A/N: Sorry for the late update. My mom took my brother and me to her friends house for a second thanksgiving and I have been gone all day hanging out over there. Sorry again.
Disclaimer: I don't own it.
It was before dawn, the dark night sky was giving away to light as the sun was preparing to rise. The sky was gradually getting lighter, and the darkness was lifting. Kokuro stood at the cliff he had been to when he talked to Sonomi. He was staring out across the sky, the wind blowing his uniform jacket and his hair with its gentle breeze. Staring out at the sky he watched the sun as it began to peak over the horizon. The sunrise put the sky a blaze with a dark red that seemed to actually burn as it rose. Unaware to him, he was not the only one watching the sunrise this morning.
Sonomi was at the Ra Yellow Dormitory watching the sunrise in the sky. She stood in awe at the awesome-ness of the dark red sky. It reminded her of her Fire Type monsters, and the power they represented.
In the Osiris Red dormitory Ritsuzen glared at the sunrise. His eyes shifted to the one other person in the room, his tutor. He hated the sunrise, it reminded him of the Rank he was in, and the horrible defeat Kokuro had managed to hand to him. 'The only good thing about this sunrise,' he thought. 'Is that it represents my life at the moment. Although I'm trapped in this third-rate dormitory for now, like this sunrise, my life will soon turn back to Obelisk Blue, it will just take some time."
Kokuro stood out on the cliff, as the sun got higher in the sky and the red slowly turned back to blue. He smiled, and pulled out his deck. He shuffled his deck and slid it into the Duel Disk attached to his arm. He closed his eyes and pulled two cards from his disk. When he opened his eyes he smiled. By looking at the order they were in, he could tell that the first card he drew was his Black Magician. The second, his Kuriboh.
"These two cards mean a lot to me," he said to himself. "My Black Magician is of course my favorite. My second favorite is Black Magician Girl. However, my Kuriboh is high on my list. It does, after all, represent the friendship I have with Sonomi and Mia. It has played a big role in my time here, and I'm sure that Kuriboh will continue to play a role a large role as the year continues. He may not be the highest card on my list, but he definitely ranks."
Kokuro placed his cards back in his deck and shuffled them. He put it back in his deck box and picked up his backpack. He began walking towards the academy. He went inside to grab breakfast and then slowly made his way to Professor Hikari's classroom. It was still early to be at class so he figured he should knock first. He took a deep breath and then knocked on the door. "You may enter," came Professor Hikari's voice. Kokuro walked through the door and Professor Hikari narrowed his eyes at him. "Oh it's you. What do you want? I'm a very busy man."
"I know Professor Hikari, and that's why I came in early hoping you could help me," Kokuro responded. Professor Hikari's eyebrow rose slightly, Kokuro took that as a hint to continue. "Well, I was having some trouble with the homework. It could just be that I was exhausted from my duel with Ritsuzen and just wasn't thinking clearly but I was hoping you could help me with it?" He ended his question nervously, not knowing if Professor Hikari would play the role of the teacher and help him, or play the duelist who was still upset about his loss.
Professor Hikari looked Kokuro up and down before asking, "How did your duel with the Legendary Ritsuzen go?"
Kokuro gulped once, "Well, I won," came the nervous reply
Professor Hikari nodded slightly, "yes very good," he said sounding oddly professional. "I suppose I could take some of my time to help you with your work," he responded. "Come over here." Kokuro let out a sigh of relief and took a spare chair and sat next to his desk. "Before you begin let me make you very clear that I am not turning soft."
"Pardon?" Kokuro asked.
"Don't think I am going to instantly become your friend just because you had the gall to come ask for help," he said coldly. "I am doing it because it is my job. I am also doing it because I believe that anyone who faces someone as strong as Ritsuzen and wins, deserves a small break."
"Yes sir," Kokuro said a little intimidated. He didn't care if he could beat Professor Hikari or not, he was still kind of scary.
"Good, now what are you having problems with?"
