Author's Notes: Onwards to the next chapter...which is this one.

Chapter Five: Child of the Enemy

"So, how is it coming along?" Daniel Pilkington, long time duelist and currently a father, was watching his son busy at work in reconstructing his deck. Ichigo was young, but still a determined duelist. He wanted to be a champion duelist, just like his dad.

In a few years Daniel had the intention of letting his son attempt to enter the famed Duelist Academy established by Seto Kaiba. At the moment he knew his son wasn't at a level where he'd be able to get in, and he knew neither he nor his wife Jennie would be willing to part with him so easily at his age.

"Going fine dad. These new cards I got at the store are really helping out my deck. Soon I'll be the strongest duelist alive!" Daniel smiled as Ichigo did a little dance around the table, probably imagining himself winning the World Tournament.

In fact, it was thanks to the World Tournament that Ichigo had this deck to work with at all. But that was a story for a different day, and he had other things on his mind. Like a call from Rikuo just last night telling him to be on the look out for 'some freaky villain' as Rikuo had put it. 'What does that even mean?'

Rikuo had been extremely vague during their conversation. All his dark half had done was explain that a kid from about sixteen years ago had showed up at his door looking barely older than he was previously and clued Rikuo into the coming of some body snatcher enemy of theirs who would seek out powerful people like demons.

'How am I supposed to be on the look out when I don't have a clue what this person might look like? And what kid is he even talking about? Did he mean the one who convinced him to return to the dueling circuit?' With so little information, all he could do was ponder the situation.

The sound of a bell reached Daniel's sensitive wolf-ears, but like any proper man he chose to completely ignore it. At least up until the point when a certain special person chided him for it. "Daniel, get up and answer the door, I'm busy and I know you're just being lazy!"

Grumbling the half-demon marched to the door and pulled it open, revealing a very tall and powerful looking fellow. His muscles seemed to have muscles, and his dark brown hair hung freely down to his shoulders. "Ummm...hi?"

The big man looked down at him, a very cold stare making Daniel freeze in place for a moment. 'This guy is scarier than Rikuo can be...that's impressive. He looks human too.'

"Daniel Pilkington, I was curious if you'd be willing to duel me. I have a record as a high ranked duelist in what you might call the Underworld of Dueling. In other words, floating dueling tournaments." Daniel was familiar with this idea.

The whole basis of Underworld of Dueling was that gambling on duels, just like on most other things, was illegal. So the Underworld of Dueling was established to allow betting on duels, while the force level of the duel disks was turned up to maximum. This meant that Underworld duels got dangerous. 'So he's tough, I could have figured that much from his appearance.'

"You mean you want to see just how well a high ranked duelist like myself can do against you. I assume you want to play it by your rules." A slow smile spread across the man's cold features and he nodded his head ever so slightly.

"If you succeed in defeating me I'm willing to give you anything that you want from me. If you lose the duel, I can proceed to take anything I want from you. An even trade, wouldn't you agree?" Daniel narrowed his eyes, beginning to wonder what this guy was up to. Could this man be the one that Rikuo had been talking about?

'Do I really want to face this guy if he is some villain? It's not like he's threatened me so far, but I don't know this mystery enemy's MO. But if he is the villain and I refuse the duel, he just might go after my family to get what he wants.' Knowing that he had no other option, Daniel made his choice.

"I'll accept it. Now, would you mind telling me your name?" The tall man paused to consider this for a moment, and then finally deigned to give him a response.

"My name is Dalin Imaki Sumatin."

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The entire group strode over the hill towards the crummy housing development that was the Osiris Red male dormitory. About half a mile away was the female dormitory for Osiris Red. They were currently all following Rikuo, who was stopping every few seconds to take a whiff of the air. "The way his nose twitches is rather dog-like isn't it?"

Drake cast a curious glance at Kai who had just spoken. Kai had been watching Rikuo with an interested look ever since the two had met. Rikuo had basically been ignoring the teen, yet Kai continued to show interest. "I thought you were into Isis? What's with the staring at Rikuo?"

