YU-GI-OH! Forever

A fan-fiction by neomage

(DISCLAIMER: Salutations to Takahashi-san for creating such a cool manga like Yu-Gi-Oh, which now has its own anime series, movies, and trading card game!)

CHAPTER 36

OUTSIDE KAIBACORP

As the duel between Seta and Raven continued outside the entrance to Kaibacorp's building, the stats stood like this: Raven was currently in the lead with an untouched 8000 life points, he had two cards in his hand, and on the field he had D.D. Scout Plane and D.D. Survivor in Attack Mode, plus one other card facedown. Seta had 7600 life points, five cards in his hand, and on the field he had one very cross Koumori Dragon in Attack Mode, also. And now, it was Seta's turn.

Seta drew his next card and considered what he should do. Since Raven had seen his hand due to his D.D. Designator magic card, he had to come up with a strategy that included a card Raven definitely hadn't seen – such as the one he'd just drawn. "Very well…now I offer my Koumori Dragon as a tribute to summon a new monster – Luminous Soldier (ATK 2100, DEF 1400)!"

In a moment a warrior appeared on the field, carrying a massive broadsword and wearing red, yellow and white armor that all shone like gold. But then Raven laughed. "Fool! I activate my trap card, Bottomless Trap Hole! When you summon a monster to the field, this card destroys it and removes it from play!"

A massive hole opened up underneath Luminous Soldier's feet, and it disappeared from sight. Seta sighed with ever-growing impatience. "This bites," he muttered. "Fine, I end my turn."

Raven now drew another card. "Oh, how very nice! Well, now I'll set another card facedown, and then I'll set a monster facedown too! And now, D.D. Scout Plane, attack directly!"

D.D. Scout Plane flew forward, ramming Seta and reducing his life points to 6800. "Now, D.D. Survivor, it's your turn!" Raven commanded. And this monster rushed forward and hit Seta in his solar plexus, reducing his life points further to 5000.

"There, see?" Raven said boastfully. "You haven't even touched my life points yet, and I've brought you down far lower than me! A few more attacks like this, and I'll win!"

Seta ran a hand through his hair. "Sheesh…even now you still don't get it, do you?" he questioned. "You may be in the lead where life points are concerned right now, but there is only so much time that I can tolerate your naivety for. And…I'm getting more and more hungry, and my breakfast is getting colder and colder, and because of that I'm getting more and more pissed off!"

With that he drew again. "Now, I activate my magic card, Graceful Charity! I will now draw three cards, and then discard two from my hand." And he did so, having six cards in his hand after he was done discarding. Then he held up a card in his hand.

"Now, I summon my Lord of Dragons (ATK 1200, DEF 1100) to the field!" And then a moment later the dragon master appeared. "This is the moment when I start getting you back for your impudence!" Seta vowed.

"Oh, I'm scared," Raven replied sarcastically.

Then Seta held up another card. "I activate the magic of the Flute of Summoning Dragon, and with this my Lord of Dragons will now help me Special Summon two dragons from my hand: Divine Dragon Ragnarok (ATK 1500, DEF 1000) and Blue-Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000, DEF 2500)!"

Suddenly the famous white dragon emerged beside the Lord of Dragons, howling in its wrath. On the other side of the spellcaster, a magnificent pink dragon with a sagely face emerged. "Then next, I'll put one card facedown," continued Seta, placing the card in the magic/trap slot. "And now, time for me to come back with full force! Blue-Eyes White Dragon, use your White Lightning Attack and destroy D.D. Survivor!"

The Blue-Eyes charged up its attack, and a moment later blasted D.D. Survivor into the Graveyard, reducing Raven's life points to 6800. "Now, Divine Dragon Ragnarok, it's your turn! Destroy D.D. Scout Plane!" ordered Seta. And the Ragnarok dragon charged up electricity in its mouth, blasting it at the Scout Plane, disintegrating it and lowering Raven further to 6100 life points.

