The Soul of the Game

by cronosphere

This story was inspired by a duel with a rival. Its about a duelist that feels alone in the world, and a boy that becomes her Yami. Together they face an evil power that threatens to destroy our world.

22. Chapter 22: Round Two

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh. Nor do I own the characters in this story.

Author's Notes:

You've probably guessed by now that Daniel didn't let me use his computer. In fact, he got out and beat the snot outta me. But now that I'm recovered and I have a study hall, I can get back to doing what I wanted to do a long time ago: finish this story.

Chapter 22: Round Two

"This is it," Tiffany said as we walked up to the door. "Room 11."

We merged in a flash of light and went in. Our opponent was already there waiting for us.

"Nice to meetchya," he smiled. "My name is Marcus, but you can call me Mark."

"I'm Tiffany," I said with a smile.

I scanned her watch in, and once again the room vanished. We found ourselves in a thick bog, the smell of which was unfortunately very real.

The prize card appeared in front of us. It was a trap card: Metal Morph.

"Not exactly a card for spellcasters," Tiffany thought to herself, "but I wouldn't mind having it in my deck."

The card vanished, and two tables appeared for us to duel on.

"Ugh. Let's get this duel over with quick," Mark said, holding his nose as he drew his cards.

"Good idea," I replied. I placed Tiffany's deck on the table and we each drew five cards. "You get to go first."

He drew a card and smiled. "This is gonna be too easy. I summon Baby Dragon in attack mode and end my turn."

Baby Dragon

Dragon 4 Stars

A: 1200

D: 700

"Why would he summon such a weak monster without the ability to protect it?" Tiffany wondered.

I drew my card. "I summon Skilled Dark Magician in attack mode to destroy your dragon!"

Skilled Dark Magician

Spell Caster 4 Stars

A: 1900

D: 1700

Effect: Each time someone playes a Spell Card, place a spellcounter on this card(max 3). Offer this monster with 3 spellcounters as tribute to special summon a Dark Magician.

"What?!?" Mark gasped. "I thought you weren't allowed to attack on your first turn."

"That's only if you go first," I replied. "How long have you been playing the Yu-gi-oh game?"

"What are you implying?" Mark demanded. "I'm just as good as any other duelist here. So I made one mistake. It won't cost me the duel."

I shrugged. "It will cost you 700 LP and your baby. Skilled Darl Magician, attack his Baby Dragon!"

Tiffany's monster charged forward, but suddenly it stopped. I looked down to see his feet stuck in the swampy ground.

"Looks like your monsted can't attack me after all!" Mark beamed. "Now its my turn. I play polymerization to fuse my Baby Dragon on the field with Alligator Sword to Make Alligator Sword Dragon!"

Alligator Sword Dragon

Fusion 4 Stars

A: 1700

Effect: This card can attack your opponent's lp directly.

"This bog may be a problem for your monster," Mark went on, "but my dragon can rise to the occasion. Now go, Alligator Sword Dragon. Attack her life points directly!"

The dragon and rider dove at me and stabbed the table. I jumped back reflexively to avoid the sword blade.

Tiffany: 6300

Mark: 8000

"Oh yeah!" Mark cheered. "Who's the man now?"

I ignored his victory dance and drew my card. "This duel is far from over Mark. I'll place one card facedown on the field and set a monster in defense."

One of the bog pools began to ripple, then something inside started splashing frantically. My hidden monster was actually drowning. The Magician of Faith finally managed to crawl out of the bog and resume her defense position, but for some strange reason I didn't get her flip effect.

"Looks like we can't put a monster in defense mode either," Tiffany said exasperatedly. "I wonder if this duel has been rigged against us?"

"I have nothing to do but end my turn now," I said grudgingly.

"My turn then!" Mark grinned. "I'll play this card facedown and summon Panther Warrior in attack mode!"

Panther Warrior

Beast Warrior 4 Stars

A: 2000

D: 1600

Effect: You must offer 1 monster on your side of the field as tribute to allow this monster to attack.

"I don't want to sacrifice my dragon for his attack, but he'll be a good defense against your monsters!" he smiled. "Okay Alligator Sword Dragon, strike his life points again!"

Tiffany: 4600

Mark: 8000

I drew my card. "Perfect. This is one of my newer cards, Mark: the spell card Raigeki."

Raigeki
Spell Card
Destroy all monsters on your opponent's side of the field.

"I hope we're allowed to use magic cards here," Tiffany said silently.

Sure enough, lighning struck Mark's two monsters and destroyed them.

"Oh no!" Mark gasped. "My monsters!"

"I'm not done yet Mark," I smiled. "I summon Witch of the Black Forest in attack mode. Now I'll attack your life points with my Skilled Dark Magician and my Witch of the Black Forest!"

Witch of the Black Forest
Spell Caster 4 Stars
A: 1100
D: 1200
Effect: When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, take one monster with a defense of 1500 or less from your deck and add it to your hand.

The Skilled Dark Magician aimed his staff for Mark and fired. The attack struck home, dropping Mark's life points. However, the Witch of the Black Forest got stuck in the marsh and was unable to attack.

Tiffany: 4600

Mark: 6100

Mark shrugged it off. "One good play doesn't make you a good duelist. "I'll play Axe Raider in attack mode and end my turn."

