A/N: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF YU GI OH 5Ds! ALL RIGHTS GO TO THE CREATORS! THE ONLY THING I OWN ARE MY OCS!
Chapter 11: Test Run
The next day, Yusei stood with everyone at the stadium to check the preliminary match-ups for the World Racing Grand Prix.
"Are the preliminary round like a league?" Luna asked.
"There are thirty-two participating teams in total," Akiza explained. "And they're divided into blocks."
"Is the first team we face Team Unicorn?" Leo asked. "They're the guys we met at the opening ceremony, right?"
"Team Unicorn won the Atlantis Tournament and are rumored to be strong candidates to win this one," Yusei remarked.
Leo sighed. "It would have been nicer to not have to face opponents like that in the same block," he stated.
"Candidates to win or not, we'll defeat whoever stands in our way," Jack cut in.
"If we're aiming for victory, we'll have to face strong opponents sooner or later," Yusei agreed.
"This just means that time came sooner," Crow commented calmly.
"I guess that is true, but-" Leo began but was cut off by Bruno.
"Yusei, it's almost practice time," Bruno told the leader of the team. Yusei nodded and he, Jack, and Crow departed for practice.
"What did they mean by practice?" Luna asked Akiza.
"It's just a practice run," she explained to them. "They're testing the duel runners. Why don't we watch from the stands?"
They all agreed and walked towards the stands. They neared the circuit and a mechanical voice called for the lane to be used by Team 5D's for practice and asked for other teams to leave. They walked a bit farther when they spotted Trudge at the bottom of the stand at the opposite side of the wall. They walked down and greeted him respectfully.
"Did you guys come to support Yusei, Jack, and Crow?" Trudge asked.
"Yeah," Akiza answered.
"Why are you here in your Security uniform?" Leo asked.
"See the lanes?" Trudge replied and they looked at them. "Teams are using them for practice and rotate as time passes. Since they're not using auto-pilot, I'm here in case there is an accident."
"Here they come!" Akiza alerted all of them and they turned as Yusei and the others came out.
They rode passed the onlookers, giving them a wave. Yusei gave a small wave back with a small smirk.
Inside the lane, Yusei said to the others, "The performance of the duel runners have upgraded well."
"Yeah," Jack agreed.
"Now that it can go this fast, I'm going to win the tournament for Pearson and Bolton," Crow stated and Yusei nodded in approval. "Why don't we test the speed?"
"Practice time for Team 5D's is now over. Please leave the lane," the voice called.
"The other team is probably not even at the lane," Crow stated and sped up.
"Crow, wait!" Yusei called as he and Jack stopped off to the side.
Yusei grew alert as he heard another duelist coming up from the course entrance. But before he could alert Crow, another turbo duelist entered the course as expected. Crow didn't have enough time to stop and ended up crashing along with the other duelist.
Yusei ran up as Crow and the man stood up. Jack and the others were quickly by him. "Are you guys okay?" he asked.
"I am," Crow answered.
"I'm fine," the other duelist followed. The other two teammates from the man's team came out. The seeming leader came up and Yusei recognized him as Andre.
"Good to see you again," he told Yusei.
"Same, Andre," he responded. "So you're the team who's practicing next? You make up Team Unicorn, right?"
"That's right," he answered. "This is my team, Jean and Breo." They each gave a nod of respect.
"Were you trying to sabotage us?!" Jean yelled at Crow, angry.
"Calm down, Jean. Everything's okay," Andre tried to calm his teammate, which worked.
"Is there something we could do to make up for this?" Yusei asked.
"How about a duel?" Andre suggested.
"Fine with me," Yusei accepted. They each got on their runners. They activated Speed World 2 and took off like a bullet.
As the duel began, Yusei got the sense of something from Andre's other teammates. He listened carefully and heard Jean and Breo talking on their side of the track. "We need to watch Yusei duel," Jean stated.
"Yeah, I've heard Yusei's good. If we can learn how he duels, we can beat him," Breo stated.
Yusei looked at them for a moment and they looked in his direction, feeling his stare. The Signer quickly turned back to the duel followed by the other two. He took the first turn and drew his card. "I summon Max Warrior (Attack 1800/ Defense 800) in attack mode," he declared. "That ends my turn."
Andre drew his card. "I summon Playful Possum (Attack 800/ Defense 600) in attack mode. And since you control a monster whose attack is higher than the attack of Playful Possum, I activate its effect to destroy itself. And now since a beast type monster I control was destroyed and sent to the graveyard, I can pay 1000 life points to special summon Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest (Attack 2600/ Defense 1800)," he declared and his monster appeared as his life points fell to 3000. "Green Baboon, attack Max Warrior!" The attack succeeded and Yusei's life points fell to 3200. "I set two face downs and end my turn."
Yusei drew his card. "I activate the Speed Spell- Angel Baton! This allows me to draw two cards as long as I send one card from my hand to the graveyard. Then I activate another Speed Spell- Angel Baton. And now I normal summon Junk Synchron (Attack 1300/ Defense 500) in attack mode and activate its effect. This allows me to special summon Speed Warrior (Attack 900/ Defense 400) from my graveyard in defense mode with its effects negated. And since I control a tuner monster, I can special summon Quillbolt Hedgehog (Attack 800/ Defense 800) straight from my graveyard in attack mode. I now tune my Speed Warrior and Quillbolt Hedgehog with Junk Synchron in order to summon Junk Archer (Attack 2300/ Defense 2000)!" And since Quillbolt Hedgehog was removed from the field, it was removed from play as well. "Now I activate the effect of Junk Archer to remove your Green Baboon from play until the end phase." Junk Archer fired an arrow at the giant baboon and it hit the monster, making it disappear from view. "Now, Junk Archer, attack Andre directly!"
