Chapter 4; the "lucky" professional
Sonic was awake. But he didn't open his eyes. He prayed for all he had lived the last 13 days was a bad dream. He opened his eyes and looked at his right arm. The dragon head mark was right there. Deciding to just discuss this with his friends later, he dressed up and went to the kitchen for breakfast. His mother was there.
"Morning mom" Sonic said
She didn't answer.
"Mom well.. about this" he said showing his mark "I have an explanation but it is supernatural."
"Supernatural? Just admit you went and had a tattoo."
"It is not a tattoo. Touch it."
She touched expecting to feel the strings from which tattoos where made. But it was one with Sonic's hand.
"Ok then go and wash it off"
"I can't. It is not a drawing. My hand was sliced. Under the lines of the mark is my healed skin."
"How can you expect me to believe that?" she asked.
"I don't. I just want you to trust me."
She didn't answer again.
Sonic finished his breakfast some minutes after his conversation with his mother and rode the Furious Flame to the duel dome. On the way he looked at the sky thinking about the words of the priest. He reached the dome after a ride of 30 minutes parked his duel runner outside and went inside. His friends were there.
"Morning guys."
"Morning Sonic" they responded
"So did you all sign up?"
"Yeah"
"Ok then" he said writing his name in the catalog
"They will reveal the tournament board soon enough. Let's wait so we can see who we'll be facing" Knuckles said
They agreed and waited in the waiting room for 15 minutes discussing about their strategies. Sonic though wasn't concentrated.
"Come on Sonic" Amy said "cheer up we'll get to the bottom of this eventually"
"I don't know guys" he said "the priest said that the signed ones where 6 and we're 4. We're missing 2."
"They will be found eventually. Come on. The board is revealed" Jet said
They walked in front of the board.
"First round is you right off the bat Sonic" Amy noticed.
"And who am I facing?"
"Oh your opponent is Shadow the hedgehog."
"I heard about him once" Knuckles said " they say once in a final he one shotted his opponent. With pure attack power."
"A one shotting deck? Sounds interesting"
"Next round is me" Knuckles said " I'm facing a girl by the name Rouge the bat"
"Never heard of her" they all said
"When do I duel Knuckles?" Amy asked
"Last Amy. Against a guy whose name is Storm the Albatross. And third round is Jet vs…" he stopped speaking and his eyes widened.
"Knucks what's wrong?" Sonic asked
"Jet's opponent's name is… well look for yourselves cause I think I'm losing my mind now.
Jet, Sonic and Amy stood in front of the board and read the name Knuckles showed them. And they felt like they would collapse. It was writing; WAVE THE SWALLOW.
"Wave. That name existed in mine and Jet's vision" Sonic said trying to speak from the shock.
"How can we be sure she is a singed one?" Jet asked.
"You will have to find it out" Sonic answered
"Me? Why me? And how exactly will I do that?"
"If she really is a singed one when she summons a monster that she has a strong bond with her mark will shine." Sonic answered
"ooook although the chance she is is just slim. There may be tons of girls named Wave." Jet said discouraged.
"Relax. We will know soon" Knuckles said "Now let's go for some coffee. My eyes are still closing."
They walked out of the dome and over there was Tails waiting for them.
"Hey guys" he said in low tone.
"Hi Tails" they said.
"Aren't you supposed to be travelling now?" Sonic asked.
"We 're leaving, me and my family, in the afternoon. I knew you would come to the dome to sign up so I came cause I wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday. But don't take as assign that a I believe these things. I just know I didn't react right"
"it's ok dude" Sonic said smiling.
"Thanks."
"We're going for some coffee. Wanna come along?"
"Sure".
They were about to leave when….
"Are my eyes deceiving me?" said an unfamiliar voice.
The gang turned around and saw a guy dressed with a costume for special occasions and a duel disc in his left arm.
"I can't believe it" the stranger said "I'm finally meeting Sonic the hedgehog"
"Excuse me but do we know each other?"
"No of course not. But I am Joseph Henderrson, a professional duelist. Also known as…."
"The lucky Joe. The legendary duelist who hasn't lost a single coin toss in his dueling lifetime. I've heard about you. So why notice me?"
"The professional world has been interested in your skills ever since you started having those victory streaks all around Greece. They say you're the most likely to face the champion the next days. But I 'm here to prove them wrong."
"You wanna duel me?" Sonic asked
"Obviously. Of course there will be a condition. As a pro I can provide you with almost any card you want and of any rarity. You will name a card and the rarity of this card that you want. If you win the card is yours. If I win I get your Black-Winged dragon and your rights for this tournament."
