"Your Sangan's attempt at martyrdom not withstanding I can't let that
happen Axis. I activate the Regulation of Tribe to prevent your fiend from
attacking."
"Stalling for time?" Axis asked Fader. "Not really the smartest move you could make. Every turn that passes brings me closer to the five pieces of Exodia anyway. Well whatever. If you want to drag this out longer than it has to be I'm not going to stop you. I end my turn."
Fader knew that Axis was right. There was only so long he could keep delaying. Axis would eventually draw the final piece of Exodia into his hand, and win the duel. You'll just have to make sure that the other four pieces aren't there when he does came a voice in his head. It was true. If he couldn't stop Axis from drawing the last part he would find a way to eliminate the parts already in his hand.
"Hurry up and draw Fader. Or are you considering giving up fianlly?"
"I won't give up Axis. I'm going to win this duel."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive," Fader replied.
"Then how about we up the stakes a little?"
"What's your idea?"
"Well, normal Battle City rules state that the winner gets the loser's rarest card. How about instead, we wager something even more valuable?"
"A piece of the Millennium Puzzle?"
"Exactly. I'd love to go home with three pieces of the puzzle instead of just two and on the slim chance that you actually win, you could bring your total up to an even ten. Interested?"
"You're on Axis!" Fader shouted emphatically.
"Then make your draw."
You can do this! came the voice in his head. Concentrate. There is always a solution to any problem waiting in your deck. You just have to trust yourself. Fader closed his eyes, drew his card and with a deep sigh opened his eyes to look at the card. He then turned his gaze to Axis who was drawing a card of his own thanks to the stolen Angel.
"Did you draw the final part of Exodia?" Fader asked.
"Not this time," came the reply.
"Good, because now you're not going to get the chance to gather all five. I play Card Destruction! We both discard our cards and draw the same number that we had before."
"My Exodia Head! I won't be able to bring that back with a Backup Soldiers!"
"And now I can get rid of my Regulation of Tribe since your Sangan won't be around very much longer. Spear Dragon attack!"
Fader: 3300, Axis: 1400.
"I'll set one other card face down and end my turn," fader said with a sigh of relief. He had beaten Exodia.
"You're better than good Fader," Axis said. "I honestly can't remember the last time someone managed to stop me from gettting all of Exodia together. I'll activate Sangan's effect now and get the Left Arm from my deck."
"That's a waste. It won't do you any good."
"You're very right. But when I play my other Graceful Charity card now, it gives me something else to discard other than a good card in my hand."
"So you just used it as a throwaway."
"That's part of the reason. The other part is that I needed it in the graveyard with the other four parts."
"Why is that?"
"So I can use this magic card, the Pact With Exodia! It alows me to special summon Exodia Necros (1800/0) from my hand."
"Exodia...Necros?" Fader asked. This wasn't going to be good.
"That's that I said. Exodia Necros is a powerful monster that can only be in play as long as the five Exodia parts are in the graveyard. You've just gotten out of the frying pan and into the fire Fader. But since it's a special summon it can't attack this turn. Your move Fader."
"I don't see what's so strong about it, it only has 1800 attack, Spear Dragon attack Exodia Necros!" Fader declared. The Spear Dragon dove at Exodia and rammed its horn right where the monster's heart would have been, Axis' Life Points dropped but Exodia remained where it stood. "What?" Fader said with disbelief.
"Exodia Necros is too powerful to be destroyed by a monster attack. I stil lost the measly 100 points of damage from your attack, but Exodia will be unharmed."
Fader: 3000, Axis: 1300.
"I'll lay one card face down and end my turn," Fader said.
"Now it's my turn and my Exoida's attack power increases by 500 points," Axis declared.
"What?"
"My Exodia Necros will gain 500 attack points during each of my standby phases. Every turn it will get stonger and stronger. And with Mask of Restrict in play you can't summon any monster strong enough to stand against it. I'll lay one card face down and then attack your Spear Dragon!"
"I don't think so. Activate Magic Arm Shield and grab your Big Shield Gardna to block the attack."
