Good Day Readers and welcome to the sequel to Pain of Betrayal, Pain of Loss! Thanks to all of you for the support and I hope that you all enjoy this latest edition of the Hope sisters. To EchoRoses, thanks for the compliment, I do try to add my own things into the story but sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, I'm glad this one did, also it's ok for you to have not been around for a while so don't worry about it.
Obviously I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh only Kylie and Katherine Hope along with the unique cards within their decks and whatever other OCs decide to crop up. Also italics symbolise a mind conversation, a video tape or something in a language that isn't Japanese. I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy
Chapter 6: - Mai Fallen Into Darkness
My breathing was heavy and frantic as I stared at the woman who'd been our friend and yet had become our enemy; I couldn't comprehend what Mai was doing, had implied she'd done and even said. Jounouchi must have been feeling the worst since he was being forced to fight the woman that he had strong feeling's for, Honda wondered if the blonde vixen was serious with Anzu doubting it completely due to the consequence of losing the Duel.
"Anzu, we're staring at that Gods' forsaken barrier that Mai activated. I think she's serious," Kylie stated. Anzu begged Mai to not continue this fight, but the woman was completely unresponsive and I felt the wave of panic, fear and desperation that Yugi felt pulse through my bond with him, I glanced down at my Gauntlet and wondered if I could find a way to break the Barrier with my magic.
"Give it a rest, Yugi and Kathie! It'll be the same no matter how many times or which one of you tries," Valon called. I snapped my head up and locked eyes on the brown haired individual, my eyes narrowed into a glare at the name he'd called me. "The power of the Millennium Items aren't capable of destroying the boundary," Valon added on. Rafael added on that we could only watch the battle.
"Hey! Only Kathie's friends can call her Kathie!" Jounouchi yelled. I was thankful he'd said those words as I was quite agitated over being called that nickname by someone that I had no intention of being friends with. Even Kylie had looked incensed upon hearing those words as she had curled her hands into tight fists, so tight that the knuckles were practically ashen white.
"Don't be in such a rush, Nameless Pharaoh. When this Duel is over, I'll be your opponent," Rafael stated. That got a reaction from Mai, she snapped her head around and angrily snapped that it was never going to be the blonde man's turn and she vowed to defeat the rest of us as well, she turned her violet eyes back to us and I saw that red gleam which had appeared in Gurimo's eyes was reflected there as well.
"You're overstepping your boundaries Kujaku! Kylie Hope is my target!" The black haired woman snarled. All of our eyes darted between the two women as Mai turned back to glare at the raven haired woman, Rafael added on that Mai couldn't decide things on her own whilst settling a hand onto the ravenette's shoulder, he even mentioned something about orders from a Lord Dartz.
"Isn't this fine Rafael, Tsula. Let her do what she wants. Our King won't complain if we can get their souls, right?" Valon questioned. The three others spoke his name as the brunette turned his gaze back down to the Duel. "What kind of Duel will Mai give us? Let's observe, shall we? It's not like we can't jump in if things get sticky later on," Valon added on. My eyes widened as did Kylie's and we shot each other a concerned look; did they have some kind of way to break the Barrier if things went badly.
"Now, what are you waiting for, Jounouchi? It's your turn," Mai stated. Jounouchi quickly refuted the idea of accepting this kind of Duel. "Running away? You're showing your back when victory hasn't been decided yet?! And you still call yourself a Duelist?!" Mai argued. She appeared to be extremely angry about the response that Jounouchi was giving her, but I don't think anyone except my sister would be willing to pummel Mai in a Duel given the stakes that were attached to the Duel.
"Like I've said, this is no ordinary Duel! Either you or me, one of our souls will be taken away if we lose!" Jounouchi protested. But the next words out of her mouth showed that Mai didn't care, as Valon whistled when we heard her words, all of us simply stared wide eyes as the blonde vixen proceeded to cross her arms over her chest.
