A/N: as always I want to thank a few people for contributing to my stories. Shadownape for adding me to the favorites and for following me and 'Light Of Victory,' Bloodlustful for faving my first three TTA fics, Acosta Perez Jose Ramiro for the reviews for 'Hate That I Love You' and Furrball's Confessions,' and finally to richman237 for the review for 'It's In His Kiss,' I'm letting you know now that that one is my favorite story and I'm really proud of it. And anyone else who took the time to read on, I really appreciate it, it's what keeps them alive. Which is why I present to you chapter 2! I won nothing except the OC who will only appear in this chapter. Enjoy!
Light Of Victory
Chapter 2: Getting Schooled
Kite woke up finding himself on his bed. Looking around he saw that he was still in his room. "Strange," he thought "last I remember I was on the bathroom floor…because of…why?" He didn't think too much of it, rather than dwell on unimportance he dressed himself in his regular clothing, consisting of his old farmer-looking attire of a pink shirt and brown pants.
At the "kitchen" table sat Hart eating his breakfast. He looked up and acknowledged his older brother walking in, "good morning, Kite," the older Tenjo brother nodded to his younger sibling, "good morning, Hart," he replied quietly. He put a hand on the kid's shoulder and made his way to the window, showing a great view of Heartland City. There was silence, too much of it yet Orbital stayed out of it fearing it would annoy Kite with his nonsense. Instead, Hart spoke up, "Kite…?"
"Hmm?" Kite turned his head a little to acknowledge his brother, "what were you doing on the floor?" he asked
"What do you mean?"
"I heard you last night screaming…I went to your room to see if you were okay. But when I got there you were on the floor. I ran towards you and noticed that you were out cold so I ran to Dad-"
At that last word, Kite shook his head and faced Hart in the eyes, "I told you not to call him that," he said coldly. Hart didn't look away from Kite's gaze; instead he stayed silent as he knew what he was going to say. "He still hasn't earned the right for us to call him that again," he then turned back to the city view while Hart continued; "-so I ran to…our FATHER and told him." Kite listened to every word while still facing the city's business, "he ordered Orbital and a few other robots to come help you back to bed," Hart continued, "he said he would be running a few tests to see if there's anything wrong."
Kite didn't want to think about the past night, something about it made him want to shut his eyes and disappear. He turned around while facing the floor, "Kite," asked Hart, "is everything okay?" Kite still had his eyes gazing the floor until he looked up toward Hart to speak, "go get ready Hart," he stated, "you just started school, you don't want to be late." Hart finished up his breakfast and left the kitchen, "he needs help," he thought as he walked to his room, "there must be something I can do…"
As soon as Hart left the room, Kite was left to think about the past night, "there was that duelist I faced, I beat him…through dumb luck. That's right, I have to work on my deck." He got up and headed back to his room. He took his deck apart and proceeded to study it. Before he could even begin to decide what he should replace, Hart came in with his backpack over his shoulders and his deck box on the left side of his hip. "Kite," he said, "I'm ready now." Kite looked up to his younger brother and realized something, "oh that's right," he thought, "I'm supposed to take Hart to school. I've been taking him ever since he started, how could I forget about it today?" He put his cards in his deck box, strapped it on his belt, "I'll head to the lab after I drop him off, I need the practice."
"Orbital," Kite ordered as they made their way outside, "cycle mode." The stuttering robot did as he was told and transformed himself into a motorcycle big enough for the Tenjo brothers to ride in. Kite rode in front and drove while Hart sat right behind him, holding on to Kite's hips. Both had helmets and were ready to go, "alright," said Orbital, "ne-next stop, Heartland Academy."
On the way over to the school, Hart received a call on his D-Gazer, "Hart," it was Dr. Faker, "Yes?
"Could you put your brother on please?" Hart put the F-Gazer close to Kite while he still handled the bike, "What is it?" he asked.
"We still haven't figured out what happened to you last night, our team found nothing that seemed to be a threat to your health but just to be sure I do NOT want you using your Photon Transformation, we don't know if that's the problem or not." Kite seemed a little relieved but nervous at the same time, if his transformation WAS the cause of his collapse then what was the point in keeping that power?
The trio eventually arrived at the school, there Yuma and the rest of the gang were waiting for them. "Look!" cried out Rio, "they're here!" The others looked over to see Orbital and the Tenjo brothers walking towards them. "Hey guys," Yuma said, "so Kite, are you gonna' make it here for the school's free Duel Period?" Kite thought about it, "actually I will, and I'm challenging you, Yuma." Yuma couldn't believe what he just heard, "Alright! I accept your challenge Kite!" Astral floated nearby Yuma, "this should be a rather interesting duel," he said, "we haven't faced Kite since the end of the World Duel Carnival, yet I cannot help but wonder why the sudden challenge."
