Hello, everyone! The conclusion of the last chapter is out. This will be the last chapter for the current story arc, Pre-Tournament Arc. I hope you will enjoy this chapter. Let's get started!
UPDATE(7/7/15): Corrected some mistakes in this chapter. Added the New Cards Cheat Sheet.
UPDATE#2(7/7/15): Edited the dueling a little, with updated Life Points change. Also edited Blooming Sakura's effect.
Chapter 23-Beacon of Hope-
"I activate Blooming Sakura's ability!" Go said excitedly. "Once per turn, I select one monster on your side of the field, then Blooming Sakura gains half of that monster's DEF and adds it to her DEF points! I choose your Viking Ogre!"
Her monster summoned a wind of cheery flower petals as her aura glowed in pink, increasing its DEF to 3400.
"Battle Phase! Blooming Sakura shall destroy your Viking Ogre! It can attack while it is in Defense position!" Go stated. "Blooming Sakura! Use your Sakura Style Slash!"
Her monster moved its sword in slow motion, when suddenly a light turned off, turning the area into darkness when they heard a sound of sword slicing. When the light was back, Viking Ogre's body was split in half!
Mike's monster exploded, making him lose 1100 Life Points. He has 1600 left in total. "No! Viking Ogre!"
"However, that is not the end!" Go said strongly. "While I controls Superheavy Samurai monster and have no Spell and Trap cards in my Graveyard, I can Special Summon this card from my hand. Go! Superheavy Samurai Oni Armor!" Out of the portal, a red floating armor with ogre face and horn leapt out.
"What the!?" Mike gasped.
"Next, I target this card to my Blooming Sakura and equip it to my monster!" She stated as Oni Armor attached itself to Blooming Sakura. "When a Superheavy Samurai monster is equipped with Oni Armor, it gains 800 points for Defense, and if it were target for an attack during the Battle Phase, the attacking monster gets destroyed! With that, I end my turn!"
Just as she ended her turn, her monster glowed in red aura as its Defense points increased to 4200. "4200 DEF!?" Mike surprised. "None of my monsters can destroy that! Oh, what am I going to do!?"
"Mike, focus!" A familiar female voice said.
"Huh?" Mike looked around, trying to find where the voice came from. "That voice!"
"Focus, Mike! You are just doing fine!" The voice yelled at him.
"Could it be...Muiko!?" He realized. Muiko was watching the Duel from the sidelines.
"What's wrong!? You have cold feet or something!?" Go shouted, snapping Mike out of his thought again.
"Um! Sorry!" Mike apologized. "I need to focus on the Duel. Just like what Muiko's voice said, I need to focus."
"My turn! I draw!" Mike drew his card. He looked at the card, and his eye widen, reacting to what he drew. "This card! I could use it, but right now I can't. I need to wait a little bit longer when I need to summon this card."
Go glared at him, waiting for his move. "I play the Equip Spell, Victory Blaster and equip it to my Future Trooper!" Mike stated as his trooper's blaster replaced with a silver blaster that has a V-shaped mouth. "When it equips to Victory Fighter monster, it gains 600 ATK! Then, I switch my Future Trooper's position to ATK mode!"
Future Trooper took out its blaster, ready to battle. "Now, battle phase! I declare my Future Trooper to attack on your monster!"
His monster began shooting at Blooming Sakura, but she deflected all the bullets and some were reflecting back. "Fool! Are you out of your mind!?" Go yelled.
"I am not out of my mind! This is part of my strategy! You see, when Victory Fighter monster equipped with Victory Blaster, I only take half of the Battle Damage!" Mike explained out loud. His monster got destroyed, which exploded by the shot of its own bullets. Mike's Life Points went down to 500. "Since Future Trooper is destroyed during the Battle Phase, I can use its effect! When it is destroyed during the Battle Phase and sent to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon one Level 4 Warrior-type monster with 1500 ATK or less from my Graveyard! I Special Summon Level 2 Victory Fighter Summoner!"
Out of the portal, a strange man that looked like a shaman with shield and sword appeared. "When Victory Fighter Summoner is Special Summoned, I select one Victory Fighter monster from my hand and Special Summon it with its ATK halved! Come forth, the warrior that everyone's dreams count on! Victory Fighter Hope!"
