Ankhutenshi: It is indeed tough, but I like to think I'm managing pretty well for what I've got available, in terms of cards that are interesting and yet not overpowering. Depends on the way you see it.
Skraku: Evilicious? Interesting term. I'll have to remember that one. Makes the one who uses it sound like a masochist.
Monica: There's no Wolf card IRL as of yet. Perhaps that'll change with time. Though considering what kinds of monsters are in booster packs right now, I doubt it.
T: I'll eventually have to. Monica DOES have a Blue-Eyes, after all. Look forward to it.
Wolf: Thanks. Nice to know you're keeping your eye on the duels. They've got character development of a different sort, but they've still got character development. We see the duelists' true colors.
-------
Kyle blinked. Danger? Now what the heck are you talking about? What danger?
...danger...
I'm going insane. That must be it. I'll bet I've been off my rock ever since going to Egypt. Why did I even agree to go along? Oh, wait, I didn't... I was dragged into it. Like they drag me into everything. That should stop.
...stop...
Can't stop now, though. I've got to play through this tournament and win. Nice to have goals, isn't it?
Zack regarded Kyle. "You've got that distant look. Sure you'll be able to focus for the next round? I'd be worried."
Kyle shook his head. "Nah, it's nothing. Just thinking about some things, is all."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
Zack shifted around. "You know, ever since you first came in here, I've been thinking about Jason. After... what happened, and my moving away, I started thinking that it had all been something like a dream. I had a grasp on what death was, but hadn't expected it to hit so closely."
Kyle raised an eyebrow at Zack. "And now?"
"Well, when I heard you'd become such a... well, sorry, but such a horrific shadow of who you used to be..."
Kyle scoffed. Zack held a hand up. "Now come on, I think you know what I'm talking about. You weren't that little boy that liked to play with the others anymore. You were this... this thing that no one wanted anything to do with. All the others had learned to stay away from you. What happened, anyway?"
Kyle shook his head. "My parents, I guess. Every day, they push me more and more toward the medical profession. And every day, I try to pull farther away from it because that isn't what I feel like I should be doing. So we got into these huge fights all the time. I got into the rebel bit. I got myself into trouble just so that they'd have something to be mad at me for. Something to disappoint them. Maybe lower their expectations."
He snapped his fingers. "I'll bet that's what it was. Trying to lower their expectations of me. So that I wouldn't have to go into medicine like they wanted me to."
"What is it you want to go into, then?"
"Well, I like to write. I write poems sometimes, and short stories." He chuckled. "Kinda creepy, but I enjoyed writing them anyway. And who knows? I'm sure there are other people out there who'd love to read them."
"No doubt. Some people will read anything," Zack noted. "Just as long as it's good material."
"True."
At that point, three other duelists approached the counter and looked at Zack expectantly. He eyed them. "Semi-finalists, I take it?"
They nodded, apparently waiting for him to set up a bracket for them. He chuckled, pulled out the bracket sheet, and began scribbling on it. "All right. Lauren... you'll play against Bill, and Perry, you're up against Kyle. Come to the counter when you're finished, we'll set up a table for me to emcee."
Kyle glanced at Perry, a confident-looking boy of perhaps 15 years with a shock of white hair. He gestured at a random dueling table, and they both sat down at it and shuffled their decks.
"You go ahead and go first," Perry said, his voice riddled with enthusiasm.
"Sure." Kyle grinned and drew six cards. This guy might not be so bad to duel against. "I play Shining Abyss (1600/1800) in attack mode, and that'll do for now."
"All right, then." Perry drew his sixth card and made his move. "I play Gearfried the Iron Knight (1800/1600) in attack mode, and attack your Shining Abyss."
Kyle obediently sent Shining Abyss to the graveyard and lowered his LP to 1800. Nice start to the game. Let's see how this goes.
...contest...
Oh, be quiet, you.
"That's all for me," said Perry.
