Sonic X Fan Fiction / Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monster GX Fan Fiction ❯ Sonic Duels: The Shadow Clan Saga! ❯ The Shadow Clan ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1: The Shadow Clan

 

The rain fell heavily, the people of the city running for cover, the squeals of children wanting to play in the puddles resounding in the air. Only one person stood in the downpour, a Hare, looking out over the bridge into the bay, watching the storm as lightning streaked across the sky. Deep in thought, Kiros sighed. His attention wandered from the world, seeking answers to questions he could not remember. A ball fell at Kiros feet, a cute young girl completely covered over in a rainproof jacket, gloves and boots ran over.

"S'cuse me, Mr." She called out sweetly. "Can I have my ball back, please?" Kiros just looked at the girl for a few moments before he picked the ball up and threw it to her. The girl caught the slippery ball and ran off.

"Thank you, Mr!" She called to him. He said nothing in reply, just turned back to the storm.

"Amazing how people run around like idiots the moment there's a slight drop of rain." he mused.

"Your compassion needs to be altered..." A voice said from behind him. Petal stood, hooded from the rain.

"Is that a fact?" Kiros replied without turning.

"You seem to have some issues, so what have you decided, Gladiator Beast?" Petal asked him. Kiros sighed, and then turned to face Petal, rain dripping from his hair which now covered most of his face.

"If your friend thinks I'm good enough to join, then I'll join. It's not like I have anything to lose."

"Friend? Brother Hiei?" Petal questioned. "He's not our friend, he's our leader, and a leader is better than a friend."

Kiros shrugged in reply. "Whatever you say. Either way, I'm in."

"Are you now..." Petal narrowed her eyes. "Well then, answer me something. We of Shadows are ruthless, cunning, and merciless. Are you?"

Kiros laughed bitterly. "Give me half an hour alone with Thunder, I'll show you how ruthless and merciless I am..." he replied darkly.

"Ohhh, I'm sure you can be quite ruthless against the one who slaughtered you, yes...but what about someone you don't hate?" Petal asked.

"I grew up on the streets lady. I had to do whatever it took to survive then. Now is no different." Kiros replied.

"Is that so..." Petal said, trying to have the cool in her voice as Hiei when he says it. "Well then, look up."

"Hmm? Why?" asked Kiros as he raised his head.

In the instant he does so, Petal charged forward pushing her fist violently into his stomach, enough to knock unconscious an average man.

Kiros was thrown backwards, gasping for breath as he retched on air. "W...what the hell was that for, bitch?!" he wheezed.

"Just sleep...it's for your own good..." Petal said looking down on him, his consciousness fading from him till he falls unconscious on the bridge.

 

 

Kiros awoke in an averaged sized room, he was lying in a nice comfy bed, and around him were usual daily needs. His deck was resting neatly on a desk and a wardrobe was stood a few feet away from the bed at the corner of the room, the room itself was painted a nice blue and there was a clapper light on the roof, fully lit. He sat up slowly, his stomach still sore from Petal's 'method' of induction. He walked painfully to the desk where his deck lay, and looked through it, making sure everything was as it should be.

"Oh, so you're awake." Petal said from the door. "I'm sorry I had to hit you so hard, but on the off chance that you don't like us after all, I couldn't risk having you know our hideout's location." She explained before smiling cutely...which was seemingly out of character.

Kiros was a little unnerved to say the least. "Um..well, sure, that's okay I guess. Just..erm..you smiling like that is just a little bit scary." he said. "But, as I'm fine, and my deck is in good order, I guess I'm good to roll." he finished.

"Meh, the whole 'darkness and phenomenal evil bitch like' attitude's just a cover up, you can't expect me to be badass all the time, right?" Petal giggled a little. "Come on, lemmie take you to Brother Hiei." She then took Kiros by the hand and walked out of the room and up a black corridor.

"I guess not." Kiros said as he looked around the corridor.

 

Petal led Kiros up some stairs, the two continued down another long hallway, however, there were some gaps in the right wall with windows. Inside, the room was on the lower floor, though everything could be seen from the window, it looked to be filled ankle deep in water, inside was a pure white Arctic Fox in a full blue swim suit, who seemed to be dancing with the water, as the water seemed to jump and follow her movements. Kiros watched the 'dance' in amazement as they passed the windows as he tried his hardest not to watch Petal's butt move under her cloak as they walked. Petal looked over her shoulder and stopped walking, which in term made Kiros fall over her in his 'trance' of not looking at her.

