Fader couldn't help but feel a sense of anxiousness for the days to come.
His life had changed so much in such a short time. And now he was getting
"special attention" from the tournament organizer himself. Fader was so
caught up in his own thoughts that he almost ran into a kid who was running
past him.
"Watch it," was all the kid said as he rushed away. Fader noticed a Duel Disk on the kids arm and judging by the kid's attitude he must have just lost.
Fader turned to where the kid had come from and heard the sounds of cheering and applauding. Curious he walked down the corridor to investigate. When he emerged he was amazed at the scene around him.
The area was a giant aquarium, at least what was left of it. It had long since been abandoned, the water and animals were gone, and peices of wall had deteriorated from lack of care and attention. Somehow though, the crowd had remained.
Fader looked around at the stands filled with cheering and howling people. He turned his attention to the remains of the stage to see what the sommotion was about. He saw a young woman there, with jet black hair a red mini-dress and a Duel Disk blowing kisses to the crowd.
"Anyone else think that they have what it takes to beat me?" she shouted to the audience. No one was answering; they all continued cheering. "I guess everyone knows that Vega is just too hot to touch." She was about to step down from the stage when Fader approached her.
"I will be your opponent," he declared.
Vega just shrugged her shoulders, "Another slab of meat for the barbecue. I'll warn you, I'm smoking today. You'll be my third win in a row."
"So you have three locator cards?" he asked.
"Seven, including the ones I won in the past two days. I can already hear the finals calling me."
"They how about we up the ante?" Fader said with a smile. "Two locator cards and two rare cards each?'
"You're on!" she answered. "Then I'll only need one more locator card to get to the finals. I hope you have something good though. The last two guys I dueled today didn't have anything worthwhile. "
"Ladies first," Fader said extending his hand.
"How gentlemanly of you," Vega replied. "I'll start by playing one card face down and then I'll play Darkfire Soldier #1 (1700/1100) in attack mode."
Fader drew his card and added it to his hand. "I'll play the Dunames Dark Witch (1800/1050) and I'll attack your Soldier." The Dunames rushed towards Vega's monster, just before it could strike though, a line of fire spread across the field and shot up out of the ground, stopping the Witch in its tracks.
"Your Dunames activated my trap card, Wall of Flame, which prevents any monster from attacking the opponent." The crowd began to cheer louder. "Welcome to the furnace buddy."
"My name is Fader. And since I can't attack, I'll end my turn."
"Now I'll equip my Darkfire Soldier #1 with the magic card, Salamandra, increasing my monsters attacking power by 700 points to an awesome 2400! Now Soldier, attack the Dunames Dark Witch!" In an instant the Soldier had slipped through the Flame Wall and incinerated the Dunames Dark Witch.
Fader: 3400, Vega: 4000.
"How is that possible?" Fader asked, bewildered. "You said that the Wall of Flame prevents monsters from attacking."
"I left out a small detail," admitted Serena. "Though most monsters can't pass thorough the Wall of Flame, fire-type monsters don't suffer from that limitation."
"So you can attack me, but I can't attack you?"
"Not unless you have a fire-type monster in your deck." Vega said with a smirk.
Fader didn't. For all the powerful cards he had in his deck he didn't have a single monster capable of punching through the Wall of Flame. "I'll play one monster in defense mode and end my turn."
"Not much else you can do, is there? I'll lay one card face down. Now Darkfire, slide through the wall once more and destroy his face down monster."
"Thank you Vega," Fader said.
"What? Why?"
"Because your attack flipped my Princess of Tsurugi (900/700)," explained Fader. "I may not be able to get past your trap to attack, but my monster's special ability allows me to deal 500 points of direct damage to your Life Points for every magic or trap card you have on the field. You lose 1500 Life Points."
Fader: 3400, Vega: 2500.
Fader felt pretty confident in himself but the crowd didn't seem to be on his side. They began to boo his move. "It was a nice play Fader," Vega complimented. "But it seems like I still have all the support. It's a shame you don't have anyone in your corner."
"I don't need anyone backing me up," he replied.
Vega began to shake her head. "Sounds like someone is trying to rationalize to me. Tell me, do you even have any friends Fader? Or are you all alone."
Fader closed his eyes. He wasn't alone. He did have friends. Didn't he? He then realized he was deluding himself. His closest friends were Serena and Beezy, and he had only known them for less than a week. He had been alone growing up his entire life, now was no different. He was the only one on his side.
iYou aren't alone/i a voice in Fader's head shouted. iYou have friends closer than you think. You always will. In your heart./i Fader didn't know where the voice had come from, but he felt a sense of truth and power behind it. I'm going crazy he thought to himself.
"My friends may not be screaming and cheering Vega," Fader said with vigor. "But I have friends with me in spirit. I'll play one monster in defnese mode and two other cards face down."
