"What the hell?" Kuroe said as the Duel started. "What was that? How'd you-"
"It's the way we start Duels back in Crash Town," Jacob said. "Of course, it actually works anywhere. If I state the rules of the Duel before my opponent, then I almost always get the advantage of going first because of the way Crash Town Disks are made." Jacob drew five cards, then drew his sixth to start his turn. "First, I play Infernity Launcher and activate its effect. I discard one Infernity Archfiend. Then, I play A Feather of the Phoenix, discarding Infernity Mirage to return Infernity Archfiend to the top of my deck. I set a card in my back row, and set a monster. Turn end."
Kuroe drew his sixth card and looked at his hand, then at the holographic facedown a few feet in front of him. "Well, that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to me if I get the first turn or not. First, I play the Field Spell Magical Citadel of Endymion. Next, I play Toon Table of Contents- three times, searching the second two with its own ability. The third one nabs me a Toon Gemini Elf. That puts three Spell Counters on my Citadel." As the Field Spell activated, the surrounding shop was holographically transformed into a sprawling city of magical lights with thousands of corridors in every direction. Atop the highest spire, a black orb stood, and each Spell added another glowing orb to its mass.
"Then I play Spell Power Grasp, which lets me search another Spell Power Grasp from my deck and add a Spell Counter to a card on the field. Citadel also gets an extra Counter because Power Grasp is a Spell card. Next, I summon Defender, the Magical Knight!" A blue-clad mage-warrior with a massive shield appeared before Kuroe. "Defender places a Spell Counter on himself when he's summoned, and then he attacks your facedown!" The mage-warrior jumped forward and slashed at the card, slicing it cleanly in two and destroying what was revealed to be an Infernity Randomizer. The double-barreled creature shattered without a fight.
Jacob quickly countered with his set Trap. "I activate Infernity Reflector! I discard every card in my hand- which is just an Infernity Guardian. Then, the Infernity monster you destroyed is Special Summoned, and you take 1000 direct damage!" Infernity Randomizer rose from the ground, laughing crazily, and turned to fire at Kuroe directly until he had taken the damage from Infernity Reflector.
KUROE: 7000
Kuroe flinched at the bullets that bit into his Life Points, but steeled himself for the wave of nausea that came afterwards. Breathing deeply, he shook it off and checked his hand again. "I end my turn."
"That's great. Now, I draw, and it's Infernity Archfiend, thanks to my Feather of the Phoenix. When I draw him with no other cards in my hand, he gets special summoned and adds another Infernity monster from my deck to my hand- I choose Infernity Necromancer, and summon him. Now, this guy changes to defense position when he's summoned, and, when I have no cards in my hand, can special summon an Infernity monster from my graveyard. I choose Infernity Guardian, and play him in attack position. Finally, my Randomizer's effect activates, and I draw a card. It looks like fate agrees with my cause- it's Infernity Destroyer. Now, you take damage equal to his level times 200- he's a Level 6."
KUROE: 5800
Kuroe felt the damage like a punch to the gut, and began regretting starting this Duel as he keeled over. Jacob continued on his string of effects.
"Next, I discard Destroyer with Infernity Launcher, and use Launcher's second ability- I send it from the field to the graveyard and special summon up to two Infernity monsters from my grave. I only have one open field slot, though, so it's just Destroyer that's coming back." Jacob watched Kuroe's eyes go wide as the line of monsters grew in numbers and power. Randomizer, a gun-like scarecrow; Destroyer, a powerful fiend; Archfiend, a warped humanoid creature; Necromancer, an evil-looking mystic; and Guardian, a wall of flames. "Now comes the fun part, Kuroe. Archfiend attacks your Defender for 200 damage, and destroys him-"
"No, wait!" Kuroe said. "I activate Defender's ability- he can stop the destruction of a Spellcaster once a turn by removing a Spell Counter. He's still there."
