Tournament Stories part 5
I anxiously paced back and forth between the two rusty poles on each end of the front gate.
"Where's Jack? I hope he didn't get disqualified in the second preliminaries. That would be so bad!" I said to myself as some little kid passing by heard me and looked at me funny.
I tried not to pay attention to him and focused my attention on some kid wearing a red shirt run in my direction. It was Jack, all right.
"I won! I did it! I'm officially in the real tournament now!" Jack said as he shoved his dueling deck in his pocket, "This is so cool," and he said my name, "you and I are now of the 256 left in this tournament. OH! I can't wait until tomorrow!" he said as he reached in his pocket for his deck again to show his newly won card. "And look at the card I won!" he said proudly.
"Not bad, Jack. It's a Rabid Horseman (2000/1700)! Do you have the fusion materials for it?" I gave him his card back as he looked at the bottom to see what monsters were required. "The Battle Ox and the Mystic Horseman? Sure. But I don't have a Polymerization," he said as he shuffled his deck on his knee and put his cards away again.
"Heh, NOBODY does! It's so uncommon!" I said as I thought about my Black Skull Dragon again.
"That's so true…" he commented as the towering loudspeakers buzzed again.
"Congratulations, duelists! All 256 of you have survived long enough to make it to the actual tournament of this tournament. We have been carefully monitoring your skills with the database network we have running through each arena. But I must say… some of you are here by default, errors made by your opponents, or by using too many direct damage cards. And that will be your undoing. Needless to say, many of you will find it very difficult to hold your own from here on in because NOW, you will be using dueling discs instead of arenas and instead of 8000 life points, you start off each duel with 4000 life points. Some rules will be added- which you will have to discover, and some will be taken away like the 550 life point penalty for two identical face down magic/trap cards, and the immortal zombie for one turn rule. It's all in the name of quicker, more exciting and challenging duels. Have fun! And don't forget that now that these are the actual tournaments, the loser must give the winner a card of 2000 attack strength or higher AND a magic or trap card of the winner's choice, so long as it is rare. These are the trying times of a duelist. There is no room for error here. Good luck, and have a good night," that man's voice from this morning was being heard all throughout the island. I still couldn't decipher whose voice it was. Neither could anyone else.
"Okay, boys. Time for your room assignments!" the short lady came up to a group of us who were discussing strategies in dueling and made us form a line. "These cards have been randomly shuffled. These cards contain monsters as weak as 0 attack to 1500 attack and from 100 to 1500 defense with no rares, no effect cards, and no holos. You will each draw one card from anywhere in the deck. There are exactly five copies of each card in this whole deck. After everyone has drawn, find the other four with the same exact monster on it. They will be your roommates. And you can keep the card you draw as a souvenir or something," the lady tapered off as she walked down the line of boys as we all drew one card. I drew Sorcerer of the Doomed (1450/1200). And strangely enough, as if by fate, so did Jack who was standing about three people to the left of me. The other three were guys named Mike, Doug, and Steve.
Mike was about 12. He was short and had red hair with blue eyes. Come to think of it, I think he was the person I saw attacking with his Swordstalker as I first entered the tournament. Doug was 16, my age. And he was pretty down-to-earth with his laid back views on things and how this tournament is an awesome opportunity to meet people instead of win cards or money. I agreed with him. And Steve had to be at least 17. He was growing a thin, light brown mustache and was very tall-looking in his black clothes. I could tell that he wanted nothing to do with the rest of us, but something told me that he wasn't going to be here for too much longer, anyway.
"Now listen up!" the short lady was now standing on a plastic milk crate on top of a stage overlooking the crowd with a megaphone up to her mouth. "Go to the hotel in the center of the island. At the info desk tell them your name to see if you received any mail from other people. Also, you will receive your duel disc system. Once you are done you can go to your rooms, you can have practice duels on the premises using the systems but NOT giving the winners any cards, or do whatever you wish on the island as long as you are in your rooms by 11pm, not a minute later. And don't even think about boarding with the girls. We have a surveillance team on watch all night, got it?!??" she commanded as she marched off the stage and went back behind her little stand.
