Creation began on 08-21-15
Creation ended on 08-08-16
Yu-Gi-Oh!
The Fall of Ra: Light in Defeat
A/N: Here goes nothing with this chapter.
Yugi had to admit that Joey was making him rethink his strategies every time he thought he had an edge against him. Even though neither of them had summoned their Egyptian God Cards, the battle between them had gone to extremes. But he wasn't going to give up just yet. The fate of the world depended upon him winning the tournament, and even Joey knew it.
I may have to go defensive for the time being, he thought, looking at the cards in hand.
"Say, Yuge?" Joey uttered to his friend. "I expect nothing but your best."
Yugi smirked and drew a new card from his Deck.
"I play the Magic Card Pot of Greed!" He declared, and drew two more cards from his Deck. "Next, I play Watapon in defense mode. Also, since I used Pot of Greed to play Watapon, it counts as a special summon, so I can normal summon another monster. So I play Obnoxious Celtic Guard in defense mode."
In front of him were two new monsters to protect his Life Points. One was a small, pinkish creature that looked like some sort of childish hairball, while the other looked like the Celtic Guardian, but it seemed different from before, like it had gained more strength or an advantage. And Joey knew why; even if he attacked it with Gilford, it wouldn't be destroyed because of its special effect to negate attacks from anything with nineteen-hundred points or more, and Gilford was among his strongest monsters. But he could destroy Watapon.
He's gotta be trying to gather enough monsters to summon one of his Egyptian God Cards, he thought, looking down at the Winged Dragon of Ra. Not if I can stop him.
He played a new card that surprised Yugi: Card Destruction, which forced both of them to discard their hand and replace them with a new hand.
"Aah!" He gasped, and threw his cards into the discard pile. "Well played, Joey, but I don't see how this helps you."
"With a new hand comes a new series of unpredictability, Yuge," Joey explained. "The game is always changing. You can't tell what could happen."
He's right about that, Yugi thought, looking at his new cards, seeing very few that were useful right now. My Monster Reborn. I can use this to bring back my Dark Magician.
My Winged Dragon of Ra may be in the Graveyard, but now I have the edge to compensate for the loss.
He then played two cards face-down and had his Gilford destroy Watapon, leaving Yugi with only his Obnoxious Celtic Guard.
"Your move, Yuge," he told him.
Yugi drew a new card and saw that it was his Dark Magician Girl, but even with his Dark Magician in the Graveyard, her attack factor would only be twenty-three-hundred. Fortunately, he had his Magic Formula card, which would boost her to twenty-eight-hundred, which would have resulted in a standoff between the two monsters. But did he dare sacrifice his only defense at the moment for such offense?
I'll try something different, he decided, and played a different monster face-down. He might not attack, thinking it's an Effect Monster.
This seems like a job for my Rocket Warrior, Joey thought, summoning said monster. "Attack his face-down monster!"
The rocket-themed fighter turned into a literal rocket and flew towards the holographic card representing the defense monster Yugi played. An explosion occurred…and the card was flipped, revealing the enemy creature to be a wolf, disintegrating into holographic dust because it was too weak to defend.
A Silver Fang? I'm surprised he still kept that in his Deck. Joey thought, since Silver Fang was a relatively weak beast with only eight-hundred defense points.
"It doesn't look like Joey can be fooled into avoiding potential danger," went Duke.
"He defeated someone who had a monster that was the most powerful ever a while ago," said Tristan. "It wouldn't be unusual for anyone to feel a sense of invincibility."
Now Yugi felt troubled by turn of events in the Duel. The demise of Silver Fang meant that Joey wasn't afraid to attack a hidden monster. Drawing his next card, he found it to be his Spellbinding Circle, which he then set down; since Joey demonstrated a willingness to attack unknown monsters at the moment, he hoped that he would be tempted to do so again.
"I play King's Knight in defense mode," he declared, and the new creature appeared on the field.
Unfortunately, Joey wasn't going to fall for this maneuver, even if it was tempting. As he drew his newest card, he summoned it to the field.
"Axe Raider in attack mode," he declared, and ended his turn. "Bring it, Yuge."
Fortunately, because his King's Knight wasn't attacked and destroyed, Yugi now had a tribute for his Dark Magician Girl.
"I sacrifice my King's Knight to summon Dark Magician Girl! Then, I strengthen her with my Magic Formula card!"
