AN: Before starting with the chapter, I want to give a shout-out to the fanfics "Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V Linked" by Storm Starshine, because it would have been called Arc-VRAINS if it weren't for me snatching that title waaaaay in advance, and "Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V: Hidden Power" (This one has actually been deleted.)
Also this chapter will have 2 short duels before the titular one, consider them a 'warm-up act', which I hopefully have done well. If not, then please tell me how I could have done it better.
And without further ado let's get started!
The Dragon´s Realm
"What an interesting match", Starve Venom said, "Even though Yuya almost screwed it up and that Ritual Lady prevented me from getting on the field."
"If you´re still calling her lady and not some swear word after that...", Clear Wing muttered.
"What? She´s strong and Sea Scales have this strangely kinky playstyle; I´m sure they didn´t choose their name, we can talk this out somehow.", Starve Venom answered.
"View that playstyle how you wish, but i´m more concerned with A: What Yuya was thinking with that last-minute body switch and B: What happened in Yusaku´s Duel to make Firewall this way.", Odd-eyes said, pointing to the effigy/shadow of Firewall that had appeared next to them. Some parts of its body has gotten closer to the real version, like the left wing and right arm, but other parts like the head had gotten similar in terms of Firewall´s color scheme, but their shape remained vague.
"It´s strange. Yuya does not own that dragon and it appears here next to us, yet other monsters of their decls like Phantom Knights of Fragile Armour, Speedroid Taketomborg, Predaplant Fly Hell and Performapal Elephammer aren´t here.", Dark Rebellion said.
"I don´t want to share this place with the Elephant anyway.", Odd-eyes pouted, " But the inner workings of this place is mysterious."
"Still salty about that duel against the cook, huh? Well to be fair I would rather get sacrificed for one of my brothers, (but even then only if necessary) than a Speedroid as well and Odd-eyes has to rely a bit less on the other monsters of Yuya´s deck to hit the field than we do, so it is kind of understandable "
"By the way, Clear Wing", Odd-eyes said, "What exactly did you talk about with Yugo before getting your alternate form?"
"Well, I did say something about how we don´t like entertainment, but just like Yuri he passed it on to you.", he answered.
"Well, I´m ready to confront it myself. I´m no coward after all!", Odd-eyes insisted., "What else?"
"Well, he kind of brought up a good point; they won´t always be able to protect us, even if they want to. Their deck just isn´t as strong as Zarc´s."
"So, are we just going to accept that they do their best? Assuming they actually do their best, of course.", Starve Venom said.
"I don´t like it, but it seems we have to.", Odd-eyes said, "Or is there another solution?"
"There most certainly is.", Dark Rebellion said, "But somehow my mind is clouded in that regard. They can´t stuff their decks with protecting effects, it would get cloggy eventually and I don´t intend to prove Futaba Miyabino´s statement. Playing us should make victory more likely."
"Well, I can agree to that, if reluctantly", Odd-eyes said, "But when, if ever, I wonder, will we be able to catch a break?"
L1 Go Onizuka´s POV Go´s warehouse
2 hours left. That much time, until I have my duel against Dark Lady and with that my last duel for an unknown amount of time. Why is that? I believe that
just like I said to Playmaker, I should have gone a different way of changing my style. Taking a break will give me some much-needed time to think.
Sure the controversy of my change brought me into the spotlight again, but is this really the type of attention I want? Sure, it wouldn´t be a controversy without people arguing FOR my side and I can´t please everyone anyway, but I realized- no more like remembered, that the money earned from my Charisma dueling isn´t the only way I´m helping those children. When I met them after my duel, they were all worried about me not being my usual self and would assure me that I would always be their number one.
So, money isn´t everything. That´s fine and all, but what does it mean for my Charisma Dueling? How should I change? Should I even change?
As I am thinking about that my manager, Kunikazu Oda enters the room.
"I will have to address that issue, Go, how did you receive Gouki Heel Hitter and Gouki the Ultimate Ogre? Usually, i would be notified about professional duelist exclusive promotional cards. ", he demanded.
Yes, sometimes professional duelists receive special cards tailored to their decks, to make the Charisma Duels more interesting. Sometimes they make a deck much stronger, sometimes they just are really satisfying to see go off. They are almost never announced to the public and always a surprise for the viewership of Link VRAINS, but they indeed are announced to a Charisma Duelist´s manager.
"The PDEPC system is not perfect. No system is.", I bluntly answered.
"I am not sure SOL tech would give an Xyz monster to an archetype that has almost no monsters sharing a level.", he said.
"But that makes it all the more symbolic of a Heel turn, doesn´t it? And the irony of it being summonable with Face Defender is also oddly humorous.", I said.
"Most people talking about your recent duel with Playmaker haven´t paid attention to this particular detail, but can you tell me how this dark aura around you was created?"
Of course. An unusual visual detail like this would be noticed eventually, but nobody would assume anything like what happened with this strange card-creating person. Who even was that person? I might have made a deal with the devil for all I know.
"It was part of a new update for Link VRAINS", I said and FYI, this and my last response were dictated to me by SOL tech. It seems like they are going for making up an explanation instead of sweeping everything under the rug including me. But what connection do they have to this card-creating person?
They didn´t tell me anything about the ability the owner of Yavix the Disgraced Nightmare gave me, hoping I was as unaware of it, as I in fact am.
"This would be a quite unusual update and would they really test it during a serious duel they hired you for?"
"I swear there is nothing to worry about.", I said.
"I have no idea ow this could be connected yet, but is it related to what happened to you 10 years ago?", he asked
L2 Futaba Miyabino´s POV her manager´s office
"SOL has sent you another set of new HorReaper cards", Mr. Okumura informed me, handing me an envelope.
"Perhaps they want me to give him a crushing defeat, so he disappears from the limelight after the recent events, but I have my own plans to make this exiting", I said and opened the envelope and began editing my deck.
"Are you sure you have enough time for that?", he asked.
"There is enough time left.", I answered, "and I can muti-task. Hmph, of course, cards like that would make a huge surprise."
In actuality, i wasn´t that cryptic about the cards I received, but I feel I shouldn´t let you know. I bet Mayoi will be excited to see them.
"Well, SOL has no problems producing new cards, if it suits them, I almost wonder why they didn´t lift the fixings from you, it only contained not siding Warrior Elimination anyway, but can you still ensure you´ll summon MaleViolent HorReaper DystoPierrot?"
"Yes, of course. SOL tech wouldn´t give a surprise present like this, expecting me to use it and not change my restrictions for the upcoming duel that require me to summon a specific monster if the new cards prevented that. Assuming they indeed root against GO after what happened recently. And I´m done editing my deck."
"But there just has to be a lot more behind the new batch of cards SOL sent you and those he used against Playmaker."
"But we have no use in information about this anyway", I said, but I am sure Yusaku Fujiki would, "so we should stop speculating"
L3 Mayoi´s POV
"Alright, I exchange the two CrimiNails for BeserKatana and WidoWire, keep one of the two RessurecTalons and CronusScythe and add CrusaDoom. And now my Extra Deck is done!".
"Are you really going to change your entire Speed Duel strategy?", Yuya asked.
"Yeah, going for a win-now-or-lose FTK hasn´t been successful recently as you know. And changing up my style will also confuse our opponents.", I answered.
"Yeah, you´re right about that. I wonder if Yusaku is searching for info to check if my theory about Machinarex is true, even it was only based on hunches and we don´t even know for sure that he will be a recurring enemy."
"Well, SoldatDelEnfere also plays Ancient Gears doesn´t show himself, so the description of Roget's looks you gave him on the way back after school won´t be very helpful if there isn´t someone like that walking around in Den City. But if you´re correct that means Roget anticipated you coming."
"You know, maybe he had a helper similar to the Dark Sagess. I don´t know if there are other beings like that, but..."
"That would be crazy. But let´s not overthink things."
At this point, the bell rung. I opened and as expected Yusaku had arrived.
"Ah, you´re there! Did you try to research Yuya´s theory?", I asked.
