Chapter 5
Freeze Play: Part 1
"Duel on Ice"
Out in Noah's virtual desert, Tea and AJ were climbing up the broken bridge they used to escape the clan of Hitotsu-Me Giants. "Tea, I think we have enough Hitotsu-Me Giants for one day." AJ said. "Me, too. But we're almost at the top." Tea replied. "I wonder if everyone else is having as much fun as we are." she added, though with a hint of sarcasm. Elsewhere, Yugi, Twilight and Pinkie found themselves running down a long, semi-dark tunnel. "Does this tunnel ever end?" Yugi asked. "It might, but only when Noah wants it to." Twilight replied.
"After all, he's controlling everything around us." she added. "Noah can try to stop us if he wants to, but we're gonna find our friends no matter what!" Yugi stated before all three of them started running down the tunnel again. "Keep on running, you three. You fools don't know it, but you're getting absolutely nowhere very quickly. But not to worry, I have a destination in mind for you." Noah said as he started punching keys on his chair, indicating it was also the input piece of the super computer that created the virtual world.
"Unfortunately, though, you won't be anywhere near your friends." he added as the tunnel began to warp and distort. "What's going on?" Pinkie asked, worried, before all three of them were teleported away. Meanwhile, in Noah's command chair, he received a message from one of his associates, Shuzo Otaki. "Mr. Noah?" Shuzo asked. "Go ahead, Shuzo." Noah replied. "I'd like to volunteer myself to duel the next victim and make up for Konosuke's defeat." Shuzo explained.
"Very well. Just don't fail me, Shuzo." Noah responded. "I've got the perfect opponent in mind for you, and I have a feeling it should be easy for you to defeat her. She's already had a run-in with the Hitotsu-Me Giants along with one Miss Applejack, so her mind is already rattled." he added. "Good luck, Tea." he concluded. Back in the desert, the two girls reached the top of the broken bridge.
"AJ, I'd say that this definitely counts as the worst day ever." Tea said after they pulled themselves onto the terrafirma above. "I think now's a good time as any to take a rest." AJ suggested. 'She's right. At least a small one, so we can get back, some energy.' Tea thought before they both drifted off to sleep. Next thing Tea knew, she was dreaming of being back home in Domino City, at school, explaining that everything that was happening was just a dream, only for Yugi to explain that she was dreaming at that moment and pointing out that she was going to duel and needed the Dark Magician Girl to win, adding that she and Yugi went to see a play from Broadway about the lore and legend of the creature on the card.
Of course, since it was Tea's dream, she soon found herself picked to join the Dark Magician Girl on stage for the first musical number of the play. Soon, Tea and AJ were woken up by their rescuer, a penguin. "Well, I thought that we were seeing things, but guess we really were rescued by a penguin. Thanks for getting us out of that cave, little feller." AJ said as she and Tea thought back to that moment. The penguin started to chirp, as if trying to tell them something.
"Sorry, but we don't speak penguin." AJ said before the little, flightless bird started walking away before it chirped and moved its wing to tell them to follow it. "I guess you want us to follow you?" Tea asked. So the two followed the penguin out of the desert and, after a lot of walking, found themselves in a much more lush and green environment, only they were navigating along a ledge. 'Just when we thought things couldn't get any weirder.' Tea thought.
The two girls soon saw in the distance on the shore of a massive river, a raft semi-surrounded by more penguins. "There's more of yawl?" AJ asked, puzzled. The penguin that led them to the raft motions for them to board. "Well, what do we have to lose?" Tea asked AJ. They both board and with some extra penguins in tow, they shove off and head down the massive river. After a while, they came to an area that had some overhanging fog.
"Pardon me, but would you mind squawking twice if we're almost at our destination?" AJ asked. The penguin did do what she asked, but it and its fellows abandoned ship soon after. "Hey, don't go!" Tea said before she and AJ realized that on the cliffs to the left and right of them were even more penguins. "Tea, I never would've guessed that someday we'd end up on a raft ride heading to a virtual Antarctica." AJ said before their raft came to a stop. "Pardon the intrusion, but we come in peace." Tea said to the penguins that greeted both her and AJ.
"Would you mind if you take us to your leader?" AJ asked before the penguins parted to let the girls walk on through. They soon saw what looked like a palace at the top of a long flight of steps. "AJ, if we're gonna climb up about 2,000 steps, there had better be someone up there who doesn't speak in chirps and squawks." Tea stated. Soon, they reached the top and entered the penguin palace. "Is anyone home? Sorry for the intrusion." AJ called out.
