Tea's Time to Shine
Magicman: 'Once more unto the breach my friends!'
Smokegirl: You are NOT Will Shakespeare!
Magicman: Shakespeare's got nothing on me.
Smokegirl: Grrr! Ah well. We bring the current duel to a conclusion this chapter. And then we get my featured duel with Mai! So much mayhem and destruction just waiting to be let loose… I can just picture it, and it's beautiful. (Sigh)
Magicman: Oookay then. I can only hope that this chapter brings the adulation that last chapter brought.
Smokegirl: Tea looks screwed, doesn't she?
Magicman: Oh I don't know. I still have a few gimmicks left to scheme.
IIIIIII
Tea eyed her cackling opponent with a frown. "So are you going to finish your turn or will you keep attacking?"
"Oh, I'll definitely attack. First off, Dark Magician Girl (2000/1700) attack her Maha Vailo (1550/1400) with Dark Blaze attack!"
The bouncy spellcaster jumped into the air and pulled a fancy flip/twist combination, finally bringing her glowing staff down on the Vailo's head. He exploded and Dark Magician Girl jumped back to her space."
"Next" Akumu continued, "Dark Magician number one, destroy Fire Princess! Dark Magic Attack!"
Fire Princess didn't stand a chance. The stronger mage blasted her to atoms. Tea winced; all four of her monsters had just been destroyed, and there had been nothing she could do to protect them. And now she was facing down the strongest monster she'd ever seen.
"Oh yes" Akumu said, grinning. "Payback is so sweet. Tasya, finish her off now! Magical Spirit!"
The mother of all magic raised a hand and pointed it at Tea. The ensuing beam of energy streaked toward its target but was intercepted by a green energy field. Unconcerned, Tasya finished her attack and resumed her stance of total obliviousness. Her mistress Akumu on the other hand was noticeably annoyed.
"What was that? Why aren't you dead yet?"
Tea lifted her trap with two fingers. "It's called Draining Shield" she told Akumu. "It negates your attack and adds your monster's attack points to my lifepoints total. And now I'll activate my other trap card, Numinous Healer!" Tea waved, revealing her other card. An angel in a nurse uniform appeared. She spread her hands and showered Tea with glowing dust. Tea nodded her thanks to the card and grinned at Akumu. "In case you don't know math, this brings my lifepoints all the way up to 7050! I guess you can't destroy me yet!"
Akumu scowled. "Maybe not, but I can still hurt you! Dark Magicians two and three, attack her directly! Double Dark Magic attack!"
Both mages lifted there staves and fired right at Tea. She hissed in frustration at the attack, unable to do anything about it. Her lifepoints dropped back down to 2050; better than what she started off with, but it wouldn't stand a chance against Akumu.
The reincarnated slave smiled. "Enjoy yourself; you've earned one more turn, not that it'll help you. You have more lifepoints but I have Tasya on my side. If I were you, I'd just surrender now. After all, what's a tournament compared to staying alive?"
Tea looked up at the audience for a moment and saw Yami and Yugi's worried faces. Then she turned back to Akumu and smiled. "You wish."
The smile on Akumu's face vaporised. "Fine!" she screamed. "I try to give you a chance and you throw it back in my face! I'll show you not to take me so lightly!"
"Easy Killer. Your turn is over now." Tea drew and beamed. "And I drew exactly what I needed. You may have power in your deck but I have faith in mine. Time to eat it! I play Amazoness Swordswoman (1500/1600) in attack mode!"
The Amazon howled her defiance at Akumu's vastly more powerful monsters. "I take it you know what she does?" Tea asked. Akumu nodded.
"I've run into her before. I'm not afraid of amazons. In fact, I know just how to deal with her. I play my trap card, Nightmare Chains!" At Akumu's command a pack of rusty chains wrapped around Tea's monster. The amazon struggled but was pulled back relentlessly until she was pinned to a wooden board. The board then moved off to the side of the arena, leaving both fields clear and unobstructed. "My trap takes your swordswoman off of the field. Nice try but I'm not dense." Akumu smirked.
Tea didn't let her smile leave her face, though she was starting to feel very desperate. "I place two cards facedown and end my turn."
