Garbage Day
"RAAAAAGGGH!"
"Quick! Neutralize him!" Someone ordered. A group of people were gathered in a big, dark chamber, surrounding one single person. The individual was 3 meters tall and looked big. They were wearing nothing but a grey cloak, hiding their appearance, and a duel disk attached to their left arm. The group of people were trying their best to keep the individual restrained, using metal cables that were tied to their limbs.
"RAAAAAGGGH!" But as the individual let out a mighty roar, a shockwave emanated from their body, sending all the other people flying and screaming. After that, the individual leapt over to the nearest wall and placed a card on their duel disk.
And then, a big part of the wall was blown to pieces, allowing to the cloaked figure to jump out of the building.
As the people recovered, a screen lit up, showing a person in a tube. "What's going on down there? What happened?"
One of the people replied nervously. "S-sir. We tried to stop him... but he was too strong. The Gladiator has escaped."
Even though it couldn't be seen, the person on screen wasn't happy. "You fools! We need him if we're going to guide the world to a bright future! Do whatever it takes to capture him!"
"Y-yes sir!"
Meanwhile, Cody was running through alleyways. The reason that he was in this situation was because he was captured by a bunch of men in black suits. The kept him locked inside an abandoned warehouse. By outsmarting the guard, he managed to get out, but he was instantly chased by the other black suits. Just when he thought he was gonna get captured again, he was saved by a former gang rival from the past named Don. Thanks to that guy's quick thinking, Cody was able to get far away from the black suits, and right now, he was looking for Jeremy and Cindy.
"Now, if only I could get back to the apartment, maybe I'll meet up with the others." He muttered while running. He was about to come out of the alleyway...
"Oofff!"
Only to bump into someone or something. The impact caused him to fall down onto the ground.
"Ow! What just happened?" Someone asked.
"Sorry." Cody muttered.
"Don't worry, I hope I... huh?" The unknown person spoke but stopped himself. When Cody looked up, he got a good look on him. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white hoodie with the hood on, hiding most of his face. The stranger stared at Cody for a moment before gasping. "Cody!"
Cody's eye widened. "How do you know my name?" He got his answer when the stranger took off his hood, and he was certainly surprised. "Jeremy!?"
The purple-haired boy smiled. "Am I glad to see you!"
Cody returned the smile and stood up. "And I'm glad you're alright!"
"So you managed to get away from those creeps." A female voice spoke up. Cody turned to the source and saw a young woman with long, brown hair, wearing an orange vest over a white shirt and a pair of black, tight pants. She was also wearing sunglasses.
Cody blinked as he happened to recognize her voice. "Cindy?"
She smirked and lifted her brown wig a little, revealing her black hair. "Yup, it's me."
"What's with these getups?"
"Cindy suggested that we would have these disguises, in case we would run into those black suits again." Jeremy explained.
Cindy noted the grey hoodie Cody was wearing. "I see you got a new look yourself."
"Oh, this?" Cody looked at himself. "As I was escaping, someone me and Jeremy met in the past showed up and helped me get away from them."
"Really? Who?" Jeremy asked curiously
"It's a long story. As for this hoodie, it was used to trick those guys so I could get away. Although, maybe I should ditch it in case they're still chasing me."
Cindy brought up a paper bag. "Then perhaps you could trade it for something I've got?"
Cody took the bag and grabbed whatever was inside of it, which was another hoodie. This one was blue.
"Even if it's another hoodie, I'm sure no one will recognize you with that on." Cindy said.
"Right." Cody took off his grey hoodie and then put the blue hoodie on. He even put the hood on. "So, what you guys think?"
"Perfect." Jeremy simply said.
"Yeah. Now you can walk on the street without much worries." Cindy added. "So then, shall we go?"
"Yeah." Jeremy put his own hood on.
"Right." Cody nodded and put his jacket into the paper bag and followed her.
"Good, then let's get my duel runner and move on."
That made Cody stop. "Wait! I just remembered. What happened to my duel runner?"
Cindy couldn't help but frown. Jeremy had an uneasy look on his face as he answered. "Yeah, about that... while Cindy and I were looking for you, your duel runner was taken away. Most likely to a junkyard."
Cody gasped. "No way!"
"I'm sorry, Cody." Cindy said. "The truck just took off with it before we could get it."
"That's just great. And after all the work we put to get it work." Cody muttered, frustrated.
"Tell me about it." Jeremy agreed, feeling the same.
"It's a shame, I know." Cindy said. "But it's not like we can do anything about it, right?"
Everyone was silent for a while after that sentence. Eventually, the one who broke the silence was Cody, who had a determined look on his face. "Or maybe we can. We can head to the junkyard and get my duel runner back."