"Your being here isn't an intrusion, it was an invitation. I see that my penguin army has treated you both well." a familiar voice replied. "Well, does everyone here except us have feathers and a beak?" Tea asked. "Correct, there's nobody here but us penguins, Tea." the voice replied. "You know my name?" Tea asked. "Oh, I know a lot more than that, Tea Gardner. I also know about your friend, who prefers to go by the name of Applejack, AJ for short. You, Tea, are five foot five and wear a size 16 sneaker, AJ is six foot two and wears a size 9 1/2 boot. I have all the numbers in my report, and I'd say for one of you, your number is up, because I'm about to put the freeze on one of you." the voice replied before laughing.
"Well, if I may ask, who are you and what do you want with us?" AJ asked. "Don't tell me that you forgot our last meeting." the voice answered before the penguins parted to reveal it belonged to a more fancily dressed macaroni penguin. "Well, I never forget a voice, so you must be one of the Big Five." Tea stated. "You're right. See, things are never what they appear to be around here, but I'm glad you remember I'm one of the Big Five." the man said before having a seat in a chair. "Shuzo Otaki is the name, former accountant of KaibaCorp." he added.
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that your fellow members of the Big Five have also taken the form of non-human creatures, right?" Tea asked. "Precisely. I'll explain why I've chosen the form of a macaroni penguin soon. But, for starters, let's have a quick run through both of your numbers." Shuzo replied. "Now, I don't need any of my notes to tell me that there's a 100% chance that I'm going to duel against Tea." he added. "A one on one duel against you? Sounds like you picked her for her lack of dueling experience." AJ suggested.
"You're quite a perceptive cowgirl, and like my fellow Big Five members said during our last meeting, if any of you lose, either me or my fellow associates will leave this domain and leave your mind trapped here." Shuzo responded. "Now, here are the rest of the calculations I made. Says here that Tea has dueled only five times in her life, whilst you, AJ, have dueled at least six times. Likely because my former employer, Seto Kaiba, chose you to be one of the enforcers for his Battle City tournament. So that would mean AJ would have a higher percentage a chance of winning in a duel against me, leading me to my choice of dueling Tea." he continued.
"Hold on, how do you know all this stuff about me and AJ? Even the personal things like our shoe sizes?" Tea asked. "Collecting facts and figures is my job. You'd be surprised what numbers can tell you about a person's life." Shuzo replied. "Not to be disrespectful to your profession or anything, but the personal things in someone's life isn't anyone's business but their own." AJ said, bluntly. "I'm going to have to disagree with you. I need to know everything about Tea. That way, when I win this duel, I'll be ready, to become her." Shuzo retorted.
"Become me? Now I remember, your partner, Konosuke, mentioned that if any of our friends lost each duel, they would end up losing their body to one of you because after what happened in the world of Duel Monsters Quest, your bodies were destroyed." Tea said. "Absolutely correct, hence why I've taken the form of a quite dapper macaroni penguin and decided to live here with my penguin brothers and sisters." Shozu replied to the applause of his fellow penguins. "If you love these penguins like family, why not stay here?" AJ asked.
"Quite simple, really. They know that I need to return home, to the real world. And once I've defeated you in my palace of ice, I can finally do so disguised as your friend." Shuzo answered. "Sorry, but I'm afraid that just won't happen." Tea said, bluntly. "We'll just see about that." Shuzo said with an evil chuckle. "The odds are simply against you if you even think of trying to run." he added before they found themselves in an icy wasteland and all three individuals were standing on a platform of ice with a freezing ocean right under their feet.
"Now that we're on my iceberg dueling field, it's almost time to begin." he put in just as a Duel Disk appeared on Tea's left arm. "Before we start, we must choose what cards to have in our decks from this Duel Monsters card database." he explained as images of various cards appeared before Tea's eyes. "Not that it matters what you pick, the probability of you being victorious is slim to none." he added. "So Tea has to choose from cards she knows and ones she hasn't even seen before?" AJ pondered. As for Tea, she saw some familiar ones. 'Wait! Some of these cards are familiar! Good thing I spent hours watching Yugi and Joey duel, and even watching AJ and her friends compete in their practice duels.' Tea thought as she picked and chose which cards to add to her deck.
