Name: Shawn Sousa, as always

Title: Darkness vs. Darkness, Part 4

Warnings: Same old, same old

Genre: Action, as usual

Summary: After free-falling to his death (or did he?), Hayku duels one more time. But this time, the stakes are bigger…

NOTE: blah blah blah blah blah, no one actually reads this, so screw it.

DARKNESS VS. DARKNESS, PART 4

Hayku was still free-falling through the air. His mind was wondering to and fro, but it was always centering on one memory…

A young, thirty year-old Hayku was skipping home from another wonderful day at college. He unlocks the door, and steps in.

"Mom, I'm home! Mom?" Hayku said that last line with a worried tone, for he now saw that the phone line had been cut. He enters his mother's room and saw her dead body, limp, with gunshot wounds to the head, chest, and neck. "MMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!"

This was a new record for Hayku since he was 8 years-old: this was the second time he saw that image in a day. He had gotten over the death when he was nine. It still hurt now and now again, but he mostly gotten over it. Now he was witnessing these images again. What was happening to him? Well, it didn't matter now, because he had seen it: the white light everyone said that you would see when it was time for you to die. Hayku wasn't fazed by this, he merely accepted it, although he felt a tear escape his eye and slowly go down his cheek. He closed his eyes, for what was to be the last time, and gave up his life…

"Where am I and why am I here?" Hayku grumbled out while strapped on to a hospital gurney. Then he heard a mysterious voice from behind the curtain surrounding Hayku's bed. "You are here because my machines chose you to be here. They decided not to bring your decks with you." "Huh? My decks?" Hayku's hand automatically moved to his pocket, where he kept all of his decks. But his hand came out with nothing. "Where are my cards?" "I told you, the machines decided not to bring them." "Wh-what are y-y-you saying? D-d-did I lose all of my cards?" "All of those were in your pocket, yes." "But what about the ones taped to the back of my Duel Disk?" "I never knew about those. Here is your Duel Disk. See if you can find any cards." "O-ok. Wait. Who the hell are you?" "My name is Aaron, and I'm the master of Machines. Now, they did not just save your life for nothing, you know. They demand a price. And for them, the perfect price, and meal, would be your soul. Now, let's have a duel. The winner keeps his soul. The loser becomes lunch for my Cyber End Dragon." "A duel? But all I have is my extra cards! I can't duel with a whole deck made out of useless cards!" "so you'd rather give up your soul without a fight?" "No! fine whatever. I'll just have to use these." "While I use my unstoppable Cyber deck! Hahahahaha!" "Whatever. I'll still beat you." "I find that highly unlikely, but no matter. Let's duel!" Aaron helped his opponent up, at which Hayku was astounded. Then Hayku took his time strapping his Duel Disk on, for he was thinking about possible combos he could use with his extras deck. Hayku's mind was stopped as if it had faced a brick wall that it couldn't get around. Even as he put his deck into his Duel Disk, and watching as his opponent did the same, Hayku was wondering if this would be the last time he witnessed these things. He had faced tough matches before, but facing a machine deck (which he knew was a good choice of deck, because he had one himself) when only using tradeable cards? That was madness. But it was a madness that Hayku had to face, because Aaron had already begun to talk again. "I think that you can go first. My machines have requested it." "And I will! I draw."

Aaron 8000

Hayku 8000

Hayku believed that he had not gotten a good beginning hand, although he wondered if getting a good hand was possible with this deck. Anyways, he had chosen his beginning move. "I play the Solar Flare Dragon (1500/1000), in attack mode!" Just like the last time he had played the card, the whole dueling field went ablaze with fire. And again, from the flames emerged a scaly horned dragon, the Solar Flare Dragon. "And I end my turn, and because of my Dragon's special ability, you lose 500 Life Points." The dragon leapt forward, and took a bite out of Aaron's Duel Disk, but it returned to normal once he lost the allotted amount of Life Points.

Aaron 7500

Hayku 8000

"Your move." "I will draw. Ha ha! I have drawn the main card of my deck. It is a card called the Cyber Dragon! Now, normally when I want to play it, I have to sacrifice a monster because it is a level 5 card. Bit when there is a monster on your side of the field and no monster on my side of the field, I can special summon it from my hand to the field! Say hello to my Cyber Dragon (2100/1600)!" A silver dragon made entirely on metal had just appeared before Aaron. "Because that was a special summon, I am still allowed a normal summon for this turn. And the card I choose to normal summon is the Cybernetic Cyclopean (1400/200)!" A giant, The Hulk type monster with metal placed sporadically placed upon his body now appeared next to the Dragon. "Now my Cyber Dragon, attack his Solar Flare Dragon!" The metal menace flew straight toward its fire counterpart. It flew right past it, and returned to its original position. Then, the Solar Flare Dragon's newly separated parts slid away into different directions, and it was destroyed. "And now Cybernetic Cyclopean, attack his Life Points directly! Titanium-toe Thump!" The other metal menace shifted its foot, and it slammed right into Hayku, and he was thrown backwards.

