Disclaimer: All we want for Christmas is the rights to the Yu-Gi-Oh show and game. Since that probably won't happen however, Yugi and his friends still don't belong to us. They belong to their proper creators. Original cards and characters are all ours however.
A/N: Happy Holidays! Here's our present to our loyal readers: a new chapter.
Previously:
Kaiba, one of the greatest duelists in the world, has fallen prey to these mysterious new duelists! Now they have their sights set on a new pair on a new continent. What danger awaits in the wind carved dunes of Egypt?
Chapter 5
Time's Up
Brian was looking at the sphere of blue-green light with a worried look on his face.
"Is something troubling ye laddie?" A voice echoed from the sphere.
"It's just…" Brian thought, projecting his thoughts to the orb, "When I faced off with Wheeler, I started getting angry and I couldn't control myself. And from what Tim told me he started acting kind of, well psychotic during his match with Kaiba."
"It's nothing you should worry about." The voice assured him, "You had the right to be angry with the duel turning against ye, and your brother was always a little crazy, you said that yourself."
"I suppose," Brian thought, glancing at Tim who was lighting and relighting his fingers, "But it felt odd dueling that way."
"Ye need to be more aggressive in your game anyway." The voice said, "'Tis the only way we can save the world from its horrible fate."
"So where are the next two," Brian thought, "They are in Egypt right now, it won't be long before they reach their targets…"
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The sun was rising over the Nile River of Egypt. The light sparkling off of its waters giving it the appearance of a silver snake making its way through the barren desert while surrounded by lush green papyrus reed.
Off in the distance, just in sight of the river banks, were the remains of what seemed to have been a temple of some kind. A small entrance was set into a large stone platform sticking just above the sand.
Slowly, three figures emerged from the entrance to greet the dawn.
The first was a boy with short, white hair and a white cloak.
Next to him was a woman who was dressed all in white. A hooded cape that almost reached the ground went over her pure white dress and a golden bracelet around her wrist.
Finally, a man with only a single pony tail sticking out of the back of his head and a purple cape stepped out. He was much larger than the other two and was keeping a close eye on them. He turned his tattooed face toward the horizon, as though watching the sun to make sure it wasn't an approaching enemy.
"It seems it will be a fine day Ishizu." Said the largest one after a moment of silence.
"I believe you are right Odion." The young woman agreed.
The air was already beginning to heat up in the morning sun, and the young man with white hair wiped his brow. He quickly removed his cloak, revealing a black shirt and pants, with a few golden trinkets around his neck and hanging from his ears.
"Marik, what are you doing?" Ishizu asked.
"Relax sister," Marik said as he walked behind a broken pillar and came back with an oddly lumpy cloth sack, "It's already getting warm, as usual, and I just wanted to make sure that our duel disks wouldn't be damaged by the heat."
Ishizu sighed. It had been so long since Battle City she had almost forgotten they still had those.
"I still can't believe you have kept those for as long as you have." She said.
"Why not?" Marik asked, "They were useful in Battle City, and we still enjoy the friendly match from time to time. I even saw you working on your deck last night."
Ishizu blushed slightly. It was true, she had been working on her deck last night, but ever since Battle City there had been little to do.
Once Marik had revealed the markings on his back to the spirit of the pharaoh, his duty as a Tombkeeper had been mostly fulfilled. Since then there had been very little to do other than keep watch over their home and do a little dueling on the side.
Marik had disbanded the Rare Hunters, and done his best to make sure the stolen cards were returned to their rightful owners. But after that, there had been no excitement or danger that had reached them off in Egypt.
Ishizu was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts as Odion spoke up.
"Someone is approaching." He said.
Looking up, Ishizu could see two silhouettes in the distance. One was large and at first glance looked like a walking mountain. The second was much smaller like a child. The smaller ran in circles around the large one.
Marik saw the two shapes coming toward them from the direction of the Nile.
"We haven't had any visitors in a…well ever now that I think about it." Marik pointed out.
"They're probably just lost tourists, traveling in the morning to avoid the heat." Ishizu explained.
The two approached surprisingly fast, as if carried by the wind itself.
Finally, they came into view. The large one had dark brown hair that was neatly combed back, He wore light brown pants a dark brown business jacket over a black shirt that matched his loafers. He was easily seven feet tall, and heavily muscled.
The small one was a blond girl and had short hair, her clothes only served to emphasize her youth with a green and white tie dye tank top, white denim shorts and worn out sandals. On her back was a large pink backpack.
Both strangers soon arrived in front of the tomb keepers even though they seem to have been walking the entire way. Neither of them looked tired at all, in fact, the little girl seemed to be bouncing with energy!
"Hi," greeted the large one (he spoke with a thick Brooklyn accent), "do you three live near hear? I think we're lost."
The little girl looked up at Marik, "Daddy and I came here to see the pyramids!"
Odion looked at the small child, who stared back up at him.
"Wow! You're bald!" The girl exclaimed.
Ignoring the child Odion turned his attention to the adult.
"Is there something we can do to help you?" He asked simply.
"Yeah, can you point us in the direction of the city? We got separated from our tour group and had to spend the night in the desert!" The man explained.
