It was becoming ever more prevalent every time he went into this room, Kokichi would think back to the time where he and Mamoru could speak somewhat freely without the need for the term 'enemy' to be flung around the place. It didn't help that it was the first time in five months he had been able to see the white haired teen in the flesh, nor did it help that he had been forced into an underhanded deal which, if found out, could cause serious trouble for him and also landed a favour within Mamoru's cold dead hands.
However, in situations like this, someone needed to take charge and make the optimal solution for everyone even if it was detrimental to the leader themselves. That was what it meant to be a leader to him and given what was about to happen, he would have to step up into that role. "So you only got the one?" He heard Yuto ask him, snapping him out of his thoughts. He and Shun had just returned from their mission which had yielded little success other than a few Obelisk Force goons being defeated and retreating back to their shithole of a dimension.
"Yeah, I was just about able to steal it from their disk before they were automatically sent back." A lie. One he knew they wouldn't buy for a second.
Shun certainly didn't. Kokichi wasn't really a fan of the elder Kurosaki, always brash, always angsty and always so irrational when going into the battlefield. They'd lose a great duelist but it wasn't something he couldn't manage. "What sector was it in?" Shun asked, narrowing his eyes at the doctor, the one person who was bigger than him in all of the resistance.
"That's not something you need to know, Kurosaki." Kokichi said firmly, despite his dislike for the Progenitor and all that he's done, it wouldn't sit right with him to rat someone out who had just helped him. "All you need to know is that I got what you were looking for."
It was instantly clear to Yuto that Shun hadn't taken too nicely to that comment, he sighed mentally, why did he always have to deal with over grown children? They were some of the most senior members of their branch for the love of god! "And I'm asking you where you got it from, Tachi! Did your damn boyfriend sneak in here and give it to you?!"
"Keep him out of this!" Kokichi found himself shouting and Yuto sighed again, louder this time. Every time. Every single time the two of them were even vaguely nearby was a guaranteed shit show, in a weird way he was almost glad he was leaving this behind, if only it had been for better reasons.
"Why should I? He's a traitor! Do you even remember what he's done to you and Misaki?! Or has your memory left you as your sense clearly has?" Maybe it was because he was being held up from beginning the proper search for Ruri that he was so agitated and angry.
"What about Kaito? You don't seem to be as concerned about him." Kokichi said with a deathly calm as the temperature of the room dropped dramatically. Kaito was a very touchy subject but Kokichi did have a point, the Galaxy Eyes user had gone rouge not too long ago with him having lost his whole family and especially the loss of his precious little brother being the tipping point. Yet who was to say that Mamoru hadn't gone through something similar?
Shun was about to speak up again but as interrupted by Yuto's hand on his shoulder "Hey, we got it didn't we? How it came about doesn't matter, we can finally get Ruri back and then take the fight to Academia with this." The teal haired teen was visibly calmed somewhat by that statement, taking heavy breaths in and out and closing his eyes. All the while, Kokichi was in the process of twirling one of the longer strands of his hair around his index finger. "What should we do, Kokichi-san?"
"From what I saw in the disk I obtained, it was attached to a separate port somewhere in the motherboard. Give me yours and I'll show you." Yuto readily handed his disk over, taking care to ignore the oppressive gaze of Shun. Kokichi cracked it open easily and pointed to an area that was barren "Turns out that all the disks that run solid vision have this little section, something about the tech being the same across all the dimensions if what I saw in my disk was anything to go by. I imagine that people in Standard and Synchro haven't quite figured this out yet." He slipped the metal piece Mamoru had given him into the slot dexterously and handed everything back to Yuto.
"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" He asked after a while when the gravity of the situation had passed.
Yuto nodded, Shun did too. "Yes, we have to get Ruri back. I'm sure you'd understand, Kokichi-san that we can't leave any of our comrades behind. We also trust that you'll be able to handle the coordination of the rest of them until we get back with Misaki-san. Speaking of, how is she?"
That made Kokichi sigh, another thing to add to the cons list of Mamoru "She's… She's not great. Whatever demon he summoned has had a really bad impact on her. I'm not sure when she'll wake up…" Of course he was bending the truth somewhat, he knew exactly which of Mamoru's cards had attacked Misaki and he knew exactly how long it would be until she got up. But they didn't need to know that. "I'll be sure to inform you of any… Developments… In her condition. But it's not something I want you to worry about, focus on your own mission… I'll handle any Fusion invader… Even you know who…"
Silence passed between the three and the departing pair knew exactly what was going on in Kokichi's head. Yuto looked up to Shun and nodded. The larger grabbing onto the smaller one "And you joke about Mamoru and I." Kokichi sneered as Yuto pressed the new tab on his duel disk and the two of them vanished into a sea of blue.
The medic stayed stationary for a couple of seconds after their departure before he moved off into one of his side rooms. Turns out being one of the most respected members of the Resistance gives one a number of additional perks, those two had some, Misaki had rather forcefully used her privileges for her campaign and some of his closer friends also had their own quarters best fitted to their strengths but they were currently out trying to hunt down some of the rogue elements so he was by himself yet again.
The side room wasn't awfully large, being more of a storage closet really with how he utilised the limited space. In it was all of the equipment he would tend to use on a regular basis, scalpels to cut into wounds and dig out shrapnel, thermometers to check for any fevers since he wasn't about to let someone screw themselves over by dueling sick and of course things like bandages and facial masks to protect himself as well as others. There were other things too, medium sized bottles with perfectly measured liquid inside, batteries and a rather monstrous looking piece of apparatus which was looking very degraded.
None of that was what he was looking for though, he shoved some things to the side and reached into one of the darker corners. 'They better still be here, if he took them as well then I don't think it leaves me with much of a choice.' Luckily for him, as he scoured through the clutter of his equipment, his hand rested upon two cards and his eyes narrowed. 'Good.'
The two cards were nothing like regular Duel Monsters cards, they were larger with blue star shaped backgrounds with black stripes running across them diagonally. Kokichi held one of them in each hand, something grumbling from his extra deck where his best monster lay as he did so "Shush… It won't be all that long now till the requiem comes. Can you stay silent up until then? Hmm? You can? I know you want to speak to him again and believe me I will facilitate that when I can but for now we need to be cautious. When the three of them come back I'll talk to V about what will happen, he understands. So it'll be a case of an eye for an eye. For a betrayer and thief…"
(Standard Dimension)
'Hmm… Fly trap? Nah, it's too obvious. Poison from the Belladonna? Trackable. Gah! Why is this so hard?!' Yuri was currently in the process of trying to pull his hair out trying to think of a method to safely dispose of Sora without leaving any traces behind, like Mushitaro Oguri he'd write the perfect crime. However… It was getting harder and harder to think of ways, unless he could find someone with a motive other than himself.
Turns out that the kids had taken an immediately liking to Sora, he was "fun" so to speak. He wasn't like Yuzu who was busy trying to impose a good lifestyle upon them, he supposed that living with a man like Shuzo for your father would drive you up the proverbial wall and whilst it was only natural for the offspring to share some of the same traits, Yuri was sure he'd be acting the same way. Sora also wasn't like Yuri, whilst the kids love Yuri like the big brother he was, he was almost like an unattainable summit for them. He wouldn't openly admit it but he was somewhat glad that they had an equal in stature at least.
"So, Yuri! Are you sure you and Yuzu won't tie the knot anytime soon?" Didn't stop him from hating the brat with every fibre of his being, though.
"For the last time, Yuzu and I are not in any relationship, not now, not ever!" It's at moments like this that he sometimes thinks Yuzu is conspiring against him in order to get payback over some of the earlier days of their youth. She had sent the two of them out with the "mission" to buy ice cream for the kids, Sora of course had jumped at the chance to get his hands on some as if anything else hadn't shown his extreme sweet tooth. He was probably due a rather nasty diagnosis in about 20 years' time. And since Yuzu was such a wonderful friend she decided that she'd stay with the three kids until their parents picked them up for the day while Yuri was to accompany Sora even though the runt was perfectly able to take care of himself.
Sora gave a mischievous grin "Well, you never know do you?! I never knew I'd find someone so interesting in this city!" Ah yes, that brought him to the only possible benefit he could get out of this. With the kids and Yuzu gone, he could protect them if Sora decided to pull any funny business when Academia was brought up.
"Say, Sora. Where is that place again?" He said, staring with his head craned over his neck. He could see small beads of sweat starting to roll down Sora's neck but he himself needed to be careful, he didn't know if Sora knew that he was also a former Academia solider. "You said it was a place where Fusion summoning was fairly common. I could understand if you didn't want to say it before everyone at You Show, some people get frightened I understand that, but if you're with me you can trust I won't tell anyone."
There was something in that voice, those eyes that were threatening to turn into dragon like slits, Sora already knew he looked like that person but he was sure as hell hoping that they weren't the same personality wise. He breathed in and out heavily, he needed to calm down. "A-ah! Was that what I said?! It's really not much! You shouldn't look into it that much, just know that I'm here now and that's all that really matters!"
"Hmm, normally I would take an answer like that but, forgive me, I think you're not telling the full truth. Unless you really are just very private about that matter. Although from how brazen you are, I'd reckon to believe this is unusual for you." Sora saw Yuri's visible eye slit and his breath hitched, this was getting bad, really bad. He needed some kind of distraction.
Luckily for him he did find that excuse. Sitting randomly on the ground in front of them was a pristine black top hat "Hey, Yuri! Look at that! Someone's lost it probably, we should help them get it back!" Perhaps he sounded a tad too desperate to steer the conversation away but he didn't care as he took the hat.
"Ugh, fine. Let's get this over with so we can go back to what we're supposed to do. You've not seen Yuzu angry have you?" And with the thought of an angry Yuzu any other thoughts went out of Yuri's mind.
"Who do you think owns this?" Sora said with a sense of childlike wonder "It feels so nice, whoever owns this must be loaded!"
"No! No! No! I can't have lost it that easily, can I!?" The pair looked up to see a person on the street just ahead of them. It was a male teen of middling height, standing at about 5'9. His rather over the top outfit consisted of a black button up shirt under a black buttoned vest, a red tie, a black overcoat with golden chains hanging off the edges, a black lanyard connected it together over his form. The overcoat had a silver trim to it and the inside of it has a red and black checkerboard whilst his trousers are grey and have the same kind of checkerboard to them. Finally he was wearing a pair of white gloves. As he turned his head they could see his full physical appearance, he had messy and semi long cold pink hair with black highlights, his eyes by extension were also a pinkish red. Like a certain green haired Cerberus freak he was wearing pinkish eye shadow but also black lipstick, there were a few piercings in random places in his face as well. "Ahhhh! Where is it!?"
