Disclaimer: See Chapter 41 for details
Chapter 42: Dragon Demolition, Part 1
"I'll even be a gentleman and let you go first" Kevin replied, examining his opening hand.
"Well thank you! I summon Minor Dragon of Earth (1700/1500) in attack mode!" Miranda called as her dragon materialized on the field. "Then I'll place a card face down and end my turn," she added.
Kevin snatched his newest card. "I'll bring out Dark Blade (1800/1500) in attack mode!" he announced as his warrior materialized, its shiny black armor gleaming in the sunlight. "Second, I'll play a magic card, known as Fusion Sword Misurame Blade, which pumps up my Dark Blade by 800 attack points" he explained as his creature's attack power shot up to 2600. "Attack!" he demanded as his monster whipped out his sword, slicing the defending dragon once vertically and once horizontally before the monster could bear the pain no more, and exploded. (M: 3100)
"Yes!" thought Kevin, "round one, I win."
Miranda calmly drew her card. She added it to her hand and selected another card from her hand to play. "I summon Grey Wing (1300/700) in defense mode and end my turn" she announced as her small orange dragon materialized on the field. In addition to its natural orange, it was protected by a dusty brown shell and had two heavenly white wings flowing behind it. It folded its wings before it as a defense.
"Done?" Kevin asked.
"Sure am" Miranda replied.
"You think Kevin's got this in the bag?" Anzu wondered on the sidelines. "I mean, Miranda's hardly putting up a fight"
"Yes, Anzu, but that may just be part of her strategy. Remember, we've never seen Miranda duel before, so she may have some tricks up her sleeve. We'll just have to see" Yugi responded.
"Then I'll draw" Kevin swiftly snatched his newest card. "Oh yeah!" he exclaimed. "I activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards! Then, I play this magic card, Dragon Summoning!"
"Dragon Summoning? Never heard of that card before" thought Miranda.
"Hey, what does that do Yugi?" wondered Anzu.
"I'm not too sure," replied Yugi, "but I think Kevin gives up 1000 life points and he can summon any dragon monster he wants from his deck."
"Any monster?" repeated Tristan.
"I believe so," answered Yugi.
"So what does your new card do?" Miranda asked.
"Easy. I give up a thousand life points (K: 3000) and discard a dragon monster from my hand" Kevin slipped Luster Dragon into his graveyard slot, "to bring out the mighty Blue Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500)!" Kevin announced as Kaiba's signature white, blue eyed dragon exploded from its card, its roar covering the entire arena.
Everyone was astray. "How did this kid get a Blue Eyes? No one in the entire world, excluding myself, possesses one of the four legendary Blue Eyes White Dragons. The fourth was ripped up, I should know, I ripped it up! This card must be a fake," Kaiba hissed.
"What? A Blue Eyes White Dragon, that's impossible!" protested Yugi.
"This must be a trick. How could you possibly get a hold of one of the rarest creatures in Duel Monsters?" Miranda questioned.
"Well, take a look at my card" Kevin snatched it off his Duel Disk. There was a piece of tape around the card, connecting the two halves. Kaiba was in awe.
"Could that be…the fourth dragon?" he wondered.
"Some girl named Rebecca Hawkins competed in this tournament and lost her Blue Eyes to me. So all's fair," Kevin explained, much to his delight.
"Rebecca lost her Blue Eyes?" Yugi muttered. "She must be devastated. When we dueled, she wouldn't let anything distract her from winning the dragon. She had one goal, get that dragon," he recalled.
"But enough about a history lesson, let's get on with the present!" Kevin replied. "My dragon will rip your defense to pieces!"
"Not quite! Activate trap, Bottomless Trap Hole!" sprung Miranda. "This trap takes your mighty dragon and removes him from play! So your dragon won't be doing anything this turn to harm me" she smiled.
"You may have defeated my dragon, but I've still got Dark Blade! Attack her Gray Wing," he commanded, as the monster was destroyed in the same style as Minor Dragon of Earth in the previous turn.
Miranda drew. "All right! Time to activate Graceful Charity!" she slid the magic card in its slot, triggering the effect. She drew three cards, and selected two to discard to the graveyard. "I'll set a card face down for later, and use this time to play Magical Slots!" she declared.
"Magical Slots…" Kevin wondered, trying to recall if he had heard of this card or not. His search came up empty.
"In case you're wondering, my card will let me flip three coins. Then the fun begins" she cracked a grin as a slot machine materialized on the field. The lever magically lowered and the slots began to whirr around like crazy. The first stopped on a tails, the second on heads, and the final one…heads.
"Perfect! Now I can summon Drakor (2200/1500) in defense mode!" she announced as her flaming dragon appeared on the field, hissing in Kevin's direction. "End turn," she declared.
