Chapter 29: Fake Hero

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"Now then Grarl! Show him the blade of your axe Grarl!

The powerful guardian charged towards the chained down dragon, when all of a sudden a metallic ring covered in bombs appeared around the dinosaurs next. The bombs began to count down, giving Risely and Grarl a worried look. "What the heck is that thing?"

"It's a little thing called Ring of Destruction, and it destroys a monster on the field of my choosing," Rioko answered as streams of tears flowed from Grarl's eyes. "And that's not all; we both take damage equal to the destroyed monster's attack points!"

The bombs all clicked at once and the huge dinosaur was covered in a blazing hellish fire that forced both Risely and Rioko to the ground. The force also sent Cain, Goliath, and Terri into the boat. As the two stood up, they just watched their life points begin to click down. (RisLP: 900) (RioLP: 200)

Risely's head lowered as he slid his card into the graveyard, small tear droplets seemed to fall on his armored duel disk. "No one…and I mean no one…senselessly murders my monsters!"

"Whoa…this doesn't seem to bode well." Rioko looked towards his friends in the boat. From the looks of it, Goliath was the only one who recovered fast enough. It was then…Rioko came to his decision. "Goliath! Get them out of here! I'll finish this guy!"

Nodding to his peer's request, Goliath took Terri's duel bracer, which immediately transferred the duel points into the boat's computer. Almost immediately the boat sped from the docks, waves begin created from behind it.

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Roxas sniffed in a large amount of air before sighing loudly. "I love metal in the afternoon!"

Walking through the half-mechanical forest with Hiro and Machina following him not too far behind. The organic trees were slowly being replaced with metal versions by the multiple robots that were shaped like Roxas, as was the grass. Hell, if he could, Roxas would've replaced the water with liquid metal. "This must truly be a paradise."

Machina sighed as she walked up to Roxas, in her hands was an activated laptop displaying the island on the screen. "Master Roxas, we have eliminated all duelists that have previously been assigned to this island have all been eliminated…"

"Ah…excellent! Now we can continue with the rest of the project here!" exclaimed Roxas as he clapped his hands together in delight. "My metal paradise will be more fantastic and it'll be all mine to perform my research!"

Two huge sweat droplets appeared on the back of Machina and Hiro's heads. Machina gestured towards the computer with a sheepish chuckle. "Well, you see sir, we've got three duelists coming here, docking as we speak."

Lowering his head, anime tears streamed from his eyes. "No! I was so close to getting the other side of the island into my metal paradise!"

Taking a step forward, Hiro coughed to get Roxas's attention. "You want us to defeat these duelists?"

Roxas quickly jumped to his feet, his face signifying that a plan was being hatched in his head. "Yes…however, I'd prefer it if one of you were to stay here…just as a little insurance."

"Then who will stay behind sir?" Machina asked as Roxas rubbed his chin.

"An adequate question…" Roxas stated lifting his hand into the air.

"I choose…"

He dropped his arm to point towards Hiro. "Hiro!"

Machina smiled and was about to say something…

"You are to take out those fools!"

Machina just dropped to the hard steel ground with some tears streaming from under her mask. "Aw man…"

Saluting to Roxas, Hiro quickly spun on his heel and ran off into the steel woods. Roxas just knelt down to Machina and held out a deck of cards. "Relax; I've got another task for you…"

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"Rioko…you jackass!" Cain roared slamming his fist into the water near the metallic dock. "What in the world were you doing there anyway?"

From the tropical shore, Terri and Goliath just watched Cain slam at the water. "I wonder how Rioko got on the MT. Ablaze shore."

Goliath shrugged as he turned towards the huge sign that was posted near the docks, depicting multiple silver trees with the name of the island posted underneath. "'Techno Forest Isle'…must be another typo…"

"Yeah whatever, anyway, what are we going to do now?" Terri asked as Cain walked to his fellow duelists.

"More than likely there's a greater power on this island like the last three," stated Goliath rubbing his chin to think. "So I think we'll have to hide somewhere till we have a grip on things. The review what we've gone through so far to prepare ourselves."

"…Do you always try to take the cowards' way?"

Goliath and Terri turned towards Cain who walked past the two and into the woods. "Do as you wish, I'm going my own way."

Just before Cain could disappear among the trees, a powerful grip pulled him to the ground. Goliath stood above Cain with an angered look in his eyes. "Sonryu…now is not the time to be reckless! Remember all of the sacrifices that were made so that we were able to thrive!

"Fortanu…

"Marie…

"And Rioko! Splitting up is only a mistake for us! If you were to lose now then their sacrifices would be for nothing!"

