Author's note:
This is my English translation of the story I had written in Hungarian, my mother tongue. Special thanks to Hero Beater and Fluffy Pillow for helping me every step of the way.
CARDS ON THE TABLE
"I'll go first," declared Yugi Muto, drawing a card and placing two cards face-down without a word. "I summon Witty Phantom in attack mode," he continued, placing a third card on the field.
"It's good to finally see an intelligent face on your side," said Kaiba with a sly smirk.
"Your move," growled Muto, folding his arms over his chest.
"Then watch this!" said Kaiba, his tone challenging as he slipped a card onto his playing field. Just like the real Yugi, he, too, missed the spectacular displays provided by the duel disk, but retained the style he had grown used to during holographic duels; it may have been somewhat theatrical and a perhaps overly dramatic, but it suited the game and lent dignity to the monsters that he cherished and respected. "I summon Masked Dragon in attack mode! And I will equip it with the magic card Mask of Brutality!"
He placed the card below the monster, and Masked Dragon now towered above the Witty Phantom, 2400 attack points to 1400.
"Masked Dragon, attack Witty Phantom!"
Kaiba imagined their clash unfold, his eyes sparking feverishly. Muto lost 1000 life points; he bared his teeth, glared at his opponent and then withdrew his card. As he did, Ryou scribbled onto a notepad – he was keeping track of the scores with obvious pleasure.
"This was just a taste of what is yet to come," Kaiba said with a sneer. "Now I place one card face-down and end my turn."
"You think I'm scared of you, you loser?" hissed Muto, drawing a card. "If you thought your Masked Dragon was here to stay, you're a fool!" he spat with disdain, flipping one of his face-down cards: a magic card. "Change of Heart! Give me your monster."
Kaiba's eyes flashed sharply, but he guided Masked Dragon onto his opponent's playing field without a word. Muto then held up a card from his hand: Pot of Greed. He drew two cards and showed one of them – it was a Watapon.
"I'll throw in this one, too," said Muto, placing it next to Masked Dragon in attack mode. "And now I'll get rid of them," he continued, tossing both in the Graveyard. Kaiba did not hide his resentment at how little his opponent respected his cards, and placed the Mask of Brutality into his graveyard with an air of dignity. Muto just smirked triumphantly, slamming a new card on the table.
"What do you say to a Blue-Eyes White Dragon?"
The others stared at them wide eyed behind the hedge, and Seto's heart jolted so fiercely he could scarcely breathe. He had dreamt of that card ever since he had seen the poster that he had to fish out a week later from the recycle bin after it was torn off and rolled into a ball. His heartbeat was furious, and as he held his little brothers closer, all he could think of was that this was not how he wanted to see it. Not in the hands of someone like that.
Kaiba bared his teeth. Only now did he remember that Yugi Muto's grandfather used to have a Blue-Eyes White Dragon that he tore up himself in his own word so it would never fall into unworthy hands again… but it was still whole in this world, and Muto shamefully turned it against him. Well, he was going to pay. Kaiba's face changed. There was a fanatic glow in his eyes.
"If this is what you want, so be it: let's raise the stakes! If I win, I will get your Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
"And just what would I get if I won?" Muto asked in a condescending tone.
"Then you would get two more!" retorted Kaiba. Muto stared at him dumbfounded and the "real" Yugi and his friends turned pale behind the hedge; now that Kaiba had put his own beloved dragons on the line, they could not decide if the bet was an act of bravery or sheer madness on his part. Yugi Muto stared at him thunderstruck.
"You're bluffing! How could a no-count loser like you even have one Blue-Eyes card?!"
"One? Try three," said Kaiba, his voice alarmingly calm. Muto glared him in the eye, Kaiba didn't even blink.
"Alright, you mongrel," said Muto darkly. "I'm going to win in a minute anyway, because the Blue-Eyes White Dragon will attack you right now!"
"I will weaken him with this: go, Shrink!" said Kaiba, revealing his face-down card. His playing field lay empty and he had lost 1500 life points. Ryou and Muto grinned scornfully.
"Only one more turn left, I see…" laughed Muto.
"You wish," said Kaiba, tenacious as ever, and drew. "I activate my magic card: Graceful Charity! This allows me to draw three cards, and then discard two."
