Tournament Stories part 8
Outside of those comfortably cool pods, Em and I met and instantly began talking in that kind of muggy room. It still smelled like cigars, and the loudly slamming door completely woke me up. The square-shaped light beating down on us was making it even worse. "So (my name), you're, like, a strong duelist. And you're saying that you lost against Jonathan in the final battle in your school's tournament? That is such a bummer! Like, how many duelists took part in that competition, anyway?" she asked as she looked at her deck she was sorting through. She dropped a card and I offered to pick it up. She said yes and I bent down. I thought about looking at it, but since she didn't know what card fell either, she may not want me to look at the card for the chance of it being a rare one that she chooses not to play until the later rounds. Temporarily discontinuing our conversation, she said, "You can look at. Go ahead."
So I turned it over preparing myself for some shiny image and gold lettering. Well, I was right about the shiny image, but the lettering was plain white. It was an equip magic card that I used to own called Black Pendant. (I lost the card in a duel against one of my brother's friends. And it sucks, too, because had he not drew that one card he needed, I would have killed him. See, he had Messenger of Peace out. With that card out, he had to pay 100 life points at each of his Standby Phases in order to prevent cards with 1500 or more attack points from attacking. And I had my Cannon Soldier (1400/1300) out along with three or four other monsters. He had 600 life points, I had a lot more. But his Catapult Turtle pretty much had rule over the game for most of it, but I kept alive a lot, ha ha ha. Anyway, his Standby Phase passed, and he had 500 life points. But he played a damn De-Spell card to eliminate the Messeger of Peace and attacked my Cannon Soldier with some high leveled monster, and then launched him with his turtle to finish me off. ARGH! And on my next turn, all I'd have to do is sacrifice one monster for my Cannon Soldier's effect to damage him for the rest of his life points. Oh, I hated that. But it was the most competitive duel I had ever taken part in. And so, he won my Black Pendant which, by the way, boosts any monster's attack by 500. And once it's sent to the graveyard, your opponent suffers 500 points of direct damage. True story!) I was startled out of my reminiscing when Em said, "(my name)! Can I have it back now?"
"Oh, sure. Sorry, I was just recalling some past memory having to do with that card," I replied a bit embarrassed.
"You mean my Black Pendant? Yeah, I got it in a booster pack- can't remember which one, though. But anyway. You didn't answer my question. How many duelists participated in your school's competition?" she asked as she stuffed her deck into her overalls' pocket.
Struggling to remember, I gave her an answer that would sound right to both of us, "I think there were 64."
"Wow! And so that makes you, like, the second best duelist in your school?" she bubbly replied.
"Well, I'm not so sure about that. There were plenty of duelists in the school that DIDN'T compete either because they thought that their deck was too weak, or that they would get embarrassed if some of their friends saw them dueling with cards. You may not believe it, but most of the kids in my school think that these cards are for little kids… I'm beginning to think that they're right," I trailed off as I stared ahead at the door, which hadn't opened for a long time. I figured it was close to 11:35. She looked at me with a disappointed look on her face.
"But Em!" I cheerfully said a bit loudly. My voice bounced off the walls, "That Wingweaver card of yours is pretty strong. I never knew that a fairy card could be that strong! Is it your favorite?" I asked.
"Yeah, fairies tend to be the weaker type of card in the whole game. But sure, they get powerful. Have you ever heard of Soul of Purity and Light?" she asked me as she took out her deck again in search of it.
"No, but it sounds like a magic card. What's it-" I was suddenly interrupted.
"WHAT! Like, Soul of Purity and Light (2000/1800) is another powerful fairy card that, as long as it is face up on the field, lowers the attack of all your opponent's monsters by 300 during each of their battle phases!" she said as she took the card out of her deck and showed me. "But yeah, Wingweaver is my favorite monster card." She finished as the loudspeaker clicked on.
"The time is 11:35, everyone! It's time to go back to your hotels. Go through the door that you entered through and return to your rooms," the announcer finished as the hatches all simultaneously opened themselves. Many angry groans could be heard from half of the duelists emerging from the pods. I listened to one comment in particular, "And I was about to make my comeback, you lucky…" and that's all I could make out as the two girls walked towards the same door that Em was facing. "Well, this is where we say goodbye, (my name). Maybe we'll duel for real in the tournament later, hmm?"
