Chapter Two: Doomed From The Start
"Holy shit! Check it out!" Joey's words were just about the only things that could be said at this point. Out in front of them, flying around or just walking around, were duel monsters of all different sorts. Every kind imaginable, they were all there. But it was absolutely impossible that the Duel Monsters were roaming free, and yet it was the case.
Yugi looked around at it all, and then his eyes came to a rest on a building a great distance away. Though he couldn't see it, he knew that two giant letters were affixed on the side of the building. The letters KC. If there was one place to go when wondering about wandering Duel Monsters, that was the place. "Guys, why don't we head to the Kaiba Corp. building to see if they know what's going on?"
The others nodded in agreement and they all headed off towards the Kaiba Corp. building. They hadn't managed to get there before they encountered a very strange pair. Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood stood shoulder to shoulder, staring blankly ahead. Joey walked up in front of them, waving his hand in front of their eyes, but there was no reaction. "What the heck is up with these two?"
"The end of the world. It ends. All going to end. All over, completely over. The destruction of the world. The End is coming." The group's eyes widened as the two duelists continued to babble on that trend. Had they started panicking because Duel Monsters were appearing in front of them? Was that what was causing this, or was there something more sinister at work.
Unable to determine an answer the group continued onwards towards the Kaiba Corp. building. Meanwhile, things were happening a great distance away in America. Seto Kaiba, CEO and Chairman of Kaiba Corporation was busy discussing the current situation with his Board of Directors. "Bottom line. We cannot be held responsible for this, it would ruin business. Shut down all the primary systems."
The man on his right shook his head, obviously upset about something. "Sir, we've already done so. Yet the monsters continue to rampage. We're certain because of this that Kaiba Corporation is not responsible for these monsters." The rest of the board added their agreement, eager to make sure that their dangerous CEO was kept in what for him amounted to a good mood. Of course, even while in a good mood Kaiba scowled at nothing and everything.
"If
Kaiba Corp. isn't responsible for this, then who is?" The board members
shook their heads, unable to give a satisfactory answer. Little did
they know that it was the kind of force that Kaiba had always denied.
It was, simply put, magic. Had anyone dared suggest this to Seto Kaiba,
they would've been chewed out so harshly that it would take Kaiba a
month to clean out his teeth.
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The gang was now all back together, hanging out at the Turtle Game Shop. They sat around the tv, waiting for a supposed announcement by Seto Kaiba. The scene before them flickered, and finally Kaiba appeared. He was dressed in a purple coat with studded shoulders and had his usual scowl on his face.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm here to inform you that whatever is causing these creatures to appear, it is not the Solid Vision system. That is all." He turned and walked away, officially ending the press conference. Yugi grimaced and pressed the power button, turning the TV off. Well there went one theory. So Kaiba's technology wasn't responsible for all the Duel Monsters appearing around the world.
"Well if Kaiba's not responsible for them, then who or what is?" They sat there thinking about this for nearly a minute before they came to a sudden collective conclusion. The things that Weevil and Rex had been babbling about, that must have something to do with it! Some new threat must be appearing, and whatever it was, that was the cause of the appearance of the monsters.
A muffled cry could be heard from downstairs, and the gang all shot each other shocked looks. As fast as they could they barreled down the stairs to the primary area of the game shop. To their surprise they found Yugi's grandfather lying face down on the floor. He rushed to the old man's side as quickly as he could. "Grandpa! What happened?"
The geezer groaned and slowly pointed up to the counter. "They....took the god cards. They...." His voice halted at the sound of a mighty roar coming from outside. The group's eyes widened and they all slowly turned to look out the door. Even though they couldn't see outside, they were certain what would be there when they did get outside.
Their fears were confirmed when they stepped out the door. High above in all their enormous glory were the three god monsters, rampaging through the city. The appearance of those beasts was like a sign of doom, for not even the strongest of other monsters could compare to these creatures. "Damn...."
Bright lights burned into their eyes, and the gang threw up their arms to shield themselves from whatever was shining the light into their eyes. Slowly the lights dimmed enough for them to see three distinctive figures on motorcycles. The one in the front, a very large man, spoke through his helmet to them. "Nameless Pharaoh, follow us to have your questions answered. Doom awaits you."
Before Yugi could give any answer the three figures turned their motorcycles around and road off into the darkness, vanishing quickly from site. The three friends turned to look at Yugi who was staring after the retreating figures. "They called you...." Yugi just nodded, and in a flash Yami stood in his place.
"Yes they did. Let's get going." The others
nodded, and then they headed off. It would take them about half an hour
to get to the named construction site, but when they did they would get
their answers, or so the big man had said. Hopefully the answers would
be good ones, because they were just beginning to get in some
relaxation time.
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"So what brings you here to New Port City?" Drake and Serenity were back at her house, sitting on the couch and drinking soda. After their little run in with the gang they had headed back to her house on his motorcycle. Serenity's mom had been really surprised to find Drake there, but she had heard a lot about the older boy, and after hearing how he saved Serenity, she let him come in.
"Well even though it sounds better, I didn't come to visit you. In fact I thought you lived in Domino City. I came here on business for Kaiba Corp. But back to what I already said. What about Domino?" Serenity bit back a laugh at how silly he sounded when he spoke as fast as he just had. He had certainly covered a few things in a single breath. More then he probably should have.
"I was only in Domino City for that time so I could get eye surgery done. After a while of visiting my brother I came back here." Drake made an 'oh...' sound and chuckled, shaking his head. He probably should have asked her that at some point, but it had never come up. After all, other then this meeting they had only had contact with each other for a bit over a day total. That wasn't much to base anything around.
