Disclaimer- I don't own anything that has to do with Yugioh except for the original cards in this fic and the fic itself.

Chapter 4-A Pair of Miracles

CJ smiled weakly and shook his head. "Ignore the peanut gallery Commander. I end my turn and that means that it is your move. Let's end this quick."

Commander's armor rustled as he drew his card. "What a refreshing change in attitude from you. Why so accepting of your fate all of a sudden?"

CJ smiled sadly. "It's what I am destined for."

Commander sighed. "Your spirit should not be so broken. You put up a good fight boy." His Throwstone Unit clicked into place and fired the two Castle Knights at CJ, but when they hit the dark-skinned man he didn't budge from where he was standing as before where they had knocked him to the ground. "It's time to do just as you said before. Let's end this."

CJ- 1700

Commander- 12, 800

Commander's hand moved to drop the last card in his hand into the graveyard, which would summon two more Castle Knights, and then Arthur would wipe out CJ's life points with his special ability. Something happened on his field though that drew his attention away from making that action.

CJ's Giant Rat flew across the field and scaled the castle, tearing Lancelot to pieces.

CJ- 1700

Commander- 12, 600

"What the blazes was that!?" Commander couldn't understand what was going on. Why had the Giant Rat attacked him on his turn!?

CJ smiled warmly and showed his face-down card to Commander. "Did you think I meant it was my fate to lose? I meant it was my fate to win." His face turned stern. "Say hello to the card that will be your demise, Berserker's Fury! This trap card ends your turn and makes it my turn. I get an extra battle phase before my draw phase on this turn. That's not all either. I get my normal battle phase too. The only downside is that if by the end of my second battle phase I can't end the duel, then I lose instantly."

Commander growled from deep within his armor. "Good luck trying to get past my defenses fool!"

CJ kept his face stern. "I don't need luck for this win. I've got all of the cards I need to win with right here on my field. I reveal my Final Attack Orders! This continuous trap card forces all monsters on the field into attack mode!"

Commander gasped in fear as he realized what that single trap had done. He was wide open to CJ's attack. With groans of protest his two Castle Knights rose from their crouching positions as they switched into attack mode.

CJ allowed himself a small smile. "That switches my Manticore of Darkness and my face-down Berserk Gorilla (2000/1000) into attack mode!" A large fire-breathing gorilla appeared on the field and roared, pounding its chest with its fists. As both monsters stood up from their crouches, they roared and lunged forward, tearing apart both of Commander's Castle Knights.

CJ- 1700

Commander- 10, 300

CJ drew his card for the turn after his first battle phase ended. "It's time to wipe you out! I summon Panther Warrior (2000/1600) in attack mode!" A humanoid panther wielding a shield and sword appeared on the field and its roar joined the chorus of howls that came from CJ's other monsters.

Commander did the math of the creature's attack points in his head and chuckled. "It won't be enough to finish me off boy."

CJ didn't pay him any mind. "Now I activate the other card in my hand. I use Monster Reborn to revive the monster I sacrificed for my Manticore. Another Berserk Gorilla in attack mode. Now I'll trigger the last card I have. Reveal my face-down magic card Wild Nature's Release! This allows me to add the defense of my beast or beast-warrior monsters to their attack points. The downside is that my monsters all die at the end of the turn, but considering the situation that's not a problem. So it's time to unleash the fury!"

Every monster on CJ's field screamed in newfound rage, their power sky-rocketing as the magic card transferred their defense points to their attack points.

Panther Warrior (3600/0)

Berserk Gorilla (3000/0)

Manticore of Darkness (3500/0)

Giant Rat (2850/0)

"First off I'll have Giant Rat get rid of your Throwstone Unit!" The Rat screeched and slammed into the catapult, ripping it to shreds.

CJ- 1700

Commander- 8450

"My Panther Warrior requires that I sacrifice a monster for it to attack, so I'll get rid of my Giant Rat so my Panther can get rid of Arthur!" The Rat faded off the field and CJ's Panther Warrior charged, cutting straight through all of Arthur's armor in one slice.

CJ- 1700

Commander- 7250

CJ smiled and in a strangely un-characteristic move for him he bowed to Commander. "I've had a lot of fun in this duel Commander, but it looks like you have lost. No hard feelings right?"

Commander sighed and shook his helmeted head. "No hard feelings CJ Anderson. Now please finish this."

CJ nodded and pointed at Commander. "You heard the man boys. Combine your power for a direct attack!" His monsters all roared their affirmative and flew across the field, each striking Commander with their fists or claws.

CJ- 1700

Commander- 0

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Everyone in the stands had gone silent as CJ had performed his final assault. Then all at once they broke into wild cheers and applause.

Deondre was standing up in his seat cheering and clapping. "Remind me never to make fun of Earth Beatdown again!"

