Bogdan studied the new deck for the remainder of the week prior to the next duel, constantly swapping cards in and out of it until he reached what he thought was the perfect formula. He didn't want to admit it but the duel with Luca really helped him understand the deck, see its strengths and weaknesses, and improve upon it. Bruno had to pull a lot of strings and ask people to return the favors they owed him in order to acquire some difficult to find and expensive cards in such a short time, and was pretty angry about it.
"I sincerely hope, for your sake, that you win tonight's gig, because I've spent a fortune on these two cards." He said as he passed the cards to Bogdan.
"Relax, I've got this sewn-up tighter than a camel's butt in a sandstorm." Bogdan yelled with a thumbs-up from behind the computer screen.
"Watch your pie hole, I'm not in the mood. Had to ask some very powerful people to return me the favor they owed me for this stuff. I was saving them for important things." He turned to leave.
"And this isn't important? When I win, I'll make 6 times more money than the amount you spent on these cards."
"You better, otherwise I'll-" He slammed the door before finishing the sentence.
"We'll see about that." Bogdan wrote the last lines of the email he was composing: Gtg now, got a gig tomorrow, hopefully I'll get some more material there. Make sure to burn these attachments on a DVD and give them to your uncle in DIGOS. Xoxo. B. He then clicked on the Send button and forwarded the email to Ilena. The little envelope flew off the screen.
"Wake up, you have a gig in two hours. I'm already down in front of your apartment." Bruno's voice, rendered slightly artificial through the cell phone speaker, was like nails to a chalkboard to Bogdan.
"Dude, it's seven a.m. Newton's first law states that a body in rest wants to stay at rest. Now fuck off." He hanged up. The phone rang again almost instantly.
"Do that again and I'll personally give you a Columbian necktie. I want to see you in my car in fifteen minutes." Now Bruno hung up.
"Nice scenery. Very dramatic. I should've put on a leather overcoat to look cooler in the wind." Bogdan said after they arrived at the place of the duel, which was a helipad on the roof of a skyscraper. The mobster organizing these duels, Mauro, was also there, along with the usual crowd from before.
"It's the personal arena of your next opponent. The guy himself has no idea whatsoever how much money he has." Bruno said.
"Which means he has rare, expensive cards in his deck." Bogdan noted.
"Now I've told you, screw this up and I'll personally throw you off this roof." Bruno growled at him. Bogdan just gave him a cold, emotionless stare.
"Sorry for not being scared. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a duel to win." He said as the elevator doors on the other side of the roof opened and his opponent came out.
"See? He has an overcoat, why can't I? Well, you've unlocked the dramatic stage entry achievement."
"Shut up and just start the damn duel already! The next words out of your mouth better be I won, Mister Bruno, sir or else I will take a shit on you so giant you will forget there was ever such a thing as the sun!" Bruno barked, pushing him violently.
"Ok, ok, jeez! What crawled up your ass?" Some of the spectators laughed. That made Bruno angrier, but he decided not to say anything. The judge approached them and announced the coin toss. Bogdan turned on the hidden camera on the duel disk and made a slow circle in order to film everybody present. Then he turned to face his opponent. Ilena should like a first-person duel recording, he thought.
"Gentlemen, the bets are now closed, let the duel begin. First turn goes to the champion. Second turn for the challenger."
"Why am I always the challenger? Champion sounds so cooler." Bogdan complained. His opponent, a young man in his mid-twenties, drew six cards, initiating the duel.
"I set a monster and a card and end my turn."
"Great, a T-set. It's never easy. I set a monster and two cards and end my turn. Your move, Richie Rich."
"I tribute my set Treeborn Frog to summon Mobius the Frost Monarch, and upon summoning, his effect activates, allowing me to destroy up to two spell or trap cards, so kiss your back row goodbye. I attack your set monster."
"Dekoichi's flip effect activates allowing me to draw a card. Goodbye, pain train."
"I set another card. Your turn."
A monarch deck with Treeborn Frog. Pretty straightforward, no biggy. I'll eat him for dessert. "I summon Machina Gearframe, which when summoned will search out Machina Fortress and add it to my hand. Now I discard two Machina Fortresses to special summon one of them. Machina Fortress can be special summoned by discarding machines with a total level of eight or more. The nice thing is, Machina Fortress itself can be used as a cost for its own special summoning, as it by itself is level seven and its own effect targets it after the cost is paid." An orange tank appeared beside Bogdan and pointed its cannon towards his opponent, ready to fire.
