Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh
Author's Note: Here comes two duels, all in one chapter. Hope you enjoy them!
Quote of the Chapter: "Kiss my shiny metal ass!" -Bender, from Futarama
Chapter Twenty-Eight: My Brother's Savior
With the end of the violent duel between Hinata and Ryu, it had come time for the next duel to begin. But who was to be next, that was something that needed to be decided first. And deep within the mind of Mokuba Kaiba, he knew who he had to duel. If he was going to win, he'd have to duel the only person his own age. Using a created copy of his brother's deck, he'd never lose against someone his own age. "Hey blonde girl, I challenge you!"
Rebecca Hopkins glanced over her shoulder to find a boy about her age with long black hair approaching her. She recognized him as the younger brother of Seto Kaiba, and she knew he had no dueling experience. He would be easy meat, so easy she almost felt sorry for having to crush him. "Okay, we'll do that. You can go first."
Mokuba awkwardly fitted the DD2 to his arm, glad that his brother had made them adjust automatically. Once he was ready he shuffled the facsimile of his brother's deck, and watched as Rebecca shuffled her deck. Then he drew his opening hand of six cards. "Vorse Raider(1900/1200) in attack mode, and one card face down!"
The two cards appeared, on in front of the other, and Rebecca just yawned. Starting with such a high powered attacker was an amateur's move, but also something Seto Kaiba would boldly do. They were definitely related. "I summon Fire Princess(1300/1500) in defense mode, and set two cards face down. Back to you Mokuba."
The red clad woman appeared, crouching on her card in defense mode. Two magic or trap cards appeared behind her, but Mokuba wasn't worried. His face down card was all he needed to gain the early lead in this duel. And he would do it with his brother's favorite card.
"Activate face down card, Enemy Controller! By paying 1000 life points I can choose one of two effects, and I'm going to sacrifice your monster along with mine to summon Blue Eyes White Dragon(3000/2500)!" The two monsters shattered under the influence of Mokuba's quick-play magic card, and they were replaced by the mighty white engine of destruction that was the Blue Eyes. (MLP: 7000)
"Attack her life points directly!" Those watching groaned as he made a stupid decision, sending his dragon against two unknown traps without even a single side thought. It wasn't smart planning at all, it was just plan amateurish. He was gonna get stopped playing like that.
"Open face down cards, Scapegoat and Gravity Bind!" The two cards flipped up, one generating four different colored slumbering goat tokens, and the other generating a force of gravity so great that any monster with a level of four or over couldn't move under it. And now the Blue Eyes was trapped beneath that power.
Mokuba groaned, realizing how he had walked into something easy to avoid. Now his brother's favorite monster was trapped by its own increased weight, unable to move, let alone attack. He had no way out yet, but he could do one last thing. "I'll play a card face down. End turn!"
As soon as he got the right monster, Rebecca wouldn't know what had hit her. His face down card would devastate her so completely that she wouldn't be able to continue with the duel. Such was the incredible power of his brother's deck. With a copy of it, he knew he could win no matter what!
Rebecca picked up her card, giving her a total of four cards in hand. She smiled at the sight of Lady Assailant of the Flames, a card which would be doing serious damage to Mokuba quite shortly. However for the moment she'd have to wait on its effect since it had to be flipped. "I'll place one card in face down defense mode."
The card appeared horizontally in front of her, and Mokuba grimaced. Obviously he had been hoping she would mount an attack, but she'd have to be stupid to attack a Blue Eyes head on without some uber-powerful monster. No, she'd just stick to slightly more...underhanded tactics to win this and every other duel she was in.
"Now I'll use one last card before ending my turn, and that card is Ookazi, which deals eight hundred points of direct damage. Let's turn up the heat on this duel right now!" Mokuba gasped as the burning house roared its flames over him, nearly scorching his skin and lighting up the sky. With its presence came an end to the rain, but that was all. He was the one suffering from it. (MLP: 6200)
Slowly Mokuba drew his card, and grinned as he did so. Now he had the method for destroying all her strategies with dreadful ease. And all it would take was a combination of his face down card, and one monster. "I summon Sangan(1000/600) to the field!"
A little hairball appeared, quite similar to a Kuriboh except that it was extremely fearsome and had long reaching clawed arms and three twisted looking eyes. It was a creature of evil, that was for sure. But it would serve its purpose to let him win this duel, and that was what mattered. "Sangan will destroy a token!"
His little monster rushed across the field and raked its claws across the face of the red goat. The little goat was instantly destroyed, leaving her with one less monster to defend herself. That was good enough for the moment, because he'd be destroying the others later. "I'll just place one card face down and end my turn."
Rebecca casually picked up her newest card, delighted to spot yet another deadly creature to put at her disposal. This was going to be very interesting, and very deadly if she pulled it off. "I flip Lady Assailant of the Flames!" The fairly attractive blonde woman appeared on the field, and tilted her hat to the side to get some more sun. Then she raised her hands and fire exploded from her fingers, streaking straight towards Mokuba.
The young boy let out a cry of pain as the fire struck him, sending him falling to his knees in surprise and in pain. He hadn't realized how real his brother's system seemed, this was more then he had thought it could be, and he hadn't even been attacked. It was just her monster's effect.
"When Lady Assailant of the Flames(1500/1000) is flipped, I can send three cards from the top of my deck out of the game to deal eight hundred points of damage to your life points. And so I did." She smiled and clapped her hands, overjoyed that he had been unable to stop her move. Now she was free to do what she wanted to, and what she wanted was to do some serious damage to him. (MLP: 5400)
"Now we're gonna really turn up the heat. And to do so I'm going to play this awesome field card, Molten Destruction!" In a sudden explosion the field around them and in front of them was covered by molten lava, and spurts of fire shot into the air around them. The heat was practically unbearable, but its effects were worth it.
"With my field card in play, all fire types gain five hundred attack points and lose four hundred defense points. Better yet, while the field is fire, my fire types gain other advantages. As a matter of fact, in this case, thanks to this realm and these rules, my lady is immune to the effects of Gravity Bind while Molten Destruction is active!" And as she said, her words were true. The blonde woman basked in the glow of fire, feeding off it, and was unhindered by the pull of gravity.
Mokuba wasn't quite prepared to lose that many life points, not when he was already so far behind. He wanted to use his first face down card, but if he did it now, he'd be worse off. He'd wait a turn until he'd successfully built up his forces, then he'd unleash it. "Lady Assailant of the Flames, attack and destroy Sangan!"
Her lady gave a satisfied nod and then unleashed flare after flare of fire, intent on incinerating the furry creature, or turning it into so much charcoal. However at the last moment Mokuba's face down card picked up, defending him. It was a little ring that blocked the flames. "Ring of Defense prevents me from taking any damage this turn, so I'm safe for now."
Rebecca nodded and selected from her hand the card she had drawn this turn. Then she placed it onto the field, watching as it appeared in holographic form, horizontally next to one of her goat tokens. Luckily for her, and unluckily for Mokuba, his attack had cleared the way for this new monster. "Just that one monster in defense mode, and that will be all for my turn."
Mokuba grimaced, knowing that in this next turn he'd have to lose a chunk of his life points to carry out his plan. It would hurt, but it was necessary. Otherwise he'd never be able to defeat her, as she was proving to be quite deadly. Now his plan had to go into action, and he had the cards to put him on the map.
"I summon Enraged Battle Ox(1700/1000) and equip it with the magic card Demotion, dropping its level by two. Enraged Battle Ox and Sangan will take out two more tokens!" The two monsters swept across the field, one sweeping with its claws, and the other striking down with its massive axe. Two more goats were blasted into oblivion, the yellow and the light blue one, leaving only one last one remaining.
"Those goat tokens are nothing, and all you've done is given me another target for my lady. Destroying defense monster won't help you at all because you can't deal...what the heck?" Her surprise came from the tinkling sound of life points dropping. Her eyes fell to her duel disk, and the white numbers on it clearly displayed that she was losing life points. (RLP: 6300)
Mokuba smirked, surprising everyone with how much he looked like his brother when he did that. Tristan swore and made a comment that sounded suspiciously like, 'He's a mini-Kaiba!'. "Confused? And here I thought you were smart. See, Enraged Battle Ox didn't like your goats, so he used his effect on them. His effect you ask? He can deal damage even if your monster is in defense, and so can any other beast-warrior while he's on the field. So your tokens are now a liability!"
