A YuGiOh! Story

by Yami Ron

Ron (me!) and Ishizu are on a trip to see an old friend at Duelist Kingdom. Along the way, there are adversaries who are after the corporation and the Millennium Items. The people in this story are actual friends of mine in the Pokémon Battling League.

4. Chapter 4

A Yu-Gi-Oh! Story

Written by Yami Ron

If you have any comments about this story, you can e-mail me at and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Any person or Duel Monster listed in this story from the Yu-Gi-Oh! television show is copyrighted under Konami, Shonen Jump, and TV Tokyo.

©2004 Yami Ron

There is a slight error in the effect of Waboku in this chapter. I had to do this for the effect of the chapter to work correctly.

Chapter 4

Arnie was walking through the castle, unfamiliar with his surroundings. "How am I going to find Ron and Ishizu in a castle this big?" Arnie asked himself, walking with past knight armor and torches that lined the walls.

"Halt, intruder!" Two gentlemen emerged from a corner that Arnie was just about to pass. Arnie froze in his tracks. Both men wore a duel disk on their left arms.

"I guess this takes away the taking candy from a baby plan. Who are you?"

"We're security for Master Nickosus. I'm Big Bad Birtha, and the strong guy next to me is Kuno." Kuno cracks his knuckles in acknowledgement. Arnie gulps. "We're here to stop you from whatever your objectives are in this castle." Birtha points to Arnie and then reaches in his pocket to grab something.

"How do you propose to do that?" Arnie asks nervously.

"You must duel us."

"Is that all? I was worried over nothing then. I have to duel the both of you to get past then? Shouldn't be a problem." Arnie smiles.

Kuno reaches in both of his pockets. "Crap! I must have left my deck in another pair of trousers."

"Kuno, you absent-minded fool! Lucky for us, I have enough skill that rivals Nickosus himself. You won't win, whoever you are." Birtha pulls out a deck of Duel Monsters cards with the hand that was in his pocket.

"The name's Arnie Hopkins, a name you'll never forget." Arnie then reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out his deck of cards.

"Do you have a duel disk?"

"I didn't bring one."

"Kuno, give him yours." Kuno sadly took his duel disk off and gave it to Arnie. Arnie then put it on his left arm and was ready for action. Arnie and Birtha shuffled their decks and put them in the deck slot of the duel disk.

"I really wanted to duel this intruder," Kuno said to himself.

Giving themselves enough field space for the virtual duel monsters, the two competitors simultaneously said "Duel!" and drew five cards each. Both life point indicators read 8000.

"Having home field advantage, I go first," Birtha said as he drew a card. "I play Gemini Elf in attack mode (Level 4/1900 ATK/900 DEF) and place two cards face down. And that ends my turn." The virtual card for the Gemini Elf appeared on the field and what emerged from the card was two beige-skinned female elves appeared on the field. One had yellow hair and wore a blue dress and the other had red hair and wore a purple dress. A tiny medallion hung from each Elf's forehead.

"Twins!" Arnie smiled and draws a card. The Elves seem to blush with the statement. "I play a monster card face-down and two more cards face down. And end my turn." The virtual game corresponds with a floating face-down horizontal card on the field with the two additional face down cads behind it.

"I draw. I play Change of Heart to control your face-down monster." The magic card is played virtually and a female angel emerges from it. Half of her body in darkness and half in the light, she completely wore a white robe with a heart that seemed to be floating in front of it. She floats over to take the face-down monster card on the field and draws herself within it on Arnie's side of the field. The card then floats over to Birtha's side of the field. The duel disk corresponds by transmitting the card from Arnie's duel disk to Birtha's. Birtha flips the card into attack mode. "Giant Germ (Level 2/1000 ATK/100 DEF), eh? A large purple ball of germs appeared on the field accordingly with a small heart floating in front of it. Well since you are defenseless now, attack Arnie's life points directly my Gemini Elf!"

Hearts formed around the two Elves as seemed to run with speed towards Arnie, lips puckered, in an attempt to kiss him.