"Wait. You mean if I lose I can't participate?" Sonic said shocked
"Exactly. But I've heard that you didn't have a single loss in tournaments until now. So.. go ahead and declare a card name."
"Hmmm… Ok. I want chaos emperor dragon-envoy of the end as an ultimate rare!"
"Sonic!" said Amy "this card is forbidden. Furthermore it has been printed only 30 times. What chance is that he has it?"
"Pretty big one little lady" he said opening one deck box and searching through his cards. "Here. The card you declared."
He showed it. Everyone was speechless.
"So will you accept my challenge Sonic the hedgehog?"
"I never back down from a challenge." he said activating his duel disc.
(both) "LET'S DUEL!"
"I'll start this" Sonic said "Draw. I activate black whirlwind. Next I summon blackwing bora the spear. Due to the effect of my whirlwind I add blackwing kalut the moon shadow in my hand. I set 1 card and end my turn."
"My turn then. Draw. I activate the continuous spell card gift and risk. Now as long as this card is on my field your monsters can't be destroyed If they battle but any battle damage is doubled. Furthermore because it was activated you gain 4000 life points."
"Why would you heal me?" Sonic asked (Sonic LP 12000)
"You'll need life points for what's coming. I set a monster and 2 cards face down. Make your move."
"Ok here goes. Draw. I summon blackwing shura the blue flame. The whirlwind's effect gives me another bora the spear. Shura attack that set monster."
"Not so fast. I activate fairy box. I assume you know what it does."
"Yes. You flip a coin and if you call it right my monster's attack becomes 0 until the end phase. But the chance is 50-50. If you had activated the continuous magic second coin toss you have a far better chance."
"Someone blessed by the goddess of luck doesn't need chances. Ok I say I will get heads." He flipped the coin "Would you look at this. Heads. Bora's attack becomes 0 and he has attacked my naturia beans therefore since the damage is doubled you take 2400 pints of damage."
Shura's attack backfired (Sonic LP 9600)
"Still" he said calm " I have bora. Attack those beans."
"First because you attacked them you lose 500 points and now my fairy box kicks in. I say heads. And it is…. Heads. Thank you my dear goddess. Bora's attack becomes 0 as well ."
Bora's attack backfired as well (Sonic LP 6700)
"Darn he is so lucky." He thought. " I set one card and end my turn."
"Before you end your turn I activate solemn wishes. Now I will gain 500 LP each time I draw cards. And they will be used to pay the 500 points maintenance cost of fairy box."
"Darn" Sonic thought
"My turn. I draw. I gain 500 LP and pay the maintenance cost I activate the magic card consification. I pay 1000 life points to look at your hand and send one to the graveyard."( Joseph LP 7000) " But I already know what I want to discard. Your kalut. Next I summon landmine spider in attack mode. Attack his shura. And now I flip a coin and I call it heads of course. Heads. My attack goes through and smashes your shura."
"Nope. I play the trap negate attack."
"Stalling will get you nowhere. Before I end my turn I play the magic card cup of ace. I flip a coin and if I get heads I draw 2 cards. If I get tails you draw 2 cards. I flip it. Heads. I draw 2 cards and gain 500 LP due to solemn wishes also I activate 1 more cup of ace. Let's see… heads 2 more cards and 500 more LP for me" he said smiling. I set 3 cards face down and end my turn. Try to get out of this mess." (Joseph LP 8000).
"That's not right" Sonic was thinking" no one can land a coin on heads so many times in a row. Maybe it is possible to call the coin right but not call it right and be heads so many times."
"Come on Sonic make your move" he said tossing his coin for fun.
Sonic looked angry at him and noticed something at the coin when it was flipped. He couldn't see tails on it. He could only see heads. Then he remembered a rumor that someone was caught selling coins created with only heads on them.
"Could he be using a coin like that? That makes him a cheater. But I need proof for that. There's only 1 way to go." he thought
"My turn. Woah" he had drawn his card so fast that the deck was pulled out of its position on the disc and fell. " Mind if I pick it up?"
"Do whatever you want. Nothing changes the result" he said smiling.
Sonic started picking up his cards but when he put the first one in his deck he triggered his communicator on his right arm. He whispered when he was putting more cards on the disc.
"Tails do you read me?"
Tails heard it moved some steps back to listen.
"Sonic what are you doing? You're not allowed to communicate during a duel."
