Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, but I do own the characters that you don't recognize. So you better not recognize Shisei and Kouichi!

Chapter 12: Phoenix of Gold Fire

Kou and Shisei dropped down into their seats in the stands in exhaustion. "I'm never doing that again!" Shisei stated in exasperation as he plopped down into his seat by Kouichi.

Just as they thought they had some free time, Namia had her duel. Rushing up to the stands were the least of their worries though. Now they were worried about Namia winning, whatever Osmos seemed to want from them, and if they were going to be ambushed by skulls halfway to the stands.

"Bet your hoping she wins again, huh?" questioned Shisei mischievously to his best friend. Normally Kou would punch him in a joking manner, or insult him as friends would, anything to show he had heard. But today, Kou was to busy trying to sort out his feelings of the odd spirit that was inhabiting his body with him. After all, it wasn't every day you found out you shared a body with a deadly warrior who saved you and your friend's life. Oh, and add to the fact that you just faced a dead man with horribly jokes for you and your friend's (not girlfriend) life and soul. No, he wasn't feeling in the mood for talk.

Shisei, of course not knowing his friend's mental plight, blinked in shock when he wasn't caused bodily harm. The blond raised a hand and waved it in front of Kou's face, which was difficult by the fact that he had his head turned away from him. After a bit of maneuvering, he got the message through. "Kou, hello, anybody home!" he added. No response. Sei sighed and sat back down properly to watch the duel.


"ALLLLRIGHTY THEN!" the announcer's voice once again blasted out over the speakers as cheerful as ever, though it seemed a little late. Namia was the only one in the ring at the moment, which meant her opponent had 15 minutes to report to duel before disqualification. "The next duel to go underway, will be Namia, Regional Champion of London vs." the announcer was apparently looking for something, the intercom projected snippets of conversation like: "can't even find….idiots name…. That's your job….just say….SMOKE."

People snickered and laughed, but one minute brown haired boy jumped up so suddenly, a duel monsters deck, which he was obviously searching through, spilled over the railing. He blushed a furious red and lunged to pick them up. "HEY!" he shouted, getting back his dignity, apparently, and jumping up. "MY NAME IS STOPPER!" he was just as loud as the announcer over the loudspeaker. "AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!" he finished, rushing into the arena.

Namia blinked once, twice, three times. "Umm… I don't mean to be rude, but aren't you a little young for this kind of tournament?" she asked. Seeing as how Namia had just previously been kidnapped, she was in no mood for Child's play. To this question, the boy only smirked and raised his duel disk. "Look lady, my age is of no importance, its my dueling skills you need to worry about, so lets get this show on the road!" he inserted his deck and his duel disk ejected the holo projectors.

'Oh well, might as well get this over with."' Namia thought in exasperation. She mimicked her opponent, and prepared to duel.


Osmos walked through the corridors of the NDA (National Duel Association) with a spring in his step. He had, at last, found the bearer of the seals. "Funny how I thought it was M r. Aragashi, when, all this time, it was Mr. Nandao!" he retold himself, still filled with glee over his triumph. "Now to ask for a little favor." he entered a closed off room in the building.

There were three other men that worked with Higentaka. They were all involved in organizing and supervising the Fifth Annual Duel Monsters Japan tournament. These men and himself were all after one thing. They wanted to put the best duelists that they could find together, all for another "Special" task.

Higentaka entered the brightly lit room, looking at his three co-workers. "Men, I have a proposition for you!" he said cheerfully, his happiness leaking over into his usually calm, cool, collected business life.

Each of the men had on a company made business suit with a special logo, making them impossible to copy. The one closest to Osmos had a sour expression. He had on a very obvious toupee of a black color, and held an old-fashioned pipe in his mouth. Another of the men had shrewd, calculating eyes. He was younger than the rest and wearing eye glasses. He was a brunette. The final partner clashed horribly, he wore large, ugly brown boots that looked like dead animals. He had no hair and a jack-o-lantern's smile, missing teeth and all. "What do you want?" they all questioned together, sounding like drones.

