00000000
At last, the day of the Battle City tournament arrived. Hundreds of cards to take, only one Egyptian God. I made a quick start, hoping to get Raptor before somebody dueled him. I saw him for a brief second, conversing with Weevil Underwood and Mako Tsunami. Yugi Moto and Mai Valentine were also there, watching the three stooges exchange banter.Before I reached them, the three of them split up, and I lost Raptor in the crowd. A short time later, Valentine left Yugi alone. For want of a duelist, I decided to pass the time by befriending Yugi. I walked over and asked, "Yugi Moto?" in my most charming tone of voice.
"That's right. And you're…?"
"Siege. I met your friends, Joey and Tristan two days ago."
"Oh, that's right! Joey said you helped him get to the hospital in time for Shizuka's operation." He offered his hand. "Thanks a lot."
I shook his hand. "Someone in need takes priority over everything else. That's my motto."
"And any friend of my friends is a friend of mine." I, of course, was glad to hear it. "Joey says you're a duelist. I hope we meet up in the finals."
"Me too. Just don't expect me to take it easy on you. Yugi?"
"Yes?"
"Though we're also rivals from hereon out, I should warn you. There's an evil force at work, though you probably already heard that from Ishizu."
Yugi gasped. "No way! You spoke with Ishizu too?"
"I've exchanged a few words with her, yes. Don't ask me how, but I'll warrant the guy who took Joey's Red Eyes Black Dragon probably has something to do with it. Just watch yourself, my new friend." I ran off before he could ask another question.
I did it again; once more have I committed treason against the Ghouls. But I couldn't help it; I just really wanted Seeker to take a fall. Besides, Marik probably wouldn't care, what with Seeker being the weakest of his elite.
When the clock struck nine, Kaiba started broadcasting on the loudspeakers. I looked around, wondering where he actually was. Then I was covered in shadow. Looking up, I saw Kaiba Craft 3 overheard. I was distracted at first, but turned away. I already knew I needed six locator cards to find the site of the finals and that we anted our rarest cards, so I just decided to ignore him and concentrate on finding Raptor.
I whipped out my PDA and tried to search for Raptor. "What?" My PDA told me the connection was lost. I ascribed the signal failure to the blimp. All I could do was lean back and wait for stupid Kaiba to shut up.
I closed my eyes and thought back to Yugi. "So, that was the little guy who defeated Kaiba and Pegasus. I heard that Solomon Moto was quite a duelist in his prime. If Yugi learned to duel from him the same way Selkirk Rex taught me, our clash in the finals will be something to be remembered."
Then I realized he'd never reach the finals if Marik succeeded in his plan. Now I was conflicted. Hoping to duel Yugi in the finals meant wishing for Marik to fail. I didn't like this paradox, and decided to take my mind off it by playing the part I was assigned.
Once the blimp was far enough away to prevent any signal damage, I tried my PDA again. After a minute, I found Raptor again. I ran over, hoping to catch him before he dueled someone.
"Let's duel!" Dammit.
I worked my way through the crowd to see who was getting in the way of my prize. Twas Espa Roba, the psychic duelist. I heard of his ability to read minds, but never believed it to be true.
But Espa put his fingers to his head and started making weird noises. Then he said, "The cosmic forces inform me Serpent Knight Dragon is in your hand already. It's almost as if he knows who more deserves to own him."
Raptor flinched. "What? I can't believe you figured it out!"
I studied the scene. There didn't seem to be anyone signaling him. Then a glint caught my eye. I pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked towards that glint. It came from atop a building, where a bunch of kids who looked like smaller versions of Espa stood. One held binoculars, and one had a radio transmitter.
I studied Espa with a frown, noticing his strange hairstyle, and how it conveniently covered his ears. "Cheating," I sadly thought.
I had three options. First, I could march right in there, pull out the headset, and reveal the scam. Secondly, I could use my PDA to jam the radio frequency, leaving Espa blind. Or thirdly, I could let Raptor squirm for a while.
I opted for three. So, I decided to take a walk, returning once the duel was finished, and go after whoever held Serpent Knight Dragon.
In the meantime, I'd start to accumulate a few locator cards. I examined the duelists, deciding which one of them would be my first victim. "Hmm…one potato, two potato, three potato, mashed!" The one I thought of looked quite strong, though physical strength seldom had any merit in a duel. I walked over and said, "Excuse me."
He turned around. "What do you want, half-pint? You think you can duel me?"
"That's right. Do you accept?"
"Please! I eat bigger things for lunch. You won't stand a chance."
"Can you bite as well as you bark?" I challenged.
