Yu-Gi-Oh! CHRONIXII Chapter 22: 1-22: Arise and Shai, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Things were not looking good for Mira.

Earlier that evening, Lucy Loud, the gothic and occultic child of the Loud residence, had confronted Mira and informed her that she was aware of both Mira's Iroa, and the legend associated with her interdimensional journey. Lucy had also challenged Mira to a Game Duel to unleash the full potential of her Iroa. Mira accepted, feeling that Lucy knew a thing or two about the legend relating to her overall duty that Mira didn't.

But just as the duel was about to commence, Lucy had forgotten her D-Gear back in her bedroom. Shortly after her departure, Mira had a vision of Lucy becoming the next victim of the dreaded Itzam Incarnate. Mira arrived in the bedroom, but too little too late, for Itzam Incarnate had indeed possessed Lucy. But unlike Itzam Incarnate's previous victims, Lucy was able to maintain control of the spirit, if only temporarily.

The chase that followed led the two to Royal Woods Cemetery where, almost inexplicably, there was a tablet that contained essence relating to Mira's Iroa. According to both Lucy and Pinkie, this tablet contained a special 'core' that was necessary for her Iroa to unleash her full potential. As Pinkie began to extract the tablet's encrypted core, Mira began her duel against Lucy in hopes of quickly freeing her from the essence of Itzam Incarnate. But she was quickly backed into a corner when Lucy brought out Nethersoul Dragon Zhaitan, a monster capable of draining both her monsters' Attack Points, as well as her own Life Points.

Mira's only monster was significantly weakened, and her Life Points were now hanging by a thread. [ATK: 800] [LP: 1200] In contrast, Lucy had a significant lead over Mira, both in terms of her monster's strength and her amount of Life Points. [ATK: 3200] [LP: 3400] At that moment, Mira felt that maybe the core Pinkie was extracting would likely turn the duel in her favor. So she shifted her attention to Pinkie and hastily asked, "Pinkie, what's the extraction progress?"

"Thirty-nine percent!" was Pinkie's report. "Close to halfway done!"

Mira knew that thirty-nine percent wasn't exactly 'halfway done,' but it was still better than nothing. Regardless, she had a duel to partake in, lest she didn't want to save Lucy. But little did she expect that another Pawn of Itzamna was observing every detail of the duel since his arrival, and appeared to be taking much pleasure in doing so.

YU-GI-OH! CHRONIXII

LEVEL 1-22
ARISE AND SHAI

"EVERYONE! EVERYONE! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" Lynn hollered throughout the hallway, shortly after Lucy's unexplained absence. As expected, both the Loud parents and the older Loud siblings who were still awake ran to meet up with Lynn. Meanwhile, the other younger siblings who were previously asleep got out of their respective bedrooms.

"Unh, Lynn, what are you screaming about?" the groggy Lola moaned, rubbing one of her eyelids.

"It's Lucy! She's… she's gone!" Lynn panicked. Hearing the horrifying news immediately replenished the sleepy siblings' energy.

"Lucy's gone?!" Rita cried in disbelief. "How did that happen?!"

"I don't know!" Lynn cried, throwing her hands. "One minute I'm asleep, then I hear Lucy rambling about something, and when I wake up, she's gone, and my room's totally trashed!"

"Your room is trashed?!" Leni gasped.

"Someone must've broken in and kidnapped Lucy!" Luna cried, which caused a commotion of unrest from the other Loud siblings.

"Hold it, hold it, hold it!" Lynn Sr. shouted, ceasing the commotion. "Everyone, calm down! I know that Lucy's disappearance is nothing to take lightly, but the first thing we should do is to try and find out if she went anywhere without us knowing! So, has Lucy said anything to any of you about breaking curfew and going out?"

"Well, she did tell me that she wanted to duel Mira, for some reason," Lynn Jr. said with a hint of guilt in her voice.

"And you let it happen, just like that?!" Lori scolded, leering at her younger athletic sister.

"I tried to reason with her, but she wouldn't listen!" Lynn Jr. argued. "I mean, come on, this is Lucy we're talking about!"

"Hold on," Lincoln interrupted. "You said Lucy wanted to duel Mira – do you think she's gone, too?!"

"Probably, since Lucy wanted to duel her!" the mildly annoyed Lynn Jr. remarked.

"I'll go check the garage!" Luan said, running downstairs to the garage.

"While Luan's checking on Mira," Rita hastily said to Lynn Jr., "do you know if Lucy said where she and Mira were going to have their duel?"

"No… she didn't," Lynn Jr. replied, anxiously rubbing her shoulder. "They could be anywhere at this point!"

"Not just anywhere," Lisa proudly interrupted, adjusting her glasses. "The first logical place to look is at Royal Woods Cemetery!"

