Author's note: You may have noticed that I'm shortening the Gym battle sequences. That's because they were more important in the beginning of this section, before Yuugi, Benjamin, and Mike were being chased by the Clanners and the Sentinels. These battles, against opponents who wish to kill or capture them, are much more dangerous and therefore more important. So they get more attention. Enjoy!

Chapter 23--Merkshadow Adversary

Yuugi, Benjamin, and Mike entered the Zephryville Gym. To no one but Yuugi's surprise, it was an open-air arena where a flying-type would have the advantage. The Gym Leader stepped out of the shadows at the other end of the room.

"So. New challengers. One Pokemon each--are you ready?"

Benjamin faced the Gym Leader first; he defeated his opponent's Falric (a falcon Pokemon) in about a minute using Taru. The Leader gave him the Kite Badge, shaped like a flacon's outstretched wing, with a smile. Now it was Yuugi's turn. The Leader took out another Pokeball.

"I choose--Pidgeot!" A large brown bird with white feathers on its belley appeared, flapping its wide wings and shaking its crested head. It was large enough to carry a person in flight.

There was a moment of not-quite-silence as Yuugi tried to figure out which of his two Pokemon would be best against Pidgeot.

"Maybe Luminaras? That thing is pretty big, it could flatten Spark..."

Aren't electric types supposed to have an advantage against flying types? Yami asked, not entirely confident in this but wanting to help.

"I'm not sure--what type is that?" Yuugi asked, perplexed; Pokemon battling was still fairly confusing to him.

It's a bird--doesn't that make it flying type? Yami pointed out.

"How should I know? I'll just use Luminaras..." Yuugi said finally, deciding to go with the more experienced battler.

Although Spark would have had an advantage against Pidgeot, Luminaras turned out to be an equally good choice; using its Body Slam, it defeated Pidgeot in a close battle, earning Yuugi a little more battling experience and one shiny new Kite Badge.

With their new badges in hand, Benjamin, Yuugi, and Mike set out for the next town, which, according to Benjamin, was through the Jagged Pass. A short ways outside the town, however, Benjamin stopped.
"What's that?" he said, looking around wildly for what he had sensed.

"That" came swooping downwards and slammed into Yuugi, lifting him off his feet. They did not know that it was a Merkshadow Dragon Sentinel; they only knew that it had come to kill or capture all of them.

Yuugi reflexively shouted, "Curse of Dragon!" --he was so used to Summoning his monsters that he no longer needed to think about it. Even the powerful tan-colored dragon's fire-breathing prowess, however, was too small to stop this beast. Thinking quickly, he added, "Gaia-the-Fierce- Knight-Polymerization!", causing a warrior on horseback to appear. His Polymerization magic reequipped the warrior and dragon to fight as Gaia, Dragon Champion; the horse returned to the Shadow Realm.

Mike, pulling out his crystals, also helped out by adding Draconic armor and the Red-Eyes Black Dragon (in crystal form) to the mix. Yuugi wriggled out of the dragon's grasp and fell to the ground. To everyone's surprise, however, a second dragon swooped out of the sky and grabbed Mike!

Benjamin called to Yuugi, "Send out all of your dragons; we must distract them!" Benjamin and Bikaymon were already activating their own special ability--Bikaymon's Digivolving power. Bikaymon shone with a bright light, rapidly growing through several forms until it reached what looked like a large, four-legged lizard with powerful, fanged jaws and large, bat-like wings.

Yuugi pulled out his deck. Not for nothing was he the Guardian of his World; he had more Summoning magic than all of his friends put together.

"Okay--Koumori Dragon, Winged Guardian of the Fortress, you help out!" he called as a small purple dragon with red-lined wings and red eyes appeared, bearing its fangs. Next to it appeared a larger blue dragon, with a crocodile-like mouth and fierce eyes. "I wish Joey were here--with Red-Eyes Black Dragon, we could Summon the Black Skull Dragon. Wait..." Looking up, he saw Mike's dragon, so bizarrely similar to the card from his own World. "Can I use Polymerization with one of his monsters?"

It's worth a try, Yami said, wishing he could do something to help; he had no Summoning power.
"Okay--Polymerization and Summoned Skull--you too!" Mike's Red Eyes and Yuugi's Summoned Skull vanished, returning to their respective homes, as Polymerization allowed Yuugi to call on the Black Skull Dragon.

Bikaymon (now in his highest evolutionary stage) also joined the fight. Together, they managed to weaken the dragons substantially. The sheer power of their adversaries, however, was beginning to tell.

Bikaymon, running out of energy, was forced to de-volve. Benjamin, having given his partner all of his energy already, was in an even worse state. Mike had escaped from the Merkshadow Dragon Sentinel, but had lost his crystals at some point; a dragon attack is not a good time to search for dropped possessions.

It looks like it's up to us now, Yuugi, Yami said calmly; he was used to saving the day at the last minute.

"But--I already Summoned all of my flying monsters! What else can we do?" Yuugi replied, much more worried. He had no idea what to do next.

Use a magic card, the spirit suggested, not wanting to tell Yuugi what to do but knowing that he had a plan and his partner didn't.

"These monsters absorb magic, remember?" Yuugi pointed out, recalling the last time he had used magic on a Sentinal.

Exactly, Yami said patiently.

"How does that help?"

There are some kinds of magic that just aren't meant to be absorbed.

"Of course--the Dark Hole! Those are Sentinels, which means that they absorb magic. If they absorb the Dark Hole, they'll kill themselves and protect us at the same time!" Yuugi said in dawning comprehension.

Yuugi quickly shuffled through his Deck until he came to the Dark Hole. Holding it up, he said, "I Summon--the Dark Hole!"

Yuugi and Yami were correct--the Merkshadow Dragons attempted to absorb the magic, but because it was such a powerful destructive force, they only succeeded in killing themselves. Just as Yuugi had predicted, the Dark Hole was unable to kill anyone else because it had been absorbed, not fully activated. As Yuugi was returning all of his monsters to their cards, Mike stood up.

"I found my crystals! Now--hey...what happened to those weird dragons?"

Benjamin smiled. "Sorry, Mike--the battle's over. You missed it."

"Aww!"

The three travelers, worn out but happy to be alive, continued onwards. Powerful forces were trying their hardest to stop them from getting the Key--who knew when they would be attacked next?