CHAPTER 5: FIRST MOVE
Ivan was outside the hotel sitting at the beach at night. But not even the beautiful ocean view could cure Ivan's guilty conscience.
"What the heck am I doing?" Ivan said, slowly taking off his pendant. He gazed into it. "This thing.it's evil. I'm not sure if I'm proud to say it resembles me, but I think it's the truth. What the?!"
The pendant was glowing red. Suddenly everything turned black. Ivan couldn't see a thing.
GUESS WHO'S BACK.
The light stopped. Ivan saw him. Makaro. Standing right in front of him. His long, silver hair was glowing by the light of the moon. His eyes glowed red, with no help from the moon.
"You."
"Me," Makaro said. "Nice Time Wizard trick that girl did. Got you out of the Shadow Realm at your own time. You actually managed to stop me from releasing the Shadow Games."
"I never thought I'd say anything like this, but get back in my body," Ivan said.
"Sure," Makaro said happily. "It's what I was planning to do. I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to be in charge. I'll be the one controlling you. My mind will the primary mind of your, or should I say, our body."
"I'm going to kill you," Ivan said. "Taking my body. Trying to ruin this planet. You deserve to die."
"You want to see me in a different body?" Makaro said. "Fine." His appearance instantly changed. The black clothes, the red eyes, and the silver hair didn't. But the face did. He changed into the dark version of Ken. "This better?"
Ivan stood up from the sand and smiled. "I'm in control of the pendant. The use of its powers have been banished from you."
"True," Makaro said. "How about we duel to solve this?"
"Sure," Ivan said. "But you're not going to use my deck, nor are you going to make a copy of it."
Makaro changed back to the dark Ivan body. He looked down at it and said, "This body isn't real. It's just a spirit. But I can transfer myself to any body, taking control of it. And what better body to steal then the very one that stopped me from controlling this world with her clever little plan."
"You're going to take over Holly?" Ivan asked. "You are sick and twisted."
Makaro laughed. "The Holly girl has a lot of knowledge. Perhaps I can use her mind to my advantage. Or maybe I should take over Ken's body. It looks promising. A lot of dueling skills and rare cards. Or perhaps Stefan's.
Ivan moved closer to Makaro. "Are we just going to talk or am I going to kill you?" Ivan gathered up all his strength into his hand and aimed his fist at Makaro's face. He threw a fierce punch at Makaro's face.
The result of the punch wasn't a black eye, but disappearance. After Ken's fist touched Makaro's face the body just disappeared.
BEHIND YOU.
Ivan quickly turned around. He saw all three of them. All three bodies that were dark versions of his teammates. Ken. Stefan. Holly. They all looked horrible that way. "NOOOOOO!"
Ivan woke up sweating. "God, that was a terrible nightmare," Ivan whispered. He looked down at his pendant. "You're still in there. I know you had something to do with that." He looked at the clock. 7:30 A.M. "Was it a dream? Could it have been real?"
Ivan decided to get up. He got dressed and walked down to the common room of the hotel. It was pretty empty except for Holly, who was sitting on a couch reading a book. She looked up at Ivan and said, "Good morning."
"Hi," Ivan said.
"Excited?" Holly asked.
"You bet," Ivan said.
He walked over toward a window and looked out at the beach. The same beach where he possibly could have had an encounter with Makaro last night. He stared at the beach for a few moments.
"Got something on your mind?" Holly asked.
"On a day like this, my brain's never been working harder," Ivan said.
"Okay, drop the act," Holly said. "You've got to be nervous about the tournament."
"I don't really care about it," Ivan said. "I'm just here to have fun."
"Ivan," Holly said in a serious voice. "This tournament may decide the future of our dueling lives. Imagine if we win. Imagine what the future would be like for us."
"The future doesn't scare me," Ivan said.
The next few hours went by fast. All of the Spirit Breakers were up and ready to duel. Once again, limos had driven all the duelists to a large building. Inside, there were many rectangular tables, made for four duelists on opposite sides of them. But what upset the duelists was that the tables didn't have virtual hologram projectors.
"This isn't as fancy as I thought it would be," Stefan said. "Even our city tournament was better-looking than this."
