…Man, Ishizu's lucky she's beautiful, or you might have just considered the offer out of spite.
…
Well, that was a lie; you'd never allow yourself to be subject to anyone else.
You chuckle but shake your head over at him.
"Heh, as interesting as your little story is, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to pass. I don't think I'd do well under a pharaoh; I might just attempt to seduce the royal concubines." You say, gripping the handle of the Scales tightly, expecting him to not take your refusal well.
Though surprisingly enough, he just clicks his tongue at that.
"...A shame, and here I thought we could be partners, but it looks like my sister has already dug her claws into you. Nevertheless, though, I'm afraid since you've rejected my offer there is only one thing I require from you now, and that is your abundance of rare and powerful cards. I would take them for myself here, but I have promised one of my servants the opportunity to take them." He says before turning his attention back to Ishizu.
"As for you, sister, know I shall be coming for the location of my Obelisk soon enough, and if you refuse to give it to me again, I shan't be as merciful as I was last time." Right as he finished, Marik's body seemed to go limp for a second, like a puppet with his strings cut, before he slowly straightened himself, shaking his head to orient himself, blinking his eyes, which now have visible pupils, as he looks around in confusion before his gaze lands on yours as a grin grows across his lips.
"Ah~ I see negotiations have broken down. This may make me a bad servant, but I can't help but be relieved. Now I am presented with the opportunity to claim your Magician Girls for my own~" Marik(?) purred out, the tone of his voice and way of talking completely different than it was a moment ago.
You turn to Ishizu, eyes narrowed, practically demanding answers as she just sighs.
"...My brother's Millennium Rod gives him the ability to mind control others, or possess them completely; this is just one of his servants he had been speaking through."
…Okay, that was actually kinda scary, but it made sense you suppose.
Well, in any case, it was probably best to turn your attention back to the clown.
"Hmm? Want my cards, do you? Well, unfortunately for you, you're gonna have to duel me for 'em, and I don't exactly see a Duel Arena around here." You state confidently as the clown's grin just grows larger.
"Oh, thankfully my master had already foreseen this possibility and prepared accordingly." He says, reaching behind his back to his belt and grabbing something before tossing it at you.
As you catch it, you see it's a Duel Disk, though a lot more advanced than the janky thing that you had found in the Underground.
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------------->
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"Heh, it's always good to see some foresight from people, so, before we start this, what's your name? It would be pretty rude to destroy you when I don't even know your name." You say casually as you put on the Duel Disk, your opponent doing the same.
"I am Arkana, Master of Magicians, and I have come here today to claim your Dark Magician Girls and Young Petty Magician for myself. Only a true master of spellcasters should possess those cards! Not a mere dabbler like yourself." He growled out, glaring over at you with genuine offense.
Before you could answer that, a familiar weight appeared on your back, Ruby glaring over at Arkana with narrowed eyes.
"...I mean, I'm flattered and everything, and I can't fault his taste, but it would hurt my rep to be seen in the hands of a clown like this, so make sure to crush this guy for ever thinking he could take me away from you 'Koto." Ruby ground out, seriousness in her tone.
You just chuckle at that, ignoring Arkana as you activate your Duel Disk, reaching down and grabbing your Spellcaster deck and inserting it.
"Oh, no worries about that, babe; this dude was dead the minute he spoke." You say with a sadistic grin at Arkana, more than ready to put this corpse in the ground.
Arkana uses Mulligan & Stripper Technique
"Big talk for someone about to lose!" Arkana called out, though he did look slightly confused for a moment about who you were talking to.
Hmm, normally you were pretty on top of not talking to Ruby where others could hear, but you suppose it didn't really matter here; the clown would have some much more immediate concerns soon enough~
"As the main act, I think it's only fitting I start us off!" Arkana cries out as he rips a card from the top of his deck, eyes gleaming as he looks at it.
"First up I activate my Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw 2 more cards from my deck!" Arkana announces as he swiftly draws before immediately continuing.
"Next I Normal Summon my Defender the Magical Knight in face-up Defense Position, and when my Defender is summoned, he gains 1 Spell Counter!" Arkana explained as his magical knight appeared kneeling on his side of the field, the gem in his shield swiftly lighting up as he gained his counter.