"How do you figure that?" asked Lincoln.

"It's obvious that Lucy's a creature of habit, just like the rest of us," Lisa explained. "Royal Woods Cemetery is the first place she usually goes for any secretive activities, such as her supposed duel against Mira. Additionally, Lucy is part of the Morticians Club, and that particular cemetery is where all of its members frequently hold their meetings."

"Yeah, that's right!" Lynn Sr. exclaimed, slapping his forehead. "I totally forgot about Lucy's little club!"

"Don't worry, dear," Rita said, comforting her husband. "We're all just wound up a bit over Lucy's sudden absence."

"Happens to the best of us," Lisa said in agreement.

After successfully deducing where Lucy would be, Luan hurried up the stairs. "I checked the garage, and Mira's not there!" she reported. "So wherever Lucy is, Mira's probably with her!"

"Luckily, we have an idea of where they might be," Lynn Sr. said, "and your mother and I will go look for them. The rest of you stay here – Lori, make sure nothing happens to your siblings while we're gone, understand?"

"Loud and clear, Dad!" Lori obeyed.

"Good. We'll be back as soon as we can," Rita said reassuringly as she and Lynn Sr. hurried down the stairs to start up the family vehicle, Vanzilla.

"Lori… do you think Lucy's gonna be okay?" Lana timidly asked the eldest sibling.

"I don't know, but I certainly hope so," was Lori's reply. After a quick group hug with the younger siblings, she said, "Right now, you should all get some sleep. Luan, Luna, Leni, and I will stay up and see if Lucy comes back." After sadly nodding, the younger siblings obediently returned to their respective bedrooms.

As she crawled back into her bed, Lynn Jr. muttered, "Lucy, you dumb little sis… I don't know what you've gotten yourself into, but you'd better be back in one piece…" Despite being troubled by her sister's absence, she pulled herself under the covers and tried to get her rest.

"Alright, Lucy, it's my turn!" Mira declared, back at the duel. Five stacked cards materialized halfway through her ring's red-slotted ridge, but were shrouded by a violet aura. After drawing the cards, her eyes widened at one of them. It was the same black card she drew in her duels against Reggie and Yuri, but didn't use because she was more than hesitant to, despite Shai's insistence.

'Ah, I see that you have drawn the card containing my spirit,' Shai said, floating over to Mira and looking over her shoulder to observe the black card.

"I did, but… what does it do?" Mira asked, still unable to decipher the card's otherworldly runes.

'That is something you must discover for yourself,' Shai solemnly replied. 'Only then can you truly grow – not just as a Wielder, or even as a duelist, but as an individual altogether.'

Mira was skeptical by this declaration as she looked back at the black card, still unsure of what it did. But then she remembered the dream she had when she was still in the hospital, specifically when she witnessed a flashback of her duel against Ganymede, specifically when her past self was rendered unconscious. It was at that moment when Shai took control of her body and activated the same black card to resurrect Chronogias, only to evolve it and soundly defeat Ganymede for good.

This brief memory relapse gave Mira some confidence. 'I hope this works…!' she thought before shifting her attention towards Lucy, determination across her eyes. "Alright, Lucy," Mira said, "y'wanna see me unleash the full potential of my spirit! Then you got it!" Grabbing the black card, she continued, "Infused with the Iroa of Darkness, I activate…

"SHAI'S WISDOM!"

She vigorously swiped the card through her blade's center horizontal slot, and the black card materialized beside her. After the card's activation, the spirit of Shai transformed into lavender pixels, only to transfer beside Mira and reemerge in her spirit form, which was noticeably less transparent.

"With this card," Mira explained, "I get to take any card that's in my Graveyard and return it to my field! Return, Destiny Dragon Chronogias!" Shai stretched out her arm, creating a lavender gear-shaped portal that slowly rotated, increasing in speed by the second. Not long after, Chronogias floated up from the portal.

"But it won't be here for long, because Shai's spirit will merge with Chronogias, to turn it into something stronger!" Sure enough, the spirit of Shai flew directly into Chronogias's chest, transforming the dragon into lavender digital wires. Another set of arms formed and its wings appeared to slightly enlarge, but it wasn't long before a blinding burst of lavender light flashed.

"ARISE – DESTINY ORBIS DRAGONESS, CHRONOGIAS SHAI!"

Flying out of the burst of light was the Shai-upgraded form of Chronogias, complete with its four arms, silvery white chest and wings, and the rune on its chest that matched that of Mira's crest. The dragon unleashed an ear-piercing cry upon its emergence. [ULT ATK: 3000] The disguised crow looked down at the newly summoned dragon with delight. With the way it was summoned, there was no further doubt that Mira was indeed one of the Wielders he sought.

