Identity Revealed (Chapter 8 of my YuGiOh series)
#9 of YuGiOh pt.1 Series
Everyone had gone back to their own rooms to prepare themselves for whomever they had to duel. Jack decided to change clothes and now wore a fresh pair of black denim jeans with a white wife-beater shirt with the emblem of a black dragon with red eyes on the chest, the wings of such on the back. He studied his deck one last time, nodding in approval at how it was built and sliding it into the deck holder of his disc. He wondered how Spencer would be dressed, and if he had changed the cards in his deck since their last encounter.
"Crystal Beasts are hard enough, but, he could pull whatever out of his hat in the duel he and I would have, so I have a slim chance to win. If I can pull out Horus Lv. 8, then he can't really play any spells. As for traps, I can't really negate them, but I can destroy them without them activating if I get that chance.
"But Fran's old deck had a very good shot at stopping traps, which would be useful if we team dueled. Horus Lv. 8 and Sorceror of Dark Magic combined practically stops spells and traps, at the user's choosing. I should have a chat with her after this competition ends," he chuckled as he finished talking out loud. He went to the nearby computer and downloaded a few Iron Maiden songs, as well as some Skillet and Led Zeppelin. He sat there, listening to his music, waiting for the two hours to finish.
Spencer sighed, wanting to be near that beautiful wolf again. He had to focus however, otherwise he'd be out in the first round of the finals. He came this far, and had found love on the final battleground. Chuckling, the panther mused himself at how poetic it sounded. He looked over his deck, pleased with himself on how his Crystal Beasts carried him this far. Now he pondered on whether to continue using that deck, or his other deck, which was rumored to be more powerful. He thought two hours was enough time, but now he wasn't so sure now.
Beatrice whimpered, looking over her deck, yet not paying attention as she wanted more of that panther. She wanted to be right beside him and enjoy his warming embrace, as well as the passion he could bring to her every night. She sniffled a little as every picture on her cards somehow reminded the wolf of Spencer. She went to her personal bathroom and locked the door, deciding to tend to her desires in privacy for the next two hours.
Two hours later, all eight competitors arrived topside of the massive ship, ready for whatever their opponent would throw at them. Jack softly closed his eyes and took in the deep scent of the sea, before hearing the retching from Brad. He chuckled as he thought that the big cougar was always strong, but couldn't handle being seasick.
Drake stood in front of the other seven, the three cloaked figures waiting patiently and silently. The dragon spread his wings out to draw what little attention there was to him as he lowered his gaze down to the competitors, staring each one down as if they were mere morsels for his insatiable pallet.
"We are here, on the stage of our final duels in this tournament. You had better come prepared, or you will be defeated without a hope of a victory. We will now see how we all shall be divided into the blocks, and then find out who our opponent is," the black dragon mischieviously spoke, grinning darkly as he turned and pushed a button.
A large transparent screen shot up and randomly sorted the players, Jake crossing every appendage he had in hopes that he and Spencer were on opposite blocks. He saw Spencer's photo shot over to Block A, then saw Drake's shoot to Block B. The fox closed his eyes out of fear of what he'd see. When the eighth sound came up, he barely peeked and saw his picture, and slowly watched as it shot over to Block B, sighing in relief.
"Now we know who's in which Block," he heard the panther state, his tail swaying in agitation, wanting to get this over with so he could get back to the young wolf at the other end of the line up. Both blocks scrambled up the pictures and stopped suddenly, showing who would duel whom. Spencer would duel against that cat, two of the cloaked figures would duel one another, Drake would duel Beatrice, and he himself would be in a heated match with the last cloaked figure.
Immediately, they went to their appropriate dueling decks and activated their duel discs, ready to get this going. The vulpine stared at his foe, trying to see past the shadow of the cowl. Slowly, the figure lifted it's paws to pull back it's hood, revealing it's identity at last. When the hood fell back, Jake flinched at the sight of a White Tiger with the left cheek burned badly enough to prevent the fur from growing back.
"Hello fox, I see that my face has caused you to flinch back," the tiger spoke, his voice deep and rough, yet not harsh. "I wish to see if you have what it takes to be... invited... to this guild that I am a part of. My name is Flame, my new name that was given to me after my freedom was given to me. The guild of which I speak is named The Elementals, where different duelists are enlisted and can support one another, and they are all talented."