Seeing his outfit and how he was acting, Yuri put two and two together rather quickly. He took the hat from Sora and went to the panicked teen. "I take that this would be yours then?"
The pink haired male's eyes widened and a smile broke out on his lips "Yes! Thank you so much!" He took it and, much to Yuri and Sora's surprise, deftly rolled it up his arm and onto his head like it was nothing "May I be so worthy as to know the title of your personage?"
'Great, another weirdo.' Yuri thought "Uh, Yuri, Yuri Sakai." He said after recovering from his surprise, he then pushed his thumb back "And that is Sora."
"Sora Shiunin's the name!" Sora said energetically introducing himself.
"Then I guess it's only fair for you to find out my name, I'm Kichirou Kaneko. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Kichirou's voice was soft and melodic with a grace that one wouldn't assume from his appearance "I'd like to show you something now, as a token of my appreciation for finding my hat." Three cards then appeared in his hand seemingly out of nowhere.
Yuri looked wearily at the pink haired teen, alarms were blaring in his mind and red flags were being raised right, left and centre. There was only one place that Yuri knew with students that dressed this flamboyantly. "Thanks for the offer but there's something we need to do. Come on, Sora."
He went to drag Sora but the small blue haired boy wasn't so quick to flee the scene. "Aww! Come on, Yuri! Didn't your parents ever teach you to be nicer to people?"
'Low.' Yuri growled in his mind "Fine then." He relented, seeing Kichirou's grin widen. "But I'd like to where you're from when this charade is over, got it?" As if he wasn't having enough trouble with Sora over that question already.
"Great! Now this trick is very simple, I have three cards here." Kichirou flipped over the first one and revealed the laughing face of a joker "The first is a joker. The second is also a joker." He said showing yet another one "And the last is the ace of spades." He then fixed a glare on Yuri "If you can tell where the ace is then I'll answer that question." He took and the ace "If I take the ace from the top of the deck and place it on the bottom of the deck, where is it?"
'Keh, is this guy for real?' Yuri mockingly thought "Do I look stupid? It's on the bottom obviously." He said with a role of his eyes.
"Well you must be stupid, Yuri-kun." Kichirou said, flipping over the three cards with the mocking grin of the joker almost coming out of the card and attacking Yuri whilst he was shocked by the fact such an irreversible fact had been blown up right in front of him. "Now, try again and this time if you get it right I'll tell you whatever you want to hear."
'Alright, if it wasn't on the bottom and he said it was originally on the top then that must be the only place it can be!' He went to answer with a renewed confidence "Logically, it can only be on the top."
"Oh, tough luck." Yuri watched horrified as the second joker was turned over on the top with the ace nowhere in sight.
While Yuri was getting progressively shook, Sora was progressively getting more in awe "Wow! How did you do that?!"
Kichirou pulled the brim of his hat down and winked "A magician never reveals his secret, young one. Would you like to have a go?" Sora nodded furiously "Ha, okay then. Where's the ace?"
"Well, if it's not on the bottom and it's not on the top, then it can only be in the middle!" Sora proclaimed, emphasizing it with a bit of the offensively large lollipop he had just pulled out.
Kichirou fanned out the cards and picked out the middle wrong "Ding dong~! You're wrong, it's a joker~!" That caused Sora to drop his lollipop in shock.
Yuri pulled the pink haired male by his tie, having had enough of this shit "Oi, are you even using an ace anymore or did you slip it away somewhere? What do you have to gain by showing this to us?!"
The pink haired teen shoved the other's hand off him and dusted off the afflicted area "Would I ever lie to you?" He turned the cards over to reveal the ace on the bottom "I'd never lie to anyone if I can't help it. How's about we make this the last round? You've not been doing so well with the ace so if you can tell me where a joker is then my previous offer still stands, although if you get it wrong this I'd like to make a request of you."
Sora went to open his mouth but was stopped when Yuri waved his back "If the ace is on the bottom and you said you had two jokers and then you show us a joker in the middle of pack, the only logical conclusion would be that one joker is in the middle." He explained, hoping he had backed the other into the corner.
"Logically?" Kichirou titled his head curiously "Wherever is it written that magic follows the logical? Magic is the logical made illogical. You said I had two jokers?" He flipped over all three cards this time "Why on earth would you think that? It makes me wonder how you missed the ace." And each card had somehow changed into an ace before their very eyes. A duel disk then appeared on his right arm, jagged at the edges and a bright white throughout it, it certainly was an unusual looking duel disk.
A red beam then flew out from it and headed towards Sora's arm, only for Yuri to get his arm in the way, causing his duel disk to activate. Sora holding a quiet shock at Yuri saving him from the Duel Anchor. "Tch, annoying." Kichirou sneered "But I guess that this isn't the worst situation I could have had. I get to see how strong you are by yourself without that girl by your side. What was her name? Yuyu? Zuzu? Hitagi?"
"Yuzu! It's Yuzu!" Yuri suddenly found himself shouting and blushing just as loudly. Curse his infernal mouth!
Kichirou giggled slightly, placing a finger to his lips, the cards he held previously vanishing into a void. "Ah! That's right! Shiki did tell me that…"
And with that name everything made sense to Yuri. Of course this weirdo was one of Shiki's ensemble, that man and the word 'weird' were increasingly becoming synonymous for him. "Who's that?" He could hear Sora mumble beside him, it wouldn't have been so bad if he wasn't already suspicious of Sora, he did only find out about the man a week ago and he had been living here for seven years. However, what Kichirou had said prior had intrigued him, why was he so annoyed about missing Sora? Could Shiki possibly…?
The magician on the other side of him sighed heavily, pulling down on the brim of his hat "Let's make this quick, shall we? I understand that you're a very busy man and so am I, consider this more of an exhibition than anything…"
"Why'd Shiki set you up to this?" Yuri asked, already knowing that he was unlikely to get a straight answer, if an answer at all.
"You know, there's something that's always perturbed me about the saying "Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to". How the hell are you supposed to know what question to ask in the first place and if you even want to know the answer? It's like when you're accused of not asking a question you didn't even know to ask because you weren't aware it was relevant in the first place! If I don't know then how the hell am I aware that I don't know! It's full of shit! Nothing but pointless horseshit!" Scratch that, it wasn't even an answer, it was blind rant of semantics from the guy who had just mispronounced Yuzu's name moments prior. "Fuck everything! Just duel me, fucker!"
Yuri could just tell he was going to have a swell time with this guy 'Maybe he'll just tire himself out if I get him ranting for a while.' He sighed as the battle between them began.
"Duel!"
Yuri's LP: 4000 Kichirou's LP: 4000 Cards x5
Turn 1
"Gah! Before I go fucking crazy, I'm gonna kick your shit in!" Oh wonderful, Yuri rolled his eyes, a smug magician with a hatred of metaphors and anger issues. "I summon Smoke Sorcerer Houdini!" A cloud of dense smoke emanated out of Kichirou's duel disk, its thickness clogging up both Yuri and Sora's breathing as they hacked up their lungs in an effort to continue on. The smoke on Kichirou's side gradually began to collate and form a non-descript sentient cloud of smoke which for some reason had a hat not all that different from the oink haired magician's own and deep blue eyes.
Smoke Sorcerer Houdini, Level 4, Spellcaster, LIGHT, Effect (1600/1200)
"You get used to him after a while." Kichirou smirked at Yuri, who was presently glaring daggers at the other with his hand covered over his mouth "Just persevere through the pain and everything will be fine. Now, Houdini can't really do much by itself, after all, when you're a sentient smoke cloud there really isn't much that you can do. So I guess that I'll just end my turn here with two faces downs and end my turn." The two cards made their appearance and vanished just as quickly as they had arrived.
Kichirou's cards x2
If he was being honest, Yuri was shocked by the brevity of Kichirou's turn, he was expecting something more if his previous basis was anything to go off of. Plus, if Shiki had sent this guy off by himself in order to fulfil whatever goal he had, it meant that Shiki had put his absolute faith in him. However, he remembered how quickly things had gone to shit in that tag duel. Teru's trap had totally locked his deck down and he had no method of getting out of it as he ran no Spell/Trap removal. Something he was actively trying to fix "Those cards of yours." He gestured over to Kichirou's field "I'm sure you're perfectly aware that I had a little escapade into your school at the behest of your wonderful Principal, you wouldn't happen to be following the same strategy I saw then, would you?"
"A magician never reveals his secrets, little Lily!" Rage. Unadulterated rage boiled up inside of Yuri. He was so sick of hearing that stupid nickname! And what was worse was that Sora was here and that meant…
"Lily…?" He craned his head over with a crazed look in order to intimidate the little shit into staying silent, however "Oohhhhhhhhh! I get it! Hey, Magician! Great nickname!" Oh what joy and unbridled happiness! Now he had that to add onto to his list of annoyances for Sora. He could practically feel his fingernails growing into sharp, almost demonic claws.
"But… I feel like I can do you a favour on this occasion. Just to add tension to the situation, y'know? One of the cards is far more potent than the other in regards to your deck while the other, whilst unimpressive at first, if left will grow and grow until it becomes an unassailable thorn in your side. But after all, if you couldn't be the watchdog's combo, I highly doubt you'll do much against me." The pink haired magician added with a sly smirk, the smugness almost as thick as the smoke still smothering the field as he pulled down the brim of his hat once more.
Turn 2
"It's my turn! I draw!" Yuri quickly surveyed, he still had places to be and he really didn't want to spend any more time around Sora or Kichirou "I'll start off by summoning my Predator Plant Ophrys Scorpio!" The deadly scorpion plant scuttled out to Yuri's field, moving a pincer up to cover where its mouth would've been.
Predator Plant Ophrys Scorpio, Level 3, Plant, DARK, Effect (1200/800)
"Now I activate its effect! By discarding one Predator Plant monster from my hand, such as Predator Plant Drosophyllum Hydra, I can summon a Predator Plant monster from deck as a reward! Erupt from the earth, Predator Plant Darlington Cobra!" The snake flower slithered itself around Yuri's arm as he petted it on its head, handling deadly yet graceful things was his speciality after all.
Predator Plant Darlington Cobra, Level 3, Plant, DARK, Effect (1000/1500)
"Darlington Cobra's effect! When it is summoned to my field by the effect of a Predator Plant monster I can add one copy of Polymerization from my deck to my hand." He smirked smugly as he waved the card provocatively in Kichirou's face when he noticed how pissed off the other looked. "Isn't this card just wonderful? It has so many uses…"
Kichirou gave a guttural growl, tapping the side of his head rhythmically "Polymerization is such a needlessly complicated name for the card, I'm not very well versed in chemistry but I know that a polymer is down to the bonding of molecules together… yet the card fuses things together! Why not simply call it Fusion! Fusion works perfectly! Gah! I hate these stupid fucking names!"
