A brief foreword:
Sdrive: Here we are, the beginning of The Project, the Academy Duel Tournament! This is an academy wide duel tournament where anyone can enter, as long as they are students or staff that doesn't have other responsibilities. So far we've seen at least Kokuro, Sonomi, Fuuten and Kazuki enter. Who else might be in this tournament? You'll have to read and find out. But keep watching closely; you never know what else you might discover during this tournament.
Mia was looking at the Trap Jammer and Seven Tools of the Bandit that she had received from Kazuki. She had decided to take out the two Flying Kamikiris to make room for them. Looking over her deck contently she pulled out her set of Silent Swordsmen. She smiled while she looked at them; they were no doubt her favorite cards. They reminded her of her father. Mia heard the door beep and looked up to watch Sonomi and Kokuro enter the room.
"Hey guys!" she said cheerfully. "Why isn't Fuuten with you?"
"Fuuten realized that he had stayed from the Card Shop too long and ran off to go help Setsuna," Kokuro explained.
"Oh," Mia simply said smiling.
"Before I forget again," Kokuro said walking over to her. Mia looked up at him curious as he reached into his binder and pulled out a card handing it to her. "I won this for you in a Double Duel with Sonomi earlier today."
"Ultimate Insect LV7!" she squealed with delight. She jumped up and grabbed Kokuro in a giant bear hug, squeezing him until he couldn't breathe any longer. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
"You're…welcome…" he managed to gasp out.
"Oops, sorry," she said releasing him. He collapsed onto the floor, "think I overdid it?" she asked Sonomi.
"Maybe only a little," she responded looking at the unconscious Kokuro.
It was a little later in the day, Kokuro, Sonomi, and Mia were all going over their decks, fixing them up and preparing them to their liking. Mia really didn't have to do anything since she wasn't participating, but she had to find room for her new Level Monster.
Kokuro smiled as he pulled Archfiend Soldier out of his deck and replaced it with Skilled Black Magician. He sighed contently, glad that the fiend was finally out of the deck. He spread out his cards onto his bed and looked them over. He then pulled out his side deck and went through it, after a few minutes of rearranging things he finally put the cards back together and shuffled them momentarily before inserting them back in his deck box.
Sonomi was making quite a few changes to her deck as she had hers sprawled out over the desk. She was taking cards out, and replacing them with others at a high pace. Occasionally she'd take a card from the pile she had taken from her deck and would put it back in taking out another card. She put in her UFO Turtles and looked at the very small pile holding her spells. After removing all but one, she added other cards to her monster and trap piles.
Mia was going through her binder and was looking at her spells when she stopped and looked at one of them contently. "Hey Sonomi," she said.
"Hmm?" came Sonomi's almost inaudible response.
"Didn't you say you got those UFO Turtles you needed?" she asked.
"Mmhmm," came yet another barely audible response.
Mia took the spell out of her binder and walked over to Sonomi and put it down on her desk. Sonomi's eyes barely glanced over at it but then she took it and began reading it. "I know your deck doesn't really work well with spells, but I figured that card could actually help you."
Sonomi finished reading the card text and looked throughout her piles, she took a trap from her deck and put it off to the side and put the new spell on top of the only other spell in her deck. "Thank you," she said.
"You're welcome," Mia said smiling.
Kokuro's PDA went off and he grabbed it and turned it on.
Kokuro, out in Hitoku's shop if you wanna come. If not I understand.
Yaku
"I'm off to Hitoku's shop," Kokuro said climbing off the ladder and heading to the door.
"Have fun," Mia said.
"See ya," Sonomi said, not looking up from her cards.
Kokuro made his way to Hitoku's shop and when he walked in, he was startled to see the familiar batch of faces there. Yaku and Hitoku of course, but among them were also Kazuki, Kahou, Fuuten and Jordan. "What a surprise," he said looking over the group.
"We're having a 'Before "The Project" Party,'" Yaku explained. "It's a tradition between Kazuki and me to grab our male friends who are participating, and come here to have pizza, chips and soda."
"I see," Kokuro said as he looked over to Kahou and saw that he was wearing a sticker that said "Hi, My Name Is…" and then written below that was 'Kahou.' "What's with the name tag?" Kokuro asked.
"I put it on especially for you," he said laughing.
"Jerk," Kokuro said smiling.
"Isn't this great?" Yaku asked. "Just a couple of men hanging out while being surrounded by power tools and dangerous equipment," he then let out a laugh similar to Tim Allen's.
"More power!" Jordan agreed giving off a similar laugh.
Kokuro couldn't help but laugh, as he walked over to pour himself a cup of soda, and took a paper plate, grabbing a handful of chips, and putting it on. "Not going to have any Pizza?" Kazuki asked.
"Not a huge fan actually," Kokuro said giving off a nervous smile.
"Blasphemy!" Yaku shouted.
"Great," Kokuro mumbled.
Yaku went over and patted him on the back, "I'm just messing with you."
"So, you're all participating?" Kokuro asked as he ate a couple of chips.
"Of course," Kazuki said.
"I'm hoping that it will help me out," Jordan said nervously.
"I'm going to show everyone that time is relevant," Kahou said smiling proudly.
"And I'm doing it because if I don't I wouldn't have been allowed to come to the party," Yaku said laughing, causing the others to join in with him.
It was early evening at the Osiris Red Dorm. A certain room, like usual, had its curtain closed. Inside of Ritsuzen's room, Kyusai-sensei was running around like a bandit with a vacuum cleaner in one hand, a feather duster in the other, and an apron on.
Ritsuzen looked up from the book he was reading and glared at Kyusai-sensei. "Will you turn that damn thing off so I can concentrate?" he asked.
"If anything you should be helping me," Kyusai-sensei said after turning it off and freeing up his other hand only for it to grab an air freshener bottle on the nightstand and begin spraying it. "You know good and darn well that Master Kaiba is coming here tonight to speak with us, this place needs to be spotless!"
"You over obsess," Ritsuzen said going back to his book, but soon found the air freshener too strong for his tastes. "Stop spraying that damn thing or I'll spray it in your face," he threatened.
"Well excuse me if I'm trying to get you in good with Master Kaiba," Kyusai-sensei shot back.
"You know damn well this won't fool him; he'll easily figure out it was you. Why don't you stop this pitiful room cleaning and just wait for him to get here."
"There's no time to stop this…" and then there was a knock on the door. "Oh crap!" Ritsuzen couldn't help but smirk as he got up and walked over to the door, "don't you dare open that door Ritsuzen!"
Smirking sinisterly at Kyusai-sensei, Ritsuzen swung the door open, "Kaiba," he said to the CEO of KaibaCorp. "So good to see you, please, come in," he said motioning him in.
"You're in an unusually good mood," Kaiba said staring at the boy as he walked in. Smelling the over use of air freshener he looked around and saw Kyusai-sensei struggling, trying to get his apron off.
Kyusai-sensei noticed Kaiba and instantly stopped struggling, "Um, Master Kaiba, greetings."