"Before Fortress is special summoned, I discard Maxx C from my hand. Its effect is to let me draw a card each time you special summon during the turn this card is discarded. Now the special summoning of Fortress will net me a card."
"I'll give you one more card, mate. I discard Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon, which is level eight in order to special summon the second Machina Fortress." One more tank appeared on Bogdan's other side. "I attack Mobius with one Fortress." Machina Fortress fired its salvo towards the monarch, but it stopped mid-air, as if frozen in time, as Bogdan's opponent revealed his set card.
"I activate my set spell Enemy Controller and tribute Mobius so I can take control of one of your Machina Fortresses for the duration of this turn." Mobius disappeared, and the salvo flew off the rooftop, disappearing as it reached the limit of Google Glasses' solid vision.
"Damn. I end my turn." Bogdan growled.
"In your end phase I activate my set card Book of Moon to flip one Machina Fortress face down. Its 1600 defense should be less of a threat."
"God you're annoying. You were supposed to let me take the advantage by attacking you directly. Didn't you read the script?"
"Lame humor won't win you the game, bro. Since I don't have any spells or traps on the field, I can special summon Treeborn Frog from the graveyard. Now I summon Skreech and activate its effect. It lets me send two WATER monsters from my deck to my graveyard, so I dump another Treeborn Frog and a Swap Frog. Now I discard a WATER monster from my hand to special summon Swap Frog from my hand. This Fishborg Blaster will do. And now I activate the effect of Swap Frog to send a level two or lower Aqua type monster from my deck to my graveyard, and I send the third Swap Frog." Bogdan's opponent fiddled with the cards, which confused Bogdan a bit, since he couldn't guess the deck type. What the hell is he doing anyway? Monarchs, Frogs, and I saw Fishborg Blaster, so he has tuners as well. Is it a Frognarch deck? Is it Formula Monarch? Is it both? Ok, don't panic, you have a strong field presence, there is no reason to worry, he thought. His opponent was still juggling with the cards. "Now I activate Salvage to return from the graveyard to my hand two WATER monsters with 1500 attack or less, and I choose Treeborn Frog and Swap Frog. Then I discard Treeborn Frog to special summon Fishborg Blaster from my graveyard. Fishborg Blaster can be special summoned only by discarding a card when I control a level three or lower WATER monster, so Treeborn and Swap Frog both fulfill that requirement." Here it comes! Bogdan was tense. "Now I tune Fishbrog Blaster, Skreech and Swap Frog to synchro summon Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!"
"Galloping Godzillas! I'm in trouble now! Big trouble!" Bogdan gulped as he looked at the giant dragon that flapped its wings and roared. It has the same attack as my Fortresses, 2500, but its effect allows him to discard up to two cards to destroy the same amount of cards on my field. Wait a minute, he only has one card. He'll destroy the face up one, then attack the facedown one, and then I'll destroy it with Fortress' effect. Like I said before, no biggy.
"I activate my Pot of Avarice, it lets me send five cards from my graveyard back to my deck and draw two after shuffling it. I return Swap Frog, Skreech, Fishborg Blaster, Mobius and Maxx C. Now I discard both cards I just drew, which are Mobius and Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness, as cost for Gungnir's effect. He can destroy the cards on the field equal to the number of cards I discard, but I can discard up to two cards. So I choose your two Fortresses and blow them away." The great beast flew upwards and shot both machines with rays of energy, incinerating them instantly.
"Fortress' effect activates, I'm supposed to make you discard a card since Fortress was targeted with a destruction effect, but you have no cards in your hand, so carry on." That wasn't supposed to happen.
"Gungnir, attack Machina Gearframe!" Gungnir, while still in the air, charged an energy beam in its mouth and shot it at Gearframe, which exploded.
"Maybe I should've used that union effect to attach Gearframe on Fortress." Bogdan mumbled.
"You have 7300 life points. I end my turn."
"I set a monster and end my turn."
"Great deck by the way, Bogdan! Very impressive!" Bruno yelled sarcastically from the sideline. Bogdan resisted the urge to show him the finger.
"Thank you, I'm keeping the best for last, so buckle up your seat belts, motherfuckers, because in a few short turns I'm going to teach you something I just learned a few days ago, so sit down, shut up and enjoy the experience of my four-am red bull-induced self-hatred-fueled deck-building extravaganza." He responded in equal sarcasm.