"Sorry ladies. You activate my trap card, Magic Cylinder. So you will take 1900 LP damage instead of me, Birtha." The corresponding trap card lifts up on the field to reflect the maneuver. From the Magic Cylinder card, two large cylinders appeared on the field side-by-side. The Gemini Elves frowned and the floating hearts shattered as they entered one of the cylinders. Seconds later, they emerged from the other cylinder, aimed for Birtha. Frowns turned to smiles and hearts reappeared as they targeted their current owner.

"Oh oh. Hi ladies. Don't kiss me!" It was too late, however. The Elves gave Birtha a kiss on each cheek. Birtha couldn't help but blush. Moments later, two medium-sized explosions appeared where the kisses landed. Birtha jumped back to reality as he was taken back a few steps from the impact. Birtha's life points read 6100. "Oh well, I'm not mad by it. Giant Germ attack!" Giant Germ with the floating heart in front of it rammed himself into Arnie. Arnie took the hit and dropped to 7000 LP. "My turn ends." The heart disappears from the virtual Giant Germ and the virtual card glides back over to Arnie's side of the field. Correspondingly, the Giant Germ card transmits back over to Arnie's duel disk.

"My turn. I draw and then I play the magic card Graceful Charity. Graceful Charity let's me draw three cards and discard two." The magic virtual card appears and a woman dressed in a green robe floated up from inside the card. Also having green angel wings and long flowing brown hair, her hands were cupped as a sparkling card was spinning in the air above them while her head was bowed to look at the gesture. As soon as Arnie was about to draw his three cards, Birtha countered the measure.

"I activate a trap card on my side of the field called Magic Jammer. By discarding one card from my hand, it negates your magic card." The trap card lifts up to show the face of Magic Jammer. Suddenly a circle of fire appears below the Graceful Charity card. A ring of Egyptian characters surrounded the circle of flame and purple smoke began to emit from within. Upon contact with Graceful Charity, she winced in pain as the smoke seemed to pull her and the card she was standing on into the fire below. And there was no escape. Once Graceful Charity was devoured, the Magic Jammer card disappeared from the playing field.

"Well I'll put a monster card face-down, turn Giant Germ into defense mode, and place one more card face down. That ends my turn," Arnie said. Added cards to the field reflected his statement.

"Okay, I draw. Excellent! I play Injection Fairy Lily (Level 3/400 ATK/1500 DEF) in attack mode."

"I've never seen a card like that before," Arnie says as he watches the virtual card on the field glow and out emerges a beautiful lady with angel wings, pink hair, and wore white gloves. She had the appearance of a nurse as she carried a large syringe in her hands and hearts floating around her. She even wore a hat on her head with a heart on it. "I don't even like needles." Injection Fairy Lily teasingly pushed on the top of the syringe and a green fluid squirted out of it. Arnie quivered.

"Well it is time you got your flu shots, Mr. Hopkins. As for Lily, she is the only one of her kind, painted by Master Nickosus himself. He let me borrow Lily because she fits in with my deck theme. Now enough small talk! Gemini Elf attack Giant Germ!" The Elves didn't waste any time as they swiftly gave the Giant Germ a kiss to each side of its infested body. The Elves went back to Birtha's side of the field wiping their lips clean from the germs they obtained. As for the Giant Germ, it exploded into a cloud of smoke and disappeared from the playing field.

Arnie sent the Giant Germ card on his duel disk into the graveyard. "I'll use the effect." Arnie looks through his deck and special summons another Giant Germ in attack mode on the field.

"Injection Fairy Lily, attack the new Giant Germ!" Lily got her syringe ready and charged towards the new Giant Germ on the field.

"Your monster is weaker than mine, Birtha. Your monster will be destroyed."

"Not if I use its effect."

"What effect?"

"I must pay 2000 LP to increase the ATK of Injection Fairy Lily by 3000 only during the Damage Step. Now Lily, destroy the Giant Germ!" Lily injected half of the contents of the syringe into the large purple ball of germs, causing Giant Germ to expand and explode into a large cloud of smoke. The impact of the blast seemed to have affected Arnie. "It seems that Lily took care of your flu problem."

