Chapter 6: Amy vs. Gypsy Part 1
Lord Hallows led the teens into the first of five rooms that Amy would have to enter and duel the occupants in. At first the room looked completely dark with nothing in it. But then Hallows pointed his cane and a bunch of candles magically lit themselves up with blue flames. The room was made more clear thanks to the candlelight. Amy, Chloe and Kazuki cringed in disgust as they found themselves in a room that felt more like a spider's den than a room in a house. Everywhere was covered in spider webs and various insects were crawling all over the walls. The room's only occupant was sitting on a throne made entirely from webs.
The person was clad in robes but it quickly discarded the robe so Amy could see who she'd be up against. Her opponent was a nineteen year old girl dressed in a green dress with web patterns decorating it. The dress left her arms and shoulders bare. She wore a moth-shaped necklace, two spider-shaped rings on her fingers and her long green hair was tied in a ponytail. She had a scorpion tattooed on each shoulder. She was very beautiful in appearance but more in a "beautiful but deadly" sense as she looked like the kind of woman who would charm her victims and then kill them gruesomely while laughing the whole time. Hallows ushered Amy forwards.
"Allow me to introduce you to the first of my Fiendish Five." he purred, "This is Gypsy, the Insect Queen! She has been a very good girl for me, claiming plenty of souls with her powerful Insect Deck! You'll be lucky if you even get past her my dear Amy!"
"Big deal. Bugs don't scare me!" Amy snorted, "I step on them first chance I get!"
"Why Hallows, you didn't tell me my opponent was going to be an adorably feisty one." Gypsy purred in a soft, silky voice that made everyone's spines shudder, "I think I'm going to have fun with this one."
"Be my guest Gypsy. She's all yours." Hallows crooned, "I shall now leave you two to your duel. I will return once the duel is over. But remember, as the Keeper of the Shadow Realm, I see and hear EVERYTHING through the shadows so don't even think about cheating or trying to run away! Failure to comply by my rules will result in suffering for your friends!" he growled.
"You're making them suffer just by being there." Amy retorted, "Now piss off already so I can get this duel started!"
"Oooh, you're so rude to my master!" Gypsy giggled, "What a naughty girl you are! I think we'll have to remedy that…"
Hallows just disappeared into the shadows without another word. Gypsy would make Amy pay for that anyway so he wouldn't need to get involved. Gypsy rose from her throne and took her place opposite Amy. She clipped her Duel Disk onto her arm. Like everything else, the Duel Disk had an insect theme going on with it. The slot for her deck to clip into was even shaped like a spider's head, making it look as if she was jamming her deck into the spider's mouth.
"So you're Amy Spears, is that right?" Gypsy said, her voice low and sultry, "I must say, it's very nice to meet you. Especially one as cute as you. Mind if I compliment your hair? Red suits you so well and those ponytails are simply adorable!"
"Flattery will get you nowhere." Amy said coldly, "I'm not in the mood for anyone's shit tonight! I just wanna kick all five of your asses, duel Lord Hallows and get my brother back so let's go!"
Gypsy shrugged.
"If you say so, darling." she purred, "We will have our duel. But first things first…"
The bug-obsessed woman reached behind her and produced some kind of handheld device. Amy stared at it worriedly. Was this creepy woman going to shoot her or something?! She was half right as Gypsy did shoot her…but with webbing. She aimed at Amy's feet and sprayed her until they were completely covered with sticky webs that cemented her to the floor. Amy tugged on her feet but they wouldn't move. The webs held firm.
"Hey, let me go! What gives with this stuff?!" she yelled.
"Very simple Amy, I don't want you trying to run away." Gypsy sneered, "Not when I have my darling friend waiting for you up above…"
She pointed up to the ceiling. Amy followed her directions and gasped as the biggest spider she'd ever seen stared back down at her. It was about the size of a car with long hairy legs that was the length of Amy and Jack put together! Its fangs dripped with viscous liquid. It looked hungry. Chloe put her hands over her mouth and tried not to vomit while Kazuki shuddered uncomfortably.