Kai showed him a withering glare, and Drake just grinned in response. "I'm not like that. Think about it Drake, this is the first time I've ever met a demon. If I could sit him down and talk to him I could learn tons of things! He must be ancient, so he's bound to know things about the past that nobody else in the world does!"

"Figures you'd be interested in what he knows about the past. What ever happened to the present?" But his words fell on deaf ears, as Kai already seemed to be imagining that far away past. Drake rolled his eyes, and then reached out with his senses.

He wasn't picking up on any malevolent emotions, but he didn't know all the powers that the dark spirit had. Perhaps it had the ability to mask itself from the items. After all, it had absorbed the power of several of them. "Finding anything yet Rikky?"

Said demon sent a glare Drake's way that highly resembled Kai's from just moments previous. "I'm finding way too much. The scents have crossed in so many different directions that it's impossible to track it."

"I found something. Take a look over there." They all flocked toward's Kirani's voice, and looked off in the direction that she was pointing. What they saw was a gaggle of older boys, from Ra Yellow and Obelisk Blue, all gathered around a small group of younger Osiris Red students. They seemed to be harassing them.

The motley crew of duelists marched over to the gathering and stood at the outskirts, watching and listening. It seemed that the upperclassmen were just ragging on the lower class Osiris Red kids.

"What's wrong Kodowari? You mad about us pushing around you and your drop-out friends? Gonna go crazy on us like your old man?" The Obelisk Blue boy who was speaking seemed to be addressing a shorter boy with black hair who was being held back by his friends.

"My father wasn't crazy!" The enraged young teen broke away from his friends and made a wild swing at the older boy. Not expecting an attack the Obelisk Blue student staggered backwards as the blow connected with his cheek.

"You Obelisk Blue jerks, you always think you're so much better than everyone else! My father was a high class duelist, and he wasn't crazy. As his son I swear to uphold the family name, so I challenge you to a duel Bato!" The kid extended his arm, and his advanced duel disk activated.

Bato smirked and activated his own disk, sliding his deck into the holster. "I'll accept your challenge drop-out boy. I'll uphold my name as a duelist, now let's see if you can uphold your family name. This duel is on!" (BLP: 4000)

The crowd parted a bit, giving them a better view of the proceedings. Now with a clear view of the two duelists, each member of their group except Rikuo made a shocking revelation. The Osiris Red boy was about five and half feet tall, had black hair, and ice blue eyes. Except for a few different features, he could be a clone of, "Taichi..."

"I, Kodowari Nobuki, shall uphold the honor of my father's name! So I'll start this duel off by throwing a monster in defense mode!" He slammed the card onto his disk, and a horizontal card shimmered into view in front of him.

"End Turn!" Everyone was surprised by his rash actions, but the group of upperclassmen all seemed amused by it. One student even nudged Drake in the ribs, cracking a joke about drop-out Osiris Red kids. At least that proved the ruse was working.

Bato smirked and unfolded his hand, selecting the cards he wanted to play. He took one card and slid it into his grave, along with another card. "By discarding a card I can activate a special magic card called Cost Down. This will lower the level of all monsters in my hand by two for the duration of the turn."

"Now, since I've successfully dropped the level of my monsters down, prepare to be trampled underfoot. You shouldn't have played defense against me, because I summon Dark Driceratops(2300/2000) in attack mode!" A giant behemoth dinosaur stampeded onto the field, denting the ground with its massive feet.

"My beast has the ability to deal damage through defense, but he's going to get a boost in one second. You see, I equip him with Ballista of Rampart Smashing. This card increases the attack points of any monster by 1500 when it attacks a monster that is face down. So when my Driceratops attacks your monster, it will have forty-eight hundred points!" A cannon attached itself to the dinosaur, with a big spear-like weapon mounted in it.

