form appeared in front of him.

?Who are you?? He demanded.

?I am the spirit of the shadow games,? it answered ?years ago the Pharaoh sealed me away never to return, but I know the perfect way to be released again, if I absorb the souls of enough duellists I can break free, and this time there?s no Pharaoh to stop me.?

?Wait, did you say Pharaoh?? Josh said ?that?s what my grandpa told me, something about a reborn Pharaoh.?

?You?re grandfather sounds like a very wise man,? the spirit chuckled ?so I?ll take his soul first.?

?What!?

?I need a strong soul that knows the shadows to gather more.? The spirit explained.

?You?ll have to get through me first,? Josh said.

A duel disk suddenly materialised on his arm.

?Huh??

?In the shadow realm, anything in possible,? the spirit explained ?like for example this.?

Josh suddenly began falling through the void, it felt like he was in a dream, there was no wind but there was still the rush in his stomach as gravity took hold. Suddenly Josh collided hard with a stone patio with a loud bump and swore.

?Josh? How did you get here?? Jamin asked.

?Long story,? Josh explained ?so you here too??

?Well duh,? Kim said ?so now what??

?Now we fight for the fate of the world,? the spirit said descending in front of them.

?Enough with the smoke and mirrors okay,? Josh said ?I?ve got my own problems.?

?The only way out is to duel me mortal,? the spirit laughed ?so are you ready??

?Sure, but where?s you?re duel disk?? Josh asked.

?Who needs a duel disk?? The spirit laughed. 5 cards suddenly materialised in front of him.

?Okay, I?ll go first then,? Josh said ?I summon my skilled dark magician in attack mode!?

The black robed, skilled dark magician appeared in front of Josh before he placed his card on the field.

?Next I?ll play these face down,? two images of face down cards appeared behind the skilled dark magician ?your move,? Josh concluded.

?I was wondering when you?d finish,? the spirit jeered.

Another card appeared in front of him.

?Let?s see, ah yes. I?ll play my brain control magic card!?

A pulsating brain appeared in front of the spirit, a pair of ghostly arms extended from it and reached for the skilled dark magician.

?Sorry but I have a trap card,? Josh said ?my magic jammer, I discard one card from my hand and your magic card is cancelled out.?

?Well, it?s a good thing I have a few tricks of my own,? the spirit said ?so, you fell for my decoy then.?

?Decoy??

?Yes, now I?m free to activate my hammer shot spell card, it destroys the strongest monster on the field.? The spirit explained.

A giant hammer appeared above the skilled dark magician and rose up preparing to swing down.

?Sorry, I have another trap,? Josh said ?my spell shield type 8, if your magic card only targets one monster then I can negate it, how?s that for decoys??

?You seem pretty skilled,? the spirit admitted ?but are you really prepared to take me on still??

?Judging by your current performance I?m not feeling too scared,? Josh retorted.

?Well, seeing as you?ve disabled my magic cards I?ll just summon a face down defence creature.?

A sideways face down card appeared in front of the spirit.

?Oh, and I?ll also place this face down, go ahead.? He finished.

?Fine,? Josh said drawing a card ?I?ll play this face down,? the image of the face down card appeared in front of him ?and summon Breaker the magical warrior.?

A warrior in crimson armour, in a similar style to the dark magician appeared in front of Josh complete with shield and sword.

?Breaker, attack his face down monster now!? Josh ordered.

Breaker leapt forwards raising his sword.

?Slow down mortal,? the sprit interrupted ?I activate ordeal of a traveller.?

The trap card in front of him flipped face up.

?Now what?? Josh said.

?You choose one card in my hand and guess what type it is, magic, trap or monster.? The spirit explained.

?Okay,? Josh said ?the right hand one, it?s a monster.?

The card flipped round to reveal a monster card.

?Good work, now you can destroy my monster.?

Breaker?s sword struck home destroying the face down creatures, it looked like a fat purple lizard.

