Shadowchasers: Return of the Emperors

by CurioOfTheHeart

Roth, a small, uneventful city protected by a single Shadowchaser, Andrew Drake. But an accident that puts Andrew in the hospital causes a sudden paradigm shift as three other Shadowchasers are transferred to the are. Now they have to work together to protect the city from criminals and a mysterious cult.

1. Chapter 1

Hello all and welcome to my foray into the Shadowchasers universe. For those not familiar, check out Cyber Commander's original Shadowchasers fic as well as his sequels.

This fic will use the recent, as of this first chapter going up, August 29th 2016 banlist. But due to timeline setting (approximately one year before Tournament of Shadows) it will use older rules where there can only be one field spell total on the field, the first turn player draws a card, and Pendulum Monsters don't exist.

Of course I don't own either Yu-Gi-Oh! or the Shadowchasers series.

Chapter 1: Reinforcement of the Army

Dammit, might as well introduce myself and get it out of the way.

My name is Andrew Drake. I am a member of the Shadowchasers and have been for fifty-one years since about four months after my eighteenth birthday. I work solo in a small area in North Carolina and my main base is here in the small town of Roth, a city on the border of the Carolinas a bit west of Charlotte-in a house my family has owned for generations actually. I've dedicated my life to Shadowchaser business and plan on remaining active until the day that I die.

I'd expect that everyone reading this is familiar with the world of Shadows and Shadowchasers. The nonhuman beings brought here by a mysterious force and those who swear their lives to both defending them and defending others from them.

Normally I would demonstrate my skills as a Shadowchaser about now, but that will have to wait. You see, I got into a minor traffic accident on my duel runner and am stuck in the hospital for a few weeks.

Now Andrew, you might think, what will you do to take care of criminals if you are stuck in the hospital? Unfortunately, I won't be doing anything. Instead three other operatives are-much to my chagrin-being transferred here under my command and they will be taking care of Shadowchaser business in the area until I've recovered.

And the absolute worst part in all of this? A cult moved to town. I have no idea what or who they worship and they haven't caused any trouble yet, but I just get an uneasy feeling about it.

"Mr. Drake, three visitors for you," one of the nurses, Betty, a nice lady who's been a nurse about as long as I've been a Shadowchaser, said as she walked into my room."They said your employer sent them to talk to you."

"Thanks miss, just send them in," I replied. She walked to the door and signalled the three in.

One was a man, definitely early twenties and a bit short. He had brown, short-cut hair and a youthful look. He wore a T-Shirt with some logo on it, blue jeans, and boots, as well as a wedding band. With how casually he held himself, if it weren't for the distinctive Shadowchaser mark on his cheek I'd think he accidentally walked into the wrong room.

The other two were both women. One was an Indian woman, about average height I'd say. She looked to be in her thirties, had long brown hair, and wore a prim dress shirt and skirt. Unlike the man, I had no uncertainty that she was a professional.

The other woman was about five feet tall and looked to only be about 16, though I'd guess her to actually be eighteen because of Shadowchaser age limits. She looked to be Japanese with shaggy blue hair and a green trench coat that was just opened enough at the top and bottom to reveal a white shirt and pants. As well as red beetle earrings.

"Hello," I greeted the three. "I'm Andrew Drake, your new leader. I'm assuming you all know your reason for being transferred here. For today, I just want you all on a patrol schedule that is posted on the front door of the local headquarters. But first, let's get introductions out of the way. Nothing too in-depth, just name, age, and years active in the Shadowchasers. We can talk more once I get out of this place.

"I'll start. I'm Andrew Drake, I'm sixty-nine, and have fifty-one years on the force."

"Wow, fifty years," the man said. "That is a crazy long time. Your Shadowchaser career is as old as my parents."

"I see. Well since you spoke up, you can go next."

"Oh, uh, okay," he said. "Name's William Rathaway. I'm twenty-three years old and been a Shadowchaser for two of them. Nice to meet you."

"Uh-huh. You mext, ma'am," I pointed to the Indian woman.

"I am Sierra Ravel,"she replied. She spoke professionally and with a slight New York accent. "I am 31 and have been a member of the Shadowchasers for six years."

