Ba-Ku-Ra!
Chapter 12: Battle in the Labyrinth
By: Renagade Rex Sphinx & Miss-DNL
"We are the Guardians of this Dungeon! The Paradox brothers!" The apparent brothers in Chinese martial arts outfits declared in perfect sync with each other to their captive audience, "If you wish to exit. You must beat us in a duel! If you do not then you'll be stuck in the cave until the tournament is over!"
Despite their rather flashy entrance the two seemed very serious about what they were saying. Even though they said it in the cheesy in sync way, their stern faces commanded some seriousness. The fact they were blocking the two exits only enforced that. With what was at stake the threat of disqualification demanded it even further from the two duelists.
Jonouchi however was still a bit stuck on their flashy entrance, though he still seemed a bit worried about the situation, he couldn't hold back his primary thought of the two, "Those two guys are out of a Kung Fu movie!
Suppressing a snort of laughter hearing Akefia compare the two guardians as gypsy performers Ryo paled upon the two brothers proclamation, 'So we'll pretty much be disqualified!' He immediately felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach. Disqualification meant failure to save his Father before he could even really try. So he'd have to go through these brothers to get out of this dungeon. Looking to the duel table he noticed something odd, "Wait, there are four seats at the table."
"That's right," The older brother Para answered to Ryo before dramatically pointing to their custom dueling field, "this is a tag duel! Two on two! So two duelists, step forward…!"
His younger brother Dox smirked slyly also motioning to the dueling field completing his brothers' sentence, "And duel us in our Labyrinth battle field!"
'Two on two.' To Ryo this could only mean one thing; he looked to his only option as a dueling partner. Yami Yugi, who nodded back to him expectingly.
"Looks like we have no choice, Bakura." Yami Yugi said as he got his deck ready, the two of them already heading to their seats at the dueling table.
'Please...'the thief thought dryly as he rolled his eyes.
To the Thief King, the whole situation was utter nonsense. The two labyrinth brothers were nothing more than dressed up morons. If he had a body they'd already be crumpled up in the corner as a pair of beaten bodies and he would be on his way. But as it was, he would have to endure…He stalled suddenly when the situation took a really unpleasant turn for him and bristled furiously, 'Wait... WHAT!?' He hollered loudly.
'I have to duel with Yugi.' Ryo began as he took his place at his chair shuffling his deck while answering his yami normally despite the clear rage radiating from the Ring, he couldn't concern himself with his yami's hate at the moment.
The clear acknowledgement of the situation by his light half only made Akefia tense further in anger, 'Wait a moment...ahah...' Ryo tensed himself hearing the rising anger in his yami's voice as he continued, 'You want me... to work together...' Finally Akefia's anger finally seemed to reach its point with two last words, 'with HIM?' One of the Ring's pointer's actually mimicked what Akefia wanted to do and pointed heatedly across to where Yami Yugi was sitting.
Ryo merely sighed, finished shuffling he placed his deck on the board, 'There's no other way Akefia. Yugi is the only other duelist here that's in the tournament. To be fair I'm the one that's going to duel, he doesn't even know you're here. He doesn't even seem to remember who he is.'
"Bet your star chips." Para instructed normally as he pointed across to Ryo and Yami Yugi, momentarily interrupting the Ring Bearers conversation.
"I bet four." Yami Yugi said as he held up four before placing them down on his board.
Looking to Yami Yugi's glove, Ryou checked to see how far he had gotten since they split up, 'He already has eight...' Deciding his bet Ryo pulls a couple from his glove, "I bet two." He tensed a bit nervously, that meant a total of six chips for them to win, enough for both him and Yugi to get ten start chips, 'If I win this I'll be able to enter the castle!'
Dox nodded along with his older brother accepting the bet and held up three star chips along with his brother, "We will meet that bet!"
'GRRR... FINE.' The Thief King growls frustrated as scene continued knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it, leaving him no options but to just go with it as he still couldn't just kill the two that were blocking their way. Hearing his host's excited thoughts he huffed and sighs giving in grudgingly, 'So be it... but because there is no choice and we both have things to do...' He half muttered.
Finally hearing his yami accept the situation Ryo sighed faintly, 'Thank you Akefia...'
"I'll go first." Para decided as he drew a card, he then immediately played a monster in defense. Immediately, numerous paths began to quickly fill the field forming a complicated maze, "I play this card to set up our match! Labyrinth Wall!" He looked across at their two challengers with a smug grin on his face, only he and his brother knew this form of dueling ,the advantage was clearly theirs. The gatekeeper continued to grin as he started to explain the rules of the duel, "To win this duel, monsters from each of you must exit the labyrinth or reduce our life points to zero; however, if one teammate loses the whole team loses!"
