Chapter 5
~Battle of Charms~
Raging Waters
~Key card: Gagagigo~
"Breaking news, the scientific world is baffled at the phenomena that took place last night. An earthquake that hit all the regions of the United States and the rest of the world at the same time has cause havoc around the world. The death count is estimated to be in the billions. A emergency congress has been called, the United States, European Union, China and Japan are being driven by many countries into giving aid, yet only a few are able to grant that aid. Especially the European Union has taken heavy loses with the destruction of the Netherlands due to the dykes breaking under the force of the earthquake. They are unable to deliver aid to other countries. Both the United States and China are in a state of chaos with many dams threatening to break. Strangely enough reports of tsunamis have not been made. This is the Card News Network and we will keep you up to date on the news of this bizarre global catastrophe."
"Yes, we are all fine here. It is a good thing that they are so well prepared for possible earthquakes. No, I heard the clerics of the hotel talking with some guests and they said it hasn't felt as a more disastrous earthquake then they had the past years. The tournament is going to be continued, so we will have something to put our minds to. There is nothing wrong for a bit of distraction in such global misery, besides all teams will be more motivated. I haven't heard of any dropouts.
It's a relieve to know that you all are safe. Ah yes, Laurence's and Will's their parents are all safe as well, they are talking with them right now. Bye mom, send my regards to pa."
With a sight Joey hang up, it was good to hear that his folks were okay. He shot a quick glance at his teammates. Laurence had hung up a while ago, Will seemed to be discussing something with his dad, shot a glance at Joey and rolled his eyes.
"Yes dad, I know. I was just questioning your humanity for thinking of business at a time like this. Yeah yeah I know, if I keep saying stuff like that you will disown me. Haha, you are getting criticized by mom, are you not? Oh hey mom. Yes I know dad means it well. Fine, if he went through that much trouble I will pay a visit, today is our resting day anyway. Just send me a message with the address. Yes mom, bye mom." With a deep sight Will put down his phone.
"I cannot believe my dad, that bloody fool is even thinking about business at a time like this. I am truly sorry, but he wants me to meet up with some business associate. He went through a lot of trouble to arrange it so he wants me to go there despite, ya know, everything."
Will was gesturing a bit wildly, making Laurence burst into laughter. Joey nodded and looked out of their hotel window.
"Well, it seems that it's fine to go outside. Where are we heading to?"
Will checked his phone, frowning a bit.
"Well, it is just two blocks away. I guess we should go now and be done with it."
"I have no objections. You, Joey?" Joey nodded in agreement to Laurence.
"Anything better than watching CNN all day and continuously hear the same loop of stuff, since they will
not broadcast anything of their usual planning. It is just depressing." Will sighted and stood up, gesturing to the others to follow him.
A hour later they arrived at mansion, which Will identified as Professor Bill Smith's residence. Will casually pressed the bell, a small screen popped up revealing the face of a young maid. "This is William Spencer, I am expected to see Mister Smith." The maid nodded and the gates opened.
"Say Will, who is this Professor Smith?" Joey stared at the strange looking sculptures around the garden, they all seemed to be starring at the sky, holding their arms up high.
"He is a momentum researcher and quiet eccentric, something that seems to come with the job if my other experience with momentum researchers is to go by. He works right now for the organizer of the WRGP and is considered the best in his field." Laurence looked curiously, it seemed that his interest has awakened.
As the trio reached the door, it was opened by a young butler. Taken a step to the side to let them enter, he bowed politely.
"Sumisu-sama is currently busy, I shall bring you to the parlour and will inform him of your arrival." The young man turned around and guided them through the hall into a room which looked like a common living room, the furniture rather old fashioned.
"I shall inform Sumisu-sama that you have arrived, please wait here. I shall send a maid to bring you tea or coffee." With a bow the butler left, Joey and Laurence sit down in the comfortable arm chairs. Will kept pacing around, seemingly anxious.
"Joey, have you ever seen Will like that?"
"Yeah, he gets all stressed about these meetings. He doesn't like them, but does them to do his dad a favour and well, he realises himself to have connections is quiet usefull." At that moment a light knock rang through the room and the young maid that they had seen on the screen earlier came in pushing a small cart, behind her a young girl in a white dress with a big pink ribbon on her back was following. She starred at the group with her bright brown eyes, whisking away a lock of long black hair. The maid started to pour tea, Joey smiled and waved at the young girl.
