CARD GAMES

[Alter Ego]

As the red-haired teen turned his wrath towards her in turn, Tacey's mouth contorted to a thin line, the dangerous glint in her eyes suggesting more than just a casual interest in informing Achan precisely why he was not allowed to make any of the decisions. Here she had been, worrying herself sick on his account, goodness knew why, and all the uppity little boy had to give in return was complaints? Despite its shortness, the Japanese leg of the tournament had taxed Tacey far beyond what she had been prepared for. She was tired, she was emotionally drained, she was cranky, and she most certainly wasn't in the mood for this! The painfully loud announcement, which she would usually only have dignified with a brief tantrum, was the last straw. Truces and conflicting emotions be damned, the boy was in for a telling off that he would not be able to forget in a hurry! Just as her lips parted in preparation for the assault, however, Achan's salvation came from the most unexpected of sources.

"Um, hello? My name's Kuso Sarasi. Are you Team Seven? Mr. Pegasus told me that I would be joining in with you for the remainder of the tournament, so...hi."

The millionaire heiress turned sharply on her heel to face the intruder, the expression on her face practically murderous for a split-second before the girl's image preservation reflexes kicked in, converting it to a pleasant smile. This person was a stranger, a new teammate, no less, and as such giving anything but the perfect first impression was unacceptable.

"Tacey Edgeworth." she trilled in introduction, accepting the offered handshake and returning it in a calm, dignified manner while her eyes swept the boy critically. Jeans, shirt, vest. Brown hair, brown eyes. Kind of tawny-average in looks. No weird fashion statements, no spiky hair, no heterochromatic eyes. The rich girl's smile turned a touch less forced as she released Kuso's hand, this boy seemed almost...normal, "And yes, it's the Tacey Edgeworth, competitive duelist extraordinaire and future CEO of Edgeworth Electronics. The pleasure is mutual, I am sure." the fact that the boy himself had never applied the term to this meeting did not concern her in the least, "The boy with the cheap hawaiian shirt is Achan Smith, professional nobody, and those two." she jerked her head towards Judai and Manjoume, "Are just a couple of Pegasus' lackeys who were sent as stand-ins for some of our retired teammates. Just think of them as part of the furniture."

Ignoring the fact that she had completely snubbed one of their quintet and probably insulted the remaining three, Tacey pressed on, "So...Kuso, did Mr.Pegasus invite you too? I mean, you are aware that we are expected in Duelist Kingdom momentarily, right? If you don't have an invitation, I'm afraid that you'll have to-"

It was then that a cheerful little ringtone - the intro to a relatively popular, girly J-pop song, not that most of them would have recognized it - cut through her monologue, the millionaire heiress quickly reaching into her bag and procuring a cellphone from within, her expression immediately darkening a bit as she caught a glimpse of the number, "Excuse me, but I've really got to answer this. I'll see you all in a bit, alright?"

Without bothering to wait for confirmation about the 'alright' bit from anyone, Tacey turned her back to the group, the phone already at her ear, and her voice taking on an almost unearthly innocence and sweetness as she began spoke up, apparently unaware of how far her voice carried.

"Daddy? Yes, that's right, the hospital. No, daddy, NO, not me; someone from my fan club. It's turned out alright, though. False alarm. Yes. Yes. No, I'm fine, really. Yes. Yes. YES. Daddy, I can take care of myself without having him gawk over my shoulder every step on the way. Yes, really, and I don't have that much to carry right now either so it's really no-daddy, listen. It's not like I'm un-" she let out an exasperated sigh, "-daddy, I know you're only looking out for my best interest, but I've still got protection. Yes, professionals. Mr.Pegasus hired them. Yes, the Mr.Pegasus, daddy. No, goodness no! They're not actors! Look, it's a long story and I'm really in a hurry right now so could we please just-no! NO!" the rich girl's right foot duly rose, manhandling the pavement beneath it on its way back down, "Look! Daddy, I really can't come over to visit right now. This is urgent! Mr.Pegasus himself said it was top-no, daddy, of course I haven't forgotten, I-right now? But daddy, Can't it wait until-? Pleeease?" her expression registered shock, "You wouldn't." Tacey said slowly, "You wouldn't be that cruel. Daddy, please, can't you talk to mommy? The transport is leaving any minute, literally, and I really can't-but daddy!" more stamps of her foot, followed by a frustrated sigh, "Alright." Tacey said at last, dejectedly, "Alright. Yes. I know what she's like. Not your fault. Yes. I'll see you soon, then. Half an hour, tops. Yes, central hospital, but I can get a cab! Yes, I know about their rates...love you too. Bye, daddy!"

With a tired martyr's sigh, the girl flicked her cell phone shut again, turning back to the team, "What IS she thinking?!" she hissed venomously, before adding for the others' benefit, "It's my father. Well, on my mother's orders anyway. He's threatening to cut all my credit lines cold if I don't go and see them right now." she thrust the cell back into her bag with a fair bit more vigor than what was necessary, "I don't know what this is about, but it must be really urgent if it's got mother this worked up. I've really got to go. Tell Pegasus it was a family matter, urgent, can't miss. Alright? I'll let you know when I've got it sorted out."

Without a further word of explanation, the rich girl turned curtly on her heel, "I say, you there!" she called, waving at the nearest cab on the crowded street as she made her way towards it in as quick a manner as looking dignified would allow, "Stop! This is an emergency!"

 

[Scarlet Weather]

"Well, um...." Achan scratched the back of his head as Tacey raced into the distance, frantically trying to hail a cab- in English, no less. As disconcerting as the millionaire's exit had been, he had a job to do- introduce himself to the new team mate. So he obliged, walking up and extending a hand. "Nice to meet you, Sarasi," he said, completely ignorant of the implications that came with using one's first name in Japan. "I'm Achan... and the girl who just ran off is going to be in a world of trouble when she gets back. I swear, she's-" Achan continued ranting under his breath for several minutes, losing track of the duelist in front of him, as Judai gently shoved him out of the way and extended his own hand. "How do you do, Kuso-san?" the red-blazered duelist cheerfully asked, wondering a tad about the odd surname. "I'm Yuki Judai, and I guess that I'll be leading this team in Miss Edgeworth's absence."

Achan's jaw dropped. "Now hold up just a minute here! Who the hell said that Tacey was in charge?"

Judai raised an eyebrow. "Well, I just figured that since you obviously aren't the leader, and Aruma-san hasn't been with the team all that long, and Manjoume and I haven't been trying to make decisions for the group...."

Achan was already seething. "Okay, first of all, I never said that I wasn't the leader! I mean, I think I never said that. But that doesn't mean that Tacey's in charge! She just happened to need to go to this hospital and we tagged along! But..." he searched for an appropriate exclamation. "It'll be a cold day in hell before I let her take charge of the team!"

Judai frowned. "I'm not sure you really have much of a choice, Sumisu-kun."

Achan was already outraged, and had to restrain himself from hopping up and down in anger. "Well, why not!"

Judai had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. "Think, Sumisu-kun. Are you really saying that the only member of the team with no experience in proffessional dueling, little training in leadership, and no qualifications to speak of should decide things for the entire group?"

"Yes! Well, no- but, maybe-" Achan stuttered before regaining his composure. "Well, all I know is that I don't want Tacey to become our De Facto leader every time a decision comes up. I mean, she's insufferable already!"

"Well, unless you can think of anyone else-" Judai lowered his voice quickly and began whispering conspiratorially. "By the way, Sumisu-kun, don't even think about suggesting Manjoume-sanda over there. If you think Tacey's hard to get along with..." he shuddered in apprehension. "You don't want to know how he runs things."

Achan nodded in agreement. He hadn't even thought about suggesting such a thing, based on how little he knew about the black-coated elitist. What he did know was that Tacey would be team leader over his dead, putrid corpse. "Well, why don't you lead?"

"My priority is with the Shadow Duelists, you know that, Sumisu-kun," Judai countered a little too quickly for Achan's tastes. "We need someone else to make decisions about the tournament, in case I need to leave you guys or Manjoume and I get reassigned."

"Well, then, we need someone who doesn't care about the Shadow Duelists," Achan decided.

"Someone who can concentrate on nothing but the tournament," Judai added.

"Someone like..." both said in unison as they turned to face Michel, then suddenly turned back towards each other.

"Do you think..." Judai asked slowly.

"I don't know..." Achan mused.

"You know, you could always pick me."

Both duelists swerved to face the newcomer, a boy about Achan's age with black, spiky hair and piercing blue eyes. He seemed somehow familiar. In fact....

"Hey! You're that guy who was after my Wandering monsters!" Achan exclaimed.

"Quite," the boy replied, dusting off his clothing nonchalantly. "I apologize for that. I was under the impression that the winner of the card design contest was not to have received his deck until I added the final monsters to it... so I took matters into my own hands when I heard that the cards I had designed went missing."

"What are you talking about?" Achan screeched angrily, his face already beet-red.

"Ah, I'm sorry. My name is Kuroda Kaito- call me Kite, if you like. I work with Mr. Crawford, and I helped design the latest monsters for the set you created. Didn't he send you an E-Mail or something of the sort?" The boy asked.

Achan snapped his fingers at this announcement. "So you work for Pegasus..." he said, drawing out each word as he continued musing on the subject at hand.

"We have already established that," Kaito replied, cutting him off. "I'll finish this story for you, shall I? I created a few cards meant for use with your deck, and I heard that the Wandering cards I created were gone. I didn't get the memo that you had received your deck, so I went after the first duelist I could find using Wandering monsters in an attempt to get them back. It just so happened that I was on leave at the time, and I have no cell phone, so nobody was able to let me know that you were, in fact, the owner of the cards in question, and that the missing cards had, in fact, simply been placed in a vault downstairs accidentally."

"Thanks for killing my chance to brilliantly deduce that for myself," Achan mumbled angrily.

"And now, I hope you all are happy. It's my job to escort you all to the dock, so if you'll please step this way..." Kaito said, indicating a black limousine in the distance.

OOC: So yeah, next post you can say that you're arriving at the docks, please. Finally, we get the Duelist Kingdom Arc underway! Like, super yay?

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Well now, this is a bit less progress than I had expected...looks like I could have left just fine without an excuse. XD

Ah well, time to wrap this little subplot up and make sure Tacey doesn't miss the boat. Hmm...this should do. :3

IC:

If there was one thing to be said for the Edgeworth family home, it was that it certainly wasn't hard to find. Domino City might not have been quite the bustling metropolis that, say, Tokyo was, but its planners had certainly made sure to put every inch to good use. As such, the wide stretch of pristine lawn and the faux-natural groove of oaks surrounding the manor were quite the surprise for the unwary. And if this, not to mention the Victorian architecture of the structure, was not enough a giveaway of their nationality, a single glance into the interior of the place would certainly dispel all doubt.

It was all English, more English than any truly English household ever would be, in fact. Everything from the furniture and decorations to the books on the shelves and the very prominently displayed set of teacups seemed to have been chosen for the sole purpose of promoting this one, all-consuming message: 'Yes, we are, in fact, English. Fancy a cup of tea?'. Stepping into this peculiar shrine to Englishness, Tacey couldn't help a vague sensation of oddness, despite the fact that it had only been a few days since she had last resided in the house. This feeling was quickly shoved aside, however, as one of the many servants whose names she had never bothered to learn escorted her through the halls, pausing at a sturdy oak door before hastily excusing himself.

Tacey didn't have to wonder why; this room was none other than her mother's private study, the most sacred and hallowed place in the entire house. Of servants, only the most trusted were even allowed inside, and only under direct summons or orders for tidying, and even William Edgeworth himself made a point of knocking before attempting to enter. The rich girl would never have admitted to being afraid, but she certainly wasn't looking forward to this meeting. Being summoned to her mother's private space had only ever meant one thing: admonishments. After having brushed off her outfit, corrected her hair, added another notch of regality to her posture, and taken a deep breath - all highly worthwhile precautions, she had learned - Tacey finally reached out a hand and knocked on the door.

"Pray enter."

Tacey had to keep herself from wincing. She had no idea whether it was intentional or not, but somehow her mother always managed to make that particular word sound like 'prey'. With trained calm, the rich girl pushed the door open, stepped inside, and then quickly shut the door behind her before bobbing a brief curtsy to the figure behind the desk.

"You wanted to see me, mommy?"

The woman behind the desk nodded, her mane of black hair - rumored to once have born a color very similar to Tacey's - shifting ever so slightly in cue. Despite the age difference, there was a clear family resemblance to be seen: same china skin, same petite nose, and above all: the same sense of inherent pride. For a few moments, the two simply watched each other, but eventually the older party spoke up, gesturing towards one of the chairs located opposite of her own.

"Have a seat, my dear."

Nodding, Tacey did as she was told, placing her hands on her lap and taking care to meet her mother's gaze at all times as the woman rose up, circling the girl and eying her critically.

"It has been a while since we talked face-to-face, has it not?" she asked, offering a small smile, "You know, my dear, dueling star or no it really wouldn't hurt for you to come and see me once in a while. We are family, after all."

"I have had a lot on my mind, mommy." Tacey replied neutrally.

"So I have been told." her mother replied in an equally noncommittal fashion, her smile nothing short of glacial as she shot forth a piece of paper across the desk and right under Tacey's eyes. It was a newspaper clipping from what seemed to be an American-produced tabloid, bearing a sizable picture of a crowd assembled in what looked like the interior of a theater, a crowd of confused and angry people milling about, and in the right-hand corner - Tacey swallowed far more loudly than she would have liked to - was that...her? A quick glance at the heading was, unfortunately, enough to dispel any doubts on that matter.

"Broadway Musical turns into Dueling Mayhem" the rich girl recited flatly, scanning the article, which spoke of supernatural phenomena and children's card games, as well as containing the mention of two disappeared actors. No names were mentioned, but a statement from the usher mentioned 'a certain purple-haired, young lady'.

"Quite." Mrs.Edgeworth concurred, her tone speaking of a new ice age, "And that is not all." she procured two more pieces of evidence, one a picture of her holding Achan by the arm in a New York alley, the other a handwritten notepad, apparently obtained straight from a journalist on-the-move, containing notes on a peculiar epidemic that seemed to have struck the Edgeworth fan club exclusively, "Is there something you would like me to know?"

"I..." the rich girl bit the inside of her lip, her glance traveling back and forth between the three pieces of evidence, laid out on the desk in front of her like exhibits in a murder trial, before finally shaking her head, her gaze now firmly focused on the desk.

"I see." the woman replied evenly, allowing an uncomfortable silence to fall over the room before letting out a highly uncharacteristic sound. It was a sigh, but not one of frustration, no, this one was tired and forfeiting, quite unlike any that Tacey had ever heard her mother utter, "Tacey..." she said, her voice strained, "I am trying to understand you. I am really, truly, trying to comprehend why an intelligent, educated young lady with a bright future ahead of her would jeopardize it all by getting herself involved in dangerous things like this!" she gestured towards the article and the notebook, "I know we haven't spoken a lot, Tacey, but I am still your mother. I worry about you. Are you certain that there's nothing you have to say to me?"

"I..." Tacey had to keep herself from gaping in awe at the saddened, hurt expression on her mother's face, guiltily turning her eyes back to the desk, "Mommy, it's...it's not that. It's-" she bit the inside of her lip again.

"-a duelist thing, right? Oh don't give me that look, dear." Mrs Edgeworth added, indicating the expression on her daughter's face, "I am not lacking in sources, nor in the intellect to draw conclusions from what I hear. Everything out-of-the-ordinary from your part has always been centered around that silly card game." she sighed again, shaking her head as she strode back behind her desk, procuring a key from within the folds of her dress and unlocking one of the many drawers, "I assumed as much, and your reaction proves it. Well, then..." she pulled the drawer open, procuring a carefully wrapped parcel from within before turning her gaze straight to Tacey's, "...if you can not speak to me as your mother, then speak to me as a fellow duelist."

"Excuse me?" Tacey's jaw came precariously close to hitting the desk in front of her as her mother proceeded to unwrap the parcel, revealing a shiny duel disc of a design type which Tacey didn't recognize and slipping it onto her arm in a surprisingly routined manner. It had a slight curve to it that neither the Academia nor KC models possessed, and had an elaborate - if slightly gaudy - gold finish to it, a number of colorful gems set into it to add to its luster, "Mommy, don't tell me you're seri-"

"Once again, there is no need to be so shocked, my dear." Mrs.Edgeworth interrupted coolly, placing a deck of cards into its designated slot, "I may be too old to chase tournaments across the globe, but I have studied this game for almost as long as you and I assure you I am quite adept at this. Once again, I challenge you to a duel." she gave a sly smile as she extended the disc to a ready position, "Is that not how you duelists settle your differences?"

"You are serious." was all Tacey managed to say, still unable to cease staring, "Mommy, that's silly. What would this possibly accomplish?"

"Oh, it is quite simple, my dear." Mrs.Edgeworth replied, "I might not know the details, but I've certainly seen enough to deduce that involving yourself further in this tournament would only put you in harm's way and I will not allow that. You would not agree with this decision, right?" she received a nod in return, "Therefore, I propose that we solve this by a simple wager: If I win, you will drop out of this tournament immediately, no protests."

"And if you lose?" Tacey inquired.

"Then I will trust your judgment on this matter." the woman replied, "And hopefully gain some insight into your motives as well. What do you say?"

"I..." Tacey felt like laughing out at the absurdity of it all. Did everyone, everyone in the whole world, seriously solve their issues like this? "...alright." she replied at last, preparing her own disc, "Let's duel."

Mrs.Edgeworth's face lit up at the reply, "Excellent." she replied, "As the challenger, I shall go first then."

Duelist: Mrs. Edgeworth
LP: 8000
Hand: 6 cards

Duelist: Tacey
LP: 8000
Hand: Soul Exchange, Court of Nobles, Royal Paige, Hereditary Title, Enemy Controller

"Alright." Mrs. Edgeworth began, surveying her hand, "I shall start by summoning a monster in defense position. Then, I shall activate my continuous spell card: Heart of the Underdog." with a brief blur of graphics, a giant image of the aforementioned spell card materialized behind the giant card back on her field, "And that ends my turn."

Tacey nodded, "I draw."

Draw Phase: Royal Sharpshooter

Well, that had been an opening almost straight from the textbook. Heart of the Underdog was either a sign of ineptitude or the mark of a heavily vanilla-focused strategy, and as much Tacey would have liked to place her mother in the former category, she had already taken enough needless hits in this tournament to know better. Unless she wanted the field to be flooded by big brutes, she needed to put some muscle of her own on the table.

"I activate Court of Nobles." the extra slot extended as smoothly as clockwork, the familiar courtyard replacing the interior of the study, "Then I'll summon Royal Paige." with a graceful bow, the familiar figure of a lithe male in tights appeared on the rich girl's field, "And by his effect, I add Royal Emissary to my Hand and summon him." with a quick succession of movements, the aforementioned swordsman was united with his companion on the field, "And that being done...Royal Emissary, attack that face-down!"

Nodding curtly, the blonde-haired warrior lunged forward, briefly relieving the figure of a sapphire-scaled dragon hunched over in defense before a two-handed slash from his sword split it into a shower of pixels.

"And next up." Tacey continued, "Royal Paige, direct attack!"

With the same fluidness of motion, the lither male sprung forward, delivering the woman on the other side a quick slash from the dagger in his palm before retreating to his owner's Field.

"I set a card and end my turn."

