Well, here we go, chapter 6.
Oh, and if anyone reading wants, I am willing to let other authors use the cards I make, within limits.
-You cannot use any cards I have made based off of Video Games, Movies, or Books, with the exception of any cards from the Gradius games, that I have made, until the end of this fanfiction, unless we agree to certain terms.
-You cannot use any cards under the category of "Cards of Divinity" or "Cards of Damnation," at all, those cards are limited to this fanfiction only.
I will also be occasionaly sending out created cards of mine for testing with other authors, before they are released in my own fanfictions, if you are unsure about a card, or want to test some cards for me, send me a message.
Current sets up for testing: New Gradius-Based cards (B.E.S monsters, will be available to the public whenever I have another B.E.S duelist), and Metroid-based cards (still up in the air as to when these will be available).
Also, I would like to directly adress A Concerened Writer. I don't know who you are, or why you decided to come forward with this now, but I will try to adress your concerns soon enough. And for future reference, don't hide behind an annonymous review, if you have problems with my writing, I want to be able to discuss it with you, and maybe we can get better.
On another note, I am now looking for a Beta Reader, I think its about time I finaly got one.
Oh, and if anyone liked the carachters Lee Simmons or Darrius Steel from the first fanfiction in this series, they are now staring in their own fanfiction with a third carachter.
Anyway, lets get on with this.
Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, now leave me alone.
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"Nature is often obscure or impenetrable,
But she is not, like man, deceitful."
-Carl Jung.
Well, its me, Darren, here and ready for a duel.
Well, after what Marie told us about what happened last night, we all realized that the Orichalcos had a considerable amount of power, even able to free a dark force from a distant memory.
However, this we never saw coming, my current opponent uses a deck strategy that he shouldn't be able to use, a strategy that only one duelist should be able to use.
But perhaps the Orichalcos has more power than we thought.
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CHAPTER 6:
JEWELS OF NATURE
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"You're kidding right, Zane Truedale's dark side dueled you last night?" Ariel asks as they are eating breakfast.
"Regretfuly, yes," Marie says, brushing her long auburn hair back behind her ears. "If it wasn't for Exodios, I don't know if I would've won."
Darren yawns a little bit, as he picks up his napkin, but finding words written on it, he glances them over:
"Mr. Masters,
If you want you and your friends to survive your trip to the city, meet me out in front of the Gem wing of the Field Museum half an hour after you recieve this note. Bring your deck, and prepare to duel for your life.
Sincerely,
Soren."
"Soren?" Renee asks. "That name sounds familiar, I just can't place it... Ah yes, Soren Macardie, I dueled him two years ago in the French Nationals, used a Dark Scorpion deck, I think..."
"Then why is he dueling me?" Darren asks.
"Well, he did use a Dark Scorpion deck, and most of the cards in your deck is Dark Scorpions," Katie says. "But, I doubt that he will use Dark Scorpions against you, it wouldn't work..."
"So, what kind of deck would he use now?" Wendy asks as the 6 go back to eating.
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30 minutes later, the 6 heroes walk into the Field Museum, paying for their entrance fee, and walking up the stairs towards the gem wing. Standing against the wall, shuffling through a deck, is a young man with short black hair, a scruffle of a beard, wearing a golden blazer, and a pair of blue jean shorts.
"So, you're here Renee, just like the master said," he says in a slight brittish accent. "As much as I would love to be the one to take your soul, I have another target, it would be fun to take your friends down one by one, and then when you are the only one left, I will take you down, and starting with you, Darren Masters!"
"Fine," Darren says, activating his duel disk.
"Time to lose," Soren says, activating his own duel disk.
"LETS DUEL!" The two say in unison.
"I'll go first," Soren says, and draws before Darren can protest. "And I start with the monster, Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth (1700/1600 + 500)!" He says, and a black furred mammoth with long curved tusks appears, while trumpeting.
"A Crystal Beast? Thats impossible, only the family of Jesse Anderson can use those cards!" Ariel shouts at the sight of the monster.
"Yes, that is true, but the Orichalcos has gained a considerable amount of power, including the ability to copy such cards," Soren says. "We could copy Aster Phoenix's Destiny Heroes or Lee Simmon's Femme Fatales, or even the Gods and Sacred Beasts, if we wanted to!"
"The Orichalcos is more foolish than I thought," Renee says, shaking her head. "There are reasons that certain cards where never put into circulation, and making counterfit Crystal Beast monsters for evil purposes is about the same as preforming brain surgery on yourself."
