Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds Hero's Call

by Astro157

Konami Yamu is just your typical duelist next door, who tries his best to get by the day, but somehow always seem to sub-consciously and unremittingly pull a following 'Danger' by the leash. As his future becomes more unclear as it upholds, can Konami take on these growling hounds with the willing help of Yusei and friends, without repeating the same tragedy long ago? T 4 Lang/Viol

25. One Answer, A Ton Of Responsibility

Hello all, and welcome to another chapter of Hero's Call!

Disclaimer: *Sigh* What's the point? Oh yeah, to not get in trouble. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!TM, only Jinx, The Black Widow, the green Alien Girl, Dave (RIP), Zee, and all the non-canon participants for the Fortune Cup. Is that all? Probably not. Oh, and the extra plot (again, if it's original somehow, which I hope it is, otherwise I'll be spending some time behind bars or something like that...)

!REVIEW TIME!

K-316:

And it's 'bout dang time too! Lol

Yuu Sumeragi:

Lmao! You probably wouldn't believe me when I say this, but while I thought of making up the names of those characters, my mind completely overlooked that MIA dude. I totally forgot that his name was Waldo as well, and it didn't occur to me on how coincidental I may have replicated it until I actually read your review. Wow, I'm really delayed. Next you'll probably wondering why is one of my OCs being addressed as William Afton the Purple Guy. You probably don't even know what I'm talking about, since honesty, FNaF is not for everyone... yet *smirks deviously*. Wonderful series though...

!REVIEW TIME!

Anyway, enough rambling. It's time once again to Shoot for the Stars!

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Arc 02

Chapter 25

One Answer, A Ton Of Responsibility

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"Gosh, this is so boring!" A whine was heard through the confines of the backseats, the suited man flinched in surprise.

"I-I'm sorry miss, do you want me to change course?"

"What's the use?" She pouted with crossed arms. "There's nothing ominous going on lately around New Domino. No dark forces, no death, no nothing!"

"Urm..." He sweatdropped. No matter how many times this scenary replays in similar fashions, usance will never grasp him by the needing hand. Why can't she be normal like any other typical rich spoilt kid around the world? Even her appearance screamed... well, screamed, cause her gothic, dark creepiness was literally screaming a yell of weirdness.

Always asking him why wasn't there anything deadly around to play with. Always ending up at the cemetary-

"Take me to the cemetary, pronto! Otherwise I'll die out of boredom!" She groaned exasperatingly.

See what he meant!? The driver sighed heavily. If only she did die out of boredom, then his life didn't need to be so moody. But then again, he wouldn't be having this job if that would be the end result. Maybe typical rich brats would've been a change for the better compared to this. If only...

"Wait!" She yelled, pulling the string on his foot as it hit the break bar. "What's that!?"

He looked at her almost annoyingly, then out the window she was staring toward. "What is it?" He questioned confusingly. "I don't see anything, miss. Your eyes are probably playing tricks on yo-" then, his orbs fell in a puddle of shock, his jaw gaping unceremoniously.

In the clear blue sky that his passenger had made clear numerous of times that she despised of so much, he saw the sight of a real life dragon! A real mother-effing dragon!? "What in the...!?" It's red body consisted of actual petals for flight, or so it seemed from this distance, and maybe even fur. It's pace slowly trailing a wave of slow beauty that was cutting through the contrasting air. But that was insignificant details to the young adult. The mere presence gliding by so casually was just wild and bizzare, and for a second there, the man thought his eyes were playing tricks on him as well.

But after a hard, desperate rub to them, the high-flying semblance (get it?) that he once thought was true was just an excuse which hid the actuality of the situation.

This was legit!?

"I must have drank too much last night..." He said, still in desperate need of an out. But then, how could the girl behind him be seeing it too? Was it just a coincidence?

"Follow that dragon, Andrew!"

"What now?" He looked at her, astonished by the mere mention of the idea.

"Need I repeat myself?" She glared. "Or are you that daring to gamble on a retirement slip?"

He flinched frightfully. This girl and her bratty threats. But this was what he wanted, right? A 'normal' rich girl that shoves him around to the mall and back? Sigh, he and his big mouth.

"Miss, I don't think-"

"DRIVE!"

"Y-Yes ma'am!" He slammed the pedal carelessly, taking off like a jet made for the road, which is ironic cause jets are flight vehicles.

-5Ds-

"Wait here, Andrew."

