C.3 - Angels Versus Birds 1
Teà was hired as an Eliminator, though she doubted she really fit the role; it had just been the simplest way to stay alongside her friends as they went out to help Joey. They were all here in a bid to help Joey, well his sister.
Yugi wouldn't have taken that deal for the money if he hadn't known what Joey was going through. Though the little teenager's originaly plan had been try and convince Pegasus to try and hire Joey instead of him. Perhaps because he was too shy to accept, or maybe because of some other reason.
Then Pegasus had added another benefit seemingly for no reason for an Eliminator with the most player knock-outs to be sent to the finals. Joey was ecstatic about it and best of all Pegasus said they could all go and he'd pay each of them for their troubles.
Everyone was ecstatic. Especially Joey.
Why wouldn't he be, he was just shown a way to get four times as much money and if he duelled well enough, even more on top of tha. It was like suddenly realising you sat on a goldmine.
Coupled with what they'd already got, grouped together and sent to Joey's sister, they hoped this amount would be what they needed to finally get her that surgery. They weren't quite sure if it'd be enough.
Joey's sister didn't expect her brother to pitch in and thus didn't state the exact cost of the operation. It was obviously going to be a lot of money, so why on earth would they ask him to pay out of pocket.
So their little gang was left with a vague hope that this would all be enough for her.
Teà was sure that as long as they stick together everything would be fine and they could get either Joey or Yugi enough Eliminations to obtain the slot in the finals.
Then Joey ran away at the last second, claiming they'd be right back. That was forever ago now.
Yugi decided to stay behind, since that was Pegasus' exact orders, He was very insistent Yugi be a 'Palace Guard' or whatever to bar anyone from climbing up into the finals. Yugi seemed to enjoy getting a role to play. But it did ultimately leave it to her and Tristan to actually go and find the scatterbrained blonde.
"All i'm saying, he could be a bit more considerate." Tristan sighed as he pinched his brow.
"I know Tristan. I know. We'll find him eventually, wherever he is right now." Teà said before letting out another sigh.
Currently they stood upon the open plains, southwest of the castle. It seemed to be the most duelist dense area of the island so far. Pegasus mentioned that it would thin out the longer the game went.
They could act as eliminator's here and start poaching Duelists of their Star Chips.
She really did mean 'act', despite being called Eliminators by Pegasus she hardly felt like it.
They got to meet the other Eliminators a short time before the tournament started. They seemed like an odd bunch, there was a pair of twins, a nurse, some guy in a red hat and even a small, but intelligent looking girl.
Comparing herself to them… she really wasn't nearly as good, or as skilled as them. She literally only just learned how to play the game to help pitch in in this endeavour.
Maybe she'd get lucky and all of the really powerful Duelists would be knocked-out by other Eliminators and she could just duel the rest.
Something she really doubted would happen since the Eliminators all seemed… scarily confident in their skills. They could probably dig right through hordes of duelists without even breaking a sweat.
Speaking of which, there was plenty being passed around before her right now.
Duelists battled at the three Duel Fields in this plain, slowly trading star pieces through duels. They were even starting to form lines on particular duel fields due to how many duelists there were, a couple unlucky duelists had been sent home too. There were plenty still left though, after all there were eighty attendees here.
She wondered how the matches would end up looking like soon, would one person get a good enough win streak to get the star chips needed to go into the finals or would they end up getting nowhere, the number of starchips each person having not really changing as they win and lose a fairly even amount.
She also wondered if duelists would avoid those with higher amounts of star chips. It'd make sense if they did. It would force those duelists to either face other duelists with larger amounts of star chips or maybe even an eliminator.
All of her thoughts were neither here nor there, she really should focus on finding Joey, wherever he was. But she couldn't yet because her attention was focused elsewhere.
One particular duel on the duel field caught her attention. Mostly since it was the girl manning one of the consoles. The same girl with blonde hair she saw on that cruise ship they took over to this island. Her field was filled to the brim with bird-humanoids with bright red hair that swarmed and diced her opponent's thunder monster.
