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The Orichalcos Saga
Fanfic Chapter 218: Duel of Lost Souls Pt 2: Full Metal Panic
Episode Basis: Fighting for a Friend Pt 2
Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh! Joey and Amara chased Valon throughout the city on a motorcycle, ending up in a vacant lot. As it turned out, Valon deliberately let Joey chase him to challenge him to a duel believing that Mai would be better off without him. Just like his duel with Rebecca and Duke, Valon wore his monsters like a suit of armor and Joey was stripped of almost half his life points. But that wasn't the shocking part, the shocking part was Valon's origins, in which he revealed that he was an orphan living at a church under the care of a nun named Sister Valentine. Coincidence? Your guess is as good as mine. Unfortunately, Sister Valentine lost her life in an arson fire. From then on, Valon was one troubled kid until he was forced to duel for his freedom on an island. It was there that Dartz discovered and recruited him. Dartz certainly has a thing for hard luck cases, doesn't he? Oh yeah, and Yami and the gang found themselves surrounded by Orichalcos Soldiers.
In all the duels I've been in, Amara thought, I've never seen one where the Duelist fights along side the monster. But Joey's no pushover, he can be on his deathbed and he would still continue fighting, because he's fighting for someone he cares about. I don't know if that's brave, stupid, or both.
"Hurry up and make a move so I can continue torturing ya," Valon urged.
"You're the one who's going to be tortured," Joey threatened as he drew a card. "I summon Marauding Captain in attack mode. And thanks to his special ability, I get to summon another monster, my Battle Warrior (1). All right, boys, get him!" Joey's two monsters charged forward. Marauding Captain slashed Valon with his sword and Battle Warrior followed that up by slugging him.
(V: 2100)
(J: 2500)
"It'll take more than that to keep me down," Valon said as he stood up.
What's this guy so confident about, Joey wondered. He's got no monsters on the field. "Go ahead and take your best shot." As Valon drew his card, Psychic Armor Head appeared on the field. "How did your monster come back?"
"Whenever my Psychic Armor Head is sent to the graveyard, it returns right away," Valon explained. "But it's the least you have to worry about."
"Oh no!"
"Oh yes, I play the Seal of Orichalcos!"
"Not that," Amara cried.
Mai was on the roof of a nearby building. "Where is he?" She wondered. She looked in the distance and saw dark clouds gathering over a certain place. Suddenly a familiar green circle started to descend from the clouds. "Oh no, someone's activated the sacred seal and I think I know who." She put on her helmet and rode her motorcycle down the steps. He better leave a piece of Wheeler for me.
The Seal of Orichalcos appeared on Valon's forehead as well as his monster. His eyes took on a red tint.
(PAH: 0-500)
"Now my armor gets a nice fat boost," Valon was saying. "But that's not all, I also play the magic card Full Armor Gravitation!"
"I'm going to need a bit more info," Joey requested.
"Well maybe this'll give you a clue: I summon Burning Knuckle (2)."
"Nope, still lost."
"Boy, you're even dumber than I thought. Full Armor Gravitation lets me pick up 10 cards from my deck and if any of them are armor cards I get to play them right away. So now I summon Jet Gauntlet (3), Over Boost, Active Guard, Buster Knuckle (4), and Advanced Shield (5)."
(BurnKnuck, JG, OB, AG, BustKnuck: 0-500)
(AS: 1000-1500)
"Don't tell me, you're about to put on another funky space suit," Joey said dryly. The last time he did this, he blew away almost half my life points.
"I guess you're smarter than you look," Valon said depositing the remaining cards in his graveyard slot. The armor pieces attached to him as he cried out, "I'm invincible!"
"He's a loon," Amara muttered and Joey had to agree with her.
Valon heard a computerized voice inside his helmet, "Analyzing monsters: Marauding Captain, attack points 1200. Battle Warrior, attack points 700."
"So are you going to attack or what?" Joey asked.
"Why in such a rush?" Valon asked back. "This suit of armor is more powerful than the last."
What's he talking about, Joey wondered. Each piece of his super suit has only 500 attack points.
