Disclaimer: See previous.

Ok, I know it's been another long time since my last update, but Remix, FODHMC, and overall laziness took dominance.

Anyway, ch. 3 opens the duel between Kevin and Reichi, but what secret is this grungy and overall pissed-off duelist hiding?

Chapter 3: The Elements of War

Kevin vs. Reichi

"You ready to get your ass kicked, punk?"

"That's not going to happen today, Reichi. I'm not just another random duelist living in his cousin's shadow."

"I have to disagree, but let's see what you've got first."

By this point, both duelists had set their Duel Disks into position, and the cards were set for a battle royale, one whose current purpose escaped Kevin entirely. But then again, such was life in many ways, as he had seen first hand.

"DUEL!" (Kevin: 4000/ Reichi: 4000)

"I'll start us off, if you don't mind." With a sweep of his hand, Reichi was the first to draw, and what a draw it was. Little prissy bitch thinks he can beat me just because he's cousins with Mai Valentine, does he? Well, I suppose I'll just have to discredit that.

"I'll open up with two set cards, and then I'll summon Hydrogedon to the field in attack mode!" Reichi's first monster appeared to be a dinosaur of sorts related to a triceratops, and would have seemed relatively normal had he not been formed from thick hydrogen gasses. (1600/1000) "Nothing else comes to mind right now, and odds are you couldn't handle any more, so I'll end my turn."

On his side, Reichi could see Kevin already begin to become angry, which meant that part of his strategy was already working. Now all he would have to do is back the opponent the rest of the way into the corner.

"Nice try, Reichi, but I can't be scared so easily. My move!"

Kevin drew his starting card, and in spite of only recently acquiring some of the cards he had a vague idea of what to do with them.

"Ok, I'll start by placing a card face down and summoning Amethyst Dragon in attack mode!"

Kevin's opening monster was related to the Hydrogedon, but far more intimidating. Towering over the archaic creature, the dragon was covered in deep purple scales from which stemmed massive crystals of amethyst, two of these forming a pair of crystalline wings. (1700/1200)

"I'm not close to finished yet. Now I'll play the Continuous Magic card, Frontline Base, which lets me special summon one level four or lower Union monster from my hand!"

This statement caused Reichi to sweat a little. Normally Frontline Base was an essentially useless card, but if Kevin was playing the deck he thought he was…

"And I use this effect to special summon Amethyst Knight from my hand to the field!"

Damn it!

Reichi stared at Kevin in shock and amazement, along with a touch of malice. He could not believe it; he was indeed facing the infamous Jeweled Dragon deck, a deck considered by many to be one of the strongest in all the world. Of course, no one had seen it in action for over a decade, and as such people considered it a myth. But Reichi had always known that this deck still existed, and that eventually it would resurface.

However, in spite of his piqued curiosity, there was one aspect of the matter that boggled his mind: if this deck had been so powerful, so devastating, why hadn't anyone seen this kid use it?

It wasn't too hard for Reichi to come to a conclusion on the matter.

There's only one reason no one has mentioned Kevin Hunter using the Jeweled Dragons before this. It's so obvious that I should have seen it from the start: no one said anything on the matter because he's never actually won with it.

Reichi could almost feel the stress melt away from him, but it was soon to be replaced by outright aggravation and wrath. He was the inheritor of the Jeweled Dragons, this little crybaby punk? After all that seeking, after all the lost time, it had been in the hands of a total no-name?

The gods certainly have a weird sense of humor…

While he was running such thoughts as these through his nicotine-clouded mind, the duelist became vaguely aware of the other summoning, more specifically the summoning of a short yet sinewy knight wearing deep violet chain mail armor, a bassinet helmet, and armed with a heavy crossbow. (1700/1200)

"Are you quite done?"

