Version E-1.3
By Jinx&Jedi
.:: Chapter III - Halloween ::.
Sydney, Australia
05:37pm on Thursday, October 31, 2002
With a cackle that bordered on a blood-curdling scream,
the dark clown exploded from the force of the attack. The severed pieces
of its corpse floated and spun lightly, gently on the air in a macabre
parody of a child's snow globe. They hung, suspended for the span of several
heartbeats before they collapsed in a flurry of black glitter. Slowly,
as if carried on an invisible wind, it began to spread across the field.
It swirled, tumbled, and reached in sinister, ethereal wisps; wraith-like
and barely visible in the bright lights of the arena it glided towards
his opponent's monster. First one space, and then another it wafted inexorably
forward.
The battle zone was rapidly crossed.
One more space.
He kept his head bowed, staring vacantly at the
back of the face-down card he'd placed in the second space from the right
on his Magic and Trap Card Zone. His brown bangs hung like a veil in front
of his face, stirred by the same breath of air that moved the glitter across
the field. Expectation froze the breath in his chest and sent his blood
pounding in his ears.
It was only a matter of time.
Across the holographic arena his opponent beamed
triumphantly, naively oblivious to the change taking place on the field.
The dark haired American, like so many before him, wasn't realizing he
was being brought to his knees. By now it had afflicted his deck, infecting
all his strongest monsters and removing their capability to be played.
At the edge of his peripheral vision, he could see lights dancing against
the dark fabric of the young man's "Costume" tee-shirt. Yet; caught up
in his glorious delusions of victory, the other Duelist wasn't noticing
much of anything.
The shimmering dust touched his opponent's Flame
Champion.
It swirled around the fire-sword, Salamandra,
and sparkled in the light from the burning shield on her left arm. The
fire continued burning, though it's flame had darkened from the brilliant,
white-orange gleam of a roaring fire to the bloody light of fading embers.
Like a bashful lover, the glitter caressed its way up her bare legs, across
the silver armor and emerald cloth that protected her mid-rift and chest,
and then finally stroked the smooth skin of her face through the silvery
metal of her helmet.
And then struck like a viper.
Seto Kaiba chuckled deep in his throat and lifted
his head as he heard the death scream of the female monster, the typical
explosion of sound as it was consigned to the Graveyard quickly followed,
and followed still by a classic, dumb-founded intake of breath.
"I see my Dark Clown Master is a regular Lady Killer."
He mused, feeling momentary stings of pain as his chapped lips broke and
bled as they extended into a his usual smirk. "But you know demons: they
like it rough. I'll have to speak with him about that -" He lifted the
trap card from his interface, held it high so as to be easily seen, and
declared, "Crush Card, activated when Saggi The Dark Clown
was destroyed."
He replaced the card face up in the spot he'd lifted
it from, tossed his hair out of his eyes, and waited patiently for his
turn. Kaiba no longer remembered his opponent's name, nor did he care.
The Duel, the match, and the entire Sydney Invitational was essentially
over. He had three ways to end the Duel right in his current hand. Three
ways to rip away the last of the American's Life-Points and leave him to
contemplate his foolish, so-called strategies in disgrace. Three ways to
win so soundly the Looser wouldn't know what hit him.
The Hawaiian stared at the cards he still held in
his hand; most of them - Kaiba knew - were useless now. Oh, there would
be magic and trap cards. There might even be the occasional level
four or five monster who was just weak enough to remain untouched
by the Virus ravaging his deck. However, he still had plenty of Life Points,
plenty of Cards, and plenty of firepower left to raze the field several
times over.
"I... I have nothing else to play." Came the enjoyable,
defeated mutter from his opponent. Kaiba had long ago figured his strategies
out, none of which included weak and mid-level monsters to circumvent his
Virus-Sagi Combo. His turn declared over, all he could do now was
watch the Duel reach its unavoidable conclusion.
Kaiba couldn't have been more pleased.
With no monsters on the field to protect his competitor's
Life Points, any attack of any kind right now would be devastating. 'Devastating
is precisely what I want.' Seto chuckled to himself, relishing
his advantage. They were playing by the old, unchallenging, and insipid
rules that had made Dueling so boring and almost repellent to him; the
same rules that only served to hasten the end of this Tournament.
