Tournament Stories part 10
It was a long walk as she led me to where we would be dueling. I took a first real look at my future opponent. Inside all of that black and just plain ominous clothing, she looked like a pretty nice girl. Well, the black as well as her over-confident smile made me kind of mad and intimidated at the same time. I then realized that I was walking too close to her and made a quick adjustment in my walking path to make it look as if I was walking away from her. We kept walking…
I was surprised when she suddenly stopped at a windy pasture. I thought, iThis island sure is gigantic. There could be an explosion on the other side, and we over here wouldn't know it until a day later! Why is Gree Island such a massive place? And what's with the name? It still sounds so weird. Gree. Is it even in the dictionary…?/i
We shuffled each other's decks. I made sure that she didn't make any attempts to steal any of my cards. And she didn't. Maybe I wasn't giving her enough credit. We returned the decks and walked apart. "Alright. We'll duel here. And I always let the hunted go first. So draw six cards and let's get this duel going!" S declared as we both flicked on our duel discs.
The miniature holographic emitters dashed away and landed at their proper distance. (They began to impress me less and less…)
So I drew six cards and began this very important duel.
In my first hand were Maha Vailo, Waboku, Soul Exchange, Just Desserts, Karate Man, and Chain Energy. Pretty good!
"Alright. I'm gonna start this off well! I'm putting Karate Man (1000/1000) in attack mode! And I'll set these three cards face down to complete my turn. Your move," I said as she drew a sixth card and looked at it in deep thought. But I could hardly tell. Her eyes were pretty well covered by that black veil she wore. She then pivoted her head up towards me and began to make her first move, "I'm summoning White Magical Hat (1000/700) in attack mode! Next, I equip it with Mask of Brutality, which raises its attack by 1000 points. And I'll lay this one card face down. Now I'm attacking your Karate Man!" she declared as the young-looking gentleman sprung his head up and evilly smiled at my monster. His glasses glimmered in light coming from somewhere. I watched as the mysterious spellcaster waved his hands around in some eerie motions while his cape seemed to have a mind of its own with the twirling and flapping it seemed to do with no wind. Suddenly he stopped and spread out his hands towards my Karate Man. Little particles of light gathered within his palms and were about ready to be unleashed, which would have resulted in 1000 points of damage for me, ALREADY. I wasn't in the mood for that to happen, so I countered the attack in a way that I wished I wouldn't have had to… "I'll prevent your monster from damaging me by activating my Karate Man's effect: I'm doubling his attack points as it allows me to once per turn. So now it's 2000 to 2000, resulting in a draw, and both our monsters will be destroyed!" I announced as yellow balls of power sunk into my warrior, boosting its power by 100%! The white magical hat unleashed his beams of magic as my karate man dashed forth with fists glowing. They both connected and vanished simultaneously. "Nothing lost, nothing gained," I said as she continued her turn. "Ugh, whatever. I'm setting this one card face down for my main phase two and end my turn."
It was my turn. And I was feeling pretty giddy to the fact that I could directly damage her without the underhanded tactic of using Change of Heart! (Even though that IS a fair move…) So I drew a card. It was my Malevolent Nuzzler! Nice! I got a fantastic idea, "Hey, look at this! I'm summoning Maha Vailo (1550/1400) in attack mode. Next, I'm equipping her with Malevolent Nuzzler, which increases her attack by 700. And, because of her special effect, her attack is increased by an extra 500 for every equip card I give her! So she gets a massive 1200 attack point boost bringing it up to 2750! That's already more powerful than most of the cards in the whole game! And I'm not done yet. Now I'm activating Chain Energy. As long as it's face up on the field, we pay 500 life points for each card we play from our hands! And now… I'm attacking you directly with my Maha Vailo. GO!" And with that, my spellcaster's body rose above the ground and changed into a standing position, still not opening her eyes. The clouds above us somehow knew to hide the sun in order to make this ordeal more dramatic. Slowly, a dark red glow was beginning to be summoned around her body, covered in an even darker blue dress. She made her hands into fists slowly and aimed them silently at Sarah who took a few steps back. She was definitely not prepared for such an attack. And with violent force, she opened her angry, fiery red eyes and opened her fists wide letting loose two intense beams of red destruction right toward Sarah. The sound of the beams emitting from her hands was nothing short of apocalyptic. And judging by the way Sarah yelled, it must have hurt really badly. The next thing I knew, I saw her on the ground, pushing herself back up. I could hear the faint sound of her duel disc going "beep beep beep beep beep beep BEEP!" signifying her life points decreasing to 1250- from one attack. I felt like nothing could stop me with a mega powerful monster and 3 face down cards lying in wait. I FELT like nothing could stop me. Little did I know…..