Cindy gave him a look of disbelief. "You can't be serious!"
"More serious than you think! Just because it was recently left in there doesn't mean it has been scrapped yet!"
Jeremy agreed. "That's true! Plus, I should be able to repair it with the right pieces and tools."
Cindy looked between the two boys before sighing. "Guess I won't be able to change your minds." She then smiled. "Then again, I wouldn't like to lose my runner, so I don't really have room to talk."
"So then..."
"Yeah, let's go get your runner back. Come on!" Cindy urged and began walking, with boys right behind her.
Meanwhile, the cloaked figure, the one called The Gladiator, was walking around in town. Some people who passed by him gave him weird looks but didn't say anything. Not that the Gladiator cared. He just kept wandering. Eventually, he walked into what looked like a junkyard of sorts. There were many piles of junk around him, and also a few conveyor belts that moved some junk and scrap metal.
The Gladiator just stood there and stared until a worker walked up to him from behind and grabbed his left shoulder. "Hey! What do you think you're doing here! This is not a park you can just walk into!"
But the Gladiator slowly turned to the worker, and growled threateningly, making the poor guy nervous.
"This is awkward." Jeremy muttered. And the reason he would say something like that is that he, Cody and Cindy were all riding on Cindy's duel runner, and it was slightly tight. Cody was on the far back, and Jeremy was right between them.
"It can't be helped, considering that we're one duel runner short." Cody replied.
"Then it's a good thing that the junkyard isn't far away." Cindy added. "Just try not to get too handsy on me, okay?"
BOOM!
"What!?" Cody muttered in shock as that loud sound was heard. Cindy hit the brake and her runner skidded until they stopped right in front of the entrance of the junkyard.
"What the hell!?" Cindy said as workers were running out of there in panic.
"That guy's crazy!"
"He's gonna tear the place apart!"
The trio watched as the workers kept running.
"What in the world is going on here?" Jeremy asked.
"Whatever it is, it can't be good." Cody replied as he got off the runner. Jeremy and Cindy followed suit. "Come on." He said as they entered the junkyard.
When they did, they noticed some pieces of junk lying around in the area, almost getting in the way. They even saw a busted car lying upside down nearby. "So, what do you guys think can be the cause of this?" Jeremy asked.
And as if on cue, another busted car flew past the trio and crashed right behind them.
Cindy turned to the direction it came from. "Probably because of that."
Cody and Jeremy followed her finger and saw an area that was obscured by smoke. However, they also saw a silhouette of a huge figure within it. It was hard to tell what it was, but they were at least able to notice that it was bulky and... it kind of looked like it had a rhino-like head. "What is that thing?" Jeremy asked incredulously.
The big figure swung with its left arm and sent a bunch of metal pieces flying towards them.
"Look out!" Cody screamed and pushed his friends aside, avoiding the flying metal pieces. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, peachy." Cindy replied as she dusted herself off.
"Okay, what do we do now?" Jeremy wondered in worry.
Cody stepped toward the mysterious figure. "You two try to find my runner."
"What about you?"
"I'm going to stop that thing."
"Are you kidding me? That thing is dangerous!" Cindy said seriously.
"I'll be fine!" Cody replied, fully determined. "I won't go down so easily. Just go and look for my duel runner!"
Cindy stared at him, not knowing what to say for a moment. But then, she gave him a nod. "Okay then. We'll find it."
"Be careful." Jeremy added. At that, the trio split up.
The big figure hidden within the smoke simply vanished. And when the smoke cleared, the Gladiator was slowly revealed, slowly lowering his duel disk. "Hmph!"
"Hey, you!"
Hearing the new voice, he turned around and saw Cody approach him. "Who are you!? Why are you attacking those people!?"
The Gladiator growled. "Leave me alone!" He said threateningly with a low dark voice.
"I don't know what your deal is, but you have no right to hurt other people!"
"I said... leave me alone!" The Gladiator repeated a little louder.
"No, I won't! Not when you're gonna go on a rampage! And seeing as you're a duelist, I'm willing to take you on, right here and now!" Cody brought up his own duel disk and activated it.
The Gladiator stared at him silently for a moment before raising his left arm and activated his own duel disk. "Let's begin."
"Alright then!" Cody said as they both drew their opening hands.
"Let's duel!"
Cody: 4000
The Gladiator: 4000
"I'll make the first move!" The Gladiator drew. "I summon Test Ape in defense mode!" The monster that appeared in front of him was a monkey wearing strange looking googles. Its left arm was robotic. (ATK: 700 DEF: 300 LV: 2) "Then I'll place two cards facedown and end my turn." Two cards appeared near his feet.
