Chapter 10: Dueling is Such a Boys Club
Sasha Kerr wore her red jacket over her white blouse and red skirt. She was still young and looked even younger, and so the real distinguishing feature between her and the female students was that Dr. Kerr's skirt reached the tops of her knees whereas the average student's skirt stopped halfway down the thigh.
In her youth, Dr. Kerr never had to deal with the crazy affections guys would show Erica. Pick-up lines were not uncommon for either woman to hear, but Erica was a mix of European and Chinese descent and so was seen by men of all ages as an exotic beauty, even though her family lived in the country for more than a hundred years. Her genetics granted her a symmetrical face and a petite, beautiful body, and that alone netted her a dozen guys hitting on her per week, but then her exotic flair doubled the number.
Until she found her future husband, Sasha often took advantage of her own beauty to coast her way through undergraduate school. She had a nice complexion and a great build, plus she was the athletic type, although she never did organized sports with the exception of intramural sports at her college recreation center. She was the type of woman who was rarely without a boyfriend, something she wasn't proud of in hindsight. Sasha often wished she had spent a little bit of time on her own; perhaps she might have matured more quickly.
Instead, Sasha went through a dozen bad relationships as she worked her way through graduate school, and she found herself working harder as a way to avoid dealing with the frustrations and issues related to men. She finally got lucky when she met the man she would marry. He helped her find the stability and grounding she needed to finish her dissertation.
Yet Erica intentionally spent time alone, without a boyfriend, to focus on her career. Sasha always envied Erica for her strong will.
"You're not in control, are you?" Sasha asked Erica. She got no response from her cloaked, former student. "You are much too intelligent and down-to-earth to join a plot to drain the energy from your friends voluntarily."
Erica activated her Duel Disk and released a wave of shadow energy. Sasha endured the worst of it, then activated her own Duel Disk as a way to show her acceptance of the challenge.
"This brings back memories, doesn't it?" She looked around the room and remembered what it was like three years ago when Erica was a freshman, trying to get all the knowledge and training she could out of Sasha. For that entire year and much of the following year, the two logged hours of dueling against one another. They often exchanged decks and helped each other make deck changes in order to gain experience playing against their own decks, a great way to spot weaknesses in their own strategies. They even spent time dueling with decks they built from scratch in order to get a variety of card exposure and learn how to strategize with only the cards in hand.
"We spent so much time training together because you came to me and disagreed with how things tend to work around here."
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"What's the problem?" Sasha asked. "Are you having trouble in some of your classes?"
"No," Erica complained. "It's just that Duel Monsters is such a boys' club. I sometimes wonder how I even got into this school."
Sasha couldn't help but agree. Most of the time, guys are the ones who spend their time dueling, perhaps because men are prone to competitive behavior and women are prone to be more social; men enjoy the strategy and dominance of the game whereas women enjoy meeting and getting to know other duelists.
"Well, I want to win," Erica said. "I can't let the boys have all the glory just because there's more of them. Even the Guardian Duelers are all boys."
"You're right, but there have been female Guardians before."
"I know, but there aren't any now. It's not fair."
"Unfortunately," Sasha argued, "it is fair, but only because those young men have worked really hard to become Guardians. It's certainly unbalanced, though, and I agree that there should be more female Guardians."
"Will you help me become one?"
Sasha smiled. "I would be proud to see you become a Guardian Dueler. Do you know which card you want?"
Erica nodded. "I can probably fit any of them into my deck relatively easily, but the easiest, by far, is Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder."
"Is that so? You use a lot of Continuous Spells, do you?"
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Erica started the duel by setting a monster and a card.
Sasha started the duel with a large turtle whose shell emitted bright lights. "I'll summon UFO Turtle (4/1400/1200) and attack your monster." The UFO Turtle withdrew into its shell, hovered over Erica's monster, and fired a beam of light. Erica revealed her Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise (3/600/2000), a much frailer-looking reptile with the exception of its gemmed shell, which reflected much of Sasha's attack back at her. "I'll set two cards." Kerr 8000 – 600 = 7400: Erica 8000.
Erica summoned Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus (4/1800/1200), a white horse whose wings were studded with sapphires, and used its effect to put Cobalt Eagle in her spell/trap zone as a Continuous Spell card; it appeared as a large, blue gem. Erica had Sapphire Pegasus (1800) attack UFO Turtle (1400). The winged unicorn gored the turtle with its sapphire horn.