Serenity realized that she had another question she wanted to ask, so she did so. "Can you tell me what your business here is? I mean, what you're doing for Kaiba Corp. that is." Drake grinned and casually downed another gulp of his soda. He placed it on the table in front of him, and then turned back to the young girl across from him.
"Kaiba wanted me to come here so I could personally see to a meeting with a representative from some mystery company that's started buying out Kaiba Corp. stock. Whoever it is has refused to actually meet Kaiba face to face and requested he send an assistant. So, here I am. Of course the meeting isn't till tomorrow, so I've got some time to relax first." Serenity nodded, understanding what he meant. She didn't know a lot about business, but she knew that Kaiba must be furious at having to send Drake in his place.
"Where will you be meeting the representative?" Drake narrowed his brow at this question and shook his head in frustration. It was like he was disagreeing with something, but what could he be disagreeing with?
"The park but...I don't know. There's just something weird about this whole thing that's throwing me off. The truth is we've never even met anyone who works for the mystery company, we've only had contact with their buyer. He's just a middleman, and apparently he just gets instructions. He's never met anyone from the company either. Maybe its just weird to me because I'm not yet used to corporate crap like this, or maybe its something else. I don't know."
Serenity got a bad feeling that Drake was right, but because she had nothing to base the feeling off of she just let it go. After all, what could possibly happen in a meeting with a representative of a mystery company? Anyone who was buying out Kaiba couldn't be all that bad. At least that was her opinion. "So, do you need a place to stay while you're here?"
Drake nearly choked on his soda, and after a moment he shook himself off and turned to answer her question. What she had said had made him think of something she obviously didn't mean, so he cursed his brain for being stupid. "Umm, well I've got money to pay for a hotel room, so it won't be a big deal for me to have a place to stay. Anyways, I don't think your mom would want me sticking around for the night."
She laughed slightly at this, leaning back into the couch as she did so. Drake raised an eyebrow at her response, waiting for her to explain. Usually a serious comment like his didn't bring about such a response, and yet it had. He just wanted to know why. "After what happened tonight I don't think mom would have any issues with it. Particularly since she's heading out for the next few days. She was gonna have a friend check in on me, but she seems to trust you, so I'm sure she'd let you look after me. And you could stay here while you were in New Port City."
"Errr.....well I....you see....", Drake trailed off, uncertain of how to finish his sentence. He couldn't think of anything to say about that. How exactly was he supposed to get out of this situation without hurting her feelings, particularly when some very anime style sequences were flashing through his head. Those kinds of things didn't happen in real life of course, but they certainly weren't things he should be thinking about at the moment.
"Hold on a second, I'll go ask my mom. You just wait here." With that said she got up, and walked out of the room, leaving him in the lurch. Now he was really stuck. If her mom said yes, he'd be effectively trapped into staying with her. He had no problems with Serenity, but this sort of situation wasn't the best type. He thought she was cute, but he certainly wasn't interested in her in the way that she might end up thinking if he stuck around. But still, how could he get out of it?
Suddenly Serenity darted back into the room, smiling brightly. Normally he'd grin back, because her bright smile made him happy. Howeve, in this case he knew that her smile meant something bad for him. It meant that, "Guess what? Mom agreed, and she's just about to leave. So she's gonna tell you a few things first, and while she's doing that I'll go take a shower. See you when I get out!" He blinked stupidly, watching as she darted up the stairs and up the bathroom. His gaze turned towards the other door, from whence her mother came.
It was truly amazing that he could face down an entire gang of punks in the heat of battle, beat the crap out of them, and then here was in this situation. Confounded by the actions of a girl nearly three years younger than he was and definetely not as wise in the ways of the world. That naive little girl had just stuck him in this situation without any obvious effort and no underlying motives. It was like she was an evil manipulative genius hiding in the body of an innocent and harmless looking teenager. "Gee, that just sounds familiar doesn't it?"
"What sounds familiar?" Drake blinked and looked up
to see Serenity's mom looking down at him. He chuckled and stood up to
greet her, and prepared to receive the talk. In the background he heard
the noise of a shower starting up, and he cringed on the inside. This
was going to be a LONG night.
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The sun was right at the bottom of it's arc, half hidden by the skyline, it's dimmed glow sending waves of crimson across the clouds. A reflection of the sun could be seen in the waters, and it made a rainbow pattern of light appear there. The scene at the Domino Peer was amazing, and one person standing at the peer had the perfect view. She sighed, leaning against the railing as she stared out into the setting sun. "It's perfect."
"I've felt the same way everytime I've been here." The woman turned around, discovering that the speaker was none other than Drake Ihachi. She let out a string of laughter and quickly embraced him in delight. He returned the hug, feeling reminscent at the sight of her. It felt right to have her in his arms. If only....but no, his feelings weren't returned. To her, he was just a good friend.
Kirani pulled back from the hug, grinning up at Drake, who she hadn't seen for close to three months. Not since he had last departed Domino. "Good to see you ya big lug. How goes things with Kaiba? I hear you two are becoming close." She laughed at the thought of that. She had heard about the duel the two had fought, and what had happened. What was amazing was that they were dueling in a mainly friendly manner. Anything friendly and Seto Kaiba didn't seem to mix in her mind.
"Not close per se, he still considers me something of a rival though. The money is definetely good, it's better than my last job with KC. It lets me pay for my sister's hospital fees, pay for Tenjiku's apartment, my own, and with enough left over for some perks. Plus job security is great, and there are other benefits. But enough about me. I wanna hear what you've been up to." She smiled that amazing smile of hers that out shown the sun, and turned to lean against the railing. He joined her there, both of them watching as the sun set.
