A soft clapping noise filled the damp beach air as the conversation between Jaden and Professor Banner the cat came to a close.
“Bravo, Jaden. Well fought.” An extremely elderly man with a long, white beard gently said. His voice was just raised loud enough for Jaden to be able to make out most of his words from where the old man sat in his wheelchair next to Syrus. Jaden looked back at the man in confusion as Syrus, who seemed to understand something unspoken after a minute or two of standing awkwardly, took the handles on the back of the wheelchair and began to wrestle the contraption across the sands towards his friend.
“Bro… a little help here?” Syrus panted with effort. Jaden raced over to grab a wheel, and once Syrus grabbed the other wheel they physically lifted the old man and his wheelchair up into the air.
“Mr. Kagemaru, where do you want us to put you?” Syrus asked through a voice laden with effort.
Kagemaru chuckled. “What upstanding young gentlemen you two are. Please just place me where Amnael stood during the duel.”
Jaden nodded and moved his arms so that the bulk of the weight of the wheelchair would be on his shoulders instead of Syrus’s. Then, moving as one, the two boys walked over to the spot Kagemaru had pointed out and gently placed his wheelchair on the sand.
“Say, Mr. Kagemaru.” Syrus began. “Do you know what’s going on? And you never gave me an actual answer about why you’re out here tonight.”
Kagemaru lifted a trembling hand to stroke his beard in thought. Seconds of silence turned into minutes, until finally the elder opened his mouth. “Ah. Apologies. I was lost in thought. I find it’s an occupational hazard that comes with extreme age. Wouldn’t you agree, Amnael?”
The cat with the voice of Professor Banner jumped onto Jaden’s shoulder and began to knead his jacket with a set of rather sharp claws. “Indeed. I know the danger rather well myself. I once lost more time than I care to admit of my admittedly near-immortal life at a zoo, of all places. I sat down on a bench outside the panda exhibit to watch the magnificent creatures, and before I knew it, it was already New Year’s Eve.”
“You sat on a bench for a year?” Jaden asked the cat.
Professor Banner’s voice paused and the cat bashfully gave its paws a lick. “Fifty years, actually. Missed the roaring twenties, so it was quite a shame. The stars predicted that decade a hundred years before it was due to happen. And then I missed it while lost in thought.”
Kagemaru coughed to interrupt Professor Banner’s reminiscing. “Yes, but you at least had fun learning the Charleston in preparation. Or so you said.” He then leaned slightly over to Syrus and spoke with a conspiratorial tone. “Of course, I wasn’t born that long ago. Besides, he ended up going to Woodstock in ’69 to make up for it.”
Banner’s cat mouth opened to retort, but Kagemaru halted him with a raised hand. “Another failure of old age. The tendency to go off on long tangents and to get into endless debates with fellow old men. Amnael, we shall reminisce another time. First, I must do what I came here to do.” That same raised hand began to glow with a milky white mist. Several black, inky symbols appeared one by one on the back of Kagemaru’s hand. Each one was slightly different, yet each still held some amount of resemblance to each other.
“Seven keys, seven symbols.” Kagemaru said in a solemn voice. Syrus and Jaden backed away in alarm upon seeing the abrupt change in attitude of the old man. Where he had once seemed like a kind and gentle elder, steeped in the wisdom of centuries, Kagemaru’s face now took on a wicked, twisted look. His lips were drawn in a savage, guttural snarl of effort, and unnatural shadows flickered around his eyes. The milky white mist began to swirl around Kagemaru’s raised hand as the man clutched his fingers together to form a claw with no small amount of visible effort.
A deafening rumbling sound filled the air as the forest in the distance began to shake and tremble.
“Seven gates raise to meet the sky from their earthen prisons.”
Kagemaru coughed out a thick gob of blood and raised his clawed hand higher. Three streams of light shone out from between seven golden brown pillars that tore through the tops of the trees in the forest to reach out to the sky.
“Uria.”
One of the streams of light turned bright red, snapping and crackling like a gob of roaring flames that scorched everything in their path.
“Raviel.”
The second stream of light turned a cold blue color. Spectral faces and hands pushed against the sides of the stream of light from inside of it, as if they were ghosts begging to be released.
“Hamon.”
The third and final stream of light turned a blinding yellow color, morphing into something that was more like a hissing lightning bolt than a stream of colored light.
“By the terms of the contract of old, forged through my will, signed by the undying alchemist, and witnessed through proxy by the ghost of Kul Elna, I offer this duel energy as the final element of the deal. Now! Fulfil your end of the bargain, Sacred Beasts!”
The three streams of light thickened and converged on Kagemaru’s body, making the old man grunt in pain as Jaden and Syrus took several uneasy steps backwards. On Jaden’s shoulder, Professor Banner wetted one of his paws with his tongue and began to clean his ears with the back of the paw, completely unconcerned with it all.
Then, with a bright flash that lit up the entire beach, the streams of light disappeared and where Kagemaru had once sat with frailty on his wheelchair, there was now a tall man with long, flowing black hair.
“Nice six-pack dude.” Jaden reflexively said as his brain tried and failed to make sense of the situation.
