Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.
Chapter 4: The Forms of Hope
"I activate Magi Magi Magician Gal's effect!" Kotori announced. "By detaching one of her overlay units and banishing a card from my hand, I can take control of one of my opponent's monsters until the end of the turn! And the monster I'm taking control of is Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Bear!"
One of the balls of purple light orbiting Magician Gal entered the decorative broach on her chest. Magician Gal took aim at Bear with her wand and fired a heart made of pink energy that struck Bear in the face. The spellcaster winked a Bear, and the instantly smitten fire warrior went over to Kotori's side of the battlefield.
"I attack Coyote with Bear!" Kotori announced. "Flame of the Bear!"
"I activate the Continuous Trap, Fire Formation – Tensen!" Flash announced. "With this card, I give Coyote an extra 700 ATK! And since Tensen also gives every Beast-Warrior I control an additional 300 ATK, Coyote's ATK goes up by 1000!"
Bear slashed his sword through the air and sent forth a massive red flame that quickly took the shape of a bear. The bear flame tackled into Coyote and instantly vaporized the warrior. Flash's life points dropped to 3400.
"Magician Gal, attack Flash directly!" Kotori commanded. "Dark Blazing Magic!"
Magician Gal took aim at Flash and a ball of crackling pink energy formed at the end of her wand. As the ball grew bigger, Magician Gal fired it at Flash. The blonde athlete was struck in the chest and his life points plunged to 1000.
"I'll set one card face-down and end my turn." Kotori announced.
With the end of the turn, Bear suddenly shook his head and went back over to Flash's side of the battlefield. Flash got back to his feet and drew his next card.
"Looks like I need to stop playing around." Flash observed. "For my first move, I activate Buffalo's effect from the Graveyard! By sending two Fire Formation or Fire Fist cards from my hand or field to the Graveyard, I can summon Buffalo back to the field. So I discard Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Hawk and Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Raven!"
At this, a burst of blue flames ignited on Flash's side of the battlefield next to Bear. The flames quickly subsided to reveal that Buffalo had indeed returned.
"Using both my level four Beast-Warriors, I Xyz Summon the ultimate member of the Fire Fist Brotherhood!" Flash announced. "Come forth, Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King!"
A vortex appeared in the center of the field and pulled in Flash's two monsters as balls of red energy. A moment later a pillar of white flames shot from the center of the vortex. The flame soon died down to reveal a man with white hair and a beard clad in dark-red clothes and golden armor. On his head he wore a helmet that resembled the head of a tiger. In his right hand, the warrior carried what looked like a fan that burned with white flames. Orbiting around him were two balls made of white light.
"When I've Xyz Summoned Tiger King, I can set a Fire Formation card straight from my deck!" Flash announced.
"Tiger King may be your strongest monster, but he only has 2200 ATK." Kotori pointed out to Flash. "He's no match for my Magician Gal."
A smirk appeared on Flash's face. "Yeah, right now Tiger King doesn't quite measure up to your magical girl. But that's about to change! I activate the Spell card, Rank-Up-Magic Rune Force!"
"What? A Rank-Up card?" Kotori exclaimed.
"Come now, birdie-girl. Did you really think I'd send Flash after you without giving him a few presents?" Samantha asked with a smirk.
"The power of Rune Force lets me use an Xyz Monster to summon a Rune Mystic monster that's one Rank higher!" Flash announced. "So I use Tiger King to rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon Rune Mystic Tiger Monarch!"
The symbol that Mitaka had scratched into Flash's forehead reappeared and began to glow with an orange light. A much larger version of the same mark appeared on the ground beneath Tiger King's feet, and from it a massive pillar of orange light shot into the air. After a moment the light faded to reveal Tiger King in a new form. His white hair had become black and his skin had turned as pale as the skin of a corpse. His once golden armor had turned silver and his clothes had turned black. His eyes glowed with a sinister orange light and there was an evil grin on his face. The symbol on Flash's forehead glowed orange on the tiger warrior's chest armor, and the flaming fan he had as a weapon had been replaced by a silver scepter with a spherical orange gem on top. Orbiting around the warrior were three white balls of flame.
