Author's Note: Let's heat things up a bit.
Chapter Three: The Real Me!
Kirani drew her card, her knees quaking as her energy seeped away. She had to finish this fast. "Kaiser Seahorse(1700/1650) in attack mode. Now..."
Her vision started going dark, and she reached out to her monster. She saw Drake thrashing at his bonds, but she knew that there was nothing she could do. She hit the ground hard, and her vision went dark. Instantly Kaiser Seahorse shattered, fading away and leaving nothing.
Yumi stared at the fallen Kirani, and realized that her backer's words had proven true. Kirani had indeed fallen, and since she couldn't continue the Darkness Game...then she was the winner by default! "That's it, I've won! Now I get my reward, I get the real Drake!"
A scream of a terrible nature shattered her from her reverie, and she whirled around in time to discover something astonishing. A pillar of darkness was in the spot where the table had once been, and standing within it was a vague form that she knew had to be one person. "Drake? Is that you, the real you?"
A figure stepped out from the pillar of darkness, a pitch black trench coat flaring out behind him, so dark that it seemed to drink in the night. It was Drake, only he seemed to radiate some kind of terrible power, and he was sneering at her. "Bitch, you've never met the real me before. Now get ready, because before the day is done, you're going to wish that your parents never even thought of fucking."
"Such dark power...what are you really? My Drake...he wouldn't look at me like that, I know it! I'm his mother and his lover at the same time, I'm his everything, I know it! Who the hell are you?" The man before her smirked in what was like a twisted and dark version of the one that Drake often wore.
"I told you. I'm the real Drake. This is the real me!"
Yumi felt something she hadn't felt in a long time. Fear, pure and unadulterated fear. This new Drake, he was looking at her like a wolf looks at mutton. "What do you want from me?"
Drake smirked and then suddenly the darkness around them seemed to flicker, as if it was being altered. Yumi stared around at it, her eyes wide with horror. "First I figured I'd negate your Darkness Game and replace it with one of my own."
"Negate...a Darkness Game? But my backer said that was impossible!" Drake just shrugged and then raised his left arm. Instantly a jet black duel disk appeared, deck already in place.
"Wench, you don't know a damned thing. The Heart of Darkness...it's power is too great to be confined by a meager second level Darkness Game. That's why I've upgraded us to level five, which should prove more interesting. Now, prepare to duel!" His disk snapped into position and his life point counter lit up. (DLP: 4000)
Yumi felt the Blood pulse in response to the increase in the Darkness Game's power, as it was trying to reassert itself. But it didn't seem to be working, all it could do was sustain her. "Fine, I'll defeat you and make you mine forever!" (YLP: 4000)
Drake smirked confidentely and drew five cards, holding them down and not looking at them yet. "Bitch, you won't even touch my life points. Before this duel is over, you'll understand the difference between us. It's the difference between a man...and a maggot."
Yumi could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and the darkness pulsing around her, flowing with terrible power. 'I don't understand why he isn't mine, but if I have to kill him to make him mine, then I will!'
"I'm no maggot, just watch me unleash my strength against you! The deck I've been provided is strong enough to defeat you with whatever deck you have. So just to prove it, I'll start by summoning Hell Tree(0/2000) in defense mode!" A pitch black tree appeared, towering over them both, but doing little other than that.
"Bah! A tree is your method of fighting me? If that's the case then you're more of a weakling than I thought!" Yumi growled in irritation, looking over her hand of cards to see if she had a way to shut him up.
"This deck has a lot more to work with, so just watch me! I set one card face down, and then I end my turn!" Drake snorted, unimpressed by her play.
"Bitch, I'll crush you with ease. And to start that off, I'll set three magic or trap cards face down. Sadly I haven't drawn a monster yet, so I guess that's all I can do." He smirked as the three cards emerged in front of him.
Yumi snapped a card off her deck and then immediately threw a different one onto the field. "Meet my new creature, Hell Bee(1300/900)! And thanks to the special ability of Hell Tree all monsters with 'hell' in their name gain 300 attack and defense points!"
A black and red giant bee buzzed around her head, its attack and defense scores raising accordingly. But to her disappointment Drake didn't look worried at all. "You're so cocky, but you won't be for long! Hell Bee, attack him directly!"
