Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh.

Tournament of Tears

Chapter 14: Time's Signs (Part 2)

"No." Eon's aura started to extend across the pier. "This is not your real power. Until you have unleashed your real power, I cannot truly treat you like an enemy. However, your current strength level is enough to make me worry. Therefore, I'll show you my Duel Prescense." The aura stretched up around them like an orb…and then everything went dark. "At any time I can activate any field magic card from my deck and place it into play."

Light flooded the area, a crystalline blue light that immediately left Ichigo breathless in amazement. They both stood within a swirling mass of glittering crystal lights of all colors, which seemed to throb and move like living things to their mere prescense within the space. "What is this place?" Ichigo reached out to touch a single mote of light, and for a few moments he was in a different place…a different time…and then he was back where he had been originally.

Eon motioned to the flowing light around them. "This is the place where it all comes together. Even I do not truly understand it, and yet I am apparently the only one who can come here." His hand waved out and the entire dimension pulsed. "In this place, past, present, and future all become one! Welcome, Ichigo Pilkington, to the River of Time!"

Ichigo frowned slightly at the infinite number of motes of light that passed by him. "So this is the field magic card that you chose to bring out? I can assume, because of the number of cards on your field and hand that a Duel Prescense is some kind of ability that only works with you then?"

"Correct. It is a power that only the truly strongest of duelists can produce, and even then not even the best know how. It is an ability that is brought out in darkness games…much like this one." Eon motioned to the dimension around them. "My power isn't exactly what I put it as. I cannot search for any field magic card…just this one. My Duel Prescense isn't supremely the best of them all, but it is impressive. Because it doesn't just bring the field magic card out, but it also makes it impossible to destroy or remove until one of us falls in this duel." He lifted up a hand and a cloud of motes all swirled around it. "All things considered, you will now be hard pressed to face me. While my hood is completely covering my face, I can barely see or hear. Mostly what I detect are faint spiritual prescense such as your own, though I'll admit it is stronger than most."

Ichigo blew a few strands of his newly ultra-long hair up away from his face. "Sheesh, I need to see a barber about this before I go take down Midnight."

"Since you are barely listening to me at the moment, I'll have to bring you to your senses before I continue." Eon pulled back his hood to reveal a strange black mask that covered his face completely. Something about the mask made it seem alive. "This is called my Soul Buffer. It is worn by all but one of the priests of Midnight. It is what keeps us from dying once again, for we are already dead. If you can force me to remove it and bare my full power against you, then I will tell you how to save your mother from Sestros. End turn."

Ichigo was listening now, his childish thoughts long gone. ("I'll save my mother by beating you then.") He drew. Now he had one card in his hand, and a single card that was set face-down on the field. He didn't know what the set card was, but something about it told him not to try and look. ("I can't risk accidentally activating it and wasting its power.") Glancing at the drawn card, he smirked and held it up to show Eon. "Friendship's Memento possesses a special ability that allows me to choose one of three effects when it is activated. I choose to use the effect of it that lets me draw two cards!" Sliding two new cards off of his deck, he appraised the situation in front of him. ("The chance to attack directly, but the possibility of some kind of horrid retribution. Screw it, I can't be meek in this fight!") Then he looked at one of the two drawn cards and nearly face-fell. ("Kenshin? How in the hell did you…") Frowning, he read the text of the card and his eyes widened. ("This…thanks in advance, Kenshin!") "Alright, try this on for size, Eon! I set one card face-down on the field and summon DA Force-Kenshin the Crusading Knight!" (1800/1600) There was an explosion of light and when it cleared there was a shining armored form that resided on Ichigo's field.

Kenshin slowly opened his eyes and blinked at his strange surroundings. "Where am I?" Looking behind him, he frowned at Ichigo. "Oh, you had something to do with it then?"

"What are you talking about, idiot?" Ichigo stuck his tongue out at his friend. "Do you think I wanted to put your soul in a card? You're not any good to us that way."

("The way he is talking…it's the real him.") Kenshin looked down at his shining armor, sword and shield. "Forgive my rude tone, Ichigo. Now then, I assume I am to attack his life points directly?"

"Not yet." Ichigo held up a finger and snickered. "Kenshin the Crusading Knight has a couple of special abilities, but this one is the coolest. He gains 1200 attack points minus 300 points for every card in my hand. But since I have no cards in my hand, his attack is now 3000!" (3000/1600) "Kenshin, direct attack!"

Nodding, the Crusader leapt across the field and slashed right through Eon, though the Priest didn't budge at all.

Ichigo- 2350

Eon- 15700

Ichigo and Kenshin both smirked calmly. "Well, it looks like you might be losing faster than you thought."

Eon rubbed the side of his mask, which showed no sign of damage. "I think you are both overestimating your chances of actually beating me, considering my life points are still almost twice the normal amount."

Ichigo shrugged at that. "Maybe so, but honestly I'm not worried! Reverse card open!" The face-down card that he had just set flipped up. "Treasure of Slashing Life allows me to draw until I am holding five cards in my hand. Of course, there is a downside that in five turns I have to get rid of my hand right after drawing." As he slid off a small stack of five cards and fanned them out, his eyes widened slightly at what he saw. ("Griff and Hitokage too?") "I set one card face-down on the field. Because I have five cards in my hand, the effect of Kenshin reduces his bonus attack power to zero." (1800/1600) "End turn."

