Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! Though I wish I did T.T This is a work of fiction.
Chapter 5: First Target
The man with the jackal tattoo watched and smirked as his men set off into Domino to search out their quarry, Jounouchi Katsuya. He turned, and the wind caught his raven black hair, he closed his eyes to shield them from the winds relentless assault. He stopped when he noticed that one of his underlings, a tall, shapely red-haired woman, was still kneeling before him.
"Master Laevenne… Why did the Master not come with us?" she asked, looking up with uncertainty plastered all over her ice blue eyes.
"The Master does not explain himself to me, Ryoko, as well he shouldn't. I wouldn't be worthy to hear what his mind concocts. All he told me was take a group of our best men to Domino, and steal the Puzzle from the Pharaoh. Perhaps he deemed such a task not worthy of his presence." Laevenne replied. His obsidian eyes betrayed no emotion, as ever.
"Do you wish for me to search out the boy as well?" Ryoko asked, bowing her head.
"No. Some should stay behind onboard." Laevenne smiled, he favoured Ryoko, and valued her service more then any other. "I'll be in my quarters, disturb me only if a message from the Master comes." Laevenne said as he brushed past his read-headed second.
Ryoko looked off after Laevenne, a man of whom she held in great regard, as he disappeared below deck. She hooked some of her long hair behind an ear, removing it from her face. She could never help but think that her raven-haired superior should be the leader of the sect, but the Master held the power, a fact she always resented. She stood, her dark robe being caught in the wind, and she made her way to the bridge.
School let out and Jounouchi was just walking down the street with Honda and Otogi. Yuugi, Anzu and Yuuhi had other plans, and Ryou had gone home. Jounouchi was going to the train station to meet with his sister, Shizuka, who was coming to dinner. Jounouchi didn't have much of a home, but it was better then living with his father. His father had many debts and gambling problems, and he was also an alcoholic. Needless to say, he was a bum, and when Jounouchi had gotten fed up, he took the matter to court, and got himself emancipated. He now had a small apartment that was sparsely decorated and in the same neighbourhood as Honda. His mother paid for it, glad to have her son away from his deadbeat of a father, but still saddened by the fact that Jounouchi would not move so far to live with her.
"You guys don't have to come you know." Jounouchi grumbled, glancing back at two of his younger sisters constant pursuers: Honda and Otogi.
Otogi smirked and his die-earring moved as he inclined his head. "I do. Shizuka must've missed me, it's Honda that shouldn't be here."
"What Shizuka needs is stability, and with you and your little "fan club" I wouldn't really trust you myself." Honda said.
"That hurts, it really hurts. Those people just can't seem to get enough of my wit, charm and good looks." Otogi said with a shrug.
"You mean your ego doesn't get in the way of that?" Honda asked.
"Not in the slightest. Women dig the arrogant hot-guy look. If you weren't so homely and pathetic you might even be able to pull it off yourself." Otogi retorted.
"Would you two shaddup and get lost?!" Jounouchi roared. "I don't need either of you cradle-robbers after my little sister!"
"She's not that much younger, Jounouchi." Otogi commented with an emphasis on the word younger. "Besides, when I set my sights on someone, I intend to follow through."
"Not if you're not invited in. Get lost, both of you. Tonight is all about spending time with my sister, which I neglected to do on the weekend, I was busy with Mai, whom I see even less." Jounouchi snapped. He knew he'd made himself clear when Honda and Otogi turned and walked in the opposite direction. Both were fairly upset.
Jounouchi sighed as he continued on alone. It would take him at least another fifteen minutes to make it to the train station. As he continued forward, he found a dented soup can and began kicking it to pass the time. Almost all of Jounouchi's concentration was on the can, until he heard a sudden stop from it's rattling. Jounouchi looked up to see three robed people, too tall and wide to be women. One of them had the can crunched under his foot. Jounouchi gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, he knew what these people wanted: trouble.
"This is the one." One rasped.
"Yes, the one the Master told us of." Another one replied, in a nasally high-pitched voice.
"How shall we act on this?" The third one asked to the others. His voice was rough, and sounded gritty.
Jounouchi clenched his fists tighter, his fingernails digging into his palms. In an instant, the three advanced at high speeds. Jounouchi jumped back and avoided a punch from one of them, Jounouchi dodged punches from the other two and sent some of his own. Hitting the raspy-voiced one in the chest, and the nasal one in the abdomen, the third one backed off slightly, obviously losing confidence now that his friends were hurt. Jounouchi may not have been very big, but he packed a hell of a punch, and Jounouchi made it a point to let anyone who picked a fight with him know about it.
