Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.
Chapter 16: Kotori's Rival
It was fairly early in the morning as Yuma sat up in his hammock. Besides a dull pain in his chest caused by the mark that had been afflicting him for the past few days, Yuma found that he felt pretty good. The young duelist glanced out his window and saw that the sky was thick with dark clouds. It seemed like it might start storming at any moment. Turning away from the window, Yuma hopped out of his hammock and went to go get dressed for the day.
"Hey Yuma! Could you come down here for a minute?" Akari called from downstairs.
Yuma promptly left his room and in moments met Akari at the bottom of the stairs. "What's up?"
"A friend of yours dropped by to give you this note." Akari answered as she handed Yuma a slip of paper. "You seem to be popular with the girls all of a sudden."
Yuma ignored the remark and began reading the note. The note was from Kotori asking him to meet up with her at a certain park at 11:00. Not wanting to waste any time, Yuma immediately headed back up the stairs to his room to get dressed. Though he had plenty of time before he was supposed to meet with Kotori, he needed to figure out what he was going to wear. Yuma wanted to look perfect for the next time he saw her.
Kotori was waiting in the town square to meet up with Kaito and the others. The plan was for them to get together before setting out to find Yuma. It was very likely that Mitaka was going to put some sort of defense to keep Kotori from Yuma, which means she would most likely need backup. What bothered Kotori the most was how empty the city seemed to be, almost as though it was deserted. At long last, Kotori saw Vector and Alit approaching.
"Where are Kaito and Droite?" Kotori asked them.
"They decided to try and confront Mitaka themselves while you take care of Yuma." Alit explained. "So just Vector and I are your bodyguards for the day."
"Then we better go find Yuma." Kotori told them.
"The best place to start would probably be his house." Vector suggested. "The barrier Mitaka said she put up should probably be gone by now."
At that moment, the gemstone embedded in the Emperor's Key gave a small flash. In her mind, Kotori suddenly saw the image of a very familiar park.
"I think I know where Yuma is!" Kotori told them. "He's at the park where this whole thing started in the first place."
"How do you know that?" Alit asked.
"I think Astral told me." Kotori answered.
"Then we better get moving." Alit decided.
"You're not going anywhere." A voice interrupted.
Kotori and the others looked and saw a young man with pale green hair walking towards them. Kotori recognized the young man as the one Alice was with right before her duel with Kaito. The young man was not alone though. Several more young men all armed with duel disks approached and quickly surrounded the trio.
"Where'd these guys come from?" Alit asked.
"I think they're all guys Mitaka and her helpers brainwashed." Kotori answered.
"Seems those ladies really got around." Vector observed.
"By order of Mistress Sammy, we've come to take you out!" the green-haired young man declared.
"Kotori! Vector and I will handle these guys!" Alit told her. "You just focus on getting to Yuma!"
"Are you sure?" Kotori asked.
"Trust me. These guys are no problem." Alit smirked.
"Besides, Yuma's running out of time." Vector pointed out. "That means you don't have time to waste with these guys."
Kotori nodded and ran off, managing to get past the mod that had surrounded them. Meanwhile, Vector and Alit readied their duel disks for battle.
"I think this is gonna be fun." Alit remarked to Vector.
"Just try not to get in my way." Vector replied with a sinister grin. "This is my chance to really cut loose."
With that, everyone in the square activated their D-Gazers and duel disks. In moments the massive battle royal was joined.
Yuma arrived at the park and began to look for Kotori. He was so nervous about meeting with her that he jumped when he heard the sound of thunder in the distance. Yuma hoped that Kotori would arrive soon, as the waiting was killing him.
"Hello Yuma." A voice spoke from behind. Yuma turned around to see that it was Samantha. "Know who I am?"
"You're that one girl from my school, Samantha." Yuma answered. "Um, I hate to be rude, I'm kinda waiting for someone right now, so…"
"You're waiting for Kotori, right?" Samantha asked as she began to walk towards him. "I'm afraid she won't be coming. You see I was the one who delivered that little note to your sister."
"You? But why?" Yuma asked as he backed away.
"Oh don't worry yourself with little questions like that." Samantha told him. "What matters is I know what you want, and I can give it to you just as easily as Kotori can."
