Tournament Stories Part 7
Making small talk on the short walk to the pods, the girl who wanted me to call her Em, which was short for Emily began, "So! Aren't you, like, extremely mondo excited to be of the very few left on this island? It's like, totally awesome! I'm gonna get to the finals for sure because of my most powerful card backing me up!"
"Oh cool. Y'know, I've got a powerful card, too," I mentioned, trying to get used to her method of speaking.
"Well, like, DUH! If you are this far into the tournament you've got to have at least one powerful card!" she responded with enthusiasm. Feeling stupid, I decided to let her talk, which wasn't that bad. She was mainly talking about the female cards in her deck. And, from what I caught, there were plenty.
Arriving at the pods, we began discussing the terms of the duel. This was the second duel for me, but the third duel for her. And we had both won the other ones we were in. She wanted 5000 life points, 10 minute time limit, arena of light (which gives all light monsters a 30% power bonus), and pain when life points are damaged. I wanted a 4000 life point duel, no time limit, arena of darkness (which boosts dark monsters a 30% boost) and no pain when life points were damaged.
We easily decided on a 4500 life point duel, no time limit, and normal field (giving no boosts unless changed). But we couldn't resolve the issue on whether to have life point damage hurt or not… "Well, can't we just have your side hurt, and my side not?" I suggested. "Like, WHAT? That wouldn't be fun at all! So as you lose life points, you don't get hurt? Only me? That's unfair!" she responded. "Well, I don't want to hurt you too badly," I said, realizing that she was tougher than she looked. "Listen, as long as I have a monster on the field, it won't hurt as much as a direct attack. And if you destroy a defense monster, I won't feel a thing. The same goes for you. It's not that bad. So could we, please?" she pleaded. Giving in, I accepted and we both went to a pod. I went into the red one.
After the hatch closed, I felt the air conditioning again. It felt very nice. Suddenly, out of the speakers, "I assume you know what to do?" she asked. "Sure do!" I said aloud as I took cards out and put cards in my deck, bringing its mass to 122 cards. I wanted to shorten my deck so much, but every one of them was important, it seemed. I couldn't get rid of any of them. So I put my deck in, pressed the red button, pressed the yellow button, tapped the glass to our agreements, pressed start, and in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… we were there.
I noticed that this time we were in a virtual arena like the ones that I dueled Steve, Craig, and Jen in. I decided to act chivalrous and said, "Ladies first!" "Why, like, THANK you!" Em gleefully squeaked as she drew her sixth card. That scoreboard popped up again.
"Okay. To, like, start off, I'm going to summon Hibikime (1450/1000) in attack mode, set these 2 magic/trap cards down and, like, end my turn."
I examined my hand. In it was Wall of Illusion, Labyrinth Wall, Lady Assailant of Flames, Acid Trap Hole, Castle Walls, and one of my newest trap cards: Last Turn. Figuring that Em had more powerful cards in her hand of 3, I decided to set my Wall of Illusion in defense mode, and set down my Castle Walls and Acid Trap Hole.
After she drew a card, raising her "cards in hand" counter to 4, she spoke to me, "Hmmm… Like, you didn't attack? Why?" and she paused to look at her two face down cards and giggled a bit. "Oh well. Now I'll use my Hibikime as a tribute to set a more powerful monster." And she took some time to remove her card of the field and take one card from her hand, "in defense mode," she said as she slid her card silently into the center monster card zone. "Activate trap card!" I declared. "Acid Trap Hole! I flip that set monster. If its defense is lower or equal to 2000, it's gone. If it's more, it remains on the field in face down position. So what's that card?" I questioned. She flipped it over, revealing Ancient One of the Deep Forest (1800/1900). "Like, you are SO lucky you had that down," and she said my name competitively as she placed her card in the graveyard. "Anyway, it's still my Main Phase 1. So I'll place this card face down and end my turn.
I drew my Seven Tools of the Bandit card and thought to myself, "Okay. She's got 3 cards face down with no monsters. I can set my counter trap down, and any one trap card she'd activate would be destroyed at the cost of 1000 of my life points. Alright I'll do it…" I announced, "Em! I set one card face down and summon Lady Assailant of Flames (1500/1000) in attack mode to attack your life points directly!" I said as she braced herself against the platform. I began to feel bad since this first attack of the game would be a direct one. With my command already ordered out, my pyro card held her dagger out in front of her and glared at it, igniting the metal. She rushed towards Em and made a lengthy slash down the side of her platform. Her life points lowered to 3000. Suddenly, Em began to yell. It didn't sound like it hurt that much. It's the kind of yell you'd want to make whenever you'd get a nasty leg cramp or an extremely painful stomach ache. Only this yell was longer in duration and a bit louder. Feeling guilty I asked, "Em! Are you alright over there?" Her reply was, "Like, you're joking, right? That was only a direct hit from a card with 1500 attack points! And besides, wasn't I the one who wanted the pain to be turned on?" stop feeling bad and let's continue this duel!" she demanded. "Well it's your move, Emily," I said. "Like, I know!" and she finished with a ditzy laugh.
