Alright, time for Chapter 2. This chapter was actually originally in third person then was switched to first person. I think I fixed all the pov things but if I left anything as third person I would thank someone to point it out.
Also this chapter is actually a practice chapter I wrote during the planning stages of the fic to see how confident I was writing duels, so while it has been heavily edited (especially the last ~3 turns of the duel) I'm sorry if parts of it are still a bit poorly written.
Chapter 2: Giant Rat
Hey there! I'm William Rathaway, please make sure to call me William. As you know, I'm a Shadowchaser who was transferred to this small town because that old grump Drake got in an accident. Honestly, I'm pretty excited. I've never gotten to help take down a cult before. I wonder who they worship? Maybe it's like Lucifer or Thraximundar or something. Whoever it is, I'll make sure to take them down, and look badass while doing it!
But for now I'm just on patrol for any street-level criminal activity.
It actually took a while to see anything, like at least a half hour. But I saw something in an alley as I passed by,time for action. Attaching my duel disk to my arm and putting my deck into it, I went in to check it out.
A ragged-looking wererat was holding what looked like a weretiger at gunpoint. The average weretiger would've grabbed the gun and snapped it by now, maybe even snapped the wererat's neck if they had a temper. Something has to be up here.
"Hey, I think you have cat-and-mouse backwards," I announced. Both of the Shadows looked at me, the weretiger suddenly sprinting behind me and out of the alley.
"Who the hell are you?" The wererat called out, turning the gun to me. That would be scary but the Shadowchaser training includes multiple ways to disarm a gunman. "You look like a Shadowchaser, but I don't recognize you."
"I just transferred here. Call me William. Now then, sir, please put down the gun and come quietly."
"Bah." He holstered the gun and raised his arm, activating his duel disk. "I know that won't be very effective on yo. But you won't get me coming easy. I know my rights, you have to duel me."
I activated my duel disk too. "Yep, I do. And when I win you're under arrest, you. Uh, what's your name?"
"Call me Shiv," the criminal replied. Seriously, a pseudonym? A bad one at that considering it just sounds like a criminal's pseudonym.
"Okay, Shiv, get ready to duel."
"Yeah, yeah, let's get this over with," Shiv replied as they drew their opening hands.
Nice, I got a good hand.
(William: 8000 LP)-(Shiv: 8000 LP)
"I'll start things off." Shiv drew a card and looked over his hand. "I'll set a creature and two other cards." The three face-downs appeared in front of him. "And pass."
"So, Shiv," I started talking as I drew. "I know that even with that gun you were no match for that weretiger, so why was he so scared?"
"None of your business. Arrest me if you really want to know."
"Okay. Well, I'll start with a Goblindbergh." A goblin in aviator gear and flying a red WWI-era plane appeared. (1400 ATK) "And I'll use it's ability to special summon Sacred Crane." The next monster was a glowing white crane with a black head and a long, red ponytail. (1600 ATK)
"So, I draw a card for Special Summoning Sacred Crane and then Goblindbergh switches to defense position." As I drew a card, smoke started coming from Goblindbergh's plane and it was forced to land. (0 DEF)
"You going to Xyz something, then?"
Shiv asked.
"Yep. I open the overlay network and overlay my Goblindbergh and my Sacred Crane." A purple vortex appeared on the battlefield, swirling around and glowing with dots that resembled small star. Both of my monsters flew into the vortex and a new one rose out. The new monster was a knight covered in crimson red armor. She held a large sword and had four black stars on her chestplate. Two red balls of light, representing her Xyz Material, flew out and orbited her. (1900 ATK/2 overlay units).
"Say hello to my Knight General! For every overlay unit on her, she gains 200 attack and defense, and one rank." Flames started coming out of the joints of the armor and two more stars appeared on her chest (1900 - 2300 ATK/1900 - 2300 DEF/2 overlay units).
