Episode 36: If the Soul Exists

The dank darkness curled around Ronin's floating body, soothing him in an ice like chill. Drifting slowly forward as if he was a boat in a still lake, moving only with the incredibly weak current, Ronin moved slowly through the emptiness.

He felt numb. He couldn't feel his fingers or toes. Arms or legs. All he knew was that he wasn't in pain.

As a more solid awareness began to grace him with its gentle fingers, Ronin managed to pry open his steel shutter like eye lids, gazing at the mass of darkness around him.

"Where am I?" He questioned, trying to move his head to the side to see. The massive weight that seemed to be pressuring him made moving difficult, but he managed to let his head come down to the side. Disappointment was all that awaited him as he saw nothing different to his side either. Just black. All black.

Gaining enough ambition, Ronin swirled over so he was no longer floating on his back, staring down at the mono-visual sight that seemed to be all around him. Pushing back, he managed to gain balance and float upright as if he was standing in this void of space.

"Let's see…" Ronin's somewhat blank eyes closed their shades while his memory drifted back to his most recent memory at the top of the stack of memories in his brain.

His hand slowly lifted, pressing against the side of his head while his fingers fell across his forehead, a bit of pain gripping his facial features as he tried to think.

"Freyr beat me in that duel…" He realized, slowly opening his eyes to gaze back out at the endless void of space that he was floating in. "Badly."

Pushing off with his legs, Ronin found he could slowly propel himself forward in the abyss he seemed to be in. Looking around, he tried to see if there was some sort of exit for him to escape his imprisonment in the darkness.

As he moved, something form the distance caught his ear, turning him slightly to his left to look for whatever he was hearing. A low, grumbling noise, like heavy breathing of a big monster could be heard echoing through the void. Ronin, more curious than afraid, began to drift towards the sound, trying to find out what it was.

Swimming in his motionless movement, Ronin moved towards the sound, causing what appeared to be an illusion before him to fade away with a ripple of the space around him. What he saw now resting against the 'floor' of the void was a long, light blue sea serpent monster. His own Levia-Dragon – Daedalus.

Around the monsters body, tying the beast up to an invisible ground, were long winding chains of ice, twisting their bindings around the monsters body. Squirming to free itself, the monster efforts were in vein as the grip of iron and ice was too strong for it.

Looking over, its two red eyes spotted Ronin floating there, staring at it. Twisting its head around, Daedalus gazed upon its master with all four of its prideful, yet defeated, eyes.

Around the beasts head, clamping its mouth shut was another ice-formed chain. Twisting around its face several times before wrapping around the base of its head and neck, then shooting down into the abyss. This made the monster incapable of doing much more than groan and grunt.

Its breath was staggered, ridged and heavy as the beast breath in and out in huge huffs. It obviously had been struggling for a while to free itself, tiring itself out in the hopeless effort.

"I turn out to be a very sick person." A voice came from the void, causing Ronin to look around for a second before coming back to the bound up monster before him. Now, sitting upon the dark blue crown of the monster, a younger version of Ronin was perched, staring down at its hovering, older self. "If I would have known I was going to turn into a bastard like I do, I probably would have jumped off a bridge or something."

"Who are you to talk?" Ronin growled, looking up at the shaggy haired young boy.

"Who do you think I am?" The boy asked back, his tone turning angry. Reaching down, he pulled up on the chain that bound the sea serpents head. "I can tell you one thing; I am not one who ever though I'd bind up my partner and best friend like this."

"So you are accusing me of doing it? I did nothing to Daedalus!" Ronin whipped his arm angrily through the air, causing the younger Ronin to begin laughing at his elder self.

"How is it you can deny what you see before you? Maybe your eyes are fading in your older age. Come on, look here," the young boy pointed downwards to the monsters face, "tell me what you see."

"I see Daedalus tied up."

"With what?"

"Chains."

"Of?"

Ronin stopped for a second, cocking his eyebrow at the boy for a second before answering the final question. "Ice. What is playing 20 questions going to do for us?"

"A lot if you were even half as smart as I am. Figure it out." The young boy began rubbing his hand across the top of the sea dragon's head, like a person would do petting a cat. "He was our best friend, our partner, our ally."