"Erm...sorry...." Kiros said, blushing as he picked himself off the floor. Petal stood and looked over the banister toward the girl in the water.

"You're not taking a liking to her, are you?" She asked.

"Huh?" Kiros asked. "What, no no, just never seen water do that before, that's all." he said quickly.

"That's good, the last thing you want to do is get a crush on Brother Hiei's mate." Petal leaped down from the banister and continued walking through the halls.

Kiros followed closely, keeping his eyes directly in front of him.

"Hey, how long are we gonna be walking? These corridors are kinda....boring." he asked as he ran a hand across a wall.

"Gimmie a break, this is easy compared to walks we gotta take to get our victims." Petal replied.

"Sheesh..." Kiros replied. "Have you guys never heard of cars? Seriously, invest."

In that instant, Petal vanished and poked Kiros on the back of the head. "Why have a car that's slower than yourself?"

Kiros turned and grinned. "You so gotta teach me how to do that!!" he exclaimed.

"Naaah, you like convertibles." Petal giggled, then warped in the correct direction and continued walking.

 

Chuckling to himself, Kiros followed again, unable to stop himself checking Petal out every now and then as they walked down the endless halls.

Without looking at him, Petal spoke. "You like what you see?" She asked.

"Don't know what you mean." Kiros replied innocently as he blushed slightly. Petal stopped walking just before a large door.

"I know you have been checking out my butt..." She said.

"Well.....yeah....I did say the corridors were boring." Blushed Kiros.

"Well, who knows, maybe one day you might get a better look." Petal then opened the door, inside everything was like a mansion's main living room, at the far wall was a fireplace and just before it was a large black deck with a leather chair behind it, facing away from the two. "Mornin', Brother Hiei." Petal said as she walked in.

Kiros just looked around, jaw on the floor as he looked around the room, though it was probably more from Petal's statement than the room itself.

 

Hiei turned his seat around and lifted his feet on the table. "So, you decided to accept my offer?" He asked, pushing his fingers together, like he was plotting something.

"Yeah, I figure if anyone can help me be a stronger duellist, it's you guys." Kiros replied, quickly composing himself.

"Geez, talk about rude. I'm going for a bath." Petal said as she ran off, leaving Kiros to Hiei.

 

Kiros was pulled into the room by nothing and the doors behind him slammed shut. "Is that the only reason?" Hiei asked.

"What other reason would there be?" asked Kiros cautiously.

"A homeless person would ask such a question of moi?" Hiei said, lowering his feet and walked toward the side of the room. "I used to be like you." He said. He pressed a switch on the wall, which in reply opened a large rectangle of the wall to reveal a window.

"How so?" Kiros said as he slowly made his way over to the window.

"Abandoned by my mother, banished by my father and my deck being all that there is to keep me alive." Hiei said, clenching a fist. "It matches your story on a basis that I began with nothing and then I found something." Kiros pulled his deck from his pocket, looking at it without saying a word.

 

In the window was a large white room at the floor there was someone who looked vaguely like Petal, recognised as Hermana. She looked worried, looking around the room. She was completely bandaged up as if she'd been in a horrific accident.

"You see, when someone as young as you or me are left to rot on the streets, all we can do is pillage and steal, fight to survive until someone or thing finds up." Hiei walked away from the window into the room. "I was found by the one who helped me and then I found you, and now I will continue that tradition and I can help you, but only if you want it, and only if it's under my conditions." He finished.

 

Kiros clenched his fist. "What do I have to do?" he asked.

"You need to prove your worth to me." Hiei said. "But my conditions are not nice ones."

"Name the stakes and I'll meet them." Kiros replied looking up at Hiei. "As you said, on the streets, the only ones that matter are us."

"Indeed..." Hiei said. "Look at that girl in that room." He pointed to the room. "You know Hitomi, do you not? She just recently became champion."

"Yeah I do know her. Is that who she was going on about, Hermana was it?" Kiros asked.

"It is." Hiei said, walking back over and looking at scared little Hermana. "That's her younger sister. She's your first test." Hiei then walked over to his deck and opened a square on the top and took out a large heavy box with one hand without even struggling and dropped it on the floor with a thud. He opened the box and pulled out the contents, sleeves upon sleeves of coins, which were then placed on the table. "Boy, come here and look at these."

