(Looks at last update date) July 28th? Hey! I got this chapter up in less than a month. Yay for me. Granted, updates are probably going to be slower due to the fact that I start school again on Monday.
Bakura: tch, a snail can travel a mile faster than you can update, foolish mortal
Shut up, Bakura! Anyway, wow, nineteen people reviewed the last chapter. That. Is. Awesome!
Thank you to David-El, Guest #1, Guest #2, Sinking into Ruined Shadows, bobmanv2.0, EndlessNight025, Johnny Spectre, Alice Cavallari, Numbuh24Insane, decode9, ghost boy 952, ShadowSpirt020, JD98, a1993, reven228, Team5dsforever, Kamen Rider Necrom, NickStriker, and Justrayawsome for reviewing the last chapter. You guys are awesome.
Review Reply to Guest #1: Possibly we'll see more evil heroes in later duels in this season but they'll probably make more of an appearance when we get to season 3.
Review Reply to Guest #2: At the moment, I am attempting to fit Raven and Steven into the plot but, so far, it's not working out so well. As for the GX Tournament, while Rex, Weevil, and Mako Tsunami will not be making an appearance, characters from Battle City will make an appearance.
Also, shout out to David-El for being my 300th Reviewer!
And, as usual, a huge thank you to EndlessNight025 for being an awesome beta-reader and credit for this chapter (especially Rue's characterization in her duel) goes to her.
I hope that you enjoy this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.
20
Deck Destroyer
So Lorenzo has failed. Not that I am that surprised, Sartorius mused, sorting through his tarot cards. He was never truly part of the Society to begin with, until now, that is. And yet that first attack of Jaden Yuki's…he is a lot stronger and more trained in his powers of the Gentle Darkness than I had originally thought. It is a good thing that his sister is serving as my eyes and ears on Academy Island.
He turned over a card and narrowed his eyes when he saw the Justice card. Justice… that older brother who I hadn't thought was a threat. Based on these predictions… Sartorius pulled out his phone and dialed a number.
"Yes, Master Sartorius?" a feminine voice sounded on the other end.
"I have a mission for you," Sartorius said.
"What is it?"
"There is a student on Academy Island that is destined to become a thorn in my side soon. I want you to deal with him in the way that only you can," Sartorius ordered.
"Sounds like fun. Who's the target?"
"His name is Raiden Yuki. Simply speak with Kasumi Yuki on the island for further instructions."
"Roger that! Whoever the guy is, I'll make sure he'll rue the day he ever picked up a deck," the girl said with a giggle.
"Do not underestimate him, Rue," Sartorius warned.
"Don't worry; I won't," Rue replied and then hung up.
Sartorius closed his phone and put it away, gazing at his tarot cards. Shall you be able to overcome fate like Jaden Yuki? Or will you be a problem of a different sort? he thought and his thoughts drifted to his brother, who had been oddly quiet since he had come back from the island the day Sartorius recruited Chazz.
He frowned to himself but pushed off his brother's sudden change in attitude. Frankly, his brother was still incredibly loyal and Sartorius preferred that he was keeping his distance. But still, he had to wonder just what happened when Sachio dueled Raiden. It was no surprise that Sachio wanted to sign Raiden on as a client, he admitted that Raiden was a strong duelist, but there was something odd about the way Sachio looked at him when he returned.
Just what was said between the two of them to cause that change, however slight it might be? Sartorius wondered, still studying the Justice card before he flipped it over and reshuffled his cards.
. . .
"You said that you would take out Jaden Yuki in order to make this dorm official," Bonaparte said firmly, glaring at Chazz who was lounging on a couch while Kasumi was sorting through her cards nearby. "And why is she here? Even if this is the White Dorm, this is still the Boy's Dorm."
"You really need to learn to shut your mouth. You're annoying," Kasumi said, not taking her eyes off her cards.
Bonaparte sputtered and glared at the Lightsworn duelist, but she ignored it.
