It was a beautiful sunny day.
The five Deltas should've been outside enjoying the weather while it lasted, and indeed they intended to do that later. But right now, two of them were having a duel for fun, and the other three had stayed behind to watch. Katie had referred to it as "a way to relax," but it turned out to be anything but that.
Even though they were dueling for fun, Dan and Leah always took their duels seriously, and they were throwing every ounce of their strength against each other. Just a few turns in, they had pulled out all the stops, and had each assembled what Matt (their leader) could only describe as a Number Army. Normally this would be very dangerous, as Numbers could inflict real damage to people. Fortunately, they were dueling in their specially made duel arena, where there were safely protocols in effect designed to prevent the harmful effects of the Numbers while they were in the room. Leah had two face-downs while Dan had none.
Dan LP: 1700
Number 68: Glacial Dragon: Dragon-Type/Xyz/WATER/Rank 3/ATK 1000/DEF 1000 – 1 OLU
Number 20: Blue Firefly: Insect-Type/Xyz/FIRE/Rank 2/ATK 1500/DEF 1500 – 1 OLU
Leah LP: 1200
Number 17: Passion Aurora: Fairy-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 5/ATK 2500/DEF 1800 – 1 OLU
Number 10: Terra Storm: Rock-Type/Xyz/WIND/Rank 4/ATK 1500/DEF 2600 – 2 OLU
Spell & Trap Card Zone: 2 set cards
"It's my turn, draw." Dan began his turn and drew a card. "I activate Blue Firefly's effect, detaching its last Overlay Unit to switch Terra Storm to Attack Position!" The large insect absorbed its final Overlay Unit into its horn, then formed a sphere of glowing, swirling fireflies between its wings. It launched the sphere at Terra Storm, a massive tornado with a rock floating in the centre. The sphere expanded on contact, and the fireflies were sucked into its tornado, forcing the monster into Attack Position.
Number 20: Blue Firefly: 1 → 0 OLU
"And then Glacial Dragon's effect?" Leah asked, smiling.
"And then Glacial Dragon's effect." Dan agreed. "Once per turn, I can target one face-up card on the field and negate its effects until the End Phase. I target Terra Storm." Glacial Dragon shot a shining ball of ice at the Number, which flash froze it, coating the rock in ice and slowing the tornado right down.
"Now that's a clever move," Leah laughed, "so now Terra Storm has lost all of its protection, and can be destroyed by either of those monsters."
Dan nodded and declared battle. "Go, Blue Firefly, attack Terra Storm!" The firefly formed another sphere of right, this time red, and launched it at Terra Storm. At the same moment, Terra Storm retaliated with a vicious cyclone of its own, hurling air currents, sand, and stones at the firefly. The attacks passed each other in mid-air, and struck their targets at the same moment, annihilating both Numbers on the spot. Dan and Leah clutched their respective left and right hands, as pain shot through them from the destruction of their Numbers.
The three spectators covered their faces from the explosion. "Wow," Katie breathed. "When those two decide to duel, they really give it everything."
"You're telling me," James moaned, massaging a spot on his head where he'd been hit with a flying rock, made real by the Number's power.
"Now I activate Glacial Dragon's effect!" Dan was saying. "By detaching its last Overlay Unit, it gains the ATK that the Unit had when it was a monster." The black-white-and-blue dragon's last blue orb was absorbed into its forehead.
Number 68: Glacial Dragon: 1 → 0 OLU
"That Overlay Unit was Hunter Dragon, so Glacial Dragon gains 1700 ATK!" The dragon was surrounded by blue light as its ATK was raised.
Number 68: Glacial Dragon: ATK 1000 → 2700
"Go, Glacial Dragon, atta-"
"Before you declare battle," Leah interrupted, "I'm going to respond to your monster's change in ATK. I activate a Quick-Play Spell Card, Archlord's Blessing!" The Spell Card activated. "This card activates when a monster's ATK changes, then this card doubles that change until the End Phase." A surprised-looking Glacial Dragon was enveloped by yellow light as the Spell Card increased its ATK further.