"So I lose another 300 Life Points."
"That's not all, I activate Destruction Punch. Since Exodia has a lower attack then the Gardna's defense it gets destroyed."
"Hardly. Exodia Necros is also immune to the effects of magic and trap cards that try and destroy it. Your Destruction Punch does nothing."
"Damn."
Fader: 3300, Axis: 1000.
"Your turn Fader."
Fader drew his card and smiled. "I may not be able to destroy Exodia by battling it or with magic or trap cards but I do know one way to stop it. I summon the Z-Metal Caterpillar (1500/1200). Now I can fuse X-Head Cannon, Y- Dragon Head and Z-Metal Caterpillar together to form the XYZ-Dragon Cannon (2800/2200). Then I can destroy your Exodia by simply discarding a card from my hand."
"But you won't be able to fuse them, since I activate my trap card, Torrrential Tribute. It destroys all monsters on the field, except for my Exodia of course since it isn't affected by traps."
"I'll lay one card face down and then end my turn Axis," Fader said, disheartened. Exodia Necros seemed unstoppable, and it just kept getting stronger.
"My turn so Exodia's power increases by another 500 points to 2800! Exodia attack his Life Points directly!"
"I activate my trap card!" Fader declared, flipping over his card.
"Weren't you paying attention? Your traps don't affect Exodia."
"The trap wasn't for Exodia, it was for me. Enchanted Javelin increases my Life Points by 2800, the same amount as your attack, so my Life Points remain just as they were."
"You can't keep up these stall tactics forever Fader. But go ahead and cling to false hope. I'll lay two cards face down and end my turn."
"There's almost nothing I can do. I'll lay one card face down. Then I'll set a monster in defense mode."
"Activate Shadow of Eyes," Axis interrupted. "This trap forces your monster into attack mode." Fader flipped over his monster and a small furball appeared on the field in front of Fader. Axis couldn't help but laugh. "A Kuriboh (300/200)? You really are out of ideas."
"Just make your move Axis," Fader said with a focused gaze.
"Exodia Necros, attack the Kuriboh!"
"I activate Muliply!"
"Ha! Nice try, but Multiply is negated!"
"What?"
"To activate its effect you have to offer your Kuriboh as a tribute," Axis explained.
Fader realized what he meant and finished the thought. "But Mask of Restrict prevents tributes."
"Of any kind, that's right. Your little defense plan failed. Exodia attack!"
Fader: 300, Axis: 1000
Fader was out of ideas. Exodia Necros was just getting stonger and stronger and none of his plans to stop it were working. In a single attack it had wiped out three quarters of his Life Points. You can't give up. a voice in his head was telling him. There is no problem that can't be solved, no monster that doesn't have a weakness to be exploited. Trust in yourself, and in your cards. Fader drew his card.
"Your Exodia Necros is strong but it has a major weakness. It needs the five pieces of Exodia in your graveyard. I have the card that will bring it down, Monster Reborn!"
"You think I hadn't planned for that? I activate my other face down card, the Barrier of the Necromancer trap card. It prevents either player from retireving cards from the graveyard. Go ahead and play your Monster Reborn but it will do nothing."
Fader looked at the cards in his hand. Axis was just toying with him now. He could have let Fader play the card before he activated his trap but instead he activated it early, just to slap Fader in the face and let him know that it wouldn't work. Every move Fader was making was being countered: the XYZ Dragon Cannon had been destroyed, his Destruction Punch combo was ineffective, and because of his own stupid mistake he had cost himself 3000 Life Points. Even his own Angel of the Balancing Scales had been ripped out of his graveyard and made to benfit Axis.
"That's it," Fader said with sudden realization.
"What?" Axis asked.
"You've been able to stop every card and every strategy that I've come up with."
"Thanks I try my best," Axis replied with a smile.
"No card I've got is going to be able to beat Exodia."
"Are you surrendering?"
"The exact opposite. I'm about to win this duel."
"But you just said that no card you had could stop me."
"That's right, but your card can."
"My card?"
