Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh. Don't worry, I'll get over it.
Chapter One: The Ghouls
Drake stepped into the room of the CEO of Kaiba Corp., a room that contained one of the richest, cruelest, and youngest businessmen in the world. Seto Kaiba. "Sit down."
With two words Kaiba had once again retold just how arrogant he was. You could hear the coldness in his voice, the cruelty he had gained by being the adopted son of a rich business man who wanted an heir. But there was something about Kaiba that seemed to scream that there was more to him then meets the eye.
So of course, since the man was his highest up boss and the guy who hired him, he sat down in the closest chair and payed full attention.
"I've watched how you duel, and I know just how many people request you or come out of duels with you at Kaiba Land extremely impressed by your skill. Since your start at Kaiba Land you haven't lost a single duel, and the duelists you have taught have shown great improvement in short amounts of time. Tell me, how did you become interested in duel monsters and who taught you to duel?"
This was not what Drake had been expecting. Why in the world would Seto Kaiba have interest in him and his dueling? Only Yugi Motou and Maximilian Pegasus had ever beaten him. Kaiba had dueled him and beaten him, that was usually enough for the CEO. But because of his curiosity, and the fact that he could be fired in less time then it takes to say 'you're fired', he answered the questions.
"Well through most of my life I've only been half-good at everything I've tried. But I was bored one day so while at lunch I got interested in what a couple of kids were doing. One of them I knew pretty well, the other I had just seen around school. It turned out to be Duel Monsters they were playing, and one of them let me borrow his deck so I could try my hand at playing."
"The boy you played against at first was Yugi Motou wasn't it?" Drake's eyes widened in shock, but quickly he recovered himself. 'How in the world does he know that?'
He came up with the answer only moments later. 'He's rich, he can find out anything.'
"Yes, it was. He was the one who taught me the basics of it, and because he said I had natural talent, I went on and learned how to play the rest by myself and through playing other people. That's it in a nutshell."
Kaiba glanced at Drake once and then back out the window he had been starring through. "Have you ever heard of the Ghouls?"
"No sir."
"They're a group of duelists who search out and take the rarest of cards. They are Rare Hunters. I want to know more about them, so I have to ask you to do something."
"What would that be?"
"I have a location where some of these Ghouls might be found, once there I want you to find out how you become one of their Rare Hunters. In general I want you to become part of their organization so you can feed me information about them."
"Why me?"
"Because your a good enough duelist that they'll most likely accept you, and because your face isn't well known. Not only that, but I can use you to feed them false information. They'll certainly do a background check on you and find out you work for me, and they'll want to know more about the man holding the three Blue Eyes White Dragons."
It had to be the coolest thing Drake had ever heard of. Infiltrate a secret organization and act as a sort of double agent, feeding his side the right information and feeding the other guys the wrong stuff. And he'd probably still get to duel.
"When do I get started?"
Kaiba just slid a couple of pieces of paper across the table to him and looked back out the window again. "Read through these and you'll know the answers to any questions you might have of me." And he stopped paying attention, leaving Drake to head back to work with a new mission.
"This is so cool."
**************************
Saturday morning. 8 A.M. It was time to go. Drake took a deep breath and scanned his deck one more time before placing it in its container and then into his pocket. Slipping on his leather jacket he headed out the door, it was time to become a Rare Hunter.
It took him about thirty minutes walking to get to the warehouse that Kaiba had specified. It seemed kind of ridiculous that he'd find them here, but that was what Kaiba's informants had told him. And that was where Drake was.
Drake stepped up and knocked on the door three times. "Star light, star bright, why are there no stars out tonight?" Slowly the door creaked open, revealing nothing but shadows. Before Drake could do anything hands shot out and grabbed hold of him pulling him inside. Everything went black.
"How do you know the code?" Drake tried to see who was speaking to him, but the darkness didn't seem to fade at all, leaving him to speculate as to whether his captor was or was not a Rare Hunter.
"I asked around." There were several muffled comments between two or more people, questions asked and answers given. The specifics were to quiet for Drake to overhear, so he simply relaxed and waited for the next questions.