"Interesting indeed…do you fear the possibility of my next draw so much that you would risk leaving your only monster at such a low attack total?" Eon drew. "Smart boy. Because now I activate the effect of River of Time!"

All around them, the motes of light began to make noises that sounded a lot like singing. "While this card is in play, during our standby phase, a random effect out of twenty different possible choices is chosen. The effect didn't activate during your turn because this dimension can be fickle, and it sometimes refuses to offer a bonus or penalty to anyone until properly introduced. So now that it is introduced, the game has just changed completely." The singing noise rose in volume for a moment, and Eon tilted his head to the side. "I see. It has chosen a rather useful effect. Both players now draw until they are holding five cards in their hand. During the end phase of this turn, I must discard the same number of cards that I drew, while you must shuffle the same number of cards that you drew into your deck."

Ichigo slid the top card off of his deck, and smiled slightly at the sight of Mirage of Nightmare. ("My favorite combo card. Cool, maybe I'll get a chance to properly use it during this duel.")

Eon drew four cards, and as he looked at them all a strange dimness fell over the river's 'water'. "I will summon out a monster to combat yours. Considering the effect of Kenshin, I can assume that it isn't immune to being destroyed in battle, like you were. So therefore I'll summon Ancient Homunculus." (1800/1600) A strange humanoid-like creature appeared on the field and groaned quietly. "Attack now! Destroy Kenshin!" It launched across the field towards the Crusader.

Kenshin glanced back at Ichigo, and smiled knowingly. "Don't lose, Pilkington." Then he turned and with a roar charged right into the monster, both of them blowing apart instantly.

Eon slid the monster card into his graveyard slot, and immediately a bright light came from it. "The special ability of my Homunculus is that when it destroys a monster as a result of battle it allows me to draw two cards." Snapping two new cards off of his deck, he added them to his hand. "Your deck seems to be made up entirely of cards revolving around your friends, which mean that the number of monsters you possess would be less than ten."

Ichigo tapped the side of his nose. "Assuming things can be dangerous, you know?"

"Indeed." Eon slid a card into his disk. "I set one card face-down on the field and end my turn. And during the end phase of this turn I must discard four cards and you must shuffle one back into your deck." He discarded all but one card, while Ichigo inserted a single card into his deck slot, which the disk automatically shuffled back into the stack.

Ichigo looked at the cards on the field and felt a little more confident now. ("This guy's special field may give bonuses, but considering how he wound up with zero cards in his hand, I'll assume that we can beat him with all of these extra hand cards.") He drew. "Now I…"

A quiet singing came from the dimension, as the river flowed around Ichigo's body.

Eon held out his hand. "The effect of River of Time had decided that all magic and trap cards of the duelist whose turn it is will now be returned to that duelist's deck." Both of Ichigo's face-down cards were swallowed up by the motes of light, immediately disappearing from the field. "That's too bad, but it will serve you as a reminder that this dimension doesn't favor either of us in the end."

Ichigo frowned and looked at the cards in his hand. ("My precautions are gone, but my chances of winning aren't down the drain that easily.") He grasped a card and threw it onto his disk. "I summon DA Force-Griff the Cunning Bandit (800/1200) to the field in attack mode!" There was another flash of light and when it cleared Griff was standing on the field in clothing that made him look just like Don Zaloog. "Hey buddy."

"GAH!" Griff nearly leapt twenty feet into the air. "What…why…where…"

"I'll explain later. For now, just play along." Ichigo's hand rested on his deck. "When Griff the Cunning Bandit is summoned to my field and I have no other cards in play, I may draw two cards."

Eon's covered head tilted to the side. "Perhaps, but that still doesn't matter. Your monster is so weak that there is no way he can possibly defeat me."

"Alone, you're right…" Ichigo grinned as he had a wicked idea. "But then again, I'm about to fuse up something that might make it hard for you to do much more than stand around while I pummel you relentlessly!" Inserting the two drawn cards into his hand, he grabbed another two cards and held them up. "I activate Polymerization, which allows me to fuse Griff the Cunning Bandit with Hitokage the Soul Reaver!"

Griff spun around and stared at Ichigo like he had just lost his mind. "Fusing me with Hitokage?"

"Yup, sorry buddy." Ichigo winked to Griff. "Don't take this personally." There was a flash of light, and when it cleared there was a black-robed ninja standing on the field. "DA Force-Shadow King Assassin (1700/1200) is fusion summoned to the field."

"Shadow King Assassin?" Eon's head tilted the other direction. "What exactly does it do?"

"When it deals you life point damage, I can either send one card in play back to the top of its owner's deck, or send two cards in play back to their owner's hands." Ichigo pointed at Eon. "Now you either activate your face-down card or wind up drawing it for the rest of the game! Go Shadow King Assassin!" The ninja launched towards Eon rapidly.