'Wow, this guy really is a head case.' Yuri thought into himself before chuckling lightly into himself 'How perfect, I'll have to use that to my advantage.' He store up at the explosive magician with almost slitted eyes "I'm still a bit pissed about not being able to use my full strength during the previous duel I had against your lot, so I'm going to go all out from the very start today! By using Polymerization I fuse my Cephalotus Snail and Darlington Cobra into a devilishly graceful and deadly plant that will overpower your pathetic smoke monster! Show him your power! Fusion Summon! Level 7! Predator Plant Chimera Rafflesia!" The large Rafflesia plant formed just in front of Yuri, making sure to take a pot shot at Kichirou by spitting some of the drool from its mouth.
Predator Plant Chimera Rafflesia, Level 7, Plant, DARK, Effect (2500/2000)
"Now here comes the extender! I activate the Continuous Spell Card Predator Re-Planting!" Yuri's new card depicted the scene of a plant being torn up from its roots while another smaller plant was being planted inside the soil "The effect of this card is as follows, once per turn I'm allowed to resurrect a Predator Plant from my graveyard! The one I choose will be Darlington Cobra!" Erupting from the earth, the snake once more became Yuri's arm pet. "The only downside is that it can no longer attack or activate any effect."
A scoff came from Kichirou's side as he crossed his arms "Tch, what's the point of summoning him back then if it's simply just going to be fodder for when I attack you?" He sneered as he wiped off the affected area where the drool had landed.
Yuri laughed, this was going better than he had ever imagined it would, he picked out one card from his hand "True. If I didn't have anything to use afterwards then it would be pointless. However, did you really think I would be doing it without having a plan?" He flipped the card around with a smirk "I activate my second copy of Polymerization! And with it I'll fuse Ophrys Scorpio and Darlington Cobra! This shall be the monster that destroys any hope you have of victory! From the hell beneath your petals, unleash a dark terror upon all those who oppose me! Fusion Summon! Level 8! Starve Venom Fusion Dragon!"
The fusion vortex exploded and with the repugnant stench of toxic drool and rotting plants a head emerged out first, looking almost like a plant-alien-dragon hybrid. The rest of the body made its way out soon after and soon the entire field was covered by Starve Venom's sheer presence.
Starve Venom Fusion Dragon, Level 8, Plant, DARK, Fusion, Effect (2800/2000) PS: 4
'Wow! It's so incredible to look at up close when it's not breathing down your neck!' Sora thought in awe 'That was also incredibly strong Fusion summoning too! I didn't feel it when dueling him but now since it's isolated I can feel it! That type of strength shouldn't exist here!'
Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, Kichirou had shielded his face with the brim of his hat, making it impossible to guess just what exactly he was thinking at this point in time. 'No doubt he's pissed off.' Yuri thought haughtily 'He's probably got something he wants to shout out about how stupidly my beauty is named, but that'll do him little good now! Keheheh! Is this the best you can send me, Shiki? I'm almost offended that I got beaten by those other two weirdos now!'
Yuri looked up to his monsters and nodded. "Don't you worry, Kichirou, was it? This'll all be over soon! Battle! Chimera Rafflesia attacks Smoke Sorcerer Houdini!" The manic plant charged at the smoke cloud with its mouth hanging wide open "At this point Rafflesia's effect activates! Whenever it battles with a monster the monster that either initiated the attack or is getting attacked by it, the monster loses 1000 attack points while my Rafflesia gains 1000 attack points! This will be over before it even started!"
Rafflesia's ATK: 2500 – 3500
Houdini's ATK: 1600 – 600
As Rafflesia's attack was about to land, Kichirou spoke once more, hat still pulled over his face "Keh. That's another saying I have major issues with, it's a lot like another one "The end is just the beginning". I don't like either of them since they are completely contradictory." Different from other times, Kichirou didn't sound all that annoyed which unnerved Sora and Yuri "Something can't be over if it hasn't started and neither can something start if it has ended, but yet these are very common sayings. All of them piss me off in some way or another, however, those two are special to me. They distract from the actuality of the time in between!" The attack hit and dispersed the smoke cloud, clearing up the field.
"Alright, Yuri! You cut away nearly three quarters of his life points in one move!" Sora cheered, grateful that the cloud had finally allowed his lungs to breathe properly again.
"No." Yuri said, cutting the excitement short "Take a closer look."
And lo and behold, Kichirou still had all 4000 of his life points and was standing tall and proud. "But how is that possible? You destroyed his monster! If you didn't the smoke would still be here!"
"Allow me to explain." Kichirou said, finally revealing his face and mocking expression as if Yuri was the dumbest person in the whole dimension. He picked up Houdini's card from his disk "My Houdini, much like the real one, is something of an escape artist. When you attacked me I activate my monster's effect, much like your Rafflesia my monster's effect activates regardless of whether it was attacked or was the attacker, Houdini's effect is that he not only negates your attack but also allows me to take him when he's under attack and swap him out with another Smoke Sorcerer from my deck, provided it is one level lower. And my choice is Smoke Sorcerer Copperfield!"
The new monster immediately filled up the field with smoke again, although this time it was thankfully a lot smaller and more confined to Kichirou's side. This cloud was even less of a proper form than Houdini before it, the faintest outline of an arm stuck out and held a smoky cane down while a singular golden glowing eye was left in the middle.
Smoke Sorcerer Copperfield, Level 3, Spellcaster, LIGHT, Effect (1000/1000)
"And now Copperfield's effect is activated! Since he was summoned due to the effect of a Smoke Sorcerer I now get to add another Smoke Sorcerer from my deck to my hand." The selected card ejected itself out of Kichirou's deck and into the pink haired teen's hand "So, Yuri-kun, do you still believe that you can finish this duel in one swift move?"
'Monsters that shuffle themselves back into their deck after an attack? That's just like BB!' Sora thought, his time in Academia once more coming back to haunt him, he sent a cautious glance over to Yuri to see if the other teen was spying on him.
Instead he found that Yuri was gritting his teeth harshly, if he went any further he would've ground them into dust. "In one move? Not anymore, I can see you're going to be a most troublesome asshole to deal with. However, you've still got absolutely no chance of winning. I'm setting two cards face down and end my turn."
Yuri's cards x0
"You're not going to attack? You're a smart one, even if you failed to see through my relatively simple magic trick earlier, had you attacked you know you would've triggered Copperfield's effect and that would've given me even more advantage of you." That callous mocking look in his eyes looked more at home in Academia than it did in Standard.
"Believe me, I want nothing more than to end this thing as soon as possible, I'm just not the type of person to intentionally put myself at a disadvantage." Yuri replied, steel in his expression.
Turn 3
"Keh! No matter what you may do, it's all futile! I draw. With my first move of this turn I can activate the effect of my Smoke Sorcerer Dynamo from my hand! This card can summon himself to the field when I control a Smoke Sorcerer on my field that has 1000 or fewer attack points!"
This monster birthed perhaps the thickest smoke of them all so far, even Starve Venom was starting to choke on the noxious gas. This was also the monster which was the closest to holding an actual form, shrinking down mostly to the size of Kichirou and mirroring the pink haired magician's being nearly identically. The poses and all.
Smoke Sorcerer Dynamo, Level 6, Spellcaster, LIGHT, Effect (2300/1600)
"The rather sad part of it all is that due to this effect he must sacrifice some of his power in order to accommodate his arrival. Like, say, 1000 attack points." The smoke monster slimed further and fully took on the form of Kichirou, slipping behind him and hoovering behind the other like a kind of malevolent spirit with glowing red eyes.
Dynamo's ATK: 2300 – 1300
"Now, since I control two Smoke Sorcerers on my field, I can activate one of my face down cards! Continous Trap activate! Mirror Image Conjuring!" The card showed the scene of a funhouse hallway with numerous mirrors lining up on each side with haunting smoke rolling through it until it reached a dark smoky figure at the end. "Conjuring's effect allows me to summon a Smoke Sorcerer from my deck to the field once per turn but I must negate the effect of the monster that I summon."
A card ejected out of the disk which Kichirou twirled with practiced dexterity "I did tell you that you should've tried to get rid of spells and traps, this will only get worse for you as I now summon the tuner monster Smoke Sorcerer Merlin!" As the card hit the disk only a small cloud of smoke decided it wanted to puff out this time. It was actually rather pathetic when Yuri thought about it, so was the amorphous blob that passed as a monster.
Smoke Sorcerer Merlin, Level 1, Spellcaster, LIGHT, Effect, Tuner (0/0)
"Merlin might have been a mighty wizard in his own time, but then again he didn't really exist so who's to say juts how strong he really was." Kichirou shrugged "Ah, well. Guess you can't really know everything, not that it matters as Merlin won't be sticking around for long as I use him now to activate my other facedown card! The trap card Mirror Splicing!" As the name suggested, this card had two mirrors being spliced into each other with the faints sights of smoke in the background "With Splicing I sacrifice one monster on my field, such as Merlin, and send them to the graveyard. As a result of this I can now destroy up to two face up cards currently on your field!"
"What?!" Sora exclaimed in shock while Yuri maintained a cool and neutral expression, hiding the fact this complicated his plans a great deal.
Kichirou made some kind of inane gesture with his hands, Yuri assumed it was probably something meant to be used by an actual magician when they were trying to make the trick seem more important "That spell of yours will be a real pain in the ass if I let that bloom any further, so I'll select that and that alone!" Splicing morphed quickly into the selected card, very much like a reflection in a mirror, and then shattered into pieces.
Yuri was perplexed to say the least about this move, Kichirou had stated that the card could destroy up to two face up cards on his field and yet the pink haired magician had only destroyed one. It didn't take much of genius, not like Yuri didn't consider himself to be one anyway, to figure out that there was fire with this smoke. He decided to fan those flames "Just the one? Here I thought you might have the guts to take on my wonderful Starve Venom. Looks like I'll have to re-evaluate you in my ranking."
"Say what you wish, Yuri-kun, nothing is going to make me talk." Kichirou wagged his finger condescendingly, making a 'Tsk, Tsk' noise all the while "For you don't matter to me in the slightest! If I want to tell you something I will tell you when it is relevant! Such as now for instance! I activate the effect of Merlin from the Graveyard! Image Conjuring's effect only lasts when the monster is on the field and it's not really like Merlin had an on field effect to begin with anyway…"
'Tricky. He summoned a monster he knew he could easily turn into an advantage from a disadvantageous position.' Yuri smirked 'My, this may just get interesting. He may look like a freak show but he's got deception down to an art form. Especially with cards…' He made a mental note to look up that stunt he had pulled earlier, he wasn't going to be tricked so easily.
