OP1: "Raining" by Art Of Dying


Chapter 8: "Marks - Part 1"


Night was falling upon County Dame by the time Mike managed to get back to Bulbous's apartment.

He'd spent twenty minutes traversing back into the city limits on foot before finally managing to flag down a cab. Though the driver was less than enthusiastic with his patron's oceanic scent and how damp he left the cloth of his cab's seats, Mike made sure to make it worth his while with two twenties for a fifteen-dollar trip.

The drive at least gave him time to mull over the events of the last hour. The murdered Louis Costanzo. The note signed by the "Romans." Nothing about any of it added up. No one could have known he was going to interrogate Louis save for Adam Marker, and he had no motive to see the man he'd put up dead. And he had managed to drive the last of the Romans out from Frontier Haven and Saddlebury well over a year ago. And while he could think of a handful of survivors from their number with grudges against him, he couldn't narrow down anyone specific at the present moment.

For now, this much was clear: whoever was behind all this—Casey's capture and Louis's murder—they were trying to settle a grudge, and their forethought and cunning made them a dangerous adversary.

As he rode his way up the elevator of the apartment, he did his best to push those thoughts from his mind for the time being. Until he could reach Aeron again, there was no use in trying to draw conclusions from speculation. He stepped onto his landing and walked towards Bulbous's door. It wasn't as audible now, but he could still feel the squish of his feet against the soles of his waterlogged shoes as he stuck the key in the knob.

He stumbled his way through the door, shutting it behind him as he exhaled with relief before hearing a voice call out from the kitchen: "Dad? Is that you?"

"Guess again," Mike panted.

It only took a moment before Violet rounded the corner of the kitchen entryway to face Mike, her face lighting up with a smile. "There you are!" she said as she ran up to him, catching him in an embrace. "Where have you been? Me and the others were worried sick about you!"

But before she could get an answer to that, her face suddenly scrunched up in disgust as she realized how damp his clothes were and how he smelled. She backed away from him as she looked him up and down. "And why do you seem like you took a dip in the ocean with your clothes on?"

"Because I did," he said as he passed by her. "Long story."

He sat himself on the couch and picked up the TV remote, turning the glass box on and tuning it to the news channel. He wanted to know what had happened in the city that he'd seen the cops racing towards when they'd sped right by him earlier.

As a reporter in a suit holding a football rambled on about sports, Violet moved to stand by him with a confused gaze. She'd been hoping that, with her dad currently absent, they would be able to have some time alone so she could finally confess to him her feelings. She'd been planning what she'd wanted to tell him down to the last word during her walk home, after receiving Aeron's encouragement.

But now she realized that she might've been preparing the perfect moment for the wrong time. In her excitement, she'd forgotten the reason Mike had been out all day in the first place: hunting for somebody who had kidnapped his friend from the last two years. No wonder he'd looked so serious and tired when he'd walked in.

As she pondered, Mike turned to Violet as he asked, "did you hear anything about the cops rushing through County Dame earlier?"

Her eyebrows rose. "No, I haven't—"

"This just in!"

Violet's voice trailed off just as the news suddenly switched from its sports segment into a breaking news flash. Both their attentions snapped back to the TV as the news lady reported:

"A man going by the name of Aeron Mortimer was arrested earlier this evening, charged with assaulting a student from Dexterity High School."

Violet felt herself freeze as she watched the color drain from Mike's face. The news lady continued:

"Security camera footage caught in the abandoned construction site downtown shows how the man's Duel Monster hologram was apparently able to set the high school student on fire with its attack."

Mike's expression steeled in a way Violet had ever seen before. She swallowed hard.

"We managed to get a hold of the security footage, but we have to warn you: its contents may be disturbing to some viewers."

Sure enough, the screen turned to a black and white video of Aeron, with his Doomkaiser Dragon/Assault Mode looming overhead, along with his army of other assorted monsters assembled before him. He raised his arm, signaling for his dragon to let loose its fiery breath that immersed itself around Aeron's opponent, who began writhing in pain as he struggled to stay standing.

