Chapter 10
LAST TIME… Chancellor Shepherd warned Richard about four emissaries that would try to summon a great demon. Students began to disappear, but Richard duelled Wolf, the first emissary, who joined the heroes upon his defeat. However, the second Emissary, Bone, attacked Rory, and only just lost, sending Rory in to a coma. Richard took out the third emissary, but when he raided Damien's room, he was soon confronted by Damien, the final emissary, who was about to summon the demon Dreadroute. Richard got off to a bad start because of Damien's Daedalus, but can he turn it around and save the world?
It was a sunny day. The boy was in the middle of a long queue, his black hair glittering in the sun. But the wait was worth it. He was going to see his idol. His hands were shivering from excitement as the receptionist cried out for him to enter.
He wandered in to the room, and saw him. Yugi Motuo was sitting in the booth, and he was living out the opportunity of a lifetime. It was a public event. Lots of children, between ages 8 and 15 were allowed. It was a massive duelling event. The king of games was duelling these young duellists to see their potential. And Rory was next.
But this event had happened months ago. Rory was still asleep in his coma, showing no sign of ever waking up. His memories were just dreams now. That was all he had left.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, in a hidden safe inside a duel room, there were two more boys. These two boys were in the middle of a duel that could decide the fate of mankind.
"It's your turn now." Smirked Damien "Though it'll make no difference. My Ocean Dragon Lord has 3400 attack points now, so you are going to fall next turn."
If Richard didn't do anything, Damien would be right. He only had 2200 life points, and if Damien could play a second strong monster, he would be able to attack directly. Even worse, if Damien drew 'Umi' he could cleanse the field and guarantee his success. Richard needed to think fast.
"Ok, then." He began, feeling the pressure sink in. "I'll summon my Alien infiltrator, and play two cards face down."
"Is that all? You play a monster with 800 attack and all you back it up with is two face-downs? You're pathetic!"
"But my monster has an effect!" Richard roared, though he was still panicking "I can attack directly with it, so long as you have no cards opposite it on your field."
Damien looked at the field. His monster was on the right side of his field, but the alien creature was also on the right of the field. Richard's right. As he observed this, the creature leapt in to the air, lifting two small guns and lunging in to Damien's open flank.
As it reached Daedalus, it turned to face Damien and opened fire, flying through the air. After its bombardment, it returned to its position. Damien barely flinched as his life points dropped to 3100.
"That was good, Richard." Damien smiled "But it was too little, too late. My Daedalus will crush you and your monster."
"Well, if you think you can, then it's your turn." Richard laughed.
Damien ignored his opponent's joy. He would eliminate the infiltrator, and the resulting damage would win the match and bring out Dreadroute. He had won before he had begun. Placing his hand on his deck, he drew his next card.
"My draw!" yelled Rory, as he faced down the two warriors before him. On his left, he saw Dai Grepher, and on his left, the equally terrifying Neo the magic swordsman.
Both had 1700 attack points, and had attacked Rory directly the previous turn, leaving him with 600 life points. He had nothing to defend him, and still had to deal 3500 damage to win.
He smiled as he played the card he had drawn. "I summon my La Jinn, mystical genie of the lamp!"
The green jinn hovered beside Rory, and only moments after struck down Grepher, under Rory's command.
"Excellent strategy." The king of Games smiled "However, I use my call of the haunted!"
The warrior appeared alongside Yugi once more, but soon vanished along with Neo.
"I tribute my two monsters to summon my Dark magician!" he yelled
The familiar purple wizard appeared in front of Rory, who froze up. He couldn't believe that he was fighting one of the most terrifying cards in duel monsters.
Just before the energy ball hit him, he activated his trap, negate attack, and saved himself. He wouldn't last much longer.
Damien smiled at his card. It was no use to him, but he was winning anyway. In fact, he was about to win. About to summon Dreadroute. This was the culmination of his entire life's work. From spending a hundred pounds on his deck, to building his incredible hologram machine.
"Not much left to do." He grinned "So I won't waste your time. Daedalus Destroyer!"
As the enormous serpent pulled back its head, about to launch an enormous blast of power at Richard, time seemed to go slowly. Just slowly enough so that the beam didn't have time to strike. Seconds before it hit, Richard readied his hand over one of his face-down cards.
"I activate Waboku!"
The shield lifted, but Damien was not discouraged. "Fine, then I'll just take you out next turn. You have one more turn. Prepare your last prayers."
As Richard drew his card, he felt a surge of energy shoot through him. This was his chance. The power came from his friend. He had to win this to save Rory, he knew it.
"I tribute my infiltrator to summon sabre beetle."
"Not good enough." Damien smirked "You need 1000 more attack to win this battle!"
"Then I guess I'm bad at math, because I attack your Daedalus."
"You're attacking? You have some nerve, challenging my Daedalus! But if you have a death wish, I shall not refuse it to you."
The sabre beetle leapt towards Daedalus, its horn glowing. Just before it hit, Richard flipped up his second face-down card.
"I activate level conversion lab!" yelled Rory, rolling a dice. He rolled a three, and smiled "Now I can summon my Curse of Dragon! But that's not all, I use gift of the martyr, to tribute my jinn and give my dragon 3800 attack!"