Kokuro and Professor Hikari finished just before class started. "Thanks again Professor Hikari," Kokuro said taking his seat. "I'm sorry I kept you."
"You show passion for your work, you aren't as lazy as some of the other students. It's the only reason I continued to help."
"Yes sir," Kokuro said. Sonomi came in at that point and soon the rest of the students started filling in. Class started and seemed to pass by rather quickly.
Sonomi and Kokuro were out in halls walking to their next class, "And you're saying that he actually helped you the whole way through?" she asked Kokuro referring to the help Professor Hikari had given.
"Yeah, I was surprised myself," Kokuro said. "I think however that it was a good experience for both of us though. I think it really cooled off some of the tension, although he continues to deny it."
"Maybe he just needs a bit more time to get to know you like I did," she said smiling. Suddenly they heard a strange noise. They looked around but all they could see was random students passing by them. "That was weird," Sonomi said. "Maybe I'm just hearing things."
"Not unless we are both hearing them," Kokuro said. He stopped an Osiris Red Student that was passing by, "Hey, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm just wondering, did you hear a strange sound just now?"
The student looked at him strangely, as if he was nuts, "No, I didn't hear a thing."
"Ok thanks," Kokuro said letting the kid go by. "Well, I guess we are both just hearing things," he said.
"I guess," she responded.
The rest of the day went by and they didn't hear anymore-strange noises. Kokuro had gotten through his dreaded, 'Drawing Exorcises,' and managed to find that the rest of the day had gone by without any trouble. It was time for his duel with Yaku. Sonomi and Mia met him on the way to the duel arena and they headed there together. They entered the Obelisk Blue Arena to find Yaku already standing there waiting for them. "Well, I see you are finally here," Yaku said.
"Yup," Kokuro said taking his place on his side. Sonomi and Mia went over to the bleachers to watch the duel. "I guess its time to duel," he said reaching for his deck.
Yaku grinned menacingly, "Yes," he said in a sinister voice. "Now, it's time to duel, and for you to pay for what you did."
"Wait, I thought you said this was a friendly duel," Kokuro said getting upset.
"How else was I supposed to lure you into this duel you fool?" he sneered. "Now I can get my revenge."
"What did I do to you?" he asked hoping to find the reason for this sudden change.
"On my first day, you made me late to class. The teacher got upset and reprimanded me. On top of that, Hitoku, the man who got us to your class in time, he got in trouble for helping us out. Hitoku is a good friend and because of you, two people got reprimanded."
"Now just hold on!" Kokuro shouted. "Two things, the first is that I didn't end up getting there in time and Professor Hikari ended up giving me a detention anyway. The second is that you told me that you would be going to Study, so you didn't have to be worried about being late!"
Yaku started chuckling sinisterly. The chuckle got bigger into a full maniacal laugh, which soon became a rage of hysteria. He pointed his finger at Kokuro and stopped laughing long enough to speak, "I GOT YOU!" he shouted and then began laughing again.
"…huh?" was all Kokuro could manage to muster.
Yaku calmed down and was able to speak, "Darn, I was hoping you wouldn't remember that I told you I had Study first."
"Wait, what?" Kokuro said dumbfounded.
"Well, yesterday you asked me all those weird questions about revenge and stuff so I figured it would be fun to mess with you a bit. I'm not really angry with you or anything. Although you have to admit that I had you fooled."
Kokuro couldn't say anything. He was just too dumbstruck. It was Sonomi who decided to speak, "I thought you were Obelisk Blue. How come you're going around playing tricks on people? That's something only Osiris Red and few Ra Yellow students do."
"Oh please," Yaku said. "Not all Obelisk Blue students are snobs. Some of us do like to have fun.
Kokuro just sort of stood there for a few seconds. He finally took out his deck and started shuffling it. "Oh come on!" Yaku said chuckling a little. "Don't tell me you are going to give me the cold shoulder. It was just a joke, I'm not really angry at anyone."
Kokuro inserted his deck and watched his Duel Disk fold out. "Yaku," he began.
"Yes Kokuro?" he replied taking out his own deck.