"You still want some, tough guy?" Jounouchi asked. "You shoulda known better then to pick a fight with the likes of Jounouchi Katsuya." Jounouchi ended his remark by jabbing his thumb into his chest.
The gritty-voiced one stepped back a pace. "We can settle this another way then." He smirked.
"Magic and Wizards? That's an even bigger mistake then fighting me."
"This has happened before it would seem. I challenge you!"
Jounouchi shook his head in disgust. "You've got a lot of nerve. First you got the balls to attack me, and now you challenge me to a duel? You're nuts, pal." Jounouchi shrugged. "But, a challenge is a challenge."
Jounouchi took off his backpack and dug through it until his hand landed on his Duel Disk, the one he'd used in the Battle City tournament. From underneath one of his robes, the raspy one pulled a Duel Disk of his own. It was different by a long shot. The shape was sickle-bladed in appearance, and black. Both slipped them on over their left forearms and clipped them into place. Allowing the Duel Disks to flip around, both players readied themselves for the match. Jounouchi slipped his deck in, and his Life Point read-out displayed the number 4000, they then climbed to 8000.
"What the-? Jounouchi asked in shock. "New rules?!"
"Not quite. One of the newest rules instated by Industrial Illusions is that duels be played using 8000 Life Points. Battle City taught them that 4000 was too light, as most duels ended before they had a chance to begin. If this is too much, you can forfeit." The raspy one said.
"4000 or 8000 makes no difference to me, your ass is grass all the same." Jounouchi shrugged. "I mean come on… I placed second in Duelist Kingdom, and fourth in Battle City (only because that damned rich boy beat me)! You've got a snowballs chance in hell of beating me!"
Underneath the shadows cast by the hood of the robe, the man smirked, his shabby facial hair catching in the light from a streetlamp. Jounouchi took the first draw.
"You're in trouble already! I summon Landstar Swordsman (500/1200) in attack mode and set two cards face down! Your move, you robed freak show." In front of Jounouchi, two face-down vertical cards appeared and a tiny little wingless fairy appeared, he brandished a sword and shield, and he gave a goofy smile.
The robed man drew his card and placed it into his hand. "I'll start things off by playing the Magic Card, Heavy Storm!" From the card on the field, a giant tornado kicked up, destroying both of Jounouchi's face-down cards. Jounouchi looked with a grimace as his opening-move strategy, Angel's Dice and Demon's Dice was destroyed by a single card. "Now, I'll summon Shining Angel (1600/1800) in attack mode!"
Before the robed man, a very odd-looking creature appeared. It was blue and appeared to be made out of spheres. It had arms and wings, and what looked to be a ball with five points for a head.
"I'll now destroy your Landstar Swordsman." He said simply. The blue angel flew towards the tiny swordsman and thrust it's palms at the pint-sized creature. The little warrior was vaporized.
J: 6900, RM: 8000
Jounouchi drew and took a single glance at his card. It was a very strong monster, and he couldn't summon it yet. Instead, he turned to his strongest monster that he could summon now. He plucked it from his hand and set it on the Duel Disk.
"I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight (1800/1600)!" Jounouchi took one other card from his hand and put it on the field. "I also set one card face down. Now to take revenge for my swordsman! Gearfried: Attack Shining Angel, now!"
The iron-clad warrior, lifted it's sword-arm into striking position and leapt at the blue-winged angel. Bringing it's bladed fist down on the creature, it shattered into oblivion.
J: 6900, RM: 7800
"Well done. You've managed to destroy one of my monsters, and my Life Points are still higher then yours." The robed man mocked. "I don't think you're quite as good as you played yourself out to be."
"I'm not even serious right now. Nothing lost or gained from this, so I don't see the need to open the can (A/N of whoop-ass he means .) on your sorry ass."
"Would a penalty goad you into fighting for real?"
"Like?"
"If I win, my cohorts and I do what we want with you, if you win, you walk free."
"It seems to me like I can deal with you and your wussy friends anyway. I still don't see the threat." Jounouchi snickered.
The robed man's face twisted into a frown. "How about this then: Lose, and we kill you."
"Like I'm going to let you kill me." Jounouchi snorted.
"Win, and we won't." The robed man said in a tone that spoke entire measures of the utmost sincerity.
These guys are freaks, Jounouchi concluded. "I'm not making a bullshit deal like that. You can kiss the fattest part of your ugly friends' asses over there." Jounouchi pointed back to the robed men who still had not stood. "Make me a wager, something I'll agree to maybe."
