The Stones of Fate
Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfiction Series by Cosmic Jester
Story One: The Lonely Child
Note from Jester: Is there really a small, lighted park near the Game Shop? I have no bloody idea. Let's just pretend there is for the purposes of this story.... unless you want this to take a lot longer. And I mean a LOT longer. The Japanese names for the cards are being used, but for those that don't know them that well or can't tell what they are a guide is in the end notes.
Chapter Three: Opponent (Part 1)
The moon had risen over Domino City by the time the three teens stepped out of the Game Shop. Yugi led the way as he excitedly explained to the American how to use a duel disk. "Your deck goes in there, and your graveyard is there. There's a slot that extends for a field spell card."
"The rest is pretty self-explanatory, Yugi-san." Sumiko giggled faintly. "I can handle it." Sheepishly the short teen scratched the back of his head. "Gomen. I just get excited."
As they turned into the small park she struggled out of her uniform's jacket and tied it around her waist. "Mou, that's so much better." She smoothed out her sleeves before beginning to rummage through her small purse. "It's a lot warmer here than I'm used to."
While walking to one side of the park Jonouchi pressed a button on the top of his Disk. There was a soft high-tech whirring sound before the disk activated in 'edit options' mode. "The deal was eight thousand Life Points, right?"
"Uh-huh," agreed his opponent. She turned her eerie golden green eyes to gaze intensely at Yugi's violet ones. "May I borrow the Duel Disk, please?"
"Oh! Right!" In his excitement of a prospective new dueling challenge for both of his selves Yugi had forgotten that he was still wearing his own disk. "I'll set the Life Points to eight thousand for you," he said as he turned it on and began tapping buttons.
"Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Yugi-san."
Honey eyes narrowed slightly across the field as Jonouchi watched one of his best friends slide the disk onto Matsura's arm. He busied himself with shuffling his deck, looking away from the sight of Yugi helping her. Why on earth did it bother him so much?
"...See? It slips on like this and automatically adjusts to the size of your arm when you touch this button." After obediently pressing it the girl gave a soft yelp accompanied a wince as the armband tightened around her left forearm. Sumiko took a calming deep breath as alarm filled gentle violet eyes. "What is it?" He reached out to her, concerned for his new friend.
She withdrew from his approaching touch. "It's nothing," she lied. Her eyes were artfully guileless as she spoke. "It just startled me is all."
Yugi wavered, then nodded slowly. He grinned at her and carefully removed his deck from the slot in his disk then pointed to a spot roughly ten yards away from Jonouchi. "Go there, put your deck in, then point at Jou and push that same button again."
A side benefit of dueling in this park was that the spectators could sit at a safe distance on a bench or in a swing located approximately at the middle of the dueling arena. As Sumiko walked to the indicated spot, following the directions given to her Yugi climbed up into one, noting with mild irritation that his feet still didn't touch the gravel. Yami quietly spoke in Yugi's mind.
[She was lying. It really did hurt her.]
{I know.}
[You aren't going to call her on it?]
{No. She'll tell us when she's ready.}
Yami sighed inwardly. His lighter half could be far too trusting. [I'm going to split off so I can watch first-hand.]
{Go ahead. You don't need permission, you know.}
The eye on Yugi's Puzzle flashed briefly and the Pharaoh appeared beside him, clad in what appeared to be black leather with a broad steel ring at his chest and several buckles extending from it. A short cape trailed behind him in a slight breeze as he stood there.
Most humans, except Yugi, couldn't see Yami, who was leaning back against the swing set's pole. Jonouchi, however, through long association and friendship with his friend's dark side could see him translucently, like a ghost. Jou nodded at the spiky-haired pair to acknowledge their presence but did not address the Duel King in their new friend's company.
Sumiko slid her deck into the slot and hesitantly pointed it at Jonouchi. "So I just push this, and..." She yelped when the two holographic projectors shot out and settled into place.
"Right, now I do the same." Jou followed suit, his projectors completing the arena. His honey eyes met jade, and he smirked. "Let's go."
She smiled at him across the small field. "Shall we jan-ken-pon for the first turn?"
"Nah, you go first if you want." He grinned. 'She'll need all the help she can get.'
"Thank you. May I look at my first five cards before I decide?"
"Go ahead."
She beamed a smile at him as she drew from the top of her deck, mentally tallying each card as it was drawn. 'Blessed Rain. Troop Dragon. Simochi Allergy. Goblin Berries. Bottomless Pit. Not a bad first hand.' Aloud she said, "I would prefer the first turn, since you gave me my choice."