His draw phase rewarded him with a Cyber-Stien,
but unluckily, he was too low on Life Points to use him. Seto grinned wolfishly
and lifted his Chinese copy of Blue Eyes, White Dragon from his
hand. "I play the famed Blue Eyes, White Dragon!" He bellowed as
he slapped it onto the middle space of his Monster Zone.
The thunderous cry of the enormous creature shook
the stadium and the rafters above his head as the silvery, lithe neck of
the dragon shot from the matching rectangle on the field. Powerful wings
beat strongly against the air currents, carrying it high above the holographic
arena, before it settled lightly over the field. Kaiba could smell ozone
on the air and could practically taste the fear radiating from the other
side of the Dueling Platform. The blue-eyed dragon lingered for a heartbeat
above the field before lifting its wings high, spilling the air that had
supported it, and dropping the last few meters. The arena shook with the
impact and dust flew up around its sinuous form. The dragon hissed and
roared at the American, dropped onto all-fours, and awaited his command.
"Blue Eyes, White Dragon!" He barked. The
majestic dragon reared as he spoke its name, wings spread wide to stabilize
itself, "Attack!!"
He shut his eyes against the harsh glare as the
Dragon spat its jet of white-hot brilliance. A delighted, invigorated laugh
exploded from his very core as dazzling white light spilled between his
tightly clenched eyes and a fierce wind lashed his face and wrenched at
his clothing. When he opened his eyes, he was rewarded with the sight of
his dark haired opponent watching in horror as his Life Points dropped
and continued dropping. The downward count went negative before the computer
bounced the number back up to a solid zero.
His dragon let loose an earsplitting, thunderous
roar of triumph before it dissolved into a radiant light that quickly faded,
leaving only its echo to show it had ever occupied the arena.
Seto chuckled as he swept all his cards up casually
and tucked his deck back into its home in the right, breast pocket of his
black, leather coat. The crowd in the stands high above was deafening,
their cries a mixture of laughter, cheers, and contemptuous shouts; some
were pleased and even amused by his win while others felt he shouldn't
even have been invited. Kaiba ignored them all as he punched the "Down"
button and crossed his arms over his chest. His opponent was still picking
through his Graveyard with a look distress painted across his face, as
if trying to figure out where he went wrong. He soon lost sight of him
as the lift bounced gently an instant before the hydraulic systems began
lowering him to the floor.
He crossed the expansive floor briskly and stood
in front of his folding chair. On his way over, he'd spotted a flash deep
blue and black running for all he was worth down to the floor. Kaiba could
hear his little brother yelling something, but he was easily drowned out
by the crowd. Mokuba's sneakers skidded and squeaked as he spun around
the last corner and sprinted for him.
"It's Shane!" He panted when he reached him, "It's
Shane!"
"Westfield?" Seto's shoulders rose and fell briefly
in a quick chuckle, genuinely amused. "That's a surprise."
"Yeah, it was him!" Mokuba said, tossing a glance
over his shoulder in the direction he'd come from. "I know it was him!
When he saw me, he pointed at me and played a Summoned Skull!"
"That would be Westfield." Seto grinned, nodded
in satisfaction, and crossed his arms over his chest, too impatient to
finish the Tournament and get on with his life to find sitting appealing.
The tournament's organizing committee had only invited Duelists from the
Pacific Rim and while that region contained much of the Dueling Elite,
it hadn't drawn any Duelists good enough to even make him feel remotely
challenged.
Thus; he had found himself bored once again.
"When this is over, can we go back up north to the
beach house for a while longer?"
Seto pulled his cuff back and examined his watch,
"Provided there's daylight left. The final match starts at six sharp."
Mokuba sighed in disappointment and crossed his
arms over his Hawaiian shirt decorated with stylized dragons, lotus blossoms,
and sharks-teeth, "And who knows when we'll be able to get away after that."
Kaiba chuckled, his tone communicating that he agreed
to his little brother, "You can always talk to our body-guards and have
them take you back to the hotel."
Mokuba's comical reply to that suggestion was a
dirty look, "No thanks, I'm gonna to stay here with you. Besides, I want
to say Hi to Shane."