"You know, she's right," Chazz noted, eyes closed as he relaxed while inwardly cringing a little at Kasumi's attitude. If she wasn't careful, she would get kicked off the island and Chazz doubted the Light would be very happy about that, even if her attitude change was the Light's fault to begin with. "You don't want just Jaden Yuki to be defeated anyway, Bonaparte. You want the Slifer Red Dorm gone, right?"
"Well, of course I do. That's why we need to get rid of Jaden Yuki!"
"You fail to realize that Jaden Yuki isn't the only one standing in your way of taking out the Red Dorm. We may have Alexis on our side, but the Slifers still have both Atticus Rhodes and Raiden Yuki, both of who are the top duelists of the Obelisk Blue Boy's Dorm, if you'll remember."
Bonaparte growled. "Well, fine, then take both of 'em out, too," he said.
"Relax. Master Sartorius has just informed me that he is sending an assassin to go against Raiden Yuki," Kasumi said lightly.
"Well, fine then," Bonaparte huffed.
"And we'll deal with the others in due time," the Lightsworn duelist added.
"Fine," Bonaparte said and left the common room of the White Dorm.
Chazz turned to study Kasumi, who was still sorting through her cards, and a small frown crossed his lips. Why did the Light affect her more so than it affected me or anyone else? he thought.
. . .
Aster was leaning against the railing on the deck of his yacht, sipping at a cup of tea, when another yacht docked near his. He frowned, turning his blue gaze toward the newcomer. His frowned deepened when he saw the person that stepped off the boarding ramp. It was a young woman with long pink hair and crimson eyes dressed in a black dress with white sleeves.
Is that…Rue? What's she doing here? Aster thought, wondering why one of the other duelists Sartorius managed had suddenly appeared. Last he had heard of her, she was having the time of her life dueling in the Pro Leagues as she continued to make every one of her opponents regret theirs. Rue had always been weird like that, but even Aster had to admit, she was a strong duelist.
Aster finished off his cup of tea and disappeared back into his yacht, to put the cup away, and then left the boat. His curiosity was piqued, so he decided to see why his fellow Pro Duelist was on the island.
. . .
"Thank you again, Dr. Nakamura, for being willing to talk with me outside our usual meeting time," Raiden said with a small smile at the blue-haired therapist.
"Anytime, Raiden," Nakamura said with a gentle smile and Raiden waved before heading down the corridor toward the entrance to the main building. Classes were over for the day and, after a particularly bad nightmare-filled sleepless night, Raiden had decided to see if Nakamura would be willing to talk with him. He was thankful that she was. It helped when he was able to talk about his nightmares.
"Hiya, Rai!" Atticus said, appearing quite suddenly at Raiden's side and causing him to jump.
"Geez, Atticus, you scared the crap out of me," Raiden huffed.
Atticus chuckled. Even though Raiden knew he was a bit upset by what happened to his sister, he wasn't letting it really get him down that much. "Sorry," he said with a smile. "So, where're you going now? Back to the Slifer Dorm?"
"Probably," Raiden said. "What about you?"
"Same. I think that's pretty much where everyone who isn't in Ra or part of that White Dorm is gathering nowadays," Atticus mused.
"Yeah," Raiden nodded in agreement, just as he heard a voice ring out from behind him and Atticus.
"Yoo-hoo! Hello over there!"
Surprised, both boys turned around to see a girl with red eyes and waist-length pink hair running up to them.
"Why, hello," Atticus greeted, instantly putting on the charms for the mysterious newcomer, much to Raiden's annoyance. "And who might you be?"
"I'm Rue. How do you do?" the girl replied with a giggle, lifting the hem of her dress as she gave a little curtsy.
"Uh…Okay, I guess," Raiden answered with a shrug. "I'm Raiden, by the way, and this is Atticus."
Rue flashed a bright smile. "Nice to meet you!"
"So, are you a new student here?" Atticus inquired.
"Heh. Nope! I'm just here on assignment for the time being," the pink-haired girl explained.
"What kind of assignment?" Raiden wondered.
