Introduction: For those of you who have yet to read my previous ZEXAL stories, Vampire Papillon and Barians vs. Psychics, I suggest you go back and read those. Otherwise you might be a tad confused by what's going to happen in this story. For those of you who have read those two stories, I'm sure you've been looking forward to this next tale. When I worked on BVP, I was asked in a few reviews about if Yuma and Kotori were going to get a "love scene" in that story. Obviously, that didn't happen. The reason for that is because such a potential scene is going to play a central role in this story, but I fear that I've now said too much. And so, on with the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.
Chapter 1: The New Normal
It was the dead of night as she walked barefoot through a vast grassy field. The only thing she had on was a flowing white dress with thin straps. Where she was going, she could not say. Nor could she remember how she had even gotten to that field or where she was, but she pressed on because of some unknown desire. The only source of light she had was that of the starry sky above. After an uncertain amount of time though, she could make out an orange light in the distance. She headed towards the light, feeling that it was where she needed to be.
It was not until she could make out that the light in question was a large bonfire of some kind. As she got closer, she could hear the sound of women chanting in some odd language. Instinctively, she hastened her pace towards the fire, thinking that something terrible was about to happen. When she finally came near, she froze at the strange scene that was now before her. Around the fire on their knees were three young women, each of who was wearing a black hooded robe. It was these three who were the source of the odd chanting.
Just to the side of the fire she saw a large vertical stone alter that had a young man chained to it. He had a tan complexion and short black hair with odd red points at three spots around his face. For some reason she felt she knew who the young man was, yet try as she could, she could just not place him. Even his name seemed to escape her. The young man was shirtless, and painted on his chest was an odd black symbol in the form of a single line that split into two curved lines at the top like the top of a heart, and beneath each curve was a dot above an a small almost diamond-shaped mark.
Standing in front of the young man chained to the stone alter was another young woman wearing a black hooded robe. Her hood was down though, revealing that she had short red hair and bewitching golden eyes. The young woman soon removed her robe though to reveal that she was completely naked. Suddenly there was a flash of blue light that had made the girl watching this scene look up. Floating above was a figure made of blue light, though his body was crackling with black electricity and his color alternated from blue to red. The girl felt like this figure was familiar to her, but like the young man she couldn't place him. Whoever this being of light though looked as though he was in great pain.
"Kotori…" the being of light spoke to the girl. "Help… Yu…"
It was hard for the girl to make out what the poor creature was saying. Meanwhile, the girl saw the redhead gave her an evil and triumphant smirk. Suddenly to the girl's horror, the redhead plunged her hand into the young man's chest to tear out his heart.
Kotori Mezuki's eyes quickly snapped open. The sixteen-year-old sat up to look at her alarm and saw that it was only five minutes before it was set to go off. Kotori had always hated when that sort of thing happened, but after the dream she had just had, she knew there was no chance in hell that she was going to be able to get back to sleep anyway. Kotori made a move to shut off the alarm to prevent the unnecessary and annoying siren that was to come, but when she did she noticed something clutched in her hand. It was a small gold almost arrowhead-like pendant that had a green gem at the top and looked almost like some sort of key.
Kotori tried to remember where she had gotten the key, but like the young man and the figure of light from her dream, she could not place the pendant's identity. Whatever it was though, Kotori felt that the key was a very important piece of jewelry. It obviously had to be if she had gone to bed with it clutched in her hand. With a shrug, Kotori put the key on her nightstand and proceeded to get dressed. After the green-haired girl finished putting on her uniform, she went over to her mirror to make sure that her hair was done just the way she wanted it to be.
Just as Kotori was about to head downstairs for breakfast, her attention was drawn back to the strange key she had left on her nightstand. For some reason, she couldn't shake that the key was somehow very important. Kotori went back over to the nightstand and put the key on around her neck as she headed downstairs. Then after a quick breakfast she was out the door to school. The sky above was grey and overcast, so much so that Kotori wondered if she should perhaps have brought her umbrella.
In a few minutes Kotori had reached Heartland Academy. As soon as she arrived, she looked around as though she were expecting someone, though for the life of her she couldn't figure out who it was. It just felt as though there was someone who was supposed to be there, someone important. After a moment though, Kotori brushed it off and headed down the hall to her classroom. When she turned the corner though, she suddenly bumped into someone and nearly fell down.
