YU-GI-OH: The third legacy. Episode 42 - 52

[TotalObelisk]

It seems my fan-fic is too long for the site to cope with all that text (shock horror:shock:) so I'll be posting the remaining episodes here, unless of course this crashes as well in which case I shall simply do the same again. *sigh* guess my work's a little too long for it's own good.

 

Episode 1 - 26 can be read here: Link

 

Episodes 27 - 41 can be read here: Link

 

Episode 42: Flashback mode :p

 

[spoiler=episode]Jamin stood in his back yard, his duel disk on his arm and his deck loaded into it. He took a deep breath and focused, concentrating hard on the card he wanted to draw. He closed his eyes and placed his fingers on the top card of his deck, preparing to draw. He focused as hard as he could before drawing a card and placing it on his field.

“Darc the Dark Charmer,” he commanded.

The hologram lights lit up; however the monster that appeared was Homunculus the Alchemic being.

“Ah, damn,” he cursed.

He picked up the next four cards of his deck and saw that Darc was about two cards down.

“You were close,” Darc said, appearing beside him.

“True,” Jamin admitted “But if I don’t have any cards in my hand and I’m relying on just one card in my deck when I draw, then I can’t risk not drawing that card.”

He shuffled his cards back into his deck and started again. Focusing on the card he wanted to draw.

“Darc the Dark Charmer!”

He drew his next card rapidly and placed it on the field. But again the monster wasn’t Darc but Familiar Possessed Eris.

“Aw man,” Jamin sighed.

“Sorry,” Eris chimed.

Jamin ignored her and shuffled his cards back into his deck again.

“Come on out, Darc!” He yelled.

He drew yet again and placed the card on the field. However nothing happened. He opened his eyes and looked down, only to find he’d just placed Spiritual Dark Art Greed in attack mode.

“Ack,” he yelled “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Hey, at least it means you’re getting closer,” Darc commented.

“Yeah, but is this even your card?” Jamin asked “You’re not even on it.”

Darc pondered the question for a moment before giving Jamin a shrug.

“I’m not even sure myself,” she said.

“Terrific, I might be using something evil,” Jamin muttered.

“Hey, dark doesn’t mean evil, I thought we established this?” Darc retorted.

“I know,” Jamin replied “I’m sorry. Now let’s try again.”

 

About ten minutes later he wandered back into the house, looking exhausted. He leaned up against the wall in the hallway, breathing heavily. He looked up and saw a photo of his mother and father hun up on the wall opposite him, his mother holding a small baby in her arms with a tuft of sandy hair. Jamin felt a grin tug at the corner of his mouth upon observing the baby him in the photo.

“I wonder,” he muttered “What my life would have been like if she was still alive.”

He continued to stare at his mother for a few minutes before he remembered the memory Hand of Nephthys had shown him.

“Of course,” he cried “That’s it.”

He rushed out into the back yard and activated his duel disk.

“All I have to do is focus my spirit into my deck and will it to give me the right card,” he muttered “That should work.”

His hand hovered over his deck and he closed his eyes, concentrating. A red glow began to emit from him before becoming a complete aura of energy. He placed his hand on his deck and drew, placing the card on the field.

“Darc the Dark Charmer!”

Sure enough, Darc rose up on his field. Jamin let out a whoop of joy and the red aura faded.

“Awesome, I did it!” He cried.

Darc blinked and looked around.

“I guess,” she said “Finally figured it out I see.”

“Yep,” Jamin said “My mum told me.”

Darc stared at him blankly for a minute before heaving a sigh.

“He’s lost it,” she muttered.

 

Jamin lay on his bed long after nightfall, staring up at the ceiling.

“Jamin,” Darc asked, sitting at the end of his bed “What was your mum like?”

“Hm,” Jamin thought about it for a moment “I don’t really know I was really young when she died. Dad always told me she died in a car accident, well till now that is.”

“I see,” Darc muttered.

“From what I know of her she was kind of like me,” Jamin replied “Light hearted, cheery…”

“And a bit dumb?” Darc put in.

“Hey watch it,” Jamin retorted.

“Heh, sorry,” Darc replied, grinning slightly.

“I guess you could say she was kind of like a girl version of me,” Jamin continued “Aside from the cards she used that is. Also that the moment she vanished from the dueling world everyone seemed to forget about her.”

“Huh?” Darc looked over at him.

“I remember she was once a pretty big thing,” Jamin replied “But then that was nearly ten years ago. Most of the dueling world probably doesn’t even remember her name.”

“What was it like?” Darc asked “Back then?”

“Hm, let’s see,” Jamin muttered.

 

Many years ago, the sun was high in the sky, marking it to be midday, and the street looked perfectly normal and calm. Jamin’s mum, Shia, walked into the living room to find Keiche reading the paper and the young Jamin watching the T.V with a toy duel disk sitting in front of him. His face lit up as he saw one of the duelists play a giant black dragon. Shia looked down at him and smiled softly.

“Bout time you got a day off,” Keiche said, looking up at Shia “You look terrible.”

Shia merely smiled back. It was true that she had bags under her eyes and she didn’t look quite as young as she should be.

“Don’t worry; I’ll get over it,” she said “So long as Jamin’s happy I don’t really mind.”

“Hm, well so long as you don’t get yourself killed,” Keiche said “I can’t raise Jamin by myself.”

“Oh come on,” Shia said “As if a card game would kill me.”

“Mummy, mummy,” Shia looked down to see Jamin pointing at the screen “What’s that.”

“That’s a Red Eyes Black Dragon,” Shia replied.

“Why’s it called Red Eyes?” Jamin asked.

“Because of its red eyes I guess,” Shia replied.

“What’s the point of naming a card after its eye color?” Jamin looked up at her “You wouldn’t call me pink eyes would you?”

“Your eyes are grey darling,” Shia replied.

“But if I did have pink eyes, would you call me pink eyes?” Jamin asked.

“Of course not,” Shia replied.

“Pink eyes wouldn’t suit you anyway,” Keiche cut in.

“I never wanted to know if they suited me,” Jamin said “I just wanted to know if you’d call me pink eyes if I had pink eyes.”

The sound of a doorbell interrupted them and Jamin scrambled to his feet.

“Ah, that’ll be Josh,” he said and bounded out of the room.

 

Shia watched him go and then sat down on a chair next to Keiche.

“He doesn’t appear to be able to hear his cards,” she muttered.

“No, he just hasn’t shown any signs of it,” Keiche replied “Perhaps he hasn’t found his spirit cards yet.”

“If he does, would you prefer it if he told us or not?” Shia asked “I never told my parents until I met you.”

“And they didn’t believe you at first,” Keiche replied “Kept asking you stupid questions like ‘what’s Kuriboh saying to me?’ or stuff like that.”

“You never told yours, did you?” Shia asked.

“No,” Keiche sighed, folding up the paper “I doubt they could have handled it.”

Shia smiled at him and turned her attention to the T.V.

“I would like him to tell us,” Keiche said “At least then we’d be aware of it and be able to help him. If he keeps silent about it he might wind up in trouble.”

“Oh nonsense,” Shia said “We never wound up in trouble, did we?”

“True,” Keiche shrugged.

 

A few minutes later Jamin was back in the room sitting opposite the young Josh, both of them having laid out their decks and were currently in a duel. Jamin was staring hard at his hand. Shia got up from where she was sitting and leaned over him to whisper in his ear.

“Use the spell card,”

Jamin jumped and looked up at her, confused. Shia merely gave him a smile before walking past and through the sliding doors into the garden. Once outside she made sure nobody was watching and that nobody could hear her before she took a deep breath and looked forwards.

“Vandalgyon,” she commanded.

A flash of lightning erupted from the ground in front of her and the spirit of Dark Ruler Vandalgyon appeared in front of her. Shia looked up at it, her smile gone from her face.

“This had better be important for you to have summoned me outside a duel,” Vandalgyon said.

“There is something I must know,” Shia said “Jamin. Is he…”

“I’ve told you before,” Vandalgyon said “Jamin can indeed hear monster spirits. He’s just too young to recognize his gifts.”

“That’s not it,” Shia said “Is he the one who created you?”

Vandalgyon stared at her.

“I was created many years ago by a greedy fool,” he said “Not by…”

“Don’t joke around with me,” Shia said, her cheerfulness long gone “I know people can be reborn. If Jamin is the reincarnation of the one who created you…”

“There is a chance,” Vandalgyon said “He does look so much like him, and feels like him too.”

Shia seemed lost for words.

“Will he…Will he be taking you from me?” She asked “Will he release you like he did before?”

“If he finds me,” Vandalgyon said “He probably would. History has a way of repeating itself.”

“No way,” Shia gasped, her eyes widening.

She turned away, the spirit of Vandalgyon vanishing. She remained where she was for a moment, the breeze blowing her long sandy hair out behind her.

“Jamin,” she muttered.

She walked back into the house, closing the sliding door behind her. She looked down to see Josh and Jamin still on the floor.

“What? I lost again?” Jamin cried “No fair.”

“Heh, guess your deck still can’t beat me,” Josh chuckled.

“I would’ve beaten you if you hadn’t summoned your Dark Magician,” Jamin said.

“I always summon Dark Magician,” Josh replied.

Shia smiled down at them before walking past and pausing next to Keiche.

“Keiche,” she muttered so that Jamin couldn’t hear her “There’s something important I need to talk about.”

Keiche looked up at her.

“What is it?” He replied as discretely as he could.

“If I…” Shia began “If anything should happen to me, please take Vandalgyon and hide him.”

Keiche stared at her.

“Where’d this come from?” He asked.

“Please, promise me you’ll do it,” Shia said.

“Okay, sure, don’t worry,” Keiche replied, concern in his voice.

“Thank you,” Shia whispered before leaving the room.

He looked over at Jamin and Josh. Josh was currently sticking his tongue out at Jamin who was still explaining exactly how he’d won if Josh’s hadn’t summoned Dark Magician.

“Hey, I know,” Josh said “They’ve started putting up the list for that new booster set.”

“Huh? Ah cool,” Jamin said “Dad can we use your computer.”

“Sure,” Keiche said “Just don’t go in my work file.”

“Awesome,”

Josh and Jamin gathered up their separate decks and rushed out of the room and upstairs.

 

It was only a few years later and Jamin and his dad were sitting in the front row of a funeral. Keiche had a look of silent shock still lingering on his face whilst Jamin was still in a state of disbelief.

“I didn’t know it would happen so soon,” Keiche muttered.

“Hm?” Jamin looked up at him “What’s wrong dad?”

He saw his father holding a card with both hands and staring at it.

“What’s that?” He asked.

“Nothing,” Keiche said, pocketing it “Just a worthless old card.”

“Let me see it,” Jamin said “What is it?”

“Nothing important,” his dad said, standing up and straightening his tie “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

 

A while later Jamin sat on the grass, leaning against a tree as he watched his father conversing with several people. Josh was standing next to him, looking just as confused as he was.

“Your mum’s dead,” he repeated.

“I guess,” Jamin replied “I don’t get it. I thought only old people died.”

“Is she old?” Josh asked.

“I don’t think so,” Jamin replied.

Jamin fished in his pocket for his deck and took it out, staring at it.

“What’s up?” Josh asked.

“Dad was holding a card,” Jamin said “I want to know what it is.”

Josh stared at him.

“I know,” Jamin said “I bet that was mum’s card. I’ve always wanted to be a good duelist like her.”

He put his deck away and got to his feet.

“I’m going to get mum’s card,” he said

Josh made no movement to stop him as Jamin crept forwards, moving up behind his father. He reached for Keiche’s pocket as silently as he could; making sure his father didn’t see him.

“Looking for me?” A voice penetrated Jamin head and he froze, gazing forwards “It seems we are tied by fate after all.”

“Who are you?”

“I am the darkness created by you,” the voice replied “And I shall feed off the shadow that has grown in your heart from the death of your mother.”

Jamin took in a sharp intake of breath. It felt like something was curling round him, and squeezing the air out of him.

“Jamin, Jamin!”

Jamin stirred and opened his eyes, blinking at the sudden light. He must have passed out.

“Are you alright?” Keiche asked.

“Dad?” Jamin looked up at him “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Good,” his dad let out a sigh of relief.

Jamin sat up and looked up at his dad as he turned away, reaching one hand into his pocket.

“What was that?” Jamin muttered.

“Jamin?” He looked round to see Josh behind him “You fell over. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Jamin replied.

He looked away from Josh and back to his father.

“Did you get it?” Josh asked “Your mum’s card?”

Jamin shook his head.

“No,” he said “It got me.”

 

The next evening Jamin lay awake, staring up at the ceiling.

“I know mum wants me to have that card,” he thought “She won every duel with it; if I get it then I’ll start winning every duel. Then I’ll finally beat Josh.”

He got out of bed and moved over to his bedroom door, opening it slowly and creeping out onto the landing. His room was at the end of the landing with the door to his parent’s room just next to it. He immediately turned and opened the door to his parent’s room as quietly as he could, creeping in. He saw his father lying alone on a double bed, muttering slightly in his sleep. He cast his gaze around the room for a moment till he spied a small box sitting on the table next to the bed. He crept forwards and reached up, opening the lid of the box and looking inside. The first thing he saw was the card he was looking for, Dark Ruler Vandalgyon. Eagerly he reached for it but suddenly it burst into black flame. Jamin yelled and moved backwards, several tendrils of black energy flying out of the box and wrapping round him.

“As I said before, I shall feed off the shadow in your heart,” the voice said.

Jamin made a slight gurgling noise but found that he couldn’t speak.

“You created me,” the voice continued “So now I’ll feed off your very life.”

“Jamin!”

The voice stopped and Jamin fell backwards, taking in great gulps of air. He looked up to see that his father had slammed the lid of the box closed and was glaring at him.

“What to you think your doing!” He yelled, causing Jamin to recoil slightly “You shouldn’t be creeping around at night like this.”

“I…I…” Jamin sobbed “I just wanted mum’s card.”

“Don’t talk rubbish,” Keiche snapped “This is not yours to take.”

“But…But…”

“No buts,” Keiche said “Now go back to bed.”

Jamin got to his feet and meandered out of the room, still sobbing. Keiche heaved a sigh and opened the lid again, staring down at the card.

“So this is why she wanted me to get rid of it, well, I guess I have no choice now,”

He closed the lid again and slid it under the bed.

 

“So you just gave up?” Darc asked, back in the present.

“I kinda forgot about it,” Jamin shrugged “I’d looked all over the house and couldn’t find it.”

“But that sounds like a really dangerous card,” Darc said.

“Yeah, I realize that now,” Jamin said “I didn’t understand about spirits and stuff back then.”

“I see,” Darc replied.

“I don’t really miss my mother,” Jamin said “I know she’s somewhere up there, looking out for me.”

“How wet,” Darc muttered “I heard that.”

 

At the same time Josh stood in his own room, leaning against the wall with one hand over his face, a picture of his grandfather in one hand.

“Quit whining over the past,” his reflection in the mirror said “What’s done is done; all you can do now is take it out on the world that took your family from you.”

“Shut up!” Josh yelled “I know it was you. You killed him!”

“I wonder if it would have been any different if Jamin had been defending your grandfather’s life.”

Josh glared madly as the mirror, his red eyes growing wider.

“Jamin,” he spat “He couldn’t duel his way out of a wet paper bag!”

“Which makes me wonder why he was chosen instead of you?”

“Shut up!” Josh yelled, flinging the photo at the mirror.

However it merely turned over in mid air and fluttered slowly to the floor. A sudden pain erupted in Josh’s head and he fell to his knees, clutching his head and gasping for air.

“Need I remind you that you answer to me now,” the reflection said “I’m not your enemy. Who is?”

“Jamin,” Josh spat.

The pain vanished and Josh rolled over, gasping for air.

“Good and what needs to be done?”

“I need to kill him,” Josh replied “I need to show him and everyone else that I’m the best duelist around.”

“Excellent,”

Josh screwed his eyes shut and rolled onto his side, hitting the floor.

“I’m ten times the duelist he’ll ever be!” He yelled, angry tears falling from his eyes as he got up on all fours, still punching the floor “Why? Why was it always him and not me?”

A fleeting image of Jamin crossed Josh’s mind.

“He’s nowhere near the duelist I am,” Josh sobbed “Why? Why? WHY?!”

 

The following day Jamin left the house pretty early in the morning and wandered down the street towards the park. Of course the tournament was on hold so he couldn’t carry on with it for the time being, which only agitated him further at the thought of Mashi-Ushi growing stronger when he couldn’t do anything about it and Josh hating him in the same space of time. He let out a sigh as he walked, not concentrating on where he was going.

“You’re looking down again,” Eria said, appearing beside him.

“Don’t worry,” Jamin said “I know what I have to do, it’s just the doing it part that’s the difficult bit. I’m sick of waiting like this, what kind of preparations are they making for that tournament anyway?”

“Who knows,” Eria shrugged.

 

When Jamin reached the park he noticed two kids dueling each other. He wandered past them and sat down on a bench just close enough to watch them. One kid was short and fat with messy black hair, the other had spiky red hair and looked kind of weedy.

“You’re turn, Daisuke,” the fat kid said.

“If you say so Kyle,”

Jamin turned his attention to the kid named Daisuke.

“Funny name,” he muttered.

“I summon Dark Angel Raphael,” Daisuke said.

A tall angel with black wings and wearing black and red armor appeared on his field.

“Thanks to his effect I can take one spell card from your graveyard and add it to my hand,” Daisuke said “And I choose your Monster Reborn.”

“Aw man,” Kyle took Monster Reborn from his grave and tossed it to Daisuke, who caught it with a smug expression on his face.

“Then I activate it,” he said “Allowing me to special summon my Dark Angel Donatello!”

A black angel wearing dark purple armor appeared on Daisuke’s field this time. Jamin cocked an eyebrow, his interest rising slightly.

“Now I play Dark Fusion,” Daisuke said “And fuse Dark Angel Raphael and Dark Angel Donatello into the Dark Phantom Thief!”

Both Daisuke’s monsters jumped into the air and were sucked into a vortex. The monster that emerged was a tall angel with purple hair that cascaded off his head, black wings and a black outfit with no sleeves; he also had bandages around his wrist.

“I play my Dark Phantom Thief’s effect,” Daisuke said “By discard a Dark Angel monster from my hand, I get to look at one card in your hand and place it in mine.”

Daisuke took Dark Angel Leonardo and placed it in his graveyard; afterwards he walked up to Kyle to look at his hand and took a card from it.

 

“A Dark Thief deck,” Jamin muttered “Never really seen one of those in action before.”

“Now my Dark Phantom Thief will attack you directly,” Daisuke said.

Kyle looked up as Daisuke’s monster flew up into the air and flapped his wings, sending several feather’s shooting in Kyle’s direction and hitting him. His life points dropped from 2600 to 0. He dropped down on his knees as the holograms faded, cursing.

“Damn,” he said “I can never beat you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Daisuke said, walking up to him “I’m sure you’ll be better than me someday. Oh, here’s your card back.”

Jamin froze as he watched them, seeing Daisuke talking to his friend like that reminded him of the way Josh always spoke to him whenever he lost a duel. Jamin stood up and hurried off down the path. Both kids looked up as he darted off, having only just noticed him.

“Who was that?” Kyle asked.

“I dunno,” Daisuke replied.

 

Jamin came to a halt and leaned against a tree, panting heavily.

“I can’t wait any more,” he said “I have to get to Josh now.”

“Hey, slow down,” Eria said “If you rush things you’ll only regret it further.”

“I can’t stand it any longer though,” Jamin said “I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but I’m sure it’s not good. He hates me just because I was chosen over him.”

Eria opened her mouth to say something but fell silent, watching Jamin.

“It’s not like I asked for it,” he went on “And I’m sure he knows that too, so whatever’s got him…” He broke off, his memory kicking into gear.

“I shall feed off the shadow that’s grown in your heart.”

“That’s it,” he muttered “He’s been possessed by something that’s feeding off his jealousy of me. That’s why he’s acting like this.”

Eris stared at him slightly impressed.

“How’d you know that?” She asked.

“Huh? Oh, err…Long story,” Jamin replied.

“Well possessed or not you’ll get nowhere by rushing things,” Eria said.

“I guess,” Jamin replied “Sorry, I guess I got kinda worked up.”

“Jamin!”

He looked round to see Kim waving at him and running towards him.

“Oh, hi Kim,” Jamin said “What are you…Uh oh…”

Upon reaching him Kim immediately jumped at Jamin and wrapped her arms about him, bowling him over.

“I haven’t done that for ages,” Kim said, staring down at him.

“You usually do it from behind,” Jamin said “And would you get off, this is a kind of awkward position.”

“Oh,” Kim replied “Sorry.”

She stood up quickly and allowed Jamin to do the same, rubbing his back as he did so.

“Honestly,” he sighed “This is a gravel path you know, that hurt.”

“Sorry,” Kim chimed.

Jamin heaved a sigh and was about to say something to her when he was interrupted.

“I knew it, it is him!”

Jamin looked around and saw the two kids, Kyle and Daisuke looking at him.

“You’re Jamin Tsubasa right?” Daisuke said.

“Me?” Jamin blinked “Err, yeah I guess.”

“Cool, see, Kyle I told you it was him,” Daisuke said.

“Awesome,” Kyle replied.

Jamin laughed nervously.

“You’ve got fans,” Kim muttered.

 

“Hey, err. Jamin,” Daisuke began “Could I duel with you, please?”

Jamin stared down at him for a moment before a grin spread across his face.

“Sure,” he said “I could use something to do.”

“Unreal,” Daisuke yelled.

Kim merely smiled and watched as the two of them started their duel. Both of them playing their best and enjoying every minute of it.

 

Evening came and Jamin and Kim waved goodbye to Daisuke and his friend as they walked out of the park.

“Thanks, Jamin. I learned a lot,” Daisuke said.

“Don’t mention it,” Jamin replied.

“You needed that,” Kim said.

“Huh?”

“You always give advice to other people but you should really follow it yourself,” Kim said “It’s a game, so hang loose and have fun.”

“I guess,” Jamin replied “But it’s kind of hard to have fun when your best friend’s turned into a psychopath.”

Kim shrugged: “Come with the job,”

Jamin chuckled in reply.

 

Back in Josh room, Josh was staring out of the window, the photo of his grandfather crumpled up in his hand and his blood red eyes scanning the view from his window madly.

“Jamin,” he muttered “I’m going to kill you. Definitely.”

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 43:

 

[spoiler=episode]“Damn, damn him! I can’t believe I lost!”

Jamin Tsubaki, the wannabe duelist that had attempted to make a laughing stock of Jamin had failed miserably and become nothing more than a laughing stock himself.

“I can’t believe I lost to that guy, how the heck is he better than me? How?” He yelled, turning over a bin as he passed.

He looked up, panting heavily.

“Damn you,” he panted “Damn you, Jamin!”

 

“Jamin!”

Kim glomped Jamin yet again and sent him tumbling to the ground, fortunately this time she’d made sure he was standing on grass in the park before launching herself at him.

“Hello,” Jamin said from underneath Kim “What’s with the good mood?”

Kim rolled off him and lay on the grass, staring up at the sky.

“Oh nothing special,” she said.

“You’ve had too much sugar,” Jamin commented.

“Hey, that’s mean, I don’t eat sugar,” Kim replied.

“Whatever,” Jamin sighed.

“Hey, you need to prepare for the tournament finals right?” Kim asked, sitting up

“What about it?” Jamin asked.

“Why don’t you practice against me?” Kim asked.

“No offence,” Jamin said “But you’re not exactly Josh or Mashi-Ushi standard.”

“That’s mean,” Kim retorted.

“So I’ve heard,” Jamin muttered.

“Come on,” Kim said, shaking Jamin by the shoulders “You need to cheer up.”

“I know,” Jamin replied “I’m just sick of waiting, there’s still about two months till the finals. Why did they have to space it out so much?”

“Beats me,” Kim shrugged “Maybe they’re building a giant blimp to hold the finals on.”

“Been done,” Jamin replied.

“A big tower?”

“Do you see a tower?” Jamin asked.

“It might be underground,”

“Kim, there is no tower,” Jamin said.

“Maybe you’ll be dueling underground,” Kim suggested.

“Why would we be dueling underground?” Jamin asked “That’s silly.”

“So is dueling on a blimp but they still did it,” Kim said.

“You’re making no sense,” Jamin sighed, sitting up.

“I’m just offering suggestions,” Kim replied.

Jamin heaved a sigh and looked over in the direction of the Kaiba Dome.

“Well whatever they’re doing there it had better be worth the wait,” he said “Because to be honest I’d rather duel Josh as soon as possible.”

“Why don’t you just go looking for him?” Kim asked.

“Because I can’t find him,” Jamin replied “He’s completely vanished off the face of the earth.”

“Maybe he’s underground,” Kim said.

“Kim, shut up,” Jamin sighed.

He stood up, wiping dirt off his trousers.

“Where are you going?” Kim asked “To look for Josh?”

“Nah,” Jamin said “He’ll turn up at the tournament, I’ll duel him there.”

“You sure you can wait that long?” Kim asked.

“Of course,” Jamin replied.

 

At the same time Jamin Tsubaki was also walking through the park, still in a huff.

“I swear when I find that kid I’ll…” He paused, looking up to see Jamin and Kim talking “Ring his neck.” He finished.

He turned and began to make his way towards them when a hand grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. Tsubaki turned around, seeing Mashi-Ushi standing behind him.

“What the heck do you want?” He asked “Can’t you see I’m busy.”

“I was just thinking,” Mashi-Ushi said “You’re that guy Jamin nearly killed when you dueled him.”

“Shut up,” Tsubaki snapped, growing irritated.

“Hey, I only want to help,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“Help?” Tsubaki glared at him “I don’t need help thanks.”

“Looking at your performance last time I’m guessing you do,” Mashi-Ushi said “I mean, you could hardly call that a close match.”

“I almost had him,” Tsubaki snapped.

“But he still beat you,” Mashi-Ushi said “It stands to reason that you’re no match for him.”

“Looks pal, do you want me to…” Tsubaki paused, seeing Mashi-Ushi handing him a deck “What’s this?”

“It’s a special deck,” Mashi-Ushi said “With that I’m sure you can take on Jamin.”

Tsubaki shuffled through it.

“Well, what do you think?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“And this’ll beat Jamin?” Tsubaki asked.

“If you play it right,” Mashi-Ushi said.

A grin spread across Tsubaki’s face and he immediately turned about, running in Jamin’s direction.

“Heh, fool,” Mashi-Ushi muttered “You didn’t think I’d just give you a deck like that did you? Should you happen to lose this duel your soul shall belong to me, if you win I get Jamin’s. So no matter what the outcome, I win.”

 

“Hey, Jasmine!”

Jamin looked up to see Tsubaki glaring at him.

“And you are?” Jamin asked.

“Jamin!” Tsubaki yelled.

“Yes I heard you the first time,” Jamin said.

“No, I’m Jamin, Jamin Tsubaki,” Tsubaki yelled.

“Tsubaki?” Jamin thought for a moment “Oh wait, I remember.”

“Good,” Tsubaki grinned.

“That washout, wannabe who tried to make a big thing claiming I was copying him when he was copying me and only had his plan backfire later,” Jamin recited.

“Hey shut it!” Tsubaki snapped “That was a fluke, got it?”

“No,”

“Aw whatever,” Tsubaki said, activating a duel disk “It’s time for me to get my revenge on you.”

Jamin stared at him for a second and then raised his own duel disk.

“I guess I could use a bit of practice,” he muttered.

“Heh, this is no practice, this is serious,” Tsubaki said, drawing six cards from his deck.

“Whatever you say,” Jamin replied.

“Jamin, are you sure about this?” Kim asked “I mean we can just ignore him and go home.”

“True but I’d rather just get rid of him permanently,” Jamin said “So go on, make your move.”

“You’ll regret that,” Tsubaki said “I summon Jet Reaper in attack mode!”

A tall old man in a tattered black cloak with loosely bandaged arms and carrying a scythe rose up on Tsubaki’s field.

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

“Very well,” Jamin said, drawing a card. “He’s not using his charmer deck,” he thought “I knew he was copying me. But then again this deck may be something else, I’ve never even heard of a Jet Reaper anyway.”

“I summon Familiar Possessed Wynn in attack mode,” Jamin said.

A gust of wind blew on Jamin’s field and his wind sorceress emerged from a small tornado.

“Now Wynn, attack his Jet Reaper,” Jamin ordered.

“Right.”

Wynn rushed forwards and fired a hurricane at the Jet Reaper, destroying him and reducing Tsubaki’s life points to 3850.

“My draw,” Tsubaki said “I summon Jet Elite Fiend in attack mode!”

A tall black demon with huge muscles, leathery wings and a ram’s skull for a head rose up on Tsubaki’s field, its arms crossed.

“Next I activate my field spell, Fake Grave,” Tsubaki said.

Jamin looked about as the field around them changed into a graveyard at night. A tall cross gravestone rose behind Tsubaki.

“Ah, creepy,” Kim muttered.

“Thanks to this field spell all monsters sent to the graveyard are returned to our decks,” Tsubaki explained “And each time this effect is used my Elite Fiend here gains 100 attack points.”

“He what?”

“Jet Elite Fiend, attack his Wind Charmer!” Tsubaki ordered “Nightmare Fist!”

The Jet Elite Fiend balled one hand into a fist and threw a punch at Wynn, sending a ball of black energy towards her and hitting her dead on, destroying her and reducing Jamin’s life points to 3950.

“And thanks to my Fake Grave, Jet Elite Fiend gains 100 attack points,” Tsubaki said.

Tsubaki’s monster glowed slightly as its ATK rose to 2000.

“That’s some nasty attack points,” Jamin muttered, drawing a card.

 

“Jamin, this place is scaring me,” Kim complained.

“I summon Familiar Possessed Aussa,” Jamin said, summoning his Earth Charmer to the field “Then I equip her with Attribute Mastery.”

“Attribute what?”

“Mastery,” Jamin explained “With this card I select one attribute, and when Aussa battles a monster with that attribute then that monster is automatically destroyed. And I’m guessing you use all dark monsters in that deck, so I choose dark!”

“What?”

“Aussa attack,” Jamin ordered.

Aussa raised her staff, firing several diamond shards towards Tsubaki’s monster.

“I play my trap card,” Tsubaki said “Inter-Dimensional Matter Transporter. This removed my monster from play till my next turn.”

The Jet Elite Fiend vanished and the attack instead his Tsubaki, dropping his life points to 2000.

“I end my turn,” Jamin said.

“Fine by me,” Tsubaki said, drawing a card “Because now my Fiend comes back!”

Jet Elite Fiend appeared once again on Tsubaki’s field.

“Next I play the spell card solitary end;” Tsubaki said “Meaning that since we both have one monster on the field, that monster is destroyed and sent to the graveyard. But thanks to my Fake Grave, those monsters are returned to the deck instead.”

Both monsters suddenly exploded, leaving the field perfectly clear.

