Yu-Gi-Oh!
Duel for the Souls
RAPTOR'S RAGE IV:
Extinct Once Again
Last Time:
Joey Wheeler and Rex Raptor begin their duel. Joey seems to have the upper hand at first, but then Rex turns the tables on him, summoning the mighty Black Tyrant. Now, Joey's suffering at less than a quarter of Rex's life points, and tries one last desperate ploy: Roulette Spider.
Meanwhile, Seto Kaiba is battling against Espa Roba, each for their respective brothers. Espa manages to take a slight lead over Kaiba, and plans to take out the expert duelist. But Kaiba has one last trick up his sleeve, one that will devastate Roba's deck.
"What's the matter, Rex?" Joey taunted. "Why don't you stop your Black Tyranno card?"
"I remember how you beat Espa Roba with this card," Rex Raptor replied. Joey did, too. It was a desperate maneuver, considering that, if he didn't pull this off, the duel would be over for him.
Roulette Spider was one of the least-used cards in the game. It drained half of the user's life points, just to use its chancy effect. It took control of one monster, causing it to spin around. When the owner of the captive monster told it to stop, the spinner would slow and point to something, and the monster would instantly attack. It could be a monster—or it could be one of the players.
"So what? I might have just signed my own death sentence, or it could be the beginning of the end for you."
"Stop!" Rex cried, and the monster began to slow. It stopped—pointing at Rex directly. "Oh, no!" he cried, as he fell to the ground from a vicious head butt. He may have had 7525 life points, but now he was down to 4925. A heavy blow.
"Joey, you fool! Now there's nothing to stop me from finishing you off this turn."
"Is that so? Did you forget about my Shield and Sword card?"
"So what?"
"I'll play that first, to start the offensive-defensive flip. Then, I'll sacrifice my Tiny Guardian card!"
"What are you going to summon?"
"My Flame Swordsman!"
"And he has an attack power of 1800. If you attack, both of our monsters would be destroyed, and you'd be open for a direct attack by one of my other dino—"
"Salamandra!" Joey shouted.
"What?" Rex cried out.
"Oh, yes, as you were saying, you'd attack with one of your other Insects," Joey said, grinning. That would remind Rex that all of his monsters would be infected by Parasite Paracide, and turned into insects. Also, he couldn't sacrifice monsters to summon others.
"I'll make you pay, Wheeler. This duel is far from over."
"Is that so?"
"You bet it is. Now, attack if you must. But I'll get even. You only have 1150 life points left anyway."
"That may be so, but I'm whittling away at yours, too. Now, Flame Swordsman, attack with Flaming Sword of Battle!" A fiery dragon leapt from the Pyro-warrior's sword, burning away at the giant black tyrant. Now Rex was at 4325.
"You haven't even taken out half of my life points yet, Wheeler."
"Yeah, but now I think I'll be able to."
"How's that?"
"Let me see if I can draw the right card, first."
"Fine. For my turn, I'll switch Uraby to defense mode, and switch Parasite to attack mode."
"You're just making this harder for you." Joey grinned. "And I know just how to deal a bunch of damage to your life points." Joey drew a card, and hoped. It was a Hinotama card. Oh, drat! I was hoping for a Meteor of Destruction! That would cause dino-brain some real trouble.
"Draw that card, Wheeler?"
"No, not yet," Joey growled. "But I'll play this Hinotama card, and summon Gearfried the Iron Knight in attack mode."
"So my life points are at 3825, and you have two monsters. So what?"
"Now, I can destroy even more of your life points. First, Gearfried will take down that weakened Uraby." The steel-encased warrior swung his razor-sharp lance, cleaving the ailing dino-insect apart. "And I think my Parasite is ready to go to the graveyard. Flaming Sword of Battle!"
"And since the magic of your Shield and Sword is still in effect, I take even more damage!"
