Yu-Gi-Oh!
Duel for the Souls RAPTOR'S RAGE I:
Tournament's Start
Last Time:
Yugi defeated the Rare Hunter's Exodia set, but then was brought to the brink of destruction by Exodia Necrosis. He managed to block several attacks with his Kuriboh/Multiply combo, but was almost defeated when all of his monsters were destroyed.
Then, by reviving Exodia the Forbidden One, he activated Necrosis' special ability, causing it to self-destruct. With a final attack by Curse of Dragon, he won.
Then, the Rare Hunter's master used the power of the Millennium Eye to steal the souls of Tristan and Tea, telling Yugi that, to save them, he has to win Battle City II. Only this tournament will be far more devastating than anything he has ever faced . . .
Joey Wheeler sat in his sister's hospital room, where she lay on the bed sleeping. It seemed to him that this was how he usually saw her. Last year was the first time he'd seen her in person since their parents' divorce, and it had been her, in Domino City Hospital, just before her eye operation.
Serenity had always had trouble seeing, but was only diagnosed with a chance of going blind about three years ago. A year later, he learned that she needed an operation immediately. He entered the Duelist Kingdom tournament to win the three million dollars it would take to pay for that operation. He came in second place, but the winner, his best friend Yugi Muto, gave him the prize money.
It took almost a year to do it, but, finally, Serenity was healed. She first used her repaired eyes to save Joey's life. Then, she watched as Joey tried to defeat the evil Marik Ishtar during the Battle City finals. They hadn't seen each other often since then, but more than they had after the divorce.
But now, here she was again, in a hospital room. It started when she had a vision blackout, months ago. Then, they came more frequently, and for longer periods of time. Now, she could barely see at all.
Joey came to the hospital often—usually when he knew his mother wasn't going to be around. In the past two weeks, he'd tried to avoid his friend Yugi, who was also often at the hospital, but for another reason.
Two weeks ago, after Serenity had been admitted into the hospital, a Rare Hunter, one of the notorious card thieves that had been employed by Marik Ishtar, had ambushed Joey and his friends. He challenged Yugi to a duel, for very high stakes.
Yugi had defeated this Rare Hunter before; to win the Red-eyes Black Dragon card he'd taken from Joey days earlier. That time, it had been hard, but not too hard. This time, it was a whole new game.
The Rare Hunter had once owned three complete sets of Exodia cards; that was how he was able to defeat Joey. This time, he had only one, but he also had many support cards that could be recycled to get the five pieces of Exodia faster. And, when Yugi managed to defeat Exodia and destroy all its pieces, the Rare Hunter played an even more powerful card: Exodia Necrosis. Yugi defeated it by reviving a piece of Exodia from the graveyard. With Exodia Necrosis out of the way, it took only one attack to win.
Yugi was given the Exodia cards as a prize, but the other "prize" was the reason he spent so much time in the hospital. The Rare Hunter's master was the owner of magical Egyptian totems with great power. The mysterious person used the magic of one of these totems—the Millennium Rod—to control the thoughts and actions of the Rare Hunter. He used another—the Millennium Eye—to capture the souls of two of Joey's friends.
Over the past two weeks, Yugi had rarely left the hospital room that they were in. The official records claimed that they were in a coma—what self-respecting doctor would believe that magic had taken the very soul out of his patients? As usual, the scientific circles believed that everything had a natural cause; they always denied the mystic.
Joey had been avoiding Yugi not out of grief—be it his or respect for that of his friend's. No, Joey tried to keep away from Yugi because of guilt. Truth be told, he didn't feel that much grief for his friends. He was much more worried about his sister's well being. He loved his friends, but his sister meant the world to him.
He hadn't tried to express this feeling to Yugi. There was no way he could, considering how Yugi's friends were his family. He could do nothing but help them in a time of crisis. His only living relative was his grandfather, who owned a small game store on the opposite side of town. Then again, Yugi probably already figured it out.