Hmm, that could be annoying; a 2k ass wasn't the easiest to get over, and with that counter, he had 1 free protection to save any of his Spellcasters, and if he built up some more spell counters, Defender could turn into a real problem.
Still, if this was the best he could do, then you weren't worried.
Arkana growled, obviously noticing your smirk.
"Don't get cocky, you poser! You'll see the true power of my deck soon enough! But for now I set 2 cards face-down and end my turn!" Arkana said as two cards appeared on his side of the field as the turn passed to you.
Now, time to have some fun~
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--------------->
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You grin as you draw and begin to inspect your hand.
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----------->
Ooh, and it looked like the new addition to your deck was eager to make her debut; it made sense if a part of her was Ruby, but the real question was if this was a fitting stage for her to do so.
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------------->
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Hmm, not yet at least. Let's see if this clown was worth a damn first.
"Well, first of all, why don't we check for any cards under your sleeves?! I activate my Mystical Space Typhoon!" You say as your Typhoon appears, immediately swirling to Arkana's middle backrow, flipping it up, and revealing his Dark Renewal and destroying it as Arkana scowled.
Heh, a Dark Magician user, eh? It made sense that he wanted your girls, you supposed, but still, you'd sooner die than let him get his grubby hands anywhere even close to your cards.
Still, it'd come soon enough; it's best to play it cautiously for now.
"Next I set 2 cards face-down and end my turn!" You say as you set both your Tomato and Mirror Wall face-down.
There, now if he destroyed your Tomato, you could begin preparing your Silent Magician by summoning your Witch of the Black Forest, or if things get dicey, you always have Mirror Wall as a defense just in case.
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------------>
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Arkana starts his turn and draws, immediately grinning widely as he looks at it.
"Ha! It looks like it's time for the main performer to make his grand entrance! I activate my Dark Magical Curtain! By paying half my Life Points, this card allows me to Special Summon 1 Dark Magician directly from my deck!" Arkana announced as a skeleton wearing a long cloak appeared behind him, a swirl of energy rumbling beneath it before a man stepped out, a malicious grin across his face.
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-------------->>
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Hmm, a different artwork than yours or Yugi's. The question was whether to use his Curtain for yourself and pay half your Life Points to bring out your own Dark Magician or one of your girls…
Hmm, nah. 2k was a pretty high price to pay here; it'd leave you on the verge of death from one good attack, so it's better to be conservative. Your board was good enough to hold up against his assault in any case.
Arkana grins, unaware of your musings as he continues his move.
"Next up from my hand, I activate my Thousand Knives! As long as I control a Dark Magician, this card allows me to destroy a monster you control! So say goodbye to your Young Petty Magician!" He grins alongside his Dark Magician as dozens, if not hundreds, of knives appear behind his monster before shooting forth, impaling and dicing through your set Mystic Tomato like a hot knife through butter.
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---------->
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.....Annoying, but not unexpected; luckily enough, you still had your Mirror Wall.
Arkana tilts his head as your Tomato explodes, humming as he does so.
"Hmm, unfortunate. I had hoped to get a look at my brand new monster in this duel before I claimed her for myself, but it looks like that won't happen, since this game ends here!" Arkana says with a slimy grin, and you made a mental note to make sure he suffered for that comment as he continued on.
"Now I turn my Defender to attack mode! I knew you were just a pathetic poser, Makoto Yuzuki! So let's close the curtain on this duel! Go, Defender, attack him directly!" Arkana yelled out with glee, throwing his hand forward as his Defender dashed straight towards you.
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------------>
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…Hmm, should you hold off on activating your Mirror Wall? If you did, then you could catch his Dark Magician with it instead and lower him to a much more easily defeatable 1250 ATK.
Ultimately, while it'd be nice to slice his Dark Magician's ATK in half, it wasn't worth eating 1600 damage to do so.
"Not so fast, clown! I got a few tricks of my own here; I activate my set Mirror Wall!" You declare, and suddenly a large wall of ice appears in front of you, intercepting Defender as he crashed into his own reflection and was forced back, a wave of energy pulsating through him as his ATK points were cut in half.
Arkana clicks his tongue and narrows his eyes as he inspects the field and his hand.
