Tournament Stories part 6
Back at the hotel, there was still a pretty long line stretching out of the front doors waiting to get their rooms, possible mail sent to them, and duel discs. I said to Steve and Jack, "I wonder how Doug and Mike are doing?" Just then, as if to answer my question, I saw them both quickly walking up to us. "Steve! Jack! (and my name)! We already have the room, everyone's mail, and enough duel discs for all of us!" Mike yelled as he slowed down to a casual walk. He was a lugging two boxes of duel discs in his short arms. Wiping his forehead after giving them to Jack and Steve, I noticed Doug also carrying a box as well as a huge bag with its strap looped over his arm."(my name)! Take this dueling disc thingy before my arm snaps off!" I ran over and removed the light box from his arms. He then let the bag fall and hit the ground with an audible thud… "What's in there?" Jack asked as he fit on his dueling disc. Steve wasn't paying attention at all as he played with the on/off switch of his dueling disc. "In here is Steve's, (my name)'s, and Jack's mail," Doug replied, "But it's mostly (my name)'s," he continued as he reached his hand in to get everything out.
Jack got two booster packs, a backpack with food, clothes, and a note in it (the heaviest item in the whole bag), and a book- all obviously from his mother.
Steve also got two booster packs, a golden chain, a notebook, pen and pencil, and a card wrapped in tissues- all obviously from his father. Noticing that the rest of us noticed this odd sight, he took a peek at the card inside and excitedly shoved it into his deck with a smug smile on his face. Figuring he wouldn't tell us what card it was, we all just laughed.
But as for me, I got six booster packs, a small pack with a bit of food and water in it, and a Joey starter deck. "That Joey Wheeler dude must be so rich right now because his deck was transformed into a starter!" I commented as I put everything in the pack.
"FORGET Joey! Look at all those cards you got! And an entire starter with 50 cards in it- all of which are owned by Joey Wheeler! And his starter deck is one of the most expensive in the whole world since that Duelist Kingdom tournament ended! Are your parents millionaires?" Jack exclaimed. I looked around at all the people passing by who glared at me as if to say, "Lucky jerk!"
"No, Jack! All this stuff isn't even from my parents anyway! Read this note that came with the pack!" I said.
Jack read, "You have something we want. Stay in this tournament by any means necessary! -J and S" After reading it, Jack said, "I wonder who "J and S" are? And what do you have that they want? Maybe your Bl-"
"SHHHH!" I ordered him as I put my fingers swiftly up to my lips. I wanted as few people knowing about that card as possible. I then knew that I must protect that card more than any of them in my deck.
"Well I doubt that it's Jack and Steve," I said to Doug, looking back to them with a smirk.
"Ha- funny. Anyway, let's get to our room. I want to see if the rooms have cable TV!" Steve said.
"No…" Mike responded, "but each room DOES have two computers with Internet access!" he continued as Doug and I ran off ahead. I hadn't even opened the box my dueling disc was in yet.
Running with Doug, I said to him in an attempt to break the silence, "What time is it?" He looked at his watch and back at me and said, "9:45! We've got an hour and fifteen minutes until 11!" I said thanks and ran past him, darting towards the front entrance. Luckily, there were no other people to crash into, so I slid to a stop on the slick dirt. Calmly walking in, I politely brushed off my clothes and walked towards the staircase. I looked back to see if I could see Doug behind me. But instead, I saw some mysterious door to the receptionist's left. Not noticing me as she lazily flipped through her magazine I tried to look to see if it was really a door and not just some unlit piece of wall attached to the wall. I got a little startled when some janitor popped out of it and said something to the receptionist. She just swayed her hand from side to side with her fingers only half extended, and the man walked off with a disappointed look on his face. "Well, that answers my question," I said to myself as I continued up the stairs.
In the room, Doug and I were checking our e-mail. We had already claimed two top bunks on the beds.
