In the mist of the dark cave, the golden glow allows light for the young teen. As she walks towards the light, she is unaware of the figure following her, the lips curving into a smile.
When the child reaches the exit of the cave, what she sees is not what she hopes to see. Instead of a desert, north of her hometown, she sees her hometown in ruins, undead humans and animals walking the streets. Their flesh gray, and falling off their bodies like toilet paper in water. The hot winds blow through the long hair of the undead and the spiky hair of the teen, but she doesn't seem to care.
She sees two lone figures, one with short pinkish-redish hair, and another with his hair in a ponytail. Their eyes are looking at the teen, living and healthy. The woman begins to walk towards the child, fear evident on her face.
"Mom," the girl says. It has been five years since she had seen her mother. Her head turns to the muscular man, his blue eyes kind, and he himself begins to make his way up the lifeless hill. "Dad…"
There is a third there. A young teen, about sixteen, his golden blonde hair flowing around his head, his violet eyes shimmering with releif. The teen almost cries at the sight of her brother.
Suddenly, as soon as the child feels happiness course through her body, the bodies of her deceased family members begin to change. The skin becomes white, and shriveled. The eyes are glazed over with a milky-white film and the irises of the eyes become white. The hair becomes tangled and a mass of leaves and blood. The skin begins to fall off the dead as they walk to the girl.
"No…" is all that the child could get out. Not her parents and brother. She tries to step back, but all she touches is rock. The entrance to the cave is gone. Her zombie family now grab her with their hands of death and push her hard against the wall of the mountain. The child shuts her eyes and turns her head, waiting for the teeth to sink into her pale flesh, but no pain comes.
She now finally has the courage to look her parents and brother in the eyes, or rather, what were once her parents. Now, they are nothing but stone. Every little detail clings to the gray, lifeless adults as their petrified forms hold their hopeless daughter against the mountain of the devil.
Beyond the statues of the undead, there stands a shadow of a man. The sun reflects off his glasses. His lips curve into a smile as he walks to the teen trapped by hands never to move again. He bends down to look the teen in her terrified green eyes. He smiles even more and he rips off her choker, throwing it carelessly behind him.
His large hands graze carefully along the soft, pale skin of his victim. He licks his lips as he bends down to the skin. He can feel the pulse of the child beneath his skilled tongue as he finds the place he wants. He sucks the area until it turns blue, preparing the teen for her turning.
As the cloaked man prepares the girl, she looks at the eyes of her dead, stone parents and brother. Tears are forming in the stone eyes as the man withdraws slightly from the girl. He opens his mouth wide and long, sharp fangs grow from his pink gums. He leans down and gives the area one last rough lick before biting the artery of the child. She shrieks at the sudden intrusion.
The blood is drawn from the child and is turned into a meal for the deviled man. The last thing the child sees before her sight is too blurry to see through are the tears of the statues running down their petrified cheeks.
"Yura? Yura! Wake up!" The young teen is shaken violently as she is being forced to wake. The movement and voice come so suddenly that she has flipped out of her seat and is now on the ground.
"Ouch…" she says as she rubs her head where she has hit it.
"Mrs. Jikura!"
"Ah crud," she thinks. Looking up from her fallen chair, she sees a man with an unhappy look on his face.
"Yura, how many times have I told you to sleep at home, and not during lessons?" he says.
"Sorry, Mr. Hattoru," Yura says, picking up her chair, "I think this is about the second time."
"There had better not be a third."
"Yessir," she says, looking down. As she sits back in her chair, she can't help but recall the looks on her parent's faces, when they were alive, and when they were dead. Both times, nothing but fear was present on their faces. It could have been fear for her, or them, or was it that vampire? Can't say.
"Now, for tomorrow," Mr. Hattoru says, explaining the agenda for the following day, "We will be having a study session and will be reviewing for the final math exam Thursday. You will each bring your workbooks and your textbooks. Also, be sure you have two pencils with you, right boys?" He looks in the back of the classroom, where his desk is and where six boys were sitting.
"Oh, don't worry mister Hattoru," one says, the one who everyone calls Kajurka, "We will be sure to do as you wish." He has an innocent look on his smug chubby face that makes all of the students want to yell warnings at their math teacher. Whenever Kajurka has that look on his face, it means trouble for someone. Honestly, it's so obvious what the look means, and yet none of the teachers seem to notice.