"I haven't even activated my monster's special ability; when he's summoned, I would normally be allowed to summon an Amethyst Dragon from my hand, but since that's not the case I get to draw a card instead. Next, I'll activate my Knight's effect, which lets me equip him to Amethyst Dragon and increase his attack by 500 points, along with an added effect which will activate later."

With a bound not often seen in this day and age, the knight leapt forth to mount his steed, which in its turn gave out a mighty bellow as a battle cry to all who dared oppose it. (2200/1200)

"Cute, kid, but let's see if you can really use it!"

"Of course I can! Amethyst Dragon, destroy his Hydrogedon with Amethystine Burst!"

Upon heeding his master's command, the grandiose wyrm opened its maw and sent forth a wave of bright purple energy that was punctuated with a set of six consecutive bursts of amethyst styled like the blast of a shotgun.

Had the blast connected, Hydrogedon most certainly would have been perforated. But as was to be expected, Reichi did not allow it.

"Nice try, but it's not going to work! Reverse card open, Elemental Short! As long as I discard a monster from my hand with the same attribute as an attacking monster, I can negate that attack and inflict 100 life points worth of damage for each star of the discarded monster!"

Reichi lifted the chosen card so that Kevin could see it, and was somewhat surprised to see the monster known as Carbonedon as the choice. As a level three monster it would only total out to a 300 point loss, so why had he chosen it?

Having discarded, Reichi watched with an increasing sense of nostalgia from the last time he had dueled using his Element deck as his other card activated. If he could play his cards right he could win the match in only two more turns.

"You seem kinda shocked, kid. Maybe I should remedy it with my other face down card! Activate the trap card, Elemental Regurgitation! You see, whenever a monster with the suffix '-edon' is sent to the graveyard, I can special summon another one from my deck at the cost of 500 life points as long as it has four stars or less, and for this I choose Oxygedon!" (Kevin: 3700/Reichi: 3500)

For a brief instant, an image of Carbonedon, a bipedal dinosaur which appeared to be made of graphite, flickered on to the field, only to be replaced by a much more sinister creature. The monster was apparently a relative of the pterodactyl, only made out of air. (1800/800)

"You're done, kid. It'll only take me a few more cards to end this."

"Maybe, but for now your monsters are defenseless, so I'll end my turn."

Reichi did not have to hear it twice, and so drew another card.

"Perfect. Firstly, I play Foolish Burial, which allows me to place a monster from my deck into the cemetery, namely Nitrogedon. Next, I'll summon the second Hydrogedon I had in my hand to the field."

At about the same time as he discarded the monster, a second hydrogen dinosaur emerged to join its brethren. (1600/1000)

"Believe me, Kev, this duel's about to take a rather unfortunate turn for you, especially when I activate the Card of Demise I just drew to draw five more cards. But don't worry about my hand; this duel will be long done before that.

"Hm. In fact, the duel will be over a lot sooner. I play the Magic card, Bonding H20! I know you're not exactly a whiz kid, but even you know what happens when two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen combine, so you'll know what's gonna happen here! I sacrifice my two Hydrogedons and my Oxygedon to summon Water Dragon from my deck to the field in attack mode!"

To himself, the elemental duelist smirked, expression masked by the move he had played. It had been quite a long while since he'd been able to summon Water Dragon, and in the process he'd forgotten how good it felt.

The feeling was not at all mutual, and Kevin became the other part of the spectrum when he saw the three monsters Reichi had called forth convert into plum pudding models of their respective elements and fused together, forming a clear molecule of water. Now normally a water particle would not scare people, but the form it was about to take definitely performed that function.

Within a split second of the summoning the water molecule twisted and transformed itself, soon taking on the form of a massive Eastern dragon made of water, towering over everything else on the arena floor. Both dragon and knight trembled in outright horror at what stood before them. (2800/2600)

"You're scared already, Kev? Man, you are a whiny bitch; no wonder everyone hates your guts. But believe me, I'm not close to done yet. Next, I'll play the Magic card, Bureaucratic Circumvention, which lets me remove monsters from my graveyard to fill the cost of a Magic card which designates certain monsters. And by good fortune, I'm about to activate that card: Explosive Mixture!"