"Darn… no new mail for me. Well, whoever else wants to use it can. I need to modify my deck for tomorrow. Who knows? Maybe I'll face one of you guys!" Doug said as he pushed the chair in and climbed up the ladder to his bunk. He took out his cards and started sorting them out saying, "Monster, monster, trap, magic, trap, monster, magic, monster…"
Looking back at the computer's monitor, I noticed that I had 10 new messages. "Whoa! TEN?!??" I thought to myself as I looked in the bottom right hand corner at the computer's clock. It was 10pm, too. Excited, I went to my inbox and was disappointed to find out that seven of them were advertisements- mainly for insurance and ebay.com. Trying to find e-mail subjects that didn't have the word 'buy' in it, I scrolled down and spotted one that said, "Click here for dueling tips!" Figuring that I could always learn more, I clicked the subject hoping to learn hidden tips and tricks. It provided little new information to me. In fact, the only thing that I didn't know in that whole e-mail was that dueling was spelled with two l's. Whoever sent that mail was obviously not too well endowed in the spelling department.
Deleting that mail, I searched for the other two that I spotted not appearing to have anything to do with commerce.
I located one with the subject line: Message to most Gree Island Tournament Duelists! Two thoughts came to my mind after I read this, "Why does it say that it is addressed to MOST of the duelists? And I guess the name of this Island is Gree Island… weird name." Not thinking too much past that, I opened the e-mail. It read, "Congratualtions, duelist! You are of the 64 chosen by this tournament's host to take part in a special event. Right now, we ask you to leave the room you are in, go up to the desk and say your name. The receptionist there will look at a list for your name. You then will be allowed to enter a secret door only for you selected duelists. (Your dueling skill has no effect on whether you have been chosen or not. These drawings were completely random out of all the remaining duelists.) In that secret room, you will notice 32 distinct boxes. Given there are others in that room, you must find someone to duel against. Do not be afraid. You will not lose cards if you lose. Nor will you gain any cards or prizes if you win one or many out of the three duels you shall take part in. This is merely for fun and to experience the types of duelists out there. Arrive whenever you like BEFORE 10:15 because at 11:35 we will end this experience and send you back to your rooms. Hope to see you there! -Mr. Greanor -official representative of the Gree Island Tournament's host"
I heard a knock at the door as Doug kept sorting through his deck, "…monster, monster, monster, magic, trap, monster…" I opened the door and got a piece of paper from a man who just walked off as I accepted the letter which said basically the same thing I had just viewed on my Yahoo-mail account.
Everybody was staring at me as I reentered the room. Anticipating the question, "What's that?" I quoted from the letter to answer their unasked question, "I've been invited to attend a secret party of duels. Leave your duel disc in your room. Just bring your deck and prepare for fun!" They all wished me good luck as I closed my mailbox, and turned off the computer. So I exited the room leaving Doug to his assortment of cards, Jack and Mike with their practice duel with just the cards, and Steve at the computer Doug was at.
It took me a short time to get to the first floor that the receptionist was at. And I eyed the door that I noticed the janitor come out of earlier. "Did you get that letter, or are you planning to escape?" she asked with a minorly sarcastic but overall cranky voice. Trying to calm her down, I responded, "Oh! Oh no, miss. I did get the letter. My name is," and I said my name. "Okay. You may enter. It's 10:10, enjoy yourself," she mumbled as the door loudly clicked shut. The resonance from the loud noise echoed infinitely through the musty room. As my eyes got used to the lower level of light I was surprised to see, instead of people, pods with people in them, lying completely still. The dull hum of electricity surging through wires now took over the room as I was looking in the shadows for an opponent. Breathing in the air through my nose, I noticed the faint smell of cigars or something. Trying to look upward, I only saw a dimly lit window. I noticed a brighter light in the center of the room shaped like a square. There was one person arranging his deck waiting for someone to duel against. I said hello to him and he looked up at me. We instantly recognized each other. "Jonathan!" I said with slight detest. Pleasantly surprised he stood up and replied, "Ah, it's you! I can't believe that YOU are in this tournament! And I'm even more surprised that you've made it so far as this! Well, then. This should be just a blast from the past for both of us; are we gonna duel?" Just then, another guy walked in through the door that opened as loudly as it closed. I thought about backing down for a second. But then I figured that it was no big deal if I lost because I'd lose no cards. Looking at my rival I said, "Yeah. Let's duel!" Jonathan led me to a set of empty pods in the rear of the room which reflected the center light like someone's glasses reflect light in a dark movie theater. It was kind of creepy. I watched as he hopped into the blue one, put his deck in some slot, closed the hatch and motioned for me to get in the red one. I looked at him, remembering how he beat me for first place in the tournament at school. He won by 2050 life points in an 8000 life point game. He was the toughest duelist I had gone up against ever. But, saying that I had nothing to lose, I climbed in, shuffled my deck, put it in the slot and waited. Out of nowhere, I heard Jonathan's voice, "Are you ready to lose?" he taunted with a little laugh. "Shut up and let's just get this over with. What do I do here?" I asked blindly as I peered through the plastic around me. It was facing directly towards my opponent's, but I could barely see even the light reflecting off of his. However, the air conditioning was pretty good. So I felt comfortable.
