Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh.
Author's Note: None! HA!
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence." -Mahatma Gandhi
Chapter Twenty Two: Raging Duel Under the Sun
Yami groaned as he sat up, rubbing his spiky-haired head in pain. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious, but it certainly had been painful. He blinked to clear his eyes and then looked around. He was unable to spot anyone he recognized, and in fact surrounding him was desert for as far as the eye could see.
"This doesn't look like a good situation Yugi." Silence followed. Frowning the ancient spirit repeated what he had said, but still got no response. He turned inwards, entering his soul room. He searched it, seeking any sign of the young duelist whose body he inhabited. However there was nothing.
"YUGI!"
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Elsewhere, in a shallow lake, there was another ancient spirit who was walking up. The spirit stood up, knee deep in water, and looked around. Slowly a feral grin spread across his features as he became aware of exactly what the situation was. There was no pathetic hikari to hold him back now, it was just him.
"Get ready Pharaoh, because I'm coming for you." His laughter echoed through the valley that contained the lake, and a chilling wind whipped his white hair about his head. Soon he would take what was rightfully his, and he would have his revenge!
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Much farther away, at the foot of steps leading into a vast temple, another awoke. This one shook his head and then rose to his feet. He looked up the steps of the temple and stopped when a voice boomed down from the top, reaching his ears.
"Welcome to my temple. In fact, welcome to my world. You proved yourself to be quite capable and my kind of scum back in your own world. So in this case...I would like a partnership." The dark spirit gazed up at his benefactor and grinned wickedly. It seemed like a partnership was the right thing to do, especially considering the situation.
"Will I get to kill the Pharaoh?" His benefactor responded with an equally wicked grin, and with a pass of a single hand a shimmering screen of light appeared in front of the dark spirit. It quickly split into dozens of screens, each one displaying a different duelist. The spirit's eyes quickly fixed on two screens, each with a duelist he despised.
"Absolutely."
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The duelist that currently blocked Dalin's path was a large man, but size didn't matter to Dalin. He was also quite big himself. Physically or magically Dalin would have easily been able to cast this man out of his way and continue on...but he might as well play by the rules and win the ten straight duels he needed. He had already defeated two duelists, his last opponent being equally as pathetic as Lechuge. However he had assembled a new deck and learned a set of rules called Deck Master rules. It was with that he would win.
"Alright, here we go. Since you didn't do anything last turn you've left the way open for me to crush you in one quick blow! I summon Enraged Battle Ox(1700/1000) to the field and then play Wild Stampede, which lets me summon my Big Koala(2700/2000) to the field!" He grinned as the two monsters appeared, first an overly muscular minotaur wielding an axe, and then a giant koala about twenty feet tall.
Dalin shook his head and let things happen. This duelist was probably fairly skilled, but against the power that Dalin was wielding...he was nothing. "Your summons have activated the effect of my Deck Master. Osiris, attack with your Summon Lightning Impact!"
The giant red dragon opened its second mouth and unleashed two balls of purple energy. They collided with the two monsters, destroying the minotaur and severely weakening the giant koala. "Any monster summoned to your field has its points reduced by two thousand, and if its weaker then that your monster is destroyed."
The other duelist grimaced and then quickly placed two cards onto the field, hoping to protect his monsters. Dalin drew his next card, bringing his hand up to a total of seven cards, thereby granting Osiris a total of seven thousand attack points. However he had no plans of letting this duel continue more then this turn.
"I play Payment of Debt, increasing my hand size to nine cards. And now I'll pay two thousand life points to special summon my Deck Master to the field!" His opponent's eyes widened in fear as the massive monster moved its head forwards, bringing it into play. He could clearly tell exactly how powerful it was, and he was fairly certain that this was the end. (DLP: 6000)
"Saint Dragon Osiris(9000/9000), destroy him." The god monster opened its first mouth wide and launched a stream of deadly energy at the weakened koala. A blue glow sprung upon around the monster, its attempt to protect itself. However there was no power in existence that could stand up to the massive power of his god monster.
"Go Windstorm of Etaqua and Dark Barrier-Mirror Force! This combination will switch your Osiris into defense mode and then remove him from play, winning me the duel!" The duelist's laughter was cut short as Osiris's attack continued unabated and smashed through Big Koala, destroying it and its master's life points completely. (LP: 0)
His opponent opened his mouth to protest, but a black windstorm swirled around him, ripping his soul from his body and casting it high above into the night's sky. Such was the price for losing that sort of duel, and his opponent had payed it. "Prepare yourself Hand of Exodia, for nothing can stop me now."
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Within a deep and dark forest another duel was going on, this one also being quite short. The reason for this was not that one of the duelists was unskilled. In fact Sir Reginald Bailey was the top ranked duelist in all of England. He was one of the top one hundred best duelists in the entire world.
No, his skill had nothing to do with how short the duel was ending up. It instead had to do with the skill and ferocity of his opponent. Normally Reginald's Shift Deck would have crushed any opponent he went up again, because of how rare and unusual its strategy was. But his opponent was no ordinary duelist. His opponent was the one, the only, the unstoppable, the virtually unbeatable....
Seto Kaiba. "Now I move my Deck Master, Lord of Dragons, onto the field. Finally I'll activate the Flute of Summoning Dragons to special summon Blue Eyes White Dragon(3000/2500) and Emerald Dragon(2400/2000). And with your field cleared by my Heavy Storm and Raigeki there's nothing to stop me. I command my three Blue Eyes, Emerald Dragon, and Lord of Dragons to attack directly!"
Sir Reginald Bailey hardly got a chance to scream as the five energy attacks converged on him, blasting his life points into the next dimension. He had intended to win his eighth duel in a row against any opponent he found, but he had been surprised by the appearance of the first Blue Eyes. Terrified in fact that he was facing Seto Kaiba. (RLP: 0)
Reginald didn't have a chance to comment because a dark wind rushed into his body and pulled his soul free. Then the wind picked up and flew off into the sky and into the distance. Kaiba followed that dark wind for as far as the eye could see, knowing now what direction he had to take.
"I'm coming Mokuba. Don't worry, I'm going to make sure everything is set right."
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At another point just outside the dark woods another duel was ending, this one with the fate of its loser in the hands of a nasty combination of Jinzo and the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Considering the two monsters being used there was only one duelist who it could be.
Joey Wheeler grimaced as his opponent's soul was taken from his body by a flight of black wind. He pounded one fist into his palm, silently cursing whatever force was behind this for making such a thing happen. The other duelist had been one of the goons that had followed Bandit Keith around at Duelist Kingdom, and hadn't been any challenge.
He gazed off into the distance, watching the dark wind as it moved through the air towards an unknown destination. Little did he know that at that moment he was staring in the exact same direction as a person he despised and who despised him back.
"Serenity, wherever you are, I promise that I'll find you and set everything right."
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"Look, I said no! I'm not going to tell you!" The one yelling was Daisuke Ihachi, known to all as Drake. The person he was yelling at was his new traveling partner, Kai Kaethen. At the moment they were traveling through the desert, both having removed their outer layers of clothing due to the intense heat of the desert sun.
The oddest part about the desert was how it suddenly appeared. The had walked down the path to the bottom of the ravine. Then they had followed the river for a mile or so and found themselves in a dense forest. Once they exited the forest they had entered the desert. The lightning quick changes of the land were unnatural, and Drake knew why...sort of.
"Oh come on! We've been walking like this for about three hours and so far you've refused to tell me what it is you're trying to accomplish...I think four times now. Just tell me." Drake was currently beginning to become annoyed with his traveling partner, and the feeling was becoming mutual for the other teenager.
It wasn't that either of them had been truly doing much to annoy the other, or that their personalities clashed. In fact they hadn't said a whole lot to each other besides explaining parts of their current situations. In fact the only annoying thing so far, to Drake anyways, had been Kai's questions on what had happened at the Battle City finals.
No, in truth the real reason that they were bothered by each other was much simpler then anything like that. The truth was that stress and the intense heat were getting to them both. Anybody would start to go a little bit crazy if under the beating sun for as long as they had been. Soon the heat would become too much...
"Look, the reason I want to know is because all those nukes went off right near when the Battle City Finals were supposed to be ending. Then after that duelists across the world started disappearing quickly one after another, and then in whole groups. I was walking the ruined streets of Domino one second, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in this weird place! So I think I deserve an explanation of what's going on, and I think you know more then you let one!"
During his rant Kai had reached out and grabbed Drake by the shoulder, holding him and keeping him from waking away. After the rant the punk duelist jerked his shoulder out of Kai's grip, and just grunted back, continuing to walk away.
"Hey, don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you!" Kai rushed forwards and grabbed Drake by his shoulders again. However to his surprise the other duelist spun around at contact and then what Kai saw next was flashing blue lights in front of his eyes.
He hit the ground hard, and quickly rolled to a defensive position, shaking his head to clear away the spots dancing in front of him. He looked up at Drake, who was standing a few feet away, fists up and at the ready, feet shifted into a stance that looked like that used by the average street fighter. Kai started to grin, knowing that against someone with no real training the martial arts training he had received would be enough to win this fight.