How long has that security camera been there? Violet nearly asked aloud, but she held herself back to seem inconspicuous.

But Mike's eyes were transfixed on Aeron's ablaze opponent. Despite his back being turned and the video being black and white, he could tell exactly who the sleeveless hoodie-wearing opponent was as his jaw dropped slightly in realization.

"Danny..." he uttered under his breath.

"Dr. Skeldon Crawford—Dexterity High's Principal—made the call to 9-1-1 after witnessing the attack."

Mike and Violet both went wide-eyed at this detail. Their own principal had seen the duel and called for Aeron's arrest? He'd had to have seen the duel from a little ways away in the inner city streets, where nobody would've seen him from the construction yard.

"Authorities have been unsuccessful in getting the man to give them anything more than his name. For his refusal to cooperate, Dr. Crawford has ordered that he be moved to Tallgate Prison in Crest City, where he will be incarcerated until the investigation into this incident reaches a conclusion."

Mike shut the television off, setting the remote aside before turning his head just enough to meet her eyes. "Violet," he said in a low tone, "why was Danny dueling that man?"

Violet felt Mike's question fall on her like a weight. Her plan to confess her feelings had involved telling him about Aeron's earlier meeting with her, Danny, and Marina, and how Aeron had relieved her of her reservations. But she never intended on telling him about the duel that Aeron and Danny had fought.

Finally, with a deep breath, she said, "that man... Aeron... he came looking for you. And he found me, Marina, and Danny at the construction site instead."

Mike kept his eyes focused on her as she went on: "he told us you were looking for someone dangerous, and Danny insisted on going to help you. So he challenged Aeron to prove he was capable of going with him to find you, and then... well, you saw what happened."

Mike said nothing as he rested his chin on his intertwined fingers, processing what he'd been told with eyes to the floor.

"I'm sorry, Mike," Violet said as she sat herself down next to him, looking at him imploringly. "I should've told you immediately, but..."

Her voice trailed off as Mike met her eyes, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's all right," he said. "I'm guessing Aeron explained how he didn't intend to hurt Danny, right?"

Violet nodded, and Mike returned to gazing blankly at the television. "What I don't get is how Dr. Crawford was able to make the call to incarcerate Aeron," he mused. "I mean, he shouldn't have that kind of authority, right? He's just a high school principal."

"Who also happens to also be on the Mayor's Council for County Dame," Violet corrected him. "That makes him a city official, and they have leverage over just about everything."

Mike grit his teeth. He should've guessed, given the apparent relationship Dr. Crawford seemed to have with Mr. Copperson that he'd noticed the night he met the mayor.

He stood from the couch, and Violet watched as he made his way towards his room. "What are you doing?"

"Changing," Mike answered as he shut the door behind him. "I've got to try and stop them from putting Aeron away."

Violet's eyes widened at these words. "What?" she said with a shell-shocked tone, standing to chase after him and stopping at his bedroom door. "What exactly do you think you'll be able to do?"

"Vouch for his innocence," was Mike's reply from behind his door. "I can't just let them take him away if it was an accident."

"And you really think you can change their minds?!" Violet pressed.

The door opened again and Mike re-emerged from his room, now freshly dressed in his jeans, black t-shirt, short-sleeved jacket and armband, and his duel disk still attached to his left arm. "At the very least, I have to try," he said.

He then beelined for the apartment door, hearing Violet's footsteps close behind him as she said, "then I'm coming with you."

"No," he replied instantly as he turned to face her, his back inches from the door. "You don't need to get yourself involved in this."

"I already am, whether you like it or not," she reminded him as she met his gaze. "I witnessed the duel when it happened, so I've probably got a better chance of convincing them of Aeron's innocence than you do with that fact alone."

Mike stared at Violet sternly, but she returned it with a look just as intense. For a rare moment, she felt like she could tell exactly what was going through his mind: he didn't want her getting any closer to anything that involved his past two years, and would've preferred that she and the others had never met Aeron in the first place. But she still had the surge of confidence that her earlier talk with Aeron had given her, and if she wasn't about to use it to tell Mike how she really felt, she figured she might as well use it for this.

