Hmm, somehow, even though I was expecting it…
I looked at the ramshackle looking building in front of me. I really hate that I ended up in the Slifer dorm.
I thought about what Crowler had said about me only passing by a single point on the written exam. No way I would have really done that badly… would I? I mean, I guess some of the rulings always confused me, and maybe I wouldn't have known specific monster effect or anything…
Hmm, well, maybe. Then again, for all I know I got a perfect score and Crowler just took a disliking to me…nah, that's probably just my ego talking.
Still, not to be too over confident, but I think between Envoy and Original, I've got a pretty good chance to go up in the world.
I stood there for several minutes, not sure I actually wanted to go in and see if all the stories about rats and cockroaches were true.
Then again, even if there are, can't be scarier than coming face to face with a dragon. Or getting blasted by holographic lighting because I was too stupid to use Dark Bribe. Speaking of which-
I knew without turning that Jaden and Syrus were walking up to me, and that Jaden was trying to sneak up on me.
Not that I'm complaining, but it'd be nice to know how I know that. This is like the third- or maybe fourth, I lost count- anyway, not the first time it's happened.
I ducked under Jaden's effort to cover my eyes from behind, moving to the side and turning to face him.
"So, you ended up here too huh?" I said, ignoring his "how the heck did he do that?" look.
"Yep, guess so. Wonder why? Do they put the best together, or what?"
I chuckled. "Well, if they did it'd make sense, seeing as Crowler always wears blue."
He looked down at his standard issue red jacket. "I always liked red better anyway. So, how do you think they decided to put us here?"
I shook my head. "Well, you know how the dorms are named after the three god cards, Slifer, Ra and Obelisk?"
Syrus looked at me like I was an idiot. "Everyone knows that."
"Well then, you probably also know that this place was founded by Seto Kaiba. Slifer is the lowest dorm, for anyone the academy feels has no potential." I paused a moment. "Huh, I think I just burned all three of us. Anyway, Ra is for those who do well on exams. And as for Obelisk, those are for the" I made quotation marks in the air with my fingers. "Elite duelists. Or in other words, those with inside connections who can get them there, minus a few that actually earn it."
I shrugged. "Well, that's how it works for guys anyway. The girls automatically end up Obelisk, since it's the only place with separate dorms for them."
"So what you're saying is that we're terrible?" Syrus asked in a whiny voice that made my ears hurt.
I fought the urge to cover them, and tried to think of an answer that was at least somewhat honest, but wouldn't cause him to have a crying fit over it. "It means the school thinks we're terrible. Their mistake."
Jaden smiled. "Yeah, no kidding! I'm going to prove I'm the best."
I chuckled. "If you recall, I won that duel last night."
"Well you won't win when we have a rematch."
I smirked. "We'll see. But it'll have to be some other time. I want to get settled in."
Syrus spoke up. "Hold on, when you said Kaiba founded Duel Academy, did that have anything to do with the ranking?"
"Probably. From what I've heard, Kaiba first found about the God Cards during a tournament he was hosting. See, somebody knew about them, and she wanted to collect all of them so they couldn't be misused. The other two had been stolen, but she'd managed to get ahold of Obelisk, and gave it to Kaiba to-" I again did the air quotes "Borrow. Like Kaiba would really ever willingly give it back." I shrugged.
"But I digress. Anyway, Yugi won Slifer during one of his duels, which he managed to use to beat Obelisk. Some other finalist had Ra, so Kaiba didn't really care about it, which is why it's in the middle. Of course he's always been rivals with Yugi, even before that, so his original card, Slifer, is the lowest ranking. And since Kaiba's ego is the size of this island, he named the best dorm after his own card."
"Man, this view is awesome!" Jaden said, from the point overlooking the sea.
"Did you hear anything I just said at all?!"
"Sorry, what?"
"Argh forget it." Yeah, no way am I rooming with him. It would be just too tempting to smother him in his sleep. Although I doubt I'm the only person who feels that way.
Yeah, time to ditch these guys and go unpack. "Well, I'll see you later I guess. I want to get settled in."
I tried to get away quickly without being overly obvious about it. I sagged against my door, blocking it just in case, as I looked around the room. No signs of other luggage, no sign that anything's been used recently…
I sighed with relief. Unless someone shows up late, I guess I'm on my own.