"That's right. Parasite usually has 500 attack points, but, with the offensive-defensive flip, it took on the 300 defense points as its attack. Flame Swordsman, since he was played after Shield and Sword, keeps his basic 1800 attack points. And, with the magic of Salamandra, it now has 2500 attack points. Meaning you're going down 2200 now, to 1625, pretty close to my score!"
"Is that so? What if I said I wanted you to attack?"
"What do you mean?"
"It lets me activate this trap card: Michizure!"
"Michizure!" Oh, no! That's the card Duke used to destroy my Sword Hunter. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have lost to him. He wouldn't have gotten a chance to attack my defenseless Goblin Attack Force—because it wouldn't have been played at all.
"Yeah, and it's going to drag your Swordsman's sorry carcass into your Parasite's grave."
"No!"
"Keep your cool, Joey. You can still pull off a victory." Yugi said.
"How can I?" Joey asked. "Now I don't have any good monsters to play!"
"Don't worry, Joey," Mai Valentine urged. "You have to win this for me!" She was right; if Joey lost, Mai would have to go out on a date with Rex.
"Right. Well, nothing else to do this turn."
"Good. Now I'll summon the Hyper Hammerhead to defend my life points this turn."
"Hyper Hammerhead? I've never heard of that card."
"It's another powerful dinosaur."
Joey cocked his head to the side, and a quizzical look rose on his face. "Doesn't look all that great to me." Indeed, the monster only had 1500 attack points and 1200 defense.
"It's the perfect defense for my life points."
"Really?" Joey shook his head. "Doesn't look that great to me."
"We'll see—if you dare to attack it."
"I guess we'll wait then—because I'm only setting one card in defense mode this turn." Man, I have to get ready for the biggest showdown of this duel—his Seiyaryu against my Red-eyes Black Dragon. I need to be prepared for the big push.
"I'll also set a monster."
"I'll play another Hinotama card. Now that we're just about even, I'll be happy to take you down for good."
"That so? Well, anything else?"
"Nope. But I'm ready for you."
"I'll just summon Mad Sword Beast to defend me another turn."
"Fine, my move. I summon Goblin Attack Force, and attack that Mad Sword with Gearfried!" Joey grinned. "I think it's time to finish this."
"You might be right. And I'll be the one to get this started. I sacrifice two cards to summon Serpent Night Dragon. Sonic Strike!"
"My Gearfried!" Joey cried, as his life points took a dangerous plunge to 600.
"That's just the beginning."
"What do you mean?"
"I play the Time Machine to bring back one of my monsters: Mad Sword Beast."
"Oh, you just mad a big mistake, Rex! I sacrifice my other monsters to summon my Red-eyes Black Dragon! Inferno Fireball!" Joey's team of green-skinned gremlins and the armored penguin shattered, and reformed as a skeletal black beast with glowing red eyes. It blasted a roar at Rex—even though it was a hologram, its "breath" tugged at Rex's jacket collar and hair. The, it belched up a giant sphere of flame, sending it at Rex's Sword Beast.
His life points fell to 125.
"Wheeler, you think that I'm done? You're wrong!"
"I think that I'm in a position to take you down!"
"Really? I play another Nightmare's Steelcage, to give me time to prepare. First, I'll set another card face-down, and switch Serpent Dragon to defense mode."
"I'll set one monster card face-down, and end my turn."
"I sacrifice both of my monsters for Seiyaryu!" Rex grinned triumphantly. "I told you I didn't need that Kaiser Sea Horse card to summon it. And, next turn, it'll take you down."
"I sacrifice my monster for Garoozis and set a card face-down."
"Good. Leaving that Garoozis in attack mode was the biggest mistake you've ever made, Wheeler, and you're about to see why! Now that Steelcage is gone, I can finish you off! Seiyaryu, Holy Flame!"
"If that attack hits," Yugi cried, "then Joey's done!"
"But it just ain't happening today, Yugi. Kunai With Chain!" A chained Boomerang snagged Rex's multi-colored dragon, stopping its attack. "And now that that's done, this duel is over!"
"I still have enough life points left to take you out!"
