A/N: Betcha didn't see this one coming, eh? I did this for a different site and figured there'd be no harm posting it somewhere else. So yeah, here it is. The following comments were included with the original release:
[Note that I have a pretty good idea of what's wrong with this already: the sentence structure is hopelessly boring, the character development is dubious at best, there's none of my usual authorial sarcasm, and the whole thing sounds like a description rather than a story. I've already written part of Episode II and can tell you that it's much, much better in all of those regards. On the other hand, I've always been awful at writing intros, and I honestly can't do much better than this; I spent a couple days revising it, believe it or not, and it is better than the original draft. Also, the lack of transition during waiting periods is basically meant to represent how the anime would handle a long pause, though in retrospect, I could have added some character development for Nagi.
If you pick out anything else, feel free to tell me. What I'd really like, though, is advice on how to improve. Step one of solving a problem is identifying it, but I'm lost as to the other steps.
All names are in Western order.]
Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to prevent confusion. By which I mean, now I have a random name generator for Japanese and can come up with names that sound distinct.
Wish me luck with the formatting. Here goes...
Game I: Verae Artes ~ Vera Potentia
It was the same thing every year — waking up late for the entrance exams, someone would always be pelting along the streets early in the morning, knocking other pedestrians to the ground and interrupting many a game. It was hopelessly annoying for everyone nearby.
Now that she was in this position herself, Nagi Yuryuin had taken careful precautions not to be late — four consecutive alarms, frequent reminders and practice for the week leading up to the exam. Those precautions were paying off now that she and her mother were pulling up to the testing facility exactly fifteen minutes early. Like any examination, the entrance exams for King's Duel Academy demanded that the students show up long before the exam actually began, so "fifteen minutes early" translated to "fashionably late."
Nagi was careful not to get her long black hair caught in the door of her family's van as she stepped outside. She didn't bother closing the door, instead patting herself down one more time to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. Oddly, despite planning to attend a specialized Duel Academy, Nagi didn't duel much, so she had to actually check to make sure she'd put her chosen Deck in her belt.
"You should have everything," Noriko Yuryuin assured her. Noriko was a pretty woman, with black hair and deep green eyes similar to her daughter's. "It'll be alright. You'll be fine; I know you're better than most children your age."
"If you say so," Nagi said glumly.
Patting her daughter on the head, Noriko passed Nagi a large suitcase. "Well, good-bye, then," she said cheerfully, "and good luck!"
"Yeah…" Nagi mumbled. "Bye."
Suddenly struck with hesitation, the young girl suddenly jumped forward and gave her mother kiss goodbye. Noriko giggled.
"Go get 'em!" she encouraged her daughter. Nagi smiled and closed the door.
The van was off.
/
KaibaLand was, of course, an amusement park, but it had been retrofitted as a testing ground for the day. Therefore, admissions were, in an ironic reflection of Nagi's youth, held at the entry booth to the great park. It was, essentially, a bright red box with a large striped bar stuck out to one side, designed to stand out from the subdued light blue of the walls. Of note was the small window through which to see the operator; it didn't let an entrant see the computer inside. Nagi had always wondered why the window was so tiny. Now, though, it didn't much matter to her.
She paled, swallowed hard, and approached the gate to her future.
The receptionist, oddly, was a student a year or two older than Nagi. Her eyes looked rather like Nagi's own, though her complexion was much more tanned, and her hair was a long blonde ponytail. A black-and-gold nameplate affixed to her cerulean blazer read "Nagisa Fuyumi."
Nagi blandly noted that the "Nagi" in Nagisa was written using the same character as her own name should be written with — meaning "calm." She couldn't feel less calm at the moment, though the ironic connection somehow calmed her.
"Hiya," the receptionist greeted her. "Name, please?" Even if Nagi wasn't calm, Nagisa certainly was.
"Nagi Yuryuin," Nagi introduced herself. "Ah, I have ID here…" She produced her wallet and ID card more quickly than she'd thought her trembling hands were capable of.
Nagisa managed to slip her arm out the window after a bit of maneuvering to adjust for the lack of space. "Thank you very much," she said as she took the card. She turned to a computer within the booth, one beyond Nagi's field of view, and typed quickly with one hand for a moment. After briefly examining the card one more time, she handed it back to Nagi.
"Okie-doke," she said happily, "you're in here. Hang on a sec; I have your nametag in here somewhere…"
In a way, Nagi reflected as she waited, it was very relaxing to have students handling admissions; she'd managed to stop shaking, and what little color that had been there to begin with was starting to return to her cheeks. Then again, that was probably the intention.
"Here it is," Nagisa said, finally breaking the silence. She extended Nagi's ID, along with a white nametag similar to her own.
"Thank you very much," Nagi said respectfully, noting that her hand didn't shake as she reached out to take her 'tickets.'
"'Kay, so, here you are," the blonde finished. "Enter, and best of luck." A bit more typing, and the striped bar swung up, unblocking the hole in the wall through which Nagi would enter.
She swallowed hard and stepped into KaibaLand.