Cain stood up from the ground and glared at Goliath. "Whatever…"

From one of the tree branches, Hiro watched all three of the duelists walking into the forest of palm trees. A huge smile crept onto his face as he quietly jumped to the ground. "Most excellent, with a little bit of 'persuasion' I should be able to lead them to the waterfall caves."

Hiro lifted his sleeve up…

Pressed on the watch to cause a bright green light emit from the accessory…

In addition, pulled it to his mouth.

"R-Bots! Code Zeta! Area: Waterfall!"

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The path through the forest seemed to become tropical and greener by the second the group walked through it. Multiple flowers and vines riddled the pathway, filling the air with a pleasant yet, and mysterious smell.

"This is so beautiful," Terri, sighed before taking a great sniff of the fragrance. "And smells good too!"

"Nature truly is a wondrous sight to behold," stated Goliath turning his head back to Cain.

Walking silently, Cain just followed his two companions starring into space, his mind racing with multiple thoughts. "This is stupid…

"We should be trying to find a way to return those people to normal…

"This isn't how I wanted this to go down…

"I just wanted to find Ami…"

SNAP!

The sound caught the attention of all three duelists, each of them looking around trying to pinpoint the cause of the noise.

All of a sudden, multiple robotic beings marched out from the bushes, from behind the trees and even under the ground towards the group. Each of the robots was small, but each of them had two powerful mechanical arms with multiple weapon attachments welded on.

There was only one thing for the group to do, and Goliath portrayed it well…

"RUN LIKE HELL!"

Terri and Cain blinked as they watched Goliath run ahead, then a few seconds later they joined in running with him from the chasing robots.

From the trees above, Hiro was barely able to contain his laughter. "This…this is too classic! They're heading straight towards the no escape point!"

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-Eventually…

"Man! We…just…barely…managed…to get…away from…those…freaky…robots…" Terri gasped sitting down at the cave wall.

The cave the trio managed to find was a wondrous cave that was hidden behind a beautiful waterfall. Although the cave was dark, the light that managed to get through the waterfall was enough to illuminate the cave and the multiple red jewels that riddled the walls.

Goliath walked towards the wall and felt it's wet texture. "It was luck… 'Or perhaps…a planned effort.'"

A few feet deeper in the cave, Cain sat down looking through his cards, stopping to read the text on them. 'These cards…they've helped me more times then I can count…but with that duel with Kiro...chaos isn't enough.

'I think…

'Its time…

'Time for my real deck to emerge.'

Cain placed a hand on his deck, closing his eyes as he reached into his backpack.

From the backpack, Cain produced a second deck of cards. Quickly snapping a few cards from his Chaos deck, and shuffling them into his unknown deck, he put his Chaos deck into the extra deck case in his backpack.

Meanwhile, Terri was placing all the soul cards she had with her on a dry rock. They were all in order, Chloe, Lee, and Kiro. "There must be a way to restore these guys."

Pulling the soul cards that Goliath had he placed them in front of the three that Terri lined up. Displaying Zemnos and Dante…still looking in pain in the cards. "I have seen this before…"

"What! How in the world do you know that?" Terri asked as she stood up to Goliath.

Looking back as his small companion, Goliath just recalled all of the shadow duels that the group was in. "Being Kaiser, I've studied a multitude of things; one of my better classes was shadow realm involvement…"

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(The shadows are nothing to be taken lightly)

Treasure Knight – Gold (750/500) led the attack as he jumped over Goliath's face down card and slashed Goliath at an angle.

Then Treasure Knight – Emerald (900/1300) ran past the face down monster and slammed its mace into Goliath's stomach.

Next Treasure Knight – Silver (1000/800) threw a powerful slash with his silver coated lance into Goliath's chest, followed up by a piercing Sapphire arrow courtesy from Treasure Knight – Sapphire (700/1000).

Goliath fell to the ground, but looked up to see Treasure Knight – Ruby (800/1200) raising his axe to strike Goliath.

As Goliath's hard scream filled the air, many birds flew from the many trees. (GLP: 350)

(As you've no doubt in seen, the stakes in a shadow duel are more dangerous than losing your life points…you lose much more than that.)

"That's right…I'll send Armed Dragon LV7 away for…" Maxwell announced as his dragon began to glow black and silver. Then suddenly the light dulled to reveal the more muscular dragon with sharp blade like wings. "Armed Dragon LV 10 (3000/2000)! And with the discarding a certain card from my hand, I can destroy all face up monsters on your side of the field!"

The multiple blades on the Armed Dragon spun wildly before they shot out and slashed the three frogs into pixels. The dragon then stomped in front of Fortanu, causing a large splash of water to cover Fortanu.

"And now…Armed Dragon LV 10 attack this fool directly!"

