Disclaimer: Drill in, drill out. You know I don't own it.
Author's Note: Ummm....ummm.....ummm....forget get it, I can't think of anything.
Quote of the Chapter: "I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders."-Jewish Proverb
Chapter Twenty-Four: The Duelist Who Sees Fate: Countdown to the End
It had hardly been any time since the end of Kai and Drake's duel. They had headed off immediately, desperate to find a place where they could relax for a brief moment, to find a place in the shade where the eternal sun didn't beat down on them with destructive force.
Of course, such a thing seemed impossible since the desert continued as far as the eye could see. The only distraction that they had come across were a small group of duelists traveling together. Of course when duelists gathered together there was bound to be a duel or two, and of course they did. Kai and Drake now walked away with four new victories. This brought Kai up to four and Drake to seven.
But now that there were no distractions they were both forced to look towards their immediate future again. And their immediate future was filled with lots of bright light, lots of heat, and no water. Essentially they were screwed. "DAMN IT ALL!"
Kensai's horse, named Windsprite by the amazons, barreled through the woods, its hooves pounding heavily against the underbrush. With surprising skill the two moved as one, dodging in between trees as if they already knew where they were before hand. Behind them came another group of horses containing his companions.
These horses following him weren't going anywhere near as fast, not just because one of their number was injured, but also because they weren't in as much of a rush. They weren't crazy like Kensai was, they didn't want to get themselves killed. So instead they followed at a more leisurely pace, knowing that they would just catch up with him when his horse collapsed from exhaustion.
Whatever had driven Kensai into this frenzy was unclear, as he hadn't displayed such intensity on the topic of Taichi before they were flung here. Something had happened to him, but exactly what had happened wasn't clear. But every time he was frustrated he stuck one hand in his pocket and the frenzied look came back into his eyes, and he took off again.
Up in front of them Kensai had the very same frenzied look in his eyes. A dull roar filled his ears as he pounded towards his goal. He could feel his energy being sapped away from him each and every second. He took one hand off the reins, shoved his hand into his pocket, and felt the surge of energy pour into him, giving him what he needed.
If anyone had gotten in front of him and looked into his eyes, they would have seen a strange six-pointed star (A.N.-HA! Eat that Paul!) deep within his eyes. That was the source of his frenzy, the source of his power. The dark power provided to him by the Seal of Orichalcos.
In a different part of the strange world another, smaller group was wandering around. This group wasn't exactly happy to be a group. The two people in the group didn't like each other all that much. They essentially despised each other.
One of these two thought he was better then the other one in every way possible. The other despised him for his arrogant mannerisms and how intruded into places that he didn't belong. He also despised the fact that most of his friends had accepted the arrogant bastard as part of their group. Didn't they remember the things he had put them through?
"Look, you don't like me and I don't like you, but for the moment we need to cooperate, otherwise we'll never safely find the others and get out of this place. You got that?" The brown haired man stared intently at his companion after speaking these words, and waiting for his companion to respond.
The other man brushed a hand through his hair and smirked at the brown haired man, obviously not respecting him. They glared at each other for a moment before the response was given. "Whatever. Let us just stop sitting around and get moving, I'm already tired enough of being around you, so we should get this over with."
Deep laughter caught their ears and the two turned around to find a group of four men approaching. The one who was laughing was a tall man with light blue hair down to his neck, dressed in a fancy robe. His companions were dressed in what looked like dated military uniforms, one with brown hair, another with red hair, and the last with a deep purple hair.
The two companions, one with black hair the other with brown, faced these newcomers, fists at the ready just in case. Tristan was the first to speak up, questioning the strangers. "Who are you? And what the heck's so funny?"
The tallest man, the leader, stopped laughing very slowly, a chuckle still evident as he stopped. He looked between Tristan and Duke, suppressed another chuckle, and then brushed past them, his soldiers following close. "Hey! What the hell's wrong with you? You can't just brush past us like that!"
The blue haired man turned his head to face them and grinned widely, displaying perfect white teeth. His eyes were a bright turquoise color that shone in the sun. "I can brush past you because I am of a higher race then you. You are just mankind, I am Atlantian and you are humans. I am a Seer, you are just peons. That is why I brush past you. The humor? Your pathetic squabbling."
He turned away and started walking away again, but Tristan, being the kind of person that he was, wasn't going to talk such disrespect lying down. He rushed forwards to grab the man by the back of his robes, but on of the soldiers lashed out with his foot and caught Tristan in the gut, doubling him over. "Do not dare to touch the Seer chattel!"
Duke moved forwards and helped Tristan to his feet, both of them glaring at the small group. Even Duke realized that they were in over their heads, but Tristan wasn't done yet. He wasn't finished in the least bit. "We aren't property, we aren't peons, we're just as good as you are! Hell, consider that we're not assholes I'd say we're better then you!"
Tristan didn't expect anything of the sort of what happened next. The tall blue haired man smashed his soldiers aside, knocking them to the ground, and stepped forwards. A fierce look covered his perfect features and he sneered down at them. "For such an insult I will crush you completely! I accept the challenge to my honor! I can leave Lord Dartz for later, I will deal with you chattel now. Two on one, a true test of power. We shall use the duel monsters deck master rules. Now select your cards and your deck masters!"
The two of them sent confused glances to each other and started to protest, but the look they were given by the blue haired man and his soldiers convinced him to shut up. Grimacing the two of them watched as duel disks appeared on their arms, and cards started floating in front of them. Sighing they started looking through the cards, selecting their cards. Their opponent did the same.
After a few minutes the three, of them were prepared with their decks, and had started to choose their deck masters. Duke selected Strike Ninja, and Tristan selected Super Roboyaro. Their opponent shifted through his cards for a moment and then smirked. "Very well, let us begin. I select my deck master as Orichalcos Kitoras(500/500)!"
His deck master appeared behind him, revealing a big eyeball with little spikes on its body floating there. Whatever it was, it was certainly a strange looking monster. Each duelist watched as their life point counter rose to eight thousand, and the duel was on. "I the Great Seer of Atlantis, Advisor to the Lord of Atlantis, and General of the Armies of Atlantis shall crush you completely! Beware chattel, for you face the one of the two mightiest of all Atlantians, Seer Hiyazaku!"
The three soldiers bowed as he spoke these words, leaving Tristan and Duke feeling foolish. The guy thought he was from Atlantis? What a freaking loony, Atlantis had never even existed for Pete's sake! "I'm Tristan and this dice freak here is Duke. We'll be glad to kick your freaky blue haired butt!"
Hiyazaku sneered and drew his opening hand, looking over it only briefly before beginning his move. Already he knew that this duel would be an easy one. It would require no effort to defeat these pathetic chattel. "Prepare yourself chattel as I unleash the true power of Atlantis. Final Countdown, activate!"
Yami faced off with his opponent, ready to strike at any necessary moment. His opponent, white haired bastard that he was, sneered at him and was similarly ready to strike. It was hardly unusual to see Yami and Bakura facing off, but it wasn't the situation they wanted at this moment.
Off to the right Yugi and Ryou agonized over their dark selves fighting. They had run into each other only shortly ago, and right off the bat the two yamis had started fighting. Now they were arguing about how they would go about finding their potential enemy. "I tell you that charging blindly forward won't accomplish anything! I know we're being watched so I know we have to attract their attention!"
As Bakura spoke these words Yami got right up in his face, ready to lash out with his magic at a moments notice. He hardly cared that the words the other dark spirit spoke were intelligent and well thought out. "And how do you propose we do that?"
"By doing exactly what they want us to do! Duel you blathering idiot!" Yami smirked and stepped back, activating his duel disk, waiting for Bakura to do the same. He hardly minded such a thing. He was ready to duel if Bakura was, it would make him feel more at ease if he could get a chance to kick the arrogant thief's ass.
"Not just you and me you fool! A duel that will attract their attention, a duel that they'll absolutely want to see played out. We've already dueled before, but what I will propose is far beyond us dueling, it is much cleverer. You and Ryou, versus Yugi and I. They'd never be able to resist!"
Each of the hikaris looked to their yamis, hoping for advice of some sort. Of course Bakura just ignored Ryou, but Yami and Yugi briefly held a conversation off to the side before coming back with their answer. "We'll do it."
"Very well then, assemble your decks and select your deck masters, this two on two duel is about to begin!" The four duelists started to assemble their decks, and after only a few minutes they were ready. The two most intent in this process were Ryou and Yugi, who had something special in mind.
Yami was the first to speak up and select his deck master, meaning he would be the one to go first. He select Buster Blader, which appeared behind him. Next was Bakura who quickly held aloft his card and declared it in a clear voice. "My deck master shall be Diabound Carnel!" Yami's eyes widened as a strange white monster with miniature wings and the bottom half of a snake appeared behind Bakura. There was something almost familiar about that creature.
Ryou selected a trap card as his deck master, a move that confused the other duelists. His deck master was First Coffin, which appeared as a large fancy pharaoh's coffin. Then Yugi stepped up to select his deck master. "I choose Silent Swordsman!" Yugi's deck master was a compact dark armored warrior who looked like he was…well expandable really.
Yami took a deep breath and started off, drawing his opening hand quite quickly. He stared at his cards, eyes clear and determined, realizing quickly that he was in trouble. He had no monsters at all, and hardly any playable cards. Suppressing a grimace he selected the only card he could use. "One card face down, and I end my turn!"
Next Bakura drew his initial hand and a sixth card. He looked over his cards and smirked, realizing what he could do. Quite an easy move actually, hardly a problem. "I begin with two cards face down, and Wandering Zombie(1500/0) in attack mode!" The two cards appeared down in front of him and a tough looking zombie was summoned.
Ryou took his turn, quickly selecting the cards he wanted to use, three in total. "I'll set two cards face down and summon Nightmare of Thebes(1500/1500) in attack mode!" His two cards appeared, following by a burning spirit of blue fire in front of him. Bakura's eyes widened as he realized that his pathetic hikari had actually created a new deck, different from his own. Well that was fine, he had some surprised waiting anyways.
Yugi started his turn by drawing a card and then he looked over his hand for several seconds. He nodded once and select his cards, then he started off. "I'll start by playing a card face down. Then I'll play Green Gadget(1400/1600) in defense mode! By its effect I can place one Red Gadget in my hand. Now I'll end my turn!" Yugi's monster was a green humanoid machine with a giant gear on its back. It didn't seem all that impressive.
Yami drew his next card and grimaced, seeing that he wasn't any better off then he had been in his previous turn. What was worse, now others would be able to attack, and he was essentially defenseless. His face down card couldn't save him more then once. "Pass."
Bakura smirked and drew his next card, satisfied at what he saw. This would serve very nicely to continue setting up this duel in exactly the way he wanted it. Victory was assured already! "I'll play Gelnia(500/2000) in defense mode. Your turn Ryou!"
Ryou took a deep breath and glanced down at his card. It wasn't going to be much help, so he was just going to have to carry on with his prepared combo. If it worked then his side would get an early lead...but who to attack. By the confident look on his yami's face, he had a perfect defense. By the look in Yami's eye's, Yugi had no real defense. There was no chance his darker half would protect Yugi...so despite misgivings Yugi was the best choice.
"I'll activate Super Electric Burst, my face down trap card! During this turn one monster on my field gets a bonus of five hundred attack points for each card I discard. I'll raise Nightmare of Thebes by two thousand points by discarding all four of my cards!" He shoved his hand into his cemetery slot and watched as a stream of electricity surged around his monster, making it grow to double its original size.
