Chapter 2 : Power of Friendship

"Had enough?", said the unknown duelist to Itzuki, who was still standing strong, but with the life point difference, Yuko knew that he wouldn't hold out for long.

The duelist started chuckling. "You know, if you just hand me your deck now, I'll let you go with out having to hurt you anymore than I have done already".

Itzuki expression infuriated. "There is no way I'm letting a criminal like you even lay a finger on my deck. I'm going to beat and then you'll have to own up to the police that you were the one that committed all those crimes".

The criminal's eyes widened. "How naive you are to think that I'm actually going to own up. I only accepted those terms you stated just so that I can beat that puny ass of yours back to mama!" He pointed towards Itzuki and his monster "Dark Blade" took out both it's blades and ran towards the small boy with great speed.

By instinct, Yuko ran out of the crowd and dived in front of Itzuki, hoping to end the duel. However, the monster didn't hesitate and stabbed Yuko with both blades. Yuko gasped, stunned by the sensation of pain which overcame his chest as the sword penetrated his torso.

"Yuko!?", Itzuki shouted in bewilderment. " What are you doing here?"

"I've been looking all over for you", he said whimperingly and fell backwards as the monster removed its swords.

Itzuki fell to the ground and leaned over on to Yuko.

"Yuko, are you alright!" said Itzuki, bursting in to tears. Yuko got up slowly, keeping one hand on his chest, blood seeping through his shirt, but fell back down again, causing him to yelp.

"What gives", whispered Yuko to himself. "If the monster is a hologram, how come I'm bleeding!?"

The duelist which Yuko now understood to be a criminal smirked as he saw the damage he had inflicted on the poor, white-haired duelist, and looked back up at Itzuki.

"Now it's your turn", said the criminal, pointing intimidatingly, then activated a card which caused a ball of fire to form in front of him and directed it towards Itzuki.

Without hesitation, Yuko got up and wrapped his arms around Itzuki. Relying purely on reflex, he ducked down, dodging the fire ball that shot past him and landed on his back to the ground, cushioning Itzuki who was still clutched in Yuko's embrace. The intense heat which the fire ball gave off had incinerated the right arm sleeve of Yuko's favorite coat. There was no doubt about it, the duelist Itzuki had been facing had more than just psychic powers.

"Yuko...", Itzuki muttered and looked down at Yuko.

Yuko looked back up at Itzuki and grinned weakly. "Don't worry yourself about me, I'm tougher than I look" he claimed, then slowly got up, trying his best to ignore the pain and noticed that everyone who had been observing the duel were gone.

The criminal now pointed to Yuko's and laughed maliciously . "That's the second time that you have interrupted my attack. Why would you go through so much trouble and agony and even risk your own life just for some brat!"

Yuko swept the dirt off his coat with his right hand and glared at the criminal duelist. "Itzuki isn't just some brat, he's my friend!" Yuko shouted in a fierce angry tone and reached for Itzuki's deck, hoping that the card he would draw could finish off this duel.

It was the Spell card "Brain control". He quickly activated it on Itzuki's duel disk, causing "Dark Blade" to turn around and face the criminal.

Yuko smirked. "Now it's time for you to feel the sting of you own monsters blades!" he yelled, and ordered a direct attack while clenching one hand over his wounded chest. The monster that he now had full control over charged up and slashed the two blades across the criminals muscular torso, causing his remaining life points to drop to 0.

Yuko had won the duel, but the criminal didn't flinch. Yuko then remembered that the monster only managed to inflict real damage on him because it was the criminal that had psychic powers, but Yuko didn't. The criminal glared hatefully at Yuko and activated a card from his hand.

Suddenly, a second fire ball appeared and was heading straight towards Yuko. It was too big to dodge and from the state that Yuko was in, there was no way that he could move fast enough to even hope to avoid it.

Yuko turned his head round to face Itzuki behind him. "Itzuki! Stay behind me! I'll protect you!" he claimed, noticing Itzuki's tear filled eyes. Yuko turned back to the fire ball and opened up his arms and legs, trying to shield Itzuki as much as possible, expecting to be devoured in any second by the infernal heat and fire that was about to swallow him. Yuko now realized that it wasn't about winning the duel, it was about surviving it.

Yuko closed his eyes and waited. The light in front of him darkened all of a sudden and he assumed that he was now dead.

"Wow! It's much less painful than I had expected", he thought, but then felt a gust of wind blow hard against his face which forced his eyes open, to find a black wall which had appeared in front of Yuko, blocking the attack and protecting him. The fire ball exploded when it had collided against the shielding object, and Yuko sighed in relief.

"That's enough", said a voice coming from behind Yuko, but it wasn't his voice, it was a girl's voice. He turned to face a teenaged girl with dark red hair and wore a red and white top and skirt which waved gracefully against the wind that erupted from the impact. She was holding a card out in front of her while behind her, Yuko recognized Crow from his orange, spiked-up hair who had arrived with the security police and a few of his friends (which Yuko didn't bother to identify). They were closely followed by what seemed to be an ambulance, accompanied by two security police bikes.

Yuko smiled lightly, relieved to find that help had finally arrived and fell to his knees, allowing the rest of his strength to drain away from him. At that moment, the last thing Yuko thought about was the fact that he was still alive, and fainted with a smile on his face.

Yuko: Review, Follow or add to Favourites and tell me what you think! :D

Crow: Yuko! Are you still writing fan fiction on that I-Pad?

Yuko: ...

Yuko: No

Crow: Don't lie to me! I can hear you fingers tapping away at the screen! _

Yuko: I'm working! :3

Crow: (sigh) Of course you are...