Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!
Chapter 39: Holding Back
The morning of the Special Session came too early for Ryuko, who struggled to find his duel disk and deck, Namia and Shisei waiting in the hallway for him. "HA! Got it!" the young boy, who was awoken only three minutes before, ran a comb once through his brown hair and rushed outside to meet with his friends.
"Didn't think you'd make it for a second there." Shisei smirked at the younger duelist. Aside from a formal suit, he wore only a ready expression and a duel disk. Ryuko glared in response to this.
"Yeah, whatever, let's just go!" Knowing how big Osmos's castle was, Namia nodded and walked toward the stairs with the young boy. Shisei yawned, but followed.
The three were almost to the designated duel arena, fully aware that Osmos would restore the soul of someone very important to them if they could prevail in the session, when they heard a loud bit of clapping and cheering. Shisei's eyes widened and he rushed forward ahead of Namia and Ryuko to see if his suspicions were correct. 'Please, no, Osmos can't have brought in too many people!"' he prayed.
He was right. Inside of the room, which was barren and empty the night before, was a heaping crowd of people, all who were sitting in just recently set up stands. The stands were facing the dueling arena and Yugi in his Yami form (he'll be called Yami from now on), Joey, Kaiba, and, oddly enough, Mokuba, stood proud and ready. Joey waved to the crowd smiling. Yami looking at his best friend with a bemused smile. And Kaiba glaring at Yami.
'Damn, even if we could refuse, he has the chance to threaten innocent people along with Kou!"' Shisei growled. Namia rushed in after him, looking around, she saw Kamishiro standing at a podium with a microphone in his cold, gloved hands. Of course, he now faced the audience without his cloak's hood on. Ryuko burst out laughing at the "nerd's" appearance as Kamishiro began to announce the first duelist on the Special Session team. He told the audience that Namia, Ryuko, and Shisei would select who, from their team, was to duel against the selected duelist.
"Now the moment you've all been waiting for…." Kamishiro put a black magician's hat onto the podium beside the microphone, which he had set down. He dug his hand inside the hat for a while, Joey tensed up. Yami wore a look of readiness, Kaiba kept his arms folded, frequently looking at his deck, which he had given to Mokuba. Mokuba looked pale and Kaiba hoped he didn't throw up. "The first duelist on our All-Stars team will be the third in the world rankings, Joey Wheeler!" Kamishiro smiled and everyone clapped as the blond boy stepped up to his place. Namia looked at Shisei and Ryuko.
"I'll beat him, for Kou!" The blond duelist stepped up to her designated dueling spot with a powerful expression that Joey had always remembered Yugi and himself wearing when they were trying to help someone.
'Whoa, why is this chick taking a duel like this so seriously!"' The male blond thought. 'Oh well, better get to work."' Joey looked at his deck as his duel disk folded out and Kamishiro backed off the stage. "Alright, I haven't beat a regional champ in a long time, let's see if I can still do it!" he said.
"Your not facing some two-bit duelist like Rex or Weevil, now your going to have to work!" Namia was ready as well.
"Didn't say I wouldn't." Joey smirked and drew his opening hand as the LP score adjusted to full.
Joey-8000
Namia-8000
"I'll let a guy go first, for once." Namia conceded to letting Joey draw his sixth first.
"Alright, I'll set one card facedown and summon Battle Warrior (600/1000) in attack mode!" Joey smirked as a cybernetic man with pale skin and bluish armor appeared before him, one card facedown behind the thing. "Match that!" he added.
'Whoa, that think is way to weak to even be in his deck, what is he planning?"' Namia wondered to herself. She looked her hand over and took two cards from it. "First I activate Graceful Charity!" she slid three cards off her deck and looked them over before discarding two.
"Give me a break, drawing cards isn't going to help you win this duel!" Joey stated. He began cleaning his ear with a finger to show he was bored out of his blond head.
Namia slapped another card on her disk, and removed another from her graveyard slot. "Now I remove the previously discarded Fire Princess in my graveyard from play," she flashed the removed card before placing it in the pocket of the frilly suit she wore. "to special summon, Spirit of the Flames (1700/1000) in attack mode." A raging giant with fire behind him appeared. "Then I'll normal summon Little Chimera(600/550) to the field, and it boosts the attack of my Spirit of the Flames (2200/1000) and Little Chimera itself (1100/550) by 500 points!" she informed Joey.
