Ha ha ha... how many of you saw through that? Nah, the story doesn't end there. Here's the epilogue. ;)
You might (or might not) notice I posted this on a Tuesday. It's because I don't care. I have about two faithful readers right now, maybe three at best and I doubt I'll have anyone reading this except the friend I'm talking to before midnight hits anyway.
"Chapter 13: Dibs"
By: Agent Baron
Arriving back at Doma's headquarters, Lighty approached Dartz.
"I managed to get rid of the weird one with the mask," he said to him.
"Ah, yes… Baron Von Stupor," replied Dartz, pleased. "That's quite a feat. He even tied with the Pharaoh in the Battle City tournament sponsored by KaibaCorp."
"Yes, but he seemed to be weaker since then. He claimed that Baron Von Engar stole his deck."
"Our Engar stole Mr. Von Stupor's deck?"
"I don't know for sure. I didn't really care, as you can see. Regardless, I managed to gather one of the toughest duelists out there. For you, Master Dartz."
"I'm very appreciative of this, Lighty. You have done well. Now try to bring me the soul of the Pharaoh."
"Understood, Master."
OIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO
As Lighty walked out of the building and onto the helicopter pad, he was suddenly punched in the face by Baron Von Engar who had been lying in wait. Reeling, Lighty turned to face Engar.
"What the hell is that for?!" Lighty asked in complete shock.
"Stupor was mine!" Engar responded, and shoved Lighty again.
"Yours?! I do what Master Dartz tells me! He comes before you any day!"
"Stupor was mine!!!" Engar said again, attempting another punch. Lighty blocked it, ready this time.
Lighty shoved Engar backward some and put up his fists.
"You wanna fight, mask-boy? Come on, you're not so tough.!" Lighty taunted.
"Why did you take him down? He was mine! Mine!!!"
"He took my brother!"
"Your step-brother!"
"What the…?! Why the hell do you hate him so much?"
"Duel, now."
Engar readied his duel disk.
"What?!" Lighty was confused.
"I can't have Stupor, so I'll take you instead. Come on, I don't have all day."
Lighty stared at him angrily for a moment, then readied his duel disk.
"You're gonna be sorry, Engar. Real sorry," Lighty warned.
"You think so, huh?" Engar asked. "Let's see what my 'Seal of Orichalcos' has to say about that!"
"Already?!" Lighty sputtered as the seal lowered itself onto the battlefield.
"I summon the Great Angus and end my turn! Because of the attack boost, his attack points grow to 2300!"
The large red quadrupedal beast materialized in front of Engar, staring him down. Embers drooled from its mouth.
"Well, I'll play the 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards, and summon Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands!" Lighty responded, appearing unshaken. "It's effect allows me to bring a ritual magic or ritual monster card to my hand from my deck!"
"Stupid ritual monsters. They're all overused!" Engar ranted. "I summon 'The Thing in the Crater'! Next, I'll use the Great Angus to attack Manju!"
A hole appeared in front of Engar and embers floated about it as red light billowed out. Sinister sounds could be heard from inside. The Great Angus rushed at Manju, but was blocked by Lighty, bearing the Sakuretsu Armor. Lighty gave the monster a fierce punch in the snout and it exploded.
"You and that damn 'Sakuretsu Armor' card," Engar complained. "I'll use the thing in the crater to attack Manju!"
A spray of lava sprayed from the hole and sprinkled across Manju, melting it to pieces.
"Hah. You only reduced my Life Points by 100 points," Lighty said.
Ignoring him, Engar continued. "I'll play 'Premature Burial', sacrificing 800 Life Points to return my Great Angus to the field."
The Great Angus emerged from the ground, and growled menacingly at Lighty.
"You'd better be careful…" Lighty said to him. "If I destroy that equipped 'Premature Burial', your monster will go down with it."
"I know what my cards do, you ass!"
"Hah. I set one monster and end my turn."
"I'll summon Gaia Soul the Combustible Collective, and activate its special effect! I may sacrifice up to two pyro-type monsters on my side of the field to increase its attack by 1000 per monster for this turn! Sacrificing my Great Angus and thing in the crater, I can increase its attack to 4000, plus 500 more thanks to the bonus of the 'Seal of Orichalcos'!"
In front of Engar, an eyeball appeared, surrounded by a red cloud of very thick haze. Engar's two other monsters suddenly vanished and in beams of light, flew into the red haze. The red haze bubbled and pulsated, ebbing glows of light.
"Now I'll attack your face-down monster!" Engar proudly stated. "And as per the second part of its effect, it inflicts the difference as battle damage to your Life Points!"
The eyeball shakily hovered over to the face-down card and detonated, causing a massive explosion that shook the room. Lighty's set monster, Mudora, was splattered to pieces and Lighty's Life Points dropped to 5200.
"Unfortunately, Gaia Soul is destroyed at the end of my turn. A small price to pay, but you can't argue with results!" Engar finished.
"Speaking of your 'results'…" Lighty said with a grin. "I'll summon Kelbek, and attack your unguarded Life Points directly with Lightning Strike!"