"Okay." He flashed her a wink. "Then let's duel!"
After waiting for him to draw his own starting hand Sumiko drew her sixth card. The match was on, and Jou's opponent was smiling.
She spoke in a clear voice. "First I'll set a card, and place a monster in face-down defense position." She blinked, surprised, when face- down holograms of her Troop Dragon, and Simochi Allergy cards appeared before her. "Wow! Neat!"
Jonouchi grinned. "Just wait." His brown eyes sparked as he drew then looked over his hand. 'Demon Hunter, Armor Lizard, Shield and Sword, Angel's Dice, Baby Dragon, an' Landostar Swordsman. Pretty good.' "Alright. I'll summon Armor Lizard in attack mode," he announced as he slapped the card down onto the space on his duel disk.
Yugi calmly watched as the bipedal alligator appeared in flares of light. It was a bold move, but that was typical of his friend's dueling style.
The other duelist on the other hand gasped in surprise. "Oh my goodness! It's so real!"
The Lizard watched her every movement, its tongue snaking out to tease its sneering lips. His master grinned. "Attack her monster," he commanded.
Sumiko yelped and instinctively leapt back from the charging reptile's downward slash, landing wide-eyed on her rear with a soft grunt as the holographic blade sliced through her monster card. The card exploded with light, and a bipedal dragon wearing full combat armor with his shield raised up defensively flashed briefly where the card had been before shattered into glowing virtual dust which faded quickly.
Jonouchi sprinted across the battlefield and helped the shaken girl to her feet. "Are you alright?"
She dusted off the back of her skirt, silent for a moment. With her head tipped downward her long bangs made shadows over her eyes, but he saw a smirk turn her lips up. "I'm fine, just got startled by how real it looks. I can deal with it now."
With a nod Jonouchi turned and jogged back to his place while Sumiko picked the monster card off her disk and slid it into the graveyard. "By destroying my Dragon you activated its effect." Delicately manicured fingers tugged her deck from its place and she began searching through it. "I get another of them immediately, in my choice of attack or defense positions."
Yugi nodded thoughtfully from his seat at the sidelines. "That's a useful creature to have."
"Indeed." She sent a smile at him as she selected a card and slapped it face-up in defense mode. A humanlike green and brown dragon clad in mail made of leather and chain appeared before her. Unlike the previous dragon he bore two swords instead of one and a shield, and he crossed the two in front of himself in a defensive stance. As she shuffled her deck Sumiko called to her opponent. "Is your turn over?"
"Sure, I'll end." He gave her a thumbs-up. "Sorry about scaring you earlier."
She nodded and put her deck back in its slot as her soft lips turned up into a vicious smirk. 'It's your turn to be scared, little fool.' Her eyes sparkled when she drew a second Blessed Rain. She glanced from her hand to her opponent. 'Hmm. Should I play them now, or wait for him to use a healing card first?'
Jonouchi scratched his nose.
'Pheh,' she thought, deciding. 'He's not smart enough to have something like 'Goddess of Healing' in his deck. His type is all about brutal attacks. So then...'
Sumiko smiled sweetly at the boy, her sapphire blue eyes sparkling. "I will now play one of my favorite spell cards—Blessed Rain!" She set the spell in the slot beside her set trap. The green card appeared on the field, standing impossibly on its end. As the imaging system simulated a gentle rain falling onto the field the duelist spoke again, explaining the card's effect. "This spell boosts both of our Life Points by one thousand." Small sprouts grew on the virtual field as the clouds parted and Jonouchi glanced down at his Life Point display to confirm the girl's statement.
{Huh? What's she up to?} Yugi watched the wonderful hologram, confused.
Yami could only shake his head. [I don't know either.]
{Whatever it is, she's got to have some kind of plan.}
His other half agreed silently.
Jou's eyes narrowed as his Points remained constant while the tiny display of hers above them rolled upwards. "Hey, what gives? You said it boosts both of our Life Points! Mine did nothing!" He turned to look at his opponent suspiciously.
A smug grin appeared on her lips. "Simple. That spell triggered my trap." She flipped the card over on her disk, causing the image to flip up and reveal its image of a shivering woman surrounded by shimmering, vicious- looking ghosts. "Behold 'Simochi Allergy'! It turns increases to my opponent's Life Points to decreases!"
[So *that's* it,] Yami said, knowing noone but Yugi could hear him. [She wasn't helping him at all.]
The virtual card flashed, vanishing save the spirits that flew at Jou and surrounded him. He swiped uselessly at them as they created a smoky aura around his body. After a moment they seemed to vanish inside his form and his Life Points incremented downward by a thousand at that same moment.