"Ooh, a 2300 on your first turn," Shiv sarcastically replied. "Any other abilities?"
"Nope. Honestly, Knight General isn't very good. But she serves as a combo piece to let me do this. Xyz Evolution!"
"Do what now?" Shiv stared in disbelieve as a smaller overlay network appeared below Knight General and she sank into it.
"Xyx Evolution!" I can never stop myself from chanting when I do this. "Release you bonds from Earth and reach for the stars! Charge towards them and grasp them! Come forth, Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger!" A new monster came flying out of the portal. It was a mechanical dragon covered in red plating with two arms, a guillotine blade on its belly, another on it's head, and bladed wings. Attached to its back was a humanoid construct in matching red armor and with green lances in place of hands. (2600 ATK/3 overlay units)
"What the hell did you just do?" Shiv yelled.
"Xyz Evolution. Using one Xyz monster to summon another. My Gaia Dragon can be summoned using a Rank 5 or 6 monster as material. It also gets all the material attached to the monster I used."
"Sounds like cheating," Shiv replied. "But the duel disks ain't freaking out, so I guess it checks out. You gonna attack?"
"Not sure I'll risk in case that's a Mirror Force. I'll set two cards and pass." The two cards appeared behind the dragon.
Shiv drew a card. "I set a card, then activate my Jar of Greed." One card appeared and the one next to it lifted up. He drew another card and looked over his hand. "Then, I flip my face-down monster, Stone Statue of the Aztecs." A statue resembling the upper half of a golem appeared from the card. It had a green head, shoulders, and hands; and blue arms, wrists, and chest. (2000 DEF)
"Next, I summon another Stone Statue of the Aztecs and do an Xyz Summon of my own." A second statue appeared next to the first, and the both of them went into an overlay network. "Now watch my Stone Pyramid." The monster was a steppe pyramid made of brownstone and that stood about fifteen feet tall. (2700 DEF/2 overlay units) Two brown orbs of light circled around it.
"That's a monster? I've seen weirder, but that's just a pyramid. Honestly looks more like a field or like a continuous spell or something."
"Now pass."
"Gladly. Draw. Then, Raigeki Break." My trap revealed itself and he discarded a certain card.
"Trying to blow up my pyramid, Shadowchaser?"
"No, I'm not scared of it. I'll destroy the card you set last turn." Lightning came down, destroying the card and revealing it to be a Fairy Box. "Wow, good thing I did. I'll pa-"
"No you won't. I use the ability of my Stone Pyramid. I use one of its overlay units, and now your creature has to attack this turn." One of the two lights flew onto the top of the pyramid and blue runes started glowing on it.
"Fine. Gaia Dragon, attack. Galaxy Spiral Spear." The dragon charged forward, the construct on its back holding its lance-arms forwards. It slammed into the pyramid and bounced off. Strangely, my monster started turning to stone.
(William: 8000 LP - 7900 LP)
"Since your monster has less attack than Stone Pyramid's defense, my Stone Pyramid's effect destroys it!"
"No it doesn't. I activate my Fading Black." My second trap flipped up and an Xyz vortex surrounded Gaia Dragon. "Since my rank seven or higher monster would be destroyed by your card effect, I can instead Xyz Summon a rank four or lower monster using it as material. So welcome my Kachi Kochi Dragon." The vortex burst apart to reveal a large dragon made of white crystals (2100/1300/4 overlay units).
"Damn it," Shiv swore.
"And now I'm passing."
"Draw. I play my field spell, Canyon." The area became rocky and plateaus shot up around us. "My Canyon makes it so-"
"I know what it does. When I attack a defense position Rock, I take double damage."
"Sheesh, rude for a Shadowchaser," Shiv sneered. "But yeah, you're right. Then, I summon Block Golem." The monster looked like a cubical LEGO construct with legs and drill-tipped arms. (1000 ATK) "And I activate my Rock Bombardment." The trap revealed itself. "I send a Rock-type from my deck to my graveyard to deal 500 damage to you."