"It gets really really really cold in the desert at night." The girl said.
"Fortunately, we had some camping supplies with us." The man finished
"We'd be glad to help." Ishizu said.
Then Odion pulled her aside.
"Miss Ishizu." Odion whispered, "I sense something odd about these two."
"Odion, they are lost travelers who need our help." Ishizu whispered back.
"Then where is the camping equipment they spoke of?" Odion questioned.
Ishizu looked over at the two, and at once realized that Odion was right. Other than their clothes and the girl's backpack the duo had nothing with them.
Marik had also caught on, but did his best not to show it.
"So, where are your supplies?" He asked.
"Couldn't lug them all over the desert during the day." The man said, "We figured we'd reach civilization soon."
The girl was shifting her feet impatiently and then saw the bag Marik was still holding.
"Ooh, what's that?" She asked grabbing at the bag. The adult pulled her back.
"Now Zeffie dear remember what I said about being polite." He said.
"But Goldie…" The girl whined.
"And I told you not to call me Goldie!" He shouted.
Marik, Ishizu, and Odion looked at the man, shocked at his sudden outburst. Zeffie gasped…
And then kicked the larger man in the shin!
"Yeouch!" He shouted dropping the girl.
"Um, we can help you find the city if you want…" Marik started.
"Zeffie knows you aren't falling for it." The girl said, "Zeffie knew we should have done this her way in the first place but Goldie said we had to do it his old, grown up, boring way."
"It would have worked if you had stayed in character!" He shouted.
"It would have worked if Goldie wasn't a such a dummy!" Zeffie yelled back.
"This family has problems." Marik sighed.
"Like she's really my daughter!" The man yelled, "Do you really think I could raise a child this obnoxious!"
Zeffie kicked the man again who winced and then turned back to the Tombkeepers.
"We should have been honest outright." He said, "My name is Gold. Mr. Gold. My young associate is Zeffie. And we are here to duel!"
"I assume you mean us." Ishizu said as Marik pulled the bag closer to his body, "But why would you wish to face us?"
"You have something we need." Zeffie said with a smile, "And Zeffie knows how to get it!"
Suddenly, a blast of wind fired away from Zeffie's body, sending a vortex of sand toward the trio!
"Marik, Ishizu, get inside now!" Odion ordered, jumping in front of the storm.
Sand began to whip across the Egyptian. Ishizu and Marik gasped as their adopted brother was soon covered in a golden cast!
Gold smiled as he held up one hand, revealing a golden bracelet with a strange brown stone in it. The sand began to shift around Odion, and then solidified!
"Odion!" Marik shouted.
"Don't worry I left air holes." Gold said, "And they'll stay there as long as you two agree to face us!"
Marik turned to Ishizu, a look of worry in his eyes as he pulled two duel disks out of the bag. Ishizu nodded as she took her disk and pulled a deck out of the pocket of her robes.
Zeffie in the meantime pulled two loaded disks out of her backpack and tossed one to Gold.
"We'll play this two-on-two." Gold explained, "No sharing of strategies between partners, each player has their own life point score. If your partner goes down, you have to fight alone. And you can use your monsters, spells, and traps to guard your partner. You can also sacrifice your partner's monsters too with their permission. Agreed?"
"Agreed!" The other three shouted as their disks activated.
Zeffie giggled childishly as she, Gold, and the Ishtars drew their first five cards.
"This is going to be so much fun!" She said happily, a duel had just begun.
Zeffie LP: 8000
Marik LP: 8000
Mr. Gold LP: 8000
Ishizu LP: 8000
"And Zeffie gets to go first, so I'll draw and summon my Chaosrider Gustaph (1400/1500) in attack mode!" Zeffie continued.
A red motorcycle with a strange green skinned man holding a spear riding it appeared in front of Zeffie who smiled and looked over at Marik, nodding to signal the end of her turn.
"My move then," The young tomb keeper declared as he drew his sixth card, "I'll summon Mechanical Chaser (1850/800) and lay one card face down. That's all"
Now Marik had a yellow ball shaped machine with many different weapons protecting his life points.
"My turn now," Gold stated, "And I'll summon one monster in face down defense mode and lay two cards face down as well. Your move broad."
The two cards appeared in front of Gold.
Ishizu shot an ugly look at Gold before calmly picking up her first card.
"I do not know why you challenged us, or how you gained power over earth and air, but your tactics will not be enough to defeat us. I'll summon Mudora (1500/1400) and couple him with my Cestus of Dalga to boost his attack points. Mudora (2000/1400), attack and destroy the Chaosrider Gustaph now!"
The masked fairy leapt towards Zeffie's monster swinging its new weapons at the road warrior. Suddenly, the Cestus burst into hundreds of particles! Gustaph took full advantage of the situation and threw a hard right hook at Mudora, scattering it to the winds.
Ishizu stared at the spot her monster once occupied, "What happened?" She asked no one in particular.
"My face down cards that's what! Disarmament to destroy your spell and Reinforcements to increase the attack of Zeffie's monster." Gold stated, "You done yet?"
