Yu-Gi-Oh!
Duel for the Souls
WEBS OF DECEPTION II:
"Welcome to my Parlor"
Last Time:
Bakura begins a duel against the former Rare Hunter Umbra. However, it seems rather one-sided, considering that Umbra had always dueled beside his friend Lumis, and has only monster cards in his deck—while Lumis holds all of the magic and traps. But all is not as it seems, as Umbra displays that, since losing to Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba at Battle City, he made plans to avoid being betrayed by his partner—including securing many of the greatest cards in Lumis' deck before the Rare Hunter organization fell apart.
But, even with great beasts as Des Guardius and Masked Beast, and powerful spells like Mask of Restrict and Chosen One, he is still no match for Bakura's shifting styles and combination moves. As his life points draw closer to 0, with cards such as Dark Sanctuary, Dark Necrofear, and Lava Golem sapping at him and his monsters, he succumbs to the Destiny Board—a magic/trap combo just as powerful as Exodia . . .
Day three of the tournament, and I still haven't faced anyone, Yugi Muto thought as he pulled on his shirt and buttoned it up. If I'm ever going to make it to the finals and rescue Tea and Tristan, I've got to start dueling.
Yugi didn't even want to be in the brand-new Battle City II tournament that began earlier that week. He'd had no intention of joining in—he was already the unquestioned King of Games, and champion of last year's KaibaCorp-sponsored Battle City. After that, there was nothing else to do.
Besides, he hadn't even entered Duelist Kingdom or Battle City for the titles and prize money. He'd done it each time because it had to be done.
Two years ago, Duel Monsters' creator, Maximillion Pegasus, used the magic of an Egyptian artifact to steal the soul of Yugi's grandfather. Pegasus had been after Yugi's Millennium Puzzle, another of those artifacts, and forced Yugi into entering the Duelist Kingdom tournament he was sponsoring. Yugi won it to save his grandfather, and help his best friend, Joey Wheeler, earn enough money to save his sister's declining eyesight. He'd given Joey the prize money, and also gave away the one-of-a-kind Ties of Friendship card.
Battle City had been about more than family and friends; Yugi had entered it to save the world.
When Yugi assembled the Millennium Puzzle—which, since then, he'd worn around his neck—he had been infused with the spirit and personality of the long-dead Egyptian ruler Yami. Yami had saved the world from a great evil from the Shadow Realm five thousand years ago; with Yugi's help, he had to do it again at Battle City.
Now, Yugi was entered in the mysterious Battle City II tournament, to save two of his best friends, Tristan Taylor and Tea Gardner. Just weeks ago, Yugi had been forced into a duel against an old enemy, a nameless foe who had been among Marik Ishtar's Rare Hunter gang.
When Yugi defeated both his Exodia and its zombie form, the person using the magic of the Millennium Rod to control his mind revealed that he was also the owner of the Millennium Eye—and used it to snatch to souls of Yugi's friends, right before his eyes. He was then told that, if he wanted to rescue his friends, he'd have to enter this tournament.
On the first day of the tournament, Yugi had kept an eye out for challengers, but mainly focused on helping out some of his friends. Mai Valentine, whom he met at Duelist Kingdom and even faced in the semifinal round, had been challenged to a duel by Rex Raptor, the runner-up of the last regional championship three years earlier. Mai lost, but then Joey Wheeler, Yugi's best friend, challenged Rex. When Joey won, he gave Mai the locator card that Rex won from her, keeping her in the tournament.
Now, both Yugi and Joey had just one locator card, out of the ten required to become one of the eight finalists. Yugi had work to do, and fast.
He rushed down the stairs into the front of his grandfather's house—which was the Turtle Games store, the oldest entertainment store in all of Domino. He waved goodbye to his grandfather as he rushed out the front door, stuffing a muffin and then an apple in his mouth. He only stopped to catch the first bus that passed by, and rode into Domino, ready and waiting for the first challenge of the tournament.
"Weevil Underwood," someone said.
"Yes?" Weevil Underwood, Bug Duelist Extraordinaire, responded angrily. It was the third day of the tournament, and still he only had two locator cards. He needed eight more if he was going to enter—and, of course, win—the Battle City II finals. And the tournament was only scheduled to last until the end of next week, finals excluded.
