Disclaimer: YGO GX and its characters do not belong to me.
Summary: Asuka x Judai - Never think that the past remains dead and buried, because sometimes death itself can come back from beyond the grave.
Warnings: See chapter one.
-o-
Death and Rebirth
Chapter One: Calculated Decks
-o-
The next morning, the Dual Academia was abuzz with chatter and off-hand reports about the duel that had occurred between Asuka, the queen of Obelisk Blue, and Edo Phoenix; the duelist from the Pro League. Some of who had been there (ie all) liked to think that they were the next official commentator and had been giving their friends move-by-move annotations for that entire day. Asuka herself was sad that she had lost, since she liked to win, but she was glad that she had at least lost to a respectable opponent. Edo Phoenix, after all, dueled in the Pro League. He dueled in it, just like Ryou did.
Asuka fell silent, remembering her old associate and dare she say it friend. Even though Edo had dwindled Ryou's reputation ever since that defeat he had handed him, she could not believe that Ryou had become the type of man who wanted to win at all costs, no matter who he hurt in the process.
Right at this moment, Ryou seemed to be the total opposite of Judai.
As Chronos began explaining in detail the changes made to the latest banlist and why they had been done, Asuka found her mind drifting back to the brunette. He had fought for her freedom and that of his friends, and she felt glad that she was counted amongst their number. Some members of Obelisk Blue were snobbish elites, but Judai was not like that.
Asuka sighed. She thought fondly of Judai, but she did not want to wreck their friendship by turning it into something more. She had seen the same thing happen to several of her friends and did not want to end up the same way.
I may have ended up with Ryou, but I don't like him the way he is now, Asuka thought, right as Chronos gazed up at her from where he was standing.
"Signorina Asuka. Please explain to the class why Graceful Charity used to be on the banlist, na no nae." Chronos fell silent, expecting to receive another pleasing answer from his favourite student.
"Yes, sir."
Rising from her chair, Asuka stared on ahead as she tried to put Judai out of her mind.
"Graceful Charity was originally banned for a number of reasons; namely that it provides a four for one advantage. It refreshes the hand, thins the deck, provides draw power and allows you to discard unneeded cards into the graveyard. This allows for things like discarding Jinzo and then reviving it with Call Of The Haunted or Premature Burial," she explained. "Shall I add anything else, sir?"
I hope he lets me sit down, Asuka thought.
"No, there is no need. As ever, Signorina Asuka, you provide me with a perfect answer," Chronos replied. "You may sit down."
Smiling, and sighing inwardly with relief, Asuka took her seat. She would focus on the other love in her life, dueling. That would help her to feel somewhat better about the situation. Graceful Charity was no longer banned, but Victory Dragon had for the first time made it onto the banlist.
Sure enough, the next student Chronos targeted was soon giving an explanation on why the Victory Dragon was banned.
Asuka listened to her Obelisk Blue companion as he began an explanation of the Victory Dragon lock, which involved such things as Dragon Tribe, a trap card, Time Seal and Drop Off. However, her mind wandered once more onto the subject of Judai.
Even if she were willing to risk their friendship, which she was not, Asuka knew that Judai would not recognise the feelings that he had for her. She did not want to seem hard on the boy, but he was an innocent when it came to matters of the heart.
Throwing herself back into her work, the blonde did not notice one of her two closest friends looking at her. Having known Asuka ever since they had met up on their first year, Junko had grown to know Asuka as a person. She knew that her friend was strong, or at least tried to appear to be. However, she had noticed that ever since Judai had arrived on the scene that Asuka was conflicted. She also knew why; Asuka did not want to risk the friendship she had earned with a rash move that at the end of the day came down to nothing more than teenage hormones.
As the lesson came to an end, Junko kept her gaze focused on Asuka as everyone began making his or her way outside.
Soon enough, Asuka, Junko and Momoe were separating from the crowd to go back to the Obelisk Blue Girl's Dorm. Asuka wanted to make some amendments to her deck, but on the way there the talk soon turned to more personal matters.
"So… about Judai?"
"I don't think he knows," Asuka murmured, and she gazed down sadly at the ground. "Judai seems… I don't know how to say this without being mean, but he seems too dense to see how I feel. That's what I like about him though; his honesty. He's not like how Manjyome used to be."
Already knowing how her friend felt about Judai, Junko remained silent and allowed Asuka to speak freely. She knew that it was important that sometimes one could get things off their chest.
"Anyway, I'm fine," Asuka said. She saw the concerned look on Junko's face and smiled. "Really."
"Asuka, are you sure?"
"… Yes, I am."
For Asuka, there was only one love in her life and that was dueling.