"Yes, since the chance of knowing an enemy´s real-life identity will not arise very often, but so far I couldn´t gather any decisive evidence in either direction.", Yusaku answered.
"But now you´re late! You´ll have to cut down on the sparring duels with those two/five.", Ai said.
"Oh, you brought Ai along?",I asked.
"Yeah, since I can´t say for sure that the Knight´s of Hanoi won´t attack.", Yusaku answered.
"Now that Ai´s here I have an interesting idea~! But first, come in!", I said.
I led him to the living room and like me, Yuya asked:"You brought Ai along?"
"Why are you two even surprised? Hanoi might attack!", Ai said.
"Yeah, how did we forget that?",I said, "But now to my interesting idea: Before watching Mom´s duel, we wanted to have a few sparring duels, so we could get to know each other´s deck better, right? How about we make a 4-way battle royal or tag duel and Ai will be one of the duelists being lent my ´training deck´?"
"You´re going to make an Ai duel?", Yusaku asked in confusion.
"Well, ´Ai´ AM a dueling program. Maybe a duel will help jog my memories!"
"Does an AI´s memory really work like that?", Yuya wondered.
"It doesn´t. But Ai isn´t a normal program. What does your training deck contain?", Yusaku asked.
"Well, I actually have two. One is a stall deck designed to counter HorReapers and a Subterror deck.", I answered.
"Uhm, but there´s one problem. I don´t have hands to hold my cards", Ai said
"Then I´ll hold them for you. And to top it off, we swap decks!"
"Why is that?",Yusaku asked.
"Well, I thought you´d learn a lot more about our decks if you played them, makes sense doesn´t it? And it will be good to learn new strategies!", I answered.
Considering Yusaku isn´t a fun type of person I thought, he´d be more willing to go along with my plans if it also provided some practical use for the KOH battles. I know it was his idea to spar in the first place before watching the big thing anyway, but swapping decks makes it a bit more fun.
"Then, who will play whose deck? And which one of us four will duel?", Yuya asked.
"I will play Yusaku´s Cyberse deck, he will play the Subterror deck and Ai will use my HorReaper deck, Yuto will play with his own deck since Yusaku didn´t see that one in action yet. I will be on Ai´s team.", I answered.
"That´s an unorthodox, but a solid and sensible plan. Let´s do it.", Yusaku said.
"Sheesh, when did you figure that guy out? I guess strange minds think alike", Ai said, and apparently, his ´great Playmaker´ attitude is gone for good now.
"Then I´ll go get that Subterror deck and we´ll start.", i said
Yusaku (4000lp) and Yuto (4000lp) vs Mayoi (4000lp) and Ai (4000lp)
"I will start.", Yusaku said, "I activate The Hidden City and add Subterror Fiendess to my hand."
"Ah, that´s what your VR form is based on, isn´ it?", Ai asked.
"Then I activate Field Barrier and normal summon Subterror Fiendess. I use her effect to put herself face-down and special summon Subterror Stygokraken in defense position (DEF:2600)and then… ", he paused to think for a second. Well, since he seemingly only had that Cyberse and the bad dummy deck, it´s not surprising at all for him to be unfamiliar with Subterrors.
"I use Hidden City to turn Fiendess back face-up and use Book of Moon to turn her face-down again. Since it didn´t miss timing this time, I can special summon-"
"A Subterror can only use it´s effect to special summon itself when you have no face-ups. Missing the timing isn´t the issue here.", I informed him.
"But Stygokraken can flip itself face-down as well and since a monster got flipped face-down and I had no face-up monsters afterward, I can special summon Subterror Dragossuary in defense position. (DEF:1400) then I use Foolish Burial to send A/D changer to the graveyard and banish it to flip Stygokraken face-up again."
"All this turning around is making me nauseous."
"Then I use Both Monsters as Link Material for Subterror Behemoth Fiendess (ATK:2000), whose ATK will rise to 3100 because of both Link Material´s level.
Now I end my turn. This archetype has potential and if we learned how to play it, it could be a useful weapon."
"To be fair, the deck isn´t perfectly constructed either, it´s just so when dueling with mom at home or when dueling myself to train that I can have somewhat varied opponents.", I said.
"But if you don´t get rid of Behemoth Fiendess, I will be able to summon 2 Xyz monsters.", Yuto said.
"But she´s definitely not invincible! And it´s my turn now! You all wanna see how the AI plays, am I right?"
"Definitely! Here I draw for you.", i said
"First of all I normal summon HorReaper GravediGloves (ATK:1400) and discard Katastrofusion to special summon two HorReaper Tokens. (DEF:0) Then I use my Continous Spell card Horrible Talent to target Gloves and send two other copies of it to-"
"Sorry, but GravediGloves is currently limited so I can´t play three copies of it.", I pointed out.
"To be fair, summoning three materials that easily, is a powerful effect, so it´s not surprising at al that this card is limited.", Yuto said.
"It was only a feint anyway.", Ai said, "I special summon HorReaper Pitchfreak from my hand and use him to mill AmnesiManiac (ATK/DEF:?), which negates the effect of Behemoth Fiendess since he got to the graveyard without being destroyed. (Subterror Behemoth Fiendess ATK: 3100-2000) Then I target PitchFreak with Talent to mill two copies of him. I use both of the Tokens I control to link summon HorReaper DestrucTalon. (ATK:1332) Then i activate Horrible Persistence to search out Horrible Fusion. I activate Horrible Fusion to fuse Into HorReaper WidoWire. I banish Pitchfreak to take the ATK of Fiendess even further down. (ATK:2000-0)"
"But Subterror Behemoth Fiendess has no protection of her own. And AmnesiManiac doesn´t negate a card´s effect when banished.", Yuto pointed out, "Shouldn´t you have milled a different HorReaper?"
"AmnesiManiac negates as long as his target is on the field. He was probably taking precaution for you to save the link monster somehow.", I said.
"Correct. And now I banish Katastrofusion and with it, two PitchFreaks and Special summon HorReaper ManiAxe! (ATK:2100) I banish AmnesiManiac from my graveyard to boost every one of my Reapers by 200 (HorReaper WidoWire ATK:1600-1800 HorReaper ManiAxe ATK:2100-2300 HorReaper DestrucTalon ATK:1332-1532) and they are immune to everything now."
"Fist: You never dueled. Second: You didn´t even look through this deck and Third: You were able to pilot it incredibly well. It seems like I greatly underestimated you.", Yusaku said.
"Really? He IS a dueling program after all, and the Knights of Hanoi and probably SOL are after him, so it makes sense, doesn´t it?", I asked.
"So you really are surprised by nothing", Yuto commented, "But still, without looking trough a deck, getting such a field on board isn´t something an ordinary duelist can. You would be infinitely useful on the battlefield if you could duel on your own. And by the way Yusaku, I can´t help but notice this ´three things´-phrase you keep saying. Where does it come from?"
"I heard a similarly structured phrase during an important moment of my life. And this is all I am ready to tell you, as of yet. I am not asking Mayoi why she isn´t living with her birth parents either.", he said defensively.
Oddly enough Yusaku seems to be living without a family as well, but it would be unwise to mention that.
"I attack Subterror Behemoth Fiendess with HorReaper DestrucTalon!", Ai interrupted.
"I have nothing against that attack", Yusaku said. (Yusaku and Yuto LP:4000-2468)
"I attack the face-down Fiendess with ManiAxe and with WidoWire directly.", Ai continued (Yusaku and Yuto LP:2468-668)
"Now I can special summon Gorz Emissary of Darkness in attack position and an Emissary token with 1800 DEF in defense position.", Yusaku said.
"I set two cards and end my turn. ", Ai concluded his turn.
The two cards Ai set were Storming Mirror Force and Horrible Betrayal. With Betrayal he can send a monster from the Extra deck from the graveyard when a HorReaper fusion is destroyed, then the destroyed monster and a Level 5 or lower monster will switch places, meaning DestrucTalon will maintain its two linked fusions and can stay invincible for longer.