“Next I summon Overconfident Jet Soldier,” Tsubaki said.

A large demon with about six arms and a necklace of skulls materialized on Tsubaki’s field this time, growling softly.

“Go, attack him directly,” Tsubaki ordered.

The Overconfident Jet Solder lunged forwards, taking a swipe out of Jamin with a long flail with a skull on the end. Jamin staggered back a bit, his life points dropping to 1650.

“That’s a lot of points,” he muttered.

“Unfortunately my monster turns to defense mode at the end of my turn,” Tsubaki said.

The Overconfident Jet Soldier knelt down, crossing its many arms across its body.

“Now I’ll end my turn,” Tsubaki said.

“I’ll go then,” Jamin said “And I play my Charming Draw Spell card, with this card I sent Hiita the Fire Charmer and Familiar Possessed Hiita from my deck to my graveyard and draw twice, but of course thanks to your field spell they go straight back to my deck.”

“Get on with it,” Tsubaki said.

“Be patient,” Jamin said, shuffling his deck before slotting it back into his duel disk and drawing two cards “Next I summon Homunculus the Alchemic Being in attack mode!”

Tsubaki raised an eyebrow as Jamin’s homunculus rose on his field.

“Now attack,” Jamin ordered.

Jamin’s Alchemic Being charged forwards, bringing his arm back and throwing a punch at the Jet Soldier, destroying it.

“Due to the effect of Fake Grave, my soldier returns to my deck,” Tsubaki said.

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

“Then I’ll draw,” Tsubaki said “Ha!”

Jamin looked at him, concern crossing his face.

“I play Polymerization,” Tsubaki said “And fuse Jet Elite Fiend with Haunting Ghoul of Jet…”

The Jet Elite Fiend appeared again as well as a green ghoul creature with a pumpkin for a head and a lantern. Both were sucked into a vortex behind them and what emerged was a blank skeletal looking imp creature with blades on the end of its arms.

“Say hello to my Jet Elite Ghoul,” Tsubaki said.

“Hello,” Jamin said.

“And by his effect, I can return on monster in my graveyard to my deck to increase his attack by 600 for one turn,” Tsubaki said.

“Huh?”

“So I’ll return my Jet Reaper,” Tsubaki said.

 

Tsubaki took his Jet Reaper out of his grave and shuffled it back into his deck, upon doing so the attack of his Jet Elite Ghoul rose to 3000.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jamin gasped.

“Elite Ghoul, attack his Homunculus,” Tsubaki ordered.

Tsubaki’s monster ran forwards, raising one of its arms and preparing to bring it down on Jamin’s monster.

“I play my face down card,” Jamin said “Book of Moon.”

“Huh?”

“By this card’s effect I turn your Ghoul into face down defense position,” Jamin said.

Tsubaki stared at his field as his Ghoul suddenly vanished to be replaced by a face down monster card.

“Why you…”

“My turn?” Jamin asked.

“I suppose you might as well,” Tsubaki huffed.

“Good,” Jamin said, drawing a card “Because this next move is gonna rock as I summon Darc the Dark Charmer.”

Jamin’s dark charmer rose up on his field in a cloud of black smoke before fully revealing herself.

“A Dark charmer?” Tsubaki stared at it “Never heard of it.”

“Really?” Jamin asked “Well you’re about to get a front row seat because I’m playing the effect of my Homunculus. Once per turn I can change his attribute to any one I desire, and I choose Dark.”

The Homunculus’ skin rippled slightly till it become completely black.

“Wait, are you going to…”

“Yep,” Jamin said “I send Darc and Homunculus to the graveyard in order to special summon Familiar Possessed Dark.”

Homunculus the Alchemic being vanished and Darc appeared to grow older and her attack points rose.

“Now, since she was summoned by her effect she gets trample,” Jamin explained “Meaning you take damage even when your monster is in defense mode.”

“Uh oh,” Tsubaki muttered.

“Darc, let him have it,” Jamin ordered.

“You got it,” Darc replied.

She raised her staff and fired a pillar of dark smoke at Tsubaki’s monster, it flipped up to reveal his Jet Elite Ghoul crouching down, however it vanished in the smoke and was destroyed. The attack didn’t stop and washed over Tsubaki, reducing his life points to 1350.

“Yeah, take that!” Jamin cried.

“Way to go!” Kim cheered.

“I’m not done,” Tsubaki cut across “I still have life points left.”

“Yeah, not for long though,” Jamin replied.

“You’ll see,” Tsubaki yelled, drawing a card “With this deck I’ll crush you.”

Jamin’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“I’ll set these two cards face down,” he said “Then I’ll summon my Jet Priest in defense mode.”

A thin old man in red robes and with several white wisps of smoke floating around him appeared on Tsubaki’s field, crouched down.

“Your move,” Tsubaki said grudgingly.

 

“If you say so,” Jamin said, drawing a card from his deck “Darc, attack his Jet Priest.”

“Right,” Darc nodded.

She raised her staff again and fired a volley of black smoke at the priest, destroying him and reducing Tsubaki’s life points to 500.

“You’re almost done,” Jamin said, setting a card down “So why not give up.”

“No way,” Tsubaki said “I play my Dark Omen trap card, this allows me to remove one monster in my deck from play until my next standby phase, when that time comes I can special summon it to my field.”

Jamin’s eyes narrowed.

“Fine then,” he said “I’ll end my turn. You’ve got one last chance to admit you copied me, and then it’s not more Mr. nice duelist.”

“That’s not an issue here,” Tsubaki said “I only made up that story so everyone would hate you and love me more when I humiliated you.”

“Yeah, that backfired,” Jamin chuckled.

“Well this won’t!” Tsubaki yelled “I summon Akuma Jet Empress!”

“Huh?”

“It’s the card I removed with Dark Omen,” Tsubaki explained.

“Oh.”

A large green bird with three heads, two of which were skulls the other of which was a woman’s face rose up on Tsubaki’s field, gliding high into the sky before returning to perch on the headstone behind Tsubaki.

“Dude, she had 0 attack points,” Jamin said.

“Not for long,” Tsubaki said “Whenever a monster is returned from the graveyard to the deck, she gains 200 attack points.”

Jamin just stared at him.

“Which is why I’m playing my Temple Alter Sacrifice spell,” Tsubaki said “I select any number of monsters from my deck and send them to the graveyard, then I get 100 life points for each one, so I’m sending 20 monsters to my grave to give myself 4500 life points, and since my Fake Grave is in play they all return to my deck and my Empress gets 4000 attack points.”

“You’re kidding me,” Jamin gasped.

“Nope,” Tsubaki said “Akuma Jet Empress, attack!”

Tsubaki’s monster took off from the headstone and headed towards Darc.

“You’re finished,” Tsubaki said.

“I don’t think so,” Jamin said “I play my trap card, desert sunlight.”

“Huh?”

“Thanks to this card’s effect I can change Darc to defense,” Jamin said “And unfortunately your monster doesn’t have a trample effect.”

“Damn you,” Tsubaki roared.

 

A strong light shone over the arena, forcing Tsubaki to cover his eyes. In the meantime Darc was crouching down and crossing her arms across her chest. Tsubaki’s monster tore right through her and glided around Jamin to land back on the tombstone behind Tsubaki but Jamin’s life points remained the same.

“You got lucky,” Tsubaki said “I’ll definitely get you next turn.”

“That’s it,” Mashi-Ushi muttered, watching the duel from somewhere out of sight “Let your hate rise. The more you pour your anger into that deck the more your soul is sucked into it, just like the way Jet monsters are forced back into their deck to fight.”

“I’m afraid,” Jamin said “That you won’t be having a next turn.”

“Heh, well make your move and find out,” Tsubaki replied.

Jamin’s hand hovered over his deck and he closed his eyes, focusing as hard as he could. Tsubaki stared at him.

“What the heck are you doing?” He asked “Hurry up and draw!”

Jamin ignored him and continued to focus, the red aura starting up around him. Kim was staring at him in awe; however Tsubaki saw none of this. Standing from far away Mashi-Ushi was also watching however the confidence had drained from his face as he watched Jamin building up his energy.

“Impossible,” he muttered “He can’t be…”

“My draw,” Jamin said suddenly, opening his eyes and drawing the next card from his deck “I got it. I set one monster in defense mode.”

A face down monster card appeared on Jamin’s field.

“Heh, won’t save you,” Tsubaki chuckled, looking down at his hand “With my Nobleman of Crossout, his face down monster will bite the dust before my attack even begins.”

“Next I play my spell card,” Jamin said “Book of Taiyou.”

“What? More books?” Tsubaki cried.

“Afraid so,” Jamin said “Now then, thanks to the effect of my Book of Taiyou my Darc charmer is flipped up into attack mode.”

A sudden wave of light flashed from Jamin’s face down card and it flipped up, Darc emerging out of it until the light faded.

“You can’t do that!” Tsubaki complained “You sent her to the graveyard, remember?”

“What? You mean you’ve forgotten already?” Jamin asked “Need I remind you that your Fake Grave field spell works for my graveyard too, so in other words when I sent Darc and my Homunculus to the graveyard for Familiar Possessed Darc’s effect they were shuffled back into my deck, and now I’ve drawn Darc again.”

“Gah!” Tsubaki gazed down at his field spell in horror “I forgot about that.”

“Too bad,” Jamin said “Because you’re about to get beaten yet again. Darc take control of his Jet Empress.”

Tsubaki looked up as Darc began chanting something that sounded like a song; a black aura began to surround her as well as his Akuma Jet Empress.

“No,” Tsubaki gasped “You’re kidding me, this can’t be happening, not again.”

His eyes widened further as his Empress took off from the tombstone and landed behind Darc.

“Conveniently you have exactly 4500 life points,” Jamin said “So I guess this is goodbye. Empress attack!”

The Jet Empress shot forwards, diving straight through Tsubaki, causing him to let out a roar of pain as his life points dropped back to 500.

“Now Darc finish him off,” Jamin said.

“No problem,” Darc said, raising her staff “Take this!”

A pillar of smoke billowed out of Darc’s staff and shot towards Tsubaki, enveloping him completely and dropping his life points down to zero. The holograms faded and Tsubaki dropped to his knees, stunned into disbelief.

“Guess I win again,” Jamin said “See you later.”

He and Kim turned about and walked off, completely ignoring Tsubaki.

“Wait!” Tsubaki cried “I’m not done…I….”

He stopped, looking about to see Mashi-Ushi standing behind him.

“You!” He roared, jumping to his feet and grabbing Mashi-Ushi’s collar “You told me that deck would win against Jamin!”

“I said it would win if you played it correctly,” Mashi-Ushi said “But unfortunately it looks like you didn’t.”

“Why you…” Tsubaki made to punch Mashi-Ushi but he held up a hand.

“The point is you failed to uphold your end of the bargain,” Mashi-Ushi said “And so you must pay the price.”

“Price? What price?”

Tsubaki was cut off as Mashi-Ushi placed his hand against Tsubaki’s chest. Almost instantly a white glow flashed beneath it and Tsubaki froze before crumpling to the floor, dead.

“Pft, barely enough to fill a thimble,” Mashi-Ushi scoffed “Still, it’ll do.”

He looked down at Jamin Tsubaki’s body and chuckled.

“It’s a pity you only share the same name,” he said “That was almost satisfying.”

He wandered off, chuckling softly to himself. He paused and watched two people having a duel of their own, neither of which looked like they were particularly good at dueling. Mashi-Ushi fished in his pocket and drew out his Felgrand Dragon, staring at it.

“It won’t be long now,” he said “As soon as the finals begin I shall duel Jamin and take all his powers, then nothing will stand in the way of us and the Dark Magician.”

He grinned, feeling the card give a roar of satisfaction before he pocketed it once again.

“It’s been so long since then,” he muttered “And the day we’ve been waiting for will finally come.”

 

Josh was currently working through his deck, laying out all the cards on the floor and picking out the ones he’d need. He stared at some time at his Dark Magician of Chaos before putting that in his deck and going through the rest of his cards.

“You’re awfully busy, there’s still two months till the tournament finals begin.”

“I’ve learned never to underestimate Jamin,” Josh said “I need to be absolutely prepared.”

“You’ve beaten him in every duel you’ve ever had, why should this be any different?”

“Because Jamin couldn’t control his powers like he can now,” Josh explained “I’m taking no chances; I’m going to defeat Jamin and give him no time to do anything.”

The voice let out a soft chuckle.

“I like your style,”

“It has nothing to do with style,” Josh said “I’m going to make sure he felt as humiliated as I did before I kill him.”

He reached down and picked up a random card, but upon looking at it he froze, his eyes widening in shock.

“This card,” he muttered “It’s…”

 

“If you beat me before the end of my first championship tournament I’ll give you a card.”

“A rare card?”

“A super rare card. Actually, how about ghost rare?”

 

“This…” Josh muttered “This is the card I was going to give Jamin if he beat me…And this is my first major tournament…So I…”

“Forget about Jamin!”

Josh doubled up, clutching his head in pain and dropping his cards all over the floor.

“All that matters to you now is destroying Jamin, he is your enemy, and you must crush him!”

“Yes, that’s right,” Josh replied “I must kill Jamin.”

He let go of his head and looked back up again, his scowl returning to his face.

“I’ll defeat Jamin,” he said “Then kill him.”

 

At the same time, Jamin was in his own bedroom doing the exact same thing as Josh was. All his cards spread out on the floor in front of him while he sorted the ones he needed into his deck. He paused as he picked up Hiita’s card.

“What’s up?” Hiita asked, appearing beside him.

“It’s just that, this was a card Josh gave me,” Jamin explained “In fact if he hadn’t I wouldn’t even have begun collecting you guys. I owe it all to him.”

He put the card in his deck and carried on sorting through the rest of his cards.

“Which is why you’re gonna beat him when you face him,” Hiita said “He’s your best friend and you can’t just leave him like this.”

“I know already,” Jamin said, putting the finishing touches to his deck “No matter what happens I’ll make sure Josh gets back to his old self. Then, maybe things will finally be back to normal.”

He stared down at his deck, a slight smile spreading across his face as he remembered how things had been almost a year ago.

“Who’d have thought things could get so messed up in just one year,” he sighed “I still can’t believe any of this happened. First that dream with Diablo then the goddess and going after the millennium items, and of course dueling Zorc at Christmas.”

He lay back, laughing to himself.

“I still can’t believe I did that,” Jamin laughed “I defeated the destroyed of worlds at Christmas, what timing.”

“Yeah, and if Josh hadn’t had his little jealousy pangs we wouldn’t be in this situation,” Hiita muttered.

“Don’t sweat it,” Jamin said “We’re gonna get him back.”

He stared back at his deck, his grin broadening.

“Hiita, Darc, Eris, Aussa, Wynn,” he said “I promise I’ll beat Mashi-Ushi and get Josh back. I’m a man of my word.”

 

[Yogg-Saron]

Great fan-fic Total. I remember the first of the Third Legacy series, it was amazing, and so is this! Good job!

[TotalObelisk]

Ah, memories ^_^...

 

Episode 44: I'm afraid to say this is filler, but it's the last one and unusually I actually had fun writing it. This is probably the best duel I've ever written as well, so I suppose you can still enjoy it too...

 

[spoiler=episode]Jamin was giving his deck one final tweak. He shuffled it and picked up the top five cards, then shuffled those back into the deck and picked up another five. He repeated this action several times, each time he got a pretty satisfactory result.

“I’m feeling rather confident about the finals next week,” he said “With you guys with me there’s no way I can lose.”

He picked up his deck and slotted it into his duel disk before walking out of his room and down the stairs.

“You going out?” His dad asked, calling from the living room.

“Yeah,” Jamin replied “I’ve still got a week till the finals so I thought I may as well get in some practice.”

“I see,” Keiche muttered “Well don’t be back too late.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Jamin said, opening the door to the garage “I’ve got nothing else to do during the next week; I doubt I’ll get caught up in something else.”

With that he walked into the garage and opened the door before wheeling his back out.

“Later,” he called back, closing the garage door and hoping on his bike before riding off down the street. “I’d probably look a heck of a lot cooler with a motorbike,” he muttered.

 

Upon reaching the park he got off his bike and chained it to the fence before entering, taking in a deep breath of air. He’d been haunting this place for over a month now just waiting for the finals to finally begin. He moved towards the hill overlooking the Kaiba dome where he and Josh had had a punch up. Whilst he climbed up it he noticed his sunglasses lying broken on the ground, covered with muck and grime. He bent down and picked them up, wiping off most of the dirt as he could.

“Damn,” he muttered “I guess I’ll need a new pair.”

He gazed at them for a second and then pocketed them before continuing to ascend. Upon reaching the top he saw somebody else standing there, gazing down at the Kaiba dome. As he drew closer he recognized the person to be Jun Yusuke, the duelist he’d beaten four months ago. Jun looked round upon seeing Jamin draw closer.

“Didn’t expect to see you here,” Jamin said.

“I guess you could call it sulking,” Jun replied.

“I see,” Jamin chuckled, sitting down on the grass.

“I guess I am getting old,” Jun sighed “I may not look it but I’m over sixty.”

“Looking pretty good for sixty,” Jamin muttered.

“It’s all the makeup,” Jun replied “I was scared of growing old. All that I could think of was being in my prime, and when I started to go down it was my worst nightmare, so I tried to hide from it. I guess I never was kitted out for this tournament.”

Jamin stared up at him, having not expected Jun to sound so serious. Jun remained silent for a while, allowing the breeze to blow the long tails of his coat out behind him.

“I guess I should just quit dueling,” Jun sighed “I’m old news now.”

“You’re never too old to duel,” Jamin replied “You just need to…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Jun said “That ‘trust in your deck’ crud. You know I don’t believe it.”

“You can start,” Jamin said.

 

“Nah,” Jun shook his head “I should just end it here. I’ve been a big thing for long enough. I’d honestly thought this would be just another tournament.”

He heaved a sigh and turned about.

“Wait a sec,” Jamin said “You can’t just end it just like that.”

Jun paused and looked round at him.

“There are a lot of people who look up to you and respect you,” Jamin said “Do you really want to disappoint them like that?”

“They’ll find someone else,” Jun replied.

“Damn, I hate people who get depressed too easily,” Jamin sighed “Okay how’s this. You could at least duel me.”

Jun looked at him, surprise crossing his face.

“But I’ve already lost to you,” he said “I don’t need another duel to tell me I’m finished.”

“Haven’t you been listening?” Jamin asked “Just cause you’ve lost one duel doesn’t mean you should quit.”

Jun continued to stare at him, unsure of how to answer.

“Look at it this way,” Jamin said “My entire life of dueling had been set upon beating one person, and no matter how many times I lost to him I just came back again even stronger.”

“That’s why you duel is it?” Jun asked.

“And I’m not quitting till I beat him,” Jamin said “Course, that doesn’t mean I’ll quit the game altogether, I’ll find a different reason to place.”

“So, you’re saying that…”

Jamin nodded.

“That you should carry on dueling,” Jamin said “For the same reasons you started, and if that fails find a new reason.”

“Jamin,” Jun muttered.

“So how about it, gramps?” Jamin asked “Wanna have one final duel with your nemesis?”

A grin spread across Jun’s face and he turned back around, raising his duel disk and activating it.

“Don’t call me gramps,” he said “And I accept your challenge.”

A well timed breeze blew past, blowing the tails of Jun’s coat out behind him as well as Jamin’s sandy hair.

“That’s more like it,” Jamin said, raising his own duel disk “Let’s duel.”

 

Both player’s life points set to 4000 and they both drew five cards.

“Let’s begin,” Jun said, drawing a card from his deck “I summon Oystermeister in attack mode.”

A sea warrior armoured with Oyster Shells and with several strings of seaweed for hair rose up on Jun’s field.

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

“Not a bad start,” Jamin said “But here it get’s interesting. I summon Familiar Possessed Darc in attack mode.”

Jamin placed his card on the field and his dark sorceress rose up on his field in a cloud of black smoke.

“That card, huh?” Jun muttered “To think he’s pulling it on me straight away.”

“Go, Darc,” Jamin said “Attack his Oystermeister!”

“Right,”

Darc raised her staff, firing a cloud of smoke at Jun’s monster. The Oystermeister was completely enveloped in the smoke and shattered, dropping Jun’s life points to 3750.

“I activate the effect of Oystermeister,” he said “When Oystermeister is destroyed and sent to the graveyard by battle, I can special summon one Oyster token to my side of the field.”

A small oyster shell rose up on Jun’s field to replace his monster.

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

A face down card hologram appeared behind Darc and Jun drew a card from his deck.

 

“Hey guys,” a small girl with her brown hair in pigtails and large blue eyes ran to where several other kids were dueling “You’ve got to see this, Jun and Jamin are having a duel.”

“Huh?” One of the other kids looked up at her “You mean those guys from the duel rally right?”

“Who else?” The girl said “Hurry!”

The small group abandoned their duel and hurried in the direction of the hill. A few older people including teenagers and adults watched them go.

“Where do you suppose they’re going,” a teenager asked his friend, both of whom were leaning on the fence.

“They said something about a duel,” his friend said “Let’s check it out.”

“Right,”

 

“I sacrifice my Oyster token,” Jun said “And summon Kaiser Glider.”

The Oyster token vanished in a ray of bright light and Jun’s Kaiser Glider rose out of it. The assorted children and other people arrived just in time to see it land on Jun’s field and let out a roar.

“Awesome,” Daisuke yelled, having heard about the duel as well “It’s Kaiser Glider.”

“You’re right, Jun and Jamin are having a rematch.”

The two teenagers hung back from the rest of the crowd, but still remained close enough to watch. Even a few adults had arrived on the scene to see what all the fuss was about. Jun looked round at them all, disbelief showing on his face.

“No way,” he muttered “Even after I lost, they still get exited when I duel.”

“That’s what you duel for, right?” Jamin asked “To impress other people.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Jun said.

“Then what are you thinking of quitting for?” Jamin asked “You’re still at your prime, even if your body isn’t. Trust me; if these people love you then you don’t need to be afraid of being old news.”

Jun looked back at him and grinned, and not the usual satisfied grin he used whenever someone walked right into one of his traps.

“I’m beginning to see what you mean,” he replied.

“On with the duel then,” Jamin said “Since you’ve tribute summoned a level six monster I can activate my trap card Intercept.”

Jun’s eyes widened as Jamin’s card flipped up.

“With this card’s effect, I can take control of your Kaiser Glider,” Jamin said.

Jun’s monster let out a roar and flew over to Jamin’s field, settling itself down next to Darc.

“Good thing I came prepared,” Jun said “I activate Double Summon. With this card I can conduct my normal summon twice this turn, and I choose to summon my Kunoichi Warrior.”

A female ninja with blue hair, a pink mask and leggings and brown leather armor as well as a sword strapped to the back of her hip appeared on Jun’s field.

“And finally I activate Creature Swap,” Jun said “So now Kunoichi Warrior and Kaiser Glider switch places.”

Kaiser Glider took off again and landed on Jun’s field. At the same time the Kunoichi Warrior jumped forwards and landed gracefully on Jamin’s field.

“Now I activate Kunoichi Warrior’s monster effect,” Jun said “When control of her switches to the opponent, the new owner must then ditch one card from their hand.”

“Heh, guess I walked right into that one,” Jamin said, taking Necro Guardna and sending him to his graveyard.

“Now then,” Jun said “Kaiser Glider, attack Kunoichi Warrior!”

Jun’s dragon flew up into the air, bronze flames licking around inside its mouth before it released them, firing them towards Jamin’s field.

“I activate the effect of my Necro Guardna,” Jamin said “Thanks to you I was able to send him to my graveyard, so now I can remove him from play to negate your attack this once.”

A faded hologram of Necro Guardna rose up on Jamin’s field, its arms spread wide. The fireball hit and exploded against it, leaving Jamin’s field unharmed.

“These two are dueling card for card,” Kyle cried.

“Totally,” the pig-tailed girl cried “Go Jamin!”

 

“Since I’m out of cards I guess I’ll have to end my turn,” Jun said “Take it away.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Jamin replied, drawing a card from his deck “I play my Elemental Sword, by equipping this to Darc, she gains 800 attack points when she attacks a monster with a different attribute.”

A futuristic looking device appeared in front of Darc and she grabbed it, a long blade of light extending from the end.

“Now let’s try this again,” Jamin said “Darc, attack Kaiser Glider.”

Darc rushed at Kaiser Glider, her body glowing as her attack points rose to 2650. She leaped into the air and raised the sword above her head to bring it down on Kaiser Glider.

“I activate my trap card,” Jun said, one of his face down cards flipping up “Overspec. With this card, all monsters with an attack higher than their original are destroyed.”

“Is that so,” Jamin said “Well in that case I activate a quick play spell card from my hand, My Body as a Shield. By playing this card, I can pay 1500 life points to negate the activation of your card and destroy it.”

Jamin’s body glowed slightly and his life points dropped to 2500. Once this was done Jun’s trap card shattered. With the way now clear Darc brought her sword down, slicing straight through the Kaiser Glider and destroying it, reducing Jun’s life points to 3500.

“I play my Kaiser Glider’s effect,” Jun said “When he’s sent to the graveyard, I can return one monster on the field to the owner’s hand, and I choose Kunoichi Warrior.”

Jamin looked over at the monster as she vanished, reappearing in Jun’s hand.

“Anything else?” Jun asked.

“Nope,” Jamin said “That’s it.”

“Good,” Jun replied, drawing a card “Now I re-summon my Kunoichi Warrior in defense mode!”

Jun’s female ninja appeared once again on his field, kneeling down with her arms crossed in front of her.

“She still has less defense points than Darc,” Jamin said “And even if she didn’t Darc would still gain 800 extra attack points by the effect of my sword.”

“True,” Jun said “Which is why I’m playing my Mist Body spell card.”

A cloud of mist surrounded Jun’s monster, almost clouding her from view.

“With this card’s effect, my monster can no longer be destroyed by battle,” Jun explained “Your move.”

Jamin nodded and drew a new card from his deck.

“I could attack right now, but it wouldn’t do anything,” Jamin thought “What I need is to be able to summon a familiar possessed charmer with her effect; the trouble is I don’t even have a charmer in my hand.”

“Fine then,” he said out loud “I’ll end my turn.”

“Not so fast,” Jun said “I play my trap card, Setting Sun.”

Jun’s other face down flipped up to reveal itself.

“I can activate this during my opponent’s end phase when I have no cards in my hand,” Jun explained “And it lets me draw three.”

Jamin grinned slightly as Jun picked up three cards from his deck.

“Now then, my turn,” he said, drawing a fourth “I sacrifice Kunoichi Warrior, for Kaiser Glider!”

“Again, huh?” Jamin muttered.

Kunoichi Warrior vanished to be replaced by Jun’s great bronze dragon, rising into the sky, resulting in a loud cheer from the slowly building up crowd. Jamin glanced around him, a smug grin on his face.

“I’ve got to admit, you sure are a better crowd pleaser than me,” Jamin said.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Jun said “Just you wait.”

 

Kim wandered down the street parallel to the park, giving a yawn that clearly indicated she’d overslept a bit today. She looked across the roar at the park, blinking to try and get the image into focus. Even half asleep she noticed that the park seemed deserted. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, seeing nobody in sight. She looked around a bit and then crossed the road, noticing Jamin’s bike chained up on the fence.

“What’s going on?” She muttered, scratching her head.

She looked up and heard the faint sounds of cheering. Her curiosity getting the better of her she walked into the park and followed the sounds, reaching the hill to see a large crowd blocking the view, all she could make out was the Kaiser Glider over the heads of all the people.

“A duel?” She muttered, moving closer.

She stood on tip-toe, attempting to see over the heads in front of her but with no such luck. Looking around she spied a tree with several low branches and an idea came to her. She walked over to it and began to climb, sitting herself on a pretty strong looking branch and looking down at the scene. She almost fell off again.

“Jamin!” She quickly grabbed the branch to stop herself falling over. Having regained her balance she took another look at the scene below her. “Jamin’s dueling Jun again,” she noted “No wonder there’s such a big crowd.”

 

“Now then,” Jun said “Kaiser Glider, attack Familiar Possessed Dark!”

“Due to my Elemental Sword’s effect, Darc gains 800 attack points,” Jamin said as Darc’s attack rose to 2650.

“It’s worth it,” Jun said.

Darc swung her sword and destroyed Jun’s Kaiser Glider, reducing his life points to 3250.

“Now I can play my Kaiser Glider’s effect,” he said “And send your Familiar Possessed Darc back to your hand.”

Darc vanished in a display of lights and the Elemental sword dropped to the ground and shattered. Jamin looked down as Darc reappeared in his hand.

“Next,” Jun took another card from his hand “I play Premature Burial; this allows me to pay 800 life points to resurrect my Kaiser Glider.”

Jun’s life points dropped to 2450 and his Kaiser Glided exploded back onto his field in a display of flames. It rose up high and let out a mighty roar, casting a shadow over Jamin. Jun’s old confident grin was back again as he watched Jamin looked up at his dragon.

“I’m beginning to see what you mean,” he said “No matter how old I get I can still drawn in a crowd, and if my deck gets old I’ll just spruce it up a bit.”

“That’s the spirit,” Jamin said “Now let’s give these people the show they came for.”

“Right,”

“Amazing,” Kim muttered, watching the duel from her little perch “Jamin’s dueling Jun to cheer him up. More to the point its working.”

She smiled and her cheeks turned slightly pink as she gazed down at him.

“This is the Jamin is fell in love with,” she muttered.

“My turn,” Jamin said, drawing a card from his deck “I summon Shield Warrior in defense mode and end my turn.”

Jamin’s Shield warrior rose up on his field, kneeling down with his great shield in front of him.

“Very well then,” Jun said, drawing a card from his own deck “I summon Twin-Barrel Dragon.”

A small blue robot dinosaur with two gun barrels along its face rose up on Jun’s field.

“When this card is normal summoned I toss two coins, if both results are heads your Shield Warrior is destroyed.”

Jamin tensed. Jun took a coin from his deck and tossed it into the air, catching it. He took his hand off revealing the result to be heads. Jamin gritted his teeth slightly, a bead of sweat dripping down his face. The crowd had gone silent, watching Jun and Jamin. Jun tossed the coin again, sending it high into the air. Kim screwed her eyes shut tight and crossed her fingers; the crowd on the other hand looked ready to cheer. Jun caught the coin and took a deep breath, hesitating before finally taking his hand off and revealing the result to be tails.

“Heh, so close,” he sighed.

Jamin breathed a sigh of relief.

“But it’s not over yet,” Jun said “Twin-Barrel Dragon, attack his Shield Warrior!”

Jun’s monster raised its head, firing two shots at Jamin’s monster and easily crushing his shield before destroying the monster itself.

“My Shield Warrior,” Jamin muttered.

“Now Kaiser Glider, attack him directly,” Jun ordered.

Jamin looked back at up Jun’s dragon glided into the air, bronze flames spewing out of its mouth. He braced himself as the great bronze fireball shot towards him and almost completely engulfed him, reducing his life points to 100.