A man the Spirit Breakers recognized as Mr. Presley walked up in front of all the duelists. "Welcome to the Duel Monsters American Games. I would give you all a big introduction, but we are not in the main tournament yet. This is the elimination round."
All of the duelists in the room paid close attention.
"The elimination round," Mr. Presley continued, "is a chance for us to narrow down our handful of sixteen dueling teams down to eight. Then the real tournament will start in another location, which will have great hologram arenas."
This lifted the spirits of all the duelists.
Mr. Presley took out a piece of paper that looked like a list of different dueling teams. "We will now pair up teams for their first duel. They may agree which table to use. First we have the Spirit Breakers v.s. the Savage Strikers." Both teams found each other and agreed on which table to duel on.
The Savage Strikers consisted of 4 girls that all looked the same. They were quadruplets. They looked Japanese and about the same age as Stefan and Ken. They each had long black hair, pale white faces, and shining brown eyes. Each of the girls wore a t-shirt labeled "Striker" and one of the first four letters of the alphabet in red color.
"Pleased to meet you," Striker C said.
The Spirit Breakers all introduced themselves.
"You may not know," Striker A said, "but we happen to be the top-ranked duelists in the state of Illinois."
"That's very informative," Ivan said. "But can we please get on with this duel?"
"Yes," Striker D said. "If we may choose the order of turns, please. First Striker A will go, then one of your team's duelists, then Striker B, and so forth. When two duelists from a team are defeated, that team loses. We each begin with 5000 Life Points."
"Okay," Ivan said. "The rotation of our team's turns of duelists will go by alphabetical order. So first, Holly will go, then me, then Ken, and then Stefan."
"Okay then," Ken said. The duelists were all arranged in order of the table. Starting at one end, Holly was facing Striker A, then Ivan was facing Striker B, then Ken was facing Striker C, and Stefan was facing Striker D. This would be a team duel, so nobody which duelist was in front of which, attacks can be made to any duelist in the opposing team.
Each duelist drew five cards, and Striker A drew her fifth. She put down a monster with 1800 ATK power and 1000 defense points. "I summon the Bistro Butcher in attack mode."
Holly drew her sixth card and looked at her hand containing: Hane-Hane, Blue-Winged Crown, Gyakutenno Magami, Queen Bird, and Trap Hole.
"I play one monster face-down in defense position," Holly said, putting down her Gyakutenno Megami face-down. And she also put her Trap Hole face- down. "And I will put one more card face-down."
"My turn," Striker B said, drawing a card. She looked at all the faces in the Spirit Breakers. "You will find that us Savage Strikers are big fans of the Ookazi magic card, which takes away 800 Life Points from a player. And as luck strikes, I have already drawn all three of mine. I will play them all at once, using each one on one of your first three players. Ken's, Ivan's, and Holly's Life Points each went down to 4200.
"And also," Striker B continued. "I will place one monster face-down in defense position." And so she did.
"My turn," Ivan said. He looked at his hand. He had a Launcher Spider (ATK/2200 DEF/2500) ready. "I'll play the Launcher Spider in attack mode!" He placed the Launcher Spider in attack mode. "And I'll attack Striker A's Bistro Butcher, destroying it and taking away 400 Life Points from Striker A." He put a card face-down in the Magic and Trap Card Zone. "And I will conclude my turn with putting one card face-down."
"Nice move," Striker C said. "But my hand is nothing to joke about." She drew a card. "I play Seiyaryu, with an attack of 2500 in attack mode and I will attack-"
"Sorry to interrupt," Holly said. "But you are not attacking anything. I'll play my face-down card, Trap Hole, and I will destroy Seiyaryu." Holly's plan worked with no problems.
"My turn," Ken said. He drew a card. Perfect. It would give the Spirit Breakers an early advantage. He had the Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000 DEF/2500) in his hand. He could do direct damage to Striker C. "I summon the Blue Eyes White Dragon in attack mode and do 3000 direct damage to Striker C."
"My turn," Striker D said. She drew a card. "I will use the magic card Paralyzing Potion, and I shall combine it with the Blue Eyes White Dragon, disabling it from attacking. Also, I will use the Ookazi magic card and do a further 800 direct damage to Holly. And I will place one monster face- down in defensive mode."
Stefan drew a card. "I will place Swordstalker, with an attack of 2000 in attack mode! And with him, I will attack Striker C's Life Points directly, bringing them down to zero."