/
Nagi had wandered KaibaLand so often in her youth that she was confident she could have found the gathering of entrants with her eyes closed, but there was no real substitute for being prepared. She'd looked up the meeting place just before she left; the entrants were to meet near the absurd roller coaster, the Crimson Osiris. She smiled at the irony, trying to calm herself down. It was the only ride in KaibaLand she'd never ridden.
The paths were nothing special, modeled after nature trails; gravel marked the path, while grass was off the road. It had a charming effect, though, and it was oddly fitting for such a technological masterpiece, a fusion of old and new. Somehow, even as a massive holographic tunnel of a Ferris wheel cast its shadow over the dirt, Nagi could breathe fresh air.
When she'd reached the coaster, she found an almost humorously quaint scene. Several rows of folding chairs were spread out over the ground; only eighteen of these chairs were currently occupied by hopeful students. Nagi took the seat farthest away from the coaster and waited.
She waited in silence for the longest time, accompanied only by her heartbeat. More children began to fill the seats closer to the coaster itself. This suited Nagi just fine, really; it would have been hopelessly awkward to have to talk to someone she didn't know just then.
Only two people came, after what felt like an eternity. A boy with messy brown hair, dressed in a white sweatshirt over a faded grey T-shirt, came first. "Hey," he said breathlessly, making Nagi jump.
"I guess this is the right place, huh?" He grinned sheepishly. Nagi nodded quietly, alarmed at the prospect of talking with a stranger at such an important time.
"Yeah, I'm Daigo Harukawa," he continued, taking a seat next to her. "Hopefully we'll be classmates next year, huh?" He smiled again. Where does he get that kind of energy from? Nagi wondered as she nodded mutely. Maybe he's one of those types that copes using jokes?
"Hang on," Daigo mumbled to himself. Now he's worried, Nagi thought smugly. "Where'd Natsuki-san go?"
Is that a friend of his…? Nagi mused, hoping to distract herself with her thoughts. She's almost certainly another applicant…
Natsuki-san, as it turned out, was a cute redheaded girl with two large, curly pigtails. She was actually wearing a long green dress, which was presumably why she'd had trouble keeping up with Daigo. Nagi blushed suddenly, thinking of her own garments — a black tank top and torn blue jeans — and how they measured up to the other students. Only Daigo's clothes were so casual.
"Thanks for helping me find it." Natsuki smiled sweetly at Daigo and took the seat next to him. "So who's this?"
"Oh, uh…" Daigo blushed a bit at his own gaffe. "Who are you?"
Somehow, it was much harder to talk to her fellow applicants than receptionist Nagisa. "Nagi Yuryuin," she managed to say.
"Do you know her?" Sachiko asked the boy happily. You don't? Nagi marveled.
"No," Daigo admitted, now completely shameless. "She was just sitting here alone, so I thought I'd join her." His chivalry was almost laughable, Nagi thought.
"So we got here kinda late." Every year, the black-haired girl thought happily. "I guess they're gonna be starting any minute now. You ready?"
We never know, do we? Nagi nodded anyway.
"And you're set?" Natsuki nodded, too.
"I'm good, too, so…" Daigo smiled and reclined, the picture of relaxation. "Hopefully they won't keep us waiting."
As it so happened, they didn't. Perhaps a minute of awkward silence passed before Nagisa appeared to them. A few children in the front row widened their at the receptionist's appearance; a murmur began to circulate among the entrants.
"Hi," she said pleasantly, immediately killing said murmur. "It's me again. Nagisa Fuyumi, if you didn't catch it before." Nagi had caught that before; she hadn't caught Nagisa's impressive figure, which the receptionist inadvertently outlined as she indicated her nameplate.
"So I'm here to take you to the exam rooms," she explained, suddenly adopting a distinctly maternal sort of seriousness. "You'll be coming in random groups of six. Actually, I count thirty-six people here, so that works out pretty nicely."
Nagi blinked. She hadn't noticed, but most of the chairs really were filled; only her row was left partly empty.
"Okay, so, the first group is… drum roll please…" The blonde produced a sheet of paper from somewhere — it was practically conjuring, at least to Nagi. After a dramatic pause, she started to read.
"Jack Limbon…"
"A foreigner?" Daigo muttered, his eyes widening a bit. "Geez, how good is this school?"
"Extremely," Natsuki provided. "Didn't you know? Plenty of students at King's Duel Academy are from other countries…"
But the next student, 'Takeshi Shiraishi,' was most definitely Japanese, as were the next four.
"Neato," Nagisa said. "So, if you lucky winners would follow me, we'll head to the Duel arenas. The rest of you, sit tight and psych yourselves up."
The six, already standing, huddled around their guide. Nagisa counted them quickly and smiled.
"Off we go, then!" she said happily, walking away from the coaster. The children followed closely, hoping not to break some obscure bit of protocol.
They took what little energy the other students had possessed with them; silence fell hard on the group. Daigo, especially, was starting to look very uncomfortable in the awkward silence.
"So," he said uneasily, "what do you think the proctors will be playing?"
"I don't know," Natsuki replied. "They change the Deck every year, but they usually play the same Deck for everyone. That's what my older sister said, anyway."