"Oh, I'm so glad you asked!" Rue exclaimed, eagerly clasping her hands together. "The truth is, I'm here to duel you, Raiden Yuki."
This surprised the Shadow Reckoner duelist. "Me?"
"What for?" pressed Atticus.
"Like I said: I was assigned to…" she cryptically replied whilst removing the white bunny-shaped backpack from her shoulders. She then unzipped it and pulled out an extra duel disk before presenting it to Raiden. "But anyway, what do you say? Mind helping me out here? Pretty please?"
"Well, as random as this all is… Okay. You're on," Raiden agreed, accepting the duel disk and strapping it to his forearm. "After all, I never back down from a challenge!"
"That's the spirit! I just love confident duelists like you!" Rue cheered before suddenly adopting a somewhat creepy sort of smile as she muttered something Raiden couldn't quite catch.
"What was that?"
"Um… I asked if you were ready to start," the pinkette giggled, instantly reverting back to her bubbly personality.
"Whenever you are," Raiden replied as he inserted his deck into his borrowed duel disk and activated it.
"Great! Then here we go!" Rue exclaimed, doing the same.
"Duel," they both declared, drawing their opening hands.
Rue: 8000
Raiden: 8000
"Ladies first!" Rue said, drawing a card. "I place two cards facedown and summon Banisher of the Radiance in Attack Mode."
After two vertical cards materialized at Rue's feet, a red-winged white-and-orange fairy appeared on the field in a burst of light (A: 1600/D: 0).
"As long as my friend here stays face-up on the field, all cards normally sent to the Graveyard will be banished instead, which'll come in real handy when I place this: Card Destruction," Rue went on. "Now we discard our entire hand and draw the same number of cards we discarded."
They did so and seconds later, a shadowy image of a ghastly baby doll head with grotesque tendrils erupting from the many cracks on its face appeared behind the pink-haired girl.
"What the heck is that?" Raiden asked, disgusted by the sight of whatever that was.
"That's Necroface, and since it was just banished, its effect activates, making both of us banish the top five card of our decks," his opponent explained with a bright smile as a few of Necroface's slimy tentacles shot forward and yanked out the top five cards of both duelists' decks, dragging them off to the Banished Zone with it, making Raiden grit his teeth as he lost Twilight Unicorn, Fatal Alliance, Burning Aura, Night Marauder, and Aura of Punishment.
"Aw, what's with the long face? You lose any good cards there, or something?" Rue inquired a little too gleefully as she inserted another card into her duel disk. "Anyway, I'll activate the Continuous Spell Soul Absorption and end my turn."
Great… Now every time a card is banished, she'll gain 500 Life Points for each one. And, as long as Banisher of the Radiance is on the field, any card that gets sent to the Graveyard will be banished instead. This could be tough… Raiden thought and studied his hand as he drew a card.
"I activate the Field Spell Day of Reckoning," he stated, inserting the card into his duel disk. Almost immediately, the entire area changed and they were now standing on top of two skyscrapers amidst a metropolitan city that was completely made out of steel. The sky above was pitch-black with no stars and no moon.
"Now, every Shadow Reckoner I control will gain 300 Attack and Defense. Next, I summon Shadow Reckoner Destroyer in Attack Mode," Raiden added and placed the card on his duel disk. In a burst of shadows, a tall man in a black trench coat with bandages wrapped around its chest appeared on the field with an insane look in his eyes and heat emanating off him in waves (A: 1900-2200/D: 200-500).
'Ah, yes. Finally, I get the chance to hit this field and set it ablaze!' Destroyer said with a sadistic smirk.
Raiden blinked and turned to Rogue, who just sighed and shook her head. 'Destroyer's…um…I guess you can say he's a psychopathic pyromaniac,' she said.
"Now, Destroyer, attack Banisher of the Radiance," Raiden ordered, sighing at that. Good thing that the duel wasn't a Shadow Duel.
'Oh hell yeah!' Destroyer shot forward and unleashed a powerful wave of fire that rippled across the field toward the Fairy.