"After the Ghouls disbanded I did some dueling. But I was at a little fishing village when I found what I really wanted to do. There was a family there who was looking to hire someone to be a pilot for their boat, drive them around a bit on the waters. It fit me so well, I knew I could do it and love it. I've had plenty of experience piloting boats, and I just love the ocean. So I took the job. I've had several others, but at the moment I'm the personal pilot for some rich family's yacht. The pay is decent, and I get to be on the ocean all I want." There wasn't a sound for several seconds, but then Drake spoke up again.
"What is it about the ocean that you love so much?" The older girl sighed a bit, a wistful look on her face as she began to speak.
"I love the ocean because Drake I need to talk to you. I really do, so stop sitting there." Drake blinked and suddenly everything distorted. A darkness lifted, and he discovered himself sitting on a couch, blinking sleep out of his eyes as he looked up into the brown eyes of Serenity Wheeler. He groaned and roll back over on the couch trying to get back to sleep. He liked that dream, he wanted to finish it. Why did she have to walk him up then?
"It's about an hour or so till your meeting with those people. I think you need to start getting ready." He groaned again, pulling a couch pillow over his head. Serenity was certain she heard a muffled 'five more minutes' come from beneath the pillow. She snatched it up and tossed it aside, glaring down at him. He was as lazy as her brother when it came to mornings!
"Daisuke Ihachi, you get up this instant!" Drake grumbled and pushed himself into a sitting position, giving Serenity a baleful glare. As much as he usually enjoyed Serenity's company, getting woken up from a good dream so early in the morning was enough to make him cranky. He sighed and ran a hand through his ruffled hair, trying to smooth it down. Well, at least as much as his hair ever got smooth.
"Yes mother, I'm going."
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Kai grimaced and leaned back in the seat of his dark blue RX7 with the top down, waiting for the light to change colors. Traffic was bad in Tokyo, even though most people walked. Nearly a month back he would never have gotten the chance to come here, his parents wouldn't have let him. But now they were dead, and he was here in order to figure out exactly why.
A little while ago he had been in the Japanese Championship, which would determine the champion of Japan. It had taken quite a bit of work to enter it, and he had forged his way through tough duel after tough duel to make his way into the final round of the championship.
Meanwhile another duelist had been competing in the same tournament, a duelist that everyone was determined to defeat. Dalin Imaki Sumatin forged his way through each of his duels with the ease of a sword cutting through butter. It was like all the top duelists of Japan were no challenge for him. So he had made it to the final round of the championship.
When the duel had started Kai had been as focused as he had ever been in a duel. He was in peak condition for the match, and even his hand was an awesome hand. In the first turn he had been able to summon two of his strongest monsters in order to put Dalin on the defensive and take the victory.
What he hadn't realized was that Dalin was stringing him along, using Kai's own monsters to facilitate his own strategy. Kai had been played worse then he had ever been played in any duel. Plenty of duelists fell for traps or were pulled into deadly combos without realizing it, but for his part he usually had managed to recover. Never had he been so completely drawn in as when he had drawn Dalin.
In a single turn the angel duelist had managed to not only turn the tide of the duel, but win as well. Dalin had even ended the duel with more life points then when he started. It was the ultimate defeat, a complete and utter shut-out where he lost in just a few short turns. Of course he had lost duels before, but never like that.
Kai was the champion for the entire province of Izu, one of the top duelists of Japan. He was even ranked in the top two hundred duelists of the world. Dalin had made him look like an amateur, and perhaps under normal circumstances he might have been coming to get a rematch, just to see if his skills had improved enough in a month's time with deck restructuring to defeat Dalin. But things weren't normal.
Shortly after the duel ended Kai had returned a call that had been made to him, and he had learned a tragedy. His father had been killed at the museum and his mother's lab had burned down inexplicably in the same day. He had been torn up inside, and then the tournament official attempted to kill him. Dalin used his magic to save Kai's life, but it didn't save him from the pain of his parent's death.
After a few days of recovery time at the hospital Kai had gone home, and had discussed with a few family friends exactly what had happened. Someone had tried to steal an artifact from the museum, and Kai's father had tried to stop him. The thief killed Kai's father and then fled. In that same day his mother, who had been studying some old pieces of ruins, had her lab burnt down. Video cameras had shown that one of his mother's partners had entered the room, argued with her about something, and then he cried out something. Then the room went up in flames.
He had tried to find clues of why they had been killed at their home, to see about the research they were doing. He had found some papers that gave him some clues, and in a drawer he had discovered a group of five cards, and a note from his parents. They had somehow known that their end was soon to come, and they had left something to remember them by.
His mission wasn't revenge. Kai wasn't like that, no definitely not. His mission was much different, it was a mission to discover the truth, and that was why he was in Tokyo. Just a few days previous Dalin Imaki Sumatin had called him and asked him to come, saying that they had something important to discuss, something that related to his parents. So Kai had come as quickly as he could.
The light above changed to green and Kai added a bit of pressure to the accelerator, making the car surge towards its goal. His thoughts followed a pattern they had been following for a while. Though he had no idea exactly what Dalin had in mind to discuss, he wasn't going to pass up a chance to learn the truth. Besides, if his theory turned out to be right, then something very bad was going to happen so. Something worse than the death of his parents.
Twenty minutes later Kai Kaethen pulled the car to a halt in front of the Tokyo National Museum of History. This was where Dalin had told him to come, so this was where he was going to be. Kai turned off the ignition and pulled the key out, then he stepped out and locked the door. Once his car was settled he headed up the steps of the museum.