"Guess I'm last," the shorter girl said, bouncing on her heels. "I'm Kabuto Tochigi, but please call me Beetler. I'm nineteen and just finished my training like two weeks ago, but I guess I technically joined two months ago."

Really HQ, you send me a rookie who hasn't even been an actual Shadowchaser for a full month? I swear, my area better not go to hell, figuratively or literally.

"Okay. You all got the address already, right?"

"Yes sir," Sierra replied. "We got set up in our rooms before coming over."

"Okay. Well all three of you make sure you're rested and don't let things go to Hell."

"Don't worry, we've got it," William tried to reassure me. Admittedly, I should trust them, but I'm having a hard time doing so.

Thankfully they left pretty much immediately after that conversation finished. At least that Sierra woman seems professional, but I don't like being forced to work with anyone. I'm taking a nap before I have to accept that I'm dealing with them for at least two months. I was told they are permanent transfers but I managed to convince Jalal to let me work on my own once so I'm sure I'll be able to do it again when I'm healed up.

A short while later, three duel runners pulled up to the base-an incredibly old two-story home-and their riders disembarked then entered the house.

"This is a pretty nice place," William said as he plopped down on the couch-which was probably older than he was. "If I had to be transferred from home, I'm happy it's somewhere like this. Now if only Summer can hurry up and get here."

Kabuto sat down next to him, kicking her shoes off onto a carpet definitely older than her. "Missing the old ball-and-chain already?"

"Of course, what husband wouldn't? And this is the first time I've left my usual area since we got married."

Unlike the other two, Sierra was careful in taking off and putting up her shoes, then sitting on a nearby chair. "You're married to another Shadowchaser, yes?"

"Former Shadowchaser," William corrected. "He retired to follow his dream of being a teacher. What about you two? Got anyone special in your lives?"

"No interest," Sierra replied simply.

"I had a boyfriend, but we just broke up," Kabuto said with a shrug. "He was a bit of an ass whenever I beat him in a duel, so nothing lost there. So, who has duty first? 'Cause I'm still a bit jetlagged and want to take a nap."

"I do," William replied as he read the chart on the back of the door. "I'll head out in a minute." He tapped his duel disk. "Make sure to keep an ear out for any calls."

"We will," Sierra said. "Good luck out there."

"Thanks." William grabbed a bottle of water and double-checked his deck. "Looks like I have everything. See you two later."

William went out to his duel runner, a rather basic brown runner, albeit with a very advanced engine you wouldn't normally find on that model. He started it up and went out on patrol, leaving the two women alone.

"I did some checking on the internet and found a rec center where Shadows gather," Sierra said as she grabbed her handbag. "Want to go with me?"

"No thanks," Kabuto replied. "Like I said, I'm tired. Although, how did you find that stuff on the internet? Isn't it dangerous to put Shadow related stuff on there?"

"No, information on the internet can be protected by the veil as much as anything else, so unaware humans can't see the links or pages to get the information."

"Oh, cool. Well, have fun."

"Thank you, but this is more for business since I'll be observing the locals."

"Whatever." Kabuto yawned. "Have fun." She got up and walked into the hallway.

Sierra went out to her duel runner, which was similar to William's but a dark purple instead, and started it up. Within five minutes, she was at the rec center she told Kabuto about. It was a rather large, circular, gray building with a red roof. The parking lot was light on cars and duel runners, but there were many bikes and duel boards. Sierra detached the duel disk from her duel runner and put her deck into it before heading inside.

Inside there was a lot of kids and teens, as well as some adults who Sierra figured were a mixture of parents and workers at the rec center. They were all either chatting, dueling, or for two kids playing catch.

As the door closed, all eyes turned to her. And except for the very young kids, they kept on her. After a few seconds, a young man approached her. The aura of trustworthiness surrounding him was so thick it was practically visible, letting Sierra immediately figure out what he was.

"You're an Aasimar, yes?" She looked to meet his eyes.

