Here we are again! I apologize without shame to my readers. College is insane, especially when you need to cover sixteen weeks of work into eight weeks. Plus I had massive writers block, and my job results in a lot of fatigue, so I've spent a lot of time passed out on my bed...or chairs in buildings all across campus.
On another note, I would like to first point out that I have three forums set up here on Please, go take a look at all of them. They've been there for a while, and I only two posts have been made. I'm sure you can find something to post on at least two or three of the threads.
Also, I would like to remind you all about the character portraits. I currently have a good number done, so if you want nifty data on a character, as well as their theme song, let me know. If it's one that I don't yet have, I'll make one. But seriously, I made them so that you people could have them, so I encourage you to ask me for them.
The Way of the Dreamer
Chapter Thirteen-The Frozen Heart
Sliding the file drawer shut, Eizan sighed and wiped a hand down his face, fatigue evident. It wasn't that this particular day had been any worse than any previous, just that it was the end of the day, and no human body can go on forever.
It had been just over a week since he'd spoke with Kazuki about the position that had been forced onto the boy. Ten days since the young boy had finally admitted that he felt like the cards were stacked against him and that he was a failure. A week and a half since he'd been able to even speak to his student.
Ever since that night, Kazuki had taken great efforts to evade Eizan. He'd started showing up to class just before the lecture began and leaving the moment class was dismissed. When he saw Eizan in the hallways he would instantly veer off in a completely different direction. Even when Eizan had attempted to catch him at his dorm, he'd just barricaded himself in his room and refused entrance to anyone, and Eizan lacked the authority or circumstances to force entry.
"He apparently has a great deal on his mind, that he does." the teacher mused to himself. "It must be hard to be faced with all of that. After all, if what I've heard is correct, he hasn't heard from Itzika in nine years. No doubt those emotional scars run deep, that they must."
Sitting down in the chair behind his desk, Eizan crossed his arms over his stomach and leaned back, staring at the chess board on the table several feet away. He had been an accomplished player of the game since he was young, having been taught by his father. He probably could have gone on to take a number of local championships had he wanted to, but the thought had never come to him back in those days.
When he reached his teen years he adapted the foresight, insight, and the numerous other skills one gained when they became an effective chess player, and used them to become an exceptional duelist. He began to attend tournaments, taking various titles and learning more and more with each game he played. He lost often, but eventually he began to pull himself together, never giving up and always trying to find some lesson within every match he participated in, and using that grew stronger.
Then, before long he met up with Itzika Katsura, who was many years older than he was, and quite a talented duelist. However, Itzika had never been able to get beyond the upper rounds of the regional tournaments. He was headstrong and naive, relying almost entirely on his talent and the effective deck he had assembled in order to get as far as he could.
He was a decent man, in Eizan's mind. He was well-mannered, caring, and above all else passionate for his dreams. He was determined to be recognized by all as a duelist, and he refused to let any loss get in his way. Perhaps that passion was what attracted the fair Ayame Kurosuki to him. Their first and only child, Kazuki, was born just under a year after their wedding.
Despite the age gap, Eizan somehow found himself as the mentor of the older duelist, teaching him techniques and strategies, trying to get his mind working. They would meet at tournaments and Eizan would give a rather informal lesson of sorts about planning ahead or using cards in elaborate combinations, which Itzika held onto fervently, his determination to see his dream realized fueling him every step of the way.
Surprisingly, it worked. Itzika began to improve rapidly, and by the time his young son was five, he was one of Japans top ranked duelists, and was headed towards international ranks. He had finally earned the recognition he desired, as well as the resources to support his family.
Realizing the success of his training, Eizan himself realized that he had a talent for teaching, and so he retired from professional dueling when he was only nineteen to go to college, where he worked nonstop, three semesters a year, to get a teaching degree, and from there entered Duelist Academy.
However, something had gone wrong. Shortly after leaving the professional circuit, Eizan heard that Itzika had suddenly up and abandoned his family, leaving his entire savings from countless tournaments with them, as well as abdicating his deck to his son.
"He left without any known reason. He abandoned a blossoming life, his dreams in the process of becoming reality, and he didn't even have the courage to come and talk to me first, that he did not." Eizan spoke aloud to himself.
Shifting around in his seat, the teacher sighed deeply. "Itzika, I don't know why you would so foolishly give up everything. That is not what I taught you. And so, I will uphold my ideals and I will make amends to myself for failing you by making sure your son creates his own legacy, that I will."
XXXXXXXXXXX
Lying on his bed, fingers woven behind his neck, Kazuki stared up at the ceiling of his room, his face void of emotions. This was how he had spent the past several days, when he wasn't in class or doing schoolwork. They were decent distractions, though the mos recent test had resulted in a less than stellar grade. That and his last few essays and other such assignments had all seen a serious decay in quality, going from his usual A's to C's.
Some of his teachers had expressed their concern for him, though he just shrugged them off, insisting that he just hadn't understood the most recent curriculum and that he needed to try harder and study more.
"Yeah, right." he groaned in a low voice. "I could have walked all over those assignments if I could concentrate! But how am I supposed to focus when I just found out that I have one year to prepare myself to take on one of the top duelists in the school? Gah!" he twisted violently on his bed, as if struck by some sort of spasm.
After a minute, he calmed down again, rubbing his eyes, more so out of frustration than fatigue. It had been nearly two weeks since Professor Kiske had told him about the deal that had been struck to allow him to enter the Academy, and now he felt as if he were just running around in circles, chasing his own tail. He kept on trying to make sense of everything, but he just had too many conflicting thoughts!