He watched his opponent sedately pull her spell card off the disk and into her graveyard. She smiled across the field at the blonde. "I'll set another card," she said as she placed her Bottomless Pit facedown where her Rain had been played, "and end my turn." The image appeared in a shimmer of light as she chuckled softly.
Jonouchi drew and glanced as his new card. 'Bottomless Pit, eh? This'll be good.' He set the trap, and placed a monster, then spoke. "I'll set this card and put one monster facedown." His Baby Dragon and trap cards appeared as he spoke. "Armor Lizard, attack her Troop Dragon now!"
Sumiko frowned as her second dragon was 'killed' by the beast. "Alright then," she muttered as she peeked through her deck for the third. After placing it in defense position she began shuffling her cards. Another mail-clad dragon appeared, this one with a spear and shield, and he took a stance, protecting his Mistress. "My turn now?"
"Go ahead."
The girl drew and her frown turned into a grin when she saw her new card. "Just what I was hoping for." Sending a smirk across the field at Jou she spoke smugly. "Your Armor Lizard is about to have a 'Change of Heart'." She played the rare card, causing the reptile to vanish and reappear on her side next to her dragon. "I don't really want to keep this ugly thing, but I certainly don't want to give it back to you. So I'll sacrifice it to place this monster in defense position." She laughed heartily at the expression on her opponent's face as she set the card she drew on her first turn.
"That's not fair! That was MY monster!"
Sapphire eyes sparkled as she cleared the spell card off her disk and into her graveyard. "Yes, but thanks to Change of Heart it was mine for this turn, and I could do with it as I pleased. That includes sacrificing it to strengthen my field position and weaken yours." She smirked at him smugly. "I'll end, since my Dragon isn't very powerful and I don't trust that monster you have down."
[He's going to have to be careful,] Yami said thoughtfully. [Sumiko's better than I thought she'd be.]
{Jonouchi's not going to roll over. He's a strong duelist.}
'Man,' Jonouchi thought as he clenched his teeth and drew. 'I seriously underestimated this chick.' When he saw his card, however, he almost jumped around. "Al-RIGHT! Talk about lucky breaks!" He turned back to Sumiko. "First I'll flip-summon my Baby Dragon into attack mode!"
Yugi grinned and Yami nodded at their friend as the cute orange dragon appeared, knowing what was to come. Sumiko cursed under her breath; Baby Dragon was too weak to activate her trap.
"Next I'll summon Time Magician in attack mode!"
Perplexed, Sumiko called across the field. "Why the hell did you do *that*?" The bright red and blue stopwatch-like monster formed as she spoke. "Time Magician has five hundred attack points!"
Jonouchi grinned. "Don't worry, I'll show you. Time Magician! Activate!"
There was a loud beep as the dial on the spellcaster's staff began to spin wildly. Under the intense gazes of the three teens the pointer slid round and round, landing on...
"ALRIGHT!" Jonouchi whooped and pumped a fist in the air. The dial had stopped pointing straight up at a little tower. "Time Warp time!" "Time Magic!" intoned the small mechanical wizard as he spun around once, waving his staff over the field. While the facedown cards remained untouched, the two dragons aged rapidly, much to the surprise of Sumiko. "Meet Thousand Dragon," yelled Jonouchi triumphantly as the grandfatherly monster took a hulking step forward.
"Interesting," spoke his opponent after a moment. "I've never seen anyone use Time Magician that way, to intentionally age their own monsters." She grinned at him. "My own dragon might have gotten a bit stronger too, but it's no match for your grown-up Baby Dragon!" Nodding her approval, she added, "That was a great move, Jonouchi-kun!"
The blonde all but preened under the praise. "Thousand Dragon, take out her last Troop Dragon!"
The monster roared and slashed down, destroying his adversary with ease.
Sighing faintly, though with a smile on her lips, Sumiko pulled the card off the field as her eyes sparkled excitedly at the prospect of a challenge. "Guess it's time for me to get serious." She drew once more. "Well, shit. I can't use this right now so I'll set it alongside my trap and end," she murmured as the card shimmered into place.
Jou drew and immediately summoned the monster. "Now I'll summon Iron Knight Gearfreed in attack mode!"
"No you won't." Sumiko pointed a finger at him with a smirk on her lips. "I activate Bottomless Pit and remove him from the game!" Manicured fingers flipped the trap face-up.
The boys watched in horror as the ground under Gearfreed opened with a loud, thunderous crack, sending the struggling Knight down into oblivion.
