Chapter 10: Shout Loudly, and the Cards Will Answer You
"Yugi, I've realized something during this short Duel." Placing his hand on his Deck without drawing a card, Hayato felt he should trust his intuition this once. "The more you try to avoid problems and take shortcuts through means other than strength, the further you get from your goal. Taking a shortcut is the long way around."
"Huh?" Yugi didn't understand what Hayato meant by that all of a sudden.
"In other words, the long way around is actually the shortcut. Your (Gaia The Fierce Knight) on the Field—I'm going to destroy it head-on!"
"Draw! Then I Summon this Monster!"
Hayato drew the top card of his Deck, skipping the step of looking at it and summoning it directly to the Field. That card was—
"(Gaia) The Fierce Kniiiiight---!!!"
Hayato's sudden, spirited shout didn't startle Joey and the others, because they were more concerned about something else:
"H-He actually has two Gaias!? Two Monsters with 2300 attack points!" This was Joey, but for some reason, Hayato inexplicably saw him as Kite.
"Hayato has such a powerful Monster too? This Duel is getting interesting again." This was Tristan. Hayato had been on the defensive the whole time, making the Duel a bit dull, but the appearance of a second Gaia undoubtedly brought new excitement to it.
Téa's thought was— "Just now, did Hayato Summon that card without even looking at what he drew!? Does he have X-ray vision or something!?"
Although there was a hint of surprise on Yugi's face, he wasn't completely shocked. He smiled at Hayato. "It's Gaia. It's rare to see two of the same Monster appear at the same time. However,"
Yugi paused, then pointed at the Gaia on his Field and said, "Both Gaias have 2300 attack points. If you attack me with your Gaia, Hayato, it will only result in Mutual Destruction, right? Then, because of the Rule, you'll lose at the End of your Turn."
The rules of early Yu-Gi-Oh! were very different from the later versions. Not only were there only 2000 Life Points and no Tributes required to Summon Monsters, but the victory conditions were also different. One condition was for a player's Life Points, or LP, to drop to zero. The other was that if a player had no Monsters on their Field at the end of their turn, they would also lose the Match.
Correspondingly, Monsters were also restricted from making a Direct Attack against a Player.
Although Hayato had Summoned (Gaia The Fierce Knight), if he were to attack recklessly, the outcome would indeed be as Yugi said.
"Of course I've considered that possibility, Yugi-boy!" Hayato drew another card from his Hand and revealed it. "But I still have this card in my Hand!"
He placed the blue-bordered Spell Card onto the Field, a divine sword flashing with lightning inscribed upon it.
"(Sword of Dragon's Soul)! Its Effect increases a Warrior-Type Monster's attack by 700 points, and it has absolute dominance over Dragon-Type Monsters!"
"Gaia's attack power rose again, all the way to 3000 points!" Joey exclaimed at the perfect moment. Even Yugi's face showed complete astonishment.
Compared to the 800 or 900 attack points of a typical Monster, the 3000 attack points of (Gaia The Fierce Knight) equipped with (Sword of Dragon's Soul) was like the difference between heaven and earth—an enormous gap!
"(Gaia The Fierce Knight), Attack (Gaia The Fierce Knight)!" With words that would be incomprehensible to anyone who hadn't seen the battle, Hayato launched an Attack against the Gaia that had been arrogantly dominating Yugi's Field for so long.
Just as easily as Yugi's Gaia had destroyed Hayato's other Monsters, Hayato's Gaia finished off Yugi's. Gaia Sent Gaia to the Graveyard.
"And with that, I End my Turn."
[Hayato: 1600 LP, Hand: 3→4→2]
[Yugi: 1600 LP → 900 LP, Hand: 6]
"My Turn, Draw." Even with his Life Points reduced to below 1000, Yugi wasn't flustered. He glanced at the Monster he drew but wasn't in a hurry to Summon it. Instead, he asked Hayato, "That combination of (Gaia The Fierce Knight) and (Sword of Dragon's Soul) is really impressive."