Looking down for a second, the young boy sighed, closing his eyes as a deep frown pulled at his lips.

"Our strength." Looking up, hate filtered into the young boys eyes, glaring at his elder mirror image that hadn't moved since he arrived at the scene. "And what did you do. You bound him up with your chains of ice as your heart became cold and unwelcoming. This is your doing. Yours and your new 'friend', that dragon of yours."

"I didn't do this." Ronin continued to protest, gritting his teeth in frustration of arguing with a little kid.

"Why did you sell out Daedalus for power?" The boy asked, his hand still petting the giant lizard, causing the beast to relax some as it was getting attention from one who cared about it. Closing its eyes, it slowly lowered its head to the non-existent ground in a blissful state.

"I did what I had to do to be able to move on in life." Ronin spoke after the dragon had finished moving to its new position.

"So then you admit it!" The young Ronin stood up finally, pointing an accusing finger at his older self.

"No, I didn't do this." Ronin whipped his arm forward to Daedalus that lay before him as the pedestal of the person he was arguing with. "I still treasure and use Daedalus in my deck. But I had to gain more power to be able to finally be strong." Letting his arm fall, Ronin's head bowed slightly. "I am not proud of everything I've been forced to do. All the choices I've made may not be politically correct to most people. But they are the path I was made to walk down."

"I'm not sure weather to be enraged, or sick to my stomach." Child Ronin shook his head in disgust, his right hand up against his forehead as his eyes were closed. "Every word you…I…say is just sordid."

Blasting up over a hill, Kiro's gem like eyes locked onto the flying vampire again. One of the few times in his life he actually wished that looks could kill, as Dementia would have been dead thousands of times over already.

Connecting with the ground again, Kiro continued to run after Dementia with his inhuman speed. Dipping through the valley the hills created, he eventually went racing up the side of another hill, popping up on top of it. Sliding to a stop, he surveyed the skies to make sure he knew where he was going.

Gaining his bearings, he watched as the purple skinned vampire headed down against a strange rock formation a good distance away yet. Building out into a much bigger mountain, the rock formation was seemed like a good check point to lead him to if that was to be where she wanted him to go.

"Fine, I'll get you no matter where you are." He growled, crouching down again and blasting off in a massive blur of color, racing across the odd fields to the rock formation.

Joe and Kevin stood over the sleeping Kaira, watching her breath slowly in and out. Crossing his arms, Joe stood straight up again, looking back over at the three women and two demons along the doorway of the room.

"She's alright though?" He asked, getting a nod from Order.

"She should be fine. Just the vampire part of her took over on Dementia's wishes we think." Order continued, walking over to the two boys who were now just staring at her while she spoke. "She is exhausted from such a rush of power she's not even close to used to yet."

"And the dark aura that surrounded her faded away once Sachiko won." Hebanu continued, speaking from his place leaning against the wall with Heruru who looked pissed as always. "So hopefully when she wakes up again, she'll be back to her old self." Bowing his head, his eyes darted across the wooden floor. "Hopefully."

"This is just the last thing we need right now." Joe glanced over his shoulder at the woman laying there. "We already have one rouge person from our side, we don't need another one."

The comment made Akina wipe away a tear that was forming at the base of her left eye.

"Reku, what happened to you? Where are you?" Squeezing her hands into a tight balled fist, Akina's eyes fell shut, picturing the man she loved inside her mind. "I need you Reku. Come back to me."

Thrusting his finger forward, the child of Ronin pointed accusingly at the man standing directly before him and the grounded Daedalus. "It's scum like you that fills the human world with such trash!"

"For wanting to point out my own 'problems'," Ronin quoted himself with his fingers as he spoke, glaring back up at his younger self, "you sure seem to have no problem with pointing fingers and calling names."

"I'm only telling the truth." The child Ronin waved his arm before him, palm open so that he could motion to the grounded beast beneath him. "The proof is right here."

"For the last time: I did not do that!" Ronin was about screaming as he spoke, swinging his tight balled fists down to his side.