In my duel disk, Reflect Bounder started glowing again. Well, I don't have a roommate at least. You know what I mean.
He stopped glowing. Well, I'll take that as a yes.
I was suddenly startled and fell on my ass as he appeared in front of me in spirit form.
"Geez, you want to give me some warning next time?" I griped as I got up off the floor.
The mirror on his chest displayed an image of myself smirking.
"Yeah yeah, laugh it up. Was there something you needed besides just startling the bejeebus out of me?"
The mirror turned to an image of Jaden and Syrus leaving their room, then it changed to an image of a few moments before when we'd all be looking at the dorm.
I groaned. "Ok, why in the heck should I want to go with them?"
Now an image of a blonde in an obelisk blue coat showed up.
"Is that Alexis?"
I nodded.
"Ok, I'm starting to wonder why I listen to you. What does she have to do with anyth-"
The mirror cut me off by showing Jaden and Syrus getting farther away.
"You just can't bother to explain something for once, can you?" I griped, turning towards the door.
He moved in front of me, and the image became that of my duel disk.
"Alright, fine, I'll take it with." I said, grabbing it from my bag.
I opened the door and starting running after the other two. "Ok, one last question. Why didn't you tell me all that before I got into my room?"
He floated ahead of me, projecting two images. One was of a guy with yet another ridiculous haircut and a nose that dwarfed that of any I'd seen, with a koala in the back ground.
"Ok, yeah, I guess it'd make sense that Jaden and Syrus should still meet up with Chumley." I said, turning to the other image.
"Winged Kuriboh? Yeah, not getting that one."
It flickered and an ugly yellow thing showed up next to kuriboh, along with the koala. Something about spirit partners?
He vanished as Jaden turned my way. "Hey Mark, you interested in looking around?"
Oh, he doesn't want Jaden seeing him and finding out about him for whatever reason. Well, I guess I can respect that.
I slowed down, trying to get my breath back. "No… I just…felt… like running…like a madman." The sarcasm was less apparent when I was having to stop every couple syllables to breath.
"Well since you're here anyway-"
RB, if this turns out to be some sort of prank, I'm going to find a library just so I can use you as a bookmark.
Ok, forget Bookmark. If nothing happens worth staying for, I'm going to make coffee just so I can use you as a coaster.
Jaden and Syrus didn't even notice the fact that the building we were in had a blue roof. Or else they noticed it and didn't realize what it meant. Or else they just didn't care.
Well, maybe someone here will be dumb enough to duel us. I'd love another good match. Or should I say, easy match.
Reflect Bounder showed up in front of me with arms crossed, and he didn't even need the mirror to glare.
He projected an image of Chazz smiling, then getting hit by Original BLS.
Alright, alright, yeah, good point. Don't go getting a swelled head.
He seemed to realize I'd gotten the message since he disappeared again.
I'm just saying, I do have cards these guys haven't even heard of because they don't exist yet. And I have one of the rarest-
He glowed in my duel disk warningly.
Geez, excuse me for being optimistic.
I'd been following the other two on autopilot and nearly knocked Syrus over now that he was standing still.
"Watch it will ya?" he turned, comically angry.
"Sorry, my bad." I said, looking past him to see where we were. A duel arena? Well, I guess it's fancier to them than to me. I was perfectly happy dueling on a boat. Still better than just dueling across a table or with a laptop, considering the hi-def holograms that come along with the deal.
"What're you Slifer Slackers doing here?"
Plus, I didn't have to deal with stuck up block heads like these. I thought, turning to face the two obelisks that were already in here.
"This arena is for Obelisks only!"
I crossed my arms and gave them my best "do I look like I care?" expression.
"See that crest?" One of them said pointing. I didn't bother looking, knowing that they'd explain what it was any second.
"This here is our turf. You Slifer rejects aren't welcome here."
I smiled. "Oh, sure, I understand. I don't blame you actually. I'd be scared to duel me too."
"What'd you just say?" One of them said, taking a few steps closer and bunching up his fists.
I held my duel disk in front of me, the activation cutting through the air. Combined with the scythe like shape, it was enough to get him to back up.
"You talk a lot of talk. But I think it's only talk. Care to try proving me wrong?"
