Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh or anything that has to do with Yugioh. I only own my original characters and the original cards they use.
Chapter 12: Arrival at The Asylum
A ship slowly sailed towards the foreboding landmass of an island. On board the vehicle the passengers of the ship argued and talked amongst themselves, with the exception of one group who were looking out at the foreboding island before them from the helm of the ship.
"That place is freaking huge." Everyone shared CJ's sentiments.
"What did they call the place in the brochure?" Daniel tilted his head to the side as he tried to read the piece of paper in front of him. The only problem was he couldn't read Japanese.
Amy sighed and took it from him. "They call this island The Asylum, because it used to be the sight for a huge insane asylum until recently when the Shadow Corporation purchased it for their tournament."
Deondre shivered as he looked upon the murky buildings that dotted the shoreline. "What a pleasant idea. I hope all of the original residents were moved out before they got the tournament set up."
"We can only hope," Rebecca said from the side.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The gathering place for the beginning of the tournament was to be within the auditorium that had been built along the docks. Everyone was packed into the rather cramped room, which was meant to hold about 150 people at maximum. Unfortunately the turn-out for the tournament was more like 250. Because of that most duelists had to be content with wandering right outside the auditorium while listening to the announcements about the details to the tournament. Amy had forced her way in and said that she would get the necessary details from inside. When she came back out she had a little fanny pack with some important items in each. She also had a paper that would declare their dueling party.
"Dueling Party? What's a dueling party?" Daniel had never even heard of the concept before.
Amy grinned smugly. "Well then let me explain. Each dueling party must consist of three people. Each one is given a special storage gem that stores the number of points they collect when they win duels. When a team has 100 points they go to the top of the island and duel against a special challenge squad. If they win they get into the finals of the tournament."
Daniel raised an eyebrow. "And if they lose?"
"Instant disqualification. Plus only eight teams will be able to get in. So time will be of the essence." She handed him a slip of paper. "Now sign your name in already."
Team name: Topdeck
1) CJ Anderson
2) Deondre Anderson
3) Daniel Pilkington
Daniel stared at the team name. "Who called us Team Topdeck?"
"What's wrong with the team name?" CJ glared at him.
"Err.....nothing at all CJ." Daniel wisely didn't pursue the argument.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The group decided the first thing they needed to do was get their hands on some supplies. There weren't any hotels on the island and without them they were going to have to make do with what they had. Since none of them had packed any camping supplies, Amy had suggested they try to find one of the safe houses in the area.
"The only downside," she said, "Is that we'll have to beat another team to get access to it."
Eventually they located one on the edge of the port town.
The building itself looked like a normal house, but normal houses weren't covered by plexiglass on all sides of them except for the entrance doors, which had a lock across them.
"Greeeat..." Daniel kicked the plexiglass. "There are beds and all other kinds of good stuff we need in there but nope, we need to beat another dueling team to get access to it."
"Perhaps we can be of assistance," A snide voice said from behind him.
Daniel spun to find himself face to face a group of black wearing teenagers. "Err, how so?"
The Leader of the group, a guy with raven black hair and wearing a pair of thick sunglasses, chuckled. "Well, how about my team has a duel against your team? The winners get the house."
Amy stepped forward from around the other side of the house. "Hold on a minute, I'm the manager of this team and we need to get the ground rules down for the duel." She ignored Daniel's cough that was meant to try and get her attention.
The man removed his sunglasses and flashed a winning smile. "Sure lady. Does a two on two duel sound fine to you?"
Amy tapped her chin thoughtfully and then nodded. "Team Topdeck agrees to your demands." A trio of coughs from Deondre, Daniel and CJ went ignored.
"Very well then, Team Makai accepts as well. First let's determine which two duelists from each team are going to duel."
CJ stepped forward. "I'll take you on."
Daniel was about to step forward but Rebecca beat him to it. "I'll be his partner."
The Team Makai leader smiled. "Then I Brujah shall play, along with my second in command Caine." A spiky haired blond kid stepped up next to him and flashed a pair of fangs.
From within Daniel's head Rikuo snorted, ("Who's he trying to fool? Those fangs are fake.")
