(A/N: Hey, folks! You know that saying: I've got good news and bad news. Well, the good news is, I am now partially planned all the way up through chapter 140 of this fanfiction. I have general notes and a firm grasp of how the story will flow. The bad news is that this still doesn't take us to the start of Danganronpa 1. Chances are it'll be chapter 201 when Danganronpa proper officially begins. And chances are we won't reach the Yu-gi-oh GX era until around chapter 322 going by my estimations. But hey, at least there's an end in sight unlike with Fairy Without Wings which I have no idea how long it'll last ^^; Folks, this story—this story itself not Fairy Without Wings—is absolutely nuts. Enjoy the goofiness and happiness while it lasts. Cause before long things are going to get HEAVY. But hey, we've got a long way to go before we get there. And the transition from Yu-gi-oh tone to Danganronpa will be so subtle you won't even realize it until we're already wading through a chest-deep pool of despair with the Tragedy blowing up in our faces.
Now let's stop worrying about all of that, and get back into some good action with Hajime Vs Nagito. Enjoy!)
Minutes before Hajime and Nagito were to face off, Chiaki thought it best to go give Hajime some encouragement. However, when she entered his room, she found him rapidly shuffling his deck the way a magician or a card mechanic would. Chiaki had seen Hajime shuffle before. Was he always that good? She couldn't remember.
"Hajime?"
Calling out to Hajime seemed to have pulled him out of whatever zone he was in as he screwed up his shuffle and his cards went everywhere.
"Oh, sorry," Chiaki said, "Let me help you." She attempted to get down on her knee, only for her right leg to remind her that it still had several healing holes in it. Her leg throbbed intensely and she started to fall over. She was surprised to find Hajime caught her. More surprising was the fact that, as she stopped wincing in pain, his deck was already neatly stacked on the table with no cards on the floor at all.
"You all right?" Hajime asked her.
Chiaki got back to an upright position and leaned into Hajime, head into his chest. "Are you?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Were you always so…fast?" Chiaki asked.
Hajime looked back at the table and saw his deck on it. "Uh…instinct?"
"Don't lie to me," Chiaki said miserably. "Miss Yukizome told me…she said that even if we saved you…there might be some side effects. Are you still you, Hajime? You're not like pretending to be okay, or anything, right?"
Hajime hugged her. "I'm still me, Chiaki," he said, patting her shoulder. His mind flashed back to Noah's virtual world. Vaguely, he could recall his time as Izuru. He could recall the pain of his personality being drowned out as he was transformed into an unstoppable force. He stood over his deck, walking away from Chiaki, puzzled. "Hey," he said. "Name a card in my deck."
"Huh? Uh, Blackland Fire Dragon?" Chiaki said in an interrogatively confused manner.
Hajime picked the top card off of his deck. It was spooky for him to see the card Chiaki named. "Do you think maybe I still have some muscle memory from my time as Izuru? I feel fine," he said.
Chiaki thought about that a minute. "That…actually sounds plausible. It may not be Ultimate level, but maybe your motor skills have been enhanced."
To test this, Hajime threw Blackland Fire Dragon across the room with a twist of his wrist. Much to his surprise, when he attempted to dart across the room to catch it before it hit the wall, he succeeded.
"That's impressive," Chiaki said.
"Yeah…no kidding…" Hajime said, heart going a mile a minute out of shock.
"You sure you're all right?" Chiaki asked. "Do a mental inventory. Make sure you still remember all of the important stuff."
Hajime did a rundown of what he considered the "important stuff" Childhood memories, recent memories his parents' faces, his parents' names, where he lived, where he went to school, house phone number, cell phone number, names of friends, names of extended family, birth dates and holidays, basic geography, basic math, etc. Everything checked out. "Yeah, no memory problems at all. I don't think I'm some weird super genius or anything. I'm still the determinate average…well I guess not so average anymore, huh?" Hajime thought, rubbing the back of his head.
"Mikan should take a look at you later when you have the chance, maybe we should even have Yasuke Matsuda from Class 77-A take a look at you."
"Chiaki, I'm fine. Really."
"You're sure?"
"I promise I'm fine. If anything I'm better than ever. I've got a new perspective on my own self-worth thanks to that fiasco in Noah's virtual prison."
Chiaki sighed and smiled. "That's a relief."
"Your leg still bothering you I take it?" Hajime asked.
"Well I can't quite feel the pain thanks to Mikan's shots, but I guess I just forgot I was injured after spending so much time in virtual reality where I wasn't injured at all," she put her hands over her heart. "Except in here."
Hajime walked over to Chiaki and gave her a hug, rubbing he head with his hand. "It's okay, Chiaki. I'm fine now."
