Two in one day! It's been a while since I've pulled that off.
I was getting sick of writing millions of Thanatos duels, so here is a duel that, for once, doesn't involve Thanatos! Enjoy, because it'll be the last filler you guys get for a while!
Chapter 7: An Unexpected Three on Three Duel
"Missing?" Brandi echoed.
"Yes. I can't find him anywhere!" Hime said nervously.
"What about Chasity? Does she know?" Claire asked.
"She has been asleep this whole time," Hime replied. "I thought Ender was too, but obviously I thought wrong…"
"I'll help you look," Brandi decided at once.
"We'll help too," Hope volunteered. Claire and Larka nodded, while Fell just watched.
"I'd love to assist, but I kind of won't be able to," Rue said in disgust, eying his leg.
"Oh, right! You need a place to rest," Hope realized.
"No duh," Rue muttered.
Claire looked at Hope and Larka. "Do you think it'd be alright if he got the bed?"
"Not a problem," Hope shrugged.
"I don't mind," Larka said.
"Thanks," Rue said. "Well, ready whenever."
Perseus immediately left for the living room, Ruecian following.
"So where should we begin searching?" Hope wondered.
"Do you think he might have gone into Teknisk Wereld, like before?" Gaston queried.
"You might be right," Brandi nodded. "So let's go there to look. Hime, can you search around here?"
"Yes. I shall remain in the real world," Hime said.
"In that case, we should go at once," Hope stated. "How about we come back in an hour to exchange results?"
"That would be fine," Hime agreed.
"Ok then. We'll see you soon Hime."
"Right."
They went to the living room, getting on their Envoyant Machines.
"See you in a bit Rue," Claire told him.
"Yeah. Good luck."
Then they were unconscious.
Rue sighed. "I can already tell I'm going to be bored… what to do…" He turned to Ruecian. "Want to read me a story?"
Ruecian gave him a look of complete disgust.
"I was just kidding! Don't kill me over a joke," Rue said. Then he got out his deck and shuffled it. "Only one thing to do, I guess…"
-----
They arrived by the lake edge instantly.
"So where should we go?" Hope asked.
Brandi began giving the orders. "I'll look around the lake. Claire, you check the city. Hope, look around the canyon. Fell, you're in charge of the mountains. And Larka, the forest is your region. Any objections? Good. We'll meet up in thirty minutes."
-----
After thirty minutes had passed, they were back in the lake area.
"Anything?" Brandi asked Hope and Gaston, the last ones to arrive.
"No," Hope sighed. "Any luck with you guys?"
"Not a thing," Larka shook her head. "And we searched everywhere he could be."
"He could not have gone beyond the mountains or water," Claire stated. "So yeah, we've looked everywhere…"
Suddenly, they heard a scream of pain from the forest.
"What was that?!" Hope exclaimed.
"A person that might be in trouble," Larka guessed. "Let's check it out!"
Daine led the way into the forest, and started sniffing the ground. Malon joined him.
Suddenly, the young dog's ears perked up. With a howl of glee, the puppy ran into the woods.
"Where is he going?" Perseus asked.
Daine sniffed for a few seconds more, and then grinned fiercely. "Master, may I join him?"
Fell, once more, just shrugged.
Daine charged through the forest, the others following him. And suddenly, they caught sight of the commotion.
There were already four people in the clearing. When Hope saw what was going on, she began to laugh.
Dangling from Toan's left arm was Cow, and from his right was Malon. Daine had his right leg as well. Julia was, once more, in too much mirth to help him. Samuel tried to pry Cow off, backing off when Cow let out a fierce snarl. Josh had grabbed Malon's collar and was pulling, but the puppy refused to let go. Maria and Carl seemed too confused to help, and Viper was flying around Toan's head, which was more annoying than useful.
"OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! DAMN DOGS!" Toan roared. "I AM NOT YOUR CHEW TOY! I REPEAT; I AM NOT YOUR CHEW TOY! IT'S NOT FAIR! I NEVER DID ANYTHING TO OFFEND DOGS! I LIKE DOGS! I LOVE DOGS! YET THEY ALL HATE ME! WHY MUST I SUFFER?!"
Larka, Brandi, and Claire couldn't take it any more and joined in with the laughter. Fell just stared at the scene. Mana found it hilarious, while Gaston and Perseus were much like Maria and Carl.
At last, Julia went over to Cow and took him gently. The Milus Radiant instantly let go, licking her. Larka pulled off Malon, and Daine let go on his own, walking back to Fell.
