Sdrive: I don't own much, and this I don't own.
The students on the nature hike woke up early the next morning with thoughts set high on the scavenger hunt. They ate a quick breakfast and then Suji-Sensei and the other two teachers began the trip around the forest where they would be doing the nature hike. "During the Scavenger Hunt, you will only be allowed 3 flashlights, one per person, and your Duel Disks and Dueling Decks. But I'll explain more about the Duel Disks later on tonight." The trip took about 4 hours to get done. They broke for lunch around 12 while Suji-Sensei finished explaining some more of the minor rules.
"You will all appoint yourselves your own teams. What you will do is you will create a team name and then with your team, you will work to win the scavenger hunt. After lunch will be free time until the scavenger hunt. One of the other two teachers with us and I will be going around the forest hiding the different colored stones. Don't worry; there are enough stones for each team. Each team member must have one of each stone or else the team cannot win. The first team to get the stones to me wins."
After lunch they all went off to do whatever it was they wanted. Kokuro, Mia, and Sonomi decided to hang out by the lake and strategize. "Well," Sonomi said with her feet in the water, "I guess we were right when we guessed that there would be a type of Duel Monsters twist."
"Yeah," Kokuro said. "But I can't imagine it being you have to duel for the stone. That would take too long. Besides, there are only three teachers and one of them has to be at the campsite."
"So, then what do you think we will need our Duel Disks for?" Mia asked.
"I don't know," Kokuro said. "In any case we need to think of a team name for ourselves. I think it should probably be about something we all have in common."
"Maybe something that represents our friendship?" Mia suggested. They all looked at each other and nodded, "Team Kuriboh!" they said at the same time.
"Wait…" Kokuro said. "What about, Team Cinnamon?"
"Excuse me?" Mia asked.
"Cinnamon is what he nicknamed that Kuriboh Plushy of his."
"Team Cinnamon?" Mia said trying it out. "I like it, it sounds fun. And it still represents Kuriboh."
"What about you Sonomi?" Kokuro asked.
Sonomi looked down and then smiled, "Yeah, I like it."
"Alright!" Kokuro shouted. "Lets go tell the teacher." They walked towards the campsite again when they saw Elda and Yaku coming from it.
"What's up guys?" Yaku said.
"We're about to go give them our team name," Mia said cheerfully.
"It's too bad you guys will never beat Team XYZ Harpie Cannon."
"XYZ Harpie Cannon?" All three of them asked at the same time.
"Yup," Elda said. "We're going to blow the competition away."
"We'll see about that," Kokuro said. "Because first you have to get past Team Cinnamon!" he shouted.
"Team Cinnamon?" Yaku asked. "And you are making fun of XYZ Harpie Cannon?"
"Just you wait," Kokuro said smiling. They walked past the other two and registered their team name with Suji-Sensei. The rest of the day went by rather slowly. In fact it was so slow that Kokuro and Mia had decided to take a nap underneath a large tree. Kokuro rested his head back and let the sound of the trees rustling in the breeze drift him off to sleep. Sonomi had walked by to see that Mia's head had shifted in her sleep and was now resting on Kokuro's shoulder. She decided to ask Suji-Sensei for a camera and took a picture snickering about black mail and the like.
Finally the big event came. All the different teams were gathered together. It was 6:30 and the sun was starting to set. "Alright teams, here's how things will work. Each team will go off looking for one of the 6 colored stones. Each member must have 1 of each of the stones or the team will not win. Now, you have to be careful, while I was out there I saw some strange creatures out there. Some looked harmless and might help you but others might attack you. Now, here's the twist. If you notice one of the other teams, you can summon a monster and attack the players. If a team members' Life Points drop to 0 that team member is out and the opposing team gets all of that team members stones. At that point the other team members have to try to continue with out you. There are many other little secrets about this scavenger hunt that you will have to find out for yourself. Now turn on your Duel Disks, get out there and good luck to you."
The teams all put their decks in their Duel Disks and started going their separate ways. Kokuro made a mention that Suji-Sensei hadn't mentioned what the prize would be. "Well, I guess we'll find out when we win," Sonomi said.
"Yeah, I guess so," Kokuro said. "Anyway, he did mention creatures being out here, I'm sure that means Duel Monsters."
"My question is how are we supposed to find the stones," Mia asked.
"They are probably hidden but not hidden well enough to keep us stumped for hours," Sonomi said. "We just have to look." They walked for about 5 minutes but didn't see a thing.
"This is getting annoying," Kokuro said. "The flashlights are only so wide, we basically have to sweep the entire ground if we want too…" suddenly something jumped out at him. He felt something like a sword slash across his chest and send him to the ground. He quickly spun his flashlight around to see a decaying zombie in armor carrying a rusty sword. Kokuro watched to see that his Life Points were falling (6500). "This must be the one of the creatures he was talking about."
"How are we supposed to get past them?" Sonomi asked.
"Like this," Mia said pulling a card from her deck and placing it on the field. Suddenly Silent Swordsman Lv. 5 appeared on the field. (2300/1000) "That thing is nothing but a weak little Armored Zombie. (1500/0) "It's no match for my Silent Swordsman. Attack my swordsman!" The swordsman swung its sword at the Zombie destroying it.
Kokuro stood up, "Wow, that was impressive," he said. "But how did you know that was what you needed to do?"
