Chapter 16: The Power of Love
The two between Mika and Chikaru had only just begun, and already Chikaru was in a tight spot. It was only the second turn of the duel, and Mika had summoned Dark Orc of the West. Meanwhile, the only thing Chikaru had on her side of the field was pair of facedown cards. The duel looked like it had become very one-sided. And with the last spot in the finals at stake, it was all or nothing.
“Unfortunately I can’t attack the turn I use Orichalcos Ritual.” Mika announced. “So I’ll just set one card on the field and end my turn!”
“That thing looks nasty.” Clive commented on the sidelines. “Good thing our lovely Chikaru has a couple of facedown cards that could stop that thing.”
“Don’t be so sure.” Jaden said with a grim expression. “Spell and Trap cards can’t be activated until after the damage step when Dark Orc attacks.”
“Are you serious?” Clive exclaimed. “That means she’s defenseless!”
“Maybe not.” Striker commented. “The Six Samurai are supposed to be about as strong as the Elemental Heroes. Alone they aren’t much, but together they just might be strong enough to take down even the Dark Orc. Chikaru might be able to turn things around on the next turn.”
Back in the duel, Chikaru had just drawn her next card. The Dark Orc of course intimidated her, but after seeing her next card she felt she had a way to beat it.
“First I summon The Six Samurai-Zanji!” Chikaru announced. The orange and black armored samurai appeared on the field wielding his naginata. “Next I activate Double Summon! This allows me to normal summon a monster one more time this turn, so now I summon The Six Samurai-Irou!”
The visor-wearing samurai in black and purple armor appeared on the field next to Zanji.
“And now I attack Dark Orc with Zanji!” Chikaru announced. “Naginata of Light!”
“Has Chikaru gone nuts?” Clive exclaimed sounding shocked. “Zanji only has 1800 ATK, there’s no way he can survive against the Dark Orc!”
“True, but with Irou on the field Zanji can destroy any face up monster he attacks.” Jaden pointed out.
Zanji began charging at the Dark Orc with his weapon raised, but a confident smirk appeared on Mika’s face.
“Do you think I’m an idiot? I activate my Trap, Magic Arm Shield!” Mika suddenly announced. “This lets me use your buddy Irou as a shield for Dark Orc!”
A large brown shield suddenly appeared on the Dark Orc’s left arm. The creature raised the shield, and the middle suddenly opened up to release a mechanical arm that grabbed Irou and pulled him in. Before Zanji could react he slashed Irou across the chest with his weapon. Irou shattered into triangles of golden light as a result. Meanwhile Mika’s life points dropped from 4000 to 3900.
“I knew you might try using Zanji’s effect to destroy Dark Orc.” Mika boasted. “That’s why I stuck Magic Arm Shield into my deck before coming here. I guess it wouldn’t have been a bad move if you had actually pulled it off, but when you get right down to it The Six Samurai are a joke! Sure they have a few decent effects, but they can’t use them unless one of their friends is on the field with them. They depend too much on their friends, and those who depend on others are weak! And there’s no way you can beat me with a deck of weaklings!”
“I… end my turn!” Chikaru announced reluctantly. Mika drew her next card.
“First I summon Gemini Elf!” Mika announced.
Appearing on the field was a pair of female elves, one slightly taller than the other. The taller elf had long red hair and wore a simple purple dress with a short skirt. The other elf had blond hair and wore a light blue dress, also with a short skirt. As quickly as they appeared on the field however, the elves started to change. Their skin turned dark-grey and their hair white. They became far more muscular and grew yellow fangs that protruded from their mouths. Their eyes also began to glow bright red. Chikaru was startled by their transformation.
“While Dark Orc is on the field, all my monsters become Fiends, in this case orcs.” Mika explained. “And now I activate Dark Orc’s effect and sacrifice Gemini Elf to increase his ATK from 2400 to 4300 until the end of my turn!”
The Dark Orc of the West set down his spiked club and grabbed both the transformed elves by the neck. He began draining purple energy from the two creatures until they became withered husks and turned to dust.
“Now Dark Orc, smash Zanji into the ground!” Mika commended. “Soul Breaker Club!”
The Dark Orc charged forward and knocked Zanji to the ground with a powerful swing of his club, shattering the samurai into triangles of gold light. At the same time, Chikaru’s life points dropped to 1400.
“You might as well just give up.” Mika said smugly. “I set one card on the field and end my turn!”
Chikaru was at a loose as to what to do. She only had one card in her hand, and though it was a powerful one she didn’t think it would be enough to beat the Dark Orc. Of course there was the card she had yet to draw, but Chikaru didn’t think it could possibly be anything that could help her win. Chikaru actually began to think about surrendering.
“What’s going on here?” a familiar voice suddenly asked. Chikaru turned and saw that Shion was suddenly standing near Jaden and the others. “Are you alright Chikaru?”
“Well, well, now the president of Spica has come to watch.” Mika observed with an amused expression. “You’re just in time to see your friend lose big.”
“You’re wrong, Chikaru will win!” Shion declared confidently.
“You seriously think that?” Mika laughed. “C’mon, your friend Chikaru only has one card in her hand and only a pair of useless facedown cards on the field. In short she has nothing that can stand against my Dark Orc of the West! She might as well just put her hand on top of her deck and surrender.”
“None of that matters.” Shion told Mika. “I’ve seen Chikaru in many other duels before this, and no matter how bad things looked for her, she always found a way to win. And I know she’ll find a way to win this duel too!”
