CHAPTER TWENTY: A Cyber Duel, Part 1
Well, I was hoping for it to be a bit longer than four and a half thousand words, but I felt like updating today. Exams are finally over, and there are eight days before leave for my vacation. I'm sure that you'll will get two, maybe even three chapters (if you'll are good and review) before the second of May. Happy reading.
After I get back on the 27th, there are fifteen days till it's back to school. You'll definitely get a least four chapters then. I want to wrap the story up before my birthday in July, or maximum by August. There are quite a few other fics I want to start, but maybe I'll just flow onto the sequel for this one. As of now, it's a four part set of stories.
This one will start going faster from now on. I can't spend the next 20 chapters with random duels. Anyway, have fun reading.
Metal Overlord 2.0: Yup, Darren is nasty and so is his dueling. That's why he's my favorite OC.
Princess Yuriana: Thanks a lot.
Yugi, Seto, Joey, Tristan and Serenity sat by Tea's bed. It had been three days since the incident with Kevin and Grimo, and Tea had made a drastic recovery. They had moved her back to the hotel in two days, and everyone else had tried to take her mind of her duel with Grimo.
They were currently in Tea's room, and were talking about the Kaiba Corp. Grand Championship. "That Zigfried von Schroder was one nasty piece of work," commented Joey. "That's because you couldn't beat him," smirked Kaiba.
Joey was about to fire an insult back, when there was a ring of the intercom from the reception. Seto picked it up. "Hello," he said curtly. "Yes? Are you sure? Gardner, you say?"
Everyone looked at him curiously. "What is his purpose of visit? His SISTER?" Kaiba covered the receiver with his hand, and whispered something in Tea's ear. She gasped and said, "You're kidding right?" Seto shook his head. She sighed. "Never thought this would happen. Fine then. Let him come up."
Kaiba repeated the words into the receiver and closed it. The other four exploded with questions at the same time. "What happened?" "Why did you only tell Tea what happened?" "Don't think you can hide everything from us, money-bags?"
Seto silenced them with a glare. "Because it was only for Tea's ears. You'll see what I'm talking about in due time."
After about two minutes, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," hollered Joey. An annoyed voice sounded, "You have to open the door." Joey shook his head and did so. No one could believe the appearance of the person standing there.
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Marik and Dartz stood confidently on 34th Street in Fifth Avenue. It was about one o'clock in the morning. About a hundred feet from them was the tallest building in New York. The Empire State Building. Their followers had made sure that their wouldn't be a large number of people in the area on that day, making the job easier for them. "Really think this will work?" questioned Dartz.
Marik smirked in response. After his duel with Yakou, he had immediately returned to New York to execute the next phase of his plan. "Trust me."
With a confident grin, he walked the distance to the entrance door to the Empire State Building. Their men had made sure not to clear the building. After all, Marik needed his fun… A security guard was sitting with his feet on a desk, a cigarette hanging loosely from his mouth. He noticed Marik's purple cloak and droned, "Eh? Whazzat' fancy dress thingy?"
There was a flash of golden light from the Millennium Rod, and the poor man was banished to the Shadow Realm forever, never to return. Marik slashed the Rod through the air, and it generated two scythe-like waves of light which crossed into an 'X' formation and sliced into the door. It crashed to the floor. Dartz snorted disdainfully. "I could do much better. You are far too messy."
"Have a go then."
"With pleasure."
Marik mockingly bowed and motioned for Dartz to enter, who did so haughtily. The atrium was empty, and they reached an elevator. "Let me show you how it's done." Dartz raised a hand, a bolt of green energy crashed into the elevator door, obliterating it. Not a particle was left.
Instead of stepping into the lift shaft, Dartz blew it up as well. His Orichalcos stone glowed, and a glowing, green translucent platform of light appeared beneath him and began to levitate him through the shaft. Marik yawned and did the same with his Rod.
By the time they reached the eighty-ninth floor, Marik made a beeping noise, in an imitation of what the elevator really did. With a single slash of his Rod, he burst open the door of the elevator, leading them to the terrace of the Empire State Building, over a thousand feet off the ground.