"Tch, struggle all you like; all you are doing is extending my show and your own humiliation." He spat out as he ended his turn.
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------------>
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You draw and get Pre-Preparation of Rites.
Ooh~ now this was just the thing you needed; time to put this freak in his place.
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--------->
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"What was it you said before? That it was time for the main performer to arrive? Well, I think it's about time we put our hands together for the REAL star of the show!" You announce as you immediately slap down your Pre-Prep.
"First up, I activate my Pre-Preparation of Rites! Allowing me to add any Ritual Spell from my deck to my hand, and I choose my Advanced Ritual Art!" You say as suddenly before you could pick up your deck out of your Duel Disk, a card pushed itself out slightly all on its own, and as you picked it up and inspected it, you saw it was Advanced Ritual Art.
…Fuckin' hell, why the fuck does Kaiba need to invent such cool shit?
Pushing down your annoyance, you decide to instead just continue on your move.
"Now I activate said Advanced Ritual Art! Allowing me to send Normal Monsters from my deck to the Graveyard as materials for a Ritual Summon!" You say as you swiftly send both your Red-Eyes along with your D.D. Trainer to the GY in order to summon your Black Luster Soldier, Arkana's eyes widening as your monster makes his grand appearance with a flourish.
"Ha! Admire him while you can, ingrate! This is the closest you'll EVER get to my cards, but my Black Luster Soldier won't be sticking around for long. Next up, I'll activate my Rites of the Underworld, tributing my Black Luster Soldier in order to summon my Hades, Lord of the Underworld!" You roar out as your Hades makes his grand entrance, appearing from the summoning circle on the ground.
"But it's not over yet! I activate the secondary effect of my Rites of the Underworld! After summoning Hades, it allows me to mill one DARK monster to my Graveyard, but in return, I take damage equal to its level, and I think I know exactly who to send!" You grin as a ghostly specter of your own Dark Magician appears above the summoning circle for a moment, glaring over at Arkana and his own Dark Magician before fading into energy and shooting right into your GY, dealing 700 damage to your Life Points in the process.
A small price to pay~
"But he won't be staying there for long! Next up I activate my Hades' effect, by paying 500 Life Points. I can revive one DARK monster from my Graveyard, and I think you know exactly who I'm picking! Go on, Hades! Underworld Revival!" You declare as a summoning circle appears before Hades, before slowly your Dark Magician rises from it, taking his rightful place on your side of the field.
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----------------->
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Arkana glares over at your Dark Magician, hatred practically bubbling in his eyes.
"...How infuriating, seeing a poser like yourself disgracing not just the card but me as well by even thinking you can use Dark Magician to his fullest potential. I'll take great joy in tearing that card up when I get my hands on it; the only one who should possess the Dark Magician should be me!" Arkana barked out as he threw his hands forth.
You just grin, drinking in his anger like a fine wine.
"Oh-ho? Man, you really are just digging your grave deeper and deeper, but I'm not done here, Arkana; I still have a few tricks left up my sleeve!" You announce as Arkana's eyes widen.
"Now from my hand I activated my Polymerization! Fusing together my Hades, Lord of the Underworld, and my Young Petty Magician in hand!" You shout, subtly sending your Grand Sorceress to the Graveyard. As much fun as it'd be to taunt Arkana with the existence of another unique Spellcaster you own, this corpse wasn't even worthy of looking at her.
"Now come on out! My Lichqueen!" You say as your monster makes her appearance, remembering to leave out the ancient part this time.
Ruby blinks as she takes to the field, looking around as she does so.
"...Huh, that felt kinda weird to be summoned without directly being fused." She said casually, before perking up and turning to Ishizu standing on the sidelines.
"Oooh! Hi, chocolate girl! My name's Ruby! I'm 'Koto's top bitch, I can't wait to see him fuck your brains out!" Ruby said excitedly, bouncing up and down on her toes as she did so, while Ishizu stepped back as if struck, a bright red blush visible even on her dark skin.
…Fuck, maybe it wasn't Samara who you should have put the collar on.
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------------>
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"Heh! Let's see who the true master magician is, Arkana! Go on, Dark Magician, attack his Defender! Dark Magic Attack!" You declare as your Dark Magician holds out his staff and shoots forth a ball of energy directly towards Arkana's Defender.