"Ugh, that's the most disgusting thing I've ever seen in my life!" he gagged.
"Disgusting? Why my dear, that's not a nice thing to say about my dear pet." Gypsy cooed in a sweet, affectionate voice, "That is my giant friend whom I like to call "Fang". Fang is as loyal to me as any puppy dog and he just loves the taste of a soulless body once Hallows rips it from you. You see, in my challenge, Fang will descend closer and closer to you the lower your Life Points drop. Once they hit zero, Hallows gets your soul and Fang has you for dinner. I call it the best of both worlds as both Hallows and Fang get their sustenance and with the bodies eaten, the souls he banishes have no bodies to ever come back to!"
"You're a freak Gypsy and I won't feel sorry for kicking your butt in this duel!" Amy growled as she deployed her Duel Disk, "No way am I gonna be a spider's dinner! That thing will have to go hungry tonight cause I'm gonna win!"
"You tell that sick creepy worm, Amy!" Chloe cheered.
"You'll duel circles around her!" Kazuki said supportively.
Amy nodded. Of course she was! No way was she going to lose to this bug-loving weirdo! Amy drew her starting hand while Gypsy drew her's. The two girls stared each other down as the duel finally began. The fight for Jack's soul was on!
"If you don't mind, I'll go first!" Amy declared, drawing her sixth card from her deck.
She studied her hand closely. She had three monster cards, one Trap Card and two Spell cards to choose one. Her heart leapt excitedly at the fact she had Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Polymerization in hand.
Yes! What a good start! Amy thought, Now if I can draw Summoned Skull, I'll be able to Fusion Summon my Black Skull Dragon and really make Gypsy suffer!
But for now, she didn't have it so she would have to wait. She made her move.
"I place two cards face-down and then set one monster on the field in Defence Mode." Amy decided, placing the cards in their respective places, "That oughta do for this turn."
Kazuki and Chloe took this in with interest. That was a good way to start. With at least two face-down cards, Amy could force Gypsy to play cautiously so as not to risk making any bad moves. Gypsy didn't seem too worried.
"Not bad at all darling Amy." she purred, "But let's see you handle this move…"
She drew for her turn and looked at her six cards. She too had three monster cards, two Spells and one Trap Card. She was confident that she had the superior opening move in this match.
"My precious bugs will dominate the battlefield, for I play my Field Spell, Forest!" Gypsy announced.
As soon as the Field Spell was slotted into her Duel Disk, the field changed into a holographic image of a forest. Trees grew up from the ground and bushes formed all around the area. Amy had to admit that a Field Spell always looked cool when used in duels like this. She could easily have forgotten she was in a castle room covered in webs at this moment and thought she'd stumbled into a forest.
"Glad you did that. This is an improvement over your room." Amy jeered.
"You won't be saying that for long, little Amy." Gypsy sneered, "As long as this Field Spell is in play, all Insect Monsters I play gain a Field Power Bonus."
"That's like your Mountain Spell Card, isn't it?" Chloe asked Kazuki.
"It is, only this Field Spell is for Insects, not Dragons." Kazuki noted, "Amy's gonna deal with some super-powered bugs thanks to that card."
"Quite right, honey." Gypsy confirmed, batting her eyes at Kazuki, "And now for the first of my insects to get this power up, I play Insect Knight in Attack Mode!"
She placed the monster on her Duel Disk and a huge man-sized insect wielding a sword and a shield appeared on the field (1900ATK/1500DEF with Forest boosting it to 2100ATK/1700DEF). Insect Knight was a strong Level 4 monster to bring out so quickly and Amy knew that it would be trouble for her if she didn't deal with it soon. But she knew her cards would hold it back…
"I'll also set this card face-down." Gypsy added, placing the card in her Duel Disk, "Now Insect Knight, destroy Amy's face-down monster!"
Insect Knight sprinted towards Amy's monster and sliced it in two with its sword. That ended up being a costly mistake for Gypsy as Amy's face-down monster was Electric Lizard. When it was destroyed by a non-Zombie type monster, the monster that destroyed it couldn't attack on the following turn. Insect Knight winced as electricity crackled around its body. It was paralyzed by Electric Lizard's effect. Gypsy cursed herself for not anticipating a move like that.
