Good Day Readers and welcome to the sequel to Battle of Destiny Begins! Thanks to all of you for the support and I'm deeply sorry for how long it took for me to get this out for you all to read. I would like to thank 2kirschcherry for giving me the metaphorical kick up the bum to get my fingers typing again. I hope that you all enjoy this latest edition of the Hope sisters.
Obviously I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh only Kylie and Katherine Hope along with the unique cards within their decks and whatever other OCs decide to crop up. Also italics symbolise a mind conversation. I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy
Chapter 1: - Unknown Challenger
Sleep was lovely, plus after the absolute bottom of the ninth circle of hell that had been the first half of Battle City Finals it was also rather welcome, or at least it would have been if I hadn't got thrown halfway across my room quite suddenly causing my back to smack against the table and causing a scream of pain to be ripped from my lungs.
"Just what I need first thing in the morning," I growled. Pushing myself up I grabbed my deck, slinging it around my waist and stalwartly ignoring the concerned looks of Athena, Hecate and a few of my other monsters, and dashed straight out the door; I barely had both my feet out the door when Kylie flung herself out of her own room. "What the hell is going on?! Is Other Marik making his move?!" I exclaimed. Sadly, Kylie's response was to shake her head and she proceeded to squeeze my shoulder before moving on at a rapid pace so I quickly tailed her.
"Sweet mother of Osiris!" Kylie growled. The airship had just been shaken again which nearly sent us sprawling to the floor as a result, fortunately both of us managed to glue our feet to one spot using magic, once the shaking stopped we unsealed ourselves and took off once more. "I'm going to pummel whichever madman is doing this," Kylie added on. I didn't disagree with her as this was absolutely maddening.
"Katherine-chan! Kylie-san!" Yugi's voice called. I twisted my head to see the multicoloured haired boy, alongside Jounouchi, Anzu, Honda, Shizuka and Otogi, stumbling along to us; not giving any of them a chance to speak, Kylie encouraged everyone to move towards the helm as the airship continued to shake and tilt at unexpected intervals, once at the door my sister yanked it open. "Kaiba-kun!" Yugi called. The brunette was already there and turned back to look at us as we all dashed inside.
Questions were fired off about the situation and I spotted an island right in front of the airship that was backlit by the rising sun with only a single towering building that looked to be at the centre of the island, shaking erupted once more, causing all of us to desperately cling to something bolted down in order to prevent us sliding about.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Seto demanded. However, the bodyguard at the helm exclaimed that he couldn't switch it into manual mode which meant that the autopilot had been hijacked and someone was forcing our course to change. "What?" Seto questioned. Even Kylie's eyes widened in surprise, someone that could bypass Seto's security and lock his men out was a significant enough threat to cause such worry.
"Alcatraz's computer also refused access!" The goon added on. I could only guess that the island in front of us was Alcatraz – seriously Seto, the island which held one of the most infamous and seemingly inescapable prison – I was curious as to why we were heading for it. "There's no signal from the tower!" The goon added. Mokuba claimed that such a thing was impossible, when someone asked what it was Seto explained that it the location for the Battle City Finals.
"So that's the location of the Finals?" Yugi questioned. Seto when on to added that the tower – referring to it was a pitiful wreckage – was a symbol of Kaiba Corporation's previous head, Gozabura Kaiba; hearing that name sent a shiver down my spine as Kylie tense up tightly upon hearing it whilst Seto spat the name with all the venom he could muster, I noticed Yugi looking at the three of us in confusion as he didn't understand why that name brought about such reactions.
"Our foster father, Kaiba Gozabura, attempted to conquer the world using the great military industry he founded. These ruins are a symbol of his dream. After he died, my big brother changed Kaiba Corporation into a gaming industry with help from George Hope, Kylie and Kathie's dad. He destroyed the former military facilities and he then built the duel tower in their place," Mokuba explained. A sour taste filled my mouth as I recalled that vile man who could barely be considered a human.
