Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh and I can't state that any simpler then I just have. If you don't get that by now I pity you.
Chapter Eleven: Humbling a Champion
The countdown had begun. In less then twenty-four hours from this very moment the world would end, and nobody would be alive to complain about it. Dalin took in a deep, calming breath and let it out. Then he hung his head in disappointment. That sort of breathing was supposed to help you relax. He was still horribly tense!
Its hard not to be stressed when you're aware that unless something is done to prevent it, the apocalypse will be taking place within a day. Letting out an overly loud sigh he rose from his position and stalked out the door, heading for the room of Yugi Motou. He had a conversation with a spirit waiting for him, and he was going to get some answers no matter how long it took.
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Only a short time remained until Drake would finally get the chance to prove himself in the finals of a Duel Monsters tournament. He couldn't exactly say that he was calm, but at least he was composed and in control of himself.
"WHOOHOO!" Okay, so he wasn't really composed and in control. Instead he was jumping around his room shirtless and in boxers doing the official happy dance. In a corner of the room, on a table, all of his stuff lay. His shirt, his pants, his leather jacket, and his most prized possession. His deck. It was that very deck and his own determination that had gotten him all the way to the finals.
He understood very well that some of the people in the finals were there because they had some "greater" purpose. But for him, it was simply the joy of the duel and the challenge. He had been hoping to put the beat down on Malik, but now the lunatic was dead, and good riddance to him at that.
There was also something else different about his first duel. Despite his determination to win, and his promise to his sister, he wasn't going to wear his Millennium Disc in his next duel. The last duel he saw, with the spirit from Autumn's Millennium Item taking over, made Drake contemplate his own. He didn't know if it made him a better duelist then anyone else, but he wanted to duel at least once in this tournament without it, just to be sure.
So, to display his happiness at the impending duel, Drake had decided to dance. Now Drake was an excellent when it came to dueling. He was great to have in a brawl. But if there was one thing he was truly horrible at, it was dancing. "OOOF!"
Yes indeed, Drake was truly an amazing dancer. Some bad dancers had two left feet and this was apparently a very bad thing to have when dancing. Drake on the other hand seemed to have three left feet. If two was bad, three certainly had to much worse. At least that was his excuse for tripping over his own feet and landing flat on his face.
"Note to self. From now on, stick to dueling and fighting. NO DANCING."
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Across this blimp another duelist was thinking ahead to the upcoming duels. Kaiba was in the middle of coming up with a strategy for defeating Dalinin a duel as brute force wouldn't work on a duelist like that. He ran over the cards in his deck several times, considering each of them, weighing them against the cards he had seen Dalin use.
As far as he could tell his best strategy would be to use his Crush Card combo, that would throw him off balance for certain. Then he could work his way from there. Smirking in satisfaction at himself he rose from his spot and picked his deck up. Hopefully he could soon defeat Taichi, claim the Toon World card, and rip it into pieces.
Only four duelists remained for the first round. Himself, Taichi, Kirani, and his own employee Drake. The chances were quite great that he'd face Taichi in his first duel, and based on the way he had decided to tier the tournament, his second duel would be against Autumn. Then he would face either Drake or Kirani in the semi-finals as whoever won the last duel would get a by. After defeating whoever made it to the semi-finals he'd make his way into the final duel, to most likely face Yugi and once and for all regain his honor.
He had everything planned out perfectly. There was absolutely nothing that could go wrong. He was the best duelist in the world, and he would win. There was no doubt of that in his mind whatsoever.
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"Drake? Are you in there?" Drake bolted upright at the sound of Kirani's voice and looked around frantically for his clothing. Spotting it he made a made dash for it, and started pulling his things on as fast as he could. There was no time to spare!
"Give me a second!" Drake grimaced in horror as he heard the sound of the door being opened. He wasn't ready yet, he was still shirtless! Desperately making a grab for his shirt Drake succeeded in knocking his jacket over and tangling his legs in it. With a crash he hit the floor a second time with equally painful results.
When Kirani entered the room she found Drake sitting with his back against the couch and rubbing his head, groaning about something. She frowned but shrugged it off and approached him. "Hey Drake. I wanted to talk to you before the next duel, since it will most likely be one of the two of us who has to duel. It could even be me versus you."
Drake nodded and stood up, gesturing to the couch. She sat down and he took a seat across from her on the wooden table, watching her intently. "That's true. So what did you want to talk to me about?"
She smiled and took her deck from her pocket and idly thumbed through it. Once she spotted the card she was looking for she slipped it out and extended it to the sixteen year old in front of her. She wasn't sure why she had chosen him as a friend, but it probably had something to do with their similar positions. She was a Rare Hunter, he was a Rare Hunter, and both of them loved to duel and were equally determined to improve themselves as much as possible.
"Here, take this card. I feel like we've become friends and I want you to have a card from my deck to represent that friendship. Both of us want to win this thing, or at least prove our own strength before we get defeated, so a common bond between us means we need a bond between our decks. That's this card."
Drake took the card and stared at it, mostly to avoid staring at her. A sign of friendship. Well it was a start. He grinned and snatched his jacket up from the floor. Grabbing one of his two extras piles (each roughly the size of a deck) and started searching through it.
"You know Kirani, I've never quite seen the point in a single thing connecting people. I guess that's why there are always two rings when a couple gets married. Its to connect them on both sides. So I figure I can't accept this card as a sign of our friendship without giving you one in return."
Grinning as he finally came across the card he was lucky for he held it out to her in order to complete the exchange. Kirani accepted it and smiled as she looked down at it. It was quite the card at that, and she wondered if it was a fair trade. "Its not Blue Eyes, but I think it fits you."
Smiling the smile that made his heart melt Kirani leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Drake in a warm hug, embarrassing him. Slowly she pulled back and flashed him another smile before standing up. "If you duel next, good luck before hand."
Drake grinned and stood up as well, towering a good half a foot over her. "Thanks. Same to you." Kirani smiled and accepted the hand he extended. With a quick shake the two felt completely ready for the next duel. Whatever the result, they would have tried their hardest and would have shown their true strength. That was all that they needed.
"You're not wearing your necklace. This is the only time I've seen you without it on." Drake glanced at the Millennium Disc that sat on the table behind him and shrugged. Picking up his deck and sliding it into the slot on his duel disc he smirked and pulled his leather jacket on before strapping the DD2 to his arm.
"Like you said. The goal is to show our true strength, and I want to make sure that I'm as good as I think I am without it. What it represents is always inside me, so I won't wear it just this once." Grinning to each other, the two duelists walked out of the room and towards the bingo room. Whatever happened next would happen, but they would be strong no matter what.
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Yugi looked over at the man standing in front of him and wondered exactly what he wanted. Supposedly he was a good person, but Yugi had Yami with him just in case Sumatin tried anything. "What do you want?"
Dalin didn't answer in words. Instead he pointed to the puzzle that hung around Yugi's neck. Yugi gripped the puzzle in his hands and in a flash of light he changed into his darker side, Yami. "Now you show your true colors Sumatin. I should have known. Well if you want to get my puzzle you'll have to defeat me first, and this time I don't that will happen."
Dalin shook his head in amusement and reached out to touch the puzzle before Yami could stop him. The instant he laid his hand upon it there was a flash of light, and a vacant expression took over Dalin's eyes. Yami stumbled backwards away from the much larger man and watched in horror as Dalin simply collapsed to the floor, eyes glazed over.
Yugi stared at Dalin's prone form and in spirit form turned to his partner to ask him a question. "What just happened Yami, whats going on?"
Yami continued to stare at Dalin, resting his hands upon the puzzle without even thinking about it. "He's inside the puzzle...and I can't get in."
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Taichi Nobuki watched the bingo balls spin within the machine going faster and faster. In moments the first duelist of the sixth match would be selected. Idly he considered tampering with the machine's decision using his magic, but decided against it. If he did tamper with the machine then anyone with similar magic would detect it and suspect him of something foul.
Of course, they'd be right, but he didn't want anyone to know that quite yet. Not until he dueled would they known, and then they'd fear him. Oh yeas how they would fear him! He could see it now, feel their fear already. How joyous it would be! Supressing his laughter he smirked as they first bingo ball was selected, and the first duelist chosen.
"The first duelist of the sixth match is Seto Kaiba!" Kaiba smirked from his spot across the room. There was one step, now all that was necessary was for the second duelist to be chosen and for him to defeat whoever it was. He turned his head, letting his steely gaze fall upon Taichi. The dark haired boy merely smirked at him and pointed to a card he held in his hand. Toon World.
The punk was taunting him with the card he hated! Holding back his anger he turned away, waiting for the second bingo ball to be chosen and hoping for Taichi to be selected. He'd win, and then he'd go on and take each of the god cards one by one. Nothing and nobody could stand in the way of his goal.
"The second duelist of the sixth match is Daisuke Ihachi. Will both duelists make their way to the Stratos Dueling Field?" When his name was called Drake stepped back in shock. He had been hyped up for his first duel, but he had completely forgotten that Kaiba was one of the duelists remaining. He had to face Kaiba in a duel?
Taking a deep calming breath, and discovering that calming breaths didn't work, he walked to the elevator and rode it up to the top with Kaiba. Once there, the two took opposite sides of the ring and activated their duel discs. Kaiba smirked as he drew his opening hand. "I crushed you last time, so I think it only fair that the loser goes first."
Drake snarled and pulled a card from his deck. He took a good luck at his hand and started to form a strategy. Perhaps he could get rid of Kaiba's strongest cards all in one fell swoop. "First off I'll set a monster in defense mode. Next I'll play the magic card Magical Bouquet. When I've got even one spellcaster on the field or in my cemetery I can activate this magic card and search my deck for one magic card of my choosing and add that card to my hand."