"Not quite," Ishizu declared, struggling to regain her composure, "I'll lay two more cards face down. Now I'm finished."
Zeffie LP: 8000
Marik LP: 8000
Mr. Gold LP: 8000
Ishizu LP: 7600
"You got that right," Zeffie said looking at the new card she had drawn, "Hey Goldie! You ready to take these wimps down?"
"You know it!" Gold shouted to his partner.
"Alright then," Zeffie said as a smile crept across her face, "Then Zeffie will play the Elemental Seal of Wind!"
"And when she does I can play my Elemental Seal of Earth!" Gold stated.
Each of the duelists quickly played a card into the field zone of their respective duel disks and a strange circle began to surround the area. On Zeffie and Marik's side of the field it was green with a cloud image between the two of them, while on Gold and Ishizu's half it was a golden brown with a series of jagged lines on the ground between the duelists.
"Two field spells at the same time?" Marik shouted, "That isn't allowed, there can only be one type of field present during a duel."
Zeffie just grinned again and explained, "Well you see, the seal of wind and the seal of earth are two parts of a much stronger seal. So Gold and Zeffie can each play our seal and it will only affect our half of the field, or in this case it affects our quarter of the field and the section of whoever is across from us."
Ishizu's brow began to furrow as she looked at the strange circle which now held her and her brother. "There's something strange about these two. This seal of theirs holds great power. If Marik and I aren't careful, this could be the end of us!"
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"I'm telling ya Yug,'" said Joseph Wheeler trying to catch his breath, "he was more evil than Bakura, and about as screwy as Pegasus"
Yugi Mutoh sighed, his best friend was not making sense.
"Look, Joey, why don't you come over and we'll figure this out?" He suggested
Joey smiled "'kay, Yug'." He said.
Holding the phone away from his ear he turned toward the kitchen.
"Hey, Serenity, we're gonna go over to Yugi's!" He called out
"Only if I can bring my new friend!" was the answer.
Joey smiled and turned back to the phone
"Hey Yugi, can Serenity bring a friend along?" He asked.
"Sure, I guess" Yugi said after a second, "After all, it's nice to meet new people. What's her name?"
"Celeste. And we'll meetcha there." Joey said.
With that he hung up and headed toward the next room.
He found his sister in the kitchen with her new friend and quickly recognized her as the girl from the bat exhibit, but in there it had been to dark to see clearly.
The girl stood slightly taller than Serenity, and was standing near the kitchen table with her comparing duel monster cards.
"Here Serenity since you and I are two of a kind you can have this card." Celeste said.
She handed Serenity a monster card which seemed to be a holographic Wing Weaver. Serenity gasped as her friend reassured her.
"Don't worry I've got a few things that can take her place." She said with a smile
Serenity was shocked. "You mean it? Where did you get it? I mean those are, super rare!"
Celeste just blushed a little
"Well, where I live we have some awesome underground tourneys and that was a Third place prize. I figured if you wanted to duel you'd need a little extra firepower so take her."
The girls both smiled and continued comparing decks until Serenity handed a card to her new friend
"Well I have something that might help you, I mean I see you already have a Soul of Purity and Light but it can't hurt to have two ".
Celeste had a sad smile and nodded.
"If you insist then I thank you." She said.
That was when the girls noticed Joey and turned to look at him.
Joey blinked a little bit. It was the strangest thing. He could see Celeste perfectly, even though usually his kitchen was rather dark and dim.
"Of course anything would seem bright after being in the cave exhibit." Joey thought.
"Hey girls, I see everything here is going fine." Joey said, "Unfortunately, we've got places to go Serenity, but you're welcome to come if you want Celeste."
"Why thank you, that would be lovely." Celeste said.
With that, Celeste and Serenity cleaned up their cards and hurried out the door with Joey, off the game shop Yugi's grandpa owned, unaware of the danger that a trio of old friends was in.
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Zeffie laughed as green cloud-shaped tattoos appeared all over her body and the iris of her eyes began to swirl like a tornado.
"Time to explain what these cards can do." She said, "Zeffie's seal will increase the attack of all creatures of wind by 200 points!"
Gold held up one arm, which was now covered with jagged brown lines, and gestured toward his seal.
"And mine does the same, except for creatures of earth!" He announced
Zeffie held up a card.
"Now then, let's really get things started! Zeffie summons Winged Sage Falcos (1500/1100) and activates a spell card, Book of the Moon!"
A falcon headed man in white robes appeared in front of Zeffie and at the same time a large blue book fell on top of the Mechanical Chaser (1850/850).
Marik stared as his monster was replaced by the brown back of a card.
"What was that!" He shouted.
Zeffie pointed to the card.
"Sorry, didn't you know? My Book of the Moon forces any monster I want into face down defense mode! Now Falcos, attack Marik's monster!" Zeffie ordered.
Falcos held up one hand generating a miniature tornado and blasted Marik's card off of the field. The young Tombkeeper watched as the monster suddenly jumped off of his disk and to the top of his deck.
Zeffie nodded, "That's right. Falcos sends any monster he beats back to the top of its owner's deck. Oh by the way, Zeffie is also going to have Chaosrider Gustaph (1600/1500) attack you directly!"
