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Chapter Eight
Marco
Prof was just out the door of Greg's office when something occurred to me. I caught up with him, calling, “Wait a minute. Something’s not making sense. If a Soul is the only thing that can resist the power of the Shadow Millennium Items, why not just ask some other members of the Duel Force for help? Some members, like Max, would be really hard to find, but John hasn’t left for school yet, and there’s always Sarah and the others. Any of them would be willing and able to help.”
“Rocky,” Prof answered, “don’t you see? My equations were correct after all! Even I was beginning to believe that I was wrong, but now I’m sure!”
“Are you talking about the equations that predicted the rise of Emperor?” I asked, confused.
“No Rocky,” Prof replied. “Along with that prediction came another. It was the most beautiful set of numerical formulae that I’ve ever seen. So perfect that I didn’t dare believe it entirely, since it bordered on miraculous. That prediction was that you would be needed, but it was also more than that. It told me that the Shadow Millennium Items would come into play. This was something that I thought impossible, you see. More so, it told me that you, and only you, would be able to stop the man who united the Items. Again, seemingly impossible. But now everything else has come true, and I’m sure. You are the key. Somehow, you are the only one with the power to defeat Emperor. You and only you.”
“So when Emperor appears,” I guessed, “I’ll beat him?”
“Oh, of course not,” said Prof. “You can defeat him. That doesn’t mean you will. Your chances would still be very slim.”
“Wow, you really know how to make a guy feel better.”
“Don’t worry,” Prof replied encouragingly. “Thanks to my calculations Greg has sent Team One to find and gather the Shadow Millennium Items. Team One is made up of the Elite’s strongest. They’ll succeed.”
“Is Team One really that strong?” I wondered.
“Oh yes,” said Prof. “Any one member of Team One could fight you and I to a standstill. There’s no need to worry. Now, we’re all tired. I’m gonna get some rest. You should too.”
Prof gave me a supportive slap on the shoulder and walked away, leaving my head spinning, full of questions, but still leaving me feeling more confident than before. So I decided to take Prof’s advice and get some sleep. I walked to my room, fell heavily onto the bunk, and passed out.
I woke suddenly to the sound of alarms blaring, echoing throughout the cavernous chambers of Elite HQ. I jumped up. Prof had told me about the alarms. They meant that an intruder was present within HQ. He’d also told me that the alarms had never gone off before, because no one had ever broken in before, but Greg kept the magical alarms on at all times, because infiltration of the compound could easily mean the end of us if it was an attack. The Elite was made of Duelists with greater skill than those in the Order, but the Order had strength of numbers far greater than the Elite could ever hope to muster. I was still fully dressed and wearing my Duel Disk, so I jumped up and ran, my Disk transforming almost instantly into the Shield Duel Disk.
As soon as I was out of my room I looked around. I didn’t see anything. I ran down the corridor and turned the corner into the Duel Room. A crowd was present near the far end of the room, facing the corridor to the led to the concealed landing strip/runway above. I pushed my way through the crowd and found Charlie, Prof and Rachel and about another dozen Duelists all with their Duel Disks out and ready facing a boy of about eleven or twelve with dark, olive-colored skin and bushy black hair. He wore an olive green long-sleeved t-shirt with a maroon stripe across the chest and navy blue jeans. He also wore a Duel Disk, but he carried it at his side, deactivated and non-threatening.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Charlie was the one who answered, “We have an intruder, but he claims that he’s not here to fight. In fact, he claims that he’s here to help.”
“I am,” the boy said, a bit pleadingly. Despite his age his voice conveyed an edge of maturity beyond his years. “I’ve seen what the Order can do myself, and I want to help fight them.”
That’s when Greg appeared. The crowd of Duelists parted, and he was there, emerging intimidatingly from within it. “What proof do you bring to back up your claim?” he asked, crossing his arms. Two more figures emerged from the crowd behind him. One was an average-looking young man with brown hair. The other was a tall, strongly-built man with short blond hair who dwarfed even Greg himself. I recognized them as Marcus and Raphael, Elite special agents, and the most experienced members behind Greg and Tim. They were both incredibly strong and well-versed in Shadow Magic. They’d used to branch out and infiltrate the Order’s ranks, relaying information back to the Elite. Prof had told me that, with the Order’s ranks thinning, Marcus and Raphael had been recalled. Now they acted as Greg’s personal and often-unseen bodyguards.