"Do you know anything of a duelist by the name of . . . Yugi Muto?" Weevil sized up the man who spoke to him. And, in doing so, his head had to come way up—for the man was very tall. He wore a black suit, Ray-bans, and a microphone hookup. Obviously either someone's paid bodyguard, or a tournament official. Weevil put his money on the latter.
"Yugi Muto?" As he said the name, his blood began to boil. Yugi Muto was the one who kicked Weevil out of Duelist Kingdom, in the very first match. He defeated Weevil's beautiful Great Moth, and tarnished Weevil's reputation forever. And it was Muto's friend, Joey Wheeler, who kicked Weevil out of Battle City. He'd vowed to get revenge on both of them.
"You know of him?" The suited man asked again.
"Who hasn't heard of the King of Games?" Weevil said disdainfully. "And the Champion of Battle City," he grunted.
"I meant, do you actually know—"
"Of course I know Yugi Muto!" he shrieked. "And I hope to get my revenge on him for what he did to me!"
Instead of backing away, the man smiled. "Good" he drawled. "Then I have an interesting bit of information for you: Yugi Muto is in Domino Park, by the clock, looking for opponents. If I were you, I'd go and check it out."
Weevil turned and stalked away, rubbing his palms together and grinning widely.
"I wonder whom I should face," Yugi said aloud, as he walked through the crowds of people. The turnout for Battle City II hadn't been as big as the KaibaCorp's original tournament last year. Then again, without it being sponsored by KaibaCorp or Pegasus' famous Industrial Illusions company, the tournament would obviously have a low turnout, even with six million dollars as the prize money.
"How about me?" a familiar, high-pitched voice called form behind Yugi. He knew whom it was before he even turned around, and knew that it was trouble.
"Weevil Underwood," Yugi said with a wave of his hand. "I don't have time to deal with cheaters now—I'm looking for a real opponent."
"Is that so, Yugi? And I thought my two locator cards would greatly appreciate being joined by yours, at my side." Weevil laughed.
"Is that so? Well, I know that at least one of your locator cards will be coming over to me!" Even as he said this, Yugi felt a great power flow into his body, from the Millennium Puzzle that he wore on a chain around his neck. Yami, the great Egyptian pharaoh, was at his side. "Because I accept your challenge!"
Weevil continued to chortle. "Fine, but you only have one locator card? A pity—considering that I have two!"
"I will wager something in exchange for that other locator card, if that's what you want, Weevil."
"Such as?"
Yugi pulled seven cards from the box he wore on his belt. "The complete seven-card Exodia set—the five pieces of the Forbidden One, along with Contract with Exodia and Exodia Necross."
"You have all seven of the Exodia cards?" Weevil cried out, stepping back. "Fine. My locator cards for your Exodia cards—and you must keep them out of your deck."
"Fine by me." I didn't even intend to use them anyway. Who knows what that Rare Hunter did to them! Yugi didn't feel any ink or special markings on them, but he didn't know all of the Rare Hunter's techniques for marking a card and making it identifiable in a deck.
"Now, let the duel begin!"
"Master, Weevil Underwood has challenged Yugi Muto to a duel, just as we planned."
"I already know this, Ken. My Millennium Eye shows me everything going on out there," the spirit of the Millennium Ring reminded his loyal servant. "I don't know why I even bother to keep you all around—it strains my already limited resources. And most of you don't even do anything useful."
Ken chose to ignore his master's comments. "Would you like me to display our satellite feed of the duel, master?"
"Yes, of course. It's almost as good as watching it from another's eyes." The spirit felt good about his thrashing of the Rare Hunter Umbra yesterday. Being able to thoroughly outsmart two of Marik Ishtar's former followers was such great fun. And why shouldn't the spirit enjoy it, after what Marik did to him?
Last year, in the Battle City finals, Marik and his dark side had betrayed the spirit and his host Bakura. They had been locked in the Shadow Realm. Yugi Muto rescued Bakura, but only the fact that the spirit had corrupted a piece of the Millennium Puzzle kept his age-old soul alive. No one would try to save the "evil" spirit of the Millennium Ring, after all.