Kiros walked over. "Hey, these are like that coin Thunder had."

 

"Indeed. They are called Nyte coins, spelt N.Y.T.E. They initiate a Shadow Duel Ritual upon which two or more people duel for their very souls." Hiei explained. "They come in many pretty patterns as you might see, mainly to resemble the one wielding it."

"That one's cool." said Kiros, pointing to a coin that had the emblem of a spear held across a shield on it.

"Perfect for a Gladiator." Hiei said, sitting in his seat. Kiros picked up the coin and toyed with it, running it across his knuckles and flipping it into the air.

"So what now?" he asked.

"Well, your test can wait for a while, I'd like to see you get acquainted first. However, your test is as such. You are to enter the white room, I'm sure Young Petal will happily lead you to it. Inside you are to challenge Hermana to a duel of Nyte and win. The duel can only be initiated if she agrees, so make her the deal that if she wins, she'll be let go, but don't mention the cost of losing. When she agrees, flick the coin, the ritual will begin, your worth shall be proven from there." Hiei explained.

"I'd rather just get it over and done with." Kiros replied, flicking through his deck.

Hiei narrowed his eyes a little. "To be honest, you might want to get it over with, but it's Hermana's feeding time, so she'll be too busy with her last meal, you'd grant her that, right?" He joked. "But, if you insist, go and find Petal, she said she was in the bath, she never takes long though." Hiei then turned his seat away from Kiros and the doors blew open behind him.

 

Kiros nodded and left the room. As he did so, the great doors swung shut behind him. "Great..." he said. "How am I meant to find her in this place?"

"Ever heard of following the light?" Said a voice from the shadows.

Kiros spun around, and tripped over his own foot, landed flat on his back. "Owie..." he moaned.

A flame red ferret walked out of the shadows. "Bout time I got an underling." He said. "Yo, kid, get up, you look ridiculous."

Kiros stood, rubbing his behind. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Names Tyrone, but just call me Mr. Inferno." The ferret replied.

"Well, nice to meet you. I'm Kiros." the young hare replied, extending his hand.

"Kiros?" Tyrone lifted a finger to his chin. "No no, that won't do at all. You got a nickname, kid?"

"Well, people do call me the Gladiator." Kiros replied.

"The Galdiator..?" Tyrone said wrong.

Kiros grinned. "No, the G-l-a-d-I-a-t-o-r." He said, sounding it out for Tyrone.

"I'm teasin' ya, kid. That's pretty cool of course. Buuut, Shadow Gladiator is cool too. But, whatever floats your boat, you can't have a worse name than some of us here, right?" Tyrone let out a hearty chuckle.

"Shadow Gladiator....." Kiros mused. "Not bad, might steal that idea from you." Kiros laughed. "And I'm sure there are a few who are worse off than me."

"Well, top rank no 3, the fairy chick, she's got quite the ridiculous name." Tyrone snickered to himself. "Wait, or is she number 2, not sure, I forget."

Kiros managed to stop himself from laughing. "Ah, no matter. Hey listen, I gotta find Petal, you know where she is?" he asked.

"Latep Elttil was what she calls herself." Tyrone seemed to wonder of in a train of thoughts. "Huh? Oh, right. Like I said, follow the light." With that, Tyrone ignited his finger on fire, and then blew up in a fireball. When the fire cleared, he was gone.

Kiros shook his head. "Like that helps." he said before running down one of the corridors.

 

Along his way, the corridor split into 3 directions, 4 including the way he just came. As he looked from left to right, the corridors seemed to darken.

"Follow the light..." he murmured and headed off down the lightest corridor, the one on the far left. As he ran, he nearly bumped into a tall figure, who looked his way, but carried on, he was a tall blue fox, who seemed to cover up most of his body, especially so to his left arm. "Woah, sorry pal!" Kiros called as he continued running. Kiros continued to run, and then he heard a familiar noise, duelling to the darkened corridor to his left, there was a window into another large room, just taunting his interest. "A duel? Hell I gotta see this!" he said to himself as he took the slight detour.