Jacob smiled. "Unfortunately, that won't do any good, Kuroe. Next, Destroyer attacks your Defender- and he can't save himself again. Destroyer does 700 damage and destroys Defender, activating his ability, which does an extra 1600 damage."
KUROE: 3300
"Finally, I attack directly with Guardian and Randomizer for a total of 2100 damage."
KUROE: 1200
Kuroe felt as if every bone in his body was breaking as the attacks connected, one after another, and drained his Life Points. He drew another card, hoping it could save him, but it was useless. He didn't have anything that would stop the assault, and if his opponent knocked him down low enough below 0 LP…
"I-I concede," Kuroe said. "Take your money and get out."
The holograms around them faded and Jacob took his money from the weakened Kuroe. "I think a third-turn win is actually a first for me," he said. "Fate took the form of karma, and karma's a bitch when you are." Jacob reholstered his Disk and left the fake shop to search elsewhere for the CPU part Toru needed.
"Is there nowhere to buy working Runner parts in this whole damn city?" Jacob grumbled under his breath after leaving another junk shop trying to con him out of his money.
"You're looking for Runner parts?" Jacob turned to see a guy about his age with hair that put Toru's pompadour to shame. It had about eight large spikes, multiple colors, and looked like a crab was eating the guy's head.
"Yeah. A friend needs a CPU- here, this is what he wanted." Jacob showed the guy Toru's note. "Of course, if you have any other Runner parts, I'd be happy to buy them, too, for my own Runner. I just need this first, since it's the last thing he needs."
"Well, I'm a mechanic. I think I can replicate this. Here, come with me to my garage."
Jacob, wary of anything Crabhair might pull, followed him to a garage with 'The Enforcers' painted on the door. Crabhead knocked on the door a few times, and it slid up to reveal a guy wearing the same vest Crabhead was. Jacob's hand moved to his Disk, thinking he had been tricked, but nobody acknowledged him.
"Yusei!" he said to Crabhead. "I've been wondering where you were. Jack's been itching to spar with you and Crow wants maintenance on his Runner."
"All right, Kalin. Just let me build a part for this guy first." Yusei walked into the garage and went to a table with various tools on it and started fiddling with something.
The blue-haired one, Kalin, turned to Jacob. "So you're a Duelist, eh? Are you part of a Duel Gang?"
Jacob gave him a weird look. "Duel Gang? I have no idea what that is. I'm not from around here- I live in Crash Town, though I'm trying to get out. This part is for a friend's Runner, though."
Kalin nodded knowingly. "So that's why Yusei's making a part for you- it's for a friend. Us- The Enforcers-are pretty big on keeping each others' backs, and Yusei especially extends that to everyone. Anyway, Crash Town? Never heard of it."
Jacob shook his head. "It's a mining town for Dyne, but there's more or less an everlasting gang war- it's the kind of place someone would only willingly go if they wanted to die. The only reason I'm going back today is because I have to get the part to Toru."
Kalin nodded. "Well, good luck getting out. I wish I could help somehow, but we don't have a whole lot of spare parts- there are four of us in The Enforcers, and I'm the only one that doesn't use a Runner. We use a lot of parts that way, but I'm sure Yusei will find what you need."
As Kalin said this, Yusei returned to the two holding a computer chip. "This should work for what you need," he said, handing it to Jacob. "What's your friend's name? We might be able to help him out if he's coming to the city."
"He's Toru," Jacob said. "You'll be able to recognize him by his blonde pompadour. Thanks, by the way. I have to go- my grandfather's probably having a heart attack by now."
"Overprotective?" Kalin asked.
"No, he's probably scared out of his wits that he can't use me as a human shield if a Duelist attacks him. If he wasn't my grandfather, I would have done it long ago, too. Anyway, bye- if I'm ever around here again, I'll stop by. Maybe spar a little with you guys."
"Sure," Kalin said. "I'd like to Duel you sometime."
A/N: I'm using 'The Enforcers' instead of 'Team Satisfaction' because it sounds cooler. Sue me.
