Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh.
Legends of the Demon Duelist-Chaos Arc
Chapter 13: Finding your strength
Richard threw back his head and laughed. "You fool…." His laughter stopped and his face turned stern. "You're too soft! Reveal face-down trap card! Go Imprisonment Field!" A glowing barrier of light appeared on the field. "This rare trap card will not only negate your magic card, but now all magic cards with similar effects will be sent from your deck to your graveyard! And all this at the bargain price of two hand cards!" He threw out his hand and smirked. "Well?"
Ichigo, hands shaking, removed a good ten cards from his deck and slid them into his graveyard. ("My strategy…is supposed to make fusion possible no matter the situation…but…now all my methods are gone.") He closed his eyes and felt despair close in. ("Just like that I'm beaten.")
Stanhope rubbed his beard nervously. "Such a powerful card….and now Ichigo has no way to fuse monsters. That is a key method of his deck, so if he can't figure out some way to turn this around soon then he will lose."
Richard smirked at Ichigo. "Imprisonment field does have one upside for you though, and that is that you can draw a card."
Ichigo barely heard the words; because he was too busy trying to figure out a way to win. ("Now he can fuse without any problems and all I can do is stand here and let him.")
Richard saw the despair in the eyes of his opponent, and he felt glee. "This is my strength…and this is the truth. In the world of Duel Monsters the Cyber Shadows are the ultimate force of spies, but for them to call themselves heroes is an atrocity. They are not heroes. All they are is dirty weaklings who must call upon darkness to fuel their power." Holding up his deck, he sneered. "The Divine Agents was created by a single warrior who had been trained under Boss herself, and he understood that the methods of the Cyber Shadows were wrong. So he created his own group…a group who use the light and do not hide from their enemies like cowards."
Ichigo slowly lifted his eyes. "I was considering surrendering…but now I'm going to defeat you." He drew. "The Cyber Shadows are heroes. Because they use methods that others look down upon they are considered evil though. Well now I'll show you that just because you use the darkness doesn't mean that you are the darkness!" Snapping the card around, he didn't smile this time. "Pot of Greed." He drew two new cards and added them to his hand. "Then I summon Cyber Shadow-Retriever (1000/1000) in defense mode." A silver-colored robot appeared on his field in a crouching position. "Then I set one card face-down and end my turn."
Richard drew twice. At the sight of one of the card he snickered. "You plan on using Retriever to get back a monster from your graveyard? Not a chance! Presenting another card from the pack, Shield Crush! This magic card destroys one defense mode monster immediately!" His played card appeared on the field and released a wave of green energy that shattered the robot. "And since it was destroyed by my magic card, you don't get to bring back a lost monster."
Ichigo ground his teeth quietly, his eyes reflecting the frustration he was having with the fact that he couldn't use fusion.
Smirking, Richard motioned to his monster. "First my dragon switches into attack mode." Snarling, the metal beast lifted its head to point at Ichigo. "Then I order it to finish you off!" Slowly, a blue ball of energy charged up within the maw of the monster…
Ichigo motioned to his set card. "Not so fast! Activate A Hero Emerges! When this trap is played you select one card at random from my deck and it is special summoned to the field if it is a monster!" Holding up his hand, he glared. "So choose."
Richard pointed at the center one. "I hope you're lucky."
Ichigo frowned and slapped the card down. "Therefore I special summon Cyber Shadow-Assassin (1000/800) in defense mode!" A black-clothed humanoid appeared on his field in a crouching position just in time to intercept the attack and get torn to shreds.
Richard sighed and placed a card onto his disk. "Before I end my turn I summon Divine Agent-Gambler (300/1600) in defense mode. End turn."
Ichigo drew slowly. ("What am I going to do? Without Polymerization or any of my substitutes, I'm left with the normal Cyber Shadows. While they're all cool, they don't possess the necessary strength to face most of monsters that my opponent has. Then again…") He looked at the drawn card and slid it into his disk. "I set one card face-down on the field and summon Cyber Shadow-Ninja (1100/200) in defense mode." A green-haired woman appeared on his field in a crouching position. "End turn."