"Amateur! You walk straight into a trap like that? Well now you'll pay for it. Go, Bone Shatter! This trap card negates your attack and forces you to discard monsters from your deck equal to half the level of the monster whose attack I negated. That's two by the way if your math wasn't good enough." Yumi frowned and searched her deck for two monsters, finally settling and tossing them into the grave.
"Don't look so fucking casual about those lost monsters. They help me with my trap card, Severed Spine! Whenever a card goes to the grave through an effect other than its own, or through activation or sacrifice you lose three hundred points and I gain that many. So that's six hundred!" Yumi screamed as a terrible heat flared up in her back, while Drake just chuckled. (YLP: 3400, DLP: 4600)
"You...you're strong, I knew that much. But we'll see if you have the strength to defeat my deck soon enough. I set one card face down and end my turn." She slid the card onto her disk, giving her two set cards and two monsters.
Drake held up his newly drawn card, and then pointed at Hell Tree. "It's secondary ability, it lets you forfeit your draw phase to add another monster with 'hell' in its title to your hand. I don't want that, so I'll activate Steal the Sleeping's Breath! This removes your monsters effect until it is destroyed, at which point you'll lose five hundred damage."
Lines of ice creeped up around the tree, cutting it off from its abilities. "Now, since I still don't have any other monsters, I just set one magic or trap card face down. Then it's all you."
Yumi didn't look fazed that her monster had lost its effect, or that her other monster had weakened. All she saw was two face down cards on her opponent's field, and they couldn't keep up with her attacks. "I summon Hell Falcon(1700/1500) to the field, who will take to the air immediately! With its special ability I can attack you directly, but the damage is always 600. So, Hell Falcon strikes!"
A massive bird with spiked wings and burning feathers soared through the air and streaked down towards Drake, who appeared nearly undefended. "Time to pluck the chicken. Activate Nightmare Poison Needle!"
The bird stopped its flight and began twitching in mid-air, and without the beating of its wings it dropped like a stone, its body cracking against the ground. "What the hell did you do?"
"Nightmare Poison Needle puts a counter on an attacking monster. That creature is considered to have been destroyed, and to have gone to the cemetery. Each turn that it remains in this so-called cemetery you lose three hundred life points. But let's not forget Severed Spine shall we?" Yumi screamed again as the pain shot through her. (YLP: 3100, DLP: 4900)
"Who said you could stop screaming? Nightmare Poison Needle, do your stuff!" The older woman grabbed at her head, shaking it and quivering, screaming as terrible pain seared through her mind. Like needles were being stabbed into her brain. (YLP: 2800)
When she finally recovered, restored by Blood, she looked haggard but pissed. "I'll have to punish you for all of this once you're mine. But now...now it's time for Hell Bee to attack you directly!"
Drake smirked and snapped his fingers together. Instantly his remaining face down card flipped up. "You don't learn do you? Activate trap card, Mind Shatter! This destroys an attacking monster and forces you to discard two cards from your hand."
Yumi opened her mouth to say that it was just a set back, when she suddenly realized exactly what that meant. Three of her cards were about to go to the cemetery, which meant Severed Spine was going to activate. "Oh no!"
"Oh yes. Suffer bitch!" He closed his eyes, titling his head back to listen to her screams of pain as Severed Spine made her feel like someone was racking a hot rack down her spinal column. Something that was extraordinarily painful. If it wasn't for the Blood in her system she wouldn't be able to keep going at all. (YLP: 1900, DLP: 5800)
With only one card left in her hand, Yumi could think of very little else she could do for the moment. "I end my turn, but I know I'll get through your defenses soon enough. After all, how many more traps could you draw that are so good?"
As Drake drew his card, he started to laugh, a dark and sinister sound that she would have found erotic under different circumstances. "God, you're really stupid aren't you? This deck of mine, it's a Dark Trap Deck! Which means that the main focus of it is traps. There isn't even a single monster in the whole thing!"
Even as Yumi's eyes were widening in realization, Drake was already looking over his newest card. "How perfect, it's time to feed you a little bit more pain. Magic card activates, Skull Impact! This destroys one random monster on your field and deals one hundred damage to you for each of its levels. But you've only got one, your level four Hell Tree!"
