The Wrath of the Masked Duelist
By: Von Stupor
Von Stupor, accompanied by his new companion Nina, managed to reach the sub-tournament and enter just before it began.
"You eliminated me fair and square, so I can't duel in the sub-tournament. Instead, I'll root for you from the side!"
Von Stupor nodded and walked over to the contestants only area to be paired with his opponent. Not many were there with him, showing that the finals were close. There were plenty of familiar duelists there; Yugi and Joey among others. Von Stupor was ultimately paired with Weevil Underwood.
Perhaps if I indulge him in conversation, he'll divulge some secrets and strategies, he thought to himself.
He found Weevil near the dock, the area he and Weevil would be dueling at. He approached Weevil and spoke to him.
"Well, I am glad to be dueling someone I have heard of before," he said.
"So you've seen me on television before, have you?" he asked.
"Indeed. Your duels—as well as all others—are quite entertaining."
"Well, I've heard a lot about you on the streets as well. I hear you've got a very powerful monster with you, one that can actually absorb other monsters."
"Ah, Relinquished. 'Tis my pride and joy."
"Do you mind if I… could possibly see it?"
"I'll show you my deck if you show me yours. Ha, ha, ha."
A look of disgust fell upon Weevil's face for a brief moment.
"Von Stupor…" he asked. "Are you—"
"No."
"Alright, then. Just… checking, that's all."
"There's no harm in that."
"Right. None at all. Anyway, fine. Take a good look at my deck. You'll have to work very hard to beat it."
"It's rather large…"
"That's true, but have you ever heard the term 'it's not the size that matters, it's how you use it' before?"
"I suppose so. I try to keep my deck small, but alas, 'tis quite difficult. Whenever I try to make it go down, it just gets that much larger."
"Are you done looking at it yet?"
"Yes, I am. Here's my deck, green one."
Weevil took Von Stupor's deck in his hand and looked through it, intently.
"I can see it's balanced well," observed Weevil.
"Thank you, Weevil of Underwood. I have noticed that I feel awkward when allowing someone else to hold my deck. I am always most comfortable when it is in my hands and only my hands. However, as a fellow duelist, I must trust that you'll handle it with care. 'Tis the honorable thing to do."
"You're very cautious with it, I see."
"Yes, I like to keep my deck in sleeves whenever I use it."
"Ah, so this is Relinquished!"
"Ah, Relinquished. 'Tis my pride and joy."
"Ever since I heard about this monster, I have tried to find out the best way to defeat it. As it turns out, I have just now found a way."
"What way is that, O Insect King?"
A devilish grin streaked over Weevil's face. Von Stupor turned to see Joey running towards him, yelling something. He was inaudible over the murmuring of the crowd.
"The best way to defeat Relinquished," said Weevil. "is the fish."
Von Stupor cocked his head to the side, confused.
"Allow me to demonstrate! Say good-bye to Relinquished!!!"
Weevil chucked Von Stupor's deck as hard as he could over the dock, towards the water.
"No!!!" cried Von Stupor in shock.
Just then, Joey had finally made it to Von Stupor, panting.
"Crap, I'm too late!" he said, turning to Weevil. "You prepubescent, insect ass kissin', yellow, mushroom head lookin', four-eyed, cheatin', pint-sized little punk!!! You're lucky I don't beat your face in right now! The only thing stoppin' me is security watchin' my every move after I dealt with a few other creeps like you!"
Weevil simply laughed at Joey. He turned to Von Stupor and cackled, "Now you no longer have a deck to play with, and because of this, you will be automatically disqualified! Hyo hyo hyo hyo hyo! I have just defeated you before the duel even began!"
Von Stupor wasn't paying any attention. He was hunched over, clutching his mask very tightly as if he were in pain.
"Hey, Von… You alright?" Joey asked.
Von Stupor straightened himself back up and shouted into the sky, "Majora!!!"
A dark electricity circulated throughout Von Stupor's body briefly. The energy surge formed a billowing cloud of dust form around him, hiding him. When the dust cleared, there Von Stupor stood, the eyes of his mask glowing.
He levitated into the air and shot towards where the cards were falling. He stuck out his hand, palm out, and the cards instantly froze in midair. He turned his palm down and every single card shot back up into his hand, stacking themselves neatly. He shuffled them and put them into his cope pocket. He then proceeded to float back to the dock and land softly.
