Ishi...

Ishi...

Ishi Shihai was in a dark room, a single set of window and door closed off with some sort of material. For a while, he had believed himself to be alone.

"Who's there?" he called out. Someone must have spoken, for walls could not speak...

Ishi...

"Who's calling me?" he called out again. "Show yourself!"

You left us, Ishi...

"Left you...?" he was shocked. "Wait, could you be..."

You left us, Ishi...you and Iwashi Obi...

"Stop, please stop..." he said. "Please stop...

"Yoriko..."

Chapter One:

Entrance Exam: Ishi Shihai

Ishi woke up, breathless.

"Damn." he said. "Forget! Forget! Forget!"

That's all in the past.

He got out of his small bed, in the small room he was in. It was his room, in the Yotsui Orphanage.

In the room were his few possessions. A duel disk, a deck of Duel Monsters cards, and a chain of connected rocks, each shining in the sunlight from the window.

He took in a breath of air, opening the window.

"It's a new day." he said. "And today, I'm going to take the entrance exam...to enter Duelist Academy!"

The door to his room slammed open.

"And don't forget me! Your good friend, Iwashi Obi!"

Ishi had fallen in surprise when Iwashi burst in, hitting his head on the ground.

"Damn it, Iwashi!" yelled Ishi. "Knock first, please!"

"Come on!" said Iwashi, ignoring Ishi's words. "If you're gonna explain to yourself what's gonna happen today, at least get it right! You missed two big things!"

"One being that I forgot you..." said Ishi. "What's the other one?"

"That you and I are both going to pass with flying colours!" exclaimed Iwashi. "How could you forget that?"

"How, indeed." said Ishi, sighing. "Look, we don't have too many good cards. At this rate, we only have about a twenty-five percent chance of getting in!"

"Heh." said Iwashi. "You have too little faith! We shall overcome any obstacle, crushing the testers in our way! We shall go on together, in order to bring fame to the orphanage that raised us since-!"

"Stop there." said Ishi coldly.

"Oh, sorry Ishi." said Iwashi. "I didn't know that you still felt bad about that..."

"I said to shut up about it." said Ishi.

Iwashi said nothing, and a knock came at the door.

"You remember to close the door, but not to knock?" asked Ishi.

"Ishi!" said a voice. "Breakfast!"

"Yes, Yone!" said Ishi.

"And don't forget your exam that you have today!" continued Yone.

"Thank you for reminding me, Yone!" said Ishi.

"Any time!" replied the woman.

Ishi and Iwashi both walked out the door.

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The two friends, Ishi and Iwashi, were both sixteen years old. They each had brown hair, and each had jet-black eyes. Their height was roughly the same, and they both wore their hair at the length of their neck.

And, at this moment, they were both moving their hair around a bit.

"Gah, why do you even want to look good for this exam?" asked Iwashi. "Do looks even matter?"

"They won't hinder." said Ishi. "Only help."

"Ye speak in riddles!" said Iwashi.

"Funny." said Ishi. "Are you ready, though?"

"Hell yeah." said Iwashi. "Let's go!"

They were both standing outside of the area where the entrance exams were being held.

"Let's go..." said Ishi. "To our future!"

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The test written was hard. The people were many. The cards were strong.

Ishi and Iwashi were ready.

"Would Ishi Shihai please report to dueling field number one?" said a voice over the megaphone.

"Yeah." said Iwashi. "Lucky number one!"

Ishi nodded.

"Good luck, Ishi!" called Iwashi, as Ishi walked away.

"Thanks." said Ishi, walking down towards the field.

As he reached the field, his opponent, the teacher, smiled.

"Nice to meet you." said he. "My name is Kenneth Nishimoto, and I'll be your opponent for the moment."

"And I'm Ishi Shihai." said Ishi. "Are you ready?"

The duel disks were activated. "Let's duel."

Ishi: 4000

Nishimoto: 4000

"I'll start!" said Ishi. "Felsic Warrior- Granite (1700/800) starts off in attack mode! I end my turn!"

"A regular monster with only seventeen hundred attack points?" muttered Nishimoto to himself as he drew. "Is he trying to draw me into an attack?"

Shrugging off his worries, he placed a monster into his duel disk. "La Jinn (1800/1000) will crush your warrior."

The mist monster rose up from a lamp, and attacked the Felsic Warrior.

Ishi: 3900

Ishi said nothing in response to the attack.

"I end my turn with a face-down card." said Nishimoto.

Ishi drew, looking at his newly-drawn card.

"Good." said Ishi. "I play Mafic Warrior- Gabbro (1800/500), who will now attack La Jinn, crushing it!"

Does he even know how to play this game? Thought Nishimoto. "Sorry, but since our monsters attack points are equal, both monsters will die."

"Only normally." said Ishi. "Gabbro's effect is that he gains three hundred attack points in a battle where he is the attacker (1800 + 300)!"

"Nice move." complimented Nishimoto.

Nishimoto: 3700

"Alright." said Nishimoto. "No more mister nice guy!"

Ignoring him, Ishi set a card face-down. "My turn ends."

Nishimoto drew, and glanced at his new card. "I'll set a monster in defense mode, and end my turn!"

Heh. Try and attack that monster after summoning another!

"Let's see." said Ishi. "My new monster will be Felsic Warrior- Rhyolite (1600/1300). I now attack your face-down monster with Gabbro!"

"My face-down monster is Ancient Lamp (900/1400)!" said Nishimoto. "And my Lamp will re-direct your attack to your new monster! And since your monster's attack goes up..."

"Alright." said Ishi.

Ishi: 3400

"I end my turn." said Ishi.

Not distressed at all! Thought Nishimoto. "I'll...use my Lamp's effect, special summoning another La Jinn (1800/1000) from my hand. I also set a face-down card, and end my turn."