But it was her turn now. She drew a card and put it in defense mode. She paid 500 life points, but it's almost as if she was happy because she had activated a trap card, "It's called Life Absorbing Machine. From now on, during each one of my turns, my life points increase by half of the life points I paid in my last turn. So every turn, from this point on, my life points will increase by 250. It's all thanks to your Chain Energy!" she smirked and signaled it to be my turn.
I looked at my duel disc for a moment. I don't know why. I had just never taken the time to look at it before. I liked the luster it had about it. The soft glow of the sun reflecting off of my cards in the nicely crafted deck slot was inviting to draw a new card to my hand of zero. I drew a card and looked under the system. It said, "made in china"…
The card I drew wasn't a monster, unfortunately. I was hoping to finish the duel then and there. It was Trap Hole. But since my magic zone was filled up, I couldn't put it down. So I just attacked her face down card. And with the same amazing show as before, her Dreamsprite (300/200) was destroyed.
"Thank you. That was perfect. I'll draw, and I'll increase my life points by 250 now to 1000. Now, because of your quickness to destroy instead of think, I will remove from play the two light monsters that your have destroyed to summon my Soul of Purity and Light (2000/1800) in attack mode. And yes, I'm aware that I lose another 500 life points. But my life absorbing machine will cover me for now. And by the way, I wouldn't make your next move if I were you…" and she said it was my turn. I didn't know what she was talking about until I drew my next card. But I thought she was trying to bluff me.
The card I drew on my next turn was my Red Eyes Black Dragon. It was level 7 and needed two tribute monsters. I remembered the Soul Exchange I had set and got a great idea, "I'm now playing Soul Exchange!" I said as I flipped over my rare, holographic card. "It allows me to use one of your monsters as a tribute instead of one of my own. But it doesn't say that I CAN'T sacrifice one of my own in addition to yours. So now I'm ALSO sacrificing my Maha Vailo in order to summon my Red Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000)!" A particularly bright ball of light drifted up from the depths of my virtual card hovering above the ground. The empty soul then rushed for her fairy card and absorbed its life force, causing it to fall to the ground and vanish. My Maha Vailo also disappeared from the field, yielding way for the summoning of one of my more powerful monsters- Red Eyes Black Dragon. "I can't conduct my battle phase, but I'm setting this one magic/trap card face down to end my turn!" It was the Trap Hole I drew. I thought I was ready for anything. And her low life point number, 500, made me all the more secure since I had 3000.
"My turn," she said as she calmly drew a card. Her hand now had two cards in it. I had zero "It's time to end this little childish game," she said to me as her life points rose to 750. "I'm activating one of my face down cards- De-Spell! It gets rid of one magic card. I'm picking your Chain Energy," she smoothly said as it just vanished from the field. Then I noticed a glare, almost a dim and scary glow, in her eyes as she got ready to play the next two cards in her hand, "FIRST I'm playing Monster Reborn to bring back your Maha Vailo (1550/1400) in attack mode. And next I'm equipping her with another one of my Masks of Brutality. So she gets a total attack point boost of 1500! HA HA HA! That's almost double! So now, I command you to attack his dragon!" she yelled.
iDamn it!/i I thought. iMy Trap Hole won't work on special summons. So I can't use it to destroy the Maha Vailo. And its attack is now 3050, thanks to its effect. Ugh… now I KNOW how good of a card it is…/i I thought with a little laugh.
"Not so fast!" I said as I pushed one of the buttons corresponding to one of my traps. "I activate Waboku. Any damage inflicted by your monster is decreased to zero for the rest of your turn!" I said a bit shaky as she looked at me with an indifferent face. I drew my next card.