"I'll activate Backfire," Sasha countered. A spray of fire burst from her turtle's shell and engulfed the Sapphire Pegasus. "When you destroy my fire monsters, you get burned for 500 points. And when UFO Turtle is destroyed by battle, I get to summon another UFO Turtle (4/1400/1200) to my field." She replaced her destroyed turtle with an identical one, save the wounds inflicted by the unicorn.
She just grinned when Erica activated Beast Soul Swap. She took Sapphire Pegasus from the field to her hand, then, with the ability to summon another beast-type monster of the same level, summoned it right back; this time she put Amber Mammoth from her deck to her spell/trap zone as a lump of amber-colored gemstone. This was a strategy Sasha taught her, and so she expected it.
Sapphire Pegasus (1800) attacked and destroyed Sasha's second UFO Turtle (1400), and this time she summoned Solar Flare Dragon (4/1500/1000). A large, bright, flaming dragon resembling a solar prominence emerged from the ground. Erica ended her turn there. Kerr 7400 – 400 – 400 = 6600: Erica 8000 – 500 – 500 = 7000.
Sasha also played a combo Erica had seen before. "I'll set a card and summon another Solar Flare Dragon (4/1500/1000)." An identical solar prominence to her first dragon burst from the ground. "When there's another pyro-type monster on my field, you can't target my Dragon, meaning these two protect each other. In addition, during my End Phase, you take 500 points of damage for each Solar Flare Dragon on my field." Both dragons emitted a solar flare that brushed over Erica and inflicted direct damage. Kerr 6600: Erica 7000 – 500 – 500 = 6000.
"Have you got the cards to stop this strategy?"
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"I have trouble sometimes with the low attack power of my monsters," Erica admitted. "They're not that strong, with the exception of Sapphire Pegasus and Topaz Tiger on my turn."
"You already know that attack power isn't everything. You've got some great support cards for the Crystal Beasts when they're in your spell/trap zone."
"Yes, that's true," Erica started, "but it's harder to get them there against you because you have a tendency to sit back and attack me directly. When you don't destroy my monsters, they don't go into the spell/trap zone."
Sasha smiled with amusement. "You'll have to think about some ways to hit me without attacking."
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Erica activated Thunder Crash, a spell that caused a bolt of lightning to destroy each of her monsters—moving Sapphire Pegasus and Emerald Tortoise to her spell/trap zone—before reflecting and inflicting 300 points of damage on Sasha for each monster destroyed.
"You've got four Crystal Beasts on your field. Does that mean you have that card I told you about?"
The next card Erica played was Crystal Abundance. Each of the four gemstones in her spell/trap zone burst and the shards ripped through all of Sasha's cards. Erica sent all four of her Crystal Beasts to the Graveyard to destroy every card on the field, and then she summoned as many Crystal Beasts from her Graveyard as the number of Sasha's cards she destroyed. Erica played Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth (4/1700/1000)—a six-tusked mammoth with an amber gemstone in its forehead—Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle (4/1400/800)—a large bird with a golden crest and cobalt blue gemstones on its breast and wings—and Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus (4/1800/1200). Using Sapphire Pegasus's effect, Erica further took Amethyst Cat from her deck to her spell/trap zone as a lavender gemstone. She also summoned Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger (4/1600/1000) to the field. A saber-toothed tiger with additional sabers on its ankles and forehead, plus a topaz gemstone on its neck, appeared on the field. She additionally set one more card.
Erica's swarm was stumped by the activation of Sasha's Waboku trap card before Crystal Abundance resolved. Three robed maidens stood in front of Sasha. That trap, which she set in anticipation of Erica's play, prevented Sasha from taking any battle damage during the turn. Erica ended her turn by using Cobalt Eagle's effect to place Sapphire Pegasus on top of her deck. Kerr 6600 – 600 = 6000: Erica 6000.
"That was a close one, wasn't it? We've each had our share of those throughout our training careers. We'll probably have a few more during this duel."
Erica didn't respond.
"I'll just set one monster and see what you've got."
Erica drew and summoned Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus (4/1800/1200), using its effect to place Ruby Carbuncle in her spell/trap zone as a ruby gemstone. Then she smiled and spread another wave of shadows from her Duel Disk.
"Is this the answer you found to the weakness of the Crystal Beasts?"
