Team Zero: Crystals

Disclaimer-Here it comes! I don't own YGO

Chapter 17: All's Fair in Love and Shadow Games

Driving down the street, the three boys headed towards Akina's house. Driving in silence for a while Reku finally reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. Tossing over to his two passengers in one swift motion.

"Call Ronin and tell him about the effect of the crystal cards." Reku ordered.

"Why don't you?" Joe asked.

"I need to concintrate on the road, we must get there quickly." Reku never moved from looking out the front window. "We got lucky but maybe they will get killed if they lose."

"And speeding won't kill us?" Kevin asked looking at the increasing speedometer.

"Hey! I have never had a speeding ticket all right!" Reku snapped back.

"Um, I don't know Ronin's number." Joe, who had the phone, looked at Reku.

"It is in my address book." Reku told him.

Searching for a few minuets Joe finally looked up at Reku. "No it's not in here, anywhere."

"You sure?" Reku asked, almost confused. He thought about if for a second. "Try looking under Butt Head. It should be that one."

"Butt head?" Kevin, who was in the middle, looked from Joe to Reku. "You treat your friends real good."

"Only the best!" Reku came back, his voice with a large hint of sarcasm.

Pressing the call button Joe held the phone up to his ear. Waiting a few seconds he started to hear a ring at the other end. It rang several times before it stopped and a woman's voice answered.

("Hello?")

"Am, hi." Joe was kind of surprised that a woman picked up. "This is butt...i mean Ronin's cell phone isn't it."

("Yes it is.") The womans voice answered back. ("I am Ronin's mom.")

"Oh, hi. I am a new friend of Ronin's and I was wondering if he was around anywhere."

("No, sorry. He went for a walk early this morning. He didn't want to be disturbed so he didn't take his phone with him. Can I take a message for him.")

"Am..." Thinking about it for a second he shook his head. "No that is okay. Well goodbye." Pressing the button, Joe looked over at Reku. "He wasn't home. He went for a walk and didn't want to be disturbed. Why don't I call Akina?"

"Because we are here." Reku said pulling over to the curb. A nice white house with two stories and a chain link fence where Akina lived seemed really pretty fancy for the price tag on it. It really didn't cost the Oshiro's anything, it was a cheap house.

Jumping out of the truck, the three boys ran up to the front door. Ringing the door bell an almost instant answer came. The door swung open and Akina stood there. Reku breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hello Reku." She said seeing him instantly. "Oh, hi Joe and Kevin." She said finally seeing the boys behind Reku. "I was just on my way over to your house to see what was up."

"Well, have you dueled recently." Reku asked taking Akina by the shoulders.

"No, not since that duel in the lobby. Why?"

"Our crystal cards." Reku began, "They do have a backlash effect. Now unless we recharge our decks then the monsters that we last used them on will only be at half strength." Akina, glanced over Reku's shoulders to Joe and Kevin who nodded.

"Okay, so what now?" Akina asked looking back at Reku.

"We find Ronin, and let our decks recharge." He turned and the four of them headed for his truck. Joe and Kevin piled into the back while Akina slipped into the front with Reku. They sped away down the street.


Meanwhile, a duel was taking place on a hill. The grass was brown and many spots of dirt showed from underneath. Gurabe and a rather tall girl with brown hair were playing. The girl had Curse of Dragon (2000/1500), a yellowish serpent dragon, in attack mode on her field. Gurabe had Vampire Lord (2000/1500), a green haired vampire, in attack mode on his field and it was his turn.

Gurabe-2000 LP
Girl-2500 LP

"So girl, ready to finish this?" Gurabe asked holding up the newly drawn card. He had two cards in his hand now.

"Finish this, I would like to see you try!" The girl boasted to the boy. "I can't be beat!"

"Oh?" Gurabe cocked an eyebrow. "We shall see when I play Amber Crystal!"

Jamming the card into the slot, amber colored sparks shot out. Vampire Lord grabbed his head moaning and started to stumble about. The medallion around Gurabe's neck started to let off a violent aura. The symbol engraved into the medallion appeared on Gurabe's forehead. Vampire Lord's entire body burst out with amber colored crystalline spikes.

"Yes! Rise Vampire Lord Amber mode!" Gurabe shouted up to the sky.

"Amber mode!" The girl took a few step backwards from the new monster.

"Yes, the amber crystal not only transforms my monster into an indestructible essence monster but it boost is 1000 attack points (3000/1500). Plus it can attack it's original time for free and additional times for each card I discard from my hand!" Throwing out his last card he pointed to the dragon. "Attack it and her!" Creating a ball of amber light, the Vampire Lord Amber shot it across the field with tremendous force. Destroying the dragon, another amber ball hit the girl almost a second after the first hit the dragon.

