Chapter 9: Death by Zombie
Kou looked at the skull figure with determination in his eyes. "I don't know what you are, are where we are, but I don't care, I want Namia back!" he stated, as he drew his five cards. "So be prepared to lose! I'm first!" he declared, the skull only shrugged as Kou drew his sixth card.
"Oh, and you may call me… SKULL!" he turned his head a full circle, and laughed maniacally.
Shisei looked at the sphere of all encompassing darkness. Then he looked around at the two "men" that had revealed their own skull heads. He sighed. 'I hope you can win, Kou, cause if you can't… Namia's not the only one you might need to save.'" Sei thought, as he sat down and began to modify his deck.
"I'll summon, Mataza the Zapper (1300/800) and set one card facedown."A mighty looking warrior with a steady blade appeared, and behind him appeared a brown back card. "Let's see if you stand a chance." Kou stated menacingly, now with his fangs bared.
"I shall, young Savior, I summon, Soul Absorbing Bone Tower (400/1500) in defense mode, and I'll set two cards facedown, end turn." a gigantic tower made completely of skulls, appeared, and two cards also appeared on his side of the field.
"Alright, then I'll show you the mistake you just made, such a weak defense won't stand a chance against my Mataza." shouted Kou, as he switched his Mataza into defense mode. "Now that my Mataza is in defense mode, I'll activate, Zero Gravity, and switch the modes of all monsters!" Kou smirked as the Bone Tower and Mataza were switched into attack mode. The skull man only shrugged once again. "Now, Mataza, attack that bone tower!" the warrior lunged happily, ready to tear the now swaying and blowing bone tower, then, suddenly, a trio of robed people came up to absorb the attack, all chanting, until Mataza returned to Kou's side of the field, shaking its head. "Waboku, oh well, I'll get you next turn." Kou stated, then his eyes went wide as a huge Coffin like item appeared on his opponent's field. "WHAT IS THAT!" he asked.
"Ah, so you noticed, I activated another trap on your turn. This one being deemed, The First Sarcophagus!" he smiled as Kou gave him a clueless look. "You see, there was once a pharaoh. This pharaoh ruled over the land of Egypt for the longest, but, alas, he was still only human." the skull began.
"Sorry, but I noticed, your looking through your deck, and since you kind of aren't allowed to do that… THEN YOUR FREAKING DISQUALIFIED!" Kou yelled. The Zombie only continued searching his deck, and then went on with the story.
"This mighty human pharaoh, had to die eventually." he apparently found the card he was looking for, and then inserted it into the duel disk. "Now when he died, his people sealed his body… his power in three different Sarcophagi, each containing a little more." he looked up, with malice seeming to leak from his eye sockets (remember, no eyes) and another hologram of another sarcophagus appeared behind his tower. "Now, during each of your end phases, I'll gain Sarcophagi, until I can summon the ultimate monster, and I only need one more!" he snickered, and summoned another landform. "Until then, my tower will have some fun, as I summon, Castle of Dark Illusions (920/1930) and he increases the attack and defense of all Zombies until four of my own Standby phases are up!" he smirked as his tower glowed brighter… or grew gloomier, as its attack and defense shot up (600/1700). "Finally, my Bone tower will be switched to defense mode, end turn." the skull stated, motioning for the warrior duelist to go.
"Fine by me, I'll destroy your creepy skeletons, and then mash your own skull in." Kou drew.
Mai Valentine, who was currently involved in a duel against a chump of a duelist, Samos, smiled as her Harpie's Pet Dragon (2500/2100) finished licking its lips, and prepared for another meal. "Now that its my turn, I'll Summon my second, Cyber Harpie (2300/900) and then I'll activate Monster Reborn, to revive my other Cyber Harpie (2700/900)!" the monster flew down and landed from above, looking a bit ruffled, but otherwise fine. "This gives my Harpies an extra 500 attack because of Aqua Chorus, and also gives my Dragon an extra 1000 attack points!" the Harpie Ladies smiled and began to pet the dragon making it roar with newfound strength (3500/2100)." Mai smiled at her brilliant play, though it severely depleted her hand, she did what she needed. "I now attack your Labyrinth Wall (0/3000) with Pet Dragon (3500/2100)," the dragon happily obliged, and sent a gigantic fireball to destroy the wall that blocked the other duelist. "And now I'm done." Mai finished, blowing a kiss.
