Long chapter ahead but, hey, it's an update! Next one won't be for a while because we're still working out the details of the duels in the next chapter. Also...I should really get to work on the duels for the chapter after next.
Bakura: and, as usual, you got distracted by watching anime and writing your Code Geass fics
Well that too. On that note, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions was great, even if the plot was a little confusing but I still enjoyed it a lot, and I, officially, have a new favorite Yu-Gi-Oh villain, and new favorite character. Aigami/Diva is awesome!
Bakura: but not as great as the wonderful me
I can't argue that, even if it did take you five seasons to put your plan into action.
Bakura: …shut up
Hey, I ain't lying. Anyway, Misha and I would like to thank Guest (both of them), Phantasys, Knotfairy, Drahjan, Fantasymaker76, JD98, decode9, reven228, Kamen Rider Necrom, and ShadowSpirt020 for reviewing the last chapter. You guys are great.
I hope that you enjoy this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.
24
Taking Domino by Storm
In the outskirts of Domino City, deep inside a dark mountain cavern, stood a shrine maiden with long black hair in front of a makeshift altar carved into a rocky wall, the only source of light emanating from the burning candles before her as she meditated in silence, waiting for those she had summoned to arrive.
In a gust of icy wind and a bolt of lightning, two cloaked men appeared behind the shrine maiden, bowing down on one knee.
"You have called for us, Master Sarina?" the one on the left asked.
"So, you have come, Frost? Thunder?" the woman mused without even sparing her acolytes a glance and proceed to get straight to the point. "Jaden Yuki and the others have arrived in the city of Domino today. The two of you are to mobilize in an effort to lure Jaden to us."
"I don't mean to challenge your words, but I, alone, am enough for such a task," the first man spoke up.
"That should be myline," his companion argued.
"You are not. I believe Master Sartorius has informed the two of you about their extraordinary power," the woman known as Sarina reminded them, dismissing their foolish idea of taking on their mission alone. "You mustbear that in mind to ensure that you do not underestimate them."
"Yes," both men responded, bowing their heads.
The woman then produced two white envelopes from her hakama and tossed them to her subordinates. "Here. Take these with you."
The duo caught their respective envelopes and opened them, soon finding that each contained a Duel Monsters card known as Mirror of Duality.
"Use those when your powers are not enough against them," Sarina instructed with a smirk, her back still turned. "Now be gone."
The two men spared each other a brief glance before bowing to their master once more and then instantly vanished in the same manner in which they had arrived.
. . .
In another part of the city, Chazz, Kasumi, and Alexis were standing next to a car that Sartorius had just climbed into. Sartorius turned to the group. "Well, then, Kasumi, Chazz, you are to assist her," he said.
"Yes, sir. Leave it to us," Kasumi said with a bow and walked away.
"How do you suggest we handle Jaden Yuki and Aster Phoenix?" Alexis asked.
"Let us leave them be," Sartorius said.
"And Raiden Yuki?" Chazz asked, remembering that Sartorius had started taking an interest in Raiden as well.
"Him as well," Sartorius said. "She should handle the rest well."
The window then rolled up and Sartorius's car drove away.
. . .
Wandering down the streets of Domino, Jaden, Raiden, Arina, Hassleberry, and Syrus, were still taking their self-guided tour led by the two aforementioned Ras, who had been continuously trying to one-up one another with their Battle City knowledge in an attempt to vie for Jaden's recognition.
"Jaden! Over here, over here!" Syrus exclaimed excitedly as they reached the pier. "This is where—"
"—Yugi dueled Joey, who'd been brainwashed by Marik Ishtar!" Hassleberry interrupted, pushing the cyan-haired Ra aside.
Syrus glared at him, annoyed. "Hold on, Hassleberry! I'mthe one doing the guiding, so don't butt in!"
"Yeah, right!" the dino duelist snorted. "I'm the only one qualified to be the Sarge's guide."
"Says the guy who got his butt kicked by me," Syrus countered, crossing his arms as he gave a smug smirk.
Hassleberry gritted his teeth and balled his hand into a fist at that reminder. "Talk about sticking onto that one match.I'mwinning next time!"
"Humph! You'll be eating those words!"
"How'd you like to eat a knuckle sandwich?!"
By that point, the two Ras looked just about ready to jump one another, leading Arina to physically come between them in an effort to break up their quarrel. "Guys, guys! There's no need to fight, is there?" she tried reasoning. "I mean, why can't the two of you be guides? Both of you were doing a pretty good job at it before, after all."
The only response the Obelisk girl got was the two Ras huffing and stubbornly turning their back on each other, their arms crossed.
Arina just sighed and rolled her eyes. "Boys..."
At a time like this, Jaden normally would have said something to try to make his friends all get along, but his mind was in another place as he stared at the pier and the ocean, shivering at the memory of his duel against Kaage, which was very similar to Yugi's duel against Joey, now that he thought about it.
Raiden placed a hand on Jaden's shoulder, pulling him out of the flashback he had unintentionally been falling into.
"Why don't we head out someplace else?" he suggested. "Have any ideas?"
Jaden thought for a moment before his face lit up in a smile. "Yeah. I think I know the perfect place..."
. . .
After several more minutes of walking, the gang finally arrived in front of a moderately sized two story building with a green roof and a sign that read "GAME" on the storefront.
"Wow! So this is the famous Kame Game shop, where theYugi Mutou grew up," Arina marveled at the site alongside the boys.
"We are so not worthy to be standing here right now," Raiden joked.
"Yugi! So, you've come back?"
At that moment the door to the shop opened up and out came a short old man dressed in pair of dark green overalls over a white, long sleeved shirt, and a black bandana over his head.
He looked around and sighed. "Hmm... I thought it might have been Yugi..."
Syrus gasped. "Isn't that..."
"...the legendary..." Hassleberry continued.
"It's Yugi's dedushka!" Arina blurted out in realization.
"That's Domino City for ya! It's full of legends," Jaden grinned as they walked up to him. "Uh, sir?"
The elderly man turned to look at them. "Hmm?"
"We wanted to ask you a question..." Raiden started.
"Are you Mr. Solomon Mutou?" Syrus asked.
"The one who wrote this book?" Hassleberry added, holding up his guide book.
"Yes, I'm Solomon Mutou," he confirmed.
"Uh... Is Yugi home right now?" Jaden asked.
"Yugi's gone off on a journey at the moment. I don't know where he might be," Solomon replied as he gazed up at the sky. "There was a mysterious aura within Yugi. I thought I'd felt it just now..."
Jaden and the others looked at each other, silently wondering if Yugi's grandfather had somehow sensed the Supreme King powers Jaden harbored.
Solomon then turned back to the students. "But who are you all?"
"We're students from Duel Academy," Jaden introduced. "We're in this city right now for our field trip!"
"Oh! Duel Academy! I've heard rumors about that place!" Solomon recalled. "Well, Yugi isn't here, but you're welcome inside to take a look around."
"Sure!"
. . .
Once inside the shop, the five students began looking around at the cards on display.
While they were looking, a startled exclamation from Raiden drew Jaden's attention. He turned to find his brother leaning over one of the cases, his eyes wide with excitement.
"I can't believe it's here! I've been looking for this card since it was released, but have never been able to find it," Raiden said and looked up at Solomon, who had moved to stand behind the counter. "How much?"
"That's a pretty rare card," Solomon noted, reaching into the display case and pulling the card out before showing it to Raiden. "I'll sell it for two thousand."
"Deal!" Raiden fished out the yen he would need and handed it over before happily taking the card.
"This is an amazing collection you have, Mr. Mutou," Arina admired. "I can tell you really love Duel Monsters."
"Well, thank you," the elderly man replied proudly. "Oh, but now that I think about it, something strange happened a while ago that caused the cards' pictures to fade away. It really had me scared back then."
"If you're talking about the same incident I think you are, that got straightened by my pal over here in a duel," Hassleberry proclaimed, pointing to Jaden.
"You didn't even see it..." Syrus muttered under his breath.
Solomon gasped and turned to the Slifer. "Oh? You did it?"
"Huh? Well, my sister helped," Jaden confessed.
"Still, Jaden—who is my best friend—is the best duelist at Duel Academy!" Syrus insisted.
