Chapter FifteenThe Emperor’s Four, Part Four
I waited a few seconds, but my opponent didn’t seem ready to continue the duel. He seemed almost like he was lost in thought.
“You okay,” I asked, “or do I need to call an ambulance?”
My opponent said nothing.
“You really shouldn’t feel bad about losing your ‘Hero’ again,” I said. “After all, you really are too evil to be using ‘Hero’ cards anyway.”
I smiled, proud of myself, as my opponent’s face flashed anger yet again, his fists shaking.
“Oh, what,” I asked, “don’t like hearing the truth? Well too bad! That’s the truth. You work for a villain, and that makes you a villain too. Villains don’t deserve to use ‘Hero’ monsters.”
And suddenly it was like something snapped. My opponent jerked his head, turning to look right at me. His hood fell away from his face. He was just a kid, probably no older than Marco.
“I am not a villain!” he cried. “I can’t help what he makes me do. He’s too str-.”
He stopped talking, and looked around.
“It’s gone,” he said. “The pressure in my mind that keeps me doing what Emperor wants me to do. It’s gone! He isn’t influencing my actions anymore!”
He smiled and looked around, testing his feet and hands, taking deep breaths through his nose and mouth. I watched him, and I felt something that I hadn’t felt since I was a kid. I felt excitement for someone else, and it made me happy. It took a few minutes, but finally Zero remembered that I was there.
“You did this, didn’t you?” Zero asked. “All of those things you said to make me mad, you said them to get me to break free.”
I smiled, “You could say that. After all, I know better than anybody that anger is a strong emotion, and it’s one of the hardest to keep bottled in. But mostly I just like to piss people off. Now what do you say you cancel this annoying Shadow Game so I can go and kick Emperor’s ass?”
Zero’s face grew solemn. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but I can’t. Emperor gives us our shadow powers by transmitting his magic through these crystals,” he removed a clear crystal necklace from its place behind his t-shirt.
“We don’t control the power,” Zero explained further, “we only direct it. I can’t end this Shadow Game. That means one of us is going to die today,” Zero’s expression grew dark, “and it’s not going to be me.”
He drew, “I play ‘Blizzard Warrior’, I set a card, and I attack.”
‘Blizzard Warrior’, his dual-ended blade in hand, appeared and slashed me with his weapon (7900-1400=6500).
I looked into my opponent’s eyes and thought, I wanted to save this kid, and all I did was make things worse. Maybe I’m the real villain here.
Without a word, without another thought, I did the only thing I could do. I drew my next card.
Prof
“Sorry I waited so long to do anything,” I said, “but I was curious to see if you were smart enough to actually defeat me. In case you were wondering, you’re not.”
“Hey,” Brock roared, “I am too smart! I’m way more smarter than everyone, and I’m gonna prove it by crushin’ you next turn!”
“Sure you will, big guy,” I mocked, “sure you will. But in the meantime, I’m gonna kill your big stupid ass.
“I summon ‘Giant Kozaky’!” I declared, and the massive, tank-like, four-armed mech appeared. “But my mech won’t be under my control for long. I’m planning to hand it over to you. Don’t try to figure out why, it’ll just make your brain hurt. I play ‘Creature Swap’. I give you control of my ‘Giant Kozaky’, and in exchange I get control of your only monster, your ‘Flame Ogre’!”
“What?” Brock exclaimed. “Wait, no!”
“Oh yeah,” I replied as the two monsters switched sides. “I’m not done either,” I explained. “See, ‘Giant Kozaky’ can only exist if ‘Kozaky’ is around to maintain it. If my ‘Kozaky’ were to disappear, ‘Giant Kozaky’ would be destroyed. And when ‘Giant Kozaky’ is destroyed, its controller takes damage equal to its base Attack! I activate the Trap card ‘Spark Breaker’ to destroy ‘Kozaky’!”
A bolt of lightning struck ‘Kozaky’ and he was destroyed. It was a necessary sacrifice, one that my monster, like myself, was willing to make. As soon as ‘Kozaky’ was gone from the field, ‘Giant Kozaky’ exploded, blasting twenty-five hundred points worth of damaging fire at my opponent (6150-2500=3650).
“Now,” I said, “I equip ‘Flame Ogre’ with the Spell card ‘Megamorph’. Because I allowed you to drop my Life Points so low, this Spell activates, doubling the ‘Ogre’’s original Attack.”
A magic circle appeared at the ‘Ogre’’s feet, and the already large monster nearly doubled in size, his strength doubling with him (ATK: 3300->5700).
I smiled and said simply, “I attack.”
The massive monster swung his fist, striking his stunned former master.
“No!” Brock cried. “No! Emperor said I’d win! He promised!”
I watched, sympathetic, as my simple-minded opponent was swallowed by the Shadows, never to return.
Marco
“Spark,” I said, “you’re a little bit crazy. I feel kinda bad for you, gettin’ mixed up with Emperor. But you’re in our way. I have to beat you, even if it means calling on him.