"Promise me you won't leave me because I'm too good at games," she sniffed.
"I promise," he said.
The two of them stood there in silence for a while before Hajime said, "Hey, you know, Comiket is next month. …Do you want to go together?"
Chiaki picked up her head and looked excited. "Really? Comiket? Are you sure?"
Hajime blushed a little, "Yeah. We can celebrate…uh…we can celebrate um…"
Chiaki smiled, playing with her fingers. "We can celebrate the fact that you're not going anywhere."
"Yeah…that," Hajime said in a way that sounded extremely forced, like he was going to say something else, but agreed with Chiaki to overcome his uncomfortable embarrassment.
"Then…it's a date," Chiaki giggled.
Hajime smiled. "It's a date."
"The next duel will begin in five minutes," Roland's voice echoed across the aircraft over the PA system. "All duelists and spectators, please go to the appropriate elevators now."
"Guess that's your signal," Chiaki said. "Good luck out there." Her expression went from happy to worried. "You'll need it against Nagito."
"It's all right. I came up with a good strategy," Hajime said. "Win or lose, I'm going to give it my all out there. He is not going to push me around anymore."
Chiaki smiled again. "I'll be cheering you on as best I can." She smiled even brighter with a blush. "I really hope you win."
"Yeah," Hajime said, patting Chiaki affectionately on the head, "Me too." Then with a deep breath, he marched for the elevator, seeing Nagito already there, arms folded. He had a smug, self-satisfied smile on his face.
"So, you actually decided to show up. You don't mind being humiliated on national TV?"
"Hey, I got past Espa Roba," Hajime said as the elevator locked into place and prepared to go up. "Don't count me out just yet."
As the elevator went up, Nagito said, "Oh please, Espa's small fry compared to me. If he was on my level, he'd be the Ultimate Psychic, or at least considered such." Nagito gave Hajime a tough look. "Hajime, I'm going to show you exactly why people like you don't belong in this tournament."
"Well, I'm going to prove you wrong," Hajime said and snapped his fingers, Blackland Void Dragon appearing in his fingers. "I bet my Blackland Void Dragon on it."
"Neat card trick," Nagito chuckled. "But, don't think you're some kind of Ultimate Magician or anything. I fought you when you were Izuru. That was real talent. And you're not Izuru anymore. You're just plain old Hajime Hinata." Nagito then said very seriously and coldly. "Allow me to show you the difference."
When the elevator stopped, Nagito crossed to the other side, back to the sun as Roland got in the middle. The holographic pillars were erected and Hajime and Nagito got out their duel disks and shoved their decks into the appropriate slot.
Each of their life points hit 4000. And they stared each other down, waiting for Roland's signal.
"Gonna root for your boyfriend?" Ibuki asked Chiaki.
"He's not my boyfriend," Chiaki said with a straight face.
"Suuuuure, he isn't," Ibuki chuckled.
"He's not my boyfriend," Chiaki repeated and then added, "Yet."
"Let's go, Hajime, wipe that smug look off Nagito's face!" Joey exclaimed.
"You seem fired up, Joey," Ibuki said.
"A course," Joey said, pushing a thumb against his ribcage, "Us underdogs gotta stick togetha."
"I think you and Hajime are as different as night and day," Celeste said. "Dogtags are so 90s."
"No one asked you, Frenchy!" Joey exclaimed.
As Yugi looked up at the face-off, he communicated to Yami, "Any thoughts, pal?"
"Hajime and Nagito…" Yami repeated their names, thinking about it. "Nagito is a dangerous opponent with Exodia at his side, but Hajime has heart on his side and the power of the Five Headed Dragon. This…could go either way."
All right, Hinata, Kaiba thought, Let's see if you have the skill to stop the unstoppable Exodia. Kaiba actually wanted Hajime to win, not because he was scared of Nagito or anything, but because Hajime's continued victory in the tournament could help him overturn the Steering Committee's desire to turn him into Izuru Kamukura. And anything to screw over some corporate big wigs that dared to cooperate with his stepfather was a good day in Kaiba's mind.
Roland raised his arm above his head, "Duelists," he swung his arm down, "Begin!"
"I'll start us off," Nagito said. "Anything to get this over with faster." He drew the top card of his deck. He laughed. "This duel will be over before it's even begun." Nagito had no less than 4 Exodia pieces in his hand. The 5th one couldn't be far behind. "I set one monster onto the field," he said, putting the monster in defense mode. "My turn is over."
"Nagito must have several pieces of Exodia in his hand already," Chaiki mused to herself.
Ibuki laughed nervously, poking her fingers together, "That doesn't sound good for Hajime."
