Disclaimer: No ownage of Yugioh in this fic, all I've got are most of the original characters except for a few.
Author's Note: To any fans of Seto Kaiba...sucks to be you! Err, never mind, ignore that. Now on to the chapter!
Quote of the Chapter: "In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in an clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth." -Mahatma Gandhi
Chapter Twenty-Six: Union Riders; Fear of the Ultimate Deck!
There was laughter in the air, time to spend and a relaxed nature to spend it on. That and the water was fun to mess around in, splashing about and having a generally goofy time. It was in fact the first time that Drake had relaxed in...well since just after Kirani's duel with Taichi. Amazing that the duel had taken place not even twenty-four hours earlier.
Pulling back from the brief water fight he leaned back against a rock and put his hands behind his head, contemplating. Kai was about five feet away, floating lazily on his back, staring up at the sky. Either that or he was asleep, Drake couldn't see the other duelist's eyes so he couldn't be sure.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Drake blinked and dropped his eyes to the figure approaching him. Serenity swam her way over, which of course wasn't necessary in water that was about four feet deep, and then leaned up against the rock, right next to him. He gave her a brief smile, and then continued to stare up at the sky, lost in his own thoughts.
"I was thinking about today. Its amazing that all of these things, Shadi, Kirani, Hinata...Taichi. All of it has happened in under a day. I'm not even sure if its still the same day actually. But all of these things, the very fate of the world....its all being determined in a day's time. Doesn't that seem a bit odd to you?"
She shrugged and brushed a lock of brunette hair from in front of her eyes. He watched her stare into her reflection in the water, a troubled look on her face. Then just as quickly as the look had appeared, it vanished and she looked back up at him. "I guess so, but think about this. Which is odder, the fate of the world being determined in one day, or the fate of the world being determined by a card game?"
With this said he burst out laughing, he just couldn't help it. She joined in with his laughter, the water soaking up their worries as they lounged beneath the sun. It was true, he hadn't really thought about it before. "You're right Serenity, the fate of the world being determined by a card game is absolutely ridiculous. But then again, I always thought that Armageddon would come from a giant meteor or maybe nuclear war...not for a fifteen year old kid inhabited by some ancient evil demon-thingy that's millions of years old."
Serenity was the first of the two of them to laugh this time, and he joined her. To his surprise she splashed him with water, and soon the two of them were having a water fight again. As the water fight moved, Kai got caught up and joined into the fray, splashing water back and forth between the two of them. It was a three way war.
Little did they know that they were being watched. Two dark figures stood where Drake and Kai had stood not long before, using the bushes and shade to watch their prey. Soon would be the time to strike. Soon everything would happen.
A great distance away were the other watchers. They watched through magic, enjoying the show along with the dozens if not hundreds of duels that were going on throughout this place. One of the watching figures stood at the base of the steps to a massive Greek styled temple. The other lounged in a chair, secluded in the shadows under a pillar.
They were distracted by the powerful wing beats of something very large. As they watched the giant white beast that was the Blue Eyes descended, and one brown haired Seto Kaiba jumped from its neck. "Where's Mokuba?"
The one lounging in a chair motioned with a flick of the wrist, and four cloaked men marched out to impede Kaiba's way. Based on the symbol at the top of their hood, Kaiba recognized them as Rare Hunters, and he saw Malik waiting. As much as he didn't understand Malik's presence as he had seen the man incinerated, he didn't care.
Malik sneered, his veins pulsing as he began commanding the hunters. "The four of you will dispatch Seto Kaiba. Of course if he defeats the four of you he will have gained the ten straight victories he needs to become the first to make the challenge. Should you win the challenged duel, you will be released."
Kaiba sneered and activated his duel disk, followed closely by the four men who lined up in front of him in attacking positions. Each of them drew their opening hands, and the game was on. "Let's get one thing straight. If I win the challenged duel then not only will I be released, but Mokuba will be as well. Is that understood?"
Malik laughed at this, his sickeningly annoying laugh, veins bulging as his eyes twitched. "You're in no position to make demands Seto Kaiba. We will consider this proposition, but for the moment you have a duel to attend to. To even things up, you'll have a deck master, they won't."
Kaiba nodded and selected his deck master. To all the Rare Hunters' surprise his deck master rose up and up and up....revealing the three headed monstrosity that was the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon(4500/3800). With that the first Rare Hunter drew his sixth card. "I'll set two cards face down and summon Getsu Fuma(1700/1000)."
The red armored warrior appeared and drew his shining blade, holding it at the ready. The next duelist drew his card and surveyed his hand, before going into motion. "I'll play Manju of the 10000 Hands, which lets me search for a ritual card. Now I'll use that ritual card, sacrificing Manju and a level four monster from my hand to summon Zorc(2700/2000)! Then I shall set one card down and end my turn."
His partner grinned beneath his hood and declared the activation of one of his face down cards. It was revealed as Needle Wall, and Kaiba's monster zones were suddenly numbered, one through five. During the standby phase a die would be rolled, and the monster on the zone with that number would be destroyed, a six was re roll. "Summon Roulette Barrel(1000/2000) in defense and set two cards!"
A massive machine monster appeared in front of the third Rare Hunter, and the second one took this as his opportunity to activate his own Needle Wall, increasing the chances that Kaiba's monsters would get trashed. Now the fourth one drew, followed by the activation of the third one's Needle Wall. "I'll set two cards and one monster. That's all."
Kaiba sneered at this and drew his sixth card, before declaring what his move was going to be. Of course the fourth one also activated a Needle Wall, completing the set. "You four are truly idiots. Barely even qualify as flunkies. All your efforts are nothing to me. Go Heavy Storm and Dark Hole!"
Despite all their intense efforts everything that they had done was just undone, clearing their fields completely of any cards that could help them out. There was nothing to protect them now from Kaiba's rampage. "I'll move my deck master onto the field, and activate its deck master effect, paying half my life points to special summon the three Blue Eyes White Dragons(3000/2500 X3)!" The massive three headed beast was joined by its fusion components, who all roared at the Rare Hunters, cowing them. (KLP: 2000)
"Now I'll discard one Thunder Dragon to place two more in my hand, and I activate Polymerization to fuse them together into Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon(2800/2100)! Now my monsters will unleash the ultimate assault on your various life points!" The dragons attacked, blasting apart his opponent's with dreadful ease. One was defeated by the Ultimate Dragon, another by a double attack from the thunder dragon and a Blue Eyes. The other two were dropped to a measly level of life points. (R3LP: 1000, R4LP: 1000)
Kaiba then set two cards face down, emptying his hand and passing the turn on to the third of the Rare Hunters, who eagerly drew his card. Upon drawing he recognized the face of Man-Eater Bug, which was the perfect monster for this situation. "I'll set one monster and end my turn." Using the hidden communicator in his hood he directed his partner to flip his monster with an attack.
"I'll summon Baron of the Fiend Sword(1550/1100) and have it attack my partner's set monster!" Kaiba just smirked and activated one of his face down cards, having expected something like this. The two Rare Hunters gasped as Ceasefire flipped up, flipping the Man-Eater Bug without an effect. It was then cut down by the baron. "Set one card and end!" (R3LP: 500)
Kaiba drew a card and glanced up at the field, knowing exactly what he was going to do. At the same time the fourth of the Rare Hunters was hiding a smirk, knowing that the instant Kaiba attacked it would be the end for him, because the ultimate dragon would be destroyed by his Mirror Force. "I declare an attack with all of my monsters!"
As the various monsters launched their attacks, the fourth Rare Hunter flipped up his Mirror Force, both of them cackling as the attacks collided with the barrier. "I figured you had something like that planned, so I had Trap Jammer ready and waiting. By discarding one card I can negate your trap since it was activated during the battle phase!"
The two remaining Rare Hunters let out cries of terror as the supreme attacks ripped into them, draining them of their last life points and causing their defeat. As this occurred all four of them had their souls stripped away, leaving them as helpless shells. "Now I declare a challenge on you!"
Malik laughed it off, and Kaiba heard faint clapping. Turning his head up he watched the figure descend down from the steps, clapping as they did so. When Kaiba recognized the person he sneered in disgust. "I wasn't expecting you. Are you the one my challenge is against?"
"That's right Kaiba, and you'll regret it. In fact, I'm so confidant in my skills and the power of my ultimate deck that I swear that if I don't win in four turns I'll automatically forfeit the duel!" Even Kaiba couldn't help but gasp at the sheer audacity of this statement. The mere thought that someone could defeat him in four turns or less was ludicrous!
"Very well, now select your deck master and lets get this under way!" Once again he selected the Ultimate Dragon which rose up behind him, but his opponent's deck master was fairly puny looking, and he laughed at seeing it. Whatever it was, it probably didn't have much of an effect.
"I'll go first, playing Zone Expansion. Then I'll use my deck master's effect, special summoning the three Blue Eyes! Next I'll summon Lord of Dragons and play Flute of Summoning Dragons to special summon Hyonzaru and Kaiser Glider to the field. Finally I shall play Anti-Magic Viral Cannon!"
The massive combo was completed, the three white dragons roaring in triumph as they dominated the field. Next to them was the diamond dragon and the golden dragon, followed by the weaker Lord of Dragons in his dragon armor. Finally his opponent got rid of ten magic cards, according to his virus's effect. (KLP: 4000)
"Now Kaiba, about what I said earlier. I was wrong. It will only take me one turn to defeat you, and to prove it I'll activate Inferno Tempest! This card forces us to remove all monsters in our hands, decks, and cemeteries from the game!" Kaiba grimaced, realizing that he had just lost a number of good monsters, in fact now his only monsters were those on the field. But they would be enough, as his opponent had no monsters at all.
"How do you expect to win without any monsters?" His opponent chuckled, and with a wave of the hand the puny deck master moved onto the field, making it his enemy's only monster. Whatever it could do, it wouldn't be enough to defeat him, not at all.
"Now I'll activate my deck master's effect, allowing it to become a new and improved monster, with a very special effect!" He watched in confusion and then horror as the new monster appeared in all its fantastic glory, and he watched as its attack power rose through the roof, greater then anything he had ever experienced. It was beyond anything he had ever imagined!
"Say goodbye Kaiba! END IT MY MONSTER! ATTACK AND DESTROY THE BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON AND ALL OF KAIBA'S LIFE POINTS!" A huge beam of energy exploded forth from his opponent's new creature and engulfed not just his white dragon...but all of his dragons. He barely had time to apologize to his brother before the blast consumed him as well.
"Fear my power world! Fear the power of the ultimate deck that can even defeat the mighty Seto Kaiba in one turn!" And two strings of evil laughter echoed throughout the land, casting all in a dark shadow. Nothing was the same, no power could possibly stand against this deck with such a great amount of power. It was invincible!
The three now lay there, basking in the glow of the sun, soaking up its warmth through the cool water around them. Everything was perfect for that moment. There was absolutely nothing that could shatter the moment.
