Zypher: Hi all and welcome to another installment to Yami no Game. Happy as always that you enjoyed the last chapter is here's another one for you all.
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Yami no Game: Dark Saga
Chapter 10
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-2:30 AM-
Kaiba and Ruby were finally at the steps of the castle, Kaiba with a cool, determined look in his eyes as he ascended the stairs with Ruby trailing behind. At the doors leading inside, the two guards were talking with one another. "Hey, did you hear? They lost contact with the helicopter pilot..." One of the guards murmured to Saruwatari, the other guard. "What? Did they go and crash into the sea?" he questioned. "No...the radio never went dead. I hear it's still transmitting but no one's answering it."
"What the...? Wait! Now that you mention it, I thought I heard a chopper tonight. You don't think it's the same one do you?" Kaiba and Ruby finally made it to the castle door and they turned their attention to them and jumped.
"What the–?"
"It's you! K-Kai..."
Kaiba cut him off with a glare. "Get Pegasus! Tell him Seto Kaiba and Ruby Jewelstone are here to see him!" Kaiba demanded. The metal doors opened and Croquet walked out silently, a smile on his face. "Well, well, Mr. Kaiba and Mr. Jewelstone. This is truly a surprise. We weren't expecting you so late in the night..." he spoke. "Hmph...I'm so sorry your spies didn't kill us first." Kaiba mocked as he and Ruby followed behind Croquet into the courtyard of the castle. "This happens to be your second time on the island, isn't it? That's right, now I remember. You two were here for the party to celebrate the completion of the Card Battle Simulation box!" Croquet commented. "Alright, enough with the idle chit-chat. We both know you kidnapped Mokuba! Where is he?" Ruby demanded with a hiss, looking to Croquet. "What? Mokuba...? Oh, your little brother. "Kidnapped"? Now why on earth would we do that? I'm afraid we haven't seen him around." Croquet stated. "You're nothing but a waste of time!" Kaiba growled. "Let me talk to Pegasus!" Croquet took a glance at his watch and tsked disapprovingly. "I'm afraid that's impossible. It's three in the morning. Pegasus-sama is in bed..." He looked back to them with a small grin. "How about this? I'll get a room for you both. Tonight you can rest, and tomorrow you can..." He stopped when Kaiba took a fistful of his shirt. "I want to see him now!" Croquet chuckled lightly. "Heh...I understand, sir. Pegasus-sama is right behind the next gate. If you can open it." Kaiba released the man before they started making their way to the next gate. Kaiba took a glance down to the lock and growled. "What the...!" he hissed. 'A padlock with star shaped holes?'
"That's right, sir. The only way to open this gate is to put ten star chips in the mechanism. In other words, only the few chosen who survive the duels over the island are allowed to pass this gate." He turned to Ruby and Kaiba. "You two and I are no exception." Kaiba growled again and Croquet laughed, bowing to him. "Now, if you don't mind, there is a room for you two in the annex. Please step this way..." he spoke, walking off and without any other choice, they followed him.
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Jounouchi moaned pitifully as he was caught in the middle of a dream, or rather a nightmare...
-Dream/Nightmare-
It was dark and his deck was the only thing he could see through the darkness. "This is it! This is the time I'll draw the card I need!" he whispered to himself as he picked up the card and looked at it. He cursed when he saw it was another bad card. "Man...not another bad card..." A roar echoed in the distance and he looked up to the Blue-Eyes staring down at him menacingly. "I said you couldn't win, Jounouchi! It was fruitless to even try and now you will have to pay! After this, you'll probably be afraid to duel again!" Kaiba spoke as he ordered the Blue-Eyes to attack…
-End Dream/Nightmare-
Jounouchi gasped as he woke up from the nightmare, sitting up quickly as he tried to regain his breath. 'Just a dream...no...more like a nightmare. And he raves on how he likes me when he already torments me in my dreams.' he thought. 'Afraid to duel, puh...lowdown good for nothin' scumbag.' The blonde looked over to Yugi and Yami who were still sleeping peacefully. 'Why would I be scared? Yami's been fightin' one tough guy after another without flinchin' or breakin' a sweat. He duels because he has someone to protect and if he can do it...' Jounouchi thought as he stood. "Then I can too. I'm not gonna lose to anyone again!" he proclaimed with determination before looking to the others. "It's mornin'! Wake up, guys!" he called and everyone yawned as they started to wake.
-Duelist Kingdom Tournament Day 2, 9:30 AM-
"It's the last day of the tournament! Let's go win duels and get some star chips!" Jounouchi exclaimed. "Then we'll go to Pegasus Castle!" Honda groaned as he rubbed his eyes sleepily. "I'm still sleepy, though." he whined. They all stood and Ryou looked over to the castle. "I wonder if Kaiba and Ruby made it to the castle last night?" he pondered. "Knowing Kaiba, they probably did." Yami spoke. "Hey, everyone's up!" Myrrh said happily as she, Keara and Diamond walked over to the group. "Oh, morning Myrrh, Diamond." Yugi said before looking around. "Hey...where's Kujaku-san?" he asked. "She was gone when we woke up this morning. She left the tent and enough food for all of us though." Myrrh replied, holding the bag up. "She must've gone off on her own now." Yugi replied. "Oh, that's right." Diamond hummed, digging into her pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of paper. "She left this note for Yami. It's an I.O.U." she said, handing the note to him and he looked it over.
To Yami -
I owe you eight star chips.
- Mai
It ended with a lip print and he nodded before the note turned to ashes and blew away. They began to gather everything up, Aqua dispersing the sleeping bags then looked to the others. "Is everyone packed?" They all nodded. "Then let's go!" Jounouchi cheered. As they started the new day, it was Jounouchi with four star chips and Yami with six. They walked off and looked around. "I wonder how many duelists are left on the island." Yugi questioned. "Well, twelve were kicked off the first day..." Keara spoke. "And there must be a bunch who were kicked out by the player killers in the night." Yami hissed, eyes narrowed as he thought about the player killer of darkness.