"Of course. It's my Deck's Ace Card Combo. Among Warriors, there's nothing stronger." *At least, as of right now,* he thought. *Any new cards released later don't count.*
"It seems you're taking this Duel seriously, Hayato." Yugi nodded with understanding and said calmly, "In that case, I'll have to use my strongest Combo as well."
Though his words were calm, Hayato could see the seriousness in Yugi's eyes.
"The Monster I'm going to Summon is this one! Come forth—"
"(Summoned Skull)!"
The skeletal demon with 2500 attack points was Summoned to Yugi's Field. Before Hayato could point out that 2500 was less than 3000, Yugi played another Card.
"Then I Activate this Spell Card, (Force)! I Target your Gaia on the Field and my (Summoned Skull)!"
"What!? How do you have that card!?"
Hayato's eyes went wide. *Are you some kind of God Draw master? How do you have every comeback card there is!*
Due to the Effect of (Force), the Gaia on the Field, whose attack had just barely reached 3000 points, was instantly cut down to 1500. This stolen power surged into the (Summoned Skull) on Yugi's Field, and 2500 plus 1500 sent its attack power soaring to a massive 4000 points!
"It's at 4000 points!" Joey, who specialized in being the one to gasp in shock, did not disappoint, exclaiming in amazement, "That's five times the attack of my (Shadow of the Six Samurai - Shien)!"
"And now, I'll use (Summoned Skull) to Attack your (Gaia The Fierce Knight) on the Field."
Following Yugi's light words, the powered-up (Summoned Skull) delivered an excessive, electrifying blow to the weakened Gaia. The 2500 points of Damage not only instantly wiped out Hayato's Life Points but had plenty to spare.
"Whew, that was close. I almost lost." The victor, Yugi, said humbly to Hayato as he gathered the Cards from the table back into his Deck.
"Cut the humblebragging. I saw it long ago. You've had that (Summoned Skull) in your hand for a while, haven't you, Yugi?" Yugi didn't have the habit of shuffling his Hand after a Draw, so Hayato knew very well that both (Summoned Skull) and (Force) had been in Yugi's Hand the entire time.
Theoretically, Yugi's win couldn't be called a comeback via God Draw, because he'd had the means to counter him in his hand all along; he just hadn't used it.
If he had kept defending, Yugi wouldn't have been able to end the Battle quickly no matter how many powerful Monsters he Summoned. But by using his own Gaia as bait to lure him into an Attack, Yugi could then use the (Force) and (Summoned Skull) Combo to wipe out his Life Points directly.
It had to be said, the Yugi of today already had a hint of that later Trap-heavy Strategy player about him. To think he could use such a Strategy—what a devious mind.
In response, Yugi just laughed with an "ehehe," trying to get away with it by acting cute.
After returning Gaia to his Deck and placing the Deck back in its tin case, Hayato recalled the strange feeling he'd had when he drew Gaia earlier. But before he could think too much about it, Grandpa Sugoroku's energetic voice came from inside the room: "I found it!"
The Duel is over, ending in the victory of the invincible regular Yugi.
The world-building of this book will primarily be based on the most widespread anime version, but it will also introduce some plot elements from the manga, like the director who appeared earlier.
It goes without saying what card was seen here, right? The protagonist won't participate in the later Kaiba battle; instead, he will separate from Yugi and the others to follow his own storyline.
On that note, a little tangent: the manga version of Yami Yugi is way more vicious. He inflicted an illusion on the bully Tetsu Trudge that turned him into a mental patient, and made the director's eyes see everything as mosaics.
Although these people who were punished by Yami Yugi weren't exactly innocent... Tetsu Trudge extorted 200,000 yen from Yugi and tried to kill him with a knife, the director beat up Joey and Yugi and was planning to film a real murder.
Whoops, did I ramble on for too long?
Anyway, please recommend this new book—!!! (Voice cracks)
(end of chapter)