"Huh? Nagito has Exodia?" Makoto asked, surprised.
"He does indeed," Byakuya said. "You should be fortunate that your defeat was at the hands of Yugi. You got to have a grand showing off before your inevitable defeat. Against Nagito…" Byakuya only smirked, "Well, I don't like Hajime's chances at all."
"Hajime will win," Chiaki said, cheeks puffed out.
"Sorry, but—"
"Hajime will win," Chiaki said more forcefully than before, cheeks still puffed.
"Whatever," Byakuya said, turning away from her.
"My turn," Hajime said and drew the top card of his deck. He looked at his starting hand. "Is it true, do you really have at least one piece of Exodia in your hand, Nagito?" Hajime asked.
"Well, I don't suppose it's a good idea of me to share my hand with my opponent, but I suppose there's not really a point in hiding it. Yes, I do."
"In that case, I'm going to take Exodia out of the game before its even hit the field," Hajime said. And flipped around a card in his hand that made Nagito's blood run cold.
"Is that…?"
"I activate Card Destruction!" Hajime shouted. "Now we both have to discard our entire hands and draw a new hand of that many cards."
Nagito looked surprised as sweat dripped down his temple.
"All right, Hajime!" Joey cheered. "You completely blindsided him! In your face, you white haired creep!"
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Hajime asked as he discard his hand and drew five new cards. "Send your hand to the graveyard."
Nagito's face started to crack as his mouth contorted.
"Komaeda, rules are rules. Don't make me come up there."
Nagito's shoulders slumped as he grinned manically. "Aha…"
"Oh dear," Chiaki stated.
"Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Nagito cackled. "I knew my bad luck would catch up with me eventually!" He seemed positively thrilled. "So, I'm going to have to actually fight for this victory. Well now, things are getting rather interesting, aren't they?" Nagito discarded his hand and drew a new hand of four cards. "To be defeated by you, Hajime, would truly be bad luck! That's why, I'm going to fight to overturn that bad luck! The only bad luck I want to have is losing to Marik and being sent to the shadow realm!"
"You're insane!" Hajime shouted.
"Insane?" Nagito asked. "No. What's insane is you thinking that I'll lose this duel just because Exodia is in my graveyard. Weevil Underwood found out the hard way that I'm more than just my Exodia cards. As will you, Hajime. It's still your turn. Let's see just how far you'll take this."
"Fine by me," Hajime said and slapped a monster onto the field. "I play Blazing Inpachi in attack mode!"
A strange, bizarre looking bipedal creature, completely on fire hit the field. It had 1850 attack points and 0 defense points.
"Blazing Inpachi attack! Fire fist strike!"
However, Blazing Inpachi's fist was met with the solid stone of Giant Soldier of Stone, reducing Hajime's life points to 3850.
"See what I mean?" Nagito asked. "Don't think that just because I'm without Exodia that you've beaten me. This is the big leagues now, Hajime. Wannabes like you should just go home or stand with the spectators where they belong."
"Just go," Hajime said.
"With pleasure," Nagito said and drew the top card of his deck. Excellent. "I activate Ritual of Destruction, sending Ritual Raven to the graveyard in place of any ritual sacrifices," Nagito said as a cage of pure darkness, wrapped in chains appeared on the battlefield. Ritual raven appeared as a hand of shadow pulled it into its grasp. "Say hello to my favorite monster, Garlandolf King of Destruction!"
Shocked faces went all around the blimp to see Nagito pull out a beast so formidable and mighty. The blue skinned, white masked dark fiend of 2500 attack points strong hit the table, crushing the still struggling Ritual Raven in its grasp. "And when Garlandolf is summoned, he has a special ability that lets him destroy every monster on the field with less defense points than his attack points, including my own. Go! Garlandolf! Wave of Destruction!"
Garlandolf struck the ground as a wave of darkness was emitted from the shockwave of his fist hitting the ground and completely obliterated Blazing Inpachi and Giant Soldier of Stone. Darkness then seeped into Garlandolf, raising its attack points up to 2700.
"I think you know what comes next," Nagito said, smiling creepily and holding up his index finger. "Brace yourself, Hajime." He then pointed right at Hajime. "Because now Garlandolf attacks!" Nagito exclaimed.
"You know, I'm only just noticing it, but doesn't Nagito sound an awful lot like you, Makoto?" Komaru asked.
"Komaru, this is not the time!" Makoto exclaimed as Garlandolf charged down the field and punched Hajime right in the chest, sending him flying back into the elevator. His life points plummeted all the way down to 1150.
"Hajime!" Chiaki called out in worry as Hajime dropped to his knees and Garlandolf took a big leap back to Hajime's side.