"In that case, I should do something in return, shouldn't I?" Solomon reasoned. "I know! How about I show you youngsters around the city?"
"That'd be great! Thanks," Jaden said with a bright smile.
. . .
Solomon first led the gang to a plaza with a large decorative clock that served as its main landmark.
"And it was right here that the legendary Battle City Tournament began."
All of them looked around, excited, while Hassleberry commented, "I know! This is the spot where Yugi faced his first Rare Hunter to win back Joey's Red-Eyes Black Dragon that had been stolen."
Jaden looked around, imagining how it must have been here during Battle City and wishing he had been old enough to actually participate in it back then.
Up next, they traveled over to man-made river, where another legendary duel had taken place.
"And this is where Yugi dueled Strings in order to obtain the Egyptian God Card Slifer the Sky Dragon," Solomon said, gesturing to the area by the canal.
"That was an awesome duel, from what I've read about it," Raiden said with a grin. "I mean, that Infinite Hand Combo that Strings pulled off and how Yugi managed to counter it was amazing."
"He didn't use Slifer until his first match of the Quarter Finals, right?" Syrus recalled.
"Yeah, against Bakura, if I remember right," Jaden said with a nod. "He told me about that duel when we were in Hawaii." That was one of the better memories of his time in Honolulu. "Still, I wish I could have been there to see those duels for myself..."
"Me, too," Arina agreed.
"Well, there are still a lot more places where Yugi dueled, so shall we get going?" Solomon suggested.
Jaden and his friends nodded before they started to run with Solomon behind them, while he slowly began to fall behind.
Solomon looked towards them with a smile. "Honestly, they really are energetic youngsters..." he mused. "But still, it would mean that Yugi's become that much of an inspiration to everyone."
Suddenly, he heard something behind him. He turned around to see a young man with purple hair before he felt a surge of electricity hit him and collapsed on the ground. The stranger then lifted him up over his shoulder and vanished.
. . .
A few moments later, Jaden and the others stopped when they had realized that Solomon was no longer with them.
"Uh-oh. It looks like we lost Mr. Mutou, guys," Arina said.
"Maybe we shouldn't have gotten so excited and taken off like that..." Raiden frowned.
Jaden looked at everyone. "Let's split up and look for him."
The others nodded in agreement and then each ran off in different directions to search for the elderly man.
. . .
At the same time, in that dark cavern in the mountains, the shrine maiden Sarina—still standing before her candle-lit alter—held her hands as she chanted, "Guardians of thunder, rain and hail, fire, and earth, use your power to form a barrier around this land, and keep the spirits trapped within!"
At her words, an inexplicable wind blew through the cave and snuffed out all the candles, prompting the woman to smirk.
. . .
Back in Domino City, large dark clouds suddenly rolled in, plunging the sky in darkness.
Jaden looked up at the sky with a troubled expression, able to sense that something wasn't right.
"What's going on here? I mean, it was sunny just a moment ago..."
At that moment Winged Kuriboh appeared next to him and cooed.
Jaden looked at him. "What's that? You're saying Duel Spirits are doing this?"
Yubel and Haou appeared next to him as well.
'Of course. Can't you see them up there?' Haou scoffed, golden eyes trained on something in the sky.
Jaden gazed back up and soon spotted four armored monster spirits surrounding the four corners of the city.
"Who are they, and what are they doing?"
'They're ancient duel spirits and they're creating a barrier around the city meant to prevent us spirits from leaving it,' Yubel explained.
"So what can we do about it?"
'Take out the ones controlling them, naturally,' answered Haou.
"But the only question now is who's controlling them?" Jaden wondered.
. . .
In another part of the city, Syrus, Hassleberry, and Arina were still looking for Solomon Mutou, but had thus far come up empty handed. They met back up around the streets again.
"Did you find Mr. Mutou?" Arina asked.
"Negative," Hassleberry replied, shaking his head.
Syrus looked around, trying to find places they might have missed. "In that case, I'll look that way, so, Hassleberry, you'll—"
"Hey, first off, quit telling me what to do!" the dino duelist interrupted him. "Upperclassman or not, you've got no right to order me around!"
"What?!" the other Ra questioned, glaring. "You know you lost to me!"
"I've been quiet about it until now, but that match was a draw."
"Huh?"
"I thought you'd feel worse if I beat you back then, so I went easy on you," Hassleberry revealed before a smug smirk crossed his face. "If I was going all-out, there's no way I'd have lost!"
"If that's the case, let's settle it all right here!" Syrus growled.
"I'd love to!"
"Not again..." Arina sighed as the two Ras continued to glare daggers at each other.
At that moment, some sort of projectile coming towards them caught Arina's attention from the corner of her eye, prompting the Obelisk girl to dart out her hand and grasp it in mid-flight.
"What is that?" Syrus wondered, he and Hassleberry stopping their feud long enough to notice the mysterious object Arina was now holding.
"It's frozen stiff, but it's Mr. Mutou's bandanna," Arina identified, her fingers starting to feel a bit numb as she held the frigid cloth, wondering how it wound up in such a state and what became of its owner.
Suddenly, they turned to see Chazz walking up to them.
"Chazz!"
"Earlier, I was asked by a weird pair to tell you this: If you want to get the owner of that bandanna back, go to the roof of that building," the Society of Light member relayed, pointing to a large skyscraper off in the distance.
"You mean all the way up there?" Syrus questioned.
Chazz gave a curt nod and then took off without another word, but not before sparing a sidelong glance at Arina as he passed by.
She stared after him longingly, hating that they had to be on opposing sides and, after deciding that she didn't want to stay quiet about it any longer, ran off after him.
"Wait, Arina! Where are you going?" she heard Syrus call after her.
The blonde momentarily stopped to look back at the two Ras. "You two go on without me. I'll catch up later!"
And with that, she was gone, leaving Syrus and Hassleberry on their own.
"So, about what Chazz said earlier... Does that mean that the old man was kidnapped?" Hassleberry wondered.
"Of course he was!" the shorter Ra shouted. "We'll have to hold off our score-settling until later. I'm going to go save Mr. Mutou!"
"Hey, wait for me!" Hassleberry called after him, both now sprinting towards the skyscraper in the heart of the city.
. . .
Both Ras made it to the top of the skyscraper and looked around, though they found no trace of Solomon.
"He's not here..." Syrus observed.
"Hey, wait a sec..." Hassleberry stared as he took notice of the center of the rooftop, where a giant, four-squared glass skylight was located. "I recognize this place. This is where Yugi and Seto Kaiba formed a dream tag-team to duel against two of Marik's Rare Hunters and gained their last locator cards for the Battle City Finals!"
"And look! There are two duel disks at the center of it!" the cyan-haired Ra pointed out as he and Hassleberry ran over to pick them up.
"You know, back then, there were bombs set up under these..." Hassleberry stated, remembering how he had read somewhere that the stakes of that duel involved a bomb blowing up the glass beneath any duelist whose Life Points hit zero, so that they'd fall to their deaths.
"So, you mean here?" Syrus gulped as he and Hassleberry looked down at the center of the skylight, but soon wished that they hadn't when they noticed two Life Point counters strapped to the other side of the glass, that just so happened to be connected to several sticks of what appeared to be dynamite.
"It's a bomb!" they gasped in shock.
"Careful. Don't make any sudden moves," a male voice mockingly advised them.
"You'll go out with a bang if you get away from there," another cackled from the opposite direction.
Both Ras turned around so they had their backs towards each other in order to face the newcomers.
Across from Hassleberry was a shady-looking guy with short brown hair and a goatee wearing a gray beanie, jeans, and what looked like a winter jacket over a red undershirt, while Syrus stared down a purple-haired weirdo with yellow lightning-bolt-esque eyebrows, who wore a pair of jeans and a purple jacket over a white t-shirt. They both had duel disks strapped to their left arms.
"Who are you?"
"Identity yourselves!"
The one with the cap chuckled when he heard Hassleberry's forceful tone. "Chill out. The name's Frost."
"And I'm Thunder," his companion introduced himself.
"Where's Mr. Mutou?!" Syrus demanded, narrowing his eyes at Thunder, who he assumed was one of Solomon's kidnappers.
"He was never even here," Thunder revealed. "He's exhausted in some alley."