"I keep hearing the same song from you Fader," Vega joked. "But if you want to keep doing the same dance, then I'm game. Darkfire Soldier, attack Fader's new monster."
"You may have thought it was the same song Vega," Fader said with a smile, "But I've decided to change the tempo."
"Huh?"
"I activate my trap cards, Disarmament and Destruction Punch."
"What do those do?" Vega asked.
"Disarmament starts by destroying all equipment cards on the field," Fader explained. As he did so, the Salamandra that the Darkfire was carrying vanished as it moved through the Wall of Flame to attack Fader's monster.
"My monster will still attack yours."
"But you won't destroy it," Fader replied, flipping over his Mystical Elf (800/2000). "My Elf's defense is higher than your attack."
"So I lose 300 Life Points," Vega said shrugging. "Big deal."
"That's not all you lose." Fader pointed to Vega's side of the field just as the Darkfire Soldier shattered to pieces and was banished to the graveyard. "My other trap card allows my monster to destroy an attacking monster if my defense is higher. Your Darkfire Soldier is defeated." The crowd booed Fader once more.
Fader: 3400, Vega: 2200.
"You may have destroyed that monster, but my Wall of FLame still prevents you from attacking me. I'll set one monster and end my turn."
Fader looked at the cards in his hand. He still didn't have the right cards to punch through. He would have to keep building his defenses. "I'll lay one more monster face down and end my turn as well."
"You don't know what you're up against," Vega stated to Fader. "But now you'll get a taste of just how powerful my deck actually is and what it's capable of. First I'll activate my trap card Avatar of Apophis, which transforms into a monster (1600/1800)."
"A mistake on your part Vega."
"How so?"
"Your Avatar is an Earth-type reptile. It can't pass through the Wall of Flame any more than my monsters can."
"I don't need it to attack. I just need it to tribute so I can summon my new monster. I'll sacrifice my face dwon monster and my Avatar, now witness the summoning of one of my rarest monsters, the Ceruvean Phoenix (2200/2400)!" Vega's monsters vanished from the field and the ground in front of Vega began to glow red with heat. Suddenly it burst into fire; slowly the flames began shaping themselves until they had formed the menacing image of the Phoenix. "Now Ceruvean Phoenix, destroy his face down monster!"
The great bird moved swiftly and elegantly across the field and through the Wall of Flame, and then used its massive talons to tear through Fader's Y- Dragon Head. Fader could only look on in awe.
"Watch it," was all the kid said as he rushed away. Fader noticed a Duel Disk on the kids arm and judging by the kid's attitude he must have just lost.
Fader turned to where the kid had come from and heard the sounds of cheering and applauding. Curious he walked down the corridor to investigate. When he emerged he was amazed at the scene around him.
The area was a giant aquarium, at least what was left of it. It had long since been abandoned, the water and animals were gone, and peices of wall had deteriorated from lack of care and attention. Somehow though, the crowd had remained.
Fader looked around at the stands filled with cheering and howling people. He turned his attention to the remains of the stage to see what the sommotion was about. He saw a young woman there, with jet black hair a red mini-dress and a Duel Disk blowing kisses to the crowd.
"Anyone else think that they have what it takes to beat me?" she shouted to the audience. No one was answering; they all continued cheering. "I guess everyone knows that Vega is just too hot to touch." She was about to step down from the stage when Fader approached her.
"I will be your opponent," he declared.
Vega just shrugged her shoulders, "Another slab of meat for the barbecue. I'll warn you, I'm smoking today. You'll be my third win in a row."
"So you have three locator cards?" he asked.
"Seven, including the ones I won in the past two days. I can already hear the finals calling me."
"They how about we up the ante?" Fader said with a smile. "Two locator cards and two rare cards each?'
"You're on!" she answered. "Then I'll only need one more locator card to get to the finals. I hope you have something good though. The last two guys I dueled today didn't have anything worthwhile. "
"Ladies first," Fader said extending his hand.
"How gentlemanly of you," Vega replied. "I'll start by playing one card face down and then I'll play Darkfire Soldier #1 (1700/1100) in attack mode."
Fader drew his card and added it to his hand. "I'll play the Dunames Dark Witch (1800/1050) and I'll attack your Soldier." The Dunames rushed towards Vega's monster, just before it could strike though, a line of fire spread across the field and shot up out of the ground, stopping the Witch in its tracks.
"Your Dunames activated my trap card, Wall of Flame, which prevents any monster from attacking the opponent." The crowd began to cheer louder. "Welcome to the furnace buddy."
"My name is Fader. And since I can't attack, I'll end my turn."
