A/N: Kouichi's deck was designed through trial and error (and bugging a lot of opponents considering its kind of annoying to play against) on Dueling Network (I'm reafterthought btw). I figured it would be best to put it to the test through real duels to see its strengths and weaknesses and various combinations of it. Also, because of those tournament rules, I'm using 8000LP as the start. Since this is post-GX, the rules could have changed within that space. And there's more room to work with too.
Names are the Japanese version, but cards are the official English names. I think less readers recognise Japanese card names as opposed to character names (which I'm using more because of Digimon than GX).
The term "destroyed" is used quite loosely, but it's normally described as: destroyed in battle or via a card effect (as stated on the card). Therefore, tributes of any sort do not count.
Lines to Cross
Chapter 1
Pride
'So, this is the place.'
No observer would think the ruined arch under scrutiny held any value for the one observing it as their tone was low and emotionless. His face too was impassive; nothing in his body revealed the purpose for his arrival. In fact, if one considered the state of his clothes and the worn backpack on his shoulders, they would assume he was simply a student who had a certain disregard for the dorm blazers and was on a hike. Some would even look back to see whether a wave of students, coloured red, yellow and blue were about to arrive thereafter, or were at that moment already milling about the sarcophagi and moss covered stones.
If they did think such a thing, they would be incorrect. There were no students, nor would there be in the foreseeable future. The annual field trip had already taken place earlier that year, and there was a record number of students attending thanks to the legacy left behind.
The boy who stood now in the archway was neither a current student nor a part of that legacy, visiting in nostalgia.
'Looks like it,' the reply came from the earpiece he wore. 'Now to find the –'
The speaker was interrupted as the other stepped forward, a shift in the static weakening the channel through which they were connected.
'Hang on, how do –'
'It's here.' The boy stopped in the grass and gently dropped his backpack before leaning over it to unpack.
'Give me a sec to check.' The other sounded a little annoyed, although that faded into curiosity as the confirmation came through. 'How did you know, Kouichi-kun?'
'I feel it,' Kouichi replied simply, still unpacking the electronics. 'One, ten and thirty metres, right?'
'Right,' came the affirmation, and more static came through the channel as the equipment was set up.
Five minutes later, everything was up and running.
'Now for the hard part,' the other said through the earpiece. 'Especially since it took so long.'
'Yeah.' Kouichi collected the unneeded things and repacked them into his bag. 'The underground would be the –'
'Don't even think about it,' the other snapped immediately. 'That is the most insane idea I've ever heard.' There was a pause, and then: 'Shinya-kun says it's the most insane idea he's ever heard, and he's Takuya-kun's younger brother.'
'I know,' Kouichi responded quietly, although there was little change in the tone and both boys on the other channel had to wonder how much he really cared as to the consequences of the underground.
'Those electrical shocks are no good for your heart,' the elder lectured. 'Especially since yours has been defibrillated. Please stick to the regular tournaments and duellists and stay away from the underground.'
Silence, then the ex-warrior of darkness assented…partially. 'Unless it's necessary.'
'Unless it's absolutely necessary.'
'Sure, Yutaka-sempai.'
Yutaka sighed. 'Well, then I'll –' Whispers Kouichi could not discern. ' – we'll have to hope it won't be necessary.'
The dark-haired boy did not respond to that.
'So you'll be back on the mainland this afternoon? We'll see you tonight?'
'I'm not sure.' Kouichi looked up to the sun. 'There's the regional tournament. It depends on how long I take there.'
'The door's open,' Yutaka said quietly. 'You know that.'
'Thanks.'
'Don't thank me.'
Kouichi couldn't help but smile. 'Thanks anyway.'
Sho was running late, and therefore he was, understandably, not looking where he was going. It wasn't unexpected then, that he ran headlong into someone, and as that person was taller Sho found himself on the ground.
It was however unexpected that the standing person burst into laughter.
'Ah, Sho!'
Sho blinked, before his face broke into a grin. 'Aniki!' he exclaimed, before frowning at the other. 'You didn't call.' A shake of the head. 'Only you would pop up after six months of no contact when I least expect it.'
Judai grinned sheepishly at him as he offered a hand, pulling the other up when they accepted it. 'I didn't exactly plan on running into you.'
'Literally I might add,' Yubel said from behind the brunet, but only Judai heard.