"Merlin's effect! Whenever it is sent to the graveyard as the result of a card effect, I can summon two more copies of him from my deck, once more provided that they have their effects negated and this time round are locked in defence mode." The small smoke clouds popped up from the ground, filling up to Kichirou's ankles.
Smoke Sorcerer Merlin, Level 1, Spellcaster, LIGHT, Effect, Tuner (0/0) x2
The pink haired magician then looked over his shoulder, the smoky form of Dynamo posing almost suggestively over him "And now I think I'll let you why my lovely assistant here has been with us since the start of the turn! Dynamo can deal you damage, once per turn, equivalent to the total number of levels on the field x100!"
Both Yuri and Sora's eyes widened as they deduced just why Kichirou had neglected to destroy one of Yuri's monsters "Now, do forgive me as my maths isn't great but Starve Venom has 8, Chimera Rafflesia has 7, my Dynamo has 6, both Merlins have 1 making that 2, and finally Copperfield has 3. That makes 2600 points! Let him have it, Dynamo!" The smoky Kichirou expanded into a dense cloud which rushed down to Yuri's side, smoky tendrils ensnaring every monster on the field whilst the main body threw itself down Yuri's throat, choking the sheer life out of him until he collapsed onto the ground in a heap and Dynamo returned to Kichirou's field.
Yuri's LP: 4000 -1400
"Wow… In one move… He took out over half of Yuri's life points…" Sora was in awe of that move, he usually wasn't one to praise people for their turns or strategies. Slacker idiots didn't deserve his praise. He could count on one hand the people whom had earned his respect, his mentor, the Commandant, him, and he was begrudgingly admitting since his defeat the other day that Yuri might breach the threshold soon.
However, there was something in this magician, something that festered and shown in his eyes as he had loosed his smoky counterpart on Yuri. A word was one the tip of his tongue when he spied that look, yet no matter how close it seemed, he simply couldn't figure out what exactly the word was.
"Pfft, Teru-kun and Bitch-san were right, you have a tendency to let yourself be wide open to those sort of strategies. Kehehehehe." Kichirou sneered then broke out into a small, joyless laugh as he took in Yuri getting back up to his feet. Then his face lit up as if he had remembered something important "That's right! Silly me… I forgot to tell you a story."
Yuri glared as he properly returned to his feet, if there was one thing he sure as hell didn't want to hear, it was a fucking story! "It's the main selling point of our school after all! Much like how you lot are supposed to spread smiles, although that's something I've failed to see in any form…"
The purple haired teen could feel his fingernails lengthen as he grasped onto his shirt's sleeve, anger wasn't going to serve him well in this case. He needed to keep his cool.
"Ah! I found the perfect one! I'm going to tell you the story of a man and his intense desire that almost tore his life part." Kichirou rolled his hat off his head and took a bow before he made his start "Unlike Teru-kun and Bitch-san's story this isn't the same man. This man wanted nothing more than to go about his daily business and live his life how he wanted, he wouldn't let anyone stop him from doing what he wanted, no matter who they were. Now, this man was one of the younger members of his family, in fact he was the youngest one of the lot and because of this he was controlled from the top by his overbearing father and grandfather."
'Ha, sounds like Academia.' Yuri scoffed in his mind, playing on barely recalled memories.
"Now, imagine what this was like to the man who wanted no one to bother him, do you think he was happy with this life? The short answer would be no and the long answer was that he was absolutely furious that people dared to interfere. So he did what he thought was best, he disobeyed the direct orders from above and followed through on his desires lest they tear them apart. The man had always held a key interest in a certain group of people, people who he saw had the capability to turn the world into a different place. He decided a long time ago that this would be his job in his life, a wandering salesman of sorts who would unlock the potential in people he would target." That dark emotion that Sora had seen in Kichirou's eyes returned in full force as his lips pressed into a firm line "This is when he met a particularly interesting person, perhaps the most interesting in the years. A person who shared a similar ambition to him and had already begun work on a project that he promised would change the world as they both knew it. The two of them struck up a very good partnership, almost too good, as they formulated the plan to reshape the world. And it worked…" He then placed his hat back on "For a time being."
"What happened?" Sora found himself speaking unintentionally, like something had compelled him to answer.
"Remember the man's family? Well, they found out about him. And… He didn't quite make out in the same state which he entered in…" Another emotion that they hadn't seen before stirred in Kichirou, it was indecipherable. "His desire had led him down a dark path and he had paid an iron price for it. Lesser men sometimes are unable to properly control their urges and desire but I am not one of those worthless people! Watch and learn, Yuri-kun! Teru and Kioka may run Fusion and XYZ respectively but I rule synchro and let me show you my power! I tune my Level 6 Smoke Sorcerer Dynamo with my Level 1 Smoke Sorcerer Merlin!" Merlin's singular green ring overtook the smoky blob's body whilst six stars leapt out of Dynamo and filtered between the circle. "Suffocate all of those who stand before you in your path! Level 7! Smoke Sorcerer Idushan!"
Out of the obscenely bright light the most noxious of all of Kichirou's monsters so far flooded into existence. The smoke was like something you'd see come out of a blazing inferno. Dark, toxic smoke merged into a proper humanoid form. Standing at a slightly taller height than Kichirou, the new monster looked awfully similar to the person who had become one of the banes of Yuri's existence recently, the hair wasn't as messy nor was the monster as deliberately flamboyant or dramatic so far but the monster Kichirou had just summoned was definitely the form of a one Shiki Sogami.
Smoke Sorcerer Idushan, Level 7, Spellcaster, LIGHT, Effect, Synchro (2600/2200)
"Au son mat de nos vetements tombant au sol, tu ne pourras jamais revenir a la realite." Kichirou said, taking another provocative position alongside his monster, although this time the monster was a lot less active role. "Idushan is but the first start on the road to your ultimate defeat, Yuri-kun. I now activate his effect! By paying 1000 life points I can deal you damage equal to half of his current attack points! That's 1300! Leaving you with only a measly 100!"
Idushan didn't follow the previous monsters in terms of their attack, instead the smoke around Yuri simply got thicker and thicker until no light shone through. 'Jesus Christ! Getting hit into that gate was bad enough!' He shoved his sleeve against his mouth in an effort to prevent any more smoke getting into his system, for some strange reason, every time he felt the effects of the monsters it took a greater and greater toll on him. When the smoke cleared he was hacking up his lungs so hard that trace amounts of blood were spitting out with it. That couldn't be right. They weren't using an ARC system.
Were they?
Yuri's LP: 1400 – 100
"I haven't even entered my battle phase yet and just like that I've reduced to a mere 100 life points." Yuri snarled when he heard the magician's mocking voice. How dare he gloat when this duel wasn't over! "I'm not one to gloat really, to gloat means that you've yet to consider all other variables and are over confident that your opponent doesn't have a trick or two up their sleeve. It's a lot like magic, it's when a magician is over confident that they have a trick mastered that they start to screw it up in front of a live audience. Theoretically, I could attack you now and end this thing right here. Idushan has the 100 point difference over Rafflesia that I need to end this fiasco and go back to my original plan. However, I have a feeling that you have some inane strategy hidden that would turn my attack back on me. So I'll end my turn by setting one card face down."
To the shock of Sora and ire of Yuri, Kichirou plucked one card with a casual indifference and it appeared on the field. "You can't trick a trickster, Yuri-kun."
Kichirou's cards x1
"Oi, bastard. You're mocking me, aren't you?" Yuri pointed an accusatory finger at the smirking magician "If there's something I hate about people, it's them acting like they're better than someone by mocking them! You were very capable of ending this right now, you said so yourself, but you then went and mocked me by refusing! You made a big mistake so you best now pray to whatever god you believe in, because by the time I'm through with you, I'm going to break you!"
Those eyes. Sora had switched his gaze to Kichirou the moment Yuri's angry rant had reached its crescendo. Those eyes. The word had come back to his mind when he saw how deathly cold they were, Kichirou was hardly what one may call normal in terms of appearance, but you could be safe assuming that he was simply a flamboyant diva and aspiring magician with possible anger issues. But those eyes.
Those were the eyes of a monster.
Icy, blank, calculating and showered in darkness.
Like the type Sora had seen on his mentor so many times.
Yes, those were certainly the eyes of a monster.
(Meanwhile)
"I swear to god! Yuri never does anything I ask of him!" Currently stomping through an aisle inside of a store with Ayu at her side, Yuzu was ready to commit cold blooded murder due to the burning rage that flowed through her. "Forty minutes! I sent him out forty minutes ago! And the idiot still hasn't even thought to contact me!" After about twenty minutes of waiting and quietly seething, Yuzu had finally had enough and decided that if Yuri wasn't going to do it then she would do it herself.
Initially she was concerned that she'd be leaving the kids all alone but then her dad had come in to save the day and Ayu, who was particularly excited about going out for some ice cream, came with her whilst the other two stayed behind.
So here she was, no clue where Yuri was once again and holding a deep desire to pound the purple haired teen's body black and blue. She was so caught up in her fantasies that she didn't quite catch the fact that someone had just passed her at a junction and forced her to drop her basket all over the ground.
"Oh, shit…" Came the male voice when he realised what had happened. Yuzu recognised the voice but that wasn't her concern at the moment. All she wanted to do now was unleash her rage on this asshole!
She burst into action and repeatedly smashed the other's face in with comically large fan blows, which despite the fact it was made out of paper felt more like steel due to the combination of sheer strength and friction "Yuzu-oneechan! Stop it! People are staring at us!" Ayu's shout snapped her out of her violence induced trance and when she looked around she saw what the little red haired girl had said was indeed true.
"S-Sorry! I hope you can forgive me!" The pink haired girl looked down at the fallen man when she bowed in apology and her face lit up in recognition, although that face didn't bring back positive memories. "D-Demil?"
The blue and green haired male stood up, clutching at the bandages around his eye. Something Yuzu noticed was the copious amounts of bandages he was wearing, something he hadn't been wearing on that fateful night. "Ah, it's you, the one that fucker Jex was after. He hasn't been bothering you, has he?" Oh thank god he hadn't, every time she thought back to him, Jex seemed more and more like a demon. She shook her head and Demil sighed "Oh, that's good, for you at least. Fucker could be anywhere." If he was trying to calm her then he wasn't doing a very good job.
Demil's eye looked down at the fallen tubs of ice cream and also at Ayu, who was practically shaking in her boots at the sight of Demil. The male sighed, he knew that people didn't consider him all that child friendly. Which child in their right mind would approach a person who was covered in more bandages than a mummy? He knelt down to Ayu's level and carefully kept his distance "Hey there, are you her little sister?" Ayu scuttled back further making Demil swear in his head. Seriously! What made him so terrifying!? "Woah, no need to be frightened. I'm a friend, not a foe. Look, I'm Demil Kaimia, if I were such a monster would I be telling you my name?"
