Chapter twelve – …Twice Shy

Bes sits at the table of the Slifer lounge, shuffling his newly constructed deck, Takumi's deck now safely in his deck box.

"Hey Bro, what's up?"

Bes looks up to see Kyoko walking towards him.

"Nothing much, I see you've decided to stop blaming me for Taki's disappearance…"

Kyoko sighs. "I never blamed you Bes, I just didn't need the constant reminder that he's gone… Sorry if I seemed a little bitchy this past month."

"It's fine, your attitude has been far preferable to Azura's. At least you look at me…"

"She'll come around… Eventually…" Kyoko gives Bes an uncertain smile.

"I don't blame her… if I hadn't made my presence known to him last year I could have saved him…"

"Don't think like that Bes! That sort of thinking won't get him back."

"It's true though, if he hadn't known about me he wouldn't have blocked me when he lost and I could've taken his place in the seal…."

"He blocked you…?" Kyoko's question comes out as barely more than a whisper.

"I don't know why… he wouldn't let me take his place; he wanted to give Azura something to fight for…"

"But you won't let Azura fight…"

"I can never forgive myself for losing him. If I lose her too, I'll be useless… a shell…"

Unknown to either of them, Azura is standing on the other side of the door.

Dawn comes up behind her and taps her on the shoulder.

"Hey sis' what brings you out of your little prison?"

In the month that has passed, Azura had taken residence in the dormitory furthest from the stairs on the second floor, and had been slowly filling it with as many of Takumi's possessions as possible.

After the first week Bes started to help her by leaving one or two items she may want in plain sight, the first time he did this surprised her, but since then she'd grown used to it.

"I'm allowed to be hungry aren't I?" True to their first meeting, Azura's said very little in the manner of kind words to her younger sister. To be fair though she'd said very little in the manner of kind words to anyone.

"Yeah, of course you are… I'm glad to see you up and about; I haven't seen you for a couple of days."

"Well, Kyoko forgot to leave food by my door this morning so I'm hungry."

"Right…" Dawn replies, meanwhile thinking; Kyoko doesn't leave the food by your door, I do…

Azura turns without so much as an "Anyway, better get going." And enters the kitchen.

Grabbing a box of cereal she turns and leaves as abruptly as she entered, without even looking in the direction of Kyoko and Bes.

"See what I mean?"

"I guess… but it can't be easy for her Bes, her boyfriend's gone… and the one living where he used to makes more effort with Dawnie than he does with her?"

"… Hard to make an effort without a little give…."

"I'm not saying it's your fault, but maybe if you tried to get her out of her room she would do it, for you…"

"Maybe, I'll see if she'll come out for dinner tonight… Make her feel like she's still loved…"

"I don't think that will work, honestly I think the only thing that will help her is Taki, and I can't leave food outside her room every day for much longer… I don't know how much of it she's eating…"

Kyoko turns to see the girl that Bes saw enter with Azura; Dawn.

"Dawnie…"

Since Dawns innocent question that caused Kyoko and Honda to avoid her, the two realised they were being rather rude and a little foolish and tried to make amends with her. Dawn readily accepted their friendship and has since become a light in the darkness that Taki left, for all but Azura, who still won't accept the girl as a substitute for her affections.

"Good morning Dawn."

"Hey Bes, Kyo-chan."

"You truly think it's time for me to face Midknight?"

"Why not?"

"I know next to nothing about his deck…"

"And the only way you'll learn is if we face him, and that ain't happenin'"

Azura had returned in the hopes of getting a bowl and some milk, but having heard their conversation through the door once again, she has a better idea….

Abandoned dorm

"Midknight! You wanted to duel me, here I am!"

Azura stands in the courtyard of the dormitory where she was taken one month before.

"Oh, the prodigal Kaiba returns… You were simply bait dear girl, I never had an interest in dueling you, I got who I wanted and I knew he wouldn't stay away from me… not if you were in danger. I wonder what your dear Taki would say if he were to learn that you're here not one month later, ready to throw away the life he sacrificed his own to save..?"

"Shut up! You don't get to say his name!"

"Oh, touch a nerve did I? Throw all of your anger at me little one it will make no difference, I am Midknight, embodiment of darkness, and you are nothing!"