He stopped at the front desk and decided to ask the man there if he had seen Kai's quarry. "Excuse me sir, but do you know if a man by the name of Dalin Sumatin is here? He's really tall, muscular, and he's got spiked blonde hair." The man narrowed his brow and then turned to his computer, swiftly typing in a few things.
After several seconds the man smiled and turned back to Kai. "He reported here an hour ago for a private tour with the representative of the Egyptian government. If you wait in the lobby they should be coming out soon." Kai nodded and walked away towards the lobby. Halfway there he turned and headed back to the man.
"Do you happen to know the name of the representative?" The man smiled yet again and informed Kai that the representative was one Madam Ishtar, or none other then Isis Ishtar. Kai's eyes lit up in surprise as he heard this. It was absolutely perfect! Isis Ishtar was well known as an influential figure in the research of Ancient Egyptian artifacts. He had studied some of the work she had done before.
Walking into the lobby he found a seat and sat down, waiting for the two to come out. Now not only could he meet someone whose work he highly respected, but he could also get the chance to match information with Dalin, and perhaps learn the reason for his parent's death and the attempt on his life.
About fifteen minutes later two figures exited through a side door and entered the lobby. One was the distinctive towering figure of Dalin Sumatin, and the other was a bronze skinned woman with dark hair that hung to her waist. She wore casually modest white robes and had golden bands around her arms. Kai was shocked at the sight of her.
There was no one else the woman could be than Isis Ishtar, and Kai was astonished. He had read her work, but he had never seen her before. She was absolutely gorgeous! He found himself experiencing a stupid sting of jealousy at the sight of the two figures talking animatedly to each other, smiling as they spoke.
Kai stepped out in front of them, stopping them from continuing on. The two of them stopped and turned to look at him, Dalin's eyes flashing slightly with recognition. Isis' eyes were just politely curious. "Can I help you?" Kai's mind thought up several responses, but he didn't get a chance to speak, as Dalin beat him to the punch.
"This is Kai Kaethen, the boy I told you about." Isis nodded and gave him a slight smile. Then the two of them turned around and started walking back the way they had come. Kai pulled his eyes away from Isis and refocused his attention on what was important right now. He had no reason to bother with such trifles as a crush, he had to find the truth.
"Come with us. We have something important to discuss." Kai didn't respond in words, he merely started walking with the two of them. They walked past several different exhibits until they reached an unmarked door that seemed of no importance. Isis took a key out of her clothing (where she kept it Kai had no idea) and unlocked the door. The three of them entered, and Kai got a good look at what was probably Isis' temporary office.
There were books of all sorts around the room, books that Kai recognized and some that he didn't. In fact, some of them were books on history so rare that he'd never gotten to see them at all, only heard about them. "You actually have the Book of Fading Stars? I thought it was just a myth."
Isis smiled slightly and pulled out two extra seats, allowing Dalin and Kai to sit down across from her. She picked up the book that Kai had mentioned, a pure black book with the title in Latin on the front. "Not the original, but rather a copy. Yes, I have one. The only copy in existence in fact. Tell me Kai, do you know what the Book of Fading Stars is said to contain?"
"Yes. The rumors all say that the Book of Fading Stars contains the history of the battle between Chaos and Order, and a method to unleash the true power of Order or Chaos, depending on how the book is used." Dalin quirked an eyebrow, obviously surprised that Kai knew so much about a book that supposedly didn't exist at all.
"That's correct, that is the rumor. Unfortunately the rumor is incorrect. This book does however speak of the text that does contain those secrets. This text is actually a religious text, a poorly translated one as well. You see, the name was translated from an ancient language that ceased to exist several thousand years ago, so only a few records of it existed. It was translated to Greek, then to Latin as Caesar located the book in Athens. After Caesar's death one of the Triumvirate took the book, hoping to use it to bring victory. During the final battle the book was lost, presumably carried off by some soldier. "
Kai was enraptured by the tale she was telling, wondering exactly where this was leading. To think that the Book of Fading Stars was real, and that it was far different than what people thought it was....well it was a breakthrough for archaeology and history. "The book vanished for a long time, and then it was rediscovered in Egypt by one of the clans of Gravekeepers. This particular clan was meant to guard a special tomb, and since they didn't want to have such a thing as this book in their possession they gave it to my clan, and that is how it fell into my hands. I quickly learned that it was just a copy, and the real book was nowhere to be found. I have searched, but have been unable to find a trace of it. What I did learn from the Book of Fading Stars, was that its real name could roughly be translated as Philosophy of Immortality, and even that is incorrect. I also now know this is the most dangerous religious piece of work ever to be written. It has the potential power to rip apart the world as we know it." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx
Yugi
and his friends ended up in a conflict against a man named Gurimo, who
used the great power of a field magic card called Seal of Orichalcos to
give his monsters the advantage. Then he used Obelisk the Tormentor
against Yugi, which was defeated in the end. Though Yugi won, he found
himself with more questions than answers. There was trouble ahead, that
was certain. The next day Yugi and his friends were greeted by a young
blonde girl who turned out to be Rebecca Hawkins and things began to
come together a bit more.
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In New Port City Drake and Serenity were standing in the park, waiting for Drake's contact to show up. Little did they know that things were about to get interesting.
Drake leaned up against his motorcycle, glancing over at Serenity who was sitting at the edge of the pond, dangling her legs in and just generally relaxing. He hadn't been able to convince her not to come, so he figured she could just watch. After all, not like the representative could say anything having asked him to come to such a public place. "You enjoying yourself?"
