Hopeless

Author's Notes: In this chapter, I've decided to refer to the Noble Night archetype by the OCG name Holy Knight, because I think that sounds a little better.

"So, you've found me, Yuma Tsukumo." Yuma heard the girl before him speak; she was short with pale freckled skin and hair that stuck out in every direction and in every color. She was dressed in loose gray clothes, and her eyes were sunken in. "I guess it was inevitable really; after all, I have these." She flicked her wrist, and there were three cards in her hand, and even with their backs to Yuma and Astral, they both saw the darkness pouring off of them. "Just one of these can do incredible things, and with three of them, there's practically nothing beyond my reach." She let out a sigh. "That's what fools think anyway, that's what the fools I took these two from thought." She took two cards from her hand and they disappeared. "I know better though; I know that it doesn't matter how many any of us gather, it doesn't matter if all 99 are collected in one person's hands." The third card disappeared. "Their power is meaningless; the most I can do is to take them from others so that they won't waste any more of their time with such foolish ideas as hopes and dreams." She armed her D-Pad and activated her D-Gazer. "I am Kuno Reizen, and I will relieve you of your numbers."

"She is an odd one Yuma." Astral said as Yuma armed his D-Pad and put on his D-Gazer. "Those possessed by the Numbers have clear goals and desires, yet she seems to only desire to horde them." Astral stroked his chin. "I do not feel that she has been subjected to any of Dr. Kepler's experiments, but even so, we must remain on our guard Yuma." Astral looked around at their surroundings; they were in a playground, there were swings being swung by the breeze

"Not a problem Astral." Yuma said as he drew his cards. "After all, thanks to you I've got the perfect card to be cautious with." Yuma took a card from his hand. "First I summon Gogogo Golem from my hand, and then I activate Kagetokage's effect in my hand to special summon it to the field." A stout stone robot and a lizard's shadow appeared on Yuma's side of the field. "And now with both of my level-4 monsters together, I overlay them!" The galaxy spiral opened up for Yuma. "Guardian of all our dreams, protector of all our desires, appear! Number 39, Aspiring Emperor Hope!" The gold and white warrior descended onto the field, arms crossed over its chest. "Now I set one card and end my turn."

"Turn 2, Yuma Tsukumo: 4000 life points, Kuno Reizen: 4000 life points."

"No way." Kuno Reizen covered her mouth. "You summoned that monster? That Number?" She looked down. "I can't believe this, I just can't believe it." She looked up with a grin on her face. "Here I was, thinking I'd need to to work on figuring out a way to get you to summon that specific monster, not imagining that you'd just summon it straight away."

"Huh?" Yuma said. "You wanted me to summon Hope?"

"Why yes, yes I did." The grin faded from Kuno's face. "Do you know the story of Pandora's Box? The sealed box which humans were forbidden to open, but one human in their innocence could not understand why the box was forbidden to them. They indulged their curiosity and opened the box, and so she released the sins of mankind into the world; Lust, Gluttony, Envy, Greed, Wrath, Sloth, and Pride. The sins took root in the hearts of mankind and their evil spread throughout and brought endless ruin...and yet, there was one thing remaining within the box." Kuno pointed at Yuma's Number. "Hope. A fine story don't you think Yuma?"

"I guess so." Yuma said. "I'm not sure what you're getting at though; it's not like the Numbers are thousands of years old."

Kuno sighed. "Then I shall spell it out to you Yuma; that story was nothing but a lie, a fable to comfort the foolish." Kuno drew her card. "I will show you now the truth of what was left behind in the box that contained the sins of humanity; I summon Holy Knight Mordred." A blond knight with a sour expression on his face. "And now I equip Mordred with Holy Sword Caliburn, and with Caliburn's effect I will gain 500 life points." A breeze stirred her baggy sleeves. "Then, I activate Mordred's effect; when equipped with a Holy Sword when I control no other monsters, I can special summon a Holy Knight from my deck in defense. Come forth, Holy Knight Tristan!" Mordred held his sword up high, and another knight appeared to answer the call; another blond, this one with a relaxed expression and a lyre in his hands. "Then, following this special summon I destroy Caliburn. However! At that time of destruction, Caliburn's effect activates, allowing me to equip it to a Holy Knight on the field, and so this time I will equip it onto Tristan." Mordred tossed his sword into the air and Tristan caught it. "The moment Tristan equips Caliburn, Tristan's effect activates, allowing me to destroy one face-up card you control; begone from my sight, Hope!"