"You work for Seto Kaiba is that correct?" It took Drake mere moments to come up with the response that seemed exactly like him, and yet was completely wrong.
"So what?" There were several more muffled comments, and a light chuckle from somewhere farther back. Either they thought Drake was being funny, or there was something amusing about the situation that he hadn't noticed yet.
"We'll ask the questions here. Why have you come here?"
"Because I'm interested in becoming one of you. I love dueling and I'm willing to do whatever I can to make my deck as strong as possible."
"How much are you willing to do?"
"Whatever I have to. No matter what it might be." Those were the answers Kaiba had given him, and he had memorized them. Now he was realizing just how dangerous those words might be.
"Are you willing to work under our master's total will?"
"If it will make me a stronger duelist and strengthen my deck then absolutely I am." Something was wrong and there was a chance that things could go bad for him...but they stole cards, how dangerous could they possibly be? Its not like they were a terrorist group or something like that.
"Our master will now deliberate your case, and if he chooses to you will be allowed to duel a Rare Hunter of his choice. If you succeed then you will become one of us, if not, then you will pay the price of failure."
'Pay the price of failure? I knew it, there's always an if, no matter what, there's an if. Kaiba didn't mention this, but then again I probably wouldn't have accepted if he had.'
Drake was forced to wait for nearly an hour until finally he was spoken to again. "Your case has been accepted, you will duel one of our number."
Suddenly lights burst on throughout the room and Drake was forced to blink numerous times to accustom his eyes to the sudden light. And to his shock he found himself standing on a dueling platform, with a man in a brown robe with the Eye of Ra on the hood standing on the other side. 'The Eye of Ra? Then whoever leads them must have some connection to ancient Egypt.' And then he sensed it, a power similar yet at the same time different from the power he always felt from his Millennium Disc...and from the golden pyramid that hung around Yugi's neck.
"Are you prepared to duel?" Drake nodded and took out his deck, shuffled it, and then placed it down in its rightful spot, the Rare Hunter did the same.
"Then Lets Duel!"
Rare Hunter: 2000
Drake: 2000
"The challenger may go first." Drake nodded in acceptance and drew his sixth card. He immediately played a monster in reverse defense mode and announced his move. Then he ended his turn. Time to find out if the Rare Hunter was better then the average duelist.
"I'll summon Armored Lizard(1500/1200) in attack mode. Then I'll play Gift of Mystical Elf to raise my life points. I'll also play one card face down. I'll end my turn without attacking."
Rare Hunter:2300
Drake:2000
'Damnit, he didn't attack and he upped his life points.'
"I'll play Shadow of Eyes to force your monster to attack, and I'll play another monster in reverse defense mode."
The instant it became the Rare Hunter's turn, the lizard lashed out with its fists and pounded against Drake's first face down defense monster, revealing Mystical Elf(800/2000), a blue elfin spell-caster.
Rare Hunter:1700
Drake: 2000
Despite the fact that the next turn he'd also be forced to attack the Rare Hunter seemed utterly calm. He seemed to have no problems taking 500 life points damage. In fact he was smiling. "Your life point damage activates my face down card, Numinous Healer giving me one thousand life points." Drake grimaced as the Rare Hunter's life points rose once more.
Rare Hunter: 2700
Drake: 2000
"Now I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon to rid the field of your Shadow of Eyes and play one monster in reverse defense mode. I'll also play a Blue Elixir. Finally I switch my Armored Lizard into defense mode."
Rare Hunter: 3200
Drake: 2000
Drake shook his head at the Rare Hunters strategy. He was just using cards that upped his life points so far, but Drake would just keep his strategy going. "I'll add another monster in reverse defense mode and one card face down on the field. That'll end my turn."
"Now that it is my turn I will play another Gift of Mystical Elf. Then I'll use the very same card you used, Shadow of Eyes, to force your face down monster to attack...sadly Mystical Elf is immune being female." Drake watched in confusion as his Dark Magician was revealed and then blasted the defense monster revealing a tiny worm thing.
"What's that thing?"
"That is Mental Parasitic Host, a small worm that when flipped becomes an equip card for the strongest monster on your field at the time it is flipped, and each of your turns I'll gain half of its attack points."
