Disclaimer: If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh, then Yusei would be bi and Kiryuu, Jack, Aki, and Crow would all be members of his harem. Aren't you glad I don't?
…
An Obelisk student with long red hair smiled as she walked. A single candle flickered in the darkness, offering just enough light to show her where hr favorite book rested. Dust gathered on the blood red cover. The Obelisk student brushed it off and opened the first page.
"Reality. Its cruel mocking laughter spits in our faces. Together we shall overthrow this harsh mistress and bring about the world we desire."
"Is that really so, Aiko-chan?" Questioned a voice. The girl spun around to see another Obelisk Blue student watching her. "You think that even your dreams can be achieved?" His cold gray eyes narrowed into a glare. "You think you're all that just because you rank so high in the Organization. But I'll show you. You're nothing against me." His short brown hair fell in front of his eyes, hiding the wells of malevolence.
"Oh I see, Sano-kun, you're still jealous because they like me better. Very well, how about we have a duel? I'll remind you of why I rank so much higher than you do. And I'll remind you why you shouldn't be so cocky. The Organization exists to help those who can't reach their dreams on their own. If we need to shoot a bird out of the sky to teach it the dangers of flight, than so be it."
…
"Do, do you think he'll be okay?" Naota asked. Hus eyes gazed at the ground. Food wrappers littered the ground, left by hungry duelists too eager to clean up.
"I'm sure he'll be okay." Hikaru smiled. "You know two the stress can be some times. When you lose a duel you really needed to win, it's usually your friends who help you through it."
"Yeah," Naota agreed.
…
"I summon Mystic Elf in defense.' An eleven-year-old Naota smiled. "I'll show you that I'm a good duelist." He tried to keep up the show of bravery. 'I have to win. I have to show him. I won't let him get away with it. Not with what he said.'
"Stupid kids, you think that just because you have a few cards and a duel disk it makes you a duelist." The other boy was fifteen. He had a muscular body and spiky blonde hair. "I play Power Bond to fuse my UFOroid and my gate Guardian into UFOroid Fighter!" (Attack: 11400) "Next I activate Limiter Removal to double his attack to 22800. I activate my Offerings to the Doomed to destroy your Elf and attack you directly."
…
Naota looked up at Hikaru. "Well, let's hurry up and get to the finals.
Hikaru grinned back at her friend. "Yeah we don't want to miss out just because someone beat us."
…
A young teen relaxed on a sofa in a fabulously decorated room. The smell of fresh fruits danced through the air. Beautiful translucent blue curtains dyed the sun light a pale blue. 'I really should try to move up to the Obelisk Dorm. I'm one of the best Duelists on the island, it shouldn't be too hard.'
Takuya stared at the document in his hand. "Oh, now this is interesting. I had no idea that Yuu was his son. I didn't even know that he had any kids. Turns out he had a son and a daughter."
"What are you looking at?" Cthulhu questioned.
"Oh nothing. It seems a certain Morganna is doing research on Emi's friends. She's found out some really juicy stuff."
"Just who is this man?" Cthulhu questioned.
"Just a card designer for I2. At least, before he and his wife died in a tragic fire. It seems he had two children. Both of them were sent to an orphanage but they were both quickly adopted."
"And one of them is a boy named Yuu?"
"Yes, an old friend of Naota and Hikaru. "
…
"See, I told you that brats like you can't duel." The bully stood over Naota, laughing victoriously. "So now stop bragging about your boyfriend Yuu or whatever his name is. I bet he's not much better than you are."
"Sh-shut up! Take it back. Yuu's the best duelist ever." Naota threw his fists downward. "He'll show you when he gets here."
…
The two duelists activated their duel disks. "My move first," Aiko drew a sixth card and laughed. "I play Growing Weeds in defense." (0/0) An ugly looking plant sprouted on her side of the field. "I set one card facedown and end my turn."
Sano drew. "You think something like that will be good enough to stop me? I summon the Bistro Butcher in attack mode." (1800/1000) He smiled as the fiendish blue chef appeared. "I set two cards and attack your Weed."
The chef chopped through the plan and laughed. "Who wants a salad?" Sano joked.
"Go, Good Gardening! Aiko smiled. "This card Special Summons a plant from my graveyard if it has less than 500 attack points."
"Tch," Sano clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Turn end."
Aiko drew her next card. "Now my Weeds effect kicks in. I get to Special Summon two more from my hand deck or graveyard." She smiled as two more Weeds popped up.