The green skinned cyclist charged forward, knocking Marik off his feet by clothes lining him with the spear.
Zeffie LP: 8000
Marik LP: 6400
Mr. Gold LP: 8000
Ishizu LP: 7600
"Now Zeffie lays this face down and ends her turn." Zeffie finished.
"Why does she keep referring to herself in the third person?" Marik wondered as he got to his feet.
Marik drew his card and suddenly Zeffie's card turned face up!
"Zeffie activates Drop Off! Time to send your chaser to the graveyard." Zeffie taunted, "Hooray for me!"
Marik rolled his eyes.
"That was an unusual waste of cards. Why not just use Gustaph to destroy my monster for good? Her playing style is so childish! I guess that even if she is evil, she's still just a little girl."
Marik shook his head.
"Time to start taking the two of you down! I activate my face down Forced Requisition in response to Zeffie's trap! And now I activate my Curse of the Masked Beast and sacrifice Lava Golem from my hand to summon the Masked Beast (3300/2800)! Finally I'll use my Graceful Charity!"
Marik smiled as first a huge centaur-like beast appeared on the field and then a bright light sparkled around his deck.
"Now then let me explain. Forced Requisition forces the two of you to discard the same number of cards as I do when I have to discard from my hand, so Gold, lose three cards from your hand, two for Graceful Charity and one for my ritual."
Marik drew the top three cards and discarded two and Gold growled as he dropped three cards from his hand.
Marik pointed straight ahead, "Now Masked Beast, attack and destroy Falcos!"
Zeffie screamed as Marik's monster jumped toward her creature and tore it apart.
Zeffie LP: 6200
Marik LP: 6400
Gold LP: 8000
Ishizu LP: 7400
"That's all." Marik stated and Gold drew his next card.
"You big meanie!" Zeffie yelled, "I hope Goldie beats you up real bad!"
Gold smiled, "Relax Zef, I got this." His smile was replaced by a scowl, "But don't call me 'Goldie" okay? Now then, its time to start the end of this duel!"
Zeffie looked at Gold, "Aw…do you have to use that card? It will be so boring!"
Gold ignored Zeffie and played a new card, "I activate Final Countdown! Now if this duel doesn't end in 20 turns, Zeffie and I automatically win! And it only costs me 2000 LP."
A ring of twenty fire balls now surrounded the field. Ishizu looked nervously at the flames as Gold continued, stopping only to cough up a little blood due to the LP he had spent.
"Ewwww!" Zeffie moaned, seeing the blood.
Ignoring Zeffie once again, Gold tapped a button on his disk. "Now it's time to take care of that monster Marik summoned. I flip my Man Eater Bug and use it to destroy the Masked Beast!"
A giant, brown bug materialized on the field and lunged toward Marik's creature, shattering it. Gold smiled as he swept the monster off his field.
"And now I sacrifice my Man Eater Bug to summon Millennium Shield (200/3000) in defense mode." A huge gold and red shield with an eye carved on it sprung up in front of Gold, looking ready to defend his LP.
Zeffie LP: 6200
Marik LP: 6400
Gold LP: 6000
Ishizu LP: 7400
Ishizu looked at her next card as one of the flames around the field disappeared.
"I'll use my first face down card, Jar of Greed, to draw one card. Then I shall activate the Stop Defense to force the Millennium Shield into attack mode. Finally I summon the Three Headed Geedo (1200/1400) and attack Gold's monster!" She declared.
The shield turned its gaze on Ishizu's new monster, a creature with a body that looked like coral and three mask-like faces. Ishizu's monster lunged forward, aiming a punch right at the shield.
Zeffie laughed as she flipped over her face down card. "Nice try but Zeffie will activate Compulsory Evacuation Device to send your monster back to your hand."
She giggled as a strange machine sprang up in front of Geedo. Suddenly, a purple mist surrounded the machine, causing it to shatter into pieces!
Ishizu shook her head. "It's not that easy, I use my other card, Trap Jammer! It negates the activation and effect of your trap. So my attack continues!"
Gold held up one hand. "Not bad! But unfortunately for you one of the cards I lost 'cause of your brother was a trap called Grave Shield."
A huge gravestone suddenly burst from the ground in front of the Geedo and forced it away from Gold's shield.
Gold smiled at Ishizu's frustrated look, "You see, Grave Shield can only be used by removing it from my graveyard. It automatically forces your battle phase to end!"
Gold turned his gaze toward his young cohort. "Now Zeffie, I'm glad you tried to help, but you need to focus on Marik. You can help me after you get rid of him, OK?" Zeffie nodded her head and Gold smiled. "Atta girl!"
Ishizu sighed as she laid one more card down and Zeffie began her turn.
Zeffie started bouncing up and down in excitement, looking at her new card. "Hooray! I just drew the perfect card! I summon Sonic Bird (1600/1000) and use its special ability to fetch a ritual spell card from my deck."
An eagle with a jet pack on its back appeared on the field, clutching a card in its beak which Zeffie happily accepted.
