Chapter 21: Opposites Attract
"Damn," Terry swore as the red dart he'd thrown seconds before missed the bull's eye target.
Terry sighed, leaning back in the wooden chair he'd been given and looking around the small, metallic room. All that he'd been given in the room (which was his sleeping quarters) originally were the four blank walls and the door that it came with and the small, wooden chair that his benefactor had given him as a "housewarming" gift.
The other things lining the room, like the dartboard, the poster of his favorite band, the dresser that wasn't so full of clothing, and the desk that looked like it belonged in an Elementary School classroom, were brought by Terry from his house (save for the classroom-like desk which was actually stolen from Heartland Elementary School).
He looked at his deck, flipping through the various dog cards with a smile. The somewhat elongated canine teeth in his mouth dropped down as his open-mouthed smile increased with each pass of a card.
When he'd reached Photon Cerberus, he stopped to look it over. His smile was no longer visible as he remembered losing to Cathy via that very same monster. The same exact monster that his so-called benefactor presented him with.
"What a hack," Terry snarled to himself. "He gives me something like this and then I lose when I use it."
The boy put his deck down on his narrow desk while picking up a green dart with his other hand. He positioned the tiny arrow just right and pulled his arm back after he calculated the different factors involved in aiming the object.
He was about to release his grasp on the dart when the knob of his door opened and his employer walked in. Instead of the straight and perfect bull's eye that Terry would have accomplished, the dart that Terry accidentally let go of hit the wall and ricocheted off of it, heading straight for the male who opened the door.
"Watch out!" Terry shouted, closing his eyes to avoid seeing the dart hit the man. He knew that he'd only have a limited amount of time to say his prayers afterwards.
"Stop fooling around," the mysterious person commanded.
Terry opened his eyes to see that his employer had caught the dart in one fist when the weapon was just inches away from the male's face. The gentleman holding the dart just gave it a quick squeeze and the small, plastic object snapped in two.
"I-I understand," Terry nodded before something drew his eye.
His employer was carrying a sack over his shoulder that looked rather heavy. A crude label reading "cards" was written on the piece of tape that Terry could see.
"What's in the bag?" he asked hesitantly.
For the first time that Terry remembered since his employment with the man, the boss displayed a smile.
"I'm glad you asked, Terrance."
Terry let the use of his full first name slide as his curiousity expanded.
"Allow me to explain," the man said, opening the sack and grabbing a handful of cards. "These are for you…"
He threw the cards in his hand on the table before dumping the rest of the thousands of cards at Terry's feet.
"You mean, they're all mine?" Terry asked, a little bit avariciously.
"That's right. But in exchange, this is for me."
Terry's boss reached down and grabbed Terry's Dog deck before placing it inside the empty sack.
"Hey!" Terry cried out. "What are you doing?"
Terry's employer walked over to the door with the sack still slung over his shoulder and opened the door before looking over his left shoulder.
"Why don't you take a look at your new…prizes?"
Terry gave a questioning look but bent down and picked up some of the cards.
"Feral Imp? Mystical Elf? Silver Fang? Battle Ox?"
He dug through the pile, but still saw nothing but mediocre cards. Normal monsters, basic Spells, and outdated Traps covered the ground as he scoured through the worthless wonders.
"What gives? These cards are all outdated and useless."
"That's why I chose to give them to you, Terrance," his boss laughed rudely. "They have something in common with you, now don't they?
"You're outdated too, if I remember correctly. It was only due to my generosity and hospitality that you received another chance under my employment after you humiliating loss to Cathy. And useless, Terrance…I could go on for days, prattling about your uselessness. But I digress…"
He took a deep breath before looking at the cards on the ground.
"Your task is to create a functioning deck out of these passé cards, and you still need to capture one of Yuma Tsukumo's friends."
"But how am I supposed to do that with these Vanilla monsters and these unsupportable Spells and Traps?"
"Figure it out, Terrance," the man said. "A third-rate duelist like you should be able to figure something out that's as simple as creating a third-rate deck. It's not rocket science I'm asking for…"
And with that, the man walked out of the room, carrying with him Terry's regular deck of cards.
Terry looked through the pile of cards, suddenly wishing that it was a matter of rocket science. Hundreds of the cards were duplicates, triplicates, quadruplicates, and even quintuplicate copies of the same card.
After Terry picked up what seemed like his seventh Happy Lover, he found a card that caught his eye.
"Maybe this won't be as hard as I thought it'd be…"
Around an hour and a half later, Terry found himself wandering the streets of Heartland while constantly making quick glances to his list of targets on his high-tech cell phone.
"Tetsuo Takeda," he read, looking at the list. He clicked a button and Tetsuo's deck list came up.
"Clockwork Shikigami, Aye-Iron, Tinplate Goldfish, UFO Turtle, Tinplate Archduke…"
Terry continued to read Tetsuo's profile, finding an increased amount of confidence in his ability to defeat Tetsuo as time went by.
"It shouldn't be too hard to defeat this kid," Terry smirked.
He clicked a button on his found labeled "Usual Hangouts" and noted that Tetsuo seemed to spend most of his time at concession stands or near the House of Mirrors.
After visiting twelve concession stands, none of which contained Tetsuo (although surprisingly every vender recognized his face instantly), Terry walked over to the House of Mirrors.
Sure enough, Tetsuo was there just like the app on his phone said. However, the boy wasn't alone.
Tetsuo was already engaged in a duel and it looked like it had just started. Tetsuo's field was bare as was his opponent's and each person had five cards in their hand.
Feeling a nagging impatience to just get his job done, Terry sighed and walked away from the scene.
"That's fine," he whined. "I still have two viable targets. I don't have to sit here and wait for Tetsuo to finish his duel."
He scrolled down on his phone and read the next name off the list.
"Tokunosuke Omoteura," he translated. Just like with Tetsuo, he hit a button on his phone and a deck list popped up.
"Urautan, Dark Bribe, Baby Tiragon, Uratra C, Reverse Mist…"
He clicked the hangout rectangle on his device, and unfortunately noted that Tokunosuke didn't have a set hideout.
"It could take forever to find this kid," Terry sighed.
He debated going on a wild goose chase, but decided against it, figuring that his employer wanted someone sooner rather than later.
"Then that leaves…" Terry spoke slowly.
He looked down at his cell phone and blushed as he saw Kotori's picture.
"Kotori Mizuki," he spoke, without having to look at her name on the screen.