"Didn't you hear? This arena's for Obelisks. Get lost." He said, trying to save face.
Syrus tugged on my sleeve that didn't have what looked like a giant blade attached to it. "We were just leaving, right guys? I mean, if we're not supposed to be here, then I guess we have to go."
For once Jaden, I think you'd say it better than me.
"Nah, we don't have to leave. Not if one of you duels us!"
They looked between us, and slow as they were, they seemed to recognize us. Or maybe they're staring at Jaden's hair. I would understand either one.
"Hey, aren't you the guys that beat Crowler?" One of them asked.
"I see our reputation precedes us." Once you morons actually put two and two together. So it's like a delayed reputation or something. Close enough.
"Hey Chazz, those guys that beat Crower are in here!" One of them yelled to the bleachers.
I looked and saw Chazz scowling back. "Uh, correction. I not only beat Crowler, I also took Chazz down in one move." I said, relishing the way his face twisted in anger.
The other two apparently didn't know that, considering how they stepped in to defend him. "Hey, watch who you're talking to! He was the number one duelist back at duel prep school!"
"Heh. Fat lot of good that did him last night. He played a grand total of one monster that I banished, while I brought out two powerhouses and handed him his own-"
"Heh, I think the excitement over getting in without begging went to his head." Chazz said, sneering. "Dreams aren't going to do you much good here, no matter how good you are in them."
… what?
"Maybe if you spent as much time dueling as you did about dreaming about it, you'd actually be something more than a Slifer."
... that #$^* son of a %*#&* is denying that whole thing and calling it a #$ $^!$# dream I had?!
Jaden opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "And maybe if you spent less time bragging and more time practicing you wouldn't be beaten so easily."
He laughed. "You think just because you got a lucky hand, and had some rare cards, that makes you good? Dueling's about more than just cards, you also have to know how to use them. If you think you're so good, how about a rematch-without using your Black Luster Soldiers?"
Like that's going to stop me. I have plenty of other cards-
"You already had a shot at him." Jaden said, pushing past me. "How about me? I beat Crowler too you know."
Chazz smiled in the same way as a Bond villain. "That's true. And you did it without just using a rare card."
"I'm sorry, did he not play Winged Kuriboh with a move Crowler didn't even know about? And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that Ancient Gear Gollum of Crowler's also super rare?"
He ignored me. "It takes some skill to pull that off."
Jaden basked in the praise a moment.
Yeah, sorry Jaden, but 3…2…1…
"Or maybe it was just luck."
Yep, I knew it.
"I say that we find out right now."
I chuckled. "Chazz, let me perfectly frank with you. As someone who's dueled him, and nearly lost- unlike in the matches I had against you or Crowler- I can say with perfect honesty that he'd kick your-"
I cut off my sentence as I sensed someone approaching yet again. Seriously, what is this, a spider sense?
"Well this is a motley crew."
I turned and saw the same person RB had shown me. Long blond hair, brown eyes, and wearing a variation of the blue obelisk uniform.
"Hey Alexis." Chazz said in an overly cocky tone that I'm sure made her want to smack him.
I know I do now. Although that might not be related.
"You come to watch me mop the floor with my new little friend Jaden here?"
"You mean like you're lying about me doing last night?" I commented.
His cool guy attitude slipped a moment. "Shut up bird-brain! You're next."
"Bird brain? Yeah, again, it sounds the same, but it's not spelled the-"
Alexis cut me off. "I'm here to remind you about the Obelisk welcome dinner that you're late to."
He looked at Jaden and me again and shrugged. "Oh yeah. Some other time slackers."
I had to fight the urge to flip him the bird, and contented myself with retracting my duel disk.
I glared at his retreating back. Some other time indeed. Coward.
Alexis turned to us. "Sorry about Chazz. Hope he didn't rub you the wrong way."
"I've heard worse in grade school." I said as I shook my head.
"So did you really beat him?" She asked me. "I heard rumors floating around, but he's been denying him."
"Of course he has. Someone like him losing to a quote "Slifer Slacker" unquote?"
"He's a real jerk when it comes to that."
Jaden shrugged it off too. "Those types don't really bother me anyway. Besides, it's hard to take him seriously when I watched him get beat in one turn."