"Ha! I suppose we will, Yuzuki! I activate my Magic Cylinder!" He yells out as suddenly a large cylinder intercepts your Dark Magician's attack, getting sucked inside right as another appears from which your Dark Magician's attack shoots out of, directly towards you, hitting you and dealing 2500 damage to your Life Points and bringing you to a mere 300 as the attack lands.
…Tch, annoying. You'd expected some manner of trap, which is why you had summoned Ruby in defense, and while your Dark Magician was still fine and dandy, you were concerningly low on Life Points at this point.
Arkana grins over at you, obviously sensing your annoyance.
"Oh? What's wrong, poser? I thought we were having a contest of magic~" He purred out smugly as you glared over at him, Ruby doing the same.
"...I REALLY don't like this guy and his smug stupid face. 'Koto, make sure to make it hurt when you put him down.'" Ruby growled out from her place on your field.
…Now that is a request you'd be more than happy to fulfill.
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------------>
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Still, for now there wasn't much you COULD do, but you may as well get rid of Defenders counter.
"Tsk, I activate my Lichqueens effect targeting your Dark Magician! Go on, Withering Vengeance!" You command as Ruby brings up her staff, summoning forth a necrotic gust of wind billowing directly towards Arkana's Dark Magician.
"Not so fast now! I activate my Defender's effect; by getting rid of 1 Spell Counter on the field, I can prevent the destruction of any of my Spellcaster monsters!" Arkana announces with a grin as the glow Defender's shield intensifies, Ruby's attack being redirected away from his Dark Magician and towards Defender, impacting his shield as he hunkers down and endures it until the wind dissipates, leaving the shield, now with the gem no longer glowing inside it.
You click your tongue in frustration but throw your arm out, ending your turn.
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-------------->
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Arkana's Dark Magician Master! Trait activates!
Arkana begins his turn, still infuriatingly smug as he draws, his grin only widening as he looks at his draw.
"My, oh my! Sometimes I even manage to impress myself with my sheer skill, but rather than prattle on, how about I show you, Yuzuki?" Arkana announces excitedly as he immediately throws down a card.
"I activate my Magician's Left Hand! As for what it does, well, you'll have to just see for yourself! Go on, Defender! Attack his Lichqueen!" Arkana commands as his Defender rushes forward to Ruby.
…Tsk, what was he planning here?
Suddenly as your Mirror Wall rose up and attempted to intercept his attack, it froze, and as you looked up, you saw Arkana's Dark Magician floating there, his left hand raised and sparks flying from it directly towards you Wall.
"You see, as long as I control a face-up Spellcaster, my Magician's Left Hand destroys the first trap you activate per turn!" He explains.
Though as your Mirror Wall burst into pieces, Arkana's eyes widened for some reason as his Defender runs headfirst into Ruby, with her promptly smacking him aside with her staff and dealing 1600 damage to his Life Points.
"What?! But the card says it destroys it after it resolves!" Arkana screeches out as he brings his Duel Disk up to his face, reading his own card.
You bark out a laugh at that, thoroughly amused even though your Mirror Wall was destroyed.
"Ha! Come on now, Arkana! What kind of magician doesn't even know how his own tricks work?! You sure you're not some birthday clown Marik picked up off the side of the road?" You taunted him with a grin as Arkana's face flushed from embarrassment, glaring over at you.
"Grrgh! Laugh while you can, fool! I'm still the one who will win this game! Go, Dark Magician! Destroy his Lichqueen! Dark Magic Attack!" Arkana roars out in fury as his Dark Magician lifts his staff and blasts Ruby with a beam of energy, destroying her and leaving you with just your own copy of Dark Magician.
"Now I sacrifice my Defender and Dark Magician to summon my second copy of Dark Magician from my hand!" He said as his monsters disappeared, another Dark Magician taking their place.
Hmm, admittedly a smooth recovery. If he hadn't done that, then all you'd have had to do is attack his Defender next turn and you'd win, but now you need a good draw to pull out a comeback here.
…Heh, all that meant was that your victory was assured.
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-------------->
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You grin, fully confident your deck would never let you down, and draw, looking down and seeing-
.
------------->
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..... Heh.