Despite this threat, Kodowari didn't seem overly bothered. Drake didn't know what it was, but something about Kodowari told him that this kid was deadlier than he seemed. "Dark Driceratops, trample all over his set monster!"

The beast roared, and ran right over the monster. It shattered and vanished, leaving nothing but dust. Kodowari still didn't seem bothered. "You succeeded in destroying my Game Blueprints(0/950), so now I get to special summon a Game Console(0/2000) from my deck." (KLP: 150)

A sleek black box appeared in the place of the set monster. It had four little plugs in front and a space on top that something seemed to go in. Bato sneered at the appearance of this monster, and then slid his remaining cards into his disk. "I set those two cards and end."

The moment Kodowari drew, one of Bato's two cards flipped up. "I reveal Power Balance, which I can only use if my hand is zero cards. You must discard half of your hand and then I get to draw the same amount."

Kodowari shoved three of his cards into the grave, and then Bato drew the same amount. "I activate Pot of Greed." Using the effect of the card Kodowari drew an additional two cards.

"Now, I summon Game Cartridge(500/500). Its effect boosts the attack of Game Console by five hundred and its defense by one thousand. Therefore Game Console now has three thousand defense points." A square game appeared above the console, and then slid into the appropriate slot on top.

"The effect of Game Chip(0/0) lets me special summon it to the field. It then boosts Game Console by a further five hundred points in both stats." A tiny little chip slid into the back of the console, and its stats altered to match it. Now its defense was an impressive thirty-five hundred.

Dalin folded his arms and made a declaration that stunned all of the academy students. "He's going to win." The rest of the group nodded in agreement. They could all see it in Kodowari's eyes.

"I activate the magic card Cheat Code-Power Boost. This increase the attack and defense of all game monsters by one thousand for the duration of the turn!" The stats of the three monsters changed again. Game Chip now had a respectable one thousand points, Game Cartridge had fifteen hundred, and Game Console had two thousand attack and forty-five hundred defense.

"Thanks to the ability of Game Console I need no life point payments for effects. So I activate Weapon Change, which lets me swap the attack and defense of warrior or machines for the turn at a cost of seven hundred life points. Now I use this effect to reverse the stats of each of my monsters!" The creatures powers fluctuated, and suddenly Game Console was as powerful as Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

Bato didn't seem worried though, and everyone knew his confidence was placed in his single remaining card. Unfortunately for him, his confidence was about to be shattered. "The effect of Game Chip makes all game monsters immune to traps. So your set cards is useless."

"Game Console, Power Surge Attack!" Energy lit up from the four plugs, and a beam of electricity shot out from each. They speared through the Dark Driceratops, blowing it into little pixels. Now all Bato had left was a useless set card. (BLP: 1800)

"Game Chip, go direct!" A tiny stream emerged from the plug, obviously sent by the chip inside the console. It hit Bato in the chest, and his life points took a plunge, leaving him with a sparse few left. There was absolutely no way for him to win. (BLP: 800)

"Here is the final blow, courtesy of your insult on my father! Game Cartridge, finish him off!" One final beam of electricity hit the Obelisk Blue duelist, and the duel was over. The other students stood in shock, unable to comprehend how a lowly Osiris Red kid was able to beat a member of Obelisk Blue. (BLP: 0)

"Lucky hand, that's all it was. You just go lucky." The other Obelisk Blue students murmured their agreements, but they were stopped when someone snorted in disgust.

"Losers like you ruin the name of duelists everywhere. Kodowari won fair and square, and I know why. His skill runs in the family. His father was a powerful duelist who I happen to have met, and no loser like you could beat his son." The Obelisk Blue and Ra Yellow students stood in awe as the shorter red uniformed Kirani now seemed to tower over them in her rage.

"What do you know? You're just another drop-out student from Osiris Red!" Regaining their confidence the group started to snicker. Knowing Kirani as well as he did, Drake knew that this little bit of laughter was the stupidest thing they could possibly have done.

