Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh.
Vanguard Generations
Chapter 12: Two on one;
Airos sighed and dropped Shinsei onto the bed of their small hotel room unceremoniously. "You are ridiculous…first I find you unconscious, and then no matter what horrible things I do to you, you won't wake up."
Then he looked over at the still unconscious Andrew. "I can forgive you, because you're still a beginner."
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Not too far away, two pairs of eyes watched the inside of the hotel room through one of its windows. "So the black-haired one is the new Vanguard that beat Shadow? And the other two are just normal guys, right?"
"Right. Therefore, all we have to do is beat that green-haired one and we can beat that new guy by just killing him, right?"
"Right."
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Airos sighed and glanced out the window, his eyes rather uninterested in what was happening in this boring town. ("No clubs open…no nothing…gods, it's so stupid to clear out a whole city just for a Duel Monsters tournament.")
Then a knock came at the door. "Excuse me, room service compliments of the tournament committee to all duelists staying at the hotels."
Airos sighed and walked over to the front door, opening it slowly. "Fine, hurry up please."
As soon as the door opened, he immediately knew he had been tricked. There was a young man about his age standing there wearing a leather coat and jeans. "Yo, green-hair dude. You'll have to get out of our way while we deal with your friend, okay?"
Airos sighed and reached out of sight, picking up his duel disk and putting it on. "Naw, he can't come out and play right now. I'm assuming you're something like that little kid from the airport, so you can entertain yourself by dueling me instead."
"You want to duel us in a Vanguard Duel then? That's foolish…" The young man glanced behind him to a black-haired man wearing a pair of black ray-ban sunglasses. "Wouldn't you agree, partner?"
"Indeed I would, partner." The man took off his glances and looked right into Airos' eyes. "Trust me, friend…this isn't what you really want. If you duel us using our rules, you'll be risking your life. Without a Guardian, every blow will be real. You'll really be killed if we land a killing…"
"I said I challenge you." Airos narrowed his eyes. "What part of that did you not understand?"
"Fine, whatever." The man pointed down over the balcony and out into the parking lot in front of the hotel. "That'll do for our playing field…be quick to arrive." Then as one he and the boy turned and walked off, chuckling to themselves.
Airos rolled his eyes and walked back inside to get his duel disk. "Troublesome times call for troublesome measures…but if what they said is true I can't hold back my powers at this time. If I do, I'll die."
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A few minutes later, the three of them were standing in the empty parking lot, about twenty feet between Airos and the two, and around ten feet between the two.
"Before we begin, how about a little background on what exactly Shinsei did to the two of you?" Airos was rather curious now, after all, this was definitely an important thing to learn. He needed a good reason to beat the crap out of Shinsei later for forcing him to fight his battles.
"My name is Kyoshi…" The jacket-wearing boy activated his duel disk. "And our agenda is revenge for our partner, Shadow. After all, we were a team…up until your friend defeated him!" He snarled and dug his feet into the pavement.
"I am Ryumen, and our reasons against your friend don't really concern the likes of you. A lower class human being doesn't need to know the plans of those who protect them from themselves." Sunglasses activated his duel disk. "Let's go!"
"All that talking and we're back to square one…how sad. Duel!" Airos activated his duel disk, and glanced around at the land they were standing on. ("City Zone….only certain types of monsters get bonuses here…E-Heroes…and a few other random types. However, because it's also night, this is a City Night Zone. All demon and undead monsters gain a 400 attack point bonus, and all dark attribute monsters gain a 300 defense point bonus.") Looking down at his deck, he smiled slightly. ("It's fine…if I get the card I hope quickly, their bonus will disappear instantly.")
Kyoshi- 4000
Ryumen- 4000
Airos- 4000
Kyoshi snapped the top card off of his deck. "First, let's show you why we can't lose! Field magic card, Curtain of Nightmares!" All around his field, a huge cloud of darkness formed and stole all sight of his field. "As long as this field magic card is in play, you can't see what moves I make and I certainly don't have to announce them to you either! It's your move, partner."
Ryumen drew. "And guess what…" He opened his field magic card slot. "He's not the only one plunging you into darkness! Field magic card, Curtain of Nightmares!" His entire field was swallowed up in darkness. "End turn."
"How's that? How can you fight what you can't see at all?" Kyoshi laughed at the top of his lungs. "There's no possible way that you can possibly win this duel, fool! If you can't see us how can you expect to deal with not one, but two…"
Airos drew disinterestedly. "Activate Giant Trunade. All magic and trap cards in play return to their owner's hands." An explosion of wind tore across the field and both curtain of darkness disappeared. "What were you saying?"
Ryumen felt a single drop of sweat slide down the side of his head. "We're…we're not impressed. After all, we can just play them during our next turn!"
