Disclaimer: Holds up a sign "For the last freakin time I don't own Yugioh."
Chapter 24: Team Domino vs. Team.......
("Another beautiful day on The Asylum,") Giovan Garlin stretched and took a deep breath of the clean air of his privately owned island. Today was the day of the tournament, and luckily enough for him another three dueling teams had arrived overnight to his castle. They had all passed the test and were sent immediately to their rooms to sleep. ("Now the tournament is full, and we are ready to begin the festivities.") He looked at the clock on the wall back inside his office and noticed that it was only 4:00 am. ("Alright, perhaps I'll let them sleep a little longer. It would be rather cruel to not give them their rest. I want them to be at their freshest when I plunge them all into hell.")
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Rebecca woke up an hour later, looking out at the sun-rise with determination shining in her eyes. She looked her deck over and nodded to herself. ("Today is the day that I step out from under my big brother's shadow. Today is the day I show everyone just how powerful of a duelist I really am. Today is the day that Giovan Garlin pays for what he has done.") She felt tears develop in the corners of her eyes as she looked upon Daniel's Jinzo.
("Sorry Jinzo, but....your master won't be coming to claim you anytime soon. Forgive me, but I'm going to have to draft you onto my team.") She knew it was silly acting like the card could understand her, but Daniel had always treated his Jinzo like it was a living thing, and the monster never let him down.
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Deondre woke up just fifteen minutes after that. He showered quickly and then collapsed in a chair next to the desk that he had his deck sitting on. Looking the cards over, he nodded grimly to the spirit of his friend. ("You may not have been able to pull off a win against Garlin, but don't worry about it Daniel. I'll make sure he pays for what he has done.")
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The next person to awaken was Yami, who took over Yugi's body and got himself ready for today. He had come with Yugi expecting to have a fun and enjoyable tournament for them to unwind with. When Garlin had shown them the footage of him killing Rebecca Pilkington's brother though.... ("I will make you pay Garlin. You're just as much of a monster as Marik and Pegasus were. They could reform though, because they never killed someone because of a duel. You though....") Giovan Garlin was not going to walk away from this tournament. Yami wouldn't let him get away.
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Seto Kaiba awoke to his laptop's alarm clock going off. After he had showered and brushed his teeth, he went back to his desk and looked his deck over. He had been up all night gathering data on all of Team Domino's possible opponents. Thanks to his foresight their chances of winning this tournament were far over 75 now.
There was one factor though that kept throwing off his computer...
Giovan Garlin was going to be dueling in this tournament, and when you duel a man who has the power to have his own cards be created you know that you have to be careful. Kaiba also didn't know what kind of deck Garlin ran. He couldn't assume anything at all about the psychopath's strategies. ("Looks like I'll have to wing it when I face him.") While he didn't like going into a battle without knowing at least a little about his opponent, he certainly wasn't going to not battle Garlin.
It wasn't that he cared that the brat's brother had been killed. It was the fact that Garlin thought he was so powerful that he could show them that footage and not expect to get in trouble with the law. ("I could just call the police and let them deal with it, but first I'm going to wipe that smug smile off of Giovan Garlin's face.")
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All of the duelists had come down from their respective rooms for breakfast, which was being served in the dining hall that had housed their dinner last night. Everyone ate in silence, each of them pondering their own strategies and what they were going to wish for if they won.
Then the gong sounded to signal that breakfast had ended and almost as one the dueling teams stood up and walked off to the lobby. There was no turning back now.
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"Welcome duelists!" Giovan Garlin bowed to them all from his seat above the enormous dueling arena that he had constructed in his castle. His slick black hair glistened in the dim light of the torches that lined the walls. He was wearing his customary black business suit. The only thing everyone could see was his face. It was the face of a snake waiting for its chance to strike. "I hope everyone slept alright?" When no one answered him he rubbed his chin thoughtfully and murmured, "Tough crowd."
"Enough jokes Garlin!" Yami yelled from down amongst the assembled duelists. Some of them nodded in assent, while others didn't withdraw their eyes from the demon of a man that sat 20' feet above them.
Garlin rolled his eyes. "Gods you are a spoil-sport Pharaoh. Very well then! The Finals of the Shadow Tournament begin now!" As he said this the ground around them all began to rumble loudly. The center of the arena lifted a little bit off the ground and started to hum. "As you can see the initial dueling arena is in the center of the ring. We will not be using the COC rules system for these duels. We will be using the COCs themselves though."
"How so?" Deondre asked cautiously.