"Don't ever do that again."
Yaku chuckled, "Deal." He inserted his deck and watched as his Duel Disk folded out. "So, ready for our completely friendly, non-revengeful duel?"
Kokuro finally chuckled a bit and smiled, "Yeah."
"Good, then you won't mind if I go first," Yaku said drawing his 6 cards. 'An interesting opening hand,' Yaku thought to himself. "Hope you are ready for this," Yaku said taking a card from his hand. "I summon X Head Cannon." A blue machine monster appeared on the field, it had arms, and long, thin cannons on its shoulders. The bottom half of it was a large spiked sphere. (1800/1500) "I'll set one card under the table and that will end my turn." The card appeared behind the X Head Cannon.
Kokuro drew his card and looked over his hand. "That's a strong machine you have there," he said smiling. He took a card from his hand, "I once read about a different system of dueling back when Yugi Mouto was just getting famous. When he entered the Duelist Kingdom tournament. Back then Machines like your X Head Cannon had a resistance to magic based attacks. Its unfortunate for you that that doesn't apply here." He placed a card down onto the reader. "I summon Skilled Black Magician," he said as his magician in long black robes appeared on the field with its long silver staff. "Skilled Magician, show him that magic can affect machines and dismantle his X Head Cannon!" The Magician sprang forward and started to form energy in its staff.
"Hate to break it to you Kokuro," Yaku began. "But I'm afraid that magic still isn't effective against machines."
"What! But we aren't playing with those stupid rules," Kokuro said stunned.
"Maybe not, but in this case," he started as his face down card began to flip up, "the rule still applies. Reverse Rare Metalmorph." A silvery substance covered the X Head Cannon causing its metal to get shinier. The blast of magic came from the Skilled Black Magician's staff and seemed to slide off the large machine. The monster powered up its cannon and fired it at the magician destroying it.
"Wait, what just happened?" Kokuro asked.
"My Rare Metalmorph grants any machine monster it is attached too an extra 500 attack points. It also makes it immune to one Spell Card," he explained as X Head Cannon's attack power rose. (2300/1500)
Kokuro let out a small growl as his Life Points lowered. (7600) "I can't believe I let my guard down like that," he said. "Well not again, I set one card under the table and activate Spell Absorption and end my turn." The Spell Absorption appeared on the field and a face down card appeared next to it.
"It's my turn," Yaku said drawing. He looked down at what he drew and smiled. "I'll set one card under the table and then I'll summon Y Dragon Head!" A card appeared on the field and then a red dragon made of metal appeared on the field. (1500/1600) "And now you are completely open for a direct attack."
"Oh no," Mia exclaimed. "He'll lose half his Life Points in this one attack!"
"X Head Cannon, attack the player!" The machine charged up its cannons and let out a shot of energy.
"Kokuro!" the two girls cried out.
"Reverse Sleepy Sheep!" Kokuro called out as suddenly 4 multi-colored sheep appeared on the field. The attack hit one of the sheep destroying it. "Too bad," Kokuro said. "Now for a bonus, I gain 500 Life Points from Spell Absorption for activating a Spell Card." (8100)
"Nice move, unfortunately it is only a temporary defense. Y Dragon Head, attack another of his sheep!" The dragon opened it up its mechanical mouth and shot out a blast of power from its mouth. It hit one of the sheep destroying it. That will end my turn."
Kokuro drew his card, looked down at it, and then placed it in his hand. "I set one monster on guard and end my turn," Kokuro said as his card appeared on the field.
Yaku drew his card and placed it in his hand. 'If I attack his monster, I'll probably miss my chance at taking out a strong monster,' he thought to himself. "X Head Cannon and Y Dragon Head, attack his two sheep!" X Head Cannon powered up its cannon and blasted one of the sheep while Y Dragon Head let out electricity from its jaws. Both sheep were destroyed. "That ends my turn."