"I have one year to get stronger, or else I'm out. I don't want to get thrown out! I couldn't deal with that! So I have to win, but Professor Kiske says that with my current deck I could never win. He says that because of that miserable worm who is my father I can't win! What am I supposed to do, then!"
To his rambles he received no answer outside of the wind swaying the trees outside. Growling in frustration again, Kazuki grabbed a pillow and pulled it over his face, snarling as loud as he could into it.
After a few minutes of silence, he removed the puffy block, stood up, grabbed his jacket and key, and made his way for the door. "Air. Just...gimme some air."
XXXXXXXXX
Yue Ryusen was a the kind of kid most parents wanted their children to be like, the kind of students most teachers wanted in their classroom, and the kind of guy that most people wanted to be friends with. He was good-natured and hardworking, combining his natural talents with the skills he gained from experience. He didn't degrade anyone, and normally pushed people to be their best.
He was also tall, handsome, physically fit, popular, a genius, and quite wealthy in terms of teenagers, having received a large stipend from Industrial Illusions when he had agreed to let them use his card designs.
Thanks to a combination of these gifts, he was extremely skilled at the game of Duel Monsters, and so had earned himself the rank of number two duelist in the Academy. That title had brought the admiration of many, as well as the affection of a large portion of the female population of the campus.
However, right at the current moment he was not worried about any of that. Right now he was enjoying a casual conversation with his ambitious classmate, Katsuya Seikai. Classes were done for the day, and now it was just time to enjoy the fading sunlight and the air as it steadily cooled. This was Yue's favorite time of the day, even though fall was approaching and so it was getting much colder. Despite this, he just lay on his back, the sleeves of his jacket rolled up a bit and hands behind his head, eyes closed.
Pulling on the hem of his Obelisk Blue blazer, Katsuya let loose a satisfied sigh. "Damn, this uniform makes me look good. A definite plus-two on my Stud Factor, ne?"
"Seikai, you are easily the best-dressed guy in the school." Yue responded, his voice friendly but also sounding lazy. "I don't know of anyone else who irons their uniform at night just before bed, then again in the morning even though there's no way for it to get wrinkled while you sleep, and then irons it again at least once during the day. Of course the uniform looks good."
"Yeah, but I mean, it looks particularly good on me, don't you think, sport?"
Sighing, Yue refused to open his eyes. He simply nodded his head, which was enough for Katsuya, who turned to look down the hill to the cliffs which encircled the island. Interestingly enough, he noticed something he hadn't before, thanks to the glare from the sun when he'd last been looking in that direction fifteen minutes ago. "Hey, Yue."
"Hm?" came the lackadaisical response.
"It's that kid, down there on the cliff." Katsuya explained, pointing a few hundred feet ahead of himself where, sitting on the cliff's edge was Kazuki, occasionally hurling a rock he had picked up from the ground around him into the water hundreds of feet bellow.
"Seikai," Yue sighed. "To you, everyone is a kid. Could you be a bit more descriptive, please?"
"You could just take some action yourself, sit up and take a look. It wouldn't kill you, you know." Katsuya pointed out. When Yue showed that he had no intention of doing just as Katsuya had suggested, the other Blue sighed and explained, "It's that Kazuki kid I dueled at the Festival. But it's strange, he looks kind of down in the dumps about something."
"Oh really?" Yue asked, somehow managing to sound both interested and uninterested at the same time.
"Yeah, just kinda sitting there by himself, throwing rocks over the edge. What do you make of it?"
"Well," Yue grunted, finally picking himself up and opening his eyes. "I'd guess that, based on the fact that he's by himself and all, that he's probably got something hefty on his mind and it's starting to drain him emotionally. Since he's throwing the rocks, I think it's pretty obvious that he's trying to decide what to do about whatever it is that's on his mind. Then, since he's actually sitting down I'd say he's getting rather frustrated and doesn't feel like he has the energy to stay on his feet."
Katsuya simply stared.
"You're just trying to show off, aren't you?" he finally demanded.
"Let's find out, shall we?" Yue smiled, rising to his feet and making his way down the slight hill towards the islands edge. Without anything else to do, Katsuya rose to his feet and followed.
"Good for you, Yue. You realize that as the boys senior as a duelist, student, and age, that it is your responsibility to extend a charitable and helping hand. That's rather mature of you." Katsuya commended as he adjusted his blue bandanna over his hair.
"If you say so." Yue called over his shoulder.
Unaware of the two approaching upper classmen, Kazuki picked up another rock and tossed it down the side of the cliff. He'd been doing this for nearly twenty minutes now, and to his annoyance it wasn't helping him to feel any better.
"How could they do this to me? It's not possible for me to win!" he snarled at the amber horizon.
"What was that?" a voice from behind him asked, causing him to jump a bit. Turning his head, he raised an eyebrow to the fact that Yue Ryusen and Katsuya Seikai were looking down at him, looks of interest dancing in their eyes.
Unable to shake the shock that two of the Academies best duelists were actually taking the time to acknowledge his existence, Kazuki let his mouth simply hang open for a minute. Then, when he finally could speak again he found himself asking a rather stupid question. "What?"
Hanging his head in his palm with a sigh, Katsuya murmured something about "Younguns" and how they were always so caught up in themselves that they needed everything repeated to them. To this Kazuki simply raised an eyebrow and uttered a hesitant and confused "yeah".
"Don't mind Old Man Seikai," Yue reassured Kazuki. "He tends to expect everyone to have the maturity of an old man, minus any bladder control problems." At hearing this, Katsuya opened his mouth as if to object, but cut himself off, since Yue wasn't paying him any attention. "But seriously, what's on your mind..." he paused, giving Kazuki a scrutinizing look, trying to remember something. "Kazuki, that's it!"
