Episode 70: Zenith Peaks

Yuni, Brutus, Tori, and Zenith are standing in the main room of the space station, waiting for the next duel to begin. Zenith looks extremely anxious. He jumps up into the air and exclaims, "I can't take it any longer! I need to duel already! I'm in the finals of the biggest Duel Monsters tournament of all time, heck, I'm in the same room as some the most famous duelists, and yet I haven't been able to duel yet! That needs to change."

Yuni sighs. "Calm down Zenith. There are only two duels left in the quarterfinals, you'll get your chance soon."

Brutus argues, "I don't know, I'm getting pretty anxious myself." He looks at Zenith. "How sweet would it be if we got to duel each other, we haven't had a chance to yet." Brutus thinks for a second. "Speaking of, I really haven't seen you duel at all. You dueled Yuni when we first met you, but that was over so quick, we didn't get to much of your deck at all. You were also in that Battle Royale and the Survival Duel, but once again, not that good of a chance to see what you got."

Zenith smiles and says, "You'll just have to wait and see then. My deck is pretty sweet. I put it all together myself for this very tournament." He reaches down to pat his deck box, but doesn't make contact with anything but his hip. He begins to panic and pats all around his hip looking for his deck box. He looks upward with a look of panic. "Um…guys?"

Tori asks, "What's wrong Zenith?"

"My deck box, it's gone! My deck was in there!"

Brutus laughs. He jokes, "What else would be in there?"

Tori hits Brutus and asserts, "Brutus, this is serious! It's no time to be making jokes!"

Yuni asks, "Where do you think that it might be Zenith? Where was the last place you saw it? Did you leave it back on Earth?"

Zenith thinks. "No, I definitely had when we arrived at the station." He starts to panic again. "What if someone stole it!? What am I going to do without it!? I need that deck!"

Yuni says, "Come on Zenith, calm down. If its definitely on this station, we'll find it."

Zenith slowly nods, but he is not completely convinced.

Over an intercom, the voice of the Minister of Dueling announces, "Alright duelists, it's time to announce the match up! Report to the arena immediately!"

Zenith gulps. "What if I'm in the next duel? They'll disqualify me if I don't have a deck to duel with!" He shouts in a slurred panic, "What do I do!? What do I do!? What do I do!?"

Tori says, "Don't worry. You go start looking for your deck, we'll go ahead to the arena, and if they announce your name, we'll ask for more time. Maybe they'll understand."

Zenith, still upset, says wearily, "Okay…I'll start looking around this room." Zenith bends down and starts to meticulously search the floor of the room. Everyone else heads through the doors to the zero gravity arena.

In the arena the massive hologram of the Minister of Dueling announces, "Alright duelists, let's find out who's in the next duel!" The holo-screen appears before him. "To make things a little different this time, we'll announce the duelists one by one! Let's see who's first!"

One of the spots for a picture begins to flash rapidly between the pictures of the remaining duelists. It begins to slow. It stops on Zenith.

The Minister announces, "The first duelist will be Zenith Xenox!" Yuni, Tori, and Brutus gasp. The Minister asks in confusion, "Where is Zenith Xenox?"

Tori says, "He's having some troubles. You see, he lost his deck somewhere on the station. He's looking for it now. Can't you give him a chance to find it?"

The Minister looks as if he's talking to someone just off of the hologram projection. He nods his head and returns his focus to the finalists. He declares, "The Ministry has decided to allow Zenith five minutes to find his deck. If he is not in this room by the end of that time period, he will be disqualified. Is this understood?"

Yuni, Tori, and Brutus nod there heads in understanding. The three run out to go help Zenith.

A five minute countdown clock appears on the holo-screen. The Minister says, "I guess that while we are waiting, we might as well announce the next duelist. The second image begins to randomize.

Yuni and friends are frantically searching the station for Zenith's deck. Zenith is frantically dashing from spot to spot with massive bursts of speed. Zenith cries out in despair, "It's not here!"

Yuni contemplates, "Well…the only other room you've been in besides this one and the arena was the entrance hallway. It must be there!"