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Yuma told her as he backed into a tree.
"Of course you do." Samantha replied as she cornered him. "So just relax and let me take care of you."
Yuma felt as if he had become trapped in the nightmares he had been having for the past few nights. Just as Samantha moved in to kiss him, Yuma gathered his will and managed to push her away. As Yuma ran off into the park, Samantha looked at him with an irritated expression. The redhead took a deep breath and calmed down.
"Okay, this is turning out to be just a little harder than I thought it'd be." Samantha spoke. "But it doesn't matter. Sooner or later he'll give in."
Kotori ran for the park as fast as her legs could carry her. As she ran, she couldn't help but notice how deserted the city seemed to be. It seemed that Mitaka had done something to keep other people from coming out into the streets. At long last Kotori could see the entrance to the park in the distance. Kotori continued on when an explosion suddenly went off right next to her and knocked her to the ground.
As Kotori managed to get up, she looked around and saw Anna standing at the top of some steps to her left. The redhead had on a vest made from a jean jacket with the sleeves torn off over a black tank top that showed off her midriff and cleavage, along with a pair of incredibly short torn jean shorts. At that moment though, Kotori was more focused on the fact that Anna had the large pink cannon she usually carried outside of school aimed right at her.
"Get up, bitch!" Anna ordered. "I've got a bone to pick with you!"
"I don't know what your problem is Anna, but I don't have time for this right now!" Kotori told her.
With that, Kotori tried to head for the park again, but Anna fired another round from her cannon. The blast hit the ground only inches from where Kotori was standing and nearly knocked her down a second time.
"You're not going anywhere until we settle this!" Anna told her.
"Is this about Yuma?" Kotori asked. "Look Anna, I'm sorry about everything that's happened! But right now Yuma's in a lot of trouble!"
"You're the only one who's in trouble right now!" Anna declared. "Now until you duel me, I'm not letting you leave!"
At this, Kotori scowled and reluctantly put on her D-Gazer. "Fine! But let's make this quick!"
After slinging her cannon back over her back, Anna put her on her own D-Gazer. Kotori and Anna activated their duel disks and in an instant the color of the surrounding area changed.
"I'm going first!" Kotori declared as she drew her first card.
Kotori looked carefully at her hand to try and figure out what her first move should be. She had seen Anna duel more than once in the past and new what she was capable of. Whatever Anna's first move was going to be, Kotori knew she was going to hit fast and hard.
"Okay. I summon Gagaga Magician in Attack Mode!" Kotori announced. The silver-haired magician appeared on the battlefield. "Next I special summon Gagaga Child!"
Appearing on the field next to Gagaga Magician was a boy with red hair holding a blue Popsicle. He had on a pink shirt with a red tie along with black shorts and red sneakers. On his back was a dark-blue cape with orange trim, and atop his head the boy wore a blue and orange conical hat that curved forward.
"I use Gagaga Child's effect to match his level to Gagaga Magician's!" Kotori announced. The redheaded boy quickly at his Popsicle and pulled the stick out to reveal four level stars on it. "I use the level four Gagaga Magician and Gagaga Child to build the overlay network and Xyz Summon Number 39: Utopia!"
A vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared on the battlefield and pulled in Kotori's monsters as balls of golden energy. A giant white sword with two balls of gold light orbiting it rose out of the vortex and transformed into Utopia.
"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Kotori announced.
"Running scared already, huh?" Anna remarked as she drew her first card. "Well there's no running from me! I summon Night Express Knight in Attack Mode!"
Kotori could suddenly hear the sound of a train whistle in the in the distance. In moments a large silver train pulled up right behind Anna. On the top of the front car of the train was the upper body of a mechanical knight wielding a lance.
"Since I just summoned a level ten monster, I can also summon Heavy Freight Train Derricrane!" Anna announced.
Another train whistle sounded and Kotori saw another train speed up behind Anna. This train looked to be an ordinary grey and yellow freight train. Built onto the train's rear car was a kind of construction crane.
"Derricrane's ATK is cut in half when summoned by this effect." Anna continued. "But that doesn't matter, since I now use Derricrane and Night Express Knight to Xyz Summon Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max!"