"The system sucks, that's what's wrong." Kazuki huffed, turning back to the ocean. To this, Katsuya and Yue glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders.
"That's not exactly the most helpful explanation." Yue pressed on, much to the surprise of his compatriot, who was fully ready to give it up and walk away.
"Yue, I don't think he's all that interested in talking about it." Katsuya commented, but again was ignored as the second ranked duelist asked again, and again was brushed off by the Osiris Red.
"Kazuki, please." Yue pressed a third time, even though his eyes had shifted over to Katsuya, who was about to speak when Yue cut him off. "As upper classmen, especially ones of our level, it's our unwritten obligation to help him out."
"There's nothing you could do." Kazuki sudden piped. "The cards are stacked against me, both in terms of the opposition and on my end. It's a hopeless situation."
"Not necessarily." Yue countered. "It only seems that everything against you, but that's just because you're only one guy with only one perspective. Things'll work out."
"You don't know that." Kazuki shot back, though his stare remained fixed on the water. "You didn't have a track record like mine and then end up in a position that means you have to make it to the top by the end of the year. You've always been an awesome duelist with an awesome deck."
Surprised by this, Yue wasn't quite sure what to say. After all, Kazuki was right in regards to his success. Thankfully, Katsuya came to his rescue.
"Kid, you're quite the duelist yourself. You gave me one hell of a time in our duel, and I'm already towards the top in terms of my rank. So for you to work your way in should be no trouble. You just need to apply yourself, get some confidence, and then start kicking ass. Get'em, tiger!"
Kazuki sweat dropped.
"You just don't get it. I just need some time to myself." Rising to his feet, he took off at a brisk walk towards his dorm. In his wake he left a rather perturbed Yue and Katsuya.
"Brat needs to grow up a bit; take a few lessons in humility, I say." Katsuya commented with a slight sneer. "Well, that's the Boy Scout good deed of the day wasted, so what shall we do next? I'm all about going to dinner, how about you?"
Yue did not verbally respond, simply looked after Kazuki's retreating form, a glimmering light of thought in his eyes. 'Hopeless situation, hm?'
XXXXXXXXXX
"Class, today I have an...interesting event for you." Katsu said as the talking died down, adjusting his glasses as he did. "It has been requested that I participate in another special exhibition duel, right here and now."
A sudden air of light anticipation filled the room after these words were spoken. Everyone remembered quite well how amazing their teacher had been several weeks earlier against three professional duelists. It seemed almost ludicrous for any student to challenge Katsu Yoriyoi.
"Normally, I would not do this." Katsu admitted, placing his arms behind his back and walking out from behind his podium. "As many of you should know, I was once a professional duelist myself, having left that field two years ago to pursue a career as a teacher, passing along my experience and knowledge to the next generation. As such, I am confident, though I do hope not boastful, that my skills are quite acute. Because of this, I rarely use my personal deck or all of my skills anymore. I participated in the Duel Festival because it was a challenge by Maximilian Pegasus himself, and as a favor to a friend."
Taking a minute to let this sink in, Katsu reached for a small pouch on his belt, unfastened the top, and withdrew a deck of cards. Holding the stack in his palm, he began to rapidly shuffle, his face betraying no emotions, as was the norm for him.
"However, after hearing the challenge, and taking into consideration the duelist who issued it, I have decided I will do it. I will duel with my true power, but I expect you all to be observing carefully, using this as a learning experience."
Walking over to his podium, Katsu drew a duel disk out from the cabinet that was engineered into its frame before tapping a few commands, causing the stand to sink into the floor and then cover up with a sliding steel panel. Strapping the device onto his arm and inserting his deck, Katsu took his place on the stage. (KLP:4000)
"My opponent will be one whom you are all very familiar with; Yue Ryusen!" There was a wave of cheers from the students, though it was quite under control rather than the rabid support the ice-user had received at the Duel Festival. Possibly because there weren't as many girls as there had been at that time. Regardless, the popular Obelisk Blue made his way onto the field from where he had been waiting in an annex behind the room, duel disk and deck already in place. (YLP:4000)
'Watch, Kazuki. I'll show you and everyone else that even in a desperate situation, dueling with your entire heart and soul can unlock incredible strength, and that the situation is only as hopeless as you allow it to be in your mind.' Yue vowed in his mind before drawing an opening hand.
"Professor Yoriyoi, I thank you for giving me this chance. Shall we?" he asked, his eyes burning with an icy flame. Katsu nodded, drawing his own hand of five.
'This is bold of you, Yue. I don't know exactly what you intend to accomplish from it, but I see the passion in your eyes, and that is why I agreed to this. You're staking more on this than simply your rank and reputation. You're going to try your best and become stronger thanks to it, and so in response I will show you the level of strength which you have yet to cross into.' the Ra Yellow head said to himself.
Once they were ready, Yue fished into his pocket and pulled out a dull gray coin, placed it on his thumb and flung it into the air. "Call it." he said as it spun through the air for a moment. As it descended, he reached to grab it and missed, resulting in a high-pitched "ping" ringing through the air.
Looking down in search of the coin, Yue's eyes widened in shock when he found his coin on the ground, somehow having shattered when it hit the ground!
"Well...um...that's...unusual. Er..." Yue rubbed the back of his head, not sure of what to make of the seemingly impossible situation.
"As professor, I dictate the first turn honors to you." Katsu declared, settling the manner easily enough. With a nod, Yue reached for his deck and whipped off a sixth card.
"To start things off, I summon my Ice Blader (1400/1100) in attack mode." A man in light blue ice armor appeared, wielding a double-bladed sword. "This monster powers up all ice monsters by five hundred, and then gains an additional one hundred points for every extra ice monster on my field." Yue explained as his monsters attack points rose to nineteen hundred, a solid attack for a beat down monster.
