Disclaimer: *Sigh* Nope, no Yu-gi-oh ownership for me.
Chapter Six: Rematch
The day had barely gone by and Drake had two locater cards. On the other hand he wasn't willing to face just any duelist to get his locater cards, he had to prove to himself that he was as good as he hoped, and to do that he had to defeat only the best duelists. "Damnit, at this rate I'll never find a good duel and get another locater card!"
"Check it out! Some chick is facing Panick in a duel!"
Drake stopped in his tracks to glance over at the kid who was shouting to a couple of his friends, each of them was wearing duel discs. Panick was a familiar name to Drake, but he wasn't quite sure why. "Might as well check it out." Drake rushed over and pushed his way through the crowd to get a good look. What he saw made him realize a couple of things. The first was that Panick had been one of the Eliminators at Duelist Kingdom, and second that the chick the guy had been talking about was none other then Mai Valentine!
"Oh come on Panick. You're dueling just like you did at Duelist Kingdom, you haven't improved at all. Which means you don't stand a chance here. Without your scare tactics you couldn't beat a beginner at dueling."
"We'll see about that! I was too much for you before and I will be now! Besides, I've already got a full field of monsters and all you've got is that pathetic harpy. Once your turn is over I'll crush your harpy and go in for a full scale assault to finish you off!"
Mai scoffed at that and brushed her hair out of her eyes staring hautily at the much larger Panick. "Oh come on, even broadcasting your strategy? How could you possibly hope to win any duels like that?"
"I'll show you!"
"Whatever. I'll just make it costly for you to have those monsters by playing Just Desserts. Of course that puts you down to 700 life points doesn't it? I suppose I can summon one monster in defense mode and switch Harpy Lady to defense mode. Then I'll just have to put these cards face down and end my turn."
"I'll attack with my two strongest monsters, neither of which you can see, and destroy your puny monsters. Then I'll attack directly!" But to Panick's surprise his two monsters were destroyed. "What happened?"
"My Counter Machine-Gun Punch happened, instead of my monster being destroyed, yours were."
"I'll attack with the rest of my monsters!"
"And finish yourself off thanks to Mirror Force." The attacks were reflected back at Panick's monsters, destroying them.
"Now I play Monster Reborn to revive the card I had to remove from my hand earlier, Harpy's Pet Dragon and I attack directly!" With a burst of flame Panick was defeated and forced by Mai and those around her to give up his rarest card and locater card. "Easy pickings."
"Just as good as always Mai. But can you do that against someone better then him?" She turned to see who was addressing her, and the crowd moved back from Drake, apparently thinking he was crazy to be challenging someone as well known and skilled as Mai Valentine, or maybe they were just make room for the duel.
"Back for another beating Drake? Didn't you learn your lesson last time?"
"I know just how you duel Mai, and my defeat at your hands made me think long and hard about my strategy and my deck. And I've improved quite a bit thanks to you. Losing to you was a learning experience, and I'm about to find out whether I learned enough to beat you."
"Well you sound like your willing to risk losing just to prove to yourself that you've improved. But I don't intend to humor you, expect me to duel hard because I know how you duel as well."
"Ladies first Mai."
Mai: 4000
Drake: 4000
"Sure, and I'll summon Amazon Archess(1400/1200) in attack mode, and place one card face down. Your turn kiddo."
"Amazon? I guess you have changed your deck a little bit, but I know your going by the same strategy as before. I'll just put a monster in reverse defense mode, and put one card face down. Then I'll finish my turn by placing Power Stone of Darkness on the field, and using its effect."
A dark stone appeared on his field near the two other floating cards, and above it was three shimmering spheres. One suddenly vanished. "Whats that things effect?"
"You'll have to find out for yourself."
"Alright, but I know your strategy, and I know that the monster you placed definetely has a weak attack. So I'll summon Amazon Pet Tiger(1100/150), it might seem weak but it gets 400 attack points for every card with the name Amazon attached to it on the field bringing it up to 1500. Plus it has to be destroyed before you can destroy any of my other Amazon cards. Then I play Shadow of Eyes, which will force your monster to attack next turn."
Drake shrugged as it became his turn and then let his monster be switched to attack mode. His monster was revealed as Skilled Black Magician(1900/1700) who had two magic counters floating above him. "I'll use my stone's effect again, and of course I'll tribute my magician and all three of its magic counters to summon Dark Magician(2500/2100), my second strongest monster! Dark Magician, destroy that tiger!"
His mighty magician charged in and slashed through the tiger with his staff, destroying it and a good deal of Mai's life points. Now the magician and his magic dominated the field, making Mai's female monsters look puny. 'This a fantastic start! Dark Magician so soon in the duel! I've got this duel in the bag for sure!'
