Chapter 4
A day like any other at duel academy. Most of the school were still talking about how Michael had defeated both Rory and Richard, the school's two saviours from the previous year. The obvious next duellist to fight Michael would be Damien, the school's top duellist, though word was beginning to seep about Rory challenging Michael with his own deck.
In the morning of this day, whilst the sun was still rising over the vast ocean, seven boys were gathered in Damien's vault coliseum, running over the plan for that day one final time.
Amongst the three boys were Rory, Richard, Damien, and four third-year boys who were Damien's top cronies. Each of the boys had been given a codename for the operation. The coup that they were planning would have to be swift, and decisive if they were to over-run all three of the morning's lectures simultaneously.
"Okay, Kaiba, your deck is ready for the duel?" Damien asked, prompting the use of Codenames for recognition.
"Perfect, Marik."
"Excellent. As soon as we make the prompt, get to the academy chancellor's office immediately. Meanwhile, Yugi, you will get to the first-year class and capture Bakura."
"Roger." Richard saluted.
"Finally, Weevil, Raptor, you will go with Yugi and barricade the First and second year classrooms. Dartz, Pegasus, you will come and assist me in distracting Crowler from our lesson, and then sealing that classroom so that we can safely take out Sartyr and Banner. Dartz, you take Banner, Pegasus, Sartyr. I will be dealing with Chancellor Shepherd and securing the intercom and whiteboard command centre. From there, we shall broadcast the duel. Yugi, Kaiba and Bakura should arrive at the same time, and the duel shall take place on the balcony. The Coliseum technology is now mobilised, and shall be in the room with me when I arrive. Everyone understand?"
The other six boys nodded all at once, and slapped their duel disks on to their arms. They returned to their dorm rooms, and began to prepare for the long trap that they had set for Michael.
Meanwhile, a boy was standing in the wilderness. Around him there was only dust and stone, covered in a thick mist. He could smell smoke, and the distant crackling of flames came from a nearby village, which had fallen days before, though the fire continued to burn.
A golden plate was attached to his arm, with three flat panels on it. He lifted it, awaiting the oncoming storm. The plate had come from a village elder, who had received it down his line from the great pharaohs of Egypt, whom used it for their shadow games. His father had wanted him to have it, but only as a souvenir. He had never imagined that one day he would have to use it, and fight the risen demon.
Mikrael turned, just in time to see the figure through the mist laughing, his silver hair sticking directly in to the sky. It was him. The one who Mikrael had had to travel all this way to fight, but it was too late.
"Boy? You defy my power? I have laid Greece to waste, and left your country with nothing. Soon your world shall lie in ruin. I have travelled across time and shadow to find victory, and finally you shall fail, all of you!"
"Summon Zeus!" Mikrael yelled, as a carving appeared on one of the plates of his arm plate.
A large man appeared, holding a blade above his head and breathing in power from the dust and Earth.
"Summon Hades!" He yelled again, as another man joined the first, this one robed in shadow, the mist thickening as he appeared.
"Summon Neptune!" Mikrael yelled a third time, as a final, blue man appeared, a trident in his hand and waves seeping around him.
"You think that your gods can fell me?" The man muttered, cocking back his silver-haired head to laugh in his deep, sinister voice. "Summon Dreadroute!"
A dark halo of gloom shifted above them, as lightning crashed down, and a great beast floated through the mist, letting out a horrific shriek.
Michael snapped from bed, his dreams broken by a crack of sun entering the window. He did not want to be reminded of his past, even though it was centuries ago. Of how his Greek gods had fallen one by one, leaving only himself and Zeus left fighting, until he eventually sealed the monster, though the man who had summoned it had escaped back in to time and space.
Michael looked at his sealed golden tin, deep beneath his work in his draws. He lifted it, placed his hand on top, and energy surged through him, lifting the lid of the tin, to reveal three game cards, each showing a mighty god-like man on it, the same three he had just dreamed of.
"Zeus, Hades, Neptune. Sleep well." Michael laughed, placing them back in the tin, and sealing it once more at the bottom of his drawer. He stood up, walked to his chest of drawers, and prepared for class.
By Eleven O'clock that day, the mass of Obelisks throughout the school were tense, awaiting the oncoming action. The teachers were completely unknowing, unprepared for the upcoming coup.
Professor Sartyr sat at his desk, "teaching". In front of him, each of his second year students had a bowl of curry.
"Now then." He began "To show that you must often struggle to get the right card in duel monsters, I have given you each a bowl of boiling spicy curry. At the bottom of each bowl is a card, and to reach it, you must eat the flaming curry!"
