Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh.
Vanguard Generations
Chapter 5: Twilight Companion
Megumi drew. "Let's go! I play the magic card Return to the Border between Worlds! One field magic card that normally requires a special sacrifice to be played that is in the graveyard is activated now! Return Purgatory to its former glory!" All around them the golden fires came alive once more. "Of course, Purgatory doesn't share the effect of my Heaven-Hell card, so you don't have to worry about your only monster being destroyed."
Shinsei could actually feel the fires now, and that worried him. Somewhere, deep inside his heart, he knew this was different than a normal duel. The blows hurt more than they should have, and the monsters felt much more real than normal.
Megumi pointed at Nightman. "After switching my Dark Torturer into attack mode I go after your life points! Go now!" The demon howled and it ran right at the superhero.
"Reveal Mirror Gate!" One of Shinsei's face-down cards flipped up and suddenly it seemed like the world inverted. When the inversion cleared Nightman was on Megumi's field and the Dark Torturer was on Shinsei's field. "This trap card's special ability is that when activated it can force our monsters to switch sides on the field, and then after that battle continues!"
Megumi gasped in surprise and almost on instinct slammed the last card in her hand into her disk. "I activate my Hell Return quickplay magic card!" Nightman exploded into dust and the Dark Torturer appeared on her field. "This trap card will return Dark Torturer to my control at the cost of one monster! Go now and end this!" The demon cackled and charged again, spear aimed right for Shinsei's chest.
"Reverse card open!" One of Shinsei's remaining face-down cards flipped up and a giant wall of glowing energy appeared in front of the Heaven Gatekeeper. "Kinetic Barrier is a trap that lets me sacrifice magic or trap cards on my field to prevent a monster per card from attacking. So I sacrifice my face-down card, Clay Wrap, to prevent your Gatekeeper from coming after me!" Then the spear slammed right into his diaphragm and he gasped in pain, dropping to one knee.
Megumi- 1900
Shinsei- 180
Megumi smirked and was about to tell him to discard the top five cards of his deck, but went silent as her Forbidden Pleasures card shattered. "How?"
"Clay Wrap…" Shinsei still was having trouble drawing breath, but he refused to give up yet. "When sent to the graveyard…destroys one magic or trap card in play." His shaky left hand slid the top five cards off of his deck and he discarded them all. ("That's almost it…I'm done.") His entire body hurt all over, and he didn't know what else he could possibly do to fight back against this woman. As he looked at the blank white card and blank black cards that were in his hand, he rolled his eyes at how much of a waste they were. ("What can I possibly do with these two?")
Then a mental kick to the ass came to him. ("Wait a second…I forgot all about that other card!") He slowly stood up and exhaled sharply, letting all of his tensions out at once. "I'm sorry, but now I have to take you down."
"What?" Megumi's eyes widened at the confidence in the boy's eyes. ("What does he have?")
Shinsei drew. "I play Polymerization!"
She face-fell, hard. "What? You don't have any monsters in your hand or field!"
"That's true…" Shinsei smiled and inserted the magic card into his graveyard. "I guess we'd better hope for the best!" Fire exploded out of his graveyard slot and up high into the air. An unearthly screech filled the room and the fire took the shape of a giant bird. "Hero Phoenix's special ability activates now! By discarding one Polymerization card from my hand to the graveyard, I can remove it from my graveyard to fuse monsters in my graveyard together!" The huge firebird shape screeched once more and launched into his graveyard slot. "I remove Burst Lady, Gunman and Featherman from the game!" The phoenix emerged once more, and when it reached the apex of its flight the fire disappeared, replaced by a red and orange version of Featherman holding two incredibly long-barreled pistols. "Elemental Hero Phoenix Shooter!" (1300/1300)
"You managed to make a fusion in these circumstances?" Megumi's eyes widened as Phoenix Shooter flapped its wings and energy ran up and down its body. "What's happening?"
"The first ability of Phoenix Shooter increases its attack power by 100 points for every monster in my removed from play pile!" Shinsei smiled wryly. "That's twenty-three, in case you weren't keeping track!" (3600/1300)
"3750 attack points?" Megumi's eyes went huge. "Impossible…"
"Nothing is impossible! Now, go Phoenix Shooter!" The Elemental Hero aimed both of its guns at the Dark Torturer. "Flames of Rebirth!" Then energy was flying from both barrels, the power enough to instantly vaporize the demon.