'I'm glad I killed him. He only did so much to satisfy my hunger, though.'
"I bet that already half of the forty participants were disqualified by that alone." Yugi murmured. "Well, we still have a whole day left. The important thing is for you to be careful who you fight and get six more chips without getting taken out!" Honda said, looking to Jou. "But we can't take too long. It's all over when enough duelists collect 10 star chips before we do." Yami said. "We learned that only four people can reach the castle and if we want to be part of those four, we must hurry." Yugi nodded in agreement. "Yeah. The remaining duelists on the island are those who survive the first day. Those that survived have to be stronger!" Jounouchi flinched at the thought of stronger duelists and Honda caught sight of his flinch. "Hey, Yugi! Stop scaring poor Jou-kun!" Honda jeered playfully and he glared at him. "Who're you calling scared?!" he barked, stretching Honda's face. "Yu urr too skehd!" he mumbled. "Hey, stop fighting!" Diamond huffed, splitting up the two while Jounouchi looked on with confidence. "Hmph! No matter who stands in my way...no matter what enemy...I'll take them down." Aqua smiled. "That's the spirit, Jou-kun! We'll be here by your side to support you all the way." he replied, placing a hand on his shoulder as they continued to walk on, unaware of the two mysterious figures watching them. "How about them?" One questioned. "Let's get those guys!"
"Wait...look closer!" The other whispered, looking through a pair of binoculars. "Only two of them are duelists! And one of them is Yami!" The first gasped as he looked at him. "We better tell Keith-sama! We shouldn't do anything before we talk to him." He nodded before they both ran off to where Keith was. "...so I won the prize! And this is the card I used to do it!" Keith spoke, looking to a redhead wearing glasses who was in awe as he listened to the story. "Cool!" he exclaimed as he looked over the card. "Hey Keith-sama!" The smaller male called as he and the other ran over to where he sat. He turned to look at them and smirked. "Find any targets?" he demanded. "Yeah...two of 'em..."
"Um...but maybe we should leave 'em alone. We might not be able to beat them." The second nodded. "Yeah! One of 'em's that Yami kid!" Keith smirked. "Yami? Never heard of him..." he spoke. "He's the supposed demon kid who beat Kaiba! They say he's a sure thing to get through the tournament and get into the castle!" Keith's smirk widened. "Who says? They don't know what they're talking about. I don't give a fuck if it's Yomi or whoever..." He looked to his three lackeys. "The four of us are going to the castle! That's how it's gonna be!" he claimed. The kid nodded shakily. "Y-Yeah!"
"Yeah! That's right! That's what we're teamed up for!" The big, burly male spoke. "Man, we're so lucky we met you! A real Duel Monsters Pro! We'll storm the castle easily!" Keith chuckled to himself, adjusting his glasses. "Uh huh...You guys just keep taking my advice and you don't have anything to worry about." he said before removing his glasses and looking up to them again. "You just listen to Bandit Keith!"
"Yeah! America's No. 1 Prize hunter! We don't have anything to worry about! Bandit Keith is on our side!" They cheered. Keith took a glance towards the castle. 'Just you wait, Pegasus. You fucking sissy! I'll never forgive you for humiliating me on national TV! I'm gonna beat you if it's the last thing I do!' he thought as the ashes from the humiliation still burned brightly in his soul. He smirked as he placed his glasses back on. "I'll let these guys win my star chips for me and get to the castle without soiling my hands!'
"But what about that guy with him?"
"Oh, you mean that blonde kid? He looks like an amateur." Keith nodded as he stood. "All right! Then he'll be our target! We've got to lure him away from the others so they won't follow!" The kid and the two taller males looked to one another in thought before looking back to Keith. "That might be kinda hard. They're always in a group." The kid mentioned. "And I worry about that Yami kid really being...a demon. He will probably tear us apart if he finds out what we're doing." he whispered to the other two. "Damn, you're guys, what are you worried about? We've just gotta push him down the hole!"
"The hole?"
"Yeah! The entrance to the caves is under this island. There's a duel box hidden down there, like a hidden stage found in a video game. And I found the way in!" he said, his smirk widening. "A hidden stage?!" They all said in shock. "Yep. This island used to be occupied by the U.S. Military during the war. A lot of troops were buried here. You know all about the other terrains on the island. But what you don't know is there's a graveyard field!" he said. 'A graveyard field?!' They all thought in bewilderment. Keith then pointed to the skull-faced kid. "You! Your deck's made of zombies, right?" he asked. The kid nodded. "Um...yeah..." he replied softly. "Good! You'll play in the crypt!" The kid smirked as he pulled out his deck. "Leave it to me, Keith-sama! They don't call me "Ghost" Kozuka for nothing!" he replied. "Lemme see your cards just in case." Kozuka gave him his deck and he looked through before frowning in disappointment. "Damn...this deck won't cut it." he murmured and Kozuka was concerned by the comment. Keith stood with another smirk and opened his vest to reveal pockets teeming with various decks. "But don't worry! I'll loan you some of my cards and turn that puny deck into the ultimate zombie deck!" Keith quickly revamped Kozuka's deck and once he was satisfied with the results, he handed it back to him. "Play with these! You'll win for sure!" Kozuka eagerly took the new deck and looked through the cards he gotten. The burly male stood behind him, looking at the cards and grinning as he turned to look to Keith. "Man, you're ready for anything! You have all these pre-prepared decks just ready for use anywhere!"
"Yeah! It's totally because of your cards that we've been kicking so many butts lately! Of course, we technically are supposed to have only a 40-card deck..." Keith chuckled. "Who's counting?! Forget all about that rule! Besides, technically, I'm not really in this tournament but when I heard about it and the prize, how can I pass it up?" Keith spoke. 'It doesn't matter how I do it, of course if I can collect ten star chips and get to the castle, no one will complain about me not being an invited duelist! I'll beat Pegasus and gain that prize!'
