Polar Opposites

"It's my turn, then! And I'm gonna start by setting two facedown cards to the field!" Adachi Hatazo exclaimed as the cards appeared to the field face down in a burst of light. "Next up, I'm gonna use my Legion Armor Dragon to attack your Azurian Attorney with Ravaging Hellfire!"

Adachi's mighty Legion Armor Dragon opened its mouth and blasted fire out, which completely enveloped the Attorney. It vanished, but not with the typical explosion. Shiho chuckled. "I activated my Attorney's special ability! When it's in Attack Mode, and a card on my field would be destroyed, I can banish it to prevent the destruction and summon it back to the field at the End Phase!"

"As clever as that little trick may be, you still take the battle damage!"

Shiho: 3500 LP-1500 LP

"And now, for the pièce de rèsistance, I normal summon the Tuner monster Majestic Dragon!"

"Majestic Dragon?!"

"That's right! Now, then. I'll give you a chance to figure out just how screwed you are before I waste you!" Adachi laughed.

"As you end your turn, my Azurian Attorney returns to the field with its own effect!" Shiho sighed. He drew a card from his deck. "My turn!"

I've got to deal with his Majestic Dragon before it's too late! But so long as he has a Nightridge Scout, his Battle Facade trap card will prevent me from attacking any other monster he controls! So that leaves only one option, then! Shiho looked to his monsters, and then to the Nightridge Scout on Adachi's field. "Azurian Attorney! Take Nightridge Scout to the witness stand!"

"Not quite! I'm activating my facedown trap card, Strategize! With this card, I can Synchro Summon during your turn!" Adachi laughed while Shiho watched in horror. "So I'm gonna tune my level eight Legion Armor Dragon and level one Nightridge Scout with the level one Majestic Dragon! From the fields of battle, this being waits, ready to explode forth in order to take on all those who cannot fathom its true strength!

"Synchro Summon!" Majestic Dragon flew up and spread its wings, causing a wave of pink light to shoot out. Legion Armor Dragon roared, as the two monsters floated into Majestic Dragon as it increased in size. The monsters within faded away, leaving only their collective nine level stars, which aligned themselves in a straight line from head to tail within Majestic Dragon. A green light exploded through all the stars and then flashed across the Duel Field. "The might to face all on, the Majestic Armor Dragon!"

"It can't be!"

"Oh, but it is! And since my Nightridge Scout was removed from the field, I can special summon another Nightridge Scout from my deck!" Adachi called as his monster reappeared.

Shiho felt a burning sensation in his left arm. He looked, and saw that his blue Mark of the Dragon was glowing brightly. "Ow!"

"Can't take the pain, Shiho?"

"I'm fine!"

"We'll see. Because you've made an attack with your Attorney, a replay occurs. I assume you do not wish to make your attack?"

"Grrr!" Shiho growled. "Justiciar Dragon! Attack with Justice Wave!"

"Majestic Armor Dragon's special ability activates! Once per turn, I can negate the effects of one monster per turn!" Adachi pointed at Justiciar Dragon. "So your Justiciar Dragon's ability to gain 500 Attack for every WATER in your grave is nullified!"

"I activate Enemy Controller from my hand! This will allow me to switch your Majestic Armor Dragon into defense mode!" Shiho countered. "While I don't have enough attack points to defeat Majestic Armor Dragon, at least my monster will be spared!"

"Don't be so sure, Shiho!" Adachi countered. When Majestic Armor Dragon is attacked while in defense mode, the monster that battled it is destroyed!"

"What? Urgh!"

Shiho: 1500 LP-500 LP

Justiciar Dragon reared to attack, but a spike shot off Majestic Armor Dragon, impaling Justiciar Dragon, causing it to explode completely. The shockwave hit Shiho, and his Mark of the Dragon dug in deeper. "Ahh!"

"How do you enjoy the pain, Shiho?" Adachi asked. "Cause you might have saved yourself for now, but it won't last long."

"I'm fine! I'll change Attorney to Defense Mode and summon Azurian Enforcer to join him! I'll set one card facedown," Shiho replied, exasperatedly. "And I'll end my turn, which means that your Majestic Armor Dragon vanishes!"

"I don't think so! See, by activating my Stay Force trap card, I can negate the effect of a monster I control that would remove itself during this turn only!" Adachi countered. "Of course, I have to pay 1000 Life Points, but no matter!"