/Labyrinth Wall: Attack: 0 Defense: 3000/
Drawing his card, thus starting his turn Yami Yugi began his main phase, "It's my turn." Placing a card in attack mode a rodent wearing armor and wielding a short sword appears at the entrance of the maze, "I play Beaver Warrior in attack mode."
/Beaver Warrior: Attack: 1200 Defense: 1500/
Seeing the monster summoned Para explains more about the duel, "Your monster's movements are determined by the star ranking."
"Right," Yami Yugi nodded, "Move four spaces." The little beast warrior moved down the labyrinth corridor four spaces sniffing nervously as it walked before coming to a stop. "I end my turn." The spirit of the puzzle said as he looked over the board. Beside the Labyrinth Wall itself and his monster there were no other monsters, and considering the Labyrinth had no attack points it was no threat either. 'There's a lot of distance between us, looks like it'll take a while for the duel to really start...'
'Looks like I'll be going last...' Ryo thought, looking to his hand after watching Yami Yugi's play, he frowns seeing Diabound; despite the creature's numerous effects they were all to waste in this particular duel, 'and because of the Labyrinth flying monsters can't enter...'
Akefia had been grumbling irately to himself until the duel in the labyrinth actually stared making him focus in on it, 'Ah... looks like this duel is already unique...' The thief immediately frowns in agitation at the boy's mention, 'Damn it...' He growled below his breath before turning his thoughts to his Ka, 'Don't worry my friend... we'll get you in... Some way or another.' Getting no answer from his Ka Akefia turns his attention over to the playing field looking it over with a sharp eye, 'There is a reason they played that labyrinth of course... and just like a real labyrinth, watch where you step. I don't doubt that this one WILL be full of traps.'
'I don't doubt that...' Ryo thought carefully seeing that the second brother had an overly confidant and blatant grin on his face, 'They're up to something...' he thought expectantly; he could only wait to see what they were up to.
After drawing his card Dox didn't hesitate to make his move and quickly played a spell card, "First I play polymerization! I'll fuse Shadow Ghoul to the Labyrinth itself!" A hellish looking creature merged with the labyrinth walls making it into a menacing shadow looming on the walls of the field. "Now our creature can move to anywhere on the board! Wall Shadow attack Beaver Warrior!"
Without hesitation, the shadow creature quickly rushed across the walls of labyrinth. The ghoul swiftly emerged from the wall bringing its huge claws down upon Yami Yugi's Beaver Warrior, "Cut it to ribbons!" Dox laughed as his opponent's monster was cut apart.
/Wall Shadow: Attack: 1600 Defense: 3000/
Yami Yugi watched on in shocked surprise, helpless to stop his monster from being destroyed or to stop his life points from dropping, 'This isn't good that monster moves to quickly and when it's finished attacking it dives back into the wall! We have to destroy it soon!'
/LP: 1600/
Watching the Wall Shadow attack surprised Ryo, but in an instant gave him an idea, looking back to Diabound's effects to confirm his theory he quickly formulated a plan in his head, 'I just found a way in.' Drawing a card Ryo started his turn, "I summon Diabound Kernel in attack mode!" The feather winged Diabound appeared at the entrance of the maze with his arms crossed looking poised and powerful as ever with an air that could easily befit the disembodied soul within the Ring.
/Diabound Attack: 1800 Defense: 1200/
Seeing his Ka summoned and hearing his hosts thoughts Akefia grinned and hummed in slight curiosity, 'Got a plan have we?' The boy only nodded mentally in response.
Para was surprised to see such a rare monster but soon laughed at what he saw as an outright amateurish move, "Ha, your monster can't enter the Labyrinth!"
"We'll see," Ryo said, remaining calm having expected such a response from his foes. He knew his play looked naïve but if his plan worked it'd turn the tables on the gate guardians. "I play a face down card and end my turn." Ryo scanned the network of walls trying to spot the Wall Shadow but to no avail, the creature was in hiding. 'I can't use my magic card while it's hiding...I'll have to wait for it to attack something...'
Yami Yugi watched Ryo's move with confusion, yes Ryo was a bit fresh to competitive dueling but he knew his friend wasn't foolish; far from it really, so he knew Ryo had to be up to something. He then looked at the monster in question, the one he had won from his previous duel. Looking at it closely he felt a chill run down his spine and his body go tense, a dark looming sensation settled in the back of his mind making him tap his board with a finger out of discomfort, 'That monster...I get a bad feeling from it...'