"Good job," Ivan said. "Every duelist has only moved once and we've already knocked one of their players out of the duel."
"And I'll put one card facedown," Stefan said, ending his turn.
The current score: Striker A: 4600 Striker B: 5000 Striker C: 0 Striker D: 5000 Holly: 3400 Ivan: 4200 Ken: 4200 Stefan: 5000
"My turn again," Striker A said. She drew a card. She smiled. "I will use the Raigeki."
All of the Spirit Breakers gasped.
"The Raigeki destroys all monsters on your opponent's side of the field," Holly said. "And in this case, that's all our monsters!"
"Yes," Striker A said. "That would be correct."
Stefan laughed. Everyone looked at him. "The Raigeki is not be underestimated," Striker B said. "You will surely lose the duel now! You of all duelists should know that!"
"True," Stefan said. He flipped his face-down card up. "That's why I had this Magic Jammer ready. All I have to do is get rid of one card in my hand and then I can negate and destroy your magic card."
"Nice planning," Striker A said, discarding her Raigeki. "But I now have a monster that will easily crush Ivan's little Launcher Spider you put out last turn. I put out the Garnecia Elefantis, with an attack of 2400 and defense of 2000. Ivan, I will attack your Launcher Spider, destroy it, and lower your Life Points to 4000. Then I will play an Ookazi and lower Ken's Life Points to 3400."
"My turn-" Holly began.
"Not quite," Strike A said. "I will use the Pot of Greed magic card, which allows me to draw two cards from my deck." She did. "Oh look! I have just drawn two Ookazi cards!" She looked at all the Spirit Breakers. "Lets see, who will be the next victim of my little point suckers? How about we do another throw at Ken? I will use both my new Ookazi cards on Ken, bringing his Life Points down to 1800."
This is bad Ken thought. They are trying to get rid of me so my Blue Eyes will no longer be a threat.
"Now it's my turn," Holly said. "I will put this monster in face-down defense position." She put down a Hane-Hane. "That will be all."
"My turn will also consist of one monster face-down," Striker B said, putting a monster down. "And I will put down one card face-down in the magic and trap card zone."
"My turn," Ivan said, drawing a card. He smiled. He had a perfect strategy in his hand. "First, I will use the De-Spell magic card to get rid of the Paralyzing Potion on Ken's Blue Eyes. Next, I will put one monster face- down in defense mode." Ivan put down a throw-away monster. "And now I will play the Change of Hearts magic card."
"The Change of Heart?" Striker B said. "Isn't that-"
"It allows me control one of my opponent's monsters for a full turn," Ivan said. "And in this case, a full turn will last a while."
Striker A gasped.
"That's right," Ivan said. "I will control your Garnecia Elefantis. And with your field defenseless, I will use it to attack your Life Points directly, bringing them down to 2200."
This is excellent! Ken thought. Unless Striker D puts out a Paralyzing Potion or something, on my next turn my Blue Eyes can attack Striker A's Life Points directly and we'll win the duel!
"It would be Striker C's turn now," Striker D said, "but she is out of the duel, and the rotation has changed. After my turn, it will be Ken's, then Striker A's, then Stefan's, then Striker's B's, then Holly's-"
"Yes, we know!" Stefan said. "Just get on with it!"
The current score: Striker A: 2200 Striker B: 5000 Striker C: 0 Striker D: 5000 Holly: 3400 Ivan: 4000 Ken: 1800 Stefan: 5000
Striker D drew a card. "I'll use two Ookazi cards and do 1600 direct damage to Ken, dropping his Life Points down to 200."
"My turn!" Ken said. "My Blue Eyes will attack Striker A's Life Points directly and-"
"I will activate my face-down card," Striker B said. "It's Negate Attack, and that will stop any attack thrown at us."
"Oh man," Ken said. "We were about to win."
"My turn," Striker A said. She drew card and smiled. "And I believe I'll be getting my Garnecia Elefantis back."
"Correct," Ivan said. " Now," Striker A said, "I will equip my Garnecia Elefantis with the Axe of Despair, raising its attack to 3400. Now, I will attack and destroy the Blue Eyes White Dragon, and wipe out Ken's remaining Life Points."
