Tournament Stories part 18
The final five sets of duels progressed smoothly for a while after my close duel against Christina. She didn't decide to stick around to see the remainder of the duels, though- even with her friend Alex still in the tournament.
But anyway, after our duel was a duel between duelist #5 and duelist #8. If you'll recall, he was the duelist who gave his friend (duelist #20) "bad advice." But in the end, despite eight being his lucky number, duelist 5 won, and I'll be up against him in the top 8. After that was duelist 9 against duelist 11. Duelist 11 was that female zombie duelist who won her first round with the final 32, but couldn't hold it together this time. The victor used warrior cards, mainly.
And then it was Doug versus my rival Jon. I still hate calling him a fiend duelist. But I had a flashback to the time I kicked his butt in the virtual arena, and that cheered me right up. But then I remembered that he said that it was his back-up deck that he was using... a likely excuse... but it did explain the Flash Assailant and Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams he played...
Jon and Doug approached each other, shuffled each other's decks under the eyes of Linda, rose up in their own dueling platforms and began, with Jon going first.
"Here's a reliable start, I'm summoning La Jinn (1800/1000) in attack mode. That's it for now," Jon said, obviously toying with Doug.
Doug drew a card, "No sweat. I'll just summon my Robotic Knight (1600/1800) in attack mode, then equip him with Salamandra! It raises his attack by 700. Attack his freaky fiend, Robotic Knight!" Doug commanded. His knight, just like the last time he performed this combo, inserted the fiery sword into his gatling gun arm and fired thousands of miniature rockets at La Jinn, it easily overpowered him and destroyed him, leaving Jon with 7500 LP- an early lead for Doug.
"This whole thing just started, kid! I'm setting one monster in defense and setting one card on the field," Jon continued making boring plays as Doug's eyes glared with excitement from the card he just drew.
"I activate Tremendous Fire to do some more damage to you!" Doug said as the bright orange rings of flames spread out among the players. Jon's life points shrank to 6500. Doug's went down to 7500. "...Hot enough for ya?" Doug said aloud. "AUUGHHHHH! THAT'S it! Next turn, I'm going all out on you!" The rest of the crowd laughed at Jon's outburst toward Doug's unfunny, cliche, wisecrack. "My Robotic Knight will now attack your face down monster!" Doug said. And once more, the machine card assaulted and destroyed Jon's face down Earthbound Spirit (500/2000) with ignited bullets.
All Jon's done so far is play simple fiend monsters... could he already be preparing to summon the Dark Necrofear? I thought as Jon drew a card and smiled at his present opportunity, "It's my Standby Phase. And, according to the rules printed on the card, I'm allowed to activate my Curse of Fiend magic card! When this is activated, all battle positions of all monsters are changed from defense to attack and vice-versa. So your knight is now in defense mode (DEF: 1800). And my plan has just begun. Now I'm activating the magic card Dragged Down into the Grave. With this, we both get to see each other's hands and pick one card from the other's to go into the graveyard. Then we each draw one card from our decks," Jon stopped talking so that the two duelists could carry out this effect.
As a courtesy for the rest of us, the contents of the both duelists' hands were broadcasted to all of us via the huge scoreboard above everything. Doug and Jon looked up and used that to decide which card the other should get rid of.
In Jon's hand of four was Mask of Brutality, Skull Knight #2, Fairy Box and Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell.
In Doug's hand of four was Darkfire Soldier #1, Card Shuffle, Fire Sorcerer and Ryu-Ran.
"I'm forcing you to discard your Fairy Box," Doug announced as Jon carelessly tossed his trap into the graveyard.
"And you're getting rid of your Darkfire Soldier!" Jon snapped back as Doug winced hearing his favorite card's name. "But don't worry- maybe you'll draw a better card, now, from your pathetic deck!" Jon tried to console him (with obvious sarcasm).
After they each finished drawing a new card, Jon continued his turn, "I'm summoning Skull Knight #2 (1000/1200) in attack mode! Also, I'll be equipping him with Mask of Brutality, which raises his attack and lowers his defense by 1000 giving him 2000 attack points. Now attack his defending robot, my fiend monster!" Jon ordered it. The angry fiend monster seemed to shoot across the field in a shrouding black mist before appearing in front of the machine card. He took a heavy slice at him and destroyed it. Upon returning to his spot of summoning, the fiend fixed his loose green mask and remained stationary peering out of the eye holes with his piercing red eyes.