"All right! Let's get moving! Kozuka, Sakate, Takaido! You know what to do!"
"Yeah!"
"O-Okay."
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Yugi and the gang looked around as they traversed through the forest more, seeing no sign of any other duelists. "Where are the other duelists?" Jounouchi questioned, looking around still. "Yeah, I'm curious about that. We haven't seen any for a while and there's sure to be duel boxes somewhere in this forest." Kozuka and Sakate watched from a nearby bush as they walked by. Jounouchi shifted a bit before stopping. "Time out, guys! I need to take a leak!" he mumbled before running off. The three hidden in the bush grinned. "Now's our chance!" Takaido whispered as they snuck off behind him. Yami snorted as he raised his head and Yugi looked at him. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Something doesn't feel right." Yugi took hold of Yami's hand in a comforting grip as they waited for Jounouchi to return. Jounouchi sighed in relief as he finished up his business, oblivious of the presence behind him. "Ah, much better..." he said, rinsing his hands in the nearby stream before he was to head back but gasped as someone grabbed hold of him. They covered his mouth, muffling his shouts as they carted him off. "We got him!" Kozuka cheered as Jounouchi struggled in his captors' grip as they dragged him towards the hole in the ground. They walked through the dark tunnel for a good while before seeing Keith ahead. "Keith-sama! We got him!" Kozuka called.
"Good! Throw him in the box!"
They dragged him in and while Kozuka took his seat, Sakate and Takaido shoved Jounouchi into the other seat. "We've been saving a seat for you!" Sakate said and Jounouchi continued to struggle to get free. "What the—! Who are you guys?!" he shouted. He finally stopped struggling enough to take a glance of his surroundings and a shiver ran up his spine before letting out a cry in terror. "Welcome to the crypt...my zombies will make this place your grave!" Kozuka whispered in a terrifying voice, shaking his resolve even more. "Let's duel!" he proclaimed, placing his deck onto the table
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Aqua's ears twitched slightly and he looked up. Yugi looked at him curiously and he shrugged his shoulders. "I thought I heard something." he whispered. "I wonder what could be taking him so long." Yugi murmured, looking at them. "Probably number "two" for all we know." Honda grunted and Myrrh slapped his shoulder. "Don't be gross, Honda!" They continued to stay there, hoping that Jounouchi would come back soon but to Yami and Aqua, the more they waited, the more they felt that something was terribly off with Jounouchi's absence.
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"Are you ready? My deck of zombies is waiting hungrily to pull the meat from your bones..." Kozuka whispered with a chuckle. After a few seconds of no response from Jou, Sakate slammed a hand upon the table, looking to the other angrily. "All right, that's enough with the introduction! Get out your cards! Time to play!" he said then took a closer look at him. Jounouchi was foaming at the mouth, eyes blank and he burst out laughing, shaking him. "Look at this, Keith-sama! This guy passed out on us!" he wheezed, still laughing. "Hmph...damn. I thought he'd be worth a fight since he's friends with this Yami character. Looks like he's a "cluck cluck" chicken..." Keith murmured, the side of his mouth twisted up in a faint grin. "What a wimp!" Kozuka commented as he pointed to the passed out teen, laughing along with Sakate. "That's enough! Wake him up!" Keith shouted and Sakate nodded as he muffled the last of his laughter and gripped the blonde's jacket "Hey you..." he started, raising a hand. "Don't waste our time!" he growled as he slapped Jounouchi hard across the face. Shocked out of his reverie, Jounouchi glared at the other from the corner of his eye.
"What the...?" He jumped out from the chair and grabbed hold of his shirt. "What do ya think you're doing?!" he hissed, fist raised up and ready to punch Sakate when he looked down to the ground and saw the many skulls that littered the floor and froze up again. "W-Where am I?" he whimpered, starting to shake in fear. "You're in the crypt! A hidden duel arena!" Kozuka spoke hauntingly. 'T-The crypt?!' His mind processed as he moved to sit back down in the chair facing Kozuka. "Yes...this cave is haunted by the spirits of soldiers killed in the pacific war. Ghosts...all around you! You can't hide from them!" he spoke. "Now! Let's start the game! Draw your cards!" Jounouchi shivered again as he dug through his pocket and pulled out his deck, quickly shuffling before placing his cards onto the table. 'I'm scared...omigosh...this is bad. I'm dead meat!' he thought as cold sweat dripped down his face. "We'll both bet all of our star chips. Put all the chips you got on the board!" Jounouchi took out the four he had from his glove as Kozuka did the same. 'If I lose these, I'm out...' Keith watched with a smirk, chuckling mentally. 'Looks like I've won another four star chips. By teaming up with these idiots and beating one duelist at a time, it'll be no time before I have enough to get into the castle!' His smirk widened. 'Good luck, drone...for each time you win, you're getting me closer to the castle!'
"After this, you'll probably be afraid to duel again!" Kaiba's voice rang and he growled. 'Shit! I gotta fight! If I run from this, I'll really be a loser and I hate provin' Kaiba right!' he thought. 'And not only that, I will never be able ta look Yami or Yugi, not even Aqua in the eye ever again for bein' such a coward!'
"Let's go!" Kozuka snickered as they both drew their cards. 'This field is 100 percent graveyard! Simply perfect for my zombie deck!' he thought. "Come on now! Bury this guy under the ground already!" Sakate called from beside him. "Don't worry, I will!" he whispered as Jounouchi took the first turn. 'Don't think about them, just play!' The blond drew his card before looking through his hand. "Alright. Here's my first card!" he called, placing Axe Raider onto the field.
