Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Yu-Gi-Oh!:Duelist of the Stars ❯ Amazoness Spirits ( Chapter 3 )

By Amor

Disclaimer: Until I manage to successfully take over the world, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

Chapter 3: Amazoness Spirits

Authors notes, review responses, footnotes and original cards at the bottom of the chapter.
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"Wait to go, Joey!" Yugi said, congratulating his friend. "That was some really great dueling."

"Thanks, Yug!" Joey said, responding well to the compliment. "But really, Rex wasn't that tough."

On the other side of the room, Weevil was berating Rex. "Really, after getting your butt kicked once by Jinzo, you'd think you'd be prepared for it. At least you finally learned how to use Trap cards."

"Shut up," Rex mumbled.

"Joey Wheeler has defeated Rex Raptor!" a computerized voice announced.

"WE KNOW! CAN YOU STOP RUBBING IT IN!" Rex shouted. There was a moment of silence as everyone looked at him. The dinosaur duelist blushed and shrunk into a corner.

"The next two duelists shall be..." The pictures of the eight of them appeared back on the view screen. The red frames continued flickering around all of them but Joey and Rex's. Eventually they settled on two faces. They were a meek looking face with snowy white hair... "Bakura Ryou!" ...and a pretty face with wild blonde hair. "Will be facing Mai Valentine!"

The two duelists each walked up to their respective ends of the dueling ring. Bakura seemed even more timid then usual. Great. I have to face a duelist as good as Mai. She's one of the best I know. How am I supposed to beat her?

<I can help you> a sinister voice whispered in his ear.

Bakura jumped back, startled. What was that? Was that... the spirit of the ring? No, I'm not wearing the ring right now. It can't be.

Dismissing it as just his imagination, Bakura stepped into the dueling console. He really hoped he could beat Mai. His mind was racing a mile a minute over everything his duels with the others had taught him. He blinked. Why was he getting so stressed about this duel? Sure, it was the World Championships... but these duels didn't count on his record, and he didn't see himself making the national team.

Still, when he remembered all the time the others had spent helping him, he couldn't help but feel that if he lost, he would be letting them down. He remembered them helping him change some parts of his deck (Yugi's grandfather even lending Bakura some rare cards), all of them having practice duels with him, Yugi teaching him about strategy and the heart of the cards...

I can't lose, Bakura decided. Still, he was uncomfortable in this arena. It was too... bright.

"Hellooo, earth to Bakura," Mai said from across the arena. "Are you going to shuffle your deck, or just forfeit?"

"Er... right," Bakura said, blushing as he hastily shuffle his deck. He drew his five cards, and looked them over carefully. "So, I go first? Well, then, I guess I'll place one monster in face down defense mode and set one face down card. Your move."

"Go Bakura!" Yugi cheered from the sidelines. "I know you can do it!"

"I'm really not sure who to cheer for here, guys," Joey said flatly.

"I see what you mean," Tea said. She knew that Joey and Mai shared an unspoken bond (at least, Tea was pretty sure neither of them had actually admitted it), but Joey also wanted to help out his friends. "Talk about conflict of interests."

"Hey, it could be worse," Serenity chimed in. "Yugi could be facing Mai." She knew her brother was much closer to the tri-colour-haired boy than the white-haired one.

Mai now took her move. "I summon Harpy Lady in attack mode, and set one card face down." The familiar monster appeared on the field, it's stats of 1300/1400 flashing up on the screen. "Now, Harpy Lady! Attack his face down monster!"

"You destroyed my Giant Germ," Bakura announced. The blob monster appeared, but Harpy Lady easily tore through it's 100 defense. "Now it's special ability activates. It reduces your life points by 500." A dark sphere erupted against Mai's console, causing her LP counter to reel down to 3500. "And it lets me search my deck for two more Giant Germs and play them in Attack Mode." Bakura fanned his deck out and picked out from it two Giant Germ cards, which he laid on the field.

"Fine," Mai said. "Your move, I guess."

Bakura drew, and looked at the board position. There was really no point in keeping his monsters in attack mode, seeing as how he was pretty sure there was nothing with below the Germ's attack points of 1000 in Mai's deck. "Shift both Germs into defense mode." The germs seemed to take up a defensive stance as Bakura surveyed his hand.