'Are you coming to the tournament tonight?' Sho asked, heading off again as Judai fell into step behind him. 'I'm doing a little talent-scouting.'
'For the new pro-circuit? How's that coming along?'
'It's coming,' the younger Marufuji brother said, a little thoughtfully but proudly all the same. 'It's a little difficult to get the best duellists in, since they're so used to the old system, but we're getting a lot of new faces with loads of potential and Ni-san couldn't be happier.'
'Sounds great.' Judai nodded. 'How about Edo and Manjyoume?'
'Manjyoume-kun's busy with his brothers again,' Sho replied. 'But Edo-kun's helping promote the pro-circuit on his tour.'
Judai smiled at the informal address. 'And you?'
'Me? I – uh –' Sho suddenly looked at his watch. 'I'm late!'
Judai burst into laughter.
'Don't laugh Aniki!'
'I'm not going to last a round,' Kouichi muttered under his breath.
Sadly, the earpiece he wore was sensitive enough to pick the words up. 'Don't think like that,' Yutaka advised. 'Remember, a lot of people here probably haven't played a tournament game before.'
'I haven't played a tournament game before.'
'That's true.' There was some scratching noise. 'But relax. You spent months coming up with deck so it could serve both the purposes you need it too. Just trust it now, and do your best.'
'Right.' Kouichi closed his eyes, before opening them and taking the deck out of their holster. 'But –'
'No buts.' That was Shinya. 'Onii-chan and everybody are depending on you!'
'Right.'
'That's not the best confidence booster.' Yutaka again.
'No, it's alright.'
'You sure?'
'Yeah.' Kouichi closed his eyes again. 'I'll last as long as I have to.'
'And then some.'
Judai took a seat in the stands. From his seat he could see Sho's form behind the frosted glass, and he smiled. The other looked quite confident and sharp, eyes already on the four fields and the eight duellists already there.
He averted his gaze and watched the games play out with interest.
When there were four participants left, the duels were run one at a time and the commentator changed from announcing results to giving a play by play. And those three duels promised to be very interesting; each deck had been displayed throughout the preliminaries, but Judai knew from experience all of them would house secrets yet.
And so he leaned back to watch the first of the semifinal duels.
Kouichi had, as per the rules, taken his earpiece out before the match and he was starting to wish he hadn't. As much as he rather would not admit it, it was nerve-wracking being on the regional television and possibly making a fool of himself.
Although everything was working, including his deck and the strategies it held, so that was good. And he was glad; he didn't have very many options if he wanted to drag the duels out as long as possible and go through as many cards as he could, and rituals were the riskier option. Still…
He accepted the deck his opponent handed to him and surrendered his own. The woman, two heads taller than him and seemingly more confident, grinned before quickly shuffling and cutting it.
Kouichi did the same and handed the deck back, accepting his own and placing it in its prescribed slot in his duel disk. The disk activated, displaying his beginning score on the screen: 8000LP. His opponent's showed the same.
'The duel between Tanaka Ai and Kimura Kouichi will now begin. Coin toss has decided that Tanaka-chan will go first.'
'Right,' Ai said, flicking her long braid of brown hair away from her duel disk before drawing her sixth card. 'I play a facedown monster and play one facedown card.'
Kouichi drew his sixth card. From the previous battles he knew his opponent played a plant deck, but he also knew it was a tricky one. Still, his own starting hand wasn't a bad one, although it would take a couple of rounds before his own strategy started forming.
'I do the same,' he said, playing a facedown monster and a trap in his spell/trap zone.
Ai grinned and drew her next card. 'I summon Botanical Lion in attack mode, then flip my Nettles into face-up attack mode.' She paused, considering the facedown monster. As far as she knew, her opponent had won his previous duels without the use of any particularly devastating or powerful monsters so she had no idea what to expect.
'Botanical Lion gains 300 attack points for every plant type monster I control,' she said. 'So with two monsters it gains 600 points, and now I'll attack your facedown card with him.'
The monster flipped up to reveal A Cat of Ill Omen, and its 300 defence points were easily defeated.
'I activate A Cat of Ill Omen's flip effect,' Kouichi said, taking his deck out and looking through it. 'I select a trap card and place it on the top of my deck.' After a moment's thought, he pulled out Bad Reaction to Simochi, before shuffling the rest.
'Now Nettles can attack you directly.'