The dragon brought his two claws down on Fortanu, seemingly to cut his shirt. The attack forced Fortanu to the water again. "You may want to stay down." (FLP: 100)

(The only ones who have the power to initiate a shadow game are those who are born with the power of shadows, or have a shadow charm…)

"Fine then, I take that it's my turn," Chloe stated as Terri nodded. "Then I'll summon this gal, Cyber Tutu (1000/800)!"

With a pirouette, a new girl appeared. With strawberry pink hair and a blue visor, she smiled towards Terri. A flowing light skirt attached to her rose and mint green spandex suit.

Terri just raised an eyebrow at the sight of the new monster. "I thought we were dueling, not playing with dollies."

"Then why don't you see what she can do, do a pirouette on her face Tutu!" Chloe ordered as Tutu bowed then commenced spinning at Terri till the back of her foot collided with Terri's face sending her to the ground. (TLP: 400)

(Shadow Games…they are quite perplexing. Things you think that would never happen do, such as the monster attacks become real. You have felt them a couple times…remember Terri?)

"My draw! So I'll summon a defensive monster on my own," the card back appeared as Terri raised her hand into the air. "Next I'll have Hysteric Fairy go on the attack!"

The secretary immediately opened up the book in her hand, which released a powerful beam of light towards the face down card. When the card flipped face up, an ancient statue with its hands in a blocking manner took its place and blocked the attack. Then with a strong push, the statue sent the attack back towards Terri, knocking her down to the ground. (TLP: 2000)

(The one who made the shadow game is the one who can end it…or reverse the effects of the game. However, if a person with a more powerful hold on the shadow realm were to appear, then they could theoretically reverse the effects.)

Water sloshed onto the plateau wetting the feet of everyone on it. Marie faced Gron with determination. "Fine, let's finish this!"

Gron drew and raised his arm towards Marie. "Master Monk! Attack her directly!"

"I activate my trap card! Magic Cylinders!" Marie announced as the two magic cylinders appeared in front of Marie with the Master Monk running towards one of them. "This will send your attack right back at you!"

Gron just smirked as his face down card went active revealing a magic jammer only dispelling a bear trap. "Or it would if I didn't activate my trap card, Trap Jammer! This negates your trap! So this duel is over!"

For a second time the ultimate monk unleashed a volley of powerful punches that sent Marie to the ground. "No…not again." (MLP: 0)

(No matter how strong a duelist is, if they lose even one shadow duel…their career is over…forever.)

With a quick snap, Kiro added another card into his hand. "Truly pathetic…but thanks, Magma Dragon! Attack that face down defense monster!"

As the Magma Dragon fired a volley of rock like spikes towards Cain's face down monster, two magical colored cylinders appeared before the attack. "I activate my face down! Magic Cylinders! Now you'll take the damage!"

The cylinders just shattered as the spikes entered them, Kiro just laughed maniacally.

"Did you forget my Magma Dragon's effect? Your little trap show just gets negated and destroyed! So I won't take any damage!"

"Yeah…but you said that your dragon can only destroy one trap per turn, so I'll activate this one!" Cain announced as a huge shield appeared before the face down card stopping the spikes. "Go Draining Shield! Not only is your attack negated, but I'll gain life points equal to your monster's attack points!"

Lowering his head, Kiro began to laugh once more. "…Or it would! If my upgraded dragon didn't have the ability to negate and destroy all trap cards that I wish!"

At the instant the shield shattered into pixels, the spikes continued their assault and skewered the face down monster. Between the rocks emerged the Chaos Gunner (1450/1000) before he became dust in the wind. "Damn it!"

"It's not over yet!" Kiro shouted as spikes began to flash red.

Before Cain could ask, the spikes exploded sending him to the ground. Multiple rocks stabbed through his arms, causing trickles of blood to seep through. Cain just moaned in pain as he stood up. (CLP: 600)

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"But all in all, no one really knows that much about the shadow realm," Goliath stated as the water from the waterfall began to part.

"True, but no one can some times be…someone."

Terri and Goliath turned their heads to the waterfall and before them stood a daunting figure.

His eyes were covered by a huge pair of sunglasses and weighed down crimson hair. A large black overcoat covered most of his body with the exception of the black duel disk and black pants the teen wore.

"Truth is something that we all seek," the teen stated walking further into the cave while shaking his head to dry his hair. "For what that truth we require is…all depends on what we want to know…"

"This guy's just repeating himself," Cain sighed snapping his deck into his duel disk.

"The name is Hiro…and there's the first truth," Hiro announced activating his duel disk. "And I have another truth on me…the truth about the shadow realm…"

"What the hell?" sighed Goliath as Cain began to walk toward Hiro. "How could you know about the shadow realm?"