“I have no proof,” the boy said, “but I know you guys have lots of types of Shadow Games at your disposal. I know you can use one type to test a person's heart and tell if someone is lying. Test me in one of those Shadow Games and see for yourselves.” He looked right at Greg, one of the most intimidating people I’ve ever known even to this day, looked right into his eyes without so much as flinching. There was a fire in the boy’s eyes.
Greg seemed about to speak when Charlie beat him to it, “I’ll test you. I’ll test the sincerity of your heart with the power of my Shadow Item.”
The boy nodded ad turned to face Charlie, “The name’s Marco.” He activated his Duel Disk, “Be ready. I don’t have a Shadow Item, but I can be pretty dangerous in my own way. So just be on guard.”
I wasn’t sure, but Marco sounded almost like he was worried, not for himself, but for Charlie. At the time I didn’t think anything of it.
Charlie reached into his pocket and pulled out an ancient-looking coin made of dark gray metal. A silver eye was etched into one side. His Shadow Item. It glowed with a faint light, and the Shadow Game began. Not a deadly Shadow Game, but one capable of divining the truth.
“I’ll start things off,” said Charlie. “I place one card face-down and summon ‘The Six Samurai – Yaichi’ in attack mode.”
A man in sturdy, full-body samurai-style armor appeared, a bow in hand and arrows in a quiver on his back (ATK: 1300).
“I equip my monster with the powerful ‘Legendary Ebon Steed’, giving him an additional two hundred Attack.”
A large black horse in black armor appeared at the samurai’s side. The samurai archer climbed onto the horse’s back (1300+200=1500).
“I end my turn,” said Charlie. I was a bit surprised by the simplicity of his move. He didn’t strike me as a simple person.
“My turn then,” said Marco. He looked determined and a little bit nervous. “I summon ‘Masked Dragon’ in defense mode.”
A red dragon with a low stance and broad gray wings and a gray face like a mask appeared on Marco’s field at his side. It crossed its strong arms over its chest, taking up a defensive stance (DEF: 1200).
“I set a card and pass,” Marco concluded.
These guys are both good, I realized. They’re keeping their plays simple and feeling each other out while building up their strategies. It’s impressive. You’d expect someone as young as Marco to be more reckless.
Charlie saw what I saw, “So it looks like we’re both building up to something bigger. Let’s see who can complete their strategy fastest, shall we? Not to sound arrogant, but I think it’ll be me. How will you handle my combos? Let’s find out. I summon ‘The Six Samurai – Irou’, which means I have two ‘Six Samurai’ monsters with different names in play. That unlocks the effects of my monsters.”
A tall man in black armor with long black hair wearing a visor and a tattered black cloak across one shoulder appeared, wielding a long black-bladed sword (ATK: 1700). As soon as he appeared he was ringed in a black light purple aura and his armor began to glow with the same light. At the same time, ‘Yaichi’’s armor lit up yellow, and he was ringed in a yellow light. Their effects had been activated.
“I use ‘Yaichi’’s effect,” Charlie declared. “Instead of attacking, he can destroy one Spell or Trap card on the field.”
‘Yaichi’ notched and arrow and let it fly, piercing and destroying Marco’s face-down card. I watched him discard it, the Trap card ‘Negate Attack’.
“Now I attack,” Charlie commanded, “with ‘The Six Samurai – Irou’.”
The black swordsman struck down the dragon.
“You were confident that your combo would be completed first,” said Marco, “but you were wrong. My monster has an ability too. When ‘Masked Dragon’ is destroyed by battle, I get to summon any dragon with less than fifteen hundred attack from my deck. A dragon like ‘Armed Dragon LV3’!”
A small dragon with an oversized head and massive lower jaw, its body covered in stubby spikes, appeared at Marco’s side (ATK: 1300).
“I set a second card,” said Charlie, “and I end my turn.”
Marco smiled, “Good, I was tired of waiting. At the beginning of my turn, my dragon levels up to Level Five.”
The small dragon grew until it towered over the two samurai. Its back and the outsides of its arms became a bright red-orange color, and its stubby spikes grew into drill bits and blades of various sizes (ATK: 2400).
“Next up,” Marco continued, “I play ‘Level Up!!’, increasing the level of my monster yet again, to Level Seven!”
The dragon grew larger yet again, its skin hardening into armor-like plates. Its various blades and other sharp appendages grew longer and more dangerous-looking. The dragon roared (ATK: 2800).