"Sensors indicate a probability of 99 percent of destruction of Marauding Captain by Buster Knuckle," the computer reported.
"Perfect, Valon muttered as the piece in question started to glow.
(BustKnuck: 500-1900)
Valon charged forward and slugged Marauding Captain destroying him.
(V: 2100)
(J: 1800)
Joey recoiled from the attack. "Joey, are you all right?" Amara asked.
"I've been through worse," Joey assured her. "I don't get it I thought these were just holograms."
"One of the kicks of the Seal of Orichalcos, mate, every attack is as real as we are. Throwing in the towel?"
"I'm just getting started. By the time this duel ends, you'll be begging for mercy. Then your buddy Mai will see exactly what a chump you really are! As long as you're around, Mai will be obsessed with trying to duel you but I can't let her put herself into that much danger, so I made sure I got to you before she did. You see, Wheeler, I'm not such a bad guy."
"Oh yeah, you're a real saint," Amara said sarcastically.
"If you really wanted Mai happy, you wouldn't have brainwashed her in the first place," Joey snapped. "I know Mai and she would've never walked out on me unless someone had messed with her head. If you ask me, this Dartz guy is messing with all your heads! That Orichalcos card has evil magic in it and makes whoever holds it go nuts!"
Valon's face was mostly obscured by his Psychic Armor Head helmet but his mouth was set in a frown. "Are you done yet?" He asked in an irritated voice. "Because I'll tell you the truth: that card did more for Mai than you ever could. She was lost and it showed her the way. She was weak and it made her strong."
"Mai was strong before she got that stupid seal card," Amara said.
"You fools don't get it, do you?"
I spotted Mai outside the temple after Dartz bestowed upon her the Orichalcos magic. "So how does it feel?"
"Look, I appreciate all of this, but don't think it means I owe you anything."
"Huh?"
"I do things my owe way and I have no desire to be a part of any team. I made that mistake once and it got me nowhere."
"I know exactly what you mean, Valentine, you and I are one and the same. We're both loners, though you have to admit that sometimes it's not all that fun."
I saw her again after she defeated Pegasus. "Why so glum? You just beat the creator of Duel Monsters at his own game."
"Beating Pegasus means nothing to me, there's only one person I want to beat, and that's Joey Wheeler."
"Mai can't stand the sight of you and frankly I can't either! Once you're out of the picture, Mai can move on to bigger and better things like teaming up with me!"
Why would Mai want to team up with a short spiky-haired goggle-head like him? Amara wondered.
"Mai would never want to get rid of me," Joey argued. "Not after everything we've been through… we're friends."
"You know, if there's one thing I hate, it's seeing a man cry." Joey looked up to see Mai, travel bag in hand. She probably had to return to her room for it before leaving the castle.
"Who's crying, I just have something in my eye, that's all," Joey said quickly drying his eyes with his sleeve. "Stupid thing, it won't come out."
Mai took out a lace handkerchief and handed it to him. "Here, use this to 'get it out.' Just make sure you don't blow your nose in it. You know, every time I think I have you figured out, you surprise me, Joey." Joey noticed that a corner of the handkerchief was damp. Had Mai been crying as well, but about what, her loss to Yugi, or… "Harold told me about your little sister, and about why you duel. Sounds like a bad soap opera but then again, I have a weak spot for soap operas, even bad ones. See you around, Sweetie."
"She's nothing like you she would never team up with a bunch of lowlifes who want to control the world! Whatever you did to her, I plan on undoing it!" He drew a card. "I sacrifice my Battle Warrior to summon Jinzo (6) to the field!" Valon just laughed at the humanoid machine. "Jinzo, attack his helmet with Cyber Energy Shock!" Valon just held up his right hand. The piece of armor grafted onto it was hit by the attack.
(V: 1600)
(J: 1800)
"Hey, I said to attack the helmet, not that thing!"
"Whenever one of my armored pieces is attacked, I can move the attack to another piece."
"Oh no," both Joey and Amara said at the same time.
Everyone watched as the Orichalcos Soldiers surrounded them. "Maybe we can outrun them," Rebecca suggested.
"I already tried that, no good," Tristan replied.