Joey was trying to figure out what was wrong with him when a small, wide shadow covered the lower half of his sitting body. He looked up, reverie broken, into the aged face of Solomon Muto, Yugi's grandfather.
Solomon tapped his chin with one finger. "What have we here?" he asked in his deep, throaty voice.
"A big brother watching over his sister?" Joey ventured.
Solomon shook his spiky-haired head, causing his long, jagged bangs to sway. "I see a little Turk who doesn't know what he's doing to his best friend, and doesn't care about the trouble of his other friends."
"Huh?"
"I know what it feels like to have my soul trapped in the Shadow Realm. Remember: that's why Yugi decided to enter the Duelist Kingdom tournament. And, without him, you would never have made it."
"What is it, exactly, that you want me to do?"
"Visit Yug; talk to him. He needs all the support he can get. And an old man isn't much support, mind you. I've tried talking to him already. Maybe you should."
"I'll think about it," Joey murmured as Mr. Muto walked away. What could I talk to Yugi about? He asked himself. He knows that I'm trying to save my sister. He didn't need my help in Duelist Kingdom; he doesn't need it now. If I have the chance to save Tristan and Tea, without costing me my sister's future, then I'll do it. But nothing will distract me from my goal. Sorry, Yugi; Tristan; Tea. My sister comes first.
Joey looked at the clock. It was almost midnight. Well, if Yugi was still here, Joey might as well go talk to him. So, he lifted himself out of his chair with a groan unbecoming of an athletic-looking high school junior. He stretched, and walked, silently, out of the room, closing the door softly behind him. He looked around, and caught the arm of a passing nurse.
"Excuse me, miss, but where do you keep coma patients?"
"Down the hall, on the left." She hurried away, after pointing Joey in the right direction. Joey swaggered over to the coma center, and looked in each of the large glass windows. In one room, there were two beds spaced three feet apart. In one was a tall, dark-haired girl, and the other a brown-haired boy, both teenagers. Both had their eyes open, but neither seemed to see anything. Slumped in a chair between the two beds was another teenager, a short boy with spiky blond-and-red hair.
Joey paused at the door, wondering why he was doing this. Because, deep down, he felt guilty about his attitude. Oh, well, standing out here wasn't going to get anything done. Joey took a deep breath, and opened the door. Yugi instantly stood up, turning around. His round face was streaked with two weeks of tears, and his large eyes were red and swollen.
"Joey?" he asked tentatively, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "What are you doing here?"
Joey tried to shake off his nervousness with a joke. "I was in the neighborhood, so . . ." His voice trailed off. False bravado was not the way to go about this. He had to be honest about his feelings.
"What is it, Joey?" Yugi asked.
"Well, Yugi, I just wanted to make it clear, so there are no misconceptions, y'know—?"
"Just say it, Joey."
"I'm sorry, Yugi, about Tristan and Tea. I'll help them if I can."
Yugi shook his head, then stared deep into Joey's eyes, searching. "Continue."
"But I won't let them take precedence over my sister. Serenity comes first."
Yugi looked away, out the window in the wall. From this height, all of Domino City was visible, including the KaibaCorp tower. "Then don't stand in my way."
Joey had never heard something like that come from Yugi's mouth. "What?"
"I said, Joey, that you can try your best to save your sister, but stay out of my way." Joey had to turn away, because of a bright light coming from in front of Yugi; no, coming from the triangular totem hanging on a chain around his friend's neck. Joey squinted, and saw that Yugi—no, Yami, the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle—was staring at him. His eyes blazed in blinding white fury, and the Eye of Anubis burned on his forehead. "Do not try to stop me. Ever."
Joey turned and fled, not turning back.
A man shrouded in darkness slept. But there was something . . . not right. With a start, he woke up, gasping. But he felt the cool gold of the Millennium Rod in his hand, and instantly calmed. All was well.
Then what was it that awoke me?
He used the power of the Millennium Ring to read his soul. It replayed his subconscious memories, and he knew. There was a familiar presence, extremely powerful. It rivaled that of his own.