Janeam and Allon both sighed. They knew the second that CJ got back up to the stands Deondre was going to grill him about waiting to finish the game in one move. It didn't matter though. Some things in their lives were constant. The sun rose. The sun would set. Deondre and CJ argued. It was impossible to stop.

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As the Castle of Knights lowered into the ground, Commander strode across the ring and bowed once more to CJ. "I owe you a debt of gratitude CJ Anderson. You have shown me the errors in my deck and now I may correct them." He took his deck and pulled a card out of it, holding it out to him. "This card should help you in the tournament. Please use it with my blessing." CJ smiled, took the card, and then he and Commander shook hands. With that the knight got onto his horse and rode out the ground level exit, leaving CJ with a new card, the cheers of the crowd in his ears, and memories of a new friend.

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Hawk chuckled as he stood patiently, watching the unmoving form of Daniel Pilkington. The boy had yet to move and the clock was ticking down. Daniel had less than ten seconds left before the nanomachines in his blood would attack his brain stem and shut it down, killing him instantly.

("Considering the bad situation he was stuck in with his game against me, I doubt he could finish this even if he wasn't unconscious.") Hawk's expression had gone back to cold and unreadable as he watched the clock tick to zero.

Daniel's unconscious form started to convulse wildly as the nanomachines attacked him from the inside. With one final spasm, his eyes shot open and then glazed over with the shroud of death.

Hawk chuckled coolly and was about to go retrieve the device from Daniel's arm like his master had ordered him to do, but something seemed wrong with this situation. He understood what it was when Daniel's body lurched to its feet.

Hawk had seen many things in his career with the Shadow Corporation, but this was beyond even his experience. He felt his already pale face drain of blood as the corpse stared at him dead eyes. "Wha...wha...what's going on!? You should be dead!!!"

Daniel's body ignored him. It reached down and pressed a button on its duel disk. In a monotone voice it said, "I activate my face-down Monster Reborn card to summon Jinzo back from the graveyard." The earth in front of the corpse shuddered and the green metal armored form of Jinzo rose up from the graveyard, chuckling in its mechanical voice as it recognized the foolish human who had dared to use a trap to destroy it. "And now I shall even the odds for Daniel," said Jinzo angrily, the red lenses of his eyes glowing as they stared down Hawk.

Hawk's eyes snapped so wide open that they looked like they might pop free of their sockets. "What trickery is this!?"

Jinzo chuckled once again and raised its hand up. Hawk shivered slightly as he watched the corpse of Daniel mirror the motion. "There is no trickery here. I will not let you kill this boy. He and I have a purpose that must be fulfilled." Daniel's hand pressed another button on his duel disk and another card flipped up.

Hawk blinked in confusion as he had never seen the card that had been revealed ever before. "What does that do?" He felt rather stupid asking the question to a Duel Monster.

If Jinzo could smile it would have. "It's the magic card called Repair and Reinforce. This will raise Daniel's life points by twice what he has lost because of his opponent's card effects since his last turn. That means that he gains 8000 life points."

Daniel- 10000

Hawk- 8000

Daniel's body spasmed once more and collapsed. Unlike before though where the nanomachines had been killing Daniel, this time though it looked like they were repairing all of the damage they had done to him.

Hawk screamed in rage. "You dare to interfere with this duel!? Who are you!?"

Jinzo chuckled once more. "That is not for you to know puppet. Now watch as Daniel defeats you. Oh and on that note, tell your master that if he continues to bother this boy the consequences for his actions might be...quite painful." The mechanical monster went silent and seemed less animated than before.

Daniel came to his feet. He wasn't sure how he was still alive, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If the nanomachines decided to go haywire and not kill him, he didn't have any complaints. ("I don't remember activating Monster Reborn or Repair and Reinforce though.") He shrugged the blank spot in his memory off as shock from the pain of the nanomachines. "It looks like I survived your little handicap."

Hawk thought about mentioning the Jinzo but decided against it. He doubted Daniel knew anything about what had just happened anyway. "It's not like it matters foolish boy. You cannot win this duel. I'll still pul your life points to zero and then you will die anyway."

Daniel held up the last card in his hand, its back still to Hawk. "With Jinzo on my field you can't use your traps, so this entire duel is going to come down to a flip of a coin. First I flip up one of my two face-down cards. I reveal Brain Control. This allows me to seize control of one of your monsters and bring it to my side of the field. I choose to gain control of your Shadow Jam." A floating brain appeared on the field and from it a pair of clawed hands reached out and grasped the Shadow Jam tightly. The claws pulled it over to Daniel's side of the field and then they disappeared.

Hawk chuckled. "What are you expecting to accomplish?"

Daniel slapped the last card in his hand onto his field and threw his Reflect Bounder and Hawk's Shadow Jam into his graveyard. "I shall sacrifice these two monsters to summon my Barrel Dragon (2600/2300) in attack mode." A two-legged mechanical dragon with gun barrels for a head and arms appeared on his field.