"I'd be more worried about yourselves, because, as it turns out, we from the Society of Light have to look after you two," Frost added as he and Thunder jumped up on the glass skylight in front of them.
"Are you two working for Sartorius?" Hassleberry questioned.
"Well, something like that," Thunder shrugged. "It would be best if you give into the Society of Light like good little boys."
"And what if we say 'no'?" Syrus challenged.
"We'll settle it with these," both men answered, showing off their duel disks as they whirled to life.
"It'd be my pleasure!" Syrus and Hassleberry declared as they strapped on their borrowed disks and turned them on as well.
"In that case, why don't we have at it?" Frost smirked as all players drew their opening hands.
"And since Frost and I aren't exactly big on sharing, we'll all be dueling with separate Life Points in this tag duel," Thunder added. "Now let's go!"
"Duel!" all four yelled.
Frost: 8000 + Thunder: 8000
Hassleberry: 8000 + Syrus: 8000
"I'll go first. I draw!" Frost declared, drawing his sixth card and then immediately played another one from his hand. "I activate the Continuous Spell, Side Attack. This card was made exclusively for tag duels. Due to its effect, you two are only able to attack the opponent that you're facing."
Both Ras looked straight at their opposing player, Hassleberry staring down Frost while Syrus faced Thunder.
"But, of course, we have the slight advantage," Frost continued as he and Thunder grinned. "Since we activated it, when there are no monsters on the field of the opponent that we'refacing, we can attack their partner directly."
"A card just for tag duels?" Syrus asked, looking over Hassleberry's shoulder to glare at Frost.
"Challenging us to such an unfair duel... That's low!" Hassleberry growled.
"If you don't like it, there's always the bomb," Frost offered with a devious grin, which only made Hassleberry scowl harder. The man then slapped down another card on his duel disk. "Here goes! I summon Ice Knight!"
A knight in dressed in rounded-plated aqua and dark blue armor, with a crimson-lined white cape appeared on the field wielding a double-edged lance. (4/1300/1200).
"This guy gains 400 Attack Points for each Aqua-Type monster on the field!"
A bright aura surrounded Ice Knight as his strength increased (4/1300-1700/1200)
"And with these facedowns, it's time to chill," Frost concluded, two reverse cards appearing in his back row.
"It's my turn!" Hassleberry declared as he drew. After examining his hand, he threw down a card. "Come on out! Gilasaurus!"
In a flash of light appeared Hassleberry's fleet-footed raptor (3/1400/400).
"Gilasaurus is a monster that can turn its summoning into a Special Summon, meaning I can now sacrifice it to have Dark Driceratops report to the front line!"
Gilasaurus was enveloped in a column of light, soon replaced by a flying green triceratops with purple wings and a yellow beak. (6/2400/1500).
"Next, I'll activate the Field Spell, Jurassic World, giving my Dinosaur monsters 300 extra Attack and Defense!"
After placing the aforementioned card in his Field Spell compartment, the entire rooftop transformed into forest filled with palm trees and volcanoes, giving Dark Driceratops home-field advantage that endowed it with strength (6/2400-2700/1500-1800).
Hassleberry then inserted a card into his duel disk. "I set one card facedown, ending my turn."
"My turn! I draw!" Thunder announced as he drew his sixth card and then held up another. "I'll summon Mahunder!"
In a bolt of lightning appeared a woman with long, wild blonde hair. She was dressed in a red and orange top that showed her midriff, and red skirt and tights, along with a white and gold cape around her waist (4/1400/700).
"And thanks to Mahunder's effect, I can Normal Summon another Level 4 or lower Light Thunder-Type monster from my hand this turn—namely my Thunder Knight!"
Mahunder conjured up another thunder storm that brought with it a knight in gold plated armor wielding a sliver longsword, his black and yellow cape flowing in the ion-infused wind (4/1300/1200).
"And guess what? For every Thunder-Type monster that's on the field, he gets a 400 point jolt."
Thunder Knight was surrounded by electricity as he powered up (4/1300-2100/1200).
"Next, I place two cards facedown, which ends my turn."
Two reversed cards appeared at Thunder's feet, prompting Syrus to begin his turn.
He looked over the six cards now in his hand in deliberation before settling on one. "Uh...okay... I summon Gyroid in Defense Mode."
Syrus's blue cartoonish helicopter flew onto the field (3/1000/1000).
"I also activate the Spell Card, March of the Roids from my hand," Syrus continued. "When I've got a 'roid" on my field, I can Special Summon another Level 4 or lower 'roid' from my hand. I Special Summon Jetroid in Defense Mode."
A red and black jet with cartoon eyes swooped in next to Gyroid (4/1200/1800)
"And that's my turn..."
"Now that we've broken the ice, let's get on with round two," Frost declared as he drew. "I play Spellbook Inside the Pot, making all of us draw three cards."
All four duelists drew before Frost went on. "I now sacrifice the Ice Knight to summon out the king of cold... Mobius the Frost Monarch!"
Ice Knight vanished into a cold blizzard, replaced by a silver and blue armored giant with a long, regal blue and white cape flowing behind him (6/2400/1000).
"When Mobius the Frost Monarch is Tribute Summoned, he's able to destroy up to two Spell and Trap Cards on the field!"
Hassleberry readied himself for his own cards to be blown away, but what happened next surprised him...
"I'll use his effect to destroy my own two facedown cards. Go! Freeze Burst!"
The ice behemoth unleashed a giant blizzard from his chest that completely froze over Frost's two facedown cards, causing them to shatter in a shower of diamond dust.
"Why would you destroy your own cards like that?" Hassleberry questioned.
"Because destroying them'll help me put you on ice," Frost answered with a smirk. "See, both Traps I got rid of have effects that activate when they hit the Grave. First up is Frostbite, which lets me target an Aqua-Type monster on my field and inflict damage to all players equal to half its Attack, and since it's the only monster I got, I'll go with Mobius!"
The Frost Monarch was surrounded in an ice-blue aura before a strong snowstorm was unleashed upon the four duelists.
Frost: 6800 + Thunder: 6800
Hassleberry: 6800 + Syrus: 6800
Thunder glared at Frost. "Hey, ice head, how about a heads up the next time you plan to do something like that?" he growled, obviously not appreciating that his partner's card effect wound up hitting him, too.
Frost shrugged. "Hey, it's not my fault if my cool moves have you frozen in your tracks."
Hassleberry, Syrus, and even Thunder cringed at that comment, pretty much already sick of Frost and his stupid ice puns...
The ice duelist then went on with his turn. "Anyway, since the other card I destroyed was Dowsing Point, its effect allows me to take a monster from my deck and add it to my hand, and I know just the one..." He searched through his deck before pulling out a card and showing it off. "Mobius the Mega Monarch!"
"'MegaMonarch'?" the two Academy students gasped.
"Don't worry, you two preppies will get to see him in action real soon," Frost promised as he grabbed two more cards from his hand. "But first, I set one card and activate the Spell Double Summon, which, as the name applies, lets me summon an additional monster this turn. With it, I can trade in Mobius for his Mega form!"
A strong blizzard then surrounded the Frost Monarch. When it finally let up, Mobius was revealed to have transformed into an even more intimidating creature, having grown almost twice in size and now sporting a giant metal ring on his back and sharp metal spikes on his shoulder, elbow, knee, and knuckle guards (8/2800/1000).
"B-but that's a Level eight monster, isn't it?" Syrus wondered. "How were you able to summon it with only one tribute?"
"Ever hear of a special effect?" Frost replied tauntingly. "Thanks to his, I'm able to bring him out with only one sacrifice as long as the monster I summoned him with was also Tribute Summoned! But that's not the only cool thing about him, because when my Mega Monarch hits the field by way of Tribute, I can destroy up to three Spell and Trap Cards on the field, and since the monster used to bring him out was a Water monster, the opponent can't activate any of the targeted cards."
So, after the long-winded explanation from Frost that Hassleberry wished Syrus had never asked for, the dino duelist had to shield his face from the frigid winds Mobius unleashed as it took out Jurassic World, his facedown Hunting Instinct, and Frost's own set card. Dark Driceratops roared in disappointment over the loss of its prehistoric jungle, and lost some of its vigor as a result (6/2700-2400/1800-1500).
"And since my face-down I had Mobius take out was another Frostbite, I can use its effect to dish out damage equal to half my Mega Monarch's Attack!"
