Duel Academia Legends
By: DarkStorm
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!
Chapter Eight: Challenge from out of the Blue!
The rest of Kisho's week went by as a blur, in Duel Mechanics and Philosophy 101 he had watched a lot of Duels, but didn't have his chance to Duel. As for his tutoring time with Arnia-Sensei she just game him his space. Tell him he needed to…
"Find a way around the flaw in your deck."
Before she would continue with his tutoring. "What kind of Sensei tells you there is a problem and doesn't give you any hints in fixing it."
Actually Kisho enjoyed the fact that Arnia hadn't told him, but he was starting to get really frustrated with it. He had written down every card in his deck, and was currently at the library trying to figure out how to fix it.
"So my deck uses up to much resources," Kisho thought about what "resources" meant in the game of Duel Monsters. "Well I guess in my case it must have to do with my Ritual Monsters, but I don't see it. I mean I sacrifice monsters to fulfill the Ritual requirements needed to summon my Ritual Monsters, just like anyone would sacrifice weaker monsters on the field to tribute summon more powerful monsters…so how is my deck flawed?"
Kisho pulled out his deck, "Pot of Greed, Reckless Greed, Mirage of Nightmare…all cards that help a player get to the cards they need, not to mention my searching monsters like Manju of the Ten Thousand hand and such." He let out a frustrating sigh, and slumped down in his chair.
"Having a hard time are we?" A familiar voice stated from behind Kisho.
"Caden!" Kisho stated as he recognized the voice, he turned around to confirm that it was him.
"What are you working on?" He asked him.
"Oh, just trying to get my deck all fixed up," Kisho stated with a smile.
"For your match against Nero I presume," Caden asked as he sat down next to Kisho.
"Yeah."
"So how's it going?" Caden asked.
"Not good, Arnia-Sensei helped me realize something about my deck," he stated being as vague as possible.
"You're worried that because Arnia and Nero are both second year students you may have a hard time against Nero, seeing as you lost to Arnia?"
"Yeah, something like that," Kisho let out a sigh, "Besides I've already dueled against Nero before, we just never finished our match, but his deck…"
"Is pretty impressive I've heard," Caden stated getting up.
"Huh? Where are you going?"
"To join the others, they ask me to come get you before we headed over to the Slifer Red Dorm for dinner."
"Dinner?" Kisho looked down at his watch. "What is it that late already?!" He quickly gathered up his things and followed Caden out of the library.
"So let me ask you," Caden cleared his throat, "Are you ready for the Duel tomorrow?"
"Well…" Kisho looked down at the ground.
"Could it have something to do with the fact that you're facing off against someone you know you can't beat," Nero stated from behind Kisho.
Caden and Kisho turned around to see Nero leaning against the wall of the library wearing his Duel Disk, and a smug smile on his face.
"Nero!" Kisho stated through gritted teeth.
"So you remember me huh?" Nero stated, he stopped leaning on the wall and walked towards Kisho. He stopped inches away from Kisho. "Tomorrow I will prove to everyone that your victory against Professor Tavarius was a fluke."
"You're probably right," Kisho stated looking down and away at Nero.
"W-what?!" Nero stated taken aback. "What kind of game are you trying to pull here?"
"No games, I don't even think we should go through with the Duel tomorrow."
What? I may have only known Kisho for a few days, but he's never back down from a challenge. Did something happen to him.
"You're not getting out of this, tomorrow I will beat you in front of everyone!" Nero made a fist.
"Like I said-"
"YOU THERE!" Caden yelled pointed at Nero.
Both a startled Kisho and Nero looked over at Caden who was wearing his Duel Disk on his arm, with his deck already loaded in it. "Let's Duel!"
"Kisho," Nero looked back at him. "Who is this boob?"
"I heard that, and I'm no boob!" Caden stated with a fist in the air.
"Caden don't-"
"Listen Kisho," he spat out, "I don't know what's going on in your head, but we did make a promise to Duel each other at the open house, so I'm going to duel Nero and prove he's no big deal!"
"Caden…" Kisho stated. You may be able to beat him, but myself I'm not so sure…
"So you're one of those Obelisk Blue," Nero stated calmly.