Kotori looked to see who it was and saw that it was the same young man from her dream. He appeared to be about the same age that she was.
"Um, sorry 'bout that." The young man told her. "Guess I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going."
"Oh, it's fine." Kotori assured him. "I'm the one who wasn't paying attention. I guess I've sort of been out of it this morning."
"Hey, do I know you from somewhere?" the young man asked. "You seem kinda familiar."
"Yeah, I kind of have the same feeling." Kotori admitted. "I'm Kotori, Kotori Mezuki."
"Yuma Tsukumo." The young man replied, shaking Kotori's hand.
"Hey Yuma! Get your butt in gear!" a voice called form down the hall. "We're gonna be late!"
"Coming, Tetsuo!" Yuma called back. He then turned back to Kotori. "Well, looks like I gotta go. It was nice meeting you."
Kotori kept her eyes on Yuma as he walked off. Just as she was about to head for class as well she heard a commotion behind her. Kotori turned around and quickly determined the cause. Several students had moved to make way for a young woman of about sixteen who Kotori knew by name as Samantha Warren. Samantha was an exchange student who had started attending Heartland Academy over three months ago, and in a very short time she had become known as the most popular girl at school. She had a sort of strange magnetism that was amplified by her good looks. Samantha had short red hair and bewitching golden eyes, along with a dynamite figure that most girls her age would kill to have.
Samantha was usually seen walking the halls of Heartland Academy either alone or with the small group of girls that she had made her inner circle. But alone or not, practically everyone made way for Samantha when they saw her coming. At that moment though, Kotori felt something very threatening about Samantha. Then it occurred to her that Samantha happened to look like the redhead from her dream, the one that was about to tear the heart out of Yuma's chest. Kotori decided that it would be better to avoid Samantha and proceeded towards the classroom.
"Excuse me." Samantha spoke, causing Kotori to freeze. "Do you have a minute?"
Kotori turned around and saw Samantha walk towards her. "Um, can I help you with something?"
"You're name's Mezuki, right?" Samantha asked. "Kotori Mezuki?"
"That's right." Kotori confirmed. "Is there something I can help you with, Samantha?"
"Oh please, there's no need to call me Samantha." The redhead told her. "That name's always been kind of stuffy to me. Call me Sammy."
"Um, okay." Kotori replied. "So what do you want?"
"Relax, I just wanted to ask you if you dueled." Samantha explained with a friendly smile. "I'm kind of in the mood for having a duel later today and I wanted to see if you could be my opponent."
"Well, I do duel a little." Kotori admitted. "I'm still sort of a beginner though. I didn't really start playing until a couple of months ago."
"That's quite alright." Samantha assured her. "All I'm asking for is a friendly game. It's not like this would be a major tournament duel or anything like that. So, are you up for it then?"
"Well, why are you asking me?" Kotori asked.
"I just thought this would be a good chance for us to get to know one another." Samantha answered. "I've seen you in the hall several times now and have always wanted to get to know you. I decided today that a duel would be the perfect way to do that."
"Oh, well in that case, why not?" Kotori agreed.
"Super! Meet me in the gym after lunch." Samantha told her. "I'll be waiting for ya."
With that, Samantha walked off. As Samantha left, Kotori couldn't help but feel like there was some kind of malicious intent behind the redhead's golden eyes. Before Kotori had a chance to dwell on the feeling of danger she seemed to get from Samantha, the bell rang to signal that classes were about to begin. With that, Kotori put her encounter with Samantha out of her mind and hurried to class. When she got to the classroom and sat down in her usual seat, Kotori looked at the girl who usually sat next to her and was suddenly hit by a feeling that told her that the girl was not supposed to be in that seat, even though Kotori knew very well that the girl had occupied that seat from the very beginning of her time at Heartland Academy.
Outside the classroom window, rain had started to come down. Kotori found herself gazing out the window instead of listening to the lecture that the teacher was in the process of giving. For one thing, she could not get her mind off of Yuma. Even though she had only just briefly met the young man that morning, he seemed to almost completely dominate her thought. Kotori felt that she knew Yuma somehow, and not just from a dream. In fact she felt that the young man was somehow very important to her.
