Yay! Finally its time for the duel! The end of this chapter is very fluffy and I got to say that I love it! Sorry that I haven't been updating as regularly as I would have liked to but school is just piling on the work now. I hope you guys like this chapter and thanks for all of your reviews!
So on with it :)
JPOV
'Okay, this is it. All I need to do is impress Sage, confess my love to her, and win the duel to keep my title. No pressure, Jess. You can do this. Yeah, right, just a couple of life changing events are just riding on this duel. No problem,' I thought to myself. Pep talks usually work for me but I guess not today. Dueling Sage would just be a whole new experience for me. I had never dueled a person that knew my strategies almost as well as I do but to know that I had a major crush on her added a whole new dimension of issues. If I was being honest, I would admit that this duel was just impossible to win.
"Duel!" we yelled in unison. I drew my cards and a whole rush of confidence ran through me. I had a perfect combination in my hand already and I knew I hand a chance.
"My move. I summon Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat and equip her with Crystal Release! This gives my pretty kitty a bit more bite, 800 attack points to be exact. And by cutting her attack points in half to 1000, I can attack you directly. Sorry Sage, but I ain't going easy on you," I said as my beast pounced to attack her. I couldn't read her expressions because her eyes were in full on glow mode. She looked positively beautiful and I felt guilty attacking her. My eyes followed my monster as she jumped though Sage. She didn't even flinch as her life points dropped to 3000. "I set one card face down and end my turn on that note."
She drew her card without even looking at it. She must have already known what it was because she began to set up her move.
"I play my Aura Warrior in attack mode (1300ATK, 1000DEF). She might not be to menacing quite yet but once I play these three spells and call in some back up, you'll be in for it," she called with a smirk playing across he lips. She proceeded to place three cards in her spell zone each with a different light rising from the holographic card. One was black, one pure white, and the last looked like fire almost.
"These cards are aura spells. When I play one, you can't summon the corresponding attribute. These ones are black, white and red so, your dark, divine and fire attributes are out! I decided to let you off and not prevent you from playing your beasts quite yet," she said with a cute wink as her warriors arrows seemed to glow even more. "These cards also activate my warrior's ability. She gains 300 attack points (2200ATK) from each one of them! Aura Warrior, attack his Amethyst Cat with Arrow Slash." Her monster then let one of her knocked arrows loose and it seemed to go straight through my cat. My life points then dropped down to 2800 and once again this was about to get interesting.
"Hold up a second. If the monster equipped with crystal release is destroyed I can bring a beast to my spell and trap zone. Ruby you're on!" I said as a bright red Ruby appeared on my field. I swear I could feel Sage reaching into my mind then. I could tell that she was trying to figure out what my plan was and I saw her stumble across a memory of mine that would give my strategy away. As my duel with Zane flashed across my mind I could tell she found what she was looking for because she left my mind then.
"Then I'll then play another one of my favorites, Aura Triumvirate. This spell allows me to summon three aura monsters from my deck with a few of downsides. Only one can attack this turn and only two can activate their ability plus they only stick around for two turns. I also have to sacrifice one of my spells but this card is worth it," she stated with a wide smile. She looked so carefree in that moment I swear I almost called off the duel just to hug her.
Everything then began to take action, as her white light evaporated into the air. Three swirling portals of light opened and out came three monsters. I could recognize Aurelis (ATK100 DEF0) right away as her fairy flew out with some sparks trailing behind. The next monster was another Aura Warrior, glowing arrows and all. The last monster though was a complete mystery. It looked, well, a lot like Sage. Her face and body were definitely Sage's but she had glowing dragonfly wings coming out of her back. I also noticed her hands were in tight fists with ominous, razor sharp, claws coming out of them. She also had glowing trails all over her body that originated at a tattoo on her shoulder the same color as Sage's eyes when they glowed.
Now that I looked closely though I could see the same symbol of the tattoo on all of her monsters. It was an eye with an icy blue white iris and two claws coming out from the edges of the eye. Her warrior's mark was on her dress near the bottom and Aurelis's was being worn as a necklace. Once the Sage look alike was on the field, all of the eyes began to glow intensely.
"Jesse, you have already met Aurelis but you haven't met my strongest monster quite yet though. Say hello to Reginona (ATK4200 DEF2000), the spirit of the aura. She's my absolute best card and with her on the field this duel is as good as done. I'm electing to activate Aurelis's ability and my second warrior's ability though, to keep this more interesting. Now my second warrior attacks you directly!"
Good thing I put down that face down. With the way Sage's deck was turning out, the article was not emphasizing how amazing of a duelist Sage was. "I activate my face down, Crystal Pair! With this I don't receive battle damage this turn and I can bring a crystal to my spell zone. And with that come on out Emerald Tortoise!" A slightly mossy green gem appeared in my zone and with that it was my turn.
"Now I summon my Sapphire Pegasus to the field and bring another gem to my field with his ability!" I said as my monster materialized another blocky orange gem was now close to me. No here's the really fun part, I'm gonna activate my Ruru's ability: If she is special summoned to my spell zone, I can release all of my monsters from their gems. I'll lay a couple of face downs and then I'll end my turn." Most of my beasts were now on my field and I'll be able to maybe get Rainbow Dragon next turn.
"I guess I expected more from you but I guess not," she taunted as she drew. I could feel my smile drop when Sage smirked and actually let out a jubilant laugh, "Sorry, Jess but I just won. I now equip both of my Aura Claws magic card to my Reginona, giving her 700 ATK for each raising her power to 5600ATK! Now, I'll attack your Amber Mammoth with Aura Claw Spirit Swipe," Her monster began to lunge at my mammoth but before the hit took place a bright light erupted from my monster's forehead gem, saving me from her deadly attack.
