Everything
By: ChocolateEclar
Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or anything that has to do with the anime/manga.
Claimer: I fully own Ichidou Yachitose and her family, Mrs. Suteki Iyashii, Suteki's deceased father and mother, Ryougi, Karei, Sumizome, Komayaka Mada-Tafunesu, Ke-ki and her gang, Miss Jishi, Nenriki "Riki," Tomobito, Kurisutaru "Kuri" Susume, and Nekura Kyouran. Please don't use them in any form without my permission.
To silver swan1: Not exactly my strong point if my predictions are correct, but yes, there will by future dueling scenes. I tried to give a little foreshadowing with Ichidou and Yami little conversation about him teaching her if she wanted in the last chapter. By the way, I'm so glad you liked chapter six. ^__^
A/N: Is it just me or is this story getting nowhere fast? *laughs* Either way, I'm definitely going to start including dueling scenes, confrontations among the trio, and more of how Yami and Ichidou are gradually strengthening the link connecting them as yami and host. As for my yami and me *sighs* that's another thing altogether.
Iyami: Naturally. Why would I willingly strength a link with you?
Choccy: =P Just remember, unlike a certain white-haired guy and his yami, I have control over you instead of the other way 'round.
Iyami: *shuffles away mumbling and giving Choc dark looks*
Choccy: Anyway, as I was saying, this story will be taking a more energized pace from now on otherwise it'll never end and, as much as I don't mind that, it needs some kind of closure after awhile.
A/N 2: Since I'm not a terribly good duelist I had to do loads of research to make sure I didn't break any rules in this chapter's duel. Of course, I still could've knowing me, so if I did let me know. As for the cards themselves, I tried to use the Japanese names of the cards but if I didn't on some let me know about that too. Anyhow, here's chapter seven…
Duel Seven: Mysteries & Mock DuelsOver the next few days Ichidou did not even register the fact that both her best friends were acting differently. Instead, she was caught quite firmly between protecting the Millennium Puzzle and hanging out with Riki. Sometimes Kuri would come with them and they would go to the movies or the mall, but most of the time, or what Ichidou thought was such, Riki was with her.
As for Yami, he would alternate between lounging in one place for days to pacing the volumes of rooms in his soul chamber restlessly. Once every other day for a couple of hours he would sit with Ichidou in her cozy little soul room, assisting her in sorting through her collection of Duel Monsters cards. He would comment on any card he thought it would help to acquire, his tone mild and soothing. Ichidou was calm and serious while she listened, querying every now and then about what purpose a new card could achieve.
On the third day of their doing such, Yami suggested that they have a mock duel. Dividing the cards between them, Ichidou smirked at him in challenge. Both of them shuffled their halves of the deck and then each others. When that was done they each drew six cards and analyzed them. Ichidou went first, placing The Illusionary Gentleman card in attack mode on the field and setting another card facedown. Since she had gone first, she couldn't strike, so it was Yami's turn.
After a moment he said, "I'll place Marie the Fallen One in defense mode and place this card facedown."
Ichidou studied her opponent's winged creature, Marie the Fallen One, attempting to recall what its effect was. She had an inkling it had something to do with Yami's Life Points. She shrugged and drew a card. 'Hmm,' she thought. 'Newdoria.' Perfect… When its sent to the Graveyard I can select any monster on the field and destroy it.' "I'll place this card facedown and end my turn," said Ichidou.
"Being cautious I see," whispered Yami, drawing a card. Ichidou gave him a cocky smile. "Go, Black Magician Girl, in attack mode," he commanded after a brief pause. The monster appeared in the next instant, tall in pink and blue, her staff poised, ready to strike. "Black Magician Girl, attack The Illusionary Gentleman!" yelled Yami.
"I activate Magic Cylinder!" Ichidou yelped. The Black Magician Girl's attack was negated and Ichidou chuckled as the value of Black Magician Girl's attack points were subtracted from Yami's Life Points.
"Your turn," Yami said evenly.
