(A/N: Hooray for snow days! Yeah, I got snowed in at home today, so I decided to spend the day doing research and typing out this chapter. This deck also has a joke I've had in the back of my mind since I started this story. Hope you enjoy).
After the flash of light that blinded the Battle City Finals duelists, family, they all found themselves in a warm, tropical landscape with blue skies, green grass and a mix of palm and coniferous trees. Birds and monkeys could be heard in the trees, as well as Cicadas. Everyone woke up groaning and grunting as they got up off the ground.
"You, okay, Komaru?" Makoto asked, extending his hand down to her.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Komaru said, taking her big brother's hand and standing up. She looked around at the scenery. "Where are we? Some kind of jungle."
"Not quite," Yugi, and it was the actual Yugi currently speaking.
"What do you mean, Yugi?" Téa asked. "It looks like a jungle to me."
"Weren't you geeks listening?" Kaiba asked, getting to his feet and looking cross as usual. "This environment is virtual."
"Well, they certainly spared no expense with the five senses for this virtual realm then," Celeste said and pinched her nose. "The stenches here are overpowering. Is this a jungle or a dung heap?"
"Oh, what's the matter, princess? Never toughed it out in the woods before?" Mai asked.
"Quite. Hiking in thick jungles is rather enjoyable every once in a while. The smells and sounds of nature, while revolting, can also be quite enchanting," Byakuya added with a smirk.
"Why are both you ganging up on me?" Celeste snapped, suddenly dropping her French accent. "Er…I mean…" She cleared her throat. "If this is their idea of a virtual world, I have some rude statements for the comments section."
"I don't think they're accepting reviews," Tristan stated.
Suddenly the ground started to shake.
"I don't like the sound of this you guys," Mokuba said.
Suddenly a big therapod dinosaur craned its head over the treetops. "Jurassic Park!" Ibuki screamed, hiding behind Joey.
"Ibuki! What are you doing?"
"You're the big guy! You should be protecting me!" Ibuki exclaimed.
"Wh-what're you gettin' so worked up for?" Joey asked her. "I-It's j-just a hologram. No need to panic."
"Funny, even you don't sound very convinced of that, Joey," Mai chuckled.
"You're not scared, are you Chiaki?" Hajime asked.
Chiaki shook her head. "Nope. You seem pretty calm yourself too."
"I mean, it's just a game, right? Games have rules and are meant to be beaten. As long as you and I stick together, I'm sure we'll be fine."
Chiaki sighed with a smile. He's come a long way since yesterday morning. Chiaki flashed back to key moments in Hajime's path through Battle City. She started with his nerves at the start, to his victory over Eliza, to his rescue of her at the hands of Marik's Rare Hunters and, most definitively, his victory of Espa Roba only so many hours ago. His confidence had come a long way in such a short time span and it made Chiaki smile brightly.
"Hajime, look out!" Téa shouted. She and the others were backing up as the dinosaur drew closer to Hajime and Chiaki.
"That thing looks hungry," Chiaki said. "Maybe we should back up with the others. We don't exactly know the constraints of our virtual bodies yet."
"Please. It's just a cheap trick," Kaiba said. "This is a pale imitation of Kaiba Corp. technology. It won't be able to even ruffle your coat."
"You sure about that?" Chiaki asked.
Kaiba didn't have time to answer. Instead, he just watched the dinosaur's claw come down…and then harmlessly pass through him. The creature then turned around, disappointed and walked away.
"T-too cool," Ibuki stuttered.
Kaiba looked so smug at being proven right. "Hmph. That brat Noah can't intimidate me with cheap, virtual illusions like this. I wrote virtual reality programs better than this when this kid was still in diapers. This stuff's amateur."
"Whoa, Kaiba may be a jerk, but he's an awesome jerk!"
"Please, I could've done that," Byakuya scoffed.
"Then why are you back here with the rest of us?" Joey asked him.
"I didn't want to get my suit or glasses ruined on the off chance I was wrong by even the slightest degree."
Suddenly, there was a rustling of bushes as another Kaiba stepped out. "Whoa! Did Kaiba clone himself?" Ibuki shouted.
"Don't be absurd," Kaiba stated. "It's just a cheap copy. I used to create virtual duplicates of myself all the time to duel against." The virtual Kaiba walked out into the clearing as if expecting someone to challenge him, indicated by the active duel disk on his arm.
"I bet that must get boring," Celeste remarked.
"Actually, it's quite invigorating to duel against someone with equal intellectual understanding," Kaiba stated, deflecting Celeste's attempt at an insult.
Unfortunately, Celeste was prepared for that counter to her comment and responded with, "That's…what? Only so much higher than a chimpanzee?"
"Mokuba, when we get out of here, remind me to accidentally leave Celestia Ludenburg behind."
Celeste chuckled, covering her mouth. "Now, now, Kaiba, I merely jest. There's no need to strand a poor, innocent thing like me on a hostile, industrial fortress for mere sass, is there?"
"Innocent, right," Kaiba responded sarcastically.
From the opposite direction of Kaiba's virtual counterpart, the monster Total Defense Shogun appeared, looking to challenge him.
"Where'd that thing come from?" Mai wondered aloud.
Chiaki started to explain. "Oh, it's quite simple really. In video games, the process of summoning a new object requires the game to access the internal exe file and then the correct image file and—"
"I wasn't asking for a detailed programming explanation, kiddo," Mai responded.
"Oh, my mistake," Chiaki said plainly.