"I just activated Amber Crystal Circle. This gives my mammoth all of the attack points of my other beasts for this turn. Now that our monsters attacks are identical, It's going to make us tie because we're both toast," this was almost the same as duel I had with Zane only he didn't seem as happy as Sage. She almost looked like she was going to start jumping around and doing cartwheels. I was now just plainly confused.
"Again sorry, Jess. I play my facedown Guiding Aura! With it I can redirect any attack, including my own, and I can also fire it at my own monsters. Sorry baby girl, but I'm redirecting the attack to my Aurelis. You then loose because of her ability. Sorry Jess, I hope I didn't kill you ego too much."
She had me and I knew it. My other face down was Mystical Space Typhoon, which wouldn't help me here at all. I was toast and I also lost our bet. I just found it impossible though to stay angry for even a second. Sage's eyes cleared my head and instantly calmed me down; she was almost my anti-drug even.
She just seemed so exhilarated by her win and she actually threw her head back in laughter. Sage was a very serious person so just knowing that she laughed because of our duel just made me smile. I started to walk over to her when she full on sprinted into my arms. I stumbled backwards a bit from the unexpected bone-crushing hug she threw herself into. I wrapped my arms around her waist and let my chin rest on top of her head and for a second, everything was perfect. I had Sage in my arms, she was happy and the flurries of snow falling around us made the scene even more picturesque.
This had to be the first storm of the season because when I had gotten here, most of the snow had melted. It was nice to know that we could enjoy the weather together now. I always hated being curled up in the dorm huddled as close to the fireplace as possible with a bunch of shivering guys.
"I'm glad that you're excited by us cuddling, Jesse," Sage giggled into my shoulder with her face turning slightly red.
"I'm glad that you're so nosy, Sage. It saves me the trouble of actually having to speak aloud sometimes," I whispered into her ear and an even brighter shade of red spread across her cheeks. "Lets get back to the dorm before you freeze. I'll race you…" I said trailing off a bit looking down at her emerald eyes.
I look of deep thought crossed her face before she looked up at me through her eyelashes. I could feel my body freeze as she quickly pecked my lips and with that she sprinted towards the dorms.
"Meet ya there Jess!" She called over her shoulder before waving to me. The fact that Sage liked to play dirty was now etched into my mind as I took off after her. She was easily thirty yards ahead of me, because of my temporary paralysis, when I took off but I was faster and soon began to close the distance. I couldn't help but notice how athletic she looked when she ran with such a precise step. Her strides looked almost calculated and she always seemed to place her foot at the exact angle that would give her the most momentum. Her eyes were a blazing icy blue color when she looked over to me. A big smile spread across her face as a laugh tried to escape. I wondered why she would be laughing when it hit me, literally.
I fell backwards when the large branch and I collided. I guess karma wanted to punish me for checking Sage out. Embarrassment was the only thing that registered in my mind when I picked myself up. I examined my head just to make sure I wasn't bleeding or anything when a laughing Blair dropped down from another branch on the massive pine tree. The two girls exchanged a fist bump while they doubled over backwards with laughter.
"Nice distraction!"
"Great plan!"
"Now that you guys are done pulling pranks on me can we go?" I said in a bit of a moan. My head was still spinning slightly and I was going to have a bunch of bruises from the fall tomorrow. All I wanted to do was lie down so I started to walk away with what little pride was still intact.
"Jesse, are you okay? We didn't mean to hurt you," Sage said draping my arm over her shoulders to give me something stable to hold on too. Sage leaned up to my ear and whispered "Would a kiss make it better?" in my ear. I felt a goofy grin on my lips as she proceeded to kiss my cheek. I had a feeling that this night was going to be quite entertaining.
XXXXXOXXXXX
It was around ten now. The three of us had spent the afternoon in Blair's furry paradise watching the DVD of the battle city finals. Sage and I got into a couple of argument over dueling strategies and Blair just kept telling us to shut up and watch. All in all this afternoon was the most fun I had in a while.
Blair was now snoring loudly on the bed mumbling every so often about cheesy hamsters while Sage and I we watching the final minutes of Yugi and Kaiba's duel. To say it was exciting was an understatement. We both knew Yugi would win but once Kaiba played 'Final Attack Orders' we were both on the edge of our seats.
"I must have seen this duel a million times but it never gets old. I love the look on Kaiba's face when Yugi summons Dark Paladin. He never smiles does he? Almost like me before I met you." Sage said her voice growing slightly regretful.
"Don't say that Sage. Don't dwell on the past because we have the future. And speaking the future, how do you feel about instead of it being my future or your future, it'll be our future? Sage I've never really done this before but will you be my," I cut off as Sage started to tear up.
"No one has ever cared about me before. My parents never really cared about me and my friends were nonexistent. I just though that I was, well, unlovable. You changed that Jess, and yes," she said while changing her eyes and wiping away a tear with the back of her hand. "I will be your girlfriend."
I took her hand in mine and watched our fingers intertwine. All I could do then was stare deep into her eyes and watch the same expression staring back at me.
"We should get some sleep Sage. Believe me when I say that all I want to do is be here with you but I want to build that swing tomorrow."
"Good idea, and thanks for everything Jess. Without you, I don't know what I would do." Sage said as we both drifted off to sleep.
Tell me what you think by reviewing or PMing me. Here is a brief description of what Sage's other cards look like:
All the Aura Spells have the aura symbol with the color of the light that come out of the card in the iris instead of the blue color.
Aura Triumvirate has the sphere above Regina in her picture in a triangle formation. The aura symbol is then in the middle of the triangle with a light connecting the symbol and the spheres together.
Guiding Aura is the outline of Aurelis but smaller and washed out in a white, with a white arrow (like the one from Aura Warrior's card) pointing up.
Thanks again and See Ya!