The duel between Dark Ichigo and the Ghoul continued on. It was now the Ghoul's turn, and he had an advantage over Dark Ichigo given that he had rendered her field empty. "I sacrifice my set monster to summon the Curse of Dragon, with 2000 attack! Now, I'll have Curse of Dragon attack your set monster!" Curse of Dragon then opened its mouth and fired a fireball at the set monster card. However, when it revealed itself, it was Elemental HERO Clayman, with 2000 defense. Since both were the same for attack and defense, the attack was cancelled out with no damage done to either side. "You got lucky that time, girl."
"Just wait and see," Dark Ichigo snarkly replied time him. "Draw!" She then looked at her hand. "Magic Card Activate! E-Emergency Call! I add an Elemental HERO monster from my deck to my hand. I then activate HERO's Bond, allowing me to Special Summon up to two Level 4 or lower Elemental HERO monsters from my hand if I have a HERO monster on my field! I summon Elemental HERO Heat, with 1600 attack, and Elemental HERO Lady Heat, with 1300 attack! Per Heat's effect, its attack increases to 2000!" She the set her sights on the Curse of Dragon. "Forgive me," she thought to herself about what she would do next. "I will clear the way for your defeat by taking out your Curse of Dragon in a suicide attack! Now, Elemental HERO Heat, attack!" Indeed, Heat launched itself at Curse of Dragon and hit it head on, taking both of them out in a blast of fire inside the city bus.
"Reverse Card Open!" The Ghoul then revealed his set card from before. "Michizure! Since one of my monsters was destroyed and sent to my graveyard, I can destroy one other monster on the field, and I choose Elemental HERO Clayman!"
As Clayman exploded into pieces, Dark Ichigo realized she was running out of options. Her only monster left on her side of the field was Lady Heat, and she only had 1300 attack. "If he summons a monster with 1800 attack or more next turn," she thought to herself. "I'll lose the duel! I can't let that happen!" "Lady Heat," she declared. "Attack him directly!"
GHOUL: 1000
DARK ICHIGO: 0500
"I end my turn," Dark Ichigo concluded with. Per Lady Heat's effect, the Ghoul lost another 200 life points.
GHOUL: 0800
DARK ICHIGO: 0500
"My turn," the Ghoul began as he drew a card. "I summon Bountiful Artemis, with 1600 attack! Now, I'll have Bountiful Artemis attack your Elemental HERO Lady Heat, bringing you so much closer to defeat!"
GHOUL: 0800
DARK ICHIGO: 0200
"I end," he sinisterly declared. "I would prepare to lose if I were you."
"I draw," Dark Ichigo declared. As she looked at the card she drew, she sighed in relief. "Alright, it's time for me to show you why I won't prepare for a loss! I activate Monster Reborn!"
The Ghoul, realizing she had multiple options to choose from that could defeat him easily, recoiled in fear upon seeing her reveal the card. "Monster Reborn?! Don't tell me you'll...?!"
"I choose Elemental HERO Heat," Dark Ichigo declared as she drew the aforementioned card from her graveyard. "Now, I'll boost its attack more by summoning Elemental HERO Avian, with 1000 attack! This boosts Heat's attack to 1800, just enough to take you out with a combined attack!"
The driver on the bus turned to the Ghoul and asked him, "What are we gonna do?!" He had by now stopped the bus on the side of the road, not wanting to risk a crash due to the duel.
"I'm gonna lose," he had to explain to him, dumbstruck at his predicament. "We're gonna lose!"
"Prepare yourself," Dark Ichigo yelled at him. "Atone for your crimes!" She then declared her attack. "Avian, Heat, attack his monster and wipe out his life points!" Both monsters charged and attacked, destroying Beautiful Artemis and wiping out his life points with ease.
GHOUL: 0000 (LOSES)
DARK ICHIGO: 0200 (WINS)
"I...," the Ghoul whimpered to himself. "I lost..."
Dark Ichigo's Mew Mark appeared on her forehead as she prepared to punish him for his actions. "Now, it's about time you face the wrath my judgement. That goes for your driver too." She then pointed at the Ghoul and declared, "Penalty Game!" Her punishment would affect both of them as revenge for the murders they had committed.
Both of them screamed as they saw the six people they had killed seemingly rise up from the floor of the bus in front of them, all appearing as mindless zombies. As they began to grab onto their legs and arms, they tried flailing around to get them off, but they were unsuccessful in doing so. "Oh my God! Somebody help me! They're attacking me! They just bit into my leg! It hurts! They're biting to kill!" Indeed, it appeared to them that the zombies were in fact biting into their flesh.
In reality, both were afflicted by illusions that only they could see. As they flailed around like madmen, Masaya got off his phone and told Dark Ichigo. "I just got off the phone with the police. We just gotta wait here and they're gonna come to arrest these two."