"Okay," Jou muttered to himself. "Let's attack, then." Commandingly he spoke to his monster. "Thousand Dragon! Smash her face-down monster now!"
Cool blue eyes watched calmly as the giant beast drew up onto its back legs and brought its front claws down onto her monster, shattering it into millions of shards of light--that reformed into a twenty-foot wall in front of her and sent Thousand Dragon flying backwards.
"What the HELL is that?!" Jou hardly noticed his Life Points increment down by six hundred as his elderly monster slowly rose to its feet.
"A Labyrinth Wall," Sumiko smirked. "With 3000 defense points your 2400 attack power dragon can't break it."
Indeed, on closer inspection Jonouchi recognized the opening to the labyrinth he and Yami had once had to duel in. The giant wall of solid rock sank down into the earth so Sumiko could once more be seen. He frowned and mumbled, "I'll end."
"What's the matter," she taunted, her left hand carefully on her hip so as not to crush her cards. "What happened to 'I came in second at Duelist Kingdom'?" Her right went to feign hiding a yawn as she tossed her head. "And here I was hoping for a challenge."
The blond growled. "Just you wait," he promised. "On my next turn you'll be eating those words."
"Mm, doubtful." Her voice was dismissive and arrogant as she drew a card, her lips curled in a smirk reminiscent of a certain CEO. "You won't last more than a dozen turns." She glanced at what she drew and laughed darkly. "Especially considering I just drew the next part of my favorite combo. I summon Big Bang Girl to the field!"
As the card was set in its space the field in front of the duelist erupted into a vortex of flame. A beautiful princess in burning crimson robes emerged like a phoenix from the inferno that faded behind her. She herself was a living flame, burning but never being consumed, beautiful and horrible to behold. The sleeves of her attire were trimmed with runes embroidered in gold thread. She wore a simple diadem to show her rank, and had branch-like metal combs tucked in her hair. Two gold bracelets clicked delicately at each wrist as she brandished her staff of twisted, unburning wood. The fiery princess looked over her right shoulder at the one that called her forth, awaiting command.
Peering around the corner of a tall, broad tree at the edge of the small park was, in absolute silence, a man wearing pure white. As the duel progressed he watched the female competitor with intense but unreadable kohled eyes shadowed by the turban on his head. Her aura had drawn him to her yet again; it was dual-natured with one side being white edged in silver and other vibrant colors in ever-changing energetic patterns, and the other was black, gold, and almost sharp at the edges. It was far too similar to a certain blond Egyptian holder of a Millennium Item's aura for Shadi to leave uninvestigated, and perhaps... unjudged.
)TO BE CONTINUED(
[Yugi's voice:] Next time, the duel continues as Yami Shadi and I watch from the sidelines. Wait a sec, Shadi's here? That's never a good sign. Why's he so interested in Sumiko-san? Things are started to get weird. Even for Domino City!
Author Notes: Don't hurt me! I didn't want to leave off here with a cliffhanger-type deal, but the word count was getting up there, and a duel isn't exactly as fun a read as the rest of the stuff in this little fic. That, and several people have been sending me threats of bashing about the head with various objects if I didn't update at least one story by today.
Sumiko's deck is based on one of my own; one of my favorites in fact. Her cards are Japanese, which is why I used their Japanese names, but the effects are the same. I like to think it's pretty obvious what's what in the American. It would have been wise to give Sumiko-chan American cards, however there was just too much room for later plotline development for me to do that. How she got her extensive collection will be explained later [and yes, there is a very good reason how she got it].
The duel between Sumiko and Jou was a real duel between two actual decks. Jonouchi's deck was simulated using a random number generator, arrays, a list of cards in "Jonouchi Structure Deck 2", and much hair pulling. It was odd to do, but I'm pleased with the result. So yes, the duel was left to "the Heart of the Cards" as it were.
For those that aren't keeping track, the score is 9000-6400 in Sumiko's favor.
Here's a list, for those of you who didn't figure out from my hidden hints what the cards are in English, in order of their names being used:
Japanese Name // American Name
Blessed Rain // Rain of Mercy
Simochi Allergy // Bad Reaction to Simochi
Goblin Berries // Goblin's Secret Remedy
Bottomless Pit // Bottomless Trap Hole
Demon Hunter // Kojikocy
Armor Lizard // Armored Lizard
Angel's Dice // Graceful Dice
Landostar Swordsman // Swordsman of Landstar
Goddess of Healing - Dian Keto // Dian Keto the Curemaster
Time Magician // Time Wizard
Iron Knight Gearfreed // Gearfried the Iron Knight
Big Bang Girl // Fire Princess
Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfiction Series by Cosmic Jester
Story One: The Lonely Child
Note from Jester: Is there really a small, lighted park near the Game Shop? I have no bloody idea. Let's just pretend there is for the purposes of this story.... unless you want this to take a lot longer. And I mean a LOT longer. The Japanese names for the cards are being used, but for those that don't know them that well or can't tell what they are a guide is in the end notes.
