Yu-Gi-Oh! Eternal
A Fan-Fiction by neomage
(DISCLAIMER: So now, the first half-century has gone past…how many more are there to come? And of course, I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.)
CHAPTER 51 – Icy Rage
KAIBA LAND
JANUS: 2000; KENT: 6600
Tri-Horned Dragon let out a frightful bellow as it charged horns-first toward Janus's side of the field…but then it ended up ramming into the silhouetted form of the same gray-skinned, red-armored man that had been destroyed only moments earlier! Snarling, the man grabbed the dragon's horns and wrestled against it for a long moment, just barely managing to shove it right back over to Kent's side of the field before he himself vanished into thin air. Kent, for his part, was watching all this with a dumbfounded expression. "Huh? What was THAT just now?" he cried out.
Now Janus relaxed, chuckling as he did. "Remember my facedown monster that your Cyber-Tech Alligator destroyed?" he asked. "That monster was Necro Gardna (ATK 600, DEF 1300)…and when he's in the Graveyard, I can remove him from play to negate one attack from my opponent. In other words…I'm still in this duel, whether you like it or not."
"…hmm." Kent sighed. "Oh, well…just means I'll have to wait another turn to defeat you—but considering you've got nothing on the field to help you now, that shouldn't be too hard to do. All right…I'm calling it a turn."
Not far away, Diane had a peevish expression even as she continued to observe the duel. That damn Duel Academy brat…I can't believe he lucked out right there! Well, whatever…hurry up and squash him, West!
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DUEL ACADEMY OSIRIS RED DORM, AT THAT MOMENT
"Hmm." Jiro smiled into his juice box. "So, one of the Necro Gardna cards I gave him managed to save his hide after all…"
"But now what?" Natasha protested. "If Janus doesn't get something to save himself soon, Kent'll destroy him!"
And for sure, on the TV at that moment the statistics of the duel looked very grim. Janus had a flat 2000 points, while Kent had a higher score of 6600. Janus had no cards in his hand; Kent had two, one of which they all knew already was the Violent Rain card he'd drawn earlier. Janus had absolutely nothing on his side of the field; on his side, Kent had four monsters—Cyber-Tech Alligator, Cú Chulainn the Awakened, Sorcerer of the Doomed, and Tri-Horned Dragon—in Attack Mode, plus the Symbols of Duty magic card was equipped to Tri-Horned Dragon, and Kent also had his Heart of the Underdog magic card still active.
"It doesn't have to be all that bad, Natasha," Cassara said. "After all, it's Janus's turn now, right?"
"That may be, but…the chances of him getting a card that'll help him are…" Ricardo mused.
"Dang it, Ricardo, who're you cheering for?" Natasha screeched, smacking Ricardo with a pillow.
"Actually, Natasha, Ricardo's got a point…the chances of Janus getting a suitable card for this situation are remote," said Principal Yuki.
Mrs. Rhodes-Yuki promptly picked up a hot dog and stuffed it into Principal Yuki's mouth. "Pessimist."
"Mmmph-mmph-mmmph-mmph-mmmmph!" Principal Yuki's protests were muffled by the wiener in his mouth.
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KAIBA LAND
Okay… Janus looked at his deck once again. So…it's down to this…this next card I draw will either make or break me… He took a deep breath. What will the outcome be, eh?
Draw, Janus. Draw with faith…have faith in your cards. Have faith in yourself. Have faith in the heart of the cards.
Yeah…that's right, isn't it? Janus steeled himself. Okay, heart of the cards…guide me!
Then he drew. And he looked at the card he'd drawn. And…when he saw what it was…a smile came over his face. "I activate a Magic card…Swords of Revealing Light!"
Kent's eyes threatened to pop out of his head. "What!"
But then—three shining swords of light shot down from the sky, encaging all of Kent's monsters! "I trust you know what this does, yeah?" Janus grinned. "Now, for the next three turns, none of your monsters can declare an attack…which means my life points are safe from assault!"
Kent's jaw was now slack, even as his eyes continued to bulge. "Impossible…!"