Drake blinked as a shadow fell over his face, blocking out the warmth of the sun. He picked himself up, dropping his feet to the sand at the bottom of the water and found himself looking up at two men in simple brown robes. "Hey there. You here to get some water?"
The first of them grinned, pulling back his hood to reveal a handsome face, brown hair in a buzz cut, and brown eyes. The second one followed suit, revealing an identical face. Twins then. The first one spoke up. "Actually we came here because we are seeking duels. The ten straight victories and all that. We wish to make a challenge to one Kai Kaethen and Serenity Wheeler."
The two of them glanced at each other in surprise, and then turned back to the two twin duelists. This was hardly what they had been expecting. "Us? Why us?" The two duelists laughed at this and activated their disks.
"Because we already know every card in Daisuke Ihachi's deck, therefore he would be no challenge to us. You two are more of a mystery to us." Upon hearing himself declared as no challenge Drake stood to his full height and stepped out of the water, only in shorts. Kai followed suit, also only in shorts. Serenity stayed in the water, down beneath her shoulders, keeping herself out of their view.
"Listen up! I refuse to allow you to duel Serenity. She isn't ready for a duel of such a caliber. I'll take her place, and if you want a challenge I'll alter the cards in my deck to give you challenge. Two on one, me and Kai versus you two. Up at the top of the waterfall in fifteen minutes so we can get ready. Agreed?"
The twins nodded in acceptance and marched off, obviously heading towards the top of the waterfall. He and Kai started preparing themselves, drying off and getting dressed. Once they were ready in that way both of them prepared their decks, assembling in the way they had before. After ten minutes they were ready. "Me and you. Ready Kai?"
His partner nodded, activating his DD2, and started up towards the top of the waterfall. He thought this was just a normal duel, but Drake knew the truth. There was more to this then just getting ten straight victories. He would have to accomplish what he needed to, but he couldn't make it look bad. "Drake...you don't have to keep protecting me. I think I'm ready for a challenge like this."
Drake turned back to Serenity, who stood there, still dripping a bit because she hadn't fully dried. He shook away bad thoughts and grabbed his jacket, tossing it to her. She caught it with one hand and looked down at it questioningly. "I'm not protecting you because I think you're weak. I'm protecting you because I feel I should. This is a duel that needs to happen, and I need to do this."
"Then...what's the jacket for?" He grinned as she held it at arms length, obviously unsure of what to do with it. He pantomimed putting the jacket on, and she followed suit, sliding it over her arms. It fell into place, looking slightly like a dress on her since it was much to big.
"For keep warm. I'm heading up, wanna come?" She gave him a bright smile and followed him up, joining Kai and the twins at the top of the waterfall. Shortly the duel would begin, but first some formalities needed to get out of the way. Like...their opponent's names.
"Mind introducing yourselves so you aren't just unnamed duelists that we have to crush?" The twins laughed, twin smiles etched on their features. Yes, they were definitely true duelists, not minding the pointless threats and comments. This was what duelists did, this was how it worked.
The first one pointed to himself with his thumb, and then next at his brother with his thumb, declaring their names as he did so. "I'm Uni and that lug is my twin brother Onn. And to do this double duel we'll rotate, starting with you, then me, then Kai, and finally Onn. Agreed?" Drake and Kai caught each other's eyes and then gave silent ascent, agreeing to the terms. The duel was on! (DLP: 8000, ULP: 8000, KLP: 8000, OLP: 8000)
Drake, being fist, was the first to declare what his deck master would be. And as he did so the monster appeared behind him, a woman with purple hair in a ponytail with a magic staff held in front of her. "My deck master is Magician of Faith! Her magic will aid me greatly in this duel!"
Uni selected a card and held it up, revealing his monster for all to see. It formed behind him, a cyborg riding on top of a giant black dragon. Drake grimaced as he recognized the card. "My deck master is Union Rider!"
Kai selected his deck master as his favorite monster, Breaker the Magic Warrior who formed in all his red and gold armored glory. Next Onn chose his deck master, revealing Union Rider #2, a monster identical to Union Rider except it was a white dragon being ridden. Now that the deck master's were set, it was time for Drake to take his turn.
He drew his opening hand and a sixth card, watching as the others drew their opening hands as well. He surveyed the hand and realized that this turn he wouldn't be able to summon. He'd just have to hope for something next turn when attacking was allowed. "I'll place three cards. Your turn Uni." The three cards shimmered into view right in front of his feet and his turn ended.
"I'll play Pitch Dark Dragon(900/900) in defense mode, and set up one card. End turn." His dragon, identical to the black dragon that the Union Rider was on, appeared crouching with its wings folded around it. Then a card appeared behind it and Uni's turn was over.
Kai picked up his card and immediately went into action. It was time to show them the true power of his favorite monster. "I'll discard one card from my hand to activate my deck master's effect. Breaker Blade!" He dumped a card into the cemetery and his deck master raised his blade, then swung it down. A streak of red light shot from the tip of the sword and speared into Uni's face down card, obliterating it.
"Next I'll summon Skilled Dark Magician(1900/1700) and use Emblem of Dragon Destroyer to put Buster Blader into my hand as well as putting a magic counter on my magician. Finally I'll set two cards to finish off my turn." The black robed mage held his staff to the side, smiling slightly as the orb on his right shoulder started to glow, signaling the first counter had appeared. Kai then searched through his deck and placed the named card into his hand before two holographic cards appeared in front of him.
Onn drew a card and then selected the cards he wanted to use, grinning as he played them. "First I'll set two cards face down. Now I summon Giant Orc(2200/0)!" The massive green skinned and muscular creature appeared, wielding a huge curved sword. With this newest monster, along with Pitch Dark Dragon and the Union Riders, Drake's fears were confirmed. Union Decks....
"Now I'll equip Blood Lust to my orc, doubling his attack strength! Of course each turn I'll have to sacrifice a monster to sate his lust and pay the upkeep of Blood Lust, but its worth it for a monster nearly as strong as the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" The orc let out a roar from deep within his belly, and he began to drool with a great hunger. Suddenly his muscles increased in size, and so did his already great power.
Drake flipped a card off the top of his deck, not even noticing as the deck holder slid down to compensate for his slightly reduced deck. Technology was a wonderful thing. He held back a grimace as he realized that he still couldn't summon a monster, however he could do damage. "Tremendous Fire on Uni!"
A burst of flame exploded from his card, nearly scorching Uni. The duelist yelped and swatted at the flames with his robes, hoping to put it out. Luckily for him it vanished quickly, but the damage was done. "Now I'll use my deck master's effect, discarding a card from the top of my deck to put a magic card in my cemetery back into my hand! And I'll use Tremendous Fire again to blast Onn!"
This time it was Onn who got struck by the flames, performing a similar action as his twin had. Despite the impressive damage that came from using Tremendous Fire, there was a problem with the card. The fires weren't perfectly controlled, and therefore he also recieved damage. (DLP: 7000, ULP: 7000, OLP: 7000)
Uni smiled, excited by the prospect of new cards from Drake, and a potential challenge out of the two duelists. He and his brother, when dueling together, had never had a true challenge. Maybe this would be the duel to bring them to their limits. "I'll sacrifice Pitch Dark Dragon to set a monster in defense mode. I'll set a card and then play Double Spell, discarding a magic card to copy Tremendous Fire to use on Drake! Lastly I'll use Illegality on Kai's deck master, preventing it from using its effect!" (DLP: 6000, ULP: 6500)
Kai blinked, surprised at what he had seen. Already he was in the lead, thought not by any work on his part, and already his deck master's effect was locked. And it had happened so quickly as well. "I'll sacrifice Skilled Dark Magician and his counters to special summon Dark Magician(2500/2100) from my deck!" The purple robed magic user charged onto the field and cast his wand around in joy of beings summoned.
"Now I'll summon my strongest monster by playing Polymerization to fuse the Dark Magician with the Buster Blader I put in my hand, so rise up Dark Paladin(3400/2600)!" The two named monsters jumped into the swirling vortex and fused together, jumping back out as the long-haired sword wielding magician known as Dark Paladin, who cut through the air several times, generating flashy sparks as he did so.
"My next move is to activate my placed Dust Tornado to destroy Illegality!" His card flipped up, and a whirlwind erupted from it, picking up sand and minute particles as it went, becoming black from the dust. It zoomed towards the face-up magic card, but at the last moment it stalled. "What's going on?"
Onn grinned and shook a finger at Kai, motioning to one of his cards which was now flipping up. It showed a man holding up a direction sign in the wrong direction, and the car following it was going off a cliff. "What's going on? Misdirection that's what. Or rather, the trap card Misdirection which lets me change the target of a magic or trap card with the effect 'destroy one or more magic or trap cards on the field.' So Dust Tornado is now headed straight for your other face down card!"
Kai grimaced as man in orange appeared out of the card, and using his sign directed the tornado back towards Kai's remaining face down. It crashed into it, ripping it apart. Now his Soul Spell was no more, and it was a useful card at that. "Very well, I'll place one card face down, and declare an attack on Uni's defense monster!"
His paladin chanted a brief spell, infusing its blade with ancient magical energies. Then it swept the blade in a wide arc, sending a streaking slash of powerful magic straight at the face down monster. Uni chuckled and flipped up one of his face down cards, a card that Kai recognized as being called Redirection. "Redirection changes the target of your attack to a different player, which happens to be your partner's open field!"
The arc of energy swerved in mid-air, heading straight towards Drake. Worse yet, there was nothing Kai could do to stop the attack from connecting, so he had to hope Drake had some way out of this. "I'll activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Blood Lust." Kai did a prat fall as Drake's face down card flipped up, and blasted away Blood Lust with a bolt of lightning, dropping Giant Orc back down to twenty-two hundred.
Onn threw back his head and roared with laughter, Uni followed suit shortly after as they watched the blade of energy streak towards the still defenseless Drake. And Drake was still calm, despite the fact that his only move was to destroy Blood Lust. Kai turned to his partner and started yelling. "What use is that right now? You're about to take thirty-four hundred points of damage!"
Drake quirked an eyebrow at him, and then calmly smirked as he brought his hand up to his duel disk and pressed an activation button. The card that had been right next to his Mystical Space Typhoon was revealed, and Kai took the time to smirk with Drake. "My partner wondered why I used that magic card, and here's why. Attack Drawing Armor! And I'm selecting the now weakened Giant Orc!"
Onn and Uni gasped as the energy attack swerved away for the second time this turn, now headed towards the demonic orc. And since it was back to its base attack strength it was no match for the powered up Dark Paladin. "I won't lose that way! Reveal trap card, Breaking Point!"
Onn's trap flipped up, and Kai grimaced when he saw it. Breaking Point could only be activated when an opponent attacked, and it was a one turn reverse Metal Force, powering up the attacked monster by half of the attacking monster's attack strength. The Giant Orc roared as it increased in size and was boosted to thirty-nine hundred attack points, stronger then the Paladin.
