We've taken the first step into Xanadu, and so far, we haven't seen much.
Daala hasn't led us right into a trap. She hasn't deposited us in a hazardous location or a nest full of monsters. And she hasn't greeted us with a squad of soldiers sent to capture us.
She has, however, apparently sent a challenge, and she expects me to accept it. Well fine… This is what I do best.
I just hope I'm not in over my head…
I have a feeling that in this video game, the opportunities for save points are few and far between.
Ready… DUEL.
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CHAPTER TWO
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Standing at a Crossroads
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For a minute or two, Yumi and her four friends were falling through a void…
Then, they were unceremoniously dropped on a grassy surface.
They quickly got up, and looked around.
They were surrounded by a system of pathways around grassy knolls. Around them were ruins made of marble… ancient temples and statues, most of them depicting women, all crumbling and broken into pieces.
"Ah," said Erik, looking at himself. "Two arms, two legs, ten fingers… I think everything's here…"
"Whoa," said Ren, looking around. "Kinda… Greco-Roman…"
They looked up at the sky, which was blue with thick, puffy clouds.
Yumi looked at her Disk.
"Everyone," she said, "double-check your decks. Make sure your cards are all there."
Everyone took their decks and started to go over the cards.
"And keep alert!" she warned. "If there's one thing I know about video games, it's that enemies lurk everywhere."
She was only partially right. Only two enemies were watching right now, on the top of one of the ruined temples.
One of them was a rotund man with hair that was bright green, worn in a humorous style. He was dressed in an orange and black harlequin outfit.
The other was a young woman with richly tanned skin, and long, dark, straight hair. She was dressed only in a leather bikini top and loincloth, with bare feet, and carried a leather pouch around her hip. Her face was decorated with red and black paints.
Both of them wore Duel Disks on their arms.
"So that's the famous Queen of Games, huh?" said the harlequin. "Eh… She looks like no more than a hundred and twenty pounds soaking wet."
"You think the talk about her is exaggerated?" asked the woman. "Why don't you go down and deal with her?"
"ME?" said the clown, clearly offended. "Why not you?"
"Because, Eddie," she replied. "I have a Lord, and you don't. And since they don't either, me dueling them right now would be a colossal waste of my time."
"Now look here, Tara!" snarled the clown. "I've taken down as many members of the resistance as you have. Just because you got lucky and managed to take down an important one, and got a Lord because of it, doesn't make you better than me!"
"Care to put that theory to test?" asked Tara, lifting her Disk.
Eddie sighed.
"I'll go deal with her…" he muttered.
He looked to his sides.
"Stuck-up snob…" he muttered. "Okay… How do I get down from here?"
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
In the real world, back at Kaibaland, Sheena was sobbing softly.
She had likely sent five innocent children, one of them her own daughter, to their dooms. But their decisions couldn't be swayed.
She would have gone herself if Daala had allowed it. She could still duel. She was no slouch.
Suddenly, an "ahem" roused her from her crying.
She looked up, and saw two other teenagers: Nicholas, and his surrogate sister, Olga. She knew both of them… And she remembered how they once worked for Rasputin. She didn't know how much she could trust them.
"How long were you two there?" she asked.
"Too long," sighed Olga.
"How much did you see?" she asked.
"Too much," sighed Olga.
"Who let you in here?" asked Sheena.
"Two guys," said Nicholas. "Where's Yumi?"
"Xanadu," said Sheena. "Likely fighting for her life…"
"Then send us there too!" he shouted. "We aren't going to let them…"
"Out of the question!" interrupted Sheena. "Daala said only them. No-one else. If you try to go there, there's no telling what she'll do."
"There must be something we can do," said Olga.
Sheena looked at them.
She thought for a minute. She was in for a hard task trying to regain control of her computers. She could always use two duelists who were Duelatopia finalists…
Not to mention ones who would be willing to work completely off the record…
"If you two are willing to do everything I say," she said, "you can help.
"But keep this in mind… If you two are captured or killed, or arrested, for that matter, I'll deny that I even know you."
"The old Mission: Impossible routine?" asked Olga. "Okay, I can live with that. Do we get cool spy gear?"
"We'll see," said Sheena. "I'm not sure what we'll need at this point."
She took a cell phone out of her pocket. She hit a button on it.
"Noriko?" she said into it. "I take it all the power is back on? How are the streets?
"Good… Send the limo."
"The limo?" asked Nicholas.
"We're going home," said Sheena.
"Home?" asked Olga.
"My home," said Sheena. "I'll explain when I get there."
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"I don't get it," said Chelsea, as they wandered around the ruined buildings. "This whole place seems deserted. No instructions, no opening sequence… Not even a tutorial section to start us off. This is a strange way to start a game."