"Then it's my turn!" Cody drew. "I summon Featherizer in attack mode!" The fan-shaped spellcaster appeared. (ATK: 700 DEF: 1100 LV: 2) "Attack his Test Ape!" The spellcaster pointed a finger toward the primate and zapped it with a green magic beam.
"You just activated Test Ape's special effect!" The Gladiator said. "When it's destroyed in battle, I can summon a level 4 or below monster from my deck, as long as that monster has the words Gladiator Beast in its name."
"Gladiator Beast?" Cody repeated, curious.
"I summon Gladiator Beast Andal!" From a flash of light, a bear appeared with a roar. It only had one eye, and was clad in purple armor. (ATK: 1900 DEF: 1500 LV: 4)
"That sure looks tough." Cody muttered and inserted two cards into his duel disk. "I place two cards facedown and end my turn."
"My move!" The Gladiator drew. "I summon Gladiator Beast Bestiari in attack mode!" The monster that joined the bear was a green, humanoid bird wearing grey armor. It screeched as it spread its wings. (ATK: 1500 DEF: 800 LV: 4) "Now attack his Featherizer!" The armored bird took flight and charged forward.
"I activate a trap! Curse of Anubis!" One of Cody's facedown cards flipped up. "With this card, I can make all effect monsters on the field switch to defense mode, and also..."
"Activate counter trap!" The Gladiator interrupted and revealed one of his facedown cards. "Parry! By returning 1 Gladiator Beast card from my hand to my deck, I can negate a trap card and destroy it! I return my second Gladiator Beast Andal to negate your trap!"
Cody gasped as the cloaked figure put one of his cards into his deck before the counter trap took effect, rendering Cody's trap useless. And then, the armored bird landed a kick on the spellcaster, making it explode. The smoke was quickly spreading by a gust... which was stronger than Cody expected as he skidded back a bit.
Cody: 4000-3200
'That felt strange. It almost felt... real.' But he quickly shook it off and focused on the duel. "I activate Featherizer's effect! When he's destroyed in battle, I can send 1 gemini monster from my deck to the graveyard." He grabbed his deck, took a card and slid it into his graveyard slot. He then inserted the deck into his duel disk, which was then automatically shuffled. "And then, I draw a card." He drew.
"Gladiator Beast Andal, attack!" The one-eyed bear roared and charged forward.
"I activate my trap card! Defense Draw!" Cody's other facedown card flipped up. "Thanks to this card, the battle damage from your attack is reduced to 0" The trap card blocked a slashing strike from the bear. "And I also get to draw another card from my deck." Cody drew.
The bear returned to the Gladiator's field. He didn't seem to react at the moment. But then, he spoke up. "I activate Bestiari's special ability!" At that, the named bird-like monster vanished.
"What just happened?" Cody mused.
"Since my Gladiator Beast battled, at the end of the battle phase, I can return it to my deck and summon a different Gladiator Beast in its place. I choose Gladiator Beast Laquari!" From a pillar of flames, a new monster emerged. It was a humanoid tiger in red breastplate, surrounded by a ring of flames. (ATK: 1800 DEF: 400 LV: 4)
"Another Gladiator Beast, huh?" Cody narrowed his eyes.
"And my Laquari has a special ability as well.." The Gladiator continued. "After it's summoned by the effect of another Gladiator Beast, its original attack points become 2100!"
"Say what!?" Cody exclaimed as the tiger roared as power grew within it. (ATK: 1800-2100)
"I end my turn." The Gladiator concluded.
"Then it's my move!" Cody drew. "I activate the spell card, Polymerization!" A swirling vortex appeared above him.
"A fusion summon?" The Gladiator muttered.
"And I fuse Gemini Soldier with Dawnbreak Gardna in order to fusion summon Superalloy Beast Raptinus!" The small green soldier and iron armored warrior appeared before getting sucked into the vortex. And then, from a flash of light, a new monster emerged with a mighty roar. It was a four-legged dragon with wings. But its seemed made of made of different parts from different kinds of dragons. (ATK: 2200 DEF: 2200 LV: 8) "And next I summon Blazewing Butterfly!" The giant butterfly with fiery wings appeared. (ATK: 1500 DEF: 1500 LV: 4) "This monster is a gemini monster, and usually, I have to wait for another turn in order to gemini summon it to have it become an effect monster. However..." A blue aura surrounded the dragon before moving to the butterfly. "...with my Superalloy Beast Raptinus on the field, all gemini monsters on the field are treated as effect monsters. Which means I can activate my Butterfly's effect." The butterfly was enveloped by a pillar of flames. "By releasing it, I can summon another gemini monster back from my graveyard..."