"Oh man," Ken said. "I lost."
"I guess it's my turn," Stefan said. "I'll switch my Swordstalker to defense mode. And I'm done." Swordstalker had 1600 defense points, which was barely enough to resist the attack of the Garnecia Elefantis.
"My turn," Striker B said. "I will place a third monster in defense position. That will be all."
Holly figured out how the Savage Strikers worked. Most of the magic cards are kept in Strikers B's, C's, and D's deck." Most of the good monsters are kept in Striker A's deck. They would always rely on Striker A for victory. Bad strategy Holly thought.
"I guess it's my turn," Holly said. She drew a card. "This is duel has been good so far, but it is over. I will flip up one of my face-down monsters, Hane-Hane."
"Oh no," Striker A said.
"Exactly," Holly continued. "Whenever Hane-Hane is flipped up, I get to send a monster back to my opponent's hand. That monster will be your Garnecia Elefantis."
"But that means-" Striker A began.
"Exactly," Holly said. "Your field is defenseless. And I have just he monster to wipe out your remaining Life Points. I summon the Dark Magician!" Holly put down the Dark Magician (ATK/2500 DEF/2100) face-up.
"And now," Holly said. "The Dark Magician will attack your field directly and wipe out the rest of your Life Points. You lose."
"Nice game," Ivan said.
The two teams said good-bye and walked off.
"Well, we've done it," Ken said. "We're in the tournament."
"Yeah, our first match starts in 45 minutes," Holly said.
"This is going to be good," Stefan said.
That minute, Ken swore he heard a familiar voice in his head say, "Very good indeed." A voice way too familiar.
* * * In another part of the room.
Eric's team, the Reckless Raiders, had defeated their opponents.
"Did you set up the list correctly?" Eric asked Drake.
"Yup," Drake said. "I made it so the Spirit Breakers faced the Savage Strikers, the worst team here."
"I saw the Spirit Breakers finish them off a minute ago," Kal, another member of the Reckless Raiders said.
"Excellent," Eric said. "We'll be the ones to face and cream the Spirit Breakers in the final round." The team laughed sinisterly.
Little did Eric know, that a golden pendant he was wearing was glowing.
Ivan was outside the hotel sitting at the beach at night. But not even the beautiful ocean view could cure Ivan's guilty conscience.
"What the heck am I doing?" Ivan said, slowly taking off his pendant. He gazed into it. "This thing.it's evil. I'm not sure if I'm proud to say it resembles me, but I think it's the truth. What the?!"
The pendant was glowing red. Suddenly everything turned black. Ivan couldn't see a thing.
GUESS WHO'S BACK.
The light stopped. Ivan saw him. Makaro. Standing right in front of him. His long, silver hair was glowing by the light of the moon. His eyes glowed red, with no help from the moon.
"You."
"Me," Makaro said. "Nice Time Wizard trick that girl did. Got you out of the Shadow Realm at your own time. You actually managed to stop me from releasing the Shadow Games."
"I never thought I'd say anything like this, but get back in my body," Ivan said.
"Sure," Makaro said happily. "It's what I was planning to do. I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to be in charge. I'll be the one controlling you. My mind will the primary mind of your, or should I say, our body."
"I'm going to kill you," Ivan said. "Taking my body. Trying to ruin this planet. You deserve to die."
"You want to see me in a different body?" Makaro said. "Fine." His appearance instantly changed. The black clothes, the red eyes, and the silver hair didn't. But the face did. He changed into the dark version of Ken. "This better?"
Ivan stood up from the sand and smiled. "I'm in control of the pendant. The use of its powers have been banished from you."
"True," Makaro said. "How about we duel to solve this?"
"Sure," Ivan said. "But you're not going to use my deck, nor are you going to make a copy of it."
Makaro changed back to the dark Ivan body. He looked down at it and said, "This body isn't real. It's just a spirit. But I can transfer myself to any body, taking control of it. And what better body to steal then the very one that stopped me from controlling this world with her clever little plan."
"You're going to take over Holly?" Ivan asked. "You are sick and twisted."
Makaro laughed. "The Holly girl has a lot of knowledge. Perhaps I can use her mind to my advantage. Or maybe I should take over Ken's body. It looks promising. A lot of dueling skills and rare cards. Or perhaps Stefan's.
