Chapter 14 - Duel with Royhaun Cjosen
Yugi, Joey, Téa, Bakura, Kaiba, and Crimson looked at each other silently for a few minutes. The surrounding blackness made them feel a little creeped out, but it was more about what Bakura had just noted that really made them shudder.
"You know, guys," Crimson finally said. "Let's just think about this another time okay. Staying in one place too long makes me feel paranoid."
"Good idea." The others reluctantly got up. They picked a random direction and started walking forward. None of them knew if they were going in the right direction, or if they were coming from the same place they had just walked from. No one said a word. After Tristan's disappearance and the new feeling of a threat, there was nothing light to talk about. After a good hour had passed, Téa began to get a little curious.
"Crimson. I was just wondering. Where exactly are we going? I mean, how are we going to free Mokuba, Yugi's Grandpa, and Tristan?" Crimson thought for a moment.
"Well, there are two ways. First, we can go after the Sajuka tree and do it ourselves. The only problem is that Mokuba and Yugi's Grandfather aren't exactly imprisoned inside Soul Crystals. The Sajuka tree might not work. If it doesn't, we can ask Raiya directly."
"Raiya?" Joey queried. "Who's 'dat?"
"Oh, she's an Enchantress. The Mistress of the Dark. Her father rules the Shadow Realm. She has the power to release Souls from this place."
"Is she on our side?" Yugi asked.
"I'm afraid not," Crimson responded. "She's extremely selfish over the Souls she's captured. We might need to fight to get back what's ours."
"It doesn't get any easier, does it?" Bakura remarked. Just as he said that, the scene started to change. Underneath their feet, brown, rocky land started to appear. The temperature started to rise as well.
"Feels like we're near a volcano," Kaiba noted.
"That's an accurate observation," a voice said. The gang looked around nervously for the source.
"I've heard your voice before!" Crimson cried.
"Correct, again." This time, a boy about eighteen years old appeared a few hundred feet away from them. He had bright red hair that contrasted sharply with his pale, freckled skin. A malicious grin played around his face. Crimson noticed he had a Duel Disk on one arm, and was shuffling a Deck of Duel Monster Cards.
"What do you want?" Crimson demanded, stepping a few paces in front of her friends. The boy only laughed.
"You remember me, don't you?" he asked. "Me, Royhaun Cjosen? I'll refresh your memory just in case. I was in the Duelist Kingdom tournament when I challenged you to a Duel. You declined, and took my Soul."
"Not on purpose!" Crimson interrupted. "It was an accident."
"Regardless, I want it back. But this time, your Soul will be mine."
"What do you mean, 'this time'?"
"I mean, we're going to Duel for our souls. Winner takes all!" The ground behind Crimson split. The part her friends were on receded back a few hundred meters. Crimson gasped as the rocks around her foot cracked and fell down into a deep canyon that led right to a pit of boiling lava. Crimson couldn't run. She was at least a hundred feet from any solid ground, save the pillar she was standing on that had a ten-meter diameter. Royhaun mounted a similar pillar opposite her by two hundred feet. The perimeter of land around them glowed red from the lava below.
"Crimson!" The gang cried. Crimson turned to face them.
"It's okay!" she yelled back. "I'm fine!" She turned around. A Duel Disk materialized on her left arm. A panel of cards rained down in front of her.
"Choose any cards you want. You must build an all-new Deck to Duel. Oh, and the Deck will stay with you as long as you're in the Shadow Realm, which will be for all eternity." Crimson moaned.
Great! I've never built a Deck before. Sure I've Dueled a few times, but I was never good at it. I don't know the basics of building a strong Deck. Oh well... Crimson examined the cards as they dropped down in front of her. Her eyes scanned each row as it passed by. Whenever she liked a card she picked it.
"Let's see," she whispered to herself. "This is Polymerization. I think it's pretty. I'll take it. Oh, I don't know what these cards are; I've never seen them. I'll take a few. Oh, that green is a pretty color. Magic cards are cool. I'll take a lot... I think that monster will be good. Oh that one's cute, I want that. Oh, I've seen this card, Destruction. I'll take it. Oh! It's Enchanted Javelin. Must have that... more Magic cards!" Finally, Crimson was finished.