Mai: 3000
"That was a good start kiddo, but now I'm gonna have to push the duel up a notch. I tribute my archess to summon Harpy's Pet Dragon in attack mode, and set one card face down on the field. And you're going to be forced to attack next turn."
Drake was wary of the card she had placed face down, but not overly wary. If she sent the attack back at him he'd just activate the card he was about to put down. "I'll summon Neo the Magic Swordsman(1700/1000) and play one card face down. Sadly my monsters are forced to attack, starting with my magician."
His swordsman charged in and swung his sword to strike down the dragon, and struck something which showed a mirror image of his spellcaster and the attack didn't go through, in fact when his magician stumbled back, and soon after Neo, both's attack began to drop. "What's happening?"
"My Mirror Wall reflects their attacks and cuts their attack power in half. Dropping Dark Magician to 1250 and Neo to 850."
"All I can do is end my turn."
"Good, I'll pay the 1000 life point cost to maintain my Mirror Wall, and nowe now I summon Harpy Lady, and play Elegant Egotist to triple her into the Harpy Lady Sisters. And of course my dragon gets 300 attack points for each of my harpies, sending its attack climbing to 2900! Destroy Neo!"
Drake's eyes widened as the large dragon opened its mouth and unleashed a seathing gout of flame, that was heading straight for his weakened Neo! The massive flame of Harpy's Pet Dragon bore down upon the swordsman ready to incinerate it and Drake's life points. And crashed directly into three singing robed men. And no damage was done. "Waboku stops your attack. Looks like he's safe for now. Especially since after you've used Elegant Egotist your harpies can't attack. At least until next turn."
Mai: 2000
"Fine, I'll end my turn by placing this card face down." Drake nodded and drew his next card. 'Come on and give me something to get rid of that Mirror Wall! Heavy Storm, Mystical Space Typhoon, Despell, anything!' And he flipped his card up to view it, when he did a grin spread across his face.
"Ha! I'll tribute both of my monster to summon my strongest attacker, Omegus(3500/3200). What makes it even better is that traps don't effect Omegus. I'll attack your dragon since I have to destroy it before destroying your harpies." Omegus charged across the field and straight at where the Mirror Wall would appear, and with a single slice decapitated the dragon.
Mai: 1400
"Here we go...I'll play Fissure to destroy Omegus, and equip the sisters with Cyber Shield raising their combined attack to 2450. Attack him directly! I've decided I'm gonna risk Mirror Wall for one more turn, so I pay the life points." Drake groaned as the earth swallowed his favorite monster, and the triplets blew a gust of wind at him that knocked him on his back and smashed through his life points.
Mai: 400
Drake: 1550
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He walked slowly toward the two as Dalin watched on from the top of the small building. Ryu pulled out his knife, "Hinata, get out of here now."
"Hell no! We're both escaping alive," she replied as she brandished her shinai (bamboo sword).
Ryu turned back to the current threat. He was too frustrated to go on with trying to tell Hinata to stay away. The figure loomed closer and closer, then he raised his sword above his head, ready to bring it down on Ryu. The cold steel was brought down, meeting with concrete as Ryu sidestepped out of the way, "Isn't that a little...limited?"
The attacker sneered and lifted his sword for another blow which was again easily dodged. Realizing that Ryu was too fast for such a heavy weapon, he pulled out a smaller blade, a tai-chi sword.
Ryu's knife was smaller, but he was confident that it wouldn't make a difference. The Rare Hunter raised it and brought it down in a split second but Ryu blocked it with his knife. Sparks flew as the two pieces of metal clanged together at incredible force, "That all you got? Malik should have sent a few more of you guys."
"That can be arranged," the attacker released a flurry of attacks that were barely visible. Ryu dodged all but one which hit his arm, cutting a deep gash in it. Hinata cringed as she saw Ryu's crimson blood flow freely from the open wound. She was too scared to do anything but stand there and watch. Ryu on the other hand shook it off right away as if he didn't feel any pain, but he clutched it so that he wouldn't feel faint from blood loss.
Again, a hail of attacks were released and since Ryu's arm made him slower his reactions were also slowed down, letting the hunter's weapon connect three more times, inflicting shallow but painful cuts. Hinata couldn't take it anymore, she took out her shinai and rushed toward the Rare Hunter.
He noticed this and turned around to face the young girl. She raised it to execute a Tsuki attack, a thrust to the neck. After it hit she spun and slashed at the neck, causing him to fall to the side a little. He got back up with surprising ease and delivered a punch that knocked her out.
Seeing this, Dalin decided to buy Ryu a little time, he quickly came down from the building and was instantly attacked. The Rare Hunter stabbed at Dalin's chest but the muscular man managed to sidestep in time. He snapped his hand out, grabbing the hunter's wrist and squeezed it, agitating the pressure points. The sword clattered to the ground.
