This only took FOREVER to come out... and it's barely started! Sorry about my long hiatus; I've been either grounded or purely off of for quite some time. Anyways, let's get to work!
Chapter Twenty-Seven
A Foursome Finale
The first round of the Battle City Finals was over. As could be expected, Yugi Muto had made it through. But that was the only obvious victory, and things had looked grim when he was facing his dueling apprentice. The second duel had been Joey Wheeler versus Marik Ishtar, and Joey had defeated Marik using his Copycat, virtually cloning the Winged Dragon of Ra. After that, it was the Dreemur sisters' turn, and Frisk just barely defeated Chara, saving herself with Chara's Relay Soul card, taken with Exchange. And the most shocking victory? Asriel, the brother of the adopted sisters, and arguably the weakest finalist, defeating Seto Kaiba with Kaiba's own Egyptian God Card. The irony!
As the K.C. blimp landed at the Kaiba Corporation's true area of operations, the four finalists were given the honor, by Mokuba, to walk down the steps first. Seto merely scowled. Not only was he at his father's KaibaCorp location, he wasn't even a FINALIST. And who WAS? A spine-head, a loser, a little girl, and a goat. It seemed wrong.
The four duelists were all then pointed to the tower, each one thinking a different thing about the tournament's ending. And with each duelist wielding a deck all their own, they were ready for anything, even each other.
First, there was Joey Wheeler with his luck-based deck. This deck contained mostly cards that relied on chance, as well as strong cards that were won from intense victories. His ace, at the time, was Gilford the Lightning. Joey felt that, with his deck at his side, he was going straight to the top.
Asriel Dreemur's deck seemed to be held together mostly by victories, yet, in a surprise twist, had become one of the more potent decks of the tournament. His star player had been Caius the Mega Monarch. However, Asriel seemed to be focused on victory at the moment, as opposed to the usual fun.
Frisk, being Asriel's brother, built a different deck entirely, hers focusing on the "HERO" archetype; the Elemental and Evil HEROes specifically. Her favorite card happened to be Elemental HERO Neos, even without all of his Neo-Spacian support. She was feeling somewhat conflicted. She had made the finals, but at what cost? A man's life? Her innocence? Her fondness for others? Truthfully, she felt bothered that she had even fallen for evil like that.
And then there was Yugi Muto, the King of Games himself, whose deck was put together with strategies to slow the enemy, then attack with an ultimate monster. He also had cards that used the opponent's own skill against them, such as Brain Control and Exchange. His most potent card was the mighty Dark Magician, and he wore his deck with pride. He was just glad the world had become much calmer for now.
Behind them were the four ex-finalists, who mostly didn't have much to say. Chara's eye was still bandaged over, but she seemed to have mostly recovered. The obvious rage on Seto Kaiba's face, though, said it all. The finals should have be over, but they weren't, in his mind. No, there was still a large portion of duel that he had to see.
And then there were the guests of the duelists, who, again, had almost nothing to say. They really hadn't played a huge part at all during the tournament, so, of course, they weren't concerned.
Unbeknownst to them, a helicopter containing the Monster King, Asgore, and his guard captain Undyne, was nearing the island itself. The duo had set off on the day of the finals, so they were prepared to watch and wait for the duels to resolve themself.
The semifinals were here.
It was time.
When the four finalists entered the tower, they saw a quadret of lifts, one on each wall. These lifts also had duel mats built in, complete with deck holders and LP counters.
"May I have your attention?" yelled Mokuba, entering the room. "The semifinal round of Battle City's gonna be held in two phases! This first phase will test your skill whilst being attacked from three sides at once. According to this round's rules (dictated by my brother, of course), you will each play with four thousand life points, and once two players hit zero, the first phase will end."
"I think you've also noticed," the younger Kaiba continued, "that you'll be dueling on lifts. That's just my big bro's trick; losing Life Points sends you higher up the tower, and the first two to the top will be in the first semifinal Battle City duel. The two who haven't run out of Life Points yet will duel each other second. Are we clear?"
Asriel, Frisk, Joey, and Yugi each nodded. One by one, they each stepped into their lifts.
"Listen up!" declared Seto. I designed this round to test one's composure dueling at high altitude. You may have dueled on a blimp before, but there, guard rails stood. If, at any point, you wish to hold onto your SANITY, you can forfeit your spot in the finals to a previously eliminated finalist, but you will be considered, then and forever, a giant chicken."
"You listen here, Kaiba," Joey announced. "I ain't no chicken, and I'm gonna prove it!"