What was one of my deck's weaknesses... oh yeah... mass Magic/Trap removal. If she gets a Harpy's Feather Duster when I have my Destiny Board out, I'm finished. He remembered being one letter away from winning in a practice match when Joey's Giant Trunade hit the field. I'd better take care of that now. "I'll play the Magic card Dark Decimator. It allows me to search your deck for any one card and put it into your hand."

"All right then," Mai said, puzzled. She placed her deck in the transition compartment of the console, and a compartment popped out of Bakura's console with Mai's deck in it. The platinum haired duelist searched through his opponent's deck carefully, not wanting to miss the card he was looking for. Wow, Mai has a lot of Amazoness cards in her deck... here it is!

"I select Harpy's Feather Duster," Bakura announced. He took the Magic card and sent it back to Mai via the transition compartment, then shuffled her deck and sent it back to her the same way. "And now I'll activate my face down card, Card Destruction! We both discard our hands and draw new ones."

"So that's why you wanted the Feather Duster in my hand," Mai said as she discarded her cards and drew five new ones. Frowning, she pushed a couple buttons on the console, and a holographic image appeared in front of her. "Um, Bakura... you do know you discarded a part of your Destiny Board combo, right?"

"I did?" Bakura asked, shocked. He looked through his graveyard of seven cards and found, sure enough, Spirit Message-N. Great. Just great. You took out an option for ruining the combo, while at the same time making the combo impossible. Brilliant. Bakura banged his head against the dueling console, feeling utterly stupid.

Someone was laughing... he shot a glance to his friends, but they were silent. Besides, it wasn't any of their laughs anyways... but he had heard it somewhere before. I'm losing it.

"Don't worry," Tea said from the sidelines, trying to cheer Bakura up. "Everyone makes mistakes."

<Yeah, everyone who loses,> Bakura thought to himself. <It was right in front of your face and you didn't notice it!> Wait a minute... that wasn't his own voice. It was far more sinister... Gasping, he felt at his neck. There was something around it... the Millennium Ring! He was wearing it, and the spirit of the ring was communicating with him!

Why hadn't I noticed it there, Bakura thought feverishly. I should have felt it... or something... I should take it off right now. No, then I'd look stupid, leaving it on... I'll do it after this duel. I'll take it off and throw it far away. Do you hear that?

The spirit only seemed to laugh more.

"Um... Bakura?" Yugi asked, sounding genuinely worried. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Bakura said, putting on a false smile. "I guess I'll end my turn."

"About time," Mai muttered. "All right then... I hate to lose life points, but I hate to know what you could do with those Germs more. So I'll play Amazoness Fighter in attack mode." A hologram of the bare-handed Amazon warrior appeared on Mai's side of the field, glaring defiantly at Bakura and his Germs. "And then I'll take care of your two monsters. Harpy Lady, Amazoness Warrior! Attack!"

The harpy and Amazoness circled the two biological monsters before moving in to attack. The Harpy lady grabbed the germ on the left hand side with it's talons while the warrior drove the right germ towards it with a flurry of kicks and punches. The Harpy Lady tossed one germ at the other, and they both exploded. A flurry of black orbs hit Mai, driving her life points down to 2500. "I'll set one card and end my turn."

Well... at least I'm ahead, Bakura thought, trying to be hopeful. However, he rejoiced inside when he saw his next card. "I summon Dark Necrofear in attack mode!" he announced. "And I have more than enough Fiend type monsters in my graveyard to do so." He removed two Giant Germs and a Headless Knight card he had discarded due to Card Destruction from his graveyard. In return, a haunting female form appeared on the field.

"Now, Dark Necrofear!" Bakura instructed his monster. "Attack the Amazoness Warrior!" The monster raised it's arm and unleashed a ray of dark energy. The warrior braced itself but was annihilated by the attack.

"All right then," Mai said, sighing as she moved the Amazoness card to her graveyard. "The Amazoness Warrior's effect is that I don't take any life point damage if she's destroyed in battle. My move?"