A bouquet of flowers appeared on the field and rolled up, sending the flowers scattering across the field. As it did so a card appeared and hovered in mid-air. Drake took his deck out and searched through it, once he came across the one he wanted he added it to his hand and shuffled his deck. The hovering card vanished as he did so, giving him what he needed to put his strategy into effect.
"I now set one more card face down and end my turn. Now I guess the turn is back to you oh all mighty one!" Kaiba sneered and grabbed his sixth card. He too had a strategy that could easily bring him victory. But to do so he'd have to be sparing with his cards.
"I don't care what strategy you're working on Drake, even if you have one. You can't possibly defeat my deck. I've proven that before and I'll prove it again. To do so I set one card and summon Kaiser Seahorse(1700/1650) in attack mode!"
A blue-skinned reptilian warrior wielding a trident took its place on Kaiba's sword and aimed its weapon at Drake's face down monster. "Seahorse huh? Thats rather ironic now isn't it KAIBA? (A.N.-Kaiba means seahorse.)" Kaiba smirked and lifted his arm to point at Drake's defense monster.
"Kaiser Seahorse, crush his defenses!" The reptilian warrior hefted his trident and, with one moment heave of its arm, hurled the trident straight at Drake's defensive monster. At the last moment the Mystical Elf appeared and started chanting. A green glow surrounded the female elf and at the last moment the trident stopped.
Kaiba grimaced as the trident reversed direction and went straight at his Kaiser Seahorse. The warrior snatched it out of the air but the force of its flight pushed the monster back into Kaiba, slamming him into the ground. (KLP: 3700) "Looks like the lead belongs to me Kaiba, and I haven't even attacked yet."
Drake smirked and snapped a card off his deck. All he needed was to lure Kaiba's monsters onto the field and then his plan could come into action. He grinned as he slipped his first card into one of the magic/trap slots and pressed the activation button. "I play Dian Keto the Cure Master!"
A fat robed woman was revealed and she sent a globe of light towards Drake's DD2. However at that moment a fairy appeared on the opposite side of the duel and rushed over. Using an oversized mirror the fairy reflected the orb at Kaiba who smirked as his life points rose. (KLP: 4700) "My Fairy's Hand Mirror is perfect for stealing your card's effects. So now who has the lead?"
Drake grimaced at the sudden change in life points for Kaiba. He had hoped to put himself farther into the lead, but now he was behind. Shaking it off he slapped a monster card down on the field, sacrificing his elf to do so. "I sacrifice my Mystical Elf for once monster in defense mode. That'll end my turn."
Kaiba smirked as he saw the white image on the card he had just drawn. Just the sort of card he needed to keep this duel in his favor. "Its time I use Kaiser Seahorse's effect, the light-speed summon ability! So I sacrifice Kaiser Seahorse for the Blue Eyes White Dragon(3000/2500)."
Kaiba's laughter chilled Drake as the massive dragon reared up on the field, horribly realistic with the advanced holographic technology at work. Amongst normal monsters the Blue Eyes had virtually unparalleled attack strength. "Blue Eyes...BURST STREAM!"
The Blue Eyes opened its jaws wide and let a huge stream of raw energies rush forth from its mouth. And those energies were headed straight for Drake's defensive monster. Drake let out a cry as the blast exploded in front of him, showering him in light and temporarily blinding him. Kaiba smirked. When the smoke faded Drake would be defenseless.
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It was a maze and a very complex one at that. But then again, Dalin wasn't even remotely interested in finding his through this maze. All he needed to do was talk to the spirit and get some answers, so that required calling the spirit out into the open, not searching for him.
"BAKURA! Come out now. I am Dalin Sumatin and I wish to speak to you on a matter of great importance." Laughter was the first thing he heard, laughter that seemed to come from every direction at once. Dalin simply refused to play this game and remained staring straight ahead.
"You wish to speak to me of a matter of great importance? Or do you simply wish to devour my dark soul as you tried to do three thousand years ago? I remember you being quite disappointed when you found yourself unable to gain access to me in the Millennium Ring."
Dalin turned around slowly, coming face to face with the spirit of the Millennium Ring. Yami Bakura as he might be called. Dalin stared the King of Thieves straight in the eyes and spoke in a cold and determined voice. "I remember nothing of those days, and only a few times has any part of who I used to be come through. Specifically at the end of my duel with Malik. That is how I known of myself as Ammut."
Bakura smirked, circling Dalin like some sort of predatory beast, ready to strike at any moment. "Just like the Pharaoh in that sense aren't you? Well tell me. What's in it for me if I help you?"
A burst of silver light picked Bakura off his feet and slammed him into a nearby wall, stunning him. A massive silver aura swirled about Dalin, making him quite the imposing figure. "Don't toy with me thief king! As the Devourer I am completely capable of consuming you and making sure you never come back! What's in it for you? You get to continue living is what's in it for you!"
Bakura slumped to the ground as Dalin released his hold. Brushing white hair out of his eyes the spirit looked up from his seated position at the much taller man. He sneered briefly before he rose to his feet and looked Dalin right back in the eyes. "What exactly do you want to know?"
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The white torrent of energy surged around Drake's defense monster and abruptly vanished into nothing, leaving Kaiba standing there in confusion. As the light cleared Drake's monster was revealed as a gaunt, almost skeletal spellcaster holding a ivory staff with a skull placed at the top. The spellcaster's black robes were never touched by the wind.
Drake grinned in triumph after seeing his spellcaster fend off the Blue Eye's attack. He had planned on the dragon and he had been right. Trust Kaiba to always have a Blue Eyes up his sleeve. "Sorry Kaiba, but my Skull Wizard(2500/3000) has the power to absorb half the stats of the monster sacrificed for it. So it gained 400 attack and 1000 defense. The one problem is that I can't change its mode the turn after its summoned and any other time I switch its mode I must wait another turn before switching it again."
Kaiba frowned and motioned for him to take his turn. Knowing that he had one chance at this he drew his next card, and smirked. Now his plan could be set into motion. "Alright Kaiba, I intend to take out all of your Blue Eyes in this one turn, so prepare yourself!"
Kaiba's only response was to laugh. Even to the duelists one the blimp that Drake had beaten this statement seemed ridiculous. Sure it was possible to beat all the Blue Eyes in one turn, but not if only one of them was even on the field. "You? Take out all of my Blue Eyes in one turn? You couldn't defeat them if you were given TEN free turns!"
Drake smirked as he slid a card into the magic/trap slot followed by a second one, which he activated. "First I'll place a card face down. Next I play the magic card I put into my hand using Magical Bouquet...the Shrink card!" Kaiba cried out in horror as his once mighty Blue Eyes was reduced to a merely average monster. (BEWD: 1500)
Drake extended one arm, palm outwards as he intoned the next part of his plan. The deadliest part. "Activate face down card, Chain Destruction! Now that the Blue Eye's meets its requirements I can get rid of the other two!" The trap card flipped up and a chain snaked it, piercing through the Blue Eyes and into Kaiba's deck. The champion grimaced as he searched his deck for the other two and discarded them to the cemetery.
"Now I summon Neo the Magical Swordsman(1700/1000) in attack mode. Neo, destroy his Blue Eyes with Magical Blade Slash!" The blond spellcaster shimmered into view and lifted his blade high above his head. Whispering ancient words of magic he grasped the blade with both hands, sending a blue glow arcing across it. Then, with one swift motion he slashed the blade straight the dragon, cutting it in half. (KLP: 4500)
The spectators were astounded that Drake had actually carried through on his declaration. Nobody had expected all three Blue Eyes to go down so quickly, especially not Kaiba. Grimacing in he drew his next card. He still didn't have everything he needed! Well at least he could still stall Drake for this turn. "I summon X-Head Cannon(1800/1500) and have it attack Neo!"
Kaiba's newest monster was essentially a head with cannons on it and the instant it hit the field it launched a volley of shells at Neo. At the last second Drake's face down card flipped up, and the attack swerved to strike Skull Wizard, who casually deflected them back at Kaiba. "I activated Shift, turning your attack to my Skull Wizard. Course you take the overflow damage now don't you?" (KLP: 3300)
Drake drew his next card and grinned in delight. Glancing back at Kensai briefly he smirked and slapped the card down on the field, tributing his two monsters in the process. "I summon Black Magician of Chaos(2800/2600) and...I set one card face down on the field. My magician will destroy your cannon with Chaos Scepter Blast!" The monster Kensai gave him rose onto the field in all its glory, blue-skin and purple and black clothing.
With a wave of its wand the magician sent a deadly looking orb racing across the ground to explode across the cannon's body, blasting it into oblivion. Kaiba looked furious. "You can't do that! You didn't use the ritual cards to summon it, so its impossible!" (KLP: 2300)
Drake held up his DD2, pointing at the monster he had in the center most monster zone. "Check it out. Its one of the most recent cards to come out, an effect monster version of the ritual monster. So yes indeed I can normal summon him, and his effect removes all monsters he destroys in battle from the game." Kaiba glared at him and picked his cannon off the field and dropped it into his pocket.
Kaiba drew his next card and grinned viciously as he played it. "Pot of Greed gives me two new cards." He drew the cards and looked at them for a second before smirking and selecting four of the cards in his hand. Now, at long last his strategy would be put into effect, and this duel would be his.