“Jun’s going to win!” One of the people in the crowd cheered.

“Heh, as if,” Jamin muttered “My draw.”

He took another card from his deck and placed it in his hand before selecting another card and summoning it to the field.

“Come on out, Familiar Possessed Darc!” Jamin ordered.

A cloud of smoke covered Jamin’s field and his empowered Dark charmer rose up out of it, grinning slightly.

“Let’s go,” Jamin said “Darc, attack his Twin-Barrel Dragon!”

Dark raised her staff, charging it with energy and firing a column of black smoke at Jun’s monster. Jun’s Twin-Barrel Dragon was completely consumed within the smog and shattered, Jun’s life points dropping to 2300.

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

“Heh, that was just stupid,” Jun said “You may have succeeded in destroying my monster, but you only have 100 life points left, and my Kaiser Glider has more than enough attack points to wipe you out.”

He drew a card from his deck and immediately gestured towards Jamin.

“Go, Kaiser Glider,” he said “Destroy Familiar Possessed Darc.”

Kaiser Glider let out a roar and rose into the air, preparing another fireball.

 

“I’ll play the effect of my Shield Warrior,” Jamin said “When he’s in my graveyard, I can remove him from play to prevent my monster from being destroyed as a result of battle this turn.”

“So what?” Jun laughed “You’ll still take damage. Go, Kaiser Glider.”

The Kaiser Glider opened its mouth, launching another great bronze fireball towards Jamin’s monster.

“Well, it just happens I have a trap as well,” Jamin said “Guard Block.”

“What?”

“With this card’s effect, all damage is reduced to zero and I draw a card,” Jamin explained.

The fireball passed over Darc, however both she and Jamin where unharmed.

“Heh, that was kinda cheap,” Jun said.

“True,” Jamin replied “Worked though.”

“If you say so,” Jun replied.

“Right then,” Jamin took a card from his deck “My draw.”

Kim leaned over, trying to take a closer look at Jamin’s hand.

“This is it,” Jamin said “Time to win.”

“Huh?” Jun looked up at him.

“I summon Familiar Possessed Hiita!” Jamin said, summoning his red haired charmer to his field “Next I play the spell card Magician’s Unite. When I have two or more spellcasters on my side of the field I can make the attack of one of them 3000 till the end of this turn.”

A grin crossed Jun’s face.

“This strategy,” he muttered “It’s just like the last time he beat me.”

“Go, Familiar Possessed Darc, Familiar Possessed Hiita,” Jamin said “Attack Kaiser Glider!”

Both charmers raised their staffs, firing their separate attacks which yet again twisted together and became a pillar of black flame. A loud cry of awe came from the crowd as the attack hit Kaiser Glider and destroyed it. Jun staggered back slightly, his life points dropping to 1700.

“I still have life points left,” he said.

“Not for long,” Jamin said “I play my other face down, Spiritual Fire Art – Kurenai.”

Jun’s eyes widened with shock.

“With this card’s effect, I can sacrifice Familiar Possessed Hiita and inflict damage to you equal to her attack points.”

“Gah,”

Hiita turned red and was absorbed into the trap card behind her. The card then glowed red and shot a burst of flame out of it. The attack shot across the field and hit, causing Jun to vanish behind the flames.

“No way!” A cry came “Jun lost again!”

The flames dispersed to reveal the slightly shaking Jun. As his life points dropped to zero he collapsed onto his knees, panting heavily.

“Awesome,” Jamin said “Looks like I win again. But that was the best duel I’ve had in ages.”

The holograms faded and Jamin walked up to Jun as the crowd chattered away.

“You okay?” He asked, kneeling down.

“Tch, never better,” Jun replied, looking up at him, a grin on his face “I guess I can still remain popular even after losing.”

“Everyone loses,” Jamin said “Even I lose from time to time. I mean if I won every duel nobody would want to duel me, would they?”

“I see your point,” Jun replied.

He chuckled slightly and both of them stood up. Jun extended his hand, grinning down at Jamin. Jamin stared at it for a moment, unsure of what to do.

“I guess I won’t be quitting just yet,” Jun said “Thanks.”

Jamin looked up at him, grinning before clasping Jun’s hand in his own and giving it a quick squeeze.

“No problem,” he said “This is nothing compared with what I’ve been through.”

“Hey, hey, can I get an autograph?”

Jun and Jamin looked around, noticing the crowd beginning to close in on them.

“Hey, me too!”

“And me!”

“Tch, I just can’t win,” Jamin sighed.

Kim dropped down from the branch and immediately began to barrel through the crowd, reaching Jamin and immediately bowling him over.

“Surprise!” She cried.

“Not really,” Jamin replied, rubbing his head slightly.

“Get used to it, kid,” Jun said, taking out a pen “This is gonna make your wrist hurt for ages after a while.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind,” Jamin replied as he noticed the eager faces pressing in on him.

 

The crowd finally dispersed, leaving Kim, Jamin and Jun alone on the hill together. Jamin sat back down on the grass, staring at the Kaiba dome as the spotlights began to light up around it perimeter. It was already getting dark, as they’d been signing autographs for some time.

“My hand aches,” Jamin muttered.

“You get used to it,” Jun replied “After all, from here on you’re a celebrity.”

“Oh yeah,” Jamin replied “I forgot about that. Funny, I never really wanted to be a pro duelist.”

“Just so long as everyone knows you’re taken that’s fine by me,” Kim said.

“Excuse me?” Jamin looked at her.

“Nothing,” Kim chimed.

“Here,”

Jamin looked up in time to catch a card Jun had tossed at him. He looked down at it.

“But this is…” He began.

“I know,” Jun said “Call it a keepsake, besides I’ve got plenty more where that came from.”

“Hm, I see,” Jamin muttered.

Jun hadn’t finished there. He slipped out of the silver tailcoat he wore and tossed that to Jamin as well. Jamin panicked slightly but managed to catch it, he looked back up at Jun, puzzled.

“If you’re gonna be a celebrity duelist you need to look the part,” he said “Trust me, that old T-shirt of yours isn’t much of an image.”

“Hey, I happen to like this shirt,” Jamin replied.

“Whatever you say,” Jun replied “And before you start I’ve got eight sets of that coat, so don’t go trying not to take it.”

He turned about and walked off, his neck looking rather bare without the high collar. Jamin chuckled slightly and stood up, slipping the jacket on which was too big for him.

“Do you think it suits me?” He asked.

“Maybe if five years,” Kim giggled “Come on, let’s go.”

Jamin took the jacket off again and slung it over his back, staring at the card Jun had given him.

“Well, it’s the finals next week,” he thought “I may not be at full strength, but I’m going after Josh anyway. I don’t care what it takes, I’m gonna get him back no matter what.”

“Jamin?” Kim looked over at him.

“Come on,” Jamin said “I’ve got a lot of practice to squeeze into this week, so I can’t afford to lose sleep.”

Kim giggled childishly and the two of them sped up, running out of the park.

“It stands to reason,” Jamin thought “If it’s my fault Josh is the way he is now, then it’s my responsibility to get him back, no matter what. So wait a bit longer, okay Josh? I promise I’ll get you back, definitely.”

 

Josh was still his room, his now finished deck in his hand. He stared at it with his blood red eyes, hatred building up inside him.

“Jamin,” he thought “I promise I’ll kill you, definitely.”

 

 

From here on out it's the build up to the end, no more fillers just straight and continuous plot, look forward to the last few episodes...

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 45: Kudos to anybody who can spot the DBZ reference in here :p

 

[spoiler=episode]It had come, the finals for the duel rally tournament and Jamin’s chance to finally duel some sense into Josh. He looked down at his deck currently slotted into his duel disk as he wandered through the park.

“This is it guys,” he said “The finals.”

He looked up as the Kaiba dome loomed closer and he saw the crowd waiting outside. As he drew closer one of the Kaiba Corp staff walked up to him, his eyes hidden by sunglasses.

“Jamin Tsubasa, I presume,” he said.

“Yes,” Jamin replied.

“Good, the preparations are complete,” the man continued “Follow me.”

Jamin followed him through the entrance, ignoring the yells that were going up at his appearance; luckily the line of spectators had been roped off. He cast them a brief look before walking through the glass doors into the lobby. The man led Jamin through a door marker ‘staff only’ and down the corridor that seemed to run around the outside of the building.

“So where are we going?” Jamin asked.

“You’ll see,” the man replied.

“You’re not kidnapping me are you?” Jamin asked.

The man didn’t reply and stopped, turning to a door opposite him. Jamin looked at it and guessed he had to go through. He did so and found himself in a rather large silver room with two white sofas and a large screen set up in front of them. It had the usual chart used for tournaments; however the four boxes at the end remained empty. He looked about to see Mashi-Ushi and Drem sitting on one of the sofas. Mashi-Ushi looked laid back and relaxed and Drem was leaning forwards, still going through his deck. Jamin looked over at the other sofa and saw Josh sitting there alone, his arms folded, his legs crossed and staring determinedly at the screen. Jamin hesitated and then lowered himself down next to him, taking full advantage of the sofa and leaning back as far as it would allow.

“Long time so see, Jamin,” Mashi-Ushi said “I haven’t seen you for months. I hope you’ve got your deck ready, I’d at least like a bit of entertainment before I beat you.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t been disqualified,” Jamin said “All your opponent’s have ended up dead remember?”

“Ha, these fools have the worst case of denial ever,” Mashi-Ushi said “If it was discovered that I killed my opponents the tournament would be shut down, and you know Mr. Seto Kaiba would never allow that to happen.”

“True,” Jamin muttered.

“You two talk too much,” Drem said, finally putting his deck into his duel disk “If you two were any kind of duelists you’d let your decks do the talking.”

“Says the guy using a pile of rusty nuts and bolts,” Jamin said.

“Watch it kid,” Drem said “I could crush you in one turn.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Jamin replied.

He stole a glance at Josh who was still staring at the screen, ignoring the other three completely. Jamin heaved a sigh and cast his gaze around the room again; however it remained as bare as ever.

 

“Greetings, gentlemen,”

The doors opened and two bodyguards came in, shortly followed by a man in a silver suit with neat white hair combed behind him, a few wrinkled under his eyes and sharp blue eyes. His hand rested on the head of a cane shaped like a Blue Eyes White Dragon. Drem sat up, a grin crossing his face, Mashi-Ushi smirked, Josh merely glanced over for a second before turning away again and Jamin’s eyes widened in awe.

“No way,” he mouthed “Seto Kaiba.”

“I see, you’re the finalists of my duel rally tournament,” Kaiba noted, striding across the room. Not a trace of his characteristic confidence had left him “Not the best bunch I’ve ever seen, but I’m guessing you’re better than everybody else that’s entered.”

Jamin’s, Drem’s and Mashi-Ushi’s gaze followed Kaiba across the room, Josh merely switched his gaze to him as soon as Kaiba moved to block the screen.

“Well, I need no introduction,” Kaiba said “Welcome finalists, to the end of the duel rally tournament. This screen will decide the final three duels of this tournament; the winner will walk away with 500,000 yen prize money and the Kaiba Corporation duel rally tournament champion title. I hope you’ve prepared your decks well because from here on out they’re the only thing you can rely on.”

The bodyguards opened the door again and all eyes turned to them.

“You will be greeted at the arena before the match ups are decided,” Kaiba explained “While there you will take part in the opening ceremony in front of the audience. Good luck, you’ll need it.”

 

All four of the duelists rose up and filed out of the room, moving towards the arena. While they walked, Mashi-Ushi fell back to walk next to Jamin.

“Nervous?” He asked.

“Not particularly,” Jamin replied “I just want to get this over with as quickly as possible.”

“Sorry,” Mashi-Ushi said “But you’re death won’t come swiftly, I’ll guarantee it.”

The four duelists arrived in the arena to a massive cheer from the crowd. Jamin looked about, blinking slightly due to all the spotlights focused on them. He looked around and saw that the middle of the arena was now a great silver oval with a duel field painted upon it.

“Is that it?” He muttered, slightly disappointed.

The four of them moved forwards and into the middle of the platform. As soon as they did so it shook.

“What the?” Mashi-Ushi glanced around.

Josh merely cast a glance at him and paid him no more attention. The field then began to rise up, supported by two massive pillars rising out of the ground. It rose up until it was halfway between the floor and the ceiling.

“So this is what they were doing,” Jamin said.

“Not their best twist, but I guess it’ll do,” Drem muttered.

“Thank you all for coming,” the announcer declared “The four duelists you see before you are the finalists of the duel rally tournament, Drem Armou, Jamin Tsubasa, Josh Tenshi and Mashi-Ushi Teshino.”

The crowd began to cheer and began chanting in unison.

“What’re they saying?” Jamin asked.

“Yeah, like I’d know,” Mashi-Ushi replied.

“I think they want us to show off our favorite monster,” Drem said “Listen.”

Jamin listened as hard as he could and could just make out the crowd chanting, summon.

“I guess that’s what they meant by making us take part in the opening ceremony,” Jamin said.

“Heh,” Mashi-Ushi chuckled “Let’s get started then.”

Mashi-Ushi took his Felgrand Dragon from his deck and placed it on the field.

“Felgrand Dragon!” He commanded.

The great golden dragon rose up on the floor in front of him, resulting in a massive cheer from the crowd. Drem also took a card from his deck and summoned it.

“Ancient Gear Golem!”

Drem’s rusty robot appeared next to Felgrand Dragon, punching the air once and getting an even louder cheer.

“Dark Magician,” Josh said lazily, not even looking at his card as he summoned his black sorcerer to the field.

Jamin hesitated, taking one of the blank cards out of his pocket. Even after all this time he still hadn’t been able to call back his most precious monsters.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered, before taking another card from his deck “Familiar Possessed Darc!”

A column of black smoke appeared next to the Dark Magician and Darc rose up out of it, looking rather small against the rest of the monsters summoned. The arena began to lower itself and the monster holograms faded away. Jamin hopped off the stage a little bit before it touched the floor and waited for the other to follow before the four of them walked back to the changing rooms.

“Is that seriously your strongest monster?” Mashi-Ushi asked “Please, you’re going to have to do much better than that, Jamin.”

Jamin ignored him.

“Ah, I love it when a crowd gets going,” Drem sighed “It’s time to show them what we’re really made of.”

They arrived back at the waiting room to find the announcer standing next to the screen, he wore a black suit and sunglasses and had gelled black hair.

“Welcome, finalists,” he said “This is where the finals match ups will be decided.”

Jamin looked at the screen and saw the blank boxes were flicking through the four different pictures of the finalists.

“This is set to randomly assign the match ups for the finals, when I press this button it will stop and the matches will be decided, nothing I can say or do can change them after that.” He raised a small remote with a single button “Ready?”

All four of them nodded their faces as serious as they’d ever be.

“Very well,”

The announcer paused for a few seconds before pressing the button. Instantly the screen stopped flicking through the pictures and showed the final match ups: Jamin would be facing Mashi-Ushi, and Josh would go up against Drem.

“Excellent,” Mashi-Ushi grinned.

“Heh,” Drem chuckled.

Neither Josh nor Jamin made a sound.

“There you have it,” the announcer said, turning to each of them “The first duel shall begin now; duelists please make your way to the dueling field.”

“I’m really looking forward to this,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jamin replied “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Heh,” Mashi-Ushi grinned.

The two of them left the room and proceeded to the arena. As soon as they entered the spotlights blazed into action, shining on them as they made their way to the stage and took up their positions. The moment they did so the stage began to rise until they were high enough off the ground to break a leg.

“As you can see, there will be no backing out for these duelists,” the announcer said “Surrender is now against the rules, both of them must duel till they drop.”

Jamin glared at Mashi-Ushi who merely grinned back.

“Aren’t you gonna do that mist thing?” Jamin asked “I thought you want to kill me and take my powers.”

“I do,” Mashi-Ushi said “But I don’t want to disappoint my audience, so I’ve spread the spirit dome around the entire building.”

“What?”

 

From outside the crowd watching the large screen stared aghast as a white haze covered the Kaiba dome, obscuring it from view.

“What’s going on?”

A helicopter flew overhead, observing the scene.

“Mr. Kaiba,” the pilot said “The whole Kaiba Dome has vanished behind some sort of fog, we can’t see anything.”

 

Back in the arena Jamin was glaring madly at Mashi-Ushi.

“If one stray attack hits the crowd they’ll be decimated,” he said “You can’t do this.”

“I just did,” Mashi-Ushi replied “Now get dueling or do you want more bodies to pile up?”

Jamin glared at him and activated his duel disk. Mashi-Ushi did the same, a satisfied smirk crossing his face.

“Duelists, begin!” The announcer declared.

“Let’s duel!”

“I’ll start things off,” Jamin said, drawing a card from his deck “And summon Familiar Possessed Darc in attack mode.”

Mashi-Ushi’s smirk widened as a pillar of black smoke rose up on Jamin’s field and his powered up Dark charmer rose out of it.

“I see, so your favorite monster is the first of your sacrificial lambs is it?” Mashi-Ushi asked “Very well, my draw.”

Mashi-Ushi took a card from his deck and immediately summoned it to the field.

“I play my Spear Dragon in attack mode,” he declared, his long blue dragon appeared in front of him “Now attack his monster!”

The Spear Dragon rushed forwards and pierced straight through Darc’s shoulder. She screamed and then shattered. Jamin recoiled slightly as the spear dragons attack carried on, making a small gash in his shoulder. The Spear Dragon flew over the audience and settled back on Mashi-Ushi’s field with its wings wrapped around it.

“After Spear Dragon battles it’s switched into defense mode,” Mashi-Ushi explained “And unfortunately his defense is zero, making him an easy target for any monster.”

“You’re about to regret that,” Jamin said “I activate Charming Return, allowing me to resurrect Darc from my graveyard.”

Black energy danced about on Jamin’s field and Darc rose back upon it.

“Charming Return can resurrect one Familiar Possessed monster that was destroyed as a result of battle,” Jamin explained “And in addition, as long as it stays equipped that monster is treated as if she were summoned by her effect.”

“What?”

“Go Darc,” Jamin ordered “Attack his Spear Dragon.”

“Time for a bit of revenge,” Darc said, raised her staff “Take this.”

A column of black smoke shot out of Darc’s staff, heading towards Spear Dragon. It washed over the dragon and hit Mashi-Ushi as well, causing him to cough and splutter as his dragon shattered. The attack stopped and the smoke around Mashi-Ushi dissipated, however he was still coughing. He glared up at Jamin angrily.

“You’ll pay for that,” he said, drawing a card from his deck “I summon Luster Dragon!”

A great sapphire dragon took its place on Mashi-Ushi’s field this time, giving a mighty roar.

“Luster Dragon, attack his Dark Charmer!” Mashi-Ushi ordered “Sapphire Stream!”

Mashi-Ushi’s Luster Dragon opened its mouth and blasted a volley of blue energy at Darc, destroying her. The attack just skimmed across Jamin’s arm, grazing it. He looked down at the wound for a second before looking back up at Mashi-Ushi.

“I activate my Charming Return’s second effect,” he declared “When the monster equipped to it is destroyed, I can return it to my deck and shuffle.

“Heh, do as you wish,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“Now then” Jamin drew a new card from his deck “I summon Fox Fire in defense mode, and end my turn.”

A ball of flame lit up on Jamin’s field and his Fox Fire jumped out of it.

 

“Ha, is that the best you can do?” Mashi-Ushi laughed “You’re even more pathetic that I thought. My draw!”

He drew a new card from his deck and grinned.

“I sacrifice my Luster Dragon for Luster Dragon #2!” He declared.

The Sapphire dragon vanished and was replaced by a larger green dragon with emerald wings.

“Embrace your fate Jamin,” Mashi-Ushi said “Luster Dragon, attack!”

Mashi-Ushi’s monster let forth a burst of green flame and completely destroyed Jamin’s Fox Fire.

“I activate my Fox Fire’s effect,” Jamin said “When he’s destroyed as a result of battle and sent to the graveyard, I can special summon him back to the field during my opponent’s end phase.”

Yet again Jamin’s Fox Fire jumped out of a fireball and onto his field.

“Ha, I can’t believe you’re relying on such a weak monster,” Mashi-Ushi barked “Do you really think he can help you? You’re underestimating me Jamin!”

“Nah, I think the one doing the underestimating is you,” Jamin said, drawing a card from his deck “Because you’re about to get a taste of what my weak monsters can do.”

Mashi-Ushi stopped laughing; however his smirk still remained as he watched Jamin make his move.

“Now, ordinarily Fox Fire can’t be used as a tribute,” Jamin said “However when he’s face down that effect is negated, so I play my Book of Moon to do just that.”

“Huh?”

Jamin’s Fox Fire vanished beneath a face down monster card.

“What’s he doing? He doesn’t have his gods anymore, so what on earth can he be sacrificing it for?” Mashi-Ushi thought.

“Now I sacrifice my face down Fox Fire,” Jamin said “To summon Kaiser Glider!”

“What?”

Jamin’s face down monster vanished in a pillar of bronze fire from which the Kaiser Glider emerged out of it, resulting in a massive cry of awe from the crowd.

“Impossible,” Mashi-Ushi growled “Since when did you have a Kaiser Glider?”

“I guess friendship pays off,” Jamin replied “Now then, Kaiser Glider attack his Luster Dragon.”

Jamin’s monster flew up into the air and began charging a fireball in its mouth.

“Ha, you’re even more brainless than you look,” Mashi-Ushi said “In case you haven’t noticed; both our monsters have the same attack points. They’ll both be destroyed.”

Mashi-Ushi’s Luster Dragon raised its head and fired a stream of green flame towards the Kaiser Glider. Jamin’s monster replied by launching its fireball towards Luster Dragon. The two attack his and the Bronze Fireball tore though the Luster Dragon’s attack and destroyed it.

“What?”

“I’ll give you a brief lesson in how to play duel monsters,” Jamin said “And that’s that Kaiser Glider can’t be destroyed when it battles a monster with the same attack points.”

“Why you…” Mashi-Ushi began.

“Careful,” Jamin said “There are kids watching.”

 

Mashi-Ushi glared at him before drawing a new card from his deck, a grin crossing his face.

“I Summon Kaiser Seahorse in attack mode!”

Jamin looked at Mashi-Ushi’s field as his trident wielding warrior rose up on it.

“Then I play the spell card Double Summon,” Mashi-Ushi said “This spell card allows me to conduct my normal summon twice, so I think I’ll use it to summon my Felgrand Dragon.”

Jamin’s eyes widened as the Kaiser Seahorse vanished in a pillar of light and was replaced by Mashi-Ushi’s great golden dragon. The two dragons glared at each other, both roaring as much as they could, almost determined to out roar the other.

“Your monster may be able to defend against monsters with the same attack, but my Felgrand Dragon’s attack is significantly higher,” Mashi-Ushi said “Felgrand Dragon, destroy his Kaiser Glider.”

The Felgrand Dragon opened its mouth and shot a golden fireball at Jamin’s monster. Just as the attack was about to hit, the Kaiser Glider retaliated by shooting a bronze fireball at Felgrand Dragon before it was hit itself and destroyed. A few golden embers flew down over Jamin, burning a hole in the shoulder of his T-shirt and forcing him to put it out with his hand.

“This is dangerous,” he muttered, clutching the burn.

In the meantime the Kaiser Glider’s attack hit the Felgrand Dragon and it vanished in a display of lights.

“What?” Mashi-Ushi gazed down as it reappeared in his hand “What happened, you don’t have any trap cards out!”

“Well that’s simple,” Jamin said “When Kaiser Glider is destroyed; I can return one monster on the field to the owner’s hand.”

“Why you!” Mashi-Ushi began “I’ll lay one card face down and end my turn.”

“Good,” Jamin said, drawing a card from his deck “I’m getting really fired up now.”

He looked down at the card he’d drawn and nodded.

“I summon Familiar Possessed Wynn in attack mode;” he declared, summing her in a whirlwind “Now attack him directly.”

Wynn nodded and raised her staff, firing a gust of wind towards Mashi-Ushi.

“I play my trap card,” Mashi-Ushi said “Guard Block!”

“This again,”

“I’m sure you know what this does by now,” Mashi-Ushi said “Reduces the damage I take to zero and allows me to draw a card.”

“I know,” Jamin replied “Get on with it.”

“With pleasure,” Mashi-Ushi said, drawing a card from his deck “Now I’ll summon Cyber Dragon in attack mode!”

“What?”

A metal serpentine dragon jumped up onto Mashi-Ushi’s field.

“It might be a level five monster, but I can special summon it if I don’t have any monsters on the field and my opponent does.”

“Hm, I see,” Jamin replied.

“Now I also normal summon my Mirage Dragon,” Mashi-Ushi declared, calling another dragon to the field “Cyber Dragon, attack!”

The Cyber Dragon opened its mouth, firing a volley of blue energy towards Wynn and destroying her. The attack carried on and hit Jamin’s shoulder, causing him to staggered backwards, he faltered for a second, almost falling over the edge of the arena.

“That was close,” he muttered.

“Now Mirage Dragon attack!” Mashi-Ushi ordered.

The dragon flew forwards, brandishing its claws.

“Uh oh,”

Jamin dived forwards, rolling underneath Mirage Dragon’s attack.

“Phew, I almost fell off there,” he muttered.

The Mirage Dragon turned about and flew at him again, taking two swiped at his back. Jamin yelled as two cuts appeared on his back and blood dripped out onto the floor. The Mirage Dragon landed back on Mashi-Ushi’s field.

“So, does it hurt?” Mashi-Ushi asked “Good.”

Jamin staggered to his feet, glaring at him.

“This doesn’t hurt nearly as much as what I’m about to do to you!” He replied “I summon Necro Guardna in defense mode.”

Jamin Dark Samurai appeared on his field, his arms crossed in front of him.

“Next I’ll lay this card face down and end my turn,” Jamin finished.

 

“I see,” Mashi-Ushi replied “A clever way to defend against two attacks, but it all ends here.”

He drew a new card from his deck.

“Because now I sacrifice my Cyber Dragon and Mirage Dragon to summon Felgrand Dragon!” He finished.

Mashi-Ushi’s monsters vanished and were replaced by the giant golden dragon that marked the headliner of Mashi-Ushi’s deck.

“Do you feel it, Jamin?” Mashi-Ushi asked “The fear of facing down a monster infinitely superior to you?”

“You talk too much,” Jamin replied.

“Perhaps,” Mashi-Ushi shrugged “But who cares, Felgrand Dragon attack!”

Mashi-Ushi’s monster opened its mouth wide, firing a stream of golden flames towards Jamin’s field, completely obliterating his Necro Guardna.

“Damn it,” Jamin muttered as his monster was destroyed.

Mashi-Ushi began laughing again, his face an absolute picture of madness.

“This is exactly how I pictured your defeat,” he laughed “You cowering in the face of my ultimate monster and powerless to do anything about it.”

Jamin merely glared at him.

“Make your last move, Jamin,” Mashi-Ushi said “I’m looking forwards to destroying you.”

“I’m afraid that’ll have to wait,” Jamin said, drawing a new card from his deck. “This is getting tense,” he thought “I need to get rid of his Felgrand Dragon, but if I do that he’ll just resurrect it and it’ll become even more powerful. I need to find a way to get rid of it permanently.” He looked down at his hand “This’ll have to do for now.”

“I summon Homunculus the Alchemic Being in defense mode,” Jamin said as his element changing warrior rose up on his field “Then I’ll lay this card face down and end my turn.”

“As you wish,” Mashi-Ushi said “Felgrand Dragon, attack!”

Mashi-Ushi’s monster reared up again and shot a blast of golden flame at Jamin’s Homunculus, destroying it completely.

“Come on Jamin,” Mashi-Ushi said “You can do much better than that, surely.”

“Shut it,” Jamin replied.

Mashi-Ushi laughed softly.

“Face it,” he said “You’re nothing without your gods, you don’t stand a chance of beating me and once I’m through with you nothing will stop me become the most powerful being on the planet.”

“Even if you do succeed and defeat Josh, you’ll still fail in the end,” Jamin said “Because for every shadow in a person’s heart there is also light, and with that light people can grow stronger and overpower the darkness. Even if you become the most powerful person in the world, there will still be someone to stop you, that’s what the world is, a constant battle of good and evil.”

“Fool, once I’m done with you it will be impossible for anybody to overpower me,” Mashi-Ushi said “I shall reign supreme.”

“You know what,” Jamin said “You’re right, there won’t be anybody coming to stop you. Because I’m going to stop you here and now!”

 

Jamin took a new card from his deck, glaring at Mashi-Ushi.

“I’m going to get past you and defeat Josh,” he thought “I won’t lose.”

“I’ll be the one to win this duel, and then nothing will be able to stand in my way of defeating Josh,” Mashi-Ushi thought.

“I summon Familiar Possessed Aussa in defense mode,” Jamin said “And lay these two cards face down.”

“Fine by me,” Mashi-Ushi laughed “Because you’re about to experience pain beyond belief. Felgrand Dragon attack.”

Jamin covered his face as Aussa was struck by Mashi-Ushi’s attack and destroyed.

“Aussa,” he muttered “I’m sorry.”

“Why don’t you just give up?” Mashi-Ushi asked “After all there’s no way you can defeat me with your pathetic band of monsters. Why don’t you just give up already?”

“Just a bit more,” Jamin thought “A bit more and I can do it.”

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

“Then I’ll take my turn,” Jamin said “And Summon Familiar Possessed Hiita!”

A pillar of flame erupted on Jamin’s field and exploded, revealing Hiita behind it.

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

A face down card appeared behind Hiita, next to the other two.

“He hasn’t used either of those cards to defend against my attacks,” Mashi-Ushi thought “But this new one might pose a problem, but the worst it can do is destroy my Felgrand Dragon which will only help me.”

 

“Felgrand Dragon, attack Hiita,” Mashi-Ushi ordered “Destroy her utterly!”

Felgrand Dragon opened its mouth and let fly another stream of golden fire, heading straight towards Hiita.

“I play my trap card,” Jamin said “Spiritual Fire Art – Kurenai.”

Hiita was sucked into the card which glowed red and shot a pillar of flame towards Mashi-Ushi.

“I play my trap, Fusion Guard,” Mashi-Ushi said “When I’m about to take damage from an effect, I can use this trap card to negate that.”

He sent a card from his extra deck to the graveyard and the attack stopped.

“And remember, you still take damage from my Felgrand Dragon’s attack,” Mashi-Ushi said “Only this time it’s a direct attack.”

Jamin yelled as the flame washed over him, pain surging through his body like he’d never felt before. Once it was over he keeled forwards, landing on all fours and panting heavily as steam rose up from him.

“Heh, done already?” Mashi-Ushi laughed.

“No way,” Jamin panted, rising slowly to his feet again “I’ll never let myself lose to someone like you.”

“Good,” Mashi-Ushi replied “Because it would be far too easy if I defeated you here. I’d say you’d last about three more turns before I completely destroy you, but for now I’ll lay these two cards face down and end my turn.”

