Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh.
Legends of the Demon Duelist-Duelist Academy Arc
Chapter 37: The emerald-eyed warrior
Ichigo raised his hand, palm up and outwards, into the air. "I said that I challenge you!" There was a flash of light and suddenly the darkness was gone. Both of them were standing within a glowing circle of light. "Hell-spawn, you will fight me here and now!" His voice had taken on a much colder and much more experienced tone.
Negative shuddered as light covered her. "This isn't possible…you lost and your soul should be gone!"
"I never lost to you." Ichigo's eyes, which had been strangely vacant before, now turned an emerald color. "In fact, we've never even battled before."
Negative grimaced and shuffled her deck. "Fine then, let's get this over with. I'm not sure who you are but I will not back down because of some pretty little light show!"
"Hold a moment." Ichigo's body removed its deck from the disk, looked it over, and then frowned. "I cannot use these creatures. Their spirit is not in turn with mine." Sliding the deck back into place, he touched it and it shimmered golden for a few seconds. "This should do. Let's duel!"
Negative- 4000
Ichigo?- 4000
Negative snapped the top card off of her deck. "As the one who was challenged I'll go first!" She looked her hand over carefully and then slid two cards into her disk. "I set two cards face-down on the field and one monster. End turn. Now before you go why don't you tell me your name? I know you're not Ichigo Pilkington."
All she got was a cold glare. "I draw!" He snapped a card off of his deck and added it to his hand. "My identity is not important." His emerald eyes lifted and looked at the set cards. After a few seconds he nodded to himself and slid two cards into his disk. "I set two cards face-down on the field and summon Homunculus the Alchemic Being (1800/1600) in attack mode!" A humanoid creature with rapidly shifting skin appeared on the field. "Attack the defense monster now!" It silently leapt across the field and punched right through the set monster.
Negative frowned as her plan backfired. "Sanctified Soul (100/100) when sent to the graveyard forces both of us to draw until we have six cards in our hand." She discarded the monster card and then drew three cards.
Ichigo's body did the same. "I knew that was what card you had face-down. It made the most sense that you'd set something like that and try to remove all magic and trap cards from your hand to increase the number of cards you would draw." One of the two cards he had set flipped up. "That is why I saved Pot of Greed until I was sure. Now I draw two cards, which brings my hand up to eight. Then I set two cards face-down and end my turn."
Negative drew. "What do you have against me? From what I can tell you're a spirit like me, so why should you care? I just did you a favor by clearing that body of its previous owner."
Now Ichigo's body had its fangs bared. "Silence! I am nothing like you!"
"Is that so? Then did you have the permission of the previous owner of that body to come in? Or did you simply barge inside like a barbarian?" Negative looked at the drawn card and snickered. "Well? I don't hear any answers forth-coming."
The light around the both of them waned momentarily, and then returned in full strength. "Take your turn Negative."
The dark spirit slid a card into her disk. "That's fine with me. I discard one card from my hand to activate the magic card Tribute to the Doomed." An explosion of mummy wrappings shot out of the ground and wrapped up Homunculus. "Now your creature will be destroyed." The wrapping tugged sharply and pulled themselves, and their captive, out of sight. "Then I summon Dark Slime (0/100) in attack mode." A blob of black matter appeared on the field. "By shuffling one card from my hand into my deck I can increase its power by 1000 once per turn." She did so and the blob got larger. (1000/100) "Now take this! Direct attack!"
One of the spirit's three face-down cards flipped up. "I activate the quickplay magic card Burning Light! This will destroy one dark attribute monster on the field!" A sunbeam slammed down onto the blob and dissolved it instantly.
Negative hissed in anger and removed three cards from her graveyard. "I remove three demon monsters in my graveyard from play to special summon Dark Necrofear (2200/2800) in defense mode." A blue female vampire appeared on the field in a crouching position. "End turn."
Ichigo's body drew. "I summon Hysteric Angel (1800/500) in attack mode." An angel in a blue business suit appeared on the field. "Also, I set one card face-down and end my turn."
Negative drew. "Now you've got me hooked. I must know who you are. So how about you be a dear and tell me."
Ichigo's body continued to glare.
"Fine, be a spoil-sport." Negative motioned to Dark Necrofear and it stood up. "I order my monster to attack your Angel now!" The vampire's eyes widened and a red beam launched out of each of its eyes. Halfway across the field though the beam was stopped by a glowing blue-white barrier.
"My Waboku trap card defends me from your attack this turn." Ichigo's body didn't seem happy that its plan had worked though. It seemed angry. "Let the girl go and I'll tell you who I am."
Negative waved a finger in the air chidingly. "That's not an option. End turn."
"Then you leave me no choice." Ichigo's body drew. "I set one monster in defense mode and switch Hysteric Angel into defense mode as well. End turn."
Negative drew. "I summon Emissary of the Afterlife (1600/600) in attack mode!" A black-cloaked reaper appeared on the field next to her vampire. "Attack now!" The Emissary launched across the field and slashed right through the Hysteric Angel. When the Necrofear attacked the defender though, the pieces of the blown-apart card reformed into a little white blob.