Ichidou drew a card and positioned Melkid the Four-Faced Beast in attack mode. "Melkid attack Marie the Fallen One!" she called out. With Marie the Fallen One in defense mode no points were deducted from Yami's Life Points as she was destroyed. The Pharaoh himself looked unflustered at the fact that half his Life Points had gone with Ichidou's use of Magic Cylinder as he drew a card.
Ichidou's eyes widened as his Life Points increased by two hundred. "Nani?!" she gasped.
"As long as Marie the Fallen One's in my Graveyard I'll gain two hundred Life Points every turn," explained Yami as he placed The Earl of Demise on the field in attack mode.
"Damn," muttered Ichidou.
"Now, Earl of Demise attack Melkid the Four-Faced Beast!" shouted Yami.
Ichidou frowned as five hundred Life Points were subtracted from her. 'So Yami has two thousand and I have three thousand five hundred left,' she thought. She suddenly realized something, 'I know what I need to turn this around!' She drew a card, hoping fiercely for to extract the card she wanted. She drew Jar of Greed and smirked. 'Let's try again,' she said, using the card's effect to allow her to draw another card.
She slapped Change of Heart onto the field. "I'll use Change of Heart to take control of the Black Magician Girl!" The enchantress's eyes turned blank and she switched sides. "Black Magician Girl, attack the Earl of Demise!" Ichidou grinned and said, "Both have equal attack points so they're both destroyed, a fact that I can't say I mind considering neither monster was mine."
"Hmm," Yami mumbled, drawing a card. He smirked as two hundred points were added since Marie the Fallen One was still in his Graveyard and yelled, "Go Black Magician, attack The Illusionary Gentleman!"
Ichidou grunted as The Illusionary Gentleman vanished and five hundred of her Life Points were deducted. 'Grrrr, all I have left is Newdoria…' she realized. She drew Worm Drake, a gruesome green beast with an eye in its month. 'Here goes nothing.' She placed the card in defense mode on the field and ended her turn.
Two hundred Life Points were added after Yami drew a card. "I'll put Luster Dragon in attack mode! Luster Dragon, attack the facedown card!" The bluish green reptile struck Ichidou's Newdoria, who vanished in a mini flare of radiance.
"I'll use Newdoria's special effect to destroy your Black Magician!" screamed Ichidou.
Yami eyed her impassively and said, "Your turn again."
"Alright," said Ichidou as she drew a card from her half of the deck. "I'll play The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams in defense mode," she added.
Yami's Life Points increased again. "I'll activate my facedown card, the Book of Taiyou!" he exclaimed. "It'll switch your Ghost from defense to attack mode."
Ichidou frowned as her monster did as he said.
"Luster Dragon, attack The Gross Ghost!" yelled the King of Games.
As The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams was obliterated, Ichidou lost eleven hundred Life Points to her chagrin. 'I don't have any cards on the field,' she grumbled. She drew Monster Reborn and her frown switched into a smirk. "Time to revive Black Magician Girl with Monster Reborn!" In a flash of illumination the Black Magician Girl had returned. "She gets a three hundred point bonus for each Black Magician in the Graveyard so now she's got two thousand three hundred attack points," said Ichidou merrily.
"It's a pity it isn't enough to beat my Luster Dragon," Yami remarked wryly.
"Ack! No! I didn't think!" Ichidou gasped.
"And you summoned her in attack mode and you can't change that until your next turn, but, unfortunately, it'll be too late by then," continued Yami, drawing a card and receiving his two hundred Life Points bonus.
"I'm such a moron! Argh! What an amateur mistake!" Ichidou said despairingly.
"Now I'll use the Bottomless Trap Hole to destroy the Black Magician Girl," said the Pharaoh, placing down the card he had drawn, "and attack with my Luster Dragon!"
With nothing to guard her Life Points, Ichidou's remaining one thousand nine hundred diminished to zero, ending the game. Ichidou sighed dejectedly and muttered, "You still had three thousand Life Points. I so suck at this."
"It wasn't that terrible," claimed Yami, walking over to his aibou. "It would be easier if you remembered what your own card's effects were, like with Marie the Fallen One, and usually you will have a full deck. But, otherwise you did fine. You just need practice."
