"Seriously! Yuri! Stop trying to scare us for once!" Those scolding words belonged to a girl that had had dark pink mid-length hair, tied up in pigtails, clipped down by blue spherical hair clips which also featured two lighter pink bangs that fell to the side of her face. Her outfit consisted of a sleeveless light-blue and white shirt with a green musical note on the right collar, along with a pink tie, a maroon skirt, dark stockings, and pink trainers. With them being laser locked on the screen above the system she was operating her usually bright blue eyes were in danger of turning a demonic red through the pure hatred that was exuding through her very being.
"Hahahaha…" A laugh that sounded an awful lot like a malevolent phantom danced through the walls of the school they were in. The girl gulped as the anger in her subsided and was replaced by a crippling sense of uneasiness.
The fear seemed completely detached from anything though if what the field looked like and how one of the people in it was acting. The field was an illustrious, graceful and open field full of different kinds of plants and flowers such as chrysanthemums, roses, lilies, camellias that extolled the beauty of the field. However, there was a dark more macabre side to it, the side where the laugh had come from. It was filled with thorny plants with saliva dripping from the monstrous mouths they had. Venus Fly Traps, Solanum Dulca and numerous other disgustingly deadly plants filled out the foreboding side.
The other individual was a male who was stockily built and rather muscular with a hulking frame, easily equivalent in height to some adults. His black hair was styled into a large pompadour, and his nose was oddly somewhat redder than the rest of his face. He wore a jacket over a buttoned white coat that had a golden trim, as well as having white trousers and metal sandals there was a white sash crossed over his back tied at the left shoulder. Just like the girl before him, the large male was unimpressed "Yuri! The man Gongenzaka doesn't appreciate this! Come out and take our duel seriously!" His voice was gruff and as odd quirk, he had just referred to himself in the third person.
"You see, I'd love to do that…" A light hearted mocking voice ghosted around the field as the flowers and plants started to sway "But, my very friend Gong, my dear lady Yuzu, you're forgetting who you're dealing with here."
The girl, now revealed to be a one Yuzu Hiiragi had by now, against her better judgement, placed her face against the screen like a toddler looking at TV screen for the first time, meanwhile Gong felt something tap his shoulder "Boo." And with those simple words uttered from Yuri's mouth, all of the tension that had built up in Yuzu was unleashed in one punch that shattered the screen as she fell back.
"Oops…" She watched as the wires from within the screen short circuited and arced, catching fire and spreading to the main system, causing the field to glitch and return to its normal state of being a cage with a bland grey floor "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" She yelled as she went for the fire extinguisher to put out the raging inferno.
Just then an older male wearing a yellows tracksuit and with fiery orange hair walked into the scene "Yuzu, do you k-" His eyes widened as he saw what was going on "Good lord! How did this happen?!"
"D-dad!" Yuzu stuttered, struggling to hold back the flames "It was Yuri's fault!"
(Timeskip)
"Own up to something for once, Yuri!" Yuzu shouted at the person who had caused her to set fire to the arc system, which would now have to be replaced. The person in question casted a fleeting glance up to her before turning his attention to his purple painted nails. "For god's sake! Look at me!"
Following the whole debacle, the three of them, Yuzu, Gongenzaka and Yuzu's father had spent the previous hour trying to get a reaction out of the purple haired teen that sat before them, lounging across the couch without a care in the world. "And why should I do that?" He quipped back, blowing on his nails to help the polish shine slightly better.
Something snapped inside Yuzu's head after that and everyone could feel it. Even Yuri couldn't help but crane his head in the pink haired girl's direction.
Said girl was furious. Absolutely fuming. Frothing at the mouth and with steam flowing out of her ears. Her hand was twitching as she pulled out a fan that seemed to grow ominously as she approached Yuri. Her feet causing the floor to melt as she stormed forward.
"Want to rephrase that little remark, Yuri?" Yuzu said in a sickingly saccharine tone as she loomed over the purple haired male. Yuri could've sworn he saw a pair of horns and a tail swishing behind Yuzu as the fan was millimetres from his head.
Yuri kept a neutral face, but inside every alarm was blaring and his mouth opened without him thinking about it "That's wasn't my fault, my dear, if you weren't so easily scared then it wouldn't have happened." Clearly, Yuri wasn't a fan of keeping his head on his shoulders. That remark had earned him a resounding thwack to the face, leaving a huge red mark diagonally across it.
By contrast to his daughter, Yuzu's dad, Shuzo Hiiragi, the school's principal, sat down with tears in his eyes, "This is bad, my Hot-Blooded teachings might stop here, without the Arc System possible students won't come, which means that You Show that will be doomed!"
"Calm down." Yuri evidently hadn't learned his lesson about keeping his mouth shut; Or Yuzu's fan had done something to his short term memory "That kid watching us looked like he was interesting in joining, you won't go completely dry of new recruits. Bet you he found the whole thing as funny as I did."
Gongenzaka looked at Yuri with an irritated look on his face, "Yuri, that boy wasn't laughing at all."
"Huh? Oh come on Gongenzaka, he was almost falling over in laughter." Yuri said in a remarkably blasé tone.
All that did was make Gongenzaka even angrier, "Yuri! There's a huge difference between laughing because you make them happy and then laughing at you because you're making a fool of yourself."
Yuri scowled as he put his fingers in his ears "Bah! I very much like the use of my eardrums, so please do refrain from yelling any louder, Gongenzaka."
Gongenzaka looked at the poster behind where Yuri was sat, it was the poster of a man with black hair, stubble, and dressed in an odd magician's outfit flying across the sky on an equally odd looking magician "Your father, Yusho Sakaki managed to touch the hearts of the audience with his dueling and made them smile and laugh with happiness." Gongenzaka then looked at him, "Have you forgotten about his dueling that brought so much happiness to people?"
It was clear that the mention of Yusho had a negative effect on Yuri as he glared daggers at Gongenzaka "And have you forgotten that, that man wasn't my father?" The room went silent after that "Even still…" Yuri grasped the singular purple earring that was dangling over his right shoulder "He loved me like his original son, the most I could owe to him was to fill that hole in his heart."
That sent every back to seven years ago, when Yuri had first arrived at You Show.
It was in the dead of night.
A startled Yuri rubbed his eyes in disbelief at his surrounding area, just a moment ago he was walking in the corridors of Academia and now he seemed to be in a makeshift building which looked like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Colourful letters that spelled 'You Show Duel School' alerted him to where he supposedly was. With his confusion only growing, he pulled out his most trusted card, which had been glowing this entire time. "Starve Venom… What's happening..?"
"Are you okay there?" Yuri jumped as a voice spoke out and turned to see a middle aged man with fiery orange hair staring back at him, the younger version of Shuzo, he took a closer look at him and exclaimed in shock "YUYA!" Yuri covered his ears, good lord, this man was loud "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE SO LATE?!"
After having recovered from his developing ears being assaulted by the dimension's equivalent to a megaphone, Yuri quickly adjusted to the situation at hand "I regret to inform you sir, but I'm not this Yuya you speak of."
Shuzo looked perplexed, rubbing his forehead trying to think of a response, it didn't make any sense, if this wasn't Yuya then why was there someone with the exact same face as him? They even sounded roughly the same. "Well, who are you then and why do you look exactly like him?"
Yuri couldn't believe what was happening but pressed on anyway "I'm Yuri and I still don't know this Yuya person."
Wanting to clear any doubt Shuzo leaned in closer to get a more precise look at Yuri's face, Yuri shivered unused to someone getting this close to his face. Shuzo's face darkened as he retreated his stance back to where he was, there was something different after all, in fact he felt like a total idiot for not noticing everything initially. The thick eyebrows, the purplish pink eyes and the purple-pink hair that had two antennas sticking up.