Aaron 7500

Hayku 6000

"Your move." "Now I draw. Aha! I don't think that you'll attack me directly again, for I play the continuous spell card known as the Dark Door! It makes it so we can only attack with one monster per turn. And now I play Fox Fire (300/200) in attack mode." A mall, cute, flaming red fox had appeared onto the field, and it jumped into Hayku's arms. He set it back down onto the floor, where it bared its 'fangs' which really was only his two front teeth, and it sat down. "And now I play another magic card. This one is called Creature Swap!" Like the last time he played it, in the first duel of what was supposed to be a 5 duel series until he landed in this hospital, two arrows in a circular formation appeared on the ground, and the red fox was transferred to Aaron's side while the massive metallic menace (I like the letter m) of the Cyber Dragon was changed to Hayku's side. And now, my newly acquired Dragon will attack what used to be my Fox Fire!" The dragon flew by the fox in the same way as it flew by the Solar Flare Dragon. But instead on splitting in to pieces, it burst into flames, until all that was left were ashes. "My Fox Fire has a special effect. Because it was destroyed in face up mode, it gets returned onto the field, just like a phoenix. And because it was my card, it comes back on my side of the field." The ashes blew toward Hayku's side of the field, and once they settled, they burst into flames again. Then, out of the flames appeared the Fox Fire, good as new.

Aaron 5700

Hayku 6000

"And now I end my turn." "Now it is my turn. I draw, I set a monster face down on the field, and I switch my Cybernetic Cyclopean to defense mode. I end." "Now, yet again, it is my turn. I play the magic card Nobleman of Crossout on your face down monster." From the card appeared a night in shining armor, whose long sword cut-threw the face down card, which was a Flash Assailant (2000/2000), and it got removed from play, never to be used again in this duel. "Now I sacrifice my Fox Fire to summon my Summoned Skull (2500/1200)!" a hulking menace of a skull monster appeared next to the Cyber Dragon, taking the Fox Fire's position. "Now Cyber Dragon, attack his Cybernetic Cyclopean!" The dragon went through its attack rituals yet again, this time destroying another fellow metallic monster. "Now I end my turn, only to begin yours." "That is correct, so I will begin my turn, like always, by drawing a card from my deck. Now, I play my newly drawn Drilligo (1600/1100) onto the field." A monster made of drills had taken its own zone of the field. It had a very long drill positioned on its nose. "Now, you see, Drilligo likes to impress all the big guys with all of his drilling skills. So, when the only monsters on the opponent's side of the field are ones with 1600 attack points or more, he can drill right under them, and right into your Life Points!" The drill monster jumped up, pointed its nose straight at the ground, and it started drilling. For a few moments, all you could hear was the sound of Drilligo drilling. Then, suddenly, he popped out of the ground, and he aimed his spinning nose of death right at Hayku. He was a little bit spooked at the attack, but a few seconds later, he went back to normal.

Aaron 5700

Hayku 4400

"I end my turn." "And I will gladly begin mine by drawing a card. Aha! This is great! Now I play the magic card Mystic Wok!" A couple of people stirring a giant pot of a steaming soup crowded the field. Then Hayku continued talking. "With this card, I can sacrifice a monster to convert either his attack or defense points into Life Points for me! Now, I sacrifice my Cyber Dragon, and I choose its 2100 attack points to be added to my Life Points!" The people stopped stirring, and they began to walk toward the dragon. The picked him up, at which point, he began to roar. The people then threw him into the pot, and they began to stir him in. Then, one of the people got out a glass vial, and he filled it up with the Cyber Dragon soup. Them he threw it at Hayku, but the stains disappeared as soon as they went on.

Aaron 5700

Hayku 6500

"Now I'll have my Summoned Skull attack your Drilligo." The giant skull monster had created a thunder ball in his hands, and he threw it at the drill creature.