"Is that so? Well then, if you'd like to prove your strength, why don't some of you duel me. The strongest three duelists amongst you versus this lowly little Osiris Red drop-out student. Or don't you think you can handle a cute little girl like me?" The dangerous smirk also told Drake all that he needed to know.

"Those guys are totally screwed." Kai and Dalin just nodded in agreement, each of them well aware of her skill. Rikuo on the other hand didn't know what to expect, but he was happy that he was going to see an interesting duel. Three on one was bound to be fun to watch.

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Daniel stared calmly at his large and dangerous opponent, who stood a good fifteen or so feet away. Dalin had chosen the setting to be in a neighborhood courtyard, where people usually came to play basketball. Now a small crowd had gathered to watch the duel.

"Have you deactivated all of the safeties for your duel disk?" Daniel nodded, unafraid of how dangerous it was. He had been in Darkness Games, and he was sure that this was nowhere near as bad as that. His demon constitution would also help out in protecting him.

"Then let this game begin! Know what lies on the line, and feel free to take the first move." Their disks came online, and they swiftly drew their opening hands. Daniel drew one more, showing that he was indeed going to first. (DLLP: 4000)

'So this is what my Soul Deck has for me today. So be it.' Now that he knew what his deck was, he knew the sort of strategy he had to follow. This meant that he knew what his opening move was going to be.

"I'll start this duel off light by summoning my E-Hero Burst Lady(1200/800) in attack mode!" An elegant woman in rd and black spandex was summoned in front of him, looking shockingly real to the members of the crowd who hadn't seen a duel like this before.

"Now I'll set a single card face down, and that's all for now." He had decided to start off light, since he didn't know the style that this duelist played. He was bound to be good if he was high ranked in the Underworld of Dueling, but that also meant he was a mystery.

"A standard opening move. I would have thought better of you. Now, allow me to show you the power that a duelist who truly lays everything on the line is. The power that comes only when you risk it all. Draw!" Dalin added the card to his hand, and Daniel felt a surge of power. (DLP: 4000)

'Magic...this guy has magic. So not only is he a physical behemoth, but he's magically very powerful. That explains how he's gotten far in the Underworld of Dueling. Now let's see what sort of strategy he has in store for me.' As he had been thinking, Dalin had been really getting his turn started.

"Witness the perfect beginning. I summon one of my favorite monsters to the field. Come on out and show your power, Dark Angel Banafor(1700/1200)!" The flapping of wings brought Daniel's attention the being that was swooping down from above. Born by midnight colored wings was a fiendishly handsome man, clothed in the finest of silks. But his eyes were burning orbs.

"Whenever my Dark Angel Banafor is summoned to the field the opponent takes five hundred points of damage. Burning Orb Strike!" The dark angel cupped its hands together, and then hurled a ball of black fire at Daniel. The ball hit his shoulder and spun him around, letting him feel the force of such power along with the very realistic heat. (DLLP: 3500)

"First blood goes to you Dalin, but first blood doesn't mean anything. Show me if you have the skill to back up your boasting." The crowd around them cheered, excited by their way of talking about the duel. It was really starting to get them riled up.

"First blood was mine, and so shall last blood. Dark Angel Banafor will strike down your elemental hero. Burning Blood Orb Strike!" Banafor created a larger sphere of black fire, and then launched it straight at Burst Lady. With its superior power Banafor would easily overtake the heroine and destroy her.

"I'm not amateur Dalin, I wouldn't leave Burst Lady undefended. Now I activate my quick-play magic card, Underdog's Rage! This now boosts the attack of all normal monsters on my field by one thousand until the end of my turn!" Burst Lady flexed her arms, and suddenly she beefed up, her muscles bulging through her suit.

"Now my monster is stronger than yours, and she's about to send your attack straight back at you!" The now powered up Burst Lady extended her arms and caught the black flame. She gritted her teeth as the ball of fire pushed her backwards, but slowly she managed to start moving it in the opposite direction.