Shiv did a quick search through his deck, chose a card, and put it in his graveyard before replacing his deck. A stone shot out of the trap, smacking my gut. It may just be light but these holograms can take the air right out of you at times.
(William: 7800 LP - 7300 LP)
"And the card I just sent was my Do-Rock, meaning-know this one, Shadowchaser?"
"Nope, doesn't ring a bell," I replied.
"Well, when Do-Rock is sent from my deck to my graveyard, I can summon a Ti Token." A small rock in the form of a quarter note with eyes appeared, letting out a very high-pitched noise (500 DEF). "Then, with two monsters in my graveyard, I can activate my Block Golem's effect. I sacrifice it to special summon the other two monsters in my graveyard: Stone Statue of the Aztecs and Do-Rock."
The Block Golem exploded in a burst of energy. When it faded, the Stone Statue had reappeared (2000 DEF) as well as a new monster. It resembled the Ti Token, but larger and letting out a very deep noise. (0/1500 DEF)
"And now for something special: My Do-Rock is actually a tuner monster. So, I tune my level 4 Do-Rock, my level 1 Ti Token, and my level 4 Stone Statue." The Do-Rock turned into four green synchro rings, the token and Stones Statue going into them. The monsters turned into five stars and a green light filled the rings. "And I summon Giganticastle!" Despite it's name, the monster that came out of the light wasn't a castle. It was a massive brown golem, easily towering over even the plateaus surrounding us. (2900 ATK)
"It's already massive, but now it gets bigger, gaining 200 attack and defense for each non-Tuner I used, meaning it gets 400." (2900 - 3300 ATK/2800 - 3200 DEF). "And now, Giganticastle, crush that Dragon!"
The golem brought its massive fist down, but was stopped by the sudden appearance of a warrior, which caught the first and threw it back.
"Not so fast!" I shouted. "I use the effect of the Necro Gardna I discarded for my Raigeki Break, negating your attack."
"That damn card, I hate it. Fine, pass." Shiv said with a huff.
"Draw. Hah, sweet. I activate Rank-Up-Magic Legacy of Champions!" This card is super rare and one of the treasures of my deck. The card itself was an impressive sight, with the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon letting loose a roar, Dark Magician and Flame Swordsman standing back-to-back on its left and Buster Blader atop Red-Eyes Black Dragon on its right, VWXYZ - Dragon Catapult Cannon finishing the picture off standing in front of the mighty beast. It made a vortex of golden energy surround my Kachi Kochi Dragon.
"Rank-Up-Magic? Is that another of them Xyz Evolution cards?"
"Yep! And I'm using it to summon Constellar Pleiades."
Seven points of light appeared on the vortex and it dissipated to reveal the warrior. He wore an ornate gold-trimmed suit of white armor with spiked pauldrons and a purple under armor padding. His cape spread out behind him, a seven pointed cloth with the appearance of a galaxy. Pleiades held high his odd weapon, a gold D-shaped thing with a spike coming off the top and an iron blade attached to the bottom. Five orbs of light circled him. (2500 ATK/5 overlay units).
"Ugh, no. That card is such a pain. Are you going to use its effect now?"
"Not yet. First I'm removing the Sacred Crane attached to my Pleiades." One of the five orbs of light circling Pleiades changed into the winged beast before fading away as I put it in my graveyard. (5 - 4 overlay units).
"Since it was a Winged Beast, I can special summon Raidraptor - Ravenous Vulture." The monster that appeared was an odd mechanical bird. It was orange-brown except for its grey neck, single leg, and beak. Its head was wrinkled and lacked any eyes, instead a blue sensor was on the top and bottom of each wing, as well as one visible inside its beak whenever the monster opened it. (1800 ATK)
"And now I can target my Pleiades to have Ravenous Vulture gain 300 attack and defense for each material it has." The Vulture turned its head towards Pleiades and opened its beak, using the sensor inside to scan the knight. Replicas of Pleiades's four units appeared around it. (1800 - 3000 /1800 - 3000).
