A/N: Hi, guys! Sorry for the long gap between updates, life has just been absolutely bonkers for me the last couple years.
Some quick comments before the chapter begins:
1) whenever Yuya's cards are mentioned, they're going to be called by the original Japanese names (Entermate Such-and-Such), because when I'm watching the show (subbed) those are the names I'm seeing/hearing. I was originally going to call them Performapals, as per the American names, because that just looks so adorable but it proved difficult to maintain consistency when writing because half the time I'd still be typing Entermate instead of Performapal.
2) while Yuya's dueling is mentioned in this chapter, it isn't shown (partially because I didn't have space in the chapter and partially because I'm still trying to get a handle on how Pendulum Summons work; it's not my favorite sumoning mechanic so I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around it even now). So sorry to everyone who's still waiting for a canon character to be shown dueling, that doesn't happen in this chapter (although it will in Chapter 25! So hang in there.)
3) A friendly reminder that this fic is self-indulgent and largely written for fun and personal amusement! If at any point you're reading the story and aren't sharing in that fun/amusement for whatever reason, feel free to walk away from the story. I won't take it personally, everyone has their own preferences when it comes to fic. :)
Chapter 23: 3 vs. 12 & 4 vs. 11
Miruna would have liked to stay behind in the waiting room to watch her cousin's duel play out to the finish, but her number ended up being called right after Irina had summoned Sangan and started powering it up with Spells.
Oh well, she thought to herself as she gave Yukito a quick good-bye kiss on the cheek and waved him off as his number was also called for another match. It seemed like she was making a come back; I'm sure it'll work out.
The intercom system crackled to life again, repeating the message that had played just a few minutes before.
"Duelists 3 and 12 please report to the Rhewlif Duel Arena; Duelists 12 and 4, please report to the Barkan Duel Arena.; Duelists 9 and 7 please report to the Lögner Duel Arena once it is cleared. If you do not arrive to your assigned arena within the next twenty minutes, you will be automatically disqualified from the tournament."
"Lögner Duel Arena, huh?" Miruna mused aloud. "Guess Yuya finished his Duel. Pretty fast...wonder how it went?" The only footage she'd seen of his Duel had involved him summoning Entermate Skeeter Skimmer and then Special Summoning Entermate Life Swordsman after his opponent, some girl named Emma, had activated Dian Keto the Cure Master to give herself a 1000 LP boost. After that, the video feed had cut out and they'd been shown some more of Irina's duel against Astrid.
They hadn't seen any of the duel between competitors 9 and 14, though, whoever the heck they were; there had apparently been some sort of malfunction in the camera system for that section of the stadium and they hadn't worked out how to fix it yet.
Well, whatever, Miruna thought dismissively. That's not something I need to be worrying about right now. Better to focus on my own duel. So she worked her way through the winding corridors and lobbies of the Stadium until she found the section that had been cordoned off and dubbed the Rhewlif Duel Arena. She flashed her entry ticket at the guard by the field entrance, rolling her eyes as he peered with excessive attentiveness at the simple Miruna Ablescu (3), and then proceeded onward to take up her position.
Her opponent turned out to be a forty-something guy with messy brown hair and a patchy mustache that resembled a Woolly Bear caterpillar. Peter Smith (12) said the ticket sticking out of his pocket.
Miruna zoned out during the coin toss, only giving a slight what-can-you-do shrug when Peter won the coin toss and thereby the right to go first. Her mind was already a few steps ahead, to how she could finish this as quickly as possible and move on to the next round. She fought inexplicable Avatars of Distortion on a semi-regular basis, after all; how hard could it be to beat some random guy in a Syndicate tournament?
"Duel!" she said along with Peter as the MC announced that it was starting time.
Miruna vs. Peter
[8000]-[8000]
Peter drew his first card and gave an anticipatory smile. "I'll start by summoning Gladiator Beast Darius [1700/300] in attack mode. Then I'll set two cards and end my turn."
"My move," Miruna said, drawing a card. "I'll set one card, and activate the Field Spell Umiiruka. Next, I'll summon Bushi of the Ice Barrier-"
"I activate Torrential Tribute!" Peter called out, flinging out a hand. "It destroys all monsters on the field!"
"Tch!" Miruna bit her lip in annoyance. "Fine. I'll set one more card, and end my turn."
"I draw," Peter said, "and summon Rescue Cat [300/100] in attack mode. Then I'll activate Rescue Cat's effect; by sending it to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon two Level 3 or lower Beast-type monsters from my Deck. I select Test Tiger [600/300] and Gladiator Beast Bestiari [1500/800]. Next I'll attack you directly with Gladiator Beast Bestiari!"
[Miruna LP: 6500]
"Then," Peter went on, "before I end my turn, I'll activate Gladiator Beast Bestiari's effect: if Bestiari attacked or was attacked during this turn, I can return it to my Deck and Special Summon another Gladiator Beast monster in its place. I select Gladiator Beast Laquari! [1800/400]. And since I summoned Laquari using the effect of a Gladiator Beast monster, its effect activates, raising its ATK to 2100! With that," he concluded, "I end my turn."