The rest of the gang watched helplessly as Crimson picked her cards. They were too far away to see what cards she was choosing. They didn't dare go any closer to the edge. The lava pit was burning yellow and it seemed very dangerous. Kaiba looked frantically for a way to help Crimson.
"Look!" he said. The others crowded around him. He pointed to a small outcropping of rock that led down to the place where there were steps to climb up to Crimson's position.
"We can't go there," Téa objected. "It's too dangerous. It'll take forever to go down."
"We have to try," Yugi suggested. "Crimson is in danger." Téa reluctantly nodded, and the five of them raced to the area where the outcropping was.
"Let's Duel!!" Crimson looked down at her Duel Disk to see 2000 LP light up. She and Royhaun both drew five cards.
"Ladies first!" Roy said. Crimson drew a card and smiled.
"I call upon Magic Queen!" A blonde fairy rose up from the card Crimson placed on the field. She had on a glittering crown and a long blue gown embroidered in jewels. "She has an awesome attack power of 1600. Your turn!" Royhaun smirked as he drew a card.
"I place two cards face down!" he declared. Two glowing rectangular areas appeared on the field. "Then, I summon Darkness Angel to the field. If you thought 1600 was strong, then the 1700 attack power of this creature must be stronger." The Angel flew up from the card, with an arrow already nocked on her bow. She had long black hair with a gown to match. "Attack!" The Angel aimed and fired. Magic Queen screamed as the arrow sent her to the Graveyard. Crimson yelped as she felt a sharp sting from her heart.
"What is-?"
"Surprised?" Royhaun asked. "Well, don't forget that in the Shadow Realm, every monster is a part of your soul. Losing one can be very...painful." Crimson scowled as her LP went down to 1900.
"My turn!" she announced. She drew a card and placed it in her hand. Okay, I don't have anything strong enough right now. My best choice would be to play defense for the time being. Crimson selected a card and placed it on the field.
"I play this in defense and end my turn." Royhaun grinned and pushed a button on his Duel Disk.
"Nice try," he stated. "I activate Defense Paralysis! Your monster is forced into attack mode. Now, it's my turn." He drew a card as Crimson gasped. "Darkness Angel attack!" Crimson's monster, Crying of the Waters had only a thousand attack points. The Angel's arrow made quick work of it. Crimson screamed as pain hit her stomach. She fell to her knees.
"Your monster was way too weak. You'll have to pay for that." Crimson struggled back up to her feet. She felt light-headed and ached all over. She knew very well that all the monsters were real in this Realm and that losing a monster could have dangerous consequences. She had to be very careful.
"Take it easy, one at a time," Bakura instructed. He watched as Téa slowly made her way down the side of the wall. She was a little better than Joey had been; he had nearly tripped and fallen. Kaiba had gone down first, and he proved to be an expert in climbing down. It took him less than half a minute. Téa was more freaked out than unable. She closed her eyes and moved an inch per minute.
"Come on Téa! Faster!" Yugi urged. Téa grimaced as she put her foot down on the next available footrest. Yugi watched her desperately. He looked over to see Crimson Dueling and found that her Crying of the Waters was about to get creamed by Darkness Angel.
"Look, guys!" Joey and Kaiba turned to look toward Crimson. They had to angle their heads up from the place they were standing on. The Darkness Angel let go of her arrow and Crying of the Waters disappeared from the field. To the gang's surprise, Crimson fell to her knees and screamed.
"Crimson!" Kaiba called. Téa was already straining to keep her balance. At Kaiba's sudden exclamation, Téa's hand slipped. She cried out as she fell from the rock wall.
"Téa!" Yugi cried. Kaiba quickly turned and manage to catch her. Téa opened her eyes and found herself in his arms.
"Um...thanks?" Kaiba smirked and dropped her. She landed to the ground with a thud.
"Hey!"
Crimson looked down at her Duel Disk and noticed she had 1200 LP left. It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either.