Ivan moved closer to Makaro. "Are we just going to talk or am I going to kill you?" Ivan gathered up all his strength into his hand and aimed his fist at Makaro's face. He threw a fierce punch at Makaro's face.
The result of the punch wasn't a black eye, but disappearance. After Ken's fist touched Makaro's face the body just disappeared.
BEHIND YOU.
Ivan quickly turned around. He saw all three of them. All three bodies that were dark versions of his teammates. Ken. Stefan. Holly. They all looked horrible that way. "NOOOOOO!"
Ivan woke up sweating. "God, that was a terrible nightmare," Ivan whispered. He looked down at his pendant. "You're still in there. I know you had something to do with that." He looked at the clock. 7:30 A.M. "Was it a dream? Could it have been real?"
Ivan decided to get up. He got dressed and walked down to the common room of the hotel. It was pretty empty except for Holly, who was sitting on a couch reading a book. She looked up at Ivan and said, "Good morning."
"Hi," Ivan said.
"Excited?" Holly asked.
"You bet," Ivan said.
He walked over toward a window and looked out at the beach. The same beach where he possibly could have had an encounter with Makaro last night. He stared at the beach for a few moments.
"Got something on your mind?" Holly asked.
"On a day like this, my brain's never been working harder," Ivan said.
"Okay, drop the act," Holly said. "You've got to be nervous about the tournament."
"I don't really care about it," Ivan said. "I'm just here to have fun."
"Ivan," Holly said in a serious voice. "This tournament may decide the future of our dueling lives. Imagine if we win. Imagine what the future would be like for us."
"The future doesn't scare me," Ivan said.
The next few hours went by fast. All of the Spirit Breakers were up and ready to duel. Once again, limos had driven all the duelists to a large building. Inside, there were many rectangular tables, made for four duelists on opposite sides of them. But what upset the duelists was that the tables didn't have virtual hologram projectors.
"This isn't as fancy as I thought it would be," Stefan said. "Even our city tournament was better-looking than this."
A man the Spirit Breakers recognized as Mr. Presley walked up in front of all the duelists. "Welcome to the Duel Monsters American Games. I would give you all a big introduction, but we are not in the main tournament yet. This is the elimination round."
All of the duelists in the room paid close attention.
"The elimination round," Mr. Presley continued, "is a chance for us to narrow down our handful of sixteen dueling teams down to eight. Then the real tournament will start in another location, which will have great hologram arenas."
This lifted the spirits of all the duelists.
Mr. Presley took out a piece of paper that looked like a list of different dueling teams. "We will now pair up teams for their first duel. They may agree which table to use. First we have the Spirit Breakers v.s. the Savage Strikers." Both teams found each other and agreed on which table to duel on.
The Savage Strikers consisted of 4 girls that all looked the same. They were quadruplets. They looked Japanese and about the same age as Stefan and Ken. They each had long black hair, pale white faces, and shining brown eyes. Each of the girls wore a t-shirt labeled "Striker" and one of the first four letters of the alphabet in red color.
"Pleased to meet you," Striker C said.
The Spirit Breakers all introduced themselves.
"You may not know," Striker A said, "but we happen to be the top-ranked duelists in the state of Illinois."
"That's very informative," Ivan said. "But can we please get on with this duel?"
"Yes," Striker D said. "If we may choose the order of turns, please. First Striker A will go, then one of your team's duelists, then Striker B, and so forth. When two duelists from a team are defeated, that team loses. We each begin with 5000 Life Points."
"Okay," Ivan said. "The rotation of our team's turns of duelists will go by alphabetical order. So first, Holly will go, then me, then Ken, and then Stefan."
"Okay then," Ken said. The duelists were all arranged in order of the table. Starting at one end, Holly was facing Striker A, then Ivan was facing Striker B, then Ken was facing Striker C, and Stefan was facing Striker D. This would be a team duel, so nobody which duelist was in front of which, attacks can be made to any duelist in the opposing team.
Each duelist drew five cards, and Striker A drew her fifth. She put down a monster with 1800 ATK power and 1000 defense points. "I summon the Bistro Butcher in attack mode."
Holly drew her sixth card and looked at her hand containing: Hane-Hane, Blue-Winged Crown, Gyakutenno Magami, Queen Bird, and Trap Hole.