And, from her observation spot a short distance away, Diane was likewise looking on with a dumbfounded expression. "Impossible…!"
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At the Dark Lord Castle, Drake had a mixture of disbelief and rage on his face as he saw what had just happened in the duel. "Impossible…!"
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DOMINO CITY, AT THE KAIBA MANSION
Kaiba had stopped in mid-action, just as he was about to bite into a Danish roll, and looked on in utter astonishment as Janus played his card on the screen. "Impossible…!"
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YUGO MUTO'S HOUSE
Grandma Muto, Mr. and Mrs. Bakura, and Kyo all stared at what had just happened on the TV. "Impossible…!" Grandma whispered.
Standing to one side and also observing what happened, Mr. Muto smiled a little. Hmmm…perhaps not completely impossible…after all, Janus believes in the heart of the cards…it must have come through for him at just the right moment…but now the question becomes, how will the rest of this duel play out?
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DUEL ACADEMY OSIRIS RED DORM
"Ha! In your face, hater!" Natasha taunted Ricardo.
"Hey, now…I never said it was impossible for him to draw a card he'd needed," Ricardo muttered.
Jiro's eyes narrowed a little. Just like when he and I dueled…when he got the cards he needed just when he needed them…and there was no sign of cheating to speak of, either…is this his natural talent coming to the fore, after all?
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KAIBA LAND
"Well…since I haven't anything else to play right now, I'll end my turn," and Janus rubbed the back of his head. "Your go."
Whereupon Kent drew his next card, so now he held three. "Once again, I'll forego using the effect of my Heart of the Underdog card," he announced. "I also won't bother to use Cú Chulainn's effect to increase his ATK by removing any Normal monsters in my Graveyard from play. Instead, I'll just end my turn."
One of the Swords of Revealing Light disappeared at that moment; Kent's monsters became somewhat restless. Cocking his eyebrow, Janus drew again—but suddenly his face paled as he saw what he'd drawn. "…no…!"
"What's wrong? Drew something you can't use?" Kent queried.
"Uh…well…it's not like I can't use it later or anything," Janus replied defensively. "And anyway, there are still two more turns before the Swords of Revealing Light run out, right? By that time I'll definitely have a strategy ready for you!"
"Assuming you get the necessary cards," Kent answered…and now his voice was ominous.
"Grr…well, I call it a turn for now," said Janus.
Again Kent drew a card. "All right…I end my turn."
The second of the Swords vanished from the field; Kent's monsters began to brace forward, seemingly pushing against the remaining Sword in the process. Seeing this from where she stood, Diane couldn't help but smirk. Not bad, West…you're thinking of making those Swords of Revealing Light vanish real fast so you can end this duel quickly…and that little brat's stall tactic is nothing more than a big bluff! There's no way he can draw any cards to pull himself out of this rut in time—and surely not with how high West's life points are!
Meanwhile, Janus drew another card, so now he held two…and he didn't turn pale this time, but merely frowned as he examined the new card. Hmm…this card…and this one that I drew before…I wonder… "I end my turn."
"Hmmmm…drawing cards that you can't use…not a good way to make a comeback when your back's against the wall," Kent said in a disappointed voice as he drew his next card, to give him a total of five in hand. "But oh well, it's not like I'll lose any benefits as long as you continue playing the way you're playing. So I'll end my turn." And the last of the Swords of Revealing Light vanished from play at that moment; all four of Kent's monsters snarled at Janus, ready to pounce.
He didn't use the effects of Heart of the Underdog or of Cú Chulainn again… Janus bit his lip. So Cú Chulainn's ATK is still right where it was originally, at 500…but even if I get a monster to take down Cú Chulainn, he's still got three other monsters strong enough to take me down and out. And then… His hand went to his deck to draw. It's all down to one card…one card that'll mean the difference between my staying in this tournament and going home. But...aw, what the heck—if I was able to get the Swords of Revealing Light just at the right time, who's to say I can't another good draw now, right? So…here goes nothing!
And he drew, so now he held three cards. "Now, let's see what I've gotten," he said, and he looked at the card. "Hmm…I see…"
"Eh?" Kent cocked an eyebrow.
