Chapter 14
They were only at the edge of the city, and yet monsters had already swamped them. With nothing but their decks, Joey and the rest of the group were unsure of what could be done. Little pieces of cardboard were not going to somehow destroy thousands of real monsters. Confused and pressured on what to do, Joey drew his strongest beast, Guilford the Lightning, from his deck.
"You're not actually thinking about throwing that at one of those things, are you?" Tristan, who held Yugi's deck, asked.
"No, but hey, if those duel monsters are real, these have to be...uh, right?" Joey threw out an absurd idea.
Joey held the card above his head and ordered it to be summoned. It came to no surprise that nothing happened. It was only a card after all. Infuriated, Joey growled and tried it once more. He held up Guilford the Lightning and called his name for him to come.
The picture on the card glowed! The light shined forward and on the city streets appeared Joey's monster. Everyone looked at his card, not sure on exactly how Joey was able to bring it to life. Nonetheless, Joey was satisfied with himself, though hopeful that the monster would actually obey his commands.
Ahead, Crawling Dragon dragged its body around the city, spitting a smoky acidic gas from its mouth. It stomped its way down the street towards Guilford, who drew his sword that suited a giant perfectly.
"'K well here goes nothin'! Guilford, attack!" Joey demanded, thinking he had nothing to lose.
Again, the entire group was in absolute shock when they saw Guilford actually listen to what Joey had said. Guilford wielded his sword over his left shoulder, dashed at the Crawling Dragon, and swung it with great force. An extra shock of electricity came with this incredible swing, and it hit the dragon right on. Sparks flying from its body, Crawling Dragon collapsed in defeat, its body was smoking.
"What the...?" Duke thought aloud. It was the most amazing yet mysterious thing he had ever seen. Not only was Guilford the Lightning a real monster, but he also obeyed.
The monsters of Koumori Dragon and Basic Insect were now making their way down the street. It was good that they found a way to defeat these monsters in the city, but there were so many more to destroy. They would have to continue making their way further into the city, but first destroying the Koumori Dragon and Basic Insect that stood in their path.
"It'll take more than Guilford, guys," Joey winked. Tristan and Pegasus knew what they must do. Duke would protect Mokuba and Tea for the time being while Pegasus would summon some creatures from his deck and Tristan would bring out some of the monsters in Yugi's deck.
Calling out the Toon Gemini Elves and Dark Magician, two more monsters from their cards were brought onto the street. Though they were still unaware of exactly how this was possible, they took that thought off their minds and concentrated on destroying as many monsters in the city as possible. Koumori Dragon and Basic Insect were beaten easily with Dark Magician and Guilford's attacks. Clearing the street for that time, the group began making their way to the city's heart, destroying more monsters in the process.
Getting close to the city's middle, they turned a corner onto another street, seeing a group of at least nine monsters assaulting a building. Since they needed to go through this street anyway, Joey, Tristan and Pegasus sent their monsters on the attack.
"Attack!" Tristan commanded the Dark Magician to do so. The wizard moved his way towards the big group of monsters and swung his wand so the end was pointing at them. He released his black magic attack, being able only to destroy two of the nine.
More monsters came from behind them. The hoard of seven monsters was now growing to over fourteen. Somewhat intimidated by the rapid increase of enemies, Joey, Duke, Tristan, Mokuba, Pegasus and Tea found themselves surrounded with only three monsters to protect them. Joey pulled Ginzo from his deck and brought him to join the fight, Tristan summoned Yugi's Buster Blader, and Pegasus put out Toon Summoned Skull. They now had six monsters, but that hardly compared to what surrounded them.
"Go!" the three that summoned monsters demanded. Their entire army of monsters flew into the group of monsters, taking them out one by one.
Still, they stood hardly a chance. They had forgotten about the monsters of the sky. From above, a Curse of Dragon swiftly flew in down onto their group of monsters. Breathing its hellish fire at them, Ginzo was the victim of this attack.
"Damnet!" Joey cried as he saw his monster blow up.
"I don't think it's done yet, either," Duke pointed out as he saw Curse of Dragon fly back at them. This time, its target was Guilford, which was arguably Joey's best monster.
"Oh great, Guilford, look out!" Joey told his monster, but Guilford would be unable to dodge it. With monsters surrounding him, he could not move far from the spot he was at, and Curse of Dragon's fire had the width to hit him from the spot he was cornered in.