"Look," she said. "Aeron's my friend now, too. So let me help you save him."

At this, Mike's expression softened, turning into slight amazement as he looked into Violet's hardened eyes. He'd never seen Violet stand up to him—or anyone—like this before.

Finally, he sighed before cracking a small smile. "All right," he said. "Let's go save our friend."

Violet returned the smile before the two of them exited through the apartment door, which shut itself behind them.


The night was quiet outside of County Dame's police precinct as six officers in blue uniforms stepped outside, aligning themselves along the stairway leading down to the sidewalk. Close behind were two more cops, escorting the red-clad man whose hands were bound by cuffs behind his back. Dr. Crawford steadily followed suit, pacing down the steps as they made their way towards a large, armored transport truck on the road. Tucked beneath Dr. Crawford's left arm was a small box, full of Aeron's belongings.

As the two cops escorting Aeron had him step up into the back of the vehicle, Dr. Crawford watched on with vigilant eyes. Even when six police cruisers pulled up to the construction site and twelve cops had emerged each with guns trained on him, he'd immediately surrendered himself and let the cops bring him in and confiscate his possessions. Their only frustration was with his refusal to talk, which led Dr. Crawford to suspect that he might've been planning an escape. But now, he remained exactly as he'd been the entirety of the time he'd been in custody: silent, yet non-resilient.

As Aeron sat on the bench inside the truck, Dr. Crawford stepped forward to approach the door, looking to the man. "You sure you don't want to talk?" he offered. "It'd make things much easier for yourself."

Aeron remained unmoving, but his crimson eyes flickered towards Dr. Crawford with an impregnable stare, sending shivers down his spine. He'd been unnerving all of the other officers at the precinct with his presence alone since they'd booked him, but his eyes felt like they carried the effect of a syringe that directly injected that fear right into his bloodstream.

Dr. Crawford forced himself to break eye contact, instantly relieving him of his chills. "Very well," he said, before turning to the officers. "Get him out of here."

With a nod, the two readied themselves to shut the large doors of the truck, before a young man's voice echoed at them from down the road: "Stop!"

The officers stopped and joined Dr. Crawford to look where the voice had originated: there was Mike, as well as Violet, sprinting towards them as fast as they could. Dr. Crawford's eyebrows knit as the two teenagers came to a halt in front of him, breathing heavily. Inside the truck, Aeron glanced outside, the briefest flash of surprise in his eyes as he caught Mike's momentarily.

Mike eventually managed to recover his breath before saying, "Dr. Crawford, you have to listen to me. That man is a friend of mine, and I swear to you that he's innocent."

Dr. Crawford stared back at his old patient for a moment, before shaking his head as he sighed. "I should've expected you'd come to this man's defense," he said, "considering that he was carrying this..."

He reached for the box that was tucked under his arm, from which he pulled out Aeron's holster that held his revolver-disk. Mike's eyes narrowed at the sight of it.

Dr. Crawford placed the holster back in the box as he said, "as soon as we found this on him, I knew where he had to have come from. But regardless of whether he's your friend or not, he still set one of your peers on fire."

"Dr. Crawford, it's not as simple as that!" Violet spoke up. "I was there, I saw the duel! It was an accident!"

"She's right, you know!"

Mike, Violet, Dr. Crawford, and the officers turned their heads again as yet another surprise duo came into their sights: this time, it was Danny and Marina sprinting towards them. They stopped to join the small crowd before Danny pointed his thumb to himself as he said, "in case you didn't realize, I was the guy dueling Aeron in that recording! So I'm here to say that the whole setting-me-on-fire thing was an accident! And one that I forgave him for!"

"And I witnessed it all, too," Marina volunteered. "So I can vouch for him that that's the truth."

Mike and Violet cracked appreciative smiles at their friends' contribution to their case, before turning their gazes back on Dr. Crawford, who felt the pressure of their stares weighing on the back of his neck. Squaring his shoulders, he said, "be that as it may, I cannot abide allowing someone with the ability to turn dueling damage potentially lethal to roam free."