Serenity nodded to the affirmative, and Drake started to say something else when he heard the revving of an engine. He turned a bit and found three figures, one in what looked like armor, and two others in trench coats. All three wore helmets and sat on motorcycles, and they were definitely watching him. "What do you three want?"
"We sent for you, someone wishes to speak to you." Drake nodded, understanding that these must be representatives from the mystery company. Though to be honest they looked more like thugs then representatives. But that could probably be said of Drake as well. He started to walk towards them when the golden disc under his shirt gave a twinge, revealing to him some of their emotions and thereby their intentions.
"Screw....Serenity, get on my bike. Do it now!" She was surprised by his tone, but complied because she knew he was dead serious. Whatever was going on, it wasn't good. She watched him back up to it, and then hop on, revving the engine. With the swift motion of wrist and foot the black Kawazaki was off and accelerating.
Drake grimaced when he heard the roar of engines behind him. Those three were scary as Hell, their emotions told of great darkness hidden within and he felt that whatever their purpose it wasn't anything to do with the corporate take over that was starting to happen. He couldn't find them out here, not with the risk of someone else getting hurt. He'd lead them away so he could confront them. Then the magic of his Millennium Disc would teach them true power. Taking a sharp turn out of the park, Drake risked a glance back and saw that they were still following, doing quite well too.
He barreled onto the street, whipping in between cars at high velocity, and yet the three still tailed him. Damn they were good, maybe better then he was at this. Pushing the engine even harder he poured on every ounce of speed he could as he saw the lines of oncoming traffic ahead. Charging head on into it he zipped between the cars, hoping to allude them. Serenity was screaming behind him. "How long have you been driving this thing?!"
"Since I got my license!" The bike took a sweeping curve and he was nearly sideswiped by a passing Volvo. He took the next turn off the road and onto a back alley where he nearly collided with a group of trash cans. Using his momentum he swung around the next turn and got back on the road, hopefully completely losing the trio.
"When was that?!" He heard the question, but he wasn't really focused on it. What he was focused on was the fact that instead of following him the trio had seemed to know exactly what he intended and had taken the right turn on the road. They were still following. Grimacing he steered into another alleyway, hoping to lose them in the warren of paths.
"About a week after I got to America!" Serenity quailed behind him, utterly terrified at the death defying, and utterly stupid stunts that he was pulling as he pushed the motorcycle as fast as he could through quick-turns. Suddenly he found himself in a very bad situation. Turning the bike into a sliding stop, he found himself at a dead end with a solid brick wall between him and escape. Approaching from the other direction were the trio.
"Damn, looks like things are going to get ugly." Before he could gun the engine and barrel through them, the three men stopped their motorcycles and got off, taking off their helmets. They made gestures of calming, and stood still, trying to show Drake that they meant no harm.
"Things won't be getting ugly. We just want you to have a talk with our leader. He can offer you great things. If you don't comply, then we'll have to hurt both you and the girl." Drake cast a glance over his shoulder at Serenity, and then he looked back at the three of them. He could probably take the other two, but the first guy was so big he doubted any punch he threw could hurt the guy. He was solid muscle, just like Dalin.
Sighing he put the stand down and stepped off his bike, taking his helmet off so he could truly face the three of them. "And what exactly will we be talking about?" The three fellows gave each other glances that had a meaning Drake wasn't aware of, and then the head one amongst them, the biggest one, turned back to Drake.
"Giving you the thing you want above all else." Drake blinked, and his mind searched for what that might be. He could think of only one thing, and he had no idea how they could know anything about him. He started to speak again, but one of them tossed something to him. He caught it, and discovered it to be a somewhat circular green duel disk. It was much different from a normal one.
One of them stepped forward, a similar one on his arm. He had reddish hair and wore a black trench coat in the same style Kaiba wore with a tank top underneath. "This is a Doom Slider, and you'll be using it in this duel. All you have to do is prove yourself against me and then you'll get a chance to speak to our leader. I'm Amelda by the way, and you won't be getting very far against me." Amelda activated his Doom Slider and it extended somewhat, before the plate itself slid outwards, becoming the plate that would hold his cards. (ALP: 4000)
Drake grimaced, realizing that beating this duelist would be the best way to discover exactly what was going on. Besides, he couldn't risk Serenity getting hurt, so he'd just have to win this duel quickly. He pulled his deck out of his pocket, shuffled it quickly, and then slid it into the deck holder of the Doom Slider. "Let's duel!" His Doom Slider activated, and extended just as Amelda's had. (DLP: 4000)
Amelda grinned and drew a sixth card, indicating that he would be taking the first turn. "Looks like shortly this duel will be over, what with me having a hand like this. I summon Wicked Machine Devil(1400/1200), a monster that will produce a Wicked Machine Token(700/1000) when summoned and another during each turn. I can sacrifice these tokens for normal purposes, or to increase my Wicked Machine Devil's attack power by 500, so I'll do so!"
The monster was a machine formed of spikes and wires, with darkness oozing out of it. The token it produced was a group of wires spat out of the full machine, and connected together by a bit of the darkness. However it quickly merged back into the original machine and boosted its power to 1900. "I'll place two cards face down, and end my turn."
Drake drew and surveyed his options. After a few seconds he titled his head back and started laughing. Amelda grimaced at seeing him laugh so hard at whatever he had, and wondered just what Drake had in mind. "Oh this is just great. This duel, it's already over. You have no next turn!" The three men looked surprised, and behind him he could hear Serenity gasp. The best part was, Drake wasn't bluffing at all.