“Sorry for this,” I said. Well, not really.
I closed my eyes and allowed the darkness within me to bubble over, and the familiar changes began.
Dark Marco
I opened my eyes and looked up at my opponent’s two monsters. I know I really should have been paying attention to Marco’s whole duel, but the kid just plain bores me, so this was the first time in a couple turns that I saw the state of the field.
I smiled.
“Dark One!” Spark cried, and immediately it clicked that this guy wasn’t quite right in the head.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said for the freaking umpteenth time in my lifetime (you don’t get a lot of people that recognize beings like me, but when you do, they all react in one way or another), “I’m Marco’s so called dark side. So what? I’m still gonna kick your ass, same as if I weren’t. Better even.
“Watch and learn,” I continued. “I begin by activating Marco’s face-down Trap card ‘Disappear’. This lets me remove one of Marco’s pitiful ‘Troop Dragons’ from play, making the number of monsters in our Graveyard exactly equal three. I follow up by paying one thousand Life Points to change the Attributes of those monsters to Dark with ‘DNA Alteration’ (2800-1000=1800).”
My smile returned, even wider now.
“Now, because I have exactly three Dark monsters in the Graveyard, I can summon my Spirit,” a swirling black fire rose up behind me, and the armored black dragon emerged from it, gnashing his teeth and flexing his claws, “the ‘Dark Armed Dragon’ (ATK: 2800)!”
I watched the fear spread across my opponent’s face. It made me giddy.
“I remove all three of the Dark monsters in our Graveyard from play to destroy your dragons and your sky temple.”
‘Dark Armed Dragon’ spun his arms in black fire and flung it in three bursts. The two ‘Goryus’ shattered like glass, and the ‘Sanctuary in the Sky’ exploded. Within moments we were “back” in the corridor deep underground.
My opponent summoned up a bit of his absentee courage. “I still have all of my Life Points,” he declared. “I’ll survive because I’m destined to survive.”
“Yeah, right, and I’m destined to paint myself red and dance the naked mambo,” I snapped sardonically. “Really, guy, can you please not be a typical sore loser? It really annoys me.”
I paused for a response, but Spark was too frozen by something between defiance and fear to respond.
“Well, anyway, on with the show. I reveal ‘Return from the Different Dimension’, paying half of my Life to summon Marco’s four monsters that were removed from play.
The sky behind me opened up, and out stepped the three useless ‘Troop Dragons’, which fell into defense mode, and ‘Dragonic Knight’ (ATK: 2800).
Spark smiled, “It’s still not enough.”
“Oh,” I said, “yes it is, because I equip my ‘Dark Armed Dragon’ with ‘United We Stand’, increasing the Attack of my dragon for every monster I control.”
The dark dragon roared and his power grew (2800+(800x5)=6800).
“‘Dragonic Knight’ attacks,” I commanded, and the armored warrior dragon slashed with his sword, carving a bloody gash across Spark’s chest, contributing to my good mood (8000-2800=5200).
“And the ‘Dark Armed Dragon’ finishes it.”
The black dragon wound his arms in black fire and swiped at my opponent. Spark was ripped apart, becoming little more than wisps of smoke, his screams echoing in the darkness.
Rocky
I looked up at the eighteen flames hanging overhead. One more turn. After my Draw Phase, when the nineteenth flames appeared, I’d have just that one more turn before the twentieth would appear and I would die. I had a partial plan in place, but as low as my opponent’s Life Points were, I still needed a solid monster to finish him off. I had a monster in mind, and fortunately for me, it was the one monster in my deck that seemed to pop up whenever I needed it.
I steeled myself up and drew, and I didn’t even try to hide my excitement. Everything had fallen neatly into place, just as I’d planned it.
“This duel is over C.D.,” I said, “you lose.”
“Not possible,” C.D. replied dismissively.
“Sorry,” I replied, “but you’re wrong. Just because I can’t attack, it doesn’t mean you’re invulnerable. See, there’s more than one way to remove monsters from the field. I flip-summon ‘Guardian Sphinx’!”
A massive sphinx appeared behind me, his eyes glowing red, his head scraping the high ceiling (ATK: 1700).
“When ‘Guardian Sphinx’ is flip-summoned,” I explained, “every monster my opponent controls is returned to my opponent’s hand.”
“No!” my opponent cried as the three sorceresses faded in a burst of red light.
“Next,” I said, “I tribute ‘Guardian Sphinx’ to summon my Soul card,” The golden stone statue appeared in the place of the ‘Guardian Sphinx’, “Exxod, Master of the Guard’ (ATK: 0). I also flip-summon my last face-down monster, my ‘Great Spirit’. And when a monster is flip-summoned, ‘Exxod’’s effect activates, dealing you one thousand points of damage.”
A muscular, mostly-humanoid monster appeared. He wore body paint and Native-American-style head dressings, and he had a ghostly tail like a genie (ATK: 500). ‘Exxod’’s eyes flashed, and C.D. was hit by a blast of red light, which was deflected by a barrier.
