The everyone in the building had there eyes on Aaron, the kid had been hit some many times from everyone, they were wondered if he would collapse.
"It's time I take this Duel by Storm. Dalin, you ready?" He asked, holding up his card.
"I'll back you up." He said, I know that look, whatever he's planning, isn't going to be easy on him.
"You think you're going to make a comeback? You're the one in last place." V stated.
"He's got a point, you only have 1600 hundred lifepoints left, and one mistake and you are a goner." Sarah said.
"As I said, all a matter of opinion. Now watch and learn, all it takes is one turn to turn the tide of victory." Aaron said.
Up in the balcony, everyone was watching him.
"What can he do to get the lead back?" Amy asked.
"I don't think that's what he's after." Paul said.
"True, he's planning on making a hard choice." Chuck said.
"What kind of choice?" Jordan asked.
"Win or lose, life or death." Nick said, his voice held a stern truth.
"I play the magic card, Heavy Storm, It will blow away all the monsters on the field." He called out. As a massive windstorm roared to life and was tearing all the facedown cards apart, It's up to Dalin to make this move count.
"I'll chain with Compulsory Evacuation Device!" Dalin called out in the maelstrom of wind and rain, "I use this card to send Vaurnut's facedown monster back to his hand!" His facedown card appeared and sucked up V's and fired it off the field.
As the storm ended, Aaron continued, "I play my Foolish Burial card, this allows me to send one monster from my deck to my graveyard." The card appeared, a hand with a shovel was poking out of a grave.
"What did he plan on doing on sending a monster to the graveyard?" Kyle asked.
"He's planning on summoning monster he didn't draw." Kuro said, watching as Aaron played his next magic card, "Monster Reborn!"
Out of the card emerged the familiar form of the Iron knight Gearfried, battle ready and all set to go. (1800/1600).
"That is his big move?" Jordan said, in disbelief.
"No, it's just the beginning." Jacob said, knowing what this mean.
"I'm unimpressed Aaron, he may be your favorite card, but he isn't strong enough to win this duel for you." Vaurnut said, although he had nothing to protect his life points.
"Don't mistake my Iron Knight for just any monster, that estimation of my monster will be the straw that breaks the camel's back." Aaron said.
"What can he be planning?" Paul wondered.
"The only move. There is only one reason why he would have chosen that monster over stronger ones. He is going to try and release the full strength of his deck in one shot." Chuck said.
"Here it comes." Jacob said.
Aaron slammed a monster onto his field, "I summon the Royal Magical Library." Just then, a massive structure appeared around him, it was a section of a building, lined with books and green spheres under the floors, taking up all of Aaron's quarter of the dueling field, (0/2000).
"In attack mode?" Sarah wondered.
Just then, it dawned on them all, "No way, he's not going to do that, he can't!" Amy said.
"It's his move, his choice, it's up to him to make that play, and now as far as I can see, its his only chance." Chuck said.
"But he's lost so much Rema, he'll kill himself!" Nick exclaimed.
"Too late for him to turn back now, look!" Paul said.
"Now I play the card that will be your downfall, Behold the power of the Butterfly Dagger-Elma!" Aaron called out, as he slammed the card into the brace, and in flash of light appeared a dagger of emerald with an organic like design and a golden butterfly symbol on the hilt.
"This card allows me to access my ultimate weapon, Infinite Draw!" Aaron called out, as the dagger's power wrapped around Gearfried, causing him to turn an emerald green. And all of a sudden the orbs on the library begin to pulsate violently!
"Every time a magic card is played, the Library powers up by one spell counter, But with the infinite loop the Dagger's power gives Gearfried, the Library powers up to the ultimate, and gives him the power to draw until he's out of cards." Chuck stated, as Aaron drew his cards after every 3 pulses.
"But each time he plays his magic cards, it drains his Rema. He's lost so much, and since it takes 3 to engage, he'll die if he draws too many." Kuro exclaimed.
"I'm sure he knows, but he made sure no one could stop him. Other wise why else destroy every facedown card including his own?" Jacob subjected.
Meanwhile down on the field, Sarah watched Aaron draw his cards one by one. Her eyes glowed with a green light, She saw an aura around her friend, and it was shrinking before her eyes.
He's already at the brink, if he goes any further, he'll exhaust his soul.
Aaron looked at his cards, each one as he drew it, and through the exhaustion and anguish, he counted, I'm not going to survive if I draw them all, I need to find a way to draw more cards with out the strain.