After pulling a gold coin from his pocket, Hiro flipped the coin into the air revealing that it had an eye of Horus on both sides. "Cause I happen to have this little bad boy. I'm here to collect all of those soul cards you are in possession of…as well as your souls too."

Just as Goliath was about to speak, Cain just walked in front of him with his duel disk revved up. Hell even his life point counter was already set. "Nothing comes without a price. You'll have to duel me for them." (CLP: 4000)

Hiro just chuckled as his duel disk hummed to life when he inserted his deck into the disk. "I was hoping for one of you to say that." (HLP: 4000)

"And what's a duel without some shadows?" Hiro asked as the golden coin in his hand flickered to life.

From left to right, streams of purple smoke began to cover the ground of the cave. The already cold air began to become even colder. "Sonryu! This is the worst idea you've gotten! You still haven't recovered from the last time you dueled in the shadow realm."

Ignoring Goliath, Cain snapped the top card from his deck.

"Sonryu!"

"I'll summon a monster on the defensive, and place a card face down," Cain announced as the two card backs appeared in front of Cain. "You talk a good game…but can you deliver?"

With a smirk, Hiro just simply drew his sixth card. Cain had the feeling that he was getting a glare from behind the huge sunglasses. "You better believe it…and I'll start this duel with the spell card Polymerization! This in case you didn't know allows me to fuse monsters in my hand to bring out a fusion monster!"

Sliding two cards into his graveyard, a green suited man with powerful wings along with a wild looking man wearing a lion cloth appeared that being sucked into a blue vortex.

"So I'll fuse the Elemental Heroes Avian (1000/1000) and Wildheart (1500/1600) to create…"

The vortex shattered into pixels as the same wild man appeared only with green and black hawk legs. On the back of his tanned torso emerged two extremely powerful green eagle wings.

"E-Hero Wild Wingman (1900/2300)!"

Cain just lifted his duel disk with a determined look in his eyes. "So you going to attack with that birdman?"

Hiro just smiled widely, then just discarded a card to his graveyard. "Not just yet, that face down card I do not like at all, so I'll be discarding my E-Hero Necroshade (1600/1800) to the graveyard to have my Wild Wingman destroy that spell or trap card!"

Flapping his powerful wings rapidly, the Wild Wingman created a powerful mini tornado that shattered the face down card. Cain just simply slid the card into his graveyard with a microscopic smile. "And now…Wingman! Attack his face down card!"

Sending a second tornado, the Wingman blasted the face down card to reveal itself a familiar white knight…before it shattered into pixels. "Great, you took out my Blade Knight (1600/1000)."

"And I'm not done, I'll set a card face down to end my turn," Hiro announced as a card appeared behind the Wild Wingman.

"I hope Cain knows what he's doing…" Terri sighed as Cain drew his next card.

Goliath just shook in head, somewhat disappointed in Cain. "Sonryu…you better trust your chaos that well in order to risk a match this dangerous…"

Turning his head, Cain just smirked. "Who said I'm still using Chaos?"

All of a sudden in front of Cain emerged a blinding blue light in the shape of a circle. Hiro just stared at it thanks to his sunglasses. "What in the world is this?"

Cain's smirk just widened a little as a statue the size of a man appeared from the circle. "This be the trap card you destroyed last turn! Its called Transmutation Circle! And when its destroyed, I can special summon one 'Alchemist' from my hand during my next Main Phase!"

Goliath and Terri both raised an eyebrow at the new card in Cain's deck. "Alchemists?"

"So give it up for Wandering Alchemist (1500/1300)!" Cain announced as the statue and transmutation circle shattered into pixels.

From the pixels stood a now shorter person. His golden hair was braided in the back to form a ponytail kept out of his face but went past the shoulders of his extremely long red overcoat. Under his overcoat was a black long sleeved jacket over a black muscle shirt and black pants. Hiro's jaw just dropped at the sight of the monster. "Is that…?"

Before Hiro could continue, a card spat out of Cain's deck and he quickly pulled it into his hand. "Hold that thought, cause my Alchemist's ability kicks in, allowing me to add one out of three certain cards to my hand."

Instead of playing the card he just got, Cain took another card and slapped it onto his duel disk. "And also, since my Wandering Alchemist was a special summon, I can summon another monster! So say hello to this guy!"

A second transmutation circle emerged next to the Wandering Alchemist, only not as bright. From the circle emerged a young man with long white hair tied up into a ponytail. Draped over his semi muscular body, was a baggy silver overcoat with multiple black transmutations all over the clothes. His black pants connected to his black shoes, and in his right hand was a very articulate revolver gun with a transmutation circle on it. "Gunner Alchemist (1450/1300)!"