Duelist: Mrs. Edgeworth
LP: 6500
Hand: 4 cards

Duelist: Tacey
LP: 8000
Hand: Soul Exchange, Hereditary Title, Royal Sharpshooter

"Then I shall begin mine." Mrs.Edgeworth remarked, seemingly unbothered by the life point loss as she surveyed the card she had just drawn, "With the effect of Heart of the Underdog." she flipped the card in her hand around to reveal a copy of Gladiator Beast Andal, "This is a normal monster, no?"

Tacey nodded, the woman on the other side of the field taking the queue to draw another card...and another, and another, and another, going through Battle Footballer, Insect Knight, and Vorse Raider before she was content with her hand.

"Perfect." she said softly, lifting her eyes from the cards in her hand to meet Tacey's, "I seem to have drawn just what I need to finish this duel. I activate the Ritual Spell Card, Advanced Ritual Art!" at her words, a circle of white marble appeared on her field, a series of cryptic runes running around its inner edge, "By this effect, I send normal monsters with a combined level of twelve from my deck to my Graveyard, and in exchange..." as she slipped her chosen monsters into the graveyard slot, the runes in the circle suddenly lit up pale green, a pillar of similarly colored energy shooting up towards the holographic sky above, "I shall summon my leading Monster. Come forth, Pureblood Warrior!"

With one last flash of brilliant light, a tall creature clad in an armor of purest white appeared on the Field, its face impossible to discern behind the visor and its right hand resting casually on the end of a sizable battle axe.

"He is far from easy to summon, but I think you shall find that once Pureblood Warrior is on the field, he tends to be well worth the effort." Mrs. Edgeworth expression was fairly contented as she elaborated, "Pureblood Warrior gains half the combined attack power of every normal monster in my graveyard. Of course, I only have four there at the moment, but that shall be remedied shortly." she picked out another card from her hand and slipped it into its designated slot, "I send five cards from my hand to the graveyard to activate Final Destiny, destroying all cards on the field."

Before Tacey could comment one way or the other, another display of blinding fireworks engulfed the field, culminating in a giant mushroom cloud of dust and debris that caused the rich girl to shut her eyes out of pure instinct. When she opened them again, the courtyard had vanished, as had the other figures on the field, except...

"Don't tell me..." Tacey began, staring in disbelief at the continuously unbothered, white-clad figure on the Field.

"Correct." her mother replied evenly, "As long as all the monsters in my graveyard are normal monsters, my warrior is impervious to both Spell and Trap cards. Furthermore, I have now added four more normal monsters to my graveyard." she nodded towards the knight, a spectral aura surrounding his body as the attack point counter skyrocketed, "Pureblood Warrior, attack her directly!"

With a deep, resonant battle cry, the knight lunged forward, bringing his axe down in a giant two-hand swing at Tacey's abdomen that made her very grateful for the fact that this was not a shadow game as her Life Points plunged.

"A turn fairly well spent, I should think." Mrs.Edgeworth commented evenly, "Turn end."

Duelist: Mrs. Edgeworth
LP: 6500
Hand: 1 card
Field: Pureblood Warrior (7300/7300)
Graveyard: Luster Dragon, 3x Gene-Warped Warwolf, Advanced Ritual Art, Insect Knight, Gladiator Beast Andal, Battle Footballer, Vorse Raider, Birthright, Final Destiny

Duelist: Tacey
LP: 700
Hand: Soul Exchange, Hereditary Title, Royal Sharpshooter
Graveyard: Court of Nobles, Royal Paige, Royal Emissary, Enemy Controller

Draw Phase: Royal Emissary

"I..." as she drew her card, the rich girl was experiencing an increasing sensation of absurdity, still having trouble with comprehending this latest turn of events. Her mother...this serious, no-nonsense woman who had always wished for nothing more than Tacey's growing into a proper lady, had now suddenly decided to stake a matter purely on the outcome of a children's card game.

And she was winning. In one turn, she had not only wiped her field, but also reduced her Life Points to a tiny sliver and dropped down a nigh-indestructible juggernaut for her to deal with.

"I..." no, she shouldn't think like that. She couldn't think like that. She wouldn't think like that! She was Tacey Edgeworth, professional duelist extraordinaire and future queen of games! And she was still far from done! What was she thinking, getting this riled up over a simple combo like that? She still had life points, she still had her turn, and...the girl had to take care not to let her glee show as she took a closer look at the cards in her hand.

As unbelievable as it seemed, she actually had precisely the means to make a comeback.

"I activate the effect of Royal Emissary." she declared, demonstratively slipping the card into her graveyard, "Which means that Court of Nobles will come back into play." after a quick search and shuffle of her deck, the courtyard walls rose up around them once more, "Then, I'll set one card to each zone and finish my turn."

"That is somewhat less proactive than I had expected of you, my dear." Mrs.Edgeworth remarked.

"Well, that last move was a bit more proactive than I had expected of you." the girl shot back.

"I am glad to hear that I haven't lost my ability to surprise yet." the faintest of smiles played on the woman's features, "My turn, then."

Duelist: Mrs. Edgeworth
LP: 6500
Hand: 2 cards
Field: Pureblood Warrior (7300/7300)
Graveyard: Luster Dragon, 3x Gene-Warped Warwolf, Advanced Ritual Art, Insect Knight, Gladiator Beast Andal, Battle Footballer, Vorse Raider, Birthright, Final Destiny

Duelist: Tacey
LP: 700
Field: Court of Nobles (face-up), Royal Sharpshooter (face-down), Hereditary Title (face-down)
Hand: Soul Exchange
Graveyard: Court of Nobles, Royal Paige, 2x Royal Emissary, Enemy Controller

"Pureblood Warrior, attack her face-down Monster!"

With a single swing of the knight's axe, Tacey's sole monster was eliminated.

"I end my turn." her opponent declared.

"Not quite yet." Tacey interrupted, "Reveal face-down, Hereditary Title!" she gave the last card back on her field an imperious wave, causing it to flip up, "At the end of a phase when any of my royal monsters is destroyed, I can play this card to summon up a lower-level replacement from my deck." Tacey explained, "And I choose...Dark Seraph Miseres!"

Mrs.Edgeworth quirked an eyebrow at the gray-clad little angel who materialized on the sharpshooter's spot, holding her frail arms up in a defensive block, "It doesn't look particularly regal." she commented.

"True." Tacey concurred with a shrug, "But the second effect of my trap card is going to change that. You see, whenever a monster is summoned by the effect of Hereditary Title, it becomes adopted into the family so to speak." she nodded at Miseres as the card took effect, the surprised seraph's tatter robe giving way to a plain yet presentable dress of the same color, a tiny silver-colored tiara appearing in her hair, "And with it, Miseres' effects are also changed. With her first effect, I add one Royal monster to my hand." she held her chosen copy of Royal Paige up for inspection, "And with her second..." her smile widened slightly as she nodded towards the dark energy building up around both of the seraph's tiny hands, "I can destroy any one monster I wish, including your Pureblood Warrior. Miseres, do your thing."

Still beaming at her outfit change, Miseres nodded enthusiastically, releasing the dark energy from her hands at its chosen target and shattering it to pixels.

"Not a bad reversal at all." Mrs.Edgeworth conceded, smiling in approval, "Though I suppose I should have expected as much. I am not done yet, however. Spell Card activate, Forbidden Revival Rite!" as spell card and duel disc met, a pitch-black pool engulfed the field, dark energy snaking its way up into the air above, "By summoning monsters of an equaling level to your field..." the pool churned violently, the figures of Tacey's dumped monsters rising from its depths, "I Ritual summon Pureblood Warrior from my graveyard!"

With one finally 'glorp', the white-clad knight spawned on Mrs.Edgeworth's field, as pristine and unbothered as ever, "Of course, my warrior can not attack and is sealed off from its effects this turn, but that price is practically negligible. I end my turn."

"My draw."

Duelist: Mrs. Edgeworth
LP: 6500
Hand: 1 card
Field: Pureblood Warrior (7300/7300)
Graveyard: Luster Dragon, 3x Gene-Warped Warwolf, Advanced Ritual Art, Insect Knight, Gladiator Beast Andal, Battle Footballer, Vorse Raider, Birthright, Final Destiny, Forbidden Revival Rite

Duelist: Tacey
LP: 700
Field: Court of Nobles (face-up), Dark Seraph Miseres (800/500), Royal Sharpshooter (1500/ 800), Royal Emissary (2200/1600), Royal Emissary (2200/1600), Royal Paige (1500/ 800)
Hand: Soul Exchange, Royal Paige
Graveyard: Court of Nobles, Enemy Controller, Hereditary Title

Draw Phase: Card Destruction

"And with that." Mrs.Edgeworth remarked as the knight on her field let out a second triumphant roar, "My warrior regains his strength."

Tacey nodded in comprehension, surveying the cards in her hand. She was in a far more solid position than before, but this duel was still far from over. With her current life point status, she couldn't afford that gargantuan monster to hit even once, while it was quite free to swing away without a care in the world thanks to its self-protection effect. If only there was some way to circumvent it! Oh, getting an effect monster in there would probably work, but somehow Tacey doubted that her mother would have been foolish enough to include any, unless...

Well, it was worth a shot.

"I activate Card Destruction." the rich girl declared, "With this effect, we both discard our hands then draw new ones."

"It certainly works for me." her opponent replied, revealing the sole card in her hand before pitching it to make room for the replacement, "Frostosaurus to the graveyard."

Effect Discard: Frostosaurus

As the dinosaur joined its fellows in the graveyard, the white knight was wrapped in a spectral aura once more, its attack points climbing even higher. Tacey wasn't bother by this, though; no, she concluded as she shut her eyes in preparation for the draw, she knew precisely what needed to be drawn for her to win.

"Miracle draw, don't fail me now." she whispered, half-amused, half-shocked by her own superstition, but as she laid her hand on the deck, the rich girl could have sworn that she felt the familiar pulse beneath her fingers. Faint, just barely noticeable. An assurance.

Mother and daughter drew in unison.

Effect discard: Royal Paige, Soul Exchange
Draw effect: Enemy Controller, Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch

So far so good, but her real luck was just about to be put to the test.

"Alright..." Tacey declared, wiping away the few beads of sweat that were forming on her forehead, "Here goes. I tribute Royal Paige to summon Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch. And with his effect..." she nodded towards the imposing creature in the reddened armor that had replaced her monster, "I discard that card from your hand."

With a roar of its own, the monarch unleashed a plume of flames from its hand, nailing the sole card in Mrs.Edgeworth's hand with pin-point accuracy. As 1200 points deducted from her opponent's counter, the rich girl felt a strong urge to yell out in triumph. Her gamble had paid off!

Effect Discard: Pureblood Warrior

"And with an effect monster in your graveyard." she continued triumphantly, "I can play this. Enemy Controller, activate! By tributing my Royal Sharpshooter, I take control of your warrior for the turn.

"Its attack points will still go to zero for you." Mrs.Edgeworth remarked.

"True." her daughter conceded, "But thanks to your revival rite I still have more than enough monsters on my field to end this game. Thestalos, Royal Emissaries, direct attack!"

With one, last all-ending charge, Mrs.Edgeworth's life point counter flatlined, emitting the familiar disapproving beep. As the holograms faded from view and the adrenaline rush of the game slowly subsided, an awkward silence fell between the two once more, punctuated only by labored breathing on both sides. But then, as the two stared each other down, the ends of Mrs.Edgeworth's slowly curled upwards, a small, barely discernible chuckle gaining momentum and soon growing into full-fledged laughter which Tacey found herself joining into as the sheer absurdity of what had just transpired hit both of them.

"This-this game...is a lot more exerting than it looks, isn't it?" Mrs. Edgeworth managed at last, still smiling as she procured a handkerchief and wiped her forehead with it, "It's a pity it ended so soon."

"Sorry, mommy." Tacey replied, grinning like a fool herself, "But if it had gone on much longer you might have had me, and that wouldn't have done for the future queen of games."

"That it wouldn't." her mother concurred, "I still can't say that I fully approve of what you've been up to, but...the way you fought to the very end...this tournament thing is really important to you, isn't it?"

"I...suppose you could say that, yes."

"Then there's no use in me trying to stop you from going through with it." the woman concluded, chuckling once more as she added, "After all...we Edgeworth women aren't exactly known for being meek and submissive." she walked back to the desk and depositing both her duel disc and the documents she had shown back into their respective drawers, "Besides, even if I don't support what you're doing I still support you. Now go on..." she winked, "Your new friends must be anxious to see you back and I have to have a stern talk with a few editors about their taste in stories."

"But mommy." Tacey interrupted with a worried frown, "Mr.Pegasus said that the boat to duelist kingdom was leaving immediately, they must be at least halfway there already!"

"Oh, I wouldn't bet on that." her mother replied with an uncharacteristically mischievous expression playing around her normally stern face, "I think you shall find that the departure of the ferry in question has quite unexpectedly been delayed by a very solid blockade of cargo ships and isn't going anywhere until whoever is in charge gives the order."

"Mommy..." was all Tacey could manage, before giving in to the thrill of the moment and giving her mother something she hadn't even considered for the last eight years: a hug, "I love you."

This time, she really meant it too.


OOC: Well...that turned out a bit more fluffy than I had first anticipated, but what can I say? I'm tired of all my characters having mean, abusive parents. XD

Tacey shall reunite with the rest in my next post. :3

 

[Forci Stikane]

OOC: I did say nothing would happen while you were gone, didn't I?

...Well, since Phanima has seemingly disappeared...

IC:

The first one of the new group to offer Kuso a handshake back was the dinosaur girl, saying her name was Tracey-something and making some winded monologue about herself that Kuso instinctively blocked out for some reason, but the expressions on the others' faces as she finally ran off after a quick phone call told him that it was for the best. The next person to step forward was the one with the straw hat, which from up close reminded him of something a western farmer would wear. He only barely blurted out the name Achan before going on a rant about the girl, which changed Kuso's mind about before; the elder boy wasn't in a relationship with her--this one was.

Another one of the members nudged Achan aside in order to squeeze in. "How do you do, Kuso-san? I'm Yuki Judai, and I guess that I'll be leading this team in Miss Edgeworth's absence." The image Kuso had noticed near him earlier was a bit clearer from closer up, and he could almost make out a pair of wings on the creature, but his attention was taken away from that when there was apparently a sudden yet brief change in Yuki's appearance. Kuso quickly convinced himself that it was his imagination, though. After all, he had never heard of somebody's eye color suddenly changing, much less to a different color for each eye.

Before Kuso had a chance to say anything back, however, Yuki and Achan had already gotten into an argument. The other two members who had yet to introduce themselves did nothing to stop them, so he was left simply wondering about his new teammates and how they would act on a normal basis, as well as how they had referred to him. Unfortunately, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice in his head.

"PEOPLE OF JAPANESE DESCENT TEND TO REFER TO EACH OTHER IN A WAY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU ARE USED TO. THEY WILL NAME THEMSELVES WITH WHAT YOU WOULD CONSIDER THEIR "LAST NAME" FIRST AND "FIRST NAME" LAST. DUE TO THIS BEING PART OF THEIR CULTURE, THEY WILL ALSO EXPECT THE SAME FROM OTHERS."

Regardless of the fact that his partner had just chimed in out of the blue and mentally startled him because of it, it was apparently correct. Judai Yuki did somehow make more sense as a name than Yuki Judai did in Kuso's mind, partly due to a kid he used to know who had a first name slightly similar to Judai. It also explained why Achan (who had probably gotten used to talking this way already, if he himself wasn't somehow Japanese as well) had referred to him by his last name. It wasn't his place to object to their customs, but it brought along the thought that Judai had called him "Kuso-san" because he had mistaken that as his last name, and he decided to try and correct him. However, by the time he had snapped back into reality, yet another kid had shown up and was talking with the others.

"It's my job to escort you all to the dock, so if you'll please step this way..."

The new kid, who the others obviously had a history with, led the group over to a black limousine with two men in suits standing beside the doors. With just a nod from the stranger, the two men opened the doors for everybody to get in. From inside, the limo was surprisingly spacious, despite the way it looked from the outside and the stained glass wall separating the passengers from the driver. There were carpeted benches extending from the sides and back of the interior, aside from where the doors were, which were clearly the replacements for the seats a normal car would have. Without a word from any of the people inside, the driver started the vehicle and headed to their destination.

Kuso kept quiet for most of the trip until the limo came to a stop. As Kuso stepped out of the limousine after everyone else, he could see the docks nearby. However, as he spotted the large boat that would supposedly be their method of transportation, he noticed that it had been boxed in by a group of cargo ships.

"Wha—"



OOC: ...So, yeah, I'm still a bit shaky, trying to get the right footing and all here. I guess you can expect a couple more sub-par posts like this before I'm completely in. Also, yes, shameless DS toss-in...and I hope that bit with the limo didn't count as serious puppeteering. :\

EDIT: I decided to just toss that bit out for the sake of keeping safe. You all can fill in the other holes so I'm not accused of puppeteering.

 

[Phanima]

Smith's return, Edgeworth's sudden departure and a new team mate; it appeared the day wasn't done with annoying Michel just yet, especially now since a self-proclaimed employee of Pegasus Crawford had made his presence apparent. Admittedly, learning of the boy's involvement with the construction of Smith's new set of cards quirked his interest, although obviously not enough to warrant an introduction. However, upon listening further on Kuroda's explanation, it soon became clear that he was to not only explain his intentions but to also escort them to the Domino City wharf, for whatever reason Michel was still unsure.

Offering a hand towards their newly arrived mode of transport, Kuroda ushered them along to their next destination, whereas the million-dollar teen felt no reason to comply. They had all that was required for moving on to the third round and a detour at this point in time was completely unnecessary. But now that Edgeworth had conveniently disappeared, the group's dynamic had considerably changed. The brat's absence had no doubt hindered the entire group from accomplishing such a task and what's more was that the rest of the team seemed to have no quarrels in partaking with the boy's request.

Yuki and Manjoume were as tight as kittens so relying on them individually would prove difficult and highly annoying, where one went the other would surely follow. Smith was as gullible as the inconceivable tripe he was previously spitting and Sarasi, the new member of the team, just oozed an unreliable innocence.

The situation was looking bleak and since Edgeworth was the only other person who seemed capable of directing the team, Michel took it upon himself to decide what they would do. Of course, he also had to take into consideration the possibility of this Kuroda child being legitiment and that the co-host of the tournament had indeed heeded their attendance, meaning completing the second round as soon as possible could invariably be set aside for the time being.

"How bothersome, now I'm curious..." the teen breathed before shooting the redhead a quick sideways glance, "Smith, call your girlfriend so she knows where we are, then hurry up and get in. You too Sarasi. Oh...and since Edgeworth seemed incapable of recognising the reason why she's still in this tournament, I'm Michel."

OOC: I know I was suppose to write Michel getting to the docks but I wasn't sure about how, so I'll leave that to our overlord and master. And yes, I know Yuki and Manjoume aren't the best of pals but "kittens" came to me one late night and I didn't want to change it. 83

 

[Alter Ego]

Tacey took a deep breath to calm herself and restrain the thoughts of rampage and bloodshed shooting through her mind. This was really going to be one of those days, wasn't it?

"So let me see if I got this straight." she said evenly, allowing her glance to sweep over the three strangers in dark purple robes who had chosen to block her path before finally coming to rest on the central one, who appeared to be the leader, "You three gentlemen are...autograph hunters?"