"I never said you were," Kaiba added. "But then again, you might want to think twice about what you just said... You're facing the wielders of two Egyptian God Cards, and you don't even know how to use your own. I'd say you have as much of a chance of winning this tournament as you do getting my respect!"
"Let's just get this over with, Kaiba," Yugi said hurriedly. It was clear that he wanted Kaiba to shut up as much as everyone else, but he was less outspoken about it, being Yugi and all.
Speaking of Yugi, Frisk took note of the Millenium Puzzle around Yugi's neck. It seemed to radiate a mysterious aura that made her think that there was more to this boy than met the eye. The pendant seemed... powerful. As if it was a living spirit in itself.
But, as she was thinking about this, her thoughts were confirmed when the object began to shine. The boy seemed to grow, almost losing the "midget" vibe altogether. He now stood just as tall as the others, and had a more determined look on his face, as if he had merged with a more knowledgeable being.
If only she knew that was it!
"Let's begin," Yugi said as he climbed onto his lift.
"Wait a second," Asriel asked. "Did Yugi's voice just change in about 10 seconds?"
Joey shrugged. "You get used to it when you spend enough time with 'im. Yug' defies logic, it's pretty much a fact of life."
"Okay..." the prince responded, still confused, but deciding to go with it. "Who's on first?"
"You should start us off," Frisk said. "After all, you had the most leftover Life Points when your duel ended."
"Fine," Asriel agreed. The lifts took off, and the fuzzball drew his hand. "I guess this face-down monster will do, as well as this card in my backrow. Joey?"
Joey drew his card. "Huh. Guess this'll work! I'm bringin' out Alligator's Sword!" At his command, the reptile swept in, ready to strike. "That's my turn done."
"I guess I'm up next," Frisk said, drawing to begin her round. "Hey, this could do nicely! Here's my loyal knight in shining armor, Elemental HERO Sparkman!" The golden warrior flew into play. "I'm done for now. You're up, Yugi!"
Yugi nodded, drawing. "I summon Beta, the Magnet Warrior in Attack Mode!" The yellow rock monster appeared in Yugi's corner. It was the strongest monster in play at the time.
"Next," Yugi added, "I play this card face-down. I'm done."
Asriel scratched his head. "Well, I can see that you all have strong monsters," he began. He then drew. "But I have a surprise in store for THEM... I activate the Spell Card Raigeki! With this, all of your monsters will say goodbye!"
Yugi threw his hand to his face-down. "I'm activating a card to protect myself," he said. "I play Soul Rope!" The trap card arose, and a tether of light shot from Beta into Yugi's deck. "By paying 1000 of my Life Points, I can summon a new level four monster to replace a monster that's destroyed by a card effect." He searched through his deck, then chose a card. "So I now summon... the Mystical Elf, in defense mode!" As if on cue, a teal-colored elf appeared on Yugi's field, generating a sort of energy barrier.
"Still," Asriel declared, "this opens the other two up for attack. Therefore, I'm now ready to sacrifice my face-down card, Mushroom Man, to summon my Mr. Volcano in Attack Mode!"
Mr. Volcano appeared. He was a tall man, with flames in his hand. His attack total was shown as 2100.
"Mr. Volcano, time to attack!" Asriel announced. "Attack Joey directly!"
Joey flinched as the attack struck him. "That was nothing!" he announced. He then drew... and smiled.
"Nice! I play the Goblin Attack Force! And with 2300 attack points, it can take down anything! So, come on, goblins! Bring down Mr. Volcano!"
Asriel flipped over one of his cards. "I play the trap card Waboku! With this, I can negate any destruction and damage to my side of the field until the rest of the turn!"
Joey crossed his arms. "Thanks a lot! Now my goblins are so tired from that pointless attack that they've switched into Defense Mode!"
Indeed they had. The goblins were fast asleep- without shields!
Seto Kaiba, from the ground level, stared at the duelists. Angrily, he wished that he could be up there, dueling instead of one of those losers. The only reason the kid had beaten him was luck- and the fact that Mokuba had given him a Kuriboh, to a far lesser extent.
The duel was truly on.
So, what do you think of the duel thus far? Well, so far, all I can say is that Joey's losing. And before you get on me for this, I KNOW that the turn order was technically decided by banishing a monster from your deck, but I felt that my way just works better. Plus, it means I don't have to pick a monster for each duelist to not use at all!
Thanks for reading thus far! And now, a special announcement! DuelTale: Reloaded has officially begun! And, unlike this series, it'll begin from the Duelist Kingdom arc! I know it's different, but stay calm, it'll work.
review plz