"Does she go here?" Daigo asked.
The redhead nodded. "Mm, Satoko Natsuki. She's a third year in Ra Yellow."
"I see," Daigo nodded. "I'll look forward to meeting her, then!" He smiled broadly and leaned back again.
Harukawa and Natsuki had hit it off quite well, and they were able to talk to each other about trivial nothings for several minutes. Nagi, meanwhile, was left with only her thoughts, though she was a lot calmer now than either of the other two would have been. It wasn't nearly long enough before Nagisa returned with a new sheet of paper.
"I'm back," she grinned, "ready to take the next group."
The first two names she read off were obviously foreign: siblings Riona Nic Cana and Cormac Mac Cana. Nagi smiled a bit; they were very happy to be in the same group. The third name, however, was very Japanese: Harukawa Daigo.
"Oh, wow," Daigo said happily, jumping to his feet. "Guess I'm off. Wish me luck!" Yes, Nagi thought; he definitely acted happy to cope with stress.
Nagi stopped paying attention to names until the last member of the group was called, "Sachiko Natsuki."
"Oh," Natsuki said. "Well, good luck, everyone." And she joined the other five to be marched off to the Dueling arena.
Now there wasn't even the sound of chatter to keep Nagi company, not that she minded much. The receptionist was very good at her real job; at this point, Nagi was pretty much ready to take on whatever the academy had to throw at her. Other students were starting to be emboldened into murmured conversations, though Nagi couldn't make out what they were saying at all.
Nagi focused on introspection instead. You'll be fine, she told herself. You can do this. Just breathe and be calm. The Duel doesn't even matter that much anyway. You'll be fine. Slowly, her heart began to relent its furious pace; her breaths became deeper and more rhythmic. But when she finally thought she'd reached a state of calm...
"Alright, we're back," Nagisa smiled, instantly silencing what little chatter there had been. "Okay, so this time we're asking for Nagi Yuryuin…"
Nagi started. Hoping to recover her dignity, she jumped to her feet, picked up her suitcase, and immediately moved to Nagisa's side.
"Rei Yumura?" The clerk was suddenly a bit hesitant. Everyone saw why once Rei Yumura stood. Her posture was eerily good; her pace far too steady and unrelenting; her eyes icy; her skin even more hopelessly pale than Nagi's, an ominous contrast with her deep indigo hair. Even her clothing was antiquated and ghostly, a frilly white blouse and matching skirt.
Nagisa's composure was impressive; after sparing the eerie girl a sympathetic glance, she turned back to the crowd and continued reading names. "Amane Hirokawa…"
Soon, six people had assembled around their guide. "That's everyone for this group," Nagisa smiled, apparently unfazed by the terrifying young woman in her retinue. "Let's go, hyuu~!"
The rides around them seemed to loom up higher than ever before, and it was a long time before they escaped the shadow of the Crimson Osiris. Hirokawa sighed quietly when they did; she was a nervous type, apparently. When she let out her breath, though, the oppressive atmosphere over the whole group seemed to lift; Nagi noticed nearly everyone in the group walking more confidently and regaining some color in their skin. Yumura, of course, was excepted.
Feeling the change in atmosphere acutely, Nagisa took the opportunity to start talking to her charges. "So," she explained, "there are three groups that'll be judging your Duel. Even if you lose, you've already been accepted if you've made it this far, so don't sweat it. Some of the proctors can be brutal at this stage.
"They've got student judges from my dorm, Obelisk Blue. I know all of 'em." She winked at the group. "They'll be fair, when all's said and done. Shizuka-chan might be a bit harsh, but she gives credit where credit's due. Still the toughest group to please, though." She frowned a bit.
"Then they have alumni, and I have no idea who they roped in this year — they're usually famous people. There's always two or three. They're the easiest group to please, 'cuz they're always drowning in nostalgia when they come back and trying to be nice."
One boy whose name Nagi hadn't caught looked rather alarmed at her tone of voice. "Not that that's a bad thing," she giggled.
"And then there are the teachers. They're completely fair, obviously, and they have the final say as to where you go, in terms of red, yellow, or blue. A lot of times, though, they're more concerned about the student's learning experience than their actual capabilities. If you wanna know how good you are, go talk to the student judges once term starts; I can tell you who they are any time.
"Other than that, well, the written test is weighted a lot more than this one, so unless you do really, really well or really, really bad, this isn't gonna change anything as to where you go. Still, the judges get to see both players' hands, the orders of their Decks, 'n stuff like that, so play smart."
The same boy now looked completely terrified, as did Hirokawa.
"Hm?" Nagisa glanced over her shoulder, bemused. "Oh, what is it?"
"So the proctors can see—" the boy started, but Nagisa laughed and cut him off.
"Oh, the proctors can't," she chuckled. "Just the judges. So they can check your strategy and stuff. The proctors duel blind, don't worry."
Nagi closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If anything Nagisa was saying was true, she'd be fine, she knew it. She opened her eyes and continued walking —
— only to notice the group was being led up a long, teal staircase.
"We're here!" Nagisa was happier than the rest of the group put together. "Good luck, everyone! You'll be fine, don't worry."