As another icy tempest began to blow over the field, Thunder interjected with, "Oh no—you're not getting me with that again, Frosty! I activate my Counter Trap, Barrel Behind the Door to redirect the effect damage I would take to one of my opponents instead!"
Thunder's Trap absorbed the icy blast from Frost's card before shooting it out towards Syrus, hitting the little Ra with double the damage overall.
Frost: 5400 + Thunder: 6800
Hassleberry: 5400 + Syrus: 4000
"'Bout time you did something useful," Frost jeered at his partner before switching over to his Battle Phase. "And now it's time for your friend to become extinct again, dino boy. Mobius, make a popsicle out of him!"
The Mega Monarch then formed a lance of ice in his hand before he threw it towards Dark Driceratops, piercing the triceratops and freezing it solid before it burst into pixels of data once more.
Frost: 5400 + Thunder: 6800
Hassleberry: 5000 + Syrus: 4000
"I place one card facedown and end my turn!" Frost finished, setting a card in his Spell/Trap Card Zone.
Hassleberry gritted his teeth. "It's about time! My move!" He drew his next card, now holding six once more. "I activate the Spell, Earthquake! This card switches every monster on the field into Defense Mode!"
Suddenly, the entire rooftop rumbled, making Frost and Thunder's monsters take a knee and cross their arms in a guarding manner.
Hassleberry then grabbed another card in his hand and slapped it onto his duel disk. "And now, Archeonys, report for duty!"
The blue and gold plumaged prehistoric bird descended onto the field with a screech (3/300/1300).
"But he won't be around for long, because I activate my New Ultra Evolution Spell, which lets me sacrifice my Winged Beast-Type Archeonys and Special Summon a Dinosaur from my hand, like Dark Tyranno!"
Archeonys disappeared in a flash of light, Hassleberry's fearsome T-Rex now taking its place (7/2600/1800).
"Up next is Raise Body Heat, which I'll equip to my Dark Tyranno, fortifying his Attack and Defense by 300!"
A red-hot aura then surrounded Dark Tyranno, causing the creature to roar loudly as its strength increased (7/2600-2900/1800-2100).
"And thanks to Dark Tyranno's effect, if all monsters the enemy controls are playing Defense, he can launch a direct assault! Forward march, boy!"
With another thunderous roar, Dark Tyranno began to run towards Frost at full speed.
"As if an attack like that is going to work!" the ice duelist interjected as his reverse card flipped up. "I activate my Bit Shoot Trap Card, which lets me Special Summon a Reflector Bit from my hand!"
A round metallic cannon appeared and shot out a small, spinning reflective panel that flew in front of the charging dinosaur (1/0/0).
As the new monster had been summoned in Attack Mode, Dark Tyranno could no longer use its effect to attack directly, so Hassleberry, refusing to back down, decided to switch his monster's attack to Reflector Bit instead after the forced replay, thinking that he would still be able to deal damage. However, when the T-Rex slammed its tail into the panel, not only was Reflector Bit not destroyed, but Frost didn't lose a single Life Point, the strange satellite instead absorbing the damage and converting it into an orange shockwave.
"What's going on?" Hassleberry demanded.
"Reflector Bit can't be destroyed in battle while in a tag duel and absorbs any damage I would take involving it, redirecting it to my partner instead," Frost explained with a wide grin as the shockwave was turned into a beam of pure energy before heading towards Thunder.
Syrus looked over Hassleberry's shoulder in shock. "You'd let your own partner take the fall?"
"Not cool, Frost..." Thunder glowered, wondering how many times this guy was going to try to screw him over. He then pressed a button on his duel disk. "Luckily for you, I have some protection, too. I activate Bit Shoot to summon my own Reflector Bit!"
Another machine shot out a second Reflector Bit on Thunder's field, absorbing the blast as it closed in (1/0/0).
Syrus's eyebrows furrowed in bewilderment. "Another one?"
Thunder smirked nastily. "That's right, little guy. And since I have my own Reflector Bit on the field, if I should take damage from my partner's Reflector Bit, the damage is negated and then you lose 500 Life Points!
The second Reflector Bit released the previously captured blast, nailing the smaller Ra.
Frost: 5400 + Thunder: 6800
Hassleberry: 5000 + Syrus: 3500
"My attack just circled around... Sorry about that, Private," Hassleberry apologized, deciding to end his turn before he could do any more damage.
"You two came to this party, unprepared," Frost sneered. "As you can see, these Reflector Bits are also cards made exclusively for tag duels. When these two are out, an invincible barrier gets formed that reflects any and all attacks!"
"Hey, ice for brains!" Thunder shouted to his teammate. "What are you trying to do, sending that damage to me, you jerk?!"
"You need to chillax, bro," Frost advised with a shit-eating grin. "I had a feeling you had Reflector Bit ready for action. And, as it turned out, you did, and the damage happened to be dealt to your opponent. You should be thanking me."
Thunder bristled at the ice duelist's audacity. "As if! Man, I don't know why Master Sarina thought us working together would be a good idea..."
"Sarina?" Syrus wondered. "Who's that?"
"Your boss?" Hassleberry guessed.
"Look what you and your big mouth did, Thunder..." Frost groaned, but then smirked suddenly. "Oh well, though. Guess there's no point in hiding it, so why don't you just tell them?"
"Fine..." Thunder shrugged before smirking himself as the two Ras waited for an explanation. "I take it you already know who Sartorius is, right? Well, Sarina is his little sister, and we've been ordered by her to take you both out!"
Both Syrus and Hassleberry gasped at the revaluation.
. . .
Meanwhile, around the mountainside, Kasumi found her way to Sarina's secluded shrine and walked inside.
She soon found the shrine maiden standing before a candle-lit alter and bowed before her. "In accordance with Master Sartorius's orders, I have come to greet you, Master Sarina. My name is Kasumi Yuki."
The woman turned around to gaze upon the Society of Light member with her violet eyes and smiled. "I appreciate your efforts," she replied, "though I thought my brother mentioned that there'd be two of you..."
"That's correct. My associate should be here soon enough," Kasumi assured.
Or at least he'd better be...she growled to herself, wondering what the hell was taking Chazz so long to get his ass over here.
. . .
As it turned out, it wasn't a whatthat was holding Chazz up from reaching his destination, it was a who.
After Chazz had delivered that message to Syrus and Hassleberry, as he had been told, he was prepared to join Kasumi in rendezvousing with Sartorius's sister, until he realized that Arina was trying to follow him.
Knowing that it would be troublesome for her to be around him right now, he attempted to lose her simply by making a run for it, but the girl ended up giving chase, seeming determined not to let him get away. Chazz still had no idea how Arina could run so fast while in a pair of high heeled boots, but he thought he finally managed to shake off the tenacious blonde after rounding a few corners and laying low in an alleyway for a while.
He was still leaning against a brick wall after catching his breath when he suddenly heard a yell from above...
"CHAAAAAZZ!"
The poor guy only had time to look up for half a second before a flash of blue and white descended from a neighboring rooftop and landed right on him.
Chazz felt the wind get knocked out of him as he hit the asphalt, making him briefly close his eyes in pain. When he opened them again, he was met with the triumphant face of Arina staring down at him. She had her hands on his shoulders, pinning them down, and her knees were on either side of his waist, straddling him. It was a rather suggestive position, Chazz realized, his face turning beet-red, though Arina didn't seem to be bothered by it in the least in that moment.
"I...finally...got you!" she panted, her breath hot on his face, which was really not helping right now.
"Arina..." he choked out, admittedly feeling a bit flustered, until he realized what had just happened a few seconds prior and how they got in this position. "Wait, did you jump from the top of that roof just now? Are you insane?!"
"Humph... Of course not! It was from only two stories up, after all..." she argued. "But I wouldn't even have needed to resort to something like that if you weren't being such a... such a doorak! I just wanna talk, so why do you keep trying to run away from me like that?"
The worry in her voice was evident, and Chazz hated making her feel such a way, but he really couldn't afford to do or say anything that would jeopardize his mission right now, so instead he just turned his head away from her prying eyes and said, "Isn't it obvious? I don't want you anywhere near me right now..."