"Enjoying yourself?" Kaiba asked the poor man.
"Not entirely," Kyusai-sensei said glaring at Ritsuzen who merely smirked and sat back down in his chair.
"Please, have a seat Kaiba," Ritsuzen said motioning to a chair.
"You should be showing respect to Master Kaiba," Kyusai-sensei said angrily.
"You should listen to your tutor," Kaiba said taking a seat and staring at Ritsuzen.
"Have I ever?" he replied simply.
"No, but that is neither here nor there," Kaiba said. "The reason I've decided to come here this evening is to offer you a proposition."
"I'm listening," Ritsuzen said.
"As you know I can easily get you into The Project, even though it's past the registration time. I would like you to join, and if you do well enough, I'll boost your ranking."
Ritsuzen just stared at him for a few seconds before replying, "And what if I don't do well enough?"
"You would simply stay here in Osiris Red. But I know you; you want out of here, and I can help you get out."
Ritsuzen stared at Kaiba for a few moments while he thought about it. "No," he finally said.
Kaiba and Kyusai-sensei's eyes both raised, "No?" Kaiba asked.
"There's more to this isn't there?" Ritsuzen asked calmly. "You want me to join, because you want me to waste my time being civil with the other students. Thanks, but with midterms coming up, I'll just wait until then. I'll pass both portions of my midterms with ease and be raised to a higher position."
"Do you realize exactly how good of a deal this is for you?" Kaiba asked him.
"Do you realize exactly how much I don't care?" Ritsuzen retorted.
Kaiba glared at him for a moment before smirking, "I get it now."
"Good," Ritsuzen said.
"You're worried that you'll be paired up with Kokuro, or worse Kazuki, and that you'll be beaten for the third time at this school."
Ritsuzen glared death daggers at Kaiba, "Let me make this perfectly clear for you, I am in no way scared of those two. Especially not that Ra. You and I both know that imprudent fool only defeated me out of shear luck both times."
Kaiba stared at Ritsuzen for a moment before sighing and standing up, "Fine, I can see there is no changing your mind. It's your loss though," he said walking out the door.
"You really blew it," Kyusai-sensei said to him.
"Do me a favor and shut up," Ritsuzen said coldly.
Outside of the door Kaiba was swearing to himself, "now I have to find some other way to take care of this situation," he mumbled as he walked off towards the main building.
Kokuro walked through the door of his dorm room at 9:00, looking around he saw Mia on the computer. "Where's So…" Mia quickly hushed him and pointed to Sonomi's bed. Kokuro looked up and saw that she was already asleep. "What's she doing asleep already?" he whispered.
"She wanted to make sure she was rested for 'The Project'," Mia whispered back.
Kokuro nodded and looked around momentarily noticing an envelope on the desk next to her. "A love letter?" Kokuro asked jokingly.
"Possibly," she replied. "It's for you."
"Me?" Kokuro asked curiously. He walked over and found the letter and couldn't help but smile when he saw the return address. He opened it and read the letter.
Dear Kokuro,
I hope this letter will get to you on time.
Whew! I've had a busy couple of weeks. Domid and Yamato tried their best to get me qualified for the regional tournament. They even went so far as to give me a couple of new cards for my deck. What are they you ask? Well, you'll find out, because I qualified! I'm going to the regional tournament! I hope you guys get cable up there, because they'll be broadcasting the matches! You're going to see me on T.V! I can't wait.
Well, I told dad that Mia is taken. He seemed upset, until I mentioned Sonomi that is. Speaking of which, I'm glad you guys are friends now. Domid's wondering how lucky can you get. It definitely seems like you're having a lot of fun up there, except for Ritsuzen. Hopefully your duel straightened him out. And congrats on winning a new Black Magician! You must've dueled hard for it.
My classes have been going well, but Domid still enjoys helping me with my math of course. I think it's scary how a guy can like math so much. Oh well. I made a couple of new friends at the card shop. The first one is Hinta. She uses Ojama cards, and she almost got me. The second is Kida. He uses fusion monsters, and he was no pushover either. I almost felt bad beating them, until they won the wild card drawing so now they're qualified as well!
Speaking of dueling, Domid and Yamato are going to train me some more, so wish me luck! Everyone here is still proud of you, and I'm sure that you're doing a great job in your classes. I love you and miss you. Hope you're doing well!
Love, Selaya.
Kokuro couldn't help but smile, 'Glad to hear you're doing so well Selaya,' he thought to himself. He closed the letter and put it back in the envelope. "I'm going to go to bed," he told Mia.
"G'night," she replied smiling.
"Good night," he said. He switched into his pajamas in the bathroom and hopped up onto his bed. He closed the curtain and put his hands behind his head. "Tomorrow is the day of the big tournament," he said to himself excitedly. Just then he noticed an envelope taped up against his wall. "Wonder what this is," he thought out loud as he took it and opened it. He pulled out a note and read it quickly. Five minutes later he was putting the letter back and put his head on his pillow. Thoughts filled his head as he drifted off into a deep sleep.
"ATTENTION STUDENTS!"
The eruption of noise jolted Kokuro awake, causing him to bang his head on the bed above him and then lose his balance and cause him to fall out of the bed and land on the floor.
"This is the big Duel Academy Project Day. All participants are to report to the Obelisk Blue Arena for the beginning ceremony starting in 20 minutes. You are expected to be there on time."
"Ow….pain…" Kokuro whined as he saw Mia looking at him upside down. It soon dawned that he was looking at her upside down. He watched her hand reach down towards his own as she helped him up.
"Are you ok?" she asked him worried. He just kind of stared at her and she frowned, "sorry, standard question."
"I'll be fine," he said, and then as an afterthought, "I think."
"You have to hurry up and get ready; you and Sonomi have to be there in 20 minutes!"
"So I heard. Why didn't anyone wake me up?"
"We figured you couldn't be dumb enough to not set your alarm," Sonomi replied coming up to him with his uniform. "As much as I'd like to see you in a skirt, there's no time to mess around."
"Thanks," he said as he took it and went into the bathroom. After a couple of seconds they both heard a loud, "hey wait a minute!"
"Oh just get dressed," Sonomi said as she gave Mia a low five.
He walked out fully clothed and Mia tossed his belt and deck box to him, "we have to get going," she said.
"Right," he agreed as he put on his belt, "Let's go!"
They ran out of their room and headed off towards the Obelisk Blue Arena. "This is going to be so much fun," Kokuro said as they ran.
"I'll be rooting for both of you," Mia said smiling.
"Thanks," he said back to her. They got to where they had to part ways; Mia took the left down towards the audience seats while Sonomi and Kokuro went to the right towards the entrance to the Duel Arena. "Ladies first," he said and allowed Sonomi to walk in front of him.
He stepped in and was surprised to see the number of students standing on the arena. Half on one side, half on the other. There had to be about 100 students on the arena, and more were coming up. There were also some teachers within the groups. Standing in the very center, holding a microphone, Seto Kaiba was checking his watch. As soon as it hit 9:00 he began his speech.