It caught the energy with its fists and slowed it down, then after a few seconds of struggle it completely stopped the attack, and starting to force it back towards its source. Now Kai was going to be facing the force of his own attack, boosted by five hundred points. He was going to lose his Paladin. Suddenly he heard Drake mutter something. "Damn, I was hoping to save this for later."
And as suddenly as the orc had increased in size it began to get smaller, and it was pushed backwards by the attack again. The now tiny orc found itself unable to fend off the powerful energy attack and was obliterated instantly, confusing them all. Onn snarled and directed his question to both of his opponents. "How did that happen? My monster was stronger!"
Drake grinned and directed Onn's attention to his remaining card, which was now face-up. It showed a Battle Ox being massively reduced in size, and it was a quick-play magic card. Kai whooped as he recognized it, knowing exactly what had happened. "The Shrink magic card cut your monster's attack in half, making it once again weaker then the Dark Paladin. Looks like that exchange goes to us." (OLP: 5550)
Onn's fist was clenched tightly shut as he picked up a card off the top of his deck, knowing that he would have to act quickly if he was going to take back control of this duel. And his newest card would do so. "Power of the Cemetery! This card lets me and my brother draw cards equal to the number of cards in our cemetery....up to a maximum of seven of course. So I get four and Uni gets five."
The two robed duelists increased their hand size according to the effect of the magic card, bringing Onn to six cards and Uni to five. Now they could regain control using their new cards. "I use the magic card Grave Sacrifice, removing Giant Orc and Buster Blader from the cemeteries to normal summon Wicked Gorgon-Medusa(2500/2000)! And since it was normal summoned I can seal away one monster on the field in a coffin of stone!"
The new monster to be summoned was a hideous blue-skinned woman with hair made of snakes. She, if you could call it that, was also seven feet tall, and had a nasty smile one her face. Slowly she turned her gaze on the paladin, who tried to turn away but was caught by her power. And in seconds it was frozen in stone. "No! My Paladin!"
"My next step is to place two cards face down, and then use Illegality on Drake's deck master! With that out of the way, I attack Drake directly!" The two cards appeared, followed by one that halted his Magician of Faith's effect. Finally Medusa turned her gaze on Drake, and fired twin beams of red energy at him. They streaked towards him, only to be intercepted by the trap card Kai activated.
"Magic Cylinders absorbs your attack and sends it back towards a different monster, your partner's defense monster in fact!" The twin beams entered the cylinder, and then it flip around, sending the beams flying out the other end straight towards Uni's defense creature. But before it got far, a white fuzzy creature jumped out of Onn's hand and bit through Kai's cylinder, stopping the redirection.
"By discarding Kobuki(300/200) from my hand I can negate the activation of a trap card and destroy it. So your cylinders are useless, and Drake still gets hit!" Kai felt a wound to his pride as he was unable to protect his partner. It was his fault! Drake had used up all his face-down cards to protect his Paladin last turn, and now he couldn't do anything to save Drake from a similar fate. The punk duelist took the attacks directly to the chest, staggered, and then recovered quickly. (DLP: 3500)
Despite Kai's wounded pride, Drake didn't seemed bothered by the damage he had taken. In fact as soon as he drew his next card he started laughing, and he said something about a shocking turn of events. "I'll just use the magic card Card in Hand to place a monster from my deck into my hand."
He ejected his deck and searched through it, coming across the monster he wanted quite quickly. Then he shuffled his deck and replaced it in its holster, before putting the monster into his hand. Now he was ready. "I shall use the magic card Trial By Fire! By discarding Omegus from my hand I can ritually summon the mighty magic user, Legendary Flame Lord(2400/2000)!"
In an explosion of fire the new monster was revealed. He marched through the flames as if they were nothing, wearing only plain brown clothing, a scorched brown cape, and a purple helmet. He grinned and jauntily summoned all the fire into his hand, forming it into an oddly shaped purple staff, which glowed brightly with the orange light of the flames at the top. "Now I intend to use his special effect, requiring three magic counters...using the one card left in my hand. So lets get started with Pot of Greed!"
Drake pulled the two cards free as a bright red orb appeared near the neck of his magic user's staff. It started spinning around, showing itself off to everyone who could see. "Now I use Payment of Debt to draw three more cards!" He picked up three cards, raising his hand to a total of four cards as another red orb spun about the neck of Legendary Flame Lord's staff.
"For two more counters, one more then I need, I'll play Shot From the Dark, reactivating Payment of Debt from the cemetery!" Again Drake drew three cards, giving him six cards all together, and two more orbs started in their eccentric orbit about the staff. Now, with four magic counters, his monster was ready to unleash its ultimate strength.
"Lets continue by setting three cards face down shall we? Of course next I'm going to summon a unique spellcaster called Fire Curser(1500/1100). Lastly the effect of my Flame Lord. By removing three magic counters from him I can destroy every monster on the field besides himself!" The magic user flashed them a cocky grin as three of his four orbs vanished, and with a sweep of his hand the entire field was consumed by fire. Even the Dark Paladin was obliterated by the effect, causing Kai to lose life points equal to half his stone monster's attack. (KLP: 6300)
When the flames died down not only was Legendary Flame Lord still standing, but so was Fire Curser, a tall brunette women with red eyes and red robes, holding a staff made of pure fire. Legendary Flame Lord winked at her, but she just ignored him. "Guess what I didn't mention? Fire Curser can't be effected by mass-target effects like Legendary Flame Lord's. So she remains along with him! Now my two monsters will attack Onn!"
The two fire casters raised their wands and sent streams of flame at the nearly defenseless duelist, but at the last moment one of his cards flipped up, and then the flames struck. However Drake had seen Curse of Pain, meaning his Flame Lord's attack was gonna damage him instead. "I may take the damage from my lord's attack, but when Fire Curser deals damage a bonus five hundred points are dealt directly to your life points!" (DLP: 1100, OLP: 3550)
Uni picked up a card as his turn started, and glanced at his cards. He already had the perfect plan to deal with this. It was going to be so easy! They were almost ready! "I'll place two cards face down, and play Monster Reborn on Aishi(100/100)!" The monster was a blue monster made-up of...well it seemed like it was made of air, and it stood on something like a triangular kite. And it was pathetically weak, making Kai wonder why he had reborned it.
Kai picked up his card and summoned it to the field, revealing Blade Knight(2000/1000), which got the power bonus because he had no cards in his hand. He could risk an attack, but Aishi was probably revived because Uni wanted him to attack. He wouldn't fall for such a simple trick. "End turn!"
Now it was Onn's time to shine, and with the card he had drawn he was certain he knew what was going to be next. He played the Graceful Charity card, and swiftly drew his three cards. Upon seeing the cards he knew that he had been right about this turn. Now was the moment of victory. Swiftly he deposited his two rejected cards into the cemetery, keeping only the card he had chosen. "Now is the moment of truth! Now That Guy and This Guy shall unite to bring about your doom! Monster Reborn to revive Koitsu(200/100) in attack mode!"
Drake understood in the moment that he heard the name and saw the monster, understood exactly what they were about to face. He had heard about these cards, but had never expected to face them. After all, it was very difficult to get them out and keep them out for each other since Aishi was a weak five star monste and Koitsu a weak ten star monster. But when combined...."Kai, get ready for something stronger then anything else you've ever faced! Aishi and Koitsu are union monsters, the strongest of them all!"
Koitsu was a red version of Aishi, and in just a moment they would combine into an incredibly deadly force. If they played things out right, Aishi-Koitsu would be able to crush Drake and Kai easily. "I union the monsters together to create Aishi-Koitsu(3100/100)! Now I have it attack Fire Curser to finish you off!" The two monsters moved towards each other, the ends of their kites combining, letting them spin around. Then the two took off, moving at insane speeds towards Drake's weak female monster.
"I activate two cards in a row! First I use Dark Magic Revival, activating Shrink from my cemetery to cut your monster's attack in half. Then as Shrink goes to your cemetery I'll activate Mechanical Magic Mirror, using it once again and then dumping it back into my cemetery! So Aishi-Koitsu drops to less then one thousand attack points!" Aishi-Koitsu collided with a jet of flame...but came out the other end unscathed, though the two twin's life points didn't. (ULP: 5887, OLP: 2937)
"Fools! Union Rider's deck master effect prevents a completed union monster from being destroyed in battle! And since both of us own the monster we split the damage evenly. That shall be all for now, but shortly That Guy and This Guy will crush you!"
Drake smirked as he picked up a card and swiftly set it on the field. It appeared next to his other face-down card. Can't be beaten in battle huh? "I sacrifice three counters from Legendary Flame Lord to activate his special effect. Fire Twister!"
The magic user summoned a ball of fire into his hand and then spun around, twisting it about him until a giant tornado of flames had formed. Then it was pushed away, zipping all around the field, rolling over every monster. When it cleared there was no more Blade Knight, but Aishi-Koitsu was fine. And Drake's fears were confirmed when the two union duelists pointed towards Union Rider #2, which had to protect it from effect destruction. "I'll set one monster face down and switch my other two into defense. Sorry Kai, I didn't know."
Now it became Uni's turn once again, and now he was ready to absolutely finish this duel. There was no way out now for his enemy's, because with this next card the mighty union monster would become unstoppable, and they, the Union Riders, would claim victory! "ACTIVATE INFERNAL SACRIFICE!"
Uni and Onn dumped their hands into the cemetery and their face down cards exploded into shrapnel. But in exchange an aura of fire surrounded Aishi-Koitsu, massively increasing its power. Infernal Sacrifice cleared their field and hands, prevented them from drawing unless they wanted to destroy it...but then their monster's attack power was doubled to sixty-two hundred! "Attack Kai directly!"
Kai shot a look over to his partner, but Drake merely mouthed the words 'not yet', and turned away. Kai let out a cry of pain, followed by a gasp of shock from Serenity as the kite portion of their unioned opponent sliced into him, ripping his shirt and cutting his skin. And because of the immense strength of the union monster...he was almost dead. (KLP: 100)
As soon as Kai's turn began he picked up a card and shot a furious look at Drake, hoping the other duelist knew what he was doing, letting Drake take that damage. Heck, in a duel like this Drake could have at least defended with a face-up defense monster. To his surprise the other duelist mouthed another word, one that Kai recognized as the english word 'trample'. Trample...but in the game that meant that a monster could deal damage even if its target was in defense mode...Aishi-Koitsu had a trample effect! That's why Drake didn't defend with a monster, it would have killed him and he had known Kai could survive the attack. "One card face down."
Onn ignored his draw phase because he too was affected by Infernal Sacrifice. Instead he simply raised one arm and aimed it at Kai, and the duelist knew what was coming next. "Finish him Aishi-Koitsu!" Drake started to move to activate one of his down cards, but Kai motioned him to stop. He could handle this on his own, he needed Drake to concentrate on whatever strategy he had, not on saving him.