Chapter Three: Opponent (Part 1)
The moon had risen over Domino City by the time the three teens stepped out of the Game Shop. Yugi led the way as he excitedly explained to the American how to use a duel disk. "Your deck goes in there, and your graveyard is there. There's a slot that extends for a field spell card."
"The rest is pretty self-explanatory, Yugi-san." Sumiko giggled faintly. "I can handle it." Sheepishly the short teen scratched the back of his head. "Gomen. I just get excited."
As they turned into the small park she struggled out of her uniform's jacket and tied it around her waist. "Mou, that's so much better." She smoothed out her sleeves before beginning to rummage through her small purse. "It's a lot warmer here than I'm used to."
While walking to one side of the park Jonouchi pressed a button on the top of his Disk. There was a soft high-tech whirring sound before the disk activated in 'edit options' mode. "The deal was eight thousand Life Points, right?"
"Uh-huh," agreed his opponent. She turned her eerie golden green eyes to gaze intensely at Yugi's violet ones. "May I borrow the Duel Disk, please?"
"Oh! Right!" In his excitement of a prospective new dueling challenge for both of his selves Yugi had forgotten that he was still wearing his own disk. "I'll set the Life Points to eight thousand for you," he said as he turned it on and began tapping buttons.
"Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Yugi-san."
Honey eyes narrowed slightly across the field as Jonouchi watched one of his best friends slide the disk onto Matsura's arm. He busied himself with shuffling his deck, looking away from the sight of Yugi helping her. Why on earth did it bother him so much?
"...See? It slips on like this and automatically adjusts to the size of your arm when you touch this button." After obediently pressing it the girl gave a soft yelp accompanied a wince as the armband tightened around her left forearm. Sumiko took a calming deep breath as alarm filled gentle violet eyes. "What is it?" He reached out to her, concerned for his new friend.
She withdrew from his approaching touch. "It's nothing," she lied. Her eyes were artfully guileless as she spoke. "It just startled me is all."
Yugi wavered, then nodded slowly. He grinned at her and carefully removed his deck from the slot in his disk then pointed to a spot roughly ten yards away from Jonouchi. "Go there, put your deck in, then point at Jou and push that same button again."
A side benefit of dueling in this park was that the spectators could sit at a safe distance on a bench or in a swing located approximately at the middle of the dueling arena. As Sumiko walked to the indicated spot, following the directions given to her Yugi climbed up into one, noting with mild irritation that his feet still didn't touch the gravel. Yami quietly spoke in Yugi's mind.
[She was lying. It really did hurt her.]
{I know.}
[You aren't going to call her on it?]
{No. She'll tell us when she's ready.}
Yami sighed inwardly. His lighter half could be far too trusting. [I'm going to split off so I can watch first-hand.]
{Go ahead. You don't need permission, you know.}
The eye on Yugi's Puzzle flashed briefly and the Pharaoh appeared beside him, clad in what appeared to be black leather with a broad steel ring at his chest and several buckles extending from it. A short cape trailed behind him in a slight breeze as he stood there.
Most humans, except Yugi, couldn't see Yami, who was leaning back against the swing set's pole. Jonouchi, however, through long association and friendship with his friend's dark side could see him translucently, like a ghost. Jou nodded at the spiky-haired pair to acknowledge their presence but did not address the Duel King in their new friend's company.
Sumiko slid her deck into the slot and hesitantly pointed it at Jonouchi. "So I just push this, and..." She yelped when the two holographic projectors shot out and settled into place.
"Right, now I do the same." Jou followed suit, his projectors completing the arena. His honey eyes met jade, and he smirked. "Let's go."
She smiled at him across the small field. "Shall we jan-ken-pon for the first turn?"
"Nah, you go first if you want." He grinned. 'She'll need all the help she can get.'
"Thank you. May I look at my first five cards before I decide?"
"Go ahead."
She beamed a smile at him as she drew from the top of her deck, mentally tallying each card as it was drawn. 'Blessed Rain. Troop Dragon. Simochi Allergy. Goblin Berries. Bottomless Pit. Not a bad first hand.' Aloud she said, "I would prefer the first turn, since you gave me my choice."
"Okay." He flashed her a wink. "Then let's duel!"