Aaron 5800

Hayku 6500

"Now I end my turn, so you can get your chance at payback. Wow, I though that your 'unstoppable deck' would be better than this!" "I'll show you how to learn your place, you little…" "Hey let's keep it nonviolent! (Sorry Keith, I just couldn't resist!)" "Huh? Whatever, because it's time for me to get my game face on! Now I play the Different Dimension Capsule!" A futuristic-looking sarcophagus, lying open, had appeared on the field. "This card lets me choose 1 card from my deck, and then it goes into the capsule. Then, in two turns, the card escapes the capsule and it goes into my hand." Aaron chose a card, threw the card onto the ground, where it lay with the Flash Assailant, and shuffled his deck. "Now I set card face-down on the field and I end my turn." "I draw to begin what I feel is a blockbuster turn! First, I set a monster. Then, I will have my Summoned Skull attack your face-down card!" Another ball of thunder unleashed from the Summoned Skull's hands. It hit the face down card, but before it was destroyed, Hayku caught a glimpse of what it was. "A Jetroid, huh? I use all of the 'Roid monsters in the deck I have… wait." 'The deck I HAD, I should have said.' Hayku thought. "Well, it's your turn to go." You could hear the pain resounding in Hayku's voice. "1 turn has past on my Different Dimension Capsule. And now I play the Mystic Swordsman, Level 3 (900/0)! A small, samurai-like swordsman appeared on the field. "And now, I'll use my Swordsman's special ability to destroy your face-down card!" The height-deficient monster threw its sword at the face-down card. After seeing what card it was, Aaron was astounded. "A Creator Incarnate? You own The Creator and don't include it in a deck?" "Uh…yeah, of course." 'He thinks I own The Creator! Hahahahaha' Hayku thought. "I end my turn." "Now I draw, so I can have my Summoned Skull attack your Mystic Swordsman, Level 3!" The only thing that was left after the Summoned Skull's attack was the little guy's sword.

Aaron 3200

Hayku 6500

"And now I end." "This is the last turn for my Capsule, so now the card that I took out of my deck goes into my hand." The Capsule cracked open, and the card that was on the ground leapt into Aaron's hand. "Now I use the card that I've now acquired, the Cyber Dragon's, effect to special summon it onto the field." A clone of the previous Cyber Dragon took its spot on the field. "And now I'll normal summon my Exiled Force (1000/1000), and I'll use ITS effect to sacrifice it and bring your monster to the Graveyard with it." The large group of rioters that had appeared next to the Cyber Dragon charged at the Summoned Skull, and then they both suddenly disappeared. "Now my Cyber Dragon will attack your Life Points directly!" The Dragon attacked as always, but this time the attack was directed at Hayku.

Aaron 3200

Hayku 4400

"Now I end." "Okay. I'll draw and play Fox Fire (300/200)." A copy of the previous Fox Fire 'stormed' the battle field. "And I end." "Not much to do, eh? Whatever. I'll play Nanobreaker (1600/1800)!" A machine-woman with a cyber sword had taken its spot on the field. "With her effect, I can send one Level 3 or lower monster on the other side of the field to the graveyard. And I choose your Fox Fire!" Like the Mystic Swordsman, Level 3, the Nanobreaker threw he sword at the opposition. The sword cut right through the tiny fox. "And because your Fox Fire didn't get destroyed as a result of battle," Aaron continued, "you don't get its effect. Now, Cyber Dragon, attack him directly again!" The Dragon cut through Hayku's Life Points yet again.