Marik seemed confused. "Wait a minute! There aren't any ritual monsters that are wind aligned!" He shouted
Zeffie giggled. "Even if that was true, it wouldn't matter because the seal turns any monster Zeffie plays into a wind monster! Now, Zeffie activates Promise to the Wind Master and sacrifices Sonic Bird and another Winged Sage Falcos from her hand to summon: WIND MASTER-ZEPHYROS (2400/1500)!"
Zeffie's new card showed a picture of several people gathered seemingly cheering for, or perhaps waving goodbye to, a large tornado. Just then, a huge column of wind came down in front of Zeffie sucking up her Sonic Bird and one card that she held out to it.
In the center of the column appeared an aged man with a long beard and green wizard robes who held up both his hands, causing the wind around him to stop as its attack score appeared next to it.
Marik looked at the card on Zeffie's disk. "Hey wait a second, that card's printed attack is 2000! How can its attack be 2400 now?"
The wind duelist began to jump for joy. "Zephyros gets a double bonus from cards that affect creatures of wind. Time to deal some damage to you Marik! Wind Master Zephyros attack with Tornado Tango!"
"Oh no you don't!" Ishizu shouted, "I'll…"
"No Ishizu don't!" Marik shouted, "I can't let you endanger yourself!"
Marik braced himself as two tornadoes blazed past him cutting his life points down. As he dropped his arms to his side though, Gustaph dashed forward and smashed him in the chest with the butt of his spear, causing the Egyptian duelist to fall to his knees.
Zeffie LP: 6200
Marik LP: 3600
Gold LP: 6000
Ishizu LP: 7400
18 turns left
Ishizu stared at the LP count on her brother's duel disk, "Wait, something is wrong! Marik lost 600 LP too many!"
Zeffie shook her head as she held up two cards and then put them into the pocket of her shorts
"Oh no he didn't. You see Ms. Ishizu, Zeffie can remove up to two spell cards from the graveyard to increase the attack of Chaosrider Gustaph by 300 for each spell! At least until the end of the turn."
Marik groaned in pain as he drew his next card.
"I activate the Card of Sanctity." He said weakly as he drew four new cards and smiled as he waited until the others had drawn, "And now I'll activate the Card of Demise! I draw five cards now and in five turns I lose my entire hand. And thanks to Forced Requisition you two of you will take a hit to your hands too! Now I'll lay three cards face down and end my turn. Of course since I have more than six cards in my hand I have to discard down to the proper amount."
Marik smiled as he dropped two cards into his graveyard.
"And now if each of you would please discard one card?"
Gold and Zeffie each slid a card into their graveyards and the Earth Duelist began his turn.
"I'm gonna make you sorry that you ever touched that trap of yours. I activate Calling of the Earth Master and I'll sacrifice my Millennium Shield and the Trojan Horse in my hand to summon: EARTH MASTER-GEOS (0?)!" He shouted.
Gold's spell showed a young man standing in front of a huge statue, praying to it as if for protection. A humongous statue suddenly rose from the ground in front of Gold, absorbing the shield and a card from Gold's hand as it did so, and crossed its arms in a defensive position as Gold grinned.
"Maybe you should have reconsidered that move." Marik teased, "Your monster has no attack points."
"That may be true," Gold retorted, "but when Geos is summoned I can automatically put him in defense mode and his defense equals the number of Earth monsters in all of our graveyards."
Gold began to laugh as his monster's rocky skin thickened and turned gray, almost like granite.
"And in case you weren't paying attention, there are currently five creatures of Earth in our graves: Mudora, Trojan Horse, Man Eater Bug, Millennium Shield, and one other I lost because of Marik's trap. So that means that Geos has 5000 defense points. And now I'll end my turn, and continue the countdown."
Ishizu drew her next card and looked at the sixteen flames still glowing around them. "We will not lose." She said, "I activate the Pot of Greed."
Ishizu looked at her seven cards and nodded as she held up a spell.
"Now I'll activate my Spell Reproduction card. I give up two spells from my hand to bring back and use my Stop Defense and force Geos into attack mode. Next I'll summon Zolga (1700/1000) in attack mode. Now then it's time for my monsters to strike down Geos and your life points!"
Geos uncrossed its arms as a figure in purple robes appeared next to Ishizu's three headed monster and started to move toward Gold.
Gold shook his head. "You must get so tired of being stopped by me. I'll sacrifice one of the monsters in my hand to activate another effect of my seal. When I drop a monster from my hand, it immediately negates any damage I take and prevents my monsters from being destroyed by any source, be it monster, spell, or trap until the end of this turn."
The seal on the ground began to glow and a protective barrier appeared in front of Gold's monster. Geos (0/6000) began to change again, drawing strength from the new monster in the grave, as its body began to glisten with gems that appeared on its surface.
Ishizu just laid one more card face down
"It's your move." She said to Zeffie.
Zeffie drew her next card.
"Let's keep going! Zeffie summons Gray Wing (1500/700) and now it's time to say goodbye to Marik!"
A serpentine dragon with gray scales materialized and suddenly and ring of bombs attached itself to the monster. With a deafening blast the dragon was wiped out.
