Good Day Readers and welcome to the sequel to The Lost Kingdom! Thanks to all of you for the support and I hope that you all enjoy this latest edition of the Hope sisters. This upload will focus on the Grand Prix/Grand Championship arc whilst next week we'll move onto Dawn of the Duel arc
Obviously I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh only Kylie and Katherine Hope along with the unique cards within their decks and whatever other OCs decide to crop up. Also italics symbolise a mind conversation. I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy
Chapter 4: - The Illusive Ancient Dragon
"My turn! Draw!" Jounouchi declared. He pulled the card free and looked at it before moving to set it on the card reader. "I Summon Goblin Attack Force in Attack Mode!" Jounouchi declared. The group of Goblins appeared on the field, it was pretty obvious as to where Jounouchi was going with this train of action.
Goblin Attack Force – Attribute: Earth, Type: Warrior, Level: 4, ATK/2300, DEF/0
"I attack Ancient Giant with Goblin Attack Force!" Jounouchi ordered. The group of Goblins proceeded to charge forward and raised their spiked clubs above their heads; however, Suguroku was well prepared as he proceeded to activate another Permanent Trap known as Ordeal of a Traveller, the opponent was forced to guess the identity of a card in the controller's hand and if it was wrong, the attacking Monster was sent back to the opponent's hand.
"I only have this one card! So, guess it, Jounouchi!" Suguroku stated. He held the card out in front of him as I frowned slightly at the thought of using luck on Jounouchi, true Suguroku had stopped his other luck gambits, but this still seemed reckless. "Now!" Suguroku dared. I drummed one of my fingers against my legs as I kept watching the Duel.
"You can do it! You can do it! Deadbeat!" Yumiko cheered. However, the last word caused everyone to look down at her with wide eyes as Jounouchi slipped on his feet and turned back to glare at the cheerful looking girl. "Win! Win! Win! Deadbeat!" Yumiko cheered once more. I was blinking like an owl at the girl, unable to understand why she was saying that last word.
"Kylie! What have you been teaching your cousin!" Jounouchi yelled. I didn't worry about the blonde's anger as it was bad enough when he had Seto calling him that, he didn't need anyone else joining the bandwagon, all of the others who were watching happened to be staring at the girl in surprise as well; meanwhile Yumiko was completely oblivious to the confusion that was whirling around her.
"I think Seto's to blame for this," Mum admitted. Mum bent down to be eye level with Yumiko and started to lecture her about now calling people that whilst Jounouchi turned back to the Duel and started to stare at the card as he tried to determine its' identity, the others figured he was only thinking so hard because of Suguroku's previous foiling of his gambit tactics.
"A Magic? A Trap? A Monster? I don't know! Like hell I'd know!" Jounouchi exclaimed. Suguroku didn't give him a chance to rest though as he insisted that Jounouchi hurry up. "Shut up! It's a Magic! I've determined it's a Magic card!" Jounouchi snapped. However, Suguroku proved that he was wrong as he flipped the card around which revealed that it was a Monster card, as a result Goblin Attack Force ran back to Jounouchi's hand.
"Jounouchi, looks like the luck you've depended on has run out," Suguroku commented. That riled up the blonde as he quickly snapped that it wasn't luck but ability that helped him, this caused the others to question if he even knew what he was saying, Otogi summed up that without some kind of protection then Jounouchi was going to lose on his next turn, Jounouchi proceeded to set one card and ended his turn.
"Well, it looks like this is over," Mum stated. I frowned slight and wished I had Katherine's sixth sense to know if mum was right or wrong, Suguroku proceeded to draw a card from his Deck and commanded his Ancient Giant to attack Jounouchi, but as it turns out Jounouchi's face down card happened to be Scapegoat. "Well, it looks like I was wrong," Mum admitted, sounding kind of cheerful about it.