"So what if my monster can't attack for now?" she snorted, "I still have the upper hand for this duel."
"Yeah right. You walked into an obvious trap." Amy said mockingly, "You've got no chance in this duel! Now it's my move!"
Amy drew her next card and frowned in annoyance. Dammit, where was Summoned Skull when she needed it! At the very least drawing a powerful Spell or Trap card would've been nice!
"I'll just play my Koumori Dragon in Defence Mode and call it a turn…unfortunately." Amy sighed as she placed the card on her Duel Disk.
Kazuki shared Amy's disappointment. This duel literally had her life at stake and she couldn't afford to make slow moves like just summoning one monster and nothing else. Hopefully her next draw would be more productive. He remembered Amy's face-down cards. With any luck, they would help her out a little longer too.
"That's your best move, sweetie pie?" Gypsy sneered, "Just playing a silly little dragon in defence mode? Let me show you a REAL move here…"
She drew her next card but kept it in her hand. Her other cards were what she needed.
"I now activate the special effect of my Parasite Paranoid." the green-haired girl declared, "It's an effect that can activate from the hand, which is what makes it SOOOOO useful! With Parasite Paranoid, I can equip it to any of your monsters or any of mine. And I choose your Koumori Dragon!"
Amy stared in horror as a vicious looking worm-like creature leapt out of Gypsy's hand and appeared on the field. It wrapped itself around Koumori Dragon and clung on tight. The purple dragon winced in pain as the parasite bit and stung into it. But things got worse as Koumori Dragon suddenly began to change in appearance, shapeshifting from a dragon to a giant purple insect. Chloe grimaced in disgust and looked away while Kazuki could only express confusion at what he was seeing. Parasite Paranoid? He'd never heard of such a card. Not even Weevil Underwood, another bug-themed duellist, used a card like that! Where did Gypsy get it from? Amy was too shocked at what had happened to her dragon to care about that.
"What have you done to my dragon you freak?!" she declared.
"I do wish you'd stop calling me that. It's very inconsiderate of you to call me a "freak" because I have interests that don't align with yours." Gypsy said bitterly, "Anyway, Parasite Paranoid will prevent your dragon from attacking Insect Monsters as long as it's equipped to it, and it also turns your dragon into an insect type. But it also makes your dragon susceptible…"
She placed another card from her hand into her Duel Disk.
"…to my Cocoon of Ultra Evolution Spell Card!"
All at once, a huge cocoon formed around Koumori Dragon and Parasite Paranoid. Amy didn't understand what was going on but she knew it wasn't good news for her. She watched in dismay as the cocoon formed and then hatched seconds later. Out of the cocoon emerged a huge beetle like monster with a red carapace and blue-coloured legs. It was the grisly Insect Queen (2200ATK/2400DEF), a powerful Insect-type monster that was not to be messed with. At the same time as this, another monster mysteriously appeared on the field beside Insect Queen. It was Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth (3500ATK/3000DEF), a giant green moth creature with beautiful blue wings and a deadly look in its eyes. Amy imagined it would eat more than just clothes if it was real. Insect Queen had a special effect in where it gained 400 extra attack points for each Insect Monster on the field, including itself. There was two and with Forest in play, her attack was now at 3000 while the Ultimate Great Moth was at 3700. Everything had happened so fast that Amy couldn't understand what she'd just witnessed.
"Slow down a minute! What the hell did you just do?!" Amy exclaimed.
"I'll walk you through it." Gypsy purred, "Cocoon of Ultra Evolution allows me to sacrifice any Insect monster that's equipped with something. When I do so, it allows me to Special Summon ANY Insect Monster from my Deck in spite of its summoning conditions. At the same time, if Parasite Paranoid is sent to the Graveyard like what I've done by using my cocoon, it allows me to Special Summon a Level 7 or higher Insect Monster from my hand, also ignoring the conditions it usually requires. With this combo, I got Insect Queen from my Deck and Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth from my hand!"