Presently Janus looked up. "Hey, Kent…to tell you the truth, for a little while I was really starting to wonder if I was going to lose here. You really do handle your deck well, even if it consists mainly of Normal monsters."
Kent smiled at the compliment. "Thank you," he answered. "And you're not too bad a duelist yourself…making little comebacks here and there, just enough to let you stay in the duel. You've got a lot of endurance."
"And that's what'll let me win now!" Janus held up all three cards in his hand. "Because I've got everything I need to win!"
"Hmm? Do you, now?" Kent asked.
"That's right…up to now, I've relied on the strength of cards given to me by my friends to pull through this duel, and now I've got one more friend's strength to draw on!" Janus then held up the card he'd just drawn. "Now…I summon my ace monster—Elemental Hero Neos (ATK 2500, DEF 2000) in Attack Mode!"
All at once, a burst of light erupted on Janus's side of the field—and then seconds later Neos was there, standing in a battle-ready pose. As he tightened his fists, Neos slightly turned his head. "Sorry I kept you waiting so long, Janus," he said apologetically.
Janus shook his head. "No worries, buddy," he said softly. "Let's win this, now."
"Right!" Neos turned his attention back to staring down Kent and his slew of monsters.
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Initially astonished at the warrior's appearance, Kent's face presently became calm again. "I see…now I remember," he said. "Your Elemental Hero Necroshade that I destroyed earlier…when he's in the Graveyard, you can use his effect once during the duel to Normal Summon one high-level monster without offering any tributes. That's how you were able to summon Neos, a Level 7 monster, without offering tributes."
"You really did do your homework about me," Janus grinned. "Then I guess you'll know about these next two cards I'm about to play." He held up one of the two remaining cards. "I equip Neos with this Magic card, Neos Force! It'll increase his ATK by 800 points, and when he destroys a monster in battle, you'll receive damage equal to the destroyed monster's original ATK!"
At once Neos's fists began to glow with bluish-white energy as his ATK rose to 3300. But Kent simply chuckled. "All right…so Neos is now stronger than any of my monsters on the field, but so what? Have you really taken into account what I can do to counterattack on my next turn?" he asked. "No matter which one of my monsters you attack, at the end of this turn your Neos Force card will be shuffled back into your deck, rendering your monster weak enough for one of my stronger monsters to wipe him out."
"So you've got it all figured out, huh?" Janus asked.
"That's right," and Kent gestured to his side of the field. "So, if you destroy one of my Normal monsters here on the field, on my next turn I'll simply remove that monster from my Graveyard and add his strength to Cú Chulainn's, and then my other monsters will be free to eliminate what's left your life points. And if you destroy Cú Chulainn, that will simply leave my other monsters free to decimate you. There's no escaping it."
"Oh, but I'll have to disagree with you on that one…" Janus held up the last card left in his hand. "Because I still have one more card to play, and it's a card I'll equip to Neos—my Magic card, Assault Armor!"
Suddenly, a lightning-like aura covered Neos's entire body as his ATK rose further to 3600. Kent was instantly wary. "Assault Armor? I didn't see you using that card in any of the tapes of your duels that I watched!" he shouted.
"But then again, you've never seen me use the Armor Breaker or Necro Gardna cards before, either—right?" Janus chuckled. "Anyway, let me tell you what Assault Armor does. I could only equip it to a Warrior-type monster if that monster was the only monster I had control of on the field—and of course, Neos is the only monster I'm controlling on the field at the moment, and he's a Warrior-type, so he fits the bill. But there's more…" His eyes twinkled. "During my Main Phase, I can send Assault Armor, while it's equipped to a monster, to the Graveyard…and if I do that, the monster that it was equipped to gets to attack twice during the Battle Phase this turn."
"Attack twice…NO!" Kent's eyes widened in sudden horror and realization.
"Neos, break off the Assault Armor!" Janus ordered. In response, Neos let out a battle yell as he abruptly stretched himself—and the lightning that had been coursing all over his body dispersed immediately while his ATK dropped slightly back to 3300. "All right, Neos…" Janus continued. "Time to use the lingering power of the Assault Armor combined with the strength of the Neos Force! Destroy his Tri-Horned Dragon and his Cyber-Tech Alligator!"