"That's enough Mokuba!" Seto insisted. Everyone fell silent at those words although I noticed the concerned and uncertain look that Yugi was sending at Seto, I reached over and wrapped my hand around Yugi's causing him to look at me with that same look within amethyst eyes but I gave him no words, for now we just had to wait for the results of the system analysis that was being run.
"I figured out the cause! A hacker-," The goon began to explain. Kylie cut him off with a swift and sharp 'like we didn't know that already' which startled the man into silence for a few seconds before Seto ordered him to continue. "Invaded our computer and gained access to the ship! Whoever it is, is controlling the system and it seems to want to steer the ship!" The goon explained. Mokuba ordered them to do something since we did have a schedule to keep.
"A where we're going would also be nice!" Kylie snapped. After saying that she rushed over and began to type away rapidly on the system, but the shaking intensified as the airship rapidly descended down to the sea's surface which sent all of us flying to the floor. "I'm really going to pummel whoever did this!" Kylie growled out. The shaking stopped and the flying vehicle rose out of the water, as you could expect everyone was cheesed off with the events and Mokuba asked if there was any override.
"I'm working on it! But this is sophisticated work, I might not have time to wretch us free!" Kylie shot back. Suddenly the view screen displaying Alcatraz began to glitch and yet it cleared first a silhouette appeared on the screen and then a child – probably around ten years old, younger than Mokuba – appeared, he had green hair that was kept close cut to his skin and wore a white shirt with a purple line up the centre was all I could see.
"Who are you!?" Seto demanded. I was curious as well, this was clearly a child so how had he been able to create such a virus that took control of us and was causing problems for Kylie to get rid of, no something was wrong about this entire situation, but given my lack of magical warning bells it was completely technology based.
"I've been waiting for you… and I welcome you Duelists as well," The boy greeted. Everyone relaxed except for me, Kylie and both Kaiba brothers, the way that this boy had spoken to Seto was rather formal and he for some reason looked like Seto when he was younger; there was something aggravatingly familiar out this boy – ignoring his similarities to my sort of friend – and from the furrowed brow and finger pressed against her lip of my sister, she felt the same way.
"Answer me! I asked who you were!" Seto demanded. The boy responded that he was known as Noa then proceeded to claim that he was greater than Seto which was some arrogance for someone so young to possess. "Little punk… you sure like to hear yourself talk!" Seto hissed. Completely disregarding the words Seto had spoken, Noa proceeded to invite us to be guests in his home however given our complete lack of control over the aircraft there really wasn't any other alternative, his image then vanished from the screen.
The water surface in front of us erupted into plumes as something began to rise above the watery depths, this something turned out to be a metal building that seemed more apt to become kind of fortress. Naturally, everyone was surprised by the sudden appearance of such a thing and the airship was definitely being pulled into the building causing everyone to be astounded by the size as we finally saw it up close instead of from a slight distance.
We finally stopped over a hatch and began to descend down into the fortress as the goon desperately attempted to regain control of the airship which served to heighten the already mounting tension that had chosen to blanket the helm. Glancing over at the rest of the group it was easy to see their scared faces, especially Shizuka who still wasn't used to the insanity that we had to deal with.
Eventually the airship came to a halt and Noa returned to the screen requesting that Seto get off the airship and insisted that the other Duelists did as well. Obviously Seto asked what would happen if he refused and I most certainly didn't want to be a part of this damned mess; however, we didn't have much choice in the matter when several gun turrets popped out from the walls and pointed right at us.
"I really hate you, brat," Kylie growled. My sister's expression was furious, her lips curled into a tight sneer as her eyes were narrowed into practically vanishing from sight, her fists curled tightly turning her knuckles white as the silver bracelet shone slightly with the light of her barely restrained magic powers, Noa's eyes proceeded to cast down to my sister that they widened in surprise and recognition which unsettled me greatly.
"Oh, my! Kylie Hope-chan. How nice to see you again," Noa greeted. Kylie's gaze widened as her mouth opened before she snapped it shut and twisted on her heel as Seto began to make his way out, Yugi called out to Seto who told us – to put it simply – to stay out it, although Mokuba was quick to run to his brother's side.