"I don't get it, why is it dangerous to make copies of the Crystal Beasts?" Wendy asks, scratching her head.
"Because the Crystal Beasts, as well as the Destiny Heroes and the Femme Fatales aren't normal monsters," Ariel says. "They are powerful dangerous cards that cannot be used in the wrong hands. I don't know if the Orichalcos will even be able to take Soren's soul, the blatant misuse of the Crystal Beasts has now condemned him to death the minute his life points hit zero."
"Isn't that a little harsh?" Katie asks.
Renee just shakes her head. The Orichalcos is doing something else, something that only I can see, I can hear the spirits of the Crystal Beasts crying out for vengence, but something is holding them down, she thinks to herself. While its true that the most well documented duelists who could see monster spirits are Jaden Yuki, Chazz Princeton, and Jesse Anderson, my father could see them as well, even before those three hit the circuit. And now, I can as well, and I can feel the pain these spirits have to endure.
"You know, while this discussion about monster spirit rights is all very interesting, I need to continue now," Soren says, activating his field slot. "And I activate, The Seal of Orichalcos!" He shouts, and the wicked seal falls around them, branding itself onto his forehead, the mammoth trumptets, trying to fight the seal before it appears on his forehead, and his eyes glow red. "One card face down, your move."
Darren draws. Okay, I have nothing that can take down that thing directly, so I need to play carefuly, he thinks. "I set this monster in defense mode, and place a card face down, your move," he says.
Soren draws, and glances at his card before grinning. "I summon, my Crystal Beast Amythest Cat (1200/400 + 500)!" He says, and and an elegant cat appears, bearing her fangs as the seal tries to grab hold of her, but she submits quickly. "And this kitty has claws, Amythest Cat, attack him directly!" Soren commands, and the cat jumps forward, slashing at Darren with her claws, and his life points fall to 7150
Okay, that hurt... Darren thinks, holding his ribs where he was slashed at. So, this is what it feels like to duel against the Orichalcos...
"Now Amber Mammoth, destroy his face down monster!" Soren commands, and the mammoth charges, smashing through a face down monster that is revealed to be a young boy in peasent's clothing.
"Thanks, that was my Scorpion Child, which lets me special summon a member of the Dark Scorpions from my hand to the field, so lets give a warm welcome to Xain the Demolisher (1550/1500)!" He says, and the grenade wielding member of the Dark Scorpions appears.
"Fine, thats it for me," Soren says.
Darren draws. "I set this monster in defense mode, and activate the trap card Strike Slash, which raises Xain's attack to 2250, and gives him a trample effect for this turn. Now Xain, destroy his Mammoth, Scorpion Explosion attack!" He commands, and the thief throws two grenades at the mamoth, and it explodes, lowering his life points to 7950. "One card face down, your move."
"Hold on, you activated the other effect of my Amber Mammoth!" Soren says, taking the card, and placing it in his spell and trap zones, and a stone appears on his field.
"This could be trouble," Katie says. "As long as the Crystal Beasts are on Soren's field, he has a serious advantage. Most cards in a Crystal Beast Deck have different combinations that use the Crystal Beasts, and sometimes they can be even more useful while they are in the spell and trap zones."
Wendy... a disembodied voice says in Wendy's mind.
"Huh?"
"Is something wrong, Wendy?" Renee asks.
"Nothing..." Wendy says, noticing an asian exhibit not too far away. "I need to check something out," she says, and walks off.
"Umm, okay," Katie says.
Soren draws. "I summon my Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger (1600/1000+500)!" He says, and a tiger with a horn on its head appears as the seal is branded into it. "Now Topaz Tiger, attack!" He commands, and the tiger's attack goes up to 2500 as it charges forward, slashing at the thief, which explodes.
"You activated the effect of Xain the Demolisher, he now destroys all monsters on your field, and you lose 100 life points for each!" Darren says, and two grenades explode, taking the Tiger and Cat with them, then a topaz and an amythest appear on the field. "And then I can activate my face down trap card, S-Renewed Strength, which lets me special summon a Dark Scorpion monster to the field, so lets welcome to the field Rose the Seductive (500/2000)!" he says, and the thief wearing a skimpy outfit, and carrying a sword encrested with a rose, who gives Soren a wink.
"Fine, one card face down, and its your move now," Soren says.
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Wendy walks into the asian exhibit, it was made up of artifacts from all different cultures. India, China, and Japan mostly.
Sitting there silently is an old Japanese man, with balding hair, and a fu-manchu mustache.
"Sensei," Wendy says, bowing deeply to the old man.
