It took about three days for Yugi to recover from his duel with Weevil. Remarkably none of Checkmate's goons had come to challenge him during that time. It wasn't until the doctors finally gave him a clean bill of health that they received another of Checkmate's messages.
Wouldn't it be ironic if Yugi Moto's career ended the way it began?
"What the heck does that mean?" asked Joey.
"Well… It depends what he means by career." said Michael "Does he mean his career as the King of Games or dueling in general?"
"Yugi's career as the King of Games began when he defeated Pegasus at Duelist Kingdom." said Mai.
"Somehow I doubt Mr. Pegasus would be willing to play Checkmates game, unless he had the power to raise people from the dead."
"Pegasus is dead?" asked Joey.
"Not Pegasus… His wife, remember?" said Tea.
"No…"
"Yugi wasn't a well known duelist until he defeated Seto Kaiba for the first time… Am I right?" asked Serenity.
"Yes… I think it's a safe bet that Kaiba still wants to be the number one ranked duelist in the world. He may just have been lying low all this time trying to find a way to defeat Yugi, but I don't know what Checkmate could do to make him be one of his game pieces… unless they kidnap his little brother."
"If Kaiba's little brother had been kidnapped again I think it would have been all over the news by now."
"Which get's us where?"
"One more thing, where the hell are Duke and Tristan?" said Tea "We texted them when Yugi was hospitalized three days ago and they never texted us back nor visited."
Meanwhile Duke and Tristan were still at Duke's place 'coping with defeat'.
"I… can't… feel my liver." said Tristan.
"You're telling me… you can't handle a bottle?"
"Duke, that was like our third keg…"
"I don't think so… There's still… I dunno… three twos or… something… left."
"Forget it… I'm over… Its game over man… game over!"
"Oh you better not puke on my new carpet."
Hearing this Tristan ran over to the bathroom. After about ten minutes Duke stumbled over to the bathroom to check on him.
"Eww… Where did you find gummy bears?"
"Uh… Now I'm hungry… Do you have any more of that pizza?"
"No… But I… maybe I could… what do you call it… order some more…"
"Dude… you ever notice how your hands are like… I don't know… your feet your arms dude?"
"Yeah…"
"I wonder what they have for socks and shoes…"
"Oh I know man… gloves…"
By the time Yugi out of the hospital the sun was setting off in the distance. It was almost completely gone by the time they made it back to the shop.
"Uh… guys… Where did that car come from?"
Before anyone could answer Tea's question someone with brown hair came jumping to the ground from the shop's roof. He was wearing what looked like a black version of Kaiba's jacket, a black shirt, blue jeans, heavy looking shin guards, pronged gauntlets on his arms, and a golden cross around his neck.
"Does anyone know who or what this is?" asked Mai.
"I don't know, but I'll bet he knows one hell of a tailor."
"So… We meet at last Yugi Moto."
"Uh… Who are you?"
"You can call me Chad."
"Chad… Chad… I've never heard of a duelist named Chad." said Joey.
"I didn't think so… I've come all the way from the United States, the Hoosier state to be precise, to duel you Yugi."
"The Hoosier state?"
"Indiana." said Tea.
"Oh, you mean the place where the University of Notre Dame is?"
"Yes, my daddy's old alma mater. Unfortunately I just didn't have the money nor the grades to follow in his footsteps, but my parents were just glad I made it through high school and my first year of college, but the grotto of our Lady of Lourdes is an excellent place to pray."
"Was your father a football player?"
"Don't make me laugh."
"Is this guy really one of Checkmate's goons?" whispered Tea to Yugi "He hasn't threatened to kill any of us, in fact he's making small talk with us and telling us about where he lives."
"So are we going to duel or what?"
"Before I agree Chad, why is it you came all the way from the states to duel me?"
"I received an anonymous phone call telling me I would get five millions dollars if I did. And believe me I need the money."
"Hmm… Okay, I accept your challenge."
"Excellent, but not here, I know a better place."
Chad got into his car, drove off, and the others followed him. They kept driving for what seemed like an hour and a half. By the time they stopped they were far outside the city limits and the sun had set. They were standing in an open field.
"Why did you bring us all the way out here?"
"So we could see the stars."
"Okay…"
"Before we duel Yugi Moto I think there is something you should know…"
"What?"
"You rely on your friends to get you through the tough times, do you not?"
"Maybe… What's it to you?"
"… I don't have those kinds of friends. So far over the course of my life only one person has been there for me when needed. Only one person got me through high school and my first year of college. Save for that person I am in many ways alone. Can you guess who that person is?"
"Who?"
Chad pointed up at sky.
"In our modern world there are so many non believers, as a result our world has plunged into chaos, but I am believer, because without him I would have never made it this far. Compared to the rest of the universe I am but a subatomic speck, utterly insignificant, but still he answered me when I called him, and to this day he guides me. I don't have much, but I owe everything to God."