"She might be nothing, but there's no way the embodiment of darkness can hold up against the powers of Dawn! Prepare yourself, I may not be the strongest duelist in the school, but I will defeat you, for Azuneechan's sake!"

Standing behind Azura, and off to her left a little, is the short bespectacled form of her little sister Dawn.

"Damn it kid get out of here! This is between me and dumbass over here."

"You told me to get you your Taki back, and that's exactly what I'm going to do! Midknight, I challenge you to a duel!"

Dawn vs. Midknight

4000
4000

"Since you were foolish enough to challenge me, you may go first."

"Don't mind if I do! I summon Koneko, the Gremory Devil Rook (lvl2 0def)"

A small silver haired high school girl appears on Dawn's field, knelt with her arms crossed across her flat chest.

"Why did you summon a monster in defence mode with zero defence points?"

"Because of her effect, while in defence mode she can't be destroyed, by battle or by card effect! Next I'll activate Gremory Seal of Calling; this card allows me to summon one Gremory Devil monster from my deck, as long as it's one level higher than the Gremory Devil on the field. So come on out Kiba, the Gremory Devil Knight! (Lvl 3 1600atk)"

A blond boy with the same school uniform as Koneko's (but male version obviously) appears next to her, wielding a plain silver bladed sword.

"Next I'll activate the spell Sword Birth! This card can only be activated if I have a 'Kiba' monster on my field. As long as Kiba is on the field three of your card zones cannot be used. I'll activate two more, meaning you can now only use one monster zone and none of your spell and trap zones!"

The blond student places one hand on the ground and a red crest appears beneath it, suddenly, the same crest appears on nine of Midknight's ten card zones.

"Now for my last card I activate Gremory Crest of Drawing, this card lets me draw two cards for every Gremory Devil monster on my field."

Dawn draws her four cards and ends her turn.

"Well done, you've made one mistake though; you let me keep a monster zone, and you've left your Knight undefended! I summon forth the Dragon Dwelling in the Cave, then I'll banish it to special summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon! (lvl 10 2800atk) Now Metal Dragon, attack Kiba, the Gremory Devil Knight!"

Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon; A large dragon with metallic scales as black as an empty night sky and eyes as red as the deepest blood pool, appears on the field and fires a ball of flame at Kiba, who is staring it down confidently. At the last possible second, Koneko, the Gremory Devil Rook leaps between the fireball and Kiba, her back to the dragon as she takes the blast full on between her shoulders.

"Once per turn Koneko can intercept an attack, unfortunately she must switch to attack mode to do it (1400atk) but when she's the one being attacked her defensive abilities kick in and double her attack points! So your dragon is toast!"

Koneko turns to the dragon and glares daggers at it, charging at it she takes it down with a jab to the throat, shattering as it does, the fireball finally taking its toll on her.

"That won't save you next turn!"

"So it's my turn? Awesome! I'll summon Asia, the Gremory Devil Bishop, in attack mode (lvl4 800atk). When she's normal summoned Asia calls one of her allies back from the grave, by that I mean she lets me special summon a Gremory Devil piece back from my graveyard, a Gremory Devil piece like Koneko, the Gremory Devil Rook. In defence mode, of course. (lvl2 0 def)"

A small blond girl in a nun habit and school uniform appears on the field, holding her hands out to the monster zone beside her, her hands glowing a dim green as Koneko reappears beside her.

"Next, since I control three Gremory Devil pieces with different names I can special summon Rias Gremory, King of the Gremory Devils. (Lvl 8 2600atk)"

Red, a rich crimson light, the colour of blood. The colour of hair, her hair. The hair of the young woman that is now standing between her three servants.

"Now Asia, Kiba and Rias, attack Midknight directly!"

"I activate the effect of Gorz, Emissary of Darkness, (lvl 7 2700atk)when I take damage I can summon him from my hand, since it's battle damage I would normally get a token with attack points equal to the damage I took. But your sword birth spells stop that from happening!"

A man that can only be described as one with the shadows appears on Midknight's field after Asia attacks him.

4000
3200

"Too bad Asia attacked first; you might have been able to deal some serious damage."

"I still can! I attack Gorz, Emissary of darkness with Rias, King of the Gremory Devils!"

"What?"

"Go Rias, destruction magic!"

The red haired young woman creates a large ball of black and red magic in her hands and launches it at Gorz, destroying him instantly.

