BATTLE ON THE ST. CHARLESTON
"Let's duel!" the four duelists said as they drew their first five cards.
"I'll go first," Theron said. He scanned his opening hand, consisting of one spell card - Cyberdark Impact - and four monsters - Cyber Dragon Core, Cyberdark Edge, Cyber Valley, and Cyberdark Keel. "I'll start by summoning Cyber Dragon Core in attack mode." The monster that appeared was a long, metal serpentine creature with red wires protruding from it. "He's treated as a Cyber Dragon while on the field and lets me add a Cyber card from my deck to my hand, so I'll add Cyberdark Realm to my hand. That'll end my turn for now."
"Then I guess I'm up," Yuka said as she drew a new card. Her hand consisted of the spell card Melody of Awakening Dragon, the trap card True Light, and four monsters - King of Dragons, Dragon Spirit of White, Nibiru the Primal Being, and Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End.
"I activate the spell card Melody of Awakening Dragon. I have to send a card from my hand to the Graveyard to activate this card, so I'll toss King of Dragons, and now I can add two dragons with 3000 or more attack and 2500 or less defense from my deck, so I'll add Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Blue-Eyes Alternative Ultimate Dragon." She added the proper cards to her hand, and her duel pad's auto shuffle function shuffled her deck. "Now I reveal a Blue-Eyes White Dragon to special summon Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon!" Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon emerged, its head barely missing the ceiling of the bridge. It growled as it looked up, seeing what little clearance it had.
"Now, attack! Blue Lightning!" Alternative White Dragon opened its mouth, spewing forth a stream of light blue energy that hit and obliterated Cyber Dragon Core, dropping Theron's life points to 5400.
The blast also obliterated the rear wall of the bridge, barely missing the two other duelists and blowing a hole through the wall. They could hear the people on the outer decks screaming in shock and panic as the dust cleared.
"Yeah, maybe we should have moved this outside first," Yuka said sheepishly.
"Too late for that, so stop worrying about it," Shelly said.
"I guess you're right," Yuka said. "I set a card face down and end my turn."
"I draw," Roman said as he drew a new card. His hand consisted of four monsters - Ancient Gear Beast, Ancient Gear Gadget, Ancient Gear Golem - Ultimate Pound, and Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera - and the spell cards Card of Fate and Polymerization. "I activate the spell card Card of Fate."
"What does that do?" Shelly asked.
"We each choose one card from our deck," Roman explained, "and then I choose four other random cards from our decks and pick one for us to keep. The rest get shuffled back into the deck. So pick your cards."
"Fine," Yuka said. "I choose the spell card Trade-In."
"I choose Shaddoll Squamata," Shelly said.
"This better not ruin this for us," Theron grumbled. "I choose Cyber Dragon."
"And I choose Double Summon," Roman finished. "Now, show me your decks." He looked at his duel pad as a readout of the four duelists' decks appeared. "Hmm. That's interesting. For the Blue-Eyes girl I choose Deep-Eyes White Dragon; Monster Reborn; Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon; and the White Stone of Ancients. For our runaway, I choose Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning; Felis, Lightsworn Archer; Mathematician; and Kuribandit. For my partner, I choose Cyberdark Inferno; Cyberdark Horn; Fusion Deployment; and Jizukiru, the Star Destroying Kaiju. And lastly, for me, I choose Ancient Gear Castle; Machine Duplication; Ancient Gear Catapult; and Machine King - 3000 BC. So, what do we keep?"
"Well, we know you're not going to let us keep what can help us," Shelly said. "So stop wasting our time and get on with it."
"Suit yourself," Roman said. "For me, I keep Double Summon. Theron, you can keep Cyberdark Horn. The runaway can keep Black Luster Soldier. And you, Blue-Eyes girl, you can keep Deep-Eyes White Dragon."
"Are you done yet?" Yuka asked as the four duelists shuffled the unchosen cards back into their decks.
"Hardly," Roman said. "I summon Ancient Gear Gadget in attack mode." His monster was a large bronze gear with two arms protruding from it. "I'm sure you have a trap card down, so I'll activate Gear Gadget's effect to prevent you from activating it until the end of the Damage Step."
"He seriously can't be considering attacking," Shelly said incredulously. "There's a difference of 2500 points between your two monsters."
"He's not going to attack; he has something else in mind, I'll bet," Yuka guessed.
