I told you I would get another chapter up soon. The gang is going to make their move against KaibaCorp at last. The next few chapters should prove to be the most action-packed of the lot. So I hope the edge of your seat is comfortable, because that's where you'll all be sitting! Probably.
Dawn broke over the city of Domino. One could only tell that, however, by looking at the nearest clock. The people of the land had not seen the sun for so long, it was hard to remember exactly what it looked like. However, for once the fierce winds and storms seemed to lull. It was a moment that could be described as a morbid tranquillity. At the eye of this storm stood the vast KaibaCorp building. It's enormity was matched only by it's powerful influence. It stood as a citadel of corruption, the very source of sorrow. Few even dare to look upon this evil tower, for fear they would be cursed and suffer without cease for the rest of their days. Still, some see this tower as an obelisk, a pinnacle of prosperity. Those who rely on this tower to maintain their livelihood see it as nothing less than a necessity, like food or water. However it is the undeniable truth that since the formation of this great, dark conundrum of love and hate, there has been great pain in the hearts of many. Joey Wheeler was no exception to this. He, and certainly his friends and loved ones, had experienced pain like none other because of the KaibaCorp. Tristan and Tea had both been seriously injured, their bodies now shadows of their past selves. Mokuba had been forced into isolation and fear, and Mai had been imprisoned for years. Serenity had been stolen away from Joey against her will, and Joey himself now bore terrible scars, both physical and mental, from his terrifying duels.
This day, they would seek their revenge.
Joey and company took refuge behind some debris before the massive building, to avoid detection. Mai was absent, she said she had her own methods of 'getting around' and had left before anyone could protest.
Mokuba's eyes were fixed to his computer screen. "Okay, we have 42 seconds left. On my signal, we need to run like we've never run before straight through the front door. Once inside, we methodically take cover and approach the elevators in the rear of the room until we're all in. Got it?"
Everyone nodded. There was a brief pause, and Mokuba gave the signal. They broke from their cover and charged for the door. They burst inside and took cover behind the large marble pillars within. A second after they had taken cover, a single guard emerged from the elevator. He yawned, took a brief look around the room, and sat down in a chair behind a small desk in the corner of the room. Joey sighed softly, the guard had not seen them, so far so good. He glanced over at Tristan, who was behind a pillar next to him. He seemed similarly relieved at their safe entrance, and leaned up against the pillar. Unfortunately it was not designed to take very much weight, because the moment he put his massive bulk up against it a loud crack resounded through the room and the pillar split down the middle, bits of marble and plaster clattering to the floor. The guard was on his feet instantly. He walked cautiously towards Tristan's hiding spot. There was little he could do to redeem his stealthy posture, so he prepared to take the guard out with a swing of his huge fist. Just as the guard was about to round the corner however, he froze on the spot. He made a sound like a muffled scream then slowly slumped onto the floor. Everyone was silently asking each other what happened, when the air next to the guard shimmered. A second later, there stood Mai. Everyone was relieved, and they made their way to the elevator. The door slid closed.
Mokuba wiped his brow. "The elevators are safe, we can talk here."
Tristan turned to Mai. "Thanks a lot for taking care of that guy, but how did you do that?"
Mai shrugged. "Personal cloaking device. This outfit isn't just high fashion sweetheart, it's got everything a girl needs to take care of her dirty work."
Joey folded his arms and leaned up against the wall of the elevator, relieved at the brief break in the tension. "So we're this far, what's next Mokuba?"
Mokuba was already absorbed in his laptop again. "Most of the security systems in the building are undergoing a full diagnostic simultaneously at this very moment. That means that they're inactive for the time being, so we can ride the elevator almost all the way to the top. We'll have to stop one floor before our destination and split up from there. Joey and I will circle around to the holding cells and see if we can find Yugi or Seto there, while the rest of you gets to the stairway to the next floor. Mai has the map downloaded so she can guide you, Tea can duel anyone who gets in your way, and Tristan can take care of anything else that comes up. Are we all set?"