While Yuma was the primary focus of her thoughts though, Kotori's mind was also occupied by an unshakable feeling that things were not as they were supposed to be. It was almost as though she had woken up in someone else's life. Yet at the same time, Kotori knew that thing were always the way they had been. It was just another ordinary day for her. At last the bell rang and Kotori headed for lunch. When lunch was finished, she went to the gym and found Samantha waiting for her alone.
"Glad you showed up." Samantha told her. "You still up for this?"
"Actually, I think a duel would help me take my mind off things." Kotori admitted. "I've been having kind of an off day today."
"Well then. Let's get this started." Samantha decided.
Kotori and Samantha both put on their D-Gazers. As soon as they activated their duel disks, the color of the gym changed slightly.
"I gotta say Kotori, that pink dueling gear of yours is cute!" Samantha remarked.
"Thanks." Kotori replied. "So are you going first?"
"Oh no, you go right ahead." Samantha told her. "I'm the one who challenged you, so you should get the first turn."
"Okay, well try to go easy on me." Kotori requested as she drew her first card. "I summon Mystical Elf in Defense Mode!"
Appearing on the field was a woman with blue skin and long shimmering blonde hair that was almost like spun gold. She had on light-green robes that showed off her shoulders and a sort of silvery-white crown on her head.
"I set one card on the field and end my turn." Kotori announced.
"Not a bad opening move." Samantha praised. "Shouldn't be too hard to counter though."
As Samantha drew her next card, Kotori couldn't help but shake bad feeling about the redhead. Though Samantha seemed quite friendly, her eyes still seemed to have that same hint of malice that Kotori had noticed before.
"Let's see. To counter your Mytical Elf, I summon Dark Elf in Attack Mode!" Samantha announced.
Appearing on the redhead's side of the battlefield was another elf woman that in many ways was a twin to the elf that Kotori had summoned, but there were also many differences. The new elf's skin was dark instead of blue, and her long hair was a dark-purple instead of a simmering gold color. The crown atop the dark elf's head was gold in contrast two Mystical Elf's silvery-white one.
"Hold on. Dark Elf only has 2000 ATK, the same number as Mystical Elf's DEF." Kotori pointed out. "Plus Dark Elf's effect forces the player to give up 1000 life points in order to attack. If you'd try to attack Mystical Elf, you'd only hurt yourself."
"Right you are, birdy-girl." Samantha replied. "But I've found a way around both the little problems you've mentioned. For my next moth, I activate the Spell card, Forbidden Chalice!"
A silver chalice appeared in Dark Elf's right hand. The elf woman took a sip from the liquid inside and suddenly convulsed and clutched her throat, almost as if she were choking from drinking poison. At the same time, the chalice she was holding dropped from her hand to the ground, causing it to shatter into bits of light. After a moment though, Dark Elf seemed to stop chocking and her body began to glow with a purple aura.
"What just happened?" Kotori asked.
"Any monster that drinks from the Forbidden Chalice gains 400 ATK for the rest of the turn, but as a price they lose whatever effects they might have for the rest of the turn too." Samantha explained. "But since Dark Elf's only effect is that nasty little life point cost, the negative effect of a chalice is a good thing."
"So Dark Elf not only has 2400 ATK, she can also attack without you having to pay any life points." Kotori realized.
"Bingo." Samantha confirmed. "Now then Dark Elf, attack your goody two-shoes counterpart! Enchanting Black Magic!"
Dark Elf thrust her right hand forward and fired a barrage of black lightning bolts from her palm. Mystical Elf was struck by the bolts and was instantly vaporized.
"I activate my Trap, Broken Blocker!" Kotori announced. "When a monster of mine with high DEF is destroyed, I can summon two more copies of that same monster from my deck!" At that, two more Mystical Elves appeared on the battlefield.
"Okay, that's actually kind of annoying." Samantha declared. "Looks like I'm going to have to turn up the heat a little. I activate a Spell card, Hinotama! With this card, I inflict 400 points of damage!"
Several fireballs suddenly came down from above and struck Kotori. The impact and resulting explosions were strong enough to knock Kotori off her feet, as well as drop her life points to 3600. What troubled Kotori even more though was that the pain she seemed to feel from the blast. It was almost as if the fireballs were real. Before Kotori hit the ground, the jewel of the key pendant she had on began to shine and a flash of blue light soon enveloped her.