Shion’s words touched Chikaru and gave her new courage. With her belief in herself renewed she drew her next card. A smile appeared on her face when she saw what it was.
“First I activate my Trap, Double-Edged Sword Technique!” Chikaru announced. “This lets me summon Zanji and Irou back to the field!”
On cue the two Samurai reappeared on Chikaru’s side of the battlefield.
“Wow, that’s a bold move.” Striker commented. “It looks like it’s all going to end on this turn.”
“What do you mean?” Clive asked.
“The monsters summoned by Double-Edged Sword Technique are destroyed at the end of the turn and their opponent takes damage equal to their ATK.” Striker explained. “If Chikaru can’t pull off whatever she’s planning to do this turn, she’ll lose automatically.”
“Wow, now that’s a gamble.” Clive said sounding very impressed.
“Now, because I have two Six Samurai monsters on my field, I can summon Great Shogun Shien!” Chikaru announced.
Appearing on the field was a warrior in bright red samurai armor holding a katana in his right hand. A gold flame adorned the front of his helmet, and another flame symbol was painted on his chest plate.
“Wow, the boss of the Six Samurai himself.” Jessie commented in an impressed tone. “It’s 100 ATK points stronger than the Dark Orc, but I wonder if it’ll be enough to beat it.”
“I think we’re about to find out.” Jaden told him.
“I equip Shien with United We Stand!” Chikaru announced. Shien began glowing with a fiant blue aura. “This card increases Shien’s ATK by 800 points for each monster I have on the field! Right now I have three monsters, which means Shien’s ATK rises from 2500 to 4900!”
“Now Shien is more than twice as strong as the Dark Orc!” Clive commented back on the sidelines.
“Shien, attack Dark Orc of the West!” Chikaru commanded. “Shien Slash!”
Shien raised his sword and began charging at the Dark Orc. Suddenly another confident smirk appeared on Mika’s face.
“Nice try, but I activate my Trap, Hate Buster!” Mika announced. “Now both Shien and Dark Orc will be destroyed and you’ll take damage equal to Shien’s original ATK!”
“I don’t think so!” Chikaru declared. “I activate my own Trap, Seven Tools of the Bandit! I pay 1000 life points and negate the effect of Hate Buster!”
Chikaru’s life points dropped to 400 and the large representation of Mika’s Trap card shattered apart. Meanwhile, Shien continued his charge. The blade of his sword suddenly lit up with purple flames. With one swing, Shien chopped off the Dark Orc’s head. The remains of the orc shattered into triangles of gold light. At the same time, Mika’s life points dropped to 1500.
“Irou, attack Mika directly!” Chikaru commanded. “Sword of Shadows!”
The blind swordsman charged forward, unsheathing his sword as he did so. Irou slashed Mika across the chest, causing her life points to drop to zero. With the duel over the monsters that were on the field vanished, and the number on Mika’s point counter also dropped to zero. At the same time the number on Chikaru’s point counter rose to one hundred and twenty. A shocked expression was on Mika’s face. Suddenly the horn of the P.A. system sounded though out the island.
“Attention all tournament participants, the elimination round is now officially over!” Amane’s voice announced over the intercom. “The last finalist was decided moments ago. So as of now, the eight finalists are Jason ‘Striker’ Morgan, Jane Hawthorn, Jessie Anderson, Clive Winston, Tomoyo Mikage, Tamao Suzumi, Jaden Yuki, and Chikaru Minamoto. We thank everyone for participating. The final matches of the tournament will begin tomorrow in the Miator academy stadium at 10:00 AM, so get there early if you want good seats.”
With the announcement over, Shion walked over to Chikaru and put a hand on her shoulder, snapping her out of her expression of disbelief. Chikaru turned around to face her.
“Congratulations.” Shion said to her.
“Thank you.” Chikaru said as she wrapped her arms around Shion. “I couldn’t have won that duel without you.”
“How could I have lost?” Mika suddenly blurted out. “How could I lose to some wimp?”
“You still don’t get it, do you?” Jaden cut in. “Chikaru was able to win because Shion believed in her. That belief gave her the strength to take you down. You keep saying that relationships make a duelist weak, but in reality Mika, you’re the one who’s weak!”
“What… did you say?” Mika responded with an expression of disbelief.
“The bonds that people have with friends, family, and loved ones can give people the strength to fight on even when things look their darkest.” Jaden explained. “Chikaru had Shion and all of us believing her, and that’s what kept her going. But you don’t have anyone Mika. All you do is rely on your own strength and step on others to get what you want. In the end though, no matter how strong you try to make yourself you’ll never find true strength if you’re alone.”
“Enough of this!” Hiyori cut in. “All you’re saying is nonsense. Your friend only won because of mere chance.”
“Shut up Hiyori!” Mika shouted before storming off.
“But… Mika, wait!” Hiyori called as she ran after her.
“You think you got through to her J.?” Jessie asked Jaden as he walked up next to him.
“Not sure.” Jaden replied. “I hope so though.”
“It all depends on how bright Mika is.” Yubel said as she suddenly appeared next to Jaden. “If she’s too dumb she’ll never learn, but there might be some hope. Anyway, you’ve got more important things to worry about right now.”
“You’re right.” Jaden said to Yubel. “The finals begin tomorrow, which means we’ll probably be facing Tamao soon. So we better be ready.”