"That's right, little girl," Roman said. "I activate the spell card Double Summon, which grants me a second normal summon this turn, so I tribute Ancient Gear Gadget to bring out Ancient Gear Beast." His new monster was a robotic dog, its body and joints covered in rust. "Now I activate the spell card Polymerization to fuse the Ancient Gear Beast on my field with the Ancient Gear Gadjilitron Chimera and Ancient Gear Golem - Ultimate Pound in my hand." Two more monsters appeared on the field, one resembling a tall metal human in ancient armor and the other a four legged two headed robotic animal. The three monsters broke apart, their pieces rearranging and coming back together into a gigantic, metallic, four legged, six armed monster. "I fusion summon Ancient Gear Megaton Golem!"
The monster was large, so large that its head broke through the roof of the bridge, shattering it. Pieces of the roof and the walls fell onto the decks and into the water. People screamed and ran for cover.
"Safe to say these guys don't care about collateral damage," Yuka mused.
"Like with my Ancient Gear Gadget, you can't activate any trap cards until the end of the Damage Step," Roman said. "Also, since I used Ultimate Pound as material along with two other Ancient Gear monsters, it can make up to three attacks. Megaton Golem, send that dragon back to the fairy tales it came from!" Megaton Golem picked up the Alternative White Dragon with its six arms and ripped it apart, dropping Yuka's life points to 7700. "Now, attack them directly, Megaton Golem!" Yuka and Shelly screamed in pain as Megaton Golem's enormous foot stomped down on them, dropping their life points to 4400. "I want my partner to have a turn at you two, so I'll end your torment and my turn right now."
Yuka and Shelly picked themselves up off the floor; they were now standing in a footprint that sank into the floor by a good two feet, smashing and breaking the metal.
"You okay?" Shelly asked.
"I'll need some IcyHot after this, but I think I'm okay," Yuka answered.
"Good," Shelly said. "Now it's my turn. I draw!" Her new card was Qadshaddoll Keios. "I'll start by setting two cards face down, then I'll activate Yuka's face down card, True Light!" A brilliant beam of light shone down from the sky, enveloping the entire ship. "And I'll use its effect to bring Yuka's Alternative White Dragon back from the Graveyard." Alternative White Dragon once again appeared on the field. It roared angrily at Megaton Golem.
"Thanks, Shelly."
"No problem, Yuka. Now, I summon Shaddoll Falco in attack mode." Her monster, a marionnette falcon with puppet strings on the wings and head, appeared on the field. It was absolutely dwarfed by the two larger monsters. "Now I equip my Falco with Nephe Shaddoll Fusion, which lets me change its attribute from Dark to Light, and also lets me use him and a card in my hand as material for a fusion summon, which I'm going to do right now. I send Shaddoll Falco on my field and Qadshaddoll Keios in my hand to the graveyard. I shine down the light that casts the shadows, and fusion summon El Shaddoll Construct!" The two monsters coalesced into waves of energy, quickly morphing into the slightly taller than human puppet-like monster that was still miniscule compared to the other two monsters.
"Since Shaddoll Falco was sent to the Graveyard by a card effect, I can usee his effect to special summon it in face down defense mode," Shelly continued. "Next, I'll use El Shaddoll Construct's effect to send a card from my deck to the Graveyard, so I'll send Shaddoll Beast, and since he was sent there by a card effect, I get to draw a card." The card she drew was Armageddon Knight. "And now, I banish King of Dragons and Qadshaddoll Keios from my Graveyard to special summon Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning!" Black Luster Soldier appeared, its blue and gold trimmed armor shining brilliantly in the beam of light from the True Light trap card.
"Now I'll activate Alternative White Dragon's effect to destroy your golem, at the cost of the dragon not being able to attack," Shelly went on. Alternative White Dragon shot a ball of blue energy out of its mouth at the golem, blasting it to pieces.
"Thank you," Roman said, "because sending Megaton Golem from the field to the graveyard lets me summon Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem from my Extra Deck, ignoring its summoning conditions." As Megaton Golem vanished, a new monster, much larger with four legs and two gargantuan arms, appeared. It was so large that Yuka and Shelly had to back up to where the wall of the bridge had once been.
"Oh shoot. This is bad," Yuka gasped.
"No, it's fine," Shelly replied calmly. "Black Luster Soldier can banish it from the duel!"