“I can discard a monster,” Marco explained, “to give my ‘Armed Dragon LV7’ the power to destroy every opposing monster that’s weaker than the one I discarded!”
As he spoke, Marco sent the powerful ‘Dragonic Knight’ to the Graveyard from his hand, and the ‘Armed Dragon’ wound up his bladed arms in fire, swiping across Charlie’s field. Charlie seemed less than impressed. The ‘Armed Dragon’’s claws gouged the ground, throwing a cloud of dust and debris into the air, obscuring Charlie and his field from view. When the dust settled only ‘Yaichi’ remained, minus the black steed.
“When a monster equipped with ‘Legendary Ebon Steed’ is an instant from sustaining fatal damage,” Charlie explained, “the valiant steed takes the hit in place of his master.”
“Then I’ll defeat your archer in a more conventional way,” said Marco. “My dragon attacks.”
‘Armed Dragon’ slashed, reducing ‘Yaichi’ to pieces (8000+1300-2800=6500).
“I place two cards face-down and end my turn.”
I’m impressed, I thought. This kid has almost completely seized the field in only his second turn.
I looked over at Charlie. Behind his focused expression he looked impressed as well, but being a good gamer he wasn’t showing it. I would’ve thought the look meant he was worried, but I’d heard what people said about Charlie. He was an expert strategist. If the rumors were true, he would have something planned to turn everything around.
“At the end of your turn,” Charlie announced, “I reveal the Continuous Trap ‘Swiftstrike Armor’. Now if I draw a ‘Six Samurai’ monster in my draw phase, I can Special Summon it immediately by revealing it to you. I draw,” he pulled his card and revealed it. “I drew ‘The Six Samurai – Yariza’. I summon him now with my Trap card’s effect.”
Yet another samurai appeared, carrying a spear which he twirled elaborately (ATK: 1000).
“Next,” said Charlie, “I play ‘Graceful Charity’ to draw three cards,” he drew, and his face lit up almost imperceptibly, “and discard two cards. I follow that with the Spell card ‘Card of Sanctity’. We each draw until we hold six cards.”
Charlie refilled his hand and continued without hesitation.
“I Normal Summon ‘The Six Samurai – Nasashi’,” Charlie declared, and a second samurai carrying two mid-length blades appeared (ATK: 1400). “Just like before, this activates my monsters’ effects.”
‘Nasashi’ lit up with a green light, and ‘Yariza’ was surrounded by a blue light.
“Also,” said Charlie, “because I control two different ‘Six Samurai’ monsters, I can call forth the leader of the ‘Six Samurai’ forces,” a man wearing the armor of a samurai shogun, colored red, with a flame painted on the chest and a flame crest on his helmet appeared wearing a violet cape, “the ‘Great Shogun Shien’ (ATK: 2500)!”
‘Shien’ drew his katana and stood ready to strike. I saw a look of excitement on Charlie’s normally stoic face, and I realized that this was his favorite monster.
“While I control ‘Shien’,” Charlie explained, “you can only activate one Spell or Trap card each turn. I, however, am faced with no such limit. I play two Spell cards, the Equip Spell card ‘Fusion Sword Murasame Blade’, and the Field Spell card ‘Shien’s Castle of Mist’.”
‘Shien’’s sword grew straighter and the armor on his arm grew over his hand and joined with the blade (ATK: 2500+800=3300). Meanwhile a thick wall of mist faded into existence behind Charlie. Spectators parted as an ancient Japanese palace rose from the mist, towering over the field. The mist crawled forward, billowing out and around Charlie and his monsters. As I watched, the three samurai seemed to fade into the mist, becoming little more than shadows.
“I place another card face-down,” Charlie declared, “and ‘Shien’ attacks your ‘Armed Dragon’.”
As Charlie spoke, the shogun sprung forward from within the mist and decapitated the dragon with one solid swing of his blade (8000+2800-3300=7500).
“Now my other samurai attack directly,” Charlie explained. “‘Nasashi’’s effect allows him to attack twice in the same turn, essentially doubling his offensive power.”
‘Nasashi’ and ‘Yariza’ sprung from within the mist and slashed Marco across the chest in unison (7500-(1400x2)-1000=3700). Then all three samurai receded into the mist once again.