"Young Miss. Wheeler, I have come in light of recent events," the old man says in a sagely voice. "I was called here by the ancient spirits of the Samurai, you have been under my tutilege for several years now. I must admit, that I have things I have not told you, or my other students."
"What things, Sensei?" Wendy asks, taking a seat across from the old man.
"There are things, that in light of recent events, must be known, before it is my time to pass on," the old man says. "Not even your friends Renee and Marie knows the whole story of the Orichalcos. When I was in my younger years, I was challenged by a rival, a rogue samurai. He had some sort of power behind him, he had a necklace, with a stone called Orichalcum. The minute I accepted his challenge, a seal like the one that has appeared in several duels that you have competed in appeared around us. The fight was long, but when I had him to his knees, the seal took him, I never expected to see it again, then I was drawn here."
"Yeah, I guess these things just happen," Wendy says.
"Miss Wheeler, I cannot tell you much more now, but I want you to have these, these cards will complete your deck," the old man says, and removes some duel monsters cards from his satchel, and hands them to Wendy. "Adding these cards to those you already have in your deck will make it even stronger."
Wendy glances the cards over, and nods. "Thank you sensei," she says, putting the cards in a pouch.
"Now go, Miss. Wheeler, your friends need you," the old man says, and Wendy bows, heading back out of the room, she turns around briefly, and the old man is gone.
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Back at the duel, Darren draws a card. "I set one monster in defense mode, and call it a turn," he says.
Soren draws. "I summon my Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus (1800/1200 + 500)!" He says, and a winged horse appears. "And this gives me his effect, letting me summon my Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle to the spell and trap zone," He says, and a ruby appears on the field. "And I get her effect, letting me summon her and all other Crystal Beasts in my spell and trap zone to the field, so welcome back Amber Mammoth (1700/1600 + 500), Amythest Cat (1200/400 + 500), Topaz Tiger (1600/1000 + 500), and of course my Ruby Carbuncle (300/300 + 500)!" He says, and the tiger, mammoth, and cat appears again, followed by a small purple creature with a red orb on her tail, they all are infused with the power of the Orichalcos.
Katie watches in relative silence, she didn't like this, the Crystal Beasts where honorable monsters, creatures of virtue, and they where being corrupted by the Orichalcos.
Corruption, the word had been bothering her for sometime now (and the fact that Darren seemed obsessed with beating Metroid Prime 3: Corruption didn't help, something about being stuck on the Thorn Jungle in Bryyo). She still remembered what happened back in the Duelist Dimension tournament, out of a last desperate act, Doppler had damaged her life points enough to turn a little bit of her demon. Even though she won, Doppler had succeeded in one thing, putting a small part of herself into Katie, and recently that part was starting to grow.
The Orichalcos was getting more powerful, more dangerous, she could feel it, quite literaly.
"Pegasus, destroy his Rose!" Soren commands, and the winged horse impales the female thief with his horn, and kicks her away, making her shatter. "Now Tiger, destroy his face down monster!" He continues, and the tiger slashes through a balding man carrying a staff.
"That was my Gravekeeper's Guard (1000/1900), so one monster on your field is returned to your hand..." Darren says, and the Pegasus vanishes.
"Ruby Carbunkle, attack him directly!" Soren commands, and the small animal pounces on Darren, and his life points fall to 6350. "Now Amythest Cat, its your turn!" He continues, and the cat slashes through Darren, lowering his life points to 4750. "And Amber Mammoth, attack now!" Soren finishes, and the mammoth tramples Darren, lowering his life points to 3050.
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Across the entrance hall and watching the duel proceed is Kennith, Kari, and Damien.
"This Darren kid ain't too bad," Kennith says. "I'll bet my monsters wouldn't mind sinking their fangs into his monsters, but Soren has the obvious advantage here."
"Kennith, you have your orders, you must duel Katie Motou, someone else will deal with Darren, if he even survives," Kari says, flipping her long blue hair back. "Besides, your not even the best out of the three of us, last time we dueled, your snakes barely lasted 4 turns against me."
"I was doing fine until you got out that..." Kennith starts.
"Shut up you two, before you ruin our deck strategies for the readers," Damien says in typical fourth wall breaking fashion.
"For who? What are you talking about Damien?" Kari asks.
"Don't mind him, he's always like this," Kennith says.
"Ookay," Kari says.
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"One card face down, and its your move," Soren finishes.
Darren draws. "I activate the spell card Reasoning, so declare a level!" Darren says.
"Fine, uhh, 4," Soren says.