"With the exception of clothes…that really looks like his Chaos Gunner," Terri stated as Goliath rubbed his chin.

"It looks like you're right…"

Hiro just chuckled to himself at the sight of the two monsters. "Come on, sure the monsters are cool, but neither of them are strong enough to take on my Wild Wingman."

"Not yet anyway," Cain stated as he slid his next card into his duel disk. "That's why I'm playing the equip spell card, Alchemic Enhancement! And equip it to Gunner Alchemist!"

As the spell card went active, the transmutation circle on the Gunner's revolver began to glow and wrap the weapon in a powerful light. Crouching down, the light disappeared revealing a powerful cannon on top of Gunner's shoulder replacing the revolver. "Now then, this upgrade, increases my equipped Alchemist's attack and defense by 500! (1950/1800)"

"Uh oh," Hiro moaned as the cannon began to charge up.

"Now then! Gunner Alchemist! Attack with Alchemic Charge!"

Firing a powerful charged blast of red light, the Gunner Alchemist smirked at the sight of impact. The Wild Wingman just shattered into pixels, and before Cain could order another attack, a blinding signal similar to the Bat Signal emerged from Hiro's face down card. "Nice try! However, my face down card is Hero Signal! Now since you destroyed my monster because of battle I can now call out a new one! And I'm thinking Elemental Hero Sparkman (1600/1400)!" (HLP: 3950)

From the signal leapt the blue suited warrior with his golden armor and blue face visor shinning from the cave's minimal light. His entire body began to spark with power.

Shaking his head, Cain took one card from his hand and slid it into his duel disk. "Okay then, I'll end my turn with one card face down."

"And it comes to my turn!" Hiro shouted with his echo sounding through out the cave.

He drew and his smile grew.

"Since you activated an equip card, I'll play my own!"

Hiro immediately slid the card into his duel disk, and almost instantly, Sparkman began to surge with even more electricity. "I activate the equip spell Zap Cannon - Volt!"

The equip spell appeared over Sparkman's shoulder, forming into a metallic blue cannon with electricity surged from the weapon. "This weapon increases Sparkman by 200 attack points! Moreover, every time he takes down a monster, he'll gain another 200 attack points. So now…Sparkman, attack with Zap Cannon!"

Charging a powerful electrical blast, the Sparkman took aim at the Wandering Alchemist. Noticing that he was being targeted, the Wandering Alchemist clapped his hands.

Just as the Sparkman fired the blast, the Wandering Alchemist slapped his hands onto the ground. Before the attack reached the Alchemist, a large wall appeared before the Wandering Alchemist blocking the attack. "You mind telling me what in the world just happened?"

Cain just motioned to his trap card with the exact same picture that just happened in the duel. "It happens to be my trap card, Transmuted Shield. First, it switches one 'Alchemist' monster to defense mode and increases its defense by 500 points (1500/1800). This is just enough to block off your attack, so nice try."

Hiro took the last card from his hand and slid it into his duel disk. "Very well, I'll just place down a face down."

Snapping his next card from his deck, Cain nodded at his other card. "Prepare to see the true power of the Alchemist cards!"

Goliath and Terri just widened their eyes, both confused at the statement. "Goliath, tell me that you at least know what Cain's talking about."

Shaking his head, Goliath sighed. "Unfortunately, I don't have any idea on what's going on with these Alchemist cards."

"Then allow me to explain!" Cain shouted as he slapped his newly drawn card onto this duel disk. "So I'll summon Crystal Alchemist (1500/1600)!"

An icy blue transmutation circle appeared before Cain and a young man with bushy brown hair, his black coat had multiple crystals attached to the clothes. Other than that, he was wearing regular business clothes. "But he won't be staying long! You see, by removing the fusion material monster from play, I'm able summon the fusion monsters!

A powerful vortex erupted underneath the Crystal and Gunner Alchemist sucking both of them into it. After sparking for a few minutes, a new figure emerged from the vortex. This time, the monster looked like the gunner only older with a sapphire blue overcoat, in his hands sat two identical revolvers covered with blue crystals.

"Meet the Nitro Alchemist (1900/1700)!" Cain announced as his new Alchemist smirked and lifted both of his guns into the air.

"Big deal…he's not that impressive!" Hiro stated as the Nitro Alchemist caulked his guns.

"Then he should be no trouble for you to deal with his attack!" Cain shouted as Nitro fired a quick round of crystallized bullets towards Sparkman.

"Nice try! Nevertheless, you forget that I still have my face down card! Go Hero Barrier!" Announced Hiro as a small barrier took the attack for Sparkman. "So you'll have to wait to get a chance at my hero."