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"I'm really worried now. Jounouchi's taking a long time." Myrrh hummed, looking to the group. "You said it. He would've been back by now." Keara added. "It's been at least twenty minutes since he left!" Ryou gasped, taking a glance at his watch. "Maybe he got lost?" Diamond questioned. "That can't be! He's the kind of guy who can tell which street he's on with his nose..." Honda griped, placing a hand to his chin in thought. "Are you trying to say he's a dog...? You know he would probably kill you for calling him that." Diamond pointed out, looking at him. "What I hope is that he didn't get himself into a duel without telling us. Who knows what will happen..." Yugi whispered. "Now that might be it! Ever since that duel with Kaiba last night, he's desperate enough to try and prove himself more than he did when he got here! I myself wouldn't put it past him to try and get some more star chips to show us up!" Honda tsked to himself. "Guy's got no self-esteem..." Yugi wrung his hands together and looked to Yami and Aqua. "We got to find him! We need to split up and look for him since he couldn't have gone that far." They nodded. "Aqua, Kaiser and I will search the skies to get a bird's eye view and see if we can spot him anywhere."
"Ryou, Diamond and I will check the duel boxes!" Honda announced. "So that leaves Keara, Myrrh and I to look through the forest!" Yugi replied and they all nodded in agreement before separating. "Jou-kun! Where are you?!" Yugi called as they walked through the forest.
"Jou-kun!"
"Hey Jounouchi! Come on out now!" Ryou, Diamond and Honda made it to a duel box and it was empty. "He's not here...let's look for the next one." Diamond murmured as they left to search for another duel box. Yami, Kaiser and Aqua looked down to the forest, their sharp eyes not spotting any familiar mops of blonde hair of Jounouchi. "Jou-kun! Where are you?"
"Come out, come out wherever you are!" Myrrh shouted before sighing. "He's not here either..." she said, looking at Yugi and Keara. 'Oh Jou-kun...where are you?' Yugi thought, worrying even more about him and his whereabouts.
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"Axe Raider, huh? Just a plain old common warrior card. Nothing for me to worry about..." Kozuka spoke as the axe wielding monster appeared on the field. 'With this field giving my zombie cards an extra power boost, they will tear him apart!' He drew his card before picking out Medusa's Ghost. "All right, I'll play this! Prepare for Medusa's Ghost!" Kozuka announced as he was about to play the monster onto the field. "Hold on." Keith called and Kozuka looked back at him. "Don't play that card! Play the one on the very left!" Kozuka was confused as he looked at the card. 'Zanki the Samurai? But this isn't a zombie card! It's nothing but a warrior card!'
"I put that card in your deck. Use it!" he growled and Kozuka looked back to him. "But...this card is weaker than Axe Raider! It'll get beaten easily!"
"Just do as I say and you can't go wrong!" Sakate nodded in agreement. "Yeah! Listen to Keith-sama!" he added. "We came this far because of his advice!" Jounouchi snorted as he looked at them. "Hey you! Fight me by yourself and stop asking your friends for help!" Jounouchi growled. Kozuka looked to Zanki once more before moving to place the card onto the field. 'I'll trust Keith-sama on this...'
"I play Zanki in attack mode! Attack!" The samurai charged in, katana raised and Axe Raider too jumped into battle. "Axe Raider strikes with Shippu-Giru (Gale Cut)!" Axe Raider gave a shout as he attacked, slicing the monster in half and decreasing Kozuka's life points down to 1800. "Yes! I did it!" Jounouchi cheered and Kozuka growled. "What's the matter, uncle creepy? Yer side's empty! Play yer next card!" Kozuka drew his card before picking out one of his zombie monsters. 'What was that all about? This time I'll play a zombie monster...' he thought, ready to place one onto the field with Keith called out again. "No, no! The second from the left."
'What? Crawling Dragon?! This isn't a zombie either! Once it's on the field, it will get destroyed!'
"Don't worry! I have the perfect strategy for you to win. Just trust my awesome intellect! I'm the original undefeatable duelist!" Keith spoke. "Got it..." Kozuka mumbled as he placed the earthbound dragon onto the field in defense position. "And I'll...chop it up!" Jounouchi cheered as Axe Raider went to attack, sticking the blade right into the top of the dragon's skull, killing it and it faded from the field in a cloud of smoke. "This is a piece of cake!" Jounouchi said happily as Kozuka again drew his card and Keith told him once again to play a non-zombie monster. "I'll play this! Crass Clown!" The clown appeared with a laugh and Jounouchi huffed as he drew his card. "Go back to the circus, carny! I play the Flame Swordsman!" The warrior appeared onto the field and Jounouchi grinned. "Toki Enzan Ken! Destroy that clown!" With a fiery slash, the monster was defeated and Kozuka's life points decreased down to 1350. "I can do this! I can win!" Jounouchi cheered again. 'Lookin' back, I've always turned to Yami for help...I wasn't confident ta rely on my own instincts. But not this time! This time, I'll win on my own! I'll overcome my weakness!'
"Hey, you three! After I beat yer friend, why don't ya all fight me?!" Jounouchi taunted and Keith chuckled as Kozuka was drawing his next card. "Yeah, why don't we?" Keith taunted back and Jounouchi was starting to worry at his tone of voice. Kozuka looked at the card he drew and gasped. "Now I get it! Keith-sama was waiting for me to draw this card!" he spoke happily. 'Wow...he really is a genius at strategies!'
"Now, play your key card!" Keith called. "'Key card'?" Jounouchi repeated, dread starting to show on his face. "Get ready to lose! It's all over with this card!" he spoke. "The rare magic card, Call of the Haunted!"
'Call of the Haunted?! What the hell does that do? Already sounds bad.' Keith chuckled quietly to himself. 'Using cards that are already undead doesn't give you the most out of the graveyard. There's a better way...a way like this!' Nothing happened and Jounouchi continued to watch the board with anticipation. Then, something finally occurred. The ground rumbled a bit before a nearly decomposed claw appeared from the ground. 'W-What...?! Something's crawlin' from the ground...' More appeared until Jounouchi realized exactly what they were.