"Okay, then. I draw one card and summon it in attack mode. Say hello to my Unfriendly Amazon (2000/1000)! Attack his Lady Assailant, please," she kindly commanded her strong, mighty female warrior card. Running forward, the energetic warrior dressed in black lifted her sword high above her head and lowered it swiftly, cutting through my assailant violently. She vanished and my life points lowered to 4000. I felt a sharp pain on my chest like what you'd feel if 5 bees were stinging it. I rapidly recovered and drew my next card after saying, "Good playing!" "Like, thanks a lot!" she replied with a wink.
My next card was Change of Heart! I couldn't believe it! My mind got excited, "If I were to use it I could gain control of her only card on the field and attack with her AND my wall. Both of their attack powers total 3000. But she's got three cards face down. She hasn't activated them so far, but that doesn't mean they aren't trap cards. Maybe she's waiting for a more dangerous situation to use them. Oh, but victory has never come easier! But then again, she said that she had some strong card in her deck. And THAT can't be it," I looked up at the amazon's face. She glared angrily at me. But Em was just smiling. I eventually made up my mind, "As tempting as it is, I won't. I'll save it for when I'm in trouble," I resolved as I said to Em, "I'm doing nothing this turn. You can go."
She drew a card, and her Amazon vanished from the field. A bit dumbfounded, I asked what had happened. Emily looked at me above her hand of three cards and told me, "I know… It's, like, my Amazon's dumb effect. Unless I offer one of my monsters as, like, a tribute during my Standby Phase, she's destroyed. What a bummer. Anyway, now I'll summon Crismon Sentry (1500/1200) in attack mode. Like, destroy his face down monster!" she commanded. The female archer lifted her bow and aimed it right towards the blinking yellow light to the far right square of my monster zone. Smoothly and calmly reaching behind her with her right hand while keeping her bow and face completely still, a flaming arrow magically appeared in her hand. Loading up the beautifully carved and carefully crafted bow with the flaming arrow, she pulled the string back quickly and let it go, taking no time to aim at all. However the arrow did hit its mark and, unfortunately for Em, she was returned to her hand due to my wall's effect, and Em lost 350 life points for the difference between my wall's defense, and the sentry's attack. "Ow!" Em yelped. "That small damage felt like a paper cut!" she said. "Sorry," I replied. "Don't be. Just make your next move, okay!" Em said to me in a bubbly voice.
My next card was Soul Release. There was a total of five cards in our graveyards combined, but not in either of our separate graveyards. So I didn't play it. I didn't do anything this turn, either and Em boosted her hand to four cards.
Looking a bit nervous, Emily took one card from her hand and summoned it to the field. "It's, like, time for my absolute grossest creature, Jirai Gumo (2200/100) to make an appearance in attack mode!" she said with grimace. "Ha, okay. Like, and NOW I'm gonna use one of my face down cards Change of Heart! Looks like your field is all open for some massive damage!" she smiled as my wall instantly appeared on her side of the field. My heart suddenly began racing I was going to be directly damaged for 3200 points with no trap cards to stop their attacks. Thankfully it wouldn't be all 3200 at once. But I was pretty nervous about the Jirai Gumo's attack. I felt my heart skip a beat with all this terror looming overhead. "Like, I can tell that you are terrified. So I'll get Jirai Gumo's over with first. But oh yeah, his effect. COIN!" Em called forth the coin and said, "Start flip, call- heads." I was getting more and more apprehensive as the coin swirled in mid-air, but not for the coin toss, but whether 2200 points of direct damage would hurt extremely bad or not. As the coin slowed down, she actually looked pretty anxious too. Then suddenly, it fell to the floor with the tails side up. "NO! I lose half my life points now!" Em yelled as the rapid beep beep beep beep beep BEEP brought her life points down the 1325- an odd number for life points. She yelled just like she had before with the 1500 attack, only less loudly. "Oh well, looks like it's time for yours now!" she briefly said. After putting her Change of Heart Card in her graveyard, she commanded, "Jirai Gumo! Attack his life points directly!"