A big hammer shot out of his magic card and slammed into the wood of the tree, blowing it apart and sending slivers of wood flying in all directions. Yumi threw her hands up to guard herself, but was lucky to avoid most of the slivers. Those that flew towards Drake were incinerated before they could touch him. "Forgetting the damage aren't we?" (YLP: 1500)
Suddenly he snapped his fingers as if remembering something. "Oh yeah! Since Hell Tree was destroyed by an effect, that means it counts towards the effect of Severed Spine right? Guess that means more damage for you, and more life for me." (YLP: 1200, DLP: 6100)
Yumi dropped to her knees, her body still functioning, but her spirit shaken by the pain she had experienced so far in the duel. She was mentally unstable, even she would admit that, but she was no masochist. "It's too much..."
Drake frowned at the pathetic state she was in, looking annoyed. "That's it? You're already basically throwing in the towel and I've hardly gotten started yet. I mean, it was obvious to me that you were beneath me from the start, but I was expecting to hurt you some more before you admitted it. Oh well, guess that means it's easier, albeit disappointing."
"Oh, and before I end my turn, I think it's the best time to remind you of Steal the Sleeping's Breath's secondary effect. Remember, since Hell Tree was destroyed you now take five hundred damage." She shivered as a wave of cold flowed over her, draining her of more life points. (YLP: 700)
Casually he slipped the last two cards in his hand onto his duel disk, giving him just two potential traps to work with against whatever she managed to bring out. But since she would have just two cards to use along with two set cards it seemed unlikely that she'd manage to get anything good. "I draw..."
Yumi glanced down at her newly drawn cards, and then at her two face down cards. "I know how to fight you...I just won't attack, that's all. I set one card face down, and end my turn." (YLP: 400)
Drake raised an eyebrow, looking amused that she was trying to come up with a counter strategy. "You really think you can counter my strategy? Bah, what a pathetic thought. My Cyclone magic card destroys your leftmost set card."
A burst of wind shattered the card he had named, sending it to the grave. Instantly she screamed as heat flared up in her back, caused by the effect of Drake's continuous trap card. "Damn, I don't think I'll ever get tired of the sound of your screams." (YLP: 100, DLP: 6400)
She shuddered, barely managing to draw her card. Desperately she tried to think of some way to counter his strategy, but nothing was coming. She stared at Hell Falcon, and realized what was going to happen. "Activate...Trap of Board Eraser."
Drake whistled, surprised to see the damage negated. Luckily he had no cards in his hand to have to discard. "I'm impressed, I was expecting you to die instantly. Guess I might just have to keep waiting for that."
"Wait all you want you bastard...you're not the Drake I wanted. The Drake I wanted wouldn't have turned against me, he would have embraced me instantly, knowing that I was his true destiny. I'm his second chance at life!" Drake chuckled, making her hackles rise. Something about that chuckle didn't sound right.
"He's had way too many chances at life, and he's screwed up each and every one of them. The question is, how come he's still around? Why is it that he remains, after all of his mistakes, instead of being nothing but a worthless rotting corpse like you'll soon be. That's what I wonder." Yumi eyed him curiously, not quite understanding.
"Don't get it? Not surprising considering you're stupid, but I thought somebody other than me would have found it odd by now. Check some facts bitch. All those fights he was in when he was still learning, where he nearly died. As just as kid, that should have killed him, or me. But he didn't, and he recovered pretty fast too. That's clue one." He held up one finger, smirking slightly.
"At Battle City he drew far too heavily on the Disc, burning up his own power and relying on other people's, and having so much power in him was burning away at his insides. All that power without taking baby steps towards it...that should have killed him. But instead he got back up a few hours later, seized that energy, and walked into a major Darkness Game. That's clue two." The second finger came up.
"In that Darkness Game he was struck by some pretty serious blows, and his ribs shattered, sending bone through his body, piercing his lungs and a couple of other organs. Yeah, it seemed he was dead then, but a spirit inside took over, and that seemed to regenerate him, right? Well I'm obviously the only one who thinks its odd that despite that when they got back his body was still a wreck. But he was alive right? Clue three." Yumi frowned, seeing the facts but not quite seeing where it was going.
"I could keep going, but I'm already bored, and my theories aside it doesn't really matter. All I can say is that there's a bit of divine intervention going on here, and if that's the case, that means there's a reason I'm here. So no sad bitch like you will ever oust me." He snickered, laughing at his own minor joke.