Sheep Token – Attribute: Earth, Type: Beast/Token, Level: 1, ATK/0, DEF/0 (X4)
"Don't look down on me! I'm not just some Duelist relying on luck!" Jounouchi snapped. Suguroku seemed dismissive of this claim and insisted that Jounouchi needed to use his head next time he had to guess. "What?" Jounouchi asked. Suguroku reminded him that Ordeal of a Traveller was a Permanent Trap. "Eh… w-well that's just fine! If I just stay calm and think it through, I can guess your entire hand!" Jounouchi shakily declared. As if to respond to this declaration, Suguroku selected a card in his hand.
"I activate the Permanent Magic card from my hand, Ancient Tome!" Suguroku announced. The card was slid into the Magic and Trap zone and an altar rose up with the depicted book resting on its' surface. "The Effect of Ancient Tome allows me to switch a card in my hand with the card atop my Deck," Suguroku explained. He swapped the two cards and my teeth pressed against my bottom lip, Jounouchi's reaction was anger at the change. "It's a pity Jounouchi. I switch the Ancient Giant Token to Defence Mode and end my turn," Suguroku stated.
Mask the Rock – LP: 5000 – LP: 4000
"Your old man is enjoying messing with Jounouchi, Yugi," I admitted. My eyes focused on the Ancient Key which had turned slightly in the lock, was it counting down to unleashing something, Jounouchi pulled a card free of his Deck and looked at it before deciding to choose another card; Jounouchi Summoned out Goblin Attack Force but decided to end his turn instead of attacking, at least he was protected a bit more now.
"Jounouchi's being completely dragged along by Suguroku-ojīsan's pace," Honda stated. Anzu admitted that she felt a bit sorry for the blonde, but Yugi seemed more interested in Professor Hopkins and when I glanced over at the man, I saw that the man's eyes were gleaming slightly, there was something about this string of Ancient cards that we'd witnessed that I couldn't quite figure out yet.
"My turn! Draw!" Suguroku announced. He pulled the card out and then slid it into his hand and moved to select the other one. "In order to keep Ancient Tome on the field, I must discard one card in my hand to the Graveyard!" Suguroku explained. He revealed this card was a Monster, in fact it was the same Monster that had stopped Jounouchi's Goblin Attack Force via Ordeal of a Traveller. "And in turn, Killer Snake's Special Effect is activated! If it is in the Graveyard during my Standby Phase, I can return it to my hand. Killer Snake come home," Suguroku explained. The card was shoved out of the Graveyard and back to Suguroku's hand.
"Are you fooling around with me or what, you jerk!" Jounouchi snapped. He still hadn't figured it out apparently, Suguroku claimed he was done fooling around and claimed that whilst Jounouchi had been freaking out, he had been treasure hunting. "Huh? Treasure hunting?" Jounouchi asked. Even I was a little confused by those words and my eyebrows furrowed together as I continued to stare at the Duelists.
"Right. The Ancient Dragon sleeping within Ancient Capital – Ancient City! That is the identity of my treasure!" Suguroku declared. Jounouchi was confused by this declaration and I felt something nipped at the back of my mind. "When the Forbidden Door within Ancient City is opened, the Ancient Dragon will be revived. I have collected all of the keys to the door! I switch the Ancient Giant tokens from Defence to Attack Mode!" Suguroku declared. I saw Ancient Key twist in the lock some more.
'I see. Switching the Battle Positions of the Stone Tokens causes the Ancient Key to turn, unlocking its' power.' I realised. As I did that, Suguroku activated Ancient Key's power to combine all the pieces of the puzzle in order to unlock the Ancient Gate whether it was in his hand, Deck or Graveyard; causing a gold glow to surround Suguroku's field and a light cut across the gate's gaps and it then swung open.
"Wh-what the?!" Jounouchi exclaimed. Beyond the door was a yellow light, Suguroku activated Ancient City in order to sacrifice his remaining cards in order to revived Old Generation Dragon – Ancient Dragon; the doors opened fully and I saw the shadow within the light as the other cards broke apart, Ancient Dragon came soaring out of the city and swooped through the sky.
Old Generation Dragon – Ancient Dragon – Attribute: Dark, Type: Dragon, Level: 8, ATK/2800, DEF/2100
"What's up, Jounouchi? Surprised, are we?" Suguroku questioned. Meanwhile Arthur walked over to us and seemed to know what Suguroku had been aiming for, he then reached into his blazer and removed his Deck, showing us that the bottom card was Ancient Dragon and we gathered around the old man, seeing an explanation coming.