The bone dragon lunged forwards, splitting Dark magician in half.
"What?" cried Yugi, as his life points dropped "You defeated my dark Magician?"
"Yes, and now I, Rory Lionheart am going to win this match!"
The king of games drew his card. "I activate my monster reborn, and bring back my faithful servant once more. Now return, Dark Magician!"
The purple spell caster once more hovered down from the sky, and Rory frowned. He was going to lose this time.
Richard's card flipped. "I activate collected power!" It allows me to choose one monster and equip every equip card to it. So I'll choose my sabre beetle."
Damien's serpent's attack dropped, whilst the beetle gained 500 attack, and as the two monsters collided, a great cloud of dust rose around the two creatures, blocking them from sight.
Richard's life points dropped, and Damien smiled. "Ha! My monster won, and your life points dropped."
"Are you so sure about that?" Richard smiled, as the dust cleared, and there were no monsters left. "You see, your Daedalus lost 500 attack points, and my beetle gained 500. That gave them both 2900, so they were destroyed."
"Then why did you lose life points?" Damien puzzled
Richard laughed "You already said, remember? When black pendant is destroyed, I lose 500 life points. That's why I have 1700."
Damien flinched, annoyed because his opponent remembered more about his own card. "I knew that. I was just testing you."
"Nice cover-up. I'll set a face-down card and end my turn."
"Excellent. I return my old friend treeborn frog from the graveyard. You see-"
"You can return treeborn frog in your standby phase if you have no spell or traps on your field?" Richard interrupted, proud of his vast knowledge
Damien scowled. He was angry now. Richard was starting to get on his nerves.
Yugi was starting to get on Rory's nerves. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get rid of Dark magician. He had tried attacking it and he had tried destroying it with a spell. That only left using traps.
"I place one card face-down and end my turn."
"Then prepare to lose. I attack with my Dark magician directly."
"Stop there!" Rory yelled, finally victorious "I activate spellbinding circle on your dark magician!"
"No!" Yugi yelled. At first Rory thought he was scared, but then he realised that it was an objection "I activate dark magic attack! It destroys every spell and trap on the field."
Rory frowned, as the magician continued and wiped out the rest of his life points. He had lost. The king of games approached him.
"You are an excellent duellist, though your deck needs more focus. You must have the heart of the cards when you duel, so take this card. Hopefully it will remind you of the importance of faith in your cards."
Rory looked down at the card that had been placed in his hands. It was a 'Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the end'. His eyes widened in disbelief.
"You can't give me a card this powerful!" he yelled.
"Yes, I can. A friend of mine gave it to me, and now I am giving it to you. You show potential, and could be a great duellist one day. I want this card to be part of it."
Wolf stared from his bed at the boy in front of him. Though he was in a coma, his blank face turned in to a smile. His memories of how he got his greatest card were some of his best. Little did he know that it was the beginning of his mind slipping away. He was dying.
The duel in the safe raged on. Damien and Richard were not far from the end now, and they would both be terrified if they weren't completely controlled by their adrenaline.
"Anyway, I tribute my Treeborn frog to summon Amphibian beast. It has 2400 points, which is enough to destroy you this turn. It's been a blast, but this is over!"
The enormous green, spine-covered creature lumbered forth, leaping in to the air, over the dark gap between Richard and Damien. Just as it was about to reach Richard, he flipped up a card, and Sabre beetle flew up from the void below, crashing in to the amphibian beast. Both monsters were destroyed.
Damien was about to ask how Richard had achieved it, but did not want to look stupid.
"I used my call of the haunted and brought back Sabre beetle. Since they have the same attack, they were both destroyed." Richard grinned "You were about to ask, so I told you anyway."
Damien glared at his opponent, furious at the insults that he was generating constantly. "You should respect me. Next turn, I'll be your murderer. But for now, it's your move."
"Good." Richard stated "I'll summon Battle ox, and equip it with invigoration. That gives it 2100 attack points!"
As Richard talked, a large brown ox standing on its hind legs appeared, and its skin glowed eerily. It jumped forwards, landing on the pillar in front of Damien, and smashing him with its large axe.
This time, Damien spiralled in to the air, his life points dropping rapidly to 1000. He landed on his feet, and walked immediately back to his pillar.
"I'm sorry, Richard. You haven't won. But you've done better than anyone I've ever duelled. I didn't think that I would have to, but I have the perfect card to win this match. I use monster reborn."
"That won't get you far." Richard smirked, interrupting Damien's gloating. "You can't special summon Daedalus, so you have to bring back Amphibian beast, and I could easily take that out again." Richard was bluffing, but he was still convincing.
Unaffected, Damien let out a burst of laughter. "Check the rules, my pitiful friend. A card that cannot be special summoned can be special summoned, but only if the conditions for summoning have already been met during the duel. Since I tributed Daedalus earlier, I can return the ultimate monster, Ocean Dragon Lord – Neo Daedalus, to my field!"
A burst of light shone up from the pit, forcing Richard to turn away, and when he looked back, the evil, twin-headed serpent was in front of him.
