Chapter 10: - The 1st Mage
Kari was unsurprised by the attitude shift in Yugi as the teen stood on the platform, glaring at his opponent.
Her lack of surprise related to the whole rumor going around the Duelling Circuit about there being two Yugi's. She could confirm for herself now that there was just one Yugi, he just seemed to have two personalities.
There was a lot she believed in, but she wasn't sure she believed the rumors about possession or aliens though.
She was very glad those shadows were gone though. It had felt strange while they'd been there, like something had been pulling on her and she had edged around to the group of friends they'd been talking to this morning, feeling that there was safety in numbers. She shuddered at the feeling she'd gotten from Bakura.
She didn't get feelings like that often and she'd had them more and more since she'd lost her twin brother a couple of years ago, but she disliked Bakura already and he'd seemed nice enough last night. Another one with two sides perhaps…
Are the Duellists ready." The Kaiba Corp goon called.
Yugi2 nodded tensely while Johnson smirked and nodded.
"Johnson to move first."
"Let's Duel!"
Caught up in the first move of the Duel, when Johnson played three cards face down and a card in defense mode, she was completely oblivious to what her best friend was up to.
Robyn was busy, as Yugi2 drew and smirked slightly, before playing two cards face down and summoning Queen's Knight in attack mode, making snowballs.
"Queen's Knight attacks your face down monster!" Yugi2 called.
Johnson's Giant Rat was destroyed, allowing him to summon Stone Statue of the Aztecs in attack mode.
"Your move." Yugi2 growled as Robyn edged around the arena, three freshly made snowballs on hand.
Johnson smirked as he drew, muttering something. Kari thought she saw something wave behind his back, but was distracted instantly by the Shadows closing in again.
Kaiba, who was looking bored, suddenly found himself coated in snow.
"How?" Yugi2 snarled as Kaiba glared at an empty space where the culprit should have been.
"You're not the only one with magic, Muto." Johnson smirked, switching his Statue to defense mode and playing another monster in defense mode. "You'll see that the Shadows don't only answer to you."
"I bet that's another Giant Rat." Yami heard Yugi think as Yami drew and summoned King's Knight and then Jack's Knight through special summon. "What do you mean by that?" Yami growled, sending Jack's Knight to attack the face down card.
It was another Giant Rat and Johnson summoned Moai Interceptor Cannons in attack mode too.
"You'll see." The mage, or whatever he was, replied, "Is it my go?"
"Make your move."
"I sacrifice my Statue for Criosphinx, in defence mode!" Johnson called, the mismatch of animal parts that somehow didn't make up any sphinx any of the other Duellists had heard about appearing on the field, "And switch my Cannons to defense mode too." Johnson smirked, "Your move, Yugi."
Kaiba turned back to the Duel.
Seeing that no one was paying the slightest bit of attention to her, Robyn glanced at the match, then gathered another handful of snow, this time intending to make a smallish snowman.
Yami drew, "You'll now see why I'm not afraid of your Shadows, Johnson." Yami sacrificed all three of his Knights for Slifer the Sky Dragon with 3000 attack points. "Slifer! Attack his Cannons!"
They blew up in a blast of thunder and energy that lit up the darkness while it lasted, then the shadows settled again.
"It's your move."
Johnson didn't look the slightest bit worried. "So that's one of the God Cards I'd heard so much about, it's not that scary." Johnson drew, "I sacrifice Criosphinx for one of my most powerful beasts! Exxod, Master of the Guard!"
For a horrible moment, Joey thought Johnson had summoned Exodia, the huge golden beast that had appeared on the field, towering over the Duellists and only a little smaller then Slipher, certainly looked enough like it to worry him slightly.
"It has no attack points." Yami pointed out.
"Not yet, but it'll be stronger then Slifer when I activate Shield and Sword." The card flipped up and while Slifer was immune, Exxod's attack and defence switched over, giving it 4000 attack points. "Your Puzzle will be mine, Exxod, destroy Slifer!"
It did so, with a huge golden fist causing Yami to lose 1000 points.
"Your move."
"Am I the only one wondering why these Shadows don't seem to be doing anything? There should have been some sort of feedback from that and there wasn't." Yugi asked.
"It seems your control over the Shadows isn't all it's cracked up to be, Johnson." Yami smirked, drawing, "If this is a Shadow Game, why doesn't there seem to be any extra rules?"
