Yu-Gi-Oh! Avatar
Fanfic Chapter 29: Dueling Identities Pt 2: Ritual of Chaos
Episode Basis: Duel Identities Pt 2
Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh! It was time for the Duelist Kingdom Finals to begin. First up: Yugi Moto versus Mai Valentine. Yugi was trying his hardest to keep the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle in check but it wasn't easy especially when Mai revealed some new tricks: like the Mirror Wall trap card, which cuts any attacking monsters' attack points in half and Harpie's Pet Dragon which gains power with every Harpie Lady on the field. In her own quirky way, Mai was trying to coach Yugi through his problem. But despite this, she ended up destroying Yugi's top three monsters: Gaia the Fierce the Knight, Summoned Skull, and even the Dark Magician. How can Yugi duel against Mai and himself at the same time?
"This is insane," Harold complained. "Yugi's down to 300 life points and Mai's haven't even been touched yet."
Yugi assessed his situation. With that Shadow of Eyes card out, I can't play any of my monsters in defense mode. But if I attack, my monsters lose half their power!
"Please, let me help you!"
"No! I can't risk turning you loose!"
Poor Yugi-boy seems to have a lot on his mind, Pegasus observed. It was easy to tell even without his Millennium Eye. I sense much conflict, instead of embracing the power of his Millennium Item; he seems to be struggling against it. And that will be his undoing!
"What's the problem, Yugi?" Tristan asked.
"Mai is," Tea responded. "She's gone and put away all of her card tricks and played this duel flawlessly!"
"I know," Joey agreed. "Who would've thought she'd be this good? Could it be that it was sheer dumb luck that I beat her before?"
"It wasn't luck, Joey," Mai answered. "I lost that duel because you knew something I didn't." The others put on confused faces. "I learned more from that defeat than any other match I've ever played, victory or defeat. I didn't want to believe it, but it was true. It changed me, Joey, and changed my perspective on dueling."
"And just what was that epiphany, Mai?" Harold asked.
"I had to take a good long look at myself and I realized that the reason I was relying on that psychic scam was because I had no faith in my own dueling skills. I was afraid of admitting that and that fear was a chain that held me back. In fact, it held me back so much that I had to resort to sending others after you."
"Rex," Joey realized.
"Joey, do you know how you made it to the final round of this tournament?"
"Yeah, I got through this because I had my friends supporting me. True, most of them didn't do any real dueling, but their support really helped me in that duel with that zombie Duelist."
"That's true," Mai agreed. "But you also had guts, Joey, the guts to look inside yourself and face-up to what was there, no matter what the emotion, no matter what the thought was. Just now, you asked yourself if it was luck that you beat me. That was facing up to your demons. And that's a lesson everyone should learn. Joey, you, Yugi, and even Tea taught me that rather than hide from my inner demons, I should face them, accept what was there, and move on. Yugi, have you faced up to your demons yet? Whatever freaked you out in your battle against Kaiba, have you dealt with it yet?"
How can I? Yugi pondered. Kaiba was willing to sacrifice himself to win the duel. And the Spirit of my Millennium Puzzle was willing to let him.
"Kaiba, I never backed down before and I'm not about to start!"
I couldn't let that happen.
"Celtic Guardian, stop!"
Even if it cost me the duel.
"I knew you couldn't do it," Kaiba said. "Blue-Eyes, attack with White Lightning!" The Celtic Guardian was destroyed.
No matter the reason, I couldn't risk hurting someone else.
"I meant no harm, I only wanted to help. And I vow never to go against your wishes again."
"How can I believe you?"
"Your Grandfather told you to trust in the power of the Millennium Puzzle. Remember?"
"Yes, yes, I do!"
The Millennium Puzzle started to glow as Yugi joined forces with the Spirit. "Mai, thank you, you taught me that a true person, a Duelist or anyone else, must face his fears. You're right, I was holding back, but no more!"
So Yugi-boy finally accepted the power granted to him, Pegasus mused. Better late than never.
You're a little late to the party, Yugi, I've been dueling for real all along!
"Here we go," Yugi announced.
"Remember, you promised to do this my way."
"I remember, and I always honor my vow."
"I play the magic card Brain Control!"
"Brain Control, what is that?" Mai asked.
