The Lone Ranger

Miyako sighed as she stabbed her food mindlessly with a fork. She was sitting in the Avatar Black common room, all alone. Everyone was either watching replays of today's duels at the championship or sleeping. Either way....she was alone. Not that she minded too terribly, it wasn't all that bad really. It was nice and quiet. But it was times like this that she could not shut out the constant, soft chanting of the Numbers.

"Overlay. Overlay. Overlay. Overlay. Overlay. OVERLAY!"

She pounded a fist on the table, her fork clanging on the wood. It was like this...non stop...ever since that night in Mexico. Sounded like a bad romance.

She let out another sigh and picked up her fork again. Why wouldn't he let her go? She was more than capable of representing Avatar Black. It was a question she would never ask aloud. Because she already knew the answer.

It was those Numbers. He'd told her if she were to use them in a public spectacle before "Xyz Monsters" were revealed to the world, she could really stir up a hornets nest. He'd also muttered something about the Numbers themselves...but he wouldn't explain anything to her. Not until the time was right.

Normally she might be a little more chipper than she was right now. But she hadn't dueled in days. And watching her classmates have all the fun on tv had not helped at all. She finally rested her fork on her plate, pushed it away, then rested her head on the table. He'd even gone with them. Of course...he'd lost to some guy who seemed to be in love with his deck. She knew Chuku had to be stronger than that. Or did he have to hide his strength like she did?

Chuku entered the Avatar Black room, and spotted Miyako almost immediately, headed towards her. He had come back to the island to accomplish two tasks, and the more important one involved Miyako. She looked really troubled, although that was expected considering what she was going through right now. All the same, he had good reasons for keeping her in the dark at the moment: if he told her what he knew about the numbers then she would likely panic. He went over and sat across from her.

"Hey there, I hope you're hanging in there alright. I know you're disappointed about not being able to participate, but I will make it up to you, I promise." He folded his hands in front of him on the table and inspected Miyako. She definately was getting more and more stressed out, just like the Headmaster had predicted would happen. He didn't know how the Headmaster had gotten his information, but without knowing anything he could only guess how he knew more then he was telling anyone.

At the sound of Chuku’s voice, Miyako perked up, a smile lighting up her face. She hadn’t expected him back so soon! She thought perhaps he might have stayed with the others, to make sure they did well during the coming matches. Maybe he was just worried about her.

“Oh, I’m doin alright,” she said softly. “And don’t worry about it. I know your good on your word.” She knew he would make it up to her once the tournament was over. And she was looking forward to it. Finally, she would get the information she craved for, and be given her chance to finally shine. She’d been held back long enough, even though she’d been working her ass off. But she knew that Chuku knew her potential and skill, and he wouldn’t let that go to waste. He was just biding time.

"I see. Well, it seems like I wasn't motivated to do as well as I could have done. Winning this tournament didn't matter much to me, and even if I had, I would have lost to the champion later on. That guy is a monster when it comes to dueling." He shifted around in his seat, slightly, unfolding his hands.

"By the way, do you want to come with me to watch the tournament in the stadium tomorrow? I've got really close seats there, being a former competitor and all. Besides, maybe you'll find something interesting to do there."

Her smile brightened even more at the prospect of going to the tournament. Of course, she wouldn’t be participating. But nevertheless, she was happy with going to witness the next round in person. “That would be wonderful!” she exclaimed. Not to mention, it would get her out of classes for a bit, so it was a win win for her. Maybe she could even find someone to challenge later. Though, she might wait for the tournament to end before doing so. She still couldn’t use her Xyz monsters unless Chuku authorized it….and he rarely ever did that.

Chuku smiled at her enthusiasm. He figured that she would like the idea of going there and enjoying herself at the tournament.

"We'll leave tomorrow morning. Oh, this is supposed to be a secret that the Headmaster Auron told me, but as might as well tell you know. In the third round of the tournament they're going to give the competitors Exceed monsters in order to promote them. So it will be alright to use your Number monsters once the third round arrives. I'll even answer your questions once the time comes. " He knew that she was raring to use those cards of hers, considering what he knew about them. He would be happy to oblige to that.