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The teams had both cleared the street area and designated it for their dueling ground. Brujah flicked his COC up into the air and his duel disk clicked into place. "Shall we bet all of our team's points? Each team has started with ten points, so why not wager all of them?"
Amy nodded. "Team Topdeck agrees." She didn't hear Daniel and Deondre's sighs.
Brujah clicked his tongue against his teeth. "Then let's begin with the basic rules for the game. Each player will roll their COC separately. In the event a six comes up, then the team members will switch decks with each other instead of their opponents." CJ and Rebecca nodded.
Standing on the side-lines, Daniel smiled as he watched his little sister get ready. ("You think she can win Rikuo?")
("Of course she will win this duel......I think.")
Daniel had similar feelings on the matter. It wasn't that Rebecca or CJ were bad players, it was just that their two decks had nothing in common at all. Rebecca's was a light deck meant to power up her life points and then finish off her opponent's with the Sanctuary in the Sky field Magic card. Last Daniel checked CJ's Earth Beatdown deck didn't stick well to life gain.
Brujah flicked his COC to the ground, watching it bounce. "Here we go." It landed on a two. He watched as his life point total dropped to 4000. "Well that was disappointing. You're up Caine."
The spiky blond boy threw his COC next. He growled when it landed on a two and his score also dropped to 4000.
CJ couldn't believe their luck! Both of their opponent's had lost half of their life points and the duel hadn't even started yet. He picked his COC out of his pocket and tossed it. "Here we go." It bounced a couple of time and landed on a five. "Oh just perfect." He sighed and instead of drawing five cards he drew two off the top of his deck.
Rebecca tossed her COC next. "Come on! Give me a good one!" It landed on a three. She was literally hopping up and down in excitement. "That means I get to use a deck master!" She shuffled her deck and kept drawing cards off the top until she came to a monster card. "My deck master is going to be....." She flipped the card over and instantly developed an eye twitch. "....Watapon!?" Right next to her a fuzzy white ball of fluff appeared and cooed, rubbing against her leg.
Brujah chuckled and drew his sixth card. "Good luck with your fuzzball of a deck master little girl. I'll start with Archfiend Soldier (1900/1500) in attack mode." A purple demon with ram horns appeared and howled, scaring Rebecca's deck master. The Watapon hopped behind her for protection. "End turn," laughed Brujah.
CJ drew and muttered something uncomplimentary about the Shadow Corporation and their dumb rules. "I guess the only thing I can do is summon D.D. Crazy Beast (1400/1400) in face-up defense mode, and set two cards face-down. End turn." A googly eyed red and teal monster appeared in a crouching position on CJ's field.
Caine drew. "Now to compliment Brujah's Archfiend Soldier, I will summon Earthbound Spirit (500/2000) in face-up defense mode." A rotted corpse clawed its way partially up out of the ground and moaned. "Then I will activate the magic card Black Pendant, powering up Brujah's Archfiend Soldier by 500 attack points. End turn." A black jewel appeared around the Archfiend Soldier's neck and he howled as the aura of energy around him increased in size. (2400/1500)
Rebecca drew and the grin that lit up her face told everyone that she had a plan. "First I'll summon Agent of Creation Venus in attack mode." A golden angel surrounded by three glowing spheres appeared on the field and began singing in her holy voice. The Archfiend Soldier on Brujah's field roared in anger.
CJ crossed his arms across his chest and chuckled. "What's the matter with your monster Brujah? Doesn't he like the light?"
Brujah narrowed his eyes. "Beware what you say about the demons. They will destroy you given the chance."
Rebecca slid a card into her disk slot. "Now I play the magic card Cestus of Dagla, which raises Venus's attack power by 500 points. End turn." Venus grasped a pair of glowing blades and her singing voice intensified. (2100/0)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daniel looked the field over. "So Deondre, what do you think about their chances?"
"Good question," he said. "At the moment it looks like CJ and Rebecca are in trouble. That Archfiend Soldier of Brujah's has way more attack power than Rebecca's angel or CJ's beast."
Daniel couldn't help but feel a little proud. "Don't worry. CJ and Rebecca have a plan.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brujah drew and slid a card into his duel disk. "I activate the magic card Cloak of Midnight." The Archfiend Soldier howled as it was enveloped by a cloud of darkness.