He got a face that nearly got me to activate my scythe-disk again it was so creepy. "Besides, I could beat him in one turn too."
"We really have to work on your overconfidence." Syrus commented.
"Ok, maybe two turns. Maybe two and a half."
I rolled my eyes. "Which means you'd be matching my record. What, are you going to beat him in half a turn?"
"Well, I hadn't gotten that far yet."
I sighed. "Tell you what. If you can beat me in one turn… we'll go best out of three."
Alexis laughed. "The Slifer welcome dinner's about to start too. You should probably get going."
"Right, we better go Sy." Jaden said, taking off at a speed that dwarfed my earlier efforts to catch them. Syrus was right on his heels, yelling at him to wait up.
He suddenly turned and stood running in place. "Wait, what was your name again?"
She smiled. "Alexis Rhodes. And yours?"
"The name's Jaden." He turned and called out a "See you around" over his shoulder.
I shook my head. "Not much for small talk is he?"
"I didn't catch your name either." Alexis said to me.
"Mark Fenix." I nodded my head towards the door. "I'd love to stay and talk, but I think if I let them beat me to the dorm, I'm going to bed hungry."
"I don't doubt it. I'd better get going too." She said, walking towards the far door.
I watched her go a moment before turning and running after Jaden.
I wasn't surprised to find a certain floating mirror in front of me, keeping pace with me. A single image of a coaster appeared on it.
"Ok, yeah, maybe that was worth the detour." I admitted. "But if there's no food left, I'm still using you as a bookmark."
I sat at a table, looking somewhat distastefully at the meager amount of food in front of me.
Yeah, first chance I get I'm going Ra.
Still, compared to having had to cut weight for wrestling, it was practically a feast.
Although judging by the complaints from everyone else, they don't feel the same way.
"This is our fancy welcome dinner?" One of them said in outrage.
I rolled my eyes. If you're not going to eat it, then leave so I can enjoy in peace. I want to take another look at my deck.
RB glowed in my duel disk.
Well, at least the nice thing about my disk is that it doesn't take up as much space as a normal duel disk, so I can just wear it all the time.
"Forget that! Check out our headmaster!" someone said, pointing to a cat sitting at the front of the room.
Wow, can't imagine why that guy's in Slifer. He's clearly a mental giant. NOT.
A curtain was brushed aside to reveal the true headmaster, an Asian man with glasses that almost complete hid his eyes.
"Hello children. My name is Professor Banner."
I bristled slightly at this. Children?
RB glowed in my duel disk.
I didn't ask you!
"Now, before we eat, I'd like each of you to tell us something about your-"
He cut off and I immediately knew the reason why.
"Man, this stuff is good." Jaden said, stuffing his face.
I knew I should've sat at a different table. I said, glancing to my right to look at him.
"Jaden, we're supposed to tell something about ourselves first." Syrus admonished him.
I chuckled. "In a way, he sorta just did."
"He's walking over here Jaden." Syrus said. "I'm serious."
"Yeah, in fact he'll be here right about… now."
Jaden looked up nervously.
"Well, since some of us don't feel like waiting…"
Jaden looked even more nervous.
"Let's just eat."
I shrugged and did just that.
I smiled as I walked into my room. Still no roommate, huh?
I slid off my duel disk and tossed it on a table nearby. Well, minus having Jaden talk my ear off, this has so far been better than I expected.
I instantly regretted jinxing myself like that as I was faced with my somewhat irritating monster.
"Alright, what is it now?"
He didn't change anything in his mirror, and he didn't move at all.
I shrugged and sat down at the table, taking my deck out of the disk.
RB hovered over me.
I shook my head. "If you're worried I'll take you out of my deck, relax. I'm leaving you in. Maybe getting blasted by a dragon or two will mellow you out."
This time the mirror shimmered and changed. I saw- and for once heard- Chazz talking to Jaden and challenging him to a duel. It then changed to an image of him leaving his dorm and heading for the Obelisk Arena, followed by Syrus.
I looked at him pointedly. "Dude, no way am I going to go just so I can watch a duel I already know the outcome of. Let alone one that'll be interrupted so they don't get caught by campus security. For that matter, for all I know going with them might result in said security catching them and making sure they get expelled. And more relevantly, making sure I get expelled."
I nodded in the mirror.