“Thanks.” The man rumbled as he picked up the wheelchair with one hand and threw it so far across the sandy beach that it disappeared from sight. “I should thank you, and all of your little friends. I would have needed to wait much longer than this if it weren’t for the extreme amounts of duel energy the gates were able to harvest tonight. In particular, whoever dueled that Bernardello scamp let out an impressive amount. More was gathered from you, Jaden, but that duelist emitted a… different kind. One that I hadn’t felt before. I didn’t even know that there were different kinds to begin with.” The man’s voice trailed off in thought.
“Wait…” Syrus’s eyes widened in realization. “Mr. Kagemaru?”
“The one and only.” Kagemaru replied. A cocky grin was plastered on his face as he stared down at the boy who hardly reached his waist.
“You! You tricked me! I helped you!” Syrus shouted with indignation.
“And the Shadow Riders!” Jaden joined his friend in yelling at Kagemaru. “You’re the one behind my friends getting hurt?”
Kagemaru cooly nodded, seemingly more interested in basking in the feelings of his now-youthful body.
“I CHALLENGE YOU-“ Both Jaden and Syrus shouted at once, before cutting off mid-sentence and looking at each other. Syrus’s eyes narrowed, and while Jaden noticed the boy’s hands were trembling greatly, he still nodded in agreement. The two boys looked back to Kagemaru.
“We challenge you to a duel, Kagemaru!” Jaden and Syrus said in unison.
Kagemaru’s lips curled in amusement. “Oh~ Jaden’s angry, and Syrus grew a spine~. Fine. I might as well give my new body a test run before I move on to my other ambitions that the Sacred Beasts shall aid me in achieving. I suppose the extra duel energy would be quite nice too. Oh, and since we’re on that upstart Kaiba’s island, it would be only proper to follow his current rules for a tag duel. 8000 life points total and a shared duel field with your partner. That means you can use your partner’s monsters as tributes, though you cannot attack with monsters that are not your own.”
Jaden’s eyes narrowed. “Sounds sweet to me. And who’s your partner?”
“Myself.” Kagemaru laughed. “With the Sacred Beasts in my deck, I have no need of a partner.”
It almost felt like electricity was filling the air as Kagemaru stared Jaden and Syrus down with oceans of confidence oozing from his eyes. Jaden’s shoulder lightened as Professor Banner leaped off onto the sand to watch from a distance.
Jaden and Syrus: 8000 Kagemaru: 8000
“I’ll take the first turn bro!” Syrus shouted. His stomach tossed and churned with nervousness, but he steadied his hands and drew a card. “I summon Ambulanceroid (300/1200) in defense position. Then, I place two cards face down and end my turn!”
Jaden nodded in satisfaction as a goofy ambulance with a cartoonish face, a rubbery body, and wheels that extended out like limbs rolled cheerily onto Syrus’s field. “Good one Sy!”
“Hardly.” Kagemaru snorted as he began his turn. “I draw. Firstly, I activate the continuous spell Opening of the Spirit Gates! It allows me to add one of the Sacred Beasts, or one card that mentions their names, from my deck to my hand. I choose to add Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder to my hand! Then, I place two cards face down and end my turn.”
“My turn!” Jaden shouted. “Man, it sure sucks for you, Kagemaru! Since I’m last to play out of the three of us, I get the first attack! And, it looks like you don’t have any monsters to defend your life points! I normal summon Elemental Hero Wildheart (1500/1600) in attack position. Wildheart, you know what to do! Strike the first blow!”
The fierce, shirtless warrior immediately moved to follow Jaden’s orders with a swing of its brutal-looking sword.
Jaden and Syrus: 8000 Kagemaru: 6500
“Good one Wildheart!” Jaden cheered and pumped his fist. “Turn end. Back to you, Sy!”
“Right on bro!” Syrus excitedly replied. While neither of Kagemaru’s traps had been activated yet, the fact that first blood was given to Jaden lent Syrus some amount of courage. “I’m gonna go ahead and swap Ambulanceroid to attack position. Then, I summon Stealthroid (1200/0) in attack position. Now that I have two machine effect monsters on the field, I can meet the conditions for my spell card. I activate Iron Draw! It allows me to draw two cards, though I can only special summon one time this turn because of its drawback.”
Just as a comical-looking stealth fighter plane joined its ambulance friend, both machines began to spark and whirr, groaning against each other as a barely visible bluish orb appeared around Syrus’s duel disk. The orb contracted and spun, until finally the top two cards of Syrus’s deck were pulled out into Syrus’s waiting hands.
Syrus checked over the two new cards and high-fived Jaden once he saw the results. “Perfect! I’ll go ahead and use that summon right now. I activate another spell card, Magnet Circle LV2. It allows me to special summon one level two or lower machine monster from my hand, which coincidentally is one of the cards I just drew. Show yourself, Decoyroid (300/500), in defense position!”
Syrus took a deep breath to steady himself. He had a good number of monsters on the field, but Syrus had to remind himself that anything could happen.
“Ambulanceroid, Stealthroid, attack directly!” He eventually ordered.
Just like what had happened when Jaden’s monster attacked, Kagemaru made no moves to defend himself, choosing to simply take the damage with a smirk.
Jaden and Syrus: 8000 Kagemaru: 5000
“Now!” Syrus shouted. “Since it attacked while I control another roid monster, Stealthroid’s effect activates to destroy one spell or trap card on the field. Kagemaru, I choose your leftmost face down card for that honor!”