"Now I'll activate my other placed card, Sacrifice Maneuver which costs 1000 points to activate. Now Nightmare of Thebes can attack directly. And because I've got no cards in my hand and no magic or trap cards, Nightmare of Thebes gains fifteen hundred points! Nightmare Flame Attack! Direct it at Yugi!" The fire beast opened its mouth and roared out a stream of blue fire, ready to consume the little duelist. (RLP: 7000)
Bakura let out a loud and rough laugh, and then raised one arm above his head, directing his trap card to activate. It flipped up, revealing a man being prodded by pins and needles. "My face down card Voodoo Doll changes the target of your attack from my partner...to yours!"
Yami let out a sharp cry as the attack twisted in mid-air, coming straight for him. His face down card was Mirror Force, but if he activated it now, he'd have no trap to defend him come Yugi's turn, and his partner would lose his only monster. Both of them would be open! The attack struck and hurled him backwards, draining his life points. (YYLP: 3000)
Yugi took this moment to draw his card, giving him a total of six cards. Now he had more options and a plan all set up. This shouldn't be too hard at all. "I'll play Red Gadget in defense mode, letting me put Yellow Gadget into my hand. Then I'll set a card and end my turn." A red smaller machine monster appeared, followed by a down card. Bakura sneered at this lackluster move, but shrugged it off.
Yami focused his mind, putting his faith in the heart of the cards to provide him with a much needed monster. He drew his card forcefully and was rewarded with, "Retrained Celtic Guardian(1400/1200) come out and attack Red Gadget!" The elvish warrior was summoned and immediately rushed across the field, swinging its blade at the red machine. To everyone's surprise the stronger attacker's sword bounced off of Red Gadget's body.
"Sorry Yami, but that won't work. I've activated my face down card, Anti-Destruct. As long as its face-up, no face-up defense monster can be destroyed by battle!" With this declaration Yami was forced to end his turn, knowing that he couldn't defeat any of Yugi's defense monster. Worse yet, since Bakura was his partner, Gelnia was now immune to battle as well.
Bakura laughed at the pharaoh's discomfort and drew his card, laughing even harder as he saw exactly what he had been hoping for. This card would make everything much easier. "I play Painful Choice!" He searched through his deck and picked out his cards, displaying each one to his opponents. Yami saw only demon monsters...meaning Bakura wanted to bring out Dark Necrophia. He picked one and the thief discarded the others.
"I'll sacrifice Gelnia for Earl of Demise(2000/700)! And now I'll use the effect of my deck master, Venom Drain!" Ryou yelped in surprise as Bakura' deck master's snake bottom snapped across the field and plunged its fangs into his Nightmare of Thebes...and watched in horror as its power trickled away. (NoT: 1200/1500)
"Now I play a special card called Holding Chains, which can prevent the activation of one face down card for this entire turn. I choose Yami's face down!" Silver chains erupted from the earth and wrapped around Yami's face down Mirror Force, binding it for the duration of the turn. With that out of the way, Bakura leapt into action.
"Both my monsters shall attack!" The two monsters leapt into action, but Yami stepped up to defend against the attack by putting Retrained Celtic Guardian in the way of Earl of Demise's attack, dropping Yami's life points. The second attack struck the flame monster and destroyed it. (RLP: 6700, YYLP: 2400)
Now it was Ryou's turn again, and he drew his card, hoping for something good to protect him. Slowly he brought the card up in front of him and then grinned widely at the sight of that card. "I play Monster Reborn, reviving Nightmare of Thebes(3000/1500)!" The flame monster was restored, boosted to double its base size by its own effect.
"Nightmare of Thebes, destroy Wandering Zombie!" The creature roared out its flames, and then Bakura began laughing as he activated his next card, a very special card. A barrier of darkness sprang up and stopped the attack in its tracks, forcing Ryou to end his turn.
"You've run into my Ghost Shield! By removing one demon from my cemetery I can stop your attack and end your battle phase, and as long as I have demons in my cemetery I can maintain my trap!" Ryou and Yami grimaced, knowing they'd have to find a way past that card soon if they wanted to accomplish anything.
With that out of the way Yugi drew his card, and with that card came a change in his game plan. No more defensive theory, now was time for attacking head on! "I'll set one card, then sacrifice my monsters for Destructive Dragon Gondola(2900/2800) and I transfer some of my deck master's gained attack points to raise his attack to 4400!"
The dragon, an incredibly fierce black beast, let out a fearful roar as its power was massively increased. With that sort of power it could easily overcome anything any of the others could throw out. With this, Yugi could take control. As much as it pained him to do so...the best target was, "Gondola, attack Yami's Retrained Celtic Guardian and burn away the last of his life points!"
The dragon sent a jet of flame streaming towards the much weaker elf, however it was interrupted by a barrier as Mirror Force activated, shooting the flame right back at Yugi and his monster. "I thought you had Mirror Force waiting, that's why I had my own card waiting. Absolute Negation, activate!" There was a bright flash of light, and suddenly everything was as it had been before the attack, except Yami's face down card was gone, used up.
Yami took his turn, discovering exactly what he needed to see. He now had a way to take control of the duel...but how best to go about it. He smirked, realizing what he could do, and put it into action. "I sacrifice for Summoned Skull(2500/1200)!" His demon monster appeared in place of the elf, and let out a display of electric power as it charged up.
"Now I'll play two cards in combination, the first is called Pump Up, which doubles my monster's attack power for this turn. My second card is Type Shift, which lets me change Pump Up from a normal magic card into an equip card!" The demon let out a shrill cry as a storm of electricity jumped up around it, readying it for battle as its power doubled to a massive five thousand points.
"Summoned Skull, use your Lightning Strike to destroy Destructive Dragon Gondola!" Summoned Skull cast out its hands, gathering together its power. Then it thrust that power forwards in the form of a sphere of electricity which surged towards the dragon. However to everyone's surprise the barrier of Bakura's Ghost Shield came up, meaning Bakura had willing given up a monster from his cemetery to protect Yugi.
Now it was Bakura's turn, and it was time to act. The biggest target was of course the skull, so he'd have to deal with that before anything else. And he knew exactly how to. "Diabound Carnel, use your Venom Drain on Summoned Skull!" The skull barely managed to ward off the attack, but it was unable to keep the fangs from sinking into its arm, releasing a full doze of venom which dropped its attack down to a respectable thirty-eight hundred.
"Now I'll simply set one card face down and end my turn." His lighter half drew a card and glanced down at it. As he did his monster lost its power bonus and dropped back to a measly 1500 points. However Ryou didn't look too upset with his card. In fact he looked happy.
"I use Pot of Greed to draw two cards." He did so, and then examined the cards, smiling happily at what he saw. "Now I'll set one card, and sacrifice Nightmare of Thebes for End of Anubis(2500/2000) which prevents you from effecting your graveyard while its in play, negating your Ghost Shield!" Ryou's new monster was a powerful looking jackal warrior who didn't look too happy. At that moment Ryou signaled that his turn was over, obviously not ready to make an attack yet.
Yugi took the top card from his deck and glanced down at it, assessing his five card hand. He had something here, he could make this work. He could beat Yami, prove that he was capable. He didn't want to, but it had to be done! "I play Cost Summons, which lets me summon up any level four or under monsters from my hand, which are destroyed at the end of my turn."
Two monsters, one a white clad magician and the other a puny looking dragon, appeared on the field in front of the mini duelist, who grinned as they were summoned. "Now I play Sacrifices, which lets me destroy your monsters, both of them, by engaging in battle with them. So first I power up my dragon by 500 points, and then I send my two monsters to attack yours!"
Yami and Ryou glanced at each other, uncertain what Yugi was up to. As weak as his monsters were, they'd make him take a huge amount of damage when they were destroyed. It was like committing suicide. "Think I'm crazy? Think again! Activate Waboku!"
The two monsters collided with End of Anubis and Summoned Skull, and then in a flash of light the four monsters exploded, but because of the power of Waboku, Yugi's life points were saved from being obliterated. And now, both player's were completely open to an attack. There was nothing to stop him at all.
"Forgive me Yami, but this is something that I have to at least try. Destructive Dragon Gondola...I command you to defeat Yami once and for all with your Final Flame Attack!" The fierce dragon issued forth a huge stream of black flame that streamed towards the defenseless Yami, ready to crush him. There was absolutely no way to stop the attack, none at all.
"Prepare yourself chattel as I unleash the true power of Atlantis. Final Countdown, activate!" The two other duelists looked on in horror as a giant burning face appeared in the sky above them, looming like a signal of some terrible fate that might await them. But what the card did...that was something different.
"At a cost of a mere two thousand life points I can declare victory in this duel with the powers of the Seer! I have seen your fate mortals, and it lies in the hands of this single card. I require nothing else to defeat you but this!"
Tristan and Duke shot each other significant glances, each one trying to think of what this card might do. However, neither was coming up with any answer. All they could see was the burning head hovering high above them, looking like it would fall at any moment. Tristan decide to make the question. "What does it do?"(HLP: 6000)
"Now, by the effect of my card, in twenty turns counting from this turn, you shall lose this duel and I shall be the victor! In twenty turns your fate will be sealed! Or perhaps less...I'll continue my turn by playing the second card to insure victory, Orichalcos Ziggurat!"
As he played the card, the ground started to shake. The two other duelists stared in shock as the ground behind Hiyazaku exploded, and from it rose a giant black temple, which at its head had a giant symbol of a six pointed star. The temple gave off an eerie green glow that put the two on edge more then they already were.
"This card is a critical card in my strategy, and therefore I must pay for its great power. It will cost me one thousand points to activate, and another five hundred each standby phase. But its worth it. Go ahead, take your turns. They only lead to your destruction!" (HLP: 5000)
Tristan drew his card, mentally counting the payments that Hiyazaku would have to make on his magic card. To his dissatisfaction he determined that they would run out of turns before Hiyazaku ran out of life points. But luckily for them he had left himself wide open for a direct attack. "I'll place a card face down and summon Nin-ken Dog(1800/1000), which I'll use to attack you directly!"
The brown-furred ninja dog was summoned to the field, and instantly charged across the field, going into a leaping kick to strike down Hiyazaku, diminishing his life points to a minimal thirty-two hundred. But to their surprise the big eye-ball that was Kitoras moved in the way, and Nin-ken Dog bounced off. "What the hell?"
Hiyazaku smirked and gestured with one hand towards his deck master which was moving back to its position behind him, next to the ziggurat. It seemed perfectly unharmed by the attack, and according to the counter, so were his life points. "My Kitoras is capable of absorbing the damage from an attack, leaving me unharmed. Rather simple isn't it? That means your essentially unable to harm me whatsoever!"
Duke and Tristan grimaced, and it came time for Duke to take his turn. He did so, drawing his card and looking over his hand to form a strategy. He had his strategy easy and ready, but he had to hope it worked. "I'll set a card face down and then I'll play a special magic card known as Reasoning!" The two cards appeared on the field, one face down and the other face up. It was all up to Hiyazaku now.
"And what does this card do?" Duke grinned and drew the first card off his deck, holding it out to the side as he started to explain.
"You have to declare a level, anything at all. I start drawing cards, and when I get to the first monster I have to show it. If the monster is that level, then I discard everything I've drawn, including the monster. If it isn't the level, everything else is discarded and I can special summon that monster. So go ahead and name a level!"
Hiyazaka smiled slightly, understanding that such a move was desperate, and could ruin a person's deck quite easily. Playing something like that could make you lose many worthwhile cards, but in these two's decks, he doubted there actually was anything worthwhile. "I do not care what sort of creatures you possess. No monster and no strategy can harm the mighty Hiyazaku. Therefore I will declare level twelve. Summon whatever monster you wish, it shall not avail you."
