YU-GI-OH! Forever
A Fan-Fiction by neomage
(DISCLAIMER: The great Kazuki Takahashi is the proud owner to the rights of the product called Yu-Gi-Oh!)
CHAPTER 04
KAIBA CORPORATION, INSIDE THE DUELING ARENA
As the legendary dragon roared in front of him, Yugo found himself in a very serious predicament. How am I gonna beat something this strong?
"Blue-Eyes – White Lightning Attack!"
"HUH!" Yugo snapped back to his senses just in time to see the dragon charging up particle energy inside its mouth. It's now or never!
"Hold it right there, Seta!" Yugo shouted. "Since you've declared your attack with your Blue-Eyes, I can activate my trap card – Blast Held by a Tribute!" And as he spoke, his face-down trap card revealed itself, depicting a man with a cancerous bomb in his chest.
As Seta looked on in surprise, to himself Yugo gloated, Since his monster was Tribute Summoned, I was able to activate this Blast Held by a Tribute trap, thank goodness. It'll destroy his monster AND put a big dent in his life points – 1000 points of damage, to be exact! Then I'll be in the lead where life points are concerned, plus this'll give me a chance to come up with a counter-strategy next turn!
"All right, Yugo! You got him now!" Jenna cheered, and Kyo smiled a little.
But Seta cackled loudly. "Nice try, but I won't let my dragon be killed just like that! Activate MY face-down trap, the Trap Jammer!" And as his trap was activated, a huge image of a bear-trap appeared, caught by a huge sealing spell underneath it. To Yugo's astonishment, as well as everyone else's, the bomb was caught in the trap, now safely rendered harmless.
"Huh?" Yugo was at a loss for words.
"This is the effect of my Trap Jammer," explained Seta patiently. "It can only be activated when my opponent activates a trap during the Battle Phase, but that trap will be negated and destroyed. So…Blue-Eyes White Dragon, resume your attack!"
Having charged enough energy, the Blue-Eyes fired its cannon-like blast directly at Yugo. The young boy screamed in agony as he felt the electrical energy hit him straight in the chest and push him several feet back before knocking him down altogether. The damage to his life points was very apparent, too – swiftly shooting from 8000 down to 5000.
"Goddammit…that's…too strong…" Yugo gasped out as he lay flat on his back.
"Ha, ha! See the power of my Blue-Eyes at work!" Seta laughed triumphantly. "Hey, Yugo, hope you're still in the mood to duel after that attack you just got! Now, get back up and fight!" His eyes narrowed and the smile left his face. "Or are you going to be like so many of my past opponents, who would run away at the first sight of my dragon's strength?"
On hearing this, Yugo raised his head. "Are you calling me a coward, Seta?" he asked dangerously.
"Well, if you're not, then prove it!" Seta shouted.
Trembling with exertion, Yugo slowly picked himself up. Although he really hadn't suffered any apparent physical damage, nevertheless the force of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's blast had taken its toll on him. I have to find a way to beat that dragon. My first chance is now gone, so I have to make up for it somehow.
He drew his next card. "Okaaaaay…now I think I'll set one card face-down, put another monster face-down in Defense Mode…and that's it for me," he announced as he played his cards.
"Still playing defensive, Yugo? What, you can't think of anything else to do?" Seta shook his head sadly. "You really are nothing like your dad."
Yugo glared at him. "Don't compare me to my father!" he snapped.
"Why should I bother? Your skill is really weak. When I heard that you'd been out of it for some time, I never imagined that you would've deteriorated like this." Seta beheld the crowd. "Just listen to everybody…already they're starting to get upset about the whole matter."
Indeed, the spectators were not happy with the low level of performance being displayed by Yugo. "C'mon! Can't you do better than that?" somebody shouted, and everybody else hollered in agreement.
Jenna and Kyo, still watching from above, could hear the shouts of discouragement from the crowd. "Poor Yugo…he's taking a terrible beating out there…" whispered Jenna sadly.