"It's not just you I'm challenging," continued Kite, "where's Reginald?"
"Oh you know Reggie," teased Rio, "he's either coming in late or he's somewhere else trying to be the coolest kid he wishes he were."
"Why are you looking for him?" asked Yuma.
"Because since us three are the strongest duelists in Heartland City I wanted to challenge you and Reginald to a 2-on-1 duel. Yuma was a little disappointed, "so it's not just you and me then? It's all three of us?" "Uh FOUR if you count Astral," Tori said, Astral smiled at that remark. "Yuma," Kite told him, "trust me, you do not want to face me one-on-one at this condition, neither one of us are ready." Astral knew that Kite tossed a little lie in that statement but understood why. The whole city knew all about Kite's near-losses and that was a subject he didn't want to bring up.
"I'm leaving, Hart," Kite told his brother, "I'll be back later." He turned to Yuma and Tori, "make sure Reginald gets the message." "We will," Tori said as she elbowed Yuma, "RIGHT? Yuma?" The passionate duelist sighed, "yeah I guess, I'll see ya' Kite!" they all said their goodbyes as Kite watched Hart walk away with Yuma and the others. But before they could get any father, Kite heard a voice behind him.
"Kite Tenjo!"
Kite turned around and saw a young student that looked to be around Yuma's age with blond hair swooshed to the left and wearing the school's uniform. Kite just looked at him, he didn't know him but he know that this duelist knew him. He continued to glare at him with the same scowl, even though he didn't have his dark clothing he still looked pretty intimidating. "What do you want?" Kite demanded.
I've been hearing a lot about your little…well let's just call them 'close calls' and I couldn't help but wonder that it's only a matter of time before you quit the game all together."
"You-you can't say that to Master Kite, sh-show some respect! Claimed Orbital, Kite continued to glare at him, he knew where this conversation was going, "what's your name?"
"The name is Connor and I've come to challenge you to a duel to show all these kids here at Heartland Academy that you're old news, you're last year's golden boy, even Yuma has a much higher status than you."
Kite remembered what Dr. Faker told him earlier, he can't use his Photon Transformation should it be the reason of his pain the prior night. He chose to ignore it, "Let's go Orbital."
"Wow!" cried Connor, "you're even more pathetic than I thought!" The Galaxy-Eyes master turned his head to face Connor, the smug smirk on his face really had him boiling, "don't go there," he told him, "you don't know what I had to go through just to keep you and the rest of these duelists from losing their souls."
A crowd started to form around the two, this caught the attention of another group, "hey," cried out Tori, "what's going on over there?" Yuma and the other's followed the direction she was pointing at and ran towards it. Hart was with them, he was caught off guard when he saw his brother as the center of attention. "Kite…"
"If you're so tough then accept my challenge, Kite. Prove to me and everyone else here wrong."
"Ma-master Kite, D-Dr. Faker said-"
"I know what he said."
"Let's make this interesting;" called out Connor, "I'll put one of my best cards on the line for your…Galaxy-Eyes!"
"You can't do that!" yelled Yuma, "that's Kite's best card, don't do it!"
"This is MY duel, Yuma," Kite responded to him, "and I accept the stakes!" Orbital shot out a light-blue colored D-Pad with a red streak across it along with a matching D-Gazer. He kept those with him and would be fueled with the Photon energy whenever Kite used them but now they were just as regular as his opponent's. "Duel Disk GO! Duel Gazer Set!" both duelists prepared themselves and were now linked in the Dueling alternative reality. The crowd had on their D-Gazers and proceeded to watch the duel. "LET'S DUEL!"
Connor LP: 4000 Kite LP: 4000
"I'll go first!" Connor called out, "I summon Constellar Algiedi!" A silver knight-looking warrior appeared with a staff in hand, "and I activate it's special effect, when Algiedi is normal summoned, I can special summon another Constellar monster from my hand and I summon Constellar Sombre!" A ram-looking fairy appeared with what seemed like an illuminated tail. "Two level fours," Kite said quietly, "he's going for an XYZ summon." Connor spoke up, "judging from the look on your face I can tell you already know what's comin' next, don't ya' Kite? Well you're right 'cuz now I overlay my two level 4 light monsters so I could build the overlay network and XYZ Summon…Constellar Omega! I place one card face down and call it a turn."