Of all the people that were with Terry when he attended Heartland Elementary, Kotori had been the one that set his heart ablaze the most. She was always sweet to everyone around her and she never lost a duel that he'd seen. He meant to tell her his true feelings before he transferred school, but he couldn't get past his fears.
"I wonder…" he said, looking down at his phone and tapping a button which unlocked Kotori's deck.
He read every card and smiled.
"So she does still use those, huh? I wonder if she…"
Terry was interrupted as he bumped into something, which caused him and it to fall down to the ground.
"Hey man, watch where you're…" Terry began before opening his eyes fully and seeing her lying there on the ground, green hair sloppily covering one eye.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Kotori gasped, looking at Terry. "Did I hurt…Terry Airedale? Is that you?"
"Kotori Mizuki?" Terry asked as though he didn't know it was her in the first place. "Oh my goodness! What are you doing here?"
Kotori returned Terry's smile with a friendly one of her own. "I'm competing in the World Duel Carnival, of course! What about you?"
"What a coincidence! I'm doing the same!" Terry laughed, scratching his blonde hair with one hand.
"Wow," Kotori giggled. "It's a small world! How's your new school?"
Terry shrugged. "It's a hit and miss type ordeal. I don't really think it's right for me."
"That's too bad," Kotori pouted, picking herself up and brushing the dirt off of her skirt. "Say, I'd love to catch up sometime! How about we meet up again soon?"
"Sure," Terry said with hearts in his eyes before realizing that he had a perfect shot for his boss's plan to unfurl. "Say, how about we have a duel right now? What do you say?"
Kotori frowned, genuinely sad. "I would love to, but I've got to go to the beach. I'm meeting Yuma Tsukumo."
Terry's smile turned sour when he heard the final two words. "Oh…You and Yuma, huh?"
He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly before continuing slowly.
"So…are you two going out now?" he asked bluntly.
Kotori blushed, alarmed by the abruptness of such a question. "M-me and Yuma? N-no, no we're…not."
But I wish we were, Kotori thought with a sigh.
"Oh, that's good," Terry responded, before realizing the fault in his statement. "I mean…that's good that you're…uhh, that's good that you're meeting him. You two must be talking about something important and stuff, huh?"
Kotori shrugged. "I don't know, actually. He didn't say why he wanted to meet me at sunset. He said it was some kind of secret."
"Well, you've still got some time right?" Terry asked, ignoring Kotori's statement. "It's only early sunset right now. You can still make it to your date with Yuma if we hurry the duel up."
"Terry, really," Kotori shook her head, "I would love to, but I can't right now."
"Oh, okay," Terry grimaced.
He took a step back before he fell down on the ground.
"Terry!" Kotori cried out, running over to him and leaning down to check on the boy. "Are you alright?"
"I should be…" Terry began before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a piece of cloth. "That is… I should be asking you that same question!"
He put the cloth up to Kotori's face over her mouth and nose while she inhaled it in during a moment of surprise. Terry watched as Kotori's eyes began to roll into the back of her head before they closed and her body collapsed on the ground.
"Perfect," he spoke aloud before standing up and slinging Kotori's unconscious body over his arm.
"W-where am I?" Kotori asked as she awoke.
"Sorry about the chloroform napkin, but you said you wanted to go to the beach, so that's where I brought you," Terry responded from a fair distance away. "Well, sort of…"
Kotori fully opened her eyes as her consciousness began returning. She saw Terry with a smooth, ebony D-Pad on his right arm and an array of beat-up cards inside of it. Then she looked down and saw her own D-Pad attached to her left arm with her deck secured inside its slot.
"Isn't it lovely?" Terry asked, pointing behind Kotori.
The girl took a look back and saw the beach underneath her…literally. She was perched atop a thousand foot cliff that overlooked the beach. She was twenty feet away from the edge of the click, but she still felt unsafe.
"Listen, Terry," Kotori gulped, trying to rabidly yank the D-Pad off of her arm, "this isn't funny. Just let me go."
She continued to pull at the D-Pad, but nothing happened. She remained cemented in place.
"Why can't I move?" she wheezed nervously.
Terry moved his left arm a bit and a red rope appeared momentarily.
"It's called a Duel Anchor, and you're not allowed to move while it's in motion. It's a prototype gift from my benefactor!"
"Benefactor?" repeated Kotori.
She shook her head to remove that idea and get back to the main one at hand.
"Let me go! You can't do this!"
"I'm afraid that I can, my sweet Kotori," Terry pouted. "Until this we duel and its completed, the Duel Anchor can't be broken. Them's the rules."
Kotori glared at Terry before she looked down at the people on the beach.
"Yuma!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping to get Yuma's attention, if he was there. Or anyone's attention for that matter. "Yuma!"
"They can't hear you," Terry said, shaking his head. "We're too high up for them to hear you."
Kotori saved her breath and turned back to Terry.
"What do you say, Kotori? Humor me in one simple duel and I'll let you go free. I'll even use a deck full of weak cards."
Kotori tried to move again, but the Duel Anchor weighed her down.
"I guess I don't have a choice, do I?" she gulped, to which Terry nodded.
"Fine then…"
Kotori looked at her deck and closed her eyes.
Yuma, please help me during this duel…
"Are you almost ready over there?" Terry asked, eyeing Kotori suspiciously.
The girl nodded.
"Then let's duel!"
Kotori Mizuki – 8000 LP
Terry Airedale – 8000 LP
"You can go first, my sweet Kotori," Terry smiled, bowing his head in a gentlemanly fashion.
"I was going to anyway, Terrance," frowned Kotori as she picked up her sixth card. A small smile crossed her face as she saw that her use of Terry's full name upset the blonde a bit.
Then she refocused her attention onto her hand, trying to formulate the best plan imaginable. She picked up one of the cards after careful deliberation and gracefully threw it on his D-Pad.
"I summon Flower Girl – Tulip in Attack Position!"
A petite, but rather independent girl no more than the age of eleven appeared in front of Kotori. The child had lovely violet tulips sewn onto her dress that she touched with her French-tipped fingernails. She reached into her flower basket to momentarily pull out a mirror and check the amount of mascara underneath her eyes. (1600 ATK)
"Still playing with the Flower Girl series, are we?" Terry asked in his best suave voice. "Very cool, very cool."
Kotori's frown still wouldn't cease, however. Instead of directly answering Terry, she instead just set a facedown card behind her monster.
"I'll end like this."
"If you say so," Terry shrugged as he picked up a card of his own.
No more than two seconds later, three facedown cards formed in front of Terry, one in his monster slot and the other two in his Spell/Trap zone.
