(A/N: Hey, everyone! Been a while hasn't it? Sorry about that. Life is rough, but here we are, back again. If I'm disappointed about anything, it's only that I couldn't promote the fact that I was going to AnimeNext this year, but, since I'm sure this story will still be going, I'll do that next year since I plan on hosting a panel.
The good news is, this story, aside from a few plot driven scenes, is planned for duels straight through Makoto Vs Yugi, so we won't need to take any kind of hiatus until then. And without further ado, since I know you're all chomping at the bit, let's get started).
Nagito Komaeda knew that his bad luck had a way of catching up with him eventually. His good luck was so fortunate the day before. Even considering the fact that he dueled Odion instead of Marik and Noah's capturing of him, Nagito knew he was still due for some more bad luck.
Being forced to wander an endless virtual desert with no food or water certainly counted, but, to Nagito, still didn't completely bring his bad luck and good luck cycle to equilibrium. He was still owed something heinous. He just didn't know what.
It didn't help that he'd already come to suspect the mastermind of this situation. The technology, the Big 5, everything pointed to only one potential mastermind. And the sad thing was, if Nagito turned out to be right, it would make the situation very boring to him. Yugi and Kaiba were some of the most hopeful people he had ever met. The very idea that the mastermind of this situation thought he was anywhere in their ball park, was laughable.
To prevent the heat from making him collapse, Nagito had already gone through the trouble of tying his hoodie around his waist by tying the sleeves together in a knot. At the very least, the virtual world was a marvel of technology, the sweat dripping down his arms and face felt very real.
As he peered at the sun in front of him, closing one eye and panting from the dry heat, he thought, if I don't lose my body to one of the big five, this heat will certainly kill me.
Just then, however, he saw a dust cloud approaching. No, it was galloping judging from the sound. As it drew closer, Nagito saw it had hulking, pinkish purplish biceps and had large, red horns atop its head. It also seemed to be wielding a hefty looking, two handed, double-sided battle axe.
Nagito stopped walking, letting the figure draw near. It eventually stopped in front of him, revealing itself as the monster Minoan Centaur.
The monster snorted at him. "Ah, finally, a human to toy with."
"Oh? A talking monster. Could it be you're one of the Big Five?" Nagito asked, hands in his pockets, smirking smugly.
"Nope. Name's Kemo. I'm just the hired help. And you're the first snot-nosed punk I've come across."
Nagito sighed. I do not have time for such meager hopes. "Sorry, but could you let me pass? I'm in a rush. If you're looking to duel me, you really don't want my body. It's...a really bad one. I wonder if luck is transferable because I'm me or if it's my mind or soul. Either way, it'd be bad if someone else was in my body. "You really don't want to do this."
"Listen, kid," Kemo said, "I'm not good for much anymore. I lost my job with Industrial Illusions after I betrayed Kaiba Corp for them. Hope's Peak is counting on me as a bodyguard/guinea pig. And you, custard head, you're not gonna tell anyone about Gozaboro Kaiba."
"Kaiba's stepfather?" Nagito inquired rhetorically. He smiled. "I see. So, he really is in charge of the situation." Nagito grinned unsettlingly. "But how are he and Noah related? Hmm...oh well, I suppose I can figure that out after I beat you," he said happily.
"Try it, kid. Cause you're about to lose your body to me!" Kemo exclaimed as a duel disk appeared on his arm.
Even if I did, it wouldn't be for long, Nagito thought and he called forth a duel disk as the card index started scrolling in front of him.
"Huh? What's this?"
"It's the card database. It contains all the cards we use for this virtual tournament."
"I see. So it's a pick up duel." I should pick something suitable for a deck master. I need something to end this duel as quickly as possible. He spotted the card Dice Jar. That'll do.
Both Nagito and Kemo obtained their decks. "My deckmaster is the powerful Minoan Centaur!" Kemo declared. "What's yours?"
Nagito held up Dice Jar. "This monster. Dice Jar." The jar with a weird face, like it had permanent-orgasm face disorder, appeared at Nagito's side.
"What a pathetic monster. This'll be over soon."
