"So he really left?" Yuki asked Alexis. The two were conversing on the ferry that was taking all the students of Duel Academy home for winter break.
Alexis nodded in response. "Yeah, I saw him get on what had to be his family's yacht while we were leaving the Slifer dorms."
"Guess he couldn't take getting his butt constantly handed to him." Yuki shrugged. "But maybe he needed to clear his head, get things straight after everything that's happened. As much as he's irritated me, I'd like to think the latter is the case."
"I'd like to think the same…" Alexis began.
"I'm sensing a 'but' here." Yuki tilted his head slightly to his left.
"But." Alixis began. "I'm not going to hold my breath."
"I won't either." Yuki shrugged, as the two hoisted their bags. The ferry had just docked at the port of Domino City.
"Yuki, you dropped something." Alexis pointed out something that had fallen out of his bag. A small rectangular something that was wrapped in brightly colored paper. She bent down to retrieve it, and once she had straightened up noticed that there was a small tag with her name on it. "Yuki … what is this?"
Yuki felt his face heat up. "It's… for you."
"Still not good with people of the opposite gender?" Alexis teased. Though she was rather flattered by Yuki giving her a Christmas gift.
Yuki shook his head, still rather red in the face. "I haven't-" He began, but Alexis cut him off by placing a finger to his lips.
"It's fine~" Alexis replied with a soft laugh, before she unwrapped the gift Yuki had given her. The female Obelisk felt her jaw go slack, just how had Yuki gotten his hands on a ghost rare Black Magician Girl? "Yuki… how…?"
"It was my first Black Magician Girl." Yuki smiled softly, still rather red in the face.
'Are you sure about this partner?' Neo asked, manifesting next to Yuki. 'That card is rather special to you.'
Alexis wrapped her arms tightly about Yuki in thanks, and planted a kiss on his cheek which only made his cheeks redden all the more.
There was little time for any interaction after that. Students were milling about in their haste to leave the ferry. Both Yuki and Alexis grabbed their bags once again, and joined their classmates in leaving the ferry. The air was rather cold, and many students instantly began to shiver upon exiting the ferry.
"I got so used to how warm Duel Academy is, I forgot how cold it gets in Domino." Alexis shivered, scooting closer to Yuki, and placing something into his hands. "Don't open it right away. And no, get your mind out of the gutter. It's nothing like that."
Yuki blushed bright red once again, and quickly stuffed the gift she had given him into his bag. "Can I ask why the secrecy?"
"I'll be honest, I like you Yuki." Alexis began while the two walked down the ramp of the ferry. "But there are no secrets on that island. You've seen how many people like me, and if they knew that I liked you…"
"I would have an even bigger target on my back." Yuki finished, having put all the pieces together. "But I think I could take them."
Both Yuki and Alexis laughed. Neither of them doubted that Yuki could handle all of the academy students who liked Alexis. However this was neither the time or the place for that.
Alexis eventually left his side when she found her mother, who had come to pick her up. And Yuki knew exactly where Alexis got her good looks, as Mrs. Rhodes was the spitting image of her daughter … or was it the other way around?
"And to answer your question partner." Yuki began, as Neo still hadn't vanished. "I'm very sure. Besides, I think that card belongs with her."
'You may be right about that.' Neo said, as a semi-transparent figure appeared behind Alexis. The spirit of the Black Magician Girl.
"Come on." Yuki said, rubbing his hands together. "Let's find Yumei and go-"
"Yuki!" Sora's voice cut across, before the brown haired, amber eyed Obelisk ran up to him. There was an almost giddy smile on her face as she grabbed his hand, and led him away. "There you are! Come on!"
"H-hey!" Yuki protested, and attempted to pull his hand back. However, Sora had a tight grip on his wrist. "Sora, where are we going?"
"Your ride's here!" Sora said giddily, as she led him along.
"Okay but-" Yuki soon understood why his classmate was so excited. Her idol, Mai Valentine Wheeler was waiting in a red convertible sports car. Yumei was already sitting shotgun beside the famous duelist. "Ohhhhh, I get it now. Hey you get an autograph?"
"Yup!" Sora held up an autographed Harpie Lady card with a smile on her face.
Mai smiled brightly when she saw Yuki. Despite having a little sister in Serenity Wheeler, she had come to think of the Hyoudou twins as younger siblings of sorts. "There you are!"