"I play Victimize, a magic card that lets me discard cards from my hand for sacrifices. However to summon a monster with two sacrifices I'd have to discard two different types of cards. In this case I discard Battle Ox, Crush Card Virus, and Shadow Utensil (A.N.-I'll explain later) in order to pay for the cost of summoning my monster."
A card appeared face up on the field, depicting an old man ripping up a hand of cards, the old man seemed to be laughing as he did so. Drake took a deep breath as he prepared himself for what he knew was about to come. Only one monster that Kaiba possessed could possibly be summoned in this manner. "Rise up...OBELISK!"
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"I wasn't there when this all began, you have to understand that. So I don't know anything but what I heard." Dalin nodded, accepting Bakura's words as the truth. After all, he had no reason to doubt the spirit since it was in the thief's best interests to help Dalin.
"Just tell me what you heard, and that'll be enough." Bakura smirked and turned away, pointing to a huge door with the eye that adorned all Millennium Items in its center.
"I'll do better then that, that door in front of you is the Door of Lost Legends. It contains all the knowledge the Pharaoh ever learned about the old legends and the old truths. By entering that room you will find yourself 3500 years in the past, five centuries before the current Millennium Items were created."
Dalin approached the door cautiously, inspecting every inch of it before placing his hands on it, ready to open the door and find the truth. "What will I see when I enter?"
Bakura shrugged and leaned back against the stone wall beside the door. "I don't have the slightest idea. Guess you'll just have to go in to find out." With a nod Dalin pushed the door open, and found himself far in the past.
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Within a vast temple six men gathered in a semi-circle around a man seated on a throne. The man on the throne was speaking. "There must be something we can do to appease the Hand! Surely if we offer up another village in sacrifice the Hand's army will not attack."
One of the six man shook his head, worry evident upon his aging face. "The Hand refuses to be appeased. It demands that a way around Ammut must be found, or it will surely destroy us."
Suddenly booming laughter echoed throughout the room. The seven men turned to find another group of seven approaching them. Each of these seven were adorned in much simpler clothing then the seven who had first been in the room, however each one possessed a single item of gold or silver that set them apart.
The one who was laughing, a tall, muscular man with white-blond hair past his ears stepped in front of the six priests and turned his steely gaze upon the Pharaoh. "The Great Lord Osiris will not bow to the demands of the Hand simply because you are afraid of dying. The Lord of the Dead has commanded me to bring word that The Seven will combat the Hand, and we shall defeat it."
The Pharaoh looked at this man curiously, turning to eye each of the other six behind the man. "Servant of Osiris...you are quite foolish. Every Kaa in the land would not stand a chance against the Hand, so what hope would you seven have? Even your items do not grant you that kind of power."
The man addressed as the Servant of Osiris smirked and raised his right hand up in front of his face. "Do not forgot Pharaoh, that as the Chosen Servants we have powers that are not granted to normal mortals. Each of us holds within them the power to raise the representative Kaa of our masters and mistresses. I vow upon the Icon of Osiris that the Hand will fall before the power of our Gods."
Glinting upon the man's hand was a silver ring, that spanned the four fingers of that hand. It was an image of a serpentine dragon, biting down on its own tail.
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Drake starred in awe as the massive blue monster rose up from the ground...and rose...and rose. "How the hell big is this thing?" As Drake watched he discovered that is was so big that it grew a little fuzzy at the feet, apparently reaching the very limits of the holographic projectors. When Yugi had summoned Osiris, that had been big, but this was big in a completely different way.
Kaiba smirked wickedly as the god monster assumed its place upon the field, making the Black Magician of Chaos stagger backwards in fear. Drake grinned in delight at seeing Kaiba's god, a monster he had hoped to face. "Well you know what they say. The bigger they are~"
"The harder they crush you. Admit it Drake, Obelisk(4000/4000) is too much for you to handle. I suggest you surrender before you embarrass yourself." Drake rolled his eye's at Kaiba's display of arrogance. Sure Obelisk was powerful, but that didn't mean it could win the duel all by its lonesome.
"I'd be more worried about embarrassing yourself if I was you Kaiba. You might have a powerful monster, but one monster won't determine the outcome of a duel all on its own, not when I'm involved at least. So if you want to win, then go ahead and show me what Obelisk is capable of. I'm ready!"
Thrusting one hand outwards the champion called for his God to attack. "God Hand Crusher!" Obelisk raised one fist high above its head and swung it straight at Drake's much smaller spellcaster, intent on crushing him. However the magician wasn't going to go down without a fight.
Leaping over the outstretched arm the magician jumped straight onto Obelisk's chest and leapt off of it. Spinning in a dizzying series of flips the spellcaster landed on the Obelisk's upper-arm and extended his staff right at the God's face. Drake smirked as he revealed his face down card. "Activate Shrink!"
(Obelisk: 2000) Kaiba's eyes widened as his monster's stats shrunk to more manageable proportions, leaving it vulnerable to the magician's counter attack. With a wave of its staff the most powerful of all magicians unleashed a massive orb made up of magical energies. The orb zipped through the air and crashed into Obelisk's face, sending it sprawling backwards.
Out of pure instinct Kaiba ducked, fearing that the massive frame of Obelisk would crush him in its fall. However, mere feet above his head it exploded into nothingness, taking a chunk of Kaiba's life points with it, and a chunk of his pride as he was forced to remove it from the game. (KLP: 1500) "What now Kaiba? I haven't lost a single life point and you've already lost all of your strongest monsters and more then half of your life points."
"How could you have a second Shrink card? There's no way!" Drake chuckled and pointed to his magician, who crossed his arms smugly.
"When my Black Magician of Chaos is summoned, flip summoned, or special summoned he lets me return one magic card in my cemetery to my hand. So I chose Shrink and set it face down, just in case." Kaiba grimaced and set one card face down before ending his turn.
Grinning at the thought of beating the champion, Drake drew and placed the card in the monster zone next to his magician. "I set one monster face down in defense and~" Drake gasped in surprise as Kaiba's down card flipped, revealing a control pad of some kind.
"I activate Enemy Controller. At a cost of 1000 life points (KLP: 500) I can select one of two effects, explode or sacrifice, and since I can't sacrifice at the moment I'll choose to blow your magician sky high!" The magician let out a sharp cry of pain as it exploded into tiny little holographic fragments, leaving Drake almost defenseless.
Smirking Kaiba drew his next card and then activated it. "I play Life Shortening Cards. Despite its name I assure you that the only life its shortening is yours in this duel. I draw five cards, but five turns after activation I must discard my entire hand." Kaiba started drawing his new hand, and with each card he drew his smirk grew bigger and bigger. This definitely wouldn't be good for Drake.
"I summon Lord of Dragons in attack mode and play Horn of Calling Dragons. So I summon Hyonzaru(2100/2800) and Kaiser Glider(2400/2200). Since you might have a high defense monster I'll attack it with my Hyonzaru first, Diamond Wind!" The horned dragon opened its mouth and let loose a stream of freezing cold wind, with flecks of diamonds in it. The wind cut straight through Drake's defense monster, and a blond man wielding a staff was revealed for a second before vanishing under the assault.
"Kaiser Glider will attack your life points directly!" The golden dragon loosed a ball of golden flame at Drake, only to have it strike a second monster that hadn't been there before. It was an old looking fellow who cast one hand out at Lord of Dragons before exploding. To Kaiba's further surprise his Lord of Dragons exploded as well, leaving his dragons vulnerable again.
"Before you go crazy I'll explain. The first monster you destroyed was Apprenticeship Magician. When he's destroyed by battle I can special summon one level two or less spellcaster from my deck to the field in face down defense position. The second spellcaster you destroyed was Vindictive Old Magician, who when flipped lets me destroy one monster on the field, and I chose your Lord of Dragons."
Kaiba smirked and slapped down his next card. When he did a giant cannon appeared, aiming straight at Drake. A burst of energy erupted from it and struck Drake in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards into the railing. "Sacrificial Blast Cannon allows me to sacrifice half of my life points to cut your life points down by half of the difference in our life points." (KLP: 250, DLP: 2125)
Taking a deep breath, knowing full well that he didn't have much chance of getting something to keep him alive, he drew his card and let out that deep breath. "I play Graceful Charity." He drew his three new cards and looked at them curiously for a second before looking back up at Kaiba. Without looking he picked two of the cards and slid them into his cemetery slot.
"I now play...oh....well that's not good." Drake chuckled weakly as he stared at the card he had in his hand and realized that he had discarded the wrong two cards. Gulping he played the monster in defense position and passed his turn to Kaiba, praying that he could still make his plan work.
Kaiba smirked and drew his next card. "First I equip Kaiser Glider with Dragon Treasure to raise his attack by 300. Now Hyonzaru will attack with his Diamond Wind yet again!" The Hyonzaru roared and attacked Drake's face down monster, once more cutting it into pieces and once more revealing the same blond spellcaster.
"Don't you ever learn Kaiba? Yet again you've destroyed my Apprenticeship Magician, so go ahead and attack if you dare." Drake let out a sigh of relief, this could still work, whether or not Kaiba attacked. However he might be vulnerable if he had to use his monster's effect during his turn. It was now up to Kaiba whether his plan would work or not.
Running through Kaiba's mind were the cards that Drake had been tracked as using during his entire time working for him and during his Battle City duels. After several seconds of this deliberation he discovered exactly what he wanted to know. Drake only had one Vindictive Old Magician in his deck. "Kaiser Glider, attack!"
The ball of golden flame slammed into Drake's second monster, engulfing it in fire before it could even defend itself. Now it was Drake's turn to smirk as he pulled the cards out of his cemetery slot and picked one out, slipping the others back in. "You just destroyed the Magician of Faith, so it looks like I get a card back."
