Disclaimer: I don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" at all, but I'm beginning to believe that it owns me in a sense…
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters - Birthday Battle
Chapter 10 - Make a Wish
Yugi stared hard at the seemingly innocent sight that plagued his eyes. It wasn't the screaming fans around him closely observing his game of Duel Monsters, nor was it the alarming fact that his birthday present for one of his best friends, Téa Gardner, had been stolen. It was the object below him controlled by his opponent, Brutus.
It was the one large face-down card in defense mode on the playing field.
The additional fact that it was holographic meant nothing to Yugi at the present moment. The only other thing which concerned him most was what monster it was. And although the game he was playing had a massive variety of cards which had the capacity to counter this hidden monster with a lesser amount of risk, Yugi didn't hold any of those given cards in his current hand.
If that weren't enough to add to his plate, he had 450 Life Points left, while Brutus was still in the lead with 850.
Most of Brutus's monsters have been summoned in attack mode! He's rarely needed to launch a sneak attack like this! I need to plan my next move carefully, or I'll lose the duel! And I'll also lose the present for Téa that I worked so hard to get for her! Now Brutus doesn't have any magic or trap cards on the field, so I don't need to worry about that…but my hand doesn't have very strong monsters to attack with!
"Are you gonna make your move or not!?" Brutus yelled. "You're boring me and all the spectators to tears!"
Yugi ignored his opponent's ranting, and studied his hand for another two seconds before making a decision.
If his hidden monster has a high defensive strength, it could wipe out the rest of my Life Points once I advance upon it! But if I leave it alone, there's a high probability my opponent may unleash that monster on me anyway…so I'll take a chance and attack!
"Yugi's hit a wall," Bakura pointed out.
"Whaddya mean?" Tristan asked.
"It's a moot issue to wonder whether Brutus's monster is harmless or not," Mai explained. "I don't know Yugi's opponent at all, but if he has as much sense as the next duelist, I doubt he set a weak monster on the field. It could be anything at this point!"
"It doesn't matter in the long run!" a strong female voice stated.
Everyone turned their heads, startled by the sudden exclamation of confidence. Their eyes spotted Téa looking up at the duel in play, who had obviously been the one who spoke just now. Her hands were clasped, held against her chest firmly. Téa's own eyes didn't display any tears and weren't even slightly wavering. Her eyebrows above were turned downwards, not showing anger, but determination.
"I've always believed in Yugi!" she said with conviction. "And I know that even in the darkest of situations, he'll make the right decision and win!"
"I summon the Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress!" Yugi announced.
The monster in question emerged onto the playing field with all the fury it could muster. The blue dragon certainly wasn't large, but it demonstrated its strength as best it could, flapping its wings, whipping its long tail back and forth, and showing off its sharp claws and teeth.
(Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress - 1400/1200)
Yugi pointed towards his target before speaking.
"Winged Dragon, destroy his face-down monster! Fireball Attack!"
The Dragon closed its mouth slowly, and inhaled deeply if it were sucking in lots of air. But its jaws immediately snapped open again, revealing a large fireball waiting to be launched. Yugi's monster roared as it fired its attack at the mystery monster in defense mode. The firey sphere hit its target dead on, causing a small explosion, kicking up a thick cloud of (holographic) smoke. The defensive card broke into pieces, and once the smoke cleared, Yugi (and everyone else) finally got a look at what had been attacked.
Yugi's eyes widened in panic as he saw a grey-colored jar made out of rock appear on the ground, standing upright.
"No!" he cried. "It's a Morphing Jar!"
"That's right!" Brutus agreed, "And that means we both discard our hands and draw five new cards from our decks!"
(Morphing Jar - 700/600)
The jar quicky tipped on its side towards Yugi, balancing itself at (roughly) a 45 degree angle. The inside of the jar looked black, but a single huge eye appeared in the darkness of the container. A black, grotesque monster resembling an eel shot out of the jar at top speed and gave off an ear-piercing screech so nasty that everyone was forced to cover their ears. It rose over Yugi's head, looming at him for only an instant before it exploded.
Both duelists abided by the rules of the destroyed card, sending all cards in hand to their respective Graveyards and then drawing five cards each from their dueling decks.
"W…what does this mean for Yugi?" Téa wondered out load.
"Well, it could very likely go either way," Bakura theorized.
"How d'ya figure dat, Bakura?" Joey asked, scratching the back of his head.
Bakura began stroking his chin, thinking hard for a moment, and then spoke again with certainty in his voice.