-o-
As Asuka, Junko and Momoe were crossing the Academia grounds, Judai's brown eyes were focused on Misawa. The duelist was working on siding a new card into his deck and Judai was watching on from where he was sat cross-legged on his bed. Sho was out getting lunch so him and Misawa had been left on their own until their friend returned.
I wonder where Sho is, Judai thought. He looked over his shoulder at the open door, the light shining in from outside. He should have been back several minutes ago. Oh well.
Judai stopped thinking about food, but it did not last for long.
A loud rumble echoed across the room, causing Misawa to look up from where he was seated by Judai's desk. Judai could not help but notice the curious expression on his friend's face and chuckled sheepishly.
"Heh. Was that me?" he asked, scratching the back of his head.
Judai then paused.
"When Sho gets back, I think I'll go and get some food myself," he declared.
"Do whatever you want. I'll be here working on my deck," Misawa replied. He reached into his deck holster that was attached to his belt and began inspecting the sleeveless cards he had pulled out.
At that moment in time, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in!" Judai called.
The door opened to reveal Tyranno Kenzan. The Ra Yellow Student nodded a greeting to Misawa, after which he smiled at Judai.
"Hey, Sho's got himself locked out of the Osiris Red kitchens!" Kenzan announced. "You should see the look on his face!"
Silence descended on the room as Kenzan then fell quiet. Judai wondered what thoughts exactly were crossing his friend's mind, but he could hazard a guess. His friend, along with Sho, had lost their tag duel against the two who had wielded Zaborg and Mobius, the Monarchs of Thunder and Frost. He himself had been feeling down when he had been left unable to see his Duel Spirit partner and could understand in part how Kenzan was feeling.
Everyone has to hurt sometimes, Judai thought.
Judai stopped thinking and gazed back across the room at Misawa, who was by now rearranging his deck into some sort of order. Rising from his place on the bed, he got up and moved to peer over Kenzan's shoulder. His friend must want to be stronger so that never again he would be put into that position.
"Aren't the keys hanging up somewhere?" Judai asked. He would have told Kenzan to go and ask their Dorm Leader, but they did not have one. That and Daitokuji was gone.
The kitchen itself was another matter. What had been locked, to be more precise, was the fridge. This was because Pharaoh, Daitokuji's pet cat, had developed the uncanny ability to open said fridge and eat all its contents.
Right then, Judai's eyes wandered over to his duel disk, which lay unused on his bed.
"Hey Misawa! Do you want to duel once you're finished? I'll be glad to help you test your deck out."
"I can't," Misawa replied. "I've got to duel Mr. Hiruma soon. Perhaps afterwards."
Nodding, Judai went back across the room to fetch his duel disk. He was in the mood to duel today, but since Misawa could not do so, he planned on asking Sho. Well, he planned on asking Sho when Sho got back from those locked kitchens. Now that he thought about it, he could recall Misawa saying something earlier on about that trainee-professor.
Thinking about his friend's upcoming duel, Judai looked back at him.
"Hey, do you mind if we come and watch?" he asked, referring to himself, Kenzan and Sho.
"Heh, be my guest. Well, I'm all done now."
Checking his deck one last time, making sure that all his cards were in place, Misawa smiled. He had heard about the deck that trainee was running and although he would not compromise on his integral theme, he would make sure that he would not have two thirds of his deck cut off by his opponent.
This will be a good way to test my revamped deck, Misawa thought.
Upon learning the contents of the trainee's deck, Misawa had challenged the man to a duel in order to test something out. He would make sure that he would be able to succeed.
Backing up his chair, Misawa rose from where he was seated at the table and grabbed his jacket from where it hung over the back. Putting it on, he took his newly sorted deck from the table and inserted it into the upper left pocket.
I will calculate all the moves he shall make in order to secure victory.
Misawa smiled as he took his duel disk. Leaning up against the wall, he hooked it onto his arm and put it into the ready position. He was looking forward to this duel. Turning to face Judai and Kenzan, who had since moved into the room, he jabbed his thumb towards the door.
"Shall we go? I can't keep him waiting," he said.
"This'll be fun. Let's go and get Sho, Judai!" Kenzan replied. He then paused. "Hey Misawa, where are you two dueling?"
"Outside this dorm. Holding the duel here made it easier for both of us," Misawa responded.
Kenzan nodded and walked out of Judai's room. Judai followed soon after, leaving Misawa on his own. Misawa smiled and then he followed suit, closing the door behind him.
