Yugioh GX: Konami/Kazuki Takahashi
It was a weekend afternoon when Jason's door was being knocked. The slifer himself answered, but kept the door inaccessible as he peeked through outside.
"Hey Jason, what are you still doing indoors?" Rock asked, "We haven't seen you all day! Are you still bummed out about…you know, yesterday?"
"I'm just…tired," Jason replied, before hearing a shuffling noise inside.
"Mind explaining the noise inside?" Aspen asked; Jason was hesitant to ask, "Look, I can just bust that door down and solve this little mystery myself. Are you really in the mood for fixing doors tonight?"
Jason sighed, "Aright… come on in," he stepped aside for the two to enter the dark room where, despite the recent noise they heard, it turned out they were the only ones there. Jason made sure that Rock and Aspen were standing in the back corner, "Can you please wait there and…don't overexagerrate," before they can ask why, Jason went to his closet and peeked inside whispering something. After that he backed away and, to the others' surprise and/or suspicion, someone stepped out from it; the last person neither Rock nor Aspen expected to see.
"What is Xiki Nomura doing here?!" Rock's sudden outburst had Xiki jumped back in the closet with a yelp.
"Okay, that was…uncharacteristic," Aspen blinked, "…but he's got a point, what is she doing in the slifer red dorm?"
"I'm telling you I'm fine…"
"And I'm telling you, you're not!"
The door then burst open leading in Noire, who was being dragged in by her doppelganger.
"Guys, we got a problem!" the doppelganger said.
"Yeah, I can tell by your outburst before you came in," Aspen joked.
"Cute! Let's see if you find this funny!" the doppelganger held her twin by the waste like a ragdoll, and pushed through the group to place her on the bottom bunk of the bed. Taking a closer look, they could tell that she wasn't feeling well.
"Man…what's wrong with her?" Rock asked.
"I don't know!" the doppelganger answered, "I could tell yesterday she was a little lightheaded but now, she could barely even stand!"
"This doesn't look good, you guys…"
"Oh really! What gave that away?!" he doppelganger snapped at Aspen for that statement, the obelisk not even flinching.
"I mean, I heard myths and rumors that if you look at your doppelganger, much less live under the same roof as them, bad things happen. This must be one of those things," everyone else gasped or recoiled at that, "And I'm taking a wild guess here but this must be due to what Martis and his millennium scales did to Noire."
Suddenly the PDA rang and Jason answered it, revealing a video of Martis, "I'm sure you know by now that your Ra Yellow friend is running out of time," Martis said, "If you want to save her then both you and the robot duelist both come to the lair in the other side of the island. The girl's doppelganger will know where it is," the video ended there.
"I guess now we know what's on our to-do list for today," Rock muttered.
The group found themselves in front of the mouth of the large cave Noire's doppelganger had mentioned before, "Well, this is the place I told you about," she said, "We can find the rest of the mages in there."
"Well what are we waiting for?!" Rock was about to be the first one in when Aspen grabbed him by the collar.
"In case anyone forgot already, I feel I need to reiterate this: we go inside, we'll be stepping into the lion's den. There's no telling what'll be waiting for us."
"Who cares about that?!" Noire's doppelganger exclaimed, "I didn't think I need to remind you that a 'certain someone's about to disappear! Now c'mon, let's go!"
"You're not going anywhere!" everyone jumped at the call of another person, and spotted Chakra Silvers stepping out from behind the nearby rocks, "This is far as you go."
"Now's not a good time, lady!" Rock said, "We're kinda busy saving the world here!"
"Is that what you think? Sorry, but you're not going to be playing hero today, or ever again. It's time we stop gambling the fate of the earth to a couple of Slifer Slackers."
"Look, I'm not big on this either but these 'Slifer Slackers' aren't half bad. While you were gone those mages were down a few members. Now all that's left of their little club are right in that cave over there.
"A bunch of slifers did all that? Seriously?" Chakra asked sarcastically, "Then I guess it'll be no problem for a Ra or an Obelisk. I won't stop you from going in."
"Not saying no to that! Let's go!" Noire's doppelganger carried her twin on their way into the cave with Aspen close by.
Jason and Rock were about to follow but stopped when a long chain link lashed at their feet, "But you two, are staying here. You're not about to get in their way."
"Well, you're kinda gonna have to," Rock said, "See, we got a friend in need and we were challenged specifically. So it's that or nothing."
"Is that so…? Fine, if you're so inclined on playing hero again, you're gonna have to prove yourself."
"Hey, I'm ready to duel anytime."
"Glad to hear it, because here's your opponent…" Chakra gestured to the Rock she came from, where someone else, someone they weren't expecting, stepped out into view.