He then turned his eyes on Danny. "And yes, I did realize it was you in the recording. The police collected your burnt-up hoodie from the scene as evidence of his capabilities."

Danny's face suddenly lit up with remembrance, as if he'd suddenly thought, oh, so THAT'S where my hoodie went.

Violet looked back to Mike, whose fist clenched as he watched Dr. Crawford turn back to the officers awaiting his next order. "Carry on," he commanded, prompting the officers to slam the steel doors and begin circling the vehicle to the driver and passenger doors. Inside, Aeron closed his eyes as he turned away, as though reconciling with his fate.

"Wait."

The sudden breaking of the silence by Mike's voice again brought everyone's eyes on him again. "Dr. Crawford, please," he said, "you don't know this man like I do. He would never purposefully harm one of my friends, much less anybody else in this city. So if you can't bring yourself to trust him... then trust me."

Danny, Marina, and Violet held their breath as Dr. Crawford looked at Mike with a bewildered stare. He knew that Mike had always been stubborn—from the way he'd never let the death of his parents go—but to him, this just seemed asinine.

"Listen, Mike," Dr. Crawford said, "even if this man is your friend—and even if he would never harm anybody in this city—what's to stop him from harming anyone else in another city? Even inadvertently, like you and your friends claim happened today?"

Mike was silent. He could tell that, even if he argued assurances back and forth with Dr. Crawford all night, there wouldn't be any changing his old therapist's mind. His only goal here was ensuring the safety of everyone. A noble conviction, but one clouded with misjudgment.

"If you won't take my word for it," Mike said before pointing a challenging finger at Dr. Crawford, "then I'll change your mind with a duel! If I win, then Aeron goes free, and all charges against him are dropped."

Danny, Marina, and Violet went wide-eyed at this suggestion. Aeron, who was still able to hear everything outside of the truck despite the thick steel surrounding him, turned his head again to look through the bulletproof windows with eyes just as wide.

But no one was as surprised by this challenge as Dexterity High's principal. Mike was really willing to pull out all the stops to save his friend, this man that he had deemed too dangerous to walk among society. He knew that his old patient wouldn't go to such lengths if he didn't truly believe that Aeron deserved to be a free man.

Finally, Dr. Crawford adjusted his glasses as he said, "very well... but I can't very well agree to stakes that heavy on only one side.

"So if I win this duel," Dr. Crawford lowered his arm as his tone turned dour, "then I'll also have you arrested, charged as an accessory to the crime, and you'll be incarcerated alongside your friend in Tallgate Prison."

"Deal."

Danny, Marina, and Violet's jaws hit the pavement as they stared at Mike, while Dr. Crawford nodded grimly before turning to the officers behind him. "Stand down for now, and fetch me a duel disk, please," he told them.

The officers each nodded and one of them turned to step back inside the precinct to fulfill his request. At the same time, Danny made his way to get in Mike's face as he said, "um, HELLO? Are you insane?! This is a terrible idea!"

"Can't believe I'm saying this, but Danny's right," Marina chided as she moved to his side. "What if you lose?"

Mike took in his friends' words before turning to Violet. From the stricken expression on her face, it was clear to Mike that any words she could've added would only have echoed Danny and Marina's sentiments. But there was also a distinct fear in her eyes that gave him another message: she was terrified, beyond all else, of the idea that he might be taken away from her again.

Mike extended a hand out to Danny, gently pushing him out of his personal space. "You guys need to understand," he said, "Aeron is as close of a friend to me as all of you are. Were any of you in his position, I'd be doing the same thing as I am right now."

"We wouldn't want you to do this, even for us!" Danny shot back at him. "Don't you get that?!"

"Danny," Mike said. "My mind's made up."

Danny opened his mouth to argue more, but quickly shut it. Mike's tone had changed: the same tone he'd used when he'd insisted on keeping his last two years to himself the day he'd come home. And from how his efforts to try and change Mike's mind the day after had gone, he knew better now than to try changing his best friend's mind again.