"With Brain Control, I can brainwash an enemy monster and control it for one turn!" A purple brain appeared and began to exhibit hypnotic waves over Harpie's Pet Dragon. "I'll use it to seize control of Harpie's Pet Dragon!" The dragon roared and suddenly turned to face Harpie Lady, a menacing look on the dragon's face. Harpie Lady actually looked scared.
"Nice, Yugi, but Harpie's Pet Dragon is forever faithful. Even brainwashed, it would never turn on its Mistress. Yugi, you just made your final mistake!"
"Sorry, Mai, but I don't intend to attack your Harpie Lady."
Mai was surprised. "Then… why did you seize control of Harpie's Pet Dragon?"
"I'll show you. First, I place one card face-down and next I summon Catapult Turtle in attack mode!" The Mirror Wall was raised. "Because I called an attack, Mirror Wall activates but what I'm going to do is something different. I'll insert Harpie's Pet Dragon onto the catapult!" The dragon landed on top of the turtle which aimed straight at the Mirror Wall.
Mai cringed. Oh no, the Catapult Turtle can breach defensive barriers like Mirror Wall.
"Catapult launch!" The dragon was flung right into the Mirror Wall shattering it to pieces and destroying it in the process.
"He shattered my Mirror Wall to pieces!" Mai gasped.
"And that's not all; my attack has served more than to simply break down your defenses. Because it was your monster that was fired from Catapult Turtle, half of the monster's attack points get deducted from your life points. The tide of this battle is turning, Mai."
(Y: 300)
(M: 850)
Well, looks like Yugi-boy has gained his inner strength back. He must've accepted the Millennium Puzzle's power.
You wanted me to give you my best, Mai, well you got it. If I can really trust the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, then nothing can stop us!
"My turn," Mai announced as she drew a card. Okay, the only monster Yugi has on the field is that reptilian launch pad. I could send Harpie Lady to destroy it, then Yugi's life points will drop to 0 and I'll be the winner! However… She eyed Yugi's face-down card. There's that face-down card of his. I could be sending Harpie Lady into a trap. But then again, if it's not a trap and I don't attack, I could lose my chance to win the game. This is the toughest decision I had to make today: to attack or not to attack. Mai stared into Yugi's eyes. The eyes were defiant, almost daring Mai to attack.
"Bring on your assault, Mai!"
"Now I will… not attack this time. I'm not falling into your trap and there are other moves I can do, like this one. I play Elegant Egotist." The single Harpie Lady became 3, each one with a different hair style, but all with over 2400 attack points. That ends my turn now, but next turn you'll feel a taste of my Ladies' claws and I promise you won't enjoy it!"
Yugi smiled. "That's too bad, Mai, you really should've attacked me."
"That's your opinion," Mai said snootily.
"No, its fact, if you called an attack, you would've won."
"But your trap card…" Mai protested.
"It's not a trap," Yugi said holding it up to show Mai. It was a magic card: Monster Recovery! Mai gasped. "You fell for my bluff. It's a whole new duel now!"
"Yugi seems stronger now, like he usually does when he duels," Harold observed. "I'm guessing something Mai said actually got through to him."
"Thank goodness," Tea said.
"For this turn, I activate the Monster Recovery card!" Catapult Turtle disappeared as Yugi combined his hand with his deck, re-shuffled, and then drew a new hand. But to his dismay, it wasn't anything he could use to bring down Mai's Harpies. And Mai could see that. Without a monster, I can't attack Mai's life points. I'm a sitting duck. Wait a minute… maybe I'm not! "I play a monster card in defense mode!"
"But you can't," Mai argued. "Shadow of Eyes automatically switches your monster into attack mode."
"All monsters?" Yugi challenged. "Not so, and that's what will save my life points this turn: Mystical Elf!" Again, Mai was taken by surprise. "Shadow of Eyes may lure men into battle, but it doesn't work on female monsters!"
"Oh no, I forgot about that!"
"You'll have to attack it instead of me."
Tea breathed a sigh of relief. "Yugi made it through this turn."
"Yes, but that does not mean he's out of the woods just yet," Bakura said firmly. "It won't take Mai long to destroy that Mystical Elf."
"So let's see where we stand, you're on the board with one measly elf and it's my turn. First I'll use Monster Reborn to bring back an old friend."
"No, not Monster Reborn!"