The bell rings for lunch hour, and all of the students collect their belongings and leave the room. Just as Yura heads for the door, Mr. Hattoru speaks.
"Yura, could you stay for a moment?" The words had been that. Of course, Yura stops and turns to her teacher. He steps away from his desk and walks to the teen.
"Yura, why have you not been paying attention? You're always staring off into space and are sleeping. Are my lessons too boring for you? Do you already know this?" The teen looks at her teacher in the eyes, knowing exactly what to say.
"I do already know this, Mr. Hattoru," she says, "But that is not why I'm not listening. The thing is…" she trails off, not ready to finish the sentence. Her teacher sighs.
"It's Acuto, isn't it?" her teacher says. Acuto was Yura's older brother, and was going into college after he graduated. However, about a month ago, while riding to the supermarket, his motorcycle lost control and he was sent into a concrete wall. His death was said to be the responsibility of the city for not making safer roads.
"I don't know why," Yura says, trying to hide her tears and keeping the sadness out of her voice, "But every time I think about him, I can't help but wonder why it had to be him. He was the only close family I had left." Yura lost her mother when she was eight, being shot in a bank raid. She lost her father a few years later, dying in a lab experiment.
"I know times now are hard," Mr. Hattoru says, "I know that you've lost your family, but you need to focus on school right now. The year is almost over, so I want you to study hard, and who knows. Maybe it will help take your mind off this whole mess."
"Alright. Thank you, Mr. Hattoru," Yura says and walks out of her classroom. As she makes her way to her locker, she can't help but notice the strange faces people around her are giving her.
When she gets to her locker, she places her hand on the hand scanner so that it can verify that it is her wanting access to her locker. It clicks, beeps, and opens. As Yura puts her books away and grabs her lunch, she can't help but see that there is a note on one of her shelves. Taking it out, she reads over the hand writing and can't help but drop her lunch.
The note reads, "I know of your ambition to become the next Yugioh. You can't even beat me. If you want to keep your ambition a secret, come to the abandoned warehouse by the school at midnight, tonight, and bring your deck. Sincerely, the real Yugioh."
Yura keeps reading the first part of the second line over and over again. "If you want to keep your ambition a secret…" If someone told her ambition to an adult, she'd have to be ready to be teased. Dueling is so popular in Domino, you can't go one block without seeing someone duel. The title, "Yugioh", is wanted by so many, but no one can even begin to make their way up the ranks.
Yura is different. She's in the top twenty duelist range. Her family had all wanted to become the next Yugioh, but they had all died before they could reach their goal. Yura just wants to become the next King of Games for them.
"What cha readin'?" a voice says behind the teen.
"Gahh!" Yura shrieks, practically jumping into her locker. Now looking, it's just her friend. She sighs heavily.
"Khleo, don't do that," Yura says, picking up her stuff.
Khleo Anji Kaski is the popular girl at the school, the daughter of a UN diplomat and a brilliant scientist. Her family is quite wealthy, but Khleo never rubs it in. She has the personality of a sweet pea girl. She's blonde, tall, and has bright blue eyes that go well with her peach skin. Her brother is known as duel champion, and he had taught his sister about dueling.
"Sorry," Khleo says, helping to pick up her friend's items that fell out of her locker.
"Its fine," Yura says, grabbing a few pencils off the floor. "I just get a bit jumpy when it comes to that stuff."
"Hey, Yura," Khleo says, handing her friend her ID, "I'm having a few friends over night this weekend for my birthday. If you want to come, that'd be fine."
"I don't know..." Yura says, looking at her leather buckle-up boots. "I have to stay at my house so I can do all the finical stuff."
"Don't you have a neighbor who can watch the house while you're gone?" Khleo asks.
"No. You wunna walk and talk?" Khleo nods her head, and the two friends head to campus.
"I think I'll be alright just leaving the house alone," Yura says, "although, I'll have to arrive late and leave early. I think I can manage."
At the doors to the campus, Yura and Khleo head over to their favorite spot to eat lunch; by an old dead tree that the school has been meaning to cut down for weeks, but never has.
Yura and Khleo sit with their backs to the tree and open their lunches.
Khleo's lunch is a turkey and lettuce sandwich on whole wheat bread, a small fruit salad, and a smoothie. Yura's lunch consists of two rice balls, some California sushi rolls, and some white dumplings. The dumplings are really sweet and on the insides is barbecued meat.
"Um, Yura," Khleo asks between bits of her sandwich. "What will happen to you?"