"Because I played the Kaiba Corp. VR game," she said. "This is just like it. You go around on little quests and as monsters come to attack you, you summon other monsters to attack them back. If this is like that, we can also play traps right from our hands."
"Cool," Kokuro said. He looked down at his Life Points and noticed they hadn't changed. "Hey, wait a second, does this mean that even if the wild monsters attack my Life Points and we defeat them, they will stay down?"
"Unfortunately yes," Mia said. "Come on, we have to get going before," she heard a faint noise and pushed Kokuro out of the way as she was struck by an Arrow.
"Mia!" Kokuro called out as he saw her Life Points go down. (6600) He looked up to see an Amazon Archer standing there pulling back a bow string with another arrow already in place. She shot another arrow at Mia and Kokuro quickly pulled a card from his deck and looked down at it. He slid it into his Spell and Trap Slots causing the Magic Cylinders to appear. The arrow went into one of the cylinders and came out the other striking the Amazon in her chest destroying her instantly. Kokuro ran to Mia and helped her up. The arrow disappeared but she was still a little woozy. She collapsed into Kokuro trying to keep her balance. Kokuro held her up and allowed her to steady herself. "Are you ok?"
"I'll be fine," she said. "Listen, we should probably take the time to set our Duel Disks now," she said. "We can take traps from our deck and place them in our Duel Disks allowing us easier access to cards we might need." Just then a whole bunch of Amazon Archers came from being hidden in the bushes and trees and started pulling back their arrows.
We won't have any time to set our Duel Disks up if these Amazons blast away all our Life Points!" Kokuro shouted.
The Amazons released their bows and the arrows all started flying towards them. Suddenly a swirling vortex appeared around Kokuro, Sonomi and Mia as Sonomi began to yell, "Negate Attack won't hold them forever!"
"I'll finish it up," Kokuro said as he got two cards from his deck. "Black Magician and Black Magician Girl take care of these Amazons!" he shouted as his two magicians appeared on the field and started blasting away at the archers. (2500/2100), (2000/1700) The swirling vortex began to die down but the arrows were still coming. They started hitting the ground next to the three friends barely missing them. "My magicians can't defeat them all on their own," he said worried.
"I'll do it then," Mia said as she grabbed a card from her deck. "Go Armed Dragon LV7! She called out as her large armored dragon rose up into the line of fire. (2800/1000) The arrows that hit the dragon simply bounced off its armor and left it unharmed. "Nice try," she said to them. "Armed Dragon, wipe them all out!" The Buzz Saws on Armed Dragon's chest plate began to spin and flung out towards all the Amazons destroying them instantly. The Black Magician and Black Magician Girl finished off the last two Amazons on their side. Once all the Amazons had been defeated the monsters vanished."
Kokuro, Sonomi and Mia then took a few minutes to set their Duel Disks and put monsters that they thought would serve them best on top of their decks. Mia also explained how they would be able to summon monsters without having to make sacrifices and how they should be wary of hidden Traps that might be on the field.
Once they were finally ready they began their trek again. "Although it might have seemed like a waste of time, in the end it's one of the best ways to ensure victory," Mia said. "Most people will be attacked and it will take them a while before they realize that they can load their Duel Disks. And if they get randomly attacked they'll have to search their decks for a way to stop the attacker while we will just have to activate cards to save us. We may start off slow but in the end we will be faster than the rest."
They continued to walk around some more scanning with the flashlights when suddenly they heard the cry of a Kuriboh. They looked around and spotted a Kuriboh right in front of them. It pointed to its left and when they looked they saw a pile of red colored stones. "Thank you Kuriboh," Kokuro said. Kuriboh gave out a cry of happiness before vanishing. Sonomi walked over to the stones when suddenly the ground gave out beneath her. Mia and Kokuro rushed over to grab her before she fell in. They lifted her up and out of the hole.
"I guess that was a Trap Hole," she said panting. She carefully walked around it and took three of the stones and tossed two of them to Kokuro and Mia. As soon as all three had some a large cage with metal spikes on the outside appeared around them. "Nightmare Steal Cage!" she shouted.
Suddenly from the other side of the cage a Spirit Reaper appeared on the field. It ran up towards Kokuro and slashed his leg causing his Life Points to drop. (6200) "Oh yeah?" He asked pulling the top card of his deck. "Go Black Magician!" he called out as his mighty magician appeared on the field once more. (2500/2100) "Black Magic Attack!" Kokuro called out. The Magician blasted magic out at the spirit reaper but the reaper used its sharp scythe to block the attack. "What?"
"Spirit Reaper can't be destroyed remember?" Sonomi yelled at him.
"Oh crap," he said as it went towards Sonomi. "Sonomi!" he shouted out.
Suddenly a blast from somewhere else came out of nowhere and hit the Spirit Reaper knocking it into the other side of cage. They turned to see Yaku standing there with his X Head Cannon. "You're up Elda," he said.
She slid a card into her field slot and then summoned a Harpie Lady (1300/1400). The Harpie Lady appeared and jumped up destroying the cage they were trapped in with her claws. Meanwhile Kokuro had taken a card from his deck. "Old Vindictive Magician," he said placing the monster on the field. "Activate effect!" The magician let loose a blast of red magic that hit the Spirit Reaper destroying it. Kokuro let out a breath of relief. He turned to Yaku, "Thanks…" he didn't get to finish.