"No fucking way! That's an insane combo!" Amy exclaimed.
"And this is insanely illegal!" Kazuki put in, "Gypsy, what even are those cards of yours? I've never heard of Parasite Paranoid or Cocoon of Ultra Evolution! I've duelled many Insect-themed duellists and neither of them have ever used anything like those cards before! I thought Hallows told you no cheating!"
"You hush handsome, I'm not cheating at all." Gypsy sniffed, "Hallows saw that my deck needed some improvements so he created these new cards for me to further improve it. And Hallows doesn't have a rule against using cards he creates for me and the other four to use, so it's not cheating."
"Yes it is!" Chloe spat angrily, "How is any of this fair on Amy if she's up against cards that your precious Lord Hallows made up himself?!"
"No Chloe, it's alright. A good duellist adapts to unexpected cards and improvises from there." Amy said dismissively, "All Gypsy's doing is giving me an idea on her duelling strategy so now I can work on foiling it."
"You won't foil anything, darling. You're wide open for an attack!" Gypsy crowed, "Insect Queen, you attack first!"
Insect Queen obeyed. Of course, Gypsy needed to sacrifice another Insect Monster for it to attack so she had it feast on her immobilized Insect Knight to attack Amy directly. The huge insect monster stampeded towards Amy, ready to slice into her with its huge legs. But Amy was ready for it.
"Once again, falling for an obvious trap!" she crowed, "Activate Negate Attack!"
Her Trap Card flipped face up and Insect Queen found itself clawing at a barrier that held it back from Amy. Gypsy frowned in irritation. Trust the little brat to have a Trap Card like that in her deck! Now she couldn't attack for the rest of the turn! Sighing, Gypsy decided to just activate her own Trap Card. It was Corrosive Scales, another card that didn't actually exist outside of Hallows's castle. This card was an equip card and she chose to equip it to her Great Moth. Now if Amy tried to attack, her moth was the ONLY monster she could attack. What was worse for Amy was that every time she activated a card effect or summoned a monster through any means at all, all her face-up monsters would gain a Scale Counter and lose 100 attack points for each one. The rookie duellist could see that was a card that was going to cause her a lot of trouble. Hopefully she could get rid of it before it became a problem.
Now it was Amy's turn again. She drew her card and smiled confidently. This was more like it. It still wasn't Summoned Skull, but it was still a card she could make use of.
"I set one card face-down and set another monster face down in Defence Mode." Amy announced as she made her move.
"Oooh, another face-down! Amy's really making this hard for Gypsy!" Chloe said excitedly.
"Having duelled Ames myself, I know what a tricky deck she has and how you should always be suspicious what cards she sets." Kazuki agreed.
It was advice Gypsy didn't seem keen on heeding for she drew her next card.
"This'll come in handy." she said happily, "I now play my Spell Card, Verdant Sanctuary." she said as she slotted it into her Duel Disk, "Now whenever an Insect-type monster is destroyed, I get to add one with the same level as the destroyed monster to my hand. Consider it a neat way of replenishing my forces."
"Big deal. I'll just keep squishing them as you bring them out." Amy said dismissively.
"They'll feast on you, little Amy!" Gypsy crowed, "And now I activate another effect. When Cocoon of Ultra Evolution is in my Graveyard, I can banish it to shuffle an Insect Monster from my Graveyard back into the Deck and draw another card."
She did so, choosing to shuffle Parasite Paranoid back into the deck. She drew her new card but it didn't matter much as it was only some weak Insect Monster she had no use for other than playing it so she could get Insect Queen to attack again. She didn't want to sacrifice her own moth for that effect so this new insect had to do. Insect Queen attacked Amy's face-down monster and destroyed it…but it only ended up paying the price for its mistake. To Gypsy's shock, Amy also had an Insect-type of her own in her deck, the fearsome Man-Eater Bug. When it was flipped face-up, it could target any monster on the field and destroy it. Of course, Amy chose Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth so it couldn't attack her next. The giant moth disintegrated into pixels as it was wiped out from the field and sent to the Graveyard. Kazuki and Chloe cheered while Gypsy cried out in exasperation.