"I'm not going just yet, guys. I want to explore this island more," I said to the group of four.
"I'll go with you," my name was said. Steve said, surprisingly. "You and I can have a practice duel using an arena…" Something didn't sound right about the way he said that. I became suspicious, but never let anyone know it by keeping on a smile and responded, "Okay, sure! Anyone else wanna come?" I asked a bit nervously.
"I'll come," Jack said. "I wanna see how you duel, and maybe find out your favorite card which, by the way, you still need to give me another clue!" he continued as he walked towards me.
"I'm going to the hotel to see if I got any packages or anything. AND I wanna check out the new duel discs!" Doug said as Mike nodded in silent agreement. They walked off towards the center of the island. As for the other three of us, we searched for an arena.
We quickly found an arena and rose up on the little elevators. The decks were shuffled, our life points were set to 4000, oddly enough, on the huge counters, and we began!
"You go first," he said. So I did.
I drew my first 5 cards and then another one because I was starting the duel. I thought to myself, "Okay! I've got Change of Heart, Share the Pain, Lightforce Sword, Sword of Deep-Seated (my favorite equip magic card), Island Turtle, and Mr. Volcano."
"Here I go, Steve," I said as Jack looked up at me. "I set this card in defense mode and put this one card face down on the field," I ended my turn as Steve drew his first card and took his turn, "I set these two cards on the field and summon Dark Zebra (1800/400) in attack mode and attack your defense card!" The zebra charged at my card as I grinned. The zebra made contact and seemed to bounce off the turtle I had set. The attack failed, and Steve lost 200 life points.
"My turn," I said as I drew my next card. It was my favorite magic card of them all, Tribute to the Doomed! I couldn't help but smile as I made my next move, "First, I use Change of Heart to control your Dark Zebra. Now I use it as a tribute to summon my Mr. Volcano (2100/1300) in attack mode!" Steve looked pretty surprised. "Next, I equip my monster with my favorite equip magic card of all, Sword of Deep-Seated! It boosts his attack and defense by 500 points! And now I attack your life points directly!" I said as Mr. Volcano rose his hand high in the air and gathered an intense ball of flames in his hand. He threw it right towards Steve at an amazing speed. But then he activated a trap card, "Waboku! It decreases all damage received by an opponent's monster to zero during the turn I activate it. So sorry. It would have worked- only it didn't," we both watched as a mystical barrier surrounded Steve's entire side of the field. The fireball collided with it and instantly dissipated. "My move!" Steve yelled across the field.
He slowly drew a card and glanced at it for only a second. For some reason, I activated my trap card I had face down, "Lightforce Sword! It allows me to randomly choose one card from your hand to place, face down, outside of the field. It returns to your hand on your 4th turn's standby phase since the card's activation!" So Steve obediently put each of the four cards in his hand face up on a special platform below the magic/trap zone. (He put them face up on HIS side so the image-reading camera under the platforms would see them as face down.) Instantly, four giant holographic face down cards appeared on the field and four yellow lights appeared on the same zone on my side of the field. Assuming I had to press one light to designate it as the target, I chose. "I pick the second card from the right," I pressed the corresponding button and we both watched as the spot below it turned red. Removing the other three cards, Steve looked at them and said, "Big deal! In fact, you actually helped me out by lightening my load. Now get ready, because now I use my magic card Soul Exchange!" I let out a gasp, wide-eyed. "Soul Exchange lets me-" "I know what it does, Steve. Just choose one and sacrifice it, already," I interrupted him. "Fine. I choose to sacrifice YOUR Mr. Volcano to summon MY Curse of Dragon (2000/1500)! Lucky for you, Soul Exchange makes me skip my battle phase for this turn. So now you go," he said, proud of himself. And to be honest, it was a pretty good move.
