Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh. I do however own the cards and character I created.
Author's note: Sorry this chapter longer than I thought. I have another story buzzing around my head and I might decide to write it.
john: For the sake of argument, why don't we agree that he was both stupid and overconfident? I'll give some thoughts to the darkness deck. But do you want it for the good guys or the bad guys?
Almost all of the passengers have given up on continuing their journey to Georgia when they saw their other means of transportation, which turned out to be a member of the Equidae, one commonly found in farms. Ryan stared at them before bursting out loudly. "Horses!" he said incredulously. "We're going to ride horses to Georgie?" The herd master glared at him.
"I've never ridden a horse before," Lyn said. She was eyeing the herd nervously. "How does one go by it?"
"It's not hard," Kain told her as the herd master approached. "It's just like meeting a stranger. And as with every stranger, you try to befriend them first."
"You've ridden before then," the herd master approved, though he was still glaring at Ryan. Signaling to his men, he brought a bag and held it open for Kain.
Kain reached into the bag and grabbed a handful of grains. Then keeping his movements slow and unthreatening he angled towards one of the horses the men brought, holding out his hand. The horse eyed him warily. "Eat," Kain said, offering the grain. The horse dipped its head and fed on the grain. As the horse fed Kain stroked its sleek neck. Taking the reins he moved alongside the horse, continuing to stroke it. Then he raised his foot into the stirrup. The animal reared, though it did not bolt. Kain calmly and slowly swung his leg over the saddle, seeking out the second stirrup. Planting both feet firmly in the stirrups he stroked the beast's neck. "It's all right great one. It's all right," he whispered. Swinging it from the herd, he nudged it to a slow walk. As he became more acquainted with the horse, he encouraged the beast. A slow walk became a trot and then a canter. Finally the beast was seen galloping along the train rail forth and back. Kain reined in the horse.
"Very good," the herd master commended. He shoved the bag in front of Ryan. "Your turn."
Kain watched as Ryan tried to imitate his actions, only to be thrown off his horse on the first attempt. There was some hope at the second attempt. But after the fifth time he was thrown off it was painfully obviously that he was woefully inept.
"This isn't funny," he flared as both Lyn and George laughed as he was unhorsed again. Then his looks became sly. "Why don't you both give it try?" he suggested. "Then I get to laugh at you instead."
Unfortunately he was forced to eat his own words when George mounted his horse confidently. It was clearly evident that he had ridden before. Lyn was nervous around her horse, but after she gone past that she mounted it with no particular difficulty. After several advices from Kain and George she was already riding like a pro. It was apparent that she was a natural rider. Ryan watched them both sourly.
"Hurry up Ryan," George told him gleefully. "We're never getting to Georgia if you keep wasting time like this."
Ryan chose not to answer that.
In a large room somewhere else a middle-aged woman watched the flickering image of the group, a small frown creasing her forehead. The room was circular with one entrance and was strangely unadorned. The woman herself was peculiar: fully tanned and wore no finery save her one-eyed necklace. Her dark hair hung freely, their colors matching the long-sleeved robe she wore. Added with her slanted emerald eyes, she looked like a panther ready to strike.
There was a polite knock on the door. She waved her hand and the images on the walls disappeared. "Come in," she commanded.
The door opened and a man in his mid-twenties poked his head into the room. He hesitated slightly, but entered the room and closed the door behind him. "I am sorry if I disturbed you, Priestess," he said respectfully.
"Not at all, Findecano," she told him. "In fact your timing could not have been more immaculate. And I've told you to call me by my name when we're alone."
Findecano shook his head several times. "Sorry Isis. But it tends to be habit-forming when you do it 12 hours a day." He looked at her critically. "You haven't been eating well."
"Don't you start mothering me Finde. I've got enough problems worrying about that man already. Don't add more to the list."
He gave an irritated sigh. "Why are you still worrying about him, Isis? I mean c'mon. He's not even done anything to the group yet. The only thing wrong about him is that you cannot link him to the prophecy."
"That's exactly the problem," she burst out suddenly. "I can't link him at all to the prophecy; which means he's on a totally different ground from us."
Or that you're not quite as capable as you think you are. But he wisely kept his thoughts to himself.
"But you're right. Worrying too much about him won't solve anything. So how's your training going along?"
Findecano smirked at her. "Care to test me Isis?" He waved his left hand over his right arm and a Duel Disk suddenly appeared, fastened neatly to it and already activated.
Isis returned his smirk and mimicked his move. A Duel Disk appeared on her arm as well. She pursed her lips. "No Soul Monster," she said suddenly.
"Come again?"
"We're not going to use our Soul Monsters for this duel. I want to see how well you manage without him. You can use your gift however."