He pushed off his feet, moving in quickly towards Drake. He made a quick feint to the right, and then darted in on the left side, starting with a quick roundhouse. To his surprise the feint didn't even phase Drake, and the punk whipped his jacket around. Kai let out a startled cry as the leather jacket wrapped around his leg, giving Drake the leverage needed to spin Kai around and throw him several feet.
Kai grunted and quickly did a kip up, getting to his feet without his hands. His hips and chest were aching from the fall, but he wasn't about to give up. He had underestimated his opponent this time, but he would be ready for something like that next time.
Despite the quickness of his kip up he was forced to act instantly as Drake came in on the attack with powerful right hook. Kai barely managed to keep the blow from landing with a sweeping block by his left hand. Going on the offensive Kai made a short but swift blow with his right fist, connecting with the side of Drake's head.
The strike barely phased the street fighter, but it hadn't been intended to cause serious damage, it was just there to distract for the time necessary. Once his left was back into play he went with a jab, connecting a full-on blow to Drake's face.
The punk duelists stumbled backwards, blood trickling down his nose and from a busted lip. Kai was startled to find that before he could even continue his offensive Drake had managed to recover from the hit. Seizing the moment, Kai sized up his opponent. What he discovered wasn't good for him. While the two of them were of a similar height, being both about six feet tall, Drake possibly about an inch taller, their build was not quite the same.
Kai was tough and strong, but he was more or less what most people would call wiry. He had muscle, but he wasn't extremely built. Drake on the other hand, as it appeared without his jacket and his shirt plastered to him by sweat, was built bigger. He wasn't fat at all, he was built of solid muscle, not ridiculously so, but enough that he would have a strength advantage over Kai, and he would probably be able to take blows better and recover quicker.
Kai moved in on the attack, pressing in and hoping that he had speed as an advantage. To his surprise Drake managed to catch his fist. Kai however, was able to grab hold of Drake's wrist as he threw a punch, only barely keeping the blow from landing. Slowly the other duelist started moving their hands, using his greater strength to his advantage...but he wasn't moving towards Kai.
He had only a brief moment to try and figure out what he was up to before Drake made his move. With a final pull he brought his right hand up to his left, and quickly pressed the activation button on his DD2. As close as they were the disk's activation was highly dangerous. It sprung forwards and cut across Kai's face, slashing his cheek and pounded his jaw with deadly force.
The blow knocked Kai off balance, and their hands split. Drake followed up with his mean right hook, connecting with Kai's jaw. Kai discovered just how powerful it was when he was knocked flat on his back, feeling like his jaw had been knocked out of alignment.
Kai suffered further shock when Drake pounced, pinning Kai with his greater weight. He swung with his left arm, hoping to smash Kai across the face with his duel disk for serious damage. Kai responded by activating his own, catching the duel disk as his attempted to close together. The momentary distraction let him get his feet under Drake, and shove the duelist off of him.
The two duelists got to their feet, breathing deeply and suffering under the intense heat that beat down upon them from above. Kai was surprised to see a grin on Drake's face, and realized that the other duelist must really enjoy fighting. "Wait a second...this heat is making us crazy but...we do need to finish this and get our frustrations out."
Drake grinned and cracked his knuckles, straightening up and shifting into his offensive stance, ready to make a move. With slow movements he dug the end of his boot into the ground to pick up a bit of sand. The instant he started off he'd fling the sand in Kai's face to give him the advantage. "Just what I was hoping for. I'm perfectly willing to kick your ass to get my frustrations out."
Kai shook his head, dropping his defensive stance and standing up straight and tall, completely undefended. Then he brought up his left arm, and displayed his duel disk, which was activated but had no deck in it. "Actually, I meant a duel. We can't afford to be wasting energy fighting and sweating like crazy in this desert. That'll just dehydrate us quicker. This duel...if I win then you tell me what you're after and what happened at the finals. If you win then I quit asking about it. Deal?"
The other duelist hesitated for a moment, and then started selecting their decks from the cards that appeared in front of them. Once they were done selecting, the cards appeared in the deck slot and were automatically shuffled. Ready for the duel they took up positions opposite each other, about fifteen feet apart. "We start with eight thousand life points. No Deck Masters. And as I've got the advantage in this duel, being a Battle City Finalist, I'll let you take the first turn." (KLP: 8000, DLP: 8000)
Kai grimaced at the comment, but gladly drew his opening hand, this one of six cards. He casually looked them over, deciding exactly what to do. He grinned and selected the cards he was going to play. If he kept getting cards like these...then this duel would be over in no time at all.
"I'll start this duel off with one card face down and a monster in defense mode. Then I'll end my turn. Let's see what a Battle City Finalist can do." He smiled slightly, knowing that if his plan worked then Drake would be thrown for a loop. Battle City Finalist or not, Kai was going to take him apart using all his best moves.
Drake drew his sixth card and then looked over his hand, deciding on his options. His first move was an obvious one, and the monster he summoned would easily be able to take out his opponent's defense monster. "I summon Skilled Dark Magician(1900/1700)!"
The black robed spellcaster materialized on the field, far more real then even Drake was going to let on. This move would give him a quick advantage that he could use to break past Kai's defenses and make this duel end as soon as possible. The overwhelming strength of his monster could beat any basic monster, and it would. "I'll set two cards face down and~"
He was cut off as Kai threw one arm out, declaring the activation of his face down card. "Go face down card, Dust Tornado!" The car flipped up, and from it issued a black cyclone that whirled across the field and shattered Drake's face down card on the left hand side.
Next, according to the second effect of Dust Tornado, Kai took a card from his hand and placed it on the field, both watching as it materialized in front of him. He grinned and then shifted his hand to rest just above the holographic card that had just appeared. "Now I activate my new card, Mystical Space Tyhpoon!"
The quick-play magic card flipped up, and a bolt of lightning forked out from it, spearing his remaining face down card. It shattered into tiny little pieces, however the loss of his two cards wasn't too horrible to Drake. He had after all, just gained a magic counter. "Thanks for the counter, now I'll give myself a second magic counter with Pot of Greed!"
The second of the magician's crystals lit up as Drake used the power of his magic card to draw two more cards, bringing his hand back up to four cards. He grinned, examining the hand, and then selected on of the cards. Kai watched calmly as he placed the card on the field, letting it appear face down behind Drake's magician.
"Now, Skilled Dark Magician attacks!" The magician spun his short staff around, and then dropped it down so that it was aiming directly at Kai's defensive monster. A stream of black light erupted from the end of the staff, streaking across the field to strike his monster. The monster materialized, revealing a green armored elf. The elf deflected the blast with his sword, splitting it in two, and then returned to his crouching position.
"Nice try Drake, but no monster with nineteen hundred attack or higher can destroy my Retrained Celtic Guardian(1400/1200)! So...are you done?" Drake grimaced, realizing that he had to do something very annoying to get rid of that monster, however he was already planning ahead.
Kai drew his next card, putting his hand at four cards, and then looked down at the new card. He looked from it to his other cards and then grinned, realizing what he could do. His first turn had just been a ploy to draw Drake out and see what he could do, but this turn would be serious. "I'll set one card face down, and then place a monster in defense mode. That's all."
The two cards appeared, and then it was time for Drake to take his turn. He gladly drew his next card and looked down at it, glad to see that the card was perfect for his purposes. It would let him get exactly what he needed this very moment. "I play Magical Bouquet, which lets me select one magic card from my deck and add it to my hand if I've got a spellcaster on the field. So I will."
He gladly took his deck from its slot and searched through it until he found the card he wanted. Then he shuffled his deck and replaced it in the slot, looking back at his hand. "Now that my magician has all three magic counters, I sacrifice him to special summon Dark Magician(2500/2100)!"
A sphere of black energy erupted around the weaker spellcaster, and moments later it was replaced by the more powerful purple robed magician that was a necessity for any magician user to have in his deck. Kai noted that Drake's hand now was one card lower, meaning the magician had been in his hand. "Now I play Baptism of Light and Dark, sacrificing my Dark Magician to special summon Black Magician of Chaos(2800/2600)!"
Kai chuckled as a new aura of black flame surrounded the Dark Magician, and as quickly as he had appeared on the field he was replaced by the more fanciful magician, whose power was also greater. However that power wouldn't help as he had his own plan. "This stronger monster still can't beat my Retrained Celtic Guardian...let alone a second. So meet Cloning, which lets me create a copy of one of my monsters, effect and all. So now I've got two Retrained Celtic Guardians!"
Drake shook his head in annoyance as the original elf flickered for several seconds and then split into two identical forms, each a duplicate of the other. Despite this minor set back, Drake knew what to do to take care of the problem. "Because my Black Magician of Chaos came into play I can return a magic card from cemetery to my hand. I now activate that card, Magical Bouquet, to grab another magic card."
He ejected his deck and searched through it, quickly locating the card, glad that he had added it when he spotted it scrolling by. He placed the card in his hand and then reshuffled his deck, at last ready to make his move. "I play Diffusion Wave-Motion at a cost of 1000 points, allowing my Black Magician to attack each of your monsters! To make it worse for you, when my magician destroys a monster, that monster is removed from the game."