"Yes," Bakura said, a bit down because he had been expecting Mai's life points to be down to 1600 by now.

"All right then," Mai said as she drew a card. "First thing I'll do is play Harpy's Brother in attack mode!" A male harpy materialized on the field, looking every bit as ferocious as his sister. Bakura checked his stats. 1800/600 good, but still not enough to defeat Dark Necrofear.

"Is that all?" Bakura smirked.

"You wish," Mai said, grinning. "I'll reveal one of my face down cards, Cyber Bondage! Now, my Harpy Lady becomes the Cyber Harpy!" The Harpy Lady now wore metal armour, increasing it's attack points by 500. "And I'll play this Magic card, Instant Armoury*! It lets me search my deck for any Equip card and play it." Mai fanned out her deck and picked out one card, and laid it on the field.

"I'll play the Black Pendant. It increases my monster's attack by 700." A dark jewel appeared on the Cyber Harpy's forehead, and it's power shot up to 2500. "Now, Cyber Harpy! Dark Beam Attack!" A beam of dark energy shot from the jewel, tearing through Dark Necrofear. Bakura winced as his life points dropped down to 3700. That was my strongest monster.

Bakura would have quit right then and there, if not for Dark Necrofear's effect. "But now that you've destroyed it, it allows me to play the Field card Dark Sanctuary!" As Bakura played the Magic card from his deck, an inky red area filled the room. Dozens of giant eyes opened in the area, staring at the duel intently.

"Oh yeah... this card..." Joey said, grimacing.

Bakura grinned darkly as he drew his next card. "It's a whole new game now, Mai."

* * *

Unbeknownst to any of the duelists, something was happening just outside of the door of the arena. Two men and a woman met, and traded suspicious glances. All three wore black robes.

"I don't see any cameras around," the woman said.

"That's assuming they're big enough to be visible," a tall, thin man said.

"They are. I saw one in the cafeteria this morning," the other man said. His features seemed to be almost perfectly average. Fair skin, brown hair and eyes, not too short or tall, not too skinny or fat... if you stopped to think about it, he would have been creepy. But most people's eyes just passed right over him.

"Then nobody can see us?" the tall man asked warily.

"Nobody can see us," the perfectly average man said.

"All right," the woman said. "Traveler, do your stuff."

The man known as Traveler raised his right arm, the black bracelet on his wrist gleaming in the artificial light. The symbol on it-- three squares encased within each other-- glowed purple ass the bracelet detached itself from Traveler's wrist and floated out three feet, all on it's own violation.

And then the bracelet formed an arch shape, and began to grow. Soon enough, it was no longer a bracelet, but a door frame, holding a solid black door. The bracelet's symbol gleamed on the door. "This is your part, Ria."

The woman known as Ria grasped the door's large handle tightly. In her mind, she formed the image of her destination. Swirling sands, blistering heat... with a tug, the door opened into this place.

The trio stepped into the door frame, shutting it behind them. In reverse of what it had just done, the door turned back into a bracelet, attaching itself to the man known as Traveler's wrist once more.

The three looked around, blocking out the blinding sun with their hands. They dropped their cloaks, revealing outfits more suited to the heat. The average man's eyes focused firmly on the closest structure of any kind: an ancient pyramid.

A young Egyptian walked forward to greet the three. "Welcome back to Earth. I trust that everything has gone according to plan."

"Of course," the average man replied. "And the items are vulnerable?"

"Yes," the Egyptian said with a grin.

"Excellent," the woman known as Ria replied. The three began to approach the pyramid.

The Egyptian grabbed the man known as Traveler by the shoulder. "You will fulfill your end of the bargain," he breathed with a sudden malice.

"Of course we will, Marik," the average man said in a soothing tone. "Don't you trust us?"

* * *

Bakura is a very hard kid to read, Mai thought as she glanced across the duel field. When she had met him during Duelist Kingdom, he seemed quiet and reserved, though they hadn't really gotten to talk much. But during the battle with Yugi in the Battle City finals, he had been malicious and just plain creepy. And now, he was acting like an amateur duelist who was too hard on himself. Which one is the real Bakura?