"I suppose so," Ichidou murmured as Yami returned her cards.
************************************************************************
Over the following week, Yami and Ichidou had several pseudo duels. All of which, Ichidou lost. 'Atleast,' she mushed at one point, 'I'm losing by less than I used to. 'Only a thousand points.'
She was gradually assembling the courage to ask Riki to go to the school masquerade party with her. Riki, Kuri, and Ichidou had always met each other there, but never as dates. One day Ichidou questioned as casually as she could, "You goin' to the party, Riki?"
"Yea," was her reply.
"What are ya dressing up as this year?"
"'Pirate, mate."
"Oh. Okay. Cool. I'm gonna be Cleopatra," said Ichidou, thinking of her inspiration, the King of Games himself.
"Nice," said Kuri, sitting at the lunch table with a brown paper bag with red stars doodled on it. "I'm gonna be a vamp," she added as she took a banana sandwich out of her sack.
"Awesome," said Ichidou, grinning. The moment to talk to Riki about going with her to the party was gone so she moved onto another topic of conversation.
************************************************************************
"I'm such a coward," Ichidou grunted the night of the masquerade bash as she stood before the mirror above her dresser, gazing at the costume she was adorned in. "I should've asked Riki and now look. The party starts in a half an hour and here I am dateless as usual."
Her outfit was a long white dress with long flowing sleeves and a sort of thin, blue see-through vest that was tucked into a belt of the same material around her waist. In the center of the belt was a golden scarab and encircling her neck was a thick collar with rows of circular and diamond shaped jewels of crimson, azure, and jade.
She had outlined her eyes in thick, black eyeliner and painted her lips a deep ruby with a heavy layer of rouge. Her feet were encased in golden sandals and her brunette tresses had been placed in braids to make them wavy and stiff. Now the braids were gone causing her thick hair to form a curvy triangle around her face. Encircling her skull was an aureate headband with a golden snake extended from its center with emerald green eyes.
She couldn't help but grin notwithstanding her earlier statement. She felt like Cleopatra even if she didn't truly look like the Egyptian queen. 'Maybe next year I'll ask Riki, or some other hot guy perhaps, to go with me?' she thought. She turned around and went over to her bed where she had set the Millennium Puzzle. Anzu's comment to Yami of "…now you share a teenage girl's body" had unnerved her and as such now when she slept and when she dressed she took off the Puzzle and made sure it was far away. On the first night she had tried this by simply resting the Puzzle beside her bed only to discover that half the link between herself and Yami could still click into place from that distance.
Ichidou placed the Puzzle around her neck. 'After all, it is a real Egyptian artifact and I'm pretending to be Cleopatra so it fits perfectly,' she thought.
"Hey, Yami?" she asked her aibou, appearing before the Pharaoh's soul room door, but still standing by her bed in veracity.
"Yes, Ichidou?" Yami inquired, as the door opened before Ichidou to reveal the King of Games standing in the darkness.
"Remember that party I told you about?" said Ichidou. "Well, I'm goin' there now. I'll take you with if you want."
"Very well. I would like that," Yami said neutrally.
Ichidou nodded and shut the door. 'Party time,' she thought, smirking.
************************************************************************
A/N: If you're wondering, Ichidou's attire is based on my own Halloween costume. ^__^
Iyami: I highly doubt they were.
Choccy: You're no fun.
Iyami: -__-
A/N 2: Once again, I had to do loads of research to do that little duel scene in this chapter. But if I did anything wrong please let me know. I've compiled Ichidou's entire deck in my notes, which I had to look at frequently.
A/N 3: Here's a little note on what the next chapter features:
Ichidou's arrives at the masquerade party only to find her crush with…someone else. Distraught, but trying to keep cool, Ichidou is already weary when she bumps into Mrs. Suteki Iyashii…
A/N 4: Now, see that little button towards the bottom of the page? Click on it and review! ^__^ Please? ^_^_^_^_^
Cineris: *chir-urp!*
Iyami: *mumbling something like "What am I? Flypaper for freaks!?"*
Choccy: *dark glare* Very funny, Iyami. ^_______^ Bye!