Kai's only response was laughter at Drake's announcement of his move. Apparently Drake didn't realize that the effect would still be the same. His magician was too powerful to defeat his Retrained Celtic Guardians, it was just a waste of a thousand life points. He opened his mouth to tell Drake this but was rudely interrupted. "Now I activate my face down card, Shrink! This cuts my magician's attack power in half, making it weak enough to destroy both of your guardians. Triple Black Sphere!"
The blue-skinned spellcaster raised his staff above his hand and started spinning it around, faster and faster with each pass. A purple glow started to surround the staff as it spun about at blinding speeds, moving so fast Kai couldn't follow its movements. Then it swung the staff down, producing three black magic spheres, which shot out and crashed into all of Kai's monsters.
The two guardians shattered into dust, fading out never to be seen again. However Kai's other monster merely appeared and fended off the attack, revealing itself to be too strong. This monster was a magician clothed in royal blue robes. He was muscular and held in one hand a staff made of ivory. "Your attack may have destroyed my elves, but fourteen hundred attack strength is too weak to get past the defense of my Steadfast Magician(500/2200)." (DLP: 6200)
Drake grimaced and passed his turn to Kai, who gladly took it, drawing another card into his hand, giving him a total of three cards. He looked at the two cards, and at his new card, and suddenly an idea dawned on him. It was definitely an interesting idea. "I'll set a single card face down." The card appeared in front of him, placed behind his magician.
"Now I play Reparations. Its effect lets both players discard up to three cards from their hand, and draw a number of cards equal to the cards we discarded. Since I've just got one card, I'll discard it to draw another." Both players selected the single cards in their hands and slipped them into the cemetery slot. Then they grabbed the top of their deck and pulled free a new card, almost simultaneously. Kai looked at his card and then grinned, realizing that things would work better then he had thought.
Drake was surprised to see Kai motion for him to begin his turn, but that was in fact what he was doing. Shrugging it off, the elite duelist drew another card, looking at the two and deciding which to play. Considering the cards, the choice was obvious. "I summon Neo the Magical Swordsman(1700/1000)!"
The well-dressed blonde spellcaster shimmered into view next to the taller magician. He flourished his sword and then cast a spell upon it, making it glow a light blue color. The sword wielding magic user glanced over his shoulder at the more powerful creature and then shrugged it off, knowing his own place. "Both my monsters attack!"
Black Magician of Chaos, now back to its initial twenty-eight hundred attack power, casually made a sweep with its wand, send a wave of energy crashing down upon the Steadfast Magician. Meanwhile Neo was charging across the field, sword held at the ready, moving in to strike directly.
Steadfast Magician exploded into dust, and Kai picked him up and tucked him into his pocket. However the destruction of Steadfast Magician was just the catalyst to spark the rest of his combo. "Because Steadfast Magician was destroyed I can now special summon a level four magic user from my hand to the field. Meet Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer(1800/800)!"
Kai's new monster appeared, a tall old-style Japanese man in priests robes. What was odd was that one half of his face seemed to be made from dead tissue, and the other half was normal enough. Neo struggled to pull back from its attack, but Kycoo was too fast for it. With a flick of his wrist Kycoo sent a single leaflet of Ofuda at the other magic user.
The mystical paper stuck to Neo's chest, and he let out a cry of anguish as he was incinerated by the magic power of the Ofuda. Drake's life points dropped accordingly, but that wasn't the end to the fun. "The summoning of Kycoo, my second favorite monster, is not the only thing that comes with the destruction of Steadfast Magician. I also activate in chain a trap card called Soul Crosswire!"
The trap card flipped up, revealing two men standing opposite from each other, their souls being pulled from their throats by intertwining pieces of wire. The picture hardly mattered, it was the effect that meant the most. "At a cost of a thousand life points I can now special summon two level four monsters, one from my cemetery and one from my deck, in whatever mode I wish. So I'll summon Skilled White Magician(1700/1900) and Skilled Dark Magician(1900/1700)!"
Drake clenched his fists tight in irritation as first the white robed magician was summoned onto the field from the cemetery and then the black robed one appeared, identical in appearance except for the color of their robes and the flip in their stats. Drake was also well aware of Skilled White Magician's effect, as he had one of his own in his real deck. He didn't have it for the effect, but for the simple fact that it was an extra light type for his trump monster and it had excellent stats for a level four.
Kai grinned as he motioned towards Kycoo, who was now starting to glow a dark blue color. "When Kycoo inflicts life point damage to my opponent I can remove two monsters from the other player's cemetery. So say goodbye to Dark Magician and Skilled Dark Magician!" Kycoo stretched out its hands and launched a glowing beam of blue light at Drake, about to prove why it was called the Ghost Destroyer.
The light struck Drake in the chest, causing no damage to him physically, but forcing him to take the two named monsters from his cemetery and put them in his pocket. As he did so the two monsters appeared in ghostly form, and Kycoo hit them with one Ofuda each, banishing each ghost. (DLP: 6100, KLP: 7000)
Kai drew his card knowing fully well that his combo had only been a delay tactic, Drake's Black Magician of Chaos was still too powerful for Kai to take head on. Slowly he dropped his gaze to the card he had drawn, and when he recognized the image he smirked. "Time for some new options. Card of Sanctity!"
Both players started drawing cards, both of them considering their options with each new card. At the same time both magicians gained magic counters from Card of Sanctity. Kai looked over his brand new hand and then back up at the field, a grinning spreading across his face as he understood what he could do. "I play Spell Production, which places two counters on each of my two magicians, one from my playing Spell Production, and the other created by Spell Production. Useful huh?"
Kai grinned victoriously as he picked the two magicians up off his duel disk and then placed two new cards from his deck onto the field according to the monster's effects. "I sacrifice my monsters to summon their superiors, Dark Magician(2500/2100) and Buster Blader(2600/2300)!"
The purple robbed magician appeared on the field, replacing the Skilled Dark Magician, and the purple armored dragon slayer appeared in place of Skilled White Magician. Both monsters were powerful, but Drake remained confident since neither monster was powerful enough to defeat his Black Magician of Chaos. "Go ahead and try and take me on with them, it won't do you any good. Both of them are too weak."
"Apart they are weaker then your monster...but together they are stronger. And I've got the method to bring them together. I call it, Polymerization!" A vortex appeared between the two monsters and they were dragged into it. The vortex slowly faded, revealing a monster that was a combination of both. Mighty armor and a serrated sword that glowed with inner light. It was the Dark Paladin(2900/2400).
"Now I sacrifice Kycoo for Chaos Magician(2400/1900)!" Kycoo vanished and was quickly replaced by the powerful black clad magic user. The Chaos Magician set its staff to leaning against his side as he waited for a command. The Dark Paladin glanced down at him and then turned his gaze up to the true challenge, the Black Magician of Chaos. A magic user of almost equal strength.
"Now I set one card face down. Finally I'll take control of this duel. Attack!" With a flash the Dark Paladin was across the field, swinging its glowing sword horizontally at the other magician. Black Magician of Chaos raised its staff to block the strike, but the blade split straight through the staff and cut into its flesh, tearing it in half. Chaos Magician simply raised its staff and fired a black beam of light at Drake. The beam hit and knocked him off his feet and into the sand.
(DLP: 3600) Drake pulled himself to his feet, a confident look in his face as he stared down the two stronger monsters. It didn't matter that Kai had the advantage at the moment. That would soon change. "Pot of Greed." Kai just shrugged, choosing not to use his monster's effect and waste a card stopping Drake's draw.
Drake looked over the eight cards in his hand and up at the field, and then selected the cards he wanted to use. "I'll set three magic or trap cards and a monster in defense. End turn." The four cards appeared on the field in front of Drake, keeping him from being destroyed by Kai's next attack. At least...most likely.
"I summon Breaker the Magic Warrior(1600+300/1000)!" The red armored sword wielding magician took his place on the field next to the two stronger monsters. However it wasn't the power of this monster that was what made it a restricted card. It was the effect, an unstoppable effect.
"I use its effect to destroy your face down card on the left!" The card exploded, revealing a Waboku. Kai started to curse his luck, but then he realized that Drake hadn't chained in reaction. Maybe he didn't know you could? Well, that was all the better for him because now he could destroy his opponent's monsters.
Kai's happiness at having a nearly open attack was cut off when one of Drake's other cards flipped up, and a red line of energy shot out, knocking his two cards from hand. "I learned that trick from an enemy of mine. Its called Shatter Point, and one of its effects is that I can chain it when you destroy one of my other cards, then you have to discard two cards from your hand!"
Kai grimaced and picked the two cards up from his hand and deposited them in the cemetery. One of them was a pretty good card, Nimble Momonga, which might have been useful at a later point. "Breaker, attack his defense monster!" Breaker sent a beam of energy from his sword and shattered the defense monster, briefly revealing a blonde man holding a staff. This was followed by another monster card appearing face down.
"Since you destroyed my Apprenticeship Magician in battle I special summon another magic user in face down defense mode." Kai growled and responded by commanding his Chaos Magician to attack. The magician raised his staff and fired off a beam of magic, striking an destroying the defense monster. However the defense monster was revealed as an older grumpy looking magician who cast out his staff and sent a beam of energy at Dark Paladin, destroying it.