'Blast, she's trying to avoid coming with me after the match!"' Samos realized, that was the only reason she would do such a thing, to increase her LP. ' I could destroy that Pikeru, but I should wait until I can get enough of a back up strategy to stall!"' he thought. "Now I'll set a monster in defense, your move." the card mysteriously appeared on his side of the field and Mai drew.
"I'll activate, Elegant Egotist, which will let me special summon one of my Harpie Lady Sisters (2450/1700) in attack mode!" yet another bird woman appeared and smiled evilly at poor Samos. Mai then ended her turn.
Mai-6150
Samos-2800
"Alright, I'll play another defense monster, and end my turn." Samos stated, as he realized that next turn, the "midgician" would restore Mai's LP to full. He sighed.
"Okay, now its time to finish you!" Mai smiled as her LP shot up to above the 8000 mark. "First, I'll attack your defense monster's with my Harpie Lady Sister's and one of my Cyber Harpies." the two creatures flipped forward gracefully and slashed the monsters in two. "Finally, I'll attack with my Harpie's Pet Dragon (4000/2100) and end this duel!" the Dragon's lethal wing attack knocked the defensive duelist down to 0 LP. "And that's a rap!" Mai stated as the hologram disappeared. Samos sighed and began to look for his rarest card, as the LP scores disappeared.
Mai-8150
Samos-0
"Here it is, my Millennium Shield (0/3000) and good duel, I thought I'd won!" he stated. Mai looked at the card, then muttered something about Yugi rubbing off on her.
"Look kid, I don't want your card, just don't think you can beat me again, okay?" she questioned Samos looked up, surprised and took his shield back. "Now, I'm out of here." stated the sexy duelist, leaving the arena behind.
"Whoa, now that was shocking upset, and now, the next match, get ready for…
Kou looked at the skull of a man with a smirk of righteousness. "I will not let you harm Namia, and with the card I just drew, you can't win!" Kou slid the card into the magic/trap card zone. "I play, the Black Luster Ritual!" a black shield with two warrior blades crossed in front of it appeared and began to glow as righteously as Kou himself. "And I'll offer my Fiend Megacyber, and my Warrior of Zera from my hand, to summon, The Black Luster Soldier (3000/2500) in attack mode!" perhaps the mightiest warrior of duel monsters appeared on Kou's side of the field. It wore golden armor, and had a long curved blade, and it was ready to slice and dice. "Now, Black Luster, attack his Castle (920), which was left in attack mode!" the mighty warrior leapt from his spot and slashed downward on the Castle of Illusions.
Kou-8000
Skull- 5920
"Ha, that was pathetic, and now I'm going to show you how come, you done?" Skull questioned as evil sounding as ever.
"Yeah, so you can take your Sarcophagus, but my Soldier has way to many attack points to be destroyed, so that coffin's effect will be useless!" Kou stated, almost completely sure that there was no monster in his opponent's deck that could overcome, or even rival, his Soldier.
"If your so sure, then I'll just have to finish my move." he smiled mischievously. "First, I'll activate, Ultimate offering!" a card that showed the owner of several monsters losing quite a bit of himself, flipped. "Now I'll pay 500 LP to normal summon or set twice this turn, If I so choose." he smirked, as his LP score dropped, and he slid a card into the duel disk.
Kou-8000
Skull-5420
"I'll first summon, Double Coston (1700/1650) and then I'll tribute it, to summon, Despair from the Dark (2800/3000) in attack mode!" he smirked as his first Zombie was replaced by a shadowy specter from the deep.
"HOLD IT!" Kou yelled, looking at the data of the monster on his opponent's side of the field. "You have to offer two monsters to summon a level 8 monster like that!" he smiled as he thought he had caught his opponent in a bad play.