"Okay, then, as per the Deck Master rules, you must choose one monster to be your Deck Master." Shozu said before Tea looked through her deck. "I have just the monster in mind, the Dark Magician Girl is my Deck Master!" Tea declared before her monster appeared alongside her. "And let me guess, Shuzo, you already have your Deck Master picked because you ARE your Deck Master?" AJ asked. "Very good, AJ. Yes, I'm both the Duelist and the Deck Master, and my form is known as Nightmare Penguin!" Shuzo replied. 'I knew that he looked familiar.' AJ thought as she remembered when she and Tea were looking through several new cards that were released at a card shop, with Nightmare Penguin, a level four, Water attribute aqua/effect monster with 900 attack points and 1800 defense points, among them.
"Once I win this duel, I'll be free to waddle my way back to the real world." Shozu stated. "Guess again, Shozu!" Tea declared before both players' Duel Disks activated and their life points set to 4000. Meanwhile, as Tea was telling Shozu it was time to duel, in the new tunnel that Yugi, Twilight and Pinkie found themselves in, they were confronted with four doorways. "Which door to pick?" Yugi pondered. "Well, I know if we don't pick one, we're stuck here." Pinki stated before Twilight topped her from touching one of the doors.
"Three out of four of these doors may be rigged with a trap, so we have to test them." the princess said. Yugi flipped a one yen coin at one of the doors, and a powerful force from the other side sent it right to his feet. "Okay, testing doors, good idea." Pinkie said, meekly. "You may have won your duel, Pinkie, but I think we've landed in a whole new game." Twilight pointed out. Meanwhile, the duel was underway.
"First turn honors are mine." Tea said as she drew her first card, which was Mirror Force. "I'll begin by setting one card face down, and then I'll summon Ancient Elf to the field in attack mode." she declared before her creature, a level four, Light attribute Spellcaster with 1450 attack points and 1200 defense points, appeared. "That'll be all for now, Shozu." she concluded. "And now the fun begins. Watch closely." Shozu replied before drawing.
"I'll start off by summoning my Giant Red Seasnake." he said before his slithering creature appeared. "And now that he's here, he gets a little power boost." he added as his snake's attack points rose to 2000. "How'd your snake get more attack points already?" AJ asked. "Well, my Deck Master ability allows me to increase the attack points of every water monster on my side of the dueling field by 200. So now my Seasnake has 2000 attack points and that's a number you can't argue with!" Shozu explained.
"That's what you think. So what's stopping you from attacking me?" Tea retorted. "Patience. We accountants are a cautious bunch, I never rush into anything unless I have the numbers to support it." Shozu stated. "To attack now, would mean I'd have to ignore one very important fact, your facedown. I'm more than 90% sure it's a trap. That's not a risk a man in my position can afford to take." he explained. "Of course, there's a way around that, by activating the magic card, Cold Wave." he continued before playing said card.
Suddenly, a giant gust of cold winder air blew in and froze Tea's face down Mirror Force. "When Cold Wave is in effect, it freezes all magic and trap cards on the field for one turn. Which means your Ancient Elf is now a sitting duck!" Shozu explained, shocking Tea. "Attack, my mighty Seasnake!" he commanded before the beast struck the Ancient Elf, lowering Tea's life points to 3450. "Oh, no! My life points!" the poor girl shouted as she watched them lower.
Suddenly, her feet and lower legs became encased in ice! "Looks like I forgot to mention something. Each time a Duelist's life points decrease, his or her body will become encased in a block of solid ice!" Shozu stated, worrying both Tea and AJ. "Then that means whoever loses becomes a living ice cube!" AJ said in shock. "That's correct, so get ready for a rather chilling ending to this duel. Tea's mind will be frozen stiff for all eternity in this wasteland!" Shozu declared with a grim penguin grin as the arctic winds blew.
"Man, it's cold." Tea said as she tried to keep herself warm. "I agree, colder than a pint of my famous apple cider." AJ concurred as she, too, tried to warm up. Meanwhile, Yugi and the others heard just what the two girls had said. "That sounded like Tea and Applejack!" Yugi said in shock. "But which way are they?" Twilight pondered. "The only way to find out is to solve this door puzzle." Pinkie pointed out. "I bet Noah's letting us hear them just to torture us, and it sounds like Tea's the one in bigger trouble because she sounds like she's being frozen solid." Yugi suggested.