"Negate Attack!" The swift attack bounced off the barrier, and his opponent was forced to end his turn, passing it off to Drake. The punk duelist picked up one card and raised his eyes to the duel before setting a single card face down. Whatever he intended....it would be something good.
"I sacrifice Legendary Flame Lord, Fire Curser, and my defense monster to summon Obelisk the Tormentor(4000/4000)!" The entire sky lit up with lightning, and far away eyes focused on this duel, knowing the importance of a god being summoned. Kai could barely comprehend the power he was feeling as Drake's three monsters disappeared, only to be replaced by a monster more massive then anything he had ever witnessed before. What the hell was it?
Unable to do anything else, Drake ended his turn, and Uni clenched one fist tight, grimacing at the sight of the huge monster. But he didn't care, his monster was stronger. What he didn't know was that Drake wanted them at a sense of false security. "Even the power of your new and mighty monster can't stand up to the power of That Guy and This Guy! Attack!"
One of Drake's two face down cards flipped up, revealing Waboku. With the battle damage dropped down to zero it was all over for that turn. There was nothing else Uni could do. Kai joined in, picking up a card and setting it down quickly. Drake had something planned, and he just wanted to use up their attacks for some reason. What was he waiting for?
Onn was next, and he wasn't going to tolerate something so disgusting as being prevented of destroying a monster weaker then their mighty creature! This massive abomination had to go immediately, and he would deal with it where his brother had failed. "Aishi-Koitsu, slice that beast in half and destroy Drake's life points!"
"Sorry Onn, but the only life points that are about to be destroyed are yours. You've fallen into the trap I've laid....Devil's Sanctuary!" Onn and Uni could only cry out in terror as the little metal devil appeared, and Aishi-Koitsu sliced straight through it, shattering it into tiny little pieces. And they knew quite well what it could do, they understood the horror of its power. (ULP: 2787, OLP: 0)
The second of the two Union Riders let out a cry of pain as a black wind swept around him, ripping his soul from his body and picking it up. The wind soared away, taking his soul with it and leaving a lifeless shell that dropped to the ground. Uni collapsed to his knees and let out an earth shattering scream at the sight of his brother's corpse. Worse, his brother wasn't even dead, he was just...gone. "YOU! You knew this would happen! And I'll make you pay for it! YOU'LL PAY! I'LL MAKE BOTH OF YOU SUFFER!"
Drake just ignored his yelling and drew another card, before activating the card. "Renewal Spell lets me remove two magic cards from my cemetery to reactivate a card in the cemetery. I'm reusing Payment of Debt." He quickly drew his next card, and then decided on what to do. He set two cards face down, watching them appear holographically, and then played his remaining card.
"Another Shot From the Dark to activate Shrink again, cutting your union monster down to size. And when that's done I'll give it a big smack with my god monster's God Hand Crusher!" Obelisk swept its hand across the field, smashing Aishi-Koitsu to the ground and crushing his opponent's life points. It wasn't quite over, but the damage was certainly effective, and it would help in the long run. (ULP: 1887)
"KILL OBELISK!" The union monster zipped across the field to cut down the god monster, but waiting for it was a giant mirror with a reflection of itself in it. It crashed straight through the mirror, and then turned back around to stop in front of Uni. Uni sneered upon realizing that it was Kai who had activated the trap, Reflective Surface, which dealt damage equal to his monster's base attack. (ULP: 1587)
"One card face down." Kai's newest card appeared there, and he hoped it would be enough. He and Drake couldn't keep this up for very much longer, they had to figure out a way out of the situation quickly, or else things would end badly. And he needed some way to fight back!
Drake picked up his next card and placed it on the field, revealing Magical Well. He searched his deck for a magic card and added it to his hand, then swiftly declared the end of his turn. Obviously Drake had something intended, but whatever it was Kai didn't know.
"Every time I attack Drake something goes wrong, so this time I'll attack Kai directly!" Aishi-Koitsu turned their attention on the essentially defenseless duelist, but they ran straight into the defensive barrier that was Mirror Force. Drake flashed Kai a thumbs up, having saved him for that moment...unnecessarily though. Kai had his own way to protect himself. Unfortunately for them the effect of Union Rider #2 saved Aishi-Koitsu from being destroyed by the trap.
Kai drew a card and grimaced, seeing only a sacrifice monster. He couldn't summon it, and even if he could it wouldn't help him since Aishi-Koitsu had a trample effect and was much stronger then the monster he held. "I pass my turn."
Drake casually drew a card, and grinned when he saw what it was. "One monster in defense mode." The card appeared beside the giant Obelisk, and Kai and Uni both wondered what he was up to. With the union monster's trample ability that monster was a major liability...so what was Drake up to? Was he trying to kill himself?
"Attack Kai aga...damn." He had been cut off by Kai's trap card activating, revealing Thunder of Ruler which prevented Uni from having a battle phase in that turn. It was a one turn save, but it was certainly effective. Now he just had to hope he could draw a card he could use in the next turn.
Kai drew a card, and then passed again, unable to do anything. If they had their deck masters this would be easy. All Kai had to do was draw a magic destruction card and then Drake could have his deck master back. With that Drake could keep reusing Shrink and keep slapping Aishi-Koitsu, able to kill Uni quickly. But without their deck masters...they were in trouble.
Drake drew a card and then immediately played it, knowing that now would be the time to finish off the strategy he had been working on. "Monster Reborn, to revive Legendary Flame Lord!" The fire user shimmered into view, then stumbled away from the massive monster he discovered next to him, obviously terrified.
"Now I flip my face-down White Magic Summoner into attack mode!" The white robed magic user appeared, and also stumbled away from the fierce visage of Obelisk. He shot a glance to the flame lord, who just shrugged his shoulders, unable to explain why they were forced to be in the presence of such a nasty looking creature. Their master used magicians, not...giant thingies.
"Now I'll use my god monster's special ability. By sacrificing White Magic Summoner and Legendary Flame Lord to it, I can use its power of Soul Max!" The giant blue god picked up the two puny magic users, crushing them in its fists and absorbing their power to increase its own. Suddenly its power surged, and the counters for attack strength were unable to follow it. Whatever its attack was now, it was certainly higher then Aishi-Koitsu's!
"GOD HAND CRUSHER!" The huge god creature punched with such force that a huge blue aura erupted around its fists, and that huge fist crashed into the much smaller union creature, who was hurled backwards into Uni, in a crushing blow that would reduce Uni's life point to zero, winning them the duel. (ULP: 794)
Uni struggled to his feet, and gestured to his two deck masters who had unioned together. Drake and Kai gasped as Aishi-Koitsu rose up through the smoke, unharmed. But how did Uni still have life points? "The final combined effect of my brother's deck master and mine is that if an attack on a completed union monster would win the duel....I could reduce my life points by half to save myself, but then we'd never be able to use our deck master's effects again."
Drake just shrugged, understanding exactly what was going to happen. Slowly he let his gaze settle out in the distance, where he knew she waited. With this next attack the duel could be won for either side, and he knew that to accomplish his goal he would have to do something he had never expected to do.
Uni raised one arm, palm thrust out and fingers spread wide apart, and declared his final attack of the duel. Now was the moment of victory, now the end would come! Now he would get vengeance for the loss of his brother! "Aishi-Koitsu, finish Kai off, I want to leave Drake for last!"
"Not so fast! I'll defend with Obelisk the Tormentor!" Uni and Kai both looked at him like he was crazy, but still the giant beast moved in the way of Aishi-Koitsu's attack, which ripped right through Obelisk's belly and out the other side. Finally Aishi-Koitsu swerved around and came to a rest in front of Uni, and Obelisk shattered into tiny pieces, with it would go the last of Drake's life points.
"I've got somewhere to be, so I'll leave this duel to you Kai. But first I'll help out with this last trap card. Hope of Desperation! This will increase a player's life points by the amount of points a destroyed monster had. And since Obelisk had four thousand, you gain the same amount. Until we meet again....later to both you and Serenity!" (KLP: 4100, DLP: 0)
Kai and Serenity watched in horror as a tornado of black wind descended on Drake from the sky, and then it rose back up, leaving no trace that the punk duelist had ever been there. The only real proof was the black leather jacket that Serenity was wearing, and the deck master that stood loyally behind where Drake had been standing. "But...why? You must know something we don't...and I'll make sure you can do whatever you need to. I won't let anyone down by losing this duel!"
He drew his card and sighed at the sight of the card. Now he had to carry out his threat. He had to win this duel, and therefore he would have to strip Uni of his soul...something he had hoped to avoid. "Together Aishi and Koitsu are too powerful for me to defeat. But separate they offer no challenge. That is how I will defeat them, by separating them, just as you were separated from your twin. To do so I use this magic card, Defusion!"
Uni could only fall to his knees in disgrace as his monster was split apart into its weaker forms, two pathetically weak monsters that wouldn't stand a chance against any attack. "Now I play Autonomous Action Unit at a cost of fifteen hundred life points, to revive one monster to the field!" (KLP: 2600)
One of Uni's tears hit the ground like an explosive force, seemingly louder then anything Kai had ever heard. But truthfully he couldn't hear it...it was just his conscience and his imagination playing games with him. But this was what he had to do, there was no way out of this except to win. "I revive the Dark Magician from the cemetery!" The purple robed magic user appeared on the field, equipped by the Autonomous Action Unit card. His magician offered him a brief bow, understanding the feelings his master had for this situation.
"I'm sorry. Please, Dark Magician, you know what to do." The magician nodded once, and then raised his staff out at arms length. Shutting his eyes and looking away, the magician fired off his magic attack, crushing Aishi with ease. The force of the attack blasted Uni off the top of the waterfall, where he fall to the water below. Before he hit, he was just a soulless shell. (ULP: 0)
Kai dropped to his knees, horrified at what he had been forced to do, horrified at the things that had happened. Three lives gone so quickly, and no way to stop it from happening. He looked up in time to see Serenity drop into his arms. She started sobbing against his shoulder, and he put his arms around her uncertainly. There was nothing he could say to make it better.
Author's Note: Well now...bet that surprised you. See you guys next chapter, hope you enjoyed this one. Oh, if you can guess the pun involved in the Drake and Kai's opponent's names then you get a cookie and a prize. Should be easy.
Original Cards
Drake: Shot From the Dark, White Magic Summoner, Payment of Debt, Omegus(only mentioned), Card in Hand, Fire Curser, Renewal Spell, Magical Well
Kai: Soul Spell(only mentioned I know, but still. And this card is Time Mage's creation)
Uni: Illegality, Redirection, Infernal Sacrifice
Onn: Blood Lust, Misdirection, Breaking Point, Power of the Cemetery, Wicked Gorgon-Medusa, Illegality, Kobuki
Author's Note: To any fans of Seto Kaiba...sucks to be you! Err, never mind, ignore that. Now on to the chapter!