"I may not be able to remove a card from the graveyard, but your Barrier can't prevent me from moving one. You took my Angel of the Balancing Scales, and I'm going to return the favor. I play the Double Magic magic card. I'll discard Monster Reborn from my hand to copy your Transfer of Souls card and move Exodia the Forbiden One to my graveyard. You no longer have all five parts in your graveyard, and you know what that means."
"My Exodia Necros! There's no way!"
"Obviously there is. Your monster is destroyed. Now I summon the Blade Knight (1600/1000) and attack your Life Points directly!"
Fader: 300, Axis: 0.
"You won," Axis said dejectedly. "I can't believe that you beat Exoda, twice." Axis shut off his Duel Disk and then tossed his peice of the Millennium Puzzle to Fader.
Fader pocketed the piece and moved to the now open elevator doors. Before he could enter them though Axis called out to him one last time. Fader turned back to see what he wanted.
"I finally understand," Axis said.
"Understand what?"
"In the museum in England, the last museum Euroope has left, there's a slab of rock that was retrieved from Egypt thousands of years ago. They never got around to moving it to the Tokyo museum. There's an inscription on the rock face that they translated into English. It's one of the first things I can remember reading."
At the mention of Egpyt somehting in Fader snapped to attention. "What does it say?"
"It says 'Only he who knows true power will properly wield the Millennium Puzzle.' For the longest time I believe that it meant Exodia, but I learned today that I was wrong. You are the one who holds the true power."
"True power?"
"Heart. You have the heart to face any challenge and overcome it. You already know the picture, you're just gathering the pieces. Good luck to you Fader. I have faith in you and your abilities. I hope we can duel again someday."
Fader nodded his head in acknowledgement and entered the elevator, the doors closing behind him. Ther was nothing Fader could think of to reply to what Axis had just said to him. He had true power? Heart? It didn't make any sense, and yet at the same time with each piece of the Millennium Puzzle that he gathered he could feel a stronger sense of self. Like he was finally putting back a part of his being that he never knew was missing. Fader shook off the thoughts. He didn't have time for soul searching, he still had a tournament to win.
"Stalling for time?" Axis asked Fader. "Not really the smartest move you could make. Every turn that passes brings me closer to the five pieces of Exodia anyway. Well whatever. If you want to drag this out longer than it has to be I'm not going to stop you. I end my turn."
Fader knew that Axis was right. There was only so long he could keep delaying. Axis would eventually draw the final piece of Exodia into his hand, and win the duel. You'll just have to make sure that the other four pieces aren't there when he does came a voice in his head. It was true. If he couldn't stop Axis from drawing the last part he would find a way to eliminate the parts already in his hand.
"Hurry up and draw Fader. Or are you considering giving up fianlly?"
"I won't give up Axis. I'm going to win this duel."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive," Fader replied.
"Then how about we up the stakes a little?"
"What's your idea?"
"Well, normal Battle City rules state that the winner gets the loser's rarest card. How about instead, we wager something even more valuable?"
"A piece of the Millennium Puzzle?"
"Exactly. I'd love to go home with three pieces of the puzzle instead of just two and on the slim chance that you actually win, you could bring your total up to an even ten. Interested?"
"You're on Axis!" Fader shouted emphatically.
"Then make your draw."
You can do this! came the voice in his head. Concentrate. There is always a solution to any problem waiting in your deck. You just have to trust yourself. Fader closed his eyes, drew his card and with a deep sigh opened his eyes to look at the card. He then turned his gaze to Axis who was drawing a card of his own thanks to the stolen Angel.
"Did you draw the final part of Exodia?" Fader asked.
"Not this time," came the reply.
"Good, because now you're not going to get the chance to gather all five. I play Card Destruction! We both discard our cards and draw the same number that we had before."
"My Exodia Head! I won't be able to bring that back with a Backup Soldiers!"
"And now I can get rid of my Regulation of Tribe since your Sangan won't be around very much longer. Spear Dragon attack!"
Fader: 3300, Axis: 1400.