They stood there, waiting, for what felt like hours.
Mokuba eventually sidled back to sit in Seto's folding chair. Seto himself
restrained the urge to tap his foot in irritation and tried to remind himself
that at least he wasn't caged in his office. The impatient part of him
dodged the thought cleanly and insisted that now he was locked into this
asinine competition. He had signed up and had flown over; conned into the
idea that this event would be a challenging test of the Elite's Elite.
New rules, innovative twists, and challenging matches had been promised
to him. Unless they were saying that he-himself was going to be the challenge,
there was none; and the only thing close to innovative, so far, was running
into Westfield, who - as a rule - wasn't all that serious about Duel
Monsters. While he wouldn't truly challenge him, his stall-tactics
were just annoying enough to fool a part of him into thinking he was being
challenged. The only thing new to any of this was the five days of inviolable
free time his little brother and he had enjoyed before the Tourney.
"It's weird, Shane's changed alot . . ." Mokuba
finally commented, but he trailed the thought off and left it incomplete.
He fidgeted with the necklace he was wearing, playing with the stylized,
blue and silver cloisonné flame that made up the pendant. He appeared
to be contemplating saying something else, but wasn't sure about speaking
out about it.
"What is it, Mokuba?" He asked, his gaze not moving
from the enormous screen above the Judge's booth. It was showing instant-replays
from the Duel, probably with narration for the live telecast of the Invitational.
"Nothing." The darker-haired Kaiba lied, "He just
wasn't using his Weenie Rush." He used one of the points to clean
the dirt out from under his nails, not meeting his eyes.
"Mokuba." Seto growled, using his tone to implicate
that he wasn't accepting his excuse. While he had no doubt the London-born
New Zealander had yet again changed his Dueling Deck, he wasn't going accept
that a triviality such as a different deck structure would concern his
little brother.
"It's nothing!"
Seto's gaze didn't leave the field, nor did he uncross
his arms; although a definitive edge had crept into his voice, "I am not
walking on eggshells around him, Mokuba. If he is going to Duel me, he
is going to Duel - not have his afternoon tea. Pure and simple."
Mokuba rolled his eyes expressively and swung his
khaki-clad legs to kick the legs of the chair, "I know that, Seto.
It's just some of his new cards, but you don't like me telling you about
those, remember?"
'Right . . .' Seto thought sarcastically;
he still wasn't buying it. However, he recognized that his little brother
wasn't going to tell him, at least not here. "I remember."
On the screen, they were summing up the past two
days, showing clips of the various Duels and who had already been eliminated.
It was full of smooth transitions interspersed with jump-cuts, using similar
monsters or similar destruction sequences to blend into another Duel. Seto
grinned as the screen went pure white, flashed a Blue Eyes, White Dragon
and then another flash. A clip of the Dragon's blue eye blended into what
he could only assume was one of his own eyes, and zoomed out to show him
barking commands to the silver creature. He would have to check into how
he could get a copy of the telecast, just so he could hear what was being
said.
The screen then shifted to different monsters and
obliterating assaults, this time involving Demon Summons and Machine-type
monsters, jumping in and out to the blond Duelist. Seto chuckled, still
mildly surprised the laid-back, eccentric Duelist had made it this far.
As long as he'd known him, he had never taken Dueling seriously - in fact,
he had been barely interested - and thus, never made it very far. The Summoned
Skull on the screen inflated to huge, gratuitous proportions before
its Sword of Dark Destruction neatly halved an Ushi Oni.
"That's where he pointed at me and used it." Mokuba
informed him quietly, coming to stand at his side.
Seto nodded, recognizing the tactic - Shane used
to delight in pulling the same move, except to far larger proportions,
to take down one of his Blue Eyes. The young man's deck had been
based around pathetically weak monsters who could directly attack an opponent's
Life Points, using various Magic and Trap cards to pin an opponent down
while he did his dirty work. In spite of this, he'd kept the four cards
needed to take down a Blue Eyes in his side-deck along with even
more annoying magic and trap cards. While he couldn't beat him, he couldn't
even hope to tie with him; Shane could get on his nerves with the best
of them.