"Attack!" Yaku called out. X Head Cannon fired a round at Kokuro. It was about to hit until Sonomi interfered.
"Negate Attack!" She called out as the swirling vortex appeared and protected Kokuro.
"So you have your disks already set huh?" Elda asked. "Do it Little Bro."
Yaku nodded, "Come out Android Psycho Shocker!" (2400/1500) The large machine monster suddenly appeared on the field and let out brain waves paralyzing the cards in Kokuro's, Sonomi's, and Mia's Duel Disks."
"Looks like you guys are out of luck," Elda said.
"Android Psycho Shocker, attack Sonomi!" The Machine brought a ball of black electricity together in its hands and shot it out at Sonomi.
"Good thing I prepared for the worst!" Kokuro said as his Sleepy Sheep appeared on the field. One of them appeared in front of Sonomi and it protected her from the blast of the Android.
"And good thing Harpies can fly," Elda said as her Harpie Lady flew up over the sheep and scratched slashed Sonomi across the chest causing her Life Points to fall. (6500)
"If it's Cybernetic you want to go," Kokuro said pulling a card from his deck, "I'm more than happy to go that way with Cybernetic Magician!" The futuristic mage appeared on the field and stared down the Android. (2400/1000) "Use your ability to weaken Android Psycho Shocker!" Kokuro called out. The magician's staff began to glow and Android Psycho Shocker weakened.
"Go Silent Magician Lv. 8!" Mia called out as the beautiful magician appeared on the field. "Get rid of that machine!" The magician let loose a stream of white magic that collided with Android Psycho Shocker and destroyed it. Yaku growled as his Life Points went down. (6500)
"Go Harpie Lady, attack Mia!" Elda commanded.
"You wish," Mia said as her Shadow Spell's chains
"You forget that we are on a hunting ground," Elda said as she summoned Cyber Harpie.
"Dust Tornado," Kokuro called out as a large tornado appeared on the field and cleared the area of the hunting ground. "Oh, and I thought of a cool move," Kokuro said. "Cybernetic Magician, increase the attack of all my sheep!" The Cybernetic Magician began to glow and all the sheep did as well, they all powered up to 2000. "Sheep 1, attack Cyber Harpie, Sheep Two, destroy the one on the ground! Sheep Three, attack X Head Cannon!"
The three sheep went after their targets. The Cyber Harpie quickly flew away avoiding being destroyed; the Harpie on the ground wasn't so lucky. It was trampled by the sheep making Elda angry. (6600) The Last Sheep went after Yaku's X Head Cannon.
"Not so fast," Yaku said. "Come forth Y Dragon Head and then Formation Union!" The mechanical red dragon appeared on the field and connected to X Head Cannon, (2200/1500)
"I'll Shadow Spell your X Head Cannon!" Kokuro called out as the black chains rapped around the X Head Cannon weakening it out. (1500/1500)
"And I'll Rare Metalmorph it!" Yaku said. The machines became shiner and raised the attack power. (2000/1500) In the end both the sheep and the machines were destroyed.
"Cyber Harpie, here's some good fashion," Elda said giving it a Cyber Shield spell card. "And here's a friend, Harpie Lady 1" The new Harpie appeared on the field and caused a slight breeze to go through the area, powering up Cyber Harpie. "Cyber Harpie, go kick that Cybernetic Magicians butt!"
"Zero Gravity!" Mia called out suddenly as all monsters instantly switched to a defensive stance. "Listen, we aren't going to get anywhere if we keep fighting like this."
"Mia is right," Kokuro said. "There's two ways this will work. No, three ways. The first is we continue fighting and end up destroying both teams' chances. Two, we leave now with an agreement to not shoot each other before we are clearly far away. Or three, we draw the attention of stones to other groups and in turn bring them into this…" An ugly bug with a long sword suddenly hit him. (4300)
Everyone turned to see that three other students were now standing not to far away from them and one had an Insect Knight. (1900/1500) "Well, I'm sorry to say this, but it looks like you all are going to have to look out for my buggy little friend here."
"Oh won't we?" Sonomi asked stepping up in front of Kokuro. "Well try this on for size," she said as she summoned Infernal Flame Emperor to the field. Everyone just stared in awe, as the mighty Fire Sphinx appeared looking ticked off. (2700/1600) "Go and attack that bug!" she commanded as the flaming sphinx blasted out fire from its mouth incinerating the helpless bug. "Lets run!" she shouted to the other two.
They began to take off but Yaku shouted at them, "Oh no you don't! I summon Machine King!" The Machine King appeared on the field. (2200/2000)"Limiter Removal!" He called out. Machine King started sparking and its power rose. (4600/2000) "Go destroy Kokuro!" he called out as the Machine Kings arm shot towards Kokuro.
Kokuro spun around and revealed a trap, "Magic Cylinder!" he called out. The Cylinders appeared on the field and the arm went through one and then came out the other. Kokuro turned back around and continued to run.
Yaku placed Z Metal Caterpillar on guard in front of Machine King. It took the blast for Machine King but then Machine King blew up due to Limiter Removal. Yaku let out a small growl.