"Yeah, maybe. See ya!" I saw her off as I slowly turned around toward the door I came through, just then realizing that the boys and girls came through different doors from their different hotels.
I closed that loud door behind me and headed up the stairs. I knocked on my room's door and was surprised to find that everyone was still awake, even Steev who I had noticed in the special duels earlier. Remembering this, I said, "Hey! I saw you in those duels, Steve. How'd you do?" I asked, knowing that he had lost at least one- to Em.
"You- you were there too? I never noticed you. But anyway, yeah. I did good. I won two out of the three I played. And yourself?" he replied in a semi-surprised voice.
"I only got two in. And out of them, I won them both," I said as the room became noticeably quieter. Only the sounds of Jack and Mike shuffling each other's deck and one of the computer's soft hums could be heard over my thinking. Breaking the silence, I said, "How many duels have you had so far, you two?" I asked Mike and Jack who looked more tired than I did.
"This is still the same match we were having when you left- only the third duel. See, Mike and I are having a duel that's true to the original rules. 8000 life points, a main phase 2, everything!" Jack responded as he asked ME a question this time, "So how about another clue to your favorite card?" he asked me as I glanced up at Doug who was still making adjustments to his deck -STILL!
"Okay, Jack. First tell me what you know," I said to him because I had forgotten what I had told him already.
"You've told me that it has 1700 attack points, it has the letter o in its name, and it's NOT a dragon type," Jack said with a sarcastic tone.
I answered, "Okay," and I noticed everyone was watching me now, "it's attribute ISN'T wind or earth!"
"Hmmm…." I could all hear everybody say at once. "Okay, that'll do for now, (my name)," Jack responded as he half-minded gave Mike's deck back to him. I walked over to my bunk, climbed the ladder, and lay down watching their third duel until I drifted off to sleep. It was quite a day. And I made extra sure that my deck was protected- even from my friends.
The next morning, I rose earlier than everyone. (Mainly because I went to sleep earlier than everyone.) As I descended the ladder, my left foot slipped and nearly whacked Mike in the stomach. Luckily, there was that metal rung there, which hurt my shin real bad… So I dropped down and pulled up my pant leg just so I could see if it would bruise. Oh yes… it would. But anyway, I took my deck from out of the pack, that I got from those two people, which I hid beneath my pillow, and looked around to see if my stumbling had woken anyone up. Steve was sitting up and began to yawn heavily. He acknowledged me and wearily nodded. I slipped on my duel disc system, which made me look kinda cool, and headed out the door and made my way to the lobby where an amazing number of people were.
As I drifted in and out of sleep and crowds, I overheard different conversations like, "WHY is there such a huge hotel on a such a small island only for this tourna-", "Oh my god! I left my dueling deck in the room! Do you think I have enough ti-", and "I am definitely going home today. I shouldn't even be here because-" and I just plodded around not really searching for anyone that I've met so far, but mainly just waiting for another announcement from that guy or the short lady…
And just as the other four were coming down the stairs, the lights dimmed and the receptionist said, "Okay! All duelists are in the lobby…" The one boy I had listened to earlier said, "Crap, now I can't get my deck!"
A screen, hazy with muted static lowered itself slowly and ominously. I heard sarcastic snores and even a "Boo, this movie rots!" But paying attention only to the screen still lowering, I didn't notice my friends surrounding me until Mike sneezed at the exact same moment that a burst of static sound shook the room and then went silent showing everyone a dark figure sitting in a chair, with two guards at his side.
He spoke, "All my fine duelists! All 256 of you have survived your two trial rounds at the preliminaries. And a select few of you, last night, got the unique opportunity to get a better feel for dueling others out there with special duels in virtual arenas. I am most pleased with everyone's progress and anticipate seeing quite exciting duels in the future; I monitor them all, you know. So here's to another day of friendly dueling at the Gree Island tournament! And here are the match-ups for your next duel!" Just then, the screen zoomed in on a massive tournament chart. It closed in on the first two pairs and slowly scrolled to the left, showing peoples faces who would be dueling each other. "Have fun out there! And don't forget that these are the real tournaments now! Many rules that weren't in the preliminaries are now active. And certain ridiculous rules that I put in the preliminaries are now gone. And to relieve some stress- I've been getting an overwhelming number of reports that surrendering two cards to the winner of a duel is… "unfair." So I've made an alteration to that subject. Instead of giving the victor a monster card with 2000 attack points or more AND a magic card of the winner's choice, I've decided to let the winner of each duel decide if he or she wants a monster card OR a magic/trap card. And it doesn't… HAVE to be rare... (mumble, mumble) But the winner chooses and does not touch their opponent's cards until he or she has made up their mind. That was another issue brought up that someone robbed someone of two cards yesterday- very unpleasing. Needless to say, he has been dealt with. Anyway! It's time to duel- show them what you're made of!" and with that, the tournament match-ups continued trudging along the screen for two or three more times until I finally saw my picture paired up with someone else's.
