Chapter 10: Mai vs V: Mai Kind of Day

(Life Point Count: Mai 4000, V 4000)

"Ladies first." V said, sipping water from his cup. You know, the supposedly indestructible one?

"My my, I guess chivalry isn't dead." Mai said, looking at her hand. She pondered her strategy. On one hand, V did have skill. He had been matching that earlier kid move for move. On the other hand, she wasn't playing for a huge cash prize or to keep her memo…actually the less she thought about THAT, the better, but that didn't mean she shouldn't play at the top of her game.

Though it was nice to not have the usual stress.

"I lay a card face down, and I play Blue-Eyed Silver Zombie, in attack mode." Mai said, as the decomposing monster appeared (900/700). "And that'll be it."

"How true." V said. "I play Earthbound Spirit (500/2000) in attack mode. And then…I play the magic card Shield and Sword!"

The card appeared, and the attack and defense points of both monsters switched to 2000/500 and 700/900.

"Attack Spirit!"

"Bad move buddy." Mai said as the Earthbound Spirit rushed forward. "I activate my trap card, Mirror Wall!"

"Ah crap!" V cursed as the Mirror Wall stopped his attack and cut his attack points in half to 1000.

"It gets worse. That card you played only works for one turn, and since your turn is over, you go back to the original number…before my little effect takes place there as well." Mai said. V looked a bit worried as his Spirit's attack points fell to 250. "Now attack Zombie!"

The Blue-Eyed Silver Zombie did so, destroying the Spirit. V's life points went down to 3350.

"Nice move." V said.

"I'd say so." Mai replied, as she drew a card, having neglected to do so when she was attacking. She stared at it. Odd. No Harpy Ladies yet. Oh well, no matter.

"I switch Blue-Eyed Silver Zombie into defense mode, and I play Amazon Fighter (1500/1300), in attack mode. That'll be it for me. Try not to hurt yourself now big boy." Mai said.

V frowned and drew. Ah.

"I play two cards face down, and I summon the Skull Feline to the field, in attack mode." V said. A lion-like creature with a mane of sharp bone appeared. "That'll be it."

Mai drew. My Harpy's Pet Dragon! She thought. But I don't have any Harpys on the field yet…but with this card, it won't matter much…Mai thought as she pulled out another card.

"I lay a card face down, and then I sacrifice my Blue-Eyed Silver Zombie and Amazon Fighter to call the lonely but still mighty Harpy's Pet Dragon!" Mai said. The brown, hairy dragon appeared (2000/2500), it's hologram roaring at V. "Now my lovely dragon, attack his Skull Feline."

"I don't think so…" V said. "Activate…"

"Stop right there sweetie. Activate face down card: Harpy's Feather Duster!" Mai called. "This will destroy any trap cards you might have thought would stop my dear dragon."

"Like I said, I DON'T THINK SO." V replied. "Activate other face down card: Fake Trap!"

"Ack! My Feather Duster!" Mai said, as the Fake Trap stopped her Feather Duster.

"And as I was saying, activate my original card: Wakobu!" V said. Three women in robes stopped Mai's dragon from attacking.

"That's it?" Mai cracked, trying to hide her relief it wasn't a nastier trap card.

"It made you waste your Feather Duster, didn't it?" V said, sipping his drink again. Mai grudgingly admitted he had a point. V drew again. "And that pain is about to increase."

Uh oh. Mai thought. Then she recalled she still had her Mirror Wall up. Maybe V wouldn't.

"First, I'll play the magic card Rush Recklessly! This increases my Skull Feline's attack points by 700 for one turn. But that's just the start. Next, I'll combo it with this card: Blessed Dice!" V said, as he placed two cards onto his platform.

"Blessed Dice?" Mai said. She'd never heard of that one. Joey had a pair of cards that were called Graceful and Skull Dice, but this was new.

"This magic card allows me to multiply the effect of any magic card. And I'm going to use it on my Rush Recklessly card." V explained. An angel hologram appeared and tossed a die. It bounced a few times and came up on 3.

"Three! This means my Rush Recklessly's effect is tripled, giving my Skull Feline 2100 extra attack points! And with that, I command it to destroy your Harpy's Pet Dragon!"

"Not before my Mirror Wall has its way, big boy." Mai said, waving a finger in a naughty-naughty expression.

"As you wish! I play the final part of the puzzle: Dust Tornado!"

"Oh no!" Mai said as her trap card was destroyed.

"And now that that's gone, Skull Feline, attack!" V commanded. The Skull Feline, it's attack points increased to 3400, charged forward and rammed into the dragon, destroying it in a blast of electronic data. Mai's life points dropped to 2600.

"Still have any doubts Mai?" V said.

Mai didn't answer. Instead, she drew. Ah. No V. I don't doubt your skills. But as you will soon see, you had better not doubt MINE either.

To Be Continued