Megumi- 100
Shinsei- 180
Shinsei smiled calmly as his body became surrounded by a sheath of glowing red-orange flames. "When Phoenix Shooter destroys a monster as a result of battle, I gain that monster's attack in life points and the destroyed monster is removed from the game."
Megumi- 100
Shinsei- 1980
Megumi felt sweat dripping down her face. ("What an incredible boy…how could he so quickly turn the tides? Now I have no choice to switch my monster to defense mode, and all I can do now is…") She tightened her fists. "I'm far from done with this."
"I bet so." Shinsei slid a card from his hand into his disk. "I set one card face-down on the field and end my turn."
Megumi drew and looked at the drawn card hopefully. Her eyes widened at what she saw. "Now I can show you exactly what you will be facing!"
"Huh?" If a huge question mark could have appeared over Shinsei's head, it would have.
"It would be better if I just played this card, rather then tried to explain it! Go Familiar Summon!" Energy lined the body of her monster, and then it exploded into dust. "By sacrificing one monster on the field, I can activate the special ability of this very unique magic card. I now reach into the space between the world of Duel Monsters and the world of humans…" A powerful aura of purple energy exploded to life around her. "By paying half of my life points, I can special summon my partner to the field!"
Megumi- 50
Shinsei- 1980
"Your partner?" Shinsei lifted up an eyebrow, and then gasped as the aura separated from Megumi's body and lowered to her monster field. It formed into a portal and from within that portal a humanoid form emerged onto the field.
It would have been a normal human woman, if not for the white wing and black wing on its back, along with the inhumanly holy song that it was singing, even though its mouth wasn't moving. "I am Hantenshi. And you, who fights against my partner, must be defeated." (2100/1700)
Shinsei sweat-dropped at the fact that the monster was talking to him, but he shook it off and sighed. "Um…not to nitpick and all, but your monster can't possibly hope to compete with Phoenix Shooter."
"With her current strength, that is very true." Megumi and Hantenshi both smiled at once. "However..." They said in unison. "Our ability will defeat you."
"Ability?" Shinsei was starting to get very creeped out by how these two were acting…and just by the mere fact that a Duel Monster was talking at all.
"When Hantenshi is in play, her attack score is increased by the number of cards in my removed from play pile times 100, while her defense is increased by the number of cards in my graveyard times 100. For both the forsaken and the lost, she will strengthen herself." Hantenshi's black wing stretched out and grew in size. (3800/1700) Then the white wing stretched out and grew in size. (3800/3800)
"3800 attack points?" Shinsei gritted his teeth as he watched black fire appear in Hantenshi's hand. ("Oh crap…")
"Go partner, attack!" Megumi smirked as the half angel unleashed a blazing fireball of black fire that hurtled towards Shinsei's fusion monster like a missile. "This is the end for you."
"Reverse card open!" Shinsei's face-down card snapped up and a glowing barrier of energy appeared in front of him. "Hero Barrier negates your attack because there is an Elemental Hero in play!" The fireball hit the barrier and then faded, though for a moment it seemed like the barrier was going to break under the pressure.
Hantenshi pursed her lips and looked back at Megumi. "My apologies for not being to penetrate his trap card's effect. Apparently his will is very strong."
"I can tell that from here." Megumi motioned to Shinsei. "The turn is yours."
Shinsei drew, though he suddenly felt like he was completely outclassed. ("It's just one monster…but why do I feel so uneasy while it is near me. It's like the monsters I have in play aren't enough to fight this woman.") Looking at the two blank cards in his hand, he brushed them aside mentally and twisted Phoenix Shooter's card to the side. "I switch Phoenix Shooter into defense mode." The winged superhero dropped to one knee and folded its wings in front of it. "Also, I place one card face-down on the field and then I'll end my turn."
Megumi chuckled. "Are you sure that will be enough to keep your alive during this turn?"
"Yeah, it will be enough." Shinsei bit his lower lip as that feeling of being incredibly outgunned got bigger and bigger. ("This lady has some serious power behind her draw, and that talking Duel Monster must have something to do with it!")
Megumi drew. "Are you ready to begin, boy? Because I just drew another important card…a technique magic card."
"Technique magic card?" Shinsei tilted his head to the side. "I've heard of techniques, and magic cards…but a magic card that is a technique?"
