Chapter Eight:

Victories of Old Friends

Shinta grinned. He looked at his friends, all of which had happy expressions as well.

"We won!" exclaimed Shinta. Justin nodded.

"Good job, Shinta." said he. "You did well."

As Shinta walked back to the group, Edward scratched the back of his head. "The Monk Virus Carrier...I never saw Kenshin use that card."

"Same here." agreed Justin.

Vy didn't comment on this. She was alone in her thoughts.

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"Vicky! Vicky!" said a young voice.

Vicky Menzuro looked behind her to see her little brother, Kenshin Menzuro, running to her.

"What is it, Kenshin?" she asked, turning completely around.

Kenshin stopped in front of her, gasping for breath. When he caught his breath, he looked up at her with a frown. "I still can't win! Dad can predict that I'm going to special summon Master Monk! Using only that and Monk Fighter in my deck doesn't help!"

Vicky sighed. "Kenshin, you need more than just those two Monk cards for a good set. If possible, you should be using a whole Monk deck!"

"How can I get a set that huge?" whined Kenshin. "There are so many of them, and new ones are going to be released in the future, I'm sure!"

Vy sighed again, but this time with a smile on her face. "Kenshin...I have a little gift for you."

She took out her deck box and grabbed a card from her side deck. "Here you go. It's a part of the 'Dark Monk' collection...I don't know if it's your kind of card, but maybe one day you can put it to good use."

Kenshin looked at the card with a big grin on his face.

"Thank you, Vicky!" he said, running off with the card known as 'Monk Virus Carrier'.

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An hour later...

Yoshiko's team... thought Claire, looking down at dueling field number three.

She was watching one of her sister's teammates, Iwashi Obi, order his monster to attack directly against the enemy duelist.

Iwashi: 300

Enemy: 1400

"Go, Rurouni- Kenshin (1900/1900)!" he exclaimed. "Attack him directly, end the duel!"

"Urg..." said the opponent, falling to his knees (ELP: 0).

"Good game!" said Iwashi, a big smile on his face.

"And the winning team is..." said the Judge, Meri. "Team Stone Will!"

Justin gave a thin smile. So, Miro...it looks like the time has finally come where you can 'prove' that Conan is better. But...

This time, you'll have to defeat the powers of Creation. I hope you're ready.

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While Claire and Justin were watching dueling field three, the other five watched over dueling field four.

Kazuha was dueling another duelist, one who was about seven feet tall. He also had huge muscles, and five powerful monsters on the field.

"Hmph." he said. "With two Giant Orcs (2200/0 x2), two Goblin Attack Forces (2300/0 x2), and Monk Wanderer (2400/0) on the field, along with my trap card Skill Drain...you can't win!"

Kazuha: 200

Enemy: 400

"So you think..." said Kazuha. She had no cards in her hand, and only a face-down card on her side of the field. "I activate my face-down card, Blackfire Revival!"

The spell card activated, glowing as it rose up. Kazuha grinned as a monster made completely of blackfire appeared, moving on skates made of blackfire, as well.

"Heh." said Kazuha. "I use Blackfire Revival to special summon Blackfire Speeder (500/900) from my graveyard!"

"No way..." said her opponent. "And that card..."

"...can attack directly!" finished Kazuha. "Blackfire Speeder, finish him off! Direct attack!"

"Damn you..." said the man (MLP: 0).

The Judge, Roderick, raised his hand up, high in the air.

"And the winning team is...Team Blackfire Revival!"

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Miro Miyake walked out into the night. The first round had ended...sixty-four teams disqualified.

And every team that I saw duel had their captain duel. He thought.

Walking out, he noticed someone coming towards him. Upon closer inspection, it was Justin Maker.

"...you." said Miro. "Justin Maker."

Justin smiled. "Nice to see you again, Miro. You've grown."

"...yes." said Miro. He had grown several feet since their last meeting, now standing at six feet, three inches. "And so have you, but in strength."

"...as have you, I'm sure." said Justin. He put his hands in his pockets, and looked at the moon. "Miro...our teams may clash during this tournament."

Miro nodded. "Yes, I realized that."

"..." Justin was silent for a moment. Then...

"Miro, when the time comes...you and I will duel again, correct?"

Miro nodded. "Yes. This time, Justin, I won't lose. You can count on it."

Justin smiled again. "That's what I'd hoped you'd say, Miro. But when we duel again, you won't be seeing L."

"I also realized that." said Miro, with another nod. "But I believe that your Creation deck is even stronger.

"Justin...it's no longer between L and Conan..."

As he said that, his voice trailed off. Justin decided to finish up for him.

"It's between you and I..." completed the pro. "Yes, Miro...I agree."

He reached out his hand, and Miro grabbed it. Shaking the hand up and down, they both exchanged smiles.

"The way things are..." said Miro. "If we ever face each other, it will be during round five. The Quarter-Finals."

