A/N: Welcome back to YGO-DD, in this chapter, one of the main characters from one of my planned fanfictions will make an appearance, and Lizzie will continue to have troubles with her self confidence for a little longer yet. This chapter takes place sometime between episodes four and five, along with the next chapter. Time for the Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its spinoffs, only my OCs and other custom content. It's time to Duel!
Chapter 9, Milling Tactics
Lizzie roamed the beach before heading towards an area with lush grassland to search for Draco. she looked around for awhile when she noticed something weird, there were no duelists in sight yet there were clear signs of duelists having been here. Worried, she looked for the duelists who apparently aren't there when she reached an active duel field. On it was a man in his early twenties dueling a woman in a white, hooded robe, but apparently the duel was already over "Is that all? that's all you could manage to do in a duel with me?"
the man was shaken and as the robed lady approached him he scrambled as far from her as possible "No, s-stay away from me! Somebody heeelp!" he ran away in the blink of an eye and the lady sighed angrily then shouted "Go ahead, get out of my sight!" then muttered "You aren't worth my time..." before looking towards Lizzie "Well look who showed up, I was waiting for you to show up, but all I found were a bunch of weaklings who were all talk and no duel skills." Lizzie met the woman's stare with one of her own, not sure what to make of this person.
"Where did all the duelists go? I haven't seen any besides you and that one guy that ran off, have you seen any with teal hair around here?" the stranger snorted and said "I haven't seen anyone fitting that description, and as for your other question, those "duelists" were all a bunch of stinking braggarts with no actual dueling potential, so I beat all of them and they ran away with their tails between their legs. So tell me, are you a good duelist or are you just another wannabe duelist whose being here is just a fluke?"
Lizzie was surprised that this person could defeat all the duelists in the area so badly that they ran away frightened of her. She spoke to the other woman with an even tone "I'm decent, I guess. But I still have a long way to go, why do you ask?" the robed woman took out a Duel Monsters deck and said "In that case, I think I'll test your dueling skills right here and now. I just hope this isn't a waste of my time..."
Lizzie got out her deck and shuffled it "um, you didn't give me your name did you? I'm Lizzie Calhoun, what about you?" there was a long silence, and just when Lizzie was about to give up on getting an answer the woman across from her said "Mari. My name is Mari, and I believe it's time to duel!"
Mari took the first move "I set a facedown card and one monster facedown and end my turn" Lizzie wondered what kind of monster was set and drew her card "I summon Gagagigo in attack position, then have him attack your facedown monster!" the card flipped face up, revealing the monster before it was destroyed. She looked like a human woman with mechanical wings and taloned feet. She had light coppery hair and a hawk-like golden right eye. Cybernetics could be found on her right leg and where her left eye would be in addition to her wings. (Level 4, Wind. Winged Beast/Effect. Atk/Def: 1400/1600.)
Mari took the time to explain her next move "You activated the effect of my monster, Mach-Avian, Kyoko the Slipstream. When she is flipped face up, both of us send the top two cards from our decks to the graveyard then we draw one card each!" Lizzie blinked, then sent the top two cards from her deck to the graveyard when Mari continued her move on Lizzie's turn
"when he is sent to the graveyard from the deck, I can special summon the Tuner Monster Mach-Avian, Koda the Ignition to the field, then I can special summon another Mach-Avian monster from my graveyard as well, then Synchro Summon with them. Return, Kyoko the Slipstream!" Koda resembled a half-mechanized sparrow with jets attached to his wings and flight goggles on his eyes. Now that Lizzie looked at his eyes closely enough, she could see binary data running across them. (Level 2, Wind. Winged Beast/Tuner/Effect. Atk/Def: 1000/2000.)
Lizzie's eyes widened 'She has Synchro Monsters! But how? I thought only the Chance Cup finalists had them? Then again, that Silas guy had Xyz monsters, so it's possible the also are beta testing them. still, something's not right...' Mari resumed her move "By paying 500 life points, I can change a Mach monster's level by one, so I'll change Kyoko to level 3. now, level 2 Koda the Ignition, tune level 3 Kyoko the Slipstream!" (-500= 1500 Life Points.)
Koda turned into two rings of light that Kyoko passed through "Servant of the Divine Wind, unleash your fury upon those who would threaten the Sky Server. Synchro Summon! The fierce cyber warrior of the skies: Assault Mach-Avian, Bantori the Berserker Wing!(Level 5, Wind, Winged Beast/Synchro/Effect. Atk/Def: 2400/400.)
"Bantori's effect activates, both players send the top two cards from their decks to the graveyard." mildly annoyed, Lizzie sent Fissure and Block Attack to the graveyard while Mari sent a spell and a trap to the graveyard. Lizzie finished her turn with a facedown card, then Mari started her turn "I set a card and one monster facedown then have Bantori attack your Gagagigo." but before the cyborg could harm the reptilian monster, Lizzie activated her facedown
"Activate Quick-Play Spell, Forbidden Dress! your Berserker Wing loses 600 attack points and cannot be targeted or destroyed by other card effects this turn, sorry but your monster is down for the count!" Gagagigo countered Bantori's attack and destroyed him, dealing minor damage to Mari's life points (-50= 1450 life points.), right eye twitching with annoyance, Mari ended her turn. Lizzie on the other hand was laughing at the fact she just forced a bird man into crossdressing to his demise.