Drake clenched his fist as he watched the parasite attach to his Dark Magician and the Rare Hunter's life points increase thanks to Gift of Mystical Elf's effect. Drake's other monster, Sapphire Dragon(1900/1600) was also switched to attack mode thanks to Shadow of Eyes. 'How am I supposed to beat someone who's life points just keep increasing?'
Rare Hunter: 3500
Drake: 2000
Drake drew his next card and watched helplessly as the Rare Hunter's life points rose even further. Things were starting to get ridiculous.
Rare Hunter: 4750
Drake:2000
"I'll play Heavy Storm to clear the field of magic cards." The Rare Hunter shrugged and placed his Shadow of Eyes into the graveyard...but nothing happened to the parasite attached to Drake's magician.
"I thought it was an equip card now?"
The Rare Hunter just laughed at his comment, this time Drake had said something funny and hadn't even realized it, or maybe the hunter was just an ass. "It acts as one, but it's still a monster. Looks like your plan didn't work."
"Fine, it didn't, but I'll switch Mystical Elf into defense mode, and end my turn."
"So be it. I'll put one card face down and then place Destroyer Golem(1500/1000) in attack mode." Drake drew again and then winced as his opponent's life points rose again.
Rare Hunter: 6000
Drake: 2000
"Dark Magician, destroy Destroyer Golem!" Drake exhaled sharply as his magician vaporized the golem doing 1000 points of damage.
Rare Hunter: 5000
Drake: 2000
"Your damage activates my face down card, another Numinious Healer who grants me 1000 life points and 500 for my other Numinous Healer in the graveyard."
Rare Hunter: 6500
Drake: 2000
Things were certainly looking grim for Drake, not only had he not managed to truly damage his opponent's life points, but he now had less then a third of the Rare Hunter's points. If things kept up like this the duel might end a draw, and a draw just wasn't good enough.
"One magic card face down, Leghul(300/350) in attack mode to do 300 points of direct damage to your precious life points."
The little worm creature appeared and darted at Drake's side to deal him some direct damage. Drake winced seeing his life points drop. It wasn't a huge amount of damage, but with the difference in their life points it was enough. 'Stop dueling stupid. This price of failure thing has thrown you off your game. Quit worrying and duel smart, don't play his game, play it as yours.'
Drake grinned. He had been playing to this Rare Hunter's game. But the Rare Hunter had made a stupid mistake playing that monster even if it did do 300 points of direct damage. It was incredibly weak and undefended.
He drew and knew his play would work. "You've been so concerned with raising your life points that you never thought about the effect it might have."
Rare Hunter: 7750
Drake: 1700
"What are you talking about?"
"Allow me to show you. I'll equip Megamorph to my Dark Magician doubling his attack strength as long as my life points are lower than yours. I set a card face down and now...Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!" With a single bolt of purple magic the Leghul was destroyed and along with it most of the Rare Hunter's life points.
Rare Hunter: 3050
Drake: 1700
"Once again you play into my hands despite your best efforts. Numinous Healer to give me a total of 2000 life points."
Rare Hunter: 1050
Drake: 1700
"That's impossible! How could my life points decrease?"
Drake showed him the card he had set face down. "The card I played was Side Effect of Shimitochi, which turns life point increases, into decreases." The Rare Hunter snarled, and several others in the background chuckled, this time Drake agreed. It really was funny to see the Rare Hunter's own strategy used to trample him.
"Fine, since my life points are lower now your magician's attack points are cut in half. But I still can't afford to have it around next turn, so I'll play Dark Hole to rid the field of all of your monsters. I end my turn with a defense monster."
Drake shook his head and rolled his eyes. "This is pretty pathetic! Sure you may have removed my monsters, but I've got plenty more where that came from. Even better is the fact that most of your cards increase your life points, and now that works against you."
"Shut up!" Drake obliged the ghoul and drew for what he was certain was the final time.
"I'll play Pot of Greed to draw two more cards...and with those cards comes your defeat." He slapped the first card down, revealing a red glowing rock....a meteor. Then came the second card...and the holographic projectors revealed a tall warrior in black and silver armor, wielding a shiny sword.