"GAH! MY BEAUTIFUL MOTH! YOU DESTROYED IT!" she screeched.
"And I'm gonna keep doing that if you keep walking into such obvious traps I keep laying for you!" Amy taunted, "Come on, I thought you were supposed to be good, Gypsy! Why did Hallows recruit a poor duellist like you?"
"I'm not a poor duellist you insolent wench!" Gypsy snarled, "Hallows recruited me precisely because of my duelling skills and my potential! He saw it in me when no one else did and through him, I can realize that potential at last!"
"Then Hallows must be blind because you've been playing unbelievably sloppy this whole duel." Amy sneered, "You just keep walking into trap after trap after trap and somehow not realizing why things aren't going well for you."
"You can insult me all you like! You'll only regret it when Fang consumes you after I claim your soul for Lord Hallows!" Gypsy growled viciously, "Now then, my turn's not done yet. Now my Insect Queen has destroyed your Man-Eater Bug, she lays an Egg Token that I can use to tribute and make her attack again next turn. Also, my moth's destruction now allows me to add a Level 8 Insect Monster to my hand thanks to Verdant Sanctuary."
She shuffled through her deck and chose Brain Crusher. It was actually a Level 7 monster rather than a Level 8 one as Gypsy didn't have any other Level 8 Insects but as if she was going to let Amy know that! Surely Hallows wouldn't mind just a tiny little cheat like this? Unknown to her, Hallows had watched this and he smirked to himself. Gypsy was never particularly bright so of course she'd think he wouldn't notice. Did she not remember him saying that as long as there were shadows around, he could see and hear EVERYTHING?
"I'll let it slide for now. With how badly she's doing, I bet it won't even help her win this duel…" he crooned.
He cast his eyes back to Amy, interested to see what his next victim would do for this turn. She drew her card and set it on the field in Defence Mode.
"I notice you seem to play defensively compared to most duellists, little Amy." the Shadow Keeper mused, "It's interesting to watch, that's for sure, but you know you can't keep defending forever. What are you plotting my child…?" he purred with interest.
It was Gypsy's move next. She drew for her next turn and tried to summon another monster. She'd drawn Armoured Bee but as she played it, Amy sprang yet another trap she'd laid. This one was Bottomless Trap Hole, a Trap Card that destroyed monsters with more than 1500 attack when they were summoned and it also banished them from the game so Gypsy's Armoured Bee was gone for good. Verdant Sanctuary's effect didn't work as Gypsy's monsters had to be destroyed and sent to the Graveyard and Armoured Bee hadn't. Undeterred, Gypsy knew she could still attack with Insect Queen. She offered the Egg Token as a tribute and Insect Queen attacked once more, clawing at Amy's face-down card. But yet again, she'd stumbled into another trap.
"You've just activated my Absorbing Jar's special ability!" Amy declared, "Now it's been destroyed, both of us lose all our Spells and Traps currently on the field!"
"Oh no! Not my Spells and Traps!" Gypsy exclaimed.
She was helpless to do anything now as a robotic creature with a smiley face flashed briefly on the field before disappearing and all the Spells and Traps on the field were whisked away in an instant. Amy lost her face-down Shrink card while Gypsy lost Verdant Sanctuary and Forest. One plus to this was that both players could draw cards up to the amount of cards they lost to Absorbing Jar. Amy drew one and Gypsy drew two. Amy looked disappointed as she'd drawn Valkyrion the Magna Warrior. It might come in useful later on but for now, it was a dead draw. Gypsy on the other hand looked pleased with her draw.
"Thanks Amy. You've been most helpful." Gypsy crowed, "I'll place one card face down and end my turn."
Amy began to feel nervous. Gypsy seemed awfully happy about drawing that face-down card. What could it be? Was it a trap waiting to be sprung? Amy couldn't know for sure. She had to hope she could draw any Spell or Trap removal cards to get rid of it.