The next card Erica played was a white dragon big enough to fill the field, shining in all colors of the rainbow. The Rainbow Dragon (10/4000/0) was the ultimate monster for the Crystal Beast deck. It could be Special Summoned if Erica's field and Graveyard contained all seven Crystal Beasts: Sapphire, Amber, Cobalt, Topaz, Amethyst, and Ruby were on her field; Emerald was in the Graveyard.
"The strongest non-fusion dragon in the game," Sasha noted. "You were so proud the first time you used it to defeat me in a duel. I told you it reminded me of you: stronger than its peers. Just like you, the Rainbow Dragon is a standout card able to topple the most challenging of foes."
The Rainbow Dragon launched a devastating attack against Sasha's monster in order to leave the field wide open for a direct onslaught by the Crystal Beasts. Although the attack made a dent in Sasha's pink monster, her monster quickly popped back into position without ever losing the smile on its upside-down face.
"My malleable monster is called Marshmallon (3/300/500). It's never destroyed in battle, and because you attacked it while it was facedown, you take 1000 points of direct damage."
Before ending her turn, Erica switched her Amber Mammoth (1000) to defense mode. Kerr 6000: Erica 6000 – 1000 = 5000.
Sasha played a monster resembling a small, blue imp with its head and arms on fire and equipped with an elaborate, purple cape. "I'll summon Fire Trooper (3/1000/1000) and Tribute it to deal 1000 points more damage to you." The imp leaped at Erica and burst entirely into flame. Kerr 6000: Erica 5000 – 1000 = 4000.
Erica drew and activated her Rainbow Dragon's special ability; by sending all her Crystal Beasts to the Graveyard, she could empower her Rainbow Dragon (+10,000) by 1000 AP per Crystal Beast. The Rainbow Dragon grew bigger and the lights it emitted grew brighter until it reached the maximum capacity of the hologram projectors.
"You strengthened it," Sasha noted. "Did you draw a card to give your dragon a piercing effect?" She sounded worried because a piercing effect would end the duel in Erica's favor.
She lucked out, though. Erica simply needed more monsters in her Graveyard to activate Pot of Avarice, a large, jeweled pot with a goofy grin and snot dripping from its nose; she put five of her monsters back in her deck, shuffled, and drew two cards. She activated Crystal Blessing; a sapphire stone appeared on the field and emitted a glow, drawing Emerald Tortoise and Ruby Carbuncle—a small, catlike creature with four ears, garnet-colored eyes, and a ruby gemstone on its tail—from the Graveyard into her spell/trap zone. Erica then ended her turn.
"I obviously can't attack your monster like that," Sasha said jokingly. "Even Kevin's dragon couldn't beat that. I'll play Pot of Greed to draw two cards…" Her field showed a pot with the same goofy grin as Erica's pot, but no jewels or snot. "…and still all I've got is to set one card."
Erica made a move Sasha didn't expect; she sent Rainbow Dragon to the Graveyard as a Tribute to summon Gravi-Crush Dragon (6/2400/1200). A bipedal dragon appeared on her field with arms and legs two sizes bigger than its torso. She activated its effect by sending her Ruby Carbuncle to the Graveyard to let her Dragon destroy Sasha's Marshmallon by slamming its massive fist on the pink blob, following through by whipping its tail at Sasha for a direct attack. Kerr 6000 – 2400 = 3600: Erica 4000.
"Impressive," Sasha admitted. "You were willing to admit that your ultimate dragon wasn't able to defeat my defensive monster and so you found one that could. That's something many duelists can't bring themselves to do. After all, if I were to summon a stronger monster than yours, most duelists would feel guilty about losing the bigger monster."
Sasha drew anxiously, then sighed when she looked at her card. "It's not what I was hoping for, but it will work. I'll set a monster and end my turn."
Erica drew and eagerly played Graceful Charity. An angelic being allowed her to draw three cards and discard two. Erica sent Gravi-Crush Dragon (2400) to attack without using its effect first. Her monster's fist collided with a pair of eyes attached to something unseen.
"You've destroyed The Thing in the Crater (4/1000/1200)," Sasha said, "but now I'm curious of your strategy. I suppose I'll just have to wait and see. Anyway, when you destroyed my monster, you let me Special Summon a Volcanic Slicer (4/1800/1200) in defense mode." Her monster resembled a dinosaur encased entirely in a bronze shell.
Erica set one card and ended her turn.