Ishi drew. "I set a monster in defense mode, and attack La Jinn with Gabbro!"

"Activate trap card!" said Nishimoto. "Reinforcements! Now La Jinn gains five hundred attack points, which leaves Gabbro as a weaker card!"

"I fell for another trap..." said Ishi.

Ishi: 3200

"Heh." said Nishimoto. "Try winning now!"

"I end my turn." said Ishi.

Nishimoto drew, and pointed to Ishi's set monster. "Go, La Jinn! Kill his monster!"

Ishi smiled as his monster was revealed. "Mafic Warrior- Basalt (900/2100) is stronger, it seems."

"Damn it." said Nishimoto.

Nishimoto: 3400

"Fine, I end my turn." said Nishimoto.

Ishi drew, and revealed his set card. "Monster Reborn will revive Felsic Warrior- Rhyolite (1600/1300) in attack mode.

"Why Rhyolite?" asked Nishimoto. "Why not Gabbro, and kill La Jinn?"

"It doesn't matter who I revive, for I only need two sacrifices."

Just like you, sacrificing whoever you want for your own gain.

Ishi grabbed his head, and sent the two monsters to the graveyard. "I sacrifice Rhyolite and Basalt in order to summon Ultramafic Lord- Kimberlite (2500/2600)!"

The dark-coloured rock-beast rose with might, grinning (though it was very surprising to see a rock with a face for Nishimoto).

"Now he attacks La Jinn!" said Ishi. "And his first effect is that the first monster he destroys had its defense taken out of your Life Points!"

"Crap." said Nishimoto.

Nishimoto: 1700

"Nice move, again." said Nishimoto. "But I have my plans as well..."

"Whatever you say." said Ishi. "I set a card face-down, and end my turn."

"My turn." said Nishimoto. "And we'll see your monster fall! I play my own Monster Reborn, reviving La Jinn! And then I sacrifice them both in order to summon...Buster Blader (2600/2300)!"

The warrior rose, bowed, and ran towards Kimberlite!

"He attacks!" yelled Nishimoto, while Ishi only gave a faint smile.

"Kimberlite's second effect is that the first monster to attack him has its attack negated." replied Ishi simply.

"Don't you ever give up?" asked Nishimoto.

"Never." said Ishi.

"Whatever." said Nishimoto. "I end my turn with a face-down card."

Ishi drew, and pointed towards the Blader. "Kimberlite attacks! His third effect is that the second monster he attacks will suffer a three hundred attack point loss while facing him!"

"I chain my trap card!" said Nishimoto. "Magic Cylinder! Now you lose the same amount of Life Points as your monster's attack points!"

"That's a lot..." said Ishi.

Ishi: 700

"I set a card face-down." said Ishi. "And then my turn ends."

"I draw!" said Nishimoto. "First I switch Ancient Lamp into attack mode, and then my Buster Blader will finish off Kimberlite!"

Ishi: 600

"Ancient Lamp will now attack you directly!" said Nishimoto. "Sorry, but now you've failed!"

"Are you so sure?" asked Ishi. "I play my trap card, Call of the Haunted! Revive, Ultramafic Lord (2500/2600)!"

"Crap..." said Nishimoto. "I call back my Lamp's attack, and end my turn..."

"My turn." said Ishi. "And the final turn."

"What do you mean?" asked Nishimoto. "Even if you crush my Lamp, I'll still have one hundred Life Points left!"

"No, I don't plan to finish off your Lamp." said Ishi.

"My Blader...?" asked Nishimoto, with a laugh. "What a joke! You couldn't kill him!"

"Not normally." said Ishi. "But if I summon Felsic Warrior- Obsidian (500/500) in attack mode...Kimberlite will be strong enough."

"And what's so good about Obsidian?" asked Nishimoto.

"Obsidian is a union monster." said Ishi. "I can equip him to any monster with mafic, felsic, intermediate, or ultramafic in its card name. And when equipped to that monster, said monster gains five hundred attack and defense points."

"What the...but you still haven't explained how you can finish me off..." said Nishimoto.

"Ultramafic Lord- Kimberlite (3000/3100) will now attack Buster Blader!"

The Blader was crushed under the might of Kimberlite's new Obsidian blade, and Nishimoto's Life Points were reduced.

Nishimoto: 1300

"Heh." said Nishimoto. "You could've killed my Lamp and won. But now...what the hell?"

His Life Points has been reduced further.

Nishimoto: 0

"How...?"

"Don't you remember?" asked Ishi. "My monster's effect. The first monster he kills has its defense points deducted from your Life Points."

"But that was the third monster..." said Nishimoto.

"No." said Ishi. "It was the first. He was destroyed and revived, remember?"

"Oh no..." said Nishimoto. "So his effects were reset..."

"That's right." said Ishi. "Good game, though."

"Yes..." said Nishimoto. "Good game. It was fun playing against you. I hope to see you around."

Ishi walked off, and looked curiously at the next duelist who entered the area he was in.

It was Iwashi Obi, his friend.

"Iwashi..." said Ishi.

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Next Time:

Entrance Exam: Iwashi Obi

Ishi Shihai has passed the entrance exam, but now his best friend (Iwashi Obi) has to take it! Is Iwashi even stronger than Ishi, with sword-bearing cards?

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Author's Note: I'm taking a break from Legendary Shadows for now. So please enjoy this new story and other stories while I get back into the mood for LS.

This chapter is twice as long as the normal length of my chapters, so don't expect this length always. :)

-Salazare

P.S. Ishi Shihai's cards were originally supposed to have been played first in Legendary Shadows. They still will be, and in a chapter that will be soon:-D