"Hmmm… Okay I believe you, Yuri. But that still doesn't explain your resemblance to Yuya." Yuri was about to speak when Shuzo raised his hand "Follow me." Yuri obliged as he followed the man throughout the building, as he did so Yuri noticed how this place paled in comparison to Academia but strangely he felt his sprit lift, the warm and welcoming nature was a lot different to the cold harshness he had felt at Academia. "Where am I again?" Yuri asked wanting to have some conformation as to where he actually was.
"You're at You Show Duel School!" Shuzo shouted with passion, once again causing Yuri to cover his ears "The pride of Miami City!" Yuri was about to question the last part before getting cut off "Founded by the one and only!" The man pointed to a picture of a man wearing a red performer's outfit "Yusho Sakaki!"
"Who's that?" Shuzo's face fell at Yuri's question "I've never heard of him…"
"WHAT!" Yuri could swear that he was going to lose the use of his ears before he could get out of here. "Have you been living on an island for the last couple years?!"
That was very strangely an actually accurate question, "Tell me more about him."
At this point the man in question arrived into the room. Looking as if he was in search of someone as he was panting heavily and his eyes were frantically
"Yuya! Thank goodness! There you are!"
'Wonderful, just how many times is this going to happen?' Yuri sighed and rubbed his temples this was going to be a long night. He hoped that he'd be able to get back to Academia soon and out of this lunatic asylum.
(2 hours later)
"So, once again, I'm Yuri, not your son, Yuya." Yuri sighed, how could these people be so stupid? He was very, very, clearly his own person and frankly, he was getting annoyed at the constant misidentification.
"So why do you look so much like him?" Yusho narrowed his eyes, something had just crossed his mind
"For the fortieth time I have no clue why, I don't even know who Yuya is! Now please let me leave!" Yuri pushed his way through the two men, surprising them with how strong the 9 year old was. However, as he was about to leave, he found himself being grabbed by the collar of his shirt by Yusho.
"I think you best come with me… Yuri." There was something brewing in Yusho's mind, something that went back to an old colleague of his. He wouldn't be surprised if Yuri turned out to be exactly what he was thinking he was. He needed to see what 'Yuri' was like for himself.
"Al-l-l right just-t-t let go-o-o you're choking me!" Yusho did as he was told and allowed a still wheezing Yuri to follow him out of the building.
(One month later)
*Morning*
"YURI!" Yoko's voice caused the purple haired boy to bolt down stairs, during the month he had spent at Yuya's house he learnt not to cross the former bike gang leader. 'She's even worse than the Professor when mad.' Yuri could still feel the pain of that day on his face, a mark he wasn't sure was ever going to leave him. "Yes mother?"
"Breakfast is ready, so sit down with your father, he wants to talk to you about something." Yuri peered across the table to see Yusho there, coffee mug in hand.
"Yuri," Yusho said taking a sip of his coffee as Yuri sat down "Your mother and I have elected to send you to Yuya's school." Yuri's face dropped he still didn't understand why he had to go to school. "I know you'll find it tough at first but you'll get used to it." Yuri poked at the food in front of him thinking about what to say next. "Now before you find a way to weasel out of going to school we've already sorted out a uniform and told the teachers that you will be in the class tomorrow."
Yuri finally spoke up "Why can't I just stay here with you? You've been doing it like this for the past few weeks anyway." He sighed and closed his eyes "It's so nice here with just you…" It was still a foreign feeling to have someone actually care about him for how he was as a person. Not having them just being a sycophant because of his dueling skill.
Yoko stepped in "Because you need to socialize with people and you can't just stay here for the rest of your life."
Yuri pouted and folded his arms not talking for the rest of breakfast. Yuri continued to mope about for the rest of the day even when Yusho offered to duel Yuri to make him smile Yuri turned the offer down citing that he wasn't in the mood to do it.
Honestly, he didn't see the point of this whole thing. He was just a temporary replacement until Yuya would come back and take back his place in the household, he'd probably just be relegated down to the lesser child as the emotions of relief would cause Yuya to gain all of the love.
Why was he even bothering with the thought that he might have a loving family after all?
This thought continued long into the night.
Until there was a knock at his 'Yuya's' his mind chose to remind him as there was another knock
"Yuri?" Yusho opened the door and stepped into Yuri's room to see the young boy curled up in his sheets in the middle of his bed, head buried in his shirt. Yusho went up and placed his arm around the boy. "Yuri, you know it takes less muscles to smile then it does to frown." Yuri took his head out of his shirt to look up at the man who told him showing emotion wasn't bad like the Professor made out to be. Yusho smiled at the boy who shared his former son's face. Sure it was unnatural, but honestly, he's pretty sure that he'd seen weirder things in his life, this could all be a coincidence, and doppelgängers were a thing
"This is something that I told Yuya and I think it'll be relevant for you to know. If you ever feel like crying, laugh instead. You can never move forward as a person if you sit about feeling sorry for yourself." Yuri looked on in disbelief he couldn't believe what he was hearing that had to be the most stupid philosophy he had ever heard in his life but for some strange reason he felt compelled to follow it, maybe it was still the remnants of always wanting to follow orders. At the start he as he let out a small chuckle which felt oddly nice.
"That's it Yuri! Let it all out!" Yusho laughed as Yuri's got progressively louder, it wasn't a cruel one that he had done many times in the past, and instead it was one of a genuine warmth and belonging.
Yuri was happy.
(The next day)
"Be safe Yuri!" Yoko shouted as Yuri left the house for the first time since he had been transported here. "I will, you have no need to worry mother." Yuri shouted back with a small smile on his face Yusho following him to make sure that he wouldn't do anything unwarranted, they'd began to notice a few habits of his that they may need to cut back on. Starting with that opinions plant habit.
Yuri continued on towards the school making his way to the gates, minding his own business when he was suddenly blind sighted by a fan from a young pink haired girl in front of him. "What was that FOR?!" Yuri was trembling with anger as he ran towards the girl and grabbed her "Tell me or else!" The insolence simply wouldn't be tolerated, as far as he was concerned he was going to be far superior to these reprobates!
The young girl shook as Yuri released her under instruction from Yusho who he saw was looking on disapprovingly, "Y-Y-Yuya…You're scaring me…"
Yuri sighed as he heard Yuya's name mentioned 'Not this again.' He took another look at the girl's face and was shocked. It reminded him of someone that he had seen once or twice at Academia before but never spoken to, she'd always be beside the Professor's side and also looking for a fight of some description.
He had to explain this very carefully, if it took Yusho and Shuzo hours to understand, chances were this young girl was going to be clueless for even longer "I'm not Yuya…" The girl cocked her head, "I'm Yuri. Who are you?"
The girl thought this over before laughing and playfully punching Yuri on the back of the head "Silly Yuya." Yuri began to rage again, rubbing the spot where the punch had been surprisingly strong "How could you not remember me? I'm your best friend, Yuzu."
Yuri by now had calmed himself enough to answer "Like I said before I'm not Yuya, but it's a pleasure to meet you, Yuzu" He extended his hand out in a polite greeting, Yuzu blinked owlishly, she didn't understand why Yuya was acting in this fashion or why he had disappeared for a month on her or why he had changed his appearance so completely.
It took her a good while with eventual help from Yusho and her father who was nearby to get the full story even somewhat under control. "So Yuya's… gone?" She choked as her breath hitched as tears streamed down her eyes.
"There, there." Shuzo patted her, trying his very best to console his weeping daughter. She wasn't supposed to learn about loss yet, not when she was this young. "Yuri's here now and I think he can be just as good a friend as Yuya." Yuzu looked towards a smiling Yuri, super imposing Yuya's face over his.