Darren draws 3 cards, the third being a monster, and he smiles. "Sorry, but my monster is my level 7, Crescent Moon Queen (2600/1700)!" He says, and the ebony-skinned female warrior carrying two curved swords appears. "And one of the cards I had to discard was called Half-Done Genocide, so I can discard two monsters from my deck, and summon another one as long as it fits a requirement, like being part of the same tribe, so I discard my Gravekeeper's Curse and my Gravkeeper's Assailant to summon my Gravekeeper's Chief (1900/1500)!" He says, and a robed man in a goatee and carrying a cobra-tipped staff appears, then a man with dreadlocks appears, and sends a burst of magic at Soren, lowering his life points to 7450. "That was my Gravekeeper's Curse by the way, now I sacrifice my curse for this monster, Freed the Matchless General!" He continues, and a warrior with long blonde hair appears.
"Woah, that was a pretty good move," Renee comments.
"He's not out of the woods yet," Ariel comments, a little nervous at this point. She had managed to talk with Kisara a matter of moments before the dome closed all communications with the outside world.
Kisara had picked up the signals of duel disks that where of a certain, risk to all of them, namely duelists that had a personal vandetta against one or more members of the group.
Among them, she realized, was her own cousin, Wendy's twin sister Miranda, she was praying that it was a coincidence that the ninja duelist happened to be in the city at the exact same time, but she knew that it was impossible.
She could only imagine what her family was going through...
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Back in Japan, Seto and Serenity Kaiba had been awoken in the morning by a frantic call from Kisara. After her phone call with Ariel was cut off by the forming of the dome around Chicago, the news reports where all starting, the city of Chicago had been completely cut off from the rest of the world.
Within a matter of hours, the Kaiba Corperation had declared a State of Emergency, the third in its history, and thats since the mass dissapearances nearly 2 years before. The dissapearances where an obvious one, then there was the outbreak of World War III, which was escalated to the point that Kaiba Corp. sent their workers home, and all output from the company was ended, though the Kaiba family did send support to help those affected in the invasion of Japan.
Now things where on an even worse scale, because of the dome, the global satellites for KC where taken off line the minute Kaiba heard about the Orichalcos being involved, duel disks all over the world would not work until the satellites where brought back online. Regretfuly, the system was still showing dueling activity in the Chicago area.
"Is there any improvement at all?" Kaiba asks, rushing down the hallway to the main control room of Kaiba Corp., now situated somewhere in the Middle East, talking to Kisara, who is rushing to keep up.
"No sir," Kisara says. "All duel disks in the Chicago area are not responding to our satellites, including your daughter's."
"And Paul, has he been contacted?" Kaiba asks.
"Apparently he was lucky enough to be on a trip to New Babylon for meetings at the time," Kisara says, checking over her notes. "He wasn't happy though when we told him that Marie was missing from the Xavier Institute, and the Hydra Corperation is listing her as having traveled to Chicago, something about their wedding being next week."
Kaiba groans, the Hydra Corperation had been a major competitor of Kaiba Corp. dating back to Gozaburro's days. It was always strange to him that his son had fallen in love with the daughter of a competing family, not to mention the CEO of Hydra Corperation, but not even Seto Kaiba could regulate his son's love life, but Marie had to get out of Chicago, and survive the Orichalcos before a wedding could even begin.
"Oh, and Mr. Kaiba, there is a man in the confrence room that is wanting to see you, someone claiming to be from Paradias," Kisara says, and Kaiba stops in front of a door marked "confrence room."
There has to be some mistake, Paradias was stopped 30 years ago, something's up... Kaiba thinks, and opens the door, sitting at the end of the table is the aqua-haired figure of Dartz. "You have a lot of nerve showing your face here, Dartz!"
"Seto Kaiba, you certainly haven't changed much in the past 30 years, and here I was hoping that marrige would have changed you," Dartz says with a shake of his head.
"You failed to learn your lesson, Dartz," Kaiba says, grabbing Dartz by the collar of his suit. "You threaten my family, you threaten me!"
"You can kill me, Kaiba, but then you will never see your daughter, niece, or future daughter-in-law ever again, only I can destroy the dome you know, and not to mention your wife..." Dartz says, and Kaiba throws him back into his chair.
"Serenity, what have you done to her?" Kaiba demands, relunctantly sitting down.
"Nothing, yet," Dartz says. "Now Seto Kaiba, let us talk buisness."