"Then it´s my turn, draw! First, i use Emergency Provisions to send Hidden City and Field Barrier to the graveyard. (Yusaku and Yuto LP:668-2668) Then I use Set rotation to set Castle of the Phantom Knights on my field and Mystical Plasma Zone on your field. I then activate Phantom Knight´s Tithe by sending Phantom Knights of Shadow veil to my graveyard and draw two cards.
Then castle lets me bring back Shadow veil as the Monster he would become and after that, i can special summon an actual Phantom Knight, but its stats will become the same as the first monster. I special summon The Phantom Knights fighting Spirit from my hand. (DEF:0-300) I overlay my two Level 4 monsters into Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon and after that, i activate Raigeki."
"Good thing that I didn´t go into VirgIron if you had that Spirit in your starting hand. Since all cards affected by Raigeki are destroyed at the same time DestrucTalon gets to live. And since a HorReaper monster got destroyed I use Horrible Betrayal to send BeserKatana from the Extra deck to the graveyard, put ManiAxe back into it and bring out a second WidoWire in DEF position."
"You expected me to draw Fighting Spirit? But you´ve never even seen that card!",Yuto said, being unnerved by Ai´s skill
"I was just referring how wrong it would have gone for me if I had acted differently. I didn´t imply I knew about that card. Your surprise about my skill makes a serious guy like you lose focus doesn´t it?"
"Well, even I´m a little bit baffled, to be honest.", I said.
"Anyway, I use Galaxy Cyclone to destroy you set card. Then I play Cards of Ascension, by discarding a second Fighting Spirit and add Phantom Knights Rank-up Magic Launch to my hand. Then I use My rank-up magic to rank-up dark rebellion into Dark Requiem. I detach an overlay unit of Dark requiem to reduce WidoWire´s ATK to zero and give 1600 ATK to Dark Requiem! (ATK:3000-4600) Now I attack DestrucTalon with my dragon. (Mayoi and Ai LP:4000-732) I change Gorz to defense position and end my turn."
"Geez, we were so far ahead of them and now we´re behind.", I said, "But you lost two Fighting Spirits, so if I can get out monster with more than 568 ATK, I just need to use Widowire´s effect and then attack with WidoWire and that monster into Dark Requiem."
Yuto´s field spell does protect, monsters that are summoned with Phantom Knights, but only from battle and card effect destruction. ATK manipulation and other forms of removal are fine.
"My turn, draw. First, I activate the Mystical Plasma zone you gave me.
(DRXD ATK:3000-3500 DEF:2500-2100 HRWW ATK:1600-2100 DEF:1000-600 GEOD ATK: 2700-3200 DEF:2500-2100
Token ATK: 1800-2300 DEF:1800-400)
I switch WidoWire in attack position and banish BeserKatana for its effect. (Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon ATK:3500-0) I attack Requiem with Widowire since unfortunately I didn´t get a good monster (Yuto and Yusaku LP:2668-568) but in Main Phase two I activate Cynet Universe over Plasma Zone. Then I activate the spell card Storm to destroy Cynet Universe and Yuto´s field spell. Now Cynet Universe´s GY effect activates and sends Requiem to the grave. I set four cards and end my turn."
"It seems the risk of your turn has carried a high reward.", Yusaku commented, "Now Mayoi and Ai are in a tight spot, and if I can get rid of these cards in the backrow, or they are bluffs our victory is assured."
"And what are your general thoughts on my deck so far?", Yuto asked.
"I see that they are focused on Xyz summoning and use Spells and Traps that can become monsters, similar to the Paleozoic archetype. An unusual playstyle, but as far as I can observe your deck is utilizing its mechanic quite well, though I´ve only seen one duel of it.
It is good to see that each of you and your other personalities´ playstyles are very different from each other, as that will allow for great versatility.",Yusaku answered.
"What about my surprising dueling skill?", Ai demanded.
"I probably won´t need an assisting AI for my duels and we can´t seem to make you into a duelist of your own. You will probably stay an unorthodox sparring partner for duels", Yusaku answered
"All the super-amazing combos I did were for naught?", Ai complained.
"A sparring partner is more worth than you think", Yuto said.
"Yeah, no worries!", I assured Ai.
"Enough sentimentality", Yusaku said, "It´s my turn, draw. I use Localized Trunade to send all Face-down spell and trap cards to the hand."
"For your information, I had Shut Line, Cyversestorm, Effect Cowl and Cynet Backdoor set."
"I turn Gorz into attack position and attack WidoWire with him" (Mayoi and Ai LP: 732-900=0)
WINNER: Yuto and Yusaku
"Too bad I couldn´t use your decks potential at all.", I complained.
"But since it was over quickly we still have time left for a short action duel.", Yusaku said.
"In this house? Are you sure?", Ai asked
"We just need to shut the curtains and make sure nothing falls over. I don´t think SOL has wiretapped this house", I said.
"Before that", Yuto interrupted, "Yuya wants to be the one to duel in that."
"From what I can gather, he should have the most experience with Action Dueling and seeing him do it would be good practice, so I´m fine. But this time, each of us will duel with their real decks.", Yusaku said
"Alright. I´m Yuya now.", he said.
"And there´s still more interesting modes for 2+ player duels we can check out. I suggest a duel with me and Yusaku against Yuya, using the ´Field Excluder´-mode", I suggested.
"Why that? And what is this mode about?", Yuya asked.
"Playmaker has almost no Tag Duels and since Ai commented him agreeing to a suggestion of mine with ´strange minds think alike´, I would be the perfect partner for him!", I said.
"I didn´t mean it that way, you know.", Ai said.
"But perhaps your non-serious remark has some truth in it. But I really should practice all forms of tag dueling with you. If I can´t avoid allying with others, I have no choice, but to make the most out of my situation.", Yusaku said.
"I never expected I´d almost tell you to get a room with somebody else, but moving on, can Mayoi explain the Field Excluder mode to Yuya? "
"The field excluder mode is a mode for duels where two opposing sides have a different number of duelists. The side with fewer players gets to pick how fields connect to each other; influencing how column effects and link markers pointing upwards work, but this mode is specifically for duelists where the total number of duelist is an odd number, allowing the side with fewer players to select one player in addition whose field doesn´t connect with anybody else´s. ", I said.
"I think I got it.", Yuya said, "In that case- what kinds of ´up´-markers and column based cards do you have? It should be okay to tell your allies."
"Yes, but I will tell you afterward. You won´t always know what your opponent is playing if you are in this mode.", Yusaku answered, "Speaking of that, does your deck have ways to deal with the reduced field size of speed duels? A pendulum deck will be very affected by it."
"I swear it won´t cause problems, I´ll keep making adjustments! And since I do know some of your monsters have Link Markers pointing up, so i choose for your field to connect with mine. Let´s duel!"
Yuya (4000lp) vs Yusaku (4000lp) and Mayoi (4000lp)
Action Field: on
Crossover
"And I will take the first turn!", Yuya declared, " I set the Pendulum Scale with Scale 3 Perfomapal Seal Eel and Scale 8 Xiangsheng Magician. Swing, Pendulum of my Soul, draw a shining arc across the ether! PENDULUM SUMMON! Come forth, Dragon with beautiful dichromatic eyes! Level 7, Odd-eyes Pendulum Dragon! I normal summon Performapal Spike Eagle and use Xiangsheng´s ability to increase his level to that off Odd-eyes! Now I overlay my monsters!Cold dragon with dichromatic eyes, freeze down the aggressions and revive your slain companions! XYZ SUMMON! The Cold Dragon of revival! Rank 7, Odd-eyes Absolute Dragon! I set one card and end my turn! "
It was at this point, that I picked up an Action part that was lying on the couch.
"I use the Action card, Unsettling! It shuffles one set card into your deck!", I intervened.
"Not so fast!", he said, picking up a card right next to him, "I chain the Action card Doble Blast, which deals 800 damage to both of you!" (Yusaku&Mayoi LP: 4000-3200)
At the same moment, Yusaku picked up an Action card on the TV but did not activate it.
"Can you turn that card towards my direction? I´ll come over to your spot, so Yuya won´t be able to see it.", I said.
He did and it was a card named: Double Turnover, the effect was: "take control of one monster that just changed its battle position."