"One facedown card? I wonder if you might be trying to summon your god card now. I hope I can be ready in time." Sasha drew and looked at her cards. "I'll summon my third and final Solar Flare Dragon (4/1500/1000). I'll use Volcanic Slicer's effect to deal 500 points of damage to you, then during my End Phase, Solar Flare Dragon will deal 500 more." Volcanic Slicer spit out a molten mass and Solar Flare Dragon emitted another solar flare. Kerr 3600: Erica 4000 – 500 – 500 = 3000.
As soon as Erica's turn began, a more prolonged wave of shadows pervaded the room and threatened to knock Sasha unconscious. Erica activated her facedown Crystal Counter to destroy all her spells and traps, then place all three Crystal Beasts from her Graveyard into her spell/trap zone. She just as quickly sent them back to the Graveyard to summon Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder (10/4000/4000). Her field filled with an enormous, golden-colored, skeletal creature with bat-like wings and sharp protrusions on its head, wings, and torso. A bolt of lightning flashed through the air overhead.
"You finally summoned it…"
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"I have a suggestion for you," Sasha said. She and Erica were still training in the basement of the Red Dorm, but Erica long since traded her red skirt for a blue one. They approached the end of Erica's sophomore year, and she felt fully confident that she could beat Hamon's Guardian.
"What is it?"
"I know you really want to take control of Hamon and prove that women can also be great duelists, but you should consider waiting for one more semester."
Erica was surprised to hear such words from the professor who had been teaching her how to take and use Hamon.
"Why wait? I've been training for this purpose, and I'm ready."
Sasha mulled the thought for a moment while picking her words carefully. "Do you still just want a god card to prove you can do it?"
"That's not the only reason," she said. "I'm also the best, and so I deserve the chance to earn that status officially."
"You think Hamon will earn you respect?"
She shrugged. "Maybe. I don't really care. What's with the third degree?"
Sasha just smiled and confessed, "If you wait another semester to become a Guardian Dueler, I think you are a shoe-in to represent Duel Academy at the School Duel in the fall."
Erica's eyes lit up. "Really?" Aside from being the most publicized duel of the school year, the School Duel was definitely a place Erica could figure out how good she really was in comparison to other top duelists. And maybe it would give her a bit of extra confidence when she went after a god card.
"Okay. I'll wait."
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Rainbow Dragon (8000) launched the final assault on Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder (4000) and handily ended the duel in Erica's favor. Afterward, Maya Kawamura presented her with the yellow god card and welcomed her into the Guardian house.
"It'll be nice to have some women around," she admitted silently.
"It's about time, too," Erica agreed.
She looked to the stands and found Sasha smiling back at her. Erica finally achieved her goal; she proved that men aren't the only ones with dueling talent.
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"I'd love to say 'you've come a long way,' but the truth is, you haven't. You were always one of the best duelists. The only thing that really changed was your status. You were already the most strong-willed student I ever had the pleasure of teaching. That's why I can't believe you would let someone else control you like this!"
Ignoring her former mentor's comments, Erica set a card and launched her attacks. Because Solar Flare Dragon was protected as long as another pyro monster was on the field, Gravi-Crush Dragon (2400) attacked Volcanic Slicer (1200) first. Then Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder (4000) summoned a bolt of lightning to strike Solar Flare Dragon (1500); as a bonus, Hamon inflicted 1000 points of damage to the opponent every time it destroyed a monster in battle. A smaller bolt of lightning struck Sasha from the sky. Kerr 3600 – 2500 – 1000 = 100: Erica 3000.
That felt real! Sasha felt completely drained and almost paralyzed after she was struck with what should have been a hologram. She paused for a moment to catch her breath and regain her senses. Okay, maybe it wasn't real… I can still move… But that was no hologram.
"Kevin was right about the god cards," she admitted. "Perhaps they do hold a massive energy supply." She climbed back to her feet and forced herself to smile through the pain. "Is that what's controlling you? Are you seriously going to let a single god card take control of your will?"
Erica just stood there.
"Fine. Then I'll just have to help. I'll do it by sending your Gravi-Crush Dragon and Hamon to the Graveyard so I can summon a monster to your field: my Lava Golem (8/3000/2500)."
Hamon seemed to resist the play, but the special effect of Lava Golem dragged Hamon off the field and replaced it with a giant, amorphous, molten creature that encaged Erica. Bits of lava dripped from the creature and sparked on the cage which entrapped Erica.