To her surprise, Kyo got up in one swift motion and started to shout, completely out of character for him. "YUGO!" he yelled. "Don't give up! We're right behind you!" He then looked at Jenna. "Don't just sit there! Give Yugo your support, too!"
"Y-yeah!" Jenna took up the cheering now. "Do your best, Yugo! I know you can win!"
Yugo looked up as he heard his friends calling out to him. A faint glimmer of hope filled his face. Guys…thank you…
Then he turned back to Seta, his eyes now blazing with newfound energy. "C'mon, Seta! What's the matter? Afraid to attack me?"
Seta gritted his teeth. "I fear nothing!" he cried as he drew another card. "I summon the Lizard Soldier (ATK 1100, DEF 800) in Attack Mode!" As he played the card, a small dragon-soldier armed with a machete and a stone shield appeared on his side of the field. "Now, Blue-Eyes, destroy his face-down monster!"
The Blue-Eyes fired another megaton blast from its mouth, destroying Yugo's face-down monster, the Magician's Valkyrie (ATK 1600, DEF 1800). Then, with that resistance out of the way, the Lizard Soldier could attack directly, reducing Yugo further to 3900 life points.
"Pathetic," Seta scoffed. "I end my turn!"
This isn't good, Yugo thought to himself. If I don't do something quickly, it'll be the end of me!
So, as soon as he drew his next card, he announced, "Now I'll activate my face-down trap card, Frozen Soul! Since my life points are more than 2000 points lower than yours, your monsters can't attack me during your next turn!" As his trap activated, a huge blue skull flew out of the card picture and circled around Seta's monsters.
"Big deal," said Seta. "So I won't be able to attack. So what? It won't mean a thing. You'll just end up losing anyway."
"Really?" Now Yugo smiled. He looked at his hand and decided on a strategy.
"I activate the Pot of Greed magic card, which will let me draw two more cards from my deck!" Yugo declared, playing the card. A big grinning green pot appeared on the field and spat out two cards, and Yugo took them into his hand to give him a total of five cards. "Well, well, well…this looks very, very good…"
Seeing the sudden confidence on his opponent's face, Seta frowned. Is he up to something?
"Now, Seta, I'm going to summon a new monster to the field – Copycat (ATK 0, DEF 0)! Come forth, my monster!" Yugo ordered. At once a clown jester holding a mirror in front of its face appeared.
Seeing the new monster's stats, however, Seta was dumbfounded. Then he started to laugh, as did several members of the audience. "Are you crazy? THAT is going to be your salvation?" he laughed uproariously.
Jenna, too, was confused. "Has Yugo finally lost it?"
But Kyo wasn't so sure. "Don't give up on Yugo just yet," he counseled Jenna. "Not everything is as it seems…"
Yugo thought so, too. "Don't go mocking my monster before I tell you its special ability, Seta," he said to his opponent. "For you see, Copycat has a very dangerous effect: When it is summoned, it can immediately copy the original ATK and DEF of any monster on the opponent's field that I choose."
"Any monster…?" Then the truth dawned on Seta. "Oh, shit…"
"That's right – I'm going to have him copy your Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
As Seta looked on in shock, suddenly an image began to appear in the Copycat's mirror – an image of the Blue Eyes White Dragon's face. Then, the Copycat's entire body began to morph, until at last it was the splitting image of the original dragon itself.
"It can't be true!" Seta shrieked.
"But it is, Seta!" Yugo countered. "And what's more, I'm not even done yet!"
He held up two cards from his hand and played them immediately. "First, I'm going to activate the magic of the Yami field magic card, which will increase the ATK and DEF of all Spellcasters and Fiends by 200 points…and also decrease the ATK and DEF of Fairy-type monsters by 200." As he played the card, several dark shadows began to fill the arena, giving a very spooky impression. Yugo could hear some whimpering from a few of the spectators as the darkness enveloped the place.