Kotori found herself standing in an endless expanse of pitch-black space. As she looked around to try and figure out where she was, a flash of light appeared before and she saw the same light entity from her dream. Just like in her dream, the being was changing from blue to red and back again as his body seemed to be continually shocked by some kind of black energy.
The being turned his head and looked at Kotori with pain-filled eyes. "Kotori… please… try to remember… who I am."
Kotori looked long and hard at the poor entity and tried to remember his identity. His name seemed to be on the tip of her tongue, and then suddenly as though a bolt of lighting had hit her, she remembered the name.
"Astral!" Kotori spoke.
Astral smiled weakly and nodded. "Good. You were able to remember… which means that there is hope. And so… I will entrust this hope to you. Please… save Yuma."
Astral stretched his hand toward Kotori and a light in the shape of a card flew from it and hit her in the chest. There was another flash of light and suddenly everything about what was going on became clear.
Kotori awoke with a gasp and slowly got to her feet. She saw Samantha standing across the battlefield with a triumphant smirk and recognized her for what she truly was. That girl was an enemy, one who had come and somehow changed how everything was supposed to be. She also remembered that Yuma, instead of being some random young man she had never met before, had actually been one of her closest friends for years and had been her boyfriend for just a little over two. And it was Samantha who had made her and seemingly everyone else forget that fact.
"Jeez, birdy-girl. I didn't hit you that hard." Samantha spoke. "I'll set one card on the field and end my turn, and with the end of my turn, Dark Elf's ATK returns to normal. Your move."
"I remember who you are now, Samantha!" Kotori told her.
"Hey, it's Sammy, remember?" the redhead replied. "And what the hell are you talking about?"
"You can stop pretending now." Kotori told her. "I know that this is actually the first time you've ever even set foot in this school, and you've somehow made everyone think you've been here for months as the most popular girl in school. Just like how you somehow made Yuma and me forget each other!"
"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about." Samantha insisted. "You must've hit your head pretty hard in that Hinotama blast."
"If you want to play dumb, fine! But you can't fool me anymore!" Kotori declared as she drew her next card. "Using both level four Mystical Elves, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon a monster from a very trusted friend! Help me out, Number 39: Utopia!"
"What?" Samantha exclaimed.
A large vortex in the form of a galaxy pulled in both of Kotori's elves as balls of golden energy. Rising out of the vortex a moment later was a large object that looked like an ornate white and gold sword with two balls of golden light orbiting around it. The sword unfolded and took on the shape of a warrior with white armor trimmed with gold. On its head was a helmet with three golden horns, and on its back was a folded pair of white metal wings. In the center of its chest was a green gem similar to the one embedded in the Emperor's Key. Written on the large piece of armor on his left shoulder in red was the number, 39.
"How the hell did you get that card?" a noticeably irritated Samantha asked through gritted teeth.
"That doesn't matter!" Kotori told her. "Now are you going to tell me who you are?"
Samantha sighed. "Okay, fine. I'm Mitaka of the Barian Death Queens."
"So you're with the same group as Anitak?" Kotori asked, instantly recalling the enemy that had gone after Yuma only a week and a half ago.
"That's right, birdy-girl." Samantha confirmed. "Of course my plan to get the Numeron Code is a hell of a lot better than hers was."
"I don't know what you've done, but I'm going to stop you and protect Yuma!" Kotori declared. "Utopia, attack Dark Elf! Hope Sword Slash!"
Utopia grabbed the two swords hanging at his waist and flew forward. With both blades he cut Dark Elf to ribbons. Samantha's life points took a slight drop to 3500.
"Okay then. I activate my Trap, Split Shadow!" Samantha announced. "When a Dark monster of mine is destroyed, I can summon two more copies of the same monster from my deck. So I summon two more Dark Elves!" With that, two new Dark Elves appeared on Samantha's side of the battlefield.
"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Kotori announced.
Samantha drew her next card. "Guess it's time I stop playing around. I overlay both my Dark Elves to Xyz Summon Dark Elf Queen!"