"I play one monster face-down in defense position," Holly said, putting down her Gyakutenno Megami face-down. And she also put her Trap Hole face- down. "And I will put one more card face-down."
"My turn," Striker B said, drawing a card. She looked at all the faces in the Spirit Breakers. "You will find that us Savage Strikers are big fans of the Ookazi magic card, which takes away 800 Life Points from a player. And as luck strikes, I have already drawn all three of mine. I will play them all at once, using each one on one of your first three players. Ken's, Ivan's, and Holly's Life Points each went down to 4200.
"And also," Striker B continued. "I will place one monster face-down in defense position." And so she did.
"My turn," Ivan said. He looked at his hand. He had a Launcher Spider (ATK/2200 DEF/2500) ready. "I'll play the Launcher Spider in attack mode!" He placed the Launcher Spider in attack mode. "And I'll attack Striker A's Bistro Butcher, destroying it and taking away 400 Life Points from Striker A." He put a card face-down in the Magic and Trap Card Zone. "And I will conclude my turn with putting one card face-down."
"Nice move," Striker C said. "But my hand is nothing to joke about." She drew a card. "I play Seiyaryu, with an attack of 2500 in attack mode and I will attack-"
"Sorry to interrupt," Holly said. "But you are not attacking anything. I'll play my face-down card, Trap Hole, and I will destroy Seiyaryu." Holly's plan worked with no problems.
"My turn," Ken said. He drew a card. Perfect. It would give the Spirit Breakers an early advantage. He had the Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000 DEF/2500) in his hand. He could do direct damage to Striker C. "I summon the Blue Eyes White Dragon in attack mode and do 3000 direct damage to Striker C."
"My turn," Striker D said. She drew a card. "I will use the magic card Paralyzing Potion, and I shall combine it with the Blue Eyes White Dragon, disabling it from attacking. Also, I will use the Ookazi magic card and do a further 800 direct damage to Holly. And I will place one monster face- down in defensive mode."
Stefan drew a card. "I will place Swordstalker, with an attack of 2000 in attack mode! And with him, I will attack Striker C's Life Points directly, bringing them down to zero."
"Good job," Ivan said. "Every duelist has only moved once and we've already knocked one of their players out of the duel."
"And I'll put one card facedown," Stefan said, ending his turn.
The current score: Striker A: 4600 Striker B: 5000 Striker C: 0 Striker D: 5000 Holly: 3400 Ivan: 4200 Ken: 4200 Stefan: 5000
"My turn again," Striker A said. She drew a card. She smiled. "I will use the Raigeki."
All of the Spirit Breakers gasped.
"The Raigeki destroys all monsters on your opponent's side of the field," Holly said. "And in this case, that's all our monsters!"
"Yes," Striker A said. "That would be correct."
Stefan laughed. Everyone looked at him. "The Raigeki is not be underestimated," Striker B said. "You will surely lose the duel now! You of all duelists should know that!"
"True," Stefan said. He flipped his face-down card up. "That's why I had this Magic Jammer ready. All I have to do is get rid of one card in my hand and then I can negate and destroy your magic card."
"Nice planning," Striker A said, discarding her Raigeki. "But I now have a monster that will easily crush Ivan's little Launcher Spider you put out last turn. I put out the Garnecia Elefantis, with an attack of 2400 and defense of 2000. Ivan, I will attack your Launcher Spider, destroy it, and lower your Life Points to 4000. Then I will play an Ookazi and lower Ken's Life Points to 3400."
"My turn-" Holly began.
"Not quite," Strike A said. "I will use the Pot of Greed magic card, which allows me to draw two cards from my deck." She did. "Oh look! I have just drawn two Ookazi cards!" She looked at all the Spirit Breakers. "Lets see, who will be the next victim of my little point suckers? How about we do another throw at Ken? I will use both my new Ookazi cards on Ken, bringing his Life Points down to 1800."
This is bad Ken thought. They are trying to get rid of me so my Blue Eyes will no longer be a threat.
"Now it's my turn," Holly said. "I will put this monster in face-down defense position." She put down a Hane-Hane. "That will be all."
"My turn will also consist of one monster face-down," Striker B said, putting a monster down. "And I will put down one card face-down in the magic and trap card zone."