 

Inside the room was a dark brown Echidna and a pure red Hyena with one of her eyes scratched out. On the field were 6 cards, 3 monsters, two spell and trap cards and the field was Wasteland. The life points were listed on high boards as 3400 for the Hyena and 6500 for the echidna. The monsters were two Despair from the Dark's on the echidna's side and Black Meteor Dragon on the Hyena's side.

"Woah, heavy power in this one!" whistled Kiros as he watched intently.

"My Meteor Black Dragon out powers your Despairs, so I'll go in for the attack!" The Hyena said. (3500/2500 v 3000/3200) The Black Meteor Dragon charged into the sky, took hold of one of the rocks form the wasteland and tossed it toward one of the Despairs.

"Whoo boy, this is gonna be good!!" Kiros said excitedly as he nearly fell over the banister.

"Like usual, 'Dragon Queen,' you've failed to realise my traps. Sakuretsu Armor should put you in your place!" The echidna replied and in that instant, the armor destroyed the rock and then the Meteor Dragon.

"Damn you, Jin!" Dragon Queen yelled. "My turn is over with one card face down."

"And this duel shall end as well." Jin said, drawing his card. "Now, attack her directly."

"Not so fast, Negate Attack!" The Dragon Queen replied, activating her trap.

"Very nice, but not nice enough. Trap Jammer!" Jin replied, activating his counter trap. "You lose." With that the Despairs dropped the Dragon Queens life to 0 points.

"Damn, didn't see that coming.." pondered Kiros as he ran off to try and find Petal again.

 

Kiros ran out into another split in his path, but before he could choose his direction, Petal dropped her head down in front of him. "BOO!" She yelled.

"ARGH!!" Kiros cried out as he fell backwards. "Dammit, not again!" he cursed as he rubbed his butt.

"Looking for me?" Petal dropped from the roof onto her feet. "So how do you like us so far?"

"Pretty cool. I think I'm gonna fit in well here. I just need to do something for Hiei before I can 'officially' join." Kiros replied.

"Would that happen to be sealing my twin sister in the coin of Nyte, by any chance?" Petal asked.

Kiros nodded. "Yeah...but I have no idea where I'm goin'..."

"You get used to this place, it's meant to stop intruders, can't intrude if you get lost, right?" Petal smiled.

"True true." replied Kiros. "Help me out, I wanna go duel." He smiled sweetly at Petal.

 

"Smirking is more your thing. Well, hold on tight." Petal grabbed Kiros by the hand, then the whole place seemed to change, though Kiros felt like he hit several walls in one go and found himself on the floor, in some pain. "I said hold on..."

"Ohhhh man....a little more warning would have been nice...." Kiros complained.

"Ah well." Petal then pushed a button and opened a huge metallic door. Inside was Hermana looking around scared, Petal lifted her hood up over her head. "Help yourself, just don't let her out."

"You not sticking around to watch?" asked Kiros.

"Oh, I'll be watching, but it's best she don't know she has a twin, eh?" Petal then vanished.

Kiros nodded. "Good point...." he walked over towards Hermana.

The doors slammed shut and Hermana looked towards Kiros. "Did they trap you too?" She asked, she sounded just like Petal. Though her voice was a little higher.

Kiros shook his head. "...Not quite..." he replied. "I joined 'em."

"You did what?!" Hermana backed away from him. "Well, you can just leave me alone then...They are bad news, and so are you."

"Okay, if that's what you want..." Kiros turned to leave. "I'll just tell Hitomi that you didn't want to leave."

"W-wait...you know my sister? Where is she? What have they done to her?!" Hermana questioned, a quiver in her voice, tears welling in her eyes.

Kiros turned back. "Hitomi is fine. In fact, she's waiting outside for you. You just have to win a duel, and you're free to go, that's all."

"That's not all there is too it, there's no way that you'd just simply let me go on one duel." Hermana narrowed her eyes disbelievingly.

Petal's voice rang in Kiros head. Tell her it's the second part of the deal, Hitomi did hers by winning the tournament. Hermana must win in order to be freed. She explained.

Kiros breathed deeply. "It's been the deal all along Hermana. Hitomi won the tournament, and boy was she awesome doing it. Now you have to do your part. You win, and you're free to go. That's it. No catches, no traps, no changes, nothing. You win, you go, simple." he continued.

"Um...you promise?" Hermana asked, she did seem a little worried still though.