Richard drew twice. "You're going down, weakling. I summon Divine Agent Vehicle (1200/900) in attack mode." A golden jet fighter appeared on the field. "And then I play the equipment magic card Thunder Cannon!" A metal rod appeared on the back of the fighter. "This card increases a machine Divine Agent's attack points by 500!" (1700/900) "Also, when my monster attacks you cannot use traps. Fire!" The jet whined and rod spat a wave of lightning that blew the ninja apart. "End turn for now, since I don't know what that card is."
Ichigo drew. ("Damn it….attack me.") "I summon Cyber Shadow-Guardian (0/2200) in defense mode. End turn." A heavy silver robot appeared on his field in a crouching position.
Richard drew his next two cards with a calm smile on his face. "Your monster is powerful, but I will crush it soon. I set one card face-down on the field and end my turn for now. But remember…I will break this stalemate."
"So you say." Ichigo drew. "I set a monster and end my turn."
Richard drew twice…and sneered. "Your time is up! Reveal face-down Royal Decree! As long as this continuous trap remains in play all trap cards other than itself are negated!"
Ichigo nearly choked on his tongue.
A vortex appeared around Richard's Gambler. "I fuse Divine Agent-Gambler together with Divine Agent-Angel (2000/800) to create Divine Agent-Lady Luck!" (2300/1000) A woman in golden robes and holding a golden sword appeared on his field. "This monster, when summoned, lets me draw three cards. However, I cannot play them until the start of the next turn. Now Lady Luck, attack Guardian!" The woman seemed to glide across the field and with one flick of her wrist the machine was destroyed. "Then I attack the set monster with Polar Dragon!" His metal creature roared and spat a blast of magnetic energy that slammed harmlessly into the body of the set card. "What?"
Ichigo motioned to his field, which now had a metal door in front of it. "Cyber Shadow-Base (0/2000) when flipped up lets me take a Cyber Shadow from my deck and add it to my hand!" Ichigo glanced at all of the cards in his deck and nodded. ("My best chance…don't fail me.")
Richard sighed and nodded to his opponent. "Take your turn then."
Ichigo drew. "Card of Sanctity lets us both draw until we have six cards in our hand." He drew four cards and Richard drew one. ("All monsters? Whatever….if this doesn't work I'm dead anyway.") Holding up a single card, he took a deep breath. "Are you ready to see if luck is on my side?"
"If luck is on your side?" Richard repeated. "What are you talking about?"
"It's simple…I'm about to use fusion." Ichigo slapped the card in his hand onto his disk. "Cyber Shadow-Kuriboh (300/200) in defense mode!" A little furball wearing a tuxedo appeared on his field. "This guy is one of the best Cyber Shadows! And I'm about to show you why! By discarding one card from my hand he can steal the top card from your deck and let me play it immediately! Go Cuteness Espionage!"
A tiny little phone-boot appeared on the field. Glancing around cautiously, the little furball squeezed inside the box and somehow slid the door shut. The entire booth slid into the ground and out of sight. A few moments later it came back up and the Kuriboh popped out with a card in its hands.
"How did he do that?" Richard blinked down at his deck. He'd never seen the creature even come near him.
Taking the card from Cyber Shadow-Kuriboh, Ichigo patted it on the head and added the card to his hand. "It's time to end this!" He took two card from his hand and flipped them over. "Cyber Shadows-Soldier and Trainer (300/1200) come forth!" The two monsters appeared on the field behind him. "These two are your end, because now I will summon my best spy!" He flipped the stolen card over. "Activate Polymerization!"