Kokuro looked at Yaku suspiciously. 'Why didn't he attack my monster? Doesn't he realize that if he lets me keep it on the field for too long I can sacrifice it? Well, I guess he'll learn the hard way.' "Not attacking my monster was a big mistake Yaku," he said as he drew his card. "Now I offer my face down Apprentice Magician in order to summon Chaos Command Magician!" Apprentice Magician disappeared and a magician in green robes with a long green staff with a ruby at the top appeared on the field. (2400/1900) "My Magician is 100 points stronger than your X Head Cannon. Go Chaos Command Magician, destroy Yaku's X Head Cannon!" The Magician powered up its staff and went towards the machine.
"Nice try Kokuro," Yaku said. "But I was hoping you would do something like that. Reverse Trap, Formation Union." Yaku's trap card flipped up and started to glow. "Tell me, do you know why one of my monsters is named X Head Cannon and the other is Y Dragon Head?"
"Because Pegasus really liked the Alphabet?" Kokuro guessed.
"Close guess, but wrong. It's because X Head Cannon and Y Dragon Head can join together to make each other stronger. My Formation Union Trap Card allows me to equip one Union Monster with a monster that the Union Monster can be equipped too. So I will equip my Y Dragon Head to my X Head Cannon!" The X Head Cannon connected to Y Dragon Head's back causing X Head Cannon to get stronger. (2700/1900) "Looks like my monster is stronger now," Yaku said smiling.
"Maybe, but since there was a change in the monsters on the field a replay occurs allowing me to call off my attack," Kokuro said as his Chaos Command Magician stopped its attack. "I guess I'll end my turn from here," Kokuro said.
Yaku drew his card and smiled, 'This is perfect,' he thought. "Ok, first off I'm going to change my monsters back into their original forms," Yaku said as his two monsters separated into two individual monsters. X Head Cannons attack power lowered. (2300/1500) "Now I will activate this a card known as Frontline Base." He played the card on the field and it appeared.
"Because you played a Spell Card, I just gained 500 Life Points," Kokuro said as his Life Points got stronger. (8600)
"Well, I'm afraid you are going to lose a lot more," he said. "This special card allows me to special summon any union monster with 4 stars or lower from my hand. So now I will special summon another Y Dragon Head." Another mechanical red dragon appeared on the field. (1500/1600) "However, he is only going to be here for a short time. I now sacrifice him in order to summon a much stronger machine." The Y Dragon Head disappeared and a large metal robot appeared on the field. "Meet Machine King!" (2200/2000) "My Machine King comes with a great ability, he gains 100 attack points for every machine on the field including himself. I count three, which means that my Machine King gains 300 attack points.
Everyone watched as Machine Kings eye sensors glowed red as he powered up. (2500/2000) "Kokuro's in big trouble now," Mia gasped.
"Machine King, take out his magician!" The Machine King launched its arm at the Chaos Command Magician destroying it. The arm came back to Machine King and connected again. "X Head Cannon and Y Dragon Head, attack the player!" The two machines powered up and let out a charge of electricity blasting Kokuro to the ground. (4700) "With that I'll end my turn," he said.
Kokuro stood up and took the top card from his deck. 'Wall of Revealing Light,' he thought. 'I can use this, but I have to be careful, I won't have a whole lot of Life Points left afterwards.' "I set one card under the table and one monster on guard and that will end my turn."
Yaku drew his card and smiled, "I activate Pot of Greed, this will allow me to draw two cards from my deck," he said as he drew two cards. "Prepare for a huge set back. I activate Soul Exchange! With this I can sacrifice one of your monsters instead of using one of my own at the cost of my battle phase this turn. So now I sacrifice your face down monster in order to summon this!" Kokuro's Spirit of the Harp disappeared and a large robot with its brain showing and a long black cape appeared on the field. It had red eye sensors and was exceptionally tall. "Lets welcome Android Psycho Shocker!" (2400/1500) "This powerful robot has the power to negate trap cards, unfortunately it will also effect mine as well but that's the price I pay," he said. The robot shot out eye lasers, which petrified Kokuro's down card and caused X Head Cannon to become less shiny. (1800/1500) "Also with my Psycho Shocker on the field my Machine King gains an extra 100 attack points. (2600/2000) Good thing I can't attack or else you would be finished. So I end my turn."