"And now…Lord of Dragons, attack and destroy that facedown monster now!" Seta ordered. But as the Lord of Dragons formed energy claws on one of his gauntlets and rushed forward, slicing the facedown monster—to Seta's astonishment his life points dropped to 4200 as a massive backlash threw his monster back!

"The monster you just attempted to destroy was my Banisher of the Light (ATK 100, DEF 2000)," said Raven, a pleased grin on his face. "In addition to its DEF being stronger than your Lord of Dragon's ATK, you've just helped me by flipping him face-up! Now, as long as he remains face-up, all cards sent to the Graveyard are removed from play instead!"

Seta flinched, mentally cursing himself. I should have remembered about that card…

"So, do you end your turn now?" asked Raven, still smiling.

"Yes, I do." Seta shook his head disdainfully. "But really, Raven, I'm completely lost…how many times do I need to say it before it'll come home to you? The quarrel between the Kaiba and Pegasus families is between our fathers, not us! Dueling me over and over again isn't going to do you one whit of good now or ever!"

Raven now had a very miffed expression on his face. "Then tell me why, Seta—why does your father continue to blame Dad for something he didn't even do, something he wasn't responsible for? It's not fair, and we both know it!"

"And taking your frustrations out on me is going to solve the problem?" Seta grunted. "Anyway, it's not as if Pegasus is your real father…"

"That doesn't matter! After our parents died, Pegasus took me and my sister in! He's become a second father to us! And I won't ever allow anybody to call him things that he isn't!" Raven exploded, losing his temper. "Kaiba retired from dueling years ago…and I'm not competent enough in business management yet to be a rival to him like Dad is—so I'll continue to do the next best thing: to come after you again and again until you guys admit that you're the ones in the wrong!"

Seta sighed in resignation. "Looks to me as if talking isn't going to get me anywhere with you. So just make your move."

"Fine!" Raven drew his next card. Then suddenly the angry look disappeared from his face, and he was smiling again. "Oh, Seta…it's time for you to feel my full power now! For I activate the magic of Soul Release, which allows me to remove up to five cards from either of our Graveyards out of play—and since I have four cards in my Graveyard right now, I can activate its effect on myself!"

Suddenly the four cards in Raven's Graveyard—D.D. Designator, Bottomless Trap Hole, D.D. Scout Plane and D.D. Survivor—were thrust out of the game. Because of the Banisher of the Light's effect, the Soul Release card itself got removed from play instead of going to the Graveyard, as well. Then Raven held up the one card left in his hand.

"And now," he announced, "I'll activate the magic of another card, Chaos Greed! Since I have more than four cards out of play, and since there are no cards in my Graveyard, I can draw two cards from my deck!"

Raven drew another two cards, even as the Chaos Greed card got removed from play because of the Banisher of the Light. "Six cards out of play now," Raven mused. Then an idea struck him.

Seta noted the look on Raven face. What's he up to?

Suddenly Raven pointed to his facedown card. "I activate my magic card, Dark Core! This allows me to discard one card from my hand in order to remove one face-up monster on the field from play! And I choose your Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

Seta reared up in astonishment. "You wouldn't dare!" he shouted.

"Sorry, but I think I will!" Raven then discarded one of his two cards in his hand for Dark Core's effect. As Seta watched with a grim look on his face, a large black ball of energy poured out of the card and struck the Blue-Eyes White Dragon in the heart, disintegrating it even as it howled its agony.

"…you'll pay for that…" Seta vowed, seething.

Then, once again because of the Banisher of the Light, Dark Core and the card Raven discarded were removed from play, making the number of cards he had out of the game eight—and with its destruction, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was removed from play, too. Then Raven held up the very last card left in his hand. "Now…I summon the great and terrible Gren Maju Da Eiza (ATK , DEF ?)!"

Moments later a large red fiend with a pointed snout, long claws and a heavy tail appeared on Raven's side of the field. "I'm sure you remember this guy," said Raven proudly. "As you are well aware, his ATK and DEF become the number of my cards removed from play times 400 points. And, I have eight cards out of play right now, so—his ATK and DEF each become 3200!"