Tepidly, and at the behest of the comforting gaze Yuzu was giving her, Ayu edged somewhat near Demil "Um, A-Ayu Ayukawa, S-sir."
"No need to be so formal, I'm not that old just yet." He bemoaned playfully and beckoned Ayu closer to him "Sorry about your ice cream, but I have something that could replace it." Inside of his own basket, which had remained perfectly upright and stocked despite falling over just like Yuzu's, he pulled out one of the many tubs that littered it "I was going to give this to my roommate, asshole can't go for more than two minutes without shoving it into his mouth. But I'm sure he wouldn't mind." He handed the tub over to a shocked Ayu who took it hesitantly "Don't worry it's already been paid for, I'm not some shoplifter or stiff."
After realising quite what had happened, Yuzu was slightly surprised but grateful. She should've known somewhat that Demil would be the type to handle this situation well. He had been the one to save them against Jex's assault, it mightn't have been for the same reason as now, or for the reason of blind honour of saving someone, but she could see the good heart the walking bandage waster had.
Once the mess of the previous spill of ice cream and paying for the damage the trio of them left the shop and started walking down back to the school. Part of the way through, whilst carrying Ayu on his shoulders who was happily eating some of the ice cream, Demil turned to Yuzu "So, uh, I never learned your name that night Jex attacked you and your boyfriend. Apologies for skipping out on you shortly after."
"Ah, it's not a worry." It really was but Yuzu didn't want Demil to worry about them "It's Yuzu, Yuzu Hiiragi."
"Oh, so Ayu wasn't your sister. My mistake, it was just the way she called you earlier made me think that." Demil said nonchalantly.
Yuzu giggled "Oh, no. It's just something the kids do for Yuri and I, we're like their older brother and sister figure." As she said this, Yuzu could see a definitive change in Demil's body language. If she hadn't been around Yuri and all his antics for years then she would've missed it.
"I see…" Demil trailed off, his voice neither angry nor sad, just a dull monotone. Yuzu was frightened that she had hit a nerve.
However, to her fortune, or misfortune depending on how one would see it, saved her from going any further along that trail. Down on the embankment that they were just passing, she spotted those goons which had held her and the other kids captive and belonged to that conceited brat Sawatari.
Quickly, she shooed Demil and Ayu down to the side, an action that caused Demil to let loose a quick "The fuck do you think you're doing?" She shushed him and pointed down to the embankment where the goons were talking.
"He's really going all out this time, isn't he…?" One muttered
"He says he's going to crush Yuri completely this time." Yuzu and Ayu sent a quick glance to the other whilst leaving Demil fully in the dark.
"He says he's going to focus in on his weak points and attack him from there."
The other boy checked his watch and panicked "Damnit! We're late! We better hurry! You know how he gets when he's hungry!" The two boys ran off to the warehouse containing their over-ambitious friend.
Immediately, Yuzu jumped into action "Ayu! Go find Yuri and Sora and tell them to watch out for Sawatari! I'm going to go and trail them and see what that good for nothing is planning! Demil, could you take are of Ayu when I'm gone!"
Demil's only visible eye narrowed, his other hand clutching this time at the bandages around his neck "Oi! Tell me what the fuck is going on right now! I ain't doing shit for you until I know what's happening! Who were Tweedledum and Tweedledee?!"
"They're the underlings of an LDS student called Shingo Sawatari, he tricked Yuri into giving up some of his pendulum cards and then used us as hostages during his duel with Yuri! Yuri won but he's been plotting revenge since!" She spied down the embankment and saw that they were nearly gone "Sorry, I don't have any more time!" And promptly left Ayu and Demil in the dust.
"Good fucking lord… What a disastrous day." Demil grunted, looking at Ayu beside him "Well, Ayu, do you think you could help me in helping your friend?" She nodded her head and he smirked. This wasn't quite what he wanted but Nesta had always told him that all people's meetings were caused by gravity.
(Back at the Duel)
Turn 4
"Do be careful, Yuri-kun." Kichirou taunted after Yuri drew his card for the turn "You've only got one card in your hand and 100 life points, if you don't manage to beat me this turn then I'll have Idushan end you on my next move. Time's ticking."
Yuri stared at the pink haired magician for a second before bursting out in a fit of laughter "Hahahahahaha! You're a real funny guy, Kichirou. It seems that you haven't even realised that my victory is more than assured." A bluff. One hell of a bluff. Yuri had only one real move left that he could make to end this right now and if Kichirou realised that fact everything would fall to shit. But he had nothing else left to do.
"Eh? Is that true? Quite the statement you are making there, Yuri-kun, I don't think I need to reiterate just how dire your situation is. I would say that I think you're bluffing about having victory assured, however, I'm not someone who deals with hypotheticals. Shiki told me once that human behaviour is often scripted to think in different ways, how people always follow the same kind of process when dealing to specific situations. For example, if a person is in despair, they will follow one of two options the vast majority of the time. 1) They will cower and break under the pressure, becoming a worthless sack of shit; or they'll chose 2) Play it off with as much bravado as humanly possible to hide their despair and trick themselves into thinking they are really in control of the situation." Kichirou was a trickster in the purest form, magicians without deception skills were useless. To Sora, who couldn't help but see him for the monster he believed him to be, even someone from Academia would be struggling to get out of this situation, although the strategy wasn't all that advanced, the mental mind games being played by the magician . He remembered that his mentor had once said to him "Half of the duel is fought with the monsters on the field, the other half is fought by the monsters of the mind. Those who win are those whose mental fortitude and intelligence is superior to the other." It made him shiver just thinking about it, was it possible that Kichirou could be on the same level of his mentor?
"But how far are you willing to wager that that is actually the case in this particular situation?" Yuri shot back the second Kichirou had stopped talking "You said it yourself, those are only assumptions of human actions and for someone who says they don't deal in hypotheticals you did just make one hell of an assumption. Let me show you why you're wrong right now! I activate the Spell card Predator Plant Synthetic Regeneration!" This card's art showed the scene of two plants being placed in some scientific facility whilst on the outer edges a large carnivorous beast was being slowly dragged in "You see, much like a plant, humans grow over time and as we do so our way of thinking changes along with it. Ever heard of the whole nature vs nurture agreement? And now I shall demonstrate this to you in the only way that is possible!" With the snap of his fingers, two blooming flower petals broke through the thick smog and appeared behind Yuri "Regeneration's effect! I pay half of my life points and then get to add two Pendulum monsters from my deck to my hand, although I must also banish one Predator Plant monster from my graveyard too! I add my Scale 1 Moray Nepenthes and Scale 8 Predator Plant Fly Trap at the cost of banishing my Ophrys Scorpio which I use to set my Pendulum Scale!"
The two pendulum monsters burst out of the two plants and streaked into the sky in pillars of blue light, a 1 under Moray Nepenthes and an 8 under Fly Trap.
Yuri's LP: 100 – 50
Kichirou turned his nose up at the sight in front him, meanwhile beside Yuri, Sora was relishing the fact that he wouldn't have to be on the receiving end of Pendulum and Starve Venom's wrath this time round. "That's all well and good, Yuri-kun. However, whilst I may not know an awful lot about Pendulum summoning apart from what Shiki has told me, I know for a fact that you don't have any monster you can summon with it." Kichirou said contemptuously "You also have no cards in your hand and no way of summoning that Darlington Cobra or Drosophyllum Hydra in your graveyard. Face facts, your situation is hopeless."
"Keheheh, I wouldn't be so sure just yet, Kichirou." Yuri said with as much smugness as he could muster. This was still a rather risky strategy, but Kichirou had given him a crucial piece of information that he could utilise "I can understand why you don't know it, I didn't use it during my duel in your school, but I think I'll keep the secret to myself for the time being. What was it you said earlier? 'If I want to tell you something I will say it when it is relevant'? Maybe you should practice what you preach." Seeing Kichirou's face fall was such bliss for Yuri. He wished he had a camera here right now to capture the moment. "First I would like to direct your attention to my facedowns."
"Bah, what'll they do for you? The fact you didn't activate them on my last turn means they won't be able to stop the effects' of my monsters, considering how you set them as well that would mean they held no instant benefit for you and with nothing changing in regards to our field I'm willing to bet those were just duds that you set to try and bluff me out!" Kichirou rattled off with practiced speed, like he was used to giving these kinds of hypothetical deductions most of the time.
Yuri shrugged and rolled his shoulders back "No, I just didn't see it relevant to notify you at the time as to the reason why I had set these cards! Let's start off with the first card! Predaplanning! With this card I send one Predator Plant from my deck to the graveyard such as Predator Plant Cordyceps I can place a Predator counter on every monster on the field and every monster that is over Level 2 will have their levels drop to 1!" Vines began to grow out of the ground, somehow managing to tangle themselves around Kichirou's smoke monsters whilst they gracefully took Yuri's Starve Venom and Rafflesia into their grasp.
Starve Venom's Level: 8 – 1
Chimera Rafflesia's Level: 7 – 1
Idushan's Level: 7 – 1
Copperfield's Level: 3 – 1
"Tch, so what? What's reducing their level going to do to change the situation?" Kichirou snarled with an accusatory finger "If this is just your way of pissing me off it ain't going to work, if I were you I would pick your next words very carefully…"
"Alright then…" Yuri sighed dejectedly "It's just… For a school that prides itself on story telling you are quite contradictory in not allowing me to talk." Ah, that growl and pissed off face, it was moments like this that Yuri lived for. No one who was as naturally talented at pissing people off as he was wouldn't be like it. "But I'll tow the line just for now! As my next card seals off every avenue you have for victory! I activate the Continous Spell card Ivy Bind Castle!" The vines that had been around Yuri's monster grew larger, still holding his monster whilst it built a decent sized castle behind the purple haired teen, meanwhile Kichirou's field was getting coated in these vines, some even latching onto him and locking him in place as well as his monsters.
"What the…? Who the fuck sets a Continous Spell?!" Kichirou exploded when he had finally gotten over the shock "There's no fucking logic in that!"
Yuri tapped the side of his head, everything was indeed starting to come full cycle "It's my Ivy Bind Castle! It negates the effect of all of the monsters on your side of the field! There's no way for you to run away now since your monsters' tag out effects are now nullified!"
Kichirou staggered back, his mind racing at a million miles an hour to figure out a way to get out of this situation. 'Stay cool, Kichirou. Adversity invites opportunity, that's what Shiki told you and he's never wrong!'