"Nani?" Yura asks, her mouth full of her rice ball. [For those of you who don't know, Yura's father was Japanese, and he taught her the language. 'Nani' means 'what.']
"What I mean is," Khleo says, turning away, "You have no one at home now to take care of you. Where will you go? Who will you live with?" When she isn't given any response, Khleo pokes her head around the side of the tree to look at her spiky-haired friend. Yura is staring at her food, her long bangs covering her face.
"Yura?" Khleo asks, wondering if her friend is alright.
"You're not gunna like this Khleo," Yura said, not looking up, "But I was visited a few days ago by the mayor. He wanted to put me in a girl's home, but I refused. I told him I'd go live with a relative, but they all don't live in this state."
"Who do you want to live with?" Khleo asks.
"My uncle; my Dad's younger brother," Yura says, looking into her friend's blue eyes. "He lives in Washington D.C."
"What?" Khleo exclaims, not believing what she is hearing. "D.C. is not the safest place to go. It might be better to go to the girl's orphanage. It'll be better."
"Maybe," Yura says, "But with my uncle, I'll get an education, and I'll be living with someone I know. In a girl's home, they don't let you use the computer. If I want to keep in touch with you, I'll need to use video chat on my laptop. And besides," she turns to look at her friend, "My uncle is only in his thirties. He'll be pretty cool. Also, D.C. is only a forty minute drive from here, so I can come by and visit a lot."
As Yura and Khleo finish their lunches, someone comes running to them. They do not see her at first, but she makes herself seen when she shouts.
"Yura! Khleo!" The two teens look around the tree, towards the school, to find a girl, about twelve years old, heading to them. She has short, green hair in the back and long red bangs in the front. Her blue eyes show nothing but fear. Everyone knows this girl.
"Shizuka!" Yura shouts. "What's wrong?" The small sixth grader stops and pauses for a breath.
"It's Kajurka! He just started dueling Mr. Hattoru and now…" her voice trails off.
Yura needn't be told twice. She immediately shoots up from where she's sitting, and heads to the place where all of the noise is. When she arrives, she is shocked by the site.
Kajurka has three monsters on his side of the field; the three legendary god cards, Slifer the Sky Dragon, Obelisk the Tormentor, and the Winged Dragon of Ra. On the other side of the duel field, Mr. Hattoru is doubled over, clutching his chest. His face is covered in dirt, and he only has 500 life points left.
"How does it feel, Mr. Hattoru," Kajurka says with that smug smile of his. "How does it feel to be the weak one? You can't beat the Egyptian Gods. Only Yugi Mouto could!"
Mr. Hattoru breathes heavily as he tries to get up. However, his struggles are useless. He falls back to the ground, unconscious. Kajurka laughs as if he were an evil king who had just defeated his greatest enemy yet.
"Who should be paying attention now, teach?" the boy says, laughing like nuts. "I guess since you have fallen, you surrender the duel!"
"Kajurka! Stop this now!" the principal yells. She is a tall woman with long brown hair and deadly brown eyes. Mrs. Sai is as tough as nails, and is one of the best principals in the state.
"Oh yeah?" Kajurka says, looking at his principals eyes. "Let's see what you do when you're facing the gods! My great beasts, attack her!" At that command, the god monsters took one look at the poor woman before drawing energy into either its hands or its mouth. They each let out a roar before releasing its energy on the poor woman. Mrs. Sai covers her face with her hands and screams, bracing herself for the attack.
What happened next would shock all of them.
Yura throws herself in front of the principal, lifting up the sleeve of her leather jacket in the process. Her duel disk is purely visible. It is a beautiful golden color with purple lines making random designs. Yura draws five cards from the top of her deck and places them onto her duel disk, not even bothering to look at them.
As the energy blast gets closer and closer, five circles appear before Yura, spurting out a white mist. The light hits the girl square in her body. An explosion is created and smoke covers the group. Kajurka laughs horribly, shooting his hands up in success.
"As you all can see, even while trying to protect another, both fall!" he says as he points at where the two were originally. "Now you can all see that I will become the next Yugioh!"
His laughter is silenced when he sees five large, floating figures before him. As the smoke clears, he can easily see the five monsters Yura has summoned.
The first is a large, taught man who wears a white robe and has a white and gold shoulder and chest plates. His green hair is cut short and his eyes are a strange purple. He has a long blue staff in his hand. This is the Light Magician, 2500 attack points and 2100 defense points.