True to Raven's description, the monster's ATK and DEF swiftly shot to 3200 each! "And now, prepare to meet your maker!" Raven bellowed.

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YUGO'S HOUSE, AT THAT MOMENT

Meanwhile, back at Yugo's house, the duel between him and Honey raged on, with the stats as follows: Honey had 4600 life points, while Yugo was struggling with 4700. On the field Honey had her Toon World magic card and the Toon Defense trap card, plus the Toon Gemini Elf and the Toon Mermaid; Yugo had one facedown monster and the Skilled Dark Magician, and one other card facedown in the magic/trap slot. Both of them had three cards in hand.

Yugo took his turn and drew another card, giving him four in all. "It seems that you idolize Seta considerably highly," he remarked. "But everybody knows that Mr. Kaiba and Mr. Pegasus are the biggest business rivals in the Duel Monster business. What would people possibly think if they knew that the daughter of Maximillion Pegasus takes his rival's son as her role model?"

"And who the hell made you my judge?" Honey demanded incredulously. "You've got no right to talk, you big fat fake, you!"

"HEY!" Jenna snapped from the sidelines. "Would you stop calling Yugo that, already? He certainly didn't beat Seta because of luck, I'll have you know! We all saw Seta's skill, but even he isn't invincible!"

"No…I won't accept it…ever!" Honey shouted. "And right now, I'm about to show you just how much of a loser you really are, Yugo! Now play the game!"

Yugo nodded. "As you wish."

He flipped his facedown monster face-up in Attack Mode, revealing the Royal Magical Library (ATK 0, DEF 2000). As the rows of books surrounded him, he then flipped over his other facedown card. "I activate the trap card, Pitch-Black Power Stone! This card gets three Magic counters on activation; and once during each of my turns, I can move one of its Magic counters to any other card on my side of the field that can get a Magic counter. And I'm giving one to the Royal Magical Library!"

Immediately a ball of mystic flame emerged among the rows of books. Yugo then took out one of his cards from his hand and played it. "Next, I activate the magic of Monster Reborn, to revive the monster you forced me to discard with your Toon Gemini Elf's effect – Buster Blader (ATK 2600, DEF 2300)!" And as he played the card, the dragon-hunting knight emerged from the Graveyard – and both Skilled Dark Magician and the Royal Magical Library each got a Magic counter.

Honey's eyes widened in alarm. "Oh, no!"

"Oh, yes! And there's more where that came from, too!" Yugo selected another card from his hand and played it. "Next, I'll activate the magic card, Brain Control! At a cost of 800 life points, this card allows me to take control of one face-up monster on your side of the field until the end of this turn – and I choose your Toon Gemini Elf!"

As Honey looked on in mute horror, an image of a massive red brain momentarily flashed over the Toon Gemini Elf. The twin elves faltered, then slowly walked over to Yugo's side of the field as though entranced. "No! Not my elves!" Honey screamed.

Yugo smirked, even as his life points were drained to 3900. "Believe me, it's about to get much, much worse! For now I'm going to tribute the Toon Gemini Elf to summon a monster of my own – the Magical Marionette (ATK 2000, DEF 1000)!"

As the screaming Toon Gemini Elf twins disappeared in a shower of sparks, in their place hovered the red-robed puppeteer, with his knife-wielding doll ready to attack. Yugo only had one card left in his hand – but evidently he wasn't going to play it just yet. "Now, take a good look at my monsters," he instructed her. "What do you see?"

Honey looked – and turned pale. The Skilled Dark Magician was now sporting two Magic counters thanks to Yugo's activation of Brain Control – and the Royal Magical Library was sporting three! "This is crazy!" she cried.

"My Royal Magical Library's effect, though sometimes overlooked, is nevertheless very effective when needed," explained Yugo. "Each time one of us activates a Magic card, one Magic counter is put on the Library. It can hold a maximum of three counters; and in exchange for me sacrificing those three counters, I can draw one card from my deck—which I will do now! Royal Magical Library, grant me wisdom!"