Nevertheless, as she forced her body through the automatic glass doors to the Duel arenas, Nagi worried.
/
Oddly, the lobby was empty except for six folding chairs and a large desk. Nagi moved to take a seat in one of the chairs; everyone else followed suit except Yumura, who remained standing near the entrance.
"Take a seat, Yumura-san," Nagisa suggested, petting the strange girl on the head. Yumura wordlessly obeyed, finding the last empty chair, while Nagisa continued on to the desk.
The receptionist picked up a blue walkie-talkie that was tied to some surface on the desk; Nagi couldn't clearly see what that surface was.
"Hi, Toriyama-sensei," she said happily, "the next batch is in." There was a short pause as Toriyama-sensei gave his or her liege some instructions.
"Mm, okay. I'll send 'em down." Nagisa slammed down the walkie-talkie and turned back to her startled charges.
"Well," she said, "arenas one, three, five, and six are open. So Hirokawa-san, Yumura-san, you'll have to wait for a little while so the students who came before you can finish their Duels." She smiled ruefully at them. Hirokawa seemed relieved, but Yumura, of course, betrayed no emotion.
"But everyone else is alright," the blonde continued brightly. "So if Yuryuin-san could go to arena one — you'll be able to find 'em; it's a straight hallway — and if Johnson-san could head to arena three…"
Nagi leaped out of her seat at the mention of her name. To the right of the desk, she knew from experience, was a set of nearly-invisible sliding doors that would lead to the Duel arenas. She rushed over to these doors, stopping only long enough to let them hiss open. There was, of course, due drama given to the corridor's unveiling — in this case, a small cloud of steam billowing out to simulate a rush of smoke.
Arena one was, of course, the first door on the left. It, too, slid open as Nagi approached. She slipped in as quickly as she could, eager to leave the crowd behind her.
The arena was a simple construct. Two "desks" on either side of the battlefield bore a simple interface for playing the game; the most advanced features in these were the links to the field and a small slot into which a Duelist could insert their Deck for shuffling. Besides that, there was only a large white square marked off on the floor in tape, designed to indicate where the holograms would pop up.
A proctor was already standing behind the far "desk." He wore an imposing uniform; a dark grey helmet masked his face, while a long-tailed blue-and-black jacket, black trousers, and large black boots completed the rest of his ensemble. Despite his intimidating clothing, however, a kind smile adorned what could be seen of his face, framed by dark stubble.
"Hello there." His voice was much too deep and mature to be a student's, but of course, teachers at the academy served as the proctors. "I'll be your exam proctor for today. You're Yuryuin-san, correct?"
Nagi nodded as she stepped up to the podium, far from confident in her ability to speak clearly.
"Best of luck, Yuryuin-san," the proctor smiled. "If you would insert your Deck for shuffling?"
Nagi nodded again, this time fumbling a bit with her belt before carefully extracting all forty cards contained therein. What experience she had with Dueling didn't come from fights with strangers or friends — she didn't have any friends in the first place, and if she did, she doubted they would like Dueling much — so she hadn't at all perfected the art of unsheathing a whole deck at once. She wanted to count them, but she knew the machine would reject them anyway if she'd dropped any, so she methodically fed the whole block of cards to the machine, crouching a bit to reach.
To Nagi's delight, the desk whirred a bit and raised her deck to the surface of the projector as if it were some divine gift on a pedestal. Across the field, the proctor must have done the same, since the area marked off in the square immediately came alive. The effect was absolutely gorgeous, and it took Nagi's breath away — it was as if someone had dropped a beautiful opal into a prismatic sea. The whole field rippled with an ever-changing, iridescent light.
/Duel Start/
Proctor Anon VS Nagi Yuryuin
[4000||4000]
Nagi was sure that the proctor's unnerving helmet must have had many purposes, but one of those purposes became clear as his voice boomed about the room. "I'll go first," he announced. Though the room was only enclosed by thin red walls, his voice had a distinct echo to it. The girl cringed instinctively.
"A bit loud for you?" the proctor asked apologetically. Nagi nodded a third time, still silent.
"Sorry," he grinned. He'd modulated his voice now to adjust for the microphone's power. He drew a card with a flourish, and Nagi noticed that he was even wearing dark, leathery gloves. After appraising his hand briefly, he made his move.
"I'll activate Barrier Type Eta," he began, laying down a Spell Card.
The resulting effect on the hologram field startled Nagi — there was a bright flash of blue light in midair between her and her opponent. That light then split into a quartet of translucent blue lasers. These lasers then split off into more lasers until, eventually, a whole matrix of light barred the field between her and her opponent.
A holographic projection of the card itself appeared hovering above her interface. Nagi blinked at this sudden apparition.
"Those holograms are substitutes for the lights on your Duel Disks," the proctor explained. "If you tap them, they'll turn opaque so you can see what the card does."
Experimentally, Nagi tapped the ghostly card. Just as the proctor said, the card immediately turned opaque. She read the text on the card with interest; apparently, Barrier Type Eta was a continuous Spell Card that would prevent her from damaging her opponent outside of battle.
