Chapter 4
Isolated in Cyberspace: Part 3
"Counteroffensive Rainbow Arch"
In the virtual forest of Noah's virtual universe, the duel neared its conclusion. "Let me guess, you've had enough suffering and want to give up?" Konosuke pondered. "Guess again, Konosuke." Pinkie replied. "Fine. You're only 500 life points away from annihilation, anyway." Konosuke said. "I was in tougher spots when I was in the middle of my Duel Monsters training lessons." Pinkie said, smugly. "Now make your move, if you please." she added.
"Very well." Konosuke responded before drawing. 'Excellent, Rainbow Snake Eingana. It could wipe her out right now in one strike, but what fun would that be? I need to drag this duel out a bit longer.' he thought as he looked at what he drew and added it to his hand. "So, let's see... Ah, yes." he said aloud before picking his card. "I summon Melchid the Four-Face Beast in attack mode!" he added before said creature appeared.
"My first order of business is to take out your Mad Sword Beast. My Four-Face Beast should have enough power to crush it and take a bite out of your life points in the process." he stated. "Now, Melchid the Four-Face Beast, eliminate her Mad Sword Beast with Quadruple Smash Attack!" he commanded before, in moments, the Mad Sword Beast was destroyed, lowering Pinkie's life points to 400 and physically weakening her as the shockwave made her fall, all while Humanoid Slime's defense points lowered to 2200 and Mystical Sand's lowered to 1900, respectively.
Meanwhile, Tea and AJ were coming around in the cave of Hitotsu-Me Giants. 'This definitely not our day.' AJ thought. "AJ? You alright?" Tea asked. "I am, but how do we get out of here?" AJ asked back before they heard the growling of the giants. "You hear that?" Tea asked before the looked down and saw the giants below them before one of them eyed them. At that moment, Tea had a flashback to the gang's first time in Noah's virtual world.
'This virtual world is supposed to be a total illusion, that's why I couldn't touch those flowers. So why does my face hurt after that rubble scratched my cheek?' she pondered. 'Maybe this place may be more real than Kaiba said.' she figured. 'I hope the others are better off than me and AJ are.' she added.
Meanwhile, Pinkie was trying to get up off the ground. "Had enough, Diane?" Konosuke asked. "May as well tell me once you get your face out of the dirt." he added. At the cave of the giants, Tea and AJ were getting on their feet. "Wherever yawl are, hang in there. Ya hear?" AJ said, hoping that one of the members of the team heard her in spirit. At the lake, Pinkie was still trying to get up. "Looks like you're down for the count." Konosuke said.
"Never!" Pinkie declared, defiantly. "Pardon?" Konosuke asked, surprised. "You heard her. She'll never give up, much like the rest of my friends." Twilight responded, confidently. "Twilight's right, as long as I have life points, this game is still going on." Pinkie concurred. "You're more foolish than I thought. Even the most inexperienced people in the business world know when it's time to close shop." Konosuke replied. "Not that it matters all that much to me. Your life points account will be empty soon enough, Diane. Then I'll escape to the real world at last, once I take over your body, that is. And it'll all happen when I launch my next attack." he continued.
'He's right. Pinkie has only 400 life points left, and as long as Konosuke has at least two monsters on his side of the field, he can activate Reflector Hole and send any attack she launches back at her.' Yugi said, mentally. "Alright, my dear, the time has come for you to make your final move of our virtual game. Then I'll seal this deal once and for all, leaving your inferior mind trapped here in my place forever!" Konosuke declared. "You'll have all the time in the world to contemplate the grim horror of your future. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?" he added before laughing.
"Alright. Here goes." Pinkie said before drawing. "I activate Pot of Greed in order to draw two cards." she said before doing so. 'These could work. But I've never heard of or used this one before, Rainbow Blessings. This other card will help, but how can I use Rainbow Blessings?' she pondered. "Well? Stalling won't help you. Success comes to men and women of action. No one ever got ahead in the corporate world by just waiting. That just leads to defeat, which is where you're headed. And to think you were taught by the grandfather of the King of Games. If only those folks in the real world could see you right now, one of the proteges of the man who taught the young man who defeated Pegasus to become world champion and King of Games." Konosuke said before chuckling.