"Shai will always be of the 'Ultimate' Grade," Mira resumed. "But once she's summoned, she automatically acquires her Core!" The rune on the cybernetic dragon's chest lit up a bright purple. [CORE: 0 – 1]

"But don't forget," Lucy reminded her, "your monster is of the ILLUSION MAGIC Attribute, which means it'll get weaker from this Terrain!" [ULT ATK: 3000 – 2800]

"I know, but I won't let that stop me!" Mira said, her determination intact. "I activate the Spell Card, Card Destruction!" After swiping the card through her blade's horizontal slot, the iconic Spell Card picturing the hand of Ha Des throwing away five cards into a black vortex materializing.

"This card forces us to discard every card in our hands, and then draw the same number of cards! Of course, I'm the only one who has any cards, which means I discard three and then draw three!" Three cards materialized in front of Mira, and with a single swipe, all three cards pixilated. Then, her Disk's ring appeared, three stacked cards materializing halfway through the topmost ridge, which she drew. 'Okay, here goes!' Mira thought.

"I activate Chronogias Shai's Ultra Effect! By using the only Core she has, I get to take up to three different Spell or Trap Cards of the ILLUSION MAGIC Attribute, and Set them right onto my field!" [CORE: 1 – 0] Two rays of lavender light streamed down from the dragon's wings onto Mira's field. Within a few seconds, three cards materialized from white-lavender light before fading away with the rays of the dragon's wings.

"Then I'll activate one of them: D-Chronomancy, Past Strength!" The Spell Card depicting the three phantasmal Necrolancers being absorbed into Chronogias's regular form materialized. "I get to choose up to three ILLUSION MAGIC Attribute monsters in my Graveyard, and shuffle them into my deck! Then, Chronogias Shai will gain Attack Points equal to their combined Attack Points! I'll return the only two of such monsters I have in my Graveyard: my Destiny Heroes Paradoxer and Makyuron, the latter of whom is treated as the ILLUSION MAGIC Attribute while in my Graveyard!" The phantasmal versions of the cybernetic angel warrior and the warrior reminiscent of Makyura appeared, only to be absorbed into Chronogias Shai's chest. [ULT ATK: 2800 – 4600]

"I may not be able to finish you off this turn," Mira said, swiping another card through one of her blade's horizontal slots, "but at least I can take out your dragon!" A card materialized behind the four-armed dragon before disappearing.

"Chronogias Shai, take out her Zhaitan!" An orb of lustrous lavender light formed in one of the dragon's four hands, which the dragon unleashed as a laser at the demonic skeletal dragon.

"Zhaitan's not going anywhere!" Lucy shouted. "Especially not when I have this – the Trap Card, Curse of Forgotten Souls!" A BLACK MAGIC Trap Card picturing three copies of Souls of the Forgotten protecting the silhouette of a duelist resembling Yami Bakura materialized. "When you attack my monster while I have Souls of the Forgotten in the Graveyard, it prevents my monster from being destroyed in battle! And since I have three copies of that card in the Graveyard, you're not allowed to activate any Trap Cards during this Battle Phase or my next!"

Three purple ghouls suddenly formed around the demonic dragon, protecting it from the lustrous laser, but the laser still struck the wincing Lucy. [LP: 3400 – 2000] Afterwards, the ghouls passed right through Mira, who tried to protect herself from their incoming strikes. Once there was no further trace of the ghouls, Mira somberly announced, "My turn's done."

Suddenly, her four-armored dragon roared as it slowly transformed into lavender pixels. "What the hell?!" Mira gasped, taking a step back.

'Unfortunately, once your turn ends and Chronogias Shai has used up all of its Cores,' the spirit of Shai sadly explained, 'it automatically goes to the Graveyard. But fret not, because once it does, it shall leave you a parting gift of Chronogias, complete with the Core Card to bring it to its 'Super' Grade!' Sure enough, the lavender pixels quickly transformed into Chronogias, its two hexagons shining light blue. [SUP ATK: 2400 – 2200 / GRADE: SUP / CORE: 2]

"Well, that's good, at least, but it still won't be enough to defeat Lucy!" Mira said. To Pinkie, she called, "What's the extraction progress now?"

"Sixty-two percent! Nearly there!" was Pinkie's report.

Mira nodded, then shifted her attention to Lucy. "Okay, Lucy… I guess you're up," she said.

"Very well!" Lucy said as her Disk's ring appeared. Five stacked cards materialized in front of the red-slotted ridge, but were shrouded by a dark red aura. After drawing the cards, a surge went through Lucy's body as she dropped to one knee, clutching her heart in agony. The horrified Mira had seen this happen before, and it could only mean one thing: Lucy was about to be fully possessed by Itzam Incarnate!