Nobody watching knew who to cheer for. After all, neither of them had done anything wrong. Though a few of them might hold things against Mokuba for who his brother was, most of them either didn't know, or didn't care that he was related to the arrogant bastard known as Seto Kaiba. "I'll end my turn. And I'll win this duel and prove that I've got what it takes to defeat that bitch, because I'm nearly as strong as my big brother!"
The sudden explosion of laughter shocked them all, and all eyes turned to watch Malik laugh his head off at the top of the steps. Suddenly becoming aware of everyone starring at him, the veiny freak turned his gaze upon them, smirking as his right eye twitched. "Who cares whether you're nearly as strong as your brother, it won't help!"
Mokuba turned to the freaky white haired duelist and flashed him the finger. He wasn't going to take crap from some loser like this guy. He hadn't even made it past the first round of Battle City. But then again...neither had his brother. "Of course it will! My brother is the strongest duelist in the world, and anyone who faces him is in for a serious stomping!"
Nobody felt it necessary to remind Mokuba that his brother had lost several times. To Yugi, to Pegasus, to Drake, and secretly to Joey. No, that was hardly something anybody would remind him, after all, the kid was on a roll. However his words had no effect on Malik other then to make him laugh harder. "What's so funny?"
"You! Your brother may be a strong duelist, but against Ihachi his strength was nothing. I watched her crush him in one turn! Her first move of their duel was all she needed to beat Seto Kaiba! That is the extent of her great power! Your strength is nothing next to your brother's, so I doubt it would require even a flick of her eye to defeat you in a duel!" His laughter exploded again, and now everyone was silent.
This was overwhelming news. The thought that the great Seto Kaiba could be defeated in a single turn was astounding. None of them could have accomplished such a thing, not even the best of them. Most of those present would have been beaten by Kaiba in a duel. So how could any of them fight back in a duel against someone who could crush Kaiba in one turn?
Rebecca shook this off first amongst the two of them. She didn't know if she could defeat Ihachi in a duel, but she didn't intend to worship that crazy women. So she'd win this due, win whatever others she had to, and then she'd duel her hardest against Ihachi. Even if she failed it wouldn't matter, because she would have tried. "I'm not giving up, so neither should you Mokuba! As long as we try that's all that matters! Giving up won't accomplish anything, you have to keep fighting for what you believe in!"
Slowly she drew her card and settled her steely gaze upon the boy's. He gave her a steady nod, and she continued her turn, knowing he was ready to continue as well. "I play Fire Trap! For each of my standby phases it will collect fire power, and when I chose to I can destroy it during your turn to deal damage to your life points equal to the number of phases times three hundred!"
The card appeared on Mokuba's field, a little red bomb ticking away, absorbing the heat around it into itself. When it went off, it was bound to do some serious damage to his life points. So he would have to win this duel before she set it off. "Now that I've done that, I'll flip my set monster, Princess of Tsurugi(900/700)!"
The monster's effect went off, dealing five hundred damage for each magic or trap set on Mokuba's field. And because of the single card set there, he was going to take five hundred damage. And now that she had finished that up, she had one more move to make. "Lady Assailant, destroy Sangan!" (MLP: 2900)
Flames exploded around the demonic creature, but as it was burned away by the flames, she discovered something very critical. Dark spores were bursting from its body and attacking her deck! She was being attacked by a virus! "Since you destroy Sangan I can place a certain monster in my hand, but you also triggered the Crush Card Virus! So now every monster in your deck with fifteen hundred or more attack points is destroyed!"
She quickly searched through her deck and plucked out the infected monsters, dumping them into the cemetery. With that done she reshuffled her deck and placed it back in its slot. He had certainly pulled the wool over her eyes with that move. "I'll set a card face down. Your turn Mokuba."
Mokuba drew his card, and then grinned as he slapped down the card he had selected from Sangan's effect. In a burst of light a very special monster appeared, a man in strange armor that looked like it belonged on a dragon. "Lord of Dragons(1200/1100) in attack mode! And with it in play my Blue Eyes is immune to your Gravity Bind! Blue Eyes, Enraged Battle Ox, attack!"
The two monsters launched their attacks, the Battle Ox charging in to cut down the last token with its axe and the Blue Eyes launching a wave of white lightning to go direct. But at the last moment three robed men appeared and deflected the attack. "Waboku stops your attack."
With Mokuba's turn over Rebecca picked up her newest card, and then casually shifted her Princess into defense mode. Now was the moment to show him the mistake that he had made in placing his Lord of Dragons into attack mode. It might protect his dragon....but it was perfectly vulnerable. "I summon Injection Fairy Lily(400/1500)! And I have her attack your Lord of Dragon's with her effect!"
The little woman picked up her giant needle and sat on it as it flew across the field and stabbed straight through the armored spellcaster, destroying him utterly. And to Mokuba's surprise both of their life points took a serious dip, and it was then that he remember her brother explaining Lily's effect. (RLP: 4300, MLP: 700)
Mokuba drew his card, and everybody was worried. They knew that in two more turns after this Mokbua would lose even if he didn't get attacked again. She had two more turns to wait before her Fire Trap could obliterate him. "One card face down, and attack the last token my Ox!"
The beast ripped through the goat token, shattering it into pieces. It also tore a chunk out of Rebecca's life points, making them come closer to being even. It also made it harder for her to use Lily's effect. She could barely afford it now. (RLP: 2600) "Ha, lets see you win now!"
Rebecca just smirked and drew another card, well aware that he had made a severe mistake. Now all she needed was this turn to win, and even if he deflected her attack in her next turn she could win. "You made a mistake in leaving your Ox in attack mode, because now I can crush it and the last of your life points in one sweep. Just in case I'll place one card, and then attack using Lily's effect!"
Her lily zoomed across the field on her needle, ready to strike down Mokuba's oxen monster. However she was stopped by Mokuba's face down card, a strange spinning barrier that deflected the attack. "Guard of Card lets me discard one card from my hand to negate damage this turn." He dumped his card, and she was forced to end her turn after that. (RLP: 600)
"You made a mistake in trying to succeed against a copy of my brother's deck. And her's why, Enraged Battle Ox, destroy Lily and finish her off once and for all!" The ox leapt across the field and slammed down with his axe, intent on slicing her lily in half. However at the last second a barrier sprung up, one that Mokuba recognized as a Mirror Force. And then his two monsters were shattered into pieces.
"I'll just set one card face down. That's all." He placed his card, and then his turn ended. All he had to do was hope that he could attain victory, otherwise he wouldn't be able to save his brother. He had to win, for his brother! There was no other choice! Losing was not an option!
Rebecca drew a card, and counted up the turns on her Fire Trap. Now was the moment of truth, the moment when Mokuba fell and she moved on. But did she really want to do that to him? Could she do that and feel right? The answer was yes. Ihachi had her grandfather, so she had to win. For his sake. "I destroy Fire Trap to deal nine hundred damage!"
The bomb exploded, tossing Mokuba high up in a blaze of fire. He hit the ground hard, and from his mouth issued a black wind. She watched in horror as the black wind pulled with it something white and glowing, and took that into the temple. His soul had been consumed! "Here I come grandpa, I'm going to save you!"
She charged up to the temple, and up the top steps. Now was going to be her moment of triumph. They watched her speak to Malik, and then before the conversation had gone too far, Ihachi beckoned from inside. As the next duel was about to get under way the heard a cry of pain from inside the temple, and then an explosion. Moments later Rebecca's lifeless body was hurled down the temple steps. She was gone, and so was Mokuba.
The next duel had already been determined. The next duelist who had done the deciding was Serenity. Wearing the oversized leather jacket she had chosen a duelist she had heard her brother talk about dueling, how he had been the first duelist he had dueled without help from Yugi. She could beat him, with Drake's training she knew she get beat Rex Raptor.
The two now stood across from each other, Rex leering at her quite obviously. She ignored his leering and activated her duel disk, watching as he followed suit. Then the two players drew their cards and selected their deck masters. Rex had chosen Two-Headed King Rex, and she had chosen St. Joanne. "Alright honey, I'll start this duel off and show you how it goes."
"I summon Gagagigo(1850/1000), and since it's a reptile its perfect fodder for Ultra Evolution Pill, which lets me sacrifice it to special summon a dinosaur from my hand. So meet Black Tyranno(2600/1800) which gains five hundred attack points from my deck master. Lastly I'll set a card down. How's that for an opening move huh?"