"Attention, fools!" Gansley's commanding voice echoed overhead. "Allow us to demonstrate the new dueling rules."
"What do you mean new rules?" Yugi demanded to know.
"I mean…it's not like duel monsters has always abided by the same rules," Chiaki said. "Just look at Duelist Kingdom compared to Battle City. You don't have to get so indignant. Change can be a good thing. Just look at Magic the Gathering. It adds new rules every few months."
"Chiaki, I understand your point, but maybe don't make that argument when our opponents could change the rules to suit them," Hajime said worryingly.
"…fair point. Continue being angry, Yugi."
However, Gansley spoke before Yugi could. "We've created a new system of dueling especially for our tournament. So pay attention and try to keep up! In our world we play by a new set of rules called the deck master system. So watch and learn as our virtual Kaiba battles Total Defense Shogun."
"Calling it now. Virtual Kaiba gets reduced to virtual paste," Mai stated.
"Oh? And why's that?" Kaiba asked, glaring at her.
"Probably because our hosts don't like you very much," Mai said with a wink.
"Well then that's one thing I can agree with those suits with," Joey stated.
"I don't think you're that bad, Kaiba," Chiaki said, coming to his defense.
"Everybody, shut up!" Kaiba snapped. The area grew quiet. "That's better."
Byakuya's eyebrows furrowed like he wanted to say something, but he opted to just remain quiet.
Gansley then continued with his tutorial. "First, each duelist must choose a deck master!" As he said this, a Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared next to Virtual Kaiba. "Blue-Eyes will be the deck master for Virtual Kaiba. Total Defense Shogun will act as his own deck master."
"Now, begin!"
The spectators watched as Virtual Kaiba summoned Lord of Dragons and then activated The Flute of Summoning Dragon to summon 2 Blue-Eyes White Dragons. He then, in his own words, "moved his deck master to the center of the playing field."
"Does that mean your deck master can be summoned to the field at any time?" Komaru asked. "It just sits next to you on the battlefield until you summon it, with no drawbacks?"
"No, there has to be a draw back," Yugi said. "Isn't that right, Gansley?"
"Very astute, Yugi," Gansley said. "But I'll be getting to that in a moment."
Virtual Kaiba then fused together all of his Blue-Eyes together into Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.
"As you can see, Virtual Kaiba fused his deck master with two other monsters to form a creature that's virtually unstoppable. And thanks to his deck master's special ability, this new fusion monster can attack immediately, even though it is only the first turn of the duel."
"Still want to claim Virtual Kaiba's gonna get his virtual butt kicked?" Joey asked Mai.
"Well, um…" Mai had no words.
"At least when I make comments they don't ultimately backfire on me," Celeste retorted.
"You shut your smug little mouth, missy!"
"At least I have a little mouth, unlike a certain someone's big, gaping—"
"Look!" Ibuki interrupted, "Total Defense Shogun's doing something!"
As Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon attacked with Neutron Blast, Gansley commented, "Since Total Defense Shogun is its own deck master, it has its own special ability: Total Defense Barrier."
A transparent, rainbow glowing, prismatic shield formed around Total Defense Shogun.
"It blocks the attack and reflects it right back!" Gansley declared as the attack got reflected at Blue-Eyes, slicing many holes and grazes in it.
"Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, more like Blue-Eyes Ultimate Swiss Cheese," Byakuya chuckled.
"That's it! The next person to sass me or my Blue-Eyes will be finding themselves looking for a ride back home because they're being stranded when we get out of here!"
Everyone shut their mouths.
Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon disappeared and so, in turn, did virtual Kaiba.
Mai looked smugly at Celeste. "Well, seems I was right after all, princess. What was that about making sure you're right before you open your mouth."
Celeste only responded with a haughty. "Hmph."
"Yup. That's what I thought."
"Tata, Virtual Kaiba!" Gansley declared smugly. "Soon, that will happen to the real one too. You see, when your deckmaster is destroyed, you automatically lose the duel regardless of life points. And when each of you loses a duel, one of us will take over your body!"
"I've heard enough!" Kaiba shouted, making a fist. I've defeated you five white-collared has beens once before and I can easily do it again. No matter what the rules are," Kaiba said as he turned around. "I'll still take you down."
Gansley laughed as the virtual setting faded, leaving the gang inside the room they were just in. "Let us out of here you bunch of old cranks!" Joey snapped.
Gansley laughed "We've never left this room, you fools!"
The group returned to seeing The Big Five across from them.
"Make no mistake," Johnson said. "You kids aren't going anywhere for a long while."
"Hey, don't lump me in with these teenagers!" Mai exclaimed. "I'm old enough to drink and drive, just not at the same time!"
"With how you drive, I'm honestly surprised by that," Duke remarked. Mai tensed up her arm and elbowed him in the stomach. "Ow! That's…ow!"
"You're trapped!" Gansley exclaimed.
"And your only chance of escape is to defeat each of us in a virtual duel!" Johnson added with no less smugness than his co-worker.
"There's no way you're going to get away with this you stuffed shirts!" Mokuba exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Joey shouted. "We'll kick your big business buts!"
"If we stick together, they won't stand a chance!" Yugi declared.
"Don't worry, I got your back man," Duke told him.
"Me too!" Tristan nodded.
"There's the jam, cause these guys are toast!" Joey said confidently.
"Hold on, guys!" Téa exclaimed. "They never said which of us would actually have to duel!"