You have no idea, Nagito thought.
"My turn first," Kemo declared and drew the top card from his deck. "And now, I activate my deckmaster special ability. By paying 800 life points per monster, I can summon up to 2 level beast-type normal monsters from my deck. So say hello to my friends, two Pale Beasts!"
Kemo's life points were reduced to 2400.
"Next, I'll play one card face-down onto the field," Kemo said as the proper hologram appeared. "It's your move."
"My turn," Nagito said, feeling bored. "And, I'll activate my deckmaster's special ability." Suddenly, two six-sided, stone dice appeared, a red one, for Kemo, and a blue one, for Nagito. They were the size of an appetizer plate. Dice Jar then floated into the center of the arena and aimed its face at the ground. "We both roll these dice at my deck master, who will then suck them up and spit them out. The loser will take damage equal to the winner's roll minus their roll times a thousand. However, if the winner rolls a six, the loser takes six thousand damage."
"Why do you sound so bored?"
"Because I already know what's going to happen." Nagito rolled the die and it got sucked up into Dice Jar's mouth. Kemo, as Minoan Centaur, at the same time, pelted the die at Dice Jar." It sucked up both dice and then puked the red one back out. It was a 5. However, before Kemo could even gloat, Dice Jar puked up Nagito's blue die, revealing a six.
"You lose," Nagito said.
"What?! So soon?!" Kemo shouted as his deck master began to fade. "No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He disappeared into a thousand pixels that were scattered and then vanished.
Nagito sighed. "I should've figured." He picked his head up. "I need to be locating my friends." What bad luck. That was depressingly easy.
Yugi and Chiaki had been atop Sea King dragon for what felt like an hour, but had really only been twenty minutes at most. The dragon was now out of the ice floes and dropping the duo off at the edge of a lush meadow. Chiaki jumped off first and Yugi quickly followed. Sea King dragon gave a proud cry and then dove back into the ocean.
Chiaki looked across the lush meadow with the side of her hand on her forehead, scanning the horizon for any indication of the direction she and Yugi should travel.
"See anything?" Yugi asked her.
Chiaki shook her head. "No, but let's stick together. Splitting up our party would reduce our tactical advantage by over thirty percent."
"Er…okay…" Yugi said, not really sure how to respond to Chiaki's gamer lingo. He took a deep breath. "I hope we find our friends soon."
"Yes, and I'm very worried about Hajime most of all. If he's alone…" Chiaki folded her arms, looking gravely apprehensive, "I don't know if he'll be all right."
"Yeah, those are my worries too about Joey," Yugi said. "Come on, let's go."
Chiaki nodded and the two headed off together, keeping an eye out for their friends.
Of course, Yugi and Chiaki's friends weren't the only ones in peril and in need of rescue. Komaru Naegi was lost in a dense forest, the area surrounded by Basic Insects and Flying Kamikiris, both varieties. With no duel monster of her own to fight back, Komaru had gone into, what any gamer would refer to as stealth mode and was hoping from tree to tree and using the leaves and trunks as cover to avoid being spotted by the insects.
As she burrowed into the leaves of one branch, peeking at the forest through her eyes, she thought to herself, It's a good thing I spend all that time doing gymnastics training at school.
She spent some time looking for her next landing spot and noticed a tree branch not that far away. Komaru nodded to herself, poked up out of her hiding spot, waited for the right moment and leapt. Unfortunately, her shoe lace snagged on a twig and Komaru's leap was foiled as she went tumbling head over heels towards the ground, screaming.
She didn't hurt herself too badly as she landed elbows first on the plush grass. However, she had now become surrounded by bugs. Having no other instincts, Komaru, held her hands by her shoulders and screamed as loud as she could.
"EEEEEEEYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" in the highest pitch she could muster.
Suddenly, the galloping of thick feet trampled through the forest as one of the big insects was bowled over and destroyed, a Mad Sword Beast came rampaging through the woods, barreling over the insects and threatening them with its big horn and large stature. The insects fled as one of the people atop the beast shouted, "YAHOOOOOO! Ride 'em Cowboy!"
