Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.
Chapter 36: Recovery; Team Blitz vs. Team Domino (Part 2)
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."
Joey drew and frowned at his card. ("Aw man.") "I guess I gotta set this monster. I'll switch Jinzo to defense mode too. End turn."
Crystal drew and slid her new card into her disk. "I activate Monster Reborn to revive Catapult Turtle in defense mode." The steel turtle reappeared in a withdrawn position on her field. "Then I play my ultimate defender, Revival Jam, (1500/500) in defense mode." A blob of blue slime appeared on her field.
Joey's frown deepened as he looked upon the indestructible defender on Crystal's field. ("Her Revival Jam is immune to attacks. She might as well just tell me not to bother attacking anymore...")
Crystal pointed at Joey's face-down monster. "Go Giga Gagigio! Attack his Jinzo!" The cybernetic reptile dove into the holographic water of Crystal's Legendary Ocean magic card. A moment later her monster reappeared right behind Joey's Jinzo, dragging the metal monster underwater. The water around that area bubbled for a few moments and then went still. "End turn."
Joey closed his eyes. ("Please, give me the card I need...") He drew...
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Rikuo watched as for the fifth time Yami merged with Daniel's mind to try and undo the damage that Giovan had caused.
"It's a waste of time, you know that right?" The wolf demon murmured as he took a bite of the hunk of beef jerky he was clutching in his hand.
Yami ignored him. He had to try again. He couldn't leave this boy to spend the rest of his life trapped in a mental hell.
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Joey slid his new card into his duel disk. "Time to up the ante of this duel! I play the magic card Treasure of Fate!" In the air of front of him a white die appeared and hit the ground, bouncing about the field. "Whatever number this die stops on will decide how many cards I may draw off the top of my deck. After that I gotta take that same number of cards off my deck and remove them from the game." The die finally came to a stop on a four. Joey drew his four new cards and then took another four cards off, sliding the second set of four into his back pocket.
He looked his hand over and nodded to himself. ("This should work....I hope.")
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Rikuo watched lazily as Yami tried yet again to bring Daniel back from the edge of oblivion. "Why are you wasting your time on him? It's not like he will make the difference in the battle against Sestros." Yami glared at him and then returned his attention to his patient.
Rikuo snorted and decided to wander around the soul room a little bit.
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Joey slid a card into his duel disk. "I play Time Wizard (500/500) in its magic card form!" A clock holding onto a staff with a spinner on top of it appeared. "Now the Time Wizard will spin its spinner. If it lands on a time machine then 1000 years will pass, either destroying or weakening all your monsters."
Crystal narrowed her eyes. "What about your face-down monster?"
Joey tapped his forehead. "I'll be fine. My face-down monster is a Baby Dragon. (1200/800) If Time Wizard's effect goes off then my monster will be transformed into a Thousand Dragon." (2400/2000)
The spinner picked up speed.....
...and stopped on a skull.
Joey blanched as his Time Wizard and Baby Dragon exploded, draining his life points by half of their total attack points.
Joey- 6300
Crystal- 5550
Crystal giggled mockingly. "Awww....poor Joey..."
Joey could feel the sweat beginning to develop on his face. That little gamble had just backfired on him, and now he was in danger of getting hit directly. ("Unless...") "I guess all I can do now is set this monster face-down. End turn."
Crystal drew and slapped a new monster down. "I summon another Giga Gagigio (2650/1400) in attack mode." Another one of the cybernetic reptiles appeared on his field and roared. "Now attack his face-down monster and leave him wide open for attack!" The creature leaped across the field and slashed the face-down card to pieces with its claws.
"Now attack my other Giga Gagigio!" The other cybernetic monster shot across the field, but right before it got to Joey something blue and slimy leaped into its way and absorbed the blow of its claws.
Crystal's eyes went wide in surprise as the blue form of a Revival Jam appeared on Joey's field. "Since when did a gambler deck run Revival Jams?"