After she was done laughing, Lizzie started her turn "I equip the Spell Card Black Pendant to Gagagigo, increasing his attack by 500 points. Gagagigo, attack Mari's Facedown card!" the monster that was revealed was a beautiful humanlike being with four blue feathered wings on her back, and a mechanical right arm equipped with a phase gun. She had snowy colored hair and ice blue eyes, and had taloned feet like the rest of her kind.
"Mach-Avian, Aurora the Northern Light's effect activates, when she is flipped face up, both players send the top three cards of their decks to the graveyard, then all monsters on the field are switched to face up defense position." Lizzie cursed under her breath as her Des Volstgalph, Cobraman Sakuzy and the Secret of the Bandit were sent to the graveyard 'Why is she going to all this trouble to send our cards from the deck to the graveyard? I can understand her cards, but why mine? Does she get some kind of benefit from this?'
but Mari wasn't done yet "I activate the effects of Mach-Avian, Kaze the Sky Server and Mach-Avian Hiera the Reload Spirit , when Kaze is sent from the deck to the graveyard, I can special summon him in either face up position or in this case in facedown defense position and draw a card at the cost of one card in my hand, then Hiera's effect activates, when she is sent to the graveyard from the deck, I can special summon her, then shuffle five cards in my graveyard back into my deck" she shuffled five of her graveyard cards back into the deck as she said and a new monster appeared.
Hiera was different from the rest of her species in that she looked more like an anthropomorphic hawk with organic wings. She carried around the Scepter of Life with her at all times. She had golden feathers and hair and blue eyes. (Level 1, Wind. Winged Beast/Effect. Atk/Def: 300/200.) Hiera took a defensive stance, guarding herself with her scepter.
Lizzie looked through her hand "I summon Terrene Toothed Tsuchinoko in attack position and end my turn." Mari looked a little bored when she started her turn "I flip Kaze the Sky Server face up to attack position, activating his effect" a large shadow engulfed the duel field, but strangely nowhere else. Lizzie looked around for the monster but found nothing. Nothing until she looked up, that is. Above her was a massive wing flying on its own, with the top of said wing being covered in trees and machinery (Level
8, Wind, Winged Beast/Effect/Tuner. Atk/Def: 100/3000.).
From her side of the dueling field Mari laughed loudly "What do you think, girl? Kaze is so big that he rarely shows up completely on a duel field, he is literally the homeland of the Mach-Avian archetype monsters, and now his effect activates, both of us send the top five cards from our decks to the graveyard, then I can special summon up to three Mach monsters from my hand and/or deck facedown!" three monsters were set facedown on Mari's side of the field and she set a facedown card then ended her turn.
Lizzie was still wondering why Mari kept sending both of their cards from the deck to the graveyard until she remembered a card tactic used in another card game back in her dimension. The idea was to force the opponent to discard all of the cards in their deck so that they would have no cards left to use and... her eyes widened "She plans to make me lose by running out of cards in my deck, dang it!" she whispered to herself then started her turn
"My turn, Draw!" no good, she drew Magic Cylinder, but that would only work well if Mari decided to attack her monsters, which she really only did once. "I switch Gagagigo to attack position, then summon Gentlemander in attack position" the pink salamander showed up on the field, but wouldn't be there for long "I overlay my Gentlemander and my Gagagigo in order to build the Overlay Network. Xyz Summon, King of the Feral Imps in attack position!" the imp king manifested, but Mari wasn't impressed, instead she seemed pretty insulted
"You wasted your two monsters for *that*!? You are aware that its effect will only hasten your demise, right? But by all means, use it and end this duel quickly for me. You're just wasting my time!" that did it, Lizzie got so angry that a dark aura radiated from her body and one of her Extra Deck cards shared the same aura with her "I have HAD IT with you, you witch, I'm going to make you pay for your arrogance! I rebuild the Overlay Network using my King of the Feral Imps. Xyz Evolution!" she howled in pain as the Number Card rejected her and tore at her free will 'Yes, Lizzie, let the Number take hold!' when she was done, she said "Mystic Circle of the Ancients, I summon you in all your terrifying glory. The bane of kings, Number P86: Seal of Rejection, in defense position!"