"I'll make it easy on you by ending my turn with these three facedowns," Terry smiled. "Pretty nice of me not to attack you, huh?"
"You know," Kotori said slowly, "I'm starting to wonder if you even have something in your hand that could have defeated my Flower Girl in the first place."
"I-I so did," Terry stuttered, getting fed up with playing nice for Kotori. "Just make your move already!"
"Be careful what you wish for, Terry," Kotori said, finally breaking her frown with a smile as she eyed what she'd previously picked up from her deck. "It might just come true!"
A purple portal opened up on the ground next to Flower Girl – Tulip, bringing with it another copy of that same monster. The second Tulip's dress was a tad brighter in color and the mascara on this one was traded in for an overwhelming amount of ruby lipstick. (1600 ATK)
"You summoned two copies of the same monster?" Terry wondered curiously. "That seems pretty odd."
"Not at all," Kotori remarked. "That's the only way that their effects go off! And because I have two Flower Girl – Tulip monsters, they both gain an additional 800 ATK!"
Terry gasped as the doppelgangers linked their hands together, transferring their respective, indigo auras. Their baskets turned from a plain beige hue to a heavenly white as they moved back to their original positions. (1600 – 2400 ATK x 2)
"And unless I'm not mistaken, there's a very low possibility that you're hiding a monster there with more DEF than my Tulips have ATK. But just to be safe, let's test that theory! I'm sending my Flower Girl – Tulip to attack your facedown monster with Tulip Twister!"
One of the Tulips, the second one with the lightly lavender dress, jumped up in the air three times. The first jump gave her very little airtime, while the second one nearly quadrupled the first result. The third try launched her a good twenty feet into the air where she began to spin around, causing the tulip petals to fall off of her dress. The discarded petals twirled around in Tulip's gravitational force, creating a typhoon that employed flowers in lieu of water. The violent storm was just about to suck up Terry's facedown monster before the boy intervened.
"Sorry Kotori, but I'm going to activate my facedown card to destroy your attacking monster! Sakuretsu Armor!"
A thick layering of armor coated Terry as he jumped in the way of his defenseless monster. The typhoon struck his armor relentlessly, but the boy wouldn't budge. When the eleven year-old girl was tuckered out, she fell back down to the ground just in time for Terry to run over to Kotori's side of the field and ambush her. The second Flower Girl – Tulip screamed as Terry pushed her face down on the ground, gripped her arms in his hands and, while crushing her back with his iron foot, yanked on her limbs until they became dislocated. The small girl exploded quickly afterwards as Kotori and the remaining Tulip winced in pain.
"Terry…that was just brutal," Kotori whispered.
Terry pointed to Kotori's manacles and shrugged. "As you can see, I've done far worse things than that."
Then he pointed to Kotori's second Tulip as his armor began to evaporate.
"By the way, I don't believe that your destroyed Flower Girl is the only one who suffers from that blow!"
Indeed the male teenager was accurate in his statement because the living Flower Girl – Tulip's ATK score dropped the second it was abandoned. (2400 – 1600 ATK)
"I guess I can manage," Kotori sighed. "Flower Girl – Tulip, it's your turn to take out his monster!"
The same process repeated itself as another florid tornado spun out of Kotori's control and into Terry's territory. Only this time, the boy didn't bother to stop the assault because it was stopped by his facedown monster as it flipped up.
"What the…" said Kotori as she saw Terry's monster in all its entirety.
The creature looked a lot like a bulky, flamingo pink robot with mechanical hands and arms. Pink wings lifted the monster a few inches above the ground as the magnet around its next repelled Tulip's attack. Yellow circles scanned the area out of a dark visor as the new creature with a magnet around its neck took in its surroundings. However, what really threw off Kotori was the Superman-like "S" marked on the midsection of the robot's chest. (1800 DEF)
"Now you know why I wanted to get rid of one of those Tulips so badly," Terry smirked. "If there's just one, then there's no way that it can stand a chance against my Gamma the Magnet Warrior!"
A small inkling of pain hit Kotori as her attack backfired.
"Be that as it may," she wheezed, exhaling her anger and fear of what Terry could have been planning, "I'm ending my turn now. And thanks to Flower Girl – Tulip's…"
"I know how they work," Terry harshly interrupted. "And I'd think twice about using that effect if I were you, because I'm going to activate the Search Exploder Continuous Trap!"
Terry's other facedown lifted as he began a speech that reminded Kotori a lot of the various medicine commercials on television.
"Are you tired of letting your opponent's take monsters from their deck with Sangan's effect? Has Witch of the Black Forest got you down? Then maybe it's time to ask your duel doctor for a prescription of Search Exploder!
"Yes folks, Search Exploder! A possible side effect is, but is not limited to, your opponent losing 1000 life points each time they take a Monster Card from their deck and add it to their hand via a card effect!"
Kotori gulped loudly as she tried processing it through.
"So you're saying that if I use my Flower Girls effects to take a monster from my deck and add it to my hand, I'll lose 1000 life points in the process?"
"That's correct," nodded Terry. "You can have your monster and lose life points, or you can choose to forego your monster's effect completely and save some points. It's your call."
Kotori bit her lip, internally struggling to come up with a solution. She sighed, understanding the only one available.
"I won't use my Flower Girl – Tulip's effect. I'll end my turn now."
"That's more like it," Terry smirked. "You're so cute when you submit!"
Chills shot up Kotori's spine like a rocket as she furiously shouted at Terry to make his turn while simultaneously calling him rather inappropriate names.
Kotori – 7800 LP
Terry – 8000 LP
"As you wish," Terry smiled, deflecting the verbal insult. "My move!"
With a swift movement of his right hand, Terry picked up his next card.
"Oh, would you look at that?" he said, flipping the card around for Kotori to see. "I'm going to summon out Beta the Magnet Warrior!"
Another monster made famous by the original King of Games formed on the field next to its magnetic brother. This one was a sleek, but dated armor color who's body, head, and hands (aside from its magnet-shaped fingers) were nothing more than circular stones. The magnets from both of the stony monsters brought the two creatures closer to one another, but failed to connect them completely. (1700 ATK)
"Another Vanilla monster?" Kotori wondered aloud. "I wonder what his aim is…"
"I'd focus more on the ATK scores rather than my strategy," Terry recommended. "Especially since Beta not only has more ATK than your Tulip, but since I'm also switching Gamma into Attack Position!"