Sauropod Brachion soon lowered its head and lowly vocalized. "What is it, big fella? I'm trying to concentrate on this duel." Pinkie said to her Deck Master. 'Wait a minute, what if he's trying to tell me that Rainbow Blessings is going to help me out more than I thought?' she pondered. "Well, I said I have faith in my Deck Master, so now it's time to put it to the test." she said. "I'll set two cards face down and end my turn." she said before looking at her Deck Master and nodded. "It's your move." she concluded.
Meanwhile, Joey and Rainbow were still wandering through the mansion. "Alright, you suits, you're all wasting our time so show yourselves!" Joey shouted. But no answer came. Meanwhile, in the cave of the Hitotsu-Me Giants, Tea and AJ saw the fate that was being prepared for them. "Tea, I have a feeling those fellers are getting ready for supper." AJ said. "And I bet we're the main course!" put in Tea, horrified. "We got to get out of here, or we're gonna be made into stew." AJ urged. "But how can we get all the way up there?" Tea asked as they both looked up at a skylight.
Suddenly, a vine dropped down through the skylight. "Well, that answers that question." AJ said. "Who's up there?!" Tea called before, to both of their surprise, they saw their rescuer; a penguin. "A penguin?" Tea asked. "Well, didn't see this coming, but I'm willing to accept the help of the litter feller." AJ stated. Meanwhile, Fluttershy and Seto managed to pull Mokuba up to safety. "Thanks, guys." the boy said, relieved and thankful.
"This place is more dangerous than I thought. Somehow, Noah has access to virtual software that can replicate the human sense of touch." Seto said. "I know you can hear me, Noah! You won't get away with this, you little twerp!" he shouted as Noah watched from his control chair. "You have so much to learn." the boy said. "I thought you and your company had the latest virtual reality software, based on the technology in these Duel Disks, but this place feels more real than the world you created for Duel Monsters Quest." Fluttershy stated.
"I'm with Fluttershy. If you two hadn't grabbed my arm, who knows what would've happened." Mokuba concurred. "Thank you." he added. "I don't know what kind of game Noah's playing, but it's not Duel Monsters. That punk, he doesn't know who he's up against." Seto said, clearly frustrated. "You hear that, Noah?! You'll never succeed! I'll make sure of it!" he shouted. "Mokuba, no matter what you see from this point forward, I want you to realize this; what's past is past. I may not be proud of every decision I've made in my life, but everything I did, I did for the both of us so we'd have a better life. All we can do now is move ahead, and not look back." he said solemnly as he began to walk away.
"Okay." Mokuba replied before running up to his brother. "I have a feeling the worst is yet to come." Fluttershy said, meekly. "I'm inclined to agree." Seto responded. Back at the duel, Konosuke's turn was about to take place. "Diane, the end is near, now." he said before drawing. 'This will do nicely.' he thought. "I activate the magic card, Offerings to the Doomed! Its effect allows me to destroy any monster on your side of the field." he declared.
"Say goodbye to Mystical Sand, your second to last line of defense, Diane." he said before, next thing he knew, her witch was destroyed, lowering Humanoid Slime's defense points to 2100. "Almost all of your monsters are gone." he concluded. "The key word there is almost. You still have to get past Humanoid Slime." Pinkie pointed out. "It makes no difference to me, the end result will be the same once I play this card!" Konosuke responded. "What does he mean?" Twilight asked.
"I sacrifice Wall of Illusion and Melchid the Four-Face Beast to summon Rainbow Snake Eingana!" Konosuke declared before his new monster, a level seven, Water attribute sea-serpent/effect monster with 2200 attack points and 2400 defense points, appeared. "A snake! Why'd it have to be a snake?!" Pinkie asked, worried. "Now, my serpent, put the bite on Humanoid Slime, and the squeeze on Diane!" Konosuke commanded before his snake devoured the plasma creature.