"Rare hunters!" the man corrected testily, "We are the rare hunters, miss Edgeworth, and we shall be taking your most valuable cards for the greater glory of-"

"...your all-powerful leader who is currently most cunningly masquerading as reformed and hasn't been in any contact with you for the least ten years." the rich girl interrupted, waving her hand dismissively, "Yes, I know, you just said that five minutes ago. And your method for doing this, after having oh-so-cunningly stalked me down and cornered me in a dark alleyway is..." she took a small pause for the drama, "...challenging me to a card game. Is this correct?"

As the rich girl's words sank into them, a moment of awkward silent passed between the members of the trio, but eventually their leader spoke up again.

"Umm...yes?" he ventured, raising his duel disc in a hopeful manner.

"Well, alright then." Tacey replied, returning the gesture "I just wanted to make sure that we're all on the same page here."

"Okay." the leader replied, still rather sheepishly, before he regained his earlier flair, "Let's du-"

The man was never given the chance to finish his sentence as a small but surprisingly strong hand suddenly lunged forward, grasping the gold chain that - for some inexplicable reason - was part of his attire and yanking it down while a duel disc rose to meet his jaw and a - admittedly fairly soft-shoed - foot struck his ankle, causing him to lose balance.

"Hey! You can't do that!" the rare hunter whimpered, reaching a feeble hand towards the figure already dashing down the alley behind him.

"I already did!" the rich girl called back, waving at the stunned group for good measure, "And I don't have the time to duel you right now! Take it up with my manager!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
​

"Rare hunters." Tacey scoffed, slowing down to a walking pace once she had attained what she hoped was a suitable distance between herself and the weirdo squad, carefully evening out her breathing, brushing off her outfit and correcting her hair once more, "Like I'd waste my time on some lame group like that."

That had been...invigorating, she had to admit, if rather undignified. But no way was she going to make it a regular pattern in her habits, no way. She shook her head as if to reinforce the belief. Beating your way out of problems was so...lower middle-class. So...Achan-like! No way would she ever approve of herself doing the kind of thing he would do in anything but the direst of straits. It was an emergency reaction, that was all. Flicking away a few imaginary specks of dust from her duel disc, and simultaneously checking to make sure that the ruffian's jaw hadn't left an unseemly dent, Tacey decided to put the matter behind her for the moment and focus on the task at hand instead. This was definitely the harbor, the countless warehouses, the screeching of the gulls, and the all-pervading smell of the sea were certainly enough evidence of that, and if the small fleet of cargo ships surrounding this particular vessel was any indication, this also had to be the ship, so where was..?

It was then that the sound of a vehicle caught her ears, the rich girl turning on her heels just in time to catch sight of a black limousine rounding the corner. How typical of Pegasus, she found herself thinking; stylish, yes, but horribly inconvenient. Everyone knew that the shady alleys were by far the fastest method of transport available in Domino City.

Self-consciously running a hand through her hair to ensure, for the umpteenth time, that it was precisely the way she wanted it to be, and putting on her most endearing smile, she approached her teammates, who currently seemed to be a bit more preoccupied by the minor armada that had taken up residence in the harbor.

"What took you so long?" she asked somewhat cheekily, "With all this fussing about urgency, I didn't think you'd let your chauffeur take you down the scenic route. You know, you could have gotten here a lot easier if you had just-" she paused, her eyes finally falling on Kite, soon followed by a rather accusing index finger, "Wait, isn't that the guy who harassed Smith back at the airport? What's he doing here?"

 

[Scarlet Weather]

"Tacey?" Achan stepped back in alarm, bumping into Kaito in the process and sending the card designer tumbling to the ground. He had been preparing to strangle Michel for his "girlfriend" remark, but the heiress's untimely (and extremely unlikely) arrival had jarred him a bit too much for him to begin that particular enterprise. Achan berated himself for allowing a note of concern to creep into his voice as he called- not that he'd actually been worried that Edgeworth wouldn't make it, of course. He was just surprised, that was all. And maybe a little greatful that he hadn't been forced to go through the trip to Duelist Kingdom with only one other person to talk about the Shadow Duelists with. Yeah. Maybe.

"You know, you're standing on my foot."

Achan stepped back, startled, to see that he had, in fact, been standing on Kaito's foot. "Oh, sorry," he said, genuinely surprised. "Didn't see you back there."

"From my current position, I believe that's a bit of an uderstatement, Smith," came Kaito's stinging reply. "If you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to."

"You mean you aren't coming with us, Kuroda-san?" Judai asked the other duelist as he straightened up his now-rumpled jacket and brushed off the dust from his fall.

"Hardly. I was referring to the necessity of introducing myself to Edgeworth-san," Kaito replied curtly. "Miss Edgeworth, how do you do. I am Kuroda Kaito, an employee of Mr. Pegasus J. Crawford. I have instructions to escort your team to Duelist Kingdom, where Mr. Crawford will explain the reasons for your visit. I apologize for harassing your team earlier, it was merely a case of mistaken identity."

"You were obsessing over a set of children's trading cards," Achan pointed out, still seething.

"Achan Smith, if this tournament has taught you anything, it should be that card games are serious business- and I quote."

"You know, he's absolutely right," A slightly high-pitched girl's voice rang out.

"Yeah, yeah... let's just get on with this. I have a dinner date to get to."

Achan glanced about, searching for the owners of the new voices.

"We're right here, silly!" Achan turned, only to stare into the face of a teenaged girl with long, bubblegum-pink hair leaning into his. As he jumped back, he noticed that she was accompanied by a much older man with orange hair parted into a style so ridiculous that Achan almost laughed before he remembered his own hair problems. He had to raise an eyebrow at the guy's attire- a black parka and bell-bottomed jeans? What the heck was he thinking?

"Right-o. Engaging shadow wall... now."

Before any of the duelists could decipher what the man in the black parka had meant, a circle of blue flames had surrounded the members of team seven before shooting into the sky. Judai's eyes narrowed. "You two... you're shadow duelists!"

"Correct," the guy nodded. "The name's Koji. This," he said, putting an arm around the shoulder of the girl, "Is my younger sister, Eri. And that," he said, pointing at the wall of flames, "Isn't coming down unless you beat both of us in a duel."

Judai stepped forward, activating his duel disk. "If it's a duel you want-"

"Stand down."

Judai turned. Kaito was moving forward, slowly unzipping the leather jacket he had been wearing. "I said stand down, Yuki-san. As your escort, it's my job to handle any threats from the shadow duelists- including these two grunts."

Judai was unconvinced. "Kuroda-san, you-"

"Don't underestimate me. These two won't know what hit them," Kaito replied curtly. With that, he removed his jacket, revealing the clothing underneath. Achan recognized it- a slightly modified blazer resembling those worn by Obelisk Blue students at Duel Academia. The sleeves had been cut off for the most part, and there were no coat-tails, but it was definitely recognizable. "As a card designer, knowledge of the game is necessary in order to duel. Now, Koji-san, was it? I challenge you." Kaito extended his hand. "Smith, I'll need to borrow your duel disk."

"My wha-" Achan began before Judai interrupted. "Just give it to him, Sumisu-kun. He knows what he's doing."

Achan gave Judai a long, angry glare, but complied by removing his deck from the disk and slowly slipping it off his arm.

Kaito smiled as he slipped the machine on. "You know, I really do feel almost naked without one of these," he commented. "So, are you ready?"

Koji smiled, revealing a duel disk that had fairly obviously been spray-painted black. "Always."

Both duelists activated their disks, and the battle-cry shot up. "Duel!"

 

[Alter Ego]

Tacey couldn't help raising an eyebrow as Achan made a very close approximation of leaping back, effectively knocking the stranger in the ensemble over and treading on him. She had to put effort into suppressing a giggle at the stranger's riposte and consequent rise from the ground. Achan he may have harassed, but he certainly had a way with words. Visually, he didn't exactly fit the rich girl's tastes - too much biker and street punk flair to it - but when your closest point of comparison was Achan and his deceased-starfish cut...

"A pleasure." she replied smoothly, managing a somewhat more convincing smile than she had for Kuso, though before she managed to elaborate her response, Achan had already elbowed his way into the conversation, accusing Kaito of obsessing over children's playing cards.

Just as their little argument was about to get interesting, however, yet another duo of strangers joined the fray, doing something that effectively ruined the millionaire heiress' mood.

"That." she said sourly, glaring at the barrier of flames, "Is really getting old."

"Aww...we're boring you?" the pink-haired girl taunted in mock-concern, "Well how about I just send you to the shadow realm, then?" she raised her own duel disc in challenge, "Bet there's lots of fun and excitement for you down there."

"Unlikely." Tacey scoffed, folding her arms, "Go pester someone else, little girl. I've had quite enough of you assorted freaks and nutjobs testing my courage, skill and above all patience with your silly shadow game antics, so read my lips." she locked eyes with the other girl, "I'm. Not. Dueling you."

"But you have to!" Eri protested, "If you don't beat both of us in a duel then that barrier won't go down!"

"Good for you." the rich girl replied flatly, "And I suppose that you are going to stay here with us all the time to make sure we don't go anywhere despite your little barrier?"

"But-that's not-you have to duel!" the shadow duelist protested, stamping her foot.

"Yeah?" Tacey countered, unimpressed, her arms still firmly folded with no intention of moving, "Well I'll just stand here with my arms folded and see about that then, won't I?"

"That's not fair!"

"Life rarely is."

"Kojii!" Eri whined, pointing an accusing finger at the persistently uncooperative rich girl, "Tell her! Tell her she can't do that!"

 

[Scarlet Weather]

"Not much I can really do," Koji sighed. "I mean, if the girl wants to stay in here forever, we really don't have much say in the matter."

"Excuse me," Kaito interrupted, "But I believe it was my move."

"Fine, fine, whatever man. Just don't get into too much of a hurry," Koji said, rolling his eyes.

"Alright then. Time to get this over with... draw!"

Duelist: Kuroda Kaito
LP: 8000
Hand: Foolish Burial, Silva, Warlord of Dark World, Prohibition, Phantasm of Chaos, Akuma Kuriboh

Draw Phase>>>>Dark World Dealings

"I think I shall begin with a favorite spell of mine," Kaito said as he inserted it into his duel disk. "Dark World Dealings, Activate! Now, we both draw a card, then discard one."

"Fine by me," Koji replied, still relaxed as he drew. He glanced at the card for a moment, before discarding it. "Meh, at least it didn't turn into a dead draw next turn."

Effect Draw>>> Limit Reverse
Effect Discard<<< Silva, Warlord of Dark World

"Next, I shall activate the effect of the monster I discarded," Kaito continued. "When Silva, Wu-Lord of Dark World is discarded because of a card effect, I get to special summon him to the field in face-up attack position. If he was discarded because of my opponent's card effect... well, that doesn't matter at the moment. Silva, be reborn!" The sky above the arena darkened, and a bolt of lightning struck the ground in front of Kaito as a silver, clawed hand broke through the ground. Slowly, the huge monster pulled its way out of the earth, before drawing a curved blade and growling at the opponent. Kaito appraised the monster for a moment before nodding in approval. "Next, I'll set one monster, and one face-down card. Turn End," he conceded as the card backs appeared in front of him with a shimmer.

"What? My turn already? Aw, man...." Koji grinned momentarily, before reaching for his duel disk. "Gotcha now- draw."

Duelist: Koji
LP: 8000
Hand: Six Cards
Field: Empty
Graveyard: Empty
RFG: Empty
Extra Deck: Six Cards

"I think... I'll start off with this. Heart of the Underdog!" With a shimmer of light, the continuous spell appeared on Koji's field. "Next, I'll activate Spoils of the Underdog- If I've got a normal monster in my hand, I can discard it to draw two cards."

Effect Discard<<< Gene-Warped Warwolf

"I don't remember that card," Kaito mused. "Must not be from my department."

"It doesn't exist," Koji replied nonchalantly as he snapped up his draw.

Kaito's eyes narrow instantly. "What did you say?"

"I said it doesn't exist. Jeez, calm down, man! The duel's barely started and you're already overheating," The shadow duelist chuckled. "But if you're so keen on knowin' what I mean, I'll tell ya if you beat me. How's that sound?"

The corners of Kaito's lips curved into a slight grin. "Like a fun wager. I accept."

"Hmm... wager, is it? So what're you bettin'?" Koji asked, confused. "Oh, and before I forget- I set one card, and summon Luster Dragon, then send him to attack your face-down monster, then I end my turn." With that, a rather large dragon that seemed to be covered in sapphires appeared and with a roar, released a burst of flames that completely incinerated Kaito's set monster.

"Isn't it obvious?" Kaito taunted. "Since you won't tell me where your card came from, I won't tell you what I'm going to give you until you win. That's my end of the wager. And now... turn begin! Draw!"

Draw Phase>>>>> Enemy Controller

Kaito smiled, then pointed to Koji's dragon. "Silva, destroy that thing. It's getting annoying." With a grin, the demon hefted his blade and swung it, decapitating the dragon easily. "And with that, my turn ends."

Koji stared at his opponent in amazement. "You sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay, man... but don't say I didn't warn you..." With that, Koji drew. As he looked at his card, his eyes grew wide. "Oh, man... you are so dead."

Duelists:

Kuroda Kaito: LP-8000
Hand: Enemy Controller, Phantasm of Chaos, Prohibition, Foolish Burial
Field: Silva, Wu-Lord of Dark World (Atk 2200), Limit Reverse
Graveyard: Akuma Kuriboh, Dark World Dealings

Kazuma Koji: LP-7700
Hand: Four Cards
Field: One set S/T, Heart of the Underdog
Graveyard: Luster Dragon, Gene-Warped Warwolf, Spoils of the Underdog

Akuma Kuriboh
Monster/Dark/Fiend/2*/Tuner
Atk 300/ Def 100
If your opponent attacks your life points directly, you can remove this monster in your graveyard from play in order to negate that damage and inflict it to your opponent instead. (Credit to Icha for the original concept based on my horned Kuriboh-I'd been looking for an appropriate effect.)

Spoils of the Underdog
Normal Spell
By discarding one normal monster from your hand, you can draw two cards from your deck. You cannot activate this card unless you control at least one "Underdog" card.

 

[Forci Stikane]

It was actually one of the strangest things that Kuso had seen in a while. Not only was this a stockade, but one to block a group of kids from going off to an island famous for children's card games. On top of that, but the purple-haired girl who had just left suddenly showed up again for whatever reason. Maybe she just left to play a joke on everyone. Or maybe she just missed her boyfriend, Kuso couldn't tell. Her boyfriend was apparently real surprised to see her, literally jumping back and knocking Kaito over before Kuso could even think to catch him.

Of course, he did manage to think to say something when Achan was standing on Kaito's foot, but he was just beaten to the point there.

It was pretty obvious from the group's argument that there was previous history between all of them. At first Kuso guessed Tracey-whatever was a two-timer, but when one of them mentioned the problem circling around cards, that idea was immediately trashed. The conversation grew so heated that none of them noticed the little girl sneak up right next to Achan. In fact, she probably could have swiped Achan's deck and bring it to the man with her if she had really wanted to.

The man just said something that Kuso didn't quite catch and suddenly they were all surrounded by flames. But...there was something about the odd color of the flames that seemed almost too familiar. Kuso wanted to shake off the feeling of deja-vu, but something Judai said proved it to be correct:

"You two... you're shadow duelists!"

The term hit Kuso hard. Large amounts of sweat began forming on his forehead and palms, as if he had just come out of a pool or a bath. The thought of his previous encounter with the shadow duelists flooded Kuso's mind, overwhelming his senses and causing them to replicate the event. He could hear his friends' voices as they lost the deadly games. He could even almost see the dark players approaching him.

His legs began trembling beneath the weight of his body, causing him to fall over, still keeping his hands over his ears in an instinctive yet vain attempt to drown out the rest of the world. As much as he tried, Kuso could not stop the memory from blockading any and all control of his body. He would have screamed if he was able to, but his voice had been paralyzed as well. All he could do as his body began to shut down again was hope that the others could come out victorious...

OOC: (This should have gone in before... You're welcome, I guess, but I know of no Silva, Wu-Lord of Dark World. It's either Silva, Warlord or Goldd, Wu-Lord.)

 

[Phanima]

They couldn't be serious. How had it come to this...again? From the midst of utter nothingness, two new challengers had entered the scene and to the overwhelming irritation of Michel, they were both promoting the tried and failed "Shadow Duelist" tripe that the previous two con-artists had spout, to whom Edgeworth soon after disgraced. Predicting the same fate for the newcomers, the now quite pissed off heir diverted his attention to the third and final arrival; the insufferable ill-tempered heiress herself.

Edgeworth's presence had once again returned and now stood face-to-face against the lesser of two evils. However, from the outset of their ensuing discussion, it was hard to believe the new girl could pose anything more than a simple mosquito bite of a threat.

"Enough." came a stern and sharp rasp from the irritated teen, "Seeing as how Edgeworth has no confidence in putting a mere child in her place, and rightly so, I'll play along instead. Of course, if the rookie would like to have a go, I suggest you speak up now."

Contrary to his statement, Michel had no intentions of letting this so called Shadow Duelist, Eri, off the hook, especially by allowing her to duel against Sarasi. Another comatose player of children's card games was the last thing he needed, so if he was to finish this up quickly, he would have to get his sleeves dirty, or at least scuffed in the most severe case.

"Ohhh! So I get to play with you then?" the sakura-haired girl chirped, anbandoning her previous whines for attention, "But wait a tick, mhmm... you don't look very strong, more boring than anything."

Her sickly sweet tone and oblivious nature irked him but not in the way most would assume. She was smart, a lot smarter than she let on and if she was this convincing at feigning her personality, she was definitely dangerous, moreso than he had previously thought. Perception and reception are everything. This Eri was going to be trouble, and in an extremely annoying way too.

It was then that he noticed Sarasi acting up behind him, sweating bullets and bearing an expression reminiscent to that of a person on the verge of hysteria. His legs gave way and his eyes widened as he looked on at the ensuing duel between Kuroda and Koji and to the confrontation between Michel and the girl, Eri.

"Sarasi!" the elitist called over his shoulder, "What the hell are you doing? Get up."

"He sure looks scared." the girl fervently chirped, a sly grin pressing her lips.

"How annoying, another brat and now a wimp." Michel breathed in contempt, "Let's just get this over with."

Now feeling the unnatural heat radiating from the fiery wall of blue rising up his back, Michel took a moment to take in a shallow breath as he heard the unmistakable sound of a duel disk unfolding. Squaring off his teenage opponent, who had now retreated several paces so that there was enough room between them, the elitist swiftly activated his own forearm before allowing the girl to make her first move.

OOC: I think my brain just farted at the end of Thesis' post. owo Did the ending get cut off or will it come next post? Either way, shall be posting the battle after thy new cards have been approved, which I'll be posting up later tonight. 8D

IC: "Hooray!" the girl cheered, as she formed her first hand and surveyed her available options, "Now let's see, what should I start with? Ohhh! This looks good... Hoe? But so does this one! Mhmm... Okay, I'll use this... So, to start things off, I'll summon Emissary of the Afterlife!"

At the girl's command, a rectangular projection appeared above the ground at her feet, where her first monster soon emerged. Bearing a twisted, shrewd but nevertheless sharp scythe, a cloaked figure swept into view, its hollow eyes and mouth illuminating its shrouded face. Letting out a ghastly rasp, the monster bore arms and took its place on the field and assumed the approaching attack position.