"I seem to remember an old game that the recently re-released with improved graphics and sound," said Erik. "It was called Myst. It was a good game, but it also started out on a mysterious, deserted island, and you had to figure out what to do on your own."
"We're playing by Daala's rules," said Sam. "I'm sure she'll strike when she's good and ready…"
"You'd think that you'd encounter a few monsters in a video game," muttered Ren. "Especially one that had something to do with dueling."
Then there was a low roar coming from the ruin ahead of them. They froze.
Slowly, a very large beast lumbered in front of their path. It looked like an elderly dragon, its wings withered and eaten away, with earthen-brown scales.
It glared at them.
"Does that qualify as a monster, Ren?" asked Chelsea, nervously.
The creature took a deep breath…
"Scatter!" shouted Sam.
They dodged, as it breathed a cone of corrosive gas in their direction.
"Hold up!" shouted Yumi. "I recognize this thing… It's a Crawling Dragon…"
She activated her Disk, and drew a card from her deck.
"Let's see if the rules for Duel Monsters apply for non-duel situations in Xanadu…"
The Crawling Dragon roared as she stepped up to face it. (1,600/1,400)
"I summon Skilled Dark Magician!" she shouted, as she threw a card on her Disk.
In a burst of darkness, a Spellcaster with bulky, dark robes, wearing a skullcap and holding a metal staff appeared in front of her. (1,900/1,700)
"Attack!" shouted Yumi. "Black magic blast!"
Skilled Dark Magician cast a bolt of burning, black flames at the Dragon. It groaned, and then shattered into pixels.
"All right!" shouted Ren. "Two points!"
"Unfortunately," said Erik, "there doesn't seem to be any tangible reward… It didn't turn into coins, and if there is a score, we can't see it."
"Like I said," said Sam. "Daala is setting the rules. I'm pretty certain that hazardous wildlife is only part of Xanadu. Actual duels might be another part."
Laughter started to fill the air around them. Skilled Dark Magician nodded, and then disappeared.
"Speak of the devil…"
"Show yourself!" shouted Yumi.
The portly jester leapt down in front of them, landing on his hands, and then springing to his feet.
"Who are you?" demanded Yumi.
"Man, I hate clowns…" said Ren.
"They call me Easy Eddie," said the harlequin. "But if you think that means I'm a pushover, you're dead wrong.
"Welcome to Nexus, the central point of Xanadu. Here is where every road in this land meets, where paths exist to every other Realm."
"I suppose the Dragon was your doing?" asked Yumi.
"Naw," said Eddie. "There are no Monsters native to Nexus, but sometimes they wander into here from the other Realms. That one likely came from the Burnt Paradise. The less intelligent Monsters usually find their way back once they realize there isn't much to eat here and all the potential prey fights back.
"As that one learned… The hard way."
He chuckled.
"So where do we go from here?" asked Yumi.
"Uh, uh, uh," said Eddie. "You'll soon learn, Yumi, that nothing here is easy except my name."
He lifted his Disk.
"Duel me… If you win, you'll find out where to go."
"And if I lose?" asked Yumi.
Eddie smiled in a way that they did not like.
"I guess there's no avoiding it," said Yumi.
She shuffled her deck, and then loaded it into her Disk.
"Fine, I'll be your opponent."
"Then prepare for a duel of the most fantastical, spectacular, amazing type!" shouted Eddie. "It's showtime!"
The two Disks activated.
"Game on!" they shouted.
(Yumi: 8,000) ------------------- (Easy Eddie: 8,000)
"Prepare to have that smile wiped off your face, Easy Eddie," said Yumi.
"You ever hear of the healing powers of laughter?" asked Eddie, making his first draw. "It's done wonders for me.
"Anyway… I'll set a Monster in Defense Mode, and I think I'll leave it at that."
In a burst of light, a facedown Monster appeared on his side of the field.
Pretty standard opening move, thought Yumi. He's keeping everything secret for now…
She drew a card and looked over her hand.
"I summon… Magician's Valkyria!" she shouted.
She played the card, and an attractive female mage in blue clothing, with brown hair and a fancy staff appeared in a burst of light. (1,600/1,800)
Okay, she thought. It could be something with high defense or something with a nasty Flip-Effect, but…
…I think he's bluffing.
"Go defensive if you want," said Yumi. "To me, the best defense is an aggressive offense.
"Attack! Magic illusion!"
Valkyria shot a blast of light from her scepter at the facedown card…
The facedown Monster exploded, sending flames twenty feet into the air. Both Yumi and Valkyria shielded themselves from the shower of ash.
"What was THAT?" shouted Yumi.
Easy Eddie chuckled.