"Yeah, that's some great gardening right there. Can't even keep your damn weeds in check. Now please tell me there's some sort of drawback to something with such annoying tendencies."
"Nope, sorry, you'll just need to do some heavy gardening if you want to get rid of these guys." Aiko laughed. "But for now, I activate Card of Safe Return!"
"So now you'll gain a card whenever you revive a monster. Interesting. I like this." Sano smiled.
"Oh really? We'll see how you feel about that when I'm kicking your ass with a massive card advantage." Aiko grabbed another card from her hand. "I release two Weeds to normal summon Tytannial, Princess of Camellias." (2800/2600) A beautiful card rose from the ground. She had beautiful hair made of green leaves and her clothes looked like gorgeous red camellias blossoming open.
Both duelists could easily smell the fragrant flowers.
"I think I'll have her attack your monster." Aiko watched her monsters vines lash out at the demon cook. They crashed into an invisible force field.
"Negate Attack, always a classic." Sano chuckled. "So, anything else for you?"
"Your move."
"I draw," the boy called out. "And I activate Graceful Charity to draw three cards and discard two. "Next I release my monster to Special Summon Hell's Chef!" (2600/2400) "Once per turn I can remove from play one monster in my grave to increase his attack by half until the turn ends. So I remove my Bistro Butcher!" The red-skinned demon looked almost exactly like the fallen comrade now boiling in a pot of hot water. The Hell's Chef raised the pot over his head and quickly drank it down, not even bothering with herbs, spices, or even vegetables. (3500/2400) "Now he attacks your monster!"
The Hell's Chef sliced through the Princess and smiled.
Aiko: 3300
"Now his effect activates and you get to draw three cards." Sano said with a smile.
"Oh? You're letting me draw extra cards? Fool. You realize how much this helps me, don't you?" Aiko tore the new cards out from her disk and smiled. "And you gave me just what I needed."
"Well I activate Appropriate. I can only activate it when you draw out side of your draw phase." Sano's face down card reveled itself. "Now if you ever do it again, I get two new cards of my own. Next, I activate a spell from my hand. Joint Growth. You'll see what it does in just a minute, but for now I end my turn."
Aiko's hand went up to eight. Sano's went to three. "You see," he explained. "Thanks to Joint Growth, both players get to draw during either player's draw phase. In other words, I get to draw during yours and you get to draw during mine."
Two Growing Weeds sprang forth from the ground. "My monsters effect activates bringing his pals back. I guess I'll use my Card of Safe Return to draw, even if you do as well." Aiko drew a ninth card while Sano drew a forth and fifth." Next, I use Terraforming. This card lets me add a Field Spell from my deck to my hand. So I activate Mystic Garden of the Hanaculi." Grass sprouted from the ground as tiny flowers blossomed everywhere. "Once per turn I can remove from play a Hanaculus in my deck and Special Summon it during the next turn."
"Hanaculus? Oh I see." Sano grinned. "This should be interesting."
"Yes. I can't normal summon any of them because of their effects, so my garden is usually a necessity for me to win. Thank you so much for helping me find it." Aiko taunted. "So I'll just take this and put it somewhere safe." A card shot out of her deck. "Next I'll release all three of my Growing Weeds to Special Summon my Venus Death Trap." (3200/500) Vines slithered around the arena as a giant Venus Fly Trap's head grew from the ground. "He eats your Chef!" The plant jumped forward and hungrily devoured Sano's card. He munched loudly, but not loud enough top obscure the sound of snapping bones. "You see, whenever he eats one of your monsters, I gain Life Points equal to its Star Level times a hundred. I believe your monster was a Level Six, right?"
Aiko: 3900
Sano: 1400
"I set a card and end my turn."
…
"I attack you directly and win," the boy said to Yuu.
The younger duelist simply smiled. "Magic Cylinder reflects all 20,000 of your attack points back at you." He watched with a smile. "That's what you get for picking on my friend."
"Oh yeah, well I activate Seven Tools of the Bandit to negate your trap."
"Go, Trap Jammer," Yuu cried in desperation."
"Hah I have one of those too." The other boy smiled.
The attack came through and knocked Yuu off his feet.
Yuu: 0
"Dammit, I have to admit you were pretty cool for a kid. Sorry for making fun of you and your friend. Keep it up and you'll probably be a Pro one day."
"Thanks," said Yuu. He had completely forgotten the anger from moments ago.
Naota, on the other hand, was pissed. "You only won because you got lucky. Don't think that you're better than he is."
Tears streamed down Naota's face.
"Naota, there's no need to be upset. The game wouldn't be fun if I never lost."