"She has a point. Besides, do any of you besides Yugi, Kaiba, Chiaki, Byakuya and maybe Joey and Celeste really stand a chance against these guys? I mean, if they were that easy to defeat, that would be such despair and a huge waste of my time. It'd be pretty bad luck to have the tournament delayed without something exciting happening."
"Whose side are you on, man? Why would you want this to be difficult?" Tristan asked.
"To have our hope fight the Big Five's and Noah's hope, obviously!" Nagito exclaimed with a big grin and open arms. "When two hopes fight each other, the stronger each side pushes each other, it creates a big ball of hope that engulfs the entire area and creates a huge spectacle of hope. It's always a gem to see."
"Just ignore him," Chiaki stated, realizing Nagito was going completely off the rails.
"Yeah, seriously. What? Did he forget to take his medication again or something?" Duke asked.
"Well, actually—" Chiaki said, but Nagito cut her off.
"Ah, Chiaki, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't finish that sentence," he said, looking a tad nervous. "Please, if you wouldn't mind."
"Oh. All right. Sure."
"Well, how about it?" Nagito then asked the Big Five. "Who is dueling? Oh and what about your benefactor?"
"Our what?" Crump asked.
"He speaks nonsense," Johnson said, adjusting his glasses. "Ignore him."
"If I speak nonsense, why are you adjusting your glasses, Johnson? A kid like Noah couldn't have put all of this together by himself and you five can't interact with the real world. So, who's pulling the strings?"
"That's none of your concern," Crump said.
"I demand an answer!" Kaiba exclaimed.
"Oh you'll get an answer, but not about that," Crump stated. "I'll tell you about who's going to be dueling. Just to make sure that you all suffer equally, we'll be dueling against every one of you brats."
"Remember, we need to take over enough bodies to satisfy us and all of our interested parties. So the first five of you to lose will have the honor of gaining our minds while your minds will stay trapped here," Johnson stated.
This seemed to shake pretty much the entire group. "In your dreams!" Kaiba snapped.
"Ever since you destroyed our bodies, all we've had are our dreams, Mr. Kaiba," Gansley informed him, "until now. The time has come to make our dreams a reality." There was another bright flash of white light as the size of the Big Five distorted like a melting clock painting. "We will escape from this virtual abyss and leave you in our place for all eternity."
The Big Five, with their white, soulless eyes, then laughed at the group like something straight out of a creepy pasta.
"Our analysis shows your chances of escape are zero percent and falling sharply," Crump said. "In other words, you're all finished."
"Well put, Crump," Johnson complimented.
"It's only a matter of time before the five of us are set free from this virtual prison," Gansley stated. "Remember, when one of us defeats you, we'll take over your body, leaving your mind trapped here forever."
"And people tell me I like the sound of your own voice," Byakuya stated, rolling his eyes.
"You do though," Celeste said to him.
Byakuya only grinned, "Naturally."
"These crooks haven't changed a bit," Kaiba growled.
"Let's start this party!" Joey declared, making a fist, "You five stiffs are going down!"
Suddenly, the ground opened beneath Joey's feet as he fell into what seemed to be a bottomless pit, screaming all the while.
"Who's going down?" Gansley asked.
"Oh my," Celeste said, one hand on her cheek, one hand on her skirt, "I suppose he walked right into that one."
The hole then closed up with a flash of light.
"Joey, no!" Téa exclaimed.
"Nooooo!" Ibuki wailed. "Joey! Where am I supposed to find a big, handsome, ultra cool drummer now?!"
"That's your big concern?" Mai shouted.
"Before the virtual dueling begins," Gansley continued to taunt, "We plan to separate all of you."
"What?!" Téa exclaimed.
"Tata!" Gansley exclaimed and a hole in the ground opened underneath Téa as she fell to her Doom.
"Téa!" Yugi shouted, reaching out for her, but he was too late before she was unreachable.
"Uwaaaaah!" Mai exclaimed as she was next.
"Wheeeeeeeeee!" Ibuki exclaimed when it was her turn.
Celeste sat on the ground and remained expressionless when she was pulled down next, refusing to give her captors any sense of satisfaction.
"I'd say your profits are plummeting," Gansley said, barely able to hold back a laugh.
"Seto," Mokuba ran towards his big brother and, fortunately, they were able to fall together.
"Makoto!" Komaru ran towards her big brother only to fall in a hole.
"Komaru!" Makoto reached out for his little sisiter, lunging for her as he almost lost his shoe, but his hand only grabbed at the empty air as she fell.
"Big brotheeeeeeer!"
"Komaru!" Makoto shouted, his resolve shaken by the loss of his sister. Mom and dad are gonna kill me. It was a big brother's job to protect his little sister. Komaru was always the one propping him up on a pedestal and telling him "he couldn't do a thing without her", but Makoto knew it was because Komaru believed in him. Rather than despair over this though, in one of Makoto's rare moments of Alpha Male status, he scowled, grit his teeth and jumped down after his sister. "Hang on, Komaru! I'm coming!"
"There goes a really good big brother," Chiaki commented, only to suddenly feel air beneath her feet and start falling. "Oh my."
She held her skirt down for modesty's sake, whether it was needed or not as the G-forces eventually made her pass out.