Kouichi's life points dropped to 6800 as he activated his trap. 'I play Numinous Healer. Since I've taken damage to my life points, I can increase them by 1000.' And so his final total was 7800.
'I end my turn,' Ai said.
Kouichi drew his next card without surprise and played it face down, along with two more cards from his hand. Ai's turn came again and she sacrificed her Lonefire Blossom to summon out the level 6 Gigaplant.
'As Gigaplant is a plant type monster, my Botanical Lion still has 2200 attack points.' They did not pale much in the face of Gigaplant's 2400, and together they made a powerful team for only the fifth turn of the match. 'Now I attack you directly with Gigaplant.'
'I activate Draining Shield,' Kouichi countered, selecting the facedown to the far right and playing it. 'I negate your attack and gain life points equal to your monster's attack points.
His life points rose to 10200.
'There's still Botanical Lion,' the brunette said, still keeping a careful watch. She knew the other's ace card, and she wasn't about to let it play. If in return she had to let the other's life points rise, then so be it.
'I play Wall of Revealing Light and sacrifice 4000 life points.'
'You what?!'
'A clever play,' the commentator announced. 'That continuous trap is going to stop any monster with less than 4000 attack points from attacking, and we all know how rare monsters that strong are.'
Kouichi's life points dropped to 8200 as Ai added a facedown to her field before ending her turn.
Kouichi drew another card before triggering his final facedown: his ace, Bad Reaction to Simochi.
But Ai had been prepared for that. 'I play Pollinosis,' she said. 'I tribute my Botanical Lion to destroy your Bad Reaction to Simochi.'
'I'm almost glad to see that trap go,' Yubel commented. 'It's a tough one to fight against.'
'True,' Judai said thoughtfully. 'But there's cards in that deck that would increase the opponent's life points without that trap. I wonder how Kimura plans to counter that.'
'He dealt with Royal Decree,' the spirit reminded.
'Somehow I don't think Mystical Space Typhoon is going to be enough here.'
Kouichi would up playing nothing else that turn for he didn't want his spells backfiring on him. Luckily, Wall of Revealing Light was still out, although there were cards that could put it out of commission. The odds were slim however, and he turned out to be right as Ai simply played The World Tree continuous spell before activating Gigaplant's ability to summon Nettles from her graveyard.
'I still have my normal summon,' she continued. 'So I play Lonefire Blossom in attack mode, and then use her ability to sacrifice Nettles to special summon a monster from my deck.' She paused for a moment as she went through her deck. 'I choose Twilight Rose Knight, and her special ability makes it so you cannot select a plant type monster as an attack target.'
That will save my monsters if he uses Monster Reborn, she thought with satisfaction. She still had to get around Wall of Revealing Light, but she had made a good start.
'My turn then.' Kouichi drew a card. 'I activate Pot of Benevolence. I select A Cat of Ill Omen and Bad Reaction to Simochi from my graveyard and shuffle them into my deck before removing Pot of Benevolence from play.'
He ended his turn at that point, and Ai took her next turn. 'I sacrifice Lonefire Blossom and Twilight Rose Knight to tribute summon Tytannial, Princess of Camellias.'
Unfortunately, 2800 attack points would not get past Wall of Revealing Light. However, it would protect her masters, particularly since she still had Gigaplant's ability, which she used to summon Twilight Rose Knight from her graveyard.
'I play a facedown,' she finished. 'And end my turn.'
Kouichi drew his next card and played it facedown. Ai took her next turn. 'I summon Gigantic Cephalotus in attack mode, and then I activate Gigaplant's ability to summon Lonefire Blossom from my graveyard.'
With no other cards in her hand, she could do nothing else but end her turn, and so Kouichi took his next turn.
'I activate Bad Reaction to Simochi,' he said, revealing the facedown.
'Again?' Ai groaned. Sadly, her remaining facedown could not counter it. Still, that suggested he must have more than one copy of the trap, as the odds of drawing it after shuffling it into his deck were extremely slim.
Kouichi played a card from his hand. 'Upstart Goblin: I draw a card and you, when chained to Bad Reaction to Simochi, lose 1000 life points.'
Ai's life points dropped to 7000.
Kouichi played the drawn card facedown as well as another, leaving his hand with two cards remaining and both ones he couldn't use at the current time – and not because he was down to one unoccupied spell/trap zone.
Ai had the opposite problem. She now had five monsters out; the maximum number. But she had Lonefire Blossom as one of them, and beyond that she had a spell in her hand and a trap on the field.