"Heh, attentive and smart," he said with a smile and an outstretched arm. "Wouldn't expect anything less from a Shadowchaser. Yes ma'am, I am an Aasimar. My name is Isaiah."

"Sierra Ravel, nice to meet you. So, I'm assuming you already heard about Mr. Drake's accident."

"Yes ma'am, I visited uncle Andy in the hospital and he explained the whole thing to me. It's a real tragedy but at least he doesn't have anything majorly wrong."

"Uncle Andy? You're related to Mr. Drake?"

"Oh no," Isaiah motioned to the others in the rec center, most of which had returned to what they were doing before Sierra's arrival. "Most Shadows in this town really look up to uncle Andy so he's an honorary uncle to lots of us. In fact, he even taught dueling courses here, though of course those won't happen for a while now."

"Oh, Mr. Drake trained you in dueling?"

"Yes he did," Isaiah said with a growing smile. "I'm one of his top students actually. Hmm...maybe…"

"Maybe what? Are you saying you're only maybe one of his top students?"

"Oh, no. I was gonna ask if maybe you wanted to duel? So you can see uncle Andy's students and I can see his successor in action."

"Coworker, not successor. For now at least. But sure."

"Awesome. There is a duel field available right over here." Isaiah activated his duel disk as he walked to one end of one of the rec center's multiple duel fields. Sierra took up her position on the other end.

"Hey, your deck looks pretty big. Do you have like a side deck you need to remove or something?"

"Oh, no," Sierra said. "I know it isn't very efficient, but I have a connection to my cards so I use as many as I can."

"Well alright, if you say so. And you can go first if you want."

"Thank you, let's start then."

(Sierra: 8000 LP)-(Isaiah: 8000 LP)

Both duelists drew their opening hands.

"I start off by drawing one card." Sierra looked over her cards. "Nice starting hand. I summon Mermaid Shark."

The monster for the most part resembled a large blue shark with a grey dorsal fin and red eyes. But like a ship's masthead, the blue and cream figure of a woman with long green hair came up out of the shark's nose. (100 ATK)

"And when I summon her I can search my deck for a level 3, 4, or 5 Fish-Type monster. Like one of my Shark Stickers." The Shadowchaser revealed the monster card from her deck and added it to her hand as her duel disk's auto-shuffler activated.

"Fish, huh?" Isaiah said. "Guess I'll be having a fish fry!"

"So confident. Let us see just how good your training is. In a minute, I'm not done yet. I tribute my Mermaid Shark to activate the ability of my Sharkraken and Special Summon it."

A new shark appeared, devouring the mermaid. It was a large, purple thing with two dorsal fins. Oddly, four tentacles flowed from each fin like sucker-covered ribbons. (2400 ATK)

"But things aren't done yet! Special Summoning Sharkraken lets me Special Summon the Shark Stickers Mermaid Shark added to my hand which then lets me Special Summon one already in my hand. Both in defense position."

Playing two more cards, two identical sharp-fanged remora appeared attached to Sharkraken's underside. (1000 DEF) (1000 DEF)

"Wow," one of the kids watching said.

"Four monsters in one turn, pretty impressive," Isaiah said. "Any more tricks up your sleeve?"

"Plenty. But for now, I set a card and pass." The face-down card appeared behind Sharkraken.

"Poseidon Wave or Fish Depth Charge," Isaiah said as he pointed at the face-down card.

"What?" Sierra asked.

"Uncle Andy sometimes makes me guess what face-down cards my opponents play are, to help test my card knowledge and tactical skills. So I'm guessing your face-down card is either a Poseidon Wave or a Fish Depth Charge."

"Interesting. I guess you'll have to wait and see."

"Yep. Now, I draw! I activate Fire Formation - Tensu." Isaiah's continuous spell appeared as a ball of fire. "Tensu has two abilities. It lets me normal summon a Beast Warrior in addition to my usual normal summon and it gives all of my Beast Warriors 100 attack points."

"I know, " the Shadowchaser responded. "I've dueled against Fire Fists before. A weretiger I believe."