Ichigo's body smiled slightly. "You just attacked my Marshmallon (300/500) and when it is flipped up you take 1000 life points of damage. Also, it cannot be destroyed in battle so you wasted your attack."
Negative- 3000
Ichigo?- 4000
Negative growled angrily at the fact that her attack had been useless. "End turn."
Ichigo's body drew. "I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn."
Negative snapped the top card off of her deck. "You're trying my patience with your pitiful defensive tactics." She slapped a card onto her disk. "I summon Hellmare (1500/500) in attack mode!" A flaming blue horse exploded onto the field. "Now I attack your defender with Dark Necrofear!"
Ichigo's body motioned to one of its set cards. "You triggered the effect of my trap when you summoned a monster to the field! Torrential Tribute destroys all monsters on the field when a monster is summoned!" An explosive torrent of water rocketed out of the ground and destroyed all the monsters on the field. "And the monster I had face-down was called Mage of Light (0/100) and when it is destroyed I may select one light attribute monster in my deck and place it into my hand." His deck released a weak glow and a card slid out of the stack into his grasp.
Negative frowned and slid a card into her disk. "I set one card face-down on the field and end my turn."
Ichigo's body drew. ("I must figure out a way to safe Eri from this monster. She cannot come to harm!") "I place one monster face-down on the field and end my turn."
Negative drew. ("He's trying to save the girl? What's the point to doing that? Is she really worth risking his existence over?") "End turn."
Ichigo's body drew, though this time it had a plan in mind. ("If I defeat this creature while Eri is connected to it fully then she will be forever lost to the darkness. However...if I can get even a piece of her soul then I can save it from destruction. The only possible answer is the Wolf Demoness card. I must take it from Negative's hand or deck, where-ever it may be.") "I play the magic card Graceful Charity, letting me draw three cards and then discard two." He slid three cards off of his deck and added them to his hand.
After looking at one of the new three, he smiled calmly. ("Nearly there.") Grasping two cards, he slid them into his graveyard. "Now I flip up my Magician of Faith!" (300/400) A young purple-haired woman appeared on the field. "This flip-effect monster lets me pick up one magic card from my graveyard and place it into my hand." He pulled a card out of his graveyard slot and slid it into his disk. "I activate Graceful Charity one more time." Three cards were drawn and then two were discarded.
Negative didn't like this one bit. As long as this fool continued to draw cards she was in danger of losing.
Ichigo's body slid a card into its disk. "I play the magic card Cost Down. By discarding one card from my hand, I can lower the level stars of all creatures I am holding by two." His Magician of Faith faded off of the field. "Now I sacrifice my Magician of Faith to summon this monster to the field!" A towering crystalline dragon appeared on his field, its color an emerald green. It lowered its head and roared at Negative angrily. "Crystal Dragon (2750/2750) in attack mode! Attack her life points directly! Emerald Burst Stream!"
Negative motioned to her middle face-down card. "That was the mistake I was waiting for! Activate continuous trap card! Go Unholy Tombstone! This activates when you declare an attack against me. It will special summon a number of Zombie Tokens (0/1000) to my field in defense mode equal to the number of monsters in my graveyard. These monsters don't take up monster zones and when destroyed deal the destroyer 500 life points of damage!" Three crouching rotted corpses appeared on her field in a crouching position. One of them was blown apart instantly by a wave of emerald light.
Negative- 3000
Ichigo?- 3500
Ichigo's body frowned and slid four cards into its disk. "I set four cards face-down and end my turn."
Negative drew. "You're making this too easy. I play the equipment magic card Crippling Pain. This will prevent your monster from attacking and will also drain you of 100 life points times that monster's level each of your standby phases."
("Now it's all or nothing!") Ichigo's body motioned to one of its set cards. "Reverse card open! I activate Russian Roulette!" The card disappeared and a golden revolver appeared in his hand. "This quickplay magic card lets me declare the name of one card in your hand. If I select that card with this gun then that card is mine to keep, even after this duel ends. However, if I call it wrong on either account I lose this game."
Negative fanned out her hand and snickered coldly. "And what makes you think you're going to be so lucky?"
Ichigo's body aimed at the center of the three cards. "Wolf Demoness (1550/1550) will now come to me!" He pulled the trigger…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Mr. Pilkington, do we have to go so fast!?" Sammy squeezed her eyes shut while the tree-tops flew past her.
"I'm sorry that this isn't the most comfortable way to go, but we have to get to Eri and Ichigo before somebody gets killed!" Daniel felt the girl's hands squeeze tighter to his neck.
Rikuo was completely silent, eyes narrowed. ("Erika…I will not tolerate this!")
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A bang ran out and the middle card in Negative's hand fluttered across the field to land in the hands of Ichigo's body. "And as I thought…it is the Wolf Demoness." ("Now I have no qualms about destroying you.")