"Wait, you agree with me?"
I gave myself a "Well duh" expression.
"Then what the heck are you bothering me for? I'm trying to prepare my deck! I don't even know half the cards I have in it! And if it's anything like the decks I've used before, it has the maximum number of cards in it.
My head tilted in question, and then revolved into an image of Chazz. Which then was replaced with an image of-
"Darth Vader? Are you serious? Chazz is arrogant and annoying, not evil. Well, not enough to be a real villain."
The sith lord nodded and the mirror went blank.
"Ok, I'm still not seeing your point."
A beam of light shot past me from the mirror, projecting on my wall.
I looked back at RB. "If I'd known you could project movies-"
He pointed sternly at the wall.
Hmm, he usually lets that mirror on his chest communicate for him. Must think it's important if he's actually moving himself for once.
I looked back in time to see a tall guy in Obelisk Blue knock down an Slifer that couldn't have been more than 13.
"Hah! That's what you get for challenging me!" he said as the Slifer's life points dropped to zero, hit by a monster I couldn't make out before it disappeared.
I glanced at the projectionist, then back at the screen. Ok, an Obelisk is being a jerk. What else is new?
The shot panned out to show several other Slifers and one or two Ras on the ground, unconscious or too tired to stand.
"See these guys? They couldn't beat me either. And now that I've shown you why I'm the best, hand over your deck and get off the island."
He pointed to a ramshackle boat that I wagered wouldn't get five miles out before it sunk. "You have until sunrise. If you're still here when I get back…" he made a slitting motion across his throat. The poor kid fainted and the a-hole walked away laughing.
My face twisted into a rage-filled grimace. "RB, please tell me you want me to take this guy down."
I turned to him, and he nodded.
I looked back at the wall. "Did you get any of his strategy?"
Rather than a duel, several cards flashed by, most of them rare and powerful. Some of them had images of the defeated challengers behind them.
I turned back to face my spirit partner.
"So he uses a bunch of rare cards that he stole?"
He nodded in confirmation.
I sighed. "You know, I'm not going to say I'm not good, but I'm sure as hell not unbeatable. And with that many rare cards-"
I cut myself off as a new image appeared in the mirror.
"I am not a chicken!"
I crossed my arms in the mirror.
"Look, I'm all for fighting for a just cause and all that, but I'm not going to risk my Envoy or Original to do it." I thought a moment, and then admitted "or your card either."
The image changed to me holding my scythe-disk. My eyes widened as I watched, and I grabbed my own disk off the table.
Sure enough, there was a button I hadn't seen before on the underside of the arm guard. I pressed it and revealed what the mirror had shown- a secret compartment. And as for what was in it-
"Lord, there must be another deck's worth of cards in here! Heck, maybe even more!"
I looked back at RB, who showed a projection of me smiling.
I fanned out the cards and laid them on the table. "I have until sunrise to beat this guy, right?"
I nodded.
"Alright, let's see how good I am at building a deck." I said, grabbing my original deck from my duel disk and laying it out on the table.
"It's time to slice it up!... huh, that was a better possible catchphrase in my head. Man, even "get your game on" is better than that. And it's just too close to "let's rev it up". And "Time to duel" is already taken too… hmm, ideally I'd say it while I activated that giant blade I have for a duel disk, so I want it to have something to do with slicing or cutting the other guy up by the end…"
Reflect Bounder floated through the table, and the mirror on his chest said FOCUS.
"Alright, alright, I'm going. I already was planning it out, I was just talking about something else too."
His glare told me how little he was convinced.
Geez, freaking taskmaster. Give me a break. This isn't the first time I've built a deck. It just might be the first time I've had so many cards to choose from.
I smiled. This guy is going down.
"Are you sure you know the way?"
RB just kept floating along and I didn't see any choice but to follow him. I looked at my deck again. Although I'd deny it if he asked me, I was somewhat nervous about using it.
He turned to face me, and my arms were crossed on the mirror.
God damnit, can he hear my thoughts?
His answer was simply to display the image of two monster types I couldn't stand to be up against.
"Ugh, don't remind me. That's the only reason I can deal with this time line is that I won't have to go up against Synchro or XYZ."
I rolled my eyes in the mirror and he turned away, leading me towards my duel.