"You're pretty confident for someone who's getting pinned down and has no hope!" Akumu drew her card. "I play one card facedown. I guarantee that this will end your meddling for good. And now, I attack you directly with Dark Magician!"
Tea blinked in surprise. She had been expecting an attack from Tasya, not her Dark Magician. "I defend with Sakuretsu Armour, destroying your Dark Magician!"
The suit of armour attached to Dark Magician and self-destructed, drawing cheers from the audience.
"That's it Tea" Yugi shouted. "Just keep her away from you long enough and you'll eventually find a way to take her out! You can do it!" He shut up quickly when Akumu gave him a cold hard look that would have made Seto Kaiba flinch.
"Be quiet you midget" she ordered.
Tea scowled. "The duel is in here."
"Of course. And I knew your facedown cards were supposed to protect you. That's why I attacked with Dark Magician. You had no choice but to use one if you wanted to keep trying. So now I'll force you to waste your other card! Dark Magician Girl, attack her with Dark Blaze!"
"I activate Scapegoats!" The four fuzzy creatures were called by the magic card and lined up on the field with blissful expressions on their faces. Akumu raised an eyebrow.
"You're using a lot of cards I don't remember you having before" she commented. "Been dipping into the side deck, have we? No matter." She pointed. "Attack, my army of spellcasters! Shred those annoying fuzz balls!" Akumu smirked with satisfaction as her monsters destroyed Tea's entire line of defence. "And that ends my turn."
Tea drew. "I play Card of Sanctity. Time for both of us to draw until we each have six cards in our hands. Next I will summon Airknight Parshath (1900/1400)."
Akumu laughed at the fairy knight. "What's he going to do? He's much too weak to hurt me!"
True" Tea agreed. "So I'll activate Creature Swap! Each of us picks one monster to switch over to the opponent's side. I'll choose my Airknight Parshath."
"Then I'll choose a Dark Magician." Akumu scowled as their monsters switched. She knew what was coming.
The spellcaster and the fairy switched position on the field. Tea watched her monster on Akumu's field. 'Thank you' she thought to it, then pointed. "Dark Magician attack Airknight Parshath with Dark Magic attack!" The mage fired a powerful blast. The fairy blocked it with his sword and managed to hold the attack for a couple of seconds before it shattered and he was destroyed. Akumu swore as her lifepoints dropped to 50 and Tea sighed. She hadn't wanted to destroy her own monster but she hadn't seen any choice in the matter. "I play two cards down on the field and end my turn."
"Oh, but I have something of my own to play!" Akumu flipped her facedown trap. "I activate Royal Decree! This trap card negates all other trap cards as long as it's on the field. So your facedown cards just became useless!"
"Assuming of course that they're traps."
Akumu shrugged. "A technicality. And now, you bitch, its payback time for what you pulled last turn. Tasya destroy the Dark Magician! Show Tea why you're the most powerful spellcaster in the world!"
Tasya destroyed Dark Magician with a thought. Tea managed to turn her face away form the debris but the sparks and burning ashes still swept over her body. She would have cried out in surprised pain but the ashes made her cough. They choked her throat for nearly a full minute before she could breathe properly.
Akumu watched this exhibition with a twisted smile on her face the whole time. "Enjoying yourself?" she taunted.
When Tea (LP: 550) regained her breath, she smiled. She was burned but she wasn't done yet, not by a long shot. Akumu scowled.
"Will you stop doing that? It's ticking me off!" Her eyes narrowed. She said the next part in a quiet voice, almost to herself. "It's the exact same way Anzu used to grin."
Tea blinked in surprise and Yami's words last night drifted through her head. 'Could he really be right?' she asked herself. 'I thought he was just confusing me for her.'
Meanwhile, Akumu was frowning slightly, studying Tea. "Come to think of it, you kinda look like Anzu. And Yami loves you. Just like…" Suddenly her clear green eyes shot wide open. "No…it couldn't be! But if Yami and I are both alive then…" The eyes narrowed and darkened, coloured by seething hatred that had survived unabated through millennia. And Tea shuddered to have that hatred directed at her.
But Akumu's voice remained calm. "I don't know why I didn't recognise it from the beginning." She said, her fist clenching the railing so hard her knuckles were turning white. "Now that I think of it, there are so many similarities between you two. The hair, the eyes, the way that you walk; I remember it all. Well, well. Long time no see Anzu." She all but spat the name.
