Oh, yeah! I'm back again with an all-new episode of Duelists of The Future.
I just realized that it didn't take me two weeks to get this episode up!
That's a first! Well, actually, the first time I uploaded an episode before
two weeks passed was when I uploaded Episode 03. It was uploaded the day
after I first uploaded the book. That was only because the majority of the
episode had been typed, though. All I had to do was finish the last scene
and make a few finishing touches. Anyway, I don't have anything else to
say, so I'll just let you go on and read the episode. Hope you enjoy it!
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Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 11, 'The Victory Goes To... Part 1' (3/13/2003)
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Previously...
The masked figure shoved Pegasus to the ground, then walked over to the door and locked it. Pegasus scrambled for the intercom, but the figure grabbed him and pushed him onto the bed.
"Long time no see, Maximillion," the voice, which sounded like a typical male, spoke.
"Who.. who are you?" Pegasus asked. He didn't know who this person was, or what they wanted with him. The man pulled off his mask and revealed himself to him.
"Recognize me now, brother?"
"It's... it's you! Duke!" Pegasus spoke in shock.
"You took my girlfriend from me. Remeber Cecilia Pegasus? She was my honey, my fiancee, and you weaved your way into her heart and took her from me! And you even..."
"Duke, wait a minute!" Pegasus begged while getting to his feet. "I'm gonna give you a chance to get back the dream that you concocted," Pegasus stated. Duke was a little surprised.
"You mean..."
"Yes. But first, you must manage to defeat me in a duel."
"What?!"
"I said, you must manage to defeat me in a duel. If you can beat me, I promise to give you the rights to Duel Monsters, and I'll bring back your old lover.
"Allright, then, I accept your challenge. We'll have a duel, and if I win, I'll get back what I want, understood?" he inquired.
Pegasus nodded confidently. "Of course. Now, whip out your deck of cards and let's get this show on the road!" he exclaimed.
Long, metallic spikes jarred into Red Archery Girl, destroying her. Her shattered pieces flowed over into Cannon Soldier, which powered it up. It pointed the large gun on the top of its head at Duke.
"It's over... he beat me..." Duke's voice trailed off.
"See? What did I tell you, Dukey-boy? I told you I would be the victor in this duel. Cannon Soldier, attack Duke directly!" Pegasus snapped. Cannon Soldier fired off its shot and struck Duke in the chest, knocking him to the floor and finishing the match.
***Duke's Life Points- 0/Maximillion's Life Points- 4300***
"Curse you, Pegasus! This isn't over!" he yelled and dove out of the window. Pegasus got off the floor, ran over to the window and bent over, looking down at the ground below. There was no sign of Duke; all Pegasus saw was numerous trees. "Darn! I've got to find him! He knows things and he could spill them..."
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Seto Kaiba: "Whatever I do, I've got to find a way to knock Misty out of the tournament. If she manages to save her sisters, they're gonna rat me out, and I'll be finished!"
"Perhaps you wouldn't mind doing me a little favor and kicking her out of the tournament for me. I promise I'll make it worth your while," Seto offered.
Mai was a bit skeptical about this, but she decided to play along. "Just what will you do to get me to duel the girl?"
"I'll pay you $10,000 dollars. Defeat the girl and you'll get the money as a reward. What I want is for you to challenge her to an all-out match. Wipe her out of the tournament, and the money is yours. What do you say?"
Mai pondered the idea for a while, then gave Seto an answer. "Allright, I'll play. But only on one condition: if I lose and she takes all my stars from me, you'll have to fork over 3 of the stars you have already to put me back in the game, understand? If you don't agree to that, then you won't receive my services," she told him. Seto acknowledged that information and nodded.
"Agreed."
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Before she could began to eat her food, a mask filled with some sedative solution came over her nose, and before she knew what was happening, she had lost consciousness. A figure began dragging Misty away...
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The woman approached Misty and smirked. "Hello, little girl. Remeber me?"
"Mai Valentine?! Wha... w.. why are you doing this?!"
"We're gonna have an all-out match, winner take all. You have six stars and I have nine. Add it up, and your total is fifteen stars, which is, if I recall correctly, the amount of stars required to enter the main tournament. We're gonna bet all our stars on this match, and whoever wins is the only one who can advance," Mai offered.
"What makes you think I'm gonna risk everything on a single match? I'm not betting all my stars on one match. And for your information, if you wanted a duel, all you had to do was ask me for it, not drag me down here!" Misty yelled.
Mai gagged in disgust. "Ugh... I knew you'd be too chicken to accept this kind of duel. Well, since you want to be stubborn, it looks like I'll have to resort to my backup tactics to crack you," she spoke in a icy tone of voice.
This caught Misty's attention. "Backup tactics? What's that?" she asked.
"Wanna find out? Believe me girl, it isn't pretty."
"Allright, Mai, I accept your duel. We'll have an all-out match, and whoever wins goes on to enter the main competition."
Mai released Misty off the wall and whipped out her dueling device. Misty did the same, and the two girls powered them up. [I hope I can do this. Winning this match means I will have accomplished my first objective in my quest to save my sisters,] Misty thought.
[Once I win Misty's six stars, I can then enter the tournament and stop worrying about surviving this mini-contest. Once my place in the main competition in set in stone, I can began wokring out a plan to take down Pegasus and put him behind bars, where he belongs,] Mai thought to herself. Both women looked at each other.
"Let's Duel!" they both shouted.
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Brock propelled himself through the hole and found a room full of gold. There was gold laying everywhere. Gold floated all over the room. There was gold lining the walls, gold all over the floors... everywhere Brock looked gold was in his eyesight.
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"C'mon..." he muttered to himself, but that didn't help the lightning bolt appear. Ash then decided to try what Geoff did moments ago and call out to the lightning. "Element of Lightning, I call upon you!" he shouted, but nothing happened. Ash sighed and turned to face Geoff. "See, nothing happened. I can't seem to make them come when I want them. They just.. come on their own." Suddenly, a bolt appeared and struck the ground directly next to Ash himself. He gasped in surprise. "Uh... well, voila! A perfect example! They just come out on their own; I can't seem to harness them."
Geoff sighed heavily. "I think this might take a little longer than I thought..."
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Brock was going to head back up to the surface, but he changed his mind at the last minute. He turned around and swam back toward the sunken plane. Once he reached the entrance, he glided inside and manuevered through the tight room en route to the storage room full of gold. Once he reached the trapdoor, he swam through the opening. All the gold was still there, of course, and he began to explore the room even further. He swam out to the middle of the room and grabbed some of the gold chains and rings floating in the water. He put them on and smirked. The gold was really beautiful, and Brock began to get some ideas about what he could do with it. He could possibly open up a gold shop and sell all this gold to help pay for his father's operation and the medical bills from it. As Brock started to swim back out the room, something caught his eye. It was another lever attached to a wall. He propelled over to it and pulled it, opening another door. Brock swam through the newly opened doorway and saw a pedestal sitting in the middle of the room. A glass container sat on top of the pedestal holding an ancient object inside. The object was a crystal orb. Curious, Brock approached the container and picked it up. There wasn't anyway to open the container except breaking it. Brock was confused by this, because if there wasn't a way to open the container, how did the object get inside?
[Oh well, however it got inside, time to bust it out,] Brock thought to himself and threw the container toward the floor with all his might. The container broke into pieces, and the object began floating up toward the ceiling. Without warning, a brilliant, yellow light shined throughout the entire plane, and Brock shielded his eyes to keep from being blinded. A small, white cloud (for lack of a better term) rose out the orb as the light faded, then threw itself into Brock. It entered into his body, but he wasn't aware of it. After the light faded away, Brock removed his arms from around his eyes.
[What happened?] Brock wondered. Before he could began to think on the subject further, sudden pain erupted in his abdomen area. Brock's face cringed as he grabbed his stomach. The pain forced him to grit his teeth. More pain began to erupt in his chest, and he clinched it tightly. Brock tried his best to hold in the scream. His body began to convulse violently, and searing pain began to develop in his hands, arms, legs, and feet. The pain in his chest and abdomen increased, and he couldn't hold it in any longer. "AHH!!!" he yelled in pain. Bubbles emerged from his mouth, and the abrupt movements of his body caused bubbles to form in the water. His body continued to convulse violently as Brock began passing out from the pain. His body suddenly stopped moving and Brock started floating toward the floor of the room. Before he reached it, his body began to convulse again. He was simply convulsing in the middle of a submerged room, unconscious...
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Geoff sighed and sat down on a rock. Ash's training had so far been unsuccessful. Ash had absolutely no control over his powers; he had no idea how to start harnessing them or controlling them. Geoff's mother had trained him to control his powers, so he remebered a lot of the things his mother taught him and said to him. Ash's inner essence must've been split, or distorted. Something had to be distracting him, but what? Geoff looked up at Ash who was standing near the cliff. "Well, Ash, it seems as though you're off."
Ash turned around and popped his eyes open. "Off? What do you mean, off?"
"Not off, like, 'crazy in the head' off, but um, more like 'not concentrating; mind somewhere else, distracted' off. If you want to learn how to control your powers, you're gonna have to pull yourself together and concentrate," Geoff said.
"I am 'pulled together'," countered Ash.
"Oh, yeah? Then how come you can't control yourself, hmm?" Geoff inquired.
"Control myself? I am fully capable of controlling myself, Geoff. Am I trying to run off the cliff screaming 'The moon is producing cosmetic waves? They're all around me, choking me'? I think not," Ash retorted. "I am in full control of myself..." Suddenly another lightning struck from the ground and destroyed a tree. Ash stood there with a dumbfound look on his face.
"You were saying?" Geoff stared at him with an intimidating look on his face. Ash's face began to turn red from embarrassment.
"Stop looking at me right that!" he exclaimed and looked down at the ground.
"Hey..." Geoff began as he stood up, "it's nothing to be ashamed of. I know you need help controlling your powers, and I'm gonna help you, allright?" he said while approaching Ash. "Now, perk up. When my mother was training me, I had difficulty, but I didn't give up. I kept trying over and over again until I mastered them. You can do the same."
Ash looked up from the ground. "I guess you're right. What are we going to do, now?"
"Well, I think some meditating is in order. C'mon," he answered and began leading Ash to his tint. This would take a while, but Geoff knew that Ash would eventually began to master his powers. As long as Ash stayed determined and refused to give up, he had a chance of controlling the gift within him. Once they arrived at his tint, Geoff led Ash inside. His tint was quite spacious for a tint, but it was nothing remarkable. Geoff took a seat on his folded sleeping bag and instructed Ash to sit down on the grass.
"Don't I get a bag to sit on, too?" Ash objected.
"Just sit. So what if you get grass stains on your butt."
"So what? You're not the one who's going to be sitting on this hard ground for two hours with their eyes closed. You're probably gonna be playing some kind of portable game to pass the time," Ash quipped while sitting down in the grass.
"The thought had crossed my mind," Geoff commented. "Now, make sure you're in a position that you like, make sure it's comfortable too, so that you won't have to shift positions during the meditation," Geoff said. Ash tried out various positions and ended up choosing an indian style sitting. "Good. Now, close your eyes."
Ash slowly closed his eyes and sat very still.
"That's right. Sit still and don't move," Geoff said somewhat soothingly. "Just let your mind flow... free. Try to forget everything around you, try to forget everything you hear and just concentrate on the darkness you see in front of you," Geoff continued. Ash sat on the ground with his eyes shut tight. He didn't budge. "Now, try to forget about everything. Don't think about anything: music, people, bugs, trees, food, technology, nothing. Don't even think about the sounds around you. Don't think about your heartbeat, the grumbling noise your stomach might make, or even my voice," Geoff told him.
"Well, you know, that's kinda hard to do if you're talking," Ash snapped sarcastically.
"Fine, then, I won't say a word. I'll just shut up. But, remeber what I said," Geoff ordered, then sat back down on the bag. Ash tried to relax his mind and forget about anything and everything. The sounds of his breathing, the thumping of his heart, Geoff's movements, everything. He didn't think about his mother and what happened to her, he didn't think about Pegasus. Ash tried not to think about anything. He tried to free his mind of all thoughts and concentrate on "restoring his inner balance" as Geoff said.