"Not for long!" Joey reached for his deck to draw his last card. This is make-it-or-break-it time. If I don't draw the right card, then this duel ends for me, not Rex. After this turn, I'll have no more tricks to play. He drew, and hoped, and his faith paid off.
"What is it?" Rex demanded as he saw Joey's growing smile. "What is it?"
"The end of this duel! I play the magic card I got from you at Duelist Kingdom: Dragon Nails. It raises the attack of my Red-eyes 600 points. That makes him much more powerful than your dragon. Now, Red-eyes Black Dragon, attack!" Joey watched in pride as his super-powered dragon blasted apart Rex's multi-colored saint dragon. Rex fell to his knees.
"Way to go, Joey!" Yugi cheered. "You did it!"
Mai ran up to Joey, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a peck on the cheek—her make-up masked his blush. "Thank you so much, Joey." But then her tone went icy-cold. "If you ever bring it that close to the wire ever again, Joey, I'll kill you."
"Gee, you're welcome." Then he turned to Rex. "Hand Mai the locator card, then get out of here." He did, and walked away. Joey noticed something on the ground, once Rex was long gone.
"What is it, Joey?" Yugi asked as he knelt down to pick up a Duel Monsters card.
"Rex dropped his Seiyaryu."
"We should find him and give it back!" Yugi said.
"I'll hold onto it until we see him again."
"Okay. Well, I better head home—it's getting late. See you tomorrow, Joey; Mai." Yugi walked off, and Joey, beaming in his victory, returned home as well.
"Jinzo, Psycho-shocker Blast!" Espa Roba shouted. His giant robed android groaned, and held its hands before it. Its fingertips released waves of energy, obliterating the dark clown. It shattered into many large pieces. Kaiba smiled, then laughed in sync with the clown's head's continuing laughter.
"What's so funny?" Espa Roba demanded. "I just brought you down to 2300 life points!"
"And in doing so, lost the duel."
"I destroyed your last defense!"
"Was he destroyed—or sacrificed?"
Espa took a step back. "What do you mean?"
"You just released a virus on your own deck. Destroying Saggi was the biggest mistake in your dueling career!"
"You don't mean—"
"Yes. You've activated the Crush Card virus!" The remains of Saggi, still laughing hysterically, dissolved into a fine powder, converging on Espa Roba's monster and deck. Jinzo cried out, but soon vanished in even more virus particles. Kaiba stood there smiling.
"What's happening?"
"Crush Card unleashes a virus on your deck, one that infects only your most powerful creatures. Now, any monster you play with more than 1500 attack points will be destroyed utterly. And, for my turn, I summon a monster that will take any of your pathetic weaklings on: Vorse Raider!"
"I have no monsters to play," Espa cried.
"Who said I was done my turn, freak? I set two cards, and attack you directly!" The man-hunter swung his axe, slicing Espa's life point count—which flashed "virus" every few seconds—down to 5000.
"I pass this turn," Espa moaned.
"Good. I summon Battle Ox!" Kaiba grinned, as his Minotaur roared. "Attack! Axe Slam!" Both monsters leapt to the front, one with 1700 attack points, the other with its 1900. Espa staggered, and fell to his knees. His assured victory was falling around him. While he stood in the lead at 6900 just two turns ago, with a near-unstoppable monster, now he only had 1400. And Kaiba was in a position to take the last of them.
"I, uh, I summon Oni Tank T-34, in defense mode, and use Monster Reborn to revive your Wall of Illusion."
"This duel is now over. I activate my trap card, Ring of Destruction!" Kaiba laughed. "By summoning a monster, you sealed your fate. Ring of Destruction will now deal 1400 points of damage to each of us, meaning that you lose!"
Kaiba walked over to Espa Roba, and snatched up the two locator cards. "Nobody stands in the way of me and my brother," Kaiba said, as he walked away. He had four locator cards now, on the first day of the tournament. And he only needed six more to enter the finals. He'd win, easily. Because no one could stop him from saving Mokuba.