Quote of the Chapter: "In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in an clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth." -Mahatma Gandhi
Chapter Twenty-Six: Union Riders; Fear of the Ultimate Deck!
There was laughter in the air, time to spend and a relaxed nature to spend it on. That and the water was fun to mess around in, splashing about and having a generally goofy time. It was in fact the first time that Drake had relaxed in...well since just after Kirani's duel with Taichi. Amazing that the duel had taken place not even twenty-four hours earlier.
Pulling back from the brief water fight he leaned back against a rock and put his hands behind his head, contemplating. Kai was about five feet away, floating lazily on his back, staring up at the sky. Either that or he was asleep, Drake couldn't see the other duelist's eyes so he couldn't be sure.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Drake blinked and dropped his eyes to the figure approaching him. Serenity swam her way over, which of course wasn't necessary in water that was about four feet deep, and then leaned up against the rock, right next to him. He gave her a brief smile, and then continued to stare up at the sky, lost in his own thoughts.
"I was thinking about today. Its amazing that all of these things, Shadi, Kirani, Hinata...Taichi. All of it has happened in under a day. I'm not even sure if its still the same day actually. But all of these things, the very fate of the world....its all being determined in a day's time. Doesn't that seem a bit odd to you?"
She shrugged and brushed a lock of brunette hair from in front of her eyes. He watched her stare into her reflection in the water, a troubled look on her face. Then just as quickly as the look had appeared, it vanished and she looked back up at him. "I guess so, but think about this. Which is odder, the fate of the world being determined in one day, or the fate of the world being determined by a card game?"
With this said he burst out laughing, he just couldn't help it. She joined in with his laughter, the water soaking up their worries as they lounged beneath the sun. It was true, he hadn't really thought about it before. "You're right Serenity, the fate of the world being determined by a card game is absolutely ridiculous. But then again, I always thought that Armageddon would come from a giant meteor or maybe nuclear war...not for a fifteen year old kid inhabited by some ancient evil demon-thingy that's millions of years old."
Serenity was the first of the two of them to laugh this time, and he joined her. To his surprise she splashed him with water, and soon the two of them were having a water fight again. As the water fight moved, Kai got caught up and joined into the fray, splashing water back and forth between the two of them. It was a three way war.
Little did they know that they were being watched. Two dark figures stood where Drake and Kai had stood not long before, using the bushes and shade to watch their prey. Soon would be the time to strike. Soon everything would happen.
A great distance away were the other watchers. They watched through magic, enjoying the show along with the dozens if not hundreds of duels that were going on throughout this place. One of the watching figures stood at the base of the steps to a massive Greek styled temple. The other lounged in a chair, secluded in the shadows under a pillar.
They were distracted by the powerful wing beats of something very large. As they watched the giant white beast that was the Blue Eyes descended, and one brown haired Seto Kaiba jumped from its neck. "Where's Mokuba?"
The one lounging in a chair motioned with a flick of the wrist, and four cloaked men marched out to impede Kaiba's way. Based on the symbol at the top of their hood, Kaiba recognized them as Rare Hunters, and he saw Malik waiting. As much as he didn't understand Malik's presence as he had seen the man incinerated, he didn't care.
Malik sneered, his veins pulsing as he began commanding the hunters. "The four of you will dispatch Seto Kaiba. Of course if he defeats the four of you he will have gained the ten straight victories he needs to become the first to make the challenge. Should you win the challenged duel, you will be released."
Kaiba sneered and activated his duel disk, followed closely by the four men who lined up in front of him in attacking positions. Each of them drew their opening hands, and the game was on. "Let's get one thing straight. If I win the challenged duel then not only will I be released, but Mokuba will be as well. Is that understood?"
Malik laughed at this, his sickeningly annoying laugh, veins bulging as his eyes twitched. "You're in no position to make demands Seto Kaiba. We will consider this proposition, but for the moment you have a duel to attend to. To even things up, you'll have a deck master, they won't."
Kaiba nodded and selected his deck master. To all the Rare Hunters' surprise his deck master rose up and up and up....revealing the three headed monstrosity that was the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon(4500/3800). With that the first Rare Hunter drew his sixth card. "I'll set two cards face down and summon Getsu Fuma(1700/1000)."
The red armored warrior appeared and drew his shining blade, holding it at the ready. The next duelist drew his card and surveyed his hand, before going into motion. "I'll play Manju of the 10000 Hands, which lets me search for a ritual card. Now I'll use that ritual card, sacrificing Manju and a level four monster from my hand to summon Zorc(2700/2000)! Then I shall set one card down and end my turn."
His partner grinned beneath his hood and declared the activation of one of his face down cards. It was revealed as Needle Wall, and Kaiba's monster zones were suddenly numbered, one through five. During the standby phase a die would be rolled, and the monster on the zone with that number would be destroyed, a six was re roll. "Summon Roulette Barrel(1000/2000) in defense and set two cards!"
A massive machine monster appeared in front of the third Rare Hunter, and the second one took this as his opportunity to activate his own Needle Wall, increasing the chances that Kaiba's monsters would get trashed. Now the fourth one drew, followed by the activation of the third one's Needle Wall. "I'll set two cards and one monster. That's all."
Kaiba sneered at this and drew his sixth card, before declaring what his move was going to be. Of course the fourth one also activated a Needle Wall, completing the set. "You four are truly idiots. Barely even qualify as flunkies. All your efforts are nothing to me. Go Heavy Storm and Dark Hole!"
Despite all their intense efforts everything that they had done was just undone, clearing their fields completely of any cards that could help them out. There was nothing to protect them now from Kaiba's rampage. "I'll move my deck master onto the field, and activate its deck master effect, paying half my life points to special summon the three Blue Eyes White Dragons(3000/2500 X3)!" The massive three headed beast was joined by its fusion components, who all roared at the Rare Hunters, cowing them. (KLP: 2000)
"Now I'll discard one Thunder Dragon to place two more in my hand, and I activate Polymerization to fuse them together into Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon(2800/2100)! Now my monsters will unleash the ultimate assault on your various life points!" The dragons attacked, blasting apart his opponent's with dreadful ease. One was defeated by the Ultimate Dragon, another by a double attack from the thunder dragon and a Blue Eyes. The other two were dropped to a measly level of life points. (R3LP: 1000, R4LP: 1000)
Kaiba then set two cards face down, emptying his hand and passing the turn on to the third of the Rare Hunters, who eagerly drew his card. Upon drawing he recognized the face of Man-Eater Bug, which was the perfect monster for this situation. "I'll set one monster and end my turn." Using the hidden communicator in his hood he directed his partner to flip his monster with an attack.
"I'll summon Baron of the Fiend Sword(1550/1100) and have it attack my partner's set monster!" Kaiba just smirked and activated one of his face down cards, having expected something like this. The two Rare Hunters gasped as Ceasefire flipped up, flipping the Man-Eater Bug without an effect. It was then cut down by the baron. "Set one card and end!" (R3LP: 500)
Kaiba drew a card and glanced up at the field, knowing exactly what he was going to do. At the same time the fourth of the Rare Hunters was hiding a smirk, knowing that the instant Kaiba attacked it would be the end for him, because the ultimate dragon would be destroyed by his Mirror Force. "I declare an attack with all of my monsters!"
As the various monsters launched their attacks, the fourth Rare Hunter flipped up his Mirror Force, both of them cackling as the attacks collided with the barrier. "I figured you had something like that planned, so I had Trap Jammer ready and waiting. By discarding one card I can negate your trap since it was activated during the battle phase!"
The two remaining Rare Hunters let out cries of terror as the supreme attacks ripped into them, draining them of their last life points and causing their defeat. As this occurred all four of them had their souls stripped away, leaving them as helpless shells. "Now I declare a challenge on you!"
Malik laughed it off, and Kaiba heard faint clapping. Turning his head up he watched the figure descend down from the steps, clapping as they did so. When Kaiba recognized the person he sneered in disgust. "I wasn't expecting you. Are you the one my challenge is against?"
"That's right Kaiba, and you'll regret it. In fact, I'm so confidant in my skills and the power of my ultimate deck that I swear that if I don't win in four turns I'll automatically forfeit the duel!" Even Kaiba couldn't help but gasp at the sheer audacity of this statement. The mere thought that someone could defeat him in four turns or less was ludicrous!
"Very well, now select your deck master and lets get this under way!" Once again he selected the Ultimate Dragon which rose up behind him, but his opponent's deck master was fairly puny looking, and he laughed at seeing it. Whatever it was, it probably didn't have much of an effect.
"I'll go first, playing Zone Expansion. Then I'll use my deck master's effect, special summoning the three Blue Eyes! Next I'll summon Lord of Dragons and play Flute of Summoning Dragons to special summon Hyonzaru and Kaiser Glider to the field. Finally I shall play Anti-Magic Viral Cannon!"
The massive combo was completed, the three white dragons roaring in triumph as they dominated the field. Next to them was the diamond dragon and the golden dragon, followed by the weaker Lord of Dragons in his dragon armor. Finally his opponent got rid of ten magic cards, according to his virus's effect. (KLP: 4000)
"Now Kaiba, about what I said earlier. I was wrong. It will only take me one turn to defeat you, and to prove it I'll activate Inferno Tempest! This card forces us to remove all monsters in our hands, decks, and cemeteries from the game!" Kaiba grimaced, realizing that he had just lost a number of good monsters, in fact now his only monsters were those on the field. But they would be enough, as his opponent had no monsters at all.
"How do you expect to win without any monsters?" His opponent chuckled, and with a wave of the hand the puny deck master moved onto the field, making it his enemy's only monster. Whatever it could do, it wouldn't be enough to defeat him, not at all.
"Now I'll activate my deck master's effect, allowing it to become a new and improved monster, with a very special effect!" He watched in confusion and then horror as the new monster appeared in all its fantastic glory, and he watched as its attack power rose through the roof, greater then anything he had ever experienced. It was beyond anything he had ever imagined!
"Say goodbye Kaiba! END IT MY MONSTER! ATTACK AND DESTROY THE BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON AND ALL OF KAIBA'S LIFE POINTS!" A huge beam of energy exploded forth from his opponent's new creature and engulfed not just his white dragon...but all of his dragons. He barely had time to apologize to his brother before the blast consumed him as well.
"Fear my power world! Fear the power of the ultimate deck that can even defeat the mighty Seto Kaiba in one turn!" And two strings of evil laughter echoed throughout the land, casting all in a dark shadow. Nothing was the same, no power could possibly stand against this deck with such a great amount of power. It was invincible!
The three now lay there, basking in the glow of the sun, soaking up its warmth through the cool water around them. Everything was perfect for that moment. There was absolutely nothing that could shatter the moment.