Since none of us were running low on stamina, both I and Yuya picked up another card. I got Anti-draw, which would reduce the number of cards drawn by a card effect by one. By the way, as far as I can tell there are only three Action cards remaining in this room.
"I will take my turn now, draw.", Yusaku said, "I normal summon Summoner Monk, who changes himself to defense position. (DEF:1600) By discarding my action card, Summoner Monk allows me to bring out Balancer Lord from my deck. (ATK:1700)", then he picked up the 3rd to last action card, "I pay 1000 life points for Balance lord´s effect. (Yusaku LP:3200-2200) I normal summon Digitron and Cyverse Converter and use its ability to convert Summoner Monk into a cyverse type monster. Then I play Cyversestorm to destroy all of your monsters and make my attacking cyverse monsters immune to everything."
"Since Odd-eyes Absolute Dragon was destroyed I can special summon an Odd-eyes monster from my extra deck! I choose to summon Odd-eyes Raging dragon in defense position!"
Yusaku then showed his AC to me, which was Last 1, a card that allowed a player to survive lethal damage with 1 life points.
"Now I use my monsters except for Balancer Lord to Link summon Powercode Talker. I use Terraforming to add Cynet Universe to my hand and activate it. (Powercode Talker ATK:2300-2600) I activate Cynet Universe´s effect to shuffle Summoner Monk back into my deck. I negate Odd-eyes Raging Dragon´s effect with Powercode Talker. I attack your Dragon with Powercode Talker."
"But Raging dragon will go into the extra deck instead of the graveyard.", Yusaku pointed out.
"But since he was improperly summoned you can´t revive him via pendulum summoning. Plus there´s the fact that he has a rank instead of a level.", I added.
"What marvelous teamwork of you two.", Ai said.
"Then I attack you directly with Balance Lord. (Yuya LP:4000-2300) I set one card and end my turn. In this mode, the turns switch between the side with more players and the one with fewer players, so it´s your turn again."
The card Yusaku set was a Shut Line, which he placed inside of the Middle Column, an unusual choice since he has less card he can potentially negate there, but it also becomes unexpected. The non-action-card Yusaku held in his hand was a Battle Fader.
"My turn, draw! With the set scale, I Pendulum Summon Performapal Elephammer! (ATK:2600) But before I enter the battle phase I use Seal Eel to negate Powercode Talker´s effect! I attack Powercode Talker with Elephammer! When Elephammer attacks I can return all Spells and traps you control to the hand! Hammer Bounce! (Powercode Talker ATK:2600-2300 Yusaku LP:2200-1600) I end my turn."
Yuya summoned Elephammer in Powercode´s column, so Yusaku wasn´t able to negate its effect with Shut Line.
"My turn, draw! I start by activating Horrible World! Then I play Foolish Burial to send HorReaper KnighTrap from my deck to the grave! I use KnighTraps effect, to destroy Xiangsheng Magician! Horrible Slash! By Horrible Worlds effect, your magician is banished face-down! I normal summon HorReaper PitchFreak and use his effect to mill another KnighTrap! This time, Seal Eel will be destroyed and banished face-down! Now I activate Horrible Brutality to double my freaks ATK! (ATK:1700-3400) I attack and destroy your monster! (Yuya LP:2300-1500) Elephammer is also banished face-down-. I set a card and at the end of my turn Pitchfreak is banished by Brutality´s effect!"
"Now Yuya has no cards in his hand or field, except for his action card, which doesn´t seem to be all that good, will he turn it around with a Destiny Draw?", Ai wondered.
It was at this moment that I looked at the clock and realized that the big match was going to start soon.
"Sorry guys, but we have to end this now.", I said, "The match GO vs Dark Lady is going to start in a few minutes!"
"Really? Not even one more turn to see if he is going to make a miraculous comeback draw?"
"Nope! I can´t allow myself to miss any of mom´s matches!", I replied.
"Sorry Ai, but I want to see that match as well", Yuya said.
"Well, I initially came here for the purpose of watching that duel with my unexpected allies, so I´m alright with ending this.", Yusaku said.
WINNER: None
I then took out the snacks and drinks I´ve prepared from the kitchen (I´m the host here after all, so I gotta take care of my guests!)
"Since Yuya and here doesn´t know much about Charisma Dueling and stuff, I bet you´re going to give him a lot of trivia on that subject.", Ai said.
"Maybe, but Yusaku doesn´t seem like he watches a lot of those either.",I said.
"Shoichi watches them if they have a HorReaper deck like Kirito used to do, but I not so much", Yusaku admitted.
"But since it´s your first time, I´ll reserve explanations for when necessary, I don´t want to overflood you with trivia and co.", I decided.
I switched my TV on and to the Link VRAINS channel (yes that exists)
"And now to the match all of you have been waiting for!",the MC announced, "The Place 8 in the rankings of Link VRAINS! The Silent Demon Queen of Hell, Dark Lady!"
Yuya, Yusaku, and Ai might tell you otherwise, but I didn´t embarrass myself by squealing like a little kid when I cheered on her. I´ve been living with her for 10 years now, I´m definitely past that phase!
…Anyway, you were wondering about mom´s VR appearance, weren´t you?
As her name says, she was dressed like a lady from the Victorian era, in different shades of black (though you need to be an expert on colors to not view it as monochrome), Her skin was changed from dark to a creepily pale tone(which might make my squealing as a child, which I definitely don´t do anymore, a little bit stranger, but hey, that´s me!) and her eyes remained unchanged.
"And her opponent, the number 1 of Link VRAINS! The one, the only, GO!", the MC continued
"I wonder if he´ll still do his usual act after his duel with me", Yusaku, well wondered.
Yeah that duel, as I found out this day GO played in a style focused purely on victory and not at all on his usual wrestler act, not even as a heel, which ironically is how Mom does her Charisma Duels. You won´t find many Charisma Duelists like that, most of them don´t look that entertaining to the audience, but mom comes across like a cold badass!
"Are you really concerned about him?",Ai wondered.
"He last dueled Playmaker, the Hero of Link VRAINS and it was a very controversial performance, will GO return to his old style, will he apply the ´Pure Victory´-style he used in his duel against Playmaker or something completely new?"
"That guy´s dueling style is really the hottest topic right now, isn´t it?",Ai said.
"But enough talk right now! 3! 2! 1!"
"DUEL!"
GO (4000lp) vs Dark Lady (4000lp)
"I'll start.", Dark Lady (for the duration of the duel I will refer to her by her stage name)declared, "I´ll pass"
"Did she just brick in an official duel?", Ai sweatdropped.
"Most likely not!", I said, "Her hand probably does contain Evenly Matched and a battle handtrap, which will allow her to reduce everything GO brings to the field to one card and fend for his potential assaults!"
"Oh, our challenger couldn´t perform any action on her first turn! But followers of her will know how rarely those turns turned out to be bad hands! Let´s see what GO has in response!", MC commented.
"My turn, draw! I use Reinforcement of the Army to search out Gouki Jobber Bug! Then I normal Summon Gouki Riscorpio since I control no monsters! Then I discard Hugbear to special Summon Headbutt! Scorpio's ATK will now increase by 800! (ATK:2100-2900) Then I special summon Jobber Bug to your side of the field by its effect!"
"He definitely feels different from his duels you´ve shown to me earlier", Yuya said, and yes I did show him some duels of GO earlier this day.
"I attack Jobber Bug with Riscorpio!", GO declared.
"Were your options really that poor?", Dark Lady asked, "I discard HorReaper ShaMask, now I won´t even take halved damage!"
"Jobber Bug will still be destroyed! And I get to add a card with a name different name to my hand! I pick Gouki Suprex! And in Main Phase 2 I set two cards face-down and end my turn! Headbatt´s boost wears off now! (Riscorpio ATK: 2900-2100)"
"Most likely Gouki Kickout and Malevolent Disaster, that way if she sets backrow in Main Phase 1 to circumvent Kickout ending the entire turn, she will still lose it.", I explained.