"So, you are here to see if I'm recruitable? Heh, fancy that, but even if I am, I'll have to pass. I got too much to deal with after this competition and I'd like to continue my life as is. Thank you for the offer though," the vulpine responded kindly.
"Then let's duel," the burnt feline challenged as he drew his cards. He played the field spell Yami and set a monster and a spell or trap, the field turning into a black mass, only the cards and players visible. The tiger ended his turn, allowing the fox to draw. Jake set Armed Ninja, thinking it would come in handy soon. Flame drew his next card, setting another monster and another card.
The vulpine drew his next card, wondering was the tiger had planned. He tried summoning Dark Blade, but was met by a Trap Hole, sighing in frustration. Then the tiger activated his second face down, Fruits of Kozaky's Studies, allowing him to rearrange the top three cards of his deck in anyway he saw fit. The fox ended his turn, allowing the feline across from him to draw.
He set another monster and a face down card, ending his turn, obviously putting up a strong defense for something. Jake drew his next card, wondering what all could be going on. He looked at the card and smiled, glad to see one of his trump cards, Level Up. He quickly summoned Horus Lv. 4, then played Level up to get Horus Lv. 6 out, looking at the field.
He took the chance and attacked the second face down monster, but was greeted by Flame's trap, Ordeal of a Traveler. He had to guess what one of the tiger's cards were, whether they were a monster, trap, or a spell, if he wanted to keep his dragon on the field. Closing his eyes, he pointed his finger to the feline's last card, and guessed that it was a spell card.
The fox opened his eyes to see that he was right, a spell card was what the burnt feline held in his paw. Jake smiled as his Horus stayed on the field and watched as the face down monster was destroyed and sent to the graveyard. As the vulpine ended his turn, he watched as his Horus leveled up to Horus Lv. 8, enabling the control over spells.
The tiger drew his next card, obviously frustrated. He set another monster, ending his turn, leaving his spell in his paw. The vulpine drew his card, then sent Horus to attack a face down, calling out that the card was a spell as another monster was destroyed. He ended his turn, letting the feline draw his next card. He set a monster and ended his turn.
Jake grinned and drew his next card, knowing that he needed to get rid of another monster to make some headway. He summoned Red-Eyes B. Chick, then used it's ability to special summon Red-Eyes B. Dragon. He sent Horus to attack the middle facedown, then sent Red-Eyes to attack the right facedown. He growled as Gravekeeper's Guard sent his Red-Eyes back to his paw, but ended his turn anyway.
Flame drew his card and played Mystic Box, attempting to destroy Horus Lv. 8, but the fox activated the dragon's ability, negating and destroying the spell. The burnt tiger ended his turn, allowing the fox to draw. The vulpine summoned Spear Dragon and played Dragon's Gunfire, dealing 800 points of damage to the feline, drawing first blood as the tiger's left sleeve caught fire briefly.
He attacked with Horus, destroying the last facedown, but was upset at how it was another Gravekeeper card, allowing the feline to special summon Gravekeeper's Watcher in defense mode. He ended his turn as he watched the tiger rip off the tarnished sleeve, revealing his burnt arm. The tiger drew his card and set two cards in his spell/trap zone, ending his turn.
The fox drew his card and was surprised as Flame activated his trap, Jar of Greed, allowing him to get one card into his paw. He didn't like the idea of guessing what a new card was, so he played his Stamping Destruction spell, getting rid of the continuous trap card and dealing another 500 points of damage to the feline, leaving the tiger at 6700 life points. He then, flip summoned his Armed Ninja, destroying the field spell Yami.
Jake played Snatch Steal and tributed his Armed Ninja and the tiger's Gravekeeper to summon Red-Eyes B. Dragon again, knowing that the accumulated amount would finish this match. He sent all three dragons to finish the job, watching as the tiger fell to his knees in defeat. As the holoimages dissipated, the fox walked to Flame and patted his shoulder.
"You did well, don't ever think that you disappointed yourself," was all the vulpine said to the feline as he went topside, seeing that Spencer, one of the guild's recruiters, and Drake waiting patiently. He sighed heavily, knowing that he would need a breather before he begun his match against the dragon.