Neos responded in a flash. He swung one glowing fist skyward in an uppercut, creating an energy blade that cut cleanly through the Tri-Horned Dragon.
JANUS: 2000; KENT: 6150
Then, Neos swung the other fist downward, creating another energy blade that sliced Cyber-Tech Alligator in half and brought Kent's life points further down to 5350.
JANUS: 2000; KENT: 5350
Finally, Neos brought both fists back till they were positioned at his sides—then he began a blindingly fast hail of punches that ended up tearing through Cú Chulainn's armor, Sorcerer of the Doomed's undead souls, and what was left of Tri-Horned Dragon and Cyber-Tech Alligator's bodies. The barrage hit Kent, too, and he couldn't help but cry out in pain as he got violently flung backwards, his life points rapidly draining all the way to 0 in the process.
JANUS: 2000; KENT: 0
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"DAMN IT!" Drake stormed, while Kent's defeat got played out on the screen. "How the hell could Kent West lose? HOW COULD HE LOSE? NO WAY! ABSOLUTELY NOT! THAT'S NOT RIGHT!" He grabbed handfuls of his hair, seemingly ready to tear it out from the roots, even as his teeth were bared and tightly clenched.
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DUEL ACADEMY OSIRIS RED DORM
"WOO-HOO! He won! Janus won!" Principal Yuki cheered, grinning the whole while.
"Was there ever any doubt?" Mrs. Rhodes-Yuki asked.
"Actually, yeah, there was…" Natasha shot Ricardo a dirty look.
"Hey, now, don't crucify me all at once!" Ricardo protested—but that didn't spare him a pillow assault from Natasha.
"So, now Janus can advance in the tournament," Jiro chuckled.
"And he'll be putting our cards to good use the whole way," Cassara nodded. "Keep it up, Janus!"
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KAIBA LAND, IN THE MEANTIME
"…ow…" Kent's eyes were squeezed tightly shut from the pain. Bells were ringing in his head; he flinched as the concussion reminded him of its presence with a sharp stinging inside his skull. "Damn…go away, bells…"
"…uh, dude? You okay?"
"Huh?" Gingerly, Kent cracked one eye open…and he saw Janus standing above him, concern on his face. "Oh…hey, you. Did you happen to get the number of the train that ran me over?"
"Uh-oh…guess Neos must've attacked you a little harder than I expected." Sheepishly, Janus held out a hand. "Can you stand?"
"I…I think so." Kent took Janus's hand and allowed the other boy to hoist him up, albeit carefully. "So…I guess you won…"
"Yeah." Janus indicated his Duel-Disk; his tournament points were currently at 2000. "But I'll tell you, man, that really was a good duel!"
"Hm…yeah, it was, wasn't it?" Kent chuckled even as he looked at his own life point counter on his Duel-Disk, where the figure shown was now 0. "At least now I've got proof that your third-place finish in Dueltropolis wasn't a fluke. My hat goes off to you." And he tipped his hat slightly.
"Now I've seen everything…Kent West!"
Janus and Kent looked up as one at the voice—and beheld a woman in a blue biker outfit, with a tattoo of a flaming sword on her hand. Kent's eyes widened when he saw who it was. "Diane Chill! So…you saw it, huh?"
"I sure did." Diane's voice was like frost. "And you are nothing but a frigging disgrace to the House of Cards, West!" Then—taking both boys by complete surprise—she stomped right up to Kent and violently thrust her elbow into his face, knocking him down to the ground.
"AAAGH!" Kent cried out, clutching his suddenly bleeding nose. "BITCH! You broke my nose!" he roared, even as blood squirted out from between his fingers.
"Hey! That wasn't called for!" Janus shouted at Diane.