"Do you wanna bet?" The child Ronin waved his arm out to the side; a massive ripple in space appeared next to him, spreading out until it was a large, rectangular shaped box hovering in the void. "Here is how it started, do you remember this?"

Ronin watched in silence as the ripple in space turned into a 'T.V. set', displaying a wide image for Ronin to view. What he saw on the screen was a younger version of himself, and even the more childish Ronin that stood atop his Daedalus. Him and a younger version of Reku stood on a sidewalk outside of a large glass window leading to a very familiar gaming store of their past,

"No, what means something is that I didn't just lose to that dragon monster." The Ronin on the screen spoke, looking sadly at the young Reku next to him, "but the fact that I lost to a team. The duelist and his partner monster. I think I need to find myself a partner to be able to truly be strong."

"Maybe." A grin came from the young Reku, slapping Ronin's pocket with his hand. "You have a whole pack of unopened cards sitting right there. You never know what you might pull! Go on, give it a shot. I'm sure fate is looking down on you now."

"O...kay…" Pulling the pack of cards out of his pocket, the Ronin on the screen proceeded to break the seal on them, pulling out the treasure that lay inside. Shuffling through the cards one at a time, the on-screen Ronin didn't look very impressed until he came to the bottom card in the stack. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped for a second, a sparkle of life as such a rare card was handed to him. Finding words, he finally spoke; "Levia-Dragon – Daedalus…"

The screen flickered for a second, turning pure white before tuning into another channel of the past. This one was not but the next local shop tournament a short time later. Ronin sat at the finals, his new deck and his renewed faith in dueling backing him, along with a powerful hand from his new partner.

"And Daedalus attacks you for the win!" The on-screen Ronin declared, smirking widely as his opponent dropped his head in defeat. His victory was sealed with that move, and the card shop tournament was won by him.

"All because of that random kid with his Curse of Dragon." The child Ronin commented after the screen want back to static, looking down at the floating Ronin before him. "This monster right here" pointing down again to the chained up Daedalus as he spoke to emphasize his point, "served you well. As soon as you got it, you knew it was a vastly rare card, and a powerful one. But one that pulled you out of a ditch. If it wasn't for that kid and his Curse of Dragon, his one and only partner, you probably wouldn't have tried as hard as you did to love your Daedalus. You wouldn't have been open, and trusted it with your dueling life. It showed nothing but respect to you for it, and look at what you did."

"I didn't…"

"Oh be quiet!" The young Ronin interrupted the older one just as he began to speak. "We've only just begun to prove who is right here!"

Stopping on a dime, Kiro's spine-like green hair was the only thing besides his body that didn't try to continue traveling after wards. Glaring inside the long, deep cave, Kiro's gem-like eyes instantly spotted the giant red demon standing in the back, the Egyptian demon sitting against the wall and looking a little torn, and the human servant of them leaning against the other wall, also staring at Kiro.

"Where is she?!" Kiro demanded, tanking, throwing all of his fear in his voice as he screamed into the cave.

"Where is who?" Freyr smirked a bit, pleased to see Kiro had actually arrived.

"That bitch Dementia." Kiro growled, taking a step forward. "Where is…" His foot collided with something at the entrance of the cave, causing him to stop, his head jerking downwards momentarily to see a unconscious body laying just inside the entrance to the cave. It was Ronin, as Kiro recognized him from when they met while he was dueling Reku. "And what happened to him?" Kiro questioned, looking back up at the demons and human before him.

"Oh him." Freyr waved it off, pulling his smile into an even more twisted and sinister grin. "He lost the ancient game. He's not dead, per say."

"Then what is he?" Again, Kiro kept hammering with the questions, making Thoth growl a bit with the disrespect the newcomer was showing.

"Now, now Thoth." Freyr waved his arm towards the sitting demon, making him calm down by order. "This is a very important person we have standing before us. Do not run him off with your tough guy act." Moving his attention back to Kiro, Freyr continued to speak. "To your question, he's merely drained of all of his energy. And exhaustion coma if you will. His body is already building up some energy again. He'll wake up soon, tired, but perfectly fine. If he lives through his nap that is."