Arkana obviously sees your grin and growls, infuriated at your confidence.
"What are you so smug about, poser?! You only have your pathetic Dark Magician left on the field! You're about to lose this duel!" He barks out madly, ignoring the fact that all you really needed was a Normal Summon to win this game.
…But that would have lacked a certain flair, and you DID have a new toy you were more than eager to test out here~
You just shake your head and click your tongue as if disappointed.
"Ah, sweet, sweet, naïve Arkana, I'm afraid those are my words for you." You say confidently, smirking over at him as he stumbles back, as if struck.
"Y-You lie! You're just bluffing and trying to psyche me out!" He screams over at you as you just chuckle, amused at how worked up he was getting here.
Oh, you'd give him something to get worked up about soon enough.
"Heh, what was it you said before? 'Rather than prattle on, how about I show you?' Well, I couldn't have put it any better myself." You say casually as you insert Monster Reborn into your Duel Disk.
"First off I activate my Monster Reborn, and I'll be using it to revive my Lichqueen." You announce as Ruby makes her grand reappearance, pouting all the while.
…Though you do see Ishizu visibly flinch out of the corner of your eye, a blush making its way back onto her cheeks, but you ignore that for now.
"Hmph! I can't believe you let me get destroyed, Koto! I swear if you didn't revive me so I could watch you bury this fool with my own two eyes, I'd have been really mad!" Ruby said with a huff as she stomped her feet, the familiar warble in her words that she got whenever she was in this form.
You just look up at her and smile. "Well, I couldn't do that to my favorite girl now, could I? So how about we end this guy here and now?" You said with a familiar sadistic grin that Ruby quickly shared.
"Let's~" she purred out as she turned her focus back to Arkana and his monster as he visibly flinched back, obviously not able to properly hear or see Ruby but sensing SOMETHING shifting in the air all of a sudden.
"Now let's try my Lichqueens effect again! Go on, Ruby! Withering Vengeance!" You call out as Ruby raises her staff and unleashes a familiar necrotic gust of wind, but this time nothing was here to get in her way as it swiftly impacted Arkana's Dark Magician, destroying it and leaving a formless green energy hanging in the air.
"Now to activate my Lichqueens secondary effect! When she destroys a monster with her effect, I'm able to revive one monster from my Graveyard with a level equal to or less than the destroyed monster, so I'll be resurrecting my Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" You yell out as the energy swiftly expands, taking the shape of your Red-Eyes and dissipating, leaving your loyal dragon on your field as Arkana begins to shake, realizing he had lost this duel.
Ooh, he had lost a lot more than just this duel; you had to make sure to punish him properly for even thinking he was worthy of touching your deck.
You reach down for your belt, pulling out the Millennium Scales and holding them in front of you as Arkana's eyes widen in terror.
"I really have to thank you, Arkana. It was so thoughtful of you to volunteer yourself as my first victim—I mean, 'test subject'—for my new Millennium Scales." You purred out with a feral grin as your Scales began to glow as a thin dark shadow seemed to descend on the area.
…You're tempted to make this a full-blown Shadow Game and send this piece of shit to wherever you sent Keith, but with Ishizu watching you didn't want to go TOO far and frighten her.
As you focus on Red-Eyes and Dark Magician, they both turn into golden energy and leap towards the cups of the Scales, while the glow only brightens as you watch on, your grin getting wider and wider.
"...Hmm, you're not gonna be mad if I have a little fun, are you 'Koto?" You look up, seeing Ruby looking back at you and winking, before suddenly shooting a small bit of red energy towards the Scales, tainting the golden glow for a moment before it turns to normal.
"There—that should help my baby a bit!" Ruby chirped as the glow brightened to a blinding light for a moment, forcing you to close your eyes, and as you opened them, you saw your new monster revealed…
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------------->
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....Well, you weren't quite sure what you'd be expecting, but Ruby had certainly done SOMETHING here.
Your Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon looked around for a moment, looking down and inspecting her hands as if seeing them for the first time.
"Ah…" She said before jumping at the sound of her own voice, as if she hadn't expected it.
Suddenly Ruby dove over and caught your new monster in a hug as she wrapped her arms around her.