"Wait, what do you-" he almost bit his tongue, seeing the little ball of mischief shooting out of the dark, luxurious limo. "M-Miss Lara! Where are you going!? Come back here! I am suppose to keep an eye on you! Don't let me get fired, please!"

She ignored the idiot, sprinting down the dirty rubble with long, short steps. Dang her tiny youthful legs! Oh well, she was finally in the clear anyway. She kneeled down and zipped her school bag open, taking out her 'Disk'ie target. Strapping it on, the little goth slapped a card against it and watched in impatient anticipation how the monster materialized with a seemingly unmatchable growl.

"Hey there, Zerkie." She cooed, the dark skeleton-like dragon lowering it's head to be caringly soothed by it's owner. It growled in reply. "No time for pleasantries, Zerkie. It's time to take flight." She clapped beckoningly, taking her rightful place on the bumpy, but personally comfy back of the dragon, it's vapid wings flapping and gaining altitude.

In just a few powerful strikes through the normally calm wind, the two took off to the sky, the beast receiving coordinates as they moved along. "Land right there, Zerkie." She got off gracefully on the top of an abandoned edifice, petting the bigger, atrocious creature lovingly. "Good boy." She turned her attention to the sudden dispersing dragon from below, it's riders making their way through the rundown street that was the slums.

The girl watched curiously, eyeing the two red persons communicating with a bum in a pile of trash. One of them seemed rather displeased with the attitude from the middle aged man. You could say that his attitude 'stinked'.

Get it?

"So they have the power to manipulate Duel Monsters as well, huh? Interesting. I never saw them when we departed on that day, so they might be Psychics, I can only assume."

The female one Lara observed was almost on her last buttoned-up button, her ears turning bloody red, matching the color of her hair. It was almost amusing, but then the other one- the one whose face was covered up with a slightly tilted down (yes, that's how strong her eyesight was, and then some, despite her right melted chocolate orb being compensated by the sheer silky smoothness of the somewhat colorless blue bang that was her hairstyle)- suddenly stepped in and took charge of the situation.

"Hmm..." She mentally stroke her chin, watching the conversation from afar. She found herself gaining curiosity at what he was saying to the old chap, if only her ears matched her eyes. Then, as surprising as it might have been, the poor hobo stood up shakily, earning a balancing hand from the boy in red. "Huh..." Her eyes bulged abit, watching the sudden confidence striking the man in the back and sent him off with a dizzy spring in his step.

It was difficult to explicate what really happened over there, but the female from below certainly wasn't happy with it. Or the method, if she could assumed. Then, as her ears picked up the faint volume his voice had caught in it's grasp, Lara's mind registered in a blink of an eye, the surface of his voicebox seemed oddly familiar.

"Where have I heard that voice before?" Lara pondered, before in a burst of light, her eyes mimicked the shape of saucers, her mouth gaping at the comparison. "Wait, is that- can it really be him?" She looked down greedily, tilting her body almost off balance.

'That red clothing. That red hat. That VOICE! It is, isn't it!?' She tried leaning in, in an attempt for a better view, but her dragon held her back for safety.

She gave it a quick glance of confusion, but then shrugged it off and watched in a venturesome manner, as if Lara was desperately trying to grab the last spec of a glance the scene provided of him. It was all clear too her what happened just then. He helped the poor man out of his shackles and into the optimism he needed. It only made sense, right? The red male was a person who cared for others. Especially if you considered what happened to her about a month ago, how selfless he made himself out to be.

Now she finally found him. After all this time. A deviously 'innocent' curved slit formed across her face, her previous plans for today, if any, were a thing of the past, forgotten in the abyss that stared up at the new objective that ravaged her 'young' mind.

"A kind heart as a play toy? Interesting indeed. I like the idea of that."

-5Ds-

"Hold up a moment here," Carly raised her hand, "did you just say humanity is in danger? And what is this 'Ikian' thing?"

"It's my kind." She addressed the reporter, before staring at Konami. "I'm an extraterrestrial from the planet Iko. Our kind spent several years trying to locate the being that dragged us to the edge of extinction. Only a few of us remains."

"Wait, what? Are you saying you're an actual alien? Like, a creature from outta space?" Carly inquired surprisingly.

"That is correct." She nodded stoically.

"Hah!" Waldo laughed, heads turning his way. "Oh gosh, this is so rich I'm going to die of laughter!"