"Very handy way to immobilize an enemy." Kiro observed, stepping over the body and flexing his claws as he protected the human. "But you have to deal with me first. And I have a goal already in mind. Now tell me where the hell Dementia is!"

"I sent her to go get you and bring you here. She even bragged that she could get you to come here on your own free will without her laying a hand on you. I see you are not injured in any way, so she will be rewarded for her good deed." Freyr started to walk forward, closing the already small gap between him and Kiro.

"She didn't touch me." Kiro confirmed, holding his ground even though the giant behemoth was coming closer. "But she did touch one of my close friends. And for that, I will kill her."

"THAT is why you can't trust vampires." Thoth threw in, a bit pleased that someone would back up his point. "They are nothing but tricksters, liars and deceivers."

"Maybe so, but she got me what I wanted." Freyr replied to his servant without ever taking his three burning eyes off of Kiro, glued to him like a high powered magnet with metal. "I need to talk to you. I need something from you. I need something confirmed."

Rubbing his side slightly, the older Ronin still floated in the abyss, staring up at his younger self. A silence fell between them, only broken by the crackling static of the TV.-like ripple in space and the heavy breathing of the chained beast that lay beneath the younger Ronin.

"So?" The elder Ronin finally spoke, a slight smirk pulling onto his face with the silence. "Are you struggling to pull up some excuse to pin this whole thing on me? This'd prove right away that you know it's not my fault, and you didn't properly think out a good story to make it look that way. Wow, as a child I must have never really used my brain."

"I'd take that last sentence and mirror it back to you." The younger Ronin retaliated, pointing to the screen again. "I was giving you a chance to think about what you saw, but obviously you need it spelled out for you for you to see the truth. Here you go."

A flash of white blinded the screen, coming back into focus on another image from Ronin's past. This one in the not to distance past, showing him sitting alone in a dark ally, staring at fanned out cards before him.

"I can become powerful with these." The onscreen Ronin looked up, gazing into the cold brick of the opposite wall. His voice filled with a bit of malice as he spoke through smirking lips. "I can show everyone. I don't need Reku or anyone else. I can be the most increasable force anyone has ever seen!" Looking back down at the cards he held, he squeezed his hand around them, folding them back up into a stack. "And I can do it on my own terms."

"That'd be a good starting point." The younger Ronin spoke, motioning towards the scene. "You abandoned all you had worked for, for easy, hand-me-down power. It doesn't help any that the cards Tal handed you were ice cards. Saying that, you basically formed the chains that now bind Daedalus.

"You called him weak and unneeded basically in that sentence. He isn't strong, you found stronger. The method you two always worked under wasn't the right way; you have you own way of doing it now."

"So you need to twist my words to prove your point?" The elder Ronin spoke, calmly, but forcefully as he punched out with his word to counter the younger Ronin's argument.

"Nope, there is no word twisting." The younger Ronin pointed back to the screen as he spoke. "I'm just saying what your heart was at the time. And here;"

The image washed over in a white light before coming back into view in a night view of a sidewalk. Ronin stood beneath a large, floating, sapphire colored Blue-Ice White Nights Dragon. His opponent, Ryokurio, lay face-down on the sidewalk in defeat. A cold laugh came from the on screen Ronin's lips, drunk with power.

Flickering for a second, the image changed. This one showed him standing across from Sachiko, who lay on her back from a devastating attack by the Blue-Ice White Nights Dragon. Turning to his side, the on screen version of himself growled slightly as he spoke.

"Sachiko, you are just as pathetic as always. I had such high hopes for you to. So long ago I felt our souls were like a jigsaw puzzle, fitting perfectly together to make a whole. But you had to go and destroy that, cutting out a chunk of my soul and leaving me to die alone." Jerking up his arm, the active duel disk went into standby mode.

"Ronin…" She shook slightly while she spoke, feeling a wave of uneasiness and guilt. "I didn't leave you to die alone. I am sorry if you feel that it was that way."

"Save it!" The onscreen Ronin snapped, shutting Sachiko up instantly. "I am in no mood for your lies anymore!"