Drake blinked as a shadow fell over his face, blocking out the warmth of the sun. He picked himself up, dropping his feet to the sand at the bottom of the water and found himself looking up at two men in simple brown robes. "Hey there. You here to get some water?"
The first of them grinned, pulling back his hood to reveal a handsome face, brown hair in a buzz cut, and brown eyes. The second one followed suit, revealing an identical face. Twins then. The first one spoke up. "Actually we came here because we are seeking duels. The ten straight victories and all that. We wish to make a challenge to one Kai Kaethen and Serenity Wheeler."
The two of them glanced at each other in surprise, and then turned back to the two twin duelists. This was hardly what they had been expecting. "Us? Why us?" The two duelists laughed at this and activated their disks.
"Because we already know every card in Daisuke Ihachi's deck, therefore he would be no challenge to us. You two are more of a mystery to us." Upon hearing himself declared as no challenge Drake stood to his full height and stepped out of the water, only in shorts. Kai followed suit, also only in shorts. Serenity stayed in the water, down beneath her shoulders, keeping herself out of their view.
"Listen up! I refuse to allow you to duel Serenity. She isn't ready for a duel of such a caliber. I'll take her place, and if you want a challenge I'll alter the cards in my deck to give you challenge. Two on one, me and Kai versus you two. Up at the top of the waterfall in fifteen minutes so we can get ready. Agreed?"
The twins nodded in acceptance and marched off, obviously heading towards the top of the waterfall. He and Kai started preparing themselves, drying off and getting dressed. Once they were ready in that way both of them prepared their decks, assembling in the way they had before. After ten minutes they were ready. "Me and you. Ready Kai?"
His partner nodded, activating his DD2, and started up towards the top of the waterfall. He thought this was just a normal duel, but Drake knew the truth. There was more to this then just getting ten straight victories. He would have to accomplish what he needed to, but he couldn't make it look bad. "Drake...you don't have to keep protecting me. I think I'm ready for a challenge like this."
Drake turned back to Serenity, who stood there, still dripping a bit because she hadn't fully dried. He shook away bad thoughts and grabbed his jacket, tossing it to her. She caught it with one hand and looked down at it questioningly. "I'm not protecting you because I think you're weak. I'm protecting you because I feel I should. This is a duel that needs to happen, and I need to do this."
"Then...what's the jacket for?" He grinned as she held it at arms length, obviously unsure of what to do with it. He pantomimed putting the jacket on, and she followed suit, sliding it over her arms. It fell into place, looking slightly like a dress on her since it was much to big.
"For keep warm. I'm heading up, wanna come?" She gave him a bright smile and followed him up, joining Kai and the twins at the top of the waterfall. Shortly the duel would begin, but first some formalities needed to get out of the way. Like...their opponent's names.
"Mind introducing yourselves so you aren't just unnamed duelists that we have to crush?" The twins laughed, twin smiles etched on their features. Yes, they were definitely true duelists, not minding the pointless threats and comments. This was what duelists did, this was how it worked.
The first one pointed to himself with his thumb, and then next at his brother with his thumb, declaring their names as he did so. "I'm Uni and that lug is my twin brother Onn. And to do this double duel we'll rotate, starting with you, then me, then Kai, and finally Onn. Agreed?" Drake and Kai caught each other's eyes and then gave silent ascent, agreeing to the terms. The duel was on! (DLP: 8000, ULP: 8000, KLP: 8000, OLP: 8000)
Drake, being fist, was the first to declare what his deck master would be. And as he did so the monster appeared behind him, a woman with purple hair in a ponytail with a magic staff held in front of her. "My deck master is Magician of Faith! Her magic will aid me greatly in this duel!"
Uni selected a card and held it up, revealing his monster for all to see. It formed behind him, a cyborg riding on top of a giant black dragon. Drake grimaced as he recognized the card. "My deck master is Union Rider!"
Kai selected his deck master as his favorite monster, Breaker the Magic Warrior who formed in all his red and gold armored glory. Next Onn chose his deck master, revealing Union Rider #2, a monster identical to Union Rider except it was a white dragon being ridden. Now that the deck master's were set, it was time for Drake to take his turn.
He drew his opening hand and a sixth card, watching as the others drew their opening hands as well. He surveyed the hand and realized that this turn he wouldn't be able to summon. He'd just have to hope for something next turn when attacking was allowed. "I'll place three cards. Your turn Uni." The three cards shimmered into view right in front of his feet and his turn ended.
"I'll play Pitch Dark Dragon(900/900) in defense mode, and set up one card. End turn." His dragon, identical to the black dragon that the Union Rider was on, appeared crouching with its wings folded around it. Then a card appeared behind it and Uni's turn was over.
Kai picked up his card and immediately went into action. It was time to show them the true power of his favorite monster. "I'll discard one card from my hand to activate my deck master's effect. Breaker Blade!" He dumped a card into the cemetery and his deck master raised his blade, then swung it down. A streak of red light shot from the tip of the sword and speared into Uni's face down card, obliterating it.
"Next I'll summon Skilled Dark Magician(1900/1700) and use Emblem of Dragon Destroyer to put Buster Blader into my hand as well as putting a magic counter on my magician. Finally I'll set two cards to finish off my turn." The black robed mage held his staff to the side, smiling slightly as the orb on his right shoulder started to glow, signaling the first counter had appeared. Kai then searched through his deck and placed the named card into his hand before two holographic cards appeared in front of him.
Onn drew a card and then selected the cards he wanted to use, grinning as he played them. "First I'll set two cards face down. Now I summon Giant Orc(2200/0)!" The massive green skinned and muscular creature appeared, wielding a huge curved sword. With this newest monster, along with Pitch Dark Dragon and the Union Riders, Drake's fears were confirmed. Union Decks....
"Now I'll equip Blood Lust to my orc, doubling his attack strength! Of course each turn I'll have to sacrifice a monster to sate his lust and pay the upkeep of Blood Lust, but its worth it for a monster nearly as strong as the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" The orc let out a roar from deep within his belly, and he began to drool with a great hunger. Suddenly his muscles increased in size, and so did his already great power.
Drake flipped a card off the top of his deck, not even noticing as the deck holder slid down to compensate for his slightly reduced deck. Technology was a wonderful thing. He held back a grimace as he realized that he still couldn't summon a monster, however he could do damage. "Tremendous Fire on Uni!"
A burst of flame exploded from his card, nearly scorching Uni. The duelist yelped and swatted at the flames with his robes, hoping to put it out. Luckily for him it vanished quickly, but the damage was done. "Now I'll use my deck master's effect, discarding a card from the top of my deck to put a magic card in my cemetery back into my hand! And I'll use Tremendous Fire again to blast Onn!"
This time it was Onn who got struck by the flames, performing a similar action as his twin had. Despite the impressive damage that came from using Tremendous Fire, there was a problem with the card. The fires weren't perfectly controlled, and therefore he also recieved damage. (DLP: 7000, ULP: 7000, OLP: 7000)
Uni smiled, excited by the prospect of new cards from Drake, and a potential challenge out of the two duelists. He and his brother, when dueling together, had never had a true challenge. Maybe this would be the duel to bring them to their limits. "I'll sacrifice Pitch Dark Dragon to set a monster in defense mode. I'll set a card and then play Double Spell, discarding a magic card to copy Tremendous Fire to use on Drake! Lastly I'll use Illegality on Kai's deck master, preventing it from using its effect!" (DLP: 6000, ULP: 6500)
Kai blinked, surprised at what he had seen. Already he was in the lead, thought not by any work on his part, and already his deck master's effect was locked. And it had happened so quickly as well. "I'll sacrifice Skilled Dark Magician and his counters to special summon Dark Magician(2500/2100) from my deck!" The purple robed magic user charged onto the field and cast his wand around in joy of beings summoned.
"Now I'll summon my strongest monster by playing Polymerization to fuse the Dark Magician with the Buster Blader I put in my hand, so rise up Dark Paladin(3400/2600)!" The two named monsters jumped into the swirling vortex and fused together, jumping back out as the long-haired sword wielding magician known as Dark Paladin, who cut through the air several times, generating flashy sparks as he did so.
"My next move is to activate my placed Dust Tornado to destroy Illegality!" His card flipped up, and a whirlwind erupted from it, picking up sand and minute particles as it went, becoming black from the dust. It zoomed towards the face-up magic card, but at the last moment it stalled. "What's going on?"
Onn grinned and shook a finger at Kai, motioning to one of his cards which was now flipping up. It showed a man holding up a direction sign in the wrong direction, and the car following it was going off a cliff. "What's going on? Misdirection that's what. Or rather, the trap card Misdirection which lets me change the target of a magic or trap card with the effect 'destroy one or more magic or trap cards on the field.' So Dust Tornado is now headed straight for your other face down card!"
Kai grimaced as man in orange appeared out of the card, and using his sign directed the tornado back towards Kai's remaining face down. It crashed into it, ripping it apart. Now his Soul Spell was no more, and it was a useful card at that. "Very well, I'll place one card face down, and declare an attack on Uni's defense monster!"
His paladin chanted a brief spell, infusing its blade with ancient magical energies. Then it swept the blade in a wide arc, sending a streaking slash of powerful magic straight at the face down monster. Uni chuckled and flipped up one of his face down cards, a card that Kai recognized as being called Redirection. "Redirection changes the target of your attack to a different player, which happens to be your partner's open field!"
The arc of energy swerved in mid-air, heading straight towards Drake. Worse yet, there was nothing Kai could do to stop the attack from connecting, so he had to hope Drake had some way out of this. "I'll activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Blood Lust." Kai did a prat fall as Drake's face down card flipped up, and blasted away Blood Lust with a bolt of lightning, dropping Giant Orc back down to twenty-two hundred.
Onn threw back his head and roared with laughter, Uni followed suit shortly after as they watched the blade of energy streak towards the still defenseless Drake. And Drake was still calm, despite the fact that his only move was to destroy Blood Lust. Kai turned to his partner and started yelling. "What use is that right now? You're about to take thirty-four hundred points of damage!"
Drake quirked an eyebrow at him, and then calmly smirked as he brought his hand up to his duel disk and pressed an activation button. The card that had been right next to his Mystical Space Typhoon was revealed, and Kai took the time to smirk with Drake. "My partner wondered why I used that magic card, and here's why. Attack Drawing Armor! And I'm selecting the now weakened Giant Orc!"
Onn and Uni gasped as the energy attack swerved away for the second time this turn, now headed towards the demonic orc. And since it was back to its base attack strength it was no match for the powered up Dark Paladin. "I won't lose that way! Reveal trap card, Breaking Point!"
Onn's trap flipped up, and Kai grimaced when he saw it. Breaking Point could only be activated when an opponent attacked, and it was a one turn reverse Metal Force, powering up the attacked monster by half of the attacking monster's attack strength. The Giant Orc roared as it increased in size and was boosted to thirty-nine hundred attack points, stronger then the Paladin.