"I activate my face-down, Wall of Revealing Light," Rue said as one of her reversed cards flipped up. "Now, I can pay 4000 Life Points and, as long as this card's active, any monsters you control that have an Attack of 4000 or bellow won't be able to attack. Too bad…"
Rue: 4000
Raiden: 8000
Destroyer screeched in fury as a wall of bright light appeared in front of Rue's field to absorb his attack, and he started cursing Rue out, causing Raiden to sweatdrop and Rogue to sigh.
"I end my turn," Raiden said. There wasn't anything else he could do, really.
…
Atticus whistled from the sidelines. "That was a good move on Rue's part. Now Raiden's gotta pull out his big monsters or get past that wall," he mused.
"Easier said than done," Aster said, causing Atticus to start and he turned to find the silver-haired Pro Duelist moving to his side.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I saw Rue arrive on the island and was curious to know why she was here," Aster said simply.
"You know her?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Aster admitted. "Don't let her cute act fool you. Rue's a high-ranked Pro Duelist, and a vicious one at that. There's not a duelist out there that wants to be unlucky enough to face her."
Atticus raided an eyebrow. "Why's that?"
"You'll find out soon enough, if you haven't already," was the Destiny Hero duelist's only answer to that as he and Atticus turned their attention back to the duel.
. . .
"My turn! I draw," Rue declared, drawing a card.
After looking at the two cards in her hand, she took one and slapped it down on her duel disk. "I set a monster facedown, and that's it."
A horizontal facedown appeared at her feet.
"I draw," Raiden said and drew a card before he inserted it immediately. "I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Wall of Revealing Light."
"I don't think so! I activate Dark Bribe," Rue proclaimed excitedly and Raiden gritted his teeth as her Trap negated his Spell and destroyed it. Afterwards, he drew a card from his deck, due to Dark Bribe's last effect.
"And since two cards were just banished, Soul Absorption's effect activates, and I regain 1000 Life Points," Rue added.
Rue: 5000
Raiden: 8000
"I summon Shadow Reckoner Hellhound in Attack Mode and end my turn," Raiden said with a sigh as his shadowy hellhound appeared on the field with a growl (A: 1800-2100/D: 1000-1300).
"That's a cute little doggy you got there. Shame you can't do anything with him," Rue said with a giggle as she drew her next card. "Anyway, I play Pot of Greed." She drew two cards and Soul Absorption activated once her Spell was used up and banished.
Rue: 5500
Raiden: 8000
"Next, I Flip Summon Needle Worm," Rue added, and a purple worm with a needle jutting out of its head appeared on the field (A: 750/D: 600). "When this little guy's flipped face-up, you have to send the top five cards of your deck to the Graveyard. Of course, since my Banisher of the Radiance is still on the field, those cards will just have to be banished instead~"
Raiden clicked his tongue in annoyance as he begrudgingly pocketed five more cards from his deck, subsequently granting Rue 2500 more Life Points.
Rue: 8000
Raiden: 8000
. . .
"Wow… Rue's really starting to do a number on Raiden's deck, and he doesn't seem too thrilled with that," Atticus noted as he continued to watch the duel unfold.
"It's all a part of Rue's strategy, and her dueling style is exactly why no one in the Pro Circuit, myself included, wants to face her," Aster explained. "See, unlike normal duelists, instead of going after her opponent's Life Points, Rue focuses on tearing her opponent's deck apart, piece by piece."
"So, she's all about Deck Destruction, then," the Obelisk realized.
Aster nodded. "Right. And since most duelists take great pride in their decks, she also ends up destroying her opponents' pride and passion for dueling with that kind of playing. What's worse, though, is the sick enjoyment she seems to get from breaking the duelists she beats."
"That's…pretty messed up…" Atticus agreed. "Still, I'm sure Rai'll find a way to win."
"If he does, he'll be the first…" the silver-haired teen muttered, not really sharing the other boy's optimism, as he knew that Rue was currently undefeated, but he decided to keep watching anyway, on the off-chance Atticus happened to be right.