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Li was still training Sakura. She was starting to grasp the more advance tactics of Duel Monsters, but she still had a long way to go. Li still admired how quickly she was catching on to it, though. After spending enough time with him, she would be dueling like a pro in no time. Li was leaning back on a tree, looking through Sakura's deck of cards. After flipping through all of them, he handed them back to her. "Well, what do you think?" wondered Sakura.
"It's... pretty good. It's a bit on the weak side, though. You have plenty of good magic cards and quite a few traps, but you don't have enough muscle or firepower in your deck. All your monsters are rather weak. Heh, your strongest card is Dark Magician Girl. Hey, since I have a couple of decks, I'll juice up your deck for you," Li offered.
"You will? That's really sweet of you," Sakura commented. Li grinned and took her deck of cards. He then pulled out one of his, then started to swap cards between the two. "Um, you're not destroying my deck, are you?" Sakura asked.
"Just the opposite," Li replied and continued revamping Sakura's deck. Sakura was a bit anxious to get her deck back, but she waited patiently. To pass time, she started walking back and forth. Li ran across a Dark Rabbit card in her deck. He shook his head. "This is one card that can be discarded..."
"No, don't get rid of that card!" Sakura exclaimed. Li's left eyebrow raised up. "A friend of mine gave it to me. Don't get rid of it," she said.
"I wasn't going to get rid of it. It's just my personal opinion that the card should be disposed of. It's really weak," Li responded.
"Well, maybe at first, but if you add the magic card Negative Energy to it, it's attack power will be doubled, raising it to 2200. I use that combo often in a duel," Sakura explained.
"Really? Who taught you that one?"
"The friend of mine," Sakura answered, then quickly added, "He's gone now, so I'd really appeciate it if you didn't ask me anything about him."
"All right, I won't say anything about him," Li assured her, then finished remodifying the deck. "All right, check this out," Li handed it back to her. Sakura grabbed the deck and started looking through it, aweing at various cards in the process. Li smiled as he watched the girl. It didn't take her too long to go through the deck. She looked up at Li and smiled.
"Wow, thank you, Li!" she exclaimed happily.
"You're welcome. Now, put your cards away, and let's continue your Duel Monsters lessons," Li told her. She slipped the deck into her pocket, then sat down on the pillow she had been sitting on before. Li began going over what he taught her to make sure she was listening, then began to teach her some more.
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Time passed, and Brock was still convulsing and shaking violently in the room. He had been down there for quite a while now, and it looked like his body was showing no signs of stopping. Suddenly, it stopped convulsing. His body slowly floated down to the floor of the room and layed there limply. It looked as though no life was inside him. Was he dead? The teenage boy slowly began coming to. He groaned as he began sitting up, then he realized that he was still underwater. Panic struck him, and he began racing back toward the entrance of the ship. Brock noticed that he felt very different on the inside, like something had happened to him while he was unconscious. Also, he realized that there wasn't any built up water in his lungs. There wasn't any water in his mouth either... and his eyes no longer tingled. He could see just as clearly underwater as he could on land...
"What the..." Brock inadvertantly spit out, then it dawned on him that he just spoke clearly while underwater. A few bubbles appeared from the air coming out of his mouth, but no water flowed back in. "What's going on?" the boy was freaked and a bit scared as he looked down at his hands. Nothing was apparently different on the outside of his body, but Brock could feel that something was off inside. He took in a large amount of air, and no water gushed through his lungs. He stretched his mouth wide open, and no water rushed down his throat. "What's happened to me?" Brock was baffled. How on earth was he able to speak and talk while completely submerged in water? No human had ever done this before without technology... Brock decided that he needed to get out of the plane and get back to the surface. He started propelling himself out of the room. He continued navigating through the rooms, breathing without any oxygen equipment. He knew he had to get some answers to his questions. But where could he get them from? No one alive knew anything about this type of stuff, so how was he going to figure it out? Brock sped through the waters at rapid speeds. He reached the surface of the lake; his head sprung out the water. Since he had been breathing underwater, he didn't need to take a breath. What had happened to him? What would possibly happen to him? How did he get like this, and where could he find his answers?
"Maybe..." Brock's voice trailed off as he looked around. "I don't know what to do. I really don't want Tristan to see me right now, because if he found out, he might not want to be friends with me. He might think I'm somekind a freak -which I am- and he probably wouldn't want anything to do with me anymore..." a voice called out to him, which made Brock turn. It was his friend Tristan.
"Hey, there Brock! I didn't see you when I returned back here and I started to think something was wrong. Did you enjoy your swim?" he asked him while biting into an orange.
"Uh... yeah, it was... interesting..." Brock responded. It was certainly interesting. It was a bit too interesting.
"Um, where'd you get those chains? If I recall correctly, you weren't wearing any when I talked to you."
"I.. got it out of my device and I put it on, simple. I like wearing chains, even while I'm swimming," Brock rushed out nervously. Tristan didn't notice the nervousness in his voice and shrugged.
"Oh. Well, c'mon out of the lake, I wanna talk to you," he told him.
"Uh... well, actually.... actually I was planning on going for another good swim. It's helping me.. to relax my mind," Brock spoke. "It was rather fun observing all the different types of species and creatures that abide underwater. If you don't mind, I'd like to get back to it."
Tristan sighed heavily. "Man, I really wanna sit down and chat with you. C'mon, I won't talk for long."
"I still wanna swim, Tristan," Brock objected.
"Fine. Since you still wanna go swimming, and I wanna talk to you, how about you wait for me to change into some swimtrunks so I can join you? I already have the equipment needed to communicate while underwater with me, so how about it? That way both of us are getting what we want," Tristan offered.
"Uh... okay," Brock agreed reluctantly.
"All right, just give me a minute to change. I'll be right back," Tristan requested, then walked off into his tint to change into the swimtrunks. Brock used this as an opportunity to get away. He quietly sunk down into the water, then took off toward the sunken plane. Brock wasn't sure about what happened to him, and he didn't want anything weird to start happening while Tristan was with him. If Tristan found out about his condition, he'd probably consider him a freak. Brock continued swimming back where the plane was, hoping he had made a clean getaway. About a minute later, Tristan came out of the tint wearing some ocean blue trunks.
"Okay, Brock, let's..." Tristan's voice trailed off as he saw nothing there. "Brock? Brock, where are you?!" Tristan called, but no answer was returned. Tristan ran over to Brock's tint and looked inside, and he wasn't in there. "Where did he go? Why did he take off? Well, maybe he's hiding in the lake," Tristan wondered. He took a deep breath, then ran and jumped into the lake. Now submerged, Tristan began swimming away from the surface. He had no idea where Brock dissappeared to. Tristan swam over to a large area of sea plants and began looking through them, figuring that Brock was hiding in them. He wasn't there, though, so Tristan continued deeper into the lake. There was so much area to try and search that it would be nearly impossible to find the boy. Tristan gave up and started swimming back up toward the surface. He emerged from the water and took in a few deep breaths, then sighed heavily.
"Where did Brock dissappear to?" he wondered aloud. Suddenly, a hand grabbed his hair tightly and pushed him back underwater. It was... Surge!
"All right, punk, hand over those two Egyptian God cards, or else, I'm gonna drown ya'," he threatened. Tristan tried to wrestle his way out of Surge's grip, but Surge's had tangled his hand through his hairs tightly, trapping him. There was nothing he could do...
Meanwhile, down at the sunken crash site, Brock approached the door. Unaware of what was happening to his best friend, Brock opened the door and glided inside. He sighed deeply. "Well, I've gotta start my search for answers somewhere, might as well start looking in this plane. Since the plane had that strange orb in the room, it stands to reason that there may be something around here that'll help me figure out what happened to me," Brock said to himself. He could still breathe and talk underwater just fine. He began combing the aisle of seats carefully, looking for anything that could help him. There was various luggage bags floating around the room. Brock grabbed one of them and opened it up, then began rumaging through it. He started pulling the contents out of the bag. All sorts of outdated clothes found its way into the aisle. Other assorted things were combs and brushes, a toothbrush, a couple of cds, which was now consider extinct and old, and weave hair. Brock sighed in frustration. There was nothing there. He threw that bag aside and picked up a nearby suitcase, searching through it. The suitcase mainly had the same things inside: toothbrushes, combs, clothes, etc. Lots of different perfumes and cologne bottles were tossed aside. Once Brock finished searching the suitcase, he had found nothing. He immediantly went and grabbed another suitcase floating about. Nothing revelant was in there, either. It was more of the same things found in the other suitcases. Brock searched through every suitcase and bag he could find, and nothing was in them that could help him.
"Darn!" Brock threw the last suitcase down in frustration. It hit the floor, bounced up to the ceiling, then fell to the floor again in about two seconds. Brocks eyes bucked open in amazement. "Now I know something's off with me!" he exclaimed. Brock swam over to the trapdoor he had opened earlier and floating down into the gold room. Wondering that something could be under the gold, Brock started throwing the gold out into the middle of the room, hoping that some kind of answer would be awaiting him. Brock searched all over the room, but unfortunately, nothing was found. It was only one room left to search now, and that was the room which held the ancient artifact. There wasn't anything in that room except for the shattered pieces of glass, and the pedestal in which the glass box once sat on, but it wouldn't hurt to check. Brock propelled himself into the room and carefully scanned the walls. Nothing was on them, so he scrutinized the pedestal. After close examination, Brock found a small inscription on the pedestal. Perhaps this could shine some light on what happened to him! Brock began to read it aloud.
"Disturb not the ancient artifact within, For the cursed object will only bring complications to him who touch. This warning goes out to all people who seek the artifact, Do not listen to your greed, But, instead, take heed."
Brock's face began to fill with worry and despair. Whoever stored this object had clearly experienced what could happen. What if something happened to him? Although it told him not to touch it, it didn't tell him what would happen should he break the object free. The inscripton didn't answer any of his questions, but only brought more. Brock was dejected as he floated down to the floor and lay there. He wasn't ever going to find out what happened to him, what would happen to him, or how he could stop it. What would become of him?
Surge was still holding Tristan underwater. Tristan couldn't get away from Surge because his hand was tangled in his hair. He quickly dug his hands into Surge's hand and started drawing blood. "AHH!!" Surge screamed and released his grip. He screamed in agony as Tristan surfaced, taking in large amounts of breaths. He immediately climbed out of the lake and glared at Surge. Surge stopped screaming and stood up.
"Well, well, Tristan, I see you're not going to give up the cards without a fight," Surge said. "You could just hand the cards to me and make things easier for both of us, but since you insist on taking the hard way out..." Surge was interrupted by Tristan.
"You're not getting the cards back, dick. They're mine now, and I'm gonna make sure it stays that way."
"Getting full of yourself, aren't you, prick? You should know not to get bold with the leader of the gang, fool. I could have my henchmen kill you where you stand," Surge threatened.
"Then why haven't you, hmm?" Tristan asked. "I know why. Because I have the upper hand over you. You may want to kill me, you may have the resources necessary to kill me, but you know that if you kill me now, you'll never get the cards. They're safely snuggled away in my S.C.T, dick, and you don't know the password needed to gain access to them. If you want those cards, you're gonna have to do better than this," Tristan teased. Surge threw a jab at Tristan, but he blocked it and countered with a punch in the face. Tristan kicked at Surge. Surge ducked and tripped Tristan, causing him to fall. He then lashed out and started choking him.
"Give me those cards, now!!" Surge snapped. Tristan spit in his face, then hit him in the face with a solid punch, knocking the guy off of him. Tristan flipped to his feet. He tried kicking Surge while he was on the ground, but Surge grabbed Tristan's foot and flung him over into a nearby rock. Tristan hit his head and fell to the ground, then Surge stood. He snatched Tristan up by his hair and pushed him back to the ground. He ran over and kicked Tristan in the side, then pulled him up and punched his face, making his stumble back. Tristan collected himself and evaded Surge's roundhouse kick, then countered with a spin kick in the face, followed by four swift punches in the stomach and a roundhouse kick that sent Surge crashing to the ground. Tristan yanked him up and slammed his forehead into the same rock, dazing Surge. He lifted his knee up and hit Surge's chin with it, then tossed Surge back toward the tints. Surge rolled on the ground and tried collecting himself while Tristan was coming. He succeeded, and got to his feet. Tristan threw several punches at Surge, but he blocked them all and tried kicking Tristan's chest. Tristan grabbed his foot and punched his ankle harshly, then pushed Surge down on the ground. He tried kicking Surge in the side, but Surge blocked the kick and tripped Tristan. He jumped to his feet and jumped again to dodge a trip from Tristan, then delivered a brutal punch to Tristan's stomach. Tristan hollered out in pain from the blow, and Surge punched him a few more times in the abdomen, all the punches being brutal. Tristan coughed from the blows. Surge picked him up and punched him five times in the face, six times in the chest, then jumped in the air and delivered a swift triple kick in Tristan's face, causing him to crash on the ground. Tristan coughed up blood out of his mouth and started trying to get up. Surge simply kicked Tristan in the ribs as hard as he could, damaging one of them.