I drew Sword of Deep-Seated, like I knew I would, and slyly glanced at Steve, "Are you ready for this?" I asked. "I can take anything you throw at me!" Steve yelled. "We'll see…" I said as I grabbed two cards from my hand. "First, I switch my Island Turtle to attack mode. Next, I equip it with my Sword of Deep-Seated which brings up its attack and defense by 500, as you know-" I was interrupted when Steve said, "Wait, wait! Your Sword of Deep-Seated should be in the graveyard! I used your Mr. Volcano as a tribute, so any cards it was equipped with are destroyed, too!" "True," I said, "but not THIS card, and that's one reason why it's my favorite. Every time this card is sent to the graveyard, it returns to the top of my deck!" I said as I continued my turn. "But anyway, I now activate my favorite magic card, Tribute to the Doomed! I discard one card from my hand to destroy one monster card on the field. It doesn't matter if it's in attack mode, defense mode, a special summon, or anything! This card gets rid of it!" So I put Share the Pain in my graveyard as his Curse of Dragon vanished from the field. "And NOW I attack your life points directly!" I said as I remembered he had another card face down on the field. Luckily, he didn't activate it as the turtle quickly crashed into his dueling platform, much like a turbo-powered tugboat. His life points decreased from 3800 to 2200. And I still had 4000, somehow. But then it was his turn again.
He drew a card and instantly put it on the field. "Tremendous Fire!" he announced. Jack took a step back in surprise. "You lose 1000 life points. I lose 500," Steve said as I heard my life points go beep beep beep beep beep…BEEP to 3000. But HE had 1700 now! "Why?" I said to myself. I then got my answer. "And NOW I activate Numinous Healer!" Steve glared at me as he revealed his other face down card. When I take damage to my life points, I get 1000 life points!" Steve said as his clothes moved around in some wind made by an angel's wings on the field which brought his life points up to 2700. "Jeez. That's the second time that card's been used against me in this whole tournament!" I thought, remembering my duel against Jenny. "And now I summon Overdrive (1600/1500) in attack mode!" he said as I glanced down at Jack to notice his sorting out his cards. I could tell he lost interest in the duel. "Your turn," Steve said.
I drew my Swordstalker. "Now I'll sacrifice my Island Turtle to summon Swordstalker (2000/1600) in attack mode! Destroy that machine!" I commanded. My warrior ran forward and took a slash at the vehicle. It sparked and exploded, causing Steve to lose 400 life points brining his total to 2300.
"Ugh… whatever!" Steve said as he drew his next card. He put it in defense mode and ended his turn.
I drew my Sword of Deep-Seated again. I equipped my Swordstalker with it, raising its attack and defense by 500 and attacked his defense monster- Giant Soldier of Stone.
"My turn again," Steve said a bit nervously. He drew a card, and we both noticed the red light under our magic/trap zones vanish. "Oh yeah, Lightforce Sword is done now. You get your card back," I said. "Alright!" Steve said as he snatched his card from where it was placed 4 turns ago. Now he had two cards in his hand. And judging by the way he looked at them, they were good. "It's Pot of Greed time!" he said. Even Jack looked up. He gleefully drew two cards from his deck and dropped his expired card in his graveyard. Examining his cards he then said, "And now I'll play Sonic Bird (1400/1000) in face up defense mode! I know you know what it does because I was watching your duel against my friend Craig. He's such a great duelist- I can't believe you beat him. So I'M going to beat YOU!" he yelled as he fingered through his deck for some ritual magic card. He found one and put it in his hand. Then he shuffled his deck and continued his turn. I began to get worried. "I set two magic cards face down and end my turn," he said.
I drew my next card hoping it would be a magic card. It was so very not a magic card. It was none other than my Black Skull Dragon! I couldn't believe it! It's gold-foiled name, holographic background, and 9 level stars glittered in my eyes. But I quickly became angry because I'd need THREE tribute monsters to bring it on the field. Damn it! So I got rid of his Sonic Bird and ended my turn.
"Looks like it's back to me!" Steve said. He drew a card and looked at me blankly as if he was taking back all the things he said to me. But I knew he wasn't I just hoped it wasn't some ultra-powerful low-leveled card. Thankfully it was only Monster Reborn, which he used to revive his Sonic Bird, which he THEN used as a tribute to set one card in defense mode. And he didn't even touch the two cards he placed down one turn ago. "Your move," he told me.
