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Fanfic Chapter 98: Serapheem's Struggle Pt 2: The Littlest Light Monster
Episode Basis: None
Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh! It was time for the first match of the Battle City Finals. The Wild Card match saw Harold battling the American Amara Penfield. Harold wasted no time in summoning his ritual monster Serapheem. But Amara had her own secret weapon: Penumbral Soldier Lady, a warrior monster that gains 1000 attack points when it battles a light monster. Serapheem's destruction devastated Harold, for that was the card his friend Katy gave him, and seeing it destroyed like it was nothing was like somebody crushing the symbol of their friendship. Can Harold turn this duel around?
"Jeez, get a grip," Amara told Harold. "You lose one monster and you automatically think its end of the world. Oh grow up."
She doesn't get it, Harold thought. It's not the fact that the monster was destroyed that bothers me, but how easily it was destroyed. If it was destroyed by a strong monster like the Blue-Eyes White Dragon or the Dark Magician, then I wouldn't be that upset, but to be destroyed so effortlessly by a monster that's weaker than even Red-Eyes Black Dragon… it's like she said the bond between me and Katy that the card represented was worthless. "I won't let Serapheem's sacrifice be in vane! I summon Light-Speed Angel in attack mode! When Light-Speed Angel is summoned to the field, I can have her attack your life points directly even if you have monsters on the field! Light-Speed Angel, attack with Photon Rush!" The dark-skinned fairy transformed into a beam of light, flew by Penumbral Soldier Lady and struck Amara's Duel Disk.
(H: 2450)
(A: 1100)
(LSA: 1200-600)
"Then I'll place one card face-down and end my turn."
"Our boy ain't through yet," Joey said.
"You got spunk, I'll give you that," Amara said as she drew a card. "I offer my Invader of the Throne as a tribute to summon Maiden's Siren (1) in attack mode!" This new monster was female in shape but had no substance. Her head was also aqua-colored. "Soldier Lady, attack his Mystical Elf!" The elf was destroyed. "Siren, attack his Light-Speed Angel with Song of Seduction!" The monster let out a gentle melancholy tone which destroyed the Light-Speed Angel.
(H: 1100)
(A: 1100)
"We're even in life points," Amara said. "But I can guarantee my victory."
"What makes you say that?"
"Because at least I concentrate on winning and don't get so emotional over a measly card like it's my best friend."
"Shut your trap!" Harold snapped making Amara visibly recoil. "You're right, I am fretting over a card, but it's because of what it represents."
"What it represents?"
"That card was given to me by my very best friend, who taught me of courage and conviction. I wasn't just upset that you destroyed Serapheem, but you treated it like it was nothing when in face it represents more to me than anything in the world!"
"That's kind of like you and me and my Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Yug," Joey said.
"That's right, Joey, that Red-Eyes brought you back to us," Yami-Yugi commented. "Granted it wasn't for very long but it was able to pierce through Marik's mind control."
Marik scowled at that comment.
"If Harold concentrates, then Serapheem can come through just as Red-Eyes Black Dragon did."
"My move," Harold announced as he drew a card. "I activate my face-down card Jar of Greed which lets me draw one card from my deck. Next I set one card face-down and summon Shining Angel in defense mode. That ends my turn."
Amara drew a card. "Soldier Lady, attack his Shining Angel!" The angel was destroyed. "Siren, attack his life points directly! It's all over, Harold!"
"No it's not! I reveal my face-down card Fusion Defender. This lets me protect my life points by summoning a fusion monster. St. Joan, protect my life points!" St. Joan appeared and actually attacked the Siren. "Oh by the way, did I mention that I summon it in attack mode?" He smiled.
(H: 1100)
(A: 250)
St. Joan disappeared. "I didn't use my trap card the first time because it would just be pointless since even my fusion monsters are light attributes. But since your Siren was a water attribute monster, it wasn't affected."
"That was a cheap shot."
"A cheap shot for a cheap player, insulting Serapheem like that. Oh by the way, since you destroyed my Shining Angel, that means I get to summon a light monster and I summon The Forgiving Maiden!"
"I end my turn."
Harold breathed a sigh of relief. I was able to protect my life points this time, but I don't think I'll be able to survive another attack. What can I do…?
"Don't give up, Harold!" Tea called. "I know you can come through!"
"It's not over yet, bud," Joey added.
"Concentrate, Harold," Yami-Yugi called. "You're smart, you can think this through!"
Yugi's right, I just have to concentrate. Let's see… that Soldier Lady gains 1000 extra attack points when it battles a light monster so the only monster in my deck that could stand up to her is Serapheem. But if I heard Kaiba right, I can't revive her from the graveyard. However, I can perform the ritual again and thereby summon her back to the playing field. I must recreate the situation needed to summon Serapheem. He looked at his hand which contained Monster Reborn, Magician of Faith (2) and Silver Bow and Arrow. I can use Magician of Faith to revive Wingweaver and the Magician of Faith to get the Heavenly Light ritual card. But I need to bring Wingweaver's attack points up above 3200 and Silver Bow and Arrow alone just doesn't cut it. Harold drew a card from his deck. This is…
Suddenly the entire blimp started to shake wildly. The spectators fell to the floor. Kaiba reached for his lapel radio. "What's going on down there?" He asked.