However, with a determined look in his face, Nitro lifted his guns into the air once more taking aim at the Sparkman. "Its unfortunate that Nitro's ability allows him to attack twice during the battle phase! So now then, attack once more!"

Unleashing a second volley of crystallized bullets, Nitro smirked at the sight of contact on his target.

At the sight of his hero being shattered, Hiro's jaw dropped. "No…way…" (HLP: 3850)

"And since I left my Wandering Alchemist in defense mode," Cain stated as Nitro blew into the barrel of the gun and Cain slid another card from his hand. "I'll end my turn."

"I think I get Cain's overall strategy," Goliath stated as Hiro drew his next card. "Whether its chaos, or these Alchemists, he relies on removing cards. Quite a hard strategy to counteract if played correctly."

"Now watch this Cain! I activate a spell card called Hero Backup!" Hiro announced as his spell card appeared showing the Elemental Heroes placing their hands together. "Now for each monster in my graveyard with 'Hero' in their name, I can draw card for each, so I've got four, and I get four new cards!"

Cain just scowled as he watched the top four cards on Hiro's deck fly out and into his opponent's hand. "Now then, I'll invoke the power of Necroshade in my graveyard! Allowing me to summon an Elemental Hero without tribute! And I've got just the one for the job!"

A shadow appeared before Hiro, and from it sliced a golden armored hero with multiple sharp blades. As soon as it fully appeared, the Hero posed its arms dynamically. "Elemental Hero Bladedge (2600/1800) you've been hired! Next, I'll place a card face down, and Bladedge! Attack his Nitro Alchemist! Slice and dice that monster!"

A pair of two blade like wings appeared on the back of the armored hero and charged towards the Alchemist when all of a sudden Cain's face down card went active. The trap depicted a few Alchemist standing with each other, looking for a fight. "Nice try! However, with your attack I can activate my Transmute Alliance trap card! This allows me to summon an Alchemist that's been removed from play. So then, let's bring back Gunner Alchemist (1450/1300 + 200/0)!"

"Still won't stop my attack!" Hiro announced as his Hero slashed the Nitro Alchemist in two while the Gunner Alchemist reappeared. "How do ya like me now?"

Cain just yawned loudly, causing Hiro to clench his fist. "I still think you're annoying…" (CLP: 3300)

"Well then, I'll just let you go on and embarrass yourself!" Hiro shouted as Cain drew his next card.

"Here comes another Alchemist! I summon Flame Alchemist! (1600/1500)" Cain announced while a huge flame exploded in front of him. From the flame stepped a handsome black haired man wearing a flame painted jacket and loose black clothes. On his two white gloves are two transmutation circles.

Lifting his hand, the new Alchemist snapped his fingers and a powerful flame erupted underneath Hiro's face down card, destroying the monster. "And here's his special ability, when he's normal, flipped, or special summoned he destroys up to two spell or trap cards on the field!"

"That's a good ability," Hiro thought watching another sparking vortex appear underneath the Flame Alchemist and Gunner Alchemist.

"And since I'll remove my two Alchemists once more, I can bring out a new fusion monster!" Cain announced as the vortex sucked in the Flame and Gunner Alchemist.

The vortex shattered a new alchemist jumped from the small destruction. Landing on the ground, an experienced white haired man with multiple guns hidden under his red-flamed decal overcoat appeared. His black underclothes also have ammo attached to them. "And let's hear it for Flame Gunner Alchemist (2450/1500)!"

"Pretty impressive monster you've got there," Hiro chuckled as Cain looked through his hand. "Too bad it doesn't have enough attack points to take out my Hero."

"Not yet anyway," Cain replied as he slid another card into his duel disk. "First I'll switch my Wandering Alchemist to attack mode. I play the spell card, Alchemic Elixir! When equipped to an Alchemist monster, it increases the monster by 700 attack points! And guess who I'm equipping it to!"

A powerful red aura surrounded one of the multiple guns on the Flame Gunner, then covered it into a bright light. When the light died down, the gun appeared to be more like a shotgun. "Now then Flame Gunner Alchemist (3150/1500) attack his Bladedge!"

Taking aim, the Flame Gunner fired a well-aimed shot that pierce right through the armor in Bladedge sending him to the ground. "That's not a good sign at all." (HLP: 2750)

"And neither is this! Wandering Alchemist! Attack him directly!" Cain commanded as his other alchemist ran directly towards Hiro.

Just as Hiro was about to cover his face with his arms, a sharp pain caught him in the gut! When he looked down, Hiro's eyes widened behind his sunglasses at the sight. The Wandering Alchemist slammed his fist into his gut. When the Alchemist retracted his hand, Hiro gasped for air while holding his stomach. (HLP: 1250)

"This isn't over!" Hiro shouted as Cain looked over his hand.