"Activate counter trap!" The Gladiator's facedown card flipped up. "Gladiator Beast War Chariot! If I control a Gladiator Beast, I can negate the activation of a monster's special ability. So you won't be summoning anything."
Cody gritted his teeth as the flames died down, with nothing left in its place. "You got me there, but I can at least attack with Raptinus! Now, take down his Laquari!" The dragon opened it mouth and spat out a torrent of flames that enveloped the armored tiger and destroyed it.
The Gladiator: 4000-3900
"I end my turn." Cody concluded.
The Gladiator drew. "I activate the spell card, Gladiator Proving Ground! This lets me take a level 4 or lower Gladiator Beast monster from my deck and add it to my hand." He grabbed his deck, fanned it out and took a card before inserting it into his duel disk again. "And I summon it right away! My second Gladiator Beast Andal!" A second armored bear joined the first one. (ATK: 1900 DEF: 1500 LV: 4) "And now, my beasts... Gladiator Fusion!" The two bears jumped into the air before swirling together.
Cody was surprised. "Gladiator Fusion? What's that?"
"If I have the right fusion materials on the field, I can return them to my deck and summon a Gladiator Beast fusion monster. So with my two Gladiator Beast monsters, I can bring out Gladiator Beast Essedarii!" The two monsters kept swirling until they emanated a bright flash of light. And then, in their place, a golden war chariot emerged. And the monster driving it was a gorilla with a matching golden helmet. It was also wielding a golden shield and a spike club that released green electricity. (ATK: 2500 DEF: 1400 LV: 5)
"Incredible." Cody muttered in awe.
"Now, Essedarii, destroy his Raptinus!" The gorilla charged forward. Driving its war chariot, it quickly reached Cody field and swung its spike club at the dragon, shattering it to pixels. But... what happened next caught Cody off guard. The electricity that came from the club struck him...
"Aaaah!" And the shock was more realistic and painful than he expected.
Cody: 3200-2900
He fell down to one knee. "I felt that..." He muttered while wincing. "That actually feels real. What's going on here?"
While this went on, Cindy and Jeremy were running through the junkyard, searching for Cody's duel runner.
"Where could Cody's runner be?" Jeremy wondered.
"Beats me." Cindy replied. "For all we know it could have already become crushed by a press or something."
"Maybe, but we have to try, for Cody's sake." Jeremy then turned to the direction Cody went to. "I hope he's okay."
"You of all people shouldn't be worried about him." Cindy assured. "Especially after everything you guys have been through."
Jeremy smiled and nodded. "Good point." He then turned to a direction before gasping. "Look!"
Cindy followed his fingers and saw Cody's duel runner on one of the conveyor belts. "There it is!"
"Come on!"
Cody struggled to get up and was able to stand after a moment.
"Your turn." That Gladiator said.
"F-fine." Cody drew. "First I activate the spell card, Gearbreed." A spell card appeared. "And then..." He trailed off as he looked over the two cards in his hand. His eyes landed on the one on the left. 'This is...' At that moment, a faint memory flashed in his mind for a brief moment. A memory of someone handing him that card. But who, he couldn't tell. He shook it off and continued and grabbed the card. "I play a facedown monster in defense mode and end my turn." A facedown card appeared.
"My turn!" The Gladiator drew. "I summon Gladiator Beast Hoplomus!" Another animal like monster appeared. This one was a hulking, humanoid rhinoceros clad in plate armor. There were a bunch of floating plates circling around it. (ATK: 700 DEF: 2100 LV: 4)
Cody noted the rhino head. 'Wait a minute! Could this be the figure from before?'
"Next I play Gladiator Beast's Battle Manica!" The Gladiator continued and held up a spell card. And then, a shiny metal gauntlet extending from the wrist all the way to the shoulder appeared on the rhino's right arm. There was a red gem on the gauntlet.
"What's that do?" Cody wondered.
"You'll find out soon enough. But first, I'll attack with my Essedarii!" The gorilla charged forward and held up its spike club. As it got closer, Cody's facedown monster card flipped up and revealed a blue jar of Egyptian style, from which a green cobra peeked out. (ATK: 600 DEF: 300 LV: 2) The gorilla swung its club downwards. But right before the jar got crushed, the cobra jumped out of it. "Hm?" The Gladiator got curious as the cobra remained on the field. (ATK: 1200 DEF: 1200 LV: 3)
"Confused?" Cody asked, noticing his stare. "The monster you attacked was Cobra Jar. And due to its flip effect, a Poisonous Snake Token was summoned to the field. So, attacking now would be pointless."