"Since your deck ran Revival Jams," answered Joey enigmatically. When Crystal stared at him in confusion he explained. "You see I set my Copycat (0/0) on the field. When it flips up it copies one monster on your field in every way possible. So I had it copy the effect and stats of your Revival Jam. Now I have an unbeatable defense too." He threw Yugi a thumbs-up and then brought his attention back to the field.
Crystal stared at her Revival Jam like it had just betrayed her somehow. Then she looked at her hand and saw no way to get past the copied Revival Jam. ("I'm stuck.") "End turn."
Joey drew and slid two cards into his duel disk. "I may be protected but I still don't have a way past your monsters. All I can do is set two cards face-down and end my turn."
Crystal drew and sighed. "I'll set one monster and end my turn."
Joey drew. "End turn."
Crystal drew and a smile lit up her features. "Now I can finally get past your Revival Jam copy. First let me show you the lethal power of my Catapult Turtle! By using its special ability I get to sacrifice my monsters and blast your life points with my creatures." One by one her monsters climbed onto the catapult and were launched. Each one hit Joey in a spray of holographic water and smoke.
Joey- 1875
Crystal- 5550
As soon as the barrage was finished, Joey's head broke the surface of the digital water. He came to his feet unsteadily and nearly dropped his cards. The damage from being hit by all of those monsters was now wearing away all of his strength. ("I just...gotta...hang on....")
Crystal slid her Catapult Turtle into the graveyard and slapped down a new monster in its place. "I will finish this duel right now! I summon Levia Dragon Daedalus (2800/1600) in attack mode." From right in front of her feet the head of a gigantic sea serpent broke the water surface and snarled down at Joey, showing off its teeth.
Joey already had his hand heading for one of his face-down cards, but before he could hit the button on his duel disk Crystal beat him to the punch. "Now I trigger the special effect of Daedalus! By sacrificing my Legendary Ocean magic card I can destroy all cards on the field except for my Dragon!" The sea serpent's head splashed underwater and then the waters around the ring exploded outwards and upwards, instantly washing away everyone's cards. All that was left on the field now was the snarling Levia Dragon.
Joey held his head down tiredly. He wasn't able to move fast enough to trigger his trap card before Crystal used her dragon's effect. ("Sorry Yug...I blew it...") He knew if he didn't surrender now the razor-sharp teeth of Crystal's dragon would rip him apart. He placed his hand on top of his deck and sighed. "I give in......"
Crystal nodded and the holographic projectors shut off. When the ring lowered to ground level walked off the field, followed shortly after by a thoroughly exhausted Joey.
Kaiba snorted at the blond-haired member of his team angrily. "Thanks to you now I'm going to have to pick up the slack in the next duel and get us a victory."
Joey glanced over at Kaiba with half-open eyes and murmured, "Just shut it will ya?" Then he slumped against the wall to take a nap. Getting pummeled by monsters took alot out of you.
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For the tenth time Yami had merged with Daniel's mind to repair the damage, but once again he had made no progress at all. ("He just won't listen to me! Every time that I try and talk him out of it, he just brushes me off!")
Rikuo had taken another nap on top of a couch.
Yami sighed and went back to the chair he had used before. He sat down and crossed his legs once more. He was going to have to meditate once more to regain his energy before he could try and help Daniel again. He looked once more at the sleeping wolf demon and mumbled, "I bet you are just too afraid to try and help him."
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Daniel was running...
Behind him was an army of demons, all intent on torturing him until he died, which would never happen in this accursed place...
They were gaining and in this flaming wasteland there was nowhere to hide...
He tripped and fell...
The demons dove in for the kill...
Daniel braced himself for the wave of claws and teeth that would tear his skin from his bones, yet leave him alive to feel the pain...
It never came though. The sounds of a wolf's howl echoed across the wasteland and all of the demons froze in fear.
Standing between Daniel and the army of demons was a single creature. It resembled a wolf, if wolves could be the sizes of houses. Its raven black fur with red highlights gave it the ability to almost blend in with the red and black flames that burned around it. It gave another echoing howl that sent the front of the demon horde running in fear.