"Uggghhhhh. Very funny, Birtha. Even though I take 2400 LP damage, you take 1000 additional damage." The LP indicators read Birtha with 3100 life points and Arnie with 4600 life points.

"I place one more card face-down and end my turn," Birtha acknowledges.

"Okay, let's see. There must be a reason why he is reducing his life points so much. I must stay on guard," Arnie thinks to himself and draws a card. "I place a card face down and flip Poison Mummy (Level 4/1000 ATK/1800 DEF) face-up on the field to give 500 more damage to your life points." From the flipped up card, a red and blue creature emerged from the card, as well as a tombstone that appeared behind it. The creature was mainly of bone and little skin, if any. The mummy's bandages were shredded from his body and had an appearance of a cape blowing in the breeze. However the bandages still covered a large part of Poison Mummy's head, leaving one eye and his teeth exposed to Birtha.

"Errrrrrgh. Very well, Mr. Hopkins."

"Now, I sacrifice my Poison Mummy to play my Shadow Ghoul (Level 5/1600 ATK/1300 DEF) in attack mode." Poison Mummy withdrew back into the card it was standing on. After a few moments a dark glow appeared from the picture on the card. And then a tall, lanky, boney, large green monster with six legs and huge claws appeared. Nine red eyes were on Shadow Ghoul's head and each joint on its body seemed to be replaced by another eye. Wild hair was present on top of its head. "My Shadow Ghoul gains 100 ATK for each monster in my graveyard. I also activate my trap card, Deal of Phantom, which also has the same effect. Having three monsters in my graveyard, my Shadow Ghoul's attack becomes 2200."

The Deal of Phantom trap card lifted up and a white shadow with two golden eyes emerged onto the field. The shadow possessed an amulet, with the gem amethyst placed in the center of it. The Phantom shadow then placed the amulet around the Shadow Ghoul's neck. Suddenly the Shadow Ghoul began to grow proportionally. When it finished growing, it was one foot taller than its original size and looked even more menacing that before, if that was possible. "Now, Shadow Ghoul, attack the Gemini Elf! Will you counter my attack?", Arnie questioned as he noticed the face down trap card on Birtha's side of the field. Shadow Ghoul charged the Gemini Elves, claws ready to strike.

"Nah." The Elves frowned at Birtha with broken hearts floating around them. They then looked back at Shadow Ghoul just in time to get sliced right in the midsection. Both Elves made a large cry and then exploded in a cloud of smoke. Birtha's life point indicator read 2300 LP.

"Do you even care about your duel monsters?", Arnie said to himself. "I end my turn." The Deal of Phantom disappeared from the field as did the amulet from around the neck of the Shadow Ghoul. Shadow Ghoul then shrunk down six inches, but it still was a force to be reckoned with with an attack power of 1900.

Kuno, being quiet watching the entire duel fold out, finally spoke up. "Birtha, are you sure your dueling skills rival Nickosus? From the looks of it you're getting slaughtered out there."

Birtha drew a card and then turned to face Kuno. "Have you ever beaten me in a duel?"

"Let's see... hmmm, uh, no."

"Exactly my point. I know what I'm doing, so keep your peanut gallery comments to yourself!" Birtha turns back around to face Arnie and looks at his hand. "Now where was I? Oh yes, I place one more card face down and end my turn." The virtual duel disk system reflected his play accordingly.

"I have to hold my face down trap cards for an emergency. I can't play them now. However, I can win this duel on my next couple of turns, if I draw the right cards," Birtha thinks happily to himself.

"My, my, what a lot of trap cards you have over there."

"Well, I have to protect my life points at all costs."

"My turn to draw." Arnie draws, closes his eyes, and places the card to his forehead. "Please let this draw help me win the duel." Arnie opens his eyes to look at the card.

"Well did your wish come true?"

"See for yourself! I play Harpie's Feather Duster to wipe out all your trap cards on the field." The magic card is summoned to the field and a very large white feather emerged from the card. The feather swayed towards Birtha's three face-down trap cards on the field. If it touched the cards, the trap cards would be destroyed.