Toan took out three Red Potions and drank them all. After looking at his wounds again, he drank three more.
"That was not funny," Toan growled.
"No, it wasn't-it was hilarious," Hope joked.
Toan muttered something under his breath that Hope was not sure she wanted hear.
"So what are you doing here Hope? Your mom said you're visiting a sick friend of yours?" Julia asked.
"Yeah, that's right," Hope lied. "What about you guys?"
"Just hanging around," Samuel shrugged.
"It's kind of late to be doing that, isn't it?" Claire pointed out, indicating to the night sky.
"Not really," Samuel replied. "We often hang out here this late. Besides, you're an hour ahead of us."
"True," Claire nodded.
"When do you think you're going to be back?" Josh inquired. "We'll need to practice together sometime before school starts, remember?"
"Oh yeah," Hope said sheepishly. "When I go back to Illinois, I'll call you so we can do that."
"Huh?" Claire gave Hope a confused look.
"Josh plays the trumpet," Hope explained. "I play the cornet, which is basically a smaller version of the trumpet. We were going to try to get a few practices in, hopefully with even going over a few duets."
"That makes sense," Claire nodded. "What about the rest of you? Do you play any instruments?"
"I play the flute, and Toan plays the base," Julia replied. "Samuel doesn't play any."
"They're really good musicians," Hope stated. "I'm not nearly as good as them."
"Thank everything they aren't as bad as you," Gaston joked.
"Gee, thanks for the confidence booster," Hope grumbled.
"So, do you have the time for a few free duels?" Josh suggested.
"Sorry, we don't," Hope replied. "Maybe later."
"Alright then," Julia said. "Whenever you can should be good. It isn't like we have any major plans."
"Then we'd better get going," Hope stated. "We'll see you guys later."
"Bye for now," Julia replied.
But before they could leave…
"Hold it right there !"
They turned to see three people jump out from behind the trees into the clearing. It would have been rather dramatic if one hadn't tripped over a tree root, causing the other two to trip and fall onto him.
"Them again?!" Gaston said in exasperation.
Hope slapped her hand over her eyes. "Oh dear gosh…"
"Get off of me !" the one on the bottom snarled. The other two hastily jumped off, and the other got up, dusting himself off. "You aren't going anywhere ! Now we will finally have our revenge !"
"Who the heck are these idiots?" Toan asked.
"The one with the flowered pants is Caleb, the one with the orange and red color scheme is Ifrit, and the one wearing purple is Buster Blader," Hope explained. "I've run into Caleb and Ifrit once, but haven't personally met Buster Blader. Brandi, Fell, and Larka came across the three of them once. Claire hasn't met any of them until now."
"I'm glad I haven't, either," Claire muttered as she looked at the trio.
"We've been waiting for a rematch with you all !" Caleb declared.
"Don't you guys know what it the words 'give up' mean?" Mana inquired.
"I knew this would come in handy!" Ifrit said happily, bringing out a dictionary.
Everyone except Fell and the Soul Monsters facefaulted.
"Hang on, how do you spell it?" Ifrit asked.
Another crash occurred as they facefaulted again.
Caleb seemed furious. "He may not know, but I do ! I just don't let myself give up !"
"Unfortunately," Brandi sighed.
"So accept our challenge !" Caleb demanded.
"Sorry, but we don't have the time to mess with you morons," Gaston stated.
"You can't back out of this!" Buster Blader declared.
Julia looked over at them. "Well, if you guys don't have the time to duel them… how about we do it?"
"Nah, you're weak !" Caleb stated. "We want to duel our worthy rivals !"
"That's right!" chorused Ifrit and Buster Blader.
"…Worthy… rivals? What the heck?" Hope said in disbelief.
"Weak?" Toan turned to his Soul Monster. "Cow. You can't just let him get away with that, can you?"
Cow barked at Malon and Daine. Malon let out a yip, and Daine snarled.
Then Cow leapt at Buster Blader, latching onto his left arm. Malon bit into Ifrit's right arm. Daine bit Caleb's right leg.
The forest echoed with their screams. Ifrit and Buster Blader ran around, shaking the arm with the dog on it. Caleb was trying to pull his leg free from Daine's grasp, but failing. The others were trying to watch the scene, often failing because they were laughing too hard, except for Fell. He jumped up to a tree limb and leaned against the truck, closing his eyes.
After a few minutes of this, Cow, Malon, and Daine let go at the same time, running back to their masters. The assaulted trio immediately began drinking several Red Potions.
