Yu-Gi-Oh! DE/DA Crossover Special!: A Threat To Us All - Chapter Six

Turns out that the monster of this story is a bit smarter than the characters thought. Who knew? Well, I mean, I knew. I write this after all. Either way, we get the start of the battle here, finally, only halfway through the special. I wanted it to feel almost epic in scale, but with card games, like something out of Lord of the Rings, with heroes fighting against overwhelming odds with almost no support, in pursuit of a nearly impossible victory. But with card games.



Chapter Six

Everything Goes Wrong

We arrived on the surface in only a few minutes, emerging into a wide trench cut into the mountaintop. The creature hung menacingly overhead, undulating violently, reminding me of a serpent preparing to strike. I could feel its thoughts. It was frustrated, determined, angry, disgruntled, and a dozen other things all at once. It seemed that every single aspect of the creature was feeling something slightly different, but they all seemed to share one common emotion: their desire to get to me.

"Alright everyone," said Rachel, "let's go to work."

The various members of her team, including, for the time being, Kimi, stepped forward as one. Thomas and Ria followed close behind. I saw a shimmer as the fox-like genie 'Flame Spirit Ignis' appeared in spirit form at Thomas' side, ready to share his power. Karen stepped up behind Rocky and placed her hand on his shoulder, her Soul shimmering, prepared to lend Rocky her strength. Rocky's Soul glowed brighter than I'd ever seen any one Soul glow before, and his seal-like barriers appeared again, this time with a curvature to them. They moved toward the creature, threatening to ensnare it completely in a sphere of light.

I felt my own Shadow Millennium Item come to life as I focused my power on the Item which Marco carried in his hand. I couldn't see the energy from the various Shadow Millennium Items pooling in Marco's Item, but I could feel it. He stepped forward, ahead of the rest of us, his hair standing straight up, draining of color, and with a flash he pulled a card from his deck, but he stopped suddenly when, just as the seals came together around the creature, it seemed to explode outward. Dozens and dozens of tendrils shot off of the swirling core of the dark creature, reducing its mass considerably, forcing the seals back long enough for the tendrils, now separate from the creature, to plunge to the ground, forming a thick hanging fog of darkness all around us. From the darkness emerged a tall, shadowy, almost-featureless humanoid form for each tendril, surrounding us completely, each of them wielding an equally featureless Duel Disk filled with cards which seemed to be made of mostly-solid darkness, rather than paper.

The battle began almost immediately. Marco's hair fell back into place, turning black once again, and he drew five more cards as his allies, save Karen and Marcus, and I, each drew six. Karen removed her hand from Rocky's shoulder, and the shadow creatures stepped forward.

Rocky

I turned myself to face one of the humanoid things. They were still a part of the Core Creature, which swirled overhead, even if they weren't visibly connected to it. Once again our plan had failed. Once again the creature had broken itself up to avoid our killing attack, except that this time, it had come up with a way to divide us as well. With the failure of our Plan A, we were left with just one possibility to fall back upon: John, defeating the Core Creature in a Shadow Game.

"Hold them off!" I called. Then to Karen, I said, "Stay behind me."

I didn't notice however, that one of the shadow things had already summoned a sort of shadowy ghost and sent it past me to attack the unarmed Karen. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Karen's Soul glow, and a construct of the sorceress 'Dark Magician Girl' appeared, blasting the ghost apart with a bolt of light from her wand, and then charged toward the attacking creature with Karen at her side.

"Never mind," I said to myself as John stepped forward, bravely (or stupidly, you can never tell with John) approaching the Core Creature, his hands casually in his pockets as if he were out for a stroll, and I turned to face another of the lesser creatures. I set two cards and a monster, and I waited (LP: 4000).

It attacked, and I reacted.

My hidden monster, the colorful 'Stone Statue of the Aztecs', appeared first, wreathed in red light. My opponent's monster, a creature made of wispy shadows, just as featureless as its master save for black armor and a black sword, which it held in both hands, charged the 'Statue', its blade raised. There was no Attack Point display, and the card itself was too dark to read, so I had no idea how strong the enemy monster might be, but I was willing to bet that it couldn't survive what I had planned.

"Reveal," I announced, "'The Reliable Guardian' and 'Cross Counter'!"

