Yami
by TAFKAE
Chapter 3: Playing Dirty
~*~*~
Joey surveyed his hand. He was screwed, and he knew it. His wasn't the best deck in the world, and he wasn't the best duelist in the world, and battling Yami Yugi, or even regular Yugi, would end him up losing pitifully.
What was it you always said, Yugi? he thought. Believe in the cards. Trust the cards. Well, I hope his own philosophy works against him.
He was awakened from his thoughts by Yami's eternally-patient-and-yet-not-all-that-patient voice. "Your move."
He looked over his hand again. Sword and Shield wouldn't do him any good right now. Korello the Black wouldn't do him much good either with its attack power of 1300. In fact, there wasn't one card in his hand that would help him at all. So he pulled out one from the top of his deck and looked at it. He could never have been prepared for what he saw.
Oh, he knew his deck. He knew it well. He also knew that the Starlight Virgin was one of the rarest cards in existence. It had an attack power of 2800, a defense of 2400, and a random attack that had a forty-one point five percent chance of being Starlight Magic and fifty-eight percent of being Virgin's Kiss. (He couldn't remember what the other point five percent was a chance of.)
But what he knew most of all was that he didn't have one. Tucking it in his hand, he deployed Korello to attack mode and decided to save the Virgin for later, though he had no clue how it had ended up in his deck.
"You're hiding something," Yami taunted. "I know you're hiding something."
"Just move already," Joey snapped.
"Very well." Yami pulled a card from his hand and laid it down. "I summon the Poisonwraith!"
From nowhere a giant Poisonwraith appeared out of the ground and twitched. Its size dwarfed the Dark Magician, whom Yami instantly commanded, "Dark Magician - Dark Magic attack!"
Korello was annihilated instantly, and Joey's life points dropped to 1700. But that wasn't all that happened. As his monster disintegrated, he felt a sharp pain run briefly through his body, almost enough to make him cry out, and just enough to make him slump over a little and hold a rail for support.
"Oh, did that hurt? I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you," Yami taunted. "In this game, whatever your monster feels, you will feel as well. Do you enjoy the pain of defeat?"
"I ain't defeated yet, Yami," Joey growled. "And remember, this is gonna hurt you as much as it hurts me -"
With that, he switched the Archangel Warrior to attack mode and with the Staff of Justice attack, vaporized the Dark Magician. Yami shouted and stumbled backwards a few steps, life points at 1675.
"How do ya like that, ya double-crossin' sonuvabitch?" Joey snarled.
Yami wiped some blood off his lip and took his former place again. "Not bad, but the name-calling is very immature."
"That's me." Joey smirked and tilted his head. "Your move."
"All right." Yami pointed forward, past his Poisonwraith. "Poisonwraith, Poisoned Souls attack!"
Green goop spouted from the monster's mouth and covered the Azalea Gnome and Archangel Warrior. Joey felt a twinge in his right arm, then his vision blurred slightly, outlines bleeding into each other, and he started feeling dizzy.
"That the - whoa!" he shouted as he almost fell over and grabbed the rail to keep him from doing so. "That the best you can do?!"
"Pain is temporary," Yami chuckled, "but poison lasts a long, long time."
Joey's eyes narrowed. "Poison or no poison, I'm still gonna kick your butt."
Yami smiled cockily. "Look again."
Joey did. The Gnome's hit points were dropping dramatically, and so were those of the Archangel. He had to act fast, or he'd lose the last monsters he had on the field. "Archangel Warrior…" He slumped over the table. "Radiant Earth!"
The ground glowed. The Poisonwraith looked down in shock as its legs disintegrated. Its torso and head followed, and Yami's life points dropped to 1225 as he winced and stumbled forward, with no Wraith.
"How's tha -" Joey stopped when he realized his Azalea Gnome was gone, too, its lesser hit points no match for the efficacious venom. His own life points were at 1400, but the poison had dulled the pain enough that he hadn't felt much at all. Thinking fast, or as fast as he could under the influence of the poison, he yanked a card off his deck and looked at it.
Trust in the cards, he thought. So it does work. He slammed the card onto the table. "I summon the Cleansing Mist!"