Caleb glared at them. "So that's the way you want to fight ?! We'll get you for that ! We'll destroy the owners of these dogs in a duel !"
Larka shook her head. "Toan can duel you if he wants, but I have no desire to…"
"You have no choice !" He looked around for Fell. "Where did that other one go ?"
Buster Blader looked up, and saw Fell on the tree limb, asleep. "Um, I think he's sleeping."
"He's asleep ?! That pansy just doesn't want to duel us !"
"And you're a hypocrite too. Figures," Perseus said in disgust.
Julia beckoned to Samuel and Josh, and they stepped next to Toan.
"We will be your opponents," Julia told them. "If we win, you leave at once. If we lose… well, that doesn't matter, seeing as we won't."
"If we win, you give us all of your rare cards," Ifrit demanded. "Not like you have any, seeing as I have the only four Blue Eyes White Dragons in the world."
"…Um, didn't you pull out thirty last time?" Larka pointed out.
"But only four of them were real!"
Claire sighed. "I give up. Let's just get out of the way and let them duel it out."
"Do you think we'll have enough time to watch the duel?" Hope asked Brandi.
"Probably, as long as they are quick," Brandi said.
"You guys are cheaters!" Buster Blader declared. "This is four on three!"
"You thought Caleb was a hypocrite?" Hope asked Perseus.
"Then I just won't duel," Josh shrugged. "Go ahead you three."
"Thanks," Samuel said, shuffling his deck and inserting it. "Let's see just how bad these guys can get."
"I'll at least select the order for you all," Josh volunteered. "Julia, call heads or tails."
"Heads, since we actually use ours."
Josh caught the coin he had tossed. "Heads. So the order will be Julia, Caleb, Samuel, Ifrit, Toan, and Buster Blader."
"Sounds good to me," Samuel commented.
"It isn't good at all!" Buster Blader exclaimed. "I'm going last, so it can't be good!"
"Self centered moron," Toan muttered.
"Now, fear our Soul Monsters !" Caleb shouted.
And out came the Skull Servant, the Dissolverock, and the Flame Ghost.
It took a while for the other three duelists to be able to activate their Duel Disks. Josh was having trouble breathing still when the duel began.
Julia: 8000
Samuel: 8000
Toan: 8000
Caleb: 8000
Ifrit: 8000
Buster Blader: 8000
"I start by summoning Harpy Lady SB, (1800/1300)" Julia decided. "And I lay two cards down. That's all for me."
"What a weak monster ! I summon Gearfried ! (1800/1600)"
Julia looked from her Harpy Lady to the Gearfreed and back again. "Right. And that's a whole lot stronger, isn't it?"
"When I equip him with my Axe of Despair, it will! It raises his attack by 1000!"
The Gearfreed took the Demon Axe, rolled its eyes, and threw it at Caleb, slamming him over the head. It cracked into two when it hit him, falling apart.
"OW ! What was that for ?!"
"You just don't learn from your errors, do you?" Gaston sighed. "You should have learned by now that Gearfreed destroys any equip card he is equipped with."
"Oh yeah ?! He'll keep this one for sure ! I equip Gearfried with Butterfly Dagger-Elma ! This raises his attack by 300 !"
"He needs to learn their proper names," Samuel muttered. "He's completely mutilating Dagger of Butterflies-Eruma."
The Gearfreed snapped it in half at once.
"What ?! It didn't work ?"
"Did he even hear what I said?" Gaston wondered.
"Blast it ! But if it is destroyed when equipped to a monster, I can put it back into my hand ! So I will keep equipping it to Gearfried until it works !"
The dagger appeared, and again, Gearfreed snapped it. Then it appeared again, and again it was broken. Again, and again, and again, and again…
"At this rate, we're going to lose!" Toan realized.
"Why?" asked Julia.
"If he keeps doing this all night, we're going to have to surrender out of pure boredom. This is even worse than it was watching Will and Samuel's duel."
"Hey!" Samuel protested.
"Then I'll stop him," Julia declared.
"And I'll play it again !"
"I activate Magic Drain," Julia said. "You must either discard a magic card from your hand to be able to keep your Dagger. Otherwise, it's destroyed."
"I have no more magic cards !" Caleb snarled. "So I lose my Dagger . Fine then ! I end my turn !"
"I lay one monster in defense mode, and end my turn," Samuel told them.
"I play Cyber Stein in face up defense mode! (700/500)"
"Uh, hate to break it to you, but you can't play monsters in face up defense mode," Toan told him.
"Kaiba does it all the time, so I can too! I end!"