"By flipping my Old Vindictive Magician you let me destroy one of your monsters, so I chose your mighty Dark Paladin." Drake grinned as he drew his next card, knowing that he had just gained a semi-advantage, and now he was about to turn the entire duel around. Kai wouldn't stand a chance against his next combo, it was one that would finish him off once and for all.
"I play Mystical Space Typhoon on your face down card!" The bolt of lightning speared out and crashed into Kai's placed card, which flipped up and revealed a nasty looking goblin holding a magic card. The gremlin figure appeared, and showed off another Mystical Space Typhoon, which shot its own bolt of lightning, destroying Drake's face down card.
"That was my Grave Spell, which lets me activate a magic or trap card from my cemetery. After the effect is resolved both cards are removed from the game, so now we're even." Drake shrugged it off and plucked a card from his hand, placing it on the field. Kai yelped as the half angel half demon from the Change of Heart card appeared on zoomed across the field, taking over Chaos Magician.
"Now that I've got Chaos Magician under my control, I play Trap Reflector, using the effect of your Cloning, to create a token of Chaos Magician!" The magician flickered and then a copy of it appeared next to it. Kai suddenly realized that his own method had just been turned against him, though luckily he could get back his magician at the end of the turn, keeping things even.
"I sacrifice your magician for my own Chaos Magician! Now I summon my trump monster, Chaos Sorcerer, by removing one light and one dark monster from the grave!" First Kai's magician shattered, replaced by an identical black robed magic user. Then the purple skinned and black clad sorcerer shimmered into view, creating an army of powerful magic users.
"I attack with each of my monsters!" The three magic users raised their weapons, which were wands and hands, and then sent triple beams of magical energy at Kai. The swirled together so the originator of the attack couldn't be told, and struck Kai's Breaker. The beam plowed straight through Breaker and knocked Kai off his feet, devastating his life points. (KLP: 1500)
Kai took a deep breath and drew his next card, hoping to find something good. He let out his breath and set a monster on his disk, watching as the brown backed card appeared in front of him. The monster was his only defense, and hopefully it would be enough.
Drake drew his next card, glancing down at it briefly. At the moment it wasn't useful, so his only option was to attack. Because the monster was face down his Chaos Sorcerer couldn't banish it, so that wasn't an option. "Chaos Sorcerer, attack!"
The monster flipped up and revealed what looked like a high-tech satellite. Drake gasped as he recognized Cyber Jar, which exploded and took out all the monsters on the field. He grimaced as both of them picked up their five cards and displayed them to the other player.
Drake held Absolute Control, Apprenticeship Magician(which he set face down), Magician of Faith(also face down), Mirror Force, and Double Spell. Kai held Y Dragon Head, Z Metal Tank, Dust Tornado, Dark Hole, and Magic Jammer. Both of his monsters went into attack mode. "I set two cards face down and end my turn."
Kai drew, adding yet another card to his hand. He grinned as he decided exactly what he was going to do. This would easily make things more even. "I'll set two cards face down. Now I summon X Head Cannon, and remove X, Y, and Z from the game to special summon XYZ Dragon Cannon(2800/2600)!" The three monsters merged together, creating a monstrosity that was almost beyond description, it was all three monsters combined together.
"Now I follow its effect, discarding a card from my hand, to destroy your face down Magician of Faith!" The monstrosity trained its weapons on Drake's right most face down monster and let loose a barrage of deadly fire power, incinerating the female magic user instantly. It had no way to fight back against the effect of XYZ. Then Kai ended his turn, knowing that right now he couldn't attack because of Mirror Force.
Drake drew his next card, and Kai immediately flipped up his Dust Tornado, destroying Drake's Mirror Force. However that didn't bother Drake in the slightest, as he had his own plan of action. "Kai, you decided to plan your own defeat? Or did you just forget the card I held in my hand. Watch and learn your own mistake as I play Double Spell, discarding Absolute Control for it, and activating Dark Hole from your cemetery!"
Kai let out a cry of despair as a black hole appeared above the field and sucked every single monster into it, destroying Kai's second strongest monster and one weak monster of Drake's. Now Kai's field was clear, Magic Jammer being of no use without any cards in his hand. "I summon a special monster called White Magic Summoner(1200/500)! It attacks directly!"
Drake's new monster was a medium height brown haired magic user, wearing flowing white robes and wielding a staff that appeared to be made out of pure ivory, just like Steadfast Magician's. The magic user raised his wand and shot a ray of light at Kai, bowling him over and dropping his life points nearly to zero. (KLP: 300)
"Since White Magic Summoner inflicted damage to my opponent I can now select one magic card from my cemetery or my deck and place it in my hand. I select Monster Reborn, and activate it to revive your own Dark Magician!" Kai grimaced as the purple robed magician appeared, but he was perplexed as to why Drake hadn't revived Buster Blader.
Kai drew a deep breath and drew, then he laughed at the sight of the card he had drawn. Joyously he played the card, allowing both players to hopefully get what they needed, but best of all Kai to get what he needed. "I play the rarest magic card in existence, Hand Rebirth! Both players discard their hands and draw a hand of five cards!"
The two duelists only had to draw five new cards as neither had any cards in their hand. Kai watched Drake's face as the other duelist drew, hoping to catch a glimpse of whether or not Drake got something good. Unfortunately Drake kept his face blank. "I set three cards face down and play Monster Reborn on Buster Blader!"
The purple armored dragon slayer appeared on the field, towering over White Magic Summoner. Dark Magician was not impressed however, despite the fact that both had once been allies. "I'll play Price of Destruction, which inflicts three points of damage to your life points during this turn for the each star of any monsters I destroy. Buster Blade, destroy White Magic Summoner!" The blader charged across the field and sliced the white robbed magic user in half, inflicting exactly one hundred more damage then would have been inflicted if Dark Magician was destroyed. (DLP: 1300)
Drake grinned as he drew a new card, and then waved a finger at his opponent. "You should have realized that its not a good idea to give me more options, never is and never will be." Kai rolled his eyes and thrust out one hand, causing one of his face down cards to flip up.
"Activate Matching Destruction! I select one monster on my field and you select one on yours. If your monster has an equal or lesser level as mine, then your monster is destroyed!" Because both Dark Magician and Buster Blader were level sevens the Dark Magician was destroyed in a flash of light.
"I play Dark Magic Revival, which lets me activate a card from my cemetery, placing it in yours after resolution. I choose Monster Reborn, to revive the Dark Magician once again!" Kai quirked an eyebrow, trying to figure out what Drake was up to as the purple robed magician appeared again, and then Kai accepted Drake's Monster Reborn and placed it in his cemetery.
"Curious as to why I revived Dark Magician? Because I needed him to activate this card, Black Magic! This can only be activated when a Dark Magician is on the field and it lets me destroy all of my opponent's magic and trap cards!" Kai's eyes widened in horror as the Dark Magician thrust his palm out and the color of all the cards on the field reversed, causing both of Kai's face down cards to shatter into tiny pieces. However he still had Buster Blader to keep him protected.
"My next card is Card of Return, which lets me discard a card to return one card from my cemetery to my hand. I selected Magical Bouquet, which I use now!" Drake ejected his deck and searched through it, before finally coming across the card he had wanted. He grinned and shuffled his deck, replacing it where it belonged.
"The card I have chosen is a necessity for magic users. It's the best equip card for them. Magician's Tome to boost Dark Magician to 3200 attack power! And now, Dark Magic Attack!" Kai dropped his hand as the magician aimed its staff at his dragon slayer and shot a beam of purple light. The purple energy broke his slayer apart, dropping his life points down to zero. (KLP: 0)
The duel disks activated and the two duelist dropped onto their butts, breathing heavily because of the intense heat. Then they started to laugh. It was amazing to think that this great duel had started because they didn't want to exert themselves too much under the harsh sun. It had all started because of a silly fight.
Drake looked up at his now beaten opponent and grinned at him. "Ya know, your actually not that bad of a duelist."
Kai grinned back and stood up, offering Drake his hand. The punk duelist accepted and Kai pulled him to his feet. They shook hands and Kai gave his own response. "Likewise. So, are we going to continue?"
Drake nodded and turned away, starting to walk. Kai followed on in silence, both duelist understanding that neither needed to speak to convey how they felt. The duel had done all the talking. They were hardly similar people, but they were both fighters, and that made them...something. Not necessarily friends, but allies at the very least. And that was all that was needed.
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Author's Notes: Actually, there was suppossed to be another duel thingy in here, but the Kai v. Drake duel ended up longer then I thought, not turn wise but actual size wise. So, it was just this duel in there.
Original Cards
Drake: Trap Reflector, Magical Bouquet, White Magic Summoner, Card of Return, Shatter Point, Absolute Control
Kai: Matching Destruction, Price of Destruction, Spell Production
Submitted Original Cards(these cards were submitted by TIme Mage for his character)
Kai: Steadfast Magician, Soul Crosswire, Reparations, Grave Spell
Author's Note: None! HA!