"Well hopefully I can give a better challenge. Come out Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Gorilla." The monster was a man in a purple robe and black armor. He held up a staff topped with a large red orb as a fire appeared behind him, taking on the form of a gorilla. A stream of fire came out of Tensu and fed into the gorilla. (1600 - 1700 ATK)

"And for my second summon, Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear." This monster was more muscular than Gorilla and looked like a black armored samurai. His sword blazed with fire that came off to form a large bear. Like Gorilla, a stream of fire moved from Tensu to feed the beast. (1600 - 1700 ATK)

"And I activate Gorilla's effect, tributing my Tensu to destroy your face-down card." The fireball flowed all the way into the fire gorilla, which lept into the air then fell down on Sierra's card. It revealed itself to be Poseidon's wave as it shattered. (Gorilla: 1700 - 1600 ATK) (Bear: 1700 - 1600 ATK)

"Yes, I was right."

"Seems your training with Mr. Drake works well. Good thing I summoned my Shark Stickers in defense position then," Sierra said.

"Maybe but I can still kill them even if I can't deal damage to you. Gorilla, take out one of those Shark Stickers." Fire Fist - Gorilla held his staff up again and its fiery companion charged the Sharkraken, tearing off one of the remora and ripping it in balf.

"And since it destroyed a monster by battle, I can set a Fire Fist spell from my deck." Isaiah took a card out of his deck and set it. "Then Bear will take out your other Shark Sucker." The second Beast Warrior thrust forward with his weapon, his flame animal also shooting forward to smash the Shark Sucker.

"And I'll move to my Main Phase 2 where I'll open the Overlay Network to overlay Bear and Gorilla." A large galactic spiral appeared on Isaiah's field and his Fire Fists lowered into it.

"The first of the 108 heroes. A warrior so powerful the ruler of beasts itself walks beside him. Imbued with the searing white flames of the strongest stars. Come out, Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King!"

The Xyz Monster rose out of the spiral network. He was an old warrior, which could be seen on his worn face and white beard. He wore red armor and a matching helmet. Strangely his weapon was a fan whose tip glowed with white fire. A large tiger made of white flame appeared behind him. Two balls of flame circled him. (2200 ATK/2 Overlay Units).

"Which lets me set another Fire Fist card from my deck, then I'll pass." The second face-down appeared behind Tiger King.

"Draw. I activate Moray of Greed, shuffling two Water monsters from my hand into my deck." Sierra placed the two Water monsters on her deck and the autoshuffler activated. Then she drew three cards. "And that gives me three cards.

I play my field card, Ancient Deepsea Trench." The field spell turned the air in the rec center blue, imitating water. A dark trench ran between the two duelists. "Think of this card as a fish-focused Legendary Ocean. Like A Legendary Ocean, it is treated as Umi, though just on the field. It also reduces the levels of all fish in both of our hands, graves, and that are banished by 1."

"So you're gonna summon a level five then?" Isaiah asked.

"Nope. You see it also has two effects that can be activated when I discard either a Water or a Wind fish. So I'm going to discard my Wind attribute Flyfang," she slipped the monster into her graveyard and a powerful current appeared, surrounding Tiger King. "Now your Tiger King will be banished until your next standby phase. I can't deal you combat damage this turn though but at least it loses its Overlay Units."

"Well why not attack it? Your Sharkraken does have 200 more attack points"

"You aren't the only one that can guess what the opponent has," Sierra replied. "I don't remember its exact name, but I'm guessing one of those Fire Formation cards is the one that gives your monster 700 attack."

"I guess you'll have to wait and see. Anything else?"

"I set a card, change Sharkraken to defense position, and end my turn" (2100 DEF)

"Draw. And my Tiger King comes back now." The current came back, dropping off the warrior. (2200 ATK/0 Overlay Units)

"And he is going to be joined by Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Leopard." This Beast Warrior was a young man wearing light red armor and a cape. A tail swished behind him, tipped with blue fire. His weapons were two paper talismans burning with the same blue flame, the flame also forming into-for some reason-a cheetah. (200 DEF)

"I activate my Fire Formation - Tenki to add my Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Spirit from my deck to my hand." The spell took the form of a ball of yellow fire as he added the monster to his hand. Like Tensu, flames came off of it to feed the Fire Fists' fire beasts. (Tiger King: 2200 - 2300 ATK)(Leopard: 0 - 100 ATK)

"And I tribute Leopard to set a Fire Formation from my deck." Leopard's fire beast surrounded him and the monster burned to nothing as Isaiah set a card from his deck. "And I'm nowhere near done yet! I drew a familiar card this turn and I'm gonna activate it, Fire Formation - Tensu." The red ball of flame appeared, a tendril going to Tiger King (2300 - 2400 ATK)

"Here comes Horse Prince?" Sierra asked.