"So now you're using Pleiades?" Shiv asked.
"Yep! To bounce your Giganticastle I'm detaching Thunder Charger." One of the units circling Pleiades flew into his weapon. The warrior jumped into the air and landed in front of Giganticastle, slamming his weapon into the ground in front of the larger monster. With a shockwave, Giganticastle was sent flying and faded away. (4 - 3 overlay units).
"Now, Ravenous Vulture attacks your Pyramid." The winged beast flew up above the battlefield and opened its beak, bathing the pyramid in blue light from its sensor. The replica overlay units surrounding it shot down, battering the pyramid to dust.
"And Pleiades attacks directly, Seven Sisters Strike." The Warrior charged forward and attacked the wererat with seven slashes of its blade.
(Shiv: 8000 LP - 5500 LP)
"Then I set a card and pass."
"Draw!"
"And I activate Jar of Greed." Both duelists drew a card and looked over their hands.
"Trying to summon a big creature again would be kinda pointless since you can just Pleiades it. So I guess I'll try going wide instead. I'll start with Living Mudslide." The rat's monster was just a large pile of black mud that took a vaguely humanoid form. The monster started moving up and down, creating a loud crashing noise.
"And now my mudslide starts a rockslide. Or to actually explain it, I can now Special Summon one Rock monster from my hand with 2000 or less defense. And I'm going to go with Gaia Plate the Earth Giant."
The Mudslide slammed itself on the ground, making rocks fall onto the monster zone next to it. The rocks started shaking and stood up, taking the form of a large it crouched and crossed its thick arms in front of its body and the Mudslide became still. (Mudslide: 2000 DEF) (Gaia Plate: 1000 DEF)
"Then they switch to defense position. Which isn't great for my Gaia Plate but I can deal with it."
"Oh yeah, deal with this! I use Pleiades to return your Gaia Plate to your hand." As I slipped Kachi Kochi Dragon into my graveyard, Pleiades used another unit to send Gaia Plate flying.
"What? I was expecting that during the end step. But if you want to waste your Pleiades's bounce for this turn…" Shive grinned at me and I laid my head in my palm.
Dammit, I forgot it has an effect to special summon itself.
"So I banish Block Golem and Stone Pyramid," the two cards slipped out of the graveyard slot on Shiv's duel disk and he slipped them into his pocket, "to special summon my Gaia Plate again." With a bellow, the golem reappeared. (2800 ATK).
"Crap, crap, crap, not good."
"Oh it is very good, for me. Gaia Plate, smash Constellar Pleiades. And thanks to Gaia Plate's ability, Pleiades's stats are cut in half."
The giant golem charged at Pleiades, making the knight cower in fear. (2500 - 1250 ATK/1500- 750 DEF). Then it smashed its arm through Pleiades, destroying him.
(William: 7300 LP - 5750 LP).
"And I'll pass."
"Okay gonna really get my head in the game now," I said as I drew. "I made a bit of a slip-up, but I can recover. Especially since I can now summon one of my rarest cards. I start by actually recovering a card using Revenge Prison." A steel cage appeared, holding Pleiades. "This special summons my Pleiades you destroyed, and then I can rank him up. Come out Magi Magi Magician Girl!"
A vortex of dark energy engulfed the caged Warrior and a spellcaster rose out of it. She resembled Yugi's famous Dark Magician Girl, but with her pastel pink and blue outfit changed to black and silver and glimmering brunette hair instead of blonde. (2400 ATK/1 Overlay Unit)
"My Revenge Prison stops me from attacking this turn but that is fine. I now banish a card from my hand and detach Pleiades," the single overlay unit circling Magician Gal flew into her wand which she pointed at Gaia Plate (1 - 0 Overlay Units), "and I gain control of Gaia Plate until the end step." A magical circle appeared beneath the rock monster and carried it to Will's side of the field.
