Here's chapter sixteen of my Yu-Gi-Oh GX fanfic. I would like to take this opportunity thank everyone who has submitted an OC except for some people who, quite frankly, have really annoyed me, and they know who they are through subtle hints. Well, anyways every one, enjoy!
To recap Kazuya has been challenged by a person who wishes to take revenge against Tao for something that still remains unknown. Kazuya is left with 3700 life points, three cards in hand, and three cards face-down and one monster, Espada Eagle (1600/700) in attack mode.
Kazuya's opponent, Mori Takai, has two cards in hand, 4000 life points, three cards face-down and one monster, Guardian of Striking Thunder (1300/2000) in defense mode.
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 XVI: Warrior's Path; Windragon Shiron v. Paladins and Egyptian Spirits v. Mahou Shoujo, Part 2
"You do realize that the only way you'll get me to talk about him is to beat me, right?" Mori asked in a challenging manner.
"I'm aware," Kazuya answered. "But, I swear, that if you try to exact some sick revenge on an innocent man you will have me to contend with!"
"Innocent?" Mori asked in disbelief. "The only thing that man is innocent of is murder, and I'm sure that's next on his list! Enough talk, continue the duel!"
"What did he mean by that?" Kazuya thought looking up from his cards to glare at Mori and back down. "Has Tao committed some crime I'm not aware. That can't be, I only left him for two years, and he hasn't changed in the least nor was there any news like that. A boy in his situation committing a crime and the media not feeding on it like an all-you-can-eat buffet? There's more to this than I know, but I can't risk that information on a duel, then I'll have to employ a few tricks of my own to get him to spill on even the most trivial detail."
"I summon, from my hand, Wind Saga Kazaki (1800/1300) to the field in attack mode!" Kazuya declared summoning a fantasy-esque figure with a long green cloak flowing over his body and a hood over his head. "And because I can control Kazaki I can summon, from my hand, Windragon Shiron (1900/1400) in attack mode!" he explained summoning the white dragon with a pilot's cap. "Now I activate my first face-down card, Whisper Winds! With this I can return the card in my hand for a wind monster in my deck," he explained as the card in his hand shot from his shot and returned to the deck and another card shot out in its place. "And now, I'll end my turn."
Mori stayed perfectly still and never swayed in his emotions and even scoffed Kazuya's monsters. Mori closed his eyes and placed his fingers on his next card and pulled it off the deck.
"My move!"
Back on campus Amun walked nonchalantly past students who paid him no mind as he returned back to the Slifer dorm. Stretching his arms Amun flung off his red blazer and fitted on the cloak he wore when dueling Locket on Halloween. Looking over the hieroglyphs again Amun sighed depressively and fell onto the bed in a heap asleep.
His eyes flicked as he heard a sound from the outside his door as though something were rotating up against it. Pressing his ear against the door Amun closed his eyes and then opened them in a panic and opened his window jumping from it. The door fell from its hinges with Trish flipping a screwdriver up and down from her hand.
"That was just too easy," she remarked looking at the fallen door.
"It would've been better if Amun stayed in his room," Locket commented noticing the opened window.
"Is he that afraid of dueling casually?" Destiny asked appearing from behind Trish.
"It would appear so," Fate replied appearing from behind Destiny.
"Well, what now?" Rose asked appearing behind Fate.
"…First," Trish said with a vein popping on her head. "Get off me!" she shouted as each of the girls from Destiny to Rose was piled on top of her with Trish barely able to stand.
"Amun…" Locket whispered under her breath out of concern.
Amun began running down the path to the back forests after hearing the sound of approaching footsteps he assumed were Destiny and the others.
"They don't know when to quit do they?" Amun asked himself while still running.
Diving into the bushes Amun stayed and waited for the footsteps to pass by. As he heard them go by Amun sighed out of relief and stood up and heard somebody chuckling mischievously with sweat dropping from Amun's face like a waterfall. Looking up Amun found a girl in a male Obelisk uniform looking down at him. Recoiling back into the open area Amun looked up at her to find her of oriental descent, brown hair reaching down to about her shoulders split between the two sides of her face with bangs, and then looking up and down Amun noticed a small curve framing her body making her look a bit like an hourglass.