"Maybe. I normal summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Spirit." Light armor, boots, armguards, and a mask appeared, black flames filling them in a humanoid shape. The fires from the spells fed directly into its body. (500 - 700 ATK).

"And that lets me special summon Leopard from my graveyard." With a pillar of black flame, the Beast Warrior reappeared. (0 - 200 ATK/200 DEF)

"And I tune them together to summon, well you guessed right. Come out Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Horse Prince!" Spirit's flames faded to reveal three green rings that Leopard jumped into. A green light covered it. (3 + 3 = 6) Black flames burst from the synchro rings. Horse Prince was a warrior with a mane of black flame, and he rode atop a fiery horse. (2200 - 2400 ATK)

"And now I can summon a level 3 Fire monster from my deck, like my Brotherhood of the Fire Fist Hawk." The monster was an effeminate man wearing half of a black chest guard and a wing-shaped cape over a cream outfit. He wielded a bow and a hawk made of vibrant yellow flames flew above him. (200 - 400 ATK).

"And since I have a face-up Fire Formation, Hawk gives 500 attack and defense points to all of my Fire Fist monsters." (Tiger King: 2400 -2900 ATK/1800 - 2300 DEF) (Horse Prince: 2400 - 2900 ATK/2200 - 2700 DEF) (Hawk: 400 - 900 ATK/1500 - 2000 DEF)

"Glad I changed Sharkraken to defense position now."

"It will defend you some but this will still hit hard. Especially since I'm not done yet. You called it but I'm going to use Fire Formation - Tensen to boost my Hawk's attack by 700 and all of my monsters by 300." (Hawk: 900 - 1900 ATK) (Tiger King: 2900 - 3200 ATK) (Horse Prince: 2900 - 3200 ATK). "Horse Prince, crush Sharkraken."

The horse ridder charged forward, his steed crushing Sharkraken underfoot.

"Tiger King, you're next. Attack directly." The Tiger Ming pointed forward and his animal companion charged forward, only to be knocked aside by tornadoes.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" Sierra said as she pointed to her trap card. "I activate Tornado Wall which, since my Deepsea Trench counts as Umi means I take no damage from attacks."

"Good, I'd hate if beating a Shadowchaser was that easy. I'll pass." (Hawk: 1900 - 1200 ATK)

"Draw! Not great but this'll save me for a bit. I set a monster then pass."

"Draw. He may not be a Fire Fist but come on out my Coach Soldier Wolfbark." Isaiah's new monster was a skinny grey werewolf wearing a gold chest covering, arm guards, and shin guards. Goggles covered its eyes. (1600 - 2100 ATK)

"I could use its ability to Special Summon Bear or Gorilla from my graveyard, but instead I'll use Tensu's second summon to bring out Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Boar." Boar was a hulking mountain of a man wielding a long-handled spade. Like the other Fire Fists, he was accompanied by a fiery beast, a purple boar. (1100 - 2100 ATK/1400 - 1900 DEF)

"Time for another Synchro Summon. I tune my Boar and my Wolfbark…" Like with Spirit, Boar faded into a set of green rings that Wolfbark jumped into and then green light engulfed it. (4 + 4 = 8) The form of a kirin, an east Asian mythical creature that resembled a unicorn crossed with a dragon, made of black flames broke free. It was followed by a royal looking man wearing jade green robes and wielding a staff with a glowing white orb at the top. (2000 - 3000 ATK/2800 - 3300 DEF) A card appeared behind it. "And that means setting another Fire Formation card from my deck."