Yami and Kaiba ran to the nearest soldier.
"Pharaoh!"
"Seto, it's too dangerous!"
"There's nothing too dangerous about a bunch of holograms," Kaiba said dismissively.
"Holograms or not, we don't have a lot of time to deal with them right now," Yami said.
"Let's duel," Kaiba said.
The two then noticed that their decks were glowing. They each drew their Legendary Dragon. "Timaeus, come forth!" Yami bid.
"I play Fang of Critius," Kaiba threw in. The two dragons appeared and started mowing over Orichalcos Soldiers.
Two Orichalcos Soldiers got by their defenses and ran towards Tea and Rebecca. The girls screamed.
"Tea, Rebecca," Yami cried as he instinctively held his Duel Disk arm out.
"Rebecca," Kevin threw in as he started to run towards her.
Yami's deck started to glow again. Solon burst from the deck and trampled the soldiers. "Harold's dragon!" Yami gasped.
"Incredible," Tea commented. "Even though he's not with us, it's like Harold's still watching out for us." Rebecca just stared at the golden dragon as it stood in front of them staring down the Orichalcos Soldiers.
The three dragons finished off the Orichalcos Soldiers then returned to card form. As everyone checked each other to make sure they were all alright (and Tristan and Duke came out of hiding), Kaiba started to walk away. "And just where do you think you're going?" Tea asked.
"If you think that because I helped you ward off a bunch of holograms, that means I'm part of your little pep squad, think again," Kaiba said. "I have to get to Doma Headquarters and take out Dartz."
"But you can't," Tea protested. "We have to..."
Yami put a hand on her arm stopping her. "That's fine," he said calmly. "We will join you just as soon as we find Joey."
"And just how are we going to do that?" Tristan asked.
"There's an easy way to find that loser if you just think about it," Kaiba hinted.
Kevin gasped, "Wait a minute, right before Battle City, Kaiba explained that there's a tracking chip inside each Duel Disk and that Kaiba Corp. uses the satellite system to locate each chip."
"I get it," Rebecca said. "We could use the satellite system to track down Joey's Duel Disk." She ran into the trailer.
"Kaiba, wait," Yami called. "We need the password to access the satellites!" But Kaiba ignored him.
"Hello!" Tea called. "I know you can still hear us!"
"Forget them," Tristan said.
Inside, Rebecca accessed the Kaiba Corp. network on her laptop. "I hacked Kaiba's system once, I can do it again." She reached a password screen and tried to enter a password.
She got an error message in response.
"What do we do if Rebecca can't access the satellite system?" Tea asked.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it,' Duke assured her.
"Yeah," Tristan agreed. "We just have to have a little faith."
"Rebecca can do it," Kevin assured them all. "She's a genius."
Valon started his turn by drawing a magic card. His right arm started to glow again. "Burning Knuckle's attack points go up by 200 for every armor monster on the field."
(BurnKnuck: 500-1700)
"It's still weaker than Jinzo."
"You'll never learn." Valon just charged towards Jinzo. The two clashed fists and Valon's armor piece was destroyed.
(V: 900)
(J: 1800)
"Nice try, but your metal arm was no match for Jinzo."
"Oh you think so, why don't you take a look at your buddy Jinzo." Joey looked up at the monster and saw that it was on one knee, panting heavily, having its attack points lowered.
(J: 2400-700)
"How'd you do that?"
"When Burning Knuckle is destroyed," Valon explained. "Its attack points get subtracted from the opposing monster's."
"You gave up almost half your life points just to lower Joey's monster's attack points?" Amara asked wide-eyed.
Joey smiled, He took a pretty big risk back there. He must have a lot of faith in that armor of his to let go of so many life points. Either that… or he's just plain nuts. Joey drew a card, "I summon Rocket Warrior in attack mode. Now attack his Over Boost!"
"I use Psychic Armor Head's effect to move the attack to my Advanced Shield which has 1500 attack points." Rocket Warrior transformed into a missile and destroyed the shield guard.