"Dueling is always a serious matter! It's about putting yourself on the line. I have been fighting like that all this time… this isn't just a game! For you to turn tail and escape, won't that make me look like an idiot?!" Mai argued. Kylie walked forward and rammed her fist into the air in front of her, striking the edge of the invisible field that the Barrier put up and causing it to ripple as everyone watching stared at my sister.
"There's putting yourself on the line Mai… and then there's this kind of suicidal bullshit! Your soul isn't worth winning a Duel!" Kylie snapped. Mai simply stared at my sister with an intense look in her eyes, several seconds passed in silence before my sister pushed off the Barrier and walked back towards us. "Fine. Kill yourself… whether it's Jounouchi or one of us… in the end you'll lose. Fighting like you have nothing to lose always ends that way," Kylie gloomily stated. Her eyes were downcast and her lips pulled into a tight frown, Yami placed a hand on her shoulder as she resumed her previous position with us and she reached up to grip the hand.
"You have to do this, no matter what? Mai?" Jounouchi asked. He probably wanted to be completely certain about this before taking any action against the woman, when Mai confirmed this by demanding if she had to repeat herself, Jounouchi activated his Duel Disk and prepared his Deck even as Honda and Anzu begged him not to, I reached my hand up to Kylie's and we gripped tightly to the limb. "It's my turn! Draw!" Jounouchi declared. He pulled the card forth and looked at it. "I Summon Wyvern Warrior in Defence Mode! Turn end!" Jounouchi declared. The Monster appeared, crouched in a defensive posture.
Wyvern Warrior – Attribute: Earth, Type: Beast, Type: 4, ATK/1500, DEF/1200
"It's my turn! Draw" Mai declared. She pulled out another card and I wondered what she was going to do, was her Deck still the same or had it ended up changing when she joined Doma. "Looks like you're still hesitating… you won't be able to beat me thinking like that! I Summon Harpie Lady in Attack Mode!" Mai declared. A secondary bird lady appeared and she was immediately afflicted by the Oreichalcos' power. "Because of the effect of the Barrier of Oreichalcos, her Attack Power increases by five hundred points! Harpie Lady, attack Wyvern Warrior!" Mai commanded.
One of her bird women charged forward and slashed her claws through the reptilian warrior, easily destroying it thanks to the power boost she'd gained from the cursed power. The next step was so bloody obvious that anyone could see it, Mai commanded her second Harpie Lady to attack Jounouchi directly, the blonde screamed as those sharp claws slashed over his chest and he was sent stumbling back as a result and the others began to worry about him.
Jounouchi – LP: 4000 – LP: 2200
"Sis, this is seriously bad. Is there anything that we can do to help?" I questioned mentally. Given their names, I suspected the people would at least be able to speak English and they clearly spoke Japanese, so a mind conversation was our only avenue of having a private conversation; Kylie's lips hadn't moved from the frown they'd been forced into, but her hand did drop down to her Deck case and she pulled a card out as Yami did the same thing.
"The only thing I can think of is Xanthi, Timaeus or Aspasia's power, but I'd rather these fools not know that another Dragon is free just yet. Don't pull out yours in front of them," Kylie admitted. I nodded my head in understanding, those Dragons were clearly meant to fight against the Oreichalcos, but the question was how to make it possible outside of a Duel or that strange aurora that had allowed Kylie and Yugi to manifest them with ease, summoning a Spirit outside of those situations took time and Mana… a lot of Mana.
"Have you woken up yet? If you really want to defeat me, you'll have to give it your all!" Mai demanded. She then moved her hand to pluck another card free from her hand. "Next, I set one reverse card! Turn end!" Mai declared. I hear Jounouchi speak the blonde woman's name, he was probably still agonising over having to face her in such a terrible situation instead of a peaceful and fun one like he might have imaged facing her in.