"Ancient Dragon requires Ancient Gate, Ancient Key, Ancient Tome, Ancient Giant and two Ancient Giant Tokens. You can't Summon it without these, basically you have to gather a hoard of mythical cards. The truth is, like Suguroku, I too have been searching all over for these cards. But I was never able to get the remaining card, Ancient Gate. And yet, Suguroku did," Arthur explained. I started laughing upon hearing that, I now understood a part of the conversation I had with Suguroku.
"He did mention something about revealing a surprise, now I know," I commented. Arthur stated that was simply how Suguroku was, loving the cards more than the Duels and why he was so eager to show everyone the cards. "How child like? But I guess that's why he's such a great person," I admitted. Looking at Suguroku – even with his face covered – I saw the happiness within his closed eyes, the relaxation of his stance it proved how pleased he was to have Summoned out Ancient Dragon.
"It's fine if he's like a child. That's probably what Pegasus-oniichan wanted, for people of all ages to regain their childhood through these cards. Suguroku-san truly enjoys the game for all its' worth," Mum admitted. However, upon hearing those words, Yugi seemed to hit upon some kind of information; meanwhile Jounouchi was dismissive of Ancient Dragon and the Deck Suguroku fought with
"Jounouchi… you've grown up to be a very boring man," Suguroku commented. The dismay in his voice was clear for all of us to hear. "In that case, I'll let you see first hand just how great my treasure is! I use Ancient Dragon to attack Goblin Attack Force! Go Ancient Dragon! Golden Bomb!" Suguroku commanded. The murky yellow scaled Dragon opened its' mouth and unleashed a blast of fire at the Goblin Attack Force; but shockingly enough not only were the Goblins destroyed but so were the remaining Scapegoats.
Jounouchi – LP: 2200 – LP: 1700
"What? Even the Sheep Tokens were destroyed?" Jounouchi questioned. Suguroku was quick to explain that it was because of Ancient Dragon's Effect that they'd been wiped out since it destroyed all Defence Position Monsters as well as its' original target. "Sh- Not good!" Jounouchi began to curse. However, he changed it at the last minute as if remembering something in that split second.
"You told Jounouchi to not curse in front of Yumiko, didn't you?" I asked Mum. The woman smiled in a mysterious way and nodded her head, my mum could be scary when she wanted to be so that had probably been what happened the previous night; Suguroku was laughing at Jounouchi's predicament whilst the blonde turned back to look at Yugi, he no doubt wanted to Duel against Yami again.
"You have to enjoy the Duel, Jounouchi-kun! You're making this Duel too much about yourself! You have to enjoy it more!" Yugi insisted. The petite boy was quite right, the most important thing in a duel was to enjoy one's self – of course Shadow Games and Oreichalcos Curses were excluded – this was the most fundamental aspects of Duel Monsters.
"But I…," Jounouchi began to protest. However, Honda started encouraging him by claiming it didn't matter whether he won or lost, but that kind of annoyed Mokuba; Anzu started to help out as did Otogi, but this caused Suguroku to start crying and he pulled out a handkerchief to wipe up the liquid as he seemed to be proud of how nice the others were.
"Jounouchi, I know you've been in a lot of stressful Duels lately, Duels that are literally life and death, but you've got to remember the times that was different. You're Duel against Seto and Kathie in Battle City for example, you seemed to really enjoy it and Katherine did as well. Having fun, that's the most important thing, it's what I want to remind everyone of with this tournament, how wonderful a game Duel Monsters is," I spoke up. Jounouchi stared at me as I allowed a small smile to rest on my face, Suguroku started crying even harder after hearing my words.
