Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh.
Vanguard Generations
Chapter 6: Young Ambitions
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?"
"You heard me." Megumi held a hand out to him. "Welcome to the Vanguards."
"What the heck is a Vanguard?" Shinsei looked over at Kenshin, who answered the question by shrugging stupidly. "You don't know? It seemed like you were pretty well educated on this subject before!"
"That was before…we wound up talking up to this lady." The red-haired samurai thumbed over at Megumi. "Can't we go and search for more Soul Templates now?"
"Soul Templates?" Shinsei looked over at Megumi. "On that note, what is this guy?"
Clearing her throat, Megumi started to speak. "A Vanguard is a special sect of duelists who have been entrusted with protecting this world from demons. And the Guardian is a special fragment of your soul created to help you in these duels. It gets stronger the more you train yourself and it, and Soul Template cards are blank cards that will respond only to a Vanguard. If you properly use it, then it will become a card that will work in combination with your Guardian to create amazing effects…but that is only if you know what you are doing." She held up a little wristband to him. "Use this. It is a special device that will indicate when demonic energy is nearby. Also, it will be useful to identify yourself to other Vanguards. Along with that…" She held out a small jewel-encrusted Deck Box. "This is called your Guardian deck. Store your activated Soul Template cards here. When your Guardian is summoned, the effect text of Familiar Summoning says to add your Guardian Deck to your normal dueling deck."
Shinsei nodded slowly, attaching the deck box to his belt and sliding the Ryu Tsui Sen card into it. Then he placed the black wristband on and watched as little glowing symbols appeared across its face. "Huh, what's with the weird markings?"
"Those are Rank markings. They tell other Vanguards what level you are, between one to eight in total." Megumi held a finger up right in front of his face. "On that note, there is one more thing you must know before you go. "Because this was called a Spar Duel, it is alright to lose your Guardian here. But if you lose a duel that your Guardian has been summoned to in real life, and it is a game either with a demon or another Vanguard, then you will forget all about Kenshin and he will disappear forever. Do…not…lose." And with that, she smiled and saluted him. "We shall meet again, until then stay alive." There was a flash of light and Shinsei found himself standing where he had been before.
-----------------------
Shinsei walked up to the exit to the airport and sighed loudly. "This is ridiculous…another test before we can leave?"
Sure enough, there was an entire series of booths set up blocking all the exits. And the sounds of duels going on told Shinsei that he was going to have to duel his way out of this place.
"It's a three on three duel against a computer program." A familiar voice spoke from right behind him.
Shinsei turned around and his eyes widened at who he saw. "Airos? It's you?"
The green-haired boy nodded and chuckled. "It's good to see you made it to the exit, Zeru. Now then, we'll need to find a third if we want to escape this place."
Shinsei started to nod, and then yelped as a rock the size of his fist hit him in the back of the head and floored him. ("What the hell?")
"Shinsei Zeru, I've finally found you after all this time!" A child's voice cried out through the din of the exits, and the sound of little footsteps could be heard.
Shinsei leapt to his feet just in time to avoid a punch aimed for his groin. "It's been a long time, Eric."
A little brown-haired boy holding another large rock turned on one heel and charged in to kick Shinsei in the shin. "After all this time, I'm ready to settle the score with you finally! My deck is ready to defeat you completely and utterly!" He held a duel disk on one of his arms to indicate this. "Now prepare to fight!"
Shinsei sighed helplessly. "You're a relentless little kid, but I'll humor you under one condition. If I win, you help me and green-haired bird weirdo over there get past the three on three duel challenge. Deal?"
"I don't care! Let's go!" Eric's disk activated and he drew his opening hand. "Go!"
Shinsei- 4000
Eric- 4000
Shinsei groaned and drew. "Fine, let's make this quick you little fool!" Looking at the drawn card, he added it to his hand and threw a card down. "Go Elemental Hero Aquaman (900/1100) in attack mode!" A fountain of water shot up into the air and then disappeared to reveal a blue-skinned man wearing fish scale green armor. "This monster, when summoned and I have no cards in play, allows me to draw two cards and then discard one from my hand!" Sliding two extra cards off of his deck, he added them to his hand and looked all of his cards over. "Now I discard Gun Showdown and set two cards face-down on the field. End turn!"
Eric drew and slapped a card onto his disk. "I summon Eucalyptus Mole (1200/1300) to the field!" A strange mole-like creature with Eucalyptus leaves on its back appeared on the field. "Attack his hero!" It scuttled across the field and slashed the warrior into pieces. "Take that!"
Shinsei- 3800
Eric- 4000
Airos shook his head sadly. "Bad move, kid."