"Hey Mai." Yuki smiled, as the feeling in his hand slowly came back once Sora had released it from her grip.
"Come on, get in." Mai laughed, reaching over and opening the rear passenger door for him.
"You need a ride Sora?" Yumei asked, subtly motioning for Yuki to take the seat behind Mai.
Sora became very flustered at the offer. "Oh no! I couldn't-"
"Get in." Mai, Yumei, and Yuki said in unison, to which she immediately did so. Occupying the rear passenger seat, as Yuki was now sitting behind Mai.
"So Mai, what have you and Joey been up to?" Yumei asked, while Mai drove them away from the docks.
A smile formed on Mai's face. "Participating in the second Battle City. Took second place against Yugi." She held up the silver second place trophy, waving it about slightly.
Yuki sighed, and shook his head. "Guy's still the king of games even without Atem's help."
"Atem?" Sora asked, as she had to be the only one of their friends who was out of the loop.
"You know that big golden upside down pyramid Yugi wore a few years ago?" Yuki asked, to which Sora nodded in response. "That was an ancient magic item that held the spirit of an Egyptian Pharaoh."
"And it was that Pharaoh that helped Yugi become the king of games." Yumei joined in.
"...okay, I follow so far." Sora began. "But a few questions here. Why doesn't Yugi have that pyramid anymore, and is that necklace Yuki wears similar to Yugi's?"
"Yes." The three answered, which made Sora blink in shock. Yuki began to explain about everything that happened during the events of Battle City, the debachle with the Orichalcos though he left out Mai's involvement, and everything with the Pharaoh's memories. Occasionally being helped by Yumei, who filled in details that Yuki had missed. Though she too left out Mai's involvement in any antagonistic role, much to her relief.
"Wow." Sora said, once their explaination had finished. "That is … a lot to take in."
"Try having to actually live through it." Yumei gave a small huff of laughter.
"Yeah, I guess after going through all of that, nothing would really phase the two of you." Sora replied with her own huff of laughter.
"Oh, you've got no idea." Mai laughed, before she stopped her car in front of a rather large gaming store. "Alright you two, this is your stop."
"Thanks Mai." Yuki said as he grabbed his bag.
"Tell Joey we said hi." Yumei hugged the older woman, as she and her siblings exited her car.
"Can do." The Harpie duelist waved good-bye as she drove off, with Sora now sitting shotgun.
"Well, are you ready to see mom and…?" Yumei's question trailed off as she stepped inside their family's game shop. It was absolutely packed from door to counter with people. And from the sounds of the crowd, very impatient people.
"Uh… sis…?" Yuki gave his twin a nervous look. His nerves for dueling in front of large crowds, but navigating through all these people who were packed in like sardines?
"Right." Yumei gave a quick nod before acting. Grabbing her twin brother's hand, Yumei began to push through the impatient crowd of people, earning her several glares and some comments about cutting in line. However Yumei simply countered by telling these impatient people that she lived here.
The two finally made their way to the counter, where they encountered yet another surprise, and another blast from the past. Odion, the personal bodyguard and adoptive older brother of Marric and Ishizu Ishtar was behind the counter waiting on customers.
"Odion?" The twins asked in unison, which caught the older man's attention.
A soft smile graced the tattoed Egyptian man, who had turned away from the customer he was waiting on to greet the two. "It's good to see the two of you again."
"Uh, what are you doing here?" Yuki asked, as the color slowly returned to his face. He hated being in cramped spaces filled with people.
"Visiting, and helping your family." Odion replied, though the twins were still very confused. Their confusion made him chuckle in an amused manner. "Ah, I see Yuri didn't tell you. It doesn't matter, you'll find out soon."
"What does that mean?" Yumei asked, but never got an answer out of Odion. The crowd was growing more and more impatient, and their yelling and demands for service had gotten to such a level that anymore conversation was going to be impossible at the moment.
"EVERYONE BE QUIET!" A voice cried out from behind Odion, which made him and the twins jump. Both twins knew that voice, and knew that whenever that person raised their voice, things were serious. A woman with dark brown hair and eyes who wore the uniform of her family's game shop stepped out from behind Odion. Misa Hyoudou was staring down the crowd, glaring like an angry dragon. "If you all can't act like decent human beings, then none of you are getting service today!"
Every last person who had crowded the shop stayed quiet. It was the last day that the shop would be open until the holidays ended in two weeks.