I could tell that Jack was looking at me as I looked at him through the corner of my eye. But my attention was focused on the Harpie's Brother that I just drew. I decided just to set it in defense mode, figuring it wouldn't be too useful. So to finish my turn I attacked his defending monster: Labyrinth Wall (0/3000). I lost 500 life points for that. And all Steve could do was laugh as my total came to 2500. I was now only winning by 200 points.
"This duel is almost over!" he said to me as he drew his next card. "I'm not going to put down any cards and attack because, seeing how you dueled Craig, that card you've got face down is probably an effect card which will be used against me. So instead of activating it myself, I'll just set this one magic/trap card face down and end my turn.
I drew my next card, the Dark Zebra (1800/400) and set it in defense mode. Steve said, "I'll bet that's another effect card! So I'm not attacking it. Sorry, but your plan is gonna fail. I draw a card and just put this card in defense mode and activate Ground Collapse! As long as it's face-up, two of your monster card zones can't be occupied by monsters- only because your forces are getting pretty numerous," he said while he flipped over one of his three face down cards. He continued, "And I use Dian Keto the Cure Master. My life points increase by 1000!" I groaned as that beep beep beep beep BEEP returned to again increase his life points by another thousand. "And that's not all! NOW I activate another Tremendous Fire!" he shouted as my life points went down to 1500. He had 2800.
Now it was my turn. I drew my Crab Turtle and prepared to summon my ultimate monster. "Steve! I sacrifice all THREE of my monsters to directly summon my top monster- the Black Skull Dragon!" All three of us looked up in disbelief as a gigantic dragon emerged from the dueling arena. Its wings spread out far. Its roar was deafening. And its attack was equally amazing, "And the first thing to go is your Labyrinth Wall!" I yelled as my dragon opened his mouth and took a deep breath. Slowly, a glowing ball of red developed in front of it and was ready to launch. "Molten fireball attack!" I yelled. Instantly, a blaze of red streaked across the arena and collided with his wall. The loud hydraulics under our platforms shook us around violently as if to simulate the shaking of the earth as a result of the blast. All it did for me, however, was give me a headache.
But Steve was a different story. He just stood there wide-eyed. "I- I don't believe what I'm seeing. It's actually the Black Skull Dragon…! I used to dream about owning that card," he trailed off into some personal soliloquy, I could tell, because of the way he stared at the vicious dragon in front of him. I wondered if he was still all in one piece.
My name was shouted by Jack, "Is THAT your most powerful card?" he said quieter as to not disturb Jack from his obvious state of oblivion. Replying affirmatively to his question, I looked beyond Jack at a warehouse light that caught my eye because of its odd location. There was a single light on above the door illuminating in a cone shape all the way down to the sidewalk where I saw two young women, all dressed in black staring at me from underneath their dark hoods. I remembered seeing them during my duel against Jenny.
Paying no attention to them, I looked back at Steve who had his hand on his deck. "Why are you giving up? You're winning!" I said as he shoved his deck down about an inch. It made a clicking noise which shut off all the holographic hardware. My dragon slowly disappeared into a memory. And Steve's face down card was never revealed. I had a hunch that it was an effect card, but oh well. "Well, for NOW I'm winning. But it will be only a matter of time. I'm surrendering. I don't even have as much as a Dragon Capture Jar in my deck to help me out. No combination I could ever manage out of my deck is strong enough to take on that card. And I have no cards like Tribute to the Doomed to directly destroy a monster. Oh man, I was wrong. You're a fine duelist. In fact, I'm amazed that I've made it THIS far. Can you forgive my being a dork towards you? Even without that card, you may as well have beaten me," he said as he gathered up his card and looked through them showing me his strongest cards- Crab Turtle and Gaia the Dragon Champion. "You're not THAT bad," I responded. "And I forgive you. And mind you, Craig was a tough opponent. It wasn't easy at all. You saw it, right? I only won by 1000. Anyway, let's get to the hotel. I wanna see the new duel discs!" I said friendily.
"WAIT!" jack said, "What about another clue to your favorite card?" he asked.
"Right… okay. Um… it's NOT a Dragon type!" I smiled as Steve and I walked on ahead.
"Well gee. There goes any hope of Tyhone #2 (1700/1900)," Jack sarcastically commented.