"That is all? Pathetic for your standards", Dark Lady said, "but since you were so insistent on stealing my style in your duel against Playmaker, then it´s only fair for me to do the same isn´t it? MY TURN! DRAW! I activate Horrible Longing, by banishing ShaMask from my graveyard, I draw two cards! Now I set the Pendulum Scale with my two Scale 7 HorReaper ClaWolfs!"
The two were wolves with absurdly long claws, like HorReaper DestrucTalon, but unlike him, they weren´t typical movie werewolves, they were regular animals, but they looked like they were fur-covered skeletons and their left claws were covered in fresh, their right with dry blood.
"PENDULUM?!", the MC, Link VRAINS crowd, Ai, Yuya and Me gasped, GO and Yusaku, however, remained calm
"Didn´t you say you would imitate my style? I don´t use Pendulums", GO retorted.
"Oh, I won´t merely copy your style, I will adjust it to the HorReaper archetype! I normal summon HorReaper SerVial (ATK:1100) And then I special summon PitchFreak from my hand, who lets me send Horrible Midnight Fusion from my deck to the graveyard. With SerVial´s Effect, however, I banish Horrible Longing and Midnight Fusion from my grave to add ShaMask to my hand. Nightmare Serving! Now I activate my Horrible Deliverance, which will deliver Midnight Fusion back to my hand!"
Horrible Midnight Fusion showed the silhouette of RessurecTalon behind the full moon, with his Wings spread wide and ClaWolf in a pendulum scale on the left and an unknown dragon monster in the scale on the right.
"I see. This card will allow you to use your scales, hand, and deck, as fusion material if you have a completed scale. Too bad there´s no HorReaper with an indefinite amount of materials.", GO said.
"That´s because I don´t need one.", she retorted, " I fuse two KnighTraps from my deck! Dishonorable Servants of the Crown, merge your souls into the remnants of the queen you´ve dethroned! HorReaper WidoWire! And now, Both ClaWolfs will rip away 600 of your life points!"
"600 damage for every fusion summon? A powerful effect for such a deck.", Yusaku commented.
"We´ll stick with our plan of not dragging any more people into this, won´t we?", I insisted.
"That wasn´t the intention I had with my comment", he said.
"I discard my Gouki Octostretch to halve all damage I take this turn! (GO LP:4000-3700-3400)"
"But, both KnighTraps will destroy your backrow!"
Indeed it was Gouki Kickout and Malevolent Disaster.
"Hmph, as expected.", Dark Lady muttered, "WidoWire will banish one KnighTrap to reduce Riscorpio´ ATK to zero. (Riscorpio ATK:2100-0) Battle Phase! I attack Riscorpio with WidoWire!
(GO LP:3400-2600) WidoWire can´t destroy by battle, so I attack Scorpio again with PitchFreak!
(GO LP:2600-1850) I destroy Headbatt with SerVial. "
"With these two monsters leaving the field I search-"
"Surprise me, I don´t need to look", Dark Lady said in a taunting manner, "I activate the Quick-play Spell Card Sudden Horrible Fusion!",
"I-i-i-i-if she summons a monster with enough ATK and/or the ability to attack to attack twice-!",the MC gasped as he was no longer speechless.
"She won´t defeat him with a perfect 4000. Not yet", I said.
"Didn´t I say i would mix up his style a little?", Dark Lady said, "I´ll let him live for one turn longer and then crush his hopes!, that´s more fitting for HorReapers don´t you think? Now for my fusion summon with WidoWire and PitchFreak! Forsaken Queen and Deformed Rebel use the last remains of your soul to prepare this stage for the cruelest, most terrifying jester of the netherworld! FUSION SUMMON! Entertain these wretched souls! Level 6! MaleViolent HorReaper DystoPierrot! (ATK:3996) (GO LP:1850-1550-1250)"
Dystopierrot was a gigantic topless Skeleton Clown with a blood and dirt covered ribcage, though his head was still covered in decayed flesh, with red lightning coming from his eyes, his hat having eyeballs instead of bell at the ends, his shoes being the blades of scythes, the stripes on his trousers made out of intestines, and he also had a staff that was adorned with a smaller copy of his face.
"... That chant was legitimately terrifying.", Yusaku said.
"A-a-a-and his looks don´t concern you? The audience will have Coulrophobia after the match is over!", Ai said.
"Actually Jester, Clown, and Pierrot are not quite synonyms, but true, this creature is the most terrifying monster I´ve seen.", Yuya said.
"Fun fact: All MaleViolent HorReapers, as well as the talon Link Monsters, have an ATK/DEF of 666 times their Level/Link Rating", I said to somewhat switch the topic of the conversation.
"Then I set a card and end my turn.", Dark Lady said.
"And that monsters effect...", GO muttered, "During my turn you can turn your banished HorReaper and Horrible Cards face-down, to choose that many face-up cards I control, negate their effects and shuffle them back into my deck. And if he hasn´t used his ability yet, he cannot be destroyed or tributed."
"Kaiju protection or field wipe? That´s a really interesting card. Too bad it needs a HorReaper fusion and main deck monster", I commented.
"But-", GO said, "You´ve given me the perfect situation for my trademark comebacks!"
"So you´re returning to your old style for real?", Dark Lady wondered.
"Yes and no. There are many ways to duel and make comebacks, but for now... I bet everyone wants to see Ultimate Ogre again, don´t you all?", he asked the audience.
The audience began to cheer on him.
"Despite being faced with Dark Lady´s new terrifying and strong Fusion Monster, GO is not giving up and even plans to counter with his Link 8 Monster, he summoned against Playmaker! But Dark Lady currently has two banished cards she can use to foil GO´s plans!"
"MY TURN, DRAW!", Go shouted.
"Trap card open, Horrible Spirit. this turn, my HorReapers are indestructible, immune to everything and I take no damage from battles with them.", Dark Lady said, returning to her trademark style of only communicating with your opponent when necessary and not even letting her opponents think they can win.
So she didn´t have Evenly Matched. GO´s comeback is nigh-impossible now, but only nigh, he has come back from other difficult situations before.
"This protection will only make your defeat more crushing! I start my powerful combo by using Gouki Rematch on Octostretch and Hugbear! (Octostrech and Hugbear DEF:0)"
"MaleViolent HorReaper DystoPierrot´s effect. I turn KnighTrap and Longing face-down to nullify your monsters and return them to your extra deck.", Dark Lady countered.
DystoPierrot conjured a copy of those cards artwork with his staff, who laughed like a maniac during the process, And let those artworks dissolve into smoke that wrapped itself around GO´s monsters
"Pah! My comebacks aren´t foiled that easily! I activate the Quick-play spell Gouki Blading! I send one card from the top of my deck to the graveyard for each Gouki monster I control and I send any numbers of Gouki Monsters I control to the graveyard! I mill two cards to send both Octostretch and Hugbear to the graveyard!
Then I get to add another two Gouki cards to my hand. I normal summon Gouki Suprex and Special summon Gouki Protodrago! (ATK:2700) If he´s summoned thanks to a Gouki card, he can once per turn revive A Gouki Monster that used its effect! I choose Hugbear! Then I set the Link Markers with Gouki Hugbear, Suprex and Protodrago and Link summon Gouki the Lightning Ogre!
Once again I can search two Gouki cards! With Lightning Ogre´s ability, i summon a second Suprex who summons the first Twistcobra from my hand! Then I activate Gouki Matchup to summon Elder Entity Norden to Lightning Ogre´s other Link Point and he will revive Headbatt! Then I will use my Three Gouki´s to Link summon Gouki the Great Ogre! (ATK: 2600 Link Markers: Bottom-Left, Down, Bottom-Right)
I search for two more cards and then I use the one non-Gouki card in my hand, Soul Charge! I revive Headbatt and Jobber Bug! (GO LP:1250-250)"
"A-amazing!", the MC cheered, "Despite Dark Lady´s attempt to foil GO´s strategy ASAP, he managed to perform a long series of plays and gather the Link materials for his ultimate Monster! Furthermore, he now has Gouki Suprex and Face Defender in his hand which will allow him to bring out Heel Hitter in the next turn, which can be brought up to a whopping 9892 ATK if he uses his effect on DystoPierrot!"