Kagemaru’s smirk deepened, causing warning bells to go off in Syrus’s head. “Wrong choice boy. That face down card was a trap, Statue of the Wicked! Since it was destroyed and sent to the graveyard when it was face down, I can special summon one Wicked Token (1000/1000) in defense mode on my side of the field.”
“Hey it’s alright Sy!” Jaden said encouragingly to his friend. “I was planning on destroying that card eventually, so we would have seen that nasty little dude no matter what. Plus, I remember that card. Ol’ Crowler used it against me in my entrance duel. It’s nothing special. No effects and its attack can’t get over my Wildheart or your Stealthroid.”
“Oh don’t bother consoling that waste of skin.” Kagemaru snorted in response as he began his turn. “This is all according to my plan. Why else do you think I allowed the tag duel? Shortstuff over there will be like a nice little ball and chain around your ankle, Jaden. I activate my other trap card, the continuous trap Hyper Blaze! I’m afraid it won’t do much right now, but it’ll come in handy later. I switch the Wicked Token to attack position, then I summon Chaos-End Master (1500/1000) in attack position. Chaos-End Master, destroy Stealthroid!”
Kagemaru’s blindingly white angel wound up a fist to strike at Stealthroid, but just as its punch was about to connect, a tiny red remote-controlled car drove up and hit Chaos-End Master in the shins, causing the punch to veer off course to hit the car. The fragile car immediately broke into a thousand pieces, but the stealth plane was completely unaffected by the attack.
“What?” Kagemaru said in surprise. “You diverted my attack?”
Syrus nodded in satisfaction. “Yup! Sorry to say, but while Decoyroid is on the field, you can’t attack anything other than that little red car. Of course, it can’t withstand an attack from your angel, but it still means that Stealthroid is free to strike again next turn!”
“Ridiculous.” Kagemaru growled. “So what if your car disrupted my attack. The point was not to destroy your Stealthroid, though that would have been preferred. Instead, I gain something far better. Chaos-End Master, activate your effect! Since it destroyed a monster by battle and sent it to the graveyard. I can take one level five or higher monster with 1600 attack or less from my deck, and special summon it! I choose the foul servant of the Sacred Beasts three, Dark Summoning Beast (0/0)!”
“A monster with zero attack…” Jaden’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What’s the point? Watch out Sy, it must have some super sweet effect to make the card worth it!”
Kagemaru nodded. “Of course. But you’ll have to wait a little bit longer to see it. Wicked Token, destroy that Ambulanceroid!”
While the red-cloaked fiend that Kagemaru had just summoned took no actions during the battle phase, the snakelike golden statue with four blood-red eyes was not so lenient at it lashed out at the cowering comic ambulance with a set of wicked-sharp claws. Meanwhile, Syrus winced as several large scratches appeared on his chest.
Jaden and Syrus: 7300 Kagemaru: 5000
“Now on to my second main phase.” Kagemaru smugly said. “It is time to show you the special effect of my Dark Summoning Beast, and to bring forth the first of the Sacred Beast cards! By tributing my beast, I can special summon one Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, from my hand or deck while ignoring its usual summoning conditions. Of course, it does come with the caveat that I cannot attack for the rest of the turn, but I already made good use of my battle phase! So come forth, the great winged snake that scorches the earth! The scourge of hell, Uria, Lord of Searing Flames (0/0)! And I immediately activate its once per turn effect to destroy the shortie’s rightmost trap.”
It was unlike any monster Jaden and Syrus had ever seen before. The only comparison they could even begin to make was from the Battle City tapes, during the small snippets of footage that remained of the times Yugi Muto summoned Slifer the Sky Dragon. Yet, there was a sort of pressure Uria brought that couldn’t be felt when watching Slifer over a VHS tape. It was suffocating, like several heavy weights had been strapped to both of the boys’ shoulders. Not only that, but flames erupted from the surroundings just from being near the monsters, causing parts of the nearby sand to glow an ominous cherry-red color.
“Bro, any chance that gigantic terrifying death machine-looking monster has zero special abilities that turn it into the murder machine it looks like?” Syrus gulped as he glumly sent his face down Emergeroid Call trap to the graveyard once Uria’s effect resolved.
Jaden calmly considered Syrus’s question. “Nope.” The brown-haired boy then grinned cheekily. “And isn’t that super awesome! My turn!”
“Heh heh, Kagemaru you’re gonna love this!” Jaden cheerfully shouted to the massive mountain of a man. “Sy, I’m gonna test what that Uria card can do real quick. I activate my spell card H – Heated Heart, which will give Elemental Hero Wildheart an extra 500 attack points and piercing battle damage this turn. Wildheart, take a wild swing at the fire snake!”
The bronze, muscular warrior, veteran of thousands of battles, looked at Jaden like he was insane for suggesting that. Jaden made several ‘shooing’ motions with his hand, and the warrior eventually sighed and attacked the colossal flaming serpent with his barbaric-looking sword.
“Ha! Moron!” Kagemaru sneered. “You’ve triggered the effect of my Hyper Blaze continuous trap card! Since Uria is now involved in a battle, I can send one trap card from my hand or deck to the graveyard to increase Uria’s attack by 1000 points for each face up trap on the field, and each trap card in the graveyard, for the rest of this turn. I choose to send the trap card Jar of Greed from my deck to my graveyard, which will make Uria’s attack climb to a total of 4000 points.”
Jaden grunted in pain as Uria’s mouth whipped around to blast Elemental Hero Wildheart with a ray of red-hot fire.