"Uh, this doesn't really look like that much fun anymore…" Joey gulped as he saw the two powerful monsters on Namia's field.
"Now it's time to attack, Blow his monster away, Little Chimera (1100/550)!" A petit, yet still scary, cat with wings and flames around itself, blasted fire at the ready warrior.
"Say hello to my quick play magic card!" Joey interjected. "Activate, Angel Dice," Joey smirked and the same dice carrying creature that appeared in Sei's last duel, formed on the field and dropped the die. "let's see if you got luck on your side as well as skill!" Joey smirked as Namia growled.
"Don't forget, you still need a full six to beat my monster, you have a one in six chance of keeping that blue freak alive!" Namia yelled, obviously angry that Joey was acting so immature in a duel that had someone's soul on the line. Then she remembered he didn't know the full situation and calmed herself. The die had now been bobbing in the air for almost a minute. Slowly, but surely, it began to bounce lower and lower. Namia bit her lip.
Joey looked at the roll with satisfaction. "6, you know what that means!" the boy smirked. Battle Warrior (1200/1600) lunged away from the flames and split the Chimera in half with a kick. "You lose your power booster!" Joey cheered as Spirit of the Flames (2000/1000) lost some attack power.
"It still has more than enough to take out your battle warrior, especially when you consider he gains 300 attack points in my battle phase!" Namia informed Joey. Joey just shrugged as his monster was stomped on by a huge foot.
Joey-7200
Namia-7900
"I now end my turn!" Namia stated. The Spirit of the Flames (1700/1000) which had grown to a huge size when Namia began her battle phase, shrunk back to normal.
"Fine by me!" Joey drew and looked at the card. "I summon Baby Dragon (1200/700) in defense mode, then I end my turn." Joey stated for his turn. Namia drew and smirked.
"Don't you realize my monster will continue to get stronger during all of my battle phases, you can't defend!" Namia laughed as she set another card on her disk. "Then I also activate my Molten Destruction field card, which gives any fire monster 500 extra attack points!" Spirit of the Flames (2200/600) grew even larger and deadlier looking than before. Finally, I'll enter my battle phase, and blow away your Baby Dragon with my Spirit (2500/600)!" the raging beast swept it's horned head up and brought it down, breathing fire in the direction of orange dragon chibi. The poor thing immediately exploded in digital dust. "Done." Namia winked.
Joey began to sweat a little, but drew, his blue jean jacket swaying with the force he put behind his arm taking the card. 'Whoa, Jinzo, this card would normally really help, but now…"' Joey looked from the drawn Jinzo to the field. 'Okay, she has no facedown cards, and her freaky Spirit, while I have one facedown card. Oh, and she has that field magic card…."' the boy thought. He looked at the rest of his hand and his eyes went wide. 'Wait a minute.. That field card gives all fire monsters a boost!"' he smirked looking a card. "I summon Command Knight (1200/1900) in attack mode!" he smirked.
Namia looked at it's stats in puzzlement. "What is that thing supposed to do?" she asked.
"It's about to take your freaky fire giant down!" Joey smirked. "And all because of your own card!" Joey felt giddy at being able to use his opponent's strategy against her. "You see, my Command Knight is a fire monster, which means it gets 500 extra attack points!" The armored warrior, which had a ready look on it's face, grew stronger (1700/1500).
"Your monster still doesn't have enough power." Namia stated simply.
"Your right, but as long as its on the field, every warrior gains an additional 400 attack points!" Command Knight (2100/1500) grew even more powerful as Joey slid another card into the disk. "Then I activate, The A. Forces to give every warrior a 200 attack and defense boost for the amount of warrior and spell casters on the field !" The final increase gave Command Knight (2300/1700) just the charge it needed to win in it's newest fight. "Now Command Knight, wipe her monster out!" The pale warrior charged and sliced the head off of the Spirit (2200/600), issuing sounds of disgust from the audience. "Go." Joey smirked.
Joey-7200
Namia- 7800
Yami smiled at the latest turn. 'Alright, Joey's really showing her, and even though he's behind in LP, he seems to have the most control."' he thought to his counterpart.
'I just hope he wins!"' Yugi responded from the soul room.
"Damnit!" Shisei stood up from his special area in the stands with an angry look at the field.
"What!" Ryuko asked, jumping and dropping his previously bought hot dog.
"Namia!" Shisei responded as though it was obvious. "Look at how she's dueling," he began. Ryuko blinked up at the blond.