"I'll start off with Skilled Chaos Magician(1800/1600). Then I add this magic card to the mix, Effect Economics! This permanent magic card will allow both of us to activate effects at no cost to our life points. And it grants my magician a magic counter." Drake's magician waved his staff around, and a glowing point appeared on it. The magic card appeared next to it, and Drake was ready to make his next move.
"Next is Bonds of Brothers! It would cost me one thousand life points, but with the power of Effect Economics it costs me nothing. So now I get to special summon two monsters of level four or under from my deck with the same sub-type as one monster on my field. I'll bring out Guardian Magician of the Day(1400/1900) and Guardian Magician of the Night(1900/1400)!" His two monsters appeared beside Skilled Chaos Magician in their flowing robes, one of the night sky, and one of the day's sky.
"I play Soul of the Thoughtful, which allows me to reuse effects during this turn. Again I get to negate its cost with my permanent magic card. I won't reactivate an effect yet though, because it granted my Skilled Chaos Magician its final counter, so I offer it to special summon Black Magician of Chaos(2800/2600)!" The blue skinned magician appeared on the field in place of its smaller counterpart, and a card ejected from Drake's cemetery. He grinned and slipped it into his Doom Slider.
"Time to replay Bonds of Brothers thanks to the effect of my Black Magician of Chaos. Now I prompt you to meet Skilled Dark Magician(1900/1700) and Illusive Magician(1900/1600), both in attack mode!" Two new monsters appeared on Drake's field, completing his set of five monsters. Each with quite a bit of power. Illusive Magician looked somewhat like a younger Dark Magician, and it was ready to join its brethren in crushing Amelda.
"Furthermore I use With Time Comes Wisdom, which lets me send Skilled Dark Magician to the cemetery to bring out a magician of at least three levels higher. So here comes the Dark Magician(2500/2100)!" The familiar purple robed magician shimmered into view in the monster zone that Skilled Dark Magician had just occupied, giving Drake even greater fire power. However, though he had a great deal of attack power at his hands, Amelda wasn't impressed. His two set cards could easily deal with this superior attack force.
"Time to show you the united strength of my Guardian Magicians. Night and Day, obliterate his monster!" The two magicians crossed their staffs, and a jet of black and white energy streaked out, burning Wicked Machine Devil out of existence, leaving Amelda with no physical defenses to help him out.
"Using the strength provided by Soul of the Thoughtful I'll reuse the effect of my Night and Day, this time targeting your magic and trap cards! Say goodbye to your last defense!" Again the two magicians crossed staffs, and this time their sweeping jet of magical energies shattered Amelda's face down cards, leaving him with no defense whatsoever. The red haired duelist cried out in surprise as he realized exactly what was about to happen.
"Think I'm done Amelda? I'm going to teach you and your buddies what happens when you threaten me and my friends. I activate Magician's Unity! This will allow me to combine the powers of every magician on my field to make a single attack this turn, only they'll all die at the end of the turn. Good thing you have no turn right? Well it gets better, because by paying one thousand life points, which is reduced to zero by Effect Economics, Magician's Unity allows me to add their defense points into the mix, so long as I pay a further one thousand at the end of my turn, another cost that I won't have to pay."
Amelda started backing away as a stream of light connected the five magic users, and the moved into a circle, wands pointed at one point above their heads. A burst of magic erupted from each staff, colliding together in that one point, forming a growing sphere of energy. Drake grinned and thrust his left hand forward, the glowing golden eye bright upon his forehead as he declared his attack. "Unity Magic Attack!"
A stream of raw energy exploded out of the sphere, shooting straight at Drake's opponent. Amelda only had a bare moment to scream as the tremendous beam of magical power collided with his chest. The force of the blast wasn't as great as it might have been had it been real, but the Doom Slider's holographic technology was like that of Kaiba's, it gave real impact to blows. And the power of over twenty thousand attack points in one strike was devastating.
Amelda went flying backwards over a dozen feet, coming crashing down on his back and then continuing to slide backwards. When at last he came to a halt he was unconscious, and his clothing was singed. A cloud of smoke was rising up out of the alley from the explosive power of the attack. Drake grinned and took the cards out of his cemetery and off his field and then shuffled them back into his deck. This duel was over, and now he had something else to do. (DLP: 4000, ALP: 0)
Sliding his deck back into his Doom Slider he pointed his hand at the other two, and declared his intentions. "For threatening me and Serenity I'm going to show you some real power, just as much as I showed Amelda. And if both of you are as weak of duelists as your comrade was, then I'll take you both on at once!" (DLP: 4000)
The big guy glanced at his smaller brown haired partner, and then nodded once to the other duelist. The brown haired goggle head grinned and stepped forward. The big fellow finally spoke up again. "You won't duel us both, however you can test yourself against my companion. Varon, show him the power of the Doom Organization. I'll get Amelda." Varon smirked and activated his Doom Slider before drawing a hand of five cards, while his partner walked over and picked up Amelda and slung the defeated duelist over his shoulder.
"Amelda may have fallen to you in one turn, but I doubt you'll get such a strong hand this time around. Not only that but I'm a much stronger duelist than Amelda was by far. Let's get this duel started right now!" Drake grinned right back and drew his own opening hand, and it was quickly established that since Drake had won the last duel he'd be going first. He looked over his hand and then decided that the duel would certainly be an interesting one. (VLP: 4000)
"Okay Varon, I summon Neo the Magical Swordsman(1700/1000), then I set up one card. Let's see what you can do shall we?" His armored sword wielding spellcaster took form, followed by a card behind it. Then he passed the turn to Varon, who eagerly drew a card.