The Shadow Warrior's sword caught on the red barrier around my monster, and the red barrier exploded outward, engulfing the warrior and his master, blasting them both apart. The Shadow Creature became darkness, and melted back into the darkness from which he's emerged, but it was just then that I noticed two things which made my life even more difficult: that upon its death, the Shadow Warrior had left a Wisp of Darkness in its place, even after its owner had fallen, and that that Shadow Creature hadn't been the only one to step up to face me. In the very same turn, a second Creature tributed that Wisp, summoning a huge beastly Shadow Monster with very corporeal-looking black claws and teeth, and the Behemoth lunged.

Rachel

The Shadow Creatures acted quickly. As I drew my opening hand and took a step back to cover Marcus, one of them summoned a Shadow Warrior, which lunged right at my one-armed ally. He dropped his Shadow Millennium Item and drew his standard Shadow Item, a gunmetal-colored knife, and tried to parry, but the Warrior overpowered him, knocking him to the ground. I turned to face a Creature, standing back to back with Charlie, who faced down the creature which had attacked Marcus, as well as a second Creature, and Marco, who faced only one. Out of the three of us, Charlie was the first to take action.

"Summon," he declared, "'The Six Samurai - Yaichi', 'Grandmaster of the Six Samurai', and 'Great Shogun - Shien'."

A samurai warrior in dark armor glowing yellow appeared, carrying a bow (ATK: 1300). He appeared alongside an elderly warrior with a katana on his hip (ATK: 2100), and a tall, powerful-looking warrior in full red samurai armor, bearing a symbol of a flame on his chest and helm (ATK: 2500).

With barely a gesture from my brother, his monsters struck. 'Grandmaster' charged forward, unsheathing his sword, and slashing the Shadow Warrior in half (4000 -> 3600), leaving a Wisp of Shadows behind, which 'Yaichi' immediately blasted apart with a well-placed arrow, opening a path for 'Shien' to charge in and slash across the Shadow Creature's chest with his mighty blade (3600 -> 1100).

It was a great play, one that any Duelist could be proud of, but Charlie isn't any old Duelist. He wasn't finished yet. From his hand he played 'Hand Destruction', discarding two cards to draw two, followed by the Spell card 'Cunning of the Six Samurai'. 'Yaichi''s yellow aura disappeared, and he himself disappeared into the ground, and out of the ground in his place arose another samurai carrying a bladed pole weapon, his armor glowing golden orange. He was Charlie's favorite monster, 'The Six Samurai - Zanji' (ATK: 1800).

Charlie actually smiled a bit as he spoke his next command, "'Zanji', finish it."

'Zanji' lunged at the Shadow Creature, cutting it in half. It turned back into shadows and melted back into the darkness all around us. Of course Charlie was fighting two enemies. As soon as his turn was over, his second opponent moved to counterattack. It set a card made of mostly-solid darkness, and summoned a new monster, a Shadow Phantom in flowing rags with deadly-looking clawed hands. The Phantom phased right through Charlie's monsters like a ghost and slashed Charlie across the chest (4000 -> 3000). I saw my brother wince, thin, shallow red lines forming beneath his shirt, but I couldn't do anything about it, because I had my own enemy to worry about, who had just summoned a Shadow Warrior of its own.

Based on the damage the other Creature took when Charlie destroyed one of those monsters, I reasoned, it only has seventeen hundred Attack, which is no problem.

"Activate 'Graceful Charity'," I declared, drawing three cards, and then discarding two, feeding my 'Phantom Beast Cross-Wing' and 'Phantom Beast Thunder-Pegasus' into my Graveyard.

"And I summon," I said, "'Phantom Beast Cross-Wing', which gets a power-up from its discarded counterpart."

A bird with two pairs of wings, which seemed to form an X, appeared hovering at my side (ATK: 1300 -> 1600). This was my favorite monster, due to its versatility, which, despite the circumstances, I was looking forward to showing off once again.

"I set two cards," I concluded, "and end my turn."

I acted confident, but as my opponent drew to begin its second turn, and Marco's drew to begin its first I was reminded that this battle was only barely just beginning. No matter how many of these things we killed, there were more still waiting, as even more Shadow Creatures still emerged from the hanging fog of darkness that surrounding our little party.