It was another Malevolent Nuzzler! (I've got three in my whole deck.) It was easy to get the idea of equipping it to my dragon. "Now I'll equip my Red Eyes Black Dragon with a Malevolent Nuzzler. I'm sure you remember what it does. Red Eyes! Attack Maha Vailo!" Then my Red Eyes's eyes illuminated with an intense red glimmer. My dragon breathed in all the air its lungs could hold and let out a deafening roar as a bright crimson sphere of pure power was released from my mighty dragon's mouth. It was quite a sight. Accompanied by forceful gusts of wind, the gigantic ball of red energy violently collided with its target, eliminating it from the field. And for all that show she lost only 50 life points bringing her total to 700…
"My my! Aren't you a difficult target to hold down! I'm sincerely surprised regarding how well you are doing against me," she then drew her next card as if she was cued to do so. And her life points increased to 950, "But you can't REALLY expect to win, can you?" she sneered as she set only one card face down on the field. This was the second time her field was left wide open for me. "Your turn," she antagonized.
iThis is bogus! She's got 950 life points and yet is leaving her field wide open for an attack. She's taking a risky move. I hope she knows what she's doing. After all, she's a rare hunter. I hear they are supposed to be tough.../i She then glared at me through the darkness of her hood as if she had heard what I was thinking. So I immediately stopped thinking and drew my next card… Share the Pain.
iDamn it! WHY do I always draw this card at the wrong time or have it in my hand inconveniently unusable?/i I thought as I just kept it in my hand, wondering if I should attack. Figuring the worst it could be was a Mirror Force, I decided to attack; I had two trap cards face down ready to go anyway! "And I WILL attack you directly!" I shouted as my dragon took another deep breath and let the giant blaze of energy fly right towards her. It made full contact, but I heard no scream or beeping to signal life points being damaged. After the holographic smoke cleared away, I discovered that there was what appeared to be a giant vial of something gross looking hovering above her head. I then looked down at her field, wondering what the hell happened. She had activated a trap card! But I had never heard of it before, "Sorry, but this may piss you off. I activated one of my favorite trap cards: Nutrient Z! Let me explain how it works. When I take battle damage, direct or by monster destruction, I can activate this trap card during your damage step if the damage I would be receiving is equal to or greater than 2000 points. And since your dragon has a boosted 3100 attack points, it more than qualifies. But here's my favorite part: BEFORE I take that damage, I increase my life points by 4000!" So her life points counter beeped all the way up to 4950, then all the way down to 1850. It really was a good move… "So I guess it's your turn now," I said.
She drew a card and immediately said, "Perfect." She smirked as she laid one card in defense mode. Her life points went up to 2100 and she signaled it as my turn. I prayed my next card would be a monster card. Of course, it wasn't. I got kind of angry. It was my Polymerization card. I paid no attention to it and just attacked her defense monster. It was the Magician of Faith. And we all know what the Magician of Faith's flip effect is. It was her turn again.
She drew a card kind of quickly. I could have sworn she drew two, but after looking at her hand, I realized it was just two: her revived magic card, and the card she drew. I briefly looked at my hand. I had two cards as well. Two completely useless cards! And boy, did I hate this next turn…
Her life points increased to 2350. She played Monster Reborn and brought back her Soul of Purity and Light (2000/1800) into attack mode. And to top it tall off, she played the final card in her hand, Eternal Rest. Once she revealed it to me, I flinched because I knew exactly what it does.
"I'm playing the magic card Eternal Rest. I get to destroy ALL monsters equipped with equip cards. Obviously, your Red Eyes Black Dragon is eliminated, leaving YOUR field open for a direct attack!" After she flipped that card over, an evilly dressed man chanting some satanic incantation swayed his hands over and over until my dragon just slumped to the ground and disappeared. I thought it would have been flashier than that…
"Now ATTACK, my fairy card!" she commanded as her hood almost fell off as the result of her forcefully pointing her finger directly at me. I looked up towards her gentle looking fairy as she softly opened her eyes and wrapped her arms around her. A little ball of light blue energy welled up right in front of her. I wondered if this would hurt or not, to be honest. All that happened after this was she violently opened her wings and thrust open her arms resulting in a deadly display of blue destruction as lightning bolts randomly shocked me all over my body, taking my life points down to 1000. It was a pretty weird turn of events.