"Well, THAT wasn't good," Doug stated the obvious as Andre, behind me, slapped his forehead. Doug drew a card and looked at his opponent's only monster for a second or two, then looked back at his hand. A distinct drop in the action took place here as Doug seemed to take forever just to put two cards on the field... "Alright, I'll first activate the field magic card Molten Destruction which gives fire monsters a 500 attack increase and 400 defense decrease. Then I'm setting one monster face down to end my turn."
"How exciting," Jon squinted his eyes slightly and drew his head back in disgust. I'd bet anything that right there Jon was thinking,I can't believe I've gotta duel THIS guy! Jon drew a card and his life points instantly dropped to 5500. "Whoa! What was that?" Doug asked as Andre slapped his forhead again.
"Ultimate power comes at a price. For every standby phase that this equip magic card is on the field, I must pay 1000 life points. But it's no big deal- you'll never see it again." Jon's tone instantly changed to a more scheming one, "I'm sacrificing my Skull Knight to tribute summon the Earl of Demise (2000/700) in attack mode," Jon paused for a second. "Alright, and now my Skull Knight's special effect is activated. If I successfully tribute summon a fiend monster using him, I can special summon another Skull Knight #2 from my deck in face up attack or defense position. Then I shuffle my deck. So now, THIS one is going in attack mode," Jon specially summoned another Skull Knight #2. A small viel of darkness began to cover Jon's side of the field despite the intense brightness of the volcano from Doug's field card.
"Earl of Demise, attack his face down monster!" Jon commanded. With his sword, the gentleman-like fiend whisked forward and attacked the mysterious card revealed to be Fire Sorcerer (1500/1100). "Hah, you've flipped my Fire Sorcerer. Now, after I randomly discard two cards from my hand, you receive 800 points of direct damage," Doug put his hand of three cards into a slot reserved for randomizing. After a second, he removed the three cards again and sent two to his graveyard without looking at them. Upon discarding them, two glowing red orbs sprouted up from his graveyard and whizzed toward the fading Fire Sorcerer. Right before she vanished, she grabbed these two orbs, ignited them and tossed them at Jon, taking his life points down to 4700.
"Well good for you... Skull Knight, attack HIS life points directly!" Jon demanded. With his glowing red sword, the second Skull Knight sliced at Doug's platform, causing 1000 points of damage. "That more than balances out that 800 damage," Jon commented. "but you'restill losing!" Doug replied as he drew a card.
"PERfect! I'm summoning my Burning Beast (2000/600) in attack mode. Attack his Skull Knight #2!" Doug's Burning Beast seemed to form a link with the nearby volcano as the fire on its back intensified and launched into the air. A second later, the inferno landed onto the weaker of Jon's two fiend cards and destroyed it. And with that 1000 hit on Jon's life points, the score was 3700-Jon to 6500-Doug. Could Doug actually win against MY toughest enemy?
"Whatever," Jon said as he drew a card. "I'm setting one card face down and another face down in defense mode, your go."
"I've got him scared now!" Doug said to himself. It was apparent that Andre, still behind me, didn't even hear this because he didn't slap his forehead.
Doug drew a card and instantly played it, "I'm activating Reasoning!" Doug announced.
"Risky move," Andre commented as Doug explained its effects, "You get to call a monster card level. Then I keep picking up cards from the top of my deck until I come to a monster. If that monster is of the same level you called, all the cards I picked up go to the graveyard. But if that monster isn't of the same level, it's instantly special summoned face up in attack or defense and the rest of those cards still go to the graveyard- now call a monster level!" Doug seemed fairly confident that this plan of his would work. But it all depended on which level Jon called, "Level..." a detectable pause, "four!"
Nervously, the whole stadium watched on the huge scoreboard as doug took cards... Ground Collapse... Spiritual Energy Settle Machine... then finally, Giant Soldier of Stone (level 3). "Looks like I get to special summon my Soldier of Stone since it is NOT a level four monster," Doug commented as he put his rock card on the field. "And now my Burning Beast attacks your face down monster." With another firestorm, the face down Mask of Darkness was destroyed.
"Ha, great- as you probably know, flipping the Mask of Darkness allows me to take a trap from my graveyard and add it to my hand. So thanks a lot!" Jon happily shifted through his graveyard and retrieved the only trap in there. "You done?" Jon asked and Doug quietly nodded, almost embarrassed to have helped out his opponent.
Jon drew a card and began his turn, "Okay! I think I'll summon The Bistro Butcher (1800/1000) in attack mode. And, uh, that'll be it for now from me," Jon carelessly ended his turn almost unaware of leaving his newest fiend in attack mode.