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"Now Crescent Moon Queen, destroy his Ruby Carbunkle, Crescent Moon Slash!" Darren commands, and the female warrior charges forward towards the small creature, but suddenly Amber Mammoth charges into the path of the attack, and is destroyed instead, lowering Soren's life points to 7150.
"My Mammoth can take any attack waged against a Crystal Beast," Soren says, as a chunk of amber appears on his field.
"Fine, Crescent Moon Queen attack again and destroy that Carbunkle!" Darren says, and the dark warrior slashes through the monster, lowering Soren's life points again to 5350 as a ruby appears on Soren's field, and Crescent Moon Queen kneels in defense mode. "Now Freed, destroy his Amythest Cat, Sword of the Battle Scarred attack!" He continues, and the general slashes through the cat, and Soren's life points falls to 4850 as an amythest appears on Soren's field. "I'll place this card face down, and end my turn."
Soren draws. Hmm, I have the right monsters in my hand to summon the Rainbow Dragon, but that card was too dangerous for Dartz to copy, so I have to settle for my other monsters, he thinks. "Topaz Tiger, destroy his Crescent Moon Queen!" He says, and the tiger pounces at the female warrior.
"Go trap, Negate Attack!" Darren counters, and a vortex nullifies the attack.
"Fine, I'll set one monster in defense mode, your move," Soren says, folding his arms.
Daren closes eyes, and draws as the card glows golden.
"Looks like Darren got a Card of Divinity..." Wendy says, walking back to the group
"I activate the Card of Divinity, Gravekeeper's Jeweled Scepter, and equip it to Gravekeeper's Chief!" He says, and a scepter appears in the chief's hands. "And his attack goes up to 2500, then Crescent Moon Queen goes to attack mode, now Gravekeeper's Chief, destroy his Topaz Tiger!" He commands, and the egyptian monster blasts through the tiger, lowering Soren's life points to 4750. "Now Freed, destroy his face down monster!" Darren continues, and the general slashes through the face down monster, which is revealed to be an old turtle.
My Emerald Tortise... Soren thinks, then gulps, noticing the Crescent Moon Queen is drawing her swords.
"The Orichalcos' hold on the Crystal beasts is weakening," Renee says, shaking her head.
"Now Crescent Moon Queen, attack him directly!" Darren commands, and the female dark warrior slashes at Soren, lowering his life points to 2150. "Now hit him again, finish him off!" He continues, and the warrior slashes at Soren again, and his life points fall to 0.
What happens next is a suprise, the Seal of Orichalcos shatters around them. Renee is the only one who can see what happens next, the spirits of the 7 Crystal Beasts appear.
"You and your master have comited too many atrocities using us, now it is time for you to feel the pain!" the Tiger says, and Renee just turns away as Soren is mauled.
"That was gross..." Renee mutters.
"What are you talking about?" Katie asks as they start walking down the stairs.
"Oh nothing," Renee says.
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"So Mr. Kaiba, do we have an agreement?" Dartz asks.
"I don't attempt to interfere with your opperation, and you guarantee that I will see my daughter again... But what guarantee do you have that you will keep your word?" Kaiba asks.
But there is no answer, Dartz is gone.
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Crescent Moon Queen was created by Cyber Commander, all credit goes to him.
Xain the Demolisher appeared in "Yu-Gi-Oh Generations: Dimension of Shadows."
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Scorpion Child
Dark
2
Warrior/Effect
300/500
This young child was rescued by the Dark Scorpions, and now is completely devoted to them, though he is not an official member of the gang. When this monster is destroyed, special summon one monster with "Dark Scorpion" in its name, or is named "Don Zaloog" or "Cliff the Trap Remover" to the field.
Half-Done Genocide
Spell card
Image of people running from a band of soldiers. When this card is sent to the graveyard, send two monsters from your deck to your graveyard that have at least one word in their name that is the same, and summon a monster that fits the same profile to the field as long as its attack is lower than 2000.
Gravekeepers Jeweled Scepter
Equip Spell Card / Card Of Divinity
This monster can only be equipped to a monster With "Gravekeeper's" In its name. Increase the equipped monsters ATK by 200 points for every monster with "Gravekeeper's" In its name. When this card is sent from your side of the field to the graveyard, Draw 2 cards from your deck.
(This card was sent to me by Dueler King, all credit goes to him.)
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Well, most duelists in the group have dueled against a member of the Orichalcos, the only one left is Ariel Kaiba.
Next chapter, its Ariel's turn as she faces a duelist who uses a deck similar to a duelist that her father faced. Can she win against the daughter of one of the original swordsmen? Find out in, "Soldiers of Truth."