"Students and Faculty, I bring before you the students of our school, the very ones who are here on this arena, who are brave enough to face off against one another in the academy Project. In this tournament, there is no discrimination against ranks. Obelisks will fight Ra's and Osiris' while Osiris' and Ra's fight each other. In this tournament its pretty much anything goes, as long as the regular rules are kept. These students are the warriors of the future, and I can foresee many of them going off to become great duelists once they leave this academy. This tournament helps test their true readiness, especially the Obelisks who will be leaving at the end of the year. I wish all of them luck, and hope to see excellent strategies being used out here today. The first duels will start at 9:30. There will be a special breakfast held in the cafeteria for all participants. Afterwards all participants are to report to the Examination Arena for the first round. Dismissed."
Everyone applauded as Kaiba walked off the stage and handed the mike to one of his assistants. The students began to file out of the room and the participants made their way down to their assigned cafeterias. They all grabbed a meal and found various places to sit and waited for the time to roll past when they would have to leave for the arena.
Sonomi watched Kokuro as he chewed on a bagel, "Happy now that you have some breakfast in you?" she asked.
"Mmhmm," he responded.
"Mind if I sit here?" a familiar voice behind Sonomi asked. They looked at the person startled.
"Mia?" Sonomi asked. "What are you doing here? This breakfast is only for participants."
She sat down next to Sonomi and shrugged, "I'm like Silent Swordsman and Silent Magician."
Kokuro swallowed and looked at her, "You're silent?"
"That's right," she said smiling and giving him a peace sign.
"You could get in deep trouble if they found you in here," Sonomi told her.
"Not really," Mia said. "It's not like they are keeping track of who's a participant and who isn't. There are tons of kids in here who aren't part of 'The Project'. Some come to steal food while others are just wishing their friends luck before their first duels.
"And you came to wish us luck," Kokuro said, "how nice."
"Actually…" she said sheepishly as she pulled the bagel off Sonomi's plate, "I came for both."
"If you value your hand you'll drop that bagel," Sonomi said staring at Mia.
Mia just giggled and put it back, "I'm only teasing."
"Damn right you are," Sonomi said snatching up the bagel and taking a bite out of it.
"Kokuro, Sonomi's being mean to me again," Mia said looking innocently up at Kokuro. Sighing he split his bagel in half and handed half to her. She smiled, "Thanks," she said sheepishly as she took a bite.
"Uh huh," he said annoyed as he took a bite of his own half.
"You didn't have to do that," Mia told him.
He swallowed and grumbled, "I know, but you've already bitten into it." Mia laughed as Kokuro took another bite.
The students were herded out of the cafeterias and directed to the Examination Arena. As they got towards the arena Mia gave both of them a quick hug, "good luck you guys."
"Thanks," they responded. She left them and they looked at each other for a moment.
"Well," Sonomi began. "Time to kick butt…"
"…and take names," Kokuro finished.
"I'm going to the top," they said in unison.
"You have to get past me first," Sonomi grinned.
"And I'm sure you'll put up a good fight," he said extending his hand. She shook and they headed into the room. Kokuro glanced at the paper to find his name. He was in Arena 5 so he headed off while Sonomi headed off to Arena 1.
Kokuro got to his arena and noticed his opponent immediately; it would be hard to miss this guy unless it was at night. He was wearing a black trench coat and a top hat hid his face, his hands were in his pocket and a black academy Duel Disk rested on his left arm.
"Um…are you my opponent?" Kokuro asked nervously.
"I am," came the cold and sinister voice.
"Um…do you have a name?" he asked.
"They call me…Peaches," he said as he looked up. He had a purple face with sinister looking yellow eyes. His mouth opened when he grinned and Kokuro noticed sharp looking teeth.
"Um…nice costume," Kokuro said a little scared by his opponent. 'At least I hope it's a costume,' Kokuro thought to himself.
"Why thank you," came the cold reply.
Kokuro let out a sigh of relief, 'phew, so it is only a costume. He sure had me fooled, especially with the way he can make his voice get so low and sinister sounding.'
Up in the secret viewing room, high above the stands, Kaiba was watching everything from a birds eye view. He watched the stranger who seemed to be Kokuro's opponent, "I want information on that guy," he said to one of the girls sitting at a computer next to him.
"Yes Mr. Kaiba," the girl said. She pulled up the info, "It says here that he was registered as…Peaches?"
"There should be a real name there somewhere; I want when he was registered, what dorm he's in, and his true name. No one's going to make a mockery of this tournament."
She looked quickly before getting worried, "All it says is that his dorm is registered as secret. He was registered just as they were about to stop receiving participants, and as for a name, all I can find is Peaches."
"That can't be right," Kaiba said annoyed. "Even if this is some kind of practical joke, it would not have been allowed without a certified name and dorm first. Get me the secretary who took this man in. I want to speak to her immediately."
"Yes Mr. Kaiba."
'This is bad,' Kaiba thought to himself.
Down on arena five, Kokuro had taken out his deck, shuffled and inserted it causing his Duel Disk to fold out. Peaches pulled his hand out of his pocket and revealed a deck, this also revealed that like his face, Peaches hand was purple and that he had excessively long fingernails. Kokuro gulped quickly as the strange man shuffled quickly and inserted his deck, causing his black Duel Disk to fold out. The time on the screen in back of the audience members turned from 9:29 to 9:30.
'Begin The Project!' The announcer cried out.
"Duel!" Kokuro and Peaches called out.
"I shall go first," Peaches said drawing his sixth card. After looking over his hand he took a card and set it on the Duel Disk, "I summon Mystic Clown," came the cold voice as a one eyed clown appeared on the field. It had green hands, purple clothes with eyes painted all over it, and a fancy yellow headpiece. (1500/1000) "I'll set one card under the table," he stated as the brown backed card appeared. "You may take your turn now."
Kokuro drew his card and looked at the odd monster in front of him. 'Mystic Clown is a really old card that I've rarely ever seen used,' he thought to himself. 'No one even used it back when it was new; I can't think of any good reason for playing it other than leading the opponent into a false sense of security.'
Up in the stands Mia was watching Kokuro's duel; she planned on alternating between Kokuro and Sonomi and had flipped a coin to decide whose she'd watch first. "What a strange monster," she said looking at the clown facing Kokuro.
"It is," came Kazuki's voice from behind her.
"Kazuki, what are you doing here?" Mia asked startled.
"I'm not dueling until the second round," he said. "And I'm kind of glad now, this looks like it might be an interesting duel if nothing else."
"Yeah really," Mia nodded in agreement.
"To begin my turn I'll summon Skilled White Magician," Kokuro announced as his mage in white robes appeared on the field, carrying its silver staff in its hand. (1700/1900) "Skilled White Magician, attack that creepy clown!" Kokuro announced. The Magician released a beam of white light that hit the clown destroying it.
"Hehehe, interesting move," Peaches said as his Life Points lowered. (7700)
"I'll set one card under the table," Kokuro announced as his face down card appeared. "It's your turn now."