Jamin staggered slightly as he drew a new card from his deck and placed it in his hand.

“I can’t lose now,” he thought “I’m so close.”

“This is it,” Mashi-Ushi thought “Jamin’s almost done and the only obstacle left if Josh and his Dark Magician.”

He looked down at his deck, grinning broadly.

“It won’t be long now,” he and Jamin thought in unison “I’ll win this match and go on to duel Josh, I can’t lose here. I’ll win for sure!”

Mashi-Ushi and Jamin both glared at each other as the crowd watched on intently.

“I won’t lose!” They both thought, unaware that they were thinking the exactly same thing.

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 46: The duel with Mashi-Ushi and Jamin concludes. Wow, I spread a card game across two episodes without using any padding O_O....

 

[spoiler=episode]The helicopter flew above the Kaiba dome which was hidden behind a great wall of mist. The crowd watching the giant screen in the park where all muttering to each other about the strange event. The screen they had been watching had gone blank and the only people who knew what was going on were currently inside the Kaiba Dome.

“This is KC1,” the helicopter pilot said “We’ve been unable to penetrate the wall of fog; it seems to be more solid than it looks.”

“Try bombarding it,” Kaiba’s voice came in over the radio.

“But sir,”

“I said do it,” Kaiba snapped.

“Yes sir,”

The pilot pressed a switch and a rocket was released from underneath the helicopter. It shot towards the wall and hit, exploding and causing the crowd outside to scream and start to panic.

“Everyone stay calm!” A security member said “There is nothing to panic about so please don’t panic.”

“This is KC1, negative on the impact,” the pilot said “It hit but it doesn’t seem to have done any damage, I don’t know what it is but it’s certainly more than just fog.”

 

Inside the duel arena the whole audience felt the rumble as the missile impacted.

“What was that?” Jamin asked, looking about.

“It seems they’re trying to break through the barrier,” Mashi-Ushi commented “Fools. This is no longer a part of the same world, they can blow up the whole of Domino city and it still won’t affect us.”

Jamin turned to glare at him.

“You’re insane!” He yelled “How can you stand there so calmly when everyone in this building is in danger?”

“Oh I assure you they’re perfectly safe,” Mashi-Ushi said “Our monsters will only attack our opponents; any onlookers are excluded from their attack orders.”

Jamin still glared at him, not even believing his story for a moment.

“What, you don’t believe me?” Mash-Ushi asked “Very well then, Felgrand Dragon, attack the audience!”

“No!” Jamin cried.

A slight panic started amongst the crowd, however the Felgrand Dragon didn’t move.

“You see?” Mashi-Ushi said “The only person in danger within this whole building is you.” He pointed at Jamin, an evil grin spreading across his face “Now make your move or are you quitting?”

“Like heck I am,” Jamin retorted “I summon Twin Headed Behemoth in defense mode!”

Jamin’s twin headed dragon appeared on his field, both heads curled over in front of it.

“Is that it?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“I’m afraid so,” Jamin replied.

“Very well,” Mashi-Ushi said, taking a card from his deck “I play Trade In, allowing me to draw two cards so long as I ditch a level 7 or higher monster to my graveyard.”

Mashi-Ushi sent his Tyrant Dragon to the grave and drew two cards from his deck.

“Next I play Call of the Haunted,” Mashi-Ushi said “And resurrect my Tyrant Dragon!”

Jamin took a step back as Mashi-Ushi’s mighty dragon appeared on his field in a blaze of fire.

“But since he was special summoned from the graveyard I have to tribute a dragon type monster in order to keep him,” Mashi-Ushi said “And I choose Felgrand Dragon.”

Felgrand Dragon let out a roar and vanished from sight in a display of lights.

“I see what he’s planning,” Jamin thought “Now that his Felgrand Dragon is in the graveyard he can special summon him and use any monster he wants to power it up.”

“Now Tyrant Dragon attack!” Mashi-Ushi ordered.

Mashi-Ushi’s Tyrant Dragon opened its jaws wide, firing a massive blast of flame at Jamin’s monster and destroying it.

“I play my Twin Headed Behemoth’s special effect,” Jamin said “When he’s sent to the graveyard, I can resurrect him with 1000 attack and defense.”

The flames passed and Jamin’s monster rose back on his field.

“Very well,” Mashi-Ushi said “I’ll summon one monster in face down defense mode and end my turn.”

 

“Right, time to fight back,” Jamin thought, preparing to draw “Here goes.”

He drew a card from his deck and froze, his eyes widening in horror.

“No way,” he thought “How did this get in my deck.”

Mashi-Ushi raised an eyebrow, staring at the expression on Jamin’s face. Jamin meanwhile was staring in horror at a blank card.

“Impossible,” he thought “It must have slipped into my deck the last time I was sorting out my cards. Why didn’t I check to see that before?”

“You ending or what?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“Huh?” Jamin looked up “Oh, yeah.”

“Good,” Mashi-Ushi said “Because I’m playing a second Trade In, and this time I’m sending Darkblaze dragon to the graveyard to draw twice.”

Jamin continued to stare at the blank card.

“This isn’t happening,” he thought “I can’t win with this, I don’t even know which card it is, and it could be Horus’ servant for all I know.”

“Next I play Monster Reborn,” Mashi-Ushi said “Allowing me to special summon a monster from my grave. But why stop there when I can play Serial Spell and summon two!”

Jamin’s eyes widened as Mashi-Ushi’s field erupted with two pillars, one of black and one of golden flame. Out of these pillars rose Felgrand Dragon and Darkblaze dragon.

“By the effect of Darkblaze Dragon, since he was special summoned from the graveyard, his attack points double,” Mashi-Ushi said as his Darkblaze Dragon’s attack rose to 2400 “And as for Felgrand Dragon, I can take one monster and equip it to him and he gains attack equal to 200 times that monster’s level. And I choose Five God Dragon.”

“What?” Jamin stared up at him “You never sent Five God Dragon to the graveyard.”

“I did,” Mashi-Ushi said “Remember my Fusion Guard?”

“Oh, yeah,” Jamin muttered “My bad.”

Mashi-Ushi chuckled and took the aforementioned card from his graveyard and put it into the spell zone slot behind his Felgrand Dragon. Felgrand Dragon let out a mighty roar and its attack rose to 5200.

“This is bad,” Jamin muttered.

“Now to end this,” Mashi-Ushi said “Tyrant Dragon, attack his Twin Headed Behemoth!”

Mashi-Ushi’s dragon fired upon the Twin Headed Behemoth yet again, this time destroying it utterly and leaving Jamin’s field wide open for an attack.

“Now Darkblaze Dragon,” Mashi-Ushi said “Soften him up!”

Darkblaze Dragon rose into the air and began to prepare an attack.

“Not so fast,” Jamin said “I play my trap card, A Hero Emerges.”

“What?”

“Here’s how it works,” Jamin said “You select one card from my hand and if it’s a monster I get to special summon it.”

“Fine by me,” Mashi-Ushi said “I select the one on my far right.”

Jamin looked at his hand and froze, his eyes widening in horror. Mashi-Ushi had selected the blank card.

“No way,” he mouthed.

“What?” Mashi-Ushi barked “Is it a monster or not?”

Jamin glared up at him, his anger rising.

“I’ll show you a monster,” he yelled “Take a look at this.”

He took the blank card from his hand and placed it on the field. The usual noises of an active duel disk sounded, but they died down and nothing happened. Jamin stared down at the card for a minute, the silence beginning to drag by. Mashi-Ushi began to snicker under his breath and then broke out in laughter.

“You…Can’t even…Summon it!” He laughed “I can’t believe you were stupid enough to try and pull that one on me….Darkblaze Dragon!”

Darkblaze Dragon let out a roar and black flames began spewing from its mouth.

“No way,” Jamin thought.

The dragon drew its head back.

“This isn’t happening, I can’t summon it, and now I’m going to lose!”

It shot its head forwards and fired the black fireball towards Jamin.

“No,” Jamin thought “I don’t want to lose, I can’t lose…” Josh flickered through his mind and he yelled out loud “I won’t lose!”

A pillar of flame erupted on Jamin’s field, taking Mashi-Ushi, Jamin and most of the rest of the audience by surprise.

“What?” Mashi-Ushi stared at it as something began to emerge “It can’t be.”

Jamin stared in amazement at the creature beginning to emerge from the flames and then his face lit up.

“Nephthys!”

“What?”

With a final screech the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys fully emerged from her cocoon of flame, dispersing the black fireball as she did so.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Mashi-Ushi roared “How did you do that? Tell me how!”

 

“Nephthys,” Jamin stared up at his creature in awe “You came back.”

“No Jamin,” Nephthys replied “You called me back. So long as your heart is pure and strong, you shall never lose us.”

“Right,” Jamin nodded “Then let’s get this over with.”

With a final screech Nephthys burst into flames and flew towards Darkblaze Dragon, the impact causing a massive explosion and destroying both monsters. Mashi-Ushi covered his face with one arm as the debris flew over him.

“You think that’s saved you?” He roared “I still have my Felgrand Dragon!”

“And I still have my second face down,” Jamin said “Vengeful Spirit.”

Jamin’s face down flipped up and glowed.

“I can activate this card when one of my monsters is destroyed and sent to the graveyard during my opponent’s battle phase,” Jamin explained “And I get to resurrect that monster with double the attack points.”

Jamin’s phoenix burst out of the card in another screech of bird song, her attack points rising to 4800.

“She’s still too weak to take on my Felgrand Dragon,” Mashi-Ushi said “Attack!”

Felgrand Dragon let out a mighty roar and fired a stream of golden flame at the Sacred Phoenix.

“I activate the effect of my Necro Guardna,” Jamin said.

The faded image of Necro Guardna rose up on Jamin’s field and deflected the attack before vanishing.

“While Necro Guardna is in my graveyard, I can remove him from play to negate one of my opponent’s attacks,” Jamin said, taking the card out of his grave and showing it to Mashi-Ushi.

“I know what Necro Guardna does,” Mashi-Ushi barked “Just make your move so I can finish you already.”

“Gladly,” Jamin replied “Nephthys, attack Tyrant Dragon!”

Nephthys rose up into the air, flapping her great golden wings and sending several flaming projectiles at Mashi-Ushi’s field. They impacted all around Tyrant Dragon, half obscuring him in smoke before destroying him. Mashi-Ushi snarled and glared at Jamin.

“You’ll pay for that!” He yelled.

“We’ll see,” Jamin said “In the mean time I play force tag. With this card I can destroy one monster I control and special summon a monster with less attack points from my deck.”

Jamin’s Sacred Phoenix shattered and was replaced by Familiar Possessed Eria in defense mode.

“Now I’ll end my turn,” Jamin said.

“You’re going to end up regretting that,” Mashi-Ushi said “Felgrand Dragon, attack!”

Eris was struck by a golden fireball and destroyed. Jamin staggered slightly but recovered quickly.

“Good,” he thought “That’s all five of them in my grave.”

“You gonna move or what?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“Oh I’m gonna move alright,” Jamin said “And I summon my Sacred Phoenix.”

“Say what?”

“I’ll break it down for you,” Jamin said “When my Sacred Phoenix is destroyed by a card effect, I can resurrect her next turn. And as an added bonus all spell and trap cards are destroyed.”

Mashi-Ushi’s eyes widened in horror as the Sacred Phoenix rose back on Jamin’s field in a blaze of fire. She flew up into the air, sending shards of flame down upon the field and striking both players’ fields. Mashi-Ushi looked down as his Five God Dragon was destroyed and his Felgrand Dragon’s attack points dropped back to 2800.

“Fool,” Mashi-Ushi grinned “You may have weakened my dragon, but his attack is still far superior to your phoenix, so your little stunt was all for nothing.”

“Well see,” Jamin said “As I summon Darc the Dark Charmer.”

“Huh?”

Mashi-Ushi glared down at Jamin’s field as Darc emerged on it once again.

“Oh please,” Mashi-Ushi grinned “She only has 500 attack points.”

“I know,” Jamin said “And that’s more than enough.”

“What are you talking about?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

Jamin chuckled as he took another card from his hand.

“I activate Union Attack!” He declared.

“Huh?”

“By the effect of this card, I select one card on my field and increase its attack points by the sum attack of every other monster on the field,” Jamin explained “So I’ll increase my Sacred Phoenix’s attack but 500 thanks to my Dark Charmer.”

 

“Wait, 2900 attack points?” Mashi-Ushi’s eyes widened “But that means…”

“Yep,” Jamin nodded “Now my monster is overpowering yours.”

Nephthys glowed brightly as her attack points rose beyond that of Felgrand Dragon. Mashi-Ushi’s face was an absolute picture of fear as the phoenix took of, letting out another screech.

“Sacred Phoenix attack Felgrand Dragon,” Jamin ordered “Go!”

Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys burst into flames and dived at Mashi-Ushi’s monster, slicing straight through him.

“No!” Mashi-Ushi cried in panic “Now my Felgrand Dragon!”

Mashi-Ushi’s monster was cut in two and roar in pain before it shattered.

“Luckily for you, you don’t take any damage this turn,” Jamin said as his phoenix landed once again on his field “But then of course I have just destroyed your favorite monster.”

Mashi-Ushi was now shaking with rage as he glared at Jamin, a vein throbbing in his temple.

“You,” he began, speaking slowly “Will…Pay…For….That!”

An aura of white energy began to build up around Mashi-Ushi.

“Wait; is he doing what I think he’s doing?” Jamin asked.

“I think so,” Nephthys replied.

“This is bad,” Darc muttered.

Mashi-Ushi drew a card from his deck, the white aura about him fading at last. He stood there, panting heavily for a few moments before slotting his card into the spell zone slot.

“I activate Dragon’s Mirror,” He declared “By the effect of this card; I remove from play Felgrand Dragon, Tyrant Dragon and Darkblaze Dragon.”

“Wait, I’ve seen this before,” Jamin said “It’s…” His memory flashed back to the overwhelming force he’d felt when Mashi-Ushi was dueling Diablo and his eyes widened in fear “Oh no.”

“The Ultimate Dragon Lord, Ryuka!” Mashi-Ushi declared as his giant black and gold dragon rose up on his field, almost filling up his entire side of the stadium.

The crowd gazed up in awe as Ryuka made himself know to the audience, letting out a mighty roar.

“I-I think Mashi-Ushi had just summoned his most powerful monster,” the announcer said “This battle is getting intense!”

“3500 attack points,” Jamin gazed up at the monster.

“And it’s these attack points that will destroy you,” Mashi-Ushi said “Ryuka attack!”

Ryuka raised its fist, a massive black fireball surrounding it, and slammed it into the arena, sending a wave of flame towards Jamin’s field and completely obliterating Darc. The attack continued and hit Jamin head on, causing him to yell in pain. He collapsed forwards, just managing to prevent himself from passing out.

“So, what do you think?” Mashi-Ushi asked “This is my ultimate monster, the three dragon lords combined into one unstoppable monster.”

Jamin gazed up at the monster, his vision growing blurry.

“I see,” he muttered “Good thing, I have a fusion of my own like that. Pity I can’t summon it.”

“Are you losing faith?” Nephthys asked.

“Huh?” Jamin looked up at her “No, I’m not. Sorry.”

He drew a new card from his deck and nodded.

“I play Card of Demise,” he said “This card allows me to draw five cards from my deck, but in five turns any cards drawn are sent to the graveyard.”

With that he picked up the top five cards of his deck and looked down at them, suddenly his eyes widened in shock as he saw both The Creator and Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8.

“What the…” He mouthed.

“Did you think we’d left you?” He heard Horus’ voice speak out to him.

“We’ve all used out own powers to infiltrate your deck and aid you,” The Creator said “Now use us as you wish.”

“Guys,” a smile crossed Jamin’s face “Thanks, I should never have doubted you.”

Mashi-Ushi scowled as Jamin prepared to make his move.

“It’s time to see who’s stronger,” Jamin said “Me or you.”

“That’s obvious,” Mashi-Ushi laughed “I will always be superior to you and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Whatever you say,” Jamin said “Until then I activate Polymerization!”

“What?”

The Creator and Horus appeared behind Jamin and then they and Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys were sucked into a vortex opening above Jamin.

“Now that I’ve got all my powers back I’m at full strength,” Jamin said “So let’s all give a big Duel Rally welcome to Kamika, the Deity of Rebirth!”

A huge bolt of lightning crashed down onto Jamin’s field and a flash of light blinded the audience. Once it faded the colossal creature that was Kamika had risen on Jamin’s field. Whereas it towered above Jamin, it was still far smaller than Mashi-Ushi’s Ryuka.

“I’m afraid my monster will always be superior to yours,” Jamin said “Because aside from having 4000 attack points, your monsters lose 100 attack points for each card in my graveyard.

“What did you say?” Mashi-Ushi remarked.

Steam began to rise off Mashi-Ushi’s dragon as its attack points dropped to 1300.

“With my deck, even the cards that have been sent to my grave are here to help me out,” Jamin said “That’s the true power of my deck.”

“Why you,” Mashi-Ushi growled.

“Kamika, attack,” Jamin ordered “Take out his Ultimate Dragon Lord!”

Kamika raised his word and swung it, hitting the ground and sending a surge of energy towards Mashi-Ushi’s monster. The attack branches as it went on, creating a spider web of energy from the point the sword had struck and each one of the branches spiraled down the pillars supporting the stage and wound along the floor before shooting up Ryuka, crisscrossing around his front and back. The mighty dragon let out a roar of pain before it shattered. A few of the branches also shot through Mashi-Ushi and he yelled in pain and anguish, dropping to one knee after the attack had finished and panting heavily.

“Well, I’m glad that’s over,” Jamin said.

“No,” Mashi-Ushi said.

“Huh?”

“It’s not over,” he wheezed, getting slowly to his feet and even then still staggering as though drunk “I’m not done yet!”

His body was covered with scrapes and burns and his jacket and undershirt both had a diagonal tear across the front showing a very nasty looking wound underneath.

“I refuse to give it,” Mashi-Ushi yelled, still panting heavily “I’ve still got the energy left to stand, and I’m going to defeat you!”

“Dude, you can barely even stand straight let alone duel,” Jamin said “Just give up, you can’t win anymore.”

“I will win!”

Mashi-Ushi roared and drew a new card from his deck.

“I summon Decoy Dragon in attack mode!” Mashi-Ushi declared “Then I activate the effect of Ryuka from my graveyard. Thanks to his effect, I can tribute one dragon type monster on my field and special summon him from the graveyard.”

Decoy Dragon was consumed in ball of flame which then exploded, the pieces merging together and forming into the Ultimate Dragon Lord Ryuka once again.

“This again?” Jamin’s eyes narrowed “Well whatever, he still loses 2200 attack points.”

“Maybe so,” Mashi-Ushi said “But when Ryuka is special summoned from the graveyard, I can remove one dragon type monster in my graveyard from play and he gains attack equal to that monster’s ATK.”

“Wait, you mean?”

“I remove Five God Dragon,” Mashi-Ushi said “And have my Ultimate Dragon Lord gain 5000 attack points!”

“This is not good,” Jamin commented.

Ryuka let out a mighty roar as its attack rose to 6300.

“Now is the time for you to die,” Mashi-Ushi said “Ryuka, attack!”

Ryuka raised its fist and threw it towards Kamika. Kamika raised his shield to block with his shield but it crumpled under the attack and Kamika was destroyed.

“No way,”

“And now,” Mashi-Ushi said, chuckling madly “Ryuka’s no longer bound by your monster’s effect, and he now has a grand total of 8500 attack points!”

“You’re kidding me,” Jamin cried.

“I’m not known for my sense of humor,” Mashi-Ushi chuckled, insanity reflected in his eyes.

“Mashi-Ushi, call your monster off,” Jamin said “You don’t have enough strength left to control it, if you declare at attack you’ll kill yourself.”

“Who are you to judge me?” Mashi-Ushi yelled, going completely off his rocker “I control the three dragon lords, three of the most powers cards in the game and you say I can’t control them just because I’m running low of energy? You have never experienced this game as I have Jamin.”

Jamin stared at him, utterly bewildered.

“Mashi-Ushi, please,”

“I shall destroy you!” Mashi-Ushi continued “And then I’ll destroy Josh and take both of your powers. Then nothing will stand in my way any more.”

“In that case,” Jamin said “You leave me no choice.”

“Huh?”

Jamin placed his hand on his deck. He closed his eyes and a solemn expression crossed his face.

“Mashi-Ushi,” he began “This will be the last card played in this duel, and it shall certify your defeat.”

“Don’t underestimate me,” Mashi-Ushi laughed.

Jamin ignored him and drew the card, time seeming to slow down as he did so. He opened his eyes dramatically and glared at Mashi-Ushi.

“This is the card that will end this duel,” he said “Six Coloured Roulette!”

“Huh?”

“I can only activate this card is I have at least one each of Light, Dark, Wind, Earth, Fire and Water attribute monsters in my graveyard,” Jamin said “And then this card’s full effect can take place.”

A massive wheel with six different colored sections, a yellow one, a blue one, a red one, a green one, a brown one and a black one appeared on Jamin field and began spinning, slowly at first but getting faster and faster until it was it was a blur and all the colors began to merge together.

“Not witness the awesome power of the elements,” Jamin said as a strong breeze began to pick up on his field, blowing his sandy hair out behind him “Because one this card is activated I inflict damage to your life points equal to the strongest monster on your field.”

 

Mashi-Ushi’s smiled slowly dropped off his face and turned into an expression of fear.

“Call off the spirit dome,” Jamin said “If you don’t this attack will kill you.”

“I can’t,” Mashi-Ushi said slowly “I can still…still win.”

He sank slowly to his knees, his cards dropping out of his hand.

“I can…Still……Win……”

“Mashi-Ushi!”

Jamin charged forwards as the wheel began to shake, reaching its maximum velocity. He ran at Mashi-Ushi and dived, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him aside. A massive beam of white light shot from the wheel towards where the two duelists had just been and caused a massive explosion upon impact, tossing Jamin and Mashi-Ushi aside like leaves in the wind. Jamin yelled and reached out, grabbing the edge of the stage just before they tumbled over the edge, one hand clutching Mashi-Ushi’s sleeve.

“Mashi-Ushi,” he said “Grab my hand with both of yours.”

Mashi-Ushi gazed up at him, his eyes blank.

“Come on,” Jamin said “I can’t hold onto you forever.”

A loud tearing sound came from Mashi-Ushi’s sleeve.

“Grab on!” Jamin yelled.

“I lost,” Mashi-Ushi mouthed.

“I said grab it!”

“I lost,”

“Mashi-Ushi!” Jamin yelled “For the love of card games, grab my hand!”

Mashi-Ushi seemed to snap out of a trance and he reached up with his free hand and grabbed Jamin’s wrist. Jamin breathed a sigh of relief as the holograms faded and the two of them were lowered back to the ground.

 

Outside the mist faded and the screen blazed back into life, showing the aftermath of the duel.

“This is KC1,” the pilot of the helicopter said “The mist had gone; I repeat the mist has vanished.”

A loud cheer came from the crowd outside, even though they had no idea who had won the duel.

 

Back inside the crowd were also cheering, making it very hard to hear the announcer declaring Jamin the winner. Mashi-Ushi was sitting on the floor, looking very much the worst for wear, as Jamin checked his own injuries.

“Neat,” he muttered “So the winner of a spirit duel gets his injuries healed afterwards, handy.”

He looked back down at Mashi-Ushi who was staring at him in disbelief.

“You beat me,” he said.

“Yeah,” Jamin replied “I guess I did.”

“Then you saved my life,”

“That too,” Jamin replied, grinning.

“But, you won, you can suck me dry of all my powers, kill me even,” Mashi-Ushi said “You have every right to.”

“And that’s why I’m not doing it,” Jamin replied “All this time you’ve been dueling people and killing them simply to take their powers so you could defeat me and Josh, don’t you see what’s wrong with that?”

Mashi-Ushi shook his head, still staring at Jamin.

“The point is you couldn’t rely on your own strength,” Jamin replied “You had to go around stealing other peoples. So I’m not going to take anything away from you, I’m going to defeat Josh as I am, and I don’t need anything else to do it.”

He turned about and walked towards the exit of the arena, not looking back at Mashi-Ushi.

 

“No,” Mashi-Ushi shook his head “This can’t be happening. Argh!”

He doubled over, clutching his head as a terrible pain shot through it.

“I’m sorry,” he yelled “I didn’t know, I thought I could beat him I…Ahh!”

He was interrupted as more pain shot through him.

“Wait, please,” he cried “It’s not over, I can still duel Josh.”

The pain subsided and Mashi-Ushi lowered his hands.

“Yes, that’s right,” he said, madness reflected in his expression “We don’t need a tournament; we can just challenge Josh as we are now. Jamin was only supposed to be insurance but we can defeat Josh without him.”

He looked up, his eyes wide and crazy.

“We can still defeat the Dark Magician,” he cried “I can still fulfill my promise to you, Felgrand Dragon!”

 

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 47: This one seems to have underun slightly...

 

[spoiler=episode]Drem and Josh watched the conclusion of Jamin and Mashi-Ushi’s duel on the screen in the finals waiting room. Drem smirked slightly whilst Josh merely scowled. His eyes narrowed as he watched Jamin pulled Mashi-Ushi out of the way of the blast from his spell card.

“Playing the hero again,” he muttered resentfulness clear in his voice.

“That’s nothing special,” Drem muttered “Just a lucky draw, and now that I know his ultimate monster I’m going to be able to tear it down.”

Josh shot him a glance.

“Depending of course on whether you get to face him or not,” he said.

Drem laughed.

“Of course, I study the decks of my opponent and then counter them;” he said “For example, your deck focuses on bringing out your strongest monsters as soon as possible. All I need to do is prevent them from being summoned or find a way to destroy them quickly, face it I’m going to win.”

“You have a lot to learn about my deck,” Josh said.

Drem chuckled again.

“Well, we’ll see soon enough,” he said.

“Duelists,” the announcer said “It’s time for your match; please make your way to the duel field. And good luck.”

Josh and Drem stood up and moved to the exit. Drem was grinning down at Josh and Josh merely staring ahead.

“May the best duelist win,” Drem said.

“I plan to,” Josh replied without even looking back up.

 

Jamin looked down at his deck as he walked back down the corridor towards the waiting room.

“Thanks guys,” he said “You really came through for me that time.”

“It’s not over yet,” Nephthys said.

Jamin paused and looked up, seeing Drem and Josh walking towards him. Jamin looked straight past Drem and his and Josh’s eyes met. Time seemed to slow down as Josh passed Jamin, still staring at him out of the corner of his eye. Jamin followed him as he passed and watched him moving up the corridor towards the arena.

“Soon Josh,” he muttered “I’ll duel you soon.”

He turned back round and proceeded back to the waiting room, sitting down on one of the white sofas and leaning back in it, watching the screen. Again he was alone in the room, waiting for the other duelists to finish their match before he could move on.

“I hope this doesn’t take too long,” Jamin muttered “I want to get Josh back as quickly as possible.”

 

In the arena the crowd was cheering as Drem and Josh made their entrance, every spotlight in the building turning to focus on them. Josh made no reaction to the crowd but Drem seemed really fired up.

“I can taste victory,” he sighed, waving at the crowd “All that’s in the way is you and Jamin.”

Josh cast a glance at him and then turned his gaze away, walking to the end of the silver stage. Drem stood opposite him and raised his duel disk. As soon as the two duelists were in place the stage shook and began to rise again, putting the two duelists just higher than the crowd and in plain view of everyone.

“You can just feel the tension in the air between these two duelists!” The announcer said in a severe case of denial “Let’s see what this match will offer us. Duelists, begin!”

Drem smirked and drew from his deck, immediately playing a card.

“I play Gear Town,” he said “With this card, all my Ancient Gear monsters require one less tribute to summon them.”

The scenery was replaced by the same run down mechanical city with the large factory behind Drem. Josh merely glanced around but didn’t seem entirely impressed.

“Next I summon my Ancient Gear Engineer,” Drem said.

A rusty robot with a drill at the end of one arm rose up on Drem’s field.

“I’ll set one card face down and end my turn,” Drem said, a card hologram appearing behind his Ancient Gear Engineer.

Josh drew a card silently and placed it in his hand.

“I play my Ancient Rules spell card,” Josh said “Allowing me to special summon my Dark Magician from my hand.”

A display of lights flashed on Josh’s field and his black armored Dark Magician rose up in front of him.

“Dark Magician, attack his engineer,” Josh ordered.

The Dark Magician raised his staff, firing a sphere of green energy towards Drem’s monster and destroying it, sending a shock of pain through Drem body.

“I activate my trap card,” he said “Damage Condenser. I discard Ancient Gear Soldier from my hand to special summon Ancient Gear Cannon!”

A small cannon type contraption with large gears showing appeared on Drem’s field. Josh merely narrowed his eyes.

“I’ll take my turn,” Drem said, drawing a card “And I play my Cannon’s effect, by releasing him I inflict 500 points of damage to you.”

The Cannon aimed at Josh and then fired before falling to pieces. The attack his Josh in the shoulder and caused a small spark of pain, however he barely even twitched.

“Next I summon my Ancient Gear Beast in defense mode,” Drem said “And end my turn.”

Ancient Gear Beast rose up on Drem’s field, crouching down low.

 

Again Josh drew without saying a word.

“Dark Magician, attack Ancient Gear Beast,” he ordered.

His Dark Magician raised his staff again and fired, taking out the Ancient Gear Beast with a single shot.

“I’ll set two cards face down,” Josh said “And end my turn.”

“Then I’ll take it from here,” Drem said, taking a card from his deck.

“You’ll wish you’d made more of an effort,” Drem said “Because now I play my Ancient Gear Factory. Since there are Ancient Gear monsters in my graveyard with a combined total level of 16 I can special summon my Ancient Gear Golem!”

Josh looked up as the factory behind Drem began to shake and cracked open, revealing his Ancient Gear Golem.

“Now then,” Drem said “Ancient Gear Golem, attack his Dark Magician!”

Drem’s monster drew his arm back and threw a mighty punch at the Dark Magician, destroying him effortlessly.

“And thanks to my Ancient Gear Golem’s effect, you can’t play and spell or trap cards while he attacks,” Drem said “You see? I’ve taken your strategy and completely foiled it.”

“Are you sure?” Josh asked.

“Huh?”

“Since I’ve let my Dark Magician be destroyed so easily without putting up a fight, don’t you think I might have wanted that to happen?” Josh asked “I knew you had an Ancient Gear Factory in your deck and it was only a matter of time before you summoned your Ancient Gear Golem. And that was what I was waiting for.”

“What are you talking about?” Drem asked.

“My turn,” Josh said, drawing a card from his deck “And I play my face down trap card, pitch black power stone.”

Josh’s trap card flipped up and three black orbs floated out of it, hovering above Josh’s field.

“When this card is activated three spell counters are added to it,” Josh explained “And once per turn I can move one of those counters to another card that can hold counters.”