Negative slid a card from her hand into her disk. "I activate the magic card Dark Magic Scrying. Now I shuffle the remaining card in my hand into my deck and draw from it until I reach a magic card." She did so and then slid the drawn card into his disk. "Next is Pot of Greed, letting me draw two cards. Then I set one card face-down and play the magic card Nightmare's Steel Cage!" A huge spiked steel cage appeared over her opponent's field. "Neither of us may attack for two of my turns. End turn."
Ichigo's body drew. "I'm not going to surrender, if that is what you are hoping for! End turn!" He looked down at the Wolf Demoness card and felt the energy within it. ("Please be alright…Eri…")
Negative- 3000
Ichigo?- 2700
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hey Eri, are you okay?"
Eri slowly opened her eyes and blinked in surprise. "Ichigo…where are we?" All around them was nothing but darkness.
Ichigo shrugged innocently. "I honestly don't know. I've been here for a few minutes, and you just appeared a few second ago." He glanced over at a floating picture in the air. "And whoever is using my body is on the verge of taking down that fake you."
"Fake me?" The demoness shakily came to her feet and shivered as she looked upon her own face through the screen. ("Incredible….do I really look that evil to people on the outside?")
Ichigo smiled to her. "You look worried. Well there is no need to be. Who ever this guy is…I trust him to win."
Eri looked at the face of Ichigo on the screen and her eyes widened noticeably. ("That's…it can't be….can it?")
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Negative drew. "And there is one turn left on my defense." She looked at the drawn card. "End turn."
Ichigo's body drew. "I will win this duel in one turn. You understand that, correct? I set one card face-down on the field and end my turn."
Negative- 3000
Ichigo?- 1900
Negative drew and the Nightmare's Steel Cage collapsed around Ichigo's body. "I activate my face-down trap card! Go Feast of Yata-Garasu! This card, as Ichigo would remember, allows me to gain life points by 500 per card in my hand when it goes to the graveyard. However, it has another effect that I will exploit right now. First I remove all monsters in my graveyard from play." She took out three cards. "Now I draw one card for every removed card." With five cards in her hand, she gained 2500 life points when the trap went to the graveyard. "Now I set one monster face-down and end my turn."
Negative- 5500
Ichigo?- 1900
"And we're done here. There's no need for you to struggle any longer. I draw!" Ichigo's body snapped the top card off of its deck. "It's over! Reverse card open! Reveal Crystal Rift! By discarding one card from my hand I can special summon one Crystal Dragon from my deck to the field, though it cannot attack this turn!" A glowing portal appeared in the air above them. "Now come out!" A huge ruby-colored dragon made of crystal floated down from the sky and landed next to its brother. (2750/2750)
Negative snickered and looked at her face-down monster. ("Nothing can defeat me now that Spirit Reaper (300/200) is on the field. It will take his attack and shrug it off like nothing.")
Ichigo's body tapped a button on its disk. "Reverse card open! Monster Reborn revives a monster from either graveyard! Come out, my final Crystal Dragon!" (2750/2750) A sapphire-colored crystal dragon appeared on his field. "The time for talk is over! Reverse card open! Polymerization fuses my three dragons together to create this!!!" The three crystal monsters were pulled together into a vortex. When it cleared a glittering diamond-colored dragon was standing in their place. "Welcome my Ultimate Diamond Dragon (3500/3500) to the field!" The monster roared, shaking the whole island with its scream. "I set one card face-down and attack with Ultimate Diamond Dragon! Go now! Genocide Crystal Explosion!"
Negative snapped her fingers and one of her face-down cards flipped up. "Bad idea…because now I activate the trap card Unholy Calamity! This will send all monsters on the field to the graveyard!"
Ichigo's body went silent for a couple of seconds. Then it slid a card into its disk. "From my hand I activate the quickplay magic card Mystical Space Typhoon on your face-down card!" A sharp wind blew across the field and shattered Negative's set card. "Then I reveal Remove Trap to negate your Unholy Calamity!" The trap card exploded into dust.
Negative rolled her eyes and shrugged it off. "So what? Does your dragon have a special ability? If it doesn't then you just wasted your time."
Ichigo's body opened its mouth, but before it could speak it heard someone it thought it would never hear again.
"Where have I seen that dragon before? And since when did your kid play dragons anyway?" Rikuo whistled in amazement at the snarling beast before him.
"Ichigo? Where did you get that card?" Daniel rubbed his chin and tried to remember if he had ever seen this thing before.
Ichigo's body went slack-jawed at the sight of Rikuo. "You…are alive?"
Rikuo froze at the sound of that voice. Slowly he turned to look the emerald-eyed boy in the eye. "Do I know you?"
Negative looked down at her disk. ("Come on…call time on him so that it is my turn.") A few seconds later the device beeped. "You should have attacked. Draw!" She snapped the top card off of her deck and slid it into her disk. "Go Sword that Seals the Dead!" A sword with a skull at the cross-hilt shot across the field and slashed deep into the Ultimate Diamond Dragon's chest. It roared in pain and then turned to stone. "Now your creature is out of reach forever!"
A twisted black lizard appeared on her field. "I summon Twisted Fiend (1900/700) in attack mode and declare an attack on your life points!" Roaring, the creature charged across the field towards Ichigo's body.
To be continued…