Wild cards
Chapter 09
…
"1000-point match, I'll start."
"Fine by me" said Harry.
"Let's duel!"
Harry looked down at his hand and grimaced. He could barely make out the silhouette of his cards.
He was having a similar problem with his opponent. If not for the light from his board Harry wouldn't even know he was there.
"I activate the field spell Graveyard at Midnight."
Harry felt a chill, and a barely discernable fog pushed against his legs. The place was suddenly lit by the glow of a pale crescent moon and Harry found himself in a tiny graveyard. A twisted iron fence circled round them and high dead grass nearly hid the dozens of low crumbling grave markers.
Harry got his first look at the boy he was dueling now that the stage had been set. He was thin and gangly, probably a couple years older than Harry and dressed like something out of Oliver Twist.
"I'll lay one card face down" he said, "and summon Cave bat in attack mode."
The Cave bat was as big as a German shepherd with a mouth full of tiny needle teeth. From its place on the ground it could have been mistaken for an ugly dog but for the leathery membranes on its arms.
A 700 D 200
"My turn" Harry said.
Harry drew and again looked at his hand. It was filled with familiar faces. Gopher Soldier and Plague Riddled Zombie had both come up as well as Poison dart frog and Soaring Roc. He had a good starting hand, most of which he'd save for later, but for now.
"I summon Obsidian Gargoyle in attack mode."
The black skinned creature was frightening to behold. Shaped like a dog but all sharp angles and a vicious snarling mouth with long black canines that glinted in the moonlight.
A 800 D 800
"Obsidian Gargoyle, attack Cave bat."
The rock skinned dog beast rushed the grounded chiropteran and sank its glinting fangs deep into the bats tender throat. The Cave bat gave a dying shriek that was almost too high to be audible and then ceased to be.
"Thanks for that fancy pants" said Dickey with a smirk, "that activates my trap, Sonic death wail."
"What does that do?"
"Simple really" he explained, "when a monster with 'bat' in its name is destroyed in battle, I can special summon another monster with 'bat' in its name from my hand. I summon Swamp bat."
The Cave bat's replacement was smaller but more ferocious looking. Its snout was abnormally twisted and its outstretched wings were covered in vines and moss.
A 600 D 100
Harry scowled a little as his gargoyle dog trotted back to him. He was a hundred points ahead but it didn't feel like he'd made any headway.
"I end my turn."
Dickey drew and then he grinned, a malicious expression.
"I activate Pulsing Storm."
"And that does what?" Harry suspected he'd be asking a lot.
"Once per turn, we take our hands, return them to our decks, then shuffle and redraw the same number of cards we put in."
Bollocks, Harry thought as he placed his cards back into his deck. Dickey seemed pleased as he did the same. Their duel boards shuffled their decks and they redrew.
Dickey looked his hand over and shrugged but Harry groaned. All magic cards and none he could use. Bollocks!
"I'll summon Tiny Myotis in defense mode, then switch my Swamp bat to defense mode and end my turn."
The little brown bat joined the swampy one in a defensive position and it was Harry's turn.
A 300 D 300
Harry drew. It was a monster, but like the one he already had, not one any of his magic cards would work on. He was really going to have to reconsider the structure of his deck later.
"I summon Burning Mandragora in defense mode."
The ugly baby looking plant had leaves that glowed like they were on fire. Its thick woody skin was laced by glowing orange veins which accented its glossy black eyes.
A 100 D 900
"Now my Obsidian Gargoyle, attack Swamp bat."
The vicious stone hound charged forth once again, tearing into the mossy winged rodent. The gargoyle and Harry were in for a surprise though when the bat took a retaliatory bite before expiring.
"What the heck?"
"The Swamp bat has a nice effect, it bites whatever monster attacks it and that monster loses 100 attack points each time it attacks from now on."
Harry observed this effect in action as the numbers indicating his gargoyles attack took a hundred-point drop.
"Damn it" Harry cursed.
Dickey snickered, "You must be new to this game."
"Just started playing a couple days ago" Harry admitted, "I end my turn."
"I draw" said Dickey, "and now we redraw" he said.
Both boys gave up their hands and took their new ones.
"There we are" said Dickey gleefully, "I activate Necro virus which changes the type of all my monsters to undead."
A creeping green cloud fell over his side of the field and the Tiny Myotis began to rot right before Harry's eyes.
"And thanks to my field card, all undead monsters gain 300 attack points."
The small bat gave a savage shriek as its attack doubled.
"Now I summon another Cave bat and attack Burning Mandragora."
The necrotic Cave bat appeared on the wing and dove at his fire plant. The suddenness of the attack had Harry reflexively shielding himself as his monster was rent to grizzly bits.