"Talk all you want, I don't care! Your theories are nothing but that, just theories! I don't give a damn what you say, but I'll defeat you and bind the real Drake to me for all time! That way he'll always be with me, from now until the end of the world!" She held up her drawn card, finally deciding what to do with it.
"Keh, if I ever end up in that position I'll fucking end the world myself just to get away from you. But since that'll never happen, I guess the world is safe. Besides, I'm an asshole and a major evil badass, but I ain't got no interest in ending the world." Yumi could have sworn she heard him mutter 'unlike some other psycho evil badasses I know'.
She snarled, irritated to hear him keep talking like that. "The card I have here is going to show you what it means to experience real pain, that's all there is to it. The ultimate card granted to me by my backer, and it's going to destroy you. Then I'll have the real you all to myeslf!"
Drake rolled his eyes, looking bored with the banter. "I've heard it all before. 'This is the ultimate monster, and with it in play your end is certain!' Blah de fucking blah! It's all the same, and it never actually works. The ultimate monster or ultimate card is always too pathetic to do the job, and never quite as tough as is boasted. And for the last fucking time, this is the real me!"
"Not the ultimate card you say? Well I'll prove you wrong! You can't stop this card at all, and even at your current level of life points there's nothing you can do to stop it! I play this unstoppable card: Essence of Death!" Drake's eyes widened as a huge flow of energy surged around in the darkness.
Something was building up, something enormously powerful, waiting to be unleashed upon him. "What in the world is this power? I've never felt an aura of such enormous dark strength!"
She threw back her head and laughed as pure darkness flowed around her. "Essence of Death is a simple card that has no activation cost. My backer said there was one draw back, but that it wasn't in the text and I shouldn't be concerned. And I'm not, especially considering the effect of the card."
As the energy continued to gather, Drake couldn't help but ask the question that he was itching to ask. "What effect? What does your card do?"
"It's effect is simple. It reads as follow: You win the game." Drake stared at her blankly, and then threw back his head and laughed.
"Oh that's a good one! For a second there I thought your card was really as deadly as you were making it out to be, but now it seems that you don't have a leg to stand on. You win the game? That's impossible for a card effect. Industrial Illusions would never print something like that." Yumi smirked, and flipped around the card.
Drake looked at it, surprised to see what it looked like. Unlike normal cards, which had certain border colors depending on their type, this card had a pure black border. The picture was blank, but it seemed to flicker every now and then with different images, all of them terrible. And there, underneath the picture, printed in simple text were four words. "You win the game? That's the effect..."
"That's right! Now, thanks to the power of Essence of Death, you instantly lose! Say goodbye, and then prepare yourself to say hello to eternity with me!" She rubbed her hands in anticipation as the dark energy hurled itself at Drake, slamming down on top of him and covering him in it.
"In mere moments I'll have everything I've ever wanted. And all of it thanks to the most unstoppable card in the existence of the game!" Her hands stopped rubbing together when a pillar of darkness exploded out of the darkness, and that darkness was pushed backwards.
The tide of darkness burst, revealing Drake standing there, his body wreathed in black flame. And he looked extremely pissed off. "Bitch...did you really think you were the only person with cards that shouldn't exist? I don't know why you were given a card like that, but its not enough to beat me."
"What? But how, its effect should have finished you off right then and there!" She stumbled backwards, terrified by the look on his face. He sneered and pointed to his forehead, where the symbol for 'darkness' still burned.
"When I stated this game I had this power active, and now it's time I used one of its effect. Heart of Darkness prevents me from losing the game due to dark effects. In other words, you can't defeat the darkness with more darkness. Nice try wench, but now I'm really pissed off!" The black flame picked up even further, tossing her backwards.
She stumbled, and her veins pulsed with energy as the Blood within her fought back. But almost immediately it was defeated, the energy having been too sapped by the duel to make a decent fight. "You can't hurt me directly like this, it's against the rules of the Darkness Game!"
"Don't be stupider than you already are. Me and the Heart of Darkness...we're one and the same. If there's any power in this world that can command the Darkness with complete impunity...it's me. With the Heart of Darkness in me, the only rules in a Darkness Game...are my rules!" His power flared up again, and the darkness around them quivered in response.