"Aww! Red, you look so cute! Such a pretty, pretty girl!" Ruby cooed, rubbing her cheek against Dragoons.
…Red? Did that mean Red-Eyes was taking center stage in the fusion? Wait, did that mean Red-Eyes was a chick all along?
…Huh.
Well, in any case, you had a man to kill.
"Dragoon!" You call out, and Dragoon immediately straightens and turns to you, eyes full of deadly seriousness.
"It's time we finished this clown off! So get ready!" You order as Dragoon nodded, shrugging Ruby off of her even as she pouted and began to float up into the air, glaring down at Arkana, who trembled in terror as slowly a red fire-like aura began to engulf her.
"End this, Dragoon! Attack and wipe out the rest of his life points! Red Terror Wing!" You command as with your words, Dragoon began to dive like a burning comet directly at Arkana as he scrambled back, before turning and beginning to run like his life depended on it.
…Heh, as if he could ever outrun your dragon.
As that thought Dragoon finally impacts Arkana, driving him into the ground as fire begins to consume them both, Arkana screams out in pain as you watch on with a grin for a few moments, eventually letting out a whistle and calling Dragoon back.
No sooner had you whistled than Dragoon had appeared before you, tilting her head inquisitively as she awaited your new order.
You chuckle, reaching out and rubbing her cheek as she rubbed herself against your hand.
"...Good job, girl, I'm very proud of you. I'll come visit you in the Palace later, okay?" You said as Dragoon just nodded, a content look on her face as she faded away.
"Aww, she's just such a sweetie! Much better for her to be in the driver's seat than that stuffy old magician!" Ruby said, appearing at your side, taking on her normal form as the duel ended.
"Heh, I'm not complaining, but for now I've got a matter to settle." You say with a grin, your eyes drifting to Arkana's unconscious, twitching form as Ruby licks her lips as she follows your eyes.
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---------------->
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Duel Won!
300 DP!
Arkana Traits:
Mulligan X3: Thrice you can mulligan your starting hand.
Stripper Technique: Start with a copy of "Dark Magician" in your opening hand.
Master Magician: Whenever you shuffle your deck, you may look at the top 3 cards of your deck and place them back in any order you wish.
Dark Magician Master!: When you summon Dark Magician during your next DP you may add any card that mentions a Spellcaster Monster or Dark Magician from your deck to your hand instead of conducting your normal DP.
-x-X-x-
You strut on over to Arkana's prone form, a certain swagger in your step, pretty happy with how this whole thing had gone.
As you crouch beside his body, you hear him mumbling something to himself, something about an accident; the name Catherine comes up, and then he just begins to mutter 'Not again…' to himself over and over.
Well, that'd be really interesting if you gave a shit about this guy.
With that prompt dismissal, you reach down to his Duel Disk and slip out his deck. If he had planned to take your deck after he had won, then turnabout was only fair play, wasn't it?
And as you looked through his deck, you couldn't help but grin, already planning in your head all the upgrades you could make to your Spellcaster deck before you stopped, noticing one of the cards' borders seemed slightly smaller than the rest.
This guy better fucking not have…
Though as you recheck his deck with a more scrutinizing eye now, you can't help but scowl; this fucker had clipped his cards, probably used it so he could decide what cards went to the top when he shuffled.
Thankfully though it didn't seem to be all of them; the only ones you noticed were his Dark Magicians alongside his staples. His more generic cards seemed normal enough, though you'd have to get them checked later. No way were you gonna get accused of cheating just because you had used someone else's modified cards.
Still though, even with that little annoying speedbump, this was still a major win for you and your Spellcaster deck specifically; you could already imagine it now—
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------------->>
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-x-X-x-
Before you could get lost in your thoughts, you are swiftly brought back to reality as Ishizu approaches, laying a hand on your shoulder.
"...I thank you for your restraint, deserved or not. I do not enjoy the thought of a man being sentenced to the Shadow Realm as a result of following my brother's orders." She says softly as she looks down at the still twitching Arkana.
You get up and quickly brush the sand off of you, slipping Arkana's deck into your jacket pocket, cut cards and all. Who knows, maybe you could get Industrial Illusions to restore them; worst case scenario, his playset of Dark Magicians would make a nice trophy.