Shinsei pointed at his two face-down cards. "First I activate my Sidekick Force trap card, which activates when a monster on my field is destroyed as a result of battle. Also, reveal Hero Signal! From my deck, one level four or lower Elemental Hero will be special summoned! Elemental Hero Bubbleman emerges!" (800/1200) The blue-armored superhero appeared on the field amongst a cloud of little blue bubbles. "When Bubbleman is summoned and I have no cards in play, then I can draw two cards!" Sliding two more cards off of his deck, Shinsei smiled as a silver-colored metal hawk appeared in play. "Also, my Sidekick Force trap card special summons my Scout Hawk!" (500/500)
Eric gritted his teeth and slid two cards into his disk. "I'll place two cards face-down! End turn!"
Airos shook his head again. "This kid is too riled up to think straight. Why would he attack and risk those traps just to cause you a measly 200 points of damage?"
Shinsei shrugged. "I met him about two months ago, and ever since I beat him in a duel he just keeps finding me and messing with me!" Then he drew.
("Perhaps you've found yourself a rival?") Kenshin's voice echoed in Shinsei's head, but the boy didn't bother to respond to it.
"Let's go Eric!" Shinsei slid two more cards into his disk. "I place two cards face-down on the field and then I'll switch my Bubbleman and Scout Hawk into defense mode." Both monsters slid down into protective stances. "End turn."
Eric snapped the top card off of his deck and his face-down cards flipped up. "Reveal Chain of Destruction and Safari! These two traps will be your downfall, because the first, Chain of Destruction, lets me send cards on my field to the graveyard to destroy magic and trap cards on your field! Also, the effect of Safari lets me special summon one Beast monster from my deck to the field that is level five or lower!" A howl erupted from his field as a giant lion formed in play. "Wild Lion (1800/1400) in attack mode!" Safari and Eucalyptus Mole exploded into dust, along with Shinsei's two set cards.
Shinsei smiled slightly at that. "You've gotten a little better…"
"I've gotten a whole lot better!" Eric snapped up his hand and a giant blue koala appeared on his field. "When my Mole is sent to the graveyard I can special summon one monster with Koala in its title from my deck to the field! Big Koala!" (2700/2000) "Also, I summon my Des Wombat (1600/300) to the field!" A brown-furred little marsupial appeared in play. "Go now Wild Lion, crush his Bubbleman!" The giant beast tackled the superhero and blew it apart. "Also, Des Wombat attacks Scout Hawk!" Right behind the lion came the little creature, which tackled the metal hawk and shattered it.
Shinsei watched as a card slid out of his deck. "When Scout Hawk is destroyed as a result of battle I may add one Elemental Hero that is level four or lower from my deck to my hand." He held up Elemental Hero Burst Lady.
"It doesn't matter, take this!" The giant koala threw itself at Shinsei, dropping onto him like a human's hand onto a fly. Then the field shimmered as the creature reappeared on Eric's field. "I'll place two cards face-down and then my turn ends!"
Shinsei- 1100
Eric- 4000
Airos whistled in amazement. "Maybe this kid has some moves after all."
Shinsei stood up slowly and popped some kinks out of his neck. "Ouch, that still smarts even after all this time."
("Now is not the time to be making the fact he is beating you seem like nothing, that it is not. Do you have a way to turn this duel around?")
("Of course.") Shinsei rubbed an index finger under his nose. "Hey Eric, you'd better prepare yourself…because here I come!" He drew the top card of his deck and a smile crossed his face. "Oh yeah, here it comes! I play the magic card Joyous Rebirth!" There was a flash of light and Bubbleman reappeared on his field. "Now I draw two cards." Sliding two more cards off of his deck, the boy chuckled.
Eric just glowered at him like he was pure evil.
"I summon Elemental Hero Burst Lady (1200/800) in defense mode." Shinsei watched as a red-suited superhero woman appeared on the field in a crouching position next to Bubbleman. "Then I play the magic card Burst Return, which can only activate if Burst Lady is in play. All Elemental Heroes on the field, excluding Burst Lady, are returned to my hand." Bubbleman faded away and he picked the card up off of his disk and added it to his hand.
"You're just stalling for time now!" Eric pointed right at Shinsei. "Give it up already!"
"Screw you." Shinsei slid a card into his disk. "I place one card face-down on the field and end my turn."
Airos lifted his eyebrows at the face-down card. ("I wonder what he placed face-down…")
Eric drew and pointed at the superhero. "Go Des Wombat, open the way to my victory!" The little creature ran in and slashed its claws across Burst Lady's body, but nothing happened. "What?"
Airos gasped, while Shinsei smirked at the golden aura around her. "I activated my face-down card, which is a trap card called Invincible Hero. During this turn, one monster in play with Elemental Hero in its name cannot be destroyed."