"Why don't you just give me the cards, punk?!" Surge yelled and punched Tristan's chest. Tristan groaned from the hit, but he wouldn't give in to Surge's attacks. "Why don't you make this easier for both of us, hunh, Tristan? Just give up the cards," he said. Tristan didn't make a motion to get the cards, so Surge kicked his side again. "Give me the cards!!!" he screamed in frustration. "You know what, if you won't give me the cards, I'm gonna go ahead and kill you anyway. Since I can't enjoy them, you won't either," Surge told him, then snatched him off the ground and headed back to the lake. He walked until he was near the edge and put Tristan right on the edge. "Give up the cards, punk."
"No," Tristan replied flatly, then swiftly kicked Surge in the nuts. He grabbed his areas and began sinking to the ground in pain.
"Ahh..." Surge groaned as he fell to his knees, still holding his nuts. The pain was very intense. Tristan punched Surge in the face, then kicked him, making him fall onto his back.
"Like I said before, you're not getting my cards," Tristan spoke, then began kicking Surge repeatedly in the side. On his fourth kick, something blocked it. Tristan looked and saw Vicki standing by Surge. "Where'd you come from?!"
"You're gonna pay for beating up my boss like this!" she said and charged for him. Tristan ran away from the lake, heading back toward the tints, where there was room to fight. He turned around and took a fighting stance. Vicki came at him and threw multiple punches at him. Tristan managed to dodge five of them, but the sixth punch caught him in his jaw. Vicki kicked Tristan in the stomach, then roundhouse kicked him in the face, forcing him down. She grabbed Tristan back up and delivered seven hard punches to his face, then jumped up and delivered a double roundhouse kick to his face. Tristan fell onto the ground weakly. She then yanked him up by the neck and dragged him over to the lake.
"What do you want me to do with him, boss?" she asked.
"Just... kill him. I'll see if I can hack into the device later," Surge told her.
"Okay," she replied, then took some handcuffs out of her device and put them around Tristan's hands and feet. Tristan was too delirious and too weak to even attempt resisting her, so she got them on with ease. "Sayonara, Tristan Taylor," she said and prepared to drop him into the lake. A voice suddenly sounded though.
"Tristan!!" yelled Brock. He ran as fast as he could toward Vicki, but that made her drop him to the water with haste. She, along with Surge, cackled evily. Surge crawled over to the edge and looked down in the lake, watching him drown.
"You're too late, punk!" Vicki taunted, then took a fightning stance. Brock approached her and dodged a punch from her, then uppercutted her in the chin. She soared high into the air before falling back down onto the ground. The fall knocked her unconscious. Brock ran toward the lake and dove in. He stepped on Surge's back in the process. Tristan tried his best to free himself, but he was far too weak to break away from the restraints. He continued falling down toward the bottom, unable to free himself. Brock swam down toward Tristan, rapidly catching him. He reached out and grabbed him to break his fall, then started pulling on the handcuffs. He snapped them with ease, then snapped the cuffs on his feet. Since Tristan was still weak and somewhat delirious, Brock grabbed him and started swimming back toward the surface. Eventually, the two boys emerged from the water. Tristan took in deep breaths of air, but Brock didn't need any. Surge and Vicki had dissappeared. Brock swam over to the edge and layed Tristan on the ground, then climbed out of the lake himself. He kneeled down beside Tristan.
"Are you all right, Tristan? What happened?" Brock asked him.
Tristan moaned while sitting up slowly. "Uh... I.. I came out of the tint so I could swim with you but you had dissappeared. I, uh, looked for you in the lake, but I didn't find you. So, as I emerged from the water, Surge tried to hold me under. I got away, then we chatted a little before fighting. He got me good eventually, but I kicked him in the nuts. Then, his associate showed up and she laid into me. Then, they dropped me in the water. Then, you came. Why did you run off?"
"Uh... I was trying to play hide and seek, like we used to when we were kids. I was nearby, and I thought you were gonna find me, but you didn't," Brock ushered out. He helped Tristan off the ground and walked over to the tints with him.
"But, if you were nearby, why didn't you help me fight?" Tristan wondered.
"I wasn't nearby like that. I was just... uh, l-let's get you patched up," Brock said quickly. Tristan decided to drop the subject for now, and the two boys walked off into Tristan's tint to patch him up.
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Yugi and Joey had decided to take a small break from dueling. They were down by the shores relaxing and thumb wrestling. Joey was the victor. "Ha! Ha! I win, you lose!" he exclaimed happily. Yugi sighed while rolling his eyes.
"I hate that stupid game. You always win," he said.
"Well, that's because I'm a good thumb wrestler."
"No, you always win because your thumbs are so much bigger than mine. I'm a midget and I have small thumbs, but yours are big, which make them overpower mine easily," complained Yugi.
"Ah, your thumbs are not that smaller. You're just not trying hard enough to win. C'mon, let do it again. I bet if you actually concentrated and tried to win you would," Joey suggested, but Yugi shook his head.
"Been there, done that, still the same result. Let's find something else do to. I know! Let's play Rock-Paper-Scissors!" offered Yugi. Joey's facial expression took on an annoyed, agitated look.
"Now, that is one stupid game," he quipped.
"Aw, c'mon, Rock-Paper-Scissors is fun!" Yugi tried convincing Joey to play the game, but he refused. "Aw, Joey, you're being a spoilsport!"
"I'm not being a spoilsport! What's so fun about playing that stupid, rotten, hideous game? It's so dumb and boring," Joey argued, then layed back on the mat he was sitting on. "I'd rather lay up and look at the sky all day than play one round of that game."
Yugi decided to throw in the towel on that matter. "Fine, fine, no Rock- Paper-Scissors then," he said and layed back on his mat also. "Wanna make out shapes in the clouds?"
"Nah, actually, I want to see Misty. It's been over three years since we last seen each other, and since she was dueling in the tournament, I thought for sure we would talk together and keep in touch," Joey said.
"Well, this is the tournament, you know," Yugi reminded him. "So she probably around the more popular dueling areas claiming some stars."
"But I checked around there for her, and I didn't find her. I don't know where she dissappeared to. I even checked out her campsite, and guess what? She wasn't there. I really want to talk to her. We used to have so much fun just talking to each other back in the day," Joey told him.
"She's must be off dueling somewhere," guessed Yugi.
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Seto took the stars from a duelist and walked away. He knew that Misty and Mai's duel should be starting sometime around now, so he decided to peak in and see what was going on. Seto made his way back to the cave where they was and peaked inside. The two women were standing opposite of each other with their dueling system powered up. The duel was about to start. Seto's eyes narrowed and he tightened up a bit. If Mai didn't win this, it was highly possible that he was doomed.
***Mai's/Misty's Life Points- 2000***
Mai and Misty glared at each other and waited for one to make the first move. Mai looked over her hand, and decided to make a move. (By the way, her deck will be modified some) "I guess I'll be the one to make the move, then." She picked a card from her hand, and placed it on the digital card reader. "My first move is, Harpie Lady, in attack mode!" Her standard monster jumped out of the holocard and took its place on the field, smirking at Misty.
ATK: 1300 DEF: 1400
"And, I'll lay one other card face-down on the field," she smirked while doing so, then looked up at Misty. "It's your turn, now."
"Good," Misty spoke, then began to think. [I've got to be at my best if I'm to have any chance at winning this duel. I hope I can do this. There's just so much riding on this forced duel, though. If I lose, my sisters are doomed. I can't allow that to happen! Whatever happens, I have to win! My sisters are depending on me, and I can't let them down!] Misty thought to herself, then drew a card from her deck. [I don't know what the face-down card could be. It may be a trap, or something else altogether. Nevertheless, I should dispatch a monster with just enough power to defeat Harpie Lady in battle. That way, if Mai's card is somekind of trap, I won't lose a worthy card.] "I play Red Archery Girl, in attack mode!" Misty slapped her card onto the card reader, thus bringing the creature into battle.
ATK: 1400 DEF: 1500
"Attack Harpie Lady!" Misty commanded. Her monster snickered as it raised its bow and arrow to attack. It fired an arrow at Mai's monster, but she was prepared.
"A direct assault, hunh? Well, let's see how well your attack stands up to this. I activate my magic card Cyber Shield, to power up my Harpie Lady with 500 attack points!" Mai announced. This startled Misty a little, but not much. After all, she was sort of expecting it.
ATK: 1800
The arrow struck Harpie Lady right in the chest, but it simply bounced off the golden shield the monster had been equipped with. "Now, Harpie Lady! Attack Red Archery Girl with your Cyber Slash!" Harpie Lady carried out Mai's command and slashed the mermaid, causing it to shatter into pieces.
Misty's Life Points- 1600
Mai chuckled silently. [If Misty keeps up this type of dueling, this'll be over in a few short moments,] she smirked, then began to reach for a card. Upon drawing one, she looked at it, then decided to play it. "I'll go ahead and set this out for later," she placed down the card, then smirked at Misty. "It's all yours, now."
"And I'm gonna make the best of it, too," Misty remarked and drew a Beaver Warrior out of her hand. "I summon the Beaver Warrior, in attack mode!" Misty slammed down the card, loading the small rodent-type monster onto the field. It snarled and growled at Harpie Lady.
ATK: 1200 DEF: 900 (DEF ?)
"And I'll add on this magic card: Horn of the Unicorn to raise it's attack power by 700 points!"
ATK: 1900
"Before I attack, I'm gonna lay down a card face-down. (did this) Now, Beaver Warrior, attack Harpie Lady!" Misty shouted. The small warrior powered up a lightning bolt and discharged the bolt at Harpie Lady. However, Mai was prepared again.
"Not so fast, Misty! I activate my hidden magic card, Negate Attack!" Mai flipped her card face-up, causing a bluish wormhole to appear in front of Harpie Lady. The Beaver Warrior's lightning bolt flew into the wormhole, then the wormhole closed up. Beaver Warrior's attack power returned back to tis original 1200. "After I lay down this card face-down, your Beaver Warrior's gonna get a taste of my Harpie's claws. (laid the card down) Harpie Lady, attack it with Cyber Slash!" Mai's favorite monster flew toward Beaver Warrior while preparing her claws.
"You forgot about my face-down trap card, which I'll activate right now. I play Waboku!" Misty turned over her face-down which immediately went to work. Waboku reduced Harpie Lady's attack power down to 0 while it was attacking; it attacked Beaver Warrior, but the attack had no effect against it. Harpie Lady's attack power returned to its original 1800, but Mai's turn was already over. "Ha! Thought I was gonna stand there and let you take out another monster, huh?"
"Just make your next move," Mai said flatly.
Seto was still watching the duel from a distance. "Allright, Mai, don't start making any screwups. You cannot let Misty win this duel, or else it could be all over for me. You have to beat her," he muttered to himself.
The duel was still going strong. It was Misty's turn, of course, and she decided to make the best of it. After drawing a card from her deck, she started to think about possible dueling strategies. [Let's see here. Mai only has one monster out on the field, and that's Harpie Lady. She's not that strong, but the problem is that Mai keeps laying out face-down cards on the field. I have no way of knowing what to prepare for. Well, I think it's time I played a stronger monster.] "First, I'll switch my Beaver Warrior into defense mode (did this), then I summon the Dark Magician Girl, in attack mode!" After placing down the card, the cheery, female counterpart of the Dark Magician took its place on the field.