It took me a second to grasp his meaning. Oh, right, that's the reason I put so many cards in my deck to defend me and all that: because it was so easy to summon them. But in this era, those cards don't exist which means I can focus less on defense and more on attack.
I glanced down at my deck again. Now's a good a time as any to give it a test run I guess. Though I still think that I should have put in a second Mirror Force, but noooo, Mr. mirror-head said that would be going too far, and making it too powerful. The whole point of a deck is to be powerful! I mean, strategic is good too, but…
"Well well well."
I looked up as I heard the voice.
"Another Slifer slacker wandering into my turf."
The guy was even uglier up close. His coat was more like a trench coat, he was bald, and his eyes were an ugly shade of almost red. He even had the perfect evil goatee.
To be honest, I was somewhat intimidated, but I reminded myself that my deck wasn't exactly weak.
"Your turf? I don't see your name on it anywhere."
He pointed to the still unconscious kids he'd defeated. "That's what they said too. Right before I beat them into submission and showed them why Obelisk is the best."
He pointed to the sea. "I've got a boat ready to take all these losers off the island. And after I beat you, you'll be on it to, and I'll have any rare cards you have."
I smiled and crossed my arms, holding my hand in front of my disk. It ejected a card into my hand, which I held up so he could see it. "You mean like this?"
He looked at it in shock. "Black Luster Soldier: Envoy of the Begining? How'd you get that?"
"I wouldn't say that's important right now. What's important is how You could get it. Beat me, and it's all yours."
He smiled wickedly. "That won't take long."
"But if I win, you give back the cards you stole, and you get to take the ride on that boat instead of them."
He laughed. "You got a lot of guts kid. Too bad the sharks are going to eat them when that boat goes down."
He triggered his duel disk. " I'm undefeated for the night, and that isn't going to change."
I glared at him. "Guys like you make me sick."
"What?"
"You heard me. You beat a bunch of kids, stole their cards, and now you think you're top dog."
I slid Envoy on top of my deck, and the duel disk whirred as it shuffled the deck.
"What, you think you can beat me?"
"No." I held my arm in front of me. "I know I can beat you."
I activated my duel disk, and inspiration came to me as the scythe-like zones appeared. "Time to cut you down to size! Let's go!"
"Fine by me. My draw!"
Geez, why is it people never just toss a coin or something? Why is always just first guy to call it?
"I'll summon Axe Dragonute!" ATK 2000
A dragon with a giant axe appeared, apparently ready to slice apart anything in it's way.
Hmm, that'll be tough to beat with an ATK that high. But, if it attacks it's forced into defense mode, and it only has 1000 DEF.
"That'll do if for me. Let's see what you've got."
I drew my card, and added it to my hand. Hmm, I don't have anything strong enough to beat it, and I don't have an equip card to increase a monster's ATK. But there's more than one way to slay a dragon…
"I'll set a monster face down, and place three additional cards face down. Your move."
"Fine with me. I draw, and now I'll summon Double Coston!" ATK 1700
Uh oh. That card can be used for two tributes if he summons a dark monster. Better destroy it my next turn.
"Next I activate the spell card Double Summon, which means I can normal summon an additional time this turn! So I'll tribute Double Coston and use its ability to be two tributes! Which means I can summon my Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"
Well crap.
A menacing looking dragon appeared beside the first.
I was looking at two strong monsters. Hmm, maybe once I get the kids back all the cards that are really theirs, I'll snag one or two of his. But first I'll have to beat him.
"Now, I'll attack your face down card with my Dragon! Go, Inferno Fireblast!"
I threw up an arm to protect myself as the fireball smashed into my monster. "Nice try. You just attacked my Big Shield Gardna!"
My card flipped up and a hologram appeared of a muscular man hiding behind a giant shield.
He snarled as his life points went down by 200, thanks to Gardna's 2600 Def, compared to Red-eyes' 2400 attack.
"Luckily for you, now his effect forces him into attack mode." And with only 100 attack, it's an easy target. Luckily one of my face downs is ready for that.
He was too smart for that though. He glanced at my face downs and set one of his own. "I'll just set this down and end my turn."
RB appeared next to me, and I acknowledged him with a nod of my head.
"Alright, my turn."