Yami jumped back. He obviously hadn't been expecting it. The Archangel's hit points jumped back to their original 2000, and this time Joey could see it clearly. "Thanks for teaching me to trust the cards, Yami," he laughed. "Never woulda known the Mist was right there without 'cha!"
Yami scowled. "I suppose that was my mistake."
"Or maybe," Joey suggested, "you know you were gonna go evil like this all along, somehow, and you cared too much to leave us defenseless."
"I don't care about you," his opponent snapped. "I'm just having a little fun."
"Why are you acting like this?" Joey wondered aloud. "It's not like you."
Yami growled and pulled a card out of his deck, then slammed it down. "I summon Nuriko the White!"
A young woman appeared out of the ground. She was Japanese, in a white kimono with sleeves that fell six inches past her hands. She didn't look strong, and not by her stats, either.
1400:1800. Easy, Joey thought. Rest easy, Téa. You're safe in my capable hands. "Archangel Warrior, Staff of Justice!"
The Warrior obeyed. Nuriko crouched down and glowed slightly. As the Staff came closer, it slowed, and slowed, until finally the Warrior was straining just to hold it still, and then it was vaporized, along with its owner…
Joey stumbled back with a shout. His life points had fallen to 950. "What the hell was that?!" he shouted. "There's no way she coulda gotten it! Not the Archangel Warrior!"
He was interrupted by Yami's cold laugh. "You don't know Nuriko very well, do you? She may not be very strong physically, but she has a powerful psychic shield…"
"Nothing's gonna get the best of me!" Joey yelled. "Nothing!" And with that word, he swiftly yanked the Starlight Virgin out of his hand and slammed it onto the field.
Yami jumped. "WHAT? You - there's no way you could - I know for a FACT you don't have - but - "
"Hey, until I found it in my deck, I didn't think I had one either," Joey pointed out. "But anyway…" He pointed out onto the field, where Nuriko stood stalwart. "You're goin' down, Yami!"
"I don't think so…" Yami replied, regaining his composure. He pulled a card out of his hand. "I waited exactly for the right moment to do this." And laid it down on the table. "Magical Clones!"
Within a half-second, there were eight Nurikos on the field. Joey jumped. "Whata?!"
"Feh." Yami tilted his head. "Only one is the real Nuriko. The others have the same abilities, and they can hurt you very badly. They'll only all disappear if you destroy the real one."
Joey's eyes went wide. Oh, great! How the heck am I gonna tell which one's the real Nuriko?!
"It's your move," Yami continued. "Use it wisely. It's the only chance you'll get to actually use your new Starlight Virgin."
One move to figure out which one is the real one… A drop of sweat ran down Joey's face as his eyes darted from one Nuriko, to another, to another, to another… and then…
"Starlight Virgin," he commanded, "attack that one! The one with a shadow!"
"It's no use, Joey," Yami stated. "Remember what happened to your Archangel?"
Joey flicked him off. "Look, Yami, if you wanna question my strategy, do it when you're on my side! Starlight Virgin…" He pointed with the more appropriate finger now. "Use Roulette!"
Roulette… it chooses one random attack of the ones she can do… Virgin's Kiss or Starlight Magic…it's gotta be one of those… unless…
With no warning at all, the woman's hands glowed, and came back, and shot forth a blast so powerful…
"OF COURSE!" Joey yelled. "The last point five percent is the chance of it being Obliterate!"
"No!" Yami screamed. "I can't lose! Not to you!"
He raised his hand in Téa's direction. It glowed slightly. Joey didn't even notice, because just then Obliterate hit the eight Nurikos, annihilating each and every last one of them, and sending Yami's life points spiraling down to zero. Yami screamed, and fell backwards onto the floor, and then it was over. The black faded out, and the world came back to life.
"Wha - what the heck just happened?" someone asked.
"Yugi! Is he okay?"
"When're they gonna start?"
"Hey, Joey!" Tristan shouted over the roar of the crowd. "I need an explanation here!"
He was supporting the unconscious Téa in his arms.