But, the Gladiator pointed to the snake. "Hoplomus, attack that Poisonous Snake Token!"
Cody looked at him like he lost his mind. "What!? But my Token has more attack points! Why would you destroy your own monster?"
"Gladiators don't get killed that easily!" The Gladiator argued. "Hoplomus, attack!" The rhino charged forward, running on all fours. And then, it slammed its right fist down on the snake, only it avoided the attack. But, when the fist hit the ground, the whole place was shaking as the ground cracked.
"Whoa!" Cody stumbled, almost losing his balance. "H-how...?" His musings were interrupted as he saw the snake lash on the rhino's right arm and sank its teeth into it.
The Gladiator: 3900-3400
But instead of getting destroyed, the rhino shook its arm violently until the snake lost its grip. "Why wasn't it destroyed?"
"Since my monster is equipped with Gladiator Beast's Battle Manica, it can't be destroyed in battle." The Gladiator explained.
"But even with that spell, attacking my monster wouldn't do you any good..." Cody trailed off as he suddenly realized something. "Unless, your Hoplomus..."
"Has a special ability? Yes. Just like Bestiari, after battling, Hoplomus can return to my deck and let another Gladiator Beast take its place." The rhino vanished. The Gladiator put the card into his deck before another card came out of it. He grabbed it before the deck was automatically shuffled. "Now I summon Gladiator Beast Spartacus!" The monster that appeared from a portal was an anthropomorphic gray dinosaur in brown and golden spiky armor, wielding a large poleax. (ATK: 2200 DEF: 1600 LV: 5)
Cody gritted his teeth. 'Guess all those Gladiator Beasts can tag in each other.'
"And next I activate the effect of Gladiator Beast's Battle Manica." The named spell card came out of the Gladiator's graveyard slot. "Since the equipped monster returned to my deck, my equip spell goes automatically back to my hand." He took it and added it to his hand. "And speaking of equip spells, Spartacus' effect activates! When it's special summoned, I can take another Gladiator Beast equip spell from my deck and add it to my hand." The Gladiator searched through his deck and grabbed the card he wanted. After inserting the deck into his duel disk, letting it get shuffled, he added his spell card to his hand.
"So now you've got two equip spells." Cody muttered.
"And I'm gonna use one of them again! I'll add Gladiator Beast's Battle Manica to Spartacus!" The dinosaur's right arm had now the same gauntlet Hoplomus had. "And next, I'll equip Essedarii with the spell card, Gladiator Beast's Battle Archfiend Shield!" The gorilla's golden shield morphed into one that was black with a skull on the top. "Now, if the equipped monster would be destroyed, this shield will take the hit. I end my turn with one facedown." A card appeared near the cloaked man's feet.
"My turn then!" Cody declared. "First, I'll use the effect of Gearbreed. Instead of drawing a card during my draw phase, I can take an equip spell from my deck and add it to my hand." Cody grabbed his deck, took a card and then inserted the deck, letting it shuffle itself. "Then I summon the tuner monster, Torapart!" Materializing next to the cobra was a pair of brass cymbals with a hand puppet attached to each one. The puppets were identical to one another, each resembling the upper half of a green humoind creature with pointy ears. Both puppets had on a black conical hat with an orange flower, along with a black cape, a purple shirt and a pair of blue-green gloves. (ATK: 600 DEF: 600 LV: 2)
"And now I'll tune my Torapart with my Poisonous Snake Token!" The puppets pulled apart, and each turned into a ring of green light, surrounding the cobra. The snake's body became transparent before vanishing as three stars took its places. They lined up and created a beam of light. "I synchro summon Scarred Warrior!" The light died down and revealed a warrior who was wearing some parts of silver armor. His right leg was robotic. He had bandaged wrapped around his head and right arm, which had a blade attached to it. His left arm and leg had a bunch of scars all over the brown skin. (ATK: 2100 DEF: 1000 LV: 5)
"Then I equip him with the spell card, Synchro Boost!" The spell card appeared behind the warrior, releasing a blue aura that surrounded him. "Thanks to this, my Scarred Warrior's level is increased by one, and he gains 500 more attack points!" (ATK: 2100-2600) "Now I activate the second effect of Gearbreed! If I control an equip spell, I can place 1 fire warrior type monster or 1 gemini monster from my graveyard on the bottom of my deck. And then, I draw a card." Cody took Blazewing Butterfly from the graveyard, put it into his deck and then drew a new card. "Now, Scarred Warrior, attack his Essedarii!" The warrior dashed toward the gorilla.