The feeling of Arina's whole body suddenly tensing up from above him was enough to make Chazz gaze back up at her, where he found her staring back in disbelief and with a pained look reflecting in her gray orbs.
"Oh... I... I see..." she muttered brokenly before abruptly standing up and turning her back to him. "If that's how you feel, I guess I'll just go then. Sorry for being such an ache..."
Arina tried to hide it, but Chazz still heard her sob, and when he saw her hastily move to wipe something away from the corners of her eyes, he knew he had gone too far.
"Arina, wait!" he blurted out, getting up and catching her by the arm before she could leave. "I didn't mean it like that!"
The blonde whipped back around to face him, her lips twisted into a rare frown as her eyes brimmed with fresh tears. "Then whatdid you mean, Chazz?" she snapped. "I know my Japanese isn't always that great, but it sounds to me like you don't want anything to do with me, or your old friends, for that matter. If that's the case, then please don't let me keep you from your precious Society any longer!"
She then tried to leave again, but Chazz kept a firm grip on her arm, and when she attempted to swat his hand away with her free hand, he grabbed that one, too, before pinning her down against the nearby wall.
Now it was Arina's turn to blush at how close the two of them were, but before she could even think about saying anything, Chazz closed what little distance was left between them and captured her lips with his own.
Arina felt a wave of both confusion and delight wash over her as Chazz continued to kiss her, but the latter emotion quickly overpowered the first, and she kissed him back with enough force that it left both teens breathless by the time they had to break it off for air.
Chazz pulled back to rest his forehead against hers, eyes half-lidded as his hands cupped her flushed face, rubbing his thumb over her cheekbone to wipe away a stay tear.
"I'm sorry for hurting you..." he whispered, "but it really isn't a good idea for you to be around me right now. The Society of Light is still trying to recruit all the strong duelists it can get, and I don't want them going after you. No one else can have you..."
"Chazz..." Arina wanted to say more, but was silenced by another kiss, which then led to another... and another, each one a slow, smooth touch and press of the lips.
Arina was in bliss; Chazz was, too, but he knew he had to get going soon.
He reluctantly withdrew from the blonde, allowing one last touch to her cheek before leaving and not looking back.
Arina watched him go before her legs finally gave way and she slid down the wall until she was on her knees.
What the heck was that all about just now? she couldn't help but wonder. One minute Chazz was avoiding her and acting like he wanted nothing to do with her, and the next he was kissing her and acting like he still cared?
Arina was confused, to say the least, and didn't really know what to make of it all, and yet...a part of her also felt happy, because maybe that meant that Chazz wasn't as invested in that Society as she had originally thought, and that there was still hope for them after all.
Once she had regained most of her composure, Arina began to once again wander down the streets of Domino until a groaning sound caught her attention. Following the noise, she walked into yet another alleyway and was surprised by what she found.
"Mr. Mutou!"
Indeed, it was Solomon, lying half-unconscious in a pile of trash!
The old man managed to open his eyes as the Russian girl rushed to his aid.
"Huh? What am I doing all the way over here?" he muttered as he looked around to where he was.
"That's what I was going to ask you. We thought you had been kidnapped," Arina said as she helped the elderly man to his feet.
"Someone hit me out of the blue, as if with an electric shock..." he explained as he rubbed his head and noticed that something was missing. "Huh? My bandanna's gone..."
Arina reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out the aforementioned black cloth, which had since defrosted. "Here..."
"Oh! Thank you, young lady," Solomon graciously replied, taking the bandanna and tying it back over his spiky gray hair.
Arina was glad to know that Solomon was safe and sound, but something didn't set right with her... If whoever had taken Mr. Mutou had just left him passed out in this ally the whole time, then why have Syrus and Hassleberry go all the way to the top of that one building?
. . .
Back over at the rooftop duel, Thunder was beginning his next turn. He drew a card and looked at it. "I play my Spell, Thunder Shot! This card deals you 400 damage for each monster on your field, pipsqueak."
Two electrified orbs of light circled above Syrus before zapping him, making him cry out as his Life Points took another hit.
Frost: 5400 + Thunder: 6800
Hassleberry: 5000 + Syrus: 2700
"Next, I'll sacrifice Mahunder to summon Zaborg the Thunder Monarch!"
Mahunder was consumed by a brilliant column of light and vanished. A second later, a bolt of lightning struck the part of the field where she once stood, bringing forth a huge monster garbed in gray and dark blue armor. With the round green helmet atop his head that somewhat resembled frizzy hair, the tiger-patterned cape around his waist, and red skin, he vaguely resembled a thunder oni (5/2400/1000).
"When Zaborg is successfully Tribute Summoned, it destroys one monster on the field, meaning Gyroid's toast! Thunder Crush!"
The Thunder Monarch charged up and raised his arms to the skies, summoning another lightning bolt that smote Syrus's helicopter.
"Next, I'll switch Thunder Knight back to Attack Position and have him attack Jetroid!"
Thunder Knight rose and dashed forth to strike down the jet with his sword, but Syrus was ready for that.
"Not so fast," he said. "I activate my Jetroid's effect. When it's attacked, I can activate a Trap from my hand like"—he held up one of his cards—"Magic Cylinder!"
Thunder gasped as a pair of red cylinders appeared between his monster and Syrus's. Thunder Knight flew into one of the tubes, only to come out of the other one in the opposite direction and hit his own master instead.
Frost: 5400 + Thunder: 4700
Hassleberry: 5000 + Syrus: 2700
"Lucky punk!" Thunder growled. "Don't go thinking that's enough to stop me, though! Zaborg, attack with Rolling Thunder!"
Zaborg conjures up a bolt of lightning in his right fist and fired it at Jetroid.
"In that case, I activate Jetroid's effect again to play Supercharged from my hand!" the Vehicroid duelist interjected. "Since you declared an attack when I only have 'roid' monsters, I can draw two cards!" He drew his new cards as his Jetroid was demolished by lightning.
Thunder clicked his tongue in annoyance taking another card from his hand. "I set one card and end my turn."
Syrus drew his next card and overlooked his hand, thinking about what to do next before finally settling on a strategy. "I summon Steamroid in Attack Mode."
Syrus's cartoonish steam locomotive rolled onto the field (4/1800/1800).
"Next, I activate Polymerization to fuse UFOroid and The Fiend Megacyber in my hand to form UFOroid Fighter!"
A flying saucer and a dark-skinned warrior clad in gold-plated armor briefly appeared on Syrus's field before being sucked into Polymerization's maelstrom. In their place emerged a hovering platform in the shape of UFOroid with The Fiend Megacyber riding atop it (8/?/?).
"And his original Attack and Defense Points become the combined original Attack of the two monsters I used to form him, and that's 3400!" Syrus exclaimed as his monster powered up (8/?-3400/?-3400).
"Now go, UFOroid Fighter! Attack Zaborg!"
"Not a chance, loser!" Thunder objected, pushing a button on his duel disk. "I activate my Trap, Shift! When you target one of my monsters for an attack, I can target another monster on my field—like my Reflector Bit—and make your monster attack it instead!"
So, UFOroid Fighter, which had originally been gunning for Thunder's Monarch, suddenly changed directions and struck his Reflector Bit instead.
Due to Reflector Bit's effect, it effortlessly absorbed UFOroid Fighter's attack before converting into a beam meant to nail Frost with 3400 points of damage. The ice duelist, however, then used the second effect of his own Reflector Bit to negate the damage and hit Hassleberry with 500 points of damage instead.
The dino duelist cringed as laser beam struck him.
Frost: 5400 + Thunder: 4700
Hassleberry: 4500 + Syrus: 2700
Syrus grimaced at that. "These guys may hate each other, but that tag team strategy of theirs is no joke..."
"Yeah... You're telling me," Hassleberry muttered back. "We gotta find a way to counteract it..."
"Easier said than done..." Syrus muttered, but then he suddenly noticed something interesting when glancing over at the Reflector Bit on his opponent's field. Hassleberry seemed to become aware of a similar sight on Frost's field, leading the two Ras to share knowing looks with one another, both clearly having the same idea.
"Hey, you done with your turn yet, half-pint?" Frost called over, seeming impatient to start his next move.
"Not even!" the smaller Ra yelled back, still in the midst of his Battle Phase. "I still have my Steamroid, which I'll use to attack Thunder Knight! And when Steamroid attacks, it gains 500 Attack Points!"