"Ya know, stealing is kinda low for a Shadowchaser."
"It isn't stealing, it's borrowing. You're about to get him back. Because I tribute Gaia Plate for Gagaga Head." The summoned monster was a bizarrely dressed Spellcaster. He wore a blue long-sleeved vest with a matching scarf, gloves, large cap, and odd three piece helmet. Despite all that, he wore no shirt over his surprisingly muscular torso. (2100/2000).
"The hell is he wearing?" Shiv said. "I've seen clowns with better senses of style."
"Who needs fashion when you have magic? Anyways, I'm passing now."
"Draw. I set three cards." Another creature and two other cards appeared in front of Shiv. "And pass."
"Draw. Gagaga Head, attack Living Mudslide."
"Not so fast, D2 Shield go." Shiv's trap activated and the Living Mudslide doubled in size. (500/2000 - 4000). "Doubling my Mudslide's defense too late for you to stop the attack. And don't forget my Canyon doubles the damage."
Gagaga Head charged up a ball of blue magical energy that it threw at Living Mudslide, but it bounced off and collided with me, knocking the air out of me for the second time this duel.
(William: 5750 LP - 1950 LP)
"Ouch. That hurt, and now I'm under 2000 life points so I have to be really careful. At least I can tell the other card you have set isn't like a Fairy Box or another D2 Shield or you'd have used them to finish me off. Magician Gal, destroy the face-down."
The magician pointed her rod at the face-down monster and a magic circle appeared under it. The card flipped to reveal another Living Mudslide. (2000 DEF) Then a pulse of black magic shot up from the circle, obliterating the monster.
"And I'm ending my turn."
"First I activate Rock Bombardment to send another Do-Rock from my deck to my hand." Oof, the air got knocked out of me yet again by a rock. One of those Ti Tokens appeared. (500 DEF)
(William: 1950 LP - 1450 LP)
"And now it passes so I draw. And then I end."
"So quick. Now you're just stalling. Draw! Hah, yes. First I overlay my Gagaga Head and Ravenous Vulture into Constellar Ptolemy M7."
The monster that emerged from the vortex was a really weird robot dragon 's back legs make it look like it would be bipedal, but instead its white body curves upwards and it has arms instead of forelegs. And on the back of its head came two purple wings. It was covered in elaborate gold designs and decorations. Personally I think it is way too complicated, but hey, it's a useful card. (2700 ATK/2 Overlay Units)
"Since he was summoned using my Gagaga Head, I get to draw a card." I gently plucked off the top card of my library.
"Crap."
"Yep! I detach one Overlay Unit," one of the orbs surrounding Ptolemy flew into its body and it let out a roar as all the gold on its body glew with energy. (2 Overlay Units - 1) Then it smashed into the Living Mudslide, knocking it back to Shiv's hand. "To bounce your monster."
"W-well you are 400 points short of finishing me off, and I can always turn this around.l
"Maybe, but I'm not done yet. Come out Goblindergh!" The aviator goblin appeared again. (1400 ATK) "And Goblindbrgh will summon my Heroic Challenger - Extra Sword." The monster was a green warrior with one large sword and one smaller one. (1000 ATK). "And I open the overlay network one last time to summon my Blade Armor Ninja! Who gets a 1000 point boost from Extra Sword."
The warrior was a scarlet ninja wielding two blades, which glew with green energy thanks to Extra Sword. (2200 - 3200/2 Overlay Units).
"Oh shit!" Shiv yelled.
"Indeed. I remove one material to let Blade Armor Ninja attack twice this turn and finish you off"
The ninja shot forward, attacking Shiv with both blades.