"I activate a trap!" The Gladiator shouted, pointing to his facedown card. But to his confusion, it didn't flip up. "Huh?"
"That won't work!" Cody said. "Since I used Torapart to synchro summon my Scarred Warrior, you can't activate any traps when he attacks"
"What!?" The Gladiator watched as the warrior stabbed the gorilla with his blade, which was blocked by the shield. When that happened, the gorilla's shield changed back to its original form.
The Gladiator: 3400-3300
"And with that done, I activate the spell card, Pot of Avarice! With this, I can take 5 monster cards from my graveyard and shuffle them back into my deck." Cody took 5 cards from his graveyard slot and put them into his deck, letting it shuffle automatically. "After that, I get to draw two new cards." He drew his extra cards. "Then I'll end my turn with a facedown." A card appeared near Cody's feet.
"My turn!" The Gladiator drew. "Since your monster prevented me from using my trap card during your turn, I guess have to use it now! Activate Metalmorph!" His facedown card flipped up. "This card is used like an equip spell, which I'll add to Essedarii." At that, the gorilla's war chariot changed from golden to silver. And so did its shield and helmet. The helmet also changed to a different form. It became the kind of helmet that only revealed its wearer's eyes. "With this new armor, my Gladiator Beast gets stronger by 300 points!" (ATK: 2500-2800 DEF: 1400-1700)
"This is bad." Cody muttered.
"It's about to get worse, because the card I just drew happens to be an old friend. Gladiator Beast Andal!" The one-eyed bear appeared. (ATK: 1900 DEF: 1500 LV: 4) "Now, join Spartacus for a Gladiator Fusion!" The bear and dinosaur jumped up in the air and swirled together.
"Great. What's it gonna be this time?"
"I summon Gladiator Beast Gaiodiaz!" From a flash of light, a monster looking similar to Spartacus wielding a bigger axe appeared. It looked more like royalty wearing a gemmed blue robe. It also had three red shields floating around it. (ATK: 2600 DEF: 1500 LV: 7) "And since Spartacus returned to my deck, Gladiator Beast's Battle Manica returns to my hand again." The named card came out from the graveyard slot, allowing the Gladiator grab it. "And I think I'll add it to Gaiodiaz." The gauntlet materialized on the dinosaur's right arm.
Cody grimaced. "Oh no! With that card, that monster is invincible in battle, and can survive in battle against my Scarred Warrior."
"Yes, but I will cause more damage by having Essedarii attack first!" The gorilla charged forward. "You see, when it attacks a monster while being equipped with Metalmorph, its attack points increase with an amount equal to half of your monster's attack points." (ATK: 2800-4100) "So once your monster is destroyed, you're finished!"
"I don't think so! I activate the trap card, Spirit Force!" Cody's facedown card flipped up. "Thanks to this, the battle damage that I would have taken from this battle becomes 0!"
The Gladiator scoffed. "That doesn't mean your warrior is safe."
Cody smirked. "Guess again! My Scarred Warrior has a special ability! A special ability that keeps him from being destroyed in battle once per turn!" The gorilla swung its club, but the bandaged warrior stood strong and blocked the attack with his blade. After a brief moment, he was pushed back, but still there. (ATK: 4100-2800) "And there's more. My trap card has another bonus. It lets me return a warrior type tuner monster with up to 1500 defense points from the graveyard to my hand. And luckily, I kept Torapart there." Cody took the named card from his graveyard slot.
The Gladiator growled.
Cindy and Jeremy climbed up on the conveyor belt where they noticed Cody's duel runner. They had to climb over a bunch of junk until they reached it. "Finally, we got it!" Jeremy said in relief.
"So what now?" Cindy asked.
"For starters, we should push it off this thing."
Cindy looked ahead and widened her eyes. "In that case, we better do it, fast!"
Jeremy followed her glance and gasped when he saw that this conveyor belt was leading to big press of some kind, crushing every piece of junk that reached it. "Good call!"
"Why you... now you're really annoying me! Gladiator Beast Gaiodiaz, attack!" The dinosaur leapt up in the air and landed right in front of Scarred Warrior. It held up its axe before swinging downwards, cutting the warrior in half before he exploded.
"And next I activate his special ability! When he destroys a monster in battle, you take damage equal to that monster's defense points!"
"What?!" Was all Cody could say before the dinosaur struck the ground with its axe real hard. It was even hard enough to make the place to shake violently, and ground crack. "Ah!" Cody tried to keep himself from falling. But the dinosaur's axe released a wave of energy. "Ugh!" It knocked him over.