"You gotta be kidding me," Rock said, "We have to duel that guy?!"
"Do you see anyone else?" Chakra snided, "Zane Truesdale will be your opponent. And if you can beat him, then you're ready for anything."
"Not that I'm on board with this, but Chakra's got a point," Zane said, standing between the slifers and the mouth of the cave, "I don't really feel comfortable leaving our fates in the hands of a couple of amateur duelists. So if you want to get past this spot, then you'll have to prove yourselves…" he brought his duel-disk out in front of him, "And prove it in a duel! Me against the both of you!"
Rock recoiled, "Really? You sure you want to stack these odds?"
"Let's do this…" Jason spoke as he strapped on his duel-disk, "If this is the only way to get in that cave, then I don't see any other choice..."
"Well if you're sure, then so am I," Rock equipped with his own duel-disk.
"If you two are sure of yourselves, then let's get started!" Zane announced and all three activated their disks and Drew their starting hand.
"DUEL!"
Jason: 4000
Rock: 4000
Zane: 4000
"And since I'm the challenger, I'll let one of you guys go first."
"You sure you want that handicap?" Rock asked, "It's not like we're gonna pull any punches or anything."
"I suggest you worry about yourselves because I never pull my punches."
"Then I'll go first," Jason drew his sixth card, "I summon Elemental Hero Woodsman in DEF mode," the wood-limbed hero appeared (DEF: 2000), "I end my turn."
"It's my turn!" Rock drew his sixth card, "I summon Robot Master- Fire Man in ATK mode!" the torchlit Robot Master appeared, "Then I place one card face-down and end my turn."
"It's my turn," Zane drew his next card, "I set a monster followed by three face-downs," four set cards appeared, "I end my turn."
"It's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "And during my standby-phase, with Woodsman's effect, I can add Polymerization from my deck to my hand," the spell card was then pulled from the deck, "Next I summon Elemental Hero Lady Heat in DEF mode," the female fire hero appeared (DEF: 1000), "I place one card face-down and end my turn. And during my end-phase, Lady Heat inflicts 200 points of damage to the opponent for each Elemental Hero on my side of the field. Since there are 2, she inflicts 400 points of damage," Lady Heat threw two fireballs that exploded at Zane's feet.
Jason: 4000
Rock: 4000
Zane: 3600
"It's my turn!" Rock drew his next card, "I activate the spell card Hidden Armory! By sending one card from the top of my deck to the graveyard, I can add an equip-spell card from my deck!" after discarding from the top of the deck, the card was then added to his hand, "Next I equip Fire Man with his Fire Storm card and attack!" Fire Man managed to attack with a cyclone of fire, which destroyed a man with white wings that Rose from the set card.
"When Shining Angel is destroyed in battle, I can special-summon a light-attribute monster from my deck with 1500-or-more ATK points, like my (1) Proto-Cyber Dragon(3/ATK: 1100/DEF: 600)!" a metallic-grey serpentine robot dragon appeared (ATK: 1100), "Next, I activate my face-down card Inferno Reckless Summon," the first of Zane's three set cards opened, "When I special-summon a monster with 1500-or-less ATK points, I can then summon as many monsters with the same name from my deck. So I special-summon all three of my Cyber Dragons!" the three metallic dragons appeared (ATK: 2100x3).
"Whoa! Hold on! Time-out!" Rock exclaimed, "That spell said '1500-ATK-or-less'! Those Cyber Dragons have way more than that!"
"You're just further proving my point, Rock!" Chakra called from the sidelines, "You can't even make the right arguments!"
"Huh?"
"I'm afraid Chakra has a point," Zane assisted, "I think the argument you're looking for is, 'How could you summon a monster whose name doesn't even match the one targeted by the spell you played?' Well, let me tell you: Proto Cyber Dragon has an ability that treats it as any regular Cyber Dragon. So, when I played my Inferno Reckless Summon on Proto Cyber Dragon, the spell's effect reacted to that monster's activate effect and played its own according to it. So to put it in words you'd understand…my Proto Cyber Dragon's ability allowed my spell card to summon all three Cyber Dragons to the field."
"Um…okay?" Rock concluded, already as confused as ever, with a reverse-card.
"It's my turn," Zane drew his next card, "I attack Woodsman with one of my Cyber Dragons," one of the dragons fired a stream of blue electricity from its mouth.
"I activate my face-down card Unity!" Jason opened his reverse-card, "It combines the DEF points of all the monsters on my side of field to Woodsman!" Woodsman was flanked by both Fire Man and Lady Heat as a multicolored aura surrounded them, and the blast was deflected and hit Zane instead; yet he never flinched as the blast just brushed through him.