"I summon my supreme monster, Omegus(3500/3200)! Then I finish the duel off with Fairy Meteor Crush." He grinned in satisfaction as for the first time his opponent looked afraid. He knew very well what Fairy Meteor Crush did, and obviously knew very well that the monster he had played didn't have 2500 defense points.
"Omegus, use your Omega Slash to finish him off!" The warrior nodded once and swept his blade in a curving arc sending a ripple of mystical energies raging across the field. The Ghoul's defense monster shattered into millions of pieces and his life points dropped to zero.
It was the sudden silence that he noticed first, the utter lack of anything even remotely resembling sound. He had won his way through and was now technically a Rare Hunter. But he had expected them to say something, maybe congratulate him, or berate the other guy for losing. He hadn't expected for them to simply stand there, staring at him.
That was when the door opened and a boy about his age stepped through it. A boy with white hair holding a golden rod with the Eye of Ra at the top. A Millennium item. The first thing that Drake sensed when he entered was power, lots of power. The second thing was that stemming from the man was a hidden presence, a very evil presence. This was the leader of the Ghouls, he was sure of it.
"Drake Ihachi...you have great skill, but skill that still requires honing. I am Malik, and you Drake have proved yourself worthy to be a Rare Hunter, at least dueling skill wise. However to prove your mettle and worth further, you must carry out one task for me. Only then will I allow you to be called a Rare Hunter, only then will you truly be one of us."
"What would that task be...umm...what do I call you?"
Malik chuckled, an evil chuckle if Drake had to call it anything. "You may call me Master Malik. Your task is to recover a card of great importance to the Ghouls. A fifth Blue Eyes held in the hands of one Ryu Shigeru, who goes to your school. Do you know him?"
Drake nodded silently for on the inside he was shocked. A fifth Blue Eyes, one of the rarest cards in the world! For the longest time everyone had believed there were only four...but somehow or other Ryu Shigeru, probably the toughest kid at Domino High, owned a fifth one.
"Find Ryu and take his Blue Eyes using whatever means you deem necessary. After that return with it to this exact location and deliver the card directly into my hands. That is your task."
**********************
Ryu stood in a graveyard, in front of a grave. The grave of the last surviving gang member, Robert. The two of them managed to escape to Japan, away from the gang that killed their friends. A few years later, Robert died when he and Ryu got caught in the middle of a gang fight. The memory was etched into Ryu's mind. Robert was like a brother to him, seeing a bullet driven through his head was something that he'd like to forget.
Ryu sensed a presence a few feet away and turned around to face the intruder who instantly drew a weapon. Ryu just stood there, glaring at the threatening figure, who walked closer and closer. The sword was brought down, in an instant Ryu brought up his arm, the Gauntlets took the hit.
The attacker walked back a few steps as Ryu pulled out a gun. A few shots went off as the attacker deflected each bullet with the sword. Again the attacker advanced towards Ryu, and aimed a slash at his chest. Again the blade met with the Gauntlets. Ryu shot another bullet which met with the attacker's chest. Surprisingly while they seemed hurt, it didn't seem remotely serious. More like a bruise then a bullet wound. Apparently whoever it was, was wearing a bullet-proof vest.
He aimed a shot at the attacker's forehead. The attacker noticed this and rushed forward to deliver another slash at Ryu's chest. It tore his shirt, leaving a line of blood where the sword had connected. The cut wasn't deep and would probably heal in a couple of days. In fact it seemed to light a cut, as if his attacker had deliberately pulled the strike. Ryu shook it off as he shot a few more bullets off which were deflected by the sword again. This time on the other hand, his shots were slow and the angle was easily trackable, easy enough for someone this good to deflect.
The attacker rushed Ryu and forced him to the ground, the point of the sword was aimed at his heart. Ryu instinctively aimed his gun at the attacker's heart, at this close of a range the bullet would still go through. The two just stared at each other for a few seconds, breathing heavily.
The attacker wiped their brow, revealing their identity, "You..."
_________________________________________
Next Time: Drake confronts Ryu and something terrible happens, secrets are revealed and Ryu faces a challenge that he doesn't stand a chance against...