“But you don’t have any other cards on the field,” Drem said.

“I know,” Josh replied “Which is why I’m playing my Miracle Restoring trap.”

Josh’s second face down flipped up and two of the black orbs were sucked into it.

“What?”

“When this card is played, I can remove two spell counters from my field to special summon my Dark Magician,” Josh explained.

“Again?”

Josh made no comment as his Dark Magician rose up once again on his field.

“Next I equip him with Mage Power,” Josh said “For each spell card in my spell and trap zone, he gains 500 attack points. And since there are two that’s 1000 extra points.”

“That puts him above my Ancient Gear Golem,” Drem gasped.

“Precisely,” Josh said “Dark Magician, attack his Ancient Gear Golem!”

Josh’s monster ran forwards and jumped high into the air, soaring above the Ancient Gear Golem. He span his staff once and aimed it at Drem’s monster, firing a green sphere towards him. The attack impacted and exploded off the Ancient Gear Golem and it began to crumble to pieces. Drem glared up at the Dark Magician as it landed back on Josh’s field. He stared down at his deck and drew a new card from it, frowning.

“I summon my Ancient Gear Knight in defense mode,” he said.

A robotic knight with a lance for one arm and a large gear shaped shield out in front of him rose up on Drem’s field.

 

Josh barely even reacted and simply drew a new card from his deck, taking a glance at it before playing.

“I release my Dark Magician,” he said “In order to summon Dark Eradicator Warlock.”

Josh’s Dark Magician vanished and was replaced by a more powerful looking warlock.

“For each normal spell card activated you take 1000 points of damage,” Josh explained “Dark Eradicator Warlock, attack!”

Josh’s monster raised his staff, firing an orb of crimson magic towards Drem’s monster and destroying it.

“I end my turn,” Josh said calmly.

Drem glared at Josh again and drew a card from his deck.

“I can’t believe it,” he thought “I thought I’d written my strategy perfectly to combat his but he’s just gone and pulled out a whole new one. There’s something about this guy that’s making me feel nervous, I’ll have to take card of him as quickly as possible.

“I activate my Pot of Greed,” Drem said “With this card I can draw two new cards from my deck. Next I play the spell card Heavy Storm!”

A strong wind began building up until a hurricane swept through the arena, blowing Josh and Drem’s hair and clothes about and tearing up the Gear Town.

“Now thanks to the effect of my Gear Town I can special summon an Ancient Gear monster from my deck hand or graveyard, so from my deck I special summon Ancient Gear Gadjitron Dragon!”

The town collapsed and out of the rubble rose Drem’s almighty metal dragon, it let out a mighty mechanical roar and descended down onto Drem’s field.

“True,” Josh said “But don’t forget, whenever a normal spell is activated you take damage,”

Drem recoiled slightly as Dark Eradicator Warlock shot a beam of crimson energy at him, sending another shock through his body. He staggered a little but managed to remain upright.

“Now my Ancient Gear Gadjitron Dragon, attack,” Drem ordered.

Drem’s monster flew forwards and took a swipe at Josh’s monster, destroying it and sending another pain through Josh’s body.

“I’m sure you can’t take much more punishment,” Drem chuckled.

“You talk too much,” Josh replied, drawing a card from his deck “I summon Rapid Fire Magician in defense mode and lay this card face down.”

“Ha, running scared now are we?” Drem asked.

“No,” Josh replied.

“Well, whatever,” Drem shrugged and drew a card “You’ll be flat on your face soon enough.”

He examined his hand carefully and grinned.

“I summon Ancient Gear Soldier,” he said “Now, Ancient Gear Soldier attack!”

Drem’s monster raised his gun and fired a volley of bullets at Josh monster, causing him to vanish behind a cloud of smoke before he was destroyed.

“Next Ancient Gear Gadjitron Dragon, attack his life points directly,” Drem ordered.

Drem’s monster rose up into the air and then dived down towards him.

“You’ve activated my trap card,” Josh said calmly “Shadow Spell.”

Chains burst from the ground and wrapped around Drem’s monster, binding him in place and dragging it back to the ground.

“Shadow Spell prevents your monster from attacking and lowers his attack points by 700 Josh explained.”

Drem glared at Josh as his monster’s attack points lowered.

“Fine then,” he said “I’ll end my turn there.”

Josh took a card from his deck and glanced at it.

“I summon Skilled Dark Magician,” Josh said “Skilled Dark Magician, attack!”

Josh’s monster rose up on his field and aimed his staff at Drem’s soldier, firing a beam of black energy towards it and destroying it completely.

 

“You’ll have to do better than that,” Drem said, drawing a card from his deck. He took one look at it and grinned “I summon another Ancient Gear Soldier,” he said, playing his robotic gunman once more “Then I activate the effect of my Ancient Gear, while there’s an Ancient Gear monster on my field I can special summon him from my hand.”

Another monster rose up on Drem’s field, this one much smaller and less complex.

“And Finally I activate my Spell Gear,” Drem said “Since I have three Ancient Gear monsters on my field, I can now special summon my Ancient Gear Golem!”

Drem’s monsters began to shake and then fell apart as the Ancient Gear Golem rose once again onto Drem’s field.

Josh looked up at it, barely even blinking.

“Ancient Gear Golem attack!” Drem ordered.

The Ancient Gear Golem raised its fist, aiming a punch at the Skilled Dark Magician and destroying it with ease. Josh staggered back slightly as a strong pain shot through his body.

“Starting to feel it at last I see,” Drem chuckled.

“That’s nothing,” Josh replied.

“Ha, that’s big talk,” Drem barked “Your monsters don’t stand a chance against my Ancient Gear Golem.”

“We’ll see,” Josh replied, drawing a card “I summon Apprentice Magician in defense mode.”

Josh’s weak spellcaster rose onto his field, a black orb floating beside him.

“By the effect of my Apprentice Magician, I place one spell counter on my Pitch Black Power Stone,” Josh explained.

“Get on with it,” Drem said.

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

“Ha, is that honestly the best you can do?” Drem laughed “Get real, my draw!”

He took a new card from his deck.

“Ancient Gear Golem, attack!” He ordered.

Drem’s monster lunged forwards, taking out Josh’s monster with ease and sending an incredible pain through his body, he yelled for a second and then the pain stopped and he stood where he was, panting heavily.

“And here I was thinking you’d be a challenge,” Drem said.

“I’m not done yet,” Josh said “By the effect of my Apprentice Magician, I can summon another in face down defense mode.”

A face down card appeared on Josh’s field.

“My draw,”

He took a new card from his deck and flipped his Apprentice Magician into attack mode.

“Now I can add one more counter to my Pitch Black Power stone,” he explained.

Another black orb appeared, floating beside the first two.

“Next I sacrifice him for my Chaos Command Magician,” Josh said.

Josh’s Apprentice Magician vanished and was replaced by his green sorcerer.

“With that, I end,” Josh said.

“You must really want to lose,” Drem laughed “That thing is no match for my Ancient Gear Golem.”

 

Drem grinned broadly and drew a new card from his deck.

“I play Graceful Charity,” he said “Meaning I draw three times and discard twice.”

He picked up three cards and ditched Ancient Gear Castle and Ancient Gear Knight to his graveyard.

“Next I play my Pot of Avarice,” he said “So I return my two Ancient Gear Knights, my Ancient Gear Gadjitron Dragon, my Ancient Gear Soldier and Ancient Gear to my deck, shuffle and draw twice.”

Josh barely even moved while Drem was doing this, he merely stood by and watched as Drem shuffled his deck and picked up two cards. His smiled broadened as soon as he saw what he’d drawn.

“You’re about to experience a new form of pain,” Drem said “I play Power Bond, and fuse together my Ancient Gear Golem, my Ancient Gear Knight and my Ancient Gear Soldier to create…”

Drem’s monsters appeared on the field and all three of them were sucked into a vortex behind them that was crackling with lightning.

“Behold,” Drem said “The Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem!”

An Ancient Gear Golem with four legs, a chain tail a massive rusty hand on one arm and a larger headpiece rose up on Drem’s field to a loud cheer from the crowd.

 

Watching from the waiting room even Jamin was impressed by this new monster.

“4400 attack points,” he muttered “And thanks to Power Bond that attack power is doubled. This is gonna hurt.

 

“Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem attack,” Drem ordered “Crush his monster now!”

Drem’s monster raised his massive fist and brought it down on Josh’s monster, destroying it completely and delivering a massive shock to Josh’s body. He yelled and staggered backwards, almost falling off the edge of the platform.

“And that’s game,” Drem said “Huh?”

Josh was walking forwards, breathing heavily but otherwise unharmed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Drem muttered.

“During the end phase of the turn in which Power Bond is played, the cards controller takes damage equal to the original attack points of the monster he summoned,” Josh explained.

“Uh oh,” Drem muttered.

He yelled as an equally massive shock was sent through his body and he came out of it staggering, panting heavily.

“I’m surprised you’re still standing after that,” Josh commented “But I assure you, by the time my turn is over you will be defeated.”

“Heh, don’t joke with me,” Drem panted “Whatever monster you throw out I’ll just tear it apart, you won’t be able to survive that attack twice.”

“As I’m sure I’ve already pointed out, I won’t need to survive it twice,” Josh said, drawing a card “As I said, you won’t be getting a next turn.”

He looked at the card he’d drawn and activated it.

“I play card of demise,” he said “Allowing me to draw five cards.”

Josh picked up the top five cards of his deck.

“Next I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior!” Josh said, summoning his red armored battle mage to the field.

“When Breaker is summoned, one spell counter is added to him,” Josh explained “And he gains 300 attack points.”

The spell counter symbol lit up on one of the black orbs of Breaker’s armor.

“It doesn’t matter,” Drem said “1900 attack points isn’t enough to take out my Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem.”

“Shows what you know,” Josh said, tapping two buttons on his duel disk “I play two copies of pitch black power stone.”

“Huh?”

Six more black orbs appeared above Josh’s field.

“What are you gonna do with all those spell counters?” Drem asked.

“Simple,” Josh replied “Get rid of them.”

“Say what?”

Josh took another card from his deck and activated it, the spell card flipped up on his field and a large cannon made out of rock and some sort of gold metal appeared out of it.

“This is my Mega Ton Magical Cannon,” Josh explained “By removing ten spell counters from my field I can destroy every card on yours.”

“You can what?”

 

The black orbs floating on Josh’s field and the one attached to Breaker were all sucked into the tube above the cannon’s barrel, as soon as they were all in energy began to build up at the end of it and a beam of white energy shot out, striking Drem’s Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem and tearing it down with little effort. The smoke and debris cleared and Josh’s cannon vanished. Drem staggered a bit from the shock of losing his most powerful monster.

“I play my Ultimate Ancient Gear Golems effect,” he panted “When he’s destroyed, I can special summon an Ancient Gear Golem from my graveyard.”

From the wreckage of the Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem and regular Ancient Gear Golem emerged standing over Josh’s field.

“There,” Drem grinned “You think you’ve beaten me? Well think again.”

“I’m not done yet,” Josh replied.

“Huh?”

“You seem to have forgotten I still have cards in my hand,” Josh said “I didn’t just use that Demise spell to look good you know.”

“There’s more?”

“Much more,” Josh said “I activate Magical Dimension!”

A gold sarcophagus rose up on Josh’s field and clamped itself around Breaker the Magical Warrior.

“With this card, I can sacrifice one spellcaster monster I control, and special summon another spellcaster from my hand,” Josh explained “Come forth, Dark Magician.”

Beams of light began to penetrate the sarcophagus until it shattered, revealing Josh’s Dark Magician within it.

“And then it has another effect,” Josh explained “I can destroy one monster you control.”

Drem’s eyes widened in horror.

“N-no way,” he mouthed “That means I…”

Josh’s Dark Magician raised his staff and fired at Drem’s monster, destroying it utterly.

“…Lose.” Drem finished.

“Time to finish this,” Josh said “Dark Magician, attack!”

Josh monster jumped high into the air, aiming his staff down at Drem. Drem gazed up at him as he soared over him, waiting for the attack to come. The Dark Magician let loose his attack, sending it straight towards Drem and hitting him directly. The force of the blow threw Drem off his feet and almost sent him over the edge of the platform. He lay there motionless for a few moments as the crowd fell silent.

“Err, and the winner is Josh!” The announcer said, making a failed attempt to sound enthusiastic.

A Luke warm applause sounded throughout the arena at the platform lowered and Josh hopped off it, walking back towards the waiting room.

 

Jamin stared at the conclusion of Josh’s duel as the Dark Magician’s attack hit home and Drem lay defeated.

“Well that was predictable,” he sighed “I’ve only ever seen Josh lose a duel once, that and he’s full to the brim with so much spirit power he might explode, I’ve got defeat him and pull Zorc out of him.”

“That might be easier said than done,” Darc said, sitting next to him.

“Even so,” Jamin said “I have to do it, I owe it to Josh. I can’t let him be consumed by his own hatred.”

“That’s the spirit,” Darc said “Now let’s get ready for your final match.”

Jamin grinned down at her and nodded.

 

“There will now be a 1 hour intermission before the next duel,” the announcer declared “During that time our two finalists are allowed to make whatever changes they deem necessary to their decks for the final duel. Good luck to both of you.”

The crowd was already chattering, making bets on who was going to win the final match. Most of them were discussing the fact that two virtually unknown duelists were in the finals after beating some of the best duelists of the time. Josh was wandering down the corridor back to the waiting rooms with his hands in his pockets, not paying any attention to the ruckus that was going on within the arena.

“Impressive match,”

Josh stopped and looked around, seeing Mashi-Ushi standing behind him. He looked a real mess; there was a massive gash across his front and one shoulder and several burns across his face. His expression was wide eyes and grinning insanely.

“I thought Jamin defeated you already,” Josh said “Hadn’t you better run home.”

“Never!” Mashi-Ushi cried, punching the wall and denting it slightly “I want what I swore to get, a victory over the Dark Magician and I will get it.”

Josh stared at him blankly.

“There’s still time until the final duel,” Mashi-Ushi said “Let’s you and me settle who deserves to be the most powerful being on the planet.”

“You want to conquer the world,” Josh said “I want to destroy it.”

“Different ends, same means,” Mashi-Ushi chuckled “The winner of our duel will face Jamin.”

Josh considered for a bit and then nodded.

“Very well,” he said “I accept.”

A dark blue flame erupted around Josh at the same time as a white flame grew around Mashi-Ushi. As they glared at each other it was almost possible to see Zorc and Felgrand Dragon glaring at each other from the flames as well.

 

[Καsτοr]

Great fan- fic Total! This is pretty awesome!

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 48: Four episodes left *starts getting giddy*

 

[spoiler=episode]Jamin couldn’t handle the wait, it had barely been five minutes and he was already looking up at the clock to see how much time was left and once he looked back again he just had to check again a few seconds later.

“You’re nervous,” Darc noted “Don’t be.”

“It’s nothing to do with nerves,” Jamin said “I want to duel Josh as soon as possible, that’s all.”

“Hey, relax,” Darc said “All those nerves aren’t good for you.”

“I said I’m not nervous,” Jamin snapped.

“There’s proof that you are,” Darc replied “Now get a grip.”

Jamin sighed and leaned back into the sofa again, gazing up at the ceiling.

“Why did there have to be an intermission?” He muttered “Here I am alone in here…” He paused, glancing first at the screen displaying an empty arena then at the door.

“What’s up?” Darc asked.

“Josh hasn’t come back yet,” Jamin replied.

“Eh?”

Jamin stood up and moved over to the door, checking his watch.

“Forty nine minutes,” he muttered “What on earth can Josh be doing?”

 

Lights flicked on, illuminating a large room full of dusty old crates and boxes. Josh and Mashi-Ushi walked into the circle of light cast by the single bulb above their heads. There were no windows in this room, just them, the dust and the dark.

“Do you like it?” Mashi-Ushi asked “This is a storeroom used for spare equipment. It’s large, out of the way and best of all there are no security cameras in here so the chances of us being interrupted are zero.

“I guess I’ll have to trust you on that,” Josh replied “But I’d still rather get this over with quickly.”

“Don’t worry,” Mashi-Ushi chuckled madly “I’ll make your death swift.”

Josh didn’t even react to this threat.

“Duel!”

Both raised their duel disks and set their life points to 4000.

 

Jamin wandered down the corridor, scratching his head and looking around. He was so absorbed in searching he didn’t noticed when he bumped into someone.

“Huh? Oh, sorry,” he said.

Kim staggered back and nearly fell over.

“Watch where you’re going,” she complained.

“Kim?” Jamin stared at her “Why are you here?”

“I was coming to find you,” Kim replied.

Jamin blinked, confused.

“Listen after watching Josh and Drem’s duel I followed Josh to see where he’d go,” Kim explained.

“Why?” Jamin asked.

“I just did, okay?” Kim replied “Anyway, then I saw him talking to Mashi-Ushi.”

“What?”

“And that’s not all,” Kim continued, shaking a little “Mashi-Ushi challenged Josh to a duel and….He accepted.”

Jamin froze on the spot, his eyes wide with shock.

“Jamin?” Kim looked up at him.

“What did Mashi-Ushi go and do that for?” Jamin yelled “He’s in no state to duel now, he’ll get killed?”

Surprise crossed Kim’s face at this comment. Jamin turned round and ran down the corridor.

“Huh? Oh, Jamin, wait!” Kim called “You don’t even know where they are!”

“That’s why I’m going to find them;” Jamin replied “There are only so many places you can duel in this place.”

He glanced around as he ran down the corridor, looking for any clue that might lead him to where Josh and Mashi-Ushi were. Kim watched him leave, concern showing in her face.

“Why does he suddenly care about Mashi-Ushi so much?” She muttered.

“It’s because he has a habit of trying to bring out the best in his opponents,”

Kim looked round and saw Eris walking up behind her.

“Like with me, Diablo, Jun and lots of other people I don’t even know,” Eris replied “Whenever Jamin duels someone he seems to have some sort of power of them. It might take a few tries but eventually he manages it.”

“You mean he sort of sucks the evil out of them?” Kim asked.

“Not exactly,” Eris replied “I think it’s more along the lines of he amplifies the light in a person’s heart and then the feeding off the darkness has nothing to feed on.”

“So if he duels Josh then he’ll get rid of Zorc,” Kim replied “So we didn’t screw up after all, this was supposed to happen. Wait, how do you know so much?”

Eris giggled girlishly.

“I’m a succubus,” she said “I’m older than you think.”

Kim edged away from Eris a bit, suddenly feeling a tad nervous around her.

 

Jamin slowed down and finally came to a halt, leaning on his knees and panting heavily.

“Damn, I can’t find them anywhere,” he muttered.

Aussa appeared next to him, a large blue book under one arm.

“What’s up?” She asked.

“Josh and Mashi-Ushi have vanished,” Jamin explained “I think they were about to duel. But if Mashi-Ushi challenges someone in his state he’s going to get himself killed.

“Ah, that’s bad,” Aussa replied “Wait a minute I thought Mashi-Ushi was our enemy.”

“Now anymore,” Jamin said “The only enemy we have right now is Zorc, and he’d currently feeding off Josh.”

His expression fell a bit and he gazed forwards.

“Jamin?”

“He’s feeding off Josh’s jealousy of me,” he muttered “Did he plan to do this all along? Absorb Josh to get to me?”

Aussa stared at him for a minute and then pushed her glasses slightly further up her nose.

“Jamin, you have about eleven spirits at your disposal,” Aussa said.

Jamin stared down at her, completely non plussed.

“Meaning?”

Aussa heaved a sigh and stepped on his foot. Even if she wasn’t even there it still hurt for some reason.

“Ow!”

“So you can use us to search for them,” Aussa explained.

“Oh, really?”

Aussa stood on his foot again.

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Jamin replied “Guys, go look for Josh and Mashi-Ushi,”

The five charmers and his three gods and their counterparts suddenly shot out of him and vanished from sight, preparing to sweep the entire building.

“Wow,” Jamin muttered “Who’d have thought it would be that easy.”

He checked his watched and began charging down the corridor again.

 

“I’ll take the first move,” Mashi-Ushi said, drawing a card from his deck “And I’ll summon Kaiser Seahorse in attack mode!”

Mashi-Ushi’s aquatic warrior rose up on his field.

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

Josh took a quick look at Mashi-Ushi’s field and drew from his deck without saying a word.

“I summon Skilled Dark Magician in attack mode,” he declared.

One of Josh’s most used monsters rose up in front of him.

“Each time a spell card is activated, Skilled Dark Magician gains a spell counter,” Josh explained “And when he has three I can remove them to special summon the Dark Magician from my deck.”

“That’s what I’m waiting for,” Mashi-Ushi chuckled madly “It’ll be no fun defeating you without you even summoning your strongest monster.”

Josh’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“You’ll get no such satisfaction,” he said “Skilled Dark Magician, attack.”

Josh monster raised his staff and fired a black spell at Mashi-Ushi’s monster, destroying it and reducing his life points to 3800.

“That the best you can do?” he asked “I play the trap card Next of Kin. When a monster I control is destroyed and sent to my graveyard in battle, I can special summon a monster with the same name from my deck.”

Light lit up on Mashi-Ushi’s field and another Kaiser Seahorse rose up in front of him.

“I see,” Josh commented “You’re trying to bring out your Felgrand Dragon aren’t you?”

Mashi-Ushi’s insane face seemed to become even crazier at the sound of this.

“Well, it seems my strategy is far too predictable after all,” he laughed “Oh well. I’ll still defeat you, whether you realize what I’m doing or not.”

Josh’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“You talk too much,” he said “I see you duel with Jamin has left you a bit unstable. I guess you couldn’t handle the defeat.”

“Couldn’t handle it?” Mashi-Ushi chuckled softly “It was a minor set back, nothing will stop me defeating you and your Dark Magician, and then I’ll become the most powerful person on the planet!”

“That is providing there is a planet left,” Josh said.

“We’ll just see about that,” Mashi-Ushi replied.

Josh didn’t reply and took a card from his hand.

“I set one card face down,” he said, a face down hologram appeared in front of him “Then I’ll end my turn.”

 

“Good timing,” Mashi-Ushi replied “I was just about to take my turn anyway.”

He drew a new card from his deck and placed it in his hand.

“I think you know what comes next,” he said “I sacrifice my Kaiser Seahorse for Felgrand Dragon.”

A slight smirk crossed Josh’s face as he looked up at the giant golden dragon rising up on Mashi-Ushi’s field.

“That monster is getting old,” Josh noted “You’re nothing but an old dog that can’t learn new tricks.”

“Maybe so,” Mashi-Ushi laughed “But the tricks I do know are enough to defeat you.”

“Your overconfidence will be your downfall,” Josh said.

“And you said I talk too much,” Mash-Ushi grinned “Well let’s find out who’s the stronger then, Felgrand Dragon, attack Skilled Dark Magician!”

Mashi-Ushi’s monster reared up and blasted a wave of golden flames towards Josh’s Skilled Dark Magician.

“Your attack activates my face down,” Josh said “Magical Dimension.”

“Huh?”

“This card allows me to sacrifice one spellcaster monster on my field and then special summon another from my hand,” Josh explained.

“If that’s so then why didn’t you play it before hand?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“It’s simple,” Josh replied “I knew you were planning on summoning your Felgrand Dragon, so rather than give you the opportunity to see what I had planned before I used this card, I’d prefer to keep a few surprised in store.”

A golden Sarcophagus appeared on Josh’s field and clamped around the Skilled Dark Magician.

“Now, thanks to this card’s effect, I can now summon my Dark Magician!” Josh declared.

Light suddenly broke free of the Sarcophagus and Josh’s Dark Magician broke out of it, landing neatly on Josh’s field. Upon seeing this Mashi-Ushi’s eyes widened excitedly and he began laughing madly.

“Perfect!” He yelled “This is just perfect, everything I wanted. Now I can finally do what I swore to do years ago, my Felgrand Dragon and your Dark Magician can finally have the battle they’ve longer for, and I shall rein supreme.”

Felgrand Dragon opened its mouth and roared loudly, glaring down at Josh’s Dark Magician. The Dark Magician merely stared back up at it with his arms crossed.

“Rein supreme?” Josh asked “What makes you so sure about that?”

“It’s obvious isn’t it?” Mashi-Ushi laughed “My Felgrand Dragon has far more attack points than your Dark Magician, so once they battle your Dark Magician will be destroyed.”

“Well, I’m afraid they won’t get a chance to battle,” Josh explained.

“What?” Mashi-Ushi looked at him “What are you talking about?”

“I’m referring to my Magical Dimension’s second effect,” Josh explained “After summoning my monster, I’m allowed to destroy one monster my opponent controls.”

Mashi-Ushi’s grin dropped off his face and his eyes grew even wider.

“What!”

Josh’s Dark Magician raised his staff and fired a beam of green energy at Mashi-Ushi’s Felgrand Dragon. It roared in pain as the beam hit and then shattered into infinitesimal pieces. Mashi-Ushi stared up in horror at where his monster had just been. Josh merely stared at him, waiting for him to declare an end to his turn.

“Well?” He asked “Are you done?”

Mashi-Ushi turned to glare at him, clearly enraged.

“You’ll pay for that!” He barked.

“Yeah, a lot of people say that,” Josh replied.

Mashi-Ushi’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

 

Without waiting for him to declare an end Josh quietly drew the next card from his deck.

“Now then,” he said his voice full of calm “Dark Magician, attack his life points directly.”

Josh’s monster jumped up into the air and aimed his staff down at Mashi-Ushi, firing a sphere of green energy straight towards him.

“Your attack activates my trap,” Mashi-Ushi said “Guard Block. This card negates all battle damage and allows me to draw a card.”

“Hm, still using old trick I see,” Josh replied “How appropriate, seeing as you’re old news now.”

“Shut up!” Mashi-Ushi yelled.

“Face it,” Josh said “Once you lost to Jamin you’re dueling talents just dropped straight out of you. Your threat is over and mine is just beginning, all that stands in my way is Jamin and you barely even count as an obstacle.”

Mashi-Ushi’s face was a picture of rage, however in barely a second it morphed back into his mad smile and he began laughing again, causing Josh to narrowed his eyes.

“You’re underestimating me,” Mashi-Ushi laughed “That’s a dangerous move. Next thing you know I’ll have pulled out my strongest combo and you won’t have the cards on the field to stop me.”

“Well then, you don’t know me as well as you think you do,” Josh commented.

“We’ll see about that,” Mashi-Ushi said, drawing a card thanks to the effect of Guard Block.

“I suppose,” Josh replied “For now I’ll lay one card face down and end my turn.”

 

Jamin carried on charging through the corridors of the Kaiba dome, looking this way and that to try and catch sight of Josh and Mashi-Ushi.

“Damn it, where could they have gone?” He muttered, getting more and more irritated by the second.

He looked around and saw Darc land in front of him, looking out of breath.

“Darc,” he commented “Did you find them.”

Darc nodded, attempting to speak between large gulps of air.

“Y-yeah,” she panted “In a sore room, dueling.”

Jamin’s eyes widened slightly.

“That idiot,” he muttered, running past Darc.

“Hey!” Darc yelled after him “It’s this way!”

“What?” Jamin came to an abrupt halt and turned around “Oh, thanks.”

He sprinted past Darc again and back down the corridor.

“Hey!” Darc called again “At least wait for me to catch my breath, you don’t even know where the store room is!”

“Oh, right,” Jamin came to a halt again and paused, waiting for Darc “This had better not take long.”

“Don’t worry,” Darc said, jogging up beside Jamin “I have a good sense of direction.”

She ran off down the corridor with Jamin in hot pursuit.

“So how’s it looking?” Jamin asked.

“Hard to say at the moment,” Darc said “I only took a glance, though it didn’t look like Mashi-Ushi was doing to well.”

“Like I said, he’s gonna get himself killed,” Jamin muttered.

“Why do you care about him so much?” Darc asked.

“I just don’t want him to kill himself,” Jamin said “As a matter a fact I don’t want Josh to kill him either, it’s just…”

He trailed off, lost for words.

“Well whatever the reason I’m sure it’s something important to you,” Darc replied.

 

“My draw,” Mashi-Ushi took a new card from his deck “I play the spell card Trade In. Thanks to this card’s effect, I can draw two cards and ditch a level seven or higher monster from my hand to the graveyard.”

“I know how it words,” Josh said.

“So I’ll take two cards,” Mashi-Ushi said “And send Tyrant Dragon to the graveyard.”

Mashi-Ushi took Tyrant Dragon from his hand and sent him into the slot on his duel disk for his graveyard.

“Next I summon one monster in defense mode, place one card face down and end my turn,” Mashi-Ushi said.

Josh looked down as a face down monster card appeared on Mashi-Ushi’s field. Josh’s eyes narrowed as it appeared.

“It’s not like Mashi-Ushi to cower behind defense monsters like that,” he thought “Especially with no face downs for support. It plainly obvious that whatever that creature is it’s going to bring back his Felgrand Dragon and then he’ll take his Tyrant Dragon and use it to increase his Felgrand Dragon’s attack power. He’s as predictable as ever.”

Josh drew a new card from his deck and placed it in his hand.

“Right now I need to counter his Felgrand Dragon,” he looked down at his hand “Perfect.”

Mashi-Ushi raised an eyebrow as he watched Josh prepare his next move.

“I summon Marks Magician,” Josh said.

A new monster rose up on his field, this one wearing a light blue jacket and armored trousers in the same style as the rest of the Dark Magician cards. He carried a long wooden staff with a pyramid shaped blue gem at the end.

“This card is perfect for a deck like mine,” Josh said “Because every time a monster is special summoned my opponent loses 1000 life points.”

“Really now,” Mashi-Ushi replied “How interesting.

“In other words when you use your face down monster to summon your Felgrand Dragon you’ll take 1000 points of damage.”

“Well? Are you going to attack then?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

Josh’s eyes narrowed.

“He’s not the least bit phased,” he thought “Is he really that mad that he’ll risk so many life points just to summon a monster.”

“What are you waiting for?” Mashi-Ushi asked “Attack me already. Attack me!”

“His monster’s effect won’t activate if I don’t attack,” Josh thought “But if I don’t attack he might have something else in store, my only chance is to risk it.”

“Dark Magician attack,” Josh ordered.

Josh’s monster jumped high into the air again, firing his attack down at Mashi-Ushi’s monster. It flipped up to reveal a white jar with red markings and a grinning one eyes face inside it.

“What?” Surprise crossed Josh’s face for the first time in ages.

“What were you saying about old tricks?” Mashi-Ushi laughed “I knew you’d try and predict my moves so I’ve thought even further ahead. Now my Morphing Jar #2 returns all our monsters to our decks, then we each draw three cards, all low level monsters are special summoned in defense mode while high level monsters along with spell and trap cards are sent to the graveyard.”

Josh glared at Mashi-Ushi as Dark Magician, Marks Magician and Morphing Jar #2 all vanished from the field. Josh returned his cards to his deck and shuffled it before picking up three cards. Mashi-Ushi did the same and grinned.