"Ah, but that's the special ability of my Coston, when I use it as a tribute to summon a dark monster, I can count it as two tributes, sorry!" the evil man yelled to his disgruntled opponent. "And now, on with my move, I'll activate the ability of my Sarcophagi, and special summon, the ultimate, the deadly, the Spirit of the Pharaoh (2500/2000)!" the mighty monster appeared, trudging like mummy to the field. "And next, to get rid of your soldier, I'll activate, Dark Designator!" he smiled as it dawned on Kou what card he must have wanted him to remove. "That's right, I'll take your Shield and Sword card, and the way I'll due so, is by playing exchange (I know I've used it before, but I love the combo!)" Kou rudely tossed the card to him. "Now, I'll play the card you so generously gave me, and switch attack and defense!" the Darkest Specter, the Despair, grew even eviler looking, as it's attack grew, and the other monsters except the Bone Tower, shrunk. "NOW, DESTROY HIS SOLDIER, MY DESPAIR!" the dark shadow launched its attack and destroyed his opponent's soldier. "And finally, my mighty Spirit of the Pharaoh (2000) attack his pathetic Zapper!" the second Zombie charged and reduced Kou's LP by destroying his Mataza (1300)
Kou-6800
Skull-5420
'Darn, now he has two super strong monsters on the field!"' Kou noticed. He reached to draw his card, but then a ghostly hand smacked his hand away, and sent two cards from the top of his deck, to the graveyard. "HEY, WHAT'S THE DEAL!" yelled Kou angrily, as he got a peek of his Sword Hunter (2450/1700) being discarded to the graveyard.
"With my Bone Tower on the field (1700) then whenever a Zombie monster is special summoned successfully, you lose the top two cards of your deck, sorry!" Skull explained, making Kou growl in rage.
"Okay, if that's the way you want to play it, then I'll use the effect of Ultimate Offering, since I don't have a monster yet, I don't pay LP!" Kou yelled, as he slid his first monster onto the slot. "So I'll first summon, Axe Raider (1700/1150) in attack mode!" an axe wielding warrior appeared and looked up at the Zombies with little, if any fear in his eyes. "Now for my next trick, behold, my favorite monster, Total Defense Shogun (1550/2500) in attack mode, only when he's summoned, I can switch him into defense to attack!" the mighty Shogun, wielding his large broadsword and wearing his Shogun armor appeared. "Finally, I'll equip my Shogun, with Horn of the Unicorn, to increase his attack and defense by 700 points." the shogun's blade glowed with the new power that was added to its being. "And now I'm done!" he smirked.
"Nice play, young Savior, but I'm going to have to show you how real men do it!" he drew his card. "Now I'll set one card face down and then I'll end my turn." he stated.
"Nice, real nice, now I'll play, warrior Returning Alive!" Kou smirked at his draw and took his card, the Mataza warrior, back from the graveyard. "Now I can take any warrior type monster back from my graveyard, and add it to my hand, I choose Mataza the Zapper!" he smiled as he slipped the card in between the other cards in his hand. "End turn." he stated.
Skull drew. "I'll activate, Mystic Wok, and offer my Despair from the Dark (2800/3000), to increase my LP by it's defense!." Skull slid the card into his duel disk, and ended his turn. Kou drew.
Kou-6800
Skull-8420
"I'm activating, Card of Sanctity!" he smirked as the card was added to his duel disk, and he drew more cards. "Now we each draw until we have six cards in our hands!" he smiled at his play. "Now get ready for a beaten!" he continued, taking two cards from his hand and inserting them into the duel disk. "First, I'll use the effect of Ultimate Offering again, and then I'll summon, Throwstone Unit (900/2000) in defense mode!" the unit of men appeared, looking eager to kill someone. "And then I'll equip my Total Defense, with Axe of Despair!" the Shogun was suddenly holding a wicked looking axe, looking at the Pharaoh menacingly "Next up, I'll attack your Spirit of the Pharaoh (2500/2000) with my Total Defense Shogun (3250/3200)" the mighty Shogun flipped in the air, and then came crashing down on the head of it's opponent with it's blade.
Kou-6800
Skull-7670
"Nice play boy, but your still not up to par!" stated Skull, thinking his opponent was through.
"Hey, I'm not done yet, I'll now play, Rollback, so I can roll my turn all the way back to Main phase one!" he slid the card into the disk's magic and trap zone, and the effect went through.