"Right… ok… I lay one card down and play one monster in defense mode. That's it," Toan said.
"I activate Cheerful Coffin, discarding three Buster Bladers! Then I use Monster Reborn, Premature Burial, and Call of the Haunted to bring them back! (2600/2300)"
"Hey! You can't do that!" Julia protested. "For one thing, you must have had seven cards to do that. You should have only had six. You can't activate Cry of the Living Dead without setting it for one turn. And Raise Dead is banned!"
"I've said it before and I'll say it again; I'm too awesome for the rules! Now I play Wall of Revealing Light!"
"And that does what again?" Samuel inquired.
"I pay a certain amount of Life Points and I'm protected from all monsters with that attack or higher! So I pay 8000! Now you can't do any damage with monsters that have 8000 or lower attack!"
"Um… dude. You just killed yourself," Toan pointed out.
"No I didn't!" Buster Blader looked at his LP count. "Oh, wait… I did! NO!"
Julia: 8000
Samuel: 8000
Toan: 8000
Caleb: 8000
Ifrit: 8000
Buster Blader: 0
After they got over their mirth, Julia pondered what to do. "I'll just have Harpy SB attack Gearfreed. Then I lay one monster in defense mode and end my turn."
"No ! My ultimate monster ! I shall not be defeated though !" He drew, and stared at his hand in dismay. "I can't play any of these ! Ifrit, it's up to you !"
"I'm sure that makes Caleb feel confident," Samuel joked. "I will use my Deck Master's ability. Carl lets me skip my draw phase to put a card with the word 'Guardian' in its name into my hand. Then I shuffle my deck. I'll lay one monster in defense mode and end my turn."
"I'll make you suffer!" Ifrit sneered. "I use my Cyber Stein's effect! By paying 5000 Life Points, I can special summon a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon! (4500/3800)"
Julia: 8000
Samuel: 8000
Toan: 8000
Caleb: 8000
Ifrit: 3000
Buster Blader: 0
"Then, to make your pain even more terrible to bear, I shall use my Deck Master's ability! Behold, as our Skull Servant and Dissolverock form Flame Ghost!"
The Flame Ghost appeared on the field, and then vanished as Ifrit's Duel Disk deactivated.
Julia: 8000
Samuel: 8000
Toan: 8000
Caleb: 8000
Ifrit: 0
Buster Blader: 0
"Huh? What happened there?" Julia asked in bewilderment.
Hope burst out laughing. "Their effect! It forced Ifrit to pay 3000 Life Points to fuse it!"
"But Buster Blader's Flame Ghost makes it so I don't have to pay!" Ifrit protested.
"Buster Blader, in case you didn't notice, is not in the duel any longer," Toan pointed out.
Ifrit looked over at his defeated partner, then at his Duel Disk. "BUT THAT'S NOT FAIR! YOU CHEATED!"
"What the? I cheated? You're crazier than I am," Toan said.
Samuel sighed. "I'm already sick of looking at these blundering fools."
"Me too," Toan grinned. "That's why I think I'll finish this now. I activate Scape Goat!"
An adorable blue, red, orange, and pink sheep appeared on the field.
Caleb began to laugh. "You idiots think you can defeat me with sheep ? I'll supa pwn you !"
"That… was… ridiculously… lame…" Toan said in disgust. "Any thoughts of letting you live are now gone. I flip over my Milus Radiant! (300/250) Not quite as sweet as my fluffy Cow, but… YEOWCH! RED POTION!"
"I'm surprised he went this long without biting Toan," Hope commented.
"Anyway, as I was saying… Milus Radiant raises all of my Earth Main-Type's attack power by 500. (500/0) (500/0) (500/0) (500/0) (800/250) Also, Cow's Deck Master ability comes into play. He raises all of my Earth Main-Type's attack by 500 and lowers their defense by 400. (1000/0) (1000/0) (1000/0) (1000/0) (1300/0) Then I play Gaia Power! This field magic card raises all Earth Main-Type's attack by 500 and lowers their defense by 400 too. (1500/0) (1500/0) (1500/0) (1500/) (1800/0)"
"But they're just sheep !" Caleb protested.
Toan gave him an evil smile. "They may look cute and cuddly, but they can also kick your ass. For now, I shall my blue, orange, and pink sheep with a Demon Axe each! (2000/0) (2000/0) (2000/0) Then I equip my red one with Power of Magicians! This raises his attack by 500 for each magic and trap card I have on the field. So, the three Demon Axes, the Power of Magicians, and the Gaia Power make that 2500 more attack. (3500/0)"
The three axe-wielding and one fiercely glowing sheep began to grow bigger, absorbing power from Cow, the Milus Radiant, and Gaia Power. Then they suddenly opened their eyes a very tiny bit-just enough to see them glowing red. Caleb stared at them in shock and horror, unable to say anything.