the eldritch circle and outlined figure within it appeared on the field, and the reddish brown number 86 materialized on her left chest where her heart would be. Mari's eyes widened "She has a Number Card, and it has rejected her. I'd better finish this quickly, then." Lizzie set two facedown cards and ended her turn. For the first time since the two of them met today, Mari began to show genuine concern for her opponent 'It's just like when he fell under the influence of one of his cards. Let's hope I can free this girl the same way...' Mari thought grimly then started her turn
"I flip face up Kyoko the Slipstream, activating her effect-" Lizzie laughed madly then stated "Seal of Rejection's effect activates! By removing one overlay unit, I can negate you monster's effect and destroy it, dealing half its attack points to you as damage! Rebound of Chains!" the chains pierced through Kyoko, preventing her from using her effect, then destroying her." Mari clutched her chest as her life points were reduced 'So it does real damage to it's opponents, all the more reason to tread lightly fighting it. She can't control it...' (- 700= 750 life points)
"I flip Face up Hiera the Reload Spirit and activate her effect, by tributing her I can-" she was interrupted again as Lizzie activated Seal of Rejection's effect again, destroying Hiera and dealing damage before her effect could be used (-150= 600 life points). Lizzie was panting from exhaustion, apparently the Number could only be used twice before its powers ceased functioning for the turn.
Frustrated with Lizzie's interruptions, Mari played a deadly combo "From my hand, I play the spell Book of Moon to flip my Sky Server facedown, then I flip face up Aurora the Northern Light and activate her effect, sending the top three cards from our decks to the graveyard to change all facedown monsters to face up defense position and activate their effects, Kaze sends five more cards from our decks to the graveyard and I special summon three more Mach monsters in facedown defense position" three more monsters appeared as Lizzie was reduced to 18 cards in her main deck.
Mari, absolutely livid with the girl on the other side of the duel field, continued her combo "I play my second Book of Moon, flipping Kaze the Sky Server facedown again. Then I use another Book of Taiyou to flip my second Aurora the Northern Light face up, activating her effect again, milling 3 more cards and flipping all facedown cards face up. the monsters this time are Kyoko the Slipstream, Hiera the Reload Spirit, my Sky Server and Aurora the Northern Light, that's 9 more cards milled and one added to your hand." Lizzie was staring in dismay as her deck was losing cards before her eyes, but Mari still wasn't done
"Time to end this madness! I activate my three facedown traps, all three are the Gift of Greed, reducing your deck to nothing. It's over, you've lost." as the duel field shut down, Yugi and friends caught up with her with Draco in tow and the aura coating Lizzie dispersed, Lizzie stared in shock. She'd lost, and not just the duel either. She lost control of herself using the Parallel Number, she lost sight of her purpose for being here, and just as bad if not worse than the others, she lost her self confidence. "What have I done?" she whispered to herself.
Mari didn't even bother to take Lizzie's Star Chips, she just didn't care about this tournament, just about finding powerful duelists, and Lizzie just wasn't ready to duel people like her. Yugi ran over to Lizzie and shouted "Lizzie, are you alright? What happened?" no response. He tried again "uh, Lizzie, are you listening? I was asking if you were all right. Could you please answer me?" still nothing, she was still in shock from what she had done.
Yugi turned his head towards everyone "I don't understand, she's not reacting to anything I say. it's like she isn't even there, what's going on!?" he said in a very worried tone of voice. Draco looked at Lizzie, then Yugi, then Lizzie again, then he strode past Yugi to Lizzie and did something he had never done up until now. He raised his hand and slapped Lizzie across the face.
Everyone looked at him with looks of dismay, they had never seen Draco do something like that in the entire time they'd known him, and while it snapped Lizzie out of her state of shock, nobody would ever forget the look of anger on the teal-haired duelist's face. Lizzie rubbed her cheek with her hands and shouted "Draco! What was that for!?" Draco glared at Lizzie, not at all phased by Lizzie's reaction "You are acting like a child, no worse than a child Lizzie. I saw what happened, you used a Number and it rejected you. you're lucky nobody got badly injured, or worse!" Lizzie looked down at her feet "Yeah, I've been a complete fool. I'm not sure I can even will myself to duel anymore after that. I hurt her Draco, I could have done even worse than that! I could have-"
Draco cut her off "That attitude is the problem I'm talking about, the Number Card is only part of the problem! I won't watch as you give up on the best chance to get you back home, even if I have to drag you to every duel you are challenged to!" she looked at him with wide eyes "What are you going to do then?" she asked Draco's eyes softened "The only thing I know can fix your self confidence. I am going to duel you to return you to your normal self!
Chapter End
A/N: There's another chapter for you. Draco has challenged a reluctant Lizzie to a duel, how will this turn out in the end? Find out in the next chapter. Also you can expect things to get a bit more chaotic with the characters now due to the increasing troubles they have to go through. Next chapter is the last of the chapters that Lizzie will be haunted by her injured self confidence, most likely, so don't expect her to be like that throughout the entire series.
And now for the first issue of Archetypes Unleashed, in this part it tells a brief description about one archetype, for example: Mach-Avian Archetype, a group of winged beast monsters that specialize in swarming tactics and milling through both players' decks to benefit from both milled decks. Weaknesses include graveyard lockdown, special summon lockdown and anti-effect cards. Signature cards include Assault Mach-Avian, Fujin the Divine Wind and Assault Mach-Avian, Kite the Freefall.
The little piece of information up there is only to inform readers how the archetype works in general, nothing more. That's all for now. Duel Standby