Everyone nodded, and the doors opened. They wasted no time, Joey and Mokuba took off running towards the prison. They didn't have far to go before they found the entrance to the prisons. Mokuba regarded his laptop a moment, then punched in a short sequence on the door's keypad. The door gave way and they cautiously entered. At first glance it seemed to be like any other prison. As they looked closer, it seemed that the prison had hardly been used, if ever. It was also unusually large and vacant. In fact, it looked like everything in the room had been put together recently and in great haste.
"Mokuba, this doesn't look right, this feels like a..."
He didn't get the chance to finish, the door slammed shut behind them and locked tight. A voice echoed from the shadows in the far corners of the room. "Like a trap, mister Wheeler? Too true. And here I was hoping I would get to spell it out for you. I guess I underestimated you for the second time." The figure stepped into the dim light, and Joey recognized him instantly as his very first opponent since arriving in the future.
"Mephisto!"
"That's what they call me."
"How could you have set up a trap for us if you didn't know we were gonna be here? How could you have known?"
"I believe the young Kaiba has the answer to that. Unless he hasn't figured it out already."
Mokuba turned white as a sheet, he looked like he was going to faint. "You mean... all this time... you knew I had access to your computers?"
"Bingo! You're a smart one, just like your brother. That's right, we figured you would try to pull something like this someday so we kept an eye on your little connection ever since you left us. We let you have all the classified data you could ever want, it made no difference to us. We knew that one day we could lead you into our little mousetrap, and here you are."
Joey growled. "You sneaky little good-for-nothing rat! What about the others, what's gonna happen to them?"
"I imagine they've made a similar meeting with another member of my little team. Rest assured they won't get any father than that."
"All right you filthy weasel, what do you want from us?"
"Naturally, I want you eliminated for good. Of course, I can't arrange that until I defeat you in a duel mister Wheeler. I'm sure you could have guessed that."
"Fine! The loser forfeits his duelling deck and can never challenge anyone to a duel again!"
"Well, it sounds like I've already got you all fired up. Fine then, we won't waste any more time!"
Their duel disks snapped into duel mode, and several hologram generators emerged from the ground. At the same time, pairs of shackles emerged from the ground and snapped themselves onto each duelist's legs.
"This is just an added twist to the game, mister Wheeler. The winner's shackles will unlock, and the loser's won't. I don't think I have to explain any more than that."
"Duel!"
"Duel!"
Mephisto drew his hand. "I'll set one monster in defence mode to start. Your turn, mister Wheeler.
Joey drew his hand. Still in a blind rage from falling for such a huge trap, he didn't even think his opening move through. "I summon Mad Dog of Darkness in attack mode!" In a flash, the monster appeared before him. It let out an unnatural roar and eyed it's opponent hungrily. "Attack! Destroy that monster!" The Dog bounded forward and bit deeply into the face down card. It shook it violently then tossed it aside. The monster revealed itself to be D.D. Warrior Lady. Even though it was heavily damaged from the attack, it threw itself onto the Mad Dog and opened a swirling black vortex that swallowed them both.
"A reckless attack, Wheeler. My Warrior Lady has removed both itself and your Mad Dog of Darkness from play due to your attack. Now I shall summon Pyramid Turtle in attack mode!" A rather short monster whose appearance fit it's name accurately appeared. It yawned slightly. "Attack his lifepoints directly!" The Turtle paused a moment, then charged at Joey. It was not moving fast but it caught him off-guard regardless and knocked him to the ground. His lifepoints dropped to 6800.
This only served to enrage Joey further. He drew his card and was about to summon another monster to attack, when a voice broke through his screaming temper.
"Joey! Stop right there you imbecile!"
Joey turned towards the source of the sound. Through his shaking vision he could barely make out Mokuba. "Good! Now listen to me. If you keep thinking with your anger and not with your brain you're going to lose and everything we've done will be naught! Do you understand?"
Joey responded by yelling and trying to hit Mokuba. Thankfully because of the shackles he was too far away to get to him.