"If Brutus had better cards to use against Yugi, surely he would've played them by now. But since the Morphing Jar requires both players to draw an entriely new hand, we can surmise that it was the only viable option for Brutus to pursue. But Yugi's situation is different. We don't know for sure if he had cards in his previous hand that would've helped him or not. Therefore, getting five new cards may have done more harm than good, effectively foiling any strategy he was going to use."
"Great," Tristan said flatly.
"But don't worry too much, we'll know soon enough," finished Bakura, still as calm as ever.
Unfortunately, Bakura was right. Yugi's five new cards weren't sufficient enough to do the job.
Oh, no! None of these cards are strong enough to compete! I don't even have a single magic or trap card to help me!
The "King of Games" knew this was undoubtedly a major crisis, but he remained stonefaced. This was to insure that Brutus wouldn't be able to read anything into his situation. One can only speculate so far into an emotionless expression. Another reason for this was so that Yugi wouldn't alarm any of the fans cheering for him.
But I still have my Big Shield Gardna on the field! With 2600 defense points, it should be able to last long enough for me to think up a plan!
"Well, I have no idea what you drew, but fortune smiled upon me!"Brutus snarled. "I've been given another opportunity to do some real damage!"
"Let's see you back up those words!" Yugi quipped.
"You'll see more than that! I'll recruit a new player to the team! I summon Rigras Leever in attack mode!"
Rising out from the ground was what looked like a wooden marionette with a horrid vertical mouth on the front of its head. In its hand was a weapon that resembled a long spear, although Yugi couldn't really tell what it was.
(Rigras Leever - 1600/100)
"Get that loser dragon off the field now!"
Brutus's newest monster turned its head towards its corresponding controller, and nodded. With a barely noticeable growl, it leapt at Yugi's monster and impaled its weapon straight through the Winged Dragon's chest, causing it to struggle briefly and roar in pain. Yugi almost turned away at watching his monster suffer, but the torture didn't continue for much longer, as it shattered into bits and pieces.
Yugi gritted his teeth, watching the counter built into his console deplete by 200, leaving his overall score at 250 Life Points.
"I'll end my turn by setting one card face-down! Now go already!" Brutus said a commanding voice.
"I will!" Yugi replied, drawing his next card.
The dueling expert grinned before making his next move.
"I play the magic card Pot of Greed! It permits me to draw two new cards and add them to my hand!"
Yugi grinned again, albeit less obvious.
All right! One trap and one magic card! This gives me an idea! It won't widen my options much, but its the best move I can think of!
Brutus grinned too, but for a different reason. While his Rigras Leever had only mediocre strength at best, he had a devastating trap card set. One that - in his opinion, at least - had the capacity to finish Yugi off!
But his opponent had other ideas in mind…
"Prepare to watch everything crumble before your eyes, Brutus!" Yugi roared.
"Hm?" was all the taller teen could say.
"Watch…as I play this! Final Destiny!"
"What's that!?"
"By discarding five of the six remaining cards in my hand, this powerful magic card destroys everything on the field!"
"Everything!?"
"That's right, leaving nothing in its wake but wide open space."
Yugi followed the card's requirements, and tranferred five cards from his hand to the Graveyard. He then slapped down the Final Destiny magic card on the dueling console. The card's effect activated as quickly as a new light bulb could switch on. A huge explosion made it way onto the dueling arena, much larger than any that occured before. The sound it made was extremely louder and the sight was extravagant, nearly matching that of an atomic blast. The resulting mushroom cloud emitted flashes of firey light, while endless amounts of thick smoke filled the playing field, causing both competitors to squeeze their eyes shut and turn their heads away from the mighty blast that the magic card had let loose. Even most of the spectators were forced to do the same.
"Man! That last move of Yugi's was totally nuts!" Mokuba cried in awe.
"Yep…dat's our Yugi! He really knows how ta put on one heckuva show!" Joey said, stunned.
"I'm almost afraid to see what's next!" Tristan added.
After the passing of what seemed like agonizingly slow seconds, the smoke cleared. And just as Yugi said, there was nothing left on the field. A fair number of the fans down below in the crowd half-expected the dueling arena to actually appear demolished, but this was not the case. As real as this all may have seemed, the rest of them were forced to remember that all the action that occurred on the field was purely holographic.
"I don't believe it! It's impossible!" Brutus went, completely abashed at what (somewhat spontaneously) transpired.
"You can be assured that it's quite possible," Yugi said with his arms crossed with only one card left in his hand. "And it's not over yet!"
Yugi brandished the final card in his hand that hadn't been disposed of.
"I'll set this last card face-down and end my turn."
"Three can play at that game! So I'll set a trio of cards face-down…and then summon the unstoppable Sengenjin!"