Johnson looked flustered as Yami continued, "I don't think this really is a Shadow Game, I think you've been trying to psyche me out, and it won't work. I play Monster Reborn to bring back Queen's Knight and sacrifice her for the Dark Magician Girl!"
She appeared on the field with a glower at Johnson.
"And since your Exxod doesn't have any attack points now the turn is over… Dark Magician Girl, destroy Exxod!"
"I activate Compulsory Evacuation Device!" Johnson called before she could start her attack, causing Exxod to vanish and Johnson to take 2000 life points of damage.
"That was strange, why take the hit yourself if it doesn't save you any life points?" Yugi asked.
'Because he's got something else planned with that Monster.' Yami replied. "Your turn, Johnson."
"I play Card Destruction, discarding two cards from my hand and allowing me to draw two more." Johnson smirked, "I remove Exxod, Criosphinx, two Giant Rats, my Statue and my Cannons to summon Megarock Dragon!"
A huge rock dragon appeared, learning down at Yami, with 4200 attack points.
"He gets 700 hundred attack points for every Rock monster I removed from play to summon him, and I think Spellcaster is on the menu." Johnson grinned, "Megarock Dragon, attack Dark Magician Girl!"
"I activate Negate Attack!" Yami called, saving Dark Magician Girl.
Johnson snorted, "Fine, I end my turn."
Yami drew, "I summon Kuriboh in defence mode."
"What?" Johnson yelped as Kari grinned and stood up straighter, "Why would you waste a turn summoning that fuzzball?"
"Because I activate Multiply!" The field was suddenly flooded by Kuriboh, forming a shield between Yami and the huge rock dragon that seemed intent on eating him.
"How many of them are there?" Johnson snarled, it was a feeling Kaiba could relate to, though he'd never admit it.
"Kuriboh and Multiply!" Kari whispered excitedly under her breath, trying not to squeal. She'd managed to get her hands on a Kuriboh, but trying to get her hands on Multiply was like trying to part the sea with her bare hands. It wasn't one of her favourite moves she'd ever seen, but it certainly came close.
"Tens of thousands." Yami replied with a smug grin.
"You're enjoying this way too much." Yugi tried not to laugh as he scolded his partner.
Tea glanced at Robyn, who looked intently at the fuzzballs now floating in front of Yami, before making corrections to her snow fuzzball. "Aren't you watching the Duel?" She asked the English girl.
"Should I be? I mean it's obvious Yugi is going to win."
Tea looked up at the Duel, where Yami was just ending his turn and frowned, this wasn't over yet by a long shot.
"It's still pretty even, even with the Kuriboh wall." Mai was saying to Joey as Kari's eyes danced with merriment.
"And the weirdo has nothing useful in his hand." Robyn continued.
Tea turned to look at her again, "There's no way you can know that."
"Look at him, he knows he only has one chance left, and what would you bet that Yugi already has a counter for it?"
Johnson did look incredibly annoyed as he drew and glared at his hand. "I play a card in defense mode, now Megarock Dragon, attack his fuzzballs!"
Several exploded and seventy reappeared.
"What? But!" Johnson stormed.
"I'm more worried that the jerk will have a heart attack when he loses again." Robyn continued as Johnson swore and ended his turn.
"I play Monster Reborn!" Yami called, bringing back Slifer, "And before you say it I'm well aware that he's only on the field for one turn, which is why I'm playing Soul Taker to destroy your Dragon!"
Megarock Dragon died, Johnson gained 1000 life points and Slifer lost 1000 attack points.
"Dark Magician Girl attack his face down card!" It was a Giant Rat and Johnson summoned another set of Moai Interceptor Cannons which Slifer attacked.
The resulting explosion caused smoke to cover the arena for a few moments before it cleared to reveal Johnson had 4100 life points left. Yami ended his turn and Slifer returned to the Graveyard.
"I play Monster Reincarnation to bring back Megarock Dragon to my hand and remove both monsters to summon it to the field." It looked a lot less imposing with only 1400 attack points. "Attack his Kuriboh wall!"
"That won't help." Yami pointed out as more Kuriboh appeared in response.
Johnson just scowled at him.
"I pay 1500 life points to activate Dark Magic Curtain, allowing me to summon the Dark Magician."
He appeared on the field behind the wall of Kuriboh.
"Dark Magician Girl! Attack Megarock Dragon!" It died again, taking Johnson down to 3500, then he lost another 2500 from a direct assault from the Dark Magician.
