Gritting his teeth, Kaiba crossed his arms as Jaden began his turn.
"Only one card in my hand, but it's the only one I'm gonna need!" Jaden slammed it onto his duel disk. "I activate A Hero Lives! By paying half my life points, I can summon a hero from my deck. So say hello to a new face, Elemental Hero Shadow Mist!"
6900 LP / 700 LP
A plum of shadows formed on Jaden's side, as an armored woman appeared. She trudged forward, taking a spot on the field.
1000 LP
"And watch out, when this gal takes the stage, she gets me a special card from my deck, called Mask Change," Jaden explained, plucking the card from the middle of his deck. "But before we get to that, let's start laying down the hurt! Shadow Mist, attack!"
The hero sprinted forward, striking Kaiba in the arm before escaping back to Jaden's side.
5900 LP / 700 LP
"That's it? A measly 1000 points?" he scoffed, rubbing dust from his jacket.
"Heh, that's just the beginning. Now time to show you the power of the card I added, Mask Change!" Jaden called out, activating the card. Shadow Mist was enveloped in light, her outline growing as Jaden smirked. "This bad boy lets my heros change from one identity to another. Trading in a normal hero—"
The light dissipated, leaving a taller warrior in its place.
"Into a Masked Hero!" Practically cheering, Jaden pumped his fist. "Here he is, Masked Hero Anki!"
2800 ATK
"And guess what, it's still my battle phase, so Anki can attack!" Jaden grinned. "Go! Deal the pain with Dynamic Reentry!" Jaden pumped his fist forward as Anki leapt nearly twenty meters into the air. With a kick, it launched itself forward, cascading onto Seto before delivery a critical kick to the center of his chest.
"Grrra!" Kaiba flew back, keeping upright as he rubbed his chest in pain.
3100 LP / 700 LP
"And I'm not even done yet. When Anki hits you where it hurts, it lets me add a Mask Change from my deck to my hand." Jaden smiled, pulling the card out. "And you know what, I think I'm gonna use it. "Let's go Anki, mask change into—"
Jaden's monster disappeared in a plume of smoke, twisting and turning before it shrunk.
"Masked Hero Dark Law!" Dark Law flew out the smoke, skidding to a stop as it took the field. It let out a mighty battle cry.
2400 ATK
"Now, go! Dark Law! Twisted Retribution!" Jaden commanded. His monster shot forward, skating across the ground as it zeroed in on Kaiba. With a jump, it reared back, decking him straight in the face.
700 LP / 700 LP
"Heh, and with that, I end my turn." Loosening up, Jaden took a step back, anchoring the back of his head in his hands. Kaiba growled, drawing his next card.
"Let's get this duel back on track, with this card, Pot of Greed!" he called out, drawing two cards. "This card lets me, well, you know."
"Draw two cards? Hah, check again!" Jaden grinned as Dark Law tensed up. "When you add a card from your deck to your hand outside of your normal draw, to my buddy over here, you're breaking the law! So he gets to lay down some Vigilante Justice!"
Kaiba growled as Jaden's monster rushed him, swiping a card from his hand sending it away. Yet, as his eyes returned to his hand, Seto smiled. His smile turned to a smirk, and then a moment later, an uproaring laugh. Blinking, Jaden furrowed his brow.
"Okay, now I'm confused. I just took a card out of your hand, and you're happy about it?" Jaden asked. Kaiba shook his head, his grin still on his face.
"You fool! The card you banished from my hand was none other than my Thunder Dragondark!" Kaiba grasped into the air as his dark dragon suddenly appeared. "And when that monster is banished, it lets me add a Thunder Dragon monster from my deck to my hand! So, I'll add, Thunder Dragonhawk!"
Dragondark shattered into light, a feathered Gryphon-like beast taking its place before returning to Kaiba's hand.
"And now, watch and learn. By discarding my Dragonhawk, I can summon the Dragondark that was banished to get it!" Kaiba's voice was lightning through the air, only shown up by the real lightning that appeared a moment later, as his dragon returned.
1600 ATK
"But he won't be staying for long," Kaiba said with a smirk. "You see, when Thunder Dragons congregate, they build electrical charge, attracting even larger dragons! So now, I can—"
"Summon another dragon?" Jaden grumbled under his voice.
"Summon another dragon!" Kaiba called out. "I can tribute my lone Thunder Dragondark and summon from my Extra Deck, Thunder Dragon Colossus!"
A strike of lightning rained down from the ceiling, slamming into Dragondark and coating it with a layer of electricity. All at once, it grew triple in size, the sparks fading away as a new dark purple dragon took its place.