"I...I end my turn." There was nothing else she could do, not now that Drake had stopped her only method at beating him that she had left. There was no hope for her victory now.
Drake drew once and then sighed the moment he saw it. Yumi released the breath she had been holding in fear of his draw. "Looks like you didn't draw anything good."
He shrugged, shaking his head slightly. "Actually, it didn't matter what I drew since there's nothing else you have that will stop Nightmare Poison Needle from killing you next turn. I was just hoping to draw something to finish you off now...and I have."
He flashed her a smirk and flipped the card around, slamming it into his dark duel disk. "Burn bitch! Activate Death Bomb! This magic card deals you one hundred points of damage for every face down card I have on the field, and I have two times as many as I need. So, say goodbye!" Yumi took one step backwards as a small ticking bomb appeared in front of her. She knew what was going to happen.
"No...I was guaranteed victory!" Drake shrugged, obviously not caring about her guarantees.
"I hope you kept the receipt on that prediction, because you'll be wanting your money back in about three seconds. No wait, make that right now." And with those words said, the bomb exploded.
The smoke cleared away, revealing a haggard looking Yumi, her clothing burnt and torn, her skin peeling. The remains of the Blood in her system had done its best to protect her, but it wasn't able to do so perfectly. "I lost..." (YLP: 0)
"Damn right you did. I said at the start that compared to me you were nothing. I originally would have said that you were worthless, not even worth spending time on, but there are two reasons why you are. And here's the first one." He reached down and plucked a card out of her cemetery, holding it up to see.
As the darkness of his aura spread out over the card, the text began to change, and words appeared after the four words that had previously made up all of the text. The moment Drake saw them, he couldn't help but laugh. "The ultimate card...with the ultimate penalty. How very interesting...guess I'll just have to find a way around it."
He slid the card into his deck and then glanced down at Yumi, who was looking up at him with both hope and fear. "What now? What do you intend to do? And what's the second reason anyways?"
"Second reason? That's simple. Basically you're my mother, or rather my creator. It was your efforts that created me as a personality inside of Drake, just waiting to be free. So that means that you're one of the three people in the entire world who might have a chance of putting me back." He crouched down, stroking a hand against her cheek, smiling in a very friendly manner.
"Do you know what that means Yumi?" The ex-convict shook her head slowly, not able to look away from Drake's burning violet orbs.
"It means that I can't afford to let you live. So, as for your punishment game...eat yourself." There was a heavy silence that followed those words as they were mulled over and over.
"Umm...what?" That was about the only thing that Yumi could think to say.
"Feeling hungry aren't we? I won't see you around, ever." The darkness shook, and then vanished as if it had never been there. As Drake turned away, something came over Yumi, and she did something she never would have done under any normal circumstances. She bit through her pinky, and began to chew.
As her teeth ground down on the finger, small whimpers came from Yumi's occupied mouth, which had blood sliding down the corners. But even as her teeth continued to do their dirty work, tearing into the flesh of her own body, the person who had inflicted the punishment wasn't paying attention.
He was looking around at the previously occupied room, finding that he was alone, besides the suddenly voracious woman behind him. The door to the room was open, but there was no sign of the other previous occupant.
"They always run. Why do they always run?"
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Author's Notes: Getting freaked out yet? If not, we're just getting started.
Next Time: Every negative aspect of Drake all in one person, and all of that negative emotion is focused on one goal. Hunting down Kirani Kajika and eliminating the last chance that the good aspects of his personality can return. In order to stop this from happening those who have committed evil acts must stand to seek their redemption against a greater darkness.
See it all in, Last Stand of the Rare Hunters!
Review Response
The White Mage: And now you know.
Time Mage: We talked about this, so very little response. Other than to say that her backer will be revealed in due time.
G.O.T. Nick: Yep, all dead. Not mostly.
WolfGeneral: It gets worse, trust me.
Original Cards
Yumi: Hell Tree, Hell Bee, Hell Falcon, Essence of Death
Drake: Bone Shatter, Severed Spine, Nightmare Poison Needle, Mind Shatter, Skull Impact, Heart of Darkness, Death Bomb
Anime/Manga Cards
Drake: Steal the Sleeping's Breath