"Both of our monsters have the same number of attack points," Joey pointed out. "But my Rocket Warrior was safe because I was smart enough to switch it into its invincible mode. And even with lower attack points, he can still beat the crap out of your Jet Gauntlet." Jinzo attacked and Valon retaliated. Another piece of Armor and Jinzo were both destroyed. The explosion threw both Duelists back. "Considering how both our monsters were destroyed, I'm guessing your Jet Gauntlet has a special ability too." He stood up. "I'm getting real tired of this."
"Nice shot," Valon complimented also standing. "I have to admit you're not such a terrible Duelist."
"Thanks… I think."
"But I'm better."
Mai stopped where multiple alleyways intersected. "That Orichalcos card was played around here somewhere. I have to stop that duel before it's too late. I'm going to make Wheeler pay for what he did to me." Mai suddenly gasped and held her head in extreme pain. If she was looking in a reflective surface, she would've seen two symbols alternating appearances on her forehead: the Egyptian Millennium symbol and the Atlantian Orichalcos symbol. The crystal around her neck started to glow and the Egyptian symbol faded and the Atlantian one remained. "I will kill him," she said with ice in her voice.
Rebecca was on her twelfth try and she was no closer to cracking the security surrounding the Kaiba Corp. satellites. She was getting more than a little irritated.
And so was Tristan. "Is she having any luck?"
"That's the fifth time you asked us that," Tea said.
"You were the one who told us to have faith," Duke pointed out.
"Get off my back!" Tristan snapped. "Joey's in trouble and if we don't move soon, things are going to get a whole lot worse." The others looked at him confused.
It happened shortly after we were separated from the others. We took a short break along the train tracks. Amara went to the bathroom behind a large boulder while Joey and I talked.
"I just figured it all out. Mai teamed up with those lowlifes because of me, because I was a lousy friend."
"That's crazy talk, Joey."
"It's true. Dartz may have been the one who brainwashed her but I was the one who drove her away. But I'm going to make things right by finding those creeps and undoing the spell!" Tristan gasped. "Tristan, you have to promise me that you won't tell the others. If they knew, they would do anything to stop me."
"Joey shouldn't blame himself for what happened to Mai," Kevin argued. "I had no idea how she was feeling either. Mai was never good at truly expressing how she felt."
"What was I thinking? I should've talked him out of it."
"I don't think it would've mattered," Tea said. "Joey has a mind of his own."
Yes, Yami mentally agreed. Let's just hope he's using it.
"It's time to crush your last monster," Valon said as he drew a card. "But first I'll summon a replacement piece for my right arm: Buster Pile (7)!" A different armor piece grafted onto his right arm.
(BP: 0-500)
Once again, Valon charged forward and destroyed Rocket Warrior, the explosion throwing Joey off his feet.
"Since your monster's weaker than mine, I assume it has a special ability," Joey guessed.
"Yup, Buster Pile automatically destroys a monster regardless of attack points. Plus it gives you 500 points of damage!"
(V: 900)
(J: 1300)
"Finally, I end my turn by playing the magic card Data Brain which I'll hook up to my Psychic Armor Head." A strange wing-shape device hooked onto the sides of his helmet.
His armor cards are tearing me apart! No matter what monster I play, he can blow it sky high! He drew a card, Hermos. He held up the card triumphantly declaring, "Let's see you take on this guy!"
To Be Continued.
Duel Monster Database
(1)
Name: Battle Warrior
Level: 2
Type: Warrior
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 700
DEF: 1000
(2)
Name: Burning Knuckle
Level: 3
Type: Machine/Effect
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 0
DEF: 1000
(3)
Name: Jet Gauntlet
Level: 3
Type: Machine/Effect
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 0
DEF: 1500
(4)
Name: Buster Knuckle
Level: 4
Type: Machine/Effect
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 0
DEF: 500
(5)
Name: Advanced Shield
Level: 3
Type: Machine/Effect
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 1000
DEF: 500
(6)
Name: Jinzo
Level: 6
Type: Machine/Effect
Attribute: Dark
ATK: 2400
DEF: 1200
(7)
Name: Buster Pile
Level: 4
Type: Machine/Effect
Attribute: Earth
ATK: 0
DEF: 0