Higentaka looked distastefully at the boots on the jack-o-lantern's feet. "I wonder if I could have someone pushed up into the semi-final rounds." he smoothed his jacket to look professional.

"Why woud ya wanna do tha'?" the man with the bad boots asked suspiciously. "Why woud he wanna do tha'?" he asked his shrewder, younger, more calculating partner. The man turned to the accent, apparently used to it, he raised his hands in a fashion to say "I don't know'.

"Simple, my dear fr-" Osmos cut himself off, he couldn't bring himself to say the word "friends" to these underlings. "My dear partners." he corrected. "He has more potential than any other duelists in the entire tournament, and we have an odd number, so this will snip two problems." his response was crisp, and to the point.

The men looked at each other. Then the smoking one sighed and asked. "What's his name?"

Higentaka sensed weakness, and wanting no reason to lose his chance for approval, cleared his throat. "Kouichi Nandao." he stated.


Namia looked at her five cards with interest. "You may go first." she said politely. The kid drew his card.

"Alright, I'll set my entire hand!" the disk beeped for a millisecond, then five brown back cards appeared on his magic and trap area, and one in the monster area. The monster card was horizontal, indicating defense mode. "Your move." his confidence never wavered.

Namia snickered. "That was stupid." she slipped a card from her disk. "Now let me show you how pro's do it!" she added the card to her hand.
"I'LL SHOW YOU PRO!" the young boy raged, activating a trap card. "Say hello to my drop off, now you lose your drawn card." he discarded his own trap.

Namia scowled and did as the effect stated. "Fine by me, I'll remove my Charcoal Inpachi (100/2100) that you forced me to discard, to summon, Inferno (1100/1900) in attack mode!" a raging fire erupted on her field, just as it was taking shape, it screeched horrible and died down. Namia blinked in confusion.

Namia-8000

Stopper-7200

"Don't look so confused, I just activated Royal Oppression." he motioned to a card that showed several people in royal clothes starving and moaning in pain, caged in a cold steel. "This negates the special summoning of monsters at the cost of 800 LP, both you and I can use this effect." he recited.

Namia took another card from her four card hand and inserted it into the disk. "I'll summon, Raging Flame Sprite (100/200) in attack position." an evil looking cauldron appeared, and a mischievous Sprite bobbed up from behind it.

"Big deal, My defense monster is to strong for that thing." Stopper yawned in fake tiredness.

"Ah, but my Sprite can attack you directly, and after doing so, it gains 1000 extra attack points! Now attack directly!" Namia's tiny monster took out a baloon, filled it with the liquid in the cauldron, and tossed it at the boy, who ducked, though his LP still dropped. "End turn." Namia smiled as her Raging Flame Sprite (1100/200) got an attack point bonus.

Namia-8000

Stopper-7100

"Nice move." Stopper drew. A boyish smile appeared on his face as he slapped the monster down onto his duel disk. "I'll summon, Possessed Dark Soul (1200/800) in attack mode!" a burning creature appeared on her side of the field, cackling madly.

Namia gasped, and then looked at its attack points. "Go ahead." she said, amused at the monster before her. "Attack my Sprite (1100/200) I'll only turn around and destroy that thing next turn." she told the boy.

"Nice guess, but I have absolutely no intention of attacking your Sprite. Indeed, my demon has no intention of attacking your monster at all, but controlling it!" the same smirk reappeared on the boy as he pressed the effect activate button on his duel disk. "Now, activate your special ability my Possessed Dark Soul (1200/800) , sacrifice yourself to take control of every face-up level three or lower monster on the field!" Stopper articulated. His monster cackled even louder as it turned into a purple flame and shot over to the shocked Sprite. The Sprte then glowed and floated over to Stopper's field lazily.

"NO! MY MONSTER!" Namia watched helplessly as her monster switched to her opponent's field. She growled furiously.