"And next," Yugo continued, "I activate the magic of my own Monster Reborn card to bring back my Magical Marionette from the Graveyard!" And as he activated the card, the red-clad puppeteer reappeared. Its stats quickly changed to ATK 2200 and DEF 1200 due to Yami's effect. Since the Copycat Blue-Eyes still counted as a Spellcaster in spite of its new appearance, its stats changed to ATK 3200 and DEF 2700 – far stronger than the original Blue-Eyes!
"Now, Copycat, destroy the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Yugo ordered. And Copycat Blue-Eyes did just that – charging up a blast of energy in its mouth, it fired it off at its original, completely ripping it to pieces and reducing Seta's life points to 7800.
"Marionette, it's your turn!" Yugo commanded. And the mage moved its fingers, commanding its puppet to slice the Lizard Soldier, ripping it apart. Seta grimaced as he felt his life points drop further to 6700.
Finally, Yugo took one of the two remaining cards in his hand, and set it face-down in the magic/trap slot. "Now, one more card face-down…and with that, I finally end my turn."
"Impressive comeback, Yugo," Seta congratulated him. Then he smirked. "But my life points are still much, much higher than yours! It's going to take more than just a few lucky moves to bring me down!"
"Well, I'm not going to give up so readily, either, Seta," Yugo declared firmly.
Now the crowd was starting to cheer again. "This is really some duel!" someone exclaimed.
"I'll say!" another agreed. "The best I've seen in a long time!"
"Those guys sure know how to play!" added a third.
Smirking again, Seta drew his next card, giving him a total of three in his hand. "All right…now I'll set one monster in Defense Mode, then one other card face-down, and that'll end my turn."
Kyo, seeing this, was surprised. "Okay…so now Seta's playing on the defensive? He must be up to something…"
Yugo suspected something, too, but wasn't sure what game his opponent might be playing. Is he trying to lure me into a trap? I should play this carefully, but…I really need to get a shot at his life points, or else I'll never catch up to him!
"Okay! Magical Marionette, attack Seta's face-down monster!"
Again the Marionette controlled its puppet, slashing the opposition into bits. But Seta laughed. "That was my Peten the Dark Clown (ATK 500, DEF 1200) that your magician just destroyed! When he's sent to the Graveyard, I can remove him from play to Special Summon another one like him to the field from my deck!"
Seta then took the card from the Graveyard and placed it in his Discard pile. In turn, he thumbed through his deck, then immediately summoned another Peten the Dark Clown to the field. Due to the fact that it was a Spellcaster, Yami's field effect caused its stats to go up to ATK 700 and DEF 1400. Peten then delivered a raspberry with its tongue straight at Yugo, who was quite annoyed with it.
"Whatever!" Yugo barked. "Copycat, destroy that one too!" And the Copycat Blue-Eyes fired yet another blast, obliterating this Peten. But Seta just shrugged, removed the second one from the game, and Special Summoned a third one to the field.
"Annoying little guy, isn't he?" he taunted.
Well, at least one thing's for certain, Yugo mused. There's a limit to a certain type of card in one's deck. A duelist can only have three copies of any one card in a deck at any one time, so…he shouldn't have any more Peten the Dark Clown cards after this one. Next time, Seta…next time!
Seta now took his turn, drawing his card. "Now, I activate my face-down trap, Jar of Greed! This will let me draw one more card from my deck!" As he activated the card, a red version of the Pot of Greed came onto the field, and it spat out one card which Seta then added to his hand. He looked at it and smirked.
"Next, I'll play the magic card, Graceful Charity! This will let me draw three more cards, but in turn I'll have to discard two from my hand to the Graveyard." He played the card, and a beautiful angel appeared on his side of the field, offering him three cards. He took them, examined his hand, then picked two cards and discarded them, so now he was left with three cards in his hand in all.