"Correct." The woman held up the magic card and it started to glow. "This card's special ability will allow Hantenshi to trigger one of her best attacks! Activate Heavenly Voice of Discord!" The card shimmered and faded away. "One monster in play will destroyed, and its attack will be dealt in damage to your life points. Also, I will gain life points equal to the defense of the destroyed monster!"
Hantenshi spread out her wings and started to sing loudly, energy building around her body in waves. Then with one explosive release there was a thrumming stream of light heading towards Phoenix Shooter.
Megumi pumped her fist into the air. "This is it!"
"Not yet! Reveal De-Fusion!" Shinsei's face-down card flipped up and his Phoenix Shooter turned into a ball of light, which then popped like a balloon. "I break down my monster's fusion, though because the monsters that make up Phoenix Shooter are removed from the game, I simply remove Phoenix Shooter from the field."
Megumi gritted her teeth angrily. "You're one lucky weakling, you know that right? Because Heavenly Voice of Discord prevents me from attacking during this turn, I'll just have to end it there." She closed her eyes and smiled slightly, because all he had in his hand were the two blank cards from before.
Shinsei looked down at his deck and sighed, drawing. ("No point in getting scared, at this point I can't look back or feel regret. There must be a way to end this duel right now!")
Megumi was suddenly wreathed in that aura again, and it was much stronger. In fact it was so strong that Shinsei was actually forced to his knees. "You won't beat me, boy. My level of spiritual energy is far above yours, and my Guardian is also much stronger than any monster your deck could create."
"God, just shut up…" Shinsei tried to stand and dropped to his knees again. "I'm not going to give up, so give it a freaking rest."
("I couldn't have said it better myself, that I could not.") A voice echoed in Shinsei's mind.
Shinsei blinked and looked around. ("I must he having flashbacks of…") Shaking his head out, he pointed right at Megumi. "Anyway, you talk too much crap without anything to back it up, and I'll make you pay for it right now!"
Megumi started to speak, but then stopped as she saw a very thin aura of orange-red energy spring to life around Shinsei's body. ("Where I felt no power before…now I can feel it…")
Hantenshi snapped her wings up and got ready, because she could feel the arriving source of energy.
Shinsei felt it now…something was waking up within him. ("Who are you? Why are you in my body?")
("My name is…actually, that's a good question. I suppose you have to name me, that you do.") The voice spoke so casually that Shinsei wondered if he had lost his mind. ("Oh, I'm sorry! I'm sure you think that you are crazy…")
("Think? I know I'm crazy.") Shinsei looked down at his hand and his eyes widened at the mild red glow coming from the blank white card. ("Why is it glowing like that?")
("Anyway, shall we defeat this woman and her Guardian?") The voice was so cheerful about it…and it was so familiar. Where had he heard it before?
Megumi smiled as she watched the aura expand even larger. ("It's awake now…")
Shinsei closed his eyes and took a deep breath. ("I want to beat her, so I'll put my doubt aside and play you!") His eyes snapped open and he grabbed the no longer blank card. "First I play Joyous Rebirth to revive one monster from my graveyard to the field in defense mode! Elemental Hero Nightman!" The dark-colored superhero appeared and he drew three cards. "Now I play Familiar Summon!" Nightman exploded into dust. "I offer one monster and half of my life points! Emerge now!"
A pair of wood-frame Japanese sliding doors appeared in mid-air on his field and slowly slid open to reveal a man who looked to be about in his early twenties. He had calm blue eyes and a head full of long red hair. Across his fair face there was a single cross-cut scar, and attached to the side of his richly purple/pink kimono there rested a katana.
Shinsei stared at the form with huge eyes as he instantly recognized who it was…but that couldn't be possible. "You're a fictional character…"
"Fictional?" The man turned and then looked down at himself. "I'm pretty sure I'm quite real, that I am."
Shinsei stomped up to the man and pointed right at him. "That's not what I meant! I mean, you're from my favorite manga! Therefore, you are a fictional character!" He crossed his arms across his chest. "And why am I yelling at you, since you're not real?"
Megumi wasn't sure why the boy was so freaked out about the appearance of his Guardian. ("It's a samurai, so what? I've seen much weirder and most of them aren't even human normally.")
The man shrugged at Shinsei's last question. "I was given this form and personality by your subconscious upon my birth. I didn't decide how I would come out, that I did not."
"Argh!" Shinsei threw up his hands. "Stop talking like that! You're not Kenshin Himura!"
