Al lay on his bed with a small smirk on his face. He wasn't like Jaden, he wasn't going to shut himself up and morn the death of such an evil creature, but it wasn't to say that he didn't feel guilt. He was repressing it behind every smirk and chuckle he made.
He rose from his bed slowly and turned to the door of his one room apartment. He was a runaway. After a life time of marriage his parents divorced only a week after his 16th birthday. The sheet of paper that told everyone who he had chose to live with dangled in front of his face on the sad Friday night. And he ran. He ran as far away as possible.
And now here he was. In one bedroom apartment paid for by the money sent by both parents, attending school everyday pretending his life wasn't as empty as it was. Sometime he would call his mum or dad and talk with them, but he would never tell them he was going to come home.
"You there boy?" he called out to the dark shadows of his room. He had heard the sound of a dogs whimper.
"Want to go for a walk?"
There was no reply. The dog didn't even appear, but Al still got to his feet putting on a tattered black hood and grabbing his keys before leaving his lonely apartment.
---
There were few parks near where Al lived and usually the ones that did exist were the ones people got mugged, beaten and killed in. But today Al had taken that risk, and it had been a success as he entered the completely empty park with its grass a dark green and a large pond in the centre of it. Sure it was more pond than park but that wasn't important.
Al enjoyed sitting down on the park bench in front of the pond, and though some may say it was sad that he was all by himself, Al knew he wasn't entirely alone.
He could hear the sound of the dog right now in his ears; he knew that the Black Labrador was nearby.
"Come on boy I know your there!" He called out with a loud chuckle grinning.
Sure enough the dog raced out from under the bench he sat on and bounded full speed around the pond. It rolled on the grass and sniffed the nearby trees. It did everything a dog would do.
But he knew that the dog was far from normal. He knew the dog wouldn't come to visit him just to act cute. Its brilliant white eyes told him that every time, even as he watched as it began to lap at the water of the pond.
And then it suddenly happened. Two arms shot out from the pond water and wrapped around the dog. It yelped struggling but the grip was too strong.
Al was on his feet already calling out and running towards the side of the pond where a body suddenly emerged from the pond carrying the dog in its arms.
"Are you Al?" The body spoke from under the hooded cloak it wore.
Al stopped in front of it his fists clenched and teeth bore like the dog that the stranger held.
"I'm Al what's it to you? Now let the dog go!" He snarled at the stranger before lashing out at the darkness of the hooded cloak.
The stranger took a step back simply dodging the punch, Al kept swinging again and again but the stranger merely dodged again and again. He let out a yell before throwing himself at the figure.
He met with nothing but air before he then fell into the pond water face first into its cold muddy depths.
He stood up soaked, dirty and angry wiping his eyes and searching for the attacker. And then he saw it, and he chuckled.
The attacker was now standing in the middle of the pond perfectly on its surface.
"Al you're quite the interesting little boy you know? You've come into contact with things that would rattle the very human mind but still you laugh it off" The figure spoke the voice more clear than ever.
"I guess I'm just that kind of guy" he laughed, though truthfully inside he felt a prick of fear swell. If he had to kill this one he would have to. He didn't want to have two heads on his conscience.
"Al I'm going to make you a deal I'll give you the dog if you beat me in a duel monsters card game…but don't worry it won't be as brutal as that mean shadow game that evil creature made you play"
He shuffled on the spot nervously before pacing, he noticed how the voice was sounding sweeter, more feminine.
"And what if I don't want to?" He asked his eyes narrowing as he stopped pacing.
"I drown your doggy" The hooded figure said in a threatening tone before lifting the now silent Black Labrador before her. It began to hover in mid air threateningly low over the pond.
"So you want me to play you in a card game? What's the catch?" He asked. He knew already he would accept no matter what the consequences were; he didn't want to see the dog drowned. Already a light was building on his wrist forming into the same duel disk as before.
"If you win you get the dog back but if I win then you'll become my slave" The hooded figure chuckled as the words were said.
Al merely raised an eyebrow "You dig younger men or something old lady?"
The hooded figure's head snapped up at the mention of the world old. The figure tore down the hooded cloak to reveal the angry face of a beautiful black haired woman.