"Mokuba stay here!" Seto ordered. Mokuba simply called his brother as the brunette CEO lifted his chilling gaze to pierce the arrogant brat that had kidnapped us. "Noa, what are your intentions? Just tell me!" Seto demanded. The answer that came was the guns firing causing all of us to duck down as Kylie pulled me and Yugi against her in an effort to protect us whilst Seto and Jounouchi pulled their respective younger siblings closer for the same reason.
"Seto, I really don't think we've got a choice in the matter," Kylie commented. Noa added on he was inviting all the Duelists, Seto scowled at this but couldn't argue and so we all proceeded to the ramp which was lowered for us to disembark; I'd spotted Rhodonite but rapidly shook my head at her so she ducked back into Ishizu's room… after all we needed someone to look after Mai, Bakura and Rishid
"I think that we should do what he wants for the time being," Yugi suggested. We descended the ramp as Jounouchi stated that this was no longer Kaiba's problem, which was quite true since Noa had forcibly dragged the rest of us into this damned mess and wasn't liable to let any of us escape from here any time soon, a short distance ahead of us another door proceeded to open up.
"Seto-sama!" A couple of goons cried. Glancing backwards I saw that they were at the ramp and tried to step down it until another series of gun blasts struck right near their feet and around the airship's hull which startled them and caused them to remain within the opening as Noa claimed he didn't need anyone but us, that probably meant he mistook Mokuba, Honda, Otogi, Shizuka and Anzu for Duelists.
"Shizuka, you should stay on the ship," Jounouchi insisted. Looking backwards I saw that Jounouchi had stopped moving with his hands on his sister's shoulders, it certainly would be preferably to stay as far from danger as possible for the girl, however there was a slight problem with the blonde's insistent plea that he must have overlooked.
"Bad idea! Crazy MacPsycho is still on there. Shizuka is far safer with us even if we are going into the unknown," Kylie commented. The two looked at her and so she pointed up to the interior of the airship and we glanced up to see that Other Marik was there with that creepy smirk stretched across his face that caused another case of the shivers to crawl down my spine.
"Kylie-san's right. Besides I can't let you risk your life alone," Shizuka insisted. The auburn haired girl then proceeded to pull away from her brother and she quickly headed off after Seto with the rest of us falling in behind her, we were forced to walk down a long corridor with no windows or any other sign as to what this fortress might be for.
"What are you going to do with us?" Yugi questioned. Noa revealed that some people were apparently eagerly waiting for us and they would explain everything to us, this caused a frown to curve onto my face as I pulled a hand close to my chest at the nervousness that seemed to be pounding down onto me; why the hell did everything have to become so messed up?
Another door opened as we approached it which we entered leading to a room, the door sealed behind us and I could barely see a thing, I contemplated summoning an orb of light when something brightly proceeded to sear into my eyes; I threw my hands up in order to protect the sensitive organs from the source of the brightness.
"Kaiba Seto and your little friends… it's been quite some time," A voice greeted. A voice that was far too familiar to me, my eyes finally adjusted and I dropped my hands allowing me to see that the person who had spoken had to be among the five men standing across from us with all of them dressed in suits, four were middle aged with one being older than the rest and holding a cane.
"It can't be! You guys…," Seto spoke. Glancing at Kylie I saw the stunned expression that rested on her face as we looked at the men across from us, I certainly hadn't expected these ghosts to come back, especially after the last time we'd encountered them. "The Big Five!" Seto finished. Naturally, those of us who'd been present when saving Seto from being trapped in his Virtual Reality recognised the name although Otogi did ask if we knew them.
"They betrayed Kaiba-kun. They were the group that controlled Kaiba Corporation," Yugi stated. Mokuba then added on what they had done to try and gain control over Kaiba Corporation from Seto, fortunately Jounouchi brought up the end result that had occurred the last time we dealt with these pieces of shit and that they'd been unable to come back to the real world.
