Author's Note: This time it's Sanzo's turn to save the day.

Chapter Twenty-One: Heroic Efforts

Vlad thumped a meaty fist against his chest, still grinning. "You see, when Super Suplex destroys your cards, for each one lost you take five hundred damage. So for the three lost, you take a grand total of fifteen hundred damage!"

Corben fell to his knees as his life points began to trickle away. "No…I was sure that I had won. And with a Darkness Game, that means there's a punishment for losing…" (CLP: 0)

All four of them walked across the field, reaching Corben in no time at all. Vlad stood over him and patted him in the head, looking quite happy because of the duel. "You proved to be strong, and it's likely that you'll get stronger. So instead of some terrible punishment I'll just say that your punishment is to keep trying to get stronger, and keep trying to defeat me."

Corben stared up at him, and then passed out, falling face first into the metal floor. Vlad laughed and gestured to the door which had swung open. His three companions stepped over Corben's unconscious form and walked to the door, Vlad following.

Shiro looked back at Vlad and gave him a grin, stopping him from walking as the other two walked through the door. "You know, you're quite the duelist. I'd love to duel you sometime, even if I doubt I could beat you."

Vlad smiled down at the smaller teen and patted him on the shoulder. "Then you'll have your wish. I'd enjoy dueling you just as much. Now, after you."

Shiro grinned and stepped through the open doorway after Harrison and Sanzo. Vlad walked after him but was stopped when the door suddenly swung shut. There was a click as the door automatically locked, trapping Vlad on the other side. "Vlad!"

The speakers in the room crackled and Tobias' voice came on. "I hope you four have enjoyed the festivities so far. I can't let you keep progressing, so I'm going to be blocking your way. Of course most likely next time you'll step across at the same time, but it doesn't matter. The threat of the strongest of your group is out of the way the earliest. That means I can take care of things in my style, without worry about big bad Vlad the Impaler!"

Tobias laughed over the speakers and then the lights went out, plunging Vlad into the darkness. "Enjoy your stay Vladimir. None of you can stop me now and that's the way it should be. Because I always get what I want. Good luck and goodnight."

The three remaining duelists moved forwards through the hallway and stopped almost immediately when here as well the lights turned on, revealing the arena. It was larger than the previous one, with more available seats. "I'm so glad you three got here!"

When they saw who was standing on the arena floor Shiro gasped and shock and pointed. "What the heck's with the midget!"

Both Harrison and Sanzo punched Shiro in the back of the head, sending him to the ground. Sanzo shook his head in irritation as he looked up at the tiny person across the field. Standing no more than four and a half feet in height and wearing an Obelisk Blue uniform was a girl with brown hair that went straight down to her mid-back. "Don't be an idiot, that's Chihara, and she's ranked number fifteen in the entire school."

Chihara grinned and snapped a faux-salute, then dropped her arm to her side and raised her DD5 on the left arm. "That's right, and I'm gonna bump my rank up right here and now by defeat you Sanzo, just like before." (CLP: 4000)

Shiro craned his neck up from his position on the ground and stared incredulously at the tiny girl. "No way! She beat Sanzo before? If that's the case then how is she the fifteenth best and he's second?"

Harrison sighed and planted his foot in the middle of Shiro's back, leaning forward to watch as Sanzo jumped up onto the field. "She's a year ahead of us and during our first year, when Sanzo was still Ra Yellow, she was already Blue. She beat him in several duels that year, but after a while he improved and began the winning streak that brought him to this level."

The Osiris Red student nodded as best he could with so little room to move his head. Then he put his hands in front of his face to support his chin and watched as Sanzo slid his deck into his duel disk. "So she's good then. What sort of dueling style does she have?"

The Obelisk Blue frowned and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I'm not entirely sure. I've only seen her duel three times and only dueled her once myself. But I haven't seen her duel or dueled her this entire year. Which means for all I know she could be playing an entirely different style."

Sanzo and Chihara drew five cards, and then Chihara drew a sixth card for the start of the duel. "I'm glad that we'll get to duel again Chihara, but why are you working for Tobias? He's just an arrogant Osiris Red. He's nothing but a villain." (SLP: 4000)

"Maybe he is, but that's up to heroes like you to decide. I'm with him so that I can get support from his family when entering the Pro League at the end of the year. Now, it's time to activate the Shangri La Projector!" Darkness sprang up around them, their feet blanketed by the purple fog of darkness games.