Number 68: Glacial Dragon: ATK 2700 → 4400
"What's she doing?" James said incredulously. "She's increased the ATK of an enemy monster for no reason."
"There has to be a reason." Matt replied, not taking his eyes off the duel. "She's not the type of person to make a mistake like that."
"Matt, shut up!" James snapped. "Not everyone is perfect, and not everyone duels the same way as you, alright?" Matt turned to look at him, surprised by the venom in his voice.
Meanwhile, on the field, Dan was struggling. Leah had seemingly given his monster a free ATK boost that would allow it to easily overpower Passion Aurora and wipe out her life points… but why? Why'd she done that? She had one face-down left, and Dan assumed that it must have something to do with that card, but he couldn't for the life of him work out what it could be.
The question was, did he take the risk and attack?
It took a long time to come to a decision. "I'll switch Glacial Dragon to Defence Position and end my turn." The dragon shifted down into Defence Position. Dan could almost feel the dragon's disappointment seeping through their link.
Number 68: Glacial Dragon: ATK 4400 → 1000
"My turn then, draw." With a smirk, Leah began her turn. "I activate Passion Aurora's effect. By detaching its remaining Overlay Unit, both of us are allowed to perform Special Summons for this turn only." The synthetic angel-like monster absorbed its last orb of yellow light. Some feathers detached from its wings and floated around it, suppressing its effect.
Number 17: Passion Aurora: 1 → 0 OLU
"Now I'll activate my face-down card!" she declared. Dan paid close attention - this was the card she'd been relying on, the card that would've protected her from Glacial Dragon's empowered attack. Slowly, the face-down flipped up until everyone could see it.
It was the Spell Card, Monster Reborn.
Dan slapped a hand to his forehead and groaned. He'd been tricked.
Leah laughed. "Gotcha, didn't I? With Monster Reborn I revive Number 10: Terra Storm!" The blustery Number rose up behind Leah, not even bothering with its sealed form first.
Number 10: Terra Storm: Rock-Type/Xyz/WIND/Rank 4/ATK 1500/DEF 2600 – 0 OLU
"Battle! Terra Storm, attack Glacial Dragon!" The tornado surrounding Number 10's core fell upon the dragon. Number 68 roared in pain and thrashed about, trying to escape the vicious winds, but it was pinned in place, and continuously pulverized by rocks and debris. Finally, when it could take it no more, the dragon exploded and the winds retracted. Once again, Dan clutched his hand, feeling the pain of his Number's destruction.
"I don't believe this..." he moaned once the pain had subsided.
"Passion Aurora, direct attack!" The angelic Number fired a beam of crackling gold energy, which struck Dan in the chest, sending him flying back.
Dan LP: 1700 → 0
Leah LP: 1200 [WINNER]
The augmented reality descended around them, and Leah jogged across the field to help Dan up. Once she'd ascertained that he was alright, they made their way back over to the others, laughing their heads off about Dan's misplay.
"I still can't believe it," he said, shaking his head incredulously. "You've never even been one for psychological warfare."
"Yeah, well..." she grinned. "I've been dreaming up all sorts of cool strategies for fighting Numbers and their holders. That was one of them, and I wanted to try it out as soon as I got the chance."
"Well, it sure worked on me," he said, as the others ran over to join them.
"Fantastic dueling, Leah," Matt said, and she smiled at the compliment.
Dan rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah... not so much for me though..."
Matt laughed. "Hey, you did great too. You just overthought things a little is all."
"Enough to throw a duel for no reason." James growled, before rounding on Matt. "Don't start giving him compliments! We should be pointing out each other's mistakes and making sure we don't make them again, not dishing out praise!" Katie's eyes widened at her boyfriend's harsh words.
"James, man, calm down," Dan said, worried by this new behaviour. "It was just a simple mistake. Anyone in my position could've made the same decision to pla-"
"Dan, shut it, I'm not talking to you," James snapped at him.