"Something called a Rough Exploder," he said. "It was a real blast wasn't it?
"But don't worry, it can't hurt you… yet!"
"I'm not amused," said Yumi. "My turn is over."
Easy Eddie drew a card.
"Heh, heh…" he said, turning the card forward. "Just the card I needed…"
"Polymerization?" said Ren. "This could be bad…"
"You got it," said Eddie, holding up two Monster cards. "I'm gonna use it to fuse together my Dream Clown and my Crass Clown…"
Two clowns appeared on the field. One was tall, thin, and wore a red and blue outfit covered with stars. The other was short, fat, ugly, and wore a green outfit covered with polka-dots.
The two of them swirled into a multicolored vortex of light…
Then a large box appeared in front of Eddie. It was covered with stars, and had a hand crank. The crank started to turn, and "Pop Goes the Weasel" started to play…
Then the lid opened, and an evil-looking jack-in-the-box with a sinister grin popped out. (2,300/2,000)
"That's one toy I'll never have in my deck," said Erik.
"Bickuribox," ordered Eddie, "give Magician's Valkyria a trim."
The Fiend laughed hysterically. Then it reached into its mouth and pulled out a huge scythe…
With one slash, the Spellcaster was blown to pieces.
"First blood to you," said Yumi.
"Heh, heh," chuckled Eddie. "To end my turn… I'll play the Spell Card, Branch!"
He fit a card into his Disk, and a Continuous Spell Card appeared. It was a spooky picture of three facedown Duel Monsters cards in front of a tombstone in a cemetery.
(Y: 7,300) ------------------- (EE: 8,000)
"My move," said Yumi, drawing a card.
She looked at the Spell Card:
"I summon…" she said, "my Gemini Elf!"
She played the card, and in a burst of energy, a pair of elf twins appeared, their arms around each other's waists. (1,900/900)
"Heh, heh," said Eddie. "Gonna take more than that."
"How about this?" said Yumi. "I activate the Spell Card, Rush Recklessly, which gives them a little boost."
She played the card, and the two elves glowed, rising to an Attack Score of 2,600.
"Destroy his Bickuribox! Dual lightning!"
The two elves shot a pair of lightning bolts from their free hands, and the demented toy's grin quickly changed to a look of fright. It shuddered as it was electrocuted, and then exploded into shards.
"Oop, too bad," said Eddie. "But I can still activate the effect of my Spell Card. When one of my Fusion Monsters gets totaled, Branch! lets me bring back one of the Monsters I fused to summon it. Now isn't that hilarious?"
In a flash of light, Dream Clown appeared on the field, in Attack Mode. He raised his gloved fists in a fighting stance. (1,200/900)
"Oh no!" shouted Chelsea. "Dream Clown's effect… Bickuribox was just Easy Eddie's way of summoning that guy to use his effect!"
"Huh?" said Ren.
"If Dream Clown is switched to Defense Mode," said Chelsea, "he can destroy one Monster. And Yumi will be wide open. Eddie wanted Yumi to destroy Bickuribox!"
Chelsea is right… thought Yumi. Easy Eddie may seem like a joke, but he's actually a clever duelist.
And since all the other cards in my hand are Monsters, I can't even set a bluff!
"I have to end my turn…" she said.
(Y: 7,300) ------------------- (EE: 7,700)
"Oo-kay, let's see here…" said Eddie, as he drew a card.
"As Chels said, all I need to do is move Dream Clown to Defense Mode to activate his effect…"
Dream Clown knelt, and crossed his arms. His eyes glowed with fiery light, and Gemini Elf exploded into shards.
"Now that they're out of the way," said Eddie, "meet Peten the Dark Clown."
He played the card, and a dark shadow crept across the field. It formed into another jester, dressed in yellow and green with a cavalier hat, wearing black and white makeup. He casually palmed a dagger. (500/1,200)
"Don't you just love this guy?" asked Eddie. "He's such a card!"
Yumi glared at him.
"Get it?" said Eddie. "I said…"
"You know," said Ren. "I once read this article. It said that more than seventy percent of people surveyed don't think clowns are funny."
Peten vanished into shadow.
"Eh, tough crowd…" said Eddie.
Yumi felt a chill down her spine as the Dark Clown appeared behind her…
"YUMI!" screamed Chelsea.
Before Yumi could react to the warning, Peten drove his dagger between her ribs. Yumi fell to the floor with a gasp.
(Y: 6,800) ------------------- (EE: 7,700)
"I probably should tell you, Yumi," said Eddie, as Peten materialized back in front of him, "because you'll find out eventually…"
Yumi glared at him.