The Hero Saint felt his body grow cold under the effects of the game and he took a deep breath, making sure he would be focused. 'I'll have to be at the top of my game to beat her. She's no slouch at dueling and this is my first experience with a Darkness Game. What I can tell though…this is a low strength one, because others I've seen occur have full domes. Meaning Tobias is limiting power to his Shangri La Projector. So he's saving the bulk of the power for later…'

Chihara fanned out her hand and then immediately tossed down one of her cards. "I summon Moke Moke(300/100) in defense mode and place two cards face down behind it. End turn!"

Shiro's left eye twitched at the sight of Chihara's monster. It was about a foot tall, pink, a rectangle with closed eyes, and had tiny wings. Not to mention its abysmal scores and the fact that it had no effect. "What the…why would she use a worthless monster like that? Any thoughts Harrison?"

Harrison briefly adjusted his glasses as he looked at Moke Moke, which looked either adorable or ridiculous depending on the point of view. "So, she really is still using that deck. This will be a difficult duel for Sanzo."

"Wait a second…a difficult duel for Sanzo? From a girl that tiny who runs monsters that tiny and pathetic? Am I missing something here?" Harrison responded by pushing his foot a bit down on Shiro's back, effectively shutting the Osiris Red up.

"You're missing the big picture, which is why you're an Osiris Red. Your dueling skills are there, but you lack tactical ability and knowledge of opposing strategies. If you had those you'd at least be Yellow and know that a Moke Moke Deck can be devastating if used right. And Chihara is very good at using it." Shiro went silent and stared at the monster, shocked that such a tiny pathetic monster could make Harrison worry about Sanzo's chances.

Sanzo drew and slapped down his card. "Elemental Hero Sparkman(1600/1400) is my first choice of monster!"

The blue and yellow armored hero took to the field and struck a pose, ready for action. Once it was in play Sanzo took another card out of his hand and slipped it into his duel disk. "Meet the newest upgrade to my deck, Spark Battle Rifle!"

A black rifle with a blade at the bottom formed and Sparkman grabbed it up, placing the stock against his shoulder and aiming at Moke Moke. Chihara blinked at the new weapon in surprise. "Spark Battle Rifle? What happened to Spark Gun?"

"That equip is outdated and Sparkman is ready to move on, so that's where Spark Battle Rifle comes in. It grants Sparkman a bonus of five hundred attack points as well as letting him change a monster's mode five times before being destroyed. So, Spark Shift!"

Sparkman pressed a button on the side of the gun and lightning jumped from the bottom blade, striking the little pink angel. The angel shrieked and opened its eyes, switching into attack mode. "That's an impressive equip…"

"It is indeed. Sparkman, attack with Spark Assault!" Sparkman squeezed the trigger and a barrage of bullets shot from the gun. They peppered the pink rectangle and blew him apart, the particles flying all in Chihara's face. (CLP: 2200)

Once the dust settled Chihara snapped her little left arm out and over one of her two set cards which flipped up, dispelling the dust. "Continuous trap card activates, Human Wave Tactics! During my end phase I get to special summon a number of level two or lower normal monsters from my deck equal to the number of the same type that were destroyed during this turn."

Sanzo narrowed his eyes and looked down at the card on the right. If his guess was right then he was going to be in trouble shortly. "Is that all?"

"Not quite, I also get to activate my other set card, Instant Replay which works as the last card I played. In other words for this turn it's counted as being Human Wave Tactics!" Sanzo grimaced, realizing that he had guessed right. During her end phase she'd get two new monsters, just as he had feared.

"I set one card face down and end my turn." A card appeared behind Sparkman, and then Chihara's deck whined as it spat out two new cards. She picked them up and then slapped them down onto her duel disk.

"Using my Human Wave Tactics and my Instant Replay I special summon two Moke Moke(300/100) to the field!" Two of the pink rectangular angels appeared, hovering in mid-air over her field.

Chihara reached for her deck and drew, putting her hand at four cards. "I summon Venus, Angel of Creation(1600/0)!"