Kite drew his first five cards, Photon Wind, Galaxy Zero, Galaxy Knight, Photon Shock, and Desperate Scrape. All of them dead draws. He didn't have any time to fix his deck, he was stuck in a duel where the odds were REALLY against him. He drew his sixth card and continued his turn, "I may not be able to top a turn like yours but I will get rid of your XYZ monster, I activate Desperate Scrape! By paying 800 of my life points I can make you Constellar Omega lose half it attack points!" (Kite LP: 3200)
"Well I activate Omega's special ability," Connor said, "by detaching one Overlay Unit I can have Omega be immune to all of you Spell and Trap cards for the rest if this turn!" Kite watched as the spell's effect went to waste as he looked at what could've been his plan, Omega would've been weak enough for the card Kite drew, Shining Angel, to attack and make the first strike. "Aww," taunted Connor, "did I ruin a strategy? Better luck next time!" He laughed as Kite growled under his breath, "I place a monster in defense-mode and one card face down, it's your move, Connor."
"As it should be, my draw!" he looked at the card he drew, "I summon Constellar Kaus!" Another centaur-looking monster appeared with a bow and arrow, "next I activate the Trap card Solar Ray! This card allows me to inflict 600 points of damage for every LIGHT monster on my side of the field, and since I control two, you take 1200 points of damage!" Kite flinched at the feeling of his life points decreasing. (Kite LP: 2600) "And now Constellar Kaus, attack the facedown!" Kaus attacked the facedown Shining Angel and destroyed it. "Next I-wait what is this?"
Kite caught him off-guard when he saw a new monster appearing on Kite's side of the field. Kite explained, "you destroyed my Shining Angel, and when it's destroyed in battle I can summon a LIGHT monster from my deck with 1500 attack points or less, and I summon Photon Circle." "I'm still gonna' attack it, Constellar Omega, attack Photon Circle!" (Kite LP: 1900) Photon Circle was destroyed but Kite barely had a scrape in life points, "what happened, you should've lost more than THAT!"
"That's because my Photon Circle has an effect where if he's destroyed then all battle damage I take is cut in half, which reminds me, I activate Photon Shock!"
Connor gasped, "a Trap card?"
"This Trap allows me to inflict the same amount of battle damage I took from a Photon monster's battle straight to you!"
(Connor LP: 3300)
"Alright then, I end."
"My move, I draw!" Kite looked at the card he drew and the duel was back to his favor again, "since I have no monsters on my field I can special summon Photon Thrasher from my hand." As the monster appeared Connor looked a little worried, "2100 attack points? That's a little much for a level four monster." "It's only going to get worse after this turn," Kite claimed, "now I activate the spell card Galaxy Zero! This lets me summon a Photon monster from my graveyard and with it I summon Photon Circle." The fallen Photon was now revived but looked rather binded. "What's up with him?" Asked Connor suspiciously, "Photon Circle was revived with Galaxy Zero, therefore he cannot attack or activate his effect, and if he would be destroyed then Zero takes the hit instead. Then, as the name suggests, Circle's attack points will drop down to zero, reviving his effect in the process."
Connor seemed confident, until he realized what he missed when witnessing the field, Kite has TWO level four monsters! "Well now," Kite taunted back, "judging from the look on YOUR face I can already tell you know what's coming next. I overlay my two level four Photon Monsters so I can build the overlay network and XYZ Summon…Starlord Galaxion!" A blue-lighted warrior appeared with two blades in his hands in a stance that looked like he was protecting Kite.
The crowd was amazed, the usually never see Kite summon an XYZ monster and this was one of those rare occasions. "Now I activate his special ability, by detaching both its Overlay Units I can summon from my deck, MY VERY SOUL!" The alternate reality showed a lightning storm with flashes of space. Starlord Galaxion put his two blades together in a prayer-like manner as the energy shot out from the blades to the skies. Down descended the very beast that would end this duel. "Come forth from the galaxies from above and ruler of the light, I summon Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!"
Now the crowd was getting excited, witnessing this powerful dragon in action was a real sight to see. "Now it's time for you to feel some pain, Starlord Galaxion, attack his Kaus!" Galaxion attacked and destroyed Constellar Kaus (Connor LP: 3100) Connor waited for that dragon to take a hit on his life points, hoping that he would survive the blast.
"Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, attack Omega! Photon Stream of Destruction!" Kite didn't feel like having his dragon absorb Constellar Omega's Overlay Units, instead he wanted to finish the duel while he still had the upper hand. But for how long?