"I'm sorry, Mister Kaiba, we hit some turbulence, our radar failed to pick it up until it was too late, we're having some trouble stabilizing."
"I'll be right down," Kaiba said.
"I'm coming too," Mokuba said in a tone that told him he wasn't going to argue with anyone, not even his big brother.
"What are we supposed to do?" Joey asked.
"Pray that dogs can fly," Kaiba cracked.
"What the…" A new tremor of the air ship stifled any future protest by Joey as Kaiba and Mokuba ran down to the control room.
"We should get below deck too," Marik suggested. "Before we fall off!"
"Good idea, Namu," Joey said. "Let's hurry." The spectators hurried towards the elevator. Harold was about to follow but turned to look at Amara. Her face was pale-white and she couldn't move.
What's with her? Harold wondered.
Kaiba and Mokuba ran into the control room where several Kaiba Corp. officers were trying to get things under control. "The power to the rear stabilizer on the balloon has been cut!"
"Then fix it, you morons!" Kaiba ordered. "Mokuba, take the helm while I try to get the reserve power online."
"You got it, bro!"
The blimp slowly started to slowly tilt down.
In the kitchen, plates and silverware were falling all over the place. The plate that held Joey's food crashed perfectly to the ground. A hand reached out from underneath the table cloth and took the food a bit at a time.
The remaining two Duelists down below gripped onto the bolted pieces of furniture. They were both thinking the same thing: I hope Marik is all right.
Outside, everyone struggled to remain on the blimp and close to the elevator. Roland was hugging the support post that held the dueling platform to the blimp like it was his lover.
Harold watched as Amara's footing came out from under her and she started to slide off the dueling platform and the blimp. "No!" He stowed his dueling hand in his shirt pocket and quickly activated his Armlet which projected a shield behind Amara stopping her fall. "It's okay," Harold told his opponent. "I won't let you fall!"
Amara didn't question how he was saving her, what she questioned was why. Why is he saving me? I'm his opponent, if I fall off the blimp, he'll win the duel, but he's saving my life. What's going on?
"Backup power online," Kaiba reported.
"Stabilizers activated," Mokuba threw in. "Returning to cruising altitude." He breathed of sigh of relief. "We did it, Seto."
Kaiba nodded firmly. Whether it is nature or man, nothing will stop me from my ultimate goal!
On top, everyone was just returning to their positions.
"Is everyone all right?" Tristan asked.
"You all right, sis?" Joey asked.
"That was scary," Serenity said.
"It's over now… I hope."
"I think it is over," Yami-Yugi reported.
Roland pulled his self back onto the dueling platform. He straightened his suit and announced, "The duel will continue if both Duelists feel they can continue. If not, the person with the lowest number of life points loses."
"I can continue," Harold reported. He turned to look at Amara. "Are you all right?" He held out his hand to help her up.
Amara, however, stood of her own accord, "Yeah, I'll be fine."
"Do you want to continue dueling?"
"What kind of a stupid question is that? Of course I do! I won't let a little turbulence stop me!"
"Well as long as you're all right," Harold said and returned to his side of the field.
"The duel shall continue!" Roland declared.
(H: 1100)
(A: 250)
"Is everyone all right?" Mokuba asked as he and Kaiba came back up.
"We're all fine, Mokuba," Yami-Yugi reported. "Did you get the ship stabilized?"
"Yeah, we did," Kaiba said. "Looks like the mediocre Duelists are going to play this through to the end."
"Yes they are," Yami-Yugi agreed.
"Good."
"I believe it was my move," Harold said. "And first I'll play Monster Reborn to bring back Wingweaver in defense mode! And next I'll equip her with the Silver Bow and Arrow increasing her attack and defense points by 300!"
(WW: 2750-3050, 2400-2700)
"I'll switch my Forgiving Maiden to defense mode too. Finally, I set a monster card face-down and end my turn."
As Amara drew her card, she noticed that her hand was shaking. That little episode back there shook me up in more ways than one, she thought. I have to concentrate. Let's see… all his monsters are in defense mode so attacking would get me nowhere. But all his monsters are light attribute so my Penumbral Soldier Lady should have the advantage over any one of them. Wingweaver is his strongest monster so I should probably destroy her first. Wait a minute; he also has a monster face-down. It's probably an effect monster so I should destroy that before he activates its special effect. Then again, it could be a flip-effect so if I attack, I could be playing right into his hands. Amara then turned her attention to The Forgiving Maiden. His Forgiving Maiden has the ability to return monsters that were destroyed in battle to the player's hand so if I destroy either Wingweaver or his face-down card, he'll just activate her special ability and return it to his hand. It seems like I'm locked into a no-win scenario. "I summon Lady Ninja Yae (3) in defense mode. Now, I'll equip Penumbral Soldier Lady with Malevolent Nuzzler raising her attack points by 700."