'I play Fragrance Storm,' she said, revealing the card she had drawn. 'And I destroy Twilight Rose Knight to draw a card from my deck.' She drew and revealed it to be Fairy King Truesdale. 'And since it's a plant type monster, I can draw another card. And since I destroyed a monster, I get to place a counter on The World Tree and my Gigantic Cephalotus gains 200 attack points.'
She was still a far cry from the 4000 she needed, but she had a card that could help her.
'Next I summon back my Twilight Rose Knight from the graveyard using Gigaplant's ability, then sacrifice her for Lonefire Blossom to summon Lord Poison from my deck. Next up, I'll tribute Lord Poison to summon from my hand Fairy King Truesdale, and his special ability gives all my plant type monsters a 500 attack point boost when it's in defence mode.'
Sadly she could only tribute summon in attack mode, so she would have to wait until her next turn.
'Turn end.'
Kouichi drew his next card and played it. 'Rain of Mercy. Both players gain 1000 life points.'
'Or I lose,' the brunette corrected as her life points dropped to 6000. She really had to get rid of that trap, and soon.
Kouichi ended his turn again, and Ai took her next, immediately switching Fairy King Truesdale to defence mode and raising her strongest monster, currently her Tytannial, Princess of Camellias, to 3300 attack points.
'I equip Axe of Despair to Tytannial, Princess of Camellias and raise her attack strength by 1000, and now that her total strength is 4300, she can bypass your Wall of Revealing Light and attack you directly.'
Unfortunately, Kouichi revealed one of his facedown cards. Sakuretsu Armour. And despite having a saving ability at her disposal, Ai let the trap take effect. After all, her princess was a small price to pay for another counter for The World Tree, and with two counters she could remove them both and destroy a card on the field.
So now was the decision. 'Wall of Revealing Light or Bad Reaction to Simochi,' she said thoughtfully. She was tempted to go for the latter as she knew from watching previous duels that it was her opponent's ace, however that wall was causing her more pains at the current time, and there was the benefit of her opponent only having summoned one monster throughout the duel. 'I destroy Wall of Revealing Light.'
'I play Shift,' Kouichi countered, revealing his remaining facedown. 'I select Bad Reaction of Simochi as your new target.'
Yutaka was watching the duel from his apartment. Prototypes of various machines were scattered about; somebody who knew him years ago would have been surprised at the clatter, but that was more his parents' credit than his own. He just wasn't a meticulously organised person, and it wasn't odd to find him looking over blueprints while the television was running a footy show.
Only he was watching the tournament Shinya and Kouichi had both told him about, and he was wondering more as to his friend's (more his brother's friend than his own, but they were friends nonetheless) intentions by purposely destroying his ace card. Granted, he had two more copies and only the one of Wall of Revealing Light; Yutaka himself had double-checked the tournament rulings to make sure that indeed only one copy per deck was allowed.
And of course that would cause his opponent to play even more cards to counteract that. It really was too bad Mirror Force was out of commission with Tytannial, Princess of Camellias and her ability. A clean field would take a while to rebuilt, and she had swarmed quite quickly.
But Kouichi was really doing a good job, and some of that even Yutaka wouldn't have been able to come up with on his toes. He had to admit the kid was something else. He hadn't been at all sure Kouichi could pull it off when the other had first approached him, but he had been so determined Yutaka couldn't help but assist – and he was worried the other would have done something dangerous if he didn't.
Not to mention that suggestion about the underground…and he had been sure Kouichi would have been more reasonable at that stage.
He watched the rest silently, watched the battle of wits and patience. Tanaka Ai was coming forward; she'd rendered the most cards in Kouichi's deck useless than anyone, and if she managed to disable his combinations, she would have come the furthest in defeating him.
The next question was how hard Kouichi would fight back. Delay the inevitable until he was out of options for a delay and the duel tethered on a single card? Or would he throw his utmost into the match and put his pride alongside hers?
Because all those duellists were proud. All of them were looking for the small prestige that would come with victory. And all of them knew a talent scout was in the crowd, and all of them were looking for that recognition.
Well…all of them, except maybe ones like Kouichi who had alternate agendas.
The green cursor blinked and crawled slightly up as three cards went to the graveyard. But still, it was a far cry to what was needed.