"Guess what's next?" he asked, rhetorically. "That's right, my new and, in my opinion, improved Sprite (1100/200) will directly attack your LP." his Sprite scooped up a bucket of the liquid and tossed it over Namia's head, cackling evilly. "End turn." his Raging Flame Sprite (2100/200) returned, looking as though it had new plans of emptying its refilling cauldron.

Namia-6900

Stopper-7100

Namia gritted her teeth and drew. "I'll set one card face-down and one defense monster!" she motioned for Stopper to go.

"Okay, I'll set one more card face-down on my magic or trap zone. This giving me five again!" he looked happy about such a move. Too happy in Namia's opinion. "And I'll attack your LP once more with the stronger Raging Flame Sprite (2100/200)!" the child disappeared for a minute, then reappeared , struggling under the weight of the hose he had brought back. He inserted the hose into the cauldron, and a small but steady stream of water sprayed at Namia.

Namia-4800

Stopper-7100


"Yeah, Kou, I think Namia's in trouble." Shisei looked intently in front of him, not really expecting an answer from the silent Kou. Kou, at the moment, was looking at the duel, but not really seeing it. 'What's happening to me?"' he thought to himself. 'Chiro, Chiro…. Are you there?"' he thought towards the inner workings of his mind and soul, trying to speak with his counterpart.

'Yes, what do you want, kid!"' Chiro responded rather harshly. Kou was half overjoyed that he got a response, half frightnend of himself. His joy came from the fact that he hadn't lost his only lead to answers, but his fear was from the fact that hearing the voice of Chiro respond made him seem crazier. 'Your not crazy, you know that, right?"' Chiro would have reassured Kou, if he were talking from outside of his mind.

'No, I don't know that, that's the problem!"' he mental yelled to the seal holder. That was another thing, what was with the seal holder stuff, he seemed to have invented a whole other alternate universe where Chiro was this "Seal Holder".

'YOU DID NOT INVENT ME!"' Chiro's angry voice yelled to him, trying to get the "kid" out of his depressive state.

"YEAH, WELL THEN GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Kou shouted, luckily, everyone had just flinched at what was happening in the duel, so they didn't notice. Even Shisei was to wrapped up to see.

'……….."' he felt and heard the ringing silence in his soul.

'…Okay…goodbye then."' Kou thought to himself, feeling happier, and finally able to watch the duel.


"You've made your point, now let me make mine!" Namia drew. "I'll activate Pot of Greed!" she drew twice and looked at all four cards in her hand. "I now summon, Solar Flare Dragon (1500/1000) in attack mode," a dragon with flames surrounding it appeared.

Stopper blinked, then he collapsed on the floor, laughing his head off. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Your m-monst-ter i-s way too weak!" he told her, still wiping a tear from his eye.

Namia rolled her red eyes. "Let me finish kid." she stated coldly. "I'll also flip summon, Burning Inpachi (1850/0) in attack mode." a beast that looked as though it were once made of wood appeared on Namia's field, standing next to her towering dragon. "Next, activate face-down card, Riryouki!" half a glowing blue sphere appeared around Namia's Dragon (3250/1000), and half around the frightened Sprite (1750/200). They then converged and floated into the newly empowered Solar Flare Dragon (3240/1000) "This will take half of your monster's attack strength, and add it to mine. Now, attack his monster, Solar flare dragon!" the monster obliged and spat burning chunks of sun at the young Sprite. "Say goodbye!" but just as the chunks of sun were by the cowering boy, they shot over to the defense monster instead.

"HA!" the boy yelled triumphantly. "You fell into my trap again!" Namia groaned as the boy emphasized "again". "I activated, Shift, to switch the target of your attack, to my defense position monster!" the defense card shattered under the sun chunks, but then a scythe wielding creature appeared, and sliced the Burning Inpachi in two. It's flames went out and it broke in half like a tree normally would. "Oh, and my defense creature was Night Assailant (200/500) which destroys a monster on your side of the field." he smiled.