"And I'm going to tell you just why I set all of the levels on the field down to 1. You were saying about how pointless the Pendulum Scale was since I didn't have any monsters to summon, however, Pendulum also has another feature to it!" At that Kichirou's eyes widened in horror as he finally realised what that green border on the bottom of the card was "Pendulum Monsters work as both monsters and Spell cards! With that I activate my Fly Trap's Pendulum effect, once per turn I can target one monster on my opponent's field that has a Predator counter on it and destroy it! Say goodbye to your Idushan!" An intense purple light started to shine out from Fly Trap's column and travel through the vines latched onto Idushan. The smoke monster tried its best to manoeuvre out of the vice like grip of the thorny vines but it was all for nought as the almost human cloud of smoke dispersed into thin air. The oppressive smoke finally lifting from the field for the first time since the duel had started.
"Why, you…" Kichirou growled, his eyes shadowed by his hat and his fist repeatedly clenching and unclenching as if he had lost his motor functions in that hand.
'Just like that… His plans went up in smoke… Yuri's incredible…' Sora thought in terrified awe 'He only had one card in his hand at the start and everything worked out for him.'
Yuri didn't give a damn, he was finally going to be rid of this annoyance and he could finally level the score with Shiki's school. "Battle! Chimera Rafflesia attacks Smoke Sorcerer Copperfield! Remember his effect too! He gains 1000 attack whilst yours loses 1000! I do hope you don't try to weasel your way out of this one."
Rafflesia's ATK: 2500 – 3500
Copperfield's ATK: 1000 – 0
"Why, you…" Kichirou repeated, ensnared by the trappings of the Ivy Bind Castle as his monster, like Idushan before him, was sent up into the atmosphere as his life points went up in smoke with it.
Kichirou's LP: 4000 – 500
"One more! Attack him directly, Starve Venom Fusion Dragon! Unleash your Botanical Nightmare!" A hellish red overtook the plant dragon as it soared into the air with every intention of sending Kichirou into the deepest depths of hell. Its vines extending and grasping onto the pink haired magician and constricting him to cause a plan he had never felt in his life beforehand.
'Shit! This is bad! This is really fuckin' bad! This shit is going to beat me!' Kichirou's choleric side was pounding on the walls of his mind to be let out at this moment, he had to figure out a way out, but nothing was available! Or was there really nothing…? His eyes scanning down at his disk.
"Alright, Yuri! We finally go get that Ice cream now!" Sora yelled in delight whilst internally listing Kichirou as a danger but not one who was too dangerous that he couldn't be overcome.
As the attack was about to strike, the magician's eyes became visible, the pinkish red turning into a bright blood red with his mouth curled into a vicious scowl "I activate my Trap Card! Mirror Force! I don't even need to explain but I shall! All monsters that are in attack mode on your will now be destroyed!" Eyes widened as the infamous Trap card emerged from the maze of thorns, staring at the two Fusion Duelists oppressively "Luck has sided with me once more! This always happens when life deals its worst to me! Shiki was right, I just have to keep pushing and eventually an opportunity will present itself! The Kanji characters for Kichi mean good luck! What a delightful thing!"
'Oh, no! Yuri's monsters are going to be destroyed! If that happens he doesn't have any method of retrieving them and Kichirou is going to win!' Sora thought. Not that he was worrying about Yuri. No. Not at all. He was simply concerned with his own well-being. That was all.
Meanwhile, following the reveal of the Trap, Yuri was the picture of calmness despite the impending doom of his monsters. "Luck has sided with you, has it? There are stronger things out there than luck, such as a hundred percent dead certainty that I'm going to beat you here and now! Behold the Pendulum effect of my Predator Plant Moray Nepenthes! Once per turn I can target one monster on the field that has a Predator counter on it and destroy it! Then I can negate the effect of one Spell or Trap card my opponent controls!"
Kichirou staggered backwards, the remaining card in his hand falling down to the ground as he pounded the side of his head "What!? God fucking Damnit! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Are you fucking me?! Go suck a dick in hell! GAHHHHHHHHH!"
'Wow…' Yuri blinked owlishly at the display in front of him 'This guy has psychotic anger issues… Maybe he should go to therapy.' Was his last thought before Starve Venom's attack landed, Kichirou too psychotically angry to actually register the pain and the defeat.
Kichirou's LP: 500 – 0
Yuri: Win!
It was bad. It was like a car crash you couldn't help but look at. Kichirou was clawing and scraping at his head, his obscenely sharp nails, something Yuri had only just noticed 'Were they always black?' He noted, were digging deep into his flesh. He had been repeating the same string of profanity for the past few seconds, getting weird looks from the people who had only now started passing by on the street. "O-oi, are you alright?" Yuri found himself saying out of genuine concern.
"Why, you! How dare you do this to me! Why wasn't I given the chance?! Shiki is going to be so fucking disappointed in me now!" Kichirou screamed, throwing his entire fist out at Yuri "I'm not going to fucking forget you, shitty Lily!" Just as suddenly as he had popped up into their lives, Kichirou sprinted off into the distance, presumably to go see Shiki and leaving his last remaining card on the ground.
Yuri cautiously walked over and picked up the card. However, he barely got enough time to look at it as a female voice pierced the air "That's him, that's Yuri-oniichan!" He looked over his shoulder and saw Ayu perched high upon Demil's shoulders.
"A-Ayu, what's going on? Why are you here? Where's Yuzu?" Yuri asked a flurry of questions, not really taking notice of Demil or Sora.
Demil dropped Ayu down to Yuri's eye level, he could see the worry and anxiety in them "Yuri-oniichan, Yuzu-oneechan is in danger!"
"What?!" Yuri said, startled by the news. Just what had happened? He didn't have any enemies, they didn't usually last too long until being disposed of. Really, he hadn't done anything worthy of enemies just yet. Unless…
One conceited brat decided to rear his ugly head into Yuri's perfectly nice mindscape, necessitating his darkening expression "Ayu, where is she?"
Demil decided to step in at this moment "She looked like she was going to the docks, maybe one of the warehouses. Dunno which one though."
He didn't need much else, he tucked Kichirou's fallen card into his pocket and then walked past the pair "Oi, Kaimia. I'm going to need you to come with me for this. Think of it as getting another favour."
Yuri didn't wait for Demil's reply, starting to run towards where he instinctively knew where Yuzu was. Said male leant backwards and cracked his back "Whew… What a day, eh? Ayu-chan?" He then looked down at Sora, who seemed to cower in Demil's presence "You okay there, kid? You look like ya just seen a monster."
Sora gulped.
He had seen two of them today.
Both of whom he never wanted to see the face of ever again.
Meanwhile, at the docks Yuri and Demil were headed to, a certain lavender and black spiky haired individual was busy scoping out the area. When they had first arrived in this dimension they had spent a few minutes looking about the place they had first turned up in. The docks and their derelict warehouses seemed like a peaceful enough place where they could start their operation.
Yuto sighed as he readjusted the mask and goggles on his face, it was oddly nostalgic in some ways as it reminded him of the two missing members of the Resistance and how they first met. Neither of those two were very comfortable with showing their faces. He guessed this was what they had felt back home, a foreign environment where showing your face was tantamount to a death sentence.
Shun, in all of his prefect logic, had decided he was immediately going to track down Reiji Akaba and force him to follow along with their plans. Yuto reluctantly admitted to himself then that maybe it was the best they could do for the time being. Ruri wasn't just going to fall onto their laps and kidnapping the Professor's son may be enough leverage to get him to pull back for the time being.
After all, what's to say that Reiji didn't take after his father? Maybe they were using a divide and conquer strategy to rule the four dimensions. The father taking over XYZ with a base in Fusion whilst the son took over Synchro and had his base in Standard.
The Akabas were truly a nefarious family.
He was about to move out to actually find a place where they could stow away for the night. But something, or rather someone's appearance just threw that idea out the proverbial window. The sight of that person made his breath hitch 'R-Ruri? Is that you?!'
The girl was running around the area, looking rapidly around the place until her eyes landed on someone 'A student?' that was stood outside of one of the warehouses. Yuto knew that kind of situation well, that was someone standing guard.
The girl seemingly didn't care or was unaware towards the danger of the situation 'Ruri wouldn't be that brash… Would she?' Yuto thought, observing from a safe enough distance behind the shadow of one of the warehouses 'Well… She did always have a penchant for wanting to help out those in need. Maybe someone one in there is in danger.' He silently stalked the girl as she forcefully shoved the guy standing guard to the side like he was dead weight. Which he was, in all fairness.
The door to the warehouse swung open, Yuzu stood tall and proud as Sawatari choked on the food his lackeys had brought him "You coward!" She shouted "I'll stop your plans right here and now!"
After recovering from nearly turning blue, Sawatari was handed a drink and composed himself for a speech "Yuzu Hiiragi it looks like you've fallen into my t-"
However, Yuzu wasn't having any of it and loaded her disk, proclaiming as loudly as she could "Duel me!"
Undeterred, Sawatari continued his speech regardless "And because y-"
Only for Yuzu to interrupt him again "Shut your mouth and duel me now!"
An irritated Sawatari tried to continue, oh he was going to make so regret coming here! Maybe he couldn't have Yuri but he could still have his girl! "The goddess of victory will shine upo-"
"Are you afraid to lose to me?!"
That was it! Sawatari pulled at his and raged "Let me finish! Godamnit!"
Yuzu snorted "I don't plan on listening to a coward, a sore loser and a second rate duelist!"
Sawatari turned scarlet "Second rate you say! Second rate!" He narrowed his eyes at the insult Yuzu had thrown at him.
"In fact you're even worse than second rate, third rate, fourth rate not even one hundredth rate classifies your skills!" Yuzu said, trying her best to think of the most harmful insult she could make. He was a conceited prick after all, so the ego strike was where it was at.
"Now you've done it!" At a flick of the wrist one of his friends, the one Yuzu had shoved over earlier shut the door of the warehouse tight and stood outside guarding it as Sawatari walked towards Yuzu "I'll give you the chance to take that back now."
Yuzu was unfazed "Too bad I don't feel like it one little bit, you tier four duelist!"
Sawatari gritted his teeth "I'll beat that ignorant attitude out of you." Sawatari placed his duel disk on and activated it "I'm going to make you wish you had left."
But before anyone could make any further movements, the door to the warehouse buckled and then came flying off its hinges as Yuto entered the room. The goon who had been outside was now laying, once more, in a heap on the ground, probably questioning why everyone decided to make him their punching bag.
"Who are you?" Sawatari asked curiously, and somewhat in fear, as Yuto continued on before stopping beside Yuzu
"Back down." Was the only thing that Yuto said to her. He still didn't know if this girl was Ruri, but regardless, he needed to protect her in this situation.
"What's with you?" She asked him, Yuto ignored the question and zeroed in on the LDS badge Sawatari wore on his collar causing his steel grey eyes to narrow.