“Your monster has been defeated,” said Charlie, “and I control the mighty samurai lord ‘Shien’. Also, any monster that you summon will have to attack through the veil of the mist, cutting its attack by five hundred during the Damage Step. You are at the ultimate disadvantage as I end my turn.”
It seemed like Charlie would win this for sure. His strategy was superb, leaving little room for a counterattack, but Marco possessed a power that, to this day, is one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen. A power that easily rivals any I’ve ever faced. A power that resonated not from a Shadow Item, but from deep within Marco himself.
“It’s a shame that I can’t win without calling on him,” said Marco, “but I guess you all do deserve to see this before you make your decision about me. Or should I say us. But first, as your turn ends, I reveal ‘DNA Alteration’, paying one thousand Life Points and declaring an attribute (3700-1000=2700). While I control this card, all monsters in both Graveyards become monsters of the selected attribute. The attribute I choose is Dark.
“Now prepare yourself agent of the Elite,” Marco warned Charlie, sounding worried for his opponent as he had before, “because the other me isn’t as nice as I am.”
He raised his Duel Disk above his head, and it burned with a dark power. That power poured over him, and I watched in awe as he began to change. His black hair billowed upward, as if caught in an updraft. Color drained from his black hair until it was ash white with black highlights throughout and it stuck up in spikes. His eyes glinted fiercely and his lips curled into a wicked grin.
“It’s a Yami!” cried one of the spectators, and suddenly everyone was on guard, including me. I could sense immediately how dangerous this guy was, and I didn’t like it.
“Yeah yeah,” said Marco, his voice deeper with a harsher edge than before, “I’m the manifestation of Marco’s dark side, which makes me what you all would call a Yami. But I’m not like other so-called Yamis.” He looked seriously right into Charlie’s eyes, “The other Marco and I have an understanding. We both hate the Order, he because they are evil, and I because they’ve used me and they threaten my power. So years ago, when we escaped the Order, or I should say I escaped the Order using his body, we made a sacred pact to work together. Now I surface when Marco needs me, since I’m the only one with the power to draw and summon our true Spirit Monster during a Shadow Game.”
He drew, “I play ‘Soul Release’ to remove Marco’s ‘Dragonic Knight’ and ‘Masked Dragon’ in our Graveyard from play, leaving only three monsters in our Graveyard. Three Dark monsters thanks to ‘DNA Alteration’. This lets me Special Summon our Spirit, ‘Dark Armed Dragon’!”
Dark Marco placed a card on his Duel Disk. The card burned with a dark light. A pillar of dark fire rose from the ground, and from it emerged a fierce black and silver duplicate of the ‘Armed Dragon LV7’. It spread wide its massive arms and roared (ATK: 2800).
“I remove a Dark monster in my Graveyard from play,” Dark Marco declared, “a monster like Marco’s ‘Armed Dragon LV3’, to destroy ‘Shien’.”
‘Dark Armed Dragon’ spun his claws in black fire, which he flung right at ‘Shien’, parting the mist along its path, but a moment before ‘Shien’ would have been incinerated, ‘Yariza’ jumped in the way of the flame and took the hit. Marco didn’t look surprised. After all the ability of ‘Six Samurai’ monsters to sacrifice themselves for each other is their best known power.
“Your ‘Shien’ isn’t safe yet,” said Dark Marco. “I remove ‘Armed Dragon LV5’ from play as well, activating my monster’s effect again.”
‘Dark Armed Dragon’ released another burst of fire, this time intercepted by the dual-wielding ‘Nasashi’.
“And one more time,” Dark Marco commanded, his face alight with a hunger for battle. ‘Dark Armed Dragon’ unleashed its attack again, this time hitting its mark. ‘Shien’, the last monster under Charlie’s control, was incinerated.
“I play the Spell card ‘Dimension Fusion’,” Dark Marco continued, “paying two thousand of my Life Points (2700-2000=700) to summon four of my monsters that are removed from play.” The air above Marco’s head opened, and four monsters emerged, “I summon ‘Masked Dragon’, ‘Armed Dragon LV3’, ‘Armed Dragon LV5’, and ‘Dragonic Knight’ in attack mode!”
The weaker ‘Masked Dragon’ and ‘Armed Dragon LV3’ emerged at Dark Marco’s side. ‘Armed Dragon LV5’ appeared alongside his larger, considerably more evil-looking counterpart. Beside the two massive forms appeared a fierce Dragonic warrior in coral-colored armor, carrying a sword and shield (ATK: 2800). The new arrivals roared, and ‘Dragonic Knight’ brandished his sword.