"You haven't traded in your true body for a virtual avatar… You're truly here, in the flesh. You're very real, very solid. In Xanadu, you can be hurt just as much as you would be as on Earth."
"And if I die here?" asked Yumi.
"Then you disappear forever," said Eddie. "No-one truly knows the fate of unfortunate individuals who suffer from fatal injuries in Xanadu. But to keep the corpses from littering the landscape, they just vanish, much like that Crawling Dragon did.
"Some people think that there's an undiscovered Realm… A Graveyard of sorts where Xanadu's dead goes… However, no-one is willing to test this theory.
"But don't worry yourself. A duelist only dies by accident, or if Daala orders her death. And she hasn't ordered yours. At least not yet."
"How thoughtful," muttered Yumi.
"Well, I think that's enough for one turn," said Eddie.
Yumi quickly drew a card.
"Well I have plenty to do for my turn…" she said.
"First, I summon Skilled Dark Magician."
In a burst of shadow, Skilled Dark Magician appeared once again. (1,900/1,700)
"Now… I play Premature Burial."
She played the card she had just drawn.
"It may cost me 800 Life Points, but now my Gemini Elf comes back."
The ground in front of her burst open, and Gemini Elf burst out. They frowned at Eddie and his Monsters. (1,900/900)
"Gemini Elf… annihilate his Dream Clown!"
Gemini Elf shot a volley of lightning at the Warrior, and Dream Clown was blown to pieces.
"Skilled Dark Magician, take out Peten the Dark Clown!"
Easy Eddie cringed as Skilled Dark Magician cast his spell, and Peten was blown to shards.
"Oh, pooh…" he chuckled. "But Peten has a special ability. If he bites the dust, I can remove him from play, and bring out another one."
A second Peten materialized, crouching in Defense Mode. He stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry at Yumi. (500/1,200)
"You are really trying my patience, Easy Eddie," said Yumi. "Make your move…"
(Y: 6,000) ------------------- (EE: 6,300)
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Meanwhile, Tara was sitting on the edge of the roof of the temple and watching the duel.
"Boy, the Queen of Games being trashed, and I've got the best seats in the house," she thought. "I'd kill for a bag of peanuts right now…"
Then there was a ringing sound in the pouch by her side. She sighed, and took out a device that looked like a cell phone.
"Yeah?" she said into. "Milady?"
"Tara," said Daala's voice. "My readouts say that the latest Battle Phase in a duel happening in the Nexus right now involved Skilled Dark Magician and Gemini Elf on one side, and Dream Clown and Peten the Dark Clown on the other. I take that to mean Eddie's dueling Yumi?"
"Can't you see?" asked Daala.
"That accursed Fairy is jamming my transmission again," said Daala. "Who's winning?"
"Still too close to tell," said Tara. "But I can take out Yumi if Eddie fails. I realize you probably want her taken out before you-know-who finds her…"
"Actually, no," said Daala. "I want you-know-who to find her."
"Pardon?" said Tara.
"It's too complex for me to explain, Tara," said Daala. "And I can't risk telling you on the off chance that you're captured. They've cracked tougher wills than yours.
"So listen… If Eddie wins, I plan to let Yumi alone. If that happens, summon your Lord, grab him, and both of you fly back to Tzimisce before the enemy shows up.
"If he loses… fly back on your own. I promise you, you'll get a chance to take one of them down soon."
"Understood," said Tara.
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"My move!" laughed Eddie.
He quickly drew a card.
He looked at the two cards in his hand. Then he set one on his Disk. A defensive Monster appeared.
"That'll do," he said.
Yumi drew a card.
"I summon… Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer!" she shouted.
A dark shadow appeared on the field, and a new Spellcaster appeared. It was a bald monk, with one side of his face horribly scarred, clutching a set of prayer beads. (1,800/700)
"Skilled Dark Magician, attack his facedown Monster!"
The Dark mage cast his spell again. Sangan appeared on the card, and exploded.
"Thanks!" laughed Eddie. "Now I get a Monster from my deck, so long as its Attack Score stinks."
A card slipped out of his deck, and he quickly took it.
Yumi raised an eyebrow. He didn't have to look through the deck at all – the deck simply gave him the card.
"I'm not done with you," she said. "Gemini Elf, blast the second Peten!"
The two elves cast their burning lightning, and the second Peten was incinerated.
"Once again," said Eddie, "I activate Peten's effect…"
"Actually, you don't," said Yumi, closing her eyes.
"Huh?" said Eddie.
"When Kycoo is on the field," said Yumi, "you aren't allowed to remove the cards in the Graveyards from play. So Peten's effect can't be used."
"Uh… oh…" said Eddie.
"Looks like you aren't laughing any more, Easy Eddie," said Yumi. "Kycoo, attack him directly! Spell of banishment!"