Richard pointed at the holographic representation that hovered on the field. "Polar Dragon, show your stuff." Snarling, the dragon released a blast of magnetic energy that tore the card apart. "As long as Polar Dragon is on the field, my opponent cannot fuse anything."
Ichigo's eyes widened. ("No…")
Richard held up a finger. "However, you do get to draw another card because I negated yours."
Ichigo bit his lower lip and drew. ("There has to be something that can win this for me.") "I set one card face-down on the field and end my turn."
Richard drew. "You won't win if you think your face-down card will help you." Smirking, he slid a card into his disk. "I activate the continuous magic card Defense Crusher Cannon!" A golden cannon appeared on his field. "This card allows me to sacrifice magic and trap cards on my field to destroy defense mode monsters. So I sacrifice my equipment magic card and my Royal Decree to blow away your two monsters!" The cannon released a single earth-shaking blast that cleared away Ichigo's monsters.
Ichigo looked at his two face-down cards. ("I'm still…")
Richard held up another card. "Recognize Heavy Storm? This magic card destroys all magic and trap cards on the field!" A huge storm blew across the field and shattered Ichigo's two cards and his single one.
Now the half-demon had nothing on the field. ("I've….lost...") He fell to his knees.
"I'm not done with you yet!" Richard threw down a card. "First I summon Divine Agent-Air Scout (1300/1200) and when it is summoned I may make another normal summon during this turn!" A golden robot hawk appeared on the field. "So I sacrifice my jet fighter to summon Divine Agent-Task Master!" (1900/1700) A golden robot holding a whip appeared on the field. "Finally, I use Monster Reborn to bring back Dual Steel from the graveyard!" The golden warrior returned, giving Richard a full field of attackers. "Finally I set two cards face-down." His hand lifted to point at the unmoving Ichigo. "Begone, second-rate duelist!" All of his monsters started to charge.
Ichigo closed his eyes and felt a burning sensation in his chest. ("Maybe Richard accidentally killed me. That would be nice.") Honestly, he didn't feel like living anymore. ("My Cyber Shadows have been defeated. Without the power to fuse monsters together there is no way for me to win. It's my whole deck type.")
A low growl caused him to freeze in his tracks. It was the growl of a predator on the hunt.
Slowly, he turned around and was face to fang with a pair of jaws capable of biting him in half with no problems. ("Oh man…is this some kind of nightmare.")
"Perhaps, because many have said that is what I am at my core." The jaws withdrew just enough to reveal a pair of crimson-gold eyes that Ichigo knew far too well.
"Eri?" The half-demon tilted his head to the side and took another step back.
What was in front of him was a black-as-night wolf the rough size of an RV. "Jeez…you need to lay off the rich desserts they must be serving you, because you are huge."
The wolfess slowly narrowed her eyes and then with impossible speed spun around to send Ichigo flying with a swat of her tail. "Idiot."
After bouncing off an invisible ground a couple of times, Ichigo finally stopped sliding. "Ow…" Now he felt that burning sensation through his whole body. "Well…this is definitely an interesting dream. Maybe next the banana-throwing monkey will show up and give me a million dollars." His innocent reverie was shattered as a paw the size of chest came down onto what it was compared to, blowing the breath out of him. "Oh….hi Eri…"
"Are you a coward?" Eri's teeth were dangerously close to Ichigo's head and she seemed like she was about to bite his head off. "And besides, are you such a pig-headed fool that you'd think your duel against this human would be an easy one?"
Ichigo didn't respond. He had gone limp.
("Oh for the love of…") Growling, Eri removed her paw and pushed his side with her nose a couple of times. "Don't you dare be dead."
Groaning, Ichigo slowly opened his eyes. "Please don't step on me again. That hurts a lot."
"You deserve it for being such an idiot! How dare you give up so easily!" Eri snapped her teeth close to Ichigo's face. "Now snap out of it and get to work!"
"Yes Ma'am!" Ichigo hopped up and saluted, suddenly feeling like he was in a military academy instead of a dueling academy.