Justin whistled in amazement. "You've done your homework. Well then, that's three more rounds to get past. Can you do it?"

"I think the question, Justin, is...can you do it?"

"Oh, ho! A challenge!"

Another smile was exchanged between the two, and Miro started to walk past Justin. "Good luck, Justin..."

Miro walked away, into the darkness...in silence...

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It was dark. Shinta and Vy Menzuro were walking down the street, both silent, yet pleased. Then, though, they heard a twig crack behind them.

They both quickly turned around to see two figures coming their way. One a woman, and one a man.

"Ah." said Vy. "Kazuha Ogata and Haku Doku."

"Correction." said Kazuha. "Kazuha Doku. But thank you for recognizing us."

As Kazuha spoke with Vy, Haku looked at Shinta. The latter frowned, feeling the former's venomous gaze.

"Haku Doku..." muttered Shinta. "I saw you earlier. You were very good."

"Of course it seems that way to you." said Haku. "But, then again, I am even without your thoughts."

"...what do you mean?" asked Shinta.

"Hmph." said Haku. "You don't know what I mean?"

He walked up to Shinta, and kneeled so they could see eye-to-eye. "Do you really think you're strong enough to wield Kenshin Menzuro's deck? Do you really think he would see you as worthy? Why in seven hells do you think that you're able to use the deck as he did before he died?!"

"Haku!" yelled both Kazuha and Vy.

"Quiet, you two." said Haku.

Shinta clenched his fists, looking down at the ground. "I...I..."

"You're not strong enough, Shinta Menzuro!" said Haku. "You can't even look me in the eye."

Shinta tried to look up, but his eyes shot back towards the ground when he saw Haku's glaring eyes.

"See?" yelled Haku. "I can't get you to make me believe that you're Kenshin Menzuro's little brother! He had heart, sure, but he also had a lot of strength! He was the strongest duelist I'd met since Kazuha! And you're nothing like him!"

"Haku..." said Shinta. He looked up. "That's your name, right?"

"Yes." said Haku.

"Well..." said Shinta. "No matter what you say...I'M NOT WEAK!"

He activated his duel disk. "And if you think I am, then we can duel...right here, right now!"

Haku smiled. "Ah, that's the fire I want."

Vy and Kazuha watched on silently, not knowing what to do.

Haku activated his own duel disk. "I suppose we shall see who really is stronger, then?"

Shinta: 4000

Haku: 4000

It was then that Kazuha snapped back into herself. "Haku! It's late, and we need to get home!"

Haku frowned. "Kazuha..."

"Look." said Kazuha. "Shinta is strong. And if his team and our team continue to win, we can duel in the Semi-Finals...Kelsey told me. So back off for now!"

Haku de-activated his duel disk and sighed. "Alright. I trust that they won't lose until then."

He looked at Shinta, who had de-activated his own duel disk. "Shinta, I trust that you too shall not lose until the Semi-Finals. That's Round Six, if you didn't already know."

Shinta nodded. "Thanks for having such 'faith' in me, Haku."

Haku laughed. "That sarcasm! Maybe you really are deserving of being Kenshin's little brother!"

He then turned his back to Vy and Shinta, walking with Kazuha into the night...

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Amy sat on her couch, and sighed.

Shinta is strong, and he reminds me so much of Kenshin...

A single tear fell from her eye. Kenshin! Why couldn't you have been able to survive against Akurei Kokuo?

A second tear fell. Kenshin...

"Heh heh...crying, like the fool you are."

Amy's tears stopped, and her head shot up.

"Who's there?" she called out. "Who are you?"

"Heh heh...you know who I am, Amy Takahashi. I've been with you for such a long time, yet only surfaced twice."

"Pychon!" yelled out Amy. "What the hell do you want?!"

"Nothing at the moment..." said Pychon. "But soon, Amy...soon..."

Then Pychon started to laugh, Amy forced to hear her horrid laughter until it died down, less than a minute later.

"Soon..."

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Next Time:

Passion of the Flame

On the second day of the 'Ultimate Dueling Japan' tournament, Team Kenshin must face another challenge- Team Fire Mastery! Each duelist has mastered a different type of fire monster, and now Team Kenshin must defeat three of these duelists in three different duels...the first of which being Ress Moonshadow versus Shiro Hi...the master of Whitefire!

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Author's Note: Mistake in the last chapter. It's 'Goshinki' from Inuyasha, not 'Gishinki'. Sorry (frowns).

Shinta and Haku now have their rivalry set, along with Miro and Justin! Also, Pychon returns! Will she come back in the flesh for this time?

I'm excited that I can finally hang so many threads around you all! Kenjima, Gishinki, Pychon, the Mirror, the rivalries...it's all so fun!

By the way, with this chapter we've reached over ten thousand words! I think these 1500-2000 word chapters are really working for me! (Smiles).

Please R&R!

-Salazare