Duke grinned and started drawing cards, depositing first a Polymerization card, then a Summoning Dice, next came a Fairy Meteor Crush, and finally he drew...."Orgoth the Relentless(2500/2000) come on out!" The massive armored warrior shimmered into view, towering over Tristan, Duke, Hiyazaku, and the Nin-ken Dog. It was easily the mightiest monster on the field.
"Now I'll counteract your deck master's effect by giving it a second target. Since you can only absorb one attack, my second one will make it through. So here comes Ryu-Kishin Powered(1600/1000)! Both my monsters attack!" The two monsters rushed into the fray, the big warrior and the giant gargoyle, ready to deal serious damage if they could. However, Kitoras moved into the way, and with a blaze of power it absorbed not one, but both attacks.
"Did you really assume that simply attacking with two monsters would help? My Orichalcos Kitoras will absorb the damage of every single attack you make, meaning attacks are completely useless. And so are you. Does this mean you're finished?" Duke cursed silently and nodded in response, hoping that Hiyazaku didn't get anything good as he drew his card and went into the standby phase. (HLP: 4500)
The blue haired man stared at his hand for several moments and then look up at the two shorter duelists. He sneered and selected three of his cards, then casually deposited them into the cemetery. As he did so, three more cards appeared face down on the field in front of him. "Using the effect of my ziggurat I discard three cards from my hand to set three cards from my deck onto the field. And that shall be the end of my turn."
Tristan blinked in surprise and stared at the three cards as his turn started. He idly wondered exactly what those cards were, but then realized he could at least get rid of one this turn. "I'll play Battle Footballer(100/2100) in defense mode, and then play Remove Trap on the middle card!" First Tristan's monster, a mechanical football player, appeared, and then the Remove Trap flipped up Hiyazaku's middle card.
"I shall chain that card with the activation of the card you try to destroy, Pyro Clock of Destiny! Now time is advanced forwards one turn, bringing you one step closer to absolute defeat!" Both other player's gasped as time warped, and they realized exactly how badly in trouble they were, they situation couldn't get much worse then this.
Duke went into his turn, but realized that without knowing how to get past Kitoras and not knowing what the other two down cards were, he had no method in figuring out what to do. There really wasn't anything to do. "One card face down and Yaranzo(1300/1000) in attack mode. That's all I can do." Two cards appeared, one a skeleton and the other face down. Then Hiyazaku started his turn and made his life point payment. (HLP: 4000)
"Now I shall use my two face down cards to make this duel even harder for you. I activate two Orichalcos Renewals! Each one allows me to regain life points equal to the difference between my base life points and my current, therefore granting me a total of eight thousand points!" (HLP: 12000) Now the situation truly was hopeless. Not only couldn't they deal damage to him, but his life points were much higher then there's as well. And time was ticking away until their defeat!"
"I'll discard two more cards to set up two cards from my deck, to give you more to worry about. That is all." The two cards appeared in front of him, and each of the two duelists started worrying. Were they more Pyro Clock's, or was it something else equally sinister? There was no way they could tell.
"I summon Great Angs(1800/400) and then, what?" His startled comment was caused by one of Hiyazaku's cards flipping up. Surprisingly it was a card that Tristan recognized called Forceful Motion, which made all of a person's monsters enter the battle phase, in this case meaning him and Duke. But why?
Each of their monsters rushed in and was beaten back by the absorbing effect of the annoying eyeball. Little did they know this minor strategy was just something he had waiting in case they made it past his other monsters. Every point of damage Kitoras absorbed paved the way for a monster with enormous power.
As Tristan ended his turn, it became Duke's, who summoned a Dark Blade(1800/1000), and then was shocked by Hiyazaku activating his second down card, another Forceful Motion. Yet again all of their monsters attacked, only to be stopped by the eyeball. And according to Duke's math, the eyeball had just absorbed over ten thousand points of damage for seemingly no reason. What was Hiyazaku up to?
(HLP: 11500) Hiyazaku glanced down at his two cards, then laughed briefly as he discarded one of them, setting another card from his deck onto the field. This duel was becoming boring and tedious. "You two are truly pathetic. You can't even make a worthwhile stand against me let alone deal any damage. Absolutely pathetic."
With little to do, all Tristan managed was to summon Sonic Duck(1400/800), wait for a brief moment to see if Hiyazaku would activate his face down card, and then end his turn when the blue haired freak didn't do anything. Both player's had assembled an army of monsters, but each one was useless.
Duke started off by summoning La Jinn(1800/1000), but soon his hopes for reprieve were cut off by the activation of Hiyazaku's face down card. And to Duke's lack of surprise, it turned out to be the third and final Forceful Motion, meaning Kitoras would be absorbing a grand total of fourteen thousand one hundred points of damage in a single turn. And why? Damned if he knew.
(HLP: 11000) Hiyazaku took a look at the card he had drawn and then back to his other hand, and chose that this moment he wouldn't discard. There was no need for such desperation. He could sit it out and wait, or he could attack now and win. But he didn't want to bother with an attack on such slime. "This is truly boring me. If you don't offer me a challenge then I'll be forced to....what in the world?"
At these words all those present turned their heads up to stared at the quickly approaching black object that was...flying. Whatever it was it would be there any moment, and it wasn't necessarily friendly. As it grew closer they recognized it as being a dragon. In fact it was....Red Eyes Black Dragon!
Duke and Tristan yelled in joy as the dragon swept down and Joey in all his blonde haired glory jumped off his dragon's back and dropped down in front of them. He looked up and came eye to eye with Hiyazaku, who was clearly impressed by Joey's entrance, and by his dragon. "Yo guys, what's up?"
Duke and Tristan gave him a quick run down, and Joey's eyes widened as it continued. He shook his head in disgust and pushed them both aside, stepping in the way. His duel disk activated and he held it forwards, ready to take action. "Listen up ya freakazoid, these two are my friends, but they're both pretty sad duelists. If ya want a real challenge let me take over for em, same rules and everything. So waddya say? Yes? No? Or are you afraid of little ol' me?"
Hiyazaka was incensed by these words, and he was willing to accept this as true words of a challenge. If this mortal could offer him more of a challenge then it was all the better! "I shall accept this challenge, you replacing these two fools. I'd be amazed if you could even damage me, but go ahead. Take over where they were. You may have their monsters and such, but you may not command them as they have more then your monster zones can contain. My turn is over, so feel free to begin!"
Joey grinned and drew a hand of a six cards, then looked over at his cards. Duke had explained what this freak's deck master could do, and Joey had a way to defeat that. But he had to do it quickly, or else he'd be finished. "Think you're tough huh blue boy? Well this monster says different. Come on out, Man-Throwing Troll(1000/1800)!" Joey's monster was a massive troll, taller even then Orgoth. It was so big that it made the giant axe wielding warrior look like a child wield a play toy.
"I'll continue by setting two cards, and then I'll use my monster's special ability. I can sacrifice normal non-token monsters in order to inflict eight hundred points of damage directly to your life points. And since it ain't battle, your deck master can't absorb it! Tell me? Can ya count? I count nine normal monsters in play on my side...so say goodbye to seventy-two hundred life points! Man-Throwing Troll, do your stuff!"
The massive troll began picking up the monsters and one by one chucking them at Hiyazaku. As they got near they exploded, taking out a chunk of his life points with each one. Finally the troll picked up Orgoth in both hands and hurled it at Hiyazaku, laughing tauntingly as the big warrior exploded. (HLP: 3800)
Hiyazaku looked furious as he drew his card, practically ready to burst a blood vessel. He was furious not just because his life points had taken such a serious turn for the worse, but because the damage had been done by someone who was his inferior. "Pot of Greed!"
He drew his two cards, choosing not to pay for the ziggurat, thereby destroying it. Then he looked at his two cards, and put his plan into action. He would now crush his opponent with practiced ease as he brought out his true deck master, and unveiled his true power. "I shall show you the true power of Atlantis. The might that I possess resides within this one card! Seal of Orichaclos!"
"Forgive me Yami, but this is something that I have to at least try. Destructive Dragon Gondola...I command you to defeat Yami once and for all with your Final Flame Attack!" The fierce dragon issued forth a huge stream of black flame that streamed towards the defenseless Yami, ready to crush him. There was absolutely no way to stop the attack, none at all.
Or so it seemed. "Buster Blader, use your deck master effect! Dragon Slaying Sword!" Yugi gasped as the sword wielding dragon slayer jumped straight over Yami's head and swung down with his massive sword. To his horror the sword connected with his dragon's head, and cut it off with that single swipe. The rest of the body exploded into tiny particles, and he was left to take the damage. (YLP: 3100)
"Sorry Yugi, but the effect of my deck master lets me destroy an attacking dragon and deal damage to my opponent's life points equal to the dragon's attack strength." Yugi grimaced and dropped onto his knees, letting his turn end as there was nothing left that he could do. If Yami got anything good in his draw, then it was over for him. No way Bakura would risk protecting him this time around.
"Forgive me Yugi, but I must do this. I move Buster Blader(3100/2300) onto the field, and then play Monster Reborn, reviving End of Anubis(2500/2000). Buster Blader attacks directly, and End of Anubis will attack Earl of Demise!" Yugi cried out as the blader's sword slashed across his chest, dropping his life points down to zero and knocking him out of the game. Then End of Anubis slashed at Bakura's monster, only to be destroyed itself.
"Pharaoh, Go To Hell! In fact, that's my trap card. It destroys the monster that destroyed one of mine, and makes you take the damage. See, even without my partner I can't lose!" (YYLP: 1900) Yami grimaced, realizing exactly what this meant. His impulsive move might cost him the duel, because now his deck master was exposed to an attack.
Bakura grinned widely as he declared an attack using his own deck master's effect. The warrior tried to fend off the snake bottom, but the teeth clamped down on its head, draining its power down to a mere 1300. "I'll set one card face down, and attack your deck master with Wandering Zombie, to finish you off!"
The zombie hurled itself across the field, intent on destroying Buster Blader and defeating Yami, but what Bakura seemed to have forgotten was that Yami wasn't dueling alone. He had Ryou on his side to protect him. "Activate face down card, Protect Me! This lets me take direct damage from an attack in order to save a monster from being destroyed!" The attack turned on him and mowed him down, dropping his life points severely with that single strike. (RLP: 4700)
Ryou glanced down at the card he had drawn and understood exactly what he could do. Now was his moment of triumph, he could at last get rid of the threat that was his darker half. "I play Giant Trunade!" Bakura let out a cry of despair as the heavy wind picked up, sending his cards back into his hand, leaving Wandering Zombie as his only protection.
"Now I'll use my deck master effect. Rise of the Pharaoh! First I can put up to five level two or less zombie sub-types in the cemetery. And now I activate Second Coffin and Third Coffin from my deck!" Five streams of light poured into the cemetery and then two fancy coffins appeared alongside the first coffin. Now everything was set up, a strange strategy that was quite difficult to pull off under normal circumstances.
"Now the final effect of my deck master, I special summon Pharaonic Mummy(2500/2500) to the field, whose effect lets me revive up to four level two or lower zombies from the grave!" Ryou's new monster was a very tall thing in the dress wear of the ancient mummy's with golden mask and all. It also had a shepherd's hook in one hand.
"Now I raise two Pharaoh's Servants(900/0 X2) and two Pharaonic Guardians(900/0 X2)!" The four monster rose up, each tall and garbed in the robes of ancient Egypt. Each one of them was a strange creature, somewhat undead, and Bakura recognized the names as those of booster sets for the game. Funny actually.