“I’ll summon two monsters in defense mode,” he said, placing two face down monsters horizontally on his field “And send Darkblaze Dragon to my graveyard.”

Josh looked at his own cards and sent Dark Magician, Magical Cylinders and Dark Magic Sphere to his graveyard.

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

“Very well,” Mashi-Ushi drew from his deck “I flip summon Spear Cretin!”

Mashi-Ushi’s little imp creature flipped up onto his field, dancing as he did so and looking extremely silly.

“After Spear Cretin is flipped up, all I need to do is sent him to the graveyard and we both get to special summon a monster from our respective graveyards,” Mashi-Ushi explained “So I’m going to sacrifice him for Luster Dragon #2!”

Spear Cretin vanished in a display of lights and was replaced by a giant emerald green dragon.

“Now as I’m sure you can guess what’s coming next,” Mashi-Ushi said “I summon Felgrand Dragon!”

“And I play the Dark Magician!”

Mashi-Ushi’s great golden dragon rose up out of the ground in front of him, letting out a mighty roar. At the same time Josh’s Dark Magician rose up on his field, his arms folded and the same evil grin on his face.

“As I’m sure you can guess, I now take my Tyrant Dragon from my graveyard and equip it to my Felgrand Dragon,” Mashi-Ushi said “This raising his attack points by 1600.”

Felgrand Dragon roared and glowed as its attack points rose to 4400.

“Now to destroy that Dark Magician once and for all!” Mashi-Ushi yelled “Felgrand Dragon attack with all your might!”

Mashi-Ushi’s monster let out a mighty roar and began charging a golden fireball in his mouth.

“Fire!” Mashi-Ushi ordered.

The Felgrand Dragon unleashed its attack, heading straight towards Josh’s Dark Magician.

“Your attack activates my trap card,” Josh said “Sunder.”

Mashi-Ushi’s eyes widened.

“This trap card takes the increases in one monster’s original attack points and reverses it,” Josh explained “Turning it into a decrease instead.”

“Y-you’re joking,” Mashi-Ushi cried.

“Nope.”

Felgrand Dragon roared as its attack points lowered to 1200.

“Now Dark Magician, destroy him,” Josh ordered.

Josh’s monster fired back, tearing through the pillar of flame and hitting the Felgrand Dragon, destroying it and reducing Mashi-Ushi’s life points to 2500. Mashi-Ushi stared in horror at where his monster had just been as the pieces of his fell to the floor.

 

“For all your talk it looks like the Dark Magician is still superior to your Felgrand Dragon,” Josh explained “Sorry, but it looks like that oath of yours is going to be left unfulfilled.”

“Be silent!” Mashi-Ushi yelled “I will defeat you, I swear it. I swear on my life that I will defeat you.”

“That’s not a very good choice,” Josh said “After all, you’ll be dead in a few minutes anyway.”

“Wanna bet?” Mashi-Ushi laughed “I’ll end my turn there but mark my words your Dark Magician will fall!”

“We’ll just see about that,” Josh replied, drawing a card from his deck “Now then, I play my Dark Magic Curtain. By this card’s effect I pay half my life points to special summon one Dark Magician from my deck.”

A red curtain draped over Josh’s field and was swept aside to reveal a second Dark Magician.

“Face it,” Josh said “You’ve lost.”

“Me? Lose? Impossible!” Mashi-Ushi laughed “I never lose.”

“You lost to Jamin,” Josh said “Or is that just a dream now?”

Mashi-Ushi glared at Josh, utter hatred showing through his madness.

“Well, either way,” Josh said “Dark Magician attack his Luster Dragon!”

Josh’s monster raised his staff and fired, completely destroying Mashi-Ushi’s monster and reducing his life points to 2400.

“Now Dark Magician, attack his face down monster,” Josh ordered.

Josh’s second monster raised his staff and fired, heading towards Mashi-Ushi’s face down monster. It flipped up to reveal another Spear Cretin.

“What?”

“You’ve activated my Spear Cretin’s effect,” Mashi-Ushi said “As I’m sure you remember, when he’s sent to the graveyard after being flipped, I can special summon one monster from my graveyard.”

Sure enough Mashi-Ushi’s Felgrand Dragon rose up behind him once again, his attack points rising to 4400.

“And due to your Dark Magic Curtain’s effect, you can’t summon any monsters,” Mashi-Ushi said “And now my monster reins supreme!”

Felgrand Dragon let out a mighty roar, glaring down at the two Dark Magicians.

“Very well,” Josh replied “I’ll lay two cards face down and end my turn.”

“And now I’ll end this duel,” Mashi-Ushi said, drawing a card “The time has finally come. I summon Mirage Dragon in defense mode.”

Mashi-Ushi’s old, spindly dragon rose up next to Felgrand Dragon, its wings crossed in front of it.

“This is just insurance,” Mashi-Ushi explained “You see as long as my Mirage Dragon is on the field you can’t activate trap cards during my battle phase.”

Josh merely glared at him.

 

Jamin sprinted down the corridor even when Darc stopped next to a door.

“Hey, it’s this one you moron!” Darc yelled.

“Oh,” Jamin stopped and jogged back next to her “You sure?”

“Positive,” Darc said “I can feel their monsters in there; they’re angry, really angry.”

Jamin glanced at her before pushing the button to open the door, it slid open and he ran inside, seeing the pair in the middle of their duel.

“Josh, Mashi-Ushi!” He yelled.

Josh immediately turned to glare at him and Mashi-Ushi glanced over his shoulder, his eyes wide with madness.

“Playing the hero again I see,” Josh muttered.

Jamin stared in horror at the field before turning to Mashi-Ushi.

“Mashi-Ushi,” he said “You have to stop. You don’t have the strength to duel, you’re gonna kill yourself!”

“You’re underestimating me again, Jamin,” Mashi-Ushi said “Believe me there’s nothing you can do to stop me now!”

“Mashi-Ushi!”

“Felgrand Dragon, attack his Dark Magician!” Mashi-Ushi ordered, his insanity reaching its peak “And end this forever!”

“Stop!”

“Too late!”

Mashi-Ushi’s monster drew its head back and fired the attack heading straight towards Josh’s Dark Magician.

“I play my face down card,” Josh said “Dedication Through Light and Darkness. Allowing me to release my Dark Magician for Dark Magician of Chaos!”

Josh’s first magician vanished and was replaced by the much more powerful Dark Magician of Chaos.

“And thanks to his effect, I can move one spell card from my graveyard to my hand,” Josh said, taking a card from his graveyard.

“True,” Mashi-Ushi said “But since you changed monsters I can switch my attack to your other Dark Magician!”

Josh glanced over at his second magician as it was destroyed and his life points were reduced to 100.

“Huh?” Mashi-Ushi stared ahead blankly before checking his duel disk for some reason “Hm. I guess I must’ve miscalculated.”

“What?” Jamin’s jaw dropped slightly.

“Well, no matter,” Mashi-Ushi said “I’ll just have to finish you off next turn.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be happening,” Josh said, as he drew a card.

“Guys, please stop it!” Jamin yelled “This is pointless.”

“Be quiet!” Josh and Mashi-Ushi both yelled in unison.

Jamin recoiled slightly, stepped back a few paces.

“I guess I have no choice,” he muttered “Looks like there’s nothing I can do for Mashi-Ushi after all.”

He took one glance at the mad expression on Mashi-Ushi’s face.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered.

 

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 49: We're almost done now, I'm so close now my fingers are shaking and causing me to make tupos...:p...

 

[spoiler=episode]Both Josh and Mashi-Ushi glared at each other, Josh with a dark scowl and Mashi-Ushi with an expression of utter insanity. Jamin watched on, helpless as the two of them continued their duel.

“This is nuts,” he muttered “Mashi-Ushi’s got no hope here, if Josh gets a direct attack at his life points it won’t just be the duel he loses.”

Darc appeared next to him sitting on one of the crates that filled the room.

“What are you complaining about?” She asked “Mashi-Ushi’s our enemy and so is Josh, it shouldn’t matter who wins this duel.”

“It does matter,” Jamin replied “In fact, the duel should never have been started in the first place, Mashi-Ushi’s snapped.”

“Clearly,” Darc replied “But there’s nothing you can do about it now.”

Jamin glared at her.

“Enough delays,” Mashi-Ushi said “I’ll lay one card face down and end my turn.”

Josh calmly drew a new card from his deck, took a glance at it and then gazed up at Felgrand Dragon.

“I’ll switch my Dark Magician of Chaos into defense mode and lay one card face down,” he said.

Josh’s magician crouched down and crossed his arms over his chest.

At this Mashi-Ushi burst out laughing.

“What’s the matter?” He asked “Going soft.”

“Well no matter,” Mashi-Ushi said “Felgrand Dragon, attack the Dark Magician of Chaos!”

Felgrand Dragon roared and golden flames began licking about inside its mouth. It opened its mouth wide and fired at Josh monster.

“I activate my face down card,” Josh said “Dark Magic Sphere.”

“Huh?”

Felgrand Dragon’s attack washed over Josh’s monster; however when the flames cleared the Dark Magician of Chaos was still there with a clear orb floating around him.

“What the heck is that?” Mashi-Ushi demanded.

“My Dark Magic Sphere can prevent my monster from being destroyed in battle,” Josh explained “In other words your attack was nullified.”

Mashi-Ushi glared at him.

 

“Obviously your insanity has caused you to lose focus,” Josh commented “My Dark Magic Sphere gives my monster immunity for the whole turn, not just one battle.”

“You…You…” Mashi-Ushi was clearly enraged and growing ever crazier by the second.

“This isn’t good,” Jamin muttered “Mashi-Ushi, snap out of it!”

The two duelists ignored him as Josh drew a new card from his deck. He took one glance at it and a satisfied grin crossed his face.

“This can’t be good,” Jamin muttered.

Darc leaned forwards so as to see what Josh was doing much better.

“He’s smiling;” she muttered “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Not when he’s evil,” Jamin pointed out.

“I switch my Chaos mage into attack mode,” Josh said, his Dark Magician of Chaos standing up as he did so.

“What’s the use in that?” Mash-Ushi asked his eyes wide with insanity “My Felgrand Dragon has almost double the attack points of your Dark Magician of Chaos.”

“Exactly,” Josh said “Which is why I’m playing the equip spell card Megamorph.”

“Say what?”

“Megamorph is a powerful card to use in a bind,” Josh explained “If my life points are lower than my opponent’s then the equipped monsters attack is doubled. If not then the attack is halved.”

“So that’s why he let Mashi-Ushi destroy his Dark Magician so easily,” Jamin muttered.

“Huh?” Darc looked over at him.

“In most cases when a monster equipped with Megamorph attacks then the player who he attacks will fall behind in life points, meaning that monsters attack points would then halve instead,” Jamin explained “But Josh has 100 life points, they don’t go much lower.”

“Oh,” Darc exclaimed “Now I see. He was planning this all along.”

“Yeah, he does that,” Jamin muttered “Right from the first hand.”

“Dark Magician of Chaos,” Josh ordered “Attack Felgrand Dragon!”

Josh’s monster glowed red and his attack points rose to 5600. He span his staff through the air and slammed it into the ground, sending a sphere of crackling black magic along the floor towards Felgrand Dragon. The attack hit and shot along Felgrand Dragon, causing it to roar in pain before it shattered once again. Mashi-Ushi yelled as his life points dropped to 1200.

“That’s some bond you have with your monster,” Josh commented “He just keeps getting sent to the graveyard again and again, I don’t see how he can put up with you sometimes.”

Mashi-Ushi glared at him, panting heavily and trying to suppress his anger, which was made difficult by his insanity.

“I swear,” he said slowly “You will pay for that. Even if it kills me.”

“It probably will,” Jamin muttered.

“You be quiet,” Mashi-Ushi said, glancing over at him “Because once I’m done here you’re next.”

 

“Dude, I already beat you,” Jamin said “So get over it. You’ve failed and killing yourself isn’t going to fix that.”

“You underestimate me, Jamin,” Mashi-Ushi said, his eyes growing wider and wider “You have no idea of the power I possess, of the mystical forces that bind me to this world. Beware, Jamin, for the second I let my guard down you won’t even have a chance to breath before I…”

“He’s flipped,” Jamin muttered.

“That’s what comes from being power hungry,” Darc replied “I wish they’d get this over with I’m getting bored.”

“What the hell is wrong with you anyway?” Jamin asked.

Mashi-Ushi turned his attention back to Josh.

“I’m going to win,” he laughed softly “I’m going to win and take those precious powers from you; the Dark Magician shall rein no more.”

“Your constant boasts are beginning to bore me,” Josh said “Just get on with your turn and make it quick. I want to defeat Jamin as quickly as possible.”

He cast Jamin an angry glare, causing Jamin to recoil slightly.

“Okay, okay I get it,” Jamin said “You absolutely hate my guts, okay fair enough.”

Josh didn’t reply and looked back towards Mashi-Ushi as he drew a card from his deck.

“I play Future Fusion,” he said “With this card’s effect, I send Rare Metal Dragon, Luster Dragon, Spear Dragon, Decoy Dragon and Spirit Ryu from my deck to my grave, and in two turns I can fusion summon Five God Dragon.”

Josh looked unimpressed.

“But why wait till then when I can play Dragon’s mirror and summon him now!” Mashi-Ushi laughed.

He took the spell card from his hand and activated it, removing the five dragons he’d just sent to the graveyard from play. A massive pillar of light shone on Mashi-Ushi’s field, almost blinding Jamin and out of it rose the gigantic five headed Dragon.

“Amazing,” Jamin muttered, forgetting Mashi-Ushi was on the brink of death “So that’s Five God Dragon.”

The Dragon roared, it had five heads, one made of metal, one made of fire, a blue aquatic one, a yellow one with several spikes upon it and a black one.

“Five heads,” Jamin muttered “Imagine the arguments.”

“This is no time to be impressed,” Darc said.

“Whose side are you on anyway?” Jamin asked.

The dragon was crouched down with its wings folded in front of him, it was in defense mode.

“As powerful as your monster is it doesn’t have the attack points to stand up to my Dark Magician of Chaos,” Josh said, barely even phased by the dragon’s appearance.

“True, but I’m sure you know what my Five God Dragon’s effect is,” Mashi-Ushi explained “He can only be destroyed by Light attribute monsters, and since all the cards in your deck are Dark attribute that means you don’t stand a chance of defeating him.”

“You’ve gotta admit, he has a point,” Darc said “It’s a stalemate.”

“Let’s hope this doesn’t get too tedious,” Jamin muttered.

Josh drew a new card from his deck, silent as always.

“There’s more than one way to destroy a monster,” he said “But for now I summon my Rapid Fire Magician!”

Josh’s double staffed wizard rose up on his field.

“Thanks to his effect, whenever I play a normal spell card you lose 400 life points.”

“This doesn’t look good,” Jamin muttered.

“How do you mean?” Darc asked.

“Well, Mashi-Ushi has only 1200 life points left,” Jamin explained “All Josh needs is three spell cards and he’s won.”

“So you’re saying that big dragon is a waste of time?” Darc asked.

“Err…That’s not what I was getting at but it is implied I guess,” Jamin replied, sounding slightly irritated.

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

Mashi-Ushi stared at Josh’s field and burst into laughter, Josh merely glared back at him.

“You fool,” Mashi-Ushi laughed “Putting your monster in attack mode like that gives me a direct route to your life points, what’s the matter? Getting Cocky!”

Josh didn’t reply he merely carried on staring at Mashi-Ushi.

“Well, whatever,” Mashi-Ushi chuckled “Because now you’ll experience true pain, Five God Dragon attack!”

The five headed dragon got to its feet, each of its five heads roaring in unison.

“This is gonna hurt,” Jamin muttered.

“Fire!” Mashi-Ushi ordered.

Each of the dragons released a blast of their separate elements towards Josh’s Rapid Fire Magician, however Josh didn’t make a move to stop him until the attack was just about to hit.

“I activate my trap card,” he said “Attack Guidance Armor.”

“Huh?”

Josh’s trap card flipped up and a breastplate with a face carved into it locked itself around his Dark Magician of Chaos.

“Thanks to this card’s effect, you’re now forced to attack my Chaos Mage,” Josh explained.

The attack diverted and started heading towards Josh’s monster. The Dark Magician of Chaos raised his staff, firing a beam of energy back at the Five God Dragon and tearing through the wave of elements. The chaos mage’s attack hit and exploded off the Five God Dragon.

“Pathetic,” Josh muttered.

The smoke cleared and Five God Dragon was still standing.

“As I’m sure you’re aware, your dark attribute monsters can’t destroy my Five God Dragon,” Mashi-Ushi explained “And as an added bonus, I don’t take any damage from those battles either.”

“Well, isn’t that convenient for you,” Josh muttered.

“Absolutely,” Mashi-Ushi chuckled “But since I can’t do anything else I’ll end my turn.”

Josh glared at him and drew, taking a glance at his cards.

“I activate my Pot of Greed,” he said “Not only do I get two cards, but you lose 400 life points.”

“Huh?”

Rapid Fire Magician raised one of his staffs and fired at Mashi-Ushi, decreasing his life points to 800.

“You’re almost done,” Josh said “I’ll lay one card face down and switch Rapid Fire Magician into defense mode.”

A face down card appeared behind Josh’s monsters and his Rapid Fire Magician crouched down, crossing both staffs in front of him.

“Heh, your tactics are starting to bore me,” Mashi-Ushi said, staggering slightly as he drew.

He looked at his card and his eyes widened with excitement.

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

Josh’s eyes narrowed slightly. He took a new card from his deck and gazed at it.

“I activate Monster Reborn,” he said “And resurrect my Dark Magician.”

Josh Dark Magician rose up on his field again in defense position.

“And thanks to my Rapid Fire Magician’s effect, you lose 400 life points.”

Rapid Fire Magician took aim and fired, decreasing Mashi-Ushi’s life points to 400.

 

“This game’s nearly over,” Darc muttered “Both players have less than 100 life points, the next one to inflict damage wins.”

“You’ll regret not taking another swing at my life points,” Mashi-Ushi laughed “I play my face down, Deal of Phantom.”

Surprise crossed Josh’s face as Mashi-Ushi’s face down card flipped up.

“Thanks to this card’s effect, my Five God Dragon gains 100 attack points for each monster in my graveyard,” Mash-Ushi explained.

Josh looked at his face down card, his face set.

“You’re finished,” Mashi-Ushi cried “Five God Dragon, attack his Dark Magician of Chaos and end this duel!”

“Mashi-Ushi, don’t!” Jamin yelled.

Five God Dragon raised its five heads and blasted at Josh’s monster with each one. Josh calmly raised his arm and pressed a button on his duel disk.

“I play my face down card,” he said “Roar of Pride.”

“Huh?” Mashi-Ushi’s smile faded.

“With this card’s effect, my magician’s attack raises to 300 times more than your dragons,” Josh explained.

“W-what?” Mashi-Ushi cried.

Josh’s monster glowed red and his attack points rose. He raised one hand and blocked the dragon’s five blasts effortlessly and sent a ball of black magic back at the Five God Dragon. Mashi-Ushi gazed up in horror as the attack exploded against his monster.

“Think yourself lucky,” Josh said “You don’t take any damage and your monster’s still there.”

Mashi-Ushi was still horror struck, his mouth was opening and closing but nothing was coming out.

“I guess I’ll end this,” Josh said, drawing a card. He took one glance at it and activated it immediately “With the spell card Swords of Revealing Light.”

Mashi-Ushi turned slowly to face him, his insanity gone and replaced with fear.

“You wouldn’t,” he said quietly.

“I just did,” Josh replied.

Several swords made of light crashed down on Mashi-Ushi’s field, creating a cage around his monster. The Josh’s Rapid Fire Magician raised his staff towards Mashi-Ushi and prepared to fire.

 

Many years ago the mini Mashi-Ushi stared up at the great golden dragon that had torn through the cruise boat he and his family had been journeying on. The dragon looked down at him and let out a roar and the next thing Mashi-Ushi knew he was blacking out. He awoke hours, maybe days later and found himself on a beach with no sigh of the ship or his parents. He sat up and gazed around.

“Where am I?” He muttered.

He looked up and saw the golden dragon looming over him; however Mashi-Ushi didn’t back away in fear.

“Child,” a voice spoke, probably from the dragon “I desire power, power to grow stronger. Do you have that power?”

“Power?” Mashi-Ushi stared at him.

“I sense untapped power within you,” the dragon said “Allow me to open that power and you shall become unstoppable.”

Mashi-Ushi stood up, staring in awe at the dragon.

“I ask only one thing in return,” the dragon said “Enslave yourself in a bond with me and become my tool for destruction.”

“You want the power I have?” Mashi-Ushi repeated “And if I let you unlock it, I have to do whatever you say.”

“Correct,” the dragon said.

“And I’ll be unbeatable?” Mashi-Ushi asked.

“Also correct,”

“Okay then,” Mashi-Ushi bowed his head and closed his eyes.

The dragon let out a mighty roar and vanished in a wave of light. Mashi-Ushi stood still for a few minutes, not moving. When he opened his eyes he saw a card lying on the ground in front of him and he bent down to pick it up.

“Felgrand Dragon,” he read.

As he stared at the card a grin spread across his face and he began chuckling softly. He looked up and began walking off the beach towards who knew what, pocketing the dragon card as he did so.

 

“You lied to me!” Mashi-Ushi yelled back in the present “You said I was unbeatable, you promised me, you said…”

He gazed up and his eyes widened in horror as he saw the Felgrand Dragon standing over him once again.

“You have failed me,” the dragon said.

“No,” Mashi-Ushi shook his head “No, no please don’t.”

The Rapid Fire Magician’s attack his Mashi-Ushi dead on. He froze for a second, suspended by invisible strings. Then his life points dropped to zero and he fell backwards, the holograms around him fading.

“How pathetic,” Josh sighed, deactivating his duel disk and striding past Jamin towards the door.

“Mashi-Ushi!”

He ran over to where Mashi-Ushi was lying on the floor, still muttering. He rolled his head over and looked up at Jamin.

“He promised me,” He said quietly “And I believed him. I can’t believe I was so gullible.”

“Hold on,” Jamin said “I’ll get someone from the medical wing, just wait here.”

“No,” Mashi-Ushi said “It’s too late now.”

He reached up with one arm. Jamin stared at him, unsure what he was doing.

“Take it,” Mashi-Ushi said “It took me so long to collect it all; it would be a shame to put it all to waste.”

“But I…”

“Jamin,” Mashi-Ushi said “You’re spirit level is just higher than Josh’s on his own and on level with Zorc’s, right now you need all the spiritual energy you can get to defeat him.”

Jamin stared at the hand for a second but didn’t take it.

“No,” he said “You’ve got Diablo’s powers in there, and so many others. I don’t want to forbid them from finding peace any longer Mashi-Ushi, let them go.”

Mashi-Ushi stared at him for a second, disbelief showing on his face.

“If you don’t take it, you’ll lose,” he said.

“If I do take it I’ll never forgive myself,” Jamin said “Remember what I said? I’m not taking anything from you. Even if it means I’ll have a disadvantage when I’m facing Josh.”

“You…” Mashi-Ushi stared at him “You won’t take it?”

“No,” Jamin shook his head “Never.”

A slight smile crept across Mashi-Ushi’s face and he chuckled softly.

“In that case, I’ll see you later,” he said.

Jamin grinned; however a tear dripped down one cheek and fell to the floor. Mashi-Ushi’s arm fell to the floor and his head rolled over to one side, his eyes glazed over and his face that of a frozen laugh. Jamin reached over and closed the lids of Mashi-Ushi’s eyes and stood up, wiping the tears from his face.”

“Darc,” he said.

Dark walked up next to him, her face serious.

“Yes?” She asked “What is it?”

“Come on,” Jamin said “We’ve got a duel to win.”

“Got it,” Darc nodded.

With that Jamin turned about, walking out of the room and leaving Mashi-Ushi’s body behind. Once outside the door slid closed behind him and he paused for a second, not moving. Then he raised his fist and slammed it into the wall opposite, uttering the loudest and rudest word he knew before more tears fell from his eyes to the floor.

“That’s enough!” He yelled “No more, I swear, there will be no more. Too many people have died already because of this whole mixed up destiny of mine, my mum, Kim’s mum, Josh’s grandfather, and the other keepers, Kain, Kara, Kabeshin, Diablo, Mashi-Ushi and too many others. This won’t happen anymore.”

Darc looked up at him, unsure of what to say.

“Jamin,” she muttered.

Jamin stood up straight again, wiping the tears from his face once more.

“What?”

He was about to turn round when he saw Darc’s slightly transparent arms wrap themselves around his middle and she looked over his shoulder to see her clutching him tightly, although since she was a spirit it didn’t feel like much of a hug to him, however he still felt lost for words at the sight of her.

“Well, I guess we’d better get going,” he said.

“Yeah,” Darc replied, letting go.

Jamin turned about and began walking towards the arena, there was still about twenty minutes left until the final round began but he couldn’t hold it in any longer, he had to face Josh as soon as possible and put an end to this whole thing.

 

The crowd was beginning to file back into the arena even though there was still time left until the next match. Kim and Eris sat together near the front of the stands and had a clear view of the platform when it was raised.

“I hope Jamin will be okay,” Kim muttered.

“He’ll be fine,” Eris replied “Don’t worry about him.”

“But I am worried,” Kim replied “If Jamin screws up then…”

“Then he won’t screw up,” Eris said “Stop worrying so much.”

“Yeah, okay,” Kim muttered.

“Nervous for your boyfriend?”

Kim looked up and jumped, seeing Sammy sitting next to her and looking rather irritated.

“S-S-S-S-S-Sammy?” She cried “What are you doing here?”

“What does it look like, bird brain?” Sammy asked, not realizing the irony of his insult “Watching.”

“B-bird brain?” Kim repeated, anger rising in her voice.

“Hey, chill you two; you’ll ruin it for the rest of us,”

Kim looked round to see Drem sitting behind them with one arm in a sling.

“Not you too,” Kim moaned.

“Hey, you wanted to sit in the front row,” Eris shrugged.

“Hardly surprising,”

“Don’t tell me,” Kim muttered, looking around to see Jun sitting next to Drem and wearing one of the spare jackets he said he had “I knew it.”

“Well, this is nostalgic,” Drem grinned.

“You’re telling me,” Kim muttered “Why are you all coming to sit by me anyway.”

“Hey, I fancied a chat,” Drem said.

“I’m here by coincidence,” Sammy replied.

“And what about you?” Kim glared at Jun.

“I don’t know,” Jun replied.

“Liar!”

“Hey, chill,” Drem said “You’re gonna ruin that pretty face of yours.”

“And you stop flirting with me!” Kim yelled.

“Well at least she’s not worrying about Jamin anymore,” Eris muttered.

She looked down at the arena as people began to file in.

“There’s ten minutes left until the final duel,” the announcer declared “For anybody still not back in their seats you have ten minutes to finish what you’re doing and return to the arena.”

Eris was beginning to fidget slightly, twiddling her thumbs and biting her lip. Kim on the other hand had suddenly gone into a huff and was ignoring pretty much everyone else around her.

 

Back in the waiting room both Jamin and Josh were sitting on opposite sofas facing each other. Neither of them moved or blinked and seemed to be trying to out glare their opponent. The ten minute warning came over the loudspeaker and they both ignored it and continued to glare at one another.

“I can’t understand it,” Jamin said, breaking the silence “Why? Why did you suddenly let yourself become a slave to your own hatred?”

“Perhaps none of this would have happened if I had been chosen over you,” Josh replied “I was the one who inherited the power of the Dark Magician, I was the one who grew up being told the stories of the Pharaoh and his secrets, I’m the one descended from the tomb keepers, I was the one who taught you to play this game and beat you in every duel we ever had! So why aren’t I the one destined to save the world? I bet that goddess is regretting her choice now.”

“Josh,” Jamin muttered “You’ve got it all wrong, I never wanted to be the one to do all this, if I could I’ve have gladly swapped with you any day, but I’m the only one who can defeat Zorc.”

“You say that, but I destroyed him myself,” Josh laughed.

“You’re wrong,” Jamin said “Zorc tricked you, he’s inside you and he’s controlling you. He’s messing with your head and making you…”

“Silence!” Josh snapped “I control Zorc’s power now, not the other way around.”

“That’s it,” Jamin muttered, realizing suddenly “That’s why he dueled you back then, he used that victory to plant something in you and once you began to get jealous of me that thing began to grow and now its got hold of you completely.”

“What are you talking about?” Josh asked.

“Josh, there must be something of you left in there,” Jamin said “Tell me what do you honestly, truly think of me.”

Josh closed his eyes and didn’t even look at Jamin.

“I hate you,” he replied.

Jamin froze, the words biting into him like a sword that had gone straight through his heart.

“Josh,” he mouthed.

The loudspeaker came on again and the announcer’s voice came over it: “Five minutes until the final duel. I repeat, five minutes until the final duel. If you’re still doing stuff you’d better drop everything and run for it.”

The speaker turned off and plunged the room into silence again. Jamin gritted his teeth and stood up, walking towards the door.

 

“Josh,” he said “If you really truly hate me then you should know that I’m not going to hold back against you. I’m going to keep dueling my hardest until the friend I knew is back.”

He turned around to look at him, a determined expression on his face.

“I’ll beat you Josh,” he said “Then maybe everything will be back to normal.”

“You do that,” Josh replied, standing up “But just remember that no matter how close you’ve come, I’ve still won every duel we’ve ever had.”

Jamin’s eyes narrowed as did Josh’s.

“Finalists, please make your way to the arena for your final duel,” the announcer said, and then Kaiba’s voice suddenly took over “And may the best duelist win.”

Jamin nodded and walked out of the door, closely followed by Josh. The two of them walked silently down the corridor towards the arena, neither one looking at the other or even acknowledging their existence. They emerged into the arena to a loud cheer and every spotlight in the building focused on them.

“Welcome everyone to the final of the duel rally tournament!” The announcer said as the two duelists made their way to the arena and stood opposite each other, both glaring daggers at the other.

The cheers from the crowd made it very hard to heard anything, and Jamin felt like he was going to go deaf by the time this duel was finished, one way or the other.

“Josh,” he said, not even sure if Josh could hear him over the crowd “I know you’re in there somewhere, and I’m going to get you back, I swear it. Then once everything’s back to normal we’ll finally be able to duel again as friends.”

Josh didn’t reply whether he heard Jamin or not, he merely glared at him with his angry blood red eyes.

“It’s time to finish this,” Jamin muttered.

The two of them activated their duel disks in unison.

“Let’s duel!”

 

 

(Anybody noticed the joke)

[Atomix]

Man you can type fast O_O

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 50: The final duel of the series is about to commence, predictably it's between the main character and his rival /main villain / best friend, it that's even possible o_O...

 

[spoiler=episode]The day had finally come and Jamin’s nerves were all over the place, he could barely concentrate. The crowd was already fired up before the duel had even begun.