He sighed. "Fine. But you better know what you're doing," he said, before moving to the sidelines as he muttered words that would've landed him an in-school suspension.

Marina passed one more look at Mike as she said, "good luck."

Mike nodded appreciatively back to her before she moved to join Danny. He turned to face Violet, whose head hung low and her hair covered her face; her usual front to hide behind as she held back her tears.

Mike made his way over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, making her look up as he brushed her hair out of her face, letting her silver eyes meet his oceanic ones. He gave her the best reassuring smile he could muster, before saying, "don't worry. I got this."

Violet stifled a choking sound in her throat, before nodding to let him know she understood. "Just, promise me, whatever you do," she said softly, "do not lose."

Mike nodded confidently, and Violet finally stepped away, joining Danny and Marina on the sidelines as Mike turned to look towards Dr. Crawford again. He was arming himself with a police-issued duel disk that had been given to him by the officer he'd requested one from.

"I'm only going to offer you one chance to change your mind," Dr. Crawford said as he pulled his Duel Monsters deck from his jacket and shuffled it. "I'd rather not have to put you away, Mike."

"You're the one who set those stakes, Dr. Crawford," Mike reminded him as he took his own deck out from his duel disk to shuffle it. "But I'm not backing down."

Dr. Crawford sighed as he inserted his deck into his duel disk. "Then you leave me no choice," he said sadly as the device activated.

Mike slid his deck back into his duel disk as well, triggering its activation as he positioned himself a good distance away from Dr. Crawford. The two duelists' eyes locked as they each dealt their first five cards.

"LET'S DUEL!" the two yelled out.

- DUEL -

[Mike - LP: 4000] VS [Dr. Crawford - LP: 4000]

"Because I know you're going to be at a disadvantage," Dr. Crawford said as he gestured an inviting hand towards Mike, "I'll allow you to take the first move."

Mike growled. "How's this for a disadvantage?" he said as he made his first draw. "I'll start by activating my Constellar Star Chart, which you'll see coming in handy for me later. Then I'll summon Constellar Algiedi!" [LV: 4/ATK: 1600]

"And with Algiedi's effect, I can special summon another LV 4 Constellar monster from my hand!" Mike explained. "So I'll bring out my Constellar Acubens in DEF mode!" [LV: 4/DEF: 2000]

"And when he's summoned," Mike continued, "all of my Constellar monsters currently in play gain 500 ATK!" [Constellar Algiedi - ATK: 16002100] [Constellar Acubens - ATK: 8001300]

"But that's not the end of Acubens's usefulness," Mike said with a grin. "Now, I'll overlay both him and Algiedi!"

The two monsters allowed themselves to be absorbed into a familiar spatial portal as Mike exclaimed, "Xyz summon! Bring your fists to the fight, Constellar Praesepe!" [RK: 4/OUs: 2/ATK: 2400]

"Aw, yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about!" Danny said as he pumped his fist. "He got an Xyz monster out on his first turn!"

"And it doesn't stop there!" Mike said as he put two fingers to his deck. "While my Constellar Star Chart is in play, when I Xyz summon a Constellar monster, I get to draw another card from my deck!"

Dr. Crawford, who had been watching on with steeled eyes, watched as Mike drew another card before concluding: "now I'll set one card face-down, and end my turn."

Violet could feel her anxiety beginning to dissipate as Mike wrapped up. She knew as well as anyone else that Mike was a skilled enough duelist to know what he was doing, and from the move he'd just made, it looked like he was trying to start strong while also keeping on the defensive. A smart strategy against an opponent he'd never faced before.

But as Dr. Crawford drew his first card silently, she couldn't shake the idea that Mike might've been more in over his head than they expected. From his completely calm demeanor, to his cold, calculating eyes, Dr. Crawford gave Violet the feeling that he was well-prepared for whatever Mike could throw at him.

"To start," said Dr. Crawford, "I think I'll set the field a little more to my liking: I activate the Black Garden field spell!"