"My monsters all attack!" First the Pharaonic Mummy charged in and broke his Wandering Zombie apart with a quick blow from its shepherd's staff. Then the four other monsters collided with him, knocking him off his feet and ripping into his life points. (BLP: 3400)
Bakura coughed briefly, getting his wind back as he rose to his feet. It was now Yami's turn, but it wasn't anything to worry about. He'd have this turn free, and then his next turn he'd be able to protect himself again and get on the path to victory. "Poor Pharaoh, can't do anything this turn. You could attack me with your deck master, but then you'd just have to suffer the consequences as I moved my own deck master to block it and defeat you. There's nothing you can do!"
Yami looked up from his hand and up at Bakura, meeting the thief's eyes. And to Bakura's great surprise, he saw the gleam of triumph in those eyes. What could he possibly have that would give him such a look? He had no chance! "My deck master on its own can't do anything this turn...but combined with other monsters it can. Witness this! Polymerization fuses my deck master with the Dark Magician to create the Dark Paladin(3400/2600)!"
Bakura dropped his entire hand to the ground, and fell to his knees. It couldn't be. It had happened again. He had been defeated by the Pharaoh for the fourth time. It was over...there was nothing left for him. "Say goodnight thief, because this is your end!" And with a single slice of his monster's sword, Bakura lost the last of his life points, and it was all over. (BLP: 0)
Yami opened his mouth to say more, as did Yugi, but suddenly a dark cloud appeared above them, and all eyes turned upon them. Suddenly two bolts of black lightning shot from the sky and connected with the two defeated duelists, blinding everyone else for that single moment.
The light faded...letting Yami and Ryou see the truth. There was nothing left of Bakura and Yugi, no trace besides the burnt spot where the lightning had struck. They were no more. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" Yami's cry split the sky in half, and far away laughter filled the air.
I shall show you the true power of Atlantis. The might that I possess resides within this one card! Seal of Orichaclos!" Joey looked around in confusion as a giant green circle formed around them, and a six pointed star formed upon it. Then the same symbol appeared on Hiyazaku's forehead, making him look even crueler then before. As it formed Duke and Tristan were hurled away.
"Now none can leave and none can enter. The only way out is to win the duel. Not only will this grant me added powers, but the loser of this duel will forfeit their soul!" Joey and his friends gasped as they learned this news, but then Joey's face hardened. If this was what it took, then that would be what he had to do. Whatever he had to do, he'd do it.
"Now the magic card, Mirror of the Mirror Knights! By discarding one level four monster from my hand I can special summon four Mirror Knights(0500/0)! Each of my monsters gains dark power, and from it comes five hundred added attack points!" The four monsters were silver clad knights, each one holding a reflective shield and a sharp looking sword.
"The next step is the ultimate transformation. My deck master Kitoras now becomes Orichalcos Shinoras(40000/0) whose attack points are equal to the damage Kitoras had absorbed! And now he generates Orichalcos Aishiteros and Orichalcos Dekshios!" The eyeball vanished and what appeared in its place had to be forty or fifty feet tall, higher then anything else on the field. It was green and looked like a goofy statue, whose right and left arms soon detached themselves. But its attack points were staggering!
"I will now attack with Dekshios, which always has three hundred more attack points then the monster it attacks, and it takes these points from Shinoras, so say goodbye to Man-Throwing Troll!" The right arm shot out, ready to spear his troll, but he was ready for such a hasty move. One of his trap cards flipped up, revealing Magic-Arm Shield which shot out and captured one of the Mirror Knights putting it in the way. The knight shattered, and it was Hiyazaku's turn to lose life points again. (HLP: 3500)
"Surprising that you manage to accomplish anything. But watch yourself chattel, for my knights become the attack strength of any monster they attack. So I have one attack your troll and the other two attack directly!" Each knight took off, first one slicing straight through the massive troll, and then the other two cutting Joey, sending him flying back up against the barrier of the seal which shocked him and dropped him to his knees. (JLP: 6500)
Joey took a stuttering breath and rose to his feet, drawing a card as he did so. This stuff was now unrelentingly real, so he'd have to be careful, or else he'd end up the worse in this duel. "I'll set a card down and summon Alligator Sword(1500/1000) in attack mode, and then I'll play Monster Reborn on Man-Throwing Troll. My two monsters attack two of your Mirror Knights!" The troll lumbered over and smashed one with brute force, while the lizard-like warrior sliced another in half with his scimitar. (HLP: 2000)
"Now Man-Throwing Troll, toss Alligator Sword!" The giant troll hefted the shocked beast-warrior in one hand, and then hurled him at incredible speeds at Hiyazaku. The blue-haired duelist was blown backwards by the sheer force of the detonation, but he managed to rise again, ready to continue. (HLP: 1200)
Hiyazaku drew his card and inwardly tried not to curse. It made no sense whatsoever that some normal human was able to bring he, the great Seer Hiyazaku, to this low of a level in life points! It just didn't happen. 'This cannot be any normal mere mortal. There is something special about this one.'
"I shall have my final Mirror Knight attack and destroy Man-Throwing Troll!" The knight charged across the field and jumped into the air, coming down swinging with his blade. However at the last moment both of Joey's face down cards flipped up, and Hiyazaku's attempt to trash the troll failed.
"I activate Scapegoat and Shift! Sending your attack to one of my goats, protecting my troll and my life points!" The four different colored goats were summoned to the field, and the knight sliced through one, unable to do any real damage because the goats were in defense mode. Now Hiyazaku had one other chance.
"I was intending to deal damage, but if that is how it shall be, then I'll simply destroy two more tokens with Deskhios and Aishiteros!" The two arms shot out, each one spearing a goat token and destroying it, leaving Joey with one token and Man-Throwing Troll left over. There was one last move Hiyazaku could make, and it would prevent Man-Throwing Troll from doing any further damage.
"My next move is to activate Cast Away, which removes one monster on the opponent's field from the game until the end of my next turn. So say goodbye to your Man-Throwing Troll!" The giant troll roared as it started to flicker in and out, and then as quickly as it had been summoned, it vanished into thin air...or maybe thick air.
Joey drew his card, and started counting. Things weren't looking good at the moment, but there just might be a way to pull this off...but Hiyazaku didn't think so. And he said as much. "Foolish mortal. Have you counted the turns? This is the nineteenth turn, and should my next turn begin, then you will fail and I will claim victory! You cannot possibly win in one turn, there is no way to accomplish it!"
Joey held up two cards, and started his play, knowing that this was the one chance he had. "Not possible? Those words ain't in Joey Wheeler's vocabulary! So check this out, Soldier Soul! And at a cost of fifteen hundred life points, I'll revive Dark Blade, La Jinn, and Alligator Sword all in defense mode!" The three named monsters appeared on the field, and Joey's life points took a dip at that moment. However, Hiyazaku still saw no chance, because the monsters were in defense mode. (JLP: 5000)
"I bet you think that I just made a stupid move. But what you didn't realize was that what I intended was to sacrifice those three monsters to summon my strongest creature, the all-powerful thunder deity, Gilford the Lightning(2800/1400)!" There was a loud popping sound, and the three monsters shattered into tiny pieces, making way for the armored and armed thunder deity known as Gilford.
Gilford unsheathed his sword and swept it down, sending a stream of electric power at Dekshios, Aishiteros, and the last Mirror Knight. All three shattered into tiny pieces, and unfortunately for Hiyazaku, one of the restrictions to having Shinoras as a deck master, was that it could not be placed on the field. "Say bu-bye Hiyazaku, cuz here comes Gilford's Lightning Blade!"
On the outside of the seal Duke and Tristan cheered Joey on as the warrior of lightning charged forwards with his sword, ready to strike down Hiyazaku. The said duelist had a stupefied look on his face, as did his three soldiers. How could any mortal possibly do this to the great Hiyazaku? "I refuse to be defeated!"
An explosion of power erupted from Hiyazaku, and in that blaze of power Shinoras vanished, and Kitoras returned in its place. The eyeball moved forwards and absorbed the attack, letting it accomplish nothing. "That was the last time my deck master could be used, the final effect of Shinoras to let it return Kitoras as my deck master for one final save. And now...there is nothing you can do."
Joey fell to his knees in horror as Hiyazaku started his turn, and the burning head high above swooped down upon Joey and ripped away his energy, letting the seal close in upon him and take his soul. The twentieth turn had come, and all was lost.
With that finished Hiyazaku turned away and started walking. Tristan and Duke rushed to Joey's body, trying to wake him up, but to no avail. The three soldiers followed after the blue haired man, one asking why they weren't dealing with the other two humans. "Because this was one battle that I did not deserve to be. That mortal deserves a space amongst the Atlantians for his great skill and determination."
The most miraculous thing ever had just happened. After being in the desert for far too many hours, the two exhausted travelers had come across an oasis. Jumping for joy the two duelists entered the jungle-like area, relaxing against trees as they soaked up the lack of sun under the shade of a big tree. Both had pulled their duel disks off and were snoozing, mostly.
Drake blinked as his ear caught the sound of something oddly familiar. If it was really moving water then...he pulled himself up from his sitting position and brushed aside some palm leaves. What he saw was a little thing of water, a waterfall, and something else entirely. "Kai...check this out."
The other duelist roused himself and joined Drake in looking, his first reaction was like Drake's, just taking in the sight of the water. But then his eyes fell upon what Drake was really looking at, and he turned away, blushing slightly. "You can't look like that, its not right."
Drake rolled his eyes at this and leaned over again, watching the sights. Sitting on a rock just beneath the waterfall was a very attractive petite brunette in a bikini. She had her head turned up to the water, letting it run down her body in little rivulets.
Because of this Drake couldn't see her face, but the rest of her was definitely worth watching. She wasn't gorgeous, but she was certainly cute. Good body, everything he could ask for. And Kai was just sitting there being grumpy. Damned goody goodies. "You should really watch while you can, it's the only chance you'll get to see a girl like that."
Drake wasn't looking at Kai when he said this, but he was fairly certain that the comment had pissed the other boy off. In fact he learned the hard way that this was the case, as a hand reached out and idly shoved his back. "Quit being such a pig."
What Kai didn't realize when he did this was that since the waterfall was lower then they were, there was a short hill between them and the water. Of course the little shove pushed Drake off balance, and down he went tumbling end over end down the hill. "Oops."
Drake slid to a halt and coughed up some dirt. He slowly picked himself up, finding himself at the edge of the water. As he looked upwards he found himself looking straight into a set of very familiar eyes on a very familiar face. "Drake?"
Drake gulped and smiled slightly, realizing just how bad this must look. "Umm...hi Serenity."
Author's Notes: Uh-oh, trouble in the future! Yeah, that's all.
original Cards
Hiyazaku: Forceful Motion, Orichalcos Ziggurat, Mirror of Mirror Knights, Orichalcos Renewal, Cast Away
Yami Yugi: Type Shift
Bakura: Voodoo Doll, Holding Chains, Go To Hell
Ryou: Sacrifice Maneuver, Super Electric Burst, Protect Me
Yugi: Anti-Destruct, Absolute Negation, Cost Summons, Sacrifices
Doom Arc Cards: Soldier Soul(Raphael), Pump Up(Yami), Orichalcos Shinoras, Aishiteros, Deskhios, Kitoras(all Dartz), Seal of Orichalcos(every major duelist in the arc except Joey and Kaiba)
Others: Other cards you may not have recognized, that is, those that Ryou uses, are from the Pharaoh's Inheritance expansion set, which will be half of Ancient Sanctuary when it comes out.