"Now I'll equip my Darkfire Soldier #1 with the magic card, Salamandra, increasing my monsters attacking power by 700 points to an awesome 2400! Now Soldier, attack the Dunames Dark Witch!" In an instant the Soldier had slipped through the Flame Wall and incinerated the Dunames Dark Witch.
Fader: 3400, Vega: 4000.
"How is that possible?" Fader asked, bewildered. "You said that the Wall of Flame prevents monsters from attacking."
"I left out a small detail," admitted Serena. "Though most monsters can't pass thorough the Wall of Flame, fire-type monsters don't suffer from that limitation."
"So you can attack me, but I can't attack you?"
"Not unless you have a fire-type monster in your deck." Vega said with a smirk.
Fader didn't. For all the powerful cards he had in his deck he didn't have a single monster capable of punching through the Wall of Flame. "I'll play one monster in defense mode and end my turn."
"Not much else you can do, is there? I'll lay one card face down. Now Darkfire, slide through the wall once more and destroy his face down monster."
"Thank you Vega," Fader said.
"What? Why?"
"Because your attack flipped my Princess of Tsurugi (900/700)," explained Fader. "I may not be able to get past your trap to attack, but my monster's special ability allows me to deal 500 points of direct damage to your Life Points for every magic or trap card you have on the field. You lose 1500 Life Points."
Fader: 3400, Vega: 2500.
Fader felt pretty confident in himself but the crowd didn't seem to be on his side. They began to boo his move. "It was a nice play Fader," Vega complimented. "But it seems like I still have all the support. It's a shame you don't have anyone in your corner."
"I don't need anyone backing me up," he replied.
Vega began to shake her head. "Sounds like someone is trying to rationalize to me. Tell me, do you even have any friends Fader? Or are you all alone."
Fader closed his eyes. He wasn't alone. He did have friends. Didn't he? He then realized he was deluding himself. His closest friends were Serena and Beezy, and he had only known them for less than a week. He had been alone growing up his entire life, now was no different. He was the only one on his side.
iYou aren't alone/i a voice in Fader's head shouted. iYou have friends closer than you think. You always will. In your heart./i Fader didn't know where the voice had come from, but he felt a sense of truth and power behind it. I'm going crazy he thought to himself.
"My friends may not be screaming and cheering Vega," Fader said with vigor. "But I have friends with me in spirit. I'll play one monster in defnese mode and two other cards face down."
"I keep hearing the same song from you Fader," Vega joked. "But if you want to keep doing the same dance, then I'm game. Darkfire Soldier, attack Fader's new monster."
"You may have thought it was the same song Vega," Fader said with a smile, "But I've decided to change the tempo."
"Huh?"
"I activate my trap cards, Disarmament and Destruction Punch."
"What do those do?" Vega asked.
"Disarmament starts by destroying all equipment cards on the field," Fader explained. As he did so, the Salamandra that the Darkfire was carrying vanished as it moved through the Wall of Flame to attack Fader's monster.
"My monster will still attack yours."
"But you won't destroy it," Fader replied, flipping over his Mystical Elf (800/2000). "My Elf's defense is higher than your attack."
"So I lose 300 Life Points," Vega said shrugging. "Big deal."
"That's not all you lose." Fader pointed to Vega's side of the field just as the Darkfire Soldier shattered to pieces and was banished to the graveyard. "My other trap card allows my monster to destroy an attacking monster if my defense is higher. Your Darkfire Soldier is defeated." The crowd booed Fader once more.
Fader: 3400, Vega: 2200.
"You may have destroyed that monster, but my Wall of FLame still prevents you from attacking me. I'll set one monster and end my turn."
Fader looked at the cards in his hand. He still didn't have the right cards to punch through. He would have to keep building his defenses. "I'll lay one more monster face down and end my turn as well."
"You don't know what you're up against," Vega stated to Fader. "But now you'll get a taste of just how powerful my deck actually is and what it's capable of. First I'll activate my trap card Avatar of Apophis, which transforms into a monster (1600/1800)."
"A mistake on your part Vega."
"How so?"
"Your Avatar is an Earth-type reptile. It can't pass through the Wall of Flame any more than my monsters can."
"I don't need it to attack. I just need it to tribute so I can summon my new monster. I'll sacrifice my face dwon monster and my Avatar, now witness the summoning of one of my rarest monsters, the Ceruvean Phoenix (2200/2400)!" Vega's monsters vanished from the field and the ground in front of Vega began to glow red with heat. Suddenly it burst into fire; slowly the flames began shaping themselves until they had formed the menacing image of the Phoenix. "Now Ceruvean Phoenix, destroy his face down monster!"
The great bird moved swiftly and elegantly across the field and through the Wall of Flame, and then used its massive talons to tear through Fader's Y- Dragon Head. Fader could only look on in awe.