Second is another man, wearing black and silver. His black hair is long and is in a ponytail, but makes him look scary. His clothes consist of a tight silver T-shirt, long black pants, and black combat boots. He has three swords, one in his mouth, and the other two in his hands. He has a white mask on which covers his eyes and his nose. This is the Dead Warrior, 1800 attack points and 1650 defense points.
Next, a girl looking about fifteen. She has light brown hair, hip-long on her left side and neck-short on her right side. She has a light green belly shirt on, an arrow from the fabric covering her belly button. Her skirt is a jade green and her shin-guard boots are light green with yellow triangle designs. Her staff is yellow and has gray on the ends. In the cup of the top of the staff is a blue and green sphere. This is the Light Magician Girl, 2000 attack points and 1700 defense points.
Fourth is a dragon as green as a green emerald. It has the body of a dinosaur, yet the head of a bird. Its large wings make the wondrous beast seem larger. Crystals have formed on random areas of the monster. This is the Luster Dragon, 2400 attack points and 1400 defense points.
Lastly, another dragon, only this one is red. It has yellow eyes and huge, sharp, white claws. A matching white horn is perched on its head. The outside of its wings is the same red as its body, but the inner wing is a dark navy blue, almost black. The white horn gives off the name of this beast. This is the White-Horned Dragon, 2200 attack points and 1400 defense points.
Combined, the attack points of these five monsters are 10,900, more than enough to block the attack of the Egyptian gods. Everyone is shocked and speechless at the event that has just taken place right before their eyes. Behind the teen, Mrs. Sai still has her face in her hands, but the lack of noise has given her the courage to look. At the first sight, she is as speechless as everyone else. Yura is the first to break the silence.
"Kajurka, why did you attack Mr. Hattoru?" she asks, not deactivating her duel disk like Kajurka had done. "Has he done something to you that has made you want to do this?" At first, Kajurka says nothing. He just looks at his three god monsters with a look of disgust on his face. Then, his head shoots up, his eyes shooting daggers at the spiky haired teen.
"I just got what I wanted, Yura," he says, his voice ever so strange. Instead of the greedy, boyish voice everyone had come to loath, it was a deep, rich, baritone voice, which sounded completely evil. "This body, on the other hand, doesn't fit my needs. But don't worry," he says as his body begins to let out a black mist, Kajurka's eyes glowing a dark purple, "we will see each other again, and sooner than you may think." And with that, Kajurka's large body became submerged within the deep purple mist. At first, there is no sound, but then there is his shout.
"Gah! What's going on? I can't see!" A black body was seen in the mist, thrashing its arms about. Quickly, the mist dies down enough for the boy to make his way out. His body has lost something, but no one can figure out what it is.
"Kajurka?" Yura says, stepping out of the crowd. Kajurka gives her one look, and stops. Their eyes lock, and Yura can see the change. Before, Kajurka had had albino eyes, nearly looking dead. Now, his eyes are looking as alive as any human's would.
"Kajurka, what happened?" she asks, running walking to him. The chubby boy shakes his head and closes his eyes, as if trying to remember something.
"It's been so long, I can't remember," he says. "I guess it was that day before we started school. I saw a black mist come towards me, and that was it. What day is it?"
"May 18," Yura responds. "You've been under the control of that, thing for almost all of the school year."
By this time, the principal and many other teachers had made their way to the two. A nurse had taken Kajurka back to the school and to the infirmary. Yura walked over to the principal, who was looking at Mr. Hattoru, who was being loaded onto a stretcher. "Will he be alright?" she asks.
"We can hope," is the response. This day, school is cancelled.
Yura hurries as fast as she can to the warehouse by the school. No one is allowed out at night by themselves, but Yura is an orphan. No rules for her to follow.
The teen wears different clothes now that she did during school. Her school has a dress code. Shirts must cover the shoulders, tops must not have the fronts cut so low that the cleavage can be seen, and the bottoms must be long enough so that they cover the knees. Before, Yura had worn blue jeans and a white polo shirt with her leather jacket. Now, she wears a white and red belly shirt and a gray, red and black jacket. The jacket is unzipped and has spikes on the shoulders. She wears black shorts that are cut at mid-thigh, with a long silver chain looped in the pockets. The chain drops down to her knees. She wears gray thigh-high socks and her leather buckle-up boots. Around her neck are her leather choker, and the Ankh necklace given to her by her father before he died.