Galaxy-Eyes blasted Constellar Omega as Connor's life points decreased. (Connor LP: 2500) "I end my turn," Kite said, he was getting stressed and exhausted. Then he started feeling dizzy, Yuma and Astral noticed this, "Hey! Hey Kite!" Yuma called, "you okay?"
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
Yuma was confused, how could Kite be struggling this much in a duel? He didn't use the Photon Transformation so his health wasn't the issue here. He hasn't seen Kite look this ill since he battled Vetrix. Hart was even more worried, "he's not fine!" he cried out, Astral looked at him, Yuma followed his gaze, "he's been in pain for who knows how long!" Yuma asked him, "Hart, is there anything we can do to help him?"
"He says he doesn't need help but I know that he does. There's something wrong with him and it's not because of the transformation, it's because of something else, and I don't know what that is.
The duel continued, Connor still had the most life points but Kite was the one with very few options, his fear of Kite's Galaxy-Eyes was slowly starting to fade, he wanted to take the easy way out so he aimed for the weaker monster. "It's my move and I draw." He looked at his hand and carefully played out the strategies in his head. "Alright here we go! I summon Constellar Pollux!" Another knight appeared with half of its body covered, "I activate his special effect, he allows me to summon another Constellar monster from my hand and I summon another Kaus!"
Kite knew that he wasn't going to summon the same XYZ monster again or any other XYZ for that matter; with Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon on the field no XYZ monster was safe. "Now I activate my Kaus' special ability," said Connor, "I can make one Constellar monster on my field boost its level up by 1 so now Kaus' level is now 5. What makes this effect so useful is that I can activate it AGAIN! Now my Pollux's level is 5."
Kite waited for inevitable, he was getting weaker and weaker as the turn went by. All the sweat and stress over his body made it very hard to concentrate on the duel at hand but he had to win, he barely survived the first turn and he didn't want it to go down in humiliation. He continued to wait as his opponent continued his turn, "now I overlay my two level five Constellars so I could build the overlay network…behold as I XYZ Summon Constellar Pleiades!" A new warrior emerged from what looked like a black galaxy hole from space, this one had gold and silver armor, similar to Utopia. "Now my ultimate monster," yelled Connor, "show them what you can do!" Pleiades went for a stance, "I activate his effect, by detaching one Overlay Unit I can send one of your monsters back up to your hand! So with that bein' said, Pleiades, send Galaxy-Eyes back to the hand and out of the way!"
Kite watched in horror as his most ultimate monster was sent back up to his hand, there was no way he could win the duel without him on the field. The dragon was back in Kite's hand and all he could do now was watch what Connor had in store for Starlord Galaxion. "If you thought that was bad," said Connor, "just wait until you see this, I overlay my Constellar Pleiades with the rest of its Overlay Units so I can XYZ Summon Constellar Ptolemy M7!" A new XYZ monster appeared, this one looked similar to the last one but Kite knew that this one probably had a worse effect.
"You're lucky," teased Connor, "I can't activate Ptolemy M7's effect this turn due to me summoning him this way. But I'm still gonna' attack, go destroy his Galaxion!" Kite's XYZ monster was now gone, his life points decreased even more. (Kite LP: 1200) "I end my turn, go ahead and try your luck, although I highly doubt it."
The older duelist managed to speak up through exhaustion, "you obviously have a powerful deck, why not just finish me off?"
"Because Kite, I'm proving my point. You're weak and frankly I'm enjoying this, humiliating you in front of the whole school where everyone can see you finally lose. But the fact of the matter is, is that you can barely fight back, and that just proves how pathetic you are. It's funny watching you struggle and sweat your ass off trying to prevent your loss when it's clear to me and everyone else here that there's no way you can make your way out of this duel victorious. Not even with luck."
Kite was too exhausted to insult him back, he was ready to pass out but his pride wouldn't let him. He knew that even if he didn't win he still had to show his brother's classmates that he CAN get out of the situation, victorious or not. "Kite!" yelled Hart, "just forfeit, you're sick and you can't continue! Please just stop!" Yuma started running up to his rival, "C'mon Kite, you gotta' stop this, you're in no position to duel-"
"Stay back!" yelled Kite, "I can handle this, just watch me!" now he was getting frustrated, his best monster was sitting in his hand, he drew the worst of cards in the first turn, his opponent wasn't taking him seriously, and now he was back to hoping for luck. Kite closed his eyes and wished as hard as he could. He hated easy losses and he hated his dueling skills, he was nothing more than a washed up player with dumb luck dependency. "I draw!" Kite opened his eyes and saw the card he drew, "I activate the spell Photon Sanctuary! This lets me summon two Photon Tokens, each with 2000 attack points, no defense points and they cannot attack, all at the cost of not being able to summon any other monsters for the rest of this turn, except LIGHT monsters."