The predominately pink automaton floated down to the ground, opting to stand on its metalline two feet. (1500 ATK)
This might hurt, Kotori gulped as she braced herself while Beta flew over to her Tulip. The monster outstretched both of its stout arms and the magnets emitted an unseen polarity at Kotori's monster. Nothing happened at first, but suddenly Kotori's monster started to scream in maddening pain. Kotori tried to locate the source of Tulip's pain, however it was evident as Beta's invisible magnetism became seeable. Out of nowhere, Flower Girl – Tulip was torn in two parts, splitting her body and instantly killing her.
Kotori watched with a horrified disgust as the unmoving cadaver dropped to the ground before evaporating into light particles. She quickly prayed that the same fate wouldn't befall her before Terry's voice reigned supreme again.
"Gamma the Magnet Warrior, I command you to attack Kotori directly! Magnetic Mash!"
Gamma stood in place and extended both of its fists at Kotori. While remaining stationary, the inner parts of the robot whirred as the gears turned and its fists lengthened far enough to punch Kotori's stomach with a grand amount of force. The girl dropped to one of her knees.
"Feeling weak?" Terry asked while picking up another card in his hand and placing it in his D-Pad's back row. The augmented image of a reversed card appeared while Kotori began to regain her footing.
"Not a chance," she coughed, motioning to her Graveyard. "In fact, I'm going to use my Flower Girl – Tulip's effect to take another Flower Girl from my deck and add it to my hand!"
"What are you, blind?" Terry snarled, pointing to his face-up Trap. "If you do that, Search Exploder will inflict 1000 damage to you!"
Kotori shrieked momentarily while a card slipped out of her D-Pad and into her hand as a pink aura enveloped her body. Adding insult to injury, she fell back down on the ground before she even had a chance to fully recover from Gamma's punches.
"Then what does that tell you about my strategy?" Kotori asked weakly with a hint of a smile on her face.
Kotori – 5200 LP
Terry – 8000 LP
She drew another card wordlessly and investigated her ever-thinning amount of options. Creating what she hoped would be a plausible escape route, Kotori decided to enact her strategy.
"First of all, I'm going to activate my Call of the Haunted Trap to bring back my Flower Girl – Tulip!"
The aforementioned monster made its third appearance, good as new but glaring at Terry with a fiery vengeance burning inside of its heart. (1600 ATK)
"And furthermore, I'm also summoning out the Flower Girl – Honeysuckle from my hand to the field!"
The monster that Kotori had taken the turn prior via Tulip's special ability flew down from the sky and landed stylishly on the cold ground. Unlike all of the other Flower Girls, this one had wings attached to her dress (although they were truly nothing more than a symbol of the peeling flower that she represented) and a sparkling earring in her right ear. She stumbled in her high heels as she tried to balance her landing better. (1500 ATK)
Terry's stomach rumbled. "Man, all this talk about honey and food is really starting to make me hungry. I think I might get a burger after I hand you over to my boss."
"Sorry," Kotori glowered, "but I don't think they serve that type of high price cuisine in the juvenile hall where you're about to go!"
"Ha ha," Terry laughed, somewhat sarcastically and somewhat for real. "That's funny and all, but I don't plan on being caught by the police, mainly because I don't plan on you winning the duel and being able to tell them."
"I hope you haven't set those plans into stone," Kotori said, "because they're about to be changed! I'm using my Flower Girl – Honeysuckle's special ability to transfer a specific card from my deck to my hand!"
Another card fell into Kotori's hand and she turned it around for Terry to see that it was a Spell rather than a Monster card.
"And since I didn't take a monster with my Flower Girl's effect, I won't take the damage from your Search Exploder Trap!"
"Not too bad," Terry said, staring at the two Level 4 monsters on Kotori's side of the field. "However, you don't fool me! You're obviously planning to Xyz Summon and go for your Rose Bride with those two monsters. And once you do that, you're just going to try and destroy my Search Exploder before it ends up devastating you completely.
"But guess what? You didn't count on me being one step ahead of you with every move that you make! I activate my Continuous Trap Card, Dissonance!"
Another continuous Trap lifted up, revealing a picture of two red-faced women arguing and shouting.
"And this Trap is a lot like its counterpart, Discord, in that neither you nor I can Xyz Summon for three whole turns now! With that being said, it looks like I've sealed off another one of your plans!"
"Almost," Kotori corrected, causing a perplexed look from Terry. "You almost sealed off my plans, had it not been for the fact that I never intended to summon Rose Bride in the first place!"
"You…didn't?" Terry lethargically inquired. "Then if that wasn't your real aim, what is?"
"This is!" Kotori shouted, placing the card that she had taken with Honeysuckle's effect into her D-Pad. "I activate the Ritual Spell card, Rite of the Flower Girls!"
Floral bracts rained down from the sky regularly, dancing around Kotori's green hair and the two female children on her side of the field as she explained through the spectacle.
"Although it isn't necessary that I sacrifice Flower Girl monsters specifically for my Ritual Summon, since I'm going to do so, my monster will gain a special effect!"
Terry grimaced as he watched both Flower Girls, winged and human, fade away and descend into Kotori's cemetery slot. Then the girl with the green hair further elaborated.
"By sacrificing my Level 4 Flower Girl – Honeysuckle and my other Level 4 Flower Girl – Tulip, I'm able to Ritual Summon a Level 8 monster!"
An oblong shaped created by the jade petals from the downpour began to illuminate, forming a portal from another dimension as seen by the unearthly designs inside the gateway.
"Thorns of justice intertwine with a long, flowing stem of beauty! Petals dance and glide as a new flower blossoms from within! Reveal yourself to the world and grace us with your presence. Ritual Summon! Bridesmaid – Chrysanthemum!"
Slowly a monster began to arise from the portal. The first thing that could be seen was a platinum tiara which the wearer sported with a boastful arrogance. The next feature was the woman's beautifully youthful face, which looked as cosmetically enhanced as much as it was surgically altered. Lovely garnet lips puckered as the woman stood with a hand on her hips underneath her ornamental lavender gown. She remained defenseless, save for the unusually constrictive hair tie that kept the bun of her lilac hair in place. (2600 ATK)
"What the heck?" Terry said, mouth agape while doing so. "I thought you deck was only Flower Girl monsters, not these Bridesmaids!"
"It is," Kotori sighed. "There are just more categorizations than you see here. My regular Effect Monsters are Flower Girls, my Xyz Monsters are Brides and Grooms, my Rituals are Bridesmaids, and heck, there are even some Best Man Fusions Monsters!"
"Sounds confusing," the boy with limited intelligence retorted.
"Well then, allow me to take your mind off that topic and onto this one!" Kotori shouted while pointing to her Bridesmaid.