He looked at his cards, a mass of magic, traps and monster cards, so many possibilities but bound by the rules of the game that limit it, but now there was only one chance for him to win, Here goes, I have to have faith.
He drew one last card, before removing the Dagger from the disk.
He looked at the card, and couldn't believe it, There is a God in Heaven.
"I play Poison of the Old man, to give my life points a 1200 boost." He said, raising his life points to 2800.
"The I play Dark Magic Curtain, I pay half my Life points, to summon one Dark Magician from my Deck." He said, as a skeleton holding a bright red curtain appeared, and leaping from it, came the Dark Magician, (2500/2100).
"I set these 3 cards, and Play Card Destruction!" He called out, That will leave me with 2 cards left in my deck, but it won't cost my soul.
Aaron slammed the incredible amount of cards in his hand, and redrew the same cards. "I Play Emblem of the Dragon Destroyer."
A giant hilt of Gold appeared on the field, "This allows me to take my Buster Blader back from my Grave Yard, and now I play Polymerization! Combine!" He called out as the Dark Magician on the field was swallowed in a powerful vortex, and emerged forth was the Dark Paladin. (2900/2400).
"This monster has not only my monsters strengths, but the power of my Tyrant Dragon in the grave as well as Dalin's Spear Dragon." Aaron said, as the monster's attack went up to 3900.
"Now I play the final card, Axe of Despair, raising him up to 4900. And since that's 3, I draw one more card." He said, drawing it. What? It's the last card in my deck? Go figure, Oh well. I guess I better finish this now. I'm already half dead anyway.
"V, I hope your insured, for your in for a collision." Aaron said, his face was tired, his body, run down, but he grabbed on to the railing and said, "Brace for impact...ATTACK!"
The Dark Paladin dove forward with blinding speed, and held the blade over his head for a slash.
V focused a massive pulse of Rema in to his right hand, and formed a giant shield.
The Swordsman brought his weapon down on the shield with incredible force, enough to cause the barrier to ripple and tear. LP. 900
But Just then, Gearfried snuck under the Paladin!
"Psych." Aaron said, as he slipped in a card, Shrink.
Gearfried shrank to half his size, an even 900 atk points.
The half-pint metal warrior swung its metal arm back, and smacked V in the gut, and sent him flying back into the wall. LP 0
"I end my turn." Aaron said, as he dumped his cards until he had only 6 cards in his hand. He slumped against the railing and said, "It's all you Dalin."
Dalin, in behind all the yellow cloth was stunned, He brought himself to near death, and managed to defeat V, but fairly and didn't send more damage than need be. I better make this count or he'll be gone before his next turn.
"I draw," He said, and saw the card he needed, "I flip Des Lacooda, and draw another card." The decaying monster appeared, and Dalin drew his next card.
"I now Banish My Pixie Knight and My Spirit Reaper in my Graveyard, to Summon My Black Luster Soldier Envoy of the Beginning!"
In a flash of white and dark light, emerged the Jeregrine lookalike for another go. (3000/2500)
"I play my own Axe of Despair. And Strengthen him to 4000."
Jordan looked at the powerful monster, "Looks like Sarah's in for one heck of an assault."
"And Battery, V took the beating, but Sarah's now up against 2." Kyle said.
"More like one and a quarter, Aaron's in no condition to launch any counter attack." Kuro stated, looking at the boy on the rail.
"Well, don't count her out yet, she's still got a facedown monster. And it could be her Cyber Jar again." Paul said.
"Or she could be bluffing." Josh pointed out.
"If it is the Jar, Aaron is dead, he's only got one card left in his deck." Jacob stated.
"Well it's all up to Dalin now, let's see what he's got." Nick spoke up.
Dalin looked at the facedown monster, I could remove it, and let my Lacooda attack. But then she'll have more life points to work with, and Aaron will be taken out with one strike.
Then he looked at Aaron, his monsters were stern in their conviction, while their master was barely able to stand on his own.
He put his faith in his deck, and it aided him against V. If the new guy could do it, I can't let him do it alone, I got to attack!
"Black Luster Soldier, Strike now with the Chaos Slash!" Dalin commanded, as the Soldier pulled back his blade and slashed the card, which splattered to pieces, (1000/100).
"A Giant Germ." He almost broke into a laugh, his life points dropped to 5500, but since she had no more germs in her deck, none emerged on the field.
"Well, it was worth a shot." She shook her shoulders.
"And so are these, I attack directly with both my monsters!" As the soldier and the Camel lunged forward.
Sarah erected a powerful barrier, but the two monsters forced it so close to her, they were a foot away from her. LP 3800.