Jaden and Syrus: 5300 Kagemaru: 5000
“Welp…” Jaden slowly said to Syrus’s annoyed glare. “I guess we know what that trap card does now? Pro tip, if you have a way to destroy that card, Syrus, it might be good to do that soon. I place one card face down and summon Elemental Hero Voltic (1000/1500) in defense position. End turn.”
On Jaden’s side of the field, a purple-clothed hero with sparks of electricity buzzing from its hands stood at the ready to defend its master from evil.
“Destroy the trap card, he says. Do it soon, he says.” Syrus grumbled the words, but his tone was much less sharp and fearful than it normally would be if he was dueling alone. “Sorry Jaden, I’ve got a total of jack and squat in that department right now. But, I can at least get rid of another one of his monsters, bro! I switch Stealthroid to defense position and summon Drillroid (1600/1600) in attack position. Drillroid, drill a hole right through Chaos-End Master!”
Kagemaru grunted in annoyance as another one of Syrus’s cartoonish monsters, this time a smiling, spikey machine with drills for hands and a nose, pierced right through the chest of his angelic monster.
Jaden and Syrus: 5300 Kagemaru: 4900
“Worthless frivolities.” Kagemaru growled and drew a card. “I place two cards face down and order Uria to activate his effect once more. The target shall be your other face down trap, Syrus!”
Syrus smirked. “I knew you would do that! Bro, it’s just like Zane said that one time. In a tag duel, if the jerks are focusing down one person over the other, exploit that focus! You’ve activated the effect of my trap card, Wonder Garage! Since it was destroyed and sent to the graveyard while being face down, I can special summon one level four or lower roid monster from my hand. Say hello to Truckroid (1000/2000) in defense position!”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Kagemaru scoffed. “Another weakling vehicle to add to the junkyard of a worthless boy. Uria, strike at that Drillroid! Hyper Blaze, use your effect in synchronization with your master’s attack!”
Uria’s attack points bloomed to 5000 points as Kagemaru sent the Cemetery Bomb trap card from his deck to his graveyard to meet the requirements of Hyper Blaze, leading to Drillroid being finely roasted into microscopic particles of ash.
Jaden and Syrus: 1900 Kagemaru: 4900
Jaden watched with wide eyes as Syrus staggered under the force of the flames striking his body. “Sy! Hang in there, I draw! Don’t worry, I’ll get us out of this real soon buddy.”
“Thanks.” Syrus groaned as he leaned over with his hands resting on his knees. “This getting burned by those flames? Yeah. It sucks and I want off this ride.”
“You betcha!” Jaden nodded firmly. “One getting-off-this-ride coming right up, chef’s treat. As part of the chef’s recommendations on today’s menu, I activate Pot of Greed to draw two more cards. And now that I have the exact number of resources I need for this next move, it’s time to get groovy! I normal summon Elemental Hero Avian and activate Miracle Fusion, banishing Avian from my field and Wildheart from my graveyard to fusion summon Elemental Hero Wild Wingman (1900/2300)! Say goodbye to your Hyper Blaze, Kagemaru, because Wild Wingman has a certain hatred for spells and traps. Big guy, how about you demonstrate?”
The brutal warrior covered with intimidating red tattoos grunted its agreement and flapped its wings menacingly to Jaden’s words.
“By discarding one card, which will be O – Oversoul, I can destroy one spell or trap card on the field. The choice is obvious. I choose Hyper Blaze as the target!”
Kagemaru glared at Jaden for his audacity, but ultimately the effect of Elemental Hero Wild Wingman went through without stopping to tear the continuous trap card apart with the force of several small tornadoes generated from the hero’s wings.
Uria, Lord of Searing Flames (0/0 -> 1000/0)
“Sy, look! Its attack went up by 1000 points. The only thing that’s changed is that I destroyed his continuous trap card, so the attack must change depending on how many he has in the grave!” Jaden shouted in warning to Syrus, who acknowledged Jaden’s observation with a terse nod.
“Alright, I switch Elemental Hero Voltic to attack position and move on to the battle phase. Elemental Hero Wild Wingman, destroy the big danger noodle!”
“Insolence!” Kagemaru roared in anger towards Jaden’s casual words. “I activate the counter trap card Negate Attack, which will stop the attack and end the battle phase instantly!”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
At the very edge of the beach, Bastion and Chazz came to a halt after running straight from the infirmary to the location they had seen the three brilliant beams of light heading towards. It was just as Phil predicted – Jaden was in the middle of an intense duel, though the fact that it was a tag duel of Jaden and Syrus versus some weird bodybuilder guy was a surprise.
“That must be one of the Sacred Beast cards?” Bastion ventured. “I’m guessing by the color it’s the so-called ‘nacho cheese’ one Phil mentioned that does something with traps in the graveyard. Which means that the ‘cool ranch’ monster and the one that I shall refrain from repeating Phil’s nickname for it have yet to be summoned.”
Chazz nodded and crossed his arms as he remembered his friend’s words. “The yellow one that has some relation to spells, and the blue one that he said sucks so badly that he can’t remember what it supposedly does.”
“Indeed, that monster of Kagemaru’s is Uria, one of the powerful Sacred Beast cards.” Professor Banner’s voice spoke from behind the duo, causing them to give startled jumps and spin around to face the speaker.
