I would like to take this time to make an announcement. I have a special gift for my loyal readers. Once I receive one good review from ten different people, I will give it to you. What is it, you ask? It's a surprise. However, it's Von Stupor-related and I know you won't be disappointed, so keep those reviews coming and enjoy!
The Fanatic versus the Masked Duelist
By: Von Stupor
Baron Von Stupor combed Battle City over, but there were no signs of duelists anywhere. This is a sure sign that many weaker duelists had been eliminated, and that the finals are getting ever closer. Von Stupor knew that soon, the competition will begin to heat up, as he too must be eliminated before the finals begin.
Joey had intersected with Von Stupor many times, but the two refused to duel each other until the finals. Eventually, Joey informed Von Stupor of a sub-tournament being held as a means to help eliminate duelists from the tournament. The sub-tournament would be held in match format and duelists only face one opponent, meaning the number of duelists would be halved before the sub-tournament was over.
Von Stupor acknowledged this and parted with Joey again. He then saw someone walking down the street that looked vaguely familiar. Von Stupor approached her.
"Excuse me, madam, but are you perchance the semi-finalist of the duelist Kingdom tournament, Mai Valentine?" he asked.
"You shouldn't even have to ask me that unless you don't get out much. Of course I'm Mai Valentine," she declared, arrogantly.
Upon closer inspection, Von Stupor realized she was lying.
"Lies! Your eyes are miniscule compared to those of duelist Mai of Valentine! You cannot begin to match Mai, for you are an impostor!"
"Naw, I was just testing you!" she said, suddenly cheerful. "My real name is Nina and I'm a huge fan of Mai! She's my idol!"
"Ah, I see. I can assume, then, that this explains why you dress like her? …And style your hair like her? …And talk with her accent while in character?"
"Yep, exactly! A few years ago, I even had my nose operated on to match hers exactly!"
"You are also wearing contacts to match her eye color. If you match her as closely as you do, then you must also have begun dueling with her deck?"
"Kind of. I have been calculating what cards she has used in all of her duels for the past year! Based on this data, I built a deck that theoretically matches hers exactly!"
"What do you expect to get out of using another's ideas for personal gain?"
"By matching her strategies exactly, I should be able to make it to the finals along with her and finally achieve my dream of meeting her! I will finally meet my idol, and in the best possible place, the dueling arena!"
"If one didn't know any better, one might assume you're quite obsessed, or that you have nothing better to do."
"Hey, you're lucky you're not a duelist instead of a street performer or I'd cream you good!"
"Eh?! You are sadly mistaken, my mirroring friend, for I too, am a duelist, and am still qualified to duel in the tournament!"
"Then I challenge you to a duel! No one's gonna insult my idol and get off easy! I will defend her honor!"
"You will not even begin to get far in life mimicking others. You must begin to find your own solutions to problems, as—"
"Draw your hand and go!"
Sighing, Von Stupor drew his hand and prepared to duel.
"I shall begin by drawing and set three Magic or Trap cards, that shall end my turn," Von Stupor said.
"Only an amateur would make that kind of mistake! You should always be able to summon or set a monster on your first turn or you'll never survive! Already your deck is showing signs of weakness! I summon the Cyber Harpie and attack you—"
"Not so fast! A good trap in the beginning can make up for a poor beginning defense! I activate 'Trap Hole', destroying your monster!"
The ground suddenly collapsed from under the Cyber Harpie. This caught it off-guard and it fell to its doom.
"Fine then, I'll finish my turn by playing 'Rising Air Current', which raises the attack of all WIND-type monsters by 500!"
That won't be too good, Von Stupor thought. I must dispose of it as soon as possible.
"I'll summon Senju of the Thousand Hands and attack you directly! In addition, I'll use his effect to place a ritual monster card from my deck to my hand!" announced Von Stupor.
Senju ran over to Nina and wildly flailed his thousand hands at her. His ferocious attack did not stop until her Life Points were at 6600.
"What's 1400 Life Points when I still have 6600 left? Besides, your 'Senju of the Thousand Hands' will be helpless against the Faith Bird!" she said arrogantly.
Senju looked quite surprised to see the large bird loom over him.
"Attack Senju with your Raging Dive attack!"
The Faith Bird raised high into the air and dove at Senju, but rather than striking him, it slashed its talons through one of three priests that had mysteriously appeared in front of it. The priest, tattered and bloody, dropped to the ground and disappeared with the other two. Senju remained, but Nina appeared confused.
"If in the case that you did not notice, I have activated my Trap card, 'Waboku'! It reduces all Battle Damage from your monsters to 0, rendering their attacks ineffective from the beginning of activation to the end of the turn!" Von Stupor explained.
"Why would you do that? It's only 100 Life Points. You wasted your card!"