V.F. Summoner did a dance of some kind to make a portal opened. When it did, a monster with spiky black hair like Son Goku's hairstyle, one eye patch for the right eye, and dressed like a samurai leapt out of the portal. Its left eyes glowed in red, and carried a white Katana sword.
"You summoned two monsters during your Battle Phase!?" Go surprised.
"Yeap, but that is not end! Now, I declare V.F. Hope to destroy your Blooming Sakura!" Mike declared. "Let's go! Hope Slash!"
"You are clearly a fool! Your monster has lower ATK points than my Blooming Sakura's defense! It can't be destroyed, and when you attack, Hope gets destroyed by Oni Armor's effect!" Go reminded him.
"That is why I activate Hope's ability! When it attacks a monster or targeted by monster with higher ATK points, then it negates its own destruction and destroy the target monster instead!"
"What!?" She gasped. Hope and Blooming Sakura pulled out their sword so quickly that they waited for a moment. Suddenly, her monster got sliced in half and destroyed. The equip card was also destroyed as well.
"After that, I gain Life Points equal to half of the destroyed monster's ATK!" Mike said as his Life Points increased to 2050. "Then, I activate the Quick-Play Spell! Quick-Play Spell open! Victorious Chance!"
The Spell card depicted Victory Fighter Hope and other Victory Fighter monsters attacking and launching on Five Headed Dragon. "With this Trap is activated, if my opponent controls no monster on his/her field, all of my monsters with 'Victory Fighter' in their names can direct attack!"
"Im...impossible!" Go said in low voice.
"Go! All of my Victory Fighters! Direct Attack!" Mike shouted as his three monster launched for an attack. His three warrior monsters turned into three different colors as they burst together into a single attack, causing Go to blast away and slid on the ground until she stopped. Her Life Points went down to zero, making Mike wins. "Thank you guys." Mike said as his monsters replied with a nod until they faded away.
Mike walked up to Go, who was collapsed on the wooden floor of the dojo. "Hey, Go. Are you OK?" Mike asked, offering his hand. When she opened her eyes, there were sparkles around Mike's face. When she saw his face, she blushed a little, but got up quickly without needing his hand.
"No, thanks! I will be just fine." She replied.
"Mike." Muiko called.
"Hey, Muiko! You've been watching this whole time." Mike said.
"I only saw the half of it. Congratulations for winning." She said calmly.
"Thank you, Muiko!" Mike said happily.
"Go!" A voice yelled.
When they turned around, they noticed a man with dark mustache, big nose, and wearing a traditional dojo uniform. "Father." Go said.
"He is your dad?" Mike asked.
"Go! You insolent daughter! Have you dueled against a guy again!?" Her father scolded.
"Ye...yes." Go replied, sounding little resistant to admit.
"Not this again! You always do this! Dragging an innocent man who tried to help and you just get all misunderstood, and beat the living hell out of them in a Duel! Especially during your training!" Father yelled.
"I'm sorry, Father! Please forgive me!" She said, bowing her down very low.
Mike felt bad of her seeing like this. "Um, excuse me, sir, but to be honest..., I am one who asked her to Duel me!" He said, which was a lie.
"Say what?" Go and her father said simultaneously.
"Yeah! It was wrong for me to ask to Duel her at the wrong time. I promise to not do it again. Right, Muiko?" Mike said, nudging Muiko.
"Right." She said calmly.
Go's father think for a moment while his eyes closed until he opened them up. "Alright. You seems to be a very forgiving person unlike the other guys that my daughter beaten up, so I will accept this and not punish my daughter for now."
Mike smiled a bit and Muiko kept herself being quiet. Later that afternoon, Mike and Muiko headed back to Rayden's place, which the time was becoming late. Go and her father watched over them as they leave.
"Father...to tell you the truth..I.."
"It is alright. I know that boy was really lying." Father admitted.
"But, then why? Why did you believe in him!?" Go questioned.
"Before I stepped in, I was watching the Duel. That young man, Mike, is naive, but a strong kid. I can see potential in him. Unlike with the rest of the guys you beaten up in the past, he accepted your challenge straight on, even though it is all just misunderstanding on your part." Father answered, and then he go back to the Dojo.
"Mike..." She whispered to herself, blushing.