"Do you see now the difference in our power?" Nagito asked. "You couldn't possibly defeat a beast with this kind of unbridled might!"
However, Hajime pushed down on his knee and staggered to his feet. "Keep talking Nagito," Hajime said and gave Nagito a forced smile that hid how much that blow hurt, "It'll make it that much more satisfying when I beat you!"
Chiaki sighed and smiled. Good. Hajime wasn't giving up. She could see it in his eyes as his expression settled and stood tall. Gone was the panicking, self-doubting average joe of quite literally yesterday. Hajime was confident, proud and unyielding in both his stance and gaze. Chiaki found herself blushing. Hajime looked really cool right now.
"So, you're going to drag this out, huh?" Nagito asked. "All right," Nagito furrowed his brow. "Bring it on."
Hajime drew the top card of his deck and looked at his hand. He definitely had an out for this situation. He'd drawn it with Card Destruction. He just didn't think he'd have to use it this soon. "I set one card face-down onto the field," Hajime said. "And then I set one more monster, ending my turn."
"Hajime, that wouldn't happen to be a Cyber Jar, would it?" Nagito asked with a condescending tone and expression, finger tapping against his temple.
Hajime only stared at Nagito, but the sweat on his face gave his intentions away.
"I'm right, aren't I?" Nagito asked. "Heh," He glanced down and folded his arms, his expression giving way to a small, affable smirk. "Well, then this ought to be an interesting turn."
Nagito drew the top card of his deck. "I attack with Garlandolf into your face-down monster!"
Sure enough, Hajime's surprise monster was Cyber Jar.
"How strange, if he knew what it was, why did he not bother to try and go around it?" Byakuya contemplated.
"I know why," Chiaki said, turning pale. "Nagito has faith in one thing above all else, his unrivaled luck. He's willing to place faith in his talent that Hajime's saving grace of using Cyber Jar will backfire."
"He must win the lottery every time he plays if he has that kind of faith," Celeste commented.
"It means nothing if he's wrong," Kaiba said. "Luck will only get you so far. Without skill to back it up, you can have all the luck in the world and it won't mean a thing."
"Kaiba's right," Yugi said. Let's see what happens.
Hajime and Nagito each drew five cards. Of the five, three of Hajime's were magic cards and one monster couldn't be summoned: Curse of Dragon.
"I set in defense mode, Fairy Dragon!" Hajime exclaimed.
Nagito sighed. "Well then, I guess this is game, set and match because I summon five monsters," Nagito said. "Say hello to Sonic Bird, Aqua Madoor, Senju of the Thousand Hands, Bright Star Dragon, and Island Turtle!" Nagito's monsters all appeared from left to right.
Sonic bird, a bipedal bird wearing goggles and a scarf had 1400 attack and 1000 defense.
Aqua Madoor, a masked sorcerer with purple hair had 1200 attack points and 2000 defense.
Senju was a fairy, asura-like creature with 1400 attack and 1000 defense.
Bright Star Dragon stood the strongest with 1900 attack and 1000 defense.
And last Island Turtle had 1100 attack and 2000 defense.
"Bright Star Dragon attack, wipe out Fairy Dragon!"
"I don't think so, I activate Negate Attack!" Hajime declared, revealing his face-down card. "I'm afraid this duel is still on!"
Nagito smirked. "So it is. All right then, Hajime. Show me what you can do with that large hand of yours."
"Gladly," Hajime and drew the top card of his deck. Oh yeah. This was exactly what he needed. "I activate the field spell Fusion Gate! Now, both of us can fuse monsters together without the need for polymerization, provided we remove the fusion materials from the game." Hajime held up his Fairy Dragon and five other cards in his hand. "And I'm bringing three fusions to the field in this turn alone! Come on out, Gaia the Dragon Champion, Labyrinth Tank, and Kaiser Dragon!"
Now it was Hajime's turn to flood the field with monsters with a lanky, yellow dragon with 2300 attack and 2000 defense points, a blue tank with a gnarly looking red drill with 2400 attack and defense, and a monster very familiar to Yugi that had Gaia the Fierce Knight atop Curse of Dragon. It had 2600 attack points and 2100 defense points.
"Nagito, you have no spell or trap cards on the field to protect yourself," Hajime said. "This…" Hajime's eyes flashed as he pointed at Nagito, "Is my counterattack!"
"Counterattack? Did you forget the rules already? Fusion monsters can't attack on the turn their summoned."
"Ordinarily you would be correct," Hajime said. "But that's why I have this, the continuous spell Stomach Sickness Cure!" Hajime activated the spell card. "This card, while on the field, allows any monster I control to attack the turn its summoned regardless of any other effect preventing it from doing so. So, as I said before, here's my counterattack, Nagito!"
