Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh.

Legends of the Demon Duelist-Chaos Arc

Chapter 16: Just a bad day

"For now." Reynolds held up a different card. "However…" He opened his field magic card slot. "It's time to see how well this card works." Inserting it in, he felt the air around them warping. "I play Chaos Dimension."

"Chaos Dimension?" Ichigo narrowed his eyes as prismatic light spread over the field all around them. ("He has that card…the same card that Octavian played earlier?")

Holding up his hand, Reynolds revealed a white die. "Depending on the number rolled, we'll decide what effect I get." His eyes were glowing with the same prismatic light that hovered around them. Upturning his hand, he dumped the die to the ground. It bounced around crazily and then landed on a six. "No…"

Ichigo was about to ask what that meant, but his words caught in his throat as he felt pain spike through him. Gasping for air, he clutched at his throat and collapsed to the ground.

("Rolling a six…means the effect of Chaos Dimension transfers to my opponent.") Reynolds ground his teeth as the card flew out of his field magic card slot and landed inside Ichigo's field magic card slot.

Ichigo slowly came to his feet, eyes glimmering prismatic instead of hazel. "You…" His lips curled slightly into a dark smile. "…are not going to enjoy what I do to you in reprisal for trying to blackmail you." He dropped the white die to the ground, which had found its way to his hand. The die bounced around and stopped on a two. "Now I draw two cards every turn and draw one right now." He slid a card off of his deck and added it to his hand. "Now go ahead and continue your turn, human scum."

Reynolds blinked a few times at the remaining card in his hand. Then with a heavy sigh he nodded to Ichigo. "End turn."

Ichigo drew twice. "I knew it. You're good, but nowhere near good enough." His upper lip lifted enough to reveal his fangs. "Get ready, because it is time to lose your advantage." He slid a card into his disk. "Activate Polymerization! Now I fuse Cyber Shadow-Blademaster (2000/1600) and Cyber Shadow-Psychic (1500/1200) together to create Cyber Shadow-Rune Blade!" (2400/1000) A warrior holding a pair of ornate and glowing swords appeared on the field in place of Blademaster. "This monster comes into play with two counters on it. Each of these counters gives it an extra 1000 attack points. However…" He pointed to each of the swords, which were glowing now. "I may sacrifice these counters to destroy one magic or trap card on the field! Double Magic Crusher!"

The warrior threw its blades and blew both Spin Control and Swords of Revealing Light apart. (400/1000)

"But now your monster doesn't have enough attack points to defeat my creature!" Reynolds clenched his fists tightly at the fact that his defense was gone already.

"Oh really?" Ichigo held up another card. "I activate De-fusion! This quickplay magic card separates my monster into its original parts!" Both Blademaster and the long-haired female Psychic appeared on his field. "Now my monsters, attack Paparazzi!" Psychic threw a ball of black energy across the field and blew one of the monsters apart, and then Blademaster destroyed the other one with one quick sword slash.

Reynolds- 2900

Ichigo- 1700

Reynolds snapped two cards off of his deck. "Because you destroyed my monsters as a result of battle I get to draw twice! Also, I activate my trap card!" His face-down card flipped up. "AP Style Handbook allows me to draw three cards when all monsters on my field as destroyed because of battle." He added three more cards to his hand.

Ichigo snickered coldly. "How pitiful. I'll end my turn and let you try to turn this against me."

Reynolds drew. ("I've got to be careful now that he has the Chaos Dimension on his field.") "First the Pot of Greed so I can draw two cards." He slid two more cards off of his deck, now holding eight in total. "I set two cards face-down on the field and set one monster. End turn."

Ichigo drew twice. "Blademaster, destroy his set monster now!" Nodding, the warrior leapt forward and slashed through the set creature.

"You've activated the special ability of my monster!" Reynolds pointed to his field. "Chief Editor (1300/1800) lets me special summon all Paparazzi in my graveyard to the field when he is destroyed as a result of battle!" The three camera-carrying warriors reappeared on his field.

Ichigo pointed at one of the Paparazzi. "Go Psychic!" The woman released a blast of energy towards one of the three monsters.