"You little prick I ain't old I'm only 25!" She snapped at him her ruby eyes narrowed down on him. She was dressed in a black leather jacket with a red shirt. She also wore a small black skirt over baggy black trousers.
"And hot nice rack you got there" He commented a goofy grin suddenly spreading over his face as her eyes widened as she stared at him a little blush running through her cheeks.
"Little pervert you should be more-" She paused her face going blank, "Wait…how did you know I was a woman?"
"I didn't I just knew either way it would get rid of that stupid cloak" He chuckled putting both hands on his hips and grinning widely. They had been talking for less than five minutes and already his enemy had fallen into one of his mind games.
"Little prick…" She snarled at him before outstretching her arm a gold duel disk forming on it. It would have looked out of place if not for the red jewels embedded in the wrist band.
"So tell me scary lady what's your name?" He called over to her enjoying the look of anger on her face as she glared at him.
"My names Axiss future queen of England" She spoke proudly punching her fist in the air and smirking at him.
"Axiss? What type of name is that for a girl?" He asked ignoring the part about her being queen of England and yet again enjoying the woman's reaction as she clenched her fist.
"Just shut the fuck up and duel me you little prick!" She snapped before drawing five cards. He did exactly the same.
Axiss life points: 8000
Al's life points: 8000
Al looked through his cards grinning at the hand "I play Insect Knight in attack mode and one card face down" The same insect appeared swinging its blade through the air before flipping on the spot. (1900)
"Your turn" he called out to her.
Axiss merely sniggered at the insects stupid jumping before slapping a card down on her duel disk, "I play Lunar Queen Elzaim in defence mode"
A small patch of light appeared on the surface of the pond before suddenly an angel looking creature with chestnut brown hair appeared (750/1100)
"Wait I know that monster…its just a normal monster no effect why would you…" Al's voice trailed off as he answered his own question, "A trap card right? You plan on making me attack your Queen in order to activate a nasty trap card"
Axiss merely smirked "Actually wrong…see this deck of mine is very special" she called out holding up her hand to the light and admiring the cards "Most of the cards have just been created by Maxamillion Pegasus himself with a whole heap of surprises you'll just love"
Now he was in trouble. This woman had just told him her deck was full of new cards. He wouldn't be able to plan ahead.
"So your mind games clever Al are not going to work on me" she said with a small wink.
"I could call you old-" he began but was interrupted as she slapped down a card forcefully.
"I play Her Majesty's Protectors Spark and Just" She called out the name before suddenly two beams of light appeared on the field and formed into two creatures.
One was made of a white liquid and had blue eyes and a crystal spear (1800/1200). The other was a white cylinder with two giant red arms and legs and a gold helmet (500/2000).
Al stared at the three monsters blinking dumbly, "Erm…how did you…"
"Before you ask when I have a monster that includes queen in it's name I can special summon a Queen Protector so long as it has the same attribute as the queen on the field" She looked at him her smile widening as he looked more confused by the moment.
"And you should know that Spark has the ability to be powered up by 200 for every card I have that includes queen in its name on my side of the field" She called out as the liquid creature sparked with sudden blue electricity that curled around its spear, (2000/1200)
"So now Just attack Insect knight!" She commanded and the liquid warrior threw the crystal spear at Insect Knight. It cut through the pond water speeding towards the bug like an arrow.
"I play Mirror force!" Al yelled out as a white force field suddenly appeared around the insect, "This will reflect your attack and destroy all attack position monsters"
The spear bounced off the barrier with a loud ping soaring back towards Spark who was immediately impaled before exploding into droplets of white liquid. Axiss didn't seem phased by the suddenly death of her monster and simply shrugged.
"No matter I play a card face down and end my turn" Axiss said placing the card down and smiling towards Al. Al merely grunted before drawing another card, "I now play Berserk Gorilla in attack mode!"
The red gorilla appeared on the pond side next to Insect Knight beating its chest and roaring in fury (2000/1000)
"And I play one card face down before attacking your queen with my Insect knight!" He pointed at the angel and the insect jumped off the pond side its sword raised above its head with a loud cricket screech. The sound of Axiss chuckling was heard before the creature was hammered into by Her Majesty's Protector Just.