"Anything I can help you with?" Amun asked nervously standing up.
The girl threw a duel disk to him which he caught and then threw back in the same instant.
"If that's what you're expecting, don't," Amun said walking back when Locket, Destiny, Trish, Rose, and Fate surrounded him from all sides minus the side the girl was on. "And apparently, there is a pointed argument against me leaving I'm assuming."
"That'd be it," Locket said cheerfully looking back at the girl who threw the duel disk back to Amun.
"Before I accept this challenge," Amun started. "Who are you?"
"Yukie Kujo," the girl said in a soothing voice. "Now, let's duel!" she shouted activating her duel disk.
Amun did the same and took a weak stance as opposed to Yukie's much stronger appearance. "Makes you wonder who's the more feminine, don't it?" Amun asked sarcastically.
Yukie didn't flinch and instead shot him a cross look that made Amun shiver in fear. "So why're helping these girls anyway?"
"Because I can't stand hypocrites!" she shouted. "And you're the worst of them all; you come to this school and don't even duel until you're forced into one, what's the point?"
"I have my reasons," Amun said looking up at the sky and then straight forward to Yukie. "I have the first move!" he declared. "I summon Egyptian Spirit Isis (1600/1000) in attack mode and end my turn!" he declared summoning a woman with two wings attached to her arms.
"Then I have the move," Yukie declared drawing her card. "I summon Mahou Shoujo Houka (1500/700) in attack mode as well and place two cards face-down and end my turn!" she declared summoning a young girl holding along staff with a fire at the top in a loose fitting robe and dress underneath with blazing red hair.
"Either that monster's bait for Isis, or those face-downs are just a bluff and the real threat is the pipsqueak in red," Amun thought. "Nevertheless, I can't risk attacking, but if I play a similar tactic…"
"My draw!" Amun declared. "I play my spell card Curse of Tut!" he shouted as a large mummy case shot out of the ground and took the field behind Isis. "Next, I place three cards face-down and end my turn."
"Curse of Tut?" Fate repeated confused by the card. "What's that mean?"
"Tutankhamen was a pharaoh of Egypt thousands of years ago and very notable for being only thirteen when he ascended to the throne," Rose explained. "When his tomb was discovered everyone working on the site all died by unknown circumstances so people began to believe that Tutankhamen placed a curse on his tomb to ward off grave diggers or treasure hunters."
"Thirteen? Hey, isn't that how old Amun is?" Fate recalled.
"That's right, but his power has nothing to do with the young pharaoh," Locket explained. "His power is all about the Scarab hiding in his deck."
"So what does that card do exactly?" Yukie asked looking at the shining mummy case.
"Why don't you try and find out?" Amun said confidently.
"Wha-?" Yukie exclaimed as she looked at the case again and found nothing as far as a hint to find out it's meaning. "My draw!" she declared drawing her card from the top of her deck. "Take this! I play my face-down card, Mystical Space Typhoon! With this I destroy you Curse of Tut magic card without any worries."
"Too bad your worries are just beginning," Amun said casting his hand over his field. "Because with Isis' ability, any card adjacent to it cannot be affected by spell or trap cards."
As the giant cyclone appeared the winged goddess flapped it swings in defense and created its own whirlwind that dispelled the one cast by Yukie. The goddess returned to its place back on Amun's field in front of the mummy case.
"Fine, I summon Mahou Shoujo Mizu (1400/500) in attack mode!" she declared summoning a young girl like Houka but with a staff with water circling around it and with a blue dress and hair. "And when she's summoned to the field I can summon another Mahou Shoujo from my deck like Mahou Shoujo Kaze (800/1300) in defense mode!" she declared summoning a third girl with the same design scheme as the two preceding her but with green hair held up in pig-tails and a small scepter instead of a staff with a small cyclone circling it. "And now I synch my Mahou Shoujo Kaze (LV2 tuner) with my Mahou Shoujo Mizu (LV3) to Synchro summon a level five monster."