Kiros smiled. "I promise. If you win, you're free. I give you my word on it." Hermana was so keen to get out, she forgot to question what happens if she loses.

"Okay then." In that instant, the floor opened up containing her deck and a small usable deck table machine, since her left arm was out of action, she couldn't use a duel disk.

 

Kiros prepped his duel disk and deck. "You ready?" he asked.

"Yes, okay." And the life points were printed. (Hermana 6000 v Kiros 6000) "6000 life points? It's not the usual 8000?" Hermana questioned.

"Pegasus thought the game needed a little change, so he altered the lifepoints after the tournament." Kiros lied as he flipped his coin.

"How odd..." Hermana said as the ritual formed around her, but she took no notice of it. She drew five cards. "Who first?" She asked.

"Ladies first." said Kiros, bowing politely.

Hermana drew her 6th card. "Okay, I'll start with Terraforming." Hermana said. "It allows me to search my deck for a field spell card and add it to my hand. And I'll play it right now, Necrovalley." The room then changed into the Necrovalley. "I'll play a face down and a monster face down and end my turn."

"Can't say I like the look of your field spell Hermana." said Kiros as he drew his 6th. "It's kinda scary."

"Well, you know...you do what you can." Hermana replied.

"Indeed you do. I'll set 2 face-downs of my own, and summon Gladiator Beast Beastiari (1500/800) to the field."

"Ohh, a beast type? Beast-warrior?" Hermana asked.

"Huh?" replied Kiros in wonder. "I've....never been asked that before." he admitted.

"Well, is it?" Hermana asked.

"'Fraid not. He's a winged beast." Kiros confided.

"Well, I was close, carry on." Hermana said. "I'm so hungry..." She trailed as her stomach growled for food.

"Bestiari, attack her face-down monster!" Kiros commanded. The nimble bird moved forward to attack.

"Oh no, you destroyed my Mystic Tomato." (1400/1100) Hermana said, she seemed upset, but also not at the same time. "Well, thanks to his effect, when he's destroyed I can special summon a dark monster from my deck with 1500 ATK or less in attack mode." Hermana said as she searched her deck.

"A nice play! But my monster has a special effect as well. If he did battle this turn, I can return him to my deck in order to summon another Gladiator Beast monster, so say goodbye Bestiari, and say hello to Gladiator Beast Murmillo!" (800/400)

"Oh, well I see, the monster I choose is Gravekeeper's Assailant." Hermana said as her monster appeared. (1500/1500)

"Not bad. Unfortunately, Murmillo destroys one monster on the field when he's summoned by a Gladiator Beast. So I'm afraid your Assailant heads to the Graveyard." Kiros replied as his fish monster struck down Hermana's instantly.

"Huuuh?" Hermana didn't like that. "That sucks..." She pouted.

"Don't worry; it's your move now. Make it count." Kiros said, cheerfully.

"Well, okay." Hermana drew her card. "I'll set one card down and use Rite of Spirit. This allows me to choose a monster from my graveyard with Gravekeepers in its name from the Graveyard and Special summon it in face up defence position. So, the one who just went will return." Hermana said as the Assailant returns. (1500/1500)

 

"Very nice." whistled Kiros. This duel could be fun. he thought to himself.

"Also, before you ask, the card isn't affected by Necrovalley." Hermana added. "I summon Gravekeeper's Cannonholder." She continued as the monster appeared. (1400/1200) "And use it to attack. But before anything else, I trigger my trap card, Magician's Circle." Hermana quickly said. "This allows us to search our decks for a Spellcaster type of 2000 atk or lower and special summon it." Hermana explained. "In face up attack position. So, I'll special summon my Gravekeeper's Chief." Hermana said as another monster appeared. (1900/1200)

"In that case, I special summon my Witch Doctor of Sparta, (400/2000) in attack mode. Also, in response to your attacks, I activate my facedown card Defensive Tactics, which reduces any battle damage I receive to 0 and none of my monsters are destroyed." Kiros said as Hermana's monsters charged towards him. Canonholder struck and returned with no effect or damage. "And of course, when you end your battle phase, I can do with Murmillo what I did with Bestiari and summon another monster." Kiros said.

"Oh, okay." Hermana said.

"Well, that ends my turn." She finished.