"What?"

"When Rias attacks a monster in attack mode, and her attack is lower than her opponent's, it's instantly destroyed! Go now Kiba, attack Midknight directly!"

She may actually win this… Azura thinks to herself as she watches the blond schoolboy cut Midknight's life points in half.

4000
1600

"One more attack and you're done Midknight!"

"Than I'd better ensure you don't get another move. I activate the Seal of Orichalcos!"

The now far too familiar Atlantean star appears on the field.

Why? Now if he doesn't beat her this turn it will cost him his soul, he must have a fairly powerful monster in his hand…

"Now I summon Synchro Token (lvl1 0atk), this card allows me to tribute it in order to summon a Synchro monster from my extra deck. This summon counts as a Synchro summon so I'll call forth my Black Rose Dragon!"

A small grey amorphous blob appears on his field, before leaving to make way for a large dragon made of crimson roses and black vines/thorns.

"Black Rose won't be staying due to her effect, when she's synchro summoned she destroys all cards on the field! Since it doesn't target you can't counter it with any of your precious team!"

Damn it! If I'd had one more turn to summon Akeno I could've stopped it, she counters cards that don't target!

"Say goodbye to your Sword Birth lockdown, now I'll activate Monster Reborn to bring back my Synchro Token and tribute it to summon forth Stardust Dragon!"

That's the card that beat Taki! Azura glares daggers at the dragon and the man that summoned it.

"When Rias is destroyed I can summon forth one Gremory Devil piece from my deck; Akeno, the Gremory Devil Queen! (Lvl 6 2500atk)"

"So you've stalled for one more turn. Big deal, I'll set three cards and end my turn."

"My move, I activate Lucifer's Seal of Self-Destruction! This card allows me to tribute one devil monster and destroys one monster on the field with equal or less attack and we both take damage equal to the combined total of both attack stats. So I tribute Akeno to destroy your Stardust Dragon and deal 5000 points of damage to both of us. But I'll also activate my Sitri Seal of Protection witch prevents me from taking damage this turn."

"I'll activate my Magic Jammer trap card, since I couldn't react in time to your Seal of Self-destruction, I'll negate your seal of protection meaning we both take the damage and this duel is a tie!"

-1000
-3400

"So what happens with the seal?" Dawn realises that she's utterly exhausted from the duel and figures the seal must have something to do with that, having heard of its dangers from Bes and Kyoko.

"Nothing, it's a tie so we both get to keep our souls, and if you ask nicely I'll even let you both leave without a re-match."

"Fuck that! I almost beat you coward, if you want a re-match you've got it!"

"No, Dawn. We've got what we wanted, we're leaving…"

Azura takes Dawn's hand and Dawn is so shocked she doesn't even resist as Azura drags her back to the Slifer red dorm.

Slifer common room.

"Father, do you know where these synchro monsters came from?"

"Yugi and I once faced a duelist that used the Stardust Dragon, his name was Paradox, and he'd stolen the card from a duelist called Yusei Fudo, both claimed to come from the future, we can only assume that's where Midknight has come from…"

"So you think he stole the Stardust from Yusei? Like Paradox did?"

"Yes, if that is the case we must retrieve it… but I wonder why Yusei did not follow his dragon as he did back then…"

The door opens with a thundering crack as the storm raging outside is let in. Rain and lightning bear down on the doorway like a fat kid at a buffet table as a small man, barely out of school stands in it.

"Yusei Fudo is dead."

The man on the cusp of boyhood steps into the light of the room and the shadows that were initially covering him entirely are now cast out to reveal his appearance.

Red jacket. White chino jeans. Soft brown hair, styled to look like a Kuriboh.

Jaden Yuki.

"Jaden? What do you mean Yusei is dead?"

"You can't feel it Yugi? The pact we made after our duel with Paradox; no matter what we'd stay friends. There was magic in that pact, the magic of Yubel, of the millennium items, and of the crimson dragon. The magic in our pact has weakened, like it only would if one of us died… I wasn't sure if it was you or Yusei, but than I heard you were teaching here and I knew it had to be him, Yusei Fudo is dead…"

The Kaiba sisters run in from outside squealing as high school girls do when threatened by rain.

"Azura… you're being… normal.."