After pulling his wrist back, the hunter punched Dalin in the chest. Dalin's spiky blond hair bounced from the impact, but he remained standing and delivered a powerful blow to the Rare Hunter's stomach, doubling him over. By now Ryu had slowed the flow of blood in his arms and got up, "I'll take it from here." Dalin nodded and stepped aside, allowing Ryu to continue his battle. This had become personal.
Ryu was angry by now; the Rare Hunter had probably given Hinata a concussion and had actually out-maneuvered him. Again, Ryu brandished his knife and stabbed at the attacker's chest, but he turned and it was stabbed into his shoulder. Ryu then twisted it mercilessly, increasing the pain by ten fold. After pulling it back out, he pushed the attacker back who keeled over, hitting the ground with a loud thump.
The Rare Hunter somehow managed to pull himself up and rushed at Ryu, ready to impale him with the sword. Ryu just stood there for a second then threw his knife. It flew through the air and cut through the skin on the Rare Hunter's forehead, then through the skull, and finally it impaled the brain. He was dead before he hit the ground.
He then turned to Dalin, "Thanks."
"No problem," he replied. He then walked off to watch from a distance. He watched as Ryu lifted the original Rare Hunter by his robe, "Ready to tell me where my card is?"
"Yea...sure...just please...don't kill me," he begged. Ryu smirked at the terror he had caused the man, "It's..."
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He wasn't exactly left with much choice. He drew and sighed when he saw what it was. Thank god for his luck...or maybe it was for his Millenium Item's power. Either way he had a move he could make. "I set a monster face down, but he is instantly flipped into attack mode thanks to Shadow of Eyes, and he's the Vindictive Magician who when flipped lets me select a monster and destroy it. I choose your sisters. I set a card and end my turn, after Vindictive Magician attacks and is reduced to 225."
Mai sighed and layed her card down. "I summon Amazon Swordswoman(1500/1200) and attack your Vindictive Magician." The woman's blade sliced through the old wizard with ease, and nearly finished Drake off.
Drake: 225
He took a deep breath and drew his next card. "Mai...its over. I summon Apprenticeship Magician and equip him with the card that nearly cost you the duel the last time. Wizard Mentor, which allows me to raise him to another level of spellcaster, and I'm going all the way to the Dark Sage(2800/3200)." A spellcaster dressed in blue clothing was bathed in an intense light, and when it cleared the black robed monster floated on Drake's side.
"Dark Magic Attack!"
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The man's words were cut off as a two toned voice replace the original one, "Ryu Shigeru...you would have made a great Rare Hunter. You can kill without feeling, take without guilt. How about joining us?"
"Why do you think that? And, by the way, there's no way, I'll join you bastards." asked Ryu.
"You killed one of my men...and smiled when you were done. I think that maybe you enjoyed it," Ryu didn't reply, whoever this man speaking through the Rare Hunter was, the truth was that he was right, "If you want your card back, show up at the Battle Ship later tonight, at the tournament finals." When he was done speaking the voice disintegrated and the Rare Hunter collapsed into a heap. Ryu felt for a pulse, there was none. After putting the man back down, Ryu walked over to where Hinata was currently laying unconscious. He lifted her up and started off, back to his apartment as Dalin followed.
Dalin was impressed by the way the man had fought. However he had been surprised to hear Malik's voice coming from that man. How could Malik have control over the man and why did he? Somehow he knew the reason for the how. An image hidden deep within his mind. A golden rod with an eye on the top. The Millennium Rod. And he could sense something similar to that power from this man called Ryu. But it was weaker.
Malik's words came back to him then, though he knew not why. "Find him and defeat him and all your questions shall be answered. Within the Shadow Realm do your answers lie, only there with the puzzle in your grasp can your memory be returned to you. And when your memory returns I ask only one thing, that you give me the puzzle."
"Why do you want the puzzle?"
"So that I can help my sister who has lost her memory."
"Why not simply ask this man to let you use the puzzle?"
"He would not, for he is an arrogant and selfish excuse for a human being and the only one who stands between me and returning my sisters memory."
"I will defeat this man then, and claim his puzzle, for your sister if nothing else."
That was when the name returned to him, he remembered now. "Tell me a few things Ryu, what do you know about the Shadow Realm and a man named Yugi Motou?"
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Drake accepted the three cards and looked at Mirror Wall with joy. The ultimate trap, and it was his. Then he made a decision. "Mai...I beat you once, and you've beaten me once. But my loss to you made me realize quite a few things, and during the time I had over the past week I did a huge revamp to my deck, some of it based around things I learned dueling you. I'd never have beaten you without the experience I gained losing to you, and I wouldn't feel like I deserved to have won unless I gave you the chance at a rematch. Here, take this."
Drake extended her second locater card and smiled. Mai on the other hand didn't look to happy, she turned away, putting her back to him and spoke in offended tones. "I'm not going to take your charity."