"I'll set one other card face down and end my turn," fader said with a sigh of relief. He had beaten Exodia.
"You're better than good Fader," Axis said. "I honestly can't remember the last time someone managed to stop me from gettting all of Exodia together. I'll activate Sangan's effect now and get the Left Arm from my deck."
"That's a waste. It won't do you any good."
"You're very right. But when I play my other Graceful Charity card now, it gives me something else to discard other than a good card in my hand."
"So you just used it as a throwaway."
"That's part of the reason. The other part is that I needed it in the graveyard with the other four parts."
"Why is that?"
"So I can use this magic card, the Pact With Exodia! It alows me to special summon Exodia Necros (1800/0) from my hand."
"Exodia...Necros?" Fader asked. This wasn't going to be good.
"That's that I said. Exodia Necros is a powerful monster that can only be in play as long as the five Exodia parts are in the graveyard. You've just gotten out of the frying pan and into the fire Fader. But since it's a special summon it can't attack this turn. Your move Fader."
"I don't see what's so strong about it, it only has 1800 attack, Spear Dragon attack Exodia Necros!" Fader declared. The Spear Dragon dove at Exodia and rammed its horn right where the monster's heart would have been, Axis' Life Points dropped but Exodia remained where it stood. "What?" Fader said with disbelief.
"Exodia Necros is too powerful to be destroyed by a monster attack. I stil lost the measly 100 points of damage from your attack, but Exodia will be unharmed."
Fader: 3000, Axis: 1300.
"I'll lay one card face down and end my turn," Fader said.
"Now it's my turn and my Exoida's attack power increases by 500 points," Axis declared.
"What?"
"My Exodia Necros will gain 500 attack points during each of my standby phases. Every turn it will get stonger and stronger. And with Mask of Restrict in play you can't summon any monster strong enough to stand against it. I'll lay one card face down and then attack your Spear Dragon!"
"I don't think so. Activate Magic Arm Shield and grab your Big Shield Gardna to block the attack."
"So I lose another 300 Life Points."
"That's not all, I activate Destruction Punch. Since Exodia has a lower attack then the Gardna's defense it gets destroyed."
"Hardly. Exodia Necros is also immune to the effects of magic and trap cards that try and destroy it. Your Destruction Punch does nothing."
"Damn."
Fader: 3300, Axis: 1000.
"Your turn Fader."
Fader drew his card and smiled. "I may not be able to destroy Exodia by battling it or with magic or trap cards but I do know one way to stop it. I summon the Z-Metal Caterpillar (1500/1200). Now I can fuse X-Head Cannon, Y- Dragon Head and Z-Metal Caterpillar together to form the XYZ-Dragon Cannon (2800/2200). Then I can destroy your Exodia by simply discarding a card from my hand."
"But you won't be able to fuse them, since I activate my trap card, Torrrential Tribute. It destroys all monsters on the field, except for my Exodia of course since it isn't affected by traps."
"I'll lay one card face down and then end my turn Axis," Fader said, disheartened. Exodia Necros seemed unstoppable, and it just kept getting stronger.
"My turn so Exodia's power increases by another 500 points to 2800! Exodia attack his Life Points directly!"
"I activate my trap card!" Fader declared, flipping over his card.
"Weren't you paying attention? Your traps don't affect Exodia."
"The trap wasn't for Exodia, it was for me. Enchanted Javelin increases my Life Points by 2800, the same amount as your attack, so my Life Points remain just as they were."
"You can't keep up these stall tactics forever Fader. But go ahead and cling to false hope. I'll lay two cards face down and end my turn."
"There's almost nothing I can do. I'll lay one card face down. Then I'll set a monster in defense mode."
"Activate Shadow of Eyes," Axis interrupted. "This trap forces your monster into attack mode." Fader flipped over his monster and a small furball appeared on the field in front of Fader. Axis couldn't help but laugh. "A Kuriboh (300/200)? You really are out of ideas."
"Just make your move Axis," Fader said with a focused gaze.
"Exodia Necros, attack the Kuriboh!"