Kyle drew his next card. Paydirt. "I play Muka Muka (600/300) in attack mode. With his special effect, he gains 300 attack and defense points for every card in my hand. I've got five, so his attack power becomes 2100. And with that, Muka Muka attacks Gearfried."
Perry raised an eyebrow as he placed his Gearfried in the graveyard and reduced his LP to 1700. "Destroyed. Interesting."
"Glad you approve. Your turn."
Perry drew, and promptly placed the card he'd just drawn on his monster field. "Jirai Gumo (2200/100) in attack mode." Then he grabbed the coin that had been conveniently placed on the table for such occasions as would need coin-flipping. "Its effect forces me to flip a coin each time I attack. If I announce the correct side it lands on, the attack goes through; if I misjudge, the attack still goes but my LP is cut in half."
"Fair enough. So I should probably say goodbye to Muka Muka either way, right?"
"Pretty much. I call tails." Perry flipped the coin; it bounced twice across the table before coming to rest – heads up.
Kyle chuckled as his LP descended to 1700, while Perry's went to 850. "You lost more Life Points than I did in that attack."
"True, but Jirai Gumo's effect doesn't subtract Life Points, it divides them. So I'm safe, for the moment. Your turn."
"You may be safe in your attacks, but if your monster leaves the field, your Life Points are wide open." Kyle drew his next card and grinned. "Like so. I play Marie the Fallen One (1700/1200) in attack mode, and then play the magic card Rush Recklessly to increase her attack power to 2400 for this turn. Marie attacks Jirai Gumo."
"Destroyed." Perry's LP descended to 650.
"That ends my turn."
Perry drew his next card, and a grin spread across his face. "Take a look at the most powerful monster in my deck. I play Sword Hunter (2450/1700) in attack mode, and use it to attack your Marie."
"Destroyed."
Perry smirked. "But that's not all. She doesn't go to your graveyard."
Kyle blinked. "What?"
Perry tapped the Sword Hunter card. "My monster's special ability kicks in. When it destroys an opposing monster, that monster turns into a magic equip card on my field, equipped to Sword Hunter, and Sword Hunter's attack power increases by 200 for every monster equipped this way. Hand over Marie, she's going to my magic/trap field."
Kyle frowned, but gave his Marie card to Perry as his Life Points descended to 950. "Great," he muttered. Now I can't get Marie's graveyard effect. This is really not boding well for me; I don't have any monsters with a defense power that high.
"My turn's done," Perry cheerfully announced.
"Good to know," Kyle grumbled as he drew. This card won't do me any good at all if Sword Hunter prevents monsters from going to the graveyard. But since I don't have anything else to defend myself with... "I play Witch of the Black Forest (1100/1200) in defense mode and end my turn."
Perry drew his next card without comment. "I play Swamp Battleguard (1800/1500) in attack mode. But I don't think I'll have him attack your Witch; nope, Sword Hunter will take care of that."
Kyle sighed and passed his Witch card to Perry, which ended up next to Marie on Perry's magic/trap field.
"Sword Hunter's attack power is now 2850. Hope you're having fun. My turn's finished."
"Oh, I'm having great fun," Kyle scoffed, drawing. Well, this might do some good... "I play the magic card Mystical Space Typhoon, and use it to destroy Marie the Fallen One – which, since it's now a magic equip card, is a perfectly legal move."
"Hmph."
Perry handed the Marie card back to Kyle, who gratefully put it in his graveyard. Now I'll reap the benefits of her effect. "Next, I place one monster face-down and end my turn."
"Face-down? Hidden effect. Gotta be," Perry pronounced. "But I'm sure it'll make a fine addition to Sword Hunter's arsenal." He drew his next card. "I play Lava Battleguard (1550/1800) in attack mode, and his special effect activates, along with Swamp Battleguard's. Since they're both on the field at the same time, each one gets a 500 point boost to their attack strength. I'm building up quite the army, wouldn't you say?"
"You haven't impressed me yet," Kyle responded.
"That's a shame. Sword Hunter attacks your face-down monster."