His giant black skinned tyrannosaurus dominated the field, letting out irritating roars as it stooped low to glare at Serenity. She wasn't intimidated by this. Drake had told her to never get intimidated by monsters. Because no matter how many times your opponent said that they were summoning the 'ultimate monster', it was never true, because there was always a way to win.
She drew her first card and smiled when she saw what it was. Drake had said she was a lot like this card, and she believed him. But she had another card that she felt was more like her. However this would do at the moment. "I place two cards face down and summon Mystic Elf(800/2000) in attack mode!"
Rex let out a harsh laugh as she summoned the blue skinned elf in attack mode. Summoning a monster that weak in attack mode? What a stupid move! She was cute that was for sure, but she obviously didn't know anything about Duel Monsters. "Interesting move, but watch me and I'll show you how its really done!"
He drew his next card and grinned, knowing as soon as he did that he could go on a serious dino rampage with his new cards. This was going to be all too easy. "I special summon Gilasaurus(1400500/400) using its effect, and then sacrifice for Dark Triceratops(2400500/1000)!" A tall velociraptor was special summoned to the field, and then sacrificed for a twisted three horned dark dinosaur, which had a trample effect.
"Lets get some dino stompage in! I'll have my two monsters attack!" His two dinosaurs charged in, ready to do some serious damage. But they didn't get far because Serenity calmly activated one of her face down cards, which turned out to be Waboku. He grimaced and declared the end of his turn. Not like she could do anything to him.
Serenity drew her card and smiled recognizing the card she had drawn. This was certainly going to be interesting, and it was going to be very effective. "I summon Cinderella(300/300) whose effect summons Carriage(500/800) to the field in defense mode, allowing her to attack directly as long is its in play."
A woman clad in an attractive yellow dress appeared, followed by a carriage pulled by two white horses. And of course it was a carriage made out of a pumpkin, which finished up the fairy tale imagery. "Also, when Cinderella is summoned I can equip Glass Slippers to one monster on your field!"
Rex burst out laughing as two glass slippers materialized on his Black Tyranno. Considering the size and shape of its feet they didn't form there. Instead they formed hanging off of its minuscule hands, which were the only part of it small enough for the slippers. "Cute it may be, but it won't do anything to save you!"
Serenity smiled, revealing exactly what she had intended with the move as his monster's stats started dropping, finally coming to a rest at twenty-one hundred attack points. "When Glass Slippers are equipped to your monster it loses one thousand attack points, and when your monster is destroyed my Cinderella will get them back, and gain one thousand points." Rex could only gulp, realizing the severity of that notion. A monster with thirteen hundred attack points that could attack directly? He'd be screwed!
"Now I activate Hope of Light, which increases my Mystic Elf by half the attack points of what was the strongest monster on your field at the beginning of the turn. And since at the beginning of the turn your Tyranno had thirty-one hundred points, she gains fifteen hundred and fifty points!" Rex gulped again as the once weak Mystic Elf shot up to an impressive twenty-three fifty attack strength. Enough to destroy his Tyranno and then transfer the slippers to Cinderella.
"Destroy Black Tyranno!" The elfin woman raised her palms and started chanting, gathering her magic together. At last she cast out her hands, and a pulse of light shot from her hands and shattered the dinosaur, dealing minimal damage to Rex. Then the slippers appeared on their rightful place, on Cinderella's feet. (RLP: 7750)
"I'll set one card face down, and have Cinderella attack directly!" Her female monster casually glided across the field, her dress swishing as she went. Rex followed her as she glided straight up to him, and raised on gloved hand. Then to everyone' surprise she slapped him across the face, doing some serious damage and leaving a red hand print. People cheered and howled with laughter. (RLP: 6450)
Rex grimaced, not wanting to be outdone by some nobody cute girl. He was a top ranked duelist, he couldn't lose like this, he just couldn't! He wouldn't! "I set one card face down, and attack your Cinderella with my Dark Triceratops!" The monster charged across the field, horns at the ready, however so was Serenity.
"Activate trap card, A Counter Shield! By sacrificing Mystic Elf I can increase my Cinderella's attack power by its defense strength!" The elf vanished in a flare of light, and suddenly the woman in the gown's attack power shot up to a devastating thirty-three hundred. And because Rex had already declared an attack, his dino crashed into her and was slapped aside, destroyed immediately. (RLP: 6050)
As his turn ended he heard the calls, heard the laughter. People were calling him pathetic! Saying he didn't deserve to be called a top ranked duelist! It wasn't fair, how could he possibly be beaten by an amateur no-name duelist....again! "I'm going to win this duel in two attacks, so watch out Rex, because I have some people to save. I'll place one card face down and attack directly!"
Cinderella made her swishing glide across the field, ready to smack him again. When she did he would lose more then half of his remaining life points, and bring him into striking range of defeat. But he didn't intend to fail like that! "Activate placed cards, Nutrient Z and Virus X! Z raised my life points by four thousand before you would deal two thousand or more damage, and if you would deal more then two thousand damage X deals damage to your life points equal to the amount I would take!"
Cinderella completed her slap, but in this case it was too much. Rex gained life points instead of losing them, and instead Serenity was taking damage from the attack. She had fallen into a deadly trap that was going to put her opponent in the lead! (RLP: 6750, SLP: 4700)
Rex picked up his card, satisfied that he had proved himself to not be pathetic. And now h had a way to get more cards. Just what he needed. "I play Life Slashing Treasure, which lets me draw five cards. On my fifth turn I'll have to discard my hand though." He drew his five cards with the swift practiced ease of a conditioned duelist, and he examined them, knowing what he needed to do to win.
"I set up two cards, and summon Compy(300500/200), which I can sacrifice to destroy you Cinderella!" Two cards appeared face down in front of him, and then a tiny swarm of dinosaurs exploded from one of his cards, and the little creatures jumped all over Cinderella, destroying her with ease. Now Serenity's best weapon was gone.
Serenity drew a card, and then was forced to simply set her card face down and end her turn. Once that was done Rex drew a card, bringing him to the second turn before he would have to discard his hand. He summoned a fierce looking dinosaur named Garanadora(1900/400) which had a special effect. "Garanadora increases my life points by one thousand when he's summoned, but when he's destroyed I'll lose two thousand points." (RLP: 7750)
"Now I equip him with Twin Swords of Flashing Light, discarding a card to do so. He loses the five hundred points bonus from my deck master, but gets the ability to attack twice in the battle phase! So I attack your Carriage!" He zipped across the field with his twin blades, and cut the pumpkin up into tiny pieces. But to his surprise Serenity's life points rose. (SLP: 4950)
"When one of my monster's is destroyed in battle my deck master increases my life points by half of my monster's attack strength. And now that you've destroyed a monster, I activate Three Blind Mice, which gets me three mice tokens(300/300) in defense mode." Three little mice wearing dark glasses were summoned to the field, and Garanadora sliced up another one before returning to his spot on Rex's side of the field. Now things were a little more even. (SLP: 5100)
Serenity picked up her next card and looked at the three cards she now held. She couldn't do anything overly effective, but she could get rid of some cards and possibly set-up a good situation for later. "I'll set one monster in defense mode. Now I play Soul Release, removing five of your monsters in the cemetery from the game!" Rex grimaced as he watched Gagigo, Black Tyranno, Dark Triceratops, Gilasaurus, and Compy vanish from the game. Then a card appeared face down in front of her.
Rex drew his card and then jumped for joy, recognizing the monster he had just drawn. Now a strategy he had going was going to come into effect! And he was going to slaughter her easily with his deadly creatures. "Get ready to meet your end, because I unveil my face-down magic card, Gravity Axe-Grarl!" The card flipped up, and a heavy-bladed axe on a pedestal appeared, a bright glow descending from the heavens upon it.
Serenity stared at the card, trying to think of all the things Drake had taught her. Never had a he mentioned this card, so either he didn't know about it or he didn't consider it dangerous enough to be noted. "What is it?"
Rex grinned and turned around the other card in his hand, revealing a high level monster with deadly attack strength. It was also definitely a dinosaur. "I need Gravity Axe-Grarl on the field to summon Guardian Grarl! And he gets a 500 point bonus from the axe, which prevents you from changing the modes of your monsters while its in play. So here comes Grarl(3500/1000)!" The powerfuly muscular dinosaur man was summoned to the field. He pulled the axe free of the pedestal and gave it a test swing, roaring with satisfaction.