"Finally filled up on those. And I know Kirin's other effect, my monsters lose 100 attack points for each of your face-up Fire Formation spells."

"Go Hawk, attack that face-down." The monster nocked a flaming arrow and loosed it at the face-down. the card flipped up to reveal a the monster was actually a school of small fish. A closer look would show they were pink and purple cleaner wrasse. (600 - 300 ATK/1300 DEF) The arrow passed through them and the school charged through the air to strike Hawk back.

(Isaiah: 8000 LP - 7900 LP)

"My Reef Cleaners barely have higher defense than Hawk's attack so they aren't going anywhere from that battle."

"Fine, Kirin destroy them." The black flame beast shot forward, incinerating the fish.

"Thank you, because now I can Special Summon a fish-type with 1500 or less attack from my deck, like another Reef Cleaners." Another swarm of the fish appeared. (600 - 300 ATK/1300 DEF)

"Well I'm not gonna kill more of those and help you thin your deck since I wouldn't be able to get in a direct blow this turn, so I pass."

"Alright, draw. I set a creature and pass."

"Wonder what that is, probably another filtering card. Draw then I activate my face-down Flame Formation - Tenki to add a Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Gorilla to my hand, that I'll then summon." The Beast Warrior and spell both appeared. (Gorilla: 1600 - 2700 ATK/1000 - 1500 DEF)

"And I use Gorilla's effect, getting rid of my Tenki to destroy your field spell." The fireball flew into Gorilla's flames and it charged the tornadoes. A fire tornado erupted for a second before the whole field went back to normal. (Gorilla: 2700 - 2600 ATK)

"He's got this!" A woman said.

"No, not yet," a man replied. "You've seen the stuff Andrew can pull off, don't underestimate a Shadowchaser. Hey Isaiah, don't underestimate her!"

"I know, sir," Isaiah said to the man before turning back to the duel. "Gorilla, destroy Reef Cleaners" Again the gorilla charged forward, this time crushing the school of fish.

"Which lets me bring out my third Reef Cleaners," Sierra said as the third school of fish appeared. (600 - 300 ATK/1300 DEF)

"Which Kirin can remove. Go, Kirin Kick!" The black flame beast destroyed the last of the cleaners.

Sierra smiled. "Thanks because now I can call on one of my aces. Come out Rage of the Deep Sea!" One of her monster zones turned to water and fish started jumping out, forming a cloud of fish. After a few seconds, it took form as the torso and head of a muscular man wielding a trident-an obvious homage to Poseidon. "My Rage of the Deep Sea gains 500 attack and defense points for each fish in my grave, and I have eight." The monster let out a powerful yell as it grew bigger. (0 - 3700 ATK/0 - 4000 DEF)

"Your Kirin may weaken it some, but it still outmuscles all of your Fire Fists. You can still destroy my face-down if you want but that will just make my monster stronger."

"Heh, good. I was thinking you'd just throw out some chump monster. This is what I like! I switch my monsters that haven't attacked this turn to defense position." Hawk and Tiger King kneeled, their animals getting in front of them. Horse Prince's horse kneeled. "Now pass."

"Let's continue this turnaround, shall we?" Sierra said as she drew a card. "I summon Golden Flying Fish." Despite the name, the fish was actually more of a green color with a silver belly. Instead the golden referred to an aura surrounding it, as well as a gold mark sitting where its gills should be. It floated with six wing-like fins. (1700 - 1400 ATK)

"And I'll flip my face-down Oyster Meister" An odd humanoid emerged, an oyster covered merfolk using large oyster shells as upper leg guards, wrist guards, shoulder armor, and a helmet. (1600 - 1300 ATK/200 DEF)

"Oh, that isn't good."

"No it isn't. Golden Flying Fish lets me tribute Oyster Meister to destroy one of your cards, and I think I'll take out your face-down Fire Formation." The flying fish grabbed Oyster Meister in its mouth and shot the strange fish at the face-down, shattering it. Then an oyster fell out of Golden Flying Fish's mouth. (0 ATK) (Rage of the Deep Sea: 3700 - 4200 ATK/4000 - 4500 DEF)

"And Oyster Meister's effect means I get an Oyster token. I'll tribute that to take out your Tiger King" The fish shot the oyster like a watermelon seed, killing the beast warrior.