He drew and there was a glint in his eyes, conspicuously satisfied with his cards.
"I will discard these," he said, his hand almost gentle as he laid two dragons onto the Graveyard. Muto eyed him suspiciously, his mind whirling.
"And that's not all. I summon a monster face-down in defense mode. Attack if you dare."
Muto drew a card, his eyes flashing menacingly. He flashed a smug smirk as he placed a card face-down and then threw a monster on the table.
"Here you go: Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress. Say goodbye to your monster."
"Gladly," said Kaiba. "I reveal Cyber Jar!"
"I hope you choke…" snarled Muto.
"I would rather destroy the Blue-Eyes White Dragon than see him in the hands of an unworthy duelist!" Kaiba said fiercely, and Muto withdrew both his monsters while Kaiba removed his Cyber Jar. "Now we draw five cards each, and summon as many monsters with a level of four or below as possible."
Muto was lucky: he could summon Kuriboh, Mystical Elf and Beta, the Magnet Warrior to the field, while Kaiba received Y-Dragon Head and the Ancient Lamp, which he placed in face-down defense position. The rest of the cards were then added to their hand.
"Since you've been so helpful, I'll give you this," said Muto, showing one of his cards. He placed Swords of Revealing Light on the table, and Kaiba flipped his Lamp. "Thank you for the three monsters. I'm sure they'll have a ball now that you're out of commission."
"We'll see," replied Kaiba, still calm, and it was his turn to draw.
"First, I place two cards face-down, and then I activate my Ancient Lamp's special ability to summon La Jinn, the Mystical Genie of the Lamp!" he said, and once he had found the card, he placed it on the table.
"I see what you're planning, but it won't work!" Muto interrupted him.
"What are you talking about?" asked Kaiba, his eyes narrowed.
"I'm talking about you being an idiot and letting me know what cards have: you walked right into my trap! Mind Crush!" Muto declared with sordid pleasure, flipping one of his face-down cards.
"What?!" cried Kaiba.
"It's all thanks to you: if you had just kept quiet, I would have never guessed that somebody as worthless as you could have three Blue-Eyes White Dragons… and I'm willing to bet that you have one in your hand right now! Thanks to my card, all I have to do is guess what card you're holding, and then every such card will go to the Graveyard!"
"Oh no…" groaned Kaiba.
"Oh yes. Put them there, go on," purred Muto, watching with satisfaction as his opponent placed his card in the Graveyard and then searched for the other two, laying them down on top of it. Kaiba could almost hear his dragons' dying roars when he parted with them. Seto wrung his hands.
"I place all of my monsters in defense mode and end my turn," Kaiba said in quiet anger.
"That's what I thought," said Muto, drawing a card. His face lit up with a greedy grin. "This is not your day, is it, Seto," he said contentedly. "I'll get rid of Kuriboh and Mystical Elf –here's Buster Blader instead."
He placed the card on the table, giving Kaiba a sinister look. Buster Blader had 2600 attack points… for now. "Tell me, how many dragons do you have in your Graveyard?"
"Six, if my calculations are correct," Ryou answered him with a saccharine smirk. "That would be, what? Three thousand extra points?"
Kaiba's eyes sparked furiously. Muto laughed at him.
"So much for your pathetic monsters. So what if they are in defense mode! Beta will take your Ancient Lamp, and Buster Blader gets your Y-Dragon Head!"
Kaiba withdrew his monsters.
"It's your turn, so enjoy it while you can because it won't last long," said Muto smugly. Kaiba withstood his gaze and drew a card.
"If you think you have me cornered, you're in for a surprise," he said to his opponent. "I remove Koumori Dragon and Different Dimension Dragon from the Graveyard, to summon this: my Chaos Emperor Dragon!" he said, laying down the precious card. "And now I will give up one thousand life points to active his special ability and send every card to the Graveyard, and you lose three-hundred life points for each card you had!"
The playing field lay barren and Muto realized to his horror that he had lost six cards – two from his hand and four from his side of the field. He was stripped of 1800 life points, falling from 3000 to 1200, while Kaiba had only dropped to 1500 life points from 2500.
"That will teach you to leech off my dragons!" said Kaiba, his eyes like thunder as he folded his arms over his chest.