Author's Note: Ummm....ummm.....ummm....forget get it, I can't think of anything.
Quote of the Chapter: "I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders."-Jewish Proverb
Chapter Twenty-Four: The Duelist Who Sees Fate: Countdown to the End
It had hardly been any time since the end of Kai and Drake's duel. They had headed off immediately, desperate to find a place where they could relax for a brief moment, to find a place in the shade where the eternal sun didn't beat down on them with destructive force.
Of course, such a thing seemed impossible since the desert continued as far as the eye could see. The only distraction that they had come across were a small group of duelists traveling together. Of course when duelists gathered together there was bound to be a duel or two, and of course they did. Kai and Drake now walked away with four new victories. This brought Kai up to four and Drake to seven.
But now that there were no distractions they were both forced to look towards their immediate future again. And their immediate future was filled with lots of bright light, lots of heat, and no water. Essentially they were screwed. "DAMN IT ALL!"
Kensai's horse, named Windsprite by the amazons, barreled through the woods, its hooves pounding heavily against the underbrush. With surprising skill the two moved as one, dodging in between trees as if they already knew where they were before hand. Behind them came another group of horses containing his companions.
These horses following him weren't going anywhere near as fast, not just because one of their number was injured, but also because they weren't in as much of a rush. They weren't crazy like Kensai was, they didn't want to get themselves killed. So instead they followed at a more leisurely pace, knowing that they would just catch up with him when his horse collapsed from exhaustion.
Whatever had driven Kensai into this frenzy was unclear, as he hadn't displayed such intensity on the topic of Taichi before they were flung here. Something had happened to him, but exactly what had happened wasn't clear. But every time he was frustrated he stuck one hand in his pocket and the frenzied look came back into his eyes, and he took off again.
Up in front of them Kensai had the very same frenzied look in his eyes. A dull roar filled his ears as he pounded towards his goal. He could feel his energy being sapped away from him each and every second. He took one hand off the reins, shoved his hand into his pocket, and felt the surge of energy pour into him, giving him what he needed.
If anyone had gotten in front of him and looked into his eyes, they would have seen a strange six-pointed star (A.N.-HA! Eat that Paul!) deep within his eyes. That was the source of his frenzy, the source of his power. The dark power provided to him by the Seal of Orichalcos.
In a different part of the strange world another, smaller group was wandering around. This group wasn't exactly happy to be a group. The two people in the group didn't like each other all that much. They essentially despised each other.
One of these two thought he was better then the other one in every way possible. The other despised him for his arrogant mannerisms and how intruded into places that he didn't belong. He also despised the fact that most of his friends had accepted the arrogant bastard as part of their group. Didn't they remember the things he had put them through?
"Look, you don't like me and I don't like you, but for the moment we need to cooperate, otherwise we'll never safely find the others and get out of this place. You got that?" The brown haired man stared intently at his companion after speaking these words, and waiting for his companion to respond.
The other man brushed a hand through his hair and smirked at the brown haired man, obviously not respecting him. They glared at each other for a moment before the response was given. "Whatever. Let us just stop sitting around and get moving, I'm already tired enough of being around you, so we should get this over with."
Deep laughter caught their ears and the two turned around to find a group of four men approaching. The one who was laughing was a tall man with light blue hair down to his neck, dressed in a fancy robe. His companions were dressed in what looked like dated military uniforms, one with brown hair, another with red hair, and the last with a deep purple hair.
The two companions, one with black hair the other with brown, faced these newcomers, fists at the ready just in case. Tristan was the first to speak up, questioning the strangers. "Who are you? And what the heck's so funny?"
The tallest man, the leader, stopped laughing very slowly, a chuckle still evident as he stopped. He looked between Tristan and Duke, suppressed another chuckle, and then brushed past them, his soldiers following close. "Hey! What the hell's wrong with you? You can't just brush past us like that!"
The blue haired man turned his head to face them and grinned widely, displaying perfect white teeth. His eyes were a bright turquoise color that shone in the sun. "I can brush past you because I am of a higher race then you. You are just mankind, I am Atlantian and you are humans. I am a Seer, you are just peons. That is why I brush past you. The humor? Your pathetic squabbling."
He turned away and started walking away again, but Tristan, being the kind of person that he was, wasn't going to talk such disrespect lying down. He rushed forwards to grab the man by the back of his robes, but on of the soldiers lashed out with his foot and caught Tristan in the gut, doubling him over. "Do not dare to touch the Seer chattel!"
Duke moved forwards and helped Tristan to his feet, both of them glaring at the small group. Even Duke realized that they were in over their heads, but Tristan wasn't done yet. He wasn't finished in the least bit. "We aren't property, we aren't peons, we're just as good as you are! Hell, consider that we're not assholes I'd say we're better then you!"
Tristan didn't expect anything of the sort of what happened next. The tall blue haired man smashed his soldiers aside, knocking them to the ground, and stepped forwards. A fierce look covered his perfect features and he sneered down at them. "For such an insult I will crush you completely! I accept the challenge to my honor! I can leave Lord Dartz for later, I will deal with you chattel now. Two on one, a true test of power. We shall use the duel monsters deck master rules. Now select your cards and your deck masters!"
The two of them sent confused glances to each other and started to protest, but the look they were given by the blue haired man and his soldiers convinced him to shut up. Grimacing the two of them watched as duel disks appeared on their arms, and cards started floating in front of them. Sighing they started looking through the cards, selecting their cards. Their opponent did the same.
After a few minutes the three, of them were prepared with their decks, and had started to choose their deck masters. Duke selected Strike Ninja, and Tristan selected Super Roboyaro. Their opponent shifted through his cards for a moment and then smirked. "Very well, let us begin. I select my deck master as Orichalcos Kitoras(500/500)!"
His deck master appeared behind him, revealing a big eyeball with little spikes on its body floating there. Whatever it was, it was certainly a strange looking monster. Each duelist watched as their life point counter rose to eight thousand, and the duel was on. "I the Great Seer of Atlantis, Advisor to the Lord of Atlantis, and General of the Armies of Atlantis shall crush you completely! Beware chattel, for you face the one of the two mightiest of all Atlantians, Seer Hiyazaku!"
The three soldiers bowed as he spoke these words, leaving Tristan and Duke feeling foolish. The guy thought he was from Atlantis? What a freaking loony, Atlantis had never even existed for Pete's sake! "I'm Tristan and this dice freak here is Duke. We'll be glad to kick your freaky blue haired butt!"
Hiyazaku sneered and drew his opening hand, looking over it only briefly before beginning his move. Already he knew that this duel would be an easy one. It would require no effort to defeat these pathetic chattel. "Prepare yourself chattel as I unleash the true power of Atlantis. Final Countdown, activate!"
Yami faced off with his opponent, ready to strike at any necessary moment. His opponent, white haired bastard that he was, sneered at him and was similarly ready to strike. It was hardly unusual to see Yami and Bakura facing off, but it wasn't the situation they wanted at this moment.
Off to the right Yugi and Ryou agonized over their dark selves fighting. They had run into each other only shortly ago, and right off the bat the two yamis had started fighting. Now they were arguing about how they would go about finding their potential enemy. "I tell you that charging blindly forward won't accomplish anything! I know we're being watched so I know we have to attract their attention!"
As Bakura spoke these words Yami got right up in his face, ready to lash out with his magic at a moments notice. He hardly cared that the words the other dark spirit spoke were intelligent and well thought out. "And how do you propose we do that?"
"By doing exactly what they want us to do! Duel you blathering idiot!" Yami smirked and stepped back, activating his duel disk, waiting for Bakura to do the same. He hardly minded such a thing. He was ready to duel if Bakura was, it would make him feel more at ease if he could get a chance to kick the arrogant thief's ass.
"Not just you and me you fool! A duel that will attract their attention, a duel that they'll absolutely want to see played out. We've already dueled before, but what I will propose is far beyond us dueling, it is much cleverer. You and Ryou, versus Yugi and I. They'd never be able to resist!"
Each of the hikaris looked to their yamis, hoping for advice of some sort. Of course Bakura just ignored Ryou, but Yami and Yugi briefly held a conversation off to the side before coming back with their answer. "We'll do it."
"Very well then, assemble your decks and select your deck masters, this two on two duel is about to begin!" The four duelists started to assemble their decks, and after only a few minutes they were ready. The two most intent in this process were Ryou and Yugi, who had something special in mind.
Yami was the first to speak up and select his deck master, meaning he would be the one to go first. He select Buster Blader, which appeared behind him. Next was Bakura who quickly held aloft his card and declared it in a clear voice. "My deck master shall be Diabound Carnel!" Yami's eyes widened as a strange white monster with miniature wings and the bottom half of a snake appeared behind Bakura. There was something almost familiar about that creature.
Ryou selected a trap card as his deck master, a move that confused the other duelists. His deck master was First Coffin, which appeared as a large fancy pharaoh's coffin. Then Yugi stepped up to select his deck master. "I choose Silent Swordsman!" Yugi's deck master was a compact dark armored warrior who looked like he was…well expandable really.
Yami took a deep breath and started off, drawing his opening hand quite quickly. He stared at his cards, eyes clear and determined, realizing quickly that he was in trouble. He had no monsters at all, and hardly any playable cards. Suppressing a grimace he selected the only card he could use. "One card face down, and I end my turn!"
Next Bakura drew his initial hand and a sixth card. He looked over his cards and smirked, realizing what he could do. Quite an easy move actually, hardly a problem. "I begin with two cards face down, and Wandering Zombie(1500/0) in attack mode!" The two cards appeared down in front of him and a tough looking zombie was summoned.
Ryou took his turn, quickly selecting the cards he wanted to use, three in total. "I'll set two cards face down and summon Nightmare of Thebes(1500/1500) in attack mode!" His two cards appeared, following by a burning spirit of blue fire in front of him. Bakura's eyes widened as he realized that his pathetic hikari had actually created a new deck, different from his own. Well that was fine, he had some surprised waiting anyways.
Yugi started his turn by drawing a card and then he looked over his hand for several seconds. He nodded once and select his cards, then he started off. "I'll start by playing a card face down. Then I'll play Green Gadget(1400/1600) in defense mode! By its effect I can place one Red Gadget in my hand. Now I'll end my turn!" Yugi's monster was a green humanoid machine with a giant gear on its back. It didn't seem all that impressive.
Yami drew his next card and grimaced, seeing that he wasn't any better off then he had been in his previous turn. What was worse, now others would be able to attack, and he was essentially defenseless. His face down card couldn't save him more then once. "Pass."
Bakura smirked and drew his next card, satisfied at what he saw. This would serve very nicely to continue setting up this duel in exactly the way he wanted it. Victory was assured already! "I'll play Gelnia(500/2000) in defense mode. Your turn Ryou!"
Ryou took a deep breath and glanced down at his card. It wasn't going to be much help, so he was just going to have to carry on with his prepared combo. If it worked then his side would get an early lead...but who to attack. By the confident look on his yami's face, he had a perfect defense. By the look in Yami's eye's, Yugi had no real defense. There was no chance his darker half would protect Yugi...so despite misgivings Yugi was the best choice.
"I'll activate Super Electric Burst, my face down trap card! During this turn one monster on my field gets a bonus of five hundred attack points for each card I discard. I'll raise Nightmare of Thebes by two thousand points by discarding all four of my cards!" He shoved his hand into his cemetery slot and watched as a stream of electricity surged around his monster, making it grow to double its original size.
