After helping out Ryu be free from an evil spirit, he joins Ichika and the others to help someone. They heard someone scream and hurried to whoever it was. When they got to where the scream come from, they saw Hector and he looked defeated.
"Hahaha! Another one bites the dust." A scary looking man stood over him. He wore a dark cloak with a cap over his black hair. He was also much larger than most people.
"Hector!" Houki called as all of them showed up.
"What happened? Did you scream?" Ichika asked.
"He sure did." The man said as he grabbed Hector by the arm and lifted him off the ground. "He just lost all his stars."
"What?! No way!" Rin said.
"Who are you anyway?" Cecilia asked.
"The name is Dark. I'm the most brutal and savage duelist around. You won't know what hit you because I have the darkness to help me."
"Hector, is this true?" Ichika said.
"Yeah. His dueling was harsh. I didn't know what I was up against and he got in my head." Hector said.
"That's right. All his stars are mine." Dark said. "Time to scram." Dark tossed Hector near them, but they were able to catch him.
"You brute." Charlotte said.
"Are any of you next." Dark said. "I love collecting all the stars. There's less competition for me to deal with if I just take all of you out at once." Ichika wasn't going to stand for this. He called on the power of his charm and the spirit within took over.
"I'll be your next opponent, Dark. If I win, you have to give back all the stars you took from Hector." Ichika said.
"Ichika, are you sure about this?" Ryu asked.
"No, Ichika. This guy is brutal. Don't risk yourself for me. I lost." Hector said.
"Maybe, but I won't stand for my friend or anyone else being pushed around by a bully like him." Ichika said. Hector was a little surprised that Ichika really called him a friend. "Do we have a deal?"
"Sure. You can't win anyway." Dark said. Both of them activated their duel disks and were set to go. This Dark might sound scary, but Ichika will find out how true that really is.
"Hector, what can you tell us about him?" Charlotte asked.
"Not much. I didn't even know what I was up against." Hector said. "He covers his monsters in shadows. It's hard to tell what you're up against. Not to mention that he likes to taunt you, tries to get you to be afraid of him. Ichika might be a skilled duelist, but I'm not sure if he can handle Dark."
"Please. You insult Ichika with your insolence. He will win." Laura said.
"Here we go. I hope you're not afraid of the dark." Dark said.
"I'm not, nor am I afraid of you." Ichika said.
"Let's duel!" Both said as they started with 4000LP.
"I'll make the first move." Dark said. "I activate the continuous spell called Night Coverage." When he activated his spell, his half of the field was covered in shadows. "You know what I love about the dark. You can be attacked from anywhere and you never know from what. This spell gives my fiend monsters an extra 400atk points. That's assuming you can even see what you're against." He summoned another monster, but all Ichika can see is red eyes.
"I can't see what he just played." Ichika said.
"Hey, no fair. How is Ichika suppose to fight back if he doesn't know what he's fighting." Houki said.
"He can't. That's the idea." Hector said.
"What do you mean?" Ryu asked.
"Dark hides his monsters and makes it so you don't know what you're up against." Hector said. "If you don't know what you're fighting, you don't know how to counterattack. He enjoys taunting and tormenting his opponents. That's how he got me at least."
"So what will you do now? You have no idea what is hunting you down." Dark said. "I can tell you this much. It's known as Fiend Mantrin. This monster will tear yours apart once it gets a hold of you. Let's see how you will handle this."
"Very well. You still won't win. I draw!" Ichika said as he drew his card. 'I don't know what I'm up against. It's best to play it safe until I can get a read on what his monster's strength is.' "I summon Stratos Warrior to the field!" He summoned out his warrior with it having 1400atk points.
"Why would he summon a monster in attack mode when he doesn't know what he's up against?" Charlotte questioned.
"He must have some plan. We just need to have faith in him." Cecilia said.
"I place one card facedown and that ends my turn." Ichika said.
"Ha! Are you so scared that you can't make a real move?!" Dark taunted. "I'll show you what you should really be afraid of." He tried to make Ichika afraid of him and he's going to keep trying as he started his next turn. "In order to keep my spell active I must give up 500LP. That's fine with me." His life points dropped to 3500, but he wasn't afraid of that. "Next, I'll summon Sky Fiend." He summoned another monster, but Ichika didn't see what it was either.
"Your monsters still don't scare me." Ichika said.
"They will after they attack! Fiend Mantrin!" Dark called as something was coming from the shadows. It stepped out to show it was some sort of monster with mantis characteristics. It grabbed a hold of Ichika's only monster and dragged it into the shadows.
"My warrior!" Ichika called as his life points dropped to 3500.
"Your troubles are only beginning! Sky Fiend, your turn!" Dark called. Something flew at Ichika. He could see what it was as it stayed hidden in the shadow. Ichika got hit and his life points dropped to 1900.
"Ichika!" His friends called.
"Now are you afraid?!" Dark said as he laughed.
"I'm not." Ichika said. Not the response Dark was going for. "I activate Energy Repletion! This trap gives me a thousand extra life points on the turn one of my monsters is destroyed." Ichika's life points increased to 2900.
"That's good. He's going to need all the life points he can get." Hector said.
"Ha. Things always seem calm before the true terror begins." Dark said. "Thanks to Sky Fiend's ability, since it dealt damage, I get to draw an extra card. More terror is coming."