Another vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled Samantha's two elves as balls of purple energy. Rising out of the vortex a moment later was another Dark Elf similar to the original three. Her hair was silver instead of dark-purple. She had on a black dress with long baggy sleeves and a long skirt that was open in the front to reveal a pair of smooth slender legs. Silver armor covered her chest, yet at the same time showed off her cleavage. On the front of her crown was a purple gem in the shape of a shield. Orbiting around the elf queen were two balls of purple light.
"I activate one of Dark Elf Queen's effects!" Samantha announced. "By detaching one of her overlay units, I can take control of one of my opponent's monsters until the end of the turn. And of course the card I choose to take control of is Utopia!"
One of the balls of light orbiting around Dark Elf Queen entered the gem on her crown. The elf queen then blew a kiss to Utopia filled with a strange red powder. Utopia's eyes suddenly began to glow pink and he went over to Samantha's side of the field.
"So now you're going to attack me with both monsters?" Kotori asked.
"I could, but that wouldn't be as fun." Samantha replied. "I activate another effect of Dark Elf Queen! While she has a Dark Elf monster as an overlay unit, I can sacrifice a monster I control and inflict damage to my opponent equal to its ATK! And of course the monster I sacrifice is Utopia!"
Dark Elf Queen plunged her hand into the gem in Utopia's chest, causing the warrior to cry out in pain and several red glowing cracks to appear all over his body. Utopia shattered into bits of red light, and with the same hand she used to kill Utopia, Dark Elf Queen shocked Kotori with a barrage of red lightning bolts. Kotori cried out in pain as her life points dropped to 1100.
"It's all over now." Samantha victoriously declared.
"I… I activate my Trap, Xyz Reborn!" Kotori announced. "With this card, I summon Utopia back from the Graveyard!"
"What?" Samantha exclaimed.
With that, Utopia reappeared on Kotori's side of the battlefield. The Trap card that Kotori had used to revive him became a ball of gold light that was pulled into the warrior's orbit.
"Dammit!" Samantha cursed. "I didn't think you'd be able to summon Utopia back to the Graveyard. At the very least though, I can still cause you some pain. Dark Elf Queen, attack Utopia!"
"I activate…" Kotori began to announce.
"Kotori… wait!" a voice spoke inside Kotori's head. Kotori instantly recognized the voice as Astral's. "Do not use Utoipa's effect! His last overlay unit… must be saved."
On hearing this, Kotori ceased her command. She didn't know why Astral stopped her from using Utopia's effect, but she decided to trust him.
"Black Magic Ruin!" Samantha commanded.
Dark Elf Queen shocked Utopia with an intense blast of black electricity from her hands. Utopia withstood the attack due to his nature as a Number, but Kotori's life points dropped down to a mere 800.
"Guess I'll end my turn there." Samantha decided. "If I were you, birdy-girl, I'd surrender and save myself a whole lot of pain."
"I won't give up! Not until I stop you and keep you from getting to Yuma!" Kotori declared.
"You know he's not worth all the trouble you're going to for him." Samantha told her. "I'm only bothering with him because he's needed to get the Numeron Code. Just give up."
"I will not give up!" Kotori told her. "I never will as long as Yuma's in danger! He protected me during the Number War, and now it looks like my turn to protect him!"
Suddenly a light began to shine from the Extra Deck holder at Kotori's waist, surprising both her and Samantha. Kotori took a quick look inside to see what was giving off the light and found it was a card she knew very well.
"Using Utopia, I rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon Number C39: Utopia Ray!" Kotori announced.
Utopia folded back into his sword form and went into another galaxy-like vortex that had appeared in the middle of the field. Rising out of the same vortex a moment later was another large object in the form of an ornate black and gold sword with two golden balls of light orbiting around it. The sword unfolded and changed into a new warrior clad in black armor with gold trim similar to Utopia's original form. His new helmet had a mask-like face with a single horn on the forehead. On his back in between his wings was a large black sword.
"I also summon Gemini Elf in Attack Mode!" Kotori announced.
Appearing next to Utopia Ray was a pair of elf women. One of them had long orange hair and wore a purple mini-dress. The other one, shorter than the redhead, had blonde hair and wore a blue mini-dress with blue elbow-high gloves.