"Defense…and no defense, this is just too easy!" taunted Connor, "you might as well give up, you can't win."
"What are you, Fortuno?"
Kite continued his turn, "since the tokens are considered Photons I'm allowed to summon Galaxy Knight from my hand with no tribute!" Connor saw the knight appear before him, "2800 attack points? Where do you get these high-attack cards?"
"Something you should know, my deck was created using special science from another dimension, THAT'S why."
"Your knight may have enough attack points to defeat my Ptolemy M7 but it won't finish me off."
"Funny, that's what the last guy I faced said…right before I finished him." Connor was shocked at that last remark but he didn't have time to think as Kite continued his turn. "Since my Galaxy Knight was summoned this way his effect kicks in, his attack points drop by 1000 so I could revive Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon from my graveyard."
"But he's not in the grave, remember? I sent him back up to your hand."
"Exactly, so you can go right ahead and thank yourself for th-GAHH!" Kite dropped his cards, the pain in his heart was back and pumping hard. "Kite!" yelled Hart, "Stop this duel!" yelled Rio, "NO!" Kite yelled back, "I'm gonna' finish this on my own," Kite picked up his cards and struggled back up to his feet still holding his heart, throbbing in pain. "I sacrifice both my Photon Tokens so I could summon back Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!" the illuminated dragon reappeared with a roar…of pain? Kite noticed his dragon's roar wasn't like it's usual roar, it sounded like it was hurting. Kite picked up his head and saw his dragon, "what's wrong?" he asked but his question was answered when he saw his dragon change appearance. It looked weird, mechanical even, but purple and red in color. The pain in his heart faded but the crowd started to back away from Kite's side of the duel.
"Yuma!" Astral yelled, "Look at Kite; he has some strange aura surrounding him." Yuma looked at Kite and saw that there was a strange purple light around his body; he noticed his eyes were turning red. Meanwhile Kite saw his dragon in a different yet familiar form. "What is wrong with my dragon?!" he demanded, "what are you talkin' about? He's fine!" Connor called back, he was right, Galaxy-Eyes looked just as fine as he was before he was sent to Kite's hand. "That's NOT my dragon!" Kite yelled out in horror.
The pain resumed in Kite's heart and through his eyes, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon was back to his regular form. He held onto his chest again and resumed his turn, "I need to finish before I collapse again, why was-"
"Hey, hurry up, I'm getting so impatient that I think I'll just finish you next turn."
"Alright then," Kite managed to say, ignoring the recent scare, "Galaxy knight, attack Ptolemy M7!" Everyone was shocked, "you DO know that he's weaker than my Ptolemy M7 right?!" Kite stayed silent as he watched his Galaxy Knight suicided into Connor's monster. (Kite LP: 300) "I activate the Quick-Play spell Photon Wind!" Kite proceeded to explain the effect, "when my monster attacked another monster you control and didn't destroy it, it inflicts 1000 points of damage to your life points and allows me to draw a card." (Connor LP: 1500)
Connor winced at the damage he took, "you got rid of him just for 1000 points of damage and a free card?" Kite ignored that rhetorical question, he was too focused on ending the duel as fast as possible and continued, "now for the final blow, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, attack Ptolemy M7!" The almighty dragon attacked until-"I activate my dragon's special ability, when he's facing another monster I can remove them both from the game until the end of the battle phase!" And with that, both monsters were banished. "But wait, there's more!" yelled Kite, from my hand I activate the effect of Dimension Wanderer! When a monster is banished by the effect of my Galaxy-Eyes I can send him to the graveyard so you can take 3000 points of damage!"
"WHAT?!" A blast of light that strongly resembled Galaxy-Eyes appeared and struck Connor along with his life points. "AAARRRRRRRRHHHHHHH!" he yelled out in pain and he fell on his back, thinking about his defeat.
(Connor LP:0) Winner: Kite
The victorious duelist collapsed while the crowd started to surround both players. "Ma-master Kite!" cried out Orbital, he looked to a worried Hart, "I'll ta-take him back to the l-lab, you head back t-to school."
"No!" protested Hart, "I'm going with him!"
"Hart," said a very weak Kite, "go to school…I'll be fine." Kite finally passed out and left his friends and brother back to their planned day. Orbital changed to his glider form and picked up Kite. Together they flew back to the lab.