Kokuro assessed the situation and looked it over, 'Lets see, I have a way to stop his Android Psycho Shocker,' he thought to himself looking at his Double Spell and his Tribute Doll. 'However I need the right card to make this work.' He drew his card and looked down at it. "Pot of greed will give me two more cards and 500 extra Life Points," he said as he drew his first card. (5200) He picked up his card and discovered it was his Black Magician Girl. 'Excellent, this is just the card I needed, now to draw my second card.' He placed his hand on his deck when suddenly he heard a strange noise. He looked around and noticed that Mia and Sonomi had heard it too.
"What's that sound?" Mia asked.
"It's the same sound that Kokuro and I heard earlier today," Sonomi gasped.
"What are you guys talking about?" Yaku asked. "I didn't hear anything."
'That's strange,' Kokuro thought. 'Sonomi, Mia and I can all hear it, but Yaku can't.' Kokuro drew his card and looked at it. His eyes widened when he saw it. It was Kuriboh. 'Wait a second, that sound almost sounds like Kuriboh.'
"Are you going to make your move?" Yaku asked.
Kokuro looked up and nodded, "Now I activate Double Spell," Kokuro called out. "I'll discard Tribute Doll in order to activate Soul Exchange from your graveyard. Now I offer up your Android Psycho Shocker in order to summon my Black Magician Girl!" The robot disappeared and the Black Magician Girl came to the field twirling her wand and smiling happily. "Unfortunately I can't attack now but I do gain 500 Life Points from Spell Absorption, so I'll end my turn." (5700)
Yaku watched as his Machine Kings attack power lowered. (2500/2000) 'I don't understand, his Black Magician Girl still isn't strong enough to take out Machine King, he must have something else planned.' Yaku looked at Kokuro's field and smiled, 'His face down card.' He drew his card and looked at it. It was another X Head Cannon. "I summon X Head Cannon," he said as he summoned his monster. The large machine monster appeared on the field and aimed its cannons at Kokuro. (1800/1500) "And don't forget, now that Android Psycho Shocker is no longer on the field, my first X Head Cannon gets back the benefit of Rare Metalmorph." The X Head Cannon's metal got shinier again and its attack points increased. (2300/1500)
"I didn't think of that," Kokuro said worriedly.
"Don't forget that my Machine King also gains 100 attack since a new machine is on the field to serve him," he said as his monsters attack points increased. (2600/2000) However, your face down card worries me, so I'll instead use my X Head Cannon with Rare Metalmorph to attack your Black Magician Girl." The X Head Cannon shot out a blast from its cannon aimed right for the Black Magician Girl.
"Reverse Trap," Kokuro called out as his Trap flipped up. "Wall of Light. So now I'll pay 3000 Life Points to protect my Magician Girl." (2700) Kokuro watched his Life Points fall and the barrier of light come up. X Head Cannon's attack was stopped by the wall and the Black Magician Girl gave out a sigh of relief.
"Good move, you wouldn't have been able to stop that if Android Psycho Shocker was still on the field. I'll end my turn from here."
Kokuro drew his card and smiled. "It's time for you to meet my favorite Magician, I play Sages Stone, when Black Magician Girl is in play I can special summon Black Magician from my hand or deck, and my Spell Absorption also gives me more Life Points." (3200) The Black Magician Girl held up the stone, it started glowing and magic came from all around it. The Black Magician appeared on the field and the stone went away. "Ready for this?" he asked. "Black Magician Girl, wipe out X Head Cannon!" The Black Magician Girl twirled her staff and let loose a blast of magic that destroyed the newly summoned X Head Cannon. "Now Black Magician, destroy Y Dragon Head!" The Black Magician leapt forward and blasted the mechanical dragon away with its powerful magic. "I end my turn."