2600 ATK
"Now, my beast! Wipe that pathetic excuse of a hero off my field!" Kaiba ordered, as more storm clouds formed overhead. With a roar that was like a crack of thunder, lightning fired from Colossus's maw, exploding on contact with Jaden's monster.
Holding his arms up to block the blast, Jaden stood firm. This was cutting it close, even for him.
700 LP / 500 LP
"And with that, I'll end my turn."
"My move, draw!" Jaden smiled as he eyed the card he just pulled. "You know, old man, I gotta say, you got some tricks worth listening to."
"Maybe if you listened to them a bit harder, you would have graduated from my school," Kaiba chided, crossing his arms.
"Ah come on, when are ya gonna let that go?" Smiling, Jaden slipped the card into his duel disk. "Besides, I don't need to go to class to figure out how to use this, Pot of Greed!"
Jaden drew his two cards, looking over his options carefully.
"I'm gonna go easy on you this round, Kaiba," Jaden said with a jeer. "I'll end my turn by setting down a facedown and a monster to go along with it."
"Whatever lets you sleep at night." Drawing his card, Kaiba calculated his next move for a moment before reaching forward. "I'll get straight to it, Thunder Dragon Colossus, attack his set monster!"
Another roar like cracking thunder followed as a blast of lightning easily shattered Jaden's card. A mechanical dog appeared for a moment in distress before exploding.
"Heh, you walked straight into it!" Jaden called then. "You see, the monster you just destroyed was my Wroughtweiler! And when that little buddy is destroyed, I get to add a Hero and a Polymerization from my graveyard back to my hand! And to add to that, I activate Hero Signal!"
Jaden's set card rose on cue, revealing a card with a dark skyline and H symbol projected onto the skies.
"Since a monster of mine got destroyed, it lets me call out a Hero to avenge them! So come on out, Elemental Hero Sparkman!" From Jaden's side, his own bout of electricity formed, as a warrior in blue and gold took the stage. "Hey now, both of us are playing with lightning, heh."
1400 DEF
"The only one playing here is you!" Kaiba shouted out in response. "Bring out as many of your action figures as you'd like, my monsters will shatter each one, over and over again!"
"Jeeze dude, lighten up," Jaden responded, pulling Polymerization and Bubbleman from his grave back into his hand. "Last I checked, you're the one with a plane in the shape of a dragon. So let's calm down with the playing with toys talk."
"I end my turn." Growling, Kaiba set one card.
"Let's go, right back to me!" Jaden shouted, drawing one. Laughing like a middle schooler, he revealed what he drew. "I activate Silent Doom! This lets me revive my Avian!"
1000 DEF
"You're in for it now! Because I've assembled the pieces for a real kick-butt fusion!" Jaden flipped around the Polymerization he added back in the previous turn.
"I cannot believe you just said that," Yubel groaned.
"I fuse my Elemental Heroes Avian, Sparkman, and Bubbleman!" Jaden threw his hand up as the monsters in front of him dissolved into blobs of wind and lightning respectively. Behind him, Bubbleman appeared for a moment before similarly becoming a blob of torrents. All at once, the three elemental energies leapt into the air, converging into a storm that suddenly formed over the field. "Come on out, Elemental Hero, Tempest!"
An eye in the storm suddenly formed and from it descended a winged warrior. With a mighty cry, it unfurled its wings, sudden gale force winds blowing out and dispersing the entire storm at once. It landed proudly at Jaden's side.
2800 ATK
"Now, go Tempest! Powerhouse Plummet!" Shooting into the air again, Tempest cried out once again before charging down towards Colossus with the force of a storm behind it. The two collided, the dragon putting up a fight before roaring and shattering.
Kaiba growled as the pixelated remains of his monster rained down beside him. If it wasn't for Dark Law banishing his other Thunder Dragons, he could've protected Colossus.
500 LP / 500 LP
"With that, I'll kick it back to you," Jaden called out, leaning his head back into his hands with a smirk. "Let's see ya get out of that."
"I draw!" Looking over his options, Kaiba plucked a card from hand and pressed a button on his duel disk. "I'll start by activating my set card, Living Fossil! This will let me revive a monster from my grave, so arise! B-Buster Drake!"
1500 ATK
Piles of scrap appeared at Kaiba's feet before pulling itself together, reconstituting at his Buster Drake at his side.
"And from there, I'll activate Soul Exchange!"
"Ah jeeze," Jaden broke from his relaxed position as he realized that Kaiba was in fact, getting out of that.