"You almost got me there too." Mathew chuckled, agreeing with his father. "Honestly, are you truly expecting us to believe you are an alien of all people? I mean, you don't even look like a Black Widow."

"Who is dis person dat almost killed all ah ya?" Lennod asked, curiosity bubbling to his surface just as it was with the slightly gaping Carly and the silent but intensively Konami.

"We're not sure of her identity, but I remember distinctively that she had long green hair, along with a pair of green eyes."

"Wow, how specific." Waldo rolled his eyes.

"Green hair and eyes, huh?" Konami mumbled thoughtfully, a certain file opening in his mind. It consisted of only one image, but boy, was that one image enough to go on. It could be just speculation, and probably mere coincidence since Waldo was right, unfortunately, it wasn't a lot to go on. But something in Konami's gut had reached out and snatched the beating heart of decisive logic.

The Black Widow noticed his expression. "Do you know who I speak of, Red Hat Konami?"

"I have a hunch at least." He looked up at her understanding face. But could it actually be true, if the theoretical conclusion was spot on? Yusei's friend seemed gentle enough, and Konami would even go as far to say that she was ignorant of any and all evil, maybe even good to top it off. She seemed like a neutral character, a weird, silent one, but a neutral one none the less. Could a person, or thing- quote on quote- like her actually be inclined to eliminate an entire species that seemed to have the ability to suck the souls of others to power up their death machine? Or at least, that was what he was assuming all these 'Ikian' fellows to be able to do. Then again, was the green-haired dandere really the only one who was at fault here if all of these thoughts were the true things to go by?

Killing people who could kill as well. Was that justifying? That was to say the people who were killed had been killing before their demise. But even still, that didn't seem to give the killer the right in the end. Two wrongs don't make a right is how the saying goes. It seemed like close reference to Psychics and non-Psychics, if killing wasn't involved though, which Konami was anything but aware of the plausible idea. I mean, Rosy might be cold, but she didn't seem ice enough to set water on the fire of others. So said the person who had no clue of whether or not that was true.

Digress aside, Red Hat stared back right into the woman's eyes in wonder, questions that should have been the first priorities had finally cut in line to regain their rightful place. "So let me get this straight, your kind's trying to kill somone that slaughtered most of you guys, but are also sucking and taking the lives of others to power up a machine that will end the world as we know it. Is that how the story goes?"

"Yes," she looked away, almost ashamed, or probably was, they couldn't tell due to her eyes being hidden by her sudden change of direction, "but-"

"And you need my help to, what, take out you guys before armageddon happens?"

"Y-Yes..."

"But then, where does this green-haired girl come in? And why are you trying to eliminate mankind of all things? Did this green-haired girl provoked you all to go sadistic on us or were you crazy in the head beforehand?"

"I..." She tried to figure out what point in her mental graph she had to start on. "Our- Their initial objective was to avenge their- our fallen people, but since a few of us had been eliminated by Earthling duelists during our arrival here, our- t-their mindsight changed and are now planning to eradicate everyone of you as well... along with the green murderer."

"Why were you ejecting and inserting yourself into your supposed circle of aliens?" Mathew squinted his eyes. "It's almost as if you are trying to account for your involvement in all of it."

"Does it even matter?" His father spoke. "This is just a bunch of polony talk. Why are we even listening to this? Stop wasting our time already. If you're not going to buy anything, then I'm afraid I'm gonna ask you to leave. You're already trespassing as it is! Or should I remind you of the 'Closed' sign?"

"W-Well I-" she tried to say, but Konami chirped disruptively.

"Listen, Mr. Waldo was it? I know it's not my place to say, especially since this is your property, apparently, but could you please zip it so that the lady can explain herself before you decide to rudely treat her like she has no right to objectify in the first place?"

Said owner just blinked at the boy, surprised at the reply, but soon furrowed a boiling temple inside of himself. "I don't think you have the right to speak to me like that in my own store, kid. Especially when I'm the oldest between us!"

"And I applaud you for being a middle-age man. So do us all a favor and place that age difference trophy up on your shelf somewhere while we try to wrap this up, okay?"

"W-Why you little-!"

"Let us finish dis, sonny. I promise if ya do so, I will stop scaring da custom-ahs wit da troot, k?"

Waldo grimaced at Konami, who returned it with boredom pasted on his face.

"Fine! Make it quick!" And so he left, leaving the obscenity to carry on in his back room for a while longer.