"What the hell?" I took time to talk as I was recovering. "Fairy cards are supposed to be weak things! And what kind of dark, eerie, malevolent rare hunter has such light cards in her deck?" She then looked at me in surprise and disgust at the same time and replied, "We rare hunters do not much care WHAT attribute or class monsters we use as long as they are rare or powerful. And how dare you insult my creatures of light. Some of the game's best monsters are of the light attribute: Blue Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500), WingWeaver (2750/2400), and the legendary Seiyaryu (2500/2300). You will speak of them with respect and acknowledgement!" She finished as I flipped over one of my trap cards in a final attempt to damage her life points just in case my next card wouldn't be a monster. "I think I'll activate Just Desserts now. It damages you 500 points for every monster you have on the field. So you have 1850 again," I finished as she told me that it was my turn again.
My hand got a tiny bit shaky as I touched the top of my deck. If this card wasn't a summonable monster, I'd lose this duel, my Black Skull Dragon, and any hope of getting any money out of this whole trip. I held back tears as I took the card off my deck. I looked at it and nearly fell over from the stroke of luck I had just undergone. And the best thing was, it was one of my favorite cards.
"Alright. Your Soul of Purity and Light seems to have taken control of the field. So I'll defend myself with this one card in defense mode, and that'll do it," I happily said.
"Hmm… I sense this duel is nearly over," she said as she drew a card and her life points increased to 2100. "And this is just icing on the cake," she continued as she slapped a magic/trap card face down. "Attack his defense monster!" she yelled.
Once again, the seemingly non-violent fairy unleashed massive bolts of lightning, destroying my defense monster Kisetai (300/800). She didn't know what the heck it was, but I couldn't help but smile. "YES! Thank you so much! Because you destroyed this card in face down defense mode, it is immediately equipped to the attacking monster for as long as it is on the field. And from now on, during each one of your Standby Phases, MY life points increase by the amount equal to half of the attacking monster's attack points. In this case, it would 1000 every turn! Ha ha ha!" I laughed as she angrily frowned at me. "And now it's my turn!" I said.
I drew my Spear Cretin and was forced to put it in defense mode, or she'd obliterate me. I bravely announced, "I'll set THIS card in defense mode as well to end my turn. Go ahead," I prompted her as she snatched the top card off her deck.
"Yes! It's about TIME I drew this card!" she said as her life points rose to 2350, and as mine went up to 2000. "I'm putting this magic/trap card face down." And we both looked at each other for a half a second. "And now I'm attacking your defense monster!" she said. Once again, the fairy violent tore my Spear Cretin (500/500) apart. But that's okay, since I got to activate its effect, "Here's an effect that you aren't going to like for sure! Since this card was flipped and destroyed, we now revive one monster card from our graveyards and special summon it to the field in face up attack or face down defense position. But since you've removed two cards in your graveyard from play, and re-summoned the third, you HAVE no monster to summon!" She looked at me and then her graveyard in shock. "But now, you can give another warm welcome to my Red Eyes Black Dragon!" I announced as I slammed my dragon card down onto the cool metal field attached to my wrist. It rose up from the ground to simulate a revival and let out a roar signifying him being ready for vengeance. I glanced up at its ink black wings and down at her Soul of Purity and Light. "And it's my turn now," I said as I drew a card.
I had drawn my Sangan! It's a very useful card, especially if one's deck has more trap and magic cards than monsters. I set it in defense mode and waited for S to finish her turn.
She drew a card and closed her eyes as her life points increased to only 2600 whereas mine went up to 3000! She set her drawn card in defense mode, but didn't attack my defense card. I was going to ask why after she told me it was my turn, but I figured that she'd just yell at me again, so I just drew a card.