CJ went immediately on his guard. "What does that magic card do?"
"Allow me to show you. Archfiend Soldier attack CJ's life points directly!" From behind CJ the Archfiend Soldier faded into existence and struck him in the back with a jump kick before disappearing. He stumbled forward and fell flat on his face.
CJ- 5600
Rebecca- 8000
Brujah- 4000
Caine- 4000
CJ recovered his footing and blanched in fear. "That magic card allows your monster to attack life points directly?" When Brujah nodded CJ groaned.
Brujah set one monster face-down in defense. "I end my turn."
CJ drew and sighed. ("I hate playing defensively.") "I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn."
Caine drew and cackled, his insane laughter sending shivers up CJ's spine. Surprisingly Rebecca seemed unaffected by it though. "I will now sacrifice my Earthbound Spirit to summon the Dark Ruler Hades (2450/1200) in attack mode!" A demon appeared on his field wearing ornate robes and laughing in a booming voice. "And to give the Dark Ruler a little boost, I play the magic card Malevolent Nuzzler, which raises my monster's attack points by 700." (3150/1200) The Dark Ruler suddenly had a green-skinned woman hanging off of him. She whispered into his ear and his booming laughter picked up again.
Showing off his fangs with a feral grin, Caine pointed at Rebecca's Angel of Creation. "Dark Ruler attack with Nightshade blast!" Hades brushed the Malevolent Nuzzler off of him and he unleashed a pulse of dark energy at Rebecca's monster. As it approached Rebecca's field though the pulse diverted and flew over to Brujah's field, striking his darkness cloaked Archfiend Soldier and instantly destroying it.
CJ- 5600
Rebecca- 8000
Brujah- 3250
Caine- 4000
Brujah snarled as his monster was destroyed. "What happened!?"
CJ grinned and held up one of his face-down trap cards. "I happened. I'm not going to let you destroy our best attacker. So I used my Attack Redirect trap card to change the target of your attack to your partner's monster."
Brujah's snarl got louder. "Maybe, but at least I get a consolation prize. When the Black Pendant is sent to the graveyard my opponent loses 500 life points!"
CJ- 5100
Rebecca- 8000
Brujah- 3250
Caine- 4000
CJ shrugged innocently. "Hey, you win some and you lose some. You just lost a lot more than we did."
Caine looked his hand over and smirked. "I set one card face-down and end my turn."
Rebecca drew. "Well at least Watapon has a use. As my deck master he allows me to special summon any monster with 500 or less attack points that I draw. So I special summon Kuriboh (300/200) in defense mode." A brown-furred creature with green feet appeared on the field.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deondre scratched his head. "Umm....why does your sister have a Kuriboh in her deck? Isn't Kuriboh a fiend?"
Daniel wasn't listening though. He was trying to figure out what his sister was up to.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caine and Brujah both broke down into almost disabling laughter.
"What's that pitiful fiend going to do to us?" Brujah almost fell over again with laughter.
Rebecca smiled and set two cards face-down. She looked over at CJ and smiled. "I saw what you were holding CJ." She switched her Angel into Defense mode and ended her turn.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daniel's eyes went wide with realization. "So that's it."
Deondre blinked in confusion. "Did I miss something?"
Daniel smiled. If he was right then very soon this duel would be over. "Just watch."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brujah drew and flipped up his face-down monster. "I flip-summon another Archfiend Soldier into attack mode. Now my monster, attack CJ's D.D. Crazy Beast!" The soldier flew across the field and cut down the beast in one slice. "I end my turn."
CJ took a deep breath and drew his next card. "I love this part. Now I play Pot of Greed! This allows me to draw two cards from my deck!" He drew his two and he nodded to Rebecca. "Now I trigger my face-down magic card Exchange. I choose one player and we will exchange one card from our hand. I choose Rebecca." He walked over to her and fanned his two cards out for her. She smiled, took one, and then repeated the action with CJ. After they had changed out their cards CJ went back to his position. "Now then, I'll set one card face-down and I'll sacrifice my face-down monster to summon a new creature in defense mode. End turn."