"Showing up all of a sudden…Are you supposed to be a knight sent to save the Princess?" Sawatari said but it fell on deaf ears as Yuto threw out his arm, blowing his cloak, revealing and activating his purple duel disk.
"That's an odd duel disk you have there and going by your silence, you have no intent to answer any of my questions, do you?" Shingo stated at Yuto who stood silently with his eyes trained intensely on the badge on Sawatari's collar.
Yuzu was pissed at Yuto for interfering in her battle with Sawatari, and that was an understatement at best. She was just about to place on her disk and activate it when Yuto grabbed her arm and looked directly in her eyes "I'm not going to let you get hurt anymore."
Yuzu was shocked "Eh? Just who is this guy?"
Sawatari spoke up again "Well aren't you cool but you should leave it at that Sir Knight you just going to embarrass yourself when you lose." Sawatari activated his disk.
"DUEL!" The pair of them shouted simultaneously.
Yuto: 4000 LP Sawatari: 4000 LP Cards x5
Turn 1
"I'll go first." Yuto said
Sawatari went straight to mocking him in order to knock his confidence "Go right head, it's not like it's going to make a difference." He said with flamboyant hand gestures
"I set all five cards in my hand facedown and end my turn!" The five cards materialised and then disappeared, this unprecedented move shocked everyone. Meanwhile, Yuzu was screaming internally, this guy had ruined her attempt at revenge and drew dead for his first hand! Jesus!
Sawatari laughed "So I guess all of that cool talk was just that, talk"
Sawatari's friends jeered Yuto "Sawatari-san! End that worthless excuse for a duelist!"
Sawatari mocked Yuto again "I feel sorry that you didn't draw a single monster but I guess that's karma for you."
Yuto stood unblinking, this guy was nothing, he knew far greater horrors. Images of a dragon far larger than his own looming over him with every intention of blowing him off the face of Heartland still haunted his dreams every night. No way would he ever fall to some as useless as this "Didn't you hear me? I said I ended my turn."
Turn 2
"I'll show my perfect dueling! It's my turn! I draw!" Sawatari glanced over the field smugly "Allow me to use those set cards of yours!" He plucked a card from his hand "If there are two or more set cards in my opponent's spell or trap zone I can special summon this card from my hand!" He swiped the card onto his disk "Come forth! Escher the Frost Vassal!" A smaller and less dramatic version of the card known as Mobius the Frost Monarch emerged from the ice that began to cover the ground.
Escher the Frost Vassal, Level 4, Warrior, WATER, Effect (800/1000)
"I now release Escher to tribute summon Mobius the Frost Monarch!" The smaller version of Mobius was replaced by the large version as it towered behind Sawatari.
Mobius the Frost Monarch, Level 6, Warrior, WATER, Effect (2400/1000)
One his friends took this as an opportunity to stroke his boss' ego "Wow it's his first turn and he already has a 2400 attack point monster! Neo Sawatari-san sure is great!"
"Mobius' effect activates when it is tribute summoned, it can target then destroy two cards in my opponent's spell or trap zone! Take this!" Mobius charged up a beam in his hands and struck the two facedowns "Freeze burst!" The facedowns were revealed to be cards called Phantom knight's Spear and The Phantom Knights of Shadow Veil which under the absolute zero temperatures of Mobius, shattered in an instant.
"I'm just getting started by the way! I activate the Spell Tribute Carnival! If I've successfully tribute summoned this turn this card allows me to do the same again!" Sawatari slid the card into his disk.
"He's going to release a twenty four hundred attack monster to summon a new one?" Yuzu was surprised but Yuto didn't bat an eyelid, although that comment did put a nail into the coffin of whether this girl was Yuri or not.
"That's right! I release Mobius the Frost Monarch! To summon forth Mobius the mega monarch!" Mobius was replaced by what looked to be the final step on the evolution ladder of the card, this card filled the entire back of the warehouse, utterly trumping all monsters in size.
'Still not as big as Umbra. Weak.' Yuto noted in his head, why was it that everywhere he went he always equated people to that monster and that particular person? Had he really had that much of an impact on him? Those sneering, glossy black lips and the glowing red eyes of a demon.
Mobius the Mega Monarch, Level 8, Warrior, WATER, Effect(2800/1000).
"Usually this would require two tributes but if it's a monster that has already been tribute this turn you can count that monster as two for the summoning of a mega monarch!" Sawatari struck a pose as his friends stroked his ego further "Amazing!" They yelled.
"My Mega Monarch's effect now triggers when he is tribute summoned he destroys up to three spell or trap cards on your field!" Mobius charged up a beam from both his hands
"Hey! Sir Knight! How about activating one of those cards before they are destroyed!" One of Sawatari's friends said.
Sawatari grinned "It'd be pointless! Because if this card is tribute summoned using a water monster the cards targeted can't be activated!" Mobius had finished charging and was now ready to unleash its frozen hell on Yuto's last line of defence. "Now freeze and shatter! Blizzard destruction!" Mobius let loose, destroying the other three set cards causing Yuto to shield Yuzu from the powerful blizzard.
Yuzu was shocked to feel the full brunt of the blizzard "Huh? How did I feel that if there is no action field?"
Yuzu barely had time to register what had happened before Sawatari spoke again "With all of your set cards destroyed and your hand at zero you're finished!" Sawatari struck another pose "Maybe if you summoned a monster or if you had one from the start this duel might have gone differently, this just makes your grand entrance pretty pathetic if you ask me."
Yuzu glared at Yuto "Hey get it together if this is the best you can do then you should've j-" Yuto glared back at her, silencing her almost immediately.
"Battle! Mobius the Mega Monarch attacks you directly! Imperial charge!"
Mobius charged, Yuto remained standing perfectly still although Yuzu had to shield herself out of fear of the attack landing since she was still wrapped protectively. "I activate the effect of the spell, The Phantom Knights of Shadow Veil from my graveyard!"
Sawatari and his stooges stood in shock "Spell card from the graveyard." One questioned "Can he even do that?" The other conscious one said.
Yuto pulled the card out of the graveyard and explained its effect to everyone "When an opponent's monster declares a direct attack I can summon as many copies of this card from my graveyard as level 4 monsters." Three cards ejected out of Yuto's grave as he placed them on his disk three ghostly horses emerged onto the field together
Phantom Knights of Shadow Veil, Level 4, Warrior, DARK, Effect (0/300)
Yuzu only now realised Yuto's plan "You set those cards hoping they would be destroyed didn't you?"
"No matter! I attack one of your Shadow Veils!" Mobius made the ghastly apparition vanish from the field. "Looks like you barely saved yourself! I set one card facedown and my turn!" The card materialised than vanished in front of a gloating Sawatari "I guess I'll let you live one more turn!" His friends heaped praise upon him "Wow! Neo Sawatari sure is great!" They reiterated like mindless drones.
"This duel has run its course!" Yuto declared to Sawatari's shock and total horror.
Turn 3
"My turn! I thought you'd be a challenge." Liar, his mind subconsciously reminded him "But I don't feel the sharpness of a blade in your dueling!" Yuto thought back to two fateful days in his life, first being the day of the invasion that tore his peaceful life to shreds, the other being the one he was thinking the most about right now. "You're nothing compared to him. Not even close to being on the same planet let alone the same level."
Sawatari stood in stupor "What are you talking about, cut the jokes Mr Mystery."
Yuto's eyes narrowed behind his googles "The conditions have been met! When there are two monsters of equal level on my field the strongest monster of my deck will manifest itself! I use my two Shadow Veils to construct the Overlay Network!" The two monsters turned into streaks of purple energy as a swirling yellow vortex appeared in the centre of the field.
"It can't be!" Sawatari said stunned
"That's…" Yuzu was just as shocked as Sawatari, although she had seen Kioka do the same only a few days ago, this was a far greater power than the one Kioka had unleashed on that day.
"Formed from the pitch-black darkness to fight those foolish enough to oppose it with its treacherous fangs! Descend now! Xyz Summon! Rank 4! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!" Exploding out of the Overlay Network was a slick purple dragon coated in body armour and electricity jumping from every metallic part of his body. There were two purple orbs that flew around the dragon which screeched when it finally hit the filed. Making Sawatari positively shit himself.
Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon, Rank 4, Dragon, DARK, XYZ, Effect(2500/2000)OLU: 2
Not too far from the warehouse Yuri and Demil were closing in on Yuzu's position both motivated by different factors. "Yuzu, I'm coming please stay safe." Yuri looked over his shoulder to Demil, cradling a worried Ayu carefully "You got the plan down?"
"Ah, sure." Demil said unconvincingly, looking far more concerned with one of the bandages that had fallen out of place around his eye "You still owe me again after this, understand?"
Yuri didn't reply. He was laser focused on saving Yuzu from Sawatari. The creep could be doing anything to her.
"A Xyz summon… And it was so powerful… Unlike anything else I've ever seen" Yuzu clasped her hands together, the last part causing Yuto to stare at her again, Ruri would never say something like that. Had they possibly wiped her mind?
Sawatari clapped his hands sarcastically "I'll admit I was surprised when you Xyz summoned so quickly but are you really planning to take down Mobius with that monster, unless your blind you would've realised that it only has twenty five hundred attack points while my Mobius has twenty eight hundred." Yuzu looked at the two monsters attack points and sure enough Sawatari was correct, Dark Rebellion was too weak to defeat Mobius "It seems your Xyz summon has turned out to be nothing but a bluff."
"Xyz monsters' true power rests in their very soul known as overlay units! They use them to vanquish their foes!" Yuto said with venom in his voice, he wouldn't let anyone shit talk XYZ monsters anymore, he had already had enough of that from Academia soldiers.
"Enough with your Xyz lessons! I'm not interested!" Sawatari said pretending not to be scared and hiding the stain on the back of trousers.
"Then bear witness to the true might of Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon! By using one overlay unit I can target one level five or higher monster, half its attack points and then add that amount to Dark Rebellion's!" One of the purple orbs was absorbed in the dragon as metallic panels on the dragon's back opened up "Treason discharge!" Purple electricity constricted Mobius weakening the monster dramatically, the power was then transferred to Dark Rebellion.
Dark Rebellion's ATK: 2500 – 3900
Mobius' ATK: 2800 – 1400
"Dark Rebellion's attack is…" One boy started "Over Mobius' attack" Yuzu finished the sentence for them.
"I'm not finished!" Yuto proclaimed with a particularly dramatic swish of his cape "I use his second overlay unit to do the same thing again! Treason discharge!"
Dark Rebellion's ATK: 3900 – 4600
Mobius' ATK: 1400 – 700
"An attack of forty six hundred points!" Yuzu exclaimed happily.