As the teen comes up to the school, she stops at the sight of the lights in the windows. Some teachers like to stay up late at night so they can grade papers and stuff like that. Yura makes a wide circle around the school, avoiding the lights of the parking lot. Creeping around in the shadows has always been a specialty of hers.
After passing the school, the teen comes to the ware house. It looks like any old ware house that has been abandoned for years. It has many broken windows, and it looks like it is about to collapse. Yura wonders why she was called here to duel. It is probably because no one goes in there. Too dangerous and too creepy.
The first thing the young teen does is search for a way in. All of the windows are boarded up, and the front door has been crushed. She cannot risk going in through the windows because she may cause a collapse. She walks around to the back of the ware house to see if there is another way into the building.
Very much to her surprise, a hole has been dug through the ground, under the rusty metal wall of the heck house, and it looks big enough for a human to get through.
Slowly, Yura gets on her stomach and does an army crawl through the hole. She fits through it perfectly. When she crawls out, she can't see much. All of the boards on the windows prevent any moon light for lighting the ware house. The teen feels around for a light switch, although she doesn't really think a light will come on.
Yura touches all around the walls, finding a few items on them that could have been light switches, but, sadly, they were either dents in the walls or pieces of molding wood.
After what felt light going around the ware house a full time, Yura stops to think. Why would someone call her to duel them in a ware house that has been abandoned for thirty years and has no way to access light? Either it is a goth person, or someone wants to kidnap her. She hopes for option one.
A spine chilling laugh freezes her entire body. If she were in a horror movie when that laugh was heard, the sound of psycho strings would be playing. The teen reaches into her pocket for her pocket knife that she has taken along with her incase this was an abduction. Much to her dismay, she can't grasp it. She tries the other pocket and her fingers clasp around the smooth metal of the weapon. She begins to pull it out, only to have it disappear from her grasp.
"What?" she gasps in disbelief. She swore she had her knife in her hand. Why is it gone? In front if her, the mysterious voice laughs again.
"So, you finally got my message, eh? Well, let's see how you do dueling against me!" the voice says. Even though it is still pitch black in the ware house, Yura stands firm.
"Who are you?" she calls into the darkness, not letting fear crawl into her voice. "I guess you must be a coward to be hiding in the shadows like this."
"You have guts, kid," the voice said, as footsteps came to life. "You should know better than to call me a coward." Scared, the teen decides to run, but she finds that she can't move her feet. Something is preventing her ankles from moving.
All of a sudden, lights come on. The light is dim, but it is enough for her to see. The light is coming from several lamps hanging above the leaky, rusty roof of the warehouse. In front of her, she can see a dark, large figure. Its arms are by its sides and on the left wrist is a black duel disk.
This figure scares the spiky-haired teen, so she tries to step back, but instead she falls back onto her butt. Her feet are still stuck in the same place as before. Although there is nothing around her ankles, she has a tight feeling pressing against them. Leaning in, she gently touches her boots, and silver chains gently glimmer with light. The moment her hand goes away, however, they return to their invisible state.
"HA!" the figure in front of Yura laughs. "Now you see that you cannot escape this duel! I will duel you and earn my spot in the top twenty duelists!" Now Yura sees what is happening. Since the duel tournaments were going to begin, everyone wants a good spot in the ranks.
"If you just want my rank," Yura says, standing up, "You'll have to fight me for it!" She lifts her left arm and rolls up her sleeve so that her opponent can see her beautiful gold and violet duel disk. From the side of the rectangular screen, the side that is farthest from the spiky-haired teen, pops a thin sliver of metal. It bends up, and another piece of metal comes out of the left side of the sliver. On the thin piece of metal are five yellow rectangles, large enough to hold a card and keep it in place. In the side of the duel disk is a hollow section where the teen's deck of forty cards reside.
Reaching into her back pocket, Yura pulls out her D-gazer. The screen of the D-gazer is a scarlet red, matching well with the red outlining her spiky black hair. She hooks the end of the D-gazer behind her left ear and adjusts the screen to be in front of her left eye.
"D-gazer is set!" she says, her eyes full of confidence. In front of her, the strange man has an already activated black and silver duel disk ready. He has five cards in his hand and his D-gazer is black with a silver screen. The silver of the screen reminds Yura of a full moon.
All around them, numbers rise from the ground and their surroundings change. From the worn down ware house that is feared by all to a floating rock in the middle of the cosmos. The large rock floats in space, and many stars surround the two. The light from the stars is enough to enlighten the face of the man.