I overheard someone say outloud, "This is bogus! We've got duel disc systems! We should be able to duel whoever we want, WHENever we want! But no, we're getting assigned opponents… Does anybody else see anything wrong with this?" and with that, a huge mass of people gathered around him in agreement excluding me and one of his friends who said less loudly, "You're just afraid to duel me!" I got a laugh out of that. I looked up at the screen again to notice my opponent's face just disappear, "I know it was a guy with brown hair, but that's it," I said to myself.
Suddenly, I heard an intrusive cough, though not entirely rude. I turned around to notice that it was definitely the guy I'm supposed to be dueling. "Looks like you and I are in it to the end, pal," he said with a friendly smirk.
"Yeah, looks that way," I politely responded, not really expecting to be called "pal" before I even knew his name.
"I'm Justin. Who are you?"
"(my name), good to meet you. Ready to duel?" I responded, tightening my grip on my duel disc.
"Eh, not yet. First I have to get my cards from my room!"
It was pretty funny that he was the same guy I was kind of eavesdropping on since I arrived in the lobby. And as he rushed up the stairs, the lights turned on, and the screen turned off and rose back up. Turning around to face the outside, I noticed Jack and Steve still standing there, talking to one another.
"Oh no! You guys aren't dueling each other, are you?!??" I assumed in horror.
"A ha ha ha! You fool, no! We're just talking about strategies. Look, my opponent is right there. He just had to go to the bathroom first!" Jack said as he pointed to some blonde haired guy who looked too simple to understand what even attack mode was. But that was none of my business.
"What about you, Steve?" I asked.
"I dunno… maybe he's already out there waiting for ME. Cuz everyone else already found their opponent. Hmm… Anyway, I'll talk to you later. Bye!" he turned and walked off as I heard Justin returning from his room. "Alright, I'm ready! Let's duel!" and we were pretty silent until we found a cleared out wooded area (probably on purpose) to duel in.
I flicked mine on, and it instantly booted itself up. I instinctively raised my arm to make it more dramatic. The holographic emitters burst from my machine and rested on the ground, ready to shape monsters. And the monster card zone clanged together and glowed with readiness, Justin's too. We drew five cards and began.
"I always let my opponent go first!" Justin announced. We were pretty far away, it seemed. So I drew a sixth card:
My first hand was Bait Doll, Waboku, Forced Requisition, Cannon Soldier, Cyber Jar, and Dragon Zombie. Not too bad!
"Alright! For my first move, I'll place these two cards face down on the field along with Dragon Zombie (1600/0) in attack mode!" I said loudly as my metal monster zone seemed to shine brightly as my emitters conjured up my zombie card instantly. "And that will do it for me!" I said to Justin as he drew a card.
"Hmmm… Interesting," he said aloud. "I don't think you're going to like this, (my name)! I start off by playing Spiritualism! It lets me return one magic/trap card to your hand. And its activation and effect cannot be negated by any other card!" He declared as three evil looking spirits rose up from his center magic zone. They swirled around each other in a terrifyingly taunting dance of insane laughs. "And I think I'll return the card to you left to your hand!" he announced as the skull shaped spirits rushed forward and absorbed into my card. It was my Forced Requisition which, thankfully, I never needed on the field anyway, for now. "To make this duel further interesting, I'll play one of my favorite magic cards, Convulsion of Nature! It's effect requires us to turn our decks upside down so we both know what each other is going to draw next! Pretty cool, huh?" he smirked.
I sarcastically (as I always do) replied, "Isn't that kind of a drawback than a bonus, Justin?"
Ignoring what I said, he continued his turn, "And I'll put my Bistro Butcher (1800/1000) in attack mode and attack your Dragon Zombie!" That maniacally messed up kitchen cook slowly rose up from his middle monster square and zipped forward, wielding his sharp and dangerous… hook? Which was used to slice my Dragon Zombie into ribbons. I didn't decide to activate my Waboku because it was only 200 life points, and the butcher's effect would allow me to draw more cards, anyway.