"Better." Mrs. Hyoudou said in a cool tone. "Now everyone form two lines, and you will keep things civil. Remember, we're the last shop open in the city."
There wasn't a word of complaint from any of the customers who nearly instantly listened to Mrs. Hyoudou's orders. Within fifteen minutes, the customers that were rowdy before her intervention all had their transactions completed, but were still in shock from her outburst. Though not one person said anything about it.
"There." Mrs. Hyoudou sighed once the last customer had left. She shook her head in disbelief. "Honestly, what gets into people around this time? I'm sorry for putting you through that Odion."
Odion shook his head with a small smile on his face. "It's perfectly fine. I volunteered to help."
It was then, that Mrs. Hyoudou noticed her two youngest children, who hadn't moved since before her outburst. Within seconds both twins were pulled into their mothers embrace. "Oh good! You're both home! I'm sorry we couldn't pick you up b-"
"Mom, it's fine." Yuki began. There was an embarrassed smile on his face, but what nearly fully grown child didn't get embarrassed whenever their parent lavished some sort of affection on them.
"You were stupidly busy, we completely understand." Yumei added, her arms now wrapped about her mother.
"But we do have questions." Yuki said, now turning his attention back to Odion. "You said you were visiting, and I think we would like to know why."
"Oh!" Mrs. Hyoudou began in a rather shocked tone of voice. "Yuri didn't tell you?"
"Tell us what?" Yumei asked, as Yuki's attention was now fixed on his mother, just as his sisters was.
"DATING!?" Both siblings exclaimed in complete shock. The two had just had everything explained to them, that Odion and Marric were visiting for the holidays alongside their sister Ishizu … who was dating their older brother.
Ishizu smiled rather smugly at Yuri. "I told you they would react that way."
"I never doubted you." Yuri had a smile on his face, but handed a card over to her. Though that didn't seem enough for Ishizu who fixed him with a look. "Alright, alright. I'm making dinner tonight."
Ishizu smiled rather smugly, something that the twins believed to be rather out of character for her given how serious she seemed during Battle City. She turned her attention back to the twins, wondering just what they had been up to since the last time they had seen each other. And that's when she saw the new Millenium Ring around Yuki's neck after he unzipped his jacket. "Yuki… where did you get that?"
Yuki looked down at the ring, to his twin sister, and then back to Ishizu. "It's a long story…"
Ishizu, Marrik, and Odion, as well as Mrs and Mr. Hyuoudou who had returned from the warehouse that the family owned all listened to Yuki and Yumei talk about what happened at the abandoned dorm. About the resurgence of the shadow games, Bakura's return, and subsequent possession of Lance Osbourne, and the duel that culminated in Mahad's return, and the Millenium Ring that was now around Yuki's neck.
The two told this story while Yuri made dinner, the eldest sibling having already heard this story when he visited his younger siblings.
'Far too spicy partner.' Mahad's spirit tutted his disapproval as he watched over Yuri's shoulder as he cooked.
"Hey, who's cooking here? You or me?" Yuri couldn't help but laugh at his old partner's remark.
'You're still using too much cumin spice.' Mahad countered with a shake of his head.
The Hyoudou's Ishizu, Marrik, and Odion continued discussing things that had happened at Duel Academy over dinner. The subject of the abandoned dorm was rather bothersome, and more than once the suggestion of talking to Kaiba about the whole ordeal was brought up.
In the end, that was what Yuki decided to do. After all, Seto did fund, plan, and create Duel Academy. If anyone would know about the abandoned dorm, it would be him. Though it did bother Yuki that this was going to be yet another holiday that the Rhodes family had to spend without Atticus, wondering just what had happened, and where he could be.
Several days after arriving home for winter break, Yuki made his way through downtown Domino, heading towards the large building in the center of the city. He didn't know why, but winters in Domino City were terrible. "And the brothers of the Night's Watch complain about the cold at Castle Black…"
The closer to the headquarters of the Kaiba Corporation he got, Yuki saw more and more advertisements for the new synchro monsters. "Guess that was why it was so busy the day we got back. Everyone must have wanted to get their pre-orders paid off. Oooh, must have been really busy at Grandpa Muoto's store if that was the case."
Yuki let out a sigh of relief when he entered the Kaiba Corp building. Out of the cold, and into a luxurious heated building. He was clearly not a winter person, even if one of his new dragon monsters was a water attribute, and attacked using ice.