I couldn't believe it when it happened. I had just drawn my Summoned Skull! I looked back and forth again and again at my Red Eyes and my Skull AND my Polymerization, not believing this almost impossible combination, but I had truly done it! I looked up at S and smiled. Still not believing the fact that a powerful monster was about to be summoned, I slowly took the two top cards out of my hand. "Are you ready? Here we GO! I'm activating the magic card Polymerization which allows me to fuse two or more fusion material monsters, from my hand, on the field, or both. This time it's going to be my Red Eyes Black Dragon and my Summoned Skull in my hand!" I said as I held my Summoned Skull up high to show her I wasn't lying. Looking at her, I could tell she was almost pleased that I was making this play. I suddenly noticed those two face down cards that she had played in the last two turns and realized that this may have not been such a good idea after all. But I wasn't thinking that THEN.
I placed my Summoned Skull on the field right next to my Red Eyes Black Dragon and the Polymerization card materialized onto the field in its vertical position. A swirling energy began to seep out of the card, appearing to slowly draw my two monsters together. As the image continued to swirl and reform itself, newer, better wings could be seen in the twists. And more vicious looking fangs glimmered in the sunlight. While this was happening, a slot on the side of the circular part of my duel disc slid open revealing my fusion monster. I sent my Red Eyes, Polymerization, and Skull to the graveyard before placing my dragon onto the field. The side door squeaked shut. And before we knew it, my Black Skull Dragon (3200/2500) was ready for action.
"Meet my most powerful monster! The card you're after!" I said loud enough so only she could hear me. I mentioned to you earlier that I wanted as few people knowing about this card in my possession as possible.
"Fine. Hello… and goodBYE!" she laughed as she pressed a button and revealed one of her face down cards: DE-FUSION! This was bad. "What a shame," and she said my name, "All that work and you have to lose this monster so quickly. De-Fusion is a quick-play magic card that lets me send one fusion monster back to the fusion deck. So adios, BSD! Furthermore, if the Red Eyes Black Dragon and Summoned Skull were in my graveyard, I could special summon them BOTH onto the field in face up attack or defense. But that can't happen. What a waste of a turn! Are you through? Cuz destroying your dragon was my goal in this duel," and with that, her vertical card blasted my dragon with what looked like wind coming from a fan. It seemed to completely undo the fusion into the two separate monsters again which gave me some hope- as I was foolish enough to think that. But her card ended up destroying the whole thing. No Summoned Skull, no Red Eyes, no cards on the field except for my face down Sangan. Oh yeah, I still had that Share the Pain in my hand. The side slot opened again, and I obediently put my card back in the compartment. It clicked shut. I looked at her and said, "Your turn."
"Fabulous. I'll draw this…" she took a few seconds to see what it was along with our life points increasing: hers to 2850 and mine to 4000, "And now I'll activate it! Prohibition! As long as this card is face up on the field, the name of one card I say can't be played- by either of us, except if it's already on the field. And the card I say can't be played will be Monster Reborn! Take that!" She said in a mean voice. As I looked at her card, it took on the form of the Monster Reborn card, only with a big red X through it. "And now my fairy will attack your defense monster!" she commanded, as my Sangan (1000/600) was blown away. But that's alright. I could then activate its effect, "Another successful extermination! But now I can activate my Sangan's effect. When he's sent to the graveyard, I can take a monster of 1500 or less attack and add it to my hand, just to ensure I have a monster in my hand. Then I shuffle my deck," I said. I took the card I desired into my hand and shuffled my deck and waited for her to finish her turn. "Fine. But now I flip summon my face-down Pyramid Turtle (1200/1400) and have him attack your life points directly!" she said as the ugly turtle pushed itself onto its fat legs. The pyramid on its back looked pretty heavy to me. But it was nothing to laugh at. I think that one direct attack hurt more than Em's Jirai Gumo's did. A fine beam of green light gathered at the very point of the pyramid. It got darker green, but the intensity of the light grew. Suddenly, the fine point broadened into a giant continuous blast of power, launched high into the sky, and came crashing down on me. I felt like I was being pushed into the ground AND electrocuted at the same time. My life points went down to 2800. But hers were about to sink even lower.
I drew my next card: Mask of Darkness but instead set in defense mode the card I put into my hand as a result of Sangan being destroyed.
"And for my next move," she paused to draw and let our life points increase. She had 3100. I had 3800. "I'm sacrificing both of my monsters to summon the Blue Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500)! Attack, with white lightning, his defense monster!"