A silver and black bandana covers his mouth and nose. He wears black shades that cover his eyes. His hair is covered with a dark gray ski hat, his ears not to be seen. The sight of the man scares the teen, but she cannot leave. She shakes the sight of the man out of her mind, and draws five cards from her deck.
"You first," she says, making sure that confidence is in her voice. The man just smiles grimly, and draws another card. He looks at his six cards for a moment before making his move.
"I will start my move by playing Realm Of Dark Worlds," he says as he places a card in one of the slots in the front of the duel disk. On the field, a large card appears. The image of the card shows a black and purple spiral. "This card makes me discard one card from by hand and send it to the graveyard, and I choose Gold!" he says as he pulls one card from his hand and slips it into the slot in his Duel Disk. "I also get to draw one card. I now set two cards face down. I end my turn."
At this point, Yura draws her sixth card and looks at her hand. She has six monsters in her hand. That's not good, but she'll have to deal with it.
"For my first move, I'll summon my Dead Warrior Boy!" Yura says, as she slaps a card face up on her duel disk. On the field, in a burst of black light, is a small, thin figure. As the light disappears, a small boy is seen. His hair is cut into a dark blue Mohawk and his skin is pale. For clothes, he wears a simple loose black T-shirt and black pants with black boots. In his hands is a long, samurai sword, which seems to be too heavy for him. This is so because he is having trouble standing with it in hands. Over his face a white mask, this outlines his eyes, but doesn't show them. The white mask covers his nose as well. Yura doesn't yell the order to attack.
"Dead Warrior Boy has 1000 attack points," she thinks to herself, "so I could take a quarter of his life points right now. But he has two cards face down on his side of the field. They could both throw me off." A loud bang snaps Yura out of her thoughts. In the cosmos of the duel field, a huge, black meteor is flying towards them.
"Dead Warrior Boy! Drop!" Yura yells. Her monster takes one look at the meteor and he drops to the ground. Yura does the same, as much as the bindings on her ankles will allow her, landing on her forearms. The meteor flies over them and no one is hurt. Yura pushes herself up, while Dead Warrior Boy just flies up.
That is the new thing about the Duel Disks. An arena is set up by the challenger, and obstacles come out from random areas to wipe a duelist out. If they are hit, they lose, and may possibly break a bone.
"Dead Warrior Boy, attack him directly!" Yura says. The small, armed boy does as he is told, raising his sword, swings it around, and throws it at the man. It pierces him in the abs. His grunt of pain is silenced, and he smirks.
"I active my trap card, Call of the Haunted!" he says, and the card on the right lifts up, to reveal an image of a graveyard in a purple mist. "I use it to bring back Gold!" he says, as a black portal opens in front of him.
Gold is a man with eight packed abs and taught muscles. He wears golden armor that gleams in the mist of the holographic cosmos. He doesn't have eyes, but rather, his eyes are made of gold themselves. Gold has a huge sword, the blade looking so sharp, Yura swears she has a cut on her arm just from looking at it. The hilt is encrusted with sapphires and other gems. This sword makes the sword Yura's Dead Warrior Boy has look like a toy dagger. Startled by the upturn, Yura ends her turn, placing three cards face down.
"Gold has 2250 attack points," the man says. "However, I cannot attack you, yet. Gold's effects states that I cannot attack you the turn I had summoned him on."
"Who are you, anyway?" Yura asks. The man in front of her laughs.
"'Bout time you asked that," he says. "I am the Bandit of the Shadows. I wish to be in the top ten duelists for the duel tournament, and defeating you is the best short cut."
"Dude, I'm not even in the top ten duelists," Yura says. "Why defeat someone who isn't as good as you want them to be?"
"Only the top twenty duelists are allowed in the tournament," the Bandit of the Shadows says. "I will win my way to the top in the tournament."
"Whatever. Are gunna duel, or just stand here?"
"Why we're dueling of course," the Bandit of the Shadows says. "We're just dueling my way."
"I set two cards face down, and end my turn," Yura says as two cards appear on the field.
"I draw my card," says the Bandit of the Shadows. He looks at his card, and smiles.
"I summon Phantom Magician!"he states as a white mist appears on the field. As the mists clears, a skeleton is on the field. The monster wears a dark purple cape and holds a white staff made of bones. On top of the staff is a ball of energy.