"Hey, Teà, Why'd you stop?" Tristan spoke up from beside her."
"Oh! Sorry, I got distracted, I think I saw that girl on the boat ride here, that's all." She explained. "This is a very boy dominated tournament, so it's just something special to see. She's doing very well too, she's just started a win streak."
"Huh? Really, you sure?" Tristan brought up his hand to his brow and looked over the field to the stage with about the only female duelist on it. "Hey, yeah. I remember her. She was a bombshell. You think she's single?"
"Tristan, could you not. I'm right here," She groaned at her friend's antics. "I don't want to listen to you talk like that." She rolled her eyes. "But do you think Joey would be over there?"
"She does seem like his type." Tristan joked.
"You could put a skirt on a tree and it'd be his type." Teà deadpanned. Honestly, she knew how her friends could get sometimes. She then sighed. "Might as well check it out. Let's go over then, we're not going to spot him in the distance with this many people around.
Seriously, how many blonde people were taking this tournament? She could count like a dozen different blondes in this crowd. It made trying to find her friend far more difficult than it had to be.
"You're right." Tristan agreed. "I'll be honest, it beats actually having to duel."
"Not confident in your skills either." Teà asked him.
"Definitely not. But I shouldn't let myself think that. Should i? Otherwise I'll never win." Tristan said, giving himself a little confidence boost.
"Couldn't have said it better myself, let's head out." Teà smiled lightly before leading the way forward. Tristan following behind.
The two of them walked down just as the blonde woman finished yet another duel, they descended down their podium. The beautiful woman seemed to eye them immediately. "Hello there." She waved, a preppy tone to her voice. "You two look very special."
"Special?" Teà asked.
"Your duel gloves have two rows of slots instead of just one," The beautiful woman pointed towards Tristan and Teà's Eliminator Duel Gloves. "Also I don't remember seeing you at the start of the tournament when Pegasus gave the speech." They continued to explain.
"Um, you were paying attention to that?" She asked. She definitely wouldn't have been able to spot the fact that two people weren't a part of a crowd that contained at least eighty different people of all shapes and sizes. This woman was mighty perceptive.
"Of course, I'm here to win. It's only fair to check out the competition as much as they do to me." She crossed her arms over her chest. "So, why do you have such strange gloves? Come on, tell me." They asked as they walked a bit away from the Duel Arena, a different pair of Duelists quickly taking her place and starting a new duel.
"She's got good eyes to spot something like that from up there." Tristan pointed out.
She remembered the monsters this woman used. "Eagle-like eyes for sure." She whispered before then calling back up to the woman. "We're Eliminators. We hunt down duelists and force them to duel us to take all of their Star Chips, we also have to accept any challenge thrown at us. Or well try, there are exceptions obviously, like if someone is bleeding out, there is a whole list of priorities that's probably not important to explain." Teà simply waved off her explanation.
"Do we have to go through the entire manual for her?" Tristan spoke up.
Teà nervously scratched at her cheek. "Oh, no, I guess we don't. Anyways, have you seen a blonde teenager running around, loud-mouthed, brash, about this tall." She brought her hand up to where she believed his height would be at. If anything, hopefully she at least got across that he was tall.
"Mhm." The woman shook her head in a firm negative. "Sorry, can't help you there. You're the first Eliminators i've seen. But say perhaps you can help me. Let's duel."
"You want to Duel an Eliminator?" Teà eyes widened slightly. Alright. Alright, she was told she had to do this. Let's do this then. "I'll gladly accept, except…" Teà gestured towards the currently preoccupied Duel Fields with all lines.
"You don't have line cutting privilege?" The blonde woman asked.
"I'd rather not be rude." Teà said back. "Oh, but we can probably just find another one."
The woman hummed quietly to herself for a second in thought before answering. "Alright then. My name is Mai Valentine by the way."