"Excellent," Peaches said in a voice that made Kokuro's spine shiver. "I'll summon a new performer, Ryu-Kishin Clown." A fat purple skinned clown wearing a blue and red striped shirt, black sleeves, and orange gloves appeared on the field, its purple, demonic wings spread out behind it. (800/500)
"Great," Kokuro said annoyed, "more clowns."
"And this one has a very special ability," Peaches said chuckling. "When my friend here is summoned he can switch one monster on your side of the field on guard."
Kokuro watched as the clown's hands began to glow purple and Skilled White Magician was put on guard. "Now you'll have an even tougher time beating it," he commented. "Its defense is higher than its own attack."
"Actually, by moving it on guard, I can now wipe it out," Peaches said as his face down card reversed itself. "Reveal Tragedy."
"And what does that do?" Kokuro asked staring at the card. It depicted a woman holding her arms up in front of her, a frightened look on her face.
"An interesting play," Kazuki commented from the sidelines.
"Hmm?" Mia wondered. "What makes it so interesting?"
"It's not necessarily the play itself, but the strategy behind it."
"I don't get it," Mia said watching the duel.
"You will soon enough," Kazuki said while he watched on.
"Tragedy is a very…tragic card," Peaches said chuckling. "Tragic for you anyway, and a personal favorite of mine. You see, when one of your monsters is put on guard, Tragedy is activated and it will wipe out all of your guarding monsters."
"But that means…" Kokuro began as he watched his Skilled White Magician blow to pieces.
"Oh what fun," Peaches said smiling. "But I like to share the fun, with my friends anyway. Ryu-Kishin Clown attack!"
The clown fired a beam of purple magic at Kokuro causing him to give off a small grunt. (7200) "Are you done yet?" Kokuro asked.
"Quite," Peaches replied.
"Good," Kokuro said as he drew his card. Scanning his hand he frowned, 'I've only got one monster that can get rid of that clown right now,' he thought to himself. "I summon Fire Princess," he announced as the red robed Pyro appeared on the field with her brown staff in her hand. (1300/1500) "Fire Princess, destroy that clown!" The Fire Princess raised her staff and fired a stream of fire at the clown and blew it to pieces.
"Easy come easy go," Peaches said as his Life Points lowered. (7200)
"You call your monsters your friends…even if they are creepy, and yet you disrespect them," Kokuro said disgusted.
"I've watched many people go," he grinned, showing off his sharp teeth.
"That's just disgusting," Kokuro grimaced. "Take your turn you freak."
"Gladly," he said drawing. His grin returned and he began to snicker sinisterly. "I set one card under the table," he said as his face down card appeared. "And now I summon Clown Zombie," he said as a fat, decaying zombie with a scythe and balancing on a circus ball appeared on the field. (1350/0)
Kokuro growled when he noticed that Peaches' monster was only 50 points stronger than his Princess.
Up in the secret viewing room the secretary that had registered Peaches walked into the room, "Here she is," the girl who was at the computer said as she brought in the secretary.
"Thanks," Kaiba said as they walked over to the computer which Kaiba was currently sitting at. "I need you to identify this man," Kaiba said to the secretary pointing at the readout on the computer.
She looked down at the screen and looked a little confused, "I believe that is the guy I registered yesterday," she said. "Peaches he said his name was."
"What was his real name?" Kaiba asked.
"He said that was his real name," she said.
"That's not possible," he said annoyed. "Who has such a stupid name like Peaches?"
"I don't know sir," she replied.
"What exactly happened when you registered him?" Kaiba asked.
"It's kind of blurry," she said trying to remember. "I really only remember when he first came in. I remember asking some questions and it seemed that he was getting annoyed with me…after that I don't really remember anything." She began to do something even Kaiba couldn't have predicted, she began to cry.
"What's wrong?" he asked stunned.
"I don't want to be fired, I like working here, I like the kids, and I don't want anything to happen because I can't remember what happened."
Kaiba let out a slight sigh of relief, he had thought something had happened between her and this man for a moment. "You won't get fired," Kaiba reassured her. "Go on back to your position."
She wiped the tears away and stood up, "thank you Mr. Kaiba." She walked out with the help of the computer girl as Kaiba went back to the watch the duel between Kokuro and the stranger.
"Be careful kid."
"Clown Zombie, wipe out Fire Princess with your Bouncing Ball Scythe!" Peaches called out. The Clown began bouncing on the ball towards Fire Princess and slashed its scythe across her destroying her.
Kokuro glared at Peaches as his Life Points barely dropped. (7150) "Are you finished yet?" he said under gritted teeth.
"For now," Peaches said.
Kokuro was still growling as he drew his card. "Kokuro is unusually upset," Kazuki pointed out. "I can understand not wanting to see your monsters destroyed, but this is a new extreme for him."
"I think it's half because he's losing to a bunch of clowns," Mia said. "That's not only embarrassing but I think he hate's clowns."
"That would certainly explain it," Kazuki said as he watched.
"I summon Skilled Black Magician!" Kokuro announced as his black robed magician appeared on the field with his silver staff being held in his right hand. "Wipe out that clown!" he announced. The magician let loose a beam of black magic that struck the clown knocking it off its ball destroying it. Kokuro grinned as Peaches' Life Points fell lower than his. (6550) "Your move," he said grinning.
"At your End Phase I activate my set card, Labyrinth of Nightmare!" he announced as his face down card flipped.
"And just what does that do?" Kokuro asked.
"During each of our end phases, whosever turn it just was, all their face up monsters have to switch their battle positions. So that means that your Skilled Black Magician goes on guard."
"Fine," Kokuro said as he shifted the card on his disk and his magician took a guarding position and its card appeared under it.
Peaches drew his card and looked down at it and smirked. 'Later,' he thought as he put it in his hand. "I set one monster on guard," he said as the face down card appeared. "And now I activate Book of Taiyou." A blue book with Egyptian carvings appeared on the field and began to give off a soft light. "This allows me to flip one monster on the field face down into face up attack mode, so I choose my face down monster!" A monster that looked similar to Clown Zombie minus the decaying aspect appeared on the field. (1350/1400) "Meet Crass Clown! Now watch as his Special Ability activates. Because my monster was switched from guarding position to attack, he can now return your monster to your hand!"
Mia gasped and Kokuro's eyes widened as they watched the clowns scythe glowed blue. Skilled Black Magician also began to glow blue and it vanished from the field and the card appeared in Kokuro's hand.
"My turn is done and my Labyrinth now forces my friend on guard," Peaches said as his clown put his scythe in front of itself and its card appeared underneath it. 'I could have attacked him, but I want to see just how good he is at getting out of bad situations.'
"Although I hate to admit it," Kazuki began, "This deck strategy is good."
"It sure seems like it," Mia said worriedly.
"It's a good thing it seems semi-incomplete," Kazuki said.
"What makes you say that?" Mia asked.
"There are cards that his deck could do use to make it better, but perhaps he just hasn't pulled them yet." They continued to watch on as Kokuro drew his card.