"Card Destruction forces all players to discard their hands and draw new ones." Airos casually slid his four cards into the graveyard and drew four new ones, and then he looked up at his opponent's fields. Both of his opponents had five cards in their hands now, and both had a single face-down monster in play. ("So uninteresting.") Holding up another card, he almost yawned while playing it. "Storm of Helios destroys all face-down monsters on your fields." A blast of burning fire washed over their fields and an explosion of heat backlashed into their faces. "Now then, I play Terraforming to search my deck for a field magic card." Discarding the magic card into his graveyard slot, he removed his deck from his disk and fanned it out, looking all of the cards over for the card of his choice.
"You insolent…" Ryumen glanced over at Kyoshi, who look very disturbed by their opponent's amazing casual act of brushing their strategies away. "Don't be afraid, if all else fails we'll just have to use our ultimate weapons and tear him apart."
"Keeping secrets are you?" Airos opened his field magic card slot. "Go Rising Air Current!" All of sudden they were thousands of feet in the air, winds blowing past their faces. "The Zone Bonus changes to Sky, so now all winged beast, thunder, and dragon type monsters now gain a thirty percent attack bonus. In addition, all wind attribute monsters gain 500 attack points and lose 400 defense points thanks to my field card's special power!"
Ryumen grimaced in anger at the fact that now they were playing by this boy's terms. ("Here, his monsters get the advantage. Only Dark, Light, or Wind monsters may attack.")
Airos slapped a card down onto his disk. "Air Hunter (2580/200) in attack mode!" A giant red-feathered hawk lowered onto the field slowly and screeched out, flapping its wings angrily. "Both of you need to understand the gravity of my dueling prowess…so I play Feather Shockwave! This card can only be activated when I have one monster in play and it is a winged beast. I may not summon during this turn, but my monster may attack a number of times equal to the number of targets I have! Namely…" He pointed at each of them, one after another. "Two targets, two strikes! Feather Shockwave!" And then his bird flapped its wings, spraying both of the Vanguard's with powerful feather darts. "End turn."
Kyoshi- 14200
Ryumen- 1420
Airos- 4000
Kyoshi looked over at Ryumen worriedly. "Ryumen…"
The man glared at the boy angrily. "Don't be afraid, damn it! Just draw and let's take this Ryoka down!"
Airos wasn't sure how to translate the word they used to refer to him. It was something meaning lower class of some kind, but there was no exact definition in his mind for it. However, he wasn't a native Japanese speaker, so he didn't expect to fully understand them.
Kyoshi hardened his resolve and drew. "I play the magic card Dark Underworld Hordes! By discarding twice the level of your monster in demon monsters from my hand, I can destroy your creature!" He slid two cards into his graveyard and black claws shot up out of a hole in the air, pulling the bird out of sight. "Hah! Now you're defenseless!"
"Really? Actually, from what I just saw you walked right into a nice punishment." Airos snapped his fingers and a loud screeching filled the air around them. "When Air Hunter is destroyed by one of your card effects and I have no cards in my hand, then I may special summon Tornado Hellion from my deck!" A giant blood-red eagle slowly lowered onto the field. (2000/1000) (2600/1000) (3100/600) "When this monster is summoned, all magic and trap cards in all player's hands are sent to the graveyard, and my opponents take 1000 life points of damage!" The bird screeched when he finished talking and flapped its wings once, a powerful wind blowing both of their hands down to one card, and also nearly throwing them to the ground.
Kyoshi- 4200
Ryumen- 420
Airos- 4000
Kyoshi shakily stood up, looking at Airos like he was the devil himself. "What are you?"
"Me?" Airos lifted his lips up a little bit and the air around him turned green and warped around his frame. "I'm better than you, apparently. Jeez, scaring me with that talk of… 'it'll really be death' and such. Stupid…"
Kyoshi placed his last hand card onto his disk. "End turn."
Ryumen drew. "I'll be sure to defeat you right now!" He snapped it up to show its face. "Pot of Greed lets me draw two cards!" After adding those two cards to his hand, he smirked and slid two cards into his disk. "First, I'll be setting two cards face-down on the field…and then I'll place a monster face-down on the field. It's your turn, bird boy."
Airos narrowed his eyes and drew. "Watch your tongue, if you'd please." Glancing at the drawn card, he pointed at Ryumen. "Go Tornado Hellion!" The giant bird screeched and prepared to release its destructive winds…
"Reverse card open!" Ryumen's face-down card flipped up to reveal a card with a picture of two men facing off with a picture of the Pot of Greed right between them. "Rival's Agreement allows both players to declare a single card name at the same time. If it's the same card name, then both players may add that card from their deck to their hand and then activate it if it is a magic or trap card."
Airos ran a hand through his hair. "What makes you think you and I will call the same card?"
"Who said it mattered if you called? You're not the other player…" Ryumen glanced over at Kyoshi, who looked incredibly relieved.