Seeing as how there was nothing left for Kaiba to do this turn Drake made it his own, and drew a card. Grinning he slapped the card onto the field, knowing that stalling would give him the advantage, by ridding Kaiba of his options. Kaiba grimaced as the glowing green swords crashed down around him and his monsters. "I play Swords of Revealing Light. As for the card I took back...I think I'll save it for a turn or so. Your up Kaiba."
Kaiba drew and looked over his hand. He didn't have any cards he could use at the moment, and he couldn't attack either. He was stuck. Keeping his face its normal calm expression he passed the turn to Drake, knowing full well that every turn he didn't use, was another turn Drake had to find a way to beat him.
Drake drew and casually set a monster before passing the turn back to Kaiba. There wasn't long before Kaiba would be stripped of all options, and then it would be open season on the champion's life points. No way was he going to let this opportunity pass him up. This was the best duel he'd had in a long time, better then any he'd had in the rest of Battle City. He had Kaiba to thank for that.
Kaiba drew another card and prepared to pass when his thoughts suddenly went to the cemetery and the monsters he now had on the field. He had only gotten these monsters in play because of Life Shortening Cards...and this was the third turn after he had activated it. With this insight he realized what Drake planned to do, the punk intended to force him to discard his hand, leaving him with no options.
"Very clever Drake, but it won't save you. I don't need a full hand of cards to defeat you. Every single card in my deck is more powerful then anything you can throw at me. I set one card face down...and that's all I need." With that he let the turn pass to Drake who was grinning confidently. Kaiba would show him that his confidence was misplaced.
"Its about time I take you apart Kaiba. I'll do that by unleashing two very deadly monsters, one of whom is my a trump card of mine. I haven't gotten to use it at all during Battle City, and I'll glad use it to defeat you." Grinning wider then ever he slapped down two cards, one onto his monster field and the other into his magic/trap slots.
"First off I sacrifice my defense monster for Chaos Magician(2400/1900) in attack mode! I also play the card I recovered...Monster Reborn to revive my trump monster...the Chaos Sorcerer(2300/2000). To summon him I must remove one light and one dark type monster in my cemetery from the game. So I remove Mystical Elf and one of my apprentices to summon him!"
The first monster that appeared was dressed in black robes similar to those of the Dark Magician, his blue-skinned face barely visible. He held his black staff aloft and then slammed the butt of it into the ground, sending arching waves of energy up around him.
The second monster was a strange one for a spellcaster. He carried no weapon and had dark skin. His eyes were covered by a black wrapping and all he wore was strange upturned black clothing, that gave him a mysterious and deadly appearance. The oddest part was that the light seemed to bend around him. This was the Chaos Sorcerer, one of Drake's deadliest monsters.
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Dalin awoke with his back leaning against a metal wall. Standing in front of him was Yugi in his Yami form. The ancient Pharaoh was watching him closely. "So you finally woke up. Tell me...exactly what were you doing in my puzzle?"
Dalin let his eyes touch the floor as he rose to his feet, towering over the smaller duelist. The things he had learned...now he wasn't certain if he had wanted to learn them. "I had to talk to someone. I had to learn a few things about myself."
"Did you learn them?" Dalin turned to face the Pharaoh and nodded grimly, turning away and taking long strides to return himself to his room. He had learned far too much today, more then he had thought he would.
"I did at that Pharaoh...but I begin to wish I hadn't."
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"Chaos Magician will destroy Hyonzaru!" The magician aimed his staff at the diamond dragon and unleashed a bolt of negative energies that seared through the air...and crashed into Kaiser Glider who shrugged it off and retaliated with a golden fireball.
"My own Shift card takes care of your pathetic attack, transferring it to my more powerful Kaiser Glider!" The Chaos Magician screamed in pain before it was immolated by the deadly fire of Kaiba's dragon. It took only a few seconds before not even his dust remained. (DLP: 1825)
Drake sighed at seeing part of his plan ruined, but knew he could still recover...seing as how Kaiser Glider wouldn't be around much longer. "Its time to show you why my sorcerer is so dangerous. Chaos Sorcerer, banish Kaiser Glider from existence!"
The dark sorcerer raised both his hands and summoned energy unto them. Kaiba watched in fascination as one hand glowed with an intense inner light and the other cut off all light with a heavy darkness. Then the sorcerer cast both hands out and merged the two into a purplish light that struck Kaiser Glider head on. For a moment the Kaiser Glider was black and white, and then it was nowhere to be seen. It had simply ceased to exist.
"You see Kaiba, my sorcerer can remove one face-up monster from the game during my turn at the cost of not being able to attack during that turn. Not even the strongest of monsters can withstand his power." Kaiba was actually starting to worry as he drew, knowing that unless he could get rid of the sorcerer he wouldn't be able to defend himself for very long.
"I switch Hyonzaru to defense mode and set two cards face down. That ends my turn and your swords." The green swords faded away as Hyonzaru curled itself into a glinting diamond ball, a perfect defense of 2800 at work. A perfect defense that didn't stand a chance against Drake's sorcerer.
Drake drew and saw the name Omegus appear before Kaiba flipped one of his face-down cards, Drop Off, which forced him to discard Omegus to the cemetery. It didn't matter anyways, Omegus wouldn't have helped him. "Banish Hyonzaru my sorcerer!" Once again the sorcerer engulfed his hands in darkness and light, then unleashed the chaotic energy at Hyonzaru. It turned black for a brief second, and like Kaiser Glider before it, was no more.
Kaiba smirked as it became his turn. He drew his next card and didn't even bother to look at it as he was forced to discard his entire hand because of the effect of Life Shortening Cards. None of that matter however, because he had the one card on the field that he needed to win this duel. "Activate Monster Reborn!"
Drake gasped as the card flipped up and from the ground burst the Blue Eyes White Dragon in all its glory. It opened its jaws wide and unleashed its deadly attack upon his sorcerer, engulfing it in a blaze of white fire that even its great power could not contend with. The might of the Blue Eyes was simply to great for his sorcerer to defeat at this time. (DLP: 1125)
Kaiba smirked as he looked upon his Blue Eyes with admiration. His faithful Blue Eyes, always ready to serve its rightful master. "I'd say the tide is back in my favor now wouldn't you? Had I activated Monster Reborn last turn there was no telling what you might have been able to do, but now I have you at a complete disadvantage, with no cards in your hand and no monster...I can say that I've got the true lead, despite our life point differences."
Drake nodded and drew confidently, knowing that this could be his last card. It wouldn't matter even if it was, because he had fought his hardest and had given Kaiba a run for his money even without his item. Now he knew that he didn't need it. He held the card up in front of his eyes and let a slight smile touch his calm face. "I play Altar of Resurrection. This magic card lets me draw two cards and activate one magic card in my cemetery during this turn."
An altar with a golden statue with wings on it appeared on Drake's field and then faded away as Drake drew his two cards and chose the card he wanted to activate. "I activate Magical Bouquet, and search my deck for the card I need." He slid his deck out of its slot and searched through it before he found the card that he knew was right for this situation. It would serve him well.
"Next I play Shot From the Dark! This card lets me activate a magic card in either player's cemetery and I choose to activate my own Monster Reborn, to revive Chaos Sorcerer by removing Neo and another apprentice from the game." For the second time the sorcerer shimmered into view on the field, ready to take on Kaiba's dragon.
"I could use my sorcerer's effect to give me the win, but I want him to deal the final blow. To accomplish this I must summon Skilled Black Magician(1900/1700) in attack mode!" The powerful dark robed magician erupted from his card and stood next to the Chaos Sorcerer, prepared to carry out whatever command his master gave him.
"Now the final card I play is the card I searched for, a card given to me by a good friend. I play United We Stand to raise Chaos Sorcerer's attack by eight hundred for each monster on the field. He now has the power to defeat your dragon and finish off the last of your life points all in one shot!" (Chaos Sorcerer: 3900)
Kaiba let his arms fall to his side as the powered up sorcerer took hold of the magician's staff and charged it with the energies of dark and light. He couldn't believe it. He was going to lose again and there was nothing he could do about it. "Chaos Sorcerer...Orb of Darkest Light!"
The sorcerer unleashed an orb of the same purple light it had used before, but this time through its staff. The orb struck his dragon and in a massive explosion of light...his dragon was defeated and so was he. For the third time he had lost, and this time there was no Exodia and no Toon World to blame it on. He had simply lost because the other duelist was better. (KLP: 0)
As the holograms faded from the field the shock overwhelmed Drake and in a display of true humility he pumped his arms in the air and shouted, "I BEAT SETO KAIBA! HUZZAH!" He snapped out of it when Kaiba approached him and extended a blue card...Obelisk the Tormentor.
"Take it...and enjoy your victory for now. Consider it and honor that I now see you as worthy rival. We will duel again...and next time the result won't be the same." Turning away the World Champion exited the dueling arena to make way for the next pair of duelists, leaving a grinning Drake behind him.
Drake wouldn't have been happier if he had won a million dollars. He had beaten Seto Kaiba...and he still had more duels ahead of him. Something told him that the duels would only get tougher and more exciting. He couldn't wait.
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Author's Notes: Magical Bouquet, Skull Wizard, and Shot From the Dark are my creations...no steally! However Altar of Resurrection is a card used by Yami in the Doom Arc that just finished running in Japan. He used it against Raphael, one of the three Doom Soldiers. Hope you enjoyed the duel.
Next Time: The final duel of the first round commences and its Kirani versus Taichi. Kirani seems to have it easy as Taichi can hardly keep up with her, but Taichi's words echo in Drake's ears and make him start to fear...