"Okay. After you put your deck into the slot, press the red button above you." I looked up to see a red button, shining brightly, but not bright enough that I would have seen it as I first entered the pod. I tapped it and listened again. "Pressing it only means that you accept the duel and the slot that your cards are in is now locked until the duel ends. Okay, now when the yellow button to your right is pressed, the screen in front of you will light up and display choices for this duel. You can customize everything from the initial life points, to the arena, and to the time limit. But just to speed this up, let's make this a 4000 life points duel, THIS tournament's rules, Ancient Egyptian arena, no time limit, and no pain when life points are damaged," he commanded me as his voice fizzled over the speakers that I could now see above me to the top left and top right. I felt like I was in a Star Trek episode as I pressed my fingers against the glass in front of me making the decisions made for me. And so after I selected the life point number, the screen seemed to darken heavily only to reveal a green and blue "start" button.
I heard Jonathan's voice one last time, "Once you press start, you'll find yourself in a virtual arena where we will duel. Everything is completely safe and the wires are hardwired to the ground and network so nobody can unplug your machine. It doesn't hurt, so whenever you are ready, press start." And the com clicked off as I was in the machine, listening to the air conditioner's silent whispers of cool air. I reached out my hand and pressed the start button. The machine jolted and began to power up. It sounded kind of like a laser gaining power right before it would fire. I was calm until some computerized female voice monotonously droned, "Entering virtual duel in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…" the voice began to sound father and farther away as I felt myself drift off into some unknown world. All of a sudden, I found myself standing in some giant room that looked like a tomb. I was right in front of a small pedestal with my deck in its proper place. Carved onto the pedestal were lines marking zones like the graveyard and monster zones. I didn't feel scared until Jonathan "arrived." A huge blazing ball of light grew larger across from me behind another pedestal. "What a dramatic entrance! Is that how I came here?" I thought to myself. Taking a step back (I was surprised that everything felt real in this world, from my clothes to the coolness of the pedestal.) I looked my opponent in the eye. It was time to duel!
"How about we flip a COIN to see who goes first?" Jonathan emphasized the word coin and made a giant holographic coin pop up in front of us. He said, "I'm heads, you're tails!" and the toss began. All the coin did was rotate from where it was with an "h" side and a "t" side. It wasn't impressive, but I still couldn't believe the realness of the heat being thrown off from the torches around us. The coin toss ended in my favor, and I began the duel. As I drew my sixth card, a giant "scoreboard" appeared in front of us. It had our picture, life points, what phase we are in, how many cards are left in our decks, heck, even how many cards are in our hands! I thought that was convenient.
I looked at my first hand. It was a Soul Release, Dark Magician, Metalmorph, Princess of Tsurugi, De-spell, and Trap Master. "It's a good thing I distributed all the useful cards from those boosters and Joey's starter into my deck in the hotel room!" I thought to myself.
"First, I put this card in defense mode, and these three cards face down on the field!" I announced to Jonathan as the "(my name)'s hand" counter went down to two. And I watched the field as three holographic models of actual face-down cards, instead of yellow blinking lights, appeared.
"Already cowering from me? Well, I promise to make this brief," he said as he drew the top card from his deck. The "Jonathan's Hand" counter beeped up to 6. "First, I set these FOUR cards face down on the field, and summon 7 Colored Fish (1800/800) in attack mode! Next, I'll attack your face down monster!" he said to me with detest for me. We witnessed the colorful fish dash towards my face down card and make it flip over to reveal my Princess of Tsurugi. Sure, she was destroyed, but Jonathan lost 2000 life points bringing his total to 2000! The rapid "beep beep beep beep BEEP!" pleasantly echoed through the vast arena that we were in. "WHAT!" Jonathan angrily yelled. When did you get THAT card?" he yelled to me. I noticed a green bar parallel to his life points, swiftly decrease to the halfway mark as the number displayed his total and responded, "I got it about half an hour ago in some Joey Starter Deck that I got from some strangers!" I foolishly said. It sounded stupid enough with that "strangers" part, so I decided to go for it all and make something stupid-sounding sound stupid!