Komaru only now looked at the people atop the rescuing monster. "Ibuki! Mai!"
Mai dismounted the creature on one side and Ibuki on the other as Komaru ran over to Mai and gave her a big hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"
Mai stroked Komaru's head. "Glad to see you're still in one piece. You all right, there, kiddo?"
Komaru let go of Mai and nodded. "Mmmhmm, I'm a-okay," she said, now feeling reassured and confident from Mai and Ibuki's presences. However, she then looked confused. "But, uh…what's with the dino?"
Mad Sword Beast roared.
Ibuki pet his horn. "Mai was super awesome. This guy was chasing around Ibuki and she was like AAAAAAH, but then Mai kicked him in the face and he ran away, but then he came back with a big branch of grapes and now we're friends!" Ibuki explained, talking fast. And after a small pause added, "His name is Terry!"
Komaru just stared in bewilderment. She was at a loss for words.
"We should stick together," Mai said, getting back on Terry and offering Komaru her hand. Komaru let Mai pull her up onto Terry's back.
"I hope we find my brother soon. I'm really worried about him."
"Same, though I'm mostly worried about Joey. Who knows what sort of trouble he could get into unattended."
"Hey! Why are you focusing on only one person each?" Ibuki asked, gasping. "Ibuki's worried about everyone! Those Big Five guys are total creeps! Nobody should lose their body to them!"
"You know, you're right Ibuki. Let's go find the Big Five and Mai can show them why she's an awesome professional duelist!"
Mai laughed. "Yes, I suppose I'll show them what happens when you mistreat a lady. Something a lot of boys have learned the hard way."
"Oooh! Oooh! I smell story time! Forward, Terry! Hiyah!" Ibuki exclaimed, slapping the side of her ankle against Terry's shoulder as he lumbered through the forest.
Mai stared at the sky and towards the sun through the trees. "When I was younger, I used to be a dealer at a casino. Eventually I quit and started dueling. It all started when…
As Mai began launching into a long story about how she became a professional duelist, Celestia Ludenburg continued to wander around the stone castle she had arrived in the virtual world in. She was slowly starting to lose her patience as the Big Five had her trapped and had done nothing to make this prisoner's game exciting. For Celestia Ludenburg, escape rooms were nothing she was unfamiliar with, but it was if someone had forgotten to put the escape tools in the entire building. She'd been unable to locate the front door, there was no food in the kitchen, and the only staircases to the roof were covered in rubble.
However, eventually, Celeste discovered an out of place door at the end of a short veered off hallway. In front of her now stood a double door that was painted red with silver handles. Inside, Celeste saw an old-style freight elevator that only seemed to be able to descend downward and there was only one other floor besides this one. She pressed the button and it began to descend downward, down to where there was no light, down to where she drew ever closer to the depths of hell. Down…towards destiny.
Eventually, Celeste ended up in a fancy looking courtroom where there were on gallery benches and no jury, only a witness stand and the judge's bench. The floor was painted black and white like a chess board and a red carpet pointed from the elevator through and around the witness stand all the way to the judge's bench. Red curtains and blue walls adorned the courtroom, but no light seemed to peer through the curtains.
"Where am I?" Celeste wondered aloud, narrowing her gaze.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps could be heard as well as the closing a very heavy door as a man in a suit with short brown hair and glasses approached Celeste from behind. He adjusted his glasses by the frame. "That's right, Taeko," he said to her. "Welcome to my courtroom."
Celeste put her whole fist in front of her mouth, raising her eyebrows suspiciously. "My name is Celestia Ludenburg. Who is this Taeko?" she asked calmly.
The man chuckled. "When in a courtroom, it is important to never refer to the defendant by any alias. You're on trial, Miss Yasuhiro."
Celeste gnashed her teeth. "MY! NAME! Is CELESTIA LUDENBURG!" she shouted, losing he temper.
"Your name," the man said to her, "Is Taeko Yasuhiro."
"No. It. Isn't," Celeste growled.
The man sighed. "I'm Johnson, Attorney at law and former chief legal advisor of the Kaiba Corporation. And you, Miss Yasuhiro, are to be my next court case."
