So yeah, John gets beaten. It's right there in the title. Usually the main protagonist of a Yu-Gi-Oh! series doesn't lose ever ever, which is why this is a big deal. Of course Kimi is no pushover, but still.
As for Kimi, I mean for her to have a really distinct personality, and it bums me out that I couldn't work better examples of it into this introductory chapter. It is one of the primary reasons for including the next chapter, in fact.
This chapter mainly serves to force John to admit to his underlying fears and begin to face them. He doesn't really stand up to them, though, until he has a rematch with Max later (is this a spoiler if it is obvious that it will happen?).
Chapter Five
The Duelist of Light;
John is Defeated!?
The following day, after catching Rocky up on everything and offering to let him join the Duel Force (an offer which he readily accepted), we got together again and set out to locate the Duelist who was my antithesis, whose identity I had an idea about.
“My mom has been training some girl named Kimi at Duel Monsters for a while now,” I told the others as we rode the bus together to the mall. “She uses Light attribute monsters. If I’m right, she’ll be the one to get the next Soul.”
“Whoa, wait,” interrupted Rocky, combing his fingers through his hair, “your mom is a Duelist too?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I taught her to play a few years ago. She developed her own style. She’s a natural. She’s at least as strong as I am, maybe even stronger.”
“And she trained this girl?” Rocky asked.
“Yep, that’s how I know that this Kimi girl has to be strong too.”
"But neither of you have dueled her, or seen her duel?" Rocky asked, looking at me and Sarah. I shook my head no.
“This will be the Soul of Light right?” Sarah said. “That’s your opposite, John. Kimi could be as strong as you are.”
“Yeah,” I said, excited by the prospect, “I know.”
We had arranged earlier that same morning to meet Kimi at the Game Center. She already knew all about the Souls and the Order and everything. My mom sort of has a problem with keeping important things secret sometimes. This meeting wasn’t about the Souls, or even whether Kimi would join with us. It was a challenge. She was challenging me to a duel. She said that she had a point to make. One that could change the team forever.
When we arrived at the Game Center, Kimi was waiting for us. I’d met the petite, dark-haired Japanese girl many times as she was learning Duel Monsters from my mom, but we’d rarely spoken, making this situation even more interesting. “Hey John,” she said, “I bet you’ve been wondering what this is all about.” She sounded serious, which was rare for her, and I couldn’t help but feel serious as well.
“Yeah,” I said dubiously, “I have.”
"I want to duel you because of something your mom told me," Kimi replied.
"That I'm pretty great?" I asked.
“No," Kimi replied seriously, "Your mom asked me to duel you because she’s noticed something about you ever since you came back from Egypt. She thinks that whatever happened over there changed you, and that’s why you so radically changed your deck.”
“What does she think changed?” I asked, more than a little annoyed with my mother, not for the first time and certainly not for the last.
“She thinks that you’re afraid." Kimi answered. "She thinks that deep down you are afraid of the Order’s power, or your responsibility to oppose it, and that you responded by over-compensating and throwing off the balance of your deck. She says that you won’t make it unless someone proves it to you that you have a problem. Honestly I don’t know what she means, not really, but she seems sure. She wants me to prove her point to you, that you’re going to lose to the Order unless something changes.”
I groaned, “Why can’t she remember that I taught her how to play this game, not the other way around? And what does she know about the Order anyway, except what I told her?”
Kimi ignored me, flipping back her shoulder length jet black hair, “You’ve lost your connection to your cards, a loss that could prove dangerous to even an average Duelist, but fatal to someone like you who relies on Dueling to defend yourself. And before you decline my challenge, keep in mind that accepting is the only way to get me to join your team. And you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t want me on your team.”
That got my attention, “Then does that mean-?”
“Yep,” Kimi said, holding up a pale yellow Soul.
“Fine,” I said, looking from Kimi to Sarah and back, “but if I win, you and everyone else have to drop the subject of my deck, for good.”
Kimi nodded, “Sounds fair to me.”
I activated my Duel Disk and drew my opening hand. A small crowd was beginning to gather, but because we were not on the main stage most of them turned their attention elsewhere within a few minutes.
“I start this duel off,” I declared, “with the ‘Mad Dog of Darkness’.” An orange-haired dog the size of a small horse appeared between me and Kimi, growling loudly (ATK: 1900). “I end my turn with a face-down card.”
“Sempei warned me of your offensive style,” Kimi said, and it took me a second to realize that she meant my mom, “so I’m prepared for your strategy.
“I begin my move by placing one monster face-down in defense mode,” Kimi declared, “and I end it with three other face-own cards.”
Okay, I thought. She can’t beat my ‘Mad Dog’ head on, at least not yet, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a plan. Of course, if I don’t attack, I’ll never beat her. It’s my only choice.
“Alright, here goes,” I said. “I begin my turn by attacking your face-down monster.”
“Reveal,” Kimi said calmly, “the Trap card ‘Wall of Revealing Light’, paying three thousand Life Points to do so. As long as this Trap is active, monsters with fewer Attack Points than the Life Points I paid cannot reach me or my monsters.”
My ‘Mad Dog’ lunged, but a wall of light came up, blocking his advance.
“Risky move,” I said, “but it stopped me for now. I end my turn.”
“Before I draw again,” said Kimi, “I reveal ‘Solemn Wishes’. Now each time I draw, I gain Life points (5000+500=5500). Next, I Flip-Summon my ‘Agent of Creation Venus’.”
A female angel wearing a brown dress appeared to Kimi’s right (ATK: 1600).