"So, if it isn't Rex Raptor," someone said from a shadowy alley.
Rex stopped walking. It had been hours since Rex's loss to Joey Wheeler, and he was still furious. Not only that, but he dropped his Seiyaryu card. It was nowhere to be found. Maybe the stranger had found Rex's most prized card!
"Rex, I'd like to challenge you to a duel. It would greatly help me in this tournament, even if I lost to you. I need the experience, after all."
"Today's just not my day," Rex said. "Go away."
"Come on! I heard that you beat Mai Valentine! She's one of the toughest duelists in the world!"
"Oh, alright, if it gets you to leave me alone. For one locator card, because I only have one."
"But you beat Mai! You should have taken one from her!"
"Yeah, well, I lost to Joey Wheeler." The man, a boy really, only nodded, as if he already knew. He was of medium height, slightly overweight, with dark curly hair and dark, angry eyes.
"Lost, huh? Well, let me see if you can't win back your lost locator card. Come on—it's time to duel!"
Five minutes later, they were ready. The boy decided to go first. "For my first move, I'll play Pot of Greed, to draw two cards." The boy looked the over. "I summon La Jinn, the Mystical Genie of the Lamp, in attack mode, and set two cards."
"Your genie is going to be dino-food! I summon Twin-headed King Rex, and equip him with Raise Body Heat, increasing his attack 300 points. Stomp that green circus freak!"
"No!" the boy grunted. The two-headed dinosaur crushed his green-skinned servant. "Good move."
"You bet it was."
"But it's nothing compared to this! I summon Thunder Nyan Nyan! Attack that dinosaur!"
"Their attack powers are equal!" Rex shouted. "They'll both be destroyed!"
"That's right," the boy confirmed. "But I don't really care. Your turn."
"I'll summon Hyper Hammerhead, and attack you directly!"
"I'll sacrifice Kuriboh from my hand to block your attack."
"Kuriboh?"
"That's right. It has a multi-trigger effect—and that trigger is your attack!" The hammer-headed beast ran towards the young man, preparing to strike. But, a little brown hairball materialized in its path, detonating on contact.
"That wasn't fair!" Rex said.
"Neither was attacking me directly. So, for my turn, I'll play Monster Reborn to revive La Jinn, and summon Slate Warrior. Attack!" Both monsters lashed out at the hammerhead, destroying it. Then, the green genie fired a blast of energy at Rex directly. His life point meter showed the drop to 5600, whereas his opponent was at 7900.
Despite that, Rex started to laugh. "You were foolish to attack my Hyper Hammerhead monster!"
"And why is that?"
"Because, if it doesn't destroy an opponent in battle, the opponent is sent back to its owner's hand."
"Too bad. But it won't help."
"Yes, it will. I'll first activate the magic card Curse of Fiend, to switch your La Jinn to defense mode. Then, I summon the monster called Armored Lizard, in attack mode!"
"A weak monster, but strong enough to take out my defending genie," the boy mused.
"But that's not all. I activate another magic card called Super Evolution Medicine. By giving it to my reptilian lizard, I can cause him to evolve into a dinosaur!"
"What dinosaur would that be?"
"Dark Driceratops!"
"Wow, cool monster. Too bad it won't be staying on the field too long."
"Why's that?"
"I intend to destroy it!"
"How?"
"We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"
"Fine. But, for now, it will attack—and bring you down by 1400 life points!"
"What? How?"
"This is the big brother of the Mad Sword Beast card!"
"Mad Sword Beast—Oh, yes. It deals the difference in the attacking monster's attack and the defender's defense score as battle damage. Very nice."
"You bet it is!"
"Now it's my turn to return that favor. I set one card face-down, and play the Swords of Revealing Light." Giant swords made of a blinding light stabbed down, surrounding Rex and his monster. "For three turns, I'll be free to set up a defense."
"I summon Uraby in defense mode, and play my own Monster Reborn card to revive Hyper Hammerhead."
"Three mighty dinosaurs, ready to pounce? Not likely. I set another monster."