. . .
Upon seeing Raiden's reaction to losing even more cards of his deck, Rue began to laugh hysterically.
"What's so funny?" Raiden questioned, finding the pinkette's behavior pretty odd, to say the least.
"You are!" she confessed with a wide grin. "Like I said before, I absolutely love dueling against people that have such confidence in their skills and decks. After all, it makes it all the more fun when I sever all the ties they have with their precious cards! I mean, by the time I'm done, those losers rue the day they ever started dueling and never want to pick up a deck again!"
'This chick's even crazier than I am!' Destroyer yelled, still glaring daggers at Rue.
'Yeah, and that's saying something…' Rogue muttered.
"It's great that you like dueling so much, but don't you think you might be doing it for the wrong reasons, if that's all you're getting out of it?" Raiden wondered, rather troubled by Rue's twisted outlook on the game.
"Hmm…Nope!" she exclaimed without giving it much thought at all before blissfully going on with her turn, much to Raiden's surprise. "Anywho… I activate Hand Destruction, so now we each discard two cards and then draw two cards."
She and Raiden did so and Soul Absorption began glowing as it activated again and she was surrounded by white light as she regained 2500 Life Points since five more cards were just banished.
Rue: 10500
Raiden: 8000
"Looks like that banishing shtick of yours is about to come back to haunt you, Rue, considering one of the cards I just discarded was Shadow Reckoner Dead Shot," Raiden said with a smile. "When he's banished, his effect activates, inflicting 1000 point of damage to you."
A ghostly image of a black cloak-wearing skeleton appeared, pulling out a sniper rifle instead of the typical scythe you'd normally expect from a death god, before taking aim and firing off a blast of spirit energy into Rue's shoulder.
Rue: 9500
Raiden: 8000
"Please. I barely felt that," Rue chuckled. "And your Dead Shot isn't the only monster whose effect activates when it's banished: Since another Necroface of mine was cast off to the Banished Zone, we both have to banish the top five cards of our decks again."
A second Necroface showed itself behind Rue as it whipped out its nasty tendrils to steal the top five cards of Raiden and Rue's decks.
Raiden frowned as he studied his deck; he only had ten cards left and Rue's Life Points had just increased by a startlingly amount.
Rue: 14500
Raiden: 8000
She just got back what Dead Shot took from her and then some, he thought.
"And just like that, you're down to just one-fourth of your deck," Rue rejoiced as she held out another card. "And I'm still not done. Next, I activate Chaos Greed. Since I have four or more banished cards and no cards in my Graveyard, I can draw two cards."
Soul Absorption's effect activated again once Chaos Greed was banished, and she was surrounded by white light.
Rue: 15000
Raiden: 8000
Raiden had to admit that this was an extremely difficult duel at the moment. He was still good on Life Points, but if he ran out of cards to draw, it wouldn't matter how many Life Points he had. But I'm still in this as long as I have cards to play and Rogue and the other Reckoners to back me up, he thought.
'However many of us are still left, that is…' Destroyer added, somewhat cynically.
'Destroyer!' Rogue scolded.
'What? You know you were thinking it, too…'
"Finally, I set this monster and place two cards facedown and end my turn," Rue concluded and a horizontal facedown and two vertical face-downs appeared at her feet.
Time to turn this around, Raiden thought and drew a card. This could work. "I activate Heavy Storm to—" he began.
"Yeah, let me just stop you right there as I activate Solemn Judgment," Rue interrupted, revealing her face-down. "By paying half my Life Points, I can negate the activation of your Spell and destroy it!"
Rue: 7500
Raiden: 8000
Heavy Storm was struck by a bolt of lightning and shattered, but Soul Absorption activated since two cards were banished.
Rue: 8500
Raiden: 8000
Damn. Well, on to Plan B, I guess, he thought. "I activate Dark Hole to destroy all monsters on the field," he said.