Daniel stared at the creature. Something about it seemed so very familiar...
It glanced back at his with one glowing golden-amber eye and growled out, "Watch idiot...watch what you could do if you ever got around to learning about your heritage..."
Daniel's eyes widened at that... ("My heritage...Rikuo?")
Like a scythe through a wheat field Rikuo charged, his teeth and claws slashing through dozens of the mental demons with each blow. Within minutes the massacre was over, and it was just the wolf demon and his counterpart that stood on the hellish landscape.
Daniel slowly stood and stared at the blood-soaked demon before him. "Is that really you Rikuo?"
The wolf snorted and tilted its head away from its counterpart haughtily. "Of course it is me idiot. How many other wolf demons live inside this cavern that you call a skull?"
Daniel frowned at his darker half's continuing arrogance, but considering that Rikuo had just saved him he wasn't going to chastise him for it. "You said something about my heritage..." A short growl from Rikuo stopped him short.
"Don't even think about trying to get me to spill the beans about it. You're not ready for an explanation yet." The wolf seemed enraged about the mere thought of telling Daniel anything about what he had said before.
"But..." Another growl cut him off.
"IF you ask me again then I promise I will bite your arm off." The look in those golden-amber eyes said that he wasn't joking.
Daniel sighed. "Fine. Can you at least tell me how to get out of here?"
Rikuo turned and padded off, shaking his head. "It's like a dream stupid. Now wake up..."
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Daniel's eyes snapped open and he found himself standing in a stone room that looked like it had just been hit by a tornado. Sitting in a meditative position on an armchair in a corner of the room was Yami, eyes closed and deep in concentration. In the middle of the room stood Rikuo, his arms crossed and looking like he was asleep on his feet. Daniel looked around at the room and sighed. ("Looks like I've got a mess to clean up.")
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Giovan looked down at the four remaining duelists. "So who is going to duel whom next?"
Kaiba, after throwing a glare at the sleeping Joey, walked onto the dueling ring and clicked his duel disk into place. "I suppose I'll play the next duel. I need a warm-up before I take on that pitiful excuse of a leader that Team Topdeck has in the next round."
Siegfried stepped aside while Devan walked onto the dueling ring, his duel disk clicking into place.
The two duelists stared each other down, Kaiba's cold glare being matched by Devan's burning one. It was almost like the very air around them was twisting as their opposite attitudes clashed.
Finally the silence was broken by Devan. "You're the famous Seto Kaiba huh? The owner of all three of the mightiest dragons in all of Duel Monsters?"
"That's right. What's it to you?" Kaiba's expression and tone stayed the same. Each possessed the same icy coldness as his glare.
Devan reached to his side and pulled out a small stack of cards. He popped his deck free and started to exchange cards between the stack and his deck. "How about we make this a duel of dragons? None of your cowardly viruses to clog up the duel?" He finished making the changes to his deck and then clicked it back into his duel disk.
Kaiba pondered the idea for a few moments and then extracted a stack of cards from a belt pocket at his hip. "I accept. I'll show you that I am the master of dragons." He made some changes to his deck and then after a quick once-over, he slid his deck back into his duel disk.
Giovan sneered from up in his chair. "Then let's make this the feature match then. The winner of this duel takes all?"
Much to the chagrin of Siegfried and Yugi, Devan and Kaiba both nodded their agreement to this.
Giovan threw his arm up and then down. "The final duel of the semi-finals! Seto Kaiba vs. Devan Tenaka! Let the duel of dragons begin!"
To be continued...
Next Chapter: The Duel of Dragons
Author's notes: Alright, to all the Joey fans in the audience, please don't hate me for having Joey lose his duel like that. I promise that it will be made up to you. Please read and review!
Any questions you may have about the storyline I am more than willing to answer. Just put the question in your review and post it, and I will answer it in the next Author's notes.