Kevin almost choked at hearing those words, knowing that Reichi was about to summon another monster whose effect could devastate him even more than Water Dragon's.

"It's time to bring out another compound! I remove Oxygedon, Hydrogedon, Carbonedon, and Nitrogedon from my graveyard to summon Nitroglycerin Dragon from my deck to the field in attack mode!"

Another "fusion" was made, and soon the atoms of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen had fused as one to form an entirely new monster. Although the latest dragon had some basic resemblance to the Water Dragon, it was instead made out of a more viscous, oily liquid that was carefully suspended over the ground. In fact, the monster seemed to be keeping a good distance away from everything and anything solid. (2500/0)

"You'd better pray to God that this monster doesn't fall, Kevin. Anyway, I still have another move to make, namely the activation of this Equip Magic card, Scroll of Bewitchment! When it's equipped to a monster, I'm allowed to designate its attribute, so I'll equip it to your Amethyst Dragon and turn it into a Fire monster!"

Kevin thought about what this meant, and in the process came to a horrific realization as to what Reichi planned to do. But he could do nothing about it, and so watched as Reichi's equipment, a lengthy Japanese scroll with the kanji of fire written on it, curled around his monster, which in turn became engulfed with flames.

"Judging from the look on your face, I guess you have a vague idea of what I'm going to do next. Water Dragon, drop the attack of all the Fire monsters in play to zero!"

Heeding its master's command, the mighty serpent leveled its head to face the Amethyst Dragon and sent forth a heavy stream of ice cold water to cover the entire field, the dragon included.

And when the water cleared, the Amethyst Dragon was left alive but face down in the dirt, barely able to draw breathe whilst its master struggled away from it. (0/1200)

"And now, it's time to have some real fun. Water Dragon, annihilate the Amethyst Dragon with Torrential Cannon!"

Roaring in compliance, the wyrm of the oceans let fly its rage, forming a single orb of partially frozen water in its jaws, which it fired towards his broken foe. Unable to move, the dragon could only watch as its impending death hurled towards it, and soon enough the dragon was consumed, reduced to a broken corpse. (Kevin: 900/ Reichi: 3500)

"You've forgotten something, Reichi. When my Amethyst Dragon is destroyed while Amethyst Knight is equipped, the Knight remains to do battle."

"HA! A thousand of those knights wouldn't mean jack shit now! Nitroglycerin Dragon, finish him off!"

The second dragon, instead of launching a cannonball of its element, decided to fire a constant stream of nitroglycerin at the exhausted knight, who like his mount could do nothing. But unlike his mount, the knight was not given the mercy of water. Instead, his body became consumed with an explosion that left nothing but an ashen outline and a sword hilt that was in essence charcoal. (Kevin: 100/ Reichi: 3500)

Kevin did not feel his legs give out beneath him. He did not feel his hands knead into the dirt, nor his tears stream down his face. He did not feel the rain on his face, or even the Duel Disk on his arm. All he could feel was the crushing sense of defeat he was oh so familiar with.

It had happened again. He stood on the edge of yet another loss, another blow to his shattered pride, and as he saw Reichi laughing, dragons of chemistry standing at both sides of him like unholy sentries, Kevin felt an incredible sense of isolation and loneliness.

He was only twenty minutes or so from his house, but he felt as though he was on the other end of the universe.

To Be Continued.

Man, Kevin's in some deep shit now, isn't he?

Anyway, chapter 4 continues the duel between the compounds, but what is Reichi hiding, who is he working for, and what else can he do to devastate Kevin? Can the Jewelled Dragons win? Can Kevin fight back the demons outside and in?

Well, check my next update to find out. Until then, the duels of New Paradigm and the multiverse Shaman Fights call my name.

And in case I don't see you before then, happy holidays.