"Not charity, think of it as a friendly gift. It just wouldn't be a duel monsters tournament unless Mai Valentine was at the finals. Catch ya later!" He turned and walked off, her only response was to hold on to the card and smile.
"That kid reminds me of Joey...but if he keeps being charitable like that he could end up losing more then he expected."
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"I'll crush your freakish Firewing Pegasus right now! Millennium Prehistoric Man destroy that messed up monster!" The brutish creature charged across the field and swung his weapon to destroy the goofy looking winged horse, but at the last moment the Pegasus' body arched to the side to avoid the blow.
"Normal monsters can't attack toons like that. So as long as Toon World is in play, you can't even hurt me. I on the other hand can crush you."
"The card isn't even fair! Its way to powerful!"
Taichi Nobuki merely shrugged and drew his next card. "This should interest you. Because I'm ending the duel. I'll play Snatch Steal to take your monster, and then attack with both!" A giant brown bag covered the brutish monster and pulled him to Taichi's side of the field. The young duelist smirked as both monsters blasted his opponent's life points apart.
The duelist shoved the cards at him and turned away, obviously upset that he had lost in just four turns. And of course that he was out of the tournament. "Don't worry about being eliminated from the tournament. You won't be worrying about much anymore since I'll be inflicting Game Punishment now."
"What are you talking about?"
Taichi held up one blank card and reached deep within himself to the power he possessed, and unleashed it. There was a blinding flash of light, and then the duelist collapsed to the ground. Taichi turned on his heels, more then a dozen locater cards in hand, and slipped the new cards into his pocket. Now it was about time to head to the tournament final's location. Everything was falling into place.
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Seto Kaiba was busy doing what all rich arrogant bastards do, pissing people off with his huge ego. But a sudden call interrupted him. "Mr. Kaiba, we have to inform you of something."
"Is it a God card? Has one of them been played?" The eagerness in his voice was overly obvious, but his inferiors knew better then to mention that he sounded almost like a little boy waiting for a treat.
"No sir, but we believe this will be as interesting to you."
"Spit it out already, I don't have all day."
"The card Toon World has been played by a duelist named Taichi Nobuki." There was silence for at least a minute as Kaiba was pulled into a flashback of his duel with Pegasus when the Toon World card had caused his defeat. The only Toon World in existance, which meant this Taichi Nobuki might have Pegasus' deck somehow.
"Tell me where he is."
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The information that Ryu had provided him allowed an incredible tide of memories, a tide of memories that gave him sudden insight into his own power. Reaching out with that power he located the link between Ryu and his Blue Eyes, and then forced that link to become visible to him. A chain of energy that would lead him straight to the card. "Ryu, follow me and I can lead you to the Blue Eyes."
"Are you sure? Don't mess around about this sort of thing." Dalin merely nodded and started walking, a few moments later Ryu began to follow him. Their positions had been reversed with astounding speed. They walked on after a little while he spoke up again, "How come you weren't scared of being killed?"
"You weren't either."
Dalin shrugged it off, "That's because I thought that if I bought you some time, you would be able to take over again," he stated.
"When I was in the first gang, I think I was around nine or ten, the gang leader told me something after I got scared and messed up a hit," explained Ryu, "We shouldn't be scared of death...it's always with us...when we show fear of it, it jumps at us, faster than light...if we don't show fear, it would gently cast its eye upon us. And guides us all...to infinity..."
Dalin took it all in. It was true, if someone fears death, they will die the final death, but if they aren't scared, it would be as if they were immortal, "That's it? One phrase gave you all that courage?"
"I've also lost everything; my family, my friends, my life...everything. And without all that, everything has lost all meaning," replied Ryu as he shifted Hinata so that she'd be easier to carry.
"You still have her," replied Dalin as he motioned toward Hinata.
Ryu slightly laughed ever so slightly, still trying to not disturb her sleep, unnatural though it might be. "Yeah, I guess. Always wondered what it'd be like to have a little sister, guess now I know."
Little did he know that Hinata had woken up a little after Ryu told Dalin about what his first gang leader told him, "I can't believe he thinks of me as his little sister..."
Dalin was now unsure of exactly what he should believe. Malik had spoken through that man, and his words to Ryu had been rather odd. They did not seem like the Malik he had met, not at all. The Malik he had met, the Malik who had found him in the middle of the desert had been very kind, not ruthless and cold sounding the way the one they had heard was.
And then there was Yugi Moto, the big question in the whole situation. The King of Games, Yu-gi-oh, a title that seemed strangely familiar to Dalin, not simply because of the knowledge he had gained from Ryu, but because of something else. He was almost afraid that soon enough all his questions would be answered.
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Next Time: Several of our characters find themselves coming together in one place at the same time a dangerous duel is waged, forcing Drake to deal with the results of opening the Gates of Chaos...