In front of Lighty materialized a floating mechanical creature. It appeared to be slightly round and decorative, with two arms protruding from either side of it. On the front it bore a single eye which scanned the area prior to locking onto Engar. Generating a surge of electricity, it sent an arc of electricity straight through Engar, sending his Life Points to 5700.
"Hurr…" Engar grunted. "I'll summon another Great Angus and play 'Level Limit - Area B'! This takes all monsters level four or higher and forces them into defense position! They must stay this way as well, until the card leaves the field!"
"That affects your monsters, too!" Lighty mentioned as Engar merely chuckled in response. "You must know about Kelbek's effect, that any monster who attacks it is sent to the owner's hand afterward. Well, I'll set one M/T and end my turn."
"I draw, and I'll summon the Blazing Inpachi! That ends my turn."
In front of Engar rose a massive wood spirit, on fire.
"I'm sad to say that your little defensive façade is over with. I'll activate my 'Dust Tornado' card, which destroys one of your M/T cards and allows me to set my own! I will destroy your Level 'Limit – Area B' and shift my Kelbek back to attack mode! Next, I'll summon another Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands, which activates his effect! I'll bring another ritual magic or ritual monster card to my hand, heh heh…"
"Course, that doesn't matter since you've brought out two Manjus now. You have everything you need," Engar commented.
"Exactly. I'll play the ritual magic card, 'Shinato's Ark'! By sacrificing Manju and then another monster from my hand, I can ritual summon Shinato, King of a Higher Plane! Engar, I'm afraid this duel has hit its climax!" Shinato appeared before Lighty and emitted a massive display of light. "Shinato, attack Engar's Blazing Inpachi!"
Shinato raised a hand into the air as the Blazing Inpachi shot a fireball at him. Shinato swung his hand and swatted the fireball away. Shinato then pointed a finger at the Great Angus and shot a ray of light through it. The monster stopped dead in its tracks and dropped to the ground, disappearing.
"Don't forget that when Shinato destroys a defense position monster, you take the monster's original attack as damage to your Life Points!" Lighty informed him with a sinister grin as Engar's Life Points sank to 3850.
"That perk won't last long," Engar snapped back. "First I'll play 'Pot of Greed', to draw two more cards! Next, I'll play 'Snatch Steal' on your Shinato, bringing it under my control!"
"Gah!" Lighty cried in surprise as a thief appeared, waving candy at Shinato. The malevolent being, looking very excited, skipped to Engar's field and glared at Lighty while eating the candy.
"Next, my Shinato will attack your Kelbek! As per your monster's ability, Shinato is returned to its owner's hand… and I wonder how many of those ritual magic cards you have in your hand?"
Lighty looked very angry as Shinato shot its light through Lighty's Kelbek prior to shooting like a beam of light back into his hand.
"I'll activate my face-down card, 'Offerings to the Doomed'!" Lighty countered. "At the cost of skipping my next draw phase, I can destroy one monster, and I choose your Great Angus!"
Wrappings shot out from underground and ensnared the Great Angus. The great beast was slammed to the ground and disappeared.
Wide open again… damn it! Engar thought to himself as he set one more M/T and ended his turn.
"I'll set one monster and end my turn," Lighty said, a card appearing in front of him.
He's setting a monster while I'm wide open. It has to be a flip monster, but what? Engar thought to himself as he summoned another Blazing Inpachi. Setting another M/T card, he ended his turn.
"You never did elaborate what your fixation is on Stupor, anyway. Why were you after him so badly?" Lighty asked, setting an M/T card and ending his turn.
"That's none of your business," Engar said flatly, summoning a UFO Turtle and ending his turn.
"Come on, Engar. What's this grudge? I heard you stole his deck. That true?" Lighty set one M/T and ended his turn.
"Yeah, I took his deck. He didn't deserve to have something so precious… not after what he did. I'll play 'Heavy Storm' which destroys all of our M/T cards."
"So he did something to you… and your petty grudge involves you taking his deck. He couldn't have done anything that bad, if all you're doing is taking his deck. Then again, you do want his soul too, now… I'm really curious, especially since he doesn't even seem like that bad of a guy… I set one monster and end my turn."
"I told you it's none of your business! I set one M/T and summon the Solar Flare Dragon! As long as I control another pyro-type monster, this monster cannot be attacked! In addition to this, you take 500 damage at the end of every one of my turns as long as this monster's face-up on the field!"
A flaming serpentine dragon burst from the ground and snarled at Lighty.
"Now I order my UFO Turtle to attack your set monster that you just put down!" Engar announced.
Slots opened on the UFO turtle's shell and guided missles launched out of it, striking the Magician of Faith hiding underneath it.
"That monster had a flip effect that allows me to bring back a magic card from my graveyard! Can you guess which card that will be?" Lighty asked with a snide grin.
"Warg! Blazing Inpachi, attack the other set monster! You can't summon that thing if you don't have enough stars to bring it out!" Engar stated as the wooden monstrosity clubbed the set Shining Angel on Lighty's field.