When Chiaki woke up, she appeared to be in the middle of the arctic. "Ungh, ow," she grunted as she got to her feet. She looked around. The place certainly felt cold, but thanks to her jacket and double layers, she only felt a chilly breeze through her legs. She slung her backpack off, digging into it. "Oh good. They left all of my equipment." She put on a pair of big, thick headphones. "Not exactly earmuffs, but they'll substitute I suppose." She then took another look around and spoke her objectives out loud to herself. "Main objective: Stop the Big Five. Secondary objective: Find my friends." She took her Ipod out of her coat pocket and plugged her head phones in. I wonder if this'll work. Let's see…Stranded Ship…Stranded Ship…ah here we are. A Cool Reception: Stranded Ship Theme." Chiaki turned on her music and then began platforming her way across the icy environment, careful not to slip. My leg feels 100% better. This is certainly VR all right. I should still be careful though.
She then continued off in search of her comrades. Of course, she was not alone in her hunt for her comrades, her friends and allies were waking up in fields, wastelands, aboard sky flying ships and even inside caves. Reactions ranged from Celeste wanting to give the Big Five a piece of her mind, to Byakuya and Kaiba being decisively unamused, worry, like Makoto, and pure, ignorant jubilance…which seemed to be reserved only for Ibuki…even as she was chased by Mad Sword Beast.
"Eheeheeheeheehee! Catch me if you can! Ibuki is invincible and you're not! Lalalalalalala!" Ibuki giggled, frolicking about.
However, in her frolicking, she ended up, stumbling over a rock and tripped. "Ouch. Owww, that really hurt." Ibuki gasped. "Wait, but Ibuki couldn't hurt before! Her hands and feet passed through all obstacles!" She looked back at the rampaging Mad Sword Beast. "EEEEEEK! No don't crush me!" Ibuki exclaimed.
"Hiiiiiyaaaah!" A proud, feminine voice pierced the air as a purple boot kicked the rhinoceros, dinosaur, turtle-backed thing in the face, irritating the crap out of it. The creature turned to see Mai Valentine nearby, who then slapped it across the face.
"Shame on you, attacking a poor defenseless girl. Bad boy! Very bad boy!" Mai shouted.
The beast ran off with a whimper, scared of the dominant female that made herself look about 7 feet tall. "Need a hand, hon?" Mai asked, reaching down for Ibuki.
"Wow, thanks Mai. You're a lifesaver," Ibuki said, letting Mai pull her to her feet and rubbing the back of her head. "Just what I'd expect from my new lead singer."
"Heh," Mai said with a confident smirk. "Come on, let's go look for the others. I hope we find Joey soon. Without me around to wipe his nose for him, who knows what sort of dumb stuff he'd get himself into."
Ibuki giggled. "Mai really cares about Joey, doesn't she?"
"Sh-shut up!" Mai exclaimed, blushing.
Bonk!
"Ow! You hit me," Ibuki complained, rubbing her sore head.
"S-sorry," Mai apologized.
"Well, as long as you're sorry, Ibuki forgives you," Ibuki said and wrapped her arms around Mai's arm, practically purring.
Mai sighed and walked arm in arm with her comrade to look for the others.
"Achoo!" Joey sneezed. "Someone must be talkin' about me behind my back. I'll bet anything its Frenchy, probably something about how I'd be the first to get my body snatched or somethin'." Joey looked around his current surroundings. He was in some sort of academy with red carpets, weird paintings on the walls and hallways that connected in multiple locations at different angles.
"Man, good thing I don't have vertigo, or I'd seriously be coughing up breakfast," Joey said as he looked down and the rest of the room was sideways and he was wondering why he wasn't falling.
He then found himself at the entrance of a winding staircase leading up. He sighed. "This looks like a pain in neck." He then took a deep breath, steeled his resolve and started hustling up the stairs as quickly as he could.
"Achoo!" Celeste let out a cute sneeze. "Hmm. I wonder who's talking about me." She hadn't the faintest clue. She was currently wandering the halls of a stone castle she'd emerged in front of. "Well, at least they had the courtesy to drop me off somewhere hospitable. Still, when I find those barbarians, they are going to be sorry they ever met the Queen of Liars."
Chiaki continued to play her self-imposed platformer as she began to notice all of the penguins that were growing in density as she progressed through the self-imposed stage. Eventually, she came to a gap to large for her to feel that she could jump across. Like the gamer she was, she spent several seconds, jumping on the ice platform at nothing that could be seen. After she was done, she said, "Well that's disappointing. How am I supposed to get across?" She looked all around. She could try swimming, but that water looked really cold and she didn't have a change of clothes. She knelt on the floe and dipped her hand into the water. Yup, freezing cold. Chiaki dipped both her hands in to try and float herself closer to the platform to make the jump manageable.
"Yup. There we go." Backing up to the edge of the platform, Chiaki took a running start and leapt over the platform, landing and almost slipping, but she managed to maintain her footing. She wiped her brow. "Whew."
As she continued to walk, she eventually saw more and more penguins gathering until she came to a huge stone building, towering over the landscape and marked with penguin statues and gargoyles.
"Penguin Castle?" Chiaki asked, tilting her head. "Yup. This looks like a boss room." She put on a determined look and removed her headphones. "Maybe I'll run into a member of the big five." She darted up the stairs to the door and pushed it open. "Hello?" she called.
Inside the room were more penguins than Chiaki could count. "…Not what I'm looking for."
However, before she could walk out and leave, a voice called out, "And just what were you looking for, little Chiaki?"
"That voice!" Chiaki exclaimed, scowling and turning around. "You're a member of the Big Five!" She shouted, pointing and then pulling her arm down at her side, making a fist. "Show yourself!"
Chiaki saw a monster materialize onto a table. It was a fattened, short penguin in a top hat and tuxedo with a little bowtie. "Nightmare Penguin."