So I drew three cards to start off my next turn, thanks to Justin. But also, thanks to Justin, he knew what each and every one of them was: Mask of Darkness, Swordstalker, and The Dark Door. He even saw what card I would draw next thanks to my deck being upside down already, it was my Opticlops. I looked over to his side of the field to his left to see a giant holographic image of the card that he would draw next, too: Prohibition. But before I could do anything, I had to get rid of one of the cards in my hand to bring my total to six. So I carefully considered each card and its usefulness and discarded my Mask of Darkness that I just drew. "And now, to make my move, I'm setting one card in defense mode, and placing one card face down on the field," I said, putting my Forced Requisition back where it was and setting my Cyber Jar, ready to draw more cards.
"My turn, now," Justin stated as he drew his Phohibition. The holographic image showed his finger taking the card off of his deck and revealed a Trap Master beneath it. But sure enough, he used Prohibition since he could see the cards I just drew AND the card I'm about to draw next turn. "I play the continuous magic card Prohibition. As long as it's face up, the name of one card I state canNOT be played on the field. So I say that Opticlops can't be played! Another great move made by me. And to finish, I'll attack your defense monster with my Harpie's Brother (1800/600)! Make that card a memory!" he commanded his wined beast. With blazing speed (as stated on the card itself) it quickly delivered a devastating blow to, "My Cyber Jar (900/900) has been activated! I'm sure you know its effect, right? All monsters on the field are destroyed," I said as the monsters took turns exploding off the field. "Next we take the tope five cards from our decks," I recited as we each took the top five, "And show them to each other… not that we wouldn't have known what they were, anyway…"
I drew Opticlops (level 4), Soul Exchange, Malevolent Nuzzler, Shadow of Eyes, and Magician of Faith (level 1).
Justin drew Trap Master (level 3), Cold Wave, Rain of Mercy, Mushroom Man #2 (level 3), and Curse of Dragon (level 5).
"Now all monsters of level 4 or lower go on the field in either face up attack, or face down defense position. Since I can't play my Opticlops, I'm putting my Magician of Faith (300/400) in face down defense mode," I said as my hand suddenly became crowded with useful cards.
"I'm putting my Trap Master (500/1100) in defense mode and my Mushroom Man #2 (1250/800) in attack mode. And it's still my battle phase! But I'm not attacking. Though I WILL send my Mushroom Man #2 over to your side of the field at the cost of 500 life points, just so I can damage you a bit more. That card's special effect makes its controller during the Standby Phase lose 300 life points. And at your end phase, you can pay 500 life points to send it over to your opponent, like I just did. Well now, my turn is over!" And with that, the Mushroom Man teleported itself onto my side of the field.
I drew my favorite magic card, to my surprise: Tribute to the Doomed! Justin only saw the card under it, Trap Master, because of all the excitement and he forgot to look. But first, I had to shrink my hand back down to six cards from the nine that I had. I then got an idea.
"Before I can be damaged those 300 life points, I have to make my hand total six again," I declared as I prepared to discard my Opticlops. I shoved it into the little hole designated for the graveyard and activated a trap card, "Forced Requisition! It's activated when I discard a card from my hand whether I need to or not. So from now on, whenever I discard from my hand, you must discard the same number!" So I watched his face turn surprised when I took two more cards from my hand, Shadow of Eyes and The Dark Door and slammed them in the graveyard and said, "Discard two cards from your hand, Justin." I watched a confused look come over him. He mumbled to himself, "What can I get rid of?? ….RGGGH! Fine, I'm discarding my Cold Wave and my Seiyaryu (2500/2300). You messed up my plan!" he angrily obeyed.
"Whoa!" I thought, "Seiyaryu?? That's a pretty rare card, so I'm told."
"Anyway, now it's my standby phase," as soon as I said that, the card I received from Justin turned to face me, and its red eyes glowed eerily. I lost 300 life points, evening our scores: 3500 to 3500- but not for long! "To start, I'll get rid of your Mushroom Man by Sacrificing him to summon my Swordstalker (2000/1600)! Next, I'm activating Tribute to the Doomed to send that face down card to the graveyard," I calmly said, knowing it was a Trap Master as I discarded my Cannon Soldier, figuring that I wouldn't have monsters on the field long enough for me to use it.