Gurabe-2000 LP
Girl-0 LP


Ronin walked down a lush green grassy hill by a lake all by himself. He had a backpack with him that he sat down on the hill. Throwing a rock in his hand into the lake he watched the ripples for a few minuets.

"Let see, am, Sachiko I have been thinking, about the two of us..." He picked up anther rock and threw it into the water. "Hey Sachiko, have you wanted to be like Reku and Akina with me!" He sat down on the hill and threw another rock into the water.

Birds chirped and flew away from a tree as Ronin threw this rock into the water. A fish jumped farther away from the shore. Clouds pass between the sun and the earth.

"Damn it. If I wasn't so envious of Reku I wouldn't be doing this." He watched another fish jump out of the water. "I need to at least tell Sachiko how I feel." He threw another rock into the water. "Sachiko..."

"Yes?" Ronin snapped up and swiveled around as a female voice came from behind him. Standing there was Sachiko smiling a huge smile.

"Am..." Ronin started to blush like mad. "How long have you been there?"

"Through the whole thing." She walked down the hill and sat down. She motioned for Ronin to sit next to her. "I was taking a walk and I saw you from across the park. I called but you didn't answer. Then I came up behind you and heard the entire thing."

"Oh." Ronin said sitting down by her. "So you think that I am crazy? Do you like me any less?"

"If I did," she placed her hand on top of his, "then I wouldn't do this." She leaned over and kissed Ronin on the lips. Finally breaking the kiss she scooted over and leaned up against Ronin. "To be honest, I am jelious of Akina like your were of Reku."

"Oh," Ronin wrapped his arm around Sachiko's shoulder. "I have been thinking for a long time now that should ask you."

"I kind of was too." She said smiling. "I just didn't know, well you know."

"Touching." A dark gruff voice rang out from behind the two of them. "Do you two love birds want to lose your souls together?"

Jerking around, the two of them saw two cloaked men. Both they reconized, one as Black Lizard, the other as Puppetmaster. The two kids jumped up to face them.

"Let's go!" Both duel disks of the guys snapped into place, "for your souls and your crystal card!"

Ronin reached into his back pack and pulled out his emerald green duel disk. Snapping it on it locked into place and beeped like it did to indicate that it was activated.

"Hold on." Sachiko said reaching down into a backpack that she had with her and revealed a duel disk. "Two on one isn't fair so lets even things up shall we."

"Am..." Ronin looked over at her. "Remember the last time you played a bad guy. We lost your soul to the shadow realm."

"I know but I am better now. Plus," She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I am with you."

The four of them walked up to a level spot in the park. Sachiko's duel disk snapped into place. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a deck of Duel Monsters cards. Shuffling them she placed them into her slot.

"Okay, two on two but lets spice it up some," Black Lizard started to say, he looked over at Puppetmaster who nodded. "How about we play like this. One field of ten slots, five magic, five monsters. You must work together with your partner so as not to use up all of your field. We get a team life point score and we have control of all monsters on the field when it comes to attacking and changing positions. Accept?"

"As if we had a choice?" Ronin said looking over at Sachiko. "Lets start this."

"Fine but first. We play here in the shadow realm!" Puppetmaster's medallion started to glow and black and purple fog spread across the field. Once the shadows were all around them their life points went up.

Ronin&Sachiko-4000 LP
Black&Puppet-4000 LP

"Sachiko," Ronin said looking over to her. "Are you 100 percent sure you want to do this?"

"I'm sure, why are do you not want to duel with me?" She looked at him qustionly.

"No but it's, Sachiko," walking towards her a bit.

"Do you really not want to be with me that much, well I'm sorry!" She turned her head and almost started to cry.

"No, no, I was just going to say that you are going to start us off. Let's teach them a lesson!" Ronin smiled brightly as he drew his hand. Sachiko smiled back and prepared to duel.

"Good!" Sachiko drew six cards from her deck and looked at them. "I summon my Mystic Egg Beast (700/1300) in defense mode!" A large brightly colored spotted egg appeared on the field. Small wings protruded from its back and two small eyes could be seen from the front. "Next comes this face down card and I end my turn."

"Good then, I go!" Black Lizard drew the cards off his deck and looked at them. "Of course I summon Blood Hunter (1500/1000)." The man who was dressed in dark leather appeared on the field. In his hand he held a duel barrel gun vacuum that was strapped to a large tank on his back. "Now attack that egg thing! Blood Hunt!"

"Nope, I reveal Castle Walls! That ups its defensive power by 500 (700/1800)." The blast of light that the Blood Hunter shot out hit the egg beast and bounced off not even leaving a scratch.

Ronin&Sachiko-4000 LP
Black&Puppet-3700 LP

Growing in his throat at his disappointing attack, Black Lizard glared at Sachiko who was smiling with childish immaturity. "Go then."