"Over my dead body!" Amun shouted snapping his fingers and then pointed to the left most face-down card. "I play Anubis' Scale! With this card as long as I have fewer monsters than you, you are unable to summon any monster above level five," he explained shrugging his shoulders.
"I hate kids," Yukie said under her breath.
Drawing his card Amun sighed depressively and then looked back at Yukie who glared at him. Giving off a fake smile Amun looked back at the other girls blocking his path.
"Y'know," Amun started. "That's one of the nicer looks I've gotten in my life," he explained referencing Yukie's glare. "But each time it made me stronger, but took away part of the old me and replaced it with this new and improved me."
"You call this new and improved?" Yukie asked keeping her head down. "You think that distancing yourself is the best way to make yourself stronger? Well let me tell you, you're dead wrong, and you will really be dead if you continue to think like that!"
"Oh the stories I could tell you," Amun said in a challenging manner.
"Let me tell you…" Yukie said reminiscing.
"My move!" Mori shouted pulling the card from his deck and then looking down on it and then at his three face-down cards. "Now for some fun, I summon Guardian of Walking Nights (1700/1300) in attack mode!" he declared summoning another warrior, but this one in darkened armor that barely would protect him from a frontal assault with a blackened out sword unsheathed and pointed at Kazuya threw his monsters. "Now attack his overgrown chicken! Nightmare Sword!" he commanded pointing to Espada Eagle.
The warrior lifted the sword above his head and slashed downward causing a giant shockwave that travelled towards and destroyed Espada Eagle dropping Kazuya's life points from 3700-3600. Kazuya panted as Mori continued to look down on him with unwavering and dead eyes.
"What happened to you?" Kazuya asked surprising Mori. "Nobody can be born with the need of revenge unless there's a reason that is bred over time and eventually wins over."
"It wasn't something that happened over time," Mori corrected. "It was a snap decision after what your friend did to me."
"Tao would never actually knowingly hurt another human unless he actually needed to," Kazuya said beginning to anger as his eyes began to narrow and become more of an icy blue shade. "What's your proof that Tao is a criminal?"
"He took my emotion," Mori said looking down at his hands. "Everything I ever was, everyone I ever knew, and every time I ever felt is nothing but a distant dream to me now. Tao and I trained together to become master duelists at the same training facility in Hong Kong. He was known only as the boy who was truly Yin and Yang, but I was known as the Paladin of All. I could control any power in dueling and because of this I was congratulated time after time and I was as happy as I could ever hope to be.
"It was a year and a half ago, the day before I joined Duel Academy. Tao and I dueled for the right to be considered the best on China and we dueled like we always had. By the end of it we were left with 100 life points apiece and it was my turn. I had a monster out with only 50 attack points more than Yin Yang Warrior so I took the initiative. I destroyed it and activated the final effect of Chaos Trial. I thought I had it in the bag, but out of the randomness of it all he drew the last monster possible in his deck. He had wasted all his monsters trying to play that stupid card and then when he had a 1/17 chance he drew his monster and I lost."
"Ooh, the fiend," Kazuya said sarcastically. "Let's go find him so we can replay it," he said also sarcastically.
"That wasn't the point I was getting at!" Mori shouted angrily. "When I lost, by that time Tao was as distant as the sun is from Pluto. He walked up to me and placed his hand over my head and began chanting some weird words that Ninomiya began to fret over. When he was done he lowered his hand to touch my head and then he said to me five words, 'say goodbye to your feelings.' I felt as though the life was being sucked out of me, and I mean that literally, and when I woke up I couldn't even tell if I was feeling glad or sad that I was still alive, but there was only one feeling left in my body; rage. I vowed that day to get revenge for my lost emotions that Tao stole for his idiotic reasons."
"And that would be?" Kazuya asked.
"He never said," Mori replied. "But Ninomiya never seemed the same after that, and, HEY! That was supposed to be confidential!"
"'Was' is the key-term there," Kazuya said jokingly.