"Then we gotta help her!" Pinkie shouted before running to one of the doors, only to get knocked back. "Don't panic, Pinkie, that's exactly what Noah wants us to do." Twilight advised. "But what about Tea and AJ?" Yugi asked. "Hold on. Look above these doors." Twilight said before they all noticed a star above the one Pinkie tried to go through. "Wait a minute! I get the puzzle, now! In Duel Monsters, the number of stars on a card represents its power level. And in the rules of Battle City, you have to sacrifice a low level monster or two in order to bring out a higher level one!" Pinkie said, realizing what game Noah led them into.
"So a level one monster is behind that door. And if I destroy it, we can get through." Yugi hypothesized as the card database appeared before him, allowing him to pick what cards were to be in his deck, before he activated his Duel Disk and drew a card. "I summon the Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress!" he declared before said creature appeared. "Attack and see what's behind door number one!" he commanded before his dragon destroyed the monster that was lying in wait, a level one, Water attribute reptile/effect monster with 300 attack points and 250 defense points called Sinister Serpent.
"Okay, it's safe to go in, but who knows where it leads?" Twilight said at last. "Hopefully to Tea and AJ." Yugi stated as the duel continued, meanwhile. "What's the matter, Tea? You and your friend got cold feet?" Shozu asked "V-v-very funny, Sh-sh-shozu. You accountants are hysterical." Tea said as she drew her next card. "I set a monster in defense mode and end my turn." she added, shivering. "Sounds like you might have a case of the chills. Perhaps you and your friend should've dressed more appropriately for the winter, dear." Shozu said with a chuckle. "Well, Noah didn't exactly program any parkas for us, now did he?" AJ asked.
"You both got spunk. Too bad one of you will have wasted it when your mind is trapped here. Now, then..." Shozu said before drawing. "All moves in Duel Monsters take time, you know. One card may be a good pick, but there are also others in the hand to choose from." he added. "You like to think things over thoroughly, don't you?" Tea asked. "Exactly, I have to weigh the percentages of every decision I make. Your Dark Magician Girl isn't much of a threat to me on her own, but if you added other cards to her, she would become a threat." Shozu responded.
"Every Duelist knows that some Spellcaster monsters always get stronger when you add equip spells to them." AJ pointed out. "Student of the game, are you?" Shozu asked. "I was taught by the grandfather of Yugi Muto, current reigning and defending Duel Monsters champion and the current King of Games." AJ answered. "Well, if you're both acquaintances of Yugi Muto, then perhaps you picked up a thing or two when he beat Pegasus at Duelist Kingdom." Shozu suggested. "For now I'll keep Tea guessing and set these two cards, then wait for her meltdown." he added as he set his cards.
'Alright, he didn't attack me, which means he's planning something.' Tea thought. "Soon my incredible mind will be inside that soon-to-be empty head of yours, then I'll finally be free and alive!" Shozu declared. "You're not flying the coop just yet, so chill out." Tea said before drawing. "I play Mystical Space Typhoon! This card allows me to destroy one of your face down cards, so say goodbye to the one on your left." she declared before the card of her choice, Mirror Wall, was destroyed, but Shozu just chuckled.
"You took my bait! You destroyed one trap card, only to fall victim to another!" he declared. "It's called Driving Snow. When activated, it creates a giant blizzard that will blow away one of your facedown cards. So get ready for the winter storm of the century!" he explained before said blizzard destroyed Mirror Force. "Cold enough for you? Now you have nothing to stop my attacks, meaning my Giant Seasnake is free to strike!" he declared.
"Oh, yeah? It'll take a lot more than that to freeze me out." Tea said before trying to warm her hands with her breath. "How cold is the weather here anyway?" AJ asked. "It's a wonderful -16 degrees." Shozu answered with a chuckle. 'Tea, wait.' said a voice before the Dark Magician Girl placed her hand on Tea's. 'My Deck Master abilities allow us to communicate mentally. I'm here to guide you.' she said. "Okay, you have my trust." Tea replied before, with her Deck Master's help, she picked her next card. "I activate this card, Offerings to the Doomed!" she declared before mummy bandages appeared and ensnared the Giant Red Seasnake.
