So, here we are in New Domino City, where Yugi and Kaiba are met by another Duelist. But it's not going to be who you think it is. Without further ado, here's chapter 2!
Chapter 2: Domino City? Where, or When Are We?
Dani Aoimoku was in a sour mood. She had been on a losing streak of sorts and had just lost again to her rival in rather embarrassing fashion. She had stormed out in a rage after his Colossal Fighter had wiped out the rest of her Life Points and was still fuming as she made her way down the streetlamp lit streets of Satellite. She pulled out her deck and sighed, looking at her favorite card.
"I've always felt like we were meant to be together," Dani said to the card, "especially when Mom gave me you and your three companions when I began dueling all those years ago. I've built a deck that centers on you four. I even found a Synchro monster that compliments you perfectly. Why can't I win? I haven't won in a week!" Dani continued walking down an alley towards her favorite place, a place she always went when she needed to brood. She was a pretty girl in her own right. She didn't have the voluptuous curves of a model, but she wasn't a stick either. Dani took pride in being a nice happy medium between the two classifications of beauty. She wore blue skinny jeans and a silver tank top, coupled with an azure denim jacket cut off at the elbows and black calf-high boots. "Ever since that weird incident where everyone disappeared into black mist and a weird bird appeared in New Domino City a couple of months ago, I haven't been able to get any resemblance of a winning streak going. Was it a sign? Am I not meant to wield three of the most fearsome dragons ever known in Duel monsters?" Her bright blue eyes lost most of their anger and instead filled with tears. She looked at the blue and silver themed Duel Disk on her left arm and some of her brown hair, the last two inches dyed silver when she really wanted to get connected to her cards, slipped free and partially covered her face. Dani returned her favorite card to her deck and tied her hair back in her favorite ponytail, which ended at the middle of her back. A tear trailed down her cheek, smearing the silver eyeliner she was so fond of. "Let me get one more sign: do I continue my dueling career or do I give up and hope my future children use my cards better than I can?" As if on cue, the roar of the Crimson Dragon echoed throughout Satellite, startling everyone in the vicinity and alerting five very important duelists bearing the mark of the dragon. Dani watched the Crimson Dragon fly off into the distance, unaware of the yelps of surprise from two very special duelists falling out of the sky until they landed on top of the unfortunate female, flattening her immediately.
"Yugi, explain to me what just happened?" Seto Kaiba demanded as he picked himself up off of Dani's legs.
"I could ask you boys the same thing," Dani snapped, startling Yugi out of his daze. "Why don't you watch where you're going?"
"I, uh, sorry about that," Yugi apologized, hurriedly climbing off of the unlucky duelist.
"I'll forgive you," Dani began, then an idea popped into her head, "But only if you Duel me."
"What?"
"I said Duel me!" Dani demanded, "Don't think I didn't notice your Duel Disk jab me in the back when you two idiots landed on me. You owe me a Duel after nearly making me a paraplegic."
"Don't waste your time with her," Kaiba snarled, "We need to get back to Kaibacorp and figure out what just happened."
Dani laughed. "You can't just waltz into New Domino City after dark from the Satellite, the Securities would have your ass in lockdown in seconds." As the two of them bickered, Yugi sensed Yami again.
"I thought you said that presence you felt was a good presence," Yugi said accusingly.
"And I did," Yami answered calmly, "I sensed no malice from that dragon as it carried us through time."
"Through time?!" Yugi repeated, shocked, "How much time?"
"I cannot say," Yami answered, "But I think we can get answers from this woman. Let's accept her challenge and make a little wager on the side, to get some answers."
"Right," Yugi said to Yami, then turned his attention to the two arguing duelists, where Dani seemed to be accusing Kaiba of being a fraud. "I'll Duel you."
"What?!" Came the simultaneous reply.
"I'll duel you," Yugi answered calmly, stepping forward, "Are you ready?" He held up his arm, Duel Disk glowing at the ready.
"Finally, we're getting somewhere," Dani muttered, "Yeah, let's do this!"
"Yugi, there's no need to waste our time with this girl," Kaiba argued.
"Kaiba, we need answers and I think she's the one who can get us the answers we need right now," Yugi countered, "This won't take long." As he stepped forward, the Eye of Wdjat began to glow on his forehead, something unnoticed by both Kaiba and Dani as they both took up their positions for the duel; Kaiba sitting on some nearby rubble and Dani about 10 yards apart from Yugi, who had finished the transformation into Yami Yugi.
"Are you ready for this?" Dani asked, "I'm not holding back just because you guys aren't from around here!"
Yami simply nodded. "I wouldn't want it any other way. It's time to Duel!"