"Enough talk!" Mori said for a third time. "Take your turn, and be careful because it might be your last."
"Fine, draw!" Kazuya declared.
"And don't forget about Guardian's effect," Mori reminded. "During your draw phase you take 300 points of damage."
The warrior pointed its sword at Kazuya and shot out three consecutive bolts of lightning dropping his life points from 3600-3300. Kazuya panted and looked back down at his two cards.
"I pass this turn, and automatically end it," Kazuya declared nonchalantly.
"And because your turn is over, my Guardian of Walking Nights takes away 400 of your life points and gives 100 points back to me," Mori explained as the dark-armored warrior thrust the sword above his head and slashed at the air four times each time producing a large beam of shadow that stuck Kazuya dropping his life points from 3300-2900 and then granting Mori more points boosting him from 4000-4100.
"Now, it's my turn!" Mori shouted drawing his card. "Why does this guy irritate me so much? Wait! Irritation? Isn't that an emotion? No! That can't be right, if that's the case then that means Tao is…" Mori thought to himself shaking his head. "I summon Guardian of Sagacity Flames (1500/1500) in attack mode!" he declared summoning another warrior with a red tunic, with armor underneath it and a fire red sword. "Now I activate the spell card Iai Blow!" he shouted activating one of his face-down cards. "With this I flip three coins, for each heads you lose one of your cards on the field, for every tails one of my cards on the field is destroyed."
Three coins flipped into the air and spun uncontrollably as they landed on the ground; two tails and one heads. The three coins began to tremble and then shot out striking Windragon Shiron, Guardian of Walking Nights, and Guardian of Striking Thunder. As the three monsters disintegrated into dust Mori began twitching his left eye in frustration.
"Well," Kazuya said shrugging his shoulder. "All's well that ends well I guess, well for some people."
"Shut-up," Mori said annoyed. "I activate the equip spell card Hoarfrost Blade giving my Guardian an extra 400 attack points," he explained as the warrior's fire red sword began to tint into a light blue raising its attack from 1500-1900. "Now attack, Blaze Blizzard!"
The warrior collided with the cloaked figure that began conjuring a wind barrier that broke through the sword. The blade that was broken off then flipped into the air and fell onto the cloaked figure destroying both monsters.
"Well, this evens things out," Mori said ending his turn.
"How do you mean?" Kazuya asked.
"Whenever a monster equipped with Hoarfrost Blade destroys another monster by battle it prevents you from normal summoning another monster until after my next turn," Mori explained. "Which means you'll be defenseless the next time I attack!"
"Not exactly," Kazuya said drawing the card from his deck. "I remove from play Windragon Shiron to special summon from my hand Spiritual Windragon Shiron (2000/1400) in attack mode!" he declared summoning a monster similar in design to its earlier form but with armor on its arms, legs, and chest. "Now, attack him directly with Spiritual Tornado Rage!"
The dragon heaved in a giant breath and blew out a giant tornado that almost shrieked as it blew towards Mori who stared into the eye of the storm.
"I play my face-down card!" he declared activating the second of his original three face-down cards. "Sidewinder! When my opponent declares an attack I can negate and destroy the monster by returning one card from my hand into my deck," he explained placing his final card from his hand into his deck. "And since the card I returned was one of my Guardian monsters I can destroy that card behind your former dragon!"
A blast resembling a slashing sword blasted from the card's picture and slashed directly through the larger version of Shiron and then through the face-down card behind it. Kazuya looked through the wreckage that was both of his cards destroyed by Mori's trap.
"I end my turn," Kazuya declared leaving him with only one card in hand as opposed to the complete lack of cards in Mori's.
"My move!" Mori shouted looking at the single card he drew and then at the face-down card on his field. "I summon, Guardian of Dauntless Souls (1900/1200) in attack mode!" he shouted summoning another warrior with blond hair, and armor like a knight's that was white and lined in gold. "Now I attack you directly, Paladin Sword Strike!"
The knight then ran up to Kazuya and struck him on the side of his arm dropping his life points from 2900-1000. Kazuya panted as he gripped his arm and cringe in pain. Kazuya looked back up and saw Mori's face who began to look at his hands in complete surprise.