"Mira… it's finally here…!" Lucy moaned. "You must… help me… You must… WHAAAAAAAAAAUGH!" Her scream of agony pierced the sky, and could be heard for miles.

"Lucy! There you are!" an angry male voice shouted. It belonged to Lynn Sr., who was accompanied by Rita and the groundskeeper, Hank, a short, portly man with a dark gray moustache, and was dressed in a uniform of different shades of green.

"Lucy Loud," the equally upset Rita scolded, "just what is the meaning of leaving our house past curfew to have a Game Duel at this time of night?! And at the cemetery, even!?"

"You've pulled some pretty insane stunts before," Lynn Sr. berated, "but this one takes the cake!"

"Mr. and Mrs. Loud, get back!" Mira loudly warned. "Things are about to get dangerous! Believe me!"

"Okay, I don't know what's going on here, either," Hank gruffly remarked, "but you two are coming with me right now!"

"WE'RE GOING NOWHERE!" the possessed Lucy fumed, her miasma intensifying. Stretching out her arm, she created a ring of fire around both duelists, preventing any chances of Hank and the Loud parents from interfering.

"LUCY!" the Loud parents wailed.

"Don't worry!" Mira shouted reassuringly. "I've been through this before! I will save her, though – I promise!"

"Please do!" Rita pleaded, almost tearfully.

"Why worry about me, when it's your life that's at stake!?" the possessed Lucy taunted, grabbing one of the cards she drew. "I summon the ignis born from Itzamna's will – Itzam Incarnate!" She immediately slapped the card onto one of her blade's floating zones, and the blob of black pixels with the red markings of the Krana Xa formed next to the demonic dragon.

"Before summoning Itzam Incarnate, I must declare which Type it will be – in this case, it will become the Fiend Type, and gain the power of this Terrain!" The blob transformed into a ghoul-like creature with a pair of clawed hands. [ATK: 0 – 200]

"Next, I place three cards face-down!" Lucy continued, grabbing three cards and sliding them through all three of her blade's horizontal slots. Three cards materialized behind her monsters before disappearing.

"Then I activate Itzam Incarnate's effect! It'll gain one hundred Attack Points for every card that's on the field – and I count a total of ten!" [ATK: 200 – 1200]

"Once I use this effect, I can immediately fuse Itzam Incarnate with one of my monsters to create something even stronger!" Raising her arms, she bellowed, "Itzam Incarnate, fuse with Nethersoul Dragon Zhaitan!"

Itzam Incarnate and the demonic dragon slowly merged to overlay themselves with each other. During this sequence, Lucy chanted:

"Almighty Itzamna, heed my call! With the ghoulish ignis formed from your will, fuse with my dragon and amplify the dark souls of the forgotten so that nothing stands in your way of purification!" Once the two monsters overlaid with each other, a burst of blood-red energy flashed before the audience.

"Itzam Fusion! Come forth, High Dragon-Type – ETERNAL NETHERSOUL DRAGON, ITZAM ZHAITAN!"

The red light quickly subsided, and in its place was a monstrous dragon of purple phantasmal energy, save for its face, which was pitch-black and outlined with the blood-red markings of the Krana Xa. It was clad in skeletal demonic armor, enveloping its wings and chest. Multiple copies of the purple ghost were orbiting around its chest. Its overall appearance was frightening enough, but it was the ear-piercing roar it unleashed upon its emergence that terrified both Mira and the onlookers, save for the undetected Pawn on the roof.

"If you think you're scared now, just wait – after it's Fusion Summoned, Itzam Zhaitan's Attack Points become the combined Attack Points of the monsters I used to Fusion Summon it! And don't forget the power it'll acquire from this Terrain!"

"Wait, what does all that mean?" Pinkie asked, turning her head towards Shai as she kept extracting from the tablet.

'It means that the dragon now has… forty-six hundred Attack Points!' was the terrified Shai's response. [ATK: 4600]

Both the Loud parents and Hank were just as aghast at dragon's immense strength. Mira was just as horrified, but it quickly wore off. With a wave of her arm, she shouted, "I activate the Trap Card, D-Chronomancy, Fusion Paradox!" An ILLUION MAGIC Trap Card materialized beside her, its artwork closely depicting the same artwork as 'D-Fusion', complete with the red and blue monster-like warriors circling around the stylized 'D'. The only difference was that the entire background was rainbow-colored.

"Since you just Special Summoned a monster, I get to perform a Fusion Summon, as well! I fuse together Chronogias and Destiny Hero Passer!" The cybernetic dragon and the blue-armored warrior slowly merged to overlay themselves with each other. Once they did, a burst of lavender light flashed before the audience.