The hologram generator showed a recorded image of the duel, from Weevil's duel disk, showing Yugi and both players' monsters.
I hope you win this duel, Yugi, because, in the end, it will just wear you out!
"I summon Giant Rat, in defense mode," Yugi Muto said. "And set two cards, face-down!"
"My turn," Weevil Underwood cackled, drawing a card. "And your Giant Rat will not survive much longer. I play Pinch Hopper, and equip it with Laser Cannon Armor, raising its attack power to 1500. Now, destroy that overgrown hamster!" As Weevil spoke, the giant grasshopper raised its cannon up, and fired a laser blast right at Yugi's blue-furred mouse.
"Spellbinding Circle!" Yugi shouted, pressing a button on the side of his duel disk. "It stops your attack, and lowers that Pinch Hopper's attack power by 700 points!"
"Oh, no! That means I'll take 650 points of life point damage!"
"That's right."
"Oh, wait!" Weevil said. "I have this: Barrel Behind the Door. This rare trap card allows me to switch damage from me to you!"
"And I'll counter your move, by playing my own trap card, Mystical Refpanel!" An angel rose in front of Yugi, and held a mirror out to block the Pinch Hopper's laser beam. It hit the mirror, and rebounded to strike Weevil.
"Hyohyohyo!" Weevil laughed. "You fell right into my trap! You see, I was hoping you'd use that Mystical Refpanel card now, so that it wouldn't affect me later. You see, I'm going to win by forcing you to play all your good cards now, when you don't need them!"
"Thanks for telling me that up-front, because now I know your strategy. And that won't work for long, anyways, considering that I am going to win this duel and claim both of your locator cards. A cheater like you would never make it to the finals! How you managed to trick the computer to use Barrel Behind the Door to reflect Battle Damage is beyond me."
"Is that so? Well, it's your move."
"And I'll switch my Giant Rat into attack mode, and summon Alpha the Magnet Warrior. Destroy the Pinch Hopper, and deliver another 600 points of damage to Weevil's life points!"
"I'll counter that attack with my Enchanted Javelin, raising my life points by 1400, so that I'm at 8150 life points, while you, Yugi, are at 8000. And I have many more ways to make you pay, Yugi. Soon you'll see."
"Still, your Pinch Hopper is destroyed, so I can attack you directly, with my Giant Rat!"
"Not so fast. By destroying my Pinch Hopper, you made a very grave mistake. It allows me to summon one Insect-type monster from my hand when you destroy it, so I'll call upon my majestic Empress Mantis!"
"And I just declared an attack—" Yugi muttered.
"Meaning your overgrown fluff ball is destroyed, and you lose the 900 life points. And it is now my turn!"
"You think so? Well, remember your Pinch Hopper?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"My Giant Rat has a very similar effect. When destroyed in battle, I can summon another EARTH monster with an attack equal to or lower than 1500. And the monster I choose is: Berfoment! But that's not all. Berfoment allows me to summon Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts to the field. And, I play Fusion Sage, to draw one Polymerization card out of my deck. With Polymerization, I fuse Berfoment and Gazelle to form Chimera the Winged Mythical Beast. And, with this Gaia Powered field magic card, I can raise his attack power, and Alpha's, by 500 points!"
"But your fusion monster cannot attack the same turn it is created, so it is automatically my turn. And for my turn, I'll set one card face down and activate the continuous magic card Insect Barrier!" A web of light surrounded Weevil, protecting him from all Insect-based attacks. "I also summon Petite Moth and Cocoon of Evolution. In just six turns, I will summon my Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth, and, with it, finish you off once and for all!"
"So, Underwood, you have a very well-practiced strategy—did you learn it from Bandit Keith?" the spirit murmured.
"What, master?" Ken, from his folding chair by the door, asked.
"Nothing, simpleton." Weevil thinks he's real smart, pulling cards from his sleeves. He intends to use DNA Surgery to turn all cards on the field to the Insect type, and then keep Insect Barrier on the field to block all of Yugi's attacks. Very clever, indeed. Too bad Yugi will soon see through it and destroy his DNA Surgery.
But that's not all your planning, is it? The spirit smiled. Well, I'll just have to enjoy this show of trickery and theft.