"Yuzu?" Yuri asked kindly "I think we best be going into class now, we're late after all" Yuzu quietly followed still thinking about Yuya.
Meanwhile, the two parents were still standing as their children went off. Yusho rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "I'm beginning to think telling her that Yuya won't be coming back wasn't a good idea."
"You don't say YUSHO!" Shuzo rolled his eyes.
In the school foyer Yuzu was thinking about all of the memories she had of Yuya specifically of the duel only the other day.
"Yuzu?" Yuri tapped her shoulder "Are you alright there?"
To prevent Yuri from finding out her true feelings, she held in her tears when talking "I'm fine, Yuri." She put on a fake smile as she guided/pushed/coerced Yuri around the school.
After touring every aspect and every part of the school, Yuzu and Yuri finally arrived at their class. Everyone seemed to waiting for them and the teacher of the class stood up from his seat "Class, we have a new student today. Make him feel at home" Yuri made his way to the front under glare from everyone "I'm Yuri…" He said rubbing the back of his head.
"Do you have a last name Yuri?" The teacher asked him nonchalantly.
"Well I guess it would be Sakaki…"
The group stayed in that state for quite a while. It was actually the first time that they had reminisced about how this had all happened.
Yuri had changed a lot since then. Both in terms of personality, which Yuzu and Gongenzaka could attest to and also in terms of his appearance. When he had first arrived he was only wearing a simple purple shirt and grey trousers. That had since changed.
He was wearing his school jacket very much like a cape, underneath there was a purple dress shirt that had golden buttons on it. He had platinum trousers that went into thigh high black boots. In terms of accessories, dangling from his right ear was a singular purple earring, the most recent gift he had received from his father and also the last one he was probably ever going to receive. He also decide to once entertain the thought of wearing purple nail polish, maybe because he forced into it under threat of Yuzu for wronging, maybe he did it of his volition. Doesn't matter now that it had stuck with him.
"So…" Yuri began, reclining on the sofa once more "What's going to happen now?"
As if declared by Providence, moments later the door to the sitting room opened up and a man with a yellow and black suit, glasses and a small moustache that would ring alarm bells in people's head if they had a vague knowledge of history, entered the room, all of them looked at him shocked before Shuzo spoke up, "Uh, who are you?"
The man smiled at him and dramatically threw out his arms "My name is Nico Smiley, and I'm the manager-slash-promoter of the current champion of action duels Strong Ishijima!"
Yuri's eyes widened in shock when he heard that, "You're the manager of Strong Ishijima?" Strong Ishijima was the person his father was supposed to duel against three years ago, and he currently was acting as the poster duelist for LDS, so all of them wondered why his manager had come to You Show Duel.
Nico looked at Shuzo to explain his clearly unwanted presence as was given by the multiple eyes trained like a laser on him "As you know Strong is acting as the poster duelist for LDS, and for his Fan Appreciation Day that is getting close, we would love for young Yuri here to appear there with him."
Yuri's eyes widened when he heard that, since he knew where this conversation was going, "Wait, so you want me to…" Shuzo narrowed his eyes as he also realized where Nico was going with this.
Nico smiled and nodded, "That's right, I want you to duel against him, which will fulfil your wish three years ago". Yuri lowered his eyes with a pained look in them, three years ago when his dad had not shown up to the duel against Strong, Yuri who had so desperately believed in his dad and had said that his dad was the furthest thing from a coward would show up and had said that he would take his dad place, which was one of the reasons why people had mocked him for the past three years, despite his inherent ability to creep the shit out of people.
Nico put a poster on the table, "Everything is prepared already, and all we need now is your approval." Yuri looked at the poster and saw how it said that Strong Ishijima would duel against the son of the famous entertainment duelist Yusho Sakaki
Shuzo narrowed his eyes, "Yuri isn't going to duel against Strong." Yuri looked at Shuzo shocked and angry at not being able to finally get the revenge he'd been seeking for the past three years.
Nico looked at him with a begging look on his face, "And why is that? People would love to see Yusho Sakaki's son facing Strong Ishijima."
Shuzo narrowed his eyes in anger, "I won't let you use Yuri as a tool to show off Strong like that!" Yuri looked at the principal of his school, he was greatly surprised by the level of maturity that he was showing, Shuzo closed his eyes "Have you ever wondered how Yuri have felt during over these three years? If you have said what you wanted then please leave right now." Yuzu smiled grateful at her dad for thinking about Yuri's feelings.
But all Nico did was stand stock still and smile at him, "Well that's too bad, we were considering rewarding you for your cooperation by giving You Show Duel the latest ARC System that has been produced by Leo Corporation." Shuzo's ears pricked up "Naturally, of course, it'd be for free".
Shuzo got an excited look on his face, Yuri and Yuzu could practically see the dog tail wagging behind him "For real?" His mind worked through the benefits they could reap. The ARC System that had gotten destroyed was an older version, and each new version is better than the earlier, so it could attract more people if they had the latest version.
However, he soon got smacked at the backside of his head by his daughter's fan, evidently she had gotten angry with him and she looked at him disappointed "Didn't you just say that you weren't going to let them use Yuya to show off Strong?"
Shuzo looked at her troubled, "Well that's true, but…" If they had the latest Arc System it could help You Show get more students, after all other than Yuya and Yuzu, there were only two other younger students. Gongenzaka wasn't even a member, instead choosing to attend his father's school.
Yuzu glared at him, she knew how her dad was thinking but she still didn't agree with it, "I know that the school that you and uncle Yusho made together is important, but still…"
Gongenzaka nodded, "What's most important is what Yuri is feeling about all of this". However at that moment they noticed that Yuri, like a phantom had vanished from the scene and wasn't there anymore.
Yuzu looked worried "Yuri..."
(Stadium)
Standing in the changing room of the stadium made Yuri want to remember something.
But, Yuri didn't want to remember anymore, it hurt him far too much, nothing could eliminate the pain of that day, the man who had taken him in and managed to stay happy even when his own son disappeared had now too vanished without a trace.
Cries of "COWARD!" and "WEAKLING!" rang in his head.
A door creaked in the changing rooms, Yuri looked up to see Yuzu enter the room.
"Oh… Hello, Yuzu" He etched out still depressed by his memories.
"You don't have to do this if you don't want to Yuri." Yuzu mumbled, rubbing her arm.
"But I have to, I have no other choice, I need to prove that my father was no coward as the crowd would deride him." Yuzu noticed that Yuri was wearing Yuya's pendant, a blue crystal that was surrounded by a pair of silvery wings as it was the only thing that kept him going.
Yuzu was about to speak before getting cut off Yuri "I'll make them pay like nothing else." His eyes flashing bright purple for a few seconds before returning to normal. He stood up pushing his way through Yuzu at the door, revenge was the only thing on his mind.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! I'm Nico Smiley!" Nico declared into a microphone to the rapturous applause from the crowd. "Here it is! The match of the century! Now before we get to it, I'll set the scene with the action field 'Castle of Chaos'!" With a quick snap of the fingers the field spell appeared around Nico, a towering fortress erected itself in the centre of the field while the rest of it was surrounded by a lush green forest. "In one corner we have the undefeated champion of three years!" A man with tri pointed pink hair wearing a set of amour slowly emerged from the castle and stood atop the battlements. "Strong Ishijima!" He let out a deafening battle cry to the applause from his fan club I.e. the whole crowd.
"Now for his challenger, the adopted son of the great entertainment duelist Yusho Sakaki! Put your hands together for Yuri Sakaki!" The whole crowd expected Yuri to appear but as the time passed there was no sign of the purple haired duelist.
