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: All cards have their OCG effects unless they are anime-only, in which case I use their anime text. RL OCG/TCG rules apply, so there is no summoning in face-up defence. This is based in Judai's third year. Feel free to nicely point out any mistakes I make in characterisation since this is my first GX fanfiction. There was going to be more on the end of this chapter, but the duel itself was pretty long and this is running close to three thousand words and several long pages. Heh. If the ending seems a bit cruddy, I apologise. It's late here and I am very very tired. Anyway, never fear. There is a plot.
On the other hand, you now know I like to write duels.
-o-
Death and Rebirth
Chapter Two: Closing The Duel
-o-
The silver duel monster hung imposingly in the air, not needing to beat its wings to stay aloft. Seeing another chance to make its presence felt, it did so; the loud cry, shrill in tone, glided swiftly on the air. It rushed from the dragon down to Judai and seemed to take a right turn and head straight for Misawa, who grimaced. This was a tough situation, yes, but he had planned for it.
"I end my turn," Hiruma declared.
There was no words like 'do your best' or anything like that. Just a quiet, thoughtful gaze Misawa could see was directed at him.
"My turn; I draw." Misawa gazed at the card he had taken from his deck and added it to his hand.
"I set one monster and end my turn."
Before the Ra Yellow student appeared a set card, which lay horizontally across the field. He would not waste the cards that were in his hand. His set monster was what would make all the difference. Horus decks attacked, so his opponent would have to take out his set monster. He just hoped the man did not have a Shield Crush or Nobleman Of Crossout.
Over on the sidelines, Sho was quietly watching the duel. The way this trainee, Hiruma, was locking down Misawa's options reminded him in a way of his brother.
Returning his mind to the duel, Sho continued to watch on as Hiruma smiled at the set monster on Misawa's field. Misawa remained equally as impassive. Even if Hiruma summoned a second monster and attacked, he could survive as long as his monster died as a result of battle.
Gazing at Hiruma, whose eyes returned his look, Misawa waited for his opponent to make his move.
"Now I shall summon Luster Dragon in attack mode!"
There was a burst of energy and in front of Hiruma and his Horus appeared a second dragon. Its body shimmered in the sunlight, which seemed to refract off the deep blue gemstone that the dragon seemed to be made out of, right down to its jagged claws and thin wings.
So he wants to attack? Well here it comes, Misawa thought.
Misawa raised his head to see Hiruma's hand outstretched.
"Luster Dragon, attack his facedown card!" the trainee declared.
The dragon opened its mouth and from it was expelled a burst of crimson energy. Misawa shielded his eyes with his right hand as the attack tore through his facedown card and enveloped him in a wave of energy. Misawa gritted his teeth and bore the brunt of the attack.
However, the attack had also revealed something else; a strange-looking tomato that had a crazy grin on its face. Its tongue rolled out and then the monster disappeared, along with the rest of its card.
Yes! He fell for it!
Misawa reached for his deck as Hiruma muttered a silent curse. Sifting through it, the student took out the monster he wanted, and then he reshuffled his deck and inserted it back into his duel disk.
"My Mystic Tomato, when destroyed in battle and sent to the graveyard, has the ability to special summon one dark-attribute monster with one thousand five hundred attack points or less from my deck to the field," Misawa explained, and his gaze focused upon Hiruma as he placed a card on his duel disk. "The monster I choose is Newdoria!"
"What?" Hiruma's eyes widened upon realising what Misawa's plan was. "No! Not that!"
"I see you know, sir."
Watching Hiruma set a facedown magic or trap, Misawa smiled to himself. His plan had worked. Hiruma did not want his Horus to be selected as the target of Newdoria's effect. When destroyed and sent to the graveyard in battle, he got to choose one monster on the field and destroy it. Of course, he would destroy Horus.
"I set one cover card and end my turn," Hiruma said, his voice now calm.
"I draw."
Taking a card from his deck, Misawa gazed over his hand. His fingers then reached towards Newdoria. He could have attacked Spear Dragon and destroyed it, but he was worried about that newly set card.
"I change Newdoria to defense mode," Misawa said.
As he spoke, Misawa found himself thinking up things. A plan was forming.
So far, he had in his hand End Of The World, Graceful Charity, Giant Germ, Hammer Shot, Dark Necrofear and Kuriboh. The uses of them were obvious. Giant Germ, when destroyed in battle, dealt five hundred damage to his opponent and special summoned two more from his deck to the field, thinning said deck. If he set it, Hiruma could not guess what monster it was. That would psyche the man out. Graceful Charity was pure draw power. His Kuriboh prevented battle damage and would fuel Dark Necrofear, as would his Germs. Hammer Shot destroyed a monster with the highest attack on the field. However, he would not use that until he drew a needed card.