Yuki was about to ask the secretary sitting behind the desk if Seto was there, when she spoke. "You can go right up Mr. Hyoudou. Mr. Kaiba is expecting you."
'Guess that answers that.' Yuki thought after thanking the secretary, and entering the elevator behind her desk. "Why is it that the CEO's office always has to be on the top floor?" It wasn't that Yuki had a problem with heights, it was that he found it bothersome that the CEO of a large and successful company almost always had their office atop some large building, as if to look down upon all those who weren't them, or as successful as they were. If there was one thing about Seto that bothered Yuki, it had to be that. Well, that and his distaste for Joey Wheeler. Though that seemed to have mellowed out over the last few years.
The elevator door slid apart upon reaching the top floor of the KC building, revealing the large office that belonged to Seto Kaiba. And just as the secretary on the ground floor had said, there he was sitting behind his desk. The man who's holographic technology had caused Duel Monsters popularity to skyrocket into the major competitive sport that it was. Seto Kaiba himself.
A smile spread across Seto's face as his old student stepped into his office. "I was wondering when you would come by Yuki."
"Your secretary said that you were expecting me." Yuki replied as a shudder from the cold outside ran up his back, as he was still adjusting to the warmth of the large building. "And do you ever take a break?"
Seto gave a single chuckle. "The holiday breaks let me catch up on things. Mostly figuring out how to balance the new monsters Pegasus came up with."
"You mean the synchros?" Yuki asked, to which Kaiba nodded in response. "They seem balanced to me, and the way they're summoned is basically contact fusion."
Seto pressed a button on the keyboard that was built into his desk, and a large monitor to his left, Yuki's right flickered to life. Yuki felt something jolt through his stomach, though he couldn't tell if it was shock, fear, or excitement. The monitor showed Yuki's tag duel with Yumei against Kai and Fujin, and Yuki had just synchro summoned Trischula.
"That's Trischula of the Ice Barrier. And I'm curious to know just how you got your hands on a card like that, when none of those monsters are supposed to be released for the next few months." Seto's tone didn't sound upset, or accusitory. It was more curious if anything else.
"That would be Yuri." He answered with a small shrug, to which Seto responded with a single nod. Of course Yuri would have gifted his younger siblings with new cards like the synchros after winning that tournament in America.
"But if you saw the duel." Yuki continued, having should have known that all the duel disks had an uplink to the Kaiba Corporation network. "Then you'll know how it ended."
Another smile broke out over Seto's face. He pressed another button on his desk, fast forwarding the duel, and stopping only when Yuki had pulled off his winning comby of summoning both Blue Eyes fusions. "Not bad at all Yuki. I knew I made the right decision in entrusting the legacy of the Blue Eyes with you. But with that being said…" Seto held a hand out towards Yuki. "Mind if I see that Blue Eyes?"
"Uh…" Yuki felt apprehensive in just handing over the strongest non fusion monster in his dragon deck. Something that Seto had clearly picked up on.
"I'm not going to damage it." He reassured his student.
Relenting, Yuki retrieved his dragon deck from the case he carried his cards with on his belt. All those months at Duel Academy meant that Yuki never went anywhere without his cards. Yuki handed the Blue Eyes that Kai had given him over to Kaiba.
"I take it this belonged to Kai Murrasame?" Seto asked, holding the card in his hand.
Yuki fixed seto with a shocked look. "Okay, how did you know that?"
"Duel Academy is my school." Seto answered, handing Yuki back his Blue Eyes. "I know everything about all my students."
Yuki paused, as he was just about to place his deck back in its deck box. "That's actually why I'm here. I wanted to talk to you about some students who have gone missing. One in particular is the older brother of a friend of mine. Atticus-"
"Rhodes." Seto finished for Yuki, pulling up Atticus' student profile on the same monitor that showed the tag duel. "How much do you know about the fourth dorm at the school Yuki?"
Yuki shook his head "Not much, only that it's known as the abandoned dorm."
"Well, originally that dorm was made for the absolute best at the school." Seto began to explain.
"Hang on…" Yuki began, as Seto's explanation had raised a red flag in his head. "You named the dorms after the three Egyptian god cards. How could there be a fourth dorm, if there-ohhhhh!" His eyes went wide, as the pieces fell into place. "That fourth dorm is … or was centered on Horakhty!"