"What the hell?" Al called out as Insect knight fell into the pond water shortly crawling out of it waving it's soaked body to dry itself off.
Al's life points: 7900
"When there is a queen monster on the field I can use Just's effect to use him to defend her so seeing as how he's in defence mode he'll defend her with 2000 defence points" She grinned at him before sticking her tongue out "…so as long as he's on the field you can't hurt my queen"
The guardian dusted its hands off standing before the angel with its fists clenched. The Berserk Gorilla roared at it before letting out a breath of fire towards the guardian. Just merely chuckled and blocked the breath of fire with both hands before returning to the same position at the queen's side. Axiss just stared blankly at him.
"What was the point in that?" Axiss asked scratching her head.
"Berserk Gorilla has to attack every turn I had no choice" He muttered crossing his arms, "25 yet your still dense"
She snarled at him her fists clenched asking herself why she had bothered with such a little prick before drawing a card.
"I now sacrifice my queen in order to summon another new card Queen of the Cooks!" The queen disappeared in a small burst of light before a ring of fire suddenly appeared in its place before a saucepan appeared over it. A woman with pink hair and wearing a chef's uniform appeared next to the saucepan with a giant fork in one hand. (2200/1500)
"This card has the ability to add one monster card to my hand so long as it's a fire element monster" She explained as she placed a new card in her hand from her deck.
"What's the point of that?" Al asked mimicking Axiss's earlier question in a mocking tone, she simply stuck her tongue out at him again.
"Well now I can special summon another protector can't I? I now summon Her Majesty's Protector: Hinotama!" She declared the ring of fire beneath the saucepan crackling before a small fireball with yellow eyes appeared by the Cooks side wearing a small helmet (1000/400)
"I'll play him in face up defence mode and because I special summoned him he inflicts 500 points of damage to your life points!"
The small fire ball spat a burst of flames towards Al. He didn't have time to yell out before the flame hit him in the chest setting alight to his black hood.
Al's life points: 7400
"Fuck it's on fire!" he yelped throwing off the tattered black hood. Axiss was now laughing to no end at Al's display as he stamped on the clothing repeatedly.
"Relax genius it's just a hologram" She said with a wide toothy grin as Al realised he was now stamping on his hooded Jacket for no reason.
"Yeah well…is the whole standing on water thing a hologram?" he asked glaring towards her as he put the trampled jacket back on.
"Nope that's real" she said with another chuckle as Al groaned, "Now where was I…oh yeah I attack with my Queen of Cooks!"
The female chef raced forward over the pond water before skewering the Insect Knight. It shattered into digital dust. Digital dust, no blood or guts just fragments of the image. He felt a little relief, now he knew for sure this wasn't a shadow game.
Al's life points: 7100
"One card face down and end my turn" she said with another grin while twirling a lock of her hair around her finger.
Al just drew another card his eyes narrowing a little, this woman was getting more and more annoying every minute. And he knew of course that she was just toying with him, "I now play one card in face down defence mode and then I'll play my Gorilla in defence mode"
The gorilla switched positions but then immediately blew up causing Axiss to yelp in surprise, he chuckled watching as she struggled to gain balance on the waters surface, "When Gorilla is in defence mode it's immediately destroyed….didn't scare you did I?"
"Shut up and make your move" she growled finally regaining her footing.
"Fine now I'll play one card face down and now…" He called out as the card appeared behind his monster "…It's your turn"
He looked towards her before smirking slightly his confidence growing. She merely muttered a curse under her breath before drawing a card and slapping it down, "Now I'll sacrifice my Hinotama protector to play…"
The ponds surface began to ripple a little beneath her feet "…Lady Queen of the Lake in defence mode"
Hinotama burst in an explosion of flame before the pond water suddenly opened up and a beautiful woman with long silver hair and a body made of water appeared, she had a red heart shaped gem in her chest appeared and was curled up on the ponds surface, (1500/2300)
"When this is summoned I get to add a water monster to my hand now I can summon Her Majesty's Protector: Volley!" The sound of a playful splash was heard as besides the water creature appeared a seal standing on its tail with a beach ball in between its flippers and wearing a silver helmet. (1300/800)
"And by discarding a water monster to the graveyard from my hand like my Water Lily Queen (300/300)" She placed the card in the graveyard; the seal began to spin the beach ball on its nose.