"Yeah, whatever, since I don't have anything else to play, I'll be ending my turn," Cain stated as Hiro removed his arms from his stomach.

With a quick snap, Hiro stared at his card before he slid it into his duel disk. "I play the spell card Lightning Vortex! So by discarding my Clayman (800/2000), I can destroy every face up monster you've got out!"

Cain didn't even flinch at the sight of his two monsters get strike down by electricity. "Next, I'll play the spell card Pot of Avarice! By taking five of the monsters in my graveyard, shuffle them into my deck, I can then draw two new cards!"

Watching his opponent's quick movements, Cain just scowled at his hand. "Not good…I don't have that many monsters in my hand."

"Now then…I'll summon a monster on the defensive," Hiro announced as the horizontal card appeared before him. "And a face down card, so I'll call it a turn."

"Okay then…" Cain muttered drawing his next card. "Okay, I'll summon a second Wandering Alchemist (1500/1300)!"

With the transmutation circle reappeared and a second small alchemist reappeared. Almost immediately, a card shot out of Cain's deck and into his hand. "Next I'll place a card face down. And then I'll send Wandering Alchemist out on the attack!"

Running towards the face down card, the Wandering Alchemist quickly slammed his fist into the face down card. The card revealed itself a mechanical dog, and as soon as the dog shattered into pixels, two cards slid out of Hiro's graveyard. "Thanks, that was Wroughtweiler (800/1200). When he is destroyed in battle I can take an E-Hero and Polymerization from my graveyard into my hand."

"I can't do anything else for this turn, so go ahead," Cain stated as Hiro drew his next card.

"To start this turn, I'll play Gracefully Charity!" Hiro announced as a bright light showered over his deck allowing him to draw three cards, then he quickly discarded two cards.

Then all of a sudden, Hiro's face down card went active showing Marie the Fallen one. "Then after I discard, I get the two cards I discarded back!"

Sliding another card into his duel disk, a new vortex appeared in front of Hiro. "Next I'll play polymerization! So I'll fuse Sparkman with Clayman!"

The electrified hero and the huge clay covered hero appeared shortly before being sucked into the vortex. Then the vortex shattered into pixels freeing the new hero. The large muscular warrior crashed his feet into the ground. On his purple jumpsuit was the Sparkman's armor with an electrified orb on his chest.

"Say hello to E-Hero Thunder Giant (2400/1500)! But I'm not done yet!" Hiro shouted fitting another card into his duel disk. "I'll activate the spell card Fusion Recovery! So I'll take Sparkman and polymerization back to my hand! And I'll summon Sparkman (1600/1400)!"

With a powerful spark, the original electrified hero appeared sparking with electricity. "And now…Sparkman! Clear the field of his Alchemist!"

Charging up a powerful electrified javelin, Sparkman took aim…

And immediately threw the weapon, striking the Wandering Alchemist in the chest. The electrical current sent the alchemist to the ground.

"And now…Thunder Giant! Attack the shorty directly with Voltic Thunder!"

Sliding on the ground, Thunder Giant readied a powerful electrical charge in his hands.

Cain just gasped as the Thunder Giant slammed the electricity into his chest. The electric surge flowed through out Cain's body, every nerve seemingly starting to shut down.

When the attack halted and the Thunder Giant walked back over to Hiro's side of the field, Cain collapsed on the ground. Smoke was rising off his entire body while Hiro threw back some of his hair. (CLP: 800)

"I knew Sonryu couldn't take another Shadow Game…" Goliath sighed as he readied his duel disk.

Hiro just smiled at the sight of his smoking opponent. "Guess the little guy didn't know when to quit…shadow games can take a toll on both players, even if they do win. And sometimes the pain is too much for them to even get up.

"So you better stay down Cain…why make your little body suffer anymore? You can end everything right now! Bwahahahahhahahaha!"

While Hiro was laughing maniacally, Cain opened his eyes and began to push himself off the ground.

Hiro watched his opponent and his laughter ceased. "I see, and then I'll wrap up my turn with a face down card."

Gasping for air, Cain weakly reached for his deck. "Compared to what my life was like before…this is just a slap on the wrist!"

Hiro stepped back a little, a little confused at what his opponent was saying. "Really? Then your life must be crap if you're more than willing to go through this pain."

"You don't get it…" Cain growled as he looked at the card he drew.

"I am…I am a tortured soul! My past may have made me the way I am now, but I've come far…

"So I'm not going to lose to a wannabe hero! I didn't last time I faced someone like you! And I don't plan on starting to!"