"Now I'll activate my other placed card, Sacrifice Maneuver which costs 1000 points to activate. Now Nightmare of Thebes can attack directly. And because I've got no cards in my hand and no magic or trap cards, Nightmare of Thebes gains fifteen hundred points! Nightmare Flame Attack! Direct it at Yugi!" The fire beast opened its mouth and roared out a stream of blue fire, ready to consume the little duelist. (RLP: 7000)
Bakura let out a loud and rough laugh, and then raised one arm above his head, directing his trap card to activate. It flipped up, revealing a man being prodded by pins and needles. "My face down card Voodoo Doll changes the target of your attack from my partner...to yours!"
Yami let out a sharp cry as the attack twisted in mid-air, coming straight for him. His face down card was Mirror Force, but if he activated it now, he'd have no trap to defend him come Yugi's turn, and his partner would lose his only monster. Both of them would be open! The attack struck and hurled him backwards, draining his life points. (YYLP: 3000)
Yugi took this moment to draw his card, giving him a total of six cards. Now he had more options and a plan all set up. This shouldn't be too hard at all. "I'll play Red Gadget in defense mode, letting me put Yellow Gadget into my hand. Then I'll set a card and end my turn." A red smaller machine monster appeared, followed by a down card. Bakura sneered at this lackluster move, but shrugged it off.
Yami focused his mind, putting his faith in the heart of the cards to provide him with a much needed monster. He drew his card forcefully and was rewarded with, "Retrained Celtic Guardian(1400/1200) come out and attack Red Gadget!" The elvish warrior was summoned and immediately rushed across the field, swinging its blade at the red machine. To everyone's surprise the stronger attacker's sword bounced off of Red Gadget's body.
"Sorry Yami, but that won't work. I've activated my face down card, Anti-Destruct. As long as its face-up, no face-up defense monster can be destroyed by battle!" With this declaration Yami was forced to end his turn, knowing that he couldn't defeat any of Yugi's defense monster. Worse yet, since Bakura was his partner, Gelnia was now immune to battle as well.
Bakura laughed at the pharaoh's discomfort and drew his card, laughing even harder as he saw exactly what he had been hoping for. This card would make everything much easier. "I play Painful Choice!" He searched through his deck and picked out his cards, displaying each one to his opponents. Yami saw only demon monsters...meaning Bakura wanted to bring out Dark Necrophia. He picked one and the thief discarded the others.
"I'll sacrifice Gelnia for Earl of Demise(2000/700)! And now I'll use the effect of my deck master, Venom Drain!" Ryou yelped in surprise as Bakura' deck master's snake bottom snapped across the field and plunged its fangs into his Nightmare of Thebes...and watched in horror as its power trickled away. (NoT: 1200/1500)
"Now I play a special card called Holding Chains, which can prevent the activation of one face down card for this entire turn. I choose Yami's face down!" Silver chains erupted from the earth and wrapped around Yami's face down Mirror Force, binding it for the duration of the turn. With that out of the way, Bakura leapt into action.
"Both my monsters shall attack!" The two monsters leapt into action, but Yami stepped up to defend against the attack by putting Retrained Celtic Guardian in the way of Earl of Demise's attack, dropping Yami's life points. The second attack struck the flame monster and destroyed it. (RLP: 6700, YYLP: 2400)
Now it was Ryou's turn again, and he drew his card, hoping for something good to protect him. Slowly he brought the card up in front of him and then grinned widely at the sight of that card. "I play Monster Reborn, reviving Nightmare of Thebes(3000/1500)!" The flame monster was restored, boosted to double its base size by its own effect.
"Nightmare of Thebes, destroy Wandering Zombie!" The creature roared out its flames, and then Bakura began laughing as he activated his next card, a very special card. A barrier of darkness sprang up and stopped the attack in its tracks, forcing Ryou to end his turn.
"You've run into my Ghost Shield! By removing one demon from my cemetery I can stop your attack and end your battle phase, and as long as I have demons in my cemetery I can maintain my trap!" Ryou and Yami grimaced, knowing they'd have to find a way past that card soon if they wanted to accomplish anything.
With that out of the way Yugi drew his card, and with that card came a change in his game plan. No more defensive theory, now was time for attacking head on! "I'll set one card, then sacrifice my monsters for Destructive Dragon Gondola(2900/2800) and I transfer some of my deck master's gained attack points to raise his attack to 4400!"
The dragon, an incredibly fierce black beast, let out a fearful roar as its power was massively increased. With that sort of power it could easily overcome anything any of the others could throw out. With this, Yugi could take control. As much as it pained him to do so...the best target was, "Gondola, attack Yami's Retrained Celtic Guardian and burn away the last of his life points!"
The dragon sent a jet of flame streaming towards the much weaker elf, however it was interrupted by a barrier as Mirror Force activated, shooting the flame right back at Yugi and his monster. "I thought you had Mirror Force waiting, that's why I had my own card waiting. Absolute Negation, activate!" There was a bright flash of light, and suddenly everything was as it had been before the attack, except Yami's face down card was gone, used up.
Yami took his turn, discovering exactly what he needed to see. He now had a way to take control of the duel...but how best to go about it. He smirked, realizing what he could do, and put it into action. "I sacrifice for Summoned Skull(2500/1200)!" His demon monster appeared in place of the elf, and let out a display of electric power as it charged up.
"Now I'll play two cards in combination, the first is called Pump Up, which doubles my monster's attack power for this turn. My second card is Type Shift, which lets me change Pump Up from a normal magic card into an equip card!" The demon let out a shrill cry as a storm of electricity jumped up around it, readying it for battle as its power doubled to a massive five thousand points.
"Summoned Skull, use your Lightning Strike to destroy Destructive Dragon Gondola!" Summoned Skull cast out its hands, gathering together its power. Then it thrust that power forwards in the form of a sphere of electricity which surged towards the dragon. However to everyone's surprise the barrier of Bakura's Ghost Shield came up, meaning Bakura had willing given up a monster from his cemetery to protect Yugi.
Now it was Bakura's turn, and it was time to act. The biggest target was of course the skull, so he'd have to deal with that before anything else. And he knew exactly how to. "Diabound Carnel, use your Venom Drain on Summoned Skull!" The skull barely managed to ward off the attack, but it was unable to keep the fangs from sinking into its arm, releasing a full doze of venom which dropped its attack down to a respectable thirty-eight hundred.
"Now I'll simply set one card face down and end my turn." His lighter half drew a card and glanced down at it. As he did his monster lost its power bonus and dropped back to a measly 1500 points. However Ryou didn't look too upset with his card. In fact he looked happy.
"I use Pot of Greed to draw two cards." He did so, and then examined the cards, smiling happily at what he saw. "Now I'll set one card, and sacrifice Nightmare of Thebes for End of Anubis(2500/2000) which prevents you from effecting your graveyard while its in play, negating your Ghost Shield!" Ryou's new monster was a powerful looking jackal warrior who didn't look too happy. At that moment Ryou signaled that his turn was over, obviously not ready to make an attack yet.
Yugi took the top card from his deck and glanced down at it, assessing his five card hand. He had something here, he could make this work. He could beat Yami, prove that he was capable. He didn't want to, but it had to be done! "I play Cost Summons, which lets me summon up any level four or under monsters from my hand, which are destroyed at the end of my turn."
Two monsters, one a white clad magician and the other a puny looking dragon, appeared on the field in front of the mini duelist, who grinned as they were summoned. "Now I play Sacrifices, which lets me destroy your monsters, both of them, by engaging in battle with them. So first I power up my dragon by 500 points, and then I send my two monsters to attack yours!"
Yami and Ryou glanced at each other, uncertain what Yugi was up to. As weak as his monsters were, they'd make him take a huge amount of damage when they were destroyed. It was like committing suicide. "Think I'm crazy? Think again! Activate Waboku!"
The two monsters collided with End of Anubis and Summoned Skull, and then in a flash of light the four monsters exploded, but because of the power of Waboku, Yugi's life points were saved from being obliterated. And now, both player's were completely open to an attack. There was nothing to stop him at all.
"Forgive me Yami, but this is something that I have to at least try. Destructive Dragon Gondola...I command you to defeat Yami once and for all with your Final Flame Attack!" The fierce dragon issued forth a huge stream of black flame that streamed towards the defenseless Yami, ready to crush him. There was absolutely no way to stop the attack, none at all.
"Prepare yourself chattel as I unleash the true power of Atlantis. Final Countdown, activate!" The two other duelists looked on in horror as a giant burning face appeared in the sky above them, looming like a signal of some terrible fate that might await them. But what the card did...that was something different.
"At a cost of a mere two thousand life points I can declare victory in this duel with the powers of the Seer! I have seen your fate mortals, and it lies in the hands of this single card. I require nothing else to defeat you but this!"
Tristan and Duke shot each other significant glances, each one trying to think of what this card might do. However, neither was coming up with any answer. All they could see was the burning head hovering high above them, looking like it would fall at any moment. Tristan decide to make the question. "What does it do?"(HLP: 6000)
"Now, by the effect of my card, in twenty turns counting from this turn, you shall lose this duel and I shall be the victor! In twenty turns your fate will be sealed! Or perhaps less...I'll continue my turn by playing the second card to insure victory, Orichalcos Ziggurat!"
As he played the card, the ground started to shake. The two other duelists stared in shock as the ground behind Hiyazaku exploded, and from it rose a giant black temple, which at its head had a giant symbol of a six pointed star. The temple gave off an eerie green glow that put the two on edge more then they already were.
"This card is a critical card in my strategy, and therefore I must pay for its great power. It will cost me one thousand points to activate, and another five hundred each standby phase. But its worth it. Go ahead, take your turns. They only lead to your destruction!" (HLP: 5000)
Tristan drew his card, mentally counting the payments that Hiyazaku would have to make on his magic card. To his dissatisfaction he determined that they would run out of turns before Hiyazaku ran out of life points. But luckily for them he had left himself wide open for a direct attack. "I'll place a card face down and summon Nin-ken Dog(1800/1000), which I'll use to attack you directly!"
The brown-furred ninja dog was summoned to the field, and instantly charged across the field, going into a leaping kick to strike down Hiyazaku, diminishing his life points to a minimal thirty-two hundred. But to their surprise the big eye-ball that was Kitoras moved in the way, and Nin-ken Dog bounced off. "What the hell?"
Hiyazaku smirked and gestured with one hand towards his deck master which was moving back to its position behind him, next to the ziggurat. It seemed perfectly unharmed by the attack, and according to the counter, so were his life points. "My Kitoras is capable of absorbing the damage from an attack, leaving me unharmed. Rather simple isn't it? That means your essentially unable to harm me whatsoever!"
Duke and Tristan grimaced, and it came time for Duke to take his turn. He did so, drawing his card and looking over his hand to form a strategy. He had his strategy easy and ready, but he had to hope it worked. "I'll set a card face down and then I'll play a special magic card known as Reasoning!" The two cards appeared on the field, one face down and the other face up. It was all up to Hiyazaku now.
"And what does this card do?" Duke grinned and drew the first card off his deck, holding it out to the side as he started to explain.
"You have to declare a level, anything at all. I start drawing cards, and when I get to the first monster I have to show it. If the monster is that level, then I discard everything I've drawn, including the monster. If it isn't the level, everything else is discarded and I can special summon that monster. So go ahead and name a level!"
Hiyazaka smiled slightly, understanding that such a move was desperate, and could ruin a person's deck quite easily. Playing something like that could make you lose many worthwhile cards, but in these two's decks, he doubted there actually was anything worthwhile. "I do not care what sort of creatures you possess. No monster and no strategy can harm the mighty Hiyazaku. Therefore I will declare level twelve. Summon whatever monster you wish, it shall not avail you."