“I attack with all of my dragons,” Dark Marco declared. The dragons attacked as one, releasing various energy blades and flames in a swirling tornado of hellish destruction. It looked like Charlie had lost, until…
“Reveal,” Charlie commanded, a confident smile playing across his lips, “the Trap card ‘Backs to the Wall’. I pay all but one hundred of my Life Points (6500 -> 100) to summon back five ‘Six Samurai’ monsters from my Graveyard in defense mode.”
‘Irou’, ‘Yaichi’, ‘Yariza’ and ‘Nasashi’ appeared in a flash of light alongside a new monster, ‘The Six Samurai – Zanji’, a samurai with a blade-ended staff whose armor glowed with an orange light (DEF: 1300) who must have been discarded via the effect of ‘Graceful Charity’ earlier in the duel. The five monsters stepped back, forming a human shield that absorbed all of Dark Marco’s attacks. They were all five destroyed, but Charlie was safe for the time being.
“So,” said Dark Marco, “you managed to hang on. If that’s the case, I’ll protect my weaker monsters by equipping my ‘Dark Armed Dragon’ with the Equip Spell ‘Raregold Armor’. Now you have to go through my strongest monster before you can even attack the others.”
The silvery parts of ‘Dark Armed Dragon’’s armory skin turned gold.
“Not that it matters,” said Charlie. “Now get ready, because it’s my move. I draw.”
He pulled his card, and he selected a card from his hand.
“I play ‘Pot of Greed’,” he declared, drawing two cards, “and I follow that up with the Spell cards ‘Six Samurai United’ and ‘Gateway of the Six’.
The mist leading up to the front of Charlie’s castle thinned enough to reveal a circular gate situated there. It seemed to come alive, glowing the same way that the samurai did when their effects came to life.
“I summon ‘Hand of the Six Samurai’,” a young woman in a blue cloak and a white hood appeared, carrying a knife (ATK: 1600), “and I remove two ‘Six Samurai’ monsters in my Graveyard from play to Special Summon ‘Enishi, Shien's Chancellor’,” an elderly man with graying black hair and a graying beard appeared, wearing a green vest, his sword at his waste (ATK: 2200). “Now, because two ‘Six Samurai’ monsters have been summoned,” Charlie explained, “I can send ‘Six Samurai United’ to the Graveyard to draw two more cards.”
He drew again and continued.
“From my hand I Special Summon ‘Grandmaster of the Six Samurai’!”
A second elderly samurai appeared wearing weathered armor, his sword drawn (ATK: 2300).
“And now that three ‘Six Samurai’ monsters have been summoned,” Charlie declared, “I can activate the effect of ‘Gateway of the Six’, summoning ‘Shien’ back from the Grave.”
The gate behind Charlie opened. Standing in the open gateway, with his arms crossed defiantly, was ‘Shien’. He stepped forward, joining his allies, and drew his blade (ATK: 2500).
“This duel is over,” said Charlie, “as soon as I play this, ‘Gift of the Martyr’! I tribute ‘Enishi’ to increase the attack of ‘Shien’ by twenty-two hundred, an amount equal to ‘Enishi’’s Attack!”
‘Enishi’ disappeared, and ‘Shien’ burned with a fiery aura as his power rose (ATK: 2500+2200=4700).
“‘Shien’ attacks your ‘Dark Armed Dragon’, Bushido Master Slash!”
‘Shien’ swung his sword, unleashing an energy blade that tore through the ground, gouging a path all the way to the dragon, gouging him across the chest. The dragon roared in pain and split in half (700+2800-4700=0).
The shockwave from the destruction of the ‘Dark Armed Dragon’ knocked Dark Marco onto his back. The remaining monsters and holographic effects disappeared as he sat up, his hair darkening and falling back into place. He was Marco again. Charlie walked over to Marco and helped him up. He shook Marco’s hand, “You had me worried there for a second, but you check out. Both of you.”
“And you’re strong,” said Greg, “and since you already know where we are, you might as well stay. Welcome, Marco, to the Duelists Elite.”
Card of the Day:
Backs to the Wall
Played by: Charlie
Charlie is a heck of a Duelist, and he plays a lot of great cards in this duel, but Marco had him on the ropes until he played this game-breaking card. It may be risky, but the payoff is more than worth it to a Duelist as powerful and precise as Charlie.
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