A blue skinned angel descended onto the field, her wings extended outwards. Floating in a circle around her were three little glowing spheres. Shiro frowned, recognizing the monster for once. "Now I pay a thousand life points according to its effect to special summon two Holy Shine Spheres(500/500) to the field!" (CLP: 1200)

Next she snapped up one of the other three cards in her hand and Venus began to sing in an angelic voice. "Song of Angels increases my life points by fifteen hundred provided I have an angel sub-type monster in play." (CLP: 2700)

Moving along she placed one of her two remaining cards into her duel disk and an image of a puffed up and angry looking Moke Moke appeared. "Continuous magic card, Moke Moke Smackdown activates! And now, Venus attacks Sparkman!"

Shiro blinked in surprise and opened his mouth to ask the obvious question but was silenced when Harrison bent down and clamped his hand over Shiro's mouth. "Before you ask, it's because of that continuous magic card. If an angel sub-type is destroyed all Moke Moke in play are set at three thousand attack points."

Sanzo grimaced as his Sparkman fired a few rounds into Venus' chest, blasting her apart. Even as the damage was taken out of Chihara's life points Sanzo knew what was coming. "Not good." (CLP: 2200)

"Now, both of my Moke Mokes reach three thousand attack points. Moke Moke, attack his Sparkman!" Both of them puffed up, growing to a much larger size and looking positively furious. Then the one on the left charged forwards, only to be stopped by a crackling barrier.

"Hero Barrier negates one attack as long as I have a hero in play, which I do. Your attack is canceled." Looking miffed the little angel floated back to Chihara's side of the field, and then the other angry Moke Moke charged.

"My second Moke Moke will crush your Sparkman!" Moke Moke smashed directly into Sparkman, plowing him over and sending him flying into the bottom section of the stands. (SLP: 3100)

"Now that the path is cleared, both of my Holy Shine Spheres will attack your life points directly!" The two shining spheres spun in a circle and blue light shot out of the middle of their flying circle, striking Sanzo in the chest and making him take two steps backwards. Smoke rose from his slightly burnt Obelisk Blue blazer. (SLP: 2100)

As the two sphere stopped spinning her two Moke Mokes shrank down in size, returning to a much more normal position and to their original pathetic attack points. "I set one card face down and end my turn."

Sanzo drew and then reached for a different card. "Go, Warrior Returning Alive! This magic card lets me pick up one warrior sub-type monster from my cemetery and add it to my hand, and I choose Sparkman!"

He took the Sparkman that his grave offered up and then placed it onto his duel disk, causing the familiar light hero to appear. "That's not all, because I just drew a magic card that will grant Sparkman all new powers. Go, Metamorphosis!"

As soon as he plugged the card into his deck his Sparkman started glowing and when the bubble of light that formed around it shattered an all new monster had appeared. It wore almost the exact same suit as Sparkman, but its fists were covered by heavy gauntlets with what looked like blasters attached at the wrist, and it was much more muscular. "Special summoned from my fusion deck only by Metamorphosis, this is Elemental Hero Spark Soldier(2100/1400)!"

Shiro whistled, impressed with the brand new upgraded super hero. "I didn't know his monsters could evolve like that. So he can fuse new heroes and upgrade all of his heroes. That's pretty cool."

Harrison nodded, experienced in facing the Elemental Heroes. "Yes, they are versatile, but not without weaknesses. For instance the fact that individually the Elemental Heroes tend to be weak, and without support they are nothing. It is a rare duelist who can use them effectively like Sanzo does."

Sanzo smiled, his teeth glinting as he brushed that lock of hair out of his eyesight. "Spark Soldier, attack and destroy Chihara's Holy Shine Sphere!"

Spark Soldier raised his right arm and fired a bolt of lightning out of the barrels on his hand. But Chihara was ready, and she triggered her set card, causing a shield to appear on her arm and absorb the hit. "Draining Shield negates your attack and increases my life points by the attack power of your monster." (CLP: 4300)

Despite the negation and her gain of life points Sanzo didn't seem worried; in fact he seemed to be enjoying himself. "You're as good as ever, but for your Moke Moke Smackdown to work you have to have one of your angels destroyed, and you can only do that while I have an attack mode monster. So…Spark Soldier activates his effect!"