It caught the energy with its fists and slowed it down, then after a few seconds of struggle it completely stopped the attack, and starting to force it back towards its source. Now Kai was going to be facing the force of his own attack, boosted by five hundred points. He was going to lose his Paladin. Suddenly he heard Drake mutter something. "Damn, I was hoping to save this for later."
And as suddenly as the orc had increased in size it began to get smaller, and it was pushed backwards by the attack again. The now tiny orc found itself unable to fend off the powerful energy attack and was obliterated instantly, confusing them all. Onn snarled and directed his question to both of his opponents. "How did that happen? My monster was stronger!"
Drake grinned and directed Onn's attention to his remaining card, which was now face-up. It showed a Battle Ox being massively reduced in size, and it was a quick-play magic card. Kai whooped as he recognized it, knowing exactly what had happened. "The Shrink magic card cut your monster's attack in half, making it once again weaker then the Dark Paladin. Looks like that exchange goes to us." (OLP: 5550)
Onn's fist was clenched tightly shut as he picked up a card off the top of his deck, knowing that he would have to act quickly if he was going to take back control of this duel. And his newest card would do so. "Power of the Cemetery! This card lets me and my brother draw cards equal to the number of cards in our cemetery....up to a maximum of seven of course. So I get four and Uni gets five."
The two robed duelists increased their hand size according to the effect of the magic card, bringing Onn to six cards and Uni to five. Now they could regain control using their new cards. "I use the magic card Grave Sacrifice, removing Giant Orc and Buster Blader from the cemeteries to normal summon Wicked Gorgon-Medusa(2500/2000)! And since it was normal summoned I can seal away one monster on the field in a coffin of stone!"
The new monster to be summoned was a hideous blue-skinned woman with hair made of snakes. She, if you could call it that, was also seven feet tall, and had a nasty smile one her face. Slowly she turned her gaze on the paladin, who tried to turn away but was caught by her power. And in seconds it was frozen in stone. "No! My Paladin!"
"My next step is to place two cards face down, and then use Illegality on Drake's deck master! With that out of the way, I attack Drake directly!" The two cards appeared, followed by one that halted his Magician of Faith's effect. Finally Medusa turned her gaze on Drake, and fired twin beams of red energy at him. They streaked towards him, only to be intercepted by the trap card Kai activated.
"Magic Cylinders absorbs your attack and sends it back towards a different monster, your partner's defense monster in fact!" The twin beams entered the cylinder, and then it flip around, sending the beams flying out the other end straight towards Uni's defense creature. But before it got far, a white fuzzy creature jumped out of Onn's hand and bit through Kai's cylinder, stopping the redirection.
"By discarding Kobuki(300/200) from my hand I can negate the activation of a trap card and destroy it. So your cylinders are useless, and Drake still gets hit!" Kai felt a wound to his pride as he was unable to protect his partner. It was his fault! Drake had used up all his face-down cards to protect his Paladin last turn, and now he couldn't do anything to save Drake from a similar fate. The punk duelist took the attacks directly to the chest, staggered, and then recovered quickly. (DLP: 3500)
Despite Kai's wounded pride, Drake didn't seemed bothered by the damage he had taken. In fact as soon as he drew his next card he started laughing, and he said something about a shocking turn of events. "I'll just use the magic card Card in Hand to place a monster from my deck into my hand."
He ejected his deck and searched through it, coming across the monster he wanted quite quickly. Then he shuffled his deck and replaced it in its holster, before putting the monster into his hand. Now he was ready. "I shall use the magic card Trial By Fire! By discarding Omegus from my hand I can ritually summon the mighty magic user, Legendary Flame Lord(2400/2000)!"
In an explosion of fire the new monster was revealed. He marched through the flames as if they were nothing, wearing only plain brown clothing, a scorched brown cape, and a purple helmet. He grinned and jauntily summoned all the fire into his hand, forming it into an oddly shaped purple staff, which glowed brightly with the orange light of the flames at the top. "Now I intend to use his special effect, requiring three magic counters...using the one card left in my hand. So lets get started with Pot of Greed!"
Drake pulled the two cards free as a bright red orb appeared near the neck of his magic user's staff. It started spinning around, showing itself off to everyone who could see. "Now I use Payment of Debt to draw three more cards!" He picked up three cards, raising his hand to a total of four cards as another red orb spun about the neck of Legendary Flame Lord's staff.
"For two more counters, one more then I need, I'll play Shot From the Dark, reactivating Payment of Debt from the cemetery!" Again Drake drew three cards, giving him six cards all together, and two more orbs started in their eccentric orbit about the staff. Now, with four magic counters, his monster was ready to unleash its ultimate strength.
"Lets continue by setting three cards face down shall we? Of course next I'm going to summon a unique spellcaster called Fire Curser(1500/1100). Lastly the effect of my Flame Lord. By removing three magic counters from him I can destroy every monster on the field besides himself!" The magic user flashed them a cocky grin as three of his four orbs vanished, and with a sweep of his hand the entire field was consumed by fire. Even the Dark Paladin was obliterated by the effect, causing Kai to lose life points equal to half his stone monster's attack. (KLP: 6300)
When the flames died down not only was Legendary Flame Lord still standing, but so was Fire Curser, a tall brunette women with red eyes and red robes, holding a staff made of pure fire. Legendary Flame Lord winked at her, but she just ignored him. "Guess what I didn't mention? Fire Curser can't be effected by mass-target effects like Legendary Flame Lord's. So she remains along with him! Now my two monsters will attack Onn!"
The two fire casters raised their wands and sent streams of flame at the nearly defenseless duelist, but at the last moment one of his cards flipped up, and then the flames struck. However Drake had seen Curse of Pain, meaning his Flame Lord's attack was gonna damage him instead. "I may take the damage from my lord's attack, but when Fire Curser deals damage a bonus five hundred points are dealt directly to your life points!" (DLP: 1100, OLP: 3550)
Uni picked up a card as his turn started, and glanced at his cards. He already had the perfect plan to deal with this. It was going to be so easy! They were almost ready! "I'll place two cards face down, and play Monster Reborn on Aishi(100/100)!" The monster was a blue monster made-up of...well it seemed like it was made of air, and it stood on something like a triangular kite. And it was pathetically weak, making Kai wonder why he had reborned it.
Kai picked up his card and summoned it to the field, revealing Blade Knight(2000/1000), which got the power bonus because he had no cards in his hand. He could risk an attack, but Aishi was probably revived because Uni wanted him to attack. He wouldn't fall for such a simple trick. "End turn!"
Now it was Onn's time to shine, and with the card he had drawn he was certain he knew what was going to be next. He played the Graceful Charity card, and swiftly drew his three cards. Upon seeing the cards he knew that he had been right about this turn. Now was the moment of victory. Swiftly he deposited his two rejected cards into the cemetery, keeping only the card he had chosen. "Now is the moment of truth! Now That Guy and This Guy shall unite to bring about your doom! Monster Reborn to revive Koitsu(200/100) in attack mode!"
Drake understood in the moment that he heard the name and saw the monster, understood exactly what they were about to face. He had heard about these cards, but had never expected to face them. After all, it was very difficult to get them out and keep them out for each other since Aishi was a weak five star monste and Koitsu a weak ten star monster. But when combined...."Kai, get ready for something stronger then anything else you've ever faced! Aishi and Koitsu are union monsters, the strongest of them all!"
Koitsu was a red version of Aishi, and in just a moment they would combine into an incredibly deadly force. If they played things out right, Aishi-Koitsu would be able to crush Drake and Kai easily. "I union the monsters together to create Aishi-Koitsu(3100/100)! Now I have it attack Fire Curser to finish you off!" The two monsters moved towards each other, the ends of their kites combining, letting them spin around. Then the two took off, moving at insane speeds towards Drake's weak female monster.
"I activate two cards in a row! First I use Dark Magic Revival, activating Shrink from my cemetery to cut your monster's attack in half. Then as Shrink goes to your cemetery I'll activate Mechanical Magic Mirror, using it once again and then dumping it back into my cemetery! So Aishi-Koitsu drops to less then one thousand attack points!" Aishi-Koitsu collided with a jet of flame...but came out the other end unscathed, though the two twin's life points didn't. (ULP: 5887, OLP: 2937)
"Fools! Union Rider's deck master effect prevents a completed union monster from being destroyed in battle! And since both of us own the monster we split the damage evenly. That shall be all for now, but shortly That Guy and This Guy will crush you!"
Drake smirked as he picked up a card and swiftly set it on the field. It appeared next to his other face-down card. Can't be beaten in battle huh? "I sacrifice three counters from Legendary Flame Lord to activate his special effect. Fire Twister!"
The magic user summoned a ball of fire into his hand and then spun around, twisting it about him until a giant tornado of flames had formed. Then it was pushed away, zipping all around the field, rolling over every monster. When it cleared there was no more Blade Knight, but Aishi-Koitsu was fine. And Drake's fears were confirmed when the two union duelists pointed towards Union Rider #2, which had to protect it from effect destruction. "I'll set one monster face down and switch my other two into defense. Sorry Kai, I didn't know."
Now it became Uni's turn once again, and now he was ready to absolutely finish this duel. There was no way out now for his enemy's, because with this next card the mighty union monster would become unstoppable, and they, the Union Riders, would claim victory! "ACTIVATE INFERNAL SACRIFICE!"
Uni and Onn dumped their hands into the cemetery and their face down cards exploded into shrapnel. But in exchange an aura of fire surrounded Aishi-Koitsu, massively increasing its power. Infernal Sacrifice cleared their field and hands, prevented them from drawing unless they wanted to destroy it...but then their monster's attack power was doubled to sixty-two hundred! "Attack Kai directly!"
Kai shot a look over to his partner, but Drake merely mouthed the words 'not yet', and turned away. Kai let out a cry of pain, followed by a gasp of shock from Serenity as the kite portion of their unioned opponent sliced into him, ripping his shirt and cutting his skin. And because of the immense strength of the union monster...he was almost dead. (KLP: 100)
As soon as Kai's turn began he picked up a card and shot a furious look at Drake, hoping the other duelist knew what he was doing, letting Drake take that damage. Heck, in a duel like this Drake could have at least defended with a face-up defense monster. To his surprise the other duelist mouthed another word, one that Kai recognized as the english word 'trample'. Trample...but in the game that meant that a monster could deal damage even if its target was in defense mode...Aishi-Koitsu had a trample effect! That's why Drake didn't defend with a monster, it would have killed him and he had known Kai could survive the attack. "One card face down."
Onn ignored his draw phase because he too was affected by Infernal Sacrifice. Instead he simply raised one arm and aimed it at Kai, and the duelist knew what was coming next. "Finish him Aishi-Koitsu!" Drake started to move to activate one of his down cards, but Kai motioned him to stop. He could handle this on his own, he needed Drake to concentrate on whatever strategy he had, not on saving him.