"I'll show you what happens when you let your guard down around me, twerp!" Kaiba roared, as his mechanical dragon and Jaden's Elemental Hero Tempest were encased in a white aura. "I tribute my B-Buster Drake and your monster! Come forth, my pride, my soul! Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
The familiar roar of Kaiba's dragon filled the arena again as Blue-Eyes touched down on the field again, sending shockwaves through the air.
3000 ATK
"And I'm not done there! When my B-Buster Drake is sent to the grave, it allows me to search a union monster from my deck!" Kaiba smirked as his duel disk served him the card. "Fortunately for you, Soul Exchange prevents me from finishing you off here."
"How generous," Jaden groaned. "My move!"
Sighing, he set the one card he drew.
"Make that, your move."
"With pleasure!" Kaiba shouted out as he drew. "Now my Blue-Eyes, end this! Burst Stream of Destruction!"
"Not on my watch! I activate, Negate Attack!" Jaden's trap flipped up, revealing a swirling vortex that consumed Blue-Eyes's attack and dispersed it.
"Stalling won't do you good!" Kaiba said with a grunt. "I end my turn."
"We'll see about that you smug—" Jaden resisted the urge to finish that expletive as he looked over his draw. Without another word, he set a monster face-down. "I end my turn."
"Hmph, yes we will." Glancing at his next draw, Kaiba made his next move with a flick of his wrist. "I activate the magic of the Pot of Avarice! This lets me shuffle 5 monsters from my grave into my deck to draw two more cards!"
Four cards followed by Blue-Eyes shot out of Kaiba's duel disk before he shuffled them into his deck. With another quick motion, he drew.
"Hah! Now I'll show you what happens when you waste my time! You should've dropped out of this duel a long time ago," Kaiba revealed three cards from his hand. "Because now I'm about to show you what happens when I get angry! I activate Polymerization! This fuses the Blue-Eyes on my field with the two in my hand!"
"Here we go!" Jaden shouted out, as two more Blue-Eyes joined the one on the field. All at once, the three were pulled into a vortex behind Kaiba, as loud gusts of wind poured out of it. Yet, over the sounds of the dragons roaring and gusts blowing, one sound stood clear: Kaiba's proud laughter.
"Now, feast your eyes amongst an ultimate creature! An ultimate force! The Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"
From the vortex, the head of Blue-Eyes shot true, a cracking roar piercing the arena. Following it was two more, joining the first in its symphony of rage. Marching proudly outwards, centering the whole arena around it, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon took the field.
4500 ATK
"Now my beast, render his puny field asunder! Neutron Blast!" Kaiba's hand shot forward as the three heads of his monster began charging plumes of white lightning at their maws. With another ear-shattering cry, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon fired, sending the three beams coalescencing and instantly shattering their target: Jaden's set monster.
The body of Elemental Hero Wildheart appeared for a second before crying out and exploding, launching Jaden back a foot.
"And with that, I'll give you a short intermission," Kaiba said with a smirk. "But do hurry back, your beating continues after one turn."
Jaden audibly growled, his eyes flashing as his hand went to his deck.
"Jaden? Jaden, are you okay," Yubel reappeared again, feeling a dark pit at the center of that wave of emotion that just went through him. She turned to look up at the dragon they were facing. "Don't tell me for even a second that this is getting to you. You've dealt with things much harder than this and conquered them before."
"It's not his dragon, Yubel. It's him." Looking down at his deck, Jaden watched as his hand shook despite how much he tried to hold steady. He drew, frowning as he found Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin on the top. This wouldn't help. "What I would give to be facing Aster right now. At least I could trash talk him and not expect him to make it personal."
Yubel furrowed her brow as the darkness she felt disappeared, replaced instead with a gentle sadness. This wouldn't do.
"And so what? So what if this insignificant rube has made it personal," she began, floating to the front of Jaden's gaze. "Of all the things you've seen, what is he? What value do his words carry?"
"Him and Yugi were my idols when I was a kid," Jaden answered, looking down at the Aqua Dolphin in his hand and thinking. "They're the reason I started dueling. They're the reason you're in my deck."
"Are you going to stand there and daydream! Or are you going to duel!" Kaiba suddenly shouted out, making Jaden grumble.
"I set a monster and end my turn," Jaden replied, after a moment of hesitation. Yubel grabbed onto his hand after that and pulled it up to grab Jaden's attention.
"And so what? That makes it even better. He is your past, a reminder of where you were." Yubel looked over to where Kaiba drew his next card. "Now is your chance to cut that away, kill that part of your past and step into your future."
"Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon! Reduce his last line of defense to ash! Neutron Blast!" Kaiba called out, ordering his monster to fire. All at once, Yubel unfurled her wings, blocking the shock waves and wind from Kaiba's attack. She also handily blocked the sight of Aqua Dolphin being destroyed.
"Take this opportunity, Jaden. Make his corpse the stepping stone for your next stage."
"Okay, just to emphasize, we are not actually killing him, right?" Jaden quipped, a half-smirk returning to his face. Yubel smiled.
"I'm okay with either possibility." That elicited a laugh from Jaden, as he stood straight again. Pulling her wings back, Yubel retreated to his side, confident that she had returned his confidence. He was going to need it.
"I'll set a card and end my turn," Kaiba said, passing it back to Jaden for what felt like the last time. It was all up to this.
"Come on guys, pull through for me," Jaden said to himself, his hand pressed against the top card of his deck. "Lady luck, heart of the cards, whatever's out there. I need ya to get me out of here."
Closing his eyes, Jaden drew what would probably be his final card. He held it forward, peeking out for a second before fully facing his fate. And when he saw what it was, he smiled. He didn't just smile, he grinned, ear to ear.
"You're in for it now, Richie Rich! Cause you're about to see a Jaden Yuki classic comeback!" Flipping the card he drew, Jaden began to break out laughing. "I'm activating Miracle Fusion! Now I can fusion summon using Elemental Heroes from my graveyard!"
A vortex of Jaden's very own appeared behind him, mirroring the one Kaiba had just a few turns earlier.
"And with it, I'm gonna fuse my Elemental Hero Sparkman and Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!" Pumping his fist into the air, Jaden called upon his two fallen heroes to join his side, Sparkman and Wingman leaping into the portal moments after they appeared. "So come on out, Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman!"
Shooting out from the vortex, Jaden's new monster took flight. Flare Wingman's radiant armor completely outshining everything in the entire arena. Even Kaiba was forced to shield his eyes as he growled.
2500 ATK
"Hah! Your monster is nowhere near strong enough to take down my Blue-Eyes!" Kaiba shouted then, as Flare Wingman's light show began to calm down.
"Heh, not yet it doesn't! See, my hero's got a superpower you see." Jaden pointed sky high towards his monster. "Shining Flare Wingman gains 300 ATK for every Hero I've got taking a rest in my graveyard!"
"It what!?"
"And I just about count seven Heroes!" Grinning from ear to ear, Jaden watched as the ethereal forms of Avian, Burstinatrix, Clayman, Bubbleman, Mudballman, Tempest, and Wildheart appeared on his field, each disappearing after a moment and adding to Flare Wingman's power. "Let's go!"
4600 ATK
"Shining Flare Wingman! Go! Solar Flare!" Jaden called out. With a mighty cry, Flare Wingman shot upwards, flashing with a blinding light as it cascaded upon its target. Kaiba's dragon charged up a counter-attack, sending out a neutron blast to try and blow Wingman away. But Flare Wingman broke through it, flying through the beam and directly into Blue-Eyes's chest. With an explosion, Kaiba's monster was no more. "All right!"
400 LP / 500 LP
"My Blue-Eyes!" Kaiba roared.
"And don't think you're sitting pretty!" Jaden continued. "My Shining Flare Wingman has an effect just like Flame Wingman, meaning you take all of your dragon's ATK as damage!"
Flare Wingman floated down to Kaiba's front, its hand outstretched towards his chest. Kaiba didn't even flinch.
"Shining Flare Wingman! End this!" At that, a blast of light fired from Wingman's whole body, blinding all observers as it hit Kaiba point-blank. As the light cleared, Jaden began laughing to himself, for just a moment taking in the fact he won.
Then, the laughter started. From Kaiba, uproarious prideful laughter took him, as Flare Wingman leapt away and back to Jaden's side. Standing straight, Kaiba smirked as Jaden stared in confusion.
"Uh, what's with the giggles dude, you just lost?" Jaden said then, wondering why his life points hadn't ticked down to 0.
"Oh, did I really?" Kaiba shot back, lifting his arm up. His set card revealed itself, as a new item came to life on Kaiba's side of the field. "I activated my Ring of Defense! Protecting me from all Damage!"
400 LP / 500 LP
"Your puny attempt at ending this duel was stopped by one measley spell card! You call that a finisher?" Kaiba made a fist as his Ring of Defense faded away, leaving his field bare.
Yet as Jaden saw his victory pulled away from him, he didn't fret, he didn't worry. No, all he could do was grin.