"Yami, stop teasing the bad guy."
'But he's not even a good bad guy!'
"…"
"I end my turn."
"You can have a good bad guy?" Yugi asked, confused.
'No but you can have an effective one.' Yami replied as Johnson played a card face down and ended his turn.
Yami drew, "I summon Feral Imp in attack mode. Dark Magician Girl, attack his face down card!"
Something shot from it, shot through his Kuriboh wall and destroyed his Dark Magician.
"What was that?" The Pharaoh growled.
"My Medusa Worm." Johnson replied with a glare, "Not that it matters."
"Feral Imp, end this!"
The fiend attacked Johnson directly and wiped out the last of his life points.
Tea was so busy cheering she didn't notice Robyn make another snowball. This one she pitched over the group's heads and hit Kari, who wheeled around, glaring at Joey who was ignoring her and listening to Johnson's rant about…
"You think this is over Pharaoh?" Johnson glowered, "I'm not giving up that easily!" He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the Pharaoh, who glared, calling the real Shadows.
A snowball hit Johnson in the face, thrown by a rather angry looking Joey.
The mage turned around to glare at him. Joey responded with another snowball. "Sore loser." The blonde snapped.
"Johnson." Xuan snapped. The man turned and looked at Xuan for a moment before turning away and stomping down from the platform.
Yami rejoined his friends only to be bemused by the amount of snow Joey had gotten himself coated in.
"What was that about?" Kari asked the group, completely confused.
"Just a sore loser." Joey replied, "You ok Yuge?"
Johnson and Xuan stalked off and Yami finally relaxed enough to let Yugi regain control.
"I'm fine." Yugi replied.
"Will Mai Valentine and Kari Ironhide please report to the Duelling Platform?" Roland called.
Mai and Kari looked at each other and grinned, then Kari turned to her best friend, "My turn." She called.
"Remember the Phoenix." Robyn said, grinning.
Kari nodded and joined Mai on the Duelling Platform. "I've been looking forward to this." Kari said in English for the sake of her friend, then in Japanese for the others, "I'm not going to go easy on you."
"I've seen you play, I'd be disappointed if you did." Mai replied.
"Duellists ready?"
"Ready." Kari nodded.
"Yeap." Mai grinned.
"Mai Valentine to go first."
"Let's Duel!"
Her lack of surprise related to the whole rumor going around the Duelling Circuit about there being two Yugi's. She could confirm for herself now that there was just one Yugi, he just seemed to have two personalities.
There was a lot she believed in, but she wasn't sure she believed the rumors about possession or aliens though.
She was very glad those shadows were gone though. It had felt strange while they'd been there, like something had been pulling on her and she had edged around to the group of friends they'd been talking to this morning, feeling that there was safety in numbers. She shuddered at the feeling she'd gotten from Bakura.
She didn't get feelings like that often and she'd had them more and more since she'd lost her twin brother a couple of years ago, but she disliked Bakura already and he'd seemed nice enough last night. Another one with two sides perhaps…
Are the Duellists ready." The Kaiba Corp goon called.
Yugi2 nodded tensely while Johnson smirked and nodded.
"Johnson to move first."
"Let's Duel!"
Caught up in the first move of the Duel, when Johnson played three cards face down and a card in defense mode, she was completely oblivious to what her best friend was up to.
Robyn was busy, as Yugi2 drew and smirked slightly, before playing two cards face down and summoning Queen's Knight in attack mode, making snowballs.
"Queen's Knight attacks your face down monster!" Yugi2 called.
Johnson's Giant Rat was destroyed, allowing him to summon Stone Statue of the Aztecs in attack mode.
"Your move." Yugi2 growled as Robyn edged around the arena, three freshly made snowballs on hand.
Johnson smirked as he drew, muttering something. Kari thought she saw something wave behind his back, but was distracted instantly by the Shadows closing in again.
Kaiba, who was looking bored, suddenly found himself coated in snow.
"How?" Yugi2 snarled as Kaiba glared at an empty space where the culprit should have been.
"You're not the only one with magic, Muto." Johnson smirked, switching his Statue to defense mode and playing another monster in defense mode. "You'll see that the Shadows don't only answer to you."
"I bet that's another Giant Rat." Yami heard Yugi think as Yami drew and summoned King's Knight and then Jack's Knight through special summon. "What do you mean by that?" Yami growled, sending Jack's Knight to attack the face down card.