Dartz raised his Orichalcos stone. Marik raised his Rod. Green and golden light burst out of the two objects respectively. It leapt through the night sky, illuminating it to an extent that everyone who saw it had to cover his or her eyes. It was then that every single one of Marik's Rare Hunters and Dartz's Orichalcos duelists revealed themselves. From every corner of New York, from the playgrounds of the rich at the Waldorf-Astoria, to the places where the lowest of the low gathered from Tenth Avenue onwards. All revealed themselves to their masters' call.
"Rare Hunters," thundered Marik. "And Orichalcos Duelists. It is time to meet your destiny. The time has come to strike our enemy and bring them down once and for all! Serve me well, and you will be honored. Betray me: AND MY WRATH WILL BE UNFORGIVING!" His raw power spread his voice to all his followers.
Dartz joined it. "Each one of you has been equipped with the sacred power of the Orichalcos! YOU'LL CANNOT, WILL NOT, LOSE" Marik's voice changed to a vicious one. "Bring me the Puzzle of the Pharaoh, as well as his Egyptian God card! Do it: or PAY THE PRICE!"
There was a roar of agreement. "YOU'LL CANNOT LOSE! YOU'LL SERVE ME, AND THAT IS REASON ENOUGH FOR YOU'LL TO SUCCEED!" Marik took a breath and screamed, "DEATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The single word resounded all over the world's largest city as his followers cheered along with him. The very essence of evil radiated from this group of dark duelists, and unless a certain Pharaoh did something about it soon, their fanaticism would be the end of the world.
Marik smirked as he put his hand down. "Now that that's taken care off….. Time to move in." Dartz chuckled and said, "Take the higher half of the building. I want the first fifty floors. After all, if any idiots arrive, I'll be able to crush them." His companion shrugged. "Suit yourself. I'll be redecorating my new headquarters." With that he walked back into the building.
And the legendary Empire State Building now became the omen of Death, tainted by the evil of King Dartz of Atlantis, and Marik Ishtar, the Dark Spirit of Egypt.
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The boy standing in the doorway was about fifteen. He had short, messy chestnut hair, with bluish-green eyes. He was about five foot eight, and dressed in casual jeans a T-shirt. "Hey," he said mildly. "I'm Kyle Gardner."
Everyone was astounded. Not one of them could say a word. Finally, Joey said shakily, "You have got to be kidding me." "About what?" said Kyle dismissively. "In case any of you people want to know, I'm here to see my sister Tea. Apparently she was involved in a weird incident downtown."
Everyone exploded, except for Tea and Kyle. "SISTER?!?!?!?!" They all turned on Tea. Joey roared, "How come you never told us you had a brother, Tea?!" "A damn' brother!" yelled Tristan. Tea ignored the yells and stared across the room at the young teenager. She finally commented, "Never thought I'd see you again, Kyle."
The noise died down as everyone looked from one brown-haired sibling to the other. "Is it just me," muttered Joey. "Or do these two have a bad history?" he yelped and clutched his head: apparently Kaiba had brought his fist down on it. "Shut up, mutt," he said through gritted teeth.
Tea got out of her bed, still not saying a word. Kyle took a tentative step forward, but didn't say anything. For a minute it was awkward glances, and the next the two siblings were in each other's arms after what was going to be explained as a very, very long time….
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Jaden stared out of the window of one of Kaiba's private jets. He watched the tufts of clouds fly by…. Hell, if it hadn't been for one lucky draw, he wouldn't be looking at them right now.
Alexis sat next to him. "Penny for your thoughts?" she offered. "I don't think you'll have enough pennies, Alexis." She chuckled at the joke, but it immediately died down. Zane, who was sitting in another row, didn't say a word. "Seriously, why are you so depressed?" asked the Obelisk Blue beauty.
"Isn't it obvious?" said Jaden emotionlessly. "Not really."