Three coins appeared on the field and shot into the air, each one now a golden blur as they flew out of sight. "Now it's time to let my Barrel Dragon's special ability do the talking for it. My dragon will flip three coins. If out of them I get two heads I may destroy one monster on your field. So if I'm successful you will be defenseless Hawk."

Each of the coins hit the ground and kicked up a cloud of dust, obscuring their features. As the dust cleared it revealed a heads, a tails and......a heads.

Daniel smiled and pointed at the face-down card. "You know the drill Barrel Dragon, clear the way!" The Barrel Dragon's cannons powered up and fired a triple blast of energy that instantly annihilated Hawk's face-down monster. "And now I attack with Jinzo, Barrel Dragon, and Machine King, whose special ability raises his attack power to 2500!" All three of Daniel's monsters powered up their attacks, but before they could fire Hawk pressed a button on his disk.

"You haven't won yet boy! I reveal my face-down magic card Enemy Controller. This will allow me to force one of your monsters on the field to defensive mode!" A video game controller appeared and the buttons on it were pressed in a combo. With a groan the Barrel Dragon was forced to its knees as it switched to defense mode. Hawk's cold grin began again as he looked over at his opponent, waiting to see that horrified look on his face.

What he hadn't expected was wild laughter. Daniel nearly fell over as he clutched his sides laughing. After a few seconds he calmed down. "Oh I'm sorry Hawk, it's just funny to watch you do stuff like that. You make it seem like thanks to that move you have survived this turn."

Daniel's smiling face suddenly turned so cold that Hawk stepped back in surprise at the sudden change in mood. "Don't take me lightly Hawk. I have one card face-down on the field and it's exactly what is needed to wipe you out. Go Limiter Removal!" As the card flipped up both Machine King and Jinzo made hissing noises, and smoke started to pour from openings in their armor. "Thanks to this card all of my machine monsters gain double attack points until the end of the turn. By my calculations, that means you are finished."

Jinzo (4800/1500)

Machine King (5000/2000)

Hawk stumbled back in fear, his hands up as if to try and ward off the monsters that were about to attack. "No! I surrender! I surrender!"

Daniel pointed right at Hawk. "Machine King attack with Rocket Punch!" The mechanical king complied, its fist flying across the field to slam into Hawk's chest and send him flying backwards. He bounced a couple of feet back and then slowly came to his feet.

Daniel- 10000

Hawk- 3000

"Now Jinzo attack with your Cyber Shock attack!"

The green armored machine cupped its hands and a ball of black energy formed between them. The ball grew larger and larger, until it was the size of a wrecking ball.

For the first time in a long while Hawk felt fear. He had seen the dead walk and as he watched the same Jinzo that had been talking just a minute earlier was now about to make him fail in his mission. He turned to run but didn't make it far as the blast from Jinzo hit him in the back and threw him to the ground.

Daniel- 10000

Hawk- 0

Daniel smiled as he felt the device attached to his arm withdraw its needle and fall off his arm. It beeped a few times and then spat out the Blowback Dragon card. Daniel grabbed it and slipped it into his deck, chuckling. "This Blowback Dragon had better win me this tournament. It almost had cost me my life." He looked over to notice that Hawk had already disappeared. ("Good, I hope I never see that jerk again.") He walked away from the hallway smiling at his success.

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Sitting in his office, he reached out and tapped a few controls on his desk. The television screen turned on and showed the recordings taken from the security cameras of the dueling arena that Hawk had gone to when he had challenged Daniel Pilkington.

Hawk screamed in rage. "You dare to interfere with this duel!? Who are you!?"

Jinzo chuckled once more. "That is not for you to know puppet. Now watch as Daniel defeats you. Oh and on that note, tell your master that if he continues to bother this boy the consequences for his actions might be...quite painful."

"So," he growled at the paused picture of the Jinzo on the television screen, "You dare to show yourself during my test hmm?" He kept his rage in check though, a smile slowly spreading across his shadowed face. "I will admit that you have some guts to mess with my tests. Looks like I may have to change my plans of attack."

He thought back on the duel itself though and chuckled. "So the boy passed the test. That hasn't happened in three years." His hand flexed and he turned around in his chair, facing the shuttered windows, his eyes an eerie red color in the light. "Looks like Daniel Pilkington will be the newest member of the Shadow Corporation family."

To be continued...

Original cards

Berserker's Fury

Repair and Reinforce

Author's notes: A couple of things I wanted to bring up. First off I know I got the effect of Wild Nature's Release wrong. It only powers up one monster on the field. I did that because I thought it better that CJ won the duel against Commander. I'm still accepting character and deck ideas. Once again please review after you have read this. I'd like to know that people are reading this before I start putting up more chapters.