"In that case, I chain that effect by activating my other face-down, Assault on GHQ, and select Needle Worm for its effect. Now, it's destroyed and the top two cards of your Deck are sent to the Graveyard, or, in this case, banished, since Banisher's still on the field for now," Rue said and Needle Worm shattered before Raiden pocketed two cards, bringing his deck down to seven. Dark Hole's effect resolved, destroying Raiden's Hellhound and Destroyer—'You suck, you know that?' Destroyer shouted—and Banisher of the Radiance, as well as Rue's set monster.
Soul Absorption activated, granting Rue 1500 Life Points since three cards were banished but, at least, Raiden had use of his Graveyard again since his monster had been sent to the Graveyard, which meant he could use his Destroyer's effect.
Rue: 10000
Raiden: 8000
"I ain't done yet. I summon Shadow Reckoner Fallen Angel in Attack Mode," Raiden said and his black-clad young woman with the long black angel wings appeared on the field, her wings spread out behind her and her arms resting at her sides (A: 1700-2000/D: 1200-1500). "And since I control a face-up Shadow Reckoner, I can activate the effect of Destroyer in my Graveyard, banishing it to destroy one face-up card that you control, and I choose your Wall of Revealing Light."
Rue's lips twitched into a frown for the first time as Destroyer momentarily returned to the field in astral form and unleashed a blast of blue-colored fire, destroying her Trap. Still, since Destroyer was banished, Soul Absorption's effect activated.
Rue: 10500
Raiden: 8000
"Next, I activate Monster Reborn to bring back Shadow Reckoner Hellhound," Raiden added and his shadowy hellhound returned to the field, scratching its claws against the steel ground and growling at Rue (A: 1800-2100/D: 1000-1300).
"Now, Fallen Angel, attack Rue directly," Raiden ordered and Fallen Angel flew into the air and straight at Rue, striking her in the face.
Rue: 8500
Raiden: 8000
"Hellhound, your turn. Attack!"
The shadowy hellhound obeyed, bounding forward before biting into Rue's duel disk.
Rue: 6400
Raiden: 8000
Rue shook, her red eyes now flaring with anger. "You…YOU… In all the years that I've been in the Pro League, not one person has ever managed to successfully land a direct attack on me, let alone TWO!" she exclaimed, stomping her foot in childish rage.
"Whoa. Chill out there, Rue," Raiden said in an attempt to calm the raging pinkette. "If you're really a Pro, then you gotta know that that's just part of the game. And you have to admit, it makes things a bit more exciting, don't you think?"
"Whatever," she huffed, obviously still irked. "Now are you going to end your turn, or what?"
"Sure…"
"Good!" Rue said as she practically yanked a card out of her duel disk. "I activate Card of Sanctity."
Both of them drew until they were holding six cards.
"I summon Banisher of the Light in Defense Mode," Rue declared and a man in a golden-brown and blue robe appeared on the field (A: 100/D: 2000). "Just like Banisher of the Radiance, all cards normally sent to the Grave will be banished as long as he's around. Next, I activate Dark World Dealings!"
Both of them drew one card and then discarded another and Soul Absorption granted Rue 1500 Life Points, due to Banisher of the Light's effect.
Rue: 7900
Raiden: 8000
"Now, I activate D.D.R.- Different Dimension Reincarnation and discard one card to target my Gren Maju Da Eiza in my Banished Zone and Special Summon it in Attack Mode," Rue added, the anger still clear in her voice.
A large blood red creature with the fangs of an arachnid, tail of a scorpion, and wings of a dragon appeared on the field (A: ?/D: ?). Soul Absorption also activated.
Rue: 8400
Raiden: 8000
"Undetermined?" Raiden said with a frown.
"Gren Maju Da Eiza gains 400 Attack and Defense for every one of my banished cards, and I have twenty-three," Rue proclaimed and Raiden's eyes widened as her monster's Attack skyrocketed (A: ?-9200/D: ?-9200).
. . .
Atticus whistled again. "That is a strong monster," he said.
"Raiden must have really angered her. She normally doesn't attack and usually wins her duel by causing her opponent to deck out," Aster mused.