She had forgotten about Dark Necrofear's ability. She had planned to attack with Harpy's Brother after his monster had been eliminated, but now her monster was probably possessed. Great. "I'll end my turn, I guess."

"Excellent," Bakura said giddily at his next draw. "I'll place two cards face down. Then I'll summon Sangan in defense mode. I have to sacrifice him to keep my Dark Sanctuary in play." No sooner had the small furry monster appeared, than it had vanished. "And when it goes to the graveyard, it lets me search my deck for another monster to replace it." Bakura did so, and reshuffled his deck. "Your turn, Mai."

I think he's slipping back into his creepy persona, Mai thought, looking at the somewhat sinister grin on Bakura's face. She knew that the two cards he had laid down were probably traps, but she didn't want to waste a turn. Besides, she had made that assumption before and lost because of it. "I'll play Amazoness' Pet Tiger in attack mode." The monster appeared, it's attack points displaying as 1500. "Now, I'll attack with it!"

The tiger charged forward, but instead of attacking, a haunting spirit shot out it's back instead. "You possessed my tiger?"

"Only because I knew you'd attack with it first, thinking I wouldn't," Bakura said with a grin. "Now you lose life points equal to half it's attack, and I gain that much." Bakura's life points went up to 4450, while Mai's went down to 1750. Ouch. He's slaughtering me here!

"Well if you're not possessing my Cyber Harpy..." Mai said. "Then I'll attack with her!"

"Then I'll activate my Trap card!" Bakura responded. "You may find it familiar. Mirror Wall!" Mai gasped. She had played that card in Duelist Kingdom, but took it out of her deck because of some errata that was issued in the tournament rules. I wonder if he knows about that... Still, reducing her harpy's attack points by half was no mean feat. She was now a mere 1250/1900.

"And now I'll activate another Trap," Bakura said, looking positively ecstatic. "Destiny Board!" The Ouija board appeared over the playing field, a spirit holding the first letter: 'F'. Mai wondered what Bakura was doing. One of his letters was still in the graveyard.

"I guess I'll end my turn," Mai responded.

"Now my Destiny Board finds another letter," Bakura announced. Sure enough, the marker on the board found the letter 'I', and a spirit displaying this quickly appeared.

"Whatever," Mai said, shrugging. "But you do know that you have to pay 2000 life points during your Standby phase or Mirror Wall is destroyed, right?"

"Of course," Bakura responded, as his life points were reduced to 2450. "But at the believe me, even with that restriction I have enough time to win this game." Mai was inclined to believe him. With the combination of Dark Sanctuary and Mirror Wall, his defenses were looking pretty impenetrable.

"And I'll play the Magic card Relearn. It lets me put a Magic card from my graveyard into my hand. So I'll return Spirit Message-N to my hand. And I'll play Earthbound Spirit, and sacrifice him to my Dark Sanctuary." Mai grimaced as the spirit appeared and disappeared, and Bakura moved a card from his graveyard to his hand. "Your turn... see if you can do anything, Mai."

It turned out she couldn't. But she realized that there was a flaw in Bakura's plan: he needed a turn of protection from Mirror Wall that he didn't have enough life points to pay for. She wasn't sure whether this was an actual shortcoming in his plan, or if he had a strategy to prevent it. "I'll set one card, and end my turn. Your move."

"Excellent," Bakura said, his dark grin growing wider. What's wrong with this kid? "Now my Destiny Board gets another letter, and I'll pay 2000 life points to Mirror Wall,." Now Bakura's life points were a mere 450, and the spirits spelt out the message "FIN." "Play Headless Knight. Sacrifice him to Dark Sanctuary. Set one face down card. Take your second last turn, Mai."

Mai grimaced as she drew her next card. All she was drawing were ways to power up her monster, or protect from enemy attacks. Neither of them were of any use at this moment. "I'll pass."

"What's wrong," Bakura taunted. "Can't do anything. Then I guess my Destiny Board gets it's penultimate letter!" A spirit appeared holding the letter 'A.' "At the start of my turn, I'll activate the Trap card Solomon's Lawbook. It lets me skip my Standby Phase this turn, so I don't have to pay any amount of life for my Mirror Wall. And now I'll play The Portrait's Secret, and sacrifice it to my Dark Sanctuary." Of course, Mai thought. Solomon's Lawbook. I'm screwed. The portrait monster appeared on the field and summarily vanished. "Take your last turn."