Joey and Weevil stared in awe at Von Stupor. Von Stupor walked over to an already shocked Weevil and picked him up by the collar of his shirt, holding him high into the air. He spoke, but now in a darker, deeper, more intimidating voice than before.
"For what you have done you shall pay. Though I cannot do anything to you right now because of the sub-tournament, our duel will most definitely play a role in my wrath," he said.
"Wh… what do you mean?" he choked out.
"It is simple. The first thing I shall do to you is humiliate you and your self-proclaimed unbeatable insect army by showing your lack of skill to the public. I shall perform this by winning our match unscathed, meaning you shall damage my Life points once."
Von Stupor then put Weevil back down.
"The match is about to start," Von Stupor informed Weevil. "Get your deck ready and move to your side of the playing field. I will be waiting for you, fool."
Hearing that, Weevil came back to his senses.
"Impossible! You can never defeat my wondrous insects!" he shouted. "Never!!!"
The crowd gathered to watch the match and officials came to referee. The head referee stepped forward to the middle of the playing area and said, "Let the duel begin!"
"I shall go first!" Weevil announced. Some fans cheered for him.
"Very well," Von Stupor agreed.
"I shall set this monster and end my turn!"
"I will play 'Pot of Greed' and draw two more cards. I then will set two Magic or Trap cards and play 'Change of Heart' on your face-down monster. I shall tribute that monster to summon my Summoned Skull and activate 'Rush Recklessly', raising his attack by 700 for this turn and bringing it up to a total of 3200. I shall now attack you directly. My first turn has passed and you are already left with a mere 4800 Life Points; this is a positive sign of a novice."
Summoned Skull carelessly ejected all the electricity out of its body and tired itself out. By sheer luck (and the power of 'Rush Recklessly'), all of it hit Weevil. Weevil was left in a state of pure terror.
"That's right, Von! Show that little weasel who's boss around here!" Joey shouted from the sidelines.
"No… this can't be!" Weevil said to himself. "Nearly half of my Life Points… lost in the second turn of a duel??? This isn't right! I am the champion! I will win! I'll play 'Premature Burial' to bring back the monster you just sacrificed, Killer Needle! I'll set one more monster and end my turn!"
"I will now summon the Whiptail Crow and equip Summoned Skull with my magic card, Axe of Despair, raising his attack to 3500. Summoned Skull, attack the Killer Needle with Lightning Slice."
Summoned Skull charged the cursed blade with dark electricity and chopped the Killer Needle to ribbons. Weevil's Life Points sunk to 1700.
"Whiptail Crow, use your Whiptail Whip on Weevil's face-down monster."
"Hyo hyo hyo! That monster is the Man-Eater Bug! Even though it is destroyed, its flip effect allows me to automatically destroy any one monster on the field, and guess which monster that is!"
Von Stupor remained silent.
"Guess which monster I will destroy!"
Von Stupor remained silent.
Weevil looked around him, confused and said, "…That's right! I shall destroy your summoned skull!"
The Man-Eater Bug shot its claw up and hit Summoned Skull between the legs. Summoned Skull grunted in agony and fell over. The Whiptail Crow had by now bludgeoned the Man-Eater Bug to the ground. Summoned Skull and Man-Eater Bug were both destroyed and Von Stupor ended his turn.
"Give it up!" Weevil commanded. "Now that your Summoned Skull has fallen, there is no way conceivable that you can defeat me!"
"You are a fool to think that," Von Stupor retorted. "Whosoever had the ignorance to birth you should have been dragged by her hair into the street and stoned to death."
The crowd gasped in shock.
"You… you fiend!" Weevil yelled to Von Stupor, his eyes widening. "How could talk to me like that?!"
"I speak only truth."
A small tear formed on Weevil's cheek. As it trickled to his chin he ended his turn.
"That can't be Von Stupor…" Joey observed. "Von Stupor don't say things that low. Weevil may be a jerk, but he didn't deserve somethin' like that."
"I shall equip to my Whiptail Crow another 'Axe of Despair', raising his overall attack to 2650. I shall also summon Zombyra the Dark and attack your face-down card with Zombie Fist attack."
Zombyra attacked the card and another Man-Eater Bug popped out and evaded the attack. It shot behind the Whiptail and quickly slit its throat. Zombyra finally caught the bug and squeezed its head until it burst.