?Oh boy.?

Breaker was suddenly surrounded by an electrical current and froze.

?Clearly you know the effects of my electric lizard,? the spirit boasted ?now Breaker can?t attack.?

?I know,? Josh said ?I?d better not risk my skilled dark magician though, I?ll end my turn.?

?Suit yourself,? the spirit laughed ?I?ll summon another creatures in defence mode and that will do.?

?Some supreme spirit,? Josh muttered ?all he?s playing is defence; I?d better use that to my advantage.?

He drew a card from his deck and placed it in his hand.

?Okay, now I play my face down card,? he said ?pitch-black power stone, this has 3 spell counters I can transfer to any card I want, and I choose my skilled dark magician.?

?Your point is??

?My point is he now has 3 spell counters on him,? Josh said ?so now I can sacrifice him and summon my Dark magician in attack mode!?

The skilled dark magician vanished in a wave of blue light and was replaced by the taller, and more impressive dark magician.

?Go, dark magic attack!? Josh ordered.

The dark magician raised his staff.

?Hold on,? the spirit interrupted ?my ordeal of a traveller is still out, so you have to guess what type of card this is.?

?It?s a magic card right?? Josh said.

?Wrong,? the spirit laughed ?now your dark magician returns to your hand.?

The Dark magician was surrounded by a red aura and vanished, the card re-appeared in Josh?s hand.

?Tough break,? the spirit laughed ?now seeing as your magical breaker can?t hurt me I?ll assume you?re ending you turn so it?s mine.? A new card appeared in front of him ?perfect, I sacrifice my face down card and summon my guardian sphinx in defence mode!?

A giant stone sphinx stature suddenly replaced the face down creature.

?But I?m not done,? the spirit laughed, now I?ll sacrifice him too, and summon Exxod, Master of The Guard!?

The sphinx vanished and a giant golden armoured warrior took its place towering above everybody by a good 10 feet. His head was large and spanned to his shoulders but was flat on the top.

?Exxod is brother to Exodia,? the spirit laughed ?and with a defence of 4000 you can never get passed him.?

?Well it?s my turn now,? Josh said drawing a card ?and I move one spell counter to my magical breaker and increase his attack power by 300.?

?You?re wasting your time, mortal.? The spirit said ?no matter how high his points are you can?t win.?

?I?m not placing a counter on him purely so I can raise his attack strength,? Josh said slyly ?I?m removing it, to destroy your trap card!?

?What!?

Breaker raised his shield and a small blue spark flew off it and struck the trap card shattering it.

?So my attacks are safe,? Josh said.

?Even though they?ll never get past Exxod,? the spirit laughed ?what a waste of time!?

?I?m not done,? Josh said ?I place this face down and end my turn.?

?Pathetic,? the spirit sighed ?never mind, I?ll play this is face down defence mode, but also I remove guardian sphinx from the game and summon Gigantes!?

A large red demon in black leather emerged beside Exxod glaring down at Josh.

?Attack!? The spirit ordered.

Gigantes raised it claw and struck at Breaker.

?Sorry to reign on your parade,? Josh said ?but I activate my face down, magical dimension! So I sacrifice breaker and summon the dark magician!?

Breaker vanished and was replaced by the dark magician, he raised his staff and fired a green beam at Gigantes and destroyed him.

?Are you done?? Josh asked ?because I?m getting bored.?

?I?ll activate my swords of revealing light,? the spirit said ?this paralyses your creatures for 3 turns.?

?Damn it,? Josh swore.

?Don?t worry, it?s your turn,? the spirit said mockingly.

?Fine by me,? Josh said picking up a card.

?Well??

Josh sighed and gritted his teeth ?I pass.?

?How disappointing,? the spirit said ?at this rate I?ll have all the world?s souls in a day if you?re the best this world can offer.?

Josh glared at the spirit annoyed.