"Tiger Monarch's 2700 ATK is more than enough for him to take out Magician Gal." Flash continued. "Especially since Rune Force cuts the ATK of all my opponent's monster by 1000 until the end of the turn!"
"What?" Kotori exclaimed.
"I activate Tiger Monarch's effect!" Flash announced. "Since he has Tiger King as an overlay unit, I can detach an overlay unit to destroy all of my own Spell and Trap cards! And for each Fire Formation card destroyed by this effect, my opponent takes 400 points of damage!"
One of the balls of fire orbiting Tiger Monarch entered the glowing rune on his chest. The three large Spell and Trap cards on Flash's side of the field ignited and turned into three large fireballs that launched themselves at Kotori. The green-haired duelist cried out in pain as the attack hurled her back into the chain-link fence behind her. Kotori's life points dropped to 1500.
"And now, Tiger Monarch! Burn Magician Gal away!" Flash commanded. "White Rune Tiger Flame!"
Tiger Monarch raised his scepter in the air, and a massive white flame in the form of a tiger with red glowing eyes appeared behind him. The rune symbol that glowed in the monarch's chest glowed on the tiger's forehead. The giant tiger lunged at Magician Gal and created an explosion that covered Kotori's entire side of the battlefield in smoke. When the smoke finally cleared, however, Magician Gal was still standing. In her left hand she was holding a narrow dark-blue shield with golden ends and a large red point on the front of the top half. The bottom half had three red pointed stripes, and on the front was the red emblem of the Gagaga monsters. Yet while Magician Gal was still on the field, Kotori's life point had fallen to a mere 200.
"What the hell's going on?" Flash demanded to know. "Why is that damn magical girl still alive?"
"I activated the Trap… Gagagashield." Kotori explained as she caught her breath. "This card keeps the Spellcaster monster it's equipped to from being destroyed in battle up to two times."
"You're really starting to get on my nerves." Flash told Kotori. "But I guess it doesn't really matter, since you can't use that same little trick from before on Tiger Monarch. You while Tiger Monarch is on the field, he negates the effects of all non-Beast-Warriors. Which means your little magical girl is powerless!"
"Looks like you've reached your limit, birdie-girl." Samantha told her.
Kotori had not expected the duel to take such a dire turn. She knew if she didn't destroy Tiger Monarch, everything would be lost. Kotori drew her next card, hoping for some kind of miracle. And upon seeing what card she had pulled, a small smile appeared on her face.
"I equip Magician Gal with the Spell card, Xyz Unit!" Kotori announced. "This card boosts Magician Gal's ATK by an amount equal to her Rank times 200! Which means her ATK goes up from 2400 to 3600! Magician Gal, attack Tiger Monarch! Dark Blazing Magic!"
Magician Gal took aim and fired another blast of pink magical energy at Tiger Monarch. The attack hit the warrior in the chest, creating a massive explosion. When the smoke cleared though, Tiger Monarch was still on the battlefield. Flash had a smirk on his face even though his life points had dropped to 200.
"What? How come Tiger Monarch wasn't destroyed?" a stunned and confused Kotori asked.
"Rune Mystic monsters have an effect that sets them apart from the every day Xyz Monster." Samantha revealed. "They can only be destroyed in battle by Numbers!"
"Only by Numbers?" Kotori exclaimed.
"I bet you regret not summoning Utopia instead of Magician Gal." Samantha assumed. "As it is now, you can't even use the power of Utopia Ray to win, since Tiger Monarch would just negate his effects!"
'She's right.' Kotori thought. 'Even if I did summon Utopia now, I'd still be stuck.'
"Since I'm guessing you're done, it's my move!" Flash declared as he drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Rune Spark! By detaching an overlay unit from a Rune Mystic monster, I can destroy one of my opponent's monsters and cut their life points in half! And of course the monster I choose is Magi Magi Magician Gal!"