For a brief second, Chiaki thought she saw a tint of blond in Hajime's hair, but it vanished just as quickly as she thought she saw it. She chalked it up on the way the sunlight was cast over Hajime.
"Gaia the Dragon Champion, destroy Island Turtle!"
Gaia swooped in for a supersonic charge that obliterated Nagito's mini-island sized monster. As all of his monsters had been in attack position, Nagito was about to feel tremendous pain to his life points.
With one monster down, Nagito's yet untouched life points came down 2500.
"Labyrinth Tank!" Hajime declared. "Use your drill and destroy Aqua Madoor!"
Labyrinth Tank charged straight into Nagito's sorcerer, obliterating and dealing another 1200 damage, bringing Nagito's life points down to 1300. It then backed up back to Hajime, its engine still revving as it stalled by him.
"And now, Kaiser Dragon, attack with photon stampede. Destroy Bright Star Dragon!"
Several blasts of plasma were shot out of Kaiser Dragon's throat, obliterating Bright Star Dragon on the third shot and giving Hajime the lead over Nagito 900 to 1150.
"All right, yeah!" Chiaki cheered.
Hajime smiled back at her.
Yes, now was the time to cheer. Hajime made a big comeback and brought the game down to the wire. Nagito already lost Garlandolf and there wasn't a whole lot in his deck that would allow him to blow through 3 fusion monsters that each had more than 2000 attack points. Hajime could now, conceivably, win this duel.
"And I'm not done," Hajime said. "Before I end my turn, I activate Future Fusion. And I'll send Blackland Fire Dragon, Koumori Dragon, Baby Dragon, Meteor Dragon and Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress to the graveyard."
"Setting up for Five Headed Dragon, are you?"
"Well, maybe I won't need it," Hajime said. "But now it's your turn to feel pressured. My turn's over.
Nagito chuckled. "I admit, your field is much better armed than mine, but I'm afraid I haven't lost quite yet."
"Oh? Is that so?" Hajime asked sternly.
"I'll admit, I actually didn't think you'd get this far," Nagito said. "I don't know if it's due to my own sheer bad luck things have gone on for even this long or because you're somehow just that skilled, but either way, while Garlandolf, King of Destruction is my favorite monster. It's not my most powerful."
Hajime felt a pit the size of a golfball go down his throat, past his stomach and get caught in his intestinal tract. Oh, this couldn't end well.
"I activate the Ritual spell Cycle of the World," Nagito said, as a humongous hexagonal, golden glyph appeared on the dueling arena on Nagito's side of the field. "By sending another Ritual Raven to the graveyard, I summon the embodiment of the apocalypse itself. Behold, the most powerful monster in my entire deck. Rise! Demise, Supreme King of Armageddon!"
A burning geyser of lava rose up from the ground as an silver poleax with the blade as white as bone shot into the air and then fell to the ground, blade first. A massive black and white armored arm rose up out of the glyph as it became corrupted and twisted with red and black energy. And from it, rose the rest of the beast holding it as it towered over the blimp as tall as the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. It roared like a berserker as its stats were revealed to Hajime and all the spectators: 3000 attack and defense. Each!
"That thing is huge!" Ibuki exclaimed.
"I've seen bigger," Joey stated.
Chiaki quickly looked at Hajime. Power like that usually made him fold, but Hajime was still standing resolute. He wasn't scared at all. Chiaki could only smile. Hajime really had changed, hadn't he, and for the better. He was exactly as Chiaki wanted him to be the whole time she'd known him, happy with who he was and standing tall in spite of anything dangerous that stood in his way. Now, he just had to knock down the opposition and Chiaki had full confidence that he could. The question was: would he?
"I should let you know," Nagito said. "Even if you manage to summon a monster powerful enough to defeat Demise, he can't be destroyed in battle. Now then, Demise, I think it's time we showed Hajime just the kind of power he's trying to overcome. Destroy Gaia the Dragon Champion. Whittle down his life points.
With both hands on his mighty axe, Demise swung down like an executioner and obliterated Gaia, dealing 400 points of damage to Hajime, bringing his total down to 750.
"I'll now switch Sonic Bird and Senju of Thousand Hands to defense mode," Nagito said as Sonic Bird crouched and covered its face with its wing and Senju covered its body with all of its hands. "Your turn, Hajime," Nagito said with a condescending expression and stoic tone. "Make it count."
Hajime gulped and drew the top card of his deck. There was nothing for it now, he had to hold out for Five-Headed Dragon to hit the table. It was his only option.