Reynolds motioned to one of his face-down cards. "I activate the trap card Picture Perfect! This prevents me from activating any other cards when it is flipped up, but my field cannot change for any reason during this turn!" The blast slammed into his monster and the overflow hit him, but his field was safe.

Reynolds- 2600

Ichigo- 1700

Ichigo snarled angrily and slid a card into his disk. "How long can you keep dodging, human? I set this face-down and end my turn."

Reynolds drew. "I won't need to dodge anymore! This is your last turn!" His face-down card flipped up. "Freedom of the Press prevents your traps from affecting my field for the rest of the game! Now I use the magic card Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your far left card!" A swirling blast of wind blew Ichigo's set card apart. "This is your end! Now I play the continuous magic card Soul-Stealing Camera!" A huge old-fashioned box camera appeared on his field. "By discarding light attribute monsters from my hand to the graveyard I can wipe out your monsters on the field, one after another!" The camera released two flashes of light that blew Ichigo's monsters apart.

Ichigo's eyes shimmered in the prismatic light of the Chaos Dimension. "You are more than welcome to attack. I'll crush you all the same."

"Count your life points before you say that." Reynolds pointed at Ichigo. "Attack…"


"I'm not done with you Pilkington!" A large boulder flew through the air on a crash course for Ichigo's head.

Without flinching the half-demon snapped out his fist and broke the hunk of stone into pebbles. "Oh look, it's the bitch." He turned to look at a fully clothed and crimson-eyed Eri. "How's life?"

Snarling, Eri started to approach the boy slowly. "It just occurred to me….you nearly saw me naked. For that, death is your only option!" She leapt forwards, claws out to gut Ichigo.

With no effort in the action, the boy snapped out his hand and caught her by the throat. With her dangling a few inches in the air, he coldly smirked. "And just what are you going to do about it?" His hand flexed and pressed down on her wind-pipe. "Answer me!"

Eri's reply was a mix of gasps of pain and weak snarls of anger.

"Ichigo!" Daniel, who had the common sense to follow the enraged Eri, ran onto the beach in time to see his son slowly strangling the life out of his other half's daughter. "What…are you doing?"

Ichigo ignored his father, his eyes meeting Eri's. "Well? All you've done is attack and yell at me! How about I return the favor by ripping out your voice box? Then I'll never have to hear your annoying screech of a voice again!"

Eri kicked the air futilely, her eyes now wide in fear. She'd never thought this was possible. ("I'm…afraid of Ichigo Pilkington?")

Ichigo's hand clenched tighter, and Eri's breath came out in weak gasps. "Maybe you should start listening before you accuse people of things. Then again, I suppose it really won't matter now. Good-bye Eri."

Daniel's knee slammed into the side of his head, forcing him to let go. "What in the hell are you doing?" The half-wolf demon's hand snapped out and pulled his son's face close. "Well?"

Ichigo smirked calmly and with impossible speed landed a haymaker across Daniel's face. The blow was so forceful that Daniel was sent rocketing through the air past Reynolds and crashing through the sand of the beach. "I'm doing what I have always wanted to do. I'm letting a certain self-centered demoness know that I'm tired of being of her metaphorical and emotional chew toy."

Eri was clutching at her throat and still gasping for air. "But….but…"

"But what?" Ichigo grabbed the collar of Eri's shirt and hefted her face a few inches from his. "Can you say something that will make it all better? I care for you, and all you do is screw with my feelings!" He threw her away and turned to look at Reynolds. "Finish your turn, human!"

The journalist pointed at Ichigo. "Paparazzi, direct attack!" (1200X3)

"Ichigo!" Daniel pulled his head out of sand and watched as three separate blasts of energy hurtled towards his son. ("Don't you dare die…because I need to beat the hell out of you first.")

Ichigo pointed to his face-down card. "Emergency Provisions is a quickplay magic card that lets me send magic and trap cards from my field to the graveyard to give myself a 1000 life point boost per card! So I'll be sending my two…" His eyes widened slightly as he saw a black bandanna-wearing form standing on top of one of his two set cards. ("Snake….") He nodded. "I sacrifice one of my face-down cards and the Chaos Dimension!" His field magic card slot spat out the field card, which dissipated into dust.