"…Lucky jerk…" he mumbled under his breath. But I could hear him just fine, thanks to the walls in this place.
I drew my next card before I looked up at the scoreboard. "I have three cards in my hand, Jonathan has one," I thought to myself. I looked at my Share the Pain that I just drew and began to feel uneasy. "My Dark Magician needs two monsters in order to be summoned onto the field. All I've got are this magic card that can't be used right now, and my Trap Master. I hope my next card is a monster," I thought as I grabbed my Trap Master. "I set this card in face down defense mode and-" I was cut off by Jonathan who activated, "Light of Intervention! Your face down card is flipped face up!" I replied, "Sure, but you've activated his effect. I'm sure you know what the Trap master (500/1100) does; I get to destroy that very card you just activated," I smirked. "Okay, let's continue this chain when I activate Driving Snow! Since you destroyed one of my trap cards, I can destroy one magic or trap card on the field. So kiss the card on your left goodbye!" he said in an annoyed voice. I think I had thwarted an important part of his plan by getting rid of his Light of Intervention. But luckily, he had only destroyed my Soul Release. "Well, good playing. That move was well-planned," I commented. "Be quiet! Don't get cocky because you have a slight lead," Jonathan demanded. I looked up at the scoreboard and noticed his total was half of my total and thought, "A slight lead, he says?" I also noticed that his deck had fewer total cards in it. My counter read: 94/101 which meant that I drew eight cards already. Jonathan's counter read: 80/86. "Whatever. Anyway, that was my turn. You can go now," I said.
"Fine. First I draw," I watched the red light go to the right as his phases progressed. The Standby Phase light was skipped since no cards requiring a standby phase were out. "Now I'll put Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams (1300/1800) in face-up defense mode. And finally, I'll attack your Trap Master with my 7 Colored Fish!" he commanded as the fish lurched forward and diced my warrior with its tail. "Your move," he said.
I drew my Island Turtle and instantly put it in defense mode. Then it was his turn again.
Drawing another card, he smiled and said, "I sacrifice my two monsters to summon Ryu-Ran (2200/2600) in attack mode! And now I'll fry your face down card!" he announced with an accomplished grin. "Not likely!" I yelled back, "Activate trap: Metalmorph!" he looked at me in disbelief. Just then, a highly reflective metal coat of armor appeared around my turtle, attached itself, and raised his defensive power to 2300- 100 more than his Ryu-Ran. So he lost the 100 point difference from his life points. "ARRGH! YOU! When did you get such a rare card?" he yelled as I looked at my life points- unscathed. "Maybe I'm just lucky with booster packs!" I smirked back as I drew my next card. It was the Horn of the Unicorn! I wasted no time with my next move, "I equip my Island Turtle with Horn of the Unicorn which raises its attack AND defense by 700 points! Next I switch him to attack mode and attack your Ryu-Ran!" I loved hearing the rapid "beep beep beep beep beep BEEP!" sound boost up my turtle's power not only by the equip card, but by Metalmorph's effect, too. The white box above my turtle now contained the figure [2900/3000] right before it attacked his Ryu-Ran! That's pretty powerful for a level four card! My souped-up turtle rushed ahead at the dragon and tackled him, causing him to hit the wall behind Jonathan. He disappeared and Jon lost another 700 life points bringing his total to 1200. "I WILL win this duel, no matter what!" he angrily said as he yanked the top card off his deck. He still had two face down cards on the field and now had two cards in his hand. "Alright, I'll just put this monster in defense mode," he said.
Beginning to get the feeling that he was planning something, I began to get cautious with what cards I play. I drew Dian Keto the Cure Master which made me feel better. "I activate Dian Keto the Cure Master to increase my life points by 1000!" I said. "Big deal," Jon said back. "And now I'll attack your face down card!" I said as my turtle's attack rose to 2650, "that means that the face down card only has 1100 attack," I said to myself. To my horror, the face down card was the Tornado Bird. "I get to return TWO magic or trap cards from the field to their owner's hand! So guess which ones are going back! Your equip card and trap card!" I was shocked by the sudden comeback he had made. With my turtle's attack power now only 1100 again, I was pretty screwed! And it was Jonathan's turn.
