Arata: Hey. Share Tab. Stop f*cking up the formatting.
Yugioh!- Unlimited Boundary Rewrite!
Chapter Four - Remorse
http:/www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=MCF_BxV-08E
Morning Musume - Kanashimi Twilight
I laid there for days. The hospital bed wasn't very comfortable, but after the first uncomfortable day, you become numb to it. I was out (or drugged) for most of it. But every time I woke up, Arata had been sitting next to me, her face red and wet with hours of crying. The first time I woke up, she was in the middle of talking.
"I meant well..." She cleaned her cheeks of tears. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I would never..." She was struggling to find the words. "And Alek. What he did..."
"No, Arata..."
Immediately, she shot up to her feet and threw herself over me.
"Thank fucking god!" She screamed into the pillow under my head. "I knew you would be alright..."
"Sounds like you thought I would die," I smiled.
She just hugged me tighter. "No, no, not at all... But you took a horrible hit... And you were bleeding... And I thought you were going to die and I'm so happy you're not!"
I did what I could to hug her back, but holding her against the bandages covering my torso caused my wounds to burn, so I had to let her go. I looked around and it wasn't that bad of a place, really. The bed was big but really firm, like I was sleeping on the floor. There was a TV on mute in the corner, but for some reason the captions were on, struggling to keep up with the words they were saying. The wall to my left was a big window, but it was covered by blinds, hiding the assumed-beautiful view from me.
"How long have I been here..?"
"A couple of days... Doctors said they would have to hold you here for about a week for recovery."
"What a way to start off a school year..." I laughed.
Arata tried not to laugh with me. "And it's all my fault... I should be the one lying here."
"It's not your fault at all. I went along with it. I kinda wanted to do it, really... And I don't regret it. It was fun."
Arata looked like she had been punched in the face. "You don't regret it? Look at you!"
"Well, yeah, obviously not the part where I bled until I lost consciousness, but the duel part was fun," I shook my head. "Any idea what happened..?"
"You don't remember?"
"Not very clearly... Alek complimented me, I was smiling about it. And then this."
"Yeah, Alek," Arata instantly became serious. Angry. "He played this new monster. I've never seen it before, but... when he drew it, he started talking funny. And when he played it, it destroyed everything. The whole arena filled with fire, and when everything settled down, you were found outside..."
"Right... Dark Armed Dragon came at me. Threw me out of the arena. Was anyone else hurt?"
"Not really... I mean everybody caught a bit of the fire, but no one as bad as you."
"What about Alek?" I asked.
"What about him?" She asked back.
"Is he okay? What happened to him?"
"I'm surprised you care after what he did."
"Well... I don't blame him for this either."
"What? Why not? It's all his fault!"
"No... I don't think it was his fault. He was... lightening up. Starting to have fun. And he complimented me. I don't think he meant to hurt me... He changed when he drew Dark Armed. His eyes were different, and his voice changed. I don't think it was really him who did it."
"You think so?" Arata sounded like she didn't believe me.
"I don't know for sure. I mean, I don't know anything about the guy. But I know the person I was dueling before he played Dark Armed isn't the same person who attacked me."
"Well, whatever you say. After the fire cleared, Alek was gone. No one knows what happened to him."
"That's sad... What do you think is going to happen to him?"
"I'm not sure. I'm thinking the Chancellor will try to charge him."
"That's not right... That monster was real. That fire was real. Nothing else was!"
"I know it, Enzeru. Don't stress about it, it's nothing for you to worry about. All you should care about right now is getting better, okay?"
I nodded my head. "Yeah. Alright."
After that, Arata left. She said she had class, and even though I'm sure she didn't need it, she was required to attend for appearances. The rest of her day, she had to tell me about later.
Arata told me that when she was leaving, she saw Alek leaving too. She said her heart sank and she lost the ability to reason for a few minutes. So she ran to catch up to him.
"Alek!" She called for him, with no answer. She called again, no answer. It had to be him, she thought. No one else wore their blue jacket like him. No one else had the tail in the back that hung to his knees. It wasn't his normal outfit, but it was the same one he wore the day he went crazy.
When she caught up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, he immediately spun around and swung his arm at her, knocking her back. He had the most angry face, clenching his teeth and almost growling at her like a dog.
"What the fuck? Asshole."
"What do you want, Arata?"
"What are you doing here?"
"What do you think I'm doing here?"
"Enlighten me."
Alek just shook his head. "What do you care, is a better question."
"Stop with the circling questions. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about."
He just laughed. "Get away from me. Go bother someone else."
As he turned to leave, Arata grabbed his arm.
"You're not leaving! What is wrong with you?"
"Let go of me. Right now."
"Or what?"