"NO! NO! NO!" Sawatari shouted.
"Battle! I attack Mobius the Mega Monarch with Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon! Mauling Mandible Charge!" Dark Rebellion's tusks glowed a bright blue as it tore Mobius in two.
Sawatari's LP: 4000 – 100
Yuto shielded Yuzu from the blast which tore Sawatari from the ground and shoved him into the back of the warehouse, damaging the back wall heavily.
Sawatari grunted as he attempted to stand up "What the hell?! This isn't an action field I shouldn't be able to feel it."
"This is bad." One of the boys said "This guy's monster has the power to send us flying."
Yuto began to walk up to Sawatari "I'll ask you only once so answer me properly." Yuto held up the LDS pin in his possession, Shun had given it to him from one of the people he had defeated upon their arrival, an impressive feat considering they had been there for all of about four hours. "What's your connection to Academia?"
Sawatari was perplexed "Academia? What are you talking about?"
Yuto glared at Sawatari "Don't play dumb."
Sawatari grimaced "I really mean it! Anyone who is enrolled in LDS has that badge and I've never hear of this Academia you speak of."
Yuto began to walk away, this had all been a huge waste of time, the Ruri like girl was the original reason he had appeared here to begin with and then it came down to the LDS connection. Both of them leaving him with no answers, only further questions "I have no business with you then." He said as he turned to leave.
"Idiot!" Sawatari shouted jumping to his feet "The duel isn't over yet! Trap activate! Ice Rage Shot! When a water monster on my field is destroyed by battle this card destroys one monster on my opponent's field and deals you damage equal to that monster's attack points." Yuzu gasped as Sawatari laughed "I read your moves from the very start and set this trap card ahead of time guaranteeing my victory!"
Yuto threw up the back of his hand "Such tactics are mere child's play compared to some of the trap combos I've seen before." Yuto was thinking of two people in particularly, one was his tepid ally, the other his sworn enemy "From my graveyard I activate the continuous spell Phantom Knights' Spear!" A spear appeared out of thin air, directly pointing at a sniffling Sawatari "When my opponent activates a trap card I can banish this card from my graveyard, negate the activation of the card and deal you 100 points of damage!"
Sawatari frantically flapped his arms "Wait! Wait! We can talk this over!"
Yuto would have none of it "Experience for yourself the rage and sorrow of the battlefield!" The spear flew towards Sawatari pinning him to the wall by the inside of his jacket. Sawatari promptly screamed bloody murder as he scrambled to get down.
Sawatari's LP: 100 – 0
Yuto: Win!
Yuto's body started to move on its own, he didn't know why he was doing this, but soon after his victory he removed his mask and lifted up his somehow undamaged googles revealing his face to those around him "Yuri!" He heard the Ruri like girl shout, another nail in a coffin that was already being buried.
Both Yuzu and Sawatari were shocked to see Yuto's face mistaking him for Yuri "It-It was you!" Sawatari squirmed, falling to the ground as the spear dissipated
"Sawatari!" Both conscious stooges ran up to their boss and carried him out of the warehouse, taking stooge number 3 with them as well "Yuri, why do you look like this? And how did you know I was here?" Before Yuto could answer Yuzu's bracelet glowed a bright pink, engulfing the warehouse and when it finally cleared Yuto was gone. The pink haired girl staggering back in shock. 'What was that? Where'd Yuri go?'
Just seconds later, Yuri came rushing into the warehouse with Demil slightly further behind him. Yuri not noticing the destruction that had occurred whilst Demil took his time to look around, his eyes narrowing as he noticed a few tell-tale signs that Nesta had told him to look out for if he were ever to encounter one of those types.
"Yuzu! I'm here! Are you alright? Ayu told me you were in danger." Yuri panted, his lungs not quite ready for the running he had done following his duel with Kichirou. He was red in the face as he threw himself over Yuzu, causing the pink haired girl to blush a bright red. "Thank God! You're safe!"
"You… You're Yuri, right?" Yuzu asked hesitantly, touching her face and shielding her gaze away from Yuri's calculative look.
"Yes, I'm still me, nothing's changed. Why? What happened to you here?" Yuri found himself interrogating Yuzu in a split second.
He was stopped in pursing further action by Demil who had dropped Ayu down to the ground, letting her run to Yuzu and clasp onto her leg, and had grabbed his shoulder "Oi, give her some space, you ain't told me shit about anything that's happening, so don't go asking questions until mine are answered."
Yuri growled, he had had just enough about people talking down to him today "Shove it, bandage boy! The only reason you're here is because you happened to turn up at the right time! Why did you even have Ayu to being with! Did you kidnap her?"
Demil shot back immediately "Watch your fucking mouth! I saved your ass I have you remember! And no, I didn't kidnap Ayu! What fucking reason would I have to do that?! Also! Ever heard the saying "In the right place at the right time?" There's your answer for why I turned up, asshole!"
As Yuri and Demil descended into incoherent argument, resulting them in grinding their heads against each other, Yuzu clasped her hands together. Ayu was hugged tightly on her leg. It made her sad to see her sister figure be in such pain and Yuzu couldn't help but feel sad too. She didn't understand what was going in the past week, first it had been the appearance of Pendulum, then the encounter with Jex and the first mention of this Grimoire, Shiki turning up in their life and then not leaving, Daiki and Demil turning up within a day of each other and both wearing the same crosses, then finally someone she didn't know had come out of nowhere and acted as if they had known each other for their whole life.
"Just what's going on…?" She mumbled, hugging Ayu closer to her.
The warehouses of Maiami city were generally a place that you would want to avoid if you ever found yourself in its vicinity. Usually there really was nothing to worry about and a lot of the rumours were lacking any real substance behind them. However, new rumours had begun to spread. People attesting that they had seen a shadowy figure wandering around the area, people claiming that they had heard some sort of explosion and had booked it for fear of their lives and lastly there was claims that some fire had incinerated part of buildings and one of the alleyways completely, yet when it was checked out there was no sign of any fire. Gradually people waned off these rumours but the prevailing fear that something may happen if you go down there was strong.
Especially one dominant theory that seemed more and more true by the passing day, for six years there had been rumblings that there had been a streak of people going missing and many different interpretations had come to the forefront, however, they all paled in comparison to the main one. The idea that it was caused by a string of serial murders. Normally, they would put anyone off and was mainly the reason this place had fallen into disuse apart from the dock section, also being the reason that kids such as Sawatari were able to easily get a warehouse to themselves."
However, those who claimed to be "brave" and wanted to expose "the shady government cover up" of what had happened the previous day, had indeed gone to the place in search of anything to prove their point.
Needless to say, there is a great difference between the brave and the reckless. "I know this city like the back of my hand, you see. Where every turn is, where every house is, where every dent in the road is. May I mention now that my memory is eidetic? Just like an elephant, I never forget. Especially where all of the security cameras are…"
A shadowy figure strode in and out of the warehouses, confident strides accompanied by a distinctive dragging sound behind them. They stopped at the point where they converged into docks, the ocean more fervent than it was usually as it crashed against the dock walls. "Such a lovely place, don't you think so? My family certainly wouldn't, no, they wouldn't approve of me even walking as I am now. They're so cruel to me, so unwarranted with what they did to me. Do you think they were wrong?"
No answer came, there was barely any sound other than the waves, yet the person chuckled and spoke softly anyways "You agree? Wonderful! I could tell from first sight that we were intertwined and my assessments are never wrong. Having locked eyes with someone that you were going to love from the start is such a wondrous and rapturous feeling."
Another pause came about, the figure swivelling on their heel as if they had picked up some discreet sound. On instinct they moved towards the area they believed the noise had travelled from. Sharp eyes travelled down one of the alleyways. For a second they could've sworn they saw two figures, one notably smaller than the other trudge in the shadows. Coming closer, sharp, deadly, black fingernails were curled around the corrugated iron of the warehouses "Hmph, I heard that something rather contentious happened here today. Something about a lowly student being attacked by a duelist that could physically manifest their monsters and cards as real beings. The assaulter seemed to have vanished in a bright flash whilst the victim is supposedly in the hospital."
Scowling, they walked back to the waves, pulling up what they had been dragging behind them this whole time into their cold, dead, arms. "I really do apologize, my love, it would appear that we weren't quite as alone as I would've liked. However, I did treasure our time together, regardless of how short it was. You gave me a feeling I haven't felt in years."
Moonlight cracked through the clouds which had blanketed most of the night, it illuminated the pale inhuman whiteness of the figure but hid the rest of their figure. "Carina. My adorable M-Neko-chan."
The thing they had been dragging, however, was fully bathed in the glow of the night, everything was laid bare. It wasn't something, but rather someone.
A woman with faded red hair and shrivelled up skin rested limply in the figure's arms, scars blemished her face and the visible part of her body. Her face, past the scars, portrayed a look of absolute terror and pain. Her last moments of life must have been the most excruciating experience of pain she had ever, and will forever, have felt.
However, nothing compared to what was on her neck.
Two definitive bite marks, made by very sharp incisors. Much like how the figure's own glistening white incisors were coated in a red substance which was none other than the blood of the women before them. "And now with this enchanting pleasure, my true colours have been revealed." The body slumped to the floor, a simple kick enough to send it into the ocean, as the figure slipped their eyes back over to the place they had heard the noise originate from.
"Your tenacity shall be your doom. Cantarella, I confess my love to you, as I rid myself of another nuisance."
A/N: So... Y'know how I said that chapters would be back to their normal lengths? Yeah...This one ended up being about 19k, making it the second longest chapter of the story so far, and with my capacity, the chapters may be getting even longer sooner rather than later.
Anyway, I decided with this chapter that I would include the Yuto and Sawatari duel alongside another duel since I don't believe that making a chapter solely on the Sawatari duel would be interesting enough. As a result I wrote a duel between Yuri and the psychotically angry, goth magician Kichirou Kaneko, which turned out to be my longest duel to date despite not having the most turns. I tired this time round to try and write the duel in a different style as I felt that the ones I've written so far are quite boring and formulaic, hopefully this one was better, make sure to tell me what you thought of it.
Also, and I can say this for certain, this chapter is the first covert appearance of the central main antagonist for the Standard Arc. Shit's really going to hit the fan in a few chapters. If you look closely, there are also a few clues to this figure's identity.
I'm sorry this chapter took as long as it did, I've been busy with applying for University and a lot of other things. I originally intended for this chapter to come out in some point in September but here it is in October. Jesus. The good news is that I already have a basis to use for my next chapter which should mean that I'll get back on schedule.
Finally, I would like to thank the two people who reviewed (I don't have much to say so this is a general thanks) and the people who decided to add this story to their favourites. Thanks a lot.
See ya in the next two or three weeks...
Hopefully.