"You really do know your stuff, dontcha kiddo? That's right, I'm currently using the form of Nightmare Penguin," the creature said, its beak moving like normal human lips. "But I'm actually Crump of the Big Five, former CFO of Kaiba Corp."
Chiaki grit her teeth and looked at Crump the way an angry cat would.
"Don't get so mad, little Chiaki, age 16, 5' 2", size 5 sneaker, chest size 88cm. I mathematically calculated whose body would be most suited for me and the numbers say that yours would be the best."
"That's not happening! By your own rules, if you want my body that badly, you'll have to duel me for it!"
"I was hoping you'd say that!" Crump chuckled. "Once I've defeated you, which I will, I'll be able to go back to the real world as a teenage girl, just like I always wanted."
"Gross," Chiaki commented. "And by the way, you won't win. I…" She reached for her deck in her jacket pocket, only to find it missing." She pat herself down.
"You won't be needing your real deck in cyber space," Crump told her.
Suddenly the entire room cracked and shattered as Chiaki found herself standing on a cylindrical iceberg, Crump standing on one of his own less than about 10-12 meters away. A duel disk appeared on Chiaki's arm as a bunch of cards began scrolling upwards in front of her in five rows of five.
"Oh, so a pick up duel," Chiaki said. "I get it."
What the hell? Does nothing really faze this girl? Might have to recrunch the numbers on her. Can't be too careful.
Chiaki looked around at her environment. She noticed the ocean, the ice floes and felt the cold breeze across her whole body. Nodding firmly, she began picking card after card, making sure not to miss her absolute favorite. Soon, she had a 40-card deck prepared and ready to go.
"So, do you remember the rules?" Crump asked. "I'll be dueling as myself: Nightmare Penguin! And you, little Chiaki?"
Chiaki looked at her deck, consisting of many more monsters than she was used to dueling with. However, this was all part of her strategy based on what she was suspecting about her opponent. As she sifted through her deck, she thought: Without knowing what each deck master can do, it's probably best I pick a monster I can trust. She plucked an effect monster from her deck. "And there's no card I trust more than this one." She raised it to the sky. "Thunderclap Skywolf!"
With a loud thunderclap and a proud howl, Chiaki's favorite monster appeared on the iceberg with her.
Crump squawked looking a bit pale. "Er, um, wh-why that one?"
Chiaki tilted her head. "Well, you're a penguin and it's a wolf." She put a finger along the side of her lower lip. "I thought maybe it could eat you. If the deck master is destroyed, you lose the duel right."
Crump squawked louder looking panicked.
"And besides," Chiaki said, turning to the side and laying her arms and the side of her head on her deck master. "He's fluffy."
Crump felt a bead of sweat run down his virtual body. Sh-she's trying to psyche me out. Friggin kid. No matter! I'll win this duel and then I'll be the Ultimate Gamer. "Ready to lose your body, little Chiaki?"
"I'm ready to duel you and win actually."
Crump chuckled. "Well said, but you won't stand a chance against me."
"We'll see about that!" Chiaki shouted back.
"Let's duel!" they declared simultaneously.
"I'll go first!" Crump declared, plucking the top card of his deck with his flipper. "I play the monster card Giant Red Seasnake!" The grotesque red monster appeared. "And thanks to the special ability of Nightmare Penguin, any water monster I play on the battlefield gains an extra 200 attack points." The snake grew a little in size as its attack rose to 2000. It now had 2000 attack and 800 defense points. "It's your move."
"My turn then," Chiaki said, as she went for the top card of her deck, "Draw!" She put the card in her hand, giving her six. "From my hand, I summon to the field Pahunder, in attack mode!" A humanoid made of lightning and wearing a green outfit appeared with a bolt of lightning and a clap of thunder. It had 1300 attack points and 600 defense points.
"And what's that supposed to do? With its attack points you won't be frying fish any time soon."
"Then let's do the math," Chiaki said. She rose her arm to the sky. "I active Pahunder's special ability, which lets me summon Mahunder to the field as well!" A lady humanoid in a red outfit made of lightning appeared on the battlefield alongside the male one. It had 1400 attack points and 700 defense points. "And now, I activate the rare spell card, Double Summon!" Chiaki shouted, slapping it into the duel disk, "This allows me yet another summon this turn, and I sacrifice both Mahunder and Pahunder to summon the almighty Sanga of the Thunder!"
Lightning cracked and thunder clapped with a loud BOOM as the 2600 guardian spirit monster appeared. "Sanga! Attack! Electric Shock!"
From the orbs atop its…head…shoulders…on the top of its body, Sanga generated massive amounts of electricity and zapped Crump. He lost 600 life points from the attack, bringing him down to 3400 life points.
"First blood is mine," Chiaki said. "Your move."
Crump grumbled and drew the top card of his deck. "I activate my own rare spell card, Cost Down. Now, by discarding one card, I can summon any monster for one less tribute this turn. And I choose my Defender Iceberg, in defense mode." A massive elemental in the shape of an iceberg with 0 attack and 2450 defense points appeared, kneeling on one knee with its arms over its body in an X-pattern. "And then I equip it with the spell Power of Kaishin, raising its attack and defense by 300 points each. And let's not forget the boost from Nightmare Penguin."
Defender Iceberg grew even bigger until it had 500 attack and 2750 defense points, which was enough to prevent Sanga from destroying it.
"Now, I'll place one card face-down onto the field and end my turn," Crump stated.