End Of The World, as it stood, was one of his key cards.
Misawa smiled. Everything was starting to come together.
-o-
From where he stood watching the duel, Yuki Judai smiled. He gazed out at the field and appreciated the game that was on, as well as all the combos. Perhaps he could duel Hiruma sometime; it would certainly be interesting! To face someone who specialised in rendering two thirds of your deck useless was a challenge he wanted to get his teeth into.
"Go, Misawa!" Judai exclaimed, rooting for his friend.
Behind Judai, Kenzan crept up silently. He gently knocked Judai on the head and smiled.
"I know you're excited, but let the man duel!"
Back on the field, Misawa set a second monster.
"I end my turn," he announced.
Hiruma remained silent as he drew a card. Misawa saw the man inspecting his hand and he caught sight of a frown upon the trainee's lips. He obviously had no more monsters. That or his hand was full of traps.Who could be visiting him at this hour?
Feeling assured another monster would not be summoned, Misawa waited.
"Luster Dragon, attack his facedown card!"
Once more, Misawa's set monster was destroyed by crimson energy. Except this time, the monster was not a plant but a germ. It hovered above the field before it disappeared. Hiruma made a small noise as his life points dropped to 3500. Soon enough, the lone germ had been replaced by two more.
"It's nothing but a scatch," Hiruma murmured. "Horus, attack one of his Germs! Wipe it off the field!"
Horus's mouth opened and out of it was shot a streaming jet of black flames. It burnt a holographic path across the field towards Misawa's monster. Striking the monster, the black stream of flames ignited into a giant dome of gas that expanded outwards, licking the surrounding area.
"How do you like that!" Hiruma's voice called, echoing over the attack.
Giant Germ shattered and died, taking Hiruma's lifepoints down to 3000, but Misawa had a trick up his sleeve.
"You should have expected me to know my Germs would be vulnerable to your monster," Misawa began. He took a card from his hand. "I discard Kuriboh to void the damage!"
A small cry of 'kuri-kuri' echoed across the field and suddenly Judai's laughter echoed through the air.
"Oh man! That's a good one, Misawa!"
"Hey, Misawa! I never knew you liked Kuriboh!" Kenzan called.
Misawa remained silent, his mind fully focused on the game.
I have three fiends in my grave. I could use Dark Necrofear, but I don't know what his facedown card is. Still, she activates her effect when destroyed so… Yet, he won't attack Newdoria so I have an almost permanent wall. His hand is clogged, so he won't have many monsters, if none at all, to summon.
"Tsch. I end my turn then," Hiruma announced, visibly annoyed that his attack had failed.
"My turn; draw."
Misawa gazed at the card he had just drawn; staring back at him was the image of a devilish knight riding a derelict horse, wielding a sword and shield. It had four stars and he felt lost to the world when he remembered what it was the knight did. Death Caliber Knight negated effects by destroying itself and the effect-using monster. If he activated a magic card, Hiruma would use Horus to negate it. Then the effect of his monster would kick in and destroy Horus, leaving the field open for his end move.
I had not expected to draw it so soon, Misawa thought. Judai's luck must be contagious. No, it's not luck. It is just the law of probability.
Smiling at the thought of bringing an end to the duel, Misawa gazed over the field.
"I summon Death Caliber Knight in attack mode," he said, his voice calm.
"I've never heard of that monster before…"
"And now, I activate Hammer Shot to destroy the monster on the field with the highest attack! That would be The Black Flame Dragon of Horus!"
"Not so fast! I activate Horus's effect to negate - !"
"Death Caliber Knight."
Those three words echoed across the field and Hiruma fell silent. Misawa could see from the shocked look on Hiruma's face that the man had finally remembered what his knight could do. It was his loss. If one wanted to be a professor at the Academia, then one had to have an almost unrivalled knowledge of the game. Professor Chronos did and was well respected for it, especially by Judai.
"The effect of your monster is negated and both him and Horus die," Misawa added, finishing off his sentence.
As Misawa spoke, his monster and the silver dragon Hiruma was so fond of using started to turn a funny shade of brown. Bit by bit, their bodies crumbled into sand that disappeared and eventually left the field short of two monsters.
The field was eerily quiet. Hiruma stood motionless, left dumbfounded by the destruction of his monster.
"That's not… possible. How could I forget something so simple!"
Misawa, however, was remaining calm. He felt assured that facedown card posed no threat.
"Since Death Caliber Knight destroyed Horus, the effect of Hammer Shot stands," he declared.
Above Luster Dragon appeared a hovering log of great proportions. Suddenly, it descended through the sky, gathering speed. Before too long, it hit the spot where the dragon stood, crushing it. Blue gems that had once formed the monster's body scattered throughout the field and then disappeared.