He looked at the device matching the one in Kouichi's duel-disk. Sadly, it was near impossible to get opponents to wear them in a professional tournament.
'Interesting,' Ai said thoughtfully. 'I wonder, why that one?'
She shrugged. 'I sacrifice Lonefire Blossom to return Axe of Despair to my hand, and then I end my turn.'
Kouichi took his next, drawing Graceful Charity and discarding the two ritual monsters he could, at that moment, do nothing with. Nor did he want to; those cards were for a last ditch effort and the duel was far too young for that. The new cards in his hand were far better, and he played two of them all facedown: a spell/trap and a monster.
Ai drew a new card, looking at the three and piercing half-existing strategies together. 'I –' She began, before Kouichi interrupted.
'I play The Eye of Truth.'
Ai blinked, then showed her hand, her life points increasing to 7000 with the presence of two spell cards. That spoke against the other's choice of traps…but that wasn't really her problem. After all, she was duelling to win.
'I use Gigaplant's ability,' she started again, 'to summon Tytannial, Princess of Camellias from my graveyard, and then I activate Magical Stone Excavation to discard Twilight Rose Knight and Axe of Despair to return Fragrance Storm to my hand, then sacrifice Gigantic Cephalotus to draw a card from my deck and place a spell counter on The World Tree. Furthermore, since I drew Revival Rose, I get to draw an additional card.'
She drew a second copy of Fragrance Storm, and she summoned out her Revival Rose to sacrifice it and draw Rigorous Reaver and an additional card when she played facedown.
'With two counters, I can destroy your Wall of Revealing Light,' she stated again, eyeing the three facedowns on the other's field. The odds of having another Shift were extremely slim though, and it turned out Kouichi had nothing to prevent the destruction of his trap.
'That leaves my monsters free to attack,' she stated, only to stop as her opponent revealed Threatening Roar and making sure she could not attack that turn. 'I end.'
'I flip summon my A Cat of Ill Omen,' Kouichi said, not looking at the card he drew until after that play. 'I select a trap and place it at the top of my deck, and then I play Pot of Greed, then Dark World Dealings, so we each draw a card and discard one.'
Ai had a monster and an equip spell she couldn't really use, and so she discarded the one she drew, Mark of the Rose. Koichi however had a little more flexibility with two cards already in his hand, and it was one of those he discarded. Mirror Force.
So the trap he selected went facedown, thus ending his turn.
Ai only drew her next card before it was revealed though, and predictably it was Bad Reaction to Simochi, which leached her of 1000 points as she drew and revealed the field spell Forest, leaving her with 6000 once again as she activated it.
'I use Gigaplant's ability to summon Gigantic Cephalotus from my graveyard, and then I use him to attack your cat.'
This time the attack went through, and Kouichi's life points dropped to 7150.
'I play a second copy of Numinous Healer,' Kouichi said at the end of the attack. 'I gain 1500 life points, 1000 from its first effect and 500 from the additional copy in my graveyard.'
His points rose to stabilise at 8650.
'My remaining monsters can still attack,' Ai pointed out. However, her next attack was thwarted with Swift Scarecrow and that ended her battle phase. 'Urgh, I end my turn.'
'My turn then.' Kouichi drew a card which he immediately played face-down.
Ai drew her next card – then grinned before revealing it. With no spell cards, she took no damage during her standby phase. 'I use Gigaplant's ability to summon Revival Rose from my graveyard, and then I sacrifice Fairy King Truesdale, Gigantic Cephalotus and Revival Rose to summon out Beast King Barbaros.'
It was a surprise for all watching to see the beast warrior, but what was more surprising was his ability. 'By tributing three monsters, I can destroy all cards on your field.'
But Kouichi played Emergency Provisions before that, sacrificing the two traps in play and gaining 2000 life points.
But the triple attack from Beast King Barbaros, Gigaplant and Tytannial, Princess of Camellias lowered his life points to 1850, leaving him with an empty field and an empty hand.
'You seem interested in this duel,' Yubel said. 'And I don't mean by it finally going somewhere.'
'You do have a point,' Judai said out of the corner of his mouth, eyes on the field although he could see shadows of people whispering and moving to closer attention. It seemed the slow pace had thoroughly distracted many of the spectators. 'But if you look closely, it's an interesting match.'
'I can see a lot of people disagreeing with you,' the spirit said dryly.