"Fine, I'm perfectly capable of beating you on my own." He drew his cards. "And to make this fair, I'm not going to use my gift."
Isis drew five cards. "That's what you said the last six times we dueled. Since you lost the last time-and all the other times before that- I'll let you start."
Isis: 8000
Findecano: 8000
"You're too kind," Findecano murmured as he drew. "I'll summon Skilled Dark Magician (1900/1700) in attack mode." The black-robed magician appeared.
"Not that again," Isis said exasperatedly.
He gave her a tight grin. "Sorry Isis but it is that again. I play Pot of Greed." He drew two cards even as the tip of his monster's staff glowed bronze. "Then Reload which lets me put my entire hand back and draw equal to that amount." He reshuffled and drew a new hand. The orb on his monster's staff turned silver in color. "And finally I play the continuous magic card Hollow Summoning. This lets me special summon another monster whose level is lower than the monster I first special summoned. It's destroyed at the end of my turn however." The tip of Skilled Dark Magician's staff turned gold. "And you guessed it; I'll use Skilled Dark Magician's ability to special summon Dark Magician (2500/2100)." The magician waved his staff and Dark Magician, in his splendidly polished dark armor joined him on the field. "You do remember his ability don't you?"
"No, I really don't," Isis said, sarcasm dripping in her voice. "I don't remember that each time a magic card is played he'll gain a token. I also don't remember that once there's three tokens you can tribute the monster with the tokens to special summon Dark Magician. Furthermore, it has completely slipped my mind that you used this same ability in the past six duels."
Findecano frowned. "Sarcasm doesn't suit you Isis," he told her seriously. "Since Dark Magician was special summoned I'll activate Hollow Summoning's effect and special summon Dark Magician Girl (2000/1700)." A 'poof' was heard and suddenly the field was covered by a smoke screen. When it cleared, Dark Magician Girl was standing beside Dark Magician with a silly grin on her face. "Three card face-down. End turn." Dark Magician Girl whimpered as she faded away from the field.
Isis drew and winced as she looked at her cards. I can't possibly get a worse hand than this, she thought. Then she looked at Findecano's field. Hmm, I might be able to use that to my advantage. "One set monster and five cards face-down. End turn."
Isis: 8000
Findecano: 8000
Five cards, Findecano thought as he drew? Then he looked at the Heavy Storm in his hand and a look of consternation passed his face. If he used it all Isis' face-down cards would be destroyed but so would his. The feeling of indecision gnawed at him and he gave Isis a look. "You did this to me didn't you?" he accused her.
"Did what?" she asked sweetly.
"Trap me like this."
"No dear heart, you did it to yourself. If you knew you had a Heavy Storm, don't put so many magic/trap cards on the field then."
Findecano almost smacked his head when he realized he had indirectly told Isis one of the cards in his hand. He stared at her and it was returned with an innocent look-mostly feigned. He looked at his hands again and then remembered his face-down cards. A sly look crossed his face. "I play Monster Reborn to bring back Dark Magician Girl." The magician appeared on the field again. "And because of the effects of Hollow Summoning I summon Ancient Magician (0/0)." A thin old man wearing patchy clothes stepped into the field. Although he looked poor and unfed, his hand held a dark jewel that gleamed mysteriously.
Isis' eyebrow shot up at the sight of the sight of the old man. "A level 5 monster with (0/0) stats? He must have a very interesting effect."
"Indeed. Because this magician is so ancient, he lost most of his magic and now has to draw power from the younger magicians. His stats increase by 200 for every star of every spellcaster on my field excluding himself (2600/2600)." The old man held the jewel aloft and wisps of aura started to emerge from every magician, trailing to the jewel.
"Formidable."
"And I'll play Nobleman of Crossout to remove your set monster from play." A silver-garbed knight appeared in front of the card and plunged his sword into it.
"That was my Spirit Reaper (300/200)."
Findecano looked at Isis' face, trying to predict her next move. However her face was a mask of calmness. Better play safe. "I'll switch Dark Magician to defense mode." The two monsters kneeled. "Dark Magician Girl, Dark Magic Attack!" Said monster gathered energy in her staff and fired it at Isis. Isis watched calmly as the ball of amassed energy hit her. "Ancient Magician, go!" The old man started chanting and a red beam shot forth from his jewel and slammed into Isis.
"You shouldn't be greedy Finde. Trap card activate." She pressed a button on her Duel Disk. "Enemy Sympathizer activates when I receive more than 3000 battle damage. Now one of your monsters will betray you." Dark Magician suddenly rose and floated across to Isis' field. "Dark Magician should do nicely."
Findecano gave her a sour look. "I'll play Heavy Storm, which will destroy all magic/trap cards, and I'll chain it with a trap card." Two of his set cards flipped up. "Magic Residue allows me to keep one of my magic cards when they are mass destroyed."