Kycoo called lightning to his hand, and then hurled it forward. Easy Eddie screamed as he was knocked over.
"All right!" yelled Ren. "Way to go!"
(Y: 6,000) ------------------- (EE: 4,500)
"And then there's Kycoo's other effect," said Yumi. "You may not be able to remove your Monsters from play, but now I get to remove two of them. I choose Bickuribox and Dream Clown."
The two cards appeared behind Eddie and vanished into grains of light.
Eddie frowned as he got up.
This is getting less funny by the minute, he thought. If this keeps up, I'm gonna have to start practicing my Emmett Kelly routine…
He drew a card.
"Okay, I'm gonna play Pot of Greed," he said, as he played it. "I'm sure no one needs that one explained."
The evil symbol of Greed in Duel Monsters appeared, and he drew two cards.
He chuckled again.
"Perfect," he said. "First, I'm gonna play Fusion Recovery. Now I can get back a Polymerization card and a Monster that I used in a Fusion. And since my Dream Clown is gone, I think you can guess who that is."
Polymerization and Crass Clown slipped out of his discard slot, and he took them.
"Now I'm gonna use Polymerization to summon someone new. I'm gonna fuse Lord of the Lamp, and Invader From Another Dimension…"
The two Monsters appeared on the field. One was a genie with red skin, wearing a turban. The other looked like a big preying mantis.
They both swirled into a vortex of colors…
"Let's bring out Soul Hunter!"
A large creature stepped out of the vortex. Actually, it could best be described as two creatures, a mount and a rider. The mount was a fierce-looking, fiendish dragon. The rider was a jester holding a scythe. (2,200/1,800)
"Okay…" muttered Sam. "I think this whole clown motif has gone a little too far..."
"Well, isn't that too bad," said Eddie. "I'll set this in Defense Mode too."
A facedown Monster appeared.
"Attack Skilled Dark Magician!" he shouted.
A blast of purple flames shot from the dragon's maw, and Skilled Dark Magician was burned to a crisp.
He's smarter than I thought, thought Yumi. I could have brought out Dark Magician next round if he had still been around….
Damn…
(Y: 5,700) ------------------- (EE: 4,500)
"My move…" she said.
She drew a card and looked at it.
"I move my two Monsters to Defense Mode, and set one card facedown."
A facedown card appeared in a flash of light, and both Gemini Elf and Kycoo knelt and shielded themselves.
"That's all."
"That's all?" asked Eddie. "I expected more from the Queen of Games…"
He chuckled as he drew a card.
"I set a new Monster in Defense Mode," he said.
A new facedown Monster appeared.
"Next," said Eddie, "I flip my Crass Clown into Attack Mode."
The card turned, and flipped up, and the fiendish clown appeared, holding a staff and balancing on a ball. (1,350/1,400)
"By the way, this lets me send one of your Monsters back to your hand."
Gemini Elf vanished into grains of light, and their card appeared in Yumi's hand.
"Next up…" he said. "I Equip my Soul Hunter with Fairy Meteor Crush…"
He played the card, and an aura of fiery energy surrounded Soul Hunter.
"Now I'll…"
"If I may interrupt here…" said Yumi.
Her facedown card lifted.
"Ergh, a Trap!" growled Eddie.
"Threatening Roar!" shouted Yumi.
A loud bellow echoed over the field, and the two clowns cowered in fright.
"Ooh!" growled Eddie. "I end my turn!"
Yumi drew a card, and then looked over the eight cards in her hand.
"First, I'll summon Gemini Elf again," she said.
Gemini Elf appeared once again. (1,900/900)
"Then," she said. "I play Magical Dimension! By sacrificing Kycoo, I can summon Chaos Command Magician to the field."
Kycoo vanished, and a powerful-looking mage in glossy, black robes appeared, holding a rod. (2,400/1,900)
"Then I get to destroy one Monster on the field," continued Yumi. "Guess which one…"
Soul Hunter exploded into shards.
"Good thing I've still got Branch!" said Eddie. "I'll use it to summon Lord of the Lamp in Defense Mode."
The red-skinned genie appeared again, crouching down and shielding itself. (1,400/1,200)
"Fine," said Yumi. "Gemini Elf… Destroy it."
Gemini Elf cast their lightning bolts, and Lord of the Lamp exploded.
"Now, Chaos Command Magician… Attack Crass Clown with chaos magic!"
The chaos mage shot a blast of multicolored light at the clown, and it burst into dark residue.
(Y: 5,700) ------------------- (EE: 3,450)
"I throw down a facedown," said Yumi, "and end my turn."
A new facedown card appeared.
Easy Eddie angrily drew a card.