Alek jerked away, testing how tight her grip was. He was still for a moment, but Arata felt the burning pain that came with a kick in her stomach, and a push against her weakened form knocked her on the ground.
Arata couldn't believe what just happened. She held her stomach, biting her lips and trying to keep from screaming from the pain and throwing up. She forced herself back up and buried her fist in his face. They grabbed each other by the arms and just glared into the others eyes.
"You attacked Enzeru."
"You backed out of our match."
"I wanted to prove a point."
"What point? That you think you're better than me?"
"That I thought Enzeru had potential! It wasn't supposed to do anything but ruffle your hair a bit!"
"I prepared for days for that match. I..." He stopped, as if he didn't want to say the rest.
"You what?" Arata demanded.
Aleks eyes suddenly softened, and he let Arata go so he could stumble backwards. "What am I doing..?"
Arata just ran up to him and once more struck him across his face, almost knocking him onto the ground like he did to her.
"You should see what you did to her! You should see the mess you made!"
"That's what I was doing!"
Arata couldn't think of anything else to say. Was he really there just to check up on me?
"I wanted... to see her. I wanted it not to be real."
"It's extremely real, Alek! She could've died! Where the hell did you get that card from?"
"I... found it."
"Bullshit."
"Really!" He defended. "It... was just there."
"I don't believe you. You've changed..."
His gaze became hard again. "Yeah. I've changed. I'm stronger. No one can defeat me... No one can -touch- me."
Alek's duel disk chimed, and the screen displayed "Accept?" with a yes or no option. He looked up at Arata, who backed up further and had her disk activated.
"You're not serious."
"I am!" Arata yelled. "You think you can't be touched, let's see it! I'll beat the sense into you!"
Alek just watched her, on the verge of breaking out into laughter. He raised his disk, and accepted her challenge.
D-Gazer Set
Duel Disk Set
"You'll pay for what you did to her."
Duel!
Arata - 4000
Alek - 4000
"You tried to make a fool out of me, you'll be the one to pay. I'll summon my Axe Dragonute(2000/1200, Dark/Dragon/Effect, Level 4) in attack position, and set one card face-down."
The turn counter switched to Arata.
"I wasn't doing anything to you, Alek. It was friendly competition, something you don't seem to understand. My turn, I draw."
They watched each other, furious gazes exchanged between them.
"I summon one monster in defense position, and set one card. Go, dick."
Alek stopped responding to her after that. Only words relevant to his turn left his mouth.
"Alongside my Axe Dragonute, I summon my Lancer Dragonute(1500/1800, Dark/Dragon/Effect, Level 4) and construct the overlay network!"
Between the two of them, the beautiful green faded into a black ocean, spiraling slowly towards the center. The twin dragons looked at each other before they faded into light, being swallowed by the vortex.
"You're exceed summoning. Both of your monsters have the same level, letting you play them overtop each other to summon a stronger one from your extra deck. The monsters you used to summon it can then be used as tools for its effect."
"With them, I exceed summon my Kachi Kochi Dragon(2100/1300, Earth/Dragon/Effect, Rank 4) from the network!"
From the center of the spiral arose what seemed to be a small mountain of silver stone, and as the black faded, the face of the roaring rock-dragon. Two yellow orbs slowly rotated around its head.
"Attack, Kachi Kochi Dragon, destroy her face-down monster!"
The dragon roared, the waves from its voice shaking the ground and erupting fissures around its body. One of them stretched out under Arata's monster, revealing the odd form of a golem monster. Alek didn't have to ask; he'd seen Arata's deck many times before. He knew of the strange creatures that hid there. Creatures made of rock, magma, flames.
"By destroying my creature, you activate Laval Miller's effect. When he is destroyed, I can select two other Laval monsters in my deck and send them to the graveyard to join him. With this effect, I send my Laval's Magma Artillery(1700/200, Fire/Pyro/Effect, Level 4) and my Tender of the Laval Volcano(100/200, Fire/Pyro/Tuner/Effect, Level 1) to join my Miller."
"And then with Tender's effect, you can send one more Laval from your deck to the graveyard," Alek explained.
"You've lost too many times to me, Alek. Yes, and with her effect, I send my Laval Judgment Lord (2700/1800, Fire/Warrior/Effect, Level 7), bringing the count to four different Lavals in the graveyard."
"Whatever. I activate the effect of my dragon; if I destroy a monster by battle with its effect, I can detach one of its exceed materials to attack once more, opening you up for a direct attack." Kachi Kochi Dragon opened its maw and took a bite out of one of the orbs, and once more it roared until the earth split into fissures, pushing Arata back a bit.
Arata - 1900
Alek - 4000
"Just a flesh wound," Arata laughed confidently. "Are you done?"
"Yeah. Go."
Arata pulled her next card, and proceeded.