?Now for my turn I?ll flip my great spirit into face up attack mode!? The spirit declared.

The face down card flipped up showing a ghostlike figure in Aztec armour and a mad face.

?Now, his effect and Exxod?s effects activate,? the spirit continued ?to start with you take 1000 points of damage.?

A green aura glowed around Exxod and Josh and his life points dropped.

?There?s more,? the spirit said ?now Exxod?s defence and attack swap over.?

?What!?

?So now he has 4000 attack points!? The spirit boasted gleefully ?Exxod, attack the dark magician!?

Exxod raised a fist and fired a beam of light at the Dark magician destroying him and dropping Josh?s life points down to1500.

?Now my spirit will attack!? The spirit said.

The spirit flew at Josh going straight through him and dropping his life points to 1000.

?Now as an additional effect,? the spirit continued ?I get to put him face down again, so I can do that all again!?

?No?Way, that hurt,? Josh said barely standing on one knee.

?Well what do you know,? the spirit laughed ?the shadow games are real.?

 

 

Episode 3: Josh is in a duel with the spirit of the shadow games (suggestive Zorc camio) and things don't look good.

 

?So what now, mortal?? The spirit said tauntingly ?are you going to give up yet??

?Do I look like it?? Josh said.

He drew a card from his deck and placed it in the magic card slot.

?I?m playing my mystical space typhoon,? he explained ?so say goodbye to your swords.?

A whirlwind suddenly started up and blew away the swords leaving Josh?s field clear.

?Now I?ll summon Gemini elf in attack mode!?

Two female elves appeared beside one another in front of Josh.

?Now then, attack Exxod!? Josh ordered.

The elves lunged forwards and struck the giant gold warrior, and destroyed him.

?What!?

?After your turn ends then Exxod?s points switch back over,? Josh explained ?so his attack power was zero.?

?Are you finished?? The spirit asked.

?Pretty much,? Josh said ?let?s see what you?ve got left.?

?I?ve got plenty left,? the spirit laughed ?plenty enough to destroy you!?

A new card appeared in front of him and his laughing increased.

?Now you shall face the power of the shadow game,? he laughed ?as I summon Hieracosphinx!?

The face down spirit card shattered and was replaced by a creature with a lion?s body but a blue eagle?s head and wings.

?Attack!? The spirit ordered ?wipe out his elves!?

The sphinx opened its mouth and a thin blue beam of energy shot out destroying the elves and dropping Josh?s life points down to 1000.

?You do know you?re playing with fire right,? Josh warned ?because now it?s my turn.?

He drew a card from his deck and instantly placed it in the magic card slot.

?I play my card of sanctity, so I remove from play all cards in my hand and on the field,? His pitch black power stone shattered ?and then I draw two cards.? He did so taking the previous ones and putting them in his pocket. ?Next I?ll lay this face down,? a face down card appeared in front of him ?and summon rapid fire magician in defence mode.?

?Are you done?? The spirit asked ?never mind, Hieracosphinx, attack!?

The beast opened its mouth and fired.

?I activate my trap card,? Josh said ?so say hello to return from a different dimension, now all monsters that are out of play come back so I pay half my points and summon Dark magician!?

The dark magician appeared in front of the rapid fire magician and caught the attack on his staff firing it back at the sphinx and destroying it.

?How dare you!? The spirit yelled.

?Sorry, but I play to win,? Josh said ?and win is exactly what I do.?

The spirit began laughing again. ?Well then, it?s time to break your record.?

The Dark magician vanished as a new card appeared in front of the spirit.

?Ah, I play stop defense,? the spirit said ?so now you magician is switched to attack mode.?

The rapid fire magician got up off his knees and stood up straight.

?Now, I remove from play all the Earth monster in my graveyard,? he said ?and summon Megarock Dragon!?

A giant dragon made entirely of chipped stone appeared towering above the rapid fire magician.