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence." -Mahatma Gandhi
Chapter Twenty Two: Raging Duel Under the Sun
Yami groaned as he sat up, rubbing his spiky-haired head in pain. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious, but it certainly had been painful. He blinked to clear his eyes and then looked around. He was unable to spot anyone he recognized, and in fact surrounding him was desert for as far as the eye could see.
"This doesn't look like a good situation Yugi." Silence followed. Frowning the ancient spirit repeated what he had said, but still got no response. He turned inwards, entering his soul room. He searched it, seeking any sign of the young duelist whose body he inhabited. However there was nothing.
"YUGI!"
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Elsewhere, in a shallow lake, there was another ancient spirit who was walking up. The spirit stood up, knee deep in water, and looked around. Slowly a feral grin spread across his features as he became aware of exactly what the situation was. There was no pathetic hikari to hold him back now, it was just him.
"Get ready Pharaoh, because I'm coming for you." His laughter echoed through the valley that contained the lake, and a chilling wind whipped his white hair about his head. Soon he would take what was rightfully his, and he would have his revenge!
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Much farther away, at the foot of steps leading into a vast temple, another awoke. This one shook his head and then rose to his feet. He looked up the steps of the temple and stopped when a voice boomed down from the top, reaching his ears.
"Welcome to my temple. In fact, welcome to my world. You proved yourself to be quite capable and my kind of scum back in your own world. So in this case...I would like a partnership." The dark spirit gazed up at his benefactor and grinned wickedly. It seemed like a partnership was the right thing to do, especially considering the situation.
"Will I get to kill the Pharaoh?" His benefactor responded with an equally wicked grin, and with a pass of a single hand a shimmering screen of light appeared in front of the dark spirit. It quickly split into dozens of screens, each one displaying a different duelist. The spirit's eyes quickly fixed on two screens, each with a duelist he despised.
"Absolutely."
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The duelist that currently blocked Dalin's path was a large man, but size didn't matter to Dalin. He was also quite big himself. Physically or magically Dalin would have easily been able to cast this man out of his way and continue on...but he might as well play by the rules and win the ten straight duels he needed. He had already defeated two duelists, his last opponent being equally as pathetic as Lechuge. However he had assembled a new deck and learned a set of rules called Deck Master rules. It was with that he would win.
"Alright, here we go. Since you didn't do anything last turn you've left the way open for me to crush you in one quick blow! I summon Enraged Battle Ox(1700/1000) to the field and then play Wild Stampede, which lets me summon my Big Koala(2700/2000) to the field!" He grinned as the two monsters appeared, first an overly muscular minotaur wielding an axe, and then a giant koala about twenty feet tall.
Dalin shook his head and let things happen. This duelist was probably fairly skilled, but against the power that Dalin was wielding...he was nothing. "Your summons have activated the effect of my Deck Master. Osiris, attack with your Summon Lightning Impact!"
The giant red dragon opened its second mouth and unleashed two balls of purple energy. They collided with the two monsters, destroying the minotaur and severely weakening the giant koala. "Any monster summoned to your field has its points reduced by two thousand, and if its weaker then that your monster is destroyed."
The other duelist grimaced and then quickly placed two cards onto the field, hoping to protect his monsters. Dalin drew his next card, bringing his hand up to a total of seven cards, thereby granting Osiris a total of seven thousand attack points. However he had no plans of letting this duel continue more then this turn.
"I play Payment of Debt, increasing my hand size to nine cards. And now I'll pay two thousand life points to special summon my Deck Master to the field!" His opponent's eyes widened in fear as the massive monster moved its head forwards, bringing it into play. He could clearly tell exactly how powerful it was, and he was fairly certain that this was the end. (DLP: 6000)
"Saint Dragon Osiris(9000/9000), destroy him." The god monster opened its first mouth wide and launched a stream of deadly energy at the weakened koala. A blue glow sprung upon around the monster, its attempt to protect itself. However there was no power in existence that could stand up to the massive power of his god monster.
"Go Windstorm of Etaqua and Dark Barrier-Mirror Force! This combination will switch your Osiris into defense mode and then remove him from play, winning me the duel!" The duelist's laughter was cut short as Osiris's attack continued unabated and smashed through Big Koala, destroying it and its master's life points completely. (LP: 0)
His opponent opened his mouth to protest, but a black windstorm swirled around him, ripping his soul from his body and casting it high above into the night's sky. Such was the price for losing that sort of duel, and his opponent had payed it. "Prepare yourself Hand of Exodia, for nothing can stop me now."
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Within a deep and dark forest another duel was going on, this one also being quite short. The reason for this was not that one of the duelists was unskilled. In fact Sir Reginald Bailey was the top ranked duelist in all of England. He was one of the top one hundred best duelists in the entire world.
No, his skill had nothing to do with how short the duel was ending up. It instead had to do with the skill and ferocity of his opponent. Normally Reginald's Shift Deck would have crushed any opponent he went up again, because of how rare and unusual its strategy was. But his opponent was no ordinary duelist. His opponent was the one, the only, the unstoppable, the virtually unbeatable....
Seto Kaiba. "Now I move my Deck Master, Lord of Dragons, onto the field. Finally I'll activate the Flute of Summoning Dragons to special summon Blue Eyes White Dragon(3000/2500) and Emerald Dragon(2400/2000). And with your field cleared by my Heavy Storm and Raigeki there's nothing to stop me. I command my three Blue Eyes, Emerald Dragon, and Lord of Dragons to attack directly!"
Sir Reginald Bailey hardly got a chance to scream as the five energy attacks converged on him, blasting his life points into the next dimension. He had intended to win his eighth duel in a row against any opponent he found, but he had been surprised by the appearance of the first Blue Eyes. Terrified in fact that he was facing Seto Kaiba. (RLP: 0)
Reginald didn't have a chance to comment because a dark wind rushed into his body and pulled his soul free. Then the wind picked up and flew off into the sky and into the distance. Kaiba followed that dark wind for as far as the eye could see, knowing now what direction he had to take.
"I'm coming Mokuba. Don't worry, I'm going to make sure everything is set right."
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At another point just outside the dark woods another duel was ending, this one with the fate of its loser in the hands of a nasty combination of Jinzo and the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Considering the two monsters being used there was only one duelist who it could be.
Joey Wheeler grimaced as his opponent's soul was taken from his body by a flight of black wind. He pounded one fist into his palm, silently cursing whatever force was behind this for making such a thing happen. The other duelist had been one of the goons that had followed Bandit Keith around at Duelist Kingdom, and hadn't been any challenge.
He gazed off into the distance, watching the dark wind as it moved through the air towards an unknown destination. Little did he know that at that moment he was staring in the exact same direction as a person he despised and who despised him back.
"Serenity, wherever you are, I promise that I'll find you and set everything right."
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"Look, I said no! I'm not going to tell you!" The one yelling was Daisuke Ihachi, known to all as Drake. The person he was yelling at was his new traveling partner, Kai Kaethen. At the moment they were traveling through the desert, both having removed their outer layers of clothing due to the intense heat of the desert sun.
The oddest part about the desert was how it suddenly appeared. The had walked down the path to the bottom of the ravine. Then they had followed the river for a mile or so and found themselves in a dense forest. Once they exited the forest they had entered the desert. The lightning quick changes of the land were unnatural, and Drake knew why...sort of.
"Oh come on! We've been walking like this for about three hours and so far you've refused to tell me what it is you're trying to accomplish...I think four times now. Just tell me." Drake was currently beginning to become annoyed with his traveling partner, and the feeling was becoming mutual for the other teenager.
It wasn't that either of them had been truly doing much to annoy the other, or that their personalities clashed. In fact they hadn't said a whole lot to each other besides explaining parts of their current situations. In fact the only annoying thing so far, to Drake anyways, had been Kai's questions on what had happened at the Battle City finals.
No, in truth the real reason that they were bothered by each other was much simpler then anything like that. The truth was that stress and the intense heat were getting to them both. Anybody would start to go a little bit crazy if under the beating sun for as long as they had been. Soon the heat would become too much...
"Look, the reason I want to know is because all those nukes went off right near when the Battle City Finals were supposed to be ending. Then after that duelists across the world started disappearing quickly one after another, and then in whole groups. I was walking the ruined streets of Domino one second, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in this weird place! So I think I deserve an explanation of what's going on, and I think you know more then you let one!"
During his rant Kai had reached out and grabbed Drake by the shoulder, holding him and keeping him from waking away. After the rant the punk duelist jerked his shoulder out of Kai's grip, and just grunted back, continuing to walk away.
"Hey, don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you!" Kai rushed forwards and grabbed Drake by his shoulders again. However to his surprise the other duelist spun around at contact and then what Kai saw next was flashing blue lights in front of his eyes.
He hit the ground hard, and quickly rolled to a defensive position, shaking his head to clear away the spots dancing in front of him. He looked up at Drake, who was standing a few feet away, fists up and at the ready, feet shifted into a stance that looked like that used by the average street fighter. Kai started to grin, knowing that against someone with no real training the martial arts training he had received would be enough to win this fight.