ATK: 2000 DEF: 1800
"Let's see what you're up to, Mai. Dark Magician Girl, attack Harpie Lady!" Misty yelled. The magician raised her staff into the air and fired a pastel pink energy beam at Harpie Lady. While the attack was heading its way, a crystal wall suddenly sprung out the ground and blocked the path. "What's that?!" Misty wondered aloud as the Dark Magician Girl's attack struck the wall, but it didn't manage to scratch the surface. "Where'd that wall come from?!"
"This wall is the hidden trap I had set up on the field. It's called Mirror Wall, and its special ability is to block all attacks that come its way. Also, the attacking monster's attack and defense power is reduced in half," Mai told her. Misty frowned at this turn of events.
ATK: 1000 DEF: 900
"Neat, hunh? Now your Dark Magician Girl's just a big target for my Harpie Lady. Cyber Slash!!" The wall lowered back into the ground, allowing Harpie Lady to attack. The monster slashed the Dark Magician in the midsecton, and the magician exploded into tiny pieces which vaporized in the air. Misty snarled in digust.
Misty's Life Points- 800
"Can't take the heat, Misty?" Mai asked her.
"Don't talk to me like we're friends, you stupid heifer!!" Misty shouted, and Mai frowned.
"You nasty, scrawny wench! You'd better watch your mouth, 'cause I'll knock it off!" she yelled back angrily.
"You think so? Well, come and get me," Misty dared her. Mai just scoffed and turned her nose up at Misty. "What's the matter, Mai? Thought you could beat the crap out of me?"
"I'm not coming over there, girl. Not only do I know that I can beat the stuffing out of you, but I've got better and more important things to do right now than to get all bloody. Go ahead and make your move, little girl," Mai said.
Misty rolled her eyes at her and drew a card from her deck. She looked at it, then added it to her hand. She drew another card from her hand and placed it on the card reader. "Water Omotics, in defense mode!" (it loaded)
ATK: 1400 DEF: 1200
"Until I can mount a strategy against Mai, the best thing for me to do is go on the defensive," Misty murmered to herself.
"Guess there's nothing else you can do, hunh? I've left you no way to attack," Mai spoke. She drew a card from her hand and looked across the field at Misty. [I've got the girl on the run now. She's on the ropes, and I've gotta keep her that way. I shouldn't play Elegant Egotist yet. Instead, I should play Rose Whip. That'll give my Harpie's Lady 300 extra attack points. Afterwards, I'll play Elegant Egotist.] Mai put the card she had back in her hand, then grabbed another card and slapped it onto the card reader. "For my turn, I'll play this magic card called Rose Whip to boost my Harpie Lady's attack strength by 300!"
ATK: 2100
"Now, go forth and attack Water Omotics! Whiplash Attack!" Rose petals fell off the whip as Harpie Lady whipped it around, then she lashed out and struck Water Omotics with it. Misty's monster shattered into pieces. "Ha! That's one monster down! Soon I'll take out Beaver Warrior, then I'll take you out!" Mai yelled and cackled in glee. Seto's face began to lightened up at the events taking place. He smirked deviously. If Mai kept this up, Misty would be out of the tournament, and he could stop worrying about her saving her sisters.
"Grr... what can I do to turn this around? Mai's stupid Mirror Wall prevents me from attacking her, while she's free to do whatever she wants to. Also, she keeps powering up the Harpie Lady further and further with every turn. I've gotta stop it, somehow," Misty said to herself. She drew a card from her deck, then placed it onto the card reader. "Armed Ninja, in defense mode!" One of the weakest creatures in all of Duel Monsters loaded onto the field in a kneeled position.
ATK: 300 DEF: 300
Mai burst into laughter. "Is that all you've got to offer?! That wimpy little ninja? C'mon, tell me you can do better than that!"
"What's the point in me playing a valuable monster when I have no way of attacking your stupid Harpie Lady, huh? I don't care how weak it is or how wimpy it looks. It's defending my life points, which is all that matters. Why don't you keep your dumb opinions to yourself?" Misty retorted.
"I say whatever I wanna say, even if it offends you!" Mai shot back.
"Well, at least I'm not the one chickening and hiding behind a crystal wall like you are. I thought you were some sort of big bad or something, but you're really just a chicken who can't play the game without having something to hide behind. Why don't you come out from behind that wall and we go at it face-to-face?"
"That's your prerogative, twerp. I'm not chickening behind anything; you're just saying that because my strategy is a good one and you don't life being beaten by it. This next move oughta shut your mouth!" Mai snapped and picked a card from her hand, placing it down on the card reader. "I play the magic card Elegant Egotist to triple my Harpie attack force!"
"Triple it?!" Misty exclaimed in surprise. A yellow light began to surround the Harpie Lady. Moments later she was engulfed in the light, and that's when the duplicating process began. Two new Harpie Ladies appeared beside the first one, then the light faded away. Three Harpie Ladies were now on the field, and they smirked at Misty and her monsters.
ATK: 2450 DEF: 2100 (DEF ?)
"There's three of them!" Misty quipped.
"That's right. And now, I'm gonna attack your Beaver Warrior! Harpie Ladies, combine your powers and attack Misty's warrior!" The three Harpie Ladies began to power up a charge. A small, yellow light connected to each Harpie's claw, forming a triangle. Within the yellow triangle appeared a giant, red X. "Exteminator attack!!" May shouted triumphantly. The Harpie Ladies unleashed the fierce attack on the Beaver Warrior and utterly obliterated the monster. Fortunately, since it was in defense mode, Misty lost no life points.
"At least I didn't lose any life points from that attack," Misty said to herself.
"You'd better be glad that your Beaver Warrior was in defense mode, or else, you would've just been exterminated from the tournament. Go ahead and make your next move, little girl," Mai said with pure confidence in her voice. She was sure she would come out the victor in this duel. Misty drew a card from her deck. It turned out to be a Mirror Force card.
[All right! This is exactly the break I've been looking for! With Mirror Force, I can turn Mai's next attack against her and destroy her Mirror Wall with it, or possibly her monster! Whatever happens, it's sure to give me some kind of advantage.] "I'll lay a card face-down on the field, then I summon..." she pulled a card out of her hand and slapped it onto the field. "...The Legendary Fisherman, in defense mode!" Her two cards loaded into the duel.
ATK: 1850 DEF: 1500
[All right, Mai, do me this one favor and attack,] Misty thought to herself. Unfortunately for her, Mai was planning something else.
"Hmm.... this is the first face-down card I've seen you play in quite a while, Misty, which leads me to believe that it might be a trap. But, what if it's not? It could just be something you're playing in an attempt to throw me off my game."
"Well, it seems to be working. In the entire duel, you never really thought about the current situation on the field, you just moved," Misty quipped. She hoped that Mai declared an attack on her.
"I can't be exactly sure as to what you're planning. It may not be a trap at all, but it could very well be. I knew a situation like this would present itself sooner or later, which is why I came prepared. I don't know if the face-down card is a trap card or not, but it's better to be safe than sorry. For my turn, I'll just play the card I kept in my hand until the time came for it: Harpie's Feather Duster!" Mai slammed down the card, forcing a gasp from Misty.
"Oh no!" [Harpie's Feather Duster is gonna destroy my trap!] she exclaimed to herself. The first Harpie Lady was armed with special wings, which she used to create a powerful tornado to extinguish Misty's trap card. The tornado hit the face-down holocard and shattered it into pieces. [No! Mai just eliminated my Mirror Force card!]
"And now, I'm gonna play another monster," Mai said and pulled another card out of her hand. "I also held back this card until the time came for it, which it has. The monster which I hold in my hand is the faithful, devoted servant and pet of my Harpie Ladies. Prepare yourself to meet: the Harpie's Pet Dragon!" Mai slapped down this card, bringing forth the dragon in battle. A loud boom sounded, and the monstrosity took a stance on the field, breathing smoke out of its mouth.
ATK: 2000 DEF: 1700 (DEF ?)
"My favorite thing about Harpie's Pet Dragon is that it gains an additional 300 attack points for every Harpie Lady on the field. There's three of them, of course, so do the math, and Harpie's Pet Dragon's attack power figures up to..."
ATK: 2900
"2900!!" Mai annouced and laughed in delight. Misty frowned in disgust, though. "And now I'm gonna blast that weak fisherman of yours to the ever- popular graveyard! Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack The Legendary Fisherman with Fearsome Fire Blast!!" Mai commanded. Her dragon raised it head in the air to gather a large breath of fire, then spit it out at the fisherman. Misty's creature was no match for the fire, and it ended up being caught and incinerated in a huge explosion that blew gusts of winds at Misty. She didn't lose any life points because it was in defense mode. Mai laughed even more.
"This is getting bad..." Misty said to herself.
Off in the distance, Seto Kaiba smirked in satisfaction. "That's right, Mai, keep sockin' it to her! Once you defeat Misty and knock her out of the championship, I can stop worrying about my life being ruined by her sisters, and go on about my business."
"Harpie's Pet Dragon sent that fisherman back to the sea!" Mai laughed in glee. "Misty, I think you should go ahead and concede the match. My strategy in simply unstoppable. My Mirror Wall protects my monsters and weakens yours if they try to attack, and so far, none of your monsters defensive power can stop my monsters, especially Harpie's Pet Dragon."
"I'm not giving up!" Misty yelled back at her.
"You're not? Okay, it's all up to you."
Misty drew a card from her deck. [Ooguchi! This little creature can attack Mai's life points directly. But, I know the moment it gets done attacking her, she's gonna send either the Harpie Lady Sisters or Harpie's Pet Dragon to obliterate it, therefore knocking me out. I guess I'll just play this in defense mode.] "Ooguchi, in defense mode!" After placing the card down, Misty's creature materialized onto the field.
ATK: 300 DEF: 250
"Another wimpy monster. Is that all you have? I don't see how you managed to get six stars with these lackluster cards. But, that's not my concern. First I'll lay a card face-down, then I'll waste your Ooguchi! Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack it!" Mai shouted. Ooguchi was no more once the dragon's flames reached it and obliterated it. "Misty, why don't you just give in already? There's only so many monsters which can defend your life points. Once you run out, what are you going to do then?"
"That's my problem, not yours!" Misty retorted, then slapped a card onto the card reader. "I summon Koumori Dragon, in defense mode!" The dragon loaded onto the field and growled ferociously, but Mai wasn't phased.
ATK: 1500 DEF: 1200
"Goin' on the defense again? Well, I would send my monsters to attack you right away, but I just got another idea. You may have been able to play monsters in defense mode, but not anymore! (Misty gasped) I'm activating my face-down card, the Gorgon's Eye!" Mai turned the card over, activating its effect. "In case you don't know, Gorgon's Eye is a special trap card which turns all monsters you play into stone!" The creature snapped its eye open and stared at Kourmori Dragon. All of a sudden, the monster changed into a stone version of Kourmori Dragon, just like Mai said.
"And.. here's the best thing about Gorgon's Eye. Not only is it a permanent trap card- meaning it'll never leave the field until I call it back- but once a stone monster has been destroyed, half of its defensive power will be deducted from your life points! (Misty gasped again) And now, Harpie Ladies, Exterminator Attack!" The three sister combined their powers once again to forge the giant X, then launched it at the stone style Kourmori Dragon. The red tore through the monster and shattered it into tiny pieces. "There goes 600 of your life points!" Mai exclaimed, then laughed in delight.
Misty's Life Points- 200
"Oh no... this is not my lucky day," Misty muttered. "Mai's strategy seems unstoppable. Her Mirror Wall card prevents me from attacking any of her monsters. If I try, not only will it stop them, but it'll drain them of half their attack and defense powers, making them big targets for her monsters. Now she's played Gorgon's Eye, which stops me from defending my life points. If I play a monster in defense mode anyway, her eye will simply turn it into stone, and when she attacks the stone monster, half its defense points get subtracted from my life points. With this strategy, she's knocked my life points down to a scarce 200, and at the same time, she's managed to keep a perfect score. I haven't touched one of her monsters. Soon it'll be all over. I... I've failed my sisters..."
To Be Continued...
(Ending Discloser Below.)
--Episode Written By: GateGuardian3500-- Well, I hope that was a good one. I'm sorry if it was somewhat shorter than the other ones. How will Misty get out of her predicament? So far, it seems as though Mai has a big advantage over her. Will she get out of this, or will she fail? What's wrong with Brock? Why is he suddenly able to do supernatural things? Also, just how far will Surge go to get the God cards, and will he ever get them? Will Ash learn how to harness his powers? Only time will tell... Hopefully I'll have the next episode up in about two weeks, but that's if I'm not busy. If I am busy, it'll take me longer to finish it. Well, that's all I have to say. Take care!