"We wandered the Virtual World for ages after that… in a world where you eventually lose all sense of who you are. The only thing driving us is the anger and need for revenge against you!" Konosuke Oshita stated. I only knew their names and only one of their positions and personalities, but that didn't matter since I didn't trust them for previously working for Gozaburo.
"You're not the only one who we hate, Kaiba Seto," Shuzo Otaki added one. Chikuzen Oka then added that the rest of us gathered here were also to blame for shaming them causing Anzu to claim that the grudge wasn't even justified whilst Seto stated that the nuisances were still just as persistent as they used to be whilst Kylie sneered at the five men.
"How exactly did you bastards claw your way back?" Kylie spat. Her temper must have been completely rattled for her to curse within my earshot not that I blamed her one inch; the Big Five explained that as they roamed the cyber world, they ran into Noa who 'understood' their feelings and offered to give them a hand in controlling Kaiba Corporation so long as they Dueled and beat us fair and square. "You filthy degenerates. First that beast, then Seto, then my own uncle and now this brat! You swine know nothing of true loyalty," Kylie sneered.
"So you want to Duel us," Yugi clarified. Otaki commented that they wanted to kill us but couldn't disobey Noa, but the only way to escape from the complex was to Duel these arseholes and win; Jounouchi appropriately declared that he wouldn't lose to these fools and I couldn't agree more with that sentiment… however we were then invited to their Duel World.
Something happened. That really was the only way to describe it, something, I couldn't exactly put it into words only that my body felt strange and in the next minute we were surrounded by a tropical jungle and I along with everyone else were on our backs; letting out a groan I rolled onto my side as everyone took in the sudden change in our surroundings.
"I'm really beginning to hate this tournament," Kylie stated. I looked at my sister finding that she was still led down on her back with an unimpressed look twisting across her face, she then clambered to her feet along with everyone else as we looked around with Seto calling it Virtual Space. At that moment, a bird cry echoed over us causing me to jump whilst looking up and I saw a pterodactyl, which frightened Shizuka.
"Don't worry. No matter how scary it looks, it's all just an illusion," Jounouchi reassured. Anzu pointed out that not just Sight and Sound were real but Smell as well, Kylie walked over and swung her hand out to the bark however it phased right through the object which started to phase out of focus before coming back, this caused everyone to stare at it as my sister flexed her hand.
"Touch and Taste still don't work. We're not here in the literal sense. It's just like Jounouchi said, a projection," Kylie stated. That made it different to the Virtual Reality that me, Yugi, Mokuba and Jounouchi had experienced when rescuing Seto but then thumping sounds occurred causing everyone to look around as Mokuba commented on simulations on air pulses.
A massive T-Rex proceeded to stick its' head over the treetops causing Jounouchi to step in front of Shizuka as he reassured her again but far more shakily than before, the T-Rex made a move towards us causing everyone except for Seto and Kylie to run backwards although my sister did take a few steps to the side upon seeing its' moving towards.
The dinosaur attempted to swipe at Seto but as it was a fake nothing happened with the paw passing through Seto harmlessly and the T-Rex proceeded to stomp away, Seto wasn't impressed by the lack of touch sense that these projections caused and claimed it was a poor, monkey-level copy of the Solid Vision system that had been developed.
"Better you than me to test out stuff with motion attached to," Kylie commented. She had clearly acted on the possibility that projections with motion might have touch when compared to projections without; however at that moment things got complicated, Anzu screamed causing us to look back, only to find another Seto standing there yet dressed in the outfit he wore back at Duelist Kingdom compared to his black outfit with a white trench coat that he currently wore.
"Are you guys kidding here, or what?" Seto demanded. The fake Seto walked into the clearing we stood in completely ignoring us until he came to a stop, footsteps sounded behind so I glanced back however I had to raise an eyebrow when I spotted Total Defence Shogun. At that moment one of the Big Five revealed that these Duels would utilise the Deck Master system which confounded all of us since I'd never heard of such a system so they decided to demonstrate it.