"Fine. I'll tell you." Jaden took a breath and began. "It's Darren." Alexis rolled her eyes. "We spoke about that. We spent the entire night speaking about it, for God's sake!" Jaden didn't answer, but looked away, as his girlfriend continued.
"Jaden, it wasn't your fault! That idiot Darren was just a psychotic freak, nothing else! It was him who busted in and nearly killed Syrus: not you!"
To her surprise, Zane spoke up. "Listen up kid. I'm not one for giving advice: especially for this kind of stuff. But let me tell you: you're accomplishing nothing but blaming yourself. Nothing. You can mope about all you like, thinking that you should have warned Syrus, even when you know that you couldn't. But I'm not going to. I'm going to spend my time hunting down Darren Hirugashi and seeking my revenge. Be the Jaden Yuki that I know. The Jaden Yuki who aspired to be the Second King of Games."
Jaden stood up. Alexis put a hand on his shoulder. Zane got up, and before Alexis could stop him, his fist had crashed into Jaden's jaw, knocking him clean off his feet. Alexis yelped and bent down to see if he was hurt. But to her shock, he got to his feet. She had been expecting him to yell at Zane. To punch him back. Certainly not to rub his jaw and say cheerfully. "Thanks a lot. I needed that."
Zane snorted. "Looks like being the Jaden I know is being an idiot." "You're pushing your luck," smirked Jaden. "I'm glad I got you to get that stupidity out of your head. We've got some time in New York ahead of us. At least we'll be able to research Darren."
Jaden cracked his knuckles grimly. "And boy will he be in for a surprise when I find him."
Before anyone could answer, a morbid laugh sounded from the end of the cabin. Zane turned around to see the steward standing there. A red head, about five foot eight, dressed in the usual jacket and tie, but with a Duel Disk on his arm. "Yes?" snickered Jaden.
"Duel," said the steward blankly. He slipped a card into the field card zone of his Disk, and as Jaden yelled, "No!", the green pentacle with a circle around it expanded over the floor of the plane, enveloping the steward as well as Zane. The steward's voice changed. It changed to a voice that everyone recognized from the videos of the Battle City finals.
"I trust you know why I am here."
Zane's eyes widened as he recognized the voice. "You're Marik Ishtar: the one behind all that insanity at Battle City!"
"Very perceptive. You could say I'm the one behind your insanity too." Zane snarled, "What are you talking about?"
"It's quite simple. I've heard that you're quite a capable duelist. That's why I planted a small, ahem, 'bug' in your mind with my Millennium Rod, so that you'd duel Seto Kaiba. If you won, I'd find out what kind of threat you were, and I'd eliminate Kaiba at the same time. You lost: but you were still quite a capable duelist. So I'm going to get rid of you right here, right now. Not me, per say, but my mind slave here. You can just call him Kenshin. That is, after all, his real name."
Kenshin slid a duel disk out of his jacket and put it on. Zane mimicked his movements as they fired out the projectors. "Remember," leered Marik through Kenshin. "If you fail, you're soul will be lost." Alexis grasped Jaden's hand as the two players drew their first hand. There was no one who could help them. This man was supposed to be the only flight attendant on board. The pilot obviously wouldn't be able to do a thing: they had to pray that Zane would win.
(Zane: 8000, Kenshin: 8000)
"The first move is yours," smirked Kenshin.
Zane examined his hand and said, "You're in for a terrible time. I'll start things of by setting a facedown card. I'll end my turn." Kenshin raised his eyebrows. "That's all? Fine then. My move."
He drew and said, "I summon Pyramid Turtle (1200 + 500 1700/1400) in attack mode." A turtle with a pyramid on it's back as it's shell then appeared on the field. The pyramid had an odd red eye in the center of it, making the creature look just that much odder. "That's all for now."
Zane shook his head. "I know what you expect me to do. You expect me to ridicule a monster with twelve hundred attack points and taunt you for summoning a pathetically weak creature. But I know Pyramid Turtle's ability. However, I don't really care. The fact that you summoned it sealed your fate. I can now special summon Cyber Dragon (2100/1600) in attack mode!"