Zenith instantly dashes off. The others follow. In the hallway connecting to the place where their rocket docked, Zenith begins to look around frantically again. Over the intercom, the Minister of Dueling announces, "This is your one minute warning. Be here in less than a minute or face disqualification."

Zenith goes into overload and searches even faster. Tori, who is currently bending over to look down in a corner catches something sparkle out of the corner of here eye. She walks across the room and picks something up from underneath an outcropping in the wall. She holds the mettle object up triumphantly and shouts, "Guys, I found it!"

Zenith perks up and exclaims in disbelief, "You did!?" He dashes over to her and grabs it from her. "This is it! This is it!"

Tori thinks for a second. "It must of fell off of your belt when the artificial gravity was engaged and we fell." A scene illustrating what Tori explained is shown.

The Minister announces, "Fifteen seconds remaining!"

The four look at each other and start to run towards the arena.

The Minister counts down, "Five…four…three…two…" As he reaches two, the group makes it through the arena doors.

Brutus shouts, "Stop the countdown, we're here!" The timer hits zero.

The Minister of Dueling comments, "And not a moment too late! You had us worried there for a second. Alright Zenith, you may join your opponent out in the arena!"

The four look out to the duel field, and their jaws drop upon seeing the person already floating out there. It's Oblivion. Zenith screams at the top of his lungs, in a somewhat girlish manner, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Yuni looks up towards the Minister of Dueling and says, "Just one more moment please." The group huddle up.

Tori says, "Zenith, you have to quit now."

Zenith is hyperventilating. Brutus says, "I'm with her Zenith, you can't face that guy."

Zenith manages to calm enough from the initial shock to say, "No…I must do this."

Tori asks, "Are you crazy? What are you saying? If you lose to him, he'll banish your mind. If you just quit now, he can't do that."

Yuni nods in agreement. "It's not worth the risk."

Zenith takes a deep breath, and now fully calm, says, "I can't do that. I need to do this duel."

Brutus insists, "Come on Zenith, don't be stupid."

"No, it's not being stupid." He looks to Yuni. "You may barely know me, I may only be friends with Yugi and not you, but I know you. I am your biggest fan, and I would do anything to help you. That includes taking the risk to beat this guy so you don't have to."

Brutus says, "Zenith…"

Zenith holds his hand up towards Brutus. "No Brutus, don't tell me that you wouldn't do the same."

Brutus starts to open his mouth to object, but then on second thought says nothing. Yuni thinks, I don't know about this. I can't ask him to do this. What do you think Yugi?

Yugi responds, I would never ask such a thing from a friend either, but you're not asking. He is determined to do this. You can see it on his face. Yuni looks at him, and sure enough, his look of panic has turned into a look of determination. Yugi continues, I know Zenith. If he puts his mind to something, there's no stopping him.

Yuni sighs. Tori starts to raise another objection, "Zenith, this is-"

Yuni cuts her off, "No Tori. Let him do it."

Tori and Brutus both say in shock, "What!?"

Yuni nods in affirmation. "If Zenith wants to do this, we have to let him."

The Minister of Dueling says with some annoyance, "If Zenith Xenox would place take his position, we've been waiting for him for long enough."

Zenith looks out towards his opponent and takes a deep breath. He slowly walks towards the edge of the observation platform. He jumps off of it and effortlessly maneuvers himself into position.

Oblivion says, "I have no quarrel with you boy. You could quit now and come out with your mind intact."

Zenith says with determination, "No! If you want to get to Yuni, you'll have to beat me first!"

"So be it."

The Minister announces, "Alright, with no further delay, let's begin the duel! Activate your Duel Gauntlets!"

Zenith grabs his recently found deck box and attaches it to his gauntlet. Oblivion holds a fist up in front of his face and a swirling mass of shadows manifests itself around his wrist. The shadows consolidate and form a shadowy Duel Gauntlet. The Duel Computer states, "World of Duel Quarterfinals duel now commencing. Zenith Xenox, with 5500 life points vs. Oblivion with 8000 life points. Scanning decks…decks accepted. Commence dueling."