"Now my sheep, STAMPEDE HIM!"
The sheep ran at him, with a long, drawn out "BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Caleb barely had enough time to scream, "HOLY CRAP !" before he was buried by the sheep. A dust cloud concealed them, and everyone but Toan winced at the thuds, slams, chops, slices, snarls from the sheep, and screams from Caleb coming from the dust cloud.
Then the sheep leapt out, running over to Toan, back to their normal size and minus their equips. He picked them up, cuddling them.
"You guys are nearly as cute as Cow, if not just as much. OUCH!" He put down the sheep, and they vanished. Then he grabbed a Red Potion and drank it.
Everyone looked over to see Caleb was in a bloody mess, cuts and bruises everywhere. He was, thankfully, unconscious as well.
Julia: 8000
Samuel: 8000
Toan: 8000
Caleb: 0
Ifrit: 0
Buster Blader: 0
"I thought they were just holograms?" Hope said in confusion. "How could they hurt Caleb?"
"I altered the hologram settings on my Duel Disk," Toan snickered. "I couldn't resist."
"We aren't done with you yet!" Ifrit exclaimed.
"No, but they're done with you!"
Ifrit cringed at the voice, and yelped as his brother slammed him over the head. Then he was grabbed by the shoulder.
"You guys again?" his brother asked, seeing the watchers. "I'm so sorry about this… you were there both times, weren't you, Elven Swordsman?"
"Yeah," Gaston nodded.
"My apologies… these little jerks need to learn how to play," the brother snarled. "I think I'll just have to take their Duel Disks for a while."
"What?! No!" Ifrit cried. "That's not fair!"
"Oh, it's more than fair for you brats! You're coming with me!" He grabbed Ifrit, dragging him away. Buster Blader picked up the injured Caleb and they left.
"That was fun to watch," Hope said. "Thanks for providing the entertainment."
"Not a problem," Toan replied, grabbing Cow by the scruff of his neck.
"Weren't you guys in a hurry to go somewhere?" Josh pointed out.
"Gosh!" Hope paled. "I forgot! We have to go right away!"
Fell leapt down from the tree limb, and they all opened the menus on their Duel Disks.
"You'll try to come back soon, right?" Julia asked.
"Of course," Hope replied. "We'll see you later!"
"Bye!" They all replied, except for Toan, who was cursing under his breath as Cow bit his arm again.
-----
"I attack with Gemini Elf, and you lose 1900 Life Points! Let's see you counter that!"
"Ok. I play Curtain of Black Magic to pay half of my Life Points to special summon Black Magician! Then I use Black Magic Attack to get rid of all of your magic and trap cards!"
"Oh no! I've lost my Magic Cylinder and Cry of the Living Dead!"
"Now you stand no chance! I attack with Black Magician! You lose 600 Life Points!"
"Darn it… I don't stand a chance now… I'd better hope to draw a good card… no! Could this be it?"
"Rue, just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Brandi inquired, taking off her Envoyant Machine.
"Oh, you're all back!" he greeted. "I'm dueling myself."
"Dueling yourself?" asked Hope in disbelief.
"Yep. And can you believe it? I'm losing!" he said, pointing at the cards opposite of him. "I got out a Black Magician and it's proceeding to kick my ass! Am I screwed or what?"
"Ignore him," Claire muttered. "He only does this when he's really bored."
"I heard that!" Rue told her. "And for your information, this is one occasion where I am really bored."
"Then read or something," Hope suggested.
"I would if I had a book," Rue shrugged. "But it's fun to duel myself. I always win, even if I always lose!"
"You're even more or a moron than I thought you were possible of being," Brandi said.
"Thanks… hey, wait!"
But by then, Brandi had left the room to look for Hime.
"Dang it. I'll get her back for that later," Rue muttered.
"If you can," Hope joked.
"Yeah, take her side, why don't you?" Rue grumbled.
Then Brandi came back in, looking worried. "She isn't back yet."
Hope looked at the clock in the room. "Well, it's barely five after. She's probably just a little bit late."
"Possibly. But Hime's usually right on time…" Brandi said worriedly. "I'm going to go search for her. I'll be back in a few minutes." Then she left again. Everyone heard the door shut behind her.
To be continued…