"What is this, Survivor?" A Slifer student whined from the front row.
"You will have to be a survivor to eat this curry!" Sartyr laughed, ignoring the thinly veiled insult.
Suddenly, a knock came from the door, and a third year student stepped in, wearing Obelisk uniform. Rory and Richard recognised him as one of the boys from the meeting, the one codenamed Pegasus. They now knew that the coup was underway.
"Professor Crowler wants to see you." Muttered the boy to Sartyr, who began to approach him, but even as he did so, two more boys burst in to the room and grabbed Sartyr, tossing him over their shoulders, and rendering him unconscious. The third stowed him in a cupboard, and before any of the students had barely had time to turn from the curry, Rory and Richard were in mid-air, leaping to the door.
They brushed through simultaneously, and the door slammed behind them. Both of them fled in opposite directions, moving rapidly. Richard pelted down the corridor to the first-year classroom, which Michael was just exiting and glaring at an Obelisk in the reverse direction.
Without stopping, Richard slammed an arm around Michael's waist, pulling him on to his shoulder, and receiving support from the Obelisk who had been codenamed Dartz.
Together, they continued down the corridor, and arrived at the chancellor's office, just in time to see Rory entering through the door. Inside, Damien was in epic discussion with the Chancellor, who had obviously agreed to the duel. The pair was laughing, but stopped when the others arrived, turning to them.
"You're here!" Damien chuckled. "Let the games begin!"
As he spoke the final word, he flicked a switch, and a whiteboard on the wall lit up with an image of a duel arena like the one in Damien's room. Rory assumed that all of the school's whiteboards were showing this image.
He paced to the arena, which was outside on the balcony. By the time he arrived, Michael was standing, and now fully aware of his surroundings. He stepped on to the arena opposite from Rory, and lifted his arm, to show a duel disk that was already active.
"So then." Michael hummed "You have decided to challenge me at last. Now you shall fall before the whole school."
"Oh, really? Then let's duel!"
"Fine." Michael began "I summon Mechanical chaser in attack position!"
As Michael spoke, an android with green armour and many arms leapt out, swivelling tools in each direction. (1850/800)
"I end my turn with a face-down. What do you do then?"
"I summon my vorse raider in attack position! Then I equip him with axe of despair!"
In front of Rory, a large muscular beast appeared, swinging its light axe in front of it. (1900/1200). Then, in its hand, a larger, brown wooden axe appeared, an eerie mist seeping from it. (2900/1200)
"Now attack!" Rory yelled, as the creature jumped forwards, slamming its axe down on the mechanised soldier. The Machine lifted its tools to hold off the blow, but the vorse raider rebounded and struck the creature in half the second time.
Michael groaned irritably as his life points fell to 2950, but he smirked. "I activate my face down card, damage condenser! Since you just did 1050 damage to my life points, I can summon a monster with less than 1050 points. So I summon my heavy mech support platform."
A small silver machine appeared next to Michael, and Rory raised an eyebrow at the tiny creature. (500/500).
"My turn!" Michael laughed "I activate my machine duplication to place two more support platforms on the field."
Two more of the silver robots appeared next to the first.
"Now I tribute the two I just played to summon perfect machine king in attack mode. And I equip the first to him."
Rory stepped back in amazement as the giant white monster appeared, glowing in the morning sun. The support platform slammed on to its back, giving it a shock and then it glowed with even more power. (3700/1500).
"Now my mechanised master, I shall invoke the power of this coliseum and combine with you!"
"What?" Damien, Rory, Richard and the chancellor all screamed in unison.
"I know of these ancient technology coliseums, and their power to combine humans and spirits. So I morph together with perfect machine king!"
The arena shook as Michael and the machine king were sucked together, and a bright light burst out, then faded to reveal Michael, who now had white armour like that of his monster, and red stripes down his sides. The Metal platform flew back on to him, giving him to large plates along his sides.
"And now, as I have combined with my monster, I can pay life points to increase its attack! So I pay 1000 life points to give my monster a grand total of 4700 attack points!" (4700/1500).
The whole of the academy watching gasped, and Damien had a true look of fear and surprise on his face.
"How can he know the secrets of my arena!" he thought "My force will be easily stopped by him if he knows."
Rory stepped back quickly, just as Michael flew skywards, and charged an energy ball in his hands, before flying down through mid-air, and launching the energy at Rory. It engulfed him, and he let out a whimper, as the light faded, leaving him at 2200 life points with no monsters.