Elemental Hero Woodsman: (DEF: 4000)
Jason: 4000
Rock: 4000
Zane: 1700
"Then I attack Fire Man with my second Cyber Dragon!" the second dragon fired.
"I activate my trap card, Defense Draw!" Rock opened his reverse-card, "This negates all battle-damage and I get to draw another card!" after Rock drew, Fire Man shield himself with his Fire Storm barrier. The shield then turned into a cyclone that pushed the stream back and doused the dragon in fire. The counterattack left the second Cyber Dragon glowing red with its superheated metal hide, "And Fire Man can't be destroyed in battle once a turn with Fire Storm equipped. And after each battle, Fire Man decreases the ATK of an opponent's monster by 200 for each card in my hand. And since I got 4, that means 800 ATK points!"
Cyber Dragon-2: (ATK: 1300)
"Then I attack Fire Man with my third Dragon!" the third dragon fired, but the same thing happened, with Fire Man defending himself with his barrier and firing back with a cyclone of flame, weakening the last Cyber Dragon.
"There's one thing I may have forgot to mention: when Fire Man is about to be destroyed, Fire Storm can be destroyed instead," Rock explained, removing the spell to his graveyard, "And just like last time, Fire Man lowers your monster's ATK by 800."
Cyber Dragon-3: (ATK: 1300)
"But you still take the damage," Zane said, as the Cyber Dragon pushed its own attack back and struck Fire Man.
Jason: 4000
Rock: 3100
Zane: 1700
"Now my Proto-Cyber Dragon attacks Lady Heat," the monster destroyed Lady Heat with a ball of energy.
'At least we don't have to worry about powerful monsters now…' Jason sighed.
"Next I activate my face-downs: Photon Generator Unit and Attack Reflector Unit!" the last two reverse-cards, respectively a quick-play spell and a trap card, opened, opened, "I send Proto-Cyber Dragon and my two weaker Cyber Dragons to summon two new monsters: (3) Cyber Laser Dragon(8/ATK: 2400/DEF: 1800) and (4) Cyber Barrier Dragon(6/ATK: 800/DEF: 2800), both from my deck!" the three dragons vanished and were replaced by two monsters. One was a larger, sleeker metal dragon with a satellite laser attached at the end of its tail (ATK: 2400), while the other was a equally-large metal dragon, wearing a large octangular collar around its neck (ATK: 800). Jason and Rock flinched with surprise at the two new additions.
"Alright, don't panic…" Rock muttered breathlessly to Jason, not taking his eyes off the dragons, "As long as the don't attack we're cool."
"Now I attack Rock directly!" both dragons each fired a blast of blue energy from their maws at Rock.
Jason: 4000
Rock: 0
Zane: 1700
The slifer recoiled as the rest of his points dropped to nothing. And in a delayed reaction, he chuckled a bit and scratched his cheek, "Well, guess I'm out," he then turned to Jason as he stepped off the dueling field, "Looks like it's up to you as usual, Daichi! Good luck."
"Now that the playing field's even, I end my turn," Zane concluded.
"It's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "I activate Polymerization with Heat and Poison Rose to summon Elemental Hero Nova Master!" the two monsters merged and the Armored fire hero appeared (ATK: 2600), "Now attack!" Nova Master covered a fist in fire and charged forth.
"I activate Cyber Barrier Dragon's effect," Zane said, "It negates the first attack each turn while it's in ATK mode," Jason recoiled as the fins on Cyber Barrier Dragon's collar popped out and crackled with energy, forming a barrier that withstood Nova Master's punch.
"Then…I equip Woodsman with Heart of Clear Water," a large bubble surrounded Woodsman, "I end my turn."
"It's my turn," Zane drew his next card, "I activate Cyber Laser Dragon's effect: to destroys a monster whose ATK is more that his," Cyber Laser Dragon's tail fired and destroyed Nova Master in a single blast of blue light, "Next, I activate the spell card Evolution Burst. While I have a Cyber Dragon on my field, I can destroy any card on the field," Cyber Dragon unleashed another stream of blue lightning, destroying Heart of Clear Water's bubble that protected Woodsman, "Of course that means no Cyber Dragon can attack on the turn this is played; but it's a different story for the others. Now my Cyber Laser Dragon will attack," Woodsman was destroyed by another stream from Cyber Laser Dragon's maw, "Now my Barrier Dragon will attack you directly!" another stream from Cyber Barrier Dragon struck Jason, whose legs buckled after the impact.
Jason: 3200
Rock: 0
Zane: 1700
"I end my turn," Zane concluded.