Quickly noticing the change in expression on his still mortal enemy's face Akefia smirked broadly and chuckled to himself with distinct relish, 'Keheheh~.'
Hearing his yami's chuckle, Ryo looked towards his dueling partner's direction feeling it was directed at him. Quickly he noticed how tense he was, but he wasn't sure about what, "Something wrong?" He asked with slight worry.
Hearing Ryo's question, Yami Yugi snapped himself out of it to avoid distracting him from the duel, "Er, no I'm fine."
Ryo eyed him a little not buying what he said, but he was forced to put this aside, "If you say so..." he said slowly as Para started his turn.
"I play one face down card," He said with a snide grin, mentally chuckling to himself, 'Heheh, one wrong step and they activate a Living Land Mind!' Moving on he played a monster in attack, "Next I play Labyrinth Tank in attack mode!" Para chuckled more in his mind seeing his opponents in a nigh impossible situation to overcome as a big tank with a red spiked drill manifested onto the field , 'Heheh, enter and face Shadow Wall or stay there and let Labyrinth Tank run you down!'
/Labyrinth Tank Attack: 2400 Defense: 2400/
With Para's turn over Yami Yugi began his, drawing his card he looked to Ryo. He knew his friend had a plan but he didn't know what, but he trusted his friend so he'd put his faith in him. "My turn. I play Celtic Swordsman in attack mode!" An elven swordsman appears leaping onto the field clad in green with his eyes a fierce yellow. "Advance into the Labyrinth!" Hearing his master's command the warrior marches down four spaces into the maze leaving him standing on the same spot Beaver Warrior had been vanquished.
Dox laughed at this move, "You fool! Shadow Wall attacks! Destroy the elf!" The shadow raced across the walls emerging behind the defenseless elf claws poised to strike him down.
Seizing his moment Ryo flipped his face down card, "Got you! I activate Change of Heart!" The Wall Shadow seized up now under Ryo's control and waited for its new orders. For the moment Celtic Guardian was safe from the ghoulish creature looming just behind it.
"You only delay the elf's fate, your control with break once your turn is over." Dox huffed, seeing it as only a slight annoyance. The elf would be destroyed on the next turn just the same.
"I'm changing Wall Shadow's target." Ryo stated with a slight firmness, his opponents over confidence was beginning to grow annoying.
The older brother looked shocked, there was only one other monster on the field his! 'But Labyrinth Tank attack is higher!' He was going to force his monster to destroy his brothers and reduce his life points. They'd also lose a powerful monster! With no counter spells or traps he'd only be able to watch it happen!
Ryo's order shocked everyone, "Wall Shadow attacks Diabound!"
Being under his control Wall Shadow obeys diving back into the wall and zoomed towards the entrance of its home. Reaching the entrance it emerges from the wall lunging at Diabound, its huge claws baring down at him. Entering a battle, and having higher attack than his opponent, Diabound counter attacked firing a Spiral Blast at the ghoul destroying it before it even reached him. In that same instant one of the white serpentine creature's effects immediately activated: By destroying an opponent in battle, his attack increased by 200.
/Diabound Kernel: Attack: 2000 Defense: 1200/
The move had been an unexpected one to say the least, but all the same Dox growled angrily as his turn came to an end, his monster was destroyed and his life points dropped by 200, 'He destroyed Wall Shadow!' he paused, huffing inwardly at the slightly strengthened opponent, 'His monster still can't-' His thoughts were interrupted when Ryo suddenly spoke again, to his surprise, giving Diabound an order.
/LP: 1800/
"Diabound, move into the wall!" Much to both of the gatekeeper's surprise the white serpent creature entered the wall with ease. A half serpent shadow with wings was seen on the wall similar to when wall shadow could be seen moving about. "One of Diabound's abilities is to gain the abilities of the monsters he's defeats. Now he can move through the maze with Wall Shadow's ability!" Ryo declared much to his opponent's dismay.
Dox narrowed his eyes at Ryo, teeth gritting he growled out, "Your teammate still needs to navigate out of the maze."
Watching his host's move play out Akefia couldn't help but feel surprised to see him use such a sneaky tactic to get Diabound to be able to enter the maze. What pleased him further was the shocked and angry reaction of the two roadblocks at the result of the outcome. This made Akefia laugh loudly in a mocking fashion. 'My, my, that was a very cleaver move!' He exclaimed praising the boy for his play, before twitching slightly as he went on, 'Save your partner, destroy an enemy and gain that kind of footing in one move.' The Thief grins slightly regarding the boy, he laughed, 'Hahah...either I may be rubbing more off on you than I thought or you may have thief blood in you, kehehe~.'