“Kagemaru summoned it with no small amount of difficulty, and so far in combination with a certain trap card, Uria has proven to be a powerful foe.” A light brown cat with several dark brown stripes said in Professor Banner’s calm, collected voice as it looked at the students with humanlike intelligence in its eyes.
“Is that a talking cat?” Chazz reflexively asked Bastion.
Bastion rubbed his chin in thought as he peered at the small creature. “I believe so, my friend.”
Chazz blinked. “Right… I suppose that’s perfectly on track with a weird night like tonight.”
“Well, it’s as the great detective Sherlock Holmes once said. ‘Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth’. It is impossible for anyone else here to speak those words, as Jaden, Syrus, and that man are too far away to speak to us that clearly. Plus, none of those people are Professor Banner, or can mimic his voice. So I must conclude, my dear Chazz Watson, that the cat can speak.”
The cat in question gently nodded his head. “Fine logic, Bastion Holmes. I am glad that my new body can provide such quality material for your two-man comedic act. To put it simply, through a series of circumstances I instinctively used alchemy to fuse my soul to the soul of my cat in a last-ditch attempt to not die. Oh, and it worked. It’s a shame that this body is quite smaller than the homunculus bodies I previously employed, but there are benefits. Everybody wants to be a cat, after all. At least in their deepest desires.”
Bastion and Chazz looked each other in the eyes. They looked at the cat that claimed to be Professor Banner, and then looked back at each other.
“Fair enough.” They shrugged and said the words in unison before turning back to watch the ongoing duel.
The cat meowed with laughter and padded forward to sit next to the boys. “Say, call it my own sense of curiosity, but why are you boys here anyways?”
“The Shadow Riders struck in force.” Bastion replied. “I finished my duel with Tania and ran to the infirmary after confirming that no one was at the dorms. That’s where I met Chazz, Ms. Hibiki, Chumley, Phil, and Professor Crowler. Crowler was unconscious from his wounds and Atticus was just waking up, so Ms. Hibiki and Phil stayed behind to guard the infirmary. Chazz and I saw the ominous beams of light and figured that we should head to the beach to offer backup if needed.”
“I see. This was mentioned as an auspicious night for dueling. It seems that it was more fortuitous for the key keepers, though. I wonder how much of that was a part of Kagemaru’s plans.” Professor Banner said. “Anyways, I’m glad that no one perished.”
Bastion and Chazz fell silent for a bit. “Us too.” Chazz eventually responded with a sigh. “Us too.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“My turn!” Syrus drew a card. “I place one card face down. Stealthroid! Switch to attack position and destroy Uria!”
This time Kagemaru had no way to prevent the attack from going through, and the fiery winged snake vanished with a howl of hatred as the rubbery stealth fighter, looking like it came straight out of a comic book, smashed right into the monster’s head to destroy it.
Jaden and Syrus: 1900 Kagemaru: 4700
“Since Stealthroid attacked while there was another roid on the field, Truckroid, he’ll destroy your spirit gates continuous spell. Turn end!” Syrus triumphantly crowed the words. “Did you see that, bro? I couldn’t completely wipe his field of monsters, but I still did something!”
“You sure did Sy! Good job!” Jaden answered cheerfully.
Kagemaru silently began his turn, and his face was quickly painted with a gruesome smile. “I activate the effect of Dark Summoning Beast in my graveyard, banishing itself to add Raviel, Lord of Phantasms from my deck to my hand. Then, I activate Graceful Charity! I draw three cards, and then I discard Raviel and another Statue of the Wicked from my hand to the graveyard. Now, I activate the continuous spell, Cerulean Skyfire! I’ll then place two cards face down. Then I send Cerulean Skyfire, along my face down spell cards Warrior Elimination and Dark Core, from my field to my graveyard to special summon Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder (4000/4000)! Due to the effect of Cerulean Skyfire while on the field, I can use face down spells as well to summon Hamon with its own effect.”
The sound of fearsomely loud wingbeats filled the air as a skeletal yellow monster burst out of the remains of Kagemaru’s three spells. Similarly to Uria, the mere presence of Hamon set a crushing pressure on the shoulders of Jaden and Syrus.
Syrus’s eyes widened in fear. “Another one? After how hard it was to beat the first Sacred Beast? Jaden, we’d better take this one out fast, because I can only stall it for this one turn! I activate my trap card, Pulse Mines! Since I control a machine monster, all monsters my opponent controls shall be switched to defense position, and anything that is summoned for the rest of this turn also gets switched! That means your Hamon and your Wicked Token can’t attack!”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Interesting.” Bastion acknowledged Syrus’s play. “Quick thinking from Syrus. That’s a trap card that sees a lot of popularity in machine decks. I think even Bandit Keith, for that short moment he appeared in the pro scene after Duelist Kingdom, used that card a couple times. Hamon may be a powerful monster, but it can’t do anything this turn if it’s not in attack position!”
“They grow up so fast.” Professor Banner warmly added. “Kagemaru went into this duel thinking to harvest extra duel energy from Jaden. Who knew that the power of Jaden and Syrus combined could prove to be such a formidable obstacle.”
Chazz nodded in agreement. “Syrus’s machine traps and Jaden’s fusion monsters. Even I would have trouble.”