The moment he'd placed the card in his duel disk, the road beneath them began to tremble before a multitude of thick, thorny vines burst from the ground, weaving their way around the two duelists and intertwining themselves with each other to create a cage-like structure that sealed them inside.

"That's a lot of thorns," Marina said with a nervous gulp.

"That's also no field spell I've ever heard of before," Danny added as he eyed it carefully. "But I think I've got a good guess about what kind of deck Crawford runs now."

Meanwhile, inside the Black Garden that had enveloped the duel field, Mike was having flashbacks to his duel with Damian, who had also started the duel with a field spell that had warped the game to his advantage. It appeared that Dr. Crawford was about to do the same, which raised a lot of red flags.

Dr. Crawford continued: "now I'll set two cards face-down. And with that, I shall end my turn."

Mike's eyes narrowed as he drew his next card. Just this field spell and a set card? Unless he's really all bark and no bite, there's gotta be more to his strategy than this.

"I'll summon my Constellar Sheratan!" he decided. [LV: 3/ATK: 700]

The moment Mike's monster appeared on the field, everyone but Dr. Crawford was in for a surprise: emerging from the floor of the vine-wound cage was a single, thorny vine that wound its way around Sheratan's tiny leg, making the small monster wince in pain.

"What's this?" Mike asked as he watched his monster try to break free of the vine's grip.

"That would be Black Garden's effect," Dr. Crawford explained. "Any monster that's newly summoned to the field while my field spell is in play immediately loses half of its ATK." [Constellar Sheratan - ATK: 700350]

"Not only that," he elaborated, "but any time a monster is summoned, Black Garden automatically special summons a Rose Token to the opposing player's side of the field in ATK mode!"

Sure enough, a rose-like creature with leaves for arms suddenly blossomed on Dr. Crawford's side of the field. [LV: 2/ATK: 800]

"Well, I can still use my Sheratan's effect!" Mike said, not allowing this development faze him. "When he's summoned, I can add any Constellar monster from my deck to my hand! So I'll add my Constellar Pollux!"

The card slipped out of his deck zone, from which he took it and added it to his hand before saying, "now that that's done, I'll have Constellar Praesepe attack your Rose Token!

"And in case you didn't know," Mike added as Praesepe now bounded towards the rosy creature, "by detaching one overlay unit—" [OUs: 21] "—he gains 1000 more ATK points for the battle!" [ATK: 24003400]

But as Mike's golden-fisted creature flew towards Dr. Crawford's Token, the latter merely raised his hand over his set card as he said: "I activate my trap!"

Before anybody could see what Dr. Crawford's flipped trap card was, a bolt of lightning suddenly crashed down from the sky, penetrating through the Black Garden and striking Constellar Praesepe, who writhed in momentary agony before shattering into pieces.

"What the hell was that?!" Mike asked as his face twisted with confusion.

"That was my Raigeki Break trap card," Dr. Crawford answered. "It destroys any card on the field that I choose, at the cost of discarding one card from my hand.

"And speaking of which," he continued as he discarded his card, "the card that I'm discarding is my Dandylion monster, whose effect activates once he reaches the graveyard, special summoning two Fluff Tokens to my field in DEF mode!" [LV: 1/DEF: 0] [LV: 1/DEF: 0]

"And because monsters were summoned to my side of the field," Dr. Crawford went on, "Black Garden will now give you a Rose Token as well."

Mike watched as the same rose-shaped creature sprouted on his side of the field. [LV: 2/ATK: 800]

Mike clicked his tongue before regaining his composure. He eyed the Rose Token on Dr. Crawford's field and considered sending Sheratan to attack it. But he also had one more set card ready in the wings, and with how he'd utilized Raigeki Break to easily fill his field with fodder monsters, he didn't want to set anything else off that would give him even more of an advantage.

"I guess I'll just end my turn there," he figured. "Your move."

"Very well," said Dr. Crawford as he drew his next card.