"But how? Your monster is a high level creature, you can't summon it without a sacrifice!" She tried to keep the panic out of her voice, but it was starting to creep in. She knew she had to remain calm, Drake had said so, but with such a powerful monster coming into play, how could she not be worried?
"Its simple, Grarl's effect is that he can be special summoned if he's the only card in my hand! So now I'll attack your two monsters with Garanadora, destroying them completely. Then I'll attack directly with Grarl!" Garanadora charged across the field, slicing both her monsters into pieces using his two blades. One slice from each sufficed to destroy them. Then Grarl jumped towards Serenity, swinging his blade down towards her.
"Reveal face down card, Shrink!" She had learned this trick from Drake, and he particularly liked using it. The massive dinosaur suddenly was cut down to a tiny little dinosaur, who looked like a toy. His axe sliced at her, but it was now so small that it couldn't even cut her skin. However it was still capable of doing damage to her. (SLP: 3950)
"Go ahead and take your turn, not like any card can help you!" Rex threw back his head and laughed in that annoying voice of his. The worst part was, Serenity was certain that Rex was right. She didn't know if any card in her deck could help her. How was she supposed to know anyways?
To her surprise she heard the answer in her head. It was Drake's voice, the memory of what he had said. 'The next factor is the future, or what might be. Those are the cards in your deck. If you're going to be a good duelist you have to know every card in your deck by heart so you know what cards you have left that could help, and what the chances of you drawing them are.' She smiled slightly at the memory, accepting the words as the truth.
She reached into the recesses of her mind, digging deep into her memory to remember exactly the cards she had chosen for this deck, chosen with Drake's help in fact. There was one card....Drake had told her it was effective, but risky. She had decided to choose it anyways, and he had told her... 'You don't have to follow my every word when it comes to building your deck. Never do that. What you have to know is that when you create a deck it becomes uniquely yours, it becomes a part of your soul. So if that card suits you, choose it, and make it part of you.'
Now all she had to do was draw that card. Summoning up the confident images of her brother and Drake, she drew her card and looked down at it. Her face lit up with joy at the image on the card, and she thrust it forwards, displaying it to Rex. "I play Deepest Impact! This will destroy every card on both of our fields and reduce our life point's by half!"
Meteors rained down from the sky, obliterating all of Rex's monsters. Luckily for her she had no remaining cards to worry about. And of course Rex took two thousand points of damage because Garanadora had been destroyed. Now things were definitely more equal. "One card face down. Now lets see you recover!" (SLP: 1975, RLP: 1875)
Rex grimaced and drew his next card, but upon doing so his face lit up again. He had this duel won! He was going to live through this thing even if it meant beating this cute girl and ending her life. He wouldn't let anybody beat him and take his life! "I summon Razor Wing Terror(2000/500)! Now I'll have it deplete the rest of your life points!"
The giant winged dinosaur rushed down at her, beak outstretched as to tear her flesh from her body. However she was ready with her face down card, another trick taught to her by Drake. "Dark Magic Revival! I'll activate Shrink from my cemetery!" Yet another toy dinosaur attacked her, doing no physical damage whatsoever, however it still did its piece to her life points. (SLP: 975)
It was now do or die. All around her people were worrying about her, feeling things that she didn't want to think about. She doubted that any of them thought she could do it, she knew that was the case. Rex was a high ranked duelist....and she wasn't anybody. She was nobody worth knowing...or so she had always thought. Drake had changed her mind. He had changed her attitude, he had changed her life. "Drake....help me with this one....please."
(Flashback!)
The water sparkled in the sun, and several feet away Kai was making laps through the water, working himself to exhausting but still keeping himself going. At the shore the two others leaned up against the rocks, examining a large group of cards. They were idly chatting as they talked to each other.
Drake had made no comments that she was so close to him, shoulder to shoulder, and while she didn't know how he felt, it was still good to be around him. "So, I was wondering about something." He looked up from the cards and looked into her eyes. That was one of the things she liked, his violet stare was so intense, so true. She practically felt she had fallen in love with those eyes.
"I'm open to any questions. So go ahead, shoot." She smiled and pointed to his deck, letting her hand drop on top of his as it examined his cards. He didn't react to her touch, but he did react as soon as she asked her question.
"What card in your deck do you think is most like you?" Drake smiled and picked through his cards, finally coming across the card that he wanted. He held it out to her, revealing the blonde haired man wielding a sword.
"Easy, its Neo the Magical Swordsman. He's not the strongest monster in my deck, and he's got no effect, but he's like me for a different reason. We're both fighters, and we both like magic and using it." She smiled, agreeing that the card fit him. The person on the card didn't look like him, but that didn't really matter. It was the sentiment that mattered.
"I've got another question as well, on a different topic though. So umm....how far have you gone with a girl before?" Drake's attention was suddenly anywhere other then her, and he slowly started gliding away through the water. She quirked one eyebrow and started moving after him.
"I've suddenly become deaf and blind, sorry, can't answer any questions right now. Lalalalalalalalalalala!" Serenity laughed and swept her arm around, picking up a wave of water and splashing it at Drake. He crashed over his head and he let out a loud belly laugh. He retaliated by pushing some water at her, catching her right in the face with it.
The water fight sent the two of them crashing into the focused Kai, and soon enough he was entangled in the fight. There was laughter in the air, and everything was happy for that moment. "Say...I wonder what Kai's answer to your question would be." And with that the battle redoubled its efforts, laughter reaching to the highest heights of the world.
(End Flashback)
"I hope you're ready Rex, because I summon my favorite monster, Nia the Magical Swordswoman(1300/1400) and since I have no other monsters I now special summon Neo the Magical Swordsman(1700/1000) in attack mode!" A tall long haired blonde woman shimmered into view, her long rapier held at the ready, a blue glow emanating from it. She wore fitting blue armor, and was shortly joined by the blonde magic using swordsman.
"Nia, attack Razor Wing Terror!" Rex couldn't help but laugh as the blonde girl slashed her blade through the air, sending a stream of blue energy streaking towards his dinosaur. He fully expected her to be obliterated, but to his shock the energy shattered his monster completely! (RLP: 1575)
"Confused? Well when Neo is on the field with Nia, she gets the ability to gain two hundred attack points for each monster removed from the game. And since I removed five monsters with my Soul Release her power is at 2300! And now that the field is cleared, its about to be over!" Rex's eyes widened in horror, understanding his impending doom. It didn't make sense, how could this nobody have defeated him?
Everyone watching was surprised. The girl that stood there, black leather jacket flaring in the wind, was not the same sweet innocent girl that they all knew. This was a confident woman, ready to take on the world. A strong duelist who let no challenge be to great for her. "Wow...there's just something about a girl with a duel disk that's just hot."
This comment snapped everybody out of their inner monologues, and they all turned to stare at the perpetrator of this rather....awkward comment. The strained silence that followed as a sign of that. Kai gulped as all those eyes came to rest on him and he backed up a step involuntarily. "Did I say that out loud?" Several heads nodded and he hung his head in shame.
"Its over Rex, because the strength I have comes from more then just myself! It comes from my teacher, my friends, my family! Each of them is here with me, and my strongest feelings are embodied by these two monsters. With them, I can't lose! NEO, FINISH HIM OFF!" The blonde swordsman nodded and raised his blade overhead, chanting a spell as he did so.
Neo struck his blade to the ground, and the ground rumbled with the strike. The ground rolled up, moving in a straight line from where Neo had struck with his blade. The rolling earth reached Rex and hurled him high into the sky, where he fell back down onto his back, unconscious. (RLP: 0)
A dark wind whirled out from the temple and wrapped itself around Rex's prone body. After several moments it pulled free, a small white glowing object trapped within it. Rex's soul was now in the clutches of Ihachi, now his life was ended.
Serenity turned to stare up at the temple, watching the black wind reenter it. There was here destination, but she wouldn't enter it on her own. Together they would win, together they had the strength. When this was all over, they would all enter that temple together and defeat Ihachi. "Drake, wherever you are....thank you."
Author's Note: Hehehe, fun neh? And Nick...told you I'd get it posted today!
Original Cards
Rebecca: Fire Trap
Serenity: Nia the Magical Swordswoman, Hope of Light, 3 Blind Mice
Rex: Razor Wing Terror, Virus X, Compy
Cards from Doom, Noa's Arc and KC Grand Prix: Cinderella, Glass Slippers, Carriage, A Counter Shield, Deepest Impact
Author's Note: Here comes two duels, all in one chapter. Hope you enjoy them!