Chapter Eleven: Humbling a Champion
The countdown had begun. In less then twenty-four hours from this very moment the world would end, and nobody would be alive to complain about it. Dalin took in a deep, calming breath and let it out. Then he hung his head in disappointment. That sort of breathing was supposed to help you relax. He was still horribly tense!
Its hard not to be stressed when you're aware that unless something is done to prevent it, the apocalypse will be taking place within a day. Letting out an overly loud sigh he rose from his position and stalked out the door, heading for the room of Yugi Motou. He had a conversation with a spirit waiting for him, and he was going to get some answers no matter how long it took.
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Only a short time remained until Drake would finally get the chance to prove himself in the finals of a Duel Monsters tournament. He couldn't exactly say that he was calm, but at least he was composed and in control of himself.
"WHOOHOO!" Okay, so he wasn't really composed and in control. Instead he was jumping around his room shirtless and in boxers doing the official happy dance. In a corner of the room, on a table, all of his stuff lay. His shirt, his pants, his leather jacket, and his most prized possession. His deck. It was that very deck and his own determination that had gotten him all the way to the finals.
He understood very well that some of the people in the finals were there because they had some "greater" purpose. But for him, it was simply the joy of the duel and the challenge. He had been hoping to put the beat down on Malik, but now the lunatic was dead, and good riddance to him at that.
There was also something else different about his first duel. Despite his determination to win, and his promise to his sister, he wasn't going to wear his Millennium Disc in his next duel. The last duel he saw, with the spirit from Autumn's Millennium Item taking over, made Drake contemplate his own. He didn't know if it made him a better duelist then anyone else, but he wanted to duel at least once in this tournament without it, just to be sure.
So, to display his happiness at the impending duel, Drake had decided to dance. Now Drake was an excellent when it came to dueling. He was great to have in a brawl. But if there was one thing he was truly horrible at, it was dancing. "OOOF!"
Yes indeed, Drake was truly an amazing dancer. Some bad dancers had two left feet and this was apparently a very bad thing to have when dancing. Drake on the other hand seemed to have three left feet. If two was bad, three certainly had to much worse. At least that was his excuse for tripping over his own feet and landing flat on his face.
"Note to self. From now on, stick to dueling and fighting. NO DANCING."
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Across this blimp another duelist was thinking ahead to the upcoming duels. Kaiba was in the middle of coming up with a strategy for defeating Dalinin a duel as brute force wouldn't work on a duelist like that. He ran over the cards in his deck several times, considering each of them, weighing them against the cards he had seen Dalin use.
As far as he could tell his best strategy would be to use his Crush Card combo, that would throw him off balance for certain. Then he could work his way from there. Smirking in satisfaction at himself he rose from his spot and picked his deck up. Hopefully he could soon defeat Taichi, claim the Toon World card, and rip it into pieces.
Only four duelists remained for the first round. Himself, Taichi, Kirani, and his own employee Drake. The chances were quite great that he'd face Taichi in his first duel, and based on the way he had decided to tier the tournament, his second duel would be against Autumn. Then he would face either Drake or Kirani in the semi-finals as whoever won the last duel would get a by. After defeating whoever made it to the semi-finals he'd make his way into the final duel, to most likely face Yugi and once and for all regain his honor.
He had everything planned out perfectly. There was absolutely nothing that could go wrong. He was the best duelist in the world, and he would win. There was no doubt of that in his mind whatsoever.
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"Drake? Are you in there?" Drake bolted upright at the sound of Kirani's voice and looked around frantically for his clothing. Spotting it he made a made dash for it, and started pulling his things on as fast as he could. There was no time to spare!
"Give me a second!" Drake grimaced in horror as he heard the sound of the door being opened. He wasn't ready yet, he was still shirtless! Desperately making a grab for his shirt Drake succeeded in knocking his jacket over and tangling his legs in it. With a crash he hit the floor a second time with equally painful results.
When Kirani entered the room she found Drake sitting with his back against the couch and rubbing his head, groaning about something. She frowned but shrugged it off and approached him. "Hey Drake. I wanted to talk to you before the next duel, since it will most likely be one of the two of us who has to duel. It could even be me versus you."
Drake nodded and stood up, gesturing to the couch. She sat down and he took a seat across from her on the wooden table, watching her intently. "That's true. So what did you want to talk to me about?"
She smiled and took her deck from her pocket and idly thumbed through it. Once she spotted the card she was looking for she slipped it out and extended it to the sixteen year old in front of her. She wasn't sure why she had chosen him as a friend, but it probably had something to do with their similar positions. She was a Rare Hunter, he was a Rare Hunter, and both of them loved to duel and were equally determined to improve themselves as much as possible.
"Here, take this card. I feel like we've become friends and I want you to have a card from my deck to represent that friendship. Both of us want to win this thing, or at least prove our own strength before we get defeated, so a common bond between us means we need a bond between our decks. That's this card."
Drake took the card and stared at it, mostly to avoid staring at her. A sign of friendship. Well it was a start. He grinned and snatched his jacket up from the floor. Grabbing one of his two extras piles (each roughly the size of a deck) and started searching through it.
"You know Kirani, I've never quite seen the point in a single thing connecting people. I guess that's why there are always two rings when a couple gets married. Its to connect them on both sides. So I figure I can't accept this card as a sign of our friendship without giving you one in return."
Grinning as he finally came across the card he was lucky for he held it out to her in order to complete the exchange. Kirani accepted it and smiled as she looked down at it. It was quite the card at that, and she wondered if it was a fair trade. "Its not Blue Eyes, but I think it fits you."
Smiling the smile that made his heart melt Kirani leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Drake in a warm hug, embarrassing him. Slowly she pulled back and flashed him another smile before standing up. "If you duel next, good luck before hand."
Drake grinned and stood up as well, towering a good half a foot over her. "Thanks. Same to you." Kirani smiled and accepted the hand he extended. With a quick shake the two felt completely ready for the next duel. Whatever the result, they would have tried their hardest and would have shown their true strength. That was all that they needed.
"You're not wearing your necklace. This is the only time I've seen you without it on." Drake glanced at the Millennium Disc that sat on the table behind him and shrugged. Picking up his deck and sliding it into the slot on his duel disc he smirked and pulled his leather jacket on before strapping the DD2 to his arm.
"Like you said. The goal is to show our true strength, and I want to make sure that I'm as good as I think I am without it. What it represents is always inside me, so I won't wear it just this once." Grinning to each other, the two duelists walked out of the room and towards the bingo room. Whatever happened next would happen, but they would be strong no matter what.
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Yugi looked over at the man standing in front of him and wondered exactly what he wanted. Supposedly he was a good person, but Yugi had Yami with him just in case Sumatin tried anything. "What do you want?"
Dalin didn't answer in words. Instead he pointed to the puzzle that hung around Yugi's neck. Yugi gripped the puzzle in his hands and in a flash of light he changed into his darker side, Yami. "Now you show your true colors Sumatin. I should have known. Well if you want to get my puzzle you'll have to defeat me first, and this time I don't that will happen."
Dalin shook his head in amusement and reached out to touch the puzzle before Yami could stop him. The instant he laid his hand upon it there was a flash of light, and a vacant expression took over Dalin's eyes. Yami stumbled backwards away from the much larger man and watched in horror as Dalin simply collapsed to the floor, eyes glazed over.
Yugi stared at Dalin's prone form and in spirit form turned to his partner to ask him a question. "What just happened Yami, whats going on?"
Yami continued to stare at Dalin, resting his hands upon the puzzle without even thinking about it. "He's inside the puzzle...and I can't get in."
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Taichi Nobuki watched the bingo balls spin within the machine going faster and faster. In moments the first duelist of the sixth match would be selected. Idly he considered tampering with the machine's decision using his magic, but decided against it. If he did tamper with the machine then anyone with similar magic would detect it and suspect him of something foul.
Of course, they'd be right, but he didn't want anyone to know that quite yet. Not until he dueled would they known, and then they'd fear him. Oh yeas how they would fear him! He could see it now, feel their fear already. How joyous it would be! Supressing his laughter he smirked as they first bingo ball was selected, and the first duelist chosen.
"The first duelist of the sixth match is Seto Kaiba!" Kaiba smirked from his spot across the room. There was one step, now all that was necessary was for the second duelist to be chosen and for him to defeat whoever it was. He turned his head, letting his steely gaze fall upon Taichi. The dark haired boy merely smirked at him and pointed to a card he held in his hand. Toon World.
The punk was taunting him with the card he hated! Holding back his anger he turned away, waiting for the second bingo ball to be chosen and hoping for Taichi to be selected. He'd win, and then he'd go on and take each of the god cards one by one. Nothing and nobody could stand in the way of his goal.
"The second duelist of the sixth match is Daisuke Ihachi. Will both duelists make their way to the Stratos Dueling Field?" When his name was called Drake stepped back in shock. He had been hyped up for his first duel, but he had completely forgotten that Kaiba was one of the duelists remaining. He had to face Kaiba in a duel?
Taking a deep calming breath, and discovering that calming breaths didn't work, he walked to the elevator and rode it up to the top with Kaiba. Once there, the two took opposite sides of the ring and activated their duel discs. Kaiba smirked as he drew his opening hand. "I crushed you last time, so I think it only fair that the loser goes first."
Drake snarled and pulled a card from his deck. He took a good luck at his hand and started to form a strategy. Perhaps he could get rid of Kaiba's strongest cards all in one fell swoop. "First off I'll set a monster in defense mode. Next I'll play the magic card Magical Bouquet. When I've got even one spellcaster on the field or in my cemetery I can activate this magic card and search my deck for one magic card of my choosing and add that card to my hand."