A metallic snake like dragon then appeared on the field, letting off a metallic roar. "Next I'll normal summon Mechanical Chaser (1850/800)!" A circular, metal hunter appeared. In two thin arms it held a two swords, and a spear extended from the bottom of its body.
"Cyber Dragon, obliterate his turtle with Strident Blaze!" The machine opened it's mouth and a massive blast of translucent energy reduced the turtle to a pile of cinders. Kenshin smirked.
"Fool. Now I activate it's special ability to summon a zombie with 2000 or less defense points from my deck to the field. I choose to summon the almighty Ryu Kokki (2400 + 500 2900/2000)!" A grey creature with some red and blue on it's chest, made up of skulls, rotting flesh, and other disgusting pieces then appeared. It was unnerving, least to say.
Zane shrugged. "I don't really care. I set one card facedown and end my turn."
(Kenshin: 7400. Zane: 8000)
Kenshin drew and smirked. "Go ahead and tear his dragon apart, Ryu Kokki." The feral beast snarled and leapt towards the Cyber Dragon. It's claws lanced through the air. When it was about to tear the dragon in half, Zane reacted in time.
"I'll counter by activating Limiter Removal from my hand, doubling the ATK of all machines on the field. That's not all. I'll chain my facedown Covering Fire, letting me sacrifice Mechanical Chaser to Cyber Dragon to boost the latter by the ATK of the former!" First, both machines doubled in size. Then, flames covered Mechanical Chaser as it was absorbed into the Cyber Dragon (7900/1600).
"Counter-attack with Strident Blaze!" The Cyber Dragon let out a stream of destructive energy, which burnt Ryu Kokki to a crisp. It screamed in pain as it was shattered into millions of tiny pixels.
Marik screamed in rage through Kenshin. "This can't be!" Zane smirked and shook his head. "You're pathetic. If this magic crap that you're telling me is true, then you placed second in Battle City. And on your first turn you're already five and a half thousand points behind me."
Kenshin gnashed his teeth. "End turn."
(Kenshin: 2400, Zane: 8000)
At this second, the Cyber Dragon exploded due to the other effect of Limiter Removal. Zane shook his head and drew. "I'll set a facedown monster and two facedown monsters. That's all for now."
Kenshin drew and said, "I activate Cost Down, discarding a card from my hand to reduce the stars of all monsters in my hand by two. Next I'll summon Vampire Lord (2000 + 500 2500/1500) in attack mode!" A blue skinned monster with light teal hair, a purple suit and a cape then appeared on the field. His forehead soon glowed green as the seal then appeared on it.
Zane shook his head. "So you're using a pathetic zombie deck. Might I tell you that this strategy is identical to every zombie user who plays the game? Your little Seal just makes them a bit stronger. This duel will be over within a few minutes." Kenshin ignored him. "Attack his monster!" The vampire began to form a black ball of energy in it's hands.
"Not so fast!" said Zane. "I'll activate one of my facedown cards: Call of the Haunted to revive my Cyber Dragon (2100/1600)!" The metallic dragon appeared. "Next I'll chain
Attack Reflector Unit, tributing Cyber Dragon to summon a new beast from my deck: meet Cyber Barrier Dragon (800/2800) in attack mode!"
The dragon-like machine began to change. Even the Vampire Lord stopped to watch. It grew longer, and lost it's dragon-like look. Spikes began to grow all over it's body, and it's eyes were now a piercing green. It was now almost twenty feet long, and looked like a metal snake.
"My Cyber Barrier Dragon can only be summoned by the effect of Attack Reflector Unit. If it's in attack mode, it can negate your first attack," said Zane nastily. The Cyber Barrier Dragon roared and absorbed the blast of energy. Kenshin frowned and ended his turn with a facedown.
Zane drew. "First I'll switch Cyber Barrier Dragon to defense mode." The massive draconic snake keeled forward and growled at Kenshin.