Yami!
Yami was the spirit of an ancient Egyptian ruler. During his reign, he had stopped a revolution led by High Priest Seto. After that, his soul—and that of Priest Seto—was locked inside Millennium Items, with all of the powers of the Shadow Games.
"So, Yami, I sense darkness inside you. Maybe I can exploit that. It will make claiming your vessel, the Millennium Puzzle, so much more gratifying."
But, as he settled back into sleep, the shadow-shrouded man couldn't help but wonder: Could Yami's anger make him too powerful to stop.
"Brother, come look at this!" called a green-robed bald man. He motioned for his brother, who saw the ear-to-ear smile on his face and came running.
"What could bring you so much bliss?" the orange-robed one asked, as he reached his brother's side.
"It is a letter—concerning a duel monsters tourney."
"To enter it, to where will we take a journey?"
"Domino City."
That took the orange-robed man aback; he didn't even think up a rhyme. "Yugi Muto's home?"
"Indeed." The green-robed man nodded.
"Well, in that case . . ." With a nod, he and his brother started their chant. "Guardians of Thunder, Water, and Wind: Sanga, Suijin, Kazejin begin! Shed us all in your eternal light! Show these fools your unstoppable might!" They both leapt into the air, executing flawless backflips and landing simultaneously in the back of the room. "Gate Guardian!"
"He will take out all their forces!"
"And knock them off their high horses!"
"Mister Pegasus, a letter has arrived."
Maximillion Pegasus, creator of Duel Monsters, looked up from his wine, cheese, and Funny Bunny comic book. "Yes, Croquet?"
"It is an invitation, to a Duel Monsters tournament." The aging man walked over to where Pegasus sat, and handed him the gold-stamped envelope. He took it, and skimmed over it.
"Now, Croquet, you know I haven't so much as dueled since I lost my Eye—wait, what's this? 'Should you come to face me, in the finals, I will give you a chance to win back the Millennium Eye I took from you two years ago.'" Maximillion closed his eyes and lowered his chin to his chest.
"Mister Pegasus?"
"I think I will enter. Get me a helicopter, and ready my duel disk. I'm going to the town of Domino."
"Master Marik."
The robed man looked up from his game of solitaire. "Yes, Odion?"
"You have received a letter, claiming to have something to do about the Millennium Rod."
"Odion, you know I've given up on my quest for world domination. I don't even need the Rare Hunters anymore. It's over."
"But this person says he has the Millennium Rod."
The Millennium Rod was one of seven Millennium Items that had been guarded by Marik's family for five thousand years, since the downfall of Priest Seto. The Millennium Puzzle was the only one of the seven that had not been in possession of Marik's family; it had been shattered and hidden away in a sealed tomb. Another, the Millennium Ring, had been stolen years ago. The Key and Scale had been given to the mystic Shadi for safekeeping soon after he gave Maximillion Pegasus the Millennium Eye. Marik's sister Ishizu Ishtar had been given the Necklace. And Marik had stolen the Rod from the pharaoh's tomb.
Last year, at Battle City, he made his move to obtain the powers of Yami. To do so, he needed the spirits of the three Egyptian Gods—which Pegasus had created in card form—and the Rod and Puzzle. He possessed two of the Gods—the Winged Dragon of Ra and Slifer the Sky Dragon—and the Rod. He only needed Obelisk the Tormentor, property of Seto Kaiba, and the Millennium Puzzle, which was owned by Yugi Muto.
In the KaibaCorp Battle City tournament, Yugi won Slifer from one of Marik's mind-controlled slaves. During the finals, he won Obelisk the Tormentor from Kaiba, and then defeated Marik's dark spirit. He then claimed the Winged Dragon, and gave all three to Ishizu.
Early in the finals, Marik had won the Millennium Ring from Bakura Ryou, but, immediately after the destruction of Marik's dark spirit and the end of Battle City, the spirit inside the Ring broke free, returning Bakura's soul from the shadow realm and then returning to his body.