"You think I'll let you summon that? Go, Chimera, take flight!" Yugi pointed at Weevil's cocoon. "You left it in attack mode, meaning that I'll soon bring you down by over 2000 life points!"
"Is that so?"
"Yes, it is. Chimera, destroy that pile of pink putty!" The two-headed winged beast swooped down at the giant cocoon, and hit the web of light—and stopped dead in its tracks.
"What? What happened?" Yugi demanded.
"Simple—I activated a trap card before you attacked."
"A trap? What trap?" Yugi looked around.
"The one I set last turn, DNA Surgery!"
"What does that do?"
"It allows me to turn all monsters on the field to the type of my choice. And, for this duel, I think it is fitting that all of our monsters become insects."
"You managed to stop one attack, Weevil, but when that DNA Surgery wears off—"
"Wears off?" Weevil cried. "Wears off? You fool! DNA Surgery is a continuous trap, and perfectly matched to my continuous magic card Insect Barrier. So long as these two cards are on the field, you can't attack!"
In that case, I'm going to have to find a way to defend! Yugi thought.
"I'll end my turn by playing one card face-down." This Dust Tornado card will wipe away that DNA Surgery. Since I don't have any more Insect-type monsters in my deck, it shouldn't be a problem. And, to end my turn, I'll take out that Empress Mantis!
"Then it is my turn?"
"Not quite. I'll activate the trap card Raigeki Break, sacrificing Silver Fang from my hand to destroy that Empress Mantis card of yours."
"My beautiful mantis queen!" Weevil whimpered, as a lightning bolt struck his monster and fried it. "No matter. In just four more turns, I'll free my Ultimate Great Moth from this cocoon, and obliterate you with it. In the mean time, though, I'll summon Leghul!"
That monster only has 300 attack points—no, 800 because of my Gaia Powered. What is he going to do with it?
"Now, Leghul, attack Yugi directly!"
Oh, that's right! Joey told me about this card! Uh-oh . . . Yugi thought as the little worm rammed him in the stomach. Yugi grunted, and watched as his life point meter fell to 6300. Weevil was still in the lead, with 8150 life points. Hopefully, Yugi would come up with something soon.
I know I can take care of that DNA Surgery now, but what about that Leghul? "I activate the trap card Dust Tornado, to destroy DNA Surgery!"
"Oh, no!" Weevil grimaced as a strong wind crashed into the hologram of his card, blowing it away. "Well, in that case, I'll switch my Cocoon of Evolution to defense mode."
"Is that so? Running already, are we?"
"We'll soon see!"
"Now, for my turn, I sacrifice Alpha to summon Dark Magician Girl! And, with this Book of Secret Arts, her attack raises by 300 points. But I'm not through yet. With this magician on the field, I can activate Mystic Box! Conceal Dark Magician Girl!" The smiling female magician hid in the black box, and knives shot through it.
"What are you doing—scouring your own monster?" Weevil laughed.
"No—I'm destroying your Cocoon of Evolution card!"
"You think so? Well, what if I were to activate this Fairy's Hand Mirror, switching that attack to target your own Chimera card?"
"Oh, no!" Yugi cried out, as the box opened. Indeed, his twin-headed lion had been speared, instead of the cocoon. And, Dark Magician Girl emerged from the second box, unharmed. "But, since she's a Magician card, I don't have to relinquish control of her to you."
"I don't want that card anyway," Weevil said. Even though Yugi clearly saw him panting and staring at the monster.
"Now, destroy Leghul, and bring Weevil's life points down to 6650!" Only 350 more than Yugi's. In one turn, he'd managed to bring the score closer together.
"Now that that's over with, we only have three more turns to wait before this duel is over, and you're knocked out of the tournament!"
"Make your move."
"Indeed I will. I play Pot of Greed, to draw two extra cards." Weevil looked at them, and smiled. "I have drawn the exact two cards I need to win this duel. First, I'll lay a monster in defense mode, so that you don't get any ideas. Then, I'll play one trap card facedown. Your turn." Weevil chuckled to himself.
"And for my turn, I summon Gamma the Magnet Warrior, and set one card on the field. Gamma, attack!"
"Activate Waboku!"
"Waboku? But that reduces the damage my monster does to 0. It saves your card!"