Caine drew. "I don't know what you have planned, but it won't work against us. Dark Ruler Hades! Attack the little brat's Kuriboh!" The dark lord unleashed another pulse of darkness, but right before it hit the little demonic fur ball a field of green-blue light snapped up around it. The darkness struck the field and dissipated.
CJ held up another card from his magic/trap zone. "I activated the trap card that I exchanged with Rebecca. Draining Shield negates the attack of one of your monsters and raises my life points by that much."
CJ- 8350
Rebecca- 8000
Brujah- 3250
Caine- 4000
Caine growled and set one card face-down on his field. "I end my turn."
Rebecca drew and slid open her field magic card space on her disk. "I play the field magic Sanctuary in the Sky!" Around her a magnificent temple rose into the sky and brought blinding light down around the field. The Dark Ruler on Caine's field covered its face in pain and Rebecca's Angel of Creation seemed re-vitalized. "Now I reveal my face-down trap card Holy Judgment. This allows me to discard one card in my hand to destroy one card on the field. I choose Caine's face-down card." She slid one of her two remaining cards into the graveyard and watched as the top of the temple released a beam of burning light that instantly incinerated Caine's face-down magic/trap card.
Rebecca grinned. Everything was going according to her plan. "Now I reveal my other face-down card Multiply. This will turn my single Kuriboh into four Kuriboh that will fill up my monster field." There was flash of light and then the Kuriboh split three times, each of the copies floating back down to the field. "Now to finish you off Caine. First I'll switch my Angel of Creation Venus into attack mode." The angel snapped her arms out and lifted her Cestus of Dagla, ready to fight.
Caine snorted and waved at her dismissively. "Take a look at the attack totals of our monsters brat. Hades has over 3000 attack points. Your little angel can't match his power."
Rebecca slid the card she had exchanged with CJ into her disk. "Normally I'd be worried, but considering what I just gave my monster, you may want to reconsider insulting my Kuriboh and my Angel of Creation."
Venus's song reached a sudden explosion of noise so strong that it actually brought Caine's Dark Ruler Hades to his knees from the sheer force of her energy.
Caine stared in horror as his mighty demon was forced to the ground. "You little....what is the meaning of this!?!?!?"
Rebecca and CJ both were smiling. "I used CJ's United We Stand magic card to raise my Angel's attack power by 800 points for every monster on my field. Since I used Multiply to increase my Kuriboh to four, that means that I have increased my monster's attack power by 4000 points." (6100/4000)
Caine took a step back from the intensity of the light that came from Venus.
Rebecca pointed at Caine. "Angel of Creation Venus attack Dark Ruler Hades with Holy Shine Ball strike!" Venus waved her hands and the three silver balls surrounding her launched across the field and in one momentous explosion Dark Ruler Hades was gone.
DJ- 8350
Rebecca- 10, 950
Brujah- 3250
Caine- 1150
Rebecca returned Caine's dismissive wave from before. "By the way, the Cestus of Dagla lets me gain any life point damage that my monster deals. End turn."
Brujah drew and all the worry on his face disappeared. "Little girl, you angel is powerful here, but what about when she is alone in the dark with the demons and monsters that hate her kind? What will she do then?" He slid a card into his magic/trap slot. "I'll show you what I mean by triggering my Heavy Storm to destroy all magic and trap cards on the field." A strong wind picked up from all around them and it tore down Rebecca's temple and wiped away her magic cards, leaving her Venus at its original attack. (1600/0)
Caine knew what his leader had drawn. "Prepare to be plunged into the darkness."
Brujah added in, "Where there is no escape."
"For now you shall fear it forever more,"
Brujah slid a card into his field magic card zone. "The all-powerful Lair of Ten-thousand Demon Lords!"
The ground around the arena twisted and tore, huge chunks of earth being ripped up around the four. Huge dark spires rose up high into the sky and a ring of dark earth surrounded the field. The spires touched and formed a darkened dome, which shut off the arena from the rest of the world. The last thing Daniel heard was the maniacal laughter of Brujah and Caine before he the top of the dome slammed shut.
To be continued...
Next Chapter: Light vs. Dark
Author's notes: Eh, I don't have a lot to say on the matter of today's episode. It is what it is. If you have comments on how I did please post them. Once again a brutally honest review is better than no review at all.