"I don't know about you guys, but I think Miranda's fixing to show Kevin some moves," Anzu said.
"Yeah. Kevin thinks he's in control, but that's what makes them different. Kevin seems to rely on power to win his duels to overwhelm his opponents, but Miranda's more of a strategist, analyzing combinations she can use to destroy her opponents" Tristan noticed, announcing his conclusions to his friends.
Kevin drew once more. "I play Spear Dragon (1900/0) in attack mode! Now, Spear Dragon, attack Drakor!" he declared as his monster unleashed a windy cyclone blast, eliminating the fiery defense. "Don't forget, Spear Dragon does damage to your life points even when your monster's in defense mode" he added as Miranda's life points suffered a small decrease. (M: 2700)
"Time to whittle you down even more! You promised me a fight Miranda, but I hardly sense one. Dark Blade, follow up with a direct attack!" Kevin commanded as the monster flew at Miranda, ready to eliminate nearly all of her life points.
"You really are a trap magnet," sighed Miranda. "Sakurestu Armor, activate!" she called as a silver armor suit materialized on Dark Blade. The armor then self-destructed, destroying the mighty warrior before its attack could damage Miranda.
Kevin growled. He walked straight into the trap and now he only had a monster with 0 defense points defending him. Not good. "I'll switch Spear Dragon to defense and end my turn" he grumbled.
"I take it you don't like losing" Miranda stated as she drew.
"I don't" replied Kevin.
"Too bad. Because now I play the Dragon's Holy Land! This card covers the field in a mountainous area, or in other words, a dragon haven, powering all dragon creatures on the field by 200 points" she explained. "Then I'll summon Ryu-Sharigan (1900+200/1200+200) to the field and end my turn!"'
"Why didn't she attack? Did she think she'd trigger my facedown card? Oh well, her loss" Kevin pondered before he drew. "I sacrifice my Spear Dragon to bring out the Summoned Skull (2500/1200)" he announced as his weak blue and yellow dragon was replaced with the tall, white and purple demonic skull. The skull growled as he made his appearance on the field.
"He thinks he's beating me," laughed Miranda to herself.
"Go Summoned Skull, attack Ryu-Sharigan! Lightning Strike!" cried Kevin as his monster charged himself up with electricity, sending two waves at Miranda's dragon.
"Another trap, just for you! I activate Ryu-Sharigan's ability! By discarding my Change of Heart card, I can power my Ryu-Sharigan to an attack equal to Summoned Skull" she explained as her monster glowed in white light, attack points rising to 2500.
"So what, both monsters are destroyed now, and you just wasted a good magic card!" Kevin responded. The lightning blast smashed into Ryu-Sharigan, who then responded with a flaming orange blast, melting away Summoned Skull. Ryu-Sharigan remained on the field, undamaged.
"What! You cheated! When both monsters have the same attack strength and are both in attack mode, they're both destroyed!" Kevin explained the rule of the game.
"Not when one of your monsters has a special ability," countered Miranda. "And Ryu-Sharigan's is very nifty, since it can never be destroyed in a battle" she smiled.
"Uh-oh. This is a tough spot. Now, if I do attack, I lose a monster and she loses nothing. But if I don't attack, I leave myself open for her to destroy me during a turn. How can I defeat this card?" he pondered, until a solution clicked in his brain. "That just might work," he thought. For now, however, it was Miranda's turn, and he was wide open.
Miranda drew. "Go! Ryu-Sharigan, attack Kevin's life points directly!" she commanded as the dragon charged a similar orange fireblast, aimed for Kevin.
"Reveal trap, Draft Dragon!" he countered. Miranda seemed unfazed however. "In exchange for half of my life points, I can summon a dragon monster to the field to block your attack!" explained Kevin, his life points suffering a major decline. (K: 1500) "I'll summon Mirage Dragon (1600/600) in defense mode" he explained as the blue dragon appeared on the field, immediately being disintegrated by the fires of Ryu-Sharigan.
"I'll end my turn" Miranda declared, satisfied Kevin had nothing on his field.
"I draw," declared Kevin. "Then I'll play Card of Sanctity, requiring both of us to draw until we have 6 cards in our hand" he explained the rules of the card. Miranda picked up five cards off her deck, while Kevin drew four.
"So…who do you think is gonna win this?" Tristan tried to start conversation on the sidelines.
"I'm not sure yet. Miranda's got the lead, but that doesn't really mean anything" Anzu suggested.
Yugi had a grim look on his face.
"This is quite the show. I only hope I get to duel one of them. Then won't they be in for a rude awakening" Joker thought, fingering his newly modeled deck.
"Looks as if Miranda's got Kevin on the edge, and is just about to push him off; works for me. Then I'll be able to duel Miranda and strip her of the Blue Eyes White Dragon, which rightfully belongs within my deck" plotted Kaiba.