"And I'll chain it with Emergency Provisions. This quick play magic card lets me send magic/trap cards to the graveyard to increase my Life Points by 1000 each. So I'll send all three of my remaining cards to the graveyard, increasing my Life Points by 3000." The vortex appeared and swallowed the remaining cards.
Taking his selected card from his graveyard Findecano frowned as his strategy didn't work out exactly as he planned it would. "I'll play Swords of Concealing Light." Dark Magician disappeared and his card flipped over and shifted into defense mode. "As long as this card remains on the field, you can't change your monster's Battle Position."
He slid a card into his Duel Disk. "One card face-down and end turn." Ancient Magician faded away.
"My turn." She took a card from her graveyard slot and put it in her removal slot. "By removing Die of Greed and skipping my Draw Phase I get to roll two die." Two die appeared in front of her: one red and the other black. "If I roll a bigger number on the red die I'll draw that amount of cards. If I roll a smaller number however, I still draw the number of cards but I must play them on this turn or lose Life Points equal to that number times 1000." She rolled both dice. The red landed on a four; the black on a two. She drew four cards. "One set monster and two face-down cards. I'll end my turn." She smirked.
Isis: 6400
Findecano: 8000
Noting her change of expression, Findecano instantly knew what the set card was. Damn, how do I get rid of that monster? He drew and examined his hand. Maybe this would do the trick. "I'll set one monster." He laid the card on the Duel Disk.
"I'll chain it with a trap card." Findecano groaned as Isis held up her card. "Mutual Curiosity will reveal your set card without activating its effect if it has one." The card flipped up and a squat, misshapen old man appeared, carrying a curved rod. "Old Vindictive Magician (450/600)? Nice try. My trap card also forces your monster to attack one of my selected set cards. I'll choose the one I just set." The aged magician sprang forward and brought his rod down on the card, which immediately flipped over, and revealed a pot with curious curving designs on it. "Metamorphosis Pot (500/300). I'm sure you remember its effect."
"It absorbs the monster which destroyed it when flipped and you can summon a monster whose level equals or is lower than the absorbed monster. I remember alright. And I bet you're going to use it to summon Thousand-Eyes Restrict."
"Indeed. Thousand-Eyes Restrict (0/0) in attack mode." The monster that appeared was so horrible it was indescribable.
Findecano suddenly smirked. "I've been waiting for you to do that, Isis. Reveal trap card." His trap card flew open. "Skill Drain requires me to pay 1000 Life Points but it's worth it. When it's face-up all face-up monsters' effects are negated. So Thousand-Eyes Restrict is nothing more than a pain in the eye now. And I think I'll remedy that problem too. Dark Magician Girl, do it." The monster raised her wand and fired a ball of energy which completely obliterated Thousand-Eyes Restrict. "It seems you need training more than I do Isis. End turn."
Isis hissed at his words but then laughed. "Very good Finde. It seems the training did achieve something after all. I was starting to think it was a waste of time."
She drew. "Unfortunately I don't think you counted on your trap card being useful for me as well. I summon Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast (2800/2000) in attack mode." A towering dragon-like machine roared as it entered the field. "Normally if I summon it without tribute I will have his stats cut in half, but your Skill Drain negates that effect. Fusilier, attack Dark Magician Girl with Dual-Laser." The girl-magician screamed as the laser beams hit her. "I think you're starting to lose, Finde. End turn."
Isis: 4400
Findecano: 6200
"Let's not get too cocky now, Isis," Findecano said. "I still have more Life Points than you do."
The Swords of Concealing Light faded away. "That magic card is destroyed after my second standby phase," he explained as he stored away the card. He drew and slid one card into his Duel Disk. "One face-down card. End turn."
"You could use your own advice, Finde." Isis drew and slapped the card onto her Duel Disk. "I'll summon another Fusilier in attack mode again." The machine rose on the field joining its twin. "And flip summon Dark Magician." Dark Magician floated above the field.
She pressed a button on her Duel Disk. "Sorry Finde, but my face-down Mystical Space Typhoon will destroy that card you just set."
"That was my Mirror Force," Findecano said as the typhoon came and swept away the card. His face fell.
"And all my monsters attack directly for game." The twin monsters fired identical lasers at Findecano while Dark Magician hurled a dark ball of amassed energy.
Isis: 4400
Findecano: 0
"Not bad, Finde," Isis commented as their Duel Disks shut off. "A few more days of training and I think you'll be ready."
"You think so?" Findecano's face lit up.
"Positive," Isis assured him. "Now go train some more and perhaps in a few days I'll give you a mission."
Findecano bowed low and immediately left.
Isis turned and waved her hand. The images flickered once again. What does he have to do with all of this, she wondered?