Reynolds- 2600

Ichigo- 3700

The three blasts slammed into Ichigo, leaving an explosion that also blew away the remains of prismatic light.

Reynolds- 2600

Ichigo- 100

Ichigo's eyes opened to reveal their normal hazel color. "Now that I've gotten that off my chest it's time to get rid of you, pervert."

Reynolds frowned and slid a card from his hand into his disk. "I set one card face-down and end my turn."

Eri slowly stood up, her breath ragged. "You…"

Ichigo glared at her, daring her to say something.

Her only response was to pass out from lack of air.

At Reynolds' questioning glance, Ichigo shrugged calmly. "I'm very pissed at her right now." He drew. "Pot of Greed lets me draw two cards! Then I play the continuous magic card Cyber Shadow Mainframe!"

Reynolds slid the last card in his hand into his graveyard. "I activate the trap card Magic Jammer! So therefore your magic card has been defeated!" The continuous magic card exploded into dust.

Ichigo slapped another card onto his disk. "I summon Cyber Shadow-Guardian (0/2200) into defense mode!" A silver-colored robot appeared on his field in a crouching position. "Also, I set one card face-down on the field and end my turn."

Reynolds drew. "I'll just set one card face-down and end my turn for now."

Ichigo drew, sparing a glance at the unmoving form of Eri before returning to the field. "I summon Cyber Shadow-Sentinel (1500/1300) in attack mode! Then I play the equipment magic card Defense Armor!" (1800/1300) Glowing metal armor appeared around the shoulders of the robot. "This card, when my monster would be destroyed as a result of battle, is destroyed instead! Go Sentinel, attack Paparazzi now!" The machine hummed to life and released a blast of energy from its eyes.

Reynolds waved his hand over his field. "I activate the continuous trap card Public Scandal! This trap card lets me discard three cards off of my deck when my opponent declares an attack to cut the attack of his monster in half for the turn!" Sliding three cards off of his deck, he snickered as the attack of Sentinel dropped. (900/1300)

Ichigo frowned as his monster froze up. The Paparazzi it was targeting lifted its camera and then released a blast of energy from the device that blew the armor away from his machine. (600/1300) "End turn." (1500/1300)

Reynolds drew. "It's time to bring this duel to its end. First I play the Card of Sanctity, so we both draw cards until we hold six in our hand." He drew six while Ichigo drew five. "And now the time is here."

"What time?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow slightly.

"There are now fifteen cards sitting on top of the bottom card of my graveyard. It is a magic card called Legendary Story. When it has been buried under fifteen or more cards, then I may remove it from play to special summon a monster from my deck that has the power to crush my enemy with the true power of journalism." A man smoking a cigarettewith a long brown ponytail appeared on the field. "Awaken, my mighty Legendary Journalist!" (1000/1000) "This monster has the power to gain 1000 attack points for every monster on your field." (3000/1000) "Attack!" Lifting his finger, the man snapped his fingers and a flash of light engulfed the field.

Ichigo squeezed his eyes shut and motioned to his set card. "Go Mirror Force! This card will negate your attack and destroy all attack mode monsters on your field!"

Reynolds slid a card from his hand into his graveyard slot. "This monster card has the power to negate your trap cards by discarding one card from my hand into my graveyard." The light faded away and the field stood untouched, except for the fact that Ichigo had one less card on his field. "Impressive attempt, but for now I play the magic card Mesmeric Control. This magic card prevents your monsters on the field from switching modes during the next turn. Other than that I set one card face-down. End turn."

Ichigo glanced at Sentinel. ("So now he'll have an open target to my life points during the next turn.") He drew. "I sacrifice Sentinel to summon Cyber Shadow-Moonblade (2000/1700) in defense mode!" A blond-haired woman holding a single glowing energy sword appeared on his field in a crouching position. "This monster allows me to discard one card from my hand to search my deck for a Cyber Shadow and Polymerization." He slid a card from his hand into his graveyard.

"What will that do? My monster has 3000 attack points." Reynolds smirked.

Ichigo returned the smirk. "I'll summon the leader of the Cyber Shadows. With her on my field, you'll fall."