The locomotive blew its whistle as it gained power (4/1800-2300/1800). It then barreled into the knight and crushed it under the wheels.
Frost: 5400 + Thunder: 4500
Hassleberry: 4500 + Syrus: 2700
At the end of the battle, Steamroid returned to its original strength (4/2300-1800/1800).
"Finally, I set two cards and end my turn," Syrus said, two facedown cards appearing at his feet. "There. Now, I'm done!"
"Took ya long enough!" Frost sneered as he drew a card, signaling the start of his turn. He looked down at the card he had just picked up and grinned. "I switch my Mobius to Attack Mode and activate the Spell, Zero Blade. Thanks to this card, my Mega Monarch can attack twice this turn!"
Mobius stood on his feet before being surrounded in a bright blue aura.
"A lot of good that'll do you, seeing as my monster has the advantage right now, in terms of Attack," Hassleberry pointed out.
Frost grinned wider. "That's what you think, but my Spell has another cool effect that reduces the Attack of one of my opponent's monsters by 1000 points!"
Hassleberry gasped as an icy wind suddenly blew over his Dark Tyranno, weakening it (7/2900-1900/2100).
Frost chuckled. "As you can see, dinosaurs are powerless against the cold, now then... Mobius, take out that overgrown lizard!"
Mobius created another large lance of ice and hurled it straight through Dark Tyranno's chest. The T-Rex cried out before it shattered into pixels.
Frost: 5400 + Thunder: 4500
Hassleberry: 3600 + Syrus: 2700
"And now that your pathetic monsters are out of the way, Mobius can attack you directly!"
The Mega Monarch produced another icy projectile before unleashing it upon Hassleberry.
"AAAAHHH!" he cried out, the attack chilling him to the bone.
Frost: 5400 + Thunder: 4500
Hassleberry: 800 + Syrus: 2700
"Had enough, dino boy?" Frost taunted as he wrapped up his turn.
"You wish!" Hassleberry gritted his teeth, both in an effort to look intimidating and to stop his teeth from chattered from the cold his opponent's monster was emitting. Tearing off the sleeves of his blazer to show off more muscles seemed like such a good idea at the time...
As it was his turn, he drew a card and looked at it before taking another card in his hand and slapping it onto his duel disk.
"Element Saurus, report to the field in Defense Mode!"
A brown dinosaur with horns and markings across its body appeared and immediately crouched down in a defensive position (4/1500/1200).
"I set one card facedown and end my turn," Hassleberry finished, a reverse card materializing behind Element Saurus.
"That's all?" Syrus wondered with a frown.
"Oh, like you can do better..." Hassleberry grumbled.
"Hey, pipsqueak!" Thunder shouted. "Don't you think it'd be best if you worry about yourself? After all, my Thunder deck is about to fry those little toys of yours!"
Syrus scowled when he heard that, causing Thunder to smirk as he drew his next card.
"I activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards!" He drew two more cards and then pulled out another from his hand. "Time to bring out the big guns... By treating my Tribute Summoned Zaborg as two sacrifices, I can trade him in to summon the monster that'll be your demise!"
A blinding light then enveloped Zaborg. When it died down, a much larger and decked out version of Thunder's Monarch now stood behind him. His green headpiece now looked like unruly, statically-charged hair, and he now sported a giant ring on his back and two bulky shoulder guards with a pair of long red demon horns jutting out from the sides (8/2800/1000).
"Meet Zaborg the Mega Monarch! And when he's successfully Tribute Summoned, I can destroy one monster on the field, so say goodbye to UFOroid Fighter!"
Zaborg whipped up a devastating thunder storm that soon had lightning raining upon Syrus's UFOroid Fighter, vaporizing him.
"But that's not all," Thunder went on. "Since the monster destroyed by Zaborg's effect was Light Attribute, both of us now have send as many cards as possible from our Extra Decks to the Graveyard, equal to the destroyed monster's Level. Normally you'd get to pick which of your cards to ditch, but since the Attribute of the monster used to summon my Mega Monarch was also Light, that honor goes to me instead. Now let's see whatcha got!"
Since Thunder didn't have any cards in his Extra Deck, he didn't have to worry about sending any of his cards to the Graveyard, but the same couldn't be said for Syrus.
The Vehicroid duelist grimaced as he begrudgingly pulled out his Extra Deck and showed off its contents to his opponent. Thunder studied them for a moment before deciding on which eight cards to have Syrus send to the Graveyard: Barbaroid the Ultimate Battle Machine, Solidroid α, Solidroid β, Solidroid γ, Ambulance Rescueroid, Steam Gyroid, Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill, and Super Vehicroid – Stealth Union.
"Next, I play System Down!" Thunder then declared as he activated said Spell from his hand. "At the cost of 1000 Life Points, this card banishes all Machine-Type monsters that are on my opponent's field and in their Graveyard!"
Syrus growled as he took Steamroid off the field and pocketed the other twelve Machines that were in his Graveyard.
Frost: 5400 + Thunder: 3500
Hassleberry: 800 + Syrus: 2700
With this, you're through!" Thunder thundered. "Zaborg, atta—"
"Not so fast!" Syrus interjected, one of his face-downs suddenly springing upwards. "Since it's now your Battle Phase, I can activate my Trap: Half or Nothing! Now you have to either choose to halve the Attack of all monsters currently on your field until the end of the Battle Phase, or end the Battle Phase altogether."
"Like hell I'm picking that last one! You're taking a hit, one way or another!" Thunder yelled, obviously choosing the first option, which caused half of Zaborg's strength to be zapped away (8/2800-1400/1000). He then had his Mega Monarch carry on with his attack, leading Syrus to be hit head-on with a blast of lightning.
Frost: 5400 + Thunder: 3500
Hassleberry: 800 + Syrus: 1300
At the end of the Battle Phase, Half or Nothing's effect wore off and Zaborg's Attack returned to normal (8/1400-2800/1000).
Hassleberry looked back at the other Ra. "What are you doing back there?"
"First off, don't even give me that!" Syrus snapped back as he struggled to shake off that last attack. Honestly, it wasn't like Hassleberry was fairing any better right now...
Thunder chuckled at the Ras' predicament as he played another card from his hand. "Lastly, I activate the Continuous Spell, Rampage Condenser! As long as I have a Thunder-Type monster on my field, this card'll deal 500 points of damage to you whenever you're dumb enough to attack with a Machine-Type monster!"
"That's not good..." Hassleberry muttered.
Syrus furrowed his eyebrows at his partner's unnecessary statement. "Gee, ya think?"
"These two really are trash," Thunder jeered.
"Tell me about it," Frost agreed and glanced over at Hassleberry with a cool expression. "When I heard there was someone that Master Sartorius's powers wouldn't work on, I was looking forward to a challenge, but it turns out you're nothing but a pushover!"
"What was that?" Hassleberry growled.
Thunder smirked at Syrus. "And when I heard that you were the little brother of the guy who juiced up the Pro League, I had high hopes going in, but talk about a letdown!"
Syrus scowled, not only at the insult, but for being reminded of the vicious and disrespectful dueling style Zane had adopted as of late.
"I guess there's no helping bait being bait, after all..." Thunder sighed with shrug.
"What do you mean by 'bait'?" Syrus demanded.
"You mean you haven't figured it out?" Frost sneered. "We're only dueling you two so we can capture you and use you as bait to lure out Jaden Yuki and Aster Phoenix."
Hassleberry gritted is teeth at that bit of information. "You want to use us to lure out the Sarge?!"
"That's right," the ice duelist smirked. "At best, your affection for him is holding you down. Just help us out and give up already."
"As if! Threatening Jaden is a declaration of war!"
"Got that right!" Syrus agreed as he turned to Hassleberry. "We're going to have to put our differences aside to save Jaden."
"I got your back on this one, Private."
"And I got yours," the smaller Ra replied as he drew. "I activate my face-down, Jar of Greed, allowing me to draw one card." He did so before slapping a card down on his duel disk. "I summon Submarineroid in Attack Mode!"
The small blue and yellow submersible appeared on the field, its little torpedo pal at the ready (4/800/1800).
"You're not seriously planning on attacking with that thing, are you?" Thunder scoffed.