"I Fusion Summon – NEO DESTINY DRAGON CHRONOPARADOX!"

Flying out of the exploding light was Chronogias, who now donned the white angelic wings with black trim, and the white cybernetic mask on its face with black accents. The dragon unleashed a triumphant screech upon its emergence. [ATK: 2400]

"Useless!" Lucy taunted. "Even if it wasn't weakened by this Terrain, it's still weaker than Itzam Zhaitan!" The phantasmal dragon unleashed an intimidating growl. [ATK: 4600]

"Maybe so," said Mira, "but since Chronogias was of the 'Super' Grade when I used it to Fusion Summon, Chronoparadox gains eight hundred Attack Points!" The cybernetic dragon unleashed a roar of its own. [ATK: 2400 – 2200 – 3000]

"Still weaker than Itzam Zhaitan!" Lucy shouted. But then the thought occurred to her. 'I almost forgot, she has two face-down cards left on her field!' she cautiously thought. 'And I'll bet one of them is her Negate Attack…! Fortunately, I have a way to remedy that!'

"I activate Itzam Zhaitan's effect!" she resumed. "All of your monsters will lose three hundred Attack Points for every copy of Souls of the Forgotten in my Graveyard, and then Itzam Zhaitan will gain Attack Points equal to the total amount your monsters lost! Itzam Soul Purge!"

The demonic dragon roared, three of the purple ghouls striking directly at Chronoparadox and phasing through its body. [ATK: 3000 – 2100] Two of them retreated to the demonic dragon's chest. [ATK: 4600 – 5500]

"That's not all! Since I have three copies of Souls of the Forgotten in my Graveyard, I get to destroy one of your Spell or Trap Cards! Let's see, I'll choose the one… right in the center!" Both of Mira's set cards became visible, and the last of the three flew right at the one in the center, creating a miniature cyclone. And just as Lucy predicted, the card was, in fact, Negate Attack, which shattered into pixels.

"Ah-ha, I was right!" Lucy said haughtily. "So much for your hopes of protecting your monster!"

"Yeah, it sucks that I did lose my Negate Attack," Mira grumbled, eyeing the floor. But determination returned as she defiantly looked back up at Lucy. "But it's a good thing I still have this – D-Chronomancy, Effect Paradox!" The Trap Card appeared, its artwork depicting Destiny Hero Dystopia emerging out of a wormhole and protecting Elemental Hero Shining Phoenix Enforcer from the incoming attack of Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman.

"Since you just activated your monster's effect, I get to activate the effect of Chronoparadox on my field! After I discard the last two ILLUSION MAGIC cards in my hand, your Zhaitan loses twenty-four hundred Attack Points!" The last two cards in Mira's hand materialized, and she swiped her fingertips across them, causing them to pixilate. Afterwards, the cybernetic dragon unleashed lavender digital fire from its mouth, striking at the phantasmal dragon. [ATK: 5500 – 3100]

"I also get to add an ILLUSION MAGIC Spell Card from my Graveyard to my hand!" A streak of hot pink light shot out of her ring's green-slotted ridge and into her hand before transforming into a card.

But Lucy didn't care about that detail. She was already gritting her teeth, infuriated that her chance to defeat Mira this turn had ultimately failed. "You may think you've saved yourself," she seethed, "but all you did was prolong your eventual downfall! Itzam Zhaitan, attack and destroy Chronoparadox!" The purple phantoms began to violently orbit the roaring phantasmal dragon.

"ITZAM SOUL HELLSTORM!"

The phantoms shot down at Chronoparadox, and the phantasmal dragon unleashed a spiral of fire that was a mixture of black and dark red. Both the spiral and the phantoms struck at Chronoparadox, who roared as it was incinerated by both attacks. The incoming attacks also struck at Mira, screaming as she was inflicted. [LP: 1200 – 200]

"You won't be able to survive any longer!" Lucy snickered as she watched Mira drop to one knee. "You might as well give up if you know what's good for you!"

"I'm not… giving up…!" Mira grumbled, struggling to get back on her feet. "I promised your parents that I'd save you, and I'm not gonna back on that promise anytime soon!"

"Mira!" Pinkie cried. "Extraction progress is at eighty-nine percent!"

'Eighty-nine percent.' Close to complete, but not close enough. Still, Mira shifted her attention back to Lucy as four stacked cards materialized halfway through her ring's red-slotted ridge. "It's my turn!" she shouted, drawing the four cards and hastily looking through them. But her expression slowly became distraught – the cards themselves were good, but they weren't enough to get her out of the predicament she was currently in.

'Oh, no, I was afraid something like this would happen…!' she nervously thought. 'None of these cards are gonna help me save Lucy! What am I gonna do?!'