"Ah!" Teà jumped at the chance to introduce herself. "I'm Teà Gardener, this is Tristan."
Tristan casually raised a hand. "Yo."
"With the introductions done, let's find a field." Teà declared before leading the way off of the plains and towards the 'mountains' area of the island.
More children ran away from him.
"Maybe this wouldn't happen if you didn't always have that ugly scowl on your face." An instantly annoying voice buzzed from behind him.
"Shut it, dog." Kaiba told off the blonde. "It's not my fault these people don't even have the courage it takes to stand up to me."
"Keep telling yourself that." Said Joey as he followed him. "Still don't want to duel me? Because it really seems like no-one else is ever gonna duel the big scary blue-eyes guy."
"You'd be easy to defeat." Kaiba pointed out as he marched further into the forest.
"That's what you think. Pegasus gave us plenty of packs and cards to boost our decks, so we'd be at the other Eliminator's levels. We practised for a whole week together, helping each other get stronger. As a team. Not that you'd know anything about that, cowboy."
"Don't call me that."
"It's what you're trying to be. You're going all lone ranger and picking fights bigger than you are." Joey pointed out.
Kaiba turned on a dime to glare at him.
"You have no idea what you're talking about. I'm here for a reason. This isn't a game." Kaiba growled at Joey.
"Then what the hell have we been doing?" Joey replied sarcastically. "It's not a game for me either, i guess, i've gotta win for my sister."
"I don't care." Kaiba insisted.
"But you understand right? I think i saw your brother when you duelled Yugi." Joey pointed out. "You know what it's like to look out for a sibling, don't you?"
Kaiba didn't reply.
"See." Joey smiled like he'd won the conversation.
It would be the only thing the blonde would win all day.
Kaiba turned around and walked off. Joey cackled a laugh before following after him.
Teà and Mai had found a Duel Arenal with no line and with Duelists who were just finishing. When they did the two of them took their places at opposite ends of the stage. Placing their decks down on the digital board.
"How much do you want to bet?" Teà asked as she began taking off Star Chips from her wrist. "Or rather how much do you have, i'm taking every Star Chip you got. Got it?"
"I've got four, I'm looking to double them." Mai grinned as she slammed down her golden stars onto the side of the console.
"So be it." Teà easily accepted the wager. "As my friends say, let's duel!"
"C'mon, Teà take the victory!" Tristan cheered her on, from across the field Teà could see Mai roll her eyes at the display.
[Duel 2] [Offering 4 Star Chips]
Teà [2000LP]
Mai [2000LP]
The console declared that Teà would go first. As it did, the fields materialised, placing them in a Mountain and Sogen field. Snow-capped mountains almost completely surrounded a verdant luscious green plain in the centre
Neither helped her deck, but Teà was used to that. None of the fields helped Fairy Monsters after all.
"Draw!" She called out. Giving a quick glance at her hand, she had a good idea for what to start doing. "Let's begin by activating this card, I play Novox's Prayer!"
A woman draped in a red cloak appeared on Teà's field, kneeled down and muttering prayers as her hands clasped together.
"A ritual spell?" Mai hummed. "How rare."
"Correct." Teà explained. "The Ritual Spell, when played, stays on my field until its conditions are met. Each time I summon a monster, it collects the levels of my monster. When enough levels are collected, well. It should be fairly obvious what happens next. Now. I'll Normal Summon Manju Of The Thousand Hands!"
From her field a man with pale greenish skin appeared, their body was like water, it took shape, one after another thousands of hands shaped themselves from the waves splashing around their body. (A:1400/D:1000/LV:4)
"Since Manju is a level four monster, my Novox's Prayer collects four stars." Teà explained as four shimmering lights surrounded her red woman. "Next, Manju's effect activates and hands me a Ritual Monster from my deck. I'm adding Skull Guardian and ending my turn there."
