First off, Happy Halloween to all those who celebrate it. ^^ A new chapter is up although this is on the short side. I apologize for that, but once you read the end of this chapter, it'll be pretty obvious as to why I left it like that. Also, this has the beginning of the duel although I made up some things, so it's not exactly like how it is in the actual game and such. I didn't want to bog down the chapter with too many details in regards to the duel, but please let me know if I should change how I write the details about it. Originally, I intended the duel to be one chapter, but I guess it'll be like the anime where it lasts for a few chapters. lol
Anyway, enjoy. ^^
Chapter 55
As Alex, Max, and Mokuba got ready to face off against the hooded figure, Alex said,
"I just want to get one thing cleared up before we start. This will be a standard duel. No rush dueling or anything like that, right?"
Joey replied, "What's rush dueling?"
Kaiba looked annoyingly at Joey, as though silently telling him to shut up. Meanwhile, the hooded figure looked calmly at Alex and replied,
"Nothing like that. But any summoning method goes, alright?"
He looked at Mokuba as he replied, thinking that out of his opponents, Mokuba would be at the most disadvantage. Mokuba grinned and said,
"Bring it on."
The hooded figure nodded and then he went ahead to establish the rules of the duel. Alex, Max, and Mokuba listened carefully and weren't surprised by the rules, despite that they were quite different from the standard rules in other time periods.
Once the hooded figure was done explaining, he then said, "You do understand, right? I eliminate any one of you, and I automatically win. But if I'm eliminated, I lose."
Alex nodded and replied, "Of course. This puts us at a disadvantage, but we expected as much."
The hooded figure replied, "Excellent. Then let's get started."
He then summoned his first monster, which allowed him to special summon another monster. Then he used xyz summoning to bring forth an even more powerful monster. Finally, he set two cards face down on the field and ended his turn.
Now, it was Alex's turn, but before she did anything, Joey shouted, "Be careful, Alex! This guy used all kinds of dirty tricks-"
Joey was interrupted when lighting bolts struck him. Annoyed, the hooded figure said, "No helping my opponents."
Alex added, "We'll be fine."
She then drew a card, and then said,
"I bring forth his majesty, King Arthur, to the field."
As Alex did so, the monster known as King Arthur appeared, and the hooded figure commented,
"Interesting. So you use a knight deck."
Alex shrugged and replied, "Yeah, I suppose that's right."
However, before either could say anything else, Alex's monster suddenly spoke up,
"My lady, you called for me?"
Alex looked surprised that her monster could suddenly speak and simply nodding, she replied, "Yup, I did, but how can you talk?"
Alexa said, "That's one of the abilities of that bracelet you have."
Alex looked at her bracelet and simply shrugging, she replied, "Ok, I'll roll with it."
Yugi sweatdropped, observing Alex's behavior. Alex simply smiled and then said,
"I equip King Arthur with his sword, Excalibur, and then I set two cards face down on the field."
As she had everything set up, Alex continued, "I request my king to attack my opponent's monster."
King Arthur attacked the monster, but then the hooded figure said, "I knew you'd try that, so I activate my trap card, negate attack."
As he did so, though, Alex activated her counter trap that negated her opponent's trap, allowing her monster to attack the hooded figure's face down monster. Thus, Alex successfully destroyed the monster although the hooded figure's life points remained. Then, she set two more cards face down on the field and ended her turn.
Then it was back to the hooded figure's turn and he commented, "Not bad, but you're keeping your background very close to you, aren't you?"
Alex replied, "What do you mean?"
The figure replied, "You didn't use any special summonings."
Alex replied, "It wasn't necessary, but it's still early in the duel."
He replied, "It is."
He then summoned another monster and then attempted to attack Arthur. However, it was at that point that Alex activated her spell card, which allowed her to special summon Lancelot and Galahad to the field. With the three knights on the field, Alex was then able to summon the field spell Camelot, which boosted the attack and defense of all her monsters, thus destroying the hooded figure's monster. Annoyed, the figure set three cards face down on the field and ended his turn.