"Hey! Why are you crying?" Jounouchi questioned. Suguroku recovered and quickly stuffed his handkerchief back into the pouch of his dungarees but he gave no answer. "Just enjoy it, huh? Guess they're right. So, I'll just cope with this Duel and let the match finish!" Jounouchi decided. At least he was calming down and relaxing a little, Arthur insisted that he had to have fun and admitted he was enjoying it as well… before cheering on Suguroku whilst calling him by the pseudonym. "Wh-Why?!" Jounouchi demanded
"Fun! Fun! Need to have fun!" Yumiko cheered. At least she wasn't calling him a Deadbeat anymore, Jounouchi turned back around and declared it was his turn and was about to curse once more before changing what I assumed was bastard to guy because of Yumiko; Jounouchi activated a Magic card which was known as Treasure Cards of Fate, the card appeared and an arm emerged from the artwork.
"This card lets the player draw the same number of cards as he rolls from his Deck," Jounouchi explained. The die was cast forward as Suguroku reminded Jounouchi of Legendary Gambler's effect, causing a rival die to be sent clattering out, the two landed side by side. "My roll is… four! Masked Guy's is… three!" Jounouchi revealed. All of us cheered, now Jounouchi's luck was back and he could draw four cards from his Deck. "I'm so excited!" Jounouchi declared.
"Poker! Face!" I snapped. Seriously, how did he hope to get any better if he couldn't keep his emotions hidden away, Jounouchi didn't bother to respond to me and instead activated a Magic card known as Gather! Landstar Squadron which Summoned out all Landstar Monsters that were in Jounouchi's hand, three came out with these being the Grappler, Knight and Rifleman of Landstar.
Grappler of Landstar – Attribute: Earth, Type: Warrior, Level: 3, ATK/1000, DEF/500
Knight of Landstar – Attribute: Earth, Type: Warrior, Level: 3, ATK/1000, DEF/1200
Rifleman of Landstar – Attribute: Earth, Type: Warrior, Level: 3, ATK/900, DEF/1200
"Then I Release all three Landstars so that I can Special Summon Gilford the Lightning in Attack Mode!" Jounouchi declared. A smirk came on to my face at that declaration, the memory of what Gilford had done to my Guardians was clear in my mind as I knew what was about to happen as the muscular warrior appeared on the field.
Gilford the Lightning – Attribute: Light, Type: Warrior, Level: 8, ATK/2800, DEF/1400
"I activate his Special Effect! Lightning Thunder!" Jounouchi commanded. The armoured man swung his sword out, sending crackling electricity flying into Ancient Dragon and it started to writhe in place as Suguroku seemed shocked by this. "When you Release three Monsters in order to Special Summon this Monster, I can destroy every Monster on the opponent's field!" Jounouchi explained. Once he finished, Ancient Dragon proceeded to shatter into pieces which left Suguroku wide open to a direct attack from Gilford the Lightning.
"Then you'll have to guess what this card is!" Suguroku challenged. Holding the only card in his hand out to Jounouchi, however Jounouchi already knew the card's identity and correctly guessed that it was Killer Snake, allowing Gilford the Lightning to directly attack with Lightning Crush Sword, blasting away a massive chunk of Suguroku's Life Points.
Mask the Rock – LP: 4000 – LP: 1200
"Impressive," Mum stated. Jounouchi ended his turn, but the moment that happened, Ancient Dragon burst of Ancient City and back onto the field, Suguroku explained that Ancient Dragon's revival was because of Ancient City's effect; Jounouchi didn't seem stressed by this and instead was actually excited by the prospect of the revival combination.
"My turn! Draw!" Suguroku declared. The pulled card was quickly put into the hand and Suguroku focused on his opponent. "I attack Gilford the Lightning with Ancient Dragon!" Suguroku commanded. With equal attack points, both would be destroyed but Ancient Dragon was capable of revival so it didn't matter if it was destroyed, the fiery attack was unleashed and Gilford used its' lightning, the attacks flashed passed each other and struck the opponents, smashing both into pieces. "Turn end!" Suguroku announced. As he did Ancient Dragon returned.
"This is pretty fun. This is what's great about Dueling! My turn! Draw!" Jounouchi declared. I was relieved to see that the blonde had got back his enjoyment of Dueling thanks to Suguroku. "I activate Pot of Greed from my hand! I draw two cards from my Deck!" Jounouchi declared. He pulled the cards out and seemed to pause, perhaps thinking what his next move should be, Honda called out for him to just wing it. "Shut up! Keep quiet!" Jounouchi snapped. I also shot the brunette an annoyed look.