"Next I will set two cards face down, ending my turn, Professor." the spiky-haired youth said, slipping the two cards from his hand into the slots lining the back of his duel disk. Once their holographic images had appeared, Katsu drew.
Leaning back in his chair, Kazuki had a slightly bored expression on his face. 'Yue's good, no denying that. But still, he's going up against Katsu, head of the Ra Yellow dorm. He's done for already.'
"I summon a monster in defense mode and then I will set one card face down. End." Katsu declared as the holographic images appeared before him.
"Draw!" Yue called, raising his hand to four cards, even with Katsu's. "I play Ice Break, which destroys one card on your field and deals you two hundred points of damage for each of its levels; magic and trap cards destroyed in this manner are considered to be level one."
Instantly ice began to build up underneath Katsu's face down card, quickly accumulating in an upward motion. Just as it was about to envelop the card, however, the image opened up ninety degrees, escaping the ice, which promptly shattered.
"I chained with my Jar of Greed, allowing me to draw one card and sparing myself damage." Katsu explained, snapping a card off of his deck. In response Yue berated himself for having fallen for the same bluff which had been so effective in Katsu's last duel.
"Alright, I'll follow that up by setting a monster face down in defense mode, and then I'll have Ice Blader attack your set monster!" Lifting his double-bladed weapon, the ice warrior charged across the field, slashing in a wide horizontal arc, splitting the target monster card in half. In response, Katsu's duel disk beeped and spat his deck out into his waiting hand.
"You destroyed Speaker for Excerion (1200/1500), who allows me to add any card with Excerion in its title from my deck to my hand." the professor explained, riffling through until he found a card, which he added to his hand. Then he shuffled the remaining cards up with professional grace and returned the deck to its place. "Continue."
"I don't have any moves left available to me, so I end my turn." Yue responded, snapping the three cards in his hand together, his face beaming, but at the same time totally focused. Without missing a beat, Katsu drew.
"I activate the rare magic card, Death Before Birth!" the Ra Yellow head called, turning around the card he had drawn, revealing its green border. "During this turn, I have no normal summon. Instead, I now pick up cards from my deck until I have two monsters, the first of which is discarded, but the second is automatically special summoned. Any other cards I draw through this effect are then shuffled back into my deck."
Drawing a card from his deck, Katsu held it separate from his hand and then drew again, then again, but the fourth card he turned around, showing a brown border. "Soldier of Excerion (1700/1200) is discarded."
As he placed the card into his graveyard, Yue bit his lower lip slightly, realizing what this meant. Katsu was thinning his deck, though not by much, but now whatever monster Katsu drew next would automatically gain an extra three hundred attack and defense points, which could cause problems later on.
On his fifth card after discarding the Soldier, Katsu slapped it down onto his duel disk. Instantly there was a shrill howl in the air as a an unearthly darkness surrounded the field. Seconds later, the shadow burst in an explosion of blue flame, revealing both players still standing strong, but on Katsu's field was now a long, silver-scaled dragon.
"My summoned monster is Divine Dragon-Excerion (1500+300/900+300)." Katsu declared as his beast hovered above him. "I have no copies of him in the graveyard, so his attack will only increase by three hundred for the soldier in my grave."
Slightly confused, Yue examined the teacher, but could discern nothing. 'Excerion is one hundred points weaker than Ice Blader, so why in attack mode? What's he up to?'
Plucking two cards from his hand, Katsu silently slipped them into his magic zones, both appearing face down. Then, shifting his attention to his dragon, he declared "Divine Dragon-Excerion (1800/1200), attack his face down monster!"
Rearing back its head, the dragon let loose a stream of sapphire flames, though in comparison to what was seen just a few weeks ago, it was rather unimpressive. Still, it had no trouble in burning Yue's set monster to cinders.
"Thank you, Professor." Yue smiled as his own deck ejected itself, just like Katsu's had a few minutes before. "The monster you attacked, known as Snow Wolf (1200/800), had a flip effect. It allows me to special summon up to two copies of itself from my hand or deck to the field. Then they'll each gain five hundred attack points from Ice Blade, who in turn will gain two hundred attack points."
Taking two cards from his deck, Yue placed both onto his duel disk in attack mode. In a flash of pixels, two canines with snow white fur appeared, baring their jagged teeth at Katsu field. At the same time a light blue aura surrounded all three of the snow monsters, the two newer monsters both raising to seventeen hundred attack points while the sword wielder came to a stop at twenty-one hundred.
"Well done, Yue. You not only have three monsters, each with respectable attack power, but you even used your Snow Wolf to quickly increase the power of your Ice Blader. Very well, I end." Katsu said, folding his arms over his chest.
"Draw!" Yue called, whipping a third card into his hand. After a quick glance he smirked and twirled it around to show Katsu, declaring his move as he did. "I sacrifice my two Snow Wolves (1700) to summon Frozen Ice Ring-Hyourinmaru (3000+500/3000)!"
The two white wolves both dissolved into swirling streams of white snow, zipping in an elegant pattern all around Yue's field as blue light started to flow between the individual flakes. After a moment, it became apparent that the blue light was absorbing the flakes as they faded away, finally taking the form of the massive blue oriental dragon, about twice the size of Katsu's monster and sneering at it. At the same time, since Yue was one monster fewer than a few minutes ago, his Ice Blader lost one hundred attack points.