-o-
Outside of the Osiris Red Dorm, sitting at a table that overlooked the entrance to the cafeteria, a man sat sipping a cup of tea. Having brought his flask with him, he was sitting down and waiting for the student he was supposed to duel to arrive. Black hair fell down either side of his face, the sunlight making it seem almost silver in colour. The breeze that was gently drifting through this place made it a nice area in which to sit and relax.
"So Mr. Hiruma, are you ready for our duel?" a voice asked, and the man raised his head to see himself gazing at Daichi Misawa.
Having won several of his duels, though by no means all of them, the trainee-professor nodded and rose from his chair. He took the reading glasses off his nose and folded them, putting them back into their case that soon made its way inside his uniform.
"Yes. I must thank you for agreeing to this," the trainee answered, smiling as he saw the three boys standing behind Misawa. "Also, I see you have brought your friends with you."
"You don't mind, do you? They wanted to come and watch."
"Oh no, not at all. It would be my pleasure," Hiruma replied.
Misawa watched on as the trainee-professor moved back behind the table and leaned down to pick something up, which turned out to be the man's duel disk. He lightly fingered his own, which was hooked up on his arm and ready to go at a moment's notice.
"Shall we get started, then?" Hiruma asked.
"Of course." Misawa turned around and smiled at Judai. "You know, you should watch this duel carefully. There's always a good chance you'll learn something about a future opponent by studying their moves."
"I said I'm watching, right? Sho and Kenzan are too!" Judai replied, with a smile.
Misawa chuckled at Judai's words. He then turned to his right to see Hiruma standing out on the field outside of the dorm. It would be a big enough space for what they needed to do. He knew who this man was, what kind of deck he ran and his win lose ratio. With this deck, the odds would be tipped in his favour. Not by luck, but by planning.
Walking away from the Osiris Red Dorm, Misawa walked up to his opponent.
"Do you think he'll be all right?" Sho asked.
"It's Misawa. Of course he'll be fine!" Judai replied, smiling. He walked ahead of Sho and Kenzan. "Come on, let's go watch."
As the three students moved away from the dorm to watch the duel that was about to occur, a large tabby and brown cat slinked up towards them from where it had been watching behind Sho's legs. It arrived up behind the blue-haired boy, who noticed his presence and bent down to rub him gently behind the ear in an affectionate manner.
"So, shall we duel?"
Misawa nodded in response to Hiruma's question.
"So which deck do you want to face?" he asked.
Hiruma smiled.
"Surprise me. You may go first."
Misawa nodded, after which he reached up to take out the deck he had just been working on. If he were able to remove even one of Hiruma's two key cards, Misawa knew that he would take the lead. Once he was done, the two men activated their duel disks and slotted in their decks.
Misawa kept his eyes focused on his opponent. This promised to be interesting. He always liked to face new opponents.
"Duel!"
-o-
The life point counters increased to 4000 apiece.
Drawing his first card, Misawa remained quiet as he added it to his hand and began to form a strategy. If this man were running what he thought he was, then he would want to stop his monsters being destroyed. Better than that, he would let Hiruma fall right into his trap.
Taking a card from his hand, Misawa inserted it into his duel disk. The man, if he summoned anything this turn, including one of his prized monsters, would be in for a nasty surprise. Taking a second card, a monster, he laid it on his duel disk, summoning it to the field. Ordinarily, he would not have set his trap card until the end but going first allowed him to establish his strategy.
"First I shall set a card, and now I summon Vorse Raider in attack mode," Misawa said, a calm tone to his voice.
There was a burst of light and the horned monster appeared on Misawa's field, wielding a wickedly bladed axe inset with purple stones.
"I end my turn."
"My turn; I draw," Hiruma announced.
Misawa remained silent as the trainee-professor took a card from his deck.
"I set one monster, followed by one magic or trap card and end my turn."
"So you're not attacking," Misawa said, observantly, drawing a card. "That's your mistake. I shall now have Vorse Raider attack your set monster!"
Hiruma's eyes closed as Vorse Raider assumed a battle stance and then threw its axe like a boomerang at his set monster. Misawa noticed the man's behaviour and knew that he had to have hit something. The axe cleaved the facedown in two, revealing a small round fiend curled up into a ball. It then disappeared in a shower of light.
Misawa recognised the monster immediately.
"Sangan, I see." He gazed across the field at Hiruma. "What monster do you fetch?"
"Man Eater Bug," Hiruma declared.
Soon enough, the black-haired man had reached into his deck and pulled out the monster he wanted to fetch. As the rules stated, he showed the card to Misawa and then added it to his hand.
Meanwhile, Sho, Judai and Kenzan watched on attentively. Judai especially. He found this duel to be interesting, like so many others.