"What do mean?"
"You think you're better than everyone else because of your rank," Nero pulled out his deck and began shuffling it. "You've got an interesting choice of friend here Kisho."
"I'm nothing like those Obelisk Blues, I'm just going to show Kisho, he's got nothing to worry about," Caden stated calmly as he drew 5 cards.
"Fine," Nero stated drawing 5 cards. "Just to let you know, rank means nothing! I maybe a Ra Yellow, but that doesn't mean I can't wipe the floor with a blue-belly like you!"
"Just Duel," Caden stated as he drew his sixth card. Now I see where Kisho is coming from, this guy's a jerk and a half. Guess I'll have to put him in his place. I didn't want to show off my deck to Kisho until our Duel, but I guess its only fair. "I'll summon Red Eyes Black Chick (800/500) in attack mode!" A brown eye appeared on the field it started to crack open. "Next I'll throw 3 hidden cards on the field, and end with that."
"Fine then," Nero drew a card from his deck as the three cards appeared behind Caden's monsters. "Watch Kisho, think of this as evening the playing field seeing as I know about your little secret."
Kisho heart froze. Does he know about my decks fatal flaw?
"Little secret, what are you talking about?" Caden asked.
"I see you don't consider him much of a friend Kisho, or do you trust what Arnia told you what to do?"
He does know, damn it!
"Now my turn, I'll summon Berserk Gorilla (2000/1000) in attack mode!" Nero monster appeared on the field in a huff as it pounded on its chest. "Now I'm not one to walk into a Trap so…I'll match you with three hidden cards as well!" Three holographic cards appeared on the field behind Nero's monster.
"My go then," Caden drew a card from his deck and added it to his hand, giving him a total of 3. It's already been one turn and I can see the experience that Nero has, he didn't even try to attack playing cautiously. But what he said about Kisho's little secret what is he talking about?
"Stumped, let me give you a little hint. Make your move!"
"Fine!" Caden stated, "I know the weakness of your Berserk Gorilla and it actually plays into what I had plan from the start. So I'll activate Guard Penalty," the spell card revealed itself; it had a picture of a boxer protecting himself with the referee. "Simple put, if a monster I choose on the field decides to take a break in defense mode, I can draw one card from my deck, and I choose your Berserk Gorilla."
"Big deal, I have no plans of placing my monster in defense mode," Nero stated, "Because that would destroy the monster."
"That's why I have this!" Caden revealed his Enemy Controller Quick-Play Spell, now all I got to do is select one monster on the field, and I can control it, and make it take a knee. So go on Berserk Gorilla switch to defense mode!" The monster tried to disobey Caden but was forced into defense mode, the monster instantly exploded, as Caden drew a card from his deck.
Wow, Caden is really good, he pulled together a combo I never even thought of with Enemy Controller and increased his hand in the process. Kisho watched the Duel with interest.
"Now to deal with those pesky hidden cards, so I'll play Bait Doll!" Caden revealed his last hidden card, "This one will force one of your hidden cards to activate and if it's the wrong time, its destroyed and this card goes back into my deck, so I'll target the one on the far left!" A huge doll with sickle ran over to Nero's card and slashed it the card revealed itself as Mirror Force before exploding. Caden calmly shuffled Bait Doll back into his deck.
Damn, that was the only card to stop an attack, at least he only had a weak monster out, unless, he's got the card needed to activate his Red Eyes Black Chick effect. Nero thought as he looked over at Caden.
"Now, I'll activate the effect of my Red Eyes Black Chick, by sending it to the grave I can Special Summon a Red Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000) from my hand to the field! So go ahead Red Eyes Black Chick hatch!" Caden stated as the shell exploded open revealing the Red Eyes Black Dragon.
"No way, that's Joey Wheeler's favorite card!" Kisho stated as he stared at the black dragon.
"Now my Red Eyes Black Dragon, attack with Inferno Fire Blast!" Caden pointed to Nero as his monster blasted Nero to his knees and his Life Points to 5600. "I'll end with that, but I know my victory isn't assured just yet."
Nero drew a card from his deck. "Your victory isn't assured because, you won't win."
"We'll just see."
