Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monster GX Fan Fiction / Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Rise of the Shadows ❯ Chapter 4 - A New Power ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

"How do you know all this? I mean, surely it's all legend to you as it is to me?"
Mitsuko chuckled "Indeed it should be my friend. Indeed it should. But while there are some things you will not yet understand, and may never understand, know that I once stood at Mahad's side and did battle with the gods." he stood as he finished.
"But enough of this for now. You and I have a great deal to discuss" he said as he extended a hand to Kyle. "Come, there is something you must see."
The boy took the offered hand and stood "What is it?"
Mitsuko turned to him, and for the first time there was no smile on his face, no jovial grin. Instead, there was a look of deadly seriousness.

"We go to meet your destiny".........

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"My destiny?" Kyle asked as they walked
"Indeed. There is something you must see" Mitsuko replied as they headed towards the arena. But instead of walking onto the floor, where Kyle had first stood, they instead turned into a narrow passage, and after climbing some stairs, they emerged where Kyle had seen the rest of the council. The old man pointed down at the floor, and Kyle looked. What he saw was horrifying.

4 creatures, each one seemingly made from the four elements, each one holding a form of PDS. Before them stood a row of people, some of the townsfolk, each one on their knees praying.
"What the hell is going on?!" Kyle exclaimed
"Those four creatures represent the elemental planes. They are the guardians of the fragmented worlds and the ones who serve the Dark Gods by preventing the world from reforming. Once a century, they come to this arena, to challenge the townsfolk of this world, the only free people left, to try and defeat them. But they are immensely strong, and have never been defeated."
"And what happens to the people that don't win?" Kyle asked slowly
Mitusko looked away "They are taken to the Shadow Realm, to serve the Dark Gods."
"WHAT?! Then why do the townsfolk duel them? Why not just refuse?"
The old man shrugged "All have their own reasons, but it comes down to one simple fact. If a challenge is refused, the Guardians take the soul of the person that means the most to those who refused, and destroy it."
"So they sacrifice themselves to save their families and friends?!"
"Pretty much. Watch" Mitsuko pointed to one of the Guardians, who was duelling a young man. The poor townsman had nothing left. He was on his knees, his field empty, and his lifepoints wide open. As Kyle looked on in horror, the Guardian finished the man off, sending him hurtling back. As his lifepoints reached zero, a hole opened beneath him and he was swallowed by the twisting mass of dark energy before it sealed itself, leaving nothing but the sandy floor of the arena.

"ANOTHER FALLS TO THE SHADOWS" the guardian roared. He studied the townsfolk that were left, and he grinned menacingly as he spotted his next victim "YOU, THERE!! I WILL DUEL YOU NEXT!!" a young girl, no more than 7 or 8 years old, walked forward, tears falling from her eyes as she stood in front of the Guardian who observed her closely "HMMMM YES, LORD OBELISK WILL REWARD ME GREATLY FOR PRESENTING HIM WITH SUCH A PURE SOUL AS YOURS"
"Please sir" she piped up "Let me go. I don't want to duel you, I just want to go home" she said tearfully. Kyle clenched his fists. 'How can these guys stand around while a young girl duels a creature that loves to destroy?' he thought.
"NOT A CHANCE LITTLE ONE, YOU'LL BE GOING TO THE SHADOWS, WHERE LORD OBELISK WILL SPEND AN ETERNITY FEEDING ON YOUR PURITY AND INNOCENCE" the Guardian cackled.
"NOT SO FAST MONSTER!!" yelled Kyle from the stands. The Guardian looked up in curiousity as Mitsuko and the rest of the Council looked on in horror
"Kyle, no, do not interfere!" warned Mitsuko. But it was too late.
"YOU THERE. WHY DO YOU TRY AND STOP ME?" the Guardian queried.
"Because I will not let you harm a young girl purely because you're looking for entertainment!!"
The other Guardians stopped their duels. Their opponents were overjoyed, as the Guardians let them go. This, after all, could be far more entertaining than capturing the souls of weaklings.
"IF YOU THINK TO STOP ME FOOLISH MORTAL, THEN COME DOWN HERE AND FACE ME!!" the Guardian roared. Kyle went to jump down, but he was held back by Mitsuko
"Kyle, you have no idea of what they are capable of. You've never faced an opponent like this!"
Kyle shrugged the old mans arm away "You may be enough of a coward to let him take that little girl, but I got the balls to take on anyone who'd do something like that"
And so he jumped down into the arena, smiled at the little girl, and stood in front of her. "You aint taking her pal. I'm taking you down!"
The Guardian laughed "FOOLISH MORTAL. I AM TYPHOON, GUARDIAN OF THE WATER REALM, AND I WILL CLAIM YOUR SOUL FOR MYSELF!"
Kyle held up his PDS "Yeah? Well you gotta get through this first. This deck has never let me down!"
"HAHA!!! TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR SO CALLED DECK. IN THIS WORLD, IT HAS NO POWER, AND THEREFORE, DOES NOT EXIST!!" the giant water creature bent over almost double in laughter
"Then I'll give it power! MINE!" cried Kyle as he powered up his dueling system. He felt a burst of energy flow through him, and he looked at his deck. He could have sworn he could hear his creatures, talking to him, calling him...almost as if they were real. 'Ooookay...I'm losing my mind' he thought.
The guardian stopped laughing "BUT....NO...HOW COULD YOU...THERE'S NO WAY A MORTAL COULD HAVE SUCH POWER!!" he cried out in fear. The other Guardians looked at each other, and then fled back to their own realms using their own portals. Typhoon stood rooted to the ground in terror. Kyle stood tall, confident. "Come then creature!! You wanted a match, face me! Show me why these people fear you!!" he cried out. Typhoon growled "YOU MAY BE STRONGER THAN ANY MORTAL I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED IN THIS REALM MORTAL, BUT I CAN ASSURE YOU WHEN NEXT WE MEET IT WON'T BE ON SUCH FAVOURABLE TERMS!!" and with that he vanished in a spiral of blasting water.
Silence gripped the arena. No-one could believe that the 4 Guardians, those who had tormented the free people of this realm for nearly 10,000 years, had run from a boy.
The surviving duellists walked towards Kyle, who felt like he'd just jumped from one hot place to another. But the duellists cheered at him, and lifted him in the air as the whooped and walked back to the town. The watchers in the arena joined them, and within moments a huge crowd marched on the town, Kyle in the centre, a hero. He looked back, and saw Mitsuko shake his head. Something was wrong with this.