Kyle flipped it over and smiled grimly. "Magician of Faith (300/400) is destroyed. Her special effect still takes place since hers is a flip effect and not a graveyard effect."
"That may be true, but Sword Hunter still gets her as an equip card. So hand her over."
Kyle passed his Magician to Perry, then grabbed his Mystical Space Typhoon from his graveyard as per his monster's effect. Perry grinned. "Sword Hunter's attack power again increases to 2850. My turn's done."
"Fine. Now I gain 200 Life Points as per Marie's effect." Kyle drew his next card and felt slightly gratified to see his Life Points increase to 1150 in the face of Perry's Sword Hunter. I can at least try to defend myself until my LP gets high enough to withstand a more serious attack. "I play the field magic card Chorus of Sanctuary, to increase the defense power of all monsters in defense mode by 500 points. And then I play Launcher Spider (2200/2500) in defense mode, and increase his defense to 3000 by Chorus's effect. That ends my turn."
"Clever," Perry said as he drew, "but rather pointless, I'm afraid. I play the magic card Spiritualism, which allows me to return one magic/trap card to your hand without fear of being counteracted. In this case, I choose Chorus of Sanctuary."
Kyle grumbled, but put his Chorus card back in his hand. Now Launcher Spider's defense power is only 2500, and Sword Hunter's at 2850 attack...
"Sword Hunter attacks Launcher Spider," Perry announced, "and the effect kicks in yet again."
"Destroyed." Kyle sighed as his Launcher Spider went to Perry's m/t field and increased Sword Hunter's attack power to 3050. More powerful than a Blue-Eyes White Dragon now... who says there aren't epic battles around here?
"My turn's finished. I'd say this game is close to the same, wouldn't you?"
"Possibly." Kyle drew his next card. Hey, now this might do some good. I just need to get the right monster first... and I know just how I'm going to do it. "First, I gain another 200 LP from Marie's effect. Then I play Mystical Space Typhoon, this time to destroy Witch of the Black Forest."
"You can only make that play so many times," Perry admonished, nevertheless giving Witch back to Kyle.
Kyle placed his Witch in the graveyard and began to look through his deck. "That's not the idea. The idea was to get her effect, which I'm sure you're well aware of."
"Monsters with a defense power of 1500 or less generally don't have a high attack power, and certainly there aren't all that many that can best my Sword Hunter right now. Surely you don't have one, anyway."
"Once again, you're missing the point," said Kyle. He made his choice, plucked it from his deck, and then placed that choice card on the field. "I play Red-Moon Baby (700/1000) in attack mode."
Perry frowned at the card. "What use is that ugly little monster to you?"
"Great use, when I combine it with this magic card – Secret Pass to the Treasures, which allows any of my monsters I target with it to attack your LP directly, provided that monster has an attack power of 1000 or less." Kyle grinned. "I don't have to destroy your monsters to win. Only your Life Points. So, Red-Moon Baby attacks your Life Points directly."
Perry looked at his calculator display and groaned. "My Life Points are wiped out."
"So they are. But it was a good match." Kyle nodded in appreciation of Perry's tactics. "I'm sure you'll go far with a strategy like that one."
"Thanks." Perry handed Kyle's monster cards back to him. "You didn't do too badly, either. I think I'll stick around to watch this last duel."
"That'd be cool." Kyle grinned and reshuffled his deck once before getting up and approaching the counter again.
Lauren was already there, talking with Zack and waiting for her last opponent of the tournament. She was a dark-haired girl with a smattering of freckles across her nose, and she had a polite – if aloof – disposition.
Zack glanced between the two finalists and clapped his hands together once. "Well! Let's get the last duel underway. This should prove interesting." He gestures at a table in the middle of the store. "If you two'll sit down over there, we'll get this show on the road. I'll be refereeing. Play fair, children."
Kyle chuckled at the condescending term, but Lauren was simply content to stare coolly at her opponent. They sat down on opposing sides, and Zack placed himself at the side on Kyle's right. He set up the duelist calculators, then looked up at the players and said, "Since Lauren won her game sooner than Kyle won his, she'll be going first."