"So what is your name?" The young girl starred at him, Will was about to respond that she probably couldn't understand him when she answered.
"I'm Rose."
"Rose, what a beautiful name, it suits such a adorable young girl like you. I am Joey. Are you watching mommy work?" Rose shook her head and a sad expression appeared on her face.
"Mommy is away, so I have no one to play with." Joey looked a bit surprised, the answer hadn't been what he expected.
"My, what a well mannered girl you are as well. If you want I can play with you." Rose her face brightened, raising her small fists before her chest and nodding happily. "Come come, I got these Duel Monster cards from Mommy, I want to try them out." Joey laughed and looked to Will with an apologetic glance. He just nodded with a smile in response. Rose tugged his hand and tried to pull Joey along, who let himself be led away by the young girl. Just a moment after Joey left, the butler came in, his expression barely changes as he saw that only Laurence and Will. "Follow me please, Sumisu-sama can see you now." He bowed lightly and turned around, leading Laurence and Will to the working room of Smith.
Rose pulled Joey in the garden.
"Here none of the servants will compain that we are too noisy." Rose smiled brightly.
"Rose, I need to get my Duel Disk..." Rose shook her head and looked to the house, Joey followed her gaze as he was about to finish his sentence and saw that a servant was coming towards them from the house holding two Duel Disks. Joey picked the larger Duel Disk, strapped it on and insert his deck. Rose did the same and they took a stance opposite to each other. "You can start, mister Joey, since you are so kind to play with me." Rose gave an innocent smile, Joey smiled back and drew his opening hand.
"Duel!" The sound of their voices echoed through the garden.
Joey – Rose
4000 – 4000
"Draw, I summon Testudo erat Numen in defence position." A broken greek pillar raised from the ground, with a small pink turtle on top of it, who starred up at the sky [DEF 1800].
"Oowh, it is so cute. What does it do?" Rose looked at the turtle with a look as if she wanted to hug it.
"This little guy prevents both of us special summoning monsters with more than 1800 Attack. Then I'll set two cards and end my turn" Two set cards appeared behind the pillar with the turtle.
Joey – Rose
4000 – 4000
"Here goes, I have some cute monsters of my own as well." Rose looked at the cards in her hand and placed it on the field. A small white and grey bunny appeared wearing a safety helmet with a pair of skiing glasses on it and around his neck a small radio was tied.[ATK 300]
"I summon Rescue Rabbit and I will activate his effect. By removing it from play I can special summon two normal monsters with the same name from my deck. I think these will do." The rabbit vanished and in its place two small light green reptilian creatures appeared. On their elbows, knees and shoulders small spikes were present and around their forearms and legs yellow cloths were wrapped around it. Both of them took a battle stance, starring at Joey with their red eyes. [ATK 350]
"Aren't these Gigobytes cute?" The tone of this unnerved Joey a bit as he looked at Rose, her eyes were covered by her hair, only showing a sinister smile.
"They look so innocent, but that only means they are easier to corrupt. I activate the spell card, Triangle Power. It increases the attack of all my level 1 normal monsters by 2000 at the cost of destroying them at the end of the turn." The two Gigobytes started to grow taller and more muscular, the spikes on their body turned larger and the childlike expressions on their faces changed, their muzzles growing longer and thinner and their teeth turning more vicious looking. Finally their eyes had turned yellow and starred menacingly to Joey. [ATK 2350]
"Now Gigobyte, attack Testudo erat Numen." One of the Gigobytes charged forward launching a punch towards the little turtle. A blast of water erupted, blasting the Gigobyte into Rose making her fall over. [3200 LP]
"That was my trap, Zeus Breath, it negates your attack and deals 800 damage to you for each Aqua monster I control." Rose got up, patted on her dress a few times as small dust clouds got off it and looked directly at Joey. Joey felt shivers going down his spine as he starred in the eyes that had gone blank, the pupils had seemingly vanished. A smile crawled over Rose her face.
