Part 91: Vampires VS Beasts

"And who might you be?" the victor said, grinning. He had a messy mop of brown hair and wore spectacles. His clothes were a white tunic and black leather pants. Mounted on his left arm was silver Duel Disk.

"The name's Shadow," Shadowcobra introduced himself. "And you?"

"People call me Ratso," he chuckled. "How much do you wager?"

Shadowcobra pulled out a sack of gold coins. "All of these. A total of 200 gold coins." He dropped the coins to the ground.

"Is he crazy?" Robin remarked.

"Maybe. He may not be rational in human terms, but he is still sane. He also has a lot of faith in his deck," Draco told Robin.

"That, or he's crazy," Beast Boy added. Cyborg nodded.

"It's about to start," Pluto said.

Shadowcobra summoned his cobra scepter and it immediately morphed into a purple Duel Disk. The device mounted itself to his left arm. It had a purple cobra motif. He pulled his deck out of the folds of his cloak and inserted it into the deck slot. The LP meter immediately shot up to 8000.

Ratso inserted his deck into his Duel Disk and smiled. His LP meter also shot up to 8000.

"DUEL!" both Duelists shouted, drawing five cards.

"I'll start. Draw," Shadowcobra drew a card and immediately added it to his hand. "I'll summon Pyramid Turtle (1200/1400)" Shadowcobra's monster was a huge turtle. Instead of a shell, a pyramid rested on its back. "I'll also place a card facedown on the field." Another card appeared behind the monster.

Ratso sneered, "Such a weak creature!" he drew a card. "I'll summon Gazzelle, the King of Mythical Beasts! (1500/1200)" Ratso's monster was a lion-like creature with a horn on its head. "Attack!" he ordered and the monster charged, ripping Shadowcobra's creature to shreds.

Shadowcobra: 7700 LP (8000-300)

Ratso: 8000 LP

"Look like I'm in the lead," Ratso smirked confidently.

"Sure about that?" Shadowcobra countered. His facedown card flipped up to reveal…

"A TRAP?" Ratso exclaimed, surprised.

"Yes. My Michizure Trap Card activates when I lose a monster. It will then destroy one of my opponent's monsters!" a hand shot out of the Trap Card and grabbed hold of Gazelle. It then shattered the monster. Ratso growled in anger.

"Also, when you destroyed my Pyramid Turtle, you activated its special ability, which allows me to summon a zombie type monster to take its place, as long as the monster has a defense of 2000 or below," Shadowcobra explained as a he looked through his deck. "So I'll summon this!"

"This is one of Shadowcobra's favorite cards," Draco explained to the three Titans.

"My Vampire Lord! (2000/1500)" Shadowcobra's monster was a vampire with blue hair and dressed like Dracula, complete with a flowing cape.

"No!" Ratso protested. "I'll place a card facedown and end my turn."

Shadowcobra drew a card. "I'll place a card facedown and attack with my Vampire Lord!" the Vampire lunged forward.

"Activate Scapegoat!" Ratso activated a magic card and his field filled up with 4 cute sheep-like monsters (0/0). The Vampire Lord bit down on one of the Scapegoats and sucked it dry, killing it. The crowd grimaced.

"No matter how many times I see Shadowcobra do that, It still creeps me out," Draco spat.

"Ditto," Pluto agreed.

Shadowcobra raised an eyebrow. "Very well, Ratso. I'll end my turn."

Ratso drew a card and immediately activated it. "I'll activate Fissure! Now say goodbye to your Lord!" A crevice appeared under the Vampire Lord's feet and he fell in. The crevice closed up and crushed it. Shadowcobra did not seem panicked.

"I'll also summon my Giant Rat in attack mode! (1400/1450)" the summoned creature took the form of a blue rat with glowing yellow eyes and holding a skull. "Attack!" the rat darted forward and took a bite out of Shadowcobra's shoulder. Shadowcobra flinched.

Shadowcobra: 6300 LP

Ratso: 8000 LP

"I'll end my turn!" Ratso smirked.

Shadowcobra drew a card and smiled. "Remember my Vampire Lord?" Shadowcobra asked Ratso.

"Yeah. So?" Ratso retorted.

Suddenly, a coffin burst out of the ground. The lid of the coffin opened up to reveal the Vampire Lord.

"But how? Wasn't his monster destroyed?" Robin asked in disbelief.

"Vampire Lord has the ability to rise back from the Graveyard in the player's next standby phase if it was destroyed by magic, trap, or monster effect," Pluto explained.

"Damn! That thing is like a creepy Energizer Bunny!" Cyborg added.

"It keeps going and going and going," Beastboy finished.

"Now, I'll equip my Vampire Lord with the magic card, Fairy Meteor Crush, which allows me to damage your Life Points even if your monster is in defense mode. Now Vampire Lord! Attack his Scapegoat!"

The Vampire Lord obeyed and sucked another sheep dry, decreasing Ratso's Life Points.

Shadowcobra: 6300 LP

Ratso: 6000 LP

"And when my Vampire deals damage, I can name a card type and discard it from your deck to your Graveyard. I choose Magic!" Shadowcobra stated. Ratso, disgruntled, dropped the card from his deck into his Graveyard. "I'll also place a card facedown and end my turn."

Ratso drew a new card. He smiled. "I'll activate Dark Hole! This sends all our monsters to the Graveyard!" a giant black hole opened up on the field and sucked all of the creatures in. "I'll place one card facedown and a monster in facedown defense mode. End turn."

"That won't help!" Shadowcobra drew a card "My Vampire Lord comes back whenever it is destroyed by Magic!" As he said so, the Vampire Lord rose up from the ground. "Attack!" The Vampire Lord charged, but was blocked by a barrier. "What?"