"It can what?!" Roman yelled as Black Luster Soldier's sword sliced into the Ultimate Gear Golem, cutting it down. The Golem vanished from the duel field.
"It's banished," Shelly repeated. "Like when Alternative White Dragon destroyed your other monster, Black Luster Soldier can't attack when it uses that effect, but you know what can? El Shaddoll Construct! Shadow String Whip!" El Shaddoll Construct swung its strings at Theron and Roman, dropping their life points to 2600. "I end my turn."
"Then...Then it's my go," Theron said between gritted teeth. "I draw." His new card was the spell card Future Fusion. "I activate the spell card Cyberdark Impact, which lets me use Cyberdark monsters in my hand as material for a Cyberdark fusion monster, so I'll send Cyberdark Edge, Cyberdark Keel, and Cyberdark Horn to the Graveyard. I fusion summon Cyberdark Dragon, in attack mode!" The monster that appeared was a long mechanical dragon, its wings coming down into several sharp points.
"Next I activate the spell card Cyberdark Realm," he continued. "With this card, I can add a Cyberdark monster from my deck to my hand, as long as it has a different name than the ones in my Graveyard, so I'll add Cyberdark Claw to my hand. Now I send Cyberdark Claw from my hand to the Graveyard to draw a card." He put his Cyberdark Claw in the Graveyard and drew a new card, Cyber Dragon. "Next, I activate Cyberdark Dragon's effect to equip the Cyberdark Claw I just discarded to him. This bumps Cyberdark Dragon's attack points from 1000 to 2600, and it also gains attack points for each monster in my Graveyard, which gives it a grand total of 3600. If you're paying attention, that's 100 attack points for each monster, and between mine and my partner's monsters, there are ten in the Graveyard."
"Get on with it!" Shelly yelled.
"As you wish. Cyberdark Dragon, attack her face down!" Cyberdark Dragon swung its long, metallic tail to the face down Shaddoll Falco, destroying it. "That ends my turn."
"I draw for my turn," Yuka said as she drew a new card, Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands. "I use the effect of True Light to special summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my hand!" The already pearl white scales of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon shone even more brightly in the light. "Then I'll normal summon Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands, but I'm not going to use its effect right now."
Shelly gave Yuka a confused look. "You're not?"
"You're not?" Theron and Roman asked.
"I'm not," Yuka answered. "You see, this is something I've been wanting to do for a while; at the locals back home; during the gym duels; and now that we're dealing with you thugs. You want to hurt people? Go ahead and try. But my friends and I are going to stop you. And it starts with me forming my circuit!"
"A link summon!" Shelly called.
"The summoning conditions are at least three effect monsters, so I set Manju, Alternative White Dragon, Black Luster Soldier, and El Shaddoll Construct in the Link Arrows! You want to hurt people? Well, this boy's going to hurt you right back! I link summon Link 4 Borreload Dragon!"
The four monsters she chose transformed into beams of red light, coalescing into a large red dragon in metallic armor. Green stripes lined its back, neck, and tail. Its armored wings were made of metal and green translucent plasma. Its clawed hands flexed as its large feet came to rest on the floor. It threw its head back as it roared, its curved horns poking at the back of its curved neck. Its thick, barrel shaped torso resembled the chamber of an old fashioned revolver pistol.
"I activate the first of Borreload Dragon's two effects," Yuka announced. "Oh,a nd don't bother trying to negate these effects, because you can't. Borreload Dragon reduces your monster's attack points by 500." Borreload Dragon roared, its roar reverberating through what was left of the bridge. Over the roar, they could hear people on the outside deck still screaming and gasping. As this happened, Cyberdark Dragon's attack points dropped to 3100.
"Your monsters are still too weak to destroy my dragon," Theron bragged.
Yuka grinned. "You're right. "Borreload Dragon, attack!"
"Have you lost your mind?!" Shelly shouted. "Your monster will be destroyed and we'll lose 100 life points!"
"Not if I activate Borreload Dragon's second effect," Yuka said. Borreload Dragon opened its mouth, the barrel of a cannon protracting from its mouth. The plasma of its wings faded away as the wings folded against its body. "When I declare an attack, instead of destroying your monster, I can take control of it and summon it on my side of the field next to one of Borreload Dragon's links, so hand it over!" Borreload Dragon fired, but instead of a laser blast like Theron had expected, a grappling hook shot towards Cyberdark Dragon, attaching to its chest. Borreload Dragon swung its head, pulling Cyberdark Dragon over to Yuka's field.