"My turn," Ivan said, drawing a card. He smiled. He had a perfect strategy in his hand. "First, I will use the De-Spell magic card to get rid of the Paralyzing Potion on Ken's Blue Eyes. Next, I will put one monster face- down in defense mode." Ivan put down a throw-away monster. "And now I will play the Change of Hearts magic card."
"The Change of Heart?" Striker B said. "Isn't that-"
"It allows me control one of my opponent's monsters for a full turn," Ivan said. "And in this case, a full turn will last a while."
Striker A gasped.
"That's right," Ivan said. "I will control your Garnecia Elefantis. And with your field defenseless, I will use it to attack your Life Points directly, bringing them down to 2200."
This is excellent! Ken thought. Unless Striker D puts out a Paralyzing Potion or something, on my next turn my Blue Eyes can attack Striker A's Life Points directly and we'll win the duel!
"It would be Striker C's turn now," Striker D said, "but she is out of the duel, and the rotation has changed. After my turn, it will be Ken's, then Striker A's, then Stefan's, then Striker's B's, then Holly's-"
"Yes, we know!" Stefan said. "Just get on with it!"
The current score: Striker A: 2200 Striker B: 5000 Striker C: 0 Striker D: 5000 Holly: 3400 Ivan: 4000 Ken: 1800 Stefan: 5000
Striker D drew a card. "I'll use two Ookazi cards and do 1600 direct damage to Ken, dropping his Life Points down to 200."
"My turn!" Ken said. "My Blue Eyes will attack Striker A's Life Points directly and-"
"I will activate my face-down card," Striker B said. "It's Negate Attack, and that will stop any attack thrown at us."
"Oh man," Ken said. "We were about to win."
"My turn," Striker A said. She drew card and smiled. "And I believe I'll be getting my Garnecia Elefantis back."
"Correct," Ivan said. " Now," Striker A said, "I will equip my Garnecia Elefantis with the Axe of Despair, raising its attack to 3400. Now, I will attack and destroy the Blue Eyes White Dragon, and wipe out Ken's remaining Life Points."
"Oh man," Ken said. "I lost."
"I guess it's my turn," Stefan said. "I'll switch my Swordstalker to defense mode. And I'm done." Swordstalker had 1600 defense points, which was barely enough to resist the attack of the Garnecia Elefantis.
"My turn," Striker B said. "I will place a third monster in defense position. That will be all."
Holly figured out how the Savage Strikers worked. Most of the magic cards are kept in Strikers B's, C's, and D's deck." Most of the good monsters are kept in Striker A's deck. They would always rely on Striker A for victory. Bad strategy Holly thought.
"I guess it's my turn," Holly said. She drew a card. "This is duel has been good so far, but it is over. I will flip up one of my face-down monsters, Hane-Hane."
"Oh no," Striker A said.
"Exactly," Holly continued. "Whenever Hane-Hane is flipped up, I get to send a monster back to my opponent's hand. That monster will be your Garnecia Elefantis."
"But that means-" Striker A began.
"Exactly," Holly said. "Your field is defenseless. And I have just he monster to wipe out your remaining Life Points. I summon the Dark Magician!" Holly put down the Dark Magician (ATK/2500 DEF/2100) face-up.
"And now," Holly said. "The Dark Magician will attack your field directly and wipe out the rest of your Life Points. You lose."
"Nice game," Ivan said.
The two teams said good-bye and walked off.
"Well, we've done it," Ken said. "We're in the tournament."
"Yeah, our first match starts in 45 minutes," Holly said.
"This is going to be good," Stefan said.
That minute, Ken swore he heard a familiar voice in his head say, "Very good indeed." A voice way too familiar.
* * * In another part of the room.
Eric's team, the Reckless Raiders, had defeated their opponents.
"Did you set up the list correctly?" Eric asked Drake.
"Yup," Drake said. "I made it so the Spirit Breakers faced the Savage Strikers, the worst team here."
"I saw the Spirit Breakers finish them off a minute ago," Kal, another member of the Reckless Raiders said.
"Excellent," Eric said. "We'll be the ones to face and cream the Spirit Breakers in the final round." The team laughed sinisterly.
Little did Eric know, that a golden pendant he was wearing was glowing.