"Good thing that I have a second attack, Gigobyte destroy Testudo!" The other launched forward, successfully punching the small turtle and sending it flying. It burst into pixels and the pillar vanished slowly. "Now, I activate the continuous spell card Two-Man Cell Battle, this allows both players to summon during the End Phase a level 4 normal monster. Now, I will move on to the end of the turn, due to Triangle Power my Gigobytes are destroyed." The two reptilian creatures blew into pixels, while Rose placed a card on her Duel Disk, the same grown up reptilian creature that was just destroyed appeared. [ATK 1850]
"I summon my Gagagigo, now you can summon a monster, if you can" With a malicious grin she starred at Joey who just shook his head.
Joey – Rose
4000 – 3200
Joey gulped clearly and blinked a few times. "Draw, I do not what happened to you, but that creepy girl trick is not going to work on me. You took me by surprise." Rose her face turned to her innocent smile and immediately shifted to back to her malicious grin.
"Fine, if you are going to keep it like that, your choice. I summon Revolver Turtle in defence." A small turtle materialized, it was retreated in his shell, but a small cannon was attached to his back. Two yellow eyes stared at Rose from the opening for the head. [DEF 1200]
"Now for Revolver Turtle's effect, by discarding a card I can deal 400 points of damage. So I send this to the grave." Joey put the card in his graveyard slot, the gun on the turtle took aim and shot at Rose. She took a step backwards as she was hit with the bullet, but starred back without her expression changing. [2800 LP]
"Finally, I activate the trap, Defender's Mind. With this my monsters can only be in defence position, but their defences are doubled." Revolver turtle glowed lightly [DEF 2400]
"Now go ahead, Rose, show me what you can do."
Joey – Rose
4000 – 2800
"Draw, I'm going to keep it simple for you this turn. I set one monster and one card face-down." A face-down monster appeared on the field and a set card right behind Gagagigo.
"Now move on to the end of my turn, Two-man Battle Cell activates, but I assume you still can't summon anything and neither can I." Gagagigo shot a glare at the Revolver Turtle, an echo of a chuckle could be heard from the turtle shell.
Joey – Rose
4000 – 2800
"Draw, I summon Skreech in defense." A strange aquamarine creature appeared, with a mouth filled with sharp teeth at the end of a small tube attached to his lower part of his body between his where the legs are attached. It glowed as his defence was doubled by the effect of Defender's Mind. [DEF 800]
"Nothing else left, so I end it here."
Joey – Rose
4000 – 2800
"Draw, you don't make your duels really exciting do you? I never had such a slow duel." Joey didn't react to it, Rose smirked as he didn't fall for her taunt.
"Well then, I'll speed this up myself. Flip summon, Eria the Water Charmer." A young girl stood up, with long blue hair. She wore a brown vest, that reached to the end of her short skirt, over her dark green shirt. Around her waist she wore a black belt with a large blue plume attached. Accompanying her was a Gigobyte and her weapon was a staff, that had a clear gem in the form of a droplet resting on top. The gem started to shine brightly, Revolver Turtle got up and joined Rose her side, much to Joey's surprise.[ATK 500]
"See Joey, they easily leave your side, just like people if you are a little bit different and then they fall into darkness. I give up Eria the Water Charmer and your Revolver turtle, to call out Familiar-Possessed Eria." The two monsters dissolved into one, a teen version of Eria. She still wore the same cloths, with a ribbon bound around her arm. The Gigobyte was replaced by a Gagagigo.[ATK 1850]
"Now to gain power you need to risk losing, I activate Monster Gate. I tribute Gagagigo, flip over my top cards till I draw a monster. First card." Rose held up level conversion lab and put it into the graveyard slot.
"Second card." The new card was My Body as Shield, Rose frowned a bit as she shoved it into the graveyard slot.
"Third card" As soon as she held the card up, a gate appeared on the field. Through it a large bipedal reptile appeared, it slightly resembled Gagagigo, yet its skin colour had grown darker and his body had many parts covered by metal, the underarms seemed to be replaced by robotic arms and hands. Its entire face was covered in metal, his yellow eyes emitted eagerness for destruction. [ATK 2450]
"Giga Gagagigo, the corruption of the cute little critter has driven himself to a power hungry fiend. Now Eria, attack that ugly mess of a monster" Eria raised her staff and a blast of water washed away Skreech, suddenly her Gagagigo launched forward punching Joey in his stomach. In surprise he doubled over, gasping for air. [2950 LP]
"Eria deals piercing damage when she was special summoned by her effect." Rose smirked at Joey who straightened himself slowly breathing.