Duke grinned and started drawing cards, depositing first a Polymerization card, then a Summoning Dice, next came a Fairy Meteor Crush, and finally he drew...."Orgoth the Relentless(2500/2000) come on out!" The massive armored warrior shimmered into view, towering over Tristan, Duke, Hiyazaku, and the Nin-ken Dog. It was easily the mightiest monster on the field.
"Now I'll counteract your deck master's effect by giving it a second target. Since you can only absorb one attack, my second one will make it through. So here comes Ryu-Kishin Powered(1600/1000)! Both my monsters attack!" The two monsters rushed into the fray, the big warrior and the giant gargoyle, ready to deal serious damage if they could. However, Kitoras moved into the way, and with a blaze of power it absorbed not one, but both attacks.
"Did you really assume that simply attacking with two monsters would help? My Orichalcos Kitoras will absorb the damage of every single attack you make, meaning attacks are completely useless. And so are you. Does this mean you're finished?" Duke cursed silently and nodded in response, hoping that Hiyazaku didn't get anything good as he drew his card and went into the standby phase. (HLP: 4500)
The blue haired man stared at his hand for several moments and then look up at the two shorter duelists. He sneered and selected three of his cards, then casually deposited them into the cemetery. As he did so, three more cards appeared face down on the field in front of him. "Using the effect of my ziggurat I discard three cards from my hand to set three cards from my deck onto the field. And that shall be the end of my turn."
Tristan blinked in surprise and stared at the three cards as his turn started. He idly wondered exactly what those cards were, but then realized he could at least get rid of one this turn. "I'll play Battle Footballer(100/2100) in defense mode, and then play Remove Trap on the middle card!" First Tristan's monster, a mechanical football player, appeared, and then the Remove Trap flipped up Hiyazaku's middle card.
"I shall chain that card with the activation of the card you try to destroy, Pyro Clock of Destiny! Now time is advanced forwards one turn, bringing you one step closer to absolute defeat!" Both other player's gasped as time warped, and they realized exactly how badly in trouble they were, they situation couldn't get much worse then this.
Duke went into his turn, but realized that without knowing how to get past Kitoras and not knowing what the other two down cards were, he had no method in figuring out what to do. There really wasn't anything to do. "One card face down and Yaranzo(1300/1000) in attack mode. That's all I can do." Two cards appeared, one a skeleton and the other face down. Then Hiyazaku started his turn and made his life point payment. (HLP: 4000)
"Now I shall use my two face down cards to make this duel even harder for you. I activate two Orichalcos Renewals! Each one allows me to regain life points equal to the difference between my base life points and my current, therefore granting me a total of eight thousand points!" (HLP: 12000) Now the situation truly was hopeless. Not only couldn't they deal damage to him, but his life points were much higher then there's as well. And time was ticking away until their defeat!"
"I'll discard two more cards to set up two cards from my deck, to give you more to worry about. That is all." The two cards appeared in front of him, and each of the two duelists started worrying. Were they more Pyro Clock's, or was it something else equally sinister? There was no way they could tell.
"I summon Great Angs(1800/400) and then, what?" His startled comment was caused by one of Hiyazaku's cards flipping up. Surprisingly it was a card that Tristan recognized called Forceful Motion, which made all of a person's monsters enter the battle phase, in this case meaning him and Duke. But why?
Each of their monsters rushed in and was beaten back by the absorbing effect of the annoying eyeball. Little did they know this minor strategy was just something he had waiting in case they made it past his other monsters. Every point of damage Kitoras absorbed paved the way for a monster with enormous power.
As Tristan ended his turn, it became Duke's, who summoned a Dark Blade(1800/1000), and then was shocked by Hiyazaku activating his second down card, another Forceful Motion. Yet again all of their monsters attacked, only to be stopped by the eyeball. And according to Duke's math, the eyeball had just absorbed over ten thousand points of damage for seemingly no reason. What was Hiyazaku up to?
(HLP: 11500) Hiyazaku glanced down at his two cards, then laughed briefly as he discarded one of them, setting another card from his deck onto the field. This duel was becoming boring and tedious. "You two are truly pathetic. You can't even make a worthwhile stand against me let alone deal any damage. Absolutely pathetic."
With little to do, all Tristan managed was to summon Sonic Duck(1400/800), wait for a brief moment to see if Hiyazaku would activate his face down card, and then end his turn when the blue haired freak didn't do anything. Both player's had assembled an army of monsters, but each one was useless.
Duke started off by summoning La Jinn(1800/1000), but soon his hopes for reprieve were cut off by the activation of Hiyazaku's face down card. And to Duke's lack of surprise, it turned out to be the third and final Forceful Motion, meaning Kitoras would be absorbing a grand total of fourteen thousand one hundred points of damage in a single turn. And why? Damned if he knew.
(HLP: 11000) Hiyazaku took a look at the card he had drawn and then back to his other hand, and chose that this moment he wouldn't discard. There was no need for such desperation. He could sit it out and wait, or he could attack now and win. But he didn't want to bother with an attack on such slime. "This is truly boring me. If you don't offer me a challenge then I'll be forced to....what in the world?"
At these words all those present turned their heads up to stared at the quickly approaching black object that was...flying. Whatever it was it would be there any moment, and it wasn't necessarily friendly. As it grew closer they recognized it as being a dragon. In fact it was....Red Eyes Black Dragon!
Duke and Tristan yelled in joy as the dragon swept down and Joey in all his blonde haired glory jumped off his dragon's back and dropped down in front of them. He looked up and came eye to eye with Hiyazaku, who was clearly impressed by Joey's entrance, and by his dragon. "Yo guys, what's up?"
Duke and Tristan gave him a quick run down, and Joey's eyes widened as it continued. He shook his head in disgust and pushed them both aside, stepping in the way. His duel disk activated and he held it forwards, ready to take action. "Listen up ya freakazoid, these two are my friends, but they're both pretty sad duelists. If ya want a real challenge let me take over for em, same rules and everything. So waddya say? Yes? No? Or are you afraid of little ol' me?"
Hiyazaka was incensed by these words, and he was willing to accept this as true words of a challenge. If this mortal could offer him more of a challenge then it was all the better! "I shall accept this challenge, you replacing these two fools. I'd be amazed if you could even damage me, but go ahead. Take over where they were. You may have their monsters and such, but you may not command them as they have more then your monster zones can contain. My turn is over, so feel free to begin!"
Joey grinned and drew a hand of a six cards, then looked over at his cards. Duke had explained what this freak's deck master could do, and Joey had a way to defeat that. But he had to do it quickly, or else he'd be finished. "Think you're tough huh blue boy? Well this monster says different. Come on out, Man-Throwing Troll(1000/1800)!" Joey's monster was a massive troll, taller even then Orgoth. It was so big that it made the giant axe wielding warrior look like a child wield a play toy.
"I'll continue by setting two cards, and then I'll use my monster's special ability. I can sacrifice normal non-token monsters in order to inflict eight hundred points of damage directly to your life points. And since it ain't battle, your deck master can't absorb it! Tell me? Can ya count? I count nine normal monsters in play on my side...so say goodbye to seventy-two hundred life points! Man-Throwing Troll, do your stuff!"
The massive troll began picking up the monsters and one by one chucking them at Hiyazaku. As they got near they exploded, taking out a chunk of his life points with each one. Finally the troll picked up Orgoth in both hands and hurled it at Hiyazaku, laughing tauntingly as the big warrior exploded. (HLP: 3800)
Hiyazaku looked furious as he drew his card, practically ready to burst a blood vessel. He was furious not just because his life points had taken such a serious turn for the worse, but because the damage had been done by someone who was his inferior. "Pot of Greed!"
He drew his two cards, choosing not to pay for the ziggurat, thereby destroying it. Then he looked at his two cards, and put his plan into action. He would now crush his opponent with practiced ease as he brought out his true deck master, and unveiled his true power. "I shall show you the true power of Atlantis. The might that I possess resides within this one card! Seal of Orichaclos!"
"Forgive me Yami, but this is something that I have to at least try. Destructive Dragon Gondola...I command you to defeat Yami once and for all with your Final Flame Attack!" The fierce dragon issued forth a huge stream of black flame that streamed towards the defenseless Yami, ready to crush him. There was absolutely no way to stop the attack, none at all.
Or so it seemed. "Buster Blader, use your deck master effect! Dragon Slaying Sword!" Yugi gasped as the sword wielding dragon slayer jumped straight over Yami's head and swung down with his massive sword. To his horror the sword connected with his dragon's head, and cut it off with that single swipe. The rest of the body exploded into tiny particles, and he was left to take the damage. (YLP: 3100)
"Sorry Yugi, but the effect of my deck master lets me destroy an attacking dragon and deal damage to my opponent's life points equal to the dragon's attack strength." Yugi grimaced and dropped onto his knees, letting his turn end as there was nothing left that he could do. If Yami got anything good in his draw, then it was over for him. No way Bakura would risk protecting him this time around.
"Forgive me Yugi, but I must do this. I move Buster Blader(3100/2300) onto the field, and then play Monster Reborn, reviving End of Anubis(2500/2000). Buster Blader attacks directly, and End of Anubis will attack Earl of Demise!" Yugi cried out as the blader's sword slashed across his chest, dropping his life points down to zero and knocking him out of the game. Then End of Anubis slashed at Bakura's monster, only to be destroyed itself.
"Pharaoh, Go To Hell! In fact, that's my trap card. It destroys the monster that destroyed one of mine, and makes you take the damage. See, even without my partner I can't lose!" (YYLP: 1900) Yami grimaced, realizing exactly what this meant. His impulsive move might cost him the duel, because now his deck master was exposed to an attack.
Bakura grinned widely as he declared an attack using his own deck master's effect. The warrior tried to fend off the snake bottom, but the teeth clamped down on its head, draining its power down to a mere 1300. "I'll set one card face down, and attack your deck master with Wandering Zombie, to finish you off!"
The zombie hurled itself across the field, intent on destroying Buster Blader and defeating Yami, but what Bakura seemed to have forgotten was that Yami wasn't dueling alone. He had Ryou on his side to protect him. "Activate face down card, Protect Me! This lets me take direct damage from an attack in order to save a monster from being destroyed!" The attack turned on him and mowed him down, dropping his life points severely with that single strike. (RLP: 4700)
Ryou glanced down at the card he had drawn and understood exactly what he could do. Now was his moment of triumph, he could at last get rid of the threat that was his darker half. "I play Giant Trunade!" Bakura let out a cry of despair as the heavy wind picked up, sending his cards back into his hand, leaving Wandering Zombie as his only protection.
"Now I'll use my deck master effect. Rise of the Pharaoh! First I can put up to five level two or less zombie sub-types in the cemetery. And now I activate Second Coffin and Third Coffin from my deck!" Five streams of light poured into the cemetery and then two fancy coffins appeared alongside the first coffin. Now everything was set up, a strange strategy that was quite difficult to pull off under normal circumstances.
"Now the final effect of my deck master, I special summon Pharaonic Mummy(2500/2500) to the field, whose effect lets me revive up to four level two or lower zombies from the grave!" Ryou's new monster was a very tall thing in the dress wear of the ancient mummy's with golden mask and all. It also had a shepherd's hook in one hand.
"Now I raise two Pharaoh's Servants(900/0 X2) and two Pharaonic Guardians(900/0 X2)!" The four monster rose up, each tall and garbed in the robes of ancient Egypt. Each one of them was a strange creature, somewhat undead, and Bakura recognized the names as those of booster sets for the game. Funny actually.
