Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Yugioh at all.
Chapter 35: Recovery; Blitz vs. Domino
Daniel screamed as he felt the flames around him sear deep into his flesh. No matter how hard he tried he could not get away from it. It didn't matter where he ran to, the fire always found him. He heard a voice laughing in distance, but that was the last thing on his mind...
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Rikuo whistled at he looked upon the interior of his other half's soul room. "Talk about your high living..."
The inside of the room was decorated with all kinds of posters and paintings, many of which were of duel monsters cards. On the far wall there was a large poster of Daniel flashing the victory symbol to the camera. Right next to it there was a picture of Rikuo, which was flipping the bird at the picture.
Rikuo scratched at his chin. "Now when did that happen? I don't ever remember my picture being taken."
Yami collapsed in a nearby chair and sighed. "It never did. That is Daniel's mental representation of you. Apparently you don't treat him very well."
Rikuo dropped the body of his host to the stone floor with a thud and shrugged. "It's true. His weakness irritates me to no end."
Yami rubbed his eyes tiredly with his hands. "Have you ever thought about having a more friendly relationship with your hikari?"
Rikuo raised an eyebrow in confusion at the unfamiliar term. "My what?"
Yami repeated himself. "Your hikari." The wolf demon threw him another confused look.
"Hikari means him." Yami pointed at Daniel.
Rikuo nodded in understanding. "So hikari means pain in the ass?"
Yami collapsed back into the chair and threw up his hands in exasperation. "Why am I even bothering!? You're not even willing to help him, are you?"
Rikuo walked past the twitching form of Daniel and collapsed on a couch. "Damn straight pharaoh. I'm in no mood to help that weakling overcome his little mental pains. I'm not his psychiatrist."
Yami frowned and crossed his legs. If he couldn't convince Rikuo to help Daniel then at least he could gain back his strength and try to help the boy himself. He almost slipped into a meditative trance, but a sharp cough brought him back to reality. He opened one violet eye slightly. "What Rikuo?"
"You have any idea where he keeps the food?" When Yami groaned in frustration and shut his eye, Rikuo shrugged and went back to searching for something to eat.
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Giovan looked down at the two remaining teams of duelists. "We will not be using the COCs for this round, so by all means choose who will go against whom for your duels." Before he had even finished speaking Joey was already in the dueling ring.
Crystal smiled at Devan and Siegfried. "I'll deal with this one, alright?" They both nodded and she climbed into the dueling ring.
Giovan nodded and lifted his hand. "First match of Team Blitz vs. Team Domino! Crystal Simmons vs. Joey Wheeler! Begin!" The ring groaned as it was lifted up above ground level.
Joey's duel disk clicked into place and he grinned at her. "Ready? Cause I'm about to take you down."
Crystal smiled warmly at her opponent while her duel disk clicked into place. "I somehow doubt it, but if you say so..."
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Yami's eyes slowly opened and he looked at his fully healed arm. After flexing it a couple of times and making sure that his strength was back, he took in his surroundings to see if anything had changed since he had gone into meditation.
What greeted him was what would happen if somewhere had been hit by a tornado. Random articles of paper had been strewn all around the room, and a couple of the nearby chairs had been overturned. Posters had been ripped off the walls and throw into a pile in the corner. And in the center of it all was Rikuo, who had curled himself up on top of a couch and was snoring loudly.
Yami put his hand over his eyes and shook his head. ("This is ridiculous! What kind of protector is this guy supposed to be!?") He stood up in his seat and went over to sweating form of Daniel. Placing his hand upon the boy's forehead he frowned. ("He's burning up.") He placed his hands down on Daniel's chest and concentrated his energies into melding his mind with the boy's. If he was going to repair the damage that Giovan had done to Daniel's psyche then he needed to attack the problem at its source.
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Joey drew his five cards. "If you're so sure that you will win this duel then why not let me go first?"
Crystal shrugged nonchalantly. "As you wish Joey."
Joey drew and gave his hand a quick once over. ("Not a half bad start.") He slid two cards into his duel disk. "I'll set these two cards face-down." Then he placed a monster face-up on his disk. "Then I'll summon Swordsman of Landstar (500/1200) in attack mode!" A little warrior appeared on his field. "End turn."
Crystal drew and with the same practiced precision of the rest of her team she placed a monster card onto her duel disk immediately. "I summon Gagigio (1850/1000) in attack mode." A teal green humanoid reptile appeared on her field. "Now attack his Swordsman!" It lunged across the field, claws out-stretched to tear Joey's monster down.
Joey waved his finger in the air towards her. "Now I would think you would know better than that." He flipped up one of his face-down cards. "I reveal the magic card Graceful Dice." A little angel with a large blue die in its hands appeared on his field, right above his Swordsman of Landstar. "Whatever number the die lands on is how much my monster's attack will be raised by. So go Graceful Dice!"
The little fairy threw the die and it landed on a five. There was a flash of light and the Swordsman's attack power skyrocketed. (2500/1200)
Joey grinned and pointed at the still charging Gagigio. "Go Swordsman of Landstar! Attack her monster now!"
In one slash Crystal's monster was gone.
Joey- 8000
Crystal- 7350
Crystal frowned and slid a card into her duel disk. "I set one card face-down and end my turn."
Joey drew and slapped down a new monster. "Get ready to lose a lot of life points Crystal, I summon Axe Raider (1700/1150) in attack mode." A golden armored soldier wielding an axe appeared on his field.
Crystal pressed a button on her duel disk. "I was hoping that you would get greedy Joey. I activate the trap card Torrential Tribute." The entire dueling field was consumed by a sudden tidal wave of water. "This trap triggers when you summon a monster. It will destroy all creatures on the field." The water in the middle of the field receded to show that Joey's two monsters were gone. All that was left was his face-down card.