The Minister adds, "It has been randomly determined that Zenith will take the first move!"

Zenith draws. "I will stand by my friends until the end! Since my field is empty, I can special summon Genesis Invader (Dark/Level 7/Psychic/Effect/ATK 2700/DEF 0)!" A beam of light shines down onto the field and the monster materializes in it. It is a large alien beast. It is covered in light green scales and has a somewhat benevolent appearance overall. "I'll add to my invasion force by summoning Allied Invader (Dark/Level 5/Psychic/Effect/ATK 2200/DEF 0), which I can normal summon without tributes if I control another Invader monster." Another beam of light, another alien. This one looks like a largely built version of the Grey Aliens. "To finish off my army, I'll special summon Alpha Invader (Dark/Level 8/Psychic/Effect/ATK 2700/DEF 2200) since I control two Invader monsters! I end my turn (Zenith's hand: 3)."

Brutus cheers, "Yeah Zenith, with a field like that, you can't be beat!"

Yuni smiles and thinks, He might actually have a chance.

Oblivion however, has different plans. He draws and says menacingly, "You are foolish boy! Many have tried to defeat me, but none have succeeded. You will be no different. I bring forth the Apocalyptic Herald of Doom (Dark/Level 1/Fiend/Effect/ATK 0/DEF 0)!" The monster is a small impish creature, appearing to almost be made out of solidified shadows. It has glowing red eyes and holds a dark purple trumpet. "When I summon Apocalyptic Herald of Doom, it searches another Apocalyptic monster from my deck and adds it to my hand. I will call upon the Apocalyptic Ghoul of Catastrophe!" The Herald sounds its horn, and an orb of dark energy floats from Oblivion's deck to his hand. He continues, "By tributing an Apocalyptic monster, I can special summon Apocalyptic Ghoul of Catastrophe (Dark/Level 6/Fiend/Effect/ATK 2300/DEF 2200)!" The first monster shatters into many pieces. In its place appears an imposing, fiendish creature. It is colored primarily dark purple and black, and it too appears to be made of consolidated shadows and has glowing red eyes. It carries a sword of darkness.

Zenith asserts, "You can summon all the monsters you want, my forces are too strong and too numerous for you to beat!"

Oblivion shakes his head. "You an ignorant, ignorant boy. You do not know a thing about this game if you truly believe that. I, on the other hand, have been playing this game longer than you could even imagine. Just watch, I activate Apocalyptic Firestorm! Since I control a Apocalyptic monster, and you control more monsters than I do I can activate this card. It brings the end of the world to all cards on your field!" Great balls of fire rain down upon Zenith's field and destroy all of his monsters.

Zenith's jaw drops. He makes several grunting noises in his shock. He cries out hysterically, "No, no, no, no! Not good, not good!"

Yuni shouts out, "Calm down Zenith! You'll never beat anyone if you react that way!"

Zenith looks at Yuni. He hangs his head. Remorsefully he says, "I'm in over my head. You were right Yuni, I shouldn't have gotten into this duel. What was I thinking!? I'm just some random, small time duelist. Why did I ever think that I could take this guy?"

Yuni scolds, "Zenith, don't talk that way! You can't give up after only one misfortune! Dueling is full of ups and downs, if you have that sort of attitude after every setback, you'll never win anything!"

Zenith stammers, "But…but Yuni…"

"No buts Zenith! You can do this, I believe in you!"

Zenith instantly perks up. "You…you believe in me?" He jumps up and cheers, "Yuni believes in me! I can do this!" He looks back at Oblivion and points at him. "You hear that!? You better watch out, because Yuni believes in me, and he's the greatest duelist of all time!"

Oblivion chuckles. "Do you really believe that? You don't matter to him. He's just saying that so you'll quit complaining. He knows that an amateur duelist like yourself has absolutely no chance of defeating the Lord of Darkness."

Zenith looks down towards his feet and balls up his fists. He says under his breath, "You're wrong." He looks up again and shouts, "You're wrong!"