A bouquet of flowers appeared on the field and rolled up, sending the flowers scattering across the field. As it did so a card appeared and hovered in mid-air. Drake took his deck out and searched through it, once he came across the one he wanted he added it to his hand and shuffled his deck. The hovering card vanished as he did so, giving him what he needed to put his strategy into effect.
"I now set one more card face down and end my turn. Now I guess the turn is back to you oh all mighty one!" Kaiba sneered and grabbed his sixth card. He too had a strategy that could easily bring him victory. But to do so he'd have to be sparing with his cards.
"I don't care what strategy you're working on Drake, even if you have one. You can't possibly defeat my deck. I've proven that before and I'll prove it again. To do so I set one card and summon Kaiser Seahorse(1700/1650) in attack mode!"
A blue-skinned reptilian warrior wielding a trident took its place on Kaiba's sword and aimed its weapon at Drake's face down monster. "Seahorse huh? Thats rather ironic now isn't it KAIBA? (A.N.-Kaiba means seahorse.)" Kaiba smirked and lifted his arm to point at Drake's defense monster.
"Kaiser Seahorse, crush his defenses!" The reptilian warrior hefted his trident and, with one moment heave of its arm, hurled the trident straight at Drake's defensive monster. At the last moment the Mystical Elf appeared and started chanting. A green glow surrounded the female elf and at the last moment the trident stopped.
Kaiba grimaced as the trident reversed direction and went straight at his Kaiser Seahorse. The warrior snatched it out of the air but the force of its flight pushed the monster back into Kaiba, slamming him into the ground. (KLP: 3700) "Looks like the lead belongs to me Kaiba, and I haven't even attacked yet."
Drake smirked and snapped a card off his deck. All he needed was to lure Kaiba's monsters onto the field and then his plan could come into action. He grinned as he slipped his first card into one of the magic/trap slots and pressed the activation button. "I play Dian Keto the Cure Master!"
A fat robed woman was revealed and she sent a globe of light towards Drake's DD2. However at that moment a fairy appeared on the opposite side of the duel and rushed over. Using an oversized mirror the fairy reflected the orb at Kaiba who smirked as his life points rose. (KLP: 4700) "My Fairy's Hand Mirror is perfect for stealing your card's effects. So now who has the lead?"
Drake grimaced at the sudden change in life points for Kaiba. He had hoped to put himself farther into the lead, but now he was behind. Shaking it off he slapped a monster card down on the field, sacrificing his elf to do so. "I sacrifice my Mystical Elf for once monster in defense mode. That'll end my turn."
Kaiba smirked as he saw the white image on the card he had just drawn. Just the sort of card he needed to keep this duel in his favor. "Its time I use Kaiser Seahorse's effect, the light-speed summon ability! So I sacrifice Kaiser Seahorse for the Blue Eyes White Dragon(3000/2500)."
Kaiba's laughter chilled Drake as the massive dragon reared up on the field, horribly realistic with the advanced holographic technology at work. Amongst normal monsters the Blue Eyes had virtually unparalleled attack strength. "Blue Eyes...BURST STREAM!"
The Blue Eyes opened its jaws wide and let a huge stream of raw energies rush forth from its mouth. And those energies were headed straight for Drake's defensive monster. Drake let out a cry as the blast exploded in front of him, showering him in light and temporarily blinding him. Kaiba smirked. When the smoke faded Drake would be defenseless.
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It was a maze and a very complex one at that. But then again, Dalin wasn't even remotely interested in finding his through this maze. All he needed to do was talk to the spirit and get some answers, so that required calling the spirit out into the open, not searching for him.
"BAKURA! Come out now. I am Dalin Sumatin and I wish to speak to you on a matter of great importance." Laughter was the first thing he heard, laughter that seemed to come from every direction at once. Dalin simply refused to play this game and remained staring straight ahead.
"You wish to speak to me of a matter of great importance? Or do you simply wish to devour my dark soul as you tried to do three thousand years ago? I remember you being quite disappointed when you found yourself unable to gain access to me in the Millennium Ring."
Dalin turned around slowly, coming face to face with the spirit of the Millennium Ring. Yami Bakura as he might be called. Dalin stared the King of Thieves straight in the eyes and spoke in a cold and determined voice. "I remember nothing of those days, and only a few times has any part of who I used to be come through. Specifically at the end of my duel with Malik. That is how I known of myself as Ammut."
Bakura smirked, circling Dalin like some sort of predatory beast, ready to strike at any moment. "Just like the Pharaoh in that sense aren't you? Well tell me. What's in it for me if I help you?"
A burst of silver light picked Bakura off his feet and slammed him into a nearby wall, stunning him. A massive silver aura swirled about Dalin, making him quite the imposing figure. "Don't toy with me thief king! As the Devourer I am completely capable of consuming you and making sure you never come back! What's in it for you? You get to continue living is what's in it for you!"
Bakura slumped to the ground as Dalin released his hold. Brushing white hair out of his eyes the spirit looked up from his seated position at the much taller man. He sneered briefly before he rose to his feet and looked Dalin right back in the eyes. "What exactly do you want to know?"
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The white torrent of energy surged around Drake's defense monster and abruptly vanished into nothing, leaving Kaiba standing there in confusion. As the light cleared Drake's monster was revealed as a gaunt, almost skeletal spellcaster holding a ivory staff with a skull placed at the top. The spellcaster's black robes were never touched by the wind.
Drake grinned in triumph after seeing his spellcaster fend off the Blue Eye's attack. He had planned on the dragon and he had been right. Trust Kaiba to always have a Blue Eyes up his sleeve. "Sorry Kaiba, but my Skull Wizard(2500/3000) has the power to absorb half the stats of the monster sacrificed for it. So it gained 400 attack and 1000 defense. The one problem is that I can't change its mode the turn after its summoned and any other time I switch its mode I must wait another turn before switching it again."
Kaiba frowned and motioned for him to take his turn. Knowing that he had one chance at this he drew his next card, and smirked. Now his plan could be set into motion. "Alright Kaiba, I intend to take out all of your Blue Eyes in this one turn, so prepare yourself!"
Kaiba's only response was to laugh. Even to the duelists one the blimp that Drake had beaten this statement seemed ridiculous. Sure it was possible to beat all the Blue Eyes in one turn, but not if only one of them was even on the field. "You? Take out all of my Blue Eyes in one turn? You couldn't defeat them if you were given TEN free turns!"
Drake smirked as he slid a card into the magic/trap slot followed by a second one, which he activated. "First I'll place a card face down. Next I play the magic card I put into my hand using Magical Bouquet...the Shrink card!" Kaiba cried out in horror as his once mighty Blue Eyes was reduced to a merely average monster. (BEWD: 1500)
Drake extended one arm, palm outwards as he intoned the next part of his plan. The deadliest part. "Activate face down card, Chain Destruction! Now that the Blue Eye's meets its requirements I can get rid of the other two!" The trap card flipped up and a chain snaked it, piercing through the Blue Eyes and into Kaiba's deck. The champion grimaced as he searched his deck for the other two and discarded them to the cemetery.
"Now I summon Neo the Magical Swordsman(1700/1000) in attack mode. Neo, destroy his Blue Eyes with Magical Blade Slash!" The blond spellcaster shimmered into view and lifted his blade high above his head. Whispering ancient words of magic he grasped the blade with both hands, sending a blue glow arcing across it. Then, with one swift motion he slashed the blade straight the dragon, cutting it in half. (KLP: 4500)
The spectators were astounded that Drake had actually carried through on his declaration. Nobody had expected all three Blue Eyes to go down so quickly, especially not Kaiba. Grimacing in he drew his next card. He still didn't have everything he needed! Well at least he could still stall Drake for this turn. "I summon X-Head Cannon(1800/1500) and have it attack Neo!"
Kaiba's newest monster was essentially a head with cannons on it and the instant it hit the field it launched a volley of shells at Neo. At the last second Drake's face down card flipped up, and the attack swerved to strike Skull Wizard, who casually deflected them back at Kaiba. "I activated Shift, turning your attack to my Skull Wizard. Course you take the overflow damage now don't you?" (KLP: 3300)
Drake drew his next card and grinned in delight. Glancing back at Kensai briefly he smirked and slapped the card down on the field, tributing his two monsters in the process. "I summon Black Magician of Chaos(2800/2600) and...I set one card face down on the field. My magician will destroy your cannon with Chaos Scepter Blast!" The monster Kensai gave him rose onto the field in all its glory, blue-skin and purple and black clothing.
With a wave of its wand the magician sent a deadly looking orb racing across the ground to explode across the cannon's body, blasting it into oblivion. Kaiba looked furious. "You can't do that! You didn't use the ritual cards to summon it, so its impossible!" (KLP: 2300)
Drake held up his DD2, pointing at the monster he had in the center most monster zone. "Check it out. Its one of the most recent cards to come out, an effect monster version of the ritual monster. So yes indeed I can normal summon him, and his effect removes all monsters he destroys in battle from the game." Kaiba glared at him and picked his cannon off the field and dropped it into his pocket.
Kaiba drew his next card and grinned viciously as he played it. "Pot of Greed gives me two new cards." He drew the cards and looked at them for a second before smirking and selecting four of the cards in his hand. Now, at long last his strategy would be put into effect, and this duel would be his.
"I play Victimize, a magic card that lets me discard cards from my hand for sacrifices. However to summon a monster with two sacrifices I'd have to discard two different types of cards. In this case I discard Battle Ox, Crush Card Virus, and Shadow Utensil (A.N.-I'll explain later) in order to pay for the cost of summoning my monster."