Yaku looked nervous as his Life Points dropped and his Machine King lost attack strength. (6800) (2400/2000) 'It's going to be harder to summon my strongest monster,' he thought worriedly. He drew his card and smiled, 'but this might just give me the chance I need.' He smiled, "I play the Swords of Sealing Light!" 6 magical swords rained down on the field covering Kokuro's magicians. "That ends my turn."
Kokuro drew his card, 'nuts, I can't attack or do anything else. Good thing I gained some extra Life Points from his card.' (3700) "I pass my turn."
"This is bad," Mia said.
"I'll say it is," Sonomi said. "Kokuro only has 3700 Life Points while Yaku has pretty much all of his. I don't think Kokuro knows the full effects of Yaku's XYZ Monsters. If he manages to summon his strongest XYZ monster, Kokuro won't have any more defenses."
"My turn," Yaku said drawing. "Perfect, I summon Z Metal Caterpillar," he said as suddenly a yellow machine type monster appeared on the field. It looked like a tank more than a caterpillar. (1500/1300) Machine King's attack power rose again at that point. (2500/2000) "This will end my turn."
'Z Metal Caterpillar? I have a feeling I'm not going to like it if he gets another Y Dragon Head.' Kokuro drew and saw his Dust Tornado. 'Dang, if I had just drawn this a turn sooner, or if it was my Mystical Space Typhoon. Well, nothing I can do about it now.' "I set one card under the table and end my turn."
"My turn," Yaku said drawing his card.
"To your draw phase I reverse my Dust Tornado, now I use it to destroy the Swords of Light." A large tornado picked up on Kokuro's side of the field; it blew away the swords allowing the Black Magician and Black Magician Girl to be set free. Black Magician Girl gave a twirl while the Black Magician simply gave a small stretch.
"You're one turn too late Kokuro," Yaku said revealing the card he just drew to be Y Dragon Head. "Now I summon my Y Dragon Head," he said as the mechanical dragon appeared on the field. "Now, I will remove my machines together to fuse them together into my XYZ Dragon Cannon!" The three monsters all started to surge with electricity. The X Head Cannon got on top of the Y Dragon head like it did earlier. The Y Dragon Head then folded up its feet while slots opened up on the Z Metal Caterpillar. The Y Dragon Head connected to the Z Metal Caterpillar and they finished joining together. (2800/2600)
"That thing is strong," Kokuro said. "Good thing it can't attack."
"Can't it?" Yaku asked smiling. "Behold, the special ability of my XYZ Dragon Cannon. I discard my Fusilier the Dual Mode Beast from my hand to allow my Dragon Cannon to blast away your wall!" The Cannon let loose a powerful blast of energy that destroyed the wall binding the XYZ Dragon Cannon and the Machine King which was now a little weaker. (2400/2000) "Go XYZ Dragon Cannon, destroy Black Magician!" The Cannons, Y Dragon Head's jaws, and hidden cannons that had appeared on the Z Metal Caterpillar all charged up and then blasted away destroying the Black Magician.
"Because you attacked my Black Magician first my Black Magician girl gains 300 extra attack points for my Black Magician being in the Graveyard," Kokuro announced as Black Magician Girl got stronger. (2300/1700)
"Machine King still overpowers it, attack Black Magician Girl!" The large robot shot its arms out knocking into Black Magician Girl and destroying her. The arms came back to Machine King and re-attached themselves to it. "That ends my turn," he said.
Kokuro slowly drew his card as he watched his Life Points fall. (3300) He looked down at the card in his hand, 'Black Magician of Chaos,' he thought. 'I can't see you winning this duel for me.' "I end my turn," Kokuro said.
Yaku drew and looked down at his card. He smiled having a feeling he knew what would be coming next turn. "It's too bad," he said. "I really would have loved to finish you the way I wanted, unfortunately that won't be happening. XYZ Dragon Cannon attack the player!" The cannons all charged up and then let loose their energy. Kokuro took Kuriboh from his hand and placed it in the Graveyard slot. Kuriboh appeared and let off its cry as it got hit.