"Those bastards…," Jounouchi cursed. He was probably referencing the Musketeers who'd already caused us so much trouble, Mai demanded for Jounouchi to hurry up with his turn, Jounouchi proceeded to reached for his Deck. "It's my turn! Draw!" Jounouchi declared. He pulled the card free and looked at it before adding it to his hand. "I Summon Rocket Warrior in Defence Mode! Next, I set one card in reverse!" Jounouchi announced. The two cards appeared on the field as Jounouchi declared an end to his turn.
Rocket Warrior – Attribute: Light, Type: Warrior, Level: 4, ATK/1500, DEF/1300
"What's with you, Jounouchi? Playing all defensively? Mai, defeat him in one shot!" Valon commented. I kind of wanted to chuck something at him for those words but Mai turned her head around and ordered the brunette to be quiet since this was her Duel. "Whooo! How cruel!" Valon remarked. He didn't seem bothered by her words as Mai scoffed and turned her head back around to face her opponent.
"It's my turn, draw!" Mai declared. She pulled the card free but didn't give it any more than a passing glance as she focused on her field. "Come my Harpies. Go tear the enemy into pieces with your claws! Harpie Lady, attack!" Mai commanded. The bird woman flew forward and cut apart Rocket Warrior with ease. "Next my other Harpie Lady will Direct Attack Jounouchi!" Mai ordered. The bird woman flew in and I felt my breath catch as I watched the Monster approach my friend as everyone else called out to the boy.
"Reverse card open! Scapegoat!" Jounouchi commanded. I let out a long exhale as my heart started to slow down slightly whilst the four little tokens were brought to the field; even Kylie let out a sigh of relief, glad to know that Jounouchi wasn't about to lose any more of his Life Points which would have put him in too precarious of a situation given the current circumstances.
Sheep Tokens – Attribute: Earth, Type: Beast, Level: 1, ATK/0, DEF/0 (X4)
"Right, while I block the attack, I can-," Jounouchi began to speak. But Mai cut him off, declaring that the boy was naïve and proceeded to activate her face down, which was a Trap card known as Nightmare Tri-Mirror; it projected a creepy looking mirror split into three sections. "What!" Jounouchi exclaimed. The creepy mirror started to glow an eerie purple light as Kylie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion whilst my eyes had widened at those words.
"This card is activated only when your opponent Special Summons one or more Monsters. It can create as many Copy Tokens of the selected Monster as the number of Monsters that were Special Summoned," Mai explained. My lips pulled into a frown at those words as even Anzu understood what she meant; four more Harpies were going to come to the field, the reflections of the Scapegoats turned into Harpies and the four emerged onto the field.
Copy Tokens – Attribute: ?, Type: ?/Token, Level: ?, ATK/?, DEF/? (X4)
Harpie Lady – Attribute: Wind, Type: Avian Beast, Level: 4, ATK/1800, DEF/1400 (X4)
"That's playing dirty! Summoning so many Monsters like that!" Honda exclaimed. It did seem incredibly wrong that someone could get so many Monsters out with so little work or sacrifice, but that was how Token cards worked, yet because of that damned Barrier's presence, it allowed more Monsters than was reasonable out onto the field; it was exceedingly annoying if I was honest.
"It's worse than that. With that many Harpies, if Mai gets Harpie's Pet Dragon out on the field it'll be nigh unstoppable," Kylie realised. But the smirk that came onto Mai's face when she heard my sister's words proved that she might have had an entirely different plan in her mind for having six Harpie Ladies out on the field.
Thankfully the Copy Tokens couldn't attack at all,which meant that Jounouchi wasn't going to lose this turn, but unless he got more defenders out and thinned down Mai's ranks, I wasn't too sure if he was going to survive beyond Mai's turn; unless my sixth sense informed me of such a fact when her turn rolled around. Mai proceeded to set one card face down before ending her turn, allowing Jounouchi to take control of the Duel now, but things weren't looking good for the boy at this moment.
"So, Jounouchi… how are you going to overcome this trial? You won't just do nothing and lose this, will you?" Mai challenged. I couldn't tell if she wanted him to fight or wanted him to give up, her words seemed to imply one or the other and it was seriously annoying, attempting to untangle what she truly meant to say. "Show me the strength you fought with in Battle City!" Mai dared. Ok, I think she wanted him to fight her… then lose.