"D'wah! He's so cute!" Eri squealed in delight, marveling her handy work with a proud smile and rapid little claps.

Michel on the other hand could only watch in disgust as the girl attempted to, in all good fun, fornicate with the summoned hologram, her shrill giggles killing any respect he might have held for her previously.

"Anyway, enough of that. To end my turn, I'll place two cards face-down, activate Heart of the Underdog and hand it over to you. Hehe!"

Duelist: Eri
Life Points: 8000
Hand: 3
Field: Emissary of the Afterlife (1600/600), Heart of the Underdog, 2 Spell/Trap Cards (face-down)
Graveyard: N/A

Drawing his first card and taking a look at his own hand, Michel immediately determined how he would defeat the so-called "Shadow Duelist", Eri. Needless to say, he would first have to adopt the same strategy he had used against the adolescent hitman but leaving things to such chance again was not an option. No, there was definitely a better way.

Fingering the first and second card in his hand, the heir proceeded to execute the first part of his game plan. In moments, a hexa-pedal satellite-dish of a monster emerged from its own rectangular hologram on Michel's side of the field before being immersed in a following field of patched grass and a rock bed enclosure, a single industrial spire dominating the space behind its duelist.

"I summon Muscle Tracer and activate the field spell card, Anatolia. I'll then activate Primal Armor and equip it to my monster."

Heeding the duelist's words, several armour fittings materialsed around the bug-like machine and after pausing for dramatic effect, clamped onto its body to initiate its effect. Crippling the machine as the Equip Spell Card dug deeper into its frame, metallic probes then erupted from the mounted armour in all directions before creating a spherical, transparent and pulsating shield.

"Oh my, what's that?" Eri piped, watching the small machine struggling to support its added protection, "It looks kind of...painful."

Painful? It was just like his first duel, something about the tone of her voice irked him, like she knew something he didn't. But looking on as she placed a curious finger on her pursed lips, Michel couldn't determine exactly what that "something" was.

"Primal Armor, it decreases the attack of any monster who attacks Muscle Tracer by the amount of its defense points. That aside, I'll end my turn by activating EN Gauge and set one card face-down."

Duelist: Michel
Life Points: 8000
Hand: Primal Armored Core
Field: Muscle Tracer (1100/1100), Primal Armor, Anatolia, EN Gauge, Stabilisers (face-down)
Graveyard: N/A

"Hey! Hey! Your monster looks like its about to keel over." Eri chirped, waving an accusing finger to the indeed struggling machine, "Maybe you should take that heavy armour off, it sure looks uncomfortable. Hehe."

Looking down at the Muscle Tracer, the heir noticed that the monster's abnormal behaviour was becoming much more inexcusable than some simple glitch in the system. Admitting such a thing however, was out of the question. The last thing he wanted to do was acknowledge such trivial details so deciding that it was best to just continue along with the duel, Michel concluded his turn and awaited his opponent's next.

Giving him a very much unwanted grin, the bubblegum-haired girl proceeded to draw her next card, her face lighting up as she did so.

"Ohhh look, look! I drew a normal monster card." she beamed, flashing the level seven Zoa clutched in her hand before dutifully drawing a second card thanks to her Heart of the Underdog's effect, "Okay! Let's see what I can do now... Oh! Goodie, I can use this."

Duelist: Eri
Life Points: 8000
Hand: 5
Field: Emissary of the Afterlife (1600/600), Heart of the Underdog, 2 Spell/Trap Cards (face-down)
Graveyard: N/A

"Hehe! You're in for a treat Mr. Suit, for now, I summon Loli Pop!"

Unbeknownst to Michel, the bubblegum-haired Shadow Duelist had just summoned her most treasured and quite possibly dangerous card, although its appearance could be interpreted otherwise. Adorning a simple tattered skirt of blue and a hooded cloak running down her front, the petite half-naked girl seemed to radiate an aura of deep lust. Lusting for what exactly? He only hoped he wasn't going to find out.

"Now then, I activate Rabbit's Hole." Eri continued, snapping her fingers in cue with the card's activation, "This forces both of us to draw until we have five cards in our hands. Then, we special summon any level three monsters in our hands onto the field. And all of this at the cost of one little loli, hehe!"

Following these words, Michel winced at the sight of his opponent laying down two more cards, their respective monster forms soon materialising afterward. He knew the odds of drawing at least one or both of his two level three and lower monsters were slim, considering there were only six of the cards in his deck altogether, but if he could just draw at least one, it'd significantly lessen the impact of the Rabbit's Hole effect.

Draw Effect: Original Armored Core, Swords of Revealing Light, Mystical Space Typhoon, Normal Armored Core

Reading over the cards he had just drawn, Michel swiftly and without a word, summoned two more monsters, each emerging beside his shielded Muscle Tracer.

"Cool!" Eri cheered before narrowing her eyes over her opponent, a much more malicious expression now gracing her features, "But it looks like I forgot to tell you about what comes next, hehe. You see, once we finish summoning all of our little friends here, we send everything else in our hands that we don't need, to the graveyard."

Duelist: Eri
Life Points: 8000
Hand: 0
Field: Emissary of the Afterlife (1600/600), Loli Pop (1200/0), Riding Hood Red (1650/200), Heart of the Underdog, 2 Spell/Trap Cards (face-down)
Graveyard: Loli Pop, Rabbit's Hole, 2 Zoa, Justi-Break, Emissary of the Afterlife

Duelist: Michel
Life Points: 8000
Hand: 0
Field: Original Armored Core (1300/700), Normal Armored Core (500/300) Muscle Tracer (1100/1100), Primal Armor, Anatolia, EN Gauge, Stabilisers (face-down)
Graveyard: Primal Armored Core, Swords of Revealing Light, Mystical Space Typhoon

"Well, now that that's all cleared up, I think it's about time I send your little friends there to hell. Hehe!" Eri giggled viciously, raising a directive hand as she did so, "Emissary of the Afterlife, if you'd be so sweet, take his Normal Armored Core and send it to the Shadow Realm please!"

Acknowledging her command, the cloaked spectre rolled silently forward, scythe raised and poised to kill. In no more than a second in following the girl's order, the designated target fell, deducting eleven-hundred points from its owner's total.

"D'wah! Good job Emissary. You're so cute when you kill things!" the psychotic girl piped as the monster returned to its place before her, "And now, since your tracer thing's protected, I'll just destroy your other little friend there. Riding Hood Red, devour his Original Amored Core please!"

It wasn't much longer until his second monster bit the dust, disintegrating at the claws of his opponent's third monster. Despite his current condition however, he now had the upper hand. Maintaining eye contact with the girl, he listened as his counter dropped even further below hers and prepared to make his next move.

"Your turn!"

Duelist: Michel
Life Points: 6550
Hand: Next Armored Core
Field: Muscle Tracer (1100/1100), Primal Armor, Anatolia, EN Gauge, Stabilisers (face-down)
Graveyard: Primal Armored Core, Swords of Revealing Light, Mystical Space Typhoon, Normal Armored Core, Original Armored Core

Drawing such a card at such a time did little more than reassure his prediction. His next move would invariably decide the match, clinching his second tournament victory. Of course, that's not to say that it wasn't expected. It'd be a bright day in the Shadow Realm before Michel admitted defeat to anyone.

"I activate Muscle Tracer's effect and tribute it to special summon Next Armored Core."

Putting the poor machine out of its misery, its place was taken up by a much more formidable monster. Reaching almost thirteen feet, the new Armored Core stood still and firm in place. Humanoid in shape, its body was lean but layered in plates upon plates of reinforced steel and metal. Its chest stuck out to a point, similar to that of a nose of an aircraft. Teardrop shaped plating also covered each pivotal point along the shins, knees, elbows, chest, shoulders and elbows. The towering machine's most distinguishing feature however, was its glass encased abdomen where a mysterious ball of light resonated within.

"Whoa..." Eri breathed, cranking her head skyward to take in every detail of the domineering figure, "That's a huge robot!"

"Next Armored Core..." Michel continued, paying his opponent's reaction no mind, "...attack her second Loli Pop."

Standing strong in place, the Next Armored Core extended a single arm forward, the armour on its forearm peeling back to allow an elongated spear to emerge. There was a slight pause in the machine's reaction as it surveyed the opponent's lineup, directing its arm as it did so. Then, in a sickening clash, the poised spear shot forward into the ground, piercing the first of the cloaked girls as it let out a hollow shriek, disintegrating her on the spot.

Duelist: Eri
Life Points: 6200
Hand: 0
Field: Emissary of the Afterlife (1600/600), Riding Hood Red (1650/200), Heart of the Underdog, 2 Spell/Trap Cards (face-down)
Graveyard: 2 Loli Pop, Rabbit's Hole, 2 Zoa, Justi-Break, Emissary of the Afterlife

"I'll end my turn by activating Stabilisers and equipping it to my Next Armored Core." the elitist concluded, "As long as this card remains face-up on the field, neither of us can summon another monster."

Duelist: Michel
Life Points: 6550
Hand: 0
Field: Next Armored Core (2700/2300), Anatolia, EN Gauge, Stabilisers
Graveyard: Primal Armored Core, Swords of Revealing Light, Mystical Space Typhoon, Normal Armored Core, Original Armored Core, Muscle Tracer, Primal Armor

"Really?!" the teen of a Shadow Duelist chirped, her expression betraying her words as she looked over her hand with little enthusiasm, "Peh... You've made things boring for me."

Twirling the drawn card between her fingers, she flashed its details to him and then proceeded to draw another, her Heart of the Underdog taking effect.

Duelist: Eri
Life Points: 6200
Hand: 2
Field: Emissary of the Afterlife (1600/600), Riding Hood Red (1650/200), Heart of the Underdog, 2 Spell/Trap Cards (face-down)
Graveyard: 2 Loli Pop, Rabbit's Hole, 2 Zoa, Justi-Break, Emissary of the Afterlife

"Seeing as how you're being so stubborn..." she continued, a hint of malice in her otherwise sugary sweet tone, finishing her statement by activating her first of two face-down cards, "Mystical Space Typhoon, erradicate his Stabilisers."

Another rectangular projection then appeared before the Shadow Duelist, summoning a sudden but powerful whirlwind in its wake. As it tore across the field, he watched it target and tear apart his trap card in all but a matter of seconds. Then, raising the first out of her two newly drawn cards, Eri proceeded to conclude her turn by activating another spell.

"Pot of Avarice." she declared, shuffling through her graveyard before returning the desired monsters to her deck, "Then, I draw two cards."

Duelist: Eri
Life Points: 6200
Hand: 3
Field: Emissary of the Afterlife (1600/600), Riding Hood Red (1650/200), Heart of the Underdog, 1 Spell/Trap Cards (face-down)
Graveyard: Rabbit's Hole, Justi-Break, Mystical Space Typhoon, Pot of Avarice

"Now then, I tribute both Emissary of the Afterlife and Riding Hood Red to summon... Zoa!"

Standing back with her hands on her hips and a pressed smirk, Eri watched on from behind as her two monsters gave way for the new fiend. Its body twisted and warped, it was surprising to say the least that the monster resembled that of a human, bearing all of the relative ligaments and extremities. Dulled gold horns littered the fiend's body as strips of its blue skin peeled back to reveal its coarse flesh underneath. A sinister smile seemed to dominate its featureless face, its ears rising up and fanning out like wings. Bearings its claws, the monster let out a ferocious roar that even caused Michel to step back in surprise, its bared fangs dripping with saliva.

"But I'm not done yet!" Eri proclaimed in a now much more domineering voice, clearly enjoying the moment as her fiend took the stage, "Cause now I activate my next face-down card... Metalmorph!"

If there was a card he knew all too well, it was this one. It was nothing more than text book dueling for machine types in its simplest form but it was also versatile enough to run in almost any other deck as well. But whether or not she knew what she was up against, she had just created another incentive for the heir to beat her for.

"I'm sure you of all people can appreciate what's about to happen to my cute little Zoa-chan here, right?" she laughed, breaking her initial innocent act as she reveled in the presence of her strongest monster, "I special summon... Metalzoa!"

Letting out a last roar before its transformation, the great fiend curled itself up into a ball as all kinds of armour fittings materialised around it, similar to that of Michel's Primal Armor. As the newly summoned pieces hovered hungrily in the air, the heir and the Shadow Duelist watched on. One by one, the pieces began to fall into place, each armed with a screw of some sort to literally drill into the great fiend's body, the sound of metal entering flesh then filling the air.

Duelist: Eri
Life Points: 6200
Hand: 2
Field: Metalzoa (3000/2300), Heart of the Underdog
Graveyard: Rabbit's Hole, Justi-Break, Mystical Space Typhoon, Pot of Avarice, Emissary of the Afterlife, Riding Hood Red, Zoa, Metalmorph

In most cases, Michel's attention would have been focused on what was happening directly in front of him, the brutal encasement of the three-storey high monster being a more than reasonable choice. But not this time. His eyes averted from the scene, the only thing he was focusing on was his opponent. The girl looked about as sane as her previous half-naked angst of a monster, Loli Pop, but with a little more resolve and lot more clothing.

Her eyes had become wide and a smile that crept from ear to ear stuck to her face with unyielding loyalty. A gust of wind then blew across the wharf, adding to the drama of the scene as if someone somewhere was dictating every action and event that occured that day. The little girl who had challenged them was finally starting to act her age and was without a doubt, becoming a considerable threat.

Nevertheless, Michel was still confident, all the girl had managed to do was force a stalemate between her new machine and his own, and if experience was anything to go by, victory would soon be his. Machines were perfect, only human error could be accounted for, something that he severely but fortunately lacked. There was no doubt in his mind that he was the better duelist and he was going to prove it to her.

"I finish my turn by placing one card face-down. Heheh... I sure hope you're ready Mr. Suit..." Eri berated in short rasps, her demonic smile unflinching, "Cause I'm about to send you to hell."

 

[Alter Ego]

At Michel's remark, Tacey's expression briefly flashed intense hatred, but she soon brought it back under control, settling on disdain, "How mature of you, Arma." she grit out, "And here I was trying to be polite by giving you an opponent closer to your own skill level to finally get you over the dueling phobia that kept you as a useless benchwarmer for the whole first round."

Before she could continue down this vein, however, the millionaire heiress was quite rudely interrupted by the new kid on the team, who looked like he was having some kind of seizure...or something.

"Sarasi, what on earth are you..? Hey!" in direct rebellion against her common sense - which was telling her to get as far from the dirty plebeian as possible - the rich girl rushed forward to support her teammate as he collapsed to the ground, "I won't have this, do you hear me?!" she demanded, roughly shaking the hysteric boy in a vain attempt to snap him out of whatever it was he had snapped into, "I won't have it! I refuse to be marooned on a team of raving lunatics who get epileptic seizures from watching children's card games! I refuse! So man up, get a hold of yourself, or else I'll-I'll-"

Precisely what Tacey would do never had the time to be voiced, however, as the loud, demanding beeping of her tournament handheld interrupted her tirade, the rich girl abandoning Kuso as a lost cause and turning to consult the little electronic device, pressing the 'receive' button on the video link application.

"This is not a good time, Rufus." she grit out as the familiar spiky-haired suit's face appeared on the screen.

"My apologies, miss." the suit replied dutifully, giving an apologetic nod, "But I thought I should inform you that we're finally getting a response from the...Little Bird."

"The what?" Tacey snapped in response, "Rufus, if this is your idea of a joke-" it was then that recollection struck her, the millionaire heiress' glance discreetly traveling to one of the many, blinking little blingblings on Michel's now-active duel disc, "I see." she said in a far calmer, quieter voice, rising up and taking as much distance from the rest as circumstances would allow. There were two heated card games and one psychological breakdown going on right now; hopefully they would be enough to distract both Achan and Pegasus' flunkies, "Progress?"

"About fifty-five percent, miss." Rufus replied, "The customs are taking a while to analyze, but we have them nearly mapped out now. Unless something completely unexpected happens, this duel should be enough for a full decklist."

"Excellent." Tacey replied, a rare smile gracing her features, "Be a dear and have it uploaded to me as soon as possible, will you?"

"As you say, miss." the suit replied with another curt nod before the video link was cut off.

Still looking a bit more contented than the situation should have warranted, the rich girl promptly snapped her handheld shut and pocketed it, turning to observe Arma's unfolding duel.

'Such a shame, Arma.' her inner monologue taunted, 'Looks like all your stalling and secrecy did you no good in the end.'

 

[Phanima]

Sitting in place, her legs crossed and arms folded, the heiress remained unmoved as she listened to her subordinate's words. Apparently, her mark was still very much alive and as stubborn as ever, which wasn't exactly a good thing. It had become so that she could no longer rely on such intermediate assistance if she wanted the job done properly. So, she would just have to do it herself. But before all that, there was one last matter she needed to address, one of utmost importance.

"There's one last thing I'd like to know." the raven-haired girl continued after listening to her subordinate's explanation, the city lights illuminating the room through the ceiling high window behind her desk, casting everything and everyone before her in shadow, "What of the prototypes?"

Scratching an awkward hand against the back of her head, the serving brunette turned to retrieve the desired devices, planting each of them on top of her superior's desk before stepping back to let the heiress examine the defective duel disks.

"I'm not really sure what happened but they were working just fine until this guy with really weird eyes touched them..." she explained with a nervous grin before realising the nature of what she had just said, "T-That sounds kind of weird, sorry."

"Don't be. There was nothing you could have done to prevent him from destroying these." her boss replied, completely unfazed by her hazy excuse, "All I wish to know is whether they worked or not."

"Oh!" her subordinate piped, quite relieved by her superior's lackluster reaction, "Then yes, they worked. They were as real as you and me. It was really impressive actually."

The faintest of smiles graced the mentor's lips as she rose to her feet.

"I'm glad. Now dispose of these please and prepare three more."

"T-Three?"

"Yes. It's about time you paid brother another visit Chelsea, and this time I'll be accompanying you."

---

It was amazing how short the self-proclaimed Shadow Duelist's attention span was, especially since it had only been mere minutes since he had ended his first turn and along with it, activated a card that could easily trump hers. With only one face-down card and one monster on her side of the field, there was little chance she could comeback from an attack. If he wanted to risk making his mark, now was the time.

Draw Phase: Cyber Phoenix

Deciding it was best to hold onto his new hand, Michel proceeded to initiate his turn.

"I pay ten hundred life points to increase the attack of my Next Armored Core." he started, activating the EN Guage spell card by his side, "And with that, I'll have it destroy your Metalzoa."

On his command, the sleek towering machine prepared to strike down the opposing fiend but as it raised a striking hand towards the target, it abruptly came to a halt. Looking up to see the cause of the hold up, the heir's attention was immediately deterred by his opponent's building laughter.

"Hehe! I guess I should've mentioned this before..." she started, her eyes disappearing into slits as the ends of her patented grin pinched her cheeks in raw undiluted excitement, "In this ring of fire super duper Koji-kun prepared, our monsters are next to useless after a set period of time. Specifically, after three turns of being summoned, level four and lower monsters can no longer attack, two turns for levels five and six and one turn for level sevens and higher."

Listening to the girl's explanation, Michel glanced a look up to the halted machine before surveying the field and then back to his opponent.