"Who?" The Kenshin look-alike tilted his head to the side, looking ridiculously innocent now. Then he suddenly pounded a fist down into his open hand. "I see! You are confused because I must look just like the character your soul chose when it was time for it to decide upon a Guardian. You'll have to forgive my original ignorance, that you will."
"I'll kill you, plain and simple." Shinsei pointed right at the look-alike, though at this range his finger nearly went up the other man's nose because of it. "You cannot be Kenshin Himura, because he is a character from my favorite anime and not a Duel Monster, which you must be because I summoned you with a magic card, did I not?"
"That you did indeed, but I still am apparently this Kenshin Himura you continue to speak of." He closed his eyes and nodded sagely at his own 'wisdom'. "Apparently you lack the proper imagination to come up with an original Guardian, so your soul took the form of someone or something you looked up to and imprinted that into my design."
"Lack of imagination?" Shinsei cracked his knuckles. "I'll 'lack of imagination' you!" He was about to throw his fist, but his mind gave him a little mental reminder that he was still in the middle of a duel. "Screw it, just stop acting like you're someone you're not." Walking back over to his space on the field, he turned and held up his remaining four hand cards. "Alright, just freaking introduce yourself like the other one did."
"As you wish." The man turned to face both Hantenshi and Megumi. "My name is Kenshin; Samurai of Twilight!" (1800/1600) He ignored Shinsei's apparently now instinctive reaction of screaming "you're not Kenshin!" and placed his hand on the hilt of his katana. "Now then, I've been watching the duel from afar and I believe this would our endgame, correct?"
"That's right." Megumi and Hantenshi both replied. "It's nearly over for both of you. You have come too late to defeat us."
"Is that so?" Kenshin glanced back at Shinsei, who still had veins bulging out of his forehead. "Now is not the time to act surprised, that it isn't. Since this is the first time I have been summoned, we don't have access to any techniques or special items. As such, we'll have to make good use of my special abilities to win this game."
Shinsei looked down at the card that had somehow mysteriously appeared on his duel disk. Reading the text of the card, his eyes widened. ("This guy, fake or not, is really good!") He held up a card from his hand. "I activate the magic card Spell Reproduction! By discarding two magic cards from my hand I can add one magic card from my graveyard to my hand!"
He held up Pot of Greed. "Also, one of the magic cards I discarded was Repayment of Losses, so I draw an extra card." Looking at the two new cards in his hand, he slid one card into his disk and then held up Pot of Greed. "I draw two cards." He held up two cards. "Research on the Pot of Greed and Serial Spell. This combo lets me discard the remaining card in my hand to play another Research on the Pot of Greed. Research on the Pot of Greed lets me draw two cards if I played Pot of Greed during this turn. And since it activates twice, I draw four cards." Sliding four cards off of his deck, he looked at all of them and then smiled slightly. "It will be just enough to win this duel."
"What?" Megumi narrowed her eyes as Shinsei held a card up. "That's…"
"That's right, it's Fusion Blade Murasame! I equip it to…" He refused to call this fake Kenshin. "…that guy!"
A new katana appeared attached to Kenshin's belt. (2600/1600)
"Also, I play the equipment magic card Kaiser Sword, which I also equip to…that guy!" A golden broadsword appeared strapped to Kenshin's back. "This equipment magic card allows me to increase the equipped monster's attack points by 500! Also, when that monster battles with a monster that has attack points equal to its own, it wins!" (3100/1600)
"That won't be enough to defeat Hantenshi!" Megumi smiled slightly and tapped the side of her head. "You can slap as many equipment magic cards onto your Guardian as you want, there's no way to increase his attack by 2000 in total with just four cards off the top of your deck. I'm amazed that you got two equipment magic cards alone."
"I'm not done yet!" Shinsei slid a card from his hand into his disk. "I place one card face-down on the field and then I'll have to end my turn."
Kenshin glanced back at Shinsei, and then looked ahead at his opponents, eyes hardened for battle.
Megumi drew. "Hantenshi, blow that weakling away! Flame of the Underworld!" The angel lifted up a single ball of black fire and hurled it right at the swordsman. "It's the end for your Guardian, and he just got here too…how sad." The fireball slammed into Kenshin and exploded, filling the air with smoke.