Richard blinked as Ichigo's emotions changed instantly. "I'm not out yet! No hero falls so easily!" The half-demon pointed at all of the charging monsters. "And your guys are about to play a game of chicken! Let's see if they flinch or not!"
"Wha…" Richard blinked a few times in surprise as a black-clothed form appeared on Ichigo's field. "How? I killed your monsters already!"
"That you did. And you triggered my graveyard fusion card." Ichigo held up a card he had removed from his graveyard. "When you destroyed two Cyber Shadows on my field, you triggered my Somber Mission magic card. While it is in the graveyard and you destroy two Cyber Shadows with an effect, I may special summon one monster from my fusion deck with level stars equal to their combined levels. Since Guardian was a four and Kuriboh was a one, I can summon a five! Special Operative-Snake (2000/1800) arrives!" The bandanna-wearing form of Ichigo's favorite fusion appeared on the field. "And Somber Mission raises his attack points by 500 too!" (2500/1800)
Richard frowned as all of his monsters returned to their positions on his field. "End turn."
Snake looked back at Ichigo and nodded. It knew what was coming.
Ichigo returned the nod and drew, watching as his monster disappeared. "During my standby phase the special summoned monster is returned to the fusion deck."
Richard sneered. "You just can't help but try to use fusions, can you?"
Ichigo shook his head. "That was the last time you'll see another purple-bordered card on my disk."
"Oh?" Richard smirked. "So no more fusions?"
Ichigo held up the drawn card. "Activate Reload. This magic card lets me shuffle my hand into my deck and draw the same number of card that was shuffled in." Sliding four cards off of his deck, Ichigo looked at the five monsters on his opponent's field and nodded. "Here we go! Cyber Shadow-Trainer (300/1200) in defense mode!" A grizzled old man in a black body-suit appeared on his field in a crouching position.
"You think he'll make a difference?" Richard waved his hand across the five monsters on his field. "He's a little outgunned, don't you think?"
"That's your opinion!" Ichigo slammed a card into his disk. "Equipment magic card activate!" A futuristic rocket launcher appeared over the shoulder of his warrior. "Special Operative Weapon-Stinger allows me to destroy up to two monsters with 1500 or more attack points than the equipped creature before it is destroyed! So good-bye Dual Steel and Lady Luck!" A pair of rockets exploded out of the mouth of the weapon and blew the two fusions apart. Then the Stinger shuddered and shattered into pieces. "Then I set two cards face-down on the field and end my turn."
Richard drew twice. "Hm….interesting play. However," he looked at the drawn cards and smirked, "You're about to be defeated. I sacrifice Air Scout to summon Divine Agent-Shadow Dancer!" (1950/1850) A woman in thin golden clothing appeared on the field and lifted her arms, which were wearing platinum arm blades. "Attack the Trainer now!" She slid across the ground and brought the blades towards Ichigo's monster.
Ichigo pointed to his set card and it flipped up. "Go Shadow Force!" The blade was stopped short by a silver barrier. "This trap card negates your attack and increases my monster's attack by your monster's attack! Also, the rest of your attacks are negated." (2250/1850)
Richard licked his lips and slid a card into his disk. "I switch Polar Dragon into defense mode and end my turn."
Ichigo drew. ("Here we go…") "I play The Warrior Returning Alive allows me to pick up one warrior monster and add it to my hand!" He caught a card from his graveyard and threw it out. "Go Cyber Shadow-Strongarm!" (1900/1300) A huge bulky warrior appeared on the field and growled angrily. "And when Trainer is on the field, it gains 500 extra attack points!" (2400/1300) "Then I switch Trainer into attack mode! Go Strongarm!" The warrior leapt forward and punched the head off of the Taskmaster.
Ichigo- 1700
Richard- 400
"And now it ends, go Trainer!" The grizzled warrior launched across the field and lifted its hand to punch down the Shadow Dancer.