"Joey?" a female voice nearby called to him. Joey turned around to see a familiar face. It was Mai, holding three of her cards in her hand.
"Mai! What are you doing here? You should leave!" Joey replied
"And miss all this? I don't think so," she said. She held up three cards, her Harpy Lady monsters, and called their names for their summon. The three female-birds emerged from the card picture and flew as a strong trio. Of course, Mai was as clueless as they were on how she was able to give them reality, but ignored the thought for then.
"Harpy Ladies, attack Curse of Dragon!" she said. Sharp talon claws prepared for attack, the Harpies attacked it together. Scratching it all over its yellow body, the Curse of Dragon could not complete its attack, thus Guilford the Lightning was safe for the moment. Mai joined Joey's large group of people in their pursuit of destroying the monsters attacking the city.
Somehow, they were able to survive that assault with Ginzo being the only loss. They continued running through streets, destroying some monsters as they came. Upon arriving towards the city's center, one of the strongest cards in all of Duel Monsters was there, shooting attacks of water, fire, and electricity at the city buildings. Remembering this creature from facing the Paradox Brothers, Joey knew this defender as the Gate Guardian.
"Not this thing again!" Joey grieved. He had faced this thing twice before, and remembered it being one of the least fun monsters to fight. Consisting of three pieces in which protected one another from attacks, the Gate Guardian would be one of the toughest of fights for their army of monsters.
"Attack, Buster Blader!" Tristan ordered Yugi's monster to move forth. With its curved blade, Buster Blader attempted to slice the Gate Guardian down with a single shot. Even with its great attack, the three-pieced monster easily deflected its attack using a powerful water jet, sending it flying backwards, but not destroying it. At this time, Pegasus ordered his Toon Summoned Skull to attack, thinking that the toon's electric attack would be conducted in the water jet sent by the Gate Guardian. Again, the attack was deflected, but by the yellow piece, the electric one. A lightning bolt was shot out, hitting Toon Summoned Skull's lightning attack and stopping it. The red piece, the fire one, then shot out a flame-thrower like blast of fire, hitting one of Pegasus' more powerful toons and destroying it.
The monsters they had would not be able to beat the Gate Guardian individually. Knowing this, they sent their group of four monsters to attack it all at once. Buster Blader and Guilford the Lightning used their powerful swords to attack it head on, the three Harpy Ladies attacked from the air, and Dark Magician used his powerful magic to shoot it from a distance. The Gemini Elves used their teamwork on it as well.
This Gate Guardian was unlike the Paradox brothers' or even the one in the video game that Joey, Mai, Kaiba, Mokuba and Yugi had been trapped in. It was clever, and timed its attack precisely as needed. When the two sword wielding monsters leaped for attack, the fire piece of the Gate Guardian burst a fireball both of them. Guilford and Buster Blader were set afire, Guilford being able to put out its fire, but Buster Blader, having been hit by it before, was burnt and destroyed.
The Harpy Ladies were flying in. The water piece of the guardian shot its powerful water jet upwards, knocking all three Harpy Ladies out of the air and onto the ground. The Toon Gemini Elves, being opportunists, used this moment to attack, but the electric pieces blasted a powerful bolt of electricity right at them, sending them back right into the Dark Magician, preventing him from attacking as well.
All of their monsters down at the time, the Gate Guardian moved to attack all of them, their masters included. The group backed up only to run into a building's wall. They had been cornered, and the powerful Gate Guardian shadowed them from the moonlight.
"Berserk Dragon!" a familiar voice coming from behind the guardian shouted. "Attack!"
A tan dragon with an unusual large head and mouth flew in from behind. Its entire body except its head was almost like a fossil of a dinosaur, but despite its fossilized looks, it moved quickly and held a great attack power. It opened its mouth, and a burst of dangerous black gas blasted out. The attack hit and exploded on top of the Gate Guardian, forcing it to fall over. Though it was not defeated, it had been hit and some what weakened. When the guardian fell over, the gang saw who had saved them.
"Bakura!" Tristan called to the white haired boy, who waved back to him. His great beast, Berserk Dragon, flew back to him.
"Where did you come from?" Duke asked him.
"A little bit ago, I saw you all running down the street and decided to follow you," he lied. "It's a good thing I did, too. You would have been killed."
"Don't rub it in, but thanks for the help anyway," thanked Joey.
The Gate Guardian began to rise again. Joey, Tristan, and everyone else had went by Bakura and his dragon before then. Their monsters followed.