"We will, I'll play my hidden card, a Trap Call of the Haunted," one cue Nero's Berserk Gorilla reappeared on the field in a flash of light. "As you see it returned my monster to me, but it won't be here for long, I sacrifice it to summon my Ghost Knight of Jackal (1700/1600)." Nero's Gorilla disappeared as one of the dog gods from ancient Egypt appeared on the field riding a horse.
"Just what are you planning?" Caden questioned.
"To have a Red Eyes Black Dragon of my own," Nero stated calmly, "Cause you see if my Ghost Knight of Jackal destroys a monster in battle I can summon that monster to my side of the field, in face-up defense mode."
"But you're monster doesn't have enough attack points!" Kisho yelled.
"Shut it Slifer, I can use my cards a lot better than you, and besides I've already calculated that, with this, Wild Nature's Release, it will increase my Ghost Knight of Jackal attack by its defense, downside, he's destroyed at the end of the turn," Ghost Knight of Jackal yelled out in pain as it attack increased to 3300.
"Damn that's stronger than my Red Eyes, now when he destroys it, he will get to control it," Caden spat out under his breath.
He really is good. The way he manages all of his card, there are no wasted resources, unlike my deck.
"Now Ghost Knight of Jackal, impale that sorry excuse for a Dragon!" Nero's monster galloped towards the Red Eyes Black Dragon impaling the dragon with its javelin causing the monster to explode and in the process reducing Caden's Life Points by 900 to 7100.
"Damn now Red Eyes turns on me," Caden stated as his dragon reappeared on Nero's side of the field, in defense mode.
"By the way," Nero stated, "Don't think you get off the hook that easily," he revealed his last hidden card on the field, which had a picture of two armies charging each other. "This continuous trap is known as Final Attack Orders, and it forces all face up monsters to remain in attack mode!"
"That means?!"
"Right, Red Eyes Black Dragon, go on the offensive strike down your former master, Inferno Fire Blast!" The Red Eyes Black Dragon flew into the air and let out a huge fireball that engulfed Caden and caused him to lose the lead by reducing his Life Points to 4700.
"That hurts Red Eyes," Caden whispered as he looked down at his Life Points.
"Oh and by the way, one more card, Giant Trunade!" A huge vortex appeared on the field, blowing both of Nero's cards back to his hand. "As you can see it returns all cards on the field back to a player's hand, and I'll finish with this." He placed a hidden card back on the field, his Ghost Knight of the Jackal was sent to the graveyard, due in part to Wild Nature's Release.
As the current Duel stood, Nero was in the lead with 4800 Life Points, 1 card in his hand, either his Final Attack Orders or his Call of the Haunted, as well as Caden's Red Eyes Black Dragon and one hidden card on the field. Caden on the other hand, had 3 cards in his hand, no monsters on the field, and no cards hidden as well as 4700 Life Points. It was Caden's turn.
"My draw!" Caden quickly drew a card from his deck. Now I see why Kisho was nervous about dueling this guy, he's got some game on him, but no one takes my Red Eyes Black Dragon and gets away with it! "Okay I'll play Pot of Greed, now I can draw 2 cards!" Caden quickly added the cards to his hand, a small smile creep up on his face.
It looks like Caden has a plan. Kisho took note of the smile.
"Okay, now I'll play Polymerization to form the Black Skull Dragon (3200/2500)!" The spell appeared on the field, showing a picture of two monsters swirling together. "Now normally I'd need a Summoned Skull and a Red Eyes Black Dragon, either on the field or in my hand to summon the Black Skull Dragon, but seeing as how you have my Red Eyes working for you, I think I'll use my King of the Swamp (500/1100) as a stand-in for my Red Eyes Black Dragon!"
A huge black swirl appeared on the field as the two monster merged together, the result a dragon with its whole skeleton on the outside.
"Now attack Black Skull Dragon wipe out Red Eyes Black Dragon, and free it from its mind control!" Caden yelled as his monster shot out multiple hot pieces of magma from its mouth destroying the Red Eyes Black Dragon and reducing Nero's Life Points to 4000.
"Damn," Nero spat.