"Tell it to someone who actually cares, whelp," Diane turned a steely glare upon him. "At the moment, there's only one thing I care about…" She pointed right at him. "And that's your tournament points! You may have been lucky to grab 1000 from this weak-ass here," and she turned a scornful gaze upon Kent as she spoke, "but I'll be taking them from you now, in turn! And that'll mean that I'll have a total of 3000 points to go forward in this competition and win the prize that Phoenix is offering."
"Gold-digger…" Kent scowled, raising himself to his knees as he kept one hand over his broken nose.
"You shut your face! You've no right to talk after disgracing yourself like this!" Diane snapped, turning and kicking at Kent again—
—but suddenly her kick was intercepted by Janus's own leg. "Enough!" Janus yelled.
"Eh?" Diane glared at him again.
"You want to duel me…to take away my tournament points…?" Janus said softly, his eyes overshadowed. "Fine, then…you'll get your chance, here and now, if you like. But beating on somebody like this out of the blue…and when they've no chance to defend themselves, at that…unforgiveable!"
Scoffing, Diane yanked her leg away from Janus's and pulled out her Duel-Disk. "Fine, then, boy…come on, if you've really got the guts to fight me!" she declared.
"Yeah…let's go!" Janus nodded.
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Drake eyed the screen critically as Janus and Diane's respective dueling information came up. First, Janus's: Janus Yuki. Age: 14. Nationality: Japan. Professional dueling experience: 3rd place in the recently-ended Dueltropolis World Championships. Deck strategy: Elemental Heroes.
Then, Diane's: Diane Chill. Age: 22. Nationality: Russia. Professional dueling experience: Third place in Duel Monsters World Championships of 2014; fourth place in Duel Monsters World Championships of 2015; consistently in the Top 5 ranking of all collective pro-circuit tournaments from 2016 onward. Deck strategy: Ice theme.
Now, on the screen, the two duelists stood several paces away and shuffled their respective decks, while the injured Kent gingerly stood up and walked off to one side. "So much for West's pitiful performance," Drake growled. "On the other hand…I should at least be able to expect better from Diane Chill, the ice mistress. So hurry up and lose already, Janus!"
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DOMINO CITY, AT MIKI TAYLOR'S HOUSE
"My word—what kind of people has Drake Phoenix allowed to enter his tournament?" Mrs. Taylor asked angrily. "First there was Caleb Link's conduct, now this!"
"Gone are the days when duelists refrained from violent acts toward each other during tournaments," Mrs. Wheeler sighed.
"I'm not so sure about that," Mr. Wheeler put in. "Tournaments that we used to be part of had their fair share of drama, too, you know. It's just that we actually managed to live through it all."
"Doesn't excuse what these guys are doing, now, though," Mr. Taylor responded sternly. "And Drake's to blame—he should've known that these duelists couldn't be trusted to behave themselves and act with decorum in this tournament."
"Well, Janus is about to duel Diane now—let's see how it plays out," Miki suggested. "Maybe we'll see her get what's coming to her for what she did to Kent just now."
"Come on, Janus! Let's see you get your game on!" Jenna cried at the TV.
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KAIBA LAND
"Ow…" Kent flinched as he gingerly touched his swollen nose. "If it weren't for my upbringing to never hit a girl, Diane Chill, I'd turn you into a bloody stain in the dirt right now!"
"Go suck an egg, West—you're not my concern now," Diane flung at him. Then she turned her attention back to Janus. "Oy, kid, do me a favor, will you? Make sure at least that you don't turn into a little crybaby after I kick the stuffing out of you."
"Whatever," Janus scowled at her. "I'm calling first dibs on this duel!"
"As you like," Diane shrugged.
JANUS: 8000; DIANE: 8000
The two swiftly shuffled their decks and slotted them in place. Then they both quickly drew their first five cards, after which Janus drew a sixth to start off. "I summon Neo Space Pathfinder (ATK 1800, DEF 800) in Attack Mode!" Then a bright colorful portal emerged on the field, and out stepped his alien explorer. "Then I'll toss a card facedown, for later. Go."