"Only two turns left, then I'm free to attack. This turn, however, I'll sacrifice Uraby to summon Side Arm of Dragon." Rex grinned. "When your Light Swords wear off in just one more turn, it'll be all over for you."
"I'm not so sure. I still have one more free turn so I'll set a third monster. Three on three, now."
"I'll sacrifice Hyper Hammerhead for Megazowler," Rex said laughing. "And now your Swords are gone, and next turn I'll finish you off in one giant dino-blitzkrieg!"
"No, you won't. I activate the Black Luster Ritual!"
"Black Luster Ritual? What's that?"
"A rare and powerful magic card, used to summon one of the most powerful monsters in the game—something that equals a Blue-eyes White Dragon in every way!"
"What is it?" Rex demanded.
"The all-mighty Black Luster Soldier!" The boy grinned. "As all rituals, this one works through sacrificing. By offering the Wall of Illusion and Hysteric Fairy I had on the field, I can create this soldier of darkness. Light and Darkness, intertwine! Open the Gateways of Chaos!" the child shouted. His two monsters vanished into the two jars on either side of a board with two swords crossing on its face. The board—and the swords—split down the center, opening a black hole.
A beam of white light, and a beam of black light shot from the two jars, entering the opening. They swirled together, and a blinding, terrible burst of light blinded Rex. When he could see again, a blue-armored warrior stood in front of his opponent. Around it was a dark aura. "Say hello to the Black Luster Soldier!"
"Oh, no! How am I supposed to beat that thing?"
"I don't know. Now, Black Luster Soldier, destroy the Megazowler with Chaos Blade Strike!" The warrior leapt into the air, his giant blade gleaming in the setting sun. He landed, and brought that sword crashing down to the ground. A fissure opened up in the earth before it, leading right towards Megazowler. Then, bright light emerged from that fissure, burning away at the dinosaur.
"I can't believe it! How am I supposed to stop it?"
"If I played it, then that means that I don't want you to stop it." The boy grinned. "Face it, Rex, I've got you beat. Your deck only works well when you can get out your powerful monsters without interference. What I've done is created a monster that can stop you in your tracks."
"I'll find a way to beat you."
"Really? I know that there is no card in your deck that can stop this monster—and you were never one for using magic and trap cards, were you? No, that's how Weevil beat you in the Japanese Regional Championship three years ago. Your beat-down deck couldn't stand a chance against his tricks."
"I can beat you, because I learned from my defeats. For my turn, I play Nightmare's Steelcage, to keep you at bay for two turns." Thick iron bars formed a dome over the nameless challenger's head.
"Right. But once it wears off, well, you'll be done." The boy grinned. "Give it up now, Rex; there's no way you can win."
"That's what I'm hoping to find out."
"Really?"
"For my turn, I play Double Coston, in attack mode."
"For mine, I play the magic card Snatch Steal, taking control of your Coston card so that I can activate its special ability!"
"What?" Rex yelped. He wants to take control of my monster!
"That's right! I sacrifice Coston to summon Cosmo Queen." The boy began to laugh. "She has an attack power of 2900, giving me another monster you won't be able to stop!"
Oh, no! I don't have anything that can stop him now!
"It's over, Raptor."
"I switch my Dark Driceratops to defense mode, and summon Dimensional Warrior in defense mode."
"Well, I think that your Dimensional Warrior was a mistake. I summon Neo the Magic Swordsman, to attack Dimensional Warrior!"
"Activate Magic-arm Shield! Take control of Black Luster Soldier!"
"No!" the boy cried. His magician-warrior was cleaved in half by his own monster.
"Anything else?"
"Yes. I'll sacrifice my Cosmo Queen to take out that Dimensional Warrior!"
"And I'll activate the trap card Shift! Your attack will target your own monster!" The boy cried out again, as another monster fell to his own Luster Soldier.
"Your turn" he whimpered.
"I will summon another Armored Lizard, and play another Super Evolution Medicine card. And, my little reptile will evolve into the mighty Black Tyranno!"