Mathew on the other hand stayed, as he seemed to be intrigued by the tales they shared, no matter how fake it may or may not sound.

"Okay, now where were we?" Konami pondered. "You explained the backstory to us a bit, so, let's continue with the obvious. Why need my help though? What am I capable of that anyone else is not? And while we at it, how do you know who I am, and how did you even find us? Seems a bit skeptical if you ask me."

"Yes, well..." She trailed off. "I may have been spying on you for a while. But I assure you, I mean no harm in doing so. You see, while giving our machine energy, we also gain more strength to scan our surroundings for duelists with stronger Duel Auras, and apparently this green-haired being has an immense aura. Each individual Ikian has their own level of prowess. The more energy we get, the better we can pick up stronger duelists, and I just so happened to have a specific amount that detected yours, Konami."

"That's great n all," Konami was almost flattered by the compliment, if it weren't for the still unanswered question lingering through his head, "but that still doesn't answer why you would choose me amongst even better duelist."

"Yeah," Carly nodded, "wouldn't Jack Atlas be a better choice?"

Konami stared dully. "Gee, thanks for the confirmation."

"Jack who now?" The Black Widow tilted her head.

"Wah! Are you seriously telling me that you don't know Jack Atlas!?" Carly hyped up in astonishment, shocked beyond her wildest dreams. "I know you're from outta space, if everything you said were true, but how could your sensors not pick up Jack of all people? Or maybe his are on a whole 'nother level, I supoose."

"Well, maybe, but our radars don't collect the identity of duelists, only the auras. He might have been overlooked if I did pick him up."

"Overlooked? Why would you do that?!"

"Because," She turned to Konami, "Red Hat Konami has the energy of our predator."

"Me?" He looked skeptical. "You mean I have the aura of the green girl?"

"Yes," she nodded, "though it's small and underlapping your own, the spec of it is actually very recognizable despite all that because her murderous aura was engraved in our memory during that horrible day." She looked down with a shiver, a shiver of reminiscence from the treacherous moment that was witnessed through her own eyes. She tightened her fists a bit, a slight hint of anger escaping their grip. The supposed 'Ikian' was speaking so casually about the deaths and lives of her fallen fellow Ikian members, and only now her teeth were mentally grinding for release, her tight balls attached to her wrists drooling for an outlet. It sickened her a bit, but due to all that she had to endure, she wouldn't put it pass her as just a forgettable trait of hers.

A soft scream ran through the Black Widow's head, her eyes clenching with emotion as the familiar cry starved for vengence.

Vengence, which was a thing of the past. Her eyes were aiming for the future. And Konami stared right back at her with a bit of concern through his narrowed orbs.

He would have asked her if everything was okay, but that was unnecessary, especially if he knew now what she had to live through, and what she carried on her shoulders. It was tough, he could only assume, but it was difficult for him to grasp the emotion labeled 'sympathy' in a thorough manner.

He truly couldn't say he knew how difficult it might have been to watch your own species hang on a thread above the pit of extinction, so Konami couldn't blame himself. Also, as much as he was open minded to unnatural occurrences, he couldn't just believe everything that came out of her mouth. For all he knew, she was playing him, probably to gain a particular objective. But it wasn't to say that Red Hat was not open to consider.

Deciding to break the tension, Konami opened his mouth. "So you say I have a piece of her, or glimpse to be more specific, inside of my duel aura, and that makes me exceptional, why again?". He wondered why he had her aura inside of his as well, but Konami simply dismissed it due to that one particular moment when he was literally shocked by the girl. He assumed scientific explanations were just going too far too deep.

The Black Widow stared up at him. "Because it's technically impossible to have two auras of different kinds as a whole."

"Different kinds?" It felt like he was going to need to open a notepad for this.

"Yeah. To make it short, she doesn't have a duel aura, which means she never dueled before. So since you have her aura mixed into yours, you're definitely an exception."

"Why though? I don't get it. What does this have to do with me being an exception to stop the Ikians?"

"Because her aura is what depleted our abilities as Ikians in the first place. Her destruction on our planet was inevitable since our powers to absorb souls were not affected by hers."

"Since she didn't have a duel aura?"

"Exactly... I know all of this might sound farfetched and unbelievable, but trust me, it's all true."

