Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.
Chapter 37: Kaiba vs. Devan; The duel of dragons
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!"
Kaiba drew his five card starting hand and then his sixth card. "Since you made the declaration for this to be a dragon duel, I'll take the liberty of going first."
Devan removed his sunglasses, his crimson eyes glimmering in the torch light. "Go right ahead. I can beat you either way."
Kaiba snorted and slapped a monster face-down on his duel disk. "All I've heard from you is talk. Let's see you back up your claims. I set two cards face-down, one monster face-down, and end my turn."
Devan drew and placed a monster onto his field. "You want action Kaiba? That's fine by me! I summon Komouri Dragon (1500/1200) in attack mode." A purple and black scaled dragon appeared on Devan's field. "Now torch his face-down card! Dragon flame attack!" The Koumori dragon sprayed a burst of flame across the field, instantly consuming Kaiba's face-down monster.
Kaiba popped his deck out of his duel disk and looked it over. "You've attacked my Masked Dragon. (1400/1100) When it is destroyed in battle I may search my deck for one dragon sub-type monster with 1500 or less attack and special summon it to the field. So I'll summon Twin-headed Behemoth (1500/1200) in defense mode!" A double-headed purple and yellow dragon appeared on Kaiba's field in a crouching position.
Devan slid one card into his duel disk. "I bet you think that you are pretty clever huh?"
Kaiba lifted his shoulders in a little shrug. "I think it's fairly obvious that I am."
Devan bristled a little at his opponent's arrogance, but he kept his temper in check. He knew all too well what Siegfried would do if he lost his temper. "End turn."
Kaiba drew. "Alright then Tenaka, let's see just how much of a dragon duelist you consider yourself to be. I summon Spirit Ryu (1000/1000) in attack mode." A deep blue phantasmal dragon appeared on Kaiba's field.
"Do you happen to know what Spirit Ryu does?" Kaiba asked mockingly.
Devan paled. "You may discard dragon cards from your hand to increase its attack power by 1000 per card. The bonus only lasts until the end of the turn but..."
Kaiba finished for him. "...it won't matter because a true dragon duelist keeps plenty of dragon monsters in his hand. Now attack his Komouri Dragon Spirit Ryu! Spirit Sonic!" The dragon opened its jaws and unleashed an unearthly scream that sent rippling waves of energy towards Devan's field. "As an added little boost I'll be discarding three dragon monster cards from my hand, raising Spirit Ryu's attack points by 3000 until the end of the turn." The waves multiplied until they seemed to engulf the entire field. (4000/1000)
Devan threw his arms up in front of his as the waves of sonic energy tore through his Kormouri dragon, the excess energy slammed into his and throwing him back a few feet. When the ringing in his ears stopped he could hear Kaiba's laughter.
Kaiba- 8000
Devan- 5500
"I'm sorry. Did that catch you by surprise? Maybe I should have held back a bit?" Kaiba flipped up one of his face-down cards. "And just so that you don't get your hopes up too high, I reveal my Spirit Rejuvenation magic card. At the end of this turn I will draw one card from my deck for every dragon monster that I have either discarded or tributed. Since I have discarded three dragons..." He stopped there. He drew his three cards and nodded to Devan teasingly. "Make your move master of dragons."
Devan slowly moved his hand towards his deck, afraid that if he didn't make this next move count, that he was going to be made a laughing stock of. ("I won't let that happen...I will win this and take the title of the master of dragons from you Kaiba.") He drew...
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Yami opened his eyes to find Daniel hanging up the last poster that Rikuo had knocked down earlier. He blinked in surprise and slowly slid out of his meditative position. "Umm...excuse me?"
Daniel turned and smiled to his guest. "Done meditating Yami?"
Yami nodded. "How is it that you're alright now? Right before I went into my meditation you were still trapped in that mental hell that Giovan had put within your mind. Did you manage to overcome it yourself?"
Daniel shook his head and pointed at the still sleeping form of Rikuo. "Nope. He helped me."
Yami looked over at the wolf demon and blinked in surprise. "He did hmm?"
Rikuo slid out of his seat, awake instantly. "I didn't do it for him pharaoh. I did it because you dared to say that I was too afraid to. No one dares to say that I am afraid of anything."