"I think I've seen enough." Bruno wasn't amused.
"My turn, I discard the Treeborn Frog I just drew to destroy that set monster with Gungnir's effect and attack you directly. You have 4800 life points."
"That's it, no more Mr. Nice Guy! I summon Black Salvo and with its effect I special summon a level 4 DARK Machine monster, in this case Dekoichi, the Battlechanted Locomotive, and tune them to synchro summon Black Rose Dragon."
"Aw hell no! Not my Gungnir!" Bogdan's opponent cried.
"Sorry. I activate Black Rose Dragon's effect to nuke the field and destroy all cards, including itself. This lets me special summon Meklord Emperor Skiel." Five parts appeared on the field, and interconnected to form a gigantic, insect-looking machine.
"Meklord Emperor Skiel!? From the Meklord Emperor Series!? The synchro haters?! Where in God's name did you find it? Only three Meklord Emperor cards exist in the world! Never would've thought I'd have to face one of them one day."
"Tremble, mortal, and despair, for your end is nigh! But seriously, I managed to track down only the weakest of the three Meklord Emperors. There are only rumors about the whereabouts of Wisel, and Granel is believed to be lost."
"So that's why I had to pay top dough for it." Bruno mumbled under his nose.
"Skiel can only be summoned when a monster I controlled is destroyed by a card's effect. Of course after summoning it this way, it can be revived just like any monster because it was properly summoned the first time."
"But why didn't you summon it when I destroyed your monsters with Gungnir's effect?"
"Because I just drew it, dumbass. Now shut up. I attack you directly with Meklord Emperor Skiel." Skiel shot several energy bursts and the area where Bogdan's opponent stood exploded. "You have 5800 life points. Your move."
"I special summon Treeborn Frog and dump Moray of Greed, which at this point is a dead draw, to special summon Fishborg Blaster, and now I tune them both to synchro summon the level two Formula Synchron, which in turn lets me draw a card."
"You're just prolonging the inevitable." Bogdan said.
"Not until the last card is played. Lady Luck is on my side today. I activate my second Pot of Avarice and after returning two Swap Frogs, Treeborn Frog, Mobius and Fishborg Blaster I can draw two cards." Bogdan's opponent looked at the cards then burst into laughter. Bogdan braced himself, while Bruno started panicking. He knew all too well what happens after that. Bogdan had always done it just before his winning move. "You think you're the only one with unique legendary cards in your deck?" His opponent asked Bogdan with a creepy smile on his face. Bogdan narrowed his eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"Watch! I activate Monster Reborn to special summon Gungnir from my Graveyard, then normal summon Fishborg Blaster and tune them to synchro summon Stardust Dragon!" That's when it hit Bogdan.
"As the shepherd said, get the flock out!" Now Bogdan was scared too.
"Well, let's bring this to an end, shall we? I tune Formula Synchron to Stardust Dragon in order to Accel Synchro the fabled Shooting Star Dragon!" Formula Synchron dissolved into two circles of intense light, while Stardust Dragon flew up, made a circle in midair and flew into the light at full speed. Moments later from the other end a ray of white light shot out like a comet, made a loop and landed beside Bogdan's opponent and toned the glow down until visible. What Bogdan saw was a giant white dragon as big as his Skiel. Everybody else that watched the duel had their jaws on the ground. "Now let's show our adoring public what it can do. I activate Shooting Star Dragon's first effect, it lets me check the top five cards, and for every tuner in them he gets an extra attack."
"The downside to that effect is that if you don't find any tuners among the five cards, you cannot attack at all, obviously. Number of tuners equals number of attacks, which means no tuners, no attacks. And if you don't destroy Skiel now, next turn I'll steal Shooting Star Dragon from you." Bogdan pointed out.
"I'll take that risk." Bogdan's opponent said as he drew five cards. The judge approached him to control the cards.
"One tuner! Effect Veiler!" The judge announced, while Bogdan's opponent revealed the cards. Bogdan closed his eyes in pain. Shooting Star Dragon rammed itself into Skiel, destroying it.
"You lose 1100 life points from the battle with Skiel which puts you at 3700. Prepare to lose."
"Not until the last card is played, right? My turn. I set a monster and end."
"I special summon Treeborn Frog, then tribute it to summon Mobius the Frost Monarch. Since there are no spells or traps on the field, nothing happens. Mobius attacks that set monster."
"It's Dekoichi. I draw a card due to its flip effect."