"But it is still flipped, to reveal the instrument of your destruction: my Parasite Paracide card!"
"But you left that in Joey's deck!"
"You think I couldn't get more? It's been a year since I tricked your friend into that duel, you know. And even though I couldn't defeat him, I have a strategy that will thoroughly devastate you. And do you know why it will work? Because, Yugi, you don't have any monsters quite like Gearfried the Iron Knight. None of your cards are armored, like that. There's no way you can win against me and my army of Insect-type creatures.
"Yugi, lets face it: There's no way that you are going to defeat me this time!"
Yugi watched in horror as the parasite launched itself at Yugi, and went into his deck.
"You have only a matter of turns before you draw my parasite card, and it infects your entire deck. There's a reason my Insect Barrier is still on the field. It's because, when you draw my Parasite, you take 1000 points of damage, and all of your monsters become insects once again. And, you cannot sacrifice these infected monsters. So, you don't have any way of defeating me now, do you, Yugi? All of your best cards require a sacrifice to summon, and once my Parasite is on the field, you can't summon anything!"
"I know that I can defeat you, Weevil!"
"No, you can't. At the end of my next turn, my Ultimate Great Moth will be in a position to attack and destroy you once and for all!"
"But you have no moves to make for now?"
"Just one. So that, once Waboku wears off, you don't try to attack my Cocoon, I'll activate the Nightmare's Steelcage I won during Battle City, to paralyze your monsters for two whole turns. By the time it wears off, my Ultimate Great Moth will annihilate you!"
"Then I just have to prepare." Yugi drew a card. This should help defend against that Great Moth once he plays it. "I sacrifice Alpha the Magnet Warrior to play Beast of Gilfer in defense mode. I also switch Dark Magician Girl to defense mode, and end my turn." At least I didn't draw that Parasite Paracide this turn.
"On the defensive again, Yugi? So sad. And you still can't do anything about my Great Moth, can you? No. So I'll end my turn by playing Cockroach Knight in defense mode."
"Cockroach Knight?"
"Yes. Whenever it is sent to the graveyard, it comes back to my hand the next turn. Face it, Yugi. There's no escaping this!"
"That's what you think!" Now I need to learn how to do this. How am I going to prepare to stop that monster? Yugi drew a card. Beta the Magnet Warrior! But without Alpha and Gamma, it's useless against that Great Moth. Too bad they're in the graveyard . . . Yugi stopped to think for a moment. That's it! My facedown card! "I activate the trap card Backup Soldiers!"
"Backup Soldiers? Why?"
"To bring three cards in my graveyard back to my hand!" Gazelle, Alpha, and Gamma! This could work! "I switch Beast of Gilfer to attack mode, and end my turn." Yugi grinned. "And Nightmare's Steelcage is gone now. You still need to wait until next turn before summoning the Ultimate Great Moth. But, That gives my Dark Magician Girl and Beast of Gilfer one turn to destroy that Cocoon."
"You think it matters? Look at the top card on your deck, Yugi. It's face-up, meaning only one thing: That card you will draw next turn is my Parasite Paracide! You won't get a chance to attack me at all!"
"Well played, Underwood. But Yugi has already seen the flaw in your plan. Or so I hope, after his last move. If not, then it's amazing that he ever beat you at all."
"Oh, no! And there is no card in my deck that can stop me from drawing!"
"That's right, Yugi, Face it—you're through!" Weevil began to laugh again.
Yugi picked up the card and placed it on his Duel Disk. He grunted in pain as a holographic tentacle wrapped around him and squeezed 1000 life points from him. Then, a tentacle reached into both of Yugi's monsters, and came out of their mouths. Gilfer didn't care; the more life-like Dark Magician Girl squealed in disgust and tried to struggle free.
"Now, for my turn, I set one card face-down."
"And it is finally time to release my ultimate monster!" Weevil shouted. "Behold the magnificent Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth!" The pink putty-like cocoon shattered, and a giant green moth rose from it. With a flap of its giant rainbow-colored wings, it rose in the air. "Now, destroy Yugi's Beast of Gilfer."
The giant moth flapped its wings again, and a sonic wave shattered Yugi's hideous monster. His life point meter dropped again, to 4000 even. It was even more powerful than Yugi feared.