"Wondering how I did it?" she teased, seeing the rather bemused look on the heir's face, "It's quite simple really... I didn't. Y'see this, is the power of the Shadow Realm and as long as this ring of fire stays in place, all our monsters are useless. Although, I suppose I could've told you this before you paid all of those precious life points for nothing. But! Those are the breaks, hehe."

"...Fascinating." he spat before concluding his turn by summoning the only monster in his hand, "Relying on tricks to defeat your opponents. You're pathetic."

"Believe, or rather don't believe what you want, Mr. Suit." Eri chirped, glancing over at the newly summoned Cyber Phoenix without much interest, "But whether you like it or not, this is a Shadow Game, so you better start believing."

Duelist: Michel
Life Points: 5450
Hand: 0
Field: Next Armored Core (2700/2300), Cyber Phoenix (1200/1600), Anatolia, EN Gauge
Graveyard: Primal Armored Core, Swords of Revealing Light, Mystical Space Typhoon, Normal Armored Core, Original Armored Core, Muscle Tracer, Primal Armor, Stabilisers

"My turn now." she continued, her initial disposition returning, "Hokay! I'll go with this... First, I activate my face-down spell card, Pick Nick's Basket!"

On her command, her previous set card burst into life, summoning a rather innocent looking boy to the field. Adorned in a similar attire to that of her trump card, the boy also wore a hooded cloak but with a pair of shorts instead of a pleaded skirt, an additional basket gracing his bent arms.

"As long this cute little guy stays on the field, both of us can add a spell or trap card from our decks to our hand at the end of our turns." the sakura-haired girl proceeded to explain, "Of course, we do skip our next draw phases and can't use it until the end of our next turn, but I think that's a fair deal, if I do say so myself. Hehe. Aren't I generous?"

Seeing the elitist's absent response, the girl screwed up her face and gave him the wettest raspberry she could muster.

"Anyway, to finish up, I'll set one card in face-down defense position and activate Nick's effect." Eri continued, flashing him the drawn card's details before re-shuffling her deck and ending her turn, "Your move Mr. Suit."

Duelist: Eri
Life Points: 6200
Hand: 2
Field: Metalzoa (3000/2300), 1 Monster Card (face-down), Heart of the Underdog, Pick Nick's Basket
Graveyard: Rabbit's Hole, Justi-Break, Mystical Space Typhoon, Pot of Avarice, Emissary of the Afterlife, Riding Hood Red, Zoa, Metalmorph

Draw Phase: Over Boost

Perfect. After hearing the new rules applied by this so-called "Shadow Game", Michel deduced that the quickest way to end this shamble of a duel was to take a direct approach. A much more direct approach. Drawing Over Boost was one but two pieces needed to accomplish such a maneuver and it was only a matter of time until the next one presented itself.

Looking over the field, he noticed that the mechanical bird was beginning to falter in its usual solid composure, displaying similar symptoms to that of his Muscle Tracer previously. There were only two turns left before it could no longer attack and since his Next Armored Core was nothing more than a hefty meat shield, it was his only means of defeating the girl.

"Cyber Phoenix, attack her face-down card."

Letting out scrambled waves of a screech, the mechanised bird poised itself above the defending monster before unleashing a torrent of hair-splitting gusts of wind from its rapid beating wings. In response, the horizontal card revealed itself, summoning a simple dulled jar in its place before then disintegrating on the spot, the sinister creature inside smiling wickedly throughout.

Knowing full well the effects of the destroyed Morphing Jar, he proceeded to discard his only card and draw his next five before the girl could even purse her lips to explain. He was too reckless.

Draw Effect: Limiter Removal, Normal Armored Core, Kojima Core, Prototype Next Armored Core, Kojima Shield

Duelist: Eri
Life Points: 6200
Hand: 5
Field: Metalzoa (3000/2300), Heart of the Underdog, Pick Nick's Basket
Graveyard: Rabbit's Hole, Justi-Break, Mystical Space Typhoon, Pot of Avarice, Emissary of the Afterlife, Riding Hood Red, Zoa, Metalmorph, Morphing Jar, Loli Pop, Rabid Fruit of the Zoas

"Idiot. You were suppose to be cautious and not attack." Eri pouted, trailing off into undiscernable grumbles as she looked over her new hand.

Ignoring the girl's comment, the sleek black-haired duelist waved off the end of his turn after setting a single card face-down on the field.

Duelist: Michel
Life Points: 5450
Hand: Limiter Removal, Normal Armored Core, Kojima Core, Prototype Next Armored Core
Field: Next Armored Core (2700/2300), Cyber Phoenix (1200/1600), Anatolia, EN Gauge, Kojima Shield (face-down)
Graveyard: Primal Armored Core, Swords of Revealing Light, Mystical Space Typhoon, Normal Armored Core, Original Armored Core, Muscle Tracer, Primal Armor, Stabilisers, Over Boost

For the first time in the duel, the little brat who was second to Edgeworth in pure undiluted annoyance, begun her turn without opening her trap. It was miraculous. However, it was then that he figured she had a reason for quietening down and in due time that hunch proved itself to be true.

After witnessing the girl's rather unstable personality, he was quite content with facing her current disposition, one that wasn't laughing maniacally every time her holographic monster cut through his. But as she quietly surveyed her hand, he could begin to see traces of her alter ego resurfacing. The rims of her eyes pushed back as that sickly sweet but psychotic smile made another appearance.

"I was hoping to defeat you mano-a-mecha but it looks like I can't stop what's meant to be." she started up, struggling with all her might to suppress bursting out in laughter, "Just so you know though, I don't like relying on such simple strategies to win a duel. But you gave me choice, you really didn't!"

Without even looking at her hand, the girl began laying out her cards onto the field, maintaining eye contact with him throughout.

"Mind, this won't kill you immediately but it will do some damage!" the Shadow Duelist piped, brimming with enthusiasm as she activated her first card, "So let's start with this. Loli Pop Usurper, I summon thee! Hehe!"

It was no surprise to see the same monster form from her previous Loli Pop monster emerge onto the field. However this time, there was a slight difference in its appearance. Bearing no hood and a much more sinister expression, the new little girl snapped her razor sharp fangs as she took in her surroundings, her crimson eyes burning as she did so. Still, with only an additional fifty attack points, it was hard to believe that the Shadow Duelist's new monster could pose any more of a threat. That was until she played her next card.

"Gift of the Martyr, activate!" she cried, slapping down her next spell, "I'll take all of my poor little Metalzoa's attack points and feed them to my new Usurper."

Heeding the girl's command, the mechanised fiend was immediately wrapped in a ghostly veil, its appearance reminiscent of a woman with outstretched wings. Moments later, an impressive beam erupted around the monster, violently shaking the ground and immediately tearing the machine to shreds, littering the field with its shrapnel. The new little fiend then stretched out both arms as to embrace the incoming boost in power, rocketing its attack up to forty-two hundred and fifty points. Much like its previous form, the girl now radiated an aura of extreme lust and an additional thirst for blood.

"Now!" came Eri's shrill proclamation of justice, her piercing smile growing even wider as her eyes followed suit, now completely distorting her face, "I activate Enchanting Fitting Room! "

Drawing an additional four cards, she greedily skimmed through them and happily slapped down one more monster onto the field before quickly reshuffling her deck and proceeding to wrap up her turn.

"Time to end this. Sword of the Soul-Eater, activate!"

The heir didn't even have to ask as the cursed and blackened sword rose up from its projected card on the field before falling into the Loli Pop Usurper's hands. Seeing that her opponent understood, she proceeded to tribute off her special summoned monster to increase her initial monster's attack even further.

In the wake of her new monster, all he could do was sit back and watch. No matter what happened now, once her turn was over he'd send her to his own personal hell. It was as simple as that. Destroying her Morphing Jar previously had hindered his initial plan but gave way for another, one that was more than enough to defeat her in a single turn. And since it was quite evident her mental condition was slipping, crushing her would be all too easy. How she had conducted her entire turn so far was proof of that. All that was left to do was to play his part.

Duelist: Eri
Life Points: 5400
Hand: 1
Field: Loli Pop Usurper (5250/0), Heart of the Underdog, Pick Nick's Basket, Sword of the Soul-Eater
Graveyard: Rabbit's Hole, Justi-Break, Mystical Space Typhoon, Pot of Avarice, Emissary of the Afterlife, Riding Hood Red, Zoa, Metalmorph, Morphing Jar, Loli Pop, Rabid Fruit of the Zoas, Gift of the Martyr, Metalzoa, Enchanting Fitting Room, Loli Pop

"Now, it's just a matter of which monster I should kill first..." she breathed in short sharp rasps, her voice hoarse from her previous bout of laughter, "You see, I have a suspicion you're hiding something from me Mr. Suit... Something like another Armored Core to top off your Next, hehe. Of course, I could be wrong and go the safe route by destroying your Phoenix, seeing as how that that would inflict the most damage, right?"

Michel remained silent, awaiting for the girl to make up her mind. The duel had already dragged on for far longer than he had anticipated and he was more than ready to end it.

"I want to attack both of them!" Eri laughed, somewhat serious in her command, her Loli Pop Usurper more than willing to do the deed but bound by the game's rules to avoid from doing such a thing, "Haah... Fine! You might not take any damage thanks to your field spell but at least you won't be able to summon another monster. Loli Pop Usurper, destroy his Next Armored Core!"

If she was thinking properly, she would've attacked his Cyber Phoenix, not only because his Next Armored Core couldn't be destroyed that turn but because she wouldn't have wasted all of her tributes for nothing. The fact that she knew this and did the complete opposite only ensured her downfall.

Activating his face-down card, Kojima Shield's effect immediately came into play, encasing his Next Armored Core in a transparent, hexagon-tiled and spherical barrier. Adjusting her grip on the cursed sword, the Loli Pop Usurper proceeded regardless of his defense, an expression of heightened exhilaration gracing her features. Swinging the blackened blade with a mighty heave, the Shadow Duelist's monster was drawn into the shield, the edge of the sword striking its reflective surface before flinging the young girl back with tremendous force. It was the perfect defense.

Eri's expression immediately changed from heightened bliss to downright shock.

"W-What happened...?" she breathed, falling to her knees as her monster fell back, a rather annoyed look on her face, "I... It can't be..."

It was then that it happened. Seeing his opponent wearily and pathetically gasp in defeat in front of him, all he could think about was wholly and completely destroying her where she sat. The feeling inside him burned like a deep hidden desire that was finally being realised. He relished in the girl's suffering and could only think of ending her existence then and there. Her madness was infectious and before he knew it, his own subdued intent erupted at the newly presented chance.

"Crap..." he gasped, suppressing his voice as much as he could before clutching his throbbing chest, immediately turning his back on the others to ensure no one witnessed his momentary lapse, "W-What is this...?"

Seeing the suit's sudden change in demeanor, the little Shadow Duelist immediately leapt to her feet, recognising the very symptoms he was displaying.

"So you can actually feel it?" she chirped with renewed enthusiasm, "That's amazing!"

"Shut up." he shot back, recomposing himself despite the swelling feeling inside him, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"D'wah... You really shouldn't fight it." Eri continued before her features once again distorted to the extreme, "Just embrace the madness. There's no escape once you're infected."

"I said shut up." he spat, growing even more irritable than when he had first started, "I'm ending this now."

"W-Wait!" the girl exclaimed in desperation, "I... I can make the pain go away!"

Draw Phase: Primal Armored Core

"I don't know what you're..." he started before deciding not to dignify her claim with a response, realising there were still spectators at bay and showing any signs of weakness was a big no-no when in the middle of a duel, let alone in front of a bunch of obnoxious little brats.

"I know you can feel it!" the Shadow Duelist exclaimed, "If you keep going, this ring will drive you insane. If you stop, I... I can turn you back to normal!"

"I special summon Prototype Next Armored Core."

The enclosed ball of light that sat dormant in his Next Armored Core's center then erupted, engulfing not only the machine but the entire field as well in a blinding flash of light, stopping the girl's cries and giving Michel a chance to catch his breath. When visibility returned, a lone figure stood on the field, its body wrapped in a ghastly veil of light, its ligaments levitating in place with no solid foundation or connection. Reaching the same height as its previous form, the Prototype Next Armored Core stood firm in place, its inner body completely imbued by light, while its more significant features were lined with sleek armour plating.

"N-No way... Wh-What happened?" Eri gasped, looking over the field that was now completely bare of all cards, "I..."

"Prototype's effect..." the heir started, ignoring the still stabbing pains inside, "Once it's summoned, all cards on the field are destroyed. I then take damage equal to the number of cards destroyed multiplied by three hundred."

Duelist: Michel
Life Points: 3050
Hand: Limiter Removal, Normal Armored Core, Kojima Core, Primal Armored Core
Field: Prototype Next Armored Core (3200/2400)
Graveyard: Primal Armored Core, Swords of Revealing Light, Mystical Space Typhoon, Normal Armored Core, Original Armored Core, Muscle Tracer, Primal Armor, Stabilisers, Over Boost, Next Armored Core, Kojima Shield, Cyber Phoenix, Anatolia, EN Gauge

Duelist: Eri
Life Points: 5400
Hand: 1
Field: 0
Graveyard: Rabbit's Hole, Justi-Break, Mystical Space Typhoon, Pot of Avarice, Emissary of the Afterlife, Riding Hood Red, Zoa, Metalmorph, Morphing Jar, Loli Pop, Rabid Fruit of the Zoas, Gift of the Martyr, Metalzoa, Enchanting Fitting Room, Loli Pop, Loli Pop Usurper, Heart of the Underdog, Pick Nick's Basket, Sword of the Soul-Eater

Gripping his final card, the elitist watched his counter drop before sliding it into the card reader. If the Prototype Next Armored Core's appearance wasn't domineering enough, the effect of Limiter Removal quite literally doubled its strength.

"I don't know why you people keep following us but it's getting really annoying." Michel breathed, running a sore hand through his hair as he stared directly into his opponent's eyes, "And keep your magic trash to yourself. I'm not interested."

The last thing he expected from his opponent at a time like this was to laugh but that was exactly what she did. Slapping a hand against her forehead, the pink bubblegum-haired girl gave him her last psychotic smile.

"Hehe, I lied. I was never going to help you, so congratulations for putting up a fight." she started with her patented grin of doom, "But that still doesn't mean you're safe. Like I said, once you're infected, there's no escape. It's only a matter of time Mr. Suit. Enjoy your last few days of sanity."

"Prototype Next Armored Core...attack her directly."

The duel was over after a brilliant flash of light and in little over than a few seconds. Deactivating his duel disk and watching the field disappear before him, he looked over to the end of the ring where his opponent remained lying on the ground, wide-eyed and smiling. It was over and with that, the suppression of his inner intent. The only thing he wanted to know now was why he always seemed to attract the psychopaths. Quite frankly, it was getting really annoying.

OOC: Yes I cheated, I realised I could have very easily won with Eri and I really did want Michel to lose but against a Shadow Duelist, I couldn't let that happen. xD And on that note, I made up another one of those special rules that always seem to go along with these fantastic little Shadow Games we play. It only really applied to Michel x Eri's duel even though I insinuated it applied to anyone in the ring of fire, so no pressure Thesis. xP

 

[Alter Ego]

"Well, that was...disturbing."

Tacey honestly couldn't find any better words to describe the scene that had just unfolded in front of her eyes. Annoying little kid with a sacharine-coated manner endearing enough to give the casual onlooker a toothache one moment, raving mad shadow duelist from hell the next. This Eri sure was...unstable. As much as the millionaire heiress detested Arma, she actually found herself relieved to find that he had beaten the psycopath, if only because it meant one less card game-obsessed lunatic in her hair. Besides, though he may not have known it yet, Arma had just let slip something that would come to cost him dearly in the finals; the contents of his deck, processed and analyzed this very moment. That, in other words, meant one less rival to worry about as well. Two birds with one stone, a stone Tacey had not even needed to throw herself; this day was finally starting to look up.

"Oh my, you look a little peaked, Arma." barbed the rich girl - never one to refrain from kicking a foe when he was down - "Are you sure that you're quite ready for children's card games yet? I'd hate for you to drop out for health issues or anything." despite her experiences, she didn't take any of the rabid psycho girl's ramblings about madness seriously. Sure, these shadow game things had a nasty sting to them, but anything beyond that was surely just Arma overreacting.

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​

"Two down, four to go." the male idly shifted to a more comfortable position, briefly lowering the binoculars to give his warm, light brown eyes a rest, "Pity that Eri had to go, though." he mused, "She had such pretty hair. Ah, well..."

Smoothing back his own, similarly colored, hair the lightly built sixteen-and-something calmly stretched his stiffened joints one at a time, yawning as he did so, though he still kept an a half-attentive eye on the remaining duel as he proceeded to sort out his cream-colored dress shirt and midnight blue trousers. The second game was of no greater concern or interest to him. Kaito was a lackey, entertainment at best, and unlike his sister, Koji had no adorable little monsters to come with. It was all quite tedious, really. Hence why he had lagged behind to watch the show from a nearby rooftop instead of joining his colleagues in the ambush. He had one, specific target anyway; no way was he going to waste his time going through the rest of them at random.

"You can come out now, by the way." he added over his shoulder, apparently content with his preparations, "I don't bite...not even sweet little girls like yourself."

"Pretty sharp, Sakura-chan." chirped a voice even more girlish than the boy's own countertenor, its owner sauntering into view from what had looked like a perfectly innocent set of shadows, "I didn't know you'd spot me so quick."

"I didn't know you were hiding." the male retorted, finally giving his body a lazy half-turn to face his pint-sized adversary, "I've been aware of you ever since you started tailing those two back at the hospital, but your efforts at tracking me instead were just too cute...I couldn't help playing along just a little, I'm sure you understand." he offered the purple-haired girl an airy smile, "Now will you give me a name or shall I be forced to torture it out of you?" his jovial smile and friendly voice didn't falter for even a moment.

"Haruko des!" the girl, equally chipper, replied with an intonation that would have made any native Japanese speaker cringe.

"Not part of team seven, I gather." the boy remarked with a brief nod, "And not Japanese either by the sound of it. You can call me Angelo, a name just as genuine as yours, no doubt. And now that we're on a first-name basis, my dear, how do you propose that we solve our little...conflict of interests?"

"Our wha-?" the girl's brow furrowed in concentration, "You use such funny words, Sakura-chan. What do you mean?"

Angelo let out a small laugh, "Impeccable." he said, "It seems that you are more of an actor than a spy, Haruko. You know what I mean as well as I do, if not even moreso. Kindly drop the charade. It seems like we are both after the same goal and obviously that will not do."

"Chara-?" Haruko repeated in a voice betraying no sign of recognition, "More funny words, Sakura-chan. Haruharu is Haruharu, there is no chara-, charai-, whatever-thingie here." she smiled innocently, "And Haruharu is not after anything, except maybe a card game."

Angelo sighed in forfeit, "So be it, then." he retorted, "Since you persist with acting like a child, I guess we shall have to settle this like children do." with a snap of his fingers, thick tendrils of shadow energy snaked their way up straight from the concrete roof, curling and twisting around each other until they formed an impenetrable thicket of a dome around the two duelists, countless dark purple flowers blossoming from the otherworldly vines and immediately eliciting a delighted little squeal from the girl.

"I'm glad you like my little garden, Haruko-san." the male remarked, removing the wrapped bundle he had carried on his back and slipping the duel disc within it - colored to match his hair, with a number of different reds and occasional splash of purple for color, complete with a detailed floral pattern adding visual appeal - on his arm and slipping a deck from his back pocket into it, "Because once we're through with our little game, one of us will remain in it for all eternity."