"Wrong," Reynolds snapped his fingers and his face-down card flipped up. "The trap card Propaganda negates your monster's effect, makes it a normal monster, and also cuts it attack in half." (1000/1700)

Ichigo closed his eyes and smiled. "Thanks for letting me know what that card was. Now I can play the card in my hand without worry!" He slid a card into his disk. "Activate the equipment magic card Special Operative Weapon-Stinger!" A rocket launcher appeared on the shoulder of Guardian. "This card can twice destroy a monster on the field with 1500 more attack points than the equipped creature! Go Guardian!" A rocket exploded out of the weapon and slammed into the Legendary Journalist, blowing it apart. "Finally I set one card face-down on the field and end my turn."

Reynolds drew. "First I discard the News Bomb (900/900) so that its effect will destroy your Guardian!" The silver robot exploded into pieces of scrap. "Then I equip my monsters with the union equipment magic card Flash Camera!" The cameras in the hands of the monsters seemed to double in size and complexity. "This card allows them to tally their attack power together when they attack! Go!" (3600) All three of the monsters released balls of energy from their cameras, which then combined together and blew Moonblade apart. "Also, I set one card face-down on the field and end my turn."

Ichigo drew. ("Sheesh…this guy is unbelievable.") "I set one card face-down on the field and one monster in defense mode. End turn."

Reynolds drew. "I've nearly blown the lid on this story. Now it's time for the follow-up." His face-down card flipped up. "I activate the quickplay magic card Breaking News. This card will destroy one card on the field when Paparazzi is in play!" He pointed at the set monster. "So be destroyed!" The magic card released a blast of red energy that hurtled towards the set monster.

Ichigo snapped his fingers and a glowing silver barrier sprang up to stop the card. "The trap card Shadow Barrier negates one effect that targets a Cyber Shadow. I guess that means you know what my face-down monster is, but then again…" He smirked. "My whole deck is Cyber Shadow."

Reynolds discarded a single card from his hand. "Did you forget the effect of my Soul-Stealing Camera?" The huge camera spat out a blast of energy that slammed into the set monster and blew it apart.

Ichigo held up the destroyed monster. "A new monster for your records, sick bastard. This is Cyber Shadow-Apprentice (300/200) and when he is destroyed I may special summon a level four or lower Cyber Shadow from my deck to the field!" He slapped a card onto his disk. "Go Cyber Shadow-Shield Bearer (0/2400) in defense mode!" A man carrying a heavy shield appeared on the field in a crouching position.

Frowning, Reynolds pointed at the new monster. "Paparazzi, compound energy attack!" All three of the monsters released a compound blast to blow the shield monster apart. "Also, I will sacrifice Flash Camera to use its effect to destroy one magic or trap card on the field!" The cameras disappeared and one of Ichigo's face-down cards blew apart. "Finally, I set one card face-down on the field and end my turn."

Ichigo closed his eyes. ("I'm not in the mood for this crap. So that's it…I'm finishing this joker off right now.") He drew, glanced at the card, and smirked. "Let's shake things up, shall we? I summon Cyber Shadow-Kuriboh (300/200) into defense mode!" A little tuxedo-wearing furball appeared on his field. "Now I discard one card from my hand to steal the top card off of your deck and use it immediately! Go Cuteness Espionage!"

Reynolds snapped his fingers and his face-down card flipped up. "The continuous trap card Security Camera destroys any card that tries to discard or steal cards from me." A beam of light flew out of the card and blew the little furball apart. "Sorry kid, but it looks like you're going to find yourself in the news."

"I'm not all that interested in news." Ichigo slapped his last card. "I'm more interested in history. And on that note, that's exactly what you are! Go Cyber Shadow-Shifter (800/1200) in attack mode!" A thin black-clothed ninja appeared on the field. "When this monster is the last card in my hand, it can be special summoned the field!"

"So what?" Reynolds pointed at the card text. "I can see that it only has that ability. So therefore it's useless to you."

Ichigo snapped his fingers. "Check this out. Reverse card open!" His face-down card flipped up. "Shadow Shift!"

"Shadow Shift?" Reynolds blinked in confusion, until he saw all three of his Paparazzi and Shifter fall to their knees as they switched into defense position. "What are you doing?"

