Disclaimer- No I do not own Yugioh. I wish I did, but I don't. Why do you force me to remind myself I don't?? Runs off crying
Chapter 5- PQ Final Four
Daniel had returned to his friends but he had decided not to mention anything about Hawk or the whole almost dying thing. He doubted that they would believe him anyways. He took his seat and sighed, his thoughts going back to the events of the last hour. When had been dueling Hawk he had four magic/trap cards face-down on the field before the nanomachines had sent him into unconsciousness.
When he had awoken two of those cards had been played. If that wasn't weird enough, they had been played exactly in the order he had planned them to be too. First Monster Reborn had revived Jinzo from the graveyard, and then Repair and Reinforce had raised his life points back to above full. ("Why don't I remember activating those cards though? Who else could have done it?")
He doubted that Hawk had been behind it. It wouldn't have made any sense for Hawk to trick him into a trap meant to kill him and then save him from that same trap. He sighed and pulled his deck free of its holder in his Duel Disk. Shuffling his deck, Daniel drew five cards and as always his Jinzo was amongst them.
Not that it was ever a surprise anymore. Jinzo had been the first card he had ever pulled from a booster pack, and after he had placed it into his deck it had always appeared in his first five cards. He found it reassuring that he had such a good connection with his favorite monster. Now though, something about seeing Jinzo in front of him sent chills down his spine. ("Why is it that suddenly looking at you scares me Jinzo?")
("Could it be because you are looking into a mirror? Could it be because you fear what I am? Could it be that you don't like what you see in that mirror?")
("What?") Daniel glanced to both sides of him and noticed that nobody had talked to him. ("What was that about?") He normally wasn't prone to having strange voices talk to him inside his head.
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The rest of the duels passed by rather quickly, at least considering there were over 200 players in this tournament. Finally, ten hours later, the final four for the tournament had been determined.
The announcer yelled into his microphone, "Thank you for being patient ladies and gentleman. It is time for the semi-finals of the tournament!" The cheers that arose from the audience were deafening. "Our first match-up will Deondre Anderson vs. CJ Anderson! Would both players please come to the arena?"
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Up in the stands the two friends looked at each other and for the first time since the two had arrived at the arena they didn't insult each other. They simply marched down the stairs together and took their places. Everyone in the crowd had watched their antics before and they had expected something from them. Now though the two friends were silent, staring each other down.
Without even looking they clicked their duel disks into place and drew their five cards. Then without even waiting for the announcer to say begin, they started.
Deondre drew and set one monster in face-down defense mode. "End turn."
CJ drew and played a monster. "I summon Enraged Battle Ox (1700/1000) in attack mode." The Minotaur monster appeared and roared. "Now I'll attack, and thanks to its special ability my Battle Ox can deal you damage even through the defense of your creature." CJ's Ox flew across the field and cut Deondre's monster in half, the pieces of the card fading instantly.
CJ- 8000
Deondre- 6900
Deondre smiled slightly and held up his creature. "It was my Sangan (1000/600). When it dies I may search my deck for one monster with 1500 or less attack points and place it into my hand." He took his deck out of his Disk and searched it, pulling a monster free from the stack and adding it to his hand. Then he shuffled his deck and put it back in his disk.
CJ nodded slightly to his friend. "End turn."
Deondre drew a card and slapped a monster down. "Say hello to my D.D. Warrior Lady (1500/1600) in attack mode. When she is destroyed in battle she removes herself and the other monster from play." A woman in a grey body suit carrying a laser dagger appeared on the field. "Now I'll power her up with this magic card. It's called D.D. Laser Blade. When it's equipped to a monster with D.D. in the title, the creature gains 500 attack points and whenever it destroys a monster it removes the monster from the game."
The D.D. Warrior Lady sheathed her dagger and drew a long prismatic sword. (2000/1600)
Deondre pointed to CJ's Battle Ox. "Now attack!" The Lady launched across the field and cut the Battle Ox down. The pieces of CJ's monster evaporated into mist.
CJ- 7700
Deondre- 6900
CJ grimaced and took the Battle Ox off of his disk, sliding the card into his back pocket. "You think your monster will slow me down?" He drew and played a monster. "I summon Berserk Gorilla (2000/1000) in attack mode." With a howl the fire-breathing gorilla appeared on the field. "Now I'll do some powering up of my own. I play Wild Nature's Release, which adds my Gorilla's defense points to his attack total. (3000/0) Now attack my monster and bring his D.D. Warrior Lady down!"
The Gorilla screeched and charged, slamming into the Lady. As she started to fade though she grabbed onto the gorilla and in a flash of light both of them faded off the field.