Daniel rolled his eyes and walked over the door in his soul room that led back into his body. "Whatever you say, Mr. Big bad wolf demon." He tugged the handle and right before he stepped through he said, "And thank you for your help Rikuo."
As he started to feel himself being teleported back to his body, he could have sworn he had heard Rikuo yell, "Keh!"
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Yami watched Daniel go and then brought his attention back to the task at hand. "So, what are we going to do with you now Rikuo?"
Rikuo snorted and lifted his head haughtily. "What the hell does that mean? You think you can control me Yami?"
Yami smiled and shook his head. "That's not what I meant at all. I was talking about which one of us should get to deal with Garlin, when the time comes to face off against him."
Rikuo rolled his eyes, like the answer was obvious. "Me of course. I've got history with him and by the time I am done there won't be anything left for you to punish. So you may as well just kick back and watch the show."
Yami frowned and shook his head. "I don't think it would be wise for you to go against him alone. He is far too powerful."
"And you think you could do any better!?" Rikuo snarled, baring his fangs at the pharaoh.
Yami shook his head once more. "No I don't. We will need to combine our strength to win against him. I suggest we work towards reinforcing each other's efforts. If we pool our resources I am sure that we can win against him."
Rikuo wanted to argue against that logic, but he knew the truth about his current strength level. Even if he didn't want to admit it, he was nowhere near as powerful as he was back in the ancient days, and Sestros had apparently not lost any of his power over his time being dead.
That left the ex-general in a very large hole with no way to climb out. Faced with no other choice, he was going to have to work with these humans if he wanted to kill his hated enemy. "Very well. We'll have a temporary alliance. At least until Sestros is dead. When the time comes for the real battle though, don't get in my way."
Yami nodded gravely. "I could say the same to you."
Rikuo smirked back. "But would you though? I'm your best shot at beating him in the physical realm."
Yami rolled his eyes. "We'll be defeating him on the dueling field, not trying to kill him."
Rikuo's reply was deathly serious. "When you are dealing with Sestros, those two things are one and the same."
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Daniel opened his eyes just in time to get a bear hug from his little sister. Rebecca squeezed him so tightly that for a moment he could swear that his ribs were going to cave in on themselves. Finally relief came as she released her hold on him.
"Are you alright Daniel?" Rebecca asked.
"Oh I was fine until you decided to compress my chest inwards." Daniel nursed his ribs with a hand and looked out upon the dueling field.
The instant he saw Seto Kaiba his mood darkened severely. "I see that a certain pompous duelist has made it to the semi-finals?" He wasn't surprised. ("When you and I meet on the dueling field Kaiba, I'm going to destroy you. You had better not lose and get knocked out of the tournament before then.")
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Devan slapped down a new monster in defense. "I set this monster face-down and end my turn."
Kaiba drew and shook his head. "I was hoping for you to at least prove a threat to me. I guess I was wrong to think that though. You're not even worthy of my time."
Devan clenched his fists, and grinded his teeth together. For a moment he looked like he was going to attack Kaiba, but then he calmed himself. He knew that Kaiba was just trying to get to him. He wouldn't let him though.
Kaiba slid his Spirit Ryu and Twin-headed Behemoth into his graveyard. "Now I sacrifice my two monsters to summon my invincible Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" (3000/2500) Kaiba's two monsters exploded into bits and then on his field appeared the massive white scaled dragon that was his most powerful monster. It roared down at Devan.
Devan took a step back, though he managed to keep his expression unchanged. "I'm not impressed. It has less attack power than your Spirit Ryu did before."
Kaiba slid a card into his duel disk. "Just for that I'm going to have to embarrass you a little. I play the magic card Nobleman of Crossout, which will remove your face-down monster from play." A silver-armored knight appeared on Kaiba's field and leapt the expanse, slashing Devan's face-down monster into pieces.
Devan seemed un-fazed. "I could care less really. If you attack you will regret it."
Kaiba pointed at Devan. "I'm not falling for your bluff! Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack with your Burst Stream!" The dragon charged up a lump of energy between its jaws and released it in one explosive beam.