"Shadow Shift can only be activated when Cyber Shadow-Shifter is in play." Ichigo motioned to Reynolds' face-up magic and trap cards, which were all face-down now. "This card flips all face-down magic and trap cards face-up. If it is the inappropriate time for their activation they are destroyed. Also, all face-up magic and trap cards flip down and cannot be activated again for the rest of the game."

Reynolds gulped. "Why did the modes of our monsters switch modes then?"

"Because all monsters on the field also switch to defense mode when I use Shadow Shift." Ichigo's lips curled slightly. "And then the last effect of Shadow Shift triggers! Cyber Shadow-Shifter is now sacrificed to let me summon one monster from my deck to the field!" The black-clothed ninja disappeared and was replaced by a lithe black-clothed warrior who had a long energy blades strapped to each forearm. "Come out, Cyber Shadow-King of Swords!" (2600/2300) The warrior heard its name and opened its eyes, the prismatic orbs looking each of the Paparazzi in turn. "This monster has the power to not only deal damage through defense, but if you have four more total cards on the field than I do he can attack all monsters you have in play at once!"

"What?" Reynolds' eyes widened. "Since when was there another tribute Cyber Shadow other than Moonblade?"

"Since always…I've just never drawn him until now." Ichigo pointed at the three Paparazzi. "King of Swords…Ultimate Buster Slash!" The warrior shimmered out of sight. Seconds later it reappeared standing the same position. "Now leave me alone." All three of the Paparazzi exploded into dust.

Reynolds- 0

Ichigo- 100


Eri was sitting in her room, looking out at the moon. It had been a few hours since her 'encounter' with Ichigo, and honestly she didn't even want to look at him. ("Was I actually scared of him? Or was I afraid because I'd never seen him be aggressive before.") She'd seen him when he was protective…but never when he was simply angry.

A knock on her window caught her attention. Slowly she looked over and froze up at the pair of hazel eyes that watched calmly from right outside the window. "What do you want?"

Ichigo's shadowed form leapt off of the windowsill and out of sight.

Frowning, Eri already knew what she was going to do.


A few minutes later the demoness was outside in the darkened courtyard of the girl's dormitory. "Where are you Pilkington?"

Something flew through the air and landed in her arms. It was a bouquet of roses. "Sorry about earlier. I wasn't exactly myself at that moment."

Eri stared at the flowers for a few moments, and then her eyes rose to look at Ichigo. He was wearing his tuxedo from the dance from some weeks ago. "You have to be kidding me. Do you think this cheesy apology attempt will change anything?"

"No. But I'm too stupid to care." Ichigo took a couple of steps towards her and held out his hand. "Would you care to dance?"

Eri narrowed her eyes slowly, and did the most unlikely thing to do in that situation. At least to her.

Later though, she had to admit that he was a pretty good dancer.


Daniel,

Need training. Took the Iguana with me too. Keep your son away from my princess or else I hold you personally responsible. Be safe.

Rikuo

Daniel sighed and crumpled the note, throwing it into the trashcan. Reynolds had already been arrested by the proper authorities, and any evidence about Ichigo's secret was long since destroyed.

Now all that was left in Daniel's mind was the upcoming threat of the Chaos Riders….and one other thing. ("Rykiel…I'm your last challenge to overcome before you reach the top. I'm ready…I hope.")

To be continued…

To Bobbomp: A Bus Driver deck? I'm sorry…but Bus Driver isn't a very exciting job.

To Anime Albino: Chaos Ichigo is indeed scary.

To Seeker of the Soul: I think the situation has been repaired as well as it can be.

To gohan11: This is a PG-13 story, so I'm sorry if you felt it wasn't 'hot' enough.

To G.O.T. Nick: Evil journalists are wrong. However….er……:Moves on since he really doesn't have anything to say:

To Rex: I'm a Journalist major in college. Of course I'm giving the career its own set of cards.

To Later (I hate l33t speak): I've already spoken with you on the matter.

To Star: The power of the press never fails if used for good.

To wolfy: . …… . ……….Errr…………………………………………………………………….

To Seth: I think Ichigo gave Eri a piece of his mind, don't you?

To Neo the Stampede: Good guess.