"And once he sends Jobber Bug to the graveyard, he can search Gouki Hulk-up, which allows him to recover LP equal to the difference and increase one Gouki monsters ATK by that regain until the end of the turn.", I said.
"What a strong and symbolic effect for GO´s usual style. And this kind of back and forth... Dark Lady and GO really are amazing entertainment duelists. Dark Lady incorporated the recent event into her dueling, to taunt her opponent and her summon chants were fitting for a horrifying deck like this, even though this was her first time doing them.
And GO, he dueled without his usual persona before he made his comeback to make it even more poignant.", Yuya commented.
"What if her manager hired a writer for this pre-card poetry or Dark Lady just asked Mayoi?", Ai said.
"While I do summon chants for my HorReapers as well, I never really talk about them with mom, so this was all her work. And I´m a little bummed we didn´t see her usual style.", I said.
"It´s time!", GO shouted, " Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning conditions are three or more Gouki monsters! I set the Link markers with Gouki Lightning Ogre, The Great Ogre, Jobber Bug and Headbatt! Strongest of the strong Oni, Raise your primal fist upon your enemies and crush them under your rage! LINK SUMMON! Come forth, Link 8, Gouki the Ultimate Ogre! Jobber Bug will allow me to do one final search! Can you all guess what it is?"
"GOU-KI! HULK-UP!", the crowd cheered.
"Did he let the audience participate like this before?", Yusaku wondered, "If not he has found at least one part of a new style. Ironic considering he just added a card to his hand that´s a perfect example of his old style."
"I activate Gouki Hulk up! I regain life points equal to our difference! (GO LP: 250-4000) and give Ultimate Ogre that many ATK! (ATK:4000-7750) I attack your DystoPierrot with it!"
"But I don´t take damage and my monster won't be destroyed.", Dark Lady pointed out as DystoPierrot was about to explode into gory bits by Ultimate Ogre´s fist only for his staff to let out another demonic laugh as if to say: "just kidding" and cast a spell that quickly reformed DystoPierrot
" Just to be fair, unlike in my duel against Playmaker you are now able to verify his effects.", GO then pointed out.
"It´s: If this card would be affected by a card effect you can choose whether it is. Once per turn, you can banish all monster this card points to face-down. If a Gouki monster you control attacks you can swap the values used for damage calculation. If a Gouki monsters attack is negated or doesn´t inflict damage. Inflict 500 damage on your opponent the next time a Gouki monster attacks for each time you activated this effect during this duel.
Your opponent cannot summon monsters to zones linked by Gouki monsters you control.", I read.
"So the only disadvantage is that his first effect will banish your own monsters? And you´ll use that effect only right after summoning him anyway!", Ai complained, "That´s totally OP!"
"Keep in mind that it is a Link 8 and that you will need at least one monster from your extra deck to summon it.", Yuya said, "And unlike DystoPierrot he is not protected against Kaiju monsters."
"But he can be revived with card effects if properly summoned before and he can be brought out improperly in the first place, though there aren´t many ways to effectively do so ", Yusaku said.
"I see.", Dark Lady commented Ultimate Ogre´s effect, "Each evasion of your strikes will only punish me further the next time you perform one"
"Yes. And with that, I´ll end my turn and Hulk up´s boost will wear off (Ultimate Ogre ATK:7750-4000)", GO said.
"My turn, draw.", Dark Lady said, "DsytoPierrot, take out Elder Entity Norden."
DystoPierrot looked at Norden in disgust and blasted him into particles with the lightning from his eyes.
"You know, GO´s usage of Norden and the general occurrence of other cards like Kaijus played by purely competitive players was very controversial within the Charisma Dueling community-"
"So you mean all of us and the Knights of Hanoi could play even stronger decks?!", Ai interrupted, "And we are not doing it, because-?"
"I have some competitive cards like Raigeki and a copy of Radian the interdimensional Kaiju, but then again I do play Waboku instead of Threatening Roar for example. So in my case, it´s because I don´t own many cards, to begin with. And I can´t use all of Café Nagi´s money to get a Tier 0 deck.", Yusaku answered.
"Well in our case-", Yuya began his justification, "it´s pretty complicated. My deck is entertainment-focused, but not of the ´invincible hero escapist´-kind, that´s why I specifically don´t play an overpowered deck as for Yugo.", then his mannerisms somewhat changed to Yugo´s, "I used to live in a very poor are in my home universe, I just don´t have any better cards and no access to them.", then he changed to Yuri´s trademark smirk, " I just like predaplants, that´s all.", finally, he gained Yuto´s serious face, "It may or may not sound weird, but Phantom Knights were part of the competitive Meta game.", and then they switched to Yuya again.
"And we can´t throw Mom´s money either-", I said.
"But aren´t we essentially fighting to protect he job as well?", Ai interrupted for the second time.
"But competitive cards can be pretty expensive, if I bought and/or traded to get more of them than I already have, we might be broke soon. And you can pilot my deck like a master without looking at it, but the fact that there are people out there with decks stronger than us, but not involved in our fight has completely escaped your imagination?", I replied and asked back.
"touché.", Ai said.
"I Main Phase 2", Dark Lady said, " I use DystoPierrot as link material for RessurecTalon"
"Huh?", the MC wondered, "but RessurecTalon has to special summon all of its material´s materials. And Gouki Ultimate Ogre locks out three of Dark Lady´s zones while one of her remaining zones is clogged by SerVial."
"I then use RessurecTalon and SerVial as Link Materials for DestrucTalon.", she said.
"That´s it!", the MC realized, "She must be setting up her graveyard for Katastrofusion!"
"I activate Katastrofusion. I banish RessurecTalon and DestrucTalon, to fusion summon MaleViolent HorReaper RuthlesSage. (DEF:1998) My Pendulums now activate their effects (GO LP: 4000-2800) RuthlesSage can also destroy any card that inflicts damage-", she said as this tortured and zombified old wizard destroyed both ClaWolfs with a blast from his magical staff, "and if those happen to be HorReaper cards I can draw one card for each. Now I activate my Continous Spell Horrible Insight. "
" Insight allows her to fusion summon a HorReaper monster into a main monster zone in exchange for banishing a HorReaper from her extra deck face-down! Keep in mind, this DOES include her pendulum cards! And like all MaleViolent HorReapers, RuthlesSage has a strong protective effect, if one hasn´t used the effect yet; his being that he cannot leave the field AT ALL unless he is destroyed by battle with a monster from the main deck."
"Katastrofusion also allows me to fuse by banishing cards from my graveyard. I banish it from my graveyard alongside SerVial and DystoPierrot from my grave and BeserKatana from my Extra deck to utilize Insight's effect and summon another DystoPierrot, this time in defense position."
"Sheesh, the fact that an archetype with a card like Horrible Insight isn´t Tier 0 makes me wonder what is.", Ai moaned.
"I personally would rather Link Summon than outright get rid of a monster in my extra deck.", I said.
"Now I end my turn. And keep in mind that with RuthlesSage out, you cannot summon non-link extra deck monsters at a monsters link points, except for HorReapers.", Dark Lady said.
"So you prevented my Heel Turn. But I can get your monsters into attack position in a different way! My turn, draw! I normal summon my last Gouki Suprex and use his effect to bring out Gouki face-defender!", GO started.
"I turn DystoPierrot´s former fusion materials face-down and choose both of these.", Dark Lady countered
"Not so fast! I use Gouki No-Sell, to make them unaffected by it!Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning conditions are two Gouki monsters! I set the Link markers with Gouki Suprex and Face Defender! Come forth, Link 2 Gouki Jet Ogre! (ATK:2000) I search for Gouki Battleforce and Rematch! I use Gouki Rematch to Revive Protodrago and Twist Cobra! Jet Ogre will sacrifice himself for his own effect and turn all monsters on the field into attack position! Also all of my monsters will gain 500 ATK! (Twist Cobra ATK:1600-2100 Ultimate Ogre ATK:4000-4500 Protodrago ATK: 2700-3200) First, I´ll attack and destroy RuthlesSage with ProtoDrago, also the damage from Ultimate Ogre´s effect kicks in! (Dark Lady LP:4000-3500-2296) Now I attack and destroy DystoPierrot with Ultimate Ogre! (Dark Lady LP:2296- 1792) And now, Gouki Twist Cobra, attack Dark Lady Directly!"