"Be careful Amy!" Chloe called to her, "Don't make the same mistakes Gypsy's been making in this duel!"
"I won't Chloe! Unlike her, I'm not walking into obvious traps." Amy taunted, "Now let's see what I get this time…"
She drew her card. It still wasn't what she was looking for but it might help her get there in the end for she'd drawn Pot of Greed. She played it in order to draw two more cards. Amy drew them both and looked at them. Her face lit up like a candle for she'd drawn just the card she needed and a happy bonus.
"Oh Gypsy, you're gonna really cry when you see this move!" Amy jeered, "I set one card face-down and then I play my Polymerization Spell Card!" she declared, placing the cards on the field as she set and activated them respectively.
"What?! You can Fusion Summon?!" Gypsy exclaimed in horror.
"Oh yeah, and this one's gonna incinerate all your stupid bugs!" Amy crowed, "By fusing my Summoned Skull with my Red-Eyes Black Dragon, I call forth the almighty Black Skull Dragon!"
She threw her arms out wide as a huge dragon with giant wings, large claws, a skeletal ribcage around its upper body and horns shaped exactly like Summoned Skull's materialized onto the battlefield. Black Skull Dragon (3200ATK/2500DEF) was the strongest monster in Amy's deck and well worth the Fusion Summon with its high attack power. Gypsy stared in horror at the giant dragon looming before her. Her Insect Queen looked puny and insignificant by comparison. But it was even worse for her as there was also the Egg Token that Insect Queen had generated after destroying Absorbing Jar. An Achilles' heel of Insect Queen was that it generated these tokens in Attack Mode…and they only had 100 Attack Points! Amy was clearly thinking what Gypsy had realized.
"Yes your Insect Queen would be a tempting target, but your Egg Token will be even more of one!" she announced, "Talk about a big bite out of your Life Points! Black Skull Dragon, destroy the Egg Token!"
Amy knew she was taking a big gamble with this move. Gypsy's face-down card could ruin everything but she had to attack eventually. Besides, her own face-down card could back her up in case of emergencies. Black Skull Dragon opened its massive jaws and blasted the Egg Token with a huge funnel of fire. The Egg Token was incinerated and Gypsy lost a mammoth 3100 Life Points as a result of this crippling attack. She only had 4900 Life Points left while Amy's still remained untouched. This duel was certainly looking like an easy win for Amy! Kazuki and Chloe cheered for their friend.
"Aw yeah, you poached that egg real good!" Chloe cried.
"Gypsy's certainly on the back foot now!" Kazuki crowed, "You've got this in the bag Amy! We'll get Jack's soul back in no time!"
Gypsy was left shaking in her shoes as she contemplated her situation. She had Insect Queen on the field with no other bugs to power her up and Amy had a powerful Fusion Monster and a face-down card to worry about. It seemed like her situation had become dire to the point it was looking unlikely she'd even survive another turn. Lord Hallows wasn't impressed either as he began barking at her telepathically.
"Gypsy! You're making a mockery of me and the Fiendish Five!" he growled furiously, "Get yourself back in gear and turn this duel around or else you'll be joining all your victims in the Shadow Realm!"
"Please Lord Hallows, have mercy on me! I can only work with what I've got!" Gypsy cried desperately, "I just need to draw one more card and I can set up my defensive wall that Amy will never breach!"
"Well you best hope you draw it now or else!" Hallows snarled.
He left Gypsy's head so the green-haired girl could concentrate on her next move. She drew her next card and sighed with relief. It wasn't exactly what she was hoping for, but it was still a card that could come in handy later. For now, she could stall Amy until she got what she needed.
"I'll just set a monster in Defence Mode and end my turn." Gypsy announced.
Amy smirked. So that was it, Gypsy was just stuck playing defensive now? How Hallows thought she was a good duellist was a mystery to her. Amy drew her next card. Thankfully, it was a Monster Card that she could summon. She'd need all the monsters she could get to get through Gypsy's defences.