"Familiar Summon!" They both yelled out at once. There was an explosion of light and their face-down monster cards shattered instantly. "Emerge now, our partners!"
A howl shook the sky around them as a giant black form appeared on Ryumen's field. It slowly stood up to reveal a black-armored humanoid black wolf, holding a large claymore at its side. "Ragumon of the Black Tribe appears." (2100/1600)
A loud chattering noise shook the air next as a giant black rat appeared on Kyoshi's field. "Nezumura of the Black Nest appears!" (100/100)
Airos frowned slightly at these Duel Monsters. Something about them didn't seem quite right. ("What's the deal? Why are they making me feel uneasy…it's still my turn, and one good hit will put these two out of their misery.") "Go Hellion, attack the wolf one!" He pointed at Ragumon. "Tornado Scream!"
"Reverse card open!" Ryumen threw back his head and laughed in triumph. "Technique Activation allows me to use one card from my Guardian Deck that is a Technique…namely my Black Claw Killer will do!" A card appeared in his hand and he held it up to reveal a picture of Ragumon with its claws glowing with black fire. "When this quickplay magic card is activated, Ragumon becomes infused with a powerful dark flame that allows him to increase his attack points by 1000 until the end of the turn." (3100/1600)
"So our monsters will destroy each other?" Airos felt a little better knowing he was still taking that big black beast out of the game.
"Let's find out! Go now and attack his monster Ragumon!" Ryumen pointed at the Tornado Hellion, which opened its jaws and released an angry tornado of fire that hurtled towards the wolf creature.
Ragumon bared his claws and dropped his sword, eyes locked at the approaching whirlwind with the intensity of a hunter closing in on its prey. "Overkill…Black Claw Killer!" Then he snapped his claws at the tornado, a flurry of black sickle-shaped beams tearing the windstorm apart and then slashing through the Tornado Hellion. (3300/1600)
"What?" Airos threw up his arms just in time as a sickle of energy flew in to tear him apart, only to get dispelled as a barrier of wind sprang to life around his body. "How? How did your monster get stronger?"
"Its a little ability Ragumon has called Opposition Against Numbers. For every monster the opponent has in play upon the start of a battle, Ragumon gains 200 attack points during the damage step." Ryumen sneered at the angered look on Airos face. "What's the matter, Ryoka? Can you not understand such a simple effect?"
Kyoshi- 4200
Ryumen- 420
Airos- 3800
Airos glanced at Kyoshi, who was snickering along with his partner. ("These guys and these new monsters are different than the others…but how?") Glancing at his drawn card, he snarled and slid it into his disk. "I place a single card face-down and then I end my turn."
Kyoshi drew, and with a calm sneer on his face held the card up to reveal Monster Gate. "I offer this card as a tribute to activate my Vanguard power! I may add one Technique card to my hand!" The card changed into a picture of a group of face-down cards filled with little bite marks. "Activate Rat's Chewdown! This card will allow Nezumura to not only consume all of your face-down cards in play, but also for each one destroyed you lose the top three cards of your deck!"
Nezumura chattered and exploded into a horde of much smaller black rats. "Overkill…Rat's Chewdown!" The horde charged towards the face-down card like a wave…
"Reveal Disturbance Storm!" Airos' face-down card flipped up and a powerful tornado exploded up around him. "This trap card can only be activated when I have a Rising Air Current in play. Until my draw phase, I cannot be attacked!" The horde of rats returned to Kyoshi's field and reformed into Nezumura.
Kyoshi snickered and held up a finger. "Nice save…but during my end phase Nezumura forces the top four cards off of your deck." His Guardian started to glow dark black, and the top four cards of Airos' deck slid off the top and extended themselves for him to remove.
As the green-haired did this, he felt like he was suddenly in a very dangerous position. ("I'm walking the tightrope here…and if I'm not careful, I'll take the drop to my death.")
From his hiding place behind a nearby wall, Kuruske couldn't help but agree as he watched. ("A pair of Vanguards against a Ryoka? What are these times coming to?")
To be continued…
Author's Notes: Hey, I know there are more of you out there reading this story than just these three. If you want more chapters at a faster rate, then send in some reviews so I'm inspired to write more. Those of you who follow my older works should know that already, and for those of you new to my stories you've been informed. A review is food for my imagination, because it reminds me that there are people out there reading this stuff.
To Demon Fan: Sort of, but not off Samurai Pizza Cats. Actually off of Kyatto Ninden Teyandee (spelling it off memory) which is the Japanese version of the show. They're light years in difference. On that note, please use periods next time for your thoughts.
To John: No, not at all. Alfred is a name I came up off the top of my head because I couldn't think of a good name for a guy in a freaking black tuxedo.
To Seeker of the Soul: Hey, Kuruske's a quirky guy like that.