"You may look, sound, duel, and somewhat act like Mai, but it is a shame that you cannot begin to think like her. As you shall see in my next turn, there is a method to my madness."
Nina simply glared at Von Stupor.
"I shall begin my turn," Von Stupor began. "…By beginning the beginning of my comeback! I shall begin the Black Illusion Ritual!"
Two goblets and a large pot bearing the image of the Millennium Eye appeared.
"To begin the beginning of the Black Illusion Ritual, I must first tribute a monster! Senju shall aid me in this!"
Senju turned into a stream of light and flowed into the pot.
"So ends the beginning of the ritual."
Nina gave Von Stupor a look of confusion. A great fire flared from either goblet and was sucked into the pot. Then, there was a great rumble and Relinquished burst from the pot.
"Come to me, Faith Bird!" Von Stupor commanded as the Faith bird was sucked into Relinquished's torso.
"I shall now attack you directly! Behold! Your defeat begins!"
Relinquished floated over to Nina and sent a fearsome slash through her waist, and her Life Points sunk to 5100.
"You are beginning to lose a lot of Life Points. 5100 is more than a quarter. Are you still confident, or do you begin to worry?" Von Stupor asked.
Nina appeared nervous until she drew her card.
"I don't know what that thing is or what your obsession is with the word 'begin', but it doesn't matter now!" she gloated.
Von Stupor's head cocked.
"I'll play 'Raigeki', and your fearsome Relinquished is automatically destroyed!"
A dark cloud appeared over Relinquished and a bolt of lightning shot down towards it.
"Tut, tut, my unoriginal copycat! I activate 'Magic Jammer'!" Von Stupor said.
The Raigeki bolt slowed to a halt and froze for a few seconds. It then reversed direction and was sucked back into the clouds and everything cleared away. Relinquished wiped the sweat off of its forehead.
"I'll discard 'Summoned Skull' to pay the price for activating this card and end my turn."
Nina became nervous once again. She set a monster and quietly ended her turn.
"You are beginning to be quite quiet, Pseudo-Mai. The true Mai Valentine is quite arrogant and talkative. Relinquished, attack that set monster!"
Relinquished attacked the face-down card to reveal the Morphing Jar #2.
"Your Relinquished is sent back to your Deck!" Nina blurted, breaking her silence. "I don't care what you have to say, I will win this duel one way or another, and I will meet my idol!!!"
"Gasp!" Von Stupor gasped. "Now I have to draw until I have the same number of monster cards that are 4 stars or lower that were sent back to my deck and special summon them in face-down defense position! Any others are sent to the graveyard! This is quite the disappointment."
Von Stupor drew 'Seven Tools of the Bandit'.
"Blast!" he said.
Next he drew 'Negate Attack'.
"Blast!"
Then he drew 'Pot of Greed'.
"Blast!"
Finally, he drew 'La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp'. La Jinn was set and Von Stupor ended his turn.
"I'll summon the Blue-Winged Crown and attack your face-down card!" Nina announced.
Another large bird appeared and attacked the face-down card. La Jinn was destroyed.
Blast it all! I've run out of ways to defend myself already, Von Stupor thought. Perhaps I can bluff.
"I'll eliminate your 'Rising Air Current' by playing 'Mystic Plasma Zone', my field magic card! I'll set one super ultra mega rare Trap card specifically aimed towards severely punishing those who attack me and end my turn."
"I can see right through that bluff! Only an amateur would try a minor-league move like that! I shall summon a second Blue-Winged Crown and attack you directly with both!"
"No!" Von Stupor cried as both big birds streaked through either side of him. "Now I only have 4800 Life Points left!"
"Your turn," Nina said, smirking.
"I draw…" And begin to rip my hair out! Why must I have such a dry spell?! Is it so hard for me to draw but one monster?! I haven't a single one in my hand!!! Perhaps… this trap may help, though… thought Von Stupor.
Von Stupor set one Magic or Trap card and ended his turn.
"This would be a time where I would say something quick, witty, and/or insightful, but since I am at quite a disadvantage and can't think of anything, I shall simply say nothing. …Except that, what I just said doesn't count."
Nina looked at Von Stupor blankly and said, "Maybe if you concentrated on the duel a bit more instead of acting like a 5-year-old, you wouldn't be at such a disadvantage."
"You dare insult Baron Von Stupor?!"
"Yes, and I don't think you have much to say about it, either."
"Hmph! Once I emerge the victor, I will have no need for talking; simply a quite vulgar gesture followed by my departure will suffice!"
"I've heard enough of this! Attack, my Blue-Winged Crowns!"
"I shall activate 'Magical Cylinder'! It negates your monster's attack and inflicts it to your Life Points instead!"