Chapter Six: Rematch
The day had barely gone by and Drake had two locater cards. On the other hand he wasn't willing to face just any duelist to get his locater cards, he had to prove to himself that he was as good as he hoped, and to do that he had to defeat only the best duelists. "Damnit, at this rate I'll never find a good duel and get another locater card!"
"Check it out! Some chick is facing Panick in a duel!"
Drake stopped in his tracks to glance over at the kid who was shouting to a couple of his friends, each of them was wearing duel discs. Panick was a familiar name to Drake, but he wasn't quite sure why. "Might as well check it out." Drake rushed over and pushed his way through the crowd to get a good look. What he saw made him realize a couple of things. The first was that Panick had been one of the Eliminators at Duelist Kingdom, and second that the chick the guy had been talking about was none other then Mai Valentine!
"Oh come on Panick. You're dueling just like you did at Duelist Kingdom, you haven't improved at all. Which means you don't stand a chance here. Without your scare tactics you couldn't beat a beginner at dueling."
"We'll see about that! I was too much for you before and I will be now! Besides, I've already got a full field of monsters and all you've got is that pathetic harpy. Once your turn is over I'll crush your harpy and go in for a full scale assault to finish you off!"
Mai scoffed at that and brushed her hair out of her eyes staring hautily at the much larger Panick. "Oh come on, even broadcasting your strategy? How could you possibly hope to win any duels like that?"
"I'll show you!"
"Whatever. I'll just make it costly for you to have those monsters by playing Just Desserts. Of course that puts you down to 700 life points doesn't it? I suppose I can summon one monster in defense mode and switch Harpy Lady to defense mode. Then I'll just have to put these cards face down and end my turn."
"I'll attack with my two strongest monsters, neither of which you can see, and destroy your puny monsters. Then I'll attack directly!" But to Panick's surprise his two monsters were destroyed. "What happened?"
"My Counter Machine-Gun Punch happened, instead of my monster being destroyed, yours were."
"I'll attack with the rest of my monsters!"
"And finish yourself off thanks to Mirror Force." The attacks were reflected back at Panick's monsters, destroying them.
"Now I play Monster Reborn to revive the card I had to remove from my hand earlier, Harpy's Pet Dragon and I attack directly!" With a burst of flame Panick was defeated and forced by Mai and those around her to give up his rarest card and locater card. "Easy pickings."
"Just as good as always Mai. But can you do that against someone better then him?" She turned to see who was addressing her, and the crowd moved back from Drake, apparently thinking he was crazy to be challenging someone as well known and skilled as Mai Valentine, or maybe they were just make room for the duel.
"Back for another beating Drake? Didn't you learn your lesson last time?"
"I know just how you duel Mai, and my defeat at your hands made me think long and hard about my strategy and my deck. And I've improved quite a bit thanks to you. Losing to you was a learning experience, and I'm about to find out whether I learned enough to beat you."
"Well you sound like your willing to risk losing just to prove to yourself that you've improved. But I don't intend to humor you, expect me to duel hard because I know how you duel as well."
"Ladies first Mai."
Mai: 4000
Drake: 4000
"Sure, and I'll summon Amazon Archess(1400/1200) in attack mode, and place one card face down. Your turn kiddo."
"Amazon? I guess you have changed your deck a little bit, but I know your going by the same strategy as before. I'll just put a monster in reverse defense mode, and put one card face down. Then I'll finish my turn by placing Power Stone of Darkness on the field, and using its effect."
A dark stone appeared on his field near the two other floating cards, and above it was three shimmering spheres. One suddenly vanished. "Whats that things effect?"
"You'll have to find out for yourself."
"Alright, but I know your strategy, and I know that the monster you placed definetely has a weak attack. So I'll summon Amazon Pet Tiger(1100/150), it might seem weak but it gets 400 attack points for every card with the name Amazon attached to it on the field bringing it up to 1500. Plus it has to be destroyed before you can destroy any of my other Amazon cards. Then I play Shadow of Eyes, which will force your monster to attack next turn."
Drake shrugged as it became his turn and then let his monster be switched to attack mode. His monster was revealed as Skilled Black Magician(1900/1700) who had two magic counters floating above him. "I'll use my stone's effect again, and of course I'll tribute my magician and all three of its magic counters to summon Dark Magician(2500/2100), my second strongest monster! Dark Magician, destroy that tiger!"
His mighty magician charged in and slashed through the tiger with his staff, destroying it and a good deal of Mai's life points. Now the magician and his magic dominated the field, making Mai's female monsters look puny. 'This a fantastic start! Dark Magician so soon in the duel! I've got this duel in the bag for sure!'
Mai: 3000
"That was a good start kiddo, but now I'm gonna have to push the duel up a notch. I tribute my archess to summon Harpy's Pet Dragon in attack mode, and set one card face down on the field. And you're going to be forced to attack next turn."