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That night, Kyle for the first time knew what it was like to belong. He sat, and was told stories of famous duellists, epic events, that had taken part in ancient history, and he in return told tales of his own world. While nowhere near as exciting as the stories old by these people, who seemed to face death chaos and destruction daily, the world Kyle knew was an exotic one, and it held their raptured gaze for hours as Kyle spun tales of huge towers in the city, millions of people walking side by side every day. As the night progressed, the locals began to drink something they called 'Moondrop Dew' which was, as Kyle could tell, a very potent form of alcohol. Within half an hour of the dew being brought out, nearly everyone had passed out in a drunken stupor. Smiling, Kyle bid his farewell to the remaining sober people, and made his way back to the temple. He was stopped suddenly by a hand grabbing his arm. Turning in a moment of fright, Kyle saw it was none other than the young girl whom he had saved only hours before.
"You scared me" he panted as he calmed himself
"I'm sorry. I came to tell you, that there's someone who wants to see you." the young girl replied, her blue eyes looking up at him.
"Who wants to see me?" Kyle asked in amazement. It was hard to believe that only yesterday these people avoiding him like the plague.
"Follow" she replied, and ran off. His interest peaked, Kyle ran after her, ducking and diving into so many passages and alleys that he was hopelessly lost. Eventually, he was led to a building that seemed to be a much smaller copy of the huge temple that stood far to the north of the town. The girl told him to go inside, then she left. Feeling a chill crawl up his spine, he cautiously strode into the building.
"Welcome Kyle. I have been expecting you" a voice called out from the darkness.
"Who's there?" Kyle called out in reply
"A friend. One whom you must never reveal you know."
"Stop being cryptic!!"
"Oh, but now is not the time for answers. In time, perhaps, but you are not ready yet for what lies ahead."
Kyle stopped, and looked around. He could see nothing, but he could feel so many things were in the room with him. It's like walking into this building had set every single nerve in his body on fire, every sense set ablaze.
"I know what you are thinking, I know what you are feeling at this moment. To satisfy your curiousity, I will tell you one thing. The power which you feel at this very moment coursing through your veins, invading your senses, is the same that created the Dark Gods. In fact, it created everything. You feel creation itself running through you. But to understand it, you must first know it. To know it, you must understand it"
"That doesn't make any sense!" said Kyle, almost drunk with the power he was feeling.
"But it will." the voice called out as a brilliant light radiated from the darkness, strangely illuminating only one thing in the room...a flight of stairs. "Proceed down the stairs my young friend. But, I must ask you to leave your mortal deck behind."
"L-leave my deck?""Those mortal cards will not serve you in times and battles to come. And you will not need them down there."
"I must be mad," Kyle sighed "But okay, I'll do it"
And so, he dropped his deck, and his PDS, on the floor next to the stairs. He took a few steps downwards, and with every step he took, the more he felt something was..there...near him, he could almost reach out and touch it.

At the bottom of the staircase was a lit torch, and he lifted it from its holder in the wall and began to explore. All around him, were small caves, narrow passages, twisting tunnels, and on the wall of every single one were carvings and wall paintings of creatures, creatures that looked suspiciously like Duel Monsters. Kyle recognised a few, but the rest were too badly drawn to make out. He continued to walk, and as he did, the caves grew into tunnels, tunnels which had the feeling they had been made, not by nature, not even by man, but by something else. As he wondered what could have down such a thing, Kyle stumbled into a room with many statues, each one different as the other. They were huge, standing almost as tall as the temple it seemed, and Kyle got very dizzy just looking up at them. At the foot of each one was insribed a name. He stood before one particular statue, one of a woman with wings, and tried to make out the writing at the statues base.
"El...el..." he wiped away some dust, and used his t-shirt to get rid of the rest "Elemental Hero Burstinatrix?" he stood and looked up.
"Well Burstinatrix, nice to meet you he said, before he heard something scrape behind him. Turning, he saw what appeared to be an army of undead, skeletons in various state of decay, some completely ravaged by time, others still had some skin left on there bones, and all of them were reaching out for Kyle. He looked around, and saw he was surrounded. "Crap" he said, as he readied himself to fight.

All of a sudden, a flame shot from nowhere, and incinerated the undead creatures, every single one of them being reduced to ash in a matter of seconds. Kyle jumped back against the statue, but soon moved away when he felt it move. But when he turned to look at it, he saw nothing had changed. He fell to his knees, and began to cry, the shock of everything that had happened finally wearing off, and the grim reality of his new situation hitting him hard.

"Don't cry Kyle, there's no need. Not while I'm here" a female voice called out sotly. Kyle looked up, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
For there before him stood the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
"I don't believe it" he said. "I know you!!"