"Give the man a prize." Seto nodded, as he continued to explain. "The fourth dorm was made to fit the best students between the three dorms, but it also served another purpose. I remember that promise that Yuri had Mahad keep, but I wasn't about to put all my eggs in that one basket. So I had that dorm made to better study and prepare my students, in case another threat like Bakura or Zorc ever came around, since Yugi and I won't be around forever. And something else came from the construction of that dorm."
Seto pressed another button on his desk, and Yuki let out a surprised gasp at what he saw. Seven items came up on screen, that looked very similar to the Millenium Items. "I call them the Shadow Charms. They're similar to the Millenium Items, only their constructions didn't involve-"
"Human sacrifices?" Yuki asked. His eyes never leaving the screen. More pieces were starting to fall into place in Yuki's head, as he remembered what Bakura had said when he possessed Lance. He began explaining to Seto everything that Bakura told him when the two dueled in the basement of the abandoned dorm.
"So Bakura sacrificed my students to recreate this…" Kaiba said, glaring at the new Millenium ring that Yuki had placed on his desk. "And the Shadow Charms have gone missing as well."
There was a long and rather uncomfortable silence that passed between the two, before Seto took a deep breath, and addressed his student. "Yuki, I'm going to ask a lot out of you. But I need you to retrieve the Shadow Charms … and if it's possible-"
"You want me to find out if it's possible to bring back the missing students." Yuki finished for Seto. "I'll see what I can do, but that last one is going to be a really tall order."
"Well if anyone can do it." Seto handed Yuki back the Millenium Ring. "Right now that would be you."
'Are you sure you can do this?' Mahad spoke to Yuki from inside his mind, as Yuki made his way home.
"Not alone." Yuki shiverred. He hated the cold.
'Ah, does that mean you're finally able to trust your friend's should the shadow games make their return?' Yuki sighed at Mahad's question.
"I'm not too happy about it." Yuki shook his head. "You saw what happens when an unexperienced person is forced into a shadow game." He said in reference to Mai's duel during the semi-finals of Battle City.
'Well from what priest Seto told you, that fourth dormitory was made to prepare duelists should the shadow games make their return.'
Despite the cold, Yuki managed to laugh. "You're still calling him-"
'Yuki!' Mahad cut him off, his spirit manifesting and pointing to Yuki's coat. Looking down, Yuki saw one of the spikes on the Millenium Ring was pointing forwards, which formed a point in his coat. Yuki quickly unzipped his coat, shivering further as more cold air hit him.
Yuki and Mahad looked to one another, then back to the Millenium ring. The two knew that the ring could detect other Millenium Items and those who were pure evil. "Really not the way I want to spend my day, but…" Yuki began to follow where the Ring pointed, which eventually led him to one of the more popular duel cafe's in the city.
"That explains it…" Yuki made a sound between a sigh of resignation, and a groan of irritation. Walking into the cafe, which was open year round, save one day a year, Yuki found the Ring was pointing at another boy his age who loved to terrorize the younger kids around the city.
"Hey!" Yuki called out, before approaching the boy. Seven younger kids were pressed against a far wall of the duel cafe 'employees must be in the back'. There were seven younger kids in total, but the one boy was Yuki's age, and a lot bigger than the others he was tormenting. "Bowers, why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"
The boy, Bowers, turned his attention towards Yuki at the mention of his name. He then rolled his eyes, and ran a hand through his hair whose style went out of fashion thirty years ago. "What do you want?"
"You never change." Yuki sounded angry. His fists were clenched, as right now he would like nothing more than to punch Bowers right in his face. "I thought not getting into Duel Academy would have taught you a lesson. Guess I thought wrong if you're taking your frustrations out on younger kids."
Bowers scoffed and shrugged, the younger kids taking this opportunity to get away from him. However, Bowers made to go after them, though Yuki cut him off, by stepping in front of him. "Out of the way Hyoudou. These little punks have it coming."
"Seven ten year olds?" Yuki looked over his shoulder at the terrified kids. "Yeah, they look like a real threat. You know what, I think it's time you got a taste of your own medicine."
"Sounds like you're calling me out." Bowers sneered.
Yuki nodded once, and there was a determined fire in his eyes. "I am." He pointed towards a set of doors. "Now get in there, it's time to duel."
