Late update on this one, for which I apologize. This chapter will introduce Akiru's first true rival.

Chapter Two

A Rival Without Honor

(Crystal Village, 12:00 PM, local time)

The sun shone on the village streets, people going to and fro. Among them was a young man in a blue jacket with a stripe across the chest, a small hat on his head, and a Duel Disk on his arm. The young man happily skipped his way along the street to his destination, a local tournament. He hadn't been able to enter, but he wanted to watch the finals and see who the best Duelist in Crystal Village was. Looking around, he found the arena where the tournament was taking place, and skipped in to get a ticket for the finals. Finding a good spot, he stretched, and watched as they announced the standings.

The MC spoke into the microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, the 20th Crystal Duel Tournament is about to come to a close! Please welcome our four finalists! First, Damian Cole!" Drake stepped forward as the audience applauded, simply nodding. "Second, a Duelist shrouded in mystery, The Shadow!" A young man dressed in a black hoodie while wearing a mask simply stepped forward, not even looking at the audience. "Third, give it up for Apollo Agrotera!" A Duelist with a big hat and a cape stepped forward, raising his Duel Disk into the air, a rare model given only to champions or handed down to their children.

"Finally, for the first time, please welcome Akiru Hirasu!" Akiru stepped forward in his signature blue jacket, Duel Disk ready as the audience applauded. "The Duel Standings have been decided! First, Damian Cole will face off against Apollo Agrotera!" Both Duelists simply faced each other. "The Shadow and Akiru Hirasu will Duel afterwards, and then the winners of both Duels will face off for the grand finale! Will the contestants please make their way to the duel arena?!" Apollo snorted. "I don't need you to point out the obvious..." He took his place as Drake took his. As the mic was handed to him, Drake said, "We haven't met yet. I'm Damian, but my friends call me Drake."

Apollo accepted the mic offered and said, "I'm Apollo, the next American champion." Akiru made a point to keep an eye on him through the Duel. "Duelists, activate your Duel Disks!" Both Disks went active, with the MC calling out, "the first turn will go to Damian Cole!" Both Duelists drew their five cards, and the MC called out, "Let the Duel begin!"

(Drake: 4000)

(Apollo: 4000)

Damian drew his card, and said, "I'll start off by Summoning Mezuki in Attack Mode!"

(Mezuki appeared: a level 4 monster with 1700 ATK)

"I'll back him up with two cards Face-Down! Now, let's see what you got, Mr. Big Talk." Apollo simply snorted, replying, "I'm no pushover, punk." He drew his card. "I'll start off by activate Heart of the Underdog. Its effect will kick in later, but I will activate the Spell Card Polymerization, allowing me to perform a Fusion Summon by discarding the required Materials on the Fusion Monster! I discard three Blue-Eyes White Dragons!" Akiru looked at the prideful Duelist's face, and noticed something. 'Why is he so sure of victory on the first turn?' "Let's go, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

(Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon appeared: a level 12 Fusion monster with 4500 ATK)

The audience gasped in shock. Akiru looked at Drake, who was understandably surprised. "Dude, that card's one of the rarest Fusion monsters in the game! I only know one guy that has one!" Apollo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, I plan on putting it to better use. But before all else, I'll activate my last card, Dragon's Mirror!" Akiru's eyes widened. 'The only dragons in his Graveyard are the Blue-Eyes he discarded earlier!' Apollo didn't stop grinning. "With this, by banishing the required Fusion Materials for a Dragon-type Fusion monster, I can Summon that Fusion Monster as a Fusion Summon!"

The MC spoke up. "Incredible! He has another Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon?!" Apollo called out, "Yes, I do, and here it is!"

(Same as before)

Akiru looked at Apollo with suspicion. 'Why is he showing off that he has two? That can draw unwanted attention.' Drake was less then pleased. "No way! How did you get two of them?" Apollo replied, "The first one was a gift from my father, and the other I got in a pack not too long ago. But talk is cheap, and your Mezuki is on my hit list! Blue-Eyes Ultimate, take aim and obliterate it!" The dragon unleashed its attack, decimating Drake's monster.

(Drake: 1200)

Apollo didn't stop grinning. "Blue-Eyes Ultimate number 2, finish him off!" Drake was ready. "I activate my Trap, Vampire Awakening! This lets me Summon a Vampire monster from my deck, but it's destroyed during the End Phase of this turn! Let's welcome Vampire Familiar!"