"That's right and look at whom I'm returning." Harpie's Pet Dragon reappeared. "Remember him? And he gets 300 extra attack points for every Harpie on the field."
(HPD: 2000-2900)
"Harpie Ladies, combine your power! Exterminator Attack!" The Harpie Ladies pooled their energies and obliterated the Mystical Elf.
"She wiped out his last defense!"
"Next turn, it's over, Yugi, I'll deplete the last of your life points and then… looks like I go on to the finals." He might as well admit it, I'm unstoppable. I destroyed all his powerful monsters and Mystical Elf was the only card immune to Shadow of Eyes. One more turn and it's all over.
Yugi was thinking the same thing. No, there must be something I can do. I need to buy some more time. The next card I draw will decide the fate of so many lives! Grandpa, Kaiba, Mokuba, even Joey and his sister, all are resting on my hands. I can't do it.
"We can do this," the Spirit told Yugi. "Together, just trust me. And trust in the heart of the cards."
"Come on," Mai was coaxing. "We both know that I'll wipe out any card you play on your next turn."
"Swords of Revealing Light!" Three large golden swords landed right in front of Mai's monsters.
Mai stared incredulously at her opponent. Swords of Revealing Light, he actually drew Swords of Revealing Light. That kid must have the devil's luck!
"Oh man, that was a close one, at least Yugi has three free turns to figure out how to win."
"So you decided to go down fighting, huh? Well, surrendering would be easier but if you want to go out in a blaze of glory, I'll be only happy to light the fire."
"No, Mai, what I intend to do is go out in a blaze of victory!"
"Harpie's Pet Dragon is the most powerful monster on the field, Yugi told the spirit. "Unless we can defeat it, there's no way we can win."
"We can defeat it, but only at great risk. It involves a ritual."
"A ritual, which one?"
"If I can draw the necessary cards, you'll find out soon. But three turns might not be enough time."
"For my only move this turn, I play Kuriboh in attack mode!"
Mai was flabbergasted. "It's the attack of the three-toed hairball!" Kuriboh scowled at Mai and raked its claws. "Oh gee, look at it, it's totally ruthless, I think it's ready to attack Harpie's Pet Dragon single-handed," Mai said with a laugh. Yugi just looked firmly across the field. "What, you don't think that's funny?"
"Laugh all you want, Mai, but don't underestimate Kuriboh, he's a big step in taking you down."
"That hairball couldn't be a big step in anything except maybe choking a cat. Anyway, I can't attack while Swords of Revealing Light is out so I'll just draw one card and end my turn."
That Kuriboh was a good start, Yugi thought as he studied his hand: Celtic Guardian, Monster Reborn, and Gripphore. But without the right cards, I can't initate the ritual. I still need one more card. Yugi drew the Polymerization card. But this isn't the one.
I don't know what move you're trying to pull, kiddo, but go for it. If you gotta lose, you might as well lose with flare.
"This card worked for you so I think I'll use it too. I use Monster Reborn to revive Gaia the Fierce Knight!"
"Gaia, shmaia, I guess he's an improvement over that flimsy Kuriboh. But he's hardly a threat against my Harpie forces." She drew a card. "Two turns to go."
"That'll be enough." The next card Yugi drew was Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress. Still not the right one.
Tea was getting worried for Yugi, but Joey reassured her, "Yugi's not about to give up. Win or lose, he's going to give it his all."
Meanwhile, Pegasus was beginning to catch on to Yugi's plan through his Millennium Eye. Ah, I see, very daring, Yugi-boy, you're going to attempt a ritual summons. And a very powerful one too, but you only have one turn left to draw the necessary card. Are you really willing to risk everything on a single draw?
"It's my turn again." Mai drew a card and mentally rejoiced. She drew another Harpie Lady card. On my next turn, I can play it giving me a total of 4 Harpie Ladies! Then Harpie's Pet Dragon's attack points will be raised to 3200! Once Yugi's Swords of Revealing Light wear off, it's all over for him.
"Mai isn't even trying to hide her next move," Joey realized. "She's got so much firepower; she thinks she's got it in the bag."
"Her grin is hardly boisterous, Joey," Harold said. "Her Pet Dragon alone has 2900 attack points. None of Yugi's monsters can even come close to that number. Yugi must be working on something, but what?"