"That's a big monster I just gave you," Sasha said, "but you won't get the chance to suffer its adverse effects. I just needed it to get rid of Hamon for you. I'll play Owner's Seal, a spell that returns all monsters on the field to their original owners." A mystical symbol appeared on the ground; Lava Golem faded from Erica's back and reappeared behind Sasha, placing the cage around her.
But Erica had a final move, too. She activated Rainbow Gravity; a powerful rainbow emerged from her Graveyard and revived her Rainbow Dragon (10/4000/0), protecting her Life Points from a direct attack by the Lava Golem.
"That's a good move and I'd expect no less from you," Sasha admitted. "But I wasn't planning to attack. I'll activate my facedown Spiritual Fire Art – Kurenai." A red-haired, female spellcaster appeared on the field and cast a seal around the field. "This trap lets me Tribute a fire monster on my field to inflict damage to you equal to my monster's original attack points." The magician's seal closed around the Lava Golem, and the result was an explosion into a dozen, raining, molten fireballs that holographically pelted Erica. Kerr 100: Erica 3000 – 3000 = 0.
Another wave of darkness preceded the lifting of the air in the Red Dorm. Everything felt normal again, but Erica passed out on the spot. Still tired from the realistic lightning bolt, Sasha also felt compelled to sleep right there.
A small piece of the Lava Golem remained on Erica's Duel Disk, burning away the card for Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder.
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The spotted white deadnettle (also called Lamium maculatum) is a flowering plant of the family Lamiaceae. A low-growing plant with chartreuse leaves, the blossoms that bloomed in the spring on Academy Island were white, almost glowing at nighttime when the moonlight struck their little grove. During a cloudy, overcast day like today, however, they were simply white flowers.
Matt first saw these flowers in Lucy's bedroom as a gift from Bryan; she often had flowers sitting in her windowsill. He knew this grove in the woods was the only location on the island to find these flowers. After finding a petal from one of these flowers on Bryan's leather jacket when he disappeared, Matt figured this grove was where he was likely to find his sworn brother.
"Are you here, Bryan?" He tried to peer through the trees beyond the grove, but the dense growth of the trees combined with a gray sky made it tough to see far beyond his current location.
A crunching twig alerted Matt to someone else's presence. He turned slowly to see a cloaked figure, wearing all black and covering much of his face with sunglasses, standing in the grove. Matt recognized the insignia on the Duel Disk, however; it was a circle encompassing a fancily-written letter H, the same as can be seen on the Hero Signal trap card.
"What's going on, bro?"
The cloaked duelist didn't say anything. He simply activated his Duel Disk.
Matt grinned, not realizing that Bryan was under a spell. "You really want to duel? We keep alternating wins, you remember?
"And it's my turn."
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and learning a little about what drives Erica's ambitions. This was a fun duel for me. I feel like I don't use Erica enough, especially considering the Crystal Beasts are not only some of my favorite cards, but probably the strongest overall deck archetype from the GX TV series. Anyway, now two Guardians have been beaten. The next duel is one I'm sure both of you saw coming. How do you think it will end?
The next chapter won't include a duel, however. I'm going to give some back story on my two primary heroes. It's never desirable to interrupt the action with history, but I think this is the best place for it, story-wise. Besides, anime shows interrupt the action all the time. I hope you enjoy it.
Last time I mentioned having fewer professors than Guardians. One more thing I'll share is that I do not plan to introduce any duelists to confront my Guardians. All the opponents will be duelists you've already met. I'm sure everyone knew Matt would be one of them. I'm very proud of myself for realizing another student on a competitive level with the Guardians. You'll find out who it is in either Chapter 13 or 14 according to my notes.
I'm working on my ideas for a third arc. I think I'm going to use a slightly different approach this time. Most of the heroes already introduced--who survive the Shadow Realm--will return as long as they haven't graduated, but I'm going to make them share the focus with a bunch of freshmen. I already have one of them--contributed by Maxim and Knight--but I'm going to need more. My first chapter, when I get there, will include a sort of demographic form for a bunch of reader-submitted original characters. However many I receive will determine how the story goes; I only have the bare-bones plot for this one. The first chapter will go back through descriptions of the returning characters as if they are brand new, but the story will still be a continuation of this one and the previous arc. Maybe that way I can draw in more readers.
Of course, maybe you folks can help refer a few readers my way when the new arc begins. If they like the way that one goes, they can always come back to read this one.