"Not interested," Celeste said dismissively. "And it's Miss Ludenburg."
"I'm not giving you a choice. If you fail to appear in court, then you're guilty of obstruction of justice. It's time to take you in for all of your gambling, Miss Yasuhiro."
"You have a problem with gamblers?" Celeste asked.
Johnson walked around to the other side of the witness stand. "I've seen far too many gamblers throw their money away and end up poorer than a rat in a back alley. The house always comes to collect in the end, Miss Yasuhiro."
"Then you haven't met me," Celeste said sharply. "I'm the Ultimate Gambler for a reason. Well, I will be in about a year," she said, rubbing her finger along her chin.
Johnson smirked. "Shall I take that as you willing to stand trial?"
"Quite," Celeste said. "And I shall self-represent."
"Excellent," Johnson said, walking to the judge's bench, "Then," he shifted into his form as the Judge Man. "Let the trial of the century begin. Court is now in session for the trial of one Taeko Yasuhiro, calling herself the alias Celestia Ludenburg. The winner of this trial will obtain her body, while the loser will have their mind digitized in this world for all eternity."
Celeste, tired of correcting Johnson, simply questioned his choice of monster. "Judge man?"
"Who better to be my deck master than the most judicious of all monsters. This is also my courtroom. So I suggest you behave yourself. Here, I am judge, jury and executioner," Johnson told her.
"And also the kangaroo it would seem," Celeste snarked. "Fine. Let's get this over with. I suppose it'll be quicker to escape if I duel one of you boorish individuals."
The card database appeared in front of Celeste, scrolling upwards.
"Please choose the cards to form your deck," Johnson told her. "This will be your evidence and witnesses for the trial."
Celeste began picking cards she felt would be most useful to her. However, as a few she recognized from her duels in Battle City flew by, she paused when she saw one in particular: Time Wizard.
As she thumbed through Joey's deck, Celeste paused at one of the cards in it, "Time Wizard?"
"Huh? Hey, what're you going through my deck for?" Joey asked, snatching it out of her hands.
"What? It's not as if it matters. I'm disqualified, remember? I'm only trying to get a better feel for what you use so I can help you improve your deck. Yugi already stands a fair chance at beating Marik. You do want to win, right?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you just go looking through my deck while my back is turned, show some class."
"My apologies," Celeste chuckled as she watched Joey shuffle his deck. "Still, I never thought someone like you would have such a rare card like Time Wizard."
"How the hell else do you think I stayed in this tournament after losing Red-Eyes?" Joey asked, with a big smile.
"Oh, I don't know. Dashing good looks?" Celeste asked with a mocking chuckle.
"Ha ha, very funny, Frenchy," Joey said sarcastically. He said down in his chair and looked at Time Wizard. "Yugi gave me this card at the start of Duelist Kingdom. Almost never fought a duel without it during Duelist Kingdom. And even in Battle City, its helped me out a few times."
"For a card with such sentimental value, I'm surprised you never used it during our duel. You didn't even use it against Byakuya. Do you think maybe it's time to retire it?"
"Hell no! Yugi gave me this card! It stays!"
"Just a joke, Joey. No need to get so worked up."
Why am I thinking about that dolt at a time like this? Celeste thought, only to notice Time Wizard almost completely disappear from the scrolling database. Gasping, she selected the card for her deck, only to flex her hand and look at it and wonder why she just did that.
"They taught me to have faith in my deck and about the heart of the cards."
"But a true duelist knows he can pull the right card as long as he's got heart."
Celeste chuckled sinisterly. All right, I'll try it your way for once, she thought. Let's see just how much truth there is to this Heart of the Cards philosophy.
With Celeste and Johnson's decks fully created, Celeste held up a card. "I will select Time Wizard as my deck master!"
The clock-faced wizard appeared next to her.
"And I have already taken the form of my deck master," Johnson said. "Are you ready to begin?" he asked Celeste.
"I am," she said.
"Let's duel!" they declared simultaneously.