CJ- 7700
Deondre- 5900
Deondre took his Warrior Lady off the disk and slid her into his back pocket, and CJ did the same with his Gorilla as the Lady's effect removed them both from the game. CJ set one card face-down and ended his turn. "Things aren't looking up for you Deondre."
Deondre drew and replied, "I'd worry more about you than me CJ."
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Daniel watched the duel with mild interest. He knew the lack of banter between CJ and Deondre wasn't because they were taking this game seriously, but it was because they had played each other so many times in the past that this wasn't an exciting game for either of them.
("Still, it's sad to see them so serious. It's entertaining to watch those two monkeys argue with each other.")
Daniel wanted to ignore that voice, but it was getting on his nerves. ("Okay then Mr. Voice-in-my-head, why don't you stop throwing in random comments and speak to me?") After a few seconds passed and nothing responded to his thoughts, he growled quietly and brought his attention back to the duel.
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Deondre drew. "I summon Dimensional Warrior (1200/1000) in attack mode and set two cards face-down." A red-haired armor wearing swordsman appeared on the field. "Dimensional Warrior attack his life points directly!" The Warrior flew across the field and wound up to attack, but when its blade came down to hit CJ the Dimensional Warrior exploded.
CJ held up his trap. "I activated Sakuretsu Armor. This allows me to destroy one of my opponent's attacking monsters."
Deondre waved his hand dismissively. "End turn."
CJ drew and summoned. "I summon Mad Dog of Darkness in attack mode and I'll have it attack your life points!" The demon dog appeared on the field and howled, lunging across it to rip Deondre to shreds.
Deondre snorted and flipped up one of his face-down cards. "Well as always you ran into my trap. This is my D.D. Ring, which teleports your monster out of play permanently." A prismatic crystal ring appeared and circled the Mad Dog, before glowing brightly. In a flash both it and CJ's monster were gone.
CJ took his monster off his disk and put it into his back pocket alongside the slowly developing stack of monsters that had been removed from play. "I'll set one card face-down and end my turn."
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Daniel wanted to scream at the moment. Every time he let himself relax mentally and watch the duel, that voice in his head would come back and make a comment on something. It was driving him mad. ("Maybe I should go lay down or something.")
("Poor baby, want me to give you a lullaby?")
Daniel frowned and tried to ignore the voice by watching the duel.
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Deondre drew and threw down a new monster. "Try this on for size. I summon D.D. Jet fighter (1600/1000) in attack mode." A golden futuristic looking fighter jet appeared and launched up into the air. "Now attack his life points!" It dove down at CJ and right before it got within firing range of him it exploded into little golden bits.
CJ held up another Sakuretsu Armor trap card that he had set and laughed. "Now who's running into traps like there is no tomorrow?"
Deondre grimaced. "End turn."
CJ drew. "I summon D.D. Crazy Beast (1400/1400) in attack mode." The red and teal googly eyed monster appeared and garbled out a roar, lunging across the field to bite Deondre on the shoulder.
CJ- 7700
Deondre- 4500
Deondre stumbled from the hit, but he quickly recovered and drew a card for his turn. "I'll show you something new. First I'll play Monster Reborn and revive my Dimensional Warrior." In a weak flash of light the Dimensional Warrior exploded from the ground and hit the field. "Now I'll sacrifice him to summon D.D. Knight! (2200/1500)" As the Dimensional Warrior disappeared he was replaced by a blond-haired man in a suit of futuristic looking knight's armor wielding a laser lance. "Attack!" The Knight flew across the field and impaled the Crazy Beast, annihilating it instantly.
CJ- 6900
Deondre- 4500
Deondre grinned smugly. "His special ability now triggers. Whenever he deals you life point damage you must remove the top three cards of your deck from the game."
CJ grimaced and complied, taking the removed cards and sliding them into his back pocket. "Are you done?"
Deondre nodded. "End turn."
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Pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, Daniel sighed in frustration and rubbed his eyes with a hand.
Allon glanced over at him. "What's the matter with you?"
Daniel pulled his glasses off and put them in his pocket. "My eyes are irritating me."
("All you ever do is whine, you know that right?")
("Leave me alone!")
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CJ drew his card and smiled. "Hey Deondre, remember when I beat Commander and I said he had given me a really rare card?" When Deondre nodded he smiled even wider. "Well here it comes! First off I summon Panther Warrior (2000/1600) in attack mode. Then I combo it with the magic card Scapegoat, creating four goat tokens on my field."
Deondre scratched the back of his head. "What's filling up your field going to do for you?"