"Hm. Your turn," Von Stupor announced.
"You are the meanest duelist I have ever met! My beautiful insects and I shall defeat you in this sub-tournament even if it is the last thing we ever do!"
"Your comment about me comes from one who tried to throw this very deck into the water in order to destroy it, earning you a bye once I were disqualified."
The crowd gasped at Weevil once more, this time glaring.
Weevil looked around quickly, his face a bright red.
"Uh… heh heh… Um, I can explain that, I um…" he stuttered.
The crowd began booing Weevil. One angry duelist threw his drink at him. It splattered all over Weevil's hair and clothes. He looked up at Baron von Stupor with a look of hate.
"I know you are smiling under that mask," he said, angrily.
"Indeed I am. Seeing the mighty Weevil Underwood suffer such a downfall greatly amuses me. What amuses me even more is that you have dug a hole so deep, you can no longer climb out of it. In order for you to even save face and prove me wrong, you would have to damage my Life Points before you forfeit. There in nothing you can do, Weevil, except accept your upcoming fate. You are as good as finished."
"That will never happen! I'll play 'Swords of Revealing Light'! Now you cannot attack for three whole turns, while I may strengthen my defense! How is that?"
"Futile. Your destruction is imminent."
"Grrr… I'll set this monster and end my turn!"
"I draw and end my turn. Two turns remain."
"I draw and set this monster! Your turn!"
"I shall set one monster and shift Zombyra the Dark into defense mode. That ends my turn. One more turn remains."
"I summon Kumootoko and flip summon Dorover and Acid Crawler! First, I'll use my Dorover to attack Zombyra the Dark!"
A blue puddle of liquid appeared before Zombyra. Zombyra looke at it incredulously as it grew many spheres that closely resembled eyes. Then, in a surprise attack, it lunged at Zombyra's head, clamping its mouth over it. It appeared to be an acidic liquid, because once once the Dorover was thrown off, Zombyra's head had melted down to his shoulders.
"Next, I'll use the Acid Crawler to attack your face-down card!"
The face-down card, Sangan, stood no chance.
"I shall now retrieve a monster from my deck with an attack of 1500 or less because of Sangan's effect," Von Stupor announced.
"Finally, this whole time you have said that I wouldn't damage your Life Points during this entire match, but here you are with nothing to defend yourself with! Hyo hyo hyo! Kumootoko, attack him directly!!!"
"I shall discard Kuriboh to reduce that damage to zero."
The Kumootoko's dive missed Von Stupor completely.
"Grrrrrr… your turn!"
"I stay by my word that you will not damage my Life Points. I set one Magic or Trap card and end my turn."
"Hyo hyo hyo… I doubt you have four more Kuribohs in your hand… In fact, you shoudn't even have more than two! I shall summon the Flying Kamakiri #1! Now attack, my insects!"
"You are correct in that I do not have any more Kuribohs in my hand. However, I do have a 'Negate Attack' that I choose to activate. Your Battle Phase is now over."
Weevil kicked the dirt in anger.
Von Stupor continued. "I now play 'Dark Hole' and destroy all monsters on the field, and if I'm not mistaken, all monsters on the field are your monsters, so I am not disadvantaged. Next, I shall summon La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp and equip him with a third Axe of Despair and attack you directly."
La Jinn shot a magical blast from the axe and Weevil's remaining Life Points were eliminated.
"Your Life Points have diminished while mine are left untouched. This duel is mine," Von Stupor stated.
The crowd went into an uproar. Cheers came from everywhere, praising Von Stupor. Weevil was left in shock.
Angrily, he said, "That's just fine, but you still have to beat me a second time if you expect to live up to your word!"
"I will be waiting to defeat you again after the intermission."
"Hmph!"
Weevil stomped away.
He and Von Stupor were given ten minutes to adjust their deck. Joey called Von Stupor over to him.
"Don't you have a match you should be in?" Von Stupor asked him.
"My match ain't 'till later," Joey said, "but that's not the point! What the heck is your problem? I mean, sure your deck almost took a dunk, but you're acting like he tried to murder you! You're not the Von Stupor I know."
"Of course I'm not, Joey. Von Stupor called upon the power of this mask. He is a mere vessel right now. I am Majora, ancient sorcerer of old, now if you'll excuse me, I have a match to win."