"My monsters all attack!" First the Pharaonic Mummy charged in and broke his Wandering Zombie apart with a quick blow from its shepherd's staff. Then the four other monsters collided with him, knocking him off his feet and ripping into his life points. (BLP: 3400)
Bakura coughed briefly, getting his wind back as he rose to his feet. It was now Yami's turn, but it wasn't anything to worry about. He'd have this turn free, and then his next turn he'd be able to protect himself again and get on the path to victory. "Poor Pharaoh, can't do anything this turn. You could attack me with your deck master, but then you'd just have to suffer the consequences as I moved my own deck master to block it and defeat you. There's nothing you can do!"
Yami looked up from his hand and up at Bakura, meeting the thief's eyes. And to Bakura's great surprise, he saw the gleam of triumph in those eyes. What could he possibly have that would give him such a look? He had no chance! "My deck master on its own can't do anything this turn...but combined with other monsters it can. Witness this! Polymerization fuses my deck master with the Dark Magician to create the Dark Paladin(3400/2600)!"
Bakura dropped his entire hand to the ground, and fell to his knees. It couldn't be. It had happened again. He had been defeated by the Pharaoh for the fourth time. It was over...there was nothing left for him. "Say goodnight thief, because this is your end!" And with a single slice of his monster's sword, Bakura lost the last of his life points, and it was all over. (BLP: 0)
Yami opened his mouth to say more, as did Yugi, but suddenly a dark cloud appeared above them, and all eyes turned upon them. Suddenly two bolts of black lightning shot from the sky and connected with the two defeated duelists, blinding everyone else for that single moment.
The light faded...letting Yami and Ryou see the truth. There was nothing left of Bakura and Yugi, no trace besides the burnt spot where the lightning had struck. They were no more. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" Yami's cry split the sky in half, and far away laughter filled the air.
I shall show you the true power of Atlantis. The might that I possess resides within this one card! Seal of Orichaclos!" Joey looked around in confusion as a giant green circle formed around them, and a six pointed star formed upon it. Then the same symbol appeared on Hiyazaku's forehead, making him look even crueler then before. As it formed Duke and Tristan were hurled away.
"Now none can leave and none can enter. The only way out is to win the duel. Not only will this grant me added powers, but the loser of this duel will forfeit their soul!" Joey and his friends gasped as they learned this news, but then Joey's face hardened. If this was what it took, then that would be what he had to do. Whatever he had to do, he'd do it.
"Now the magic card, Mirror of the Mirror Knights! By discarding one level four monster from my hand I can special summon four Mirror Knights(0500/0)! Each of my monsters gains dark power, and from it comes five hundred added attack points!" The four monsters were silver clad knights, each one holding a reflective shield and a sharp looking sword.
"The next step is the ultimate transformation. My deck master Kitoras now becomes Orichalcos Shinoras(40000/0) whose attack points are equal to the damage Kitoras had absorbed! And now he generates Orichalcos Aishiteros and Orichalcos Dekshios!" The eyeball vanished and what appeared in its place had to be forty or fifty feet tall, higher then anything else on the field. It was green and looked like a goofy statue, whose right and left arms soon detached themselves. But its attack points were staggering!
"I will now attack with Dekshios, which always has three hundred more attack points then the monster it attacks, and it takes these points from Shinoras, so say goodbye to Man-Throwing Troll!" The right arm shot out, ready to spear his troll, but he was ready for such a hasty move. One of his trap cards flipped up, revealing Magic-Arm Shield which shot out and captured one of the Mirror Knights putting it in the way. The knight shattered, and it was Hiyazaku's turn to lose life points again. (HLP: 3500)
"Surprising that you manage to accomplish anything. But watch yourself chattel, for my knights become the attack strength of any monster they attack. So I have one attack your troll and the other two attack directly!" Each knight took off, first one slicing straight through the massive troll, and then the other two cutting Joey, sending him flying back up against the barrier of the seal which shocked him and dropped him to his knees. (JLP: 6500)
Joey took a stuttering breath and rose to his feet, drawing a card as he did so. This stuff was now unrelentingly real, so he'd have to be careful, or else he'd end up the worse in this duel. "I'll set a card down and summon Alligator Sword(1500/1000) in attack mode, and then I'll play Monster Reborn on Man-Throwing Troll. My two monsters attack two of your Mirror Knights!" The troll lumbered over and smashed one with brute force, while the lizard-like warrior sliced another in half with his scimitar. (HLP: 2000)
"Now Man-Throwing Troll, toss Alligator Sword!" The giant troll hefted the shocked beast-warrior in one hand, and then hurled him at incredible speeds at Hiyazaku. The blue-haired duelist was blown backwards by the sheer force of the detonation, but he managed to rise again, ready to continue. (HLP: 1200)
Hiyazaku drew his card and inwardly tried not to curse. It made no sense whatsoever that some normal human was able to bring he, the great Seer Hiyazaku, to this low of a level in life points! It just didn't happen. 'This cannot be any normal mere mortal. There is something special about this one.'
"I shall have my final Mirror Knight attack and destroy Man-Throwing Troll!" The knight charged across the field and jumped into the air, coming down swinging with his blade. However at the last moment both of Joey's face down cards flipped up, and Hiyazaku's attempt to trash the troll failed.
"I activate Scapegoat and Shift! Sending your attack to one of my goats, protecting my troll and my life points!" The four different colored goats were summoned to the field, and the knight sliced through one, unable to do any real damage because the goats were in defense mode. Now Hiyazaku had one other chance.
"I was intending to deal damage, but if that is how it shall be, then I'll simply destroy two more tokens with Deskhios and Aishiteros!" The two arms shot out, each one spearing a goat token and destroying it, leaving Joey with one token and Man-Throwing Troll left over. There was one last move Hiyazaku could make, and it would prevent Man-Throwing Troll from doing any further damage.
"My next move is to activate Cast Away, which removes one monster on the opponent's field from the game until the end of my next turn. So say goodbye to your Man-Throwing Troll!" The giant troll roared as it started to flicker in and out, and then as quickly as it had been summoned, it vanished into thin air...or maybe thick air.
Joey drew his card, and started counting. Things weren't looking good at the moment, but there just might be a way to pull this off...but Hiyazaku didn't think so. And he said as much. "Foolish mortal. Have you counted the turns? This is the nineteenth turn, and should my next turn begin, then you will fail and I will claim victory! You cannot possibly win in one turn, there is no way to accomplish it!"
Joey held up two cards, and started his play, knowing that this was the one chance he had. "Not possible? Those words ain't in Joey Wheeler's vocabulary! So check this out, Soldier Soul! And at a cost of fifteen hundred life points, I'll revive Dark Blade, La Jinn, and Alligator Sword all in defense mode!" The three named monsters appeared on the field, and Joey's life points took a dip at that moment. However, Hiyazaku still saw no chance, because the monsters were in defense mode. (JLP: 5000)
"I bet you think that I just made a stupid move. But what you didn't realize was that what I intended was to sacrifice those three monsters to summon my strongest creature, the all-powerful thunder deity, Gilford the Lightning(2800/1400)!" There was a loud popping sound, and the three monsters shattered into tiny pieces, making way for the armored and armed thunder deity known as Gilford.
Gilford unsheathed his sword and swept it down, sending a stream of electric power at Dekshios, Aishiteros, and the last Mirror Knight. All three shattered into tiny pieces, and unfortunately for Hiyazaku, one of the restrictions to having Shinoras as a deck master, was that it could not be placed on the field. "Say bu-bye Hiyazaku, cuz here comes Gilford's Lightning Blade!"
On the outside of the seal Duke and Tristan cheered Joey on as the warrior of lightning charged forwards with his sword, ready to strike down Hiyazaku. The said duelist had a stupefied look on his face, as did his three soldiers. How could any mortal possibly do this to the great Hiyazaku? "I refuse to be defeated!"
An explosion of power erupted from Hiyazaku, and in that blaze of power Shinoras vanished, and Kitoras returned in its place. The eyeball moved forwards and absorbed the attack, letting it accomplish nothing. "That was the last time my deck master could be used, the final effect of Shinoras to let it return Kitoras as my deck master for one final save. And now...there is nothing you can do."
Joey fell to his knees in horror as Hiyazaku started his turn, and the burning head high above swooped down upon Joey and ripped away his energy, letting the seal close in upon him and take his soul. The twentieth turn had come, and all was lost.
With that finished Hiyazaku turned away and started walking. Tristan and Duke rushed to Joey's body, trying to wake him up, but to no avail. The three soldiers followed after the blue haired man, one asking why they weren't dealing with the other two humans. "Because this was one battle that I did not deserve to be. That mortal deserves a space amongst the Atlantians for his great skill and determination."
The most miraculous thing ever had just happened. After being in the desert for far too many hours, the two exhausted travelers had come across an oasis. Jumping for joy the two duelists entered the jungle-like area, relaxing against trees as they soaked up the lack of sun under the shade of a big tree. Both had pulled their duel disks off and were snoozing, mostly.
Drake blinked as his ear caught the sound of something oddly familiar. If it was really moving water then...he pulled himself up from his sitting position and brushed aside some palm leaves. What he saw was a little thing of water, a waterfall, and something else entirely. "Kai...check this out."
The other duelist roused himself and joined Drake in looking, his first reaction was like Drake's, just taking in the sight of the water. But then his eyes fell upon what Drake was really looking at, and he turned away, blushing slightly. "You can't look like that, its not right."
Drake rolled his eyes at this and leaned over again, watching the sights. Sitting on a rock just beneath the waterfall was a very attractive petite brunette in a bikini. She had her head turned up to the water, letting it run down her body in little rivulets.
Because of this Drake couldn't see her face, but the rest of her was definitely worth watching. She wasn't gorgeous, but she was certainly cute. Good body, everything he could ask for. And Kai was just sitting there being grumpy. Damned goody goodies. "You should really watch while you can, it's the only chance you'll get to see a girl like that."
Drake wasn't looking at Kai when he said this, but he was fairly certain that the comment had pissed the other boy off. In fact he learned the hard way that this was the case, as a hand reached out and idly shoved his back. "Quit being such a pig."
What Kai didn't realize when he did this was that since the waterfall was lower then they were, there was a short hill between them and the water. Of course the little shove pushed Drake off balance, and down he went tumbling end over end down the hill. "Oops."
Drake slid to a halt and coughed up some dirt. He slowly picked himself up, finding himself at the edge of the water. As he looked upwards he found himself looking straight into a set of very familiar eyes on a very familiar face. "Drake?"
Drake gulped and smiled slightly, realizing just how bad this must look. "Umm...hi Serenity."
Author's Notes: Uh-oh, trouble in the future! Yeah, that's all.
original Cards
Hiyazaku: Forceful Motion, Orichalcos Ziggurat, Mirror of Mirror Knights, Orichalcos Renewal, Cast Away
Yami Yugi: Type Shift
Bakura: Voodoo Doll, Holding Chains, Go To Hell
Ryou: Sacrifice Maneuver, Super Electric Burst, Protect Me
Yugi: Anti-Destruct, Absolute Negation, Cost Summons, Sacrifices
Doom Arc Cards: Soldier Soul(Raphael), Pump Up(Yami), Orichalcos Shinoras, Aishiteros, Deskhios, Kitoras(all Dartz), Seal of Orichalcos(every major duelist in the arc except Joey and Kaiba)
Others: Other cards you may not have recognized, that is, those that Ryou uses, are from the Pharaoh's Inheritance expansion set, which will be half of Ancient Sanctuary when it comes out.