"Negate Attack!" The swift attack bounced off the barrier, and his opponent was forced to end his turn, passing it off to Drake. The punk duelist picked up one card and raised his eyes to the duel before setting a single card face down. Whatever he intended....it would be something good.
"I sacrifice Legendary Flame Lord, Fire Curser, and my defense monster to summon Obelisk the Tormentor(4000/4000)!" The entire sky lit up with lightning, and far away eyes focused on this duel, knowing the importance of a god being summoned. Kai could barely comprehend the power he was feeling as Drake's three monsters disappeared, only to be replaced by a monster more massive then anything he had ever witnessed before. What the hell was it?
Unable to do anything else, Drake ended his turn, and Uni clenched one fist tight, grimacing at the sight of the huge monster. But he didn't care, his monster was stronger. What he didn't know was that Drake wanted them at a sense of false security. "Even the power of your new and mighty monster can't stand up to the power of That Guy and This Guy! Attack!"
One of Drake's two face down cards flipped up, revealing Waboku. With the battle damage dropped down to zero it was all over for that turn. There was nothing else Uni could do. Kai joined in, picking up a card and setting it down quickly. Drake had something planned, and he just wanted to use up their attacks for some reason. What was he waiting for?
Onn was next, and he wasn't going to tolerate something so disgusting as being prevented of destroying a monster weaker then their mighty creature! This massive abomination had to go immediately, and he would deal with it where his brother had failed. "Aishi-Koitsu, slice that beast in half and destroy Drake's life points!"
"Sorry Onn, but the only life points that are about to be destroyed are yours. You've fallen into the trap I've laid....Devil's Sanctuary!" Onn and Uni could only cry out in terror as the little metal devil appeared, and Aishi-Koitsu sliced straight through it, shattering it into tiny little pieces. And they knew quite well what it could do, they understood the horror of its power. (ULP: 2787, OLP: 0)
The second of the two Union Riders let out a cry of pain as a black wind swept around him, ripping his soul from his body and picking it up. The wind soared away, taking his soul with it and leaving a lifeless shell that dropped to the ground. Uni collapsed to his knees and let out an earth shattering scream at the sight of his brother's corpse. Worse, his brother wasn't even dead, he was just...gone. "YOU! You knew this would happen! And I'll make you pay for it! YOU'LL PAY! I'LL MAKE BOTH OF YOU SUFFER!"
Drake just ignored his yelling and drew another card, before activating the card. "Renewal Spell lets me remove two magic cards from my cemetery to reactivate a card in the cemetery. I'm reusing Payment of Debt." He quickly drew his next card, and then decided on what to do. He set two cards face down, watching them appear holographically, and then played his remaining card.
"Another Shot From the Dark to activate Shrink again, cutting your union monster down to size. And when that's done I'll give it a big smack with my god monster's God Hand Crusher!" Obelisk swept its hand across the field, smashing Aishi-Koitsu to the ground and crushing his opponent's life points. It wasn't quite over, but the damage was certainly effective, and it would help in the long run. (ULP: 1887)
"KILL OBELISK!" The union monster zipped across the field to cut down the god monster, but waiting for it was a giant mirror with a reflection of itself in it. It crashed straight through the mirror, and then turned back around to stop in front of Uni. Uni sneered upon realizing that it was Kai who had activated the trap, Reflective Surface, which dealt damage equal to his monster's base attack. (ULP: 1587)
"One card face down." Kai's newest card appeared there, and he hoped it would be enough. He and Drake couldn't keep this up for very much longer, they had to figure out a way out of the situation quickly, or else things would end badly. And he needed some way to fight back!
Drake picked up his next card and placed it on the field, revealing Magical Well. He searched his deck for a magic card and added it to his hand, then swiftly declared the end of his turn. Obviously Drake had something intended, but whatever it was Kai didn't know.
"Every time I attack Drake something goes wrong, so this time I'll attack Kai directly!" Aishi-Koitsu turned their attention on the essentially defenseless duelist, but they ran straight into the defensive barrier that was Mirror Force. Drake flashed Kai a thumbs up, having saved him for that moment...unnecessarily though. Kai had his own way to protect himself. Unfortunately for them the effect of Union Rider #2 saved Aishi-Koitsu from being destroyed by the trap.
Kai drew a card and grimaced, seeing only a sacrifice monster. He couldn't summon it, and even if he could it wouldn't help him since Aishi-Koitsu had a trample effect and was much stronger then the monster he held. "I pass my turn."
Drake casually drew a card, and grinned when he saw what it was. "One monster in defense mode." The card appeared beside the giant Obelisk, and Kai and Uni both wondered what he was up to. With the union monster's trample ability that monster was a major liability...so what was Drake up to? Was he trying to kill himself?
"Attack Kai aga...damn." He had been cut off by Kai's trap card activating, revealing Thunder of Ruler which prevented Uni from having a battle phase in that turn. It was a one turn save, but it was certainly effective. Now he just had to hope he could draw a card he could use in the next turn.
Kai drew a card, and then passed again, unable to do anything. If they had their deck masters this would be easy. All Kai had to do was draw a magic destruction card and then Drake could have his deck master back. With that Drake could keep reusing Shrink and keep slapping Aishi-Koitsu, able to kill Uni quickly. But without their deck masters...they were in trouble.
Drake drew a card and then immediately played it, knowing that now would be the time to finish off the strategy he had been working on. "Monster Reborn, to revive Legendary Flame Lord!" The fire user shimmered into view, then stumbled away from the massive monster he discovered next to him, obviously terrified.
"Now I flip my face-down White Magic Summoner into attack mode!" The white robed magic user appeared, and also stumbled away from the fierce visage of Obelisk. He shot a glance to the flame lord, who just shrugged his shoulders, unable to explain why they were forced to be in the presence of such a nasty looking creature. Their master used magicians, not...giant thingies.
"Now I'll use my god monster's special ability. By sacrificing White Magic Summoner and Legendary Flame Lord to it, I can use its power of Soul Max!" The giant blue god picked up the two puny magic users, crushing them in its fists and absorbing their power to increase its own. Suddenly its power surged, and the counters for attack strength were unable to follow it. Whatever its attack was now, it was certainly higher then Aishi-Koitsu's!
"GOD HAND CRUSHER!" The huge god creature punched with such force that a huge blue aura erupted around its fists, and that huge fist crashed into the much smaller union creature, who was hurled backwards into Uni, in a crushing blow that would reduce Uni's life point to zero, winning them the duel. (ULP: 794)
Uni struggled to his feet, and gestured to his two deck masters who had unioned together. Drake and Kai gasped as Aishi-Koitsu rose up through the smoke, unharmed. But how did Uni still have life points? "The final combined effect of my brother's deck master and mine is that if an attack on a completed union monster would win the duel....I could reduce my life points by half to save myself, but then we'd never be able to use our deck master's effects again."
Drake just shrugged, understanding exactly what was going to happen. Slowly he let his gaze settle out in the distance, where he knew she waited. With this next attack the duel could be won for either side, and he knew that to accomplish his goal he would have to do something he had never expected to do.
Uni raised one arm, palm thrust out and fingers spread wide apart, and declared his final attack of the duel. Now was the moment of victory, now the end would come! Now he would get vengeance for the loss of his brother! "Aishi-Koitsu, finish Kai off, I want to leave Drake for last!"
"Not so fast! I'll defend with Obelisk the Tormentor!" Uni and Kai both looked at him like he was crazy, but still the giant beast moved in the way of Aishi-Koitsu's attack, which ripped right through Obelisk's belly and out the other side. Finally Aishi-Koitsu swerved around and came to a rest in front of Uni, and Obelisk shattered into tiny pieces, with it would go the last of Drake's life points.
"I've got somewhere to be, so I'll leave this duel to you Kai. But first I'll help out with this last trap card. Hope of Desperation! This will increase a player's life points by the amount of points a destroyed monster had. And since Obelisk had four thousand, you gain the same amount. Until we meet again....later to both you and Serenity!" (KLP: 4100, DLP: 0)
Kai and Serenity watched in horror as a tornado of black wind descended on Drake from the sky, and then it rose back up, leaving no trace that the punk duelist had ever been there. The only real proof was the black leather jacket that Serenity was wearing, and the deck master that stood loyally behind where Drake had been standing. "But...why? You must know something we don't...and I'll make sure you can do whatever you need to. I won't let anyone down by losing this duel!"
He drew his card and sighed at the sight of the card. Now he had to carry out his threat. He had to win this duel, and therefore he would have to strip Uni of his soul...something he had hoped to avoid. "Together Aishi and Koitsu are too powerful for me to defeat. But separate they offer no challenge. That is how I will defeat them, by separating them, just as you were separated from your twin. To do so I use this magic card, Defusion!"
Uni could only fall to his knees in disgrace as his monster was split apart into its weaker forms, two pathetically weak monsters that wouldn't stand a chance against any attack. "Now I play Autonomous Action Unit at a cost of fifteen hundred life points, to revive one monster to the field!" (KLP: 2600)
One of Uni's tears hit the ground like an explosive force, seemingly louder then anything Kai had ever heard. But truthfully he couldn't hear it...it was just his conscience and his imagination playing games with him. But this was what he had to do, there was no way out of this except to win. "I revive the Dark Magician from the cemetery!" The purple robed magic user appeared on the field, equipped by the Autonomous Action Unit card. His magician offered him a brief bow, understanding the feelings his master had for this situation.
"I'm sorry. Please, Dark Magician, you know what to do." The magician nodded once, and then raised his staff out at arms length. Shutting his eyes and looking away, the magician fired off his magic attack, crushing Aishi with ease. The force of the attack blasted Uni off the top of the waterfall, where he fall to the water below. Before he hit, he was just a soulless shell. (ULP: 0)
Kai dropped to his knees, horrified at what he had been forced to do, horrified at the things that had happened. Three lives gone so quickly, and no way to stop it from happening. He looked up in time to see Serenity drop into his arms. She started sobbing against his shoulder, and he put his arms around her uncertainly. There was nothing he could say to make it better.
Author's Note: Well now...bet that surprised you. See you guys next chapter, hope you enjoyed this one. Oh, if you can guess the pun involved in the Drake and Kai's opponent's names then you get a cookie and a prize. Should be easy.
Original Cards
Drake: Shot From the Dark, White Magic Summoner, Payment of Debt, Omegus(only mentioned), Card in Hand, Fire Curser, Renewal Spell, Magical Well
Kai: Soul Spell(only mentioned I know, but still. And this card is Time Mage's creation)
Uni: Illegality, Redirection, Infernal Sacrifice
Onn: Blood Lust, Misdirection, Breaking Point, Power of the Cemetery, Wicked Gorgon-Medusa, Illegality, Kobuki