Chapter Twenty-Eight:

Malice

Justin: 4000

Hayden: 4000

"So, you wanna go first?" asked Hayden. "Or should I?"

Justin frowned, knowing he was attempting to be annoying again. "You can go first, Hayden. You might need the handicap."

"Look who's talking!" said Hayden, his anger flaring up with his draw. "I summon Malice Doll of Demise (1600/1700) in attack mode!"

Justin laughed. "That card's probably one of the weakest of your Malice Dolls. Why summon it?"

"Because..." said Hayden. "I'm going...all out!"

The smile that had spread on Justin's face when he laughed vanished. "You're going all out?"

"That's right!" said Hayden. He placed three spell cards into his duel disk. "I play Ectoplasmer, Card of Safe Return, and Ectoplasm Shield!"

"Damn it." said Justin. Now he can sacrifice monsters for damage to me, draw a card when one of his monsters is special summoned, special summon his monster back, and protect from Ectoplasmer damage against himself. A combo with flaws, sure, but still a good combo.

"And then I end my turn, sacrificing my Malice Doll of Demise!" he said (JLP: 3200). "And the way things are going, you're dead in four more of my turns! Less if I increase my power!"

Ignoring him, Justin drew. He knew that duels Hayden participated in were usually fast-paced duels that could go either way. "Let's see. I start off by summoning The First Tree (1000/1000) in attack mode! ATtack directly, Leaf Judgement!"

Hayden: 3000

Hayden laughed. "That's the best you can do? A mere one thousand damage? Please."

"Oh, shut up." said Justin. He placed a card behind The First Tree. "One face-down card, and I end my turn. The Tree is sacrificed."

His monster disappeared, sending ectoplasm at Hayden. But the shield in front of him evaporated it.

"Good, but not good enough." muttered Vy. She bit her lip. Hayden's stronger than before. Can Justin beat him? No, I can't have doubts. He's a pro. And he's faced stronger opponents than Hayden...and won.

"My turn!" said Hayden, drawing. His Malice Doll of Demise came back to the field, chuckling and showing off its axe. "My monster returns (1600/1700), allowing me to draw one card from my deck!"

He drew the card, pushing his total amount up to four. He smiled, and his Malice Doll disappeared. Another doll appeared, this time bigger with a humongous axe. "I sacrifice my Malice Doll of Demise in order to summon Malice Doll of Despair (2300/1700)! And he'll attack you directly, bringing you down to enough for me to win!"

"You never...shut up!" said Justin. He revealed his face-down card. "I activate a card that you should know! Magic Cylinder!"

Hayden frowned. "Damn you (HLP: 700)."

Now he's weak enough for me to win. Thought Justin.

Hayden suddenly smiled. "But do you really think I'm weak enough to let that hurt me, without a retaliation? I activate a new spell card!"

"What the..." said Justin. He gasped. "Damn!"

"That's right!" said Hayden. "I activate Reverse Ectoplasmer! Now I can sacrifice, one per turn when I end my turn, a monster in order to recover my Life Points by half of its attack points! And with my monster's effect, I can use it in a good combo with Ectoplasmer! I end my turn!"

His monster was destroyed, its soul going into Hayden's duel disk. His Life Points increased (HLP: 1850), and then he discarded a card from his hand. The Doll returned, and he smiled, drawing. "Well, looks like I healed, and now it's time for Ectoplasmer!"

The Doll's soul struck Justin, and Hayden discarded another card, then drew another when his Doll returned.

Justin: 2050

"It's close..." muttered Shinta. He observed the field, and Justin drew. "Too close for comfort."

"My turn." said Justin. He looked at his hand. "Alright, I play Polymerization! I fuse together The Hidden World (1500/1500) and Almighty Ocean (1700/600) in order to fusion summon..."

A giant aquatic world appeared, forcing water to pour out onto the field. Hayden frowned.

"...Ocean's World (2400/1750)!" finished Justin. "And I attack your Malice Doll of Despair with it!"

The monster was destroyed, but it came back when Hayden discarded a card from his hand. Afterwards, he was allowed to draw another.

Hayden: 1750

"Do you really think you can beat me like this?" asked Hayden, raising an eyebrow. "Do you really think you can win?"

Justin's face couldn't be seen by Hayden. The pro lifted his duel disk up, and placed his hand slightly above his duel disk.

"It's useless..." said Justin. "To continue a game after one's victory has been decided."

"Justin!" exclaimed Vy.

"That's right." said Hayden. "So...does this mean you surrender?"

Justin lifted his head, so Hayden could see it. It was a grin.

"What the...hell...?" said Hayden.

"Well, Hayden." said Justin. "Aren't you going to surrender?"

Hayden's limbs shook. It's all a trick. He's just trying to trick me into surrendering. I know it!

"N-never." said Hayden. "I have no reason to..."

"Of course you do." said Justin. "Because..."

Hayden's Ectoplasm Shield exploded, and Justin revealed a card in his hand. Mystical Space Typhoon. "...you're going to lose."

"What the hell?!" screamed Hayden. "You had that card all along?!"

"Yeah." said Justin. "I guess it turned out to be mean of me to keep fiddling with you?"

"You...bastard!" yelled Hayden.

"Save it." said Justin. He smiled. "By the way, did I mention that my monster can attack twice during the battle phase? And if you still have monsters after that, he gives you five hundred points of direct damage? It's a pretty good effect."

His monster struck Hayden's again (HLP: 1650), and the monster simply revived. Hayden had a look of fear on his face as the water struck him.

Hayden: 1150

"Sorry." said Justin. "But it looks like I win! I sacrifice my Ocean's World in order to give you twelve hundred points of damage!"

"No!" said Hayden, as his Life Points fell to zero. "Damn it!"

Hayden: 0

He bent his head, looking towards the ground. "Damn...I lost. I failed our team..."

Justin looked at him. He opened his mouth, and said, "Hayden. You did your best."

Hayden looked up at him. "It wasn't good enough."

"Then..." said Justin. "You need to get stronger."

Hayden bit his lip, and turned his back on Justin. The latter shrugged, and returned to his team as well.

"Interesting." said a voice. Yuki. "That was, no matter what anyone says, a good game. And I want a good game also."

Vy was about to step up, but then she heard something. A voice.

"I'll duel you."

All eyes were now on the owner of the voice. Amy Takahashi.

"Oh?" Yuki raised an eyebrow. "You? Alright, then. I'll duel you."

She and Amy both stepped up, activating their duel disks. Iruka, on the sidelines, raised his arm up into the air.

"Let us begin Round Six, Match One, Duel Three!" he said. "Go!"

Amy: 4000

Yuki: 4000

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Next Time:

Amy VS Yuki

Amy Takahashi and Yuki Ryuuga are now dueling, with the score at 2-0. Amy is starting to heal from the wounds left by Akurei Kokuo, twenty years ago, when he killed Kenshin. Can she gather herself and defeat this foe placed in front of her, bringing the score to a wonderful 3-0? Or will she fall into despair again?

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Author's Note: I went to see Spider-man 3 today. It was pretty good, and I got Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 13 afterwards.

I'm reading it after posting this chapter.

Happy Mother's Day, people!

-Salazare