Up in the stands Yuzu, Shuzo and Gongenzaka watched on with anticipation.
"Yuri…" Yuzu muttered. Maybe he had gotten cold feet after all. He looked so confident and determined in the changing room, but Yusho likely felt the same. Maybe the occasion had gotten to him.
"If he doesn't turn up we won't get that new Arc system. Our school be doomed!" Yuzu shot daggers at her father as she forced him to retract that statement.
"He'll turn up… He always does" Yuzu clasped her hands together.
Murmurs began to go round the crowd.
"What a surprise."
"He's just like his father."
"Coward!"
"Wimp!"
The crowd erupted into disapproval, Ishijima was in particular annoyed he'd been promised the chance to uphold his title against the one person who would have a legitimate claim to the title. "Where is that boy?! I need to crush him to prove my worth as the true champion."
Unknown to the crowd and Ishijima, Yuri was slowly making his way behind the champion. For the sake of entertainment duels, the kind of duels that You Show specialised in, Yuri had donned a half mask much like one that would be seen worn by a particular phantom that had a purple rose starched across it.
"Behind you!" The crowd roared causing the champion to turn around and get the shock of his life when the grinning Yuri was standing right behind him. The shock he gave Strong caused Yuri to laugh loudly much to Strong's irritation, "You little brat!" He shouted grabbing Yuri's shirt.
"Why are you surprised?" Yuri wagged his finger "A predator always surprises its prey! That's just natural selection at work!" Yuri was thrown down spitefully as the action duel chant began.
"Duelists locked in battle!" The crowd began the chant
"Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters!" Strong continued
"They storm through this field! Behold!" Yuri grinned as they chanted together.
"This is the newest and greatest evolution of Dueling!"
"ACTION…DUEL!" Their duel disks were readied and the duel began.
Yuri's LP: 4000 Strong's LP: 4000 Cards x5
Turn 1
"I'll go first!" Yuri declared "I summon Predator Plant Ophrys Scorpio!" The monster that emerged out of ground next to Yuri was a scorpion that looked like it had been gene spliced with a green plant covered.
Predator Plant Ophrys Scorpio,Level 3, Plant, DARK, Effect (1200/800).
"I now use its effect by sending Predator Plant Cordyceps from my hand to the graveyard I can summon another Predaplant from my deck. Appear Predaplant Darlington Cobra!" Darlington Cobra was exactly what it suggested in the name, it was a Cobra mixed with a plant know Darlingtonia Califonica, it flanked Yuri to his left
Predator Plant Darlington Cobra,Level 3, Plant, DARK, Effect (1000/1500).
"When Cobra is special summoned I can search out Polymerization from my deck!" The card ejected from the duel disk as he showed it to Strong mockingly
"What?! You can fusion summon?!" Strong shouted in ire.
Yuri laughed mockingly again "For how much you speak about my father, I'm surprised you didn't know this!" Strong eyes widened as Yuri jumped down from the castle "I activate Polymerization! Fusing together my two beautiful plants to create a botanical nightmare! I fusion summon! Level 7! Predator Plant Chimera Rafflesia!" A twin headed plant sharing the DNA of a Chimera and the plant known as aptly known as a Rafflesia sprouted from the ground drooling nectar from both mouths.
Predator Plant Chimera Rafflesia, Level 7, Plant, DARK, Effect(2500/2000)
Yuri elegantly glided down to his monster, or how the audience thought about it, fell with style on top of the monster which began to run away under its master's orders. The crowd fell into disapproval again murmuring. Nearby Yuzu one said "Well that settles it he's a coward just like his father." Yuzu at this point went ballistic attempting to run and smack that audience member with her fan before getting restrained by Gong and her father, "Lemme at him!" Gong's grip was too strong as she failed to free herself from his vice grip "That's not going to settle anything!" Yuzu sighed and retreated back.
"It's your turn now." Yuri was now in the forest as Strong began his turn.
Next to deriding him for being a coward, the crowd also began to comment on the appearance of Yuri's monsters. Some of the parents in the crowd had shielded the eyes of their curious children. Others began to blatantly yell out "Get rid of those disgusting monsters, creep!"
Yuri wouldn't lie and say that he wasn't at least a little bit offended by those remarks. But he had more important things to focus on now.
Yuri's cards x3
Turn 2
"You little runt I'm going to give you a beating you'll never forget! I draw!" The champion grinned "I activate Feast of the Wild LV5!" A huge bonfire appeared on the field "It allows me to summon two level 5 Warrior type monsters to the field with their effects negated!"
From there, two huge bulking behemoths both Platte swaps of each other and both wielding massive clubs appeared out of the bonfire, "I summon Lava Battleguard and Swamp Battleguard!"
Swamp Battleguard, Level 5, Warrior, EARTH, Effect (1800/1500)
Lava Battleguard, Level 5, Warrior, EARTH, Effect (1550/1800)
"I now release Lava Battleguard and Swamp Battleguard to Tribute Summon! Battleguard King!" The merger of the two behemoths emerged from the forest ripping tress out of their roots before letting out a deafening roar much to the excitement of the crowd as Strong jumped down landing on his monsters shoulder.
Battleguard King, Level 8,Warrior, EARTH, Effect (3000/1100).
"Battle! King attacks your hideous monster!" The king raised his club to smash Yuri's monster.
Yuri picked up a stray card that had a large 'A' printed on the back of it, this was the next key selling point of Action duels, Action cards. "I activate the Action Card Evasion your attack is negated!" Rafflesia dodged the attack barely, just sidestepping out of the way in time.
"Nice try but since I used at least one Battleguard monster in his tribute, Battleguard King can attack your monster again! Do it King!" A cloud of smoke appeared causing the crowd to wonder what happened.
Yuri was able to swipe another card, albeit a different one this time round. "I activate the Action Spell Miracle preventing my monster's destruction and halving the damage!"
Yuri's LP: 4000 – 3750
"I set one card face down and end my turn, it's your move little runt!" The card materialised in front of him as he begrudgingly ended his turn.
Strong's cards x3
Turn 3
"It's time for the finishing blow! I draw! I activate a continuous spell Seed Cannon Salvo!" As the name suggested a cannon made of the seeds of various plants wove itself up from the ground "Once per turn I send one Predaplant to the graveyard to inflict three hundred points of damage!"
Strong's LP: 4000 – 3700
"Next all of your monsters lose 600 attack points!"
King's ATK: 3000 – 2400
"Battle! Rafflesia attack Battleguard King! At this point Rafflesia's effect activates! It gives my monster an extra 1000 attack points and weakens yours by the same amount and by activating the quick play spell Predablast you are dealt damage equal to your monsters original attack points when it hits the graveyard! So that's game over!" The move went so quickly that the quick play spell went totally unnoticed by the crowd. It had as its design Chimera Rafflesia in the foreground with parts of it being loaded into the Seed Cannon.
Rafflesia's ATK: 2500 – 3500
King's ATK: 2400 – 1400
The very fickle crowd cheered as another smoke cloud appeared on the field with everyone expecting to see Yuri as the victor but as the smoke cleared there stood Strong, still on top of Battleguard King. He was panting and sweating heavily as an action card appeared behind him.
"I too activate the action card miracle"
Strong's ATK: 3700 – 2550
Yuri was horrified as he was certain he had won, things were about to get much worse now "I activate my trap Battleguard Rage! This card increases King's attack by 2000! Now, since it's the end of the battle phase your Rafflesia's attack goes back to normal!"
King's ATK: 1400 – 4400
Rafflesia's ATK: 3500 – 2500
"I end my turn." Yuri said dejectedly.