"Bakura, huh? Or, rather, the treacherous spirit of his Millennium Item. What does he want?"
"To give you a chance to earn back the Millennium Rod, and return you on your path to world domination."
"I gave up on that dream, Odion. I am not worthy to hold the powers of Yami."
"But you can get revenge on those who took this dream from you. Yugi Muto and his friends; Seto Kaiba; Bakura; your sister, Ishizu."
Marik considered the idea. "Yes, I would like to pay them back for what they've done to me. I think I will enter this 'Battle City II' you speak of." And I will soon have revenge on those who stopped me from claiming what is rightfully mine!
Duke Devlin whistled softly to himself as he strolled down through the Domino City Park. He had a Duel Disk on, for no reason other than the feeling of power that came from the deck and set of dice he held within its carrying case. He'd left his store in the hands of his assistant manager, deciding that it was time for a lunch break. He was on his way back, when he heard a call from behind him:
"Is that Duke Devlin, wearing one of my Duel Disks?" the obnoxious voice of Seto Kaiba shouted. "How dare you insult my creation? You're not even a real duelist, just a cheep trickster and dice player."
He didn't even bother to stop or turn around. "What do you want, Kaiba? I'm a very busy man."
"Yes; running a small game store is just so hard—compared to running an international corporation that produces half of all technological innovations in the world."
"Spare me, Kaiba. Just cut to the chase."
"Fine. I want a duel, to test a deck I plan to use in the new tournament. I have a very important investment running on the outcome, so I want to have a flawless strategy."
"Fine. But, next time, cut out the catcalls and stop beating around the bush." Duke did turn around now, slipping his deck to the reader slot on the main body of the duel disk.
The hologram generators shot off on mini-rockets, landing two meters away on both sides. "Hologram generators activated. Hologram generators at full power," reported a deadpan feminine voice. The duel disk's main board snapped into dueling position, and electricity coursed through it. "All systems ready." Kaiba's duel disk did the same, and both opponents were ready.
"I'll start this off, by playing X-Head Cannon in attack mode, and set to cards face down. It's your move, Devlin."
"That monster sure is powerful, but I think I have a way to beat it." Dark Bat and Michizure. That's how I destroyed Joey Wheeler's Sword Hunter. "I'll set Dark Bat in defense mode, and set another card."
"Now, it's time to power up my X-Head Cannon, by equipping it with the monster card Z-Metal Tank, raising its attack and defense 600 points. But, that ends my turn."
"I have nothing to play."
"My turn, again. First, I'll play Nobleman of Extermination, destroying your face-down trap." Kaiba's eyes widened with shock as he saw what it was. "Michizure. That means I have to remove my own Michizure from play, too."
"Anything else?"
"Yes. I'll also summon Y-Dragon Head, and switch Z-Metal Tank back to a monster card, and activate their special fusing ability, fusing the three monsters to form XYZ-Dragon Cannon!"
"Oh, no!"
"By sacrificing Saggi the Dark Clown from my hand, I can destroy your Dark Bat. Now, XYZ-Caterpillar Dragon Cannon, attack Devlin directly!" The giant cannon dragon fired its four great cannons, striking Duke mercilessly. His life point meter showed the drastic drop—from 4000 to 1200.
"My—move," Duke grunted. "I play De-fusion, breaking your monster into its three main parts. Then, I play Block Attack, Gradius, and Pot of Greed, to draw two cards. Then, I'll set a card, and play 7-Completed and Fairy Meteor Crush."
"That makes Gradius have 1900 attack points, and able to deal damage to my defense mode monsters—like X-Head Cannon!"
"Right. Now, Gradius, attack his defending X-Head Cannon!"
"Negate Attack will absorb your blow, without dealing damage."
"Good. Your move."
"I equip X-Head with Z-Caterpillar, raising his attack power 600 points."
"Do you attack?"
"No, not yet. I'll let you make the first move."