Electricity crackled over the soldier's body and he knelt down to one knee, crossing his arms over his chest. "Spark Soldier can change the mode of any monster in play, but he can only do it to an individual monster once per turn. So I just used it on him to put him in defense mode."

Grinning he placed one of his two hand cards into his duel disk and then folded his own arms over his chest. "Turn End."

Chihara drew and frowned, realizing exactly the sort of situation she was in. 'Sanzo is an excellent duelist. He knows that I can't break through his defense and is counting on that. And because his monster can switch my monster's modes…'

"I have to pass this turn. End." Sanzo smirked, satisfied that his plan had worked out perfectly. He drew and his smirk broadened at the sight.

"Perfect. Elemental Hero Clayman(800/2000) in attack mode!" A brown warrior made out of clay appeared, its body parts shaped like circles and its bulk much greater than that of Spark Soldier.

"Next I'll throw in his upgraded equip card, Mud Max Tank, which boosts his attack by four hundred and his defense by eight hundred!" Clayman jumped into the air and then landed in what looked like a go-cart with a big cannon strapped to the front. He grabbed the wheel and the tires began to squeal.

"Manually I switch Spark Soldier into attack mode, and then he'll take out Holy Shine Sphere!" Spark Soldier stood up straight and then fired a blast of lightning from his gun-gauntlet, shattering the tiny little sphere and moving on to strike Chihara. (CLP: 1700)

"Now, Clayman attacks the remaining Holy Shine Sphere!" Clayman hit the peddle and zoomed across the field, crashing into the sphere and sending it flying back into Chihara's chest where it promptly exploded, taking away another chunk of her life points. (CLP: 1000)

Confidently Sanzo snapped his arm out to the side and Spark Soldier aimed its gun-gauntlet at Clayman. "Spark Soldier activates his effect, switching Clayman and himself into defense mode!"

Both Elemental Heroes moved into defense, the biggest difference for Clayman being that he couldn't crouch down so merely placed his hands over his broad chest. "End Turn!"

Chihara drew and then held up her drawn card. "Pot of Greed now lets me draw two cards."

She drew twice and then slipped one of them into her duel disk. "Go, Awakening from the Floor of Death! This magic card lets me pick up a monster from my cemetery and add it to my hand at a cost of letting you draw two cards. So the first Moke Moke returns to me."

While she picked up her chosen monster Sanzo reached for his deck and drew twice, restoring his empty size to at least a usable size. "Go, Polymerization! I fuse the two Moke Moke on my field with the Moke Moke in my hand to create King Moke Moke(300/100)!"

The new monster was a humongous blue Moke Moke which filled up most of Chihara's half of the arena field. As soon as it was in play Chihara held up her remaining card. "Angelic Sacrifice lets me tribute one angel sub-type on my field to draw one card for every two of its levels. Despite looks King Moke Moke is a level six, so I sacrifice him to draw three cards."

The huge monster blew apart and Chihara drew three times. But then one by one the pink little Moke Moke appeared on her field until all three were there. "When King Moke Moke is removed from my field, any Moke Moke in my cemetery is special summoned into play."

She grinned at the sight of one of the cards she had just drawn and gave Sanzo a good look at it. "Touch of the Mystic gives me four hundred life points for every monster in play, which just so happens to be five!" (CLP: 3000)

Again she placed a card into her duel disk and all of a sudden her Moke Moke began to grow stronger until each one had an attack strength of nine hundred. "Moke Moke Heart gives each of my Moke Moke two hundred attack points for every angel sub-type on the field."

Sanzo didn't seem worried, since both of his monsters had greater defense and she couldn't break through that. "So, what now?"

"Now? Now I activate Mighty Guard Swap, which moves all monsters on the field with more than a thousand attack points into attack mode and lets the opposing player of the controller draw one card for each." Sanzo frowned as both of his monsters returned to attack mode and Chihara drew twice.

Grinning she slapped a new card onto her duel disk and an orange sphere with big eyes and wings appeared. "Happy Lover(800/500) comes out and attacks Clayman!"

The little orange ball with wings flapped its way over to Clayman only to get swatted out of the sky by one big fist. It crashed to the ground and blew apart. "Now all three of my Moke Moke reach three thousand attack points, and then gain an additional six hundred!" (CLP: 2600)

All three Moke Moke puffed up into extra large size, their attack points shooting up to thirty-six hundred across the board. Shiro nearly choked on his tongue at the sight of those three tiny monsters now so powerful. "Moke Moke, attack Spark Soldier!"