"Ohhh...I don't think I could stay that long." Haruko replied, once again donning an adorably concerned little expression as she slipped on her own disc and raised it in a manner similar to her opponent's, "If I don't come back in a few days, Kei-kei-chan will be really worried, you know." there was just a hint of a threat behind her sugary sweet manner as she finished, "Guess that means you'll have to stay then, huh Sakura-chan?"

"I guess we'll have to see." Angelo said, his smile just as unfaltering as his opponent's, "Let the shadow game commence."

 

[Scarlet Weather]

Over on the other end of the veil of flames, a different duel was taking place, and Achan was caught up in it. "That thing... what is it?" he asked, staring at the monster in front of Koji.

Judai shook his head. "I've never seen anything like this before- and since I test experimental cards, I know that this one hasn't been released by Industrial Illusions yet!"

Kaito breathed heavily, staring at his fallen life point meter. "That monster..."

Koji's grin spread until it seemed as if his face would split. "This monster is the ultimate destroyer of any effect monster! It will swallow anything you try to play whole! And not only that, but my normal monsters will continually be reborn from the graveyard as long as I control it. Face it- next turn, you'll lose!"

Kaito smirked. "I highly doubt that," he countered, thouh inside he seemed slightly nervous. Heh... that monster. Amazing, that he managed to back me into a corner like this...

A FEW MINUTES EARLIER......​

"Since this is my draw phase, the effect of Heart of the Underdog activates! If I draw a normal monster, I can show it to you in order to draw again," Koji explained as he flashed the card he had just drawn to Kaito. Sure enough, the card had a light brown border characteristic of normal monsters. "And next, I'll draw again! Check it out!" With that, a red aura suddenly flared up, surrounding Koji and his deck as he pulled out the next card and glanced at it. "Perfect! Another normal monster!" He repeated the flash to Kaito, before summoning the red aura again and lunging for his deck.

"Sumisu-kun, look at that."

Achan leaped nearly three feet into the air in surprise before backing up. "Judai! I didn't see you there," he complained, annoyed that the strange duelist had snuck up on him. It was then that he noticed the other duelist's eyes- they had changed from their normal brown to the distinct orange-and-green color that Tacey had told him about. "Judai, what-"

"Sumisu-kun, look at that other duelist. Do you see anything strange about that aura surrounding him?" Judai interrupted, pointing at Koji.

Achan stared at the strange duelist in the black parka for a moment before shaking his head. "No, not really," he admitted. "It looks like an ordinary hologram to me." Except that it isn't, a small corner of Achan's mind whispered to him. It's a freaking burst of power, given to him by the effect of an actual spell, in an actual contest of magic, monsters, and traps. And he's actually trying to kill Kaito. But... Achan stared at the strange duelist a little more closely. No, that's not quite it either. I see... something about that card... It's like he's siphoning energy from it? No, he was storing energy in it, and now he's drawing it out... No, not that either. Wait a minute... Achan stopped focusing on the aura for a moment and stared at the duelist. Now that I think about it, that guy was pretty laid back at the start of the duel. But it seems like each time he draws a card, he gets a little more excited... could that be it? Achan remembered what had happened just a few hours earlier, on the hospital roof. Nicholas... part of his powers came from the fact that he was using that freaky sanctuary card, or something like that, he recalled. What if... maybe the powers of the shadow duelist are linked to their cards? Then that would mean... that Heart of the Underdog card is the source of his power! He returned his attentions to Judai, only to see the other duelist nodding in approval.

"I can tell from your expression that you've noticed it too," Judai commented. "It's common. All shadow duelists draw strength from a particular card that they've poured their power into. Once that card is played and its effect is activated, they start to act differently- almost as if the power takes over their mind."

Achan stared. "Then, that guy..."

Judai nodded. "I have no idea how much sanity he has left now."

Kaito pointed at his opponent and immediately yelled "STOP!", freezing him mid-draw. "That last card was an effect monster! Heart of the Underdog doesn't allow you to do that!"

Koji shook his head, smirking. "Sure it does, idiot!" he shouted, all of his previous laid-back nature apparently gone. "Take a look at this monster's effect! Master of the Underdog counts as a normal monster whenever a card effect needs to be determined, so hah!"

Kaito's eyes narrowed. A monster like that... we've never printed anything like that at Industrial Illusions...

"And, now- Draw!" At last, Koji seemed to have hit a spell or trap, because he didn't make any move to show the card to Kaito. The card designer stared at his opponent's massive hand- he had gone through at least seven straight monsters before Kaito had lost count. Koji noticed the attentions, smirking. "So, you want to know what I'm going to do with a hand of this size, right?" he taunted. "I'll tell you- first, I activate my face-down Birthright!" There was a sudden flash of light as the continuous trap flipped up. The flash condensed first into a pillar, and then into a white, werewolf-like monster with four massive arms.

Kaito smirked. "You really think that Gene-warped Warwolf of yours can cut through my life points on its own? Even if you tribute it away for a stronger monster, I can simply destroy it next turn and you'll be stuck trying to mount a defense with your normal monsters- something, I'm afraid, that every single card you just drew is incapable of."

"Perhaps, but you don't quite see the big picture!" Koji countered. "This Warwolf of mine... he's hungry for your blood. Now what can I do to help him get at it?" The duelist made a big show of hunting through his hand for a particular card, as his monster stared at Kaito hungrily, growling at the massive Dark World monster that blocked its way. "I know!" Koji suddenly exclaimed as he selected a card, snapping his fingers in mock realization. "I'll use this! I summon Master of the Underdog!" With that, a burst of flame suddenly shot from the space directly to the left of Gene-Warped Warwolf, before building up in intensity to the level of a rather large bonfire. From the inside stepped a tall, long-haired young man, the exact image of the indomitable fighter on the continuous spell card behind him. As the flames behind him faded, the warrior casually searched his pockets for something, before removing a packet of cigarettes and lighting one. Once the cigarette was in his mouth, and the packs were safely away, the monster made a quick survey of the opponent's field, including the rather large warlord on it. Nonplussed by the presence of a rather large dark-attribute monster, the fighter merely held out a fist, as if ready for combat.

Kaito was suspicious of the opponent already, and he was now almost sure of what was going on. Then he wasn't planning to tribute for Frostosaurus after all... I had anticipated that move when he drew it... but that monster, it doesn't seem to have a destruction effect, meaning that the reason for this move can only- no, it couldn't be...

"Ready to scream?" Koji asked, bloodlust shining from his eyes. "I activate the true ability of my Master of the Underdog! Go, now, begin tuning! Resonate with the Underdog's heart!" At this command, the Master of the Underdog immediately dropped his fist into a "thumbs-down", before plucking his cigarette from his mouth and throwing it to the ground. Then he stamped on it. This action, far from putting out the cigarette, caused it to explode, creating a bonfire around the Master of the Underdog similar to the one he had stepped out of. As the monster slowly faded into the flames, he stared into Kaito's eyes before giving him one last smirk. Then, in a flash, the flames had consumed him. The fire grew into a massive pillar, before splitting off into four separate chunks. These chunks hovered in the air for a few moments before compressing themselves into four gleaming, white orbs. As the assembled duelists stared, the orbs shot towards Koji's other monster, who adeptly seized all four- one in each massive claw- and swallowed them one by one. With the orbs now in its stomach, the werewolf began to glow. As the glow intensified, the monster let out one last angry howl before it shattered into a burst of light, sending sparks flying out in every possible direction.

Achan stared in amazement. "But why the hell did he destroy his own monsters? Was he tributing them for some sort of effect?"

Judai shook his head. "No. Look."

The sparks scattered by the monster's explosion were slowly drifting together. In a few moments, they had formed themselves into a distinct shape, and a sudden flame burst from their center. In the space of a few moments, they had transformed into a giant warrior. He resembled the Master of the Underdog completely, except for two slight differences. First, his trademark headband had been replaced by a golden circlet. And second, he was all of two feet taller and carried what appeared to be a broadsword over his left shoulder. With the same nonchalance as his predecessor, the monster removed a pack of cigarettes and lit one, before grinning and taking a fighting stance with his broadsword. Suddenly, Kaito's warlord looked rather small.

Achan was confused. "That monster... what the hell is it?"

Judai stared at it resolutely. "That's a Synchro monster," he explained.

Achan was still confused. "Synchro?"

Judai immediately launched into an explanation. "Synchros are an experimental new monster type scheduled to be released soon, like Fusion monsters and Ritual monsters. You summon a Synchro monster by sending one tuner monster and any number of non-tuner monsters to the graveyard. The only catch is that the monsters you send to the graveyard have to match the level of the Synchro monster you're trying to summon exactly, and some Synchro monsters require the tuners or non-tuners to be a specific monster or be of a specific type. They aren't supposed to be on the market yet, though, so why does this guy have one?"

Koji could barely restrain himself from cackling madly. "There, now do you see it? You can't win! Watch, the effect of my monster, King of the Underdog!" He slipped a card from his hand to the graveyard. "I just discard a card, and..." he gestured dramatically, reminding Achan suddenly of Kenta, "Be reborn, Gene-Warped Warwolf!" The King swung his massive blade once, and a tremor shook the ground as a spout of flames erupted next to him. From the spout stepped Gene-Warped Warwolf, completely unharmed by his most recent trip to the graveyard, and now, with the assurance of a direct attack soon to be made against Kaito's life points, hungrier than ever. "Now, Gene-Warped Warwolf..." Koji ordered, pointing at his opponent with glee, "Get Ready! First, King of the Underdog, clear the way with Fatal Underdog Slash! Then, you follow up with Bloodlust Fang!" Koji grinned at his opponent madly. "I wonder... what color is your blood?"

Achan made a face as the King's blade immediately sliced through Silva, parting the Warlord's halves instantly. "Ew... just gross. Isn't everyone's blood red?"

Judai shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid that shadow duelist has just left the building," he replied, tapping his skull meaningfully.

Kaito, however, was not so amused as he found his shoulders gripped by two of the Warwolf's hands before he was lifted into the air. The other two hands immediately slashed across his chest, causing him to gasp in pain as the monster dropped him to the ground and walked back to its original position.

Achan was confused. "Hey, wasn't that attack supposed to be 'Bloodlust Fang'? All he did was use his claws! Shouldn't he have, y'know, bit Kaito or something?"

Judai shook his head in dismay. "Sumisu-kun, I thought you knew that logic like that doesn't apply to card games."

Kaito slowly pulled himself to his feet, as his opponent taunted him. "Heh, is that all you've got? You can't win! Once I end my turn, I'll discard the other monsters I drew until my graveyard is full of normal monsters! And then, one at a time, I'll bring them all back and destroy you! But first- Non-Spellcasting Area, activate! And I'll set one card and end my turn." The cards appeared in a burst of light.

Kaito breathed heavily, but said nothing.

BACK TO THE PRESENT...​

I can't believe that this duelist backed me into a corner like this in just a few turns....

It's a pity that I'll have to kill him now.

Koji's laughter was still pealing out, despite the apparent loss of his sister next to him, when Kaito suddenly pulled himself to his feet. "Shut up," the card designer ordered. "I'm not finished with this duel yet."

"Eh? Looks like you can still-" Koji began, but before he could finish the sentence, he noticed something on Kaito's chest- something that had been hidden by his blazer. A series of dark, intercrossing lines. "You-"

Kaito smiled grimly. "Don't look so surprised," he chided, as a sudden wind began blowing. "Just because you got in a cheap shot doesn't mean that I'll let you win this duel. You've got a ways to go..."

Duelist: Koji
LP: 7700
Hand: Six Cards
Monsters: Gene-Warped Warwolf (Atk 2000), King of the Underdog (2800)
S/T: Heart of the Underdog, Birthright, Non-Spellcasting Area, one set S/T
Graveyard: Luster Dragon, 2x Frostosaurus, Master of the Underdog, 2x Gene-Warped Warwolf, Gemini Elf, Vorse Raider, 2x Insect Knight

Duelist: Kuroda Kaito
LP: 5600
Hand: Enemy Controller, Phantasm of Chaos, Foolish Burial
Field: Limit Reverse
Graveyard: Akuma Kuriboh, Silva, Warlord of Dark World
RFG: None

OOC: Okay, so it took me this long to post, and I only do one turn. It's called "dramatic respect." So sue me. XD

 

[Alter Ego]

Well, the moment the term 'Synchro Monster' had popped up it was safe to say that Tacey's interest in Arma - or even the contents of his deck - was shoved aside. At Achan's inquiry, instinct compelled the rich girl to speak up and impress her superior knowledge of card games on the boy once more, but fortunately she had the sense to hold her tongue. Synchro Monsters were, after all, still something of a secret, and leaks with any significant rank within Industrial Illusions were hard to come by. Blurting out something that would lead Pegasus' lackeys to hers would have been a terrific waste of two years' patient bribery and lead-fishing, not to mention the tone that would have set for their visit. She almost shuddered at the thought.

Besides, there was a far more pressing concern here. If Kaito's words were to be relied upon - and somehow she felt that they were - then these shadow duelist goons didn't just have an excessive amount of free time on their hands; they also had, it seemed, an open license to print out their own cards at their leisure. Not good, not good at all. Predicting as wide a scope of known strategies as possible was one thing, but preparing against something tailor-made to take her down? That wasn't just hard; it was impossible. This new information had Tacey so wrapped up in her own thoughts that it took her a while to notice the exchange between Achan and Judai, but when as part of their conversation finally filtered through to her, the millionaire heiress couldn't help raising an eyebrow, particularly at Achan's little peering attempt. By the time the two boys started talking about some unspoken topic between them, Tacey had had quite enough, letting out an offended little cough.

"Whenever you two feel like sharing with someone who does not hear the little voices in your heads..." she remarked sourly, "...I'd appreciate getting to know precisely what this nonsense you're babbling about means. And that includes your little tribal tattoos too, mr. guide." she shot in Kaito's direction, throwing her hands up in exasperation, "Card-playing lunatics everywhere, I swear. Oh, and do share with the class too, Manjoume." she added for the benefit of their black-blazered and continuously silent companion, "Are you hiding some primal body artistry beneath that coat of yours too or will you just go rabid over a card game? Perhaps talk to some figments of your imagination too, or just drop unconscious for a while? No, no..." she forestalled the older duelist, "Please share. I insist."

Manjoume briefly considered his options, finally speaking up, "Well, since you insist..." he began in his usual drawl, "I did get possessed by the Light of Destruction once, and I am feeling this funny urge to wear white again-"

"Not. Funny." Tacey grit out.

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​

"Duel."

"Duel, desu!"

Angelo flinched slightly as the proud, Japanese language was manhandled once more, though he still stocked his hand, "Must you really be so loud?" he complained, earning an innocent little giggle and another endearing smile from his opponent, "Oh, never mind." he reached for his deck, "Challenger goes first."

Duelist: Angelo
LP: 8000
Hand: 6 cards

Duelist: Haruko
LP: 8000
Hand: 5 cards

"And I will begin my turn with this. Sangan in Attack Position and a card face-down. Turn end."

With a quick set of hand-motions on the shadow-duelist's part, a giant card back materialized on his field while a large, sphere-shaped creature covered in dark brown fur materialized on the screen, the sharp claws on its naked, gangly limbs and the equally menacing fangs in its mouth creating a bizarre contrast with the three, almost endearing yellow eyes that stared at the girl.

"Kawaiii!" Haruko squealed in utter delight, jumping up and down on the spot and beaming at the creature, "Okay, Sakura-chan." she reached a hand towards her own deck, "Since you showed me such an adorable monster, I'm going to do the same for you! Doroo!" with ridiculously overdone flourish, the little girl added one more card to her hand. And if her opponent had thought this overblown, he was in for a nasty shock at Haruko's reaction to actually seeing the card she had drawn, the purple-haired little girl bouncing up and down in sheer hyperness, "Yatta-a-a!" she squealed triumphantly, "I drew it! I drew it, Sakura-chaaaan! Boy, are you in for a treat!" beaming, she promptly guided a card from her hand into the nearest monster card slot, "I summon, the prettyful Aether Fairy Skydancer!"

With graceful flourish, a lithe, spritely girl - surely no older than ten - appeared on Haruko's field. Despite physically looking like little more than a particularly thin ballerina, her skin had a slight tint of blue to it, a color far more predominantly displayed in the long, powder blue, braided ponytail that was her hair, and to top the surreality off, a delicate pair of dragonfly wings - shimmering in a wide spectrum all the way from a deep blue to a near-iridescent white - jutted from her back. On a casual look, the girl didn't seem to wear any clothes at all, but looking closer one realized that she was, in fact, wearing a thin tutu, albeit one of a color very close to her skin's, "Isn't she just too kawaii-i-i?" Haruko bubbled on, "But that's not all; just wait until you see what she can do! Battle Phase on!" the spritely monster immediately snapped to attention at the words. And sure enough, Haruko wasted no time, "Skydancer, attaaack..." she purposefully drew out her command as the monster leapt forward, truly looking very much like it was dancing as it approached Sangan head-on, "...Sakura-chan directly!"

With a graceful leap, the fairy sprung straight over her baffled would-be opponent, delivering a sharp kick straight to Angelo's face instead, "Cute trick." the shadow duelist remarked, rubbing his cheek as 600 points deducted themselves from his counter, "But shouldn't you be a bit more worried about leaving a monster on my field like that, Haruko-san? I am a very dangerous shadow duelist, after all." his smile and demeanor were as warm and welcoming as ever as he gave a soft chuckle at his own words, "Who knows what kind of powerful monster I could tribute summon next turn?"

"I'm sure it would be very pretty." Haruko replied in a carefree tone, "But I don't think Sakura-chan will get to enjoy his monster that long. I activate, Eff-e-ma-ri-ty! Yeah!" donning a smile of purest contentment at having pronounced such a long word, the girl seemed too hyper to even pay attention to the giant, green-framed card that materialized on her side, its illustration bearing the depiction of a butterfly in flight, its left side colorful and vibrant while the right was gray and crippled, slowly dissolving into the background, "Isn't it pretty too?" the girl demanded, "While Eff-eh-mari-whatever it's called is on the field, all cards that have been on the field for more than two turns go bye-bye. And now...Haruharu will set one card and end." a single giant card back beside the newly played spell concluded Haruko's turn, the little girl waving and beaming at her opponent as she cried "Your turn, Sakura-chaaaan! And you know what thaaat means!"

The giant card on Haruko's field flashed to life with an ominous green shimmer, both Sangan and the giant card back fading to dust, the former accompanied by a piteous scream, "Not too bad, Haruko-san." the male conceded, "But I'm afraid that I shall have the last laugh in this. First, Sangan's effect allows me to add any monster with attack power 1500 or less from my deck to my hand." he calmly searched through his deck until finally settling on a card, which he quickly flashed to his opponent before adding it to his hand, "And then, of course, there is still the matter of the trap you just triggered. I activate the effect of Dying Curse."

At the shadow duelist's words, his graveyard slot took on an eerie glow, dark energy seeping out from within and encircling Haruko's deck instead, accompanied by the undecipherable but definitely hostile mumbling of a disembodied voice, "Had you destroyed my Sangan, I could have claimed a number of cards equal to your Skydancer's level from your deck, but I'm afraid that even your clever little trick didn't spare you." he offered an apologetic smile, "Kindly discard two cards from the top of your deck, Haruko-san."