Tristan swung the sword in a broad arc, a pressure wave shot forth from it. "Not so fast Kuno; trap card activate, Armor Soul! I equip this card to Hope and now it can't be destroyed by card effects!" Hope's body was covered in a sparkling pink energy which deflected the pressure wave.

"You've come quite far Yuma." Astral said; he remembered the work Yuma and he had done on Yuma's deck together, their discussions of the strengths and weaknesses of every monster in Yuma's deck and the best ways to compensate those weaknesses and draw out those strengths to their fullest extent. "To think that you would once perform deliberate misplays just to spite me."

"Well done Yuma; I would expect that a duelist like you would cling to their monster no matter what." Kuno sighed. "Now then, it's time for you to realize the error of your ways; I activate Caliburn's effect once again and gain 500 life points, and then I overlay Mordred and Tristan together." The galaxy portal cracked and sparked. "All will cower before my eternal power! Exceed Summon! Descend now, Number 98 King of Despair, Hopeless!" Like an image of Number 39 cast in negative, Hopeless was a dark reflection of Hope in every way. The 98 branded itself onto the back of Kuno's hand.

"This Number..." Astral tilted his head as he observed it; it was dark attribute compared to Hope's Light, and it had 2000 attack and 2500 defense, reflecting Hope's 2500 attack and 2000 defense.. "Yuma, I suspect that you two possess much in common."

Yuma looked up at him. "Are you sure about that? Just from her Number? That might not even be her Number you know, maybe that was one of the ones she won from someone else."

"Consider her words Yuma; Kuno regards this Number, Hopeless, as what was truly left behind in Pandora's Box. In other words, a card that she has attached importance to."

"Now," Kuno interrupted them, "I equip Hopeless with Holy Sword Gallatin, increasing its attack power by 1000, making it stronger than your Hope." Hopeless brandished a shining sword. "Hopeless, attack and destroy Hope!" Hopeless lunged forward!

"I activate Hope's effect and detach Gogogo Golem to negate your attack!" Hope brought its wings out and swatted the attack away.

"Just as expected Yuma." Kuno said. "It's easy to believe in Hope like that, it looks like it's so unstoppable." Kuno shook her head. "You're going to wish you'd let me destroy your Hope, you'd be much better off without it."

"I believe she means that Yuma." Astral said. "Keep yourself braced Yuma; Despair has yet to reveal its power to us."

"Turn 3, Yuma Tsukumo: 4000 life points, Kuno Reizen: 5000 life points."

"Hmm, Despair's effect...Yeah, that's it!" Yuma drew his card. "No matter what effect it has, this will take care of that! I summon Gagaga Sister to the field and activate its effect, adding a Gagaga spell or trap from my deck or my hand; I add Gagagawind to my hand and activate it to special summon Gagaga Magician from my hand, and now I activate Magician's effect, setting it to level six, and then with Sister's effect I'll make them both level 8." The two stood back to back now. "And with them both at level 8, I overlay them together." The galaxy portal swept through them. "A warrior from a noble past, rise again to protect what's right! Exceed Summon! Rank 8, Number 23, Lancelot the Ghost Knight of Underworld!" Yuma's monster swept its sword out as though to announce its arrival.

"And you think that that ghost is going to do anything in the face of despair?"

"You bet it will; since Ghost Knight has materials attached to it, that means it can attack you directly!" Lancelot flew up into the sky and dived down towards Kuno!