Quote of the Chapter: "Kiss my shiny metal ass!" -Bender, from Futarama
Chapter Twenty-Eight: My Brother's Savior
With the end of the violent duel between Hinata and Ryu, it had come time for the next duel to begin. But who was to be next, that was something that needed to be decided first. And deep within the mind of Mokuba Kaiba, he knew who he had to duel. If he was going to win, he'd have to duel the only person his own age. Using a created copy of his brother's deck, he'd never lose against someone his own age. "Hey blonde girl, I challenge you!"
Rebecca Hopkins glanced over her shoulder to find a boy about her age with long black hair approaching her. She recognized him as the younger brother of Seto Kaiba, and she knew he had no dueling experience. He would be easy meat, so easy she almost felt sorry for having to crush him. "Okay, we'll do that. You can go first."
Mokuba awkwardly fitted the DD2 to his arm, glad that his brother had made them adjust automatically. Once he was ready he shuffled the facsimile of his brother's deck, and watched as Rebecca shuffled her deck. Then he drew his opening hand of six cards. "Vorse Raider(1900/1200) in attack mode, and one card face down!"
The two cards appeared, on in front of the other, and Rebecca just yawned. Starting with such a high powered attacker was an amateur's move, but also something Seto Kaiba would boldly do. They were definitely related. "I summon Fire Princess(1300/1500) in defense mode, and set two cards face down. Back to you Mokuba."
The red clad woman appeared, crouching on her card in defense mode. Two magic or trap cards appeared behind her, but Mokuba wasn't worried. His face down card was all he needed to gain the early lead in this duel. And he would do it with his brother's favorite card.
"Activate face down card, Enemy Controller! By paying 1000 life points I can choose one of two effects, and I'm going to sacrifice your monster along with mine to summon Blue Eyes White Dragon(3000/2500)!" The two monsters shattered under the influence of Mokuba's quick-play magic card, and they were replaced by the mighty white engine of destruction that was the Blue Eyes. (MLP: 7000)
"Attack her life points directly!" Those watching groaned as he made a stupid decision, sending his dragon against two unknown traps without even a single side thought. It wasn't smart planning at all, it was just plan amateurish. He was gonna get stopped playing like that.
"Open face down cards, Scapegoat and Gravity Bind!" The two cards flipped up, one generating four different colored slumbering goat tokens, and the other generating a force of gravity so great that any monster with a level of four or over couldn't move under it. And now the Blue Eyes was trapped beneath that power.
Mokuba groaned, realizing how he had walked into something easy to avoid. Now his brother's favorite monster was trapped by its own increased weight, unable to move, let alone attack. He had no way out yet, but he could do one last thing. "I'll play a card face down. End turn!"
As soon as he got the right monster, Rebecca wouldn't know what had hit her. His face down card would devastate her so completely that she wouldn't be able to continue with the duel. Such was the incredible power of his brother's deck. With a copy of it, he knew he could win no matter what!
Rebecca picked up her card, giving her a total of four cards in hand. She smiled at the sight of Lady Assailant of the Flames, a card which would be doing serious damage to Mokuba quite shortly. However for the moment she'd have to wait on its effect since it had to be flipped. "I'll place one card in face down defense mode."
The card appeared horizontally in front of her, and Mokuba grimaced. Obviously he had been hoping she would mount an attack, but she'd have to be stupid to attack a Blue Eyes head on without some uber-powerful monster. No, she'd just stick to slightly more...underhanded tactics to win this and every other duel she was in.
"Now I'll use one last card before ending my turn, and that card is Ookazi, which deals eight hundred points of direct damage. Let's turn up the heat on this duel right now!" Mokuba gasped as the burning house roared its flames over him, nearly scorching his skin and lighting up the sky. With its presence came an end to the rain, but that was all. He was the one suffering from it. (MLP: 6200)
Slowly Mokuba drew his card, and grinned as he did so. Now he had the method for destroying all her strategies with dreadful ease. And all it would take was a combination of his face down card, and one monster. "I summon Sangan(1000/600) to the field!"
A little hairball appeared, quite similar to a Kuriboh except that it was extremely fearsome and had long reaching clawed arms and three twisted looking eyes. It was a creature of evil, that was for sure. But it would serve its purpose to let him win this duel, and that was what mattered. "Sangan will destroy a token!"
His little monster rushed across the field and raked its claws across the face of the red goat. The little goat was instantly destroyed, leaving her with one less monster to defend herself. That was good enough for the moment, because he'd be destroying the others later. "I'll just place one card face down and end my turn."
Rebecca casually picked up her newest card, delighted to spot yet another deadly creature to put at her disposal. This was going to be very interesting, and very deadly if she pulled it off. "I flip Lady Assailant of the Flames!" The fairly attractive blonde woman appeared on the field, and tilted her hat to the side to get some more sun. Then she raised her hands and fire exploded from her fingers, streaking straight towards Mokuba.
The young boy let out a cry of pain as the fire struck him, sending him falling to his knees in surprise and in pain. He hadn't realized how real his brother's system seemed, this was more then he had thought it could be, and he hadn't even been attacked. It was just her monster's effect.
"When Lady Assailant of the Flames(1500/1000) is flipped, I can send three cards from the top of my deck out of the game to deal eight hundred points of damage to your life points. And so I did." She smiled and clapped her hands, overjoyed that he had been unable to stop her move. Now she was free to do what she wanted to, and what she wanted was to do some serious damage to him. (MLP: 5400)
"Now we're gonna really turn up the heat. And to do so I'm going to play this awesome field card, Molten Destruction!" In a sudden explosion the field around them and in front of them was covered by molten lava, and spurts of fire shot into the air around them. The heat was practically unbearable, but its effects were worth it.
"With my field card in play, all fire types gain five hundred attack points and lose four hundred defense points. Better yet, while the field is fire, my fire types gain other advantages. As a matter of fact, in this case, thanks to this realm and these rules, my lady is immune to the effects of Gravity Bind while Molten Destruction is active!" And as she said, her words were true. The blonde woman basked in the glow of fire, feeding off it, and was unhindered by the pull of gravity.
Mokuba wasn't quite prepared to lose that many life points, not when he was already so far behind. He wanted to use his first face down card, but if he did it now, he'd be worse off. He'd wait a turn until he'd successfully built up his forces, then he'd unleash it. "Lady Assailant of the Flames, attack and destroy Sangan!"
Her lady gave a satisfied nod and then unleashed flare after flare of fire, intent on incinerating the furry creature, or turning it into so much charcoal. However at the last moment Mokuba's face down card picked up, defending him. It was a little ring that blocked the flames. "Ring of Defense prevents me from taking any damage this turn, so I'm safe for now."
Rebecca nodded and selected from her hand the card she had drawn this turn. Then she placed it onto the field, watching as it appeared in holographic form, horizontally next to one of her goat tokens. Luckily for her, and unluckily for Mokuba, his attack had cleared the way for this new monster. "Just that one monster in defense mode, and that will be all for my turn."
Mokuba grimaced, knowing that in this next turn he'd have to lose a chunk of his life points to carry out his plan. It would hurt, but it was necessary. Otherwise he'd never be able to defeat her, as she was proving to be quite deadly. Now his plan had to go into action, and he had the cards to put him on the map.
"I summon Enraged Battle Ox(1700/1000) and equip it with the magic card Demotion, dropping its level by two. Enraged Battle Ox and Sangan will take out two more tokens!" The two monsters swept across the field, one sweeping with its claws, and the other striking down with its massive axe. Two more goats were blasted into oblivion, the yellow and the light blue one, leaving only one last one remaining.
"Those goat tokens are nothing, and all you've done is given me another target for my lady. Destroying defense monster won't help you at all because you can't deal...what the heck?" Her surprise came from the tinkling sound of life points dropping. Her eyes fell to her duel disk, and the white numbers on it clearly displayed that she was losing life points. (RLP: 6300)
Mokuba smirked, surprising everyone with how much he looked like his brother when he did that. Tristan swore and made a comment that sounded suspiciously like, 'He's a mini-Kaiba!'. "Confused? And here I thought you were smart. See, Enraged Battle Ox didn't like your goats, so he used his effect on them. His effect you ask? He can deal damage even if your monster is in defense, and so can any other beast-warrior while he's on the field. So your tokens are now a liability!"