"I now sacrifice him," the Bandit of the Shadows says, as the Phantom Magician explodes in a black mist, "so I can summon my, Silver!" Yura watches as the black remains of the Phantom Magician are summoned back together to form a new figure.
Silver looks a lot like Gold. She looks like she is in her mid-thirties, with taught muscles and pure silver eyes. She wears silver and red armor, as if she is a queen going into battle. She doesn't carry a sword, but rather a silver bow, as long as her body, with a quiver of silver arrows strapped to her back. The look on her face is filled with nothing but pure hate and disgust.
"Because Silver and Gold are both on the field," the Bandit of the Shadows says, "they both receive an extra 500 attack points!" That scares Yura. Gold now has 2750, while Silver has 2600. All she has on her side of the field is Dead Warrior Boy. The look on his face is pure fright.
"Lucky for you," the Bandit of the Shadows snorts, "because I have summoned Silver this turn, neither of my monsters can attack you." At this statement, both Gold and Silver form looks of annoyance on their faces. "Let's see how you do this turn, Yura."
The teen nods her head and she draws her card. When she looks at it, she smiles; it is the key card to allow her the upper hand.
"I summon Dead Warrior Girl!" she announces as she slaps a monster card onto her duel disk. On the field, a purple and black mist sprouts next to Dead Warrior Boy. When the mist settles, a girl is seen.
Dead Warrior Girl has tanned skin and silver hair, longer on her right side. She wears a purple tank top and black shorts with purple socks and black combat boots. In her right hand is a long, samurai sword and in her left hand is a small dagger. Like Dead Warrior Boy, she has a mask covering her eyes, and most of her forehead and nose. She has a crazy smile on her face.
"Because I have both Dead Warrior Girl and Dead Warrior Boy on the field, I can use their effect," Yura says, as she slaps another card on her duel disk, "so I can summon my Dead Warrior!"
Light glows from both of the monsters on Yura's side of the field. In the center of the two is a shadow, but as the light of the cosmic stars around them brightens, it is easy to make out the Dead Warrior's features; taught muscles, three swords, black hair, stealth clothes, and the evil look on his face. Dead Warrior Boy and Dead Warrior Girl have pleased looks on their faces.
"Due to Dead Warrior Girl's special ability," Yura explains, "she receives and extra 800 attack and defense points because there are four other warrior monsters on the field." Once this is said, Dead Warrior Girl's dagger shimmers with a white light, and it turns into a samurai sword, much like the one she has already. Now her attack and defense points are 2000 and 1800.
"I now equipped Dead Warrior Boy with Thor's Hammer!" she announces as she slips a card into one of the slots in her duel disk under her Dead Warrior Boy card. In the free hand of the warrior child is now a huge sledgehammer, the handle complete with encrusted diamonds and writings. Dead Warrior Boy cannot take the weight, and he falls to the ground. When he tries to rise, the weapons refuse to follow.
"Thor's Hammer doubles the attack points of the monster it is equipped to," the punk teen explains. At that, Dead Warrior Boy glows gold, and when the light dies down, he is no longer a ten year old, but rather a strong young man in his late teens. He holds the weapons with ease.
"And finally, I revel my face down card, Hephaestus's Forge!" Yura shouts as the card on the far left lifts. As it glows, so do the three warriors on Yura's side of the field.
"Hephaestus's Forge doubles the attack and defense points of all warrior type monsters on my side of the field!" she exclaims. As she speaks, all three of Yura's monsters glow. Dead Warrior's attack and defense points become 3600 and 2300. Dead Warrior Girl's become 4000 and 3600. Dead Warrior Boy's points become 4000 and 3000.
"Now, Dead Warrior Girl, attack Silver!" Yura commands. The child grins as if she is cannibalistic and charges at the warrior woman. Silver raises her bow in defense, but it is no match for the power of the warrior as she plows threw the weapon and slashes the poor woman in half. As she dissolves in a white cloud, the rest of Dead Warrior Girl's attack is sent straight to the Bandit of the Shadows. When the attack hits, his Life Points are reduced to 2600.
"Dead Warrior Boy, attack Gold!" Yura commands. The older teen growls and lunges at the elder, golden man. He raises his sword and attempts to block the younger warrior, but to no avail. Dead Warrior Boy slams Gold's sword out of his hands, and uses his newly equipped hammer to bash Gold on the head. He explodes in a golden glow, reducing the Bandit of the Shadow's attack points to 1350, and leaves him wide open for an attack.