'Don't lose hope, Mira!' Shai encouragingly told her. 'You still have one chance: me!'

"You?!" Mira argued in disbelief. "But how?! I already used you!"

'True, you did,' said Shai. 'But look among the cards in your Extra Deck, and see!'

This left Mira both frustrated and skeptical. Frustrated because of the obvious predicament she was in, but skeptical because as far as she knew, Chronoparadox was the only card she had in her Extra Deck. Still, she tapped the Extra Deck on her Disk's touchscreen, and her eyes suddenly widened. As it turned out, there was another card in her Extra Deck – the card version of Shai, and it was face-up! "How… is this possible…?!" the bewildered Mira asked herself.

'I'd tell you, but this is not the time for exposition!' Shai ordered. 'If you want to save Lucy, then you must summon me at once!'

That was almost what Shai told Mira in her duels against Reggie and Yuri when they, too, were possessed by Itzam Incarnate. In both instances, she had disobeyed Shai, almost defiantly, because she had no idea how the card worked. Even now Mira was unsure, but this time, she knew that the circumstances were different. If she truly wanted to save Lucy, then it was now or never. After a few suspenseful seconds, she made her ultimate decision.

"From my Extra Deck, I Special Summon… Orbis Spirit Shai!" Mira declared. The card immediately materialized in her hand, and she slapped the card onto the blade's center floating zone. Once again, the spirit of Shai transformed into lavender pixels and onto Mira's field before quickly reassembling herself.

"Mira…!" Pinkie breathlessly spoke. "Core extraction process… is complete…!" As soon as the last bit of lavender pixels was extracted from the tablet, the tablet crumbled into dust. Afterwards, Pinkie shot a beam of lavender light from her fingertips at Mira's hand, and another card materialized in it. The exhausted Pinkie smiled at Mira, but nevertheless retreated to Mira's Disk. The perplexed Mira then looked at her newly acquired card, and saw that it was black just like Shai, and the artwork simply depicted black cybernetic armor with white trim, all with a cobra motif.

'Am I supposed to use this?' Mira thought, looking at the strange card. But it didn't take long for her to figure out that she was. What's more, she knew how to use it. She was told that this was a core to be used by Shai, which led to one possible conclusion.

"I inject my Shai with Upgrade Core Shai!" she shouted, raising the card up high. "Orbis Iroa Shai – UPGRADE!"

She immediately placed the card directly underneath Shai's card form. Through a visual sequence, the spirit of Shai was in a pitch-black background with a spinning lavender graphic of the crude eye, the cybernetic armor appearing in front of her.

'Shadows of wisdom, become one with me!' Shai chanted as pieces of the armor began equipping themselves to various parts of her body. 'Execute! Super Iroa Upgrade! I am – ORBIS IROA, SHAI!'

After a burst of lavender light, Shai was now clad in the cybernetic cobra-themed armor that was black mixed with silver, with white trim and accents. Some noticeable features included silver cobra head-shaped gauntlets, and the black mask concealing her face. Green lights shone through the mask, and her lavender hair was sticking out from the back. In the center of her chest armor were three orbs triangularly arranged around a violet crude eye carving, all of which lit up lavender. The newly upgraded Shai struck a pose upon her emergence. [SUP ATK: 2100 / GRADE: SUP / CORE: 3]

"Whoa, what kind of card is that?!" the breathlessly amazed Lynn Sr. cried. "Is this another fancy schmancy thing o' Mira's?"

"I dunno – ask her, not me!" was Rita's reply.

The possessed Lucy, however, was unimpressed. "Whatever you're planning, it won't work against me!" she shouted. "Itzam Zhaitan is far superior to your Iroa!" The phantasmal dragon unleashed another frightening roar. [ATK: 3100]

'You're right, it is,' Shai said. 'And it doesn't help because I'm of the ILLUSION MAGIC Attribute, which means I'll be weak from this Terrain.' [SUP ATK: 2100 – 1900] 'But I still have faith in my user! Now, Mira – activate my ability!'

Mira, her doubt of using Shai close to diminished, nodded and shouted, "I activate Shai's ability!" Upon this declaration, one of the orbs around Shai's chest armor turned off. [CORE: 3 – 2] Shai stretched out her right arm, and a lavender gear formed underneath both duelists and their monsters.

'With my newly acquired power,' Shai explained, 'I get to use one Core so that Mira will be able to resurrect two different Spell or Trap Cards of the ILLUSION MAGIC Attribute, and place them face-down on her field!' Two cards appeared right in front of Mira before disappearing.

"Useless! My dragon's still stronger!" Lucy barked.