Just then, Hiro's face down card lifted up showing E-Hero Burstinatrix trapped in a tube with energy being surged into the tube. "Let's see if you plan on keeping that up! I activate the trap card Elemental Recharge! This gives me 1000 life points for each E-Hero I have out! So I gain 2000 life points!" (HLP: 3250)

"That's not going to last long," Cain gasped struggling to fit his new card into his duel disk. "I activate the spell card, Soul Release! So I'll remove my two Wandering Alchemists, Flame Gunner Alchemist, Nitro Alchemist, and why don't I remove your Clayman from the game!"

As the cards slid out of the graveyard slots, Hiro could only be curious. "Let's see what he can do…"

"Next up I'll summon a second Gunner Alchemist (1450/1300 + 1400/0)!" Cain announced as another Gunner emerged from a new red transmutation circle.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up a second! What in the world is up with your Gunner's attack points?" Hiro asked watching the Gunner Alchemist spin his revolver on a finger.

"He gains 200 extra attack points for each monster that's been removed from play," Cain stated immediately raising his right arm over his face down card. "But he's just part two in my plan! I reveal my face down card!

The card flipped up, revealing multiple monsters falling from a vortex. "I activate Return from the Different Dimension! So at a cost of half of my life points, I can summon back four monsters that were removed from play!" (CLP: 400)

An electrical surge appeared over Cain, and then four transmutation circles appeared in the vortex. Hiro just gulped as he noticed that the shadows were starting to gather around both duelists. "The shadows! No! This can't be happening!"

The transmutation circles shattered and four familiar figures landed in front of Cain. "And now…let's reintroduce to…

"Gunner Alchemist (1450/1300)!

"Flame Alchemist (1600/1500)!

"Crystal Alchemist (1500/1600)!

"And Wandering Alchemist (1500/1300)!

All five Alchemists nodded to Cain before two transmutation circles appeared before him. "But they're not staying for long! I'll send my two Gunners, Flame, and Crystal Alchemists from the game in order to summon out two familiar Alchemists!"

As soon as the two gunners, Flame and Crystal alchemists stepped into the transmutation circles, they were wrapped in a bright light.

When the light died down, only two people stood where the four were.

"Flame Gunner Alchemist (2450/1500)!

"And Nitro Alchemist (1900/1700)!"

"Not good at all!" Hiro shouted as Cain clenched his fist.

"Its all good…Flame Gunner Alchemist! Take out Thunder Giant"

After taking aim, the Flame Gunner fired a multitude of flames that covered the entire Hero. (HLP: 3200)

"Next up, Nitro shatter the Sparkman!"

Everyone just blinked and saw that Sparkman now was filled with the crystal bullets. (HLP: 2900)

"And don't forget that Nitro can attack twice during a battle phase!"

Hiro didn't even have a chance to lift up his arms before the onslaught of bullets pierced him and his clothes. (HLP: 1000)

"And to finish this…Wandering Alchemist! Attack directly!"

Still tired from the attack, Hiro just looked up in time to see the Wandering Alchemist in front of him. Then without warning, the Alchemist delivered a powerful right jab right between the eyes, the force shattering the sunglasses and sending Hiro to the ground. (HLP: 0)

Then raising his hand into a thumb up, Cain sighed in relief. In addition, the Alchemists lifted their thumbs up. "And…that's how you get victory!"

Cain watched as the shadows began to form around Hiro, seemingly to absorb his body. Walking over to his opponent, Cain's eyes widened at the sight of Hiro's face. "No…it can't be!"

Terri and Goliath ran over to Cain, and Goliath's eyes widened at the sight of Hiro's true face. "How?"

Looking dumbfounded, Terri just looked at Cain and Goliath while Hiro's body engulfed in the shadows. When the shadows dissipated, all that was left of Hiro was a card. "What are you two getting all worked up about?"

Cain just lifted the card and his face grimaced. "Hiro is…he's actually Sorro."

/ -/- -/-/-/- /- /

Meanwhile, in a dark room with a huge screen TV in the middle…

"NO! Up! Up! Wait! Down! Fire! Fire! Die, die, die!"

Then TV created a large explosion sound before showing a red flashing screen that had the flashing two familiar words.

Game Over!

"Damn it…I always lose at the hero games…" Roxas sighed putting down his game controller. "Maybe I should try the first person shooters…then there are the good old fashion war machine games."

/- /- /-/- ///-///

Cain: Sorro…it was him?

Machina: Don't think that you're out of the fray yet.

Cain: What the? Not another one!

Machina: You won't be as lucky!

What the heck is going on! – Chapter 30: Change of Heart!

GA: You're not alone Cain!