Dark Ichigo had a frightening dilemma on her hands. She could not let any of the members of the team get into the graveyard, especially not Ichigo. As she looked down, she calmed herself down and explained to a frightened Retasu, who had taken the form of Aqua Spirit, what was going on. "Retasu, right now, this other Ringo, this... This other person occupying Ringo's body trapped your soul and the souls of the others inside random monsters in your deck. Before I explain anything else, I need to know something, and it's very important. Do you have anything that can resurrect dead monsters from the graveyard in your deck?"
"Uhhh," Retasu replied as she tried to remember, thinking to herself. "Oh yes! I do! I have a Monster Reincarnarion. It's one of like only six Magic cards in my deck! Why's that?!"
Dark Ichigo closed her eyes and sighed, preparing to break the news to her. "Retasu, if this duel ends with any of Tokyo Mew Mew in the graveyard, they will die. I need a way to bring them back if they end up there."
"What?!" Retasu then screamed in horror. "No! Ichigo, please, help me!"
"Alright," Dark Ichigo then said to herself as she looked over her hand, refocusing her efforts on the duel. "I then Normal Summon Mad Lobster with 1700 attack!" As Mad Lobster came to the field, she saw that it appeared as normal, and it had not taken the form of one of her friends, causing her to breathe a much-needed sigh of relief. "Good, good... Now, Mad Lobster, destroy Battle Ox in a suicide attack!" Both she and Dark Ringo looked on on the kitchen table as Mad Lobster and Battle Ox charged at each other, crashing together and ripping each other apart before dissolving into thin air. "Now, Retasu, attack Sword Slasher!"
"Right," Retasu replied. "Here I go!" To her and Dark Ichigo's surprise, her weapons, the Lettustanets, formed in her hands. "Huh? My weapons? But I'm not transformed..." She then dismissed the odd occurance, and readied herself. She charged her castanet-like weapons with several clacks and formed a wave of water around her. "Ribbon Lettuce Rush!"
DARK RINGO: 1700
DARK ICHIGO: 1900
"I end my turn," Dark Ichigo concluded. "Go on."
"Draw," Dark Ringo began her turn with, drawing a card from her deck. As she looked over her hand, she had an idea. "I set a monster and end my turn." She thought to herself, "When she declares an attack on this card, she'll be in for a nasty surprise."
"My turn," Dark Ichigo said as she drew a card. "I activate the Field Magic Card Umi, which boosts the attack and defense of all Aqua, Thunder, Fish, and Sea Serpent monsters on the field by 200 and lowers the attack and defense of all Machine and Pyro monsters on the field by 200. This boosts Retasu's attack to 1800! Now, Retasu, attack his set monster!"
"Right on," Retasu replied, now confident with the power boost she had been given. "Ribbon Lettuce Rush!" When her attack hit Dark Ringo's set card and revealed it, however, she immediately realized something was wrong. "Oh no!"
"Retasu, no!" Dark Ichigo also recognized what card Dark Ringo had set, and panicked. "Don't tell me! She-!"
"I activate the effect of Cyber Jar," Dark Ringo revealed. "All monsters on the field are destroyed, and we now pick up five cards from our decks and Special Summon any Level 4 or lower monsters to the field, and anything else is added to the hand!" She let out a sinister laugh to taunt both of them.
As the effect commenced, Retasu looked to her body and turned around, asking Dark Ichigo, "Hey, uh... Ichigo?" As her hands and then arms disappeared, she then fell to her knees and screamed in fright, her body turning to dust and disappearing from view to Dark Ichigo's horror. "No! Help me! Somebody he-!" It was clear she was in pain from the beginning to the very end of her disappearance sequence, based on her facial expression and her tormented screams.
"No..." Dark Ichigo sorrowfully took Aqua Spirit's card and placed it in the graveyard, horrified by what had just transpired. "What?! What the hell happened to her?!" She was shaken, the full extent of Dark Ringo's evil laid out to her.
"She's dead," Dark Ringo informed her. "You have until the end of the duel to bring her back into your deck, your hand, or your field."
Dark Ichigo then grabbed five cards from the top of her deck, and selected three monsters to be summoned. "Please, God, don't let any of these be my friends or my Partner, please!" "I summon Gagagigo, Water Omotics, and Eria the Water Charmer! I then add two cards to my hand! Due to us using the First Edition Rules, there is no hand limit of six cards." As Gagagigo formed first, she sighed in relief. However, as Water Omotics and Eria the Water Charmer formed, she gasped. "Oh no!"