"What? No I'm not, I heard you talking to…" Azura blatantly refuses to say Bes' name. "It earlier. Apparently you wanted to know more about Midknight's deck so I went to challenge him."

"YOU WHAT!?"

"Relax; I couldn't challenge him anyway… Dawn beat me to it."

"She what?"

"I almost had him too!"

"She almost beat him, but he turned it into a tie game."

"I was one attack away from beating him…"

"Maybe next time you won't try to deal five thousand points of effect damage when he has face down cards!"

"I guess you're right sis… The annoying thing was the last card in my hand was basically my decks version of Heavy Storm… but I figured I wouldn't need it because I thought they'd all be counter attack traps…"

"You mean to tell me you could have won it?"

"I know, I messed up…"

Azura sighs, letting her disappointment show.

"It's fine; just tell me everything you know about his deck Dawn."

Dawn spends the next five minutes telling Bes about the cards Midknight used.

Abandoned dorm, next day 1800

"Midknight!"

"Oh look there's more of them."

Bes glares at the man that seems to materialize out of the shadows.

"You're going to pay for all the souls you've taken. You will return them once I defeat you!"

Bes's right eye glows crimson as he glares into the eyes of his opponent; Midknight.

"You think you're going to win? I've already defeated you once; your Dark Magician holds no power when faced with my Stardust Dragon!"

"That dragon isn't yours, once I defeat you I will see it returned to its proper owner. But first, the matter at hand; I challenge you to a duel!"

Bes vs. Midknight

"I'll start, you're finished already! First I activate Pot of Greed. Now comes the card of your demise; the Seal of Orichalcos. Next I'll summon Delta Flyer (Lvl3 2000atk) and activate Double Summon letting me summon my Mirage Dragon (lvl4 2100atk) to the field. I'll use Delta Flyer's effect to make my Mirage Dragon level five, then tune them together to synchro summon Stardust Dragon (lvl8 3000atk) say hello to your end."

The large form of the silver scaled Stardust Dragon appears on Midknight's field. Bes smiles defiantly into its eyes.

"Hello Stardust Dragon. Don't worry; you won't belong to him for much longer."

"Says you, I'll end my turn by activating Black Illusion Ritual, sacrificing the monster in my hand to ritual summon Relinquished to the field! (lvl1 500atk) You're lucky there's no monster for my Relinquished to absorb, but my next turn will be your last!"

A small grey… thing appears beside the dragon, with a single millennium eye and grey wing like shield flap things…

Bes smiles politely. "Does that mean it's my turn?"

"Yes, hurry up so I can destroy you and any trace of defiance left in those friends of yours!"

Kyoko & Dawn scowl at the opponent and shout in response.

"Kick his ass Bro!"

"Take him down Bes!"

Bes draws a card and looks at his hand. He looks back to his opponent with a smile.

"It's because of my friends that I can make the move that's about to destroy you. Because I have friends like Honda Wheeler and Maximillion Pegasus! I activate the magic card Polymerization, fusing the King's, Queen's & Jack's knights in my hand to fusion summon Arcana Knight Joker. That's Honda's contribution, now to show you what Pegasus has to offer! I activate the magic of Super Polymerization; by discarding the last card of my hand I can fuse one of my monsters with one of the monsters on your field!"

"You can't, that's impossible! There's no way you have Him. He hasn't been printed. It's not possible!"

"I fuse my Arcana Knight Joker with your Stardust Dragon to form a new monster, printed from necessity by Pegasus; The Dragon Knight, Draco-Equiste! (lvl10 3200atk)"

"Noooooooooooooooooo!"

"Yes! You're done. Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste, attack Relinquished!"

"Hah! You fool. Any damage dealt to Relinquished is dealt to both players; you just attacked yourself as well!"

"Wrong! As long as Draco-Equiste is in attack mode, any damage that would be dealt to me by a card effect, which is exactly what your Relinquished is trying to do, is dealt to my opponent instead!"

"What?"

"That would be you. Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste, activate Dragonic Deflection Magic!"

Dragon Knight deflects Relinquished's blast back to the Orichalcos Leader, who instinctively puts his hand up to protect himself.

The blast hits the duel disc directly and causes it to flare and surround the two, and their four spectators in a bright white light.

All that's left in the field they were dueling in once the light clears is the Seal of Orichalcos spell card, with Midknight's face trapped behind it.