"Now I play Drillago (1600/1100)" Kevin slapped his newest monster card on the card plate. A yellow machine with several drills emerging from its body materialized on the field. Each of its polished, pointy drills whirled, ready to carve up an opponent. "And since the only card on your side of the field is a monster with more than 1600 attack points, Drillago, attack Miranda's life points directly!" he demanded as his monster dug deep within the Earth, springing before Miranda and holographically stabbing her with one of its many drills. (M: 1500)
Miranda growled, not planning on getting her life points reduced in a maneuver like that.
"I'll set a card face down" a brown-back card appeared on Kevin's field, "and complete my turn" he thought, knowing if Miranda didn't have anything this turn, victory would be his.
Miranda drew once more. "Now, reveal another ability of Dragon's Holy Land, which can reduce the level of each dragon monster in our hands by one! So I offer Ryu-Sharigan to bring forth Red Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000)!" she called, her original monster destroyed in a black flame, bringing out the sharp taloned, midnight-black dragon, whose red eyes drove fear within the mightiest of opponents. It let out a shrill cry and sent a clear message it was in control of the field.
"Don't forget, Red Eyes gains 200 attack and defense points from my Dragon's Holy Land card" Miranda added as the dragon's strength rose to 2600 and his defense to 2200.
"Reveal trap, Sight Curse! This card gives me a clone of your Red Eyes Black Dragon, only 500 points weaker (2100/1700)!" Kevin sprang as his trap created a Red Eyes clone. Both dragons hissed, growled, and glowered at each other, wanting to be the superior dragon.
"I see what Hunter's up to…" thought Kaiba.
"He thinks that by using that fake dragon…" continued Black Joker
"He'll be saving himself for a turn" completed Miranda. "What an amateur move" she thought, "but I won't fall for it!" she yelled. "Red Eyes Black Dragon, incinerate his Drillago!" she commanded.
"Augh! Damn!" thought Kevin as the Red Eyes sent a raging red-orange fire blast towards the machine, completely melting it away. (K: 500) "My trap didn't work, now I'm down to 500 life points and she's completely dominating the field. But I can't give up, I know somewhere, there's another monster in my deck that can save me from this jam"
"While you're off daydreaming, I'll set a card facedown before ending my move" Miranda smirked, believing that soon she would be victorious.
Kevin closed his eyes and snatched the top card off. He looked at it, and a sigh of relief escaped from his mouth. "Call to Arms, activate!" he announced. "By discarding two monsters from my hand, I can bring one from my deck to my hand! So I offer you, Element Dragon and Alligator's Sword, to bring out the mighty Chaos Emperor Dragon!" he explained as his deck holster spit out a card, which Kevin snatched to his hand.
"Uh…oh" stammered Miranda.
"Oh yes! Now I'll remove from play Drillago and Mirage Dragon to bring forth the all powerful Chaos Emperor Dragon (3000/2500)!" Kevin slammed the card onto the duel disk. A fault immediately sprung from the earth, a fiery inferno being caught beneath it. Some fires whipped out of the fault forming a protective barrier around the shadow of a dragon. The monster roared from within the fire and the flames dispersed to reveal an emerald green dragon plated with golden armor in several places over its body with a wild orange mane flowing from behind its head in the wind. Its razor sharp talons and amazing wingspan spelt doom for any foe foolish enough to attack it.
"Activate trap!" Miranda called.
"No trap's going to save you from this attack! Now I'll use Dian Keto the Cure Master to raise my life points by 1000!" Kevin exclaimed as a goddess appeared on the field, giving Kevin a golden ball of life, which floated into the part of his Duel Disk where the life-point counter was. It shot up by one thousand. (K: 1500)
"Finally, I give up 1000 life points (K: 500), to activate my monster's deadly ability! End this match!" instructed Kevin as the dragon unleashed an enormous wave of red-orange flames, completely covering the entire arena. Only the duelists could be made out. The flames eventually rose in level until they destroyed their creator and every other card on the field. At last, the flames began to die down until no cards were on the field.
"And I win!" happily cheered Kevin.
"Not quite!" Miranda protested. Kevin checked the score, and her life points were still the same!
"What's going on?" he demanded to know.
"You should have paid more attention to my trap card, Hallowed Life Barrier! This trap negates the damage I receive by the simple price of one card from my hand. I'm safe, you've got no cards to defend you, five-hundred life points, and it's my turn. Smooth move, Kevin" Miranda responded as she knew this turn could decide the entire match.
Kevin was worried, realizing the same fact Miranda had.
"This is it…it could be the final turn" Yugi thought.
"Oh no, someone's fixing to lose" Tristan wondered.
"Yes, Blue Eyes, here I come" greedily thought Kaiba.
"Finally, now I can show these people real dueling and get what I came here for" Black Joker sighed.