"We'll see about that, Mr. Hopkins. I counter with a Magic Jammer of my own. I have to discard one card from my hand to negate the effect of your magic card." The Magic Jammer trap card on Birtha's side of the field flipped up and a familiar circle of fire with the ring of Egyptian characters as well as the purple smoke appeared on the field to drag the large white feather to a burning end.

"Birtha, did you forget about my face-down card. I figured you would try something like that. I activate my trap card Seven Tools of the Bandit." The corresponding trap card on Arnie's side of the field flips up. "By taking 1000 LP of direct damage, I can negate the effects of your trap card." A large weapon that had the appearance of a Swiss Army Knife with a poison symbol on it emerged from the card. Seven different tools opened out of the weapon and approached the Magic Jammer in an attempt to dismantle it.

Birtha grits his teeth and thinks to himself. "I'm really in a pickle now. If I activate my counter card, my LP won't be low enough to win the duel."

"Well are you going to counter my Seven Tools card or will your trap card defenses be eradicated?", Arnie says, full of smiles watching his Seven Tools move within a few feet from slicing the Magic Jammer to shreds.

"Very well, I guess I have no choice. I counter with my trap card, Solemn Judgment to counter your Seven Tools. By spending half of my LP, Solemn Judgment negates the action of your trap card." One of the final two trap cards on Birtha's side of the field flips up and three people emerged from the card. Two of the three were women with straight auburn hair in beige dresses. In front of them stood an elderly man with lengthy gray hair and a very long gray beard. He wore a green dress and wore a beige sash as a belt. Over of his green attire, the man wore a thick, open beige robe with very large sleeves. After a pause the elderly man closed his eyes and raised his left hand, forefingers extended, towards the part of the virtual field where the Harpie's Feather Duster, the Magic Jammer, and the Seven Tools scenario took place. With a small white grow appearing around the raised hand, the elderly man performed an ancient chant. A couple seconds later, the three virtual magic and trap cards as well as the visual aids fizzled away to nothingness.

"Ha ha ha! Birtha, I've tricked you into using some of your trap cards without really having Harpie's Feather Duster do the work."

"Damn it, you're right!" Birtha noticed that his three trap cards were suddenly one.

"Now, Shadow Ghoul, destroy the Injection Fairy Lily and wipe out the rest of Birtha's life points!" Shadow Ghoul charged Lily, its large claws extended ready to deliver the final blow.

"My life points will be spared this turn. I activate my trap card Waboku. Even though my Injection Fairy Lily is destroyed, I take no damage this turn." Birtha activated his final trap card on the field. Another trio of people, three women dressed in what appeared to be sleeveless light blue ponchos, emerged from the card and onto the field. The hoods were over their heads were made of a crinkled fabric and obscured their hair from view. Each woman wore a small head medallion and the woman that led the trio held a rusted bronze key with her two hands. The woman that held the key glided over to Birtha's duel disk and virtually inserted the bronze key into the LP indicator while the other two women sung a quiet melody.

At that moment, Lily braced for Shadow Ghoul's impact as the Ghoul with his massive claws left his mark on the syringe and the lovely nurse. Agonizing pain came from Lily with the slash while she dropped the syringe shattered into hundreds of pieces of glass before hitting the virtual floor and dissipated. Lily exploded shortly after that. Birtha's LP indicator started to change to zero, but went back up to the original 1150.

"So you survived this turn. You won't survive the next. My turn ends." With that acknowledgement, Waboku disappeared from the virtual field.

Birtha sent Waboku to the graveyard, closed his eyes, and drew a card. "If there ever was a time I needed the heart of the cards, now is that time!" Birtha opens his eyes to see the card slowly. "Yes! This isn't the card I need but it will help me. I play Pot of Greed. I can draw two additional cards from my deck." Birtha then drew two cards and his eyes open wide. "Excellent! I drew one of the cards I need to win this duel," Birtha thinks to himself. "However, Arnie must have another monster in his hand that can wipe out the rest of my LP. Damn! I have to play my monster card. Maybe I can defeat this wannabe duelist the traditional way." He spoke up. "I place one card face down and play a monster in defense mode and end my turn," Birtha said with a smile on his face.