"How could you say that with a warm heart?" The younger Ronin asked, causing the older one to shift his attention back to him, and the large dragon below. "She was the nicest person we've ever known. Soft and gentle, and you really believe she would want you to die, even now?"

"You are right." Ronin nodded, pointing to the screen, which had frozen once the conversation had picked back up. "She was the kindest person I knew. She grew out of that, just like I grew. I still see no proof here."

"You are blind!" The young Ronin stomped his foot in frustration, causing the dragon to open its four blood red eyes, growling slightly at the elder Ronin for angering its master. "Then answer this one. What kind of friend goes after his own best friend, with the intent to drown him? To rise above him and to eliminate his shadow from not only around you, but the Earth as a whole."

The ripple in space became sporadic, jerking wildly before it came back into a sensible shape, forming the next images.

Ronin and Reku stood across from one another in the shrine where they faced off. The first to move was Ronin, who was in the middle of sliding a card into his duel disk. He began to speak, his voice loud, and filled with a sense of purpose, pose. Like a warrior, hardened by battle. Knowing he might not come home alive.

"This decides everything; the loser won't have enough energy left to breath. It is time to drowned one of us in the river of destiny. Magic card activate: Chaotic Waters of Life and Death!"

With a blast of energy, the card came into full form before Ronin. Glowing with a bright yellow light, the cards effect took into action, causing the on screen Ronin's graveyard to eject the stack of cards that rested in it. Snapping the top card off, he held it up high above his head for Reku to see.

"I chose my Levia-Dragon – Daedalus."

A stale, transparent image of the blue sea serpent came floating out of the card held above that Ronin's head, drifting down until it became a solid streak of azure colored light blasting into the back of the brown backed card on his field. A blue aura blasted up around the magic cards, as electrical bolts zapped all across the face of it.

"This infuses my Chaotic Waters of Life and Death with 2600 points. Now I select three cards from my deck and you will chose one of them. Depending on what you chose will determine the outcome of this game." Pulling out his deck of its slot as he spoke, the on screen Ronin fanned it open, looking for three cards to use.

"If it's the monster card we will both lose this duel." Reku began, watching as his opponent slapped down three cards onto his duel disk, they appeared vertically before him with a blast of light. "But if I chose a magic card, you lose. Likewise, if it's the trap card that I pick, I will be the one to lose."

"You are right Reku." That Ronin nodded, confirming that Reku indeed knew the effect of his card. "So now is the time. Chose."

"Very well." Reku nodded, looking at the three holographic images.

Lifting his arm slowly, Reku snapped it out towards the card of his choice. Looking up, Reku and Ronin locked eyes, glaring a blaze of emotions between the two of them. This duel had changed each of them from the first card played all the way down to this choice. And now was the moment of truth.

"I chose the card in the middle Ronin. Show me what our fate is!"

A crack of lightning flashed through the dark clouds, illuminating both of their faces with the pure white energy. Within that moment, the soft patter of the rain crashing into the wooden roof of the shrine could be heard, as well as the soft splashes on the lake outside the open wall.

The set card Reku had chosen began to lift upwards, revealing its face to the world.

Even though he knew the outcome already, the elder Ronin held his breath at the situation. The card slowly creaked open like an old, rusted door being pushed by a slight wind. The painfulness of the situation flooded back into him, not knowing the outcome until it was fully upright.

"Here is what you picked Reku." The onscreen Ronin spoke, the card finally coming into view. "Ice Slick. This card, typically, would change all face-up monsters on your side of the field into defense mode when you summon a monster in any form. But for right now, it marks the end of this long duel. You chose my trap card."

A blast of holographic water came racing out of the green card hologram making a B-line straight for Reku. Swallowing him whole in the tidal wave, the duel disk on his arm began to beep loudly as it shot down to zero due to the effect of the magic card.

Laughing slightly, the elder Ronin looked back from the screen to the younger version of himself standing atop the dragon. Pointing his index finger outward, magnetically attracted to the screen, he began to speak.

"You see. Reku became so much stronger than me. I let fate decide how that would turn out, and as you can see," clenching his outstretched hand into a fist, Ronin retracted it to his chest, speaking proudly as he did, "fate took my side."