“No doubt. And now Jaden has his whole turn to find some way to reverse the situation, and if he can’t then Syrus moves after him. They’ve already bested one Sacred Beast, so I believe it is quite possible to best another one with a dash of luck.” Bastion concluded, and then continued with a word of warning in his voice. “However, in consideration of the slim chance of Jaden’s luck failing him, prepare yourself, Chazz. We may have to fight in order to save the souls of our friends.”
There was no response from Chazz, other than for the boy to grimly check the straps on his duel disk.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Good one Sy.” Jaden said in an easygoing tone as he began his turn. “I’ll start things off by activating E – Emergency Call to add Elemental Hero Captain Gold to my hand. Then, I discard the captain to add one copy of my Skyscraper field spell to my hand. It’s time to turn up the heat! I activate the favorite battleground of heroes, Skyscraper! Now, Polymerization, activate! Fusing Elemental Hero Wild Wingman with my light attribute Elemental Hero Voltic to fusion summon Elemental Hero The Shining (2600/2100)!
Where there had once been two heroes on Jaden’s field, there was now one white and gold-armored hero that emerged silently between multiple towering skyscrapers.
“Now, a special note about this hero,” Jaden explained, “is that he gains 300 attack points for each of my banished Elemental Hero monsters. Since I banished Wildheart and Avian earlier through Miracle Fusion, that’s a tidy 600 attack points added!”
Elemental Hero The Shining (2600/2100 -> 3200/2100).
“Obviously, that still places his attack points at lower than your Hamon dude, but that’s why I grabbed Skyscraper. Elemental Hero The Shining, attack Hamon! Skyscraper, activate your effect to boost my monster’s attack by 1000 points!”
Kagemaru gritted his teeth as the white and gold hero crossed his arms, angling the red gems on his face, stomach, and sides to launch several crimson beams of energy to strike Hamon cleanly in the face, destroying the second Sacred Beast to have been summoned that duel.
“I place one card face down and end my turn.” Jaden finished with a glow of satisfaction. “See Sy, since you gave us that turn of safety, I could flip the problem on its head!”
“I knew I could count on you bro.” Syrus replied. Despite his confident words, an undercurrent of relief filled his voice. “Now time to take this lead and run with it! I summon Expressroid (400/1600) in defense position, which will take two roid monsters from my graveyard to my hand. I add Drillroid and Ambulanceroid to my hand. Truckroid, switch to attack position and get ready to rumble. Stealthroid, destroy that Wicked Token! Truckroid! Attack directly!”
Kagemaru’s face became bloodied as Syrus’s angry sentient semi-truck dealt a powerful blow to his head as Stealthroid easily destroyed his last defending monster.
Jaden and Syrus: 1900 Kagemaru: 3700
“I throw down a face down card and end my turn.”
“Nothing but weak attacks to stave off the inevitable.” Kagemaru growled. “I activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards. Of course, while you may have defeated two of my Sacred Beasts and I remain unable to summon the third, don’t go thinking this is over quite yet.”
“See, while there are officially three beasts in total, I know better. Many years ago I was given access to a tome of forbidden knowledge in a terrifying encounter with a duel spirit that was both male and female. In between its pages were listed instructions on how to fully draw out the power of the Sacred Beasts by fusing them together to form the ultimate creature of Armageddon. Firstly, in order to properly prepare the field for my move, I activate Raigeki to destroy all monsters my opponents control. Then, I shall follow up by activating Heavy Storm to destroy all spells and traps on the field!”
“Not so fast!” Jaden quickly shouted. “With my fusion monster destroyed by Raigeki, it activates its own effect to add my banished Avian and Wildheart back to my hand. And when you activate your Heavy Storm, I activate my quick-play spell, Flute of Summoning Kuriboh! Come on out to the field, buddy! I summon Winged Kuriboh (300/200) in defense position!”
“As I said. Staving. Off. The. Inevitable.” Kagemaru practically chewed and spat out the word one by one in irritation. “Now that the field is more or less prepared, I activate the spell card Dimension Fusion Destruction, banishing Uria, Lord of Searing Flames. Banishing Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder. Banishing Raviel, Lord of Phantasms. Removing all three from my graveyard to the banished dimension to summon the impossible combination taught to me by a spirit not of this world, I ignore the proper summoning conditions by the use of this spell! I summon Armityle the Chaos Phantasm (0/0)!
At first Jaden and Syrus both looked at the monster skeptically. For all the gravitas Kagemaru had put on while summoning it, a monster with zero attack and zero defense wasn’t quite living up to the hype.
But Kagemaru wasn’t done yet. “Of course, there is more than meets the eye of this ultimate engine of destruction. While it is my turn, Armityle’s special ability activates to give itself 10,000 attack points! Armityle, destroy Winged Kuriboh!”
The cute brown ball of fur and wings audibly gulped as the fusion monster, a patchwork combination of parts belonging to each of the three Sacred Beasts used to create it, launched a terrifying fiery blast to incinerate the poor Winged Kuriboh in one go.
“Phew Syrus, good thing my little buddy came in clutch for us.” Jaden laughed uneasily. “We were almost grilled like one of Chumley’s sandwiches!”
Syrus gulped as he stared at the Frankenstein monster. A right arm that was made of Uria’s head. A left arm formed from Hamon’s arm. A snake-like lower body that was a mixture of Uria and Hamon. A head that looked like cruel Raviel, but somehow more dangerous. Vast folds of wings taken from Hamon’s corpse.
