I hope you all are ready to say goodbye to 5D's this coming Wednesday.
Akiza cringed in pain from the Centaur attack. She should've expected that Sherry would come out swinging heavy and early. But she was not about to give up.
"To finish my first turn, I'll set one card on the field," Sherry concluded as the hologram of a facedown card appeared on the ground.
"Looks like I'm up then," Akiza strained as she drew to hold five cards, still feeling the impact of Sherry's last attack. "Now I choose to play Twilight Rose Knight!" A small figure with dark purple armor shot out of the ground and onto the field, sword drawn.
"Now I activate my knight's special ability," she continued. "When it's called into play, I can summon a level 4 or below plant monster as well, like Hedge Guard." Next to her knight, a series of vines sprouted up and formed something like a barrier.
"I thought we were in the middle of a duel, not landscaping," Sherry attempted as a zinger.
"SHUT UP!" Akiza shouted, clearly not amused. "Now I tune Hedge Guard and my leftover Evil Thorn with my Rose Knight to Synchro Summon Black Rose Dragon!" The plants levitated up in a line as the knight became three green rotating rings and surrounded the monsters, revealing four stars. In a storm of petals emerged Akiza's signature dragon, ready to fight.
"Let's see you zing your way out of this," the psychic duelist growled as she pulled a plant monster card out of her graveyard. "With my dragon's special ability, I can remove a plant monster from play to reduce your monster's attack strength to zero." Tentacle-like vines protruded from the Black Rose Dragon and wrapped Centaurmina, squeezing its attack points to a big old goose egg.
"Go my pet and feast on that Centaurmina!" Akiza commanded while her dragon launched a purple and petal-laden energy blast from its maw at Sherry's monster.
"Before you jump off the handle, I'll play my Floral Shield trap," Sherry calmly stated as her facedown card flipped up and formed a shield around her and Centaurmina. "Now your attack is blocked and I can draw a card from my deck." Akiza stood there, clenching her fist in anger after falling for such an obvious ploy.
"I'll stop here for now," she heaved heavily.
"Then I guess I'll take my turn now," Sherry commented as she drew to hold four cards. "Now comes my Fleur Synchron." A budding seed with arms, legs, and a mischievous smile popped into play.
"I think I know where this is going," Akiza groaned.
"You are correct, my dear," the French woman agreed. "Centaurmina tunes with Fleur Synchron!" The female Centaur galloped into the sky with the seed turning into a pair of rotating rings and enclosing the beast, revealing six stars.
"Say hello to Chevalier de Fleur!" she sang as her armored warrior stood to oppose Akiza's dragon. "Before I attack you, I'll use Fleur Synchron's effect to add some more firepower, like Apprentice Knight." Next to Sherry's Synchro monster emerged another knight, half its size, and without a helmet.
"All right, Chevalier, attack Black Rose Dragon!" Sherry commanded her monster as it hurdled towards the dragon and slashed at its neck, destroying it and reducing Akiza's score to 1,600. The red-haired woman withstood the impact as her best creature was taken out in one fell swoop.
"Now my Apprentice Knight attacks you directly!" she added as her smaller warrior slashed its weapon at Akiza, further reducing her score to a mere 600. "And with that, I end my turn." Akiza slowly breathed in and out as she tried to regain her composure.
As the duel progressed, Crow was riding down Akiza's street when he saw an explosion from behind a house.
"Looks like there's a duel going on," the Blackwing duelist said as he parked his runner in front of what he did not know was Akiza's house and silently surveyed whoever was fighting. "All right, it's Akiza versus…..Sherry? I gotta tell Yusei." He made his way to the front yard to make sure the women didn't see him and got the lead Signer on the horn.
At the Poppo Time building, Yusei was continuing to modify his runner when he heard the phone ring. He wiped the smudge off his hands and went to answer the phone.
"Team 5D's headquarters, Yusei speaking," he greeted whoever was calling.
"It's Crow," the Blackwing duelist specified. "There's something you have to see. It's…I don't know how to describe it."
"Okay then," he sighed. "Where exactly is this 'thing' taking place?"
"Do you know where Akiza's house is? 'Cause that's where I am," Crow replied.
"Don't go anywhere," Yusei said with urgency. "I'm on my way." He hung the phone back up, got his runner going, and sped out onto the street.
Crow paced back and forth in Akiza's front yard while Yusei was navigating his way to the duel. Eventually, Crow got bored and went back to watch the match in secrecy.
"It's my turn," Akiza wheezed as she drew to hold four cards in her hand. "Now I summon Gigantic Cephalotus in attack position." A mutated and even bigger Venus flytrap sprouted out of the ground, ready to fight.
"It's feeding time, my pet!" the psychic duelist said as she pointed at Sherry's weaker monster. The mutant flytrap hobbled hurriedly at the smaller knight and hit it with its large head. Sherry stood her ground without even flinching as her score decreased to 2,850.
"And with that, I end my turn," Akiza concluded without playing another facedown card.
"She has no way to defend herself 'cause of that Chevalier's special effect," Crow thought to himself as he watched in silence.
"So you decided to go down swinging?" the French woman questioned her opponent as she drew to hold three cards. "At least your will to fight continues to burn, but that flame has to go. Chevalier, attack!" Sherry's warrior raised its sword and launched at Akiza's flytrap.
"Don't celebrate just yet, since I still have my Wall of Thorns trap," Akiza countered while her trap flipped up. "Now your Chevalier is—"
"I hate to interrupt, but my monster can negate one spell or trap each turn and destroy it," Sherry said as the armored knight raised its sword to finish off Akiza's trap and monster.
"I was hoping you'd do that," Akiza smirked as she picked a card from her hand and held it up. "Now I activate the effect of Herbicide Virus." Sherry's monster suddenly stopped and became covered in a sickly green hue.
"What did you do?" the French duelist pondered aloud.
"I can only activate this effect if my field has only one plant monster in play," Akiza explained. "If my opponent activates a monster effect that targets a spell or trap card on my field, Herbicide Virus can negate that effect until this turn is over." The sword of Chevalier stopped glowing and Akiza's trap was free to activate, automatically dispatching of Sherry's best monster.
"That's not the best part," she continued. "If the monster targeted by Herbicide Virus is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, you get hit with half of that monster's attack strength as damage." Sherry felt a shock coarse through her body as her score reduced to 1,500.
"Top that," Akiza gloated with a smirk.
"I guess I'll settle for a facedown card," Sherry concluded.
Now the duel has turned completely around. Just when it looks like Sherry is going to win, Akiza manages to take her best monster out of the game and reduce her score by over half. Stay tuned for what I'll try to make is the conclusion of the duel. Review if you so choose.