"Joey! I mean it! If you screw this up because you were mad about being tricked then you'll never see anyone again! Not me, not Tristan or Tea or Mai, and certainly not your sister or Yugi for that matter! Now calm down."
Mokuba's words somehow got through Joey's anger. He took a deep breath and tried to clear his mind. After a moment, he felt back to his old self. He nodded to Mokuba and turned back to the duel.
"Yeah, yeah he's right. The only way I can get back at him for tricking us like that is defeating him and rescuing the others." He looked at the Pyramid Turtle, the monster seemed to be distracted by something and it slowly wandered around the room. "I remember reading about this monster. If I destroy it in battle he can summon another monster, he'll probably use it to get out his Vampire Lord and that'll be that. It's a weak monster though, which means he can't do much right now."
"I'll set two cards face down, and summon Swordsman of Landstar in attack mode!" The two cards appeared, and the small Swordsman drew it's sword and smiled cutely. "Your move, ya dirtbag."
"My my, such a temper." He drew his card. "And such predictable moves too. I remember what happened the last time you had your Swordsman and two face down cards in play. Your silly dice trick won't work a second time, I'll use Mystical Space Typhoon on your left card!" He played the card and a small tornado appeared and it moved towards Joey's face down card.
"Looks like you've still got a lot to learn there, shrimp. Well I've got another lesson for ya, and that's to always keep your opponent guessing. I activate the trap, Pharaoh's Treasure!" The trap card disappeared back into Joey's deck a moment before the Typhoon hit it.
"What is the meaning of this? Why did it return to your deck?"
"Don't worry, you'll be seeing it again real soon, then you'll see exactly what it does."
"It matters not, I can still destroy your monster! Pyramid Turtle, destroy his Swordsman!" The Turtle lazily regarded the Swordsman. It sighed, and began charging at it. A second before it made contact, the Swordsman of Landstar shimmered briefly, and suddenly was covered from head to toe in spiked armour. The Turtle was met with a face full of the metallic thorns and it exploded into colourful polygons and vanished. "What? Your other face down card..."
"Was yet another trap. Tough break there pal, but your monster ran headlong into my Sakuretsu Armour trap card, which destroyed it the moment it attacked my Swordsman."
Mephisto growled dangerously. "I'll set this monster in defence mode and one card face down. Your turn, mister Wheeler."
Joey drew his card and was beaming with confidence. "Man, this duel is gonna be a cinch! He's already fallen for two of my traps. Maybe if I can beat him fast enough I'll have time to get to the others before they're caught too!" His past anger forgotten, he coolly played his next cards. "I'll set one card face down and summon Panther Warrior in attack mode!" The feline warrior stood tall, it snarled like a wildcat and brandished it's sword dangerously. "Now first my Swordsman of Landstar will attack you, and then I'll sacrifice it for Panther Warrior so he can attack! Go!" The two monsters charged at their target. The Swordsman of Landstar attacked head-on, striking Mephisto hard. The minute his attack connected, he vanished and Panther Warrior followed up the attack from behind, throwing Mephisto onto his face. His life points dropped to 5500.
Mephisto only laughed. "You must think you're terribly clever, mister Wheeler. However, since our last duel I have been able to upgrade my deck. In fact, knowing you would fall for our little trap I even tailored it to work against your archaic play style. For this turn I will set two more cards face down, nothing more."
Joey just shrugged. "Sure, whatever you say tough guy." He drew his card. "He couldn't really have a way to counter my moves, could he? Lots of my cards are based on luck, is it possible to turn the luck in his favour? Or is it something more dangerous than that..." He pondered cautiously for a moment, then decided to make his move. "Right, first I'll activate my face down card, Scapegoat." The four fluffy goats appeared and hovered harmlessly above the ground. The moment they came into existence however, something happened that Joey didn't expect. Two gigantic towers exploded out of the ground behind Mephisto. They appeared to consist of four levels, the topmost was cracked and crumbled like something had forcibly crushed it.