The Library's three counters swirled around the field, then came to land on Yugo's deck—and a card popped out from the top of the deck. Grinning, Yugo took this card into his hand so he now had two. "Oh, this is incredible!" he remarked. "Now I'm going to activate the magic card, Heavy Storm! This will destroy all Magic and Trap cards on the field—including your Toon World and Toon Defense! And if what you said before is true, then I doubt your Toon Mermaid will survive long without Toon World in play!"

Suddenly, as Yugo activated the card, a massive wind blew with hurricane force. Honey instinctively put her arms up to shield herself as the wind blew…and then after a moment it subsided. She got enough courage to look—and stared in dismay. Her Toon World and Toon Defense, along with Yugo's Pitch-Black Power Stone, were completely gone; plus, the Royal Magical Library, Skilled Dark Magician and Magical Marionette had each gotten a Magic counter, with the Marionette's counter increasing its ATK to 2200! Then, as she looked on in shock, her Toon Mermaid, without the power of Toon World to maintain her, exploded into a shower of light and was destroyed!

"Well, here we are, Honey," said Yugo. "You almost had me for a while, but…now do you still think I'm a fake?"

Honey just stood there, unable to reply.

"All right! Skilled Dark Magician, Buster Blader and Magical Marionette, finish it now!" Yugo ordered. And then, one by one, the three monsters rushed forward and hit Honey with their strongest attacks, until at last her life points were all the way down to 0.

Slowly Honey sank to her knees as the monsters disappeared. "No…I can't believe it…" she whispered. "What…what will I tell Raven…?"

Yugo looked at her, puzzled. "Raven?"

Honey's upper body sank forward; she caught herself by pushing her hands to the sidewalk. "My…my brother…" she whispered weakly, as the tears began to flow. "I can't…I just can't tell him about this…it would kill him…"

"Hey, hey, calm down…it's only a game, after all," Yugo said gently, walking up to her. "No need to make a fuss about it."

"You don't understand," Honey spat out. "This isn't about me…it's about him—him and his pride. If he knows that there's no hope for him to ever defeat Seta, it'll crush him altogether…he'd lose all hope."

Yugo, now very confused, looked to the others for help. Kyo stepped forward. "Uh…maybe you'd better explain just what you mean, Honey," he suggested.

She nodded, somewhat reluctantly. "But not here," she said. "We have to go to Kaibacorp right away – Raven and Seta are probably dueling right now."

"All right," Kyo nodded. "Let's go, then."

"Sorry, but we can't go," Jenna interrupted. "Miki and I still have to look about breakfast. But you guys can come back and tell us everything. How's that?"

"Well, all right," Yugo agreed. "Let's go, then, Honey."

Whereupon Honey pulled out a cell-phone and speed-dialed a number. After a moment she said, "Driver? Come round to Yugo's house – we're going to Kaibacorp."

"You have your own driver?" Kyo asked, very interested.

"Yes." Honey nodded – and just at that moment the sleek black limousine came around the corner, slowing to a stop right at their feet. Yugo's eyes widened in amazement. "Wow! This is so cool!"

"Well, get in," said Honey, as the driver stepped out and opened the door for them. "I will explain everything on the way. Right now, time is of the essence."

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OUTSIDE KAIBACORP, IN THE MEANTIME

Raven's life points now stood at 6100; in his hand he held no cards; on the field he had his face-up Banisher of the Light in Defense Mode and Gren Maju Da Eiza in Attack Mode. Seta had 4200 life points; his hand had one card; on his side of the field he had his Lord of Dragons, Divine Dragon Ragnarok and one other facedown card. And it was still Raven's turn.

"Take a good look at my great Gren Maju Da Eiza, Seta," sneered Raven. "Its power is enough for me to wipe out one of your monsters entirely – and very soon, both of them will be gone for good! And then what will you do? You won't be able to do squat!"