"It's never over!" Richard waved his hand over his set card and it flipped up. "Go Amassed Defenses! This trap card switches all monsters on my field into defense mode and raises their collective defenses by 1000 each!"
Divine Agent- Shadow Dancer (1950/2850)
Polar Dragon (2000/4000)
Ichigo growled as his monster's attack was deflected.
Ichigo- 1100
Richard- 400
Richard smirked and drew twice. "You get points for trying, but it still isn't enough. So now I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your face-down card!"
Ichigo snickered. "Thanks, you triggered my trap!" The targeted card flipped up. "Shadow Theft lets me steal your card and use it, so I'll destroy your left card!" Richard's face-up card warped to Ichigo's field and released a blast of wind that shattered the set card.
Richard frowned slightly…and then smirked. "Clever move, but it doesn't matter. You see, I am ready for you. Shadow Dancer's special ability activates now! By discarding one card from my hand my monster's attack points go up by 400!" (2350/1850) "Attack now!" The warrior danced forwards and brought her arm blades down in an arc, cutting Trainer apart. "And I end my turn with the knowledge that your Strongarm has lost all of its attack points."
Ichigo- 1000
Richard- 400
Ichigo drew. ("Okay….well there goes my attack advantage.") "Go Monster Reborn! This magic card lets me revive one monster from my graveyard! So I return Cyber Shadow-Retriever (1000/1000) to the field in defense mode!" A silver-colored crab robot appeared on his field in a crouching position. "Then I switch Strongarm into defense mode. End turn."
Richard drew twice. "You're finished! I set two cards face-down on the field and then I turn Polar Dragon into attack mode! Attack now!" Both of his monster's released their attacks and destroyed Ichigo's remaining monsters.
Ichigo caught a card that was spat out of his graveyard. "I return Cyber Shadow-Screamer (350/650) to my hand through the effect of Retriever."
Richard closed his eyes and smirked. "And Screamer will let you get back a Polymerization card and a Cyber Shadow. But with Polar Dragon in play Polymerization is a wasted card."
Ichigo drew. "You just let me worry about that." He drew and placed a card onto his disk. "I set one monster in defense mode. End turn."
Richard drew. "Let's get this out of the way. Go Polar Dragon!" The machine monster roared and blew the monster apart. And sure enough, his disk beeped to let him know that his battle phase had been ended.
Ichigo pulled two cards out of his graveyard. "You just go ahead and treat these two cards like they are nothing. I'll show you."
"You'll show me nothing, since you can't use fusion. End turn." Richard snickered calmly. This duel was his, because unlike his opponent he could use fusion anytime he wished.
Ichigo looked down at his deck. ("There has to be an answer…I know it. What can I use in my deck to defeat him if I don't have fusion?") Then the answer hit him. ("It's a long shot, but I've got nothing to lose.") Closing his eyes, he called upon every drop of strength in his luck to give him a draw necessary to call out the most powerful monsters in his deck.
"What're you getting so focused about?" Richard smirked. "You can't use fusion, and therefore your strategy is useless."
"Not quite…" Ichigo's eyes opened and he drew, holding the drawn card up and adding it to his hand. "It's time for me to wake them."
"Wake who?" Richard's smirk slowly wilted.
"The Steel Titans."
To be continued…
To Darkstar: Let me know if you need any help with your battles.
To Adriel: I made those lines with the ruler option on the quick-edit screen.
To Gryphinwyrm: I look forward to seeing how you use my little furball.
To Seeker of the Soul: Well, we'll see who wins in the end, won't we?
To G.O.T. Nick: Naw, he really can't.
To whitewolf: Don't try to second-guess me, because when people try second-guessing weird and horrible things happen in my story.
To Rex: It all depends on the card he drew.
To Bobbomp: The dumb-ass delegation-; Right….well then….
To Anime Albino: See, he came, he stole, then he left.