?And since I removed four Earth monsters, his attack power is 2800!?

?What!?

?Enough to wipe you out, Megarock dragon, finish this!? The spirit ordered.

The dragon raised a claw and struck at the rapid fire magician dropping Josh?s life points to zero.

?No, I lost,? Josh muttered.

The image around him faded and he was back in his basement, Eiro was on the floor next to him apparently asleep, Josh looked down at him and saw his eyes were blank.

?What! No, it?s not possible.? He stammered ?this isn?t happening!?

 

****

 

The dark around Kim?s house faded and everything returned to normal, Kim looked about.

?Hey, where?d Josh go?? She asked.

?I think he lost,? Jamin muttered ?I?d never have though it, he never loses.?

?Yeah but, where?d he go?? Kim said.

?Hm,? Jamin looked about but he wasn?t anywhere in sight. ?I guess we can hope that was just all a dream.? He said.

?Hey the TVs back on!? Kim said running back into the living room seeming to forget that Josh had just been beaten by an evil spirit.

?Sometimes I wonder about her,? he sighed.

As the sun rose the next morning Josh was still sitting on his bed having not moved the entire night, his face was extremely pale and his eyes were wide open and bloodshot. He couldn?t believe what had just happened; an ancient spirit had just beaten him and taken his grandfather?s soul away, which was something he?d never believed in.

?Maybe a few duels with sort me out,? he mused getting up at last and leaving a heavy imprint on the mattress.

 

****

 

Later that day Jamin and Kim were running down the stairs in a bit of a hurry.

?Man, where does it say in the rules that looking at the clock ever 3 seconds was against the rules,? Jamin panted

He skidded slightly as he got to the bottom and U turned racing towards the door with Kim in hot pursuit.

?Why are we even panicking?? She asked ?it?s not like he hasn?t done this sort of thing before.?

They burst outside into the yard and halted, Kim banged into Jamin but he ignored it. Josh was facing Sammy at either end of a small crowd both with their duel disks activated. Josh has a single face down card and apprentice magician in attack mode, while Sammy had all 3 of his batteryman AAs out, a DNA surgery trap card and a smaller blue battery.

?Batteryman AA attack!? Sammy ordered.

The creature raised its fist and thunder crackled round it, it drew it back and punched the air sending the lightning straight for Josh and striking his apprentice magician and destroying it.

?Yeah,? Sammy said jumping in the air ?I win.? He then made a very rude gesture at Josh as the holograms faded.

Jamin immediately ran over to him. ?Hey, what happened, Sammy?s a pushover.?

Josh kept his head bowed; he turned about and walked away silently.

?Hey!? Jamin ran in front of him blocking his path. ?Dude answer,? he said ?what the hell is wrong!?

Josh still didn?t answer and walked around Jamin and pushed his way through the crowd, Sammy was still making annoying gestures at him. Kim glared at him angrily and stormed over to him. Jamin quickly followed Josh through the crowd and pursued him.

?Josh, if you don?t tell us we won?t be able to help you,? he said ?now what?s wrong.?

?Nothing,? Josh replied ?I?ve just been a bit off lately.?

?A bit off!? Jamin yelled ?you fell for the most obvious traps and practically let him summon all his monsters.?

?I told you,? Josh said ?nothing is wrong with me.?

?Well then if there?s nothing wrong then you?re fine with dueling me,? Jamin said producing a duel disk.

Josh stopped and turned round ?what??

?You heard me,? Jamin said ?me and you, dueling here and now. And don?t hold back, because I?ll know if you do.?

?Okay fine,? Josh said ?but I don?t see what good it?ll do.?

?Game on,?

 

****

 

?Yeah that?s right,? Kim said tauntingly as the hologram of the harpie?s baby dragon and three harpie ladies faded ?nobody messes with my friends and gets away with it.?

She turned about smiling to see that Josh and Jamin weren?t there.