He was so totally going to get nightmares from this for at least a month.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“I have to admit.” Bastion said with a wide-eyed stare at the horrifying abomination on Kagemaru’s side of the field. “I haven’t the faintest idea how they’re going to get out of this one. I don’t think any of their monsters can beat over 10,000 attack points. I know Jaden’s luck commonly defies both science and the rules of nature, but this is asking a bit much.”
Professor Banner paused in the middle of a small, cat-like yawn to look at the creature. “Not only that, but I’ve seen the fusion spell used to summon it before. I was there when Kagemaru discovered it all those years ago. Even though Armityle’s attack will reset back to zero when Kagemaru finishes his turn, the fusion spell Dimension Fusion Destruction has a special clause that factors that problem in, making it so Kagemaru will take no battle damage from attacks involving his monster. That means all he has to do is wait until the next turn to resume attacking. Not only that, but Armityle itself naturally cannot be destroyed by battle.”
“Hm.” Bastion rubbed his chin in thought. “That does change a few things. I can think of one or two fusion monsters that could do something in this situation. All Jaden has to do is find the materials.”
“Thunder Giant.” Chazz threw out the name offhandedly. “Only because that Armityle’s attack will go back to zero when Kagemaru ends his turn. I’ve had to deal with that annoying monster far too many times.”
Bastion nodded. “Plasma Vice too. Those are the only two I can think of, though, and quite honestly I can’t see Jaden being able to summon those his next turn. Remember, his hand is mostly empty aside from Elemental Hero Wildheart and Elemental Hero Avian, neither of which will work as fusion materials for those monsters. To fusion summon either of them, he would be essentially starting from scratch!”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jaden drew a card and his expression of concern flickered into a grin. “I knew it! Sy, don’t worry, Professor Banner’s still looking out for us! Kagemaru, I’m sorry to say, but I have the key to stop your ‘unbeatable’ monster right here in my hand! Since you destroyed my buddy Winged Kuriboh last turn, I am able to meet the requirements to activate my super cool new spell. Sabatiel – The Philosopher’s Stone! By paying half my life points, I can add one Polymerization spell or Fusion spell from my deck to my hand.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Oh good, he decided to use my special card.” Professor Banner offhandedly commented.
Chazz frowned. “But what will he fusion summon? Wildheart and Avian don’t have a fusion monster that can provide a way to deal with Kagemaru’s monster. Is Jaden trying to stall?”
“I have no idea…” Bastion answered thoughtfully.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Hey Sy!” Jaden said as he started to search through his deck for a spell that fit the requirements for Sabatiel.
Syrus looked questioningly at his friend. “You know the thing about fusion monsters?” Jaden replied to Syrus’s gaze.
“What’s the thing about fusion monsters, bro?” Syrus asked.
“They can always be un-fusioned!” Jaden triumphantly answered. “I add the quick play spell De-Fusion to my hand, and I’ll immediately activate it, with the target being Armityle! Kagemaru, I’m sorry to say, but your fusion monster gets returned to the extra deck, and no, you don’t get a refund! It’s only fair, after all, since you cleared out our entire field last turn!”
Syrus let out a whoop of joy, physically pumping his fist in the air. “I knew it bro! You did it! You got rid of that monster before it could attack directly!”
“Darn right!” Jaden replied with equal amounts of excitement. “Now it’s time for a blast from the past. I summon Elemental Hero Wildheart (1500/1600) in attack position and attack you directly Kagemaru!”
Jaden and Syrus: 950 Kagemaru: 2200
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Nice!” Bastion approvingly said. “I had forgotten De-Fusion was a card that exists. Jaden must have originally placed it in his deck so he could fusion summon a monster, attack, split the fusion monster back into its materials, and then attack again with those materials. But, since De-Fusion specifically says that bringing back the materials from the graveyard is optional, and it only checks the graveyard of the player who activated De-Fusion, Kagemaru ends up with a completely empty field. The few people that actually play that card always use it on their own monsters, so even I had forgotten it could target any fusion monster on the field!”
“And Kagemaru doesn’t have a single card in his hand since he spent so many resources to summon his ultimate monster.” Chazz concluded. “That would have hardly worked on me, though. Light and Darkness Dragon would have stopped any attempts for Jaden to make a comeback!”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Sy, I’m passing the ball back to you! I end my turn!”
Syrus grimly nodded, clearly aware of how important it was to keep the situation to their advantage. While Kagemaru had an empty field and hand, he would still get to draw a card once Syrus ended his turn. And just as he saw with Jaden the turn prior, even one card had the potential to reverse even the worst problems.
“Good thing Expressroid allowed me to grab two of my monsters from my graveyard when I summoned it earlier.” Syrus replied. “Say hello to Drillroid (1600/1600) again! Drillroid, strike Kagemaru directly!”
Jaden and Syrus: 950 Kagemaru: 600
“Feh.” Kagemaru spat out a thick wad of phlegm on the ground as he began his turn. “That feeling of success? Enjoy it while it lasts. I activate the spell card Swords of Revealing Light, which will prevent you ingrates from attacking me for three of your turns.”
“So two of my turns and one of Syrus’s.” Jaden summarized as he mentally ran through the turn order.
“Righty-ho.” Jaden said cheerfully once Kagemaru ended his turn. “Sy, I don’t have any way to destroy those swords, so I switch Elemental Hero Wildheart to defense position just in case. I also summon Elemental Hero Avian (1000/1000) in defense mode as some extra backup. I end my turn.”