It was my first time seeing that huge dragon, true to its name, use its legendary attack "white lightning." Its head, towering above everything else leaned way back accumulating all the energy it could in a form of pure white force. The enormous pale dragon then unleashed its sinister deathmark and evaporated my defending Princess of Tsurugi (900/700). "Whoa…" I said as I watched only little puffs of smoke blow away in the wind where my card used to be. "Well, that WAS my Princess of Tsurugi. And her effect damages you for 500 life points per every magic and trap card you've got- face up or face down," I said as she held her duel disc up like a wrist watch- beeping down to 1600.
I drew my next card: Waboku and instantly set it down. Then I set down my Mask of Darkness to end my turn.
"Let's see here," she said after drawing a card and her life points rose to 1850. My life points stayed at 3800 because when she sacrificed her Soul of Purity and Light, my Kisetai was also destroyed. "I'll keep this card in my hand and attack your defense monster!" she announced as her huge dragon annihilated my Mask of Darkness (900/400) which lets me revive one trap card from my graveyard and add it to my hand. I brought back my Just Desserts. But S seemed totally overtaken. It appeared to me that she had no idea what any of these dark monsters do. Most of her deck was composed of light monsters. "Alright, it's your turn again." She said.
I was pleasantly surprised after I drew my Trap Master. iOnce its flip effect is activated, I'll be able to get rid of that highly irritating trap card Life Absorbing Machine, even though it IS pretty good./i I thought as I set down that card and Just Desserts. I was very prepared.
"What's wrong?" she asked as she drew a card. I heard her life points again rise to 2100. "You have only been setting cards face down for your last three turns. And oddly enough, they EACH have had effects that somewhat aided you in this duel. You must think I'm naïve. I don't make the same mistake thrice…" i"Thrice"? She actually said thrice?/i I thought as she continued, "So I'm going to play this magic card that I just drew, Dragon's Gunfire! I know it was played against you before. I was watching that duel you were in against Justin… Suddenly my mind went off on a tangent blocking off what S was saying. It was probably the explanation of what it does. I already knew, so I didn't listen. iI got a Spiritualism from that guy. And I won that duel by only 100 life points. If I could barely beat him, what makes me think I can beat this girl? She's a rare hunter for crying out loud./i I then thought of something out of the blue after being reminded of Justin. iWAIT! In our duel, life point loss didn't hurt! I remember when my Swordstalker attacked him, he didn't feel a thing even with its attack boosted to 2700. So why is this attack hurting?/i I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at an orange fireball surrounding me as I felt some type of burning sensation all the while my life points fell to an even 3000. "I guess you chose the life point damage option of your Dragon's Gunfire card?" I asked. "Were you LISTENING?!?? I just bsaid/b that!" she yelled as her dragon's mouth closed with some residual flames coming out of its nose. "But anyway, that was just a magic which means I COULD attack, but I don't think I will… It's your move now," she said as I breathed a small sigh a relief.
iAlright, that Blue Eyes White Dragon has pretty high attack. And it will keep destroying my defenses one by one, whether it has a flip effect or not…/i A small feeling of dread came over me as I looked through my hand with the newly added Nobleman of Crossout. iNo wait! My Share the Pain! This is one of the first cards I ever got! I can play this, force her to sacrifice her dragon, activate my Trap Master's effect and have all three of my trap cards ready to defend me! This WILL work!/i I finished my thoughts and looked up at her, still kind of grinning, even though she had 900 fewer life points than I did, and one card in her hand, almost not daring to play it by the apparent iron grip she had upon it. I made my next move, "Alright then! I'm activating the magic card Share the Pain! It forces us both to offer one monster on our side of the field as a tribute. So we are now left with an empty field," as I activated the card, two swords materialized into the sky and started turning from one end of our monster zones to the other. A red light appeared under the monster that we chose to sacrifice. Then the sword on each side of our field skewered each of our monsters, making them disappear from the field. I wasn't too impressed by THIS display either. iThe folks at Industrial Illusions must have gotten tired by the time programming for the cards beginning with S came around./i I sarcastically thought.