The girl didn't reply for once, merely acting as instructed, the energy and agitated voices fading away.

"And with that, my turn begins." the pink-haired duelist said, "Draw."

Duelist: Angelo
LP: 7400
Effect Add: 1 card
Hand: 6 cards
Graveyard: Sangan, Dying Curse

Duelist: Haruko
LP: 8000
Effect Discard: Aether Fairy Guardian, Generation Shift
Hand: 3 cards
Field: Aether Fairy Skydancer (1200/1000), Effemarity, 1 Spell or Trap (face-down)
Graveyard: Aether Fairy Guardian, Generation Shift

"I must admit." Angelo continued conversationally as he surveyed his options, "I didn't expect someone as young as yourself to understand the beauty of entropy. But it seems I was mistaken." he cast a meaningful glance at Haruko's Effemarity spell, "That card...is the one you bonded with, isn't it?"

"Bonded?" the purple-haired girl echoed, tilting her head quizzically, "Haruharu loves all her cards, silly Sakura-chan. It would be silly to bond with just one."

"Well, I will admit that your acting is consistent, at least." the shadow duelist replied, giving a sigh of forfeit, "Which is more than can be said for some, but it really, truly is pointless. You have the stench of darkness about you, little girl, try as you might to hide it with a sugar coating. And it is equally clear that you have gone through the bonding. After all..." his smile gained a slightly sly edge as he grasped one of the flowers growing within the dome, absent-mindedly inhaling its scent, even as the flower seemed to squirm in his grasp, "...you can see the flowers of my beautiful, beautiful garden, which means you must either be a spirit yourself or have enlisted the aid of one. Yet your heart and soul remain untainted by the scent of their despair..." he absent-mindedly twirled the flower's stalk back and forth between thumb and index finger, the plant squirming even more pitifully than before, until he eventually released it, "That, my dear Haruko-san, is only possible for a soul girded with darkness."

"That's silly talk, Sakura-chan!" Haruko persisted, folding her arms defensively and pouting at her opponent, "Haruharu is a good girl; Sakura-chan is just being a big meanie because he knows he can't win."

"Oh?" Angelo replied mildly, "Let's put that theory to the test then, shall we? I summon Reaper Zeibal, in attack position." as the card clicked into place, a bizarre creature spawned on Angelo's field. In body shape, it looked like something halfway between a chimp and a toad, its vaguely humanoid body was hunched forward, its grotesquely long and gangly arms - tipped with razor-sharp claws - nearly brushing the ground, while the knees of its equally disproportionate legs nearly met its chin, two deep-set purple eyes peering out from its bony, skull-like face. Whatever this creature was, it looked long-deceased. Its dark purple skin looked rotten and decayed, the coat of black fur that covered the entirety of its body - save for head and limbs - was patchy and listless, the blackened stumps on its back were certainly not fit to be called wings anymore, the lips on its bone-white face bore a light purple shade to them, and even the sharp rows of teeth lining its mouth were yellowed and decayed.

"Yes, he does tend to provoke a reaction." Angelo concurred, noting Haruko's look, "However, much like you cute little fairy he is capable of much more than just that. I'll equip him with the spell card, Betrayal Sword." at his words, an imposing claymore of solid black and dark gray steel, save for a precious-looking dark red ruby gemstone its pommel, appeared in Zeibal's hands, a peculiarly greedy look appearing in the monster's eyes as it examined its newly found possession, "With this card, my reaper's attack power is increased by 2000 points. More than enough for what I have in mind. Zeibal, attack her Skydancer!"

"Hooold it!" Haruko chimed, finally snapping out of fawning over the peculiar monster as she raised her hand up, "Haruharu has a face-down! Aether Link!"

With a surprising lack of graphical splendor, the fairy's slender form split into tiny particles, only to reassemble itself in the shape of a buff, bald male with chestnut brown skin and a thick, dark brown beard, the earthen-colored robe wrapped around his person failing to fully conceal the rippling musculature beneath it as it raised a sizable staff in front of it, a pair of bronze-colored beetle wings folded neatly against its back. Just as the graphics display seemed to be done, however, a faint shimmer of blue settled around the creature's back, causing Angelo to raise an eyebrow.

"Oh, don't you worry about that yet, Sakura-chan." the girl giggled, "What Sakura-chan needs to know now is that Aether Link makes one fairy go bye-bye but lets Haruharu summon another from her hand or graveyard."

"Hardly a significant change." the shadow duelist replied, "Zeibal, proceed with the attack."

The reaper licked its lips at the command, eagerly lunging at its new opponent and delivering a powerful two-hand slash across its chest. Despite obviously being in pain, the new fairy stood his ground without flinching however, which was more than could be said for either duelist.

"Betrayal Sword's...drawback effect." Angelo explained, slowly regaining his composure, "Any damage caused by the equipped monster is inflicted to both players."

"Aether Fairy...Guardian's effect..." Haruko wheezed back, "He can't be destroyed by battle in attack position."

"Ah, now I understand." Angelo replied, laughing lightly, "You played that card to conserve a monster on your field for your next turn, trading off something that would have been destroyed anyway. Not bad, but I am far from done. Monster effect, activate!" on command, the shadow duelist's monster suddenly threw its head straight up, using both of its hands to pry its massive jaws open far beyond what they should normally have reached, shoving both of its hands inside and beginning a fervent tugging attempt, "By reducing Reaper Zeibal's attack power by any multiple of 100, I can reduce your life points by the same amount...or claim one card from the top of your deck for every 300 points you would lose." his previous smile returned, even as he looked a bit paler than before, "It's your choice, Haruko-san."

With one, last gasp the ghoulish monster finally managed to pull out what it had been struggling with so long, a spectral replica of its body escaping up into the air, only to make a sharp u-turn and dive towards Haruko instead while the original sank back, even more drained and mangy than before.

"I..." the purple-haired girl hesitated for a moment, but soon reached a decisive hand towards her deck, "Haruharu will discard!" she announced, the spirit altering its course in mid-flight and landing on her deck instead, clinging persistently to the designated cards until they had reached the graveyard slot.

"As I hoped." Angelo said, "Activate, Reaper Call. With this spell, I can summon any one Reaper monster from my deck, provided that you've sent a number of cards equal to at least twice that monster's level to your graveyard this turn. You just discarded eleven, which is more than sufficient for this. Come forth, Reaper Endel."

From a haze of energy similar to the one that had just struck Haruko's deck, a second monster emerged to join Zeibal on the field. Unlike its companion, this creature looked practically bloated, the bulging stomach of its hairless, raw-pink body looking practically ready to burst and, if the multiple, clearly visible stitches that seemed to hold the monstrosity in one piece were anything to go by, it may well have done so previously. In comparison to this bulging planet of a torso, its feeble-looking limbs - the hands no more than a pair of sharp spikes - were dwarfed even further. Most eye-catching, however, was the creature's face, as the eyes were not only of different sizes but different colors as well - one a tiny, yellow spark, the other a huge electric blue oval - located on different heights, while the mouth was more like a giant, vertical gash running down from its neckless head all the way to what probably passed for the creature's navel.

"Adorable as he is, you will not get to enjoy his company for long." Angelo continued, "First, I tribute Reaper Zeibal." at his words, the bulkier ghoul's eyes immediately snapped to attention, it's mouth splitting into a grotesque imitation of a smile before opening even wider, a giant vacuum-like pull effortlessly dragging the monster's frailer counterpart into the hole, the fangs lining it immediately getting to work with brutal efficiency and soon decimating the unfortunate creature, "And in exchange, either a card of my choice will be destroyed, or you lose cards from the top of your deck equal to Zeibal's or the target's level, whichever is higher. I target you Effemarity spell card." with a loud belch, Endel's mouth released a blob of the by-now familiar dark energy, sending it on a direct course towards the spell card. This time, Haruko didn't hesitate, however, immediately pitching the designated cards from her deck.

"Once again, you live up to my expectations." the shadow duelist continued, "I tribute Endel himself and target your card once more." what followed was a sight best left undescribed, and indeed, the situation left little time for such things, as Haruko was soon forced to avert another burst of dark energy.

At the sight, Angelo couldn't help laughing out once more, "Such zest for life!" he exclaimed in delight, "But I would be a tad more cautious if I were you." he cast a meaningful glance at his opponent's considerably thinned deck, "If you struggle too hard for your life, it will only burn out that much faster. Between your card effects and mine, twenty cards have been sent to your graveyard this turn." a dangerous glint briefly appeared in his normally pleasant eyes, "This spell card shall make you feel that loss. I activate Reaper's Toll." as the spell card made contact with its slot, dark energy flared up violently around Haruko's graveyard, as if the entire card stack had been engulfed in flame, "For each card sent to your graveyard this turn, you lose 200 life points."

With a mighty roar, the flames sprang up and engulfed the girl, drowning out her scream as four thousand points were deducted from her counter in one go.

"You don't seem quite as lively as before." Angelo observed, pleasant as ever as he watched the tiny figure who had sunk to the ground and was gasping for breath, "Such a pity. And here I hoped that you would brighten up my lovely garden a little with your youthful exhuberance..."

"These...flowers..." Haruko managed, transfixed by the number of small, dark purple blossoms that had sprouted around her when the hit landed.

"So you really didn't notice until now?" the shadow duelist replied, sounding genuinely surprised for the first time since this duel had begun, though it soon broke up into his usual, pleasant mode of conversation, "Oh, Haruko-san, you truly are a most amusing little girl. Yes, these flowers have been feeding on us both right from the start. Oh, come now..." he remarked at the girl's shocked expression, "Didn't I already tell you that this is a shadow game? If anything, you should be thankful that all these little fragments of your soul are part of giving birth to something new, something this...beautiful." he raised his hands to encompass his personal little garden, his smile widening, "Just a little more, Haruko-san...just a little more and you'll be ready to join this grove with your full heart and soul. What a beautiful, beautiful way to die, wouldn't you agree? I set a card and end."

Duelist: Angelo
LP: 5200
Hand: 1 card
Field: 1 Spell or Trap (face-down)
Graveyard: Sangan, Dying Curse, Reaper Call, Reaper Zeibal, Betrayal Sword, Reaper Endel, Reaper's Toll

Duelist: Haruko
LP: 1800
Effect Discard: Aether Fairy Swordsman, Aether Mayfly, Effemarity, Aether Fairy Skydancer, Aether Fairy Torchbearer, Fey Gate, Aether Veil, The Boundless - Aether, Aether Vanguard, Ruthless Denial, Aether Link, Aether Fairy Swordsman, Aether Fairy Oracle, Heavy Storm, Torrential Tribute, Generation Shift, Aether Fairy Guardian, Aether Fairy Filcher, Aether Mayfly, Prince of Aether
Hand: 3 cards
Field: Aether Fairy Guardian (1000/2000), Effemarity
Graveyard: 2x Generation Shift, 2x Aether Fairy Skydancer, 2x Aether Link, 2x Aether Fairy Swordsman, 2x Aether Mayfly, Effemarity, Aether Fairy Torchbearer, Fey Gate, Aether Veil, The Boundless - Aether, Aether Vanguard, Ruthless Denial, Aether Fairy Oracle, Heavy Storm, Torrential Tribute, Generation Shift, Aether Fairy Guardian, Aether Fairy Filcher, Prince of Aether

 

[Scarlet Weather]

Koji seemed to have recovered himself a bit since Kaito's apparent revelation. "So, you're one of them, huh? Pity you won't live to utilize your full power."

Kaito rolled his eyes and simply moved his hand towards his deck. "I'm afraid that you've grasped my power too late," he grinned. "You Shadow Duelists, you really think you're the top of the heap when it comes to using the power of darkness, don't you? Know your place, grunt. I'll show you... my power!"

"Aw, shut the hell up!" Achan suddenly shouted, unable to contain himself. "Will you stop freakin' rambling about random superpowers and GET ON WITH THE DAMNED CARD GAME?"

Judai stepped about three paces back in alarm. "Sumisu-kun.... I had no idea you were so ruthless...."

Achan nodded affirmatively, crossing his arms. "Damn straight!"

Kaito shook his head sadly. "Sumisu... you should really learn to appreciate..."

Achan stared as a violent wind whipped up, surrounding Kaito. "What the-"

"The proper use of dramatic tension!" Kaito practically yelled as the whirlwind that now surrounded him and Koji blasted into the sky, obscuring both duelists from view.

Koji was still marginally in control of himself, and stared at his opponent. "So you really are one of them," he stated flatly, as his madness from moments before seemed to melt away. "A duelist who meddled with the darkness in exchange for power... one of those people who commits the greatest sin of all." He sounded almost delirious as he stared at the changes in Kaito's body. "You talk like you're a good guy, but you're really no better than the rest of us, are you? You just go about your business in a different way."

Kaito glared at his opponent. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

Koji grinned. "Sure I do! You wanted power, so you took it- by sucking it out of a helpless duel spirit! And they call me evil. Look at you!"

Kaito smirked. The reason he was currently obscured by the whirlwind he had summoned- a barrier within the Shadow Duelist's barrier- was because if he had allowed this appearance to be seen, it might have caused the others on his team to panic. The black sennen eye that had been stamped onto his chest had suddenly erupted long, black lines that had spread across his body, giving one of two impressions to any who dared to look on him. First, that he had painted black lines over his entire body. More discerning people, however, might notice that the solid lines were actually made up of bits and pieces of printed text all jammed together. Really, it was a rather frightening image, especially considering the fact that his eyes were glowing. "Yes, I suppose I do look rather fetching," Kaito admitted, placing his hand on his deck. "But you're wrong. The duel spirit I took this power from didn't have it sucked out- it became part of my essence willingly. Now, watch and despair!" A dark aura momentarily surrounded Kaito, and he immediately drew his card.

Draw Phase>>>>> Allure of Darkness

Kaito smirked. "Gotcha."

Koji rolled his eyes, his trace of control fading again. "Got what? More blood? I wanna see... wanna see you bleed more..."

Kaito shook his head sadly. "Poor fool... pity you'll lose. I activate Allure of Darkness, allowing me to draw two cards from my deck!"

A dark vortex appeared below Kaito's feet as he drew. "Of course, I'll have to remove one dark monster from my hand, so I'll remove Phantom of Chaos" he continued, dropping the card into the vortex where it was immediately swallowed. "And now, our duel continues!"

Effect Draw>>>> Dark Armed Dragon, Dark Grepher

Kaito's smile nearly split his face. "I'm afraid that our duel is now drawing to an end. First, I activate Limit Reverse, allowing me to special summon my Akuma Kuriboh in face-up attack position!"

The card shot up, and a burst of light heralded the summon of a very familiar monster. The black winged Kuriboh that had been stalking Achan flew to Kaito's shoulder, holding a sign in its claws that now read "All your souls are belong to us."

Koji, who at this point neither had the capacity nor knowledge to understand the pop culture reference, was confused. Why had his opponent summoned a level one monster?"

Kaito's grin got bigger. "Now, I summon Dark Grepher from my hand," he expained as the dark-attribute warrior stepped out from behind him, as if he had been hiding there through the entire duel. "And now... I'll show you what happens when you mess with an angry card designer! Akuma Kuriboh! Dark Grepher! Begin tuning! Resonate with the guardian's power!"

At his master's words, the Kuriboh immediately dropped its original sign to reveal another one, with "Tuning Up!" written on it. Then, without warning, the Akuma Kuriboh suddenly turned pitch black, and two white orbs burst from its body and flew towards Dark Grepher, who immediately shout out both its hands and caught them before squeezing them in his palms. There was a sudden flash, and Dark Grepher was suddenly replaced by a strange looking man with a painted face in some sort of traditional garb. He carried a long, whip-like weapon in his hands, and stood just about level with the King of the Underdog, who suddenly looked very serious and busy with his weapon. Kaito glowered. "I'd like to introduce Goyou Guardian, one of the currently released Synchro monsters," he said, stressing the word "released". "His attack points tie with those of your monster, and he's one half of my victory equation. And now, with exactly three dark-attribute monsters in my graveyard, I can summon the other half! Come forth, Dark Armed Dragon!"

There was a rumbling sound, and suddenly Kaito's field was dominated by a large, black, spike-covered dragon. The beast roared in anger as it jabbed its tail meaningfully towards the set card in Koji's back row. Kaito smiled in appreciation. "Right. Now, I'll activate Dark Armed Dragon's effect. First, I remove two dark attribute monsters in my graveyard from the game- I think Silva and Dark Grepher will do. Then, I'll target two of your cards and destroy them. Say goodbye to your set card and Gene-Warped Warwolf! Dark Genocide!" A sudden rush filled the air as Kaito's dragon fired off two bursts of black shrapnel. The first completely shredded the set card , which, as Kaito had predicted, was Justi-Break. The second salvo shot towards Gene-Warped Warwolf, who cowered in fear momentarily before the spikes tore through his chest and reduced the four-armed beast to a cloud of scattered pixels. The attack seemed to have a sobering effect on the shadow duelist, causing him to start suddenly. "Wait, wha-"

"Next I activate my spell card, enemy controller! This card allows me to switch the position of one of my opponent's monsters. So I'll be switching your King to defense position!" Kaito announced as a large video-game controller appeared on his side of the field. After a few button presses, the controller plugged itself into the King of the Underdog, causing the monster to stumble in surprise and fall to its knees. The controller vanished as Kaito, his smirk now only slightly less unsettling than Koji's grin of moments before, pointed at the now-fallen King, who was struggling to lift his sword now that he was unbalanced. "Goyou Guardian, attack his King!" The costumed warrior nodded before launching his cord at the opposing monster. The King looked up just in time for the cord to wrap around his body entirely, tying him up. The Guardian yanked on the cord, and with one final tug pulled a very annoyed King into the space next to him, where he sat looking annoyed. "The effect of my Goyou Guardian allows him to special summon any monster he destroys in defense position on my side of the field," Kaito explained. "And now, Dark Armed Dragon, follow up! Dark Incinerating Blast!" The dragon reared back, before releasing a wash of black flames that flowed over Koji before vanishing. The shadow duelist collapsed to one knee.

Koji panted heavily. "What... the hell?"

Kaito smirked. "Face it, shadow duelist. You lose the duel."

Koji pulled himself to his feet, breathing heavily. "No... I can't..." he drew for his turn, while Kaito watched, amused. "I can still..."

His eyes fell as he saw the card. "I..."

Kaito smirked again. "Just forfeit now. It'll save me the trouble of having to kill you."

Duelist: Kuroda Kaito
LP: 5600
Hand: Foolish Burial
Field: Dark Armed Dragon (Atk 2800), Goyou Guardian (Atk 2800), King of the Underdog (2800)
Graveyard: Akuma Kuriboh
RFG: Silva, Warlord of Dark World, Dark Grepher, Phantom of Chaos

Duelist: Koji
LP: 4900
Hand: Six Cards
S/T: Heart of the Underdog, Non-Spellcasting Area
Graveyard: Luster Dragon, 2x Frostosaurus, Master of the Underdog, 3x Gene-Warped Warwolf, Gemini Elf, Vorse Raider, 2x Insect Knight

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Y'know...I just realized. Isn't King of the Underdog level 10? Yet wasn't it summoned by using two four-stars? Koji is cheating so bad. XD

IC:

"Hello?" Tacey snapped, duly miffed by the way both Achan and Judai had blown off her inquiries, proceeding with their two-man talk show instead, "Have both of you suddenly gone both blind and deaf as well or-?"