Chapter One: The Ghouls
Drake stepped into the room of the CEO of Kaiba Corp., a room that contained one of the richest, cruelest, and youngest businessmen in the world. Seto Kaiba. "Sit down."
With two words Kaiba had once again retold just how arrogant he was. You could hear the coldness in his voice, the cruelty he had gained by being the adopted son of a rich business man who wanted an heir. But there was something about Kaiba that seemed to scream that there was more to him then meets the eye.
So of course, since the man was his highest up boss and the guy who hired him, he sat down in the closest chair and payed full attention.
"I've watched how you duel, and I know just how many people request you or come out of duels with you at Kaiba Land extremely impressed by your skill. Since your start at Kaiba Land you haven't lost a single duel, and the duelists you have taught have shown great improvement in short amounts of time. Tell me, how did you become interested in duel monsters and who taught you to duel?"
This was not what Drake had been expecting. Why in the world would Seto Kaiba have interest in him and his dueling? Only Yugi Motou and Maximilian Pegasus had ever beaten him. Kaiba had dueled him and beaten him, that was usually enough for the CEO. But because of his curiosity, and the fact that he could be fired in less time then it takes to say 'you're fired', he answered the questions.
"Well through most of my life I've only been half-good at everything I've tried. But I was bored one day so while at lunch I got interested in what a couple of kids were doing. One of them I knew pretty well, the other I had just seen around school. It turned out to be Duel Monsters they were playing, and one of them let me borrow his deck so I could try my hand at playing."
"The boy you played against at first was Yugi Motou wasn't it?" Drake's eyes widened in shock, but quickly he recovered himself. 'How in the world does he know that?'
He came up with the answer only moments later. 'He's rich, he can find out anything.'
"Yes, it was. He was the one who taught me the basics of it, and because he said I had natural talent, I went on and learned how to play the rest by myself and through playing other people. That's it in a nutshell."
Kaiba glanced at Drake once and then back out the window he had been starring through. "Have you ever heard of the Ghouls?"
"No sir."
"They're a group of duelists who search out and take the rarest of cards. They are Rare Hunters. I want to know more about them, so I have to ask you to do something."
"What would that be?"
"I have a location where some of these Ghouls might be found, once there I want you to find out how you become one of their Rare Hunters. In general I want you to become part of their organization so you can feed me information about them."
"Why me?"
"Because your a good enough duelist that they'll most likely accept you, and because your face isn't well known. Not only that, but I can use you to feed them false information. They'll certainly do a background check on you and find out you work for me, and they'll want to know more about the man holding the three Blue Eyes White Dragons."
It had to be the coolest thing Drake had ever heard of. Infiltrate a secret organization and act as a sort of double agent, feeding his side the right information and feeding the other guys the wrong stuff. And he'd probably still get to duel.
"When do I get started?"
Kaiba just slid a couple of pieces of paper across the table to him and looked back out the window again. "Read through these and you'll know the answers to any questions you might have of me." And he stopped paying attention, leaving Drake to head back to work with a new mission.
"This is so cool."
**************************
Saturday morning. 8 A.M. It was time to go. Drake took a deep breath and scanned his deck one more time before placing it in its container and then into his pocket. Slipping on his leather jacket he headed out the door, it was time to become a Rare Hunter.
It took him about thirty minutes walking to get to the warehouse that Kaiba had specified. It seemed kind of ridiculous that he'd find them here, but that was what Kaiba's informants had told him. And that was where Drake was.
Drake stepped up and knocked on the door three times. "Star light, star bright, why are there no stars out tonight?" Slowly the door creaked open, revealing nothing but shadows. Before Drake could do anything hands shot out and grabbed hold of him pulling him inside. Everything went black.
"How do you know the code?" Drake tried to see who was speaking to him, but the darkness didn't seem to fade at all, leaving him to speculate as to whether his captor was or was not a Rare Hunter.
"I asked around." There were several muffled comments between two or more people, questions asked and answers given. The specifics were to quiet for Drake to overhear, so he simply relaxed and waited for the next questions.