"Are you guys gonna duel or not?" asked Mai.
"Oh, but of course. I'm ready when you are Yugi."
Yugi could see the duelist aura around Chad. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was certainly some kind of great power waiting in his deck. This would prove to be an interesting match.
"I'm ready Chad."
"Okay then…"
"Let's duel!"
"Who the heck is that guy?"
"He's the best duelist I could find whose uses the kind of deck I'm looking for." said Checkmate.
"An unknown duelist from the Hoosier state?"
"There aren't many duelists who still use the kind of deck that he does. It isn't easy to build one. But this duelist has been persistent and patient in that department, and now his seeds are bearing fruit."
"So what is so special about his deck?"
"You'll see my friends... Can Yugi Moto be defeated by a duelist he knows nothing about, and can his dueling career be brought to an end the same way it began? I'd put the odds at… 50/50."
"Oh… So we've got ourselves a Mexican standoff!"
"Precisely… Ladies and gentlemen… place your bets."
"In what way is this duel ironic?" asked Tea "None of us have ever heard of this guy before, so Yugi's dueling career certainly didn't begin with him."
"It must be something in his deck." said Michael "The question is… what is it?"
"We'll soon find out." said Mai.
"If you don't mind Yugi, I'll make the first move."
"Be my guest."
Yugi didn't know a thing about this guy, if he went second there was a better chance he would be able to tell what kind of cards Chad would use.
"I play the spell card Scapegoat, this let's me special summon four scapegoat tokens to the field in defense mode."
(4x ATK: 0 DEF: 0)
"I'll also place one card face down and end my turn."
"Huh? Scapegoat and one face down card?"
"I know Joey. It's a very unusual opening move." said Mai.
"What do you think he's doing Michael?" asked Serenity.
"I'll need to see more off his cards before I can be sure."
"Hmm… four scapegoat tokens and one face down card… That face down card could be a trap, but I don't think Chad would waste a good card at the start of the duel just to protect four monster tokens that can't attack or be sacrificed."
Yugi looked at the cards in his hand.
"I play the continuous spell card Spell Economics, as long as this card stays in play I don't need to pay life points to activate a spell card. Next I'll activate my Dark Magic Curtain, which let's me special summon the Dark Magician from my deck!"
(ATK: 2500 DEF: 2100)
"Summoning your deck's headliner on your very first turn… impressive."
"You haven't seen anything yet, next I'll play the spell card Diffusion Wave-Motion! Now my Dark Magician can attack all your Scapegoat token's at once!"
"I expected nothing less from the King of Games, which is why I played this card face down… Alchemy Cycle!"
"What?"
"Now the original attack of all the monsters I have out becomes 0 for the duration of the turn."
"But the scapegoat tokens already have 0 attack points." said Joey.
All four of Chad's scapegoat tokens were destroyed by the Dark Magician's attack.
"Whenever a monster affected by Alchemy Cycle is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, I get to draw a card from my deck, and since you destroyed all four of my Scapegoat tokens I get to draw four cards. But I must say I'm impressed Yugi, normally a move like that would have taken ¾ of your life points, but you didn't have to pay a single one."
"Wait a minute, he has eight cards in his hand, isn't that against the rules?" asked Serenity.
"Sis, the rules say that during your End Phase you're only allowed to hold six cards in your hand, but it's not Chad's turn at the moment."
"Oh…"
Serenity learned more about the game from the time she spent with Michael, but there were a few things that were still Greek to her.
"It's my turn, and I think I'll start by playing three trap cards face down."
"Three trap cards? Either that's a really big bluff, or this guy's lost it." said Mai.
"What do you mean?" asked Serenity.
"When you play face down cards, you never have to say if they're trap card or spell cards."
"Next I'll play the spell card Allure of Darkness, this let's me draw two cards from my deck, but then I have to take one dark attribute monster from my hand and remove it from play, if I can't then I have to discard my entire hand… The card I'll remove is the Cat of Ill Omen. Finally I'll summon a monster in defense mode and end my turn."
"Why would he tell me what his face down cards are? I'll bet he's bluffing, but I better play it safe for right now… I play the spell card Pot of Greed, this let's me draw two cards from my deck."
"Thank you Yugi, you just activated my trap card, Appropriate! From now on whenever you draw cards outside of your draw phase, I get to draw two cards from my deck."
"Well… that could've been worse." said Joey.
"I special summon Watapon!"
(ATK: 200 DEF: 300)
"Now I'll sacrifice it so I can summon the Dark Magician Girl!"
(ATK: 2000 DEF: 1700)
"Wow, she is cuter in person."
The Dark Magician Girl blushed.