"And my sacrificed monster, Trap Master (500/1100) has a flip effect! It allows me to destroy one trap card. So obviously, your Life Absorbing Machine is history!" I said as her holographic face up card decomposed form the field. "And my turn is now over!" I declared as she looked at me in surprise.
After drawing a card, she stopped for a brief second expecting to hear her life points go up. But nothing happened. It felt good knowing that I can foil people's strategies… "Fine… those three face down things are most likely traps; there's no way you'd be this calm with an empty field in any other situation. So here's what I'm doing. I'm setting this face down in defense mode to end my turn!" I looked up in the sky for a second. I could have sworn I felt a rain drop. And the sun never came back since my Maha Vailo first attacked…
I drew my rarest trap card Last Turn and remembered how it was the reason why I won in my duel against Em. I then made an obvious move. "Now I play Nobleman of Crossout. It destroys one face down monster and removes it from play. If the destroyed monster has a flip effect, we both search our decks and remove any monsters of the same name from them. So let's see what that face down card is!" I said. She flipped it over and I was kind of shocked. It was actually a dark monster, Cyber Jar (900/900)! (Boy, that card never fails to make an appearance lately!) "Okay, since my card was activated first, we'll carry out ITS effect first. Since the Cyber Jar has a flip effect, we must now go through our decks and remove from play all other Cyber Jars. Like you'll have more than one anyway, though. The official rules say that one can have one Cyber Jar in their deck," So I took out my Cyber Jar and we both shuffled our decks. "Okay, NOW we can do what the Cyber Jar says," I said as I took the top five cards off of my deck, so did she. We showed them to each other. I got Labyrinth Wall (level 5), Headless Knight (level 4), Reinforcements, Big Eye (level 4), and Man-Eater Bug (level 2). I set all the monsters of level 4 or lower. She drew Cave Dragon (level 4), Harpie's Brother (level 4), Garuda the Wind Spirit (level 4), Chorus of Sanctuary, and Graverobber's Retribution. She summoned all three of her monsters. "And that was just my Main Phase One. I can still continue my turn!" I announced as she looked a bit confused. I set my Reinforcements trap card and sacrificed my Headless Knight (1450/1700) to set my Labyrinth Wall. I knew what she was thinking when she glared at that card. Fortunately, I had a plan all lined up… I ended my turn as my Labyrinth Wall (0/3000) switched to attack mode, as I had predicted. Garuda the Wind Spirit (1600/1200) allows its user to change the battle position of one of their opponent's monsters at the end of their opponent's turn. And since Labyrinth wall has zero attack, it'd be like directly damaging me- or would it?
She drew her next card and sacrificed her Harpie's Brother (1800/600) and Cave Dragon (2000/100) to summon the mystical Seiyaryu (2500/2300). But this is exactly the kind of play I was waiting for, because then I activated one of my long-waiting trap cards Trap Hole! "If a monster summoned by you has an attack of equal to or greater than 1000, it's destroyed. So I'm getting rid of your Seiyaryu!" I said as a gigantic hole was formed right beneath her dragon, and it fell down the hole, completely gone. "Why thank you. Now I can activate this: Minor Goblin Official! From now on, you lose 500 life points at each of your standby phases!" and she laughed kind of triumphantly. But I was confused, "Why didn't you activate it way back when I summoned my Black Skull Dragon or something?" I asked as I remembered when she actually set it down- quite a long time ago. "I was hoping to have beaten you by then… But it appears as if I've underestimated the power of your deck; and I've only constructed mine to its medium level. I KNEW I shouldn't have listened to my older sister! And besides, THIS trap can only be activated when your life points are 3000 or less, and I didn't feel like activating it so early," she angrily said as she turned her head to her right a bit. I turned my head to the left to see what she was suddenly distracted by. "But it's still my battle phase. And I'll attack your attack-less wall with my Garuda the Wind Spirit!" she commanded as I activated another one of my trap cards, "Here comes Waboku again! Any damage inflicted by your monsters is decreased to zero, so my Labyrinth just barely makes it," I said as she looked confused this time. "But since the damage has been decreased to zero, shouldn't BOTH cards be destroyed?" she asked. It really was a good question. I answered, "You'd think that, but they said that the DAMAGE was taken down to zero, not your monster's attack points. It was the DAMAGE that was decreased to zero. Get it?" and she just nodded in agreement.