Axe Raider

Warrior 4 Stars

A: 1700

D: 1100

"It's your funeral," I replied. "I sacrifice my Witch of the Black Forest to summon the Summon Skull, and with her effect I add Kuriboh to my hand."

Kuriboh
Fiend 1 Star
A: 300
D: 200
Effect: You may discard this monster to negate damage done to your LP from 1 attack.

Summon Skull
Fiend 6 Stars
A: 2500
D: 1500

"My Summon Skull will destroy your Axe Raider with his lightning strike!" I announced.

Unfortunately, the Summon Skull was covered in bog goop and used his turn to clean himself off instead.

"I really hate this field," I said with a sigh. "Fine then. Skilled Dark Magician, you destroy his Axe Raider."

The Skilled Dark Magician aimed his staff, but Mark was grinning from ear to ear. "Sorry, but I won't let you destroy my monster. I activate Magic Shield Arm to nabb your Magician of Faith. Now I'll use her to block your magician's attack."

The Magician of Faith was pulled into the blast and destroyed. I could do nothing but end my turn.

Mark drew his card and began to laugh uncontrollably. "Oh man, I just sealed this duel! I'll play Snatch Steal on your Summoned Skull to bring him over on my side."

Snatch Steal

Equip Spell

Equip this card on your opponent's monster to gain control of it. Your opponent gets 1000 lp each turn this card is on the field.

"It sounds like an even trade, your monster for life points," Mark said with his biggest smile, "but I only wanted him for this card: Polymerization!"

"What do you have that fuses with a Summon Skull?" I asked.

"Only my favorite card," Mark smiled on. "Its my Red Eyes Black Dragon."

"Oh no!" Tiffany wailed. "He's trying to summon...."

"Behold, my strongest monster," Mark declaired. "Black Skull Dragon!"

Black Skull Dragon

Fusion Dragon

A: 3200

D: 2700

"Say goodbye to your last monster," Mark smiled. "Black Skull Dragon, destroy him with Molten Fire Blast!"

The dragon spewed a red ball of energy, but a large cylindar appeared and absorbed the attack.

"Not happening Mark," I replied. "I activate my trap card Magic Cylindars."

Magic Cylindars
Trap Card
Negate the attack of a monster and damage your opponent's LP equal to the negated monster's attack power.

Tiffany: 4600

Mark: 2900

"Ouch!" Mark yelled. "One more attack like that and I'm toast. Still, with my monster on the field, there's not much you can do to my life points."

"That's where you're wrong Mark," I replied as I looked at the card I'd drawn. "Three spell cards have been activated since my Skilled Dark Magician came onto the field," (Raigeki, Snatch Steal, Polymerization) "so I activate his special ability and exchange him for a Dark Magician from my Deck."

Dark Magician
Spell Caster 7 Stars
A: 2500
D: 2100
(Purple = Yugi's DM)

"Big deal," Mark grinned. "My dragon's attack power is higher. Besides, this bog prevents your monster from attacking."

"Well this bog won't be around much longer," I declaired. "I'll play this field card: Yami."

Yami
Field Spell Card
Increase the attack and defense of all Spell Casters on the field by 200.

The bog vanished, replaced by a swirl of darkness. If it weren't for the faint glow from our duel tables or our monsters, we would not have been able to see.

"With that little handicap gone, I'll summon Maha Vailo to the field," I continued.

Maha Vailo
Spell Caster 4 Stars
A: 1550
D: 1400
Effect: Increase the attack of this monster by 500 for every equip card attached to it.

"What's that going to do?" Mark asked.

"Its going to destroy your Black Skull Dragon," I replied. "I'm going to equip her with Mage Power to boost her attack."

Mage Power
Equip Spell Card
A monster equipped with this card increases its attack and defense by 500 points for every Spell and Trap card on his/her side of the field.

"With all those attack bonuses, Maha Vailo's Attack is now 3750," Tiffany thought happily. "Combine that with my Dark Magician's power, and I can win the duel in this turn."

And so we did. Maha Vailo destroyed his dragon, and Dark Magician struck the last of his life points.

"Aw man, I can't believe I lost," Mark wailed. He hit himself in the head, which must have hurt because the next minute he was laying on the floor unconcious.

I got Tiffany's cards together, including the new Metal Morph. She got a little upset at me ignoring Mark, so she took back control of her body went to check on him.

"Are you alright?" she said, shaking him to wake him up.

He sat up suddenly, causing her to jump back. "Oh well. So I lost a duel. Atleast I went out in a blaze of glory." He turned to look at Tiffany. "But don't think I'll go so easy on you next time."

Tiffany smiled and handed him a card. "Here. You can keep this untill we get to duel again."

He looked at the card she had given him. It was the Summon Skull. "Why are you giving me this card?"

Tiffany smiled. "Because we're friends. Besides, you need it to get your strongest monster out, right?"

Mark smiled. "Okay. I'll take good care of it."

"I know you will," she replied with a smile of her own.

Good Grief. It took me a week to write this chapter. All that extra card info is time consuming. Well, next chapter won't be a duel, so I hope it doesn't take as long to type.

I hope all of you figured out which Yu-gi-oh character Mark was based on. If you didn't, see a Yu-gi-oh councilor immediately.

Oh, and incase anyone is wondering about the bog, I got the idea from Vengeful Bog Spirit.

Please R&R!