Then my bad mood did a heel-face turn as all eyes turned toward a wave of light that washed over more than a dozen of the waiting creatures, washing them away. I looked toward the source of the light, and I saw Kimi with her 'Agent of Creation' and three 'Shine Balls' at her side, two copies of 'Solar Ray' held above her head, her Soul of Light glowing, and a smile across her face. I didn't know how she'd done it, but she'd managed to pull of an attack so strong that it might have just given us a genuine fighting chance. Of course her smile faded when a surviving creature stepped up to face her, and, as always, the battle continued.

Kimi

Several of the enemy Creatures fell to my light attack. I'd given up my Destiny Draw for this duel to fuel the attack, but even though it had left many of the Creatures still alive, I felt that it had been worth it. But I'm an optimist, not an idiot. I knew that this was no time to let my guard down, that this battle was far from over. To drive this point home, a survivor of my attack immediately stepped up and set two cards made of shadows before summoning a Shadowy Phantom, which moved right through my monsters unhindered and swung its lethal-looking claws at me. I managed to deflect the claws off of the edge of my Duel Disk, but in terms of the game, I still took the hit (2500 -> 1500). My opponent did nothing else, though I knew that if I took too long to respond, he'd strike again.

"My turn then, I guess," I said. "In that case, before I draw I reveal 'Solemn Wishes', so that whenever I draw, I heal by five hundred Life."

I drew, and light rained down upon me (1500 -> 2000).

"I tribute," I explained, "two of my 'Mystical Shine Balls' to summon my guardian angel, 'Wingweaver'."

Two of the glass orbs disappeared, to be replaced by a tall, almost Amazonian angel with long purple hair and six shining sky blue wings, wearing a flowing yellow dress (ATK: 2750).

"My monster attacks," I declared, "with Shining Breeze!"

'Wingweaver' flapped her wings, releasing a gust of wind which carried a barrage of glimmering blue feathers toward the Phantom, ripping it apart, but the Shadow Creature was ready for this. It revealed a Trap, which was shrouded in darkness, and the feathers which would have carried through and struck the Shadow Creature were caught in that darkness and thrown back at me. 'Wingweaver' watched the remnant of her attack surge past her and strike me instead of my foe (2000 -> 250), and she turned to look at the enemy with a fire in her eyes. I looked across at my enemy as well, and I saw a Wisp of Darkness hanging in the air where my opponent's Phantom had been.

My last 'Shine Ball', being in defense mode, couldn't attack, so I turned to 'Venus' and said, "Quick, destroy that Wisp."

'Venus' summoned light into her hands and blew the Wisp apart like it was nothing.

"Alright," I said, "that's enough. I end my turn."

John

I walked calmly past my friends and allies as they began what would be a long struggle against the army of Shadow Creatures. Karen, without her deck, was forced to trade blows with the Creatures armed only with the magic of her Soul. I watched her out of my peripheral vision. She was glowing, shimmering with silvery light. She looked like a statue, strong and unfaltering, but I knew that, even as powerful as she was, she couldn't hold out against the Creatures forever. I had to finish this before her power failed.

So I walked right up to the swirling, undulating core of the creature, my hands in my pockets, and I said, "I don't know if you can understand me, but I won't allow this to continue. You're hurting people. So whether you can understand me or not," I pointed up at the swirling mass dramatically, "this is your only warning: go away and leave us alone, or I'll destroy you."

The core of the creature undulated violently. It expanded downward to strike me, but with so much of its mass separate from its core form, and with its attention so divided, it wasn't nearly as powerful as before. I still couldn't manipulate it completely, even with the added power of the Shadow Millennium Ring, but as the reaching tendril approached me, my Soul glowed along with the Item, and by the time the tendril reached me it was no more solid or threatening than a moderate gust of wind.

I smiled, "You're limping, like a lame horse. Come on down here, so I can go ahead and put you down."

Darkness began to form around me like a wall of thin black smoke, leaving plenty of room for the Creature to manifest. The Shadow Game between me and the Core Creature had begun, which meant that on some level it had accepted my challenge.

The Creature funneled toward the ground, touching down like a miniature funnel cloud just long enough to deposit maybe a third of its remaining mass, which condensed down, forming a humanoid shape. At first I thought it was just another of the things that were fighting my friends, but I'll admit that part of me was relieved when I saw that this creature was different. It was, like the others, as big as a linebacker, but this Creature was more defined, with almost a face and almost muscles, and almost a head of hair, which was almost long and spiky. It brandished its powerful arm and a black Duel Disk, more defined than the ones worn by the multitude of featureless beings all around us, formed there. Darkness swirled into the Deck Loader of the Duel Disk, forming not Shadow Cards, but real Duel Monsters Cards.