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Duelists of The Future- Season 1- Episode 11, 'The Victory Goes To... Part 1' (3/13/2003)
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Previously...
The masked figure shoved Pegasus to the ground, then walked over to the door and locked it. Pegasus scrambled for the intercom, but the figure grabbed him and pushed him onto the bed.
"Long time no see, Maximillion," the voice, which sounded like a typical male, spoke.
"Who.. who are you?" Pegasus asked. He didn't know who this person was, or what they wanted with him. The man pulled off his mask and revealed himself to him.
"Recognize me now, brother?"
"It's... it's you! Duke!" Pegasus spoke in shock.
"You took my girlfriend from me. Remeber Cecilia Pegasus? She was my honey, my fiancee, and you weaved your way into her heart and took her from me! And you even..."
"Duke, wait a minute!" Pegasus begged while getting to his feet. "I'm gonna give you a chance to get back the dream that you concocted," Pegasus stated. Duke was a little surprised.
"You mean..."
"Yes. But first, you must manage to defeat me in a duel."
"What?!"
"I said, you must manage to defeat me in a duel. If you can beat me, I promise to give you the rights to Duel Monsters, and I'll bring back your old lover.
"Allright, then, I accept your challenge. We'll have a duel, and if I win, I'll get back what I want, understood?" he inquired.
Pegasus nodded confidently. "Of course. Now, whip out your deck of cards and let's get this show on the road!" he exclaimed.
Long, metallic spikes jarred into Red Archery Girl, destroying her. Her shattered pieces flowed over into Cannon Soldier, which powered it up. It pointed the large gun on the top of its head at Duke.
"It's over... he beat me..." Duke's voice trailed off.
"See? What did I tell you, Dukey-boy? I told you I would be the victor in this duel. Cannon Soldier, attack Duke directly!" Pegasus snapped. Cannon Soldier fired off its shot and struck Duke in the chest, knocking him to the floor and finishing the match.
***Duke's Life Points- 0/Maximillion's Life Points- 4300***
"Curse you, Pegasus! This isn't over!" he yelled and dove out of the window. Pegasus got off the floor, ran over to the window and bent over, looking down at the ground below. There was no sign of Duke; all Pegasus saw was numerous trees. "Darn! I've got to find him! He knows things and he could spill them..."
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Seto Kaiba: "Whatever I do, I've got to find a way to knock Misty out of the tournament. If she manages to save her sisters, they're gonna rat me out, and I'll be finished!"
"Perhaps you wouldn't mind doing me a little favor and kicking her out of the tournament for me. I promise I'll make it worth your while," Seto offered.
Mai was a bit skeptical about this, but she decided to play along. "Just what will you do to get me to duel the girl?"
"I'll pay you $10,000 dollars. Defeat the girl and you'll get the money as a reward. What I want is for you to challenge her to an all-out match. Wipe her out of the tournament, and the money is yours. What do you say?"
Mai pondered the idea for a while, then gave Seto an answer. "Allright, I'll play. But only on one condition: if I lose and she takes all my stars from me, you'll have to fork over 3 of the stars you have already to put me back in the game, understand? If you don't agree to that, then you won't receive my services," she told him. Seto acknowledged that information and nodded.
"Agreed."
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Before she could began to eat her food, a mask filled with some sedative solution came over her nose, and before she knew what was happening, she had lost consciousness. A figure began dragging Misty away...
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The woman approached Misty and smirked. "Hello, little girl. Remeber me?"
"Mai Valentine?! Wha... w.. why are you doing this?!"
"We're gonna have an all-out match, winner take all. You have six stars and I have nine. Add it up, and your total is fifteen stars, which is, if I recall correctly, the amount of stars required to enter the main tournament. We're gonna bet all our stars on this match, and whoever wins is the only one who can advance," Mai offered.
"What makes you think I'm gonna risk everything on a single match? I'm not betting all my stars on one match. And for your information, if you wanted a duel, all you had to do was ask me for it, not drag me down here!" Misty yelled.
Mai gagged in disgust. "Ugh... I knew you'd be too chicken to accept this kind of duel. Well, since you want to be stubborn, it looks like I'll have to resort to my backup tactics to crack you," she spoke in a icy tone of voice.
This caught Misty's attention. "Backup tactics? What's that?" she asked.
"Wanna find out? Believe me girl, it isn't pretty."
"Allright, Mai, I accept your duel. We'll have an all-out match, and whoever wins goes on to enter the main competition."
Mai released Misty off the wall and whipped out her dueling device. Misty did the same, and the two girls powered them up. [I hope I can do this. Winning this match means I will have accomplished my first objective in my quest to save my sisters,] Misty thought.
[Once I win Misty's six stars, I can then enter the tournament and stop worrying about surviving this mini-contest. Once my place in the main competition in set in stone, I can began wokring out a plan to take down Pegasus and put him behind bars, where he belongs,] Mai thought to herself. Both women looked at each other.
"Let's Duel!" they both shouted.
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Brock propelled himself through the hole and found a room full of gold. There was gold laying everywhere. Gold floated all over the room. There was gold lining the walls, gold all over the floors... everywhere Brock looked gold was in his eyesight.
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"C'mon..." he muttered to himself, but that didn't help the lightning bolt appear. Ash then decided to try what Geoff did moments ago and call out to the lightning. "Element of Lightning, I call upon you!" he shouted, but nothing happened. Ash sighed and turned to face Geoff. "See, nothing happened. I can't seem to make them come when I want them. They just.. come on their own." Suddenly, a bolt appeared and struck the ground directly next to Ash himself. He gasped in surprise. "Uh... well, voila! A perfect example! They just come out on their own; I can't seem to harness them."
Geoff sighed heavily. "I think this might take a little longer than I thought..."
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Brock was going to head back up to the surface, but he changed his mind at the last minute. He turned around and swam back toward the sunken plane. Once he reached the entrance, he glided inside and manuevered through the tight room en route to the storage room full of gold. Once he reached the trapdoor, he swam through the opening. All the gold was still there, of course, and he began to explore the room even further. He swam out to the middle of the room and grabbed some of the gold chains and rings floating in the water. He put them on and smirked. The gold was really beautiful, and Brock began to get some ideas about what he could do with it. He could possibly open up a gold shop and sell all this gold to help pay for his father's operation and the medical bills from it. As Brock started to swim back out the room, something caught his eye. It was another lever attached to a wall. He propelled over to it and pulled it, opening another door. Brock swam through the newly opened doorway and saw a pedestal sitting in the middle of the room. A glass container sat on top of the pedestal holding an ancient object inside. The object was a crystal orb. Curious, Brock approached the container and picked it up. There wasn't anyway to open the container except breaking it. Brock was confused by this, because if there wasn't a way to open the container, how did the object get inside?
[Oh well, however it got inside, time to bust it out,] Brock thought to himself and threw the container toward the floor with all his might. The container broke into pieces, and the object began floating up toward the ceiling. Without warning, a brilliant, yellow light shined throughout the entire plane, and Brock shielded his eyes to keep from being blinded. A small, white cloud (for lack of a better term) rose out the orb as the light faded, then threw itself into Brock. It entered into his body, but he wasn't aware of it. After the light faded away, Brock removed his arms from around his eyes.
[What happened?] Brock wondered. Before he could began to think on the subject further, sudden pain erupted in his abdomen area. Brock's face cringed as he grabbed his stomach. The pain forced him to grit his teeth. More pain began to erupt in his chest, and he clinched it tightly. Brock tried his best to hold in the scream. His body began to convulse violently, and searing pain began to develop in his hands, arms, legs, and feet. The pain in his chest and abdomen increased, and he couldn't hold it in any longer. "AHH!!!" he yelled in pain. Bubbles emerged from his mouth, and the abrupt movements of his body caused bubbles to form in the water. His body continued to convulse violently as Brock began passing out from the pain. His body suddenly stopped moving and Brock started floating toward the floor of the room. Before he reached it, his body began to convulse again. He was simply convulsing in the middle of a submerged room, unconscious...
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Geoff sighed and sat down on a rock. Ash's training had so far been unsuccessful. Ash had absolutely no control over his powers; he had no idea how to start harnessing them or controlling them. Geoff's mother had trained him to control his powers, so he remebered a lot of the things his mother taught him and said to him. Ash's inner essence must've been split, or distorted. Something had to be distracting him, but what? Geoff looked up at Ash who was standing near the cliff. "Well, Ash, it seems as though you're off."
Ash turned around and popped his eyes open. "Off? What do you mean, off?"
"Not off, like, 'crazy in the head' off, but um, more like 'not concentrating; mind somewhere else, distracted' off. If you want to learn how to control your powers, you're gonna have to pull yourself together and concentrate," Geoff said.
"I am 'pulled together'," countered Ash.
"Oh, yeah? Then how come you can't control yourself, hmm?" Geoff inquired.
"Control myself? I am fully capable of controlling myself, Geoff. Am I trying to run off the cliff screaming 'The moon is producing cosmetic waves? They're all around me, choking me'? I think not," Ash retorted. "I am in full control of myself..." Suddenly another lightning struck from the ground and destroyed a tree. Ash stood there with a dumbfound look on his face.
"You were saying?" Geoff stared at him with an intimidating look on his face. Ash's face began to turn red from embarrassment.
"Stop looking at me right that!" he exclaimed and looked down at the ground.
"Hey..." Geoff began as he stood up, "it's nothing to be ashamed of. I know you need help controlling your powers, and I'm gonna help you, allright?" he said while approaching Ash. "Now, perk up. When my mother was training me, I had difficulty, but I didn't give up. I kept trying over and over again until I mastered them. You can do the same."
Ash looked up from the ground. "I guess you're right. What are we going to do, now?"
"Well, I think some meditating is in order. C'mon," he answered and began leading Ash to his tint. This would take a while, but Geoff knew that Ash would eventually began to master his powers. As long as Ash stayed determined and refused to give up, he had a chance of controlling the gift within him. Once they arrived at his tint, Geoff led Ash inside. His tint was quite spacious for a tint, but it was nothing remarkable. Geoff took a seat on his folded sleeping bag and instructed Ash to sit down on the grass.
"Don't I get a bag to sit on, too?" Ash objected.
"Just sit. So what if you get grass stains on your butt."
"So what? You're not the one who's going to be sitting on this hard ground for two hours with their eyes closed. You're probably gonna be playing some kind of portable game to pass the time," Ash quipped while sitting down in the grass.
"The thought had crossed my mind," Geoff commented. "Now, make sure you're in a position that you like, make sure it's comfortable too, so that you won't have to shift positions during the meditation," Geoff said. Ash tried out various positions and ended up choosing an indian style sitting. "Good. Now, close your eyes."
Ash slowly closed his eyes and sat very still.
"That's right. Sit still and don't move," Geoff said somewhat soothingly. "Just let your mind flow... free. Try to forget everything around you, try to forget everything you hear and just concentrate on the darkness you see in front of you," Geoff continued. Ash sat on the ground with his eyes shut tight. He didn't budge. "Now, try to forget about everything. Don't think about anything: music, people, bugs, trees, food, technology, nothing. Don't even think about the sounds around you. Don't think about your heartbeat, the grumbling noise your stomach might make, or even my voice," Geoff told him.
"Well, you know, that's kinda hard to do if you're talking," Ash snapped sarcastically.
"Fine, then, I won't say a word. I'll just shut up. But, remeber what I said," Geoff ordered, then sat back down on the bag. Ash tried to relax his mind and forget about anything and everything. The sounds of his breathing, the thumping of his heart, Geoff's movements, everything. He didn't think about his mother and what happened to her, he didn't think about Pegasus. Ash tried not to think about anything. He tried to free his mind of all thoughts and concentrate on "restoring his inner balance" as Geoff said.
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Li was still training Sakura. She was starting to grasp the more advance tactics of Duel Monsters, but she still had a long way to go. Li still admired how quickly she was catching on to it, though. After spending enough time with him, she would be dueling like a pro in no time. Li was leaning back on a tree, looking through Sakura's deck of cards. After flipping through all of them, he handed them back to her. "Well, what do you think?" wondered Sakura.