"You'll pay for that," was Muto's angry promise as he drew a card, slapping it down in face-down defense position. He then watched with contempt as Kaiba drew, and he, too, laid his card face-down.
"I'll throw you a bone," Muto grumbled, revealing his monster: a Morphing Jar. He then threw away the card he drew and both of them picked up five cards. Muto laughed. "And now you're as good as dead! Here comes Monster Reborn – guess what I'm bringing back."
Buster Blader returned. He took his place next to the Morphing Jar, growing fat on Kaiba's dead dragons until he had 5100 attack points.
"So much for your pathetic strategy!" said Muto in a daze of glory. "You have lost the duel because I'm going to attack you right now!"
"Wrong!" retorted Kaiba, revealing his one and only card. "I activate my trap card: Negate Attack!"
Muto snarled, but his battle phase was over, and Kaiba escaped his grasp. The others, who had hardly dared to breathe as all this unfolded, now sighed in relief.
"You've only prolonged your doom, because it's about to get worse!" said Muto menacingly, throwing a new card on the table. "I will use Cost Down to downgrade every monster in my hand by two levels. And now I can sacrifice the Morphing Jar, so I can play this."
He placed his card on the field: it was the Dark Magician.
"And now I'll use Polymerization to fuse Buster Blader and Dark Magician together. Behold the Dark Paladin!"
The gang grew pale; they could not have found a better monster against a deck full of dragons. The Dark Paladin's strength increased to 5400 attack points – it was nigh invincible.
"He'll blow you away in my next turn whether you like it or not."
"Don't be so sure," hissed Kaiba, concentrating with all his strength on drawing a good card… and he succeeded.
"I'm not afraid of your Paladin," he said. "He may be a strong monster, but only because he's a parasite, and I know a monster that is far superior to him in every way!"
"Then what are you waiting for, you loudmouth mutt? Show me!"
"Gladly! I activate my magic card, Dragon's Mirror! This allows me to remove from the game as many dragons from my Graveyard as I need to summon a fusion dragon, and I choose my three Blue-Eyes White Dragons!"
Yugi Muto grew pale. Everyone behind the hedge squirmed with excitement, Seto staring in awe as Yugi turned to him, patting on the shoulder.
"You're getting a real treat!" he said to him kindly, genuinely happy that Kaiba could finally show the true strength of his deck. The other Yugi watched with fear as Kaiba removed his own three dragons from play.
"Show yourself, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" cried Kaiba, his eyes glowing as he put the card on display,. "I only have two dragons left in my Graveyard and one on the field – and your Paladin's grown weaker…"
Ryou sneered, taking notes. The Dark Paladin was reduced to 4400 points; the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon towered above him with 4500 attack points.
"I cannot attack you immediately, but that doesn't matter. Nothing can stop my dragon," said Kaiba. "And now I place two cards face down and summon a monster face-down in defense mode. Good luck."
"You'll regret that!" snarled Yugi Muto, drawing a card. "First I summon Giant Soldier of Stone in attack mode! And now, I play Heavy Storm!"
Kaiba gritted his teeth, but he placed his destroyed face-down cards in the Graveyard without a sound. Two trap cards had now gone to waste.
"And now comes Axe of Despair, and I'm giving it to the Dark Paladin."
The Dark Paladin received 1000 extra points; it was now stronger than the dragon. Kaiba's eyes glowed with helpless anger.
"Say goodbye to both monsters. Giant Soldier of Stone will attack your face-down monster, and my Paladin gets your stupid dragon!"
Kaiba had lost 900 points and all his creatures; he had a mere 600 life points left.
"You are pathetic," said Yugi Muto, laughing at him, Kaiba's face had gone rigid with anger. Wheeler and Taylor cackled scornfully behind his back. "You had three Blue-Eyes White Dragons and you couldn't even summon them, and then you brought out this, only for me to crush it with a single blow! You are a loser, you always have been, and as soon as I win this duel, I will crush you like the maggot you are!"
Wheeler cracked his knuckles with eager anticipation.
"Don't cha worry, puppy dog: I'll go easy on ya, after a while," he promised gleefully, while Kaiba just sat in silence, his head lowered, so very close to losing everything he had fought so hard for.