Joey's eyes widened. "He… he did it anyway…"
*CHAPTER END*
Please review! I love reviews! And if you have the time, please read and review my other stories too! *grin grin*
by TAFKAE
Chapter 3: Playing Dirty
~*~*~
Joey surveyed his hand. He was screwed, and he knew it. His wasn't the best deck in the world, and he wasn't the best duelist in the world, and battling Yami Yugi, or even regular Yugi, would end him up losing pitifully.
What was it you always said, Yugi? he thought. Believe in the cards. Trust the cards. Well, I hope his own philosophy works against him.
He was awakened from his thoughts by Yami's eternally-patient-and-yet-not-all-that-patient voice. "Your move."
He looked over his hand again. Sword and Shield wouldn't do him any good right now. Korello the Black wouldn't do him much good either with its attack power of 1300. In fact, there wasn't one card in his hand that would help him at all. So he pulled out one from the top of his deck and looked at it. He could never have been prepared for what he saw.
Oh, he knew his deck. He knew it well. He also knew that the Starlight Virgin was one of the rarest cards in existence. It had an attack power of 2800, a defense of 2400, and a random attack that had a forty-one point five percent chance of being Starlight Magic and fifty-eight percent of being Virgin's Kiss. (He couldn't remember what the other point five percent was a chance of.)
But what he knew most of all was that he didn't have one. Tucking it in his hand, he deployed Korello to attack mode and decided to save the Virgin for later, though he had no clue how it had ended up in his deck.
"You're hiding something," Yami taunted. "I know you're hiding something."
"Just move already," Joey snapped.
"Very well." Yami pulled a card from his hand and laid it down. "I summon the Poisonwraith!"
From nowhere a giant Poisonwraith appeared out of the ground and twitched. Its size dwarfed the Dark Magician, whom Yami instantly commanded, "Dark Magician - Dark Magic attack!"
Korello was annihilated instantly, and Joey's life points dropped to 1700. But that wasn't all that happened. As his monster disintegrated, he felt a sharp pain run briefly through his body, almost enough to make him cry out, and just enough to make him slump over a little and hold a rail for support.
"Oh, did that hurt? I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you," Yami taunted. "In this game, whatever your monster feels, you will feel as well. Do you enjoy the pain of defeat?"
"I ain't defeated yet, Yami," Joey growled. "And remember, this is gonna hurt you as much as it hurts me -"
With that, he switched the Archangel Warrior to attack mode and with the Staff of Justice attack, vaporized the Dark Magician. Yami shouted and stumbled backwards a few steps, life points at 1675.
"How do ya like that, ya double-crossin' sonuvabitch?" Joey snarled.
Yami wiped some blood off his lip and took his former place again. "Not bad, but the name-calling is very immature."
"That's me." Joey smirked and tilted his head. "Your move."
"All right." Yami pointed forward, past his Poisonwraith. "Poisonwraith, Poisoned Souls attack!"
Green goop spouted from the monster's mouth and covered the Azalea Gnome and Archangel Warrior. Joey felt a twinge in his right arm, then his vision blurred slightly, outlines bleeding into each other, and he started feeling dizzy.
"That the - whoa!" he shouted as he almost fell over and grabbed the rail to keep him from doing so. "That the best you can do?!"
"Pain is temporary," Yami chuckled, "but poison lasts a long, long time."
Joey's eyes narrowed. "Poison or no poison, I'm still gonna kick your butt."
Yami smiled cockily. "Look again."
Joey did. The Gnome's hit points were dropping dramatically, and so were those of the Archangel. He had to act fast, or he'd lose the last monsters he had on the field. "Archangel Warrior…" He slumped over the table. "Radiant Earth!"
The ground glowed. The Poisonwraith looked down in shock as its legs disintegrated. Its torso and head followed, and Yami's life points dropped to 1225 as he winced and stumbled forward, with no Wraith.
"How's tha -" Joey stopped when he realized his Azalea Gnome was gone, too, its lesser hit points no match for the efficacious venom. His own life points were at 1400, but the poison had dulled the pain enough that he hadn't felt much at all. Thinking fast, or as fast as he could under the influence of the poison, he yanked a card off his deck and looked at it.
Trust in the cards, he thought. So it does work. He slammed the card onto the table. "I summon the Cleansing Mist!"