Yugi was astounded and almost gasped when he saw his opponent's latest monster. It was a gigantic, one-eyed blue orge with sharp teeth and pink hair. Gold spiked armor covered its shoulders, with numerous weapons strapped to its back.
(Sengenjin - 2750/2500)
"My beast-warrior has an attack power of 2750! That's enough strength to put down any new team members you try to recruit! The winning trophy is mine!"
"I disagree! It's my turn again!"
Yugi's eyes received a year's worth of sightseeing within the course of the next two seconds.
Great! This card I just drew could definately help me win this match! I just need a way to figure out how to-
"You may aswell stare at that new card of yours while you still can! Because you're about to lose it!" interrupted Brutus, so to speak.
"And what makes you so sure of that?" Yugi asked.
"Because you triggered a trap card the moment you drew from your deck! It's called Drop Off! Now that card goes directly into your Graveyard!"
The dueling expert grimaced and complied.
"That's one more threat crossed off the list!"
"I wouldn't be so quick to judge!"
"What are you babbling about?"
"I'm saying that I'm not out of options yet! I still have my face-down card!"
A lot of faith's riding on this next move…along with a little bit of luck! However, I know that my cards won't let me down!
For a solid three seconds, the entire audience below went silent as they all witnessed Yugi's mystery card flip itself face-up.
"I activate the trap card…Reverse of Reverse!" Yugi announced.
"What the heck is that?!"Brutus asked, almost panicking.
"This special trap can only be activated when its controller has no cards in their hand, and none are present on their side of the field except for this one! In exchange, I'm permitted to utilize my opponent's face-down cards as if they were my own! And I count two of them!"
"NO!"
I'm gonna need to rely on my opponent's cards to help me win this! But my faith in the Heart of Cards will triumph over all opposition, anytime and anywhere!
Brutus's two face-down cards flipped up simultaneously. The first was revealed as an easily recognizable magic card and the second was another trap, both of which Yugi could use to his advantage.
"Now, I'll use the power of my Reverse of Reverse trap to activate your cards…Monster Reborn and Jar of Greed!"
Yugi's opponent was at a loss for words, but his rising anger (and the growl it produced) was all that needed to be displayed.
"The magic of Monster Reborn will bring back the card you sent to the Graveyard! Arise, my Dark Magician!"
A circular-shaped hole of white light appeared on the floor of the arena. Streams of bright, ferocious energy shot out like lightning bolts. Slowly rising from the hole emerged one of the most powerful (if not the most powerful) spellcaster-type monster of Yugi's. The Dark Magician stood proudly in his purple outfit, with a matching headpiece, something of a cross between a wizard's cap and a hood. In one of his hands he held a long green staff, capable of emitting powerful and destructive magic.
(Dark Magician - 2500/2100)
"And thanks to your second face-down card, Jar of Greed, I'm allowed to draw one card from my deck!" Yugi continued.
As before, Yugi only needed one quick glance at the new card in his hand before he decided to make good use of it.
"I'll set this card face-down. Now it's your turn again, although I'd try to be more careful the next time around! Overlooking my face-down card gave me the opportunity to get ahead!" Yugi said in a semi-lecturing tone.
"You speeding ahead past me? That's gotta be the joke of the year! My Sengenjin has 250 more attack points than your pitiful sorcerer! Which is also the exact number of Life Points you have left! My beast-warrior will tear 'im in two!" Brutus boasted. "Sengenjin…score two for the team!"
The large ogre drew two more heavy, sharp-looking weapons and tossed them at the Dark Magician.
"I don't think so," Yugi calmly said, closing his eyes and smirking.
The Dark Magician held out his green wand and pointed it towards the opposite end of the playing field. It's tip glowed white and gradually generated a white-colored dome of energy and mist around Yugi's monster. The pair of projectiles that had been thrown exploded as soon as they struck the dome surrounding the Dark Magician.
"What happened? My attack was blocked!" Brutus fumed.
"I believe you just answered your own question, for that's precisely what happened!" Yugi confirmed.
"Whatever you're gonna say, make it short!"
"Remember…when I flipped and activated your Jar of Greed trap, I was allowed to draw a single card from my deck! And I was rewarded with was a trap of my own! Soul Shield!"
"And how does that work?"
"By sacrificing half of my remaining Life Points, this trap card has the power to deflect your attack and protect any monsters on my side of the field! My score may have dropped, but my Dark Magician remains unscathed!"
"Oh, yeah! Who's the man?" boasted Tristan.
"Jus' call 'im Mistah Stonewall, heh heh!" added Joey.