"That's gonna be a tough monster to beat, though," Not only that, but Raiden's down to his last card. If he can't win on his coming turn, he'll automatically lose, he thought.
. . .
"Time for some payback! Gren Maju Da Eiza, get rid of that Fallen Angel!" Rue commanded and her fiendish monster shot forward and swiped at Fallen Angel with its scorpion tail and she shattered. The resulting explosion sent Raiden flying backwards.
Rue: 8400
Raiden: 800
Soul Absorption's effect activated once more, as another card was banished.
Rue: 8900
Raiden: 800
"You may have messed with my normal strategy and gotten in a few lucky punches, but, as you can see, your chances of winning are virtually zero, so why don't you just admit defeat and give up now?" Rue suggested as she ended her turn; a smile once again on her face after she regained the lead.
"No way," Raiden said as he pushed himself to his feet and placed his hand on his deck, drawing his last card. "That last move of yours was pretty rad, but I'm far from beaten, you know."
The pinkette rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. You just drew your last card, so unless you can pull off some kind of miracle this turn, you're through."
Raiden grinned. "My brother's usually the miracle worker, but I can pull off one or two from time to time. Looks like now's one of those times, I guess."
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"You'll see! I activate Fatal Alliance and banish Shadow Reckoner Silver Wyvern, Shadow Reckoner Rogue, and Shadow Reckoner Night Scout in my hand in order to Fusion Summon Shadow Reckoner Eclipse Dragon in Attack Mode!"
The three aforementioned monsters appeared and swirled together. A burst of light filled the field, reflecting off the city of steel. A beautiful snow-white dragon emerged onto the field, wings outspread, revealing silver crescent-shaped designs imprinted on the inside of her wings with silver streaks going down her back and along her spiked tail. Her eyes were black with a ring of fiery red around their irises (A: 3000-3300/D: 3000-3300).
"I regain 2000 Life Points because four cards were banished," Rue said, trying not to be impressed with Raiden's new monster. "If your plan was to put an even bigger gap in our Life Points, then I guess you succeeded, because that thing's obviously not strong enough to take on my Gren Maju."
Rue: 10900
Raiden: 800
"Eclipse Dragon has an effect. He gains 300 Attack and Defense for ever Shadow Reckoner monster in my Banished Zone, and I have twenty, so I gotta thank ya for banishing so many of my monsters," Raiden said with a smirk as Eclipse Dragon began to glow a bright silver and her eyes began to glow brightly (A: 3300-9300/D: 3300-9300).
"So what? It doesn't matter! Even if you attack, I'll still have plenty of Life Points left," Rue said. "Face it, you've lost."
"No, I haven't," Raiden insisted. "I activate Megamorph." The silver aura that surrounded Eclipse Dragon grew brighter as Megamorph's effect doubled her original attack (A: 9300-12300).
Rue huffed. "I'll still win. Your monster's Attack may be greater than mine, but I'll still have Life Points left when you do attack," she said stubbornly.
. . .
Atticus gazed wide-eyed at the dragon. "Whoa, I've never seen that monster before. When did he get that?" he exclaimed.
"It's still not strong enough to beat Rue on this turn, though," Aster noted.
"If one of Raiden's last two cards is what I think it is, then he does. He still looks confident, anyway," Atticus said.
. . .
"Who said I was going to attack your monster?" Raiden asked, picking up the second to last card in his hand. "I activate Reckoner's Fury. This allows me to target one Shadow Reckoner monster on my field and, while it's the only one of my monsters that can attack this turn, it can attack you directly and, naturally, I choose Eclipse Dragon."
Rue's eyes widened as Eclipse Dragon roared. Even if Soul Absorption did grant Rue another 500 Life Points, it still wasn't enough to withstand the coming attack.
Rue: 11400
Raiden: 800
"Now go, Eclipse Dragon, attack Rue directly! Eclipse of the Sun!" Raiden shouted and Eclipse Dragon flew higher into the sky and roared, unleashing a powerful blast of silver-white energy that illuminated the entire steel city. The beam crashed into Rue, throwing her to the ground, and taking out the entirety of her Life Points.