"I may not know what his two other face down cards are, but this spell card ought to do the trick. Then I can destroy his face down monster with the Dark Magician Girl, and then attack him directly with the Dark Magician… I activate the spell card Dark Magic Attack! When the Dark Magician is in play I can use this card to destroy all spells and traps on your side of the field."
"I knew you'd try to destroy my cards Yugi, which is why one of my face down cards is Dark Bribe."
"What does that do?" asked Joey.
"It let's me negate the activation of one of Yugi's spell our trap card, but there is a little something in it for you too Yugi, now you get to draw an extra card from your deck, which activates my Appropriate, allowing me to draw two more cards. Now there's only one trap card left. Feeling lucky?"
"That last trap card of his could be a lethal one… but after seeing the cards he's used already he's probably bluffing… Dark Magician Girl, attack his face down monster!"
Chad didn't activate his last trap card, he just let his defense monster be destroyed.
"When Deep Diver is sent to the graveyard as a result of battle, I can take one monster card in my deck and place that card on the top."
"So on his next turn he'll have access to any monster from his deck?"
"I'm not sure it will matter. If it's a high level monster he won't have anything on the field to sacrifice." said Michael.
"Dark Magician, attack his life points directly!"
"I don't think so Yugi, I active the trap card Defense Draw!"
The Dark Magician's attack hit, but nothing happened.
"This card let's me reduce the damage from one of your attacks to zero, and I also get to draw another card."
"Okay… what is he doing?"
"I don't know Serenity, all he's done is draw cards and play defense."
"I activate two copies of the spell card Dark World Dealings, this forces us both to draw one card from our decks and then discard one card from our hands, and since you're drawing outside your draw phase twice Yugi, my Appropriate let's me draw four more cards. Next I'll activate the spell card Hand Destruction, now we both need to discard two cards from our hands, but then we both get to draw two new cards, which once again activates my Appropriate, allowing me to draw two more cards. Next I'll place one card face down, summon a monster in defense mode, and end my turn."
"Wait a minute… I've seen this before!"
"Joey's right!" thought Yugi "If I don't do something before it's too late."
Yugi drew his card.
"Perfect! I activate Card Destruction! This forces both of us to discard our entire hands and draw the same number of cards we were holding. You draw six cards and I get to draw three."
"You're wrong about one thing Yugi, since you just drew outside your draw phase my Appropriate let's me draw two more cards."
"Yes, but I don't think it really matters, since my Card Destruction probably just ruined the whole game for you."
"What do you mean Yugi?"
"It's simple Tea, I deduced what the riddle meant about this being ironic."
He looked at Chad with a big smirk on his face.
"You were trying to complete Exodia weren't you?"
"Yes."
"Well you can't do it unless you have all five cards in your hand, and I'm willing to bet I just sent three of them to the graveyard."
"Wait a minute, what just happened?"
"It's really simple Serenity." said Michael "Normally to win a duel you need to reduce your opponent's life points to 0, but there are a few special ways to win a duel, one is to summon Exodia the Forbidden One, but he can only be summoned by having all five Forbidden One cards in your hand."
"And Yugi's Card Destruction just sent Chad's entire hand to the graveyard, if he was going for Exodia, that's gotta hurt." said Mai.
"So are you going to give up now that I've taken out your prized monster?" asked Yugi.
"Christ didn't give up when he continuously stumbled under the heavy burden of the cross, and neither will I."
"Very well… Dark Magician, attack his face down monster!"
The Dark Magician blasted Chad's face down monster.
"When Sangan is sent to the graveyard, I can bring one monster with 1500 attack points or less from my deck and add it to my hand."
A hologram started to appear behind Chad.
"There! It's Exodia!"
"Calm down Joey." said Michael "It's just the head and torso, he must've used Sangan's effect to bring it to his hand."
Exodia's head and torso sat there floating in the air behind Chad, but Yugi wasn't intimidated.
"Dark Magician Girl, attack his life points directly!"
(Chad: 2000)
"There's no such thing as a life without hardship Yugi, not even for the son of God, so I didn't expect one either."
"Are they having a duel or a mass?" asked Mai.
"I don't think it matters how much he talks about God, Yugi sent most of his Forbidden One cards to the graveyard, so he can't summon Exodia."
"Hey Exodia, what's wrong? You look a little dis-armed and de-feeted!" said Tea.
Yugi's friends all started laughing, but Chad didn't seem to care.
"Yugi Moto, I'm not that rare hunter you fought in Battle City, a duelist like me is prepared for these situations."
"Say what?" exclaimed Joey.
"When you defeated Seto Kaiba for the first time using Exodia I saw my path to power, power I would use to escape a boring life of normality in the Hoosier state. Since then I've made it my goal to build the ultimate Exodia deck."
"Uh… Don't you have any other plans for your life?"