Gail was on an immediate path to the dorms for quite a while now. Having returned from the tournament due to his already lost position. There was business he had to deal with. He held the remains of darkness he bore before in his hands, tightly clenched. His eyes were already flaring, the closer he got to his objective. He was on Avatar Black grounds, which wasn't usually allowed for him. However, everyone who tried stopping him took a bit of a nap afterwards, so to speak. He heard voices as he roamed the halls. He tried to locate the but was still a bit occupied with keeping his mind sane. he saw only silhouettes and colors. However, there was one he recognized, and one he was looking for.

"Chu...ku.." Gail noticed another blob of colors beside him, in the somewhat form of a human. His vision was dying on him at this point. Pushing himself so much after the last incident, was really taking it's toll. "Out.. getting more pawns?.." Gail's eyes were by now those similar to a cat's pupils, with one eye having a black backkground. However, it returned to it's original state very soon, catching his breath. "You know.. i'm not happy.."

Chuku looked over at the person who interrupted his conversation, and found that it was Gail. He looked really delirous, and for a moment his eye looked utterly inhuman. It went back to normal though, and he frowned at Gail, completely and utterly displeased by him.

"Gail, I honestly don't know what you're talking about, but Miyako isn't a pawn. She's my friend, and I have invited her to come watch the tournament with me tomorrow. Anyway, it's clear that you're sick right now. You should probably go back to your dorm room and get some sleep. I'll overlook the fact that you aren't even supposed to be in this dorm due to your condition." The last thing Chuku needed was an incident with Gail in front of Miyako. He would go and talk to Gail about this one on one later.

Miyako jumped to her feet at the sight of Gail. Something seemed rather...strange about him. What was wrong with his eyes? He seemed almost feral. She drew her duel disk from its holster and stood in front of Chuku, as if to protect him. "I don't know who you are...but you're not allowed to be in the Avatar dorms, mister!" She pressed the trigger on her disk (which looked like a gun at first) and it sprang open to reveal a duel disk, fanning out and lighting up. "I don't like the way you're looking at us...nor the way your acting. So go on and get out of here quiet-like, you hear? We don't want to disturb the peace now."

"So.. you protect him.."

Gail clenched the necklace, making an aura rage around his body for the split second befor ehe was normal. He took the necklace and placed it in a satchel on his waist, as so it wouldn't bother him anymore. The real Gail seemed to show himself completely now.

"He's toyed with me.. tried to spread evil.. I won't spit on my mother's memory a second time.. I don't want you to be abused by him, but if you won't back down, you'll leave me no choice.. I'll take someone's hate if it saves them pain."

He raised his duel disk as well, blocking the doorway for no one to exit. He sighed, wondering how things would pan out, and frankly.. He was getting tired of how much the world twisted his fate lines. "Well?.."

The deck area lit up on Miyako's disk and she clipped the disk onto her arm. She was surprised at how quickly things had gotten...interesting this evening. Never a dull moment when Chuku was around. She opened her mouth and spoke very slowly, very carefully. She had no idea what had overcome this student, but she didn't like it. "I am going to give you one more chance to deactivate and leave my dorm grounds....leave peacefully...we don't have to do this."

"Silly.. you don't understand.."

He activated his duel disk, lighting up his own field to the beginning attraction just on the inside of her room.

"There will be nothing peaceful if i leave..with him here.."

Chuku just stared impassively at the situation running out before him. It seemed like Gail wasn't going to back down until he was either satisfied or utterly defeated. Then in that case.

"I can't duel you right now, but Miyako here will be happy to duel you. And Miyako, if you want to duel him, I'm granting you permission to use those cards. I want you to go all out on this person." Chuku wanted to get a point across to Gail: he wanted him to know that he was calling all the shots, not him.

Miyako nodded, a serious look on her face as she drew her cards. "Gladly, sir! I won't go easy! I'll begin things tonight!" She drew her sixth card and the duel was on. "I set one card face-down. Next, I'll summon a little friend, CardCar D!" A thin, long car revved into view and rested in front of Miyako. "CardCar D comes with a special ability! By tributing him, I can draw two more cards! Of course, once I draw my cards, my turn is forced to an end. But it's a fair price to pay for more ammunition, wouldn't you say?" CardCar D sped off into the grave, a small light flashing as it disappeared. Two cards were drawn but then Miyako's disk beeped, signalling the end of her turn. "Guess that's it for me!"