"Now, Dead Warrior," the teen commands, "finish the job." Dead Warrior flies forward, doing a spin move and attacks the man. His life points are reduced to zero, and he drops to the ground in agony.
Yura smirks as her monsters look at her. She looks at them in the eyes and smiles warmly.
"You guys were awesome," she complements. "You deserve a rest." As her monsters smile, she deactivates her duel disk, and her monsters gently dissolve. The duel field dissolves into data info, and the setting returns to the old ware house.
The Bandit of the Shadows gets up onto his knees and looks up at the sky. His sunglasses have fallen off of his face, revealing the blue eyes underneath. There are tears in them.
"Forgive me, master," he weeps. Yura can only stand there, and watch in fear and confusion. "I have failed you. Please, spare me…" As he speaks, a black and purple mist surrounds him and Yura. There was a deep, throaty, evil chuckle, its origin coming from within the clouds. Yura tries to run, but she falls backwards instead. She had forgotten about the chains around her ankles.
"You're stronger than I thought," the voice says, shaking the teen. "I guess I have found the perfect opponent. Know this, girl, if you know what is good for you and mankind, you will answer to me." Yura recognizes it as the same evil voice as before, when Kajurka was possessed. The mist fades, and Yura can see that the Bandit of the Shadows has fallen on his chest, and he isn't moving. The chains around her ankles have fallen away, so she gets up and runs over to him.
"Hey, can you hear me?" she asks, tapping his shoulders. He does not respond. Yura lifts him off of his chest, and looks into his eyes.
Or rather, where his eyes had been.
There are only empty sockets where the eyes have been, and Yura can his brains. On the insides of his sockets is a purple substance that glows black.
Yura thinks that that is strange, but she is shocked to find that there is a golden glow coming from his graveyard in his duel disk. There was no way she can ignore it, so she opens the compartment, and pulls out two glowing cards. As the lights die down, she can see that the cards are Gold and Silver.
"Gold?" she says, frightened. "Silver?" The cards, in response, glow even brighter, blinding her. She turns her head away so that she won't have her eyes burned out of her face. When the light dies down, Yura looks at the cards, only to find that the Gold card is blank. Behind her is a golden glow, and she looks behind her to find a man standing there, wearing golden armor had has a long sword in his hands.
"Gold?" Yura asks, and the man nods. He walks over to her and kneels, so that his face is level with hers.
"Thank you, my dear," he says, his breath tickling the teen's forehead. "Thank you for saving me. However, your job has only just begun. You must save the others from their imprisonment. They are depending on you." Yura was too stunned to question him. As he stood, she was snapped out of her dilemma and into reality, but was still at a loss for words.
"Yura," he says, his back facing the punk teen, "You have the gift of the gods. You have the most powerful deck ever put together. You are the only one who can save us." He turns to her, his facial expression serious. "I'm afraid I cannot say nor do more for you, my dear, but you mustn't be deterred. We are all counting on you." Yura wants to ask what on Earth he is talking about, but as she attempts to do so, the duel monster shimmers with a golden light, and then dissolves, leaving Yura in pitch darkness.
The teen stands there, trying to digest what has just happen. How could she save duel monsters? What had even happened? Her attention is drawn to the Bandit of the Shadows, who is still lying down. She hurries over to him, and lifts him up off of the ground. There is a note in his pocket, so she pulls it out and reads it. What is on the card is not what she is expecting.
Koda Bailey 1992-2036. Died of brain tumor.
Yura has to stop herself from fainting. This man has been dead for a year, and yet he was alive and kicking only a few moments earlier! How could this be possible?
Yura decides not to worry about it, though it is hard for her not to. The corpse's eyes are still gone, which she finds extremely odd. She lays the body back down on the floor, and leaves the way she went in; through the hole in the wall.
Yura walks home, still very shaken up, unaware of the shadows following her. When she gets to her apartment, the shadows stop, and they begin to talk once she is inside.
"So you see, Kese," the woman says, "She is the one, after all."
"How will we be able to take her, Takoyo?" the man asks.
"I do not know," responds the woman. "Father has yet to even take her abduction into consideration. And now that she has an idea of her role as the Hero of the Gods, there is no telling what she will discover of her abilities."
"I guess all we can do is keep watch over her and see what happens," Kese suggests. The two shadows melt away, leaving Yura alone.
For the time being.