Nagi smirked, but only inwardly, so as to stop her opponent from knowing her thoughts. That card was a waste of space against her; she found burning to be among the least reliable strategies ever developed, and she hadn't included a single card with that capability in her whole Deck.
"Tap it again," the proctor suggested, "and it will turn back to normal so you can see your own interface." Nagi did so, and, for the first time, she spoke.
"Thank you for telling me all this." She tried to speak loudly enough that her opponent would hear her.
"No problem," he smiled back. "But I'll tell you what my cards do from now on, so it's not that important anyway. Academy policy.
"Now, then," he continued. "I'll Summon Atlantean Knight #3."
A small deluge of water seemed to pour from the ceiling. When the flow stopped, a tall, scantily-clad white-haired woman stood in the center of the proctor's field. The massive spear she carried was, eerily, even bigger than she was.
Along with the monster card, as always, a black-and-gold information placard hovered next to the hologram.
/Atlantean Knight #3\
[****]
|2000/ATK|
|DEF/0200|
It was a bit of fridge brilliance for Nagi that Nagisa's nametag was patterned after this placard.
"This monster is so strong," the proctor explained with a wry grin, "that it can't actually attack. But it's enough for me to protect my Life Points at this stage, anyway. Besides that, I'll place one card face-down and end my turn."
Even the massive graphic for a face-down card seemed intimidating. Nevertheless, Nagi found the reserves of confidence needed to say, "I draw."
Her opening hand, as it turned out, was excellent: Phoenix Wing Wind Blast; Magic Jammer; Shining Light Knight; Decima, Druid of the Abyss; and Namashi, Sorceress of the Abyss. Her draw, though, was really icing on the cake — she'd managed to find a copy of Exiled Force. There was no reason not to play it, really, except that her field would be void of monsters by the end of the turn, a possibility her Phoenix Wing Wind Blast covered nicely. There was, of course, a gaping hole in her plan; specifically, if the face-down card negated Trap Cards, she'd be left open. Still, there was nothing her plan could do about that, and she wasn't about to trust her Shining Light Knight's 1500 ATK to hold the field for long.
"I Summon Exiled Force," she began, gently laying her card onto the appropriate slot in the terminal. There was a very slight depression in the slot, she noticed; probably to read the cleverly obscured identifier on the back of the card.
A group of hungry-looking men seemed to charge forward onto the Dueling field, one of them holding up a large plaque:
/Exiled Force\
[****]
|1000/ATK|
|DEF/1000|
Her opponent did nothing, so she continued. "I'll activate its effect, Tributing it to destroy your Atlantean Knight." A golden, flame-like aura rose around the force, winding its way into the air for some time before turning back down and surrounding the warrior on her opponent's field. The aura constricted itself around both monsters, squeezing tighter and tighter until both its victims exploded into polygons.
"After that, I'll just place a face-down —" she laid down her Phoenix Wing Wind Blast — "and end my turn."
"My turn, then," the proctor confirmed, drawing his card. "I Summon Dream of the Sky God's Heir!" What Nagi could only describe as a long-tailed blue bird with a bishop's miter soared onto the field.
/Dream of the Sky God's Heir\
[***]
|1000/ATK|
|DEF/0900|
"This card is mainly useful as a Tuner," the proctor explained as Nagi examined the card on her terminal, "but I obviously can't use it like that now. But when I Summon him, I get to draw a card."
He smiled broadly at his new card. "My Barrier Type Eta probably won't have much of an effect on your Deck, but I think this will."
Nagi's heart fell like a brick.
"Go, Barrier Type Zeta!" her opponent called.
Oddly, the animation was a small white forcefield surrounding her opponent's monster. Nagi tapped the translucent card hovering over her terminal to see what it did.
She practically fainted: "Monsters you control cannot be destroyed except by battle."
It wasn't technically the end of the world — she had three copies of Avalie the Sorceress, the great 1800-ATK beatstick, floating around in her deck, and her Shining Light Knight could still destroy Spell and Trap Cards. But it would still be a severe impediment to her playing style to be deprived of all destructive effects.
Nagi swallowed and tapped the card again, praying that she hadn't paled and given away her weakness.
The proctor continued with his onslaught. "Next, I activate my face-down — Mystical Space Typhoon!"
Oh, that wasn't good at all. Nagi had hoped to save a powerful card like Phoenix Wing Wind Blast for her opponent's boss monster, but here it was, already being forced. Still, she supposed she could buy some more time for her effects to work.
"I'll chain your target," she challenged, even as the dark whirlwind hovered above the massive image of a face-down card. "Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, activate!"
Fiery wings blew forth from where the card had been. "I'm sending your Barrier Type Zeta back to the top of your Deck," she said imperiously. "To do so, I have to discard a card, so…"
The way this Duel was going, with Avalie the Sorceress nowhere in sight, it was unlikely she'd be able to Summon boss-monster Namashi. She solemnly laid it face-up on her Graveyard slot.
"…hm." The proctor was smirking, much to Nagi's dismay. "An unorthodox choice, forsaking your Life Points in order to stall. We'll see if it's the wiser. Attack her directly, Dream of the Sky God's Heir!"