A card appeared face up on the field, depicting an old man ripping up a hand of cards, the old man seemed to be laughing as he did so. Drake took a deep breath as he prepared himself for what he knew was about to come. Only one monster that Kaiba possessed could possibly be summoned in this manner. "Rise up...OBELISK!"
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"I wasn't there when this all began, you have to understand that. So I don't know anything but what I heard." Dalin nodded, accepting Bakura's words as the truth. After all, he had no reason to doubt the spirit since it was in the thief's best interests to help Dalin.
"Just tell me what you heard, and that'll be enough." Bakura smirked and turned away, pointing to a huge door with the eye that adorned all Millennium Items in its center.
"I'll do better then that, that door in front of you is the Door of Lost Legends. It contains all the knowledge the Pharaoh ever learned about the old legends and the old truths. By entering that room you will find yourself 3500 years in the past, five centuries before the current Millennium Items were created."
Dalin approached the door cautiously, inspecting every inch of it before placing his hands on it, ready to open the door and find the truth. "What will I see when I enter?"
Bakura shrugged and leaned back against the stone wall beside the door. "I don't have the slightest idea. Guess you'll just have to go in to find out." With a nod Dalin pushed the door open, and found himself far in the past.
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Within a vast temple six men gathered in a semi-circle around a man seated on a throne. The man on the throne was speaking. "There must be something we can do to appease the Hand! Surely if we offer up another village in sacrifice the Hand's army will not attack."
One of the six man shook his head, worry evident upon his aging face. "The Hand refuses to be appeased. It demands that a way around Ammut must be found, or it will surely destroy us."
Suddenly booming laughter echoed throughout the room. The seven men turned to find another group of seven approaching them. Each of these seven were adorned in much simpler clothing then the seven who had first been in the room, however each one possessed a single item of gold or silver that set them apart.
The one who was laughing, a tall, muscular man with white-blond hair past his ears stepped in front of the six priests and turned his steely gaze upon the Pharaoh. "The Great Lord Osiris will not bow to the demands of the Hand simply because you are afraid of dying. The Lord of the Dead has commanded me to bring word that The Seven will combat the Hand, and we shall defeat it."
The Pharaoh looked at this man curiously, turning to eye each of the other six behind the man. "Servant of Osiris...you are quite foolish. Every Kaa in the land would not stand a chance against the Hand, so what hope would you seven have? Even your items do not grant you that kind of power."
The man addressed as the Servant of Osiris smirked and raised his right hand up in front of his face. "Do not forgot Pharaoh, that as the Chosen Servants we have powers that are not granted to normal mortals. Each of us holds within them the power to raise the representative Kaa of our masters and mistresses. I vow upon the Icon of Osiris that the Hand will fall before the power of our Gods."
Glinting upon the man's hand was a silver ring, that spanned the four fingers of that hand. It was an image of a serpentine dragon, biting down on its own tail.
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Drake starred in awe as the massive blue monster rose up from the ground...and rose...and rose. "How the hell big is this thing?" As Drake watched he discovered that is was so big that it grew a little fuzzy at the feet, apparently reaching the very limits of the holographic projectors. When Yugi had summoned Osiris, that had been big, but this was big in a completely different way.
Kaiba smirked wickedly as the god monster assumed its place upon the field, making the Black Magician of Chaos stagger backwards in fear. Drake grinned in delight at seeing Kaiba's god, a monster he had hoped to face. "Well you know what they say. The bigger they are~"
"The harder they crush you. Admit it Drake, Obelisk(4000/4000) is too much for you to handle. I suggest you surrender before you embarrass yourself." Drake rolled his eye's at Kaiba's display of arrogance. Sure Obelisk was powerful, but that didn't mean it could win the duel all by its lonesome.
"I'd be more worried about embarrassing yourself if I was you Kaiba. You might have a powerful monster, but one monster won't determine the outcome of a duel all on its own, not when I'm involved at least. So if you want to win, then go ahead and show me what Obelisk is capable of. I'm ready!"
Thrusting one hand outwards the champion called for his God to attack. "God Hand Crusher!" Obelisk raised one fist high above its head and swung it straight at Drake's much smaller spellcaster, intent on crushing him. However the magician wasn't going to go down without a fight.
Leaping over the outstretched arm the magician jumped straight onto Obelisk's chest and leapt off of it. Spinning in a dizzying series of flips the spellcaster landed on the Obelisk's upper-arm and extended his staff right at the God's face. Drake smirked as he revealed his face down card. "Activate Shrink!"
(Obelisk: 2000) Kaiba's eyes widened as his monster's stats shrunk to more manageable proportions, leaving it vulnerable to the magician's counter attack. With a wave of its staff the most powerful of all magicians unleashed a massive orb made up of magical energies. The orb zipped through the air and crashed into Obelisk's face, sending it sprawling backwards.
Out of pure instinct Kaiba ducked, fearing that the massive frame of Obelisk would crush him in its fall. However, mere feet above his head it exploded into nothingness, taking a chunk of Kaiba's life points with it, and a chunk of his pride as he was forced to remove it from the game. (KLP: 1500) "What now Kaiba? I haven't lost a single life point and you've already lost all of your strongest monsters and more then half of your life points."
"How could you have a second Shrink card? There's no way!" Drake chuckled and pointed to his magician, who crossed his arms smugly.
"When my Black Magician of Chaos is summoned, flip summoned, or special summoned he lets me return one magic card in my cemetery to my hand. So I chose Shrink and set it face down, just in case." Kaiba grimaced and set one card face down before ending his turn.
Grinning at the thought of beating the champion, Drake drew and placed the card in the monster zone next to his magician. "I set one monster face down in defense and~" Drake gasped in surprise as Kaiba's down card flipped, revealing a control pad of some kind.
"I activate Enemy Controller. At a cost of 1000 life points (KLP: 500) I can select one of two effects, explode or sacrifice, and since I can't sacrifice at the moment I'll choose to blow your magician sky high!" The magician let out a sharp cry of pain as it exploded into tiny little holographic fragments, leaving Drake almost defenseless.
Smirking Kaiba drew his next card and then activated it. "I play Life Shortening Cards. Despite its name I assure you that the only life its shortening is yours in this duel. I draw five cards, but five turns after activation I must discard my entire hand." Kaiba started drawing his new hand, and with each card he drew his smirk grew bigger and bigger. This definitely wouldn't be good for Drake.
"I summon Lord of Dragons in attack mode and play Horn of Calling Dragons. So I summon Hyonzaru(2100/2800) and Kaiser Glider(2400/2200). Since you might have a high defense monster I'll attack it with my Hyonzaru first, Diamond Wind!" The horned dragon opened its mouth and let loose a stream of freezing cold wind, with flecks of diamonds in it. The wind cut straight through Drake's defense monster, and a blond man wielding a staff was revealed for a second before vanishing under the assault.
"Kaiser Glider will attack your life points directly!" The golden dragon loosed a ball of golden flame at Drake, only to have it strike a second monster that hadn't been there before. It was an old looking fellow who cast one hand out at Lord of Dragons before exploding. To Kaiba's further surprise his Lord of Dragons exploded as well, leaving his dragons vulnerable again.
"Before you go crazy I'll explain. The first monster you destroyed was Apprenticeship Magician. When he's destroyed by battle I can special summon one level two or less spellcaster from my deck to the field in face down defense position. The second spellcaster you destroyed was Vindictive Old Magician, who when flipped lets me destroy one monster on the field, and I chose your Lord of Dragons."
Kaiba smirked and slapped down his next card. When he did a giant cannon appeared, aiming straight at Drake. A burst of energy erupted from it and struck Drake in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards into the railing. "Sacrificial Blast Cannon allows me to sacrifice half of my life points to cut your life points down by half of the difference in our life points." (KLP: 250, DLP: 2125)
Taking a deep breath, knowing full well that he didn't have much chance of getting something to keep him alive, he drew his card and let out that deep breath. "I play Graceful Charity." He drew his three new cards and looked at them curiously for a second before looking back up at Kaiba. Without looking he picked two of the cards and slid them into his cemetery slot.
"I now play...oh....well that's not good." Drake chuckled weakly as he stared at the card he had in his hand and realized that he had discarded the wrong two cards. Gulping he played the monster in defense position and passed his turn to Kaiba, praying that he could still make his plan work.
Kaiba smirked and drew his next card. "First I equip Kaiser Glider with Dragon Treasure to raise his attack by 300. Now Hyonzaru will attack with his Diamond Wind yet again!" The Hyonzaru roared and attacked Drake's face down monster, once more cutting it into pieces and once more revealing the same blond spellcaster.
"Don't you ever learn Kaiba? Yet again you've destroyed my Apprenticeship Magician, so go ahead and attack if you dare." Drake let out a sigh of relief, this could still work, whether or not Kaiba attacked. However he might be vulnerable if he had to use his monster's effect during his turn. It was now up to Kaiba whether his plan would work or not.
Running through Kaiba's mind were the cards that Drake had been tracked as using during his entire time working for him and during his Battle City duels. After several seconds of this deliberation he discovered exactly what he wanted to know. Drake only had one Vindictive Old Magician in his deck. "Kaiser Glider, attack!"
The ball of golden flame slammed into Drake's second monster, engulfing it in fire before it could even defend itself. Now it was Drake's turn to smirk as he pulled the cards out of his cemetery slot and picked one out, slipping the others back in. "You just destroyed the Magician of Faith, so it looks like I get a card back."