One of the fireballs orbiting around Tiger Monarch suddenly broke away and struck the ground at Magician Gal's feet, creating a massive explosion that knocked Kotori down and dropped her life points to 100.
"I can't attack during the turn I use Rune Spark, so I'll have to end my turn there." Flash announced. "Go ahead and make your next move, because it'll be your last!"
'There's nothing I can do.' Kotori thought as she got back to her feet. 'No matter what I draw, I'm finished. Guess my best just wasn't enough.'
Suddenly the gem in the Emperor's Key began to pulse and let off a small flash. Kotori felt herself being pulled out of the duel.
Kotori found herself standing in a familiar expanse of seemingly endless darkness. Not far away she saw Astral floating before her. His body was still flashing from blue to red and giving off sparks of black electricity.
"Kotori… you must not give up." Astral told her. "If you do… both Yuma and I will be finished."
"But there's nothing I can do." Kotori told him. "Not even Utopia can get me out of the mess I'm in."
Astral shook his head. "As long as there is hope, there are endless possibilities. All you have to do is believe. Even the situation you're in now… can be changed."
"Well… okay." Kotori responded. "I'll try."
"I know you can win, Kotori." Astral told her. "I have hope… in you."
And with that, Kotori was enveloped in another flash of light.
Kotori found herself back in the duel as though no time at all had passed. It still seemed to Kotori that there was no way out of her predicament. But she decided to believe in what Astral had told her and keep going. After taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, Kotori drew her next card. The card she pulled from the deck gave off a brief flash of golden light. When Kotori finally looked at the card, she let out a small gasp.
"Will you just get on with it already?" Samantha told Kotori as she impatiently tapped her foot. "I've got other things I could be doing right now, like screwing Yuma."
This caused Kotori to glare at Samantha and renewed her resolve. "I summon Gemini Elf in Attack Mode!" The two elf girls materialized on Kotori's side of the battlefield. "Next I activate Monster Reborn and summon Gagaga Magician from the Graveyard!" The silver-haired magician reappeared next to the elf duo. "Using my level four Gemini Elf and Gagaga Magician, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon Number 39: Utopia!"
A vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in Kotori's two monsters as balls of golden energy. Rising out of the vortex a moment later was a familiar large white sword with two balls of gold light orbiting around it. The sword unfolded and took the form of the warrior Number.
"So you finally summoned Utopia." Samantha observed. "Too bad his effects are useless."
"I activate Rank-Up-Magic Numeron Force!" Kotori announced, startling Samantha. "With this card I use Utopia to rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon Number C39: Utopia Ray Victory!"
Utopia's armor then began to grow and change shape. The armor covering his arms had turned red, while his shoulder armor had grown larger and more pointed. He had also gained a second pair of arms covered in the same red armor as his main pair, and in all four hands he carried a sword with a golden handle. Utopia's wings had become golden and blade-like, and his golden face had gained what looked like a mouth. Three balls of blue light were now orbiting around the warrior.
"Big deal." Flash scoffed. "Tiger Monarch's effect still makes that Number of yours worthless."
"Except when Numeron Force is activated, it also negates the effects of all other cards on the field!" Kotori revealed.
"Say what?" Flash exclaimed.
"Utopia's new form is a hundred points stronger than Tiger Monarch anyway, you dumbass!" an irritated Samantha told him.
"I attack Tiger Monarch with Utopia Ray Victory!" Kotori announced. "And during the battle I detach one of Utopia's overlay units to have him gain Tiger Monarch's ATK during the battle! Hope Sword Victory Slash!"
As one of the balls of light orbiting Utopia Ray Victory vanished, the warrior slashed Tiger Monarch to ribbons with his four swords. The fragments of the tiger warrior shattered, and the few life points Flash had remaining dropped to zero. With the duel finally at an end, Utopia Ray Victory vanished and the surrounding area returned to normal. Flash turned to Samantha with a look of panic on his face.