The bird flapped its wings, hurling crescents of what Nagi supposed to be compressed air flying at her. It was still hard not to flinch in the face of such realistic holograms.
[4000||3000]
"I end my turn," the proctor smiled.
Nagi drew and blinked at her own luck — she'd drawn a Lightning Vortex at exactly the right moment. "I activate Lightning Vortex," she declared. "By discarding a card from my hand, I can destroy every monster you control."
With the Barrier Type Zeta on the field, her only Synchro Monster, Zephyr the Blitz, was unlikely to be useful. She sent her, Decima, to the graveyard and watched as the blue bird on the other side of the room fell beneath a torrent of lightning.
"Now I'll play the Shining Light Knight," she continued. A pillar of light eclipsed one of her monster zones and then condensed into a blade of light that a young brunette in silver-blue armor held.
/Shining Light Knight\
[****]
|1500/ATK|
|DEF/1500|
"I'll attack directly with her," she finished, "and end my turn."
The proctor was quite an experienced Duelist; he was barely fazed as the warrior seemed to bisect him with her glowing blade.
[2500||3000]
"Well played," the proctor complimented her.
"Thank you."
"You're very welcome. Now, I draw, though I think I know what this card will be." He drew and immediately replaced his Barrier Type Zeta.
"Next," he continued, "I'll Set a single monster, now that I'm safe from that Knight of yours." As the proctor now knew, the Shining Light Knight could destroy one face-down card on the field per turn… assuming that this face-down wasn't protected, as his new one was by his Barrier.
He smirked and Nagi paled. "And now, I'll equip your Shining Light Knight with Control Armor!"
The warrior was quickly encased in a suit of armor so heavy it reminded Nagi of a coffin.
"The monster equipped with Control Armor loses 500 ATK," her opponent explained. Examination of the card, however, revealed a second, more sinister effect: if the equipped monster were to be destroyed, the card explained, one monster on the field would be destroyed. Since her opponent's monsters were all shielded, Nagi could only assume that if she were to lose her Shining Light Knight, whatever other monster she controlled would fall.
"That's it for me," he finished.
As Nagi drew, she found her hands trembling again, to her own consternation. She'd drawn another Exiled Force, and this time, it was completely useless. "I change my Knight to Defense Position and…" No, it was better to place a bluff than just end. "…Set one card face-down," she added, Setting her Magic Jammer, "and end my turn." She tried not to let her voice tremble.
"My draw…" the proctor practically sang. He smiled yet again. Nagi cringed, wondering what her opponent would be capable of.
"You're good at this lockdown stuff, aren't you?" he complimented her. "I have to end my turn here, pretty much."
Don't do that! the dark-haired girl thought vehemently as she drew. But I suppose if he's powerless with two cards in his hand, at least one of those must be some high-level monster. I'll have to keep his field clear. She mentally cursed as she saw her card. An even more worthless draw had popped up this turn — Kahkki, the Guerilla of Dark World.
She had to wonder… did she dare take the risk of attacking? Not one monster her opponent had played thus far had possessed more than a thousand DEF, but that didn't necessarily say anything about the new monster.
Still, her opponent might be able to Summon a high-level monster if she didn't attack, so it was a risk she'd have to take.
"I Summon another Exiled Force," she began. Another horde rushed out onto the field. "And then I'll switch my Shining Light Knight to Attack Position."
"Shining Light Knight, attack his face-down monster," she commanded. The swordswoman obeyed promptly, leaping through the air and bisecting the hidden card. As it turned out, the new monster had the least DEF yet. The Amphibian Guard of Atlantis, as its momentary plaque revealed, had a grand total of zero DEF.
"Then, of course, I'll attack directly with Exiled Force."
[1500||3000]
"I end my turn."
The proctor nodded approvingly and took his card. "Do you play chess?" he asked conversationally.
"U-um…" Where did that come from? "Sometimes, with my family. Why?"
"The play you made just now was pretty much a chess player's move," the proctor explained. "Taking a risky move in hopes of controlling the Duel at large. Nice move, by the way."
"Um… thank you."
"The difference…" Yet again, the proctor wore a devious smirk. What now?
"…is that in chess, your opponent can't topdeck a turnaround. I Summon Atlantean Knight #1!"
Under another localized waterfall, a tattooed man in blue samurai armor glowered at Nagi's assembled force.
/Atlantean Knight #1\
[****]
|1500/ATK|
|DEF/1400|
"Atlantean Knight," the proctor ordered, "destroy Shining Light Knight!"
If it weren't for the control armor, Nagi knew the Shining Light Knight would be able to fight on even ground with her nemesis, but in her bulky suit of "armor," she stood no chance. She was cut to pieces in moments.
[1500||2500]
"And of course," Nagi sighed, "I have to destroy the Exiled Force, since your monster is protected." The forcefield around the blue samurai flashed, as if to remind her. Then a massive explosion rocked her field, blasting her mercenaries into triangles.
"That's all I can do," the proctor shrugged. "Your go."