Ryo felt himself perk upon hearing the praise, only to sweat drop at the rest of his yami's comment. Part of him felt having thief blood was a compliment coming from the Thief King but it was only odd to Ryo himself. 'Thank you, I can't say for sure on that but,' He looked back to the two gatekeepers blocking their way out, light green eyes narrowed and filled with determination, 'I need to win this to save Father, I can't afford to play nice with them!'
Akefia hummed to himself, he hadn't really seen his host like this before. It was interesting, 'Eye on the prize... a good mentality...' The Thief King said in a way that almost sounded like he was just thinking aloud and not really responding to the boy.
Ryo glanced his hand over before playing a monster onto the field, a ghostly suit of armor clanked onto the field, "I summon Headless Knight in attack mode!" The undead headless warrior marched over to the Celtic knight, Diabound following leaving the allies grouped together.
/Headless Knight: Attack: 1450 Defense: 1700/
"I end my turn." Ryo said normally, letting the older brother Para start his turn.
The elder brother growled to himself, the white haired boy had gained a major foothold for his team that'd prove annoying for him and his brother. 'That creature of his is going to be trouble...but,' Para regained his cocky grin losing his irritation for the moment, 'Labyrinth Tank is still stronger, also the Trapdoor Spider is still waiting for them!' With that he continued on with his current plan, "Labyrinth Tank advances!"
The blue tank plowed forward, being allowed to move seven space it quickly began to close in on Yami Yugi and Ryo's two targetable monsters. Being four hundred points stronger, Diabound would not be able to eliminate it before it reached his two allies. The fate of the two monsters relied solely on Ryo and Yami Yugi's next turns.
As if in response to their plight, Yami Yugi 's deck yielded its best and he immediately summoned the monster he drew onto the field, "I play the Dark Magician! Advance in attack mode!" In a flash his signature purple clad monster appeared onto the field and with an attack of 2500 the tank was hardly a threat anymore. With The spirit of the puzzle's command, his new monster advanced forward into the labyrinth to meet up with the rest of group. 'There now we have a good force to march through the labyrinth...-?' At that moment he noticed an oddity; the Dark Magician was glaring at the shadow of Diabound in a rather heated almost hateful manner, it was rather bizarre. He'd never seen Dark Magician act in such a way before. 'What's wrong with Dark Magician?'
/Dark Magician: Attack: 2500 Defense: 2100/
From within the Ring Akefia watched as the monsters moved forward not thinking much of it, but when Diabound let out a low growl that was directed at the dark mage it prompted him to look more closely. He winced recognizing the Dark Magician almost immediately, 'The sorcerer!?' The thief huffed dully to himself, 'Of course he'd have HIM at his side...' Akefia then smirked slightly and continued to think to himself, 'keheheh... good that he remembers as well...' He then directed his thoughts to his Ka, 'Pay the fool no mind, Diabound... we must work with him...' The Thief King's eyes narrowed dangerously as he glared out at the mage unseen, 'for now.'
'Heheh, trying to get through the maze through sheer force in numbers, are you? Not if I can help it!' Dox drew his card to start his turn and slammed down a magic card, "The free ride is over! I play magical labyrinth!"
The game field started to shake violently before all the walls started to drop down into the ground. Diabound being in a wall was taken along with the section of wall he was in! A moment later the wall rose back up from the ground but the layout of the labyrinth had changed completely. Now Dark Magician was separated from his two allies by a large number of spaces, but Labyrinth Tank was ready to close in on its targets. Once again Headless Knight and Celtic Swordsman were in danger of being destroyed.
'Eh?' The sudden shift was enough to make Akefia look around for a moment but only that, 'Hrgg... breaking us up... feh.' He looked to his host's creatures, 'Your monsters are ghosts, so this little maze of theirs should slow you a lot less than our...' Akefia paused a moment in order to quite literally force himself to utter the word, 'partner... perhaps there is a manner of swapping one of our monsters with our partners at the opportune time?' Despite his raging hatred of him, the Thief grudgingly knew that unless they got the strongest to the front quickly, they were only biding time. And for the moment… that meant the Mage….