"Ha! Now my Trap Master can use its ability. I can destroy one of your trap cards. So it's lights out for your Forced Requisition!" he laughed as I continued my move, "Next I'll flip over my Magician of Faith and activate its effect to bring back one magic card in the graveyard to my hand!" "Aw, noooo!" Justin shouted pretty loudly as I took my favorite magic card out of the graveyard. "And to finish my turn, I equip my Swordstalker with Malevolent Nuzzler which raises its attack by 700 to bring it to 2700! Finally, I attack you directly!" I smoothly stated.
"Yowch…" Justin weakly said as he saw my warrior getting closer and closer closing in on him. He raised both his arms in front of him in preparation for this to hurt real bad, but it didn't, as I found out when he just stood there, flinching, after the attack was long since over. "Um… you can stop now. You've got 800 life points and its your move," I felt pretty smug with my 3500 life points entirely intact by one defense monster and one souped up attack monster. But Justin wasn't giving up without a fight. I wouldn't want it any other way, really. (Not that I'm THAT good of a duelist to be talking like that…)
He drew a Change of Heart, and I got nervous. And he used the result pretty well, too. "I'm activating Change of Heart! For one turn I can control one of your monsters. I'm definitely taking over your Swordstalker!" he said as a figure that looked part angel, part demon materialized on the field. She opened her eyes and angrily glared at my Swordstalker. She lifted off the ground and dove right onto my warrior, using some magical darkness and light together to carry it over to his side, then she disappeared. "Now, I'll use Rain of Mercy to replenish our life points by 1000," he said as white clouds appeared over us. Light droplets of rain gracefully landed on each side of the field, increasing both of our life points by 1000. I didn't know what he was up to. "Next, I'm using your Swordstalker as a tribute monster to call forth my Curse of Dragon (2000/1500) in attack mode! After that, I'll play a very special magic card called Dragon's Gunfire! It's a magic card designed ONLY for dragon cards. With it, I can choose to either damage your life points by 800 OR instantly destroy one face up monster on your side of the field with defense points equal to or lower than 800! So I'm getting rid of your Magician of Faith to clear the way for a direct attack from my dragon!" Justin said with glee as a great fire ball began to grow larger at its mouth, aimed right for my spellcaster. It suddenly was unleashed and incinerated my monster. "Now attack!" Justin commanded. However, I had Waboku lying in wait, "I activate the trap card Waboku! It protects my life points from any kind of attack during this turn only. So sorry, Justin. You were very close, though!" I said as I glanced to my right, noticing his next card to be drawn: Monster Reborn. I felt nervous again.,
I drew my Trap Master like we knew I would and thought about what to do about Justin's Monster Reborn. I noticed that I still had a Soul Exchange in my hand, but that's only good if I've got a high leveled monster. I looked at my next card and saw it was one of my new cards, Penguin Soldier. Its effect would come in handy, but I can't just return cards to his hand and expect to win. However, he has no idea whether my Bait Doll I actually a trap or magic card, so if I were to set it down, he may be detered from attacking right away… "Alright, Justin. I'm putting two cards face down and activating Tribute to the Doomed once again. I discard one card from my hand to destroy your Curse of Dragon. And I'm ending my turn like that," I boldy said. And with no cards in my hand, I relaxed my arms and let them lay at my side for a while.
I watched him draw his Monster Reborn, revealing a Soul Release.
"The only thing I can do is play Monster Reborn. But… which monster should I revive…?" his voice trailed off as he flipped through his graveyard. Suddenly, his face lit up and twisted into a fiendish grin. I'm bringing back my Seiyaryu (2500/2300) in attack mode!" he yelled at the near top of his lungs. "Holy crap!" I exclaimed as this lengendary card burst up in front of. Its wings glittered as it flew high into the air, showed itself off and landed in front of Justin, ready to show its might. "You better pray those are trap cards you've got down, (my name). Seiyaryu! Attack his life points directly NOW!" Justin yelled to his dragon as it lifted itself slightly off the ground as pointed its enormous mouth at me. It opened its mouth and breathed in slowly, making sure this would be an experience I wouldn't soon forget. A blazing ball of electricity gathered inside and remained motionless as it collected the last bit of its power and was suddenly let go.