"Fancy plays." Mai hummed as she started her turn. "Draw."
"I'll play the captivating Harpie Lady!" Mai declared. A burst of wind emitted from the field as a monstrous yet beautiful woman with voluminous red hair appeared on the field. They slashed their talons in the air before letting out a hawk-like screech. (A:1300/D:1400/LV:4)
"I knew you'd use birds." Teà sighed lightly as Mai's monster gained power from the field. Boosting up to (A:1500/D:1600/LV4)
"And yet you didn't lead me to somewhere without a Mountain field?" Mai mentioned. "How unwise of you."
"Yeah well. I didn't think you'd accept a duel out of your element." Teà pointed out. "You seem like the type to use every advantage she can get."
"Well…" Mai smiled as she hummed. "You're not wrong. Now then, Harpie Lady, attack that Manju with everything you've got!"
The monster flew forwards and sliced Teà's ritualist in half causing it to disintegrate into dust.
Teà (1900LP)
"Next I'll set two cards face-down and end my turn." Mai said, passing the turn back to Teà.
The heart of her friend group shrugged off the damage of that last attack easily. "Draw!" She called out as she picked up another card from her deck.
In her hand, Teà knew she had some pretty and powerful cards. Her hand at the moment consisted of six cards. Skull Guardian, Injection Fairy Lily, Red Medicine, Hysteric Fairy, Dark Witch and now Solemn Wishes.
Her opponent had a Harpie Lady on the Field and only two backrow. Leaving their hand at three cards. Which would make it hard if she wanted to Normal Summon an especially big card. Teà knew her deck was better if she could get into a brutal melee. She'd always have enough life points to keep throwing cards down somewhat recklessly.
You wouldn't think so, considering her deck was filled with Fairy Monsters, but as it turns out, Fairy Monsters seemed to be really good at fighting. What with their effects to constantly gain life points and surprisingly high attack points. They were no Dark Magician mind you, but they averaged pretty well.
She hoped that strategy would work here.
But first. "I'll play Injection Fairy Lily in defence mode!" Teà called out. A pink haired nurse appeared on her field, hoisting up an oversized needle in her arms, their little-bit too small wings on their back fighting frantically to keep them aloft. (A:400/D:1500/LV:3)
"I don't think you have the life points to use their effect." Mai pointed out to her.
"But her level is exactly the number I need to summon Skull Guardian." Teà countered as three more stars glowed around her cloaked woman. Who stood up, their chanting growing louder.
Until finally, footsteps could be heard. Quiet, distant and metallic. A lone armoured warrior appeared, dressed head to toe with wicked and dark angular armour. Their forearms were replaced with blades. The monster passed the cloaked women, who in turn nodded at the mysterious warrior before fading away.
(A:2050/D:2500/LV:7)
"Now, I get to activate a number of effects depending on what monsters contributed to summoning Skull Guardian." Teà was all too happy to detail.
"Just great." Mai mumbled. "And you're playing Fairies?" Mai asked as she eyed her rather dark looking monster.
"There are darker fairies, not all of them are bright and cheery." She explained to the powerful harpie duelist.
"How edgy." Mai teased.
Teà ignored the light barb. "Firstly, Skull Guardian gains 300 attack and defence points, then an additional level for each material used. Next, since a fairy was used I can add one fairy monster from my graveyard to my hand. I'm choosing Manju Of The Thousand Hands." Teà declared as she added said card back to her hand.
A misty white glow surrounded the dark warrior. (A:2650/D:3100/LV:9)
"Let's battle!" Teà declared. "Skull Guardian, attack Mai's Harpie Lady!"
Her monster rushed forth only for the Harpie Lady to disappear as Skull Guardian slashed where it had once been.
Mai clicked her tongue. "Nice try girly, but you've fallen for my trap. Relieve Monster! This card returns a monster that's been targeted for an attack and allows me to summon a monster with a different level from my hand. So how about you say hello to Harpie's Pet Dragon!"