He snarled. He placed a card on his Disk, and a facedown Monster appeared next to the other one.
He glared at Yumi.
"I take it that means you want me to move," she said, drawing a card.
She made a draw.
"I activate Call of the Haunted," she said, as her facedown card lifted.
A black coffin appeared on her side of the field. It opened, and Skilled Dark Magician stepped out of it again. (1,900/1,700)
"Now, take the one on the left!"
Skilled Dark Magician cast his spell.
A ceramic jar appeared on the card. A dark, snaky shadow with one eye and a toothy mouth lurched out of it and cackled before the dark spell blew it to pieces.
"A Morphing Jar!" shouted Yumi.
"Uh huh," said Eddie. "That means we have to ditch all the cards in our hands and draw five more."
Yumi snarled, and discarded her five cards. Eddie, on the other hand, didn't have any to discard. They both drew five.
"Gemini Elf…" said Yumi.
Gemini Elf cast their burning lightning again…
Another fiery explosion ripped through the field. Clearly, the Monster had been another Rough Exploder.
"Are you gonna tell us just what those things do?" shouted Sam.
"You're just going to have to wait," said Eddie.
"We'll see about that," said Yumi. "Chaos Command Magician… Attack him directly!
"Aim for his gut… It's an easy target."
Chaos Command Magician cast his bolt of raw energy, and the portly clown hollered before tumbling over.
(Y: 5,700) ------------------- (EE: 1,050)
Slowly, he got up.
"You have made me one very sad clown!" he shouted.
"Make your move…" said Yumi. "This is your last turn."
Easy Eddie drew a card.
Then he laughed out loud.
"My last turn?" he laughed. "Hardly! Take this…
"Swords of Revealing Light!"
He played the card, and a blizzard of shimmering swords shot at Yumi, forming a cage around her and her Monsters.
"Crud…" said Yumi.
"Now, I'll play a facedown of my own, and play a Spell Card…" said Eddie. "The Shallow Grave."
A facedown card appeared, and then a Spell Card appeared.
"This requires both of us to Special Summon a Monster from our Graveyards in facedown Defense Mode."
"I know that," said Yumi.
A facedown Monster appeared on each side of the field.
Everything's almost in place, he thought. Soon I'll be laughing all the way to victory!
Yumi drew a card.
She smiled when she saw who it was.
Well, hello there, she thought.
"I sacrifice Gemini Elf…" she said.
Gemini Elf faded into grains of light.
"To summon Dark Magician Girl!"
In a flurry of hearts and flowers, Dark Magician Girl flew onto the field. She spun around in a pirouette, and gave a sweet smile to everyone watching. (2,000/1,700)
Yumi's ace Monster? thought Eddie.
He grinned.
It will make victory all the sweeter when she's obliterated…
Then Dark Magician Girl glowed, and her Attack Score went up to 2,300.
"Huh?" said Eddie. "How'd she get more points?"
"Because your Morphing Jar sent my Dark Magician to my Graveyard," said Yumi. "Next, I flip my facedown Monster into Attack Mode."
The facedown Monster flipped up. Magician's Valkyria appeared in a flash of light. (1,600/1,800)
"I'm ending my turn, Easy Eddie," said Yumi. "Two turns to go."
Eddie drew a card.
"I summon… Fool Clown," he said.
He played the card, and a very strange clown appeared. Actually, it looked more like a large toy top shaped like a clown. It spun on its base, and let out a silly laugh. (0/0)
"Talk about dumb," said Chelsea. "Summoning a Monster with zero Attack Points when your Life Points are so low."
"If you think that's stupid," said Eddie, "wait until you hear about its effect. Now I have to send every card in my hand to the Graveyard."
He discarded his three cards – a second Fool Clown, a third Rough Exploder, and a Ryu-Kishin Clown.
"I'm guessing it has some benefit," said Yumi.
"Yeah, it does," said Eddie. "And we'll get to that in a second. But first, since I'm not stupid, I was quite prepared. I Flip-Summon the Monster I brought back with The Shallow Grave. You remember my Morphing Jar, right?"
His facedown card flipped up, once again, the shadowy, one-eyed creature with a toothy mouth inside leapt out with a cackle. (700/600)
"Now we have to…"
"I know!" said Yumi. "We both toss all our cards, and draw five more."
Yumi discarded the five cards in her hand, and they both drew five cards apiece.
At least it wasn't his Crass Clown, she thought.
Eddie looked over his five cards. He grinned.
"Now…" said Eddie, "I'm gonna take a big chunk out of your Life Points. I play Meteor of Destruction!"
He played the card, and the sky turned red. A meteorite fell from the clouds.
"Look out Yumi!" screamed everyone.