Tea frowned slightly. "You're crazy."
"Only to everyone else. It doesn't matter whether you know it or not, but you ARE Anzu's reincarnation." Akumu shook her head in amusement. "I must have done something right in a previous life."
"Who cares! So what if you, Yami and I had a love triangle five thousand years ago? This is now, the present, year 2005 AD! Meanwhile you're raving on about things I had no idea happened until this week? What the Hell is wrong with you! Get a freaking life!"
Akumu listened with one eyebrow raised. When Tea finished, she asked "Are you done yet? I'd like to finish my turn." She lay one card down on the field. "I could just finish you off now, but if Tasya doesn't kill you then where would the point be? Besides, my Royal Decree trap negates my Nightmare Chains, freeing your swordswoman. But rest assured, on my next turn I will finish you off and settle this grudge once and for all. I guarantee it."
As her amazon hopped over to her, Tea drew and chewed her lower lip worriedly. Akumu laughed. "Play any card you want! Nothing can save you now!"
"I summon Giant Germ (1000/100) in defence mode!"
The large virus materialised on the field and floated there, swollen with poison. Able to deal damage to the enemy's lifepoints, Tea intended it to be a blocker against Akumu's attack. But that wasn't how events turned out.
"I activate Offering to the Doomed!" Akumu played her facedown magic card and mummy bandages flew at Amazon Swordwoman. For the second time she was pinned and unable to move. The bandages wrapped up her body entirely, and though she struggled against them they squeezed until her holographic form shattered. Akumu smiled evilly.
"Does that bring back any memories for you?" she asked Tea. "The pharaoh's family was customarily mummified after death. I wonder if some archaeologist ever dug up yours?"
Tea scowled as her monster was destroyed. "You're sick!"
"And you're finished. Tasya, destroy her Giant Germ!"
The mother of all magic opened her eyes, revealing the depths of power within. Multi-coloured light beamed forth, blinding spectators and destroying the germ. Again Tea was engulfed by flaming ashes, and though she emerged from them fine she was shaking. Her defence line had been destroyed! And she had no cards in her hand that would help.
When she could see again, Tea scowled. "I can't do anything else this turn. You can go."
Akumu took a deep breath and released it slowly. 'I've been waiting for this moment for 5000 years' she thought to herself. 'After all this time the pain of losing my life and love will finally go away. Thank you for making this possible Tasya.' Her gaze shifted from her favourite monster to Yami up in the crowd. 'It's payback time you bastard!'
Returning from her memories she pointed at Tea. "Revenge is mine! Die Anzu!" she shouted. "Kill her Tasya!"
Tasya raised her hand and gathered magical energy in her palm, which she pointed right at Tea.
"I'm not finished yet!" Tea shouted. "I activate my facedown magic card, Spell Textbook!"
Akumu sneered. "That card is useless!"
"I allows me to draw a new card from my deck. I have to discard my entire hand to do it but as long as my new card is a magic card I can play it immediately!" Tea held her breath tightly, praying to the Heart of the cards, her monsters, and anything else that came to mind. Slowly she drew. Her hand was shaking as she lifted it and looked at the picture and description and her eyes widened. "Yes! YES! This is perfect!" Tea grinned joyously. "I drew Mystical Space Typhoon, which I'll use to destroy your Royal Decree!"
Akumu snorted. "Aren't we all just sick to death of last minute heroics? Attack her Tasya!"
Tasya fired her beam of magic at Tea. The bolt gleamed with the promise of death.
Tea's grin spread. "Sorry to disappoint you but you're finished! I activate Magic Arm Shield!"
"Huh?" Akumu was surprised. "What does that card do?"
"It doesn't stop your attack, if that's what you're wondering. It just takes one of your monsters and throws it in the way!" Tea pointed at Akumu's Dark Magician as a shiny golden shield appeared in front of her. A hatch in the front opened up and a set of ratcheted arms extended and seized Akumu's spellcaster and hauled him struggling to Tea's side of the field. It was just in time to receive the deadly attack. Akumu barely had the time to register the shock before the attack struck and the monster exploded.