Aaron 3200

Hayku 2300

"And I end my turn." "I'll draw, set a monster, throw down a face-down and end my turn." "Now I draw, and I'll sacrifice my Nanobreaker for my Jinzo (2400/1500)!" A slightly humanoid, slightly mechatron monster with long arms, a cape, and a brain that exceeded the boundaries of his cranium took its spot on the field. "With my Jinzo, neither of us can activate trap cards. And with its 2400 attack points, I believe that it is formidable enough to destroy your face-down monster!" A glowing orb of electricity was created in Jinzo's hands. It suddenly shot out, hit the hologram representation of Hayku's face down monster, which was a Gazelle (1500/1200), and then it got destroyed. "I can't destroy you any further because of your Dark Door card, so I end my turn. Your move." "Okay I'll draw." 'Dammit,' Hayku thought. 'He's got me cornered. I can't do anything else!' "I'll set another monster on the field and I end my turn." "Are my machines are proving to be too much for your unworthy deck? Don't worry; this duel won't last much longer. My machines are saying that they can already taste your flesh. And believe me, they can get pretty hungry. No matter, let us get back to our duel. I draw, and I'll have my Jinzo attack your face-down card again!" The Jinzo went through its attack ritual again, and Aaron was mocking Hayku after he saw what monster was face-down on the field. "Another Gazelle? I must say, I thought that since this deck was so good, your extra cards would be… oh crap." "What do you mean? Wait a minute! You stole my cards! You BLEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! I'll destroy you! No wonder I found so many similarities between your deck and mine! GIVE IT BACK!" "No! You have to remember the old saying: Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers. Now weep! Hahahahaha!" Aaron's laugh was a maniacal one, and it brought pain into Hayku's ears. "But what about my other decks?" "They're right here, in my pocket. How happy I was to break the fall of the great Hayku Konohamaru, and find his cards all around me. So I took the worst combination of cards that I could, taped them to the back of your Duel Disk, and I showed to you that the cards were there right before you passed out. So, as soon as you awoke from that comatose state, I started talking about cards, and of course, because the last thing you saw were the cards taped on the back of the Duel Disk, that's what you remembered! Hahahahaha!" "You know what, even with this horrible deck of cards, I'll still beat you! And after I kill you, I'll take my cards back!" "We shall see in the end whose life that will be taken. I accept your challenge, and I end my turn to continue the duel." "Fine, let's see what this crappy deck will give me. Gahhhhhhh! I'll set a card and throw down another face-down and end my turn." "Ha ha, I see that my choice of cards is working to guide me to the correct path that leads to your downfall. I will draw, also set a monster card, and I'll use my Jinzo to attack your face-down card. I end." "And I draw, set a card and end my turn." "C'mon Hayku. Show a little bit of originality. You've played that same exact move 3 times now. Aren't you supposed to be the successor to Yugi Motou's legacy? Whatever, I'll draw, and I'll flip my face-down Dark Mimic, Level 1 (100/1000) to wipe that smirk off your ugly face." Out on the field, treasure box appeared. A moment later out popped a vile-looking fiend with drool escaping his mouth. "My Dark Mimic, Level 1 has an effect that lets me draw a card whenever it gets flipped. So, I draw. Aha! Your death has come to you soon, for I have just drawn the Power Bond Magic card. Even though you know what it does, as it WAS your card, I'll tell you. It is like a Polymerization, but only for Machine monsters. But unlike Polymerization, Power Bond DOUBLES the attack points of the fused monster. Now, I'll play Power Bond to fuse the Cyber Dragon that I have on the field, and the Cyber Dragon that I have in my hand to summon the great Cyber Twin Dragon (2800/2100)!" A factory replaced the white walls of the hospital that they were dueling in. then, two Cyber Dragons were placed in Capsules, and a strong light blinded Hayku. When he regained his vision, a two-headed version of the Cyber Dragon stood before him. "Cyber Twin Dragon, attack his face down card with your 5600 attack points!" A fire ball shot out of one of the Dragons' heads, mutilating Hayku's sole defense. "Because the Cyber Twin Dragon has two heads, it can attack twice during the same Battle Phase! And since its one monster, it can still go through your Dark Door! Cyber Twin Dragon, attack his Life Points directly to end this duel!" The Dragons' other head also created a fireball, and it went hurling straight toward Hayku. "I can't believe that I've actually lost. I did the best I could, and because of this crappy deck, I lost." And for the 3rd time that day, a memory flashed in Hayku's mind…

A young, thirty year-old Hayku was skipping home from another wonderful day at college. He unlocks the door, and steps in.

"Mom, I'm home! Mom?" Hayku said that last line with a worried tone, for he now saw that the phone line had been cut. He enters his mother's room and saw her dead body, limp, with gunshot wounds to the head, chest, and neck. "MMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Hayku screeched, as he knew that his life was over. The fire ball hit him right in the chest, and he went flying backwards.

Aaron 3200

Hayku 0

"It's over Hayku Konohamaru, your life is over. Have a nice time at the Shadow Realm!" Aaron said, mocking Hayku. But Hayku did not hear Aaron's false farewell, for he was already in the Shadow Realm. He was flying through the air, signs reading "Come to the Shadows, We Have Cookies!" flashing by. His aerial adventure was brought to an end shorter than Hayku expected, for he was sent hurling in the opposite direction by an unseen force. Then he heard a dark voice, resonating from a man shrouded in shadows, saying "Revenge is golden, silence is not. Here is your chance to redeem yourself, take it… if you dare." A moment later, Hayku saw who had spoke to him, and he couldn't believe it: he had spoken with Death himself……………………………………………………………...