“Welcome one and all to the final of the duel rally tournament!” The announcer said “These two duelists have surprised us all in defeating the best of the best and making it all the way here where the best duelist of this day and age will be decided, who will it be? Joshinyu Tenshi, a popular competitor who uses powerful spellcasters and summoning techniques, focusing on his Dark Magician, or Jamin Tsubasa, a completely unexpected finalists who also utilizes spellcaster but tends to focus on the charmers and other attribute affecting cards, his deck style had at least made him popular with most of the female audience…”

Jamin almost fell of the stage upon hearing this.

“I didn’t build this deck to get fan girls you know!” He yelled, despite the fact that nobody could hear him over the thunderous applause.

The stage shook and then began to rise off the ground, trapping the two duelists in place until they were done with their duel. Jamin and Josh continued to have their vicious staring contest with each other, both determined to out stare the other.

“..And now before we begin a word from Master Seto Kaiba himself!” The announcer said.

“Huh?”

Jamin broke his gaze with Josh and stared at the screen as Kaiba’s face showed on the screen. Despite the wrinkles under his eyes and the graying hair he still looked about twenty years younger than he should, being rich probably helped.

“Welcome my finalists,” Kaiba said “I trust you have both prepared your decks for a good show because I hate to be disappointed, just remember that from here on there is no backing down or surrender, you duel until one of you drops. Oh and if you run out of cards…” a grin spread across his face “Then you’re on your own.”

The screen went blank and displayed a split screen with Josh and Jamin on it. Jamin turned his attention back to Josh; he wanted to say something to him but was lost in the moment.

“Josh,” he began “I…Thanks.”

For once, confusion crossed Josh’s face.

“If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t be into dueling in the first place, I’ve tried to beat you for so many years, tried to make my deck better than yours and you still beat me at every turn,” he said “And now that it’s come to this I’m finally ready.”

The scowled had dropped of Josh’s face and he seemed lost.

“You…You’re,”

“This time,” Jamin said “This time for sure. I’m going to beat you Josh, at long last.”

Josh’s eyes widened momentarily and then his scowl returned.

“In your dreams,” he said.

“You can just feel the fire between these two,” the announcer said “Now the long awaited duel can finally begin. Duelists begin.”

A massive cheer went up as both players drew five cards from their deck.

 

“Let’s go, Josh,” Jamin said.

Josh didn’t reply but drew a card from his deck.

“I play Skilled Dark Magician in attack mode,” Josh said, summoning his monster to the field.

“Josh is off to an aggressive start;” the announcer said “Summoning that monster will mean he’ll be able to summon his Dark Magician three spell cards later.”

“Next I activate my Counter Caller,” Josh said “This spell card allows me to place two spell counters on any card that can hold them, and since it’s a spell card that means my Skilled Dark Magician gains a counter by his own effect.”

“Wait, are you…?” Jamin’s eyes widened.

“Now that my Skilled Dark Magician has three spell counters on him I can sacrifice him,” Josh said “For the Dark Magician.”

Josh’s monster was consumed by a shadow rising out of the ground and replaced by Josh’s Dark Magician. Upon his appearance the whole crowd cheered loudly.

“Amazing!” The announcer said “Josh has summoned his signature monster on his first turn, what will Jamin do to counter this?”

A bead of sweat dropped down the side of Jamin’s face as he prepared to draw a card from his deck.

“Jamin,”

“Huh?”

Jamin looked up at Josh’s Dark Magician, seeing it shake slightly, almost as if it were in pain.

“Dark Magician?” He muttered.

“Help…Me,” the Dark Magician said.

“Huh?”

“The Darkness…It’s taken me and I can’t…Get…Free,” he continued “Please…Help me.”

Jamin nodded, a determined expression crossing his face.

“You got it,” he replied.

“Jamin seems to be thinking carefully about his next move,” the announcer said “Could we have an ever greater surprise than Josh?”

Jamin took two cards from his deck and put them in his spell and trap zone.

“I’ll lay two cards face down,” Jamin said.

Two face down holograms appeared in front of Jamin. The crowd remained silent for a few moments, waiting for him to do something else.

“I end my turn,” Jamin said.

The silence continued and nobody seemed to understand what was going on.

“Err….A….A risky move by Jamin,” the announcer said “An obvious trap for Josh, how will he counter this.”

“The Josh I know would use Dark Magic Attack to destroy my two face downs,” Jamin thought “Then he’d use his Dark Magician to make a direct attack.”

Josh drew a card from his deck, taking one glance at it before putting it in his hand.

“So, Josh. What are you going to do?” Jamin thought.

“Then tension is building,” the announcer said “This could be over in just one turn.”

“I activate my Ancient Rules spell card,” Josh said, showing Jamin the card “This card allows me to special summon another Dark Magician!”

A second Dark Magician rose up on Josh’s field beside the first. Jamin’s expression darkened slightly.

“Now I sacrifice both my Dark Magicians for the Sorcerer of Dark Magic,” Josh said.

His Dark Magicians were consumed in black fire and his most powerful spellcaster rose out of the blaze, rising onto his field to thunderous applause.

“The perfect counter,” the announcer called “Sorcerer of Dark Magic has the power to negate any trap card Josh’s chooses, it looks like Jamin’s plan has failed.”

“Josh wouldn’t do that,” Jamin thought “And because he has, that will be his downfall.”

“Sorcerer of Dark Magic attack,” Josh ordered “Finish him off!”

“This could all be over!”

Josh’s monster raised his staff and fired a blaze of flame towards Jamin.

“Your attack activates my face down,” Jamin said.

“Moron,” Josh said “My monster nullifies all your trap cards, give up already.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing that my face down isn’t a trap card,” Jamin smirked.

“What did you say?”

“I activate Union of the Charmers!” Jamin said, his quick play spell card flipping up “With this effect I pay 3000 life points and summon my little friends.”

A terrific pain shot through Jamin’s body and he staggered backwards, panting heavily but recovering quickly.

“Now come on out, Darc, Hiita, Wynn, Eria and Aussa,” Jamin said.

Five different colored pillars rose up on Jamin’s field, one of Black Smoke, one of fire, one of wind, one of water and one of earth. From these pillars the five charmers rose out, crouching down with their staffs held out defensively.

“Amazing!” The announcer said “It seems Josh fell for Jamin trap after all and he has now summoned all five of his charmers, but could this be a costly mistake.”

“Ha, that life points cost was almost the same as my monster’s attack power,” Josh said “You may as well have just taken the hit because now you’re about to lose a monster as well.”

“Wanna bet?” Jamin replied.

“Take a look,” Josh said “None of your monsters have the defense points to stand up to my Sorcerer.”

 

“Jamin’s done a risky move,” the announcer said “He may have five monsters on the field, but none of them can stand up against Josh’s ultimate monster, this could prove costly.”

“Sorcerer of Dark Magic,” Josh began “Show him what a real spellcaster can do, attack!”

Josh’s monster raised his staff again, firing his Celestial Blast towards Darc.

“You’ve fallen for it again,” Jamin said.

“Fallen for what?” Josh demanded.

“You see, my monsters may not be powerful enough to beat you on their own,” Jamin said “But when they work together, nothing can get past them.”

“What are you babbling about?” Josh asked.

“You’ll see,” Jamin replied “When I reveal my second face down, Unity!”

Josh’s eyes widened suddenly.

“U-Unity,” he repeated.

Jamin’s charmers stood up and jumped next to and around Darc, each one raising their staffs.

“Unity allows me to select one monster on my field,” Jamin said “And then their defense points become equal to the total defense of all monsters on my field.”

“W-what?”

“Each of my Charmers has 1500 defense points,” Jamin explained “So multiply that figure by five and we have a grand total of 7500!”

The loudest cheer yet thundered through the arena as people voices their amazement at such a figure. The Sorcerer’s attack drew closed but was then deflected by a great multicolored prism that seemed to surround the charmers.

“No, impossible!” Josh yelled “I…Ahhh!”

Pain like he had never felt before surged through Josh’s body and he staggered backwards, almost falling off the edge.

“Amazing, awesome, absolutely brilliant!” The announcer said “Not only did Jamin predict Josh’s move, but he threw the attack right back at him and has now taken the lead!”

“Feel like giving up yet?” Jamin asked.

“Never!” Josh growled, glaring at Jamin with utter loathing “You couldn’t beat me in a million years, I will always be a superior duelist to you, got that?”

“Really now? Because if we’d be having a normal duel like we always used to I’d have already beaten you,” Jamin said.

Josh jaw dropped as he realized what Jamin had just said.

“The Josh I knew would never make a reckless attack like that,” Jamin said “He’s have made absolutely sure I couldn’t play my face downs before attacking, not make a vague assumptions that they were traps and tried to counter it then. You see Josh? Being controlled by Zorc has made you weaker, not stronger. You have to let go of the powers you took from him and duel as your old self, my friend.”

Josh seemed stuck for words, one eye was twitching and he was glaring at Jamin with loathing.

“No, never!” He yelled “This isn’t an ordinary duel and I haven’t lost yet, I’m going to tear you apart piece by piece, do you hear me?”

“And that is why you’ll lose,” Jamin said, drawing a card from his deck.

He looked at what he’d just drawn and a faint smiled crossed his face.

“Let’s go guys,” he muttered.

He took Aussa and Eria off his field and sent them to the graveyard.

“I release Eria and Aussa,” he said “In order to summon Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!”

Jamin’s monsters vanished in a wave of flame and his golden armored phoenix rose out of it, gliding into the sky before descending down on the field.

“Fool,” Josh said “My Sorcerer has far more attack points than your phoenix, what was the use in summoning her?”

“Simple,” Jamin said “Because now I can play my spell card, United We Stand.”

“More friendship crud?” Josh’s expression darkened “You’re starting to bore me, Jamin.”

“Well, it does involve working as a team,” Jamin replied “But this time it raises my Phoenix’s attack points by 800…”

“That makes her equal with my Sorcerer,” Josh interrupted “They’ll both be destroyed.”

“I hadn’t finished,” Jamin said “It raises her attack points by 800, for each monster one my field.”

“What?”

“Since I have four, that’s a grand total of 2200 extra points,” Jamin said “So Nephthys, attack!”

Jamin’s Phoenix glowed bright red and her attack points rose to 4600. She let out a screech and flew into the air, firing down her attack towards Josh’s monster and destroying it, giving him another painful shock. The Phoenix descended back onto Jamin’s field.

“I’ll end my turn there,” Jamin said.

 

Josh glared at him with loathing, drawing a card rather forcefully from his deck.

“I won’t lose to you,” he said “I refuse to lose. I summon Rapid Fire Magician!”

Josh’s twin staff wielding wizard rose up to take his place on the field.

“Next I play my Magical Dimension, this allows me to sacrifice my Rapid Fire Magician and summon my third Dark Magician!” Josh said.

A gold Sarcophagus rose up behind the Rapid Fire Magician and clamed around him. Several beams of light then broke out of it and the Dark Magician emerged onto the field once again.

“Now thanks to my Magical Dimension, your Phoenix is destroyed!” Josh said “Dark Magician, destroy her!”

Josh Dark Magician raised his staff and fired, destroying Jamin’s phoenix with a single blast.

“A brilliant comeback by Josh,” the announcer said “This is really turning out to be the final we all wished for.”

“Now attack,” Josh ordered “Destroy his Fire charmer!”

The Dark Magician took aim and fired, sending a green sphere of energy towards Jamin’s field and destroying Hiita with one blast.

“Hiita,” Jamin muttered.

“Little by little I’ll whittle down your monsters till you have nothing left,” Josh said “Then you’ll have no choice but to surrender to me.”

“We’ll see about that,” Jamin said, drawing a card “Because since you destroyed my phoenix by a card effect, she’s coming back!”

A pillar of flame erupted onto Jamin field and his Phoenix rose out of it with a mighty screech, receiving a great cry of awe from the crowd.

“Come on Josh,” Jamin grinned “You know perfectly well my phoenix comes back if you don’t destroy her by battle, what’s wrong? Going soft?”

Josh scowled at Jamin.

“As I believe I’ve already pointed out you’re not even half the duelist you once were,” Jamin said “You’re far too reckless and all you care about now is taking out your opponent’s monsters and not even focusing on a proper strategy.”

“Haven’t you noticed?” Josh asked “I’ve been winning every duel I’ve had in this tournament and this one will be no exception, I’ll defeat you and then nothing will stand in my way!”

“Won’t you listen to yourself?” Jamin yelled “You’re talking just like Zorc, he’s inside you and he’s controlling your thoughts, you’ve got to break free of him.”

“I am controlled by no one,” Josh snapped “I shall have my victory over you and I shall…”

“You’re doing it again!” Jamin interrupted.

“Silence!”

A mutter went through the crowd and the announcer seemed unsure of what to say.

“Very well,” Jamin said “I sacrifice Darc and Wynn, to summon the Creator in defense mode!”

A bolt of thunder crashed down on Jamin’s field, taking Darc and Wynn with it and replacing them with the great bronze behemoth that was Jamin’s Creator.

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

 

Josh glared at him and drew a card from his deck.

“Dark Magician, attack the Sacred Phoenix!” He ordered.

Josh’s monster jumped high into the air and aimed his staff down at Jamin’s monster, firing a sphere of green energy towards her and obliterating her.

“There, happy now?” Josh asked as his Dark Magician descended back onto the field “Your phoenix can only resurrect after being destroyed by a card effect, so in other words now that she’s been destroyed in battle she can’t come back any more.”

“Oh really?” Jamin asked, drawing a card “You’ve got a lot to learn.”

He looked at the cards in his hand and nodded, a grin crossing his face.

“This ought to work,” he said “I play my Creator’s effect, by sending Familiar Possessed Hiita from my hand to my graveyard, my phoenix makes another comeback!”

Jamin’s Creator raised his hands, placing one on top of the other and firing a bolt of thunder to the ground. A flash of light illuminated the arena and once it faded Jamin’s Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys was on his field once again.

“You fool,” Josh said “Neither of your monsters has the attack points to stand up to my Dark Magician.”

“Maybe these two don’t, but I know someone who does,” Jamin said “I play my Elemental Gathering trap card.”

Jamin’s face down card flipped up and glowed.

“With this card’s effect, I can special summon one monster from my deck who’s level is equal to the total number of monster’s in my graveyard with Aussa, Darc, Eria, Hiita or Wynn in their name,” Jamin explained “And since I have six…”

“Don’t tell me,”

Jamin grinned and placed his monster on the field.

“Come on out, Horus!”

Jamin’s silver dragon rose up on the field in a display of black flames. He rose up between The Creator and Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, letting out a mighty roar as he did so.

“Next I play Polymerization,” Jamin said “And fuse my three monsters together…”

A vortex opened up behind Jamin and his three monsters were sucked into it. A clap of thunder escaped from it and his Deity of Rebirth appeared on his field to a great applause.

“Jamin has summoned his strongest monster!” The announcer declared “This could spell the end for Josh, what will he do next?”

“For every card in my graveyard, your monster loses 100 attack points,” Jamin said “And since I have 13, that’s 1300 points off your Dark Magician.”

Steam rose off Josh’s monster as his attack points lowered to 1200.

“Let’s go Kamika,” Jamin said “Attack his Dark Magician!”

Jamin’s monster raised his sword and slammed it into the ground, sending the waves of energy cascading around the field to tear through the Dark Magician and then straight through Josh. He roared in pain and collapsed onto one knee, panting heavily.

“Well, I guess that’s it for me,” Jamin said.

“No,” Josh said.

“Huh?”

Josh looked up to see Josh staggering to his feet.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Jamin gasped “How can you still be standing?”

“It’s obvious isn’t it?” Josh laughed “I’m far stronger than you now, there’s no way you could ever stand a chance of defeating me!”

“Josh,” Jamin muttered “Stop it already, you won’t survive another attack from my monster, it’s just.”

“Then watch and learn!” Josh yelled, drawing a card from his deck “I play my Pot of Avarice. With this card I return my three Dark Magicians, my Skilled Dark Magician and my Sorcerer of Dark Magic to my deck.”

Josh’s five monsters came out of his graveyard slot and he picked them up, shuffling them back into his deck before drawing twice.

“Josh please,” Jamin said “Stop already, I don’t want to hurt you any more than I have already.”

“Well that’s too bad,” Josh said “Because I want to hurt you more than anything else.”

He took a card from his hand and summoned it to the field.

“I summon Skilled Dark Magician in attack mode,” he said.

Josh’s monster rose up on his field once again.

“Maybe so,” Jamin said “But he still loses 1300 attack points because of Kamika’s effect.”

Steam rose off Josh’s monster and his attack points dropped to 600.

“That’s precisely what I wanted to happen,” Josh said.

“What?”

“Because now I play the spell card Reverse Spell,” Josh said “This takes the increases or decreases in the attack of one monster I choose and reverses it.”

The steam vanished and Rapid Fire Magician’s attack points rose to 3200.

“He still doesn’t have the attack points to destroy my Kamika,” Jamin said.

“Then it’s a good thing I still have a card to play,” Josh said “Riryoku!”

Jamin’s eyes widened.

“Not Riryoku,” he gasped.

“I’m afraid so,” Josh said “This takes half the attack of your monster and adds it to my monster.”

Jamin gazed up at Kamika as his attack dropped to 2000 and the Skilled Dark Magician’s rose to 5200.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Jamin muttered.

“Skilled Dark Magician attack!” Josh ordered “Destroy his Kamika and put and end to his hopes!”

The Skilled Dark Magician raised his staff and fired an orb of black magic at Jamin’s monster, destroying it. Jamin staggered backwards, yelling with pain before he collapsed onto his knees.

 

“Jamin!” Kim yelled from the audience.

“Jamin’s ultimate monster has been destroyed,” the announcer said “This could be it for Jamin, it seems like we have a…”

“No,” Jamin muttered, shaking slightly but still conscious “Not yet.”

Slowly Jamin began to get to his feet, wobbling violently and shaking as he did so, and even when he managed it he still looked ready to collapse at any minute.

“Not yet,” he repeated “I’m not done yet.”

“Oh!” The announcer sounded slightly disappointed “Well it seems like Jamin in still in this but barely, what will he pull off next? There’s only so many outcomes I can see right now and not one monster Jamin can summon has the attack strength to beat Josh’s Skilled Dark Magician.”

“I see you’re still refusing to give up,” Josh said “How like you. You’re like some sort of fly, no matter how many times I swat you; you still come back for more.”

“Heck yeah,” Jamin wheezed “Because I’m not going to give up till I beat you.”

“I’m not sure whether to be amused or annoyed,” Josh commented.

“You know something?” Jamin asked “I still remember that bet we made.”

Josh faltered, his expression wavering slightly.

“Bet?”

“Yeah,” Jamin said “If I could beat you before the end of your first tournament, you’d give me a card. Well, here’s the tournament, and it’s about to end with either mine or your defeat.”

Josh continued to stare at him.

“I…My first tournament…” His eyes widened and he clutched his head “I can’t…I…I’m not...”

“So, still up for it?” Jamin asked.

“Be silent!” Josh said, another voice layered on top of his “You’re pathetic attempts to reach your friend are futile, he is mine now.”

Jamin’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Zorc,” he muttered.

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

“I play Card of Demise,” he said “Thanks to this card, I can draw five cards, but in five turns I lose them again.”

He picked up the top five cards of his deck and nodded.

“I summon Familiar Possessed Aussa,” Jamin said.

His earth sorceress rose up onto the field.

“Your monster doesn’t stand a chance against mine,” Josh said, his voice returning to normal “What’s the use in that?”

“Because I also play attribute master,” Jamin said “With this card’s effect all dark monsters Aussa battles are automatically destroyed.”

“What?”

Jamin grinned.

“Let him have it Aussa,” Jamin said.

Aussa raised her staff and fired a showed of diamonds towards Josh’s monster, destroying it.

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

Two face down cards appeared behind Aussa and Josh drew a card from his deck.

“I play Pot of Greed,” he said “So I pick up two cards.”

Jamin rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Next I summon my Skilled White Magician,” Josh said.

A white version of the Skilled Dark Magician rose up on Josh’s field.

“Since he’s a light attribute monster he’s not affected by your Attribute Mastery,” Josh explained.

“Huh, clever,” Jamin grinned.

“Now Skilled White Magician attack!” Josh ordered.

“Your attack activates my trap,” Jamin said “Magician’s Circle. With this card’s effect, we both special summon a spellcaster monster with less than 2000 attack points from my deck.”

“Very well,” Josh said “I summon another Skilled Dark Magician.”

“And I choose Familiar Possessed Wynn,” Jamin said.

Skilled Dark Magician rose up on Josh’s field at the same time as Wynn appeared on Jamin’s.

“Fool, Josh grinned “All that’s done is given me a chance to take out even more life points. I play Magician’s Unite. This makes the attack of my Skilled White Magician 3000.”

Josh’s monster glowed and its attack points increased. It raised its staff and fired at Aussa.

“That’s too bad,” Jamin said “Because my face down card is also Magician’s Unite!”

“What?”

Aussa glowed and her attack points rose to 3000 as well. Jamin grinned at Josh who scowled back.

“Talk about coincidence,” Jamin chuckled “Guess it’s time for our ultimate showdown.”

“Get a life,” Josh growled.

 

“Gladly,” Jamin said “I’m getting yours back. Go Aussa!”

Aussa raised her staff and fired her own attack to meet the Skilled White Magician’s. Jamin’s grin seemed to widen as the attacks collided.

“What an amazing show!” The announcer said “I can’t believe how easily these two are playing their cards so perfectly to match each other; you can just feel the….What the heck!”

Jamin’s smiled was wiped off his face as a great dome of light spread from where the two attacks had impacted each other.

“What the heck?”

“What did you do?” Josh demanded.

“I didn’t do anything,” Jamin said.

The light expanded across the whole platform, creating a large white sphere around the two duelists and consuming them within it. Half the audience was shielding their eyes from the light while the rest were squinting at it, trying to see what was going on.

“I can’t see,” Kim yelled, covering her eyes.

“This wasn’t in the program,” Drem muttered.

“Jamin!” Kim yelled “Is he okay? I can’t see what’s going on.”

“I wish I couldn’t,” Jun said “I really should have brought some shades.”

Kim peeked out from behind her fingers to see the great sphere of light around the stage.

“Jamin!” She yelled.

 

 

Next week we shall meet my friend the Lotus Eating Machine :p...

[TotalObelisk]

Episode 51: The duel continues, please ignore the Lotus Eating Machine at the start, I'm afraid to say it's badly disguised padding ^_^;

 

[spoiler=episode]Jamin stirred and opened his eyes, blinking at the sudden light. He found himself staring at the ceiling of his bedroom. Light was coming in through the curtains and falling across the floor just next to his bed. He yawned heavily and sat up, gazing around him.

“Morning already?” He muttered.

He yawned again and managed to pull himself out of bed. A few minutes later he was walking downstairs fully dressed in his school uniform.

“Morning,” he muttered, still half asleep.

“You’re up early, must’ve been that movie last night giving you nightmares,”

Jamin looked round to see his mother, Shia Tsubasa, smiling at him from the doorway.

“Well, I guess,” he shrugged.

“Honestly Jamin,” Shia sighed “You’ve almost graduated from high school; you ought to be a bit more responsible for yourself.”

“Hey, it was one movie;” Jamin said “Anyway, I’m off. I promised I’d meet Josh before school starts.”

“Without any breakfast?” Shia asked.

“Oh that’s okay,” Jamin said “He’ll have food with him.”

He opened the door that led from the hall into the garage and went through. Minutes later he was riding down the road with his bag strapped to the back of his bike and the wind throwing his sand brown hair out behind him. A smile crossed his face as he took in a deep breath, but then a frown replaced it.

“Wait,” he muttered “Isn’t my mum dead?”

He shook his head and grinned again.

“Probably just a bad dream,”

 

Josh was leaning against the school gates with his arms folded and a plastic bag dangling from one hand. He looked up at the sounds of Jamin calling him from across the road and he turned his black eyes to face him.

“Yo,” Jamin said, braking next to him.

“You know you should wear a helmet when you’re riding that thing,” Josh said “I don’t want what’s left of your brain to get mashed.”

“Heh, my head’s made of harder stuff than most people,” Jamin grinned, tapping his skull.

“Yeah, that explains a lot,” Josh replied, grinning slightly.

Jamin laughed and then looked about.

“Err, isn’t Kim here?” He asked.

“Yeah, about that,” Josh replied.

“Huh?”

Jamin felt a pair of arms wrap around his middle and he was pulled to the ground.

“Morning,” Kim chimed.

“G-good morning, Kim,” Jamin groaned “Please get off me.”

“Honestly, you’re going to kill him if you keep doing that,”

Josh looked up to see Eris and Diablo walked up to them.

“Let them be,” Diablo said “I think she’s softening him up to be his servant in later life.”

“Yeah, thanks for the confidence boost guys,” Jamin groaned.

“Kim, get off him,”

Kim felt a tug on the back of her collar and she was lifted off Jamin.

“Mashi-Ushi, that’s cruel,” she said, looking behind her at Mashi-Ushi “Just because you’re a year older than me doesn’t mean you can push me around!”

Jamin sat up, rubbing his head.

“Thanks, Mashi-Ushi,” he said.

“Don’t mention it,” Mashi-Ushi replied, letting go of Kim “I can’t have you dying on me.”

“Heh,” Jamin laughed slightly, then his face fell a little “Dying. That reminds me,” he looked up at Diablo and Mashi-Ushi “Aren’t you guys….Dead?”

Both of them stared at him, completely non plussed.

“Kim, you’ve really screwed him up this time,” Eris said, giggling slightly.

“Hey I’ve seen you glomping Diablo too!” Kim retorted.

“I’ve still got the bruise,” Diablo muttered.

Jamin stared up at the group of friends, completely unsure of what to do.

“Since when did Eris, Diablo and Mashi-Ushi come to our school?” He thought “And isn’t school finished? I feel like there’s something I’m forgetting. Something important.”

 

****

 

The sun seemed to have died and the entire landscape was nothing but a wasteland of rock and rubble, the remains of a city were just visible in the distance, smoke rising from the ruined buildings. An explosion tore through the silence that had settled over the words, throwing dust and rocks everywhere. The smoke cleared revealing a sizeable crater. Josh walked over to where Jamin had fallen, his red eyes glowing and an evil grin on his face.

“That was too easy,” he chuckled “Now nothing can stand in my way.”

He walked over to the corpse and kicked it, still laughing.

“For all your talk you were nothing but a warm up, surely there’s more. It’ll be no fun if I destroy the world with no resistance.”

He looked round to see another duelist hidden in shadow facing him with an active duel disk.

“You want some too do you?” Josh laughed “Very well.”

He raised his own duel disk and activated it.

“Don’t say you weren’t warned,” Josh chuckled.

He drew a card from his deck and placed it on the field.

“Say hello to my Dark Magician!”

Lights flared up in front of him and the Dark Magician rose up on Josh’s field.

 

****

 

Jamin stared out of the window of the classroom, a frown on his face.

“This doesn’t feel right,” he muttered.

“Tsubasa!”

Jamin panicked and looked up to see the teacher, Prof. Kon staring down at him.

“Quit dreaming and pay attention,” Kon said “If you want to graduate you’ve got to pass your exams first.”

“Huh? Didn’t I already take them?”

Kon didn’t reply, he merely turned around and walked back to the front of class.

“You’re daydreaming again,” Diablo said, smirking at Jamin from the desk next to him.

“Huh, yeah. I guess I am,” Jamin replied “Sorry.”

He gave a nervous laugh and opened his notebook.

“What’s going on here?” He thought “I feel as though there’s something wrong….But what.”

He gazed around the classroom, noticing Diablo, Eris, Mashi-Ushi, Kim and Josh all sitting at a desk and looking at the teacher as he kept talking.

“Something’s wrong,” Jamin muttered.

He looked round again and noticed something odd. Not just that Mashi-Ushi, Eris and Diablo were in his class, but that Jun was also sitting at the back along with Drem. He looked behind him to see Serra taking notes and behind her were Kain and Kara. In fact there wasn’t a single person in this room that Jamin didn’t know.

“What the heck?”

 

****

 

The Dark Magician’s attack hit and sent another duelist into the pile of bodies that had just tried to defeat him.

“Too easy!” Josh laughed “They’re putting up no fight at all.”

He looked round to see another person raising his duel disk.

“Oh you want some too, do you?” Josh said “Very well then, Dark Magician attack!”

Josh’s monster turned around and aimed his staff, firing an orb of green light at the stranger. Josh laughed as the attack approached but then his face fell. As the attack drew closer the light cast by it illuminated the duelist’s face and revealed it to be, Josh.

“What?”

The attack hit and the doppelganger was thrown backwards.

“What happened?” Josh said “What was that? Was it….Me?”

He looked round at the pile of bodies and fear crossed his face when he realized they were all him as well. He walked backwards, his eyes wide with fright.

“What’s going on?” He asked.

“All you’re doing is beating yourself up inside,”

Josh turned around to see Jamin’s broken body standing up again, his head leaning to one side, his eye blank and blood trickling from his mouth.

“You might be better than me, but I’ve still been getting the glory you deserve,” Jamin said “And now you’re beating yourself up because of it.”

“Shut up!” Josh yelled “Shut up, shut up, and shut up! Dark Magician!”

Josh monster turned and fired, blasting Jamin backwards.

“That’s better,” Josh panted “Huh?”

Jamin was getting back to his feet again.

“Impossible,”

Josh looked around to see all the copies of him getting up as well.

“No, Dark Magician!”

Josh’s monster fired, blasting a whole group aside but they just got back up and carried on.

“No,” Josh yelled “Stay back, I’m warning you!”

 

****

 

Jamin walked across the school yard at home time, still wondering what was wrong. He looked up to see his mother waiting for him at the gates.

“Mum?” He muttered.

“I’ve come to pick you up,” Shia said.

“I can get home by myself,” Jamin said “I don’t need…”

He paused, staring at his mother smiling down at him. He looked about and saw other people walking around, Jun, Josh, Diablo, Kim, Kain, Mashi-Ushi, Drem, Sammy, all people he knew, not a single stranger. In some cases there were even two Diablo’s or three Kim’s in one spot.

“Mum, what’s going on?” Jamin said, starting to panic “There’s something wrong here, I know it. You, and Diablo and Mashi-Ushi, you’re all dead. So why are you here? And why do I know everyone?”

His mother merely smiled down at him.

“This is the world you wish for in your heart,” she said “The secret dark wish within yourself.”

 

****

 

“This world is the manifestation of that wish,” the zombie Jamin explained “The world you dream of…”

 

****

 

“…Turned into a nightmare,” Shia finished.

Jamin backed away from her, fear showing in his eyes.

 

****

 

Josh backed away, his eyes wide with fear and panic.

 

“Then,” the two of them thought at the same time “If this is what I wish for, then that means this is just a lie…A dream.”