"You work for Seto Kaiba is that correct?" It took Drake mere moments to come up with the response that seemed exactly like him, and yet was completely wrong.
"So what?" There were several more muffled comments, and a light chuckle from somewhere farther back. Either they thought Drake was being funny, or there was something amusing about the situation that he hadn't noticed yet.
"We'll ask the questions here. Why have you come here?"
"Because I'm interested in becoming one of you. I love dueling and I'm willing to do whatever I can to make my deck as strong as possible."
"How much are you willing to do?"
"Whatever I have to. No matter what it might be." Those were the answers Kaiba had given him, and he had memorized them. Now he was realizing just how dangerous those words might be.
"Are you willing to work under our master's total will?"
"If it will make me a stronger duelist and strengthen my deck then absolutely I am." Something was wrong and there was a chance that things could go bad for him...but they stole cards, how dangerous could they possibly be? Its not like they were a terrorist group or something like that.
"Our master will now deliberate your case, and if he chooses to you will be allowed to duel a Rare Hunter of his choice. If you succeed then you will become one of us, if not, then you will pay the price of failure."
'Pay the price of failure? I knew it, there's always an if, no matter what, there's an if. Kaiba didn't mention this, but then again I probably wouldn't have accepted if he had.'
Drake was forced to wait for nearly an hour until finally he was spoken to again. "Your case has been accepted, you will duel one of our number."
Suddenly lights burst on throughout the room and Drake was forced to blink numerous times to accustom his eyes to the sudden light. And to his shock he found himself standing on a dueling platform, with a man in a brown robe with the Eye of Ra on the hood standing on the other side. 'The Eye of Ra? Then whoever leads them must have some connection to ancient Egypt.' And then he sensed it, a power similar yet at the same time different from the power he always felt from his Millennium Disc...and from the golden pyramid that hung around Yugi's neck.
"Are you prepared to duel?" Drake nodded and took out his deck, shuffled it, and then placed it down in its rightful spot, the Rare Hunter did the same.
"Then Lets Duel!"
Rare Hunter: 2000
Drake: 2000
"The challenger may go first." Drake nodded in acceptance and drew his sixth card. He immediately played a monster in reverse defense mode and announced his move. Then he ended his turn. Time to find out if the Rare Hunter was better then the average duelist.
"I'll summon Armored Lizard(1500/1200) in attack mode. Then I'll play Gift of Mystical Elf to raise my life points. I'll also play one card face down. I'll end my turn without attacking."
Rare Hunter:2300
Drake:2000
'Damnit, he didn't attack and he upped his life points.'
"I'll play Shadow of Eyes to force your monster to attack, and I'll play another monster in reverse defense mode."
The instant it became the Rare Hunter's turn, the lizard lashed out with its fists and pounded against Drake's first face down defense monster, revealing Mystical Elf(800/2000), a blue elfin spell-caster.
Rare Hunter:1700
Drake: 2000
Despite the fact that the next turn he'd also be forced to attack the Rare Hunter seemed utterly calm. He seemed to have no problems taking 500 life points damage. In fact he was smiling. "Your life point damage activates my face down card, Numinous Healer giving me one thousand life points." Drake grimaced as the Rare Hunter's life points rose once more.
Rare Hunter: 2700
Drake: 2000
"Now I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon to rid the field of your Shadow of Eyes and play one monster in reverse defense mode. I'll also play a Blue Elixir. Finally I switch my Armored Lizard into defense mode."
Rare Hunter: 3200
Drake: 2000
Drake shook his head at the Rare Hunters strategy. He was just using cards that upped his life points so far, but Drake would just keep his strategy going. "I'll add another monster in reverse defense mode and one card face down on the field. That'll end my turn."
"Now that it is my turn I will play another Gift of Mystical Elf. Then I'll use the very same card you used, Shadow of Eyes, to force your face down monster to attack...sadly Mystical Elf is immune being female." Drake watched in confusion as his Dark Magician was revealed and then blasted the defense monster revealing a tiny worm thing.
"What's that thing?"
"That is Mental Parasitic Host, a small worm that when flipped becomes an equip card for the strongest monster on your field at the time it is flipped, and each of your turns I'll gain half of its attack points."