?What! They didn?t see me, oh man,? she immediately pushed her way through the crowd and broke into a run trying to find them. ?They could be lost, they could be in trouble, they could be?? She screeched to a halt as she saw them standing in the basketball court with their duel disks out ?right there.?

Jamin looked determined to get Josh back into his right mind, but Josh however was still looking as doubtful as he had this morning. Kim glanced between them.

?Great, who do I root for?? she moaned.

?I?ll let you go first,? Jamin said.

?Okay, fine,? Josh said picking up till he had six cards, he examined them briefly ?I summon mythical beast Cerberus in attack mode!?

Mythical beast Cerberus materialized in front of Josh glaring at Jamin.

?I also play this spell card,? he continued ?my spell absorption, now whenever a spell is activated I gain 500 life points, and as an added bonus I can play a magic counter of mythical beast Cerberus to increase his attack power by 500 points, giving him 1900 attack points.? He declared.

?Well nothing wrong so far,? Jamin said drawing a card of his own ?but this might hurt a little, I play my lightning vortex spell card, so I discard one card from my hand and destroy mythical beast Cerberus!?

A bolt of lightning flew from the sky and struck mythical beast Cerberus and destroyed him.

?Yeah, now I gain 500 life points,? Josh said.

?Keep em coming,? Jamin said ?because now I summon element Valkyrie in attack mode!?

Jamin placed the card on his field and element Valkyrie appeared in front of him spinning her staff briefly.

?Now then, Valkyrie attack him directly!? Jamin ordered ?freeze flame blast!?

Element Valkyrie leapt into the air and used one end of her staff to produce a fireball and then span it round using the other end to freeze it and send it flying at Josh knocking his life points down to 3000.

?Your move,? Jamin said ?make it a good one.

Josh drew a card from his deck half heartedly and looked at it. ?Okay,? he said ?I summon apprentice magician in defense mode!? He declared ?and place these two cards face down.?

Apprentice magician appeared in front of Josh as well as two face down cards.

?Getting better,? Jamin said ?now then, element Valkyrie, attack!?

Element Valkyrie launched into the air once more and raised he staff.

?I do have a face down you know,? Josh said ?magical dimension, to start I sacrifice apprentice magician, and summon dark magician!?

Apprentice magician vanished and was then replaced by the dark magician.

?Now I can destroy one monster on the field,? Josh said ?and I choose Valkyrie!?

The dark magician raised his staff and fired at Valkyrie and destroyed her.

?Okay,? Jamin said ?I?ll summon this card face down in defense mode and place another face down.?

Two face down cards appeared in front of Jamin, the front one was sideways.

?Okay,? Josh said ?Dark magician, attack!?

The dark magician raised his staff and fired again, the face down card flipped over revealing a turtle with a UFO on its back before it was destroyed.

?Thanks,? Jamin said ?that was my UFO turtle, so now I can summon a fire monster with less than 1500 attack points.?

?Go ahead.?

?Okay,? Jamin continued ?I choose, Blazing Hiita!?

A tall red haired girl wearing an old worn cloak appeared in front of Jamin carrying a gold staff, a small fox stood behind her.

?What difference will she make?? Josh asked.

?Well that?s where my face down card comes in,? Jamin explained ?call of the haunted; this?ll resurrect my UFO turtle.?

The card flipped face up and the UFO turtle emerged from it.

?I?m not getting any of this,? Josh muttered.

?You will,? Jamin reassured him ?after all it?s my turn, so I?ll use Hiita?s effect and sacrifice UFO turtle and summon Burning beast!?

Hiita raised her staff and the UFO turtle was surrounded by fire, it suddenly grew and the fire dispersed revealing a bear sized creature made from glowing rocks and giving off a red glow.

?Now, seeing as that was a special summon,? Jamin continued ?I can normal summon Freezing beast!?

Another creature of the same size appeared beside the burning beast only this one was made of ice and had a more triangular head.