"That hit a lot harder the expected. Skreech monster effect, I get to send two Water monster to the grave." He grabbed two cards that stuck out from his deck and let them slide into his graveyard slot.
"Now, Giga Gagagigo, attack him directly. Dark World Surge!" Giga Gagagigo roared, rushed forward with his fist ready to punch, covered in a dark liquid. As it hit Joey, he fell onto the ground hard, grabbing his shoulder where the punch was delivered. Getting up he groaned, the attacks hit him harder then they normally should. [1500 LP]
"I set this and end my turn."
Joey – Rose
1500 LP – 2800 LP
"Draw, now kindly tell me what is going on here? The attacks hit for real, you are not the innocent girl you act like and..." Joey was interrupted by the laugh of Rose, it send shivers down his spine. He looked at his hand, there was very little what he could do. Finally he selected a spell card.
"I activate Reasoning, something what seems to be impossible with you. You call a number and I reveal the top cards of my deck till I draw a monster, if its the level you called it it gets send to the grave. But if you are wrong I can special summon it."
"Sounds you are trying something, I say level four." Joey revealed his top card, Moray of Greed, placed it in the graveyard and revealed his second card, Catapult Turtle.
"Sorry, this is a level five. Catapult Turtle is summoned in defence." The giant turtle with the the launching pad on his back appeared crouched down, immediately glowing by the effect of Defender's Mind [DEF 4000]
Joey took a moment to consider his next move, he had only one option to be able to defend himself if she managed to get rid of his Catapult Turtle, which seemed unlikely but he didn't trust the set cards. He wouldn't risk it.
"I summon Barrier Turtle in defence." A small turtle appeared, with a soft glow around it as if it had an extra shield protecting itself with. Again Defender's Mind took effect. [DEF 3000] With a nod he signalled the end of his turn.
Joey – Rose
1500 LP – 2800 LP
"So, you want to know what is going on? What if I say that you won't be able to handle it. They say knowledge is power but power does something else, it leads man down a path of darkness, corrupts them, wants them to have more of it. I will not reveal the truth of you, I cannot do that. Not because of your fragile mind, I'd love to break it. But because I have my orders I need to listen to. Now, I reveal my set card, Spirit Barrier." The trap card shot up, leaving Joey with a puzzled look.
"It's useless, I know, it is not like you are going to attack me. That is why I am getting rid of it. I activate Magic Planter. By destroying my Spirit Barrier, I draw two cards." The recently activated trap shattered and Rose drew two new cards.
"Now I will show someone who has walked down the path of corruption, finally obtained the power it needed but destroyed himself completely. I tribute my Familiar-Possessed Eria and Giga Gagagigo to tribute summon Gogiga Gagagigo." A more gigantic version of the already large Giga Gagagigo replaced the two monsters, the skin tone had taken more of a red tint. [ATK 2950]
"Now, I activate this, the equip spell, Stim-Pack, it increases the power of my Gogiga Gagagigo by 700 points, but its body can't take the strain and will lose power and decrease his attack by 200 every of my turns after this. Those who cannot handle it, power will break them. Now, Gogiga Gagagigo, finish of that Barrier Turtle. Corrupted Surge!" The monstrous reptile moved forward, surprisingly agile for its composure, launching it self forward on the small turtle.
"I activate Barrier Turtle's effect, once per turn I can negate an attack." The shining barrier around the turtle expanded, blocking the attack from the giant reptile but shattering in the process.
"I end my turn. This is almost the end for you."
Joey – Rose
1500 LP – 2800 LP
"We will just see about that." He drew the top card and quickly placed another card in his hand on his Duel Disk.
"I activate Salvage, I get to return two Water monsters from my grave to my hand. I will return my two Don Turtles." Two cards ejected from his graveyard.
"Yes, those were cards I send to the grave with Skreech. Now I summon Don Turtle, activating its effect and letting me summon as many as I can from my hand." The small turtle with the kanji on his shell appeared, with another appearing next to it.[ATK 1100] Suddenly the trap on Rose her side shot up.
"Before you try anything funny with that Catapult Turtle of yours, I send it back to your hand with Compulsory Evacuation Device." A strange machine appeared around Catapult Turtle and shot him out of the field. Joey looked a bit annoyed and selected a new card from his hand.