Off away from the ensuing battle the trio stopped to catch their breath. Kokuro looked down at his Life Points. "I'm pretty low," he said. He took his Sleepy Sheep Spell out and reinserted it causing 4 new sheep to appear. He then flipped through his deck until he came upon a card and placed it on the reader. White Magician Pikeru appeared on the field. It started to glow and then gave Kokuro an orb of light. (6300) He took Pikeru off the reader and she disappeared waving. Mia looked at her score, (6600) and Sonomi checked hers (6500). "Well, as long as I can keep strengthening my Life Points, I don't think I'll be in too much trouble," Kokuro said.
They all retracted the cards from their disks and shuffled them together. They went through the traps and reloaded their disks. "Good as new," Mia said.
"Hey Sonomi, why did you wait so long to make a move back there?"
"Well, you two were battling it out with Yaku and Elda I figured that I would play defense and keep you guys safe if needed. But you all seemed to be taking each other out without much need of any help that I didn't worry about it." They all heard what sounded like growling and turned to see a Luster Dragon #2 attack them with its hot fire. All three of them were hit and knocked to the ground. Kokuro: (3900), Mia: (4200), Sonomi: (4100)
Kokuro pulled the top card of his deck, "Black Magician attack that Dragon!" The Black Magician let loose a blast of magic that blasted the dragon destroying it.
Suddenly 3 spear dragons appeared around them and all aimed for them. They let loose an attack when Sonomi called out, "Negate Attack!" A swirling vortex stopped all the three swirling blasts of wind that the Spear Dragons had formed. "Now I bring forth the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, and Infernal Flame Emperor!" All of Sonomi's monsters appeared on the field and glared down at the three Spear Dragons. "Attack!" she called out. All three monsters attacked a different Spear Dragon destroying them. Sonomi called back her monsters and gave the other two a thumb up.
"What brave warriors you all are," a woman said from behind them. They turned to see a black angel with white wings wearing slightly ragged clothes. "I can see that you deserve the great treasure," she said. "It's right over there," she pointed to a small bush.
"Um…thank you?" Kokuro said.
"Thank you for defeating the dragons that was after me. In turn, I shall give you each 200 Life Points." She blew some sparkling glitter at the trio and their Life Points increased. Kokuro: (4100) Mia: (4400) Sonomi: (4300) After she was done she disappeared. The trio looked at each other and then went over to the bush she had pointed at. Behind the bush was the next pile of colored stones.
"Alright!" Mia said as she picked up three stones and handed two to the others. "Now we just need 4 more," she said.
"But they could be anywhere," Sonomi said. "And I'm sure it was just luck that brought us to this one."
"True," Kokuro said shuffling through his deck and taking a card. He placed a card on the field and his Spear Dragon appeared. "Spear Dragon, go find the next stone!" The spear dragon flew off and started circling the area around them. "If we use our monsters to find the stones, it might get us ahead of the game."
"Do you really think that will work," Mia asked. Suddenly they heard the sound of Life Points being decreased. Kokuro looked down at his duel disk. (3800)
"I guess not," he said. "There must be a 2200 attack point monster out there somewhere. Well, in any case lets get going," he said. They started hiking around being wary of traps. "You know, I sure wish we had…" Instantly they all fell into a Trap Hole. "Android Psycho Shocker," he finished. Sonomi got on Kokuro's shoulders, and Mia got on Sonomi's and together they got each other out of the pit. "You know," he said to Sonomi. "When we first met I might have minded if you stepped all over me." They all chuckled and then started looking through the forest again. They spent 10 minutes going forward but didn't come across anything. "I wonder where it is," Kokuro wondered out loud. Suddenly they all heard a rustling to the left of them.
"What was that?" Mia asked.
"Another monster probably," Sonomi said reading her Duel Disk.
Suddenly a figure fell out of the bushes. He seemed to be wearing all black and seemed to have a black Duel Disk on his arm. He looked to his right and saw the trio standing there. He gasped and stood up, "What are you kids doing here?" he asked them.
Something about this man triggered something that Kokuro didn't like. "We're here on the nature hike, what are you doing out here?"
"The nature hike doesn't go out this far," he said. "You've gone too far. Turn back immediately."
"Where did you get a black Duel Disk?" Mia asked.
"It's a custom made disk, now please leave or I will be forced to report you kids to the higher ups."
"What are you doing out here? I'll ask again," Kokuro said, a bit firmer in his voice this time.
"I'm here to make sure you don't go too far," he said. "I was wearing black in the hopes that I wouldn't be spotted. If you kids had gone to far I would have summoned a monster that you wouldn't have been able to beat to chase you off. But you've discovered me so I'm going to let you keep your Life Points."
"I'd like to see this monster I can't beat," Kokuro said walking up to him.
"No, get out of here or you will be disqualified," the man said.
"Come on Kokuro, lets just go," Mia said pulling at his shoulder, but he forced himself away from her and walked closer to the man."
"Let me see the monster I can't beat," Kokuro said again getting angry.
"You want to truly see it?" he asked. "Fine," The man inserted a deck into his Duel Disk and it folded out. "I summon the Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth!" he said as suddenly a huge moth appeared on the field. (3500/3000) "Beat this!" he said.