"My turn is over, as are your Swords of Revealing Light." The swords disappeared and the monsters were free. Didn't get much help out of your three free turns, huh, Yugi?"
"One card," Yugi muttered to himself. "It all comes down to one card." Everyone held their breath as Yugi's hand moved to the deck. His hand was shaking. No, NO! I… I don't think I can do this…
Now it was the Spirit of the Puzzle who was unsure. Yugi was right, there's too much riding on the draw of a single card. In Yugi's mind's eye, a card the size of a door with a bar appeared. Who am I to gamble with the lives of Yugi's friends and family? And what will happen… what will happen if I should fail? It's too dangerous, I can't.
"We can," Yugi said placing his hand on top of the Spirit's.
"Yugi?"
"I'm with you, and we're not alone…" Images of Joey, Tea, Harold, Bakura, and Tristan appeared. "We have the support of all our friends. They believe we can do it, and we should too."
"I was foolish to stop believing in us."
"It's like you said, we need to believe… in each other, and in the heart of the cards. And as long as we believe… As one, the group placed their hands on the bar and depressed it. There's nothing we can't do!
Pegasus gasped. Such power, I've never felt such tremendous strength! NEVER! He… he…
Yugi drew his card. "Well, Mai, you've put up a good fight…" his scowl slowly rose into a smile. "But now it ends!"
"Huh?"
"Starting with this card: BLACK LUSTER RITUAL!"
"A what?"
"A ritual summons," Bakura gasped. "That's why Yugi used Swords of Revealing Light, it wasn't just desperation; he needed time to gather the Black Luster Ritual!"
"What's so special about a ritual summons?" Tristan asked.
"Ritual summons are really rare," Harold commented. "Not only do you need to have the right magic card in your hand, but you need monsters to sacrifice."
Yugi laid the card on the field. Two large jars and a panel with twin swords appeared. Gaia the Fierce Knight and Kuriboh disappeared into them. Smoke and light billowed from the pots. "Now, combining the energies of my two separate monsters… the powers of light and darkness intertwine, opening the Gates of Chaos, bringing forth… the BLACK LUSTER SOLDIER (1)!" The doors burst open with energy and a humanoid figure in blue and yellow armor appeared.
"The Black Luster Soldier!" Bakura gasped. "The greatest warrior monster ever made! I can't believe we're seeing it in this life time!" The others were speechless.
Mai, on the other hand, wasn't, "Is that… is that really the legendary Black Luster Soldier?"
Even Pegasus was surprised by the monster. Yugi was on the verge of losing, but not only did he make a come back, but he did something very few Duelists were capable of: the legendary Black Luster Ritual!
"Now, Black Luster Soldier, Chaos Blade Attack!" The Black Luster Soldier charged forward. The three Harpie Ladies flew out of the way. but Harpie's Pet Dragon was cut down by the Black Luster Soldier's blade.
(Y: 300)
(M: 750)
The duel is over, Mai's spirit has been broken, Pegasus realized seeing Mai's tear-stricken face. She lost the will to fight on!
Mai stared at the Harpie Lady card she drew last turn. One turn away, if I only could've played one more Harpie Lady before the Black Luster Soldier appeared, I would've won. But I can't use Monster Reborn again… there's no point in going on.
Mai methodically laid her hand on her deck.
"Mai, are you giving up?" Yugi asked calmly.
"No way!" Joey gasped.
"I don't get it," Tea said.
"When a Duelist places his or her hand over his or her deck like that, it means they concede the duel," Bakura explained.
"I'd rather not see my Harpie Ladies destroyed in the next turn. The duel is yours, Yugi!" And Mai turned and stepped off her platform, heading for the exit.
"Mai," Yugi called back. "Thank you, you helped me a lot today. You taught me to face my fears and weaknesses, and in the process, restored my Dueling spirit."
"It's awfully nice of you to say that, Yugi," Mai said neutrally. "But it seems to me that I still have a lot to learn… about dueling and myself. But I suppose it's hopeless for a Duelist to know everything in one life time. But I also learned something today: that defeat doesn't have to be forever. You won this duel, Yugi, but there'll be others." She turned and gave him a thumb up. "You and I will meet in the arena again. Count on it."
Yugi returned the gesture.
The End
Monster Glossary
(1)
Name: Black Luster Soldier
Level: 8
Type: Warrior/Ritual
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 3000
DEF: 2500