"I'll first release both of my Fluff Tokens," he started as both of the tiny token monsters disappeared. "And in their place, I advance summon my Tytannial, Princess of Camellias!" [LV: 8/ATK: 2800]

Everyone gathered stared in awe at the sight of the elegant lady that descended upon Dr. Crawford's field, while the latter went on: "unfortunately, Black Garden also takes away half of the ATK points of all of my own monsters as well, but it's a small price to pay." [ATK: 28001400]

"But now that she's been summoned, a second Rose Token is gifted to your side of the field," Dr. Crawford told Mike, who watched a third rosy creature emerge from the Black Garden's depths onto his field. [LV: 2/ATK: 800]

"Now, my Tytannial!" Dr. Crawford exclaimed. "Attack his Sheratan with Royal Petal Storm!"

His princess raised her arms, calling upon a flurry of pink flower petals to whirl around her, before she sent them flying towards Sheratan.

But Mike had expected as much: "I activate Dimensional Prison!" he countered as he flipped his trap card, which intercepted the surge of flower petals and made them disperse. "With this, I can banish any one attacking monster from the game! So your Tytannial's gonna have to go!"

Dr. Crawford merely scoffed. "A meaningless effort," he said. "I use my Tytannial's effect! Whenever a card is targeted for an effect like your Dimensional Prison does, Tytannial can sacrifice one plant-type monster on my field to negate that card and destroy it. So I'll offer up my Rose Token to negate your trap!"

Mike watched as Dr. Crawford's Rose Token disappeared in a vortex composed of the same flower petals that Tytannial commanded, before those same petals flew towards Mike's Dimensional Prison card, which shattered upon contact with them.

"With that done," Dr. Crawford said with a sly smile, "my Tytannial's attack continues! Destroy Sheratan!"

Tytannial once again directed her gust of flower petals towards Sheratan, who flinched as the petals swarmed around him before exploding, destroying him in the center. [Mike - LP: 40002950]

Mike's teeth grit in frustration as Dr. Crawford concluded: "and with that, I think I'll end my turn there."

"My turn, then," said Mike as he drew his next card, placing it in his hand as he pondered his next move. I have to give him this much, he wasn't completely full of hot air about me being at a disadvantage, he thought. He's had a counter for every move I've made so far.

His eyes glanced past Dr. Crawford towards the armored truck, where he could see Aeron watching the duel behind the barred window in the door.

Just hang tight, Aeron. I'm gonna figure out a way to win this, and get you out of there.


ED1: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit


Author's Notes

So it's here that I start breaking my longer-than-anticipated chapters up into multiple parts. Not an unusual trend for YGO series but one I had initially been hoping to avoid. But alas, my creative scope always transcends beyond the barrier of my intent and we wind up with chaps like this. Oy vey.

Now about the chapter... just, oof, man. This one and the next are two of my personal favorites for how the duel goes and for character interaction/development. This chap's revamp also cut a LOT of excess out, and hopefully the next chap sees an even bigger chop cuz HOO BOY it is a monster of a part 2.

Last but not least, I'd like to take a moment to give out some special thanks.

Firstly: to Master Of Anime224. You've been supporting this story ever since its publication, and you've officially become my Beta Reader for it. I've recommended your own original story numerous times to other people, and even put a shout out to it in here. And it's not just 'cause it's an awesome story: it's 'cause you're a true pal, and I'd pay you back with British food if I knew anything about British food. As you say, cheers.

Secondly: to HolyMage Mouto. You've been the guy who's stuck with me since the beginning of my tenure on this website almost 5 years ago, and I cannot even begin to imagine how many weird-ass conversations we've had over that span of time. I can't appreciate having you in my life enough, really and truly. Also, you're an excellent guy to run these duels I write by. So thanks for everything.

Until next time, stay awesome.


Recommended Works

"Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-VOC," by OPFan37: What seems to be your typical self-insert-into-the-main-story YGO fic, but with one special twist... our new hero KNOWS he's in the Arc-V anime. This is truly a unique take on the long-ass genre I just mentioned, and from what I've read so far, it really does work beautifully. I can see why the community here has really taken a liking to this story, and I look forward to reading more of it myself.


REVISED: 2/20/2021