(Shiv: 5500 LP - 2300 LP - 0 LP)
"You're under arrest, Shiv." I pulled out a sapphire-a standard part of Shadowchaser gear which sent arrested criminals to a Shadowchasers compound. "Close match. Too bad you're a criminal, I'd love to duel you again sometime. Well, bye now." The sapphire glowed brightly and Shiv disappeared.
The weretiger victim is long gone, so not like I can question him on what happened. Oh well, I reattached my duel disl to my runner and took off avin.
()()()
While the duel was happening, a small group of cultists were in a small room. Twenty-one stone pedestals were in a circle around them. The eight cultists wore generic black cloaks, but came in a variety of shapes and sizes-at least one ophidia present as shown by the snake tail coming out of their cloak.
One of them-a rather normal humanoid-stepped forward. They placed a hand on a black orb that sat on one of the pedestals, identical orbs sitting on all the others.
"I feel it," they said, their voice revealing them as a man. "Our new techniques are working, we already have about half the needed tributes just from the testing stage. Now that the rings are ready, our first god will awaken soon."
Other Cards
Knight General
FIRE
Rank 4
Warrior/Xyz/Effect
2 Level 4 monsters
This card gains 200 ATK and DEF for each XYZ material it has. This card's rank is increased by one for each XYZ material it has.
1900 ATK/1900 DEF
Stone Pyramid
EARTH
Rank 4
Rock/Xyz/Effect
2 Level 4 Rock-type monsters
If the ATK of a monster that attacks this monster is lower than the DEF of this card, destroy the attacking monster at the end of the damage step. (Damage calculation is applied normally.) During your opponent's main phase: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to target 1 monster your opponent controls; that monster attacks this card this turn is able.
0 ATK/2700 DEF
Fading Black
Normal Trap
When exactly 1 Rank 7 or higher Xyz Monster you control would be destroyed by an opponent's card effect: Negate that effect; then, immediately after this effect resolves, Xyz Summon from your Extra Deck 1 Rank 4 or lower monster with the same type as that monster, by using that monster as Xyz Material (Attached Xyz Materials also become Xyz Material on the Summoned Monster.)
Do-Rock
EARTH
Level 4
Rock/Tuner
If this card is sent from your deck to the graveyard: Special Summon 1 Ti Token (Rock-type/EARTH/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 500).
0 ATK/1500 DEF
Rank-Up-Magic Legacy of Champions
Normal Spell
Target 1 face-up Dragon, Machine, Warrior, or Spellcaster-Type Xyz Monster you control; Special Summon from your Extra Deck, 1 Dragon, Warrior, Machine, or Spellcaster-Type monster that is 1 Rank higher than that target and has a different type than it, by using that target as the Xyz Material. (This Special Summon is treated as an Xyz Summon. Xyz Materials attached to that target also become Xyz Materials on the Summoned monster.)
Raidraptor - Ravenous Vulture
DARK
Level 6
Winged Beast/Effect
You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by detaching a Winged Beast-Type monster attached to an Xyz Monster you control as an Xyz Material. You can only use this effect of "Raidraptor - Ravenous Vulture" once per turn. Once per turn, during your Main Phase, if this card was Normal or Special Summoned this turn: You can target 1 Xyz Monster you control; this card gains ATK and DEF equal to 300x the number of Xyz Material currently attached to that target.
1800 ATK/1800 DEF
Living Mudslide
EARTH
Level 4
Rock/Effect
When this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 Rock-Type monster with 2000 or less DEF from your hand, and then, if you do, change all face-up monsters you control to Defense Position.
500 ATK/2000 DEF
Revenge Prison
Normal Spell
Target 1 Xyz Monster in your Graveyard that was destroyed by your opponent's card; Special Summon it, then Xyz Summon from your Extra Deck, 1 Xyz Monster that is 1 Rank higher than that monster, by using that monster as the Xyz Material. You cannot declare an attack the turn you activate this card.
Revenge Prison was first used in Chapter 45 of the Yu-Gi-Oh! ZeXal manga.