Yugi: 4000 LP Dani: 4000 LP
"I'll start things off," Dani announced, drawing 1 card to add to the five in her hand, "And I'll begin by summoning the Maiden with Eyes of Blue in attack mode!"
Maiden with Eyes of Blue: Atk 0, Def 0, LV 1
A woman with piercing blue eyes, long silver hair, and a brown dress appeared on the field, arms open as if inviting a hug.
"Why would she summon a monster with no attack points in attack mode?" Yugi asked, perplexed.
"I place one card face-down and end my turn," Dani said. "Your move."
"She's probably relying on that face-down," Yami thought to Yugi, "But she's probably bluffing, hoping I'll be too scared of that face-down to attack." Out loud, he said "I draw!" He looked at his hand, then directed his fierce gaze towards Dani. She returned the gaze, a look of confusion passing her features momentarily.
'I could've sworn he was shorter' she thought to herself, "And he seems so much more sure of himself now. Maybe he's just like that when he's dueling.'
"What say you we make this Duel a little more interesting," Yami suggested, to which Dani narrowed her eyes in response.
"What do you mean?" she asked, on her guard.
"Nothing much," Yami answered disarmingly, "But if I win, you'll answer my questions."
"And what do I get if I win?"
"You'll have a servant for the day as recompense for falling on you."
Dani grinned. "I don't have much need for a servant, but I'll accept your odds. I need to tidy up the hideout anyways."
"So you agree to our wager."
"Sure, if that means a more entertaining Duel."
Yami smiled. It was the smile of a predatory wolf observing a helpless deer. "Well, in that case, I'll summon Skilled Dark Magician in attack mode!"
A magician with white robes and blue armor appeared on Yugi's side of the field.
Skill Dark Magician; Atk 1900, Def 1700, LV 4
"Facedown card or not," Yami stated, "You've left yourself wide open for an attack. Now attack, Skilled Dark Magician, with Dark Magic Burst!" The Spellcaster waved his staff, creating several dark orbs of magical energy and with another wave sent them flying towards the Maiden.
Dani smiled. "I activate my Maiden's special ability! Once per turn, I can negate an attack and switch the battle position of Maiden." The Maiden with Eyes of Blue began singing a melody, a melody that tugged at the heartstrings and left a tingling feeling in one's chest, particularly Kaiba's. The dark magic dissipated as it reached the Maiden, who knelt down in a prayer position in defense mode. "Next, my Maiden's ability allows me to summon a very powerful monster straight from my deck!" A bright light appeared behind her as she began chanting "It is here where the legend that surpasses time reawakens! Be amazed by its immortal place in history! The very soul of Seto Kaiba himself! I special summon the Blue Eyes White Dragon!" As the dragon of legend appeared onto the field, Kaiba leapt up from his seat in shock.
"Blue Eyes?" Yami said in shock.
"That's impossible!" Kaiba yelled, "There are only three Blue Eyes White Dragons in the world and I have all three!"
"Ha, that's what you think!" Dani countered, "Octavian Pegasus released five more Blue Eyes cards into the Duel monsters game in order to honor Seto Kaiba's passing, after burying the original three with him. So don't you dare accuse me of using fake cards, as Duel Disks were all programed to reject fake cards!"
"Kaiba's…. death" Seto repeated slowly.
"Yeah, people get old, they die of old age and pass on companies to the next generation," Dani said nonchalantly, "Or in my family's case, they pass on cards they find valuable and I was the lucky girl to inherit three Blue Eyes from my mother shortly before she died thanks to Ener-D radiation poisoning." Her left fist clenched tightly. "That's why I know you're a fake. Seto Kaiba died nearly sixty years ago!" A stunned silence fell over the dueling field, broken only by the growl of the dragon.
"Just how far into the future did we go?" Yami asked, more to himself than anyone else. Kaiba sat back down in his rubble "chair", stunned by this revelation
"We're in the future," he said to himself, then glared at Yugi, "I want answers Yugi, NOW!"
"And I'm trying to get answers," Yami said back, refocusing on the Duel. "I set two cards face-down and end my turn." As the cards appeared in the Spell/Trap zone, it was Dani's turn to smile a predatory smile.
"I warned you I wasn't messing around," she said, "Draw!" She looked at her 4 cards, then back to the field. "I'll attack your Skilled Dark Magician with my Blue Eyes! White Lightning attack!" Kaiba looked at the fierceness on Dani's face, then looked to the dragon on the field.
'Who is this girl?' he thought to himself, 'she looks a lot like that woman she summoned.' As the dragon gathered energy in his mouth, Yami pressed a button on his Duel Disk.