"The prosecution will now give its opening statement," Johnson said. "I draw." He drew a card from the top of his deck. "And I shall activate the spell card Polymerization to fuse Firegrass with Petit Dragon to summon Darkfire Dragon." The elongated, fire-wreathed dragon appeared with 1500 attack points and 1250 defense points. "Next, I play two cards face-down and end my turn." The hologram for two face-down spell/trap cards appeared. "The defense may now give its opening statement."
"I draw," Celeste said. "And I activate Cup of Ace. By flipping a coin, if its head, I draw two cards. If tails, you draw two cards."
"Very well, the defense may flip its coin."
Celeste flipped the manifested coin through the air and watched it carefully. She'd done this antic well over a hundred times. And yet, when she revealed the coin to be tails, she was at a loss for words.
"You flipped tails, that means I get to draw two cards," Johnson said, replenishing his hand to three cards. "That's what you get for relying on luck."
Celeste gave a stern gaze towards Johnson. I've never failed at a coin toss before. What the hell? Hmm, perhaps this world being virtual it can control probability. She shook her head mentally. No, I don't have the case to make to call my opponent a cheater. I'll let it go for now.
"Something you wish to say Miss Yasuhiro?" Johnson asked.
"Only that I place one monster face-down onto the field," Celeste said, setting the card, "And three cards face-down onto the field," three spell/trap cards appeared on Celeste's side of the field. "And end my turn."
"Then it is my turn once more," Johnson said. "I draw." He picked up the top card from his deck and looked at his hand and at Celeste. She's playing things awfully close to her chest. He smirked inwardly. Well, I'll just have to destroy that poker face of hers. "From my hand I discard the card King of the Swamp, just as a business venture must drain its swamp to be less corrupt." He sent the card to the graveyard. "In doing so, I get a polymerization spell card to my hand. After all, once your swamp is drained, you can more easily merge your business. Then, I substitute The Water – Hex Sealed Fusion in my hand for Fusionist in order to fuse the monster Rare Fish!"The lion-headed, fish-tailed behemoth appeared on the field with 1500 attack points and 1200 defense points. "Next, I activate my two face-down, continuous spell cards: Sinister Justice and Leading Question. With Sinister Justice, all level four or lower fusion monsters I control can attack the turn they are summoned and when they inflict battle damage, I gain 800 life points. And with leading question, whenever a level four or lower fusion monster battles another monster, it gains 800 attack points during that battle only."
"And now, Rare Fish, attack her face-down monster,"
With the 800 attack point boost granted from Leading Question, Celeste's monster, Stealth Bird, was completely annihilated.
"And now, Darkfire Dragon, attack her life points directly.
Celeste was wreathed in fire, screaming in pain as her life points dropped all the way to 2500.
"Burn like the witch you are, Taeko Yasuhiro," Johnson said as his life points rose to 4800.
Celeste hunched over her stand as flash of light seemed to cut through her left eye and crimson fire seemed to burn in her iris. "My name…is CELESTIA LUDENBURG!"
Celeste stood with a rigid posture and a determined, angry stare. Her second wind was about to blow.
"My turn," Celeste said, glaring. She drew the top card of her deck lightning quick as she placed it in her hand. "I summon Blizzard Falcon to the field in attack mode!" The all ice falcon appeared with a cry and 1500 attack points strong. "And with my face-down card, Metalmorph, I raise Blizzard Falcon's attack to 1800. And now, since its attack is currently higher than its original attack, I can inflict 1500 points of damage directly to your life points. Go, Blizzard Falcon! Icy Wind Storm!"
Johnson felt the cool blast of Blizzard Falcon's attack envelop the courtroom, sting his face and reduce his life points down to 3300.
"This witch isn't ready to burn yet. My stone cold determination," she said as he red eyes flashed with hatred and contempt, "Still blows fiercely."
"And now, I use Blizzard Falcon to attack!" Celeste said, pointing at Rare Fish! Thanks to Metalmorph, no matter which monster I attack, my monster will gain 750 attack points, more than enough to wipe out the monster its attacking, even when boosted by Leading Question.