"I switch my monsters to defense mode," Hajime said as Labyrinth Tank's drill switched its power off and Kaiser Dragon landed, using its wings as a shield. "That's…all I can do this turn."
"Of course it is," Nagito said and drew the top card of his deck. "And now, Demise will destroy another one of your monsters. And I think I'll destroy your Labyrinth Tank."
Demise's axe slammed down onto the tank, smashing it in and destroying it.
"Next, I'll set one card face-down of my own," Nagito said. "My turn's over."
"My turn," Hajime said and drew the top card of his deck again. But, it didn't matter what it was because it was time yet again for him to counterattack. "Its been two turns since I activated Future Fusion," Hajime said. "So now the time has come for my monster to be summoned. I summon Five Headed Dragon!"
The massive dragon hit the table, its size dwarfing the stalwart Demise. Demise might've had 3000 attack and defense points, but Five Headed Dragon trumped that with 5000 attack and defense points.
"Holy crap!" Ibuki exclaimed, freaking out. "That thing's bigger than Thunder King!"
"Told ya I'd seen bigger," Joey said, backing up.
So, that's the fabled Five Headed Dragon, Byakuya stated. The only monster with enough power to rival the god cards themselves.
Kaiba looked up and noticed the weather changing to storm clouds overhead. Things had been clear mere minutes ago, but with titans like Demise and Five Headed Dragon on the field, he couldn't help but find the weather change appropriate. Thunder clapped and lightning cracked the sky.
And yet, this showdown was clear cut. Nagito had 900 life points remaining and Five Headed Dragon had more than enough power to wipe it out, so why all the drama?
"Five-Headed Dragon, attack!" Hajime shouted. "Wipe out the rest of Nagito's life points with your Elemental Devastation Breath!"
A blast of energy formed in the mouth of each of Five Headed Dragon's mouths. The attack was set and ready to go off. So then why did Nagito look so calm.
"I activate my trap card!" Nagito declared. "Go! Skull Dice!"
"Awwww, no," Joey gulped.
"This is bad. If Nagito rolls anything higher than a 2, Five Headed Dragon will get obliterated."
As if on cue, Mahiru picked up her camera and snapped up a photo.
Everyone watched with baited breath as the gremlin holding the pink die for Skull Dice's effect rolled the die on the ground. It was like watching the world end in slow motion. The die tumbled, bounced on its corner, landed flatly on once side and then bounced again to land on its opposite side, coming to rest face-up on 2.
"Well, it's not enough to win, but it's enough to cripple your dragon," Nagito said.
Hajime watched as Five Headed Dragon's attack power was cut in half and Demise was able to reflect the combined breath attack with its axe, injuring Five Headed Dragon, but the beast remained standing. Hajime's life points trickled down to 250.
"Sorry, but Five Headed Dragon can only be destroyed by monsters with a light attribute, and Demise is most certainly a creature of darkness," Hajime stated.
"That's a good effect, but I'm afraid that's about to be fatal for you," Nagito said.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Hajime asked.
"Your monster's attack is still below mine," Nagito stated. "On my next turn, I'll still have enough attack power to deal another 500 points of damage. If your monster had been destroyed, with Kaiser Dragon in defense mode you could, say, play another monster in defense mode and I might not be able to overrun both monsters with what's left on my field. Then, if you were lucky, you could draw into Monster Reborn and play it to attack again and win the duel. Your monster's own ability has betrayed you. This is my victory. I told you when we started that you wouldn't be able to defeat me, and I was right. This duel is over."
"Are you sure about that?" Hajime asked.
"Huh?" Nagito's scowl wavered.
"One card, face-down," Hajime said, sliding it into his spell/trap card slot.
Nagito scowled. "How dumb do you think I am? I know you don't own a copy of Mirror Force. You can't afford it. You also already used Negate Attack. You really think I'll fall for such a miserable attempt at a bluff."
That was when Chiaki saw it, intense, powerful confidence radiating from Hajime, "If you're so confident," Hajime said, "Go ahead and attack." No. This time for sure, she saw a twinge of blond around Hajime. It was like Hajime was emitting some kind of powerful, confident aura the likes of which Chiaki had never seen before. "I am sick and tired of you ridiculing me, Nagito! If you think you're so superior," Hajime extended his pointer finger at Nagito, "Then just try to attack me! If you don't have the guts, draw, pass, and shut up!"
Nagito actually felt a bit intimidated as he held his duel disk in front his chest and took a step back. He was being made to sweat by Hajime's overwhelming confidence. No, not confidence, Nagito realized, Hope.