After waiting for him to draw his own starting hand Sumiko drew her sixth card. The match was on, and Jou's opponent was smiling.
She spoke in a clear voice. "First I'll set a card, and place a monster in face-down defense position." She blinked, surprised, when face- down holograms of her Troop Dragon, and Simochi Allergy cards appeared before her. "Wow! Neat!"
Jonouchi grinned. "Just wait." His brown eyes sparked as he drew then looked over his hand. 'Demon Hunter, Armor Lizard, Shield and Sword, Angel's Dice, Baby Dragon, an' Landostar Swordsman. Pretty good.' "Alright. I'll summon Armor Lizard in attack mode," he announced as he slapped the card down onto the space on his duel disk.
Yugi calmly watched as the bipedal alligator appeared in flares of light. It was a bold move, but that was typical of his friend's dueling style.
The other duelist on the other hand gasped in surprise. "Oh my goodness! It's so real!"
The Lizard watched her every movement, its tongue snaking out to tease its sneering lips. His master grinned. "Attack her monster," he commanded.
Sumiko yelped and instinctively leapt back from the charging reptile's downward slash, landing wide-eyed on her rear with a soft grunt as the holographic blade sliced through her monster card. The card exploded with light, and a bipedal dragon wearing full combat armor with his shield raised up defensively flashed briefly where the card had been before shattered into glowing virtual dust which faded quickly.
Jonouchi sprinted across the battlefield and helped the shaken girl to her feet. "Are you alright?"
She dusted off the back of her skirt, silent for a moment. With her head tipped downward her long bangs made shadows over her eyes, but he saw a smirk turn her lips up. "I'm fine, just got startled by how real it looks. I can deal with it now."
With a nod Jonouchi turned and jogged back to his place while Sumiko picked the monster card off her disk and slid it into the graveyard. "By destroying my Dragon you activated its effect." Delicately manicured fingers tugged her deck from its place and she began searching through it. "I get another of them immediately, in my choice of attack or defense positions."
Yugi nodded thoughtfully from his seat at the sidelines. "That's a useful creature to have."
"Indeed." She sent a smile at him as she selected a card and slapped it face-up in defense mode. A humanlike green and brown dragon clad in mail made of leather and chain appeared before her. Unlike the previous dragon he bore two swords instead of one and a shield, and he crossed the two in front of himself in a defensive stance. As she shuffled her deck Sumiko called to her opponent. "Is your turn over?"
"Sure, I'll end." He gave her a thumbs-up. "Sorry about scaring you earlier."
She nodded and put her deck back in its slot as her soft lips turned up into a vicious smirk. 'It's your turn to be scared, little fool.' Her eyes sparkled when she drew a second Blessed Rain. She glanced from her hand to her opponent. 'Hmm. Should I play them now, or wait for him to use a healing card first?'
Jonouchi scratched his nose.
'Pheh,' she thought, deciding. 'He's not smart enough to have something like 'Goddess of Healing' in his deck. His type is all about brutal attacks. So then...'
Sumiko smiled sweetly at the boy, her sapphire blue eyes sparkling. "I will now play one of my favorite spell cards—Blessed Rain!" She set the spell in the slot beside her set trap. The green card appeared on the field, standing impossibly on its end. As the imaging system simulated a gentle rain falling onto the field the duelist spoke again, explaining the card's effect. "This spell boosts both of our Life Points by one thousand." Small sprouts grew on the virtual field as the clouds parted and Jonouchi glanced down at his Life Point display to confirm the girl's statement.
{Huh? What's she up to?} Yugi watched the wonderful hologram, confused.
Yami could only shake his head. [I don't know either.]
{Whatever it is, she's got to have some kind of plan.}
His other half agreed silently.
Jou's eyes narrowed as his Points remained constant while the tiny display of hers above them rolled upwards. "Hey, what gives? You said it boosts both of our Life Points! Mine did nothing!" He turned to look at his opponent suspiciously.
A smug grin appeared on her lips. "Simple. That spell triggered my trap." She flipped the card over on her disk, causing the image to flip up and reveal its image of a shivering woman surrounded by shimmering, vicious- looking ghosts. "Behold 'Simochi Allergy'! It turns increases to my opponent's Life Points to decreases!"
[So *that's* it,] Yami said, knowing noone but Yugi could hear him. [She wasn't helping him at all.]
The virtual card flashed, vanishing save the spirits that flew at Jou and surrounded him. He swiped uselessly at them as they created a smoky aura around his body. After a moment they seemed to vanish inside his form and his Life Points incremented downward by a thousand at that same moment.