"Hopless's effect activates; when my opponent declares an attack, I detach a material from Despair to force the attacking monster into defense position." Hopeless spread its wings out, and a black fog shot out towards Lancelot.

"Lancelot's effect; when my opponent would activate a spell, trap, or monster effect, once per turn I can detach a material to negate it." Lancelot sliced through the fog and drove its blade at Kuno's feet for 2000 points of damage. "And now Lancelot's other effect activates; when it inflicts battle damage, I can target one monster you control and destroy it!" Lancelot skewered Hopeless from behind! "And now that Hopeless is gone," Yuma said as Lancelot flew back to his side of the field, "Now it's Hope's turn, and with Hope I attack you directly!" Hope surged with strength, it bore down on Kuno!

She laughed. "You utter fool! Now see the price you pay for keeping your Hope alive!" Black smoke erupted before Kuno. "King of Despair, Hopeless's true effect! Once per turn on either player's turn, when Hopeless is in the grave, I can target one Hope monster on the field and then special summon Despair back in defense." Hope's dark reflection arose from the grave. It grabbed Hope! "Then, I take your Hope and attach it to Hopeless!" Hopeless punched into Hope's chest and pulled out a shimmering ball of light. Hope withered away, and the light orbited Hopeless. "So do you understand Yuma? The hope that was left behind in Pandora's Box was nothing of the sort, a mere illusion to draw humanity deeper into despair."

"So this is her meaning." Astral said. "Had you allowed her to destroy Hope, she could not have revived Hopeless with its effect."

Yuma looked up at the monster that stood over him, arms crossed and eyes glaring down at him. "So then, when you were talking about what was really left behind in Pandora's Box, this is what you were talking about?"

"You've figured it out Yuma." Kuno said. "Don't try to hold onto what you have, it can only betray you, fuel your demise. The same holds for all the Numbers; everyone in Heartland City is searching for them everywhere, each thinking that the power of the Numbers will somehow fulfill their dreams." Kuno shook her head. "Pointless, utterly pointless; even if the Numbers fulfill those dreams in the short-term, it will only lead to even greater pain when those dreams are taken away again."

"Again?" Yuma took a step forward. "What do you mean? Did something happen to you?"

"Obviously." Kuno said. "But it doesn't matter what it was; talking about it now, dwelling on it now, none of that will make any difference. The only thing that matters is making sure that no one else makes the same mistakes I made."

"Turn 4, Yuma Tsukumo: 4000 life points, Kuno Reizen: 3000 life points."

Kuno drew her card. She switched Hopeless to attack position. "I summon Holy Knight Artorious, a normal light monster, and with that condition fulfilled I special summon Holy Knight Gawain in my hand, and so I take my level 4 monsters and overlay them together." The galaxy spiral answered the call. The loyal knights dived down into the portal. "Ancient and foolhardy dream, take flight! Exceed Summon! Appear now, Number 44, Sky Pegasus!" A great winged horse whinnied as its number branded itself onto Kuno's face. "I now activate Pegasus's effect; I detach one material and target one monster you control and now you must make a choice." Kuno pointed right between Yuma's eyes. "Either your monster will be destroyed, or else you must pay 1000 life points to keep it on the field."

"I choose neither! I detach Lancelot's material to negate your effect!"

"Yuma!" Astral shouted. "You should have paid the life points, you would have been able to use Lancelot's effect on another card!"

"Crap!" Yuma grimaced.

"I knew you would Yuma; you're the kind of person who always imagines that there's going to be a third option, a third way, that you don't have to play by the rules put before you." Kuno looked down. "You think you're special, different, that you can do things that no one has done before, things that only exist in the storybooks." Kuno scoffed. "You call that arrogance hope, and you wonder how you're making such sloppy mistakes, how everything is falling apart all around you." Kuno looked down. She breathed deep. "You start to wonder if maybe you really did pave your way right down into hell itself." She raised her head. "There's no point in trying to change anything, there's no point in even trying. Once I've taken all your Numbers, you will understand that I am right, Yuma Tsukumo."