"I can't believe you're the Savior of our people, you can't even duel well." the Skull sighed.
Kou blanched, then got up and glared at him. "Hey, what do you mean by that!" he pouted.
"Even if your back to Main Phase One, you still can't attack with your Shogun, or summon another time,Rollbck just let's you activate cards like Cold Wave, in case you missed your chance, foolish boy." Skull explained.
"You forget, I can attack with another monster still, and soon, I'll do that, but for now, I'll use my Throwstone Unit's effect, and offer my Total Defense Shogun as a tribute, to destroy your bone tower!" The unit of armored menloaded up the Shogun, who looked as brave as ever, and shot him over to the opponent's field to destroy the giant tower. The tower itself, upon being hit by the Shogun, promptly fell to bony pieces. Skull's skull made no change as he watched. "And Horn of the Unicorn automatically returns to the top of my deck, yet I'll offer my Unit, to return Axe!" he smiled as the Throwstone Unit was swept away by the axe, as it shot like a boomerang, back to the top of Kou's deck.
"Your wasting time, boy." the Skull told him. "You'd have to wait two turns before that card will be of any use to you, and unfortunately, you won't have two turns when you end your turn!" he threatened.
"Tsk, tsk tsk," Kou shook his head. "You make it sound like I'm already out, big mistake!" he slid a card into his duel disk, and a pot with a greedy looking face appeared. "Say hello to Pot of Greed!" he drew two cards, as per the effect of the magic card. "And I'll now draw these two cards. Hmm, I wonder what they could be." he elaborated, as he put yet another card into the Duel disk. "Finally, I'll summon Mataza, the Zapper, and I'll activate both of my equipment cards on him!" his ever returning monster appeared, a little disgruntled, but otherwise fine. "Now my Zapper is going to blast away 6000 of your LP, now Mataza (3000/1500) direct attacks!" the mightier warrior slammed the axe of despair down twice on Skull, and then reported back to Kou. "End turn!" Kou shouted, as triumphantly as ever.
Kou-6800
Skull-1670
Skull, who had fallen to the ground after the attacks, looked up, with flames in his… err sockets. "HOW DARE YOU! YOU INFEDEL!" the "Savior" crap was forgotten as he drew and activated his trap. "FOR YOUR MOCKERY OF MY SKILLS, MY RACE YOU SHALL PAY!" his quick play magic card, a Deal with the Dark Ruler, flipped, and the ground began to rumble. "NOW, RUN IN FEAR, AS I SUMMON, THE ULTIMATE! THE UNSTOPPABLE!" Kou thought his own eyes were going to come out of his sockets, he looked at the huge, dead dragon in shock, as it emerged from the ground. Then he saw its attack reading. "NOW YOU BEHOLD, THE BERSERK DRAGON (3500/0)!" the beast appeared, glaring down at the mighty warrior known as Mataza. Mataza looked as though it was going to cry, then, with a sickening CRUNCH it was gone,as well as 500 of Kou's LP. "YOU LOSE!" the skull cried. Kou only continued to stare.
Kou-6300
Skull-1670
"Well well well, what do we have here? Kouichi Nandao, going up against the all powerful Berserk Dragon?" Osmos smiled, looking straight through the sphere of darkness, standing over a sleeping Shisei.
"Yes, it appears Maester Donovan has summoned the mighty Berserk Dragon, that boy might not be the Savior after all." said one of the skulls that was guarding Shisei.
"Yes… Oh well, I tried." Higentaka said, faking sadness. He continued to look at the sphere. 'Now Mr. Nandao, show me, can you beat the mighty Berserk Dragon… when its not just a hologram!"' he thought to himself, as he watched Kou's struggle on the inside of the sphere.
To be Continued.
Next time: With the battle heating up, Kou manages to pull another lucky move out of his hat, but then the true terror of Skull's deck emerges, and with so little to defend him, Kou may just lose… But you'd have to read the next chapter to find out, so keep reading Duel Monsters: Maximum!
A/N: Hello, um yeah, I really need feedback, so yeah…. REVIEW GOSH DARNIT!