'Most of which are watching from home,' Judai pointed out, and he was correct. After all, those who payed money to watch a tournament generally had more appreciation for its subtle art. 'But it seems to me that Kimura is forcing his opponent to use as many cards from her deck as possible.'
'Except he's running out of cards to do it with.'
'Oh, I don't think so.' And Judai pointed to the field, where Ai's next barrage of attacks was blocked by Negate Attack.
Yubel raised an eyebrow.
Judai shrugged. 'He would need a lot of cards to block attacks with a deck that can't have more than ten monsters.'
'Are you sure about that?' Yubel's voice had the air of one knowing exactly how many monsters the other had.
'No,' the brunet responded. 'But he's played at least twenty different trap cards, and that's not counting repeats. His deck doesn't look like it contains more than fifty cards, and if you count the spell cards he uses…'
'You're forgetting the side deck,' Yubel said in amusement. 'And I think we'll see more of his monsters if he gets past this round and into the final match.'
'Yeah, you're probably right. Trap cards aren't much use against Jinzo.'
Yubel decided not to tell her partner that he had miscounted.
Kouichi managed to get past his next turn with Negate Attack and the one after with One Day of Peace. It wasn't until the turn after that he managed something more fruitful, playing a facedown monster and a trap facedown, leaving his hand empty once more.
Ai drew and used her Gigaplant's ability to bring back Fairy King Truesdale in defence mode, raising the power of her plants.
'Next I activate Fairy Meteor Crush and equip it to Beast King Barbaros.' She crossed her arms. 'You can't stall forever.'
Kouichi said nothing, seeing as he technically had been planning to stall indefinitely.
'I attack your facedown monster.'
It flipped up to reveal Dark Cat with White Tail; a surprise as it sent Gigaplant and Tytannial, Princess of Camellias to her hand with its effect, as well as returning itself to Kouichi's hand.
'Your field's still open,' Ai noted, although the facedown was a bit of a problem. Although the odds of it being destructive were slim.
'Mirror Force,' Kouichi replied, revealing his trap to be the second and final copy of the destructive trap and leaving her field with only Fairy King Truesdale in defence mode.
'I get a counter for The World Tree,' she said, frowning a little as she moved into her second main phase. As much as she hated to admit it, she hadn't seen that play coming in the least. 'I play Trade-In, discarding Tytannial, Princess of Camellias to draw two cards from my deck.'
Her Fairy Meteor Crush had also been taken out, but she had two facedown cards and The World Tree still. Sadly, it seemed like Wall of Thorns would be walking through, as the other was yet to attack him and the three monsters he had so far played were purely defence. Although she should have played Plant Food Chain when she had the chance.
She just added an additional facedown and ended her turn.
Kouichi drew a card and played his cat in facedown defence mode once more before playing Mystical Space Typhoon. As The World Tree went to the graveyard, Ai once again cursed her misstep. Although, as Tytannial, Princess of Camellias had not been in the graveyard when Mirror Force had been played, it would not have helped in that situation.
And attacking wouldn't help her in the next turn, as the special ability would just bounce back to her again.
'Not necessarily…' she murmured to herself. 'I only have one monster out.' She thought for a moment, and realising that in fact Dark Cat with White Tail could not target her field with only one monster, she switched Fairy King Truesdale to attack mode and equipped him with Plant Food Chain. While it wouldn't assist against a defence position monster with only 500 defence points.
She found herself feeling apprehensive when the facedown was not triggered against her attack. Still, she set a monster and then ended her turn at that point, waiting for the other to draw and play his next move.
Surprisingly, he looked at his card and did nothing, deferring to her once again. She drew, before setting a second monster and flipping up Rigorous Reaver, forcing them both to discard a card (and in Kouichi's case, his only card). However, the play backfired on her as the card he discarded turned out to be The Fabled Catsith, and he took out her Rigourous Reaver as a reward.
She wondered to that, until she attacked directly with Fairy King Truesdale and bumped into Bubble Bringer, an odd addition to a deck that contained beast types. After all, it was a water support card, but one could also argue it was a great stall and of benefit to a life draining deck.
Perhaps somebody should rename it a life-ebbing deck, as it seemed to be taking that long. But if it meant level four and higher monsters could not attack…
She ended her turn.
Kouichi took his next turn, once again playing One Day of Peace and drawing an additional card which went facedown.
Ai's next draw yielded Fallen Angel of Roses, so all she could do was set another monster and end her turn.