"Now that your field is empty, Blue-Eyes White Dragon can attack you directly!" Yuka announced. "Finish them off, Blue-Eyes! White Lightning!"
Blue-Eyes White Dragon eyed Theron and Roman angrily. Energy crackled in its mouth. Its mouth hinged open, the energy shooting forth, hitting Theron and Roman and dropping their life points to 0. Theron and Roman collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
Yuka and Shelly put their cards back in their decks and shut off their duel pads.
"That takes care of them," Shelly said.
"Except for the fact that your duel destroyed the bridge," one of the bridge officers said.
"Yeah...I'm sorry about that," Yuka said quietly. "Hopefully Hugo's endeavor is less destructive."
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Hugo hurried down the stairs with Medeiros and Greene, following them from the bridge to the various decks until they reached the lower deck. In all, the trip took about five minutes. They had to make their way through some crowds, doing so in a way that didn't rouse suspicion or cause a panic.
As they reached the lower deck, the air was filled with the loud humming sounds of the engines used to power the ship. Each engine was a large cylinder that powered the propellers that moved the ship forward.
"What are we looking for?" Hugo asked, speaking loudly to be heard over the deafening hum of the engines.
"Anything that doesn't belong," Captain Greene answered.
"You mean like that?" Medeiros asked, pointing to a small rectangular object at the base of the nearest engine. As they approached, they saw it was about the size of a laptop computer with a silver cylinder fit into it. A small green light shone from the end of the device.
"Is this the bomb?" Medeiros asked.
"Sure looks like one," Greene said. "You two stand back; I'll see if I can disarm this thing."
"Good luck with that," a voice called. They turned to see someone new, wearing the same expressionless mask as the two in the bridge, who was holding a small object the size of a television remote. "One wrong move and I press the button and detonate the explosive."
"One wrong move, huh?" Hugo repeated. He activated his duel pad and pulled a card off the top of his dueling deck. "Then how's this move? Gilasaurus, sic him!" The brown raptor appeared and leaped at the bomber, hitting him and pinning him to the floor; the detonator slid out of his hand.
"I got the detonator," Medeiros called as he scooped the detonator up off the floor.
Hugo walked over to Gilasaurus, which was growling at the pinned bomber, and patted it on the back. "Good boy. Good raptor."
"You think a Duel Monster is going to stop me?" the bomber growled. He kicked Gilasaurus off of him and stood up, readying his own duel pad. "Then let's see how yours fare against mine, boy."
"Suit yourself," Hugo said as Gilasaurus faded away.
The two of them stared each other down, their cards drawn, theire life points set to 8000, and said "Let's duel!"
Hugo scanned his opening hand, which consisted of four monsters - Ultimate Conductor Tyranno; Miracle Jurassic Egg; Megalosmasher X; and Black Brachion - and the spell card Fossil Dig.
"I'll kick things off with the spell card Fossil Dig, to add a Level 6 or lower Dinosaur from my deck to my hand," Hugo announced. "And I choose Gilasaurus." His duel pad ejected the proper card, and as he removed the card from his deck, the auto shuffle feature activated. "Now I special summon Gilasaurus in attack mode." The brown raptor appeared again; it hissed and snarled at the bomber. "Then I'll normal summon Megalosmasher X in attack mode." The liopleurodon appeared next to Gilasaurus; it had to curl in on itself to fit in the tight quarters. "I'll end my turn there."
"I go then," the bomber said as he drew a new card for the start of his turn. His hand consisted of two spell cards - Black Pendant and Pot of Duality - two trap cards - Sakuretsu Armor and Mirror Force - and two monsters - Lemon Magician Girl and Dark Magician. "I'll start by activating the spell card Pot of Duality. This card lets me look at the top three cards of my deck. I keep one and shuffle the other two back." The cards he saw were the spell cards Emblem of Dragon Destroyer and Swords of Revealing Light, and the monster card Buster Blader. "I'll add Swords of Revealing Light." He kept the card in his hand and shuffled the other two back into the deck.
"Now," he continued, "I'll summon Lemon Magician Girl in attack mode." The monster he summoned was a human, a pretty young girl in yellow magician robes. She winked flirtatiously at Hugo.
"You send out a loli to fight dinosaurs?" Hugo asked, confused. "And she's weaker than my monsters; she only has 800 attack points."