Hmm, it's looking like he's not going to attack me. But now that I have this, I think I'll be able to myself.
"I summon Amazoness Swordswoman! And I'll equip her with Starbow-Ceal!" Her ATK dropped to 500. I have dark bribe face down, so even if it's a trap, I'm ready. "And now, thanks to her bow, I can attack you directly."
She drew back on the bow, and sent the arrow between his monsters and right into his arm. He groaned as his life points went down to 3300.
" Then I'll switch Gardna back to Defense mode. I think that'll do it for my turn." I said, crossing my arms. "Though I have to ask how you were ever able to beat anyone in a duel if this is the best you've got."
He growled and drew a card. "I play pot of greed!" he said, drawing two more cards. "And now I activate Swords of Revealing Light!"
Large swords appeared around me, with three large main ones. "Now you can't attack for three turns."
Coward! You should only use Swords when you're behind! Yet you're scared to attack with two large monsters like that.
"Next, I play Fissure! With this card, I can destroy whatever monster you control which has the fewest attack points!" A crack in the ground appeared, headed towards my gardna.
"Not so fast! I activate Dark Bribe! It negates your spell in exchange for letting you draw a card."
He smiled. "Works for me. Even better actually."
I took a look at his hand. Thanks to dark bribe, he has 4 cards. But he also has two powerful monsters.
"I'll end my turn without attacking."
I glanced at RB. Once again a certain bird appeared on his chest, and this time I agreed.
This guy is definitely a coward. I glanced at my two face down cards. One of them is my scrap-iron scarecrow, so I can negate attacks. The other is one of my Trap Monsters- Metal Reflect Slime. They'll protect me, but they won't be able to hurt him.
I looked at my two monsters on the field. Then again, my monsters won't really be able to either. Gardna's Def is high, so he's likely to lose life points if he attacks it. But since he'll switch into defense mode after that, he'd be an easy target. And if he attacks my Amazoness, he'll take the battle damage instead of me.
I looked at his face down. I could attack one of his monsters, and sacrifice her, but thanks to his Swords, I can't attack for 3 turns.
I drew a card and added it to my hand. Hmm, I don't know what this guy is planning, but it can't be good. He's either going to make those dragons more powerful, or… I don't have an or. But I doubt it'll be that obvious.
"I'll set a monster in defense mode, and set another card face down. That'll do for me."
One of the three swords vanished. Two turns left.
"We'll see how much good it does you." He looked at his card and smiled evilly "I'll activate a field spell- Secret Village of the Spell Casters!"
I started as the Cliffside area we were at appeared to disappear, and we instead found ourselves in a village you'd expect to see elves in.
"As long as this card is on the field, neither person can activate spell cards unless they control a Spell Caster Type Monster."
I looked at my deck, trying not to let my annoyance show on my face. I only have 2 Spellcasters in my entire deck!
I looked at his field. But he doesn't have a spellcaster out either. Unless-
"Next, I'll summon a Spell Caster of my own- Lord of Dragons!" A guy in creepy armor that was apparently made of dragon bones appeared. DEF 1100
"And just so you don't get any ideas about attacking him, I'll equip my red-eyes with Raregold Armor!" The dragon roared as he was covered in gleaming silver armor, outlined in gold. "Now my Red-eyes is the only monster you can attack. And since my dragons can't be targeted by card effects thanks to my Lord of Dragons- Red-eyes, attack his Big Shield Gardna!"
The dragon charged up a fireball, and launched it right at my monster.
His life points decreased by 200, as my Gardna stood up in attack mode. "Now that he's vulnerable, Axe Dragonute! Wipe him out!"
"I don't think so. I play my face down card- Draining Shield!" A dome of light appeared around me and my monsters as the dragon's axe swung.
"Now, not only is your attack negated, I gain life points equal to your monster's attack points."
He snarled as my life points went up to 6000.
"And now your axe dragonute switches to defense mode." It crotched down, axe in front of it.
"So what? I still have my Swords out for another two of your turns."
I had to admit he had me in a pretty tight spot. With Swords of light out on the field, even if I had something strong enough to destroy his Red-eyes, I couldn't attack. And with that field spell out, I couldn't use any spell cards.