"Katherine said he needed to learn strategy, maybe he's trying to do just that," I chastised. Jounouchi called out to Suguroku, properly calling him by the pseudonym, admitting that he had started to enjoy the Duel and how Suguroku Dueled, even admitting that it was like when he first started to Duel but had started to forget the sensation, but now that he remembered it, Jounouchi vowed to win.
"I activate the Equipment Magic card, Premature Burial, from my hand! After paying eight hundred Life Points, I can Special Summon a Monster card from my Graveyard and resurrect it in Attack Mode!" Jounouchi announced. The card that Jounouchi chose to bring back happened to be Goblin Attack Force, which caused my eyebrows to furrow in confusion at this decision, that Monster couldn't stop Ancient Dragon so what else did Jounouchi have planned.
Jounouchi – LP: 1700 – LP: 900
"And, I activate the Magic card, Hurricane, from my hand!" Jounouch iannoucned. My eyes widened in surprise at those words, Hurricane would send all Magic and Trap cards back to the hand, including Premature Burial; the powerful wind roared onto the field and began to spread out as Jounouchi explained the effect; Ancient City vanished as Suguroku let out a cry as this happened.
"I see! Without the temple, Ancient Dragon can't revive!" Mokuba exclaimed. But Jounouchi revealed that he had another motive, the blonde proceeded to activate Premature Burial once more, stripping him of another eight hundred Life Points to bring back a Monster; this time Jounouchi Summoned out Gilford the Lightning, causing me to smile at the move that Jounouchi had executed.
Jounouchi – LP: 900 – LP: 100
"That! That's Katherine's way of thinking," I chuckled. My sister had pulled a move like that once on me, it had almost cost me a Duel and I couldn't help but chuckle at seeing it. "Do you guys Duel at school or something?" I asked. The group I questioned nodded their head to prove that I was right on the money, Jounouchi commanded Gilford the Lightning to attack Ancient Dragon, causing a double knock out once more.
"I can't believe it!" Suguroku exclaimed. Goblin Attack Force had remained on the field and with no more Ancient Dragon in the way, the Goblin's had a wide open path for them to charge forward and club the old man with their weapons, sealing the Duel's fate and leaving Suguroku flat on his back as a result of the attack.
Mask the Rock – LP: 1200 – LP: 0
The others were shocked that Jounouchi had won by using his head, they were shocked by this development so I – and my family, Yugi and Arthur who weren't so shocked – quickly pinched them in order to tail after Jounouchi when he ran up to Suguroku. The blonde thanked Suguroku for giving him such an interesting Duel and bent down to help the old man to his feet, but Suguroku didn't get up and instead started laughing.
"You've grown up…," Suguroku admitted. As he said those words, Suguroku reached up to grip his mask and quickly pulled it off revealing his true face. "Jounouchi!" Suguroku finished. The blonde hadn't figured it out at all and was surprised by the revelation, causing him to pull backwards and he exclaimed the man's identity. "Surprised, everyone?! It's me, Suguroku!" Suguroku exclaimed.
"Apart from Jounouchi, everyone figured it out Suguroku-san. I'm certain even Katherine knew," I commented. Yugi stated that I was right, probably having just asked the girl or had been talking to her the entire Duel and we just didn't know; Jounouchi demanded to know why the old man liked to mess with people and admitted I was right before asking why he was here.
"Jounouchi, I came to see you fight. As your mentor, I wanted to see how your Dueling had improved," Suguroku admitted. Jounouchi relaxed and proceeded to ask how he had done. "Let me see, you really seemed to enjoy the duel! You pass!" Suguroku declared. Jounouchi proceeded to celebrate this fact as I shook my head as Mokuba and Honda seemed to be confused by this discussion.
"I do believe there are other Duels about to start. Let's see if Katherine or Rebecca are among them," Mum suggested. All of us agreed with the suggestion as Yumiko bounced up and down happily.