"You do know that attack points aren't everything, right, boy?" the bomber asked. "I equip her with the Black Pendant to increase her attack points to 1300. Next, I set two cards face down, before activating my spell card, Swords of Revealing Light." Several swords of a glimmering yellow light emerged in front of Hugo and his monsters; the light from the swords illuminated the dimly lit room they were in. "I end my turn there."
"Better hurry up and disarm that bomb, Cap," Hugo said as he drew a new card, another Miracle Jurassic Egg. "I only got three turns before those swords fade away."
"I'm working on it, kid," Captain Greene said. "Just keep that terrorist busy."
"I'm working on that, Cap," Hugo said. "I summon Black Brachios in attack mode. Welcome to the show, Littlefoot." The monster he summoned was a small, human sized brachiosaurus with several spikes protruding from its body.
"Now that I got two Level Four Dinosaurs on the field," Hugo went on, "I can build the Overlay Network. I overlay Black Brachios and Megalosmasher X to XYZ summon Evolzar Dolkka!" The monster that emerged from the black hole was a tall, lanky, draconic creature. Its white scales added to the shine of the Swords of Revealing Light. It howled at the bomber. "I can't do anything else with your swords, so I end my turn."
The bomber drew a card, the trap card Shadow Spell. "I'll end my turn here then."
"Back to me; that was fast," Hugo said as he drew a card, the Survival's End trap card. "I summon Miracle Jurassic Egg in attack mode." A small, glowing egg appeared next to Evolzar Dolkka; it barely came up to the dragon's ankle. "Now, my circuit evolves! I set Miracle Jurassic Egg and Gilasaurus in the link arrows. I link summon Link 2 Knightmare Phoenix!" The monsters combined, coalescing into a pinkish-red phoenix, black armor on its wings and head, with several long ribbons attached to its tail.
"I activate Knightmare Phoenix's effect," Hugo continued, "to send the Survival's End from my hand to the Graveyard to destroy your Swords of Revealing Light." As he put the right card into the Graveyard, the glowing swords faded away. "And since Knightmare Phoenix was co-linked with your magician girl when I activated that effect, I get to draw a card. And now I'll activate the card I just drew, the field spell Lost World!" The air in the engine room became more humid as the palm trees appeared, some so tall they poked holes through the ceiling into the deck above them. "As long as this card's on the field, whenever I summon a dinosaur monster you get a Juraegg Token and all non-Dinosaur monsters lose 500 attack points. And with your swords gone, I'm free to attack!" Hugo announced. "Knightmare Phoenix, take down that magical girl!"
"You just activated my trap card," the bomber countered. "I activate Sakuretsu Armor to destroy your attacking monster."
"You what?" Hugo gasped as a metal suit of armor appeared above Knightmare Phoenix, dropping down onto it and crushing it.
"I can still attack," Hugo said. "Evolzar Dolkka, attack!"
"You just don't learn, do you, boy?" the bomber taunted. "Did you forget I had another card face down? That card is Mirror Force, which destroys your attacking monster!"
"Shoot!" Hugo yelled. He shielded his eyes as a glowing light surrounded Lemon Magician Girl. Evolzar Dolkka ran right into it, and was destroyed.
"What a shame. Looks like your field is empty."
"I'm not going to leave myself undefended," Hugo said through gritted teeth. "I banish Black Brachios and Megalosmasher X from my Graveyard to special summon Ultimate Conductor Tyranno in attack mode!" Ultimate Conductor Tyranno appeared, standing so tall that its head broke through the ceiling and smashed into the two decks above them. Screams could be heard from above them as rubble rained down.
"Will you please stop breaking my ship?" Captain Greene asked in annoyance.
"Sorry," Hugo said softly as a small nest of eggs appeared on the bomber's field. "I end my turn."
"I draw." The bomber drew a new card, Magician's Robe. "I set one card face down, set a monster in defense mode, and switch Lemon Magician Girl to defense mode and end my turn."
"So it's already back to me, huh?" Hugo asked as he drew a new card, another Gilasaurus. "I special summon Gilasaurus from my hand in attack mode; doing so lets you special summon a monster from your Graveyard. Or at least, it would if you had any in there." Another nest of eggs appeared on the bomber's field. "Now I'll use Ultimate Conductor Tyranno's effect, sending Miracle Jurassic Egg from my hand to the Graveyard to switch your Lemon Magician Girl to face down defense mode." Lemon Magician Girl vanished as her battle position changed. "Now, Ultimate Conductor Tyranno attacks your monsters."