"I use the effect of Sudden Horrible Fusion, by banishing it, I can fusion summon a HorReaper fusion monster during my opponents battle phase. I fuse HorReaper HanDraoon and ShaMask in my hand to bring out HorReaper WidoWire in my empty extra monster zone, also since HanDragon is in my graveyard HorReapers can´t be destroyed or targeted by card effects during the turn they are summoned."
"I attack regardless, meaning that you´ll take 1000 damage during my next attack. During my Main Phase 2, two I link summon another Jet Ogre with them, letting me search my second Gouki Kickout and Gouki Botching I self-destruct him again to bring WidoWire into attack position.
I set these two cards and use Gouki Battleforce to inflict 500 damage (Dark Lady LP:1792-1292) and end my turn. Jet Ogre´s boost wears off! (Ulimate Ogre ATK:4500-4000)"
"My turn, draw."
"Now I flip open my Gouki Botching to get rid of that card and inflict 300 damage (Dark Lady LP: 1292-992)", GO instantly countered.
"You made a mistake, your deck had the options to win, but it had too many other options to find the right ones in time that doesn´t bore the audience. It´s time to finish now.", Dark Lady said.
"Is that what she typically says before defeating her opponent?", Yuya asked.
"Yeah, saying something like: ´you could have won cuz xyz´ or ´this outcome was ensured from the very beginning cuz xyz´ is her way to wrap things up!", I answered.
"I use the discarded HorReaper LeGhoul effect to destroy a HorReaper monster that wasn´t summoned this turn and summon two HorReapers from my deck with their ATK and DEF reduced to zero! I choose my second PitchFreak and HorReaper VooDoll. (PitchFreak DEF:600-0 VooDoll DEF:0) I use PitchFreaks effect to send HorReaper FanGoose from my deck to my graveyard."
"A goose with teeth. NOW I´ve seen the most terrifying thing in the world"
"The fact that it has a psychotic look on the-", Yuya said in disbelief
"Hey, silence for grand finale!", I shot them down.
"VooDolls effect lets me fuse it with another HorReaper on the field. I fusion summon the Level 6 HorReaper GriMarauder! (ATK:2400) With FanGoose in the graveyard he can attack directly during the turn he´s fusion summoned and GriMarauder can attack twice during that turn! (GO LP:2800-2400-2400=0) "
WINNER: Dark Lady
"What a truly amazing duel! We witnessed the first appearance of the pendulum HorReapers and a new terrifying ace of Dark Lady and the reappearance of GO´s link 8 monster! It seemed as of lately that GO´s style was getting stale, but he proved that he still has it!", The MC said.
"There´s still one thing I want to know, what´s the difference between the strongest deck we could theoretically play and the overpowered cards Charisma Duelists have?"
"Probably that the Charisma Duelists cards are more interesting to watch.", Yusaku guessed, "But the duel was more interesting than I imagined and I hope this... casual meeting will be beneficial for our cooperation in the future."
"So you´re going already?", I said, "But the duel was so exciting, we didn´t even touch the snacks I made!"
"Yes, I am not hungry at the moment and still have other things to do.", he replied, "But for tomorrow, I plan on examining Yuya´s Duel Disk so we can potentially copy the Action duel system onto the other duel disks."
"I see, but onto whose first? We still need to keep some of them in case Hanoi attacks Link VRAINS", Yuya said.
"We´ll copy it from Yuya´s disk to Shoichi´s. One of you will get my duel disk with Ai on it since without the chance of getting it, they will probably refuse that duel.", Yusaku said.
"To whom of the two/five?", Ai asked.
"To me would be strategically better", I said, "after all, Yuya and co receive a variation of Storm Acces whenever they summon a dragon. This way both of us have one skill option more."
"Makes sense, I guess", Yuya said.
"If that is all, see you tomorrow", Yusaku said as he left.
L4
AN: We finally passed the 10 chapter mark in, what about 9 months or so? I just want to give a quick thank you to everyone who has read my story reviewed, my two short term beta readers (yes Corrine had to leave as well) who even in their short time of being in that position taught me a lot!
And of course OPFan37 who allowed me to use and expand the amazing HorReaper archetype!
But now to the Chapter itself, what did you think of the ´warm-up act´-duels? Did i utilize them well? For those saying i wrote Subterrors wrong, remember it wasn´t a very well built deck in-universe to begin with and Yusaku knows nothing about the deck either.
I gave Ai a chance to shine and BOY did i make him shine.
But it won´t matter since he won´t duel anyone and Ai´s mad dueling skills are nothing more than a joke. Or are they? (dun-dun-dun!)
What do you think about all of these different modes for 2+ player duels? Since they are gonna happen quite a lot in this story, i´m gonna add them to my Arc-VRAINS OC stuff wikia on the profile. Do you have any favorites?
If you want to know more about how the in-universe public is affected by action duels, i´ll tell you that in the next chapter, which will have more focus on Chihiro!
And yes, i actually gave a justification for the fact that our heroes aren´t paying meta even though everyone has suspended their disbelief on that part anyway and i´m not gonna regret it! In fact i will have a duelist use a meta deck at some point!
But i apologize if it distracted from the duel!
In case you were surprised about the appeareance of pendulum monsters, i´ll tell you a little bit more about them in the OC-sheet.
Before the AN becomes even longer, i want to talk about one last part, before getting to review responses, the QUOTC and the new card sheet.
You may realize, while watching VRAINS, that the canonical name of Kusanagi´s brother is Jin and not Kirito. That´s because i gave him a name before it was revealed to us and i will stick to that, same goes for Naoki´s deck and the fact that i´m using Soul Charges DM effect. With the alterations to the original story Kirito will end up being a very different person than Jin anyway.
Now to my QUOTC:
What was the best part about this fanfiction so far? Characters? Duels? Plot? The quirky OC cards i make?
While you are thinking about the ups of this story, i´ll answer the 2 reviews of chapter 9
D3lp0xl0v3r: Your enthusiasm is always appreciated, even if you´re just telling me that
Unknowedz:
1. We had a short convesation about that in this chapter
2. It woud definetly be cool to see, but i can´t promise anything, except that GO will play a role in the plot later. If you wanna see a GO vs Yuya duel and aren´t a duel writer yourself i can recommend ScalchopWarrior´s fanfic
Yu-Gi-Oh Duels: Who Would Win? maybe you´ll see it there someday.
3. Every Yu-boy will have a different alternate version of Storm Acces, yes.
4. That is what i´m going for as well
5. That will be a part of it as well, but i´ll mix up the patterns when Yuya and Yuto get to use their own versions of Storm Acces.
6. Except the OF doesn´t have an acces to Action Duels, but as said in the story, as of yet Yuya´s deduction is based on hunches and even though Yusaku did make some research they couldn´t get any leverage against him.
7. Yeah, if only canon did that, except there is this one Crystal card, which Yuya got against Captain Solo, but i´m prolly gonna ignore that filler duel
New HorReapers:
HorReaper GravediGloves
Level 4, Dark, Fiend, Effect
ATK:1400
DEF: 1300
Effect: Once per turn, you can discard one card to Special Summon two "HorReaper token" (Level 1, Fiend, Dark, ATK/DEF:0), they cannot be tributed for a Tribute Summon.
HorReaper ManiAxe
Level 6, Dark, Fiend, Fusion, Effect
ATK: 2100
DEF: 800
Material: 2 "HorReaper" monsters
Effect: Once per turn, you can banish one "HorReaper" monster from your GY, to increase the ATK of every "HorReaper" you currently control by 200 until the end of this turn, also they are unnaffected by your opponents card effects until the End Phase.
Horrible Betrayal
Effect: When a "HorReaper" Fusion Monster(s), you control is destroyed, send one "HorReaper" monster from your Extra Deck to the GY to add the destroyed monster back to your Extra Deck, then special summon one level 5 or lower monster from your Extra Deck.