Drake was wary of the card she had placed face down, but not overly wary. If she sent the attack back at him he'd just activate the card he was about to put down. "I'll summon Neo the Magic Swordsman(1700/1000) and play one card face down. Sadly my monsters are forced to attack, starting with my magician."
His swordsman charged in and swung his sword to strike down the dragon, and struck something which showed a mirror image of his spellcaster and the attack didn't go through, in fact when his magician stumbled back, and soon after Neo, both's attack began to drop. "What's happening?"
"My Mirror Wall reflects their attacks and cuts their attack power in half. Dropping Dark Magician to 1250 and Neo to 850."
"All I can do is end my turn."
"Good, I'll pay the 1000 life point cost to maintain my Mirror Wall, and nowe now I summon Harpy Lady, and play Elegant Egotist to triple her into the Harpy Lady Sisters. And of course my dragon gets 300 attack points for each of my harpies, sending its attack climbing to 2900! Destroy Neo!"
Drake's eyes widened as the large dragon opened its mouth and unleashed a seathing gout of flame, that was heading straight for his weakened Neo! The massive flame of Harpy's Pet Dragon bore down upon the swordsman ready to incinerate it and Drake's life points. And crashed directly into three singing robed men. And no damage was done. "Waboku stops your attack. Looks like he's safe for now. Especially since after you've used Elegant Egotist your harpies can't attack. At least until next turn."
Mai: 2000
"Fine, I'll end my turn by placing this card face down." Drake nodded and drew his next card. 'Come on and give me something to get rid of that Mirror Wall! Heavy Storm, Mystical Space Typhoon, Despell, anything!' And he flipped his card up to view it, when he did a grin spread across his face.
"Ha! I'll tribute both of my monster to summon my strongest attacker, Omegus(3500/3200). What makes it even better is that traps don't effect Omegus. I'll attack your dragon since I have to destroy it before destroying your harpies." Omegus charged across the field and straight at where the Mirror Wall would appear, and with a single slice decapitated the dragon.
Mai: 1400
"Here we go...I'll play Fissure to destroy Omegus, and equip the sisters with Cyber Shield raising their combined attack to 2450. Attack him directly! I've decided I'm gonna risk Mirror Wall for one more turn, so I pay the life points." Drake groaned as the earth swallowed his favorite monster, and the triplets blew a gust of wind at him that knocked him on his back and smashed through his life points.
Mai: 400
Drake: 1550
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He walked slowly toward the two as Dalin watched on from the top of the small building. Ryu pulled out his knife, "Hinata, get out of here now."
"Hell no! We're both escaping alive," she replied as she brandished her shinai (bamboo sword).
Ryu turned back to the current threat. He was too frustrated to go on with trying to tell Hinata to stay away. The figure loomed closer and closer, then he raised his sword above his head, ready to bring it down on Ryu. The cold steel was brought down, meeting with concrete as Ryu sidestepped out of the way, "Isn't that a little...limited?"
The attacker sneered and lifted his sword for another blow which was again easily dodged. Realizing that Ryu was too fast for such a heavy weapon, he pulled out a smaller blade, a tai-chi sword.
Ryu's knife was smaller, but he was confident that it wouldn't make a difference. The Rare Hunter raised it and brought it down in a split second but Ryu blocked it with his knife. Sparks flew as the two pieces of metal clanged together at incredible force, "That all you got? Malik should have sent a few more of you guys."
"That can be arranged," the attacker released a flurry of attacks that were barely visible. Ryu dodged all but one which hit his arm, cutting a deep gash in it. Hinata cringed as she saw Ryu's crimson blood flow freely from the open wound. She was too scared to do anything but stand there and watch. Ryu on the other hand shook it off right away as if he didn't feel any pain, but he clutched it so that he wouldn't feel faint from blood loss.
Again, a hail of attacks were released and since Ryu's arm made him slower his reactions were also slowed down, letting the hunter's weapon connect three more times, inflicting shallow but painful cuts. Hinata couldn't take it anymore, she took out her shinai and rushed toward the Rare Hunter.
He noticed this and turned around to face the young girl. She raised it to execute a Tsuki attack, a thrust to the neck. After it hit she spun and slashed at the neck, causing him to fall to the side a little. He got back up with surprising ease and delivered a punch that knocked her out.
Seeing this, Dalin decided to buy Ryu a little time, he quickly came down from the building and was instantly attacked. The Rare Hunter stabbed at Dalin's chest but the muscular man managed to sidestep in time. He snapped his hand out, grabbing the hunter's wrist and squeezed it, agitating the pressure points. The sword clattered to the ground.