"I activate Battle Instinct! This allows me to special summon Nimble Momonga (Attack 1000/ Defense 100) from my hand in attack mode," Andre fought. The attack continued and Andre's monster was destroyed, dropping Andre's life points to 1700. "And now since Nimble Momonga was destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, its effect activates, increasing my life points by 1000," His life points shot back up to 2700, "and allow me to special summon two more Nimble Momongas from my deck in defense mode."
"I set a face down and end my turn," Yusei finished. And due to it being the end phase, Andre's powerful monster returned to the field.
Andre drew his card. "I activate the second effect of Playful Possum to revive itself (Attack 800/ Defense 600) in attack mode. Then I tribute Playful Possum and one Nimble Momonga in order to tribute summon Behemoth the King of All Animals (Attack 2700/ Defense 1500)!" he declared and his monster rose up onto the field. "And now since Behemoth was tribute summoned, its effect activates, allowing me to return the two Nimble Momongas in my graveyard to my hand. And next I switch the Nimble Momonga that is on my field to attack mode. Green Baboon, attack Junk Archer!"
"I activate Chain Arrow!" Yusei defended. "This increases the attack of Junk Archer by 500 during the damage calculation only (Junk Archer: Attack 2800)." His monster destroyed Andre's, while dropping Andre's life points to 2500. While since it was now after the damage calculation, the attack of Junk Archer returns to its original 2300 attack points. "And now I activate the second effect of Chain Arrow, reducing the attack of your Behemoth by 1000 (Behemoth the King of All Animals: Attack 1700) until the end phase."
"I activate Beast Burial Ritual to destroy my Nimble Momonga and draw two cards; however, I can use the drawn cards this turn," Andre played. "And then I activate the effect of Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest! By paying another 1000 life points, I can special summon it from my graveyard in attack mode." His life points dropped to 1500 while his monster did return as said with a full 2600 attack points. "Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest, attack his Junk Archer!" The attack succeeded and Junk Archer was destroyed while Yusei's life points fell to 2900. "Behemoth the King of All Animals, attack him directly!" The attack hit and Yusei's life points fell to 1200. "I set one card and end my turn." And due to it being the end phase, the second effect of Chain Arrow expired, returning Behemoth to a full 2700 attack points.
Yusei drew his card to begin his turn. "I summon Shield Wing (Attack 0/ Defense 900) in defense mode and set two face downs. That's all for now," he declared.
Andre drew his card. "I summon a Nimble Momonga (Attack 1000/ Defense 100) in attack mode. I send the Nimble Momonga in my hand to the graveyard to special summon Egotistical Ape (Attack 1200/ Defense 1200) in attack mode. And now I activate the effect of Egotistical Ape to increase its level by the level of Nimble Momonga (Egotistical Ape: Level 7)," he declared.
"I activate Shield Coat! This doubles the defense of Shield Wing (Shield Wing: Defense 1800), though on my second standby phase, Shield Coat will be destroyed," Yusei defended.
"Well I tune Nimble Momonga with Egotistical Ape in order to synchro summon Naturia Leodrake (Attack 3000/ Defense 1800)!" Andre declared and his monster appeared next to him. "Green Baboon and Behemoth, attack Shield Wing!"
"Well due to Shield Wing's effect, it can't be destroyed by battle for two times this turn," Yusei informed.
"Well, I still have one more monster to play. Naturia Leodrake, attack Shield Wing one more time!" Andre ordered. The attack hit and was able to destroy Yusei's only monster. "Now I activate Howl of the Wind! This inflicts 300 points of damage to you for every beast type monster I control!" Yusei's life points dropped to a mere 300 as the assault hit. "I set one face down and end my turn."
Yusei drew his card. "I summon Debris Dragon (Attack 1000/ Defense 2000) in attack mode and use its effect to revive Shield Wing in attack mode with its effects negated. Now I activate the Speed Spell- Vision Wind to revive Speed Warrior (Attack 900/ Defense 400) in attack mode. Now I tune Shield Wing and Speed Warrior with Debris Dragon to synchro summon. Take flight, Stardust Dragon (Attack 2500/ Defense 2000)!" he declared and his dragon flew up beside him proud and tall. "Stardust Dragon, attack Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest!"
"You're just destroying yourself, Yusei," Andre stated.
"Not quite. I activate Synchro Strike! This increases the attack of Stardust Dragon by 500 for each synchro material monster that was used to summon it until the end phase. So that means it is gaining a total of 1500 extra attack points (Stardust Dragon: Attack 4000)," Yusei fought. The attack hit and Green Baboon was destroyed while Andre's life points fell to 100. "Now I activate Speed World 2's effect. By removing four speed counters, I can inflict 800 points of damage to you for each Speed Spell in my hand. Like my Speed Spell- Final Attack."
But just as the effect of Speed World 2 is about to resolve, the mechanical voice called that Team Unicorn's practice time was over, stopping the duel.
Yusei pulled over by the others. The opposing team came up. "Nice duel, Yusei. Can't wait to see how you duel in the tournament," Andre stated holding out a hand.
"Same," Yusei agreed and they gripped hands.
Andre looked at the rest of the team and gave them a quick smile while the other two just watched Yusei suspiciously. "Well, we'd better go before the other team shows up," he stated. "See ya." They walked off with that.
"Yusei, any reason why the other two seemed suspicious of you?" Crow asked.
"I had heard them mention that Andre was just dueling me so his team could figure out how to beat you,"he explained nonchalant like. "They noticed me looking at them. But we shouldn't be too worried about it. For now, though, we should better get back to the garage, too." They nodded and they all left.