"Then I activate Monster Reborn on my Cyber Dragon (2100/1600)." It appeared and roared at its master's opponent, who shrugged. "It's nothing to my Vampire Lord." Zane smirked nastily and said, "Just shut up and watch, would you? Next I activate Polymerization to fuse my Cyber Dragon with the one in my hand to create my almighty Cyber Twin Dragon (2800/2100)!" A translucent image of another Cyber Dragon appeared. Then the two started swirling together till a new twin headed snake like metallic dragon appeared. It let out a roar from each head and swished it's massive metallic tail.
"This powerful card is very rare, as its special ability makes it one of the most used fusions for the Cyber Stein (700/500) One Turn Kill. You'll feel it's wrath now! Use Double Strident Blaze to wipe away his vampire!"
The twin headed metallic dragon released a stream of orange energy from each mouth. The two blasts combined together into one and were about to hit the vampire when the zombie duelist shook his head. "Forget about my face down Truesdale? I reveal the trap card Mirror Force! Now all your attack mode monsters are destroyed!"
A multicolored wall of glass appeared in front of the blast and stopped them instantly. The wall then sent the blast flying back across the field towards the Cyber Twin Dragon, destroying it. Zane was normally not one for displays of anger, but he snarled in rage. "That's what comes from not thinking clearly," said Kenshin snidely.
Jaden glanced at his watch. The flight to New York was about two and a half hours. They were due to land in an hour. If Zane was able to stall for long enough, they could get help…
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Kyle sat by his sister as everyone else inspected him curiously. "Who are you?" said Kaiba finally. "Man, you've got a hearing problem. I already told you, I'm Kyle. I'm Tea's brother."
"You don't want to be giving me smart mouth, kid," growled Kaiba. Kyle smirked at this and said, "I really think I do." He obviously enjoyed giving people a hard time. Seto stood up and was about to walk over to Kyle when Tea glared at him. He shrank back.
"I do think I have to reveal this story to you all," said Tea quietly. Everyone was silent. "Our mother left our father when we were both very young. He's a very judgmental man, and when I made friends with you guys, he refused to let me get personal with them. I really got tired of it all, and at eighteen I left. I still don't understand why Kyle is here though."
Everyone turned to the chestnut haired teenager. He shrugged. "I was getting tired of Dad's weird attitude as well. I heard Tea was in New York. I had been saving up over the years and I left. I'm not going back to Domino, no matter what happens."
Seto rolled his eyes. "Listen up kid. We're dealing with stuff here that you really can't imagine. If you want my advice, you'll leave now. If you don't want to return to Daddy dearest, that's fine. I have father issues too. I'll set you up with a room in Kaiba Corp. for now. With Mokuba gone, some insane teenager has to boss my employees around. Roland just doesn't cut it."
Kyle shook his head. "I'm staying."
Yugi was about to say something but Kyle cut him off. "Don't bother. I'm not listening to you people. I've been living without Tea for three years. I'm not leaving her now." No one had an answer to this. They were, after all, siblings. Suddenly, Joey spoke up. "Do you duel?"
Tea shot him a warning look but he ignored it. "Yeah, I do," replied Kyle. "Well, if you can duel me right now, and if we think that you're good enough, we'll let you stay." "Listen up, Wheeler," interrupted Kaiba. "If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, you're wrong. This kid is fifteen for God's sake, and I don't want to risk his-…"
Joey yelled back, "Shut your mouth for once Kaiba! You go around acting like everything you do is fine and no one else can do things properly here. Why I oughta'-…" Kaiba raised his fist and Joey took a step forward.
"STOP!" thundered a voice. Everyone turned to see a very angry Yami standing behind the two squabblers. "While you two fight like children, Marik continues to grow more powerful! It's time the two of you settled your differences. At least temporarily." The two glared at each other.
Joey raised a hand. "Truce. If you stop calling me a mutt and bugging me, I won't yell like that any more." Seto glared at everyone in the room and gingerly shook Joey's hand. "Fine. But if you act like a-…." "Kaiba," set Yami warningly. The CEO sat down next to Serenity, disgruntled.