"Hyourinmaru has a number of effects, as I'm sure you are aware, such as gaining one hundred attack points for every Ice monster in my graveyard, which currently is just three. Also, I am allow to discard a card from my hand to destroy one card on your field." Yue smiled, slipping a card into his graveyard from his hand. Instantly the massive dragon reared back his head and fired a ball of ice and freezing water, smashing apart the set card on Katsu's left, which was revealed to be his Blitz Counterattack.
"Now, Frozen Ice Ring-Hyourinmaru (3800), attack and destroy Divine Dragon-Excerion!"Taking to the skies, the massive dragon coiled its long body while keeping its ruby eyes on its target. In response, Excerion hissed back, despite the opposing beast possessing more than twice its own attack.
Snapping its body straight, the blue dragon launched its head forward, fangs ready. In a flash it enveloped the serpentine monster, dousing its flames in an instant while the ice dragons head seemed to be smashed away upon impact, now looking more like a column of water hitting the earth than a dragon attacking. A minute later, Yue's monster retracted and restored its normal form. (KLP:2000)
Moving his arm away from his face, Katsu's face remained stoic, despite the hit to his life points and the loss of his only monster. Re-folding his arms, he waited patiently for Yue to go next, fully aware that Yue would now attack his life points directly, dropping him to three hundred.
"Ice Blader, go." Yue commanded. With a nod the knight took an aggressive stance with his weapon and bolted across the field. Raising the blade diagonally over his head he prepared to swing down across Katsu chest when a purple bordered card suddenly snapped up in the way of the attack.
"I activate my Excerion's Descent." Katsu explained from behind the holographic card image, his right pinky lightly pressed against the activation button, having made no other movement than that one finger. "This allows me to instantly summon a Divine Dragon-Excerion (1500/900) from my hand."
Uncrossing his arms, Katsu took a card from the three in his hand and slapped it down, the second of his three majestic dragons appearing. "And not only will he get the three hundred point bonus from my Soldier in the graveyard, but now there's a Divine Dragon-Excerion in the grave as well, so I'll use it to grant my new one an extra one thousand attack points." With a roar, the flames on the dragons back flared up as its power rose from fifteen hundred to twenty-eight hundred, much too strong for Yue's Ice Blader.
"Well, if that's how it's gonna be, then I'll just set my last card face down, and end my turn." the Obelisk Blue finish, a single holographic card appearing in front of him. In response, Katsu drew, returning him to three cards. Turning the newest card around, he displayed the image of an angel with her arms out, hands open.
"Graceful Charity to draw three and discard two." he quickly declared, snapping three cards off of his deck. Adding two of them to the others in his hand, he then took the third and one of his old cards and slipped them into the cemetery. Quickly grabbing another of his older cards he slipped it into a magic zone and a green bordered image appeared, a funnel of wind shooting out of it.
"Mystical Space Typhoon destroys you set card." he commented as Yue grimaced. Grabbing another card, he turned it around and another green bordered card appeared next to him. In response the flames on his dragon's back flared up and its eyes flashed with light.
"Excerion's Divine Flame!" Katsu introduced his card. "Using it I can either increase Excerion's attack by one thousand for the turn, activate his double attack ability, or deal you a destroyed monsters attack as direct damage. I am, of course, choosing a power boost this time!" Roaring with power, Katsu's signature monster gather flames into its mouth as its attack power increased by a significant margin.
"They'll tie..." Yue muttered cautiously, wondering what his opponent was planning. It would be a poor choice on Katsu's part to suicide his dragon, since it would leave him wide open. Studying the older man for a moment long, his eyes suddenly snapped open. "Unless one of the cards you discarded can increase your dragon's attack!"
Nodding, Katsu's eyes moved to his graveyard as he explained. "The card which I had searched for with my Speaker of Excerion was a second Soldier so that way when I had the chance I could discard him. So now my dragon gains a total boost of sixteen hundred!" Seething in a low voice, the dragon gave what had to be a cocky grin to Yue and his monsters.
"Excerion (4100), attack Frozen Ice Ring-Hyourinmaru! Divine Flame Strike!" With a final howl, the leviathan let loose a stream of blue flames, striking the offending beast head on. For a moment Hyourinmaru thrashed about, followed by puffs of steam rising off of its body. Finally, all that was left was a smoldering puddle. (YLP:3700)
"Heh, it's out of season, but watching ice melt is a marvelous sight." Katsu smirked as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I set one card face down and end my turn."
Slowly, Yue drew a card, keeping his eyes on Katsu all the while. It was frightening that the Ra Yellow head had been able to destroy Hyourinmaru so suddenly. Still, at least Katsu's hand was empty, for the moment.
"I set one monster in defense mode, switch Ice Blader to defense mode, and set one card face down. Turn end." he finish simply, emptying his hand, just like Katsu while two new cards appeared in front of him and his original monster dropped to a crouch.
"Very well, my move." Katsu responded, drawing a single card. Glancing at it dismissively he focused on his dragon. "Excerion (3100), attack Ice Blader!"
"I activate my set card, White Snow Sleeve!" Yue shouted back as the dragon let loose another jet of blue flames. Instantly a swirl of wind and snow appeared and intercepted the blast, keeping it from touching his field. "This card negates your attack and either allows me to special summon an Ice monster from my hand or to place one into my hand from my deck." Holding up his empty hand, he smirked. "Obviously I choose the latter."
Fishing through his deck he found the card he wanted and then snapped the rest together, shuffled, and returned them to the holster. Holding up the single card in his hand, he nodded to Katsu, signaling he could take the remainder of his turn. In response the teacher nodded, signaling his turn to be over.