"I summon to the field my almighty Dark Blade in Attack Mode!" Amy cried.
Dark Blade made his appearance (1800ATK/1500DEF) next to Black Skull Dragon. He looked like a powerful shoulder clad in black spiky armour with a red cape billowing behind him. He wielded a pair of vicious looking swords. Amy ordered Black Skull Dragon to destroy Insect Queen, finally putting the vicious insect off her throne for good. Then she ordered Dark Blade to attack the face-down monster. Annoyingly for Amy, it was Pinch Hopper, a grasshopper like monster that allowed Gypsy to Special Summon an Insect type monster from her hand when it was destroyed. She brought to the field Arsenal Bug (2000ATK/2000DEF), a bizarre looking insect monster wielding a sword and shield. Arsenal Bug had a terrible effect in where it lost 1000 attack and defence points if it was the only Insect Monster on the field but Gypsy didn't care about that for now. As long as she kept having monsters to defend herself, that would help her stall Amy long enough to get the card she needed.
"Keep throwing your bugs in my face, I'll just keep squashing them until you have nothing left and I'll wipe out all your Life Points!" Amy boasted.
"Be careful what you wish for, hon." Gypsy crooned, "You might just regret it…"
She drew her next card. She'd drawn her own Pot of Greed and she played it to draw two more cards. She'd drawn two Spell Cards…and one of them was exactly what she needed!
"Ha, ha, ha…just what I needed." she said under her breath, "Alright Amy, I play my Spell Card, Insect Barrier!"
She played the card and all at once, a huge barrier formed in front of her. Amy stared at Gypsy as if her head had turned into a tomato. Was Gypsy insane? What good was Insect Barrier going to do? It only stopped INSECT-type Monsters from attacking and Amy didn't have any of those! It wouldn't defend Gypsy from anything! Gypsy was up to something and Amy didn't like it. She watched on as Gypsy continued her move, this time playing another Spell Card. It was Worm Bait, a card she could only activate if she had an Insect-type monster in play. Arsenal Bug was there so she could use it. It summoned two Worm Tokens to further protect her from direct damage. And then finally, she used one last Spell Card. It was Cost Down. Amy knew what it did from watching Kazuki duel. But Gypsy didn't discard anything from her hand after activating it. She just immediately summoned Ultimate Insect LV5 (2300ATK/900DEF) from her hand as Cost Down lowered its Level enough for her to summon it without tribute summoning.
"Hey! That's cheating!" Amy protested, "You're supposed to discard one card from your hand to activate Cost Down and you didn't do it! What did Hallows say about cheating?!"
"He won't care if it helps me win this duel." Gypsy retorted, "Besides, what makes you think that rule applies to me? Didn't it occur to you that Hallows would only make that rule for our opponents to follow?"
She was wrong of course. Hallows made that rule for everyone to follow. As the Keeper of the Shadow Realm, he had to play fair in his duels otherwise he would only make himself look weak and unskilled if he had to cheat in order to win and the Fiendish Five doing this only ended up making him look bad. He was tempted to stop the duel and banish Gypsy to the Shadow Realm for breaking the rules but he stayed his hand.
"I'll let the duel continue. Maybe Amy can teach that insolent girl a lesson in playing by my rules…" he mused to himself.
Gypsy had finished playing all her Spell Cards and only had Brain Crusher left in her hand so the only move she could make next was just order Ultimate Insect LV5 to destroy Dark Blade. It had been twelve turns and finally Gypsy had managed to do some damage to Amy's Life Points, even if it was only 500. Amy was down to 7500 and now she'd lost Life Points, Fang the Giant Spider slowly began to descend from the ceiling closer to Amy. The teen duellist just ignored it. It was still way too early for her to even feel the slightest bit worried. She was miles ahead of Gypsy!
"So you destroyed Dark Blade. Big deal. I'm still gonna kick your ass!" Amy snarled, "You have four wimpy bugs on the field and an Insect Barrier that can't protect you! What are you hoping to achieve with this? Not much I'm guessing!"