"Objection!" Johnson declared, banging his gavel. "I activate my deck master special ability, Clear the Courtroom! By paying 1000 life points, I rid the field of your monster and inflict 500 points of damage to you for each monster destroyed."
Johnson's life points fell to 2300.
"I challenge that objection with this," Celeste said, revealing another trap card, "Icarus Attack!"
"What?!" Johnson declared, surprised.
"Since your deck master special ability is targeting my monster, that means I can activate a spell or trap of my own as part of a chain. And thanks to Icarus Attack, I can sacrifice my monster before it is sent to the graveyard by your ability, rescuing my life points. However, thanks to this trap card, I can destroy any two cards on the field. So I think I'll dismantle this cushy little, biased courtroom you have going on." Johnson's spell cards shattered into a million pieces.
"And since you can't target any monsters with your deck master special ability now, you paid 1000 life points for nothing."
Johnson laughed. "The defense has made a clear miscalculation. "You have no monsters and 2500 life points. You're at least 500 life points short of continuing this trial."
"Have I now?" Celeste asked, glaring sternly as she pointed to her remaining face-down card. "I still have a card face-down. Who knows? Maybe it's Blazing Mirror Force or Magical Arm Chain or anything nasty that could screw you completely."
"You're bluffing," Johnson growled at her.
"Am I now?" Celeste declared, glaring at Johnson with her best poker face.
Johnson could only stare at Celeste and mull over to himself his entire research on the girl. Throughout his case built around her, he'd only discovered that she had a tell that her French accent would slip whenever she was under extreme stress. But right now, she seemed too calm and collected.
"And now, I will play the last card in my hand face-down," Celeste said, emptying her hand. She chuckled to Johnson and gave him a sweet smile. "The floor is yours."
Johnson wordlessly drew a card, bringing his hand up to two. He then played a card face-down. I could attack, but she has two face-down cards and I am behind in life points. At times like this, I should be cautious.
"I switch Darkfire Dragon to defense mode. And next I attack with Rare Fish!" The fish-tailed beast charged towards Celeste.
"I activate my face-down card, Wings of Mercy!" Celeste said, revealing a trap card that showed an angel holding a six-sided die imprinted on a shield as it stood in front of a hooded mage. "This trap card allows me to roll a six-sided die. I can then summon any monster from my deck with a level equal to the number I rolled. However, if I roll a six, I can summon any monster, regardless of its summoning condition."
Celeste ended up rolling a one.
"Didn't learn your lesson the first time with Cup of Ace it seems," Johnson chuckled.
"It's fine. Any good gambler knows to be prepared to roll ones at all times. All that matters is that my life points are safe," Celeste said as Sonic Chick was special summoned to the field and promptly tail slapped into oblivion. Celeste chuckled. "However, my cold-hearted mini-bluff helped me keep this duel going. I draw."
Celeste held one card in her hand: Alector, Sovereign of Birds. As things stand, I can't summon this right now. However, Johnson doesn't need to know that I'm completely out of options at the moment. "My turn is over," Celeste stated.
"Of course it is!" Johnson exclaimed. "And with it, so is this duel! I activate my face-down card, Minor Goblin Official! Now, every turn, during your turn, you lose 500 life points."
Celeste resisted the urge to bite her thumb nail.
"And now, I'll attack your life points directly with Rare Fish," Johnson stated, slapping Celeste with the tail of Rare Fish and bringing her life points down to 1000.
"Next, I'll switch my Darkfire Dragon back to attack mode. And on my next turn, I will wipe you out completely. If you dare to play a monster, I can activate clear the courtroom and you'll lose the duel. And even if you don't and somehow survive my turn, Minor Goblin Official will run out the rest of your life points."
Celeste gasped. "No! That's not possible! I should still be able to…be able to…" Celeste's blood ran cold. No, it was as Johnson said. This duel was over.
She hunched over the defense's bench a broken woman. She contemplated defeat.