He drew another card and grinned, "Oh, you're sorry now! First I lay this card face down. Next, I summon Flash Assailant (2000/2000) in attack mode! And this just keeps getting better. You remember that card I just put down? Well it's no trap, it's MY favorite equip card: Mask of Brutality! It increases my monster's attack by 1000 points! Sure, it decreases its defense by 1000 also, but that's not too important to me…" he waved his empty hand at me goodbye and commanded his creepy looking monster to attack my Island Turtle. And I took a major 1900 hit to my life points, bringing me down to 3100. "But are you sure you wanted to combine THOSE two things together?" I asked a bit confused as my life point bar decreased to about 3/4 of the way full. "Why? What are you trying to say to me?" he responded as he looked around his giant fiend to me. "No reason… no reason," was my reply.
I drew my Darkfire Soldier- one of my newest cards from Joey's Starter Deck and formulated a plan. "With the cards that have been returned to my hand, and the Flash Assailant's effect AND the Mask of Brutality's effect, winning should be no problem!" I thought to myself. But there were still those two face down cards that he was still to reveal. Taking a risk, I made my move. "I call upon the Darkfire Soldier #1 (1700/1150) in attack mode! Next I equip him with the Horn of the Unicorn which raises HIS attack to 2400. And finally I set these two cards face down on the field and end my turn without attacking," I said after placing my Metalmorph AND Share the Pain on the field as a safe guard in case he would try to eliminate my trap. Which he didn't, surprisingly.
"I draw this one wimpy card and activate Solomon's Lawbook which skips my own Standby Phase. And that's a good thing too, because of my mask's dangerous effect. Anyway, now I think I'll attack your puny pyro card and further give me the advantage in this ridiculous duel! Attack, Flash Assailant!" Jonathan yelled his command to his eye-patch wearing monster to attack my Darkfire Soldier. But then I smiled and "Activate Metalmorph again!" I yelled as I flipped over my card. And also again, a shiny shield latched onto my soldier. "What good will it do you? My Assailant has 3000 attack points. Even with that small 300 point bonus, it only adds up to 2700. THAT'S not enough to-" and I cut him off by saying, "You see that card in your hand??" I questioned him. "What about it, loser?" he said back as I laughed. Meanwhile, the Flash Assailant was stuck in mid-air as this conversation progressed. I guessed it was like an automatic pause function. "Look at your Flash Assailant," I told him. The eerie quiet sunk into our ears as he snatched his card off the pedestal for a closer look. I heard water dripping in the background. "Level 4, 2000 attack and defense," he recited. "And I assume you know of the effect?" I implied. "Yeah, for every card in my hand it loses- AH! NO WAY!" and instantly the action unpaused as I finished his statement, "For every card in your hand, your Flash Assailant LOSES 400 attack and defense points! The effect is applied as soon as you draw a card!" I said sternly to him. We both watched as the weakened monster took a violently fast swing at my soldier with his knife. But My soldier was burning up in fire as he blocked his attacked with his curved sword. And as a counter attack, he shoved him back and pointed his sword towards the assailant, which launched an impressive display of fire headed right towards it. The Flash Assailant was gone. And after all that, Jon lost but only 100 life points. Which left him at 1100. And it was my turn.
I thought victory was pretty close as he had no monsters on the field- only one magic or trap card. I drew a Lady Assailant of Flames- another new card from one of the booster packs- and set it in defense mode, just in case I'd need it. Then attacked with my Darkfire Soldier in anticipation of winning this duel. Unfortunately, that mystery card was a trap card, "I activate Trap Hole! Your Darkfire Soldier #1 is finally done!" he said in a kind of rapping tone of voice. "Just great," I said to myself. "What else could go wrong?" I thought.
After Jonathan drew a second card he set one card face down and put one card in face up defense mode. "Here comes Ooguchi (300/250)! Attack his life points directly, please!" and before I knew it, this giant purple blob that looked like a dog fires pins from its back which homed into me and caused me lose 300 life points. I now had 2800, he has 1100. He was closing the gap. "Don't even try attacking!" he warned me.