"I draw a card." Arnie then looks at Birtha. "I don't know why you're smiling. You have only 1150 life points remaining." Arnie then looks at his hand. "Time to wipe out the rest of your LP, Birtha. I summon Pyramid Turtle (Level 4/1200 ATK/1400 DEF) in attack mode." A giant turtle appeared on the field. Even though the lower half of the Pyramid Turtle's shell was of a normal turtle, the upper half was a giant pyramid. "Shadow Ghoul, attack the face-down monster card!" Shadow Ghoul didn't need a second order. It charged the face-down monster card, in an attempt to eliminate the final defense to Birtha's life points.

"Not so fast, I activate my Magic Cylinder trap card! You can take the 1900 damage from Shadow Ghoul instead of me." Two familiar large cylinders appeared on Birtha's side of the field, one of them appeared on top of the face-down monster card Shadow Ghoul was about to slash. The Ghoul tried to flee from the absorption into the cylinder, to no avail.

As with the Gemini Elves earlier, Shadow Ghoul emerged from the second cylinder which was targeted right at Arnie. Arnie had nowhere to run as the Shadow Ghoul extended his claw and made one huge virtual slice in front of him. The sheer force of the slice knocked Arnie to the ground, red claw marks still visually showing on the field where the attack originally happened. Arnie's LP went down to 1700.

Arnie wasn't phased from his Shadow Ghoul attacking him directly as he quickly got on his feet confident as ever, sensing the duel nearing its end. "Well, since you have no trap cards on the field, attack the face down card, Pyramid Turtle!" Pyramid Turtle, a slow-moving creature, fired a red laser, full of intensity from the front of the pyramid at the virtual face-down card. Birtha flipped the face-down card on the duel disk which simultaneously flipped the virtual card, keeping it in defense mode. It was Jowgen the Spiritualist (Level 3/200 ATK/1300 DEF). Jowgen emerged from the card, down on one knee. He had the appearance of a bishop from the game of chess and he was almost completely dressed in ruby. Jowgen wore a ruby robe with gold patterns and extensions as well as four ruby tassels that flowed freely from the back of the robe. Although he also wore a golden head ornament, the most dominating item he possessed was a wooden ruby staff that he held with two hands which had a large, clear crystal on it. Jowgen closed his eyes and the crystal glowed bright white and provided a barrier from Pyramid Turtle's attack. The laser hit the barrier and reflected off it, keeping Jowgen safe. "My Jowgen is strong enough to hold off your attack."

"Darn it, I take 100 more life points of damage. Oh well, my turn ends."

Birtha draws his next card. "NO! This is the other card I needed to win this duel, but I can't use it! Arrgh!"

"Is something wrong over there, Birtha?"

Birtha's anger turned to sadness. "I end my turn. You are extremely lucky, Mr. Hopkins. If my life points were a little lower, I would have won this duel for sure."

Realization hit Arnie. "Ahh, I see your deck strategy now, Birtha. The strategy isn't always successful. When it is successful, however, I know your technique must tick many people off."

"You don't know the half of it," Birtha laughs, thinking about the countless times he has beaten the current Pharaoh with his strategy just for fun.

"Back to what you said about me being lucky. Luck didn't win this duel. Nobody can beat my Shadow Ghoul deck. Nobody! I draw my card." Arnie pauses. "You were a wonderful opponent, but now Nickosus awaits. Shadow Ghoul attack Jowgen the Spiritualist. Finally, Pyramid Turtle finish Birtha off by attacking his life points directly." Shadow Ghoul sliced right through Jowgen's barrier and the defense-bound Jowgen, cutting them both to shreds just in time for Pyramid Turtle to fire one final red laser, full of intensity at Birtha, causing him to shield his eyes and knock him to the ground and reducing his life points to zero.

The virtual dueling system turned off and Arnie walked over and extended his hand to Birtha. "Can I help you up?"

Birtha resisted at first but then extended his arm to be helped up. "You may have defeated me, but you will not defeat Nickosus. Kuno, call Mozz. Tell him the intruder has defeated us and anticipates his duel with Master Nickosus."