Konami sighed, taking a rest to assimilate all the built up information in his memory bank. "So..." He took a moment to search for a point to continue from. "How am I suppose to stop the Ikians? Murder them? And what about you though? Are you on the same train? And why even inform us of this? Are you questioning your kind's methods on handling the green girl?"

"...Yes." She looked down with dread. "I told them by absorbing the auras of others, we still wouldn't be able to avenge the fallen. But they wouldn't listen, deciding to gain enough energy to obliterate the entire planet as a whole after ejecting themselves from it, expecting our assailant to suffocate in the vacuum of space."

"So you want me to kill them but not you, which I can only assume had absorbed duel auras as well?"

"T-That's only because I was forced to!" She waved her hands in front of her. "They threatened to end me if I went against them."

"Killing others so that you may survive, huh? How noble of you." He crossed his arms, his eyes showing disgust. "And you still expect me to help you?"

"I..." She trailed off, clutching her eyes away from his viewpoint. "P-Please, you got to understand, I had no choice in the matter. They... t-they..."

"They what?" He shot angrily, making her flinch in retreat at the sudden anger leaking from his voice. "C'mon, you can tell me! You already spilled the beans on your plans, so why not give me another fucking excuse to justify your damn means!" He was almost at the brink of snapping. The nerve of her! If what she said was really true, then Terence... Terence is gone... His friend was fucking murdered, along with other innocent lives, and she expected her life to be more important and worth saving than theirs!?

Divine and she could shake hands for all he cared.

"...they tortured me." She rolled up her sleeves, showing the hideous abomination that was the severe scratches and bruises of all different colors. It was like her arm was used as a canvas for a blade. "All over my body. They threatened to keep me in a never ending cycle of torment. I-I-I j-just..." She sobbed, "...I-I just couldn't keep it together..." She fell down, drowning herself in a puddle of tears, breaking down in her hands, covering her already revealed past. "I-I just couldn't..."

Carly became tied in a chamber of sympathy, her heart aching at the image of each and every scar that she saw.

Mathew had the audacity to keep quiet.

Konami kept his eyes locked on her being, his narrowing eyebrows twitching to break it's facade. He finally sighed deeply, his heart caving in. How pathetic, he couldn't even stay mad at a murderer. Red Hat couldn't even stay mad, or even become mad, at a less gruesome, female version of 'The Punisher', obeying and following the unforgiving orders of Divine, so maybe it was to be expected. Still, proper justification was nowhere to be found in any of this.

He stood up, strolled, and got down on one knee with a gentle hand on her shoulder. Her sobbing slowed down to sniffles, then, for a while, she wiped the sorrow off her face.

"I-I know what I did was not right, and I'll understand if you're not willing to accept my supposed 'innocence', but please..." She dared to look up at him, right in his eyes, "...you have to stop the Ikians from succeeding before it's too late! You have to, otherwise more innocent lives will be taken, and after witnessing so many deaths, even by my own hands, the last thing I want is for others to die. Even her..."

Konami rubbed his hand on her back, soothing her worries a bit. He sighed again. "Tell me how do I stop all of this from happening?"

"You'll need to duel and defeat each and every Ikian. It will release the souls of the duelists they absorbed, and once no more souls are left in the machine, it will be destroyed, and all of this will be over."

Konami nodded in understanding. His responsibility becoming more clear and obvious as daylight. It had proof behind it as well. Jaden being magically produced out of thin air should be enough. So all he needed to do was to defeat Zee to get his friend back, right?

And due to him having this aura from Yusei's little green friend combined with his own, his soul wouldn't be taken in the end. That's how it should go, right? It was one of the reasons she came to him of all people, correct? All he had to do though was to not die during or after the duels. Konami could still remember how pissed off Hikari was due to her jacket taking the Psychic/Shadow Duel damage from Dave, so a physical beatdown should be expected.

"You do realize you're involved in it too, right?"

"I know, and I'm willing to give my life up, if only to repent for my sins."

He stared at her uneasy gaze, her glossy, troubled eyes puffy of it's flooding moment. "Okay, I guess that's about it then." He stood up, stretching the tightness out of his muscles.

"Wait, just like that?" Mathew asked. "So you really going through with this? What if it's a trap? And how are you going to take on a whole army without any help?"

Konami shrugged. "We'll just have to see where the road leads me." He took a glance at the reporter's stoic silence. "Carly, do us all a favor and keep this information in the circle, okay?"

"What? Why?!" She asked, utterly upset at the idea.