"Okay…now I summon the Lord of Dragons (ATK 1200, DEF 1100)!" In a moment, a mage dressed in a cape and a helmet shaped like a dragon's head appeared next to Seta. Since he was a Spellcaster, Yami's effect strengthened him to have ATK 1400 and DEF 1300.
"See my Lord of Dragons, Yugo? He's one of the most important monsters in my deck because of his special abilities," Seta remarked. "For one thing, as his name suggests, he's a master dragon wielder. His powers are so mighty, and his control of these great beasts so superb, nobody can stand in his way. And…" He held up another card from his hand. "This card works well with him, too – The Flute of Summoning Dragon!"
As Seta played the card, a horn in the shape of a dragon appeared in the Lord of Dragons' hand, and he blew a note on it. "When I activate the Flute while the Lord of Dragons is on the field," Seta explained, "I can Special Summon up to two Dragons from my hand. Well…actually, right now I only have one dragon in my hand, but it's okay. Now, be summoned, my Rare Metal Dragon (ATK 2400, DEF 1200)!"
As the Lord of Dragons continued to play the Flute, a metallic dragon appeared on Seta's side of the field, growling menacingly. Seta smiled. "Plenty of firepower here," he laughed.
But then he stopped laughing and looked at Yugo's side of the field again. "Huh? What the hell gives!"
He had good reason to ask. Just moments before, when the Magical Marionette had emerged on the field, it had stats of ATK 2000 and 1000, increased to 2200 and 1200 respectively via Yami. But now, its ATK was 2600!
"Think back to a few minutes ago, Seta," explained Yugo. "Magical Marionette has a very wonderful effect – each time one of us activates a Magic Card, the Marionette gets what is known as a Spell Counter, which increases its ATK by 200 points. And, by my count, you've activated two magic cards – your Graceful Charity and that Flute of Summoning Dragon."
Seta paled considerably. This isn't good at all, his mind raged. Yugo might actually beat me if I'm not careful! I have to get rid of him soon!
Now Yugo took his turn. As he drew his card, he chuckled. Seta was still in the lead in terms of life points, but Yugo was about to give him a major surprise. "OK, Seta, let me show you another ability of my Magical Marionette!" Yugo declared crisply.
"WHAT!" Seta yelled. "Another effect!"
"Yes! Observe!" replied Yugo. And then, as all watched open-mouthed, the Marionette's ATK sharply dropped back to 2200 – and two giant balls of flame were floating in front of the puppeteer.
"By removing two Spell Counters from the Marionette," explained Yugo, "I can destroy any monster on the field that I choose. And I choose…your Dark Clown!" And as he spoke, the balls of flame merged as one and then flew toward Peten, incinerating him and wiping him out.
"Now – I'll conduct battle!" Yugo declared. "Copycat, destroy the Rare Metal Dragon!" And Copycat Blue-Eyes fired a White Lightning Attack, blowing the Rare Metal Dragon to pieces and dropping Seta's life points to 5900. Then – "Magical Marionette, it's your turn!" And the Marionette's puppet rushed forward and stabbed the Lord of Dragons to death, and Seta's life points went down further to 5100.
Seeing this, Jenna was ecstatic. "Way to go, Yugo! Now he's got no monsters to protect himself!" she exulted.
"That's right," said Kyo. But to himself he added, Still, Seta's a much better duelist than that…surely he'll find a way to regain control of this duel…
"In your face, Seta!" Yugo boasted.
Seta smiled quietly. "Maybe…but this duel's far from over!"
He drew his next card. Looking at it, he smiled immensely. "I'll just put this monster face-down in Defense Mode, and end my turn. It's all I can do right now."
Now everybody was cheering and chanting Yugo's name. "Yugo! Yugo! Yugo!" echoed throughout the stadium.
"Go ahead, Yugo! You've got this duel in the bag! Get him now!" Jenna screamed.
But then she felt a restraining hand on her arm. "Hey, Kyo, what's the matter?" she asked indignantly.