"A monster can only attack once per turn unless a card effect says so," the bomber countered.
"This is his effect, you dunce," Hugo said. "He can attack your monsters once each, and since they're both in defense mode, you're taking 1000 points of damage for each one. Ultimate Conductor Tyranno, smash his monsters!" Ultimate Conductor Tyranno raised one large, clawed foot.
"I activate my trap card, Shadow Spell!" the bomber called.
"Not another trap!" Hugo cried.
"That's right, boy, and this one shackles your monster," the bomber said as several thick chains wrapped themselves around Ultimate Conductor Tyranno. "Not only can it no longer attack as long as this card is on the field, but it's attack points drop by 700."
"I can still attack with Gilasaurus," Hugo said. "Attack the unknown face down monster." Gilasaurus leaped at the other face down monster.
The monster revealed itself, a spectral magician's robe, and as Gilasaurus bit and clawed at it, the robe threw the dinosaur off and Hugo's life points dropped to 7500.
"Magician's Robe has 1500 defense points," the bomber said, "so you just hurt yourself."
"At least I know what it is now," Hugo said. "Captain, how's the disarming coming?"
"This is a delicate process, kid," Captain Greene answered. "And I know it's not your fault, but all this shaking isn't exactly helping matters."
"Then we'll have to end this duel quickly, but for now, I'm ending my turn."
The bomber drew a new card, Buster Blader. "I tribute my two monsters to summon Dark Magician!" His two monsters vanished, and in their place stood a tall man in purple magician's robes.
As this happened, a wave of dark energy washed over Hugo, dropping his life points to 6900.
"Ow! What the heck was that?!"
"That was the effect of the Black Pendant effect spell," the bomber explained. "When it's sent from the field to the Graveyard, you take 500 points of damage. Now, your Ultimate Conductor Tyranno is still too powerful at 2800 attack points, but your Gilasaurus isn't. Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!" The Dark Magician pointed its staff at Gilasaurus. A beam of dark energy shot out of the staff and hit Gilasaurus, obliterating it and dropping Hugo's life points to 6900..
Hugo groaned as his life points dropped. "This isn't good. But at least with Lost World, the damage is less than it would have been."
"I pass my turn to you, boy," the bomber said.
The card Hugo drew was the Secret Blast trap card. "I set a card face down and end my turn."
"That's all you can do," the bomber taunted as he drew a new card, Polymerization. "I activate Polymerization, to fuse the Dark Magician on the field with the Buster Blader in my hand. I fusion summon Dark Paladin." The monster he brought out resembled the Dark Magician, but in gold and green armor and armed with a long glaive. His 2900 attack points dropped to 2400 due to the effects of Lost World.
"Dark Paladin gains 500 attack points for each dragon in either player's Graveyard, and last time I checked, your Evolzar Dolkka was a dragon, so Dark Paladin regains its original 2900 attack points."
"That makes it just strong enough to destroy Ultimate Conductor Tyranno!" Hugo gasped. "I have to deal some damage first, so I activate my trap card, Secret Blast, dealing you 300 points of damage for each card you control, so four times 300 is 1200!" The bomber's life points dropped to 6800.
"Now, Dark Paladin attacks!" the bomber called. Dark Paladin sliced into Ultimate Conductor Tyranno's legs, destroying it and dropping Hugo's Life Points to 6800. "It's your move, boy."
"Fine," Hugo growled as he put the tips of his fingers on the top card of his deck. "Come on. Give me something good. I draw!" He looked at the card he drew and breathed deeply. "I summon Souleating Oviraptor in attack mode!" The oviraptor roared at the Dark Paladin as it appeared on the field. "And now I activate its effect, sending Miscellaneousaurus to the Graveyard. Now, I'll activate Miscellaneousaurus's effect. I banish dinosaurs from my Graveyard, then special summon a monster from my deck whose level is equal to the number of monsters I banished, so I'll banish Miscellaneousaurus and one Miracle Jurassic Egg from my Graveyard to special summon Petiteranodon." Petiteranodon apperaed next to Souleating Oviraptor.