"But your field is empty now. Shooting Star Dragon, attack him directly!"
"Crap!" Bogdan braced himself by shielding his face with his arms. At that moment Shooting Star Dragon blew a surge of energy, creating a tremendous explosion where he stood.
"You have only 400 life points now. Next turn it's over." His opponent cackled maniacly.
"Get your ass up and do something! You're about to lose the duel, you moron!" Bruno popped a blood vessel.
"I don't think so." Said Bogdan as he looked at the card he drew. "Time to summon the monster I've been holding since the beginning of the duel. It's become all sweaty from being in my hand for so long. But first, I activate my field spell card Geartown. Now I special summon this special monster by removing from my extra deck Cyber End Dragon. Come forth, Malefic Cyber End Dragon!" An enormous three-headed robotic hydra appeared on the field, bearing resemblance to the original Cyber End Dragon, but it had black-and-white masks on its three faces, making it look even more vicious than the original.
"Where do you find these cards, man? First Meklord series, now Malefic Series!"
"You jelly? Malefic Cyber End Dragon is an extremely easy to summon monster with an extremely high attack of 4000. All it takes is a field spell card like the Geartown I activated at the beginning of the duel to be active and as soon as it's in your hand you can summon it by removing the original from the extra deck. Easy as pie. Several Malefic versions of the originals exist, including a field spell designed to remove the negative effects of them. But enough lessons. I attack Mobius the Frost Monarch!" The three heads charged energy orbs in their mouths as the attack was declared.
"I activate Shooting Star Dragon's second effect: I can remove it from play to negate one monster's attack!
"No you don't! I activate my quick-play spell card Forbidden Chalice to negate Shooting Star Dragon's effects for the remainder of the turn at the cost of it gaining 400 attack until the end phase, and the attack is uninterrupted." Malefic Cyber End Dragon shot the energy orbs, which created another explosion where Mobius stood. "You have 5000 life points. I end my turn."
"I activate my spell card Forbidden Lance and select your Malefic Cyber End Dragon as a target. It loses 800 life points, but is unaffected by spell and trap cards for the remainder of the turn. This way its attack goes from 4000 to 3200, below Shooting Star Dragon's 3300."
"Creative, giving spell and trap immunity to my monster just to be able to defeat it in battle."
"A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Now I activate Shooting Star Dragon's first effect again." Bogdan's opponent drew five cards.
"One tuner! Effect Veiler again!" The judge confirmed.
"Damn, looks like you survive another turn."
"I'm surprised you even get to attack." Bogdan responded.
"Why is that?"
"How many tuners do you have? I'm guessing two or three Effect Veilers and two or three Fishborg Blasters, one of which is in the graveyard. With three, maybe four tuners in less than thirty cards, you're lucky to be able to get that effect off. That's why you didn't use the effect when you attacked me directly. You didn't want to risk losing Shooting Star Dragon's one guaranteed attack, so you opted for prolonging the duel instead of the possibility of not inflicting any damage." His opponent was taken aback. Looks like Bogdan guessed it right. Bruno sighed in relief, knowing Bogdan's head is back in the game.
"A-anyway, Shooting Star Dragon destroys Malefic Cyber End Dragon and sends it to where Skiel is! You lose 100 life points which puts you at 300! Hahahaha! So much for your rare cards. Shooting Star Dragon destroyed them all! What are you going to do about it now? Huh? What?" Bogdan's opponent went into hysteria. Bogdan, on the other hand, had drawn his card in the meantime and was now waiting for his opponent to finish his fit with a mysterious smirk on his face. Bruno noticed that and at first lightened up, but then he looked at the cards in play. How does he intend to get himself out of this? He has only the card he just drew in hand and Geartown in play. Even if he destroys Geartown and gets Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon on the field, it's not enough, since Shooting Star has more attack. Maybe he can destroy it or remove it somehow. But it wouldn't matter, because next turn his opponent can beat him with whatever monster he draws. He has no Cyber Dragons or spellcaster synchros in the grave so that rules out Overload Fusion and Miracle Synchro Fusion. What if he defends with a set monster? Ah, it's still pointless, next turn his opponent will beat him either by drawing another monster and attacking with both, or with Shooting Star Dragon's effect to attack more than once, plus even if neither happens and he survives, that's no laughing matter, so what's with that smile? Damn, however I look at this, it's hopeless.
"Yo, whatever, psycho. Can I make my winning move now?" That killed his opponent's mad laughter on the spot. Everybody was shocked and waiting for the development of the duel.