"You are entitled to your opinions. Just know that they are wrong." Oblivion beckons to his monster. "Since I activated Apocalyptic Firestorm, I can't declare an attack. So I'll just end my turn." As he's saying that, he sets a card (Oblivion's hand: 3).

Zenith, full of determination, draws his card. "I activate the Field Spell, Armada of the Invasion!" The entire field changes. They now appear to be outside, in outer space, orbiting the Earth. Zenith and Oblivion are standing on top of a massive, silver, saucer-shaped spacecraft. The observation platform has also been turned into a flying saucer. All around them is a massive fleet of the UFOs, ready to invade the Earth. Zenith explains, "This spell allows either of us to summon a level five or six Invader monster without a tribute, but I highly doubt that you have any Invader monsters, so that doesn't really matter for you. I'll increase my options by activating Supply Lines of Invasion! Now, as long as I control this card, I can draw a card every time that I special summon a level five or higher Invasion monster! As for the effect of my Armada of Invasion, I'll beam down my Force Invader (Dark/Level 5/Psychic/Effect/ATK 2000/DEF 0)!" One of the flying saucers hovers over Zenith's field, and emits a beam of light. In that beam, Zenith's new monster materializes. It is a muscularly built green alien with a large cranium and big, black eyes. Its body has several flare out points, giving it a more lethal appearance. "Attack now Force Invader!"

Oblivion asks, "And why would you do that? My monster has 2400 attack points!"

"I know, that's why I activate Force Invader's effect! Since its attack is lower than the attack of the monster it's battling, it gains 600 attack points!" Zenith's monster glows with red energy and grows larger (ATK: 2600). It moves in to attack.

Oblivion declares, "I activate my trap card, Apocalyptic Scourge! This turn, my Apocalyptic monster cannot be destroyed, and I take no damage from battles involving it!" Zenith's monster hit's a red energy barrier around Oblivion's and rebounds off of it.

Zenith grins in triumph. "I activate the second effect of Armada of the Invasion! Since one of my Invader monsters attacked, but didn't destroy a monster in battle, I can special summon another level five or higher Invader monster from my hand! I'll summon Strike Invader (Dark/Level 7/Psychic/Effect/ATK 2600/DEF 0)! Then, since I summoned an Invader monster, I'll draw a card due to Supply Lines of Invasion!" He draws a card. "Attack now Strike Invader!"

"You still can't destroy my monster!" The attack fails.

"So I can summon another Invader! Come to me, Frontline Invader (Dark/Level 6/Psychic/Effect/ATK 2400/DEF 0)!" Zenith draws. "Your turn to attack!" His monster attacks and fails. "Now I'll summon Draconic Invader (Dark/Level 8/Psychic/Effect/ATK 2800/DEF 0)! You know what's next, attack now!" Another attack, another failure, another card for Zenith. "To finish things off, I'll pull out another copy of Genesis Invader! You're lucky my field's full, or else you'd have a whole lot more coming at you!" Zenith sets down a card (Zenith's hand: 0).

Yuni, Tori, and Brutus all cheer. Yuni shouts out, "That's a great set up Zenith! He'll have a tough time getting past that!" Zenith grins with confidence.

Before he draws, Oblivion states, "You have put up more resistance than I might have thought possible from one like you, but it does not matter. The result will be the same in the end. I activate the effect of Apocalyptic Ghoul of Catastrophe! Instead of conducting my normal draw, I can add an Apocalyptic spell or trap card to my hand instead." The top card of Oblivion's deck glows dark purple. He draws it. "I activate Apocalyptic Corruption!" A shadowy aura surrounds Oblivion. "Now to really start my turn, I'll Evolve my Ghoul of Catastrophe into Apocalyptic Archfiend of Demise (Dark/Level 7/Fiend/Evolution/ATK 2500/DEF 2300)!" After evolving, the monster is now more menacing and frightful. Its sword has grown to double its original size. "When I summon this monster, it can destroy all monsters that you control!"