"I set one card under the table," Kokuro said as the face down card appeared. "Now I re-summon Skilled Black Magician and have it wipe out that clown." The Magician appeared on the field once again and then let out a blast of magic that once again knocked the ball bearing clown off of its circus toy destroying it. "Your move," he said as Skilled Black Magician went on guard again.
Peaches pulled his card from his deck and immediately played it down, "I set one monster on guard, and I activate Swords of Concealing Light!" Peaches announced as dark swords with skulls on them fell down from the sky around Kokuro. His Skilled Black Magician suddenly vanished and the card changed from Skilled Black's picture to the backing.
"What happened?" Kokuro asked.
"My Swords of Concealing light have flipped your monster face down, and it must stay like that until my swords wear off after your second end phase," Peaches explained.
"Damn," Kokuro muttered.
"You may begin your turn," Peaches said.
Kokuro drew his card and looked at the Chaos Sorcerer he had drawn. He put it in his hand and took the Old Vindictive Magician he had put his Chaos Sorcerer next to and set it. "One monster on guard and that ends my turn," he announced.
Peaches drew his card and saw that it was Revive Dead. "I activate Revive Dead, and I use it to summon my Crass Clown," he said as the monster reappeared on the field on guard. (1350/1400) "Now I flip my face down Dream Clown," he said as yet another clown appeared on the field however this one was dressed in pajamas. (1200/900)
'I guess that one isn't as creepy,' Kokuro thought to himself.
"Glad you agree," Peaches said taking another card from his hand.
"What!" Kokuro said stunned. 'Did I say that out loud?' Kokuro asked in his head. 'No, I'm pretty sure I didn't…then again that's the only way he could have responded.' Kokuro just kind of watched Peaches as he continued his turn.
"I now end my turn and that means my Labyrinth takes effect once more. Now my Dream Clown goes on guard and my Crass Clown goes to attack. When my Dream Clown goes on guard it can automatically destroy one monster on your side of the field. So your face down Skilled Black Magician is destroyed!"
Kokuro glared as he watched the clown's hands glow sky blue and the brown backed card blew to pieces. 'This is not good,' Kokuro thought.
"And now my Crass Clown will return your face down monster to your hand." The other clown's scythe glowed dark blue once more and the face down card disappeared and once again reappeared in Kokuro's hand.
Kokuro drew his card and looked down at it, "I summon White Magician Pikeru," he said as his small white robed magician girl appeared on the field with a twirl. (1200/0) "I end my turn." Pikeru kneeled down and her card appeared underneath her.
Peaches drew his card and added it to his hand. "I switch Dream Clown to attack mode," he announced as the clown switched its battle position. "Now I activate another special card," he said as he slid it into the Duel Disk. "I activate Clown Car."
"Clown Car?" Kokuro asked as he raised an eyebrow. Suddenly a small, painted car came driving onto the arena and parked behind the two clowns.
"Yes, this card can only be activated if there is a monster on the field with Clown in its name," Peaches explained.
"And just what does this card do?" Kokuro asked.
"You'll find out later when the time is right," Peaches said grinning. "For now I'll set one monster on guard and have my Crass Clown attack your little girl," he said sinisterly when he mentioned Pikeru. The Clown began to run on its ball causing the ball to spin underneath it and go towards Pikeru.
"Reverse Magic Cylinder!" Kokuro called out. The two cylinders appeared on the field and he watched as Crass Clown rolled into one and then rolled out to the other and slashed Peaches across the chest. "How was that?" Kokuro asked grinning.
Peaches let out a minor growl but stood up straight as his Life Points fell. (5300) "Nothing too impressive," Peaches said shrugging it off. "My turn is done," Peaches announced as both of his clowns went on guard. Dream Clown's hands glowed sky blue again causing Pikeru to glow sky blue briefly before she was destroyed.
'This is getting bad,' Kokuro thought. 'I'm way ahead in Life Points but I can barely do anything against him.' He pulled his card and saw that he had drawn Spell Absorption. He couldn't help but smile, 'Selaya, you've always been there for me whenever I was troubled, thanks for being here for me now.' "I activate Spell Absorption," he said as he slid the card into his Duel Disk and it appeared on the field. He took the Old Mage from earlier and set it on the field, "One monster on guard and that ends my turn."
Suddenly the door to the Clown Car opened and a tall clown dressed in green pants, a rainbow shirt with red overalls, blue gloves, a white face with sinister markings on it, and two, cone shaped red hair columns sticking out on the left and right of its head stepped out of the car. (1000/1000)
"As you may have noticed, at each of your end phases, my Clown Car will produce a Clown Token on my side of the field. At my end phase though my Clown Token will be destroyed."
"Must be scared of all this wide space," Kokuro said annoyed.
"Who knows," Peaches said shrugging as he drew his card. "I set one card under the table," he said as the face down card appeared. "Now I switch my Dream Clown to attack and activate Ectoplasmer!"
Kokuro smiled as his Life Points rose. (7650) "Let me guess, you'll be sacrificing your Clown Tokens to do a steady 500 points of damage to my Life Points at the end of each turn while you stop me from doing anything else with your two clowns, right?"
"You catch on quickly," Peaches said chuckling. "So, let's cut to the chase, I end my turn and offer up my Clown Token as a sacrifice to Ectoplasmer!" The clown began to glow and the glow left its body and went into the Ectoplasmer Card. The glow shot out of the card and headed straight for Kokuro where it was suddenly stopped by a ruin circle that appeared underneath Kokuro.
"Pikeru may be gone but her Enchanted Circle decided to stick around," Kokuro said grinning.
"Way to go Kokuro!" Mia called out to him.
"It was only a little bit of life anyway, nothing to worry about. In any case Dream Clown goes on guard while Crass Clown goes to attack; and that means that Dream Clown will wipe out your face down monster." One hand glowing later and the Old Vindictive Magician was blown to pieces.
"It looks like Kokuro's small advantage didn't really matter since he still lost a monster," Kazuki pointed out.
"Don't give up!" Mia called out.
Kokuro drew his card and smirked, "Pot of Greed," he said as he drew two new cards and his Life Points rose. (8150) "Now I activate Cost Down," Kokuro called out. (8650)
"Cost Down?" Mia asked. "When did he get that?"
Kokuro thought back to earlier the other night.
He pulled out a note and read it quickly.
"Dear Kokuro, I felt I owed you for the UFO Turtles earlier, consider this a small thank you. –Sonomi"
He smiled as he pulled out a Cost Down from the envelope. He took out his deck and exchanged his Tribute Doll for Cost Down. He put the Tribute Doll in the envelope and taped it back on the wall.
'Thanks Sonomi,' Kokuro thought to himself. "Here's how this card works," he said returning to the duel. "I discard one card from my hand and then all monsters in my hand are reduced by two levels. So I'll discard Apprentice Magician and now I can normal summon Chaos Command Magician without a sacrifice." The green robed magician appeared on the field and twirled his staff in his hand. (2400/1900) "Now I'll remove Apprentice Magician and Skilled White Magician from play in order to special summon Chaos Sorcerer," he announced as the purple skinned magician with the black flowing cloak appeared on the field. (2300/2000)
"Looks like Kokuro just took the lead again," Mia said happily.