"What? With that one card in hand? Hahahaha! Please, be my guest! Let's see what you can do!" The tension was too much for Bogdan's opponent. Bogdan slowly revealed the card in his hand, then inserted it in a spell/trap slot of his duel disk.
"I activate the timeless classic Monster Reborn to summon Meklord Emperor Skiel. After being properly summoned, Skiel can be revived just like any other monster. You know why the three Meklord Emperors are called synchro haters, right?" His opponent knew, but couldn't say it. The realization that this duel is about to end with his loss, and that all he's about to lose a lot of money and be plunged into debts got the better of him. Skiel materialized back on the field beside Bogdan, eyeing Shooting Star Dragon with ill intent. "Well, I'll show the audience then. I activate Skiel's effect, which lets me take an opponent's synchro monster and equip it to Skiel. Then Skiel will add the original attack of that synchro monster to its base 2200 attack, and, in this case, will become a 5500 attack behemoth, more than capable of wiping your 5000 life points with a single attack." Skiel launched several whips which caught Shooting Star Dragon by its arms, legs and neck, pulled it towards itself and, ultimately, absorbed it. Then it shot the energy bursts again, which this time were a lot bigger, and when they hit Bogdan's opponent a groundbreaking explosion took place. Bogdan turned to the audience with his arms raised, taunting with his palms. "Who's the bitches now, bitches!"
"Again with the sacky wins!" Back at the office Bruno scolded him.
"You still don't get my play style. Son, I am disappoint. It's called a set-up. Every card can be used and reused. Monsters can be revived, tuned for a synchro after using their effects, tributed, fused for more powerful monsters, removed from play to pay costs, et cetera. Sooner or later the cards that can do the right thing in the right situation will be drawn. That's how powerful decks are built. The old deck worked like that, and so does the new one. It is, of course, luck to a degree. Luck is topdecking into Monster Reborn. Bad luck is when there's nothing that can save you in either player's graveyard available. Good luck is when you have a previously summoned and destroyed Skiel so that you can absorb Shooting Star Dragon after you resurrect it. Do you see where I'm getting at?"
"I understand now. Good job, I guess. One of these days you'll give me a heart attack."
"Well for once you're happy I won. Anyway, I had fun today too. For the first time since I started doing the gigs. It's not every day that you take down a god." Bogdan admitted.
"Strong monster, that Shooting Star Dragon."
"Strong is an underestimation. It's legendary. There are just a few more that are as strong as it. But I've set my sights on the other Meklords, since I have the weakest of the three. Anyway, I'm going home now, I'm exhausted."
"Fantastic! We need to get them. Whatever you can find, present it to me, and we'll plan our next step from there. No price is too high. We'll get that money back in no time after that." Bruno laughed.
"You got it. See you."
"It wasn't my fault!" The young man that just lost to Bogdan screamed. He was dangling upside-down, his legs tied up with a chain that strung him up like a pig in a butcher's shop. Below him a grinding machine was turning its abrasive wheels in anticipation to decimate whatever was thrown between them. "How was I supposed to know he'd have a new deck? For what it's worth, it's your fault, you gave me false information!"
"He's just a kid with a deck standing between me and my money." Mauro, who was standing beside him, said, completely ignoring the accusations. "And if you didn't know this about me, let me be perfectly clear: I love money. Seriously wonderful stuff. All that crap about can't buy you happiness… Uh-uh. It can buy you anything." He droned on, pacing around the dangling duelist. Then he approached him, only a few centimeters between their faces. "Say for instance, I was in the market for new duelists to take down that snot-nosed brat and his despicable patron. How long do you think it'd take me to find suitable replacements? How many men would slaughter their families just to get a job interview? Why? Money. And you, my friend," Mauro prodded him with is finger, causing him to spin a little. "Have cost me a considerable quantity of it." He approached the controls of the grinder, but his cell phone rang. "Hello? Yeah, he's right here. He's… you know… rethinking his career choices. Yes I have his deck, and a special surprise planned. Ok, see you at the safe house."
"Wait! Give me another chance! Now that I know his deck, I know I can beat him!" The dangling duelist pleaded. Mauro looked at him over his shoulder, then back at the controls.
"No. I never back a losing pony twice. And you, my friend, you couldn't even finish the race." Then he pulled a lever, causing the chain that held the duelist's legs to fall freely towards the grinder.