"Hmph. I'm not impressed one bit." Diane simply drew her card. "I summon Blizzard Dragon (ATK 1800, DEF 1000) in Attack Mode!" Suddenly a bitterly cold wind blew all around them, even as a huge blue dragon emerged on Diane's side of the field, its breath being seen as white frost. "And to boost his power a little more, I'll activate this Field Magic card," Diane continued, throwing a card onto her Duel-Disk. "Umiiruka! Now all Water monsters will increase their ATK by 500 in exchange for losing 400 DEF!"
Instantly, waves began to pour all over the playing field, reaching to just below the players' knees, with numerous icebergs accompanying them. As well, Blizzard Dragon's DEF dropped to 600—but its ATK rose to 2300. "Now, Blizzard Dragon! Attack with Ice Shard Breath!" Diane commanded, and in response Blizzard Dragon spewed a whole hail of ice particles from its mouth, simultaneously shredding and freezing Neo Space Pathfinder before her body crumbled into icy dust.
JANUS: 7500; DIANE: 8000
"And it's time for me to counter that—with my Trap card, Hero Signal!" Janus turned his hand to his facedown card as it flipped face-up, and immediately a searchlight signal shot out of the surrounding icy waters and lit up the sky. "When one of my monsters is destroyed in battle and sent to the Graveyard, this card lets me Special Summon one Level 4 or lower monster from my hand or deck—and I choose Elemental Hero Avian (ATK 1000, DEF 1000), in Defense Mode!"
A moment later, the green-feathered Avian emerged on the field, crouched in a defensive stance, but Diane wasn't worried. "Now I will end my turn," she said smoothly. "And it doesn't matter how many of your little so-called heroes you try to bring out…before long, my icy brigade will take those tournament points from you, and give them to someone more deserving—namely, me!"
Janus said nothing in response, but simply drew his next card and then examined it carefully. "Here's what I'm going to do," he spoke up presently. "I'm going to take away this little ice ocean you have here, and replace it with a completely different kind of landscape…with my Field Magic card, Skyscraper!"
"Huh?" Diane reared up at that—but suddenly a whole slew of skyscrapers burst out of the water, even while the skyline changed from brightest day to starry night with a crescent moon in the distance. As well, Blizzard Dragon's stats returned to normal, much to her consternation. "No!"
"Next, I'll activate the Magic card, Polymerization!" Janus went on. "Now I can fuse together two monsters—Elemental Hero Avian on the field and Elemental Hero Burstinatrix (ATK 1200, DEF 800) in my hand in order to summon …Elemental Hero Flame Wingman (ATK 2100, DEF 1200) in Attack Mode!"
The silhouetted form of Burstinatrix appeared on the field alongside Avian for a moment; then both quickly got sucked into a vacuum that abruptly erupted out of nowhere. Then—from that same vacuum there emerged Flame Wingman, his dragon-headed right arm and left-shoulder wing twitching in anticipation. Meanwhile, Janus held up one of the two remaining cards left in his hand. "Next, I'll use my Normal Summon and call on the power of Elemental Hero Captain Gold (ATK 2100, DEF 800) in Attack Mode!" And then a moment later, Captain Gold appeared in his shining metallic armor, his red cape billowing behind him as he made himself battle-ready alongside Flame Wingman.
Diane scowled. "This is gonna be troublesome…"
"Go, Flame Wingman! Roast her Blizzard Dragon right now!" Janus cried; and Flame Wingman did just that—lifted his dragon-arm and spewed a burst of fire that incinerated Blizzard Dragon where it stood.
JANUS: 7500; DIANE: 7700
But Janus wasn't done. "And he's got a special power—when he destroys a monster and sends it to the Graveyard, you get damage to your life points equal to the ATK of that destroyed monster! Go again, Flame Wingman!" And Flame Wingman lifted his dragon-arm again, this time blasting Diane with a volley of fiery power and causing her to scream in pain.
JANUS: 7500; DIANE: 5900
"What's the matter? This duel getting too heated for you?" Janus taunted her—then he suddenly held up the very last card left in his hand. "Well, I've got even more bad news for you—now I'm going activate a Quick-play Magic card from my hand, one called De-Fusion! Now I'll return Flame Wingman to the Fusion deck, and also I can Special Summon from my Graveyard the monsters that were used to Fusion Summon him in the first place—Avian and Burstinatrix!"