Barely two turns in, Miruna mused, and already getting my butt kicked. Well, it was a refreshing change of pace if nothing else; she didn't intend to let it go on for long, though. "I draw," she declared, "and summon Intoxicated Bug of the Ice Barrier* [1300/1800] in attack mode. Then I'll equip it with Unicorn Horn from my hand."
Intoxicated Bug of the Ice Barrier [1300/1800+700=2000/2500].
"Not so fast," Peter countered. "I activate my Spell Card, Book of Moon, which changes your monster into face-down defense position, negating your equip attempt!"
Miruna huffed out an angry sigh of frustration as her Bug flipped over and her Unicorn Horn skipped right on over to the Graveyard and then to the top of her Deck from its effect. "I end my turn."
Peter drew his next card. "I'll have my Gladiator Beast Laquari attack and destroy your face-down Intoxicated Bug of the Ice Barrier and destroy it. Then I'll activate Laquari's effect, which allows me to shuffle it back into my Deck and summon another Gladiator Beast in its place; I select Gladiator Beast Darius, and activate its effect, allowing me to Special Summon one more Gladiator Beast to the field from my Graveyard; I select my original Gladiator Beast Darius. Then I'll set one card, and end my turn."
"I draw," Miruna said, "...and end my turn." Because, as expected, her Unicorn Horn had been the next card in her Deck. Oh hooray, she thought sarcastically, I have nothing to protect me from being annihilated by some direct attacks on Peter's next turn. Yippee.
Come on Miruna, she told herself more sternly, trying to silence her pessimistic side. You're fine; you've been in worse tight spots before and pulled through. Just keep it together.
Peter just smiled at her lack of action and drew his next card. "My move," he announced. "I'll start by activating my Spell Card, Gladiator Proving Ground, which lets me select one Level 4 or lower Gladiator Beast from my Deck and add it to my hand. Next, I'll attack you directly with both of my Gladiator Beast Darius; then I'll activate both of their effects to return them to my Deck and Special Summon Gladiator Beast Laquari, whose ATK goes up to 2100 since it was summoned by the effect of another Gladiator Beast monster."
"I'm starting to sense a pattern here," Miruna grumbled under her breath, trying to not be alarmed as her LP dropped down to 3100.
"I"ll set one more card," Peter said, "and end my turn."
"My move," Miruna replied, drawing her next card and smiling a bit in relief. "I activate Fissure, which lets me destroy the face-up monster of yours with the lowest ATK. It's an easy decision," she said cheerfully, "since you have only the one monster on the field."
Peter gave a smug smile. "Nice try, but no dice. I activate my Trap Card, Solemn Judgment. By sacrificing half of my Life Points, I can negate the activation of your card and destroy it!"
"Nice try," Miruna repeated back at him, "but I activate my Seven Tools of the Bandit Trap Card; by paying 1000 LP, I can negate the activation of a Trap Card and destroy it! Meaning that my Fissure Spell activates with no more problems, taking out your Gladiator Beast Laquari!"
[Miruna LP: 2100]
[Peter LP: 4000]
"I'll set two more cards," Miruna finished, "and end my turn."
Peter took a deep breath. "I draw," he said, "and summon another Gladiator Monster Laquari in attack mode. Next, I'll have my Laquari attack you directly for 1800 points of damage! Then I'll activate its effect to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Darius to the field in attack mode; thanks to the special effect of Gladiator Beast Darius, I'll also Special Summon another Gladiator Beast Laquari back to the field from the Graveyard. Then I'll end my turn."
[Miruna LP: 300]
"My move," Miruna said, desperately drawing her next card. "I'll set one card and end my turn."
Please let this work.
Peter drew his next card. "My move. I summon Gladiator Beast Equestre [1600/1200] in attack mode, and then I'll return all three of my Gladiator Beast monsters to the Deck in order to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Heraklinos [3000/2800] in attack mode!"
Miruna's eyes widened. "A Fusion monster summon without Polymerization?!" she said incredulously.
"Next," Peter continued, smirking, "I'll attack you directly! Go, Heraklinos! Wipe her out!"
"I activate my Mirror Force Trap card," Miruna began, only for Peter to cut her off.
"Thanks to Gladiator Beast Heraklinos's effect, I can discard one card from my hand to negate the activation of a Trap or Spell card and destroy it! So sorry, but you're out of luck! Gladiator Beast Heraklinos, resume your attack and end this!"
Miruna gasped as the attack all but blew her away, and rest of her LP as well.
Final Score:
Miruna [0], Peter [4000].
What the heck just happened, Miruna thought weakly as she deactivated her Duel Disk and left the arena. How could I lose?
A/N: So, yeah, that's another loss for Team Infinitas. They're really not doing so hot lately, huh? XD Anyway, Skylar's going to be up next, dueling at the same time as Yukito, and then once they're done we'll hop on over and see what Kurosaki's duel ends up being like. ;D
*Also, fun fact: Intoxicated Bug of the Ice Barrier is apparently called Numbing Grub in the Ice Barrier in English; I was very surprised to learn this because it's not called that in Tag Force 4 (justified, since I think TF4 came out before the company finished localizing card names). But anyway, I assume they switched it from "intoxicated" to "numbing" because intoxicated implies, idk, alcohol consumption?