"So much for your defensive monster, Diane. Your life points are wide open. I know it's a bit too late, but here's some advice; the next time you decide to swim with the big fish, pack a life jacket, because you're sinking fast! Not that there's going to be a next time. Soon you'll be trapped here!" he stated.
Meanwhile, Tea and AJ were making their way up and out of the Hitotsu-Me Giants' cave. "Well, we're saved. But the question is, why a penguin?" AJ pondered. "Guess we'll find out soon." Tea replied. However, some loose stones falling from their general direction gave them away. "Oh no! We better get while the getting's good!" AJ urged. They continued to climb up, only a bit faster, as the Hitotsu-Me Giants roared down below. Back at the duel, the end seemed near.
"Time for the final move, Diane. In moments, your life points will finally expire. And who better to deliver the final blow than my favorite reptilian beast?" Konosuke said. "Ruklamba the Spirit King, free me from this prison by striking Diane down, now!" he commanded before the attack fired. "This can't be!" Yami shouted. "She's through." Konosuke said, proudly, but suddenly... a vortex appeared and the blast when straight through and disappeared. "What happened? I thought your life points were exhausted!" he declared.
"How is it that you're still standing?!" he asked. "You may have thought that my life points would be gone after that, but you didn't count on a little facedown I call, Negate Attack!" Pinkie revealed. 'I knew Pinkie had a surprise in store!' Yugi mentally said, with a beam of pride. "You see, Konosuke, if there's one thing you should know about both life and business, is that you can never count out the element of surprise." Pinkie explained.
"You think just one trap card will save you?" Konosuke asked. "I'm afraid nothing could be further from the truth. Negate Attack is a handy trap card to have, but it takes more than one card to win. You're lucky you chose not to introduce your Sauropod Brachion to the field, because according to the Deck Master rulebook, if your dinosaur was to be destroyed, you'd automatically lose." he added. "I remember, Konosuke. But making me activate my trap card was strike one, for you that is." Pinkie replied with a smirk.
Meanwhile, Tea and AJ finally managed to get themselves out of the cave of Hitotsu-Me Giants. "Well, we made it." Tea said. "Yeah, but looks like those one-eyed varmints are on our tail!" AJ pointed out as they saw the giants coming their way before they ran for their lives. One of the giants threw its ax at the two girls, but missed, forcing them to get on all fours and pursue them. "Leave us alone!" Tea shouted. They soon came to a massive gorge with a river down below. "This doesn't look good." AJ said. "What now? They have us cornered!" Tea said in a panic before they both spotted a bridge.
"Guess we have no choice but to cross that bridge, now that we've come to it." AJ said before they both ran for it. They looked down and saw a rushing river down at the bottom of the gorge. "Okay, that's definitely not a small drop. And this bridge doesn't look too sturdy." AJ said. "But if we don't go, we're cyclops chowder." Tea pointed out as they saw the Hitotsu-Me Giants closing in. 'We could sure use our friends right about now.' Tea thought as she fearfully shut her eyes. 'Wait, what am I saying? I've formed a bond with each and every one of them, one that can't be broken. So I guess they're really here after all.' she thought.
And so, with confidence, AJ and Tea started to cross the bridge. With the giants closing in, they picked up the pace a bit, but the giants showed up anyway. They started to try and cross, but the bridge began to give way. "You varmints don't realize that this bridge can only hold so much weight!" AJ shouted as she and Tea started to hurry a bit more. Finally, with a snap of rope and a crack of wood, the bridge came apart. AJ and Tea hung on for dear life as the Hitotsu-Me Giants tumbled helplessly over and over and over, down, down, down, down. And ker-splash, into the raging river they went!