"A fascinating discovery, isn't it Wheeler? Gaze in awe at my Tower of Babel trap cards. I certainly hope you're curious what they can do, because come my next turn I'd be glad to show you."
Joey shook his eyes off the two towers before him and back on his monsters. "Fine, I'll sacrifice one of my Scapegoats to attack you directly!" One of the small goats shimmered and disappeared. The Panther Warrior reared up on it's legs and lunged hard towards it's target. However, once it got halfway there, it slowed in midair and stopped, then fell to the ground unable to move any further forward.
"Oh yes, I can't have you depleting my life points now, so I activated my Negate Attack trap card. So sorry. My turn now."
Joey watched his opponent intensely. "He's definitely up to something big with those towers... I wish I knew more about what they do. Hm, he activated it when I played my Scapegoat card, maybe it has something to do with magic cards."
"Now, watch closely at what I'm going to do. I'll set one card face down, then I play the Delinquent Duo Magic card at the cost of 1000 life points." His life points dropped to 4500, and two small goblins appeared. They both flew up to Joey, one of them grabbed his Jinzo card from his hand and giggled gleefully before vanishing. The second one glared at Joey expectantly. He deliberated a moment then handed it a Fissure card, and the goblin promptly vanished like it's brother.
"Now watch the Towers, Wheeler!" Joey looked up in time to see the second level from the top of the towers compact into themselves, looking very much like the floor before it. Bits of stone clattered to the floor below. "You see, every time one of us uses a magic card, another floor of the Towers will crack and crumble. Whoever is responsible for setting off the fourth magic card and crumbling the final floor will get to live through the horror of the towers collapsing upon them, taking 3000 life points each!"
Joey's eyes widened. "So that's it! he's going to lock down the duel by forcing us to stop using magic cards. His deck is probably loaded with monsters and traps to support himself during the lockdown..."
"Now I'll summon another Pyramid Turtle and use the magic card Ring of Magnetism on it. This will lower it's attack and defence by 500 and force you to attack only it. Guess what else Wheeler?" The third floors of the Towers cracked and crumbled, they began wobbling unsteadily. "I'm just about set up to ruin you for good. I end my turn."
Joey drew his card, now becoming nervous. "Well that's just great. If I use a magic card now, I'll take 6000 points of damage. Hm, I have my United we Stand and Mage Power equip cards that I could use to give my Panther warrior a huge boost. I would take a lot of damage, but if I get through it then my Panther should be strong enough to win."
Just as Joey was about to make his move, Mephisto spoke up. "Oh by the way, in case you were getting any ideas of setting off my Towers and getting away with it, I'm going to activate my Just Desserts trap card, lowering your life points by 2000. Go ahead, I believe you were going to make a move?"
Joey grimaced as his life points fell to 4800. "Well, scratch that plan I guess. Man, looks like I can't do anything else this turn. If I attack that Turtle then he'll be able to summon his Vampire Lord. With that thing on the field there wouldn't be much I could do to stop him, if anything."
"No moves you can make? Tough break. My turn." He drew his card. "Ah, and the final piece to my ultimate combo. I summon Ooguchi in attack mode!" The bizarrely shaped monster appeared, and it slouched into a puddle of slime. It looked like some kind of cross between a blue frog and a rat. "This delightful little fellow is able to attack your life points directly. Attack him now Ooguchi!" The disgusting beast licked it's giant lips then spat a large glob of greenish slime at Joey. The goo bypassed his monsters and smacked into him, lowering his life points to 4500. "It's embarrassing, isn't it? Well, take your turn then."
Joey drew his card. "Oh man, still nothing that can help me. I think I'm in a lot of trouble. With those Towers ready to collapse at any moment and that weird frog thing attacking me directly, I'm gonna lose in no time. There's still hope though, as long as my life points hold out long enough I know my deck will see me through."
"Still nothing you can do? Well don't worry, my little Ooguchi may have a suggestion, don't you?" The monster grinned and spat at Joey again, bringing his life points down to 4200.
Their turns passed again much the same, and Joey was down to 3900 life points.