"I will," Kokuro said drawing two cards from his deck. He took the second card and placed it on the field. "Cybernetic Magician," he said as his futuristic mage appeared on the field. (2400/1000) "Cybernetic Magician, show him your special ability." The Magician's staff began to glow and so did the Moth. The Moth began to shrink as its attack power decreased. (2000/3000) "Cybernetic Magician, destroy that moth!" The Cybernetic Magician let out its silver magic and destroyed the so called Ultimate Great Moth. "Anything else 'I can't beat?'" he asked mockingly.
The man looked nervous, "Where did you get a card like that?" he practically screamed.
"I earned it," he said.
The man backed away, "Listen kids, just go back to your designated area," and with that he turned around and ran off. Kokuro started to chase him with Mia and Sonomi right on his trail. Kokuro stopped when he realized he couldn't see the man any longer. He clenched his fists, "damn, he got away."
"What was that all about?" Sonomi asked.
"I don't think that guy was who he claimed to be," he said a little angered. "Come on, we need to go back and tell Suji-Sensei."
"What about the scavenger hunt?" Mia asked.
"There isn't any time for that," Kokuro said. "I think this is more important," he said. He began running and the other two quickly followed. They were running for about 3 minutes when suddenly they heard a blast from a canon. Kokuro was knocked backwards as Sonomi and Mia were running towards him. They all tried to stop but ended up crashing into one another. Kokuro's Life Points began to drop. (2000)
They stood up to see Yaku and Elda standing in front of them. "I was wondering where you guys had gone," Yaku said.
"Yaku, you need to let us through, we have to see Suji-Sensei!" Kokuro exclaimed.
"Yeah right," Elda said. "What do you take us for? Stupid? You just want to get by because you probably collected all the stones. Well so did we, and we aren't going to settle for a race. We'll deplete your Life Points so that we don't have to worry about you getting there before we do."
"No, I'm being serious," Kokuro said. "We saw someone out here while we were looking and I think he's an intruder."
"Wow, anything to get past us?" Yaku said. "I have to give you credit Kokuro, you have a good imagination. Unfortunately I wasn't born yesterday. We are on an Island; the only way to get here is bye boat. There is only one docking station and every boat must check in and if they refuse they are sent off. So there is no possible way that an intruder is here on the island."
"I still don't like it," Kokuro said. "I feel as though Suji-Sensei should be warned."
"You aren't getting past us Kokuro," Elda said.
Kokuro reached into his jacket and tossed his two stones at them, "There, now do you see how serious I am. First off I don't even have all 6, and second, I'm freely giving you mine so that you will let me pass!"
"Sorry Kokuro," Yaku said. "But if you want me to let you pass, I have to deplete your Life Points so that I know this isn't some sort of trick.
"Fine!" Kokuro said. He took all the cards out of his Spell Trap card slots and slid them into the Graveyard. "Take your best shot!" he said spreading his arms. "Don't miss!" he mocked.
Yaku looked uncertain for a moment. "You really aren't joking are you?"
"Of course he's not," Sonomi said angrily. "Didn't you get that when he threw his stones down? For an Obelisk Blue Student you can be kind of stupid sometimes!"
"Is that what I get for being so kind when you were a lowly Osiris Red?" he asked angrily. "When I helped you study, when I helped you become what you are today?"
"Guys stop fighting!" Mia shouted. "We need to get to Suji-Sensei!"
Yaku growled angrily and slapped a card onto the reader. "XYZ Dragon Cannon, attack Kokuro!" The Dragon Cannon powered up its cannon and blasted out.
"Negate…" Sonomi began.
"DON'T!" Kokuro yelled back at her. He took the blast head on, sending him flying backwards into Sonomi and Mia again. (0) He stood up and then helped the other two girls up. "Sorry about that," he said. He then began running again when Yaku yelled back at him. "Just where are you going?"
"To warn Suji-Sensei," he shouted back as he took off.
"I don't see why you care," Sonomi yelled at Yaku. "You finished off his Life Points, after he already made it clear that he wasn't playing any longer. But I still am, and I'm going to make you pay!" She took the top 3 cards off her Duel Disk, "Thestalos, Sacred Phoenix, Flame Emperor, come forth!" Suddenly Sonomi's monsters appeared on the field looking down at Yaku. "Mia, go help Kokuro," she said.
"Right," Mia said running off.
"Hold it!" Elda said trying to stop Mia. Mia simply took her two stones and tossed them backwards so that Elda could easily see that she wasn't playing any longer either. Not wanting to upset Mia, Elda let her pass.
"I can see you want to play difficult," Yaku said smiling. He drew the top cards off his deck and played them on the field, "Fusilier, Machine King, Android Psycho Shocker!" All of his monsters appeared on the field and the two stared each other down. "Attack!" they both called out.
Meanwhile Kokuro had just reached Suji-Sensei. "Suji-Sensei!" he called out.
"What is it Mr. Samé?" Suji-Sensei asked nervously.
Kokuro stopped to catch his breath before continuing. "Sonomi, Mia, and I were looking for some stones when we saw this guy dressed all in black. He had a black Duel Disk and everything. He said that he was part of the staff keeping us from going beyond a certain point. I didn't believe him so I led him to a challenge. When he lost he ran off into the woods."
"The only people out here are Notuko-Sensei and Okotun-Sensei," Suji-Sensei said. "I'll alert the main office right away," he said. Once he had alerted them he turned to Kokuro. "Thank you." He then noticed Kokuro's Duel Disk. "I see you lost."