Kokuro, Sonomi, and Mia all noticed that the sound Kuriboh made sounded like the noise they heard earlier. "Amazing," Kokuro said. He turned to his friends and gave a thumb up before turning back to Yaku, "Kuriboh has protected me this turn," he said.
"Fine, Machine King, wipe out a good portion of his remaining Life Points!" The Machine King's arms shot out and punched Kokuro in the stomach causing him to fall backwards. The arms returned to Machine King and Kokuro's Life Points went down. 900 "I suppose I will be able to win the way I really want too," Yaku said. "I place one card under the table and end my turn."
Kokuro looked at the card down next to Yaku and sighed, 'That has to be a trap card, or else he would have played it sooner.' Kokuro drew to see his Magic Cylinder. 'This isn't going to help me. His Life Points are way to strong. Well, I might as well go down fighting.' "I set one card under the table and end my turn," Kokuro said.
Yaku drew his card and smiled when he saw it. "Kokuro, remember when I said I failed horribly when I took on Professor Hikari?"
"Yes, I remember," Kokuro said.
"Well, that wasn't entirely true. You see, I could have still won if his Swords of Sealing Light didn't trap me. The funniest thing is, my field and hand are exactly what they were when I faced him. He had too many Life Points and his Sanga the Thunder out with a Maha Vailo with two equip cards. I could have discarded my last card to get rid of the swords, but I still wouldn't have been able to take out the Maha Vailo, I needed the card in my hand for my next turn, when the swords would be gone. Unfortunately he drew one final equipment card for Maha Vailo and was able to beat me. I could have one if I had that one other turn."
"I see," Kokuro said. "I'm sorry to hear that, but what does that have to do with the duel we are in now?"
"Because I'm going to finally play the play that would have one me that duel. I activate Return from the Different Dimension," he said as his trap flipped up. "First I have to pay half my Life Points and then I get to special summon every monster that has been removed from play."
"No way!" Kokuro said. "Didn't you have to remove your XYZ monsters in order to summon the Dragon Cannon?"
"That's right," Yaku said as his Life Points dropped. (3400) A swirling vortex appeared on the field and Y Dragon Head, (1500/1600) X Head Cannon, (1800/1500) and Z Metal Caterpillar, (1500/1300) all appeared on the field. Machine King's eye sensors glowed red as he absorbed the electricity of all the Machines in play. (2700/2000)
"I'm not sure," Kokuro said, "But I thought you said that Professor Hikari had two equipment spells active, and if that was true wouldn't the Maha Vailo still be stronger than all of your monsters?"
"That's where my last card comes into play," he said holding the card in his hand. "I needed this to make sure I had enough power to finish off Professor Hikari and to get past his monster. So now I activate Limiter Removal!" Suddenly all of Yaku's monsters started to sizzle with electricity. Y Dragon Head: (3000/1600), X Head Cannon, (3600/1500), Z Metal Caterpillar (3000/1300), XYZ Dragon Cannon, 5600/2600, Machine King: (5400/2000) "My Limiter Removal doubles the power of all my Machine Monsters, the downside is that they all get destroyed at the end of the turn. It's worth it though, the combined total powers of my monsters is 20600! Now, it's time. Sorry to do this to you Kokuro, but I want my favorite card to finish you off. It was an excellent duel, and I was hoping we could still be friends after this is over.
"I'd love to be friends," Kokuro said. 'But I can still win,' he thought.
"XYZ Dragon Cannon! Attack Kokuro directly!" The machine charged up its cannons and fired them right at Kokuro.
"This is it," Kokuro said as his trap flipped up, "Reverse Magic Cylinder."
"Oh no way!" Yaku shouted in disbelief.
"Sorry Yaku," Kokuro said truly sorry. The cylinders appeared and turned the attack back on Yaku. The attack hit him and it sent him to the ground. () The images holograms disappeared and Kokuro ran over to help Yaku up. "Sorry bout that man, I feel really bad now."
