Italics indicate thinking
Yuki's POV
"YAWW!" I yawned a bit as I walked down the hall to the mess area of the blimp to grab something for breakfast "I feel like I slept through something kinda important…whatever."
I heard the Finals are on Alcatraz…we'll be there soon.
"Oh, good morning." I saw Tea was already there.
"Hello." She smiled "How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay, just needed a little rest is all." I sat with her "This whole thing has been a lot more than I expected, just a few weeks ago I was working in the office of a medical supply company and now I'm flying to an island to duel against a bunch of people almost half my age for the safety of a bunch of weird cards that are connected to ancient Egypt…what happened to my life."
Tea laughed a bit.
"You kids are so lucky, you've got a lot of time and opportunities, follow your dreams." I got up and walked away "Don't end up like me, stuck in a miserable middle management job wishing you'd just done what you really wanted."
"Hmm…" Tea looked down "I really don't understand any of what's going on anymore."
"Tell me about it." I sighed with her "But still, so much has happened…I don't know if I can go back to my old life anymore knowing all this."
"We are about to arrive at Alcatraz." The speaker said "All remaining Duelists should prepare their decks."
"We should go." Cleopatra appeared.
"Right." I stood up.
The Millennium Items, the past Cleopatra tried to erase it all and was punished…this time We'll stop it all.
The airship landed and we all stepped off onto the ruined island before the huge tower the final matches would be in.
"The Duel Tower." I hummed.
"Have you decided the order for the Semi-Finals gracious host?" Marik smirked.
"We'll learn your fate in the tower." Mokuba said.
"I assume you mean all of your defeats." Marik scoffed.
I have to beat him…before he hurts someone.
We entered into the tower that was mostly hollow and empty save for the four doors in the corners.
"Four Remaining Duelists." The referee said "You will head to the top through these different doors. Please choose a door. None have any advantage in this duel."
"West." I picked my door.
I walked into the room, there was nothing in it but a console and a bumper car shaped seat.
"What are they planning?" Cleopatra wondered as I took a seat.
"Who knows, I've stopped trying to anticipate anything." I shrugged.
Once I sat down the car started to rise like an elevator into a room where the other three were waiting, Yugi's friends were waiting and watching on a platform below us.
"What are we supposed to be doing?" I asked.
"For Duelists like you it would be unfair to decide matchups based on lottery." The ref said "We shall decide the finals with a game, a four-way duel. The first two to arrive at the top will be one match, while the other will be match two. You start with 4000 life points, the more you lose the higher you rise. Each player uses a 40 card deck, place it in your duel disk and attach the disk to the connector. Your cards and your opponents will be displayed on the console."
I did a quick shuffle and slid it into the deck before jacking in.
"You may attack any player you choose but not until each player has taken their first turn." He continued "Other than that all rules are the same as up to this point in the competition."
"Play smart and we can duel Marik." Cleopatra told me.
"I was thinking the same thing." I smiled.
"We will decide the turn order by drawing a monster from your deck, the highest attack will go first and the lowest last." The ref said "But the card you choose will be removed from play for this duel."
"What should I pick?" I opened my deck "Something we have multiple of?"
"That would be best, we have three copies of Pyramid Turtle in the deck so that's a safe bet." She told me "Going first isn't a requirement so something with 1200 ATK points is a good middle spot."
"Okay." I choose my card.
"Present your chosen card!"
"Hmm." We all held up our cards.
Kaiba chose Masked Beast Death Gardius (ATK 3300) Marik had Lekunga (1700), Yugi had Feral Imp (1300) and I was last with Pyramid Turtle (1200).
"The order has been decided!"
I don't care who I fight, but our tasks is to stop Marik so the sooner I fight him the better.
"START!"
"I go first!" Kaiba drew "I summon Vorse Raider and play one card facedown!"
Vorse Raider: LVL 4 ATK 1900 DEF 1200
"My turn then." Marik went "I summon Newdoria in Defense mode and end my turn!"
Newdoria: LVL 4 ATK 1200 DEF 800
"That card can kill whatever monster it wants after being destoryed." Cleopatra warned me.
"Draw!" Yugi went "Big Shield Gardna in defense mode!"
Big Shield Gardna: LVL 4 ATK 100 DEF 2600
"I also play two other cards facedown." Yugi ended his turn.
"The best for last." I drew "We play Call of the Mummy then use its effect to Special Summon Vampire Lady in attack mode and then sacrifice it to summon Vampire Lord! And Then I banish Vampire Lord to summon Vampire Genesis!"
Vampire Genesis: LVL 8 ATK 3000 DEF 2100
"Such a monster on the first turn." Yugi gasped.
"Hmm…" Marik smirked.
"I play two face down cards and end my turn." I said.
"Are you sure playing all our cards was a good idea?" I asked.
"Getting a monster like Vampire Genesis on the field for the first turn will be huge." She told me "It's the smartest play.
"This is already thrilling." Kaiba smirked and prepared his turn.
"I play a tarp!" Yugi yelled "Regulation of the Tribe! As long as this card is face up no monsters of the selected type can attack, I choose Beast Warriors."
"He's stalling Kaiba." Cleopatra hummed "Rather than stop our deck which is almost all Zombie Cards he chose to make it so he will waste Kaiba's turn."
"We got lucky." I nodded.
Marik went next "I set a card then summon Lord Poison."
Lord Poison: LVL 4 ATK 1500 DEF 1000
"Then I shift Newdoria into attack position and he attacks Vampire Genesis!"
"Are you mad?!" I was stunned.
"He intends to suicide Newdoria!" Cleopatra warned.