"Only because Yaku didn't believe me when I told him what happened and the only way he would allow me to leave was if he depleted my Life Points."
"That's not right," Suji-Sensei said. Just then Mia ran up to the two of them. "And what are you doing here?"
"Sonomi told me to come help you while she took care of Yaku," Mia explained in between breaths.
"Mia, do you have any kind of reviving card?" Suji-Sensei asked.
"I have my Premature Burial in my slot," she said.
"Then you two are in luck," he said to them. "A rule that no one else knows that they usually have to figure out themselves is that if anyone has a reviving card they can use it on a partner that has lost to give the partner an 'extra-life' kind of thing. That's if you don't mind losing 800 Life Points."
"For Kokuro? Are you kidding?" she asked as she activated the card. Her Life Points dropped as Kokuro's Life Points rose. Mia: (3600), Kokuro: (8000)
"Why do I have all 8000?" Kokuro asked.
"Think of it this way," Suji-Sensei said. "If a monster attacks a Slate Warrior then it loses 500 attack points. If it gets destroyed and later revived it comes back with those 500 attack points back, once it goes to the graveyard the effect ends. So since Kokuro 'went to the graveyard' and was brought back, he was brought back with everything. But be warned, if someone uses a Heavy Storm, or something that will destroy the Premature Burial, his Life Points will go back down to 0 and after that you won't be able to bring him back with Premature Burial. It's a one-time thing."
"What if I used a Call of the Haunted?"
"That would work once as well." He said.
"Excellent," she said. "Lets go Kokuro!"
He nodded, "Yes. Thanks Suji-Sensei." They took off running back into the forest.
"You're welcome," he called back. His face then turned sullen. "The other two teachers and I are going to have to keep an eye out for that man while we travel tomorrow. Just incase Master Kaiba's men can't find him."
As Kokuro and Mia were running through the forest they were stopped by two kids who seemed to be in a hurry. "Hey, lets get those two," one of the kids said. "Maybe then we will have the last two stones we need."
Kokuro stopped and slid his deck back in. He took t four cards from it and then placed them on the field. Black Magician and Buster Blader appeared on the field and then formed into Black Paladin. Kokuro's Life Points dropped to 7000 and Black Paladin attacked both of the other kids at the same time with Diffusion-Wave Motion. 30 seconds later Kokuro and Mia were running again with 4 stones in their hands each.
"Nice job back there," Mia said to him as they were running.
"I'm sure you could have handled them just as easily," Kokuro said running. "But I wanted to rush back and help Sonomi." Mia smiled at Kokuro before she turned back around.
Meanwhile Sonomi wasn't fairing too well and could have used their help. She had tried to use Gravity Bind to stop Yaku's monsters but XYZ Dragon Cannon just blasted it away. When she strengthened her monsters Yaku just used Limiter Removal to make easy clearings. His monsters would get destroyed and she would get a shot off quickly but he normally summoned something with a higher defense to block the attack. Currently she had a Solar Flare Dragon on the field while Yaku had formed another XYZ Dragon Cannon and had equipped it with Rare Metal Morph.
"Attack her monster!" Yaku called out.
"I use my other Gravity Bind!" Sonomi called out.
"When will you learn? XYZ Dragon Cannon blast it away!" The dragon cannon blasted the trap away and then he commanded it to strike her monster again.
"Balloon Lizard Defend!" she called out as she slapped the card on the field. The Balloon Lizard appeared and bounced towards the Solar Flare Dragon protecting it. "Now my Solar Flare Dragon will take another 500 Life Points from you!" she called out as the dragon formed a fireball to blast at him.
"My Sealing Swords of Light say differently!" Yaku said as his swords appeared on the field and froze the dragon in mid attack."
"And my Curse Of Darkness says you lose some Life Points!" Sonomi said as the lightning appeared around him. The lightning stuck him causing them to drop. (3200)
"No matter, I'll still over come you."
"Go ahead and try!" Sonomi shouted back. "As you can see you are no match against me when you don't have your sister to hide behind!"
"Oh yeah?" Elda yelled at her. Suddenly Elda was hit by something from behind causing her to topple over. (0) "What was that all about?" she yelled. "Who did that?" Yaku, Sonomi, and Elda looked behind them to see a Silent Magician Level 8, a Silent Swordsman Lv. 7, a Cybernetic Magician, a Black Magician, and a Black Magician Girl, all of them looking slightly annoyed. Behind them were Mia and Kokuro.
"What's up doc's?" Kokuro asked.
"Hey guys!" Mia said smiling and holding up a peace sign.
"What are you doing here?" Yaku shouted to Kokuro.
"While we were gone we learned a little rule about the game and decided to exploit that rule."
Mia turned to Kokuro, "It's a good thing that even though Silent Swordsman is on the field, Premature Burial is only negated and due to the rulings you get to stay on the field."
"Yeah it is," he said. "And even if they do destroy it, I don't have to worry about being tied to that card as long as Silent Swordsman is on the field."
"You mean you can revive your team mates?" Elda asked stunned.
"Well then I plan on reviving my sister," Yaku said playing his Premature Burial. The Silent Swordsman shook his head and slashed his sword at the Premature Burial causing a wave of energy to hit it negating the card.
"Sorry, but my Silent Swordsman won't allow your card to work right now," Mia said. "Kokuro's Premature Burial was activated before he came on the field.