"As long as I have three or more Laval monsters in my graveyard, I can special summon my Laval Burner(2100/1000, Fire/Pyro/Effect, Level 5) from my hand."
Before the hologram of Arata's firy haired, massive rock monster with burning, armored fists stomped onto the field, Alek had a response prepared.
"And when my opponent special summons a monster, I can special summon my Phantom Dragon(2300/2200, Light/Dragon/Effect, Level 8) in attack position as well."
Staring down Arata's monster was an oddly bland, detail less dragon shape, with creepy, glowing eyes and several branching appendages.
"Fine. One more obstacle in the way. To join my creature, I then normal summon my Laval Forest Sprite(300/200, Fire/Pyro/Tuner, Level 2)."
A change of pace, this creature was just a normal, little girl, her skin dark and her hood hiding her face, but her long, red hair remained flowing. She crossed her arms and leaned against the towering monster beside her. The young girl soon faded into light after a tiny wave 'goodbye', and the two stars that floated in her place began to dance around the monstrous creature.
"Tuning my level two Forest Sprite with my level 5 Burner! Through fire and brimstone, let your rage come forth! Synchro summon!"
Burner had become surrounded in rings, and the two stars lined up with its body. The familiar tower of light filled the rings and engulfed the creature, and in their place stood a new force. It rested on one knee, kneeling before Arata. Massive, blue fists forced the colossus onto its feet, alerting everyone within a mile that he had been summoned. Several plates of body armor attached to its joints, and its left arm lit up with a red glow, showing off the cannon attached to its wrist. The archetype symbol of a flame imprinted on its chest lit up until the grey colossus rose up to its feet. Its cannon arm aimed at Alek, and waited for Arata to call its name.
"Laval Stannon!(2700/1800, Fire/Pyro/Synchro/Effect, Level 7)"
"He's nothing," Alek sneered.
"When Stannon is synchro summoned, I have to discard one card from my hand. So I send Kayen, the Master Magma Blacksmith(1200/200, Fire/Pyro/Effect, Level 3) away."
Arata observed her situation. Phantom Dragon had 2300 attack points, and Kachi Kochi had 2100. Both of them were easy targets for Stannon, but Alek's face-down card could've been a problem. The worst case scenario, it could've been a Mirror Force, which would open her up to defeat. So she looked at her hand, glanced at her graveyard, and proceeded to move.
"From my hand, I activate the spell card Rekindling. With this, every monster in my graveyard that has a defense of 200 points returns to my field! So, arise Kayen. Forest Sprite, Magma Artillery, and Tender!"
Suddenly, Arata's field was full of monsters. A fat, older man with a flaming hammer. A young girl hiding behind her hood. A golem with huge cannons mounted on its shoulders. And an older woman, appearing to be an older Forest Sprite.
"More food for my dragons. Nice."
"I'm not in much of a joking mood, dick."
"I don't know what you want from me."
"An explanation, an apology, something! Something to make right what you did."
Alek just watched her.
"Say something!"
"I don't know what happened, god dammit!"
He put a hand on his head and gently rubbed it, trying to sooth what seemed like a massive headache.
"I've made a mistake. I'm losing my fucking mind... There's something at work here... Something I can't control. The Dark Armed Dragon... it's different from other cards! I've taken it out of my deck, I've torn it, I've burned the mother fucker, and it keeps coming back!" Alek began to yell, peeking between his fingers as his hands held his head from splitting open. "Even now I feel it! My top card," He hastily pulled it out, and showed the face to Arata. "Here it is! It's always there!"
Arata looked at the card, puzzled. Influence Dragon. Not Dark Armed...
"Okay... Alek, maybe it's not your fault. I believe you now. Maybe something is wrong with you..."
"Get away from me..."
"I want to help you, Alek!"
Arata took a step forward. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" He screamed.
Arata threw her hands up and froze in place. Aleks eyes began to change.
"I can't do this anymore. Arata, I do this out of only respect."
The holograms then vanished.
"I have no doubt in my mind that if we were to duel, I would walk away victorious. But this..." He looked at himself. "I refuse to do it like this."
Alek turned to leave.
"No, wait, Alek! Maybe we can get you help, maybe we can fix this..."
"I don't want your help. I don't need you to sympathize for me! Get away and stay away from me! Next time, I won't be holding it back..."
Illustrations! FFNet does not allow linking to websites, so replace the (dot) with a . just as with the theme song long. For lack of a better camera, be gentle about picture quality. Check my profile for more illustrations.
Enzeru - http:/duskeventide(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/Preparing-to-Duel-Enzeru-257943647
Arata - http:/duskeventide(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/Arata-Muteki-No-2-257944971
Alek - http:/duskeventide(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/Concept-Art-Alek-257945850