By: Yoake no Yami
Chapter 2: New Friend
Bakura and Yugi rushed down the street searching for their friends. They saw and ambulance drive by. Both boys felt shivers run down their spines. "You don't think…." Yugi began.
"I'm thinking we may be too late. The spirit of the Millennium Ring has probably beaten us to them," Bakura murmured sadly.
But that doesn't seem like the spirit of the Millennium Ring at all. He's one to draw out things like suffering, Yugi thought. He shuddered remembering the Monster World RPG the spirit had tricked him and his friends into playing.
Bakura spoke, pulling Yugi back to reality, "I'll check at the hospital. You should go ahead and keep looking for them here."
"Good idea, Bakura," Yugi agreed. Bakura dashed off after the ambulance and Yugi continued to search the high school.
Several bullies, who usually hung around the school all the time, glared at the runt as he passed. Yugi gulped fearfully, missing Jounochi and Honda more and more. He really didn't want to get beat up today. He wanted to keep all those memories in the past. "Hey, stare-head," one of the bullies called out. "Where's the rest of the geek squad?" Yugi didn't answer and just kept walking. "Hey, runt! I'm talking to you!"
"Yeah," a few other lummoxes chimed in. They started moving toward Yugi. Yugi broke into a run and the gang took off after him. Yugi ran as fast as he could, but the longer-legged bullies were gaining on him. He turned a corner to see a dead end in front of him. He stopped and turned to face his pursuers. They had stopped running and merely swaggered toward their trapped prey, laughing all the while.
"Looks like you're trapped, runt," the first gangster taunted.
Suddenly, and unfamiliar voice rang down the hallway, "Don't just stand there, chibi!" A girl dashed toward the other gang members. "This is for my brother!" She slugged the first guy in the face, knocking him out cold. "This is for my best friend!" She slugged the next guy. "And this is for my ex-boyfriend, even if I do hate him!" The third guy collapsed on the floor.
"Well, well, well," the remaining gangster began. "If it isn't Yuki Sakuya. It's not like you to stick up for a punk like him." He motioned over his shoulder to Yugi. "Don't think I'll lose sleep over killin' both of you." He cackled evilly.
"You let your guard down," Sakuya murmured, charging straight for him. The gangster fell to the ground with the wind knocked out of him. "Loser." Sakuya looked over at Yugi. "Are you okay, chibi?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.
Yugi nodded his head numbly. It was nice of her to save me, but where's Yami? he thought.
"I'm Sakuya," Sakuya introduced herself.
"I'm Yugi."
"Nice to meet ya'." Sakuya smiled. "What brought you up here on a weekend?"
"I was looking for my friends," Yugi replied honestly.
"Oh. Who are they?"
"Anzu, Jounochi, and Honda."
Sakuya's eyes went wide. "They were taken to the hospital after a duel with Aki-Nariko."
"What?!?"
"She said something about a Shadow Game or something."
"Oh, no…"
"What? What's a Shadow Game? What happened?" Sakuya asked, growing more apprehensive by the minute.
"A Shadow Game is a very dangerous game played in the Shadow Realm. As a result of losing, a person loses their soul!"
"So your friends lost and lost their souls?" Sakuya asked skeptically.
"Yes."
"Freaky."
"Very. I should probably go to the hospital to check on my friends."
"I'll come too if you don't mind. I don't have much else to do."
"Sure," Yugi said. "You're welcome to come." The two set off for the hospital.
At the hospital Bakura ran up to the pair. "Yugi. The are here," he said, sounding very distressed. "They haven't just lost their souls. They've gone insane!"
Sakuya, Bakura, and Yugi rushed to the hospital room. Anzu was cowering in a corner muttering something unintelligible. Jounochi was running around screaming something about the Blue-Eyes White Dragon chasing him. Honda was spazzing out as though he was trying to save someone from drowning but couldn't reach him or her.
"The dance master doesn't understand!" Anzu sobbed. "My ankle will be better in a little while. This isn't the end of my career!" She started crying.
"What's wrong with them?" Yugi wondered aloud.
"It's like their greatest fears have come to haunt them," Bakura observed.
"It's kind of like that guy at school at the beginning of the year. He, for some strange reason, thought that a pile of leaves and trash was money. Now that I think about it, that's what he wanted most," Sakuya stated.
The beginning of the year was when I started losing consciousness 'cause Yami started taking over, Yugi thought.
"What's on your mind, Yugi?" Bakura asked.
Yugi shook his head, "It's nothing." After all, this is the spirit of the Millennium Ring we're dealing with.
Suddenly, Aki-Nariko burst into the room. "I can see this is where you'd rather be," she remarked coldly. "Let me help you join your friends. I'll start with you Yugi! I challenge you to a duel!"
"Shut up, Aki," Sakuya spat. "Don't flatter yourself by thinking that the best game player on earth would waste time dueling you. If you wanna duel Yugi, you'll have to get through me first!"
"You know about Duel Monsters, Sakuya?" Bakura questioned.
Sakuya nodded. "Now, Aki. I've heard about a thing called a Shadow Game. I'm interested in learning more." Yugi's and Bakura's eyes went wide.
"Feh. You're not worth the energy it would take to move us to the Shadow Realm. I'll duel you here," Aki-Nariko answered.
"Okay." Sakuya pulled a black Duel Disk from her backpack. It was very similar to the ones make by Kaiba Corp., with the exception of its color.