Lauren agreeably drew her first six cards and then quietly announced her move. "First, I play the magic card Dark Designator. This allows me to call the name of any monster card; if that card is in your deck, you add one of that card to your hand."
"So what monster will it be?" Kyle asked.
"I've seen your previous duels, so I know you have Launcher Spider. And that is the card name I will announce."
"Fair enough," Kyle said, feeling slightly confused as he rummaged through his deck. Why would she make me pull Launcher Spider out of my deck and into my hand? Does she want me to play my strongest monster on my first turn?
...danger...
Oh, what are you babbling on about now? Are you paying attention to the game, or something? What danger?
...danger...
"Next, I will play the magic card Exchange. This forces each duelist to choose one card from the other's hand and add it to their own."
Damn! You were right! She's going to take my strongest monster and use it against me! Kyle grit his teeth as he showed his hand to her – he held Robotic Knight, Harpie's Brother, Launcher Spider, Trap Hole, Earthshaker, and Chorus of Sanctuary.
Her own hand was comprised of Island Turtle, Curse of the Masked Beast, Major Riot, and Banner of Courage. With the exception of Island Turtle, he'd not heard of them, so he took several moments to inspect the cards before deciding on what he wanted. "I'll take Banner of Courage."
"And I, Launcher Spider," Lauren answered. The two obediently traded the announced cards to each other, and then Lauren announced, "I play Launcher Spider (2200/2500) in attack mode, and it is only by the rules that I do not attack you this turn. End turn."
"Lucky me," Kyle muttered. He drew his next card. This won't do me much good, but maybe I can pull something off... "I play Robotic Knight (1600/1800) in defense mode. In addition, I place two magic/trap cards face-down, and then play the field card Chorus of Sanctuary to increase Robotic Knight's defense to 2300. To end my turn, I play Banner of Courage... which I'll save for later use."
"Undoubtedly," she responded. She drew her next card. "I play the magic card Heavy Storm, to rid the field of all magic/trap cards."
Kyle grunted as he discarded his own magic/traps and returned the one he'd taken from her to its owner.
"Launcher Spider attacks Robotic Knight."
"Destroyed."
"End turn."
Kyle sighed as he drew his next card. "I place one monster face-down and one magic/trap face-down. That ends my turn."
Lauren drew, but ignored the card she'd drawn and turned her attention back to the field. "Launcher Spider attacks your face-down monster."
Kyle flipped over his face-down m/t. "Activate Waboku. My Harpie's Brother (1800/600) is still revealed, but it'll be adequate defense for now."
"So say you. End turn."
"Hm." Kyle drew his next card. Yuck. This'll only give her an edge. Not like I've got a choice. "I play Upstart Goblin, to allow myself another card to draw. It also increases your LP by a thousand, so be thankful I played that."
She raised an eyebrow. "I'll endeavor to make my thanks evident."
Kyle drew the next card off the top of his deck and inspected it. Well, that might do some good. We'll see. "I place one magic/trap face-down and end my turn."
"Good," she answered, drawing her next card. "I play the ritual magic card Curse of the Masked Beast."
"Which does?"
"It's a ritual card," she informed him in a condescending tone. "It allows for the special summon of a specific high-level monster from my hand, provided I tribute monsters whose level stars equal or exceed that of the monster I am summoning."
"From the field?"
"The field or the hand; the ritual magic card does not care which. It can even be both... for example... I shall tribute Launcher Spider from the field, and Island Turtle from my hand. Launcher Spider is level 7, while Island Turtle is level 4. Curse of the Masked Beast calls for at least 8 level stars, and since I have provided more than enough, I can now special summon The Masked Beast (3200/1800) to the field in attack mode."
Great. Yet another monster stronger than Blue-Eyes. They always have to give me the tough ones. Kyle rolled his eyes. "Anything else?"
"Indeed, there is. The Masked Beast shall attack Harpie's Brother."