Eric just stood in silence, and then kicked his feet a couple of times. "Fine, take your turn!"
("This kid is seriously in need of a hobby besides following me across the freaking planet trying to beat me.") Shinsei drew. "I play Elemental Hero Featherman (1000/1000) in defense mode, and then I'll place three cards from my hand face-down on the field." He knew he was taking a big risk, but at the moment it was either that or surrender. And honestly, while he did want Eric to eventually get that win he hounded for, now would not be the time to give him it. "End turn."
Eric drew and slapped a card onto his disk. "Another Des Wombat!" Another of the brown-furred creatures appeared on the field. "This is the end of you! Go double Des Wombat attack!" Both of the marsupials attacked, but one ran into a glowing barrier of blue light.
"Hero Barrier's special ability allows me to negate one attack when there is an Elemental Hero in play." Shinsei took a deep relieving breath. ("He's doing exactly what I planned he would.") "Also, reveal Emergency Provisions!" His face-up Hero Barrier and face-down card disappeared at the same time that his Burst Lady was blown apart by the Des Wombat. "By sending these two magic and trap cards to the graveyard, I can gain 2000 life points!"
Shinsei- 3100
Eric- 4000
Eric pointed at Featherman. "Die!" The Wild Lion roared and tackled the superhero, rending it to shreds with its claws. "Big Koala, direct attack!" The huge koala dropped onto Shinsei again, and then the field automatically returned to normal. "End turn."
Shinsei- 400
Eric- 4000
Shinsei stumbled slightly and shook his head out. "Jeez, what's with me today?" Then he drew. "Nothing at all apparently! Go Pot of Greed!" He drew two cards from his deck and added them to his hand. "Then I'll summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman again!" The superhero appeared in a flash of blue bubbles. "As before, I draw two cards!" Looking at the two new cards, his mouth quirked into a weird little smile. "How freaking sweet is that? I play my Dark Factory of Mass Production to add two normal monsters from my graveyard to my hand!" He held up Burst Lady and Featherman. "And now you're about to find yourself completely outclassed by my ultimate hero."
"What are you talking about?" Eric pointed right at him. "I can beat anything you can throw at me!"
"Not this one." Shinsei snapped up a card. "I discard my Fusion Magister (1200/1200) from my hand to activate its effect! Fusion!" Holding up three cards from his hand, he smirked at the confused look on the boy's face. "I fuse Bubbleman, Featherman, Burst Lady, and Clayman together to create the ultimate four-way fusion!" Lightning crashed down around the field. "Emerge now, Elixeler!" (2900/2900) A giant golden-suited superhero slowly lowered onto the field. "Fusion Majesty!" A bright explosion of light came from the hero's body as the Big Koala was blown into nothingness.
Shinsei- 400
Eric- 3800
"Reveal Beast Grass!" Eric's face-down card flipped up and he grabbed a card from his deck and placed it into his hand. "When a monster on my field is destroyed as a result of battle, I can add one beast monster from my deck to my hand! My choice is Des Kangaroo!"
Shinsei grimaced and slid a card into his disk. "I place one card face-down on the field and then I'll end my turn."
"Nice come-back, but it might be too late to recover from this Shinsei." Airos closed his eyes and smiled slightly. ("When you lose to this kid, I'll make sure you never hear the end of it.")
Eric smirked widely. "You're on death's door, and you treat your little 2900 fusion like he's the best in the world. Well now you've walked right into my trap!"
Shinsei blinked at that. "A trap?"
"That's right, a trap!" Eric drew. "Reveal face-down Soul Resurrection! One normal monster in my graveyard will be special summoned to the field! Big Koala!" The giant blue koala returned to play in a crouching position. "Now I'll show you a real fusion! Go Polymerization, fuse Des Kangaroo and my Big Koala together to summon my Master of Oz!" (4200/3800) A giant green-furred creature appeared on the field and pounded its boxing glove-covered hands together. "You can't win now that I'll wipe out your best hope for a victory! Go Master of Oz, Ultimate Punch!" The giant creature charged right at Elixeler like a missile.
To be continued…
To Seeker of the Soul: I'm glad you find it so freaking cool. We'll be seeing a lot more of Kenshin later.
To Azure Sands: Indeed.
To Demon Fan: But Aoshi isn't any good for it. I mean…he's not Kenshin. He's great an all, but…he's not Kenshin.
To John: Avoid hurting yourself now.
To Darksoulkai: Errrr…right, got it.
To Disciple of Bob: Screw you, it shall be Kenshin, that it shall. Anyway, it's in real life and therefore I doubt you could participate. No, I doubt there will be that much crossover from any other anime.