"I have two words for you, Richard." Mocked Damien "Daedalus. Destroyer."
The beam shot forth again, met with the second, and wiped out Richard's ox. Unfortunately, the beam continued again. It smashed in to him, knocking him to the floor, and sending his life points down to 900.
"You see, there's no way to win." Chuckled Damien "And I have a feeling that the top card of my deck is a certain 'Umi', so if you don't win this turn, I'll win next time. You have one turn."
"That's more than enough." Smiled Richard, who had just figured out a strategy to win him the duel.
"What?" Laughed Damien "You think that you can destroy Daedalus, defeat me, and save the world? I'd like to see that. Take it away."
Richard smiled. "Okay then. I sacrifice 800 of my life points to bring back one of my monsters with the effect of premature burial."
"No monster in your graveyard can even compete with my Daedalus!" Damien laughed evilly. "Don't prolong the inevitable. You're going to lose!"
"That's why I'm not going to attack Daedalus!" Richard smirked, as a small grey alien creature appeared alongside him. "I'm going to attack you!"
"Damien clapped a few times sarcastically. "Excellent plan. Except you are missing one key ingredient. That little weakling only has 800 attack. I have 1000 life points. You're 200 short. It was a nice try, but not good enough."
"Yeah, like I haven't heard that line before." Giggled Richard "Which is why I have this!"
Richard thrust a card in to the air, and a large rod appeared in the Alien's hands. "My Rod of the mind's eye makes all battle damage that the equipped monster deals to you 1000. So this is the end for you. Goodbye, Damien. It's been fun."
The Alien leapt in to the air, stopping high above Damien. It slammed the Rod in to its gun, pointed the gun directly at Damien, and Fired.
Damien stepped back in terror, as the rod shot through the air, impaling him through the stomach. As Blood seeped from the wound and the holograms faded, his life points hit zero.
Richard grinned. He walked towards Damien, as the room had returned to its original appearance. "Sorry, but good always prevails in the end, Damien. You couldn't win. Dreadroute was banished and he is not coming back."
Damien laughed, clutching his chest in pain. "On the contrary. I gathered the students required. All I needed was the duelling energy. Fortunately, you were here. In trying to stop me, you have provided ample energy to bring back the demon Dreadroute. You have doomed the universe."
With this, Damien removed his hand from his waist, allowing blood to fall from it. He lunged towards the controls for the portal, and slammed his hand down on a large button.
The portal surged with energy, and Richard was forced back by the incredible pressure emerging from it.
Beneath the school, hundreds of students, along with Professor Satyr, were chained to the walls. They glowed as their energy was sucked from them, and channelled in to the enormous piston which they were circling. It began to pump, and the power flowed straight in to the gateway, which now began to steam and hum.
Outside, Jaden and his friends looked up, as the whole academy shuddered under a tremendous force. The roof slid open, and a great cannon-like machine protruded from it.
Back in Damien's safe, Richard collapsed to the floor, as the portal blasted a giant blast of wind at him. "What have you done?" he yelled to Damien, who sat at the opposite side of the room, laughing evilly.
Damien just smiled, and disappeared before Richard's eyes. Pieces of the roof fell, shattering on the hard floor. Richard clambered to his feet, and started to run towards the safe door, but another blast of wind slammed the door shut.
The dust filling the room began to slip in to Richard's lungs, and he started choking. He fell to the ground, his vision blocked by the dust and darkness in the room. Suddenly, a light opened on the other side of the room, and Richard crawled towards it.
He reached it, and looked out in to the sun. It was a hole that had been opened by a falling rock, and he climbed down the rubble. Once outside, he continued to choke, until all of the dust had left his lungs.
He looked up in to the sky above the academy, and stared at what he saw. The large cannon was now fully extended, and a strange purple energy had gathered at its tip.
Jaden, Chumley and Syrus ran over, but before they had time to talk, they were deafened by the sudden collapse of the Obelisk blue boys' dorm.
"What happened?" Asked Jaden
"I duelled Damien. I won, but he summoned Dreadroute." Richard replied "But the building is destroyed. The portal was inside. We've won."
As soon as Richard had finished talking, the purple energy at the top of the cannon turned in to an orb, and launched in to the sky. The energy slowly dispersed, and all four of the Slifers gasped at what they saw.
Standing in mid-air was Damien, his eyes glowing bright red. He hovered down towards the roof, and let out a thunderous cry that echoed throughout the island. "My name is Dark Dreadroute. I am the new master of this world, and I shall duel three warriors here. When I duel them, I shall find my perfect form, and then I shall devour this planet. You have 36 hours until the end. Say your goodbyes, for this is the last day for mankind!"
Jaden turned to Richard. "Rich, you've got to fight him. You're the best duellist out of all of us four, so you need to do this for us."
"No, my deck isn't good enough. I barely beat Damien, and now I have to fight Dreadroute? I won't stand a chance."
"Then my cards are at your disposal!" yelled Syrus, holding out his deck
"Mine too!" Chumley agreed, also holding out his deck.
"Yeah, let's get our games on!" Jaden grinned, holding his cards out.
"Then let's do this." Richard smiled, looking at his friends "Let's save the world!"