"I activate Utopia Ray's effect!" Kotori announced. "Since I have less then 1000 life points, I can detach Utopia Ray's overlay units and for each one increase his ATK by 500! And at the same time, your Dark Elf Queen loses 1000 ATK for each overlay unit, meaning that she'll only have 800 ATK!"
Both balls of light that were orbiting around Utopia Ray entered the green gem in the center of his chest. Utopia Ray's armor then began to glow white.
"Utopia Ray, attack Dark Elf Queen!" Kotori commanded. "Hope Sword Chaos Slash!"
As Utopia Ray drew the swords hanging at his waist, he also used his mechanical arms to draw the giant sword on his back. The Number warrior flew at Dark Elf Queen and slashed her to pieces using all three swords. Samantha's life points took a steep drop to 800.
"Gemini Elf, attack her directly!" Kotori commanded.
The elf duo dashed forward and struck Samantha in the chest with a double flying kick. Samantha was knocked onto her back and her life points dropped to zero. With the duel at an end, Utopia Ray and the elf duo vanished. Samantha got back to her feet and glared at Kotori.
"You've just opened yourself up to a whole world of pain, bitch." Samantha warned.
Before Kotori could respond, a vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared behind Samantha and pulled her in as particles of light. When the vortex closed, and exhausted Kotori dropped to her knees. She remained like that on the gym floor for several moments, clutching the Emperor's Key hanging from her neck. Kotori needed a moment to try and figure out what was going on. How is it that she had the Emperor's Key? And how had Samantha, or rather Mitaka, made it so that the world had changed?
"Kotori." A familiar voice spoke.
Kotori looked and standing behind her was a woman with orange eyes and a pale complexion. She had dark hair with purple bang and wore a black leather jacket over a purple t-shirt with a white butterfly on the front, along with a short black skirt and black knee-high boots. Kotori instantly recognized who the young woman was.
"Droite?" Kotori spoke as she got back to her feet.
"I saw that whole duel." Droite told her. "For someone of your skill level, you did pretty well against Mitaka. Though that might've partly been because she underestimate you."
"Do you know what's going on here?" Kotori asked.
"Yeah. And you better come with me." Droite told her. "We've got a lot we need to talk about."
Samantha emerged from the portal on another part of the academy grounds. Upon exiting, she was met by another young woman in a Heartland Academy uniform. She had long black hair tied in a braided ponytail, and green eyes by a pair of glasses with oval-shaped frames. The students of Heartland Academy still knew this girl as Chitose Amamiya, but Samantha knew her as one of her fellow Death Queens, Anitak.
"Hello, Mitaka." Chitose greeted. "I trust your plan is going smoothly?"
"Actually, Ani, there's been kind of a wrinkle." Samantha admitted. "Somehow Astral World's Envoy was able to give one of his Numbers to the Mezuki girl. As a result, the little spell I cast on the city to alter everyone's memories was broken, at least on her."
"I see." Chitose replied. "That could cause problems for this plan of yours."
"Relax, that girl is nothing." Samantha assured her. "Sure her remember how things really are is kind of annoying, but that's it."
"But do you not thing that with her memory restored, the romantic bond she has with Tsukumo will undermine all that you've done?" Chitose asked.
"Jeez, Ani. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. There's no such thing as love." An unworried Samantha responded. "Love is just something dreamed up by humans in order to justify and even glorify the act of sex. In fact the more enlightened humans have even recognized this. The only thing between Mezuki and Tsukumo is the hormonal urge to hump like bunnies. Once Tsukumo see that he can get the same action from me or the members of my coven, the Numeron Code's as good as ours."
"You'll forgive me if I'm being cautious." Chitose told her. "Alnia will not be pleased if we fail."
"Trust me, Ani. I've got this." Samantha told her. "Yuma Tsukumo is already as good as mine."
Author's Note: I hope that wasn't two bad of an opening chapter. The next chapter will have a bit more exposition as to what's happening. Anyway, the who Mystical Elf vs. Dark Elf thing came to me last year when I was playing one of my old Gameboy Advance Yu-Gi-Oh! games just for the heck of it. Almost all the characters on a certain level of that game used multiple copies of Dark Elf in their decks. Actually it was kind of funny when I'd set a Blast Sphere on the field and they'd attack it with Dark Elf. They pretty much just paid 1000 life points just to blow themselves up.
Please review and let me know what you think.