Up on the screen, it had frozen on two images. His
own picture glared back at him while his signature scrawled over and over
at the bottom as Shane Westfield's image did the same. The blond's picture
grinned at him, infuriatingly cheerful in his expression as the light from
the flash glinted off the silver barbell that pierced his eyebrow.
Kaiba scanned the crowd, knowing automatically that
they were waiting on the other Duelist. It was almost six and there was
only couple minutes left before the deadline passed and his opponent was
disqualified. His gaze froze in the direction Mokuba had come from on a
slow-moving figure. He turned full around to face the person, recrossed
his arms over his chest, and stared impatiently at him. The young man lifted
his head, met his eyes briefly, and obviously sighed before picking up
the pace. Westfield emerged from the same field entrance Mokuba had dashed
out from and moved at his version of a brisk walk, his feet coming to rest
at the same moment as the opposite forearm crutch touched the ground.
"Good luck, Seto!" Mokuba said hurriedly, embracing
him quickly.
"Thanks, Kid." Kaiba grinned as he began to walk,
unhurriedly towards the platform himself.
Even at his relatively slowest pace, he easily caught
up with him. Shane's legs bent oddly due to his muscles being too weak
to keep them steady, his crutches helping him walk with a semblance of
normality. Kaiba fell into step beside his opponent and surreptitiously
sized him up. He was still easily his height, though he was now broader
in the shoulders and larger in the hands. The facial piercing was missing,
however, although his eternally too-long bangs still drifted in three strands
in front of his face. His style of dress had changed too, he was now dressing
almost fastidiously; though, that could probably be explained by his impending
graduation.
However, unlike the picture above, the real Westfield
wasn't cheerful. He wasn't even happy. He looked furious.
"You're actually interested enough to Duel me? I'm
surprised." Kaiba gleefully muttered in his opponent's ear, feeling the
corner of his mouth quirk.
The blond duelist didn't pause or even meet his
gaze but his slightly higher voice was curt, "Sod Off, Seto."
Kaiba laughed, genuinely amused. "Better save that
"S.O.S" for when I'm kicking your ass."
He caught a glimpse of Westfield's right middle
finger at the bottom of his peripheral vision as the duelist paused a moment
before he settled back into his two-point gait. Kaiba laughed and followed,
easily catching back up. Over the loudspeakers came the beginning of the
original Points of Authority by Linkin Park, just barely
audible over the crowd.
"Hear that? They're playing the anthem of this Duel."
Seto yet again muttered in Shane's ear. His voice lowered to a whisper,
"Forfeit, you can't keep up."
"Kutebare." Shane snapped, his eyes narrowing over
the jet-black of his novelty contact lenses.
"Same to you," Kaiba smirked. "Looser."
They were almost to the Platform, Shane pursed his
lips, looking thoughtful. He spoke in accented, formal Japanese, "Perhaps
we should request this be game of Strip-Dueling. At the end of this at
whole world would see that you which really are."
"Westfield, your Japanese is hysterical." Kaiba
sneered, his eyebrow cocked as he gauged the reactions he was getting.
"I wish I had a blueprint for your brain; I've been trying to build an
idiot for my game."
The New Zealander snorted in return and reverted
back to English, "You know, Seto? You've changed: You used to be arrogant
and obnoxious. Now you're just -"
"Gentlemen!" The head judge interrupted harshly,
"Save the garbage for the game!" He adjusted his glasses and stepped back,
"Shake hands, Please!"
Kaiba turned and offered Westfield his hand, smiling
in a ruthless parody of sociability. At first he was almost certain Shane
was going to decline or possibly even spit at him, but then he gripped
his hand firmly. He could feel his opponent's thumb digging into the nerve
complex just behind his thumb, so he dug his own thumb into the blond's
matching complex. They stared defiantly and mercilessly at each other for
the span of several heartbeats, each trying to dig their thumb deeper and
harder than the other, before they let go and pulled their decks from their
respective homes.
"Shuffle your decks!"
Kaiba kept his eyes on Shane as he shuffled his
deck rapidly. His right hand was growing numb from the point where the
European's thumb had dug him, but he had little doubt he'd had a comparable
effect on his opponent. He watched as Westfield balanced on his crutches
as best he could while shuffling his deck, forced to keep his eyes down-turned.