"Then its my turn again," Chiaki thought. "Draw!" she pulled the top card of her deck and placed it in her hand. "I summon to the field, Sishunder!" A younger looking lightning-based humanoid with pigtails appeared. It had 900 attack and 400 defense points. "And thanks to her special ability, I can bring Mahunder back from the graveyard to my hand." She showed the card to Crump. "The family that stays together, slays together. And now, I'll place one card face-down. That ends my turn."
"Of course it does. With Defender Iceberg in play, you can't get at my life points. But I can get at yours, even with that massive guardian spirit on the field. Let me show you how."
He drew the top card of his deck. "I summon to the field Penguin Torpedo!" A penguin shaped torpedo appeared. It had 550 attack points and 300 defense points. "And thanks to my deck master special ability, it gains an extra two hundred attack points." The attack power rose to 750 as the little guy's thrusters kicked in. "But wait, there's more. Penguin Torpedo can attack my opponent directly. And I calculate that this will put me in the lead."
Crump's penguin launched itself past Sishunder and under Sanga and hit Chiaki in the chest, exploding, knocking her on her ass.
"Ungh!" Her life points ticked back to 3250. I'm okay. I've fought a shadow game. This… She pushed herself back to her feet. This is nothing! She gave Crump a tough look. "You should've saved that for later in the duel. One hit of less than 1000 life points won't make a difference."
"On the contrary," Crump said. "I wouldn't make such a miscalculation. I activate the continuous spell card: Ocean of Regeneration." Crump declared, playing the last card in his hand. "This magic card allows me to summon a monster to the field from my graveyard with less than 1000 attack points every single turn. That means I can keep bringing back Penguin Torpedo from the graveyard and attack you directly every single turn. And since Penguin Torpedo destroys itself when it attacks, you'll have no hope of destroying it." Crump laughed, squawking. "In less than 5 turns your life points will be at zero and your body will be mine. The Ultimate Gamer brought to her knees by the Ultimate Mathematician!"
"Shut up!" Chiaki shouted, managing to get Crump to clam up his beak.
"First you disrespect gaming, now you disrespect Hope's Peak?" Chiaki looked at Crump with a serious glare she'd never given a single opponent. No, not an opponent, a mere bug, a mere penguin shaped bug that she was going to stomp out with every single bit of her gaming prowess.
"It's my turn," Chiaki said. "Battle Mode initiated."
She drew the top card of her deck. "I discard the monster Thunder Dragon from my hand in order to get two more thunder dragons." She grabbed the two monsters and shuffled her deck. "Next, I summon Mahunder back to the field in attack position."
"That's all I can do this turn."
"So much for your big talk and scary glare," Crump said, drawing the top card of his deck. "I activate Ocean of Regeneration, allowing me to attack you with Penguin Torpedo yet again." The torpedo appeared, propelled itself into Chiaki and exploded, reducing her life points down to 2500, but this time the young gamer didn't so much as flinch from the impact.
"My turn," she said. And the beginning of my counterattack. "I summon to the field: The Calculator!"
A monster with 0 attack points and 0 defense points appeared. It looked a virtual boy had fused itself together with an old style telephone and a rock 'em sock 'em robot.
Crump squawked with laughter. "You summoned a monster with no attack points."
"Crump, you love your numbers so much. How's this for math? Calculator gains 300 attack points for all of the levels of the monsters on my field including itself."
"Huh? Oh, uh, let's see here," Crump began doing mental math and muttering to himself, counting the 4 stars from Mahunder and Sishunder, the 7 from Sanga and the 2 from Calculator itself. "2100 carry the 1…" He squawked. "5,100 attack points?! Oh no!"
"Calculator! Attack Defender Iceberg! Calculated Bolt Shockwave!" Chiaki's monster blasted defender iceberg into ice cubes with one mighty lightning blast.
"And now, Sanga of the Thunder attacks you directly!"
"Not so fast!" Crump declared. "I activate my spell card, Revenge Sacrifice! This spell card lets me rid the field of the monster that destroyed my monster and additionally lets me summon any monster I want from my hand, but seeing as I only have one monster, I think I'll summon it to the field. Go: Penguin King!"
An Emperor Penguin the size of a golem appeared in all its proud glory. "Pengu! Pengu!" Its baritone voice thundered. It had 2400 attack points and 2400 defense points. "And thanks to my deck master special ability, my monster gains 200 attack points!"
"Then I'll destroy both of our monsters together! Sanga of the Thunder, Attack!"
"Penguin King! Attack!"
Sanga's lightning blast barreled into Crump's penguin king, but the monster grabbed Sanga and dragged it under the sea where a lightning bolt blasted into the sky, but both monsters were now gone.
"Don't forget I still have two more monsters," Chiaki declared. "Mahunder, attack! Majestic Thunderpunch!"
Chiaki's monster punched Crump in the face, knocking Nightmare Penguin down onto its ass. His life points fell to 2000.
"And now, it's your turn, Sishunder! Attack with Little Spark Thunderpunch!"
With a big happy grin, Sishunder ran towards Crump and put on a mean look and bopped him on the beak, zapping him. His life points fell to 1100.
"Don't mess with gamers!" Chiaki declared proudly.
Crump got up and adjusted his bowtie. "I'm not underestimating anything. Life points don't matter, at least not until your below your last 1000. I'm still more than capable of beating you."