"Heh, don't worry about it, beautiful. I have no idea what you've seen of me with that Necklace of yours, but I'm not THAT bloodthirsty." You're almost offended at the skeptical look Ishizu shoots you, but for now you just ignore it. "- But what's the plan with this guy then? No offense, but I don't exactly want to have to deal with him crawling back in a month or so looking for revenge." You say as you lightly kick Arkana's leg.
Though as Arkana continues to twitch, you quickly notice a few card packs slip free from his jacket, which you swiftly reach down and grab, slipping them in your own pockets.
Yoink~
Your attention is then taken back by Ishizu as she answers your question.
"Worry not, I have contacts within the government who will be more than happy to take him in and make sure he pays for his crimes."
You nod at that, turning and making your way back to the car, but as you do, you turn your head back to face Ishizu walking behind you.
"...And don't think I forgot the fact that you apparently weren't completely honest with me. I'm almost hurt, but more than anything I want the full story this time." You say, demand clear in your tone.
Ishizu just sighs at your words, walking up beside you and taking a seat as you both get in the car.
"...My apologies, I did not lie to you; I merely told you what I thought was relevant to my request, but it is true that you deserve to know the full context of my brother's actions."
From there Ishizu retells her story from earlier, but this time with much more detail: the fact that the Tombkeepers were not only tasked with the protection of the Millennium Items but also the secret to the pharaoh's memories, it quite literally being scarred onto the male heir's back; how the ancient pharaoh had sealed himself within the Millennium Puzzle in order to stop some great evil, leading to centuries of abuse as his servants awaited his return in order to fulfill their mission; and how it was this that had led to Marik's fall and murder of his father.
…Damn, you thought of yourself typically as a pretty heartless dude, but even you couldn't help a twinge of pity as Ishizu wraps up her story.
"...Marik hates the Pharaoh, when he murdered our father it was almost as if his mind split, the darkness deep within him taking its own form as he took our fathers life, it was only when our brother got a hold of him he seemed to come back to himself, but he didn't remember the act in the slightest, it was then that Shadi appeared, seeming to wish to inspect the new wielder of the Millenium Rod, and our brother Odion in an attempt to protect Marik lied to him and told him it was Shadi who had killed our father, not wishing to burden Marik with the truth, that along with his resentment of our ancient pact made him swear to take revenge on the Pharaoh, hoping to destroy him in some vain attempt to try and free himself from the past." She finished, tears coming to her eye that she attempted to force down.
…Goddamn, the whole family needed some fucking therapy, not whatever the hell they currently had going on. Personally, you think it'd probably be better to tell Marik the truth of what happened to his father rather than hide it, but it wasn't your place to get in the middle of a sensitive family affair.
Suddenly you reach up and cup Ishizu's cheek, using your thumb to wipe away her tears.
"...I can see why you didn't bring that up before; it's an understandably touchy subject, but thank you for telling me," you said genuinely, looking her in the eyes as you did so.
Ishziu took a deep breath, obviously attempting to regain her composure.
"...You have no reason to thank me; it was unbecoming of me to request your help without explaining the full circumstances, but I hope you see now why I so desperately need your aid. I have seen a future with my Necklace where my brother is saved, managing to overcome the darkness within and go back to the kind boy I knew, and I shall do whatever it takes of me to have that future come to pass. That is why I wish to bury my brother's criminal enterprise and make sure each of the Olympus XIII is in the hands of a man I can trust to not interfere with my brother being saved." She said, reaching up and grabbing your hand from her cheek, cradling it in her own as she gently runs her thumb along the back of your hand.
You feel a faint blush come to your cheeks at the action, the moment much more intimate than the casual flirting and teasing you had partaken in with her previously.
"Heh, suppose I'd be a real piece of shit if I tried to turn my back on you now. I promise to help you, Ishizu. I'll claim each of the XIII as my own and dismantle the Rare Hunters till nothing's left. After that, I'll do everything in my power to help you in whatever way I can save your brother." You swore to her.
Ishizu just smiled at that, seeming relieved by your words.
"...I thank you; truly, it lightens my heart to know you're my ally." She stated as you both descended into a comfortable silence, the rest of the car ride was spent with the both of you casually conversing, any air of mistrust well and truly disappated.
-x-X-x-------->