"That's not going to happen Kuno." Yuma said. "First of all, I know perfectly well that you can make big, huge, giant mistakes without meaning to or realizing it. I don't need you to tell me about that. But second, and way more important than that, I've got a really important friend who's counting on me, and helping him gather all the Numbers is the right thing to do and it will help him, so I'm not giving up!"

"Yuma..." Astral said.

"Your friend will thank me later." Kuno clenched her fist. "I now activate Sky Pegasus's effect and equip it to Hopeless, allowing Hopeless to attack twice during the battle phase." Kuno's warrior mounted the winged horse. "And next I equip Hopeless with Unholy Curselburn; the Dark Exceed Warrior equipped with this card gains 500 attack points and when it would detach a material to activate its effect, I instead banish a Holy Sword in my grave." Hopeless brandished a thick black blade in its hand. "I now attack with Hopeless." Hopeless rode forth on its steed, and with its sword it destroyed Lancelot's armor, and then Lancelot itself. "And now Hopeless will attack again, directly!" Rider and horse bore down on Yuma, and their combined power forced Yuma to the ground.

"I'm okay Astral!" Yuma said. "And you're going to be okay too!" He said as he pulled himself back up, as he looked up at Astral's faded form. "I've still got life points, I'm still in this duel."

"For all the good that it will do you Yuma." Kuno said. "No matter what you summon, Hopeless will make it cower in fear before it. It could have 10,000 attack points, it could be immune to destruction in battle or by card effects, it could have the power to attack twenty times in a row, none of it would make any difference. Despair is absolute."

"No it's not." Yuma said. "No matter how bad it looks, no matter how bad it gets, you're not alone, and your friends and family will be there to help you through it all."

"..."

"Turn 5, Yuma Tsukumo: 1000 life points, Kuno Reizen: 3000 life points."

"Yuma." Astral said. "Your words, I believe that they resonated in Kuno's heart." Astral kept his gaze on their opponent. "You must proceed with caution from here on out Yuma; if you choose poorly, you will only drive her deeper into the corruption of her Number."

"I understand Astral." Yuma closed his eyes. He remembered how hard it was for him to hear anyone else when Akari went missing for that horrible, awful, terrible week, how nothing anyone said made any difference, how right before Nubiti contacted him he started to believe that there was no... "That's it." Yuma opened his eyes. "I understand now Kuno, and I'm sorry about what I said."

"What?" Kuno drew herself back. "What are you talking about?"

"I won't say anything until you're ready to talk about it Kuno, but remember that I'm not just dueling for myself or my friends, I'm dueling for you too." Kuno narrowed her eyes. Yuma drew his card. "I summon Gagaga Grandma to the field." A woman whose face was lined with wrinkles appeared on the field, sporting a toothless grin. "When I normal summon this monster at the start of my main phase 1, I can activate its effect; I sacrifice Grandma to special summon two Gagaga Monsters in my grave in defense, but the only special summon I can do is an Exceed Summon using these two monsters, and I can't activate or set any other cards in my hand, and during the end phase I have to discard everything in my hand." Yuma extended his hand out. "Gagaga Grandma, please bring back Gagaga Magician and Gagaga Sister!" The elderly woman waved and disappeared. The younger magicians returned to the field. "I activate Magician's effect to set it's level to five, and then with Sister's effect they will become level 7, and now I can overlay them together!" They flew together again into the Galaxy spiral. "With superb skill, one blade will become two! Exceed Summon! Number 74 Master of Blades!" The turbaned man appeared before Yuma, countless blades are the ready for it to throw. "Master of Blades, attack!"

"It is useless Yuma! I activate Hopeless's effect, banishing Holy Sword Caliburn in my grave to switch Master of Blades to defense position!"