"Oh no!"
"Oh yes! Call of the Haunted brings back all my monsters back as immortal zombies!" Kozuka explained gleefully. "Not only that, since they're on a graveyard field, they gain the field power bonus from it!" he continued as Dragon Zombie's attack rose to 2080, Clown Zombie to 1755 and Armored Zombie to 1950. "Go Dragon Zombie! Kill Axe Raider!" With a decrepit roar, Dragon Zombie advanced onto the warrior. "Attack that thing, Axe Raider!" Jounouchi called out desperately. Axe Raider slashed at the side of Dragon Zombie's face, leaving a clean gash but as fast as he made the attack, the wound sealed up and Dragon Zombie was back to the way it was. 'No! That was a clean hit and the wound healed up!' Kozuka laughed as he watched the monster attack with futile results. "You can't hurt the undead with your weapons! No matter what you do, they'll always come back ready for more!" he explained. "Now prepare to die! Dragon Zombie, attack with Deadly Zombie Breath!" With a groan, the zombie dragon released a noxious breath that engulfed Axe Raider and destroyed him easily. Jounouchi let out a wince as his life points decreased to 1620. "How do you like that? All my monsters that you destroyed are back from the dead and it's all thanks to Call of the Haunted! You can't beat them! Nothing can destroy them! This is my Army of Darkness!" Kozuka praised with glee. 'Great! How can I kill somethin' that's already dead?!' he thought as he tried to think up a strategy. "C'mon, c'mon! It's your turn! Unless you're scared? Just don't start foaming at the mouth again!"
"What! What do ya mean scared?!" Jounouchi demanded as he looked at them. "I'm a real duelist and a real duelist doesn't run from dumb zombies! I'll make ya foam at the mouth!" Jounouchi hissed as he drew his card before placing one onto the field. "Go Garoozis the Beast-Warrior! Get that clown!" he called as the lizard like warrior appeared onto the field. Kozuka only gave a mild chuckle as the monster attacked. "Insta-kill, Five Point Slash!" The monster slashed his axe into a five pointed star motion, causing Clown Zombie to fall to pieces and Jounouchi grinned happily at his victory. But it was short lived as Kozuka snickered. "Didn't I tell you? This card is active as long as it's on the board! Rise from your grave, Clown Zombie!" The zombie again rose from the ground, reassembling itself once it was out from the ground. 'It came back ta life again!' Jounouchi panicked. "Not only that but every time one of my undead is resurrected, its attack power goes up by 10 percent." he explained as Clown Zombie's attack rose from 1755 to 1890, just enough to destroy Garoozis. "Attack clown! Knife Toss! Acrobatics of Hell!" Kozuka commanded and with decrepit laughter, the clown brought out five knives and threw them at Garoozis. He roared in pain as the knives punctured through his armor, killing him. Jounouchi gasped as his life points decreased down to 1530. 'Even if I beat 'em, they will always come back and stronger than before! How can I fight these guys?! With this strategy, is there no way for me ta win?' he wondered. "Now do you see?" Kozuka questioned with another laugh. "You can't win!" Jounouchi flinched at the words and looked down to his star chips apprehensively. 'If I lose these star chips, I'm good as done. Am I gonna lose everythin' here...?' he thought then the mocking voice of Kaiba replayed in his mind.
"After this, you'll probably be afraid to duel again!"
Those words continued to echo and he growled. '...No, I can't give up now! And I can't lose!' He drew his card, more determined than before. 'I'll believe in myself and I'll win! If I don't, I'll never be able ta show my face to Yami or Yugi again. Especially for everythin' they taught me to prepare for this tournament!'
"I'll stake my life on this card!" he spoke as he glanced upon the card and grinned. 'I can do it!' He then looked to the board. 'I can't fight these zombies with Flame Swordsman...but I might be able to throw them into a time warp using Time Wizard's magic!'
"Here I go! I summon Time Wizard to the field!" he called, placing the clockwork wizard onto the field. 'Shit! Not that card! I didn't expect him to have it...if he uses the Time Magic, there's a chance the zombies will be killed!' Keith thought. "Now go! Time Roulette!" Time Wizard lifted up the staff and the spinner started its course. 'Don't let me down, Time Wizard!' he thought as he watched the roulette go. All of them watched with bated breath at the outcome and soon, the spinner started to slow. It ticked on the win spot but a horrid twist of fate had it tick once more, landing on the skull. "Did I just lose?!" Jounouchi exclaimed in horror. 'What does that mean?!' A black void started appearing over Jounouchi's monsters and both of them started to be pulled into the vortex. "The magic failed! That means it self-destructs! Both the Time Wizard and Flame Swordsman are sucked away into the vortex to be lost in time!" Keith explained. "No, don't go! Come back!" Jounouchi cried, watching as his monsters were taken away and the vortex sealed up.
'And with that, half of my monsters' attack points are subtracted from my life points...' he thought as his life point count went to 630. Kozuka laughed out loud as he watched the spectacle. "That's awesome! He killed himself! And my zombies are unharmed!" he jeered while Jounouchi sighed. "All right! Time for you to play another monster. Even if it's just another sacrifice to my zombies!" Jounouchi looked at his hand, none of the monsters there a match for Kozuka's zombies. 'What now? What can I do?' he thought as he played his monster. "I play Demon Hunter Kojikocy in defense!" he spoke. "Kill him, Dragon Zom–" Kozuka started but Keith called out to him. "Wait! It's in defense mode. Jounouchi won't get hurt if you beat it. Now's your chance to draw a new card and beef up our zombie army even more!" Keith explained and Jounouchi snarled angrily as he pointed to him. "Hey you! Kibitzer! Mr. "I know everythin' 'bout Duel Monsters"! Who are ya anyway?!" he demanded. "Who, me? My name's Keith...Bandit Keith! I don't expect people to know me in Japan, but in the U.S., I'm a top-ranked prize hunter!" he explained. 'Bandit Keith? I heard that name somewhere before...! No way!' he thought before realizing exactly who he was. "You're the prize hunter who fought Pegasus! Ruby told me all about you!" Jounouchi declared in horror. 'They call him a "Card Professor"! Pegasus was the only person ever to beat him as Ruby told us! If he's helpin' out these guys...then I never had a chance to beat him in the first place!'