"Remember when I said that sacrificing my Flower Girls for the Ritual Summoning would behoove me?"
Terry nodded hesitantly.
"Well you're about to see how because for the remainder of the turn, I can select one of the Ritual Material monsters in my Graveyard…"
Kotori reached into her discard slot and came out wielding Flower Girl – Tulip like the card was a semi-automatic weapon.
"And next, all of Tulip's ATK points are relocated to my Bridesmaid – Chrysanthemum!"
The woman's bodacious body became even more slender and appealing as she aged backwards to a young-looking 21. (2600 – 4200 ATK)
"Ho boy…" Terry shook.
"If you think that's frightening, then you haven't seen anything yet! Chrysanthemum, go! Attack his Beta the Magnet Warrior with Petal Pirouette!"
Like a spry and nimble ballerina, the Bridesmaid monster outstretched her leg and began to twirl around in a perfect circle. While doing so, leftover, scattered petals left by Tulip and Honeysuckle ensnared the spinning woman, twisting in cadence with her. Abruptly the spinning stopped and the leaves all fell on the ground, leaving no trace of Chrysanthemum. Terry was about to ask where she was, but he nearly jumped out of his shoes when he saw that the woman was behind his Beta the Magnet Warrior, pushing the monster down and hitting it twice with her Stiletto heel like the magnet was an insect.
Terry fell backwards as the explosion created by the rampant woman took the wind out of his lungs.
"And moreover," Kotori spoke, too impatient to wait for Terry to recover, "I can use Chrysanthemum's effect to take a Flower Girl monster from my Graveyard and add it to my hand, so long as it doesn't surpass the ATK score of Beta!"
Flower Girl – Honeysuckle returned back to Kotori asked she smiled.
"Looks like I can still get past both of your Traps, doesn't it? I end my turn!"
It was only after Kotori ended her statement that Bridesmaid – Chrysanthemum reverted back to her elder form. (4200 – 2600 ATK)
Kotori – 5200 LP
Terry – 5500 LP
"If you think, even for a second, that some old, wrinkly hag with sissy flowers on her dress is going to take me down, you've got another thing coming!" Terry barked at the top of his lungs. "And I'm going to show you with this!"
He added another card to his hand before playing a different one.
"I use my Silent Doom Spell!"
A large fist materialized in front of Terry. The fingers opened and its grip loosened while a monster dropped from the disembodied mitt. Beta the Magnet Warrior sat with its arms crossed, trying its hardest to protect itself while Gamma watched with pity and sympathy. (1600 DEF)
"How did Beta return?" Kotori gasped.
"What?" Terry questioned. "Did you think my Silent Doom was just for show? It has an effect, you know; one which allows me to revive one Normal Monster and place it in Defense Position. And lucky for me, I had one that fit the bill nicely!"
"It doesn't matter," Kotori shrugged, trying her best to look and sound nonchalant and blasé. "Thanks to your own Dissonance Trap, you can't use either of those monsters as Xyz Material for two more turns!"
"Xyz Materials?" Terry asked as he began to cackle unattractively. "Who said that I was going to use these two monsters for an Xyz Summon?"
"But…" Kotori gulped, looking from Beta to Gamma nearly ten times in a row.
"I'm going to do exactly what you did!" Terry smirked. "I'm going to swerve around my Dissonance Trap and use my monsters from something greater than anything an Xyz Monster can produce!"
He flipped over another card and Kotori vaguely recognized the monster on it. Alpha the…something or other.
"Watch out," Terry warned, "because here comes trouble! I unite the Magnet Warriors Gamma and Beta on my side of the field as well as Alpha the Magnet Warrior in my hand…"
The two monsters on the field gravitated closer to one another as a third monster bridged the gap in between them. This one had the head of a magnet as well as the shoulder blades while it carried with it a lime green shield and sword. Its lanky limbs expanded, connecting to the magnet warrior on either side of it and combining them all into one.
"To create the fearsome, the mighty, the all-powerful…"
All three monsters flew up into the air and a high-pitched noise pierced Kotori's ears. She screamed, trying to fight the sound as she desperately watched the exhibition in the sky unfold. All three of Terry's monsters began to tremble and when all of a sudden they all fell apart into nearly thirty separate pieces. Then, an electromagnetic rectangle boxed in the various bits and pieces before a sparkling, golden surge of electricity flowed through the square zone. The static that stuck to the pieces were enough to create a clinging charge which melded each piece to one another. Before Kotori knew it, all thirty pieces were now connected to generate one soul entity that flew down from above.
It was plainly evident where the three separate Magnet Warriors came into play within the structure of the solitary machine. Gamma's shimmering and rosy wings and feet were carefully screwed onto the frame of the monster. Most of the body of the creature, which consisted of its arms, legs, and the sword it proudly brandished belonged to Alpha. The head of the single thing as well as a few sporadic ovals of amber were the property of the infused Beta. A sharp horn stuck up atop its helmed head like the spiked piece of a Mohawk. (3500 ATK)
"Valkyrion the Magna Warrior!"
Fear began to plant its seeds inside Kotori's mind and doubt proceeded to water those same seeds. Kotori's lips began to chap as her mouth became unbearably dry.
"Feel the sheer terror? The dread? The despair?" Terry mocked. "Well, let me amplify those feelings! Valkyrion the Magna Warrior attacks Chrysanthemum with Magnet Polarity Pulsation Slash!"
Clouds covered the lovely sunset, creating twisted shadows and darkness. Thunder started clapping loudly as a bolt of lightning shot down from three of the shapeless billows above. The strike hit Valkyrion's raised blade, giving it a positively electrical charge. The magnetic monster lowered its weapon and aimed it at Chrysanthemum, who stood there unmoving out of shock. The lightning charge that rested inside the sword relocated to the tip of the weapon and when Valkyrion gripped the blade's hilt tightly, the bolt shot and electrocuted Chrysanthemum immediately, causing a midsized explosion.
"As you can see," Terry shouted over the explosion, "since I have no more cards in my hand, my turn is over."
Kotori – 4300 LP
Terry – 5500 LP
Kotori clutched her stomach as she weakly rebounded back to her feet. Her toes all stung as she did so, but she defiantly muddled through the pain.
She looked down at the four cards in her hand which consisted of (from left to right) Flower Girl – Honeysuckle, Bridal Bouquet, Flower Girl – Rhododendron, and a Trap card named Together Forever.
Nothing in my hand can help me, Kotori thought. Even if I could use Bridal Bouquet for an Xyz Summon, Honeysuckle is Level 4 and Rhododendron is Level 3 and Wedding Reception won't do any good without a certain card…I guess it all comes down to this draw.