HorReaper KnighTrap
Level 4, Fiend, Dark, Effect
ATK: 1400
DEF: 1300
Effect: If this card is sent to the GY without being destroyed, destroy one spell and trap card on your opponent's field.
HorReaper SerVial
Level 2, Fiend, Dark, Effect
ATK:1100 DEF:200
Effect: Once per turn,you can banish two "HorReaper" or "Horrible cards" from you GY to add one banished "HorReaper" or "Horrible" card other than those two to your hand.
Horrible Spirit
Normal Trap
Effect: All "HorReaper" monsters you control, are unaffected by your opponent's card effects, cannot be destroyed by batte, and you take no battle damage from battles involving them until the end of this turn.
HorReaper Voodoll
Level 1, Fiend, Dark, Effect
ATK:0
DEF:300
Effect: You can use this card and another HorReaper monster on your field to Fusion Summon one "HorReaper" monster. You can only use this effect once per turn. If this card is banished by or for the effect of a HorReaper monster, you can add one "Polymerization" or "Fusion" card, except "Diffusion Wave Motion", from your deck to your Hand.
OPFan37's pendulum HorReapers: (In a nutshell,what Hotaru would have played if he was in the manga)
HorReaper ClaWolf
Level 3, Fiend, Dark, Pendulum, Effect
ATK: 1600
DEF: 200
Pendulum Scale: 7/7
Pendulum Effect: When you Special Summon a "HorReaper" Fusion Monster, inflict 600 damage to your opponent.
Monster Effect: While this card is in the GY, all "HorReaper" Fusion Monsters you control gain 600 ATK during the turn they are Special Summoned.
Horrible Midnight Fusion
Normal Spell
Effect: If you control 2 "HorReaper" monsters in your Pendulum Zones, Fusion Summon 1 "HorReaper" monster using "HorReaper" monsters from your hand, Pendulum Zones, or Deck.
HorReaper HanDragon
Level 6, Fiend, Dark, Pendulum, Effect
ATK: 2600 DEF: 0
Pendulum Scale: 1/1
Pendulum Effect: When a "HorReaper" Fusion Monster is Special Summoned, destroy 1 card your opponent controls.
Monster Effect: While this card is in the GY, all "HorReaper" Fusion monsters you control cannot be targeted or destroyed by card effects the turn they are Special Summoned.
HorReaper GriMarauder
Level 6, Fiend, Dark, Fusion, Pendulum, Effect
ATK: 2400
DEF: 2000
Material: 2 HorReaper monsters
Pendulum Scale: 4/4
Pendulum Effect: Once per turn, you can send 1 "HorReaper" monster from your Deck to the GY and if you do, "HorReaper" monsters you control are unaffected by your opponents Trap cards for the rest of the turn.
Monster Effect: During the turn this card is Special Summoned, it can attack twice. This card is unaffected by the effects of your opponents Trap cards. When this card is destroyed by battle or card effect, you can place it in your Pendulum Zone.
expansions:
Horrible Talent
Continous Spell
Effect: You can target one "HorReaper" monster you control, send 2 monsters with the same name, from your hand or Deck to the graveyard. You can only use this effect once per turn.
HorReaper AmnesiManiac
Level 2, Dark, Fiend, Effect
ATK/DEF:?
Effect: This card gains 100 ATK for every banished "HorReaper" card and 100 DEF for every "Horrible" card in the GY. If this card is sent to the GY without being destroyed, negate the effects of 1 face-up card.
Horrible Longing
Normal Spell
Effect: Banish one "HorReaper" monster from your GY or field, to draw two cards.
MaleViolent HorReaper DystoPierrot
Level 6, Dark, Fiend, Fusion, Effect
ATK/DEF: 3996
Materials: One "HorReaper" Fusion Monster+ one "HorReaper" non-Fusion monster
Effect: Once per turn, during your opponents turn, you can turn any number of banished HorReaper or Horribe cards face-down to target that many cards on the field; negate their effects and shuffle them into their owners deck.
This can only destroyed by battle or card effect or be tributed, if you did not use this effect this turn yet.
MaleViolent HorReaper RuthlesSage
Level 3, Dark, Fiend, Fusion, Effect
ATK/DEF: 1998
Material: 2 "HorReaper" Link Monsters
Effect: If a card inflicts damage, you can destroy that card and draw one card if it was a "HorReaper" or "Horrible" card.
This card can only leave the field, by being destroyed by battle with a monster that can be in the Main Deck and non-link monsters cannot be summoned into zones a Link Monster points to unless they are HorReaper monsters, if you did not use this effect this turn yet.
Horrible Insight
Continous Spell
Effect: You can banish one "HorReaper" monster from your Extra Deck face-down, to Fusion Summon a "HorReaper" Fusion Monster into a Main Monster Zone no Link Monster Points to. You can only use this effect once per turn.
HorReaper LeGhoul
Level 2, Fiend, Dark, Pendulum, Effect.
ATK/DEF:200
Pendulum Scale: 2/5
Pendulum effect: Once per turn, If a "HorReaper" monster is Special Summoned, you can turn one card that is banished face-down, face-up.
Monster effect: At the start of your Main Phase 1 if this card is in the GY, you can destroy one "HorReaper" Fusion Monster that wasn't summoned this turn and Special Summon two "HorReaper" monsters from your deck, but with their ATK and DEF reduced to 0.
HorReaper FanGoose
Level 11, Dark, Fiend, Pendulum, Effect
ATK: 2750
DEF: 0
Pendulum Scale: 7/3
Pendulum Effect: If a "HorReaper" Fusion Monster is Special Summoned, you can double that monster's ATK or DEF. You can only use this effect once per turn.
Monster Effect: While this card is in the GY, one "HorReaper" Fusion Monster, that was Special Summoned this turn, can attack directly.
Very own new cards:
Castle of the Phantom Knights
Field Spell
Effect: Once per turn, you can choose one "Phantom Knight" spell/trap card in your GY that can summon itself as a monster, summon it as the monster listed in the card's effect (it is not treated as a spell/trap card) then you can Special Summon one "Phantom Knights" monster, but its ATK/DEF and Level will become the same as the first card.
Xyz Monsters summoned using Phantom Knight monsters cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects.
Phantom Knights Tithe
Normal Spell
Effect: Send one "Phantom Knights" card from your hand to the GY, to draw two cards.
Unsettling
Action Spell
Effect: Shuffle one face-down card into the deck.
Double Blast
Action Spell
Effect: Inflict 800 points of damage to two different players.
Double Turnover
Action Spell
Effect: If a monster changes its battle position, take control of it.
Anti-draw
Action Spell
Effect: If a player would draw a card(s), they draw one card less.
Last 1
Action Spell
Effect: If a players life points woud become zero, they become 1 instead
Gouki Blading
Quick-play spell
Effect: Send one card from the top of your deck to the GY, to send any number of "Gouki" monsters your control to the GY.
Gouki Protodrago
Level 7, Earth, Warrior, Effect
ATK:2700 DEF: 0
Effect: If this card has been special summoned by the effect of a "Gouki" card, then you can Special Summon one "Gouki" monster that has activate its effect to search another card from your deck during this turn from the GY. If this card is sent from your field to the GY, you can add one "Gouki" card, except Gouki Protodrago from your deck to your hand. You can only use each effect of this card once per turn
Gouki Hulk-up
Normal Spell
Effect: If your Life Points are lower than your opponent's and you control a "Gouki" monster, you gain Life Points equal to the difference, then increase the ATK of every Gouki monster you control by that amount.
Gouki No-Sell
Quick-Play spell
Effect: If a "Gouki" monster(s), would be affected by an opponent's activated card effect, they are unaffected by that effect. You can only activate one "Gouki No-Sell" per turn.
Changed Effects:
Gouki Octostretch
Can be discarded anytime you would take damage to halve all damage you'd take that turn. (Why I did that? Let´s be honest, an archetypal damage halver shouldn't be as bad as the canon Octostretch)