"I have serious suspicion to believe he is a cheater. Trust me and do whatever I say. Tell Jet to go unnoticed behind him. You go some squares away in an abandoned alley and cause a holographic explosion to attract attention. Also tell Jet that when no one is looking to exchange the coin this guy has with one of his own."
Tails was surprised but decided to trust Sonic. He told Jet what Sonic told him and left. He ran as fast as he could to the closest alley and summoned red dragon archfiend.
"Absolute Powerforce attack"
The dragon attacked and an explosion took place. The crowd that was watching Sonic and joseph's duel panicked. In the chaos when Joseph was telling everyone to stay calm, Sonic saw Jet exchanging the coins. He stayed calm until Tails returned and told them that he just had a duel and that explosion was the attack that won him the duel. Everyone chilled and looked again at Sonic and Joseph. Sonic picked up all of his deck gave it to Joseph to cut it and got back at his place on the field.
"This is it" he thought. "It's all or nothing."
"I activate summon Blackwing bora the spear and add to my hand through the whirlwind's effect my gale the whirlwind. Next I'll play a trap from my hand."
"A trap from your hand?" Joseph asked in shock
"Yes. Delta crow-anti reverse. It can be activated from my hand if I have 3 blackwings exactly face u[ on the field. Your set cards bite the dust."
"So what? You want be able to get over my fairy box."
"We'll see about that. I special summon gale from my hand due to me controlling at least one face up blackwing. Next I discard a card to activate cost down and reduce the level of a monster in my hand by 2 until the end phase. And thanks to this summon blackwing sirocco the dawn to my field. Due to the whirlwind's effect kalut the moon shadow comes to my hand. And right now I activate sirocco's effect. The attack of all the blackwings on my field will be added to my sirocco until the end phase and as long as he is face up this turn no other monster can attack. So his attack points grow to 8500!"
"What? Oh wait I'm panicing for no reason. It can't pass my fairy box and even if it could my LP wouldn't go to 0."
"But I'm not done. I have 2 cards left in my hand. The first one. The spell card star changer. It changes my gale from level 3 to level 4 allowing me to tune it with shura the blue flame."
"Is it coming?" Joseph said in awe."
"Take flight. Black-Winged dragoooon!"
The crowd went super enthusiastic when the dragon soared.
"And now for the final spell card. Inherited power. I tribute my sirocco to add his points to my dragon reaching his attack to 11300!"
"11300?"
"Go black-winged dragon. Attack that landmine spider."
"Fairy box activates. I flip a coin of course I say I will flip heads"
"Here goes nothing." Sonic thought
Joseph caught the coin and placed it on his palm. He smiled.
"Sonic the hedgehog. Your beast is mine."
"Check the coin first."
"If you insist"
He revealed the coin.
And his face froze in shock.
"That's… that's… that's not…. That's impossible! I flipped tails?!"
"Everything good comes to an end one day lucky Joe. BLACK BLAZING STREAM!"
"AAAAAH" (Joseph LP 0)
"No way…. I lost?!" he said looking down angry "How could my coin land on tails?"
"Well I know why" Sonic said.
"What do you know?"
"That this coin isn't the one you were flipping all this time, right?"
"Excuse me? All the coins are the same"
"No not yours. Jet!"
Jet tossed him the coin he got from Joseph's pocket.
Sonic threw it on the air so that everyone could see it.
Everyone looked at the coin in shock.
At the only-heads-coin.
"I know the rumor of the only-heads-coins. I was suspecting you would have something like this. And this is the proof you aren't a pro. You aren't even a true duelist."
"Why you! You'll pay for this."
"For now you will start paying. First you'll give me the card we agreed."
"Never."
"If you have at least one single bit of honor you'll give it. And you believe these people will let you leave if you don't?"
Full of rage Joseph handed over the chaos emperor dragon. Sonic took it.
"And now leave. And learn to leave with the shame of being known worldwide as a cheater. Oh and before you leave if you want to become pro, try building a deck that requires trust from you to be played. Maybe then you'll learn what being a true duelist is all about."
With his last words the crowd started cheering. Joseph left in shame while Sonic was being honored as a true duelist. Sonic thought that someone would say that he is also a cheater cause he used trick to uncover Joseph but no one said a thing. He went to celebrate it with his friends and then after saying good bye and happy travel to Tails he went home . Now the road to the champion match was open. Only 3 duelists were standing in front of him. And he promised to himself while looking at the stars that he would win.