"Oh man," Yaku said. Suddenly a blast of fire hit him. He looked to see the Solar Flare Dragon no longer paralyzed by the swords. "I thought you said you had to go see Suji-Sensei!" he yelled at Kokuro.
"I did," he said. "And then he told Mia and me about the reviving rule."
"And now it's time to take you out," Mia said. "Silent Magician, Silent Swordsman…"
"Black Magician, Black Magician Girl, Cybernetic Magician…" Kokuro said afterwards.
"Attack the player!" they shouted at the same time. All of their monsters ran forward and sent Yaku flying backwards as his Life Points were depleted. (0)
Kokuro and Mia returned their monsters and then ran down to where they had tossed their stones. They picked them up and then examined them with the other 4 they had won from the other two kids. They each had 1 red, 1, blue, 1 yellow, 1 green, 1, white, and 1 black. Kokuro looked down at Yaku and had seen that his stones had fallen out of his pocket. He picked them up and tossed them to Sonomi who caught them.
"Thanks," she said.
"Any time," he said. She got up and ran over to her two friends. "So what did Suji-Sensei say?"
"The only ones supposed to be out here are the other two teachers," Kokuro explained. "Meaning that man wasn't part of the Nature Hike staff. He contacted the administration and they are going to take care of it."
"Good," Sonomi said. "We don't need any freaks that hang out with large moths to bother us."
"Come on!" Mia yelled at the other two. "We still have a chance to win!"
"Always with the fun stuff," Sonomi said smiling at her friend.
"The serious stuff is over," she said pushing them towards the direction of the campsite. "Lets hurry before anyone else gets there before us!"
"Right," Kokuro said. They started to head off towards the campsite when Yaku called out to them.
"Hey Sonomi," he said.
She turned around, "yeah?"
"It was great re-living the past!"
"Yeah, it was, we should do it again sometime, see ya!" She turned to see two very confused friends and chuckled. "Back when he was a Ra Yellow and I was an Osiris Red, we used to pretend to hate each other and we insulted each others class ranks. When I insulted him when we first saw him by saying, 'For an Obelisk Blue Student you can be kind of stupid sometimes,' it was the standard opening line that would start off our fights. That way he knew to go along with it. I just didn't realize it would get this much of a reaction."
Mia and Kokuro looked dumbfounded, "So you don't really hate him?" Kokuro asked.
"Of course not, and he doesn't really hate me," she said. "Needless to say we kind of stopped that whole ritual as I was getting stronger, but every now and then we like to bust each other up."
"Sonomi has a humorous side," Kokuro said, "go figure."
"Oh shut up," Sonomi said as she began to run towards the campsite.
"Kokuro," Yaku called out to him.
Kokuro turned around, "Yeah?"
"I'm sorry I didn't believe you."
"No sweat man," Kokuro said giving a thumb up. "I just wanted to give the teachers a heads up so that they could catch him before he got to far ahead. But now I have a competition to win!" he shouted as he ran off with the other two. He caught up to them and raced with them to get back to the campsite. As they came into the clearing they saw two other students coming from the opposite side running towards Suji-Sensei.
"We're too far behind!" Mia shouted. "We won't make it."
"Oh yes we will," Kokuro said taking the top card off his deck and placing it on the field. "Black Magician Girl!" he called out as the Black Magician Girl levitating in front of them. "Attack those other two students!" She nodded and flew towards the students.
Suji-Sensei was looking in the direction of the others students. "It looks like we have some winners," he said. "I feel bad those other kids didn't…" a pink ball of magic passed by him and he watched as it hit the two students that were coming his way. They were knocked backwards and their Life Points dropped to 0.
He turned in the direction of the energy blast to see a fading Black Magician Girl and the trio of friends making their way down towards him. They stopped in front of him and quickly handed them their stones. "Well, I guess we really do have some winners now," he said looking at the three exhausted friends.
"We won?" Mia asked.
"Yes you did," Suji-Sensei said.
The three cheered and hugged each other in excitement. "Team Cinnamon Wins!" they yelled out together. At that moment as they were cheering they all heard the sound of Kuriboh. They let go and Kokuro took off the top card of his deck, as did Sonomi. Each of them was holding Kuriboh. They smiled, "Ah what the heck," Kokuro said summoning his Kuriboh, as did Sonomi. The Two Kuriboh's appeared on the field and started doing a little dance as the three laughed.
"Wow, I guess you three are going to be surprised when you see the prize then," Suji-Sensei said as he took three cards from his pocket and handed it to them.
They all stopped cheering and stood in awe as they saw what cards they had just been handed. Each one now held a brand new Hane Kuriboh in their hands. They sort of stared at each other and then down at the cards. "Ok, this is kind of freaky now," Mia said.
"You think?" Sonomi asked.
Kokuro looked down at his brand new Hane Kuriboh, and then his friends, "You know what, I think it's cool," he said as he summoned his new Hane Kuriboh. The new kind of Kuriboh appeared on the field and let out a cry.
"It's so cute," Mia squealed. She summoned hers and it appeared also letting out a cry. Hers did a little dance around her causing her to laugh. "Isn't it cute Kokuro?"
"Yeah," he said as his went to play with the other Kuriboh. "You know what else? I think we were destined to win this scavenger hunt," he said.
Sonomi looked at him a little funny, "You believe in destiny?"