Garlin narrowed his eyes coldly at the speaker. "Do not interrupt me while I am speaking boy."
Deondre didn't back down an inch.
Garlin shrugged off the boy's insolence for now. ("I'll just make his death more painful than normal.") "Each member of the dueling teams has a dueling number assigned to them. When the teams face off the COCs are rolled and the number that comes up indicates which two duelists on those teams will face each other. The rounds will be best two out of three matches. The winner will move onto the next part of the finals and the losers will be dismissed. Otherwise this will be a normal duel." Everyone nodded and Garlin snapped his fingers. A digital board rolled down from the ceiling and started to flicker with each of the team names. "And the first match-up will be...." The first name froze in place, "Team Domino vs...." The spinner stopped on another name. "Team Ancient Duelist."
The other teams got clear of the dueling arena and the members of Team Domino and Team Ancient Duelist took their positions on the field.
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Up in his seat Giovan Garlin watched the unfolding events with great interest. ("Now I wonder which member of Team Domino will go first. Maybe Joey? Or perhaps Yugi?") It didn't really matter that much to him. He knew the outcome of these duels already. ("The only outcome is that in the end I will be the winner.") He stifled a laugh as he watched the two team leaders, Yugi and Akhmed, get ready to roll the COCs to determine who played who.
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The dice bounced around wildly on the ground and finally came to a stop.
Yugi's COC was a three.
Ahkmed's was also a three.
Team Domino vs. Team Ancient Duelist- Match 1
Seto Kaiba vs. Akhmed
Kaiba sighed and stepped forward, his duel disk into place. "This should be a perfect waste of my time."
Akhmed's disk clicked into place as well, while the rest of the members of both teams got clear. "If I were you Kaiba I would not under-estimate my opponent."
Kabia grinned and drew his five cards, and then his sixth. "Then you don't mind if I go first?" When Ahkmed shook his head in consent, Kaiba went from arrogant to simply cold. "Then let me start us off with Vorse Raider (1900/1200) in attack mode." A hideous monster wielding a curved sword appeared, licking the blade of its weapon in anticipation. "Then I'll set two cards face-down and I will end my turn."
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Giovan rolled his eyes. ("I bet my entire fortune that Kaiba just set Ring of Destruction and Ring of Defense, or Shrink and Deck Destruction Virus.")
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Ahkmed drew and slid a card into his duel disk. "If you expect me to attack Kaiba then you truly are under-estimating me far too much. I activate the magic card Heavy Storm to sweep all magic and trap cards off the field." A heavy wind picked up, but then it suddenly died down.
Kaiba had flipped up his face-down card. "Do you think I'm so out of practice that I would use the same stale old moves more than a couple of times. For that you're going to have to pay. I play the trap card Spell Shield Type 8. By discarding a card from my hand I will negate your Heavy Storm!" He slid a card from his hand into the graveyard and then a white machine with lots of mirrors appeared on his field. It spun rapidly and then exploded, taking Akhmed's magic card with it.
Akhmed looked his hand over and set one monster face-down, and then two cards face-down. "End turn."
Kaiba drew and slid a card into his duel disk. "Now I activate the magic card Nobleman of Crossout, which will remove your face-down monster from play." A man in silver armor appeared and leaped across the field, slashing Akhmed's creature in half.
Then Kaiba slapped a new monster onto his duel disk. "Now I summon Battle Ox (1700/1000) in attack mode!" A giant Minotaur wielding a large axe appeared and snorted in anger. "And now both of my monsters will attack!" The two monsters flew across the field and slammed into Akhmed, sending him skidding backwards across the dueling arena.
Kaiba- 8000
Ahkmed- 4400
Kaiba slid a card into his duel disk. "End turn."
Ahkmed drew and popped open his field magic card slot. "I play the field magic card Necrovalley!" The ground around the two of them shuddered, and holographic stone sprung up all around them, leaving the two cut off from everyone on the ground floor. The only person unaffected by the scenery change was Giovan, whose aerial view could not be impeded.
Ahkmed continued with his explanation unabated by the shuddering of the ground. "As long as Necrovalley is on the field all monsters with the title Gravekeeper will get a 500 point attack and defense bonus." He slapped a monster onto his disk. "Now prepare yourself for my Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier (2000/1500) in attack mode." An Egyptian in black robes appeared and lifted a spear, pointing it at Kaiba. "Now attack his Battle Ox!"