"My turn now, right?" Ronin asked looking at the two cloaked men. Getting the nod he drew his card. "I summon my Worm Drake in defense mode (1400/1500) and set one reverse card. End turn." A large scaly green worm with its eye ball in it's mouth appeared on the field curled into a ball. It gave a hissing noise towards its opponents.

"My move." Puppetmaster drew the card off his deck "I set three cards face down and declare an attack with Blood Hunter on your egg monster!" He pointed to the black leathered monster. It lifted it's gun and shot out a ray of yellow light towards the egg beast.

"It isn't going anywhere!" Ronin pointed to the downed card on his field. It flipped up and glowed for a second but the ray of light still hit the egg. It blasted off the sides leaving the monster alone. The Worm Drake though burst apart into data bits. "My trap Chose to Change the Doomed activated. It lets one monster be attacked but I chose what on my field goes to the graveyard. I chose Worm Drake!"

"So what?" Black Lizard smirked, "it still counts as a death so Blood Hunter gains it's point (1800/1000)."

"To true partner." Puppetmaster smiled, "now it is the females turn."

"My name is Sachiko and you will remember it." She drew the card off her deck and looked at it. "I play Polymerization to fuse my Mystic Egg Beast with Silver Fang (1200/800) to make Chimera Egg Fang (1900/2000)!" The egg monster fell into a vortex with a silver colored wolf monster. When they fell out it was Silver Fang with an egg shell on the back and the tail end of its body. It had two wings and increased sharpen teeth. "Go Chimera Egg Fang! Attack the Blood Hunter with Beastly Bite!"

Jumping across the field, the egged Silver Fang charged towards the black leathered monster. Fangs bared with saliva dripping down from them.

"Good try but I had the three reverse cards, I activate two of them." The face down cards flipped up. "First is Negate Attack to stop your attack." The wolf monster stopped short of hitting a vortex that appeared right in front of the Blood Hunter. "The second was Trap Bridge! It lets me take a trap card back from the grave and add it to my hand." Pulling out the only card in his graveyard he held it up. "Well looky there I got Negate Attack back."

"Fine, I set one card face down and end my turn." Sachiko slid one card into her duel disk, it appeared on the field in front of her.

"Good, back to me." Smirking Black Lizard pulled the card off his deck. He flipped it around and slid it onto his duel disk. "I summon a second Blood Hunter (1500/1000)." A second leathered monster appeared on his field. "And next the field magic card Blood Hunter's Lair! It will increase the attack of all Blood Hunters and Blood Black Lizards by 500!" (Blood Hunter 2300/1000)(Blood Hunter 2000/1000) The two monster roared with the power boost from the card. Around them appeared the image of a small wooden hut. Around the sides of the hut were large bloody animal skins. They raised their guns to the Chimera Egg Fang. "2300 Blood Hunter attack that thing!" It shot out a ray of yellow light that sped towards the monster.

"With the trap Reinforcements it will back fire on you! Reinforcements ups the attack strength of my monster by 500 so (2400/2000) you monster is finished." The ray of light hit the monster who simply just roared and the Blood Hunter blew to data pieces.

Ronin&Sachiko-4000 LP
Black&Puppet-3600 LP

"That is my turn then, go." Black Lizard motioned to Ronin who drew his next card.

"I play Hydra Fusion! I will fuse my Worm Drake and my Humanoid slime from my deck to summon Humanoid Worm Drake (2300/2000)!" The slime fusion monster appeared on Ronin's field. "But I am not done yet, I sacrifice my Humanoid Drake and her Chimera Egg Fang to summon Levia Dragon Deadalus!" The blue serpent dragon appeared on the field. It roared up to the sky but Ronin just sat there and blinked at it (1300/1500).

"Fool." All four duelist snapped to one side of the shadow realm. Standing there was a cloaked man watching the duel. "When you played your crystal card last you didn't recharge your deck so you monster lost half of its points." He chuckled evilly for a second. "Trust me that is no mistake."

"Hey Tal." Black Lizard waved over to his friend who just grunted and blew it off. He looked over at Ronin who's jaw was about to touch the floor.

"With that pathetic thing on the field you will lose in no time at all." Puppetmaster started to laugh along with Tal.

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Reku was lucky, but Ronin wasn't. At least Ronin and Sachiko are hooked up. All Ronin fans should be happy with that.

To Darksoulki: Oh okay. The actually seemed to have the same description just with different colors. Oh and I won't say that Kevin isn't a good duelist either.

To John: Have you played with half attacked monsters? True it doesn't seem that steep but...

To Blue Eyes White Knight: As I talked to you about. I did not forget. That is what the Summoned Skull and the Skilled White Magician were there for. I may have made that a little confusing but I did remove them for CED.
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