"You bet I am, because thanks to Submarineroid's effect, I can bypass your monsters and attack you directly!" Syrus exclaimed as Submarineroid suddenly dove underground.
"Gerr... Even so, you're still taking damage due to Rampage Condenser!" Thunder pointed out, his Spell zapping his opponent with an electric shock.
Frost: 5400 + Thunder: 3500
Hassleberry: 800 + Syrus: 800
The next moment, the cartoonish U-Boat resurfaced near Thunder and hit him point-blank with its torpedo.
Frost: 5400 + Thunder: 2700
Hassleberry: 800 + Syrus: 800
"And due to Submarineroid's second effect, I can switch it to Defense Mode at the end of the Damage Step."
Submarineroid sank down slightly as its card appeared under it in a horizontal position.
"I'll set two cards facedown and end my turn," Syrus concluded.
"My move!" proclaimed Frost as he drew a card before instantly playing it. "I summon Blizzard Warrior!"
A knight grabbed in ice-blue armor reminiscent of a snowflake appeared, a double-bladed sword made of jagged ice firmly clenched in his first (3/1400/400).
"Blizzard Warrior, attack Element Saurus!"
The frigid knight dashed forth, ready to cut down Hassleberry's only line of defense.
"Not happening! I activate my Trap Card, Jurassic Impact!" Hassleberry interjected, his eyes briefly taking on the appearance of a dinosaur's. "When my Life Points are lower than my opponent's, Jurassic Impact destroys all monsters on the field, and for each monster that's dismissed, it deals 1000 points of damage to their commander!"
"What?!" both Frost and Thunder gasped.
"But what's the point of that? With both of you at 800 points, you'll just take yourselves out!" Frost pointed out.
"Shows what you know! I activate my Traps, Ring of Life and Interdimensional Matter Transporter!" Syrus exclaimed, his two set cards springing upwards. "First, I use Interdimensional Matter Transporter to banish my Submarineroid until the End Phase."
Submarineroid vanished from the field through a sudden rift in space.
"Next, with Ring of Life, I can destroy one monster on the field to increase my and the controller of the destroyed monster's Life Points by equal to its Defense. I pick Element Saurus!"
A collar with flashing green explosives appeared around the dinosaur's neck before detonating, creating a healing wave that restored Syrus and Hassleberry's Life Points.
Frost: 5400 + Thunder: 2700
Hassleberry: 2000 + Syrus: 2000
The effect of Hassleberry's Jurassic Impact then continued, bringing with it a plethora of blazing meteors that suddenly rained down from the sky that completely nuked the field, wiping out Blizzard Warrior and both Mega Monarchs and Reflector Bits before covering the field with molten lava.
Frost: 2400 + Thunder: 700
Hassleberry: 2000 + Syrus: 2000
"Man, how did these guys get so good all of a sudden?" Thunder wondered, scowling. "We had these punks on the ropes a few minutes ago!"
"I don't know..." Frost growled, also seeming quite frustrated. "Either they've been holding out on us, or we're getting played somehow!"
Hassleberry and Syrus would never openly admit to it, but they had sort of pulled a fast one on their opponents when they realized that they could see each other's hands with the help of the reflections cast by Frost and Thunder's own Reflector Bits. They had even acted like they were still at each other's throats as to not give anything away. And now that the evidence had been destroyed, it's not like they'd get found out any time soon...
"Hey, fellas," Hassleberry called over to get his opponents' attention. "Jurassic Impact's got one more effect you should know about. After it's activated, every player can't summon a monster to their field for one turn."
Frost gritted his teeth when he heard that. "I end my turn..."
"At this moment, the effect of Interdimensional Matter Transporter returns Submarineroid to my field," Syrus stated as his monster reappeared on the field.
"It's my move," the dino duelist said as he drew a card and then looked at it. "Who's ever next can go."
At that moment, the lava around the rooftop decreased slightly.
"Then it's my turn," Thunder said, plucking out another card from his deck and subsequently setting it into his disk. "I set one card, and that's it."
Now the molten rocks covered even less of the field and began to cool down.
Syrus drew his next card at the start of his turn and then announced, "I switch Submarineroid back to Attack Mode and use it to attack Thunder!"
The Vehicroid duelist knew that he'd be able to take Thunder out if this attack hit, but, unfortunately, he was ready for that.
"A stunt like that won't work twice!" Thunder shouted as he activated a Trap Card. "My Lightning Talisman Trap Card negates your attack!"
"Aw man..." Syrus whined.
"But that's just the calm before the storm, because now every player besides me has to draw one card, and then you all lose 400 Life Points for each card in your hands!"
Syrus, Hassleberry, and Frost all gasped in surprise before begrudgingly drawing a card. Submarineroid was repelled by Thunder's Trap, which then created a storm of psychedelic-colored lightning that rained upon the three duelists. Syrus and Hassleberry both got hit with two bolts of lightning for the two cards in their hands, while only one stuck Frost due to his lone card.
Frost: 2000 + Thunder: 700
Hassleberry: 1200 + Syrus: 1200
"I place these two cards facedown and end my turn," Syrus ended, not able to do much else right now.
What was left of the lava hardened completely now as Frost began his turn. His eyes went wide when he saw what he had just drawn: Mirror of Duality.
It's Sarina's card... I gotta wait, though...he thought and then took the only two cards in his hand and placed them on the field before ending his turn.
At the start of Hassleberry's turn, the igneous rock covering the field then vanished, returning the rooftop to its original state.
"Now that new ground is back on the field, the game's back on!" the dino duelist declared, drawing. "I activate the Spell Card, Ultra Evolution! With this card, I can banish the Dyna Base in my hand and the Dark Tyranno in my Graveyard to Special Summon one Light Attribute Dinosaur-Type monster from my deck! Show yourself, Super Conductor Tyranno!"
In a mighty whirlwind came a giant green T-Rex enhanced with futuristic metal armor around its upper body, legs, and tail (8/3300/1400).
"It has 3300 Attack?" Frost shouted.
"Alright! Frost's done for!" Syrus cheered.
"That's right. You've got no monsters on your field!" Hassleberry pointed out to his opponent, grinning widely. "Now, we're winning this! Go, Super Conductor Tyranno! Direct attack!"
The armored dinosaur obliged, unleashing a massive, multicolored blast from its mouth that headed towards Frost.
"Not a chance! It's time to put that attack on ice!" Frost bellowed, activating one of his face-downs. "I activate my Trap, Ice Block! This card puts the freeze on your monster, negating its attack and rendering it unable to switch to Defense Mode or attack again until the end of the next turn!"
Several blocks of ice suddenly fell from the sky, blocking the lightning blast before surrounding Super Conductor Tyranno, soon encasing it in a wall of ice.
"Darn it..." Hassleberry growled in frustration, and then looked down at his hand. All he had left was Big Evolution Pill, which was pretty useless to him right now. "I end my turn..."
"Which starts mine," Thunder stated, picking out a card from the top of his deck. He inwardly gasped when he saw that he was now holding Mirror of Duality.
This is the card that I got from Master Sarina... But I don't have enough Life Points to play it!he thought, irritated, and picked out another card from his hand instead.
"I activate Monster Reincarnation to discard one card in my hand to return Thunder Knight from my Graveyard back to my hand."
He then ditched Mirror of Duality and replaced it with Thunder Knight.
"Then I'll summon him back to the field in Attack Mode!"
The white and gold armored knight returned to the field (4/1300-1700/1200).
"Now go, Thunder Knight! Take out that twerp's stupid submarine!"
Thunder Knight obeyed, dashing forth and slashing apart Submarineroid with his electrically-charged sword.
Frost: 2000 + Thunder: 700
Hassleberry: 1200 + Syrus: 300
"With that, I end my turn."
During the End Phase, the ice surrounding Super Conductor Tyranno melted, freeing the cybernetic dino.
Syrus then placed his fingers on his deck. "Now it's my turn." He drew his next card and then instantly played it when he saw what it was. "I activate Card of Demise, drawing until I have five cards. The only downside is that I'll have to discard my entire hand in five turns."
As his hand was empty, Syrus ended up drawing all five cards. After studying them for a moment, he realized he had what he needed to end this duel.
"You guys are so going down! I activate my Trap, Foolish Revival to Special Summon Blizzard Warrior back to Frost's field in Defense Mode!"