The behemoth angel slammed its rectangular bulk into Spark Soldier, squashing him flat and ripping through Sanzo's life points. He felt a sharp pain in his side and winced, finally feeling the effects of the Darkness Game. "Lucky choice for me…" (SLP: 600)

Moke Moke number two charged and flopped down on Clayman, squishing him just like Spark Soldier had been squashed. It hopped backwards and Chihara flashed a victory sign. "The win this time is on me!" (SLP: 300)

She blinked when she saw that his life points weren't at zero, and then noticed that his set card was now gone. "What did you do?"

"I used my trap card, Soul Union, which granted Clayman the attack power of one E-Hero in the cemetery. In this case I gave it the 2100 attack points of Spark Soldier. So when it was killed it had thirty-three hundred attack." Chihara scowled, realizing that she had missed her kill, but brightened when she realized she had one more monster.

"Moke Moke the third, attack and destroy his life points! Win me the duel!" It loomed above Sanzo, ready to drop, but then suddenly a blue armored hero jumped out of nowhere and the Moke Moke flopped down on it.

"Sorry Chihara, but when you killed Clayman you activated the effect of Mud Max Tank. When it goes to the cemetery while equipped I get to special summon a hero from my hand, so before you attacked I special summoned Elemental Hero Bubbleman(800/1200) in defense mode."

Chihara snapped her fingers, disappointed at missing out on the kill. Sanzo wasn't done however, as he was reaching for his deck. "Because my field was empty when Bubbleman was summoned I get to draw two cards from my deck."

With a sigh Chihara slid one of her two remaining cards into her duel disk, letting it appear face down behind her three Moke Moke which now reduced to nine hundred a piece. "I end my turn, and then using Human Wave Tactics I special summon another Happy Lover(800/500) this one in defense mode."

Sanzo drew a card for the start of his turn, giving him four total in hand. Yet there was no telling if that was going to be enough, as he was in a bad position with far fewer life points than his opponent. "Chihara, this duel is just as fun as always. You're a deadly opponent and I enjoy it whenever we meet on the field. But sorry, you've sided with the villain so that makes you a villain yourself!"

He grabbed two of his cards and placed them into his duel disk, causing them to go face down. Then he slapped one of his two remaining ones onto his duel disk. "Elemental Hero Featherman(1000/1000) in attack mode!"

The avian green suited hero appeared and flapped his wings, ready to attack at a moment's notice. "Next I activate my last magic card, Coins From Heaven! We now both draw until we're holding six cards!"

Both of them reached for their decks and began drawing. Chihara drew five cards while Sanzo himself drew six. From his spot on the ground Shiro crossed his fingers, hoping for the best. 'Come on Sanzo, I know you can beat this guy! You beat me even when I was using a professional level deck, so you can take down this shrimp who runs shrimps!'

Harrison watched the duel calmly, considering what he could think of for Sanzo's options. He wasn't worried at all though. 'Our wins and losses against each other stand currently even, and I know I can beat her. So if I can, then you can defeat her as well. Lose and you're far from a hero Sanzo Uzumaki.'

Once he had all six of his cards Sanzo pointed to one of his face down cards, causing it to flip up. "Since it was a normal magic card I set I can now use it. And my card is Magic Shard Excavation, which allows me to discard two cards from my hand to pick up a magic card from my cemetery!"

He took two cards from his hand and shoved them into his cemetery slot. Then he accepted the card that slid right back out for him. He held it out for Chihara to see, revealing it. "Once again I activate Metamorphosis; this time my target is Featherman. And by sacrificing him I can special summon his enhanced self!"

Featherman gave a battle cry and smooth reflective armor closed over his wings and his chest, then strapped over his arms giving him extended claws. Then finally a helmet snapped tight over his head, giving him optic vision. "Meet Elemental Hero Feather Avenger(1000/1000)!"

Chihara blinked, surprised at the stats she saw. Although it looked impressive its stats weren't. "So you sacrificed your Featherman for a monster with some spiffy power armor and the same stats? I don't follow."