Kyo's face was grave. "Don't celebrate yet, Jenna," he counseled. "Remember, Seta just put a monster card face-down without hesitation. He might want Yugo to attack him."
As he looked at Seta, Yugo frowned. This is too easy…Seta wants me to attack. I just know it. Well…I'm not going to miss out on this chance to win, but just in case... He drew his next card. "Now, Copycat! Attack his monster!"
But as Copycat-Blue-Eyes charged up its attack, Seta started to laugh. "You're gonna regret that, Yugo!" he sneered.
Copycat Blue-Eyes fired its attack, destroying the opposing monster. But as the monster was flipped face-up, it turned out to be the Cyber Jar (ATK 900, DEF 900). "What the heck?" Yugo exclaimed when he saw what it was. But there was no further time to wonder, for almost immediately both Copycat Blue-Eyes and the Marionette were destroyed, as well, as the field turned bright with a massive explosion!
"Whoa! That's too much!" Kyo exclaimed as he instinctively shielded himself, as did most other people.
"I see you know this monster," Seta chuckled as the smoke gradually cleared.. "When the Cyber Jar is flipped face-up, every monster on the field will be destroyed. But not to worry – afterward, we'll each pick five cards from the top of our respective decks and show them to each other. Then, we'll Special Summon all Level 4 or lower monsters that we pick up, and the other cards will be added to our hands. So, start picking up."
Grumbling, Yugo picked up five cards, and Seta did likewise; then they walked toward each other and held up their respective five cards. In Yugo's hand were the Gemini Elf (ATK 1900, DEF 900), Swords of Revealing Light, Magic Jammer, Kuriboh (ATK 300, DEF 200) and Book of Secret Arts; in Seta's hand were Raigeki, Mystical Space Typhoon, Interdimensional Matter Transporter, Troop Dragon (ATK 700, DEF 800) and the Dragon Dwelling in the Cave (ATK 1300, DEF 2000). Swiftly, Gemini Elf was placed in face-up Attack Mode and Kuriboh in face-down Defense Mode; and both Troop Dragon and the Cave-Dwelling Dragon were placed in face-down Defense Mode – and all the other cards they'd picked up were added to their hands, giving Yugo a total of six cards and Seta a total of three.
Since it was still Yugo's Battle Phase, his Gemini Elf, powered up to 2100 ATK and 1100 DEF by Yami's effect, prepared to fight. "Now, my twin elves, attack his face-down monster on the right!" Yugo ordered, silently hoping it was the Troop Dragon…and it was.
But as that Troop Dragon was destroyed, another immediately appeared in Defense Mode! "What happened?" Yugo asked, stunned.
"That's Troop Dragon's effect for you," said Seta. "When it's destroyed in battle, another Troop Dragon will be Special Summoned from my deck to take its place. So, too bad."
Disappointed, Yugo set another card face-down. "Okay, make your move."
"Be glad to!" Seta drew another card – and started to laugh. "This is it! This is the end! I activate two magic cards – first, Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy the face-down card you just set…" As he played the card, a mighty tornado came onto the field, destroying Yugo's selected face-down card and almost blowing Yugo away in the process.
"…And then I'll play Raigeki to destroy every monster on your side of the field!" And Seta, laughing maniacally, played the magic card, creating a hail of thunderbolts that completely destroyed Yugo's monsters.
"No!" cried Yugo.
"And then…" Seta slowly raised the card he'd just drawn. "I'm going to offer my Troop Dragon and my other monster, the Dragon Dwelling in the Cave, to summon something you'd never expect – my second Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
Yugo's eyes widened in alarm upon hearing that. "What!"
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neomage: Quite a lengthy chapter, no? Well, this duel will soon be over, as Seta has now revealed his second Blue-Eyes White Dragon! How will Yugo combat this one, especially after he'd just managed to destroy the first? R&R, and stay tuned!