"However," continued Yami. "If Kyle is a good duelist, he might be very useful to us. One of us could duel him to see his level. If he agrees, it's up to Tea." First he turned to Kyle, who rolled his eyes and said, "What do you think?" Yami then looked at Tea impassively.
"I really don't want to do this. If Kyle loses his soul to the Orichalcos, I won't be able to forgive myself. But still, I trust you guys with my life. At the same time, I don't have the right to trust you with someone else's…." she trailed off sadly. Finally she said, "It goes against my better judgment, but fine, I will let Kyle join us."
Yami grinned and said. "What are we waiting for?" Joey spoke up. "Na-ah. I'm dueling him." Everyone stared at him.
"If he duels Yugi or Kaiba," he threw the CEO a dirty look. "He's almost bound to lose. I'll admit it: I'm not as good as them, as good as I am. If he duels me, both of us might get a real challenge. And those two have gotten enough dueling. I haven't dueled since the North Pacific Regional Championships. I think I deserve a chance."
Kyle pulled a deck out of his belt. "I don't have a Duel Disk." Seto excused himself from the room and was back in a moment, with a Duel Disk. "Let's see what this kid can do." Joey slotted on his own Duel Disk. "Gym?" "Gym."
Exactly five minutes later, they were in the empty basketball court. It was the rich executives who stayed in the hotel at this time of the year, and apparently basketball was beneath them. Joey drew his first hand. "I'm not planning on goin' easy on you kid."
Kyle growled. "It's Kyle."
The two yelled at the same time, "Let's duel!"
(Joey: 8000, Kyle: 8000)
"I'll go first," smirked Kyle. "I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior (1600/1000) in attack mode." A mage with maroon robes then appeared on the field. He wielded a powerful sword and a shield as well. "When I normal summon this monster, his effect kicks in, allowing him to gain a spell counter. The counter gives him 300 extra attack points." The mage's sword glowed, signifying the small increase in power (1900/1000). "I'll set one card face down and end my turn."
Joey eyed his opponent closely. "I summon Marauding Captain (1200/400)." A blue clad warrior appeared with a long cape. He had messy blonde hair and wielded a long sword. "His effect allows me to summon another level four or lower warrior from my hand. I'll summon another Marauding Captain," chortled Joey.
Kyle groaned. "Not that sick lock." Another warrior appeared. The two crossed their swords, and a small shield of energy appeared around Joey's field. "Then I'll activate my second captain's ability to summon Gearfried the Iron Knight (1800/1600). It can't take out Breaker, but it's good for now." The familiar iron knight appeared. "End turn."
Kyle groaned and drew. "I summon the Gemini Elves (1900/900) in attack mode." A pair of dark elves dressed in blue, appeared on the field. "I guess I'll end my turn." He glanced at the four cards in his hand, just to be sure that there was nothing he could do.
Joey chuckled as he drew, bringing the cards in his hand to four. "I summon one of my more powerful warriors. Meet Goblin Attack Force (2300/0)!" A group of strange, green goblins armed with crude clubs appeared on the field. "Attack his Breaker now!" The goblins rushed forward wildly and piled over the magical swordsman. It tried to fight back, but was overwhelmed easily.
(Joey: 8000, Kyle: 7600)
"End turn," chuckled Joey. Kyle glared at him as the goblins shifted into defense mode. "Just you wait… I'm going to give you the toughest duel of your life. Playtime's over. Time to reveal to you the true strength of my spellcasters!"
Now that that's over, I have two questions to ask my readers.
Which is your favorite duel until this point? Better yet, make it your top two
favorite. That way, I'll be able to write similar duels to appease you'll, lol.
Secondly, do you'll prefer if I upload a chapter every two or three days of about three to four thousand words, or if I were to put up a seven to eight thousand word chapter ever five to six days, with the duel in two or three parts or in one part?
Send me answers to these two questions in reviews. It'll be really helpful. This is to all my readers out there. Please review with these answers. Thanks a lot.
On another note, I would like to mention the despicable shootings in Virginia. 33 innocent people were killed. May they rest in peace.