That got his attention. "Alright, I accept! I'll take your locator card and send you crying to mommy." We shuffled our decks, stepped back, and activated our disks. "Let's duel!"
4000/4000
"Since I clearly stand no chance," I said, "I'm sure you won't mind if I start things off. I summon Berserk Gorilla (2000/1000) and end my turn."
"I play Panther Warrior (2000/1600)! Since its effect requires me to sacrifice a monster to attack, I'll just place one card facedown and end my turn."
I grinned. "Looks like it's over already."
"Oh, yeah? I play Scapegoat, placing four sheep tokens on my field. That means I now have four monsters to sacrifice."
"It matters not if your forces are one or many, for soon there won't be any." I don't remember where I heard that quote, but it fit so well. "First, I play Riryoku, draining half your Panther's attack points, and adding them to my Gorilla. Then, I activate Lightning Vortex, letting me discard a card from my hand to destroy all your face-up monsters."
The man looked stupidly at his empty field. "No way!"
"Way. And finally, I summon Maha Vailo (1550/1400). And together, they attack you directly!"
4000/0
The guy looked at me with a blank look. "I can't believe…who are you?"
"Does it matter? Now, hand over your cards; your rarest and your locator." He groaned and handed me what I requested. "Manticore of Darkness? What a lovely gift." I bowed respectfully and started walking away.
"You…give it back!" He screamed as he charged me.
I calmly spun on my heel and kicked him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. He sunk to the ground. "You can play with beast monsters, but I'm the king of this jungle. You'd do well to remember that."
I considered relieving him of a few more rare cards since he wouldn't need them, but decided against it. And so, I went off to find a few more challenges.
Regretfully, ever since I joined the Ghouls, very few people have survived ten turns against me. Also, most of the damage was self-inflicted, like using Injection Fairy Lily's effect. Finding someone I could be on equal terms with seemed impossible.
"You." I turned to the voice that broke me out of my thoughts. "I saw you defeat that man. Your skills intrigue me. I challenge you."
"I accept. The name's Siege."
"And I am Lance Halberd. Duel!"
4000/4000
"I shall start," said Lance. "I set a monster and end my turn."
"Ok. I play Graceful Charity. Then, I set one card and summon Spear Dragon (1900/0). Whenever it destroys a defense monster, it does trample damage; then it automatically switches to defense mode. I attack your monster!"
4000/3300
"You have destroyed Warrior Lady of the Wasteland (1100/1200). By doing so, I get to bring out a new Earth monster with up to 1500 attack points. I choose Exiled Force (1000/1000)."
"I end my turn."
"Very well. Now, I summon Goblin Attack Force (2300/0), and equip it with Lightning Blade, raising its attack points by 800. Exiled Force, destroy the dragon!"
"Sorry, but I activate Negate attack. Your battle phase ends."
"True, but I can still eliminate your monster. I use Exiled Force's ability: I sacrifice it to destroy Spear Dragon."
"Not bad," I admitted. "My turn. I set a card and a monster, and end my turn."
"In that case, I summon Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke (1800/1000). It attacks with kunai rush!"
"You destroyed my monster. It's the Magician of Faith (300/400), and it lets me take a spell in my graveyard and add it to my hand."
"Now, Goblin Attack Force attacks you directly!"
I snapped my fingers. "Reveal Magic Cylinder, which negates your attack makes you lose what I would've lost."
4000/200
"Plus, because of Goblin Attack Force's effect, it switches to defense mode."
Lance was looking less confident than when we started. "It is your move."
"Ok. I play Graceful Charity again. And now, for the final move; I activate the End of the World ritual! By sacrificing the Newdoria and Archfiend Soldier from my hand, I bring forth Demise, King of Armageddon (2400/2000)! Demise, attack Sasuke and deplete his lifepoints."
4000/0
"Geez!" said Lance. "You completely overpowered me. Well, here is my locator card, and Gilford the Lightning."
"Thanks," I said as I took the cards. "Now, I'm halfway to the finals."
"And the finals are lost to me," said Lance, "for that was my only locator card."
"I'd apologize, but rules are rules. I'll see you around."
As I walked away, my PDA beeped. I looked at it and noticed Raptor was defeated by Espa Roba. However, Espa was now engaged in a duel against Joey Wheeler. I grumbled, unhappy with my hopelessly inadequate timing.
According to the map, Kaiba wasn't anywhere in Battle City yet. So, as I waited for a few duelists to accumulate more locator cards, I decided to take some lunch.
End Chapter
Ok, this chapter was a lot shorter then the last one, and the duels were probably too short to take notice of. But next chapter will be a little longer, and Loki gets the chance to avenge his master. R&R, please!