Things seemed to occur in slow motion just then as the ball of lightning made its way right toward me. I put my forearms up to make a little barrier, out of instinct, though I knew it wouldn't hurt. So I watched it collide with me and heard the rapid beep beep beep beep beep BEEP return to decrease my life points to 2000. In that instant, I was now only winning by 200 life points. What a turn of events…
I drew my Penguin Soldier (750/500) and immediately set it in defense mode, hoping Justin would attack it because my next card would be Dian Keto the Cure Master. I angrily looked at that Convulsion of Nature card that caused me so much happiness and yet so much irritation. I was glad I took it out of my deck back in the hotel room, as well as many others to further reduce my deck size to 91 cards.
Justin drew his Soul Release and asked to see my graveyard. "ALL the cards?" I responded. "No. No, just the monsters." He replied as I held the cards up high, hoping he could see them. There was no extra card zone like in those arenas… "Alright. I'm removing Mask of Darkness, Swordstalker, Magician of Faith, Cannon Soldier, and Trap Master from play," Justin said.
"Fine by me!" I said. "CRAP!" I thought.
So he didn't attack, to my relief. And also to my relief, his next card was a Last Will. I drew my Dian Keto and immediately activated it, bringing my life points up to 3000, still not believing what a powerful hit I had taken. My next card was Island Turtle. Things always get interesting when that card is around. I realized that just then. And couldn't wait to draw it.
Justin took the Last Will off the top of his deck and smiled at the card beneath it, a De-Spell. Finally! It's so frustrating to know what card you and your opponent are going to draw next. So he set down the card and signaled it to be my turn. I drew my Island Turtle to expose my Harpie's Brother beneath it. I then decided to shake things up a bit and activated my Bait Doll card that I placed face down a long while ago. I knew it wouldn't destroy anything, but I love to shuffle my deck!
"I'll activate Bait Doll now," I began. "What's a Bait Doll do?" Justin asked as he laughed at the card's art. "It lets me force the activation of one face down card in your magic/trap zone. And, basically, if the trap card I activated is activated at a time no suitable for it to be activated, then it's effects are negated and the card is destroyed. But if the card I choose isn't a trap, like your Last Will that I will be flipping over, nothing happens and it goes back face down. Then, after I activate this card, it goes back in my DECK, and I shuffle it," I explained as he tilted his head back in understanding. So nothing happened, and I got to shuffle my deck. Of course, I couldn't look at what would appear on top, so I had to turn it over again. Then after I felt it was sufficiently re-randomized, I flipped my deck over to see my Horn of the Unicorn. But then it was Justin's turn and he activated De-Spell to flip our decks back over- thank goodness.
So I drew… Princess of Tsurugi but set my Island Turtle instead. I still had Soul Exchange face down.
Justin drew a card and immediately set it in defense mode and ended his turn with a small smile. I wondered if he was bluffing that it was a good card or not. But I decided to take my turn.
I drew Just Desserts. It's quite the useful trap card when you're cornered. I instantly set it down and ended my turn.
I let out a tired yawn as Justin finished thinking over his move, almost certain that it would work for him. "Alright, I'll set this magic/trap card face down and flip over MY Cyber Jar. It worked so well for me the last time, there's always room for another!" So all the monsters were destroyed, we each took the top 5, showed them to each other. I got Enchanted Javelin, Labyrinth Wall (level 5), Big Eye (level 4), Polymerization (I got it in the Joey starter deck), and Sword of Deep-Seated. I set my Big Eye (1200/1000). He got Gaia the Fierce Knight (level 7), Cave Dragon (level 4), Salamandra, Dragon Treasure, and Rising Air Current. He summoned his Cave Dragon (2000/100). "Since he can't attack with no other dragon type card on my side of the field, I'll just go to my Main Phase 2 and equip him with Dragon Treasure, increasing his attack to 2300. Also, I'll play this field card, Rising Air Current, which raises any wind attribute monster's attack by 500! That means my cave dragon now has 2800 attack points! Your move!" Justin said.
