Here's chapter nine of my Yu-Gi-Oh GX fanfic. After fainting out of shock Destiny is now unable to face off against for some power she has. Feeling responsible for this reaction of Destiny's Gaia, a Ra Yellow student who has just defeated the astrology enthusiast has taken it upon himself to take down Tao once for all, but not as himself entirely.
DISCLAIMER: ALL THE CREDIT FOR YU-GI-OH GOES TO KAZUKI TAKAHASHI AND SHONEN JUMP. I OWN ONLY SOME OF THE OCs AND THE DECKS USED BY THEM.
Duel IX: Trial of Chaos; Tao v. Chaos, Part 1
Walking through the halls Gaia's eyes frenzied as his clothes almost seemed to change from their normal white to a blood red color in front of anyone's eyes complementing his eyes changing from cyan to a deep red and his hair changing from silver to pitch black. Relaxing his shoulders Gaia looked forward to find Tao leaning against the wall of the nurse's office looking in to find Destiny asleep and under stable condition. Tao averted his gaze to Gaia who lunged forward him and punching him in the face. Taking the hit Tao stayed motionless while looking at the fist pressed up against his face and then grabbing it flipping Gaia over his head. Landing on his feet Gaia turned to him throwing a duel disk at his face. Catching it with one hand Tao and Gaia glared at one another when Gaia grinned.
"Well, looks like we have our first contestant," he said with a frenzied look staring Tao in the face.
"What happened? Destiny is my opponent!" Tao shouted angrily.
"You caused her problems, and now I'll make them disappear," Gaia answered.
"Gaia Cehack, Ra Yellow, fifteen years of age, is known for his use of a deck based around legendary warriors fighting for a cause known only as Cosmos," Tao said identifying Gaia to perfection.
"That's only half true," Gaia said receiving a confused glare from Tao. "Gaia is only part of me, when I don't believe that Gaia can handle it I adapt to my surroundings as a new individual, Aigis Cehack, so I'd prefer to call myself that for now."
"So who's in control, Gaia or Aigis?" Tao asked.
"Neither," Aigis said. "Unlike most split personalities we find no true differences between the two of us. Unlike most people we understand and coexist with each other."
"Sounds like fun," Tao said placing his deck inside his duel disk. "I take it that by challenging me like this there is an ante?"
"Exactly," Aigis answered. "If you were to win this duel you can duel Destiny when she comes to and attempt to take her power, but if I win you leave the academy and never return with the intention to attack Destiny ever again. Do we have a deal?"
"Fine!" Tao said activating the duel disk. "Let's duel!"
Activating the duel disk in the same way Aigis grinned with his eyes still frenzied. The activating duel disk caught the attention of the students and teachers who formed a circle around them. Ninomiya found Amun and Locket in the nurse's office and placed his hands on their shoulders.
"Go out there and support your friend," he said stroking his beard. "I'll stay and watch Destiny."
"Got it!" Locket said. "Thanks, old man."
Amun looked back as Ninomiya kept a friendly grin on his face who continued to shoo him off. When the door closed Ninomiya closed the curtains and sat down next to Destiny who was still breathing rather harshly.
"There's no other choice, but for that test," he said under his breath slipping a card into Destiny's deck. "Forgive me, Destiny."
On the field Aigis and Tao continued to stare each other down when two teachers jumped them from behind and attempted to get them back into class. Pulling at their arms the two muscular teachers were both flipped by Tao and punched by Aigis. Jason sped through and ran at Tao who placed his hand up in defense pushing it up against him. Jason fell backwards and cringed while Locket and Amun helped him up.
"He's not a monster," Amun said. "Only when he duels."
"The other guy," Jason started. "Has a psychological condition which breeds two personalities. Some say this comes from twins being born as one baby, but others say it's a way of dealing with stress that's too much for the specific person to handle. Either way, Gaia's counterpart Aigis is by far the most potential filled duelist in the academy."
"If that's so then why would Tao accept a match?" Locket asked.
"Simple," Amun said. "It's to make sure that no one stands in his way of his ultimate ambition."
"I'll go first!" Tao shouted. "And to start things off, I'll play the spell card Balance Substitution!" he called out as the entire field began pulsing black and white. "Now should any of my Yin or Yang monsters be destroyed by their effect I can inflict damage to you equal to half of their attack points. Next, I summon Yang-Spirit Byakko (1500/1600) in attack mode!" he shouted summon the bulky white tiger who roared right into Aigis' face. "And since I have no Yin monsters Byakko is destroyed and you take half of his attack as damage."
The pulse quickened in a shade of snow white and destroyed Byakko. The pulses then quickened again and sent a blast of black energy at Aigis dropping his life points from 4000-3250.
"I'll play one card face-down and end my turn. Go, Mr. Hyde!" Tao said.
"Funny," Aigis said pulling the card from the top of his deck. "I'll summon DFF-I Garland (1600/1100) in attack mode!" he called out summoning a large knight with a dark armor covering his entire body including his face with a large bladed sword seemingly divided into sections. "Next, I'll equip him with the spell card EX-Mode Activate!" he said as a crest appeared on the large knight's back fitting him with a large white cloak with runic symbols. "With this my monster gains 1000 attack points and can deal battle damage to a player even if their monster is in defense mode. Garland, attack with Soul of Chaos!"
The knight charged itself with energy and then slashed the sword causing a large blast to be shot towards Tao who opened his eyes and placed his hand over his face-down card.