"So, I'll say goodbye to Murmillo, and bring back Bestiari. (1500/800) Now, Bestiari destroys a spell or trap card on the field if he's summoned in this way, so I think I'll pick your Necrovalley card."

"Ooohhh..." Hermana moaned. "Was just getting used to that."

"Well, there's worse to come I'm afraid. See, with Witch Doctor of Sparta on the field, every time we special summon a monster from our decks, he does 500 points of damage to you." Kiros added as his witch doctor sent a blast at Hermana.

"Ahh!" Hermana covered herself as she was hit. <5500>

"That actually hurt meee..." She moaned.

Kiros ignored her as he drew. "Now, I'll switch my doctor into defence position and attack your Cannonholder with Bestiari." The Cannonholder was destroyed as Hermana blocked the debris. <5400> "I end my battle phase, and return Bestiari to my deck in order to special summon Gladiator Beast Secutor (400/300) in defence mode and end my turn. And of course, my witch doctor takes some more points from you..."

"Ahh!" Hermana covered herself as she was hit again. <4900> "It's not usual that I lose life points, you're the second to do it..." Hermana said.

"I'll take that as a compliment." smiled Kiros. "Your move."

Hermana drew her card. "I summon Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier." (1500/1000) "And then have him charge your Secutor using Rush Recklessly from my hand!" Hermana said as the monster charged faster. (2200 ATK)

Secutor squealed as he was squashed under Hermana's powerful monster. "Now that...just wasn't nice...." Kiros commented.

"It gets worse." Hermana said. "You see, when Spear Soldier attacks a defence position monster, the difference between the defence and his attack comes out of your life points." Hermana explained as Spear soldier continued to charge Kiros.

"Ouch......." said Kiros as Spear Soldier slashed him directly. <4100> This ain'tright....that actually hurt.... he thought to himself.

"Anyway, that'll do." Hermana said. "So I'll end my turn." As Hermana ended her turn, Kiros's Witch Doctor of Sparta sent 2 blasts directly at Hermana as 2 monsters appeared in front of Kiros, Gladiator Beast Hoplomus (700/2100) in defence mode, and Gladiator Beast Dimacari (1600/1200) in attack mode. However, the blasts merged into 1 and struck Hermana for 500 life. "Ahh!" (4400)

Kiros drew. "Alright, here we go. I'll play my field spell Coliseum, Cage of the Gladiator Beasts. After all, I think it's time for a change of scenery..." Kiros said as the room turned into an arena.

"Ooh, pretty." Hermana said, looking around.

"Just wait. Watch what happens when I special summon a monster. Like my Test Tiger (600/300) for instance." The cute feline appeared on the field as a large ring began to glow behind Kiros.

"How cute." Hermana narrowed her eyes.

"I'm glad you think so. But I'm afraid he won't be around for long. By sending him to the graveyard, I can send a Gladiator Beast I control back to my deck in order to special summon another, so Hoplomus can go back, and Spartacus (2200/1600) shall emerge!!" As Spartacus emerged, Witch Doctor sent yet another bolt of energy at Hermana as another ring lit up behind Kiros.

 

"Okay, start talking Shadow scum...what's the deal with the shiny rings?" Hermana narrowed her eyes again.

"Hey, what's with the name calling?" said Kiros, acting hurt. "All they do is give any Gladiator Beast's on the field an extra 100 points per ring."

"Name calling? If you join Shadows, you'll get use to tha...Ah!" Boom! <3900>

"You alright?" asked Kiros, his voice full of worry.

"Why should you care?" Hermana asked, dusting herself with her only working arm.

"Jeez, I was only asking." Kiros said, a little hurt at the rebuff. Is this what it's like to be part of the Shadow Clan? he asked himself. "Fine, I'll continue. Spartacus allows me to pick an equip card from my deck and bring it to my hand. Then, I'll return both Spartacus and Dimacari to my deck to summon my fusion monster Gladiator Beast Giaodiaz!!" (2600/1500) another ring lights up.

"That's not good." Hermana said, sweating a little. "I wanna go home..." She shed some tears as she was about to cry.

 

Petal narrowed her eyes from the outside one way window, she spoke telepathically to Kiros again. If you're worried about her wellbeing, then you should give up now and lose your soul. It's you or her, remember that, and Shadows are not here to care for others.

"Hm...Guess I forgot to mention what would happen, should he fail his test." Hiei muttered, Petal looked up at him.