"Now, shuffle your opponent's deck!"
Their decks were traded and quickly shuffled. It
didn't escape Seto's notice that Shane went to the extra effort to split
his deck into equal parts and fan them back together before cutting the
deck again and then pushing the halves back together. 'He's not going
to chance any possible cheating,' A part of his mind offered
with maddening helpfulness, but the thought that Westfield mistrusted him
that badly absurdly exasperated him further.
As they traded decks back, Kaiba narrowed his eyes
and regarded Westfield once more. The other Duelist had indeed changed
since they'd last met in person. What it was, he didn't know nor did he
really care.
As the hydraulic lift carried him up, he played
sets of mind games with himself, trying to prepare himself for any surprises
Westfield might be able to trip on him. In each, his opponent played a
potentially devastating card combination and, in turn, he countered. For
each of his own combos there was a counter which he would annul with a
different combination. He knew Shane probably still had his complete Demon
Summon combination and that he'd probably already exchanged the weaker
cards for the stronger ones from his side-deck. Thus, he quickly decided
that he'd lure Shane into playing it and then destroy in any way possible.
He would use Heavy Storm on it, or the Invitation to a Dark Sleep,
Dark Hole would work also, as would Tribute to the Doomed and
Curse of Darkness. His Crush Card/ Sagi combination
would be useless against him; Westfield knew that combination and Kaiba
would find himself on the receiving end of Heavy Storm or Giant
Trunade.
The soft retort of the lift's locking mechanisms
broke him out of his mind games. Kaiba picked up the lapel microphone and
pinned it quickly to his coat's collar.
Below, the head judge turned to face the audience
as the two duelists readied their interfaces, "The Duelist with the highest
rating in the tournament will make the first play. That would be Seto Kaiba."
Seto took a deep breath as they drew their first
five cards, calming the feeling of exhilaration that always boiled up from
the depths of his being. Then a smirk drew itself across his face, his
first hand was good: Vampire Lord, Blood Vors, Angel's
Gift, his Japanese Blue Eyes, White Dragon, and a Needle
Worm.
He regarded his hand momentarily before he set the
Blood Vors, "I play Blood Vors in Attack Mode!"
The beast-warrior appeared in a rush of light and
a shower of sparks, a growl rumbling deep in its throat. Its olive-colored
muscles bunched as it brandished it's pole-arm towards his opponent. He
could smell the stink of a carnivore's breath, the tang of blood, and the
aroma of supple, well-kept leather on the air.
"Your move." Seto stated coldly.
Westfield was regarding his hand intensely. He selected
one card, hesitated, changed his mind, replaced it, selected another, and
finally laid it face down and in defense move, "I set this card in face
down, defense mode and end my turn."
Kaiba grinned, not really all that alarmed. His
draw phase rewarded him with his Steel Ogre Grotto #2, but he didn't
need him at the moment.
"Blood Vors!" He barked, "Attack!"
The humanoid beast's scythe-bladed weapon impaled
the glowing square ruthlessly. A furry creature with three tightly clenched
eyes screeched shrilly once, it's bony, green arms waving frantically an
instant before it vanished.
Kaiba narrowed his eyes at the spot where Sangan
had been. That had been an unusual move for Shane. Critter was now
one of the established Exodia and Shadow Ghoul search cards,
but both were on Shane's established list of despised monsters.
Across the arena, Westfield had already drawn a
card from his deck and had added it to his hand. He laid his hand face
down and to the side and then shuffled his deck quickly, cutting and fanning
it, before returning it to the Deck Zone.
He lifted another card from his hand and laid it
face down, "I set another card in face down defense mode and end my turn."
Kaiba lifted an eyebrow and shook his head, "On
the run already? I'm hardly surprised."
He regarded the space again, if Shane was like most
of the other Duelists he'd encountered it was another search card. However,
part of him wanted to see what he was up to. Kaiba laid his Steel Ogre
Grotto #2 face down and also in defense mode, "I also choose to set
a card face down and in defense mode. However, I choose to attack with
Blood Vors!"