"Now to get some revenge for my Red Eyes Black Dragon!" Caden held up his De-Fusion Spell, "Now I can split my Black Skull Dragon back into its separate parts, so come out Red Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000) and Summoned Skull (2500/1200), and since its still my battle phase, Summoned Skull direct attack, Lightning Strike!" His monster responded by blasting Nero with a bolt of electricity causing Nero to fall over in pain.
"You will pay for that," Nero gasped out between breaths.
"I don't think so! Red Eyes Black Dragon, end this with Inferno Fire Blast!" The Red Eyes opened its mouth as the ball of fire formed in its mouth.
"Activate Call of the Haunted! I'll revive my Berserk Gorilla to protect my Life Points!" Nero's gorilla appeared on the field banging its chest with its fist.
"No matter, continue Red Eyes!" Caden yelled as his monster fired off its fireball destroying Nero's gorilla and lowering his Life Points to 1100.
Wow Caden is amazing, he managed to turn the Duel back around in one turn. Kisho thought.
"My turn," Nero stood back up and slowly drew a card, "I'll play my own Pot of Greed," he quickly drew 2 cards. "Looks like I got a little lucky, I'll play Graceful Charity to draw 3 cards and discard two!" He drew again this time discarding two cards in the process. "Next I'll play Card of Safe Return, now when a monster is summoned from my Graveyard to the field, I'll get to draw a card."
"He's got something planned," Caden thought out loud.
"Now I'll play Premature Burial to re-summon my Ghost Knight of the Jackal (1700/1600) in attack mode, and thanks to Card of Safe Return I get to draw a card," he drew a card from his deck and lost 800 Life Points due to Premature Burial reducing his Life Points to 300. "Okay I'll set the last two cards from my hand face down and call it a turn."
"Okay then," Caden was about to draw a card when Nero interrupted him.
"I forget to mention, I'm activating a monster special ability now!"
"Now-"
"It is my End Phase after all," Nero stated calmly, "But first I've got to give up a Beast, Beast-Warrior or Winged-Beast monster from my hand to the Graveyard, and I'll send my Manticore of Darkness (2300/1000)." He calmly slipped the card in his graveyard, as a Manticore of Darkness appeared on the field.
"Hey hold on! I thought you said you discarded it!"
"Yes I did, but this one is a different Manticore of Darkness, one I discarded due to Graceful Charity, and when this monster hits the graveyard, during my End Phase I can send one card of the required cards I mentioned to the graveyard to Special Summon this monster from my graveyard, oh and by the way, Card of Safe Return activates, letting me draw a card from my deck Nero drew 1 card, "Oh and by the way, seeing as I just discarded a Manticore of Darkness during my End Phase I can activate that one's effect and destroy my current Manticore of Darkness making a loop," Nero's current Manticore of Darkness disappeared leaving the field as the one in his Graveyard reappeared on the field, he drew 1 card from his deck, "So as you can see, I can continue to draw cards for as long as I want," Nero continued to destroy his Manticore of Darkness to summon the one in his Graveyard.
"He's creating a continuous loop, but once he ends it, he's going to have to discard all but 6 cards in his hand," Caden commented as Nero, continued to loop.
"But why would he do this? I mean what's the point, its not like he can do anything with the cards he's drawing," Kisho scratched his head in confusion.
"Okay, I'll end the loop," Nero stated drawing his last card.
"Fine then you discard, all the cards in your hand till you have 6," Caden barked.
"Fine," Nero calmly stated discarding all of his deck that he had drawn until he had 6 cards in his hand.
"Okay," Caden stated drawing a card. I don't get it, is he planning to lose the Duel on purpose? I mean come on why would he continue the loop when he could have stopped it and had a full hand, now he's got no cards in his deck, meaning that all I have to do is end my turn, and I win. "Don't think I didn't see what your planning, unless you want to lose to me on purpose you must be waiting for me to do something to trigger your hidden cards to win you the game!"
"Looks like you have it all figured out…" Nero stated calmly.
I don't get it; I mean either way he loses, unless there is no way for me to win!
"Finally figured out that I have you cornered, you can't win, no matter what you play, no matter what you do," Nero calmly stated.
"No way!" Kisho yelled out. "How can you have him cornered?"