"It's... pretty good. It's a bit on the weak side, though. You have plenty of good magic cards and quite a few traps, but you don't have enough muscle or firepower in your deck. All your monsters are rather weak. Heh, your strongest card is Dark Magician Girl. Hey, since I have a couple of decks, I'll juice up your deck for you," Li offered.
"You will? That's really sweet of you," Sakura commented. Li grinned and took her deck of cards. He then pulled out one of his, then started to swap cards between the two. "Um, you're not destroying my deck, are you?" Sakura asked.
"Just the opposite," Li replied and continued revamping Sakura's deck. Sakura was a bit anxious to get her deck back, but she waited patiently. To pass time, she started walking back and forth. Li ran across a Dark Rabbit card in her deck. He shook his head. "This is one card that can be discarded..."
"No, don't get rid of that card!" Sakura exclaimed. Li's left eyebrow raised up. "A friend of mine gave it to me. Don't get rid of it," she said.
"I wasn't going to get rid of it. It's just my personal opinion that the card should be disposed of. It's really weak," Li responded.
"Well, maybe at first, but if you add the magic card Negative Energy to it, it's attack power will be doubled, raising it to 2200. I use that combo often in a duel," Sakura explained.
"Really? Who taught you that one?"
"The friend of mine," Sakura answered, then quickly added, "He's gone now, so I'd really appeciate it if you didn't ask me anything about him."
"All right, I won't say anything about him," Li assured her, then finished remodifying the deck. "All right, check this out," Li handed it back to her. Sakura grabbed the deck and started looking through it, aweing at various cards in the process. Li smiled as he watched the girl. It didn't take her too long to go through the deck. She looked up at Li and smiled.
"Wow, thank you, Li!" she exclaimed happily.
"You're welcome. Now, put your cards away, and let's continue your Duel Monsters lessons," Li told her. She slipped the deck into her pocket, then sat down on the pillow she had been sitting on before. Li began going over what he taught her to make sure she was listening, then began to teach her some more.
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Time passed, and Brock was still convulsing and shaking violently in the room. He had been down there for quite a while now, and it looked like his body was showing no signs of stopping. Suddenly, it stopped convulsing. His body slowly floated down to the floor of the room and layed there limply. It looked as though no life was inside him. Was he dead? The teenage boy slowly began coming to. He groaned as he began sitting up, then he realized that he was still underwater. Panic struck him, and he began racing back toward the entrance of the ship. Brock noticed that he felt very different on the inside, like something had happened to him while he was unconscious. Also, he realized that there wasn't any built up water in his lungs. There wasn't any water in his mouth either... and his eyes no longer tingled. He could see just as clearly underwater as he could on land...
"What the..." Brock inadvertantly spit out, then it dawned on him that he just spoke clearly while underwater. A few bubbles appeared from the air coming out of his mouth, but no water flowed back in. "What's going on?" the boy was freaked and a bit scared as he looked down at his hands. Nothing was apparently different on the outside of his body, but Brock could feel that something was off inside. He took in a large amount of air, and no water gushed through his lungs. He stretched his mouth wide open, and no water rushed down his throat. "What's happened to me?" Brock was baffled. How on earth was he able to speak and talk while completely submerged in water? No human had ever done this before without technology... Brock decided that he needed to get out of the plane and get back to the surface. He started propelling himself out of the room. He continued navigating through the rooms, breathing without any oxygen equipment. He knew he had to get some answers to his questions. But where could he get them from? No one alive knew anything about this type of stuff, so how was he going to figure it out? Brock sped through the waters at rapid speeds. He reached the surface of the lake; his head sprung out the water. Since he had been breathing underwater, he didn't need to take a breath. What had happened to him? What would possibly happen to him? How did he get like this, and where could he find his answers?
"Maybe..." Brock's voice trailed off as he looked around. "I don't know what to do. I really don't want Tristan to see me right now, because if he found out, he might not want to be friends with me. He might think I'm somekind a freak -which I am- and he probably wouldn't want anything to do with me anymore..." a voice called out to him, which made Brock turn. It was his friend Tristan.
"Hey, there Brock! I didn't see you when I returned back here and I started to think something was wrong. Did you enjoy your swim?" he asked him while biting into an orange.
"Uh... yeah, it was... interesting..." Brock responded. It was certainly interesting. It was a bit too interesting.
"Um, where'd you get those chains? If I recall correctly, you weren't wearing any when I talked to you."
"I.. got it out of my device and I put it on, simple. I like wearing chains, even while I'm swimming," Brock rushed out nervously. Tristan didn't notice the nervousness in his voice and shrugged.
"Oh. Well, c'mon out of the lake, I wanna talk to you," he told him.
"Uh... well, actually.... actually I was planning on going for another good swim. It's helping me.. to relax my mind," Brock spoke. "It was rather fun observing all the different types of species and creatures that abide underwater. If you don't mind, I'd like to get back to it."
Tristan sighed heavily. "Man, I really wanna sit down and chat with you. C'mon, I won't talk for long."
"I still wanna swim, Tristan," Brock objected.
"Fine. Since you still wanna go swimming, and I wanna talk to you, how about you wait for me to change into some swimtrunks so I can join you? I already have the equipment needed to communicate while underwater with me, so how about it? That way both of us are getting what we want," Tristan offered.
"Uh... okay," Brock agreed reluctantly.
"All right, just give me a minute to change. I'll be right back," Tristan requested, then walked off into his tint to change into the swimtrunks. Brock used this as an opportunity to get away. He quietly sunk down into the water, then took off toward the sunken plane. Brock wasn't sure about what happened to him, and he didn't want anything weird to start happening while Tristan was with him. If Tristan found out about his condition, he'd probably consider him a freak. Brock continued swimming back where the plane was, hoping he had made a clean getaway. About a minute later, Tristan came out of the tint wearing some ocean blue trunks.
"Okay, Brock, let's..." Tristan's voice trailed off as he saw nothing there. "Brock? Brock, where are you?!" Tristan called, but no answer was returned. Tristan ran over to Brock's tint and looked inside, and he wasn't in there. "Where did he go? Why did he take off? Well, maybe he's hiding in the lake," Tristan wondered. He took a deep breath, then ran and jumped into the lake. Now submerged, Tristan began swimming away from the surface. He had no idea where Brock dissappeared to. Tristan swam over to a large area of sea plants and began looking through them, figuring that Brock was hiding in them. He wasn't there, though, so Tristan continued deeper into the lake. There was so much area to try and search that it would be nearly impossible to find the boy. Tristan gave up and started swimming back up toward the surface. He emerged from the water and took in a few deep breaths, then sighed heavily.
"Where did Brock dissappear to?" he wondered aloud. Suddenly, a hand grabbed his hair tightly and pushed him back underwater. It was... Surge!
"All right, punk, hand over those two Egyptian God cards, or else, I'm gonna drown ya'," he threatened. Tristan tried to wrestle his way out of Surge's grip, but Surge's had tangled his hand through his hairs tightly, trapping him. There was nothing he could do...
Meanwhile, down at the sunken crash site, Brock approached the door. Unaware of what was happening to his best friend, Brock opened the door and glided inside. He sighed deeply. "Well, I've gotta start my search for answers somewhere, might as well start looking in this plane. Since the plane had that strange orb in the room, it stands to reason that there may be something around here that'll help me figure out what happened to me," Brock said to himself. He could still breathe and talk underwater just fine. He began combing the aisle of seats carefully, looking for anything that could help him. There was various luggage bags floating around the room. Brock grabbed one of them and opened it up, then began rumaging through it. He started pulling the contents out of the bag. All sorts of outdated clothes found its way into the aisle. Other assorted things were combs and brushes, a toothbrush, a couple of cds, which was now consider extinct and old, and weave hair. Brock sighed in frustration. There was nothing there. He threw that bag aside and picked up a nearby suitcase, searching through it. The suitcase mainly had the same things inside: toothbrushes, combs, clothes, etc. Lots of different perfumes and cologne bottles were tossed aside. Once Brock finished searching the suitcase, he had found nothing. He immediantly went and grabbed another suitcase floating about. Nothing revelant was in there, either. It was more of the same things found in the other suitcases. Brock searched through every suitcase and bag he could find, and nothing was in them that could help him.
"Darn!" Brock threw the last suitcase down in frustration. It hit the floor, bounced up to the ceiling, then fell to the floor again in about two seconds. Brocks eyes bucked open in amazement. "Now I know something's off with me!" he exclaimed. Brock swam over to the trapdoor he had opened earlier and floating down into the gold room. Wondering that something could be under the gold, Brock started throwing the gold out into the middle of the room, hoping that some kind of answer would be awaiting him. Brock searched all over the room, but unfortunately, nothing was found. It was only one room left to search now, and that was the room which held the ancient artifact. There wasn't anything in that room except for the shattered pieces of glass, and the pedestal in which the glass box once sat on, but it wouldn't hurt to check. Brock propelled himself into the room and carefully scanned the walls. Nothing was on them, so he scrutinized the pedestal. After close examination, Brock found a small inscription on the pedestal. Perhaps this could shine some light on what happened to him! Brock began to read it aloud.
"Disturb not the ancient artifact within, For the cursed object will only bring complications to him who touch. This warning goes out to all people who seek the artifact, Do not listen to your greed, But, instead, take heed."
Brock's face began to fill with worry and despair. Whoever stored this object had clearly experienced what could happen. What if something happened to him? Although it told him not to touch it, it didn't tell him what would happen should he break the object free. The inscripton didn't answer any of his questions, but only brought more. Brock was dejected as he floated down to the floor and lay there. He wasn't ever going to find out what happened to him, what would happen to him, or how he could stop it. What would become of him?
Surge was still holding Tristan underwater. Tristan couldn't get away from Surge because his hand was tangled in his hair. He quickly dug his hands into Surge's hand and started drawing blood. "AHH!!" Surge screamed and released his grip. He screamed in agony as Tristan surfaced, taking in large amounts of breaths. He immediately climbed out of the lake and glared at Surge. Surge stopped screaming and stood up.
"Well, well, Tristan, I see you're not going to give up the cards without a fight," Surge said. "You could just hand the cards to me and make things easier for both of us, but since you insist on taking the hard way out..." Surge was interrupted by Tristan.
"You're not getting the cards back, dick. They're mine now, and I'm gonna make sure it stays that way."
"Getting full of yourself, aren't you, prick? You should know not to get bold with the leader of the gang, fool. I could have my henchmen kill you where you stand," Surge threatened.
"Then why haven't you, hmm?" Tristan asked. "I know why. Because I have the upper hand over you. You may want to kill me, you may have the resources necessary to kill me, but you know that if you kill me now, you'll never get the cards. They're safely snuggled away in my S.C.T, dick, and you don't know the password needed to gain access to them. If you want those cards, you're gonna have to do better than this," Tristan teased. Surge threw a jab at Tristan, but he blocked it and countered with a punch in the face. Tristan kicked at Surge. Surge ducked and tripped Tristan, causing him to fall. He then lashed out and started choking him.
"Give me those cards, now!!" Surge snapped. Tristan spit in his face, then hit him in the face with a solid punch, knocking the guy off of him. Tristan flipped to his feet. He tried kicking Surge while he was on the ground, but Surge grabbed Tristan's foot and flung him over into a nearby rock. Tristan hit his head and fell to the ground, then Surge stood. He snatched Tristan up by his hair and pushed him back to the ground. He ran over and kicked Tristan in the side, then pulled him up and punched his face, making his stumble back. Tristan collected himself and evaded Surge's roundhouse kick, then countered with a spin kick in the face, followed by four swift punches in the stomach and a roundhouse kick that sent Surge crashing to the ground. Tristan yanked him up and slammed his forehead into the same rock, dazing Surge. He lifted his knee up and hit Surge's chin with it, then tossed Surge back toward the tints. Surge rolled on the ground and tried collecting himself while Tristan was coming. He succeeded, and got to his feet. Tristan threw several punches at Surge, but he blocked them all and tried kicking Tristan's chest. Tristan grabbed his foot and punched his ankle harshly, then pushed Surge down on the ground. He tried kicking Surge in the side, but Surge blocked the kick and tripped Tristan. He jumped to his feet and jumped again to dodge a trip from Tristan, then delivered a brutal punch to Tristan's stomach. Tristan hollered out in pain from the blow, and Surge punched him a few more times in the abdomen, all the punches being brutal. Tristan coughed from the blows. Surge picked him up and punched him five times in the face, six times in the chest, then jumped in the air and delivered a swift triple kick in Tristan's face, causing him to crash on the ground. Tristan coughed up blood out of his mouth and started trying to get up. Surge simply kicked Tristan in the ribs as hard as he could, damaging one of them.