He's obviously toying with Doug by leaving it vulnerable like that. And since he didn't set any new cards face down, he must be planning on activating that one face down card this turn because leaving a weaker card in attack mode like that doesn't make sense. I thought as Doug drew a card and pondered his next move, "Alright then! I'm sacrificing my soldier of stone to summon Gadget Soldier (2300/1600) in attack mode. And now he attacks your Earl of Demise!" Doug declared. So with his mobile rocket launcher, the Gadget Soldier swiftly took aim and fired a set of four missles at Jon's Earl and destroyed it in a bright explosion of fire. "Now Burning Beast attacks your Bistro Butcher," Doug said slightly cautiously. "Okay, now I'll actiavte this," Jon began as I immediately assumed the worst... perhaps a Mirror Force or Spellbinding Circle? But no, "Soul Reversal. It's a quick play magic card that lets me take a flip effect monster and put it on the top of my deck. The life points were well worth it," Jon commented as his life points sped down to 3200.
He drew his Mask of Darkness and looked through his graveyard then said, "I've held this off for long enough. To be honest, I've never held this card in my hand longer tha I needed to, this was the first time I've ever done that- but enough talk! I'm removing the La Jinn, Earthbound Spirit and one of my Skull Knight #2's in my graveyard from play so I can special summon the all powerful Dark Necrofear (2200/2800) in attack mode!" Three black glowing spheres drifted out of his graveyard, converged into one monster zone and spun into the form of the Dark Necrofear. Slowly, the contours of this purely evil creature were scultped and came into view, as dark as they were. Surrounding it was a heavy aura of blackness all but completely concealing it. "Get rid of his Burning Beast!" he commanded his darkest monster. With a gaze from its glowing white eyes, the Necrofear encircled the fiery monster with a white circle slowly closing in on it. Parts of the monster that touched the white circle were instantly vaporized. And as the circle closed in on itself, more and more of the monster vanished until the Burning beast could take no more and disappeared altogether. To end his attack, all the Necrofear did was blink, quite slowly. Doug's life points were now at 6300. "And I'd think twice before attacking him," Jon warned. It was a fair warning, too; the Dark Necrofear's major effect can be quite brutal.
Doug drew a card and grimaced at it. "I'll just set this one card face down and end my turn this time," Doug said. Jon drew a card. "Aha! This couldn't have come a better time! I activate Yami! It gives all spellcasters and fiends a 200 attack and defense increase while decreasing fairies' attack and defense by that amount. This means that my Dark Necrofear gets even darker," Jon stated as the playing field was enveloped by shadows and other dark substances. On this, the Necrofear seemed to thrive and get stronger. Doug made an angry groan. "Attack his Gadget Soldier!" Jon commanded his fiend monster.
Just like before, the Dark Necrofear glared at his enemy with his glowing white eyes. Only this time, the resulting circle had 4 lines going across it all intersecting in the center at which the machine monster was located. Contrary to the color of the circle, pulses of black energy surged through the white lines and into the soldier all the while the circle closed in on the machine card. it was definately something to be seen to believe. It was like something directly from a science fiction movie. After the soldier was awesomely destroyed, Doug's life points were lowered to 5700- still a significant lead over Jon's 3200, but slowly zeroing in.
Anxiously, Doug drew a card. Angrily, he ended his turn with nothing to do.
"Uh-oh! That's not a good sign!" Jon began to taunt Doug while he drew a card. "Okay, now I'm equipping my almighty Necrofear with Sword of Dark Destruction. It increases his attack by 400 while decreasing his defense by 200. So now he's got 2800 attack AND defense points! Attack his face down monster now!" With its new sword firmly in its right hand, the Dark Necrofear raised it above its head and to the left with his arm crossing over his face, then briskly brought it down and pointed it towards the defending monster. From the tip of the sword blasted bolts of black and white energy randomly striking the field in a circular pattern until finally converging upon the hidden Lady Assailant of Flames (1700/1200). "Okay, time for a bit of payback. Before she goes, the lady here wants to deal out some damage. So I'll now remove the top three cards of my deck from play to inflict another 800 points of damage upon you!" With the three cards he removed from play, three of those familiar red orbs made their way to the disappearing pyro monster. She ingited each of them and threw them at Jon, brining his life points down to 2400.
"Cut it OUT now!" Jon was agitated at his further loss of life points. "All I can say is that you had better summon a monster now," Jon warned while Doug drew a card. "It's not exactly a monster, but it will do just fine," Doug when he set one card face down.