"Just give up! It's tough luck you had to play us! I'm teaching these guys the perfect strategies for their duels. You don't have a prayer to save you in this battle." Keith spoke. "Yeah! And after you lose, tell your pal, Yami that we are the ones going to the castle!" Sakate affirmed, laughing along with Takaido. "And lemme tell you this, after I beat someone, they'll never play Duel Monsters—or any card game—ever again! You know why? Because I beat them so bad, the mere sight of a card will bring back the horrible flashbacks that crippled them to the point where they break down in tears!" Keith remarked, laughing. "Me too! I'll make you say "Farewell" to your cards forever!" Kozuka added. "Now! Play the Ghost King, Kozuka!" Keith called. "On it! Meet the Ghost King, the monster that is another stepping stone towards your demise!" The ghoulish boy placed the monster onto the field and with another decrepit groan, a shadow of the monster started to rise behind the three zombified creatures. 'What the...! What is that?!' Jounouchi thought as the monster appeared fully. "Pumpking! The King of Ghosts! Lord of the Undead! His body is nothing but a giant sac of ectoplasm, the fuel of evil spirits! Every turn, he'll feed them energy, raising their attack by ten percent!"
'E-Every turn...!' The monster gave another groan as three of its vines dug into the backs of the zombies. "Now, give them your power!" The monster did as commanded, pumping the ectoplasm into the zombies, causing them to grow as their attack rose. "Attack, Dragon Zombie! Deadly Zombie Breath!" The zombified dragon roared as he again unleashed the toxic breath, more powerful compared to before with its attack at 2240. "No way! I play another card in defense!" Jounouchi called as he placed the monster onto the field, knowing that there isn't a thing he can do now. "It's my turn again and that means...the zombie's attack power goes up again!" Kozuka said as they grew again and Dragon Zombie's attack reached 2400. "Deadly Zombie Breath!" Again, the toxin breath hit Jou's Armored Lizard, destroying it with ease. "Wow, Keith-sama...your strategy was perfect! Turning my monsters into zombies using Call of the Haunted...and using Pumpking to raise their attack power infinitely! There's no way how this punk can beat me now!" Kozuka claimed. Jounouchi growled as he placed another card onto the field. "I play Glassman in defense!"
"No, it's not perfect just yet. The combo won't be complete until you draw the Stop Defense card from the deck! Then it'll be all over!" Again, with another attack from the extremely powerful Dragon Zombie, his monster faded from the field. 'It's hopeless now...there's no way how I can win!' he thought, looking down in defeat. 'Yugi...Yami...I need yer help if I'm to make it through this somehow...' Like a pulse, Yugi gasped as if he heard the blonde's thoughts and looked around. 'Jou-kun! Where are you?!' From above, Yami snarled as he too felt the pang of defeat from Jounouchi and waved to Aqua and Kaiser before descending down to where Yugi, Keara and Myrrh stood. They landed and soon Ryou, Diamond and Honda showed up. "We can't find him anywhere." Yugi uttered then looked towards Yami. "Is there anything else you can do?" he asked hopefully. Yami thought for a second before nodding. "There is one." he murmured as he closed his eyes, concentrating. The puzzle glowed faintly as a faint image started to appear in the mind's eye. 'A cave...' he thought, the first thing he started to see and concentrated harder to pinpoint Jounouchi's location. Soon, he was able to spot the duel box that he was in and opened his eyes. "I found him!" he gasped and Yugi smiled happily. "Oh, Yami! Thank you!" The demon smiled at him, nodding before weaving his magic to create a shadow bird and using what he gained from the puzzle, the bird flew off, leading the way. "Come on! It will lead us to him!" he relayed and they all pursued the bird. 'Don't give up, Jounouchi! There's always a way to win...no matter how bad it looks!'
"No matter how bad!" The thought echoed and Jounouchi's eyes widened. 'Yami! He must've sensed I was in trouble!' he thought then smiled. 'I'm glad ta have a demon on my side. And with his reassurance, I'll find a way to win!' They continued to follow the bird, getting closer and closer to the cavern. "How did you figure out where he was?" Honda questioned. "A vision flashed in my mind's eye and showed me that Jounouchi is somewhere underground." Yami replied as the bird came upon an opening leading underground. "And there's our entrance..." he finished as the bird flew inside and they followed behind it. 'We're coming, Jounouchi! Just hold on!'
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"Deadly Zombie Breath!" Glassman was easily destroyed like all of his monsters beforehand. 'This can't be the end? There's gotta be some way I can win! But how?!' he thought as he placed Tiger Axe into defense mode. "Heh...it looks bad for you, doesn't it? Every turn you defend, my zombies get stronger and stronger! And eventually you will run out of cards and lose the duel that way!" Kozuka spoke. "You lose! Just give up to save you the trouble!" he finished. 'He's right...I'm just drawing out the duel. I may not remember half the cards in my deck but I do know the monsters in my hands aren't strong enough to take down those zombies. His monsters get stronger each turn and I don't have any choice but to keep defending!'