Miranda drew and cracked a joyous grin.
All Kevin could do is gulp.
CARDS PLAYED
Minor Dragon of Earth: Level 4/ 1700/1500/ Dragon Type
Dark Blade: Level 4/ 1800/1500/ Warrior Type
Fusion Sword Misurame Blade: EQUIP MAGIC/Desc: This card can only be equipped to Warrior-Type monsters. A monster equipped with this card increases its ATK by 800 points. This card cannot be destroyed by effects that destroy Magic Cards.
Gray Wing: Level 3/ 1300/700/ Dragon Type/Desc: Discard 1 card from your hand during Main Phase 1. This monster can attack twice during the Battle Phase of any turn this effect is used.
Pot of Greed: MAGIC/Desc: Draw two cards from your deck.
Dragon Summoning: MAGIC/Desc: Pay 1000 life points. Discard one dragon-type monster from your hand. Special summon one dragon type monster from your deck.
Blue Eyes White Dragon: Level 8/ 3000/2500/ Dragon Type
Bottomless Trap Hole: TRAP/Desc: When your opponent Normal Summons, Flip Summons, or Special Summons a monster with an ATK of 1500 or more, the monster is destroyed and removed from play.
Graceful Charity: MAGIC/Desc: Draw 3 cards from your deck. Then, discard any two cards from your hands.
Magical Slots: MAGIC/Desc: Toss 3 coins. If two out of three are heads, Special Summon one level 5 or higher monster from your Deck to the field in face-up attack mode or defense mode. If all three are heads, Special Summon up to 2 level 5 or higher monster(s) from your Deck to the field in face-up attack mode or defense mode. If all are tails or one is heads, inflict 500 times the number of cards in your hand as direct damage to your Life Points. The summoned monster(s) cannot attack on the same turn they were summoned to the field and they cannot attack the opponent's Life Points directly.
Drakor: Level 5/ 2200/1500/ Dragon Type/Desc: When a "Burning Land" is active on the field, negate the damage to the controller of this card while this card is face-up on the field.
Sakurestu Armor: TRAP/Desc: When your opponent attacks, destroy the attacking monster.
Dragon's Holy Land: FIELD MAGIC/Desc: Increase the ATK and DEF of all Dragons by 200 and downgrade all Dragon-Class monsters levels on the field and in both player's hand by 1.
Ryu-Sharigan: Level 4/ 1900/1200/ Dragon Type/Desc: This card is not destroyed in a result of battle and is not affected by any Trap Cards. When this card battles with a monster with an ATK higher than this card, discard one card from your hand to increase this creature's ATK to equal the monster is battles. This effect can be used during either player's battle phase.
Spear Dragon: Level 4/ 1900/0/Dragon Type/Desc: If this card attacks with an ATK that is higher than the DEF of your opponent's Defense Position monster, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points. When this card attacks, it is changed to Defense Position at the end of the Damage Step.
Summoned Skull: Level 6/ 2500/1200/ Demon Type
Draft Dragon: TRAP/Desc: This card can only be activated during your opponent's turn. Pay half of your Life Points to activate this card. Special Summon one Dragon-Type monster to the field in face-up attack or defense position. The monster cannot attack on the turn it was Special Summoned.
Mirage Dragon: Level 4/ 1600/600/ Dragon/Desc: As long as this card remains face-up on your side of the field, your opponents cannot activate Trap Cards during the Battle Phase.
Card of Sanctity: MAGIC/Desc: Both players draw until they hold 6 cards in their respective hands.
Drillago: Level 4/1600/1200/ Machine Type/Desc: When there are only face-up monsters with ATK 1600 or more on your opponent's side of the field, this monster can attack your opponent's Life Points directly.
Red Eyes Black Dragon: Level 7/ 2400/2000/ Dragon Type
Sight Curse: TRAP/Desc: This card may only be activated when your opponent normal summons or special summons a monster. Special summon one "Sight Curse Token" to the field. The token has the same level, type, attribute as the summoned monster. The monster also has the same attack and defense points minus 500.
Call to Arms: MAGIC/Desc: Discard two monsters from your hand. Place one monster from your deck into your hand.
Chaos Emperor Dragon: Level 8/ 3000/2500/ Dragon Type/Desc: This card can only be Special Summoned by removing 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster in your Graveyard from play. Pay 1000 of your Life Points to send all cards in both players' hands and on the field to the Graveyard. Inflict 300 points of damage to your opponent's Life Points for each card that is sent to the Graveyard by this effect.
Dian Keto the Cure Master: MAGIC/Desc: Raise your life points by 1000.
Hallowed Life Barrier: TRAP/Desc: Discard one card from your hand. During this turn, any damage you take from your opponent becomes 0.
Any cards in bold-face print are not my property, but belong to 'BlakDragon220'