"If you say so," Jon said as he drew a card. "I'll set this one card in defense mode-" Jon was interrupted, "I'm activating Physical Double! It makes an exact replica of any monster I choose with a mirage token- the same attack, defense, type, attribute, and level. So I'm choosing your Dark Necrofear to save myself for this turn, at least," Doug was obviously running low on ways out. It seemed like it wouldn't be long until we'd see one of those white circles close in on Doug.
"Alright, fine. I'll have to pass this turn this time," Jon finished his turn, giving Doug some room to breathe. As soon as Jon's turn ended, the mirage token was destroyed.
"Doug's definately gotta draw a playable monster this turn, or he's screwed," Jack stated the obvious thing as Doug drew his next card, rather happy with the result. "YES! What luck! I'm summoning Gren Maju Da Eiza(?) in attack mode!" Numerous confused sounds came from the people in the arena, including from Jon, "Why THAT card?" he asked. Doug smiled a bit and replied, "It's attack and defense becomes 400 points x the number of my cards that are removed from play. So that makes 2000 attack and defense. And then you've got your Yami out. So that's 200 more points for each giving him final stats of 2200 attack and 2200 defense," Doug proudly said. "It doesn't match the 2800 attack of my Necrofear-" Jon stated the obovious as Doug focused on Jon's face down monster. "Attack his defense monster!" Doug commanded. With its huge claws and massively powerful wings, the weird fiend card flew over and slashed a few times at the defending Mystic Tomato (1400/1100). "Ha, and now I'll special summon a dark attribute monster from my deck in face up attack, my third Skull Knight #2 (1200/1400)! You've just dug yourself a particularly deep hole," Jon said rather gravely.
Holy crap! Doug's strategies all seem to have fallen apart; Jon is making him looking like a newbie at this, even though he's still winning... I thought as Jon began his next turn.
"Okay, I'll summon this card I just drew by sacrificing my last Skull Knight. His effect doesn't work because this card isn't a fiend, and he was the final Skull Knight #2 anyway. So- here comes the Patrician of Darkness (2000/1400) in attack mode! Now you're done for! Even if you wanted to attack, your target is up tome! But you won't have that chance. Dark Necrofear, eliminate his ...long-named fiend card..." Obediently, his fiend card again pointed his sword at the bright red fiend and annihilated it with a blaze of white and black lightning. "Now my zombie card will attack you directly!" Jon commanded his patrician. He flew up with his crimson cape and hovered in the air about 15 feet from Doug waving his hands about in a hypnotizing motion. Slowly, a dark orange musk made its way towards Doug and somehow brought his life points down to 3100, nearly evening the score.
Doug drew and said, "Aw crap, talk about BAD luck of the draw!" and Andre slapped his forehead. "I'm setting a monster in defense mode to end my turn.
"Hmm..." Jon looked doubtfully at Doug and drew a card, not even looking at it. "I'm summoning the Mask of Darkness (1100/600) in attack mode. Patrician of Darkness, attack his defense card," and with another dark orange, Doug's final monster was taken out- the Cannon Soldier (1400/1300). "Okay- get ready, it's over!" Jon announced. Mask of Darkness, attack him directly!" Following his master's instructions, he launched little yellow spikes at Doug, bringing his life points down to 2000.
"The final attack- Dark Necrofear, take this guy out!" Jon evilly smiled as everyone watched his monster attack. With another point from his sword, another circle slowly appeared around Doug. Everywhere around him was a thin circle. And quickly dashing across it were four lines all intersecting right where he was standing. A dark aura covered the entire arena to symbolize "this is the end for someone." When the suspense was too much to bear, the black surges began to start moving along the white lines and stopping where Doug was. Each one felt a bit more painful than the last as could be judged from his supressed yells of half irritation and half pain. And all the while, the circle was closing in on him, adding to the horrible feeling of dread we all had for him. When it finally came to that, the circle itself vanished as it came in "contact" with Doug's body. Then all the holograms disappeared and the duel was over.
Doug was awarded his $500 and from Doug's deck Jon took the Physical double card, even though it isn't rare or too powerful. It can only be activated on your opponent's turn.
After everything was finished, Jack, Andre and I talked to him about how close he was and all that other expected stuff. He said, "Well, thanks guys. But if you don't mind, I'm gonna head toward that boat now so I can get some real rest. Good luck to all of you in your duels later today. And... see ya on the boat when this whole thing is over!" So after our goodbyes, Doug walked alone out of the stadium leaving us three alone.
I turned back to look into the stadium and saw Jon cheerily walking back toward the stands...Soon... I said to myself.