"Why don't you just give me the cards, punk?!" Surge yelled and punched Tristan's chest. Tristan groaned from the hit, but he wouldn't give in to Surge's attacks. "Why don't you make this easier for both of us, hunh, Tristan? Just give up the cards," he said. Tristan didn't make a motion to get the cards, so Surge kicked his side again. "Give me the cards!!!" he screamed in frustration. "You know what, if you won't give me the cards, I'm gonna go ahead and kill you anyway. Since I can't enjoy them, you won't either," Surge told him, then snatched him off the ground and headed back to the lake. He walked until he was near the edge and put Tristan right on the edge. "Give up the cards, punk."
"No," Tristan replied flatly, then swiftly kicked Surge in the nuts. He grabbed his areas and began sinking to the ground in pain.
"Ahh..." Surge groaned as he fell to his knees, still holding his nuts. The pain was very intense. Tristan punched Surge in the face, then kicked him, making him fall onto his back.
"Like I said before, you're not getting my cards," Tristan spoke, then began kicking Surge repeatedly in the side. On his fourth kick, something blocked it. Tristan looked and saw Vicki standing by Surge. "Where'd you come from?!"
"You're gonna pay for beating up my boss like this!" she said and charged for him. Tristan ran away from the lake, heading back toward the tints, where there was room to fight. He turned around and took a fighting stance. Vicki came at him and threw multiple punches at him. Tristan managed to dodge five of them, but the sixth punch caught him in his jaw. Vicki kicked Tristan in the stomach, then roundhouse kicked him in the face, forcing him down. She grabbed Tristan back up and delivered seven hard punches to his face, then jumped up and delivered a double roundhouse kick to his face. Tristan fell onto the ground weakly. She then yanked him up by the neck and dragged him over to the lake.
"What do you want me to do with him, boss?" she asked.
"Just... kill him. I'll see if I can hack into the device later," Surge told her.
"Okay," she replied, then took some handcuffs out of her device and put them around Tristan's hands and feet. Tristan was too delirious and too weak to even attempt resisting her, so she got them on with ease. "Sayonara, Tristan Taylor," she said and prepared to drop him into the lake. A voice suddenly sounded though.
"Tristan!!" yelled Brock. He ran as fast as he could toward Vicki, but that made her drop him to the water with haste. She, along with Surge, cackled evily. Surge crawled over to the edge and looked down in the lake, watching him drown.
"You're too late, punk!" Vicki taunted, then took a fightning stance. Brock approached her and dodged a punch from her, then uppercutted her in the chin. She soared high into the air before falling back down onto the ground. The fall knocked her unconscious. Brock ran toward the lake and dove in. He stepped on Surge's back in the process. Tristan tried his best to free himself, but he was far too weak to break away from the restraints. He continued falling down toward the bottom, unable to free himself. Brock swam down toward Tristan, rapidly catching him. He reached out and grabbed him to break his fall, then started pulling on the handcuffs. He snapped them with ease, then snapped the cuffs on his feet. Since Tristan was still weak and somewhat delirious, Brock grabbed him and started swimming back toward the surface. Eventually, the two boys emerged from the water. Tristan took in deep breaths of air, but Brock didn't need any. Surge and Vicki had dissappeared. Brock swam over to the edge and layed Tristan on the ground, then climbed out of the lake himself. He kneeled down beside Tristan.
"Are you all right, Tristan? What happened?" Brock asked him.
Tristan moaned while sitting up slowly. "Uh... I.. I came out of the tint so I could swim with you but you had dissappeared. I, uh, looked for you in the lake, but I didn't find you. So, as I emerged from the water, Surge tried to hold me under. I got away, then we chatted a little before fighting. He got me good eventually, but I kicked him in the nuts. Then, his associate showed up and she laid into me. Then, they dropped me in the water. Then, you came. Why did you run off?"
"Uh... I was trying to play hide and seek, like we used to when we were kids. I was nearby, and I thought you were gonna find me, but you didn't," Brock ushered out. He helped Tristan off the ground and walked over to the tints with him.
"But, if you were nearby, why didn't you help me fight?" Tristan wondered.
"I wasn't nearby like that. I was just... uh, l-let's get you patched up," Brock said quickly. Tristan decided to drop the subject for now, and the two boys walked off into Tristan's tint to patch him up.
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Yugi and Joey had decided to take a small break from dueling. They were down by the shores relaxing and thumb wrestling. Joey was the victor. "Ha! Ha! I win, you lose!" he exclaimed happily. Yugi sighed while rolling his eyes.
"I hate that stupid game. You always win," he said.
"Well, that's because I'm a good thumb wrestler."
"No, you always win because your thumbs are so much bigger than mine. I'm a midget and I have small thumbs, but yours are big, which make them overpower mine easily," complained Yugi.
"Ah, your thumbs are not that smaller. You're just not trying hard enough to win. C'mon, let do it again. I bet if you actually concentrated and tried to win you would," Joey suggested, but Yugi shook his head.
"Been there, done that, still the same result. Let's find something else do to. I know! Let's play Rock-Paper-Scissors!" offered Yugi. Joey's facial expression took on an annoyed, agitated look.
"Now, that is one stupid game," he quipped.
"Aw, c'mon, Rock-Paper-Scissors is fun!" Yugi tried convincing Joey to play the game, but he refused. "Aw, Joey, you're being a spoilsport!"
"I'm not being a spoilsport! What's so fun about playing that stupid, rotten, hideous game? It's so dumb and boring," Joey argued, then layed back on the mat he was sitting on. "I'd rather lay up and look at the sky all day than play one round of that game."
Yugi decided to throw in the towel on that matter. "Fine, fine, no Rock- Paper-Scissors then," he said and layed back on his mat also. "Wanna make out shapes in the clouds?"
"Nah, actually, I want to see Misty. It's been over three years since we last seen each other, and since she was dueling in the tournament, I thought for sure we would talk together and keep in touch," Joey said.
"Well, this is the tournament, you know," Yugi reminded him. "So she probably around the more popular dueling areas claiming some stars."
"But I checked around there for her, and I didn't find her. I don't know where she dissappeared to. I even checked out her campsite, and guess what? She wasn't there. I really want to talk to her. We used to have so much fun just talking to each other back in the day," Joey told him.
"She's must be off dueling somewhere," guessed Yugi.
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Seto took the stars from a duelist and walked away. He knew that Misty and Mai's duel should be starting sometime around now, so he decided to peak in and see what was going on. Seto made his way back to the cave where they was and peaked inside. The two women were standing opposite of each other with their dueling system powered up. The duel was about to start. Seto's eyes narrowed and he tightened up a bit. If Mai didn't win this, it was highly possible that he was doomed.
***Mai's/Misty's Life Points- 2000***
Mai and Misty glared at each other and waited for one to make the first move. Mai looked over her hand, and decided to make a move. (By the way, her deck will be modified some) "I guess I'll be the one to make the move, then." She picked a card from her hand, and placed it on the digital card reader. "My first move is, Harpie Lady, in attack mode!" Her standard monster jumped out of the holocard and took its place on the field, smirking at Misty.
ATK: 1300 DEF: 1400
"And, I'll lay one other card face-down on the field," she smirked while doing so, then looked up at Misty. "It's your turn, now."
"Good," Misty spoke, then began to think. [I've got to be at my best if I'm to have any chance at winning this duel. I hope I can do this. There's just so much riding on this forced duel, though. If I lose, my sisters are doomed. I can't allow that to happen! Whatever happens, I have to win! My sisters are depending on me, and I can't let them down!] Misty thought to herself, then drew a card from her deck. [I don't know what the face-down card could be. It may be a trap, or something else altogether. Nevertheless, I should dispatch a monster with just enough power to defeat Harpie Lady in battle. That way, if Mai's card is somekind of trap, I won't lose a worthy card.] "I play Red Archery Girl, in attack mode!" Misty slapped her card onto the card reader, thus bringing the creature into battle.
ATK: 1400 DEF: 1500
"Attack Harpie Lady!" Misty commanded. Her monster snickered as it raised its bow and arrow to attack. It fired an arrow at Mai's monster, but she was prepared.
"A direct assault, hunh? Well, let's see how well your attack stands up to this. I activate my magic card Cyber Shield, to power up my Harpie Lady with 500 attack points!" Mai announced. This startled Misty a little, but not much. After all, she was sort of expecting it.
ATK: 1800
The arrow struck Harpie Lady right in the chest, but it simply bounced off the golden shield the monster had been equipped with. "Now, Harpie Lady! Attack Red Archery Girl with your Cyber Slash!" Harpie Lady carried out Mai's command and slashed the mermaid, causing it to shatter into pieces.
Misty's Life Points- 1600
Mai chuckled silently. [If Misty keeps up this type of dueling, this'll be over in a few short moments,] she smirked, then began to reach for a card. Upon drawing one, she looked at it, then decided to play it. "I'll go ahead and set this out for later," she placed down the card, then smirked at Misty. "It's all yours, now."
"And I'm gonna make the best of it, too," Misty remarked and drew a Beaver Warrior out of her hand. "I summon the Beaver Warrior, in attack mode!" Misty slammed down the card, loading the small rodent-type monster onto the field. It snarled and growled at Harpie Lady.
ATK: 1200 DEF: 900 (DEF ?)
"And I'll add on this magic card: Horn of the Unicorn to raise it's attack power by 700 points!"
ATK: 1900
"Before I attack, I'm gonna lay down a card face-down. (did this) Now, Beaver Warrior, attack Harpie Lady!" Misty shouted. The small warrior powered up a lightning bolt and discharged the bolt at Harpie Lady. However, Mai was prepared again.
"Not so fast, Misty! I activate my hidden magic card, Negate Attack!" Mai flipped her card face-up, causing a bluish wormhole to appear in front of Harpie Lady. The Beaver Warrior's lightning bolt flew into the wormhole, then the wormhole closed up. Beaver Warrior's attack power returned back to tis original 1200. "After I lay down this card face-down, your Beaver Warrior's gonna get a taste of my Harpie's claws. (laid the card down) Harpie Lady, attack it with Cyber Slash!" Mai's favorite monster flew toward Beaver Warrior while preparing her claws.
"You forgot about my face-down trap card, which I'll activate right now. I play Waboku!" Misty turned over her face-down which immediately went to work. Waboku reduced Harpie Lady's attack power down to 0 while it was attacking; it attacked Beaver Warrior, but the attack had no effect against it. Harpie Lady's attack power returned to its original 1800, but Mai's turn was already over. "Ha! Thought I was gonna stand there and let you take out another monster, huh?"
"Just make your next move," Mai said flatly.
Seto was still watching the duel from a distance. "Allright, Mai, don't start making any screwups. You cannot let Misty win this duel, or else it could be all over for me. You have to beat her," he muttered to himself.
The duel was still going strong. It was Misty's turn, of course, and she decided to make the best of it. After drawing a card from her deck, she started to think about possible dueling strategies. [Let's see here. Mai only has one monster out on the field, and that's Harpie Lady. She's not that strong, but the problem is that Mai keeps laying out face-down cards on the field. I have no way of knowing what to prepare for. Well, I think it's time I played a stronger monster.] "First, I'll switch my Beaver Warrior into defense mode (did this), then I summon the Dark Magician Girl, in attack mode!" After placing down the card, the cheery, female counterpart of the Dark Magician took its place on the field.
ATK: 2000 DEF: 1800
"Let's see what you're up to, Mai. Dark Magician Girl, attack Harpie Lady!" Misty yelled. The magician raised her staff into the air and fired a pastel pink energy beam at Harpie Lady. While the attack was heading its way, a crystal wall suddenly sprung out the ground and blocked the path. "What's that?!" Misty wondered aloud as the Dark Magician Girl's attack struck the wall, but it didn't manage to scratch the surface. "Where'd that wall come from?!"