Drake clenched his fist as he watched the parasite attach to his Dark Magician and the Rare Hunter's life points increase thanks to Gift of Mystical Elf's effect. Drake's other monster, Sapphire Dragon(1900/1600) was also switched to attack mode thanks to Shadow of Eyes. 'How am I supposed to beat someone who's life points just keep increasing?'
Rare Hunter: 3500
Drake: 2000
Drake drew his next card and watched helplessly as the Rare Hunter's life points rose even further. Things were starting to get ridiculous.
Rare Hunter: 4750
Drake:2000
"I'll play Heavy Storm to clear the field of magic cards." The Rare Hunter shrugged and placed his Shadow of Eyes into the graveyard...but nothing happened to the parasite attached to Drake's magician.
"I thought it was an equip card now?"
The Rare Hunter just laughed at his comment, this time Drake had said something funny and hadn't even realized it, or maybe the hunter was just an ass. "It acts as one, but it's still a monster. Looks like your plan didn't work."
"Fine, it didn't, but I'll switch Mystical Elf into defense mode, and end my turn."
"So be it. I'll put one card face down and then place Destroyer Golem(1500/1000) in attack mode." Drake drew again and then winced as his opponent's life points rose again.
Rare Hunter: 6000
Drake: 2000
"Dark Magician, destroy Destroyer Golem!" Drake exhaled sharply as his magician vaporized the golem doing 1000 points of damage.
Rare Hunter: 5000
Drake: 2000
"Your damage activates my face down card, another Numinious Healer who grants me 1000 life points and 500 for my other Numinous Healer in the graveyard."
Rare Hunter: 6500
Drake: 2000
Things were certainly looking grim for Drake, not only had he not managed to truly damage his opponent's life points, but he now had less then a third of the Rare Hunter's points. If things kept up like this the duel might end a draw, and a draw just wasn't good enough.
"One magic card face down, Leghul(300/350) in attack mode to do 300 points of direct damage to your precious life points."
The little worm creature appeared and darted at Drake's side to deal him some direct damage. Drake winced seeing his life points drop. It wasn't a huge amount of damage, but with the difference in their life points it was enough. 'Stop dueling stupid. This price of failure thing has thrown you off your game. Quit worrying and duel smart, don't play his game, play it as yours.'
Drake grinned. He had been playing to this Rare Hunter's game. But the Rare Hunter had made a stupid mistake playing that monster even if it did do 300 points of direct damage. It was incredibly weak and undefended.
He drew and knew his play would work. "You've been so concerned with raising your life points that you never thought about the effect it might have."
Rare Hunter: 7750
Drake: 1700
"What are you talking about?"
"Allow me to show you. I'll equip Megamorph to my Dark Magician doubling his attack strength as long as my life points are lower than yours. I set a card face down and now...Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!" With a single bolt of purple magic the Leghul was destroyed and along with it most of the Rare Hunter's life points.
Rare Hunter: 3050
Drake: 1700
"Once again you play into my hands despite your best efforts. Numinous Healer to give me a total of 2000 life points."
Rare Hunter: 1050
Drake: 1700
"That's impossible! How could my life points decrease?"
Drake showed him the card he had set face down. "The card I played was Side Effect of Shimitochi, which turns life point increases, into decreases." The Rare Hunter snarled, and several others in the background chuckled, this time Drake agreed. It really was funny to see the Rare Hunter's own strategy used to trample him.
"Fine, since my life points are lower now your magician's attack points are cut in half. But I still can't afford to have it around next turn, so I'll play Dark Hole to rid the field of all of your monsters. I end my turn with a defense monster."
Drake shook his head and rolled his eyes. "This is pretty pathetic! Sure you may have removed my monsters, but I've got plenty more where that came from. Even better is the fact that most of your cards increase your life points, and now that works against you."
"Shut up!" Drake obliged the ghoul and drew for what he was certain was the final time.
"I'll play Pot of Greed to draw two more cards...and with those cards comes your defeat." He slapped the first card down, revealing a red glowing rock....a meteor. Then came the second card...and the holographic projectors revealed a tall warrior in black and silver armor, wielding a shiny sword.