Dalin sneered and flipped a card from his hand around. "I activate my own quick-play card, one known as Negative Morality. It costs one thousand life points, but it can negate an effect of any type. Therefore your little lady loses her power bonus and becomes easy prey for Dark Angel Banafor." (DLP: 3000)

"No!" Burst Lady's muscles suddenly vanished, and she was now overpowered. The flame washed over her, leaving nothing in its wake. The remains of the ball of fire hit Daniel hard, and only his demonic strength kept him from being pushed backwards. (DLLP: 3000)

"The secondary effect of Banafor now activates. Whenever he destroys an opponent's monster he inflicts three hundred life points of damage to the opponent. Burning Orb Strike!" Once again the dark angel launched an attack, this one sweeping Daniel's leg out from under him and knocking him flat on his face. (DLLP: 2700)

The demon grumbled and hopped back onto his feet. He brushed off his pants, and turned his attention back to the situation at hand. 'He's definitely good. He knew ahead of time that I'd be using my card against him, so he kept Negative Morality in his hand to save it for when I did use my set card.'

"I'd like it if you would impress me in your next turn Pilkington. Otherwise I will be severely disappointed by you. One card face down, and that shall be all." The card appeared behind Banafor, and Dalin's turn was complete.

Daniel drew and looked at the new card. As soon as he did he knew what he could do to take down a large chunk of Dalin's life points. "Let's get this show on the road shall we? I activate Warrior Returning Alive to bring back Burst Lady and add her to my hand."

He picked up the card and then took two more from his hand, including the card he had just drawn. "Now I activate Polymerization, fusing E-Hero Burst Lady(1200/800) with E-Hero Featherman(1000/1000) in order to form one of the mightiest of the Elemental Heroes!"

What emerged from the spiraling vortex was a tall green clad figure with a dragon for an arm. Posing as it was, it struck an impressive figure. The crowd gave it a complimentary 'ooo' and some of them even went 'ahhh' at the sight of it. "Meet E-Hero Flame Wingman(2100/1800)!"

"This is your weapon against me? Very well, carry on." Dalin folded his arms across his chest, awaiting Daniel's move. Considering he had blown more than half of his hand on this monster he couldn't afford to screw up now.

"Flame Wingman, attack Banafor with your Flame Shoot!" The hero raised his dragon arm, and a spiraling jet of flame shot out of it. Dalin waited till the last minute, and then unfolded his arms and snapped his fingers.

"Reveal trap card, Dark Draining Barrier." A black web of energy wrapped around Dalin's field, and the flames swirled around it uselessly. Then the web curled in around the fire, and trapped it into a shimmering ball that floated to Dalin and rested in the palm of his hand.

"Dark Draining Barrier has a useful effect. It can negate one attack, and then increases my life points by half of the attack points of your monster. The math is simple enough. I gain one thousand fifty life points." The web uncurled from the flame and was absorbed into Dalin's disk, leaving a now black fireball in Dalin's hand. (DLP: 4050)

"Now, about the other half of that attack power. Well you see, that half is inflicted to your life points. Feel the flames!" Dalin wound up and pitched it overhand like a professional pitcher. The fireball swept through the noon air and hit Daniel in the stomach, doubling him over in pain. (DLLP: 1650)

He pulled himself back together in time to see Flame Wingman fade away, leaving his field entirely empty. "Don't tell me...Dark Draining Barrier also destroys the attacking monster." Dalin's smirk was enough of an answer for him.

"I'll play two cards face down. That's all I can do for the moment." His two cards appeared in front of him, emptying his hand completely. Now he had to hope that Dalin had no further way of getting to his life points.

'I think I underestimated this guy. I knew he wouldn't be a dueling slouch, but he's an expert. His power just might be too much for my Elemental Heroes to handle.' He scowled, realizing that he was definitely in trouble. He didn't know what Dalin might want of him if he lost, but he didn't want to have to find out.