However, as she closed her eyes, Joey Wheeler appeared in her thoughts. And instantly, Celeste remembered her deck master still floating at her side, completely ignored this entire duel. She picked her head up and shook it. No, she thought. I'm thinking about this all wrong. I shouldn't think about what option I don't have. She looked at Time Wizard. I should think about what options I do. That's what he would do. He has the power to turn any duel around with will and grit alone. She slapped the podium. And that's what I'm going to do now.
"The defense does not rest!" Celeste shouted, triumphantly, eyes opening, renewed with life. "This duel is still on!"
Celeste drew the top card of her deck.
"The court would like to inform the defendant that she loses 500 life points."
Johnson said as Celeste's life points fell to 500.
"That's fine. I'll just go ahead and activate my deck master's special ability: temporal manipulation!"
"Time Ma-gic!" the little wizard said robotically as the dial on its scepter began to spin.
"Time Wizard's deck master ability can activate any number of effects depending on where the dial spins."
Johnson watched Time Wizard's scepter face of skulls and time machines flip around to reveal 6 numbers.
Heh, fool! Does she really think she can win with luck? I know all of Time Wizard's functions. All I have to do is make it land on a six and the game is over!
However, Time Wizard's scepter did not land on six. It landed on 4.
What?! But that's impossible!
Noah, who up to this point, had had a right mind to go to Johnson and lambast him for cheating, suddenly sat back in his seat, tenting his fingers. That was not Johnson's doing. What's happening, exactly?
"A four causes the duel to return to its previous state in the last turn, meaning I get my life points back," Celeste said, her life points returning to 2500, Darkfire Dragon returns to defense position and Minor Goblin Official goes back to being face-down." She then set a card. "I then place one card face-down and end my turn."
"This changes nothing," Johnson stated. "The defense is grasping at straws and delaying the inevitable. First, I draw." Johnson drew the top card of his deck. Next, I switch Darkfire Dragon back to attack position. After that, I activate one more polymerization to create the mysterious Kamion Wizard." The dark attribute, scythe wielding, masked spellcaster appeared 1300 attack points strong. "I'll also re-activate Minor Goblin Official! And then, I attack with Rare Fish!"
Celeste folded her arms and declared confidently, "Activate Deck Master special ability! Temporal Manipulation! Time Wizard! Time Roulette, go!"
"Time Ma-gic!"
Time Wizard's roulette wheel landed on 2. Suddenly, its magic slowed the battlefield to a crawl as Rare Fish became frozen in time.
"Wh-what?" Johnson stammered.
"Time Wizard has now slowed the battlefield so that when attacks are declared this turn, they will complete on the next turn.
Inconceivable! Johnson exclaimed internally. I should be able to rig all of her die rolls and coin flips! Anything brought about by chance I have the power to manipulate…so how can she do this so easily?! Is this… he stared at Celeste Is this the power of an Ultimate?
"Excuse me!" Celeste barked. "But the defense isn't finished arguing its case! May I have my turn?"
"No! I attack with Darkfire Dragon!" Johnson declared as his monster became frozen in time.
"The defense would like to assert that, when it comes to gambling, don't make decisions that don't have a large chance of success. Johnson," Celeste said, as her eyes flashed with killing intent, "You've walked right into my trap!"
Celeste drew the top card of her deck as her life points fell to 2000. She then gracefully clutched Alector in between her fingers. "I special summon to the field the mighty Alector, Sovereign of Birds! Since you have two monsters with a dark attribute on the field, Darkfire Dragon and Kamion Wizard, I can play this monster from my hand for free!"
Alector appeared in all its white armored, red-winged, gray bodied, 2400 attack point glory.
"There are no place for birds in my courtroom! I sentence your bird to the Death Penalty!" Johnson declared. "Clear the courtroom." However, nothing happened. Johnson didn't even lose life points.
"Uhhhh…"
Celeste waggled her finger at Johnson, one eye closed. She then opened her eye, leaving her finger extended and grinned, perfectly mimicking her favorite fictional prosecutor…even if she was acting as the defense right now. "Sorry, but this Sovereign has diplomatic immunity. Its special ability lets me negate the effect of any card face-up on the field. And since Deck masters technically exist as part of the field, I choose to negate your Deck Master's special ability for this turn!"