"Now I'm wide open," Hiruma growled. With Royal Decree set, his facedown card was nothing but a bluff.
"Precisely. Now I activate End of The World," Misawa announced, his thumb and forefinger brandishing a card. "By discarding Dark Necrofear, I can ritual summon Demise, King Of Armageddon!"
Misawa took the blue-coloured card from his hand after inserting the ritual magic into his duel disk. The ritual monster he had held in his hand was level eight and the magic required an exact sacrifice of eight stars.
In turn. Hiruma's eyes went wide as above his head the sky started to turn a clear shade of blue. An elaborate pattern etched itself out in white and the centre point started to glow. Suddenly, there was an explosion of energy from the middle of the mural, which flooded the surrounding area with a burning blue light. Once the light faded, standing in the middle of the field was a dark Duel Monster encased from head to foot in black armour.
The Duel Monster stared at Hiruma with what could only be described as boredom, as if the man was something to be trodden on.
"Oh my… that's great!" Sho exclaimed.
Misawa kept his attention focused on Hiruma as Kenzan nodded.
"You should know that my Duel Monster has a very special effect," Misawa began saying. "By paying two thousand life points, I can destroy every card on the field but Demise himself. However…"
His eyes fell on Hiruma's empty field.
"… Since you are wide open, I think I'll not pay them. This time. Instead, I activate Graceful Charity! I draw three cards, add them to my hand and then discard two of my choosing."
Misawa took three cards from his deck, the magic card going to his graveyard. He then looked at the three cards he had drawn.
"I shall discard Broww, Huntsman of Dark World and Sakuretsu Armor." Misawa dumped the two cards, but then he drew another from his deck. He held it up, showing the back to Hiruma. "When Broww is discarded to the graveyard by my card effect, I get to draw one card from my deck. More than that, he gets special summoned to the field!"
There was a shimmer of light and the duel monster appeared on Misawa's field, wearing fur-lined garments and wielding a small crossbow.
Misawa gazed at Hiruma.
"Broww has one thousand four hundred attack points. Demise has two thousand four hundred."
Tell me, sir, do you feel lucky?
Sighing, Hiruma closed his eyes as the two monsters attacked. His lifepoints dropped to zero and the holograms faded from view almost as soon as the attack had ended.
Misawa, knowing he had won, went over to Hiruma.
As he came nearer, Hiruma opened his eyes and smiled. He then raised his hands and began clapping.
"Congratulations. I'm pleased there are such good students at Duel Academia," Hiruma said, smiling.
"It was a good match for me too, sir," Misawa responded.
Thankfully, the man was not asking to shake hands. He would do so, of course, but he liked to be professional about things. Besides, he was not used to shaking hands in the first place. It was just his nature.
Over on the sidelines, Kenzan clapped slowly.
"Good. I'm glad." Hiruma smiled again at Misawa.
Thinking that the man seemed to be taking his loss almost too well, Misawa nodded his head but said nothing. One who smiled too often after losing was obviously hiding his or her feelings.
"Well, my boy, I am afraid I have to get going. Thank you for taking your time to duel me."
With that, Hiruma packed up his duel disk and left almost as quickly as he had arrived.
Misawa waited where he had been standing before he walked over to Judai and the others.
"So, Misawa, that was your dark-attribute deck, dono?" Kenzan asked. He came out from where he had been standing behind Sho and Judai and folded his arms across his chest.
"Yes, and it seems to have worked." Misawa paused for a moment. "I may take out the ritual monsters though."
"How come?" Sho asked, looking up at the taller student.
Misawa gazed down at Sho.
"Because for most of that duel they were clogging up my hand," he explained.
"Well, that doesn't matter! You won, Misawa!" Judai announced, almost interrupting the Ra Yellow student. "… Can I have your Demise, King of Armageddon? Since you said you're not using him."
"Judai! He said he was thinking about it!" Kenzan exclaimed. "Besides, I want it first!"
"No, it's mine!"
"Mine!"
"You two…" Sho spoke up, caught their attention and nodded in Misawa's direction. "He said he was thinking of removing it. Besides, why would you want it at all? You run dinosaurs and we all know what you run, Judai."
Kenzan paused for a moment, considering Sho's words.
"I'd trade it with some kid who doesn't know what he's talking about!"
"So you are saying you would take advantage?" Sho questioned Kenzan, who paled.
"No, no, no!" Kenzan exclaimed, waving his hands. "It's called strategic collecting. You give them something they think they want for something you want. I'd never rip anyone off. It's not my style."
Watching Sho and Kenzan argue, Misawa smiled. He could understand why Judai found friends to be interesting. Perhaps there was more things in store for him in the future.