Gail just stood silent, feeling that he'd have to handle this on his own, and hopefully make some kind of change in the path of someone's like here, but he didnt have much expectation, just hope. He drew his card and looked at his array of hand carefully. He simply laid one card face down and waved his hand to signal the end of the turn. he looked down dreadedly at his duel disk.. for some reason..

Miyako eyed him warily. Just a face down? Seriously? "My draw!" Yes! Her deck was responding rather well to her already. The card she just drew...she immediately activated it. "I activate Mystical Space Typhoon! Say bye-bye to your trap!" The trap turned out to be a Call of the Haunted. So he had been trying to set up for something. Of course, she could easily go on the offensive now...but not yet. Just a little longer. If he decided to attack, she knew she could take the hit. "I'll set one more card face down and end my turn!"

Gail sighs as it seems things were already starting off with quite an interesting turn in her favor. His first plan already defeated, he wondered how long it'd take until she picked his whole deck apart. He drew a card, and then soon placed it right on the field. A standing monster mammoth looking over the entire field, yelling from it's trunk to it's greatness. However, Gail was not as enthusiastic as his monster and pointed a finger forward for it to attack. It charged over to her side of the field and crashed into her, reducing her life points to 6300. He ends his turn with the flick of his hand.

"Come on Gail, you're going to have to try a lot harder then that if you want to win. Where did all that anger go?" Chuku was worried since Miyako hadn't played any monsters at all this entire duel. If she didn't set up a good offence then she wouldn't be able to set up any ground against him.

"Nnnnnn....." Miyako raised her arms in defense as the mammoth charged for an attack. As her life points fell, however, she peeked over her arms and smiled. "Nice shot! But now it's my turn to show you what I can do! My draw!" She drew her card. Another answer from her deck! But first...

"Since you control a monster, and I control none, I can special summon Chronomaly Crystal Bones from my hand!" On the field, the monster zone seemed to warp a bit and suddenly a headless skeleton made of crystal appeared, standing alone. "And, if Crystal Bones is summoned this way, it brings a friend with it from either my hand or grave! Now, join us, Chronomaly Golden Jet!" The field warped again and another strange relic appeared, zooming onto the field and resting beside Crystal Bones. "Now, pay attention, because Golden Jet also has a special ability. Once per turn, I can increase the levels of all Chronomaly monsters I control! Watch!" Golden Jet glowed, giving off a golden light that encompassed itself and Crystal Bones. The displays showed their levels to grow by one, and then the light faded. Crystal Bones had become a level 4 monster, while Golden Jet was a level 5.

A soft chanting began to sound in Miyako's head...as if the Numbers knew what was to come. "Overlay. Overlay. Overlay."

She shook her head, trying to ignore the chanting. "Next, I return my Golden Jet to my hand to special summon Genex Ally Birdman, in attack mode!" The small ancient jet disappeared and a winged creature landed from the sky, twirling, and giving off a slight glint from the light. "And now, I finally use my Normal Summon to summon Chronomaly Golden Jet once more!" The golden jet appeared again. "And of course, I will activate its effect again!" The golden light enveloped the two chronomalies again, and now they both read to have 5 stars.

"Overlay. Overlay. Overlay! OVERLAY! OVERLAY!"

Miyako growled, wanting to shut them up. She could feel a pressure in her chest that felt like it was going to explode. She'd felt this before...always when she was about to summon a Number. Lightning began to crackle around her duel disk and the holographic sky began to dark as she slowly raised her hand. Something began to glow red on her right shoulder. "I now overlay my level 5 Chronomaly Crystal Bones, and my level 5 Chronomaly Golden Jet...." The light on her shoulder began to spread, forming some kind of shape as it crawled into an outline. "Accessing the Overlay Network!" The two monsters minimized into two orbs of light and shot into the sky. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled. The light on her shoulder now clearly displayed as the number '33'. Up in the sky, a large shadow began to descend, the two orbs of light encircling it like planets around the sun. "From beyond the scope of time, an ancient power comes forward! Reveal yourself! Xyz Summon! Number 33: Chronomaly Machu Mech!" The shadow continued to descend as lightning continued to flash around it, followed by sharp thunder. Miyako let out a yell as the will of the Numbers finally seemed to be appeased for now. She shot a glare towards Gail then thrust her hand forward. "Machu Mech! Destroy his Amber Mammoth" An energy seemed to absorb into the floating island and it fired out at the Significantly smaller creature, obliterating it. In Gail's backfield, though, the monster changed into an amber gemstone and floated as a bright light. Miyako shrugged, then signalled her next attack. Genex Ally Birdman flew forward and sliced down at Gail, reducing his life points to 5900.