"N-NO!" Johnson stammered.
"And there's more," Celeste stated. "I activate my face-down card, Rising Air Current!" This increases the attack of all wind attribute monsters by 500 points while lowering their defense by 400.
Alector's stats now sat at 2900 attack points with 1600 defense points.
"Next, a bold move. I activate Cup of Ace," Celeste stated.
The flip, unsurprisingly to Johnson, came up tails.
"You didn't learn your lesson the first time, did you?" Johnson chuckled. I thank you for the two cards from my deck.
However, Celeste was the one laughing right back and smiling. "Thank you, Johnson. I now don't have any cards in my hand. And that's exactly what I wanted." She then declared, "Time Wizard is now in play!"
Time Wizard floated next to Alector.
"And now, Alector, attack Kamion Wizard!"
With no face-down cards to protect himself, Johnson's monster could only get wasted by Alector's attack for a savage 1600 points of damage, leaving him with 700 life points, too low to activate his Deck Master special ability.
"Next, Time Wizard attacks!" Celeste declared. "Since your monsters are in limbo, they can't protect you from my monster attacking your life points directly." Johnson's life points were reduced to a mere 200 after the little bolt from Time Wizard zapped him.
"A bold move, but next turn I'll—"
Celeste cut him off. "You still don't get it, do you? There isn't going to be a next turn."
Celeste then revealed the last of her face-down cards, the one she had used to bluff her way to victory this whole time: Fire Darts.
"Since I have no cards in my hand, I can activate this trap card. I roll three dice and you take 100 damage per number on the combined roll of all three. Even if you gave me the worst case scenario, you still lose the duel. But," Celeste chuckled with a catty smile, "We must do this by the books. Proper procedure and all that."
This is impossible! Johnson exclaimed. I must've made a mistake somewhere! There has to be a way I can win! "O-Objection!" Johnson exclaimed, banging his gavel, sweating.
"OVERRULED!" Celeste shouted, a great and powerful darkness rising up behind her in the shape of a phoenix. "I'm in charge of the proceedings now and allow me to state my name for the court one more time so you won't forget," Celeste said as she hurled the dice at the ground, rolling one after one after one. "My name," she said, aiming the darts at Johnson. "is CELESTIA LUDENBURG!"
Johnson growled in pain as the fire darts burned him, reducing his life points to 0.
"And that would be," Celeste said, curtsying to the still burning Judge Man, "The Coup de Grace." As she looked at her roasting foe, she stepped towards the judge's bench slowly and said, "Judge, jury, or executioner, it doesn't matter. When going into battle," she pointed her finger braced index finger at Johnson, "Don't fuck with a witch!"
Johnson let out one last groan and then faded into nothing.
With Johnson gone, Celeste now sized up her surroundings. "What a garish looking courtroom. I sincerely hope I never have to set foot in one of these again," she headed towards the door Johnson had entered from, as it seemed to be the only other way out of this room aside from the elevator. "Or maybe not," she smirked. "This was kind of fun." She then pushed open the door to a bright light and continued on her journey to escape Noah's virtual world.
(A/N: Not bad for a returning chapter, eh? Yes, I know I laid the Joey/Celeste ship tease on a bit thick this chapter. I regret nothing XD. There will be plenty of chances for Mai and Ibuki to have their moments. I dunno, how do you guys feel? Should I start shipping Joey with Celeste, or do you think I should stick to the canon original with Mai? Or maybe switch things up with Ibuki. Last time I polled most of you wanted Mai, but I'd like to hear from you all after a chapter like this if your opinions have changed.
There are several Easter eggs and references littered about this chapter. See if you can point out them all. The first winner gets a prize: my respect.
More chapters on the way. Next time, it's Joey's turn to duel against, not a member of the Big Five, but more hired help. And after that, will be a duel that will shape the climax of the rest of the arc. It is my hope that we will finish this arc by chapter 49 so that chapter 50 can be a milestone celebration of Makoto Vs Yugi. But until then, as always, from all of me, to all of you, let your hearts stay human and your wrath draconic. Ja ne!)