(Vampire Familiar appeared: a level 2 monster with 0 DEF)

"Also, when it's Special Summoned, I get to add a Vampire monster to my hand by paying 500 Life Points. I'll go with Vampire Retainer."

(Drake: 700)

Apollo sighed. "A minor setback. You won't last much longer anyway." Akiru found that comment suspicious as well. 'Why is he still being so confident?' Apollo called out, "Well, second Blue-Eyes Ultimate, take out his Familiar!" As the monster was blasted to oblivion, Apollo stared at his opponent. "I'll admit, you certainly caught me off guard there, but it won't save you. I end my turn." Drake drew his card. "Yes! I Summon my Vampire Retainer!"

(Vampire Retainer appeared: a level 2 monster with 1200 ATK)

Drake then said, "Now, by discarding a Vampire monster, I can Summon back my Familiar, good as new!"

(Same as before)

He continued with, "Now for my comeback! I activate my other Face-Down, Super Polymerization!" Apollo's eyes widened. "Not that card!" "I'll discard my last Mezuki to use it, fusing both of my Vampire monsters to Fusion Summon Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!"

(Starving Venom Fusion Dragon appeared: a level 8 Fusion monster with 2800 ATK)

Apollo sighed. "Not much of a match for my monsters." Drake replied, "You sure about that? On the turn it's Summoned, Starving Venom gains Attack Points equal to a Special Summoned monster my opponent controls until the end of the turn!"

(Starving Venom Fusion Dragon's ATK: 7300)

"Starving Venom Fusion Dragon, attack the first Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" Apollo grimaced as his monster was destroyed.

(Apollo: 1200)

Drake then said, "I'll now activate the Field Spell Zombie World!" As the field was transformed, both dragons took on sickening appearances. Apollo called out, "What happened to our monsters?!" Drake answered, "Zombie World makes all monsters on the field and Graveyards Zombie-type! Hope you're not scared of zombies, 'cause you're in their world now! I'll activate my second Super Polymerization!" Apollo stared in shock. "Another one?!" Discarding his last card, Drake said, "As you should know, when Super Polymerization is used, I get to use monsters on either side of the field! I fuse your zombiefied Blue-Eyes Ultimate with Starving Venom to Summon my favorite Fusion monster, Draconecro Nethersoul Dragon!"

(Draconecro Nethersoul Dragon appeared: a level 8 Fusion monster with 3000 ATK)

Apollo couldn't help but smirk. "You sneaky little bastard! You used my own monster against me!" Drake grinned. "I can't attack, so you're up!" Apollo drew his card, and grinned. "The effect of Heart of the Underdog kicks in! When I draw a Normal monster, I can reveal it to you and draw again! I reveal the Right Arm of the Forbidden One!" Akiru's eyes widened. 'A piece of Exodia? There were only a handful of copies of each one, and they were all unaccounted for!' Drake grinned. "Let's see you get lucky and draw another one!" Apollo drew his second card, and said, "I just did, the Right Leg of the Forbidden One, allow me to draw again!"

Drake gasped in shock. Apollo drew his next card, and revealed it as well, the Left Arm of the Forbidden One. Akiru looked at Apollo, even more red flags going off in his mind. 'Twice is a coincidence, but three times? He stacked his deck. There's no way he should have drawn a third one that quickly if his deck wasn't stacked.' Apollo drew his fourth card, with it being exactly what Akiru thought it would be, the Left Leg of the Forbidden One. Drake stared in absolute shock, unable to believe it. Apollo drew again, and proclaimed, "I win." He revealed the fifth card, Exodia the Forbidden One. "When a Duelist gets all five pieces of Exodia in his hand, he wins the Duel." The hologram of Exodia appeared, and wiped out Drake's remaining Life Points.

(Drake: 0)

(Apollo: WIN)

Akiru glared at Apollo as he raised his hands in victory. 'Enjoy it while you can. When I face you, I'll teach you how to win a Duel fair and square.' He turned toward The Shadow, who had also been watching. The two simply nodded to each other, and waited to be called out.

A/N

Not gonna lie, it took me over a month to get this written. Originally, it was gonna be just a matchup between Akiru and Apollo, but then I got the idea to make it into a tournament for them. Damian's deck is the real life deck of my friend, who I will simply refer to on this as Vampire Master, for his privacy. Apollo's deck is one of my own creation. All of the decks used in this aside from Drake's are made by me for specific Duelists. Artemis's deck was because I needed a way to train with Harpie Ladies. As for the young man who was mentioned in the beginning of the chapter, don't worry. You'll see him again.