"I activate Double Summon, giving me an additional normal summon, so by tributing my Don Turtle I summon my Catapult Turtle again."One of the smaller Don Turtles was replaced by Catapult Turtle.
"Now for Catapult Turtle's effect, by launching my Don Turtle, I can deal half his attack as damage to you. Load and Fire!" The Don Turtle was placed on the launching pad and shot forward, hitting Rose and knocking her off her feet. [2250 LP]
"So you are back where you started, you have two monsters that can do nothing, no cards in your hand." Joey started laughing.
"Really, good thing I have my graveyard, I activate the effect of Support Turtle. By removing it, I can select a turtle and make it a tuner." Rose face turned grim at this news.
"That Support Turtle, you discarded it with Revolver Turtle."
"Got that right, now I make Catapult Turtle a tuner. I tune my level five Catapult Turtle to my level four Barrier Turtle." Catapult Turtle dissolved into 5 green rings which Barrier Turtle passed through, vanishing and turning into four stars.
"Living fortress of the seas, rise and defend.
Aim your arms at those who try to disrupt the peace of the oceans.
Synchro Summon!
Descend, Turtle Fortress – Bastion"
Behind Joey a gigantic turtle rose up, even Gogiga Gagagigo looked small in comparison. On the black turtle shell several cannons were placed, the head of the turtle swayed slowly in the direction of Rose, barely noticing her or her monster. He glowed with energy as Defender's Mind took effect [DEF 8000]
"8000 defence, that is impossible. That is almost impossible to pass over." Joey smirked and started to fish out monsters in his graveyard. Slowly the cannons on Bastions back started to move, taking aim.
"Bastion's effect is going to end it right now. By removing aqua or reptiles from my graveyard I get to deal 200 points of damage." Joey held up Barrier Turtle, two Don Turtles, Catapult Turtle, Revolver Turtle and . Rose started to laugh.
"Really, you are going to win by dealing me just 1000 points of damage. I think you skipped a few math classes."
"Oh you think that, for every monster removed that has Turtle in is name, it deals another 300 points of damage. So that makes a total of 2500, more then enough to whip out the rest of your life points. Now, Bastion, Final Cannon!" All the cannons released fire, Rose vanished in the smoke that surrounded her as her life point counter hit zero. Joey covered his own eyes and once it had all settled, Rose had disappeared. He looked around for a moment and then went inside, looking for one of the maids. Instead he ran into his friends.
"Hey Joey, we are all done. How was the duel with Rose? She going to be our reserve?" Will gave him a firm pat on the back. Joey smiled."No, I think she ran off when the duel ended I think. It was a strange thing." Laurence looked to Joey, about to ask what he meant but Joey shook his head."Let's go back, the pools should be announced by now."
"So, you did not went up in smoke by the end of the duel, little girl?" The large man stood next to the Rose, she looked up at him.
"Step aside, your damn axe will not do anything. I can turn your guts inside out three times before you even have the chance grab it, I do not have to answer to you." The man stepped aside, Rose continuing on her way, his hood shrouding his expression. Finally reaching her destination she opened the doors and stepped into the dark room.
"I assume that we have another confirmation." The voice echoed through the large room.
"Yes, Joey Spiller from Team Fortress. He seems like a pushover."
"Good, you kept also to your orders and did not reveal anything. Though you have pressed some buttons."
"Yes, of course, if he got my message right, he will descend down that path." A laugh echoed through the room.
"A fallen hero, how novel. If someone can do it, it is you. Now go. Wait for your instructions." Rose turned around and left the room.
~Key card: Gagagigo~
Marie: Nicole, what are you up to now?
Nicole: Nothing, this guy came out of nowhere claiming he needed to speak to you.
Marie: A random stranger and you don't suspect anything? Battle of the Elements Avalanching Earth! This is ridiclous.
Author Note: So finally here, I hadn't forgotten about it. Uni life has been really busy and I used writing to relax a bit from the studying. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, despite the duel not being the best. Once again, I do not own any credits for the Turtle cards. An anonymous contributer. yes its the same guy who designed Noble God Sparrow and Hurricane Wing Dragon and actually takes credit for the whole plot idea.