"I activate Yang Shield!" Tao said as a large dome barrier appeared over him with a dark spot on it. "By removing my monster from play I can negate your attack and then end the battle phase," he said as the barrier dissipated.
"Hmm," Aigis sounded. "Well, if that's all I'll play a face-down card and end my turn."
"My draw!" Toa shouted taking the card out of the deck. "And I summon my Yin-Spirit Suzaku (1700/1000) in attack mode!" Tao called out summoning the large red bird. "And then I'll activate my spell card, Yin Yang Gathering! With it I can summon all my Yin and Yang monsters from anywhere, be it from deck, hand, graveyard, or from the removed from play area; they cannot attack and are removed from play at the end of the turn should they still be on the field."
A large symbol for Yin and Yang appeared over Tao and began spinning releasing particles of energy bringing out the black turtle, Yin-Spirit Genbu (1000/2000), the blue dragon, Yang-Spirit Seiryuu (1800/1600), and bringing back the white tiger, Byakko. Tao then pulled one of his other two cards left and fit it into the empty slot.
"I play the spell card, Spectrum of the Zodiac!" he said as a large circle appeared below him with twelve animal symbols at the edges. "With this I can sacrifice all of my Yin and Yang monsters to replace them all with a Chinese Spirit from my deck with a level equal to or lower than the Yin and Yang monsters tribute. So I send Suzaku, Byakko, Genbu, and Seiryuu to summon the Chinese Spirits Da Shu (1000/0), She (1300/200), Houzi (1400/800), and Zhu (1200/900) all in attack mode!"
Da Shu, the black and white rat from an earlier duel, was joined by a black and white spotted snake (She), a black and white monkey (Houzi), and a black and white boar (Zhu) that all looked at Aigis with anger in their eyes.
"Now I activate the ability of Da Shu!" Tao declared. "First you discard a card and if it's a spell or trap you can't activate either until the end of this turn and if it's a monster, your monster's attack is halved."
Da Shu lunged forward at Aigis biting a card and destroying it in his hand. A red aura shined around Aigis' face-down card resulting in Tao chuckling to himself.
"Next comes the snake, She; this monster has the power to look at the top card of your deck and then place it at the bottom if I see it fit," Tao explained as the snake's eyes glowed and peered at the top card of Aigis' deck and with Tao's eyes closed he put it on the bottom. "Now I'll halve all of their attack points to attack you directly!" Tao shouted out as the rat, snake, monkey, and boar all ran past the large knight and attacked Aigis dropping his life points from 3250-2750 by Da Shu, 2750-2100 by She, 2100-1400 by Houzi, and then 1400-800 by Zhu. "And with that my turn is over. Your move."
Struggling to stand up with only a fifth of his life points remaining Aigis looked over at the nurse's office and then back at Tao.
"I will keep my promise," Aigis said. "My turn, draw! I summon DFF-IV Golbez (1700/1300) in attack mode!" he called out summoning to the field a dark knight with a long cape with dark armor lined in gold. "Now I activate his effect causing your own monster to turn on you," he explained pointing at Da Shu.
The rat then turned to face Tao and then walked over to Aigis' side and then screeched at Tao stomping its small feet on the ground.
"Next, I'll activate his own effect on his owner. Discarding the far right card in your hand!" Aigis yelled as the rat jumped and bit onto the card designated. The card in question, Huang Long the Spirit of Wu Xing (2800/2400) was then sent to the graveyard. "And since it was a monster all of your monster's attack points are halved!"
The three monsters on Tao's field shrank to half of their original size. Tao stayed emotionless as the three monsters fell to 650 (She), 700 (Houzi), and 600 (Zhu).
"Now all my monsters will attack yours!" Aigis declared as the three monsters charged the shrunken monsters.
Golbez attacked She destroying it with a painful hiss dropping Tao's life points to 4000-2850, then Garland struck Houzi with a large sound of triumph dropping Tao's life points again down from 2850-950. Tao cringed as the rat, originally his, charged the boar only for it to stop in its track.
"What gives?" Aigis asked.
"That's my question," Jason said from the sidelines.
"It's an ability unique to the boar of the Chinese Spirit cards," Tao said. "Zhu cannot be attacked by a monster that shares the same attribute as it. So no matter how weak you get it to you can't touch it with those dark monsters."
Aigis grunted placing a card face-down card and then conceding the turn to Tao who simply chuckled and drew his card almost pulling the card from something holding back.
"I guess it's time to begin," Tao said looking at the card.
"Begin what?" Aigis asked.
"…The end," Tao said looking straight into Aigis' eyes. "But before I end this, why are you defending her?"
"Who, Destiny?" Aigis asked.
"No, the tooth fairy," Tao said sarcastically. "Of course Destiny. Why defend her when you have no prior relationship to her at all?"
"We both know that that's a lie," Aigis said with Tao's eye twitching. "You and I both knew her before your parents, before my condition, and before she was blessed with her powers. Admit it; we've known her for years."
"Stop it!" Tao shouted placing the card on the duel disk. "It wasn't just you, Destiny, or Kazuya. I've known all of you; Locket, Amun, Jason, but more than all of you…Ninomiya."
Chapter nine complete. Well, that leaves more than one question burning in most people's minds. How does Tao know everyone, what do they all have to do with him, and where does Ninomiya fit into all this?
Next time, as the duel continues Tao is revealed with almost no secrets remaining. Will Tao leave stripped bare of his identity or will he still have one more secret that he has yet to share? Also, what of Ninomiya's comment about setting the trials for Destiny? Next time: Trial of Chaos; Tao v. Chaos, Part 2.