Total Defence Shogun would be his own whilst Blue-Eyes would act as the fake Seto's Deck Master; the fake Seto proceeded to start the Duel by summoning out Lord of Dragon – Dragon Ruler. Glancing at Kylie I saw that she was intensely scrutinising the Duel probably trying to piece together what kind of tricks those leeches were liable to use against us.
Lord of Dragon – Dragon's Ruler – Attribute: Dark, Type: Magician, Level: 4, ATK/1200, DEF/1100
"And I'll activate the Magic card, The Flute of Summoning Dragon!" Simulated Seto declared. The flute appeared in the air above the Dragon Ruler who reached out to it and proceeded to sound the flute's call. "Then I'll use it to Special Summon two other Dragon-types to the field from my hand," Simulated Seto announced. These two Dragons just so happened to be the remaining two Blue-Eyes.
Blue-Eyes White Dragon – Attribute: Light, Type: Dragon, Level: 8, ATK/3000, DEF/2500 (X2)
Next, Simulated Seto summoned his Deck Master to the field causing the Blue-Eyes that had been hovering beside him to move forward until she was in line with the rest of her brethren. This meant that this summon was separate from a Normal Summon; at that moment, the fake Seto proceeded to activate Fusion in order to bring out his Ultimate Dragon.
Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon – Attribute: Light, Type; Dragon/Fusion, Level: 12, ATK/4500, DEF/3800
"Something's fishy about this," Kylie hissed. I certainly felt like something was off, unfortunately it seemed like my sixth sense for a Duel wasn't working at the moment, whether because these were fakes or what I didn't know and it kind of left me feeling a little bare; the snakes took the opportunity to reveal that each Deck Master had a unique ability and if the Deck Master changed for some reason than that ability was passed onwards.
That meant that Ultimate Dragon could attack on the turn that it was summoned and so the Ultimate Burst Stream was sent flying towards the undefended monster. However, in that moment the snakes revealed that Total Defence Shogun could activate his Deck Master ability since he was the Deck Master and Duelist which activated by paying one thousand Life Points.
Total Defence Shogun – LP: 4000 – LP: 3000
This Deck Master ability allowed Total Defence Shogun to negate the attack and destroy the monster that was attacking, because Ultimate Dragon had become the Deck Master it was revealed that its' destruction meant the fake Seto had lost the duel causing him to shatter into pieces; the Deck Master ability existed alongside the one it already had.
Because of this effect the Deck Master was one of the central points of the strategy that a Duelist had to use, this naturally ticked Seto off since these slimeballs had created the rules meaning that we were at a disadvantage. Thus it wasn't fair like they'd previously declared in the condition for their release from this world and Seto promised he wouldn't go easy on them.
After that strange sensation from before, we were somehow moved back to the previous room as those creeps laughed at Seto's words; once the light faded the creeps proceeded to ask if we wanted to accept the Duel even though we really didn't have much of a choice if we wanted to escape. Add on the fact that we still had the crazy psycopath on the airship to deal with and I was starting to lose my own temper.
"Ok! I'll take on your challenged!" Jounouchi declared. Shizuka was uncertain but Jounouchi promised to win and keep protecting his little sister, so she proceeded to wish him luck; Yugi confirmed our lack of choice in the matter, Otogi and Honda were quick to agree, me and Kylie were a given but we still agreed to take part in this mad dance we were being forced into.
"Just a minute. What will happen to us if we lose?" Anzu questioned. For once, she said something useful, even the creeps agreed with this point being excellent so they revealed that if we lost then these freakshows would be able to hijack our bodies. No… no way, ah hell no! These freaks were not taking my body from me.
"You scumbags…," Seto stated. That also meant that our minds would be wandering cyberspace instead of theirs and the others agreed that this was a low blow, however the creeps claimed that this was their revenge against us as their forms distorted to tower over us and they began to laugh at us.
Things just yet from bad to completely awful.