I watched, horrified, as the huge spider made his way to my platform. He used his gigantic fangs and claws to violently shake my platform and pierce its hull, I guess you could call it. After that not so impressive display of an attack, my life points went from 4000 to 1800! And as that was happening, an intense feeling of pain shot all throughout my body. It felt just like a million shots you get from the doctor all at once. When it was over, I put all my weight on my arms, which were resting on my dueling platform. Pushing myself back up I wondered how this pain could be made possible. Seeing I was recovered, Em ordered my Wall of Illusion to attack me. I figured that the pain would not be worse than a stomach ache, so I relaxed a bit. But who wouldn't be even a little bit nervous if they saw a giant sphere of darkness, aimed right at them, being formed and ready for launch?
"Attack!" she yelled and the ball of shadow flew in my direction so fast, that I didn't even know it hit me until my life points sank to 800 and I felt something similar to getting a headache, only in the chest region. It was weird.
"Okay, my turn is over. So you get your wall back now. It's your move. I hope you've got something special planned!" Em taunted as I drew a card, making my hand a total of five. It was my Man-Eater Bug! I studied my hand. It had Soul Release, Man-Eater Bug, Change of Heart, and both Labyrinth Wall and Last Turn from the beginning of the duel. I could have easily won the duel by using Change of Heart and attacking her directly with her own monster, but I didn't want to be cruel. So I did use Change of Heart, but only in a more strategic way. "First, I set this one magic/trap card face down and activate Change of Heart to take control of your Jirai Gumo!" I said as I slid my Last Turn next to my Seven Tools of the Bandit (which was now useless) and watched her ugly spider teleport to my side of the field. "No! Now I'm wide open for an attack!" she yelled, "Please don't attack me! I'm undefeated so far today. This is my third duel tonight and I've won the other two!" she became very panic-stricken and looked at me with a scared face. I replied, "Calm down. I'm now using your monster to set a more powerful monster and ending my turn. I had no intention of attacking you," as I put my Labyrinth Wall in defense mode. She was upset about losing a powerful monster like Jirai Gumo, but was more relieved than anything that her flawless record this night stayed that way for the time being. "So it's your turn now," I said calmly.
She drew her next card and accidentally whispered it aloud. I could barely hear her, but I think she said, "…Magic Jammer?" Looking up at me with her eyes wide open as part of that 'OOPS!' look, she yelled to me, "You didn't hear that!" I smirked and said, "Didn't hear what?" "Okay, good," she said back as she put a card on the field. "Monster Reborn! I'm bringing back my Unfriendly Amazon (2000/1000) in attack mode. And I also summon my Crimson Sentry (1500/1200) again in attack mode as well. But before I attack, I'm setting down this one magic/trap card. Now I'll have my amazon attack your Wall of Illusion! It's got more than enough attack points to take it out!" She said as her amazon rushed forward and slashed at the wall, destroying it. And as a result, her card was returned to her hand. "Your move," she said and smiled.
I drew my Summoned Skull, surprisingly. I even jerked my head back in shock as soon as I laid eyes on his picture. I needed a tribute monster in order to summon it. But the only monster I had on the field was the Labyrinth Wall (0/3000) that I had just put there. I was hoping she would have attacked that card instead of my other wall. But I figured this was my chance to corner her. I don't even know why she put her Crimson Sentry in attack mode! "Okay, Em. I'm sacrificing my Labyrinth Wall to summon my Summoned Skull (2500/1200) in attack mode!" and I watched her face explode with surprise. The monster square second from the left glowed a dark hazy purple as my fiend monster rose up from the arena. Its evil green eyes were already glaring at his future target. Em's Crimson Sentry lowered her eyebrows and toughened her mouth. "Now attack the Crimson Sentry!" I ordered as my monster obediently stretched his arms out toward the ground and gathered up electricity all throughout his body. And with a mighty yell, he released all of his bright blue electrifying power towards the Crimson Sentry, who fought its massive force, but ultimately gave in and vanished from the field, resulting in Em losing 1000 of her life points.