"This card can destroy a monster when it attacks without apply damage calculation!" She clicked her fingers before it jumped into the air and kicked the beach ball straight at the monster in face down defence mode on Al's side of the field.
"I play my Magical Cylinder card!" The same cylinder appeared and the ball flew into it before another cylinder appeared in front of Axiss and fired the same ball straight into her causing her to grunt a little from the impact.
Axiss's life points: 6700
"Well I'm not done I attack with my Chef!" She commanded chef threw the fork at the face down card. It flipped up and revealed a flying squirrel with beady eyes. It shattered under the fork with a little squeak of surprise.
"What the hell was that?" She called out an eyebrow raised.
"That was Nimble Momonga it lets me increase my life points by 1000 and summon two more from my deck!" He grinned wide as she frowned at him as leaves twirled around him and two more face down cards appeared.
Al's life points: 8100
He drew a card from his deck before grinning slapping the card down onto the field "And now that it's my turn I'm going to sacrifice them both for Barrel Dragon!" The two cards disappeared under a cloud of smoke before the metal dragon emerged on the pond side its cannons pointed at her monsters.
"I'll now activate its effect and flip a coin 3 times! If the coin lands on heads twice I can destroy your monster without needing to attack it" A coin appeared in the centre of the pond flipped into the air before landing on the ponds surface.
"Heads" He called out.
"I'm not blind!" she yelled out as the coin flipped again.
"Sorry mam Tails" he called out again chuckling as she growled in frustration.
It flipped up again before it landed on Heads, "Heads"
"I know!" She yelled out shaking her fist at him.
"Good now I'm going to destroy your Seal!" He said with a chuckle before the dragon pointed a gun at the seal and fired an orange burst at the creature. It disappeared behind an explosion shattering it to pieces.
"Now I'll attack your Majesty's Protector: Just!" The dragon fired again at the Cylinder creature the projectiles flying towards it at a fierce speed.
"I activate my Sacrifice for a loyal soldier card!" She yelled out revealing a trap card with a picture of a queen crying over a gravestone.
"By destroying one of my queens I can negate your attack so I'll destroy my Lady Queen of the Lake" The monster dived in front of the projectile exploding into a burst of blue light that shielded the cylinder knight.
"I play trap jammer!" He yelled out and a magic circle appeared around the barrier "With this I can negate any trap activated during the battle phase!"
The reaction was not one he was expecting as Axiss suddenly cheered and threw a fist into the air.
"I play…" She began as another trap card flipped up with a picture of a queen surrounded by secret agents, "Her majesty's secret service which allows me to activate any trap or magic card in my deck so long as a queen has been destroyed this turn so now I'll play my own trap jammer!"
The magic circle that had formed around the barrier merely shattered to pieces the barrel dragons attack barely causing a dent in the barrier that shortly faded away. Al stared blankly at the unharmed guardian that held up both of its arms in the same annoying victory pose Axiss did.
"Now it's my turn…" She called out as she drew a card from her deck before looking towards Al "By the way something I forgot to mention when Lady Queen of the Lake is destroyed I can bring a certain magic card to my hand"
She drew the card from her deck before hiding it in her hand with a teasing chuckle as if Al was trying to get a glimpse, he stared at her his eyes not changing from the scowl on his face.
"I sacrifice my Queen of the cooks and my Majesty's Protector: Just!" She yelled out as she slammed down the card onto the duel disk "In order to summon my Queens Noble Swords Woman in attack mode!"
The two monsters raised their fists in the air in the annoying victory pose before they disappeared in a stream of light which formed into a woman with long blonde hair that hung over one eye. Her armour was a pearl white colour and she carried a blue shield with a white emblem on it as well as a long silver sword. (2800/2400)
"This card has the ability to attack for every Queen card in the graveyard so that makes three times that she can attack!" She declared, Al swore under his breath before suddenly blinking dumbly.