"What should we do? Jounouchi is completely overwhelmed!" Honda asked. That was a pointless question to ask, none of us could break the Barrier in order to stop the Duel and there was every chance that neither me or Kylie would be able to highjack the Doma organisation's method of stopping the Duel; worse Nightmare Tri-Mirror was a card that me and Kylie didn't know off, implying that Doma had access to exceedingly ultra-rare cards and Mai's Deck probably had a lot more stuffed in there to work with that accursed Barrier.
"It's my turn! Draw!" Jounouchi declared. He pulled a card forth and looked at it before moving the object towards his Duel Disk. "I Summon Jet-Black Panther Soldier – Panther Warrior in Attack Mode!" Jounouchi declared. That Monster would be able to stand up against the Harpie Ladies, so long as Mai didn't have any way to increase their strength, plus that face down staying that way would help to.
Jet-Black Panther Soldier – Panther Warrior – Attribute: Dark, Type: Beast-Warrior, Level: 4, ATK/2000, DEF/1600
"I'll wake you up right now, Mai! I sacrifice Scapegoat in order to let Panther Warrior attack!" Jounouchi declared. The sacrificed Token turned into light and flew into Panther Warrior's sword, causing it to glow, the feline creature then jumped forward and brought its' weapon back so that it could slash down at the opposing Monster; but in that instant I saw Mai's red painted lips quirk into a vicious smirk.
"Reverse card, open! Harpie Lady – Vermillion Sparrow Formation!" Mai commanded. The card rose up and I saw it was Trap card, the Harpie Ladies then quickly assembled into two rows of three then flames immediately surrounded the six of them; a faint image of a fiery bird appearing within the blaze, when Panther Warrior's weapon swung down, it glanced off the fiery blaze. "This Trap card can only be activated when there are two or more Harpie Ladies on the field! The wings of fire will negate the opponent's attack!" Mai declared. The fiery bird surged forward, sending Panther Warrior spiralling backwards.
All of us watching this were in shock, that was an incredibly powerful counter centring on Harpie Lady, this was a clear indicator of how much stronger the Deck was when compared to the one that Mai had used in Battle City. Jounouchi was angered that he wasn't able to get Mai to wake up and seemed concerned about what to do in order to bring our friend back to her senses; those words seemed to attract Mai's attention from the narrowing of her eyes.
"Wake me up? I'm wide awake! Those lot haven't deceived me, nor are they controlling me in any way! With my own will, I've chosen to fight against you!" Mai declared. That was probably the worst thing that she could have said in this situation, that she actually wanted to fight us in this manner, Jounouchi was so shocked that he took a step backwards and both him and Anzu expressed their disbelief, Mai's eyes became downcast as she looked at the floor. "You wouldn't understand… you, who only know how to move forward…," Mai commented.
Mai explained what happened after Battle City; how she kept competing in other tournaments and winning, but it didn't feel satisfying to her and she kept having nightmares of the time that she was trapped in the Shadow Realm at the hands of Marik's evil half. As a result of that toxic combination, the desire to win and the terror of failure, Mai entered into underground Duels which put a person's life on the line as much as a Shadow Game threatened someone's soul.
"But Mai!" I cried. This silenced the woman's words and everyone focused on me as I stared straight at the blonde woman. "What about the medicine I gave you!?" I exclaimed. That was why I'd run off when she'd started to leave us in Battle City.
*Yu-Gi-Oh*
"Um… I just remembered something! Mai! Wait up!" I commented. With those words I took off after the blonde woman and found that she had stopped after turning a corner, she looked down at me with a curious look as I quickly pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled details on both sides of it before holding it out to her. "It's medicine, for the nightmares. I've seen what Penalty Games can do to people, this should help you," I explained. Mai smiled gently and she then reached out to tightly grip the paper.