"Believe it how you want." The younger Ronin walked forward, bounding off of the navy blue crown of the Daedalus, floating softly down to Ronin's level as the abyss caught him with its invisible hands. "And I believe that we'll let your own cards judge you. The monsters that you worked together with so long that you just up and abandoned."

Yanking his arm forward, the younger Ronin extended his hand, palm facing outwards, towards Ronin.

"What are you do…" Ronin was stopped mid-sentence as his duel disk strapped on his right arm began to move, pulling upwards until it was high over his head, leaving his body to dangle below it.

His deck began to glow in a radiant light, blasting out streams of energy that wove their way around the abyss. Swirling into a twister, the beams of light seemed to surround the two Ronin's and the large dragon, trapping them in this swirling light.

"I believe it is time for the judgment." The younger Ronin said, letting his hand come down which released whatever hold he had on Ronin's duel disk. Dropping down with a massive pull of gravity, Ronin noticed very quickly that his deck was gone from the deck tray, leaving it completely bare.

"So explain to me this." Freyr began, stopping and staring at the green haired demon before him. "How is it that you can have the soul of both a human and a demon, and still keep yourself from basically imploding?"

"I'm special." Kiro replied, flexing his claws just in case Freyr were to try and attack him.

"You are indeed. Kiro Rinku, heir to the Rinku clan and guardian of the three spirits of protection. Kooru, Hebanu and Heruru."

"You've done your research." Kiro growled, smirking a bit in mock pleasure of how knowledgeable Freyr actually was. "But what is the point of all this if you already know things like that about me?"

"You were human to start with, correct?" Freyr continued, completely ignoring Kiro's last comment and continuing on with his interrogation. "But the demons that inhabited your body infused it with demonic aura. Somehow though, it got past your barriers and into your own soul, infecting you, making you a demon. How?"

"What do you mean how, it just happened!" Kiro was starting to grow annoyed at being ignored slightly by the massive red beast. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that by mere chance, something could finally get past and get in."

"You're life was in danger, wasn't it?" Freyr continued, once again cutting Kiro short. "You were about to die, so you body resorted to a last ditch effort to save yourself, and you did, but at the cost of your humanity." Chuckling, Freyr turned away from Kiro, looking back at the crystals at the rear of the cave and showing the massively deep scars still cut into his back. "Usually demonic aura just latches onto anger and amplifies it."

"So what?" Kiro snarled, baring his set of pearly white fangs from under his top lip. "What good is this doing us? What the hell do you want from me?"

"I want answers from you Kiro." Freyr took noticed of Kiro's frustration, turning a serious gaze upon the young demon. "You and I aren't so different. So there for we both want answers to questions."

"All I want right now is to know where that damn vampire is so I can rip her to shreds." Kiro growled, a blood red aura forming around his body, spiraling upwards into the air above the cave in an attempt to bolster his status in the situation. "So tell me where the hell she is!"

"Don't you dare demand of Lord Freyr!" Thoth bellowed, standing up with a jolt, threatening to attack the younger demon. He was stopped only by a raised hand from Freyr.

"That's enough Thoth."

"But sire, he's showing no respect to you. Even as a demon he's got no more sense than a filthy human." Taking a quick glance at Tal, Thoth smirked a little bit. "Though there is one who is smarter than his breed, but still is nothing more than human."

"That doesn't matter to me." Freyr interrupted before his servant could continue with his lecture. "Not in the end."

Tugging at his hair, Joe scooted back in the large, golden chair, screaming at the ceiling high above.

"I can't take not knowing what is going on!" Standing up, Joe looked around the small group around him, watching him since his little outburst. "It's been far too quiet. What the hell are Freyr and his goon squad planning?"

"You actually want them to come back?" Kevin sighed at Joe's remark. "I wouldn't mind getting a little break."

"But while we wait, we can't let our guard down." Ryokurio countered Kevin, looking back at Joe. "If we do, they could easily do away with us. We have to stay on top of our game to make sure we aren't walked over. So I understand your frustration Joe, just don't lose your top. Anger will blind you."