"Darn it! 325 life points? That's, like, such a low number! I don't know how I'm ever going to win NOW!" she complained as she drew a card. "Ugh, I'll try anything," she said. "I play Graceful Charity which lets me draw three cards from my deck, and discard two." So she took three cards from her deck and easily discarded two to her graveyard. "Hmm… Okay…" she began with a relieved smile on her face. But the way she was speaking made even me uneasy. "I activate the magic card Chosen One! I select one monster card from my hand and two non-monster cards and show them to you face down…" she began as she took all three cards in her hand and put them face up on her special side of the field. The image reading cameras took in three face down cards and displayed three gigantic cards with their backs turned to me. In the center of the triangle of three cards was a short, wooden, ancient-looking cylinder with a pretty interesting face on it. "All you have to do is pick one, but not to keep. If you pick the monster card, it is immediately special summoned on my side of the field in face up attack or defense, and the rest of the cards go to the graveyard. If you pick either of the two other cards, though, no monster is summoned and all three cards go to the graveyard. That will leave my field wide open for an attack… Tell me," and she said my name slyly, "do you like games of chance?" She paused for a second and yelled competitively, "Like, choose!" and the cylinder began to spin at an incredibly fast rate. And just then, those familiar yellow squares lit up below my magic/trap zone. I quickly calculated that the odds of me choosing the monster was exactly 1/3 or 33%, so I wasn't too worried. But it occurred to me that this monster must be either a ritual monster, fusion monster, or high-leveled monster if she couldn't just simply summon or set it. So I began to feel reluctant to pick. Stressed out, I pushed the space on the left and the cylinder immediately began to slow down. "Let's, like, see which card you chose for me! Will it be the, ha ha, CHOSEN ONE? A HA HA HA HA!" she completely lost control and laughed hysterically at her own joke. I shuddered and watched the cylinder stop. It opened its mouth, causing the other two cards to vanish and revealed the "chosen one."
The red illuminated on her side of the field under her monster card! Only monster wasn't really the word for it… "Yes! Now I can bring forth my most powerful monster," her voice temporarily droned into the back seat of my head as I thought, "MOST powerful monster, huh?" I looked at my face down Last Turn as her voice returned, "Wingweaver (2750/2400) in attack mode!" she heroically announced. "Must be a fairy card…" I said to myself.
An intense beam of light shot up from her center monster zone accompanied by feathers, quick wind, and soft angelic chanting. The chanting echoed throughout the arena as a beautiful fairy was released from the light that made me sneeze and squint. And I couldn't get my hair out of my face with the wind. My Summoned Skull had to use both of his arms to block out the light. The feathers gathered around her and suddenly dispersed as the light tapered away, leaving only her with her six wings, completely white. The soothing chanting died down as the feathers disappeared. It was quite a pretty dramatic entrance.
"And finally I can take control of this duel! Wingweaver, attack his Summoned Skull!" Em commanded as she violently pointed at me. Her Wingweaver opened her eyes sternly and began to call forth a mystic ball of light above her head. "I'm sorry, Em. But I'm activating this trap card," "Trap Hole won't work! This was a special summon, remember?" Em interrupted me. "It's not Trap Hole. This is much worse. It's called Last Turn. I select one of my monsters. Obviously, I pick my skull. Next, we both must destroy ALL CARDS on the field and in our hands, but my Summoned Skull is not," Em replied, "NO! It can't be! My poor Wingweaver didn't even get to attack! You'll pay for this!" as she and I both but the necessary cards in our graveyards. "But wait, there's lots more. You get to special summon a monster from your deck in face up attack mode," I said. She fingered through her deck and summoned Launcher Spider (2200/2500) with a grunt. "And now your monster attacks my monster. Any battle damage is treated as 0. BUT! The person whose monster is left standing wins the duel." I finished summarizing the card as Em sobbed only a little and said, "Attack, Launcher Spider with your missles…" The mechanized spider launched a barrage of its powerful explosives, but my Summoned Skull withstood them and struck back with an electric attack, shorting out and destroying her monster. I had won the duel, but not easily. My lone monster slowly disappeared and all was quiet.
"You deserve to have made it this far in the tournament, Em. In fact, I believe you are better off than many of the other duelists on this whole island! Uh… Em? You okay? Last Turn makes the resulting battle damage zero, so you shouldn't have gotten hurt," I said as she just stared down at her cards. She wasn't crying or anything, just dazed, it appeared. "No, I'm fine," she replied, recovering to a half smile, "I'm just, like, amazed that I lost my last duel of the day when I was undefeated all day. It's kind of ironic, right?" she smirked as she gathered up her cards. That seemed pointless to me seeing as how this is all virtual and her real deck is in a neat pile back in the pod, but I let her be and asked, "Who have you beaten today?" out of curiosity. "Well, I beat my prelimaries no problem, but here I beat a guy dressed in black named Steve and some blowhard named Jonathan." Just then, my head felt like someone had tickled it with a feather as I held back a laugh and felt this weird slippery sensation in my brain. "Are you serious!" I said more than asked. "Cuz I beat Steve during a practice duel, and I beat Jonathan about fifteen minutes ago in these very pods!" I exclaimed. "Jonathan Greanor?" Em asked in surprise. "Wow, and he was bragging about placing first in his school's tournament… now THAT'S ironic!" she said as we both shared a laugh. "Let's go back. I want to get to know the real life you better." "Same here! Talk to you in a few minutes!" Em saluted me and we both took ten steps behind us…