The dark angel duelist added yet another card to his hand, and then took another one and slid it into his duel disk. "My next magic card is called Special Return. It allows me to select one monster on my field and return it to my hand. Since Banafor is my only monster, I'll return it."

Banafor formed into a ball of light and disappeared as Dalin picked it up off his disk and placed it amongst his other cards. "The next part of Special Return allows me to draw a card, so now my hand will have five cards in it, counting Banafor."

He slid an extra card off his deck, and then took one of his five cards and moved to place it on the disk. "The final effect of Special Return lets me special summon one monster from my hand with an equal or lesser level to that of the returned monster. All that's in my hand is Banafor, so I'll just summon him again."

For the second time in the duel the Dark Angel Banafor descended, his fiery eyes staring down at his target. Daniel was the target, and he also knew what was about to happen. "As you should know from earlier, when Banafor is summoned my opponent takes five hundred points of damage."

This ball of flame caught him in the side, and he felt it singe his skin. In fact, it felt like it was starting to get more realistic. Maybe it was his imagination, but he didn't like what his imagination was telling him. 'I don't like how this is starting to feel. Something about this whole situation feels wrong.' (DLLP: 1150)

"Dark Angel Banafor has served me well, and he shall serve me even better once I increase his strength. So I equip Dark Angel Banafor with Wings of Inferno, increasing his attack power by five hundred points." The black wings on Banafor's back burst into flames, and the dark angel laughed as power surged through him from those burning wings.

"Five hundred attack points is hardly important. One of your traps is most certainly intended to stop my coming attack. Therefore I used Wings of Inferno to make my attack meaningful regardless of what you attempt." He smirked, and his smirk was copied by his monster.

"You see, when a monster equipped with Wings of Inferno attacks, I automatically inflict five hundred life points of damage to you. Even if the attack is negated or my monster destroyed the damage is still dealt." Daniel's knuckles began to go white from how hard he was clenching his fists. This was not a good thing, definitely not a good thing.

"Bring on your attack, I'm prepared." He was, to a degree. But right now he had no way to stop the effect of Wings of Inferno, and that didn't bode well for his chances in this duel as things stood now.

"So be it. Dark Angel Banafor, attack with Rain of Fire!" The dark angel flew up above the field, and flapped his wings. Flame fell from his wings, raining down upon Daniel's field. He quickly depressed a button on his disk, activating a set card. But it wouldn't stop the damage. (DLLP: 650)

"My Negate Attack trap card not only stops your attack, but it ends your battle phase immediately. Since you didn't have any other monsters anyways that doesn't really matter." The dark angel duelist didn't respond with words, he simply slid a card onto his disk. It formed behind his fallen angel, lying in wait of Daniel's next move.

'E-Heroes just aren't going to cut it against this guy. I'm going to have to turn up the heat if I want to win. I just have to trust my soul deck, and unleash all of my power right now!' He drew his card, and he felt his deck pulse in response. By the look in Dalin's eye, he too had felt the pulse.

"My deck has rewarded me, and now this is a whole new game. I activate Card of Sanctity, allowing us to draw until we have six cards in our hands!" Daniel proceeded to draw six cards, while Dalin drew four. Now with a new hand of cards, this really was a new game.

"Show me your strength Pilkington. That's something I'd truly like to see."

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Next Chapter: A Forced Darkness Game

Author's Notes: This honestly ended up having less to do with Kodwari, Taichi's son, than it did with the alternate universe Dalin. But oh well.

G.O.T. Nick: This is a form of update...I think.

Time Mage: Keep in mind it is currently March the 14th, and he'd have to wait till the day after to make such a comment.

WolfGeneral: If you have revived from death by chocolate, then you can read this chapter and read this right here.

Original Cards

Kodowari: Game Blueprints, Game Console, Game Cartridge, Game Chip, Cheat Code-Power Boost

Daniel: Underdog's Rage

Alternate Dalin: Dark Angel Banafor, Negative Morality, Dark Draining Barrier, Special Return, Wings of Inferno