Nobody watching knew who to cheer for. After all, neither of them had done anything wrong. Though a few of them might hold things against Mokuba for who his brother was, most of them either didn't know, or didn't care that he was related to the arrogant bastard known as Seto Kaiba. "I'll end my turn. And I'll win this duel and prove that I've got what it takes to defeat that bitch, because I'm nearly as strong as my big brother!"
The sudden explosion of laughter shocked them all, and all eyes turned to watch Malik laugh his head off at the top of the steps. Suddenly becoming aware of everyone starring at him, the veiny freak turned his gaze upon them, smirking as his right eye twitched. "Who cares whether you're nearly as strong as your brother, it won't help!"
Mokuba turned to the freaky white haired duelist and flashed him the finger. He wasn't going to take crap from some loser like this guy. He hadn't even made it past the first round of Battle City. But then again...neither had his brother. "Of course it will! My brother is the strongest duelist in the world, and anyone who faces him is in for a serious stomping!"
Nobody felt it necessary to remind Mokuba that his brother had lost several times. To Yugi, to Pegasus, to Drake, and secretly to Joey. No, that was hardly something anybody would remind him, after all, the kid was on a roll. However his words had no effect on Malik other then to make him laugh harder. "What's so funny?"
"You! Your brother may be a strong duelist, but against Ihachi his strength was nothing. I watched her crush him in one turn! Her first move of their duel was all she needed to beat Seto Kaiba! That is the extent of her great power! Your strength is nothing next to your brother's, so I doubt it would require even a flick of her eye to defeat you in a duel!" His laughter exploded again, and now everyone was silent.
This was overwhelming news. The thought that the great Seto Kaiba could be defeated in a single turn was astounding. None of them could have accomplished such a thing, not even the best of them. Most of those present would have been beaten by Kaiba in a duel. So how could any of them fight back in a duel against someone who could crush Kaiba in one turn?
Rebecca shook this off first amongst the two of them. She didn't know if she could defeat Ihachi in a duel, but she didn't intend to worship that crazy women. So she'd win this due, win whatever others she had to, and then she'd duel her hardest against Ihachi. Even if she failed it wouldn't matter, because she would have tried. "I'm not giving up, so neither should you Mokuba! As long as we try that's all that matters! Giving up won't accomplish anything, you have to keep fighting for what you believe in!"
Slowly she drew her card and settled her steely gaze upon the boy's. He gave her a steady nod, and she continued her turn, knowing he was ready to continue as well. "I play Fire Trap! For each of my standby phases it will collect fire power, and when I chose to I can destroy it during your turn to deal damage to your life points equal to the number of phases times three hundred!"
The card appeared on Mokuba's field, a little red bomb ticking away, absorbing the heat around it into itself. When it went off, it was bound to do some serious damage to his life points. So he would have to win this duel before she set it off. "Now that I've done that, I'll flip my set monster, Princess of Tsurugi(900/700)!"
The monster's effect went off, dealing five hundred damage for each magic or trap set on Mokuba's field. And because of the single card set there, he was going to take five hundred damage. And now that she had finished that up, she had one more move to make. "Lady Assailant, destroy Sangan!" (MLP: 2900)
Flames exploded around the demonic creature, but as it was burned away by the flames, she discovered something very critical. Dark spores were bursting from its body and attacking her deck! She was being attacked by a virus! "Since you destroy Sangan I can place a certain monster in my hand, but you also triggered the Crush Card Virus! So now every monster in your deck with fifteen hundred or more attack points is destroyed!"
She quickly searched through her deck and plucked out the infected monsters, dumping them into the cemetery. With that done she reshuffled her deck and placed it back in its slot. He had certainly pulled the wool over her eyes with that move. "I'll set a card face down. Your turn Mokuba."
Mokuba drew his card, and then grinned as he slapped down the card he had selected from Sangan's effect. In a burst of light a very special monster appeared, a man in strange armor that looked like it belonged on a dragon. "Lord of Dragons(1200/1100) in attack mode! And with it in play my Blue Eyes is immune to your Gravity Bind! Blue Eyes, Enraged Battle Ox, attack!"
The two monsters launched their attacks, the Battle Ox charging in to cut down the last token with its axe and the Blue Eyes launching a wave of white lightning to go direct. But at the last moment three robed men appeared and deflected the attack. "Waboku stops your attack."
With Mokuba's turn over Rebecca picked up her newest card, and then casually shifted her Princess into defense mode. Now was the moment to show him the mistake that he had made in placing his Lord of Dragons into attack mode. It might protect his dragon....but it was perfectly vulnerable. "I summon Injection Fairy Lily(400/1500)! And I have her attack your Lord of Dragon's with her effect!"
The little woman picked up her giant needle and sat on it as it flew across the field and stabbed straight through the armored spellcaster, destroying him utterly. And to Mokuba's surprise both of their life points took a serious dip, and it was then that he remember her brother explaining Lily's effect. (RLP: 4300, MLP: 700)
Mokuba drew his card, and everybody was worried. They knew that in two more turns after this Mokbua would lose even if he didn't get attacked again. She had two more turns to wait before her Fire Trap could obliterate him. "One card face down, and attack the last token my Ox!"
The beast ripped through the goat token, shattering it into pieces. It also tore a chunk out of Rebecca's life points, making them come closer to being even. It also made it harder for her to use Lily's effect. She could barely afford it now. (RLP: 2600) "Ha, lets see you win now!"
Rebecca just smirked and drew another card, well aware that he had made a severe mistake. Now all she needed was this turn to win, and even if he deflected her attack in her next turn she could win. "You made a mistake in leaving your Ox in attack mode, because now I can crush it and the last of your life points in one sweep. Just in case I'll place one card, and then attack using Lily's effect!"
Her lily zoomed across the field on her needle, ready to strike down Mokuba's oxen monster. However she was stopped by Mokuba's face down card, a strange spinning barrier that deflected the attack. "Guard of Card lets me discard one card from my hand to negate damage this turn." He dumped his card, and she was forced to end her turn after that. (RLP: 600)
"You made a mistake in trying to succeed against a copy of my brother's deck. And her's why, Enraged Battle Ox, destroy Lily and finish her off once and for all!" The ox leapt across the field and slammed down with his axe, intent on slicing her lily in half. However at the last second a barrier sprung up, one that Mokuba recognized as a Mirror Force. And then his two monsters were shattered into pieces.
"I'll just set one card face down. That's all." He placed his card, and then his turn ended. All he had to do was hope that he could attain victory, otherwise he wouldn't be able to save his brother. He had to win, for his brother! There was no other choice! Losing was not an option!
Rebecca drew a card, and counted up the turns on her Fire Trap. Now was the moment of truth, the moment when Mokuba fell and she moved on. But did she really want to do that to him? Could she do that and feel right? The answer was yes. Ihachi had her grandfather, so she had to win. For his sake. "I destroy Fire Trap to deal nine hundred damage!"
The bomb exploded, tossing Mokuba high up in a blaze of fire. He hit the ground hard, and from his mouth issued a black wind. She watched in horror as the black wind pulled with it something white and glowing, and took that into the temple. His soul had been consumed! "Here I come grandpa, I'm going to save you!"
She charged up to the temple, and up the top steps. Now was going to be her moment of triumph. They watched her speak to Malik, and then before the conversation had gone too far, Ihachi beckoned from inside. As the next duel was about to get under way the heard a cry of pain from inside the temple, and then an explosion. Moments later Rebecca's lifeless body was hurled down the temple steps. She was gone, and so was Mokuba.
The next duel had already been determined. The next duelist who had done the deciding was Serenity. Wearing the oversized leather jacket she had chosen a duelist she had heard her brother talk about dueling, how he had been the first duelist he had dueled without help from Yugi. She could beat him, with Drake's training she knew she get beat Rex Raptor.
The two now stood across from each other, Rex leering at her quite obviously. She ignored his leering and activated her duel disk, watching as he followed suit. Then the two players drew their cards and selected their deck masters. Rex had chosen Two-Headed King Rex, and she had chosen St. Joanne. "Alright honey, I'll start this duel off and show you how it goes."
"I summon Gagagigo(1850/1000), and since it's a reptile its perfect fodder for Ultra Evolution Pill, which lets me sacrifice it to special summon a dinosaur from my hand. So meet Black Tyranno(2600/1800) which gains five hundred attack points from my deck master. Lastly I'll set a card down. How's that for an opening move huh?"