It was another Giant Rat and Johnson summoned Moai Interceptor Cannons in attack mode too.
"You'll see." The mage, or whatever he was, replied, "Is it my go?"
"Make your move."
"I sacrifice my Statue for Criosphinx, in defence mode!" Johnson called, the mismatch of animal parts that somehow didn't make up any sphinx any of the other Duellists had heard about appearing on the field, "And switch my Cannons to defense mode too." Johnson smirked, "Your move, Yugi."
Kaiba turned back to the Duel.
Seeing that no one was paying the slightest bit of attention to her, Robyn glanced at the match, then gathered another handful of snow, this time intending to make a smallish snowman.
Yami drew, "You'll now see why I'm not afraid of your Shadows, Johnson." Yami sacrificed all three of his Knights for Slifer the Sky Dragon with 3000 attack points. "Slifer! Attack his Cannons!"
They blew up in a blast of thunder and energy that lit up the darkness while it lasted, then the shadows settled again.
"It's your move."
Johnson didn't look the slightest bit worried. "So that's one of the God Cards I'd heard so much about, it's not that scary." Johnson drew, "I sacrifice Criosphinx for one of my most powerful beasts! Exxod, Master of the Guard!"
For a horrible moment, Joey thought Johnson had summoned Exodia, the huge golden beast that had appeared on the field, towering over the Duellists and only a little smaller then Slipher, certainly looked enough like it to worry him slightly.
"It has no attack points." Yami pointed out.
"Not yet, but it'll be stronger then Slifer when I activate Shield and Sword." The card flipped up and while Slifer was immune, Exxod's attack and defence switched over, giving it 4000 attack points. "Your Puzzle will be mine, Exxod, destroy Slifer!"
It did so, with a huge golden fist causing Yami to lose 1000 points.
"Your move."
"Am I the only one wondering why these Shadows don't seem to be doing anything? There should have been some sort of feedback from that and there wasn't." Yugi asked.
"It seems your control over the Shadows isn't all it's cracked up to be, Johnson." Yami smirked, drawing, "If this is a Shadow Game, why doesn't there seem to be any extra rules?"
Johnson looked flustered as Yami continued, "I don't think this really is a Shadow Game, I think you've been trying to psyche me out, and it won't work. I play Monster Reborn to bring back Queen's Knight and sacrifice her for the Dark Magician Girl!"
She appeared on the field with a glower at Johnson.
"And since your Exxod doesn't have any attack points now the turn is over… Dark Magician Girl, destroy Exxod!"
"I activate Compulsory Evacuation Device!" Johnson called before she could start her attack, causing Exxod to vanish and Johnson to take 2000 life points of damage.
"That was strange, why take the hit yourself if it doesn't save you any life points?" Yugi asked.
'Because he's got something else planned with that Monster.' Yami replied. "Your turn, Johnson."
"I play Card Destruction, discarding two cards from my hand and allowing me to draw two more." Johnson smirked, "I remove Exxod, Criosphinx, two Giant Rats, my Statue and my Cannons to summon Megarock Dragon!"
A huge rock dragon appeared, learning down at Yami, with 4200 attack points.
"He gets 700 hundred attack points for every Rock monster I removed from play to summon him, and I think Spellcaster is on the menu." Johnson grinned, "Megarock Dragon, attack Dark Magician Girl!"
"I activate Negate Attack!" Yami called, saving Dark Magician Girl.
Johnson snorted, "Fine, I end my turn."
Yami drew, "I summon Kuriboh in defence mode."
"What?" Johnson yelped as Kari grinned and stood up straighter, "Why would you waste a turn summoning that fuzzball?"
"Because I activate Multiply!" The field was suddenly flooded by Kuriboh, forming a shield between Yami and the huge rock dragon that seemed intent on eating him.
"How many of them are there?" Johnson snarled, it was a feeling Kaiba could relate to, though he'd never admit it.
"Kuriboh and Multiply!" Kari whispered excitedly under her breath, trying not to squeal. She'd managed to get her hands on a Kuriboh, but trying to get her hands on Multiply was like trying to part the sea with her bare hands. It wasn't one of her favourite moves she'd ever seen, but it certainly came close.
"Tens of thousands." Yami replied with a smug grin.
"You're enjoying this way too much." Yugi tried not to laugh as he scolded his partner.
Tea glanced at Robyn, who looked intently at the fuzzballs now floating in front of Yami, before making corrections to her snow fuzzball. "Aren't you watching the Duel?" She asked the English girl.