?Now I can combine them together,? Jamin went on ?So when he attacks I can take out that face down of yours.?

The freezing beat leapt onto the burning beast and fused itself to his back.

?Little problem,? Josh said ?there?s a dark magician on the field.?

?Taken care of,? Jamin said ?because now I?ll activate this spell card too.?

Josh?s life points rose to 3500 as Jamin placed the card in the magic card slot.

?It?s called back to square one,? he explained ?so I discard this, and dark magician returns to the top of your deck.?

Jamin put a card in his graveyard slot and the dark magician vanished and returned to Josh?s deck.

?Okay, frozen burning beast, attack!?

The burning beast opened its mouth and fired a tongue of flame at Josh, it hit him directly and at the same time destroyed the face down card he had, his life points dropped to 2000.

?I?m not done yet,? Jamin said ?I?ll play this, combination attack.?

The freezing beast leapt off the burning beast and fired an ice beam at Josh knocking his life points to 1000.

?And that?s it,? Jamin said.

?What?? Josh started.

?I said that?s it,? Jamin repeated.

?But combo attack let?s you attack with both your union monsters,? Josh said ?and I would have lost.?

?Exactly,? Jamin said ?if you don?t start playing for real you?re gonna lose to me. And that?s something you swore would never happen remember??

?But I??

?Josh I?m giving you a chance to get a grip on yourself,? Jamin said ?so make your move.?

?Yeah but,? Josh looked at his hand ?I don?t have anything that I can use right now, and I know that coming up next is the dark magician.?

?Your point is?? Jamin asked.

?Hm??

?Just weight up all your options,? Jamin said ?and think carefully.?

?Okay,? Josh said drawing his dark magician ?I?ll try.?

Kim looked between them slightly confused. ?Er Jamin,? she began ?are you saying you want to lose??

?Yep,? Jamin replied ?if Josh had lost to me, then he?s having some serious problems right now.?

?Okay,? Josh said ?I?ll place these three cards face down, and end my turn.?

?Okay,? Jamin said ?now, I?ll play pot of greed, so I draw two new cards. And now I?ll summon one, Darkfire soldier!?

The Darkfire soldier appeared beside the freezing beast looking directly at Josh.

?And now, I?m playing Blazing Hiita?s effect again,? Jamin declared ?so I?ll sacrifice my Darkfire soldier and??

?Hold it,? Josh said ?I?m playing my trap card, divine wrath trap card.?

The face down on the left flipped up.

?So now,? Josh continued ?your effect is cancelled, and Blazing Hita is destroyed, along with all the cards you summoned with her effect.?

Blazing Hiita shattered along with the burning beast.

?I still have two monsters to attack you,? Jamin said.

?Good thing I have another trap card,? Josh said ?blind destruction.?

?And that does??? Jamin asked.

Josh produced a dice from his pocket. ?I roll this,? he explained ?and all creatures of that level are destroyed.?

He rolled it along the ground, it skipped and halted with four dots facing up, Jamin?s remaining two monsters shattered.

?My turn?? Josh asked ?Don?t answer that.?

He drew a new card from his deck and looked at it, he placed it in the magic card slot.

?I play my magical card of sanctity,? he declared ?so I remove from play all these cards and draw two.?

He placed the cards in his hand into his pocket and drew two new cards.

?Now I play my last face down,? he said ?return from a different dimension, so now Dark magician can come back.?

The dark magician emerged from the card in front of Josh.

?I?m not done,? Josh continued ?because now I?ll sacrifice him, and summon my dark eradicator warlock!?

The dark magician vanished and was replaced by a different version of himself, this one much larger and bulkier, with blood red armour and a flowing purple cloak.

?Now then,? Josh continued ?I play my own pot of greed, but now not only do I get two new cards, but you take 1000 points of damage.?

Josh drew two new cards and Jamin?s life points dropped.

?Next,? Josh continued ?I