"This wall is the hidden trap I had set up on the field. It's called Mirror Wall, and its special ability is to block all attacks that come its way. Also, the attacking monster's attack and defense power is reduced in half," Mai told her. Misty frowned at this turn of events.
ATK: 1000 DEF: 900
"Neat, hunh? Now your Dark Magician Girl's just a big target for my Harpie Lady. Cyber Slash!!" The wall lowered back into the ground, allowing Harpie Lady to attack. The monster slashed the Dark Magician in the midsecton, and the magician exploded into tiny pieces which vaporized in the air. Misty snarled in digust.
Misty's Life Points- 800
"Can't take the heat, Misty?" Mai asked her.
"Don't talk to me like we're friends, you stupid heifer!!" Misty shouted, and Mai frowned.
"You nasty, scrawny wench! You'd better watch your mouth, 'cause I'll knock it off!" she yelled back angrily.
"You think so? Well, come and get me," Misty dared her. Mai just scoffed and turned her nose up at Misty. "What's the matter, Mai? Thought you could beat the crap out of me?"
"I'm not coming over there, girl. Not only do I know that I can beat the stuffing out of you, but I've got better and more important things to do right now than to get all bloody. Go ahead and make your move, little girl," Mai said.
Misty rolled her eyes at her and drew a card from her deck. She looked at it, then added it to her hand. She drew another card from her hand and placed it on the card reader. "Water Omotics, in defense mode!" (it loaded)
ATK: 1400 DEF: 1200
"Until I can mount a strategy against Mai, the best thing for me to do is go on the defensive," Misty murmered to herself.
"Guess there's nothing else you can do, hunh? I've left you no way to attack," Mai spoke. She drew a card from her hand and looked across the field at Misty. [I've got the girl on the run now. She's on the ropes, and I've gotta keep her that way. I shouldn't play Elegant Egotist yet. Instead, I should play Rose Whip. That'll give my Harpie's Lady 300 extra attack points. Afterwards, I'll play Elegant Egotist.] Mai put the card she had back in her hand, then grabbed another card and slapped it onto the card reader. "For my turn, I'll play this magic card called Rose Whip to boost my Harpie Lady's attack strength by 300!"
ATK: 2100
"Now, go forth and attack Water Omotics! Whiplash Attack!" Rose petals fell off the whip as Harpie Lady whipped it around, then she lashed out and struck Water Omotics with it. Misty's monster shattered into pieces. "Ha! That's one monster down! Soon I'll take out Beaver Warrior, then I'll take you out!" Mai yelled and cackled in glee. Seto's face began to lightened up at the events taking place. He smirked deviously. If Mai kept this up, Misty would be out of the tournament, and he could stop worrying about her saving her sisters.
"Grr... what can I do to turn this around? Mai's stupid Mirror Wall prevents me from attacking her, while she's free to do whatever she wants to. Also, she keeps powering up the Harpie Lady further and further with every turn. I've gotta stop it, somehow," Misty said to herself. She drew a card from her deck, then placed it onto the card reader. "Armed Ninja, in defense mode!" One of the weakest creatures in all of Duel Monsters loaded onto the field in a kneeled position.
ATK: 300 DEF: 300
Mai burst into laughter. "Is that all you've got to offer?! That wimpy little ninja? C'mon, tell me you can do better than that!"
"What's the point in me playing a valuable monster when I have no way of attacking your stupid Harpie Lady, huh? I don't care how weak it is or how wimpy it looks. It's defending my life points, which is all that matters. Why don't you keep your dumb opinions to yourself?" Misty retorted.
"I say whatever I wanna say, even if it offends you!" Mai shot back.
"Well, at least I'm not the one chickening and hiding behind a crystal wall like you are. I thought you were some sort of big bad or something, but you're really just a chicken who can't play the game without having something to hide behind. Why don't you come out from behind that wall and we go at it face-to-face?"
"That's your prerogative, twerp. I'm not chickening behind anything; you're just saying that because my strategy is a good one and you don't life being beaten by it. This next move oughta shut your mouth!" Mai snapped and picked a card from her hand, placing it down on the card reader. "I play the magic card Elegant Egotist to triple my Harpie attack force!"
"Triple it?!" Misty exclaimed in surprise. A yellow light began to surround the Harpie Lady. Moments later she was engulfed in the light, and that's when the duplicating process began. Two new Harpie Ladies appeared beside the first one, then the light faded away. Three Harpie Ladies were now on the field, and they smirked at Misty and her monsters.
ATK: 2450 DEF: 2100 (DEF ?)
"There's three of them!" Misty quipped.
"That's right. And now, I'm gonna attack your Beaver Warrior! Harpie Ladies, combine your powers and attack Misty's warrior!" The three Harpie Ladies began to power up a charge. A small, yellow light connected to each Harpie's claw, forming a triangle. Within the yellow triangle appeared a giant, red X. "Exteminator attack!!" May shouted triumphantly. The Harpie Ladies unleashed the fierce attack on the Beaver Warrior and utterly obliterated the monster. Fortunately, since it was in defense mode, Misty lost no life points.
"At least I didn't lose any life points from that attack," Misty said to herself.
"You'd better be glad that your Beaver Warrior was in defense mode, or else, you would've just been exterminated from the tournament. Go ahead and make your next move, little girl," Mai said with pure confidence in her voice. She was sure she would come out the victor in this duel. Misty drew a card from her deck. It turned out to be a Mirror Force card.
[All right! This is exactly the break I've been looking for! With Mirror Force, I can turn Mai's next attack against her and destroy her Mirror Wall with it, or possibly her monster! Whatever happens, it's sure to give me some kind of advantage.] "I'll lay a card face-down on the field, then I summon..." she pulled a card out of her hand and slapped it onto the field. "...The Legendary Fisherman, in defense mode!" Her two cards loaded into the duel.
ATK: 1850 DEF: 1500
[All right, Mai, do me this one favor and attack,] Misty thought to herself. Unfortunately for her, Mai was planning something else.
"Hmm.... this is the first face-down card I've seen you play in quite a while, Misty, which leads me to believe that it might be a trap. But, what if it's not? It could just be something you're playing in an attempt to throw me off my game."
"Well, it seems to be working. In the entire duel, you never really thought about the current situation on the field, you just moved," Misty quipped. She hoped that Mai declared an attack on her.
"I can't be exactly sure as to what you're planning. It may not be a trap at all, but it could very well be. I knew a situation like this would present itself sooner or later, which is why I came prepared. I don't know if the face-down card is a trap card or not, but it's better to be safe than sorry. For my turn, I'll just play the card I kept in my hand until the time came for it: Harpie's Feather Duster!" Mai slammed down the card, forcing a gasp from Misty.
"Oh no!" [Harpie's Feather Duster is gonna destroy my trap!] she exclaimed to herself. The first Harpie Lady was armed with special wings, which she used to create a powerful tornado to extinguish Misty's trap card. The tornado hit the face-down holocard and shattered it into pieces. [No! Mai just eliminated my Mirror Force card!]
"And now, I'm gonna play another monster," Mai said and pulled another card out of her hand. "I also held back this card until the time came for it, which it has. The monster which I hold in my hand is the faithful, devoted servant and pet of my Harpie Ladies. Prepare yourself to meet: the Harpie's Pet Dragon!" Mai slapped down this card, bringing forth the dragon in battle. A loud boom sounded, and the monstrosity took a stance on the field, breathing smoke out of its mouth.
ATK: 2000 DEF: 1700 (DEF ?)
"My favorite thing about Harpie's Pet Dragon is that it gains an additional 300 attack points for every Harpie Lady on the field. There's three of them, of course, so do the math, and Harpie's Pet Dragon's attack power figures up to..."
ATK: 2900
"2900!!" Mai annouced and laughed in delight. Misty frowned in disgust, though. "And now I'm gonna blast that weak fisherman of yours to the ever- popular graveyard! Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack The Legendary Fisherman with Fearsome Fire Blast!!" Mai commanded. Her dragon raised it head in the air to gather a large breath of fire, then spit it out at the fisherman. Misty's creature was no match for the fire, and it ended up being caught and incinerated in a huge explosion that blew gusts of winds at Misty. She didn't lose any life points because it was in defense mode. Mai laughed even more.
"This is getting bad..." Misty said to herself.
Off in the distance, Seto Kaiba smirked in satisfaction. "That's right, Mai, keep sockin' it to her! Once you defeat Misty and knock her out of the championship, I can stop worrying about my life being ruined by her sisters, and go on about my business."
"Harpie's Pet Dragon sent that fisherman back to the sea!" Mai laughed in glee. "Misty, I think you should go ahead and concede the match. My strategy in simply unstoppable. My Mirror Wall protects my monsters and weakens yours if they try to attack, and so far, none of your monsters defensive power can stop my monsters, especially Harpie's Pet Dragon."
"I'm not giving up!" Misty yelled back at her.
"You're not? Okay, it's all up to you."
Misty drew a card from her deck. [Ooguchi! This little creature can attack Mai's life points directly. But, I know the moment it gets done attacking her, she's gonna send either the Harpie Lady Sisters or Harpie's Pet Dragon to obliterate it, therefore knocking me out. I guess I'll just play this in defense mode.] "Ooguchi, in defense mode!" After placing the card down, Misty's creature materialized onto the field.
ATK: 300 DEF: 250
"Another wimpy monster. Is that all you have? I don't see how you managed to get six stars with these lackluster cards. But, that's not my concern. First I'll lay a card face-down, then I'll waste your Ooguchi! Harpie's Pet Dragon, attack it!" Mai shouted. Ooguchi was no more once the dragon's flames reached it and obliterated it. "Misty, why don't you just give in already? There's only so many monsters which can defend your life points. Once you run out, what are you going to do then?"
"That's my problem, not yours!" Misty retorted, then slapped a card onto the card reader. "I summon Koumori Dragon, in defense mode!" The dragon loaded onto the field and growled ferociously, but Mai wasn't phased.
ATK: 1500 DEF: 1200
"Goin' on the defense again? Well, I would send my monsters to attack you right away, but I just got another idea. You may have been able to play monsters in defense mode, but not anymore! (Misty gasped) I'm activating my face-down card, the Gorgon's Eye!" Mai turned the card over, activating its effect. "In case you don't know, Gorgon's Eye is a special trap card which turns all monsters you play into stone!" The creature snapped its eye open and stared at Kourmori Dragon. All of a sudden, the monster changed into a stone version of Kourmori Dragon, just like Mai said.
"And.. here's the best thing about Gorgon's Eye. Not only is it a permanent trap card- meaning it'll never leave the field until I call it back- but once a stone monster has been destroyed, half of its defensive power will be deducted from your life points! (Misty gasped again) And now, Harpie Ladies, Exterminator Attack!" The three sister combined their powers once again to forge the giant X, then launched it at the stone style Kourmori Dragon. The red tore through the monster and shattered it into tiny pieces. "There goes 600 of your life points!" Mai exclaimed, then laughed in delight.
Misty's Life Points- 200
"Oh no... this is not my lucky day," Misty muttered. "Mai's strategy seems unstoppable. Her Mirror Wall card prevents me from attacking any of her monsters. If I try, not only will it stop them, but it'll drain them of half their attack and defense powers, making them big targets for her monsters. Now she's played Gorgon's Eye, which stops me from defending my life points. If I play a monster in defense mode anyway, her eye will simply turn it into stone, and when she attacks the stone monster, half its defense points get subtracted from my life points. With this strategy, she's knocked my life points down to a scarce 200, and at the same time, she's managed to keep a perfect score. I haven't touched one of her monsters. Soon it'll be all over. I... I've failed my sisters..."
To Be Continued...
(Ending Discloser Below.)
--Episode Written By: GateGuardian3500-- Well, I hope that was a good one. I'm sorry if it was somewhat shorter than the other ones. How will Misty get out of her predicament? So far, it seems as though Mai has a big advantage over her. Will she get out of this, or will she fail? What's wrong with Brock? Why is he suddenly able to do supernatural things? Also, just how far will Surge go to get the God cards, and will he ever get them? Will Ash learn how to harness his powers? Only time will tell... Hopefully I'll have the next episode up in about two weeks, but that's if I'm not busy. If I am busy, it'll take me longer to finish it. Well, that's all I have to say. Take care!