"He's had the lead in terms of Life Points," Kazuki said. "But as for a strategy, Peaches has been better at keeping Kokuro at bay."
"Chaos Sorcerer, remove Dream Clown from play!" he announced as the sorcerer's hands glowed purple and a purple bubble appeared around the clown and trapped it as they both disappeared. "Chaos Command Magician, attack Crass Clown!" The Magician fired a beam of rainbow energy that struck the other clown and destroyed it.
Peaches shielded himself as his Life Points lowered. (4250) "This is getting troubling," he admitted.
"Now, I end my turn, and Ectoplasmer forces me to send one monster to the graveyard, so I'll choose Chaos Sorcerer since Chaos Command Magician's ability will be more helpful if you bring out any more of those clowns." Chaos Sorcerer glowed and its soul left its body and fired towards Peaches knocking him down. (3100) "And now my Chaos Command Magician shifts on guard," he said as his magician shifted on guard.
"That activates my face down Tragedy," Peaches said standing up as his face down card appeared.
Kokuro growled as he watched his magician get blown to pieces, he was just about to say something when he thought he noticed something odd about his Tragedy card. Just as it vanished he could have sworn that he saw a man that looked oddly similar to Peaches behind the woman on this card unlike the other. 'I must be losing it,' Kokuro thought to himself shaking his head. 'Must be all these damn clowns.'
'If only it were that simple boy,' Peaches thought to himself.
"I can't believe it," Mia said stunned. "Kokuro had a great advantage and suddenly both of his monsters are gone."
"I knew that one of them would be going due to Ectoplasmer," Kazuki said, "but even I was taken aback by Tragedy."
"He may be butt ugly…" came a voice from behind. They both looked back quickly to see Sonomi standing behind them. "...but that doesn't mean his dueling skills are bad."
"What are you doing here?" Mia asked.
"My duel is done so I came to watch Kokuro's," she said sitting down next Mia.
"Do you think he's in trouble?" Mia asked her.
"He could be," she responded. "The good thing is that his Life Points are over 8000 and Clowns aren't that strong."
"Agreed," Kazuki said. "As we have seen, it looks like his strategy is based mainly on using Labyrinth of Nightmare and his clown's effects along with cards like Tragedy. So I doubt he uses Bikuribox since it would not work as effective as the two separate clowns."
Back on the dueling field another Clown Token had just come out of the Clone Car and stood there snickering. (1000/1000) Peaches drew his card and he couldn't help but snicker evilly. "I've just drawn my most powerful card by far," he said.
"Then bring it!" Kokuro said confidently.
"As you wish," Peaches said. "First I have to flip up my face down Peten the Dark Clown." The clown dressed in its fancy suite and elegant hat appeared on the field and stuck its tongue out at Kokuro. (500/1200)
"I get annoyed whenever I see that card now," Sonomi commented from the sidelines.
"Now be prepared, I activate the Spell Card, Fancy Meeting You Here!" Peaches exclaimed as he slid the card into the disk. The card's picture showed a Peten on a sidewalk outside of a grocery store waving to an End of Anubis.
"Fancy Meeting You Here?" Kokuro asked dumbfounded as his Life Points increased. (9150) "That's a pretty weird name for a card."
"You won't think it's so weird when you see what it can do," Peaches threatened. "I can only activate it if there is a monster on the field with Clown in its name. Then, I have to remove one Clown Monster and pay 2000 Life Points."
"2000 Life Points!" Kokuro, Sonomi, Mia, and Kazuki gasped.
"Yes," he said as his Life Points dropped significantly. (1100) "So I'll remove my friend Peten," Peten waved goodbye as he vanished. "And now, I can take any monster from your deck and special summon it to my side of the field, ignoring any and all summoning conditions."
"No way!" Kokuro gasped.
"And I'm going to guess that a great Magician user like you has a Sorceror of Black Magic hidden in your deck somewhere. Am I correct?"
"Yes," Kokuro said through gritted teeth.
"Then that's the one I'll take!" he declared as suddenly a magician, wearing flowing black robes and holding a staff with an orb being held up by three prongs appeared. (3200/2800)
"Now Kokuro is in definite trouble," Kazuki said worried for him.
"If you haven't noticed yet, my card is a continuous spell card," Peaches said. "If you have some way to destroy it, your monster will be sent to your graveyard and the monster I removed will be returned to the field in whatever mode it was in; however my Life Points will remain gone, but that's not a concern to me. And if the monster is simply destroyed, then my poor Peten stays gone as well."
"I'm sure it's not," Kokuro growled as he stared up at his magician.
"Now, I'll summon Saggi the Dark Clown," Peaches said as the sinister looking clown from the previous chapter appeared on the field, and it brought its lame joke back with it…it began to laugh insanely.
"I wonder what Master Kaiba was thinking when he made the holograms for Saggi," Mia wondered out loud.
"Why do you ask that?" Kazuki asked.
Mia looked over at Kazuki and shook her head, "Oh, nothing."
"Now," Peaches began, "I send Sorceror of Black Magic, Saggi the Dark Clown, and my Clown Token to attack you directly!"
The Sorceror shot out a stream of fire from his staff that engulfed Kokuro causing him to scream out loud. Saggi the Insane Laugher released a beam of purple energy at Kokuro knocking him down, and the Clown Token formed a purple ball of energy in its hand and flung it at Kokuro just as he was standing back up. The ball of energy knocked Kokuro back down and his Life Points fell significantly. (4350)
Kokuro stood up slowly and weakly, and growled at Peaches, "you will pay for that," he threatened.
"Somehow I doubt that," Peaches snickered. "I end my turn, and now my Clown Token will be offered for Ectoplasmer!" The Clown began to glow and its soul went into the Ectoplasmer card and was shot at Kokuro, who barely kept from falling over as his Life Points fell. (3850) "Saggi and the Magician are put on guard and I'll let you try to figure something out now."
Up in the secret viewing room the computer girl had long since stopped trying to figure out the identity of Peaches and was watching the duel Kaiba. "It looks like he's really hurt," she said to him.
"He took a heavy shot to his pride," Kaiba replied. "That magician is probably really special to him since its rarity is so high. It's not easy to come by and I'm sure he keeps it in more than excellent condition. Getting attacked by it probably really hurt him emotionally."
"Spoken like the Legend you are," the secretary said. Kaiba ignored the compliment and continued to watch the duel.
Kokuro drew his card and looked down at it, "I set one monster on guard," he announced putting the card face down on the disk causing the card to appear. "Go," he said.
"With pleasure," Peaches said as another new Clown Token squeezed itself out of the Clown Car. (1000/1000) "I activate Seltzer Bottle," Peaches said as a card appeared on the field with a picture of Saggi spraying a seltzer bottle at Toon Black Magician Girl while laughing insanely.