Rue: 0
Raiden: 800 WINNER
As the holograms vanished, Rue pushed herself to her feet, a few strands of pink hair falling into her face as she stared at the ground. "I…lost?" she whispered in disbelief.
Raiden, deactivating his duel disk, walked over to join Rue and held out a hand.
She lifted her head and glared at him. "What do you want? Come to gloat?"
"Of course not," Raiden said. "Listen, Rue, even though some of your reasons for dueling are pretty hard to get behind, I have to admit that that was one hell of a duel. I can see why you're a Pro."
Rue continued to glare before she sighed and accepted his hand, letting him pull her to her feet. "I couldn't care less about your or anyone else's opinions on how I operate, but I confess that it was sort of interesting to go off script and cut a little loose towards the end there," she mused. "Maybe I'll try dueling like that more often…Maybe."
Raiden sweatdropped. "That's…good…"
The pink-haired girl smiled and nodded. "Yep! And if we ever get a chance to duel again, I'll beat you for sure next time! So don't you dare go losing that spirit of yours 'til then, okay?"
"Sure thing," Raiden agreed with nervous laugh as he watched Rue turn and run away, vanishing just as quickly as she had appeared.
"Nice dueling there, Rai," Atticus praised as he and Aster joined Raiden. "But, man, that Rue girl sure was…weird."
"Like you're one to talk," Raiden quipped.
"Touché," the other Obelisk chuckled. "By the way, where did ya get that dragon, Raiden?"
"Last month. It just came out along with another Shadow Reckoner card that I still can't find," he answered.
"Awesome," Atticus said with a grin.
"I have to say, that was an impressive duel," Aster said and Raiden turned to the silver-haired Destiny Hero duelist. "That's the first time I've seen a duelist stand against Rue without decking out."
"Thanks," Raiden said. "What brings ya here anyway, Aster?"
"Curiosity, mostly."
"He wanted to see why Rue was here."
"Oh…" Raiden muttered, and then suddenly remembered something. "Crap! I never got to ask her who 'assigned' her to duel me in the first place, now that I think about it…"
. . .
"Shame Rue lost," Sartorius murmured, divining his cards again. "Raiden Yuki is strong, like his brother. Hmm, I still need Rue, so I won't do to her what I did to Lorenzo. She needs to maintain her personality if she is to continue to dominate the Pro League." He shuffled his cards, only for one to fall onto the table.
He frowned and picked it up. "The Strength?" he murmured. "Hmm, so he might be a possible ally as well. I will deal with him when I return to Academy Island. It is time for the next phase of my plan to begin."
. . .
A/n what do you think?
Lelouch: that was chapter 20
Marik: Lelouch? Where's Blaze?
Jaden: and Bakura for that matter?
Lelouch: they stole the Shinkiro and the Lancelot Albion and are now attacking all the people that Blaze hates, well, Blaze is anyway. I think Bakura's using the Lancelot Albion to destroy things
Suzaku: Lloyd's not gonna be happy about that
-Boom-
Jesse: (sweatdrops) all right. What blew up this time?
Marik: (looks out the window) KaibaCorp Headquarters. We should have a pissed-off Kaiba in here in 3...2…
Kaiba: (storms into the computer room) who just blew up KaibaCorp Headquarters?
Lelouch: I cannot tell a lie…
Suzaku: (cough) bullshit (cough)
Lelouch: (jabs finger at Charles) ...he did it!
Charles: what? No I…
Kaiba: (pulls out Real Solid Vision Duel Disk and summons Blue Eyes White Dragon)
Blue Eyes White Dragon: RAWR
Charles: I HATE YOU, LELOUCH! (Takes off running)
Kaiba: (leaps onto back of Blue Eyes White Dragon and chases after Charles)
Lelouch: (shouts after Charles) the feeling's mutual!
Jaden: (sighs) well, I guess I'll end the chapter. Blaze hopes that you enjoyed this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.