"Wh-what?" Shock came over Diane's face at this news—but before she could blink, Flame Wingman's body turned into a weird spiraling shape that gradually split in twain, transforming back into Avian and Burstinatrix. "Oh, no…now he's got even more firepower…!"
"Go, Avian! Featherbreak Attack!" shouted Janus; and Avian flew skyward, flapping his wings and unleashing a hail of sharp feathers all over Diane's side of the field.
JANUS: 7500; DIANE: 4900
Then: "Burstinatrix, use your Burstfire Attack!" And in turn, Burstinatrix flung two intensely hot fireballs at Diane, both of them hitting her in the chest and scorching her.
JANUS: 7500; DIANE: 3700
And then: "Now, Captain Gold! Attack with Justice Bomb!" And Captain Gold unhooked one of the gold capsules hanging from his belt and flung it at Diane—causing a tremendous explosion on her side of the field even as the capsule inexplicably rematerialized on Gold's belt and Diane's life points dropped even more to 1600.
JANUS: 7500; DIANE: 1600
All of this Kent looked at with amazement in his eyes, even as he flinched a little bit from the pain of his broken nose. Okay…I sure wasn't expecting this kid to make such a comeback this quickly—and against Diane Chill, at that! In just one turn he's brought her life points down by over three-quarters…!
But on Diane's side, as she slowly picked herself back up with the smoke from the explosion blowing around her body, her face was a peevish mask. "Why, you…how DARE you!" she spat.
"You've no right to be scolding me," Janus returned frostily. "Not after what you just did to Kent. He didn't deserve it, even if he did lose to me."
"Him?" Diane nodded her head condescendingly at Kent. "He's just proven himself as nothing but an ignominy to us pro-league duelists! Losing against a little snot like you…!"
"Oh, please! He could've lost against anybody in this tournament!" Janus fired back. "Oh, why am I bothering? Just take your turn and let's get on with this duel!"
"Now you're making sense," Diane snorted, drawing her next card so she now held five. "And sorry to disappoint you just when you're on the verge of victory, boy, but it's about high time I reclaimed this duel from you! And I've got just the tools to do just that!" Then she held up a card. "I activate the Magic card, Cost Down! By discarding one card from my hand, I can reduce the levels of all monsters in my hand by two, till the end of this turn! And that'll make it easy for me to summon one of my ace monsters…" She discarded one card for Cost Down's effect, then held up another card from her hand. "My incredible Frostosaurus (ATK 2600, DEF 1700), come forth!"
Kent started. Aw, crap—she's gotten that big lump of ice already?
A huge gust of sub-zero wind blasted over Diane's side of the field; seconds later the icy dinosaur emerged in full view, rumbling low in its throat while its mere presence resulted in icicles forming all over Skyscraper's numerous rooftops. Then Diane held up another card. "All right…now I'll remove two Water monsters in my Graveyard from play—the Blizzard Dragon you destroyed a while ago, and the Mother Grizzly (ATK 1400, DEF 1000) that I discarded for my Cost Down's effect—to Special Summon another monster in Attack Mode…Fenrir (ATK 1400, DEF 1200)!" And as another burst of ice exploded over the field, her snow wolf emerged with blood in its eyes and saliva dripping from its fangs. "Now, Fenrir, ATTACK! Destroy Avian!"
Fenrir bounded forward, and moments later he was mauling the green-feathered hero into nothing but a bloody mess.
JANUS: 7100; DIANE: 1600
"And Fenrir's got an effect, too," Diane added. "When he destroys a monster in battle, you're forced to skip your next Draw Phase. And now…" She chuckled. "I'm guessing you're assuming that I'm going to attack Burstinatrix with my Frostosaurus, right? After all, she's the weaker of the two monsters you've got left, so it makes sense, right? However…" Her chuckling stopped. "I know what the effect of your Skyscraper card is. If one of your Elemental Hero monsters attacks an enemy monster, and the hero's ATK is lower than the enemy's ATK, Skyscraper increases the hero's ATK by 1000 points during that damage calculation only. So if I leave your little Captain Gold alone, he'll be able to amass enough ATK to take down Frostosaurus…"
Janus grimaced. Crap!