"It's my turn," Jason drew his next card, and his eyes widened a bit from what he drew, 'This card could work. But first…' "I set one monster and place one card face-down," two reverse-cards appeared, "I end my turn." 'I hope I could pull this off…'
"It's my turn," Zane drew his next card, "From the look on your face I can tell you drew a good card. So a word of the wise, Jason: work on making a better poker face. I attack with Cyber Laser Dragon!" another stream was unleashed.
"I activate my trap card, Magical Arm Shield!" Jason opened his reverse-card, where a magic arm reached out and grabbed Cyber Barrier Dragon in its grasp before pulling it to Jason's field, "Now I take control of Cyber Barrier Dragon and change the attack to it instead!" Cyber Barrier Dragon took the blast of Laser's attack and was destroyed.
"So you used my own attack to destroy one of my other monsters," Zane flatly stated, "Clever. But you still take damage."
Jason: 1600
Rock: 0
Zane: 1700
"Now Cyber Dragon, attack his face-down," Cyber Dragon destroyed the set monster, which was a blue-suited, lightning-themed warrior wearing a helmet.
"When Elemental Hero Flash is destroyed in battle, I can remove it from play with Poison Rose, Woodsman and Lady Heat to return Polymerization from my graveyard," the following cards were removed from the graveyard, while the spell among them was then added to his hand.
"I end my turn," Zane concluded.
"It's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "I activate Polymerization with Voltic and Homunculus from my hand to summon Elemental Hero The Shining!" the two monsters merged and the star-faced light hero appeared (ATK: 2600), "And while he's on the field, his ATK points increase by 300 for each Elemental Hero monster removed from play. And right now, I got 4 (ATK: 3800). Now attack Cyber Laser Dragon!" with a ray of light from Shining's mask, the metallic dragon was destroyed.
Jason: 1600
Rock: 0
Zane: 1300
But still, Zane didn't flinch, "Impressive. I was wondering when you were going to fight back."
"I end my turn," Jason concluded.
"It's my turn," Zane drew his next card, "I summon (2) Cyber Dragon Zwei(4/ATK: 1500/DEF: 1000) in ATK mode," a sleeker more detailed version of the metallic dragon with green lighting appeared (ATK: 1500). Afterward, he flipped over a card in his hand: Polymerization, "By revealing one spell card in my hand, Zwei's ability activates, treating it as your classic Cyber Dragon," he then added that card to his duel-disk, "Next I activate Polymerization with both Dragons and Cyber Dragon from my hand to summon Cyber End Dragon," the three monsters merged into the three-headed metal dragon (ATK: 4000), "Attack!" the monster fired a stream of cobalt lightning from each maw that washed through the Shining and destroyed the hero.
Jason: 1400
Rock: 0
Zane: 1300
"When The Shining is destroyed in battle, I can add three Elemental Heroes that were removed from play to my hand," three cards Jason removed before were added to his hand.
"I end my turn," Zane concluded.
"Jason, don't forget!" Rock called out, "You can't last much longer with that dragon out so if you're gonna summon to come back, it should be now!"
Jason stared up at the massive metal dragon in front of him, 'I always imagined facing this thing again and defeating it. I have just the right monster to do it. …But I don't have the right cards. I need to draw something that could buy me time until I get what I need…' "It's my turn..." Jason drew his next card, 'It's not exactly what I had in mind, but I have to try something…' "I summon Elemental Hero Woodsman," the wood-limbed hero returned (DEF: 2000), "Next, I activate the magic card Monster Recovery. By returning a monster on my field to my hand, I can shuffle my hand into my deck and draw the same number of cards."
'So since Jason could do nothing with the hand he has now, he sacrifices summoning a monster to trade it in for a new one,' Zane thought, 'The question is, will lady luck be on his side, or will she abandon him…?'
After Woodsman vanished and Jason shuffled his deck, he redrew his hand, which he spotted a certain card among them, 'This is just the card I was hoping for!' And after adding it to the others, and factoring in the field's layout... 'This…this could actually work!' "Next I activate Fusion Recovery to add a monster and Polymerization from my graveyard to my hand," two more cards are added, "Next I activate Polymerization with Heat and Harpie Girl in my hand to summon Elemental Hero Great Tornado!" the two monsters merged into the armored wind hero (ATK: 2800), "And when he's summoned, the ATK and DEF of all monsters my opponent controls are cut in half!" Great Tornado brought forth a massive cyclone that tossed the machine monster into the air, letting it crash unceremoniously back onto the ground.
Cyber End Dragon: (ATK: 2000)
"Now attack!" Great Tornado launched a smaller, compressed tornado that tore through the metal hydra's underbelly. A moment passed before the Cyber End Dragon exploded.