Zeffie LP: 3200
Marik LP: 3600
Gold LP: 6000
Ishizu LP: 7400
15 turns left
Zeffie coughed as she whipped up a gust of wind and blew the smoke away. "What happened?" She asked.
Marik smiled as he pointed to his trap cards.
"It's simple. I used my Ring of Destruction to destroy Gray Wing and subtract his attack from each of our LP, except mine because I used Barrel Behind the Door to redirect the damage I would have taken to your LP!"
Zeffie glared and noticed that the hard gems on Geos (0/7000) had grown considerably.
"Well Goldie must have used his seal's effect to avoid damage but what about Ishizu?" She asked
Ishizu pointed to a large white circle in front of her.
"I used my Ring of Protection to negate the damage that would have been dealt to my life points."
Zeffie grumbled a little.
"Yeah, well I still have two monsters ready to attack. And I'll use Zephyros to hit Marik directly!"
Zephyros fired another set of tornados toward Marik who just shook his head and flipped over his last face down card revealing a pair of tubes. The tornados flew in one tube and out the other toward Zeffie who screamed as she was blown back by the strong winds redirected by Marik's Magic Cylinder.
Zeffie LP: 800
Marik LP: 3600
Gold LP: 6000
Ishizu LP: 7400
15 turns left
"Looks like I'm not the only one who was making some changes to their deck." Ishizu said with a smile.
Marik grinned at his sister and turned toward the prone girl.
Zeffie got to her feet, a small green glow coming from behind her hair as she stood up.
"You done with those stupid traps yet?" She asked, "Because I still have Gustaph and since you're defenseless I can hit you directly!"
Gustaph's bike roared as he charged forward toward Marik, who braced himself for another strike from the staff. Instead, Gustaph swung his spear! Marik screamed as he was lifted by the collar of his shirt on the spear point and Gustaph slammed him head first into the sand.
Zeffie LP: 800
Marik LP: 2000
Gold LP: 6000
Ishizu LP: 7400
15 turns left
"I'll finish my turn by laying these two cards face down. That's all." Zeffie said coldly.
Marik shivered a little as he got to his feet and reached for his deck.
"What happened? She suddenly got so cold and cruel."
Marik drew and smiled as he remembered his trap card.
"This will be over soon. The end of my turn will make five turns since I played Card of Demise and then you two will lose your entire hands!" He shouted
Marik looked smug when a sudden blast of wind shot his Forced Requisition off the field.
"Hey what the…" Marik started.
"You are such an idiot." Zeffie sighed, "That was my Dust Tornado and I used it to destroy Forced Requisition so now even when you discard your hand, Gold and I won't have to discard anything from ours."
Marik looked over his seven cards, realizing he needed to make them work for him in the best way possible. Suddenly his eyes widened as an idea came.
"I summon Bowganian in attack mode and activate Monster Gate!" He declared
A one eyed machine appeared for a split second before a blue gate opened in the air above it and sucked it up.
"Now I sacrifice one monster on the field, Bowganian in this case, and I draw cards until I come across a monster. I then get to special summon the monster but I lose the other cards I pick up."
Marik began to pick up cards announcing each one.
"Trap, spell, spell, trap, AHA!" Marik triumphantly held up a card, "Perfect! I can now summon my Ultimate Obedient Fiend (3500/3000)!"
A huge red demon burst from the ground in front of Marik who pointed straight ahead.
"I can't attack with him since I still have cards in my hand, but just like Geos, you two won't be able to get to me or my sister now thanks to my fiend! So I'll end my turn here." Marik announced, discarding the rest of his hand due to Card of Demise.
"We'll see about that." Gold said.
The evil duelist smiled. "All right! I just drew my Soul Assistant spell card. I can remove up to three monsters in my graveyard from play to draw three new cards."
The card appeared in front of him, showing the image of a ghost filing papers, and Gold quickly slid three cards from his graveyard and put them in the pocket of his suit, then drew three cards. Geos(0/4000) shuddered a little as the gems on his body fell away and he fell back to his knees as Gold put him in defense mode.
"Sure, Geos gets a little weaker, but none of you have a monster that could beat him. And even if you did, I would just discard a monster and increase his defense even more. But for now, he goes back to defense mode." Gold held up another card, "Now this next card here is called Time Warp. It's really a great little card, 'cause it lets me move the turn count forward by up to ten turns, at the cost of 700 LP a turn."
The new card showed a young woman who was staring at one of her hands as it became withered and old. At the same time, the ground beneath everyone's feet turned into a giant clock which began to spin faster and faster.
Gold adopted a look of concentration as he tried to calculate how far he could move time and Zeffie let out a frustrated sigh.
"You can move the turn count ahead by eight without killing yourself." She said, "So just do it!"
Gold rolled his eyes toward his young associate.
"I would have figured that out myself." He said as eight of the flames around the field were snuffed out and the earth duelist almost passed out from the LP loss.
Zeffie LP: 800
Marik LP: 2000
Gold LP: 400
Ishizu LP: 7400
5 turns left
"That's all for now." Gold announced as Ishizu drew her new card and held up one card in her hand.