"Good. I activate another 7-Completed card, raising the attack of Gradius another 700 points, to 2600. Destroy Kaiba's monster!"
"It will only destroy the equip card, nothing more."
"Fine. It weakens your monster considerably, and still deals 200 points of damage." The jet's lasers cycled, blasting the treaded machine apart and lowing the cannon-studded robot to the ground.
Kaiba laughed. "It brings the score to 3800-1200. I think this duel is already over."
"I'm not so sure, Kaiba."
"I am. For my turn, I set a card and sacrifice my monsters to summon Blue-eyes White Dragon. White Lightning attack!" The blue-eyed dragon roared, and a burst of sizzling white energy shot from its mouth. The blast caught the giant fighter-jet, and it exploded in a brilliant flash
Duke had no card to prevent that attack—he took the hit, and allowed his life points to drop to 800—3000 behind Kaiba. But he wasn't through yet. "I activate Time Machine, bringing back Gradius the way it was last turn."
"So what?"
"Now my plan is in motion. I'll play Reckless Greed, to draw two cards. And, now I can play Gradius' Option. It copies the stats of any Gradius card on the field. Meaning that, when I play Limiter Removal, and double both of their attack strengths to 5200, it means that this duel is over."
"Yes, but for who? How do you know that my trap cards are not what I need to turn this into the ultimate victory?"
"What do you mean?"
"If you attack, how do you know won't turn this on you, and finish you off?"
"We'll see. Attack!"
"I play Ring of Destruction, targeting your Gradius!"
"But that will destroy both of our life points!"
"Not if I also activate Ring of Defense, blocking the damage done to me but keeping it aimed at you." A ring encircled the jet plane, and it detonated. A giant fan materialized before Kaiba. With its four broad fins spinning rapidly, it protected Kaiba from the blast; there was no such barrier to protect Duke. He collapsed to one knee.
"I think that this deck will do perfectly," Kaiba said, as he collected his cards and walked away.
Duke couldn't talk. How had Kaiba defeated him so easily? How did he do it? Duke shook his head to clear it. He wouldn't collapse. It was one loss, against the former Duel Monsters World Champion. That wasn't so bad.
But Duke would get even. He'd enter this new tournament, and defeat Kaiba. He'd win easily, if he prepared his deck for it. There was no way he'd lose a second time.
Besides, he thought to himself, there's no way he'd beat me at my game. I created DungeonDice Monsters, so Kaiba wouldn't stand a chance.
ONE WEEK LATER:
"Let the duels begin!" the suited official said. Even in the bright of daylight, the fireworks were visible—and loud. Yugi Muto had to cover his ears during the finale, or risk having some ear damage.
He stood alone from the other duelists, since Joey hadn't spoken to him since the hospital. What Yami did had really worried Yugi. When he asked Yami about it, the spirit had only said that he felt a great evil in Domino, and it had been clouding his thinking ever since the duel against the Rare Hunter. He knew that it was somewhere in Domino, and knew that he would have to face it.
He also told Yugi that he wasn't sure how reliable he would be until the evil was gone. It was a power from the Shadow Realm, as Yami was. And it was powerful and filled with hate. That much hatred, of the same type of magic as Yami, was corrupting him.
Yugi couldn't worry about it now, though. He had friends to rescue. He knew Yami would be reliable, because he always had been. It wouldn't be any different now. Yugi had a tournament to win, and Yami would help.
His reverie was interrupted when a tall woman stepped in front of him. "Yugi Muto? Are you ever going to get any taller?"
"Hey, Mai," Yugi said, looking up into the smiling face of Mai Valentine. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"What, and miss the greatest Duel Monsters event of the year? Of course I'm here!" She looked around nervously. "Where's Joey?"
"I don't know. I haven't seen him much since he decided to enter this thing." Or, rather, since my decision.
"He'll show up soon, I bet."
"I hope so. We haven't exactly been talking much lately, though."
"Why not?"
"Well, did you know that his sister is having sight problems again?"