"Prove it," Chiaki said. "Because from where I'm standing," she gave Crump a thumb's down, "you're going down." Vicious for her? Yes. But Chiaki was all out of compassion for the creepy old man who was using games to hurt people and then had the nerve to sass her school. It was the first time, since Chiaki could remember, that victory had mattered so much to her.
Crump drew a card from the top of his deck and nodded. "I place one monster face-down on the field and end my turn."
"No Penguin Torpedo?" Chiaki asked.
"Lucky for you, I can't activate Ocean of Regeneration in the same turn that I normal summon or set a monster and visa versa. So you get to keep playing, for now."
"Then I'll take full advantage of my turn," Chiaki said, "I draw!"
She drew the top card of her deck. Yes!
"I activate the spell card Polymerization! This lets me fuse together the two Thunder Dragons in my hand to summon Twin Headed Thunder Dragon!" The two-headed, winged, red skinned, horned behemoth of a monster emerged with a pair of roars. "Lucky for you it can't attack this turn, but this duel is just about over. Mahunder! Attack his face-down monster!"
Crump grinned. "You've walked right into it!" His face-down monster happened to be the infamous Penguin Soldier. "Thanks to Penguin soldier's special ability, I can send any two monsters back to your hand, and I choose your Sishunder, which hasn't attacked and your Twin Headed Thunder Dragon, sending it back to your deck."
"No!" Chiaki exclaimed.
Crump laughed, holding his stomach, squawking. "Statistically speaking, I knew from the start you'd summon that monster and I had just the monster to counter it. How lucky that I just drew it."
"You mean you made yourself draw it."
"If you want to accuse me of cheating, you'll need more than words. Now then, where were we?"
"Me summoning Sishunder back to the field since I haven't summoned a monster yet and I'll use her special ability to put Pahunder back in my hand."
"My turn then," Crump said. "I draw." He grinned evilly when he saw his new card. "Sorry, little Chiaki, but you may as well give me your body now. I play March of the Penguins. This gives me 5 penguin tokens each with 200 attack and defense." 5 ornery penguins appeared on the battlefield. "They can't be sacrificed to summon a monster, but they each gain 200 attack points for every other penguin on the field, including themselves. And thanks to my deck master's special ability, they get even more attack points."
Crump now had an army of penguins on the field with 1400 attack points. "And I think I'll attack the cute little lightning girl you have on the field with one of my penguins. Go! Attack with flipper kung-fu!" Chiaki's monster was destroyed, reducing her life points down to 2000.
"And now, I'll destroy your other monster. Go! Penguin Kung-fu!"
"Mahunder!" Chiaki declared. She was now wide open. Crump had 3 more penguins to attack with and she only had 2000 life points.
"This duel is over," Crump chuckled. "Attack!"
Two of Crump's penguins attacked Chiaki, bringing her life points down to 0. He squawked. "Zero life points. That means I win."
Chiaki pushed herself up off the ground, one eye closed. "Hnngh, guess again." Her life points suddenly jolted back up to 1600. She got up to her feet, her whole body seeming to pulse with electricity as her quick-play spell card was revealed. It had a picture of a blue heart with thunderbolts running through it.
"It's called Static Recharge!" Chiaki declared. "It's a quick-play spell that automatically activates when my life points hit 0. It restores my life points by twice the amount that my life points were at before they reached 0. You do the math," Chiaki told Crump. "The only drawback is that, on my turn, I have to play a Thunder-type monster with more attack points than the amount of life points I regained or I automatically lose the duel at the end of my turn."
Crump squawked. "Well good luck with that. Because now I attack you with my last Penguin token." Chiaki got slapped upside the head with penguin kung-fu, bringing her life points down to 400. "Go ahead and make your last move, little Chiaki. It'll be the last move you ever make before your mind endlessly wanders cyber space."
"Your wrong," Chiaki said. "This duel is already over." She drew her card and then placed it in her hand.
"Well, did you draw a monster with 1600 attack points or more that you can summon."
"No," Chiaki said, holding her hand of two cards at her side.
Crump grinned. "Then that means I win."
"Incorrect!" Chiaki declared. "I never needed to draw a monster. I already have a monster I can play. He's been looking over the duel this whole time," Chiaki gave Crump her most serious game face. "And he's very hungry."
Crump's eyes shrunk inward when he realized exactly what Chiaki was talking about. He squawked. "N-now h-hang on a minute. L-let's talk about this." He backed up until his flipper reached the edge of the iceberg he was standing on.
"No. No more talking. This duel is over! Thunderclap Skywolf! Advance from the deck master zone to the field!" Chiaki shouted. "And now I activate your deck master special ability, destroying all face-up monsters on my opponent's side of the field when you enter the battlefield."
With a loud roar, Thunderclap Skywolf brought down lightning, which destroyed all four of Crump's flippered friends. "You're wide open and since Thunderclap Skywolf is my deck master, he won't get penalized by his usual "I skip my Battle Phase" effect, well, am I wrong?"
"N-no…"
"Then, it's over. Thundercalp Skywolf, attack! Thundering Skyblast!" Thunderclap Skywolf whipped its head to one side and then the other as its jaws crackled with lightning before it unleashed a powerful greenish-blue bolt of lighting from its mouth, which zapped Crump with extreme prejudice.
Crump's life points fell all the way to 0.
"I win!" Chiaki declared fiercely as Thunderclap Skywolf let out a triumphant howl of victory.
As the man embodying nightmare penguin fell over, sizzling and covered in soot, he sniffed the air. "What's that fried smell?" he looked at his flipper. "…Oh. It's me." He then passed out and vanished.