"I activate Muliply!"
"Ha! Nice try, but Multiply is negated!"
"What?"
"To activate its effect you have to offer your Kuriboh as a tribute," Axis explained.
Fader realized what he meant and finished the thought. "But Mask of Restrict prevents tributes."
"Of any kind, that's right. Your little defense plan failed. Exodia attack!"
Fader: 300, Axis: 1000
Fader was out of ideas. Exodia Necros was just getting stonger and stronger and none of his plans to stop it were working. In a single attack it had wiped out three quarters of his Life Points. You can't give up. a voice in his head was telling him. There is no problem that can't be solved, no monster that doesn't have a weakness to be exploited. Trust in yourself, and in your cards. Fader drew his card.
"Your Exodia Necros is strong but it has a major weakness. It needs the five pieces of Exodia in your graveyard. I have the card that will bring it down, Monster Reborn!"
"You think I hadn't planned for that? I activate my other face down card, the Barrier of the Necromancer trap card. It prevents either player from retireving cards from the graveyard. Go ahead and play your Monster Reborn but it will do nothing."
Fader looked at the cards in his hand. Axis was just toying with him now. He could have let Fader play the card before he activated his trap but instead he activated it early, just to slap Fader in the face and let him know that it wouldn't work. Every move Fader was making was being countered: the XYZ Dragon Cannon had been destroyed, his Destruction Punch combo was ineffective, and because of his own stupid mistake he had cost himself 3000 Life Points. Even his own Angel of the Balancing Scales had been ripped out of his graveyard and made to benfit Axis.
"That's it," Fader said with sudden realization.
"What?" Axis asked.
"You've been able to stop every card and every strategy that I've come up with."
"Thanks I try my best," Axis replied with a smile.
"No card I've got is going to be able to beat Exodia."
"Are you surrendering?"
"The exact opposite. I'm about to win this duel."
"But you just said that no card you had could stop me."
"That's right, but your card can."
"My card?"
"I may not be able to remove a card from the graveyard, but your Barrier can't prevent me from moving one. You took my Angel of the Balancing Scales, and I'm going to return the favor. I play the Double Magic magic card. I'll discard Monster Reborn from my hand to copy your Transfer of Souls card and move Exodia the Forbiden One to my graveyard. You no longer have all five parts in your graveyard, and you know what that means."
"My Exodia Necros! There's no way!"
"Obviously there is. Your monster is destroyed. Now I summon the Blade Knight (1600/1000) and attack your Life Points directly!"
Fader: 300, Axis: 0.
"You won," Axis said dejectedly. "I can't believe that you beat Exoda, twice." Axis shut off his Duel Disk and then tossed his peice of the Millennium Puzzle to Fader.
Fader pocketed the piece and moved to the now open elevator doors. Before he could enter them though Axis called out to him one last time. Fader turned back to see what he wanted.
"I finally understand," Axis said.
"Understand what?"
"In the museum in England, the last museum Euroope has left, there's a slab of rock that was retrieved from Egypt thousands of years ago. They never got around to moving it to the Tokyo museum. There's an inscription on the rock face that they translated into English. It's one of the first things I can remember reading."
At the mention of Egpyt somehting in Fader snapped to attention. "What does it say?"
"It says 'Only he who knows true power will properly wield the Millennium Puzzle.' For the longest time I believe that it meant Exodia, but I learned today that I was wrong. You are the one who holds the true power."
"True power?"
"Heart. You have the heart to face any challenge and overcome it. You already know the picture, you're just gathering the pieces. Good luck to you Fader. I have faith in you and your abilities. I hope we can duel again someday."
Fader nodded his head in acknowledgement and entered the elevator, the doors closing behind him. Ther was nothing Fader could think of to reply to what Axis had just said to him. He had true power? Heart? It didn't make any sense, and yet at the same time with each piece of the Millennium Puzzle that he gathered he could feel a stronger sense of self. Like he was finally putting back a part of his being that he never knew was missing. Fader shook off the thoughts. He didn't have time for soul searching, he still had a tournament to win.