Seeing as how there was nothing left for Kaiba to do this turn Drake made it his own, and drew a card. Grinning he slapped the card onto the field, knowing that stalling would give him the advantage, by ridding Kaiba of his options. Kaiba grimaced as the glowing green swords crashed down around him and his monsters. "I play Swords of Revealing Light. As for the card I took back...I think I'll save it for a turn or so. Your up Kaiba."
Kaiba drew and looked over his hand. He didn't have any cards he could use at the moment, and he couldn't attack either. He was stuck. Keeping his face its normal calm expression he passed the turn to Drake, knowing full well that every turn he didn't use, was another turn Drake had to find a way to beat him.
Drake drew and casually set a monster before passing the turn back to Kaiba. There wasn't long before Kaiba would be stripped of all options, and then it would be open season on the champion's life points. No way was he going to let this opportunity pass him up. This was the best duel he'd had in a long time, better then any he'd had in the rest of Battle City. He had Kaiba to thank for that.
Kaiba drew another card and prepared to pass when his thoughts suddenly went to the cemetery and the monsters he now had on the field. He had only gotten these monsters in play because of Life Shortening Cards...and this was the third turn after he had activated it. With this insight he realized what Drake planned to do, the punk intended to force him to discard his hand, leaving him with no options.
"Very clever Drake, but it won't save you. I don't need a full hand of cards to defeat you. Every single card in my deck is more powerful then anything you can throw at me. I set one card face down...and that's all I need." With that he let the turn pass to Drake who was grinning confidently. Kaiba would show him that his confidence was misplaced.
"Its about time I take you apart Kaiba. I'll do that by unleashing two very deadly monsters, one of whom is my a trump card of mine. I haven't gotten to use it at all during Battle City, and I'll glad use it to defeat you." Grinning wider then ever he slapped down two cards, one onto his monster field and the other into his magic/trap slots.
"First off I sacrifice my defense monster for Chaos Magician(2400/1900) in attack mode! I also play the card I recovered...Monster Reborn to revive my trump monster...the Chaos Sorcerer(2300/2000). To summon him I must remove one light and one dark type monster in my cemetery from the game. So I remove Mystical Elf and one of my apprentices to summon him!"
The first monster that appeared was dressed in black robes similar to those of the Dark Magician, his blue-skinned face barely visible. He held his black staff aloft and then slammed the butt of it into the ground, sending arching waves of energy up around him.
The second monster was a strange one for a spellcaster. He carried no weapon and had dark skin. His eyes were covered by a black wrapping and all he wore was strange upturned black clothing, that gave him a mysterious and deadly appearance. The oddest part was that the light seemed to bend around him. This was the Chaos Sorcerer, one of Drake's deadliest monsters.
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Dalin awoke with his back leaning against a metal wall. Standing in front of him was Yugi in his Yami form. The ancient Pharaoh was watching him closely. "So you finally woke up. Tell me...exactly what were you doing in my puzzle?"
Dalin let his eyes touch the floor as he rose to his feet, towering over the smaller duelist. The things he had learned...now he wasn't certain if he had wanted to learn them. "I had to talk to someone. I had to learn a few things about myself."
"Did you learn them?" Dalin turned to face the Pharaoh and nodded grimly, turning away and taking long strides to return himself to his room. He had learned far too much today, more then he had thought he would.
"I did at that Pharaoh...but I begin to wish I hadn't."
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"Chaos Magician will destroy Hyonzaru!" The magician aimed his staff at the diamond dragon and unleashed a bolt of negative energies that seared through the air...and crashed into Kaiser Glider who shrugged it off and retaliated with a golden fireball.
"My own Shift card takes care of your pathetic attack, transferring it to my more powerful Kaiser Glider!" The Chaos Magician screamed in pain before it was immolated by the deadly fire of Kaiba's dragon. It took only a few seconds before not even his dust remained. (DLP: 1825)
Drake sighed at seeing part of his plan ruined, but knew he could still recover...seing as how Kaiser Glider wouldn't be around much longer. "Its time to show you why my sorcerer is so dangerous. Chaos Sorcerer, banish Kaiser Glider from existence!"
The dark sorcerer raised both his hands and summoned energy unto them. Kaiba watched in fascination as one hand glowed with an intense inner light and the other cut off all light with a heavy darkness. Then the sorcerer cast both hands out and merged the two into a purplish light that struck Kaiser Glider head on. For a moment the Kaiser Glider was black and white, and then it was nowhere to be seen. It had simply ceased to exist.
"You see Kaiba, my sorcerer can remove one face-up monster from the game during my turn at the cost of not being able to attack during that turn. Not even the strongest of monsters can withstand his power." Kaiba was actually starting to worry as he drew, knowing that unless he could get rid of the sorcerer he wouldn't be able to defend himself for very long.
"I switch Hyonzaru to defense mode and set two cards face down. That ends my turn and your swords." The green swords faded away as Hyonzaru curled itself into a glinting diamond ball, a perfect defense of 2800 at work. A perfect defense that didn't stand a chance against Drake's sorcerer.
Drake drew and saw the name Omegus appear before Kaiba flipped one of his face-down cards, Drop Off, which forced him to discard Omegus to the cemetery. It didn't matter anyways, Omegus wouldn't have helped him. "Banish Hyonzaru my sorcerer!" Once again the sorcerer engulfed his hands in darkness and light, then unleashed the chaotic energy at Hyonzaru. It turned black for a brief second, and like Kaiser Glider before it, was no more.
Kaiba smirked as it became his turn. He drew his next card and didn't even bother to look at it as he was forced to discard his entire hand because of the effect of Life Shortening Cards. None of that matter however, because he had the one card on the field that he needed to win this duel. "Activate Monster Reborn!"
Drake gasped as the card flipped up and from the ground burst the Blue Eyes White Dragon in all its glory. It opened its jaws wide and unleashed its deadly attack upon his sorcerer, engulfing it in a blaze of white fire that even its great power could not contend with. The might of the Blue Eyes was simply to great for his sorcerer to defeat at this time. (DLP: 1125)
Kaiba smirked as he looked upon his Blue Eyes with admiration. His faithful Blue Eyes, always ready to serve its rightful master. "I'd say the tide is back in my favor now wouldn't you? Had I activated Monster Reborn last turn there was no telling what you might have been able to do, but now I have you at a complete disadvantage, with no cards in your hand and no monster...I can say that I've got the true lead, despite our life point differences."
Drake nodded and drew confidently, knowing that this could be his last card. It wouldn't matter even if it was, because he had fought his hardest and had given Kaiba a run for his money even without his item. Now he knew that he didn't need it. He held the card up in front of his eyes and let a slight smile touch his calm face. "I play Altar of Resurrection. This magic card lets me draw two cards and activate one magic card in my cemetery during this turn."
An altar with a golden statue with wings on it appeared on Drake's field and then faded away as Drake drew his two cards and chose the card he wanted to activate. "I activate Magical Bouquet, and search my deck for the card I need." He slid his deck out of its slot and searched through it before he found the card that he knew was right for this situation. It would serve him well.
"Next I play Shot From the Dark! This card lets me activate a magic card in either player's cemetery and I choose to activate my own Monster Reborn, to revive Chaos Sorcerer by removing Neo and another apprentice from the game." For the second time the sorcerer shimmered into view on the field, ready to take on Kaiba's dragon.
"I could use my sorcerer's effect to give me the win, but I want him to deal the final blow. To accomplish this I must summon Skilled Black Magician(1900/1700) in attack mode!" The powerful dark robed magician erupted from his card and stood next to the Chaos Sorcerer, prepared to carry out whatever command his master gave him.
"Now the final card I play is the card I searched for, a card given to me by a good friend. I play United We Stand to raise Chaos Sorcerer's attack by eight hundred for each monster on the field. He now has the power to defeat your dragon and finish off the last of your life points all in one shot!" (Chaos Sorcerer: 3900)
Kaiba let his arms fall to his side as the powered up sorcerer took hold of the magician's staff and charged it with the energies of dark and light. He couldn't believe it. He was going to lose again and there was nothing he could do about it. "Chaos Sorcerer...Orb of Darkest Light!"
The sorcerer unleashed an orb of the same purple light it had used before, but this time through its staff. The orb struck his dragon and in a massive explosion of light...his dragon was defeated and so was he. For the third time he had lost, and this time there was no Exodia and no Toon World to blame it on. He had simply lost because the other duelist was better. (KLP: 0)
As the holograms faded from the field the shock overwhelmed Drake and in a display of true humility he pumped his arms in the air and shouted, "I BEAT SETO KAIBA! HUZZAH!" He snapped out of it when Kaiba approached him and extended a blue card...Obelisk the Tormentor.
"Take it...and enjoy your victory for now. Consider it and honor that I now see you as worthy rival. We will duel again...and next time the result won't be the same." Turning away the World Champion exited the dueling arena to make way for the next pair of duelists, leaving a grinning Drake behind him.
Drake wouldn't have been happier if he had won a million dollars. He had beaten Seto Kaiba...and he still had more duels ahead of him. Something told him that the duels would only get tougher and more exciting. He couldn't wait.
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Author's Notes: Magical Bouquet, Skull Wizard, and Shot From the Dark are my creations...no steally! However Altar of Resurrection is a card used by Yami in the Doom Arc that just finished running in Japan. He used it against Raphael, one of the three Doom Soldiers. Hope you enjoyed the duel.
Next Time: The final duel of the first round commences and its Kirani versus Taichi. Kirani seems to have it easy as Taichi can hardly keep up with her, but Taichi's words echo in Drake's ears and make him start to fear...