I drew my Horn of the Unicorn again. (which always returns to the top of the deck when sent to the graveyard unless it is removed from play) I put it in front of my Dark Magician that was getting warm in my hand having been there so long. I continued my turn by flipping over my face down card. "What is THAT?" Jon asked. "I think you should be more worried of the Lady Assailant of Flames (1500/1000)'s EFFECT! I remove the top three cards of my deck from play to inflict 800 points of direct damage to your life points!" The rapid beeping returned to further diminish his life points to 300. I was certain I was going to win as I removed my Nobleman of Crossout, Magican of Faith, and Labyrinth Wall out of the duel. They vanished into thin air, but I knew this wasn't real.
He drew his next card with a sigh of relief and spoke, "My turn. And it looks as if you have gotten a hold of some really good cards since we dueled last at school. To be honest, I never thought you would last even THIS long against me," he said with fake camaraderie. "But…" he paused and his tone went darker as he activated his face down card which WASN'T a trap at all. It was the single card that no duelist likes to have used against them- Soul Exchange! "…When will you learn that you just CAN'T beat me! So I now use your pathetic card as a tribute to summon my Summoned Skull (2500/1200) in attack mode! And, as you know, Soul Exchange forces me to skip my battle phase, but I can still directly damage you with my Ooguchi! Here we go again!" he said as he spread out his hands in the "I don't know" formation. Those dumb purple missles were launched towards me and further decreased my life points to 2500- enough to be killed by the Summoned Skull!
I drew my next card. It was my other Lady Assailant of Flames. I angrily wondered why I put two of these in my deck. Pissed off, I slapped it in defense mode and let out an exasperated groan.
"Hiding only makes losing worse- you know that first hand, right?" he happily said as he drew his next card. "Oh Ooguchi, kindly take out 300 more of his life points, won't you?" he commanded with a friendly voice as my life points sunk to 2200. "And just to make sure you don't try anything sneaky with that face down card, I'LL use Dian Keto, too to increase my life points by 1000 just like you did!" he said as he used the last card in his hand to bump up his life points to 1300. "But I won't attack this turn, either. So go ahead and make your next move!" he intimidated, "I promise it will be your last!"
I drew my next card. It was my favorite equip magic card: Sword of Deep-Seated! I looked at Jonathan also with an expression of relief, "Easy come, easy go!" I stated as I touched my defensive card. "You're nuts!" Jonathan said as crossed his arms in detest. "Not after I eliminate your Skull!" I forcefully declared. "You bluff! Prove to me that you can take out my Summoned Skull! It's one of the most powerful fiends in the whole game!" he said a bit shaky. "Just watch," I said as I flipped my card to attack mode. "First! Its effect is activated. I remove three more cards from the top of my deck from play to inflict 800 damage your life points!" I announced as I removed Eternal Rest, De-Spell, and Attack and Receive from my deck from the duel. They too vanished. And we both watched the giant number below his name drop to 500. "And now I equip her with the Horn of the Unicorn AND my favorite equip card of them all: Sword of Deep-Seated for a total attack power boost of 1200 points, raising hers to 2700!" I yelled as he staggered a step back. "Attack the Summoned Skull!" I calmly commanded to my other pyro monster. She swept forward with impressive speed and took a huge slash at his Skull with her newly added sword of Deep-Seated. His Skull was gone, and his life points went down to 200. Completely shocked, he became furious and said, "I'm STILL in this!" and he drew his next card.
"Ooguchi, attack his life points directly now!" he commanded as my life points lowered to 1900. Looking closer at his card, he frantically examined his graveyard as let out another sigh of relief. "Prepare yourself," and he said my name, "for one of my rarest monsters! I remove three fiend type monsters from play to special summon Dark Necrofear (2200/2800) in face up defense mode!" he said as he removed his Gross Ghost, Flash Assailant, and Summoned Skull from play. He was a bit startled when they vanished. I have this card, but never actually got to summon it. This was the first time I was actually seeing it aside from on the holographic, goldly named card!
On the center monster space in front of him, a dark shadow concealed the entire monster zone. Slowly rising from the shrouded middle square was the one of the darkest mechanized fiends I've ever seen so far. It just stared ahead directly at me with its glowing white eyes as its body came into full view, "Definitely a fiend card," I said as I remembered its effect, "Once destroyed by anything in any position, choose one of your opponent's monsters and equip it like an equip magic card. Once equipped, you control it until the monster is destroyed. I'll bet that's a good card to use against one of those god cards I've heard so little about," I thought to myself.
"Your monsters dare not destroy it! It's the card that will bring me victory!" Jon declared.