Zenith counters, "Not if I activate my facedown card! Go, Guardians of the Invasion!" A massive pulse of dark energy is sent out of Oblivion's monster. A field of energy is projected around Zenith's monsters, protecting it. "This card negates an effect that would destroy my Invader monsters!"

Oblivion chuckles. "Don't be so proud of yourself. That wasn't even my true move. I have yet to demonstrate my real power! Go, Darkness Evolution!" His monster becomes cloaked in shadows.

Zenith, Yuni, Tori, and Brutus all look shocked and shout out, "What!?"

Brutus demands, "How'd you do that!? You don't have Corruption of Darkness on your field!"

Oblivion returns, "You insolent fool! The Corruption of Darkness card is only used by those who serve me! I, as the Lord of Darkness, utilize something far superior, the Apocalyptic Corruption card! Now, I Evolve Apocalyptic Archfiend of Demise into Darkness Evolution: Apocalyptic Phantasm of Doomsday (Dark/Level 9/Fiend/Evolution/ATK ?/DEF 0)!" The monster that emerges form the shadows is reminiscent of the previous two, but this one is much larger. It wears armor that appears to be made out of shadow energy. In addition to its sword, which is now twice the size of its body, it also carries a dark shield. "When I summon Phantasm of Doomsday it destroys all cards you control!" Another pulse of dark energy is released.

Zenith says, "I activate the second effect of Guardians of the Invasion! By banishing it from my grave, I can activate its effect again!" A barrier appears around Zenith's monsters again.

"Too bad for you, because one of the effects of Apocalyptic Corruption prevents my Darkness Evolution monsters from being affected by card effects!" The dark pulse breaks the shield and destroys Zenith's monsters.

Zenith cries out, "No!"

"That's not all! My monster's attack becomes equal to the amount of destroyed cards time 1000 (ATK: 5000)!"

Zenith looks horrified. Yuni thinks, Zenith managed to get out of the Survival Duel with 5,500 life points, so he can still take a hit from that monster. He's not out yet.

Oblivion further explains, "To add to that strength, Apocalyptic Corruption grants each of my Darkness Evolution monsters with 500 extra attack points (ATK: 5500)!" Zenith's look of horror turns to one of utter despair.

Yuni cries out, "Zenith, no!"

Oblivion declares, "Attack now, destroy this runt who thought he could hinder me!" Oblivion's monster charges at Zenith with its sword raised. Zenith hangs his head in defeat. The attack makes contact (Zenith's LP: 0). The duel ends, and the field returns to normal. Zenith says nothing, and continues to hang his head. Oblivion says, "And now you pay for getting in my way. Go, Shadow Leech!" Shadowy tendrils snake out from Oblivion and wrap around Zenith.

Yuni shouts in despair, "No!"

As the tendrils cover Zenith, he turns to face Yuni. A single tear falls from his eye. He says meekly, "I'm sorry Yuni. I've failed you." The tendrils disappear. Zenith falls unconscious.

The Minister of Dueling, completely ignorant towards what is really happening demands, "We need a medic in here! The duelist has fallen unconscious!"

The doors of the observation deck swing open and two medics run in carrying a hover-gurney. They jump off of the platform, and use small jetpacks to maneuver themselves next to Zenith. They load him onto the gurney and transport him out of the room.

The Minister of Dueling demands, "Does anyone know what happened to him!?"

Yugi warns Yuni, We can not let him know. Oblivion's true power can't be known by the public. It would cause panic. Yuni grunts in acknowledgment.

In response to the Minister, everyone shakes their heads no.

Seeming to not know what to say, the Minister says, "Alright, well, do not worry. We have a state-of-the-art medical facility aboard this station. Zenith will be okay."

Yuni says under his breath, "No amount of medical attention could save Zenith now. His mind is gone…"

The Minister suddenly says, "But the tournament must go on! Oblivion will move onto the next round and in ten minutes, the next duel between Tori Rekishi and Brutus Marc will commence in order to decide who will face him next!" Tori and Brutus look at each other in despair.