His giant black skinned tyrannosaurus dominated the field, letting out irritating roars as it stooped low to glare at Serenity. She wasn't intimidated by this. Drake had told her to never get intimidated by monsters. Because no matter how many times your opponent said that they were summoning the 'ultimate monster', it was never true, because there was always a way to win.
She drew her first card and smiled when she saw what it was. Drake had said she was a lot like this card, and she believed him. But she had another card that she felt was more like her. However this would do at the moment. "I place two cards face down and summon Mystic Elf(800/2000) in attack mode!"
Rex let out a harsh laugh as she summoned the blue skinned elf in attack mode. Summoning a monster that weak in attack mode? What a stupid move! She was cute that was for sure, but she obviously didn't know anything about Duel Monsters. "Interesting move, but watch me and I'll show you how its really done!"
He drew his next card and grinned, knowing as soon as he did that he could go on a serious dino rampage with his new cards. This was going to be all too easy. "I special summon Gilasaurus(1400500/400) using its effect, and then sacrifice for Dark Triceratops(2400500/1000)!" A tall velociraptor was special summoned to the field, and then sacrificed for a twisted three horned dark dinosaur, which had a trample effect.
"Lets get some dino stompage in! I'll have my two monsters attack!" His two dinosaurs charged in, ready to do some serious damage. But they didn't get far because Serenity calmly activated one of her face down cards, which turned out to be Waboku. He grimaced and declared the end of his turn. Not like she could do anything to him.
Serenity drew her card and smiled recognizing the card she had drawn. This was certainly going to be interesting, and it was going to be very effective. "I summon Cinderella(300/300) whose effect summons Carriage(500/800) to the field in defense mode, allowing her to attack directly as long is its in play."
A woman clad in an attractive yellow dress appeared, followed by a carriage pulled by two white horses. And of course it was a carriage made out of a pumpkin, which finished up the fairy tale imagery. "Also, when Cinderella is summoned I can equip Glass Slippers to one monster on your field!"
Rex burst out laughing as two glass slippers materialized on his Black Tyranno. Considering the size and shape of its feet they didn't form there. Instead they formed hanging off of its minuscule hands, which were the only part of it small enough for the slippers. "Cute it may be, but it won't do anything to save you!"
Serenity smiled, revealing exactly what she had intended with the move as his monster's stats started dropping, finally coming to a rest at twenty-one hundred attack points. "When Glass Slippers are equipped to your monster it loses one thousand attack points, and when your monster is destroyed my Cinderella will get them back, and gain one thousand points." Rex could only gulp, realizing the severity of that notion. A monster with thirteen hundred attack points that could attack directly? He'd be screwed!
"Now I activate Hope of Light, which increases my Mystic Elf by half the attack points of what was the strongest monster on your field at the beginning of the turn. And since at the beginning of the turn your Tyranno had thirty-one hundred points, she gains fifteen hundred and fifty points!" Rex gulped again as the once weak Mystic Elf shot up to an impressive twenty-three fifty attack strength. Enough to destroy his Tyranno and then transfer the slippers to Cinderella.
"Destroy Black Tyranno!" The elfin woman raised her palms and started chanting, gathering her magic together. At last she cast out her hands, and a pulse of light shot from her hands and shattered the dinosaur, dealing minimal damage to Rex. Then the slippers appeared on their rightful place, on Cinderella's feet. (RLP: 7750)
"I'll set one card face down, and have Cinderella attack directly!" Her female monster casually glided across the field, her dress swishing as she went. Rex followed her as she glided straight up to him, and raised on gloved hand. Then to everyone' surprise she slapped him across the face, doing some serious damage and leaving a red hand print. People cheered and howled with laughter. (RLP: 6450)
Rex grimaced, not wanting to be outdone by some nobody cute girl. He was a top ranked duelist, he couldn't lose like this, he just couldn't! He wouldn't! "I set one card face down, and attack your Cinderella with my Dark Triceratops!" The monster charged across the field, horns at the ready, however so was Serenity.
"Activate trap card, A Counter Shield! By sacrificing Mystic Elf I can increase my Cinderella's attack power by its defense strength!" The elf vanished in a flare of light, and suddenly the woman in the gown's attack power shot up to a devastating thirty-three hundred. And because Rex had already declared an attack, his dino crashed into her and was slapped aside, destroyed immediately. (RLP: 6050)
As his turn ended he heard the calls, heard the laughter. People were calling him pathetic! Saying he didn't deserve to be called a top ranked duelist! It wasn't fair, how could he possibly be beaten by an amateur no-name duelist....again! "I'm going to win this duel in two attacks, so watch out Rex, because I have some people to save. I'll place one card face down and attack directly!"
Cinderella made her swishing glide across the field, ready to smack him again. When she did he would lose more then half of his remaining life points, and bring him into striking range of defeat. But he didn't intend to fail like that! "Activate placed cards, Nutrient Z and Virus X! Z raised my life points by four thousand before you would deal two thousand or more damage, and if you would deal more then two thousand damage X deals damage to your life points equal to the amount I would take!"
Cinderella completed her slap, but in this case it was too much. Rex gained life points instead of losing them, and instead Serenity was taking damage from the attack. She had fallen into a deadly trap that was going to put her opponent in the lead! (RLP: 6750, SLP: 4700)
Rex picked up his card, satisfied that he had proved himself to not be pathetic. And now h had a way to get more cards. Just what he needed. "I play Life Slashing Treasure, which lets me draw five cards. On my fifth turn I'll have to discard my hand though." He drew his five cards with the swift practiced ease of a conditioned duelist, and he examined them, knowing what he needed to do to win.
"I set up two cards, and summon Compy(300500/200), which I can sacrifice to destroy you Cinderella!" Two cards appeared face down in front of him, and then a tiny swarm of dinosaurs exploded from one of his cards, and the little creatures jumped all over Cinderella, destroying her with ease. Now Serenity's best weapon was gone.
Serenity drew a card, and then was forced to simply set her card face down and end her turn. Once that was done Rex drew a card, bringing him to the second turn before he would have to discard his hand. He summoned a fierce looking dinosaur named Garanadora(1900/400) which had a special effect. "Garanadora increases my life points by one thousand when he's summoned, but when he's destroyed I'll lose two thousand points." (RLP: 7750)
"Now I equip him with Twin Swords of Flashing Light, discarding a card to do so. He loses the five hundred points bonus from my deck master, but gets the ability to attack twice in the battle phase! So I attack your Carriage!" He zipped across the field with his twin blades, and cut the pumpkin up into tiny pieces. But to his surprise Serenity's life points rose. (SLP: 4950)
"When one of my monster's is destroyed in battle my deck master increases my life points by half of my monster's attack strength. And now that you've destroyed a monster, I activate Three Blind Mice, which gets me three mice tokens(300/300) in defense mode." Three little mice wearing dark glasses were summoned to the field, and Garanadora sliced up another one before returning to his spot on Rex's side of the field. Now things were a little more even. (SLP: 5100)
Serenity picked up her next card and looked at the three cards she now held. She couldn't do anything overly effective, but she could get rid of some cards and possibly set-up a good situation for later. "I'll set one monster in defense mode. Now I play Soul Release, removing five of your monsters in the cemetery from the game!" Rex grimaced as he watched Gagigo, Black Tyranno, Dark Triceratops, Gilasaurus, and Compy vanish from the game. Then a card appeared face down in front of her.
Rex drew his card and then jumped for joy, recognizing the monster he had just drawn. Now a strategy he had going was going to come into effect! And he was going to slaughter her easily with his deadly creatures. "Get ready to meet your end, because I unveil my face-down magic card, Gravity Axe-Grarl!" The card flipped up, and a heavy-bladed axe on a pedestal appeared, a bright glow descending from the heavens upon it.
Serenity stared at the card, trying to think of all the things Drake had taught her. Never had a he mentioned this card, so either he didn't know about it or he didn't consider it dangerous enough to be noted. "What is it?"
Rex grinned and turned around the other card in his hand, revealing a high level monster with deadly attack strength. It was also definitely a dinosaur. "I need Gravity Axe-Grarl on the field to summon Guardian Grarl! And he gets a 500 point bonus from the axe, which prevents you from changing the modes of your monsters while its in play. So here comes Grarl(3500/1000)!" The powerfuly muscular dinosaur man was summoned to the field. He pulled the axe free of the pedestal and gave it a test swing, roaring with satisfaction.