Nagi's draw was — of all things — another Shining Light Knight. This time, though, she didn't dare place it in Attack Position. The Atlantean Knight would do unpleasant things if it were destroyed.
"I Set one monster —" the Shining Light Knight, of course — "and end my turn."
The proctor was smiling yet again! His Deck was used to operating under strained conditions, it seemed.
"I'll Set a monster, too," he smiled, "and attack your face-down with my Atlantean Knight!"
Though the samurai's lunge was swift, the knight leapt out of its card to parry the blow just in time.
"End turn," he said, far too pleasantly.
Well, his tone of voice cinches it, Nagi thought unhappily. He's got a high-level monster he's waiting to play. And with that Barrier up, my only option… She glanced at her draw, praying her own beatstick Avalie would appear, but alas — she'd only come up with Trap Jammer.
She sighed. "I switch Shining Light Knight to Attack Position and attack your face-down."
Humorously, it was another defenseless Amphibian Guard of Atlantis.
"End turn." There was no point in laying a bluff card now; she already had one out, not that it did much.
"Same here." Nagi jumped; the proctor had apparently drawn and found himself powerless.
Of course, Nagi realized suddenly. He'd want to keep a monster available to Tribute, regardless of the beneficial effects that would ensue were it destroyed.
In that case, it was time for a turnaround. Her new card had given her the key.
"I Set one monster face-down —" Kahkki, not that it really mattered — "and activate Desperate Thunder!"
Desperate Thunder was an iffy card. It needed her to have greater field presence than her opponent and for her enemy to control fewer than three monsters; these conditions were rare. But if she met them, Desperate Thunder could destroy any card her opponent controlled — even a Spell or Trap Card.
"I target Barrier Type Zeta, of course," she grinned. A massive spark flew from her monsters into the barrier, which shattered like glass from the impact.
"And then I end my turn," she finished.
Suddenly, a new voice emerged through the proctor's helmet. "You set in there?" a mature female voice asked.
"Nope," the proctor muttered into his helmet. It must link him to the administrators, Nagi reflected.
"Okay, then," the woman replied. "Ring when you're done."
"Right." The proctor tapped his helmet. "Sorry, it's alright," he apologized. "We'll just keep going…"
Oh. The next wave has arrived.
She was distracted from her guilt by yet another demonic smirk. Nagi was starting to get sick of those. "I Summon Atlantean Knight #2," her foe announced. This knight was done up in more European-style armor, with a much larger sword than his comrade.
/Atlantean Knight #2\
[****]
|1700/ATK|
|DEF/1400|
"Attack the Shining Light Knight!"
The new Atlantean Knight was very clumsy compared to Nagi's monster, but its armor was tough, and its sword was strong. The knight fell from a single blow.
[1500||2300]
"And my other knight," he added, "will attack your face-down!" Obviously, Kahkki fell from one lunge by the blue samurai.
"I'm done," he sighed. "Let's see how you worm your way out of this one."
How many turns had passed now? Six? Seven? The Duel was torturously long for a mere four thousand Life Points. Still, survival was enough for Nagi, and her new card would give her that.
"If you can topdeck a beatstick," she smiled, "then so can I. I play Avalie the Sorceress!"
The long-awaited sorceress had come at last. She came wreathed in darkness, but her actual getup wasn't actually that dark, a jade shirt stretched over impressive breasts and a steel-blue long skirt. Her smile was mischievous, but not wanton; it seemed to carry a hidden wisdom.
/Avalie the Sorceress\
[****]
|1800/ATK|
|DEF/1000|
Though the first Atlantean Knight would squeeze more Life Points out of her opponent, the second would give her much more trouble were it to survive. Besides, its effect activated during its owner's Standby Phase, not when it was destroyed.
"Attack and destroy Atlantean Knight #2!" A bolt of darkness pierced the slow knight's armor long before it could mobilize to defend itself.
[1400||2300]
"I end my turn," she smiled.
The proctor's turn was short but deliciously satisfying. "I change Atlantean Knight #1 to Defense Position and end."
Now, it seemed, a battle of attrition had begun. Destroying the Atlantean Knight would be disagreeable with her new draw — Giant Trunade — but she had little choice but to attack if she wanted to stall that high-level monster. "I attack Atlantean Knight #1 with Avalie," Nagi declared.
Another black bolt whistled through the air and pierced the knight's armor, but the samurai didn't explode just yet. Water began to pour forth from the wound.
"So, pick a card," Nagi offered. "There's only two; left or right?"
When Atlantean Knight #1 was destroyed, its controller could look at one card in his or her opponent's hand. If it wasn't a Spell Card, it was discarded, but if it was, the controller would draw a card. With only a Spell and a Trap in her hand, either scenario was possible.
"Hm… my right," the proctor shrugged. A hologram of Giant Trunade flashed on his terminal. He smirked across the field at Nagi and drew a card.
"That's all," Nagi sighed.
"Let's see how long I can hold out," her enemy grinned as he drew. "I Set a monster in face-down Defense Position and end my turn."
Nagi drew and managed to avoid gawking. Her third and last copy of Kahkki, Guerilla of Dark World had found its way to her hand in a Duel in which it was worthless.