"I'll find a way to get to your life points without destroying it!" I said as I drew one of my Karate Men. I looked at this card and just figured I'd attack his Ooguchi with my Lady. That purple dog-type thing has caused enough damage. Not caring about his loss, Jon proceeded to draw and slapped down a card in the magic/ trap zone and ended his turn.
I then drew my Fake Trap. I set it down and ended my turn.
Jonathan briefly looked at the card he drew and immediately activated from the field, "Curse of Fiend! It switches all battle positions to their opposite form. My Necrofear is switched to attack, and your Assailant is changed to defense. And I KNOW that their attack and defense numbers are equal which is why its time to bring out my second favorite equip magic card, Sword of Dark Destruction. Any dark monster equipped with this card boosts its attack by 400, bringing my Necrofear's attack up to 2600. That's more than enough to get rid of your bogus Lady Assailant of Flames. But it was fun having her around, though," he taunted as my courageous monster fell and vanished from the field after suffering a massive blow of the darkly powered sword.
I watched my Horn of the Unicorn go to the top of my deck first, since it was equipped first, and my Sword of Deep-Seated last since it was lastly equipped to her. So I drew my sword and summoned my Karate Man (1000/1000) in attack mode. "It was fun, but are you ready to lose, Mr. Conceited?" I smirked slyly as he made a dirty face at me. "Go ahead and try, idiot," he insulted as I ignored him and flipped over a magic I had face down since the beginning of the game, "De-Spell! You can kiss your pathetic Sword of Dark Destruction goodbye!" I yelled as he gasped. "Next, I equip my Karate Man with my Sword of Deep-Seated to raise his attack to 1500!" I looked at Jonathan as I spoke square in the eye. I could tell he was breaking apart, because he knew what was next. "Now I activate my monster's effect! I double the ORIGINAL attack power from 1000 to 2000, and add the extra 500 from my Sword to boost his total attack to 2500! Now… say goodbye to your Dark Necrofear AND the rest of your life points, Jonathan Greanor!" I don't know why I said his last name. Maybe I was too caught up in the moment of winning against my long time rival, "ATTACK!" I yelled to my Karate Man. With amazing speed, he lurched forward and punched the dark monster at least 15 times, rapidly, each with more force than the next until the monster could take no more and disappeared from the field.
I heroically tilted my head up to watch and hear his life points plummet to 0- I had won, finally! Looking back down at Jon, my monster and the other two face down cards I had already disappeared from the field. He was complaining, "NO! I could have easily beaten you if I had just drawn the right cards! There is absolutely NO way that you could ever defeat me in a duel! You must have cheated! That's the ONLY explanation! I WANT-" I interrupted him having heard of enough of his big mouth, "JON!" and he immediately shut up with an angry whine. "It's just a duel. And it doesn't even matter that you lose or win in these because you get nothing and lose nothing. So stop complaining, huh?"
Completely blocking himself off, he gathered up his cards, turned around, and took ten steps away from the pedestal. Instantly, he was taken out of the arena the same way he came in, in a ball of light. So I left too and next thing I knew, I was lying in the comfortable cushioned seats of the pod. The air conditioner was still blowing a light breeze of crisp air into my face, and the humming of the machine was slowing down. The female voice I heard earlier said, "Please remove dueling deck now." And as soon as she said now, a blue button lit up. I pressed it and out popped my deck- all 101 cards. I took it back and pressed the green button to my left to open the pod. It lifted up slowly just like in those space movies where the capsule door dramatically opens slowly to create suspense before you see the hideous aliens' faces.
After leaving the pod and closing the hatch, I searched for Jon after stretching my legs and arms. I saw him quickly leaving the room. The loud door opened and slammed shut just like I had remembered it. Suddenly, a calm man's voice announced, "The current time is 10:45pm. You've all got 50 minutes before this little gathering ends at 11:35," good luck!
I only saw five other duelists in the beam of light in the center of the room. One of them was in fact Steve who I remember checking his email as I left the room. "I guess he got that e-mail too!" I thought as I approached the group, which had shrunk to three. Steve and some other girl were already headed to some empty pods to duel. He didn't notice me, but that was okay. I'd just ask him how the duel went later. As the other two walked off apologetically to the girl they left behind, she spotted me and immediately asked if I wanted to duel. I accepted, and we went to the same pods I had been in…