"Its back is to us. If we attack now, we might be able to destroy it easily," Bakura suggested. It was true, because the heavy guardian, facing the direction Joey and the others had been before, was still trying to stand up again. Distracted by this attempt, the Gate Guardian was in a state of vulnerability. Everyone agreed that it would be a good time to strike.
Bakura's undead dragon was the first to strike, seeing how it was arguably the strongest creature of the group. It used its same attack, and again it knocked the guardian down. The three Harpy Ladies, Guilford the Lightning, and Toon Gemini Elves went next, each hitting with their best techniques. Finally, Yugi's Dark Magician used his magic to deliver the final blow.
"Yes!" Mai hissed happily.
They would have little time to celebrate their accomplishment. A big shadow from above the tall city buildings flew over them. In the shape of a large dragon body with five heads, this shadow was flying in the direction of the Dome, where Yugi was fighting Anubis. This five headed dragon, the legendary Five-God Dragon, was a monster Mokuba, Mai and Joey had come across at least once, none which were pleasant encounters.
"Five-God Dragon? Why?" Mokuba cried out.
The mighty dragon was flying in a large circle above the city, its body moving spirally. Because of its magnificent strength, the dragon taunted the city, roaring as it flew in circular motions. Its first target was clearly the Dome, seeing how it stared at nothing else. Still, it had felt it was necessary to savor power over what it wanted to claim its territory.
"What's...it doing?" Tea, who had hardly said anything the entire trip, asked of its actions.
"Marking its territory," Bakura said. "It wants to destroy the city and remake it to how it pleases. I think it wants to destroy the Dome first because it's the most eye catching and most isolated building of the city."
"Well while it's busy making itself look like a jackass, its best of we get over to the Dome, 'cause I think that's its first thing on its 'to destroy' list," Duke commented.
"We're in the middle of the city! How are we going to get there before it does?" Mokuba asked him.
Bakura signaled his dragon to kneel. Its long, though not snake like, body bent down, standing on its two long legs and narrow arms. Bakura waved for everyone to come on his dragon, showing them that Berserk Dragon would be their way of transportation. Everyone, except Duke who had wanted a break from carrying Tea around, gave Bakura a strange look of fear and craziness. With no other faster way of getting back to the Dome, however, they climbed on to Bakura's dragon, which then began flying to the Battle Dome.
He had all three Egyptian God monsters out, but even so the situation was not in Yugi's favor. As long as Anubis could heal himself, even Osiris, Obelisk and Ra would have the most difficult fight defeating him. Anubis' jackal form, supposedly the form of an Egyptian God monster, looked weaker than the others, being a bit smaller in size, but had its own distinct advantages.
"So here they are: Osiris, Ra, and Obelisk, the mighty three Egyptian Gods," Anubis scoffed, just recovering from the last hit he had taken. "The four God strengths reunited for the clash of history."
Yugi knew not the story of the origination of the three Egyptian God monsters, but figured he already had one up on Anubis, so bothered not to ask about it.
"You're out numbered by the three strongest and most feared beasts in duel monsters," pointed out Yugi. "Your strength is only equal to theirs, and with three versus one, you don't stand a chance!"
"Fool! You know nothing of the reality of strength each God power has," he laughed. "Ra's power originates from the Sun God, the Saint Dragon's contains some power of the God of Death and Resurrection in Eternal Life, and Obelisk of the Guardian from Evil and Misfortunes. I contain the God of the Dead's strength, and while the strength of all four God monsters are equal, their powers are distinctively different."
"What?" Yugi said, confused.
"Ra's phoenix formation would be its additional power along with its flaming strength. Osiris' power weakens his opponents with the use of his second mouth. Obelisk's additional power comes from the absorbing of power by the monsters which sacrifice themselves to it," he explained. "And as for Anubis, the power to bring alive the dead, or in other words, healing what is gone."
Yugi fell silent for a moment.
"Ra, Obelisk and Osiris contain marvelous strengths and powers, but none that which can compare to Anubis'!" he stated.
Things were beginning to make a bit more sense to Yugi. Though Anubis boasted this power within him, because of the God of Anubis' additional power, Yugi still felt Anubis could not win against the three other Gods.
"You doubt them too much," Yugi snarled. "And when they stand atop of your corpse after your defeat, you'll regret everything you've done."