"Hm!" Royhaun scoffed. "I bet you don't have anything powerful enough to beat my Darkness Angel. And you don't have the brains to lay a decent Trap."
"Trap?"
"Duh! Trap cards. Those pink ones that you were supposed to pick."
"Oh...I only took like two of those." Royhaun burst out laughing.
"Amateur!" he gasped between chuckles. "How do you expect to beat me with almost no Trap cards?" Crimson thought to herself. Boy! He's right! I'm such an idiot. I went for all the prettiest looking cards. I never once thought about a strategy! I bet none of my cards go together.
"Face it, you're a loser!" Crimson growled and pulled a card. It was her turn. Looking at her cards, she tried to come up with a strategy. At that point, she had three Magic cards and three monster cards in her hand. None of them were strong enough to beat the Darkness Angel. She couldn't play defense either. If I don't put down a monster, then he will surely attack and win. If I play a monster, it will be destroyed and a part of my LP will be too. The thing is, at least all of it won't be gone. Crimson reasoned that that was the best strategy.
"I place Mage of Mystic Fire on the field! Then I place this card face down behind it!" Crimson knew that Royhaun heard from her that she only had two Trap cards. She decided that he might think her face down card was one of them. Or, he might think she was actually lying and probably had a Deck full of them. Either way, he could believe her face down card was a Trap.
"My turn!" Royhaun said, drawing his next card. "I'm smart enough to know that your face down card is not a Trap. So I'll attack... but first, I'll activate my Trap card, Back-Up, and raise my monster's attack power by two hundred. Now! Darkness Angel attack!" The Angel knocked another arrow and aimed. Crimson gasped and tried to shield herself. The Angel fired the arrow.
"Okay guys," Yugi said as he finally jumped down to the others. The five nodded and turned. "See that narrow path of land? We have to go through that."
"Through the small stepping-stone style pathway that's barely enough for one person to stand on? One that looks like it's going to collapse into the lava any second?" Téa queried faintly.
"Yep." Téa moaned. "Come on, we can do this!"
"We need to get there fast!" Kaiba said. "We still have to climb that pillar to Crimson after that."
"Let's hurry," Bakura suggested.
The blast from the Darkness Angel's arrow colliding with the Mage of Mystic Fire sent Crimson sprawling to the ground. She moaned as she struggled to her feet, clutching her arm. She looked down at her Duel Disk in horror to find only one hundred LP remaining.
"Sorry, forgot to mention," Royhaun added. "Back-Up also allows me to double the damage I do to your LP." Crimson growled. She didn't have much of a chance now. She drew a card and looked at it. It was a monster card, but Crimson didn't need it now. She needed a strong spell card, but she had nothing strong in her hand.
I'm doomed. If I place a monster, he'll destroy it and my LP. If I don't, he'll destroy my LP anyway. I don't have a chance.
"I pass," Crimson said. Royhaun smirked. He drew a card.
"I feel so bad, hurting you like this," he taunted. "A small, pathetic girl with no abilities whatsoever." Crimson tried to concentrate on something else to drown out his silly insults. Her eyes fell upon her face down card and she cried out in desperation.
"I'm such an idiot!!" she yelled. "I could have used this Magic Card!" Royhaun chuckled.
"Too late, you can't play Magic Cards in my turn!" Crimson sighed and fell to her knees. She was going to lose because of her own stupidity. She should have known she had a Magic Card, and now she couldn't even use it... or could she?
"Darkness Angel! Attack!" The Angel nocked an arrow and prepared to fire. Crimson took out the Magic Card, Shattered Glass, and looked at it. All of a sudden, she noticed a tiny symbol in the upper right corner she had never seen before.
"Black Dust Arrow!" Crimson's head snapped up as Darkness Angel let go of the bow with a twang. She acted quickly and slid Shattered Glass into the card slot.
"I activate Shattered Glass!"
"AH!"
"Téa!"
"Help!"
"Don't step on that!"
"You guys are pathetic!"
"Keep yar' insults t' ya' self, moneybags!"
"Suit yourself."
"Téa! That rock will crack!"
"Hey...this isn't solid."
"Bakura! You're going to fall!"