"What's sad?" Shinsei smiled slightly as the smoke cleared to reveal Kenshin unharmed. "This guy shares an ability with one of my favorite Elemental Heroes, in that when he would be destroyed as a result of battle then I can send one equipment magic card equipped to him to the graveyard to negate the destruction and the battle damage. It's like having a permanent Bubble Shooter on him." Smirking as the Fusion Sword Murasame exploded into dust, he winked at the woman. "Try again."
"Easily." Megumi held up her drawn card and it flashed. "Purgatory's Sense of Time is a quickplay magic card that lets me start the current phase over again and also draw one card. So that means Hantenshi can attack again!" The angel unleashed another blast of fire that hurtled towards Kenshin.
Shinsei snapped up his hand and the fireball faded with the Kaiser Sword. "I activate this guy's effect again!"
Megumi held up the card that she had drawn with Purgatory's Sense of Time to reveal another Purgatory's Sense of Time. "I'll keep doing it until you're defeated!" She drew again while Hantenshi unleashed a fireball that hurtled towards Kenshin.
"Reverse card open!" Shinsei's set card flipped to reveal a steel shield. "Safeguard protects my monster from your attack!" The fireball slammed into a glowing metal shield that appeared in its path.
Megumi slid the last card in her hand into her disk. "I place one card face-down on the field and then I'll end my turn."
Shinsei drew. "I play the magic card Warrior Returning Alive!" Holding up Rageman, he slapped it onto the disk. "Return now, Rageman!" The giant hammer-wielding Elemental Hero appeared on the field. "Now, attack her monster!" (2000/0) "And as you must remember, Rageman gains half of the attacked monster's attack before damage calculation begins!" (3900/0) "That means the duel is mine!"
"Is that so? Reverse card open!" Megumi's face-down card flipped up and a blast of fire hurtled towards the Elemental Hero. "Divine Retaliation activates when you attack an angel on my field! The attacking monster is destroyed!"
"From my hand, go quickplay magic card!" Shinsei slammed a card into his disk. "Strength Transfer takes half the attack of one monster I have in play and gives it to another monster in play!" Energy flowed along Kenshin's robes as his power increased. (3750/1600)
Megumi laughed as the fireball consumed Rageman and destroyed it. "So that's it? You're completely out of options unless of course your face-down card is something worthwhile…is it?"
Shinsei looked down at the face-down card. It was the black-faced blank card…which meant it was absolutely useless. "We've lost…end turn."
"It's good to see you are accepting it! Now…" Megumi drew and then pointed at Kenshin. "Take this!" Hantenshi lifted up her hands and released two fireballs that hurtled towards the samurai.
Kenshin didn't flinch as death approached him. "Shinsei…it was nice to meet you, if just for a little while. If she beats you, then I'll wind up fading away forever…" He closed his eyes and sighed. "Good-bye…"
Shinsei grimaced and clenched his fist tightly. ("What am I doing? I can't just let this guy get destroyed…but…the face-down card is…") A tingle ran up his spine and he felt something…like a resonance in his soul. "I won't lose to the likes of you, lady! If this guy says he's Kenshin, then he's Kenshin…and that means…reverse card open!" The face-down card flipped up and energy exploded along Kenshin's body.
"That's a…" Megumi's eyes widened. "It's a technique card!"
Shinsei held up his right fist. "It's Ryou Tsui Sen! This quickplay magic card's special ability increases Kenshin's attack points by 700, and any monster he destroys as a result of battle during this turn has its effect negated!"
"Oh no…I already declared my attack!" Megumi gasped as Hantenshi's attack missed the samurai, who seemed to just disappear into thin air. "Where is he?"
Shinsei smirked and pointed up. "Above you."
Both Hantenshi and Megumi looked up to see Kenshin falling towards the half-angel with his sword out and held high above his head. "Hiten Mitsurugi Style, Ryou Tsui Sen!" (4450/1600) Then the sword slashed right through the half-angel. Kenshin landed on one knee in front of her, snapping the sword around and sheathing it.
"Partner…I…" Hantenshi shuddered and exploded into dust.
Megumi- 0
Shinsei- 1980
A silence held over the field, and then Shinsei smirked and rubbed his index finger under his nose. "It looks like I've won. Such a shame for you."
Megumi closed her eyes and sighed. "I suppose it can't be helped then…" She bowed to him. "I give you welcome, Vanguard Shinsei."
Both Kenshin and Shinsei blinked stupidly. "Huh?"
To be continued…