"Oh, I'm sure he knows." She replied.

 

Kiros looked up at Giaodiaz. I need your help pal. This ain'tright, I don't want any morepart in this. But if I give up, I lose my soul. If I don't, and I win, she loses hers. You always been here for me in the past, be here for me now.... He silently pleaded.

Giaodiaz looked down on Kiros. "You got yourself into this." He said. "You have to find your own way out. You should have listened to your friends, rather than your own greed."

"It wasn't greed..." Kiros murmured. He looked up at Hermana. "I end my turn."

Hermana drew her card. "I set one card and place my monsters in defence mode and end my turn." She said sadly.

Kiros stared at his deck. Giaodiaz is right...but what can I do now? There has to be a way out for Hermana and me...there just has to be! he thought.

 

Petal leaned over the banister, her nose against the window. Please don't leave now, otherwise I'dhave spent the day in the rain for nothing... She mentally pleaded, though only to herself and not telepathically to him.

 

Kiros closed his eyes, picturing the events of the past few days in his head. He saw himself duelling for scraps of food, the looks of disgust and hatred on the faces of the crowd that such a tramp was allowed to duel. He saw his defeat against Thunder, and felt the abject humiliation he felt all over again. But then he remembered the people chanting his name, and what Pegasus had said to him, about being a real duellist. He remembered Cream, how she seemed to care so much after he was beaten. Sonic, Hitomi, how they'd tried to help. He opened his eyes and smiled at Hermana.

Hermana looked at Kiros strangely, then smiled. "You're not them..." She said.

 

Hiei angrily narrowed his eyes and walked out of the room. Petal knowing where he was headed.

 

"Listen to me Hermana. Whatever you do, don't accept another duel. Promise me. I'm sorry I did this....I didn't think it would be as serious as this. And..." Kiros lowered his head. "Tell Sonic and the others that I'm sorry...." he held his hand on his deck, surrendering the duel.

"Uh...what are you doing?" Hermana asked. With that moment, the doors cast open, Hiei walked in, he was none too happy. He placed his hand on the purple sphere around the two and it was drawn back into the card, cancelling the ritual.

Kiros spun around. "Let her go." he said coldly. Hiei took Kiros by the collar and tossed him violently at the wall, Hermana quickly scurried to the far wall as Hiei walked over and grabbed her by the forehead. She screamed as he lifted her into the air, and with some black lightning and loud noise, Hermana fell limb as Hiei dropped her and turned to Kiros.

"What the hell did you do?!" yelled Kiros angrily as he struggled to his feet.

"I did what you failed to do." Hiei said. "I knew you didn't have the guts to do it."

Kiros coughed up a rather large amount of blood. "Oh I had the guts to do it. I just realised that I'm better than that, that I'm better than you. You had me pegged Hiei, you really did. But you got just one thing wrong."

"You're not better than me boy, You're the same as me, it only needs guts and some skill to realise it, you have one, not the other. It's a shame I won't grant you more time." Hiei said. "Petal!" He called. Petal then appeared. "Drain his soul and dispose of his body." Hiei then walked out as Petal approached Kiros.

Kiros just laughed. "Sorry I made you stand in the rain for nothing." he said as he coughed up some more blood. "I like you, I really do. But I ain't gonna become something I'm not." he finished.

Petal then repeated an earlier action, though softer this time, pushing her fist into his stomach. "Good night." She said.

Before he lost consciousness, Kiros looked up at Petal and whispered, "Tell that brother of yours that I'm coming for him...no matter how long it takes..." Then blackness gripped him.

 

Kiros then woke up in familiar areas, back on the bridge, in the same place he met Petal to begin with, the rain had lifted and the sun was shining down. Kiros was getting the usual treatment, being ignored for being a street kid. He struggled to his feet. "I gotta find Sonic...." he said as he limped away. Petal was sat on the bridge banister, looking down on the river. However, she was not in her cloak, this time, she was dressed in normal boys clothes, a sweater and blue jeans with blue trainers. He long ponytail was held by a Ribbon.

"Kiros..." She muttered.

 

Unbeknown to both Kiros and Petal, a figure in a black trench coat was watching them. "Hmmm....so, she does have a soft spot." the figure turned and left. "And Petal's soft spot will be the edge I need to get Hiei....."