"Excellent," Dark Ichigo replied to him. "Once the illusions I inflicted upon them of being eaten alive by the vengeful spirits they killed go away, they'll face further judgement in court." She then noticed that her own partner was standing behind her. "Hm? Partner?"
"Yeah," Ichigo said to her, which only she could see or hear. "Turns out I can do this, too."
"Nice," Dark Ichigo remarked. "Say, you don't mind me using penalty games, right?" She was a bit concerned about her usage of them, thinking that Ichigo would object to it.
"Nah," she replied to Dark Ichigo's relief. "I don't care, as long as the person on the receiving end deserves it. Those two clearly deserved it, and I know Deep Blue will deserve it."
Dark Ichigo chuckled. "Don't worry, partner. When we face him and win, he's getting a Mind Crush, and a fatal one, too. No ifs, ands, or buts."
Masaya, confused as to why Dark Ichigo was seemingly talking to herself like Ichigo did, asked her, "Hey, Ichigo, are you alright?"
"Huh?" Dark Ichigo then turned back around. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine, Masaya."
...
Later on, the two of them stopped at a clothing store to take a break, having already let the others know they'd be a little late by phone due to being held up for an hour by the police. Dark Ichigo had stopped there to grab a proper civilian outfit. As Masaya waited outside the changing room for her, he wondered to himself, "Just how autonomous is this other Ichigo? She seemed to be talking to herself... Was she talking to the normal Ichigo on the bus?"
Dark Ichigo then emerged from the stall, wearing a black sleeveless t-shirt, jeans, and a belt across her waist. Instead of her normal pigtails, her dark red hair was left down as it usually was in the café. "Well," she said to herself. "That was 5000 yen well-spent." She then looked up to Masaya. "My partner wants to know how we look. By the way, thanks for chipping in."
"No problem," Masaya remarked. "If you're gonna go broke, I might as well, too. Anyway, I think it looks good on you." He gave her a thumbs-up and a smile. "Ichigo, you look pretty good with your hair down in a casual outfit like that. It's a nice new spin on your look."
Dark Ichigo smiled before a bright flash of light saw her transform back into the normal Ichigo. As soon as she took her full form, she hugged Masaya and then gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Thank you. I figured I could go against the norm for a day. The other me agreed. Now, let's continue our journey." The two of them held hands and walked out of the store together, having already paid for the clothes.
A few minutes later, as they walked along the city streets, they noticed a man wave over to them from across a city street. He was waving, but remained silent. Masaya looked over to the man, who was stoic-faced and had a business suit on, and asked Ichigo, "Hey, do you think he's calling over to us?"
Ichigo looked over and noticed the same. "I think he is." She then turned onto the mid-street crosswalk, Masaya following her. "Hey, sir, what is it? Why are you calling to us?"
The man creepily remained silent, simply pointing at a restaurant that was oddly empty. Masaya asked him as they walked up to him, "Sir, what's going on?"
The man again ignored him and walked into the restaurant. Ichigo and Masaya nodded to each other and chose to follow him inside. In the restaurant was again empty chairs and tables plus three more men who looked remarkably similar to the man in the suit, also with stoic facial expressions and silent. As they followed the man inside, Ichigo was creeped out by the three men, who all stared at them. "What the hell is this place?" She held onto Masaya as the man stopped in place, wondering what was going to happen next. The restaurant looked like it had not been occupied in a while, and not even the kitchen seemed full of life.
Then, the lights went out, and the metal overhead doors out front closed on the restaurant. Masaya yelled out, "It's a trap!" They both tried running to the door, but they were unable to open it before the overhead doors closed on the restaurant. As the restaurant became pitch black, rendering both of them unable to see, Masaya was struck in the head by a metal object, knocking him out.
Ichigo screamed as Masaya fell to the floor, "Masaya! No!" She too was then knocked out by a metal object to the head, sending her to the floor and blacking her out completely.
...
At Café Mew Mew, Kaiba, Mokuba, Yugi, and Jounouchi had joined the rest of the team, with Kaiba tracking the tournament through a laptop. As they all wondered where Ichigo and Masaya were, Kaiba suddenly got a notification on his screen that gave them a frightening answer. "Huh? Oh no..." Kaiba then got up and announced to the team. "Everyone, Ichigo's signal was lost! It went dark at a restaurant in Minato."
"That's not far from her house," Ryou noted in worry. "Kaiba, do you have the coordinates and the restaurant name?"
"Right here," Kaiba pointed out on the screen. "Thing is, it says here that it's been closed for two weeks. There's no reason as to why they'd go there, unless..."
"Unless they were led into a trap," Yugi told them as he brought up a disturbing theory. "Perhaps Deep Blue's next trap is there."
"Well," Jounouchi rounded them all up with. "What are we waiting for? Let's go find them!"
"Right," Retasu replied to him. "Ryou, you know what to do."
"Indeed," he replied back to her as he realized what they had to do. "We must find Ichigo and Masaya, and from there, we can find Minto and Zakuro! Tokyo Mew Mew, roll out!"