Eon watched the approach of the ninja, and right before it reached him his face-down card flipped up and a powerful wave of energy hit the fusion monster, blowing it apart. "You triggered my trap card. Its name is Time Trap, and it can only be activated when River of Time is in play. I can destroy your monster and then return it to either your deck or your hand. In both cases it will return to your fusion deck, so it doesn't matter."

Ichigo smiled weakly, knowing that if Griff was around he would be beating his roommate's head in right now. ("Sorry about that buddy, I didn't expect him to actually have something useful face-down…I just thought he was preserving cards.") "I set three cards face-down on the field and then I'll play Mirage of Nightmare! End turn!" As the continuous magic card appeared on the field, Ichigo's hand came to rest on his deck. ("As soon as this guy's standby phase rolls around, I'll get to draw until I am holding four cards in my hand. Then, we'll just leave the rest of it to luck.")

Eon drew. "I begin my turn…"

"And I draw four cards." Ichigo slid four cards off of his deck and started to fan them out, right before they all disappeared instantly. "Huh?"

Eon motioned to the river. "During my standby phase, all cards in both of our hands are discarded."

Ichigo looked crestfallen to the maximum. ("I didn't even get to see if Emergency Provisions was in there or not.") Then he drew, since Eon had no cards in hand. Not that it mattered though, because the card he drew suffered the effect of Mirage of Nightmare, immediately getting discarded to his graveyard. "Man…that's a total…" He felt warm tingles run up his spine, and suddenly he felt a little less fatigued. "Huh?"

"River of Time, during this turn, increases the life points of the player by 1000." Eon didn't sound angry at all at this fact.

Ichigo- 3350

Eon- 15700

Ichigo breathed a little sigh of relief, glad that things were going his way finally. "End turn."

Eon drew, and so did Ichigo. "During this turn, the player draws an extra card at this time." Eon drew a second card. "How helpful of my deck to give me these cards…" Holding them both up, his voice radiated a strange and unique power. "The second card I drew was Watapon (200/300) which is special summoned to my field because it was drawn through the effect of River of Time, and the second card revealed is Gate of Ages! This card requires my normal summon for the turn and a single sacrifice to bring out this new creature!" An explosion of light filled the dimension completely, and when it cleared Ichigo gasped in complete surprise at what rested on his opponent's field.

It was a giant dragon that looked like if it was hit too hard it might collapse to dust, and then a second later it was a hatchling that looked like it had just been born. This continued, the dragon constantly shifting ages. "This is my Dragon of Ages (3000/2500) and it will give me the necessary ability to defeat you, Ichigo."

Ichigo snorted. "Everyone who has a big fat dragon always says that, and so far I've proven all of them wrong."

"Perhaps so…but this one is different." Eon pointed at Ichigo's field. "When this monster is summoned, I can send two cards on your field back into your deck!" Two of Ichigo's face-down cards vanished. "Also, I am now attacking you directly! Burst Stream of Ages!" The dragon, now in adult form, released a thundering blast of crystal blue energy that swallowed up Ichigo in one flash. "That is my power, Ichigo Pilkington. That is my strength, the strength of time's flow is what makes me better than most. However…"

Ichigo- 350

Eon- 15700

Ichigo slowly stood up, smoke coming off of him in waves. "No. I'm not done yet!"

"Perhaps not, but the effect of my Dragon of Ages triggers now that it has dealt you life point damage." Eon held out a single hand. "All cards in your hand return to your deck."

Ichigo's eyes shot wide open. "What?"

"You heard me, correct?" Eon watched all the four cards in Ichigo's hand turned into beams of yellow light that flew into the boy's deck. "Well, since I have already attacked my turn is done. But then again…so are you. During your standby phase, the effect of Mirage of Nightmare will disarm you of whatever possible Topdeck you had coming."

Ichigo closed his eyes and felt the strange airs of the dimension blow his hair about. ("He's right…I played around too much, not taking the threat he represented seriously.") As his eyes opened, they reflected something that Eon had been waiting for. "I'm taking this duel seriously now. I'll give it everything I have, and I'll win too." He drew six cards. "According to the effect of your dimension, I get to draw until I am holding six cards in my hand, correct?"

"That's exactly right." Eon's tone sounded amused now. "You can understand now. Very good."

Ichigo drew six cards, ignoring the four that disappeared instantly. "I'll beat you now."

"We shall see about that." Eon motioned to his dragon. "A game of wills aside, I am the one with a 3000 attack point monster in play."

Ichigo looked at the two cards he had drawn…and then placed one into his disk. "I'm setting one card face-down. That is all."

Eon pointed his mask at the face-down card…and then drew. "During my standby phase, I lose 1000 life points."

Ichigo- 350

Eon- 14700

"Of course…" Eon's dragon roared as loudly as it could. "That won't matter in the end, will it? Burst Stream of Ages!" The dragon's jaws snapped open, in its baby form, and it unleashed a little balloon of energy that hurtled straight at Ichigo.

To be continued…

Eon, a priest of Midnight and a powerful duelist regardless. Why is he so intent on bringing out my best? Why me, of all possible opponents? Why not Uncle Ryu or Rikuo? They're far past my dueling level when they are at there maximums.

Come Ichigo, break my mask.