From the other side of the field, Michael's armour glowed, and the life point total on it shot down one-thousand to 1950. He placed one card on his disk, newly fused to his armour, and gestured to his enemy.
"My draw!" Rory shouted, lifting a card. "I play graceful charity, draw these three cards, and discard one other, as well as my shining abyss!"
Michael gasped, and a great fog covered the field, as Rory's vorse raider and shining abyss appeared as ghosts, fading in to dust, and causing a mighty trembling throughout the castle.
"I summon my almighty chaos emperor dragon – envoy of the end!" Rory bellowed, as the ground on the balcony collapsed slightly, to reveal a giant blue dragon rising upwards. "Now I combine with him!"
The dragon floated upwards towards its master, and the pair merged, the blinding light fading to create a new warrior. Rory was now hovering in mid-air, with shimmering blue armour, and a helmet in the shape of a dragon's head. His hands had been replaced with mighty talons, and his eyes were bright red. (3000/2500).
"I boost my dragon by 1701 points exactly!" Rory laughed, as his life points fell to 499. "Now I attack your monster!" (4701/2500).
"No, I activate my negate attack!" Michael sniggered, raising his trap. "It stops your attack!"
"Fine. I set two cards and end my turn." Rory snorted, placing a pair of cards on his arm shield duel disk.
"Good." Michael smiled. "I start my turn with spawn of Ra! This very special spell card allows me to search my deck for any monster in my deck, hand or fusion deck for any monster with the same level as my perfect machine king, and play it on the field. All I have to do is remove the three monsters in my graveyard from the game. So I call forth my VWXYZ Dragon Catapult cannon!"
In front of Rory appeared a massive android with blue armour, and two enormous yellow claws. From between its legs protruded a red dragon's head, and the dragons wings burst from its back. It had hundreds of cannons on its chest, and the head of a tiger. (3000/2800).
"This also gives my machine king the boost it needs to finish off your dragon and your life points!" Michael smiled. (5200/1500).
"Stop!" Rory interrupted. "I chain my skill drain, and then chain my gift of the mystical elf to that!"
Michael gasped, as Rory's life points rose to 1399 and fell down to 399 again. Michael looked down, seeing his attack total drop rapidly. (2700/1500).
The armour on both Rory and Michael rattled, and both were sent flying backwards, leaving their monsters in front of them.
"I end my turn by setting a monster in defence!" Michael growled.
"Good." Rory laughed "I start by attacking your machine king and destroying it!"
The dragon let out a burst of flame, blasting the weakened machine king to pieces. Michael grunted as his life fell to 1650.
"Now I set one card face-down and end my turn."
"Finally." Michael muttered. "I flip my monster, magician of faith; allowing me to bring back my spell card, spawn of ra. Now I use it to summon my ancient gear gadjiltron dragon by removing from play my perfect machine king."
"Stop! I activate my trap, threatening roar!" Rory yelled, as a roar echoed throughout the academy. "That stops you from attacking this turn. Just give up. You can't beat me!"
"Oh really? Why's that?"
"Come on! I'm invincible! I was a key player in the fall of Dark Dreadroute. If it wasn't for me, he would have destroyed the world!"
"You cannot make that claim! You were dying in the hospital, and I awoke you from your coma with my gear dragon, so that you could fight Dreadroute. I was the one responsible for his defeat this time, and more importantly I was the one who sealed him originally!"
"What?" Everyone gasped.
"That's correct! Rory Lionheart, I AM THE HAILED ONE!"
Rory was stunned with amazement, and stared blankly at his opponent.
"Now I shall call upon my powers to make this little duel in to an almighty shadow game! And the dragon that once saved your life shall now rip you to shreds!"
NEW CARDS FROM THESE DUELS
SPAWN OF RA
SPELL
NORMAL
Select one monster on your field. Search your hand, deck or fusion deck for a monster with the same number of stars as that monster, and remove from play monsters in your graveyard whose stars total that cards level. Special summon the selected monster from your deck in face-up attack position on your side of the field.
DUELLING COLISEUM
Allows players to combine with their monsters. The player may pay life points to increase the monsters attack by the same amount, or pay half their life points to give the monster another attack, so long as it does not attack directly. This coliseums effect counts as the effect of each individual monster on the field, though they retain their original effects.
MID-DUEL STATUS
Rory Lionheart 399 LP
Chaos emperor dragon - envoy of the end
(3000/2500)
Michael Theseus 1650 LP
VWXYZ Dragon Catapult Cannon
(3000/2800)
Magician of Faith
(300/400)
Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon
(3000/2000)