Like before, the rich girl was quite rudely cut off in mid-rant, this time by the sudden appearance of a massive whirlwind barrier (as if rings of fire weren't enough), "That's IT!" she shrieked, not so much shocked or frightened as just plain fed up, "You people have precisely five seconds to provide me with a sensible explanation for all of this, or help me I'll-"

"Stop it!"

Under normal circumstances, this interjection would have been more than enough to make Tacey completely blow her proverbial top, but the moment she caught sight of the expression on Miseres' face, she found herself instinctively doing what most housefolk did during her own temper tantrums. She shut up.

To say that the tiny angel was upset would have been an understatement of the highest order. Her lithe hands were clenched into fists, her normally adorable features distorted by anger, and a steady stream of tears was running down her cheeks. Most notably, however she was performing a terrifyingly exact imitation of Tacey's stamping and glaring routine.

"Stop it!" the seraph repeated at the whirlwind, her sheer outrage radiating far beyond the limits of her tiny body, "Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT! You're not supposed to do that! YOU'RE NOT! THAT'S NOT WHAT WE GIVE YOU POWER FOR! IT'S-" she let out a loud sob, her shoulder sagging down and her fury disippating to make way for the seraph's usual, downtrodden persona, a loud sob escaping Miseres' throat, "It's not...it's not right..."

"Miseres..."

"Crybaby..."

Tacey's gaze remained transfixed, even as both princess spirits floated over to comfort the seraph who was now caught up in a hysteric fit of tears.

"This is wrong." Tacey said quietly, her glance returning back to the twin barriers, "I don't know what's going on in there, but whatever it is...it's wrong. Can't you do anything?!" she turned an accusing glare to Judai, "With all this talk about your 'high king' powers, there must be something you can do about this? Right?! I demand that you do something!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
​

"One usually begins their turn by drawing a card, Haruko-san."

Still panting heavily, the girl only managed a weak nod, reaching out a hand towards her deck as she slowly regained her composure, "Doroo."

Duelist: Angelo
LP: 5200
Hand: 1 card
Field: 1 Spell or Trap (face-down)
Graveyard: Sangan, Dying Curse, Reaper Call, Reaper Zeibal, Betrayal Sword, Reaper Endel, Reaper's Toll

Duelist: Haruko
LP: 1800
Hand: 4 cards
Field: Aether Fairy Guardian (1000/2000), Effemarity
Graveyard: 2x Generation Shift, 2x Aether Fairy Skydancer, 2x Aether Link, 2x Aether Fairy Swordsman, 2x Aether Mayfly, Effemarity, Aether Fairy Torchbearer, Fey Gate, Aether Veil, The Boundless - Aether, Aether Vanguard, Ruthless Denial, Aether Fairy Oracle, Heavy Storm, Torrential Tribute, Generation Shift, Aether Fairy Guardian, Aether Fairy Filcher, Prince of Aether

Haruko seemed to be in something of a daze as she examined the cards in her hand. Like someone who had just woken up from deep sleep. Soon, she perked up again, however, a smile spreading on her face.

"Why thank you, Sakura-chan." the little girl said, "It looks like you did a lot more for little Haruharu than she could have hoped for. Monster effect activate!" she waved an imperious hand towards her graveyard, "By sending one Aether Fairy Monster from her hand to the Graveyard, Haruharu can return Prince of Aether from her Graveyard to her hand." she demonstratively held up a copy of Aether Fairy Torchbearer for inspection before slipping it into her graveyard slot and retrieving a new card from it in exchange, "And next up!" Haruko trilled, holding up both middle and index finger of the hand still holding her new acqusition, "My pretty little Prince's second effect!" at her words, the solitary monster on the girl's field suddenly disintegrated into a cloud of pixels. Rather than dissipating, however, the pixels coiled and twisted, reforming into the shape of a handsome, spritely young male. Well, that is to say that he had the body of a handsome young male, but between the ivory skin, gray hair, grayish white, feathered wings and strangely deep, yellow eyes - not to mention the black and gray color scheme of his clothes, complete with a wide-brimmed hat - there was something strangely indeterminate about the creature's age. The rapier on his side was definitely not indeterminate, however, nor was his regal posture, "By destroying one Monster on her Field, Haruharu can special summon Prince of Aether from her hand. And now that he's here..." the girl giggled, pointing a finger in her opponent's direction, "Princey, attack Sakura-chan directly!"

"Trap activate! Zoma the Spirit!"

The gray-haired monster barely had the time to raise his rapier before a black, gargoyle-like creature with baneful red eyes and more sharp appendages than anyone would have been comfortable with spawned on Angelo's field, curling up into a rough, spiky ball for defense. Haruko's prince didn't seem the least bit ruffled by this new arrival, merely adjusting his hat a little before lunging once more, effortlessly piercing through the creature's feeble attempt at a block and reducing it to dust. At the sight, Angelo's face split into a slightly less congenial grin, but it quickly faltered as he noticed the still pristine state of her opponent's life point counter.

"My pretty prince's third effect!" Haruko twittered, "By sending one Aether monster from my deck to my graveyard, I can treat any card as having been destroyed by card effect." she smiled innocently, "You didn't plan for anything mean to happen when I destroyed your little Zoma, did you? Haruharu will set a card end."

"Hah, I see you had me out-predicted on this one." Angelo gave an indifferent shrug, "Ah, it matters little. My draw."

Duelist: Angelo
LP: 5200
Hand: 2 cards
Graveyard: Sangan, Dying Curse, Reaper Call, Reaper Zeibal, Betrayal Sword, Reaper Endel, Reaper's Toll, Skull Zoma

Duelist: Haruko
LP: 1800
Hand: 3 cards
Field: Prince of Aether (2200/700), Effemarity
Graveyard: 2x Generation Shift, 2x Aether Fairy Skydancer, 2x Aether Link, 2x Aether Fairy Swordsman, 2x Aether Mayfly, Effemarity, 2x Aether Fairy Torchbearer, Fey Gate, Aether Veil, The Boundless - Aether, Aether Vanguard, Ruthless Denial, Aether Fairy Oracle, Heavy Storm, Torrential Tribute, Generation Shift, 2x Aether Fairy Guardian, Aether Fairy Filcher, Prince of Aether

The shadow duelist immediately perked up at the sight of the card he had just drawn, "How fortunate." he remarked, "I summon Reaper Ankhes."

On command, a towering hulk of a creature appeared on Angelo's field. It was not grotesquely fat like Endel, nor as skeletal as Zeibal, but something in between, its body being closest to human shape of the three, though it would still have been a rather deformed human, for the right-hand arm was attached at a point closer to the creature's hip than its shoulder, small and shrivelled, while the other was giant and ended in a disproportionately large appendage tipped with three, thick rending claws, somewhat similar to its blackened, talon-like feet. The creature's skin, what little could be seen from beneath the black rags it was swept in, had a slight bluish tint to it, and like Zeibal it had purple lips and yellowed fangs, though there was a slightly more lively look in this creature's vividly yellow eyes - complete with a piercing red pupil - and its head bore a thick mane of black hair, all of it slicked backwards in sharp spikes.

"Now then, Haruko-san." Angelo continued conversationally as the monstrosity raised its large arm up for a sweep against the frail-looking prince, "Unless you wish to let this attack connect, you will discard cards from your deck equal to your monster's level. The choice, as they say, is yours."

"Oh, that's an easy one, Sakura-chan." Haruko trilled innocently, "Haruharu will just discard again."

"Easy, is it?" the shadow duelist echoed, rather sceptically, "As you would have it, then. I set a card and end."

"Yoosh!" the sweater-clad girl exclaimed, reaching for her deck, her expression turning even more triumphant than before as she caught a glimpse of what she had just drawn, even as her own monster dissolved into dust, "Sorry, but you're going down now, Sakura-chan!"

Duelist: Angelo
LP: 5200
Hand: N/A
Field: Reaper Ankhes (2350/0), 1 Spell or Trap
Graveyard: Sangan, Dying Curse, Reaper Call, Reaper Zeibal, Betrayal Sword, Reaper Endel, Reaper's Toll, Skull Zoma

Duelist: Haruko
LP: 1800
Effect Discard: Aether Fairy Torchbearer, Aether Mayfly, Aether Fairy Skydancer, Effemary Wingbeat, Aether Fairy Oracle, Sangan
Hand: 4 cards
Field: Effemarity
Graveyard: 2x Generation Shift, 3x Aether Fairy Skydancer, 2x Aether Link, 2x Aether Fairy Swordsman, 3x Aether Mayfly, Effemarity, 3x Aether Fairy Torchbearer, Fey Gate, Aether Veil, The Boundless - Aether, Aether Vanguard, Ruthless Denial, 2x Aether Fairy Oracle, Heavy Storm, Torrential Tribute, Generation Shift, 2x Aether Fairy Guardian, Aether Fairy Filcher, Effemary Wingbeat, Sangan, Prince of Aether

"Are you ready, Sakura-chan?" the little girl trilled, "Well, ready or not, here it comes! Haruharu will activate Monster Reborn! And with this effect, she can bring any Monster from either player's graveyard. So come back, my prettyful Aether Fairy Torchbearer!"

Without warning, a plume of flames shot out from the ground on Haruko's field, vaulting upwar an slowly revealing itself as an actual animate figure, a male with a mass of wild, flame-colored hair that reached all the way to his hips in an untame mass of tangly spikes, a dark red robe granting him some modesty. More eye-catching, however, was the creatur's wings, similar to a butterly's, but looking like they had been set on fire as they sparkled brightly. True to its name, the creature held a surprisingly plain-looking torch in its hand, restlessly juggling it back and forth as it waited for orders.

"But wait, he can do even cooler stuff than that!" the girl explained, "I activate the equip spell, Aether Blade!"

As the thin, translucent blade - visible only through the faint outline and the shimmering runes covering it - materialized in the monster's hand, it finally stopped playing aroud with the torch, assuming a slightly more bussines-like pose, even as its attack power remained just as unimpressive as before.

"And now..." Haruko trilled, "Torchbearer, attack that icky reaper!"

With the same kind of dramatic flair as before, the creature lunged towards its far heftier opponent, who merely sneered as it brought up its larger arm for defense.

"Rather reckless, wouldn't you say?" Angelo remarked, "I'm sure you realize my reaper is still stronger."

"Oh?" Haruko asked innocently, "That is looking like zero attack points to little Haruharu." and sure enough, the monstrosity's attack point counter had suddenly taken a dramatic plugne, the creature looking just as dumbstruck as its owner as the relatively tiny fairy's blow effortlessly cut through its defenses, reducing it to a cloud of pixels, "Aether Blade's effect." the girl explained, "Whenever my little fairy attacks, I can switch the targets attack and defense around. But that's not even the best part. Here comes Torchbearer's effect!" her single visible eye gained a slightly malicious glint as the torch in the fairy's hand suddenly flared up violently, countless tiny sparks coiling and intertvining into the form of a single, ominous mass, "You see, whenever he hits you, Sakura-chan. You lose 300 life points..." the shadow duelist was not even given the chance to sigh in false relief before even that hope was shattered, "...for each Aether monster in Haruharu's graveyard." she examined the sizable stack of cards in her graveyard in would-be concentration, "There's...quite a lot of those now, isn't there, Sakura-chan?"

"Oh no!" the shadow duelist spat out, agitation entering his manner for the first time during the entire encounter as he stared at the pillar of flame, the vague shapes of each and every discarded monster glaring threateningly at him from within the blaze, their angry muttering mixing in with the roar of the flames, "You're not taking my soul that easily! Activate, Doppel Gainer!"

With a roar to rival the first, an identical pillar of flames shot forth from Angelo's side of the field, engulfing his opponent in turn.

When the flames finally died down, both duelists were left gasping for air, their life point counters flatlining simultaneously while a mournful gasping sound escaped the thicket around them. Within seconds, the blossoms had reverted to sprouts, the sprouts retracting back into the vines, and the vines retreating back into the ground and vanishing, leaving both duelists with their souls intact.

"...all effect damage you would deal to me...is also dealt to you." Angelo explained, wiping off a few droplets of sweat from his brow as he straightened up and deactivated his duel disc, "Well, it looks like I underestimated you, little girl. You were aiming for that right from the start, weren't you? Letting me drop all those cards into the graveyard for you, just to pave the way for that one attack."

Haruko merely giggled in response, offering the shadow duelist a smile of purest innocence, "Weeell..." she began.

"I see." Angelo interrupted, "You're as set in your ways ever. I should have expected nothing less, I suppose. There's no recruiting you, then, and given that you've already embraced the darkness, I can't mark you either, can I? A pity." he brushed himself off, "I guess I have no choice but to retreat for now. Thank you, little girl, for a most interesting match. I'll make sure to repay you the next time our paths cross." with that and one last wave, the shadow duelist nonchalantly leapt off the side off the building and vanishing from view.

 

[Scarlet Weather]

"I..."

"I what?" Kaito asked, glaring at his opponent, who appeared to have developed a severe case of the shivers.

"I... I... I..." Koji stammered, looking around frantically.

"Finish the sentence," Kaito ordered ruthlessly as he tapped his foot.

"I..." Koji swallowed for a moment before muttering "I forfeit."

Kaito smirked. "I didn't quite catch that. Say it louder."

Koji grimaced. "I forfeit, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?" he practically shouted. "Now get rid of this stupid barrier!"

"You first," Kaito replied calmly, jabbing a finger towards the still-flickering flame barrier, just barely visible through his wall of wind.

Koji made a face that reminded Kaito strongly of Proffesor Chronos on a particularly bad day before snapping his fingers. Outside the whirlwind, the flames died down. "There. Happy?" he asked, a trace of rebellion in his voice.

"Actually, no," Kaito replied as his monsters vanished one by one. "You still owe me a forfeit. Tell me, how was it that you managed to get cards that have never been printed?"

Koji grimaced again, his face resembling that of someone who has just recently swallowed a quart or so of lemon juice. "Alright. You want the truth?"

Kaito frowned. There was something not quite right about his opponent's voice. Just a moment ago, he had seemed broken, but now it was almost as if...

"YOU CAN'T HANDLE IT!" the shadow duelist suddenly shouted as he threw his sunglasses to the ground and smashed them. Before Kaito could react, a sudden spout of flame consumed his opponent before vanishing into thin air. He could only stare at the slightly charred spot on the ground. Tch, and here I was hoping I'd get some answers.... but I suppose that was expecting a little much. Still, storing an emergency spell like that in his glasses... I didn't know such a trick was possible. I'll really have to duplicate it sometime.

Kaito turned to his spirit, who floated in the air beside him. "Thanks, Aku," he told the Kuriboh, who happily revealed a sign reading "No problems!" in response. Kaito grinned and continued. "Could you please remove the barrier now? But return me to my normal form first. If the others saw me like this, it could be bothersome."

The Kuriboh nodded, and vanished, as the tatoos on Kaito's body faded away and the winds slowly vanished. Kaito dusted himself off, before turning to the group. "Well, that was easier than I thought it would be," he commented.

Achan glared at Kaito, prompting the other duelist to ask "What?" in an irritated tone as he pulled on his jacket.

Achan pointed at him accusingly. "You... you and I have the same markings!"

Kaito frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Playing dumb, eh? Well I'll show you!" Achan growled as he pulled back his sleeve, revealing the marks from earlier. "You and I are the same way! We've been marked by shadow duelists!"

Kaito pretended not to notice, but anyone who knew him well would have noticed the brief look of concern that flashed across his face. "Smith, you have no right to speak to me in that tone," he admonished. "You and I couldn't be more different, in fact. Why..." Kaito's voice went on, but Achan wasn't listening. Instead he was staring at the duel spirit that had materialized above Kaito's shoulder, still holding its trademark sign.

Act like you don't notice me.

I lied earlier.

Kuroda Kaito is not a shadow duelist. I've been intercepting transmissions for him to help you out, and make sure that the actual subliminal messages you receive from that mark would be messed up.

Nobody else can see me because Kaito and I are the same as Judai.

Achan's eyebrow twitched as he stared at the latest sign. "Same as..." he suddenly remebered the story about Judai being part spirit. Could it be that...

Don't draw attention to Kaito from now on. It'll only jeopardize our plans. Don't trust anyone, except the original members of Team Seven. Don't show anyone else that mark. And above all, don't mention me.

Keep in touch!

"And that, Smith, is why we're nothing alike," Kaito finished, pausing for breath.

Achan decided to play along for a moment. "Haha! Yeah, what was I thinking? There's no way you could possibly be trying to screw with my head! I mean, you just defeated a Shadow Duelist, so even if they did mark you what would it matter! Obviously we're so different that our differences... er... yeah, I'm done." he finished lamely. However, his mind was dominated by one thought, and one thought alone.

If I ever get the chance, I swear I'm gonna beat you upside the head until I figure out what the hell is going on.

"Good, Smith. I'm glad you see things my way." Kaito smirked, before motioning to a large cruiser. "And now, unless you all have any further questions, can we board this ship?

 

[Alter Ego]

Tacey was, at this point, getting quite close to complete eruption. He had ignored her! Again! And once again, these people were talking straight over her head as if she had suddenly lost her status as both a pro duelist and someone with not one but three duel spirits on her side. And what had Achan said just now? About a mark? The boy's lame excuse did not fool her in the least; Achan had just been on the verge of letting something major slip, and though Tacey had no idea what, one thing was certain to her: it was clearly something they had intended to keep hidden from her. HER!

The sheer indignity of it all made the rich girl want to scream and stamp her foot and refuse to go anywhere until they fessed up about everything, but from the dark depths at the back of her mind, reason lunged forward and kept her from doing so. These weren't normal people she was dealing with; normal pressure tactics would not help her get her way here, not with both Kaito and Judai at the scene. Pressing the matter now would only prompt them to be more cautious around her. That was right, she just had to play this calmly right now, let it slide until she could catch Achan one-on-one. The older duelists may have been too smart to let her in on their little secret, but she shouldn't have any bigger problems with a bonehead like Achan. The boy was rash, the boy was still indebted to her in a way, and above all, the boy was...well, a boy. No problem for a celebrity duelist like herself, none at all.

"That's good and all." Manjoume replied lazily to Kaito's inquiry, "But in case you've forgotten, we still have to deal with that." he jerked his thumb in the general direction of the small armada still faithfully moored around their ferry.

At this, Tacey couldn't help cracking a sly little smile, despite herself, "Oh, don't you worry your little head over that, Ojamanjoume." she chirped sweetly, relishing the older duelist's flinch at the title, "Why don't you just go ahead and help Sarasi onboard while I go and have a little chat with the person in charge of those, hmm?"

"This is a bit too much even for you, Edgeworth." the black-blazered duelist sneered, an expression of purest scepticism dominating his features as the millionaire heiress nonchalantly strode over to the biggest of the transport ships, waving and calling over to a man on deck who seemed to be in charge, "Seriously." he scoffed, "Just what does she think she'll achieve by-" he paused in mid-sentence, his jaw practically dropping down to ground level as the ships suddenly started up their engines in near-perfect unison, gliding aside, each in their own direction, like the mechanism of some kind of complicated lock, "I. Do not. Believe this."

"Well?" Tacey asked, looking decidedly pleased with herself as she sauntered over to the group, "Shall we go, then? It would be awfully rude to keep Mr.Pegasus waiting."

Without waiting for a response, the girl promptly boarded their designated ship, walking with her usual, dignified ladylike gait, as if the recent incident had never even occurred.