After pulling his wrist back, the hunter punched Dalin in the chest. Dalin's spiky blond hair bounced from the impact, but he remained standing and delivered a powerful blow to the Rare Hunter's stomach, doubling him over. By now Ryu had slowed the flow of blood in his arms and got up, "I'll take it from here." Dalin nodded and stepped aside, allowing Ryu to continue his battle. This had become personal.
Ryu was angry by now; the Rare Hunter had probably given Hinata a concussion and had actually out-maneuvered him. Again, Ryu brandished his knife and stabbed at the attacker's chest, but he turned and it was stabbed into his shoulder. Ryu then twisted it mercilessly, increasing the pain by ten fold. After pulling it back out, he pushed the attacker back who keeled over, hitting the ground with a loud thump.
The Rare Hunter somehow managed to pull himself up and rushed at Ryu, ready to impale him with the sword. Ryu just stood there for a second then threw his knife. It flew through the air and cut through the skin on the Rare Hunter's forehead, then through the skull, and finally it impaled the brain. He was dead before he hit the ground.
He then turned to Dalin, "Thanks."
"No problem," he replied. He then walked off to watch from a distance. He watched as Ryu lifted the original Rare Hunter by his robe, "Ready to tell me where my card is?"
"Yea...sure...just please...don't kill me," he begged. Ryu smirked at the terror he had caused the man, "It's..."
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He wasn't exactly left with much choice. He drew and sighed when he saw what it was. Thank god for his luck...or maybe it was for his Millenium Item's power. Either way he had a move he could make. "I set a monster face down, but he is instantly flipped into attack mode thanks to Shadow of Eyes, and he's the Vindictive Magician who when flipped lets me select a monster and destroy it. I choose your sisters. I set a card and end my turn, after Vindictive Magician attacks and is reduced to 225."
Mai sighed and layed her card down. "I summon Amazon Swordswoman(1500/1200) and attack your Vindictive Magician." The woman's blade sliced through the old wizard with ease, and nearly finished Drake off.
Drake: 225
He took a deep breath and drew his next card. "Mai...its over. I summon Apprenticeship Magician and equip him with the card that nearly cost you the duel the last time. Wizard Mentor, which allows me to raise him to another level of spellcaster, and I'm going all the way to the Dark Sage(2800/3200)." A spellcaster dressed in blue clothing was bathed in an intense light, and when it cleared the black robed monster floated on Drake's side.
"Dark Magic Attack!"
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The man's words were cut off as a two toned voice replace the original one, "Ryu Shigeru...you would have made a great Rare Hunter. You can kill without feeling, take without guilt. How about joining us?"
"Why do you think that? And, by the way, there's no way, I'll join you bastards." asked Ryu.
"You killed one of my men...and smiled when you were done. I think that maybe you enjoyed it," Ryu didn't reply, whoever this man speaking through the Rare Hunter was, the truth was that he was right, "If you want your card back, show up at the Battle Ship later tonight, at the tournament finals." When he was done speaking the voice disintegrated and the Rare Hunter collapsed into a heap. Ryu felt for a pulse, there was none. After putting the man back down, Ryu walked over to where Hinata was currently laying unconscious. He lifted her up and started off, back to his apartment as Dalin followed.
Dalin was impressed by the way the man had fought. However he had been surprised to hear Malik's voice coming from that man. How could Malik have control over the man and why did he? Somehow he knew the reason for the how. An image hidden deep within his mind. A golden rod with an eye on the top. The Millennium Rod. And he could sense something similar to that power from this man called Ryu. But it was weaker.
Malik's words came back to him then, though he knew not why. "Find him and defeat him and all your questions shall be answered. Within the Shadow Realm do your answers lie, only there with the puzzle in your grasp can your memory be returned to you. And when your memory returns I ask only one thing, that you give me the puzzle."
"Why do you want the puzzle?"
"So that I can help my sister who has lost her memory."
"Why not simply ask this man to let you use the puzzle?"
"He would not, for he is an arrogant and selfish excuse for a human being and the only one who stands between me and returning my sisters memory."
"I will defeat this man then, and claim his puzzle, for your sister if nothing else."
That was when the name returned to him, he remembered now. "Tell me a few things Ryu, what do you know about the Shadow Realm and a man named Yugi Motou?"
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Drake accepted the three cards and looked at Mirror Wall with joy. The ultimate trap, and it was his. Then he made a decision. "Mai...I beat you once, and you've beaten me once. But my loss to you made me realize quite a few things, and during the time I had over the past week I did a huge revamp to my deck, some of it based around things I learned dueling you. I'd never have beaten you without the experience I gained losing to you, and I wouldn't feel like I deserved to have won unless I gave you the chance at a rematch. Here, take this."
Drake extended her second locater card and smiled. Mai on the other hand didn't look to happy, she turned away, putting her back to him and spoke in offended tones. "I'm not going to take your charity."