A massive vortex appeared on the ground behind Anna and pulled in the two trains as balls of red energy. Rising out of the vortex was a large train car that looked like a green cube on wheels. Though Kotori knew how dangerous that cube really was. Orbiting around the cube were two balls of orange light.
'I knew that Anna would summon Gustav Max as soon as she could.' Kotori thought. 'Next she'll use its effect to cut my life points in half and attack me. But I'm ready for her. As soon as she attacks, I can use the Mirror Force card I set before to take her monster out. And even if that doesn't work, I can use Utopia's effect to block her attack.'
"I activate the Spell, Rank-Up-Magic Rune Force!" Anna announced.
"What!" a stunned Kotori exclaimed.
"With this card, I use Gustav Max to rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon Rune Mystic Death Rail Cannon Gustav Omega!" Anna announced.
A pillar of orange light shot up into the sky around Gustav Max. Suddenly a large silver cannon barrel burst out of the pillar of energy. The muzzle of the cannon was shaped like a horned animal skull with the Rune Mystic symbol glowing on the forehead. The pillar of light faded to reveal that the rest of the vehicle had changed into a red train car that almost resembled a tank. On the top of the tank car on each side of the turret were four short white spikes. Orbiting around the cannon were three red fireballs.
"Anna, are you working for Mitaka?" Kotori asked.
"What the hell does it look like?" Anna responded. "She told me that if I got rid of you, I could have Yuma all to myself. So I'm going to do what I should've done long ago and blow you to bits!"
"Look Anna, I'm sorry about what's happened between you and Yuma." Kotori told her. "But the fact is Yuma and I have actually been seeing each other for a long time. Neither of you remembered that because of this spell Mitaka cast over the whole city."
"I know all that!" Anna revealed. "I got my real memories back the moment Mitaka gave me this power!"
"What? But then… are you saying you still have feelings for Yuma?" a surprised Kotori asked.
"Oh please! You think I went after Yuma just because of some dumb spell?" Anna asked. "The fact is I've had a thing for Yuma for a long time. Until now I've just been waiting around hoping he'd dump you so I could move in. But this works out just as well!"
"Anna…" Kotori spoke.
"Quiet! I activate Gustav Omega's effect!" Anna announced. "By detaching an overlay unit, I can destroy one monster my opponent controls! And since Gustav Omega has Gustav Max as an overlay unit, you'll take damage equal to that monster's original ATK! So I detach Derricrane and destroy Utopia!"
One of the fireballs orbiting Gustav Omega went into the hatch on top of the wicked train car. The cannon fired a glowing red shell that hit Utopia in the chest and caused a massive explosion that knocked Kotori back three feet. Kotori hit the ground hard with her back and her life points dropped to 1500.
"That's not all!" Anna continued. "Since I detached Derricrane to activate Gustav Omega's effect, Derricrane lets me destroy a card on my opponent's field! Say goodbye to your face-down card!"
As soon as Kotori got back to her feet, her large Trap card exploded and knocked her back down. It took Kotori another moment to get back up.
"Gustav Omega's 3500 ATK is more than enough to finish you off!" Anna declared. "Gustav Omega, attack her directly! Carnage Mortar!"
"I summon Gagaga Guardna to the field in Defense Mode!" Kotori quickly announced. The shield-baring warrior appeared in front of her.
At this, Anna scowled. "Fine! Guess I'll set one card on the field and end my turn."
Kotori drew her next card. "First I activate Dian Keto the Cure Master and get back 1000 life points!" Sparkling lights rained down on Kotori and brought her life points up to 2500. "Next I play the Spell card, Swords of Revealing Light!"
Suddenly several swords made of white light rained down upon the field, piercing holes through the dark clouds above. The massive swords floated between Kotori and Anna to create a wall.
"That's all you've got?" Anna asked. "Those swords of yours may keep me from attacking you for a few turns, but they can't stop Gustav Omega's effect. At most you've only bought yourself one more turn."
'She's right.' Kotori thought. 'On the next turn she'll blow away Gagaga Guardna and take out another chunk of my life points. Unless I can do something soon, I'm as good as dead.'
Author's Note: The outline for the duel between Anna and Kotori ended up coming together pretty quickly. All I'll say on it is that the ending to it will probably be surprising.
Please review and let me know what you think.