While the two boys radiated their usual amount of enthusiasm, a third male teenager kept a level head about the facts concerning the duel.
"One moment, let's not be hasty," Bakura said with caution. "Yugi may have hindered his opponent's efforts, but that's doesn't necessarily mean it's over."
"Yeah…Yugi only has 125 Life Points left," Téa agreed.
"That's right," continued Bakura. "He may still have a ways to go yet."
"It's my move!" Yugi said.
"Which is worth squat, I'm sure!" Brutus sniped. "You don't have any cards in your hand! Which means that your monster's rat bait next turn!"
Yugi swiftly drew the top card off of his deck, and from that moment, his face changed to an expression of wonder and positive reinforcement. The teenager couldn't have turned off his display of emotion even if the entire world told him to do so. Yugi thought hard about how this card had seemingly ""sneaked"" itself into his deck. He knew he had obtained some new cards not too long ago, but-
Immediately a brief, but recent memory popped into his mind…
Téa pulled up a seat at Yugi's desk and took a look at a small pile of Duel Monsters cards that Yugi had spread out on his desk, some of which she hadn't seen previously.
"I see you've acquired some new cards recently!" Téa noted.
"Yep, I got 'em a little while back. My deck will be even stronger than before when I combine them with my other cards!" Yugi happily replied.
"Face the facts, Yugi…Duel Monsters is your life! Not that there's anything really wrong with it, though!"
How could I have overlooked it? I should've remembered all of the new additions to my deck…
Yugi realized that he had been carefully looking over each of his cards right before Téa showed up. He had become so preoccupied talking to her that he had absent-mindedly completed the improvements to his deck, giving little thought as to the ramifications of such an action, or what particular cards in his deck had been changed.
Of course! That day I chatted with Téa in school when Brutus arrived…in all the confusion, I'd completely forgotten about this card! But it doesn't matter right now! My next move will increase my chances of winning exponentially!
"Stop stalling!" Brutus impatiently snapped.
"I'm not stalling," Yugi replied, now smiling slightly. "This single card will bring one step closer to victory!"
"And that card would be…?"
"I'm glad you asked, because I have absolutely no doubt you'll recognize it! I activiate the Card of Sanctity!"
Everyone (save Yugi) let a quick gasp - either small, loud, meek, or large - escape their mouth.
"And with this magic card in play, I'm permitted to draw additional cards from my deck until I have a total of six!"
Brutus knew full well that the card let him draw too, but…the boot was on the other foot now. Yugi's hand was previously empty, and he now indeed had a fair number of options to consider…six, to be exact.
After drawing his last card, Yugi didn't waste any time in using his new hand to put down the opposing monster.
"I'll play this…the Book of Secret Arts!" Yugi stated, holding up his newly drawn card at top speed.
Yugi's opponent just shot him a nasty glare, accurately knowing that there was a high probability that he'd hate what would happen next.
"That Sengenjin may possess overwhelming strength, but the Book of Secret Arts has the capacity to increase a spellcaster's stats by 300! Which gives my Dark Magician the necessary might to slay your monster!"
Yugi's monster stretched out its arms as its body glowed green for a moment, as its power grew to 2800!
"Go, Dark Magician! Destroy his monster now!"
The mage quickly twirled its long green staff like a baton, and pointed it at Sengenjin. A huge bolt of energy shot out of the wand's tip and blasted Brutus's monster, vaporizing it on the spot.
To say that Brutus was less than pleased by this sharp turn of events would have been a severe understatement. He may have only lost 50 Life Points, but it was the principle of the matter that he was concerned with.
"Your Sengenjin has been demolished!" Yugi pointed out, though he hardly needed to do so.
Finally! Now that my Dark Magician has made his appearance on the field, I'll be able to end this duel at last!
"You may have taken down my last monster, but my score is still higher than yours!" Brutus noted.
"Not for long!" Yugi retorted.
Brutus growled as Yugi's monster provided more irritation, grinning and wagging its finger at him.
"The Dark Magician is one of my most sacred and trusted monsters! And combined with the power bonus I've provided him, as well as the new set of cards in my hand, the two of us will prevail against you! So beware…this duel is nearing its end!"
TO BE CONTINUED…
Boy, this match has everyone on edge! I hope you've enjoyed this particular duel, as well as this story, especially since its finally setting the stage for the big finish! The next segment (which is already in production) may very well be the last chapter! (But don't quote me on that.) So if you wanna read it, make sure to drop your opinions by me! The duel will end, and Téa will finally see just what Yugi got for her birthday! Most (if not all) of the loose ends will be tied up, so I beg you to stay tuned for the upcoming finale! See you soon!