Adachi: 3200 LP-2200 LP

"Unless you can somehow survive my next turn, you won't be regaining your memories any time soon!"

"We'll see, Adachi! Make your move!"

"I intend to! It's my turn!" Adachi drew a card from his deck, and he smirked. "First, I'll change Majestic Armor Dragon back to Attack Mode! Then I'm gonna negate the effect of your Azurian Attorney! By tributing my Nightridge Scout, I can increase my Majestic Armor Dragon's attack by the level of the monster who's effect I negated!"

Majestic Armor Dragon: 4100 ATK + 600 ATK = 4700 ATK

"And since my Nightridge Scout left the field, I can special summon another Nightridge Inquisitor to the field!" Adachi pulled another card from his hand. "Next I activate This Means War, which allows me to special summon all the Nightridge monsters in my hand to the field! So allow me to introduce Nightridge Calvary, Nightridge Infantry, and Nightridge Grenadier! Finally, I activate Strategic Retreat! This allows me to return all my Nightridge monsters from my field to my hand! And since they're leaving the field, you know what that means!"

"You gain benefits from every single one."

"That's right! When the Inquisitor leaves the field, for the next turn, I can activate trap cards from my hand. Next, my Grenadier and my Calvary add a trap card and a spell card to my hand, respectively, from my Graveyard. So allow me to call back my Stay Force trap card and my This Means War spell card!" Adachi reached for his Graveyard as the two card popped out. He pulled them and added them to his hand. "Finally, my Infantry allows me to add two level four or lower Nightridge monsters from my deck to my hand, so I'm adding my Bowman and another Calvary to my hand!"

"And since you've added Stay Force back to your hand…" Shiho started.

"When my turn ends, I can activate it in order to keep my dragon on the field." Adachi stated, completing Shiho's statement. "That's right! And now, Majestic Armor Dragon! Attack Azurian Attorney with Armor Crash!"

Majestic Armor Dragon flew up, and then descended on the Attorney. As soon as it made contact, the Attorney exploded into holographic shards. Shiho smirked as they reformed into the Attorney, who threw its briefcase at Adachi's dragon. It struck it in the head, and it switched to defense mode. "What?"

"I activated my Unlawful Detainment trap card! When a monster I control is destroyed, I can summon that monster back to the field and switch the battle position of the monster that destroyed it!" Shiho replied. "Which means that I get my monster back!"

"Fine! As I end my turn, I activate Stay Force from my hand! 1000 Life Points in order to prevent my dragon from leaving the field!" Adachi looked back at the seven cards in his hand. "And because I have seven cards in my hand, I discard This Means War in order to end my turn!"

Adachi: 2200 LP-1200 LP

"My turn, then!" Shiho looked down at his deck. If I can't draw a card to counteract Adachi's Majestic Armor Dragon, I'm toast!

Shiho's Mark began to glow even brighter than before as a surge of power flowed through him. He felt strength flow through him, and that's when he saw it. A glowing blue Mark of the Dragon, on Adachi's right arm, in the same place where Shiho's is on his own arm. "You… You have a Mark like mine?"

"Took you long enough." Adachi sighed. He rolled his sleeve up to reveal the glowing mark of a set of dragon's wings. "Your Mark is a body, like your friend Mateo's. Mine is the wings. And there are others. You better believe there are others."

"I don't care about these 'others!' Right now, all I wanna do is defeat you and get my memories back!" On cue, the top card of Shiho's deck began to glow a darkened gold color, like bronze. He drew the card, and saw that in his hand was Majestic Dragon. Wait… This isn't a card in my deck! Then again… Maybe I can summon a monster with it like Adachi's. I have the other cards I need right here!

"I'm gonna start off by activating my Testify spell card! By swapping the battle position of two Azurian monsters I control, I can special summon a monster from my Graveyard until the end of this turn!" Enforcer and Attorney stood up and into attack mode as a glow of light radiated from Shiho's Graveyard as a familiar roar took to the field. "So I summon back, from my Graveyard, my Justiciar Dragon! And, as you know, Justiciar Dragon gains 500 Attack for every WATER attribute monster in my Graveyard!"

"Not if my Majestic Armor Dragon has anything to say about it! With his special ability, I can negate your monster's!"

"That's exactly what I was hoping for!"

"Wait, what?"

"Cause I'm gonna summon Majestic Dragon!"

"WHAT?!"