Yuri's cards x1
Turn 4
Already in a frenzy and feverishly desperate to crush this pathetic runt once and fall Strong launched into his attack without so much as drawing a card "Battleguard King attack Rafflesia!" The behemoth lumbered towards the plant hybrid, tearing through the trees until it was able to corner Yuri and Rafflesia. It bore down its club and smashed the plant back into the earth and sent Yuri flying back multiple feet, it looked like he was grovelling at the champion's feet and it maid said champion positively electric.
Yuri's LP: 3700 – 1800
"I now activate the Spell Card Battleguard Magic. It gives me life points equal to the half the destroyed monsters attack!"
Strong's LP: 2550 – 3800
Yuri lay on the ground.
Yuzu was right.
He wasn't ready to do this, it was too much for him to handle.
Thoughts went back to his training at Academia, there he beat everyone in sight without so much as breaking a sweat, it was ironic how the tables had turned on him.
He lay thinking of Yusho's words of wisdom.
He couldn't sit forever.
He needed to act.
He stood back up as Yuya's pendent around his neck began to glow.
"It's my turn! I draw!" At this point, something odd resonated around four different locations and to eight people in particular. Two cards in Yuri's hand changed. Predator Plant Fly Trap and Predator Plant Moray Nepenthes. They changed from the standard orange looking to a different style. The aquamarine colour usually taken up on the spell card had now shifted onto the bottom half, there was now also a two other sections that had numbers on them that weren't attack or defence. Instead they had one red and blue crystal above them.
The reaction Yuri had was felt by the other seven people this had affected. One of which just happened to be Yuzu, who now as entranced by the two shinning cards in her hands.
"With Scale 1 Predator Plant Moray Nepenthes and Scale 8 Predator Plant Fly Trap I set the Pendulum scale!" Both monsters than began to appear in blue pillars of light. Moray Nepenthes to the left had a large one underneath it whilst Fly Trap had gained an eight below it.
"What is happening?" Strong's eyes widened in horror as Yuri set the pendulum scale. What even was that?
"With this scale I can summon monsters level 2 through 7 all at the same time!" Yuri declared with a fire in his eyes.
"Swing pendulum of the soul! Draw an arc of light across the ether! Pendulum summon!"
"Starve Venemy Dragon and Predator Plant Drosophyllum Hydra both in attack mode!" Starve Venemy was definitely the larger of the two monsters. It was a huge bipedal dragon that had glowing yellow eyes with saliva drooling with from its mouth. Its wings were massive and thorny, if they didn't look so vile in comparison to the rest of the natural world around them, one could even possibly call them beautiful.
Starve Venemy Dragon,Level 7, Dragon, DARK, Effect, Pendulum scale: 1(2500/2000)
Predator Plant Drosophyllum Hydra, Level 5, Plant, DARK, Effect, Pendulum Scale: 4 (800/2300).
(Leo Corporation HQ)
Turns out the crowd wasn't the only one watching the duel.
"Mr President." A stocky, fair-skinned man with black hair that had four grey bangs at the front wearing blue-lensed hexagonal glasses with a grey business suit burst into a dimly light office.
"What is it Nakajima?" Came the voice from a young man with purple eyes and grey hair who was sitting on a chair minding his own business.
"Sir, there have been reports of a strange new summoning method with powerful fusion summoning too."
The grey haired teen raised an eyebrow "Fusion you say? Show me a live feed." The teen pushed his glasses up his face as he thought, his eyes keying in on Yuri. "Could it have started already..?"
(Stadium)
Up in the stands Yuzu, who had managed to tear her eyes away from her still glowing cards as she joined Gongenzaka and Shuzo looking on in utter disbelief.
"Pendulum…" Yuzu stumbled over her words stunned from this surprising development.
"Alright! That's the power of You Show's ace Yuri!" Shuzo pumped his fist excited that Yuri was now on a path to victory (mainly just happy about getting the new Arc system).
"Now Fly Trap's pendulum effect activates! It switches the attack and defence points of all monsters that have had their attack points artificially manipulated!
King's ATK: 4400 – 1100
"I then activate Starve Venemy's effect! I target one monster on your field, negate its effect, make it lose 500 attack and finally you take 500 points of damage! Gluttony Spore!" Vines extended out of Venemy constricting the bulking behemoth sucking the life out of the monster before numerous small spores attacked Strong.
King's ATK: 1100 – 600
Strong's ATK: 3800 – 3300
"I play Seed Cannon Salvo's effect sending Predaplant Lilylizard to the graveyard you lose another 300 life points!"
Strong's LP: 3300 – 3000
"Next by banishing Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio I activate Hydra's effect causing your monster to lose more attack points, 500 to be exact!"
King's ATK: 600 – 100
"I activate Cordyceps ability from the graveyard by banishing this card I can special summon two Predaplants from my graveyard! Revive and sprout again! Predaplant Darlington Cobra and Predaplant Lilylizard!"
"Cobra's effect adds Polymerization to my hand and Lilylizard allows me to draw one card from my deck."
"I activate my second polymerization fusing Lilylizard and Cobra together!"
"It's coming…" Yuzu clapped her hands together, this would teach her to have little faith in her friend.
"Obscured predator of legend! Sweet-smelling flower that invites the abyss! Now become one and from hell beneath your petals, give birth to a new terror! Fusion summon! Level 8! Starve Venom Fusion Dragon!"The new monster that emerged from earth was very similar in style to Starve Venemy that had come before it. It was covered in purple scales and had curved yellow horns that poked downwards. It too had thorny wings but as more of an attack system than what Venemy would use them for. There were also two longer thorns that were dangling down to the ground.
The smell it gave off was pungent and many in the crowd were disgusted even more so than when Rafflesia was one the field.
Starve Venom Fusion Dragon, Level 8, Dragon, Fusion, Effect, (2800/2000) Pendulum Scale: 4.
In the Leo Corp CEO's room, the grey haired teen smirked "Father, is he really the forefront of an invasion? My, how your 'standards' have fallen."
"Battle! Starve Venemy attack Battleguard king!" Yuri was brutal in his tone and execution as the vines tightened around king's body as the behemoth went down causing its destruction.
Strong's LP: 3000 – 600
"This is the true finale! Starve Venom direct attack!" The dragon flew with Yuri on its shoulder as the cut of Strong's path to an action card.
The vine this time constricted Strong robbing him of his remaining life points as the former champion was left dangling in the air before Starve Venom whipped him into oblivion, sending him into the castle straight through the battlements before he landed in a tree, dazed and broken.
Strong's LP: 600 – 0
Yuri: Win!
The crowd erupted into applause as Yuri felt a cloud of ark fog roll off of him.
"Huh…" Yuri grabbed his head, blinking owlishly around at his surroundings "What happened?" Yuri's curious gaze went over to see Strong laying on the ground unconscious "What's Strong doing on the ground?" Yuri wasn't able to delve further into his train of thought before Nico approached much to his surprise he announced something he wasn't expecting,
"That was quiet an exquisite win Yuri." Nico pressed the microphone into Yuri's face much to the latter's distaste "You must tell us about that new summoning method you used."
Yuri was confused to say the least "What are you talking about?"
Nico was interrupted by the appearance of Yuzu and co. "Yuri, you did it!" Yuzu threw herself on top of the Purple haired boy causing him redden before he was swiftly struck across the head "And that was for making me worry."
"I always knew you could do it!" Gong shoved Yuzu off Yuri crushing Yuri in a massive hug,
"G-G-Gongenzaka get-t-t off me I can't breathe!" Gong loosened his strangle hold allowing Yuri room to breathe.
Yoko had also come down with the others to witness her son's victory "You did well, Yuri, you did well." She ruffled Yuri's hair leading the boy to let out a small smile.