CJ slid a card into the disk right underneath the Panther Warrior. "Nothing on its own, but when I use my new Excalibur equipment magic card, I double my Panther Warrior's attack power." With a roar the shield and sword wielding humanoid Panther appeared and then its curved sword was replaced by a shining long-sword. (4000/1600)
Deondre frowned angrily. "There has to be a downside to a card like that."
CJ shrugged. "As long as it is on the field I can't draw a card from my deck at the start of my turn, but considering the attack increase I don't need to do that. Now I sacrifice a Scapegoat to my Panther Warrior so it can attack and destroy your D.D. Knight!"
The Panther Warrior struck its new sword into the ground and a wave of energy rolled across the field. When the wave struck the D.D. Knight, he screamed for a moment before being blown to dust.
CJ- 6900
Deondre- 2700
CJ waved his hand dismissively at Deondre. "Give it up Deondre. The life point totals are too different for you to be able to beat me."
Deondre drew a card and smiled. "Don't be so sure CJ. I set one monster in defense and two cards face-down, end turn."
As per the effects of Excalibur, CJ didn't draw a card. Instead he slid a card into his Duel Disk next to where Excalibur was. "Now I'll equip my Panther Warrior with the equipment magic card Fairy Meteor Crush. This allows my monster to deal damage through defense like my Enraged Battle Ox was able to do. So I'll sacrifice another goat token to give my Panther the power to attack your face-down monster!"
The Panther slammed its sword into the ground again and the wave of energy split Deondre's monster in half. As it did though the Panther Warrior's body faded away.
Deondre held up his monster card. "You remember what my D.D. Warrior Lady does, right?" CJ growled as they both slid their respective monsters into their back pocket.
CJ- 6900
Deondre- 300
CJ looked at the last card in his hand and set it in defense mode. "End turn."
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Daniel had already left the stands and had gone to bathroom, sighing as he stared at himself in the mirror. His glasses were in his pocket and yet right now he could see himself perfectly in the mirror. Every detail of his face was easily detected.
("Why are you so worried about suddenly having 20/20 vision?")
Daniel didn't even have the will to argue anymore. He just ignored the voice and grimaced. His vision suddenly becoming perfect wasn't a bad thing on its own, but what did it mean? Why had it happened? He splashed some water on his face and went back to his seat. He knew he was in the next match, so he didn't have time to try and figure this out.
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Deondre drew and he smirked. "First off I'll summon D.D. Lancer (1500/1000) in attack mode. His special ability lets him deal damage through defense like your Enraged Battle Ox." A pike wielding red-haired man in armor appeared on his field. "Then I reveal my face-down trap card, Return from a Different Dimension. At the cost of half of my life points I am allowed special summon as many monsters from the removed from play pile as I can. Since it doesn't specify who's removed from play pile I may choose from, I pick yours."
CJ- 6900
Deondre- 150
CJ gaped in surprise as his Enraged Battle Ox, his Berserk Gorilla, his Mad Dog of Darkness and his Panther Warrior appeared on Deondre's field.
Deondre grinned and flipped his next face-down card. "Now my Nobleman of Cross-out will remove your face-down monster from the game." A man in shining armor leaped across the field and slashed a sword across the face-down card, the monster fading to the removed from play pile.
"It's over CJ. Your Enraged Battle Ox transfers its defense shattering ability to all beast and beast-warrior monsters on my field. That means that every creature on my field can deal damage through defense. Since your goats have zero defense and attack points, I win." Deondre pointed over at CJ. Berserk Gorilla and D.D. Lancer attack his two goats!" The two monsters shot across the field and tore through CJ's goat defense.
CJ- 3400
Deondre- 150
CJ braced himself, he knew what came next. ("I guess it wasn't fate for me to win this tournament.")
Deondre waved his hand to the Mad Dog and Enraged Battle Ox. "Finish it." They flew across the field and slammed into CJ, sending him careening to the ground.
CJ- 0
Deondre- 150
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As the crowd broke into cheers and applause, Daniel walked back to the stands. ("It's my turn next. I can't lose this duel.") He shuffled his deck and tried to ignore how perfectly he could see everything now thanks to his new 20/20 vision. ("Here we go.") He started walking down the stairs and went to the side-lines of the arena to wait for his duel to be announced. Despite the bad things that had happened to him though, he couldn't help but smile as he watched CJ chase Deondre out of the arena, the bigger dark-skinned man screaming death threats at his friend. ("Some things will never change.")
("They're a pair of hopeless fools.")
For once today, Daniel agreed with the voice.
To be continued...
Next Chapter: In fear of a card
Author's notes: I told myself that I wasn't going to type anymore today, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't stop myself. I'm hopeless. Oh well, please post a review if you can. I'll accept anonymous ones too.