"I will regret nothing, even if I were to be defeated on this day," he chuckled. "Delay no longer the clash of the generation! Let me prove that I contain the mightiest strength of the Gods!"
The roof above them had suddenly disappeared. The dark night sky hung high above them, clouds blocking the light from the moon and stars. Being another one of Anubis' additional effects, this fight would mainly take place in the air and was to be seen by no one else. All four beasts of legend took flight. And so began Gods' Battle.
Osiris, with his long body, moved to strike first. Opening both large jaws, he flew his slithery towards Anubis. His thin jackal body flew swiftly upward, Osiris' wrap attempt missing. Ra, taking its fiery phoenix formation, moved like a comet in the sky, leaving behind flashes of ember as it flew. Anubis packed magnificent speed and thus was able to dodge Ra's attack as well. Obelisk went to attack directly after Ra's miss, closing his large fists and swung a gigantic punch right at the jackal. His right fist hitting Anubis right in the upper chest area, his angel wings stopped flapping momentarily as his body began falling quickly from thousands of feet high.
Anubis proved that the power of feeling he had claimed to have was no lie. His chest, where Obelisk had directly punched it, began to glow as bones shifted back into place and other damaged parts reconnected and healed. Soon after the glow, Anubis began flying once again, this time sending out his own attack. He spat his highly acidic, toxic saliva at the God of Obelisk, but Ra's flaming body flew in the attack's path, blocking it and having no effect on Ra. Osiris opened his top, smaller mouth and blasted some kind of lightning energy that was meant for weakening its opponent. Though aiming accurately, Anubis was still too fast and dodged it, the lightning attack shooting off into the distance. Obelisk had prepared his fists for a long-range attack, shooting blue balls of energy from both of them. Anubis zipped from side to side in the sky, dodging the two energy balls from Obelisk's fists. Ra had come out of its phoenix form and had been charging a large ball of fire and light in its beak-like mouth. Once at its strongest point, Ra shot it at Anubis. Anubis amazingly dodged that attack as well, his blinding speed moving him out of the way.
"Attack all at once and not individually!" Yugi cried up to the three Egyptian Gods.
Yugi's three Egyptian Gods' formed a triangle around Anubis, surrounding him. He tried to flee from it, but the three followed him, remaining in that same formation, continuing to surround him. All three were building their attacks, and as the attacks grew, they flew closer to him so he was less likely to escape. All in one shot, Osiris, Ra, and Obelisk blew their massive attacks at Anubis. Being sly and quick, Anubis flew up, the three attacks barely missing him and colliding with each other instead. An explosion with the impact of an atomic bomb went off, the explosion affecting all four in the sky.
Being somewhat of an opportunist, Anubis' time to attack had arrived. The smoke clearing in the sky, Osiris, Obelisk and Ra were recovering from the effects of the explosion. Anubis had recovered his damage once again, and with his foes distracted, he could easily damage them. Using his sharp, deadly claws, he flew blinding fast and slashed his paw across the chest of Obelisk. Four wide and deep marks of black were across his body, and Obelisk cried in pain as he flew to ground level, hoping to recover. Right after his assault on Obelisk, Anubis aimed directly for Osiris. A black energy surrounded his body as he flew his body right under Osiris' chin. A loud, yet smaller explosion went off after the collision, and Osiris began falling from the sky to the ground in the Dome. Finally, Anubis struck Ra after charging his destructive attack of dark power. Bolts of dark energy jolted from Ra's body as it also fell back to the ground.
Yugi's three God monsters lied on the ground in front of him, yelling in pain. They were not yet defeated, but had clearly been cut down in power. His monsters began to stand again as Anubis flew down to the Dome, standing on all four legs in front of them.
"Have I made the truth visible to you now?" Anubis said. "I cannot be defeated, you fool! I am nearly invincible!"
Osiris, Ra, and Obelisk stood tall and cried loudly at Anubis. They were prepared to go at it once again, even in a situation where they were in a large hole. Spreading their wings, they began flying back into the sky once again. Anubis only laughed as he flew up with them, continuing the battle that could have been endless.
The sense of doubt grew stronger in Yugi. Anubis held the strength to regain his health in any situation, and his three God monsters were not doing well in battle. It was not because they lacked in power, but Anubis was overly strong in power. Reviewing this situation over and over in his head, Yugi began to question himself and his monsters, and became more confident in Anubis' statement. Anubis boasted a power that made him nearly undefeatable, and Yugi began pondering if there was any hope left.