He pushed off his feet, moving in quickly towards Drake. He made a quick feint to the right, and then darted in on the left side, starting with a quick roundhouse. To his surprise the feint didn't even phase Drake, and the punk whipped his jacket around. Kai let out a startled cry as the leather jacket wrapped around his leg, giving Drake the leverage needed to spin Kai around and throw him several feet.
Kai grunted and quickly did a kip up, getting to his feet without his hands. His hips and chest were aching from the fall, but he wasn't about to give up. He had underestimated his opponent this time, but he would be ready for something like that next time.
Despite the quickness of his kip up he was forced to act instantly as Drake came in on the attack with powerful right hook. Kai barely managed to keep the blow from landing with a sweeping block by his left hand. Going on the offensive Kai made a short but swift blow with his right fist, connecting with the side of Drake's head.
The strike barely phased the street fighter, but it hadn't been intended to cause serious damage, it was just there to distract for the time necessary. Once his left was back into play he went with a jab, connecting a full-on blow to Drake's face.
The punk duelists stumbled backwards, blood trickling down his nose and from a busted lip. Kai was startled to find that before he could even continue his offensive Drake had managed to recover from the hit. Seizing the moment, Kai sized up his opponent. What he discovered wasn't good for him. While the two of them were of a similar height, being both about six feet tall, Drake possibly about an inch taller, their build was not quite the same.
Kai was tough and strong, but he was more or less what most people would call wiry. He had muscle, but he wasn't extremely built. Drake on the other hand, as it appeared without his jacket and his shirt plastered to him by sweat, was built bigger. He wasn't fat at all, he was built of solid muscle, not ridiculously so, but enough that he would have a strength advantage over Kai, and he would probably be able to take blows better and recover quicker.
Kai moved in on the attack, pressing in and hoping that he had speed as an advantage. To his surprise Drake managed to catch his fist. Kai however, was able to grab hold of Drake's wrist as he threw a punch, only barely keeping the blow from landing. Slowly the other duelist started moving their hands, using his greater strength to his advantage...but he wasn't moving towards Kai.
He had only a brief moment to try and figure out what he was up to before Drake made his move. With a final pull he brought his right hand up to his left, and quickly pressed the activation button on his DD2. As close as they were the disk's activation was highly dangerous. It sprung forwards and cut across Kai's face, slashing his cheek and pounded his jaw with deadly force.
The blow knocked Kai off balance, and their hands split. Drake followed up with his mean right hook, connecting with Kai's jaw. Kai discovered just how powerful it was when he was knocked flat on his back, feeling like his jaw had been knocked out of alignment.
Kai suffered further shock when Drake pounced, pinning Kai with his greater weight. He swung with his left arm, hoping to smash Kai across the face with his duel disk for serious damage. Kai responded by activating his own, catching the duel disk as his attempted to close together. The momentary distraction let him get his feet under Drake, and shove the duelist off of him.
The two duelists got to their feet, breathing deeply and suffering under the intense heat that beat down upon them from above. Kai was surprised to see a grin on Drake's face, and realized that the other duelist must really enjoy fighting. "Wait a second...this heat is making us crazy but...we do need to finish this and get our frustrations out."
Drake grinned and cracked his knuckles, straightening up and shifting into his offensive stance, ready to make a move. With slow movements he dug the end of his boot into the ground to pick up a bit of sand. The instant he started off he'd fling the sand in Kai's face to give him the advantage. "Just what I was hoping for. I'm perfectly willing to kick your ass to get my frustrations out."
Kai shook his head, dropping his defensive stance and standing up straight and tall, completely undefended. Then he brought up his left arm, and displayed his duel disk, which was activated but had no deck in it. "Actually, I meant a duel. We can't afford to be wasting energy fighting and sweating like crazy in this desert. That'll just dehydrate us quicker. This duel...if I win then you tell me what you're after and what happened at the finals. If you win then I quit asking about it. Deal?"
The other duelist hesitated for a moment, and then started selecting their decks from the cards that appeared in front of them. Once they were done selecting, the cards appeared in the deck slot and were automatically shuffled. Ready for the duel they took up positions opposite each other, about fifteen feet apart. "We start with eight thousand life points. No Deck Masters. And as I've got the advantage in this duel, being a Battle City Finalist, I'll let you take the first turn." (KLP: 8000, DLP: 8000)
Kai grimaced at the comment, but gladly drew his opening hand, this one of six cards. He casually looked them over, deciding exactly what to do. He grinned and selected the cards he was going to play. If he kept getting cards like these...then this duel would be over in no time at all.
"I'll start this duel off with one card face down and a monster in defense mode. Then I'll end my turn. Let's see what a Battle City Finalist can do." He smiled slightly, knowing that if his plan worked then Drake would be thrown for a loop. Battle City Finalist or not, Kai was going to take him apart using all his best moves.
Drake drew his sixth card and then looked over his hand, deciding on his options. His first move was an obvious one, and the monster he summoned would easily be able to take out his opponent's defense monster. "I summon Skilled Dark Magician(1900/1700)!"
The black robed spellcaster materialized on the field, far more real then even Drake was going to let on. This move would give him a quick advantage that he could use to break past Kai's defenses and make this duel end as soon as possible. The overwhelming strength of his monster could beat any basic monster, and it would. "I'll set two cards face down and~"
He was cut off as Kai threw one arm out, declaring the activation of his face down card. "Go face down card, Dust Tornado!" The car flipped up, and from it issued a black cyclone that whirled across the field and shattered Drake's face down card on the left hand side.
Next, according to the second effect of Dust Tornado, Kai took a card from his hand and placed it on the field, both watching as it materialized in front of him. He grinned and then shifted his hand to rest just above the holographic card that had just appeared. "Now I activate my new card, Mystical Space Tyhpoon!"
The quick-play magic card flipped up, and a bolt of lightning forked out from it, spearing his remaining face down card. It shattered into tiny little pieces, however the loss of his two cards wasn't too horrible to Drake. He had after all, just gained a magic counter. "Thanks for the counter, now I'll give myself a second magic counter with Pot of Greed!"
The second of the magician's crystals lit up as Drake used the power of his magic card to draw two more cards, bringing his hand back up to four cards. He grinned, examining the hand, and then selected on of the cards. Kai watched calmly as he placed the card on the field, letting it appear face down behind Drake's magician.
"Now, Skilled Dark Magician attacks!" The magician spun his short staff around, and then dropped it down so that it was aiming directly at Kai's defensive monster. A stream of black light erupted from the end of the staff, streaking across the field to strike his monster. The monster materialized, revealing a green armored elf. The elf deflected the blast with his sword, splitting it in two, and then returned to his crouching position.
"Nice try Drake, but no monster with nineteen hundred attack or higher can destroy my Retrained Celtic Guardian(1400/1200)! So...are you done?" Drake grimaced, realizing that he had to do something very annoying to get rid of that monster, however he was already planning ahead.
Kai drew his next card, putting his hand at four cards, and then looked down at the new card. He looked from it to his other cards and then grinned, realizing what he could do. His first turn had just been a ploy to draw Drake out and see what he could do, but this turn would be serious. "I'll set one card face down, and then place a monster in defense mode. That's all."
The two cards appeared, and then it was time for Drake to take his turn. He gladly drew his next card and looked down at it, glad to see that the card was perfect for his purposes. It would let him get exactly what he needed this very moment. "I play Magical Bouquet, which lets me select one magic card from my deck and add it to my hand if I've got a spellcaster on the field. So I will."
He gladly took his deck from its slot and searched through it until he found the card he wanted. Then he shuffled his deck and replaced it in the slot, looking back at his hand. "Now that my magician has all three magic counters, I sacrifice him to special summon Dark Magician(2500/2100)!"
A sphere of black energy erupted around the weaker spellcaster, and moments later it was replaced by the more powerful purple robed magician that was a necessity for any magician user to have in his deck. Kai noted that Drake's hand now was one card lower, meaning the magician had been in his hand. "Now I play Baptism of Light and Dark, sacrificing my Dark Magician to special summon Black Magician of Chaos(2800/2600)!"
Kai chuckled as a new aura of black flame surrounded the Dark Magician, and as quickly as he had appeared on the field he was replaced by the more fanciful magician, whose power was also greater. However that power wouldn't help as he had his own plan. "This stronger monster still can't beat my Retrained Celtic Guardian...let alone a second. So meet Cloning, which lets me create a copy of one of my monsters, effect and all. So now I've got two Retrained Celtic Guardians!"
Drake shook his head in annoyance as the original elf flickered for several seconds and then split into two identical forms, each a duplicate of the other. Despite this minor set back, Drake knew what to do to take care of the problem. "Because my Black Magician of Chaos came into play I can return a magic card from cemetery to my hand. I now activate that card, Magical Bouquet, to grab another magic card."
He ejected his deck and searched through it, quickly locating the card, glad that he had added it when he spotted it scrolling by. He placed the card in his hand and then reshuffled his deck, at last ready to make his move. "I play Diffusion Wave-Motion at a cost of 1000 points, allowing my Black Magician to attack each of your monsters! To make it worse for you, when my magician destroys a monster, that monster is removed from the game."