"Mister Wheeler, why don't you just give up? You're not going to win, why don't you simply forfeit and save us this tedium."
"Because giving up isn't what Joey Wheeler is all about, ya rat-faced snot-nosed little punk! I'm on a mission and I'm not gonna let you or your Towers stop me! In fact..." Joey set one card face down. "It's high time I turn this duel around. Oh but please, take your one last turn in the safety of your precious Towers."
"You are delirious, there is no way you can stop my Towers from destroying you, and my Ooguchi will simply eat away at your life points until you have nothing left! Hit him now Ooguchi, and I will set one card face down and end my turn." Joey's life points dropped to 3600.
Joey drew his card. "I sure hope I know what I'm doing."
"Awright Mephisto, here's one more lesson for ya, sometimes you can sacrifice a few life points if it means you can secure a victory. I play the magic card Raigeki! It's magical lightning will make short work of your monsters."
Indeed the lightning struck the Ooguchi and Pyramid Turtle, destroying them instantly. Suddenly there was a tremendous sound, like the earth itself had split open. The final floor of the Towers of Babel were crushed. The towers slowly began to crumble and fall towards Joey. The noise was almost painful to bear.
"You fool, you cannot withstand the damage from both Towers! You have just destroyed yourself!"
"Not quite, I activate my trap card Barrel Behind the Door! This trap card takes non-combat damage inflicted to me and sends it right back at my opponent!" With that, Joey's card shone briefly and vanished. One of the Towers seemed to shudder, then began falling towards Mephisto.
"You fool! You may not deplete our life points fully but the damage caused by the Towers may kill the both of us now! What kind of duelist... what kind of a MAN would risk his life like that?!"
Joey had no time to respond, he could only throw his arms up in a feeble attempt to defend himself against a stone tower collapsing upon him. Both towers landed hard and the duelists were completely buried in the rubble. A few seconds later, the rubble disappeared leaving both duelists sprawled out on the floor, injured and not moving. A few minutes later, they came to and began rising to their feet.
"What kind of a man, you ask? A man that cares about his friends and family, a man who will gladly sacrifice himself to protect those he loves. In other words... a man just like me!"
"You are even stupider than I thought. I set these three cards face down. With this vast array of trap cards, you have no hope of winning. You will lose, and you will let down those people you love. It looks like your pathetic sacrifice was for nothing."
"Looks like we have time for one last lesson. It's the most basic one of them all. Trust in your deck, and you will never lose. I draw the Pharaoh's Treasure card that I activated at the beginning of the duel. You see, when I played this card initially it was returned to my deck face up. When I draw it now, I send it to the graveyard and I am able to take another card from my graveyard and add it to my hand. I'm gonna take back my Jinzo that you so graciously discarded with your Delinquent Duo, and then sacrifice my Panther Warrior to summon it!"
The Panther Warrior disappeared, replaced by the tall cybernetic monstrosity known as Jinzo. The android raised it's arms and sent out waves of red energy towards Mephisto, reducing his life points to zero. The monsters disappeared, and Mephisto merely slumped to the floor sliently. He snapped his fingers, and the shackles around Joey's legs unlocked and fell to the ground with a clatter. He then removed his duel disk and tossed it to Mokuba, who removed the deck from it as per the conditions of the duel.
Joey limped towards the now open exit, Mokuba carefully helping to support his battered and bruised body. He paused before leaving and turned back slightly. "I'll come back for you. I'm not the kinda guy that would just leave someone alone to die. I don't know which of the two would be worse. If you help the people rebuild their society after we crumble KaibaCorp, I'm sure the they could forgive you. You could go on living, even though you made terrible mistakes."
Mephisto said nothing, he continued to stare at the stony floor. Joey and Mokuba exited the room and the door slid shut silently.
So it was a trap all along! Joey doesn't have much time to recover from his last duel, here's hoping the others haven't met up with any of the other top 3. Next chapter, Joey is challenged to another duel, and what has become of the rest of the group?