Aki slapped on a regular Duel Disk. "Duel," the girls said in unison. The Duel Disks activated and discharged the hologram projectors.
"I'll start us off," Aki said, drawing her hand of five cards and another card to start off the duel. "I play Beta, the Magnet Warrior, in Attack Mode!" The strange, yellow creature with magnets for hands and horns appeared on the field with 1700 Attack Points. "Your move."
Sakuya drew a card. "I play the Dark Titan of Terror in Defense Mode." A humanoid monster with five faces and four arms appeared on the field in Defense Mode with a defense of 1100. "I place on card face down and end my turn," Sakuya announced.
Aki drew a card. "I summon Alpha, the Magnet Warrior, in Attack Mode!" A green magnet monster with 1800 Attack Points materialized. "Now, Beta! Attack the Dark Titan of Terror!"
"I activate the Magic Card, Dark Hole, which destroys all monsters on the field," Sakuya stated.
Aki scoffed, "That's pathetic. You have to destroy your own monster to stop me. Well, I guess I have to end my turn."
Sakuya drew a card. "Hmph. You should have put a magic card to defend your life points." Aki's eyes widened in shock as she realized her foolish mistake. "Now I summon Ryu-Kishin Powered!" An ugly maroon monster with large claws and beady eyes came to life on Sakuya's side of the field. "Now I'll play the field card Yami, which adds 200 points to my monster's Attack and Defense." A dark cloud engulfed the field. "I'll also equip my monster with Black Pendant, increasing its attack by 500 more points! Now my monster has 2300 Attack points and you're wide open for and attack. You made this too easy." Sakuya shook her head. "Ryu-Kishin Powered, attack!" The monster attacked, leaving Aki with only 1700 life points. "One more attack and you're history. How much simpler could you make it? I thought you wanted to duel Yugi. You could at least have played Spell Binding Circle or Swords of Revealing Light. I know you have those cards, though I have no idea how you got your hands on Yugi's deck!"
"How do you know it's Yugi's deck?" Aki returned. "You were never interested in Duel Monsters anyway!" She drew a card. "I summon Karibo to the field, in Defense Mode." A cute, little, brown fur ball with green hands and feet and big eyes hovered over the field. "I also play Swords of Revealing Light and end my turn."
"What did I just say?" Sakuya drew a card, laughing to herself. "I place one card face down along with a monster card face down in Defense Mode. That concludes my turn."
Aki drew a card and activated Monster Reborn, bringing back Alpha. Then she sacrificed both Karibo and Alpha to summon Curse of Dragon, the skeletal dragon with 2300 attack points. "I end my turn."
I don't know why she's so shy… She must feel that she won't be able to summon another powerful monster and she doesn't want to lose her Curse of Dragon. The other strange thing is, how could she possibly have beaten Yugi's friends if I'm beating her… Sakuya thought. She drew a card, hoping she could do damage to Aki's life points without using a monster. Stupid Swords of Revealing Light. "I sacrifice my Ryu-Kishin Powered and my face down monster so I can summon, Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" The great, black creature materialized. "You're lucky you have Swords of Revealing Light in play. I end my turn." Aki's life points by 500.
"What?!?"
"Oh. I forgot to mention. Since Black Pendant went to the Graveyard, you lose 500 life points."
Aki drew a card angrily. "I summon Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress #1 in Defense Mode and I move my Curse of Dragon into Defense Mode. I end my turn."
Sakuya drew a card. "I play one monster face down in Defense Mode." This is getting boring. The Swords of Revealing Light dissipated. "Oh. I forgot about this little bonus. Ah well. I'll give you a little longer to play. I end my turn."
Aki drew a card. "I place on card face down and end my turn."
"Aww… You don't wanna live any longer than that?" Sakuya taunted. She and Aki had been bitter enemies ever since grade school. Sakuya had transferred from her high school to Domino High hoping to avoid Aki, but her had failed. Sakuya drew a card. It was time to end this duel. "This was too easy. First, I play Fissure to get rid of your Winged Dragon. Now I reveal my face down monster, Man-Eater Bug!" Yugi and Bakura shuddered thinking about the spirit of the Millennium Ring's deck and how it included that card. "Now my Mat-Eater Bug will destroy your Curse of Dragon!" Aki's Curse of Dragon went to the Graveyard and Aki stared in terror at the Red-Eyes her opponent still had on the field. " I summon the Lord of D. to the field in Attack Mode. Red-Eyes, attack Aki's life points directly!"
"Reveal Spell-Binding Circle!" Aki declared.
"Idiot," Sakuya yelled. "My Lord of D. protects all Dragon cards on the field from Magic Cards, Traps and Monster Effects!" The Red-Eyes Black Dragon demolished the rest of Aki's life points. "That was boring. Now give back Yugi's deck!"
Aki complied. "You'll have to beat my master to return your pathetic friends to normal, and that is easier said than done." With that, Aki dashed away. Sakuya clenched her fist, then shoved it into her pocket to keep herself from running after the twit and beating her to a pulp.
YNY: That was a really boring duel and a very long chapter. Sorry. Let me know how I messed up. I got a bunch of things wrong I'm sure. It gets confusing when you have different rules in the card game than in the TV show. ;
Quote of the Chapter: A friend can just be an enemy in disguise.
(These quotes are hints at the plot, btw.)