Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh; if I did, there would be so many changes...so so many changes...
"Speech"
'Thought'
"Duel?" It began with the same word as always.
"Yeah, I suppose that I have some time," I said casually as I scanned my watch. There would be plenty of time today to take care of my remaining assignments and enjoy this.
This activity wasn't anything new, in fact it was my favorite past time. Playing rounds of Yu-gi-oh was our favorite activity. However, I had more experience in the game. Although many people had heard of Yu-Gi-Oh from childhood, many probably didn't know how it worked. In this Japanese card game, players would summon monsters and use spells and traps to win by depleting their opponent's life points to zero.
My friend preferred using the famed Blue Eyes White Dragon deck, which the game had given much support for and he built himself off of that. Personally, I disagreed with that choice as it was probably too easy for anyone to use. As for my deck, it was centered on my favorite cards called Synchro Monsters. However, mine differed by being populated with weak monsters. But in spite of whichever deck we used, this convoluted game was still fun.
Preparing for the match as always, my friend and I shuffled our decks about seven times to ensure that the first cards we draw are random. We tossed dice to decide who would go first, our own personal rule for the game. He rolled a six and I rolled a four, so my turn would be the second. From our decks we both drew five cards.
Because my friend went first, he wasn't allowed to draw or attack me on the first turn. I began to feel anxious as he scanned his hand, which caused me to sweat and worry about damaging the ink on my cards. My friend was still new to the game in comparison to me, but his deck was one that required caution to defeat.
"I end my turn," said my friend. His proclamation broke me out of my thoughts and brought me to the realization that he had not summoned any monsters.
"You've only laid spells and traps?" I asked as it was very unusual for him.
"I don't have anything good for now."
Deciding to trust him on that, I took my turn and drew the first card. Although my hand was good, it wasn't exactly a stellar combination waiting to happen. The summoning of one of my synchro monsters was well within my grasp. Summoning two monsters of different status would allow me to do it, but the three face down cards on my opponent's side of the field urged me to play safely.
"I summon Bri Synchron." In my imaginative eye, a light shone from the card and a human sized green robot with wings appeared. I had summoned my first tuner monster for this game. "I attack directly!"
"Activate my trap." My friend's nonchalant words instilled some concern in me. He flipped up a Scrap-Iron Scarecrow. The entire punch of my monster was absorbed and he took no damage before the scarecrow was placed back face down. That card was one of the few that could be set back after its use as others would be taken off of the field after use. One of my favorite cards used against me; irony was rich.
Realizing the limited number of options, I ended my turn. The cycle of our turns repeated as my friend didn't place any other cards down. Caution started to evaporate from my desires as I felt the smooth texture of my next card and drew it. With Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, he could stop my attacks repeatedly and protect his life points. Though, the card I drew would make a good combination with the other cards I had.
"I summon Jet Synchron!" My mind produced the image of a jet engine about the size of a pug with arms flying. Another tuner monster for my field.
"And since there are two or more monsters on the field, I special summon Hat Tricker!" The imagery and diversity continued with the appearance of a caped hat. "And I tune Jet Synchron with Hat Tricker to summon Jet Warrior!"
Jet Synchron burst into a green ring that hovered around the caped hat. Stars aligned from the latter and an explosion of light created my black jet-like, robot warrior. Upon instantly appearing onto the field, I activated his effect to return a card to my opponent's hand. Memory served me well because I picked the face down card that was obviously Scrap-Iron Scarecrow. With that now removed, there was a straight line of attack.
"Jet Warrior attacks you directly!" I commanded with vigor. My monster generated a ball of flame and launched it directly towards my adversary.
"I activate Magic Cylinder." My friend flipped up a card that released a mystic cylinder. Jet Warrior's attack went straight in, only to be reflected back towards me.
A fourth of my life points were annihilated from that attack, but in reality, only my pride was hurt. Honestly though, I had a more pressing and irritating question in mind after that tactic.
"Why didn't you use that before?"
He only shook his head, indicating that he had forgotten setting it down. I got the feeling that this could be a stressful match for me because of my opponent's traps. My turn concluded as I chose to take a cautious approach with my other monster and not attack.
The next couple of turns introduced nothing new for either of us. My time was spent summoning another Synchro Monster, a red motorcycle robot known as Accel Synchron, while my adversary activated Dragon's Ravine. A precise name as it morphed the field into one of a giant canyon that ensured death to those who fell in, symbolic of its effect. I could practically taste the imaginary dust. No second thoughts were made as my opponent sent two dragons directly from his deck to the graveyard, one of which was the prestigious Blue Eyes White Dragon.
Even from inside the graveyard, I could feel that dragon image glaring back at me. Those white scales were meant to display majesty and elegance while the blue eyes boasted power and intimidation. Most would be nervous around that dragon, but I had dealt with and used it so many times that I could walk over and spit on its white scales fearlessly. Thinking that wasn't the best idea because after that my friend activated a card that allowed him to summon that reptile from his graveyard.
"Blue Eyes attacks him," said my opponent as he pointed at my Jet Warrior. The dragon burst a stream of destruction that completely eradicated my monster and inflicted damage to my life points because of the difference in their levels of power. He ended his turn after that.
I could already feel that I was losing my grip for this game. My deck was prepared with many different methods to deal with strong monsters like Blue Eyes, but none of them were in my hand at the moment. The next draw would have to work otherwise my countdown to defeat was imminent. Luckily, I drew another monster, a blue wizard called Stardust Phantom.