"Your right." Joe took a deep breath before sliding back down into the chair. "I just don't like the fact that I don't know anything that is happening. Nothing has happened here for a long time now."

Usami breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Joe wasn't going to go into a fit of rage now. Looking back, she stared out of the large hole in the wall, looking over the hills that were their bathed in the light of the moons.

"Guys, it's late." Usami spoke, turning back to the three of them. "Let's get some sleep. There is nothing we can do for now."

"She's got a point. We'll just be easy targets if we are worn out." Kevin agreed, getting a nod from Ryokurio as well.

"I'm far to wired to go to sleep right now." Joe threw in, looking at the group. "I could stay up and be a watch guard for a while. That way you guys could get some rest in peace knowing you won't be attacked while you sleep."

"That's a good plan." Ryokurio agreed. "Aright then, lets turn in for the night."

Chao breached the crown of the hill, instantly spotting Gurabe and Reku against a tree in the distance for a bit of rest. Pleased he had located them, Chao took off in a sprint towards them, dipping down in the valleys and popping back up over the hills.

"About time you caught up human." Gurabe called out once Chao came into view for the final time, approaching the tree. Laughing a bit, Chao nodded.

"Yeah, sorry. That clown was more of a pain than I thought he would be. Kind of an odd tactic." Looking back over his shoulder once he stopped, he made sure nothing was behind him. "Never seen anyone running a clown deck before."

"Clown deck?" Reku looked up from his place on the ground, bringing the silver haired man's attention downward towards him. "I didn't think such a thing was possible. I mean there are a few theme oriented cards, but as a whole I didn't think too much of them."

"Me either." Chao nodded, smirking a bit. "But I guess anything is possible right."

"Any serious duelist would be too humiliated to be running a deck type like that and hope to be taken seriously." Gurabe threw in, crossing his arms over his body as he leaned back against the bark of the tree. "Though, they aren't exactly cute and fluffy, there is still something about it that is difficult to piece together."

"That type of deck would take good planning and good timing." Chao said, nodding to what Gurabe had to say as well. Changing the subject, he brought his head back down to Reku who looked up at him quizzically for the serious look that now dawned his face. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." Reku admitted, rubbing his back as he spoke, being reminded of the pain. "I don't think there is anything seriously wrong with me. Just had the wind knocked out of me was all."

"Seems really high powered duels in this world are a lot more deadly." Chao realized, getting a 'no duh' look from both Gurabe and Reku.

"You have no idea." Reku answered, holding up his duel disk as he remembered dueling here in the past. "Fireworks can definitely fly in this realm. You know that castle that Order stays in?" Chao nodded as an answer. "It had to be rebuilt. I dueled Chaos in the basement of that building and completely destroyed the whole place with a devastating attack."

"Wow." Chao's eyes were wide, thinking of how big the castle was. "But then again, you have to remember. This is the first time I've ever been in this world. Not the first time I've seen some crazy stuff, but the first time I've been here."

"True." Reku agreed with Chao, not having forgotten that little fact about the newcomer helper.

"And after this, you'll never want to see this place again, I am sure." Gurabe threw in.

In silent agreement, Chao, as well as Reku, accepted what Gurabe said to be fact.

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CARD OF THE EPISODE

Levia-Dragon – Daedalus
2600/1500/7/Water/Sea Serpent
By sending "Umi" on your side of the field to the Graveyard, destroy all cards on the field except this card.

Ronin: "The most powerful of the sea serpent family line, and a devastating tool for any and all forms of water decks. This card, by simply sending a field spell to the graveyard, cleans everything off of the field sans itself. And with a 2600 point offensive base, this card can take a bit out of your life points, which always hurts. This card is powerful to me though for more reason than that, I have no clue where this kid came up with the whole 'I don't like him anymore' spiel."

A/N: Well gang, to all that are still out there reading my work, I'm here to inform you to not expect me to be updating for a couple of weeks. I'm going on vacation, and thus, I'm not going to be where I can write. But don't fret, I'll be back with new updates real soon. Keep your eyes open for me. See ya, and have a nice day!

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