Kaiba sneered. "I reveal my face-down card, Ring of Destruction! This will destroy your monster and deal us both its attack in life point damage." A ring appeared around the Spear Soldier's neck. As the ring exploded the stone walls around them seemed to groan in protest.
Kaiba- 6000
Akhmed- 2200
Ahkmed looked his hand over once more and sighed. "I end my turn."
Kaiba drew and shook his head. "This is sad. How did you make all of this way with such pitiful dueling skills?" When Akhmed didn't respond Kaiba slid his two monsters into the graveyard. "Well let me take you out with a bang at least. I summon my all-powerful Blue Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500) in attack mode!" The huge white scaled dragon appeared and roared at Akhmed, the stone walls of the Necrovalley shaking around him.
The Egyptian man watched the creature with appraising eyes. "I must admit, I am impressed."
Kaiba nodded. "As you should be. Now Blue-eyes end it! Burst Stream!" The dragon charged up a huge lump of energy in its muzzle and fired. Right before the attack hit though Akhmed flipped up his face-down card. "I play Rite of Spirit! This allows me to revive one Gravekeeper monster from the graveyard to the field. I recall my Spear Soldier." The Spearman reappeared and sneered at the approaching Burst Stream.
Ahkmed flipped his other card. "Next I'll play Gravekeeper's Gathering. This trap will reduce the attack power of all monsters on your field 1000 points for every Gravekeeper monster I have on my field." The Spear Soldier howled and leapt through the Burst Stream, slamming into Kaiba's dragon. The two wrestled for a moment before both exploded into dust.
Kaiba allowed himself a small smile. "You think that will slow me down? I play Monster Reborn to revive my Blue-eyes White Dragon from the graveyard!"
Nothing happened.
Akhmed chuckled. "I suppose I should have told you the other special ability of my Necrovalley card. As long as it remains on the field all effects that revive monsters from the graveyard will not work. The only exception to that rule is Rite of Spirit."
Kaiba glared at his opponent. Now he had no cards on his field or in his hand. "End turn."
Akhmed drew and slapped a monster from his duel disk onto the field. "I summon Gravekeeper's Cannon Holder (1900/1400) in attack mode." A black-robed man carrying a wooden cannon appeared and aimed it at Kaiba. "Now attack!" The man lit the back of his cannon and it shot out a blast that struck Kaiba and sent him sliding backwards in pain.
Kaiba- 4100
Akhmed- 2200
"End turn."
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Garlin snickered down at Seto Kaiba. ("It looks like the little spoiled brat is in for more trouble than he thought.")
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Kaiba drew and sighed in relief. "I play the magic card Card of Demise! This lets me draw until I hold five cards in my hand. The only downside is that in five turns I lose my entire hand, but I somehow doubt that will be a problem by the time I am done." He drew five cards and nodded to himself. "Prepare to lose. First I play Heavy Storm, which destroys your pitiful Necrovalley." A heavy wind picked up and the stone walls around them shuddered and then exploded into dirt.
Ahkmed blanched as his Cannon Holder lost attack points. (1400/900)
Kaiba slide a card from his hand into his duel disk. "Now I play the magic card Premature Burial. At the cost of 800 life points I may revive one monster from my graveyard. Come forth Blue-eyes White Dragon!" The earth shuddered and then the enormous monster that was Kaiba's trademark creature appeared. "Now for the finale I summon Kaiser Seahorse (1700/1650) in attack mode." The harpoon wielding monster appeared and flew across the field, cutting Akhmed's monster down.
Kaiba: 4100
Akhmed: 1900
Akhmed bowed his head. "I have lost. Finish it Seto Kaiba."
Kaiba sneered. "Oh I intend to! Blue-eyes White Dragon, attack with Burst Stream!" The dragon powered up another lump of energy that instantly engulfed Akhmed.
Kaiba- 4100
Akhmed- 0
As the ring lowered back to ground level Kaiba found himself surrounded by applause. He snorted and mentioned something about how that wasn't worthy of applause, and then he stepped off the dueling arena.
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Giovan stood up from his seat and broke out into applause. As everyone looked up at him he slowly came to a stop and said, "Excellent job Seto Kaiba. That was quite an impressive duel you just had. Of course it remains to be seen whether your two partners can pull off a success for you." He sat back down into his seat and nodded down at them. "Begin the next match!"
Yugi turned to look at Akhmed and they both as one threw their COCs.
To be continued...
Next Chapter: Conquering the Myth
Author's notes: The beauty of sarcasm is eternal. Keep sending in those teams for me. I know this says that I have them, but I still lack three teams for the finals.