Yami jumped back. He obviously hadn't been expecting it. The Archangel's hit points jumped back to their original 2000, and this time Joey could see it clearly. "Thanks for teaching me to trust the cards, Yami," he laughed. "Never woulda known the Mist was right there without 'cha!"
Yami scowled. "I suppose that was my mistake."
"Or maybe," Joey suggested, "you know you were gonna go evil like this all along, somehow, and you cared too much to leave us defenseless."
"I don't care about you," his opponent snapped. "I'm just having a little fun."
"Why are you acting like this?" Joey wondered aloud. "It's not like you."
Yami growled and pulled a card out of his deck, then slammed it down. "I summon Nuriko the White!"
A young woman appeared out of the ground. She was Japanese, in a white kimono with sleeves that fell six inches past her hands. She didn't look strong, and not by her stats, either.
1400:1800. Easy, Joey thought. Rest easy, Téa. You're safe in my capable hands. "Archangel Warrior, Staff of Justice!"
The Warrior obeyed. Nuriko crouched down and glowed slightly. As the Staff came closer, it slowed, and slowed, until finally the Warrior was straining just to hold it still, and then it was vaporized, along with its owner…
Joey stumbled back with a shout. His life points had fallen to 950. "What the hell was that?!" he shouted. "There's no way she coulda gotten it! Not the Archangel Warrior!"
He was interrupted by Yami's cold laugh. "You don't know Nuriko very well, do you? She may not be very strong physically, but she has a powerful psychic shield…"
"Nothing's gonna get the best of me!" Joey yelled. "Nothing!" And with that word, he swiftly yanked the Starlight Virgin out of his hand and slammed it onto the field.
Yami jumped. "WHAT? You - there's no way you could - I know for a FACT you don't have - but - "
"Hey, until I found it in my deck, I didn't think I had one either," Joey pointed out. "But anyway…" He pointed out onto the field, where Nuriko stood stalwart. "You're goin' down, Yami!"
"I don't think so…" Yami replied, regaining his composure. He pulled a card out of his hand. "I waited exactly for the right moment to do this." And laid it down on the table. "Magical Clones!"
Within a half-second, there were eight Nurikos on the field. Joey jumped. "Whata?!"
"Feh." Yami tilted his head. "Only one is the real Nuriko. The others have the same abilities, and they can hurt you very badly. They'll only all disappear if you destroy the real one."
Joey's eyes went wide. Oh, great! How the heck am I gonna tell which one's the real Nuriko?!
"It's your move," Yami continued. "Use it wisely. It's the only chance you'll get to actually use your new Starlight Virgin."
One move to figure out which one is the real one… A drop of sweat ran down Joey's face as his eyes darted from one Nuriko, to another, to another, to another… and then…
"Starlight Virgin," he commanded, "attack that one! The one with a shadow!"
"It's no use, Joey," Yami stated. "Remember what happened to your Archangel?"
Joey flicked him off. "Look, Yami, if you wanna question my strategy, do it when you're on my side! Starlight Virgin…" He pointed with the more appropriate finger now. "Use Roulette!"
Roulette… it chooses one random attack of the ones she can do… Virgin's Kiss or Starlight Magic…it's gotta be one of those… unless…
With no warning at all, the woman's hands glowed, and came back, and shot forth a blast so powerful…
"OF COURSE!" Joey yelled. "The last point five percent is the chance of it being Obliterate!"
"No!" Yami screamed. "I can't lose! Not to you!"
He raised his hand in Téa's direction. It glowed slightly. Joey didn't even notice, because just then Obliterate hit the eight Nurikos, annihilating each and every last one of them, and sending Yami's life points spiraling down to zero. Yami screamed, and fell backwards onto the floor, and then it was over. The black faded out, and the world came back to life.
"Wha - what the heck just happened?" someone asked.
"Yugi! Is he okay?"
"When're they gonna start?"
"Hey, Joey!" Tristan shouted over the roar of the crowd. "I need an explanation here!"
He was supporting the unconscious Téa in his arms.
Joey's eyes widened. "He… he did it anyway…"
*CHAPTER END*
Please review! I love reviews! And if you have the time, please read and review my other stories too! *grin grin*