The robed man scowled. "Would wagering your deck suffice?"
"Now that is a challenge, but what do I get from you?" Jounouchi asked.
"My deck of course, but I won't lose."
"Someone has to, and it ain't gonna be me." Jounouchi stated confidently. "Your going down, and your deck is mine." A wind kicked up, stirring up fallen papers and garbage, and they blew across the deserted street. "Hurry up and make your move. I've got somewhere to be." Jounouchi said impatiently as he folded his arms across his chest.
"Good moves take time." the robed man said.
Yuugi was walking with Anzu, Yuuhi had left them some time ago when they neared the Game Shop. Yuugi had his hands in his pockets, and his face was pointed towards the ground. Yuugi had trouble looking at Anzu when they were alone. She was beautiful to him, and a lot of other people.
"You wanna tell me about your nightmare, Yuugi? It might help to get it off your chest." Anzu offered. "I'll listen."
Yuugi looked up at his childhood friend. Her hair was concealing most of her face at the moment, due to the wind. Planting his eyes firmly on the ground again, Yuugi heaved a sigh of sorrow.
"My nightmare took place eight years ago." Yuugi started. "Before the divorce, and my family was still whole. I was being constantly tormented by Yuuhi. He was such an overbearing jerk." Yuugi said quietly.
"He's changed though." Anzu reminded her short friend.
"I know, but then, I remembered something, one day, he started acting weird, and said stuff I didn't understand. You were there too."
"I don't remember anything like that happening, it was probably part of the dream." Anzu said reassuringly.
"That's what I thought, but it seemed so real, like it had actually happened real. Then I woke up, and Yami told me he'd understood what Yuuhi'd been saying. He couldn't translate it very well though. It was at that point I started to think that it was partly Yami's dream too." Yuugi said.
"It doesn't seem so bad." Anzu said.
"It really doesn't, but that's because I don't want to go into visual detail or anything like that. It was disgusting." Yuugi shuddered.
Could any of that have actually happened. A million thoughts were racing through Anzu's mind, and all of them were seeking out any memory she had and could still remember of her time spent with the Mutou brothers eight years ago. She didn't remember much. Anzu's thoughts then turned to the Yuuhi of now. He had definitely changed, Yuugi had no reason to be having such nightmares about his brother, who stood up to Seto for him. Bending down, she gave Yuugi a quick, friendly hug. One that was both reassuring, and pleasurable to the diminutive Yuugi.
"I don't remember anything like that, Yuugi. I'm sure what you were thinking about it partly being Yami's dream was true." Anzu said.
Yuugi half-heartedly nodded his agreement. "You're probably right, Anzu. Thanks for talking to me about it."
"No problem. Anyway, I've got to get going. I have a dance class tonight." Anzu turned and headed off in the direction of her house. Yuugi turned and walked home.
"I summon my Injection Angel Lily (400/1500) in attack mode! I'll pay 2000 Life Points to activate her effect! It increases her attack points by 3000 points!" On the field, a red-haired nurse with a giant needle appeared on the field. As the robed man paid the activation cost, the needle tripled in size. "Attack Gearfried the Iron Knight now!"
The needle-wielding nurse fly towards the iron warrior and jabbed him with her needle. With a roar of pain, the mechanical soldier burst into several fragments of light.
J: 5300, RM:5800
Jounouchi looked with a grimace at the field before him. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he steeled himself. It was time to get serious. He drew from his deck, and took a look at the card.
"I play the Magic card Pot of Greed! This card allows me to draw two new cards from my deck. Now I'll activate my Magic card, Foolish Burial! This card allows me to place one card from my hand into your cemetery! Now, I'll activate another Magic Card, Shield and Sword! This card reverses the attack and defence statistics of all monsters on the field, and now, to finish my move, I'll activate Raise Dead to resurrect the Android Psycho Shocker (2400/1500) that I put into your cemetery using my Foolish Burial card!" After several activations of Magic cards, finally, Jounouchi's five card combo was complete, and his hand was nearly exhausted. Jounouchi smirked as he looked up. "Go, Android Psycho Shocker, attack and destroy Injection Angel Lily!"
The tall, green-armoured android placed it's hands together and a ball of electric, red energy formed. The pink-skinned android threw the energy ball at the nurse and annihilated it.
J: 5300, RM: 4900
"So much for your little friend there. Now, hurry up and make your next move. I have a life to get on with." Jounouchi said impatiently.
The robed man just glared from underneath his hood, and drew his card.
End of Chapter 5
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