"We'll see about that." Ichika said as he still appeared to be brave. "At least now I know the attack strength of your monsters from the amount of life points I lost. One has 1900 and the other has 1600. Now that I know their attack strength, I can fight back."
"I like to see you try." Dark said. "A lot of people think they have the strength and courage to fight back until they actually face the terror."
"I'll prove it!" Ichika said as he drew his next card. "I summon Rocket Flyer!" He summoned out his flyer to the field with it having 1500atk points. "Next, I activate Bravery Booster! By equipping it on to my Rocket Flyer, he gains an extra 500atk points each time he engages in battle. Just watch. Rocket Flyer, attack with Burning Lightspeed!" His flyer took off and flew right into the darkness. The darkness pushed away and showed Sky Fiend, a fiend-like monster with wings attached to it's arms. Thanks to Ichika's spell, Rocket Flyer's attack points rose to 2000. It smashed into Sky Fiend and destroyed it as Dark's life points dropped to 3100.
"Oh yeah!" Rin said.
"You show that brute." Cecilia cheered.
"Now who is afraid?" Ichika asked.
"You think I'm afraid of you? Think again." Dark said.
"Dark, you are afraid." Ichika said. "You hide in the darkness and try tormenting your victims to avoid them seeing that you are afraid. You're just another bully that tries to hide how he he really feels."
"That's crazy! I'm not afraid of you or anything!" Dark said.
"We'll see about that." Ichika said as he was trying to turn the tables, psyche Dark out. "I place one card facedown to end my turn."
"I'll show you!" Dark shouted as he drew his next card. "First, Night Coverage forces me to give up 500LP in order to keep it on the field." His life points dropped to 2600, but the shadows still lurked around. "Next, I'm going to summon out Necro Freak!" This next monster wore a purple cloak and had a skull face that carried a scepter with it. At least that's how it looked before the shadows covered it. "Next, thanks to his special ability, a fiend is summoned to from my graveyard. Sky Fiend can come back." Sky Fiend came back on the field.
"No matter how many of these fiends you summon, you won't be able to scare me." Ichika said. "Don't forget that my spell increased Rocket Flyer's attack strength even if you attack."
"I'm aware of that." Dark said. "That's why I'm activating another continuous spell known as New Moon. It gives all dark monsters an extra 300atk points. Watch as you are swallowed by the darkness!" All three of his monsters attacked at once and it wasn't going to look good.
"You really are afraid, Dark." Ichika said. "Fear can cause a person to make a mistake. Your mistake is that you forgot that I have a trap. I activate Mirror Blast!" A wall came between him and the monsters with a light shining through and all of his monsters were revealed. "This trap destroys all your monsters and deals 500 points of damage for each one!" An intense light shined and destroyed each one of Dark's monsters.
"No! This can't be!" Dark said as his life points dropped to 1100. "How can this be?! You're really not afraid?!"
"You hide in darkness to hide your weakness." Ichika said. "Why would I need to be afraid of someone like you?"
"He was nothing, but a weakling all along." Houki said.
"Indeed. All he really did was try to psyche his opponent." Laura said. "All he really did was use psychological warfare, but Ichika was too smart to fall for it." Dark couldn't believe this happened to him.
"Even though your field is covered in shadows, I can see that you're the one that's afraid." Ichika said. "I take it you're out of moves." Dark wouldn't admit it, but he really is out of moves. "It looks like this is the end." Ichika drew his card and was set to win the easiest duel he had. "Attack!" Rocket Flyer flew straight through the darkness and smashed right into Dark as he lost the last of his life points.
"He won!" Ryu said.
"As if he would really lose to that bully." Rin said.
"It's over." Ichika said. "Now, hand over all the stars you took from Hector." Dark tried getting back up, and wasn't going to give in that easily.
"There's no way I'm going down like this!" Dark said as he pulled out a stick of dynamite and lit the fuse. He tossed it right at Ichika.
"Ichika!" Cecilia called.
"Lookout!" Ryu called, but Ichika acted fast. He caught the stick and pulled the fuse out before it could even explode.
"Another example of your cowardice." Ichika said. "You've lost, Dark." Dark proved he really was nothing but a coward. He also showed to be quite afraid of Ichika. As soon as he gave all the stars to Ichika, he ran out of there. "Here you go, Hector." He said as he handed them back.
"Ichika, you won. Why would you give them to me?" Hector asked.
"A great duelist like yourself doesn't deserve to be kicked out of here by someone like him." Ichika said.
"Maybe, but I told you I'm the competition. I can't accept help from the enemy." Hector said.
"But we're not enemies." Ichika said.
"Forget it." Houki said as she took the stars. "If he wants to feel like a loser, who are we to stop him."
"What?" Hector said.
"I'll just keep these. Less competition, not that Hector was much competition." Houki said.
"What?! Give me those!" Hector said as he tried to take them from Houki. Houki just played with him and dropped the stars right in his hand.
"I knew that would get to you." Houki said. "Hector, you need to quit being so independent. You've got us as friends to help you out." Hector was really surprised by what Houki just did.
"Come now. It's been a long night." Charlotte said as all of them were ready to go to sleep.
"Hey, Ichika!" Hector called and got his attention. "I do appreciate the help. That's why when we duel, I'll give it no less than my best."
"I'm looking forward to that." Ichika said. Not only has Hector have new respect for his fellow competitors, but he's still in the competition because Ichika stood up to the dark monster. Hector might be helpful in bringing Peggrin down. As for when Ichika and Hector do duel, it might be a duel to remember.