"You can't stand up to the might of my Number! I set one card face down, and end my turn!"

Gail blinks once looking onto the field and then shaking his head, beleiving that these cards were not even out for use yet. She somehow acquired some and their power truly was something to behold. Still, as he watched his creaturee reduced to nothing but a crystal, he drew his card on his turn And looked at it questionably. He placed a field spell down on the field, changing the whole terrain into that of an ancient ruins. The crystal that was place din the spell/trap zone floated up into the sky and provided a special barrier around the entire ruins at this small scale.

Scanning over the field once more, Gail shrugged his shoulders, ignoring the words of the two and placing his cobalt eagle in attack mode, looking for pray, although it would be subjected to attack next turn. he didnt care though, as it'd be simple to make some sort of reverse in his favor. Eagle declared an attack on her birdman, but was stopped by an Enemy controller. he was shifted into a forced defense position, Making gail rub the back of his head and look down. She stopped everything he threw at her, and answered back with amazing results.. just what was going on? Gail ended his turn and just waited.

Miyako tilted her head to the side questioningly. Chuku was right. What happened to this boy's anger? Had it been just a strange mood swing that had gotten him into this trouble? "Honestly, you should have picked your fight a little better. I thought you wanted something?" She shook her head and drew her card. "I almost feel sorry for you now. Then again...I am an Avatar Black...one of the highest ranking students here. It is unfortunate for you, Amber, that I am here to defend Mr. Chuku. Hmm..but let's not delay any longer. I summon Chronomaly Mayan Machine!" A metallic creature that looked more like a lawnmower than anything appeared on the field and behind it another face down card revealed itself. "I then activate Enemy Controller! You know one of its effects...but with the right combination of buttons...I gain a second effect!" A series of buttons began to be pressed and suddenly Mayan Machine disappeared and the controller hooked to the Cobalt Eagle, dragging it to Miyako's side of the field. "Thank you kindly! Now, i shall tune my Birdman with your Eagle and bring out my other ace monster!" Birdman disappeared into 3 green rings, encompassing the eagle which turned into 4 stars amidst the rings. "Clustering stars of time, from your light cast forth a new ally! Release the Triforce! Synchro Shoukkan! Genex Ally Triforce!" A portal opened and a warrior-like machine landed on the ground on all fours, slowly standing up and aiming its gun-arm at Gail.

Of course, she knew she wouldn't get an effect from it, but she didn't care at this point. This duel was hers! A Number and a Genex Ally ace monster....what more could she ask for? The 33 burned brightly on her shoulder as she declared her attacks, dealing direct damage with each blow. Gail's life points had been reduced to a mere 1000. "Come now!" Miyako goaded as she ended her turn. "How did you ever expect to defeat Mr Chuku?" She was relishing this chance to duel...and to duel with all her might. Having that Number out on the field made her feel free suddenly...like a huge weight had been lifted off of her! It felt great to not be held back!

"Unfortunate.. humph.."

Gail drew his card, already seeing the end to this duel. it was pretty easy to know that his situation would be too hard to strive through without the use of those cards. She was fighting with nothing held back, but he still held his true power under wraps as not to create too much hell, and throw himself into that darkness again. She was right though, it was unfortunate things had to be this way.

"..I have beaten chuku.. And he knows it.. The power i used to defeat him however is not in this duel.. It's a cruel power.." Gail places a card down on the field, crystal promise. The field seems to take it's own actions, summoning the crystal in the sky down to the ground and reanimating it into a mammoth that was once destroyed. Next, he activated a crystal release equip onto him, boosting him into a larger, more hairy and multi-tusked mammoth. It looked menacing for the time being. Mommoth was commanded to attack Machu Mech with it's now 2500 atk, however, mirror force creates a new Mammoth, crashing into Gail's own, destroying it.