Mai wondered how she could get out of this one. Even if she managed to get rid of Mirror Wall, she still had the spirit of Dark Sanctuary to deal with. And with only one turn to go, she needed an answer. What was it Yugi and Joey always talked about... the heart of the cards... well whatever it is, I need it now.

She looked at the card she had drawn. Amazoness Chain Wielder. How will this... oh, yeah! "You've played well," Mai said, trying to be a good sport. "But it ends here. I'll play Amazoness Chain Wielder in attack mode!"

"So?" Bakura sneered.

"Now I'll activate my Trap card," Mai announced. "Expert Summoner*! It lets me summon an extra monster this turn. And I'll sacrifice my Amazoness Pet Tiger and Amazoness Chain Wielder to summon Harpy's Pet Dragon in attack mode!" The hologram of a dragon roared as it appeared on the field. Thanks to the two Harpies[1] in play, it's attack power was 2600.

"Another monster," Bakura said. "But again, how will that stop my Destiny Board?"

"You see, my Amazoness Chain Wielder has a special ability," Mai explained. "And that ability is that when she's put into the cemetery from play, I can take any card I want from your deck."

"But which-" Bakura's confusion melted into horror. "Spirit Message-L!"

"That's right," Mai said as she searched through Bakura's deck (brought to her by the transition compartment.) She took the Trap card and put it into your hand. "Which means that now I'll end my turn, but since that card isn't in your deck or hand, the Destiny Board won't get to complete it's message."

Any of the dark, cocky Bakura that had been there only a few moments ago was gone. The current Bakura looked shattered, shell-shocked by how close he had come to victory. There are puppies that would kill to have that look, Mai couldn't help but think.

"I can't pay any more life points to Mirror Wall, so it's destroyed," Bakura admitted mournfully. He seemed to be on the verge of tears. Mai felt sort of bad about what she had done, but inside she knew that Bakura wouldn't be happy if she hadn't given it her all. "And I'll concede."

"There was still some game left," Mai said comfortingly as she stepped down from the dueling console. "You still had your Dark Sanctuary out."

"No, I didn't have any more weak monsters in my hand to sacrifice to it," Bakura admitted. He looked up, and Mai saw something in his eyes. She thought it was a new determination, but really it was just darkness. "I'll be fine."

To be continued....

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Author's Notes:

Who will be the next to duel? Who are the mysterious trio, and what deal have they struck with Marik? And what will Bakura's dark side do now? Find out in the next chapter of Yu-Gi-Oh:Duelist of the Stars! Sorry, I just always wanted to do one of those... :p

Just in case you're wondering, I wrote this fic with only a cursory glance over manga spoilers about the end of Battle City. Therefore, some stuff may be wrong, like Ishizu still having the Millennium Necklace. I will update this once Battle City has finished here (or write an alternate ending to Battle City), but not before then.

Sorry if this chapter is a bit late in coming, but school has been hell lately, and my inspiration dried up there for a while. The next chapter will probably be a while, as I'm going to go back to working on my Digimon fic.

Review Responses (should have done this earlier, but was too lazy):

Sasami and Tsunami- Thanks! I tried to but a bit more description into this chapter, so if you see it I hope you like it.

Explosivo- Yeah, I've noticed a lot more dueling fics lately (although less so around Mediaminer than FF.net) Thanks.

Peter Kim-It was to my understanding that Odion was punished for using a counterfeit god card. Mai couldn't use Ra, however, but she didn't get hit by lightning. Yami has reason to believe that Joey could be able to use a God card. More on this in future chapters

[1]In the actual game, Harpy's Brother wouldn't power up Harpy's Pet Dragon (mostly because he wasn't a Harpy in the Japanese game), but it's flavourful for him to do so.

Original Cards:

Instant Armoury
Normal Magic
Search your deck for an Equip Magic card and equip it onto a monster in play.

Expert Summoner
Normal Trap
You may Normal Summon or Set an extra monster this turn.