Duel 4: Ponytails, and Dragons

Haruhi faced off against the man in the white coat. Behind her, was Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Behind him... was a trio of them.

"Polymerization!"

As the trio of Dragons fused into one, massive three-headed dragon, Haruhi looked at her Blue-Eyes. The three-headed dragon fired three blasts from all of its heads...

and then, I woke up from that nightmare.

My usual trek to school was not plagued by Taniguchi's romantic ramblings that morning, and it was for the better, as the dream I just had still invaded my thoughts. I approached the school gate almost hesitantly. I tried to just shake my head, smile, and walk in, but I found it extremely difficult.

Ever since Haruhi came into my life, things were getting stranger every day, and I would be lying if I said it wasn't confusing me.

The shoe locker room was strangely quiet that day, despite the scuffling of various students retrieving their footwear. I opened my designated locker and was suprised by what I found. A folded piece of paper.

What the heck was the fascination with leaving notes in people's shoe lockers?

Kyon,

After school, Mr. Okabe's classroom.

Well that was pretty straightforward.

The day slugged by after that, and I couldn't find it in me to truly listen to Haruhi's ramblings during class, the note was bugging me way too much. I immediately took to narrowing down the list, Nagato-san just would have let me borrow one of her many books. Asahina-san would probably write something on pretty looking stationary, and Haruhi?

She would be more likely to grab my tie and run off with me somewhere before screaming in my face what she wanted to tell me.

Itsuki Koizumi?

After a moment of thought I shook my head, he would have whispered in my ear again most likely, his face way too close for my liking.

No, this was someone else entirely, and more, it obviously had nothing to do with the brigade.

"Hey, Kyon, you listening?"

I turned and saw Haruhi, a slightly frustrated frown on her face, "What is it Haruhi?"

"I was just telling you I had a weird dream last night, I think I was abducted or something."

Why did she sound so excited about being carted off on an alien space ship?

"I remember, a guy in a white coat, and a massive, three-headed dragon."

What? The same dream I had?

"Anyways!" she continued, "I've got some new outfits for Asahina-san to try! By the way, you have any ideas on her new hairstyle?"

"How about a ponytail?"

"Why?"

"... they turn me on ..."

"Uh huh."

The day drew on, as well as the club meeting, and the note never left my mind once. Now that I had eliminated the possibility of it being one of the brigade my curiosity was getting the better of me. I simply had not choice but to show now, so after the club meeting, instead of going home I went straight to Mr. Okabe's class room. The sun had just started setting, casting an almost beautiful orange light through the window of the class. I walked in slowly, wondering what was in store for me. I didn't expect to see the person who was now standing across from me.

"Kyon," said Ryoko Asakura, nodding her head politely, "I am glad that you showed."

It was you...

"Yes. Are you surprised?"

Very. What did you want to see me for?

"Well... it's actually about Suzumiya-san. Tell me," Ryoko replied, "What do you think of her?"

Not Suzumiya again. So, is she a slider, time-traveller, ESPer, or alien?

"I've been observing your friendship with Haruhi. It's... interesting to say the least. She's different. More different then she realizes. And that... white dragon."

Blue-Eyes? The card's related?

"My superiors believe it's related to an ancient prophecy, involving her... and you."

Yep. ESPer. Maybe.

"You see, I've grown tired of watching something that never changes. Therefore, I'll duel you. Winner lives."

Lives? Okay... Fine. I got my deck out, and grabbed my duel disk out of my backpack.

"Fine, if you insist..." I said, "Game Start."

Kyon: 4000 LP
Ryoko: 4000 LP

"My turn," Ryoko began, "I'll begin by setting one face down monster. Your move, Kyon!"

"Fine, my go." I responded, "and I'll summon Abare Ushioni!"

A demonic-looking bull appeared in front of Kyon. ATK: 1200.

"Abare Ushioni! Charger's Horn!!"

Abare Ushioni charged at the face-down monster, destroying it. It appeared to be a white rock.

"Thank you, Kyon. Now, I can look through my deck for one card." Ryoko said, and looked through her deck. I wonder what card she could be looking for.

"Fine, I'll end my turn."

"Thank you, Kyon. Now, I begin by summoning Kaibaman in attack mode," Ryoko smiled, as a guy in a white trenchcoat (Familiar, ain't it?) appeared in front of her. "Then, I sacrifice him to summon the monster I picked from my deck. I believe you already know him."

Know him? From where?

"Allow me to jog your memory. He has blue eyes..."

Blue... eyes... oh no, it can't be...

"...white scales..."

Oh god, not him!

"... and 3000 attack points."

GODGODGODGODGOD!!!

"Allow me to introduce you to the original version of Haruhi's Light Envoy... The Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

As a familiar, blue-eyed dragon appeared behind her, the feeling of my stomach lurching came back to me. Every part of my mind, every cell, every organ, every limb screamed...

RUN.

My legs wouldn't move, "A... Asakura-san... how did you get that card...?"

"Well, allow me to explain. Like Nagato-san probably told you, I am a humanoid interface," Asakura explained, "As such, I could create a copy of every card I could need to win, like Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Now, I activate a spell card: Burst Stream of Destruction."

Burst Stream of Destruction: In addition to being Blue-Eye's most powerful attack, BSD works like the spell card Raigeki, and can destroy all monsters your opponent controls. However, the attack can only be preformed once per turn.

The Blue-Eyes White Dragon fires a lighting ball, which destroys Abare Ushioni.

"Seeing as there is nothing else I can do, I end my turn." Ryoko smiles. I'm so screwed now.

"Uh..." I look over my hand. Can't do anything. "I... skip my turn."

God, I'm stupid.