She drew her next card. To her annoyance, it was Kaibaman, a weak monster card that she couldn't possibly do any damage with and would only make a tempting target for Gypsy to destroy and take more Life Points off of her. She would keep it in hand for now. Maybe if she drew Blue-Eyes White Dragon, she'd be able to use it then.
"OK Black Skull Dragon, destroy Ultimate Insect LV5!" Amy ordered.
Black Skull Dragon opened its jaws, about to attack but Gypsy began to laugh.
"All the pieces are in place at last!" she cackled, "Activate Trap Card, DNA Surgery!"
Amy, Chloe and Kazuki gasped as the card revealed itself to Amy. Kazuki felt his blood run cold as he saw it.
"Oh no…" he murmured, "Amy's in big trouble now!"
"Why, what does it do?" Chloe asked worriedly.
"I have that card myself." Kazuki explained, "When it's activated, Gypsy can call any type she wants and now all monsters on the field become that type. And she's gonna choose…"
"Insect of course!" Gypsy crowed.
"NO!" Amy shrieked, "That means my monsters can't get past your Insect Barrier now!"
She was right. Now all monsters on the field became Insect-types, Amy's monsters wouldn't be able to attack as they fell victim to the effects of Insect Barrier. Black Skull Dragon transformed from a skeletal dragon creature into a giant insect that only vaguely resembled what it had once been thanks to DNA Surgery. It clawed feebly against Insect Barrier, unable to get near Gypsy's monsters. Lord Hallows watched and cackled to himself.
"Ah yes, that deadly combo finally makes its appearance in this duel!" he crowed, "How many victims has Gypsy claimed just from those two cards alone? Poor little Amy's in a sticky situation now! How can she win this duel if she can't even attack Gypsy's monsters?!"
He laughed manically to himself. Even if Gypsy had been cheating, he was still glad that things were going her way at last. Of course, he'd still punish her after she beat Amy but that didn't matter to him as he'd just get two souls for the price of one. A win-win situation if ever there was one! Hallows watched as Amy hung her head in defeat. Unable to attack, all she could do was just end her turn for now. He was sure that Gypsy's DNA Surgery and Insect Barrier had Amy truly beaten. Her soul would be his in no time at all…
Gypsy is sure giving Amy a hard time with her tricky Insect Deck that puts Weevil's to shame. How can Amy get to her Life Points if DNA Surgery combined with Insect Barrier is blocking her attacks? Does she even have anything that can get past her powerful bugs? Find out in Part 2...
Trivia: Before anyone even dares to comment, yes, I am fully aware that Gypsy's deck makes no sense in the continuity of the anime because she's using cards that didn't exist at the time Yu-Gi-Oh and Yu-Gi-Oh GX was made like Parasite Paranoid, Corrosive Scales, Cocoon of Ultra Evolution and Metamorphosed Insect Queen. All those cards didn't exist until 2018 and yet this story's supposed to be set between Yu-Gi-Oh and Yu-Gi-Oh GX, both of which came out long before then. When constructing Gypsy's deck, I didn't take the time period into account as it wasn't until MUCH later in the planning stage when I fully settled on a definitive time period for the story to be set in. So we have my shitty little in-universe explanation where Gypsy says that Hallows created new cards for her to use. I know it's a bullshit explanation but what else can I do to cover up this plot-hole? =P I like to imagine that Amy remembers those cards and drops a suggestion to Pegasus sometime afterwards to make them real. XD
Oh and Absorbing Jar's effect in real life only works on face-down Spells and Traps, not all of them. I misread how it works when I wrote the duels for this story but kept them anyway as it provided convenient ways for Amy to get out of a sticky situation so consider this my example of a card working differently in the anime than in real life. XD
Also this duel ended up needing A LOT of re-writes as during the writing of this chapter, I noticed that with my notes for the duel I made a lot of ridiculous misplays that just made me look inept as a Yu-Gi-Oh player and would've made Amy and Gypsy look like incompetent duellists so as you can imagine, the duel would've looked and played VERY differently if I stuck to my original notes and didn't fix all the misplays.