The worlds warped and seemed to explode in on themselves. Then were tossed aside like paper in the wind. Josh and Jamin were left staring at each other across a white void, Jamin where the zombie version of him was and Josh where Shia had been.

“Josh?” Jamin muttered, staring at his red eyes.

“Jamin?” Josh’s eyes narrowed “What did you just do to me?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Jamin said “I…”

He looked down at his duel disk as Aussa slipped into his graveyard. Josh looked down to see his Skilled White Magician go into his.

“Aussa,” Jamin muttered “Where you trying to show me something?”

“What the heck was the point of all that?” Josh growled “What a waste of time.”

Jamin looked back up at Josh.

“Don’t you see?” He said “Our monsters tapped into our hearts and showed us what we wanted the most, and then they turned our perfect world on its head.”

“I don’t want to hear another word of nonsense from your mouth,” Josh said “We’ve got a duel to finish now let’s get on with it.”

The white void cleared and the pair found themselves back on the duel platform in the Kaiba Dome, facing each other in the duel rally finals.

 

“In my dream, all those people I met, all those I wished had never died were still alive,” Jamin thought “And yet it was my selfish desire to return things to normal in the first place, but does that mean things can never return to normal?”

“Well, I don’t know what that light was but it looked like our duelists are both still on their feet,” the announcer said “And it looks like they’re battle ended in a draw, let’s see what they come up with next.”

“You’ll pay for that, Jamin,” Josh growled.

“We’ll see about that,” Jamin said, drawing a card from his deck “I’ll switch Wynn into defense mode and play the spell card Pot of Avarice.”

Five monsters filed out of Jamin’s graveyard and he picked them up and shuffled them back into his deck.

“I’ll set this monster in defense mode and end my turn,” Jamin said.

“Heh, running scared, huh?” Josh replied “No matter.”

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

“You’ll wish you hadn’t played that card because now my Skilled Dark Magician gains another counter,” Josh said.

“Oh no,”

“Now, since my Skilled Dark Magician has three spell counters on him, I can summon my Dark Magician,” Josh said.

Josh’s monster vanished and the Dark Magician rose up again on Josh’s field.

“I should’ve known this was coming,” Jamin muttered “In fact, I did.”

“Now then, Dark Magician, attack,” Josh ordered.

The Dark Magician raised his staff and fired a sphere of green energy towards Wynn, destroying her.

“It’s only a matter of time before you run out of monsters,” Josh said “Face it, you could never beat me in a….”

“Yeah, we’ve all heard it,” Jamin said, drawing a card.

“Jamin,”

Jamin looked up, hearing the Dark Magician’s voice once more.

“Please…Help me,”

“Don’t worry,” Jamin replied “I’m about to save you, Dark Magician.”

“Huh?” Josh stared at him.

“Now I flip summon my face down monster,” Jamin said “Say hello to my favorite monster and one of my best friends, Darc the Dark Charmer!”

Jamin’s card flipped up and Darc appeared from it in a pillar of smoke.

“Impossible,” Josh yelled “You already sent her to the graveyard.”

“Erm, you might now have noticed, but Pot of Avarice lets me add five monsters back to my deck,” Jamin said “And she was one of those five.”

Josh faltered for a bit and then glowered at Jamin.

“And now Darc’s effect activates,” Jamin said “Allowing me to take control of your Dark Magician.”

“What?”

Darc began chanting in some unknown language and Josh’s Dark Magician walked over to Jamin’s field. As he did so the black armor seemed to melt off him, becoming blue and red once more and his green hair was replaced by sandy blond hair. Once he was over on Jamin’s field he was the same Dark Magician Josh had been using before going to Egypt.

“You…You traitor!” Josh yelled.

The Dark Magician looked over his shoulder at Jamin.

“Thank you,” he said “I am in your debt.”

“It’s not over yet,” Jamin said “Sorry to make you attack your old master and everything.”

“It’s for his own good,”

“Right,” Jamin said “In that case, Dark Charmer and Dark Magician attack.”

“Now that just sounded lame,” Darc said as she and the Dark Magician raised their staffs.

The two of them fired their separate attack towards Josh and both hit, causing Josh to yell with pain and anger. They lowered their staffs as the attacks died away. However Josh was still standing.

“He just won’t go down,” Jamin muttered.

“Jamin,” Darc said “I think he’s about to…”

Josh suddenly let out an almighty cry and his red eyes glowed. A pillar of black flame shot out of him and hit the roof, buckling some of the beams supporting it.

“What the hell?”

Most of the crowd screamed as the pillar seemed to shake about before finally forming into a massive blue torso with wings and a demonic face planted on top.

“Zorc,” Jamin’s eyes widened.

“You have gone too far,” Zorc and Josh said together “I was willing to let you go painlessly but now you will have the deaths of so many others on your conscience!”

He turned about and threw a punch towards the crowd.

“No you don’t!” Jamin yelled, a red aura surrounding him.

Just in time The Creator rose up in front of the ground and caught the fist. The two struggled for a second as the people behind scattered, running for the exits.

“You dare insult me!” Zorc roared and threw the Creator backwards.

He crashed into the stands and they crumpled beneath him like rice paper. Zorc turned about and took another swing at the crowd, however this time Horus in his most powerful form rose up to block the way, catching the fist and allowing the crowd to escape unharmed. Zorc let out a roar and threw Horus into the ceiling and punching a massive hole in it. Horus fell to the ground, bits of building falling on top of him. Zorc glared down at Jamin, growing bigger and bigger by the second until he broke out of the roof of the building. The crowd that had evacuated out of the building and those watching from outside turned to look at the massive figure looming down on Jamin, terror filling their eyes.

“What is that?”

“It’s a monster,”

Kim and Eris ran outside and turned round to look up at the monster.

“No way,” Kim gasped.

“What is it?” Eris asked.

“Terrible,” Jun said, running past them.

“My wrath is endless!” Zorc roared, firing something into the sky.

 

Black clouds covered the sky, blacking out the sun and plunging everything into shadow. But it didn’t stop there, black creatures began to descend, growling and snarling.

“What’s that?” Eris gasped, staring up at the creatures.

“Something else,” Jun replied “Also terrible.”

The creatures landed on the floor and the crowd scattering, each one running for their lives. Kim remained where she was and raised her duel disk.

“What are you doing?” Jun asked “You can’t fight these things with holograms.”

“I get the feeling they’ve become much more than holograms,” Kim said “Come on out, Harpie Queen.”

Kim’s monster rose up in front of her and flew at the nearest creature.

“You’re nuts,” Jun said.

His jaw dropped as the Harpie Queen took a slash at the creature, knocking it over and causing it to dissolve.

“What are you waiting for?” Kim asked “I can’t do this by myself.”

“Oh, right,” Jun activated his own duel disk “Go, Kaiser Glider.”

Drem, Sammy and Eris also activated theirs.

“Super Voltech Dragon!”

“Ancient Gear Golem!”

“Super Synchro Demon!”

The monsters rose up and charged into battle. Taking on the black creatures toe to toe.

 

Inside the arena Jamin stared up at Zorc.

“Stop it,” he said “Those are innocent people so leave them alone.”

“In my eyes no one is innocent,” Zorc replied “Now let’s end this duel.”

Jamin glared at him.

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

“You’ll regret not making a better move,” Zorc said.

Josh took a new card from his deck and played it.

“I activate Mirror Summon, if I have a monster in my deck with the same name as a monster on your field, I can special summon it,” he explained “And I choose the Dark Magician.”

A black Dark Magician rose up in front of Josh.

“Attack his Dark Charmer,” Josh and Zorc ordered.

The Dark Magician raised his staff and prepared to fire.

“Jamin,” Darc muttered.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered,” Jamin said “I play the trap card Roar of Pride.”

“What?”

“This card raised Darc’s attack power to 300 points more than your Dark Magician’s,” Jamin explained “Get him Darc.”

“Now that’s more like it,” Darc said as her attack points rose to 2800.

She raised her staff and fired a column of black smoke towards the Dark Magician, easily overpowering his attack and destroying him. Josh staggered backwards slightly as the shock passed through his body.

“You’ll pay for that!” He roared.

“Yeah, well let’s save that till later,” Jamin said, drawing from his deck.

He looked at the card and saw it was his Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys.

“Summon me,” she said “Only our powers can take down Zorc.”

“You got it,” Jamin said “Sorry Dark Magician, but I’m gonna have to give you back to Josh for a bit.”

“It is understandable,”

Jamin nodded.

“I sacrifice Dark Magician and Darc the Dark Charmer,” he said “For the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!”

Jamin’s monsters vanished and a wave of flame erupted onto his field and his Sacred Phoenix rose out of it.

“One lone monster can’t defeat me,” Zorc boasted “What are you thinking.”

“That’s why we’re helping too,”

“Huh?”

Jamin looked behind him to see the faded images of Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 and The Creator rise up behind him.

“Don’t forget us,”

Five more lights flickered behind him and Aussa, Darc, Eria, Hiita and Wynn rose up in front of Horus and The Creator.

“You’ve come to help too,” Jamin muttered “Thanks.”

“Of course,” Hiita said “It wouldn’t be the same without us, besides it’s us who’re supposed to take Zorc down anyway, together,”

“Yeah,” Jamin nodded “We’ll do it together.”

He turned back around, grinning up at Zorc.

“Everyone,” Jamin ordered “Attack Zorc!”

The Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys let out a screech, rising into the air and bursting into flames, charging towards Zorc. At the same time Horus and The Creator fired their attack too, hitting Nephthys. Jamin’s eyes widened in awe as she exploded into a giant bird of black flame with lightning coursing around her.

“Amazing,” Jamin mouthed.

 

Outside Kim and the others paused their battle to look up and saw the black phoenix and Zorc glaring at each other.

“What on earth?” Kim muttered.

“Amazing,” Jun muttered “I’ve never seen such a powerful looking creature.”

He looked round to see one of Zorc’s black servants raise his hand to attack his.

“Kaiser Glider!”

Jun’s monster sped over to him, blocking the path between the black creature and Jun before rocketing at the beast and tearing through it with ease.

 

“Let’s go,” Jamin said “Nephthys!”

Nephthys let out one final screech and flew at Zorc, her bright eyes blazing. Zorc raised his palm to block and the two met, letting out a surge of energy that almost threw Jamin off the platform.

“It’s not enough,” Nephthys said “I need more.”

“That’s where we come in,” Hiita said “Let’s go girls.”

“Right.”

The five charmers raised their staffs and fire smoke, wind, diamonds, water and flame, each one hitting Zorc in the chest and causing him to recoil. Nephthys managed to push the hand back a bit but it still wasn’t enough.

“Damn, we’re still missing something,” Jamin muttered “But what?”

Another light shone behind him and the Dark Magician rose up behind him.

“You too?” Jamin asked.

“It was always my duty to defeat Zorc,” the Dark Magician said “Now I can finally grant my Pharaoh’s wish.”

He raised his staff towards Zorc. Josh’s eyes widened as he saw what was happening.

“Dark Magician!” He yelled “You traitor you….You………Attack!”

Jamin looked taken aback.

“Josh?”

“I order you, Dark Magician,” Josh said “Attack with all your might!”

“You traitor,” Zorc said.

“I will serve you no longer,” Josh growled.

“Then die!” Zorc said, raising his fist.

“No!” Jamin yelled.

“Dark Magic Attack!”

The Dark Magician fired his attack at Zorc, hitting him just before Zorc brought his hand down upon Josh. This was enough and Nephthys’ broke through, tearing straight through Zorc’s arm and torso and shooting out of the other side, the black flame and lightning slipping off her and surrounding Zorc.

“No!” Zorc yelled “I won’t allow it!”

Nephthys swerved round and dived at Josh, bursting into flames once more. She impacted on the ground and exploded into flames, causing Josh and Zorc to scream.

 

Outside the people fleeing for their lives stopped to the black creatures scream in pain and vanished.

“He did it,” Kim said, turning back to see Zorc writhing “He beat him.”

The sky began to clear as the black clouds dissipated and beams of light suddenly illuminated the city. The onlookers remained silent for a second and then burst into applause as they watched Zorc writhe in pain.

 

“No!” Zorc yelled “Not again, not again!”

He raised his hand towards Jamin as it began to crack up.

“I won’t be beaten again!” He roared.

“Sorry,” Jamin said “But you’re going back to where you belong!”

Zorc screamed and then exploded, almost throwing Jamin off the stage as he did so. A great pillar of light shot from where he’d been and into the sky. It was all over almost as quickly as it had started, the light faded and everything calmed down. Jamin stood where he was, in the remains of the Kaiba dome, looking over at Josh’s burnt body, barely standing.

“Josh,” he began.

“Not yet,” Josh muttered “I can’t lose…”

Jamin’s eyes widened.

“After all,” Josh straightened up and opened his eyes, displaying a pair of black pupils and a smug grin “I’ve got a bet to win, remember?”

Jamin’s face lit up suddenly.

“Josh,” he exclaimed “You’re back!”

“Miss me?” Josh asked.

“Hm,” Jamin pretended to think about it “Nah.”

“Heh, I see,” Josh chuckled “Well, let’s finished this duel.”

Jamin nodded as his Phoenix descended back onto his field.

“Let’s duel!” They both said.

 

[TotalObelisk]

*Drumroll*

 

Episode 52: The final episode, well it's more of a warm down than a finale really, but you can still read it if you want.

 

[spoiler=final episode]The crowd milling around outside gazed up in awe as Zorc vanished into a pillar of light and the sun began to illuminate the city once again.

“He did it,” Kim cried “He did it.”

“Who did what?” Jun asked, panting heavily.

“Jamin,” Kim said “He beat Zorc.”

“Jamin did that?” Jun gazed up at where Zorc had been “I really am getting too old for this job.”

Kim giggled slightly, looking around at everyone. Eris didn’t look very surprised by the situation, Sammy was still staring at where one of the black creatures had been and Drem was staring down at his duel disk wandering what had just happened. The crowd was beginning to file back into the arena, muttering to each other. Some were wondering if that entire display had been set up to give the tournament a climatic ending.

“Seriously though,” Jun said “What was that thing?”

“It’s a long story,” Kim said “About 3050 years long.”

Jun stared at her, utterly lost.

“Come on,” Kim said “We’re gonna miss the rest of the duel.”

“Huh? They’re not done?”

Kim merely smiled at him and joined the crowd filing into the arena.

 

Back within the arena both Josh and Jamin were still staring at each other, both with an equally smug grin on their face. Jamin looked up as the crows started to fill the stands again, a few of them staring at the crumpled seats where they had been sitting moments before The Creator had fallen on them.

“So, our first major tournament,” Jamin said.

“Looks like it,” Josh replied.

“And we’re both in the finals,”

“Yeah,” Josh added.

“So let’s give these people the show they deserve,”

Josh looked back at Jamin, grinning.

“You got it,” he said “Let’s settle this, once and for all.”

 

A slightly shaken looking announcer crawled back into the commentary box and stared through the cracked glass as the stands filled once more.

“Err…” he spoke into the mike, unsure of whether it still worked or not “Well it looks like both duelists are still on their feet, meaning this duel isn’t over. So err…Duelists, please continued.”

“No problem” the two said in unison.

“I think it’s my turn,” Josh said, drawing a card “And I activate my Card of Demise, one of my favorites, this allows me to draw five cards.”

He picked up five cards from his deck.

“Next I play Monster Reborn to resurrect my Dark Magician,” he said.

Josh’s field lit up and a Dark Magician rose up on it, his skin, clothes and hair back to their regular color.

“I never thought I’d see you again,” Jamin said.

The Dark Magician grinned back at him.

“Dark Magician attack,” Josh ordered.

Josh’s monster jumped up into the air and aimed his staff down at the Sacred Phoenix, firing his attack towards her. The attack hit the phoenix and destroyed her, sending a small shock through Jamin’s body.

“Tch, I forgot that happened,” he muttered.

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

“Okay then,” Jamin said, taking his draw “I play Double Spell, by ditching my Tag Team Charmers from my hand; I can take one spell card from your graveyard.”

Jamin sent his spell to his graveyard slot and a new one appeared in his hand.

“And that spell card is Card of Demise,” Jamin said.

“Heh, copycat,” Josh muttered.

Jamin didn’t reply and picked up five cards from his deck. He looked up at Josh, still grinning.

“I play Familiar Possessed Darc in attack mode,” Jamin said.

Darc rose up on Jamin’s field in a cloud of smoke.

“True, but my Dark Magician has more attack points than her,” Josh said.

“Not for long,” Jamin said “I play Shrink; this spell card halves your Dark Magician’s attack points.”

“Huh?” Josh looked over at his Dark Magician as he grew smaller and his attack points dropped to 1250 “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Now Darc, attack,” Jamin ordered.

“Got it,” Darc said, raising her staff and firing a cloud of black smoke towards Josh’s Dark Magician.

“I don’t think so,” Josh said “I play my face down card, Energy Drain.”

Josh’s trap card flipped up and glowed, several tendrils reached out and attached to the cards in Jamin’s hand.

“Hey,” he exclaimed.

“This card allows me to increase the attack of one monster I control by 200 times the number of cards in your hand;” Josh explained “Meaning my Dark Magician now gains 600 attack points.”

“Wait, doesn’t that make them even?” Jamin asked.

“Hm, I guess it does,” Josh replied.

 

Jamin smirked.

“Then it’s a showdown between our favorite monsters then,” he said.

“Looks like it,” Josh said “Go Dark Magician.”

Josh’s Dark Magician raised his staff and fired an orb of green energy to meet Darc’s attack. The two attacks exploded on impact, taking the Dark Magician and Darc with them. The smoke cleared and showed the two empty fields.

“Looks like we’re almost done here,” Jamin panted.

“I guess,” Josh said “A few turns and one of us is gonna drop and it sure as hell isn’t going to be me.”

“Heh, wanna bet?” Jamin asked “Because I’m still feeling like I can go one for days.”

“Well the next couple of days will just have to pass really quickly,” Josh said.

“Bring it on,” Jamin replied.

 

Kim hummed to herself as she watched the duel, ignoring Sammy’s complaints about having to stand up since his seat had been crushed.

“What are you so happy about?” Eris asked.

“It’s just, I haven’t seen those two have this much fun in a long time,” Kim replied “Everything’s been so serious and life and death to them for the past year, now they finally get to relax and have fun.”

Eris stared at her for a minute and then shrugged, looking back towards Jamin and Josh’s.

“I guess those two have gone through a lot,” she muttered.

 

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

A face down card appeared in front of Jamin and Josh drew a card to mark the start of his turn.

“Time to finish this duel,” Josh said “I summon my Mystical Beast Cerberus.”

Josh’s twin headed beast rose up on his field, growling fiercely.

“Go Mystical Beast Cerberus,” Josh said “Attack Jamin’s life points directly.”

“Ha, tough luck,” Jamin said “I play my trap card, Conscription.”

“What?”

“This card lets you draw a card,” Jamin said “But if it’s a monster that can be summoned, then I get to special summon it to my field.”

Josh picked up the top card of his deck.

“Fine, take it,” he said, tossing the card to Jamin.

Jamin caught it with a grin and placed it on the field.

“Rise, Rapid Fire Magician,” he said.

Josh’s double staff wielding spellcaster rose up in the path of Mystical Beast Cerberus, blocking his path.

“I’ll call my attack off,” Josh said “And lay these two cards face down, your move.”

“Awesome,” Jamin said, drawing a card.

He took one look at his card and grinned.

“I sacrifice Rapid Fire Magician for Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6,” he said.

Josh’s monster vanished in a pillar of black flame and Jamin’s silver dragon rose out of it.

“Now then, Horus attack his Cerberus,” Jamin ordered.

The Dragon opened its mouth wide and a stream of black fire flew out of it, washing over Josh’s field and destroying his monster. Josh staggered backwards; feeling 900 points worth of shock enter his body.

“That the best you’ve got,” he coaxed “Come on Jamin, you’re better than that.”

“Oh don’t worry, there’s more,” Jamin said “Because at the end of my turn Horus evolves to level eight!”

Horus glowed brightly and morphed into his most powerful form.

“And now that’s your deck broken,” Jamin said.

“Oh? How so?” Josh asked.

“Don’t you remember?” Jamin replied “Horus negates whatever spell card I tell him to, and since your deck relies heavily on your spell cards, I guess that means this duel is mine.”

A grin crossed Josh’s face.

“Have you forgotten what I’ve taught you?” He said “A powerful deck makes equal use of magic, trap and monsters. So now I activate my two face downs.”

“Huh?”

Josh’s trap cards flipped up, Call of the Haunted and Birthright.

“Oh let me guess,” Jamin grinned.

“With the help of these two cards, I can summon two Dark Magicians,” Josh said.

“I knew it,” Jamin chuckled.

 

Two Dark Magicians rose up to take their place on Josh’s field, both back to normal.

“Well that’s all well and good,” Jamin said “But neither of them have the attack points to beat my Horus.”

“You’re still not thinking,” Josh sighed, shaking his head “Why would I summon two high level monsters even if there’s a monster on the field that overpowers them both?”

Jamin thought about it for a second.

“To summon an even stronger monster?” He asked.

“Bingo,” Josh replied “So I sacrifice my two Dark Magicians, for the Sorcerer of Dark Magic!”

Jamin stared up in awe as Josh’s most powerful monster rose up on the field.

“Awesome,” he mouthed.

He looked back down at Josh who was grinning back at him.

“Just like your dragon nullifies my spell cards, my Sorcerer of Dark Magic can negate the effect of any trap card,” Josh explained.

“Heh, how convenient,” Jamin chuckled.

“Very much so,” Josh said “But I’m afraid my monster’s attack points far outrank yours.”

“Uh oh,” Jamin muttered.

 

“Both players have one of their strongest monsters on the field,” the announcer said “This could spell trouble; whoever loses this exchange may lose altogether.”

“Ooh,” Kim leaned over on her seat so as to see better “This ought to be good.”

“Why? Jamin’s about to lose isn’t he?” Eris asked.

Kim merely smiled back at her.

“That won’t matter to him,” she said “This happens every time he duels Josh, he ends up losing. But I know he’ll just come back again even stronger.”

She looked back over at Jamin.

“Again and again,” she trailed off “That’s why I like him.”

 

“This is it Jamin,” Josh said “Sorry to end it so abruptly but I’m afraid your out of this tournament.”

“Heh, it was gonna happen sooner or later,” Jamin said “Besides, if I beat you how will I grow stronger?”

Josh grinned at him.

“Good point,” he said “Sorcerer of Dark Magic, attack!”

Josh’s monster raised his staff, firing a stream of flame towards Horus.

“Let’s go out with a bang Horus,” Jamin said “Go!”

Horus opened his mouth and fired a stream of black flame back at the Sorcerer of Dark Magic. The two attacks met in the middle and began pushing back at each other. Then the Sorcerer of Dark Magic’s attack began to push Horus’ back until it hit him, surrounding him in fire and destroying him. Jamin yelled as the pain surged through his body from the loss of such a powerful monster but then it stopped and he stood there, panting heavily and shaking violently. The crowd watched in silence as he stood there, waiting to see if he would continue to duel or give up there. Jamin looked up at Josh, grinning weakly.

“Good game,” he said, just loud enough for Josh to hear him.

“Yeah,” Josh nodded.

Jamin gave a short laugh and toppled forwards, out cold.

“And the winner of the duel rally tournament is Joshinyu Tenshi!” The announcer said “A duelists who’s beaten so many favorites to get this far and is now the new champion of Domino city.”

Josh walked over to where Jamin had fallen as the platform began to lower and he knelt down next to him.

“Still unconscious?” He asked “Good, because this is gonna sound soppy. Thanks Jamin, I owe you one.”

“Don’t mention it,”

Josh suddenly froze, his cheeks turning red.

“Y-you’re conscious?”

Jamin rolled over, his eyes closed and his mouth wide open.

“The Sake’s on me,” he murmured.

“He…” Josh stammered “He’s asleep.”

 

Hours later Jamin lay on the grass in the park, staring up at the sky above him as everyone else chattered about Josh’s victory.

“Bah, who cares,” he muttered “It’s just a card game.”

He looked up to see Josh walking towards him with his hands in his pockets.

“Feeling better?” Josh asked.

“I guess,” Jamin replied, sitting up “How’s Domino City’s newest champion?”

“I’ve been better,” Josh replied

“Ha, I see,” Jamin replied.

“Anyway,” Josh said taking a card out of his pocket “Here.”

Jamin stared down at it, barely able to make out the picture on it what with all the highlights put on it.

“A ghost rare?” He muttered “But I lost, that means you get to keep your card.”

“Technically you lost,” Josh said “But when I made that bet I was assuming the tournament would use regular rules.”

Jamin continued to stare up at him.

“When you played Unity to power up your charmers defense points I took 4300 points of damage,” Josh replied “And had that been a normal duel, I’d have lost instantly, so.”

A soft smile crossed his face, looking very out of place on him.

“It’s yours,” he said “Congratulations, you win. And don’t you dare try to give it back to me.”

Jamin took the card and grinned.

“Omega Spell,” he muttered “Heh, I knew there was a catch; this isn’t the sort of spell I’d use.”

“Call it a keepsake then,” Josh said “Either way, you’re keeping that thing whether you like it or not.”

Jamin stood up and pocketed the card, staring at Josh.

“This isn’t over,” he said “One day I’m going to face you with a deck strong enough to beat you, and then I’ll finally achieve what I’ve wanted since I was five.”

Jamin raised his hand and Josh gripped it in his own.

“And I’ll be waiting,” Josh said “I’ve never lost a duel yet, and I’m looking forward to meeting the duelist who can give me a real challenge.”

“But didn’t that…” Jamin began.

Josh’s eyes narrowed and he tightened his grip, causing Jamin to stutter in pain.

“No he didn’t,” Josh replied sternly “That never happened it was all a hallucination. Honestly, one year and you’ve suddenly been dragged into this whole ‘shadow game’ thing, later.”

He let go off Jamin’s hand and wandered off, leaving Jamin to nurse his hand on his own.

“Yep, that’s Josh all right,” he said “Back to normal at last.”

 

Three Months later:

 

Jamin picked up the heavy bag that was on his floor and took one last look at his room. It looked pretty empty now that he’d cleaned everything off it.

“Jamin!” His dad called “You coming or what?”

“Yeah, I’m coming,”

Jamin walked out of his bedroom and down the stairs.

“Honestly,” his dad said “I’m surprised you could find most of your things in that mess you call a bedroom.”

“I just chucked in everything I could find,” Jamin said “Don’t worry, nothings been left, I checked.”

“Well, so long as you’re sure,” his dad said “It would be embarrassing for you to spend the next three years with only two sets of underwear.”

“Dad, cut it out,” Jamin said.

His dad chuckled as they walked outside to the car. Jamin chucked his bag in the boot clapped his hands together.

“All set,” he muttered, getting into the front seat “Hey I just thought; when I get back you’re gonna have to teach me how to drive.”

“Hm, I never thought of that,” his dad muttered “Just remind me never to lend you the card.”

“Ha, whatever you say,” Jamin said.

His dad turned on the ignition and they drove off down the road towards the port. Jamin stared out of the window as he did so, gazing at the clouds and buildings rolling past as well as the skyscrapers in the distance.

“I’m sort of going to miss this place,” he said “I mean I’ve lived here for 17 years, it’s gonna feel like leaving something behind.”

“Ah, people move on,” his dad said “You shouldn’t try to bother yourself with it, besides; you’ll be back before you know it.”

Jamin chuckled slightly but didn’t reply.

 

They arrived at the port a few minutes later. A large cruise boat was waiting there and there was a large crowd of people milling about it. Jamin got out of the card and saw Josh, Kim and Eris waiting for him there.

“Hey there,” Kim called, waving.

“Yo’,” Jamin said, walking over to them “Well, just like we always used to, huh?”

“I’m here too,” Eris said.

“Plus one,” Jamin added.

“Hey, be careful,” Kim said “If you come back and I’ve found you’ve picked up a girlfriend I’m going to murder you.”

“Okay, okay I get it,” Jamin said, raising his arms defensively “No dating, got it.”

“If you’re so concerned, why don’t you go with him?” Josh asked.

“Hm,” Kim shrugged “Duelings not for me. Besides, if everyone in the world had a career in dueling there would be nobody else to do any other jobs.”

“True,” Josh replied.

“Which reminds me,” Jamin said “Why aren’t you going, Josh?”

“I’m already as good as I’ll ever be,” Josh replied “I don’t need to go to some academy just to get better.”

He fished in his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards.

“Here,” he said.

Jamin took the deck and shuffled through them.

“But Josh,” he said “These are your cards.”

“I know,” Josh replied “I’m done dueling too, I can’t go any higher. But mark my words, while you’re away you give that deck of yours the ultimate overhaul and when you come back you give me that deck and we’ll have one final duel, you and me.”

Jamin nodded.

“You got it,” he said.

“Have fun,” Eris said.

“And you’re staying because?” Jamin asked.

“Too many guys nearby,” Eris said “I might start prowling.”

“Oh yes, the succubus thing,”

“Don’t worry,” Eris said “I’ll keep her under control.”

A fog horn sounded, breaking apart their conversation.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye,” Josh said, extending his hand.

“Yeah,” Jamin replied, clasping it in his own “See you later, Josh.”

The two of them grinned at each other and then let go.

 

With a wave Jamin walked up the ramp and onto the boat. He watched the trio of his friends waving up at him as the boat prepared to set sail. He carried on waving from the balcony as it began to move off. Then for a fleeting moment he though he saw three slightly transparent figures waving at him as well, one with long sand brown hair, another with straight blond hair with red streaks and another with spiky teal hair. Jamin just had time to catch a glimpse of them before the boat pulled away from the harbor and sailed off towards the horizon.

“Jamin?”

He looked round to see Darc staring up at him.

“I thought I just saw…” Jamin began “Diablo, Mashi-Ushi and….My mother…”

“Probably a trick of the light,” Darc said “You know, you feeling all nostalgic and stuff.”

“Yeah,” Jamin nodded “You’re probably right.

 

Kim, Josh and Eris were still waving even when they could no longer see Jamin. Only when the boat was no longer visible did they finally lower their hands and they still stared ahead at where it had vanished.

“I feel weird,” Kim muttered.

“Why?” Josh asked “Got no one to glomp.”

“Hey, that’s mean,” Kim said.

“I guess I know what you mean,” Josh said “It’s gonna feel weird without Jamin around, I mean he was always around to liven things up.”

“Can’t I do that?” Eris asked.

“All you do is flirt with people,” Josh said “And don’t think I haven’t seen you looking at me.”

“I can’t help it,” Eris said “It’s my nature.”

“Well, whatever,” Josh sighed.

He turned around and walked away. Eris hesitated and then followed. Kim however remained, watching the horizon. She was still smiling, but a tear was welling up in one eye.

“He’ll be back,” she muttered, wiping it away “I know it. Until then I guess we’ll just have to find an adventure by ourselves.”

 

The End

 

 

 

 

And no, there will be no season two, sorry ^_^...

[Καsτοr]

That was great!