"What do you mean?" he asked, digging around in his pocket for money for another hot dog. "I think her moves have been pretty good." he frowned at Shisei's opinion of the duel.
"They have been, but she isn't playing like she's sure of herself, she's playing it too safe." he informed the younger duelist. When he received no other complaint or question, he looked over to Ryuko's seat. The seat was empty and Ryuko was gone.
Namia bit her lip and drew the next card. 'Damn, I knew I should have set this card, what's wrong with me?" Namia swallowed hard, trying to clear her head. The only thing she managed to do was think more about Kou though. "I can't quit!" she whispered. "Alright Joey, I'm about to show you real strength, if you can match it, then bring it on!" she slid a card onto her disk. "I summon Phoenix of Blue fire!" she smirked.
Joey's eyes went wide. 'That card."' he thought. 'No way, it can't be the same…. Maybe…"' his thoughts cut off as he looked at his deck.
"I use my monsters special ability, and pay 3500 LP!" her LP score drastically dropped, earning looks of awe from the crowd.
"Huh, what effect is worth that many LP, you could lose in a 4000 point duel." Joey stated in bewilderment. Namia smirked even bigger.
"This effect, I can special summon any phoenix with the attack value of the LP I pay, so I summon, Phoenix of Gold Fire (3500/3500)!" Namia's favorite monster appeared, wings flapping golden fire as it descended the area. "Now I…" Namia began to declare it's effect, but she stopped. 'What if he makes it backfire or something… better play it safe!"' she slid another card into the disk. "I set this and have my Phoenix of Gold Fire (4000/3100) blow your Knight (2300/1700) away!" Flapping flames of gold, the beast hurled the knight into another dimension, along with a few of Joey's Lps. "And my Phoenix of Blue Fire (2000/1100) will attack you directly!" the second phoenix blasted Joey away with blue heat.
Joey-3500
Namia-4300
"Aw man." Joey gulped as Namia let him go. "Then this is it, your monsters are way to powerful…" Joey drew without much hope. He looked at the card and saw his last hope. "I'm about to summon one of my best monsters, and it's going to wipe the floor with your monster!" Joey smirked. Namia didn't flinch. "First I need the right cards, so I play Pot of Greed!" he drew twice, hoping this worked. "Alright, now I activate my facedown card, Graverobber, which let's me use Graceful Charity from your grave, at 2000 LP cost!" Joey was obviously praying that this next move worked.
Joey-1500
Namia-4300
"Alright!" he cheered, drawing three cards, then discarding two. "I got just what I needed, say hello to my own, Graceful Charity!" Joey smirked and did the same maneuver again.
"How is this helping you? Namia asked with a doubtful expression of Joey's victory on her face.
"You'll see. I also play Starblaster, which let's me roll a die!" Joey cheered as a half angelic, half demonic creature appeared and dropped a white die. The rolling and bouncing continued for a mere moment before… "Another 6, now I add one to the number I rolled, and special summon a monster of that level!" He took a card from his hand and slid it onto the disk. "Say hello the my Red Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000) in attack mode!" Joey smirked and Namia yawned as Joey's monster appeared. "I'm still not done though, I now sacrifice my Red eyes for a more powerful monster than your phoenix." Joey grabbed a card and smirked. "The Darkness is here, I summon Red Eyes Darkness Dragon (2400/2000), in attack mode." the first red eyed dragon was replaced by a much deadlier one.
This dark dragon was a shimmering black one with a look of ferocious rage in its red eyes. It had scales of pure evil black and more power coming from it than any monster Namia's Phoenix had ever faced. The entire area was also steeped in darkness upon it's arrival. "Uh-oh." Namia said as the Dragon's attack strength, began to grow.…
To Be Continued..
Next time: The duel reaches highs the likes of which most have never seen, Namia manages to get her game together after having a few critical near defeats, and is ready to duel for real with a little help from Ryuko. But does she have enough luck to overcome Joey's next set of dice? Find out next time on Duel Monsters Maximum: Dragoon Island Tournament!
To Rex: There is only one thing you could do to upset me. And that is call me Francis, if you do that, I will hunt you down, rip open your stomach, and choke you with your own intestines. Good-bye! (skips away happily.)
To Darksoulki: Whoa, your good. I was actually thinking of Daichi when I made Ryuko. It helps if you imagine his loud voice as Ryuko's, makes things funnier if you ask me.