"Here, this is the last step!" Bakura and the others finally got onto a section of rock that was solid enough and big enough for all of them to take a break. They had only gotten half way to the Dueling pillar, but Téa had tripped and fallen more than a few times, only to be saved by Joey or Yugi at the last second. Bakura's curiosity of the bright orange patches almost caused him to fall into a large section of boiling hot lava.
"We're almost there!" Yugi said.
"Define almost," Téa panted, collapsing onto a small rock. The others joined her, except Kaiba, who was already on his way down the rest of the path.
Crimson has probably never really had a decent Duel from the looks of it. Kaiba reasoned. I better not be too late.
The Darkness Angel screamed as she was wrapped up in lightning bolts. Her arrow was vaporized before it reached Crimson.
"What's going on?" Royhaun demanded, with a small yelp as he clutched his leg. "You can't play Magic Cards in my turn."
"Oh yes I can!" Crimson announced triumphantly. "As long as it's Quick-Play. Those Magic Cards work as both Magic and Trap cards. And, sorry to disappoint you, but that's the category in which almost all my Magic Cards fall under." Royhaun growled as he stood up.
"Let's get the effect of Shattered Glass over with," he said, taking all the monster cards from his hand and graveyard.
"Alright," Crimson agreed. "Let's see. Shattered Glass makes you take all the Monsters in your hand, graveyard, and field, and shuffle them into your Deck." Crimson took all but two cards from her hand and put it into the Deck. She took her graveyard monsters and put them into the Deck as well, shuffling it after.
"My turn," she declared, drawing a card. One of the cards she had in her hand was Card of the Lamp Liver. Her newly drawn card was My Bottle's Genie. Just what she needed to turn the Duel over.
"It's your turn to face demise!" Crimson said, slapping her monster card onto the field. "My Bottle's Genie! Use Poison Grace and attack!" Royhaun's eyes widened as a purple-haired, veiled Genie appeared and shot a strong of magic at him. It hit him right in the chest and he doubled over in pain. His LP dropped to 200. "I also place this card face down. End turn!" Royhaun stood up and drew a card.
"I'm lucky that I'm only a Soul," he said. "A direct attack won't hurt me as much as it would hurt you. Anyway, first I play Seal of Doom. This water creature, with his 1850 attack power, will demolish any chance you have of winning. Then, I play TentaSword! Not only does this card let me draw five new cards, but also I get four hundred LP for my Seal's existence. I also get an additional three hundred LP for it being a Water creature. So now, armed with a total of 900 LP and Seal of Doom, I attack your Genie!"
"Okay, we're almost there."
"Again, define almost!" The five members of the gang looked at the few more steps they had to go across to reach Crimson's pillar. Stepping across them would have normally been an easy task, except for the balls of molten lava flying between the different rock steps.
"We just hafta' get 'de timin' right!" Joey said, as if he was the smartest one there.
"Let's see, the first few rocks will be easy to cross, but the last two have multiple lava balls crossing them." Bakura, Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba tried to figure out the timing of the balls of fire. Téa turned around and looked at how far they had come across the lava.
"We're nearly there!" she said aloud, hoping to encourage herself. She kicked a small black rock into the lava and watch it sink. Somehow, it bounced right back out. Out of curiosity, Téa kicked it back in. It came back out. Téa kicked it again. This time, the rock came out followed by a long slimy tentacle. Téa shrieked and backed up.
"What is it, Téa?" Bakura asked, turning around. He saw Téa backing up and a long tentacle, followed by a gigantic body of what appeared to be a giant termite living in the lava. By this time, Joey, Yugi, and Kaiba had also turned around. They gulped at the sight of the giant bug and the millions that followed it from the lava.
"Forget the timings! Run!" The five made a dash over the last rocks, with no respect for time or space. The giant termites followed, melting rock as they went.
"Climb! Climb! Climb!" Joey urged, as the five scrambled up to vertical pillar toward Crimson. They only looked down after they were ten meters in the air, and to their relief the bugs did not follow.
"That was freaky!"
Crimson was thrown back as the attack from the Seal hit her Genie. Her brain was almost jumping out of her head, and her LP went down to fifty. Quickly, she pressed a button on her Duel Disk.