(Leo Corporation HQ)
"Pendulum…" Purple eyes zeroed in on the name of this new summoning method and of its inventor, "Yuri Sakaki, the adopted son of Yusho who disappeared three years ago and foster brother of Yuya Sakaki who vanished seven years ago." The president's curiosity grew as Nakajima moved to another screen showing Yuri's Win/Lost ratio and other information "It's a 50% win rate, he's a year 8 in Maiami Second Middle School and learns at You show duel school, yet he has the ability to perform powerful fusion summons."
The president fixed his glasses and leaned back "Nakajima keep an eye on this boy and alert me if the sensors go off again."
Nakajima stiffened as he spoke "You don't think he could be…" a piercing glance from the purple eyes across from him told more than words could ever say, "Yes, Mr. President, I'll notify you if I see anything." He left the room trembling as he walked.
Yuri was rubbing his temples viciously "Okay one more time…" He asked Yuzu and Gongenzaka in front of him "I did what exactly?"
Yuzu replied confused that Yuri couldn't remember what had happened "You created a new summoning method called 'Pendulum'…" She thought back to the two of her cards that she had seen undergo the same metamorphism. She thought about telling people, but maybe just now it would be better to sit back and see how the situation panned out.
Yuri was even more confused "Pendulum?" Yuri threw his arms in the air before folding them in annoyance "Never heard of it! You must be delusional!"
Yuzu grabbed Yuri's arms shocking the boy in this unusual show of aggression "Yuri you dolt! Check your deck if you don't believe me!" Yuri took the hint rather quickly not wanting to risk the wrath of Yuzu's fan, he'd already had enough of it for one day.
Much to Yuri's amazement he had found that some of his cards had indeed changed, "This is certainly an interesting development." Yuri looked Yuzu dead in the eyes "What did you all this method again, my dear?" Yuzu's guard dropped, Yuri always seemed to have this way of flustering her, it was really frustrating to be so defenceless
"It's called Pendulum, Yuri…" Yuzu flushed.
"Pendulum huh?" Yuri looked into his extra deck. "Starve Venom has changed as well?!"
Yuri, Yuzu and Gong all looked at the now pendulum fusion monster, Gong was the first to raise a question "What do you think you'll do about this then Yuri?"
Yuri smirked "Two things my dear friend, First I'll have to get this summoning method mastered then I'll be a certain favourite for the Maiami championship." Yuri opened out his palm envisioning the world in his hand "Second once I win the championship my journey to be the strongest duelist and stand alone in the world can begin!"
"Err…Yuri?" Yuzu could see the malice of Yuri's expression which only came out when he fantasized a little too much, "You're making that face again."
Yuri snapped out of his fantasies when he heard that sentence "Guess I got carried away again didn't I?" Yuri laughed rubbing the back of his head while Yuzu and Gong sighed not noticing Shuzo burst into the room behind them.
"YURI!" Seven years had passed and Shuzo was still as loud as ever to Yuri
"What do you want, old man?! Some of us are busy!" Yuri's remark seemed to have no effect on Shuzo's enthusiasm.
"We've got a line of people standing outside waiting to see you pendulum summon again!" Shuzo flicked his hand towards the front door and sure enough there was a massive queue of people running outside the door.
"How long have they been standing there for?" Yuri was attempting in vain to count the amount of people that were present.
"About fifteen minutes."
Yuri's face fell. "You do know I barely understand how I got the damn thing in the first place?"
Shuzo's face also fell as his brow furrowed "Will you attempt it at least?"
Yuri looked at him in distain ready to say screw it before Yuzu intruded
"Yuri just try and do it."
Yuri looked into Yuzu's face, his expression softened as he grasped his hands around hers "Ok Yuzu I'll try it."
(Time Skip)
Yuri and Yuzu were walking out of You Show. Turns out that when Yuri told them that so far he was the only one who could pendulum summon, the crowd that had gathered had decide to disperse just as quickly as it arrived.
Finally free of all the people, it allowed Yuri a new shot at trying to get his new summoning method down. It may have taken a lot of tries, 279 to be exact, but Yuri had finally managed to pendulum summon, the look of elation on everyone's face as he did it was something to behold.
"So Yuri…" Yuzu could still feel the excitement radiating off of Yuri as they walked out of the duel school together "Did you finally figure out how to combo Fusion and Pendulum summoning? I heard you talk about it to my dad earlier."
Yuri's smile grew wider "You should learn not to eavesdrop Yuzu. It's awful rude." Yuri shook his finger in Yuzu's face "But for your information I might of thought of a few ideas but I'll wait until my next duel to entertain you my strategies."
However, Yuri and Yuzu's walk was interrupted by the sound of leaves rustling and the quick sound of feet sprinting in front of them.
Three people had appeared from out of nowhere, two of them looked like total delinquents, both of them wearing standard black tracksuits and tattoos emblazoned on their faces. However, the one in the middle was different. He was dressed in a navy blue jacket like vest that omitted the shoulders with black trousers with holes cut over the knee section. He had black boots that were up to his calves and was wearing a purple hood that doubled up as a scarf across the bottom. The most Yuri or Yuzu could make out about his appearance beyond that was hard, the only other discernible feature was the low green ponytail laid across his shoulder. His eyes were hidden behind an eye mask.
It was this person who moved forward first as the two underlings followed "Seize the girl." The underlings grinned and raced passed the leader, one of them restraining Yuri and the other taking hold of Yuzu shoving her down as if she were bowing.
The leader approached Yuzu and tilted her chin up to where his eyes were supposed to be "I see the likeness, you must have a tremendous soul." He stuck out his tongue, revealing a cult like symbol engraved on it "I'll devour it."
"Get your hands off of her!" Yuri shouted, struggling to get out of the stronger male's hold.
That shout caught the attention of the hooded individual, who now turned his hidden gaze onto the struggling teen "Silence. You're not the one I'm here for, let me take your girlfriend here and you can leave this place."
"You think I'm just going to leave her here? You must be very stupid." Yuri snapped back, deliberately choosing to ignore the girlfriend comment.
The leader straightened, proving himself to be decently tall and certainly bigger than Yuri, just as he had done to Yuzu moments earlier, he grabbed a hold of Yuri's face although this time it was much tighter "Listen here, you're either going to put up or shut up." He snapped his fingers and the goon holding Yuzu latched on even tighter, pulling at her limbs harshly as the pink haired girl struggled to hold in the scream building up in her throat. "Capiche? Every time that yap of yours opens without me telling you, the girl gets it."
Yuri growled but said nothing, not wanting to harm Yuzu with unnecessary utterances.
"That's a good little dog." The hooded male said condescendingly before a thought suddenly crossed his mind. Sure, it would be detrimental to the mission, but this was too good an opportunity. "Little dog, I've got a deal to offer you."
Yuri looked inquisitive as the larger male continued "If you are able to beat me in a duel, I'll leave you be and I'll give you the card you most desire in the world, it'll be any card you could ever dream of and I have it. But if you lose, not only do I take your deck, I also take your girlfriend's soul! So what will it be?!"
"I found you, Jex!" That was a new voice, a distinctly rough and somewhat psychotic voice that neither Yuri nor Yuzu could identify the owner of. But all that was needed for the two of them to figure out whether it was good or bad was the "Tch." That was let out by the leader of the gang.
What was initial hope soon bled away through. The leader, now revealed to bear the name Jex, had swivelled on his heel and was now sticking a knife, which had a golden tip on it and a black handle on it, to the side of Yuri's neck. "Kaimia. Make one wrong move and the dog gets it."