I looked at the monster I'd just drawn and had to fight to keep a poker face. Cyber Dinosaur? That'll come in handy. Because I can only think of one reason he'd want Lord of Dragons on the field. He's going to use the flute of Summoning Dragon to summon two more dragons from his hand.
But if he does, Cyber Dinosaur's effect will let me special summon it.
I looked at my two monsters. Thanks to my Amazoness's effect, she's just about the perfect defense. But I need to swap Gardna for something with some more muscle. And I've got just the thing.
"I tribute my Big Shield Gardna and summon Light Pulsar Dragon in attack mode." A giant blue and white dragon appeared on my side of the field. ATK 2500
"But since I can't attack, I'll just set one card face down and end my turn."
I looked again at my hand. Cyber Dino is the only card I have worth keeping. Luckily, my face down monster can change that in a moment.
"Alright punk, here's where you really get in trouble. My draw." He drew, and smiled when he saw the card. "I play the flute of summoning dragons! Now I can summon two dragon type monsters from my hand directly to the field. So come on out Cave Dragon and Vice Dragon!"
Both had 2000 ATK. One was purple and green, the other looked more like a dinosaur than dragon.
And speaking of dinosaurs- "I activate the effect of my Cyber Dinosaur! Since you summoned a monster from your hand, I can special summon him!"
What looked like Mechagodzilla 2.0 appeared on my side with 2500 attack. "So thanks. Now you have a couple of somewhat strong monsters, but I have one that'll take them down easy."
"My swords are still in play for another of your turns. That's all I need. I end my turn without attacking."
At least this time it makes sense for him to not attack. But I still don't get what he's trying to do. He has 4 super powerful dragons on his side, but he hasn't launched a single effective attack.
Well, if he's planning something with the cards in his hand, that plan is about to go straight to hell.
I drew my card, and decided it wasn't worth keeping either. "First, I'll flip my Morphing Jar face up, which means we both ditch our hands and draw five new cards."
He slid his cards in the graveyard without complaint. I did the same, and was pleased to see what I'd drawn. My strongest card! This guy can wipe out anything he controls in one blow! I looked at the one sword still on the field. But since I can't attack, I shouldn't expose it yet. What other cards do I have?
The rest were spell cards, which were still useless to me. I set two face down anyway, just to worry him. "I'll end my turn."
The last sword vanished. "And on my next turn, I'll end you!"
"Oh, will you?" he said, drawing his card. "I was waiting for a certain card, and thanks to your morphing jar, I've got it right here in my hand." He smiled, clearly pleased with himself. "First, I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy my field spell!"
A whirlwind sprung up around us, and when it vanished the forest was gone and we were back where we started.
"Big mistake pal. Not having spell cards was all that kept me from kicking your but all the way back to the mainland."
He smiled wickedly. "You should really wait for someone to finish their turn before making judgements. Next, I'll tribute my Lord of Dragons to summon Curse of Dragon!"
"Five dragons?" I asked as the creepy monster appeared. I never did think that show was as good as the original.
"Exactly. And now I'll play that card that will let me finish you off! I'm going to summon the strongest dragon in the game! I activate Polymerization!"
His five dragons glowed with power, than soared into the sky, swirling together to form a monster that dwarfed any I'd seen.
"Behold! The might Five-Headed Dragon!"
I had to fight to keep a calm head, now staring at a creature with 5000 attack points.
"And just to make sure you don't try anything funny with those face downs, I'll play the spell card Heavy Storm!"
Another giant tornado appeared, but this one instead ripped apart my face down cards. "And now, I'll attack! Go my beast! Destroy his Cyber Dinosaur with Elemental Destruction!"
Each head opened its giant maw, shooting a wave of energy at my dinosaur. I was knocked back by the force of the attack as my life points dropped to 3500.
"And since I know all about your Sword Woman's ability, I'll play another Swords of Revealing light!"
Swords again trapped my monsters on all sides.
"It's hopeless! Nothing you can do can defeat my mighty beast! In just a few more turns, I'll destroy every monster you control! And then, I'll destroy your life points!"
I slowly got to my feet, and stared up at the giant beast.
No wonder this guy was able to beat all those other guys! And if I don't think of something fast, I'll be next!
Yeah, I decided this chapter was long enough as is, so I decided to leave you with a cliffhanger. Feel free to review and complain. See you next time!