Joey saw the female magician become empowered by the mysterious book that appeared in front of her, along with the power boost she received from the fallen magician in Yugi's Graveyard, bringing her to the same attack factor as his Gilford, but he suspected that he wasn't on the hit list at the moment.
"Dark Magician Girl, attack the Axe Raider!" Yugi commanded, at the magician went for the axe-wielding warrior.
"I don't think so!" Joey declared. "Reveal Trap Card! Fairy Box!"
All three monsters on his side of the field were replaced by a large box with several holes at the top, and the magician attacked the box…but failed to attack any monsters, who were spared.
"Sorry, Yuge, but I couldn't risk you wouldn't try and attack my monsters. Or at least the weaker ones without an incentive."
"Very clever, Joey. You'll go far in future duels."
Joey drew his next card and felt like celebrating a little.
"I'll lay this card face-down and have Axe Raider attack your Obnoxious Celtic Guard," he declared; since Axe Raider was under nineteen-hundred, he could destroy the elf swordsman without fear of its special ability.
Yugi had no cards to protect his elf swordsman, and was forced to watch it be reduced to atoms, reducing him to just his Dark Magician Girl; he didn't want to risk using his Spellbinding Circle unless it was against Joey's stronger monsters.
"And with that, I'll end my turn," Joey expressed.
Yugi drew a new card, and placed it face-down.
As soon as he attacks with Gilford, I'll activate Spellbinding Circle to immobilize it, he thought, waiting for the opportunity to come.
"Do your worst, Joey," he informed him.
"You're gonna wish you hadn't said that," Joey responded, and flipped a face-down card, revealing it to be Exchange.
"Oh!" Yugi gasped; he hadn't been expecting that card to be played.
"You know what happens now, Yuge," Joey told him. "Unless you have a way to get around this, we both have to exchange a card from our hands."
Yugi then walked to the middle of the arena, waiting for Joey to meet him there.
Joey came over and both duelists revealed their hands to the other.
"You first," Yugi declared, seeing that there were no cards that could aid him in this situation.
Joey examined Yugi's hand…and saw a card he fancied at the moment.
"I'll take this card," he expressed, and took Obelisk, the Tormentor from his hand.
"Very well, then," Yugi accepted, and then took the Magic Card Salamandra from Joey's hand.
Exchange also allowed Joey to take a peek at Yugi's potential strategies with the cards in his hand. He noticed how Yugi had a Field Magic Card called Yami, which, like Umi, would have raised the attack and defense of any Dark Monsters by two-hundred points. He could have taken that card, but he chose Obelisk to reduce Yugi's chances of getting the better of him. Even with Ra in his Graveyard, he now had another Egyptian God Card to use.
"Do you believe in there being light in defeat?" He asked Yugi.
"Only for those that seek out the light," was Yugi's response.
"I thought as much. Now, I'll have Gilford attack your Dark Magician Girl!"
"What? But they're of equal strength right now," said Serenity. "Won't they destroy each other?"
"Yeah, that's right," answered Tristan. "What is Joey thinking?"
"Reveal Trap Card!" Yugi announced, flipping his face-down card. "Spellbinding Circle!"
A magical circle appeared around Gilford and entrapped him, immobilizing him and keeping him in check, unable to attack or change his position for as long as the card was active.
"Well, that was a bad move," went Joey, not the slightest bit unnerved by this turn of events. "I may not be able to attack with Gilford, but I'm pretty sure I've removed your defenses to counter my efforts."
Yugi couldn't believe this. His opponent used his strongest monster on the field in order to deprive him of his Trap Card on purpose. But what sparked his curiosity was why Joey didn't sacrifice his three monsters to summon Obelisk when he had the necessary number of tributes. And he didn't see the Winged Dragon of Ra in his hand at the time of Exchange being played, which either meant that he hadn't drawn it yet…or it was sent to the Graveyard where it remained buried until it was made to rise from the ashes.
Maybe there's light before defeat, he thought; he was hoping that Joey hadn't had time to draw the Egyptian God Card from his deck yet, as it would allow him to quickly disable an attempt to summon it to the field.
He had done the math, and if Joey had drawn the Winged Dragon of Ra and sacrificed his disabled Gilford, Axe Raider and Rocket Warrior to summon it to the field, he'd be facing a powerhouse of six-thousand attack points!
To be continued…
A/N: I'll end it here until the next chapter. This from being rushed just to update the story before a whole year had passed by.