"Should I be? I mean it's obvious Yugi is going to win."
Tea looked up at the Duel, where Yami was just ending his turn and frowned, this wasn't over yet by a long shot.
"It's still pretty even, even with the Kuriboh wall." Mai was saying to Joey as Kari's eyes danced with merriment.
"And the weirdo has nothing useful in his hand." Robyn continued.
Tea turned to look at her again, "There's no way you can know that."
"Look at him, he knows he only has one chance left, and what would you bet that Yugi already has a counter for it?"
Johnson did look incredibly annoyed as he drew and glared at his hand. "I play a card in defense mode, now Megarock Dragon, attack his fuzzballs!"
Several exploded and seventy reappeared.
"What? But!" Johnson stormed.
"I'm more worried that the jerk will have a heart attack when he loses again." Robyn continued as Johnson swore and ended his turn.
"I play Monster Reborn!" Yami called, bringing back Slifer, "And before you say it I'm well aware that he's only on the field for one turn, which is why I'm playing Soul Taker to destroy your Dragon!"
Megarock Dragon died, Johnson gained 1000 life points and Slifer lost 1000 attack points.
"Dark Magician Girl attack his face down card!" It was a Giant Rat and Johnson summoned another set of Moai Interceptor Cannons which Slifer attacked.
The resulting explosion caused smoke to cover the arena for a few moments before it cleared to reveal Johnson had 4100 life points left. Yami ended his turn and Slifer returned to the Graveyard.
"I play Monster Reincarnation to bring back Megarock Dragon to my hand and remove both monsters to summon it to the field." It looked a lot less imposing with only 1400 attack points. "Attack his Kuriboh wall!"
"That won't help." Yami pointed out as more Kuriboh appeared in response.
Johnson just scowled at him.
"I pay 1500 life points to activate Dark Magic Curtain, allowing me to summon the Dark Magician."
He appeared on the field behind the wall of Kuriboh.
"Dark Magician Girl! Attack Megarock Dragon!" It died again, taking Johnson down to 3500, then he lost another 2500 from a direct assault from the Dark Magician.
"Yami, stop teasing the bad guy."
'But he's not even a good bad guy!'
"…"
"I end my turn."
"You can have a good bad guy?" Yugi asked, confused.
'No but you can have an effective one.' Yami replied as Johnson played a card face down and ended his turn.
Yami drew, "I summon Feral Imp in attack mode. Dark Magician Girl, attack his face down card!"
Something shot from it, shot through his Kuriboh wall and destroyed his Dark Magician.
"What was that?" The Pharaoh growled.
"My Medusa Worm." Johnson replied with a glare, "Not that it matters."
"Feral Imp, end this!"
The fiend attacked Johnson directly and wiped out the last of his life points.
Tea was so busy cheering she didn't notice Robyn make another snowball. This one she pitched over the group's heads and hit Kari, who wheeled around, glaring at Joey who was ignoring her and listening to Johnson's rant about…
"You think this is over Pharaoh?" Johnson glowered, "I'm not giving up that easily!" He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the Pharaoh, who glared, calling the real Shadows.
A snowball hit Johnson in the face, thrown by a rather angry looking Joey.
The mage turned around to glare at him. Joey responded with another snowball. "Sore loser." The blonde snapped.
"Johnson." Xuan snapped. The man turned and looked at Xuan for a moment before turning away and stomping down from the platform.
Yami rejoined his friends only to be bemused by the amount of snow Joey had gotten himself coated in.
"What was that about?" Kari asked the group, completely confused.
"Just a sore loser." Joey replied, "You ok Yuge?"
Johnson and Xuan stalked off and Yami finally relaxed enough to let Yugi regain control.
"I'm fine." Yugi replied.
"Will Mai Valentine and Kari Ironhide please report to the Duelling Platform?" Roland called.
Mai and Kari looked at each other and grinned, then Kari turned to her best friend, "My turn." She called.
"Remember the Phoenix." Robyn said, grinning.
Kari nodded and joined Mai on the Duelling Platform. "I've been looking forward to this." Kari said in English for the sake of her friend, then in Japanese for the others, "I'm not going to go easy on you."
"I've seen you play, I'd be disappointed if you did." Mai replied.
"Duellists ready?"
"Ready." Kari nodded.
"Yeap." Mai grinned.
"Mai Valentine to go first."
"Let's Duel!"