How could Hajime exude such a powerful hope? I don't sense Izuru in him at all, so what's with him? Nagito studied Hajime as wind seemed to circulate all around Hajime, as though some deep, untapped power was threatening to burst, but didn't have quite the oomph to fully lash out. This power continued to intimidate Nagito, but he shook his head and shrugged it off. No! I can't let him get to me! I'm an Ultimate! He's nothing! Nagito exclaimed internally and drew the top card of his deck.
"I attack with Demise!" Nagito shouted.
"Just like I thought you would!" Hajime declared. "I activate Intimidation!"
The card he got from Eliza was now activated.
"Intimidation?" Nagito's entire body tensed up. He had to admit. He had not seen that coming.
"Here's how it works, when you attack a monster on my side of the field, your monster loses 500 attack points during that battle and mine gains those 500 points. The tables have turned, Nagito!"
Now it was Five Headed Dragon's turn to fight back against demise as its axe attack failed to impact it and five beams of energy rained down on Demise. However, despite the injuries and tar-like, purple blood oozing from the fiendish king, the monster stepped back and the wounds closed up.
Nagito's life points then fell to 400. As per its effects, Demise was still standing. Its attack then returned to normal and Five Headed Dragon's attack then returned to being 2500.
"All right, guess my turn's over then," Nagito said. Not sure what I'm going to do though. With Hajime's monster so powerful and Intimidation on the field that puts me in quite the bind. I think I might have a card or two to get around this, but do I have time to draw it. Hajime might be able to—
"It's my turn!" Hajime declared and cut Nagito off. He already had a strategy in mind to end this duel. All he had to do was draw the right card. With his hand on top of his deck, he drew with all of his might.
Chiaki looked at him. I can't sense that aura I could before. What was that just now?
Hajime looked at the card he drew. Good. This was exactly what he needed. "I activate an equip-spell, Horn of the Unicorn! This will increase Five Headed Dragon's attack power by 700 points."
Hajime's monster surged in power high enough to defeat Demise on Hajime's turn at 3200.
"And now, I attack!"
Powerful bolts of elemental blasts and lightning rained down onto Nagito's monster, injuring it significantly as the holographic lightning actually caused Nagito to flinch as it scattered around him. as His life points were cut in half, leaving him with 200.
"On my next turn, you'll lose the remainder of your life points unless you can destroy my Five Headed Dragon."
"Not necessarily," Nagito said. "I'll set a card face-down," Nagito said. Unbeknownst to Hajime, he had set the card Inspiration. "Just so you know, if you attack or let me have another turn, you will lose. You get one last turn, Hajime. And I'm not going to let you win just so you can feel better about yourself."
"I won't need another turn," Hajime said.
"Huh?" Nagito sounded a bit confused.
"If I can't attack then I'll just have to win without attacking. All I have to do is finish you off!"
Hajime reached for his deck. There was no hesitation. He knew the card that would help him carry the day. And he nodded when he drew it. "Fusion Gate is still on the field. And so, I'll activate it one more time to end this duel! The cards in my hand are Inpachi and Molten Zombie. And with them, I fuse together, the instrument of my victory! Come forth, Blaze Fenix the Burning Bombardment Bird!"
The armored, armed phoenix appeared with its 2800 attack and 2300 defense points.
Nagito looked rather pale. He remembered Blaze Fenix from the duel with Izuru. "But…that means…"
"Yeah, all I have to do is activate my monster's effect and this duel is over. Blaze Fenix, ignite and end this duel!"
Activating its special ability, Blaze Fenix rammed into Nagito with its flames sputtering out the last of his life points.
"He did it! He won!" Chiaki exclaimed, jumping up and down. She was so excited. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" She then held her leg. "Owwww!"
Mikan quickly went over to check Chiaki's leg.
"BOOYAH! Eat that custard head!" Joey exclaimed.
"Woohoo! That was awesome!" Komaru exclaimed.
"A bit too short for my tastes, but I suppose that's how things go sometimes," Celeste commented.
As the arena lowered, Nagito just stood there frozen. His mind was having trouble coming to terms with his defeat. Hajime wanted to say something, but what was he supposed to say? He felt like just breathing too hard would've broken Nagito.
Awww, too bad, Marik thought. It looks like you won't be taking that vacation in the shadow realm that you wanted, Nagito Komaeda.
However, after stalling, the gears in Nagito's head started turning again and he once again burst out laughing. "Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! My bad luck really did catch up with me. I completely lost! And yet…despite my loss, I think there may be a shred of good luck buried under all of this." Nagito was now smiling, but in the "overjoyed to the point of creepy" way. "Hajime, I think it's possible you may have talent after all." He then hugged himself, continuing to sweat. "To think Hope's Peak overlooked wonderful talent like yours."