"Then don't." He turned away. "I'm not going to force you, I was only trying to have you consider saving your image and job from complete annihilation." He began to make his way out of the room, just as Waldo came in, his mouth hanging in mid air. The man's intentions were to give everyone a big scowl and a one way ticket to the front door, well, only the univited guests that is, since his patience had finally run out. Unfortunately, Konami beat him to it.

'Damn kid!' He glared deadly at the exiting redness, followed by the female with glasses, and then a dismissing bow from the Black Widow.

"Wait, what do you mean 'save my career'? Are you implying I'll be fired by breaking the boundaries that is the limit of everyone's understanding on extraterrestrials? This will even be a huge breakthrough for mankind as a whole. Area Fifty One might even congratulate me on a job well done."

"Carly, not only are you ignorant, you're also a fool, which is technically the same thing." He shook his head, opening the passenger's door to her van. "Don't you get it? If you're going to do a news reel on this, then you got to have proof, otherwise people might think you crazy, especially if you're going to try to reveal such a scoop on a large scale."

"B-But I have The Black Widow as a witness!"

"A culprit is more like it. And I doubt she'll go along with your plans on spreading the truth to the minds of people who don't know any better. Besides, two nutshells don't necessarily make a whole nutshell."

"I... b-but..." She stuttered, fuming a storm as she groaned in defeat. "Fine! But if I see any supernatural phenomenon that cannot be discount as just a mere fashion show, then I'm coming clean with all of this. And there's nothing you can say, or do that will change my mind! The public has a right to know after all."

"Whatever you say." He rolled his eyes, already tired after such a sudden displacement of weight on his shoulders. He was use to being involved in such things at Duel Academy, and having the world be in grave danger wasn't all that new to him in the slightest. But still, all of that was a while ago, and for his mind to be expected to hold that heavy of a load so suddenly would be blasphemous.

But then again, almost everything in his life was blasphemous. He sighed, noticing the approaching form of the Widow.

"Here." She held out an ear piece to him, confusing the teen.

"What's that for?"

"So that I may guide you to the Ikians with my voice. Regardless of how strong our Duel Auras are, we can still sense each other no matter how far we are. As long as we're on the same planet though."

"Oh. That's convenient, I guess." He took the piece, placing it in his ear so that it was ready to be used when the time came. "...I-"

"That is to say, only if you're ready." She intervened, expecting him to explain how busy he might have been prior to all of this.

"Right." He nodded, appreciating her patience. He had a schedule to get to after all, but even still, making room to save the world would be advisable at least. But then again, Zee was part of his prepared schedule, and Terence was somewhere inside of that lunatic, so two birds were going to be hit with one stone regardless.

Next stop: The Kaiba Dome.

-5Ds-

"That was some quick thinking there, Simon." Yusei stared at his hand in the process, then the field. He had one card in hand, no monsters, and two face-downs, one of them being Scrap-Iron Scarecrow. Whereas with his blue headed opponent, Sabersaurus still stood firm as a growling rock, and a single card clutched in his hand along with no face-downs to back the dinosaur up when needed. It would've been safe to assume that Yusei had the advantage, especially in Life Points.

-Life Points-

Yusei- 4000

Simon- 3000

-Life Points-

And that was true though, for the meantime. In a duel, anything could happen, and judging by how well Simon was doing on his own, he was far from being exhausted in terms of arsenal wise.

His last duel was a eye opener for anyone that thought less of him, and right now, that was the last thing Yusei would want to overlook.

"You done there, Yusei?" Simon raised a brow. "You can't be taking that long to end your turn. I mean, you have one card left in your hand."

"My bad. I had meant to end it sooner."

"Then it's my turn then. Draw!" He revved a card almost greedily, adding a second puzzle to his collection.

Turn Nine- Simon

"Alright." He glanced at his options, then at Yusei's field. 'His Scarecrow's a persistent little fella, ain't it? How annoying. I gotta get rid of it as soon as possible. But I have nothing at the moment, so I don't have much to do though.'. "I end my turn."

"It seems Simon's passing his turn on without any plays, ladies and gentlemen! Though I don't blame him, Yusei still has his trap card waiting to be sprung after all!"

Yusei nodded in acceptance. "Seems to me that we need to regroup with what we have, huh Simon?"

"So it seems." He sighed, furrowing to himself.