The shockwave rocked the building. On the balcony Ami and Keiko, who were sitting on the railing were nearly knocked off and only saved themselves by clinging desperately. Yugi was bowled over entirely and even Pegasus was knocked out of his chair. In the arena though the two duellists weathered the blast surprisingly well, and both were on their feet when Akumu's lifepoint meter dropped to zero.
There were a few seconds of silence. And then when comprehension dawned Croquet approached and cleared his throat. "The winner of this duel is Miss Tea Gardner!" This was the cue for a lot of applause from the spectators.
Tea stretched, grimacing at the light burns she'd received when the sound of a fist being brought down on the card monitor grabbed her attention. Akumu was nearly spitting with anger, her green eyes locked on Tea. She stayed like that for what seemed like an hour but was really only a few seconds. Then she grabbed her deck, whirled and walked away, anger radiating through her with every step.
Tea found herself running after her opponent and caught up with her just as she reached the door. She reached for her cloak-clad shoulder. "Akumu, I-" she jumped back to avoid the sudden swing of Akumu's fist.
"Save it Gardner" the girl hissed. "You won. Congratulations. Leave it at that."
Tea regarded her sadly. "I don't want us to part like this. I was hoping-"
"What? That we could be friends? That I could join your little circle of loving losers? Forget it. If you count on anyone but yourself you'll only get hurt. Yami taught me that the hard way." Akumu snorted and turned away again. "Enjoy him Gardner. When he leaves you, you'll know just how I feel." When she started walking away she turned her head for one last shot. "I almost wish I could be there just to see the look on your face. But for now, if I never see you again it'll be too soon!"
"I'm sorry you feel that way" Tea answered softly.
Sighing, Tea returned to the room and climbed the stairs to the balcony. Her thoughts dwelling on what Akumu had said. 'When he leaves you, you'll know how I feel.' She didn't want to but she couldn't help but wonder if Akumu was right.
"Are you okay?"
Tea blinked at the deep voice and looked up. She had reached the edge of the balcony and Yami was standing by her. Her deep violet eyes were filled with concern for her, displaying the compassion that he rarely allowed to surface. Without thinking, Tea threw herself into his arms, burying her face in his chest. The startled spirit just held her instinctively, comforting her.
"Ahem?"
Tea looked up at Yugi, who was watching the two, a miserable expression on his face. She sighed. She had known this time would come eventually but she had been hoping to avoid it.
"I'm sorry Yugi" she said. "I never wanted you to be hurt."
"I know that." The short teenager sighed gustily. "I just hoped that you'd notice me as more than a friend."
"Are you going to be alright?"
He waved slightly. "It's nothing. Just a crush I've had for years. I'll get over it."
Tea let go of Yami and leaned down to hug Yugi comfortingly, patting him on the back. When she drew back she smiled teasingly. "You know, I think both Akki and Ami would be willing to be your new crush."
Yugi sighed gustily again. "Maybe…"
"Hey guys!" Akki yelled. "Hurry up and get over here! The next match is going to start!"
Tea gave Yugi one last hug before going over to watch the match. Yami waited by his lighter side. "I'm sorry" he told him. "I'd wanted to talk to you about all this but…"
"But the time was never right? Same here actually." Yugi smiled slightly. "At least she's happy with you. I guess that's enough for me."
Yami only nodded and the two of them went to watch the next match.
IIIIIII
Magicman: Cut! Print it!
Tea: Cripes! How on Earth did I pull that off?
Magicman: Well, the trick is coming up with moves you want to happen and make them both elaborate and ostentatious. For example, I seriously doubt in real life that Akumu would have been able to get three Dark Magicians, Dark Magician Girl, and Tasya all on the field at once. Neither would Tea have been able to get just what she needed from Spell Textbook. I've noticed that real life duels are usually a lot shorter and more direct. But these ones are a lot of fun to write. Sometimes I write myself into corners and have to re do things though.
Joey: You know you just gave away your secret?
Magicman: Meh. Hopefully other can put it to good use.
Smokegirl: Yes! YES! I'm on next! Oh yeah, can you feel it baby? I'm hot tonight!
Magicman&Tea&Joey: What the Hell?
Pegasus: Don't ask. By folks!