"Rage of the Deep Sea, crush Kirin!" The fish swarm tossed its trident forward, piercing the other monster and going on to strike Isaiah.

(Isaiah: 7900 LP - 5700 LP)

(Rage of the Deep Sea: 4200 - 4500 ATK) (Golden Flying Fish: 1400 - 1700 ATK)

"And I pass."

"Alright, not great but I can still do this. Draw. Crap. Actually...I set a monster. I switch Gorilla to defense position then pass."

"Waiting on Bear? Well let's see if you can last that long! Draw. First, I set a monster. Then Rage of the Deep Sea, destroy Horse Prince." The monster's trident pierced the other monster's flesh. "And Golden Flying Fish, attack the face-down." The fish's aura grew brighter and it shot a laser blast at the face-down monster. The monster was another effeminate warrior whose animal companion was a massive rooster made of purple flames. (1500 - 2500 ATK/100 - 600 DEF) with a scream, he exploded.

"That was my Rooster. He doesn't do anything when destroyed but destroying him will help me out."

"Alright, well show me how because I pass."

"Draw! Here we go. I summon Spirit." The flaming monster appeared and a pillar of black flames seared up next to him, settling down to reveal the return of Rooster. (Spirit: 500 - 1500 ATK/200 - 700 DEF) (Rooster: 1500 - 2500 ATK/100 - 600 DEF)

"Since Rooster is level three, Spirit could Special Summon it and since Rooster was special summoned by a Fire Fist monster I can add another Fire Fist monster from my deck to my hand, like my Bear. Which I then summon."

The warrior and its fiery pet appeared with a roar. (1600 - 2600 ATK/1200 - 1700 DEF).

"And I use it to tribute my Tenki and destroy your Rage of the Deep Sea!" Bear's bear absorbed the flames of Tenki and incinerated the massive school of fish (Gorilla: 2600 - 2500 ATK) (Spirit: 1500 - 1400 ATK) (Rooster: 2500 - 2400 ATK) (Bear: 2600 - 2500 ATK) (Hawk: 1200 - 1100 ATK)

"And I'm not done yet! This next move may look a bit familiar. I tune Spirit and Rooster to summon my second Horse Prince!" Another of the horse-back Beast Warriors appeared. A pillar of black fire erupted next to it. "Which means special summoning a second Hawk from my deck."

The pillar of black flames settled to show the weak monster, a flaming aura coming over Isaiah's side of the field. (Horse Prince: 2200 - 3600 ATK/2200 - 3200 DEF) Gorilla: 2500 - 3000 ATK/1500 - 2000 ) (Bear: 2500 - 3000 ATK/1700 - 2200 DEF) (Hawk: 1100 - 1600 ATK/2000 - 2500 DEF) (Hawk: 200 - 1600 ATK/1500 - 2500 DEF)

"Awesome," a child called out from the crowd.

"Indeed, impressive," Sierra said. "You are making it harder to win."

"Still got confidence, huh?" Isaiah said. "Good. First I'll change my defense position Hawk to attack position. Then Horse Prince start combat off by destroying that flying fish." The equestrian charged forward, trampling the fish.

(Sierra: 8000 LP - 6100 LP)

"Let's play this next one a bit safely. Gorilla you attack the face-down." The fiery ape pounded the face-down monster which flipped face-up to reveal a panicking blue sunfish. (100 DEF) It tried to dodge out of Gorilla's reach, but the ape grabbed the fish and smashed it to the ground.

"That was my Nimble Sunfish. And when it is destroyed by battle, I can send a fish from my deck to my graveyard to special summon another. So I'll send Needle Sunfish." Another of the blue sunfish appeared, jittering around as it stared at Isaiah's field. (100 DEF)

A blue-gray sunfish with a surprisingly grave expression also appeared next to it. "And this activates my Needle Sunfish's effect, so I can target your Hawk on the right and reduce its attack by 500."