The missile exploded on impact. Yumi glared at Eddie as smoke rose from her hair and clothing.
"Now…" continued Eddie, "you were wondering about my Rough Exploders?"
Fool Clown glowed with dark energy. The three Rough Exploders fell out of Eddie's discard slot…
Then, three bombs rolled towards Yumi, past her Monsters. She tried to shield herself as they exploded around her.
"Ergh!" she groaned.
"When Fool Clown is on the field," chuckled Eddie, "I can remove them from play, and deal you 500 points of damage for each one!
"I just love comedy…"
"Throwing bombs at people is not funny," snarled Yumi.
"Oh?" said Eddie. "Well, in that case, I just love drama."
His facedown card lifted, revealing Burial From a Different Dimension.
"Now I can return those three Exploders to my Graveyard. And that means I can do it again!"
Yumi sighed as the bombs rolled towards her again…
She cringed as they exploded around her again.
"Yumi!" shouted Ren.
"I'm all right…" said Yumi, panting for breath.
"My turn is over," said Eddie.
(Y: 1,700) ------------------- (EE: 1,050)
Yumi looked up, and saw Dark Magician Girl looking at her with a look of concern.
"Seriously," she said, "I'll be fine…
"I… hope…"
She drew a card.
"I activate Skilled Dark Magician's effect," she said. "Since he has now absorbed the energy from three Spell Cards, I can sacrifice him…"
Skilled Dark Magician nodded, and then vanished.
Dark Magician appeared on the field in an aura of energy. (2,500/2,100)
"You're in trouble now, Easy Eddie!" laughed Ren.
"Your jar may have sent him to my Graveyard," said Yumi, "but he's back, and he's mad."
Dark Magician Girl smiled, and her Attack Score fell back down to 2,000.
"Oh, I'm so scared," said Eddie, sarcastically.
"Next," said Yumi, "I play Monster Reborn to bring back someone else you made me toss."
She played another card, and the golden ankh of life appeared in front of her. Another Magician's Valkyria appeared. (1,600/1,800)
The five Spellcasters glared at Eddie.
"Man, that's an impressive front line!" shouted Erik.
"Not only that," replied Sam, "with two Valkyria on the field, Eddie can't attack them or any of Yumi's other Spellcasters!"
"I end my turn, Easy Eddie," said Yumi. "One round to go. After that, your Swords wear off, and my army of Spellcasters will be more than ready to take you down."
Eddie drew a card.
Whoo-hoo! he thought. I drew Spell Reproduction! I could use this to reuse Burial From a Different Dimension, and use my Rough Exploders again!
Uhm… Only one small problem…
He looked at his hand.
To play it, I need to toss two Spell Cards, and the only one I've got here is Giant Trunade…
He thought for a few seconds.
Why of course! It could not be simpler!
"I play… Giant Trunade!" he shouted.
He played the card, and a wind tore across the field. The Swords vanished.
"Crud!" shouted Ren. "He sent Swords of Revealing Light back to his hand so he could reset it!"
"Nope!" chuckled Eddie. "I sent Swords and Branch! back to my hand so I could toss them to play Spell Reproduction."
He played the card, and discarded the two Spell Cards.
"Now, I play Burial From a Different Dimension once more…"
He played the card, and then the three bombs rolled towards Yumi again.
This time, the blast was so intense, she fell over.
(Y: 200) ------------------- (EE: 1,050)
"I set a new Monster in Defense Mode," said Eddie, "then set a card facedown, move Fool Clown and Morphing Jar to Defense Mode, and end my turn."
Fool Clown scrunched down, and Morphing Jar retracted into its vase. A facedown card appeared.
Little does she know, I have surprise for her that will be a real showstopper, thought Eddie. My facedown Monster is a special Monster called a Mad Bomber. When she attacks it, the Fool Clown that I sent to my Graveyard when I summoned the one on the field will destroy all Monsters on the field.
Then, I can activate Call of the Haunted to bring back Soul Hunter. Along with the Crass Clown in my hand, this duel will be mine.
Yumi drew a card.
"You're strategy seems good on the surface, Easy Eddie," she said, "but your deck has one fatal flaw…"
She played a card.
"I play… Double Spell. Now, for the cost of one other Spell Card…"
She tossed her Sage's Stone.
"…I get to use one Spell Card in your Graveyard. And the one I think I'll use…
"…is your Fairy Meteor Crush."
Easy Eddie's eyes bugged out, as the card appeared in Yumi's hand. She played it, and Dark Magician Girl was surrounded by an aura of flames.
"Hey, wait!" shouted Eddie. "This isn't supposed to happen! Stop!"
"Attack his Fool Clown!" shouted Yumi. "Dark burning attack!"