Minto had taken the form of Eria, which had an attack 500, and Zakuro had taken the form of Water Omotics, which had a boosted attack of 1600. As they looked around, they both saw the field before them. However, unlike Retasu, they both knew from the start what had happened. Zakuro said to Dark Ringo, "I demand you let us out of these forms immediately!"
"I wouldn't advise speaking to me like that," Dark Ringo spoke down to both of them. "You could end up like your friend Retasu."
Minto, horrified by the implications, asked, "What?! Retasu?!" She then turned around to face Dark Ichigo. "Ichigo, where is she?! What happened to her?!"
"She...," Dark Ichigo had to sorrowfully explain your both of them. "She killed her. If we don't bring her back from the graveyard by the end of the duel, she's dead for real."
Minto and Zakuro both looked to each other and nodded. "Then we can't lost hope now," Zakuro told Dark Ichigo. "Ichigo, find a way to bring her back!"
"I will," she replied with an affirmative nod. "Alright, before I end my turn, I activate Swords of Revealing Light, blocking you from attacking for three turns!" She thought to herself, "Alright, this should protect us. Minto's attack is super low, so I can't risk anything."
"Fine, fine," Dark Ringo replied as she drew a card. "My turn! I summon King of Yamimakai, with 2000 attack. Even if I can't attack, I can still build up my field so when your Swords of Revealing Light go away, I can wipe you out. I then set a Magic or Trap card and end my turn."
"This isn't good," Dark Ichigo thought to herself. "I don't know if Retasu has any monsters with enough attack power to stop King of Yamimakai." She then drew her next card and got her answer. "I summon Amphibian Beast, with 2400 attack boosted to 2600!" As it took to the field, Dark Ichigo thought to herself, "This should do some damage!" "Amphibian Beast, attack the King of Yamimakai!" The beast then charged at the King, slashing it across the chest and destroying it with ease as Minto and Zakuro looked on in amazement.
DARK RINGO: 1200
DARK ICHIGO: 1900
"You've triggered my Trap Card," Dark Ringo told her opponent as she revealed her set card. "Reverse Card Open! Shadow Spell! I target your Water Omotics, or as I should say, Zakuro!" Several iron chains then appeared before Zakuro, wrapping around her body and restricting her movement greatly as she struggled against them. "Her attack isn't lowered to 900, and she can't change her battle position!"
"You're gonna regret this," the defiant Zakuro yelled at Dark Ringo from the field, the chains tightening around her. "I've been trapped before like this, and I found a way out!"
"Sure, whatever," she blew her off with. "My turn!" She then drew a card. "I set a monster and end my turn."
"My turn," Dark Ichigo said as she drew a card. "Alright, I summon Red Archery Girl, with 1400 attack boosted to 1600!" As Red Archery Girl took to the field, she was in for a shock. "Huh?! Ichigo?!"
Indeed, the normal Ichigo had taken the form of Red Archery Girl. As she looked around in her clamshell and stepped out, she looked up at Dark Ichigo and realized something was amiss. "Other me?"
Minto, in disbelief, looked over to her and said, "Wait a minute, there's two Ichigo's?!"
"I've already told you that," Ichigo replied, slightly annoyed by her question. "But... This isn't good. I haven't been separated from the other me like this before..."
"Partner," Dark Ichigo asked of her. "Please, stay calm. We're gonna get through this, okay?" She was clearly worried about her partner. "Ichigo takes priority now. I cannot let her be killed."
Ichigo looked over Dark Ringo's field and thought to herself, "That set monster she has looks concerning. It could be a trap."
"Gagagigo, attack her set monster!" Dark Ichigo made sure to use a monster that one of her friends did not occupy, hoping to avoid having to see another one of them die. The set monster was revealed to be Nobleman-Eater-Bug. "Oh no! She can choose any two monsters to destroy!"
"Per the effect of Nobleman-Eater-Bug," Dark Ringo proclaimed. "I choose Gagagigo and Amphibian Beast!" As the two non-occupied monsters were destroyed, Dark Ichigo looked on in both relief and confusion. "Well, I could have killed two of your friends, but I am still a pragmatic player. Those two were the most powerful monsters, so they had to go. Anyway, it's my turn." She then drew a card to begin. "I summon Great Angus, with 1800 attack. I then end my turn. Now your Swords of Revealing Light go away!" She thought to herself as she looked over the field, "She's got no chance now! I can finally kill her and her friends, and she can't do a thing about it! She might as well give up now!"