“You know,” C.D. said, “when you cleared the field of my monsters, I really expected you to attack. Lucky for me, you stuck to your effect damage strategy. Did you honestly think I wouldn’t have a way to counter an effect damage strategy? After all, it is the only kind of strategy that can hurt me.
“I discard ‘Hanewata’,” he declared, “preventing all effect damage that you would inflict on me this turn.”
“Who said I was planning to burn you to death?” I asked. “I plan to attack.”
“Not with those monsters you won’t.”
“Wrong,” I countered. “My ‘Great Spirit’ has an effect as well. When he’s flip-summoned, I can exchange the Attack and Defense of one of my monsters.”
An aura surrounded ‘Exxod’, and to my opponent’s unpleasant surprise, the massive statue came to life, flexing his massive arms (ATK: 0->4000).
“Well,” said C.D., “that’s pretty bad, huh?”
I nodded, “Yeah. ‘Exxod’, attack!”
‘Exxod’ swung his mighty fist right at my opponent. To C.D.’s credit, he didn’t flinch, he didn’t cry out, and he didn’t complain. The attack hit and C.D.’s Life Points plummeted (3000-4000=0). My monster retracted his fist and disappeared, the nineteen flames going with him, leaving nothing of C.D. behind, save a puff of smoke.
Rachel
I felt bad for my opponent, but I still had to win. Tim’s life was on the line, and there was nothing in the world that I cared more about than that.
“I play ‘Pot of Avarice’,” I declared, “shuffling ‘Cross-Wing’, ‘Rock-Lizard’, ‘Chimera’, ‘Berfamet’, and ‘Gazelle’ back into my deck to draw two cards.”
I shuffled and drew, carrying on with my turn without hesitation, “Next, I play ‘Monster Reborn’ to revive my ‘Machine King Barbaros’ in attack mode!”
A glowing red ankh appeared, blossoming into the mighty beast, his guns held at the ready.
I can’t hesitate. After all, if I do, I might remember that I’m trying to kill a kid.
“Normally my monster’s power prevents him from damaging your Life Points,” I explained, “but I play ‘Forbidden Chalice’. This Spell increases the Attack of my monster by four hundred (3800+400=4200) and cancels his effect for the remainder of the turn. I attack ‘Blizzard Warrior’,” ‘Barbaros’ took aim, “Flashing Destructive Bullet!”
‘Barbaros’ unleashed a hellfire of destructive beams, blowing the ‘Blizzard Warrior’ away in an instant and striking Zero himself with all of the extraneous blasts, nearly knocking him over (7500+1400-4200=4700). Zero steadied himself.
“Reveal,” I continued, “the Trap card ‘Lifeforce Exchange’. I trade the Level Eight Beast-Warrior-type ‘Machine King Barbaros’ on the field with the Level Eight Beast-Warrior-type ‘Beast King Barbaros’ in my Graveyard.”
‘Barbaros’’ metallic armor fell away from his body, and he dropped his beam guns, his lance and shield appearing in his hands (ATK: 3000).
“I attack again,” ‘Barbaros’ thrust his lance, “Deadly Legion!”
The air shook and zero was thrown backward through the air (4700-3000=1700). He rose to his feet again, a thoughtful look in his eyes. After a few minutes, Zero finally looked up at me, looking me in the eyes, and said, “I play ‘Fusion Sage’ to search my deck for ‘Polymerization’.”
He fanned out his deck and chose his card.
“And I play it,” Zero continued, “fusing once again into ‘Absolute Zero’.”
For the last time, the icy warrior appeared, his cape fluttering behind him.
“I attack,” said Zero, “and reveal ‘DNA Transplant’, transforming the Attribute of your monster to Water and boosting my ‘Hero’’s power. Now our monsters are equal.”
‘Barbaros’ struck with the full force of his lance, just as he was slashed in two by the ‘Hero’’s attack. They were both destroyed. I was shocked. Zero spoke calmly, “I end my turn.”
I stared at my opponent, confounded. “But why?” I asked. “If you’d defended you would have survived, and maybe even made a counterattack next turn.”
And that’s when I saw it, a single tear running down my young opponent’s cheek. “Promise me,” he said. “Promise me that you’ll make him pay.”
He looked me in the eyes, “Promise me that Emperor will pay for all that he did to me, and all that he made me do.”
I nodded, “I promise.”
Zero nodded back and smiled, and I smiled back at him sadly.
“I draw,” I declared, “and summon ‘Phantom Beast Wild-Horn’.” The deer-like beast warrior appeared, his blade raised high (ATK: 1700).
“I attack,” I commanded. My monster charged, and I looked away as he ran my opponent through. It took me a minute to realize that I was crying.
Card of the Day:
Elemental HERO Absolute Zero
Played by: Zero
In honor of Zero, who wasn't really such a bad guy.
Original Cards in This Chapter:
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