Namia looked on in shock, as her beast was destroyed, and her dragon was reduced back to normal power, much to its sadness. "I'll activate Ring of Magnetism on my Solar Flare Dragon (1000/500) this decreases his attack, but next turn you have to attack him!" she stated. "End turn, which means you lose 500 LP due to my dragon's effect."

Stopper drew again, and again set his card. "I'll attack your beast with Raging Flame Sprite (3100/200)!" the sprite threw all pretenses out the window, it rushed over and poured the liquid over the shrieking dragon, destroying it. "End turn."

Namia-2700

Stopper-6600

Namia drew, still unwilling to give up hope. She looked at the card then her eyes widened. "Kid, you fought well, but this is it, I'll summon, The Phoenix of Blue Fire (1500/1500) in attack mode." a beautiful blue, shimmering bird appeared on Namia's field, wailing a beautiful song as it swooped from the sky. "Then I'll activate Dian Keto, the Cure master!" the card's effect increased her LP by 1000.

Namia-3700

Stopper-6600


Shisei looked incredulously at Namia's field. "Woah, she has a Phoenix of the fire… Maybe she's not so screwed after all." he said.

"What are those, Sei?" Kou asked his best friend. Shisei jumped, and then turned to Kou as though he were a ghost.

"Oh my god, your on the plane of the living!" he responded. "I thought you'd gone into shock." he frowned, wondering what had happened to his now normal best friend.

Kou rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, what does it matter if she has such a weak monster?" he asked again.

Shisei immediately went into explaining mode. "Well, that thing isn't really weak at all." he started. "All of the Phoenixes have Special abilities, by my knowledge, there are five. Only the best of duelists can use all five properly in a duel, having them is nothing to using them correctly." he told Kou. "Namia probably based her entire deck around those guys. Which isn't bad, in this case. But if that is the only one she has…"he paused.

"What?" Kou chided him.

Shisie turned slowly to his best friend. "She's screwed again." he stated simply. Kou paled, and turned back to the match.


A smile crossed the face of her opponent as he watched. "How are these random moves going to help you?" Stopper asked, thinking he knew the answer.

Namia tsked. "These moves aren't random at all, their exactly what I need to take you down." she pressed the effect activate on her duel disk. "My Phoenix has a special ability!" she commentated as her LP dropped.

Namia-200

Stopper-6600

"A special ability that brings you down to 200 LP?" Stopper replied, clearly over enjoying his opponent's move.

"No, this is just the price." she smirked as she picked up her deck and rifled through hit. "I can pay any number of LP, and then Special summon a Phoenix monster with that many attack points!" she smirked.

"What monster has 3500 attack points?" Stopper asked skeptically. "And don't forget about Royal Oppression!" he told her. He and his Sprite (3100/200) did a little dance.

"This one, say hello to: The Phoenix of Gold Fire (3500/3500)!" her monster screeched onto the field, it had the same brilliant song coming from its beak as the Blue Phoenix (1500/1500). It had a wonderful gold plumage and a bright golden fire around it's body. "The special summoning of the Blue Phoenix can't be negated, so don't even try it." Namia stated colly.

Namia-100

Stopper-6600

Stopper looked at the LP score in confusion. "Your- WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO MY FIELD!" he suddenly shrieked. His plan was to ask what happened to Namia's LP count, but he then noticed his field erupting into golden fire, every single card was ejected from their slots and discarded.

"My Golden Phoenix (3500/3500) has a special ability, I can sacrifice it, to destroy all cards on your field and inflict direct damage equal to each card x500 points!" Namia exclaimed, drawing five cards. "Then I draw one card for each one you lost, since Raging Flame Sprite was mine, though controlled by you, I don't get a card for it." she finished.

Namia-100

Stopper-3600

Stopper looked on in shock as Namia studied her new hand. 'All of my cards, my strategies, their gone. Gone… All Gone."' he thought. He glared at Namia.

"Unfortunately, using such a powerful effect still ends my turn." With that said, a sudden egg floundered onto Namia's field. "Oh yeah, now I get a Phoenix Egg (0/0) in attack mode." she told him.