"Sorry, Shadow," mocked Ratso. "My Spirit Tiger has more than enough Defense points to block your attack (0/2100)" the spirit tiger was a tiger made of blue flames, crouched down in a defensive position.

Shadowcobra: 6200 LP

Ratso: 6000 LP

Shadowcobra hissed. "I place a card facedown and end my turn."

Ratso grinned. Drawing a card, his grin grew wider. I'll summon my Panther Warrior!" The monster that rose up was a panther humanoid wearing armor, a green cape and armed with a saber and shield (2000/1600) "I'll activate my facedown card, Shrink, and use it on the Vampire Lord!" Shadowcobra frowned as his monster lost half of its Attack Points (1000)

"Isn't that your card?" Robin asked Draco, remembering the card he used in his Duel against Dagger. Draco nodded

"I sacrifice my Spirit Tiger so that Panther Warrior can attack!" The Spirit Tiger was absorbed into the Panther Warrior and the mighty Beast Warrior attacked the Vampire, slicing it in half.

Shadowcobra: 5200 LP

Ratso: 6000 LP

"I'll place a card facedown and end my turn," declared Ratso.

No monsters…Shadowcobra thought with a frown as he drew his card. "I'll place a card facedown and end my turn."

"This is bad!" Shadowcobra doesn't have any monsters to protect him!" Draco said

"My turn!" Ratso drew a card. "I'll summon another Giant Rat to join my Panther Warrior!" the monster appeared next to the Panther creature. "Then I'll activate my facedown card, Poison Fang! Now when every time a Beast-type monster does damage to your Life Points, you'll get another 500 points of damage!"

"I'm thrilled," Shadowcobra drawled, sarcastically.

"Attack!" the Giant Rat bit down on Shadowcobra's arm.

Shadowcobra: 3300 LP

Ratso: 6000 LP

"Not feeling good?" Ratso asked, mockingly.

Shadowcobra held onto his arm. "Make your move!" he commanded, gritting his teeth.

"Very well. I sacrifice my Giant Rat so my Panther Warrior can attack!" Like the tiger before, the rat disappeared and was absorbed by Panther Warrior. With a roar, the warrior slashed across Shadowcobra's chest.

Shadowcobra: 5300 LP

Ratso: 6000 LP

"What?" Ratso was shocked. "How come your Life Points are higher now?"

"Because I activated my Nutrient Z Trap Card. It adds 4000 points to my Life Points if I am to be damaged by 2000 points," Shadowcobra explained, smirking.

"That was close," Pluto sighed.

"Tell me about it. I thought I was gonna have a heart attack," Draco said.

"So, Shadow is still in the game?" Robin asked.

"Very much," answered Draco.

"That was cool how he activated that Trap in nick of time. Booyah!" Cyborg remarked.

"That snake has more tricks up his scales than I thought," Beast Boy grinned.

The girls heard the commotion and walked through the crowd.

"What's going on?" Raven asked Beast Boy, causing him to jump.

"Shadow's dueling," he answered.

"What?" she looked at Shadowcobra in disbelief. He looks so confident

"Robin, will Shadowcobra be the victor?" asked Starfire.

"I don't know, Star," Robin answered, uncertain.

"Man! Another Duel!" Terra said.

"At least not so intense," Jinx added.

"Well, just hope he does win. Shadowcobra put down 200 gold coins just for this duel," Draco said.

"He's gambling?" Raven exclaimed, surprised.

"In a way. Dueling is a legal way of doing so," Draco informed her.

"Hey, Shadowcobra's making his next move!" Pluto said, catching the other's attention. Blackfire watched with interest.

Shadowcobra drew a card. "My turn. Now, I'll activate my facedown card, Call of the Haunted! To revive my Vampire Lord!"

Ratso sneered. "Humph! Your monster and mine has the same amount of Attack Points! They'd both be destroyed!"

"Really? Then I'll activate the Field Magic Card! Dark Zone!" the field suddenly became as dark as night, mist surrounding the two Duelists. "This Field Magic card will grant 500 extra attack points to any and all Dark monsters on the Field, with a small Defense cost."

Vampire Lord (2500/1100)

"Next I'll summon my Vampire Lady to join him!" a female version of the Vampire Lord appeared, wearing a gothic dress. (1550/1550) "She now receives 500 attack points from my Field Magic Card. (2050/1150)"

"Oh no!"

"ATTACK MY VAMPIRES!" the Vampire duo charged. The Vampire Lord destroyed the Panther Warrior with a bite on the throat. This was followed by Vampire Lady, doing the same to Ratso.

Shadowcobra: 5300 LP

Ratso: 3450 LP

"And you must discard two cards in your deck to the Graveyard. I choose both Trap and Magic Cards. I end my turn!" Shadowcobra folded his arms.

Ratso drew his card and his eyes widened with glee. "I'll activate Pot of Greed and draw two cards." He drew two new cards. "Now I'll summon my strongest creature. I activate Polymerization to combine the Des Kangaroo and Big Koala to become…" Ratso activated the magic card and two of his hand cards glowed. The cards shattered and reconfigured to form a giant beast.

"Is that…"-Draco

"Woah…"-Pluto

"That's a big bear,"-Cyborg

"It's green like me!"-Beast Boy

"Wouldn't like to meet that on a stormy night."-Raven

"…"-Robin.

"How cute!"-Starfire

"Are those boxing gloves?"-Terra.

"That is the weirdest creature I have ever seen."-Blackfire.

"MY MASTER OF OZ!" (4200/3700)

To be continued…

Dark Zone is also known as Mystic Plasma Zone in the English Version. I just think "Dark Zone" sounds better.