…
"Oh cool, we made it just in time," Naota cheered. "Looks like all eight finalists are here."
Hikaru scanned the area. The staff had remodeled the place over night. Lush red carpets lead the way to the min arena. Tables lined the wall and offered fruit for hungry duelists.
"We'll just announce that the tournament is over and open the doors to the spectators," said a staff member.
"Hey you two made it!" Nayuta cheered. She ran up to Hikaru and three her arms around the other girl. "I was starting to get worried."
"Oh good you're here too." Hikaru said with a smile. "So who else made it?"
"Well, Ryou got in as well, and these two students named Isamu and Haley got in as well."
"Oh cool, Haley made it," Naota said with a grin. "He's really nice. I dueled him but I lost."
Hikaru grinned. "What a coincidence. I actually dueled Isamu."
Nayuta interrupted. "You're going to love this part, Ashton made it as well."
"Really? I knew he would, where is he?"
"Right here," said a familiar voice. Ashton stepped up from the shadows.
"Long time no see," Hikaru cried with joy as she thrust her arms around her cousin.
"I missed you." He said happily." He quickly turned to Naota. "I missed you too, buddy. Oh but before I forget." He reached into his pocket and retrieve two envelopes. "I brought more cards. These are actually from mom. She said to give them to you."
"Thanks," they said in unison.
Nayuta could only stare in disbelief. "You guys know Ashton?"
"Yeah," Hikaru answered. "He's my cousin."
…
Both players drew. "Since you drew outside of your draw phase, Appropriate gives me two more cards." Sano watched his hand shoot up in size. "I knew using this against you would come in handy. I use Fragrance Storm to destroy your Venus Fly Trap and draw a card. Next I summon Muka Muka." (600/600)
Venus Death Trap wilted away. A large insect appeared on the field. "Now, as you probably know, this classic monster gains 300 attack and defense per card in my hand. So seven cards makes what now?" (2700/2700) "Attack her directly!" The bug charged forward and knocked Aiko over.
"I set one card and end my turn."
Both players drew a card. Aiko simply smiled as a flower appeared on her field. It opened up to reveal a tiny fairy like being. "Say hello to my Hanaculus- Desu Poppy!" (300/0) She had red leaves for wings, beautiful blonde hair, and wore a red dress that looked like an upside down poppy. Next, I'll use a Spell card known as Green Alchemy- Petal transmutation. By removing from play a plant in my grave, I can Special Summon a Hanaculus from my hand. So I'll bring out Hanaculus- Lycoris of Lament." (400/0) She had red hair and wore a red lycoris for a dress. "Now that I have Special Summoned a Hanaculus, my Desu Poppy's effect activates. She destroys one card on the field, so your face down vanishes."
Sano's card shattered. "Next I use Green Alchemy-Natural Midas. I can Special Summon one Hanaculus until the turn ends, so say hello to Hanaculus- Slayer Bougainvillea!" (600/0) She had straight black hair that shone beautifully and wore a white robe decorated with purple flowers. "Since a Hanaculus was Special Summoned, Desu Poppy destroys a card, so your Muka Muka goes away. Next, Lycoris of Lament deals you 300 points of damage."
A storm of red petals cut into Sano's body.
Sano: 1100
"Next, my Hanaculi all have their attack multiplied by the number of Hanaculi on the field."
"What?" he gasped.
Desu Poppy (900/0)
Lycoris of Lament (1200/0)
Slayer Bougainvillea (1800/0)
"Slay him my Hanaculi." Aiko watched her monsters grow to the size of human teenagers. They charged forward and punched Sano in the gut. He sank to the floor in pain.
Sano: 0
"Grrr, you may have beaten me, but you're still only second place when it comes to plant decks. You know you will never beat Ryou."
"Oh yeah? Watch me."
…
"So any clue when the duels begin?" Nayuta asked. "I can't wait."
"We just need to give the audience some time to show up," Ryou said nervously.
"I'm surprised there aren't more Pros though," Ashton commented. "Don't these things usually end with a 50/50 split of students and professionals?"
"There's a reason you're the only pro here," a voice answered. "I took them all out." Morganna smiled as every turned toward her. "Ask the other students around campus, they heard the story. I only let you make it through because you're the grand finale. I'll take you out while the entire school watches." She pointed her finger at Ashton. "So be ready."
…
Author's Note: So Tsuki, I've been meaning to ask, do you still like the idea of AshtonxHikaru?
Anyway the next few chapters will probably be a bit shorter than the others.