"Here goes something," Kotori gulped. "Draw!"
She picked up a card and frowned.
Magic Planter? Why do I even have this card in…?
And then Kotori realized, looking back to her field where the useless Call of the Haunted still remained. Since her Flower Girl – Tulip was tributed for the Ritual Summon instead of properly being destroyed, the Trap had never successfully gone to the Graveyard.
And that meant that…
"I can use my Magic Planter Spell to send one Continuous Trap to my Graveyard!"
She pointed to Call of the Haunted as it turned into granules of light and floated into the sunlit sunset.
"And after that, I can draw two extra cards!"
"Remember that if either of those is a monster, you'll lose 1000 life points!" Terry exclaimed giddily.
Kotori closed her eyes, trying to hope against hope that neither of them would be Monsters. She picked up the top two and looked at them, turning both of them over for Terry to see.
The first one was her Wall of Thorns Trap, but the second one was another Ritual Monster.
Search Exploder activated, creating a thick layer of unbeatable smoke which cut of most of Kotori's breathing and burned her milky eyes until the noxious fumes ceased.
"That brings me that much closer to winning," Terry smirked arrogantly. "Unless, of course, you would like to give up now."
"Not with what I have in mind," Kotori replied. "You're the only one who's about to be defeated!"
She picked her body up off the ground, but couldn't fully stand. She was stuck on one knee from the vicious twinges of pain.
I guess I can manage like this, she thought.
"Alright, Terry," she huffed heavily. "I think it's time to take you down a peg or two! And I'm going to do it by summoning Flower Girl – Honeysuckle again!"
The angelic female child floated down from above, covered in a heavenly radiance. She bent down near Kotori, looking for a possible way to help her master. (1500 ATK)
"And you remember her effect," said the fallen girl with green hair. "I can take a Ritual Spell from my deck and add it straight to my hand."
A second copy of Rite of the Flower Girls stuck out of Kotori's deck and she took it while the rest of the cards auto-shuffled.
"And now to activate it by sacrificing my Level 4 Honeysuckle with the Level 3 Rhododendron in my hand in order to Ritual Summon a woman like no other!"
The winged Flower Girl flew up into the sky with the illusory form of the youngest Flower Girl as they drifted further from Earth and closer to heaven. When they were out of sight, Kotori's and Terry's eyes were drawn to a powerfully bright flash of light in the sky. The shape resembled a golden orb that plummeted down to the ground like a shooting star, landing in the middle of the battlefield. But what the thing was wasn't even close to a star.
The broken ground underneath the thing (which was soon revealed to be a woman) repaired itself as the soil and grass revived. The adult walked over to Kotori and put a hand on the girl's cheek, instantly revitalizing the teenager and rejuvenating her spirits. The woman turned around, dragging her raspberry colored dress along the soft grass as she extended her veiled arms in front of Kotori. By doing so, she created a maroon barrier that shielded her and Kotori, to an extent. (2400 ATK)
"What is that?" Terry hissed, practically spitting the word 'that' on the ground like it was cold medicine.
"She is called Bridesmaid – Passiflora," Kotori responded. "And she's got quite an interesting effect…But first, the effect of my Rite of the Flower Girls activates, giving Passiflora an extra 1500 ATK from Honeysuckle!"
The woman's colorful shield expanded, encompassing all of Kotori's body now. (2400 – 3900 ATK)
"And the funny thing about Passiflora flowers, or passion flowers, is that they actually have healing qualities. But Passiflora is the exact opposite because on the turn she's summoned, if I skip my Battle Phase, I can inflict damage to you equal to her current ATK!"
Had Terry been born with the ability to fly, his eyes would currently be deemed as either flying saucers or some other form of UFOs.
"That's right!" Kotori grinned. "Passiflora, show your stuff with Fervent Fever!"
In an instant, Passiflora's pretty red shielding dissipated and her hands began to glow a deep blood red. Drops of blood then started to drip from her fingers as she squeezed her hand into a fist, causing blood to fly in about six different directions, one of which was on Terry. He thought that the red goo was benign until it started moving around like sentient slime and constricting his arms and legs and setting a small fire to his clothes. When the boy cried uncle, Passiflora turned to her usually good-natured self and returned to her job of defending Kotori.
"And after I set these two cards, that'll be that," Kotori said, setting her Together Forever Trap behind Passiflora as well as her Wall of Thorns.
Passiflora sighed as her power decreased. (3900 – 2400 ATK)
Kotori – 3300 LP
Terry – 1600 LP
Terry's shirt emitted a bit of smoke as he tried dousing the fire with spit. When all else failed, he resorted to taking off the constricting fabric and stomping on it. However, the shirt was, for the most part, impossible to be worn again for the fabric had mostly been decimated. The dog-loving child sighed, but tried to play the angle as best he could.
"Like what you see?" he asked Kotori debonairly.
"If you mean me in the lead now, then yes," Kotori snappily responded, quick as the wind.
"Ha ha," Terry responded grimly. "Well if you think that's funny, then this is going to be hilarious!"
"Before you do anything, I'm activating my Together Forever Trap!"
One of Kotori's facedowns flipped up and shone a bright pink. Suddenly Bridesmaid – Passiflora glowed the same hue.
"Due to my Trap, since Passiflora lost her ATK bonus last turn, she can gain the ATK points she lost for as long as she's equipped with this!"
Passiflora gave a battle cry as her pink aura turned to a fiery red. (2400 – 3900 ATK)
"No matter," Terry sneered.
He picked up his card and began laughing madly.
"I guess it was hilarious…for me!" he cried. "And you're about to see why once I disassemble my Valkyrion the Magna Warrior!"
"Disassemble?" Kotori repeated.
"That's right," Terry said as Valkyrion flew up into the air and detached itself. "I can break up Valkyrion to form the bits and pieces he's made from! Alpha, Beta, and Gamma come back to me!"
Sure enough the three original Magnet Warriors form on the field. Alpha carried his shield in front of him while his sword was facing the ground, Beta threw its magnetic hands up to the sky as if asking for a godly protection, and Gamma covered his chunky chest with his robotic limbs. (1400 ATK, 1700 ATK, and 1500 ATK respectively)
"But why would you take apart a powerful monster like Valkyrion in order to play three weaker monsters, in attack mode at that?" Kotori wondered, finding no logical pattern of thought to the strategy.
"This is why!" Terry grinned as he flipped around the card he'd just drawn and placing it into his D-Pad.