"Now I can immediately special summon any monster from my deck with an attack of 1500 or less, and I'll choose Mudora!" Lighty laughed. "This monster's attack increases by 200 points for every fairy-type monster in my graveyard! That means his attack is currently at 2300!"
Engar ended his turn and the Solar Flare Dragon spat a fireball at Lighty, dropping his Life Points to 2400.
"Now I draw…" Lighty began. "…hah! I'll play the magic card 'Raigeki', to destroy all monsters on your side of the field!"
Lightning shot down from the sky and struck down all three of Engar's monsters, leaving him open for attack.
"Next I'll summon my monster, the Asura Priest, and I'll attack your Life Points directly! This should finish you off!"
"Not quite," Engar shot back. "I'll activate 'Negate Attack', to, uh… negate your attack, and end your Battle Phase!"
"That's fine… take your time."
"Well, I'll first play 'Swords of Revealing Light'! This will keep you from attacking me for three turns! Next, I'll set one M/T and end my turn."
Five bright swords of light shot down from the sky and bound Lighty within their border.
"In the meantime, I'll just build up my roster here… I summon the Hysteric Fairy!" Lighty declared.
"I was waiting for that!" said Engar, wagging his finger. "I'll activate the trap card 'Torrential Tribute'! When a monster is summoned, this card destroys all on the field! As you can see, I have none."
A fierce torrent of water came through the field and washed away all of Lighty's monsters, to his dismay.
"And now," Engar continued. "as I begin my turn, I'll summon one of my favorite monsters… the Ultimate Baseball Kid!"
A minor leager stepped over to Engar's field and gave a few practice swings. Lighty saw the flaming determination in his eyes.
"This lil' slugger can increase his attack by 1000 for every FIRE-type monster on the field other than himself! Next, I'll equip him with the 'Axe of Despair'!"
The bat disappeared from the baseball kid's hands and in its place, the axe sat, ready to inflict suffering.
"With my monster's attack now equal to 2000, I'll attack your Life Points directly, Lighty!"
A baseball came from nowhere, and the baseball kid smacked it hard. The axe of despair emitted sounds of people screaming and children crying as the baseball struck Lighty square in his chest, effectively smashing his Life Points down to a dwindling 400. He began to look distraught.
"I don't wanna lose like this… I won't lose like this! Not to you, or anybody! I avenged my brother… I'm supposed to live on! I will summon the Asura Priest, my spirit monster! Next, I'll play 'Creature Swap'! Since we both only have one monster, I'll get your Ultimate Baseball Kid, and you'll get my Asura Priest! Now, I'll end my turn without attacking, and as per my Asura Priest's special effect, it goes back to my hand!"
Engar, dumbfounded, watched as his monster leapt over to Lighty's field and stared him down with the same determination.
"Now any FIRE-type monsters you summon will only make the Ultimate Baseball Kid stronger!" Lighty said to him. "There's no way you can win!"
Engar simply stood silent and chuckled. "You really are a trip. What do you think this is, some kind of fairy tale?"
"Huh?"
"You think that just because you avenged your brother, fate dictates you'll just live on lonelier, yet happily? What about me? I'm avenging someone, too. But you took my vengeance away from me. Sounds to me like we have a conflict of interest here."
"You… really?"
"You don't always live on happily. That's not how life is. You win some, you lose some. Sometimes, the bad guy really does win. But do you think I'm the bad guy? I don't. Is Stupor? Probably not. Then why are two good guys fighting? If I'm a good guy like you, then what about me?! Where's my happy ending?!"
"I… I don't know."
"You're full of it, so self-righteous, just like Stupor and even that fool Dartz. You want to know something? I'm not in this for a new beginning. I'm in this for me. You want me to show you where your happy ending is? I'll show you! I summon a second Ultimate Baseball Kid!"
"You still can't catch up! Mine has the Axe of Despair!"
"Shut up! I'll play 'Mage Power', and equip it to my baseball kid! This card increases its attack by 500 for every M/T card on my side of the field, besting yours' attack by 2000 points!"
Lighty bore a terrified expression.
"Time to take your happy ending with a grain of salt, guy. Ultimate Baseball Kid, attack—"
"That's enough!!!" boomed a familiar voice as suddenly, the entire field shook and fizzled in and out.
Both duelists looked around and after a brief moment, there was a deafening explosion and both duelists were thrown to the ground. As the smoke cleared, in the center of the field stood Dartz.
"What do you two think you're doing?" he asked furiously.
"Stupor was mine, Dartz. He was my prey and this chump took that glory away from me! Now I want his soul instead!" Engar ranted to him.
"You are to collect the souls of strong duelists outside of Doma. I do not appreciate anyone using my orichalcos cards out of their intended context."
"I demand satisfaction!"
"You're not in any position to demand anything, Baron Von Engar. You work for me. Know your place or you will be the next one to be fed to Leviathan."
Engar and Dartz stared each other down for a few moments. Suddenly, he looked at a shaken Lighty and said to him, "We'll finish this another time."
Not enough Engar! You're welcome! :P 'Kay, see you Sunday.