'How long can you delay the end, kid?' Keith thought. 'I put Stop Defense in Kozuka's deck. Once he draws that, the ultimate combo will be complete and you'll lose!' Kozuka laughed as he drew a new card and laughed even more. "Finally! I drew Stop Defense!" he declared happily. 'Oh no! Not that card!' Jounouchi thought, any chance of winning now out of his mind. 'We won...' Keith thought, a smirk once again on his face. "I'm playing Stop Defense face down on the board. When you call out defense, I'll flip it up and activate it, preventing you from hiding behind defense mode anymore!" he whispered, placing the card onto the field. "And now for my attack! But first, Pumpking, give them more ectoplasm and make them even stronger!" Kozuka called and again, the zombies grew as more ectoplasm was given to them, Clown Zombie's attack rising to 2565, Armored Zombie at 2700 and Dragon Zombie, as the strongest zombie on the field, with 2880. "Yes! Go Dragon Zombie! Nothing can destroy you! Do what zombies do best - break through their pathetic defenses! Deadly Zombie Breath!" With another toxic breath assault, Tiger Axe was defeated. "It's over, Jounuchi, or however you pronounce it! The trap card is waiting for you! The game's over the moment you say defense!"
"Yeah! What he said! Now hurry up and draw...and end your suffering! This is it!" Kozuka cackled, chuckling as the moment to his victory came closer.
'What can I do? Yami...yer advice is so needed right now...'
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"Jou-kun! Where are you?!" Diamond called as they continued to run, the bird still flying about but with all the tunnels in the cave, it was hard for it to figure where the pinpointed location was. "This cave is like a maze! The path forks off again!" Honda hissed angrily as they stopped and looked to the two paths. 'We have to find him! He has to be here somewhere but where is the problem!' he thought. Ryou examined a path. "It's a dead end over here!" Myrrh walked a slight way before her foot kicked at a skull buried in the ground. She looked down to see what she hit and screamed. "S-Skulls! And they look real! W-Where are we?!"
"I don't know but I know one thing, the stench of corpses is really messing with our sense of smell. That's why I can't find a trace of Jounouchi's scent in this cave." Aqua muttered. "Crud! There's no way Jounouchi's ok if he's dueling in a place like this! He's probably fighting some cannibal caveman or something!" Honda wailed as he looked around for any sign of where they should go. Yami snorted angrily, sniffing the air again despite what Aqua stated, knowing that Yugi wanted to know that his friend was safe and he wasn't going to let him worry anymore. 'Don't give up, Jounouchi! If you rid yourself of doubt, a light will shine into the cave of your heart! Remember the promise we made!' Back with Jounouchi, a memory flashed back into his mind.
"Let's go to the kingdom as duelists! To save Yugi's jii-chan and your sister!" Yami told him and he nodded.
With that, Jounouchi's will to fight burned brightly once again. "Yami's right! I won't give up! Not as long as I can lift these cards..." The blonde looked to Kozuka who was waiting for his next and supposedly final move. "I have something to protect that's important to me and no skull-face little creep is going to ruin that!" he spoke out with more certainty as he drew his card and looked at it. "Sweet! I drew my Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" Jounouchi cried with a grin and Keith was surprised to hear that. 'What...! The fucking Red-Eyes! Where'd this kid get such a rare card?!' he thought. "Heh...now that I've come this far, I can't run away just because of this duel...if I can't use my cards ta defend, I'll go out in a blaze of glory!" he called, placing the card onto the field and the black dragon materialized, a deafening roar echoing through the field. "Go, Red-Eyes! Destroy the Pumpking with Black Fire Bullet!" A red and black fireball gathered in the dragon's jaws before letting it fly towards the ghost king and in a blaze of fire, Pumpking went up in smoke, causing Kozuka's life points to decrease to 900. He gasped mentally as he watched his monster get destroyed. 'He got Pumpking...and since it was already undead, he can't come back by the effect of Call of the Haunted!' Jounouchi grinned as the smoke disappeared from the field. "Yes! Now yer zombies can't get any bigger and tougher! The attack point express stops here!" he said. "Feh, you idiot...they're already powerful enough to kill you, though! My turn!" he said, drawing his card. "Dragon Zombie, counterattack! Destroy the Black Dragon!" Kozuka ordered as the smog of toxic breath gathered in the rotten jaws of the monster before letting the attack loose. The Red-Eyes roared in defeat, melted away by the toxic blast.
'They got my best card! I'm done for now!' he thought, his life points decreasing to a mere 150. "It's over, Jounouchi!" Keith jeered with a laugh. 'What can I do? I only have three cards in my hand. Out of all of them, only one is a monster and a weak one at that. Even if I play all my cards onto Ultimator, he still can't beat those zombies...and I can't play him into defense or I'll trigger that trap card...is this finally the end?'
"C'mon! Like they said in the wild west—draw! Play a card and die, loser!" A spark of anger shown in Jounouchi's eyes at the word. 'Did he say 'loser'?' he growled as his anger flared. 'Don't call me that...I'm not...I'm not a loser!' He picked up the next card and saw it was Shield and Sword. 'What the...? A magic card that switches the attack and defense points of all the monsters on the board...?' Jounouchi then got an idea. 'Wait a sec...his monsters all have high attack points but maybe, just maybe. I'll have to try it! It's my last gamble!'
"Here I go! I play this card in attack mode!" The blonde announced as he played Kung Fu Fighter Ultimator (Battle Warrior if I'm right of the card name from the show). "And for my big finale...I use this magic card, Shield and Sword! I reverse every card's attack and defense!" he finished as he placed the card onto the field and Keith gasped. 'What! Shield and Sword?!'
"Eh?" Kozuka looked at his monsters and realized they looked like they were becoming weaker even with their hulking forms of rotting flesh from their increased attack points. 'Oh no! What happened to their attack points?!' he thought as he noticed their attack was 0 while their defense was their previous attack points. 'The undead can't be killed off by a head on attack...but they don't have brains! They never bother to protect themselves so they can only attack by instinct! In other words, their defense points are zero! Since that punk switched the defense and offense using that card...their attack is zero!' Keith thought. Kozuka gulped in fear as he realized what was going to happen. 'And they're all still in attack mode...!'