"I attack your face-down with Avalie." A bolt of darkness shattered the card, which revealed a third impaled frog. At least I'm not the only one with three worthless cards.
The proctor drew and Set another monster, and then Nagi faced the card that would win her the Duel. Her second Phoenix Wing Wind Blast had finally surfaced.
"I Set one card face-down…" It was nearly impossible to keep her poker face on, but she had to keep her guard up. "And then I'll attack yet again." Avalie's new victim was a formidable-looking centaur bearing a large, crackling spear, but it, too, fell once the sorceress's bolt pierced it.
Then the proctor drew and smiled his infernal smile yet again. What, more? Nagi was screaming inside her own head. This Duel's dragged on for ages already… Am I that bad at just finishing things?
"The trouble with lockdown decks," the proctor explained, "is that if your opponent manages to luck out and break your combo, even for a turn, it could cost you the Duel. You don't rely on one combo, but on a series of generic cards, so you're hard to pin down… but in the end, luck can win out in the end."
In other words, you've topdecked something incredible.
"I Summon the Great Stone Statue of Atlantis!" he roared. Nagi clutched her ears; apparently, the proctor was starting to lose control.
"Sorry…" Suddenly he was back to being reasonable and apologetic. "It's just that this Duel's been a challenge, and it's sort of dragged on for a while."
Well, yes. That's the point.
But the Great Stone Statue of Atlantis didn't seem terribly remarkable; it was, of all things, a Normal Monster. All in all, it looked like a large rock with some glowing blue markings on it.
/Great Stone Statue of Atlantis\
[****]
|0400/ATK|
|DEF/2200|
What now? Nagi frowned a bit. Shield and Sword?
The proctor was on his way. "I can Tribute this guy," he explained, "to Special Summon the Stone Giant Grakal from my hand!"
The rock slowly grew and began to take on more humanoid aspects. Occasionally, a great blue spark would fly up when something particularly significant was happening — the formation of an arm or hand, for instance. The end result of this great transformation was a hulking stone behemoth with some stone semblance of clothes. Though its great hands looked like they could supply the force of a wrecking ball, what truly intimidated Nagi were its eyes, deep cavities that seemed to have no end.
/Stone Giant Grakal\
[*********]
|3000/ATK|
|DEF/1900|
The proctor was very confident in his great monster, and Nagi refused to believe it was just a beatstick. She glanced over its effect as he spoke.
"While this guy is up," he explained, "every monster on the field loses 500 ATK and DEF!"
And so they did; Avalie's stats dropped to a pathetic 1300 and 500.
But besides being a massive beatstick capable of ending the Duel in one blow, there was really nothing in its effect at all. It could inflict piercing damage, but that was about it. There was no clause stating it was immune to Nagi's card effects.
She looked up, gulped, and held her hand high.
"Attack Avalie!" the proctor commanded.
And now it was her turn to rant.
"The nice thing about lockdown decks, though…" This was fun; she found a smirk coming to her face. Was this the end, at long last? "…is that since the duels drag on for so long, with a Duelist's actions being anticlimactically negated… when the end is in sight, they tend to act hastily and not bother to cover their tracks."
"And you did?" the proctor guessed.
"Indeed." Nagi inwardly prayed that her opponent didn't have any Quick-Play Spells ready to negate her trap; though she didn't know of any, her knowledge of Duel Monsters was hardly encyclopedic. "I activate Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, again!"
Flames once again rushed up to protect Avalie, knocking the great giant off-balance. Nagi couldn't help but cringe as it toppled backwards into the massive, glowing image of a card. Even as that card graphic floated to the top of the proctor's deck, there was no response.
It was over.
The proctor whistled appreciatively. "Not too shabby."
"Game?" Nagi offered. She'd only looked up that bit of dueling etiquette just before she came; it was customary to ask the opponent if they were ready to forfeit if the stage was set for their defeat.
"Yep," the proctor agreed, sighing in relief. "Well-played. That was a challenge."
It was fascinating to watch the game field shut off. It was a similar animation to before, except played backwards — the holograms seemed to melt into some prismatic liquid that collected in the air, turning into the very picture of a huge opal before collapsing on itself and vanishing in a blink of light.
And then it was over. Nagi slumped over her desk, sighing in relief.
\\\\Duel End\\\\
Victory: Nagi Yuryuin, 2300-0
"We're finally done here," the proctor said happily.
"What took you so long? This poor girl's been having a nervous breakdown."
Nagi blushed. It had taken a long time, hadn't it?
"The girl was playing some kinda lockdown; she basically negated my every move. Eleven turns from four thousand Life Points. But like I said, we're done, so send 'er down whenever."
"Alright, then. See you."
The proctor tapped his helmet one more time and smiled broadly at Nagi. "Well, you're set, so if you can just follow the hallway to the end, we have a bus waiting. We took your stuff down; you'll be alright. Nice job, again."
Nagi nodded and collected her cards, fumbling at them a bit in her desire to leave. They'd served her well after all, she reflected.
Once she was done, she slipped them into the box on her belt and darted out the door.