Exhausted from all the penguin slapping and the torpedoes, Chiaki collapsed on the iceberg.
When she woke up, she was on dry land, being shaken awake.
"Chiaki! Chiaki! Open your eyes! Wake up!"
"Nnngh, five more minutes," Chiaki mumbled, turning over in the arms of whoever was shaking her.
"Chiaki, this isn't the time for that! Our friends are in danger!"
Chiaki's eyes fluttered open to a head of spikey hair and a blue, open jacketed school uniform. "Oh," she rolled onto her back. "Hello, Yugi."
"Good, you're awake," and it was the actual Yugi rather than his counterpart using his body. "Need a hand?" he asked, offering her his hand.
Chiaki grabbed Yugi's hand and let him pull her to her feet. She was surprised to find that, if she didn't count Yugi's hair, that the two of them were almost the same height. Also, surprisingly, she was taller. "Am I…taller than you?" she asked for confirmation.
Yugi looked embarrassed. "D-don't rub it. I haven't hit my growth spurt yet."
"I wasn't trying to rub it in, I was just trying to confirm if I really am taller than you. And I think I am…by about an inch." She took a longer pause. "Probably."
"Let's compare heights later. We need to find our friends."
"Right," Chiaki said. "Although," she looked around at the Ice Floes. "Where do we go from here?"
As if to answer their question, the monster Sea King Dragon came floating along in the water, rising up and looking rather pacifistic for a Sea Serpent.
"Well, that solves one problem," Chiaki said, jumping onto it.
Yugi hesitated.
"Come on, it's just like playing a platform game," Chiaki said.
"I'm not very good at those," Yugi said shyly, scratching his cheek.
Chiaki puffed out her cheeks. "Come on, are you supposed to be the King of Games, or something?"
"B-board games and card games, mostly? I'm not good at everything. Besides, playing a platformer is really different from taking an actual leap like this."
Chiaki tilted her head to one side, confused. "Are they really that different?"
"Yes! Very different!" Yugi yelled at her.
Before Yugi could protest further however, Sea King Dragon picked him up with its tail and placed Yugi on its shell before paddling away. Yugi dropped flat on all fours, grabbing the shell for dear life.
"Are you scared?" Chiaki asked.
"Aren't you?" Yugi asked. "If we fall in that water, we'll catch a chill and likely die, even if this is virtual reality."
"…I'll share my body heat."
"That just creates more problems!" Yugi shouted, blushing.
Chiaki, rather than continue this seemingly pointless discussion, slid off Sea King Dragon's shell down to his neck and rubbed its long neck, pointing in the direction she wanted to go. The monster gave off a long cry like a whale that swallowed an airhorn and paddled forward.
Despite his nerves, Yugi was at least able to take comfort in knowing that he and Chiaki had each taken down a member of the Big 5. That's two down, three to go, Yugi thought. But who knows what else is out there and what other surprises Noah has in store for us. He looked forward with a determined gaze. Téa, Tristan, Joey, Duke, Ibuki, Mai, Celeste, wait for me. I'll rescue you all! I promise!
(A/N: Yugi, Mai and Celeste don't need you to rescue them, nor do they want you to. But I guess it's the thought that counts. I'll actually be taking a brief hiatus (and by brief I mean it could be at least another month before we see another chapter) to compile a full outline of this arc. I skimmed a lot that I could've included, but I really wanted to provide you the Chiaki Vs Crump duel with the Thunderclap Skywolf "I thought it could eat you" joke I've had since practically day 1. And yes, Yugi took Gansley down off screen and we will be following the others soon enough. Since I don't have my full outline, I don't know who will be dueling next, but I know that it's between two charactes: Kaiba and Nagito. Nagito will be dueling an OC I created to give people someone to duel. (no points for guessing who wins that one), but since it's too soon for Kaiba to be dueling Leichter obviously—which will go untouched—he will be dueling a very special guest to this arc. Beyond that, and I say this knowing what I imply, aside from Yugi's duel with Gansley, and Kaiba's duels with Gozaboro, Leichter and Noah, every other duel in this arc is different. I'll go so far as to say that aside from those specific duels that I mentioned, no other duels will even face characters they did in canon. So look forward to seeing what I have in store for you all. Don't worry though, Tristan is still going to duel. I have something special planned for Tristan Timothy Taylor. Heh heh heh. Oh, and feel free to start making guesses about upcoming duels and who will be participating and what not. Keep in mind that all canon duels will happen meaning that Nezzbit will still duel 3 on 1 and the Big 5 will challenge another 5 on 2. (possibly a 5 on 1, but I'm on the fence about that), and there are more duels than them on the way. Let me know what you're expecting/wanting. And don't think I've forgotten our supporting cast that's still on the blimp. They'll all have their role to play as well. But until next time, as always, from all of me, to all of you, let your hearts stay human and your wrath draconic. Ja ne!)
Original cards and what they do -
Penguin King: 2400 ATK / 2400 DEF - Vanilla monster
March of the Penguins - Summon as many Penguin tokens (Water/Aqua 200 ATK / 200 DEF) as there is space on your side of the field. They all have the following ability. "This monster gains 200 ATK for every monster on the field with Penguin in its name.
Static Recharge - Activate this card if your life points would become 0 as a result of battle or an opponent's card effect. Gain life points equal to twice the number of life points you had before this card was activated. During the End phase of your next turn, if you do not control a Thunder-type monster with ATK greater than or equal to the amount of life points gained by this effect, you lose the duel.