"Hey," I said, "I can do that too!"

I raised my arm, and my Neo Dark Disk appeared there, summoned from inside the Elite HQ where it rested by my former bedside in the medical room, and I inserted my cards into it as the Duel Platform extended into place (LP: 8000).

"I hope you're tougher than your lackeys," I told the Creature, "or else this Duel isn't going to be any fun at all."

The Creature remained silent, the drawing of its opening hand its only response.

"Not a talker, I guess," I said. "Well, that's okay, I have quips enough for the both of us. I start off with a set monster."

A form appeared at my side, obscured by the Shadows which swirled around us. It was a simple move, but it didn't need to be anything more than that. I was fighting a creature, a beast which only acted on instinct. A beast which happened to be dividing its attention amongst many different battles at that very moment. This thing, whatever it actually was, would pose no real challenge to me.

Yeah, I'm arrogant like that.

Immediately the Core Creature wordlessly set two cards, and activated a Field Spell, 'Mystic Plasma Zone'. A swirling cloud appeared above even the portion of the Core Creature which hung in the air overhead, still swirling in cloud form. The dark cloud of the Field Spell almost seemed to join with the Core Creature, lighting surging within the cloud of the creature and the cloud of the Field Spell all at once. At the same time, my opponent summoned a monster, 'Giant Germ', a giant virus cell, which grew stronger beneath the 'Mystic Plasma Zone' (ATK: 1000 -> 1500). The Core Creature gestured, and the 'Germ' crashed into my hidden 'Sangan', destroying it easily.

"Wow," I said, "thanks for attacking me when I obviously wanted you to. Because 'Sangan' was sent to the Graveyard, I can search my deck for a new monster, like the reliable 'Level Eater'."

I added the Level One monster to my hand, and I continued, "And because you already set a bunch of stuff, I'm going to bet that your turn is over."

I drew, "I play 'Graceful Charity', drawing three cards, and discarding 'Stygian Street Patrol' and 'Level Eater'. Next I remove 'Stygian Street Patrol' from play to summon a Fiend from my hand, a Fiend like 'Djinn Presider of Rituals'," a rotund demon swordsman in too-small plate armor appeared, his belly protruding, and his sword drawn (ATK: 1800 -> 2300).

"Next," I declared, "I activate the Spell card 'Level Transmogrification', changing my monsters Level to any Level from one to eight, at the cost of a little Life (8000 -> 7200). I choose to change my monster's Level to Eight, and then I lower his Level by one to Special Summon 'Level Eater' from my Graveyard."

A ladybug the size of a small dog appeared, its shell bearing a Level Star rather than spots. It rose into the air and hovered at my side.

"Now," I continued, "I tribute both of my monsters to Tribute Summon my newest heavy hitter," a huge humanoid form of a warrior clad in black and gold armor with an array of spoke-like wings spreading from its back and a tiny yellow sun embedded in its chest rose up behind me like the sun rising up from the horizon, "'The Supremacy Sun' (ATK: 3000 -> 3500)! My monster attacks the 'Giant Germ' with Solar Flare!"

Flames poured from my monster, blasting the 'Germ' to pieces in an instant and dealing my opponent a huge hit (8000 -> 6000), but the 'Germ' was powerful in its own right. As it was destroyed, it released a cloud of toxic particles which choked me, causing damage (7200 -> 6700), and then coalesced into two more of the 'Germs', both in Attack mode (1000 -> 1500 (each)).

"Since I've already been carrying this conversation," I taunted, "I'll go ahead and say that even if you manage to destroy 'Sun' it won't be the last time you see him. Anyway, I set a card and end my turn. Come on and show me what else you can do."

I was smirking in the way that I do, smug, and confident in my superiority. Once again I'd found the fun in fighting for my life. That was about to change.

Card of the Day:

The Supremacy Sun

 Played by: John

In this chapter we see a third Planet monster. I won't talk about this here, since I comment on it later, but as of now, the fact that John summons it is, in and of itself, a big deal. This is the first monster that he's ever summoned which can be normal summoned and has more than 2500 ATK. This is, effectively, his "Blue-Eyes White Dragon".

Original Cards in This Chapter:

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