"What? Just because I consider you trash, doesn't mean I'll just ignore you off the bat," said Diane. "You did cop third place in Dueltropolis, even if it was a fluke. Now, Frostosaurus, trample Captain Gold!" And in return, Frostosaurus rumbled forward and stampeded all over Captain Gold, turning him into a flattened pulp.
JANUS: 6600; DIANE: 1600
Hmm… Kent's eyes narrowed a little at the now-dull throbbing ache in his nose. Not a bad set of moves from Diane, but even so she's still 5000 life points weaker than Janus. And if he can manage to hold out against her a while longer… He frowned. Unless he gets unlucky and her Frostosaurus ends up thrashing him…
"I'll end my turn now," Diane's voice broke Kent's train of thought as she spoke to Janus. "You're up."
Instantly Fenrir growled savagely at Janus. "Yeah, yeah, mutt, I haven't forgotten—thanks to you, I can't draw from my deck this turn," he grumbled. "But I'm going to put a leash on you now! Burstinatrix, attack Fenrir with your Burstfire Attack!" And then, letting out a battle yell, Burstinatrix charged up fiery energy in her hands—and all at once, Skyscraper's effect raised her ATK to 2200 even while she flung the fireball at Fenrir, burning it to cinders.
JANUS: 6600; DIANE: 800
"Damn…Fenrir…" Diane scowled.
"I'll call it a turn, now," Janus declared. "You know, this'll be pointing out the obvious, but even if you've got a stronger monster on the field right now, you've still got a lo-o-o-ong way to go if you want to beat me." His look darkened. "And I'm not about to just go belly-up and let you beat me."
"And, what—your little lady in red spandex is going to save your skin?" Diane scoffed. "No matter how hot her fire might be, against the cold of the deepest winter she'll eventually succumb."
Burstinatrix glared at Diane in response, but the duelist simply ignored it as she drew another card, giving her a total of two in hand. "Okay—right now I activate a Magic card, Cold Wave!" Diane spoke up. "I could only activate it at the start of my Main Phase 1, but now…until my next turn, neither of us can activate or set any Magic or Trap card, or activate the effects of any Magic or Trap cards that are already face-up on the field. Case in point…"
To Janus's astonishment, suddenly the entire landscape of Skyscraper got covered in a whitewash of ice, snow and sleet even as a fiercely cold wind blew all around them. "Now, time to put out Burstinatrix's fire! Frostosaurus, attack!" Diane yelled. Frostosaurus, in turn, spun its body impossibly quickly and lashed its tail out at Janus's side of the field, knocking poor Burstinatrix for a loop.
JANUS: 5200; DIANE: 800
"Your life points are still higher than mine by plenty—but so what?" said Diane. "I can afford to wait until I can beat your pasty ass into the ground where it belongs. Go on and take your turn—for all the good it'll do you."
"All right—here goes!" Janus immediately drew his next card—and froze when he saw it develop icicles on its edges. Wait…this is…but I can't use it now! Thanks to that Cold Wave card she played last turn… "Uh…I end my turn."
"Oh? What happened all of a sudden? Run out of wit?" Diane asked sarcastically as she drew her next card. Immediately, the frost all around them melted away as the effect of Cold Wave relented—but Frostosaurus was still there. "Well, now, kid, it's time to put you in your place! Frostosaurus, attack directly!"
Frostosaurus raised its head and let out a deafening bellow as frostbite-inducing wind blasted outward from its body. The wind instantly numbed Janus's skin and caused him, without him even realizing it for a second, to topple over onto his rear. "All right, boy—one more attack after this, and I win!" Diane announced.
JANUS: 2600; DIANE: 800
"Ungh…" Shivering badly, Janus managed to stand back up. His teeth were chattering rapidly from the cold. I just know I'm gonna catch a cold later…
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neomage: AH-CHOO! Excuse me. Anyway, review, please!