"Looks like your Seasnake is too wrapped up to help anymore, because my magic card destroys it automatically." she added before the creature was destroyed. "And now to reveal my set monster, by switching it from defense to attack mode! Behold, Fire Sorcerer!" she declared before her monster, a level four, Fire attribute spellcaster/effect monster with 1000 attack points and 1500 defense points, appeared. "Not bad. Maybe she can warm things up a bit." AJ said before the little spellcaster did just that for both girls. "Much better. Next I'll activate Fire Sorcerer's special ability, by discarding two cards from my hand and removing them from the game, I'm able to burn through 800 of your life points!" Tea stated.
Soon, Shozu's flippers caught fire before he put out the flames by putting them in his mouth as his life points lowered to 3200. "And don't think I'm finished with you yet, Shuzo! Fire Sorcerer, put that bird in the hot seat!" she declared before Shuzo's life points drastically dropped to 2200. "And since you lost life points, your own stipulation gets turned against you! So how does it feel being partly frozen?" AJ pointed out.
"It feels absolutely wonderful. After all, I'm a penguin, and we like things on the cold side. Surely you don't need a lesson on Antarctic birds, do you?" Shozu responded. "Well, I have a question, why'd you choose to take the form of a penguin?" AJ asked. "Not that it's any of your business, but these little flightless birds saved me from a life of misery." Shozu responded. "You see, I was an only child and my parents were always arguing because one or the other were working late. So I kept myself busy with my math studies, a subject my grandfather was quite proud of when he visited because it led him to being a banker. Then one day while I was looking for a book to read, I found one all about penguins." he explained as he remembered the days of his youth.
"I was amazed to know that a mother and father penguin would take turns sitting on their eggs. Those flightless birds had a bond with their children that I never knew could exist. From then on, my life revolved around my two loves; numbers and penguins, and I devoted myself to both." he continued as the flashbacks ended. "As I grew older, I dreamt of one day combining my two great passions, and it almost came to be. I climbed my way to the top of the Kaiba Corporation as the company's chief accountant and number expert, and I had an idea that would've tripled our profits; a company sponsored all-penguin theme park. I brought my proposal to Seto Kaiba." he continued as he remembered that day.
However, he also remembered the moment Kaiba told him to take his idea to the World Wildlife Fund, and that KaibaCorp was a gaming company, not a petting zoo. "That good-for-nothing punk shot down my dream and once I'm free from here, I'll finally have my revenge!" Shozu declared. "Wanting to bring your dreams to life is great and all, but why pick me of all people?" Tea asked. "Quite simply you and your friend were in the wrong place at the wrong time, or rather the right place at the right time, in my case. Hence why you have to be careful who you choose to hang around with in the future." Shozu replied.
"But as of now, the odds of you having a future are slim to none, so let's continue this duel so I can get out of this cyber realm already." he added before drawing. "I summon, Flying Penguin!" he declared before his creature, a level four, Water attribute Aqua monster with 1200 attack points and 1000 defense points, appeared from a block of ice. "And thanks to my Deck Master special ability, it gains 200 attack points right away." he added as his penguin's attack points increased to 1400.
"But that's just the beginning! Next I'll play Penguin Sword, raising its attack strength by 800 more points!" he declared as his penguin's attack points increased once more, this time to 2200. "That's a pretty powerful bird." AJ said meekly. "That's right. And now, my Flying Penguin, attack her Fire Sorcerer!" Shozu declared before Tea's monster was assimilated, lowering her life points to 2250. "That was my last defense for this turn!" she said in shock as she became further encased in ice. "And since you lost more life points, the freezing continues." Shozu added.
"You're a sick bird." Tea said as she shivered. "It'll all be over soon, Tea. Your life points are down almost 50%, despite the slight fifty point lead you have over me, and with no more defensive monsters to hide behind, you're out in the cold." Shozu stated. "You wish. If I know Tea, she hasn't given up yet." AJ said with confidence.
Meanwhile, Yugi, Twilight and Pinkie found themselves in a room similar to the one they just left, but with three doorways to choose from instead of four. "I don't think we're getting anywhere." Pinkie pointed out. But they soon heard Tea saying that her legs had gone numb. "Hold on, Tea!" Yugi shouted. "We've got to find a way out of here, fast!" he added before Twilight noticed something. "Guys? Look on the floor." she said. They all soon saw it was the same coin that Yugi flicked at the one star door.
"If that's the hundred yen coin that I flicked at the door, than that means we've been running around in a circle!" Yugi said, realizing what Noah's true intention for them was. Back at the duel, Tea was getting colder by the minute. "Getting chilly, are you? Well, that's the least of your worries." Shozu said before laughing in wicked glee.