After two days, Muiko and her friends packed up their stuff, and was about to leave. "It's been great with you, Ms. Grandma and Shizune." Ace said.
"It was nice to see you again, Ace-y kun. I hope we will meet again." Grandma said, smiling.
"Ray and I will see you all again at the Cup of Scorch in two weeks." Shizune said.
"Of course." Mike grinned. "But, say, where is Rayden?"
"He's working on his do-hickey Duel Runner again. That spoil brat! He doesn't even want to show his face to say goodbye. He must be really sensitive about it." Grandma stated.
"It is OK, Ms. Grandma. Again, thank you." Ace said.
They went on the taxi cab that was waiting for them. Strangely enough, it was the same driver for some reasons, but they drove off as Shizune and Grandma waved goodbye at them as they drove to the airport.
Meanwhile, back at the Metro Sand City, Hector Griffon was talking with Director Akaba in her office. "So, you are really going into this, Mr. Griffon." Director Akaba said in solemn tone.
"Indeed I am." He replied as he sipped his cup of tea."
"And, you think she, that girl you're taking care of, is a perfect candidate for this."
"Yes, as well as other duelists I am thinking about, including her friend, Mike."
"You know he's just regular duelist. He doesn't have special powers like her, or other Muikai Duelists. Nonetheless, he is not a Muikai Duelist, which is something I would admit glad to know about. It will be troublesome for my job."
"I believe that you are wrong about that."
"What do you mean? He's a Muikai Duelist"
"No, not that. Unlike other duelists, he has a heart and love for dueling, which give him great power."
"That's very touchy of you."
"I did not choose him because of my liking. I only did because he has potential, and I believe the Cup of Scorch is a perfect time and place to test him, so he may unlock his potential. Same go for Muiko."
"Really? Well, as long as your 'program' does not get in my way or the Enforcer's, you are clear to do what you have to do. This is the safety of our world we are talking about. More than just this city."
"I am taking every precaution. Or, are you saying that your late great grandfather, Reiji Akaba, was a mistake for him to leave this program in my care when he was still around?"
Director Akaba stared at him and sighed. "No, I am not. Most likely he knew the risks making this program, but since he picked you to take care of it, I will put my whole trust on you."
"Very well. Then, I guess we can fully trust one another."
"Let's just hope that nothing goes wrong." They shook their hands each other, making an agreement for something.
End of Second Arc, Pre-Tournament Arc
So, what do you all think? Please leave any reviews. Next chapter is the start of the new arc, Cup of Scorch Arc. I will add the New Cards Cheat Sheet later. See ya in the next chapter!
New Cards Cheat Sheet:
Victory Fighter Future Trooper-Effect: When this card is destroyed during the Battle Phase (card effect or by battle), Special Summon a Warrior-type monster with 1500 ATK or less from your Deck.
Superheavy Samurai Oni Armor-Level: 4 Attribute: DARK Type: Machine/Effect ATK/DEF: 0/1000 Effect: Special Summon this card from your hand while you controls a Superheavy Samurai monster on your field and you have no Spell/Trap cards in your Graveyard. Target 1 Superheavy Samurai monster, and this card is equipped to the target monster. It gains 800 points in DEF. Once per turn, if the equipped monster is targeted for battle, the attacking monster is destroyed.
Superheavy Samurai Blooming Sakura-Effect: This card can use its DEF instead of its ATK during the damage calculation. This card can attack while it is in DEF position. Once per turn, select one monster on your opponent's field, then this card gains half of the selected monster's DEF and added to its own. This card's DEF return back to normal during your next Standby Phase.
Victory Fighter Hope-Level: 7 Scale: 3 Attribute: LIGHT Type: Warrior/Pendulum/Effect ATK/DEF: 2500/2000 Effect: When this card attacks or targeted by monster with higher ATK, negate this card's destruction and destroy its target or attacking monster instead. When you do, you gains Life Points equal to half of the destroyed monster's ATK.
Victory Blaster-Type: Equip Spell Effect: Equip it to only Victory Fighter monster. It gains 600 ATK points. When the equipped monster is destroyed, you only gain half of the Battle Damage during the battle that involves with the equipped monster.
Victorious Chance-Type: Quick-Play Spell Effect: While your opponent controls no monster, all Victory Fighter monsters that you control can direct attack your opponent's Life Points.