"I activate the Trap, Spellbinding Circle!" he announced, as said Trap opened on the field, "And due to this Trap, I can prevent one monster on the field from attacking and switching positions." The complex seal bound itself to Blue Eyes, sapping all the energy from the attack and leaving it chained, metaphorically.
"Not bad," Dani admitted, "I'll end the Battle Phase and Tune Maiden with Eyes of Blue with my Blue Eyes White Dragon!" The Maiden leapt up into the air, transforming into a star that expanded into a silver ring. That ring surrounded Blue Eyes, who dematerialized into eight silver stars. "Shadow of a blinding light, shining just as brightly as a star itself!" Dani chanted, "White turns to silver and blue turns to azure, both blinding in their magnificence! Rise up and let your light rise with you! I Synchro Summon the Azure-Eyes Sliver Dragon!" The dragon that appeared looked a lot like Blue Eyes, except it shone with brilliant silver scales and its eyes were a lighter shade of blue.
Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon; Atk 2500, Def 3000, LV 9
"Synchro what?" Yami asked, puzzlement written all over his features.
Kaiba didn't think anything else could surprise him, but when the Azure-Eyes was summoned, he was floored again. "Another version of Blue-Eyes?" he muttered, "It came from the Extra Deck, but it isn't a Fusion monster. What is this new type of summon?"
"I place another card face-down and end my turn," Dani said.
Yami looked at the new dragon for a few seconds longer; drawing a growl from the fearsome beast, then drew his card. "I activate the Spell card Change of Heart! With it, I'm allowed to take control of one of your monsters until the end of this turn, and the only monster you have is the Azure-Eyes!"
"That won't work, thanks to my dragon's special ability," Dani countered, "until the end of this turn; my dragon can't be targeted by Spells, Traps, or effects. This only happened when it gets summoned, but it's a useful ability nonetheless." The aura from the spell card hit a mystical energy that had surrounded the silver dragon and dissipated.
Yami let out a little growl. "Maybe, but my Skilled Dark Magician also has a special ability. It gains a Spell Counter every time a spell is activated. So there's one!" A small glowing light appeared behind the Spellcaster. "Next, I activate the Spell Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two more cards! There's two!" As he drew, Yami studied his hand. "Next, I activate Card Destruction! Now we must both discard our hands and draw cards until we both have the same number of cards we had before." As both players discarded and drew new cards, Yami two and Dani three, a third light appeared behind the Skilled Dark Magician. "And since I now have three Spell Counters on my Skilled Dark Magician, I'm allowed to sacrifice him in order to special summon Dark Magician from my deck! So take to the field Dark Magician!" The purple robed Spellcaster appeared out of the smoke created when the three Spell Counters exploded, destroying the Skilled Dark Magician.
Dark Magician; Atk 2500, Def 2100, LV 7
Dani's smile faltered. "That card! That card hasn't been played in years! According to the history books, that was Yugi Muto's ace! Just who are you?"
"You will soon find out," Yami answered, "I play the Spell Magic Formula! By equipping this card to Dark Magician, it gains 700 Attack points!"
Dark Magician 3200 Atk
"No!" Dani gasped.
"Yes!" Yami said, "Next, I play the trap, Dust Tornado! With this, I'm allowed to destroy a facedown card of your and set another card on my side!" A miniature twister appeared and obliterated Dani's facedown card. "Now, attack Dark Magician! Mystic Scepter Blast!" The ultimate spellcaster in terms of attack and defense spun his staff a couple of times before unleashing a large dark orb of energy at Azure Eyes. The dragon roared in agony as the darkness consumed it, leaving nothing behind.
"Azure Eyes!" Dani cried as her Life Points dropped.
Dani LP: 3300
"I end my turn," Yami announced, his face a fierce mask of determination.
"We got this!" Yugi said confidently, unheard by everyone but Yami, who smiled.
"This is it," Dani said to herself, "I have to draw the right card." Slowly, she pulled out the card from the top of her deck, her eyes closed in fear. She opened one eye and looked at the card. A bright smile appeared on Dani's face as she surveyed the card! "Yes!"
"That doesn't sound promising," Yugi commented.
"I summon The Dragon Dwelling in the Cave!" Dani began as a blue dragon appeared in front of her. It promptly yawned and laid down in defense mode.
The Dragon Dwelling in the Cave; Atk 1300, Def 2000, LV 4
"Next, I will banish my Dragon to special summon another powerful dragon directly from my hand!" Dani continued as her dragon faded from sight, creating an orb of darkness that grew in size and became pitch black with streaks of red. "I special summon the Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon!" The dark dragon unfurled its wings and let out a roar to announce his presence.
Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon: Atk 2800, Def 2400, LV 10
"But Dark Magician is stronger than that dragon," Yugi said, "Why-"
"She's not done," Yami admonished, "Listen."