Cody: 2900-1900
"Whoa!" Jeremy yelped. Apparently, all this shaking reached where he and Cindy were.
"What the hell?!" Cindy fell down to her knees. At the same time, the pile of junk standing right behind her collapsed. And when it did, a large piece of it fell down and landed on her right foot. "Aaah!"
Jeremy turned to her instantly. "What happened?!"
"That piece of junk landed on my feet!" Cindy tried to pull her leg out. "Agh! I can't pull it off! I'm stuck!"
Jeremy approached her quickly and tried to pull as well. "Ugh! Ugh!" They both pulled as hard as they could, but it didn't budge. Jeremy glanced behind them and saw the press getting closer in view. "Oh boy."
"Nngh!" Cody stood up slowly. The last attack really damaged him. For real! His hoodie just got ripped in a few places. "What is this? How are his attacks able to make the damage so real?"
"I end my turn." The Gladiator concluded.
"F-fine!" Cody replied. "Once again, I'll use the effect of Gearbreed and add an equip spell to my hand instead of drawing a card." Cody fanned his deck out, took a card and inserted the deck into his duel disk again, letting shuffle itself. "And now I'll activate it! It's called Premature Burial! By giving up 800 life points, I can resurrect a monster from my graveyard! So I'll bring back Scarred Warrior!" The bandaged warrior appeared again. (ATK: 2100 DEF: 1000 LV: 5)
Cody: 1900-1100
"And next, since I have an equip spell in play, I activate Gearbreed's second effect again. And I happen to have one monster left in my graveyard..." The card in question came out of the graveyard slot. "Gemini Soldier."
"Hmph." The Gladiator scoffed.
Cody placed the named card on the bottom of his deck and drew a card. "And now I summon Torapart to the field.!" The two familiar puppets appeared again. (ATK: 600 DEF: 600 LV: 2) "And now, Torapart, time to give Scarred Warrior a tune up!" The two puppets turned into two rings of green light and surrounded the warrior. His body became transparent and revealed 5 stars. They lined up and created a beam of light. "The divested stars are the seven steels. Swordsmanship is power enriched by harmony. Become the vessel that unifies the stars! I synchro summon Seven Swords Warrior!"
The light died down and revealed a warrior in armor made of gold, with silver rune lines running all across it. Giant shields with royal-blue plating were outfitted on either shoulder. His helmet had a giant thunderbolt encrested on top of his head. A long, golden sheath carrying a silver katana was strapped to his back. He was also wielding a large silver, blue-plated saber in each hand. (ATK: 2300 DEF: 1800 LV: 7)
"That warrior is no match for my Gladiator Beasts!" The Gladiator said.
"He will be, once I equip him with the spell card, Lightning Blade!" One of the warrior's sabers turned into a broad sword with a golden handle, sizzling with electricity. "Thanks to this card, my Seven Swords Warrior gains 800 extra attack points!" (ATK: 2300-3100) "And he's got a special ability too! Once per turn, after being equipped with an equip card, he deals 800 points of damage to you!" The warrior swung his electric sword, sending out an arc of lightning which zapped the cloaked figure who grunted.
The Gladiator: 3300-2500
"Now, Seven Swords Warrior, attack his Essedarii!" The golden warrior dashed forward and swung his saber and Lightning Blade in an 'X' like motion, shattering the gorilla to pixels.
The Gladiator: 2500-2200
"And now I activate another one of my Warrior's abilities! Once per turn, I can send an equip card equipped to him to my graveyard. And of course, there's only one equip card I have. My Lightning Blade!" The weapon in question glowed brightly and changed back to its saber form. (ATK: 3100-2300)
"Why would you give up such a powerful weapon?" The Gladiator questioned.
"Simple... Because whenever Seven Swords Warrior loses one of his equip cards, I'm allowed to destroy one face-up monster on the field... like Gaiodiaz!"
The Gladiator gasped as the dinosaur roared in pain as a red aura enveloped it before it exploded. "No!"
"And that leaves you wide open! I'll end my turn with a facedown!" A card appeared near his feet.
"This isn't over!" The Gladiator drew his next card and looked at it. "And this card should take your warrior down." He revealed it. "I activate Monster Reborn! Now I can bring one of my monsters back from the grave! And I choose Gladiator Beast Essedarii!" A glowing portal opened on the ground, from which the gorilla emerged from slowly.
"I activate a trap!" Cody's facedown card flipped up. "Magic Drain! This lets me negate the spell card you just activated... unless you have a spell card you can discard to negate this effect!"
"But..." The Gladiator looked down to his hand. "...my hand is empty!"
Cody smirked. "Too bad for you then!"