"Next, I'll activate my Oviraptor's other effect, sending Petiteranodon to the Graveyard to bring back one Dinosaur type monster in defense mode, so come on back, Ultimate Conductor Tyranno." Petiteranodon faded away, and Ultimate Conductor Tyranno re-emerged, making sure to hunch over so it didn't cause any more damage. "Now I activate Petiteranodon's effect to bring out a Level Four or higher dinosaur from my deck, so I bring out Sabersaurus." A bright red triceratops appeared on the field.
"That's not all," Hugo continued. "Since Souleating Oviraptor and Sabersaurus are both Level Four monsters, I can once again build the Overlay Network, this time to XYZ summon Number 39: Utopia!" Utopia appeared, its white and yellow armor shining brightly in the dim room. "Since Utopia's still too weak to attack your Dark Paladin, and Ultimate Conductor Tyranno's stuck in defense mode until my next turn, I end my turn here." As his dinosaurs were summoned, two more Juraegg Tokens appeared on the bomber's field.
"Then I draw for my turn," the bomber said as he drew the Skilled Dark Magician. "Dark Paladin, attack Utopia!"
"I activate Utopia's effect," Hugo called as Dark Paladin prepared to attack. "By removing one overlay unit, I can negate your attack."
The bomber huffed as his attack was stopped. "I end my turn."
Hugo drew his new card, another Megalosmasher X. "First, I'll switch Ultimate Conductor Tyranno to attack mode, and now its effect will go off - for real, this time. Ultimate Conductor Tyranno, destroy two of those tokens and deal him 1000 points of damage for each!" Ultimate Conductor Tyranno stomped down on two of the tokens, destroying them and dropping the bomber's life points to 4800.
"Oh wait," Hugo continued, a taunting tone to his voice. "I forgot that Ultimate Conductor Tyranno can attack all your monsters! First, those other two defense mode tokens!" The two remaining tokens were destroyed, dropping the bomber's life points to 2800. "Now, Tyranno, destroy Dark Paladin!" Ultimate Conductor Tyranno brought its clawed foot down on top of Dark Paladin, destroying it and dropping the bomber's life points to 2200.
The bomber growled and grunted in frustration. "My field! It's empty!"
"And you are one beautiful target for my Utopia," Hugo said. "Rising Sun Slash!" Utopia slashed at the bomber. The bomber cried out in pain as his life points dropped to 0.
The monsters and trees faded away as the duel pads were shut off. The only sounds now were the sounds of the engines and the occasional bit of rubble falling from above.
"How's that disarming coming, Captain?" Hugo asked.
"Your duel gave me just enough time to disarm it, kid," Captain Greene said. "Damage aside, good job."
"Yeah, sorry about that hole in your roof."
"You couldn't have disarmed my bomb," the bomber said as he climbed to his feet. "It's impossible."
"Not when you're former EOD," Captain Greene said. He made his way over to the bomber and grabbed him by the collar of his cloak. "You and your friends upstairs are going to have a lot to answer for when we make port soon."
"Speaking of which, maybe we'd better get topside," Medeiros suggested.
"Yeah, hopefully Yuka and Shelly have won their duel," Hugo agreed.
They made their way topside, having to avoid the holes and damage caused by Ultimate Conductor Tyranno and the trees from Lost World. Captain Greene lagged behind Hugo and Medeiros, making sure the bomber - whose hands were now tightly bound with Hugo's shoestrings - didn't try to run away or attack.
As they reached the top deck, they were met with the sight of a now open topped bridge.
"What happened up here?" Captain Greene demanded as they reached the bridge.
"Sorry about this," Yuka said. "But if it makes you feel any better, they're responsible for this mess too." She pointed over to the two she and Shelly had dueled, who were now handcuffed together and being watched over by a couple of security guards.
"In hindsight," Shelly added, "we probably should have moved that duel outside."
"You think?" Captain Greene said sarcastically. He let out a heavy sigh. "We'll deal with this later. How much longer until we get to Nobilis Island?"
"Half an hour, sir," the navigator answered.
"Half an hour," Captain Greene mused. "We'll have to work out our story in that time."
Yuka turned to Ernest St. Germain, who was standing in the corner, observing everything from the duel until this moment. She narrowed her eyes angrily at him.
"Just so you know, old man, none of this would have happened if it weren't for you."
"I recognize that," Ernest said.
"Do you?" Yuka asked. She turned away from Ernest and looked out at the sea in front of them. In the moon light, she could see the first hints of Nobilis Island off in the distance.