It was my turn again. I drew my Monster Reborn- a useless Monster Reborn because of her Prohibition card. So after my life points went down to 2500, I just figured out a different way to win. "Alright! First off, I'm changing my Labyrinth Wall back into defense mode. Next, I'm flipping over my Man-eater Bug (450/600) to activate its flip effect. I get to destroy one of your monsters! So it's adios to your wind spirit!" I said as a look of resentment instantly appeared on her face. I could tell she was mad at her sister still. "Now hold it! You've activated a monster's flip effect without a monster attack, or magic/trap card effect! Shouldn't that Man-Eater now be in attack mode?" she asked as if I had made a huge mistake. I corrected her (boy, I'm glad I knew the rules!), "Nah, that's another frequently confused rule. A flip effect monster's effect can be activated by just plain flipping it over, but on the turn after you set it down. What you're talking about is a flip-summon when you flip a face down monster to face up ATTACK position, which is what I'm doing now with my Big Eye (1200/100)! But before I attack I'll use its flip effect to see the top five cards in my deck and arrange them how I like… done! Attack her life points directly, Big Eye!" Obediently, he stood up from his crouching pose and closed his eyes, keeping his huge arms close to his body. Then he widely opened only the eyes facing her and held his arms stretched in line with his back as millions of little dark green beams came spouting out of each eye, randomly attacking her side of the field. After the green clouds of smoke settled I looked into her black hood so as to tell her that this duel was almost over. She was only too interested in drawing her next card, "I'm increasing my life points by 1000 to 1900. And now I'm summoning The Immortal of Thunder (1500/1300) to destroy your Big Eye… stupid sister," she trailed off as her thunder card quickly whipped his sparking golden rod of electricity and pointed it at my fiend. He paused for a second and then we both watched as bright ball of yellow electricity collected at the lightning shaped symbol at the end of his staff. And with a low yell, he released the voltage unto my Big Eye as he struggled to fight the force. "I activate Reinforcements to increase my card's attack by 500 to 1700, destroying your immortal of thunder!" Five blue spheres of light appeared over the corresponding section in which I activated my trap card. They absorbed into my Big Eye, boosting his power. He then opened his biggest eye and unleashed a powerful stream of green energy, which easily won against the electricity and overcame her monster, destroying it and bringing her life points down to 1700.
"DAMN YOU! But damn my sister even more! When I get my hands on her, she is going to pay for fooling me into constructing my deck this way! Summon whatever you want. These two dumb cards in my hand, and these idiotic cards on the field won't help me. GGRRRRR! What did I do wrong? Sure I was winning in the beginning, but that's how I lure all my victims into feeling a false sense of security and- NO! There's no way I can win NOW!" she began to panic as I smiled after I drew my next card. I didn't even care that my life points went down to 2000. This duel was OVER! I had bfinally/b for once drawn my favorite monster card!
"Alright! NOW I'm summoning," and there was a huge blast of thunder as I was shouting its name, so she didn't hear me. "Attack her life points directly!" He was definitely ready to fight in his armor and wielding his sword like a pro. He held his sword out in front of him and pulled it close to him. The sword gathered strength from a mysterious blue force, which made it glow and emit a blue energy. He then dashed forward and jumped up high. The illuminating blue sword was violently slashed twice "through" her. The holographics disappeared as they came in contact with her and reappeared on the other side. He jumped back and her life points decreased to exactly 0.
As soon as he had landed, the duel was over and he was already disappearing. But before he totally vanished, he turned his head left and pointed his eyes towards me and gave me a thumbs up as the holographic emitters clicked off and my duel disc shut itself off. I put all 82 of my cards back into one deck, and approached my opponent. She was just standing there shuffling her deck.
"Whatever. Just take one of my cards. I don't want one of your post-duel chats," complying with her request, I took her Offerings to the Doomed and actually considered it good enough to put in my deck. I was going to say "good duel" but she was already storming back to the hotel shouting certain things about her sister.
After heaving a sigh of relaxation, I began walking back too hoping that Doug or Jack made it through this round okay…