"And that's when I activate Master of Blades' effect; when you target Master of Blades with an effect, I can detach a material to negate that effect and destroy it, then destroy one other card!" Master of Blades threw two knives in the blink of an eye; one went through Hopeless and destroyed it, taking down both Sky Pegasus and Curselburn with it, and the other knife passed through Kuno for 2700 points of damage. "You see that Kuno? Both times Hopeless tried to use its effect, it didn't work, and this time it backfired. Believe me, I know you think you're going to be despairing forever, but that doesn't work. The only thing that can help you is-"

"-Shut up!" Kuno cut him off. "It doesn't matter what you know, it doesn't matter what you've been through, it doesn't matter if things are working out for you right now, because there is nothing, NOTHING, that can bring things back to the way that they were before!" Kuno clenched her fist. "I have already lost everything Yuma, I lost it all long ago; I grew up an orphan Yuma, I never knew my parents, I had no idea where I came from, and no one at the orphanage could tell me anything. I refused to give up though; I knew in my heart that they did not want to give me up, I knew that they had to give me up, and even if they couldn't take care of me now...surely if I showed myself to them, they would see that I was doing fine, that I was growing up and they could be reassured that they'd done the right thing, right?"

Yuma braced himself. "NO!" Kuno shouted. "I found them, I spent years searching for them and I finally found them and when they realized who I was, they told me to get the hell out of their sight!" She stamped her foot on the ground and darkness poured out from her. "They didn't want me! It had nothing to do with money or shame or anything like that, they simply didn't want me and thought that they could just dump me on someone else's doorstep and that would be the end of that! Do you understand now Yuma? Even if I gathered all 99 of the Numbers, what difference would it make? Even if I forced them to love me like they should, what would be the point of it? I could just as easily make anyone love me, want me, give my life meaning, and it would all be equally meaningless! The same goes for all other hopes and dreams out there; no matter what it is, it will all fall apart and you will suffer for daring to hope otherwise. THAT, is why I will take all the Numbers and hide them away, so that no one will be caught up in their lies!"

"Kuno..." Yuma and Astral spoke together. Yuma's turn ended, and so all the cards in his hand fell to the grave.

"Turn 6, Yuma Tsukumo: 1000 life points, Kuno Reizen: 300 life points."

Kuno drew her card, darkness splashed down from her arm. "I activate Demand of Challenge; with this spell card, I target one Exceed Monster in your grave and special summon it to your side of the field in attack position, and then I special summon two level-4 monsters from my grave in defense with their effects negated, and I can't normal summon the turn I activate this card. Therefore, you will gain back your Number 39 Aspiring Emperor Hope, while I gain back Artorious and Mordred in my grave." Both sets of monsters arose from the grave. "And now that you control Hope again, I activate Hopeless's effect and special summon it to my side of the field in defense and attach Hope to it once again!" Hope disappeared, Hopeless resurrected. "And now I take Artorious and Mordred and overlay them together!" The galaxy spiral passed through Kuno's body. "A midnight sun that burns through everything, guide me to victory! Exceed Summon! Number 58, Burner Visor!" A burning sphere appeared on the field, its fire palpable.

"Now I equip Burner Visor to Hopeless, allowing me to attack you directly." Burner Visor hovered over the defense position monster. "And now I activate Curselburn's effect in the grave; by banishing it in the grave and discarding a card from my hand, I add an Unholy Sword from my deck to my hand; come to me, Unholy Sword Blaspheburn!" A green blade with hooks and barbs along it appeared in Hopeless's hand. "The monster equipped with this card is switched to attack position and can't be changed to defense position, and no effects can be activated in response to that monster's effects." Kuno grinned. "Your Master of Blades can't save you now, not that it would ever get the opportunity; Hopeless, attack directly!"

Guided by the false sun, Hopeless flew around Master of Blades and brought its sword down upon Yuma.

"Yuma, now!" Astral called out to him.

"I activate Tasuke Knight's effect!" A heavy armored arm blocked the sword. "Once per duel when my opponent attacks and I have no cards in my hand, I can special summon Tasuke Knight from the grave and end the battle phase!"

"So be it Yuma." Hopeless flew back to Kuno's side of the field. "Do whatever you want on your turn; no matter what you do, you will lose because held onto your Hope."