"And just what does that card do?" Kokuro asked as his Life Points increased. (4350)
"Like Clown Car it can only be activated when there is a monster with Clown in its name on the field," Peaches said calmly, "but again, I won't tell you what it does until later."
"How nice of you," Kokuro said rolling his eyes.
"I thought so too," he replied. "Now I put my Sorceror and Saggi back to the field in attack mode," he announced as he switched the cards on his disk and the two monsters stood up.
"Now then my Clown Token, attack his monster!" he announced as the clown fired a ball of purple energy at the face down monster. A magician in purple robes and a green staff appeared before being destroyed.
"You've attacked my Apprentice Magician," Kokuro said as he pulled out his deck. "Now I can take a Spellcaster with two stars or less from my deck and put it face down on guard; and I choose my last Apprentice Magician."
"Then I'll send my Sorceror of Black Magic to attack it!" Peaches proclaimed as the sorceror fired a blast of magic at the face down monster blowing away the apprentice magician.
"I'll take my Old Vindictive Magician," Kokuro said as he set it on the field.
"I'll end my turn from here," Peaches said. "And since I already know what your old magician does, I'll offer up Sorceror!" The magician's soul left its body and fired at Kokuro causing him to be pushed back quite a bit. (2750) "Now my Saggi goes on guard and my Clown Token is destroyed due to my end phase. But first I'll set one card under the table before passing it over to you." The clown took out an air pump, filled itself up before blowing up into balloon like pieces.
Kokuro had to grin, "I'll admit, that was funny."
"You like watching my clowns blow themselves up?" Peaches asked slightly annoyed.
This time it was Kokuro who had the sinister voice, "yesss," he said letting the 'S' hiss out.
"I guess that made him exceptionally happy," Mia said.
"I know it made me happy," Sonomi said smirking.
Kokuro drew his card and looked at his Spear Dragon. 'If I just summon it and end, Spear Dragon will be offered and I'll be able to do enough damage to him that next turn I'll be able to wipe him out. I don't want to win this way, but I have no idea what that Seltzer Bottle does, and I don't want to risk setting it off.' He stared up at Peaches who was grinning at Kokuro, as if he were waiting for the end of his move. 'That guy is so creepy; I can't wait for this duel to be over.'
"I hope your turn is quick," Peaches said. "I'm getting impatient."
"You asked for it," Kokuro said playing his Spear Dragon down, "I summon Spear Dragon!" he announced as the dragon appeared on the field. (1900/0) "And now I'll end my turn, activating Ectoplasmer and offering up Spear Dragon to do 950 points of damage straight to your life."
"Why did he do that?" Mia asked.
"I think he's worried about that Seltzer Bottle," Kazuki said watching. "That thing hasn't done anything at all since Peaches played it so Kokuro is probably coming to the same conclusion I have, that it activates during the Battle Phase. By not attacking or entering his Battle Phase, he can't set off whatever effect it has."
"What a good strategist," Mia said smiling.
"I'll admit it," Sonomi said smiling, "the boy is clever."
The Spear Dragon's soul was taken from its body and went flying towards Peaches who stood there grinning. "I activate the ability of my Seltzer Bottle!"
"What!" Kokuro, Mia, Sonomi, and Kazuki gasped.
"My Seltzer Bottle, as long as there is a monster with Clown in its name on the field, has the ability to negate all non-battle damage I take from a card effect!" Saggi took out a seltzer bottle from his pocket and sprayed it at the ectoplasm flying towards Peaches. The water kept the energy at bay before it finally dissipated.
"And now it is my turn," Peaches said as another Clown Token exited the Clown Car. (1000/1000) Peaches drew his card and played it immediately, "I summon another Saggi the Dark Clown," he said as the evil clown came to the field. (600/1500) "Now I activate my face down Clown's Revenge!" he said as a card depicting Saggi wielding two knives and smirking insanely appeared on the field. "This is a special card for Saggi only," he said. "I guess the name of one face down card on the field, if I guess it correctly, it's destroyed, if not I take damage equal to Saggi's defense points."
"He could lose the duel!" Mia exclaimed.
"Not really," Kazuki said under gritted teeth.
"What do you mean?" Mia asked.
"That Seltzer Bottle will negate the damage he would lose," Sonomi said.
"Not only that but he knows that Kokuro's face down monster is Old Vindictive."
Mia gasped just as he heard peaches yell out, "Old Vindicitve Magician!" The Magician revealed itself before being destroyed. "I switch my other Saggi to attack mode," the other clown stood up. "Now my clowns, attack!" The two Saggi's let out purple magic while the Clown Token sent out a ball of purple energy.
All three slammed into Kokuro knocking him down as his Life Points fell drastically. (550) "Kokuro!" the three watching called out to him.
Up in the stands Kaiba was really upset, "This is getting bad."
"Isn't there anything we can do for him?" the computer girl asked.
Kaiba shook his head, "unless we can prove that Peaches is an intruder, we aren't allowed to stop the duel. Besides, we need the tests to be completed, if students think there is an intruder going around beating powerful duelists they'll drop out like flies."
Unable to control herself, the computer girl shouted out as loud as she could, "Give it to him Kokuro!"
In Ritsuzen's room, Kyusai-sensei had insisted that they watch the duels on the TV. Seeing as how 'The Project' was such a big deal, each station in the dorms and lounge hall showed a separate duel that were being broadcasted live. They had just tuned in when Kokuro was struck by his own Sorceror and Ritsuzen insisted that they watch the duel and had been watching closely ever since.
Ritsuzen watched as Kokuro was barely standing up, "I don't know who you are Peaches," Ritsuzen said to himself, "but prove that Ra is nothing more than a lucky amateur."
"I'll admit," Kyusai-sensei said watching contently, "it doesn't look like Kokuro is getting out of this one."
"Maybe I'll challenge Peache's at the end of the tournament," Ritsuzen said smirking. "Anyone who can beat that fool is worthy enough of being destroyed by me."
Kokuro was excessively wobbly; he was not feeling well at all. 'These attacks are so painful,' Kokuro thought to himself. 'Then again, I've taken quite a few direct hits, I could just be overtired.'
"I end my turn and sacrifice my Clown Token!" Peaches announced as his Clown Token gave up its spirit and slammed it into Kokuro. (50) "My two Saggi's go on guard and I give you your final turn."
'I don't think I can win,' Kokuro thought to himself. 'I've always been one to go for the last card, but I can't think of anything that's going to save me. By using Seltzer Bottle, Peaches' is completely safe from Ectoplasmer's weakness of striking its owner. I can't honestly think of anything that could save me…unless…'
"Come on Kokuro!" Mia called out. "Don't let this freak get to you!"
"Remember what we talked about before we started," Sonomi encouraged.
'Kokuro is doing the very best he can,' Kazuki thought to himself. 'But with that Seltzer Bottle on the field, the only thing Kokuro can do is try to find someway to get to Peaches' Life Points. It doesn't look good for him, but he's still going for it. That's what I like most about him.' Kazuki smiled as he watched Kokuro reach for the top card on his deck.