"I-I'm sorry, mistress." Flash told him.
Samantha merely gritted her teeth and fired a beam of crimson light from the palm of her hand. Flash was hit by the light and vanished without a trace. A moment later, a red orb appeared in Samantha's hand.
"Is… is that Flash?" Kotori asked.
"Yeah, he's in here." Samantha confirmed.
"What're you going to do to him?" Kotori asked.
"Nothing he's gonna like." Samantha answered as she caused the orb to vanish. "This isn't over, by the way."
With that, a vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared behind Samantha. The redhead turned into particles of light and vanished through the portal, which closed as soon as she was gone. Kotori let out a heavy sigh and decided to get off the roof. She was thankful that the school day was over. By the time Kotori finally exited the building, she spotted Anna waiting by the front gate.
"Hi Anna." Kotori greeted as she walked over.
"Oh, you're… Mezuki, right?" Anna recalled. "I've seen you a few times before in the halls."
"Uh, yeah. That's right." Kotori confirmed. She realized that Anna didn't remember who she was due to Mitaka's spell over the city. "So what're you doing?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm waiting for my date." Anna answered.
"Oh, you have a boyfriend now?" Kotori asked.
"It's a little too soon to call him that, but it is a guy I'm interested in." Anna answered.
"Hey Anna." A familiar voice spoke. Kotori turned around and was startled to see Yuma.
"It's about time you showed up." Anna told him.
"Sorry. I was being chewed out by a teacher for something." Yuma explained as he rubbed the back of his head. He then noticed Kotori standing there. "Oh hi. You're that girl I ran into the other day. Kotori, wasn't it?"
"Um… yeah." Kotori confirmed. "So, um… are you the person who Anna was waiting for?"
"Yep. She and I are going out on sort of a date." Yuma confirmed. On hearing this, Kotori felt like she had been punched in the chest.
"C'mon Yuma, let's get going." Anna told him.
"Uh, right." Yuma replied. "Well Kotori, it was nice running into you again."
With that, Anna and Yuma walked out of the gate. As soon as they were out of sight, Kotori dropped to her knees. It had become all too much for her to take at that moment. It was bad enough that Yuma didn't remember who she was that the Mitaka was trying to kill her and make Yuma her sex slave. But she never imagined the possibility that Yuma might decide to try dating anyone else while under Mitaka's spell. Completely overwhelmed by what was happening, Kotori broke down in tears.
"Kotori?" a familiar voice spoke from behind. Kotori looked back and saw Droite standing behind her. "Everything okay?"
Kotori only responded by breaking down again. Droite went over and helped her to her feet.
"C'mon. Let's get you back to the tower." Droite told the green-haired girl as she guided her to her car.
Samantha emerged from her portal in the basement room of Heartland Academy that she was using as a base. She found Chitose sitting at the table reading a book.
The dark-haired girl looked up from her book when she heard Samantha come in. "So, did the pawn you recruited succeed?"
"No, the dumbass didn't succeed." Samantha told her. "Somehow the Envoy of Astral World is lending her a helping hand. It didn't help either that the guy I used to try and take her out was an idiot. It's too bad too, since he's pretty good in the shower."
"If Astral World's envoy is really lending Mezuki assistance, then it seems will need to take stronger measures against her." Chitose observed.
"Why not let me take her out then?" suggested a voice from a dark corner of the room. Samantha and Chitose looked to see Alice stepping into the light. "Mezuki should be no problem for me. And while I'm at it, I can bag Tsukumo for you too."
"Ah sure, what the hell?" Samantha agreed. "That his kinda why I hired you girls. Go nuts, Alice."
"You've got nothing to worry about, Sammy." Alice assured her. "That Numeron Code you want will be in your hands in no time.
Author's Note: I keep forgetting to mention that the mark used for the Rune Mystic monsters (the first of which we've just seen in this chapter) and the curse mark on Yuma's chest is the same symbol used for the cover art of this story. I don't know if anyone figured that out or not.
Please review and let me know what you think.