"Turn 7, Yuma Tsukumo: 1000 life points, Kuno Reizen: 300 life points."

Yuma drew his card. "That's not true Kuno." Yuma held his arms down at his side. "Things can't be the way you wanted them to be, and there's nothing in the world that can set it right. I know that deep in my heart; my friend, my best friend Kotori, for years she's been hiding terrible secrets from me, from everyone, and it's been hurting her all this time and I think about that and everything she's been through because of that, and I know that no matter what happens she'll always have those scars on her heart, they're never going to go away no matter what."

"But we're not giving up! Her and me and all our other friends together, we're gathering the Numbers to set things right, even if that isn't the way we imagined they would be, and it can be the same way for you!" Yuma pointed at Kuno. "That orphanage you grew up in, what was it like?"

"The orphanage?" Kuno said. "It was...they did the best they could with what they had, but there were so many of us, we had to work hard to make ends meet..."

"So you all looked out for one another then?" Yuma said. "The people who ran the orphanage cared and tried their hardest to provide for all of you, and you wanted to return that feeling back to them, didn't you?" Kuno nodded. "Then that's your family! Your parents don't matter, they're just a couple of heartless strangers, but the people at the orphanage, how do you think they'd feel if they saw you talking like this, acting like this, believing like this."

Kuno blinked. The darkness wavered. The darkness hammered in on her! "Silence you pathetic wretched fool! My only purpose in life is to destroy all hope and desire so that no one is led astray ever again!"

"No it isn't, and I'm going to prove it to you! I activate my spell card Gagagadraw and banish all three of my Gagaga monsters in my grave to draw two cards." the spirits vanished from Yuma's grave. Yuma drew his cards. "Next, I summon Goblindbergh to the field, and then I attack Hopeless with Master of Blades!"

"You will not escape despair this time Yuma!" Kuno shouted. "I activate Hopeless's effect and detach it to force Master of Blades into defense, and thanks to Blaspheburn's effect, you can't activate Master of Blade's effect this time!" Hopeless spread its wings out, and in them Master of Blades saw a thousand nightmare visions of its own demise. It cowered before them, it fled back to Yuma's side of the field.

"And now Hope is back in the box, just like in your story." Yuma said. "And that means its there for anyone to take! I activate the Quick-Spell Swift Grave Exceed! During the battle phase I can take two monsters with the same level and overlay them to special summon an Exceed Monster of matching rank from the grave, but that monster is destroyed during the end phase." Kuno's eyes widened. "Return to me Hope, and finish this duel!" Yuma's original number appeared before him and did battle with its counterpart. The two clashed blades time and again, but Hope's sword found his foe first. It slew Hopeless, and in so doing defeated Kuno.

"And now my memories will come back to me." Astral took the Numbers within himself. "Number 98." So many had fallen in the ancient battle, those who lived could only wonder what hope they could have in the face of such despair. "Number 44." The one who created the Emperor's Key had gone on a long, long journey, far from her homeland to keep her treasure secure. "Number 58." The sun that burned bright on a lonely soul on a mission of vengeance at any cost.

"How are you feeling now Kuno?" Yuma extended his hand to her.

"Like I'm going to be vomiting all day long." Kuno took Yuma's hand and pulled herself back to her feet. "I just...I didn't even tell the others where I was going, that I was going to leave to try and find my parents; how am I supposed to go back to them and explain what happened, what I did after?"

"I'm sure the stuff with the Numbers will take a while to explain," Yuma said, "but from the way you were talking about them, I think they'd give you all the time you needed to explain everything to them. Do you think I'm right? 'Cause I mean, I'm going off the impression you've given me of them."

"No, you've got the right of it." Kuno took a deep breath. "I just, I just need to keep reminding myself of that, that's all." She extended her hand to him. "Thank you Yuma; I hope that you and your friends are the ones to get all the Numbers in the end."

"Me too." Yuma shook Kuno's hand.

"Me three." Astral said, accepting that only Yuma would hear him.