"My move!" Yue smiled. "And now I'm going to sacrifice both my Ice Blader and my face down Ice Elf (1500/1700) to summon my Water Crystal Goddess (2500/2500) in attack mode!" From the head down, Yue's armored fighter broke down into thousands of flakes of snow, followed by the horizontal monster next to it. Next they began to pull together at a single point directly in front of you, building into a massive mound of snow, followed by a flash of light.
Once sight was restored to the players and those watching, there was a collective gasp from the spectators, whereas Katsu remained as cold as ever and Yue snickered happily. The cause for the gasp itself, however, was thanks to Yue's monster. It was obviously female, and could only be described as beautiful. Her hair was white as snow, and she wore an elegant dress that seemed to be out of a fairy tale. On the ground around her was a ring of shimmering white light, releasing a faint breeze which caused her dress and hair to flail slightly.
"Now I'll use the first of her effects, discarding a card from my hand to special summon an Ice monster from my graveyard to my field. I will of course choose Hyourinmaru." the Obelisk Blue smiled as he took his single card and inserted it into the graveyard. Instantly his blue dragon appeared, howling for revenge as his attack points rose by five hundred since there were now five Ice monsters in the graveyard. "And the card I discarded was Repayment of Losses, so I draw a card."
Drawing again, Yue glanced at his newest card for only a second before slipping it into a magic zone. Appearing face down, the card surprised Katsu when it promptly shattered into thousands of pixels of light.
"I sacrifice that face down card to special summon one of my Ice Lancer's (1700/1200) from my deck in attack mode." The Obelisk persisted as the ice armored man with a long javelin appeared. "That should just about do it, don't you think, Professor?"
"Try and see." Katsu responded, nothing wavering.
"I'll do just that. Hyourinmaru (3500), attack Divine Dragon-Excerion!" Arching its head back, the ice dragon let loose a massive current of water and ice aimed straight at the smaller dragon.
"Activate face down card!" Katsu called as the holographic image of the card in front of him began to twist up.
"That wont work!" Yue shouted back. "Hyourinmaru automatically negates any card activated in chain to his attacks. You wasted your trap." With a cry of triumph, he watched as the attack continued. To his surprise, however, the blast of icy water instantly froze solid when it was mere inches from its target, stopping its progress. "What?"
Keeping his focus evened on the duel, Katsu motioned with his eyes to Excerion, or more specifically, to the space right next to the dragon, which was now glowing gold. From the light sprung thousands of the pixels which the holographic images were made from, swirling around themselves, forming into some abstract shape.
"I don't understand. What's going on?" Yue insisted, not sure what to make of the development. Professor Yoriyoi has just managed to not only some how get around Hyourinmaru's negation effect, but now there was some strange activity on the teacher's field. However, his attention was quickly brought back to his own monster, which was beginning to break down into millions of snow flakes.
Eyes wide, the child protégé's eyes shot back and forth between his ice dragon, the opposing field, and his opponent, unable to speak the rapidly growing list of questions his mind was developing.
After another moment, the ice beast was completely dissolved and the swirl of lights on Katsu's field had taken form, revealing another Excerion (1500+600/900+600).
"Allow me to explain, Yue. When you attacked, I activated my Offerings to the Divine trap card." Katsu spoke after what seemed to Yue to be an eternity. "It may only be activated if I have a monster with 'Divine' or 'God' in its name in the graveyard. It allows me to negate and destroy an opposing monster attack or effect and then special summon the chosen monster from my graveyard."
As an afterthought he added, "I no longer have any Excerion's in my graveyard, so my newly summoned one doesn't gain any of his own effects. However, because Excerion's effects trigger upon his summon, the first one maintains his thousand point boost."
Clenching a fist and his teeth, Yue barked his next order. "Water Crystal Goddess, attack the newer Excerion (2100/1500) now!" Lifting her hand to her face, palm facing up, the beautiful woman blew gently against her open hand. As her breath grazed across the surface of her palm it became a massive ribbon or white wind, large flakes of frozen water mixed in and swirling around Katsu's monster, wrapping it tightly in ice before it shattered. (KLP:1600)
Without any cards in his hand and his Ice Lancer too week to beat Katsu're remaining monster, Yue had no choice but to end his turn. In response, Katsu promptly drew, giving himself just one card to work with. Sighing, he slipped it into his duel disk, the face down card appearing behind his mighty dragon, though it was still to weak to beat Yue's dragon.
"I set that face down, and then I'll have Divine Dragon-Excerion attack your Water Crystal Goddess!" With a single blast of blue flames, Yue's monster was vaporized completely. (YLP:3400)
"My move, Professor Yoriyoi." Yue called, his voice one of determination. Looking at his only card, he quickly snapped it around to show his opponent. "I activate Coins from Heaven, so now we both draw until we hold six cards." Simultaneously the two duelist drew six cards and fanned them out.
Looking across the field over his newly filled hand of cards, Yue gave his teacher a scrutinizing look. "Hm...you left Excerion in attack mode, even though there is now an eight hundred point difference between the attack strength of our two dragons. So...are you relying on your set card to protect you this turn? After all, that worked for you last turn, didn't it?" Grabbing two cards from his hand, Yue placed them into his graveyard, where they were readily accepted. "However, I wont let you. I'm not going to be attacking your dragon, but instead I'll use Hyourinmaru's effect to discard two cards from my hand to destroy both of the cards on your field!"
Slashing its tail against the ground in an arc, the ice beast let loose a massive wave of ice and water surging straight for Katsu's field. Quickly it washed over the two cards on the teacher's field. Moments later fading away into the air. In its wake, Katsu's field was completely void.
"Excellent. Now, Frozen Ice Ring-Hyourinmaru, attack Professor Yoriyoi's life points directly!" the dark haired boy commanded, his monster craning its neck back before releasing another stream of freezing liquid at the target. In response, the teacher merely stood still, arms crossed as the attack cut through the air towards him.