Kouichi drew another card, before playing a second copy of Dark World Dealings and ending his turn at that point.
Ai drew again, drawing Pot of Avarice which she immediately used, returning two Lonefire Blossoms, Twilight Rose Knight, Botanical Lion and Lord Poison to her deck before drawing two cards. Pleased to see she had managed to draw another The World Tree, she immediately triggered it, to use a second copy of Fragrance Storm to destroy her Fairy King Truesdale to draw Lord Poison, then an additional card, from her deck. One counter gained, but unfortunately she still didn't have anything under level four and with enough bite to not risk a counter strike. In the end, she sacrificed both facedown monsters to summon out Gigaplant, before using its ability to summon Rigorous Reaver in attack mode.
That attack dropped Kouichi's life points to 50.
Shinya knew, just knew, that if he had been in Kouichi's position, he would have used that facedown already. He had a feeling it could only be one of a select number of cards. Trap Hole, or something to prevent battle damage. Both Mirror Force's were in the graveyard. Wall of Revealing Light was in the graveyard. Bubble Bringer was already out, and Spirit Barrier was completely useless in this situation…although he supposed it didn't stop the card being face-down.
Still, he couldn't help but feel a tad apprehensive. He knew that the longer the duel went, the better, and he also knew he couldn't have kept the duel going for that long – and he was below the age limit and therefore not even able to legally participate.
Still, he wished he could do more. After all, his brother was in the same situation as Kouichi's and Yutaka's, but in his position he could do little more except watch and bite his lip as Kouichi took his next turn.
They'd played together while Yutaka worked with the equipment, but even then Kouichi was helping with it. He might have known very little about electronics, but he had a fountain of information about physics and the various theories from books he often read and those were a big help.
All Shinya could do was help build the deck. He couldn't even grasp the art of duelling that well. The only reason he knew Kouichi's deck was because he'd seen it so many times.
But he could still be proud as he watched the television, as neither of the two elder boys had thought of that regional championship until he had found the flier and showed it to them. Yutaka had been relieved – and he didn't find out why until Kouichi's comment days later.
Even if it made him feel like the baby in elder company, he could at least be of some assistance. And hopefully he'd get better, and be able to help more.
Kouichi's next turn summoned out Cardcar-D, which he immediately sacrificed to draw to cards and end his turn. Ai drew her next, before activating her second and final copy of Magical Stone Excavation to return Fragrance Storm to her hand, discarding Cherry Inmato and Botanical Lion. She then summoned out Lord Poison before using Fragrance Storm to destroy it and draw.
'I use Lord Poison's ability to summon Beast King Barbaros from my graveyard,' the brunette said. 'And with two counters on The World Tree, I remove them both to destroy Bubble Bringer.'
From the point of view of the spectators, Kouichi's last defence was gone. However, he still had a facedown which he activated against Beast King Barbaros' attack, discarding a second The Fabled Catsith for Rainbow Life's effect, accomplishing the destruction of Gigaplant and the accumulation of 3000 life points.
Ai, not wanting to add to that increase with the Tytannial, Princess of Camellias she had summoned due to Gigaplant's ability, ended her turn.
Kouichi's next turn finally showed what he had been planning, as he summoned out his first attack position monster: Raging Flame Sprite.
'Raging Flame Sprite can attack the opponent directly,' Kouichi explained. 'And each time it successfully completes that attack, it gains 1000 attack points.'
And Ai found herself a little vexed that her Wall of Thorns was still useless. It would be her luck to wind up with a rather unusual opponent. She was starting to wish she had put Royal Decree into her deck after all. The problem with traps like those though was that it affected both players' ability to play other trap cards.
Still, at least she only too 100 points of damage, leaving her with a strong 5900 compared to Kouichi's 3050. And all monsters on her field were still strong enough to take down Raging Flame Sprite's 1100 attack points.
Two turns and a Waboku and Thundering Roar later, she asked herself how she didn't see it coming. Her life points were down to 2700 and Raging Flame Sprite now had 3100 attack points. One more turn would finish her life points and most of her cards were geared towards defending her monsters and swarming fields, not protecting herself from direct attacks.
Thankfully, she had managed to draw and play face-down Magic Cylinder. So now it all depended on Kouichi's next play as to who won the duel.
There would be no more stalling. And if he didn't attack, she would force him to.