'Additionally,' Shai resumed, 'the Attack Points of every one of our monsters become their original Attack Points! That means my Attack Points return to twenty-one hundred, and the Attack Points of Itzam Zhaitan…'

"Drop to zero!" Mira said with immense hope. The possessed Lucy took a step back in fear as the phantasmal dragon unleashed a roar of agony. [ATK: 3100 – 0] [SUP ATK: 1900 – 2100]

Lucy once again gritted her teeth, but also tightly clenched a fist. "I'm not going down so easily!" she fumed. "I activate the Trap Card, Retribution of Forgotten Souls!" A BLACK MAGIC Trap Card materialized, its artwork depicting three Souls of the Forgotten aiding a fallen duelist resembling Yami Bakura, a wicked grin stretching across the boundaries of his face.

"Since Itzam Zhaitan lost Attack Points, it'll regain Attack Points – six hundred for each copy of Souls of the Forgotten in my Graveyard! And as you'll remember I have three!" The phantasmal dragon unleashed another roar. [ATK: 0 – 1800]

"Dangit! Just when Mira had her!" Lynn Sr. fumed.

"Actually," Mira corrected him, "if she thinks she has me on the ropes now, she'd better think again! I activate the card I got back from Chronoparadox: D-Chronomancy, Past Strength!" She swiped a card through one of her blade's horizontal slots, and the Spell Card picturing the three phantasmal Necrolancers being absorbed into Chronogias materialized.

"You remember what this card does, right? I get to return up to three ILLUSION MAGIC monsters with one thousand or less Attack Points from my Graveyard into my deck, and one of my monsters will gain their combined Attack Points! But I think my Passer will be plenty!" A phantasmal version of the blue-armored hero appeared, and was absorbed into Shai's chest. [SUP ATK: 2100 – 2900]

'Everything is all set!' Shai declared as two sabers of lavender light formed in her hands.

"Alright, Shai, attack Itzam Zhaitan!" Mira declared, stretching her hand at the phantasmal dragon. Shai flew directly at the dragon, ready to slash at it with her sabers.

But Lucy acted fast. "I activate a Trap Card you might find familiar: Curse of Forgotten Souls!" The Trap Card, picturing the purple ghouls surrounding the silhouette of Yami Bakura, materialized. "Not only does it prevent Itzam Zhaitan from being destroyed, but you can't activate any Trap Cards during this Battle Phase!" As Shai swung her sabers, they were blocked by the barrier of purple ghouls. However, Lucy still winced at the damage she took. [LP: 2000 – 900] "Looks like your attempt at defeating me failed once again!"

'Not quite!' Shai corrected her. To Mira, she hastily ordered, 'Mira! Activate your Trap Card!'

"Activate it?!" Mira protested. "But her Trap Card prevents me from activating Traps of my own!"

'Just do it! Trust me!' Shai concernedly insisted.

Not wanting to argue any further, Mira nodded and shouted, "I activate the Trap Card, D-Chronomancy, Battle Rehash!" Miraculously, the Trap Card depicting the blue ogre flying out of the clock of Timeater materialized without the faintest difficulty.

"But you can't possibly activate Traps!" Lucy argued. "My Trap Card prevents that!"

'It would,' Shai corrected Lucy, almost smugly. 'But thanks to my other acquired ability, all of Mira's Spells and Traps of the ILLUSION MAGIC Attribute can always be activated, and their effects cannot be negated! Furthermore, any Trap Cards Mira retrieved with my effect are allowed to be activated this turn!'

Mira was awestruck at this ability, but her focus on the duel quickly returned. "With this card, after Shai attacks one of your monsters, she gets to attack you again!" she shouted.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Lucy screamed.

"Shai, you know what to do!" Mira shouted. Shai nodded and once again flew up into the sky and directly at the dragon.

'SHAI SEPRENT SLAYER!'

Shai sliced both of her sabers across the phantasmal dragon's chest, creating an immense explosion on Lucy's field. The dragon roared as it plummeted to the depths of nothingness. As for Lucy, she screamed as she was flung backwards. [LP: 900 – 0] Luckily, the ring of fire quickly died down as Lucy was about to land hard on her back.

Following Lucy's defeat, the virtual screen displaying Mira's profile with the golden 'WIN' underneath popped open, and everything around them returned to its original state. Everything, that is, except for Shai, who turned her head towards Mira as she slowly faded away into lavender pixels. 'Mira,' she said, 'you've finally conquered your doubts and used me to free another victim of Itzamna's essence. I'm proud of you.' Mira gently smiled as she watched Shai fully disappear into the pixels.

"Lucy!" Rita cried, rushing over to her defeated daughter just as Shai was disappearing. In response, Mira ran over to Lucy's aid as well. Rita held up the gothic child and cried, "Lucy, are you alright?!"