"Ha." The voice laughed and the owner stepped out of the shadows. He looked as if he was slightly older than Yuri was, probably around the 17 mark. For height, he stood at about 6'1, slightly taller than Jex was. He had spiky blue hair that was combined with bangs of green hair sticking out covering his right eye, barely visible underneath which was a white sclera and iris and three long claw marks on it. There was definitely something wrong with that eye but his left eye was a brilliant yellow. In his left ear was a small sliver crystal earring, he wore a silver t-shirt with four blue triangles directly in the centre, tied around his waist was a grey jacket, a pair of blue jeans held in place by a black belt and pure white trainers. Finally, on his right arm is his black and white duel disk. "I took you to be a coward when we first met, now I see just how true that is. Hiding behind an innocent to avoid the deletion of your evil."
The knife inched closer to Yuri's neck as the other male finished "I'm a man of my word, Kaimia. I hate lying and deceit that would make just as trashy as you are. The one thing that I am not, above all else, is a coward, so don't let that word pass your lips again."
Yuri resisted the urge to roll his eyes 'Sure, the person using the hostage to protect themselves isn't a coward. If this guy was at Academia, he'd probably be kicked out within the first day.'
"Why don't we find out then, how much of a man you really are?" The person labelled Kaimia by Jex stepped forward, causing the knife to move alongside with him "You wouldn't kill your leverage on me, no evil person would do that, it's simply inefficient. So go ahead, keep to your word and send him to kingdom come, he has no place here anyway."
Yuri could make out the barest form of a smirk on Jex's lips, as he took notice of the fact there appeared to be purple lip gloss on them "You're smarter than you look, Demil Kaimia." Jex began to inch backwards, alerting the goons as to their boss' intent "But you're still a few cards short of a full deck. Take him."
The two goons replied dutifully and in sync "Yes, Jex-sama!" Diagonally crossing past their master who let his hold on Yuri go, instead focusing in on Yuzu. The real reason he was out here.
Demil grinned as he saw the two goons approach him with equally blank looks on their face "There you go again, you really are a coward. Letting your lackeys handle the dirty work."
"Why should I bother doing something myself if I can get someone else to do it." Jex replied just as quickly, corralling Yuzu into his hold, this time the knife was against her cheek. He lowered his head to hers and whispered in her ear, inaudible to anyone else "How sad it must be, to be tossed about by Providence. You're too important to let go, rabbit. You're going to be my key to locating the Grimoire."
'Grimoire? Does he mean a book of spells?' Yuzu was getting more and more confused by the second. What had originally been what seemed to be a mugging, had turned into a kidnapping which with the introduction of this Demil character, was now becoming a hostage situation.
Yuri's head was spinning too. Nothing made any sense today, how he got those cards, how this happened or who these people were. But he had figured out one thing for sure, Jex had an opening. Even if he had only had a few sessions on hand to hand combat, he knew he could easily exploit that gap.
Yuzu had noticed it too, despite the eye mask, she could tell that Jex was fixated on Demil, who was standing perfectly still. She could feel the knife slipping from her cheek and his grip around her body was slipping.
The moment they would make their move would come soon.
"Hmm…" Demil mused as he flicked between the two identical looking goons who already had their grey duel disks activated with a white blade "I'm going to enjoy this." He said launching his blade, which just like the disk was split into black and white.
"Duel!" They declared simultaneously.
Demil's LP: 4000 Goons' LP: 4000 Cards x5
Turn 1
"I think it's only fair that we play under Irregular tag team duel rules. Both of you will share life points and a field while I get the same." Demil explained "Then I shall take the first turn to balance everything else out."
A cocky smirk worked its way onto his lips as he started his turn "To begin I activate the Spell card Solar Recharge! By discarding one Lightsworn monster from my hand I can draw two cards from the top of my deck but then I must send the next two to the graveyard!" He did as he said he would.
Jex laughed loudly "Hahahaha! Still working with that mishmash deck of yours?! You'll be dead in the water through your own hand before my men even have to lay a finger on you! Keheheheheh!" He tugged on Yuzu's hair "Let's make this even more interesting, Kaimia. Every time you take damage during this duel as a result of anything, the rabbit gets a little surprise."
Demil looked at Yuzu and she looked back at him with pleading eyes. He smirked "Fine then, Jex, I'll see if you really do have some form of guts, I'd hate to see this just be a kind of Dutch courage."
"Try me, Kaimia."
Demil finished the back and forth and continued with his turn "One of the monsters that was sent to the graveyard as a result of Solar Recharge was the monster known as Wulf, the Lightsworn Beast and his effect now summons him to my field!" Wulf was as the name implies a Wulf, although he was a humanoid creature with a long staff and sharp claws.
Wulf, the Lightsworn Beast, Level 4, Beast-Warrior, LIGHT, Effect (2100/300)
"2100 attack points already?" Yuzu and Yuri's jaws fell agape, to be able to do it so seamlessly impressed them greatly. Although it was only so much given the situation they were in.
"I now summon Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner!" The new monster joined the other swiftly, it was a tanned woman with blonde hair dressed in white robes and blue orbs of energy crackling from her hands.
Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner, Level 3, Spellcaster, LIGHT, Effect (1000/1000)
"Lumina's effect, I send one card form my hand to the graveyard and special summon one level four or lower Lightsworn monster from my graveyard. I drop Celestia, Lightsworn Angel to the graveyard to summon back the Wulf I sent to the graveyard earlier for the cost of Solar Recharge." Another Wulf came into being and stood beside its duplicate.
"With that I place two cards face down and end my turn." Demil concluded, having built up a board that would leave any reasonable duelist from this dimension impressed. "Now at the end of my turn, I must discard 3 cards from the top of my deck to the graveyard as a cost of maintaining Lumina's presence on the field."
Demil's Cards x1
Turn 2
"My turn." Instead of the goon speaking out, it was Jex who made the call as the goon followed along to his orders "I summon Enchanted Dhampir in attack mode." The goon laid out the card from his hand on his disk almost mechanically.
The monster was a card that looked vaguely similar to the card Vampire Lord, except that it seemed to be a much weaker, scrawnier version of the monster. It had white hair but a far more human look than if it were a vampire.
Enchanted Dhampir, Level 4, Spellcaster, DARK, Effect (1500/1200)
"Next up is the Equip spell, Enchanted Whip!" The card art as rather simplistic on this one showing just a particularly nasty looking whip, the very same whip then made it into Dhampir's hands "The effect of this card is as follows, when the monster equipped with this card destroys another monster by battle it will cause you damage equal to half the destroyed monster's attack."
"Dhampir!" Jex declared, getting ready to slash at Yuzu's cheek "Attack and destroy Lumina!" Dhampir phased out of the scene before swiftly reappearing behind Lumina, cracking the whip he then proceeded to beat the ever living shit out of Lumina before the tanned woman was more black and blue than brown as she eventually exploded.
Demil's LP: 4000 - 3500
"Don't forget Whip's effect! That means 500 more points!" Dhampir pivoted on his heal and struck Demil across the face with the whip in one fell swoop. However, the spiky haired male felt no pain and made no comment.
Demil's LP: 3500 – 3000
"I end my turn." With his first opponent done with, Jex turned his attention to his little bunny rabbit "Looks like we're going to have some fun after all."
It was just as he started to pull back the knife that Jex felt something pulling back on his arm "Tch!" he didn't even need to turn around to know that it was Yuri that was on top of him "Why can't you be a good little dog?!" And as soon as he taken one bit of his attention away from Yuzu, it had earnt him a blow to the chest from Yuzu that caused him to in avertedly to release her from his hold.
Yuzu and Yuri pulled back as Jex seethed. Even though he was totally hidden by the darkness and his hood, they could tell that his facial expression was one of pure ire. Not that his tone really helped him with that "Don't think you've won. Don't ever think that you've won!"