"Not charity, think of it as a friendly gift. It just wouldn't be a duel monsters tournament unless Mai Valentine was at the finals. Catch ya later!" He turned and walked off, her only response was to hold on to the card and smile.
"That kid reminds me of Joey...but if he keeps being charitable like that he could end up losing more then he expected."
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"I'll crush your freakish Firewing Pegasus right now! Millennium Prehistoric Man destroy that messed up monster!" The brutish creature charged across the field and swung his weapon to destroy the goofy looking winged horse, but at the last moment the Pegasus' body arched to the side to avoid the blow.
"Normal monsters can't attack toons like that. So as long as Toon World is in play, you can't even hurt me. I on the other hand can crush you."
"The card isn't even fair! Its way to powerful!"
Taichi Nobuki merely shrugged and drew his next card. "This should interest you. Because I'm ending the duel. I'll play Snatch Steal to take your monster, and then attack with both!" A giant brown bag covered the brutish monster and pulled him to Taichi's side of the field. The young duelist smirked as both monsters blasted his opponent's life points apart.
The duelist shoved the cards at him and turned away, obviously upset that he had lost in just four turns. And of course that he was out of the tournament. "Don't worry about being eliminated from the tournament. You won't be worrying about much anymore since I'll be inflicting Game Punishment now."
"What are you talking about?"
Taichi held up one blank card and reached deep within himself to the power he possessed, and unleashed it. There was a blinding flash of light, and then the duelist collapsed to the ground. Taichi turned on his heels, more then a dozen locater cards in hand, and slipped the new cards into his pocket. Now it was about time to head to the tournament final's location. Everything was falling into place.
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Seto Kaiba was busy doing what all rich arrogant bastards do, pissing people off with his huge ego. But a sudden call interrupted him. "Mr. Kaiba, we have to inform you of something."
"Is it a God card? Has one of them been played?" The eagerness in his voice was overly obvious, but his inferiors knew better then to mention that he sounded almost like a little boy waiting for a treat.
"No sir, but we believe this will be as interesting to you."
"Spit it out already, I don't have all day."
"The card Toon World has been played by a duelist named Taichi Nobuki." There was silence for at least a minute as Kaiba was pulled into a flashback of his duel with Pegasus when the Toon World card had caused his defeat. The only Toon World in existance, which meant this Taichi Nobuki might have Pegasus' deck somehow.
"Tell me where he is."
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The information that Ryu had provided him allowed an incredible tide of memories, a tide of memories that gave him sudden insight into his own power. Reaching out with that power he located the link between Ryu and his Blue Eyes, and then forced that link to become visible to him. A chain of energy that would lead him straight to the card. "Ryu, follow me and I can lead you to the Blue Eyes."
"Are you sure? Don't mess around about this sort of thing." Dalin merely nodded and started walking, a few moments later Ryu began to follow him. Their positions had been reversed with astounding speed. They walked on after a little while he spoke up again, "How come you weren't scared of being killed?"
"You weren't either."
Dalin shrugged it off, "That's because I thought that if I bought you some time, you would be able to take over again," he stated.
"When I was in the first gang, I think I was around nine or ten, the gang leader told me something after I got scared and messed up a hit," explained Ryu, "We shouldn't be scared of death...it's always with us...when we show fear of it, it jumps at us, faster than light...if we don't show fear, it would gently cast its eye upon us. And guides us all...to infinity..."
Dalin took it all in. It was true, if someone fears death, they will die the final death, but if they aren't scared, it would be as if they were immortal, "That's it? One phrase gave you all that courage?"
"I've also lost everything; my family, my friends, my life...everything. And without all that, everything has lost all meaning," replied Ryu as he shifted Hinata so that she'd be easier to carry.
"You still have her," replied Dalin as he motioned toward Hinata.
Ryu slightly laughed ever so slightly, still trying to not disturb her sleep, unnatural though it might be. "Yeah, I guess. Always wondered what it'd be like to have a little sister, guess now I know."
Little did he know that Hinata had woken up a little after Ryu told Dalin about what his first gang leader told him, "I can't believe he thinks of me as his little sister..."
Dalin was now unsure of exactly what he should believe. Malik had spoken through that man, and his words to Ryu had been rather odd. They did not seem like the Malik he had met, not at all. The Malik he had met, the Malik who had found him in the middle of the desert had been very kind, not ruthless and cold sounding the way the one they had heard was.
And then there was Yugi Moto, the big question in the whole situation. The King of Games, Yu-gi-oh, a title that seemed strangely familiar to Dalin, not simply because of the knowledge he had gained from Ryu, but because of something else. He was almost afraid that soon enough all his questions would be answered.
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Next Time: Several of our characters find themselves coming together in one place at the same time a dangerous duel is waged, forcing Drake to deal with the results of opening the Gates of Chaos...