"Well, let's hope those guys won't be back any time soon." Tea said, relieved. "Agreed, now let's climb up." AJ said as they did so. "AJ, you and me are going to have to head to your farm for a vacation after this." Tea suggested. Back at the duel, things were nearing an end. "Make your final, pathetic move, Diane. Not that you have any options, all you've got left is your massive dinosaur, and what can he do except for use his massive bulk to defend you?" Konosuke said. "Wait and see." Pinkie replied as Sauropod Brachion bellowed.
"You like to do a lot of talking, Konosuke." she said as she drew. "Now I believe I should have a turn at sharing advice; not all power comes from big things, both in business and in Duel Monsters." she said, to Konosuke's chagrin. "I guess they never taught you that when making your way up the corporate ladder, so I'll just have to teach you that lesson the hard way, by eliminating you from this duel. And then, based on your own twisted rules, you'll remain trapped in cyberspace for eternity." she continued.
"You're just bluffing. It doesn't matter what card you just drew." Konosuke retorted. "Oh really? Then let me show you." Pinkie said, revealing her card was Kuriboh. "Is that Kuriboh?" Konosuke asked before laughing. "That's just a joke! You know Kuriboh is one of the weakest monsters in the game." he stated. "That may be, but he's got more uses to make up for his lack in power. Now I summon him to the field!" Pinkie retorted before her monster appeared. "And now, I activate this, your second strike! Call of the Haunted!" Pinkie retorted as her card activated. "This allows me to bring back a monster I sent to the graveyard earlier in the duel, and I choose Megazowler!" she explained before her monster appeared.
"Now my Deck Master will increase their defense points!" she added as Kuriboh's defense points increased to 400 and Megazowler's increased to 2200, respectively. "And now, here's strike three! Rainbow Blessings!" she continued. "When this card is combined with Kuriboh, a great power is released!" she explained as a rainbow beam of light transformed Kuriboh's fur. "WHAT?! You expect to win with a rainbow and a fuzz ball?! What kind of stunt is this?!" Konosuke asked, slightly offended. "Okay, little buddy, create the rainbow arch!" Pinkie commanded.
In no time, Kuriboh went upward. "What is she doing?!" Konosuke asked. Soon, the little fur ball formed a rainbow that went from Pinkie's side of the field, to Konosuke's. "Maybe you should do a bit more research into Duel Monsters cards. But it looks like you're about to be put out of business, Konosuke! Why? Because your monsters aren't my target! I'm aiming right for your life points!" Pinkie responded as Megazowler started to run across the rainbow arch. "But how?! I analyzed every aspect of this duel!" Konosuke shouted.
"Well, it looks like you missed this one." Pinkie replied. "Now, Megazowler, follow the rainbow arch and attack his life points directly!" she commanded as Megazowler ran across the rainbow. "No! This can't be! My Deck Master ability doesn't work on direct attacks!" Konosuke shouted. "I know. I figured out your weakness before your first Ruklamba was summoned." Pinkie revealed. "Now you're about to be crushed by your competition, dinosaur style!" she added before Megazowler's nose horn pierced right through Konosuke's heart, dropping his life points down to 0.
"You little brat! I was so close to winning your body and leaving this virtual purgatory behind for good!" Konosuke shouted before he vanished in a cloud of pixels. Pinkie finally breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad that's over, at least for now." she said. "I agree. You did great, Pinkie." Twilight said as she and Yami approached. "I agree. But it's time to find our friends." Yami concurred. "You're right. There's no telling what kind of danger Noah may have put them in." Twilight said.
Meanwhile, in Noah's control room, the mastermind saw everything that had happened. "It looks like Pinkie was stronger and better taught that I originally thought. Impressive. Or perhaps the Big Five really don't have the dueling skills they claimed to have when I hired them. We'll just have to see how the others fare in the coming duels, won't we?" he said as he watched the victorious Pinkie and her friends on one of the screens.
Soon, they looked and saw a door appear next to them. "Looks like Noah is giving us a way to meet up with our friends." Twilight said. "Hopefully that's what this door leads us to, our friends could be in grave danger. Let's just hope we're not too late." Yami added. He soon opened the door and all three of them stepped through before the door closed and locked behind them.