One of the three light green swords glistening in the sky disappeared, leaving only two more standing in between Jaden’s two hero monsters and Syrus’s comical robotic drill.
“Me neither.” Syrus agreed with Jaden’s stance on Swords of Revealing Light. “No convenient Heavy Storms in my hand, that’s for sure. I will also switch Drillroid to defense position, and then I activate Monster Reborn to resurrect Expressroid (400/1600) in defense position. Expressroid, kindly return Stealthroid and Truckroid from my graveyard to my hand. Then, to finish things up, I firm up our defense a little bit more by summoning Truckroid (1000/2000) in defense position.
One by one the empty spots on Syrus’s field were filled with a variety of rubbery, comical vehicles. The drill machine was joined by a two-car train with eyes for headlights, which was accompanied by the same semi-truck that was destroyed by Kagemaru’s Raigeki earlier.
Kagemaru scowled nastily as he drew a card to start his turn. “I place one card face down and I end my turn.” Then, he grinned. “One turn left on Swords of Revealing Light. It’s such a beautiful sensation, to be so close to defeat. I do wonder what the next two turns will bring.”
“I’d say cloudy with a chance of fusion summoning!” Jaden joked. “I activate the spell card Fusion Recovery, which nets me a Polymerization and Elemental Hero Voltic, both going from my graveyard to my hand. I can add Voltic because I used him earlier as fusion material, of course. Now, I proudly present the reason I pack doubles of all my fusion monsters! I activate Polymerization, fusing Wildheart and Wingman once more to summon my second Elemental Hero Wild Wingman (1900/2300)! He just can’t stay down!”
“Not if I have anything to say about that, and I do!” Kagemaru triumphantly replied. “When you summon your fusion monster, I activate my trap card. Mispolymerization, show that brown-haired dweeb his mistake! When a monster is fusion summoned, all fusion monsters on the field get returned to the extra deck!”
“Good-bye Wild Wingman.” Jaden sighed. “I hardly knew ye. Pass turn.”
Syrus was practically vibrating in his shoes as the last spectral sword disappeared into thin air. “Bro! Bro! Look! It doesn’t matter, I’ve got this! Kagemaru, rue the day you decided to challenge the combined might of Jaden and Syrus of Slifer Red! You know why? Because to me, it doesn’t look like you have a single monster on the field, while I have a bunch! I summon Stealthroid (1200/0) in attack position and switch all my monsters to attack mode as well. Kagemaru! You lose! Drillroid, end this battle here and now!”
As Kagemaru sunk to his knees in the sand in disbelief now that his life points were reduced to zero, Syrus joyfully ran over to Jaden.
“Bro! I was useful! I did things!”
Jaden ruffled his friend’s hair. “Darn right you did! You always do. I keep saying that! Remember that duel a while ago against the Paradox Brothers? You were a great tag team partner then, too! Kagemaru’s mistake was thinking he could duel the both of us at once.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” Syrus’s face calmed as he began to realize all of the different ways Kagemaru had nearly ended the duel. “Without that De-Fusion card of yours, Armityle would have beaten us like a punching bag in a boxing gym.”
“And without that handy Pulse Mines card of yours,” Jaden added, “We would have been in a tight spot for sure when Hamon was summoned.”
The sound of Kagemaru groaning drew the attention of Jaden and Syrus.
“He’s… old again?” Syrus questioned.
Professor Banner’s voice answered Syrus’s question. “The magic sustaining Kagemaru’s change in form must have run out upon his defeat.”
Jaden and Syrus looked towards the cat, who had arrived with Bastion and Chazz. “Hey Bastion. Hey Chazz.” Jaden greeted. “How’s it hanging?”
“It’s been a crazy night for sure.” Bastion replied. “Your duel was well-fought. Kagemaru relied too much on those Sacred Beast cards, and it seems that brought about his downfall.”
Chazz simply glared at the elderly man laying on the sand. “And what should we do with this guy? Isn’t he a Shadow Rider?”
“The leader of the Shadow Riders.” Banner gently corrected him.
Jaden shrugged. “I don’t know dude. He was a super jerk after getting those cards, but that transformation looked like he took a bunch of magic steroids. Maybe he was just roid-raging?”
Syrus nodded in agreement. “He was a really nice old dude before, even if he is the leader of the Shadow Riders. It feels kinda wrong to just leave him here. We should at least take him to the infirmary. After that the professors can decide what to do. I bet the police get involved.”
“I’m not carrying him.” Chazz instantly replied and turned away to head back in the direction of the infirmary.
“Guess I’ll do it. He used to have a wheelchair… but, you know, roid-raging…” Jaden hoisted the elderly man on his back with gentle movements.
Syrus strained his eyes to peer as far as he could across the sandy beach. “Yeah, wow. I didn’t think about it earlier because I was scared during the duel, but I can’t even see the wheelchair anymore. Like, Kagemaru just flat-out chucked that thing so far out that it’s just gone.”
“Speaking as an alchemist, magical steroids are a hell of a drug.” Professor Banner said in a serious, matter-of-fact tone. “Kids, I expect that if you are ever presented with them, that you will refuse the steroids and tell either myself, Ms. Hibiki, or Professor Crowler ASAP.”