"So what? I have control of Black Luster Soldier again. Even where you to attack, it would do you no good, because my Luster Soldier is more powerful than anything you have to attack with!"
Oh, no. He's right! I don't have anything I can do now, except defend. "I switch Black Tyranno to defense mode, and end my turn."
"This duel is almost over," the nameless child said. "Black Luster Soldier, Chaos Blade Attack!" The sword crashed down once again, and the beam of light crashed against the black-scaled horned dinosaur, cutting it in half.
"I'll set one monster card face-down, and end my turn."
"My turn, then," Rex groaned. "I switch Black Tyranno to attack mode, and raise his attack power to 2900 with the magic card Raise Body Heat. Now, destroy that face-down card!"
Much to Rex's surprise, the boy started to laugh. "I was hoping you'd attack my Nimble Momonga card."
"What?" Rex cried, as his monster stomped the flying squirrel that appeared to pieces. "A Nimble Momonga?"
"That's right. And I hope you know what it does."
"I've never even seen one before; how should I know what it does?"
"Fine, I'll tell you, then. It summons two more Nimble Momonga to the field to defend my life points."
"That's nothing. I'll crush them, too—and then there'll be none left!"
"Is that so? Well, that's not all they do."
"What, there's more?"
"That's right. I get 1000 life points for each one you destroy."
"That's not fair!"
"Nothing in this game is Raptor. Why didn't you figure that out years ago?"
"I'll get you for this!"
"Not so. I set two cards face down, and summon Slate Warrior in attack mode. Your move, Raptor."
"Black Tyranno, destroy Slate Warrior!"
"Activate Graverobber!" the boy shouted. "Steal the Shift trap!"
"That switches the target of my attack!"
"To one of my other Momonga cards."
"Oh, no! You gain even more life points!"
"That's right."
"Well, make your move."
"I set another card, and activate the magic card known as Fusion Sage!"
"That lets you draw a Polymerization card!"
"Right. I also get to shuffle my deck."
"My turn. Black Tyranno, reduce that Slate Warrior to rubble!"
"Not so fast. I'll activate my own Shift card, and gain 1000 more life points."
"But—no, that's—no!" Rex cried.
"My turn. I switch Slate Warrior to defense mode, and set one more card. Now, Black Luster Soldier, take out that annoying Tyranno card!"
"There's nothing I can do," Rex moaned. "I have no more monsters."
"Fine. I activate Raigeki Break, sacrificing one card from my hand to destroy my Witch of the Black Forest, and will use its effect to summon the greatest power in my deck: Cyber Stein!"
"That only has 700 attack points!" Rex said, gaining a little confidence. All he needed was a good monster to turn this duel around.
"But it has an effect. I'll sacrifice 5000 life points to activate it, and with it I will destroy you!"
"What does it do, besides cut you down to 3100 life points?"
"Simple. It lets me summon a Fusion monster."
"What good will a fusion monster do you?"
"Plenty, if it is the all-powerful Blue-eyes Ultimate Dragon!"
"Blue-eyes Ultimate Dragon?" Rex cried out in surprise. "How did you get that?"
"It was hard, but I won it in a duel." As they spoke, the Frankenstein-like creature lifted its mechanical arm, and a giant blob of putty was emitted from the nozzle. The green goo formed into a three-headed winged behemoth. "And now I'll play the Polymerization card that I drew with Fusion Sage. I'll fuse my Black Luster Soldier to Blue-eyes Ultimate Dragon, forming the ultimate monster: Dragon Master Knight."
"No!"
"Now, my Dragon Master Knight, finish this duel and attack Rex directly!" The dragon-riding soldier lifted his sword, and a bolt of lightning descended from the sky, striking Rex and knocking him out cold.
Later, he would remember the boy reaching down and taking his last locator card, removing him from Battle City II for good.
He would also remember his mysterious opponent vanishing into the shadows, as silently as he had appeared . . .
TO BE CONTINUED . . .