Joey grimaced and slid a card from his hand into his duel disk. "I'll set this and end my turn."
Crystal gingerly drew off the top of her deck and giggled. "Ready to start losing Joey?" When he didn't respond, she shrugged and popped open the field magic card slot on her duel disk. She slid the card into it. "I play the field magic card A Legendary Ocean." All around the two of them ruins of an ancient city appeared. "As long as this magic card remains on the field then all water attribute monsters in my hand are one level lower. Also, all water attribute monsters also gain 200 attack and defense points."
Joey looked at his two face-down cards hopefully. They were the only thing between Crystal and his life points.
Crystal noticed Joey's look and shook her head. "You should know that the ocean possesses many different storms." She slid a card into her duel disk. "Like this magic card for example. I play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your card on the right." The air around Joey's face-down card warped and spun into a tornado that instantly annihilated his face-down card.
Joey looked at his Graverobber trap card sadly and slid it into his graveyard. He could have used that to steal Crystal's Torrential Tribute and wipe out whatever monster she summoned.
Crystal slapped a new monster onto her duel disk. "I summon Catapult Turtle (1200/2200) in defense mode." A mechanical turtle appeared on her field, its head and legs withdrawn into its steel body.
She slid a card into her duel disk and nodded to Joey. "I set this card face-down and end my turn."
Joey drew and all of his worries were gone the instant he laid his eyes on his newest card. ("Alright, time to turn this duel around.") He slapped a monster onto his duel disk. "I summon Blue Flame Swordsman (1800/1600) in attack mode!" A burly warrior wielding a flaming blue sword appeared on his field. When Crystal didn't activate any of her traps, he grinned and slid a card into his duel disk. "Next up I play the magic card Starpluster. This allows me to sacrifice a monster on my field and roll a die. Then I take the level of the sacrificed monster and add it to whatever number comes up on the dice roll. If I have a monster in my hand that has a level equal to the final total, I can special summon it."
The Blue Flame Swordsman disappeared and in his place was a glowing golden die. Joey placed the die into his palm, shook it up a little, and then threw it. "Come on luck!" The golden die bounced around a little and finally stopped on a two. "That means that I get to summon a level six monster from my hand to the field." Joey took the last card in his hand and slapped it down onto his duel disk. "And it just so happens that I have a monster that is that level. I special summon Jinzo!" (2400/1500)
On his field a green armored humanoid appeared and crossed its arms across its chest. The red lenses of its eyes shimmered and Crystal's face-down card, which was about to flip up, froze in place.
Joey waved his finger at Crystal condescendingly. "Tsk tsk tsk....Didn't you know that as long as Jinzo is on the field all trap cards are useless?" When Crystal's expression changed to one of distress he smirked and popped his deck out of his duel disk. "Oh, and did you know that when Blue Flame Swordsman is sent to the graveyard I may special summon Flame Swordsman (1800/1600) to the field from my hand or deck?" He placed down the new monster card onto his duel disk and another burly warrior, this one wielding a red flaming sword, appeared on his field.
Joey motioned to his Jinzo. "Now take care of that overgrown steel reptile!" Jinzo charged up a ball of dark energy between his palms and launched at Crystal's Catapult Turtle, instantly destroying the creature and leaving Crystal wide open to a direct attack. "Now go after her life points Flame Swordsman!" The warrior launched across the field and slammed his flaming weapon down onto Crystal, bringing the green-haired girl to her knees.
Joey- 8000
Crystal- 5550
Joey flashed his teammates the victory sign and winked to Crystal. "End turn."
Crystal frowned and drew. "You would dare to take me lightly in this duel?"
Joey shrugged. "I've got two powerful monsters on my field and you've got nothing but a useless trap and a little field magic card in play. I'm not that scared."
Crystal looked at her newest card and placed it onto her disk. "Then you are truly a hopeless fool Joey Wheeler. For now I summon the mighty Giga Gagigio (2650/1400) in attack mode." A cybernetic version of the reptile monster that Crystal had played earlier appeared on her field. "Now attack his Flame Swordsman!" The monster launched across the field and slashed its new steel claws across the stomach of Joey's monster. Seconds later the Flame Swordsman blew into pieces.
Joey- 7150
Crystal- 5550
With the duel now in her favor again, Crystal returned Joey's smirk. "End turn."
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Daniel was laying face-down in the hot dirt, the flames still burning at his skin. He couldn't see anymore. He didn't want to see anymore.
Pain washed across his back as he felt something spear into his spine. The force of the blow told him that he should be paralyzed, but somehow he knew that he could not be paralyzed in this place. He could not die either...
He was doomed to spend eternity in pain...
"Is that what you think? Do you really believe that anyone can trap you inside your own mind?"
Daniel didn't understand...
How could this voice in his head dispute the fact that he was meant to suffer for eternity?
"I dispute it because it is not true. This is your mind Daniel. In this place you are the one who controls everything about it. Giovan sealed you within your mind so that he could keep you locked in stasis until he needed you to do things for him. That is no longer the case. Can you not remember when you shattered his hold on you because your sister was in danger?"
The voice was soothing. It wanted to help him. He knew the truth about his situation though. He was doomed to burn in this place for the rest of his time among the living. And because of the nature of this place, he would be suffering for a very long time...
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Yami sighed and broke his mental link with Daniel. He could do no more than try and offer advice to the boy. ("There's only one person who can actually help him physically and that would be...")
"I knew he had food in here somewhere! Just look at all of this beef jerky!!" Rikuo hopped up from behind a counter with an arm-load of bags of random snack foods. "Hey Yami, you want some?"
Said pharaoh just stared at Rikuo. ("Daniel's doomed....")
To be continued...
Next Chapter: Recovery; Blitz vs. Domino (Part 2)