“My ‘Agent of Creation’ has the power to summon beings of light,” said Kimi. “I pay five hundred Life Points to summon ‘Mystic Shine Ball’ from my deck (5500-500=5000).”
There was a flash and a shining glass orb appeared in the air, hovering above ‘Venus’’ right shoulder (ATK: 500).
“Now I sacrifice both ‘Agent of Creation - Venus’ and ‘Mystic Shine Ball’,” Kimi continued, “to summon my favorite card, the mighty angel ‘Wingweaver’.”
There was a huge flash and both of Kimi’s monsters faded away. The light faded and a new angel lowered to the ground in their place. She was tall with long purple hair and six wings, wearing an elegant flowing gown (ATK: 2750).
“‘Wingweaver’, attack ‘Mad Dog of Darkness’ with Shining Breeze!” ‘Wingweaver’ flapped her wings and shining feathers rained down on ‘Mad Dog’ from her wing tips.
“Reveal the Trap card ‘Blast Held by a Tribute’.”
“Counter Trap, ‘Solemn Judgment’ (5000/2=2500)!”
My monster was destroyed, and I lost Life Points (8000+1900-2750=7150). The duel had barely begun and I was already out of moves.
“All I can do is set one monster,” I said.
“Good,” said Kimi. “I really want to end this fast. Your mom’s right, you have become weak. I barely know you and I know you’re supposed to be stronger than this. I draw (2500+500=3000) and summon ‘White Magician Pikeru’.”
A young girl appeared, wearing a loose fitting white dress and a hat that resembled a small, fluffy sheep, carrying a staff (ATK: 1200).
“‘White Magician Pikeru’, attack the face-down monster, Light Flare!”
Sparks enveloped my monster, my ‘Sangan’, and destroyed it. Finally something had gone my way.
“I've got you now. Destroying ‘Sangan’,” I explained, “allows me to search my deck for a monster.”
“That won’t protect you from the direct attack of my ‘Wingweaver’,” Kimi countered, “Shining Breeze!”
The rain of shining feathers slashed at me as I flipped through my deck, adding a card to my hand (7150-2750=4400).
“Now I set another card and end my turn.” A hologram of Kimi’s face-down card appeared below her monster.
“Then it's my move,” I declared. I drew, and I got my favorite card, ‘The Fiend Megacyber’. In my hand I had ‘Fusion Sword Murasame Blade’ and ‘Sword of Dark Destruction’. If I combined all three I could break through the ‘Wall of Revealing Light’ and destroy the ‘Wingweaver’ all in one shot.
Come on pal, you’ve never let me down before. We’ll finish this together!
“For my next move, I summon my favorite card," I announced, "‘The Fiend Megacyber’.”
My yellow-armored warrior appeared, but he was different. He turned to face me, his face filled with pain and disappointment. It hurt me to see it. Then, before my eyes, my favorite card dissolved into a cloud of black smoke and disappeared.
“No.”
“Do you see now?” Kimi asked. “Your deck resents you for butchering it. You won’t be able to win any serious duels until you settle things with your cards.
“Activate another Counter Trap, ‘Solemn Warning’,” she declared. “I pay two thousand Life to negate the summoning of any monster (3000-2000=1000). From the look on your face, I'm gonna assume that it's my turn. I draw (1000+500=1500), and activate the effect of ‘Pikeru’, recovering four hundred Life Points for every monster I control (1500+800=2300). Next I play ‘Pot of Greed’ to draw two more cards and recover even more Life Points (2300+500=2800).
“Now I finish it,” Kimi declared. “Summon ‘Shining Friendship’, equipped with ‘Malevolent Nuzzler’.”
Kimi’s monster, a spherical green creature with tiny angelic wings and a halo appeared, surrounded by a purple aura (ATK: 1300+700=2000).
“My monsters attack,” Kimi commanded. I heard my friends talking behind me in hushed tones.
“No way,” said Jen.
“Did John just lose?” Tucker asked in disbelief.
I would have been bothered by this, but I was too deep in thought, so much so that when the three monsters attacked and I found myself engulfed in a wave of light, I barely noticed. The light faded and Kimi’s monsters disappeared (4400-1200-2000-2750=0).
Kimi walked over to me and looked me in the eyes. She was a head shorter than me and had to look up to do so.
“Go home,” she said, “and fix your deck.” She put her Soul around her neck, “Your team will be waiting.”
I went home and sat on my bed, pulling the card boxes out from under it and setting my deck out in front of me. I removed many of my new cards, keeping only the ones that I felt a real connection to. Then I went through my spare cards, reaching out with my Soul, feeling each card out. Soon I had a new more balanced deck consisting of cards that I knew were or would become a part of me, just as the cards in my old deck had been.
We still need a way to test it, Hiro said. I hadn’t realized that he had been watching. I looked over and saw him in his transparent ghostly form leaning against the wall.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “There’s a tournament in the park this coming Saturday that should do nicely.”
Then I realized something, and I asked him, “Did you know that something was up with my deck?”
Hiro looked uncomfortable, Of course I did, but I know you. I live in your head after all. The only way you would ever believe that you had a problem was if someone proved it to you in a duel, which I can’t do. But I have been watching you, ready to support you if you were ever in too much danger.
I smiled, “Well then, I hope you don’t mind keeping up with the support, because new deck or not, I get the feeling I’m going to need it.”
Card of the Day:
Wingweaver
Played by: Kimi
This is Kimi's favorite monster, so it earns the spot here in the chapter where it first appeared. We don't see Kimi use it much, because really we don't see her duel much, but here it acts as Kimi's main attacker.
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