The gorilla vanished immediately. "This can't be!"
"Do you wanna bet?" Cody drew. "Seven Swords Warrior, attack him directly!" The golden warrior spun around and swung his swords, sending out arcs of energy that blasted the Gladiator flying. He collided with a nearby pile of junk.
The Gladiator: 2200-0000
As the holograms vanished, Cody sighed in relief. "Man, this duel was tough." He said before wincing a little. "But this guy was able to cause real damage. How is that possible?"
"Cody!" Someone called out.
He recognized that voice. "Jeremy!" He suddenly ran in the direction the voice came from, forgetting about his fallen opponent. After a short while, he finally found Jeremy and Cindy and was shocked to see former trying to pull the latter, who was stuck with some junk. "What the...?" He rushed over to the conveyor belt and climbed up to them. "What happened?"
"My foot is stuck!" Cindy replied. "I can't get it out!"
"And what's worse, we're about to get crushed!" Jeremy added, pointing to the press.
Cody turned to it and noticed his busted duel runner. "My runner..." But he shook his head instantly and turned back to his friends. "Okay, let's pull together!"
"Right!" Jeremy nodded as both boys grabbed onto Cindy's leg and pulled as hard as the could. They tried over and over. As this went on, the crushing sound from the press became louder and louder.
"Come on! One more try! One..."
"Two..." Jeremy said.
"Three!" And with that, they used all of their and pulled one more time... and they managed to get Cindy loose. However, when they did, they lost balance and tripped. And all three of them fell off of the conveyor belt. "Ooff!" Cody grunted as they all landed on the ground. Cindy's wig fell off her head.
"Well, that was epic." Jeremy commented sarcastically. He then turned to Cindy. "Are you okay?"
The former pro duelist dusted herself before replying. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for the save."
Jeremy smiled in relief. But that relief was gone when he realized something. "Wait! Cody's runner!"
Cody widened his eyes and turned to the press... just in time to see his duel runner getting crushed by the machine. Moments later, it came out of the other side, now as a pressed pile of junk.
Everyone could just stare at this. All that work, and the duel runner was reduced to almost nothing.
"Damn it!" Jeremy muttered and punched on the ground. "After all this trouble, and we couldn't save it!"
Cindy sighed, disappointed. "Guess this isn't our day."
"It's fine."
They turned to Cody, looking at him like he lost his mind. "Say what?" Cindy asked.
"I said it's fine." He replied.
"What do you mean?" Jeremy asked incredulously. "We went through all this trouble to get your duel runner back only to see it get crushed, and you're saying that you're fine with that?"
"Don't get me wrong. I am disappointed that my runner got crushed. But look at it this way: I may have lost my runner..." He turned to them with a smile. "But at least you two are safe."
Jeremy and Cindy widened their eyes.
"If there was chance, I could have saved you two and the duel runner. But if I were to choose, I'd rather lose my runner than my friends."
Jeremy and Cindy stared at him, hardly believing what hey just heard. The silence was broken by Cindy, who gave him a smirk. "As I recall, it was your idea to try and get the runner back."
Cody shrugged. "I just realized that my friends are more important than a duel runner. Besides, there's always a possibility to build a new one."
"We can do that some other time." Jeremy replied. "But for now, how about we get out of here before the authorities show up."
"Good call." Cindy started to get up. "Ow!" But yelped in pain when she put her right foot on the ground.
"Are you okay?" Cody asked, concerned.
"Guess that piece of junk twisted my foot a little." She muttered.
"Here..." Jeremy put her arm over his shoulder and helped her up. "You doing good"?
Cindy smiled to him. "Thanks."
"Okay, let's get out of here so we can have a look." Cody said as the trio made their way out of the junkyard. As they walked, Cody was in deep thought. 'I wonder who that cloaked guy was? And how was he able to cause real damage?'
Somewhere else, in a dark alley, the Gladiator was walking, angry for what happened. "That little bastard! He should have just left me alone... Gah!" It was at that moment he felt a sudden pain in his right hand. He looked at it and saw a dart stuck to it. "What the...?" He pulled it off. "What's with this dart. Where did it... come... from..." He started to feel dizzy. Everything around him was spinning. And then, he collapsed. As his vision got darker, he looked up and saw a figure dressed in black approach him. The figure was wearing a black helmet with a visor. "...Blade..." Was all the Gladiator muttered before he lost consciousness.
"Sorry about this, big guy. Just doing my job. The master was already pissed at me for what I did. And boy you're gonna get an earful for all the trouble you caused."
Once again, I've been lazy and took much time with this chapter. I just hope this chapter was worth the wait. Until next time.