This particular duel cafe's dueling terminal had a rather old school dueling platform. Similar to the ones used in Duelist Kingdom. Yuki stepped onto the blue platform, while Bowers stepped onto the red one. The seven kids that Bowers had been tormenting quickly followed in behind Yuki, eager to see how this duel played out.
"You know something Yuki, you're overdue for a beatdown." Bowers said, readying his deck.
"Remind me Bowers, when was the last time you beat me?" Yuki asked while readying his own deck. "Because I'm pretty sure the answer is 'never'."
"Duel!"
Yuki LP-4000
Bowers LP-4000
Bowers drew first, and smirked. "Get ready. I summon Dragon Zombie in attack mode." A sickly purple decaying dragon corpse appeared on Bowers side of the field.
Dragon Zombie Atk-1600
"Let's see you stand up to that." There was a sneer on Bowers face.
Yuki rolled his eyes, drawing his sixth card. "No back row, and one monster on your field with zero defense. And you really think you're a strong duelist? Let's see you stand up to this, Spear Dragon in attack mode!"
Yuki's dragon was a blue scaled dragon with a nose looking more like the point of a javelin.
Spear Dragon Atk-1900
"Oh, and there's also this. The spell card Block Attack. I play this card, and swap one monster on my opponent's field from attack to defense mode." Yuki smirked, as Bowers dragon curled into a defensive position.
Dragon Zombie Def-0
"But wait, there's more!" Yuki announced. "See when Spear Dragon attacks, he inflicts piercing damage whenever he attacks a defense position monster. Now Spear Dragon, attack that zombie!"
Spear Dragon let out a high pitched screech, making everybody but Yuki wince before Bowers' monster shattered in a cloud of pixels.
Bowers LP-2100
"Now since he attacked, his effect makes him go into defense mode." Yuki shifted his monster card horizontally, and on his field his dragon wrapped his wings over his body.
Spear Dragon Def-0
"And to end my turn, I'll set a card face down."
Bowers scoffed, drawing his next card. "You give me grief for playing a monster with no defense, and then you play one? Calling the kettle black huh Hyoudou?"
"You'll see." Yuki shook his head.
"Whatever. I'll play Polymarization, and fuse Crass Clown and Dream Clown, and summon Bickuribox!" Bowers placed his fusion monster card in his monster zone before his monster materialized on his field. It was a fiendish looking jack-in-the-box armed with a scythe.
Bickuribox Atk-2300
"Then I'll set a monster face down, before I'll have my monster attack that dragon!" The scythe-wielding monster popped out of the box, before making to slice Yuki's dragon in half with its scythe.
"Oh, I don't think so Bowers. Did you forget about my face down card?" There was a smirk on Yuki's face, as he revealed his face down card, which caused Bowers' stomach to drop. De-fusion. "Now, I'm splitting that freakish jack-in-the-box."
Bickuribox stopped its attack in mid-swing, before splitting back into the two monsters that made up its fusion.
Crass Clown Atk-1350
Dream Clown Atk-1200
Bowers scoffed in agitation, as he couldn't continue with his battle phase due to De-fusion's effect. "Fine, I'll just switch Dream Clown into defense mode, and activate his effect. When he's switched from attack to defense, I can destroy one monster on your field."
Spear dragon shattered, as Dream clown took a knee.
Dream Clown Def-900
"Alright, now I'll set a card face down." Bowers ended his turn, afterwards.
'Hatchling, use us.' Yuki heard the same voice in his head that he had heard on Halloween. Shaking his head, as if to rid it of an embarrassing memory, Yuki drew his next card. "Alright, let's see how you stack up to this! I summon Alexandrite Dragon in attack mode!"
The bright scaled dragon roared as it materialized on Yuki's field.
Alexandrite Dragon Atk-2000
"Alright, now let's even things up. Alexandrite Dragon, attack that clown!" Yuki ordered, as his dragon unleashed a stream of bright fire which incinerated Crass Clown.
Bowers LP-1350
"Then I'll set a card face down, and call it a turn."
Bowers was beginning to become agitated. He was losing the duel, and worse still, at least for him was that Yuki hadn't lost a single life point. "Alright, that's how you want to play Hyoudou? Let's see how you like this!"
Bowers then flipped his face down monster face up. "My Castle of Dark Illusions!"
Castle of Dark Illusions Def-1930
"And his effect raises all my monsters attack and defense by 200 points each turn."