From out of nowhere a massive clawed foot crashed into Skull Guardian's chest and sent them flying back onto Teà's side of the field. The wicked warrior looked up to find themselves in the face of a red scaled dragon, two wings, two hind legs and a long sweeping tail. A shackle at the neck with a chain leash dragging across the ground to it. On the top of its elongated skull sat a crown with a gemstone embedded into it. (A:2100/D:2700/LV:7)
The dragon was then boosted by the mountains. (A:2300/D:2900/LV:7)
"Finally my Trap Card forces all your monsters to attack this turn." Mai explained.
Teà's life points dropped down as her warrior was sucker punched by the dragon's massive defence.
Teà (1650LP)
"Unfortunate." Teà said before clenching her teeth in worry. "I'll set a card face-down and end my turn there. Your move Mai."
"Thank you." The blonde woman replied before drawing from her deck. "I'll begin my turn by activating this card." Declared Mai as she played the card she'd just drawn. "Follow Wind, which can give any Avian an extra 300 attack and defence, or I can summon a normal avian monster from my hand and equip it to that. Which is what i'll do, return to the field Harpie Lady!"
The red haired Harpie Lady appeared on the field again, this time in a different attire that incorporated the pink scarf from the Follow Wind Card, wrapped around their body loosely. The power of the mountains and the Equip Spell filled the Avian Monster. (A:1800/D:1900/LV:4)
"Next, I'll back up my Harpie by playing Harpie Lady #1!" A second harpie appeared, this one dressed in a full body purple spandex, their feather wing-arms sporting green feathers instead of the cyan blue of the original Harpie Lady. "While this Harpie is on the Field, all my Wind Attributed monsters gain 300 attack points, and guess what, that's all of them on top of that, did i mention Harpie's Pet Dragon gains 300 attack and defence for every Harpie Lady i control?"
The two Harpie women fluttered down and sat upon the shoulders of the Dragon, who roared with power. A white aura of energy burning up across their scales like steam. The two monstrous women on the dragon's back grinned sadistically down at her.
Teà was beginning to think she wasn't in a good position anymore.
Harpie Lady / Follow Wind (A:2100/D:1900/LV4)
Harpie Lady #1 (A:1800/D:1600/LV:4)
Harpie Pet Dragon (A:3200/D:3300/LV:7)
"Yeeeah… this definitely isn't good." Teà hummed out in worry.
"Harpie's Pet Dragon, end the world in fire!" Mai commanded, the dragon lifted it's long neck up and threw it down, exhaled a cone of flames that easily incinerated her Ritual Monster.
Teà (1100LP)
A moment later and the Harpie Lady in a scarf slashed down her Injection Fairy lily leaving her with no monsters as the Final Harpie Lady slashed their talons across her Duel Console, sending four cards from her deck to the graveyard.
Teà bit the inside of her cheek. She still had this, she could potentially come back from this. Somehow.
She shook her head. She just had to trust in herself to be able to pull through, these negative thoughts aren't helping. She's got this! She has to try and win, for Joey's sister, for the rest of her friends.
"This isn't over yet." Said Teà confidently.
"I can see that." Mai replied matter-of-factly. "Now then? Your move, show me if you've even got a shred of skill. Because so far. I've not been impressed. Eliminator."
"Ohh." Teà fumed slightly. "I'll show you skill alright, as you end your turn, i'll activate Solemn Wishes and now, Now i draw, prepare yourself!"
End Notes
Hello, Mimikree here
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, especially since we're jumping to another plotline for a while. Don't worry, Kaiba is still the main focus of the Fics, but you'll quickly find out that there are multiple plot-lines running through this story. Kaiba/Joey, as well as Tristan/Teà are our plotlines so far. More butterfly changes echo out.
If you did end up enjoying this Fanfic so far, feel free to show it. Favourite, comment, etc.
Anyways, this is Mimikree signing out.