Then it was Max's turn. Alex was curious to see what he would do, considering that he told her and Mokuba how he had changed up his deck. Max then summoned a monster, which allowed him to special summon two more monsters. Then he link summoned to bring forth an even more powerful monster. He then set two cards face down although he didn't command his monster to attack. As Max finished his turn, Alex grinned and said,
"I totally love your world chalice deck, Max."
Max grinned and replied, "Thanks, and you're right. Link summoning is awesome."
Meanwhile, Kaiba grunted in annoyance, seeing how chummy Alex and Max were. The hooded figure simply smirked and said,
"Let's not keep everyone waiting, shall we?"
Max nodded and then said, "I end my turn."
The hooded figure looked confused as to why Max didn't order his monster to attack although he didn't comment on it. Instead, he made his move and then attempted to attack Max's monster. However, Alex then said,
"Negate."
The hooded figure's monster could no longer attack although Alex hadn't activated any trap cards. As the figure was about to comment on it, Alex said,
"Galahad has the ability to negate your monster's attacks."
Max gave a thumbs up and added, "Thanks, Alex."
Alex replied, "I have your back."
The hooded figure looked even more annoyed and replied, "Fine. I set three cards down and end my turn."
Alex then looked to Mokuba and said, "It's your turn."
Mokuba nodded and then said,
"Ok, it's time for my thunder dragons to make their debut!"
He then summoned his thunder dragon monsters to the field, discarding cards from his hand as necessary. After setting down two cards on the field, he then ordered his monsters to attack. However, the hooded figure was able to negate all the attacks. Fortunately, Mokuba's monsters survived. Mokuba sighed and after setting one card down on the field, he looked at Alex and Max and said,
"Sorry. I didn't know he was going to do that."
Alex smiled a bit and replied, "It's ok. We're still in this, and rely on us, ok?"
Mokuba nodded, feeling a bit cheered up. As the hooded figure was about to take his turn, he commented,
"You three are doing better than all the others I've dueled, but at best, we're at a stalemate."
Alex shrugged and replied, "For now."
The hooded figure then took his turn, deciding to step up his game. He summoned forth Neos, Jaden's monster, onto the field, and then ordered it to attack one of Mokuba's thunder dragons. However, Max activated a trap card that destroyed Neos. Max then commented,
"We figured you'd try to use the others' ace monsters at some point although we were hoping you'd be somewhat more honorable in this duel."
The hooded figure looked angry and replied, "Why, you little-"
Alex interrupted, "No matter. You do whatever you want, and we'll do the same. May I take my turn?"
The hooded figure nodded and then Alex summoned forth more of her knights, using xyz summoning and then synchro summoning. Then she ordered her knights to attack her opponents' monsters, finally dealing the first damage in the duel. Then she put forth a face down card and ended her turn.
The figure smiled and commented, "Finally, a challenge, but I suppose it doesn't hurt that I had no forewarning about the three of you."
Alex replied, "Because you had no idea what kind of decks we'd use?"
The figure nodded and replied, "Exactly. The others were predictable, so I knew how to tackle their decks, but you three are something else."
Max commented, "We make an awesome team."
Alex replied, "We are surprisingly doing alright."
Meanwhile, Joey looked both impressed and confused at the same time as he and the others watched the duel taking place. He looked at Yugi and asked,
"What's up with all this?"
Yugi replied, "It's a long story, Joey."
At the same time, Kaiba looked increasingly annoyed, and not escaping the hooded figure's notice, he looked at Kaiba and commented,
"Your jealousy is obvious."
Kaiba was about to make some scathing comment when Alex looked at him and simply shook her head. It was like she was telling him not to rise to the bait and to trust her. So Kaiba took a deep breath although that look of annoyance was still on his face.
The duel continued, with both sides sometimes able to prevent damage while other times, they would have their life points reduced. It was a very close duel, and the hooded figure had to admit to himself that he hadn't had such a challenge ever. He decided that he needed the element of surprise, so he said,
"Before we continue, I have a confession to make."
He looked directly at Alex as he said those words, and Alex replied, "What do you mean?"
The figure smirked and after snapping his fingers, his assistant appeared beside him. He then removed the hood from his head and looking at Alex, he said,
"Hello, sis. It's been a long time."