"Getting scared are we fancy pants?"
Harry growled but reigned his anger in, "Still your turn" he said.
"I end it" the urchin said flippantly.
Harry drew, a better hand than the last one but not by much.
"I lay one card face down" he said, "then I summon Magical Arms in defense mode."
Magical Arms was a suit of full plate mail, sans helmet, with a large kite shield in one hand and a simple long sword in the other.
A 800 D 1000
"I'll also change my Obsidian Gargoyle to defense mode and end my turn."
"Boring" said Dickey drawing his card only to put his whole hand back and draw a new one. "Let's see you handle this fancy pants, I sacrifice Cave bat and Tiny Myotis to summon the Great Sky bat."
There was a powerful gust, the two small bats vanished only to be replaced by a massive monster. Its body, foul and putrid with decay, was as large as a grown man and its wings were so wide they blotted out the moon.
A 1700 D1600
Harry resisted the urge to cower under its bestial glare, but it was a close thing.
"Great Sky bat, attack his Obsidian Gargoyle."
The wounded stone dog whimpered pitifully as the gargantuan bat descended like a dark cloak, enveloping its prey within its large leathery wings. There was a pained yelp, the sound of crunching stone, then the bat was up and his gargoyle was nowhere in sight.
"Bad dog, no biscuit" Dickey snickered.
"You done?" Harry said blandly.
"For now," he said.
As threats went, it wasn't subtle.
Harry drew and surveyed his options. Plague Riddled Zombie had come up again. That would work well on this field. But then he remembered its effect didn't work on other undead which all his opponent's monsters were thanks to his Necro Virus.
He needed some better options or he was going to lose, and under the circumstances he had no way of knowing what that would mean for his wellbeing.
"I activate the magic card Poleaxed, increasing my Magical Arms attack by 100 for every level of the monster it does battle with."
It wasn't enough to fight the bat but it couldn't hurt.
"I'll also summon Plague Riddled Zombie in defense mode."
A 1000 D 300
The rotting corpse joined the empty suit of armor, now holding the poleaxe, defending Harry's side of the field as his turn ended.
"Not bad. It won't save you, but not bad" he said, drawing only to reshuffle and draw his hand anew.
Harry did likewise and was in luck when his Soaring Roc returned to his hand. But Harry wasn't the only one who'd drawn well.
"I play Vicious taunt" he declared, "a spell that changes all defense position monsters to attack and keeps them that way as long as its active.
Uh oh, Harry thought as the little cartoon goblin popped up and started making rude gestures at his monsters. His monsters responded by standing up and taking an aggressive stance, attack mode.
"I also summon Star nosed mole in attack mode."
Apart from being half rotted and the size of an English bulldog the Star nosed mole looked exactly like a star-nosed mole.
A 300 D400
"Great Sky bat, attack Plague Riddled Zombie."
The bat came hard at the undead which groaned weakly as it was torn to pieces. Harry felt for the zombie as 700 of his life points were torn away.
"I lay one card face down and end my turn."
Slowly Harry drew his next card. He was on the razors edge. Two against one with two active spell cards, one face down and his enemy with the home field advantage. He needed a miracle. He looked at the card in his hand and there it was, just what he needed. Smiling he placed it in his hand and prepared to summon.
"I sacrifice my Magical Arms and…"
"Activate my trap, No Reinforcements which prevents you from summoning this turn."
The smug look on Dickeys face reminded him of Dudley. For that reason and that reason alone he vowed to win.
"I activate Storm of the Century."
A powerful gale ripped through the field and this time it was Dickeys turn to cower as grass and gravestones were torn from the ground by the mighty wind.
"Storm of the Century destroys all magic or trap cards on your side of the field and for each card destroyed you lose 200 life points."
The Necro Virus and Vicious taunt shattered, taking 400 life points with them. This brought Dickey down to an even 500 life points. It also brought his monsters attack down 300 since, without the Necro Virus they had both returned to their types.
"Now, Magical Arms attack Star nosed mole."
The animate suit lifted its poleaxe and rushed the little beast. Harry could have screamed when the ugly vermin sank into its hole and avoided the attack.
"Star nosed moles effect. Once per turn it can evade an attack. Tough luck fancy pants."
It wasn't over yet. Dickey drew his card but didn't even bother to look at it.
"Great Sky bat, attack Magical Arms."
With the poleaxe enhancing it and the field boost gone the match wasn't far off, thanks to the bat being a sixth level monster. Close however was not enough and his magical suit of armor was smashed to pieces.
"And that leaves you with 100 life points and nothing to defend it" said Dickey with a victorious smirk, "this duel is over."