"Destroyed, but Brother isn't going alone." Kyle flipped over the face-down m/t he'd played last turn. "Misery loves company. Activate Michizure, to destroy the monster that destroyed mine."
Lauren made no comment as she sent her Masked Beast to the graveyard. "My turn shall end, in that case."
"Good." Kyle drew his next card. Her field is clear of monsters, so now is the perfect time to attack. But first, I need a couple more cards. "I play Pot of Greed, to draw two extra cards." He plucked the next two cards off the top of his deck and smirked. "Then I play Marie the Fallen One (1700/1200) in attack mode, and attack your Life Points directly." He felt a measure of satisfaction as Zack reduced Lauren's Life Points to 1300. "That ends my turn."
"Very well." Lauren drew, and placed the drawn card on the field. "I play Gaia the Fierce Knight (2300/2100) in attack mode and attack your Marie the Fallen One."
"Destroyed." Kyle didn't feel particularly threatened, even as his LP descended to 1400. Long as I keep defending myself, I'll get those lost Life Points back.
"End turn."
Kyle drew – as he did so, his LP ascended to 1600, per Marie's effect. "I play Shining Abyss (1600/1800) in defense mode and end my turn."
Lauren drew and promptly announced, "Gaia attacks your Shining Abyss."
"Destroyed."
"End turn."
Kyle drew – up to 1800, now. "I play People Running About (600/600) in defense mode and end my turn."
She made no comment as she drew once more. "Gaia attacks your People."
"Destroyed."
"End turn."
Kyle began to wonder just how repetitious she was feeling this to be, but nevertheless drew his next card. Great, now I'm up to 2000 again. "I play Oppressed People (400/2000) in defense mode, and also place one magic/trap face-down. That ends my turn."
"This grows tiresome," Lauren sighed, drawing as she spoke.
...tired...
"I play Monster Reborn to revive my Masked Beast, and Gaia shall attack your Oppressed People."
"And another one bites the dust," Kyle remarked.
"End turn."
Kyle drew – his LP increasing to 2200 – and he chuckled. "All right, if you're so tired of this, let's finish it up. First, I flip the magic card Offerings to the Doomed to destroy your Gaia."
"Very well. You shall not draw on your next draw phase," she pointed out as she discarded Gaia.
"I won't need another draw phase. I play the magic card Change of Heart on your Masked Beast." Kyle smirked grimly. "Just like you used my own monster against me, I'll use your own monster against you."
Lauren didn't reply.
"Masked Beast attacks your Life Points."
"And thus ends the game," Zack announced.
A smattering of light applause echoed throughout the store. Kyle and Lauren stood up and shook hands firmly.
"Good duel," Kyle said, meaning it.
"And to you," she responded softly.
Zack went to the counter to retrieve something, and brought it back to the table. "As promised, Kyle, in addition to becoming a Level Two duelist, you receive an official badge which declares you to be as such, and you also receive a special card for winning, on me."
In one hand, Zack held the badge. In the other was the card.
Kyle took both and looked at the badge first. The name space was blank, as was the picture space, but the silver badge – comprised of a thin metal and proportioned like a credit card – was embossed with the words "Level Two Duelist" across the bottom.
He turned to the card...
And gaped.
Zack chuckled. "You've heard of this card before?"
Kyle tried to make an effort to speak, but found himself unable to for several seconds.
The picture on the card was unmistakable. It showed a head, two arms, two hands, and a torso, all built out of tan brick. The blocky head was adorned with a single, massive eye, under which there was a pair of symbols.
Chubs sauntered up to Kyle's side and inspected the card. "Millennium Golem, huh? Cool name. Awesome picture, if a bit weird. Pegasus was always one for strange monsters."
...Millennium... golem... Millennium...
That monster... is a Duel Monsters card...?
Someone knows. Whoever made this card knows what that creature is.
What's happening?
-------
Now, that's a question we could all ponder for a while, isn't it? Next up, Kyle, Chubs, and Zack visit the next tier, and Kyle reaches a point of no return – literally. Stay tuned!