"Wont work." he finally stated as the attack suddenly ran into a shimmering silver barrier which had appeared all around Katsu, the beam of water breaking into multiple smaller streams and slipping down and around the shield.
"How did you...? Hyourinmaru's effect, though!" Yue shouted back.
"You need to understand, Yue, that you didn't destroy my cards, I did." Katsu replied. "The moment you discarded those cards, I activated by set card, Excerion's Departure. Using it, I sacrificed my own Divine Dragon-Excerion, who left me with his sacred blessing. For this entire turn, myself and my field are unaffected by your attacks and effects." Upon hearing this, Yue grimaced, realizing he had wasted two precious cards from his hand for nothing.
"Also, my trap card grants me Excerion's base attack strength of fifteen hundred as life points." Glancing down at his duel disk, Katsu was pleased to see his life points return to a much safer amount. (KLP:3100)
Looking at his hand, Yue took a moment to think through his options. 'I had hoped to finish him there. I was too reckless. Now, thanks to his trap card, there's nothing I can really do with what I have left.' Sighing in defeat, Yue signaled the end of his turn.
"I summon Follower of Excerion (900+600/900+600) in defense mode." A man simple silver and blue clothes appeared, a silver armband on his left arm with glowing sapphire kanji clearly visible. Falling to his knees, he clasped his hands together and began to pray. "Upon his summoning, Follower of Excerion allows me to draw the top card of my deck. Based upon what type of card it is, and whether or not it relates to Excerion, a different action is taken."
Pulling the top card of his deck free, Katsu took just a minute to determine what it was before flipping it around to show Yue. "Brood of Excerion (700/400). Since it's a monster, it is discarded to my graveyard, where it can serve a greater purpose."
Grabbing three more cards from his hand, Katsu inserted them one at a time into slots along the back of his duel disk, three separate face down cards appearing between himself and his monsters. "Three cards face down. Turn end."
"Draw!" Yue called, adding a fifth card to his hand. 'Ok, so he used his Follower of Excerion because he knew it would be destroyed this turn anyway, so he was hoping to at least thin his deck a bit, which he did. However, at least one of those set cards is likely a trap. However, with Hyourinmaru's effects, plus if I bolster my numbers, I should be able to get around anything he has set up.'
"Alright, time to end it. I play the magic card, Monster Reborn to revive my Water Crystal Goddess (2500/2500)!" In a flash of light, the beautiful maiden appeared, snow flakes swirling all around her. "Next I'll use her effect to discard a card to revive an Ice monster, in this case I choose Ice Elf (1500/1700) in attack mode!" A tall female figure with ivory hair reaching to her mid-back, pointed ears, and a white tunic appeared, a bow made of ice clutched in her left hand.
Grabbing a card he flipped it around to show off another green magic card. "I activate the magic card, White Ripple. I pay one thousand life points, and then you set the top three cards from your deck onto your field. You can't activate or flip those cards until the end phase of my next turn." (YLP:2400)
Nodding, Katsu pulled the top three cards off of his deck, examined them for a moment, and then set one in a magic zone and the other two horizontally as monsters.
"Ice Elf's effect grants her three hundred attack points for every face down card on the field." Yue explained with a smile. "You now have six face down cards, so that gives her a total attack of thirty-three hundred." Snickering, the armed woman waited as an icy aura flared around her, more than doubling her attack strength.
"Ice Lancer, attack Follower of Excerion!" Leaning his weight back, the ice warrior threw all of his power into flinging his weapon forward, spiraling through the air straight at Katsu's monster.
"Reveal face down card!" Katsu shouted, one of the cards he had set during his turn flipping up, revealing a purple border. Yue choked on air when he saw the card. It was an old, but extremely powerful trap card, and he'd walked right into it! "Mirror Force!"
A rainbow colored wall formed in the path of the spear, which shattered upon impact. Then, in response to the spears destruction, the barrier fired four separate streams of light, each on striking one of Yue's monsters.
"They're not going down so easily!" Yue shouted back, grabbing two cards from his hand, which he violently shoved into magic slots. "I activate two quick-play magic cards, White Pulse and Dragon Hail Flower!" The moment the two cards activated, one of Katsu's set monsters was suddenly encased in ice before violently shattering, followed seconds later by all three of his remaining set magic and trap cards, which were washed over by a wave of ice before breaking down.
"White Pulse allows me to sacrifice an ice monster from my field to destroy all of your magic and trap cards, while Dragon Hail Flower destroys one face down monster on your field and deals you five hundred points of damage!" (KLP:2600)
The moment his explanation was complete, Yue's remaining monsters faded away, victims of Katsu's trap card. Now the field was nearly clean, save Katsu's Follower of Excerion and his remaining set monster, who was off limits to him until Yue's next turn ended. Of course, Yue himself wasn't quite done yet.
"I set one card face down and then sacrifice it to special summon my second Ice Lancer (1700/1200) from my deck to the field in attack mode, ending my turn."
"Yue," Katsu spoke, drawing a card. "You're a powerful duelist, worthy of your titles and ranks here at the Academy. However, against me you cannot win; not yet, at least." To Katsu's surprise, his young opponent broke out into laughter after these words were said. Raising an eyebrow, Katsu tried to understand why his opponent seemed to be happy to hear this.
Calming himself, Yue finally explained, "I know that, Professor. I walked into this duel with the full knowledge that I'd lose. It's just that ever since I saw you duel in the exhibition match, I've wanted to duel you. I've given my all, so now I'm happy enough to let you finish it if you can. However, I'm not just going to roll over and play dead either. I'm not going to just give up just because it at least seems hopeless!"