"What? No, I hadn't."
"Yeah, he's been spending a lot of time at the hospital, watching over her."
"What about Tristan and Tea? What happened to them? You know, they almost never leave your side."
"They're in the hospital, in comas."
"What!?"
"Remember Maximillion Pegasus?" Yugi asked, looking off in the distance. He could see Seto Kaiba, challenging his first victim—by the looks of things, it was Espa Roba, or one of his brothers.
"Yeah; who could forget?"
"His Millennium Eye gave him the power to take the souls of others and put them into cards. Someone did that to Tristan and Tea." He explained about the duel against the Rare Hunter. "Whoever did it wants to duel me in this tournament, and I won't disappoint him."
"Wow. That's a lot of pressure, to do all that alone."
"Weren't you the one who, at the Battle City finals, turned your back on our support?" Indeed she had, and it had cost her a brief visit to the Shadow Realm.
"I was upset about, well, Joey's dream."
"I'm sorry; I'm giving you a hard time about nothing. Besides, I know that I have you backing me up—and Tristan and Tea would, too, if they were here. And there's Yami" he finished, lifting the Millennium Puzzle by its chain.
"Well, there certainly are a lot of familiar faces here," Mai commented, scanning the crowd. "Mako Tsunami . . . Weevil Underwood . . . Espa Roba—"
"Is that him, facing Kaiba?"
"No—that's the oldest of his little brothers. I hear he's become quite the duelist. Espa's over there, facing off against a tall brute."
"And then there's the Paradox Brothers, Panik, and many of the former Rare Hunters. And—wait! Here comes Rex Raptor." Indeed, the gruff dino-duelist was stalking towards them, a giant grin on his face.
"Well, my, my, if it isn't Mai Valentine. You know, I still haven't gotten over what happened at Duelist Kingdom. So, you know what? I'm going to challenge you to a duel. If you lose, I'll get a kiss."
"You mean, like the cruise to Duelist Kingdom? When I won tat stateroom from you?"
That got Rex angry. "You only won because you cheated. I'll stomp you this time, and knock you out of this tournament, too. Since everybody started out with one locator card, it'll be a piece of cake to take you down for good."
"In your dreams, Dino-freak. I'll take you down so fast that you won't know what hit you—one of my Harpy Ladies or an Amazon warrior."
"That's what you think! I'll turn you into dino-chow!"
This doesn't look good, Yugi thought, as the two combatants spread out. Yugi stood off to the side, at Mai's side, observing Rex with interest. He might have to face Rex if Mai didn't knock him out of the tournament here. Then again, he'd already faced and defeated Mai, back at Duelist Kingdom. Her skills and cards had been improved since then, but not that much; She still stuck to traditional dueling styles.
"It's so sad that this tournament is going to end for you after you've built up such a hormone-based high," Mai sneered.
"I'll laugh as I watch you go back on a plane to your home! You don't stand a chance against my new and improved Dino-deck!"
"So, it has begun," the shrouded man said. "And already many of my targets have arrived. But, I think I know who I ant my loyal Eliminators to concentrate on now." He turned on a microphone. "Panik; Arkana: find some other duelists to team up on Joey Wheeler. I want him out of this tournament, as a strike against Yugi Muto."
"Yes, sir," two voices said.
"As for the rest of you: take out any targets of opportunity, but leave Marik, Pegasus, Valentine, and Yugi to me for now."
A chorus of assents greeted this order, and he shut down the radio hook-up. Soon, all of the pieces of his plan would fall into place. He would have all that was rightfully his, and soon. He would take the Millennium Puzzle from Yugi Muto, and all its power.
"Soon, Yugi, you will be locked away in the Shadow Realm, and your Puzzle will be mine. It is only a matter of time . . ."
TO BE CONTINUED . . .
Please Note: The Spirit of the Ring believes himself to be the spirit of Priest Seto. This is a crucial part of the plot, which will be explained more fully as the series progresses. Hang tight for now.