Ryo nodded mentally to his yami, he'd seen Yugi's deck enough to know the cards he'd likely have with him for the tournament. 'If Yugi's deck is basically the same he has two cards that could help him regroup with us.' He glanced over to him; the spirit didn't seem troubled about the separation which was reassuring at best. 'He seems calm about this so he might have one of those cards in his hand right now.' With that thought out of the way Ryo started his turn by drawing a card, "My turn, first I use the magic card Sword of Deep-Seated! I equip it to Headless Knight!" With the magic card added to it the ghostly knight raised its sword into the air it glowed an intense dark purple before becoming a wicked looking blade causing the knight to laugh excitedly. With the magic blade the monster received a substantial attack boost.
/Headless Knight: Attack: 1950 Defense: 1700/
With that done Ryo gave his monsters their next order, "Headless Knight regroup with Celtic Swordsman, Diabound follows." Ryo watches as the suit of armor clanked its way down the corridor towards the elf then looked watching Diabound's shadow move across the walls. In no time Diabound regrouped with its elven ally.
As Headless knight clanked along down the corridor the two brothers did not expect the walking armor to phase right through the wall of the labyrinth! "What!?" They both yelled as the undead knight continued on towards it destination.
"Headless Knight is a ghost walls don't mean much to him." Ryo answered normally like it was a normal occurrence.
Akefia smirks, amused by their surprised reaction to something he was well beyond used to. 'Heheh... seems they've never seen a ghost before.' He darts his eyes to Yami Yugi, 'Better not slow us down...' He growled in warning to himself.
Para grinned as the Headless Knight unknowingly stepped on a tile that had his living land mine hidden underneath, immediately he sprung his trap, "Heheh, trap card activate! Trapdoor Spider eats your monster!" Suddenly almost in a flash a giant trapdoor spider sprung up from under the title grasping the knight with two large forelegs crushing it like a coke can between them.
/Jirai Gumo: Attack: 2100 Defense: 100/
The action had almost been too quick to react to leaving Ryo stunned, 'A living trap!'
/LP: 1850/
Akefia on the other hand was not so surprised, and merely huffs at the loss at what he considered to be a grunt of a monster, 'and therein was the trap...'
'Heheh, the elf has nowhere to run this time!' Para grinned, the duel was back in their favor and their opponent had taken damage; the duel was in their control again, "Labyrinth Tank advance!" He looked briefly to where Dark Magician was and then to where Diabound was hiding in the wall, 'Heheheh, neither of those trouble sum creatures can do anything! Next turn the Elf dies!'
"It's my turn isn't it?" Yami Yugi said with a smirk as he drew his card remaining completely confident.
Para laughed at his opponent's foolhardy confidence, "Ha! You can do nothing more than watch your monster die!"
"That so?" The spirit of the Puzzle questioned continuing to smirk, "I play the Mystic Box: Magic Boxes of Death! In combination with Dark Magician!" A black magic box appeared once the spell was played, the box opened and the Dark Magician calmly entered inside, the box shutting him in. Suddenly swords appeared out of nowhere and started stab themselves into the box!
The action left the elder brother baffled, what in the world did he just witness!? 'Did he just kill himself!?'
"Another box! Where the spider was!" The younger brother pointed out. The elder brother immediately looked to where his spider has been. As Dox had said there sat another box, hearing the creak of a door he looked to the first box as it opened and instead of seeing the magician…it was his spider that was skewered inside!
'It was the spider that died then-!' Immediately Para looked to the second box and as he suspected out came the Dark Magician completely unharmed, 'He moved between the boxes!'
"Using your monster as a sacrifice Dark Magician moved over to save my monster and he still has an attack!" Yami Yugi explained with a slight grin, it was always fun to outsmart overly confident opponents like the ones he was facing now, "Attack with Dark Magic!" The dark mage swung his staff letting lose a storm of dark magic blowing the tank to bits leaving nothing behind.
Para growled angrily as his Labyrinth Tank was attacked, he was being made a complete fool of by a child! 'He destroyed both of my monsters!"
/LP:1900/
Akefia stared out blankly as the spirit of the Puzzle successfully made his play, effectively allowing him to get ahead quickly now no longer posing a problem of being dead weight… within the seething hate burning him all over all the Thief could muster to say, with no lack of hatred on his tongue, 'Very clever...'
This chapter was written by me and edited by Renagade.
Renagade: Thief Bakura
Miss-DNL: Para, Dox, Ryo, Yami Yugi, Jonouchi, Dark Magician & Diabound
Note: One of the added bonuses to Diabound was a power up for whenever he destroys a monster. It's to mirror the rapid power boosts he got in the Millennium world. Gaining the ability of the monsters he defeats is a real power from the anime card.
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