Though Lucy's eyes were still concealed by her bangs, the mother could tell that Lucy was coming to. "I… I am fine, Mother," Lucy groaned. The way she spoke brought relief to Mira – now she knew for certain that Lucy was no longer possessed by Itzam Incarnate.

"I hope so, because you are in so much trouble, young lady!" Lynn Sr. scolded as he approached Rita and Lucy. "You've got some nerve, sneaking out past curfew and putting yourself in danger like that! Ooh, just wait until you hear what kind of punishment your mother and I have for you when we get home!"

"Wait! It wasn't her fault!" Mira said defensively. "I mean, she did insist I duel her this late at night, but all that stuff with the ring of fire and that ghostly dragon she used, it was completely out of her control! I can't really explain it, but I swear this definitely has to do with that Pawn of Itzamna I beat earlier today!"

Hearing this, the parents' anger towards Lucy gradually decreased. "Well, if you put it that way…" Lynn Sr. said awkwardly.

"Maybe we won't go so hard on Lucy, then," said Rita. Her husband nodded in agreement. But to Lucy, she said, "But you still should know better than to scare us like that!"

"I know, Mother," said Lucy. "Like Mira said, it's something you wouldn't fully understand, but it was all for the best."

"Not really sure what that means," said Lynn Sr., "but we should all get back home before the rest of the family starts worrying about us." The matriarch nodded in agreement, and everyone went back to Vanzilla.

This left Hank all alone. "Welp, better get back to my post…" he grumbled after a sigh before returning to his post.

As Mira and the Louds walked back to the van, Mira discreetly looked down at her Disk and thought, 'Shai… thank you.'

The android, meanwhile, had caught every detail from Mira using Shai to evolve Chronogias, to summoning Shai and upgrading her with her newly acquired Core Card. 'So, she is a Wielder after all!' he said to himself. 'Now I gotta follow her and see where she's stayin' at – otherwise, Uranus will never stop bitching about me losing track of her!' With this declaration, the android swiftly began pursuing Mira and others deep into the night.

FEATURED CARD – LEVEL 1-22

Eternal Nethersoul Dragon Itzam Zhaitan
BLACK MAGIC/High Dragon – Fusion – Effect/10/0/0
1 Fiend Type "Itzam Incarnate" "Nethersoul Dragon Zhaitan"
This card is always treated as an Itzam card.
Must be Fusion Summoned with "Itzam Incarnate".
After this card was Fusion Summoned, it gains ATK equal to [the combined ATK of its Fusion Materials on the field].
REQUIREMENT None
EFFECT All face-up monsters on your opponent's field lose ATK equal to [the number of "Souls of the Forgotten" in your Graveyard] x 300, also this card gains ATK equal to [the total ATK your opponent's monsters lost by this effect]. Then, if you have 3 or more "Souls of the Forgotten" in your Graveyard, you can destroy 1 Spell/Trap Card on your opponent's field.

GIICHI CORPORATION CARD DATABASE

Curse of Forgotten Souls
BLACK MAGIC/Trap Card
REQUIREMENT When an opponent's monster declares an attack targeting a face-up monster on your field, while you have 1 or more "Souls of the Forgotten" in your Graveyard.
EFFECT That attack target cannot be destroyed by that battle, also, if you have 3 or more "Souls of the Forgotten" in your Graveyard, your opponent cannot activate Trap Cards during this Battle Phase or the Battle Phase of your next turn.

D-Chronomancy – Fusion Paradox
ILLUSION MAGIC/Trap Card
REQUIREMENT When your opponent Normal Summons or Special Summons a monster.
EFFECT Fusion Summon 1 ILLUSION MAGIC Attribute Fusion Monster by sending face-up monsters from your field to the Graveyard as material.

Retribution of Forgotten Souls
BLACK MAGIC/Trap Card
REQUIREMENT After the ATK of a face-up monster on your field becomes 1000 or less by a card effect.
EFFECT That monster on your field that lost ATK gains ATK equal to [the number of "Souls of the Forgotten" in your Graveyard] x 600.

Next time on Yu-Gi-Oh! CHRONIXII…

After the dreaded duel between Mira and Lucy, Lincoln brings Mira and Kero along to Royal Woods Mall for a once in a lifetime chance to duel Lincoln's idol, Ace Savvy! Lincoln is lucky to be chosen, but it isn't long before the publicity duel is disrupted by another Pawn of Itzamna – the same Pawn responsible for infecting Lucy's deck with "Itzam Incarnate"! Lincoln decides to step in and face off against the intruding Pawn, but will he win? See what happens in Level 1-23: Ace Savvy Begins! Game Duel, game start!