Hajime blinked in astonishment. "I...have talent?"
"Hajime has talent?" Ibuki parroted.
"I can't believe I overlooked it," Nagito cried as though this epiphany was something so blatantly obvious that he felt like a fool for missing it so easily. "Your talent was so well hidden..." He gasped. "And I was the one that drew it out." He hugged himself even harder, sweating profusely. "Oh wow, the backlash from my bad luck will really be bad now."
"What is it? What's my talent?" Hajime asked, excited. If he had talent, he could leave the reserve course. He could tell the Steering Committee where to go and join Chiaki's class.
Nagito looked confused. "Huh? You mean you don't know. I thought it was kind of obvious."
"It's...obvious?" Now Hajime was even more confused.
This made Nagito smile, but in the gentle, amicable sort of way. "Haha! I get it! You're just being humble. And even if you're not, you'll realize it eventually."
Kaiba, however, caught onto what Nagito was getting at. Komaeda must be implying that Hinata is like Yugi and me, another Ultimate Duelist. That remains to be seen of course. However, my statistics don't lie. I've got my eye on you, Hajime Hinata. I can tell the difference between a true Duelist and people like Komaeda and Wheeler that use luck in substitution of actual strategy. You've certainly got the guts and soul of a true Duelist. In the semi-finals, I'll measure if you have the skill.
Nagito walked over to Hajime and placed two cards in his hand, the ritual spell Cycle of the World, and the monster Demise, Supreme King of Armageddon. "These are the most powerful card in my deck aside from Exodia, but I can't hand you all five. Besides, I think these cards would help you out more."
Hajime graciously accepted the cards from Nagito. "Oh, uh, thank you Nagito."
Nagito closed one eye and rubbed his head. "You know, I don't lose this game very often. Any match that's super close like that I've always won. When I lose, it's usually pretty badly, a sheer sign that my luck has caught up with me. Good luck in the semi-finals. Of course, depending on who you're up against, I may have to root against you."
"Yeah, well, I'm sure I could live with that." It then hit Hajime like a sack of hammers. The semi-finals. He was in the semi-finals in the same tournament as Yugi Mutoh and Seto Kaiba. When he woke up yesterday morning he was pretty sure he'd bomb out of the tournament during his first duel. Yet here he was, still undefeated—where it mattered in the tournament anyway—on his way to going against dueling legends. It was still a huge shock. He pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming and still in a coma in Noah's virtual world.
"Congratulations, Hajime."
Chiaki's happy face and sweet smile jarred Hajime from his thoughts. "Oh, uh, thanks."
"I'm really proud of you," Chiaki smiled. "You didn't doubt yourself once during that duel." She closed her eyes and she smiled ear to ear. "You were really cool just now."
I can feel the blood rushing to my face, Hajime thought to himself.
"Hajime!" Ibuki called out to him as she ran up to him too. "Hey, if Nagito's actually right, maybe you can be in our class. We've got an empty chair for you. Besides, Ibuki already thinks of you like one of the class, anyway."
Mahiru was approaching him too. She was also smiling. "I think you'd be a great addition to the class. You seem like a swell guy."
"You think he'll be a great addition to our class too, right Gundham?" Ibuki asked the animal breeder. There was no answer. She turned to look at him. "Gundham?"
The whole blimp felt it then, a tumultuous wave of anger, rage and darkness. Gundham and Marik were sizing each other up, power overflowing from both in anticipation of battle with the other. This would be a battle between two opposing legions of hell that no spectator, participant or former participant would soon forget.
Their eyes were affixed, metaphorical horns locked and ready for the inevitable clash. A new shadow game was about to begin.
(A/N: And that, folks, is where we shall end it for now. I apologize if the duel wasn't quite long enough for some of you. I really gave things my best. And if you're wondering why Hajime went with Five Headed Dragon instead of summoning Blackland Void Dragon, recall that he used Card Destruction on turn 1 and likely lost the rest of his Fusion Substitutes after he used the remainder to help summon Gaia and Kaiser Dragon. And unlike Makoto, he doesn't have a copy of Serpent Night Dragon. By the way, bonus points if anyone has already caught on to the side effects of Hajime being briefly possessed by Izuru and what the payoff to those side effects will be.
Anyway, next time on Dueling Trigger Finger, Marik and Gundham face off! I've yet to outline this duel so we'll be a short while as I prepare the duel. I should also mention that I'm now in a transitionary period between jobs so if updates are slow, that's why. Anyway, until next time, as always, from all of me, to all of you, let your hearts stay human and your wrath draconic. Ja ne!)