The sunfish unhinged itself, its body opening in a slightly disturbing way from under its mouth all the way to its tail. A flurry of needles shot out of it, impaling the Hawk. Effect finished, the sunfish faded away. (Hawk: 1600 - 1100 ATK)

"Well then I'll let that Hawk take revenge on your new Sunfish." The firehawk raked the fish, shattering it.

"Again, I'll send a Needle Sunfish from my deck to my grave to summon another. And Needle Sunfish will target the same Hawk."

Her move repeated itself, both sunfish appearing and the darker one making Hawk even more of a pincushion. (Nimble Sunfish: 100 DEF) (Hawk: 1100 - 600 ATK)

"At least that's that. My other hawk, destroy the last Nimble Sunfish." Again the sunfish was torn apart by fiery claws.

"Not quite actually," Sierra said. "I can use its effect even if I have no more Nimble Sunfish to summon. So instead I send Nimble Angler to my graveyard." A large green pufferfish/anglerfish hybrid appeared, lure glowing bright. Two manta rays charged out of nowhere to try and eat the lure. "When Nimble Angler was sent to the graveyard its ability activated so I can summon two of my Nimble Manta." The angler vanished, making the manta calm down some. (100 DEF) (100 DEF).

"Fine. Bear destroy one of those mantas." The bear trisected the fish. "You don't get a new one now, do you?"

"Nope, Manta replaces itself when destroyed by effect not battle."

"Fine, then with nothing else to do I pass. Can your one manta ray save you now?"

"Anything is possible. And honestly even if it doesn't I could think of a lot of duels worse to lose than against an ally's pupil. Now draw." Sierra silently stared at the card she drew for a few seconds.

"What are you doing?" Isaiah asked.

"A quick bit of math. I win."

"How?"

"I tribute my Nimble Manta to summon my second Rage of the Deep Sea!" There was a massive rumbling as the fish started appearing to form the monster. It grew so large that its head almost scraped the ceiling. "I have nineteen fish in my graveyard. And nineteen time 500 is 9500." (0 - 9500 ATK/0 - 9500 DEF)

"Rage of the Deep Sea, finish this by attacking the weakened Hawk. Poseidon's Trident!"

The massive weapon easily stabbed through the monster and hit Isaiah hard enough that it knocked him down. All of the holograms faded as Isaiah's health fell.

(Isaiah: 5700 LP - 0 LP)

Isaiah started laughing as he stood up. He walked over to Sierra and held out a hand. "That was amazing! Overkill by a big margin but amazing."

"Same to you," Sierra replied as she shook his hand. "You almost overpowered me. I can tell you have a lot of skill."

"Thanks ma'am. Do you think it's enough to join the Shadowchasers?"

"Well it takes more than just duel skills to become a Shadowchaser. But I bet you would make a good operative."

"Thanks ma'am. Uncle Andy doesn't want me joining, he says it is too dangerous and your leader Mr. Jalal doesn't want a lot of Shadows joining. But still, it's been my dream since I was little."

"Well Mr. Drake was right on both of those things but if that stopped people from joining then we wouldn't have as many operatives as we do. So maybe one day."

"Thanks." Isaiah released her hand and looked at his watch. "Oh I have to go, nice meeting you ma'am."

"You too, Isaiah." Sierra stepped to the side as Isaiah left the building. She turned to the other people in the rec room, most of which had stopped watching after the duel ended, and held up her disk. "Anyone else want to duel?"

()()()()

Fake Cards

Superancient Deepsea Trench
Field Spell
While this card is face-up on the field, it's name is treated as "Umi". Reduce the level of all Fish-type monsters in both players' hands, graveyards, and banished zones by 1. Oncer per turn, you may discard 1 WATER or WIND monster from your hand to activate an effect based on that monster's attribute:
•WATER: Raise the level of all monsters on the field by 1.
•WIND: Target 1 monster on the field; banish that target until its owner's next standby phase. That monster's controller take no further battle damage this turn.

Reef Cleaner
WATER
Level 3
Fish/Effect
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 Fish-type monster with 1500 or less ATK from your deck.
600 ATK/1300 DEF