"I'll lay this card face down. And seeing as it's pointless to try to attack either of you I'll end my turn."
Zeffie nodded as she drew. "Glad to see at least one of you has learned something. Too bad that it's too late for Marik! I give up a monster from my hand to activate the power of my Seal of Wind."
A huge blast of wind burst out from beneath Marik's fiend, shooting it to his hand. "OH-NO!" Marik shouted as Zeffie pointed straight toward him.
"Oh yes." She said, "My seal can send a monster on the field back to its owner's hand when I drop a monster from my hand. And now it's time to say good-bye. Wind Master Zephyros, show him the power of the wind!"
"No!" Ishizu shouted, "I shall use my monster…"
"Don't!" Marik yelled, "Ishizu I know you'll need one more turn to win this for us! If I go down, the count ends on your turn so you'll have to make it count!"
"But Marik…" Ishizu started.
Then Zephyros raised his hands to the sky.
Marik barely had time to scream before a column of wind descended around him, forcing him to the ground and drawing a small green light from his body.
Zeffie LP: 4300
Marik LP: 0
Gold LP: 400
Ishizu LP: 7400
3 turns left
"Marik!" Ishizu shouted, staring helplessly at her prone brother before turning her gaze on her opponents, "You will pay for what you have done!"
Zeffie giggled as a small breeze blew her hair back, revealing a simple silver circlet with a green, teardrop shaped stone set in it which the green light floated into.
"You shouldn't worry Miss Ishizu." Zeffie said, her voice happy and bouncy again, "Marik got what was coming to him for resisting the power of the Elemental Duelist of Wind."
"And if you know what's good for you, you'll give up right now!" Gold called out.
Zeffie shot an angry look at her partner.
"Hey! It's rude to interrupt like that! Well it's still my turn and now that my target is out of the way I can start helping Goldie. Hooray! Zeffie will have Gustaph attack your stinky old Geedo right now."
Gustaph blazed across the field once more and shattered one of Ishizu's only monsters as Gold yelled "Hey, don't call me 'Goldie'!"
Zeffie LP: 4300
Marik LP: 0
Gold LP: 400
Ishizu LP: 7000
3 turns left
Zeffie smiled. "I end my turn." She said as another flame flickered out.
Gold drew and nodded. "You're toast broad. I end my turn, and unless you can beat both me and Zeffie in one move you'll lose once your turn is over."
Ishizu drew and looked over her hand.
"Marik gave up himself so that I could defeat you. I will not let his sacrifice be in vain! Now I shall show you the true strength of the Tombkeepers!" Ishizu shouted.
Gold shot a puzzled look at his opponent. "Lady, I think that you have spent way too much time in the sun."
Ishizu ignored the remark and continued.
"I activate the spell Soul Release and remove Millennium Shield, Man-Eater Bug, Trojan Horse, Time Warp, and Final Countdown from Gold's Graveyard." She declared
Spheres of light immediately shot out of Gold's grave, forming into the cards Ishizu had named. Geos (0/3000) weakened even further, but still remained just as unshakable as it had been before.
Ishizu held out another card, this one showing a beautiful angel holding a shining card.
"Now I activate, Graceful Charity!" She declared, "True it lets me draw three cards, but I'm more interested in discarding two."
Gold narrowed his eyes at Ishizu as she dropped the cards into her graveyard.
"Just what are you trying to pull?" He asked.
Ishizu smiled as her face down card flipped over.
"The only thing I am going to pull is a victory from the jaws of defeat. I activate Exchange of the Spirit! Since there are more than fifteen cards in my graveyard I can, at the cost of 1000 LP, force all of us to switch our decks with our graveyards."
As the duelists did so Ishizu stumbled a little, becoming slightly dizzy from the sudden LP drop.
Zeffie LP: 800
Marik LP: 0
Gold LP: 400
Ishizu LP: 6000
1 turn left
Zeffie and Gold looked nervous; each of them with less than ten cards in what was now their decks.
Ishizu held up a new card.
"Now I use my Card of Sanctity. And follow it with Card Destruction."
All three duelists quickly drew, discarded, and drew again. Zeffie and Gold gasped however as they each came up short of the required six they had to draw, while Ishizu stood smiling with a slim stack of cards sitting in her disk.
"No way!" Gold shouted.
"Wow, she beat us both by a deck out. That's pretty impressive." Zeffie said, with a tone of admiration.
"Be impressed later, we just lost!" Gold growled as the sand beneath his feet began to shift around.
Zeffie LP: DECK OUT
Marik LP: 0
Gold LP: DECK OUT
Ishizu LP: 6000
1 turn left
Gold turned behind him and, with the crystal on his bracelet shining, threw his fist into the surrounding sand. A brown barrier appeared in the air around them and shattered, leaving behind a pulse of energy that made the nearby sands jump.
The giant duelist turned toward Ishizu, a look of shame and anger covered his face and filled his eyes.
"Dumb broad!" he shouted at her, "This was supposed to be easy! Well, if I can't beat you in a duel…"
Gold trailed of and muttered the rest of the statement under his breath.