Kai's only response was laughter at Drake's announcement of his move. Apparently Drake didn't realize that the effect would still be the same. His magician was too powerful to defeat his Retrained Celtic Guardians, it was just a waste of a thousand life points. He opened his mouth to tell Drake this but was rudely interrupted. "Now I activate my face down card, Shrink! This cuts my magician's attack power in half, making it weak enough to destroy both of your guardians. Triple Black Sphere!"
The blue-skinned spellcaster raised his staff above his hand and started spinning it around, faster and faster with each pass. A purple glow started to surround the staff as it spun about at blinding speeds, moving so fast Kai couldn't follow its movements. Then it swung the staff down, producing three black magic spheres, which shot out and crashed into all of Kai's monsters.
The two guardians shattered into dust, fading out never to be seen again. However Kai's other monster merely appeared and fended off the attack, revealing itself to be too strong. This monster was a magician clothed in royal blue robes. He was muscular and held in one hand a staff made of ivory. "Your attack may have destroyed my elves, but fourteen hundred attack strength is too weak to get past the defense of my Steadfast Magician(500/2200)." (DLP: 6200)
Drake grimaced and passed his turn to Kai, who gladly took it, drawing another card into his hand, giving him a total of three cards. He looked at the two cards, and at his new card, and suddenly an idea dawned on him. It was definitely an interesting idea. "I'll set a single card face down." The card appeared in front of him, placed behind his magician.
"Now I play Reparations. Its effect lets both players discard up to three cards from their hand, and draw a number of cards equal to the cards we discarded. Since I've just got one card, I'll discard it to draw another." Both players selected the single cards in their hands and slipped them into the cemetery slot. Then they grabbed the top of their deck and pulled free a new card, almost simultaneously. Kai looked at his card and then grinned, realizing that things would work better then he had thought.
Drake was surprised to see Kai motion for him to begin his turn, but that was in fact what he was doing. Shrugging it off, the elite duelist drew another card, looking at the two and deciding which to play. Considering the cards, the choice was obvious. "I summon Neo the Magical Swordsman(1700/1000)!"
The well-dressed blonde spellcaster shimmered into view next to the taller magician. He flourished his sword and then cast a spell upon it, making it glow a light blue color. The sword wielding magic user glanced over his shoulder at the more powerful creature and then shrugged it off, knowing his own place. "Both my monsters attack!"
Black Magician of Chaos, now back to its initial twenty-eight hundred attack power, casually made a sweep with its wand, send a wave of energy crashing down upon the Steadfast Magician. Meanwhile Neo was charging across the field, sword held at the ready, moving in to strike directly.
Steadfast Magician exploded into dust, and Kai picked him up and tucked him into his pocket. However the destruction of Steadfast Magician was just the catalyst to spark the rest of his combo. "Because Steadfast Magician was destroyed I can now special summon a level four magic user from my hand to the field. Meet Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer(1800/800)!"
Kai's new monster appeared, a tall old-style Japanese man in priests robes. What was odd was that one half of his face seemed to be made from dead tissue, and the other half was normal enough. Neo struggled to pull back from its attack, but Kycoo was too fast for it. With a flick of his wrist Kycoo sent a single leaflet of Ofuda at the other magic user.
The mystical paper stuck to Neo's chest, and he let out a cry of anguish as he was incinerated by the magic power of the Ofuda. Drake's life points dropped accordingly, but that wasn't the end to the fun. "The summoning of Kycoo, my second favorite monster, is not the only thing that comes with the destruction of Steadfast Magician. I also activate in chain a trap card called Soul Crosswire!"
The trap card flipped up, revealing two men standing opposite from each other, their souls being pulled from their throats by intertwining pieces of wire. The picture hardly mattered, it was the effect that meant the most. "At a cost of a thousand life points I can now special summon two level four monsters, one from my cemetery and one from my deck, in whatever mode I wish. So I'll summon Skilled White Magician(1700/1900) and Skilled Dark Magician(1900/1700)!"
Drake clenched his fists tight in irritation as first the white robed magician was summoned onto the field from the cemetery and then the black robed one appeared, identical in appearance except for the color of their robes and the flip in their stats. Drake was also well aware of Skilled White Magician's effect, as he had one of his own in his real deck. He didn't have it for the effect, but for the simple fact that it was an extra light type for his trump monster and it had excellent stats for a level four.
Kai grinned as he motioned towards Kycoo, who was now starting to glow a dark blue color. "When Kycoo inflicts life point damage to my opponent I can remove two monsters from the other player's cemetery. So say goodbye to Dark Magician and Skilled Dark Magician!" Kycoo stretched out its hands and launched a glowing beam of blue light at Drake, about to prove why it was called the Ghost Destroyer.
The light struck Drake in the chest, causing no damage to him physically, but forcing him to take the two named monsters from his cemetery and put them in his pocket. As he did so the two monsters appeared in ghostly form, and Kycoo hit them with one Ofuda each, banishing each ghost. (DLP: 6100, KLP: 7000)
Kai drew his card knowing fully well that his combo had only been a delay tactic, Drake's Black Magician of Chaos was still too powerful for Kai to take head on. Slowly he dropped his gaze to the card he had drawn, and when he recognized the image he smirked. "Time for some new options. Card of Sanctity!"
Both players started drawing cards, both of them considering their options with each new card. At the same time both magicians gained magic counters from Card of Sanctity. Kai looked over his brand new hand and then back up at the field, a grinning spreading across his face as he understood what he could do. "I play Spell Production, which places two counters on each of my two magicians, one from my playing Spell Production, and the other created by Spell Production. Useful huh?"
Kai grinned victoriously as he picked the two magicians up off his duel disk and then placed two new cards from his deck onto the field according to the monster's effects. "I sacrifice my monsters to summon their superiors, Dark Magician(2500/2100) and Buster Blader(2600/2300)!"
The purple robbed magician appeared on the field, replacing the Skilled Dark Magician, and the purple armored dragon slayer appeared in place of Skilled White Magician. Both monsters were powerful, but Drake remained confident since neither monster was powerful enough to defeat his Black Magician of Chaos. "Go ahead and try and take me on with them, it won't do you any good. Both of them are too weak."
"Apart they are weaker then your monster...but together they are stronger. And I've got the method to bring them together. I call it, Polymerization!" A vortex appeared between the two monsters and they were dragged into it. The vortex slowly faded, revealing a monster that was a combination of both. Mighty armor and a serrated sword that glowed with inner light. It was the Dark Paladin(2900/2400).
"Now I sacrifice Kycoo for Chaos Magician(2400/1900)!" Kycoo vanished and was quickly replaced by the powerful black clad magic user. The Chaos Magician set its staff to leaning against his side as he waited for a command. The Dark Paladin glanced down at him and then turned his gaze up to the true challenge, the Black Magician of Chaos. A magic user of almost equal strength.
"Now I set one card face down. Finally I'll take control of this duel. Attack!" With a flash the Dark Paladin was across the field, swinging its glowing sword horizontally at the other magician. Black Magician of Chaos raised its staff to block the strike, but the blade split straight through the staff and cut into its flesh, tearing it in half. Chaos Magician simply raised its staff and fired a black beam of light at Drake. The beam hit and knocked him off his feet and into the sand.
(DLP: 3600) Drake pulled himself to his feet, a confident look in his face as he stared down the two stronger monsters. It didn't matter that Kai had the advantage at the moment. That would soon change. "Pot of Greed." Kai just shrugged, choosing not to use his monster's effect and waste a card stopping Drake's draw.
Drake looked over the eight cards in his hand and up at the field, and then selected the cards he wanted to use. "I'll set three magic or trap cards and a monster in defense. End turn." The four cards appeared on the field in front of Drake, keeping him from being destroyed by Kai's next attack. At least...most likely.
"I summon Breaker the Magic Warrior(1600+300/1000)!" The red armored sword wielding magician took his place on the field next to the two stronger monsters. However it wasn't the power of this monster that was what made it a restricted card. It was the effect, an unstoppable effect.
"I use its effect to destroy your face down card on the left!" The card exploded, revealing a Waboku. Kai started to curse his luck, but then he realized that Drake hadn't chained in reaction. Maybe he didn't know you could? Well, that was all the better for him because now he could destroy his opponent's monsters.
Kai's happiness at having a nearly open attack was cut off when one of Drake's other cards flipped up, and a red line of energy shot out, knocking his two cards from hand. "I learned that trick from an enemy of mine. Its called Shatter Point, and one of its effects is that I can chain it when you destroy one of my other cards, then you have to discard two cards from your hand!"
Kai grimaced and picked the two cards up from his hand and deposited them in the cemetery. One of them was a pretty good card, Nimble Momonga, which might have been useful at a later point. "Breaker, attack his defense monster!" Breaker sent a beam of energy from his sword and shattered the defense monster, briefly revealing a blonde man holding a staff. This was followed by another monster card appearing face down.
"Since you destroyed my Apprenticeship Magician in battle I special summon another magic user in face down defense mode." Kai growled and responded by commanding his Chaos Magician to attack. The magician raised his staff and fired off a beam of magic, striking an destroying the defense monster. However the defense monster was revealed as an older grumpy looking magician who cast out his staff and sent a beam of energy at Dark Paladin, destroying it.