"RAH!" my giant vampire slammed his monster
"Newdoria has an ability that activates on death." Marik slid the card into the grave "He destroys a monster with him, I choose Vampire Genesis!"
"Dammit." I hissed.
"Then I activate the Magic Card Spell of Pain!" he laughed "It allows me to redirect the battle damage to you instead."
"Dammit!" I hissed as my car rose up the tower "Not only did I lose my best monster but I took a tone of damage too…I activate my face down card!"
I flipped up Call of the Haunted
"Vampire Genesis can't be special summoned except by banishing Vampire Lord." Kaiba said "You have nothing to revive."
"Oh yes I do, the first monster I summoned Vampire Lady!"
"Hmm." The blue skinned woman appeared.
Vampire Lady: LVL 4 ATK 1550 DEF 1550.
"I also activate the trap Compulsory Evacuation Device!" I flipped all I had "I send Vorse Raider back to Kaiba's hand!"
At least now we won't be left wide open and someone else will.
Marik finally ended his turn and Yugi drew.
"I sacrifice Big Shield Gardna to summon Beast of Gilfer!"
Beast of Gilfer: LVL 6 ATK 2200 DEF 2500.
"I attack Kaiba!" Yugi yelled.
"My Trap activates!" Kaiba flipped a card "Attack Guidance Armor! I redirect where I want…maybe back and Yugi, or pay back the two-faced woman for leaving me open…No that attack goes to Lord Poison!"
"I see…" Marik smirked "Mirror Force! The attack goes back at Beast of Gilfer!"
"I also have a trap!" Yugi yelled "Seven Tools of the Bandit which negates the activation of a trap by paying 1000 life points!"
Yugi dropped to 3000 while Lord Poison was destroyed and Marik dropped to 3300.
Kaiba is the only one with full Life left but Yugi's the only one besides me with a monster and his is way stronger than mine. I still have the fewest life points left and no cards in my hand, I need to be careful. My goal is Marik, so long as I stay close to him here we can fight in the semi-finals.
"My turn!" I drew "Hmm…I play Pot of Greed!"
I drew two cards so I had more to work with.
"Then I summon Fear from the Dark!"
Fear from the Dark: LVL 4 ATL 1700 DEF 1500
"I have Fear attack Kaiba and my Vampire Lady attacks Marik!"
I delivered a hard hit to both, dropping Kaiba to 2300 and Marik to 1750
"Just because I'm not as experienced as you boys doesn't mean you shouldn't expect me to play hard." I smiled.
"Excellent job." Cleopatra said.
"We also place a face down." I said.
"Magic Jammer won't work unless you discard a card, and you have no cards to get rid of." Cleopatra warned.
"It's a bluff." I smiled.
"My you are learning quickly." She laughed.
"Oh and since you took battle damage from Vampire Lady I pick a card type and you discard it from your deck Marik, so get rid of a Trap Card!" I smiled.
I heard that Marik uses a monster that can activate traps from the hand so I should make sure to take away as many as I can.
"My turn, draw!" Kaiba went next "I set three face down cards and summon Blade Knight!"
Blade Knight: LVL 4 ATK 1600 Def 1000
"Blade Knight attack Marik Directly!" Kaiba yelled.
"TSK!" the one we were all gunning for hissed as he was downed to just 150 Life points.
Just a little more and we can take him out.
"Our goal is to fight Marik, we need to bring our car closer to his." Cleopatra told me.
"I'm more focused on staying alive right now." I told her "Sides we have no cards in our hand and two monsters on the field, it's hard to do much to get us closer to him."
"My turn!" Marik went "I summon Dark Jeroid!"
Dark Jeroid: LVL 4 ATK 1200 DEF 1500
"I activate its effect and reduce the attack of Fear from the Dark by 800! I then Attack it!"
Fear from the Dark: ATK 1700-900
"TSK!" I hissed when Dark Jeroid attacked and my life dropped to 1900.
"I go next." Yugi drew his card "Beast of Gilfer attacks Dark Jeroid!"
"TSK!" Marik hissed as the last of his life dropped and his chair rose to the top of the tower.
"The next one to lose fights Marik first." I looked around and prepared as I drew my card.
I can't do anything with the cards on the field…I drew Vampire Baby and he's not gonna help here.
"I end my turn." I sighed.
"I summon Vorse Raider!" Kaiba laughed "And activate the trap Ring of Destruction! We both take 1900 points of damage! Or we would if I didn't also play Ring of Defense!"
"What?!" Cleopatra gasped.
"He really wants to fight Yugi!" I gasped "But…I'm not letting you get away for free Magic Jammer!"
I blocked his defense spell by discarding Vampire Baby from my hand, Vorse Raider exploded and both Kaiba and I took damage, in my case it was all I had left.
Alright then…we go against Marik.
I looked passed Marik as our cars rose to the top.
"I'm not losing." I glared "I'm on a mission from God."
"I'll send you screaming into darkness where even your Gods won't be able to save you." He laughed.
"You insolent child!" Cleopatra took over "You'll regret your very existence when we duel!"
"The first match of the Semi-Finals will be Marik Ishtar Vs Yuki Shinonome! The Second will be Yugi Mutou Vs Seto Kaiba!"
AN
Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.
I hadn't intended on having Yuki follow Joey's path to the final fights the same way but it ended up working out that way. She couldn't just replace Mai and lose to Marik in round one, but having her come in third here was just a weird coincidence.
It ended up being harder than I planned to fit her in, picking her first round match was the hardest, Marik has to make it on and she couldn't lose in the first round so having her fight Odion made the most sense given Yugi and Bakura needed to face off and Kaiba needs to advance as well for the God Cards to all be in the finals.
Till Next Time!