Stopper looked at the egg in disbelief. 'That egg has no attack or defense points…. If I can get in one good attack, she'll lose! All I need is a monster!"' he hoped with all his might, and drew. 'Darn, oh well, if she attacks, I can take out her monster."' he finished, setting the card. "I'll end my turn."

Namia drew, and in turn her Phoenix Egg (500/500) grew larger. "Oh, and by the way, my egg will get stronger and stronger every turn, after the appropriate amount of turns pass, I can sacrifice it to Special Summon a Phoenix with it's same attack from the graveyard." she then smirked. "Guess which Phoenix I'll want?" she laughed, making stopper fume to himself. "I'll set three cards facedown, end turn." she finished.


"HA! She's winning!" Kou stated, happy to see Namia whooping Stopper. He grabbed Shisei around the neck and jumped up and down.

"ACK- KOU!" Shisei yelled, trying to get out of the strangle hold. "I KNOW- ACK- SHE'S WI-ACK-NNING!" he yelled even louder.

Kou stopped abruptly and put a hand behind his head, sweat dropping. "Heh-heh, guess I got a little carried away." he said, then sheepishly turned back to the duel.


Namia yawned as Stopper drew and set a defense mode monster. "Alright, now I'll draw." she said after his turn ended. 'Whew, so far so good, he doesn't know that my egg (1500/1500) can be destroyed by an attack, even if the monster is weaker."' she thought. 'just a few more turns!"' she crossed her fingers behind her cards. "I'll end my turn with a monster in defense mode and two cards face-down." she told him. Suddenly, her egg(2000/2000) burst open, and out popped a baby Phoenix, squawking a horrible song, obviously trying to imitate its mother.

Stopper bit his lip. "I'll set one monster face down, and end my turn." he looked as her bird grew ever larger. 'My second Night Assailant needs one more turn before I can flip it."' he though, looking at his facedown monster, just previously set. 'Next turn I'll destroy that egg!"'

'Almost out of the woods."' Namia told herself. 'Even if he does attack, he'll lose major LP with almost any monster."' she drew, and then smirked. "You lose, I'll activate Pyro Clock of Destiny, to speed up the turn count by one, letting me sacrifice my Phoenix egg (3500/3500) for the Phoenix of Gold Fire (3500/3500), in attack mode." she smirked. Stopper gulped, but he was still ready, she had to attack to get to his LP. And he still had Night Assailant (200/500). "Now, I'll activate, Shadow of eyes!" she flipped the trap, and Stopper's Night Assailant (200/500) flipped as well. The young boy looked at his last hope in shock.

'I lost."' he thought. 'No, she'll only make me lose 3300 LP this turn, there's still time!" he told himself.

"Next, I'll play another of my face-down cards, Replay, to reuse… Riryouki!" her magic card returned to the field. "I split my LP again, to do this." she told him, as she slid Riryouki into the proper slot.

Namia-50

Stopper-3600

"Ha, I'll still have 100 LP, try again!" he taunted. Namia smirked.

"This is it, my Phoenix, activate your next final Special ability: Golden Sunburst!" she commanded, the glowing beast obliged, and blasted fireballs of golden energy at her opponent's field. "I can sacrifice as many cards from my field, to destroy as many as I want on your field, so I'll get rid of my set monster, and my last two set cards, and destroy every thing on your field!" she smirked as only her Phoenixes were left, the Blue Phoenix (1500/1500) severely over shadowed by the Golden Phoenix (3600/3500). "You lose, Phoenix, Direct attack, Golden Sunfeathers!" her Phoenix swept down and blasted heat energy from its wings all over the boy, whose LP dropped to zero.

Namia-50

Stopper-0


Next time: The Semi finals are fast approaching, but while Kou is automatically accepted, Shisei has to deal with Weevil Underwood in the next round. Can Shisei win against another regional champion? Find out next time on: Duel Monsters: Maximum.