He was about to start on Matt again, but Katie grabbed his arm and pulled him to one side. "James, cut that out," she whispered. "That's no way to speak to your friends, and you're not going to get through to anyone by speaking like that."
"Whatever," he grunted. He was still in a bad mood, but Katie's words had taken the edge off, and he was starting to see that he was overreacting.
She gave him a quick kiss, then asked, "What're you so angry about anyway?"
James thought about it for quite a long time, then shrugged. "I dunno... lack of sleep, stress, not sure."
"And whose fault is that?" Katie said sternly, putting her hands on her hips. James grunted in response, embarrassed at his outburst. "Whatever it is, it doesn't matter. Your friends will forgive you if you just explain. Now come on, go apologise."
Reluctantly, James turned back and walked over to Matt. "Sorry about that man..." he muttered, "I overreacted a bit there."
"It's fine," Matt said, wanting to preserve the peace, but still confused as to the reason behind James' irritation.
"Right," Leah smiled, clapping her hands together. "Since the weather's so nice, who fancies a trip to the park?"
"Don't play dumb," Dan interrupted, immediately realising her intention. "You want to go look for more people to duel, don't you?" She shrugged, smirking. Dan shook his head incredulously. "I would've thought that this most recent one would tire you out for the day."
"Not a hope!" she grinned, "So does everyone want to go?" There was a general murmur of consent. "Sweet! Now we just need to clear it with one person." Her D-Gazer was still hooked over her eye, so she just flipped it on and cycled through a list of options to start a call with their boss.
It was answered almost instantly.
"Yes dear, how can I help you?" Professor Usur said. He sounded like he was in an unusually cheerful mood, but you could never be too sure with the Professor – his moods could change in an instant.
"Hello sir," Leah said, "we were planning on going out today, but we just wanted to make sure – has there been any hint of Number activity today?"
"Not a whiff, I'm afraid," the Professor replied. "The Numbers have been unusually quiet as of late. We're still doing research into them... among other things... either way, you kids are free to go off and enjoy yourselves if you wish. Our system will alert you if a Number is detected."
"Understood, thank you sir." Leah said cheerfully. She ended the call and looked at the others happily. "Alright guys, let's go to the park!"
Author-made cards:
Number 68: Glacial Dragon
Dragon-Type/Xyz/WATER/Rank 3/ATK 1000/DEF 1000
2 Level 3 monsters
This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. Once per turn: You can target 1 face-up card on the field; negate its effects until the End Phase. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card; this card gains ATK equal to the ATK of the detached monster in the Graveyard until the End Phase.
Number 20: Blue Firefly
Insect-Type/Xyz/FIRE/Rank 2/ATK 1500/DEF 1500
2 Level 2 monsters
This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card, then target 1 face-up monster; change that target's Battle Position.
Number 17: Passion Aurora
Fairy-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 5/ATK 2500/DEF 1800
2 Level 5 monsters
This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. Neither player can Special Summon monsters. During either player's turn: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card; negate this card's effects until the End Phase.
Number 10: Terra Storm (credit to Superjad)
Rock-Type/Xyz/WIND/Rank 4/ATK 1500/DEF 2600
2 Level 4 monsters
This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. This card can attack while in face-up Defence Position. If this card would be destroyed, you can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card instead. During your next Battle Phase after this effect was used, this card can attack your opponent directly, and if the effect was used more than once since your last Battle Phase, this card's maximum number of attacks this turn is equal to the number of times that effect was used since your last Battle Phase.
Archlord's Blessing
Quick-Play Spell Card
When the ATK of a face-up monster changes: Target that monster; double that change until the End Phase.
Fun Fact #1: I hope you enjoyed your brief excursion into the world of filler. Now back to plot.
Fun Fact #2: As stated in the story summary, the purpose of this story is to set up certain plot events that can be explored at a later date. Two of them have been set up in this chapter, the rest will come later.
Fun Fact #3: Yes, Leah did actually pull this trick on me in a duel. It was such an obvious ploy, and I'm ashamed of myself for falling for it.