"A little, yeah," he said. "Something as weird as this, I think it has a little to do with destiny."
"Destiny huh?" she asked. "To be honest I never thought much of it."
Kokuro shrugged, "Not everyone does. What about you Mia?"
"I read horoscopes and I went to a fortune teller once, does that count?" she asked smiling innocently.
"Close enough for me," Kokuro said laughing.
"Well, I guess there is nothing else to do but wait for the rest of the students to get back," Suji-Sensei said. "Feel free to go to bed if you are getting tired," he said.
"Thank you Suji-Sensei," they said.
"Oh, and by the way, the administrators are on the look out for that intruder. As soon as I know anything I'll let you know. I feel you deserve to know."
"Thank you Suji-Sensei," they said again. With that they turned off their duel disks watched the Kuriboh's give out one last cry before they vanished. The trio then went towards the directions of their tents, "Well, I must say I'm exhausted," Kokuro said stretching.
"We all are," Sonomi said. "That whole scavenger hunt was hard."
"Who do you think that stranger was?" Mia asked. "And why do you think he was out there?"
"I don't know," Kokuro said. "But I'm sure Master Kaiba's security guards will catch him."
"You're right," she said smiling. "Well, good night Kokuro." She gave him a quick hug and said good night before she went into the tent.
Kokuro's face was blushing a bit but then he saw Sonomi and it got even redder, this time with embarrassment. "Um, well, I guess I'll be going to bed now," he said.
"Oh chill out," she said staring at him. "Honestly, you can be a bit stupid sometimes."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked getting defensive.
"It was just a friendly hug, no reason for you to get so worked up about it."
"I know that," he said a bit stubbornly.
"Oh, then why were you blushing?" she asked smiling a bit mischievously.
"Um...well," he started.
"See? You do this every time someone hugs you. You have to understand, Mia is a caring girl, and she likes to make people feel good, but it was just a friendly hug. I'm surprised you couldn't see that."
"I don't know a lot about that kind of stuff," he admitted.
"I can't see why. It's not like you're really bad looking or anything. Don't you have a girlfriend?"
"No," he said looking down. "I only have 2 friends back where I'm from."
"What?" she asked surprised. "Only two friends?"
"Yeah, and both of them are boys. I'm not very popular at school. I have acquaintances that I hang out with at the card shop I go to, but I only have 2 real friends."
"How come?" she asked.
He shrugged, "People just don't like me. I was kind of annoying and loud when I was much younger. I had an overly large imagination and I guess I kind of made a fool of myself. I got it calmed down since then, but all those jerks at school still picked on me for it. In some ways, they never grew up to see past it. My two friends and I sort of think on the same wavelength, so we became real good friends soon after meeting each other. But other than them, I don't have any."
Sonomi just stared at Kokuro, sadness clearly present on her face. "I'm so sorry," she said. "There wasn't even a single sign of it when you first came here. I hated you because of Professor Hikari, but after all that, it just seemed like you were a regular every day kid with not a care in the world."
"After all that I had a new friend," he said looking at her.
She looked down, "You hide your emotions so well," she said. "I just let mine take over my life."
"You're wrong," he said. "I don't hide my emotions. Like I said, I have an overly large imagination. Because of that I'm usually always happy. It gives me a different outlook on things, and allows me to feel good about myself. So I'm not hiding my emotions, I'm just not letting the sad ones bother me. Besides, I'm out of school now, they can't bother me, and so far I've made a lot of really cool friends. But, now I guess you do know why I got so flustered."
"Well, I guess it's also kind of hard when you have a crush on someone," she said.
"Huh?"
"I can tell you like her. I can't really see how anyone couldn't. She's fun, cute, always cheerful, it's hard not to like her."
"Do you like her..."
"I'm not like that. I just like her as a friend."
"Just checking," he said. They were silent a moment and then he remembered something, "It's getting late. We are going to wake up early tomorrow so I better get to bed. Good night Sonomi." He began to walk to his tent when Sonomi stopped him.
"Kokuro."
"Yes?" he asked turning back to her.
"I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be talking as though I know the difference between a friendly hug and a meaningful one."
"What do you mean?"
"It's just that, although my reasons are different, I didn't have a lot of friends when I was younger either," she said, a tear forming in her eye.
"Hey, why are you crying?" he asked walking up to her.
"I'm not crying!" she retaliated. She then noticed the tear on her cheek, "I'm sorry," she said softly.
"It's alright," he said putting his hand on her shoulder. "Is it something you want to talk about?"
She shook her head, "I don't like to talk about it," she said.
"I understand. It took me a long time before I felt comfortable talking about my past."
"I just wanted you to know that. I've felt Mia's friendly hug before, so that's the only way I know. I just don't want to sound like a know it all."
"Sonomi," he said quietly.
She wiped the tear from her cheek and stared at him, "To be honest, you are the first real boy friend I've had."
"And like I already told you, you two are the first two girl friends I've really had."
Sonomi chuckled, "That sounded wrong," she said smiling a little.
"I'm glad I could make you laugh," he said smiling. They hugged each other for a few seconds and then separated to go off to their own tents.
"Thank you Kokuro," she said.
"You're welcome," he said as he walked into her tent. He wasn't an expert on hugs, but he felt as though that one wasn't just a regular friendly hug.