"Hmph." Seta crossed his arms and sighed. "I still have lots of cards in my deck to play with, Raven…I won't run out of cards like I did the first and only time you ever beat me, got it?"

"Well, we'll soon see, won't we?" said Raven. "Now, my fiend, attack and destroy Divine Dragon Ragnarok!"

Gren Maju Da Eiza charged up a massive fiery energy in its snout and prepared to fire it off. But just as it did, Seta suddenly shouted, "Not today, you won't! I activate my trap card, Sakuretsu Armor, to destroy your attacking monster!"

In a moment Ragnarok was covered in a massive coat of armor, armor so powerful that it deflected the attack and reversed it onto Gren Maju Da Eiza, destroying it altogether. Because Banisher of the Light was still face-up, the Sakuretsu Armor trap card was removed from play – and so was Raven's fiend! "No!" Raven cried out.

"Too eager to win, Raven—too eager to win," said Seta. His eyes were no longer showing annoyance—just pure disgust. "Just hold on a moment longer, Raven. I'll soon kick your ass all the way back to where it came from, and then I can go and eat breakfast in peace without you giving me a migraine to start off my day."

"Grr…well, go ahead and do your worst, you bastard! I'm ready for you! I end my turn!" Raven exploded – and then D.D. Scout Plane's effect activated, bringing it back into play and onto Raven's side of the field in Attack Mode.

Nodding, Seta drew his next card. "All right, here's what I'm going to do now!" he declared. "First, I'll activate my Polymerization card, to fuse together my Lord of Dragons and Divine Dragon Ragnarok so that they can become – King Dragun (ATK 2400, DEF 1200)!"

As Polymerization was removed from play due to Banisher of the Light's effect, Ragnarok and the Lord of Dragons got sucked into a swirling mass of light behind them; in their place emerged the powerful half-man, half-dragon beast. Again, because of the Banisher of the Light, the two monsters were removed from play instead of going to the Graveyard – but now Seta didn't seem too much concerned with that. "Once per turn," said he, "I can use King Dragun's effect to Special Summon one Dragon-type monster from my hand to the field…and the monster I choose is my Rare Metal Dragon (ATK 2400, DEF 1200)!"

King Dragun put both hands together and began to chant; then suddenly the metal-covered dragon appeared on the field, growling with menace. "Now, Rare Metal Dragon, attack and destroy that annoying-as-hell Banisher of the Light! Use Spinning Metal Wheel!" Seta commanded.

The Rare Metal Dragon wrapped itself into a ball, its metal spike plainly in view as it rolled over to where Banisher of the Light sat in Defense Mode. One solid WHACK from the spikes and the Banisher was gone – to the Graveyard, since his effect only lasted while he was on the field. "So much for him," said Seta. "Now, King Dragun, it's your turn to act! Divine Dragon Firestorm!"

King Dragun took a deep breath, then exhaled powerfully. At once a rush of fire consumed the D.D. Scout Plane, destroying it and reducing Raven's life points to 4500. "And this time, there's no returning for your Scout Plane, no, none at all," Seta said mockingly.

"Nice…very nice," said Raven, applauding. "Even so, it still won't be enough to stop me – I'm still ahead of you by 300 points!"

"So what? That still doesn't say anything. I'm still better than you—just look at what I have on the field, compared to what you have," said Seta. "It'll have to take a miracle for you to beat me—if you can, that is."

Raven's eyes flashed threateningly. "Believe me, Seta Kaiba, this duel isn't done yet. It won't be over until one of us is down in crushing defeat!"

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neomage: Sorry I had to bring the Yugo vs. Honey duel to such an abrupt end, but that's how the story goes sometimes – you don't always get what you want. For my part, I really wanted to drag it out a little longer, but then the story wouldn't have flowed as smoothly as I wanted it to, so, this is how it is. And by the way, I'll bet some people were surprised that it was Honey that got to use the Toon deck, and Raven used something else entirely. But just love surprises, don't you? Anyway, keep reading and thanks for your continued support!