I don't know why, but I was beginning to find this duel very boring. "I thought that the actual tournaments would be more difficult than just a regular duel!" I thought to myself as I drew my Man-Eater Bug. "I'm activating a trap! Light of Intervention! From this point on, as long as this is face up, no monster can be played face down. That includes the monster you've already got face down, flip it over!" Justin felt pretty proud of himself. "Fine, I'll flip over my Big Eye and activate its effect. I get to see the top five cards in my deck and arrange them however I want," so I took the top 5 which were Tornado Bird (now useless because of his trap card), Gearfried the Iron Knight, my other Waboku, Sword of Dark Destruction, and my Monster Reborn. I put them in some order and continued my turn. "I'll now sacrifice my Big Eye to set my Labyrinth Wall (0/3000) in face up defense mode. Now I'm safe from you, for now…" I trailed off as I wondered why Justin was grinning at the card he drew.
"Oh, I'll just set this magic/trap card down and end my turn," Justin said.
I drew my Monster Reborn and looked at Justin, "Are you ready for this? Monster Reborn! And guess which card I'm reviving! Seiyaryu!" Once again, the scintillating dragon emerged from the depths of the duel disc's memory and onto the field, ready for battle. "And now I'll equip him with my Sword of Deep-Seated, increasing his attack to 3000! And I still can normal summon a monster, so here comes Princess of Tsurugi (900/700) in attack mode. And she gets a 500 point attack power boost thanks to your field card, Justin. Seiyaryu! Eliminate his Cave Dragon!" And just as before a bright ball of lightning collected before the mighty dragon's mouth and he let it fly with uncontrollable force. It make quick work of the Cave Dragon and reduced his life points to 1600. "Next, I'll have my other card attack you directly, too!" "Not until after I activate this trap card. It's called Graverobber's Retribution. And during everyone of my standby phases, YOU lose 100 life points for every monster you've got removed from play! …Uh, now you can attack. And so after a brief slash with her icicle knives, my Princess of Tsurugi brought his life points down to a measly 200.
Justin drew a card and looked rather disappointed. Even though my life points decreased to 2500 after an impressive display of spirits flying right through me, he looked at me with hopeful eyes. "I play Graceful Charity. I draw three cards from my deck and discard two. I noticed he discarded Gaia the Fierce Knight, but couldn't see the other one, "Okay. This is probably the least honorable move I've made in my entire dueling career. But here I go. First, I'm playing Dark Hole, and destroying all monsters on the field," he started as an unbelievably huge circle of darkness replaced the grass that we were dueling on. All three of the monsters I had on the field instantly vanished and I was wide open for anything- almost. "And now I'm summoning Darkfire Soldier #1 (1700/1150) in attack mode. In addition, I'll equip him with my Salamandra card, to bring his attack all the way up to 2400! I'm sorry I had to resort to this, but now- ATTACK!" he commanded his pyro warrior always bathed in an inferno. With his new fire sword, he slashed right through me, holographically, bringing my life points down to even fewer than his- 100. But then I just pressed the button corresponding to that trap card I lay down a while ago, "Just Desserts! This card will bring about the end! For every monster you've got on the field, you lose 500 life points. And that's plenty to take you out, Justin!" I heroically said as a mysterious force brought Justin down to zero.
Spontaneously, the card images disappeared and the holographic image producers snapped back into place at the sides of my duel disc. I removed all my cards from the graveyard, magic zone, and deck holder and walked over to Justin as my duel disc automatically divided itself in half again. I turned my system off and greeted Justin as he was trying to hold back a sob.
"Well, it looks like one of us will be continuing with the duels later today!" Justin tried to cheer himself up as he smiled at me and showed me his deck, "Well then, do you want a magic or monster card? (sniff, sniff)" Trying not to be touched too much by his pathetic state. I smiled, looked at him and said, "You didn't lose that badly. Don't beat yourself up. Those last moves you made were pretty well planned. I mean, I would have never thought that you were removing my cards from play in order to damage my lifepoints. I just thought you didn't want me to revive those cards. And using Convulsion of Nature wasn't too bad of a strategy at all, y'know. So be proud with how you dueled. Didn't you make it this far with your skills?" I tried to calm him down. And it worked somewhat, "Yeah, okay. I guess I'm not that bad a duelist just because I lost one lousy duel to a complete stranger, ha ha ha…. Okay. Thanks. SO!" he was a bit better, "Do you want a magic, trap, or monster?"
He showed me his vast variety of cards. And after a short while of deciding and friendly chatter, I chose of his two Spiritualisms, so as not to ruin his deck too much. He made me promise to take good care of it, and I did. So he headed in the direction of the main gate where the "exiting duelists ship" was awaiting. I headed back to the hotel to see if any of my friends were back yet.
"No weird people so far today," I said to myself…