"Activate Card of the Lamp Liver! This Quick-Play Magic Card allows me to destroy any monster that has attacked in the turn this card is activated. Bye-bye, Seal of Doom!" Royhaun gasped as his Seal melted into the ground.
"You will pay!" Crimson smirked as she drew a card. All right! My favorite! This will make up for the fact that I don't have any monsters. Crimson placed her newest card face down. She had one card in her hand, but she decided to keep it.
"I end my turn." Royhaun nodded and drew a card.
"Now you are finished! I play my Beast of the Devil! With his 1600 attack, he will send you to oblivion! Attack!" The giant, five-legged beast charged at Crimson. She cried out in pain as she was thrown back, landing near the edge of the platform. She activated her Trap.
"Enchanted Javelin! This...will increase... my LP by your monster's attack... points. In this... case, since I have no... monsters, my LP stays... the same!" Crimson tried to get up, but her body was aching all over and she felt weak.
"I told you direct attacks would hurt you more." Crimson was in too much pain to retaliate. She crouched over on the pillar. She weakly drew a card from her Deck to begin her turn.
"Two cards...face down...I...end...my...turn..." Crimson closed her eyes. She just wanted to go to sleep. Unfortunately, she was in too much pain to do even that. Royhaun laughed as he drew his card.
"Ha! Victory is mine! Time to bring out one of my most powerful monsters using my Polymerization!" Crimson faintly mumbled something and pushed a button on her Duel Disk.
"Activate...uh...Mystical Space... Typhoon! This... stops you from... using...Polymerization!" Crimson moaned as another surge of pain racked her body.
"No!" Royhaun cried. "Now I have to skip my turn too!" Crimson faintly smiled. She drew a card and looked at it. It was a simple Graceful Dice. It couldn't help her now. She also had a card called Calling for the Tide face down. She hoped it would be enough. She was too hurt to think any further. She weakly motioned for Royhaun to begin his turn.
"I play Question's Answer in attack mode! This warrior has enough power to destroy you, even if it only as weak as 1400! Attack!" Crimson smiled. This was too perfect. The duel was about to end.
"Perfect..." she muttered as loudly as she could, struggling to stand up. She winced in pain as she pushed a button on her Duel Disk.
"Calling...for...the Tide! This...card...takes away 1000 LP for any monster that has been on the field for less than... one turn. That means you... lose!!" Royhaun shrieked in horror as his LP went down to 0. The monsters started to slowly disappear.
"No!" he called to his Question's Answer. "Hurry attack! Destroy Crimson!" Crimson gasped as she saw the approaching warrior. He raised his sword and swung.
"NO!" Crimson gasped again when Kaiba suddenly leaped in front of her. Luckily, the monster fully disappeared before his sword hurt anybody. Out of shock, Crimson's knees buckled. Kaiba caught her as she fell. Royhaun's pillar crumbled and he fell into the lava with it.
"NO!" Kaiba turned back to Crimson.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Crimson nodded.
"Ow..." she moaned softly. Kaiba got down to his knees and let her lie on his shoulder, his arms supporting her back. Crimson smiled and snuggled into his chest.
"Just stay still, or you'll be hurt more. That was a great duel." Kaiba leaned over and kissed Crimson's cheek. She glared back at him.
"Are you mental? What... is with... the Mr. Nice-Guy... All-Of-A-Sudden routine?" Crimson tired to get up, but fell back into Kaiba's arms.
"Don't ask." Just then, the other four appeared over the edge of the platform. They rushed to Crimson's side.
"Oh! That was so cool!" Téa said. "You were so great out there!"
"Awesome!" Bakura agreed.
"I wonda' how we're gonna get offa' the pillar," Joey said. Téa hurried over to the edge and looked over.
"We came up a long way!" she remarked. Suddenly, there was a crack. "Did you guys hear that...?"
"Téa!" Téa looked down and her portion of the platform crumbled. Yugi and Joey rushed over, but they were too late. Téa lost her balance and fell back. With a yell, she fell into the lava.