He watched his opponent sedately pull her spell card off the disk and into her graveyard. She smiled across the field at the blonde. "I'll set another card," she said as she placed her Bottomless Pit facedown where her Rain had been played, "and end my turn." The image appeared in a shimmer of light as she chuckled softly.
Jonouchi drew and glanced as his new card. 'Bottomless Pit, eh? This'll be good.' He set the trap, and placed a monster, then spoke. "I'll set this card and put one monster facedown." His Baby Dragon and trap cards appeared as he spoke. "Armor Lizard, attack her Troop Dragon now!"
Sumiko frowned as her second dragon was 'killed' by the beast. "Alright then," she muttered as she peeked through her deck for the third. After placing it in defense position she began shuffling her cards. Another mail-clad dragon appeared, this one with a spear and shield, and he took a stance, protecting his Mistress. "My turn now?"
"Go ahead."
The girl drew and her frown turned into a grin when she saw her new card. "Just what I was hoping for." Sending a smirk across the field at Jou she spoke smugly. "Your Armor Lizard is about to have a 'Change of Heart'." She played the rare card, causing the reptile to vanish and reappear on her side next to her dragon. "I don't really want to keep this ugly thing, but I certainly don't want to give it back to you. So I'll sacrifice it to place this monster in defense position." She laughed heartily at the expression on her opponent's face as she set the card she drew on her first turn.
"That's not fair! That was MY monster!"
Sapphire eyes sparkled as she cleared the spell card off her disk and into her graveyard. "Yes, but thanks to Change of Heart it was mine for this turn, and I could do with it as I pleased. That includes sacrificing it to strengthen my field position and weaken yours." She smirked at him smugly. "I'll end, since my Dragon isn't very powerful and I don't trust that monster you have down."
[He's going to have to be careful,] Yami said thoughtfully. [Sumiko's better than I thought she'd be.]
{Jonouchi's not going to roll over. He's a strong duelist.}
'Man,' Jonouchi thought as he clenched his teeth and drew. 'I seriously underestimated this chick.' When he saw his card, however, he almost jumped around. "Al-RIGHT! Talk about lucky breaks!" He turned back to Sumiko. "First I'll flip-summon my Baby Dragon into attack mode!"
Yugi grinned and Yami nodded at their friend as the cute orange dragon appeared, knowing what was to come. Sumiko cursed under her breath; Baby Dragon was too weak to activate her trap.
"Next I'll summon Time Magician in attack mode!"
Perplexed, Sumiko called across the field. "Why the hell did you do *that*?" The bright red and blue stopwatch-like monster formed as she spoke. "Time Magician has five hundred attack points!"
Jonouchi grinned. "Don't worry, I'll show you. Time Magician! Activate!"
There was a loud beep as the dial on the spellcaster's staff began to spin wildly. Under the intense gazes of the three teens the pointer slid round and round, landing on...
"ALRIGHT!" Jonouchi whooped and pumped a fist in the air. The dial had stopped pointing straight up at a little tower. "Time Warp time!" "Time Magic!" intoned the small mechanical wizard as he spun around once, waving his staff over the field. While the facedown cards remained untouched, the two dragons aged rapidly, much to the surprise of Sumiko. "Meet Thousand Dragon," yelled Jonouchi triumphantly as the grandfatherly monster took a hulking step forward.
"Interesting," spoke his opponent after a moment. "I've never seen anyone use Time Magician that way, to intentionally age their own monsters." She grinned at him. "My own dragon might have gotten a bit stronger too, but it's no match for your grown-up Baby Dragon!" Nodding her approval, she added, "That was a great move, Jonouchi-kun!"
The blonde all but preened under the praise. "Thousand Dragon, take out her last Troop Dragon!"
The monster roared and slashed down, destroying his adversary with ease.
Sighing faintly, though with a smile on her lips, Sumiko pulled the card off the field as her eyes sparkled excitedly at the prospect of a challenge. "Guess it's time for me to get serious." She drew once more. "Well, shit. I can't use this right now so I'll set it alongside my trap and end," she murmured as the card shimmered into place.
Jou drew and immediately summoned the monster. "Now I'll summon Iron Knight Gearfreed in attack mode!"
"No you won't." Sumiko pointed a finger at him with a smirk on her lips. "I activate Bottomless Pit and remove him from the game!" Manicured fingers flipped the trap face-up.
The boys watched in horror as the ground under Gearfreed opened with a loud, thunderous crack, sending the struggling Knight down into oblivion.