(PSL: 2100-2800)
"Attack his Forgiving Maiden!"
(PSL: 2800-3800)
The Forgiving Maiden was destroyed but Harold didn't seem worried. In fact, he actually seemed relieved. "I end my turn."
"All right, here we go," Harold said drawing a card. "I flip-summon my face-down monster, Magician of Faith!" A maroon-haired woman in purple robes appeared. "Magician of Faith lets me return a magic card from my graveyard and I'm choosing the ritual magic card Heavenly Light!" The magic card came out of his graveyard and returned to his hand.
"You're trying to summon Serapheem again," Amara realized. "Well bring it on! I defeated her once before and I'll defeat her once again!"
"All right, he could win!" Serenity cheered.
"I doubt it," Kaiba said. "He needs to bring Wingweaver's attack points above 3200 for the Heavenly Light magic card to work. Wingweaver's attack points are currently above 3000 but he still needs to power Wingweaver up more. With only two cards left in his hand, I doubt he'll be able to do that."
"Don't need two cards, only need one," Harold said. "Say hello to my little friend: I summon Hoshiningen (4) in attack mode!" A little star with a face and legs appeared.
Amara stared at it disgustingly. "That thing better have a special ability otherwise I'm going to laugh so hard I'll fall off the blimp."
"Oh it does have a special ability. It can increase all light monsters attack points by 500!"
(WW: 3050-3550)
(H: 500-1000)
(MOF: 300-800)
"Now that Wingweaver's attack points are high enough, I can activate the ritual magic card Heavenly Light to call to the field… Serapheem!" A bright light from above came down from above and took the form of Serapheem. "Welcome back, Serapheem, I missed you. Now, how about some payback? Serapheem, attack her Soldier Lady with Ultra Luminosity!"
"Are you nuts? Penumbral Soldier Lady will destroy her just like last time. Penumbral Soldier Lady, attack Serapheem again!" The solder lady raised her sword and charged.
(PSL: 2800-3800)
"Serapheem has that ability too," Harold informed her. "She gets 200 extra attack points for every normal light monster in my graveyard." The shadows of Neo the Magic Swordsman and Mystical Elf appeared.
(S: 3250-3650)
"It's still not enough!"
"How soon we forget," Harold retorted. "Hoshiningen, remember? It gives 500 extra attack points to every light monster."
(S: 3650-4150)
"I hate to add insult to injury, but Hoshiningen also lowers dark attribute monsters' attack points by 400."
(PSL: 3800-3400)
The two women clashed with a burst of energy but when it dispersed, Penumbral Soldier Lady was thrown back and destroyed.
(H: 1100)
(A: 0)
Yugi was right, Harold thought. Even the littlest monster can turn the tide in a duel.
"The winner of the Wild Card match is Harold Kumara!" Roland announced. "As per Battle City rules, the loser will turn over their rarest card to the winner."
Amara lowered her head, "All right, go ahead, gloat about how better you are than me," she said like she was expecting it.
"Boasting isn't my style," Harold said. "I'll tell you what, you can keep your rarest card, but I'll take a light monster if you have one."
Dejected, Amara took a card from her deck and handed it to Harold. It was a monster card called D. D. Warrior Lady (5). Harold took it and slipped it into his deck. "Good game," he said. He offered her his hand but she just continued looking at the ground. "I've had a lot of tough challenges over the course of this tournament. You provided me with one of my toughest. You put up a good fight and you should be proud of that. You proved your self a worthy Duelist." The platform lowered and Harold walked down a flight of stairs to the others.
"That was a great duel, Harold," Serenity said.
"I admit, I was surprised when you summoned that little star guy," Joey said.
"Me too," Duke agreed.
"It wasn't that bad," Tristan admitted.
"Thanks, guys." He looked at Yugi. "Yugi…"
"I know, Harold, I know, things are about to get a whole lot harder… for all of us."
The End
Duel Monster Database
(1)
Name: Maiden Siren
Level: 6
Type: Aqua
Attribute: Water
ATK: 2150
DEF: 2200
(2)
Name: Magician of Faith
Level: 1
Type: Spellcaster/Effect
Attribute: Light
ATK: 300
DEF: 400
(3)
Name: Lady Ninja Yae
Level: 3
Type: Warrior/Effect
Attribute: Wind
ATK: 1100
DEF: 200
(4)
Name: Hoshiningen
Level: 2
Type: Fairy/Effect
Attribute: Light
ATK: 500
DEF: 700
(5)
Name: D. D. Warrior Lady
Level: 4
Type: Warrior/Effect
Attribute: Light
ATK: 1500
DEF: 1600