Without warning he dashed straight at Yuzu and Yuri in an attempt to cleave a hole through both of them with his knife "I won't take insolence! Kneel before me!" He slashed violently as Yuri and Yuzu dodged each of his blows "Hold still! I'm the Prince of Despair to whom even the darkness grovels! And I'll be damned if you get away without telling me the location of the Grimoire!" He dived in once more, this time just barely missing Yuri's head by a few millimetres as Yuzu knocked the knife from his hand straight afterwards.
"Gah!" He yelled and pulled back, suddenly appearing back to where the duel was taking place within the blink of an eye "Get those pitiful claws away from me!"
Yuri and Yuzu thought they were finally in the clear and started to run away from this whole situation. However, that was not to be as out of nowhere, two more thugs had appeared. With the same tattoos covering their faces as the previous ones.
Caught completely off guard, they took hold off both Yuri and Yuzu. "Yuzu!" Yuri cried as they were pulled apart once more 'Why can't I do anything to protect her!' He cried mentally, he couldn't do anything when this had first happened and when he had finally managed to free her, she had just been capture again it honestly made him feel worthless.
"Nehahahahahah!" Jex shook as he laughed "I told you. The Grimoire is too important to me to let you go, rabbit." He then looked over at the dejected Yuri "You're going to regret this, little dog." He picked up his knife again as he approached once more "I'll mark out an indelible proof right here and no, that no one messes with me!"
"Oi!" But before he could make any definite movement on that front, Demil's voice interrupted him "I'm not sure about you, but I came here to duel you, leave your creepy fantasies for once and be serious."
Jex growled but relented, muttering under his breath "Alea iacta est…"
Turn 3
"I take the second turn now." Jex began "This time round I activate the second copy of Enchanted Whip!" Another whip made its way into Dhampir's other waiting hand "This is where the effect of Dhampir is triggered. When this card has two or more Equip Spells attached to it, it gain 500 attack points with each of those spells that share the same name! That means he's gaining 1000 attack points, bringing the total up to 2500, enough to beat your Wulf!"
Dhampir's ATK: 1500 – 2500
Demil was stone faced but inside he was elated 'Yes, come closer, fall deeper into the trap that you continue to set for yourself.' His eyes flicked down to the one reaming card in his hand "Soon, my friend…"
"Battle! Do it again Dhampir!" Dhampir repeated the same process he had used against Lumina. Wulf put up a much stronger fight, being able to block a few of the blows with the use of his staff, however, it was the addition of the second whip that made his position untenable as he was vanquished to Jex's joy.
Demil's LP: 3000 – 2600
"I end this turn!" Jex declared triumphantly, making sure to cast a glance over his shoulder to make sure that Yuri and Yuzu were still where they were supposed to be.
Goons' cards x4 and x5
There was one thing that was throwing Yuri off though 'Demil has had this two cards set since the first turn, why hasn't he used them yet? Why did he let his monsters be destroyed like that?'
Turn 4
"I believe that this has gone on long enough." Demil stated bluntly, still holding out the card he had just drawn.
"Ha?" Jex sounded incredibly confused "What are you on about, did Dhampir hit you too hard and make you lose your short term memory? As far as I'm concerned, you're on the back foot here."
Demil laughed softly "I'm sorry to tell you this, Jex. But you've played right into my hands, just like a marionette, you've been on my strings since the start of this thing and now it's time to cut you loose." He flipped the other card in his hand over, revealing a large grey dragon in front of a post-apocalyptic background. "You see, when I have 4 or more Lightsworn monsters with a different name in my graveyard I can summon this card from my hand to the field. The monsters I have in my graveyard are, Lumina, Wulf, Celestia and Jain, Lightsworn Paladin!"
Jex said nothing and waited for Demil to continue "I now summon to the field the monster who casts its terrific judgement on the world of the wicked! I summon the final arbiter of the afterlife! Judgement Dragon!" The monster was the largest one that Yuri ad Yuzu had ever seen, Starve Venom was big, but this card must have been at least twice its size. It had grey feathers and sharp red claws, its eyes also glowed a bright red as it let out a deafening cry that everyone one in the neighbourhood would've heard.
Judgement Dragon, Level 8, Dagon, LIGHT, Effect (3000/2600)
Demil then pulled out something from his jacket pocket, it looked like a small Coptic cross on a chain that he wrapped around his duel disk arm "By the sacred name, obey me." JD's eyes began to glow red with Demil closing his as it could be witnessed by Yuzu and Yuri that Jex himself was starting to slowly back away "O ye who rest in darkness, begone from this place for ever more!" Demil's eyes snapped open, having turned a deep crimson red colour "Judgement Dragon's effect, by paying 1000 life points I can destroy every card on the field bar Judgement Dragon! Judgement Ray!"
Demil's LP: 2600 – 1600
With the blast of a bright white light, Judgement Dragon had evaporated the whole field and also something else seemed off.
The goons Jex had were gone.
They had vanished.
The only trace of them being that the duel hadn't ended yet.
Yuri and Yuzu felt nothing holding onto them.
"What was that…?" Yuzu etched out, looking around her for anything that could explain what had just happened.
"I exposed the Prince of Despair to the Emperor of Light." Demil replied "And his fabricated illusions vanish underneath the eternal glare of Judgement Dragon."
"Keh." Jex laughed once more, making Yuri muse that he was rather like a hyena with how often he was doing so "Do you have any idea how hard it is to make them? I don't really appreciate my art being destroyed like that."
"I don't know and most importantly I don't care, for I am activating the finally card of the puzzle! Whenever Lightsworn Sacred Armour is destroyed by card effect and sent to the graveyard, I can equip it to my Judgement Dragon if I pay 500 life points!"
Demil's LP: 1600 – 1100
A set of slivery dragon armour began to settle over the top of JD, two particularly sharp spikes were situated on the top and the bottom of the armour set "Whenever Judgement Dragon is equipped with this card, it gains attack points equal to half the disparity between our life points. That'd be 1450 for your information!" A charge of electricity sparked through the armour as JD's power grew further.
JD's ATK: 3000 – 4450
"Do it now! Judgement Dragon! Delete the evil from this world! Begone from here forever more, Jex!" JD charged directly towards the green haired hooded male with a deathly intent in its tackle.
Unfortunately for Demil, Jex was somehow proving himself to be far faster than JD as he was able to dodge the attack, but that still didn't stop the damage from registering on his disk.
Jex's LP: 4000 – 0
Demil: Win!
Jex reappeared perched high up on one of the nearby rooftops, how he managed to get there so fast was something that Yuri and Yuzu were still busy trying to figure out "Alea iacta est! I'll be back for you, rabbit! If the world is to be whole once more, I must obtain the Grimoire, I will do that one way or another." And with that, he vanished from sight once more, this time for good.
"Grimoire…" Yuzu mumbled as Yuri looked on in concern "Why did he say I was the key…?"
Yuri for one of the first times in his life didn't have anything he could say, so instead he took action and let Yuzu fall warmly into his arms.
Demil looked up to where Jex had vanished from. 'Who are you really, Jex? And are you really human to begin with?'
A/N: So that's the official introduction of Yuri into this story, please remember to tell me what you think I could do better and if you liked the chapter or not.
For more personal news, I'm going to be having exams next month that are very important and that I actually need to revise for. I wouldn't imagine the next chapter coming out till sometime in late May.
Anyway, for reviews I want to keep this section short because I'm tired at the time of writing this. It's about midnight and I'm about to go to sleep.
Green Phantom Queen: Yeah, I have a tendency to get dark, the end of this chapter is pretty dark too. I hope you like it though.
Jalen Johnson: Here's Yuri! I hope you liked what I did with him.
King425: That'll happen, just be patient.
See ya!