Sanzo smirked and held up another card from his hand. "Let's take care of that face down threat, with my Right Justice magic card! Since I have one E-Hero on the field I can take out one magic or trap card, and my choice is that set card!"

Her face down card shook and then blew apart; she grimaced and picked it up and out of her duel disk. 'Well there goes another Draining Shield.'

Once her card was completely gone he flipped over one of his next cards, which showed an image of an ankh on it. "This card is a familiar one to all duelists, it's Monster Reborn! And thanks to it I can call back a monster in my graveyard, and my choice is the monster I just discarded!"

The monster that appeared on his field was a short kid with purple hair wearing what looked like a space suit. "Meet Hero Kid(300/600), who when special summoned lets me special summon all copies of him in my deck to the field. So meet the other two!"

Two more identical monsters formed next to the little purple haired hero. "And what's the point of multiplying their numbers? They can't beat any of my monsters at all."

"The point is just to boost the number of monsters on my field. I reveal my set card, another normal magic card called Feather Shot! For every monster on my field at activation one Featherman on my field can attack once, though he can't attack directly any of those times." Chihara scratched the back of her head, one eyebrow lifted.

"I hate to break it to you, but not only is that monster too weak to do anything even with four attacks, but he's also not Featherman so he doesn't qualify for your magic card." In response to that Sanzo smirked and watched as Feather Avenger readied his metal claws, which began to superheat.

"Guess again, because Feather Avenger is counted as Featherman and its special effect is that it can attack directly under any circumstance. Meaning it now gets four direct attacks! Feather Vengeance Strike!" Chihara screamed as Feather Avenger flew right past her four monsters and slashed across the chest once, twice, and then finished it with one strong third strike. She fell to the ground, unconscious. (CLP: 0)

Sanzo felt his body relax as the holograms faded and the Darkness Game came to an end. Across the room the door swung open, granting them entrance to the next room. "Chihara, when you wake up your Punishment Game is that you're going to have to do a karaoke in front of the entire school when you graduate. Till then, have a nice nap."

He picked up his cards from his disk and his graveyard then shuffled them together with his deck before placing it into his pocket and deactivating his duel disk. "Let's get going you guys."

As they walked through the door the lights behind them dimmed, and suddenly Sanzo fell to one knee, grabbing his chest and coughing violently. Shiro rushed to his side and put a hand on his back. "You okay man?"

The Hero Saint shook his head, his entire body shaking. "That duel took more out of me than I guessed. It didn't seem that physically draining, but now that it's done I feel like I've got no energy left."

Harrison stopped at their side and continued to look into the next room. "Shiro, help Sanzo walk. I have experience in Darkness Games, so I'll take the next one, and then if as I suspect there's one more before the final room you can take that one. That will allow Sanzo to recover; meaning one of the two of us will be ready for whoever is in the last room."

Shiro looped an arm around Sanzo's shoulders and helped him stand, then gave Harrison a nod. "Don't worry; I'll beat whoever they set me up with. But uh…how's Tobias doing this? I thought the Paranormal Suppression Squad controlled the building."

The Dark Prince frowned, adjusting his glasses absently. "I've been considering that myself, and honestly I have no answer. All I can say is that I think I know what Tobias is trying to do. He's trying to stall us so he can get his hands on the Xanadu Equation from Mizuki."

Shiro and Sanzo gave him a blank look, which he didn't return. When he started walking Sanzo reached out weakling and spoke. "What's the Xanadu Equation?"

Harrison stopped at the end of the hall and then looked back over his shoulder. "There's no time to explain. We have to get through here and the next room as quickly as possible, or there's no telling what Tobias will do."

Together they began to walk into the room, moving slightly slower because of Sanzo. Shiro clenched his free right hand and felt it shake, whether from fear or determination he couldn't tell. 'Mizuki…don't worry, I won't lose. I'll help the best I can to save you!'

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Author's Note: That was fun. I'd like to thank Agent of the Divine One for providing the idea for a karaoke Punishment Game, which I found particularly amusing.

Next Time: He has come this far even without knowing why. The others knew their reasons for coming, but Harrison has questioned his own. Perhaps it is pure dislike of those that have taken over Duelist Academy, or maybe it is something deeper. One way or another Harrison will show the fools who stand in his way that he is an avenger!

See it all in, The Avenger's Reason!