Misawa thought about the card Hiruma had retrieved. It would not fall prey to his trap card. More than that, if he summoned a second monster and then attacked, the trainee would no doubt choose to destroy the second monster that would have attacked him directly. He had not drawn the counter card he wanted, but he would deal with that trap card if it arose, one way or another.
"Very well, I end my turn," Misawa announced. He still had enough life points remaining to not be afraid.
This man was training to teach at the Duel Academia as a professor. It was only natural he had some skill.
"All right, it's my turn. I draw!" Hiruma paused for just a moment. "I activate Card Destruction! We both discard our hands and draw from our decks the same number of cards that we discarded."
Having no counters, Misawa discarded his four cards to the graveyard.
"Mine were Mystic Tomato, Invader Of Darkness, Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell and Offerings To The Doomed," he announced, after which he looked at Hiruma. "What were yours?"
"Devil's Sanctuary, Man Eater Bug, D.D Capsule, Masked Dragon and Stamping Destruction."
Misawa thought about what Hiruma had discarded. Devil's Sanctuary was no doubt to hold off his Vorse Raider or to provide tribute for a higher-level monster. DD Capsule was risky, since it was easily removed by magic and trap destruction. Masked Dragon would search out other dragons, whilst Stamping Destruction would no doubt have been used to destroy his facedown trap. This man was trying to reach his core monsters as soon as possible, or so it seemed.
The theory of the Ra Yellow student was soon proved right. Hiruma took a card from his newly refreshed hand and laid it on his duel disk.
"I now summon The Black Flame Dragon of Horus Level Four!" he announced.
There was a shower of light, and soon an odd-looking monster stood before Hiruma. It could only be described as a silver metallic chicken.
Sho seemed to like the look of it; there was a smile on his face as he whispered something to Judai, who also smiled.
Misawa started to chuckle.
Hiruma's eyes narrowed. What was this boy up to?
"I activate my trap card; Bottomless Trap Hole! Any monster you normal summon, flip summon or special summon that has 1500 or more attack points is removed from the game! Say goodbye to your Horus!" Misawa declared.
However, Misawa's eyebrows started to rise when Hiruma chuckled just like he had.
"I chain my set card; Royal Decree!" Hiruma said, a slightly smug tone to his voice. "I trust you know of the chain rule? Your trap is useless!"
Misawa remained silent. He should have known Royal Decree would be pulled out this early, but he could work with it. It meant that if it was destroyed, Hiruma would only have two more to fall back on, and those were the ones he could counter. His left eyebrow twitched as he then remembered what would happen to his Bottomless Trap Hole. Due to the chaining of Royal Decree, it would take up a spot on his field. On the other hand, considering that Royal Decree stopped all other traps, it was hardly something to warrant him worrying.
"Fine. Do you want to want to do anything else?" he asked Hiruma.
"Of course. I'll activate this spell card!"
What greeted Misawa next made him grimace. There would be no way to stop what was happening.
"I play Level Up!" Hiruma declared.
As the trainee spoke, something seemed to be happening to his monster. Its legs started to elongate, the claws it had becoming more pointed and bird-like. As this happened, the monster's wings started to unfold and grow. Finally, its beak stretched out and became more like that of an adult and a loud shrill echo resounded around the dueling field.
"That's so cool!" Judai exclaimed, from the sidelines.
Misawa glanced over at the brunette, but he quickly returned his attention to his opponent.
"By sending Horus Level Four to the graveyard, you get to special summon Level 6 from your deck," Misawa said, to which Hiruma nodded.
"Exactly, and I am sure you know what will happen next. Horus, attack his Vorse Raider!"
Horus obliged, and it flapped its wings. A burst of holographic energy simulating wind tore through the Vorse Raider, lowering Misawa's lifepoints to 3600 and forcing the student to shield his face from the backdraft.
"I'll set one card and end my turn," Hiruma announced, looking across at Daichi. His lips curved up into a smile. "I am sure you know what happens next. Since my Horus Level Six destroyed your Vorse Raider in battle - "
" – You can special summon Level Eight from your deck in its place," Misawa finished.
"Precisely. Allow me to show you my greatest monster! Horus, evolve!"
Misawa could not help but notice the smile on Hiruma's face as Horus underwent another change. He grimaced visibly – this meant that his magic would now also be rendered useless. However, he had planned for such an eventuality.
Black flames similar to its last evolution conflagrated around Horus and it started to unfold before both players' eyes. Its wings stretched outwards as it tail grew longer, ending in a sharp point. Its beak seemed to harden as a blue-tinged growth emerged from its head and scales hardened around its growing legs. The black flames receded, and a loud screech echoed throughout the area.
"You know what this means," Hiruma said, smiling. "No more magic for you."