"And I'm gonna tune it to my level one Azurian Enforcer and level eight Justiciar Dragon!" Majestic Dragon flew up and extended its wings, causing a wave of pink light to shoot away. Justiciar Dragon roared as it, and the Enforcer flew into the quickly enlarging Tuner monster. The nine level stars of the monsters inside flew out and into a straight line from head to tail of the Majestic Dragon, as a green light exploded across the entire Duel Field. "From the deepest call of duty, this true embodiment of justice and law explodes forth! All rise, for court is in session!

"Synchro Summon!" Shiho raises his gavel high and pounds it down on his Duel Disk. "The ultimate being of law, Majestic Just Dragon!"

"It can't be! Another Majestic monster!"

"And that's not all! Your monster is in defense mode, so I'm gonna summon my new monster in defense mode!" Shiho shouted as a blue hue coated his new monster. "But that works out, because I can use his special ability to negate your Majestic Armor Dragon's ability! And since you wasted his effect on my Justiciar Dragon, there isn't a thing you can do about it!"

Energy flew out from Majestic Armor Dragon and into Majestic Just Dragon. "And when I negate the effect of a monster on the field, my Majestic Just Dragon can activate an ability based off its battle position, just like an Azurian monster! And when my monster is in defense mode, I can inflict you with direct damage equal to half the attack of the monster who's effect I negated! Since your monster's attack is 4100 since your turn ended, you'll be hit with twenty-fifty points of damage!"

"No!" Adachi looked up to Majestic Just Dragon as all the energy that it absorbed from Majestic Armor Dragon blasted off it and smashed through Majestic Armor Dragon into him.

Adachi: 1200 LP-0 LP

Adachi was blasted back by the shockwave, and the device that held Shiho's stolen memories flew over and landed next to Shiho. He looked up at his Majestic monster as it faded away, the duel being over. He picked the device up, and attached the electrodes to his head. Instantly, his head was flooded with memories. The Battle of the Arc Cradle. The Dark Signers. A being of pure azure appearing before him. "That's it… The Azure Dragon…"

As soon as he remembered it, he felt a dark energy waft through him. A miasma of energy surrounded him as it floated over to Adachi, enveloping him, as well. After a moment, it faded, as a Duel Runner stopped next to Shiho. Mateo Yurigaya stepped out of it. "Shiho, we need to talk."

"Didn't you hear my voicemail greeting?" He turned and cursed. "That sounded better in my head."

"It doesn't matter. This involves the approaching war between the Light and the Darkness." Mateo replied. "Anya told me that if you weren't—"

"Oh, Anya told you? Well, that settles it." Shiho replied, sarcastically. "Since when do you listen to what the woman who tried to kill you, anyways?"

"It's a long story, you just have to trust me on this."

"Trust you? We're on opposite sides of this war!"

"It doesn't have to be like that!"

"Of course it does!"

"I thought you were going to choose your own destiny, Shiho?" Mateo asked. He took another step forward, but Shiho took a step back. "You're stronger than this."

"You're going to talk to me about my destiny? Look at you!" Shiho countered. "You've followed every little action the Light has asked you to do, you caused the death of at least two people and made a third lose his mind! What about your destiny, Mateo?!"

"You're going to accuse me of following a preordained destiny when they attacked me first?" Mateo replied. "If following my destiny in the Light is what makes you turn against me, what do I do, Shiho?"

"You leave me alone. Because the next time we meet, you will have to defeat me. If you don't, then I will defeat you. And I highly doubt the Light would appreciate that." Shiho smirked. "Tread lightly, Yurigaya."

Shiho turned and started walking to Adachi. He checked his breathing, and he was alive. He shook him, and he opened his eyes. He nodded to Shiho, stood up, and mounted his Duel Runner, which was parked next to Shiho's. Shiho reattached his Duel Disk to his Duel Runner. "Don't do this, Shiho."

He turned back to Mateo. "How did you find me, anyways?"

"There's some kind of chip in your Duel Disk. I was able to track the signal."

Shiho looked down at his Duel Disk and opened the center of his Duel Disk and pulled a flashing chip out. "You mean this chip?"

Mateo said nothing and watched as his former friend dropped it on the ground and crushed it with his foot. "You can fight your destiny, Shiho."

"As can you, Mateo." Shiho mounted his Duel Runner and started it up. "Be prepared, because the next time we meet, you will be destroyed."

Shiho and Adachi blasted away, leaving Mateo standing alone in the alleyway.