Jason: 1400
Rock: 0
Zane: 500
Chakra's hissed with narrowed eyes while Rock whooped with his usual enthusiasm, "Now that's the way!"
'I hope the worst is over; because that's the best I could do…' "I end my turn," Jason concluded.
'So there really is someone who can beat my Cyber End Dragon after all,' Zane thought, 'Just like I hoped you would.' "It's my turn," he then drew his next card, 'Playtime is over…'
"…"
"…I forfeit."
Jason blinked, "Ex…cuse me?"
"That right: the legendary Zane Truesdale submits," Zane said, "Cyber End Dragon was the strongest monster in my arsenal. And without it…I got pretty much nothing."
"Does that mean…"
"Just get in that cave."
"You heard the man!" Rock exclaimed as he ran past Jason, "Let's get going!"
Jason quickly followed past Zane and, after taking one last look back, ran into the cave.
Zane was ready to walk away when his path was blocked by Chakra, frustrated and arms folded, "You're not scaring me with that look. I did my best."
"What you did was sloppy!" Chakra exclaimed, "I know you too well to know you'd never pity anyone or pull any punches. So why would you do that with them of all people; it makes no sense!"
"That's not the case here," Zane countered, "I was in the middle of restructuring my deck when you dragged me all the way here. You just caught me at a bad time. That's all," with that he passed Chakra and made his way back to his dorm, while looking at the card he had been holding for a while, 'Besides, I make it a habit not to show all my cards to inferior opponents…'
"Man, this is the longest-running tunnel ever!" Rock said before the two slifers made it to a larger room, where there was a round stone table with six seats in the center, and a pair of large metal doors were placed on the opposite side. Waiting at the table were Aspen and the Noire twins.
"We were waiting for you guys," Aspen said, then noticed them starting at the doors, "Yeah, this was there when we found the place. We tried to open it but it's too heavy with just the two of us."
"We barely got it to open a little bit," Noire's doppelganger said, "I hope we have better luck now that we have bigger numbers."
"So the high mage is behind there?" Rock asked, the group now in front of the double doors, "So all we have to do is get it to open, right?"
"Then what are we waiting for?"
"Lion's den…" Aspen muttered wearily.
"Well guess what…" Rock said, pressing his hands against one of the doors, with Jason doing the same beside him, "We're gonna pull that lion's teeth out!"
"Don't have to tell me twice," Noire's doppelganger said, pressing against the other door herself.
"Well, if everyone else is doing it…" Aspen said, then joining the others.
By the count to three, the four of the mustered all the strength they had. Then in one mighty heave…
They fell through the double doors and tumbled into a heap.
"Uh, I vaguely remember you saying those doors were heavy," Rock said, "So where's the heavy part?"
"I stand corrected," Noire's doppelganger said, "It's not that the doors were heavy, but we weren't supposed to open it yet. They must've been waiting for all of us to be here."
"So where's our gracious host?" Aspen's answer came in the form of a series of large torches, lighting up what turned out to be a massive room, much larger than the one they were previously in. Ocupying most of it was a large altar. And standing behind the furthest one was the High Mage Martis.
"Please tell me you're gonna do all the hard work this time; because I'm real tired of this whole cat-and-mouse skit you've been doing," Rock said.
"So eager to meet your end, are you? Very well," Martis said, "Let us not waste any more time and both of you join me on the altar so that we may begin!"
With that, the two slifers stepped onto their respective pedestals. The battle was about to begin...
DUEL-MON DATABASE
(1) Proto-Cyber Dragon
Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 3 (ATK: 1100/DEF: 600)
Attribute: LIGHT
Effect: This card's name becomes "Cyber Dragon" while it is on the field.
(2) Cyber Dragon Zwei
Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1500/DEF: 1000)
Attribute: LIGHT
Effect: If this card attacks an opponent's monster, it gains 300 ATK during the Damage Step only. Once per turn: You can reveal 1 Spell Card in your hand; this card's name becomes "Cyber Dragon" until the End Phase. This card's name becomes "Cyber Dragon" while it is in the Graveyard.
(3) Cyber Laser Dragon
Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 8 (ATK: 2400/DEF: 1800)
Attribute: LIGHT
Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except with "Photon Generator Unit". Once per turn, you can destroy 1 monster with ATK or DEF equal to or higher than the ATK of this card.
(4) Cyber Barrier Dragon
Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 6 (ATK: 800/DEF: 2800)
Attribute: LIGHT
Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except with "Attack Reflector Unit". Once per turn, while this card is in Attack Position, your opponent's next attack is negated.
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