Dark Magician Girl fired a blast that looked like a blazing meteor. Fool Clown exploded into its component parts like a broken toy.
Easy Eddie fell to his knees.
(Y: 200) ------------------- (EE: 0)
"And that's that," said Chelsea.
"That's one clown that's crying on the inside AND on the outside," said Ren.
The Monsters vanished, and the duelists all surrounded Eddie.
"Okay, Easy Eddie," said Yumi. "You lost… so tell us where to go!"
"Can't…" muttered the clown. "The rules of Xanadu are quite strict…
"As you'll find out for yourself eventually…"
He grinned a grin at them that made their blood run cold…
And then, he simply dissolved into grains of light, and vanished.
"Huh?" said Sam. "He… Disappeared?"
They all looked around.
"More bad news," said Yumi. "We're no closer to finding out what we have to do than we were before…"
There was a long pause.
"Maybe we should find a library," muttered Erik. "That's what you had to do to get anywhere in Myst…"
Yumi wasn't quite right. They actually were a little closer.
A new spectator had been watching them during the last few minutes of the duel, from a grassy hill above. He was a young, teenage boy, his outfit consisting of a blue, above waist length jacket with darker blue outlines, white sleeves with frilled cuffs at his wrists, a lavender shirt, and black pants. His aquamarine hair jut backwards and down.
He took a device out of his pocket, similar to the communicator that Tara had used, but a different design.
"Yeah, it's me," he said into it. "I found them. They're all right, thank goodness. And Easy Eddie has been taken out.
"Uh huh? Mmm? You want me to what?
"Okay, sure, why the heck not? But I can't promise it'll be quick."
He put the device away, and looked down at them again.
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Back in Domino City, Sheena led Nicholas and Olga into the lounge in her manor house.
This mansion had a long history behind it. Its original owner was Gozaburo Kaiba. Seto Kaiba took it over after he disappeared. Siegfried inherited it from him, and likewise, Sheena inherited it from Siegfried.
"So what are we gonna do, exactly?" asked Olga.
Sheena opened up the top of a roll-top desk, revealing a laptop PC.
"Daala has control of my company's supercomputers," she said, turning it on, "but not my home computer.
"At least I… hope not…
"Hell, I truly doubt that even with the power she has using the supercomputer, she has the capacity to eavesdrop on the activities of every single computerized system in the city at all times. That would be impossible. And this home computer is protected not only by firewalls and virus shields, but by dummy codes that hide the user's identity. Anyone who successfully infiltrated this computer would believe it belonged to Percival Jenkins."
"Who's that?" asked Olga.
"A name I made up," said Sheena. "Who'd name their kid that?
"Anyway, while she may have changed the codes, she didn't install a new security system.
"Daala must be a good hacker to take over KaibaCorp's computer, but I'd be a pretty sorry excuse for a computer programmer if I couldn't hack past a security system that I myself was responsible for.
"I doubt that I'll be able to regain control of KaibaCorp's computers this way… This computer's power is pitiful compared to the one that Daala has hijacked. But at the very least, I'll be able to spy on Daala, and gain some information that will lead us to a solution.
"So, let's cross our fingers and hope for the best…"
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FOOL CLOWN (Monster Card)
Card Specs
Type: Spellcaster/Effect
Attribute: Dark
Level: 1
ATK: 0
DEF: 0
Card Description: When this card is Normal Summoned, Flip-Summoned, or Special Summoned, discard all cards in your hand to the Graveyard.
0
0
0
ROUGH EXPLODER (Monster Card)
Card Specs
Type: Pyro/Effect
Attribute: Fire
Level: 1
ATK: 0
DEF: 0
Card Description: When there is a "Fool Clown" face-up on your side of the field, you may remove this card in your Graveyard from play to inflict 500 points of direct damage to your opponent.
Note: "Fool Clown" and "Rough Exploder" were first used by Masked Knight of Laughter in the "Yu-Gi-Oh GX" episode "Triple Play (Part One)". Creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.
0
0
0
MAD BOMBER (Monster Card)
Card Specs
Type: Pyro/Effect
Attribute: Fire
Level: 1
ATK: 0
DEF: 0
Card Description: This card's effect activates when it is destroyed as a result of battle and you have at least one "Fool Clown" in your Graveyard. Destroy all Monsters on the field.
0
0
0
Coming up next:
The heroes are lost in enemy territory, but all is not as it seems. From out of nowhere, a figure from the past appears to inform them that they do have allies in Xanadu. However, this figure wishes to test their worth, and Ren must face a deck full legendary creatures which he's only heard references about in stories.
Coming up next: "Pilgrim in an Unholy Land". Coming soon.