"I'll summon Busterpile Armor(0/0) in attack mode! Meet the first of my armors!" His monster turned out to be a blue arm, that shot towards Varon and connected to his right arm. Drake raised an eyebrow, intrigued by a monster that became part of the duelist. It was bound to have an interesting effect at the very least with that low of an attack power.
"Here I come!" Varon ran towards Drake, and then socked Neo right in the jaw. In a flash of light Neo exploded into dust, and so did Busterpile Armor, then its effect activated. "Busterpile Armor automatically destroys the monster it battles, and then you take five hundred damage. Of course it dies as well." Drake grinned and pressed a button on his Doom Slider, just as Varon was placing a card into his own duel disk. (DLP: 3500)
"I play Monster Reborn to revive Busterpile Armor and..." He paused as he discovered that nothing was happening, and then he held up his slider and looked into the cemetery slot. What he discovered was that there was nothing in his cemetery at all. "What the heck happened? Where is my Busterpile Armor?"
"In my hand Varon, that's where. You see right before you played Monster Reborn I activated my set card, Zombie's Jewel which puts a card that goes to your cemetery into my hand. So I got Busterpile Armor, and your Monster Reborn failed because its target wasn't there anymore. Now my trap's secondary effect lets you draw a card." Varon did so, and then set up two cards to finish his turn.
Drake added another card to his hand, giving him a total of six cards. He looked his new hand over and discovered a very interesting combo available to him. This duel was about to go in his favor, that he was sure of. "I summon Busterpile Armor(0/0), and next I'll activate Bonds of Brothers! Confused Varon? No I don't have any monsters like it to summon, but you do. So I use the quick-play magic card Amendment to change Bonds of Brother's effect to let me special summon those monsters from your deck." (DLP: 2500)
The armor duelist grimaced as he approached Drake and handed over his deck. Not only would Drake get two of his armors, but he'd also get a good look at Varon's deck, which was Drake's purpose anyways. The punk duelist whistled as he looked over Varon's cards, impressed with what he saw. The armors certainly were powerful monsters. "I choose to special summon Psychic Armor Head(0/500) in defense, and Overboost Armor(0/1000) in defense as well." A blue helmet with a visor appeared and latched onto Drake's head, just as a pair of blue armored legs attached to his legs. Now he had an armored arm, an armored head, and armored legs.
"The power of Overboost Armor protects my armors from trap cards, so I activate the equip magic card United We Stand on Busterpile Armor, raising its attack power to twenty-four hundred! Now, it's my turn to attack you directly!" Drake whalloped Varon across the face with his armored fist, the blow knocking Varon onto his back. Drake quickly returned to his side of the field, and watched as his opponent got back onto his feet. (VLP: 1600)
"Now I play Type Shift, turning Amendment into a permanent magic card. You'll see what effect I change next turn, so just wait. End turn!" Varon was truly impressed by the display that Drake had made so far. First he defeated Amelda in a single turn, and now he was turning Varon's own strategy against him. Master Dartz was definetely right, this guy was a powerful duelist that could prove useful to them.
"You've done well so far Drake, but we'll just have to wait till next turn to see how strong you truly are. I set a monster in defense mode, and then end my turn." A horizontal card appeared in front of his two other cards, completing his defense. Now it was back to Drake, and he was going to show Varon exactly the kind of power that he had.
"Now I forfeit my draw phase under the power of Amendment. You see, I'm using my Amendment magic card to change Psychic Armor Head's effect, so I can forfeit my draw phase to select an armor from your deck and add it to my hand." Once again the two duelists approached each other, and Drake took Varon's deck, looking through it. He decided on the monster quickly, and then continued searching so he knew what card Varon had taken.
"You think you can defeat me with Big Bang Blow Armor? Think again, because I summon Spike Fist Armor(300/500) in attack mode!" Drake's new monster, another of Varon's armors, was a blue left arm, which placed itself on Drake. Each of the knuckles of the fist had a little spike extending out of it, making it look truly deadly. It was the effect that was going to do his work for him. Spike Fist Armor could destroy a face down monster without damage calculation and with no effect activated.
"I'll destroy your set monster!" He charged and smashed Big Bang Blow Armor, which could have destroyed every monster on the field to deal damage to each monster's controller by their attack power. In this case its effect didn't go off. "Now, since only one armor can attack per turn, I end. But next turn I might just alter that armor effect to allow me double attacks or more. Your turn Varon."
The armor duelist drew his next card, and then burst out laughing. "So much for all your efforts to defeat me with my own strategies. I summon Explosive Shell Armor(0/500) in attack mode!" A full-bodied armor, all in black, appeared on the field. However it appeared broken, as it was chipped and cracked, and sparks were shooting out of it. Suddenly it exploded, covering the entire field in smoke.
When the smoke cleared, it was all revealed as being empty, not a single card magic, trap, or monster was left in play. "You see, when Explosive Shell Armor is summoned we must both place every card on the field into cemetery. Which leaves me an open path to your life points. I'll get there using my Armored Gravitation magic card!" The effect of the magic card allowed him to special summon four level four or under armors to the field, and he did so, bring out chest, arm, legs, and the other arm. All that was missing was the head.