Axiss had suddenly blanked out as if suddenly realising she had made a ftal error in her strategy, and then she took out her graveyard from her duel disk and looked it "Queen Elzaim, Queen of the cooks, Lady Queen of the Lake…yeah three times!"
Al almost felt like yelling out in frustration but merely hung his head and sighed shaking his head, "For someone so smart you needed to check?" Al muttered his arms crossed.
"Shut it I'm playing this on her Queens Radiant Excalibur!" She snapped at him before a magic card with a golden sword on the front being held by an angel wearing a crown appeared.
"This magic card can double the attack power of a monster with Queen in its name so long as my Lady Queen of the Lake is in my graveyard!"
"What!" Al yelled as the golden haired warrior raised its sword. It turned into the same sword on the card and her body glowed in a golden aura. (5600/4800)
"Come on there's got to be some negative effect to all of that! You can attack three times and get double the stats?" He yelled out trying to ignore the fact it didn't matter anyway considering he would lose by the end of the turn.
"True there is" She called out before tapping her feet together in a bored way watching the surface of the water ripple, "You see first of all I can only attack with my Queens Noble Swords Woman if she's the only monster on the field plus if your still standing by the time Excalibur's done it's damage then it's destroyed and I take damage equal to it's attack power"
"Oh come on!" He yelled out but was cut off by a yelp as the golden haired warrior leapt into the air and cut barrel dragon in two causing it to be engulfed in an explosion.
Al's life points 5100
"Queens Noble Swordswoman attack him directly!" She yelled out pointing at him, now he was pretty sure he hated this woman.
The warrior raised its sword again about to slice at Al. He braced himself for the impact the golden sword would make...
The woman slapped him.
"Ow!" He yelped and fell to the ground clutching his cheek.
Al's life points: 0
"Bitch…" he muttered as his life points hit zero glaring at the smug look on the warriors face as she faded away as the hologram ended.
"Had enough or do you want her to slap you again?" Axiss called out with a chuckle as she began to walk towards him over the pond water, the Black Labrador floating behind her still fast asleep.
"I don't care what deal I made I ain't being no ones slave" He muttered still rubbing his sore face. For a hologram that sure hurt.
"I don't expect you to be a slave but I do expect you to come along with me" Axiss spoke her tone now less cheerful and more serious as she looked towards him with emotionless eyes.
"Forget it" He muttered back now getting to his feet and dusting himself off.
"You're in danger Alistair do you know that?" She explained as she drew nearer to land, Al didn't reply.
"You are going to be hunted do by those things and one way or another they will kill you unless you come with me" she called out her tone softening a little.
"Where exactly would I go to?" He asked as he looked at her with the same emotionless gaze.
"Duel academy" she stated bluntly.
He blinked for a moment before looking at her in disbelief "Duel academy? I don't want to go to duel academy I'm not that obsessed with the game!" he exclaimed waving a fist about in frustration.
"You are going and that's final" She didn't growl or shout, she more stated that he was going. And it was from this he could tell already he was going to go no matter what.
"And what if I refuse?" He asked in a mumble looking at the ground in a defeated manner.
"Then me and my friends will hand you in to the police and you will be charged and sentenced for killing that Tormentor…we can give the police everything they need" She explained now stepping onto the land in front of him.
He looked up at her before sighing, "Fine but on one condition"
"Name it" He motioned to the sleeping dog that now lay at her feet.
"The dog comes too"
She smiled warmly at the comment before reaching forward and placing both hands on her shoulders and looking into his eyes with a warm laugh, "Oh Alistair the dog is essential in more ways than you'll know"
As she spoke the dog stirred on the floor before opening its brilliant white eyes and looking up at Al. It sat in silence looking up at Al. Al looked down at it a small glint of childish happyness in his eyes. The two cocked their heads before looking up at the sky. And then they both let out a long howl into the nights sky. This night was theres as of now. His and the dog that moved in the shadows.
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Disclaimer: I don't own yugioh gx and all that jazz but I do own the characters I create and the cards I create for example all but one of the queen cards