"Kokuro don't," he said standing up. "I got carried away. Had I just attacked regularly I would have won. You only had 900 Life Points anyway. I let the duel with Professor Hikari get to my head."
"That's ok," he said. "I feel kind of guilty about winning though. It feels as though you should have won."
"Have you ever been in a situation where you could win two ways, and you went the extreme way that wasn't necessary and it came back to bite you in the butt?"
"Definitely, I was in this tournament, about to win it finally, and I had the choice of just attacking with my Black Magician Girl, but I had pulled Sages Stone and decided to bring out Black Magician. Well the opponent turned over a Torrential Tribute Trap Card and I lost both magicians. On his next turn he played Mataza the Zapper, and Mage Powered it for the game. Had I just not summoned the Magician I would have won."
"See, that's exactly what happened to me, I could have just attacked, and instead I decided to overdo it, and I paid a price for it. I should have taken your face down into consideration, but I saw you play it looking kind of hopeless so I figured it wasn't anything to worry about. Poor judgement on my part," he said. "Just like it was poor judgment on yours. I'm sure you learned to take that into more careful consideration as did I."
"The thing was, I originally had enough Life Points where if it was a Magic Cylinder, it wouldn't have really hurt too much. And I knew the guy didn't have his Gravity Binds left and he didn't own Mirror Force so I just simply underestimated him. It was once he Torrential Tributed and used Mataza's effect to win that got me.
"Well, you made poor judgement, just like I did, and next time I'll know now to underestimate you," he put his hand out and Kokuro shook it.
"Thanks, I feel better now," he said.
"Well, that was fun," he said. "I'm glad I could finally give you a duel without any hitches."
"Yeah thanks, it felt great," Kokuro said laughing.
"Hey, if you ever want to hang out, I'm usually at the mechanics building with Hitoku."
"Really? That would be awesome thank you," he said.
"Well, I have to get going, see you soon?"
"Yeah, I'll be sure to stop by," Kokuro said shaking his hand again.
"See you all later," he said waving.
Mia and Sonomi waved as well and walked up to Kokuro. "You got real lucky," Mia said.
"Yeah, hopefully next time we duel I won't have to rely on that much luck. I'll admit, the students here are tougher than the people in my hometown. I got lucky a few times but usually I won because of skill, not luck. Oh well, it's still fun."
"What about that noise we kept hearing?" Sonomi said changing the subject. "It sounded just like Kuriboh."
"Well, this little guy," Kokuro began taking Kuriboh from his Graveyard slot, "is sort of like our friendship card. The Kuriboh Plushy, and the Kuriboh that helped save you from that attack from Professor Hikari. I bet it's because it represents our friendship."
"But why are we hearing it?" she asked again.
"I don't know," Kokuro said as they all looked down at it.
Kaiba was sitting in his office looking over some paperwork. "It's almost ready," he said to himself. "I just have to wait a bit longer." He heard a knock on the door, "Enter," he said.
The man that came in was Jukata-Sensei. "Master Kaiba, I was just wondering how the new project was going."
Kaiba sighed and sat back in his chair, "It's almost done, but it's going to be hard. We need to keep a close eye on all the students while it goes on. And as much as I may want to, I can't start it yet. Classes just began about a week ago."
"That's true, but it does seem like so much more than just a week doesn't it?"
"Yes, there is Mr. Samé and Ms. Hinote who have proven themselves to be excellent duelists. With all the duels they've been in so far it does seem like more than just a week since Mr. Samé was introduced into the halls of Duelist Academy. I have a strong feeling that they will be fine, but it's a lot of the other students I worry about. I can't let them get hurt," he turned his chair and looked out the big glass window that was behind him. "I'm going to reschedule the nature hike to begin in two days. I'll be busy getting the rest of the project ready, so I need you to contact the Suji-Sensei and have his men get everything ready tomorrow, that includes getting the signs out tonight. After the Nature Hike the Quarterly Exams will be just a week away and then I will begin the project."
"I sure hope this all works out," Jukata-Sensei said.
"I do too," he said looking down.