"Their hands are practically empty. I guess they have to build up the bricks again and try to knock the opposing castle down with decisiveness." Hikari glanced at the two thoughtfully, seeing Yusei's eyes scanning his drawn card.

Turn Ten- Yusei

"Makes sense, considering how reckless they played their hands so far." Greiger asserted with crossed arms. "But if you really look closely, Yusei has a good advantage at his disposal. He just mustn't screw it up."

Hikari nodded, although, she knew he couldn't see her do so.

"Alright, I think I'll increase my monster count on the field if you don't mind." Yusei snatched a card from his left, and slapped it in place. "But just in case you were expecting otherwise, no, it'll be in defense position for the time being."

"Figures." Simon shook his head. "I knew you relied on Synchro Monsters, Yusei, but having no Deck Monsters you can rely on for an attack? That's a bit sad if you ask me."

Yusei almost smiled at this. "Oh, is that how you view the value of my deck?"

"Unfortunately, yes." He stared boredly.

"You'll be surprised though," he frowned once more, "how wrong you might be."

"Sorry, I doubt that very much." He then drew a card from the top. "But that's besides the point. What really matters is how futile you're delaying the inevitable, Yusei. And with this card, I'll show you exactly what I mean. Draw!"

Turn Eleven- Simon

"Hey, Yusei? I hope you weren't expecting a 'Normal' duel, cause even if I run Normal monsters in my deck, I'm always open to new ideas."

"Right." Yusei stared intensively at his friend. "Any particular reason you told me this?"

"Not really." He shrugged, then in a flash, rejected two cards from his grave and down the hole of the removed from play. "Just that I too have effect monsters now and then at my disposal. For example, by having exactly three Normal Monsters in my grave, I can banish two to special summon from my hand, Knight of the Red Lotus, in attack mode!"

Dark spiraling feathers shot forth from the ground below, it's entranced movements swirling a life of darkness, the monster in between it all lighting up like a candle. Decomposing the deep blue particles, the redhead stood proudly on it's feet, the glow in it's dead-filled eyes glowering at Yusei with opposing hunger for a good and decent challenge.

The crab-haired duelist took a meaningful glance at it's information.

Knight of the Red Lotus (L6- FIRE- Warrior- A2100- D1800)

"That won't be all though." He smirked arrogantly. "Vorse Raider, I normal summon you now, in attack position!"

Contrary to the mixture of sparkling lights and a pillar of radiating strength stepped out a dark warrior of bulging muscles, each 'ball' on his arms had an appetite for a battle, it's huge, dangerous axe able to threaten it's opposition with it's appearance alone. All in all, it was a creature not to be taken lightly.

Vorse Raider (L4- DARK- Beast-Warrior- A1900- D1200)

"Woah! Once again, Simon regained his monster count of three from a few turns ago! And in such a short amount of time too! Yusei better watch his back, cause it's about to get even more interesting up in here!"

"And I'm not done yet either." Simon explained, much to Yusei's dismay. "Activate now, Symbols of Duty!" He finished his hand with the inserting card, watching the replicating hologram come to life. "With this, I can send one Normal Monster I control to the grave, so that I may special summon one monster from either of ours as a reward. Think of it as a Monster Reborn. Regardless though, it will allow me to bring out the one monster I left out when special summoning my Knight over here."

"You don't mean..."

"That's exactly what I mean, Yusei. Now sacrifice your power, my Sabersaurus, to bring forth, once more, my ultimate creature!"

Growling in response, the red beastly ball of rage dispersed into nothingness, leaving but a spark of memory behind. A light flashed before everyone's eyes, forcing them to look away from it's glory. The pillar condensed, then separated, giving way for the monstrosity that is Simon's target. The target flexed it's muscles for mobilization, it's strength radiating far and wide, giving off it's ultimate presence to all.

Love it. Hate it.

It was back.

Gogiga Gagagigo (A2950)

"That's not good for somebody I know." Hikari hinted, her eyes fixated on how ferocious the monster seemed, and was.

"He goofed it." Greiger shook his head. "I said he shouldn't take his advantage for granted, and yet, despite what I said, he goofed it in the end." Granted, Yusei was no where close to the hearing radius of Greiger, but still, a duelist shouldn't take anything lightly, especially the situation at hand.

Yusei on the other hand, was more worried than anything else. Mistakes are made, and should be learned from. But will he be able to remunerate it?

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End of Chapter

To Be Continued...