"Well, this move I was saving to use on you, but because I know your little secret it doesn't matter if you see it now, besides, a Duelist with no confidence will always lose!"
"Damn…DAMN IT!" Caden fell down to his knees. I came here to find that special something that separates the legends from everyone else, I can't afford to lose here! I've got people depending on me… Caden was quivering all over.
"Well are you going to move, so I can get this Duel over with!" Nero yelled out.
This is insane, I feel like they're both out of my league, especially Nero, maybe I was lucky the Duel was cut short, I mean. Kisho looked over at Caden who was shaking. He's got Caden shaking like a baby, and he hasn't even showed him that he won. Damn it! Maybe I should just leave Duel Academy, maybe I should forget about unlocking my potential. All of a sudden a memory of his entrance exam popped into Kisho head….
"DON'T GIVE UP!"
"Huh?" Kisho said looking up to see the guy he was talking to.
"YOU OWE ALL THESE PEOPLE A DUELIST FINISH!"
That's right, I had forgotten what Caden had said to me when I was backed into a corner.
"CADEN! YOU OWE NERO A DUELST FINISH! WIN OR LOSE!" Kisho yelled it out at the top of his lungs.
Caden snapped out of his mood and stared at the ground. Kisho's right, I'm sure the legends would have never do this when backed into a corner, if I'm going to find out what makes them different from the rest of us, then I've got to face every Duel with a Duelist Heart. Win or lose, I will take something away from this!
"Duelist Finish? What kind of nonsense are you spitting out Slifer?"
"Something Caden said to me, it helped me face Professor Tavarius and got me into Duel Academy!"
"Don't expect the same results here," Nero spat out.
"Well, if you've got the end of the Duel all figured out, then how about, I try changing it! I'll play Heavy Storm!" The wind around the arena started to pick up.
"That won't save you, first I'll play Last Turn, and then I'll activate Deal of Phantom!"
"Oh no…" Kisho yelped out.
"First because it was activated last Deal of Phantom activates, it increases my monster attack power by 100 multiplied by the number of monsters in my graveyard, and last I check there were 20."
"That's 2000 extra attack points!" Kisho yelled.
"That's right, and its all going to my Manticore of Darkness making it currently the strongest monster in play," Nero smiled as his monster attack strength rose to 4300.
"Shit, Last Turn forces us to discard our hand and send all monster on the field to the grave, excluding the one you select. Then I have to summon one monster from my deck," As Caden explained the card, his discarded his hand, and watched as his Red Eyes Black Dragon and Summoned Skull disappeared. "If I'm going down, then might as well be with a fight! I summon my second Red Eyes Black Dragon!"
"No matter, I select my Manticore as the monster that will remain on my side of the field," Nero discarded his hand, and watched as his other monster; Ghost Knight of the Jackal was destroyed. "Of course our Battle Damage is negated, but which ever monster comes out victorious will award its owner the winner.
This is bad; Caden is going to lose!
"Now attack Manticore of Darkness, strike down his pathetic excuse of a dragon!" Manticore of Darkness lept into the air and was about to ram its fist right at Caden, but the Red Eyes Black Dragon flew in the way taking the hit and causing Caden to be thrown back by the impact.
When the dust finally settled, Caden was on one knee looking at Nero who deactivated his Duel Disk and was walking away.
"Such power…" Caden stated while wincing in pain.
"Listen," Nero stopped right next to Kisho, but continued to stare forward. "Now you know my deck strategy, and I know your weakness, if you come tomorrow, bring the Slifer Shit I dueled against the night of orientation, otherwise don't bother showing up," and with that Nero continued to walk away with his arms in his pocket.
"Caden!" Kisho ran over to him, as he stood back up.
"Listen Kisho," he stated. "I don't know what he meant by knowing your secret, but watch out, not only is he pretty confident that he will beat you, but he showed you his deck strategy to even the playing field."
"Yeah, I know," Kisho looked at Nero who was still walking away. Thank you Nero, you may not know it, but I know what I must do in order to beat you!
DarkStorm: Sorry for the long hiatus, I've been going through some changes at my current job. So enjoy the latest chapter and let me know what you think.