"..Tch.. why do i even bother?.. You don't care for what i say, do you? You seem like most other Avatars.." Gail was still of few words as he sighed at the loss of his mammoth, but searched for a crystal tiger to take it's place on the field thanks to the equip card's effect, placing it in the spell and trap zone. Gail then activated crystal beacon to summon a trump card f his for most duels, and place dit in defense mode as an amazing armor, Diamond Wolf. it shined in untainted glory, except for a black spec on it's diamond imbued gem.

"I'm finished.." With that, the turn became hers.

Miyako's eyebrows furrowed at Gail's remarks. Cruel power? She shot a glance towards Chuku, as if silently asking if what Gail was saying was true. So he wasn't playing with his full potential? And he had actually beaten Chuku in the past? Something was off.

"You seem like most other Avatars."

Her eyes shot back to Gail. What on earth did he mean by that? "I don't know what you mean by "like most Avatars." I'm simply enjoying my duel!" She drew her card and looked at her hand, then analyzed the field quickly. She could win this right now. She had overpowered him easily. But something stopped her. Her eyes narrowed at the field, then at Gail. Once more, she glance at Chuku, but this time, her eyes were apologetic. What she was about to do, would stun everyone.

She pressed her hand against the top of her deck. A fingerprint analyzer scanned her fingers and suddenly her duel disk powered down, a metallic voice saying: "IDENTITY CONFIRMED. SURRENDER ACCEPTED." The word LOSE blared at her on her point counter and her holograms faded. Even her glowing 33 disappeared slowly.

She stood tall and stared at Gail. "If you are not going to come at me with everything, then there is no point in continuing. Next time you decided to pick a fight, you better be giving it your all. A half-assed duel is not a duel worth playing." She locked eyes with him for a moment, the seriousness of her actions and words showing in her eyes. There was a fire there...one that would never be quenched. Then, she turned, her long black hair whipping behind her, and she sat down at the table, her back towards Gail.

She knew she would probably get an earful from Chuku...and she was prepared for it.

Chuku watched Miyako walk over back to him as she surrendered the duel. His face was almost unreadable, although for a moment he looked a little annoyed or disappointed. Then he nodded understandly at Miyako, smiling softly.

"I think you've made the point to our little friend here, Miyako. That was a really good performance. It's alright if you wanted to give up, it's not like something depended on you winning. Sometimes the in order to win one battle you have to lose another. It's what I had to do at the tournament today." Chuku leaned back in his chair, and turned his gaze over to Gail.

"You would beat me in a contest of pure strength at the moment Gail, although I haven't shown my true strength when it comes to dueling. I've been working on my true deck for years. The cards for it are rather.... unique to say the least, and are rather hard to get. Perhaps when I finish it you and I can have a one on one." Chuku leaned forward, folding his hands and looking at Gail intently.

"Gail, the person you are looking for is Auron Masayoshi, the headmaster of this academy. He's going to be in the audience of the tournament tomorrow. I told you that if you participated in the tournament I would tell you about this person, and he's the one."

Gail stared curiously at the scene, seeing that the girl had let the duel go already. Did she think she had it in the bag already and wouldn't waste her time declaring the final attack. Her point had gotten across and maybe she really just wanted to fight him at full power but something like that would be too dangerous. He didnt want to put anyone in danger, he in fact wanted to spare this girl form the coming pains that she could experience in this place.

"by the way chuku.. i'm not your friend.. i'll wipe your darkness away soon enough.."

Gail turned from the room, leaving the two high standing duelists to their own selves as Gail would slowly walk down the hall. He usually snuck around places like this and came across the eating hall. His hand would slip out and take up a knife that was by the cooking area and hold it in hand. "Well.. Avatars do cook with the finest wear, don't they?.." Gail took the knife and let it glimmer in the light shining down from the kitchen hall. He then walked out from the building and to towards the exit of the dorms. He cast a sight back to a lit room in the dorms, where he had come from.

"I'm honestly growing tired.." Gail turned his head back around and took the knife to shine in the sky's natural light. in a swift silent motion the tip of the blade made quite good friends with the marking on Gail's arm. He continued to walk silently, letting the red life fluid drip from his arm as the blade was stabbed securely in his arm, yet he didn't yell. His eyes were deep red and his body feeling uneasy. But as he drew the knife from his arm, it was coated in blood which he left to drop on the ground. "I'll wash away all of it.."