"You're absolutely amazing!" he shouted out loud, unable to contain himself from complimenting his opponent. "Heck, almost as amazing as I am! Let's finish off this duel right, what do ya say!"
Kaiba was taken aback by that, the compliment followed by the self-praise a moment later. This kid could certainly jump back.
It was time to show him how a master does it.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," he said under his breath, drawing. "I activate the magic of Card of Demise! This lets me draw until I have five cards in my hand, as long as I discard my whole hand in five turns. But trust me, I'm ending this right here, right now!"
Drawing his five cards, Kaiba looked over his options before smiling, finding exactly what he needed.
"I'll start by activating my Monster Reborn, reviving a monster you destroyed in the last turn! Arise again, my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" Kaiba roared, as the three heads of Blue-Eyes crashed through the floor, the terrifying roar of the monster following them.
"Aw sweet, you got Blue-Eyes Ultimate back!" Jaden shouted out, finally able to fanboy over the card he'd seen so often in his childhood. "But, why would you do that, it's still not strong enough to beat my Shining Flare Wingman?"
Kaiba laughed.
"You think your puny action figure shines?" he called out, pointing towards Jaden's monster. "No, let me show you a real monster, one that shines beyond all the rest!"
Plucking a card from his hand, Kaiba raised it forward, as his Ultimate Dragon began to crack and fall apart, light leaking out from every hole.
"A dragon like no other! A new dragon! A shining dragon!" Kaiba slammed the card onto his duel disk, shattering Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon in the process, and revealing what lay underneath. "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon!"
Where flesh and sinew once stood, a shining mass of pure geometry remained. A monster Jaden had never seen before stood before him, so bright and with such a pressure, he was absolutely star-struck.
3000 ATK
"And like your Flare Wingman, my monster also gains ATK! 300 for every dragon in my grave! And I count seven!" Kaiba raised his duel disk into the air as seven beams of light shot out from his duel disk, each fanning out and then coalescencing into Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon. It roared out with a mighty cry as its power rose.
5100 ATK
"Now, let's really end this!" Kaiba called out for the last time. "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon! Attack! Shining Neutron Blast!"
Taking to the skies, Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon's whole body lit up, blue highlights standing stark in the pure white. Yet, with a cry that could shatter glass, it charged up a sphere of energy before letting it all burst forth in a stream that made the room moments earlier feel like pitch black.
Shining Flare Wingman stood still as it took the full force of the attack, just barely blocking the light from blinding Jaden. With his arms blowing back in the wind as his last monster was shattered, Jaden was left to just watch in awe as his life points ticked down to zero.
400 LP / 0 LP
Seto Kaiba wins
As the light and monsters and debris of the field faded away, Kaiba let out a sigh of something that wasn't quite relief, but close. He certainly wasn't worried he'd lose, he never was. Yet, as his duel disk deactivated and the last of the holograms left the field, he couldn't help but notice the sheer amount of blood rushing through his veins.
Lifting his hand, he watched it tremble. Not with fear, of course, but something else.
Excitement.
Kaiba's train of thought was derailed in the next moment.
"That. Was! Awesome!" Jaden yelled as he rushed up Kaiba, grabbing his still shaking hand and shaking it himself. "I gotta say, you really know how to kick butt in style! I've never even seen that monster before! Don't tell me you brought it out for little ole me!"
"He's going to kill you if you're not careful," Yubel commented as Kaiba ripped his hand from Jaden's grasp, turning and wiping it against his coat.
Calming down at that, Jaden straightened up.
"Uh, thanks for the chance to put you through the wringer a few times," he said, bowing with his arms pinned to his sides, only half joking. "You really showed me I still got a bit to learn if I wanna reach your guys' level."
Standing up, Jaden suddenly remembered the reason he was even there.
"Hey, I know I didn't beat you, but I'd really appreciate it if you didn't fire—"
"You weren't ever going to beat me," Kaiba said, cutting him off. Turning back to face him, Kaiba looked over to his opponent. "The kind of duelist who could defeat me in a duel comes once in a millenia, quite literally."
Walking past Jaden, Kaiba did something quite unexpected: He paused and put his hand on his shoulder.
"However, you did impress me," Kaiba said, keeping his eyes forward. Jaden resisted the urge to jump out and shout in excitement at that. Leaving his hand on Jaden's shoulder, Kaiba reached for the commlink attached to the hem of his jacket. Pressing it, he opened the channel. "He passed, Crowler. Give him the Sacred Beasts."
"Hah, I passed— Wait, what!"
"WHAT."