"But how? Your monster is a high level creature, you can't summon it without a sacrifice!" She tried to keep the panic out of her voice, but it was starting to creep in. She knew she had to remain calm, Drake had said so, but with such a powerful monster coming into play, how could she not be worried?
"Its simple, Grarl's effect is that he can be special summoned if he's the only card in my hand! So now I'll attack your two monsters with Garanadora, destroying them completely. Then I'll attack directly with Grarl!" Garanadora charged across the field, slicing both her monsters into pieces using his two blades. One slice from each sufficed to destroy them. Then Grarl jumped towards Serenity, swinging his blade down towards her.
"Reveal face down card, Shrink!" She had learned this trick from Drake, and he particularly liked using it. The massive dinosaur suddenly was cut down to a tiny little dinosaur, who looked like a toy. His axe sliced at her, but it was now so small that it couldn't even cut her skin. However it was still capable of doing damage to her. (SLP: 3950)
"Go ahead and take your turn, not like any card can help you!" Rex threw back his head and laughed in that annoying voice of his. The worst part was, Serenity was certain that Rex was right. She didn't know if any card in her deck could help her. How was she supposed to know anyways?
To her surprise she heard the answer in her head. It was Drake's voice, the memory of what he had said. 'The next factor is the future, or what might be. Those are the cards in your deck. If you're going to be a good duelist you have to know every card in your deck by heart so you know what cards you have left that could help, and what the chances of you drawing them are.' She smiled slightly at the memory, accepting the words as the truth.
She reached into the recesses of her mind, digging deep into her memory to remember exactly the cards she had chosen for this deck, chosen with Drake's help in fact. There was one card....Drake had told her it was effective, but risky. She had decided to choose it anyways, and he had told her... 'You don't have to follow my every word when it comes to building your deck. Never do that. What you have to know is that when you create a deck it becomes uniquely yours, it becomes a part of your soul. So if that card suits you, choose it, and make it part of you.'
Now all she had to do was draw that card. Summoning up the confident images of her brother and Drake, she drew her card and looked down at it. Her face lit up with joy at the image on the card, and she thrust it forwards, displaying it to Rex. "I play Deepest Impact! This will destroy every card on both of our fields and reduce our life point's by half!"
Meteors rained down from the sky, obliterating all of Rex's monsters. Luckily for her she had no remaining cards to worry about. And of course Rex took two thousand points of damage because Garanadora had been destroyed. Now things were definitely more equal. "One card face down. Now lets see you recover!" (SLP: 1975, RLP: 1875)
Rex grimaced and drew his next card, but upon doing so his face lit up again. He had this duel won! He was going to live through this thing even if it meant beating this cute girl and ending her life. He wouldn't let anybody beat him and take his life! "I summon Razor Wing Terror(2000/500)! Now I'll have it deplete the rest of your life points!"
The giant winged dinosaur rushed down at her, beak outstretched as to tear her flesh from her body. However she was ready with her face down card, another trick taught to her by Drake. "Dark Magic Revival! I'll activate Shrink from my cemetery!" Yet another toy dinosaur attacked her, doing no physical damage whatsoever, however it still did its piece to her life points. (SLP: 975)
It was now do or die. All around her people were worrying about her, feeling things that she didn't want to think about. She doubted that any of them thought she could do it, she knew that was the case. Rex was a high ranked duelist....and she wasn't anybody. She was nobody worth knowing...or so she had always thought. Drake had changed her mind. He had changed her attitude, he had changed her life. "Drake....help me with this one....please."
(Flashback!)
The water sparkled in the sun, and several feet away Kai was making laps through the water, working himself to exhausting but still keeping himself going. At the shore the two others leaned up against the rocks, examining a large group of cards. They were idly chatting as they talked to each other.
Drake had made no comments that she was so close to him, shoulder to shoulder, and while she didn't know how he felt, it was still good to be around him. "So, I was wondering about something." He looked up from the cards and looked into her eyes. That was one of the things she liked, his violet stare was so intense, so true. She practically felt she had fallen in love with those eyes.
"I'm open to any questions. So go ahead, shoot." She smiled and pointed to his deck, letting her hand drop on top of his as it examined his cards. He didn't react to her touch, but he did react as soon as she asked her question.
"What card in your deck do you think is most like you?" Drake smiled and picked through his cards, finally coming across the card that he wanted. He held it out to her, revealing the blonde haired man wielding a sword.
"Easy, its Neo the Magical Swordsman. He's not the strongest monster in my deck, and he's got no effect, but he's like me for a different reason. We're both fighters, and we both like magic and using it." She smiled, agreeing that the card fit him. The person on the card didn't look like him, but that didn't really matter. It was the sentiment that mattered.
"I've got another question as well, on a different topic though. So umm....how far have you gone with a girl before?" Drake's attention was suddenly anywhere other then her, and he slowly started gliding away through the water. She quirked one eyebrow and started moving after him.
"I've suddenly become deaf and blind, sorry, can't answer any questions right now. Lalalalalalalalalalala!" Serenity laughed and swept her arm around, picking up a wave of water and splashing it at Drake. He crashed over his head and he let out a loud belly laugh. He retaliated by pushing some water at her, catching her right in the face with it.
The water fight sent the two of them crashing into the focused Kai, and soon enough he was entangled in the fight. There was laughter in the air, and everything was happy for that moment. "Say...I wonder what Kai's answer to your question would be." And with that the battle redoubled its efforts, laughter reaching to the highest heights of the world.
(End Flashback)
"I hope you're ready Rex, because I summon my favorite monster, Nia the Magical Swordswoman(1300/1400) and since I have no other monsters I now special summon Neo the Magical Swordsman(1700/1000) in attack mode!" A tall long haired blonde woman shimmered into view, her long rapier held at the ready, a blue glow emanating from it. She wore fitting blue armor, and was shortly joined by the blonde magic using swordsman.
"Nia, attack Razor Wing Terror!" Rex couldn't help but laugh as the blonde girl slashed her blade through the air, sending a stream of blue energy streaking towards his dinosaur. He fully expected her to be obliterated, but to his shock the energy shattered his monster completely! (RLP: 1575)
"Confused? Well when Neo is on the field with Nia, she gets the ability to gain two hundred attack points for each monster removed from the game. And since I removed five monsters with my Soul Release her power is at 2300! And now that the field is cleared, its about to be over!" Rex's eyes widened in horror, understanding his impending doom. It didn't make sense, how could this nobody have defeated him?
Everyone watching was surprised. The girl that stood there, black leather jacket flaring in the wind, was not the same sweet innocent girl that they all knew. This was a confident woman, ready to take on the world. A strong duelist who let no challenge be to great for her. "Wow...there's just something about a girl with a duel disk that's just hot."
This comment snapped everybody out of their inner monologues, and they all turned to stare at the perpetrator of this rather....awkward comment. The strained silence that followed as a sign of that. Kai gulped as all those eyes came to rest on him and he backed up a step involuntarily. "Did I say that out loud?" Several heads nodded and he hung his head in shame.
"Its over Rex, because the strength I have comes from more then just myself! It comes from my teacher, my friends, my family! Each of them is here with me, and my strongest feelings are embodied by these two monsters. With them, I can't lose! NEO, FINISH HIM OFF!" The blonde swordsman nodded and raised his blade overhead, chanting a spell as he did so.
Neo struck his blade to the ground, and the ground rumbled with the strike. The ground rolled up, moving in a straight line from where Neo had struck with his blade. The rolling earth reached Rex and hurled him high into the sky, where he fell back down onto his back, unconscious. (RLP: 0)
A dark wind whirled out from the temple and wrapped itself around Rex's prone body. After several moments it pulled free, a small white glowing object trapped within it. Rex's soul was now in the clutches of Ihachi, now his life was ended.
Serenity turned to stare up at the temple, watching the black wind reenter it. There was here destination, but she wouldn't enter it on her own. Together they would win, together they had the strength. When this was all over, they would all enter that temple together and defeat Ihachi. "Drake, wherever you are....thank you."
Author's Note: Hehehe, fun neh? And Nick...told you I'd get it posted today!
Original Cards
Rebecca: Fire Trap
Serenity: Nia the Magical Swordswoman, Hope of Light, 3 Blind Mice
Rex: Razor Wing Terror, Virus X, Compy
Cards from Doom, Noa's Arc and KC Grand Prix: Cinderella, Glass Slippers, Carriage, A Counter Shield, Deepest Impact