"The armor on my right arm is Burning Knuckle Armor(0/1000) which normally has zero attack points. However it gains two hundred attack power for every armor on the field, so it gains eight hundred! Now it's my turn to attack directly!" He rushed at Drake and punched him right in the stomach, forcing the punk duelist to his knees. However, Drake quickly recovered and was upright once more. (DLP: 1700)
"Normally at the end of my turn all armors special summoned by Armored Gravitation die, but using Safety Net I can prevent my armors from being destroyed this turn. Now that I've saved my armors, I end!" Drake took a deep breath and then drew his card, knowing full well that with the legs that Varon had, Overboost Armor, he couldn't save himself with traps. And when there was more than one armor on the field Varon could choose which was attacked. The chest, Active Guard Armor, had two thousand defense, so Varon could easily block with that. He'd just have to hope that he drew something good.
"Alright! I've got exactly what I need right here and now! I play Curtain of Chaos Magic! At a cost of half of my life points I can special summon Black Magician of Chaos to the field, so here we go!" A red curtain with a skull and a pair of skeletal hands holding it up appeared on the field, and then the curtains opened. From within came Drake's strongest and most faithful magician. (DLP: 850)
He took back a card and then placed it face down. Then he decided to go on the attack. "I attack you with Black Magician of Chaos. Chaos Scepter Blast!" The mighty mage threw his staff forwards, spearing straight into the monster that Varon chose to have intercept the attack, the defense mode Active Guard Armor. It was swiftly destroyed and removed from the game thanks to his magician. "Turn end!"
Varon drew his next card, and then the special power of Psycic Armor Head activated. When it was in the cemetery during it's owner's standby phase it would be special summoned to the field in attack mode. And so it reappeared, nearly completing Varon's suit of blue armor. Now all that was gone as the chest. "Let's see what you can handle Drake, because I play Armor Slipstream! During this turn one armor on my field can attack you directly! It's time to show you my true power!" A tunnel of blue light formed between the two of them, which seemed to completely bypass Black Magician of Chaos. Varon sped along it and then elbowed Drake in the face with his armored elbow, dealing a good deal of damage to the punk duelist. (DLP: 50)
"Now I play my magic card, Armored Destruction! I offer Psychic Armor Head to destroy Black Magician of Chaos, removing it from the game!" The two monsters exploded, leaving Drake's field empty....or so it seemed. When the smoke faded and Varon's turn was over the other duelist discovered that what remained on Drake's field wasn't a face down card, but rather the same floating curtain that had brought out Black Magician of Chaos. And next to it was the explanation.
At the start of Drake's turn he knew exactly what to do. He had all the cards needed for him to win, right here and now. Varon was going down, and there was nothing the other duelist could do to stop him. "Ready Varon? This is the last turn of this duel! Now thanks to the power of Type Shift I use my now permanent card Curtain of Chaos Magic to special summon Black Magician of Chaos!" Once again the curtains parted and out came the mighty Black Magician of Chaos. (DLP: 25)
"I play Royal Edict, the card I've just drawn. It's effect allows me to name one magic or trap card in your deck, and if it exists there I get to add it to my hand. Seeing as how I've had a perfect look at your deck, I know the magic card I want exists there. So I name Raigeki!" Varon gasped as he was forced to search his deck for the card and then toss it to his opponent.
"Now I use your very own magic card to clear the field of monsters!" A bolt of lightning streaked down from the sky, obliterating the armors that Varon had, leaving him standing all on his own, with no cards whatsoever to defend himself. All that stood between him and defeat was the power of his own fists, and that wasn't going to help at all.
"Black Magician of Chaos, end it now!" The magician flew across the field and slammed the butt end of his staff into Varon's stomach, doubling the duelist over. It was the damage required to take him out of the duel and grant Drake the victory, just as he had predicted. (DLP: 25, VLP: 0)
"Now what about you big guy? Of the three of you I just need to beat you to win, so what do you say?" The big guy stared down at Drake, and a slight smile crossed his stony features. Meanwhile Varon was getting back to his feet and had approached the bikes. Finally the big duelist spoke up.
"We'll duel soon enough. For now the five of us shall depart to our destination, and then you will learn the will of our leader. I am Raphael by the way. It's good to meet a duelist as impressive as yourself Daisuke Ihachi." Raphael extended his huge hand and Drake cautiously took it, shaking the much larger duelist's hand. Then he hopped onto his bike, and Varon did the same. Drake followed them on his own motorcycle with Serenity sitting behind him again. Amelda's bike was left behind as Amelda himself was slung across the front of Raphael's motorcycle.
"Remember Serenity, no matter what happens I will protect you." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Author's Notes: There you go. Sorry to any fans of Amelda and Varon if it seemed like I was making them too weak. For one, Drake's hand against Amelda was basically unbeatable. Tough nut to crack right? As for against Varon, despite the short length of the duel he did end up at 25 life points, a very low amount, even if most of that damage comes from himself. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, read and review.
WolfGeneral: I thought it was a fun way to start the story. As for The Immortal One, you'll have to wait and see who he is. But I can certainly say he's not what you guessed.
Voidtemplar: Didn't know you read my previous story. But it's good to know I have some fans out there. Hope you enjoy this one just as much if not more.
Original Cards
Drake: Curtain of Chaos Magic, Type Shift, Amendment, Guardian Magician of the Night, Guardian Magician of the Day, Illusive Magician, Effect Economics, Soul of the Thoughtful, With Time Comes Wisdom(created by Vaurnut), Magician's Unity, Royal Edict
Amelda: Wicked Machine Devil
Varon(these include armors Drake played): Spike Fist Armor, Explosive Shell Armor, Safety Net, Armor Slipstream, Armored Destruction
Anime Original Cards
Varon: Busterpile Armor, Psychic Armor Head, Overboost Armor, Active Guard Armor, Burning Knuckle Armor, Big Bang Blow Armor, Armored Gravitation