"Thank you Katherine-chan," Mai admitted. I smiled at the blonde vixen as she turned around and began to walk away, before stopping after a few steps. "If I had a little sister, I'd want her to be like you Katherine-chan," Mai admitted. She then took off and I smiled even wider; turning around I started to head back… whilst directing Jounouchi in the direction that the love of his life was currently heading.
*Yu-Gi-Oh*
"I didn't want to live on your kindness Katherine. I never took the medicine for the nightmares," Mai answered. I felt a rock settle into my stomach as I realised that the combination of everything that happened to her had most likely sent her running right into Doma's arms and resulting in this current predicament. "The things you guys obtained in Battle City… I want that too! The power to never lose as a Duelist! I want to catch up to you guys! I want to beat you all, no matter what!" Mai declared
"I lost!" I screamed. Mai looked at me as I focused through the tears that had bubbled up in my eyes. "I lost! To the same demon you did! My mind was sent to the Shadows as well! If it wasn't for the strength of my Deck, the kindness of my comrades, I'd have never crawled my way back! The Oreichalcos can't give you the strength you want! You have to find the strength inside yourself and your Deck! Only then would you be able to beat us!" I bellowed. I briefly saw Rafael's eyes widen at my words, but I was more focused on Mai.
"You can't understand Katherine! This is the only way! I activate the Magic Card, Harpie Lady – Fenghuang Formation, from my hand! I can destroy as many Monsters my opponent has, as per the number of Harpie Ladies I control when activating this card!" Mai declared. That meant six, a card that could clear an opponent's field in a heartbeat. "Then the sum of the Attack Points of the destroyed Monsters will be deducted from the opponent's Life Points! Go Harpie Lady! Use your wings to destroy all the Monsters!" Mai commanded. The six Harpies leapt into the air.
The six turned into light and formed into a blazing blue bird of fire, with six tails streaming out behind it, it flew into the air before looping down to plough through the three Monsters that Jounouchi had on his field. All three shattered into pixels, the only good thing was that the two Scapegoats had no Attack Points to deal damage to his Life Points, but he was barely clinging on as it was.
Jounouchi – LP: 2200 – LP: 200
"I end my turn!" Mai declared. Jounouchi was at an almost absolute disadvantage, I knew it wasn't going to end this turn, but I was still able to feel my hammering heartbeat as I watched the Duel unfolding before me; Jounouchi was at a serious risk of losing and there was nothing that any of us could do to help.
"Mai has become much stronger since Battle City. And she's betting her all as a Duelist in this battle. That determination already surpasses Jounouchi-kun," Yami stated. Anzu didn't want to believe it but that was the current situation, no matter how much she wanted to blind herself to it; I heard the four above talking about Jounouchi and they were apparently unimpressed but still wanted him sacrificed to this demonic god of theirs.
'Jounouchi… you have to be strong. I'm sure that strength of yours will reach out… but not to Mai. To the dragon still slumbering in ice.' I thought. However, at that moment Jounouchi raised his hand and began to lower it so that it would rest on the top of the Duel Disk, my eyes widened as I realised what the blonde intended to do from that motion as did Mai's own gaze.
"Stop that, Jounouchi-kun!" Yami cried. Those words jerked Jounouchi to a stop which I was grateful for and I waited for the ancient spirit to say whatever he was thinking. "That's the only thing you must not do! That's something that a Duelist betting his everything must never do!" Yami cried. Jounouchi turned around to look at one of his best friends with unwavering yet curious eyes. "You won't save your opponent by giving up on yourself! No… the thing that you're thinking of doing will only tarnish the Duelist's soul!" Yami explained. Those words caused Jounouchi to turn back around but he still pulled his hand back from his Duel Disk causing all of us to sigh in relief.
"Thanks for that, Yami. For stopping me. The thing I have to do now… to really save Mai, what I can do is… my turn! Draw!" Jounouchi declared. He pulled the card free, showing he was going to be continuing this Duel. "Mai! Let me accept your feelings with this card!" Jounouchi insisted.