"I summon Stardust Phantom." My monster arose, but seemed puny in the face of the mighty dragon. "And I activate Shooting Star." The face down trap card that I had set a few turns earlier came in handy as I destroyed my opponent's face down Scarecrow and there would be no more use of that. "Now I tune Stardust Phantom with Accel Synchron."
A tinge of regret pinged in my subconscious. Accel Synchron was a synchro tuner designed to bring out massively powerful monsters, but for now I would have to settle with using it with my weaker wizard for something a little less powerful. At the very least, it would keep Blue Eyes from hitting me directly. I began to sweat as I realized that at the moment, I could only prolong this duel.
What an accurate prediction that was, because that mighty dragon began to tear through my monsters like they were wet paper. Experience was the only thing that allowed me to keep my composure about the match. It allowed me to pull out the necessary combinations with my deck. My experience reminded me of the weaknesses of my opponent's strategy and I'd make sure to exploit them. In time, I managed to summon another Synchro Monster, the seven foot tall orange robot, Junk-Archer.
"And I activate his effect to remove Blue Eyes White Dragon from the game," I said with some relief, but my friend was ahead of me again. He activated a trap card that launched chains around my archer. Now he was prevented from activating effects or attacking. My teeth were grinding in frustration.
Concluding my turn, I allowed my opponent to attack my robotic orange archer. The destructive stream soared over to my monster and connected with an explosion.
Smoke covered the area, leaving a scent of burnt iron. I smirked as the tables had turned, save for the one that we were playing on. Protecting my side of the field was my own Scrap-Iron Scarecrow. Surprisingly, my opponent only placed a few cards face down and ended his turn.
Lady Luck must've decided to smile down upon me as I drew a card that might've granted me the victory that I needed. Full House, a trap card that destroy spell and trap cards on the field with little cost. Powerful and useful, but I would have to wait until the next turn to use it after it was set. However, I wouldn't be without any sort of artistic flare this time around. I managed to summon another set of monsters and initiate yet another synchro summon.
"I summon Red Dragon Archfiend Scarlight," I proclaimed proudly as I placed the card onto the field. The giant demonic red dragon with a scarred right arm birthed from flames came to me.
Instead of attacking, I chose to end my turn there because our dragons were on par. My opponent could revive his dragon faster than I could for mine. My friend drew his card and chose not to attack me as he was well aware that I could block an attack again with my scarecrow, just as I knew that he could do the same to me. All he chose to do was set a monster face down.
But suddenly, before he could end his turn, I activated Full House, removing all of his face down cards. A deafening tornado spun up and removed almost all of his cards. The mighty Blue Eyes White Dragon was swept away as well because it no longer had the card that kept it alive and my Junk Archer was set free. Unfortunately though, my own scarecrow was destroyed and my friend activated a card effect of his Dragon Keeper of the Shrine in response to Blue Eyes's destruction. He now had two monsters on the field that he could use to bring for another one of those dragons.
My heart's pace sped up as I realized that. Although I had my Junk Archer and Scarlight Dragon on the field, I'm sure that he had another combination prepared for me. The next card would decide if I could win or lose. Time seemed irrelevant as I reached to draw and initiate my turn.
I drew my card.
I looked and saw that it was just the card I needed, a spell that allowed me to pull a tuner straight to my hand by looking through my deck. The cards necessary for victory lined up and were connected by light to a shining road. Trusting in my luck, I summoned a cowboy-like robot, Quick Draw Synchron, using its effect and discarding the orange Bolt Hedgehog. Then, I activated the effect of Bolt Hedgehog from the graveyard to revive itself and tuned it with Quickdraw Synchron.
"I summon Nitro Warrior," I proclaimed as I set the card of the green horned warrior on my field.
Nitro Warrior was one that my friend had learned how to defeat before, but not when it was with other monsters on my field. Next, I summoned Junk Synchron from my hand. The little orange warrior that looked like a nerd was quite literally designed around using scrap metal in a battle, but he was always instrumental in my plans to victory. In fact, he had an effect to revive a weak monster that I had already used before if I chose to do so.
And it doesn't take much to realize that I would.
"Using Junk Synchron's ability, I revive Jet Synchron." I smirked as I would get to pull back one of my favorite cards.
"And I double tune Junk Synchron with Jet Synchron with Red Dragon Archfiend Scarlight. I summon Red Nova Dragon!"
My two synchron monsters burst into rings of fire that encircled my dragon. Spinning rapidly, they created a ring that only I could enjoy. Out from the flames, and onto my field as a card, came Red Nova Dragon, a fearsome red titan of a dragon with enormous power.
So enormous in fact, that he towered over my other monsters. Immediately he began to grow because of his effect to become more powerful by the amount of weak monsters in my graveyard, he literally doubled in power as a result. Victory was well within my grasp.
"Junk Archer attacks your face down monster!" The orange archer aimed his plasma arrow, fired, and killed the mystery monster.
"Nitro Warrior attacks Keeper of the Shrine!" The green warrior lunged forward and smashed the dragon priest into dust.
"And Red Nova Dragon attacks you directly!" The red dragon, engulfed in flames, soared directly at my opponent…
I held my breath in anticipation of any last fail-safes that my friend had in store for me he was always tricky with his deck. But nothing came and he casually put his hands up.
"That's game."
Such words calmed me and I reached over for a handshake. "Good game, my friend."
Those words reminded me of something important it is just a card game and is meant to be fun. However, I still can't help but imagine those creatures coming to life and battling with all of their might against one another. In my eyes at least, it's a little something more.
Thanks for reading this fanfiction. Hope you liked it. And don't really expect this to be going anywhere. I was just looking around my files and found this. Please favorite or leave a review.
GalaxianDragon, away!
...That's a new thing that I'm doing on Deviantart...