A picture of Alpha, Beta and Gamma standing together, connected by Beta's magnet hands appeared.
"I activate the Magnetic Attraction Spell, which can only be played if Alpha, Beta, and Gamma are on the field at the same time! By doing so, I'm able to draw 3 cards, one for each of my Magnet Warriors!"
Terry looked down at his deck and picked up the top three cards leisurely.
"Oh, what do you know?" Terry smirked. "It's one of the cards that I was looking for!"
"Do I want to know?" Kotori gulped as more fear grew inside.
Terry deflected the question and played the card anyway.
"I activate the Brave Attack Spell!"
A space-time ripple appeared on the field, causing everything to shake and blur. Kotori questioned her vision as she believed that she'd seen Alpha and Beta explode, but when the wave finished, it was true. Beta and Alpha were gone.
Then her attention was turned to Gamma, who had suddenly become glowing and three times bigger.
"What in the world?"
"It's the effect of my Brave Attack," Terry shrugged. "Beta and Alpha had to perish in order to use it, but those losses are acceptable. Especially since Gamma gains their combined ATK totals!"
(1500 – 4600 ATK)
"700 damage," Kotori muttered under her breath. "That's not so bad…"
"You misunderstand," Terry disagreed. "This duel is over after I activate my Quick-Play Spell Shrink!"
Out of the blue, Bridesmaid – Passiflora's barrier began to lose its lustrous qualities before disappearing altogether. The woman gasped as she was unable to fulfill her duty. (3900 – 1200 ATK)
"1200 ATK?" Kotori shouted confusedly. "How is that possible when Shrink's effect cuts my monster's ATK in half? It should be 1950!"
"That would be the case," Terry agreed, "if Shrink cut current ATK instead of original!"
Kotori's heart raced a little faster before she remembered that she had an ace in the hole. She looked at her facedown Shrink card, her security blanket.
Alright, Terry she thought confidently, trying to shake off the fear. Do your worst!
"Here comes the end!" Terry shouted, pointing the final card in his hand at Passiflora. "Gamma attacks your Bridesmaid monster with Overcharge Shockwave!"
Gamma the Magnet Warrior took flight with its oversized wings and hovered above the sunset sky like a giant blimp. When it was directly above Passiflora, the pink android retracted its wings and fell downward at a heightened acceleration.
"Hold on a minute!" Kotori screamed, flipping her Trap card face-up. "I activate Wall of Thorns!"
A large, rectangular hedge of green spikes formed around Passiflora, effectively forming a blockade that protected her from the still-plummeting Gamma's assault.
"Due to the effect of this card, since you were gullible enough to try and attack my Bridesmaid, I can activate this Trap which destroys your Gamma before it destroys Passiflora!"
The vines growing around the Bridesmaid curved upward and attempted to grab hold of Gamma's arms to stop the assault. However, when the thorny roots attempted to do so, Gamma swatted them away, as well as the rest of the growth that shrouded Passiflora.
"What's happening?" Kotori questioned in shock.
"Did you really think that I wasn't prepared for that the whole time?" Terry sighed. "You should know better by now, Kotori."
He flipped around the last card in his hand and the card known as My Body as a Shield materialized on his field.
"Thanks for leaving me with 1600 life points," Terry grinned, "because this Quick-Play Spell cost 1500 to use! And by doing so, I can negate the effect of your Wall of Thorns and destroy it!"
Passiflora broke out of the vines as they attempted to suffocate her in their own overbearing grasp.
"And by doing so, the attack continues as it normally would! So that means that the same result I've been talking about from the beginning is going to happen here!"
Kotori couldn't believe her eyes as her Trap exploded into megapixels right before Gamma came crashing down atop Passiflora. The woman gave one quick and immediate scream before the sound of bones breaking filled the air. An explosion occurred underneath the overgrown Magnet Warrior as Kotori received the impact of not only the attack, but that very same explosion.
The green-haired girl shrieked and toppled backwards, reaching the edge of the cliff and nearly falling off it. A loud buzzer sounded for all who wore a D-Gazer which signaled a win for Terry.
Kotori – 0 LP
Terry – 100 LP
"Not bad for a bunch of outdated cards," Terry smirked, taking his D-Gazer off and placing it in his pocket. He walked over to the edge of the cliff where Kotori helplessly squirmed.
"Such a shame, Kotori," Terry sighed. "Of all the people in Heartland Elementary, I would have guessed that you'd be the best. I suppose even I make mistakes in my thinking."
With a horrible laugh, Terry reached into his pocket and grabbed a lengthy strand of rope. While Kotori was still incapacitated, he tied the string around her arms and legs like she was nothing more than a piece of cattle.
Then he reached into his shirt pocket and placed a note on the ground. After all, the whole plan would be useless unless the note was received by the right person.
Terry walked closer to the edge and looked down at the beach below. He could faintly see the image of Yuma's bright hair highlights as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone.
Being careful to click the right sequence of numbers, Terry put the cellular device up to his ear.
"Yeah it's me," he spoke, trying to be solemn although elation from his win was evident in his voice. "Yes, I've got her…Yes, the note is here….I'm coming back now. I just have to plant the last seed in our plan…Ok, sir. I won't let you down… Alright, bye."
Terry snapped his flip phone shut and looked back at Kotori. Her eyes were wide open now and she began to scream before Terry stuffed the remnant of his smoldered shirt in her mouth.
"Be quiet or you'll ruin everything," he hissed.
He bent down near Kotori's face and she began to scream through her gag as her eyes watered. Her breathing increased and her nostrils flared like crazy.
However, Terry didn't lay a finger on her. He only took the cards out of her deck and her Extra Deck.
He flipped through each one slowly, reading each card and looking at their effects.
"Garbage," he finally spoke after ten minutes of silence. "All of them garbage. And this is what happens to garbage."
He took the deck of cards and squeezed them in his right hand. Then with a dominant thrust of his arm, he threw the cards into the sunset breeze and they fluttered through the wind off the cliff and into the sea.
The water in Kotori's eyes spilled over as she watched her cards, her pride and joy, the gift she was given drift away from her and out of her life. She kept her head down as she began to cry through her mouth gag. Tears stained her face as Terry walked over to her.
"Trust me," Terry smiled, trying to feign kindness, "the worst is yet to come."
Gentle waves crashed ashore as the sand began wet. Yuma's bare feet felt the splash of the water as he retracted them. He put both of his big toes in the hot sand before scooping up a handful of the grainy substance and watching it fall as he opened his fist.
"I don't get it," Yuma sighed, looking around the sandy beach for anyone with green hair. "Kotori should be here by now. It's not like her to be late to anything."