A wall of sandstone shot up behind Ishizu as she tried to turn and run. Gold's hands wrapped around her throat and gripped tighter and tighter, squeezing the life out of her so that her dark skin became pale and the only light in her eyes was from the magnificent gem on Gold's bracelet.
Zeffie screamed as the shimmering barrier of wind that had surrounded her faded away.
"Don't worry Zefs, I won't be long!" Gold shouted.
Then a powerful blow landed right on the side of his head.
Ishizu fell to her knees, gasping for breath, and looked up to see Odion standing over her, brushing sand off his clothes.
"Odion…" she coughed.
"I'm fine." Odion said simply, "Are you and Marik okay?"
"I'm okay." Marik said weakly as he got to his feet.
Zeffie ran over to Gold, who was clutching his head as the glow in his bracelet vanished.
"Lordie Needlez is going to be really mad about this." Zeffie said.
Gold paled slightly and turned to Zeffie.
"I think it's time we left." He said, "Zeffie, if you would."
Zeffie nodded and a whirlwind shot up around her and Gold lifting them into the air.
The three Tombkeepers watched as they flew off, Zeffie looking back and giggling.
"Thanks for the talent Mr. Marik." She laughed.
The trio was silent for a minute as Odion and Ishizu stared at Marik.
"We should let the pharaoh know of this." Marik said, "It looks serious."
---------------------------------------------------
As Zeffie and Gold flew through the air over the desert, an orb of blue-green light jumped in front of them.
"Well, looks like that could have gone better for ye." Said the Scottish voice with a sarcastic tone.
"Umm, yah about that…" Gold started.
"Shut it! I don't need yer excuses. Yew two are to report back so I can properly congratulate wee Zeffie and properly punish yew!" The voice yelled.
"And for the sake of the next of our allies, pray that he truly is better than you Gold!"
Another has fallen to these mystery duelists. But what could they be collecting talent for? And who is the next target? It's back to Japan for our next chapter titled
H 2 Oh-No!
For some of the answers.
(Hey, we can't give everything away)
Original Cards
Elemental Seal of Wind
Spell Card
Field
Image of a large green circle surrounded by strange green letters. A large puffy cloud drawing sits in the center.
This card cannot be removed from the field. As long as this card remains on the field, increase the attack of all WIND monsters by 200 points. The controller of this card may treat all monsters on his/her side of the field as WIND monsters. Once per turn you may discard one monster from your hand and send one card on the field back to its owner's hand. If this card is played while another field spell with the word "Elemental Seal" is in play, both cards will remain in play and will only benefit their respective controllers.
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Promise to the Wind Master
Spell Card
Ritual
Image of a group of people cheering for a huge tornado.
Theis spell may be used to summon "Wind Master-Zephyros" by sacrificing monsters from your hand or field whose total level stars equal eight or more.
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Wind Master-Zephyros
Monster
WIND
Spellcaster
Ritual/Effect
2000/1500
An aged man wearing green robes, his hair and clothes constantly blown by a strange wind.
This monster can only be summoned by using "Promise to the Wind Master" and by sacrificing monsters from your hand or field whose total level stars equal eight or more. This monster recieve double the normal effects of cards that increase the attack of WIND monsters.
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Elemental Seal of Earth
Spell Card
Field
Image of a golden brown circle surrounded by strange letters. Three jagged lines are drawn in the center of the circle.
This card cannot be removed from the field. As long as this card remains on the field, increase the attack of all EARTH monsters by 200 points. The controller of this card may treat all monsters on his/her side of the field as EARTH monsters. Once per turn you may discard one monster from your hand and negate any damage done to your life points or your monsters until the end phase of this turn. If this card is played while another field spell with the word "Elemental Seal" is in play, both cards will remain in play and will only benefit their respective controllers.
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Calling of the Earth Master
Spell Card
Ritual
Image of a young man praying to a huge statue.
This spell may be used to summon "Earth Master-Geos" by sacrificing monsters from your hand or field whose total level stars equal eight or more.
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Earth Master-Geos
Monster
EARTH
Rock
Ritual/Effect
0?
A huge statue seemingly brought to life. Made of a strange, unidentifiable stone
This monster can only be summoned by using "Calling of the Earth Master" and by sacrificing monsters from your hand or field whose total level stars equal eight or more. The defense of this monser is equal to the number of EARTH monsters in every players graveyard x 1000
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Grave Shield
Trap
Image of a Chaos Necromancer being stopped by a huge gravestone
Remove this card in your graveyard from play. Immediately end your opponent's battle phase.
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Soul Assistant
Spell
Image of a shadowy ghost filing papers
Remove up to three monsters in your graveyard from play. Draw one card for each monster removed
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Time Warp
Spell
Image of a young woman staring at her hand which is wrinkled and aged
Move the turn count forward by up to ten turns at the cost of 700 life points each.
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Ring of Protection
Spell
Quick Effect
Image of a large white ring with many shields on it.
Negate any damage done to you by any one source.
This card has been used multiple times in the anime, all creative credit goes to the writers of the show.
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A/N: Happy Holidays one and all. In case you didn't get the message: REVIEWS MAKE GREAT HOLIDAY GIFTS! Thank you.