A.S- Alright everyone! Thanks for the reviews (although you gave me so little)! Here's the next chapter!

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Chapter 16- Friendship's Bonds

Tsurugi raised his blade and… before the sword was brought down something made the wall of the arena explode. Tsurugi stared at the area a while before turning his attention back to Shiro.

"Farewell half-breed!" Before the blade struck a flash of blue light mowed Tsurugi down. As soon as Shiro could see through the clouds of dust he saw a familiar three-tailed fox!

"Zeero?!" called Shiro. The kitsune gave a howl and returned his attention to Tsurugi.

"Where'd this thing crawl out from!?" Zeero's claws began to glow a dark blue, and he charged straight for Tsurugi. Tsurugi tried to block him by using his sword, but when Zeero's claws touched the metal it broke the sword into many pieces. Zeero was way to fast for Tsurugi to keep up with, so it seemed Zeero hand the upper hand. "That does it!" With a blinding flash of light he transformed into his demon form. His eyes were still the same crimson color, his hair was jet black and was spiked, his armor had blades coming from the shoulders.

As soon as Zeero saw this transformation he gave a yelp and fled through the hole that he made earlier in the wall. Tsurugi followed the kitsune followed by the crowd of demons. The gang came down and Akio helped Shiro stand up.

"You okay?" asked Akio.

"Yeah,"

"What made you think you could go against that kind of demon?!" asked Katana.

"The only reason I got beaten up was that I wasn't fighting at my full power," said Shiro calmly. "I knew a certain fox would be coming back, so I can't have all the fun."

"What?!" screamed everyone except Shiro.

"Why are you all surprised?" asked Shiro.

"What would you have done if Zeero hadn't shown up then!?" screamed Mai.

"I don't know… get chopped into pieces I suppose…" (Everyone but Shiro falls over anime-style).

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Zeero (still in demon form) maneuvered his way around the battle terrain with ease while Tsurugi stumbled along the rocks and obstacles. Fox demons can easily get around such obstacles in a battle terrain, so this gives them an advantage over most other demons.

When Zeero got to a plateau he looked around his surroundings, no sign of Tsurugi. Then the ground below him shook, Tsurugi and tunneled under him. Zeero jumped out of the way and faced the enemy. Then the two demons charged at each other colliding in a flash of blue and black light. The gang got out of the coliseum in time to see this flash. Then Zeero flew out of the light and reverted back into his half-demon form, decreasing his power.

"This doesn't look good…" said Katana.

"Obviously you're underestimating Zeero," said Shiro.

"What do you mean?" asked Mai.

"What can a little coward like him do?" questioned Kaiba.

"You haven't see him when he actually puts his mind in the battle. Fox demons have a great reputation as fighters. Zeero just hasn't paid enough attention in battle to fight well," answered Shiro.

Zeero landed in a heap on the ground. He groaned and looked up to see Tsurugi standing over him about to bring his sword down. Zeero gave a yelp and tried to run away, but then he realized that there was a cliff blocking his escape.

"Uh oh…" mumbled Zeero (sweat dropping).

"Looks like you're out of ideas!" said Tsurugi. Tsurugi charges at Zeero with his blade and… "What!?" Zeero not only managed to dodge the attack, but he also succeeded in knocking Tsurugi off balance with a dark whip of black energy he managed to form in his hand.

"Wow! This is the first time I've ever summoned the Dark Whip before! Yeah!" said Zeero obviously very pleased with himself.

"What's so great about that weapon?" asked Yugi.

"The Dark Whip is suppose to be a weapon only used for fox demons, but that's strange…" said Katana.

"What's so strange?" asked Shiro.

"The Dark Whip was only for the leader of the fox demon's and his sons… Zeero can't be one of them!"

"Well, you never know," said Joey.

"I find it very hard to believe," said Shiro. "Why would Zeero be one of the heirs to the fox demon leader? When I first meet him he told me that he was kicked out of his tribe because he drank too much…"

"We can all understand that…" said Tristan.

Meanwhile Zeero and Tsurugi were still facing off against each other. Their eyes never leaving the other. Finally it got so boring Zeero started to yawn.

"Uh, you can attack anytime now…" said the bored kitsune.

"Why you cocky little!"

Tsurugi charged towards to fox, but Zeero used his speed to get away from the attacks.

"Dark Whiplash!"

Zeero's attack missed Tsurugi by a few meters, but it did disconnect the cliff from the rest of the ground.

"Aiee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Zeero desperately jumping from rock to rock trying to get back on solid ground again. When he was back on solid ground he panted and didn't see Tsurugi anywhere. "Opps! Didn't mean to do that!"

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"I don't believe it!" muttered Tsurugi in a deep crevasse (he had fell into there when Zeero accidentally sliced off the cliff. "How could I have been defeated by that feather-brain of a fox-demon!" Footsteps came his way and he turned around to see Kuro walking towards him.

"I can believe that you've been defeated by that demon, you didn't even realize that you were just a tool!" said Kuro.

"What?!"

"We were just using you to wear down the half-breed so that he'll be easy prey afterwards. But since you lost to that fox-demon you've let them all escape. Now prepare for your punishment!"

Tsurugi's piercing scream rang out in the darkness of the crevasse. Then Kuro jumped out of the darkness and headed towards the temple of skulls that had just come floating down.

"I was hoping you'd come, Kariudo." said Kuro. Kariudo bowed low.

"What have you called me here for?"

"I want you to find the last to remaining gates to Earth. Make sure those kids don't destroy them otherwise there will be no way for us to find the Gateway of Destruction!"

"Of course…"

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Next time on Heart of a Demon: This is Yami, every time we think we know just about everything there is to know about the Sonraku gang they always have a darker secret hidden beneath them. Now we have to find the remaining two doors to Earth and destroy them before those other demons can get their hands on the Gateway of Destruction. But many obstacles lie in our way as we head towards the town where the next door is suppose to be. What's with all the fox demons here anyways? What! They're Zeero's old tribe?! Next time: Chapter 17- The Tournament of Honor. See you soon.

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A.S- What do you think? If I don't get anymore reviews I might as well end this story. So give me reviews!

Zeero- What's the Tournament of Honor anyways?

Shiro- Zeero! You're a fox demon! You should know!

Zeero- So what?!

A.S- You'll learn about it in the next chapter!