The ice-clad knight returned to Frost's field, crossing his arms around his chest for defense (3/1400/400).
"What's the deal, bringing back my monster like that?" the ice duelist demanded.
"You'll see soon enough," Syrus promised as he held up another card. "But first, I activate D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation. By discarding one card, I can Special Summon one of by banished monsters in Attack Mode and equip it with this card. And I know the perfect one: Super Vehicroid – Stealth Union!"
Once Syrus discarded Wonder Garage to his Graveyard, a dimensional rift opened up from the sky, warping it. Out of the tear emerged a colossal fighting robot that toward over the four duelists, and even Hassleberry's Dinosaur. As it was a Fusion Monster, many of Stealth Union's parts understandably resembled several of Syrus's other roid monsters. Its torso appeared to be comprised of Stealthroid, wings and all, while its shoulders were decorated with two of Expressroid's train cars. Its legs had the same color scheme as Drillroid and even had similar drills protruding from its kneecaps, and it also sported Truckroid's tractor as a helmet and its semitrailer as a chest plate (9/3600/3000).
"3600 Attack?!" both Frost and Thunder gasped.
"But I'm not done yet, because my new friend has a really cool special ability," the Vehicroid duelist went on. "Once per turn, Stealth Union can turn one monster on the field that isn't Machine-Type into its Equip card."
Syrus looked at Hassleberry with a smirk. "So, what do you say Hassleberry? Do you mind if I borrow your Super Conductor Tyranno for a while? It's for a good cause."
Hassleberry smirked back. "Not at all. He's all yours, soldier."
Super Conductor Tyranno turned into orbs of energy, which Stealth Union then took into its body.
Hassleberry looked up at the robot as it was surrounded in a bright light. "When one of the most powerful dinosaurs joins together with the ultimate machine..."
"...the ultimate union, Super Vehicroid – Rex Union, is born!" the two Ras shouted in unison.
Once the light died down, the Super Vehicroid was revealed to have gone through an upgrade, the head of Super Conductor Tyranno now adorning the front of its body.
"And if you think our Rex Union looks cool, then you haven't seen anything yet," Syrus grinned. "Thank to the added power of Hassleberry's Tyranno, it can now attack all monsters our opponents control."
"A lot of good that'll do you!" Frost snapped. "Thanks to Side Attack, you can't touch my monsters!"
"And if you attack with that Machine of yours, the effect of my Rampage Condenser will take you out," Thunder reminded.
"That wouldbe true, if I didn't have this," Syrus said as he activated his remaining face-down. "It's my Spell Purification Trap Card. By discarding a card from my hand, I can destroy all face-up Continuous Spell Cards on the field!"
After Syrus sent Decoyroid to his Graveyard, a magical EMP-like blast went off, completely destroying Frost's Side Attack and Thunder's Rampage Condenser.
"Even so, since Blizzard Warrior's in Defense Mode, I won't take any damage," Frost pointed out.
"That's where you're wrong," Syrus retorted. "You see, our Rex Union has a few other effects... Whenever it attacks a monster in Defense Mode, it can inflict piercing damage to the opponent. And even though its original Attack is halved when it attacks, that won't be enough to save you, because I also have this: Limiter Removal!"
Syrus activated the aforementioned Spell, casing Rex Union's power to double (8/3600-7200/3000).
"No way!" Frost and Thunder yelled again, starting to really freak now.
The Super Vehicroid then held out both of its arms, one fist pointed towards Blizzard Warrior and the aimed at Thunder Knight. Both fists then begin to spin around furiously as Rex Union prepared to attack (8/7200-5400/3000)
"Alright then, boys. Are you ready? Now then..."
Syrus held out an arm while Hassleberry's dino DNA activated again, and, together, the two of them shouted, "Attack them, Rex Union!"
On command, Rex Union fired its fists like rockets, the two hunks of steel rapidly closing in on their targets.
Frost gritted his teeth. "There's no way I'm letting myself lose to punks like you! I activate my Trap! Mirror of Duality!"
As Frost's last face-down activated, a round, ornate mirror suddenly appeared on the field, propped up on a stand that resembled demon claws.
Thunder looked at his partner in shock. "What?! You're using that card, you jerk?!"
Hassleberry and Syrus looked on in confusion since they had never heard of that card before.
"Of course, Thunder. I placed it on the field as a last resort, but I never thought I would actually need to use it. Oh well!" Frost chucked darkly. "You see, punks, when you declare an attack, this card has me pay 1000 Life Points to destroy all monsters on the field! And then, for each destroyed monster, it inflicts 500 points of damage to all other players!"
Frost winced as the mirror sucked out a dark energy from within him and drew it into its center.
Frost: 1000 + Thunder: 700
Hassleberry: 1200 + Syrus: 300
A burst of darkness then came out of the mirror and briefly took the shape of a woman. Hassleberry and Syrus gazed at it in shock before it exploded into shadowy arrows that rained down upon the field, quickly destroying all three monsters on the field.
"Damn you, Frost!" Thunder cursed, but one of the shadow arrows then stuck him down, knocking him out cold.
Syrus and Hassleberry screamed in pain from the explosions of darkness around them before they collapsed as well.
Frost: 1000 + Thunder: 0 WINNERS
Hassleberry: 0 + Syrus: 0
Frost laughed manically as he looked at his fallen foes and partner. "Sorry, Thunder, but dueling's just about winning, no matter what you use to do it!"
He then walked over to the unconscious Academy students and grabbed them by the back of their jackets before whipping up a blizzard that whisked all three of them away.
. . .
Here's the card Misha created for this duel. Credit goes to her:
Frostbite
Normal Trap
When this card is destroyed by a card effect, target 1 Aqua-Type Monster you control: Inflict damage to each player equal to half that target's ATK.
. . .
A/n what do you think?
Blaze: Credit for the duel, and this entire chapter actually, goes to my co-author since I could not, for the life of me, figure out a duel between these four duelists using the 8000 life point system I adopted for this season.
Bakura: yeah, yeah, whatever
Ryou: and you are an asshole as usual
Bakura: naturally
Blaze: anyway, the next chapter might take a while to be posted due to complications with the chapter and me being distracted by anime, working on my other stories, and trying to get a job but, hopefully, it'll be up soon
Bakura: unlikely
Blaze: ...you are so lucky you're my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh villain. On that note, where's Aigami?
Ryou: he said something about getting some ice cream
Blaze: ice cream? I WANT SOME!
Aigami: (walks into computer room with two ice cream cones and hands one to Blaze) Sera warned me that you liked sweets so I made sure to get two
Blaze: (happily takes ice cream cone) I like you! (Starts eating ice cream cone)
Bakura: wonderful. She is going to be on a sugar high soon
Aigami: should I be worried?
Bakura: no
Ryou: you should be terrified
Aigami: (sweatdrops) she can't be that bad, can she?
Bakura and Ryou: yes
Roger: by the way, Aigami, why aren't you trying to attack Ryou or, especially, Bakura? I thought...
Blaze: NO SPOILERS! (Pushes Roger into a pit of magma)
Aigami: (eyes the pit of magma and the unfortunate Roger) in order to avoid spoilers, and that happening to me, let's just say that Blaze told us that if we wanted to try to kill each other, we are supposed to do it outside, and preferably where such people as Roger, Charles, V.V., and Luciano would get caught in the crossfire
Ryou: I am not surprised by that. Blaze doesn't own Code Geass by the way
Bakura: I see V.V., Charles, and Luciano. Shall we try to kill each other and, accidentally, kill those foolish mortals instead? (Picks up two lightsabers)
Aigami: (thinks about it for a moment and shrugs) okay (takes the lightsaber tossed at him and follows Bakura out of the computer room)
Ryou: Aigami has only been here for a day and he has already adopted the sadistic, kill the characters Blaze hates mindset...and he wasn't sadistic or even really that evil beforehand…
Blaze: either my sadistic tendencies or Bakura's sadistic tendencies have rubbed off on him and, considering–-spoiler—I'd say it would have to have been mine. Finish the chapter, Ryou, please (walks off to finish her ice cream cone in private)
Ryou: (sweatdrops and sighs) anyway, Blaze, and Misha who is not here today, hope that you enjoyed this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.