"By flipping my Old Vindictive Magician you let me destroy one of your monsters, so I chose your mighty Dark Paladin." Drake grinned as he drew his next card, knowing that he had just gained a semi-advantage, and now he was about to turn the entire duel around. Kai wouldn't stand a chance against his next combo, it was one that would finish him off once and for all.
"I play Mystical Space Typhoon on your face down card!" The bolt of lightning speared out and crashed into Kai's placed card, which flipped up and revealed a nasty looking goblin holding a magic card. The gremlin figure appeared, and showed off another Mystical Space Typhoon, which shot its own bolt of lightning, destroying Drake's face down card.
"That was my Grave Spell, which lets me activate a magic or trap card from my cemetery. After the effect is resolved both cards are removed from the game, so now we're even." Drake shrugged it off and plucked a card from his hand, placing it on the field. Kai yelped as the half angel half demon from the Change of Heart card appeared on zoomed across the field, taking over Chaos Magician.
"Now that I've got Chaos Magician under my control, I play Trap Reflector, using the effect of your Cloning, to create a token of Chaos Magician!" The magician flickered and then a copy of it appeared next to it. Kai suddenly realized that his own method had just been turned against him, though luckily he could get back his magician at the end of the turn, keeping things even.
"I sacrifice your magician for my own Chaos Magician! Now I summon my trump monster, Chaos Sorcerer, by removing one light and one dark monster from the grave!" First Kai's magician shattered, replaced by an identical black robed magic user. Then the purple skinned and black clad sorcerer shimmered into view, creating an army of powerful magic users.
"I attack with each of my monsters!" The three magic users raised their weapons, which were wands and hands, and then sent triple beams of magical energy at Kai. The swirled together so the originator of the attack couldn't be told, and struck Kai's Breaker. The beam plowed straight through Breaker and knocked Kai off his feet, devastating his life points. (KLP: 1500)
Kai took a deep breath and drew his next card, hoping to find something good. He let out his breath and set a monster on his disk, watching as the brown backed card appeared in front of him. The monster was his only defense, and hopefully it would be enough.
Drake drew his next card, glancing down at it briefly. At the moment it wasn't useful, so his only option was to attack. Because the monster was face down his Chaos Sorcerer couldn't banish it, so that wasn't an option. "Chaos Sorcerer, attack!"
The monster flipped up and revealed what looked like a high-tech satellite. Drake gasped as he recognized Cyber Jar, which exploded and took out all the monsters on the field. He grimaced as both of them picked up their five cards and displayed them to the other player.
Drake held Absolute Control, Apprenticeship Magician(which he set face down), Magician of Faith(also face down), Mirror Force, and Double Spell. Kai held Y Dragon Head, Z Metal Tank, Dust Tornado, Dark Hole, and Magic Jammer. Both of his monsters went into attack mode. "I set two cards face down and end my turn."
Kai drew, adding yet another card to his hand. He grinned as he decided exactly what he was going to do. This would easily make things more even. "I'll set two cards face down. Now I summon X Head Cannon, and remove X, Y, and Z from the game to special summon XYZ Dragon Cannon(2800/2600)!" The three monsters merged together, creating a monstrosity that was almost beyond description, it was all three monsters combined together.
"Now I follow its effect, discarding a card from my hand, to destroy your face down Magician of Faith!" The monstrosity trained its weapons on Drake's right most face down monster and let loose a barrage of deadly fire power, incinerating the female magic user instantly. It had no way to fight back against the effect of XYZ. Then Kai ended his turn, knowing that right now he couldn't attack because of Mirror Force.
Drake drew his next card, and Kai immediately flipped up his Dust Tornado, destroying Drake's Mirror Force. However that didn't bother Drake in the slightest, as he had his own plan of action. "Kai, you decided to plan your own defeat? Or did you just forget the card I held in my hand. Watch and learn your own mistake as I play Double Spell, discarding Absolute Control for it, and activating Dark Hole from your cemetery!"
Kai let out a cry of despair as a black hole appeared above the field and sucked every single monster into it, destroying Kai's second strongest monster and one weak monster of Drake's. Now Kai's field was clear, Magic Jammer being of no use without any cards in his hand. "I summon a special monster called White Magic Summoner(1200/500)! It attacks directly!"
Drake's new monster was a medium height brown haired magic user, wearing flowing white robes and wielding a staff that appeared to be made out of pure ivory, just like Steadfast Magician's. The magic user raised his wand and shot a ray of light at Kai, bowling him over and dropping his life points nearly to zero. (KLP: 300)
"Since White Magic Summoner inflicted damage to my opponent I can now select one magic card from my cemetery or my deck and place it in my hand. I select Monster Reborn, and activate it to revive your own Dark Magician!" Kai grimaced as the purple robed magician appeared, but he was perplexed as to why Drake hadn't revived Buster Blader.
Kai drew a deep breath and drew, then he laughed at the sight of the card he had drawn. Joyously he played the card, allowing both players to hopefully get what they needed, but best of all Kai to get what he needed. "I play the rarest magic card in existence, Hand Rebirth! Both players discard their hands and draw a hand of five cards!"
The two duelists only had to draw five new cards as neither had any cards in their hand. Kai watched Drake's face as the other duelist drew, hoping to catch a glimpse of whether or not Drake got something good. Unfortunately Drake kept his face blank. "I set three cards face down and play Monster Reborn on Buster Blader!"
The purple armored dragon slayer appeared on the field, towering over White Magic Summoner. Dark Magician was not impressed however, despite the fact that both had once been allies. "I'll play Price of Destruction, which inflicts three points of damage to your life points during this turn for the each star of any monsters I destroy. Buster Blade, destroy White Magic Summoner!" The blader charged across the field and sliced the white robbed magic user in half, inflicting exactly one hundred more damage then would have been inflicted if Dark Magician was destroyed. (DLP: 1300)
Drake grinned as he drew a new card, and then waved a finger at his opponent. "You should have realized that its not a good idea to give me more options, never is and never will be." Kai rolled his eyes and thrust out one hand, causing one of his face down cards to flip up.
"Activate Matching Destruction! I select one monster on my field and you select one on yours. If your monster has an equal or lesser level as mine, then your monster is destroyed!" Because both Dark Magician and Buster Blader were level sevens the Dark Magician was destroyed in a flash of light.
"I play Dark Magic Revival, which lets me activate a card from my cemetery, placing it in yours after resolution. I choose Monster Reborn, to revive the Dark Magician once again!" Kai quirked an eyebrow, trying to figure out what Drake was up to as the purple robed magician appeared again, and then Kai accepted Drake's Monster Reborn and placed it in his cemetery.
"Curious as to why I revived Dark Magician? Because I needed him to activate this card, Black Magic! This can only be activated when a Dark Magician is on the field and it lets me destroy all of my opponent's magic and trap cards!" Kai's eyes widened in horror as the Dark Magician thrust his palm out and the color of all the cards on the field reversed, causing both of Kai's face down cards to shatter into tiny pieces. However he still had Buster Blader to keep him protected.
"My next card is Card of Return, which lets me discard a card to return one card from my cemetery to my hand. I selected Magical Bouquet, which I use now!" Drake ejected his deck and searched through it, before finally coming across the card he had wanted. He grinned and shuffled his deck, replacing it where it belonged.
"The card I have chosen is a necessity for magic users. It's the best equip card for them. Magician's Tome to boost Dark Magician to 3200 attack power! And now, Dark Magic Attack!" Kai dropped his hand as the magician aimed its staff at his dragon slayer and shot a beam of purple light. The purple energy broke his slayer apart, dropping his life points down to zero. (KLP: 0)
The duel disks activated and the two duelist dropped onto their butts, breathing heavily because of the intense heat. Then they started to laugh. It was amazing to think that this great duel had started because they didn't want to exert themselves too much under the harsh sun. It had all started because of a silly fight.
Drake looked up at his now beaten opponent and grinned at him. "Ya know, your actually not that bad of a duelist."
Kai grinned back and stood up, offering Drake his hand. The punk duelist accepted and Kai pulled him to his feet. They shook hands and Kai gave his own response. "Likewise. So, are we going to continue?"
Drake nodded and turned away, starting to walk. Kai followed on in silence, both duelist understanding that neither needed to speak to convey how they felt. The duel had done all the talking. They were hardly similar people, but they were both fighters, and that made them...something. Not necessarily friends, but allies at the very least. And that was all that was needed.
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Author's Notes: Actually, there was suppossed to be another duel thingy in here, but the Kai v. Drake duel ended up longer then I thought, not turn wise but actual size wise. So, it was just this duel in there.
Original Cards
Drake: Trap Reflector, Magical Bouquet, White Magic Summoner, Card of Return, Shatter Point, Absolute Control
Kai: Matching Destruction, Price of Destruction, Spell Production
Submitted Original Cards(these cards were submitted by TIme Mage for his character)
Kai: Steadfast Magician, Soul Crosswire, Reparations, Grave Spell