"Well yes, now that you mention it I want to be a world famous fictional story writer. I plan on writing a story that's bigger than Harry Potter and Twilight combined. But in the meantime I'm going to be the duelist who defeated Yugi Moto, and all that free publicity will make my books fly off the shelf."
"And here I thought you were going to be a priest." said Mai.
"Not to discourage people from joining the priesthood Ms. Valentine, but you only live once, and there are certain things I want to do that a priest can't do."
"Such as."
"Simple, priests aren't allowed to marry."
"Uh… I hate to interrupt this spirited conversation." said Tea "But aren't you guys in the middle of a duel?"
"Oh right… Yugi, I believe it's still your turn."
"Alright, I'll place one card face down and end my turn."
"Yugi hasn't stopped me from completing Exodia, he's only delayed the inevitable."
Chad drew his card.
"I activate the trap card Backup Soldier! Since there are more than five monsters in my graveyard, I can take up to three normal monsters with 1500 attack points or less from my graveyard and add them to my hand, and I'm pretty sure you know which ones I want."
Behind Chad the hologram of Exodia started to shine. It's legs and one of it's arms had appeared on the creature.
"Impressive, but it looks like you're one card short." said Yugi.
"Not for long. I activate my third and final Dark World Dealings, now we both draw one card from our decks and discard one card from our hands, but since I still have Appropriate in play I get to draw two more cards…"
Chad smiled.
"Here it comes! I activate the spell card Monster Reincarnation! By discarding one card from my hand I can bring one monster card from my graveyard back to my hand!"
The as Chad reached for his graveyard the final limb of Exodia started to form, and the chains that bound Exodia's other limbs started to break.
"YUGI!"
"I activate Lightforce Sword!"
"What!"
"This trap randomly attacks one card in your hand and prevents you from play until your fourth standby phase after this card's activation!"
The sword flew at Chad's hand and struck one of his cards, then it bounced off and went into one of the links on the chain for Exodia's right leg just as the left arm appeared. The Forbidden One struggled against the chain that bound it to the ground, but it was futile.
"Err… You're not the only one with magic swords Yugi… I activate the spell card Swords of Revealing Light!"
The Swords froze the Dark Magician and the Dark Magician Girl where they stood, but Yugi didn't seem phased by it at all.
"I'll end my turn by playing one card face down one the field."
Yugi was still smiling when he drew his card, but if he tried to destroy Chad's swords then he would just counter with his second Dark Bribe.
"What are you so happy about Yugi? Got a secret plan to defeat my ultimate monster?"
"As a matter of fact, I do have a secret or two."
"Oh yeah, such as?"
"The game is up Chad, there are no more cards left in your deck."
"Oh come on, you don't really think I'm going to fall for that trick."
"It's not a trick. You have forty cards in your deck do you not?"
"Yes."
"Thanks to your Appropriate cards in some cases, there was five cards at the start of the duel, one for your first Draw Phase, four for your Alchemy Cycle, one for your second Draw Phase, two for the Allure of Darkness, two for my Pot of Greed, two for your Dark Bribe, one for your Defense Draw, one for your third Draw Phase, three for your first Dark World Dealings, three for the second, four for the Hand Destruction, six for my Card Destruction, one for Sangan, one for your fourth draw phase, and three for your third Dark World Dealings."
"That's not forty."
"5+1+4+1+2+2+2+1+1+3+3+4+6+1+1+3." said Yugi "My turn is over."
"Five plus one plus four plus… What was it again?" asked Joey.
Chad looked down at his deck, true to Yugi's words there were no cards left for him to draw.
"Well this is embarrassing."
The hologram of Exodia disappeared behind him.
"Ugh… Well that was fun, who's up for some frosty chocolate milkshakes?"
"You're not mad?" asked Yugi.
"God answers all prayers Yugi Moto, sometimes he says yes, sometimes he says no. Sometimes he calms the storms, sometimes he calms his child. Believe me I know this better than most. Besides it was all in good fun. Good game everybody, G.G. man G.G."
"Now that he mentions it, a chocolate milkshake does sound pretty good right now." said Serenity.
"I'm buying!" said Michael.
"Hmm… Well my friends, it seems little Yugi has emerged victorious yet again."
"Who are you sending next?"
"You'll see…"
Checkmate started dialing on yet another disposable cell phone.
"Black Team, did you acquire it?"
"Kaiba Corp security is tough, so we had to break a few eggs, but we got it."
"Excellent, bring it back to base, we need Yugi's next opponent to be ready by tomorrow night."
Checkmate ended the call and dialed another number.
"White Team, were you successful?"
"Yes sir, we found the girl where you told us she would be."
"Bring her to me at one, and no one is allowed to touch her, if she tells me she's been violated in any way, I'll have you and your entire team emasculated… literally."
"Uh… Yes sir… Is she for you?"
"No, she's for a friend of mine."
(To be continued)
New illustration available on deviantart: The Anime Me!