"What's up?" Kazuya asked. "You don't look like yourself, and by that I mean emotionless, crude, and almost dead in the eyes."
"Ever since this duel began I felt something," Mori said looking up. "You irritate me, you know? You irritate me to no end, but even irritation is an emotion, granted not a good one. But it puzzles me that just now watching you cringe in pain after my attack made me want to jump up and say, 'And that's how you duel!' It's what I used to say every time I won a duel against somebody, or made a nice combo, or something worthy of praise. But this is also a bad omen for both me and you."
"What do you mean?" Kazuya asked.
"Magic is only active as long as the user is also active," Mori explained. "If the same principal applies to him and my emotion loss and sudden return it can only mean a few if not only two things."
"And those would be?" Kazuya asked.
"Either he's losing his power, or we should assume the worst…" he answered solemnly.
Back in the forests Yukie and Amun continued their duel after their outbursts against each other.
"My move!" Amun shouted with dead eyes. "I summon Egyptian Spirit Sphinx (0/2500) in defense mode!" he declared summoning a giant creature made entirely of stone with the head of a man and the body of a lion. "And now I play my face-down card, Osiris' Eye! With this the only monster you are allowed to attack is my Sphinx. With that, my turn is over."
"My move, draw!" Yukie called out. "I activate my face-down card, Matured Magic! With this I can sacrifice two of my Mahou Shoujo monsters and summon a Mahou Shoujo Synchro Monster. So by sending both Mizu and Kaze to the graveyard I can summon Mahou Shoujo Denkou (2400/1000) in attack mode!" she declared as the two young girls left the field in an electric yellow light which brought forth another girl who seemed as old as Yukie herself with long blond hair with green streaks running down to her back holding a large staff with a multitude of lightning at the tip.
The girl shifted her eyes to the sphinx and then shot the staff's lightning at it reducing it to literal rubble. Amun looked past the stones flying from the center of the spot where it stood with a misplaced smile as an eye on the mummy case lit up as a spectral black light.
"What the heck?" Yukie exclaimed noticing the change on the mummy case.
"The Curse of Tut card is one of a kind," Amun explained. "When an Egyptian Spirit is sent to the graveyard from anywhere it gains what is called a Curse Counter, and once it reaches ten I can do something that people say can plague someone for life. Have fun figuring it out…" he said as his cringed holding onto his wrist.
Gripping onto his sleeve and then pulling it down Amun's eyes widened to find a bracelet around his wrist with a large ruby embedded onto it. Amun gasped in surprise and began to cringe and almost gagged at the sight of it.
"What's wrong?" Locket asked stepping towards him.
"My ruby is back," he said in utter shock. "After my duel with you Locket I collapsed and was out until the next morning. Tao was the one to take me back, but I never told anyone about this ruby at the time. I found it in the pyramid next to the card of Egyptian Spirit Scarab and ever since I've been like this. When Tao took me back I had this horrible dream; in it Tao appeared before me and charged me with wings from a moth and an owl and then he slashed me with elongated claws for his fingers that looked like talons and looked at me with eyes red as blood. I woke up in a sweat and realized the ruby was gone, and Tao it's thief."
"You're point being?" Rose asked.
"There is a basic principle in any magic; it's only active so long as the user is too," Amun said solemnly. "If my ruby is back, then most likely Jason's gemstone is as well and Tao…Tao is probably…"
Chapter sixteen complete. Epic cliffhanger, don't you think? Well, that says a lot about some of the characters even if some have still yet to be revealed. Mori's revenge has been discovered, Amun's demeanor revealed, and Tao's secret, to be revealed in the next chapter. Ja nee.
With the final part of the duel between Mori and Kazuya quickly approaching and the duel between Amun and Yukie also continuing mysteries abound in several things, the full extent of Shiron's power, the Curse that has plagued Amun for almost seven years, the mystery behind Yukie's resolve to duel against and help Amun's problem, and finally the final question burning in all your minds right now, where is and what happened to Tao?