"I summon my supreme monster, Omegus(3500/3200)! Then I finish the duel off with Fairy Meteor Crush." He grinned in satisfaction as for the first time his opponent looked afraid. He knew very well what Fairy Meteor Crush did, and obviously knew very well that the monster he had played didn't have 2500 defense points.
"Omegus, use your Omega Slash to finish him off!" The warrior nodded once and swept his blade in a curving arc sending a ripple of mystical energies raging across the field. The Ghoul's defense monster shattered into millions of pieces and his life points dropped to zero.
It was the sudden silence that he noticed first, the utter lack of anything even remotely resembling sound. He had won his way through and was now technically a Rare Hunter. But he had expected them to say something, maybe congratulate him, or berate the other guy for losing. He hadn't expected for them to simply stand there, staring at him.
That was when the door opened and a boy about his age stepped through it. A boy with white hair holding a golden rod with the Eye of Ra at the top. A Millennium item. The first thing that Drake sensed when he entered was power, lots of power. The second thing was that stemming from the man was a hidden presence, a very evil presence. This was the leader of the Ghouls, he was sure of it.
"Drake Ihachi...you have great skill, but skill that still requires honing. I am Malik, and you Drake have proved yourself worthy to be a Rare Hunter, at least dueling skill wise. However to prove your mettle and worth further, you must carry out one task for me. Only then will I allow you to be called a Rare Hunter, only then will you truly be one of us."
"What would that task be...umm...what do I call you?"
Malik chuckled, an evil chuckle if Drake had to call it anything. "You may call me Master Malik. Your task is to recover a card of great importance to the Ghouls. A fifth Blue Eyes held in the hands of one Ryu Shigeru, who goes to your school. Do you know him?"
Drake nodded silently for on the inside he was shocked. A fifth Blue Eyes, one of the rarest cards in the world! For the longest time everyone had believed there were only four...but somehow or other Ryu Shigeru, probably the toughest kid at Domino High, owned a fifth one.
"Find Ryu and take his Blue Eyes using whatever means you deem necessary. After that return with it to this exact location and deliver the card directly into my hands. That is your task."
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Ryu stood in a graveyard, in front of a grave. The grave of the last surviving gang member, Robert. The two of them managed to escape to Japan, away from the gang that killed their friends. A few years later, Robert died when he and Ryu got caught in the middle of a gang fight. The memory was etched into Ryu's mind. Robert was like a brother to him, seeing a bullet driven through his head was something that he'd like to forget.
Ryu sensed a presence a few feet away and turned around to face the intruder who instantly drew a weapon. Ryu just stood there, glaring at the threatening figure, who walked closer and closer. The sword was brought down, in an instant Ryu brought up his arm, the Gauntlets took the hit.
The attacker walked back a few steps as Ryu pulled out a gun. A few shots went off as the attacker deflected each bullet with the sword. Again the attacker advanced towards Ryu, and aimed a slash at his chest. Again the blade met with the Gauntlets. Ryu shot another bullet which met with the attacker's chest. Surprisingly while they seemed hurt, it didn't seem remotely serious. More like a bruise then a bullet wound. Apparently whoever it was, was wearing a bullet-proof vest.
He aimed a shot at the attacker's forehead. The attacker noticed this and rushed forward to deliver another slash at Ryu's chest. It tore his shirt, leaving a line of blood where the sword had connected. The cut wasn't deep and would probably heal in a couple of days. In fact it seemed to light a cut, as if his attacker had deliberately pulled the strike. Ryu shook it off as he shot a few more bullets off which were deflected by the sword again. This time on the other hand, his shots were slow and the angle was easily trackable, easy enough for someone this good to deflect.
The attacker rushed Ryu and forced him to the ground, the point of the sword was aimed at his heart. Ryu instinctively aimed his gun at the attacker's heart, at this close of a range the bullet would still go through. The two just stared at each other for a few seconds, breathing heavily.
The attacker wiped their brow, revealing their identity, "You..."
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Next Time: Drake confronts Ryu and something terrible happens, secrets are revealed and Ryu faces a challenge that he doesn't stand a chance against...