Once again, the beast-warrior charged, the scythe-bladed
weapon hurtling through space to attack the hiding creature. However, this
time a woman in flowing, dark robes appeared, hands held outward in a vain
attempt to defend herself. She screamed once and vanished.
As the Witch of the Black Forest vanished,
Shane was finding yet another card to add to his hand before shuffling
his deck.
'Interesting.' Kaiba thought, contemplating
the move. The only other creature he could think of that would need those
cards might be Magnet Valkyrion, but he wasn't all that alarmed.
Magnet Valkyrion was hideously rare and so far the only Duelist
he'd seen with one was Yugi. It was far more likely that Shane and simply
lifted his aversion to Shadow Ghouls and had found one from the
last reprint series. Then again, Westfield was one of the wealthiest Duelists
in the League; he could easily have done the same thing he had done to
find his three Blue Eyes, White Dragons.
He didn't have much longer to reflect on possible
monsters as Shane leered cheerfully and swept three cards onto the field,
"I sacrifice Magnet Warrior Alpha, Beta, and Gamma
from my hand to summon Magnet Valkyrion!"
The winged automaton rose from the middle square,
it's silver wings spread wide and it's sword held menacingly, ready to
attack. The tiny LED lights inside it's mechanized eyes glowed balefully
at him from it's golden helmet ornamented with a horse-shoe magnet.
Shane seemed much more jovial now, though his voice
was still serious, "And, since I know you were waiting to see what I was
up to and are probably are about to open your Can on me, I will end my
turn with the Magic Card: Swords of Revealing Light!"
The regal, glowing swords appeared majestically
high above his side of the field before they plummeted, freezing the motion
on his side of the field.
"Heh, still stalling. You're as boring as ever."
Kaiba chuckled as he drew, but cursed mentally as he got his Gift of
the Mystical Elf instead of anything useful at the moment.
"I'm not stalling nor running, I'm simply moving
to a better vantage point for the fireworks." Shane sniffed. "I sacrifice
Magnet Valkyrion and return Magnet Warrior Gamma to the field!"
Seto laughed as the little, red machine reappeared
back on the field. It brandished it's cartoon-like fists at him and inclined
it's tiny head as though it was trying to make it's tiny, yellow, LED eyes
look intimidating. 'Now, that was silly.' He thought in amusement.
His Blood Vors would be able to tear it apart when he could move
again. He drew again, but managed to get his Polimerization. "Go."
He snapped.
"If you insist." Westfield quipped and slapped another
card on the field. "I play Magnet Warrior Alpha, in attack mode
and I also play my other Swords of Revealing Light."
Kaiba felt his lip curl; now he remembered why he
hated Dueling Shane. His stall tactics didn't fool him into thinking he
was being challenged, they infuriated him. The little robot's green shield
and sword were held ready, it's blocky feet set wide apart.
Kaiba drew another card and had to swallow a laugh,
he now had Versago the Destroyer, which meant he only needed to
find one more of his Dragons to get his Ultimate Dragon. "Go." He
said coldly, holding back his glee and hiding it under a mask of indifference.
"I play Magnet Warrior Beta in attack mode!
And now, I sacrifice all three Magnet Warriors to summon my second
Magnet Valkyrion!"
'He was trying to get two out there.' Kaiba
realized, scowling. He then drew again, and fought his lips to keep them
from quirking. He set the Polymerization card face down on the field
and laid the first dragon above it, also face down. "I play one magic card
face down, and set one monster card in face down defense mode."
"And whose running scared now?" Shane asked, his
voice droll. "I play Monster Reborn, returning my first Valkyrion
to the field!"
The field shimmered briefly before the original
Valkyrion took its place beside its twin. They brandished their
matching swords decorated with magnets, the poles bicolored to tell them
apart. Their articulated hands flexed and the servomotors operating it
pulsated in heavy, deep notes, as though the anticipation of battle had
sent their nonexistent hearts pounding.
"Magnet Valkyrion!" Shane bellowed, tapping
the card to indicate which one he wanted to attack. The second Valkyrion
dropped onto one knee, sword held ready and its ersatz, motorized heartbeat
thrumming louder in response to its name. "Attack Blood Vors!"