'Come on MST,' Kokuro thought as he pulled his top card and saw his Breaker. He frowned for a moment before realizing exactly what he had drawn, 'Well, this will work,' he thought as he smiled. "I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior!" Kokuro called out as his magical knight appeared on the field with its red armor shining in the light. (1900/1000) "Now I remove Breaker's counter to destroy Ectoplasmer!" Breaker's sword began to glow while he ran up to the Ectoplasmer card and slashed his sword destroying it.
"Way to go!" Mia cheered.
"Breaker's counter that it comes into play with makes it 300 points stronger," Kokuro explained. "Now that I've given it up he losses attack power, but it's still enough to take out your clowns." (1600/1000) "Breaker, destroy one of those clowns!" he called out as the magical swordsman slashed one of the clowns in half destroying it. "That ends my turn and causes Breaker to switch on guard due to your trap." Breaker took a defensive position and another clown came out of the small car.
"Now, I think I'll begin by activating my second Swords of Concealing Light!" Peaches declared as the dark swords came raining down onto Kokuro's side of the field once more. Breaker vanished being replaced with his brown backed card as Mia, Sonomi, and Kazuki watched on as Kokuro's Life Points rose. (550)
"Either he's getting really desperate or he's waiting for another Ectoplasmer," Mia said to the others.
"I think it's a bit of both," Kazuki said. "Peaches know's that his Clown Token will be destroyed at the end of the turn, so he's limiting Kokuro's attack options, even though it gave Kokuro some extra Life Points."
"It doesn't matter how many Life Points he gains," Sonomi said. "Unless Peaches activates more spells Kokuro's Life Points aren't going up much higher. This duel is coming to a close, we just have to wait and see whose favor it's in."
"I think Kokuro will win," Fuuten said coming up behind them.
They looked back startled, "when did you get here?" Sonomi asked.
"Just a moment ago," he said smiling. "I beat my opponent using…"
"The power of Kuriboh's?" Kazuki asked with a hint of amusement.
"Right on!" he said smiling and giving a thumb up.
"I have to admit, I've never seen someone use a Kuriboh Deck quite like you Fuuten," Kazuki said smiling.
"A Kuriboh Deck?" Mia asked.
"You mean you've never seen Fuuten's Kuriboh deck in action?" Kazuki asked a little stunned.
"I haven't either as a matter of fact," Sonomi said.
"Well, I'll say this much, you've missed some interesting duels then," he said grinning at Fuuten.
"Perhaps you'll see me use it during the tournament," Fuuten said with a wide smile.
"I'd love to!" Mia said smiling.
"If we aren't dueling in the same round I'll give it a shot," Sonomi said.
"Awesome," Fuuten smiled, "but for now, let's watch our friend."
While they had been talking, Peaches had switched Saggi to attack mode and then ended, having it go back on guard and also making the Clown Token destroy itself. Kokuro was just drawing. "I summon Skilled Black Magician!" he announced as his black robed magician appeared on the field twirling its staff. (1900/1700) "Go Skilled Black Magician, wipe out the last of his clowns!" The Magician let out a stream of black magic that slammed into the clown destroying it. Unexpectedly the Clown Car drove off while the Seltzer Bottle card exploded.
"It would appear that having no cards with clown in the name destroys those cards," Kazuki said smiling.
"How's that for a nice play?" Kokuro asked Peaches.
"Not too impressive," Peaches said annoyed. 'You forget, that you would have lost by now if I had attacked earlier.' Peaches thought to himself.
"I end my turn," Kokuro said as his Skilled Black Magician went on guard.
"My move," Peaches said drawing his card. "My only choice is to set one monster on guard and end."
"Fine with me," Kokuro said drawing. He looked at the Double Spell he had just drawn, 'I'll wait to see how the end of my battle phase turns out,' Kokuro thought to himself. 'If I can avoid winning like that, I will.' "I switch Skilled Black to attack mode and have it attack your face down monster!"
"You've destroyed Peten," Peaches said as the clown was destroyed as another took its place. (500/1200) "As I'm sure you know, he comes back."
"You've left me with no choice," Kokuro said. He heard Kuriboh and he could almost swear it was telling him that everything would be alright. "I sacrifice Skilled black and my face down Breaker to summon Buster Blader," he announced as his robed magician and the face down card vanished and the mighty sword wielding dragon slayer appeared on the field. (2600/2300)
"What good does that do you?" Peaches asked.
"I activate Double Spell!" he called out as the spell card appeared on the field. (1050) "Now, I discard Diffusion-Wave Motion from my hand so that I can activate one spell card from your graveyard, and the one I'm after is Ectoplasmer."
Peaches growled as his graveyard began to shine and a light shot from it causing the Ectoplasmer card to appear on Kokuro's side of the field. "I guess you win this round."
"Forgive me Buster Blader," Kokuro said looking at the sword wielder. The warrior looked at him and nodded. "Thanks," he said. "I end my turn, and I offer Buster Blader up to wipe you out!" Buster Blader laid his sword down and willingly gave himself over to the spell card. It shot his soul out at Peaches who covered his face, but a smile had formed.
'You haven't seen the true power of this deck,' Peaches thought to himself. 'I promise you we will meet again…' (0)
"It's over," Kokuro said giving off a breath of relief. He watched a little confused as Peaches simply turned around and walked off. Mia and Sonomi jumped over the side to go congratulate Kokuro while Kazuki stood up looking over at Fuuten.
"Intense duel, wouldn't you say?" he asked Fuuten.
"Yeah," Fuuten agreed.
"Sadly, it wasn't as amusing as your duels. Who knows, maybe Clowns and Kuriboh's will meet up one day."
"Hell yeah!" Fuuten said laughing.
Up in the viewing room the girl was at the computer typing out orders while Kaiba was speaking into a hidden microphone in his trench coat. "I want the duelist known as Peaches captured and detained for questioning." He ended the transmission and watched Kokuro and his two friends, 'That guy could have won numerous times…why didn't he?'
"I think Sonomi and I should head on out to find our next duelist," Kokuro said.
"They don't announce the duelists until everyone has completed their duels," Sonomi said. "And it looks as if there are quite a few still going on."
"I suppose we just sit around and wait for them to finish then?" Mia asked.
"I guess so," Kokuro said sighing.
Outside in a shaded corner of the building Peaches emerged, unseen by anyone. A small ringing was heard from his jacket pocket and he reached in and produced a cell phone. He looked at it a couple of times before opening it. "Peaches," he said coldly.
A dark voice came over the other end of the phone, "How did it go?"
"Your suspicions were correct; he's a good duelist. However I believe his heart is too pure; he won't be joining us."
There was a pause on the other end before the dark voice came again, "This news is troubling."
"Don't worry; if he becomes an interference I can easily take care of him, my match today proves that."
"Excellent," the voice responded hanging up. Peaches pocketed the contraption and walked off.