And he had no way to defeat it!
This is it, Yugi thought. It's all over!
I'll never be able to save my friends.
And that was the only thing in the world that scared him more than Weevil's giant behemoth.
"Hey, kid, do you want to duel?" Te speaker was a teenager, probably fifteen or sixteen. He had dark hair, glasses, and was slightly overweight. He was tall, too, but to a ten-year-old duelist prodigy, just about everyone in this tournament was tall.
"Yeah, what do you think?" the kid said gruffly, brandishing the duel disk on his arm.
"Not for locator cards, though. Just for practice—and a little fun."
"Hey, I'll take you on for five locator cards! It's no fun to duel without a prize!"
The teenager sighed in frustration. "If that's how you want it. Whoever wins this match goes strait on to the finals—over a week ahead of schedule!" The teen grinned. "Since I'm a nice guy, I'll use . . . this deck, and let you go first."
"Fine!" the kid said, stepping back and switching his duel disk on. The card platforms snapped together, then lodged in the dueling position on the side of the central hub. Two hologram generators launched, riding plums of gray smoke to land two meters away, as did the teen's. They formed a giant rectangle, four meters by three meters.
"As I said, I'd let you start this little party."
"Fine!" the kid beamed as he drew his opening hand. He had a bunch of powerful cards, but nothing all that great. He had better in his deck. "I summon Mechanicalchaser in attack mode, and set two cards. I'll also activate Machine Conversion Factory, raising my robot-hunter's attack points by 300. Your turn."
"And I'll activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards, and play the trap card Blood Compensation, otherwise known as Ultimate Offering. By paying 500 life points, I can summon two monsters in a turn. The first one will be by Fire Princess, in defense mode. The other, I'll keep face down. Then, I activate Tremendous Fire, costing you 1000 life points, making both of us even at 7000. Then, I play two copies of the magic card Ookazi, lowing your life points by a total of 1600, to 5400."
"Is that all you have? A pathetic Flash-burn deck? Then what's with the Fire Princess—she look like your girlfriend?"
The teen didn't even seem to hear the boy's taunting. "It's time you faced a real duelist, child. My opening gambit isn't even over yet. I'll lay one card face down, and play the magic card Dian Keto the Cure Master. It raises my life points up to 8000—and, because of my Fire Princess and her special ability, it drains another 500 life points from you. You now have a measly 4900 life points, whereas I'm still at full power. Anything you'd like to do now?"
"Yes. I'll sacrifice my Mechanicalchaser to summon Cyber-tech Alligator!" The boy smiled. "And I'll use it to wipe your face-down monster off the field!"
"How sad, that my face-down monster is a Nimble Momonga, which raises my life points by another 1000, and activates Fire Princess to bring you to 4400. Nimble Momonga's second effect allows me to summon two more of its kind in defense of my life points. Also, I'll take this time to activate a trap card called Solemn Wishes, which raises my life points an extra 500 for each time I draw a card. Because of my monster, however, you will take 500 points of damage as well!" The teenager began to laugh.
"What's so funny?"
"By the time I draw next, you will have less than half of your starting life points. I find it amusing how, in just one full turn, I have turned the tables on you so thoroughly that I will finish my strategy, and this duel, in just a few more turns after that. Isn't that cause enough for laughter?"
"Who—who are you?" the boy demanded. "How did you manage to do this in just one turn?"
"It's quite simple: I am a real Duel Monster's prodigy. I have many copies of most cards in the game, and know just about every strategy that can be used against anyone. I have constructed dozens of different decks, and can use all of them to beat anyone at the level of Regional Champion. I don't know how they fare against anything higher than that—I've never faced anyone better yet. That's why I'm here.
"I'm going strait to the top, to prove that I can hold my own against duelists like Seto Kaiba, Joey Wheeler, and Yugi Muto. Beating you is a small stepping-stone. I knew, from the way you've dueled so far, that you rely on strength to win. Even those facedown cards probable support a beat-down style deck. I also knew that you'd think of me being weak, and be willing to risk all of your locator cards, if it meant an easy trip to the finals.
"However, I win through strategy and skill. And you have no card in your deck that can stop that!"
TO BE CONTINUED . . .