While one Blue-Winged Crown dove through Von Stupor, the other flew into a cylinder that appeared next to Von Stupor. It soared out of another cylinder conveniently aimed towards Nina and slashed her as well.
"It seems we're about even now, since I have 3600 Life points left," Nina said.
"…And I, 3200," agreed Von Stupor, drawing. "I shall now summon the Copycat! In summoning it, I shall activate 'Metalmorph' and chain onto it the 'Axe of Despair'! Next, I shall copy the attack and defense of the Blue-Winged crown, giving my Copycat quite a grand attack total of 2900!"
The Copycat grew much bigger from the copying the Blue-Winged Crown, and now wielded a large, metallic axe.
"Go, my Copycat! Attack the Blue-Winged Crown to the right!"
The Copycat threw its axe at the right Blue-Winged Crown on the right. The bird let out a shriek of surprise and the blade lodged itself into the bird's chest. The bird dropped to the ground and disappeared as the Copycat retrieved its axe.
"What?! I have 1400 Life Points left??? But how???" Nina asked.
"In addition to increasing the Copycat's attack by 300, it also increases its attack by half of the attack of the monster it is attacking for the duration of the attack! My Copycat's attack is now quite unmatched, for its attack will always be greater!" Von Stupor boasted.
"I can still come back from 1400 Life points. I've done it before, I'll do it again."
"You have or Mai has?"
Nina remained silent and drew a card. She shifted her Blue-Winged Crown to defense mode and ended her turn.
"Copycat, destroy the second Blue-Winged Crown!"
The Blue-Winged Crown fell under the Copycat's might.
Von Stupor set a Magic or Trap card and ended his turn.
Nina set a monster and ended her turn. She was growing increasingly nervous.
"Why do you sweat? It is not hot today. Do not worry, for if you are hot, the shadow of defeat will arrive quite soon to cool you."
His comment was received with a quick glare.
"Rudeness is rude! Practice your manners! Destroy the face-down card!"
The face-down monster, Axe Raider, stood no chance. Von Stupor set a Magic or Trap Card and ended his turn.
Nina's eyes lit up with her next card.
"This is it! It's time for my big comeback! First, I'll summon the Cyber Harpie! Next, I'll play two 'Elegant Egotists' to summon two sets of Harpie Lady Sisters! I'll equip one set with my 'Cyber Shield', and finally play a second 'Rising Air Current'! Now your 'Mystic Plasma Zone' is destroyed, and I have the advantage!"
Nina's Harpie Lady Sisters now sported metallic armor and whips, and due to the 'Rising Air Current', the wind around the arena picked up dramatically. Von Stupor's cope flapped erratically in the wind.
"Go, why cyber shielded Harpie Lady Sisters! Attack the Copycat with your Cyber Trio Trouncing!" Nina commanded. "Feel the wrath of Mai Valentine!"
"All I feel is the urge to activate my face-down card, 'Rush Recklessly'! It increases the attack of a selected monster by 700 for the duration of the turn!"
The Copycat and Harpie Lady Sisters collided in the middle of the arena. The Copycat wildly flailed the axe around and by pure luck, looped off the heads of all three sisters.
"Noooooo!!!" screamed Nina as her Life Points dropped to 750.
"Copycat, finish the job with her Cyber Harpie!" commanded Von Stupor.
The Copycat slashed the Cyber Harpie and eliminated Nina's remaining Life points.
Nina, heartbroken, dropped to her knees and began crying. Von Stupor walked over to her.
"You are… quite troubled, yes?" he asked.
"Of course I am!" she sobbed. "You ruined my dream, you jerk!"
Von Stupor cocked his head at this.
"You failed quite miserably to take into consideration the fact that there may be someone who can defeat Mai in the tournament," he said, calmly.
"You may be right, I may not be Mai, but the real Mai can't be beaten!"
"If that is so, then how did young Yugi Muto beat her in the Duelist Kingdom tournament?"
"I don't care, just go away. I only wanted to meet Mai, that was all… And you took it all away from me!"
"Hmmm… I am quite nearly qualified top compete in the finals, and I'm sure Mai will be there. Why not join me, and you may meet Mai yet."
"What?" she asked, her head snapping up. "You'll what?"
"Join me as I venture into the finals and you shall still fulfill your dream of meeting your idol should she be there as well."
"I… Thank you… I don't know what to say…"
"Just promise me that though she is your goddess, you shall still strive for originality. Do not plagiarize her deck any longer."
"Okay… I will!"
Together, Von Stupor and Nina continued their quests.
"Wait!" said Nina. "Why the heck are you saying 'quite' now?"
"I do it because the mosquitoes tell me to."
"What???"
"Nina, as you will learn in later chapters, some things are simply best left unasked."
"O… okay, then."
Together, Von Stupor and Nina continued their quests.