As this words rang throughout the room, from his seat Kazuki's eyes widened as he let them sink in. 'Not giving up, even though there doesn't seem to be a way to win?' He was broken from his thoughts by the sound of...clapping? Shaking his head a bit, Kazuki stared down at the field where Katsu Yoriyoi was applauding his young opponent, quickly being joined by other students in the room until nearly everyone was standing and cheering.
"Well spoken, Yue. Truly you have a strong heart. However, the period is almost over, how I think it is in my best interest end this duel now." Drawing a card, Katsu barely glanced at it before adding it to his hand.
"First, Follower of Excerion again allows me to draw my top card." Taking a quick look at the card, Katsu pulled his deck free, set the card on top, and began to shuffle. "Since it was a trap card not relating to Excerion, it is shuffled into my deck." he explained.
"Now, witness firsthand my myriad of godlike feats! I activate my magic card, Excerion's Rebirth, reviving one of my fallen dragons!" In a flash of light and flames, Katsu's signature monster reappeared, howling into the air. "I have another Divine Dragon-Excerion in the graveyard, plus one Brood of Excerion and two Soldiers. I will use both the Brood and the Excerion to boost my monster by one thousand attack points each!" Flames growing in intensity, the dragon glared down at Yue's lowly Lancer.
"Now, just to make sure you don't stop me, I activate the magic card, Excerion's Rage!" To the surprise of the entire crowd, the flames on the back of the dragon began to flare even hotter and its eyes changed from shimmering gold to blazing sapphire.
"This magic card allows me to pay one thousand life points to activate all three of the effects of a Divine Dragon-Excerion on the field as long as that monster remains in play, even if I've already activated those effects by having the appropriate monsters in the grave. So now my dragon has a further one thousand attack points, double attacks if it destroys a monster in battle, and he deals a destroyed monsters attack as damage."
"Go Trogdor! Thatch-roofed cottages!" As these words were shouted, everyone in the room turned their attention to an Osiris Red student in the back with dark green hair, who was standing with his arms reaching towards the sky with a fan in each, flailing them about madly in some sort of cheer. "Burninate! Burninate!"
Rolling his eyes, Katsu turned back to the duel. "Divine Dragon-Excerion (6100/1500), attack and destroy Ice Lancer! Melt it away!" Opening its maw wide, the dragon released a wave of its blue flames, completely engulfing the ice warrior and disintegrating him in a matter of seconds, eliminating the remainder of Yue's life points. (YLP:0)
"Trogdor strikes again!" the Osiris Red kept on cheering as the holograms faded away and Yue bowed respectfully to Katsu, who nodded in response before returning his attention to the class.
"For your homework, I want you to..."
XXXXXXXXX
That evening, Kazuki found himself in what to him felt like and awkward situation. He was sitting across a table from Professor Kiske. It was weird to be sitting down and talking with the teacher he had lost his temper with not too long ago, playing a friendly game of chess. Actually, it was the fourth game of the night; he'd lost the previous three, all told barely surviving twenty turns amongst the previous games.
"Are you sure, Kazuki?" Eizan asked, taking another pawn with one of his own.
"I...I think so. I want to at least try." the young man responded after a few minutes of silence as he examined the bored, finally taking a knight with a bishop. "Damnit!" he cursed as he realized his mistake.
"No worries, that there are not." Eizan chuckled lightly, taking the bishop with one of his own, setting himself up in a position to attack either Kazuki's knight or rook. "I am proud of you for making this decision, that I am. You're an excellent student, Kazuki, and just as talented as a duelist. Even though as you are now you would lose, as you may become, you can win, that you can."
Smiling, Kazuki moved his rook, opting to save it in place of his knight. It was good to hear his teacher say those words. Maybe it was because he liked hearing such things, or if it was because he respected Eizan, he wasn't sure. Either way, it did not change what happened next.
"Checkmate, that it is." Kiske smiled as he moved his other bishop into position.
Rising to his feet, Eizan extended his hand, and Kazuki accepted the hand shake before also lifting himself out of his chair. "Thank you, Professor."
"I have one more surprise for you, actually, that I do." the teacher said, walking over to his desk and pulling out an envelope, which he handed to Kazuki. "Mr. Pegasus brought these for you when he came for the Duel Festival, that he did."
Taking the package, Kazuki tore it open and pulled out three Duel Monsters cards, identical to one another. At first he did not recognize the pictures, but when his eyes drifted up to the shining words at the top, spelling out the name of the card, his eyes widened.
"How did you get this?"
To Be Continued...
Funny thing about this duel. It wasn't part of the original plan for the story, but I was dueling G.O.T. Nick not terribly long ago and challenged his Excerion deck with my Ice deck, and it was so cool I decided to use it for a chapter. I just had to make some changes to make it more fic-friendly.
Also, the duel with Nick is where I got the thing about the coin shattering. I understand that, in truth, it's essentially impossible for a metal coin to break like that. Mostly this was part of the inside joke between Nick and myself, so don't waste your time explaining that I don't understand my physics.
Original cards- I'm just not going to bother. It should be plain and obvious by now.
Remember, forums and character portraits!
Next Time-Eizan has once again managed to catch Kazuki by surprise. What's so special about these cards Pegasus has provided for him? Of course, with new cards comes a need for new experience. Kazuki now must adapt to using these new cards and new strategies, all the while keeping up with his studies as well as extra studies, preparing for the inevitable match. With less than eight months before the duel to decide his future, Kazuki must prepare. Next chapter, the countdown begins!
Next Time-Countdown Begins! Sword of the Soul!