Castle of Dark Illusions Def-2130
"But I'm not done there! I'll sacrifice Dream Clown, and summon Pumpking the king of Ghosts!"
A giant fiendish looking pumpkin then appeared on Bowers field.
Pumpking Atk-1800
"Wait! Can he do that?" One of the kids who had followed behind Yuki asked.
Yuki turned to face the kids, and gave an affirmative nod. "Yeah, because his castle was already on the field on his previous turn. So he can summon his new monster, after flipping the castle face up."
"But it doesn't end there, since I have Castle of Black Illusions on my field, he now gets a boost to his attack!" Bowers smirked, as Pumpking seemed to grow in size.
Pumpking Atk-1900
"But, I'm not done there. I'll activate Swords of Revealing Light!" Several blades made of pure light surrounded Yuki's dragon. "Now you can't attack me for the next three turns!"
"Alright, then it looks like its my turn." Yuki drew his next card, and a smile crossed his face. "I'll tribute Alexandrite Dragon, and summon Horus Level Six!"
Yuki's bright silver dragon roared as it took Alexandrite Dragon''s place on the field.
Horus Level Six Atk-2800
"And you wanna know the best part about this monster Bowers?" Yuki had a victorious smile on his face. "He's not affected by my opponent's spell cards!"
Bowers visibly blanched. "Wait, what!?"
"Oh yeah! Now Horus, since Halloween's over, take out that overgrown jack-o-lanturn!" At Yuki's order, Horus let out a stream of black flames from its mouth. Incinerating Pumpking.
Bowers LP-1030
"But, I'm not done there." Yuki continued. "Since I inflicted battle damage to you with Horus, I can summon the strongest of the three Horus cards, Horus Level Eight!" A large silver dragon, flew about the playing field, wowing the kids who were watching, before landing in front of Yuki.
Horus Level 8 Atk-3000
"Oh and the best part is." Yuki said, turning his attention back to the kids watching the duel. "Is that without Pumpking on the field, Bowers strategy with his castle doesn't work." He turned his attention back to Bowers. "Another reason why you didn't get into Duel Academy, is that you rely only on that one strategy, and it ends after the fourth standby phase after one of those two cards hit the field."
Castle of Dark Illusions Def-1950
Bowers growled in aggravation, before drawing his next card. A wicked grin came over his face as he got a look at what he had just drawn. "Oh, I'm not done with this duel just yet! I activate Monster Reborn, and bring Pumpking back to my field!"
Pumpking then resurfaced onto Bowers' field, but he wasn't done there. "And then, I'll sacrifice both Pumpking, and my castle, and summon Invader of Darkness!"
The air temperature dropped a good ten degrees, as a wicked looking creature emerged onto Bowers' field.
Invader of Darkness Atk-2900
"Now I'll have him attack Horus!" That next decision visibly shocked Yuki.
"Uh, you won't win that battle. Horus is a hundred attack points stronger." He blinked in surprise, as Horus blasted Bowers' new monster away.
Bowers LP-930
"This is why." Bowers smirked, holding up a spell card. "A Deal With Dark Ruler! It let's me special summon a monster after I lose an eight star monster like my Invader!"
Yuki then sighed, and shook his head. Admittedly, it was a good strategy, however Bowers forgot something critically important. "Sorry, but that's not gonna happen! Because of Horus' effect, I can negate and destroy one spell card during either turn!"
Horus roared, burning away Bowers' card with another burst of black fire.
"And that leaves your field empty, and with my turn coming up, and nothing in your back row, you're in serious trouble." Yuki smirked, drawing his next card. His smirk only widened further, as he played it. "My own Monster Reborn! And with it, I'll bring Horus back to the field!"
Horus roared, taking its place next to its stronger counterpart.
Horus Level 6 Atk-2800
"Best part, is if you remember, this Horus isn't affected by my opponent's spell cards! Now it's time to bring this duel to an end! Meaning, I'm about to burn it down! Horus, direct attack!"
With a large roar, Horus' black fire engulfed Bowers.
Bowers LP-0000
"Hey, if he gives you any more trouble until winter break ends." Yuki began, as he and the younger kids went back into the cafe. Yuki electing to get himself a hot chocolate before heading home. "You can come to my families store. He's terrified of my twin sister, so he won't go anywhere near her." A smile crossed his face, as he bade goodbye to the kids, before bundling himself up as he continued heading back. He had a lot to discuss with his family.