"It's not just your monsters that are affected by mine as well." Jounouchi commented as Ultimator's attack switched from 700 to 1000. "Go back to the movies, ya zombie freak!" he called. "Go Ultimator! Attack the Dragon Zombie with Ultimate Screw Knuckle!" The monster charged in for battle and Dragon Zombie roared as it rose up on its haunches, ready to attack as well but with no attack points, it couldn't do a thing. With a mighty blow, Ultimator punched the monster square in the jaw, crushing its jaw and skull with the mighty blow. "Kozuka, you fucking moron! You lost!" Keith hissed angrily. Kozuka looked defeated, slumping down in his seat as his monsters disappeared from the board as his life points hit zero. 'Did I just win after everythin' I went through...?' After scouring more tunnels, Yugi spotted a duel box and pointed towards it. "Hey! There's a duel box over there!" he called as they all made their way towards it and were glad to see Jounouchi inside that very duel box. "Jou-kun!" Myrrh called. "He's looks spaced out...does that mean he lost to whoever he went against?" Honda questioned. Aqua ran over to the box and looked at him. "Jou-kun! Jounouchi! What happened?!" Jounouchi let out a soft breath before looking at him. "What the...? Ya guys made it!" He took another breath before speaking again. "Aqua...I...I won on my own! It was luck again but..." Aqua cut him off, smiling. "That doesn't matter, you did it!" he spoke, giving a thumbs up joyfully. Jounouchi grinned, returning the gesture as he collected his star chips and left out the duel box, now having eight.
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Zypher: And that's it for this chapter. Sorry for the extremely long wait but I did have a cold for a few days this week so that hindered my progress with getting this chapter out on the day I wanted to have it up but here it is and I hoped you all enjoyed it. Now time for another page from the Big Book of Duel Monsters. Enjoy.
(And since I'm gonna bet you will be wondering who they were as you read the chapter, Sakate is Zygore's Japanese name and Takaido is Sid's Japanese name)
-Shadow Realm: Jounouchi's Deck-
"Ugh! I think I'll never stop smelling like rotten flesh for a while." Ohtar groaned as he and Garoozis started making their way to the bath house. The duel with zombies left a crawling feeling up their skin and they wanted to get rid of it quickly. "And you think I had it easy. The next time I see a clown, I'll rid of it as fast as possible." Garoozis spoke. "I wonder how long it will be before Fier and Kuruvar get back. Heard the Time Magic failed so they're floating through a vortex of time now." Ohtar hummed as they made it to the bath house and started to part ways to head into separate changing rooms to change into some shorts to wear into the spring. "Yep. I heard the same thing. This is the first time Kuruvar's Time Magic failed to help Katsuya-sama." Garoozis murmured as they came out with towels wrapped around their waists. They headed over to the hot spring that was already occupied with a few of the other monsters from the recent duel with the same thought in mind. They stepped into the warm waters after discarding their towels. "But even if he failed, at least Katsuya-sama was able to come back. Hopefully, he learned a good lesson that even weaker monsters can help out when they're needed. Not only us strong ones." he finished and Ohtar nodded in agreement. "I wonder how Akai is doing. That powerful excuse for a zombie must've done some major damage to her for her second fight." Garoozis pondered, soon hearing the beating of mighty wings as Akai landed on the stone outcropping around the spring. /"Nope, I'm perfectly fine. At the moment, I feel like I want to shed my scales just to get rid of the icky feeling of being attacked by zombie breath."/ Garoozis shuddered as well. "Join the club. I feel the same way after having knives thrown by a zombie clown. We all do in here but a soothing dip in the spring works better for me." Akai chuckled before getting a thought and entered the pool as well, resting at the end by the outcropping, sighing. /"You're right, this is better."/ Akai purred, closing her eyes.
The two warriors chuckled before moving to sit on both sides of the dragon. "So, how are you enjoying the deck so far?" Ohtar asked. /"I love it here. There are so many things I could do here compared to Ryuzaki's deck and Laito hasn't wasted time showing me some of the things he loves to do."/ Akai replied. "Hopefully, that doesn't include messing with Giltia." Garoozis spoke with a laugh. Akai laughed as well. /"Yes, he says that was his favorite pastime."/ she told them and they laughed again. "Man, if Giltia hears that, he will try to hide somewhere so Laito won't be able to find him. Of course, I'm sure that little bundle of energy will find him no matter what he does." They laughed some more before a portal opened up in the air and Kuruvar along with Fier fell into the spring with a yelp. Akai moved her tail, helping the wizard and warrior from the water and Fier coughed a little water, hanging onto Akai's tail. "Kuruvar, you never told me those portals will open up in random places in the Realm." Fier mumbled with a pout. "Be happy we ended up back here. We could've easily ended up in any other deck or some random place in the Realm. We would've had to trek all the way back here." Kuruvar spoke as he floated over to the edge of the spring and stood there. "I do feel bad that I failed in my roulette. Jounouchi-sama looked like he could've used my help with the way those zombies looked."
"Don't mourn about that. Katsuya-sama was still able to win." Ohtar replied. Kuruvar let out a small sigh. "That's good to hear." Kuruvar whispered. Fier climbed out from the spring and looked down to his soaked clothing. "I'm gonna head back inside and change. I guess I'll see you all later." They nodded before the fire warrior left, trailing water behind him. "I'm going to head back to my room myself. Goodbye for now." Kuruvar spoke as he too left. After they were gone, the two warriors and dragon talked with one another for a little while longer, the duel long forgotten.
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Zypher: Ok, this felt like it was short but now I'm starting to fall asleep in my chair now so I did the best I could think of with half my mind shutting down on me. Hope you like and I'll get started on the next chapter soon enough. See you soon.
Kuruvar - Elven for Wizard (there were about three more translations for it as well but I went with the best one since I just now realized I forgot to give Time Wizard a name.