"Now I activate my Red-Eyes special ability, an ability that lets me summon a Dragon type from my hand or graveyard. And I think you know what dragon I'm calling back. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Red-Eyes unleash an inferno that spiraled next to it. Out of the flames sprang Blue-Eyes with a roar. "Now I use the spell card Burst Stream of Destruction!" Dani yelled, "This lets me destroy all monsters on your side of the field when I have Blue-Eyes out. Go Blue-Eyes! Take out his Dark Magician!" The white dragon roared and fired a powerful white stream of energy at the Dark Magician, who could do nothing to stop his destruction.
"I may have lost my magician," Yami said when the smoke cleared, "But Magic Formula has a second effect; when it's destroyed, I gain 1000 Life Points"
Yugi LP: 5000
"That's pretty handy," Dani commented, "And you're going to need every life point you can get! Go Red-Eyes! Attack his Life Points directly!" The metallic dragon unleashed a dark red flame that sped across the field and washed over Yugi, the holographic images not actually hurting him
Yugi LP: 2200
"You're lucky Blue Eyes isn't able to attack," Dani continued, "I end my turn. Let's see you counter this!"
Yugi placed his spiritual hand on the deck before Yami drew. "Let's draw this one together."
Yami smiled. "Draw!" He looked at the card and that wolfish grin reappeared. "I play Monster Reborn to wake up Dark Magician from the grave!" Wish a flash of dark energy, the famous Dark Magician was back on the field. "I next activate Polymerization to fuse Dark Magician with Buster Blader in my hand to fusion summon Dark Paladin!" The orange and purple fusion monster materialized from the swirl that engulfed Yugi's two monsters and took its place on the field
Dark Paladin: Atk 2900, Def 2400 LV 8
"Anything but that card!" Dani cried, knowing her deck's weakness all too well.
"That's right!" Yami said, "and by my count, you have seven dragons either on the field or laid to rest. That's an additional 3500 attack points for my Paladin!"
Dark Paladin: Atk 6400
"No way…" Dani whispered, dread clutching her chest.
"Now attack! Dark Dragon Downfall!" Yami yelled. Dark Paladin raised his staff and slammed it down, sending a burst of dark energy towards Red-Eyes and shattering the dragon. The rest of the blast continued through to Dani, knocking her on her backside and reducing her Life Points to 0.
"I lost…" She said to herself, "Yet why is it that I had such a good time?" She was startled to see Yami standing over her, hand extended.
"You have the potential to become a great duelist," he said, purple eyes boring into blue, "But you need to learn to trust yourself as much as you trust your deck. I could see it as we dueled; you lack the confidence in yourself needed to use Blue-Eyes to its fullest potential. Believe in yourself as much as you believe in the heart of your cards and you can rise up to your fullest potential."
Tears sprang to Dani's eyes as she took Yami's hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. She startled the King of Games by hugging him tightly. "Thank you," Dani whispered into his ear, choking back tears. "I needed to hear those words. I just didn't know I needed to hear them." Unbeknownst to her, Yami allowed Yugi to take control again.
"It's alright," Yugi said, patting her awkwardly on the back, which drew a strangled sob from the female Blue-Eyes duelist. He looked at Kaiba, who was striding towards them with an unreadable expression on his face. "Kaiba, this isn't-"
"Yes it is, Yugi," Kaiba interrupted, then turned his attention to Dani. "Stop crying, a true master of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon would never cry after one little loss."
"Piss off," Dani shot back at him, catching both duelists off guard, "I'm not crying because of the Duel. I just had an epiphany here."
"Spare me the mushy girl talk," Kaiba groaned, but before he could get any further, he found himself gasping for air, as Dani had let go of Yugi and punched the Kaibacorp executive right in the solar plexus.
"You'll get more flies with honey than with vinegar," she said simply, ignoring the silver-stained tear tracks that carved its way down her cheeks, then turned to Yugi. "You said you had questions?" When Yugi nodded, she continued, "I'll try to answer them as best as I can. First, let's get back to my little hideout. Satellite can be dangerous after dark."
Yes, I added an OC, she's going to play a decent sized part of the story, but Dani isn't going to become the focus of the story. It's still centered around Yugi and Yusei. I'll accept OC's based on the following criteria; they don't share any signature cards with any main characters, they aren't replicas of the enemy duelists I will be introducing in the next chapter, and they aren't related to any of the main characters, so no long-lost sister of Yusei or anything like that. R & Rs are greatly appreciated, as I know I have a long ways to go in perfecting my craft.
Note: I'd greatly appreciate it if someone could draw my OC, as my art skills are lousy. If someone with the time and the skills would be willing, I'd owe you big time. Say, a free story or something. Thanks in advance!