"My turn. I play a spell card." Ryoko said, "Polymerization."

What?

"I fuse Blue-Eyes White Dragon with his wingmates to summon the most powerful monster in the game..." Ryoko explained, "The Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

As the three dragons fused, I immediately recognized the monster they became... the one from my dream. What Irony.

Wait... his ATK Hologram... says... HOLY CRAP, 4500!!

I'm dead.

"Now, I finish this duel. Blue-Eyes! Take him out with Neutron Blast."

As three streams of lighting hit me, my Life Points hit zero. I lost.

So, I guess you win, Asakura. Now what?

"You didn't hear my last words before this duel, did you?"

Huh?

"Now that the duel is over... I'm going to kill you and see how Haruhi reacts."

Oh, you make me laugh sometimes, Ryoko.

"I wasn't joking." Ryoko said, before producing something that made my world stop.

A knife.

"W... what are you going to do with that? Stay away from me!"

"I'm sorry. I can't. My orders are simple: terminate you. If you won that duel, things would be different."

Asakura then charged me with a speed I didn't know she posessed. I'm not a very athletic individual, and I'm certainly not on par with people like Haruhi, but in a situation like this...

I ran to the door, narrowly avoiding Asakura's first strike. I jerked the door and pushed, but to my disdain, nothing happened. Then the door simply vanished, and I was staring at a simple grey wall, common throughout the school, yet now an arbiter of my coming death. I turned and back against the wall, trying to gather the willpower to dodge the next strike.

"There is no escape," she said gently, "I control all data in this area, nothing can get in or out. Your death is inevitable."

"You don't have to do this Asakura-san, please, there's no reason to kill me!"

She looked down at the knife and frowned, "I've never really observed a human's emotional data, it doesn't hold very much of interest. I do not understand the concept of death."

Anothe lunge, I barely managed to side step it before running to the back of the class. Suddenly, the world around me exploded and Asakura frowned, "Hmm, perhaps such an unconventional method truly wasn't the best of ideas."

The room looked like it had been torn in half at the top, but instead of blue sky I saw nothing but vibrant color, shining so bright it was almost blinding. I looked around myself for something, anything.

A desk!

In any normal situation I could lift a desk and haul it across the room, but throwing it, especially at that distance, was another feat altogether.

All throughout history, when human's survival instincts kicked in, when you went on nothing but your gut, when you placed your trust in your basest of values, and when adreniline was coursing through you, the impossible became possible.

I picked it up by its legs and tossed it as hard as I could.

It stopped just short of Asakura's body and shattered into shrapnel.

My eyes widened.

Asakura smirked, "Like I have said before, it's no use, Kyon, accept it. You're merely a part of a scientific study."

So that was it huh? A science experiment.

As the knife came down upon me I closed my eyes tight, bracing for the stinging pain...

and it never came.

When I opened them I saw one of the most shocking things I had seen since my time at this high school. Nagato stood above me, holding the knife with her bare hand, blood dripping to the floor.

Her face was emotionless as always, but her eyes, they held... anger?

"You are in violation and have become a liability," said Yuki, "I have been given orders to terminate you."

I began to stand, but Nagato grabbed me by the collar and tossed me aside like I was nothing, "Oh?" Asakura sounded curious, "Surely you are curious about this as well Nagato-san, the data explosion would be simply astronomical."

Yuki didn't move, "As long as I remain here to observe Suzumiya-san, no harm will befall her or her friends."

Asakura smirked and thrust her arms out. Metal spikes seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and they were heading straight for me. Again, the pain never came, and I saw Nagato once again, this time with the multiple spikes protruding from his body. My first thought was that she was going to die, but then she reached up and pulled one out as if it were simply a sliver.

Blood was everywhere.

Nagato turned and tossed the spike at Asakura, who deflected it, still with a smirk, "It's over Nagato-san, your data is breaking down. You don't have enough fight left in you."

Asakura once again casted her hand out, and this time a large metal beam went straight through Nagato's chest. Nagato stood there for a moment, frozen. "It is finished. Data elimination in progress." Nagato reached up and touched the beam and it began to disintigrate into thin air.

Asakura stepped back, still smirking, "It's too bad... I would have liked to see the results of my little experiment. I didn't expect you'd be able to hack into my area like that."

"The fight was merely buying time," said Nagato.

Asakura broke down and vanished, just as the metal beam had but a moment ago. Nagato fell to the ground, and I scrambled to him, "Nagato-san!" I picked his head up and put it in my lap, "Hang in there!"

"I am not harmed." She said it as usual, as if it didn't matter there was a huge hole in her chest, "The data must be restored."

Before I knew it we were in the middle of a normal class room again, no blood, no holes in our uniforms. No white dragons.

No Asakura.

"Oh!" Nagato let it out with mild surprise, bringing a hand to her face, "I forgot the glasses."

"That's okay," I said with a smile, "You look cuter without them."

No reaction... as always.

MEANWHILE...

"Sir, a Blue-Eyes White Dragon was summoned by someone other then you," A Duel Analyst looked on the Duel-Disk Archive, a program designed to archive all duels that have used Duel Disks.

"What? Who was the one summoning it?" a man in a white trenchcoat yelled in surprise.

"Ryoko Asakura, sir."

"Hm... where is she now?"

"She, well... dissappeared."

"Humanoid interface?"

"Possibly. Now, I think that the Duelist named Haruhi Suzumiya is involved indirectly. We may need to keep an eye on her duels."

"Suzumiya..." The man said, "That name is shared by the man that has the second white dragon. Keep an eye on her."

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba."

Next Chapter: Haruhi gets a new challenge, and Kyon... gets a new card?