Devan flipped up his face-down card. "I warned you Kaiba. I trigger the trap card Sakuretsu Armor, which will destroy your monster and leave me safe." A suit of steel armor appeared on Devan's field. It absorbed the energy from the dragon's attack and then shot across the field to slam into the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Kaiba's monster gave out one final screech of pain before it exploded.
Kaiba growled low in his throat. "I set two cards face-down. End turn."
Devan drew and shook his head condescendingly. "Oh how the mighty have fallen huh Seto? Your favorite dragon is now gone and you are wide open to my direct attack.
Kaiba growled even lower but didn't reply. He wasn't going to give Devan the pleasure of seeing him angry.
Devan slapped a monster down. "Let's end this. I summon Luster Dragon (1900/1600) in attack mode!" A sapphire armored dragon appeared on Devan's field. "Now attack!"
Kaiba flipped one of his three face-down cards. "I reveal the trap card Dragon's Heart! This card allows me to special summon any number of dragons that have the same name as one that I have lost last turn."
Devan's eyes went wide. "NO! That means..."
Kaiba smirked as his other two Blue-Eyes White Dragons appeared on his field. "That's right. Now you're the one in trouble. Burst Stream!" One of his two dragon's charged up its energy attack and in one flash of light Devan's Luster Dragon was gone.
Kaiba- 8000
Devan- 4400
Kaiba's laughter echoed across the field. "I advise you to give up now. Unless you want to see what it is like to get hit by two Burst Streams, one after the other."
Devan glared and slid two cards into his disk. "I set these two cards and end my turn!"
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Daniel frowned as he though about just how effective Kaiba's strategy is. ("Hey Rikuo, are you watching this?")
("Those dragons aren't so tough.")
("I want to agree with you, but I don't like lying.")
("You're telling me you are afraid of that guy?")
Daniel didn't want to admit it, but he was a little afraid of Seto Kaiba. ("He is the second best duelist in all of Duel Monsters.")
("Feh! Just when I thought you had at least a little bit of honor left, you go and surprise me by turning spineless again.")
Daniel's frown deepened but he didn't reply.
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Kaiba drew and in a rather uncharacteristic move for him, he smiled. It was the kind of smile that some people could say was warm.
For Devan, it was like watching someone sign your death warrant.
Kaiba slid his newest card into his duel disk. "Say good-bye to whatever pathetic defense you may have had! I play Heavy Storm!" A tornado picked up in the center of the ring and all of Kaiba's and Devan's face-down cards were sucked into it and destroyed.
Devan looked at his hand and sighed. He knew it was over. He wasn't going to beg for surrender though. He was ready to face whatever Kaiba threw at him.
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Giovan grinned from his seat. ("It's always fun to watch someone's hopes be crushed against the rocks. I see that Seto Kaiba and I share some hobbies.") His eyes started to glow a dark red. ("Though I doubt he would approve of some of my other hobbies. Which reminds me...")
He looked across the dueling ring to the main floor, his eyes glaring upon the pitiful human who had dared to disobey him. ("Daniel Pilkington...I though by taking control of you I could get rid of Rikuo Amero....in the end it didn't work though. So this time I am going to go after the source.") He barely registered the fact that Seto Kaiba had activated Monster Reborn to revive his third Blue-Eyes.
Even as Kaiba fused all three of them into the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (4500/3800) to strike the final blow against Devan, Giovan's eyes never left Daniel.
"Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon! Neutron Blast Attack!" In one thunderous explosion Devan was knocked into unconsciousness. It would be Team Domino and Team Topdeck in the finals of the tournament.
Giovan didn't really care. All he could think about was his revenge. He casually announced the times for the finals tomorrow, and bid all of his remaining guests a good evening.
("Rikuo...prepare to watch as your last chance at redemption is destroyed...") He stood up in his seat and walked off, already making plans for this evening's events. ("Tonight is the night you truly feel despair, you miserable flea-bitten mutt of a demon.")
To be continued...
Next Chapter: Ryo vs. Rikuo; The final battle of the demon generals
Author's Notes: Alright, sorry to everyone if I kind of got your hopes up with this duel. I know it was a little disappointing, but I noticed that I have been kind of lagging in my typing. I needed to get the attention back on the main conflict, which is Team Topdeck, Team Domino and Giovan Garlin.
Read and review please. I'm going to go write the next chapter.