"I end my turn." Dalin said.
"Draw," Sarah said, she closed her eyes when she saw the card. "I end my turn."
Aaron, through all the faigue, couldn't believe his ears; she had just left herself wide open, the image from before resembled the situation perfectly. He looked at his monster, while not clearly expressing any emotion, there was something in its eyes that made it seem like it was struggling.
This has happened before, and I saw the result, but after all the support she has given me...I can't do it, not with out giving her a chance.
He drew his last card, and said, "I reveal my Magic card, Shallow Grave, allowing both Sarah and I to summon one card from each of our graveyards." As two facedown cards appeared on the field.
"I now... sacrifice, my monster...for...Dark...Magician Girl." He said, his body was quaking, but the monster changed from a facedown card to the Famous Spellcaster all cheerful and happy, (2300/1700).
"What's he doing?" Nick asked.
"He just gave her a defensive monster, and is killing himself for what reason?" Paul asked.
"Aaron what are you doing?" Amy called down from the stage.
"I...reveal...Creatuure...swwappp." He fumbled, as the DMG and her facedown monster switched places.
Sarah was stunned, "Aaron, what are you doing? This doesn't make any sense."
Aaron's face riddled with agony broke out a smile, "You...you...said...you...liked...her, ..s..he's...your's." He sputtered, as he reached for the duel disk, and watched her monster flip over, to reveal a green English dragon, one with a sparkling personality, (1600/1500).
"A Thunder Dragon." Chuck said, as he looked on.
"Bang...bang." Aaron spit out, as he looked at his monsters, especially the Dark Paladin.
The Magical Swordsman, looked into the eyes of his master, and nodded.
"Bye..." Aaron said, his Rema but a flicker, as his final card flipped up.
A ring of grenades wrapped around the Dark Paladin's arm!
BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A tremendous explosion sent Sarah flying backwards, but the DMG dove behind her and caught her.
Dalin looked on, as the smoke cleared out, he was the only one who was still in the game.
Dalin LP 5500
Sarah LP 0
Aaron LP 0
V LP 0
Sarah grabbed her railing and called out, "Aaron! Are you ok? Talk to me!"
The smoke had cleared, and their on the floor, was Aaron, on the ground, not moving.
The floor started moving, and met back in the middle, Sarah and Dalin ran over to him.
"He made it, but he's completely exhausted." She said.
"No kidding." Said a voice, V started to pick himself up.
"Hey hold on, I gotcha." Dalin said, picking him up, and putting his arm over his shoulder.
"To the infirmary, and step on it." V commanded.
"Aye Aye." Dalin quoted, but turned around and asked, "You coming?"
"Yeah hold on." She said, taking her Thunder Dragon back, but when she reached for the DMG, felt Aaron's hand grab her arm.
"don't..., it's...yours...now." He sputtered, before blacking out again.
Sarah didn't know what to say, He could have won too if he only attacked, but why didn't he? What was his reason? Maybe he saw something in this duel that I didn't. But...
She looked at the DMG card in her hand, "I guess I owe him one." She said, putting the card in her deck, and put his arm around her shoulder.
"You try anything, and you're dead." She said to her unconscious friend, as the two of them headed along side Dalin and V to the infirmary.
High above, the crew was wondering what just happened. "What did Aaron just do? He threw away the game." Kyle said.
"I don't know, it would have taken just one attack and they would have both won." Paul said.
"That is what you must all find out for your selves." Said a voice.
The crew looked to see Jeregrine waiting at the doorway, "He chose to follow his path of dueling, he didn't care about winning or losing, but to have fun. And in the end, it is when you're having fun, that you will find your way to victory, defeat, or a stalemate. He wasn't willing to break away from his ideals, he is true of heart."
"Well I'm going to check up on him." Amy said.
"Yeah, I'll go too." Kuro said.
"Hey wait for me." Jordan called out.
"If we did that Aaron would be in a casket by then." Josh said, following suit.
"Let's go." Kyle said, catching up.
However, Jacob, Paul, Nick and Chuck remained behind.
"So what do we do now? V's out of commission for a while and Aaron will be bedridden for a week." Paul said.
"Well, we'll cross the bridge when we get there. For now I think we should just relax a little." Jacob said.
"Yeah, you're right, let's go get something to eat." Chuck said.
"The cafeteria will be empty by the time he's done." Jacob shot.
"Oh you did it now." Paul said.
But Nick had not left; he put his hand on the railing and looked around, "What is this uneasiness in the air? Something's wrong."
He looked once more before leaving, We've got an intruder.
To be continued...