The sunrays made it harder to scour around the beach for Kotori, but anyone with predominately green hair shouldn't have been that hard to spot in the first place. He grabbed another scoopful of the sand and poured it over his swimming trunks.
The Emperor's Key around his neck jiggled slightly as Astral emerged from it. He looked at Yuma and instantly judged the boy's glum expression in a different way.
"You look cheerless, Yuma," he stated. "Did you lose a duel without me knowing?"
"No, I didn't lose a duel!" Yuma shouted, prompting several stares from the other beach dwellers. He made a mental note to lower his voice, but when he began speaking again, it was still in the same pitch and volume.
"Kotori's not here…I'm just kind of…you know…"
"I think I understand," Astral nodded. "It is that emotion that you humans like to call love, is it not?"
Yuma nearly choked on the lump of fear inside his throat. "L-love! Don't be ridiculous! I'm just concerned for her, is all!"
"Would you share the same amount of concern if Tetsuo was late to the beach?" Astral wondered.
"Well, uhh…" Yuma said, clearly thinking over the scenario before realizing that he was only reinforcing Astral's point. "I mean, yes I'd be concerned!"
"Why did you hesitate?" Astral inquired.
"Ahh, just forget it!" Yuma frowned. "It's nothing…I guess."
Astral stopped speaking, but it didn't stop him from wondering and thinking as the waves began to collide with the beach sand again.
Yuma too was deep in thought, until he heard something that he didn't expect to. It was almost as though something had hit the water. Not something hefty, but a slight trickling sound that was enough to divert someone's attention.
His reverie broke as his eyes moved toward the water where he found the culprit of the mysterious noise.
A card had landed in the water.
Yuma looked back, thinking that the situation was rather odd seeing as though there was no one behind him throwing them in there. But as he looked up, he was struck with the answer that was as plain as day.
A whirlwind of cards, seemingly stemming from the top of the cliff that overlooked the beach, came down from above the boy. They all followed an unseen type of beeline, moving in rhythm with one another as they floated down into the water. There they became soggy and, for the most part, completely unusable.
Yuma watched as some of the ink from the rectangular pieces of paper infected the ocean water. He got up and jumped up, trying to collect as many of the cards as he could so they wouldn't contaminate the water.
Unfortunately, he failed to reach most of the cards in time because when he grabbed each one their pictures and print had been smudged off. However, the last one that fell surprisingly ended up in hands, though in the process, Yuma himself fell into the water.
He coughed up some of the stream's liquid as he look at the sole card he'd rescued. That's when he knew the reason why Kotori wasn't there. That's when he knew there was something wrong.
He immediately jumped up out of the river and looked to the cliff. He gazed at the card in his hands before wordlessly running up to reach the top of the cliff.
All of the way there, the Rose Bride card never left the binding safety of Yuma's grasp.
New/Anime Cards Shown In This Chapter –
Brave Attack (Spell)
Normal Spell
Image: An equation reading Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts + Obnoxious Celtic Guardian and Buster Blader = A charging Battleguard monster with an extended sword.
Effect: Select 1 Attack Position monster you control. Destroy all other Attack Position monsters you control and the selected monster gains ATK equal to the total ATK of the destroyed monster(s), until the End Phase. If it attacks this turn, destroy it at the end of the Damage Step.
Note: This card was first used by Yugi Muto/Mutou in Episode 146 of "Yu-Gi-Oh!" Creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.
Flower Girl – Honeysuckle (Monster)
Plant/Level 4/Effect/EARTH
1500 ATK/500 DEF
Effect: When this card is Normal Summoned: You can select and add 1 "Flower Girl" Ritual Spell Card from your deck to your hand. During the End Phase in which this card was destroyed (either by battle or by a card effect) and sent to the Graveyard, you can add 1 "Flower Girl" from your deck to your hand with less ATK than this card.
Bridesmaid – Chrysanthemum (Ritual Monster)
Plant/Ritual/Level 8/Effect/EARTH
2600 ATK/1600 DEF
Effect: Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Special Summoned by Ritual Summoning with any "Flower Girl" Ritual Spell Card. When this card destroys a monster by battle, you can add 1 "Flower Girl" monster from your Graveyard to your hand with less ATK than the destroyed monster.
Bridesmaid – Passiflora (Ritual Monster)
Plant/Ritual/Level 7/Effect/EARTH
2400 ATK/1400 DEF
Effect: Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Special Summoned by Ritual Summoning with any "Flower Girl" Ritual Spell Card. During the turn in which this card is successfully Ritual Summoned, you can inflict damage to your opponent equal to this card's ATK. This card cannot declare an attack the turn this effect is activated.
Rite of the Flower Girls (Spell)
Ritual Spell
Image: Flower Girl – Aster and Flower Girl – Rhododendron kneeling down before Bridesmaid – Passiflora.
Effect: This card can be used to Ritual Summon any "Bridesmaid" Ritual Monster. You must also Tribute monsters from the field or your hand whose total Levels equal the Level of the Ritual Monster you Ritual Summon. If you use only "Flower Girl" monsters as Ritual Material, after you Ritual Summon the Ritual Monster: You can target 1 of the Ritual Material monsters in your Graveyard; The Ritual Summoned monster gains ATK equal to that target until the End Phase.
Together Forever (Trap)
Normal Trap
Image: Violet Groom and Rose Bride holding hands on one side of the card as newlyweds and still holding hands on the opposite side of the card as angels.
Effect: Target 1 face-up monster you control; equip this card to that target. If the target loses ATK during the previous turn, you can have that face-up monster gain the same amount of ATK for as long as this card is equipped. The effect of this card can only be activated once while equipped.
Search Exploder (Trap)
Continuous Trap
Image: Trap Reactor Y FI and Spell Reactor RE hovering over a deck and monitoring the next card drawn while Summon Reactor SK watches in the background.
Effect: If your opponent adds a monster(s) from their deck to their hand outside of the Draw Phase, inflict 1000 damage to them.
Dissonance (Trap)
Continuous Trap
Image: Two large women screaming at one another until they're red in the face.
Effect: Neither player can Xyz Summon. Send this card to the Graveyard during your 3rd End Phase after activation.
Note: These previous 7 cards were first debuted in this chapter.
Author's Note: Kotori's in danger and only Yuma can save her. He runs to her rescue, but finds that he's nothing more than a pawn in the grand scheme of things. But the real question is who is the grandmaster and what are they planning? Can Yuma save Kotori when he might not be able to save himself? Find out next time!