"Okay," Jou muttered to himself. "Let's attack, then." Commandingly he spoke to his monster. "Thousand Dragon! Smash her face-down monster now!"
Cool blue eyes watched calmly as the giant beast drew up onto its back legs and brought its front claws down onto her monster, shattering it into millions of shards of light--that reformed into a twenty-foot wall in front of her and sent Thousand Dragon flying backwards.
"What the HELL is that?!" Jou hardly noticed his Life Points increment down by six hundred as his elderly monster slowly rose to its feet.
"A Labyrinth Wall," Sumiko smirked. "With 3000 defense points your 2400 attack power dragon can't break it."
Indeed, on closer inspection Jonouchi recognized the opening to the labyrinth he and Yami had once had to duel in. The giant wall of solid rock sank down into the earth so Sumiko could once more be seen. He frowned and mumbled, "I'll end."
"What's the matter," she taunted, her left hand carefully on her hip so as not to crush her cards. "What happened to 'I came in second at Duelist Kingdom'?" Her right went to feign hiding a yawn as she tossed her head. "And here I was hoping for a challenge."
The blond growled. "Just you wait," he promised. "On my next turn you'll be eating those words."
"Mm, doubtful." Her voice was dismissive and arrogant as she drew a card, her lips curled in a smirk reminiscent of a certain CEO. "You won't last more than a dozen turns." She glanced at what she drew and laughed darkly. "Especially considering I just drew the next part of my favorite combo. I summon Big Bang Girl to the field!"
As the card was set in its space the field in front of the duelist erupted into a vortex of flame. A beautiful princess in burning crimson robes emerged like a phoenix from the inferno that faded behind her. She herself was a living flame, burning but never being consumed, beautiful and horrible to behold. The sleeves of her attire were trimmed with runes embroidered in gold thread. She wore a simple diadem to show her rank, and had branch-like metal combs tucked in her hair. Two gold bracelets clicked delicately at each wrist as she brandished her staff of twisted, unburning wood. The fiery princess looked over her right shoulder at the one that called her forth, awaiting command.
Peering around the corner of a tall, broad tree at the edge of the small park was, in absolute silence, a man wearing pure white. As the duel progressed he watched the female competitor with intense but unreadable kohled eyes shadowed by the turban on his head. Her aura had drawn him to her yet again; it was dual-natured with one side being white edged in silver and other vibrant colors in ever-changing energetic patterns, and the other was black, gold, and almost sharp at the edges. It was far too similar to a certain blond Egyptian holder of a Millennium Item's aura for Shadi to leave uninvestigated, and perhaps... unjudged.
)TO BE CONTINUED(
[Yugi's voice:] Next time, the duel continues as Yami Shadi and I watch from the sidelines. Wait a sec, Shadi's here? That's never a good sign. Why's he so interested in Sumiko-san? Things are started to get weird. Even for Domino City!
Author Notes: Don't hurt me! I didn't want to leave off here with a cliffhanger-type deal, but the word count was getting up there, and a duel isn't exactly as fun a read as the rest of the stuff in this little fic. That, and several people have been sending me threats of bashing about the head with various objects if I didn't update at least one story by today.
Sumiko's deck is based on one of my own; one of my favorites in fact. Her cards are Japanese, which is why I used their Japanese names, but the effects are the same. I like to think it's pretty obvious what's what in the American. It would have been wise to give Sumiko-chan American cards, however there was just too much room for later plotline development for me to do that. How she got her extensive collection will be explained later [and yes, there is a very good reason how she got it].
The duel between Sumiko and Jou was a real duel between two actual decks. Jonouchi's deck was simulated using a random number generator, arrays, a list of cards in "Jonouchi Structure Deck 2", and much hair pulling. It was odd to do, but I'm pleased with the result. So yes, the duel was left to "the Heart of the Cards" as it were.
For those that aren't keeping track, the score is 9000-6400 in Sumiko's favor.
Here's a list, for those of you who didn't figure out from my hidden hints what the cards are in English, in order of their names being used:
Japanese Name // American Name
Blessed Rain // Rain of Mercy
Simochi Allergy // Bad Reaction to Simochi
Goblin Berries // Goblin's Secret Remedy
Bottomless Pit // Bottomless Trap Hole
Demon Hunter // Kojikocy
Armor Lizard // Armored Lizard
Angel's Dice // Graceful Dice
Landostar Swordsman // Swordsman of Landstar
Goddess of Healing - Dian Keto // Dian Keto the Curemaster
Time Magician // Time Wizard
Iron Knight Gearfreed // Gearfried the Iron Knight
Big Bang Girl // Fire Princess